Chapter 22 – Awaken The Nemesis
"Megatron!" Skyfire shouts as he spots the leader walking by. "Where is Starscream? I must talk to him."
The leader gives a sigh of annoyance and pushes him out of the way.
"With Thundercracker on the next level. Why don't you make yourself useful and help him then?"
"I shall, there is much I need to discuss with him. Thank you my fellow Decepticon." The massive robot smiles.
Megatron puts his hand on the giant's chest as he begins to head off. Giving him a disapproving glare, the Decepticon leader scowls at him.
"I grow tired of your lack of respect for the chain of command, Skyfire. I am Megatron your leader…you will address me with greater respect then what you've just shown. Not like some common oaf that is lower in rank! If you ever talk to me like that again…I will make an example of you in front of all the others! Is that understood?"
Skyfire pauses as he notices the dead seriousness within the robot's eyes. He gives a respectful nod and quivers in his answer back to him.
"Forgive me, Sir. I meant no disrespect at all. I shall make a note of it from this moment on."
Tapping on Skyfire's Decepticon emblem that sits clearly on his chest, Megatron continues to glare at him with anger.
"See that you do. Now stop loitering around the ship and go help set up the forward cannons…GO!"
The giant robot bows to him and scurries quickly to his post, Megatron shakes his head and returns to proceed down the corridor.
•••••••••••••••••••••••
Outside of the ship, down at the base of the hull sticking out of the snow and ice of the frozen tundra, a pair of black robotic hands digs out of the cold surface. As they retreat back down into the hole, a red and silver head comes popping out gazing at the massive ship in front.
"Some plan this is." Cliffjumper scoffs. "They attack from inside and I've got to scale the hull in plain view. Why do I always have to be the distraction?"
The red robot pulls himself out of ice and rubs his hands as if he can feel the frost-filled air nipping at them. He soon retracts them inside his arms and a pair of multi-jointed suction cups slide out. Placing them carefully on the side of the aged armor plating, Cliffjumper begins to use them as he climbs up the ship in a progressive slow manner. The weakened metal creaks as he scales upward, the weight of his body and warmth of his suction devices makes the hull skin to shake with each touch. Cliffjumper himself seems to notice this and gives a worried look as he dims his eyes.
"Easy Cliffjumper ol' pal…" He says to himself. "It's one small climb for Autobots….one massive fall to the ground if I screw up."
The little robot continues to climb up the side of the Nemesis as the wind howls away with the crisp cool air.
••••••••••••••••••••••
Optimus Prime notices Cliffjumper as he zooms in with his blue eyes. Inside his vision, the light blue visual shows calculations of Cliffjumper's rate of ascension, the heat of his body and the projected stats of his possibility of reaching the top undetected. The numbers are varied and displayed in the Cybertronian text. Alien language that any human might not understand, but to the Transformers, the numbers and symbols are prediction un-favorable results.
"What's that fool doing Optimus?" Ironhide grumbles near the leader. "He'll be spotted for sure going up like that."
"I think that's the idea Ironhide." The Autobot leader says as he turns off his eye displays. "They're using him as a means of bait. Probably so they can get through the ship undetected."
"It's a crazy trick Prime. The Decepticons won't fall for it."
"Don't be so sure. They probably know we're here already and just waiting for us to make a move."
As the three lay down behind a snowdrift close to the vessel, a roaring sound of engines echoes in the distance.
"Uh oh." Sideswipe says as he directs his eyes to the noise. "Looks like re-enforcements are coming."
Prime and Ironhide turn to look up and see Skywarp returning quickly with some Constructicons flying beside him in robot mode. The Autobot leader notices that it's not the entire group of the green menaces. And peers his eyes in thought as he watches them approach the Nemesis.
"Dang." Ironhide slams his fist. "I thought we took out those son's 'o bitches for good."
"I guess not Ironhide." Prime admits. "But we may have crippled their means of forming Devastator. Not all of them are present. We should be grateful for that at least."
The Decepticons fly past overhead as the Autobots all keep low and try to remain out of sight from the group flying in. Prime lifts his head up to make sure all of the others are out of line of sight, and then watches Cliffjumper keeping still as he too sees them coming closer. Optimus noticed that the little robot's body still had some snow covered on his back, the frost wind had also coated his metal to a dull look; it might be enough to fool the Decepticons from spotting him on the side of the ship.
