Chapter 11: Dreaded Countdown
[Transformers G1 OST - Auto Ambition]
The moon was high in the sky by the time that the Combaticons' dropship arrived at the Nemesis, the ship's cargo doors opening as soon as they got close. Onslaught piloted the ship straight inside, several Decepticons including Starscream himself, waiting for their arrival. The Combaticon leader groaned as their dropship landed, not looking forward to the conversation that was about to happen. The dropship switched off and the doors opened up. One after another, the combaticons walked out, Onslaught in front.
"I didn't expect a welcome back party," Onslaught said.
"I didn't expect that you'd take your time returning to the Nemesis," Starscream replied, walking forward till he was face to face with the Combaticon. "Would you care to explain to the rest of the Decepticons why?"
"I did a little scouting of my own. Unfortunately I have nothing important to tell you about."
"If you're going to make this thing a habit, then I might as well have the Combaticons arrested, here and now. I don't need anymore worries now that we've lost contact with Soundwave."
"Soundwave's gone radio silent?"
"We don't know why, but the Nemesis has lost all contact with our communications officer. On top of the hefty casualties to our forces and Slipstream deciding to go AWOL, we now have to wonder what Soundwave is doing." Starscream points at the Combaticons. "I don't have time to deal with your shenanigans. This is valuable time I can use to plan our next move on the Autobots' hideout."
"Don't tell me, you're planning another invasion?"
"Quite the opposite, Onslaught. Extermination. We'll simply destroy them all using the Nemesis instead. That will save me the-"
"You can't do that, Starscream! Soundwave is somewhere on that island! Using the Nemesis' weapons would obliterate him too!"
"And how do you know that Soundwave hasn't betrayed us?! Perhaps the reason he's gone silent is because he's decided to switch sides and oppose me."
"You should know better than to think that. Soundwave's loyalty to the Decepticons, to Lord Megatron, is greater than any of ours! There is nothing the Autobots could do to ever make him betray the Decepticons."
"I doubt it too," Thundercracker spoke up. "Soundwave's not that type of guy as far as I know."
"Would you really risk killing someone as important as him without a one hundred percent chance that you'll successfully take out Optimus Prime?" Vortex asked.
"How are they supposed to escape the island?" an injured Quake questioned. "Didn't the Combaticons drop the dropships they stole?"
"Whoever's commanding them was smart enough to chase after Starscream in only a single dropship," Onslaught said. "They still have one. And then another group of Autobots showed up from our blind spots with another dropship. You should've been at the Nemesis by that time, Starscream. Why weren't we warned of enemy reinforcements in the area?"
"That's impossible!" Starscream exclaimed. "The warship's sensors didn't-"
"Lord Starscream!" A Decepticon grunt ran up, interrupting the conversation. "It's Cybertron! The Nemesis has established a connection to Shockwave's Lab in Cybertron!"
"Shockwave? You mean that fool is still on Cybertron?"
Starscream walked off to see what the issue was.
"Dammit… I can't sleep…"
At Arzenal, Salia was constantly rolling over in her bed, unable to drift off to sleep. She took Hilda to bed, and turned in not long after. The violette had been in bed for about an hour, and yet she was unable to fall asleep. The Norma sighed and sat up, growing tired of staring at either the ceiling or her pillow. She rubbed her eyes as she stood up and yawned, stretching her arms.
"I don't know why, but I'm just restless tonight…" Salia thought internally. "Am I worried about Hilda? Ange and everyone else? I have way too much on my mind, that I can't even go to sleep." Salia walked out of her room, still in her pajamas with a pistol in her bottoms. "Fine. I'll just walk around the base for a while and see if that tires me out."
[Cross Ange OST - Yawaraka no Jikan]
The girl started patrolling around Arzenal, hoping to relax her mind and burn off whatever energy she had left. The island was quiet, and peaceful, the sounds of waves crashing against the sides proving to be rather calming. Walking outside, Salia still had to make her way through a sea of metal. None of them had anything they could do with the bodies of the Decepticons that were killed on the island, and so they were still scattered across Arzenal, making it harder for the girls to walk around. Salia looked around as some of the bodies were still falling into the water, as the edges of the island crumbled under their weight.
"Whatever Optimus Prime and the others find…" she thought. "I hope that it's something we can use. If there's really a ship out there, please let it be functioning. There's no way we can stay on Arzenal any longer. If they launched another attack now, we'd-" Salia stopped when she noticed that the lights were still on in the hangar. "Huh? Is Zhao Mei still working?"
The girl made her way over, going through the destroyed command center just to get down. With her hand on her gun, she walked in. Salia was surprised to see not just Mei, but Momoka, Hikaru, and Oliver were all awake. From the looks of it, the girls were helping out the mechanic with… whatever they were doing.
"Uhh… girls?" Salia spoke up, gaining their attention.
"Oh, Salia!" Momoka replied
"We thought you went to bed," Hikaru said. "What are you doing here?"
"I was having trouble sleeping, so I decided to walk around for a while," Salia answered. "What about the rest of you? Don't you think you should stop working and turn in yourselves? You'll be exhausted when morning comes."
"We will be fine," Mei responded. "There is no need to worry about us."
"I can see the bags in your eyes, Zhao Mei. You need to go to sleep!"
"What? No, no I do not. Besides… This is an extremely important task. We cannot rest now."
"That's right," the girls said in unison, slightly creeping out Salia.
"O-Okay…" she said, startled.
"Would you like to help us out?" Oliver asked.
"N-No, I think I should go back to my room and try to go to sleep. My Arquebus is still functioning and if anything happens, I need to be up and alert."
"Okay. Goodnight, Salia."
"Goodnight…"
Something about this entire conversation just felt… off, to Salia. All of the girls looked strange, and talked in an emotionless manner. On top of all that, it looked like instead of repairing, Mei and the others were dismantling Hilda's Glaive. She doesn't know why, but she felt like something happened while she was in her room. As she walked away, she couldn't shake that feeling. Something was wrong, very wrong. But she couldn't figure out what. The last thing that would ever cross her mind was that the girls were all being mind controlled.
As Salia left, Mei and the others watched the girl leave them be, and then looked at each other.
[Transformers G1 OST - Under Siege]
"I think she's starting to suspect something's wrong…" Momoka said.
"What should we do?" Mei asked, looking at the cassette player, Soundwave, on the table. "We still need more time to dismantle the Para-mails." She looked outside. "And we haven't even gotten started on Nu Gundam."
"Suggestion," Soundwave spoke up. "Silence all obstacles."
"Y-You mean kill Salia?" Momoka asked. "But she's still our friend. Maybe if we got her to listen to your song instead, then we could have her help."
"But Salia's already suspicious of us, isn't she?" Hikaru questioned. "We can't just walk up to her and be like 'Hey, come listen to some killer tunes!' without her running away from us."
"We may have to force her to," Mei said. "If not, then we may have to kill her so that we can finish our work."
"Construction begins in one hour," Soundwave said, ejecting his minicons. "Continue Operation: Dismantlement until further orders." Frenzy picked up the Decepticon and started carrying the cassette player outside. "I shall attend to the other obstacle."
During all of this, someone else was missing. Bumblebee. The Autobot's location? Soundwave and his minicons dragged him to the bottom of Arzenal and chained him down to the side of the island, all while he was still unconscious.
[Transformers Cybertron OST - Remains of Sadness]
"Optimus, I… I don't think I've ever seen so much information in one place before," Wheeljack said. "Sure, this is a computer system, but on a warship?"
