"What, in the name of Primus, are you doing here?!" Ratchet ask as both of them relaxed a bit.
"Um, well that's a long story.." I said as I approached them. "You see the moment after you left, Fowler showed up." Optimus groaned at what I said, "And found out about us. He proceeded to take us into custody, but Bulkhead stopped him." I wasn't even going to mention the phone fiscal.
"Soon after he sent us an SOS, and Bulkhead, tried to trace the signal, but it was lost. So Raf found his coordinates on the military main frame, and found him that way."
"How did you manage that? Does he have some sort of tracking device on him?" Ratchet asked.
I nodded,"Yup, a chip the government puts on their agents. And when Bulkhead went to go find him, Miko followed. The rest of us decided to go as well since we didn't know if Bulkhead knew she followed him or not. I however, think I somehow, accidentally locked on to your coordinates before I went through the bridge." While I was talking, I had reached them and Optimus held out his hand for me to sit on. Then then placed me on his shoulders and we continued on.
"I'm sorry Optimus, I knew it was stupid to follow them, but had I know I was going to wind up here, I wouldn't have left." I said sighing heavily.
"It is alright Kathrine, you simply were going after a fellow comrade who probably made a foolish decision. The Decepticons could have taken him back to their location for interrogation. Following Bulkhead, if that is indeed the case, could have put all four of them at risk. However, it is ill-advised to ponder on things in the past that cannot be changed, it is best just to move forward." Optimus said with a wisdom that seemed eons older them him.
"Still, I'm sorry." I replied looking down at the earth moving beneath us.
"Your apology as long since been accepted." He said smiling at me, I couldn't help but smile back.
We continued walking until we reached a rather large opening in the canyon walls. The clouds were dark and low, bearing down on us as though a heavy force was pushing on them.
"For the first time in my life Optimus, I had hoped you were wrong." Ratchet replied sadly.
"Wrong about what, if I may ask?" I piped up after some time without talking.
"You may, this is the sight of where many Autobots and Decepticons alike, final resting place lies." he responded. A noise overhead caused us to look up, as a jet flew over head. A feeling of dread and dizziness washed over me as the jet transformed on top of a peak in the canyon.
"Optimus, been well? I see you brought your trusty watch dog. I was certain he'd be convalescing in a scrap yard by now. Oh, and I see you brought one of your pets as well." the voice called out, I stiffened as he the fact that I was here. Of course he would, why wouldn't he.
"Why don't you invite him down here for a chat." Ratchet said as he walk forwards a bit slamming his fists together.
"I know why you're here Megatron." Optimus called back.
"Hardly a surprise Optimus, after all, you and I have been at this a long time. And your time has come to an end." Megatron remarked as he held up a bright, glowing piece of something and threw it at the ground, and it was absorbed. Disappearing beneath the surface the air stood still for a second before all hell broke loose.
"Rise my army!" cried Megatron. Cracks forms on the surface of the ground, exposing a bright purple light that shone through.
"By the All-Spark..." Ratchet whispered.
The earth shook as Cybertronians emerged from beneath the surface. Optimus looked around for a second before he walked of to a ledge high above the chaos, and held out his hand. I jumped off as he set me on the ledge.
"Remain here." he told me.
I nodded, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." I replied back with a shaky grin. "Where am I going to go?" I said quietly to myself as he walked back to Ratchet's side, dread clearly written on his face. A strong wave of dizziness took hold and I fell on my knees, grabbing my head, and clenched my teeth as nausea swept over me as well.
"Behold the power, of Dark Energon!" Megatron declared as more dead soldiers kept rising. There moans and mechanical noise echoed throughout the enclosed space, as they marched forward. A deep purple mist settled on the ground, replace the natural water based substance, with a vibrant, ominous one.
"Megatron has desecrated the resting place of our fallen ancestors, and his own." Ratchet said in disgust.
"Not even the dead are free from his war monger." Optimus answered back.
"Destroy them!" Megatron rang out over the fallen souls. Rage along with angst rose within me. These were their warriors, heroes even, who had fallen during battle, but even in death their bodies were not spared from Megatron's control, just as Optimus had said.