"Don't move Cliffjumper." Prime whispers to himself. "Don't move…keep absolutely still."
The Deceptions were in too much of a rush to notice the small snow covered robot, even as they passed he looked blended into the ship's frost covered hull. Skywarp and the others didn't know the Autobots were around, nor that there'd be one climbing up the side of the massive ship. Cliffjumper was a mere speck on the grand vessel. Skywarp transformed into his robot mode and the rest followed him in to the torn out hole on the side. The little red Autobot let out a sigh of relief, as too did Optimus Prime and the others watching in horror.
"That is one lucky little Mo'Fo." Blaster smirks to Inferno and Red Alert, as they keep low with snow cover over top of them.
"Mo'Fo? Is that another one of those crazy human expressions? What does it mean Blaster?" Red Alert nervously asks.
Inferno just chuckles and playfully throws more snow on top of Red Alert.
"Just means he's ok. Now keep down and get ready for Prime's signal."
The three stop talking as they keep their eyes focused on the ship. Cliffjumper had continued to climb as the threat of being discovered passed.
•••••••••••••••••••••••
"Megatron!" Skywarp shouts as he and the Constructicons near the bridge.
The leader was facing their way as he walked up to the doors in the corridor.
"I've brought them as you instructed. But…"
"But what?" The leader grimaces.
As he looked past the black and purple colored Decepticon, he could only see Four out of the six standing there.
"I said bring all the Constructions! Does this look like all of them to you!"
"We're what we can spare, Megatron." Hook announces.
Bonecrusher, Scavenger and Scrapper stood beside Hook with their arms folded and nodded in agreement.
"Mixmaster and Long Haul are still trying to repair many of our components to form Devastator."
The angry leader rushed up to the defiant green Construction and began to strangle him with his right hand.
"You mean to tell me that Devastator is not operational! I thought you six were incapable of being destroyed by mere group of Autobots!"
As Hook gasps under the pressure of the leader's hand, Scrapper tries to pull him off and explains further.
"Optimus Prime pushed Devastator on top of the cannon the humans were deploying...it over loaded and caused a chain wide reaction! Please Megatron…at least we took care of the weapon for you!"
The angered silver leader picks up Hook off the ground and throws him against the others.
"FOOLS!" Megatron howls in outrage. "I told you to NOT to destroy that weapon! It was the forward main plasma cannon of this ship! All you had to do was to rip it out of there and THEN deal with the Autobots!"
"But…but…Megatron…" Scrapper continues to stutter as he and the others struggle to stand up again.
"It is disgusting that mere humans were able to defeat you with the help of the Autobots. You…the once unstoppable juggernaut of my Decepticon army. The victors of the Icon city siege, the all mighty Constructicons that turned the tide of our war as they brought Devastator to life!"
Skywarp shakes his head and smirks at them.
"And all it took…was a few humans and some stupid Auto geeks. My how the mighty have fallen huh Megatron?"
Scrapper points at Skywarp and growls.
"We still have the might to kick your hide across this planet and back!"
"We were caught off guard…Megatron…" Hook says as he gets his voice back. "It will not happen again. We promise you."
As the leader continues to glare his red vibrant eyes at them, he changes his posture into a less aggravated stance.
"It best not Hook. For your sakes…it better never happen again at all."
Megatron turns his head to Skywarp with anger still in his eyes. That makes the black jet seeker quickly loose his smirk and stand at attention before him.
"Tell me you at least brought back the Nuclear power cells from those destroyed underwater vessels of Archeville's?"
"Got them right here in my storage compartment Megatron, sir!" Skywarp salutes and points to his back.
"Finally…a soldier that knows his place." The leader grumbles. "Get those down to the engine room and get us back up to full power with them. Take this disgraced lot with you and get it installed…NOW!"
Skywarp nods in compliance and scurries the others to follow him. Hook rubs his throat in pain as he gives one last look to the scowling leader watching them as they leave. Once they were out of sight, Megatron returned to the bridge and walked into the room giving a long sigh. Once the doors close behind him, he activates his arm communicator.