The Autobots on the bridge were all in awe as they stared at the large computer monitor once Wheeljack displayed his findings. Hidden inside the computer of the mysterious warship were files upon files. Files on not just the Autobots, but the Decepticons as well. Information, images, descriptions, their fighting capabilities. There was a large amount of organized, detailed information concerning several individual Cybertronians, Optimus Prime and Wheeljack included. Some of the information was incomplete as several profiles were missing images or important key details. Others had much more information than anyone else, including whether or not they were aware of their location, and whether or not this Cybertronian was captured or worse.
"It seems that our foes have taken a great interest in us," Optimus said. "But I cannot fathom how they've managed to compile a large sum of information within a two week period."
"I don't think it's just us…"
Wheeljack pulled up another set of files and lo and behold, mobile suits. The information stockpile didn't end on Cybertronians. The database was full of several mobile suit profiles, as well as numerous pilots and other personnel. Slightly less complete than the Cybertronian profiles, but enough to make anyone worry. It didn't end there. The Norma were far from safe from all of this as well. Many of the girls at Arzenal had been given profiles as well. Whoever the owner of this vessel was, they must have been keeping tabs on everyone to have something like this built up.
"It's everybody…" Wheeljack said. "They've got info on everyone, friend or foe. These guys aren't amateurs, that's for sure. How long have they been observing us?"
"For quite some time," Optimus answered. "That is the only way they can know so much." Optimus tries to activate his comms, only to be met with static. "Strange. Communications must've been cut a while ago. Wheeljack, can you use this computer to see if there is anything nearby disrupting them?"
"I'm not sure how much this'll help, but I'll try."
Wheeljack starts searching through more computer files, searching for anything that might be disrupting communications. The Autobot grunts kept watch around the bridge, making sure nothing came to threaten them from outside. Optimus stood near the doorway, looking into the hall for anything.
"…Hm?" The Autobot leader caught something out of the corner of his eye. At the bottom of the staircase in the hall, he saw a silhouette of something disappearing into another part of the warship. He had his blaster armed as he slowly stepped outside. However, he didn't have time to question it, as an alarm suddenly went off.
"What in the-?!" Wheeljack suddenly exclaimed. "Optimus, get in here! This is bad!"
[Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 OST - Pulse of the Tension]
The Autobot leader ran back into the bridge and up to the scientist, who had a large amount of important information on the monitors.
"What happened?" Optimus asked.
"This entire ship is one giant death trap!" Wheeljack displayed a diagram of the engine room on one monitor and a classified document that he found on the next. "This document's full of instructions on how to detonate this warship if something happens, and the engine room's been modified to meet the requirements. I think they're planning to blow up their ship, and us with it!"
"What?! Are you sure that's their plan?"
"No doubt about it! And when I opened the document, that alarm went off. It must've been a security measure put in place if somebody tried to stop this plan or something." Typing away on the keyboard, Wheeljack pulled up several cameras, giving a three-way view of the inside of the engine room. "There, see?"
On the cameras, the Autobots could see soldiers placing the finishing touches on turning the ship's engine room into a giant bomb.
"I don't think they plan to die with this ship," Optimus said. "There must be enough time for all of them to escape unharmed if that's the case."
Another image forcefully appeared on the monitor, displaying that the east and west hangar bays were being opened.
"And I think that alarm's the cue for some of them to leave," Wheeljack stated, forcing the cameras on screen. "It won't take them that long to get to the hangars. I'm picking up passageways designed for escape on the ship's diagram. I don't know how much time we had, but we're in real trouble here!"
"If only we could get in contact with Jetfire. He is the closest Autobot to the engine room…"
"Optimus, I think that's Jetfire!" one of the grunts exclaimed. "On the monitor!"
On one of the cameras, the Autobots could see Jetfire trying to sneak into the engine room, with several robotic soldiers nearby. Wheeljack zoomed in on the soldiers by the engines and saw that there was a timer placed on one of the fuel tanks, set for ten minutes.
"Moment that timer starts, this whole thing's going up in flames!" Wheeljack exclaimed.
"Autobots, look around," Optimus ordered. "See if there's anything we can do to establish communications with Jetfire. Wheeljack, see if you can disarm that bomb from here. There must be a fail safe hidden somewhere within their database."
"I'll look as fast as I can!"
"Until then, we have to rely on Jetfire…"
In the engine room, Jetfire was slowly inching out into the open. He had his blaster aimed towards the enemy force, but didn't fire.
"I can't risk shooting at them," Jetfire thought. "If I miss and hit the fuel tanks, then none of us will leave here alive." Putting away his ranged weapon, he pulled out an energon blade. "Guess I'll have to get up close and personal."
"Then get to it," Slipstream's voice could be heard as the stealthed Decepticon walked past him. As a robotic soldier walked by, she grabbed hold of it and punched a hole through it with an energon dagger. She uncloaked in front of Jetfire as her right arm turned into a Nucleon Charge Rifle. "I'll stay up here and deal with them from above. Don't get in my way."
"I don't plan to." Jetfire jumped off the upper platform with his sword in hand.
Several humans were finishing up the preparations on the bomb. One of them was holding a trigger with a red button, and pressed it. The timer began counting down from ten minutes, the countdown to the ship's explosion underway. The soldier dropped the trigger on the ground and then stepped on it, breaking it.
"There, the bomb's been set," he said. "That alarm must mean that one of our guests got to the bridge. It should take us no longer than five minutes to reach the outside from the emergency stairwell. Once that clock hits five minutes, the ALLOYs are going to-"
They were interrupted by a robot soldier being slammed to the ground as Jetfire ran his sword through. Pulling it out, the Autobot started rushing towards those that were near the fuel tank.
"Security breach," a robotic soldier said, all of them aiming their weapons and firing. "Intruders have breached-" suddenly, his head was sniped off from above.
"They've broken into the engine room!" The commanding officer said. "ALLOYs, eliminate them! Come on men!"
"Acknowledged," a robotic soldier replied, firing at Jetfire.
The human soldiers abandoned all of their mech suits and started running for the exit in the back of the room. Jetifre hid behind a wall away from the fuel tanks as the robotic soldiers opened fire. Slipstream was picking some of them off one by one, eventually drawing their attention.
"Sniper detected," one of them said. "Located above."
Robotic soldiers fired a small missile barrage in the location of the last shot, forcing Slipstream to decloak as she jumped down and avoided the explosion. She flew over towards Jetfire and hid as well. The two Transformers were being pressured as the robotic soldiers kept firing at them.
09:22… 09:21… 09:20…
All while the timer kept counting down.
Outside of the warship, Sideswiped noticed the hangar doors opening and could hear the distant sound of an alarm from the ship. Cautiously, he went airborne in the dropship and started observing the situation from the air. All of the dropship's sensors were active and the comm link was open, waiting to hear from Optimus and the others or see if anything might come out of the ship.
"Optimus, come in," Sideswipe said over comms. "Everything alright in there?" The Autobot was met with nothing but static. "Optimus? Wheeljack? Cliffjumper? Jazz? Jetfire?" Sideswipe eventually stopped for a moment and thought aloud. "The comms must be getting jammed. I'm sure the others are alright, but I am a little worried." Suddenly, one of the sensors in the dropship went off. "Huh? What have we got here?"
The dropship was detecting several moving objects. Some were coming from the directions of the open hangars, while another set was coming from west of the Solomon Islands. There was also a lone signal approaching from the south.
"That's a lot of signals," Sideswipe looked out of the dropship's window and saw several machines flying out of the hangars. "And that's probably why."
The Autobot sat down and started moving the dropship away, trying to stay out of the possible sensor range of the unknown aircrafts. The ones in the hangar flew right by, not paying any attention to the dropship nearby. Sideswipe sighed, but was put on alert when a warning signal went off. From the west, he saw that the dropship was being targeted, and several missiles were fired towards.
