Well, I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday and I got to admit, it was quite a near shutout. But of course I watched the commercials to see how they will top themselves off. Other then the touchy Bud moments, the abomination of a dog, and the 80s nostalgia from Radioshack, it was the movie trailers I wanted to see. One in particular is that of the forth Transformers movie, which it titled Age of Extinction, which shows promise. No Shia LaBeouf thank goodness, but it would seem the new leading human role is Mark Wahlberg. Okay, a little older actor taking over. And judging by the bot fights, Michael Bay decided on bringing the Predacons from the Beast Hunters series, at least that was I saw. As for the Dinobots, I only see Snarl in that commercial and not the others. I'm certain in future trailers that we will get to see all of them. But even if I want to see this fourth installment of the movieverse series, I'm afraid that it's going to be the same thing like the last three: too many actors, solely focusing on the U.S. military, the Autobot/Decepticon feud serving as background noises, etc, etc… Just hope it doesn't go down that path. Besides, I feel stoked to see a DECEPTICON WITH A FACE TRANSFORMING INTO A BLASTER! Going back to the last chapter, still has its popularity. Got 13 reviews and a number of 777 hits, which is the number of going to Heaven. That is something unexpected. But it's cool with me, since it's still a lot of hits for me. But again, I got quite a great response and I hope this will continue. On this next chapter of TFP S3 E2: Prime, the recruits made it to Darkmount and are about to reach the comms facility. But within Con territory, they have to tread lightly as one mistake could cost them everything. This will get complicated.
Chapter Notes
Now I've a little bit of genre switching for most chapters. In the Darkmount chapter it was mostly action and in the Infestation chapter is pulled a Doomed Titans approach (which is another great story I did and you should check out) and did survival horror. This time, I'm deciding on a much different approach and pull a little stealth sequence in this chapter. Never done much stealth in any story except on a few occasions and I really want to see if I will do one fully. Could make quite a suspenseful chapter if I do say so myself. Another thing I would like to add is that you never really see much of Darkmount or what goes on inside. I mean that tower lasted like what, four episodes until it was taken down and by the Autobots and the army. Not to mention that you rarely see the inside of the place with the exception of the throne room and there's no telling if it's in the tower itself or in the Nemesis. So I thought that maybe I would show what goes on inside the Darkmount fortress and show you if there's more to it then a scary tower with defensible cannons. I also thought that combining two scenes from Gears of War 2 and Bioshock Infinite to get an in-depth look of what goes on inside. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime
Chapter Nine: Stealth
Down at the entrance to Darkmount, everybot was on high alert. There was a huge metallic wall about two stories high topped with rocket turrets, where Vehicons scanned the area looking for possible hostiles. On the ground, a group of Tankicons surrounded the perimeter looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just then, a hovercraft truck loaded with freight containers headed to the entrance as the group watched it intently. Knowing that it was just a salvage truck coming back with more resources, one of the tank bots waved it through, and the huge metal door opened for them to pass. Once it entered the fortress, it followed the path that took them to storage where the parts from the Earth vehicles were being taken. Within the storage facility were stacks and stacks of freight containers, all piled up to the roof as huge conveyer belts carried pieces of military vehicles to an unknown location. The hovering truck approached one of the miners that were waiting for it as the truck made a complete stop. The moment it stopped, two other miners got out and approached the third. The third miner, who was carrying a scanner in his servo approached them and asked about their day.
Miner 3: "Busy day huh?"
The first Miner shrugged his shoulders while the second activated the console that controlled the magnetic crane.
Miner 1: "You can say that again. The slagging desert is covered with pieces of metallic debris. Those dumb humans should've known that their weaponry was no match with what we are packing. What they lost in strength, we gained in numbers."
The crane moved around to pick up one of the crates and laid it on the floor while the third miner approached the container to scan it.
Miner 3: "Tell me about it. Those foolish humans have given us all the resources we need to bring this planet to its knees. Might as well have given us a white flag while they were at it."
He then scanned the crate to see whether there were any abnormalities inside. Just then, a couple of blips appeared, and the Miner looked at it in pure confusion.
Miner 3: "That's odd…"
The other miner looked at him and was a little confused by his reaction.
Miner 1: "What? What is it?"
Miner 3: "I'm detecting a couple of organic life forms from this container. I think a few desert creatures must've stumbled into the crate unknowingly."
The first servant nodded and stepped in with his blaster armed and ready.
Miner 1: "Step aside."
The third miner stepped back as the first one headed to the door and input the code to unlock it. Walking back, the garage-like door opened up and all they could see was blackness. Just then, a pair of dark blue eyes appeared and looked at the Miners for a few short seconds. But then, without warning, is pounced at the two and revealed the many sharp teeth within its mouth. That thing was in fact a Scraplet as it attacked the first miner and began eating away its armor. The servant panicked as he was trying to get the creature off of him. Both miners looked at that and were quite surprised by what happened.
Miner 2: "What the frag!?"
The two hurried to his side, trying to get the Scraplet off of him. After a couple of tries, they managed to remove the creature; his armor had bite marks all over his chest. The three looked down and they were all upset about it.
Miner 3: "Looks like a Scraplet managed to sneak into the container. Hope it didn't eat any of the metal in there."
The first miner was heaving from the unexpected attack and was extremely angry with the little creep.
Miner 1: "I don't care how it got in. It's as good as exterminated."
They all pointed their weapons at the Scraplet and were about to fire while it stood there and waited for them for some strange reason. But before they could fire, an electrical pulse blast hit the three and they got short-circuited and fell flat on their backs. The moment they were in stasis, a few individuals came out of the freight container. Those individuals were in fact the recruits, Rodimus, Firewall, and Kaosu, and the human teens, Vince, Sari, and Sam. What they did was get into one crate so that they could reach the Decepticon fortress without getting detected. Given that they'd been causing trouble for the Cons since the incident in Jasper and the sewers, they had to tread lightly as they were getting closer to their goal. Hiding in one of those freight containers was the wisest of options because they could not take on a huge armada of Cons that would ultimately destroy them. Once they made it in, they had to find a way of getting out of the mess they would find themselves. So the Scraplet, who Sari named Sparkplug, went ahead and distracted them so that Raf could use his tazer blaster to zap them out of commission. After the attack, Sparkplug rushed to Sari's side as the teen girl picked it up and hugged it tightly.