"Soundwave! Tell me we've got something…anything…to get this ship going while the other bring the power cells down there!"
"Affirmative Megatron." The monotone harmonized voice of the Decepticon answers. "Temporary power…Online!"
As soon as he said that, the entire ship begins to rumble with power returning to the ancient circuits. Lights begin to flicker, some computer panels in the room snap to life and a few spark from the surge of energy. Sitting in the middle of the same room, Spike, Sparkplug, Archeville and Chip all look around in amazement as the Nemesis comes back online. Ravage also quickly turns his head to see the instruments flash on and off, the video screens all showing the Decepticon symbol appearing and giving a status of its reboot.
"Oh god." Spike utters under his breath. "This…is bad."
"Magnificent." Archeville smirks. "The greatest weapon ever to come to Earth…is alive once more."
Chip just looks over at where their computers had all been hooked in and keeps an eye on it carefully. He notices that it has flickered and begins to download information instantly. Looking back over at Archeville, he could see why the old man was smiling. This is what he had been longing to happen and thanks to Megatron…it was.
•••••••••••••••••••
Outside the bridge of the Nemesis, peeking around the end corridor adjacent to it, Bumblebee glances quickly around and snaps his head back out of sight.
"The coast is clear."
Leaning up against the wall, all four Autobots give a sigh of relief and huddle together as if they were in a football match.
"Ok everybody." Brawn announces. "This is the scoop. The Decepticons are powering up the ship, we're close to Spike and the others…now is the time to strike!"
"Wait a minute…" Windcharger says harshly at him. "Who elected you leader of this mission? I'm the one that's giving the orders here."
Huffer chuckles at him and points.
"See…not so easy to take charge of someone like this is it? Why don't we just follow my plan instead?"
"Because you ding-a-ling! I'm the one that says what we do!" Windcharger says back in a low gruff voice.
"Your plan got canceled the minute they powered up the ship." Brawn answers back before Huffer says a word. "I say we go with my plan, we just shoot the place up and take on Megs by ourselves."
"No!" Windcharger growls. "We need to signal Prime! To give us cover…"
"Aw, titanium screws to that Windcharger!" Huffer now adds. "We need Cliffjumper to start attacking from his position!"
The three stare each other down.
"Get Megs!" Brawn says.
"Signal Prime!" Windcharger barks back.
"Cliffjumper needs to attack!" Huffer shouts.
Bumblebee had remained calm while they had been bickering, but this was the boiling point moment for him and spoke out.
"ALRIGHT! Here's what we're gonna do! Windcharger signal Optimus Prime to start the diversion, Huffer tell Cliffjumper to begin his attack run on top of the ship and Brawn…once they get those diversions going, we're going in with guns blazing to get Spike and the others out of there!"
All three of them just gawked at the angry yellow Autobot and then looked at each other for a second.
"Now lets get it together Autobots!"
Brawn just smirks and activates his hand weapon. Windcharger and Huffer flip open their arm panels and start to signal the others.
"No need to shout kid…that was the plan all along." Brawn snorts.
"What?" The yellow bot curiously asks.
"Yeah." Huffer says shaking his head. "Keep your voice down...we know what we're doing."
"Sheesh. You young bots really don't know how to keep a low profile." Windcharger sighs.
"But…but…" Bumblebee stutters in confusion.
"Save it kid." Brawn pats his shoulder. "It's time for us to go into action."
Bumblebee continues to be baffled by their words and looks at his weapon. Give a slight shrug and switching on his gun, the little yellow robot gives a sigh.
"I hope I don't go that senile when I'm their age."
••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Cliffjumper finally reaches the top of the ship and sprawls out onto the hull out of breath. As he lays there on the snow covered metal and listens to the wind howl past him, Huffer's voice now pops into his head.
"Team one to lone gun….team one to lone gun…are ya there Cliffy?"
Cliffjumper flips his arm panel open and pushes a button to talk back.
"I told you not to call me that."
"What? Lone gun?" Huffer asks.
"No, Cliffy! Ya rotten son of a…"
"Whatever, whatever!" Huffer interrupts. "Begin you attack on the top…you know what to do."