"Well, that didn't work," he said.
The dropship avoided the missiles. Before he knew it, Sideswipe found himself in the middle of a surprise attack. Several flying machines were heading towards his dropship while others, in the forms of aerial troop transports, landed near the warship. The hostile fliers started firing barrages of either missiles or gunfire towards the dropship, Sideswipe using his skill to outmaneuver them. He didn't fire too many shots back however, as he had much more limited ammo and didn't want to be an unarmed target. Every shot he took, he successfully shot one down.
"What is this thing?" one of the enemy pilots asked. "How can it be so big and still move like this?"
"Keep focusing your fire!" another pilot exclaimed. "We can't let whoever's inside escape now that they've seen the Throne! Ugh, this entire operation is one big mess!"
Several more of the unidentified machines were taken out by the dropship's guns.
"All Hummingbird units," a third pilot suddenly spoke up. "Transform and engage that warship!"
All of the flying machines started to transform into a robotic form. To Sideswipe, these didn't look like Transformers at all. They were human made machines that had the capability to transform, similar to Para-mails, but looked nothing like them. They all entered a formation and pursued the Autobot dropship. Those in front were attacking with built in machineguns, while the ones behind fired missile barrages. Sideswipe managed to avoid the majority of their attacks. Several bullets scraped the sides while missiles exploded next to the dropship.
Meanwhile, several more similar machines were flying out of one of the hangars. Other soldiers could be seen running to the troop transports, each one taking off once full. By the time the hangar was nearly empty, Jazz and Ange both arrived.
"What the hell's going on in here?" Ange asked aloud. "First the alarm, and now there's some evacuation."
"Not only that, but it looks like Sideswipe's got his own problems too." From where they were standing, Jazz looked outside and could see the Autobot dropship in the middle of a firefight. "Whoever these guys are, they don't want any of us leaving here, that's for sure."
"Hurry! There's no telling how much time is left!" Several more soldiers emerged from a hidden passageway connected to the engine room. "Reinforcements should be- What the hell?!"
However, they ran straight into the Villkiss and Jazz.
"More humans?" Jazz questioned.
"They're with the guys attacking our ship, I heard them!" Ange aimed Villkiss' rifle as one of the soldiers pulled something off his belt.
"Out of our way!"
The soldier threw the object low, right between the Autobot and Ragna-mail. It collided with Jazz's leg, and a sudden electromagnetic pulse struck both the Villkiss and Jazz, similar to what hit Cliffjumper elsewhere. Jazz suddenly fell down, unable to move. Ange was unable to operate the Villkiss as her Ragna-mail collapsed as well. The soldiers all ran off as the two were left to lay there.
"Come on, what the hell did they throw at us?!" Ange exclaimed. "Everything's not responding to me. Move, dammit! I can't even open the hatch!" She slammed her fists on the controls.
"Well this ain't good…" Jazz said.
In another part of the warship, Cliffjumper was driving around as fast as possible, looking for the way to the engine room. Considering he, Amuro, and Pamela heard about it from those other soldiers, they were rushing to get there before this warship exploded. Although, they were unaware that the countdown had already begun.
"Come on, come on, where is it?!" Cliffjumper exclaimed.
"We've been this way already!" Amuro said.
"Right." Cliffjumper drifted to the left and went down another corridor.
"Wait, we went down here already too!" Pamela informed him. "It was a dead end!"
"Oh yeah." The Autobot made a swift U-turn. "Scrap, this is taking longer than I thought."
Inside of the bridge, Wheeljack was typing away nonstop, searching for some that would be limiting communications.
"There's gotta be something in here… Aha!" The Autobot scientist suddenly found something. "Everything's being routed across one frequency, and there's something inside this ship that's jamming all the others."
"Is there any way to switch it off from the bridge's computer?" Optimus asked.
"Let me see… Here!" Wheeljack pressed a key. Something on the monitor displayed as if it was to let them know that the jamming device was no longer active. Wheeljack activated his comms to test. "It's working! I'm picking up Autobot signals again."
"Wheeljack? Is that you?" Jetifre's voice was heard on the other side.
Optimus activated his comms. "Autobots, everyone, this is Optimus Prime. We've managed to restore communications across this warship. But now we have a bigger problem. A bomb was rigged in the ship's engine room and has been set to explode in less than ten minutes. Jetfire is currently working to take control of the room and shut it down, but reinforcements are needed."
"Cliffjumper here, Optimus," the Autobot responded. "I'm searching for a path to the engine room right now."
"I read you loud and clear Cliffjumper. Wheeljack, see if you can send over a map of the warship to help him navigate."
"Can do!" Wheeljack said, getting back to work.
More items displayed as Wheeljack started looking for a map to forward.
BANG
"Whoa!"
However, someone else had a different idea in mind. Several shots came through the doorway and at the computer systems. Wheeljack jumped as the monitors were shot to bits. Optimus pulled him out of the way before any bullets could hit him while other Autobots got in position to check things out. All of the computers that Wheeljack were using were being destroyed by somebody that clearly didn't want this information left in the Autobots' hands. Two soldiers stepped out when the gunfire stopped, blasters aimed but nothing in sight. Suddenly, an invisible blade gutted both the Autobot grunts, surprising the remaining soldiers as nobody saw what killed them. The other three stepped away as the invisible intruder swung their blade again, one of them tripping and falling down to Optimus and Wheeljack's level.
The Autobot leader jumped up with his shield and blaster out and opened fire. Whatever was there started to defend itself as Prime's bullets were being deflected. The intruder started running out, indicated as the time between the impact of his blaster fire increased. Optimus ran out of the bridge with other grunts right behind him. He kept his guard up and proceeded slowly. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a car driving away in the distance. He wasn't sure, but he felt that the attacker had fled.
"Who in the world was that…?"
[Cross Ange OST - Mori no Oku de]
Back at the Nemesis, the Decepticons, Neo Zeon, and the Diamond Rose Knights had a chance to relax as the warship was pulling away from where their foes were located. The Zeon forces' main concern was getting repairs done to the survivors. The remaining Zakus and Geara Dogas that they had weren't in good condition, and both Jagd Dogas were in terrible shape thanks to Amuro. Unfortunately, some of the Decepticons weren't so pleased with the fact that they'd have to cater to a bunch of humans.
"The hell?! You can't just lock our mobile suit repairs behind some ridiculous paywall!"
In the case of repairs, Starscream left Swindle and some other Decepticons in charge of that, as well as resupplying Neo Zeon and the Diamond Rose Knights. However, the Combaticon decided to take matters into his own hands. Swindle didn't have any intention of just throwing the Decepticon's resources to them, and decided to live up to his namesake. He attempts to swindle something out of the Neo Zeon troops.
"Hey, you can't expect us to just give over what limited stuff we have, right?" the Combaticon asked, standing in front of the soldiers with his arms folded. "We might be allies, but that doesn't mean we'll help for free."
"What do you expect us to pay you with?" a Neo Zeon soldier asked. "Money? Like we've got a lot of that, and like you'd even need it!"
"Well that depends. You think your cash could buy some Energon for us?"
"Of course not!" another yelled out. "We don't even know what that is!"
"Then no can do, friends. If you want the repairs, you need a way to pay for them. If you can't, then there's always the option to try and trade for some repairs."
"What do you expect us to give you?!"
"Let's see…" Swindle rubs his chin. "What would you humans have that'd be of equal value…?"
"How about you trade us those 'mobile suits' or whatever you call them?" a Decepticon suggested. "I don't see why they wouldn't get repaired then."
The grunt soldier gestured to the remaining Zeon mobile suits; Four Geara Dogas, two Zakus, two Jagd Dogas that were in bad condition, and a single commander type Gelgoog. Those were the only mobile suits that Char's forces had on them.