Sari: "Good boy, Sparkplug. Very good!"
Rodimus looked down at the three downed Miners and smiled at what just happened.
Jack/Rodimus: "I got to say Sari, that plan of yours certainly worked out well."
The young girl turned to him and repeated what they'd discussed.
Sari: "Well you did say that these little guys liked to eat living metal. I thought it would be cool to use my new pet as a distraction. Ain't that right Sparkplug?"
She looked down to her Scraplet as soon as she asked that question, and Sparkplug looked to her master and chirped happily. The young girl smiled and hugged her pet.
Sari: "You knew you agreed with me."
Rodimus rolled his optics around and looked at the three miners that were taken down, knowing that they needed to do a little cleanup.
Jack/Rodimus: "Let's get them out of the way before they wake up."
The three recruits carried the three unconscious servants and shoved them into the freight container. Once they got them in, they closed the garage door as Kaosu used her hammer to bust the screen monitor that operated the door. She shifted it back to her servo and clenched it, smiling about what they had just pulled.
Miko/Kaosu: 'That will hold them."
Once they had taken care of that little problem, they huddled together and explained the plan.
Jack/Rodimus: "All right, we're in. That's the good news. The bad news is that we're in. This fortress is swarming with Cons and if we get spotted, they won't hesitate in shooting us down. This is going to make reaching the comm. facility extremely difficult."
Vince: "So what's the plan? I don't think going in guns blazing will work."
Jack thought and came up with the one and only option that could work.
Jack/Rodimus: "We'll sneak our way in."
There was an eerie silence within the group as they all thought it was a little risky.
Miko/Kaosu: "Stealth? Is that what you're thinking? That doesn't sound like my forte."
Jack turned to the Wrecking cadet and told her that it's the only thing they can do.
Jack/Rodimus: "It's the only way of getting to our goal. We might have managed to bypass their defenses, but we are now in enemy territory, which means that we don't know what else we're up against. If we charge in with our blasters, we don't stand a chance. But if we sneak by them without getting detected, then we will be able to contact our friends with our limbs attached. Whatever the case, we need to get to the comm. station and notify the others. No exceptions."
The group remained quiet and knew that he was right. They can't storm into the communication center without the risk of getting killed in the crossfire. Their only chance was to use stealth to get where they wanted to go. So they all nodded in agreement and decided to follow his plan. Rodimus looked at them and smiled at the consensus, telling them to move.
Jack/Rodimus: "Good. Now let's find a way out of this place and look for where we need to go."
Soon enough, the three recruits picked the kids up and placed them over their shoulders so they wouldn't lose them. The group then left their spot and looked around to see where they were. Noticing all of the crates, they could tell that they were in storage. Even Firewall looked at it and could tell that there were a lot of containers around.
Raf/Firewall: "Whoa… Look at all of those crates. They must've been busy salvaging parts all around this fortress."
Sam looked at it all too and rubbed the back in the head and began to wonder.
Sam Witwicky: "But why so many of these containers? Why do they want this many? Probably for this new army?"
Raf/Firewall: "It's possible… But there's no proof unless we find out ourselves."
Rodimus though didn't want to do that as he wanted to see if they could find the comm. station.
Jack/Rodimus: "We'll worry about that later on. Right now our main objective is to contact the team. This way."
The group turned to the right and walked through the long line of containers. But as they were walking, they all heard loud gongs from the ceiling and a voice that was very familiar to them.
Megatron: "As a sparkling, I knew I was created for greatness. For when I became an undefeated warrior in the coliseum of Kaon, everyone knew I was meant to have a purpose. And the more I fought, the more it became clear to me. For if I were to achieve this greatness, I must accomplish one thing that will mark my greatest of achievements. And that achievement was to become the next Prime."
They all heard that voice and looked up as the humans wondered who was talking.
Sari: "Uh, who was that?"
However, the recruits heard that and realized who was speaking through the loudspeakers.
Jack/Rodimus: "That was Megatron…"
That got everyone's attention as they now knew who this person was.
Vince: "Megatron? You mean the guy you told us about? He certainly sounds cocky."
Kaosu chuckled a little and agreed with the bully for once.
Miko/Kaosu: "You have no idea, Vince. Megatron is more than a leader; he's also a crazed warlord. He sure likes to gloat about his life, huh?"
Raf/Firewall: "Sounds like a recording Megatron plays to let his troops know of his life, and quite possibly the future. At least his future in general."
The former teen listened as well and decided to brush it off.
Jack/Rodimus: "Let's try to ignore it while we get to our goal. We can't get distracted by this."
So they proceeded to walk down the aisle, looking for an exit. But as the group was walking they approached a junction where they heard more voices in the distance.
Vehicon 6: "Yeah I heard that these Neutrals blew up an entire Insecticon hive and how Lord Megatron continues to upgrade the security in here in case the three show up. He seems to be a little on edge about this."
Vehicon 7: "I don't see why he would be so worked up about it. I mean those are just three Neutrals. It's not like an entire army of Autobots are coming to knock down our door."
Vehicon 6: "I don't know about it, man. The rumor mill is stirred up about them raising the Pits over that human town. Fully equipped and well trained. They are certainly not the type of Neutrals we saw every day. Let's hope they don't get into this place."
The group heard their voices and got into cover to see what they were up against. Peeking to the side, Rodimus saw two Vehicons talking about what happened out of Darkmount. The others looked on and wondered what he was looking at, until Miko spoke up.
Miko/Kaosu: "Well, what are we up against?"
Rodimus looked at the guards talking and told them.
