Here is chapter five. In this chapter, we'll see some of the daily activities the Autobots do, as well as other developments. Be sure to review!
(Cybertron)
Something inside Optimus snapped. With a roar, he tore off the energy cuffs and then delivered a strong kick to Pandemic. The Star Seeker was sent tumbling backwards, releasing the weapons, and allowing Optimus to grab his sword. His speed left the others no time to stop him as Optimus charged Quintessa.
"What have you done to my home?!" Shouted Optimus as he raised his blade, ready to strike Quintessa. The small femme merely fired a blue energy blast from her hand. The blast knocked Optimus's sword out of his hand. Before Optimus could react, a large Cybertronian mech appeared in front of him. It had grey armor with a demonic appearance, including two horns on its head and red optics. Attached to his forearms were particle cannons. The Cybertronian picked up Optimus before roughly tossing him back.
Quintessa then made a gesture, and multiple chains shot out from everywhere. Each one latched onto the Prime, wrapping around his arms, piercing his chest and back, forcing him to his knees. The demonic Cybertronian walked behind the Prime. Quintessa soon floated in front of Optimus's face.
"Infernocus, make sure he doesn't move." Quintessa said as she looked back at Optimus. Her gentle and sinister smile never leaving. "You dare to strike your god, Optimus?"
Optimus growled, struggling against his bindings. "You defiled my world! Put my friends in danger! Allowed Lockdown to hunt and kill us! You are no god to me! I will kill you!" He said furiously.
Her smile turning into a sneer, Quintessa hissed and struck Optimus's left cheek. She released a bolt of blue energy, causing the cheek to form a dull red mark after the impact. The sorceress gripped Optimus by the helm, showing impressive strength for someone of her size.
"Your war doomed Cybertron, you fool!" Quintessa said as she roughly released Optimus.
Optimus's glare never wavered. "Megatron was the one who started the war! Not I! It is because of him that Cybertron is in ruins!" He defended.
"And yet you were the one who sent the Allspark into space, making Cybertron slowly die." Quintessa rebuffed. Infernocus grabbed Optimus's head from behind, jerking it straight so his blue optics remained on the sorceress. "You also allowed the Cube to be destroyed! You and your Autobots foiled every attempt to return Cybertron to life. The fault is on you!"
The chamber descended into silence after that. The Star Seekers said nothing. They merely stood where they were and watched the whole thing happening. Infernocus kept his optics on Optimus, while Quintessa hovered in front of the Prime.
"So, you're going to help me fix it, or the Cybertronian race will die." Quintessa said as she floated up. "I made you, you're mine to command."
"I'll never help you." Declared Optimus. "As I told your bounty hunter, I am slave to no one."
"We shall see" Was all Quintessa said before electricity ran through the chains and shocked Optimus. He withheld the urge to scream and did his best to resist the pain as the torture continued.
(Autobot Forward Base)
The sun had begun to rise over the badlands of South Dakota. Inside the fully healed Canopy, Izabella began to stir from slumber, a blanket over her body. Beside her, Paddles also began to stir, coming out of recharge. The honorary Dinobot sparkling let out a small growl as her blue optics looked at Izzy's brown eyes. Said girl smiled at him. "Good morning" Izzy murmured. Paddles just yawned as she stretched her servos.
Wrapping the blanket around her, Izzy got out of Canopy's alt mode, one arm holding Paddles. The sparkling, who reached Izabella's waist, snuggled against her shoulder while Izzy looked around. Already, some of the Autobots were up, preparing for the new day. Sqweeks made some noise as he rolled up to Izzy. Behind the Autobot base, the sun slowly began to go higher and higher into the sky.
When it was agreed that Izzy would be living with them, there were some discussion of where she would sleep. Cade, Jimmy and Adam lived in mobile homes (though, sometimes Adam would sleep with the Autobots) they had to figure out where Izzy would sleep. Adam had volunteered his trailer for Izzy to stay in, and he would sleep in the Ark, but the girl decided to sleep with Canopy. After living in the ruined buildings of Chicago for six years, Izabella had grown accustomed to sleeping outside. That was one of the reasons why Paddles was with her, the sparkling having inherited the Dinobots' style in sleeping outside berths. Not that the girl minded.