"Ooh, that sounds like a fair trade."
"Are you kidding me?! That's a straight-up scam!" Gyunei exclaimed. "If we trade our mobile suits, we'd be giving away our only weapons that let us stand a chance out there. Like hell that's fair! You're just trying to swindle us out of our weapons!"
"What can I say? It's in my name." Swindle and the other Decepticons started laughing.
The argument between Gyunei, Zeon troops, and the Decepticons continued, much to the annoyance of those around them. Though they needed repairs as well, the Diamond Rose Knights didn't bother arguing. The Norma girls were unwinding in their own ways after that battle. In Irma's case, she pulled out an easel, numerous colors of paint, several paintbrushes, and positioned everything in front of what was left of Theodra after Chris was shot down. The girl was framing the remains of the Ragna-mail with her fingers, closing one eye as she focused on it. Wearing an artist's apron over her uniform, she picked up her paintbrush and was about to begin.
"What are you doing?"
Before Irma could get started, she was interrupted as Quess approached her curiously. "Why would you want to paint something that looks like a pile of garbage?" she asked.
"I wouldn't expect someone as young as you to understand things from an artist's point of view," Irma replied. "I've chosen the wreckage of the Theodra because of the powerful message that it sends. 'The Price of Failure,' that is what I intend to paint."
Quess didn't understand a thing Irma said. "That still sounds like a waste of paint."
"How can you…?! Do you not understand the importance of the motivation that this piece will give us?! After such an abysmal loss at the hands of Arzenal's forces, being forced to flee from a foe with far superior numbers can do nothing but spread demoralization. This painting will be a symbol of our weakness! An object that when you look upon it, you'll be filled with nothing but rage as you recall our embarrassing defeat! Looking at it will push us all to new heights, all so that we can avoid repeating the past! Surely this painting will inspire all of us to our upcoming victory!"
Irma was so caught up in the moment, she didn't notice Quess walked away, uninterested. Tanya walked over at the same time. The purple haired Norma was still in uniform, but her top was unzipped.
"I… honestly admire your passion over art, Irma," she said. "But don't you think you're a little too enthusiastic sometimes…?"
"Nonsense." Irma answered almost immediately. "I'm merely showcasing my passion for us to not fail Master Embryo a second time. Even though Chris and her Theodra will be out of commission for a while, I'll be sure to lead the Diamond Rose Knights to a swift victory, as your commanding knight." Irma turned around and faced her canvas. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've wasted enough time."
"Alright, alright. I'll get out of your hair." Tanya starts to walk away.
"By the way…" Irma stopped her. She didn't turn around but she had something else to say as she started painting. "How is she? Chris, I mean."
"Well, she's…"
The Norma in question was in one of the Columbus-class vessels. Her mind was still a mess. Even with the music playing in her head, she had yet to fully come under its control after her Ragna-mail was shot down. Though the fight was over, Embryo hadn't shut off the device, something Tanya and Irma weren't aware of. The same song had been playing the entire time, silently tormenting Chris as she sat in the corner of the ship, breathing heavily, clenching her head with wide open eyes, and trembling. Ersha was attempting to comfort her and make her calm down, but to no effect. She tried to hold onto her conscious thoughts, and everything Hilda said to her. But the more she did, the more pain she went through.
"Not well…" Tanya said. "I left her in Ersha's hands, but the way she shakes so violently was just unnerving. Nearly getting killed like that must have left her heavily scared of that person."
"Who was it that destroyed the Theodra again? I didn't get to see what happened."
"Based on what Ersha said and what that man Char Aznable concluded, it was Amuro Ray, the pilot of the Nu Gundam."
"Nu Gundam… that will be an issue if it can tear apart a Ragna-mail so easily…" Irma continued painting. "Amuro Ray, the rival to that Char person. Yet another person that we will direct our anger towards."
Suddenly the two heard the sound of metal crashing against metal. Looking over, the Norma girls saw that the argument with Neo Zeon and the Decepticons evolved into a fight. Gyunei hopped into one of the Geara Dogas and started a fight with Swindle. The sound they heard was the Decepticon being knocked to the ground by a punch. The sounds of both sides cheering and shouting filled the room. Even Quess and a few of the other Combaticons came over to watch.
"Come on, Lieutenant!" one of the Zeon soldiers shouted. "Teach that punk a lesson!"
"Don't let them get away with treating us like crap!" Quess exclaimed.
"You can't let a human push you around like that!" a Decepticon grunt yelled. "Take him down!"
"Nobody disrespects the Combaticons like that!" Brawl shouted, punching his fist into his hand. "Turn that guy into a pile of scrap!"
Swindle got back to his feet as the Geara Doga ran towards him. The Combaticon tackled the mobile suit to the ground, but Gyunei kicked him off before he could throw a punch. The Geara Doga got up and ran over to attack. Swindle got back up and clotheslined the mobile suit before it could do anything. Everyone around just keeps shouting louder and louder.
Onslaught groaned, having a hand on his face. It was like the Combaticon leader was the only one who felt embarrassed for his team. "I let them handle a dispute on their own, and THIS is what they do?"
On the other hand, Embryo wasn't even paying attention to the fight. In fact, he wasn't even phased by it. The man was sitting atop the Hysterica, focused heavily on the book he was reading. When the fight started, he did lift his head up and look over for a second, but immediately resumed reading as if nothing important was happening, which to him, that's probably true.
"What the hell are they doing…?" Tanya murmured.
Irma scoffed. "How am I supposed to focus on my art with such a disturbance…?!"
[Transformers G1 OST - Strike Force]
"Soundwave's disappearance is going to become a problem for us in the future. That is why I require you to use the Space Bridge and come to Earth. I'll set a rendezvous point with the Nemesis."
"I cannot comply, Starscream. I will not be leaving my lab at this time."
In another room, Starscream had gone to meet with Shockwave, who contacted the Nemesis from his laboratory back on Cybertron. With the situation that the Decepticons were in, Starscream required more reinforcements, and wanted Shockwave to use a space bridge to send more troops down to Earth, having his own goal in mind. Unfortunately, Shockwave was working towards a separate goal as well.
"I have another situation on Cybertron to deal with at the moment," Shockwave explained. "Until this is resolved, I'm afraid I cannot send aid to you on planet Earth. Furthermore, we've yet to determined Lord Megatron's whereabouts and-"
Starscream slammed his fist on the panel below the monitor. "We don't have time to worry about Megatron!" he exclaimed. "That fool was more than likely destroyed by the wormhole that sucked us all in."
"How can you confirm? It's logical to assume that he is alive, seeing as how we have survived the voyage into the spacetime void."
"If you truly believe that he is alive, then why has our powerful leader not made his way back to one of our forces? I believe that Lord Megatron simply wasn't as strong as he's made out to be. Whether or not he shows up on our radars doesn't matter. With Optimus Prime in action and leading a team of Autobots and humans, I'm in need of someone to replace Soundwave now that he's gone radio silent."
"I understand your predicament. However, I cannot afford to leave my post at the moment. The space bridge is currently not an option as well. I also cannot confirm if the space bridges located in South Africa are functioning after the vortex consumed them. Any reinforcements sent down, I will have to manually assign an endpoint for each trip."
"That would just be time consuming." Starscream turns around. "Very well then. I'll take the Nemesis and scout the area myself, and investigate. You just wrap up whatever it is you're doing on Cybertron, and be prepared to move when I contact you again."
"I can't promise that I will-"
"I gave you an order, Shockwave. I expect you to comply. Now, get to it!"
"…Understood. Shockwave, out."
Shockwave disappeared from the Nemesis' monitor.
