Here's chapter 2, a'ite. Thanks for your reviews and faves. You guys are pretty sexy. ;D
WARNINGS: Perhaps mild violence, a sprinkle of profanity? Nothing really. The next chapter is the conclusion and FULL OF THE GAY. Well, okay, there's a surprise kiss in here.
One Early Morning
By B
Chapter 2
Magnus caught up with Hot Rod a few minutes later, which was remarkable considering how fast the sports car was going. Their headlights flooded the miles of forest and grasslands, the dawn sluggishly crawling up from distant mountains, making the sky half black and glowing yellow.
"Next time, listen to me when I tell you to stay put," Magnus commanded as he drove side by side with the orange car.
"I apologize, sir," Hot Rod replied, sincerely. "It's just, I didn't want to lose the signal," he said. "Dirge may not have the fastest of processors, but he's still got the speed of an F-15."
"Apology accepted," Magnus retorted, "Bumblebee and Bluestreak have been dispatched. They should be joining us shortly."
Hot Rod gave a small hybrid of a smirk and grunt. "Yeah, good," he said thoughtlessly.
The two drove for a few more miles in silence, their engines growling. It was Magnus's turn to speak up. "How are you feeling?" he inquired. "Your over-energized state might make you incapable of taking part in any ensuing confrontations."
"I'm doin' a lot better," Hot Rod insisted. "You could say, well, this sorta slapped me sober." His headlights flickered playfully. "Really, Magnus, I'm good. I can fight--you know, if there's a fight, heh."
"If I find you're in no position to, however," Magnus said, firmly, "then you will step down as commanded. Do I make myself clear?"
Hot Rod knew he was being serious. "Yes, sir," he retorted quietly.
"Just don't push yourself too hard, all right?"
Hot Rod's headlights glowed a little brighter. "... I-I won't, sir."
Within a mile from the site, Magnus ordered for Hot Rod to transform. Complying, the two drove behind a patch of trees, shifting into their robot modes, guns equipped. They peeked out from their post, watching the skies. Not a moment too soon did a blue and yellow jet come soaring by, before transforming into Dirge in mid-air, landing with a gust of dirt beneath his feet. Hot Rod went to speak to his commander before Magnus rose a hand, hushing him. Two more jets appeared, smoothly landing on the ground and transforming: Ramjet and Thrust.
Of course, nothing could be simple.
Dirge checked the holographic map beaming from his wrist. "According to the coordinates Swindle supplied, we should be standing right above it," he said, looking down at his pedes.
Magnus and Hot Rod looked at each other, confused.
Do you know what Dirge is talking about? Magnus inquired through a private comm link.
Hot Rod responded: No idea.
Magnus activated his own scanner, before spotting something buried ten feet beneath the ground around the circle of Seekers. It was rather large; ten feet in length and sixteen in width. It looks like there's a small space ship buried under the ground, he explained. Not sure of its designation, if it even has one.
What about the contents? Can you scan them? Hot Rod asked, keeping his optics transfixed on the Decepticons, his digits itchy against his gun's trigger.
Magnus gave it another thorough scanning. He could see it was filled with something, but could not recognize what. I'm not sure. There's definitely something, but I don't recognize the property. He paused to give the buried ship another extensive scan before his blue optics dimmed. I'm going to send the images to Perceptor. He should be able to determine what they are.
Whatever it is, Hot Rod said, the Decepticons really seem to want it.
Then it must be something immensely powerful or immensely dangerous.
Dirge ordered the group to begin digging. Hot Rod and Magnus decided to stay hidden until they recovered or got close to the ship. Hot Rod had wanted to just dive right into a battle, but Magnus kept him at bay with a firm hand on his shoulder. Hot Rod obeyed, but not without fidgeting anxiously.
The Seekers dug half way to their destination within ten minutes before scrambling as Thrust dropped a small cluster bomb into the hole. Ultra Magnus pulled Hot Rod down as the bomb exploded in just a few seconds. Dirt and chunks of earth flew everywhere, but the explosion wasn't bad enough to damage anything critical, but good enough to uncover the rest of the ship. Magnus and Hot Rod adjusted their vision to zoom in as close as possible, the three jets moving around their finding.