Back to the present, Izabella made her way over towards Cade's trailer, after handing Paddles to Snarl who came over to get the sparkling. Yeager was already up, stretching in his sleeveless white tank top, and brown shorts. "Morning, kid. Sleep well?" Cade asked, spotting Izabella.
"Like a brick" Replied Izzy.
Cade smirked at the girl's response. "Toothbrush and other toiletries are in the auto shop. We'll be having breakfast soon before planning the day. Prowl picked up a lot of new info, so it will be a busy one." He explained before heading back inside his trailer, preparing to get dress.
As the humans got dressed and began breakfast, there was work going on in the Autobot base. Prowl was speaking with Silverbolt, Jazz, Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee at the command center. "We've received word from our spy within TRF that several Autobots have been captured. They're currently being held near a small suburban town in California, preparing to be transferred to TRF base. We'll have to use the groundbridge to get there in time and rescue the refugees. Bumblebee, that will be your mission. Take the humans with you as well, they may be useful in the mission." Prowl said to the yellow mech.
Bumblebee let out confirmed chirps in response.
"Cosmos has detected a huge stash of plutonium in an abandon mine, located in Bulgaria. Such a find would be useful to be converted into large batch of energon. There is a chance that the Decepticons might also be aware of this, so I'm having Ironhide go there, transported by Stratosphere. Bring a small team with you as well. The primary objective is securing that plutonium." Explained Prowl.
"I hope they're some Cons there. My cannons have gone rusty." Ironhide grumbled as he punched his fists together. His shell cannons whirled, as if in agreement.
"What about me, Prowl? What are the Aerialbots doing today?" Asked Silverbolt.
"They're have been reports about large structures protruding out of the ground in various points over the world." Prowl said. "Cosmos sent me images, but I need your team to get a closer look at what they are. Try and keep your presence at a minimal, though. Chances are there will be humans near the sights too. If so, do not engage, understood?"
"Got it" Silverbolt said.
"Ratchet has already left for Cuba. Apparently, the Omnicons discovered an energy source that might prove useful to be converted into energon. They asked for Ratchet to inspect it to ensure that it is healthy." Prowl added. "And that concludes the morning officer meeting."
The others left to prepare for their designated assignments. However, Jazz remained behind, something Prowl noticed. "Something on your mind, Jazz?" The lieutenant asked.
"Has there been any word from Optimus?" Asked Jazz.
Shaking his head, Prowl sighed. "No, nothing at all. I've had Cosmos keep his scanners open in case he picks up Prime's energy signature. But, either he's too far away or something is blocking it, Cosmos has had no luck." The lieutenant explained.
"Scrap" Jazz muttered as his optics narrowed, not pleased. "We could use the big man right about now."
"Indeed. With our current situation, Optimus's presence would be helpful in reassuring the others." Prowl added. "They haven't shown it yet, but the current situation is beginning to affect them in a negative way. However, right now we must focus on securing more energon until we can find a vessel big enough for all of us."
Jazz let out a huff. "Yeah, all we need is a little energon, and a lot of luck."
(Havana, Cuba)
It was a normal day in Havana, capital of Cuba. People were either working, going to school, or hanging out at restaurants and other social joints, or at the beach. Sharing in the fun were the many Autobot refugees that have arrived too Earth during the past three years. Many of them were in their alt modes, while others were walking around in their true forms out in public. If it were not for the actions of the world leaders and Cemetery Wind, no doubt the rest of the planet might be like this too.
Near a four-story house, a large, bulky blue mech could be seen, bouncing a volleyball. He had a maskplate covering his face as his blue optics looked through the windows of the second floor. "C'mon! Simmons! Dutch! Get out here and play! We need two more people for the game and you're it!"
"No, no, they are busy." Said Tova Anael Fischer, Simmons's mother. She had also come to Cuba with her son, much to Simmons's annoyance. "Go and find someone else to play with, Rollbar."
"Aw, they're always busy!" Rollbar complained as he put the volleyball under his arm. "What the pit are they doing anyway?" Asked the mech as he tried to look inside.
Said inside was covered with various objects, hanging on the walls were maps of the world, certain countries and towns, as well as photos, both new and old. Some showed famous landmarks, other mountains, and the newer ones were of the odd horns that appeared recently. There were also newspaper articles too. Many of these papers had circles on them, as well as lines that linked different photos, newspapers and maps together. There were also globes, computers and other tools that investigators would normally use. And finally, scurrying around the room, were Simmons and Dutch.
