Chapter 6: Cell-Bound
Bumblebee didn't know what Acheron was doing up in the Cybertron Command Center but it was obvious it was nothing good.
A Metal Grunt walked to his cell curiously trying to get his attention. The warrior paid no mind to the creature and he stayed alienated from it even when it spoke in its native tongue. Why would it want his consideration? Finally, Bumblebee faced the monster who so desperately craved his devotion towards it.
It didn't say anything more but it scooted a data pad under the cell door, hoping the mech would read it. As it waited, it made itself comfortable in the infamous sitting, puppy-eyed dog pose the human pets made frequently. Once in a while, it licked its lips just to alert the warrior it was still there, watching.
Bumblebee grabbed the data pad and scrolled through the message that was left for him. It read:
Bumblebee,
I know we are not the friendliest of creatures to you Cybertronian, but you were right. We will forever be loyal to our true master and nothing could break our bond that we have with her.
I've noticed the hypnotized Metal Heads, the ones with the red skull gems, convert to and from the red and yellow color scheme almost like they are trying to fight the coding that bastard put into their minds. The Metal Head who brought you this memorandum found a way to break away from his mind control, hence why he's acting so nice towards you.
I wish I could break you free and set things right, but I'm afraid my cover would be easily blow and doing something like that now would be a huge mistake I cannot afford. Thankfully, a majority of my mistress' army aren't the wisest of creatures which explains how I gave you this communication. I'll try to tell you about what's happening on the surface and what they plan on doing but don't expect a message to be sent every hour or day, for that matter.
[I can't leave any signature or a clue to who I am for safety reasons. Although Metal Heads are as dumb as a box of rocks, they can pinpoint traces of a name quickly and my initials would be somewhat of a dead giveaway or a lead to a narrowed down list of names.]
Shocked, Bumblebee set down the data pad and looked back to the small Metal Head before him. If another Metal Head was willing to betray his own like that for their original enemies, then there was still hope.
He whistled at the creature to come, which was immediately obeyed, and stroked its neck. He received a thoughtful purr from the Grunt and handed the pad back to an awaiting mouth. The only thing he could do was watch it disappear around a corner.
He had no one to talk to due to the others being locked in separate rooms and mumbling to himself made it even worse. He was alone, and he silently laid on the stone cold berth as the silence dominated the level he was on.
Optimus stirred as a few Metal Heads drew closer to him hungrily. He could tell by the saliva dripped off of their jagged teeth that were inching towards him. He rapidly breathed as he tried to rip his bonds off the wall.
Finally, his left wrist broke free right as one of the monsters snapped at him. He whipped his arm around to hit the beast, who flew straight to another wall with a loud crack echoing from its now-motionless body. The other Metal Heads whimpered at the sight and backed away from the Prime who broke off a few more restraints.
Dizzily, he stumbled as soon as he jumped over the small pool of Dark Eco from the wall and landed near the group of monsters. He hadn't walked for a few days and to him, it felt like he was learning to walk for the first time.
As he regained his composure, another beast tried to attack him but missed and fell into the tarn behind the Prime. A yelp emitted from the Metal Head as the goo climbed over it and began dragging the poor thing below the surface. The others could only watch in horror as their friend disappeared in loch with a few large bubbles replacing it.
Optimus turned back to the Metal Heads with a scary grin. They immediately got the message and ran from the Cybertronian, crashing into one another around a corner in the process.
Not hesitating any longer, the Prime navigated through the tunnels with his guns drawn. He began hearing voices after a while and knew it was the mystery captors who spoke a few nights before, which lasted until Ghost knocked him out with brute force.
"I am not relieving myself from duty! If Tigressa wants her pedestal in the ranks back, she'll have to fight me to get it. Oh, but that's right, she's in no condition to do that nor is she in a good position to threaten me! The only reason I keep her alive is to get the non-transformed Metal Heads to comply!"
The male voice was almost cracking due to the stress he seemed to be endearing. A female voice followed suit but this time, she had more emotion.
"I will not let you get away with this. This was not part of the deal we had! All I asked was for you to help her, but instead you took over an army that now loathes you despite the fact a majority of them are incapable of doing anything due to your mind control and you openly attacked the Cybertronians, which has made Elita scared that another Civil War will emerge from different opinions on the matter.
