To Maranda Peterson: Darn shame. Bee had a nice life too.
To Seademon: Silas will never leave the dead in peace… but in pieces~ *rim shot*
"At 16:30 hours, a satellite was stolen from a high-security military base. Surveillance shows the Decepticon known as Dreadwing at the scene." Agent Fowler delivered the news, using the computer screens to play back footage of the incident.
"Haven't seen him in a while." Bulkhead thought out loud, pretty much the rest of the team thought the same.
"Dreadwing landed on base in vehicle mode after receiving landing clearance. No doubt someone from inside his vehicle called in it." After all, even a Decepticon wouldn't know the procedures for landing clearance at specific military bases.
Ratchet couldn't believe what the agent was getting at. "A Decepticon paired with a human?" He made the idea sound like it was completely insane.
"And I have a pretty good hunch who. The stolen satellite was project Damocles."
"Invented by Silas." Optimus finished.
Agent Fowler nods. "I guess the former Colonel Bishop wanted it back."
"That doesn't sound right at all. Silas shouldn't even be alive." Bumblebee frown in disbelief.
Arcee shared the same look. "Yeah. I thought Silas was paste?"
"So did I." Even Fowler can't fathom it himself, but the facts are pointing in that direction.
Jazz folds his arms. "That guy is more indestructible that I thought." If dropping the entire underground on him didn't kill him, then what will?
"Agent Fowler," All optics and eyes lands on the medic, "even if he were alive, are you suggesting that Silas has allied MECH with the Deceptions? I highly doubt that Megatron would entertain such an idea!"
"Why not?" Jack chimes in, "The human-bot alliance works for us."
"Most of the time." And there's the sarcastic remark Arcee is known for.
"Maybe he thought since they are techno-organics, it would be beneficial for them to align with humans?" Eject shrugs. The explanation wasn't totally ridiculous.
"It is a possibility, however, slight that may be.." Ratchet remains dubious.
… … … … … … … … … …
Megatron's red optics lit up in enraged bafflement. "Knock Out? What is this ambition?! And why have you brought it here?" He referred to the Decepticon Dreadwing, however, instead of having a spark, his body is infested by a human parasite.
"I am Cylas, as in Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis. I come with a proposition." Cylas began confidently to his techno-organic audience. He said nothing about their unusual appearance to remain on the Warlord's good side
"This is the human who dissected Breakdown," Knock Out growled accusingly. "Please, My Liege, allow me to return the favor." Knock Out summoned a rotary saw for emphasis. Megatron appeared to contemplate the idea.
Cyclas figures he should cut to the chase. "I propose that you not overlook the one asset that provides Optimus Prime an advantage- At least on this world."
Megatron raises an eyebrow. "And that would be?"
"The human factor." A 'native' human Cylas wanted to add, considering the once mechanical giant beings are now human sized, but he needs to stay on Megatron's good side, so he left that out.
"Look around you, Cylas. I command an army from a mighty warship. What could a human possibly offer?"
"I am no ordinary human, and this is no ordinary weapon." Cylas motioned to the briefcase he brought along. Megatron permits him to continue. Cylas explains his project in full; how the satellite's design with is easily able to create a laser to annihilate anything in its path, in other words...
"A threat to anyone, anywhere on the planet." This idea, Megatron started to favor.
"With pinpoint accuracy at a flick of the switch." And there's the icing on the cake.
Although conquering the Earth by preventing human interference isn't on the top of his agenda, Megatron still saw this as a great benefit. Even so, the leader doubt this would come without strings attached. "And what is it that you wish in return?"
"Merely a place at the table." Sincerely replied Cylas.
"My Lord," Knock Out, who was listening to this entire joke, spoke up, "you seriously can't consider his offer. He didn't care who ended up underneath his scalpel and given to recent events, it wasn't wise to have him in the same room as Soundwave when he came aboard." Soundwave was ordered to leave the room for Cylas's safety.
Starscream also agreed to have Cylas aboard is a disgraceful. "Besides, he turned his back on me! Stole my T-cog! I say that filthy traitor gets what he deserves." The entire earth and the ship stopped moving for a second to judge the words the hypocrisy that spilled out of Starscream's mouth. "What? Can't I have standards?"