It was Simmons who glared at Rollbar. "What we're doing, my noisy friend, is trying to solve a case that could possible save both humans and Cybertronians alike!" He said. "So, if you don't mind, I like to get back to work. Also, I need more ice for my smoothie! What are we, animals?"
"Yes, yes, I am on it." Dutch said as he rushed off to get more ice.
"In any case, ask Landmine to play with you." Simmons said to Rollbar before getting back to work.
As if on cue, the garage door next to the house opened. Rolling out was a grey Desert Patrol Vehicle before quickly transforming into a mech around the same height as Rollbar. An Allspark Mutation like Longarm and Salvage, Landmine was originally one of several dune buggies of Sector Seven given life by the Allspark. However, only he managed to survive long enough and had enough sentience doing so, escaping Hoover Dam after S7 was disbanded. Following the battle of the Harvester, Simmons discovered Landmine somewhere in California. With his rise to fame giving him a mansion, Simmons took in Landmine to live with him in his new home. When Cemetery Wind was formed, Landmine fled to Cuba with Simmons and Dutch, later joining up with Leo Spitz and Camshaft.
"Sorry about Mr. Simmons, Rollbar. Apparently, he caught onto something big regarding those horn things popping up anywhere. I'll play if you'll let me, never tried volleyball before." Landmine offered.
Rollbar sighed. "Fine, but it wouldn't hurt for the guy to come out and play a little bit." He muttered before transforming into Renault Master Van. Then he drove off, followed by Landmine.
Elsewhere, at the beach, humans and Autobots were playing with one another. Near the large clusters of rocks was Leo Spitz, Sam's former college roommate and currently a liaison between the refugees and Cuban government. Presently, he was working on a tan while trying to attract the attention of the opposite sex. He was having little luck with the latter.
Meanwhile, riding in the water was a red jet ski. Interestingly, the driver looked like a replica of Leo and, and was doing a better job of getting attention thanks to the impressive stunts he was pulling off. Eventually, the jet ski headed back towards the sand, before transforming into a red mech that was around the same height as Elita and her sisters. "Hey, Leo. Are you sure its safe for you to be taking in so much sun rays?" The mech asked.
Leo brushed off his concerns. "Relax, Beachbreak. I have an umbrella here and already put on sunblock. Now go away, I'm to get the ladies' attention." He complained.
Beachbreak's optics spun as he looked around, noting the lack of humans nearby. "Er, okay. Good luck with that. I'm going to see if the lifeguards need any help." Beachbreak said before transforming and taking off.
As Leo went back to relaxing, he did not notice the two vehicles driving on the road behind him. One was a silver blue lined GMC Terrain, and the other was an orange Peugeot 3008. The two vehicles headed towards a large garage door built into the nearby mountain. Said mountain served as the home for the Autobot refugees. The natural structure had been dug through heavily these past three years, to make room as more and more Cybertronians came to Earth.
Once the two vehicles passed through the door, and entered in what was a communication center, the GMC Terrain transformed into Camshaft, while the Peugeot transformed into Hubcap. They waved at passing by Autobots as they headed towards the back of the base. Waiting for them was Dune Runner, Camshaft's right-hand bot, who transformed into tannish yellow Humvee. "Camshaft, sir. Ratchet and the others are waiting for you." Dune Runner reported.
At said back was a large door that had the words 'Omnicon's Testing Facility' in Cybertronian. As the door slid open, Camshaft and Hubcap were greeted with four mechs inside. One of them was Ratchet, with a dark green and brown mech, Strongarm, beside him, who transformed into a Jeep Commander. Across from them were two more mechs; Signal Flare, a buff and brown colored mech with a M9 Half-Track Armored Personnel Carrier alt mode, and Skyblast, the sole flyer Omnicon, possessing a Boeing EA-18G Growler, with a white and tan paint job. The four were surrounding a round machine that was keeping a chunk of energon hovering in the air, protected by glass too.
"Ratchet" Camshaft said as he shook the medic's hand. The green yellow mech greeted the one-optic Autobot before saying hello to Hubcap. "Has Strongarm filled you in on what's going on?"
"No, we were waiting for you two to come before starting." Ratchet answered. "As the respective leaders of the refugees here in Cuba, you should know what is going on."
"And exactly what is going on?" Hubcap asked.
