DISCLAIMER: FOUND ON PREVIOUS CHAPTERS BECAUSE I AM TOO LAZY TO WRITE IT
A/n: Man are my fingers tired! I swear I stayed up all day and night for the last one to get it out by thanksgiving day. Oh well I hope I did not go too overboard with it. Then again it was very entertaining to write lol.
Anyhow here is more Starscream for you and some plot thickeners….
THE LOST CHILDREN OF CYBERTRON
Chapter 15: Approaching Darkness and Aftermath
Starscream could not move. That last fight took out his motor functions, and he could not move an inch. After he killed that Mech; Skywarp had to help him back to his quarters. He could not move to repair himself and that was bad news. Skywarp was very worried now as he placed Starscream on his recharge birth and slowly moved out of the room.
He watched as the silent seeker laid unmoving as he walked towards his quarters.
When he got there his roommates were already lounging around and relaxing after a taxing day of duty. When they saw Skywarp's face they knew something was wrong.
"Hey 'Warp what's eating you?" asked Thrust as he and the other cone heads turned towards the seeker.
"Screamer is not doing so well he can't move at all now," Skywarp said and the activity around the room stopped.
"Are you sure?" asked Thundercracker
"Yeah anymore punishment and he will be offlined permanently," Skywarp said
"We need to get him out," was the words of Octane.
"But how?" asked another seeker this one was Dirge
"We need help to get him out but we need to know someone who won't set off the alarms," said Ramjet.
Just as they were talking there was a knock on the door.
----THE FORTRESS OF DARKMOON----
Galvatron listened with all intents and purposes to his master after praying for a good half a joor. Stepping up from his crouched position he walked towards the communications array. He called for his most trusted servant Sideways.
"You called mighty Galvatron?" he said
"Have the arrangements been made?" he asked
"Everything is set my lord the spawn are awaiting your command and our lord awaits his awakening." Sideways said
Galvatron stood and then addressed the second in command.
"Tell them to head towards the planet known as Earth in the milky way galaxy. There we will destroy the rest of the Autobots and crush the last hope of Primus! The matrix of leadership is the last piece of the spark of Primus. Vector Sigma is already destroyed along with the Allspark now all that remains is the Matrix. We move out to earth and when that last spark is destroyed then at last our master can rule the universe once more!" and with that Sideways vanished into thin air.
"Soon my lord your return will be most glorious," said Galvatron as he marched out to give the orders to the Decepticons and his master's spawn.
----SEEKERS HEADQUARTERS A.K.A. SEEKER'S APPARTMENTS---
It was Astrotrain that opened the door and they were startled to meet the single optic of Shockwave and right behind him Soundwave. Both mechs stood at attention at the doorway and Astrotrain beckoned them in.
"What brings you boys here?" asked Blitzwing
"We are here about a certain seeker you all know," said Shockwave
"What about Starscream?" Thundercracker stated
"I overheard you wanting to get him out is this true?" Shockwave said and they all turned their heads.
"Yeah are you placing us under arrest?" asked Octane suddenly afraid.
"No, we want in and we can get you in and out without word to Galvatron's forces," Soundwave said
"Really how so?" asked Skywarp
"We believe he has an army of Unicron spawn out there in space ready to move," said Shockwave.
"That can't be possible?" Said Thrust as he made in invitation to the two of them to have a seat with some Energon cubes out.
"Sorry we don't have much in the way of Energon," said Thrust.
"It does not matter," replied Shockwave as he took a sip.
"What's important is stopping Galvatron," said Soundwave
"Why?" asked Dirge
"Because we believe he is going to attack Earth," and at that they are all silent
"Earth? As in the planet that Screamer came back from claiming that Megatron is dead?" asked Skywarp
"Exactly and from my readings it is full of life and energy, energy that we need to live but the Autobots and the natives guard that planet fiercely. It will not be easy but Galvatron hopes that by starting a fight he can feed his master and bring him back from the pits," Shockwave explained
"Scrap!" they all said
"Then what does 'Screamer know about this?" asked Thundercracker
"Starscream knew from the start that Megatron was dead, and that Galvatron was the one in the body; why do you think he wanted the throne?" said a new voice and a smaller bot popped out of Soundwave's chassis. It resembled Frenzy a bit except that he was a bit bulkier.