Jack/Rodimus: "Just a few guards, nothing to worry about. Let's wait for them to leave. If they do get any closer, use non-lethal force if necessary."
The others nodded as they all waited for them to leave. They all waited for a few short seconds until the guards walked away and left the area to scan the other side of the room opposite them. With them gone, they all heaved a sigh of relief as Jack told them to continue.
Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like they left. Let's go before they come back."
So the group got out of their position and hurried for an exit, if they could find one. As they were walking, they spotted another group, three more Vehicons, standing watch. The team then got into hiding in a small space between two freight containers and waited for see what would happen. But while they were waiting, they soon realized that those three wouldn't leave anytime soon and the young mech cussed to himself.
Jack/Rodimus: "Scrap. We're wasting our time here and those three haven't left their posts yet. We got to find a way of getting them out of there so we can continue.
Raf looked around and noticed the stacks of containers towering high above them. Even though they were Autobots, he feared the containers might fall and crush them. But looking at them, he came up with a really good idea and opened up the small compartments on his back to release his many cables. Those cables stretched high to the sky and grabbed the highest container to give it a strong push. Though his cables were thin, they were strong, as they shoved the crate with ease. After a couple of pushes, the freight container tipped over and fell to the floor, away from the team. The moment it made an impact, it created a loud thud and the guards heard it.
Vehicon 8: "Whoa! What was that?"
Vehicon 9: "I don't know, but it sounded like that it came from over there. Let's check it out."
Sure enough, the three guards walked in the direction of the sound and disappeared from view. Rodimus watched them leave as he turned to his friend for a job well done.
Jack/Rodimus: "Nice job out there Firewall."
The hacker smirked about it and let him know how easy it was.
Raf/Firewall: "It wasn't too hard, I guess. Just needed a few cables and one big push."
The teen smiled as they all got out of their spots and continued down the warehouse, finding a way out. But looking around, they found another three Vehicons heading their way. They all made a mad stop and went into an open freight container that was empty for the moment. Closing the doors, they waited for them to pass on through. The wait was a good minute or two as they disappeared from view. The moment they were gone, they opened the freight garage door and got out to see them leave. Sighing in relief, Rodimus was glad that they dodged that bullet.
Jack/Rodimus: "Phew… That was a close one. Let's hurry before they come back.
So they all walked down the end to see if there were any exits that way. Unfortunately for them, there were none. Kaosu noticed and was getting a little ticked off.
Miko/Kaosu: "Aaargh… How long is this going to take? I feel a little cooped up in here! At least let me open a hole through the wall. That still buys us some time."
Jack turned to his friend and explained the situation to her.
Jack/Rodimus: "I understand you want in on the action Kaosu, but this is a risky situation we're in. If one of those Cons sees us, then they'll shoot. We've just got to be more careful around here if we are to save Optimus and the others."
The Wrecking cadet turned to him and gave out a deep sigh after turning back.
Miko/Kaosu: "Whatever you say Rodimus. I swear; Bulkhead never did much stealthing."
The group kept walking but then made an immediate stop and hid behind another huge crate. Peeking to the sides, they noticed the exit they needed to go, but also saw two Airadicons standing guard.
Jack/Rodimus: "Well that's just perfect. We got some Cons protecting the exit."
Vince: "So much for getting out now, huh? What are we going to do?"
Suddenly, they all heard what sounded like a clang from close by. Turning to their right, they saw what appeared to be a magnetic crane similar to the one on the hovercraft truck. But this one was five times bigger and picked up a freight container with ease. It then moved to a monorail car above them with gravity tracks that caused the train to hover, gently placing the crate on top of one of the others. Looking at this monorail, they found another way of getting out of this huge storage facility as Jack told them what to do.
Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like we have a train to catch. Let's find a container to get in and get on that train."
The group journeyed through the warehouse looking for a freight container that would take them up. After searching, they spotted one they could board, but it was locked.
Jack/Rodimus: "There! That's what we need. Firewall, can you open this for us?
The hacker looked to the locked door and nodded in approval.
Raf/Firewall: "I'll give it a shot."
He then went to the panel for the door and opened the compartment on his arm to extend a cable out of it. Once it was connected and the little wires penetrated the panel, his visor was streaming data and was bypassing the locking mechanism. As he was hacking into the panel, Megatron's voice was heard through the speakers as he talked about his origins.
Megatron: "With the supporters of Kaon, I had a vision that would ultimately change the face of our fair planet. But in order to fulfill my vision, I would need some help talking to the original Primes. So I turned to an old friend of mine within the Iacon library, Orion Pax. For he had close contacts with Alpha Trion and with him, I would seek an audience with the high council. But it was on that day that the war would start and a rivalry begin."
As soon as they heard that speech, the humans heard that and remembered the story Rodimus told them. Sari then turned to Jack and was able to put the pieces together.
Sari: "Megatron and Optimus… They were once friends weren't they?"
The former teen looked to them and nodded.
Jack/Rodimus: "You could say that. Optimus and Megatron were once good friends back in the golden age of Cybertron. But they were from two different worlds and sometimes those differences separated them in the worst of ways. And no one in the high council wanted a Cybertronian with historical knowledge as a Prime who was a gladiator warrior. It was those decisions that sort of led to the war, along with other unknown circumstances. But what happened was in the past and mistakes were made. Now we need to focus on the future, and if we don't save Optimus from his captivity, then none of us will have a future."
As soon as he said that, Raf managed to access the freight container's controls and told the others to hurry.
Raf/Firewall: "Got it. The door is opened. Better get in before the magnet gets it."
Jack looked up to see the crane-like structure hovering over them as the magnet end was about to lower. Knowing now would be the time, he told the others to get in quickly.
Jack/Rodimus: "Everyone inside the crate! We need to get on that train if we are to find a way to the comm. station."