Strongarm started the explanation. "As ordered by Prowl and Camshaft, we had started draining the geothermal energy from volcanoes to convert into energon. We've been successful, got a lot of cubes thanks to that. However, recently we discovered something weird."
"Define weird." Ratchet said.
Pointing to the liquid substance inside the glass. "This was mined from a volcano a few weeks ago." Signal Flare said. "We had thought it was liquid magma, but later discovered its in fact raw energon in liquidize form."
"Energon? From the Earth?" Hubcap asked. "I'm no expert, but this planet doesn't produce energon, right?"
"You can't mine energon if that's what you're wondering. However, as the Omnicons explained before, it's possible to convert other energy sources into Energon." Ratchet answered as his scanned the liquid substance. "But, if what they're saying is true, then this is actual, raw energon, no signs of having been converted."
"So, what does that mean?" Asked Camshaft. "Is it safe or not?"
"Ratchet already confirmed that there are no anomalies in it. The energon is good for consumption." Skyblast answered. "However, I think we should be cautious when distributing it."
"Why?" Inquired Hubcap. "If it's okay, then the refugees can drink it. We're already low on supplies as it is. No need to keep them away from perfectly good energon."
"Easy there, Hubcap. They just want to make sure that its safe." Camshaft said, trying to calm his friend. The orange mech just vented before walking out the door, passing by a confused Dune Runner.
Sighing, Camshaft looked at the others. "Sorry about that. Hubcap was with three other Autobots when he arrived. His friends were killed by Cemetery Wind, so he feels a bit of resentment towards humanity. Despite that, he knows there are some good humans. It's just he's worried about the refugees. Getting energon and other useful materials have been rough, what with both the Decepticons and TRF hunting us."
"Its understandable. These are hard times for us, what with Optimus having left three years ago." Ratchet said. "For the time being, let's begin distributing the converted energon. This raw energon will have to be watched for now until I can properly confirm its safety."
(California)
On the outskirts of a small town, a TRF team was preparing to head out. The group consisted of over a dozen soldiers and some vehicles, energon detectors, and a large armored truck. They had managed to catch a group of Autobots, trapping them in vehicle mode using inhibitor cuffs that disabled their T-cogs. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, Adam and Izzy were watching from behind some bushes not to far away. The young man had a special pair of binoculars.
"I'm picking up several energon signatures inside the truck." Adam said. He put the binoculars down and spoke through the radio. "This is Savior Leader. Rescue team roll call."
:Savior-1, ready and able: Said Bumblebee.
:Savior-2, here: Drift replied.
:Savior-3, no problems here: Reported Evac.
:Yo! The Savior brothers ready ta kick aft!: Exclaimed Skids.
"Alright, beginning phase 1." Adam said. He looked at Izabelle, who nodded and put a baseball cap on her head, to cover her face. Moving around so she was coming out from behind a nearby house, Izzy began running towards the soldiers. She let her left leg limp, making it look like she was injured.
"Help!" Izzy cried. The soldiers snapped to her. "Help! Transformers are attacking! Please, help!"
As expected, four of the soldiers ran over to the 'wounded young girl'. Izzy had gotten to her knees, keeping her act up of being hurt. She immediately directed them that her so called attackers were around the corner of some nearby houses. Three of them immediately headed out to find them, while the fourth one was trying to help Izabelle, not seeing the concealed taser she had in her hand.
Meanwhile, Adam snuck closer to the convoy, loading several tranquilizer darts into his crossbow. Once ready, he took aim and fired at the necks of the seven other TRF soldiers. Each shot hit their mark, and soon they were out cold on the ground. Once they were incapacitated, Adam approached the truck, where the last soldier was in the driver's seat. Keeping his head down, the hybrid banged on the door, catching the man's attention. Watching as the soldier cautiously got out, he didn't have a chance as Adam landed a blow to the TRF soldier's head, knocking him out just like the others.
Turning to check on the others, Adam saw that the others had completed their parts too. Izzy had rendered the soldier trying help her unconscious. Skids and Mudflap walked out behind the house, carrying the last three remaining TRF soldiers in their hands. They had rendered them unconscious with swift, and yet controlled bonks on the head. Soon, Drift, Evac and Bumblebee came out from their hiding spot.
"Ha! Foolz didn't even kno we waz dere!" Skids declared as he and Mudflap tied up the unconscious humans.