"This is not your planet to rule nor is Cybertron. Earth is free now from the cybernetic warmongering it has endured; please stop this while you have the chance or else, everyone will have no choice but to kill you on sight. This includes me and my siblings. Release them from their bonds and let them go home!"
The female's shadow finally was visible from around the corner of the tunnel he was in. Obviously, she was good but he doubted the male was the same way. He prepared his firing mechanism just in case.
The male started again, "I'm afraid I cannot do that. They are a constant danger towards me, restrained or not; I cannot risk losing everything I have acquired over the last several months. I shall give you one last chance: obey me or become a mindless, blood lusting zombie just like your family."
As Optimus turned the corner and saw the faces of the two, he instantly heard the femme say, "I will never!"
The black, white, and red mech quickly placed his servo on the femme's throat, who he recognized as ElectroHyena, and squeezed while the latter struggled fiercely. Swiftly, Optimus ran to the mech and grabbed his arm while he twisted the mech's hand to release the hyena. He did but his other arm swung around and walloped the Prime in the face.
The Autobot felt the blow compel him backwards until he found himself rolling on the ground with the floor's debris flying everywhere. He slid to a stop only to see a pede crash down on his weakened form.
"Well, I see someone has finally broken free from his imprisonment. I knew those wretched beasts couldn't stop you, but to be honest, I never thought you'd find your way here, Optimus," the mech hissed.
Optimus squirmed a little under the pressure of his foot, "What have you done to the Metal Heads, their leader, and her siblings?"
"Oh nothing really. They're only the brute labor of my army. As for the Metal Heads, I believe you can figure out what has happened to them. Tigressa, however, is extremely unwell due to her recent injuries. She needs medical attention but we lack proper doctors so she is dying slowly. Sadly, it's not fast enough for my liking but I want her to suffer. By the way, we haven't met before so let me introduce myself; I am Acheron."
The Autobot leader scowled at the mech, "Acheron, ElectroHyena's right! What you're doing is foolish! This madness will only result in your death and another war between worlds. Why won't you accept the peace we already have!?"
Acheron made himself more level with the Prime, "Because you all deserve what you get! Neither you nor the humans have earned the right to live like Gods. I am simply setting everything back to the way it was before our time, when there was only one God, which means Tigressa and I cannot both live either. One must destroy the other to obtain the god-like status we crave so much. There cannot be two deities in this Universe."
Optimus stared in terror at the insane mech. He had to be idiotic to believe he was the Universe's savior. Tigressa most likely knew she wasn't but never preached something as ridiculous as this lunatic; she knew her boundaries though sometimes she tried to overstep them experimentally.
Before Optimus could respond, Acheron pressed two fingers to his mouth and whistled. The result was large footsteps rumbling the ground he lay on. A few roars alerted him of who the crazed mech called over.
The golden eggs he could see on the ceiling were instantly covered by shadows with different colored tattoos and eyes gazing down on him.
In the background, he could here ElectroHyena fighting one of the colored dragons whom he recognized as her own twin, Spirit. The other brothers let Acheron hide behind them as they reached for the Prime's exhausted form. The pulled him up roughly and as he was being held in Poltergeist's and Entity's suffocating grasps, Demon's and Ghost's tails coiled around him completely.
"You see, Optimus, I am a God here and soon Cybertron will bow before their new 'Primus'. Little will they know that I will drive them to extinction all over again," Acheron crowed.
"You imbecile," Optimus yelled, "you are a Cybertronian. If you live, technically we won't be extinct!"
"Actually, yes, we will because you can't exactly have sparklings without a mate and if I'm the only remaining Cybertronian, whoever I mate with and have a child with will create a new species that'll replace the Cybertronians. Once I die and my sparkling inherits everything I own, Cybertron will be forever more a barren, rusted, metal waste of a planet."
Optimus didn't say anything more, only stared daggers at the genocidal mech. He observed Acheron click his tongue at the dragons behind him and felt them haul him away, back to that dreadful wall over the small Dark Eco lake.
Bumblebee stared at the ceiling while he twiddled his thumbs silently. It had been twenty-eight Earth hours since their disappearance from Cybertron. He wasn't sure whether the others were still living.