Quickly, everyone got into the crate as Raf closed the garage-like door and locked it from the inside. As soon as they entered, the magnet lowered and connected to the top part of their container. Slowly it lifted their container up in the air and carried it to the monorail train that was ready for departure. Once it hovered over the last car, it deactivated and the container landed on top of the other crates with a loud thud. The moment it was on the car, the train started up and rode through the gravity tracks to reach its destination. As it passed the tunnel above the exit, the team waited in the dark and realized that they couldn't see a thing. The recruits turned on their headlights to get a better view, but they still had no clue as to where they were going.
Miko/Kaosu: "Well, we made it through. Now we have to figure out where we're going this time."
Jack/Rodimus: "Too bad we're stuck in this container until we stop, without a window to see, we're pretty much in the dark."
Sari looked to the end wall and came up with a really good idea.
Sari: "I think I've got a way of seeing where we're going. Oh Sparkplug…"
She looked at her pet that she was carrying in her arms as the Scraplet looked up to her, blinking its huge optics at her.
At the same time, the monorail was soaring through the tracks and through the tunnel. But then, something began cutting the wall of one of the containers on the side, forming a rectangular shape. As soon as it was fully cut, that part of the wall began to tilt and fell toward the ground and through the gravity tracks. That was when the team, who was in that crate, could get a better view of where they were going as Sparkplug finished making a window for them and jumped back up to its master's arms after its accomplishment. Sari patted it on its head and smiled after what it did.
Sari: "Good boy!"
Rodimus looked at the open window and was glad that they got an opening for them to look out.
Jack/Rodimus: "Well at least we've got a clear view of where we're headed. Now we just need to know where we should go."
So the group waited as the lights of the tunnels kept passing them in blinding speed. Almost immediately, there was a bright light that nearly blinded them for a second. But once they got their sights back, their jaws literally dropped at the scene from the window. Standing before them was the entryway for the tower of Darkmount. It was almost like a huge courtyard surrounding multiple facilities filled with Cons of all classes. On the walls were huge black banners draped down either side of the entrance with purple Decepticon insignias in the middle. On the top, above some type of balcony, was a huge glowing purple Decepticon shield. But in the middle of the courtyard was a huge chrome statue of Megatron himself, arm held high, wielding a replica of the Dark Energon Sword in his servo. Jack saw this and it reminded him of the statue he saw in Kaon when he and Arcee were looking for the memories of Optimus. But it was small compared to the behemoth he was looking at. The human teens looked at it and were in awe by its presence. Sam looked at it and could tell who it was.
Sam Witwicky: "I take it that is Megatron, huh?"
Jack nodded and answered the teen's question.
Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, that's him all right. Looks like he placed a huge statue of himself in his honor. Probably gloating about this so-called victory."
Vince looked at the statue and smirked a little about what the young mech said.
Vince: "Well you gotta give this guy credit. For a leader he certainly has a big ego."
The others looked at him and were silent, knowing that their bully had an ego as well, just not that big. While they were looking at the statue, another announcement was heard about Megatron's life.
Megatron: "When I had that audience with the Thirteen Original Primes, I told them of my vision and offered my proposal that would make me the next Prime. But the council rejected my offer, fearing that it would lead Cybertron into its darkest of ages. But Orion came in and told them of peaceful solutions that would help our planet thrive. The Primes were so interested in Orion's knowledge they blessed his proposals, leaving me with my head down in shame. I never made any enemies outside of the coliseum, but I had made one in my own friend."
While they were listening to this, Kaosu looked in the distance and saw something she didn't expect. Pointing to it, she told the others what she found.
Miko/Kaosu: "Guys, I think we've got a problem."
Everyone turned to what the Wrecking cadet was pointing to and discovered another monorail at the end. They even saw a crane with a pincer mechanism that attaches to one of the crates and hoists it to the air. Then, it tilts the container down as the door opens and its contents spill onto a conveyer belt that takes the parts up to the highest floor. Where they had no idea, but what they did know was that it wasn't anything good. Jack looked at it and knew this was trouble.
Jack/Rodimus: "Just our luck. It would seem that our ride ends there. If any of the Cons spot us in here, we'll be terminated."
Raf looked down to the floor and noticed the many small buildings outside the fortress' structure. So pointing down to it, he told the others what to do.
Raf/Firewall: "Looks like we have to make a jump."
The former teen looked down too and realized that they had no choice.
Jack/Rodimus: "Guess you're right on that one, Firewall. Pick up the humans! It's time we make a jump."
Quickly, the group picked the kids up and placed them on their shoulders as Rodimus told them to hang on.
Jack/Rodimus: "You guys better hold on tight. The landing is going to be a little bumpy."
The three teens decided to hold on and the recruits were getting ready to make the jump. Once they got over a clearing, Jack nodded and told them to do it.
Jack/Rodimus: "Now! Jump!"
So the three jumped off the opened container and plummeted down to the building below. Unfortunately, they were over a glass ceiling and it was about to get them into some serious trouble.
Within that very building was a ground bridge hub. A few Vehicons were on monitor watch while silver Airadicons were on guard duty. One of the Vehicons peeked back at the updated security and turned to the drone next to him.
Vehicon 10: "This is a little messed up, don't you think?"
The second Vehicon turned to his comrade and was a little confused.
Vehicon 11: "What's messed up?"
Vehicon 10: "The fact that we have to have some heavy security all over the tower because of three Cybertronian Neutrals."
Vehicon 11: "Well can you blame the boss? Those three Neutrals caused problems in that human town and blew up an Insecticon hive underground. They are certainly tough as nails if you ask me."
Vehicon 10: "Still though, whether these Neutrals are dangerous or not, I think Megatron is taking this a little too far."
Vehicon 11: "Come on. What choice did he had left? Our lord doesn't want to take any chances with these intruders and will do anything he can to prevent them from coming here. To the pits, we're lucky he didn't unleash that monstrosity Shockwave presented to him. If you don't like the direction he's going, then maybe you should go up to his throne room and complain."
The Vehicon looked to him oddly and was in a major panic.