It wasn't hard to overhear the uncertainty about him, so Cylas needed a way to assure them he would be a great addition. "I only wish to serve and hopefully mend any torn relations in the process by proving my dedication to your cause. Perhaps, in the future, I could aid you for your other little problem?"
"Don't get carried away until I know for certain you won't disappoint me with this satellite." Came a warning from Megatron himself.
… … … … … … … … …
"The Cons may have the satellite, but they can't use it without the interface code," Fowler explains, "The only existing copy is stored on the secured servers at headquarters in colorado."
Optimus nods, understanding what this will entail. "We must keep the code out of Decepticon hands at all costs." He signals the team to ready themselves to the ground bridge.
"It's roll time!" Bulkhead grinned, ready to roll out and kick some tailpipes.
"Right behind ya, Bulk." Wheeljack thought he was part of that team and started to follow Bulkhead.
"Ep, ep!" And Ratchet stopped that attempted really quickly. "I have not yet cleared you for active duty, nor are you ready to roll." Ratchet's audials caught Wheeljack groaning. Looks like he has to sit out on this mission.
Bulkhead tries to reassure his buddy by saying, "This mission will be over like in two seconds. It's not going to worth telling a story about."
Once Optimus lead the group of Autobots- Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen- through the ground bridge, they arrived at their destination. Unfortunately, so were the Vehicons and their weapons. The Autobots quickly took cover behind giant rocks. Vehicons continued to fire to prevent the Autobots from advancing.
"The Decepticons have preceded us. We must secure the command center." Optimus advised the team.
Bulkhead could see his teammates activating their hoverboards. They were designed to attach to an Autobot's back magnetically since they are still made of metal under that flesh. "I doubt we're going to run through all of this, are we?"
"You can try. You've always been pretty fast on your pedes, right?" Arcee throws her hoverboard down and jumps on it. The other Autobots followed suit, firing their blasters as fast as they were going. It is beneficial to use them for missions that require getting to one place quickly. Running is still an option, however, it takes less energy to ride your way to the front via hoverboard.
Anyway, Bulkhead was the last one to hover out, struggling at that.
Smokescreen zooms in, being the flashy show-off that he is, and started blasted vehicons left and right. Even manage to get some off guard by shooting their legs. When one of them tried to get back up, Smokescreen jumped on top of them, hoverboard automatically retracts onto his back and repeatedly punches the vehicon's face.
The rookie notice a light reflecting off of ground beneath. Facing up towards the source, he sees the particle laser aimed right for him! He quickly leaps out of the way.
"Woah," If he'd stayed a moment later, he would have been burnt to a crisp like that poor vehicon.
Optimus looks up at the sky, seeing another incoming laser. "Fall back!"
As the Autobots regroups, fleeing from the deadly beam, Smokescreen fans himself recovering from the amount of heat he was briefly exposed to, then looks at his arm. "So, I think I got a tan from being close to the laser."
"Better a tan than melted." Bumblebee spoke, glad that Smokescreen got away with only that.
… … … … … … …. … … …
:: Ratchet, we require back up! :: Optimus comms to base, :: Can you remotely disable Project Damocles under Agent Fowler's advisement? ::
"On a human-based computer network without my backup? Without Rafael?" Judging by the tone of uncertainness in Ratchet's voice, the answer to Optimus' request was… no.
"Blaster? Aren't you good with computers?" Eject asked.
"Not good enough on a human based network yet." Much in chagrin from a communications officer. "Having to hack a government grade project will take some time to do, and we don't have much of that to waste."
"So, what's the next course of action? The kid that we need is grounded." Fowler pointed out.
Miko hums in thought. "We could have him sneak back into the base through the ground bridge."
"If his mom notices he ditched his room, he would literally be grounded." Jack debunked that idea.
"Well, it's not like you can take a ground bridge to his place," Rosanna curls a piece of her hair with a finger, and then stopped, "can you?" Everyone was considering the idea. And it was considered to not be the worst idea ever.
Right after Jack, Miko, and Agent Fowler crossed the groundbridge to go to Raf's house, Wheeljack was getting increasingly agitated that he couldn't do anything and missing all the excitement. "Doc, you gotta let me in on this."