It looks Cybertronian, Hot Rod suggested.
Magnus nodded slightly. I don't detect any signals of life. Plus, it's showing no signs of familiar programing; it might not even be sentient. It must be a cargo ship.
A moment later, Magnus received another private transmission. Hot Rod kept his optics glued on the three grunting and hissing as they tried to yank the jet from its prison. Bumblebee here, the yellow Autobot informed as soon as Magnus picked up the transmission, Bluestreak and I are within half a mega-mile of the coordinates you gave us.
Good. Proceed into stealth mode. We're located--
Before Magnus could finish giving his directions, Thrust stood upright, dropping the cargo ship's wing on Ramjet's foot. Ramjet shrieked, letting his part go to jump around, squeezing his foot. "Sunnavaglitch!" he hissed. "What the Pit are you--!?"
"I'm picking up Autobot signals!" Thrust snapped. Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus cocked their guns, ready to charge. "It's comin' from 'bout half a mega-mile away! I can hear 'em, too!" he growled, engines revving.
The two found it oddly funny they had not yet detected their own presence. Perhaps it had been all the foliage, where as it was open land not too far a distance where Bumblebee and Bluestreak were located.
"Perfect," Dirge sighed, slapping a hand on his face. He snapped his fingers at Thrust. "Go investigate then. Call Ramjet for backup if there's somethin' out there."
Thrust nodded, transformed into jet mode and took off. Magnus quickly went back to Bumblebee's transmission. Fall back! he ordered. Thrust has picked up your signal!
Oh, man, and I thought we had ourselves covered pretty good! Bumblebee whined. But the transmission ended as Bumblebee and Bluestreak quickly found somewhere to hide until the opportune time to strike.
Hot Rod turned to Magnus. Should we attack now? One for one. It's perfect.
Magnus shook his head. Not just yet. I'm waiting for Perceptor to return with his analysis on the ship's cargo. It could possibly be dangerous.
Yeah, I guess... Hot Rod was disappointed, needless to say.
The two were forced to watch as Ramjet and Dirge went about trying to decode the lock on the ship. This got them nowhere, as every possible code they could think of was denied. Still, they struggled, punching in combinations for a few minutes before getting angry and kicking and striking it. Magnus waited for any sort of transmission from Bumblebee, but all the lines were quiet.
Suddenly, the private line Magnus had used for the yellow bug released a loud skzzzt followed by the sound of an explosion and hiss of a laser firing, before dying again. Magnus knew that wasn't a good sign and Hot Rod looked to him, suspecting something. Magnus spoke to him in their private link: Bumblebee just sent a transmission. Apparently something is going on. He didn't say anything; probably too busy fighting, but I think he wanted us to know they've been--
"Thrust here! I've made contact with two Autobots!"
Magnus and Hot Rod snapped up their attention as Ramjet and Dirge stood quickly. "Who are they!?" Dirge demanded.
"The yellow git and one of the Datsun lose--aarggh!" Thrust never finished as Bluestreak's gun shot him in the wing.
"Frag!" Dirge cursed. He looked to Ramjet. "Go off and help the idiot! I'll take care of the rest here!"
"Yeah, yeah," Ramjet grumbled before transforming and flying off.
Hot Rod watched the Seeker disappear then looked back at Magnus. You think we should go out there now? Two to one. It'll be quick, I think. He rose his gun for emphasis.
Never underestimate your enemies, Magnus replied, especially Decepticons. Nonetheless, when Hot Rod saw him equip his gun, he could feel the anxiety rising, dying to be released. Still, you're right; now would be the time to strike. As soon as we take out Dirge, secure the ship.
Yes, sir! Hot Rod beamed.
The two Autobots got into battle stance. Are you ready? Magnus asked, finger on his trigger. On the count of three, aim and fire at Dirge. It's not very honorable, but there's no telling what's in that ship and if he can use it against us.
