Unknown Mountainous Terrain, Earth
Orion heaved himself over the cliff with Bumblebee's assistance, while Arcee scouted ahead. His frame was strong enough, but his mind still wasn't used to these kinds of action-oriented tasks. Ratchet wasn't built for this at all, so he had had to be the one to go.
They saw Breakdown working to get a golden hammer out of the snowy mountain. "The Forge of Solus Prime!" he muttered, and Bumblebee glanced at him quizzically. "An ancient artefact with which we can create anything."
"Then that's not something we can afford to let Megatron get his hands on," Arcee replied over their comm. She transformed and sped ahead.
Bulkhead lumbered after her, unable to pass up a battle with his rival. Bumblebee hesitated before deciding to stick to Orion's side.
Breakdown had finally noticed their presence. He swore and began hammering more desperately. A ground bridge opened behind him and Megatron walked out carrying what appeared to be a pointed stick.
Orion only recognised the shape after the Energon shield had separated him and Bumblebee from Arcee and Bulkhead. The big green mech dived at Breakdown, while Arcee bravely moved to take on Megatron.
Orion winced as she was immediately flung into the side of the mountain. "Hurry up Breakdown," Megatron called.
"Megatron!" Orion said, but found he was being completely ignored.
Bulkhead grabbed the hammer and managed to pull it free from the last of the rocks.
"Thank you for your assistance, Autobots," Megatron said smugly, retreating to Bulkhead's position slowly and carefully. Breakdown recovered and his leader dropped the shield just long enough for him to knock Bulkhead into his allies, but not before prying the forge from his grasp.
The ground bridge opened and closed before any of the Autobots could recover. Bumblebee whirred his despair while Orion moved forward to check on Arcee. "Ratchet, we need a bridge back."
Arcee sighed and sat up when he approached. "That's 3 out of 3 for the cons. What are we going to do?" Bumblebee supported her as they moved through their own bridge.
"I'm afraid this is my fault."
"Don't say that Op- Orion," Arcee quickly corrected herself.
Ratchet closed the bridge behind them and joined the conversation. "Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way now that our team's balance has changed. Maybe it's time we looked at infiltrating the Nemesis."
"What, so we can fight Soundwave instead?" Arcee snarked.
"Well, we have two small and quiet types, a specialised information processor, and our very own technological genius," he said, indicating Raf. He had stood up against Soundwave on multiple occasions. "To keep repeating what isn't working would only be madness."
Arcee nodded slowly as she processed the idea further. "What's the plan, then?"
Decepticon Warship: Laboratory
It had been nearly three days since Viviana had boarded what she now knew was a giant warship called the Nemesis. She had been working without adequate food or rest the whole time, but was too afraid to seriously complain to anyone.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she finalised the molecular model for SynthEn, as they had started calling it. Knockout was at the giant terminal across the room, researching how to interpret it on the internet. Apparently the system and language used for this kind of thing was quite different on Cybertron.
"Oh!" he exclaimed at last. "Of course, that makes perfect sense!"
"Good," she replied with a sigh. "Does that mean I can get fed something other than raw cabbage now? And you guys seriously need to get me a toilet."
"Just be glad Soundwave advised me against 'collecting' hay for you," he replied mischievously. "But I should be able to replicate enough of this to experiment with indefinitely."
"Does that mean I can go home?"
Her phone vibrated. She frowned because there was no signal on board this ship. She had already tried calling the authorities, of course. She checked her messages and found one from a sender simply labelled 'Soundwave'.
"You will not leave until we are ready to return to a restored Cybertron. However, Megatron has permitted a reward for your efficiency. Come to the bridge."
"What?" Knockout complained, also privy to her message, it seemed. "I never get rewarded for my medical discoveries! Megatron must be in a good mood." He leaned over and let her climb on his hand. They had established her discomfort with being grabbed suddenly quite quickly.
They entered the bridge as instructed, and Viviana was let down on the panel in front of Soundwave's workstation. She was careful to avoid pressing any buttons on the holographic keyboard. She looked at her phone again.
"More adequate sustenance will be provided. Order what you need through your 'phone' and the rest will be taken care of. You are also entitled to a reward for your service."