Optimus' hands transformed into his weapons as he began to fire on the encroaching army of dead. A few had fallen to his precise aim, but more took their place.
"Optimus if our combatants are already deceased, how can we possible defeat them!?" I head Ratchet asked over the roar of the dead. They had backed up past their original position, unfortunately leaving me with a sea of monsters beneath me.
I could hardly hear them anymore as their distance increased and a headache overwhelmed my senses. I watched as Ratchet joined the battle. Transforming his hands into blades, he sliced his way through the enemies. Optimus did the same thing soon after. I watched in horror as the two of Earth's saviors were jumped on by the un-dead warriors.
Panic found its way into my system and adrenaline responded, only adding to the pain that coursed through my head. Forcing myself through it, I barely managed to stand up. I sifted through my pockets and found two cell phones, and a sudden, stupid, spontaneous, thought popped into my head.
I flipped open my cell phone and switched over the satellite service, my father had forced me to get. Jack's phone soon began to ring and I opened it. I switched both phones to speaker and laid them next to each other on the ground. Picking up the metal pipe I readied myself for whatever was going to happen next.
"I hope this works..." I whispered to myself, as I looked up to see more un-dead bear down on the two Autobots. With everything I had left, I whacked the side of the cliff I was on. The noise that rang out through the canyon echoed and reverberated through the two phones sitting next to each other. This new sound that came through the phone grew louder and louder as well as its pitch grew into a screeching noise.
Dropping the piece of metal, I looked over and watched as the monsters paused, and almost froze at the noise, some even clenched their heads. It was easy to see that they were confused by the sound, which gave Optimus and Ratchet time to break through their opponents.
"What, no! Impossible!" an angered voice screamed out, louder than the battle.
Falling on my knees I closed the two phones, I laid down on my back and looked up at the gray sky as the darkness took over.
"What is her condition, Ratchet?" Optimus asked his old companion as the walk to the Ground bridge. The medic had found the young red-head unconscious in the spot he had left her.
"Not as good as it should be. I'm surprised she even lasted as long as she did, being human, and exposed to that much Dark Energon. She was exposed to nearly the same amount as we were." Ratchet explained as they walked through the Ground Bridge, looking down at her resting body. "My scans indicated that the incisions she received earlier are also contaminated with the substance. No doubt adding to her condition, there isn't much that I can do."
By this time the two of them had already made it through the Ground bridge. They were greeted by the familiar faces of their comrades as well as those of the three other children. Immediately, Jack ran up to them, "Have you guys seen Kat?" he asked somewhat frantically.
The two returning Autobots looked at each other and then down at Kat, who was resting in Ratchet's hand. "Indeed. I would appear that somehow between when you bridged to Bulkhead and Miko's location, the location shifted and she was bridged to our's instead." Optimus explained. He watched as Ratchet walked over to the couch they had recently placed on the balcony, and set her gently on it. Jack relaxed a bit but appeared worried for the girl.
While fixing a brace on to Ratchet's arm Miko came over to them. "What happened to you guys anyway?" she asked gently.
"We engaged an army of un-dead Cybertronian warriors." Ratchet explained.
"Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it?" she questioned sounded disappointed.
"Yes, well, just be happy you did, during our mission we countered Dark Energon. Kathrine was exposed to the same levels that we were, however I do not know what kind of effect this kind of exposure has on humans."
"Well, she's going to be ok, right?" Miko asked.
Ratchet looked at her and answered. "I don't know, I would wish to keep her here for a while but, I'm not sure how her parental units would take that."
"Um, well, I probably shouldn't be the one telling you guys this but, she lives by herself. Her mom died when she was young, and her father's in the military. He's always traveling or something, so he's never home." Jack explained.
"What, you mean no one looks after her?" Acree questioned.
"No, she's been living on her own for years now, as long as she's been across the street from me." Jack answered
"But how is that possible, I mean you can't live on your own until you're at least 18 in the state." Raf posed.
"I don't know, she said it was some type of military agreement. She doesn't really talk about it, even now." Jack explained quietly. "Anyway, I'm sure she wouldn't mind staying here."