It was none other then Rumble, Frenzy's twin.
"So what's this about Screamer knowing all along?" asked Thrust
"It is simple Starscream knew about Galvatron from day one, and that is why he wanted to take the throne. So that way he knew in some sense that Galvatron wanted to bring Unicron back from the pit." Rumble explained
"So Screamer knew all along and didn't tell us why?" asked Thundercracker
"Would you believe him?" asked Shockwave
"No," was the reply
"Then that is your answer,"
"But how do we get him out?" asked Skywarp
"Soundwave and I will handle security you lot will have to get Starscream out and to earth. Hopefully the Autobots will help if anything." Soundwave said
"How do you know the Autobots will help?" asked Blitzwing
"I don't know but hopefully they will, or else Starscream is going to die," replied Shockwave
They all are silent and then it was Thrust like the idiot that he is who asked.
"Starscream is dying?" he asked
"His functions are no longer working and he needs to get some very extensive repairs if not a complete overhaul," replied Soundwave.
The other mechs turned to each other before Thundercracker turned back.
"If we do get Starscream out of there where would we go to get off planet?" he asked
"I have that covered," said Shockwave and gave them all a folder to download with the information that they needed.
"Now all that awaits is getting Starscream out of prison before it is too late."
---STARSCREAM'S PRISON----
The door opened with a groan and Galvatron stood as menacing as ever. Closing the door behind him he approached the non moving blind mech.
"You think by holding on this long Starscream that you will stand a chance of defeating me?" he said and saw that the Mech was lifeless.
"Look at yourself barely able to function now and soon after one more fight you will be dead how pathetic." He said and kicked the body. The sparks that came from him was amusing to Galvatron as he walked out of the cell.
Starscream remained motionless unable to move due to damages. But his audio receptors picked up every last detail of what Galvatron said and a dark determination burned through Starscream's spark. He needed to get out and he needed repairs badly.
He knows that he needs to get out.
--SEEKERS HEADQUARTERS—
"So let me get this straight you are going to lower the security forces so that way we can sneak in and get Screamer out is that right?" Skywarp said
"That is right I will make sure to cause a disturbance in another sector therefore you will have the advantage of getting Starscream out of his cell and onto the Nemesis. Take that ship and get out, get to Earth, then see if you can contact the Autobots to do something about Starscream." Stated Shockwave.
"I will accompany you," Soundwave said,
"Why?" asked Skywarp
"Because I am being suspected of hiding sparklings for so long because of the cassettes. If they found out the truth I am to be killed for treason," said Soundwave.
"I've suspected that they have already found out and so told Soundwave of my suspicions; thus we must get Starscream and Soundwave to Earth as soon as possible," said Shockwave.
"Soundwave you will have the Nemesis ready for take off is that understood?" he said
"You five will help free the other prisoners and help them to escape to the Nemesis got it?" Shockwave said to Blitzwing, Ramjet, Thrust, Dirge and Octane
"Got it!" they replied
"Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Astrotrain will free Starscream," he said and the three saluted.
"Affirmative," he said and they all saluted the old Decepticon salute before they all ran to get to their positions.
---BACK ON EARTH---
The gang laughed as Kekoa held up the box full of orders from people who wanted to order some multiple orders. He looked at each and every one and luckily for them Frenzy managed to order a whole supply of disks to burn the movie onto DVD. The hacker managed to get a good supply and was burning like mad.
"Wow we could make a lot of money off of this," said Kekoa as he held up another order.
"Hey Sam even placed an order," he said holding up the order form that they had made up for this occasion.