The secret messenger who kept sending him updates from Cybertron's surface sent over twelve tablet messages so far. Each one had new information which both shocked and intrigued him. The messenger's delivery Metal Head kept returning as well; it was always happy to see him but left saddened that it had to abandon him in the despicable cell.
Apparently, the messages warned him that Acheron and the Metal Head Nest were on Earth and most likely so was Optimus. Another thing was that the Metal Head armies have grown restless from the lack of the presence of their original leader. Despite Acheron's control over them, they still had a portion of their minds loyal to the missing tiger-dragon, and it was becoming noticeable.
Out of all the messages sent, one struck fear into his spark. Acheron was planning to destroy both Earth and Cybertron by eliminating its citizens. The news made his stomach turn and he couldn't help but place a servo over his mouth.
"By the Allspark! Lyra! Come here girl!"
Lyra was the Metal Head who kept transporting the mysterious helper's communications. He found the name fitting because 'she' had several white-blue dots on her body that looked like stars on her dark blue skin which represented the night sky. She also had a fondness over calm, angel harp music which he played from an interstellar frequency he picked up on from Earth.
After making numerous transfers, Lyra finally came back with no message and just sat on the freezing floor quietly. She awaited his command until he called out for her. She instantly was by his side with no seconds wasted.
"Sweetspark, can you convince my anonymous Metal Head collaborator to please break me out as well as my fellow comrades. I need to make things right but I can only do it with his, or her, help. Please."
Lyra looked in both directions before saluting him and trotting off towards the exit.
Bumblebee sighed as she disappeared again. What if the unknown colleague doesn't save him? He'll most likely be stuck here, rusting away while Cybertron becomes a just a large, useless sphere.
Rodimus, Wasp, and Smokescreen just relaxed on their own berths. Luckily, they weren't separated too far away from one another which allowed them to keep a portion of their sanity.
"You think we'd be already killed off by now since Acheron doesn't want any witnesses," Wasp said as he crossed his arms.
Smokescreen didn't comment back but Rodimus knew what he was thinking.
"Yeah, well, if we die, Acheron's head will be put on a bounty faster than saying the word 'good-bye'. At least, that's if word gets out we've gotten killed by a maniac with a malicious group of Metal Heads at his demand," Rodimus replied.
Once again, silence dominated the rooms with no hesitation. It seemed unbearable.
Suddenly, a noise of claws scrapping across metal sounded near the exit. It made them wince until it stopped right as it reached the door frame.
"Please don't be Acheron! Please don't be Acheron!" Wasp mumbled as a shadow formed in the doorway.
But as the dark figure moved closer, it began shrinking until it was as tall as Smokescreen's lower leg. Hopping happily was Lyra as she went around the frame to see three scared faces staring back at her. She smiled innocently as she approached Rodimus who backed away slightly.
Observing the shape of the cell door between her and the frightened mech, Lyra squealed and wagged her tail. She began speaking in her native tongue until another figure appeared in the doorway. This time, it was a much larger Metal Head with spikes lining its entire back.
Wasp remained motionless even when he studied the new creature. Then a crazy thought hit him, "Captain Silos?"
The masked Rhyno Metal Head peered towards the small muscle car and gave him a toothy smile. "In the flesh, boy. Now I say it's time to give Acheron a little payback for this embarrassment he has bestowed upon my family. Dishonoring them in such a way makes me want to tear his frame in half!"
Immediately after, the Captain unleashed his sword and shattered the gates and bonds that held the Cybertronians captive.
"Why are you setting us free after all we have done against you and Tigressa?" Smokescreen questioned.
Silos sighed, "Because I now realize that you are just like us. All you want is your home back as do we, and both of our species have a found a new one as well as the recovered old one. To lose it all after the effort you put into restoring your planet seems unjust, in my opinion. I may not agree with your species' ways, but I don't wish to help a madman destroy the one chance we've left to live peacefully with others, 'to make thing right again!'"
"Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's find the others and save Cybertron and Earth. Oh and find Tigressa so we can get the Metal Heads under control before they start killing people," Rodimus declared.
All of them nodded swiftly and left their cages behind.