"Alright, then it's settled, we'll keep Kathrine here for the time being. Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgement in allowing the humans to accompany you." Optimus stated moving on, although he was reluctant to do so.
"It won't happen again Optimus. I promise." he answered.
"But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault." Miko complained.
"Miko please.." Bulkhead said as he tried to keep her quiet.
"And check it out, recon!" she said as she flipped out and opened her pink cell phone.
"Hmmm, Ratchet, have a look. It could be of importance to Megatron." Optimus observed from the small screen.
"Whoa, Megatron's back? That's really bad news, right?" Jack question.
Ratchet peered over at the cell phone and became confused. "I don't understand." he stated.
Miko looked at her phone again. "Oops, that's the con that tried to blow Raf away. At least that's what he looked like before Bulkhead rearranged his grill. " she added excitedly.
"Miko! Raf was almost killed. This isn't a game, when are you going to get that through your thick skull!" Jack yelled at her.
"Um, we were all almost killed. You, me, Raf, Kat, even them!" Miko pointed out.
"Well, if this was just an average day with the Autobots, than I don't want to be a part of it, not anymore." Jack stated.
"Jack, putting you in harms way was never our intent. However, it is no longer the safety of you four that is at risk, but the safety of all humankind. We will respect your decision if you wish to leave." said Optimus.
Ratchet almost instantly turned on the Ground bridge, having already punched in the coordinates to his house.
"No point in long good-byes, here's the door." he said bluntly.
"Come on Raf." Jack said as he turned towards him.
Raf looked over at Bumblebee and decided against leaving. "I'll be ok Jack. See you at school." he said as he waved at him.
"Sure thing." Jack replied sounding a bit upset, but walked purposefully towards the bridge. As he walked down the stairs Acree came up to him.
"I know, you don't exist." he said lightly.
"Don't make me hunt you down..." she replied sadly as he continued watched as he made his way through the Ground bridge.
My eyes fluttered open to the sound of nothing in particular, until I listened closer.
"It can't be..." a voice whispered. "Optimus!" who I figured to be Ratchet called. I sat up and watched them from the couch I was resting on, Optimus as he walked over to Ratchet at his computer.
"These are engineering specks for a space-time vortex generator." said Ratchet.
"Megatron's building a Space bridge. If he hasn't already. " Optimus stated.
"Whoa, you mean like what the Ground bridge is based on ?" I question aloud. They looked over me somewhat surprised, but Optimus nodded.
"Great, the sooner he leaves the better." Bulkhead said as he walked into the conversation with Bumblebee.
"Bulkhead, a Space bridge runs in two directions. Megatron may not be using it to leave Earth, but to bring through his conquering army." he explained again
"The main event he was referring to. But the only place Megatron could possible recruit that many fallen warriors..." said Ratchet not finishing his sentence.
"Precisely." Optimus inferred.
"Cybertron." I whispered. I threw myself back down on the couch with a groan. "More zombies?!" I complained as I covered my eyes with my arm.
"We cannot allow Megatron to send Dark Energon through his space bridge, if he hasn't already. If we fail the dead of Cybertron will rise. Swam through its vortex and invade Earth, bending humankind to Megatron's twisted rule." Optimus finished.
"Megatron has some serious OCD issues." I said aloud to no one in particular.
"I'm glad to see you're awake Kathrine. How are you feeling?" asked Optimus with a bit of a smile in his voice. I uncovered my eyes and sat up again to look at him.
"Like I've been hit with freight train and continuously run over with it." I said meaning every word.
"Yes, well, I'm not surprised you were exposed to the same amount of Dark Energon as we were, and your wound on your arm was contaminated with it as well. However, I am surprised you awake after something like that so soon..." Ratchet said.
"Oh! Hey, I forgot about this thing." I said as I unwrapped the make-shift bandage. The skin around it had a faint purple tinge to it, and the scratches were healing with a subtle purple hue to them. "Well it looks ok. It doesn't hurt anymore either." Although I frowned in disappointment. "Why couldn't it have been blue?" playfulness tugging at my voice.
