Chapter 5
Arcee sat up on her berth, staring at the wall across the room. The sun shone through the small glass window indicating a beautiful Sunday morning, although, Arcee didn't notice. She didn't care. She didn't care about how she broke her tradition of watching he sun rise, she didn't care whether or not it was a nice day outside, she only cared about Jack. The two-wheeler couldn't help but think about him; his eyes that revealed his emotions, his black hair that flapped in the wind, his kind smile that made Arcee tingle on the inside.
"Oh, Jack..." Arcee sighed, holding back tears. "I wish you were here, with us, with me."
A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. Gentle beeps could be heard from the other side as Arcee got up.
"Alright Bee, I'll be there in a moment" Arcee responded.
She headed towards the door when she spotted a picture frame on her desk. The frame contained a picture of Team Prime along with all their allies, everyone with big smiles on their face. Picking it up, Arcee looked at the memory, gently rubbing her alloy thumb against the spot where her human partner was smiling.
"I'm so sorry Jack," she said in a whisper. Gently placing the picture frame down, she headed to the command center where Ratchet had picked up something on his radar.
...
Agent 000 walked down the MECH hallway towards the conference room. Passing by other MECH soldiers, he couldn't help but notice the strange reactions they had when they saw him. While some of them nodded nervously as they passed by, others hurried their pace, trying to get as far away from him as possible. Agent 000 smirked, he liked being feared. It meant that others looked to him as someone with a higher status, even though he held the same rank as any field agent. Even his commanding officers took a step back when he got near.
Weaklings, he thought to himself, only the weak showed signs of fear. When time comes, the strong will rise and the weak will fall.
Agent 000 pushed through the door of the conference room, looking around and taking in his surroundings. The room was moderately sized, monitors placed all around the four walls. In the middle was a long table with chair on every side. Silas sat at the head of the table, looking over files that were placed in front of him. Looking up, he saw Agent 000 and motioned for him to take a seat.
"Good morning Agent 000, how are you today?" Silas asked, obviously out of politeness and not out of curiosity.
"I'm fine" Agent 000 answered in a low tone. Not wanting to waste time talking, he jumped straight to the point. "You wanted to brief me for my next assignment?"
Silas nodded in response. "Your recent assessment showed our organization how well you can perform in the field." The MECH leader looked over to a monitor where the video of Agent 000 brutally killing the prisoners was shown.
"We have decided to give you your first mission. As you have been told, you used to be one of MECH's most prized soldiers. During an attack against a Russian facility, you were shot multiple times before a grenade went off, blowing you back in the explosion. MECH agents recovered your body and quickly put you on life support. You were on the edge of death and not wanting to lose someone as valuable as you are, we were forced to put you through an operation called Operation 000. Mixing the chemical compounds of dark energon and other substances, we were able to create a substance that could save you as well as give you strengths men dream of having." Silas started.
"You, Agent 000, are the result of Operation 000. A man with enhanced speed, agility, strengths and reflexes; the perfect agent. MECH wants to have an army of people like you. People who have gone through Operation 000 and survive. When we have enough soldiers, you will command the new division of enhanced agents and MECH will be unstoppable. Unfortunately, we do not possess enough dark energon to continue our operation, which is why we enlisted you for this mission."
Silas handed Agent 000 a file with many documents inside.
"For this mission, you will lead a team of MECH sol-"
Agent 000 cut him off. "I work alone."
Team? Division? These words meant nothing to him. When in the field, you can only rely on yourself to get the job done, Agent 000 said to himself mentally. Others are liabilities and only get in the way.
Silas smirked. "I thought you might say that" he said while taking the file back and pushing forward a new one. "You will infiltrate the Pentagon and access the government's data base, uploading their information on dark energon to our network. This is an undercover mission."
Agent 000 looked over the documents and smiled to himself.
"This'll be fun" Agent 000 said, "get me a chopper and I'll leave at twelve hundred hours."
...
"Ratchet, have we found any new information on Jack or MECH's whereabouts?" Optimus asked as he walked into the room. The Autobots have gathered in the command center on accounts of Ratchet exclaiming he found something. Miko and Raf excited to see if they have found Jack. The two kids saw Jack as an older brother and were deeply worried about his safety. The group waited patiently for Arcee to arrive before they started.
"I'm sorry Optimus but I haven't been able to find anything since the DNA trail" the medic replied.
"That is alright, old friend. We will continue searching for Jack until we find him." The prime heard footsteps as he turned towards the hallway leading to Arcee's quarters. The two-wheeler slowly walked into the command center, back slouched while rubbing her left arm. She merely looked up with a plain expression and gave Optimus a nod before putting her head down.
"Good, now that we are all here, we can start" the medic said, breaking the awkward silence. "While searching for any dark energon signals, my scanners picked up an Autobot homing beacon. I believe it belongs to an ancient relic that was once part of the Iacon Hall of Records. If I'm not mistaken, these relics were sent to different parts of the galaxy before the Decepticons were able to retrieve them."
"That is correct" Optimus stated. Before Optimus became a prime, he was a clerk who worked in the Iacon Hall of Records named Orion Pax.
Ratchet nodded and continued. "Megatron currently owns a copy of the Iacon data base and has been trying to decode the co-ordinates of the relics that have fallen on Earth. Who knows what kind of power these relics contain, therefore we cannot allow him to retrieve them. The signal came from an island off the coast of Puerto Rico near the Gulf of Mexico. I believe the Human's name for the area is the Bermuda Triangle."
"WOW!" Miko exclaimed, "You guys are going to the Bermuda Triangle? That place is like, totally awesome! Can I come? Please? Pleeeeeeeease? I want to be the first ever human to go to the island!"