Hot Rod merely gave him an "a-okay" sign. Magnus did not understand such a human gesture, but he assumed Hot Rod understood him anyway. The two tensed as Dirge scratched at his conehead, eyeing the ship.
One...
Dirge then came up with a plan.
Two...
The Seeker stretched out his arms, his null rays pointed at the shuttle, ready to fire.
"Three!" Magnus shouted, causing Dirge to jump. But before he could turn his guns on the Autobots crashing out of the trees and bushes, Magnus and Hot Rod each fired a shot at him, hitting him dead on in the chest. Dirge released a loud screech, toppling over, smoke billowing from his wound. Hot Rod stood in front of the fallen Seeker, keeping his gun on him as Magnus went to the ship.
Magnus knelt beside it, scanning the contents again. "Whatta make of it, Magnus?" Hot Rod asked, optics locked on the groaning Decepticon.
"I'm still not positive on the what, but I can tell you it's emitting a large quantity of radiation," Magnus explained, quickly standing away from the shuttle. "The metal used to construct this ship is much thicker than normally used on Cybertornian aircrafts, probably locking away most of the radioactivity. This level isn't harmful to us, but I sense organic life forms could easily be killed by it if exposed to it for a long period of time."
Dirge hissed as he sat up on his elbows, Hot Rod tapping his digit on the trigger to remind him of his position. "You--don't you touch that, you slagging Autobot!" the Seeker snapped. "It belongs to the Decepticons now!"
"'Now'?" Hot Rod repeated, cocking an optic ridge.
Magnus noticed there were no insignias on the ship. "So this must be stolen, I take it," he wondered.
Hot Rod looked back at him in alarm. "What if it was, is, an Autobot carg--"
"Don't worry about the ship, Autobot! Worry about yourself!" Dirge growled before taking the opportunity from Hot Rod's distraction to kick the gun from his hand. Hot Rod turned back to see Dirge pounce on top of him, knocking the orange mech to the ground.
Magnus quickly went to take action, aiming his gun at the two. However, they were rolling around, constantly shifting positions, allowing Magnus no perfect shot without risking hitting Hot Rod. Finally, however, Hot Rod managed to flip Dirge beneath him, decking him across his faceplate. "You're getting rusty, Dirge old buddy," he taunted with a sneer.
Dirge groaned, a dent in his left cheek. "Y-You talk bold for a sparkling," he snorted, before his feet turbines roared to life, causing him to shoot out from underneath Hot Rod. He was too fast for Hot Rod to grab, floating above him with null rays pointed at his head. Now he was the one grinning devilishly. "I'll show you how real soldiers fight."
"You forgot about me, Dirge."
Dirge widened his optics and looked aside, just as Magnus fired his gun at him. The blue and yellow Seeker shrieked and shot mindlessly back, his aim thrown off as the laser struck his abdomen. The ray hit the shuttle, causing it to jolt and something to start ticking.
As Dirge started to flutter to the ground, Hot Rod took the opportunity to round kick him in the back, sending the Seeker hitting the ground hard, face first, his wings twitching. There came another muffled sound of pain from the Earth, Hot Rod sidling over to him. "Oh, too bad you weren't able to share your wisdom with me, gramps," he sniggered.
Magnus however, was less concerned about gloating and more about the ticking noise the ship was emitting. Walking over to the site it was struck, he pried away a thin layer of metal, shocked to see a small control panel making the noises; a countdown from 5:50 activated, going down by a numeral every second. The truck quickly looked back at Hot Rod, shouting, "It's a bomb!"
Hot Rod jolted, running over to take a look at it. Dirge painfully pulled his wrist to his face, grumbling, "D-Dirge to S-Starscream, c-come in St--" But a shot from Hot Rod's laser into his helm knocked him out cold before he could finish the transmission.
"Slag," the young Autobot spat, "don't they know how to quit?"
"Right now, we need to focus on deactivating the bomb," Magnus insisted. Going by his knowledge and past experience, he carefully opened the panel... Only instead of seeing a maze of multicolored wires, they were all pitch black in color, making it impossible to decide which deactivated the bomb. He checked the time again: 5:23.