Optimus, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead chuckled a bit at my comment. Ratchet on the other hand was a different story.
"Seriously?!" Ratchet yelled, "You've been directly exposed to Dark Energon, and Primus only knows what kind of effects it has on Cybertronians, let alone humans! And what do you mean it doesn't hurt anymore?!" he huffed out.
I rolled my eyes, smiling at his reaction. "Ratchet, I believe it was what the humans refer to as a 'joke'." Optimus explained for me.
"And the other part, when that thing attacked us, one of the times that I hit it, something landed on my arm. It burned for a bit but, it doesn't anymore." I told him, he gave me a look and scanned me. It tingled but at the same time felt like I had butterflies in my stomach.
"Well, it appears that the Dark Energon that you made direct contact with, has been absorbed into your system. Which is interesting, because usually any organic based life that comes into contact with Energon, has an adverse effect on them, which is why I want to keep you here for several days. At least until I know I know what affect the Energon will have on you." Ratchet explained.
I nodded. "Alright, but I need to go home and grab a few things first."
"Let Bumblebee escort you then." Optimus said turning towards the yellow bot.
I looked Bumblebee and his door wings flexed up and down and began to transform. I perked up at that, and jumped up off the couch and ditched the stairs, and hopped over the railing with one hand. I noticed out of the corner of my eyes the three Autobots' caught off guard at my stunt. Once I landed, I tumbled forward and got up running.
Bumblebee's door was already open for me as I slid into the yellow Camaro. "Thanks, Bee." I thanked smiling.
"No problem." He beeped. Once outside, I realized it was already dark, with the moon shining brightly over the dark landscape. I sat there for a few minutes thinking about some other way for him to communicate when it suddenly hit me, the radio.
"Hey, Bee, have you ever tried to 'talk' through the radio?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?" he beeped.
"Well, you can tune into the satellites and radio right?"
"Yup."
"Try scanning through the channels to find what you want to say that way." I suggested. There was a pause in the air and radio came to life.
"You mean... like this?" he asked as several voices came through, but perfectly understandable. "This is... really.. interesting... never thought of... this before. Thanks." he commented. I grinned widely at his comment.
"Yeah, your welcome, I figured that it would be easier if you needed to communicate to Miko or Jack or anybody really for that matter. You don't have to do it around me though, unless you want to." I added at the end.
He gave a sad whirl before responding, "Jack doesn't want anything to do with the Autobots anymore."
"Why am I not surprised, don't worry, he'll be back Bee." I sighed trying to reassure the bot.
"How can you be so sure?... he was pretty upset." he asked me.
"Because Jack has a habit of finishing what he starts." I said putting it simply.
We soon arrived at my house after explaining to him which color house go to.
"I'll be right back, give me 20 minutes." I said before flying out the door and into my house. After quickly taking a shower, not bothering to wash my hair, I grabbed a small duffel bag and shoved miscellaneous items into it. Clothes for a few days, with Ratchet who knew, a blanket, sketch book, markers, color pencils, birth control, cell phone charger, computer, and a few other odds and ends.
I grabbed something to eat, I looked in the mirror in the entryway before rushing out he door. I put my hair up in to a clip, keeping it out of the way, and decided to add a bit of makeup. A small amount of purple lined the bottom part of my eyes and the mascara was a sparkly dark gold color. Satisfied with the way I looked in my dark wash jeans and black long sleeved shirt I bolted out the door, locking it in the process.
Bumblebee greeted me with a gesture of opening the door. I smiled a thanks before throwing my bag carefully onto the passenger's side floor. A thought occurred to me as I told him I would be right back, again. I ran across the street towards Jack's house and went around the corner to his window. I knocked on the glass, and awaited an answer. I didn't have to wait long for the black haired, blue eyed teen to open the window and yawn at me.
He looked up and saw it was me and instantly looked relieved. "Kat!?.." He let a loose a flurry of words after that. Although, he did mention the time it was and how it was too early to be up.
"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine. I guess you already know what's going on, huh? " he nodded his head. "You told them about my living situation didn't you?" I questioned.