"Is that really how you treat all of your subordinates?" Char was in the room as well, waiting till Starscream was finished to ask his question.
"I don't take criticism from humans," Starscream replied.
Back on Cybertron, the Decepticon scientist remained silent as he stared at the blank screen. He shook his head and turned around, stepping away from the monitor. An explosion could be heard in the distance as Shockwave looked out the window.
"Illogical…" he muttered. "But it is to be expected. Starscream wouldn't have listened even if he gave me the opportunity to explain the situation in detail."
"Shockwave!" Someone called out from behind. Walking into the laboratory was the Decepticons Barricade and Lugnut. The former was the one speaking to the scientist. "The Warp Cannons on the west have been destroyed! Now they're launching a second wave!"
"I'll send Menasor to cover once the Stunticons have dealt with the enemy's vanguard." Shockwave replied. "Lugnut, lead another team and cover the south until they arrive."
Lugnut saluted with a stern grunt and walked out of the laboratory.
"Have you managed to find Lord Megatron's whereabouts?" Barricade asked.
"Negative," Shockwave answered. "None of the deployed teams have reported back with useful information concerning our leader. The Decepticons on Earth are being led by Starscream, who believes that Megatron is deceased."
"That's a load of slag! No way something like that'd make him kick the bucket."
"I find Starscream's thoughts to be illogical as well. Should this continue, I may attempt to contact the Combaticons in secret and ask them to search for Megatron." Shockwave walked towards a side window, where blaster fire and explosions could be seen in the distance. "Has there been any movement from the Autobot forces here?"
"None yet, sir. They seem to be biding their time and watching our fight. Strange though." Barricade folded his arms. "Why isn't this new force hostile to them?"
"The Autobots must have drawn a truce with them. Another possibility is that-" The scientist was interrupted by an explosion that was strong enough to shake the laboratory. "The probability that my lab will become a warzone grows. We should take this conversation elsewhere."
At the bottom of Arzenal, tied to the side of the island was where Bumblebee had been taken by Soundwave and the minicons. After being knocked out via shock rifle, the Decepticons used him to lure the Norma to Soundwave's trap. Afterwards, they left him at the bottom of the island, chained down and out of their way.
In the middle of the night, Bumblebee started to come online. The Autobot's eyes flickered off and on before lighting up fully.
"Oh man," he said. "How long was I out for? When did I go offline anyway?" Bumblebee tried to move his arms, but was held back by the chains, making him realize that he was tied down. "What in the?! When did I…" It didn't take long for Bumblebee to remember what happened to him. "Of course! This must've been Soundwave's doing!"
"Correct."
[Transformers G1 OST - The Ark]
As if on cue, the Decepticon communications officer transformed in front of the captive Autobot, having been waiting in his cassette player form the entire time. He stood in front of Bumblebee as Rumble, Frenzy, and the other cassette tapes gathered around.
"You are at the bottom of the island called Arzenal," Soundwave explained. "Do not bother moving. The tension in the chains will be sufficient to keep you from moving, and cannot be broken by your own strength. You will also be unable to contact Optimus Prime. I have sabotaged your communication systems.
"When did you get here? I didn't see you with Starscream's forces when they attacked."
"Negative. My arrival at Arzenal predates Starscream's."
"Really? Then that means… that tape player!" It came as a surprise to Bumblebee. Despite what Soundwave's alternative form was, the state that the cassette tape player was in when Pamela, Hikaru, and Oliver found it made it seem like it was ancient. He wouldn't have suspected that Soundwave would make himself look broken on purpose. "You must've shown up with Dirge and the others."
"Affirmative. I arrived during the first Decepticon attack."
Several days ago, Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet were the first Decepticon commanders leading an attack on Arzenal with a smaller army than Starscream's. When the dropships first arrived, the Autobots were all unaware that Soundwave was on board one. Before one of them went to pick up Dirge, Soundwave was about to leave Ramjet's dropship.
The doors opened on Ramjet's dropship, Soundwave standing in the opening.
"You're not joining us on the main attack?" Ramjet asked the communications officer.
"Negative," Soundwave answered. "In the event that this results in a failure, I intend to remain at this island undetected. Therefore, I cannot appear on the front lines."
"Fine then. But if you get caught, don't expect us to be able to pick you up so easily."
Soundwave jumped off the dropship and into the water. As Ramjet went to reconvene with Dirge and Thrust, the communications officer made his way around the side of Arzenal. All sorts of things got attached to his body while in the ocean, contributing to the condition he was found in. the Decepticon symbol on his chest couldn't even be seen at the time. Of course, his insides remained unaffected.
"You remained hidden during the entire battle with Dirge and the others," Bumblebee said.
During the entire battle, Soundwave was near Arzenal base, just hiding underneath the landing platforms and the command center. He couldn't go any further since at that point, Salia was in front of the command center and was guarding the base. As the battle pushed forward, he deployed Laserbeak to scout above. Receiving the signal to come up, he climbed onto one of the landing platforms and got to witness the use of the Spacetime Convergence cannon, courtesy of Ange. To say that it was a surprise to Soundwave was an understatement. Even he didn't expect Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet to be wiped out completely.
Rumble, Ravage, Frenzy, and Buzzsaw all ejected themselves at this time. Most of them were staring in surprise, not expecting humans to possess such technology. Ravage was attempting to clean up Soundwave on instinct, pulling a small plastic bag from underneath his foot.
"Woah!" Rumble exclaimed. "Who knew humans had that kind of firepower?!"
"I can't believe it," Frenzy said. "They just wiped out all those Decepticons! It doesn't look like there's even servos left of them."
"Minicons assemble," Soundwave said, looking down at Ravage. "We will be continuing with our plan."
While the base was empty, Soundwave put his plan into motion. Using the bag Ravage found, he transformed into his alt form, along with all the minicons except Rumble. The remaining minicon put Soundwave and the others into the plastic bag and ran over to a pile of rubble in the hangar. Rumble put the plastic bag somewhere that made it look like it was naturally part of the scrap pile, and then transformed into a tape himself, completing the disguise.
"Huh? What's this?"
And the disguise worked perfectly. Pamela, Hikaru, and Oliver had no idea that what they found was a Decepticon, and everyone else treated Soundwave as if he was just a machine. The Decepticon communications officer went unnoticed in Arzenal by Autobots, Amuro, and Norma alike. All up until when he decided to reveal himself.
This was the last thing Bumblebee expected, but he didn't let that plague his mind forever. "Ah, I'll think about that later. That's not important. What did you do to Momoka and the others? Are they alright?"
"The humans are still in one piece," Soundwave replied. "However, do not expect them to provide you any assistance."
"What do you mean?"
"I intend to use this island for my own agendas. The humans here will serve as workers as I prepare this place to suit my purposes."
"What makes you think the Norma will just work with you? You're a Decepticon after all."
"They have already chosen to side with my cause."
Soundwave gestured to the small doorway near Bumblebee's feet. When the Autobot looked down, Momoka, Hikaru, Oliver, and Zhao Mei walked out.
"Girls!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Get away from Soundwave, he's dangerous-" He quickly realized they weren't listening. "Uh… Girls?"
None of them said a word to Bumblebee.
"These four have already given me their allegiance," Soundwave stated. "They will follow my orders without question." Soundwave gestures commandingly. "Salute."
As ordered, the four girls saluted.
"Oh no…" Bumblebee said. "What's gotten into them…?"
"Aw don't feel bad, Autobot," Rumble laughed, walking over with Frenzy and Mei. "How about we give you a nice present to cheer you up?"
The two minicons and Mei were lifted up by Soundwave and planted a device on Bumblebee's chest. He wasn't sure what it was though it had a familiar shape. It appeared to be made out of materials taken from Hilda's Glaive.