Magnus looked up at Hot Rod, hanging there nervously, confused about what he should do. "Contact Bumblebee and Bluestreak," the larger mech ordered. "See if they need back-up. I'll--"
"Ultra Magnus! Can you read me, Ultra Magnus!?"
That was Perceptor on his comm. "Ultra Magnus speaking," Magnus said, accepting the transmission, "did you identify the content of the ship?"
"Yes! That shuttle contains 89.7 mass-pounds of meta-energon from the planet Utonian. Six orns ago, I had contacted an Autobot unit situated on the planet regarding their new finding of meta-energon: energon doubled with more power than regular energon!" Perceptor explained, sounding strangely breathless and nervous. "According to my consultant Quest, it was half of what remained of their discovery and upon my curiosity, he insisted on shipping me a small portion of it to use to help fuel Metroplex. While I disagreed, considering the sheer overwhelming power would be dangerous if it fell into Decepticon hands--"
"Get to the point, Perceptor," Magnus ordered, managing to sound cool and controlled, "why is it here then?"
"I assume Quest sent it to me irregardless of my refusal. According to the images you transmitted, the thick casing helped to conceal the content, make it appear as simply just a spare transportation shuttle, hoping not to arouse any Decepticon interest. I'm certain it must be this, since he was aware of the news regarding multiple raids on Decepticon underground trading. If it was never to find its way to us, eventually Decepticons would attempt to open it, only to be greeted by a countdown of a bo--"
Magnus jolted. "You know of the bomb!?"
"Y-Yes. Every package I've received from Quest contains a bomb for security measures that activate by near 6 kliks upon opening. However, if the material arrives in the right hands, then we should have the password that will terminate it instant--"
Hot Rod stepped forward, shouting, "Well, the bomb's been activated and we're near four minutes now!"
"What? You opened it!?"
"No," Magnus replied, "Dirge activated it when he hit it with his null ray. That's not the problem--what's the code to deactivate it?"
"Quest recently sent me a transmission regarding a code five orns ago, but we had not discussed any transactions. I should have it he--"
Perceptor's voice turned to static. "Perceptor?" Magnus spoke. There was no reply, just more white noise. "Perceptor, are you there?" he asked again before attempting to reconnect the transmission. Nothing but static.
"Magnus! Look!"
Magnus turned from Hot Rod to the ship, noticing not only were they down to nearly three minutes, but the ship was glowing a soft green aura. "The radiation has increased, possibly in anticipation for explosion," the blue and white mech cursed, clenching a fist. "It's probably messing with our connections."
Hot Rod attempted to contact Perceptor, but got the same result. "Slag!" he snapped, stomping a foot.
The clock was racing, the time at 3:37. Magnus studied the big, bold red numerals in Cybertronian, then the humming, glowing ship. Finally, he turned back to Hot Rod, who was twitching uncomfortably, itching to do something. "Hot Rod," he said suddenly, causing the young soldier to jump, "you go and assist Bumblebee and Bluestreak. By now I'm sure the Decepticons have called back-up and neither of them have contacted us about their status."
Hot Rod stared at him in shock. "Y-You're not suggesting I leave you!?" he blanched.
"I can handle this," Magnus said calmly, "I've worked with code controlled bombs before. If you wish to help, leave the area and contact Perceptor to send an expert with the deactivation code." He studied the keyboard of numbers. "I think I might be able to temporarily freeze it--"
"You can't stay here!" Hot Rod snapped. He stepped closer to his commander. "If you do, you might--" He shook his head, not wanting to think of what could happen. "We'll leave together!"
"The explosion would be too big just to leave it," Magnus disagreed. "Like I said, I'll try to stall it." He thought for a moment. "If it hits the 2 minute mark, I'll take the ship away from the area and let it--"
"--Explode with you!?" Hot Rod interrupted. Magnus did not reply. The younger soldier stared at him as the timer hit 2:59. "Look," he said slowly, "if this is how it's going to be..." He rose his hands and knelt beside Magnus before the bomb and glowing ship. "Then let me stay instead."