Vehicon 10: "What, are you kidding me?! I'm not going up there to complain! I am as dead as the other drones that failed him countless times. No way am I going to end up like them!"
Vehicon 11: "Good, cause he's pretty much been in a foul mood since their arrival. Let's just hope they don't come here without a fight."
As soon as he said that, the glass over them shattered and rained down onto the floor. That was when the three recruits came down and landed on the ground with Rodimus crushing the Airadicon that was over him. All the other drones turned to them and were shocked by what just happened. But the moment they saw the three, one Airadicon told the others to alert the fortress.
Airadicon 4: "Intruders have breached Darkmount! Sound the alarm!"
Before anyone could start raising an alarm, Firewall and Kaosu intervened by shocking them with electric blasts and knocking them over with sonic cannons. Once they were all down and in stasis, Vince sighed to himself and didn't expect that would happen.
Vince: "Great work you guys. Way to jump into a building where a bunch of Cons would see us."
Raf turned to him and was getting a little annoyed, starting to have some thoughts about beating Vince back in high school.
Raf/Firewall: "Hey, it was a last minute decision. Either a huge army of Cons waiting at the other end, or a small group we could take down - take your pick."
Jack decided to intervene as he told the two to shut it.
Jack/Rodimus: "Hey, enough of the talk, you two. At least we're safe for the moment. We just need to figure out where we are this time and find a way of reaching the comm. facility."
The two remained quiet until they decided to stick to the task at hand. Looking around, they noticed that they were in what appeared to be a bridge hub with multiple ground bridge tunnels all lined up in a curve in front of them and a huge control station on the right that operated all the bridges. The team looked on and was amazed by this sight as Miko whistled.
Miko/Kaosu: "Do you guys see this? Holy slag! Look at all of those ground bridges. Ratchet would have a field day with this place."
Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like some kind of hub for ground bridging out of Darkmount and across the planet. Guess we are not the first to modify our bridge so we can get in undetected."
Sam Witwicky: "But why so many bridges? Doesn't make sense."
Raf looked at all the ground bridges and counted them to be around twenty. Doing the math, he knew about what would happen here.
Raf/Firewall: "It would seem that these bridges take Cons anywhere across the planet. And with this many, they might use them to target some important cities."
The young mech turned to the hacker and realized what he was saying.
Jack/Rodimus: "Are you saying that they would use these bridges to attack any place they liked?"
Firewall turned to Jack and nodded in agreement.
Raf/Firewall: "It's possible, yes. But it's still up in the air as to what they would really do."
The recruit looked down to the bodies of the Cons in stasis and decided to leave that deduction for later.
Jack/Rodimus: "We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to find a way of regaining communication with our friends. Let's hide the bodies before someone comes in and suspects something."
So the three rookies picked the bodies up and dragged them to a door that was a maintenance closet big enough to fit as many drones as they could. Once everyone was in and the doors were closed, the group left the bridge hub and continued on with their mission. They then approached the door which automatically opened for them, as Jack armed his blaster and investigated the area. So far they were in the clear as he gestured the others to follow him. Slowly they walked down the dark and creepy hallway as they looked around for any hostiles. As they were walking, Sari chimed in and asked them what to do now.
Sari: "So, what do we do now? It's not like we can find this place out of thin air."
Jack listened to her and realized that she did have a point.
Jack/Rodimus: "You might be right Sari. We're pretty much running blind without any clue as to where we're going. If we are to find the comm. facility, there has to be a directory in this place. Let's see if there is one close by."
They continued to walk, searching for a directory of some kind that will help them with what they were looking for. Just then, they approached a T Junction, they immediately stopped when they spotted two Airadicons on post. The group hid their backs on the metal wall as Jack peeked to see the two standing there and under constant watch.
Jack/Rodimus: "More drones. Keep quiet."
The group remained silent while they waited for them to leave. But after a good minute, they soon realized that it was going to be a waste, and Kaosu spoke up.
Miko/Kaosu: "Well, they're certainly taking their sweet time. How long do you think they will stay there?"
Rodimus thought of that and came up with a good answer.
Jack/Rodimus: "Long enough. We pass by them, they will spot us. There's got to be a way of distracting them while we pass by."
Just as he said that, Vince looked down at the wall and noticed a fuse box of some kind close by. Looking at that, he told Rodimus about it.
Vince: "Hey, there appears to be a fuse box where we are. Maybe I can disable the lights; they will think there's a glitch in the system and investigate."
The former teen looked to the bully and the fuse box and started to like the plan.
Jack/Rodimus: "It's a stretch, but it will work. Do it."
Vince nodded as he jumped off of Rodimus's shoulders and landed on the servo he offered him. Once he was at the fuse box level, he took out his blaster and charged it with enough power to blast right through it. After a couple of successful hits, the lights on the ceiling started to flicker until the hallway was completely dark. As soon as it got dark, the emergency lights went on and the halls were glowing in a red hue. The Airadicons looked at the sudden shut down and were a little confused.
Airadicon 5: "What was that?"
The other Airadicon looked at it too and came to a really good conclusion.
Airadicon 6: "Don't know… Must've been a power outage or something. Let's check the power grid and see what the problem is."
So the two left their posts and headed straight to the grid to see if there were any problems. Just when they left, the recruits looked on in relief as Rodimus turned to Vince and congratulated him on a job well done.
Jack/Rodimus: "Nice work, Vince."
The others soon joined in and were glad that he was able to pull it off.
Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah, who would've thought that you pull through for us at that moment?"
The bully looked at all of them and responded to their surprise.
Vince: "Hey, there was a fuse box that's sort of similar to the ones in town. Thought it would be wise to blow that up to create a little confusion. Quite surprising that you guys and the humans are a lot alike."
The three recruits looked at each other and could tell that Vince was getting a little closer to the truth. Yet he didn't know of the truth they were hiding yet as Rodimus smirked and responded with a little joke.
Jack/Rodimus: "Vince, you have no idea. Now come on, let's find a directory and see if we can get to the communication facility as soon as possible."