"Witwicky wants an order?" Frenzy said as he burned another copy and placed it in its jewel case and then into the envelope to be shipped out.
Barricade could only watch with amusement as his partner was happily burning copies on the multiple burners that they have for this occasion. The hanger was quickly turning into the little hideout. Marie had to insist that they moved the base to the abandoned bomb shelter that was beneath the Hanger. She even managed to install an air conditioner to make sure that it does not get too hot. Zenith was busy playing video games on the newly installed computer system.
At the moment he and Radon were playing World of Warcraft.
Alex was standing off to the side laughing as she practiced some Kata with Scrappy and Skeeter. Sonic and Stitch were busy helping Frenzy by getting the mail ready to send out. She found it funny as she read what Kekoa was looking at and laughed when Sam requested four disks and the money was in the envelope. Frenzy gladly made the copies and they placed it in the envelopes laughing while someone screamed stating that their character was just killed off.
Laughing the others continued making copies of the DVD they made a lot of money that day as they sent out their orders to the various people. It was surprising that the Principal even ordered a copy for his own entertainment. It soon became apparent that the 'Tranquility High Avengers' as they have been known now struck the worst bullies on campus. Kekoa felt it was a way of paying back every single person that was the victim of Trent's bulling.
It turns out that by the time they got to the last order they were surprised that nearly the entire student population placed an order. That included staff and faculty. The laughing could not stop as they were surprised by the amount of people who ordered. As they loaded the orders into Barricade who was more then happy to deliver them on his nightly patrol the cop was probably enjoying it for the sheer fun of it.
"So what now?" asked Alex
"I don't know maybe hang out with our new friends," Kekoa said shrugging.
"Yeah I bet I heard about you dancing on the damn desks," Alex teased and Kekoa swatted her playfully.
Zenith started to laugh as Kekoa chased Alex around with her laughing, "Kekoa the stud muffin!"
Oh how things are about to change soon
---CYBERTRON---
The dark prison that was the Arena barracks housed dozens of mechs all of them trying to get out as they banged on the doors. Thundercracker, Skywarp and Astrotrain made it to the darkest cells.
"Screamer is in the cell at very end," said Skywarp
"We know that scrapmetal lets just get Screamer out while the others get the rest of the prisoners." Said Astrotrain as they crept silently.
When they got to the door it was still locked.
"What the pit is taking those guys so long?" asked Skywarp
---MEANWHILE---
"Alright here it is just remember what the plan is," said Ramjet as he cocked his gun.
The rest took aim and fired several silent shots at the guards and then ran into the room kicking down the door and shooting the two guards watching the monitors.
"Alright were in," he said and they each broke into the controls hacking into the system.
"Damn why does it have to have a high security clearance!" cursed Thrust
"That is why I am here," said a voice and they looked down at Rumble who appeared from Dirge's cockpit.
"I thought I could help," he said as he leaped onto the council and began to type in commands.
He hacked his way into the mainframe and then got to work. They pulled up several screens and watched as cell doors began to open and prisoners looked confused. The Unicron spawn that stood guarding the prison was also surprised as they suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by prisoners. Rumble managed to also get a text message to all the prisoners to get to the Nemesis and where it was located.
"Good job!" said Blitzwing
"I just doing what I do best," Rumble replied.
---MEANWHILE---
After the guard was overwhelmed by the many Autobot/Decepticon prisoners they made their way towards where Soundwave and the Nemesis were waiting. Thundercracker, Skywarp and Astrotrain made their way towards the cell on the farthest end and blasted it open.
One look at the body told them all the needed to know,
"He is barely holding on his signals are weak," said Astrotrain
"Then let's hurry up and get him out of here!" said Thundercracker.
They ran out as fast as they could with Starscream slumped over the larger Astrotrain's back. The seeker did not move nor say a thing as they rushed out and down the hall. Already plasma blasts were already being exchanged down the hall and they passed by a few bodies here and there. Taking out their guns Thundercracker and Skywarp proceeded towards the rendezvous point. Already they could see the others firing away at some of the guards and leading some prisoners out.