Magnus stared at him, awed. "But you--"
"Kup installed so many lectures about disassembling bombs into my memory banks that I'm sure I've got the same chance of stalling it as you do," Hot Rod snickered, shrugging. His smile grew a little sad. "Besides, if one of us has to sacrifice ourselves, then let it be me. You're too important to lose."
Magnus felt both shock and disgust creep into his spark. "How could you...!?" he growled, taking Hot Rod's arm and squeezing it. Hot Rod cast him a wide eyed look. "How dare you demean your life like that, as if it's any less important than anyone else's!" the truck seethed, and his anger caused a shiver to run down Hot Rod's backbone infrastructure. He then noticed the fear in his comrade's optics, causing him to slowly let his arm go, frown disappearing. "I--I apologize for lashing out at you like that. I can understand what you must be feeling, but to say what you did..." he whispered.
Hot Rod stared at him, optics softening. "Magnus...?"
Magnus looked to the timer. "2:21," he said and pulled Hot Rod up, pushing him away. "Go! I'm going to try and stall it while you contact Perceptor!"
"Magnus!" Hot Rod hissed. "You can't--"
Ultra Magnus just ignored him. "I told you the next time I give you an order, you follow it!" he snarled. Hot Rod took a step back as Magnus pointed away. "Now obey your commanding officer and retreat!"
Hot Rod stared at him, watching him return to the bomb. Nearly two minutes. Hot Rod bit together his dental plates, stumbling from moving back and moving forward. He knew even if he had left earlier to contact Perceptor, the distance he'd need to go from the radiation's level would take up too much time. Returning to deliver the code to Magnus would only take up more time and even then the bomb would have been activated--
Magnus was fiddling with the buttons, attempting to stall the timer. 2:01 minutes and Hot Rod finally snapped, running back at him. "If you're going to stay here and sacrifice yourself, then you're not doing it alone," he insisted. "Let's take the ship together, away from here!"
"Hot Rod, you will leave now--!"
When the timer hit 1 minute, Hot Rod flew forward, grabbed Magnus by the shoulders and planted a hard kiss on his lips. Magnus felt himself tense and stiffen, unable to make any sort of reaction to this. Half a second later, Hot Rod pulled back and grabbed onto the wing of the ship without a second thought. "Let's get going, sir!" he exclaimed, tugging on a half-smile.
Magnus stared at him. He shook his head. "You can't stay here!" he barked, but grabbed the other wing either way.
One minute, fifty seconds.
"I told you, you're stuck with me until the end!" Hot Rod laughed and began to drag the ship away.
"Slag," Magnus cursed bitterly.
"904590!"
At thirty-nine seconds, Hot Rod and Magnus shot their attention upwards as Skylynx flew above them. "Stop gawking! The deactivation code is 904590!" he snorted, flapping his large wings.
Twenty-four seconds and Magnus finally dove at the control panel, quickly pounding in the coding. The timer hit the 0:19 second mark before it stalled and froze in place. "Now hurry," Skylynx added, "type in 089021 to self-destruct the bomb!"
Magnus followed the orders and a second later, the timer's number scrambled, the bomb shutting down and sparking as its programing ripped itself apart. Immediately, the glow around the ship faded. The three Autobots sighed, sitting and staggering back with relief. "I say, perhaps it should have been me who deactivated it," Skylynx snorted, "I would have been much faster."
"It's destroyed, that's all that matters," Magnus said, standing. He looked up at Skylynx. "I take it Perceptor sent you?"
"Of course! Naturally, who else can you rely on?" Skylynx grunted, turning up his nose. "As soon as your transmission feed disconnected, he gave me the codes and sent me to save your little diodes." The giant 'bot placed a wing to his chest. "I even delivered back-up for Bumblebee and Bluestreak to handle those insufferable Seekers. I suppose now after my intervention, they've run off back to their little base, shaking in their pedes."
Hot Rod smiled. "So they're all right then?"