"The energon dampeners Wheeljack invented are working well." Evac mused as he destroyed the detectors.
Adam ran to the back of the truck. He spotted the electronic locking mechanism for the vehicle and immediately got to work. "Now to get what we came for." He said as he swiftly hacked the lock. To an ordinary person, this triple lock encryption would've been impossible. However, Adam was not ordinary, and it only took him three minutes to break through. "Drift, you're up." Adam said as he pointed towards the regular locks.
With a nod, the samurai bot took his sword and swiftly cut them off. Bumblebee came up and pulled up the door with ease. Inside were several cars and motorcycles, as well as other electronic devices too. Each one had a round mechanism attached to them. "Inhibitor locks, stand back." Ordered Adam as he raised his crossbow-axe. Adjusting the frequency of his weapon, he fired a low-level energy burst that disabled the locks. As the locks fell off, the vehicles and devices came to life, revealing their Autobot insignias.
"Okay, everyone outside, hurry." Drift said as he guided the prisoners outside the truck. At the same time, Evac called in a groundbridge. A portal opened up in front of the group. Bumblebee led the way as the freed refugees followed behind, some carrying the others in their vehicle modes. After them, Drift and the twins went through next, followed by Evac, who had Adam and Izabelle with him. By the time the TRF soldiers regained conscious, the Autobots had disappeared.
(Bulgaria)
With help from Stratosphere, the Autobot team consisting of Ironhide, Salvage, Longarm, Inferno, Brawn and Armorhide had finally arrived on the outskirts of an abandoned mine in Bulgaria. With them was Blazemaster, there to provide aerial support. Old vehicles, mining equipment and other human-made objects were scattered all around them, rusted from the many years from being unused.
"I'm not detecting any Decepticon signatures, sir." Longarm reported to Ironhide. "I am however, picking up radioactivity somewhere inside the mine."
"That's probably our plutonium." Replied Ironhide. "Armorhide, stay here with Brawn and Inferno. Longarm, Salvage and I will head in and retrieve it. Blazemaster, remain on standby."
"Understood" Blazemaster replied as he took to the air.
The three Autobots ventured inside, searching for the canisters of plutonium. They immediately turned on their lights and activated their optical scanners. As they continued walking, Salvage stopped when his scanners picked up something. In front of him was what appeared to be an old human vault, with a slightly faded Soviet Union symbol on it. Carefully, the red and orange mech tore open the upper part of the vault. Inside were several metal canisters, all of them giving off radiation. "Ironhide, sir! I found the plutonium!" Salvage announced.
Ironhide and Longarm walked over to examine the contents. "Yes, this is definitely what we're looking for. Good work, Salvage." Said Allspark mutant look proud as he and Longarm began picking up the plutonium. Meanwhile Ironhide contacted the others. "Armorhide, we've found the plutonium. Heading back to you."
The sound of gunfire was the first thing Ironhide heard. :You might want to hurry it up! Decepticons just showed up!: Armorhide cried.
"Slag!" Cursed Ironhide. "Longarm, Salvage! Keep that plutonium safe! I'm going to reinforce the others!" The weapon specialist said before heading back to the exit.
Back outside the mine, Armorhide, Brawn and Inferno had taken cover behind some rocks. Advancing them were multiple Car-Vehicons. Up above in the sky, Blazemaster and Stratosphere were having a dogfight with a squadron of Jet Vehicons.
A red Willys 77 drove up behind the Vehicons and then transformed. "I don't know why you Bots are here and I don't care! It feels good to finally slag you guys after so long!" The red mech, Wildfire, shouted over the noise of his plasma cannon.
"Right back at ya, Con!" Armorhide yelled as he fired his pulse cannon. A Vehicon's head was shot off but the rest just continued their assault. Inferno was firing his Photon SMG when one drone got a lucky shot and hit the mech in the shoulder. "Argh!" Inferno cried as he clutched his wound. Brawn helped his comrade lie down behind the rock before firing his forearm mounted Plasma Pistols and left-shoulder mounted Photon LMG. The drones returned fire with their pulse machine guns, releasing neutron bullets onto Brawn. However, the Autobot's heavy armor repelled most of the damage.