The group then walked down the hall and searched for something that would be similar to that of a directory. As they were walking, they heard Megatron's voice booming through the speakers as it explained 'his' history.
Megatron: "Orion had betrayed my trust, betrayed my beliefs, and betrayed my friendship. When he took the mantle to become Optimus Prime, my hatred grew not only to him, but to the Original Primes. Something must be done. So when I gathered all of my supporters and told them of this news, they rallied by my side and armed themselves to take down the Primes and the traitor, Optimus. A declaration of war was made against them all, and with our might, we punished those opposed to our values. It was justice."
Miko listened to him and was a little confused.
Miko/Kaosu: "That was justice? Destroying an entire planet and killing many innocent bots counted as justice? Sound like he's full of himself."
Jack heard this too and agreed with the Wrecking cadet on that one.
Jack/Rodimus: "Well what do you expect from a crazed lunatic like him? He's telling his side of the story without any clarity whether it was true or not. Best ignore these speeches and move on to our objective."
The group continued to walk down the hall until they noticed what appeared to be a monitor on the right and a door of some kind on the left. Looking to the monitor, he pointed to it and told the others about it.
Jack/Rodimus: "There. That must be the terminal that operates the main directory, I hope. Firewall, can you access it?"
The hacker looked to the monitor and nodded.
Raf/Firewall: "I'm way ahead of you, Rodimus."
Quickly, he walked to the terminal and used both of his cables to hack into the system while the others gathered around him. Inserting wires into the keys, he typed furiously as data streamed down his visor. After a few quick seconds, the screen with the Decepticon insignia changed into a map of all of Darkmount, all 3D with vector graphic lines and words in Cybertronian language. Raf looked at the map and was trying to locate the comm. facility while the humans looked at the map and were a little confused with the words.
Sam Witwicky: "That looks like a map of the entire place, but I don't understand what they are saying."
Sari: "Tell me about it. Those look like little pictures, or some kind of Japanese language."
Vince: "Worse than that Sari. It looks more like ancient Egyptian writing."
Raf heard them discussing it and told the others what it really was.
Raf/Firewall: "Actually, it's Cybertronian writing. It's pretty much a main language to everyone on that planet."
Sari turned to him and was surprised.
Sari: "Main language on your planet? Then how do you guys manage to speak in English?"
The Wrecking cadet turned to her friend and came up with an assumption.
Miko/Kaosu: "My guess, our friends must've learned English from the World Wide Web."
The former teen ignored her and looked to Raf to see whether he can locate where they needed to go.
Jack/Rodimus: "Think you can find the communication station?"
Raf/Firewall: "Already on it. Just need to look for a specific point and download so we can get there."
Just as he said that, they group heard two voices from the distance.
Vehicon 12: "Man it's so dark in here. Can't see a thing."
Vehicon 13: "You can say that again. For a tower that was built thanks to the Omega Lock, you think that they would've done some maintenance work around here."
The others looked at the end of the corner where they heard the voices and could tell that it was trouble.
Sam Witwicky: "Well you better hurry up with that, Firewall. Cause we got company coming towards us."
The hacker nodded and continued to work on the location.
Raf/Firewall: "Give me a second…"
He continued to type furiously while the wires gained every access imaginable. After a brief search he finally located the facility and told the others about it.
Raf/Firewall: "Got it. Looks like Darkmount has about 30 full floors with an express elevator that goes up to the main throne room at the top. That must be where Megatron is located."
Jack/Rodimus: "And the comm. facility? Where is it?"
Looking at the map, he told them the bad news.
Raf/Firewall: "Well that's the problem. Says here their communications is stationed at the 30th floor. My guess, it was placed on the top floor just to get the frequency up and running."
There was a bit of a groan within the group as Kaosu complained about it.
Miko/Kaosu: "Great. So our way of contacting the team is way above our reach. Anybody thinking about doing some mountain climbing?"
Raf though ignored her complaint and told her that there was another way.
Raf/Firewall: "Maybe not… There are elevator shafts dotted on the walls of the tower that we can use. And believe it or not, one of them is located close to us."
Rodimus gave a simple nod and was happy about the news.
Jack/Rodimus: "Great work Firewall. Now let's get there and see if we can contact our friends."
Raf/Firewall: "Hang on for a moment; I'm still downloading the map to help us get through. Give me a minute."
Jack looked back to see the shadows of two Vehicons at the corner and they were getting nearer and told his friend to go faster.
Jack/Rodimus: "A minute is not what we have. We have to leave right now!"
The group looked to the hall too to see those Vehicons getting closer. Feeling worried, Kaosu and Rodimus armed their combat weapons for a fight while Vince got his blaster out and Sari's pet growled to itself. As they were preparing for a fight, Firewall chimed in and told the others that he was finished.
Raf/Firewall: "There! I've downloaded the map and inserted it into my databanks."
Jack looked back to the hacker and nodded in approval. But looking back at the two shadows getting nearer, they knew that they couldn't take them on, for if they were spotted, they might alert the others. Not to mention that their only way through was blocked by those cons and there's not enough cover for them to hide in. So looking to his left, he saw a door of some kind that would take them someplace away from the drones. So he told the others to follow him.
Jack/Rodimus: "This way! Hurry!"
So the group followed Rodimus as the door opened for them. The moment they got through, the doors closed behind them, just as the drones entered the same hallway they were in. They even passed the terminal Raf was hacking and didn't suspect a thing.
At the other side of the doors, the group stood back and remained quiet as they heard footsteps from the other side. Once the steps quieted, they sighed in relief and were glad they managed to get past that little incident.
Vince: "That was way too close for comfort."
Jack turned to the bully and let him know that it wasn't that easy.
Jack/Rodimus: "You can say that again Vince. These Cons aren't easy to get through and although we want to take them out, we can't if they raise an alarm. We have to reach our goal without grabbing their attention. And now that we have a map that can help us, we will get there sooner then we think. So Firewall, where we are at reaching the elevators?"