"I only brought the best, so of course, they're fine," Skylynx answered. He walked up to the ship, his tail swishing. "Perceptor had asked me to kindly bring him back the cargo. Not like there's anyone else he can depend on for such important work."
"There's Skyfire--"
"Tut tut," Skylynx sniffed loudly at Hot Rod. He spread open his shuttle doors. "Now, if you two younglings will stop standing around like buffoons and load the ship onto me, I'd like to return back to Metroplex and finish my beauty recharge."
Magnus and Hot Rod couldn't help but laugh a little, completely oblivious to Dirge awakening and making a run for it. "All right," Magnus said a second later, gesturing to Hot Rod, "you take one wing and I'll take the other."
Hot Rod picked up the wing he had previously been holding. "Yes, sir!"
It turned out that Perceptor was right. Quest had shipped the meta-energon to Metroplex nearly five orns ago, without Perceptor knowing. Contact with Quest explained his reason: Decepticon troops had been sniffing around their base and they had no choice but to send it out before they could get a hold of it. The ship had crashed to Earth, Perceptor assumed, three orns ago, burying itself into the Earth. It was left unnoticed that day due to Metroplex and its passengers busy fighting Trypticon and the Decepticons outside the state during an energon raid. Due to its low energy signal, it was left unnoticed.
Swindle, however, must have been tracing the ship. After informing Megatron of his finding, they had agreed upon a deal to meet privately at a location by the shuttle. The energon had not been there to be sold for Decepticon consumption, but rather to try and activate the ship to remove either its contents or, if sentient, discover its purpose. Swindle, however, did not know there was a bomb attached.
Returning to base, Magnus and Hot Rod loaded the cubes of meta-energon into a highly secured underground storage room inside Metroplex. Of course, it would only be used to help fuel the fortress Transformer, who naturally consumed much more energon than his companions.
After double checking the locks on the door, Perceptor stepped out into the hall with Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod and Skylynx. "It's safe," he said simply. "I'll have Red Alert keep a close optic on this room until the meta-energon runs out."
"Good idea," Magnus agreed.
Skylynx flapped his wings. "This is much too drawl for me. It is nearly 4 AM and I have two more cycles before I am on duty again. So, if you're quite sure you're capable of keeping your heads on without my help, I would like to return to my quarters."
"You're dismissed," Magnus assured, waving him off. Skylynx just made a little 'humph' and flew off back to his roost.
"Guy's attitude is astounding," Hot Rod smirked, folding his arms over his chest.
"Before I venture off to recharge myself," Perceptor piped in, "have either of you sustained any damage you need mending?"
The two shook their heads. "We're fine," Magnus reassured. "Bluestreak's in the med bay with First Aide to repair his arm, but Bumblebee, Ironhide and Cliffjumper are in fine shape, just a little battle worn and tired."
Perceptor chuckled. "I can imagine the same can be said for the both of you," he said, astounded. "You nearly sacrificed yourselves attempting to dismantle the bomb!"
Magnus considered what the scientist had said, remembering the timer as it ticked away precious time. How he knew that with transmission lost, attempting to contact Perceptor at that point in time would have been futile. Hot Rod perhaps knew this and that's perhaps why he stayed. Ultra Magnus remembered how defiant he was, how he refused to leave and how he had--
Magnus cleared his vocals. "We're just happy it didn't come to that."
"Indeed!" Perceptor agreed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a couple things to tie up before I retire for a few cycles."
"Rest well, Perceptor," Magnus replied, allowing Perceptor to leave with a salute.
The two mechs watched him depart before Hot Rod stretched out his arms and legs. "I think that energon's comin' back up," the orange soldier grumbled, "I guess I ought to go--"
Magnus took his arm, causing Hot Rod to jump a little. His optics quickly met the white and blue's. They were cold, contemplating, dark. Hot Rod instantly felt a lecture coming on. "Is there something you need, sir?" he asked in a tiny voice.
The older mech pulled him closer, until they were face to face. Hot Rod felt more tension mount on his shoulders.
"We need to talk."
T/B/C