"What's this?" the Autobot asked.
"A makeshift Thermal Detpak," Soundwave answered. "The materials in this base were enough to create a similar device that will fit the same purpose."
"Oh, that's not good…"
Zhao Mei fiddled around with a few things inside the thermal detpak, arming it as Frenzy then activated it. The device began beeping. Soundwave sat the three down, Mei walking over to where the other girls stood.
"Within twelve hours, this device will detonate," Soundwave said. "You will be destroyed along with it. Use the given time to mentally accept your coming death." The Decepticon turned around and started walking away. Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage transformed, returning to Soundwave's chest as the Decepticon prepared to fly up.
"Just what are you after, Soundwave?" Bumblebee asked. "Is it Megatron?"
"My goals do not concern you." Soundwave looks at the girls. "Return to your duties."
The four saluted and started walking inside.
"Wait, girls!" Bumblebee exclaimed. They all stopped. "Come on, don't let Soundwave control you like that. I know you're still in there! Snap out of it!" The girls didn't say anything. "Come on, say something! Anything!"
Soundwave didn't make any moves as Bumblebee talked. The girls acted in unison and pointed at Bumblebee. What they said next only made the Autobot feel worse;
"Soundwave, superior. Autobot, inferior."
With that, Momoka, Hikaru, Oliver, and Zhao Mei all walked inside. Soundwave let out an eerie laugh as he flew away from Bumblebee, leaving the Autobot to meet his fate in less than twelve hours.
"Oh man…" he said. "I hope Optimus and the others are at least having a better night…"
[Gundam Musou 2 OST - The Other Side of Planet]
05:17… 05:16… 05:15… 05:14…
The team at the warship weren't having any better luck. With the threat of an explosion less than six minutes away, they were scrambling to find their way to the engine room. Jetfire and Slipstream were the only ones there, and the unknown robots had them pinned down. Jetfire couldn't risk firing, less one stray shot triggers an explosion and kills them all. Slipstream had to be careful with sniper fire as well. But with the way she was pinned down, she wouldn't get a chance to fire. Their cover was almost destroyed as well.
"I'm going for it," Jetfire said, getting his swords ready. "Cover me."
"You'll get yourself killed," Slipstream replied.
"We've got almost less than five minutes to put a stop to this, or else we will ALL get killed."
Jetfire ran out of cover with his swords in hand, making the robotic soldiers focus on him. Slipstream sighed and cloaked herself. She moved from behind cover to snipe off one of their heads, Jetfire cutting that soldier to shreds while Slipstream picked another hiding spot. One by one, Jetfire started cutting down enemies, regardless of the amount of gunshots he was taking. Slipstream provided support from several angles. With a last minute attack, they were starting to reduce enemy numbers, though Jetfire was taking a significant amount of damage in the process. By the time the clock reached five minutes, only seven enemies remained.
05:02… 05:01… 05:00…
"Five minutes has passed. Carrying out the next phase of the mission."
Suddenly, one of the robotic soldiers turned around and aimed its weapon at the bomb. Jetfire, realized what they were trying to do, and quickly sliced off the soldier's arms before decapitating it. Another one tried the same maneuver, but had its head blown off by Slipstream.
"And I thought you were crazy for rushing out there," the seeker said.
The remaining five robots started to lift up their weapons and do the same thing. The closest one to Jetfire was sliced apart instantly, the Autobot running over to the other four. Just as one was about to fire, Jetfire ran over and grabbed its arm, forcing the soldier to shoot away from the bomb before disarming it and killing it. Two more were aimed and ready, but were silenced as Slipstream fired her charge rifle, shooting off their heads without issue. However, one of them spun around before falling, and fired a few shots in the Decepticon's direction. Slipstream narrowly avoided them, but was thrown off balance as one managed to scrape the left side of her abdomen. The final one was about to pull the trigger, but was taken down as Jetfire threw one of his swords at it, splitting the robotic soldier in half. Before the two knew it, all of their foes had been taken down at the last second. Slipstream got back up and walked over to the bomb, disarming her rifle.
"Suicidal pieces of scrap," she groaned. "That's all of them though."
"They were willing to detonate the fuel tank themselves if it meant we wouldn't survive," Jetfire said before activating his comms. "Optimus, can you hear me? The situation in the engine room has calmed down, but the bomb is still active."
"We've run into a problem of our own at the bridge," Optimus responded. "Cliffjumper is searching for the path to the engine room. Can you search for a way to manually shut down the device from there?"
"I'll see what I can do. I can start by checking the bomb's control panel and… and…"
THUD
"Jetfire? Jetfire!"
The Autobot flyer started to succumb to his wounds and collapsed to the ground. Slipstream kneeled down.
"Hey come on, this ain't the time to let a bunch of bullets do you in!" she shouted. "You gotta be kidding me…" Slipstream hacked into Jetfire's comm and used it to alter her own, placing herself on an Autobot frequency. "Optimus Prime, do you read? This is Slipstream."
"A Decpeticon?"
"I'm only doing this cause I don't have enough time to get myself out of here safely. Jetfire's taken too much damage trying to save you, and he's offline. I'm using this channel to send something to you. Tell me that you can make use of this."
Back in the bridge, Optimus wasn't sure if it was a good move to trust Slipstream, but he could confirm that Jetfire wasn't dead, and this wasn't the time to ask a lot of questions. He nodded his head and responded to Slipstream. "Proceed."
The Decepticon began sending over whatever data she had on her, believing it to be more useful to the Autobots than to her. As Optimus received it, he appeared surprised at what Slipstream was sending him.
"This is…" he said, before sending the same Wheeljack. "Wheeljack, are you able to use any of this to save us?"
As Wheeljack received the same data, he was pleasantly surprised as well. "No way… This is a full set of information on everything about this warship! If I remember from what I saw on the computer, the device used to destroy the ship was built in. I should be able to determine whether or not we can turn it off manually! Hey, see if we can't get one of these monitors back online! That'd make things a lot easier."
The remaining Autobot grunts and Wheeljack all took a look at the least damaged monitor. It took them a few seconds, but they got it to the point where they could see something. Wheeljack hooked himself to the monitor and let the Autobots take a good look at all of the information as well. The monitor, while cracked, was showing the engine room, specifically the configuration for the fuel lines.
"Right here," Wheeljack said. "It is built in, and there's a function to disarm it in case something happens!"
"Don't just sit there and tell me all of this," Slipstream said. "Tell me what I need to do already."
"Alright, Slipstream, listen carefully…"
"I've sorted through the data myself and managed to create a map with the route to the engine room," Optimus said as he contacted another Autobot. "Cliffjumper, I'm forwarding a map to you. Time is of the essence."
"I read you, Optimus!"
The Autobot in question suddenly made a sharp U-turn. With the map provided by Optimus, he rolled out towards the engine room, allies in tow.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Pamela uttered.
In another area, both Jazz and the Villkiss started to come online. The Autobot was the first up, helping Ange's Ragna-mail afterwards.
"All forces within the warship," Optimus contacted everyone else. "The probability that we can remove the bomb has grown. I am sending over the coordinates to the engine room as we speak. Everyone's assistance is necessary. Furthermore, be on guard. I believe one enemy may still remain inside this warship, and they have the technology to cloak themselves and hide their presence on sensors."
"We got more problems than just that Optimus," Jazz responded via comms. The Villkiss transformed and went to aid Sideswipe immediately. "It's Sideswipe. Something's after the dropship, and they've got him surrounded in the skies! They really don't want any of us to leave this place alive."