"So you can be an easier target? You have yet to regain your full range of motion." Ratchet felt like a broken record playing, saying the same thing over and over again to Wheeljack.
"Even the kids are getting some of the action. You can't just expect me to sit back here on my aft."
"We're still here and you don't hear us complaining." Eject waves in, motioning to Rosanna, Blaster, and Jazz. Nonetheless, Wheeljack ignored him.
"The answer is still no." The medic restates.
"Fine. I'm going out for a drive in the Jackhammer since I can't do anything else." Spoken like a true grown mech when he can't get his way.
"Wheeljack, you can't be…" Something clicks in Ratchet's processor. "Actually, that is perfectly fine."
"Wait, you're not going to protest this?" Jazz, who remained in the base, thought his audials were glitching. "He's going to drive into some sort of trouble." No one denied the claim.
"But under my conditions, Wheeljack." There's the catch. This would have been way too easy if there weren't any strings attached.
"Oh, joy..."
… … … … … … … … … … …
In the cover of the Nevada night, a combat aircraft stealthy approaches above the Esquivel's house. Being informed about a hacker messing with the satellite, Cyclas was sent by Megatron to dispose of the nuisance. Preparing a missile, Cylas has the unknowing target in sight. "Good night, Hacker."
A shot went off, however, not at the house. One of Dreadwing's engines took damage from a well-aimed blaster shot from the Jackhammer, having not sensed the aircraft's presence. This forces Cyclas to crash land in a nearby drainage canal.
Shortly after, Blaster drops out of the Jackhammer, landing in the canal where 'Dreadwing' is already in his bipedal mode as if he was waiting for them. Looking at the side, a cavity in the cement indicating where the Con crash landed at.
"Nice shoot, Wheeljack. We got the rest." Jazz commed, standing on Blaster's shoulders as he tagged along for the ride.
:: You better not beat him up too bad. :: Wheeljack's comm cracks in, feeling mighty proud of that shot. :: I still need to get a punch in with him. ::
"You had enough showdowns to last a lifetime. Let us handle it." Blaster lightly chuckled before turning his attention to the rather pristine flier in front of them... Odd. "So, you're Dreadwing? I used to hear tons about you over comm chatter."
"I'm kinda jealous Wheeljack faced the legendary Dreadwing before I did." Jazz will never admit it to the Wrecker. Ever. "After all, your seeker army were always a pain in my neck."
"As you were a pain to my operation," Smugly replied the human in robot skin. "Speaking of, how is your side feeling?"
"How do you know…" From confusion to utter shock, Jazz's eyes widen, realizing the Con in front of him wasn't Dreadwing, but someone even worse. "Fragging pit, you can't be… Silas?"
Cylas was enjoying the reactions, his host and actual body smirking equally. "In the flesh. In a manner of speaking."
"That bishop guy? Him? In Dreadwing's body?" Where does one begin describing every level of wrong this is? Blaster couldn't formulate the words to begin marking off the atrocities.
The special op's face turned in disgust as well. "Oh, that's gross." Jazz named one atrocity that came to mind.
And that's the end of that chapter~
Also… What else was I gonna say? Hmm... HMMMM….. Okay, I forgot. I think it had something to do with something really important happening next chapter, but I don't remember soooo… Was it about Cylas, or was it about Laserbeak, or was it about *mumble mumble* and the *mumble*... Or is that gonna be two chapters from now?
The reason why I'm questioning myself out loud, is because I dunno if I wanna update the last and final chapter of part 20 on the next chapter, OR have like a little deleted scenes chapter where I post some scenes from this story that I really wanted to include.
Because trust me guys, you will not be prepared of what chapter 20 part 3 is going to have. Some of you guys will hate me, some of you may not. Some of you even may question my sanity.
Ha, jokes on you. I'm as sane as Blitzwing.
Anyway… What I'm trying to say is… are you guys are more interested in how chapter 20 is going to end, or curious about scenes or ideas that I've left out while writing this story? The choice is ya'lls. There is no drawback because I'm gonna post both of them in either order, but which order?
Welp, leave your thoughts about it in the comments or even message me if you like. Maybe if you're lucky I might add in a scene requested by one of you lovely readers~
Amia out, robutts in.