He rubbed the back of his head and gave me a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I'm sorry..." he started but I held my hand up for him to stop.
"It's all good, saves me the awkwardness of explaining it to them myself. Well, I better go Bee's waiting for me." I waved at him and he quietly shouted after me as I was walking away.
"You know, you're going to have to tell them about your sleeping habits." he called. I waved again at him before running across the street and sliding into the sleek yellow Camaro.
"What did Jack, mean 'sleeping habits'?" Bumblebee asked as be backed out of the driveway and headed towards base.
"Damn, you hear that?" I asked sighing loudly, I took that silence as a 'yes'. "It's complicated to say the least, but I have insomnia. Some nights I'm ok, others... let's just say I don't get much sleep, period." I attempted to explain.
Suddenly, he veered off of the interstate and onto a lonely dirt road. Then his speed began to pick up and we were flying. A grin instantly formed on my face as we continued to accelerate. There was miles and miles of openness surrounding us and nothing to hit in between.
"Hey, would you mind me driving for a bit?" I asked him. I could almost hear him thinking about it before he answered an 'ok'. He slowed down to a stand still. Adjusting the seat and steering wheel, and with one hand on the wheel and the other on the shifter, I grinned a wolfish grin.
"Prepare to be driven like never before..." I mumbled. I quickly, but gently pressed the accelerator to the floor. Shifting into second and then third, I imagined a sharp turn up a head. Quickly, I down shifted the rpm's flared up, letting go of the shifter pulled the hand brake. Adrenaline was flowing through my body at a high rate, and I felt so alive at that moment. We flew forward into a controlled drift around an imaginary corner, once out of it I shifted back into third then in to fourth.
Fifth and sixth were achieved rather quickly as I let go of the shifter and grabbed the hand brake flooring it around corners at sharp pivot points and double turns, all the while a grin was plastered on my face. Time seemed to slow with each passing second, everything that I had been thinking about vanished like a bad dream. For one moment space and time collided and an epiphany occurred to me.
Had my mother not died, we would have kept on traveling. I would have never have moved in across the street from Jack and would have never have met him. I would have never have made friends with him and his mother. I never would have gotten my bike that I loved so much. I would have never have been standing outside Jack's work and seen Acree. Which means I never would have met the Autobots.
Questions filled my mind, was I suppose to meet the Autobots? Was this part of a greater scheme of things? Or was it just a coincidence? I believed in coincidences every once in awhile happening to people, but I've had way too many things that could be classified as a coincidence in my life not to be classified as such. This life was finally worth living for again.
Reality came hurtling at me with full force as I realized where I was again. Terror evaded me as I comprehended I wasn't aware of what I was doing. I slowed down to a stop and place both hands firmly on the wheel. I got out of the car and excitement filled my system again as I shook from it.
"You ok?" Bumblebee asked curiously.
I furiously shook my head 'yes'. "Yeah, just haven't had this much excitement in a long time. Trying to calm down." I told him between breaths. I got back into the yellow bot and he took control again.
"Where'd you learn to drive like that?" he asked suddenly as we cruised our way back on to the interstate.
"Believe it or not my dad. He would let me drive when I was little. I would sit on his lap and he would push the pedals and I would steer and use the shifter." I said grinning at the memory. Then frowned, "I haven't driven a car since my mom died." I finished quietly. There was a long silence that filled the cabin before he spoke again.
"What happened?" he asked gently. I sighed and threw my head back against the headrest.
"About 7 1/2 years ago in January, we were living in Seattle, my mom and I were driving back from seeing my dad at the base. We were almost home when a drunk driver in the other lane, hit a patch of black ice and hit us head on with his truck. I don't remember much after that. Apparently my mom died instantly, and I... I didn't wake up till April. Missed her funeral and everything. After that we packed our bags and left and never looked back." I almost whispered to him.
"I'm sorry..." he apologized.
"Don't worry it's not your fault. Beside, I would have never have meet you guys otherwise." I tried to reassure.