He turned to the hacker wanting an answer as he was using his arm to activate a small terminal to show the mini map, another new feature he learned during his training. Looking at the map, he told the others which way to go.
Raf/Firewall: "Let's see… Well, that hall we were in would take us to the nearest elevator, but it's pretty much a long shot and there could be more guards protecting the area. But this room we're in seems to be the shortcut we need to get us there quicker."
Rodimus nodded and followed the hacker's advice.
Jack/Rodimus: "Sounds like a plan. Let's get to the elevator quickly. The longer we wait, the more likely we'll be spotted."
The group left their positions and continued to move. But then, they all made an immediate stop as their optics and eyes were wide and mouths agape with Miko breaking the eerie silence.
Miko/Kaosu: "Whoa…"
Standing before them were Decepticon crates filled with a light blue substance glowing through the little holes around it. Staring in amazement, Sam started to ask in complete shock and awe.
Sam Witwicky: "Wow… What in blazes is this place?"
Jack looked and remembered what the blue glow stood for.
Jack/Rodimus: "If I were to guess, I'd say that this place is an energon storage facility."
Vince turned to the young mech and was a little confused by what he said.
Vince: "Energon?"
The recruit turned to him and explained it further.
Jack/Rodimus: "It's the life blood of all Cybertronians, used for fuel, weapons, and medicine. In fact, it's one of the many reasons that the war started, to take control of the supply of energon for either faction. So much so that they had to scatter energon deposits across the stars in case of an emergency. They usually planted the energon in its early stages and let it grow for centuries until they were ready for harvesting. Heck, they managed to store most of their energon deposits here on this planet."
Raf looked up at all of the energon and imagined that the Decepticons must've beaten them to the punch.
Raf/Firewall: "Well by the look of it, it would seem that the Cons have hit the jackpot. Where do you think they managed to gather this much energon?"
Miko looked at it too and came to a conclusion.
Miko/Kaosu: "My guess, all of it came from that huge flagship of theirs. Those slagging scrappers seem to have taken over most of the mines around this planet, leaving our team with the scraps. So why are they stockpiling this much?"
Sari thought that too and came up with a good enough answer.
Sari: "Maybe it has to do with the Cons themselves. I mean with a fortress this massive, they sure would have a lot of mouths to feed."
Sparkplug jumped onto its master's shoulders and chirped in agreement. Rodimus though rubbed his chin and thought about that too.
Jack/Rodimus: "Maybe… But we cannot be sure. Let's get going. The team is waiting for us."
Agreeing with him, the team walked down the aisles of energon cubes, looking for a way out of the room. Looking at the huge masses of cubes, the group was amazed that the Cons would be able to stock this much; it felt like a maze as they found themselves turning in different directions. Approaching the wall, the group stopped and hid behind a stack of more energon cubes. Looking back, they noticed that it wasn't the guards, but a Cybertronian camera watching the area. Jack looked at it and knew it was bad.
Jack/Rodimus: "Security camera, watching our every move. Probably Soundwave's eyes and ears scanning the perimeter. We'd better be careful with those, for the moment we get spotted, trouble will come for us."
Firewall smirked to himself and armed his tazer blaster for a plan of his own.
Raf/Firewall: "Then if that's the case, let's make sure that Soundwave is both deaf and blind."
Charging his tazer blaster, he got out of cover and opened fire seconds before the camera could spot him. The camera short-circuited and went offline as the team got out to look at the end result. Sam just looked at it and turned to Raf for a job well done.
Sam Witwicky: "Good job, Firewall."
The group then continued walking to find their exit. But just as they did, Raf rubbed his chest and felt a little pain, almost like he was feeling something familiar. Miko turned to him and wondered if he was okay.
Miko/Kaosu: "Hey Firewall, is something wrong?"
He looked to her and smiled, letting her know that he was all right.
Raf/Firewall: "No Kaosu, I'm alright. It's just that I'm getting this odd feeling in my chest. It isn't hurtful or anything, it's just that it felt familiar. Don't know what, but it seemed identical to when Megatron tried to kill me that one time."
Rodimus turned to him and was worried about his friend as well. He knew that he had a near death experience that one time and he wouldn't want him to get hurt again. So he told him that it was going to be okay.
Jack/Rodimus: "Just try to walk it off, okay Firewall? We still have a mission to accomplish and we can't let this get in our way."
Just then, he turned to see something he didn't expect as the others stopped when he did. What they saw were more Decepticon crates but instead of them glowing blue, they were glowing purple. The humans looked at it and figured out that they were a different source of energon.
Sari: "Looks like more energon, but it seems a little more different than the others."
Sam Witwicky: "Yeah, this one is glowing purple instead of blue. Wonder why?"
Rodimus looked at the crates that were to his level and investigated it. Opening one, he stood back and knew what it was, a purple cube that had a low glow to it. But this was no ordinary cube he was looking at, it was something far worse.
Jack/Rodimus: "Because this isn't any ordinary energon. This is Dark Energon."
Vince saw this cube too and turned to the former teen for an explanation.
Vince: "Dark Energon? What is that?"
He turned to the bully and explained it further.
Jack/Rodimus: "It's the life blood of Unicron the Destroyer. Its power is incredibly dangerous as it brings the dead back to life, turning them into mindless, ruthless zombie-like bots. It also brought an enemy flagship to life as it almost destroyed New York if it hadn't been for us stopping it."
Both Sam and Sari heard that and remembered the story.
Sam Witwicky: "That's right! You guys told us about it before. That would explain why you were feeling a slight pain, Firewall. It's because you got hit by the Dark Energon blast."
Raf rubbed his chest again and realized that Sam did have a point.
Raf/Firewall: "Good point. The feeling in my chest has given me some serious nightmares."
Vince though looked at the energon and wanted to know more.
Vince: "So this Dark Energon, it's really that bad huh?"
Jack nodded and told him the worst of it.