A bomb suddenly fell on top some of the Car Vehicons, releasing gel that melted them on impact. Wildfire's optics widened as he watched Blazemaster transform, landing beside his comrades. Dishing out his Ion blasters, the large Autobot fired on the remaining Vehicons along with his back-mounted plasma rockets. Things got worse for the Decepticons, when two rocket shells flew past and blew up the last remaining drones.
Walking out of the mine, Pulse Shell Cannons raised, Ironhide kept his optics on Wildfire, who began to realize he was now outnumbered. "Looks like I got my wish of blasting come Decepticon punks." The weapon specialist said.
Growling, Wildfire activated his missile cannon. Aiming at the rocks directly above the Autobots, the Decepticon declared, "Oh yeah? Well, I hope you like this place, because it will become your tomb!"
But, before he could carry out his threat, Wildfire was crushed underneath the heavy metal of a giant foot. Said foot belonged to the large Autobot, Stratosphere. The flyer had his arm-mounted laser autocannons and missile pods out, having just finished off the remaining Jet Vehicons. "Ew, I think I stepped in something." Stratosphere joked as he removed Wildfire's remains from his feet.
The Autobots chuckled as they lowered their weapons. "Longarm, Salvage. Area is clear, you can bring out the plutonium." Ironhide said through the coms. He then looked at Inferno's wound. "You going to be okay until we get back to the base?"
Inferno nodded. "I'll be fine. Just singed the outer layer of my armor." He said.
"By the sound of that Con, they weren't expecting us." Armorhide said as he picked through the drones' remains. "Anyway, we might as well take these back with us. Use them for spare parts."
"Ack, so long as theirs room for them inside Stratosphere and us." Brawn said as he scanned the area.
"I should manage." Said flyer replied. "And if not, Blazemaster can carry whatever's left."
"Hey, I'm a bomber, not a carrier." Complained Blazemaster. No one listened to him as they began piling the drone parts.
(Washington D.C.)
Lennox had never been so grateful at seeing the Pentagon. After spending the rest of yesterday in Colorado, looking over the captured Decepticons in the TRF prison, as well as deal with Santos for a whole day, Lennox was to go and report to Morshower about the recent events. However, as he walked into the lobby, the first thing he saw made all the shit he had to put up with go away.
"Dad!" A twelve-year old Annabelle Lennox cried as she got up from a nearby bench. The girl ran up to her father, who happily welcomed her into a hug. Following behind Annabelle was Sarah Lennox, still beautiful as ever. She had a relieved smile on her face as she watched Will enter the door. And in her arms, was the most recent member to their family. With chubby legs and arms, a patch of brown hair on his head, matching wide brown eyes, a pacifier in his mouth, and wearing green onesies, was six-months old Aaron Hyde Lennox, named after the Lennox's former guardian, Ironhide.
"Hey, how's my little girl?" Lennox asked as he rubbed Annabelle's blonde curly hair.
"Been playing with her little brother while we waited. Telling him all the adventures she had with Ironhide." Sarah replied. She walked up to Lennox and gave him a kiss on the lips, before handing Aaron to his father.
"I'm sure that kept him amused. An't that right, buddy?" Lennox asked his infant son.
Aaron said nothing, just sucked on his pacifier and patting his father's cheek with a chubby hand.
A scoff got the family's attention. Walking through the door was Santos, who was giving Lennox a dirty look.
"You got a problem, buddy?" Annabelle asked harshly, fists touching her hips. Her tone and challenging stance reminded Will much of Ironhide.
Santos gave the girl a withering glare before looking back at Lennox. "You might want to tell your daughter not to get too comfortable speaking about those things, Colonel. Some people might take it the wrong way." The TRF Commander said before walking away.
Annabelle looked like she wanted to rush the man, but a look from her mother made the girl stand down, though Sarah also looked rather peeved. Lennox noted how the mood seemed to have dropped. "Why don't you take your brother and head outside? I want to speak to your mom and then finish up my report for the General. After that, we can go somewhere to eat. My treat." The man said as he gave Aaron to Annabelle. She nodded before heading back to the bench where Aaron's stroller was. That allowed the parents to talk.
"Will, how can you work with someone like that?" Sarah hissed, looking at Santos's retreating form.