"Yeah, yeah…" The red Autobot acknowledges as he rises up to his feet. "Take out the cannons…I know."
"Good luck…Cliffy."
The signal snaps off and Cliffjumper balls his fist at his arm communicator.
"I'll Cliffy you…stupid no good…."
The Autobot quickly transforms, his tires convert into a spiked-magnetic hybrid and drives along the long ship as he head for his target.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Team one to Optimus Prime! Team one to Optimus Prime! Begin your diversion…now!"
The Autobot leader nods as he hears Windchargers one-way signal to him and looks at the others lying beside him. With a simple hand gesture, he tells both Ironhide and Sideswipe to crawl out and around their hiding place. As he raises his head up, he scouts the location of where the other Autobots are and brightly flashes his eyes on and off to signal to them as well. Blaster notices his coded flashes and signals back the same way. As too does Prowl as he also answers back only in bright blinking eye patterns.
Prime lowers himself back down and taps his weapon gently.
"For all our sakes…I hope that ship isn't at full power just yet."
As he looks back up, Prowl, Smokescreen and Silverstreak being to leap out of their dug out snow spots and fire upon the ship. Their blasts impact with minimal results; even after all this time, the Nemesis hull is well built, the strikes merely shear off the rusted skin and expose the rest of the thick metal that remains intact. As the three continue to attack it, Optimus Prime watches he notices the other group popping up to aid in the diversion tactic. Bluestreak, Jazz, Hound and Sunstreaker transform and reach the gaping hole on the side of the ship. They quickly revert back into robot mode and shoot inside the exposed vessel.
Ratchet stays close the Autobot leader and points to Cliffjumper high above as he zips along the top to reach the cannons being turned at the others.
"He's not going to reach them in time!" The medical Autobot worries.
"Then we'll just have to be on our feet about it!" The leader shouts over the weapons fire. "Like it or not…we've got to keep them busy while the others rescue Spike and his dad!"
••••••••••••••••••••••
The inside of the Nemesis quakes from each explosive impact from the combined attack from the Autobots. Megatron runs over to the main view screen and activates it to get a fix on their location. The image flutters and flickers at first, not being turned on for nearly over hundred million years, the outer sensors show their age as they struggle to snap back on. Megatron can see them as the ship's monitor flickers endlessly. His enraged scowl shows his dissatisfaction with his troops lack of readiness and punches down on the main intercom button.
"Return fire you mindless dolts! Kill those Autobots!"
"Scanners can't give a pin-point accuracy…we don't have a clear shot!" Rumble answers back over the aged, crackling intercom.
"Just shoot! Shoot! SHOOOOT!" Megatron screams again.
•••••••••••••••
The outer cannons begin to move, only four of the eight dotted along the edge of the ship position themselves and begin to build up power. The ends of the barrels start to glow a bright green hue as the surge of power sounds within them. Jazz and the others look up to see their being pointed at and quickly start running. With a thunderous blast coming out of the massive cannons, the green energy bolts shoot down in a devastating blow. The ice melts and shatters just below the feet of the fleeing Autobot group and causes them all to tossed about like rag dolls.
Prowl dives and recovers his footing quickly as he turns about to get in a few shots at the weapons re-aiming at them.
"They're not at full power! Shoot back! Take them out Autobots!" He screams.
Sunstreaker and Hound manage to get back up and return fire. Both giving a bewildered gaze at the vessel.
"That's not full power?" Sunstreaker nervously shouts back. "You could have fooled me and my ruined waxed hide!"
"Never mind your waxed hide!" Hound barks at him. "If we can't get these offline soon, all of our hides are going to be blasted into atoms!"
•••••••••••••••••
Cliffjumper reaches the cannons and quickly transforms. Taking out his silver weapon out of his unfolding leg compartment, the mini-bot takes a bold leap off of the top of the ship and shoots down at them as he lets out a joyful scream. The few blasts from him and the others manages to jam the one turret from moving, the molten metal quickly solidifies as their hot laser fire and the cool weather combine to immobilize the rotation of it. Cliffjumper lands onto the cannon sticking out and keeps balance on top of it.
"Yeeeehaaaa! Oh yeah! There's the good ol' day again!"