Entering the base Ratchet gave us a questioning look, it soon went away when he was distracted by something else. I had thanked Bee again for the ride to my house before he left to recharge in his quarters. I sighed heavily walking over to see what Ratchet was so consumed with. I leaned on the railing and stared at him long enough that he stopped what he was doing and turned towards me.
"What do you want?" he asked somewhat lazily.
"Something to do. I don't care what it is." I sighed twisting my hair around my finger.
He rolled his optics, "Why don't you go over there and find something to do besides bother me?" he asked nodding behind me.
I looked around and then back at him. "Ok, I'll find something important, that you need and break it, how about that?" I said with venom dripping from my voice in a heavy tone of sarcasm.
"Fine, here." he groaned as he set a large glass-like object up against the wall.
"What is it?" I asked curious walking over to it.
"It's called a Datapad. It can contain a vast amount of information and store it, similar to what you humans call a 'flash drive'. This one in particular, I manage to convert into English at Fowler's request." he said in a mocking tone.
"Sounds like you didn't want to." I added.
He shook his head, "I didn't have much of a choice at the time. However as it turned out, we didn't need it and has sat around for a while since then, with the translation still on it."
"Well thanks, this will give me something to due until school tomorrow." I said smiling at him a bit.
"Yes, well, you should be resting." he stated as he turned away heading down the long corridor leaving me alone in the empty room. I sighed and I sat down at the couch and looked at the large object. It wasn't huge though either. I went over to it and touched the glass. It lit up in a green glow and white text appeared on the glass. I touched one of the top selections that was presented on the screen that read 'The Beginning', and so forgot everything else around me.
"Hey kid, what you doing up so early?" a voice called out, breaking me out of my trance like state. I looked over my left and saw Acree, stretching her limbs as she walked towards me.
"What time is it?" I asked her curiously as I stretched myself.
"It's about 5:30." she replied expecting an answer of her own.
"I don't sleep much, and I'm not sure you want to hear my girl problems right now, especially with your own right now." I told her.
"Fair enough, if you want to talk though, I'll listen." she said over her shoulder as she walked down another hallway.
"Thanks." I called to her, she simply raised a hand up that she heard me and kept walking.
I walked out of the school after another boring day. I had followed Bee and Bulk to school since I wanted to drive my motorcycle. Suiting up, I followed them again back to base, with Bulkhead behind me and Bumblebee in front. No sooner had we gotten there, Ratchet spoke up as I walked up the metal stairs to stand on the platform.
"Optimus, I've located Megatron's Space bridge, high up in Earth's orbit."
"Out of our reach." Optimus sighed.
"Ok, so you guys don't fly. But can't you just Ground bridge there?" Miko asked as she stood next to her guardian.
"The Ground bridge has limited range." he said as though everyone knew this information. "Stretched all the way into orbit its vortex could snap, scattering us to the stars." he finished a bit over dramatically. Miko stared at him intently as his did.
"Since Megatron is already likely in transit, I'm afraid that's a risk we'll have to take. Reaching the Space bride first is our only means of stopping him." Optimus said.
A beep was heard down the entrance hall and Acree with a similar figure riding soon her soon came into the room.
"Hey, guess who's back." Jack said as he got off her. She transformed and stood next to him. I looked over at Bee and he did the same as I gave him the 'I told you so' look.
"Autobots, prepare for departure." Optimus' voice rang out.
"Where to?" Acree asked.
"The final frontier." I said dramatically.
"Space." Jack said in a questioning manner. "I thought they didn't have any way to get there?" he asked himself.
"They don't, really." Raf answered him as Bumblebee lowered him to the ground.
"Be, seeing yea?" Jack told Acree, who shrugged her shoulders and smirked. She then walked over to Optimus and the others, joining them at the entrance to the Ground bridge. Ratchet pulled the lever and the bridge came to life with a wide range of noises.
"Be careful Bee?" Raf told but more of asked his own guardian.
"Don't worry, I will." Bee reassured the boy.
"I'm so jealous." Miko said in an exasperated manner.
"Don't even think about following me." Bulkhead told her.
"Optimus, if you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans, I will never forgive you. " Ratchet sternly implied. I rolled my eyes but, soon a familiar feeling began to wash over me.