"Absolutely not!" yelled Ratchet, "this is a serious mission and we cannot afford to have you getting in the way. Also what did you mean by 'first ever human'?"
Raf decided to jump. "Ratchet, the Bermuda Triangle Island is a place no human has ever been to before. Many people have tried traveling there in boats and in planes, but they disappear without a trace, never to be heard of again. The island is surrounded by harsh weather making it practically impossible to get to. Some people think extraterrestrials guard the island, making sure no one ever sets foot there."
Bumblebee let out some beeps to his human friend.
"Yeah Bee, I kind of want to see the island myself. It's like being the first one to set foot on a new planet."
Ratchet turned to Optimus. "Optimus, surely you cannot allow them to accompany you on this mission. We cannot risk the Decepticons getting their hands on the relic!"
"Oh come on doc" Wheeljack intervened, "let the kids have some fun."
Optimus stood there, thinking of a response. Looking over to Raf and Miko, Optimus saw their pleading eyes and that led to his decision.
"Raf, Miko, I will allow you to accompany us to the Bermuda Triangle" The two kids cheered and high-fived each other while Ratchet groaned. "However, you must be very cautious and stay with your Autobot guardians. Also, if we do encounter the Decepticons, Ratchet will immediately bridge both of you to safety."
Raf and Miko nodded and thanked Optimus as they jumped into Bumblebee and Bulkhead's vehicle modes. Optimus looked down at Arcee and saw the female deep in thought.
"Arcee" Optimus said, startling his second-in-command. "Will you be joining us to retrieve the relic?"
The female merely nodded before transforming into her vehicle mode. Optimus felt sorry for her; no one deserves the amount of loss Arcee has felt over the years. Ratchet set the co-ordinates into the groundbridge controls and a swirling green vortex immediately appeared.
"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus commanded as the group drove through the groundbridge.
...
Agent 000 drove up to the Pentagon in his black Honda Civic. He wore a proper military uniform with Medals of Honor, symbols and ranks pinned to his chest. A security guard saw him approaching and stopped the vehicle as he walked over to the window of the driver.
Seeing Agent 000's uniform, the security guard changed his posture. "Hello sir, may I see some identification please?"
Agent 000 reached over to the passenger seat, grabbing his identification and documents. The security guard read them over quickly and handed them back to him.
"It's good to have you back Lieutenant Fletcher, you may proceed." The security saluted him as Agent 000 drove forward. After finding a spot to park, Agent 000 made his way towards the entrance, carrying with him his documents as well as a dark brown suitcase.
Upon entry, Agent 000 went through the standard security check-up, earning many salutes as he passed by military officers.
"So Lieutenant, what brings you to the Pentagon?" asked the officer scanning his body with the metal detector.
"I have a meeting with the General about a classified matter" Agent 000 responded. As he said that he noticed another officer beginning to unlock his briefcase. Quickly he stepped forward, placing a hand on the briefcase, not allowing the officer to open it. "The contents in this briefcase are classified and can only be shown to few. Unless you have authorization from Sector B-17, you do not have the right to open this briefcase."
The officer looked at him blankly as he let go of the briefcase. "I apologize Lieutenant; I was only following basic procedure. Allow me to contact General Bryce for clearance."
The officer reached for a phone and dialed General Bryce's number. Before the real General could answer, Silas picked up, intercepting the call.
"Hello General Bryce, this is Officer Bailey calling. Lieutenant Fletcher is currently at the security check-up and has brought a briefcase. Do I have clearance to allow him to pass without checking the contents of the bag?"
"Allow him to pass immediately." Silas responded.
"Very well. Have a good day sir." Officer Bailey ended the call as he turned to face Agent 000. "You are free to pass Lieutenant, God bless."
Agent 000 nodded as he made his way into the building. He continued through the Pentagon until he reached Sector D-23. Quickly slipping into a nearby storage room, Agent 000 carefully re-programmed the camera to show the view of another camera somewhere else in the building. Knowing that he was safe, he opened up his briefcase, revealing a set of black clothes, a com-link, two sheathed knives, two silenced Beretta 96A1s, and four magazines of ammo.
After changing and gathering his equipment, Agent 000 left his briefcase in the storage room. Quietly, he began sneaking through the hallway as he made his way over to D-23's monitor room. As soon as he opened the door, the four officers in the room immediately turned around. In one motion, Agent 000 shot two of them and stabbed another. He decided to have some fun with the last one and slit his throat, watching the man attempt to cover his wound. After almost a minute of struggling, the officer stopped as his lifeless body fell to the ground. Turning to the monitors, Agent 000 immediately started to redirect the image relay like he did with the camera in the storage room. To anyone monitoring the cameras, all of D-23's images would be showing the views of other cameras in a different sector.
After taking out the cameras, Agent 000 swiftly went from room to room, killing anyone who he laid eyes on. Not before too long, the agent had killed everyone in Sector D-23 as he made his way to the communication center. Quickly, he began scanning the data base for dark energon. Once he found the file, he manually sent it to MECH's networking system. Once his work was complete, Agent 000 made his way to the storage room, changing back into his older clothes, and excited Sector D-23, locking the door behind him.
As he made his way out of the building, Officer Bailey saw him and gave him another salute. "Have a good day Lieutenant. I presume your meeting with General Bryce went as planned?"
Agent 000 forced a laugh as he maintained his cover. "General Bryce is definitely a handful. Have a good day as well, Officer." With that, Agent 000 retrieved his car and drove away.
"Agent 000" came Silas' voice through the com-link, "did you complete your task?"
Pressing a finger to his ear, Agent 000 answered.
"Yes sir, file has been uploaded and all possible threats have been terminated."
"Good, I expect you back at base at fifteen hundred hours. We are expecting visitors."