"Can I go outside for a while?" she asked, glancing at the satellite view displayed on the screen. She hadn't even looked out a window since she got here! "I need vitamin D, which my body creates in reaction to sunlight," she explained in a way the bot might care about.
It took a moment longer for him to reply than usual. He was probably checking the fact. "Noted. You may go with Knockout for pick up, but I will continue disabling your signal."
This would make things a little more difficult…
"I also want something to do other than science and more science. Can we swing by my place and pick up my violin?" she asked hopefully.
Images of various stringed instruments flickered across the bot's faceplate before he settled on a violin and bow. "Permission granted. Knockout, commence Operation: Retrieval."
She smiled, but felt uneasy. She had one chance to not mess this up. Why couldn't she have run into an Autobot first like those lucky children Knockout kept referencing?
Commence Operation: Escape the Decepticons, she thought as she was placed on the ground.
Knockout transformed and opened his passenger door. "Come along then!"
Autobot Base
Orion's fingers flew over the keyboard. Their size had made typing difficult at first, but he was getting used to this large battle-ready frame. He transferred data from his inner files into the computer. One was a decrypted map of the Nemesis.
Rafael was working on the same page as him through his human-sized computer. "Wow, look at all this stuff you kept!" he said, trawling through the data. "You even have patrol schedules for the next three weeks."
"It is in my nature to record, order, compile… or at least it was before I became a Prime. I think I already have the beginnings of a plan, but we should consider every scrap of information we have access to."
"Yeah!" Raf nodded enthusiastically, keen to take on the challenge. Orion smiled gently, still amazed that lifeforms so alien could be so similar to them. To him.
Later that evening, even after Raf had to return home, they maintained their remote connection to each other's screens as they worked through the night. Eventually Raf stopped responding and Orion guessed he had fallen into recharge for the night. He compiled an organised list of notes for the boy to review when he woke.
By the time everyone had assembled again in the base the next afternoon, he had negated the Nemesis' shielding so that they could track its coordinates as it moved across the sky. They had their way in, now they just needed a way to find the relics and access their data.
He was narrowing down which rooms they would have to access as Ratchet came to stand beside him. "This is amazing Optimus!"
He smiled slightly and continued working. He was too close to get distracted by the misnomer. Besides, he had given up on trying to get Ratchet to address him as anything else, and he didn't really mind as long as the 'Prime' wasn't attached.
"It's time to bring everything together," he said at last. "We will be taking a risk because all of us will need to be on board the ship at the same time, including Miko and Jack."
"Yes!" Miko cheered. "Best plan ever!"
"Rafael will remain here to operate the ground bridge, help coordinate the teams if necessary, and most importantly to distract Soundwave. I presume the viruses we discussed are ready to be deployed?"
"Yes sir!" Raf replied with a grin.
"Excellent," he said and returned the smile. "Arcee and Ratchet are Team A. Bumblebee and Bulkhead are Team B," Bumblebee trilled his amusement at the names. "Team C will be Miko, Jack and I. Rafael will be supporting us the most."
"You should be Team O," Bulkhead said with a chuckle and Arcee rolled her optics.
"Team O is the weakest link due to our lack of fighters," Orion continued, not really caring either way. "We will be dropped straight into the room I was left in to complete my work. Rafael will begin distracting Soundwave while I start downloading from their database. Jack and Miko will be in charge of sabotage."
"Oooh, exciting!" Miko whispered loudly, all but bouncing on her toes. "We gonna be packing explosives or what?"
Orion shook his head. "You two are small enough to access the ports Soundwave usually uses his extra appendages for. I have discovered there is quite a lot you can muck up by just pushing buttons at random. The room we will be in for the mission has several of these ports."
Miko looked a little disappointed, but she was just glad to be included on such an important mission. "Team A will focus on checking the starboard rooms, while Team B will be looking at portside. It is vital that you stay undetected for as long as possible. Please take cues from the scout team leaders," he said, nodding at Arcee and Bumblebee.
"Ratchet will be able to move from Arcee's side should worse come to worst for another team. Your top priority is ensuring the safety of our medic, Arcee. Even if it means giving up a relic or slowing down the search." Given what he remembered about Arcee's temperament, it seemed this was a necessary thing to remind her of.