"Until we meet again old friend." Opitmus told him.
My grip that I had on the railing tightened as I tried to push it back down. I didn't notice this until my hands began to hurt and I left go. It was that feeling of being left out, that everyone thinks you're ok but you're not. So, you just let them think you are but you slowly feel like you're rotting from the inside out. I had no guardian to give a witty good luck to, and it hurt, more than I had realized.
"Autobots, roll out!" Opitmus commanded his unit. Everyone transformed into their alt-mode and I tried to forget about the feeling as they raced through the Ground bridge.
It was through the comm-link system that we could hear the conversations of the four of them as they reached the Space bridge. I began to listen after Optimus commented on Bulkhead's handwork, as he called it.
"Without the dish, Megatron will be unable to aim the Space bridge at Cybertron." Optimus remarked.
"Don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?" Raf asked aloud.
I interjected before Ratchet could make an 'everybody knows' comment walking over to the rest of the group. "Of course, but you have to remember how far away we're talking. It's thousands if not millions of light years away from us, which means the the further something is away from us the more precise it has to be. If not they could end up light years away from Cybertron."
Ratchet for once, nodded. "Cyberton is many light years away and their aim must be astronomically precise." he added onto my comment.
"If Megatron went to the trouble of rendezvousing with his Space bridge, he must have an alternate targeting system. A remote one." Optimus theorized.
"From what I know of Earth's technology, I doubt there's a single dish radio-telescope, powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron." Ratchet commented. I watched Raf as he messed around on his computer for a few seconds and answer.
"What about a whole bunch of linked radio telescope dishes, like the giant size array in Texas. (I'm going to comment on this now, this doesn't exist in Texas. The I believe the one they are referring to is the VLA 'very large array' in Socorro, New Mexico, which consists of 27 dishes. ) Raf stated.
"Zza-bubu-ba, this is not child's play." Ratchet threw out.
"Good thinking Raf" I laughed as the look on Ratchet's face went to shock and Optimus continued. "Ratchet, have Agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security hazard."
We all looked over at Fowler as his name was mentioned. " You, soldier! You're out of uniform, put on some pants!" the deranged Agent managed to slur together. I laughed even harder at the randomness of the situation.
"That, may be a challenge." Ratchet assessed and at this point I was almost on the floor.
"Sorry." I said trying to control myself. Raf went back to what he was doing on the computer, but frowned as he did so.
"I can't get past their firewalls, they're too thick." Raf said sounding defeated.
"You actually think you can keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet asked us.
"Maybe. If we could get in." I mentioned.
"Wa-wa-wait, Kat, Raf, what if we could get you guys all the way in, like inside the building in." Jack asked us.
"We could log in to their internal network on the other side of the firewall." Raf said for us.
"The risk is too great, the Decepticons will be there, perhaps even on site." Optimus said.
"Optimus, with all due respect, you said it yourself, this is bigger than the safety of three humans." Jack repeated.
"Yeah if you let the Cons win, we're fragged, along with everyone else on our planet." Miko added in.
"Raf, Kat?" Optimus asked.
"We have to try." Raf said for both of us.
We all groaned as we made it through to the other side of the Ground bridge.
"That'll take some getting used to." Jack stated bluntly as we tried to retain our senses again. Looking around we saw the giant receivers in front of us and a large square building that stood next to them. Determined, we ran towards it.
Upon reaching the door we found that it was unlocked, and enter the steel building. It didn't take us very long of trying other random doors to find one unlocked with an active computer in it. Entering the room with Raf, we made our way over to the set up, followed by Jack, and Miko closing the door.
"Security sure is lack in this place." she mentioned.
"I'm pretty sure they're not expecting a group of teenagers to Ground bridge to the back of the complex, to sneak in." I threw out in the open as I watched Raf set to work.
"I'm in." he soon said. "And so are the Decepticons." he said as his face fell. I glanced over at his handiwork and saw strange mathematical equations sprawled out on the screen.
"What!" Jack cried.
"How can you tell?" Miko asked.
