Ch. 187
"W-what is all this?" Raf asked with a shaky voice as he gripped tighter onto a digit on Bumblebee's servo.
The yellow mech hummed lowly, saying he didn't know.
Knockout shook off his initial disbelief and gulped, "What this is is a pretty big step in the wrong direction from 'scouting mission'. Not only are these the wrong coordinates but we are totally unequipped to handle this. I say we bail."
"But we can't just bail!" Jack hissed, pointing out at the lab, "This is a tight, well secured location. It's gotta be important. We should do something, anything, to put a hitch in Shockwave's plans and slow him down, maybe even stop him."
The medic sighed, "Jack, I feel you, I get it and I agree... sort of. But two bots and two humans the calvary doesn't make... That's right, right?"
Bumblebee nodded in agreement, buzzing that this was too big an operation for the four of them to handle.
Knockout smiled, "Good, so I am being listened to. Sorry Jack, two bots say 'no'."
Raf grumbled, "And even if we could get a signal out, there's no telling if the rest of the team could get us out of here in time," he pouted, "But it sure would be nice to make Shockwave upset for Starscream..."
Jack smiled meekly, "Hey, it's ok, Raf. We know where this place is. We could come back later and help the Bots mess it up."
The smaller boy smiled back, "Miko would like that."
"So it's settled then," Knockout concluded as he held Jack up closer to his faceplates, "We go out the way we came. Covert, quiet, channeling the 'Cee."
The boy shrugged, "Well if you can manage it, I'd say go for it-"
Jack nearly fell off the red mech's servo when a minor tremor shook the room, forcing the bots to cling to their human companions and the boulders they hid behind. Vehicons scrambled to stabilize equipment and Insecticons roared in concern, stopping pressure leaks in critical tubing while Shockwave diligently remained at his station. After a moment the shaking lessened, rattling the chamber with smaller quakes.
"Commander Shockwave," a Vehicon called out, "that's the sixth quake since we added generator four," he informed him, "This area is inefficient to our needs, the geothermal harvests from the last two generators are causing too many disrup-"
Shockwave only raised a servo to silence the drone before tapping away at his console, "The tremors are within an acceptable range of disruption, soldier. Should they exceed the thirty percent threshold I have calculated as 'minorly devastating' then we shall contact the Nemesis for a full extraction and relocation. For now, they are simply inconveniences."
The Vehicon didn't seem too convinced but he couldn't say anything else. His commanding officer had spoken and he was bound to the orders. The smaller aftershocks settled and everything stilled once more.
Knockout frowned as he slipped back down to the floor to kneel, "Alright, new problems..."
Bumblebee knelt down with him and beeped to ask what was going on.
The children looked concerned.
"They have at least two generators providing power the old fashioned way," he explained, "processed energon being siphoned in manually. But it looks like they've added two more, geothermal absorption generators," the red mech took a moment to smirk, "or G.A.G.s, to increase output without having to consume as much energon rations."
Raf frowned lightly, "Did you just make those names up?"
Knockout scoffed, "Me? I'd never take the opportunity to name something so ridiculously! Besides, don't you think I'd be a little less obvious?"
Jack waved him off, "Ok, ok, so, the absorption generators-"
"Gaaaaags~?" the red mech emphasized.
The boy rolled his eyes, "Whatever they are, wouldn't those be a good thing? You're describing their power supply like it's a bad thing."
Knockout sighed, "True, and in this situation it is. This location is... soft. The ground can't handle two G.A.G.s working simultaneously. Now, this also clearly indicates other problems they're having if they're willing to risk the cave floor collapsing out from under them or causing a chemical explosion in one of these quakes."
Bumblebee hummed, asking what the other problems were.
The red mech set Jack down to gesture better with his servos, "The vats, the equipment. They need every drop of energon feeding those. If they're willing to accept all the risks here, in this location, it means that this may have been a plan remodeled numerous times."
Bumblebee's optics widened and he gasped, bubbling that C.Y.L.A.S. may have been helping with this project.
Knockout frowned in confusion, "C.Y.L.A.S.? Why would he have any of his gross little claws on any of this?"
The scout set Raf beside Jack carefully and cooed and buzzed as quietly as he could. He explained how when he and Starscream were kidnapped together that the human known as 'Silas' had over planned for everything to the point where he boasted to Starscream that he was starting to surpass the seeker's own predictions... even if they weren't really predictions to begin with. Bumblebee hummed that if they were taking such risks in this place, that the current 'C.Y.L.A.S.' had probably advised on the situation... and that this event was supposed to happen before, even if it wasn't supposed to be here.
Knockout nodded and glanced down at Jack to translate, "Bumblebee, that's a lot to take in... but yeah, human Silas over planning with your kidnapping during a predetermined event could easily coincide with this in a similar sense. And if this was an event like before, then his obsessive insight into Scream's 'precognitive' skills may have influenced this thought process... but then where do we go from here? We already agreed to book it."