Return fire was already being issued as they fought back. And the alarms were blaring as they headed towards the outer part of the arena.
----DARKMOON----
"What is going on?" yelled Sideways as he stormed into the control room
"Sir, there has been a prison breach in the Arena sector," said one of the Unicronians as he made it appear on the map.
"Are there any other units going to respond?" he said
"Yes sir several groups have been dispatched sir," said the same officer.
"Good where are they heading?" Sideways demanded
"They are heading towards the hanger sir," was the reply
"They are trying to get off planet. Send several fighters there now!" he ordered
"As you wish sir,"
--BACK AT THE PRISON—
Shots were being fired as they speak as the prison refugees boarded the Nemesis. Already Astrotrain has gotten onboard along with the many Autobots and Decepticons that joined the fight as they too raced onboard the Nemesis.
As the last of the passengers boarded Shockwave came running out of one of the main doors and on his tail was none other then Sideways.
Thundercracker seeing this provided cover fire along with Blitzwing and Skywarp. A few Autobots also provided cover fire as they too shot out at the Unicron Spawn that came around the corner. Shockwave was hit from behind as he fell but luck has it that an Autobot managed to catch him and haul him onboard. Closing the hatch Thundercracker screamed on the comm..
"SOUNDWAVE TAKE OFF EVERYONE IS ON BOARD!"
With that they felt the ship begin to rise as Soundwave piloted the ship to take to orbit. Already fighters were scrambling to catch the escaping ship as it took off for space. Soundwave piloted the ship with shields at maximum and many refugees took to the turrets to fire back at the ships. Many larger craft began pursuit as Soundwave broke atmosphere.
Shockwave was already at the bridge with his back still smoking but nothing major was damaged. The triple changer turned towards Soundwave.
"How long before we reach Hyperspace distance?" he asked
"76 Astroseconds," Soundwave said
"Do you have the coordinates?" he said
"Affirmative coordinates were in the ships log," Soundwave replied
"Good go full speed and then activate the hyperdrive," he said and Soundwave did as he was told.
"Approaching Hyperdrive mark," Soundwave said and it was then that some other mechs decided to jump into the chairs of various stations and added their own data.
"On my mark activate Hyperdrive," Shockwave said and it was then that everyone waited at the helm.
"45 Astroseconds till mark," Soundwave said
"Rear shields are down twenty percent," said one of the other mechs.
"22 Astroseconds,"
"concentrate all firepower on rear of ship," Shockwave ordered and several of them made to comply.
"10 Astroseconds,"
"Prepare to engage Hyperdrive," Shockwave announced
"Hyperspace Mark!"
"Activate Hyperdrive now!"
As soon as Shockwave said this the ship launched into Hyperspace. The mass stream of stars that appeared as nothing but lines before a tunnel of light was shown was the last that the Unicronians ever saw as the Nemesis disappeared into the reaches of space.
---AUTOBOT BASE PLANET EARTH---
The mountains behind Tranquility provided the perfect cover for the Autobots to build their base and land their ship the Ark. The ship was landed and buried within the night as many Autobots who responded to Optimus Prime's call some of which were not named for they were low ranking Autobots. But at the moment everything seemed peaceful except for the constant laughter that came from the lounge area.
Optimus Prime at the moment was curious as to why there was so much laughter that came from that area. Walking towards the lounge his mind curious as to what was going on.
When he came around the corner he was shocked to see Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee laughing at the view screen. There was a video of some human that he has seen in the main town of Tranquility being humiliated by various pranks.
"What is going on here?" he asked
"Oh nothing Optimus we are just watching something funny," Sam said as he held up the package.
Optimus however was confused, "What does the humiliation of this human have anything to do with you three?" he asked
"Trent and his goons are the school bullies they love to pick on people so when we went to an assembly a few days ago we found out that he was the victim of a vicious prank." Said Sam
"Actually several vicious pranks," replied Bumblebee.