"I have no control over that, Sarah. This is the only way to make sure both humans and the Autobots are safe." Lennox replied, trying to calm his wife. He understood her anger. Ever since NEST was disband, followed by the formation of Cemetery Wind, Sarah would always wonder when in God's name humanity would get its collective head out of its ass? How many times had humans as a whole turned on the Autobots, only to have the Cybertronians save their ungrateful lives? The media didn't need to reveal the atrocities the late CIA unit had committed, Sarah already had a good idea about them, and correctly theorized that they had a hand in the death of many civilians (she wept when she heard about Sam and Mikaela's death, making sure to keep in contact with the former's parents). Members of Cemetery Wind would sometimes bring her in for questioning, wanting to know if she had been in contact with the Autobots ever since Ironhide was forced to leave them. Sarah was not blind to the many underlining threats those agents made towards her and her family, but they never dared to do anything rash, not with who her husband was.
However, Sarah and Will's main concern was Annabelle. The little girl had taken it the hardest, forced to watch Ironhide leave them. Though the parents had explained to her that the Autobot was doing it for their own safety, Annabelle would cry a lot, wailing for her guardian to come back, so life could return as it used to be. When Will had told her that Cemetery Wind had been disbanded, and the battle at Hong Kong, Sarah hoped that would be indeed the case.
Instead, the leaders of the world were being idiots again; all Cybertronians were considered illegal, and TRF was formed. Sarah would admit that the unit was not like its predecessor, but it was nothing like NEST. Many of the soldiers in it were determined to capture and/or kill any Cybertronians they saw, including Autobots. It didn't matter to them if they were armed or not, all of them were targets. True, they didn't cause unnecessary causalities, or make deals with alien bounty hunters, but TRF still cracked hard on sympathizers. That's why so many of them, like Simmons, fled to Cuba.
A few minutes later, Lennox was being escorted through a long underground room. Near the center was TRF General Morshower, overlooking a light-up table. The escort saluted while Lennox stood beside Morshower. "Colonel Lennox. Welcome to the 'Tank', where we deal with the dark shit." The General explained.
Lennox snorted. "As if we don't deal with that already."
Smirking, Morshower replied, "Yes, I was told about you and your family's brief encounter with Santos. Your daughter will make one heck of a soldier if her mother let's her." The two men chuckled before getting back to business. "Predators have taken shots of several Cybertronians investigating the horns. Most recent have been three that we've confirmed as the Aerialbots. Brief recon and no interaction with teams at those locations. But there not why I called you."
Picking up a photo, Morshower gave it to Lennox. It showed a single Cybertronian standing on a cliff overlooking a horn. "ID has confirmed that Megatron himself has been investigating each site, this one taken in Siberia. This is the second time we've managed to learn his location. The first time when CIA traced Barricade in Chicago, when he met with Megatron and discussed about a talisman and staff."
"This doesn't make sense." Lennox muttered. "These past three years he's been using the Decepticons to do field work. If we found him so easily, then Megatron wants us to know where he is."
"I agree. We also confirmed that when he was in Chicago, Soundwave was also with him. There's no way Megatron didn't know about the tracer." Morshower. "Plus, Megatron actually made contact with TRF." Lennox gave him a surprised look. "He captured two CIA officers and said he wants to negotiate them for the release for several of his soldiers being held."
"Negotiate? With Megatron?" Lennox asked. "And you're agreeing with it?"
Morshower massaged his eyelids. He clearly didn't like it either. "Megatron gave us a vague description that the Autobots are holding a device of unimaginable power. He wants it, but he needs some of his boys to do it."
"Sir, the higher ups cannot actually let-" Lennox tried to say but was cut off.
"It's too late. Secretary Keller already told me that the Department of Justice and the world leaders have agreed to the deal." Morshower ordered. "But you're going to be there all the way, with the military backing you because he is not our friend. I want this device found and brought back so it can be held in a secured place, away from the Decepticons."
"And what about the Autobots?" Lennox asked. "I'm sure that they would understand if you just give me the chance to talk to them. They know me, the history between us."
"Colonel, if I could, I would let you. But Keller believes it is not safe, not with the current situation. We already betrayed them once, I don't think the Autobots will trust us." Morshower said sadly. The Secretary of Defense was doing his best to minimize the damage, but it hadn't been easy. The rest of the world were just to affix on their fear towards the Cybetronians, regardless of faction.
I apologize that it took me a while. There have been some complications in getting ready for my next semester in college. Anyway, be sure to review! Next chapter will be the town fight.
Wacko12