Bumblebee shook his helm then grumbled, saying they should still go. They weren't prepared for the situation, even if it was an event. The scout peeked carefully over their boulder pile to see a clear area with all the guards looking at the appropriate places. The yellow mech rolled his shoulders and transformed out a blaster, signaling for Knockout to follow.
The red mech pouted as he watched Bumblebee rush back to the tunnel they had just come from, leaving him to scoop up the children and run after him. He disliked having the title of 'sitter' labeling him while the scout got to have all the fun. But he did have the long range weapon...
Bumblebee stopped the group when they came to an intersection, looking down the left path first, then the right. He grumbled.
"We were in a rush," Knockout assured him, "but all tunnels lead somewhere, right? And if Raf's little device starts working again we'll know we're going in the right direction."
Raf nodded in the medic's servo, "I'm keeping an eye on it. Once we have connection, we'll have the map again."
The red mech smiled wide, "See? No pressure. Just pick a direction, we'll walk the trail a while and if it's a no-go, we double back. So, which way?"
Bumblebee hummed and moved right, keeping his chassis low. Knockout followed behind, both humans secure in his grasp, as they scuttled along. Neither mech saw the crevice they had managed to hide in earlier as they walked through the hall, which would have been quickly evident to having chosen the correct path. But Bumblebee pressed on, Knockout still on his peds, on the very slim chance that they simply had to go a bit farther. This was not the case.
"Ok," the red mech sighed, "no crevice, no way. This wasn't the side."
The scout bubbled in upset and turned around, gesturing back and Knockout smiled, "Yep, it's as easy as that. Most of the troops might also be looking for other signs of damage in the equipment after that tremor," he mused, traveling ahead of Bumblebee, "that should give us a pretty thin guard to get around-"
A light shake in the ground silenced Knockout and the red mech's optics widened as he looked around. Bumblebee whirled in surprise, asking if it was another quake, and was only answered by a quick nod from his companion. A loud crash from above made everyone cry out as a ceiling of dirt began to crumble from above them. Chunks fell to the floor in explosions of dust and soil, and Knockout squealed when his optics watered with the invasion of some of the debris. The medic stumbled, unconsciously holding the children close to his chest plate, and felt a hard tackle into his side that sent him to the floor.
"Bumblebee!" Raf and Jack yelled together.
Another loud crash echoed out over a whirl and then there was nothing. Silence.
Knockout sat up slowly with regret, feeling around carefully with the sides of his servos so he could safely set the children down. He heard their feet scuttle off somewhere in front of him and as he vigorously rubbed at his optics to clear them, he could hear Raf beginning to cry as well.
"Bumblebee," he called out, the thuds and rolls of rocks being moved sounding out, "Bumblebee!"
Knockout finally stood as his vision returned, looking in shock at the complete block of the tunnel and the lack of the yellow mech that had come in with them. Raf and Jack were attempting to move the collapse themselves but even with the red mech's help it would have been useless.
Raf wiped his face on his sleeve, hiccuping as his voice began to grow, "Bumblebee!"
Knockout grimaced and moved towards the two boys, unsure of what to say but knowing he had to tell them something. He rested his servo at Raf's back gently as he crouched down, fully preparing himself for the speech he would have to make, when he heard a muffled whistle.
The medic perked up and then smirked, tapping on the rock, "Yes, I can hear you. How thick is this?"
Raf stopped crying to look up at Knockout, who winked at him with a smile then listened carefully once more.
He heard a very soft whirl then the whistle again, causing him to huff, "Great. So we can't just dig ourselves back to a sweet reunion... Plan?"
Bumblebee buzzed from the other side of the rock as loud as he dared, detailing what he could, and Knockout gasped, shaking his helm.
"No," he started, "w-wait, I can't just-"
The buzzing and whirls ceased. There were no more whistles.
Jack held in a breath and sat sorely amongst the rubble, shaking, "So?" he swallowed dryly, "W-what did he say?"
"U... um... He's fine," Knockout murmured, "He says to just double back and head out. He'll find us along the way..."
Raf sat beside Jack, "Well then why are you so upset?"
The red mech stared the two children down and shuddered. He knew he was awful for even having to worry about it, but they were just so... small and fragile. A hard glance at one of them the wrong way could cause massive trauma. He had never personally seen such a thing, but they were organic and unstable. And, based upon what he knew of their internet, they were also... young adults. The most dangerous kind of human.
Knockout whined as he thought about all the 'how-to' guides, all the warning labels associated with these 'youth' beings, the 'angst' moments, and all the other completely factual evidence he had read off many different internet sites. They needed care, attention, discipline, and above all, you had to mask your fear from them. Apparently, they were very adept at smelling it.
"Knockout?" Raf asked, "Are you ok?"
No, the medic was not ok. He had just been thrown into a field that was not his expertise and tasked with a job he was not qualified to handle. Knockout had to find his way out of a hostile cavern, crawling with enemies, dangers at every turn... and Bumblebee had asked him to watch the boys on his own. Alone. And without help.