"I see. I cannot afford to abandon Sideswipe while he's in danger. Jazz, you and Ange must rescue him. If we cannot afford to stop this detonation, then the three of you must escape to Arzenal immediately."
Jazz transformed and rolled out. "No way it'll come to that. We got you as our leader, so I know we're all leaving out of here together!"
03:40… 03:39… 03:38… 03:37…
The situation in the sies was constantly getting worse and worse for Sideswipe. His piloting skills kept him and the dropship alive and minimized damage as much as possible, but the cannons were taken out, the sides were riddled with several holes through the doors, and the number of foes coming in only seemed to be increasing. Ange attempted to break through the unknown force and get to Sideswipe's side. The number of mech suits for her to transform to Assault Mode and engage them first, blocking her pathway.
"Just what is their deal?!" she exclaimed. "Are they some secret organization that's trying to stay in the shadows? Is that why they want to wipe us all out?!"
Jazz on the other hand, was trying to use the multitude of enemies to his advantage. He grappled onto one after the other, trying to get an opportunity to latch onto the dropship. He shot down every mech suit as he jumped off them. Even with this process, some of the soldiers kept knocking away his grappling hook, nearly making him fall. As he tried to latch onto another, one of the mech suits crashed into him and tried to drag him back to the ground.
"You're not going to get any closer to that ship!" The soldier inside shouted. "Why can't all of you just die and make this easier for us?!"
"That's a big order there, I don't think I'll be able to oblige," Jazz replied, flipping his and the soldier's positions.
"What the-?!"
"Later!"
Jazz let go of the mech suit and watched as the distance between them increased. He fired his photon rifle straight through its chest, blowing it up. He latched onto the nearest mech once again, and started climbing back up.
"Sideswipe, you still hanging in there?" Jazz asked over comms.
"I sure am," Sideswiped replied. "But I don't know if the dropship can keep this up much longer."
"Hang in there. Ange and I are on our way."
The Villkiss flew next to Jazz. "We're not going to get up there if we don't move together." Ange said.
"I was thinking the same thing."
As Jazz grappled further up into the crowd of soldiers, Villkiss flew through with its sword, and started slicing apart all of those that Jazz wasn't targeting, trying to clear a path. When the mech suits started firing back and was too much for Villkiss, Jazz returned fire as well. To the unknown group, Ange and Jazz grouping up just made them an easier target to focus on. Sideswipe could see this from the dropship's windows. He descended in the ship and slammed into several enemies, destroying them. As he passed by the two, Jazz leaped off the mech he was on, destroying it and latching onto the dropship, the Villkiss trying to stay in proximity. Suddenly, two more soldiers latched onto the Villkiss and activated their thrusters, trying to push the Ragna-mail down to the ground.
"Dammit, get off me!" Ange shouted.
Jazz was trying to target the soldiers around the Villkiss, but they descended so fast that he could fire in time. Several shots came from behind him, barely missing as he returned fire and destroyed three machines. Another one fired at him, but instead hit his grappling hook. Jazz was detached from the dropship, and was left to fall back to the ground.
"Well this ain't good!" he exclaimed.
"Jazz! Hang on!" Sideswipe called out.
He tried to look for an opportunity, but Sideswipe couldn't find a chance to get close to help Jazz, and could only watch the Autobot fall. Suddenly there was a loud explosion from behind as one of the engines was starting to give out. Smoke was coming out of it as well.
"At this point, the best I can manage is a controlled crash…"
Several of the unidentified machines gathered together as the pilots were watching the dropship start to descend.
"It's on its last legs, men," one of the soldiers said. "Gun that ship down, and then wipe out anyone else wh-"
The soldier wasn't given the chance to finish his statement before a stray beam shot came out of nowhere. It went straight through his machine, destroying it and killing him in the process. Other soldiers started to turn around, and two more got shot down in the process.
What the hell?!" one of them shouted.
[Gundam Musou 2 OST - Vertical Updraft]
In the distance, another figure was approaching at alarming speeds. A new mobile suit had appeared out of nowhere and joined the battle. It's blue and grey paint job was plain for all to see, the letters "MZ" noticeable on the left shoulder. It accelerated to the battle zone while riding a base jabber, using a shield similar to Gundam Mk II's for defense. The mobile suit had a mega beam rifle aimed at the groups of unknown soldiers. Firing it, another unknown machine was shot down with ease. The remaining machines fired on the mobile suit, but missed due to its speed.
"Enemy reinforcements?!" a soldier exclaimed. "Where did it come from?!"
"It's too fast!" another shouted. "I can't-"
Another machine was shot down by the mobile suit. Several of the unidentified mechs started chasing the mobile suit, the pilot inside giving them all a run for their money. It dodged all of their shots with ease while on top of the base jabber. Suddenly, the mobile suit let go of the base jabber and turned around.
"What's it doing-Uh-aaAA-!"
One after the other, several machines were being gunned down by the mobile suit's beam rifle. Activating its thrusters, it flew down and caught its base jabber, activating it and flying off to narrowly avoid more gunshots. The mobile suit circled around and faced a squad of three soldiers, opening fire and shooting down all but one of them.
"Tch…!" The pilot inside the unknown machine grunted.
The mobile suit and unknown mech entered in a quick dogfight with one another, both pilots exchanging fire as they flew around the falling Autobot dropship.
"I don't know who the new guy is," Sideswipe said to himself. "But good thing they showed up.
The Autobot was able to focus less on the enemies around the dropship and more on controlling his crash landing. As the two pilots continued fighting, more unknown mechs came and fired on the mobile suit. Its pilot drifted to the side and opened fire on the machines, shooting down several before they split up. The mobile suit's head looked around, as if the pilot inside was searching for the unknown machine that had a skilled pilot.
"Below you."
Suddenly, said mech flew underneath the base jabber and armed itself with a wrist blade. It dragged its blade across the center of the base jabber, causing it to malfunction and stop. The mobile suit activated its thrusters and hoped off, and then kicked the base jabber towards another machine. The pilot inside started to panic and open fire, but the base jabber kept falling towards it.
"No-No no-aaAAGH-"
It crashed into the unidentified mech, and then into a second one. Both mechs and the base jabber exploded. The mobile suit armed its shield and fired on the skilled machine, failing to take it out but shooting down several others in the process.
"They're too good…" the skilled pilot thought aloud as she kept firing on the mobile suit.
"I'll stop you!" Another mech came behind the mobile suit, trying to attack it from behind with a similar wrist blade. However, it was quickly silenced as a beam shot came from below. The mobile suit turned around as the Villkiss flew up past it. Ange transformed her Ragna-mail into Assault Mode, using the Villkiss' sword to slice apart the machines.
"That one's back up too!" a soldier shouted.
"There's not that many of them!" another exclaimed. "We should be getting overrun by a couple of-GAAH!"
Just like that, the mobile suit shot down another foe. The skilled pilot rushed in with her mech, wrist blade drawn. It slashed diagonally and cut the mobile suit's shield in two. The pilot threw its shield away and strafed back. The mobile suit ejected a beam saber from its right side and ignited it. It flew after the unknown machine and cut its wrist blade off without issue. The pilot tried to put distance between herself and the mobile suit and opened fire, other soldiers joining in. two of them were shot down by both the mobile suit and the Villkiss at the same time. The mobile suit tried to rush the unknown mech with its beam saber, but the girl inside stopped it and grabbed its wrists with her own mech.
"This is getting out of hand!" one of the soldiers yelled. "We've lost too many men and too many Hummingbirds!" His machine suddenly transformed and started flying away from the battle zone. "Retreat! We can't handle this situation anymore!"
He's right," the skilled girl said. Her machine kicked the mobile suit away and transformed. "We have to hope the detonation happens soon."