"And why would you be watching and laughing at his humiliation?" Optimus asked
"Because he deserved it that is why!" Mikaela replied
Optimus watched the screen for a few more minutes finally getting some of the humor in it when his comm. went off.
"Optimus here,"
"Sir we've picked up a Decepticon distress signal just outside the system," replied Blaster the Autobots communications officer
"On my way,"
---DECEPTICON SHIP NEMESIS---
"How long till we reach our destination?" asked Shockwave
They have been traveling nearly three earth weeks since they left Cybertron and at maximum burn. The Nemesis is running out of power and to prove it they had to cut down on some energy stock till they can get to earth.
"We will be in the Earth's Solar System in approximately 3.5 cycles from now," Soundwave said and Shockwave nodded.
He was currently with a bunch of both Autobot and Decepticon Medics working around the clock to keep the most critically wounded alive and functioning. Starscream was the one who took it the worst and is still not responding to anything that both the Constructicons and the other medics are trying to give him. Inhaling in his intake valves he suppressed a sigh.
Struggle as he might Shockwave could not let the hopelessness of the situation get to him. He turned towards the comm. again.
"Soundwave are we in range for any sort of communication possible?" he asked
"Affirmative," was the reply
"Get an Autobot to send a message out to Prime, tell him of our situation and that we require assistance immediately," Shockwave ordered
"As you command Shockwave," was the reply and then silence.
----DECEPTICON SHIP NEMESIS----
"This is Autobot Rattrap calling any Autobot present on planet earth would someone please answer!" was a strange looking Autobot with sort of a strange alt mode.
"This is Autobot Blaster of the Autobot base Ark we read you Rattrap," was the reply
"I am onboard the Decepticon Ship Nemesis and we request an emergency landing point, I repeat we request an emergency landing point!" he said his voice panicking.
"Landing point received land in area 346751 you will be landing in the ocean away from prying human eyes," Ironhide said
"Understood just to warn you there are both Decepticon and Autobot refugees here on this ship wishing to seek refuge with Optimus Prime," Rattrap said.
"Understood Rattrap head towards those coordinates and we will discuss this with Prime," Ironhide replied
"Copy over and out," Rattrap replied.
Rattrap then turned to Shockwave who then turned to Soundwave.
"How far are we from Earth's orbit?" he asked
"We are about seven cycles from Earth's orbit and closing," Soundwave said
"That would take us too long," said Shockwave
"Detecting asteroid field at approximately four cycles from here," Soundwave replied.
"He's right," said another Decepticon one that took the appearance of a spider she was a femme one of the very few around.
Blackarachnia stared at the screen her sharp features watched the screen. She currently was one of those who was on sentry duty and thus made sure they were not followed. Suddenly the screen to her left started beeping.
"Sir we are being haled from earth again," she said
"Rattrap," said Shockwave
"Right," was the reply
"This is Rattrap speaking go ahead," he said
The screen was filled with the face of Optimus Prime as he looked up at the monitor.
"This is Optimus Prime of the Autobots calling the Nemesis I hear you have both Autobot and Decepticon refugees is that correct?" he said
"Yes sir that is true there is refugees from both factions onboard this ship." Rattrap replied
"Who is in charge of the ship?" was the question
"Shockwave,"
----AUTOBOT HEADQUARTERS PLANET EARTH---
Optimus Prime looked up at the word that was said over the comm.
"Shockwave!" he said
The screen instantly changed to that of the single optic tripplechanger. Shockwave's presence was something of a surprise to Optimus Prime as he watched the purple mech address him.
"Optimus,"
"Shockwave," was the reply
"It has been a while Prime," he said calmly
"What do you want Shockwave, and what is this I hear of you are bringing refugees to Earth?" demanded Prime
"That is exactly that Prime we barely escaped with out sparks still intact from Cybertron a few cycles ago. Most of these bots were forced into the arenas by none other then the new leader of the Decepticons, or should I say what is left of them," Shockwave replied
"What do you mean?" Prime demanded
"Cybertron has been taken over by none other then Galvatron in Megatron's body," was the reply.