"Schematics, with the same alien math we saw on their ship. But this time I can download them." Raf replied. I looked at what he was doing and figured he knew what he was doing, so I left he to work some of his own magic.
"It's gotta be the Space bridge." Miko said.
"The Decepticon's are syncing it to the dishes. But I can sync to them." Raf replied to Miko.
"Will they know?" asked a worried Jack. I walked around the room and inspected it. Something caught my eye in the corner, walking over to it I almost rolled my eyes. It was a metal pipe. I picked it up and began to ponder its meaning from nothing.
"Even if the Decepticon's see that I'm in the system, they won't know I'm in the house." Raf answered.
I mean seriously of all places, why was it here, in this room, when it could be anywhere. It was somewhat lame in a way since I had used it recently before, and then to find it here of all places. Sighing, I picked it up anyway and walked back over to the group.
"Where'd you find that?" Jack questioned me.
"Over there, weird right?" I said pointing to the corner I found it in.
"A bit, yeah." he said. With that we went back to watching Raf. There was a pause in the silent room for a brief second before Raf spoke.
"Their locked on to Cybertron, but not for long."he said before he furiously began typing codes into the system. A blinking red light from the corner of the room soon caught my attention. Worry soon crept into my own system as the dishes turned away from Cybertron.
"The dished are turning back towards Cybertron." Raf said a bit confused. "I'll just undo that again." he said as he continued to type.
"What happens when the Con's realized their being punked?" Jack asked seriously.
"It's only virtual combat, you know like online gaming." Raf replied.
"Yeah, Jack what are the Con's going to do?" Miko asked. A noise caused me to turn around, the door had opened and with curiosity growing I walked towards it. A black, with glowing purple bands, arm like object slithered through the door way, up and over my head. "Besides their probably a 1000 miles away." she finished.
"Nope, try right behind you." I said aloud. They all turned around to face what I was seeing and Jack yelped a bit upon the sight. It lunged at Miko and Jack and they jumped to one side of the room and I jumped to the other, however it grabbed them and threw them across the room.
"I won't let them lock on to it again..." I heard Raf mumble under his breath. I tried distracting the thing but it never saw me. It lunged at Raf but he managed to dodge the arm and grab his flash drive, before it plowed through the computer setup An idea struck me at that point and with my pipe in hand, ran out the door and followed the long arm like thing.
Bursting through a set of door, a large black, and purple Cybertronian was standing before me. It had other arms or tentacles, you could say, around it and it looked like it was controlling the computer using them. Quietly as I could, I snuck up to the front of the console he was in front of, jumped up on top of it and ran at him.
He looked up and just as I was about to swing, grabbed the pipe in my hands, yanking me and it up into the air. I held on tightly as he brought me closer to his face shield. I gave an angry, frustrated grunt as he dangled me in the air and looked at him. I was too flustered to come up with something witty, so I huffed a sigh and stared back at the shiny surface of his face plate.
Soon another noise caught my attention, and I looked around and watched as one of his tentacles slithered in with an ax. I watched as it came down and cut a large coil of wiring, sparks showered everywhere. Looking back at him I growled dangerously and swung forward, letting my body swing with the momentum, and pushed off of his helm, letting go of the piece of metal in the process.
I ended up pushing off with too much force, because the next thing I knew I was tumbling off of the console he was using. I squeaked as the concrete came to greet me rather quickly, I tried to brace myself for the fall but failed as my head made a loud crack upon making contact with the cold substance.
Blackness took over my vision as I watched the Decepticon jumped through a hole in the ceiling. I heard the door bursting open just when everything gave way to a void of nothingness.
Well, there you go, I hope you enjoyed your read, this was really long! 7,000+ words on this one! ^-^ Anyway I'll probably be updating more, however that is a large maybe. I'm spending the holidays with my boyfriend (of 4 years from the 14th of Dec. 2012) in AZ.
I would like you to let me know what you think of Kat so far, I'm going to be re-writing so I can add or subtract some of her personality and what not. Let me know what sounds reasonable and what doesn't with the theme of Transformers.
Thanks! :)
Silent Midnight Shadow