The unidentified forces started transforming and flying away one after another. Villkiss and the unknown mobile suit were floating in the sky, watching them. Ange was breathing heavily and sighed. "Finally…"
Both machines turned to face each other, but nobody made any other movements.
The pilot inside of the mobile suit sighed as well. Their figure was also one of a woman's. She reached up and took off her helmet, letting her lavender hair flow out.
"Talk about a heck of a night." she said with a slightly annoyed tone.
01:15… 01:14… 01:13… 01:12…
[Gundam Musou 2 OST - Target]
The bomb's timer continued to countdown towards zero as Slipstream kept following Wheeljack's instructions. The bomb's cover had been removed and several wiring was exposed, but none of them that led towards the inside of the fuel tank were cut. Slipstream was fiddling with several of them and cutting others, all at Wheeljack's orders.
"We've only got about a minute left, Autobot," Slipstream said, holding the side of the bomb panel. "Better hope this works."
"Any security measures should be usable now from the terminal," Wheeljack replied. "I've sent you the security key, now it's all on you. Once you activate the security system-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got the gist of it the first time." Slipstream jammed her sharp fingers into the side of the panel, revealing a keypad underneath the timer. With her right hand, she started typing in the code given to her earlier.
DISARMAMENT PROCEDURES ENGAGED. PLEASE PROCEED TO YOUR DESIGNATED STATIONS.
The Decepticon stepped back and looked around as three levers rose up out of the ground, all in a row and spaced out from each other.
"There should have been a lever that you can pull now," Wheeljack said. "Do that, and it'll shut down the bomb, according to what I'm reading."
"Yeah, there's a huge problem with that," Slipstream replied, walking to one of the levers. "There's three of them. And I can't reach all of them."
"Three? That doesn't seem right."
Slipstream pulled down on the first lever. When it got to a certain point, it got stuck. She hadn't pulled it down all the way, but it wouldn't budge anymore. Looking over at the other three levers, she saw that they all moved with her, and stopped at the same place.
"So that's how it is," she said, realizing what the problem was."There's three levers, but they're all hooked up to the same system. But they need three people to use. Cause I'm straining myself trying to pull it down by myself!"
As if fate sent her a solution to this situation, Cliffjumper drove straight into the engine room. The Autobot skid to a stop before transforming and rolling, holding Amuro and Pamela in his hand before setting them down.
"I'm here!" Cliffjumper exclaimed. "What's the-Slipstream?!"
"Don't ask," Slipstream said. "Get up here and pull down those two levers before we all lose our lives!"
Cliffjumper ran over to the levers.
"Oh my goodness, Jetfire!" Pamela exclaimed, she and Amuro running over to the unconscious Autobot.
"What happened to him?" Amuro asked.
"He saved all our hides, that's what happened," Slipstream muttered.
Cliffjumper grabbed the second lever. Suddenly, Slipstream was able to pull down again, and did so in unison with Cliffjumper. The lever hit a second point where it wouldn't go any further.
"It's not… budging…!" Cliffjumper said, straining.
"I know!" Slipstream exclaimed. "Reach for the other lever! We have to pull down all three at once!"
00:30… 00:29… 00:28…
Cliffjumper tried to grab the other lever. He struggled, and realized that his arms were too short to reach. He'd have to let go to try and reach it. The moment he did, the levers started going back up, and Slipstream couldn't stop them.
"Don't let go!"
"Scrap, I can't reach it…! My arms are too short…!"
'Hang on to the levers," Optimus said over comms. "I'm on my way!"
"We've only got thirty seconds left, Optimus. You'll never make it!"
Outside, Jazz and Sideswipe were listening to the situation from inside the dropship. Ange could hear it too as the Villkiss float in the sky with the unknown mobile suit.
00:22… 00:21… 00:20…
"The bridge is too far away," Wheeljack said, demoralized. "None of us can make it in time…"
"Jetfire, wake up, please!" Pamela exclaimed.
"We're not big enough to pull it down," Amuro said. "You have to get up!"
"There's gotta be something we can do, isn't there?" Jazz asked.
"All that I can do is hope that I am on time…" Optimus answered.
00:17… 00:16… 00:15…
"This is not how I thought I'd go out…" Slipstream sighed.
"This can't be the end right guys?" Sideswipe asked, trying to have some sliver of hope. "Guys?"
"I think this is it, Sideswipe," Cliffjumper replied. "We don't have time to come up with another plan."
"It can't…" Ange clenched her fist inside the Villkiss. All of a sudden, her ring began glowing again. "It won't…!"
Suddenly the Villkiss' color changed from white to blue. The unknown mobile suit drifted away slowly as the Ragna-mail turned around. Suddenly, Villkiss teleported out of sight.
00:10… 00:09…
"Come on… I can do this…!" Cliffjumper was desperately still trying to grab onto the last lever. Try as he might, he just wasn't long enough.
00:08… 00:07…
"Jetfire, please!" Pamela kept slamming her fists on Jetfire's chest, vainly hoping that he'd wake up and get to the lever in time. Tears poured down her cheek as she hyperventilated in fear. Amuro didn't say anything, but closed his eyes and balled up his fist as he sat down.
"…Huh?"
00:06…
He suddenly looked up as something materialized into the engine room. Before their eyes, the Villkiss teleported into the room next to them. As its feet landed, the Ragna-mail skid against the ground towards the lever, using the floor to try and slow down before it crashed.
"Ange?!" Amuro exclaimed.
00:05…
"It WON'T end here!"
00:04…
Villkiss extended out its hand towards the lever as it almost came to a complete stop. The Ragna-mail stopped just in front of the lever and grabbed on.
"PULL!"
00:03…
With all of their strength, Slipstream, Cliffjumper, and Ange yanked the three levers down together until they reached the bottom.
00:02…
A loud whirring sound was heard as everyone closed their eyes out of fear…
00:01…
00:00!
…That should have been it. Had the timer kept going, two seconds would have passed. The warship should have begun to explode, killing all of them in the process and erasing any evidence of its existence. Everyone who was inside the warship had their eyes shut. Amuro was the first to open his, and behold…
00:02.
Two seconds. The timer displayed two seconds remaining after all this time. It didn't count down, it didn't count up. It didn't even blink. It just stopped.
"They did it…" He uttered.
Pamela, Ange, Cliffjumper, Slipstream, everyone started opening their eyes. Those in the engine room saw the timer had stopped. Those everywhere saw that they were still alive. But, all of the tension left their bodies when they heard the following;
DISARMAMENT PROCEDURES COMPLETED. DETONATION SEQUENCE DISENGAGED. AUTOMATICALLY UNLATCHING DETONATOR FROM FUEL TANKS. PLEASE, TAKE CAUTION WHEN DISPOSING OF THE-
The sound of a robotic voice letting them know they succeeded. The Villkiss' hatch opened up as Ange was fanning herself while breathing loudly. Cliffjumper and Slipstream practically collapsed.
"Shit, I feel like I could faint at any time…" Ange said quietly.
"Whew. Right on time, Ange!" Cliffjumper said, opening his comms. "Autobots, do you read me? The bomb has been disarmed. The ship's safe!"
Wheeljack and the remaining soldiers on the bridge all cheered. Optimus stopped driving and transformed to robot mode. Though a mask covered his face, it felt as if the Autobot leader was smiling at the good news. Jazz and Sideswipe high fived each other to celebrate the good.
"Alright!" Sideswipe exclaimed.
"I knew they'd pull through!" Jazz said, stepping outside. "Hey, Ange! Did you hear?"
At that point, the Autobot noticed that the Villkiss wasn't above them. The mobile suit took off a moment ago as well.
"Wait… Where'd Ange go?" Jazz wondered.