"Similarly, Bulkhead will be able to reach Team C easily if required, as long as you two stay on the path I am going to give you," he added. "We cannot afford to split up entirely, and our top priority should remain getting everyone off the ship in one piece. Living to fight another day is more important. The data itself will be enough to justify the trip."
When no one spoke, he continued. "Take some time to memorise the maps, movement paths and ideal timing I'm about to send through. Please ask any questions as they arise. We will commence the operation in one Earth hour."
"All right, Soundwave is going to regret messing with us!" Miko exclaimed as the Autobots dispersed into teams and looked over their data together.
Lastly, Orion contacted Agent Fowler and informed him of the plan and where it was likely to take place if the Nemesis stayed on course. There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
"Thank you for being considerate. I have permission to give you air support, should you require it."
"Thank you Agent Fowler, please stand by."
Orion finally let the tension fall from his frame. The speech had made him nervous, and he'd been expecting these professional soldiers to tell him his plan was ridiculous. But so far, they had taken him seriously.
He only hoped he was making the right decisions.
Viviana's Residence
Knockout pulled up smoothly outside the university's accommodation for visiting academics. Even though it was dark out, he kept his headlights turned off.
Glancing up at the balconies, it seemed her room had been cordoned off by police. "Well then, looks like I'll have to head up there alone," she said, pulling on the door handle.
Predictably, it didn't budge.
"I think not," he replied. He transformed and lifted her to the second floor. "Grab what you need then come straight back. Laserbeak is on stand by," he warned.
She glared at him, trying to decide whether the con was trying to con her. She leaped off his hand and landed on the balcony. The room beyond was empty, and thankfully she soon found the door had been left unlocked.
She picked up her violin case and music books before coming to a halt. Maybe she couldn't run right now, but she could leave a message for the authorities. Surely some government department or other already knew about the giant transforming robots from outer space?
She quickly moved into her office, which could not be seen from the window. Viviana pulled a piece of paper and pen off her desk and quickly scribbled something while she was still out of Knockout's line of sight.
"This is Doctor Viviana Cremaschi. I realise I sound crazy, but this message needs to get to the FBI. I have been kidnapped by giant transforming alien robots called Decepticons. My mobile phone is still in my possession, but the signal is being blocked. Please send help!"
She signed and dated the note for good measure, before running a hand through her ponytail. She extracted a few loose hairs before scattering them across the note, then left her fingerprint-covered pen as well. The government had her DNA in their records from when she had to get a top level security clearance for one of her research projects.
She stopped in the bathroom to grab a hairbrush, toothbrush and paste, and moisturiser before she ran back to the bedroom and out onto the balcony. Knockout stared at her suspiciously, but held out his hand without further comment. "What? You have your wax and buffer, I have this stuff."
He transformed and they took off with a screech. "And people call me high-maintenance," he scoffed.
"Hmph, I would've liked to stop for a real shower," she grumbled. Knockout remained silent until they pulled out onto the highway.
"Look, I don't care if you want to escape the Decepticons. I only care if you do it on my watch and get me into trouble." Viviana made herself look smaller, not sure how or whether he could see what she was doing. "Megatron is rather brutal when it comes to disciplining his soldiers."
Viviana gently put a hand on his steering wheel. "I'll try to avoid that then."
Knockout produced some static before adopting his usual tone and changing the subject. "Next stop, online sustenance order warehouse!"
"Please tell me I'm getting a toilet and shower soon. I can only pee in zip lock bags for so much longer."
"You have got to be the fussiest pet ever!"
"I'm not a pet!" she protested, bringing her fist down on the steering wheel this time. She accidentally caused his horn to sound, and the person driving in front of them glared into their rear-view mirror.
Knockout laughed loudly before honking his horn more and suddenly switching lanes so he could really take off.
Viviana laughed too and looked into the driver's window as they passed. The middle-aged black man's eyes scanned Knockout with a look of horror on his face. She watched him speak into a mobile desperately. Her smile faded as they briefly made eye contact.
Knockout didn't seem to notice, only focussed on going as fast as he possibly could down the mostly empty highway.