Optimus was struck for words
Galvatron! That is impossible! He thought
"I thought Galvatron was just a myth?" Prime said
"Oh no it is not, that is why we are here. We are here to escape Cybertron or what's left of it since most of the mechs have been searching for the Allspark. You my friend have nothing to worry about," Shockwave replied
"You have some explaining to do before I can let you on planet even if Ironhide gave you the coordinates to land," Prime said
"Galvatron is not a myth he is real he took over Megatron's body before the war began and slowly built up the Decepticon armies by using the spawn of Unicron with his right hand man Sideways," was the reply.
"Sideways," Prime hissed clearly he was not pleased by the news.
"Yes, we are all that is left there is some Femmes, Mechs and no younglings I'm afraid. The Femmes who survived on Cybertron were hidden till we managed to find them and they were imprisoned disguised as Mechs for a while till we broke them out." He said his voice pleading.
"Will you let us on planet now?" he asked
Optimus stared at the screen he can't read Shockwave's emotions due to his single optic and no other facial features, but he heard enough of a pleading and desperate voice in Shockwave before finally sighing.
"You are to land where Ironhide had told you. It is a lake not the ocean since he gotten the reading wrong. It is well away from human eyes and the perfect hiding spot for the Nemesis since it is deep enough." Prime said
He had intended for them to land in the water behind the Hoover Dam it is deep enough and it can hold all the other bots since the Autobots made improvements. It also served as the landing area for the Ark. Optimus remembered when they first landed the ship and then moved it towards the mountains.
The problem remained in what the humans would think about this much Cybertronians. He had already given his permission and it was then that Shockwave's signal was starting to fade.
"We don't have much time nor energy left Prime so I suggest you talk to the humans to see what they think and then we can discuss other matters once we land," was the reply from Shockwave,"
"Alright Prime out,"
----BACK WITH THE YOUNGLINGS----
Sonic was blasting 'Freeze' from Jordin Sparks and Alex was currently doing some homework. While she was doing this Radon was busy drawing her on her oversized sketch pad. Her graphite work was going well despite the fact that Alex was busy moving around.
Sometimes it paid to be an advanced robot.
"Hey guys we made over 14 grand!" shouted Stitch as he and Frenzy came out.
"Really?" asked Sonic as he transformed
"Yeah man we just counted up the money and we are smoking!" replied Stitch
"Whose rich?" asked Kekoa as he walked in with a sandwich in hand.
"Those two over there are rich. They just made fourteen grand in sales from the DVD's and nearly three thousand hits on YouTube," replied Alex as she looked at the website.
Kekoa had his mouth open, "How the hell can they get that many hits unless people kept going back," he said and Alex smirked
"That's what it looks like," she said
"Damn that is what you call an aftermath," Kekoa said smirking.
Barricade watched the whole thing smirking to himself as he got up from recharge.
"You kids make more noise then the damn crows" he said with some humor to his voice and they all laughed.
"Sorry 'Cade," said Frenzy as he hopped onto his partner's shoulder.
"Sorry Uncle 'Cade but we just made a lot of money," said Sonic as he transformed.
"I see," he said a fanged smile appeared on his face at the humor of it all.
"Well I better refuel and get going," he said knowing he has night patrol tonight.
"Sure thing Uncle 'Cade take care now," said Alex as she finished up her homework and put it in her bag.
Barricade then turned and walked out to what he hopes was another peaceful night.
Oh how wrong he was going to be,
TBC
A/N: another chapter done lol this one took longer to write because it had less to do with the kids and more to do with other characters. I wanted to write to show what happened on Cybertron and what had happened between the two factions since Optimus left. Well here you go the story just turned a darker shade of well whatever color.
Blackdragon