Jack/Rodimus: "Very bad. Megatron believes that this energon is the most powerful to date and he selfishly injected himself with that stuff so he could control an army of undead Cybertronians. Even though he no longer has them in his command, the Dark Energon still courses through his systems, as it kept him alive when he was recovering from a spacebridge explosion. And with that Dark Energon in his body, he is incredibly dangerous. That is why we need Optimus, for he is the only one who can stop him from taking over this world. It's his destiny. If we don't free him in time, nothing will stop Megatron from ruling this world."
Vince listened and understood why Optimus needed to stop Megatron.
Vince: "Guess that makes some sense. Optimus took over as the next Prime, Megatron did not and got angry, he declared war and destroyed the planet, Optimus took pity, and now he's trying to redeem himself. Certainly a mistake he needs to correct, even if it means killing him."
Rodimus remained silent as he knew that Optimus wouldn't do that. But if he was going to, he will do it when the time is right.
Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, pretty much."
Once he said that, they all heard machines of some kind at work. Turning to the left, they knew it was coming from that direction.
Raf/Firewall: "You guys hear that? Sounds like machines at work. We should check it out."
The group went that way and checked to see what it was. Getting close to a clearing, they stopped and hid behind the stacks, peeking to see what it was. They saw a group of miners and a few Vehicon guards around conveyor belts where energon was being transported to someplace else. There were a few cranes on the ceiling that were picking up the cubes in the crates. The group watched that and expected what might happen.
Miko/Kaosu: "Great… More drones. Why am I not surprised?"
Rodimus looked ahead and noticed their exit close to drones.
Jack/Rodimus: "Worse yet, our way out is close to them."
Sari: "So how are we going to approach this? Won't be an easy feat when there are guards watching the area."
Sparkplug was on her shoulder and looked on at the group too. But then it sensed something coming and made whirling sounds to get some attention. Sari looked at it and was a little worried about its behavior.
Sari: "What is it, Sparkplug?"
Just as she asked that, three guards approached behind them and saw them hiding.
Vehicon 14: "Hey! What are you three doing here?"
The three recruits jumped and turned to see the three Vehicons looking at them. The one that started talking saw the three and realized who they are.
Vehicon 14: "Scrap, it's them!"
He activated his comm. and contacted security.
Vehicon 14: "Security! I've found-"
Quickly, Jack armed up his blasters and fired it at the three cons with the targeting sensor on his visor, killing them through the spark chambers. With them dead, everyone looked back to see if anyone had suspected anything. He took a quick breather and was glad that they didn't suspect anything. But be that as it may, it was still a problem.
Jack/Rodimus: "Well, that was taken care off. Too bad we don't have a plan of getting past an exit when there are guards near the doors."
Sari looked at her Scraplet and came up with a plan.
Sari: "Maybe I'll let Sparkplug take care of them. I mean it did help us when we got into the fortress."
The Scraplet chirped and was happy to help. However, Jack told her that it won't do.
Jack/Rodimus: "I know Sari, but that diversion can't happen again. We need to find another way of distracting them while we make an escape. Got to find a way of getting past them without getting spotted. But how?"
Kaosu thought about this too and since charging in guns blazing could be a stupid idea, she needed a plan B. But then she turned to the three dead bodies of the drones and the Dark Energon crates and had a wicked idea.
Miko/Kaosu: "Maybe we let our new friends help us."
The group looked at her, and then the dead bodies, and realized what she was planning. Jack then turned to her and argued about that plan.
Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu, those drones are now dead. How are they going to help us?"
That's when Miko looked down and saw a crate that was on the floor. Bending down to open it up, she saw shards of Dark Energon just sitting there glowing. Taking one out, she showed them what she was planning and had a devious smile.
Miko/Kaosu: "Why we take a page out of Starscream's playbook."
The group stared on and feared that she would come up with that.
A few minutes later, it was business as usual with the group of miners as they assisted in moving energon and making sure that it was stable. As they were doing their jobs, one of them spoke to the other about what happened outside.
Miner 4: "You heard about what happened out there?"
The other miner turned to him and wondered where he was going with this.
Miner 5: "About what?"
Miner 4: "The Neutrals?"
Miner 5: "Yeah I heard. Three younglings with no insignias laying waste to highly trained professionals in the ruins of that human town and a lot of Insecticons in the sewers. Why do you ask?"
Miner 4: "Well, it would seem the boss is getting a little over the edge about them. Pretty much putting the entire fortress on lockdown. You don't think he's going to unleash that thing, do you?"
The other miner looked on with a silent expression and responded with a confused gesture.
Miner 5: "You're kidding, right? You expect Megatron to unleash that monster they got locked up? Look, I understand our boss wants those Neutrals eradicated, but that doesn't mean that he would free that thing. I mean you saw how scared the armada was when that monstrosity arrived. There's no way they would have that thing anywhere near them. Let that beast rot in his dungeon for all I care."
One of the Vehicon guards approached the two and told them to shut it.
Vehicon 15: "What's going on down there you two? You're here to work, not chitchat. So, get back to work!"
Just as soon as he said that, they heard a clank coming from close by and they all turned in that direction to see what it was.
Miner 5: "What was that?"
The Vehicon looked in the direction of the noise and was suspicious about that as well.
Vehicon 15: "I don't know… Let me check it out."
Slowly he walked down toward the direction of the sound and investigated. There was a brief silence in the group as they waited to see what would happen. After a few seconds, they saw the Vehicon flying out of that direction and crashing through a few crates right next to the miners. And they were shocked to see the guard knocked out unconscious. The two miners looked at that and were speechless by what they saw.
Miner 4: "The frag?"
The two then turned to see who hit him and were completely shocked at what they saw. Coming out of the energon storage were three of the same Vehicons that the recruits took down, but they were completely different. They were glowing purple with purple energon seeping out of their joints, and their chest cavities exposed to reveal what appeared to be purple glowing shards. What happened was that those Vehicons had their destroyed spark chambers pierced by Dark Energon and they were turned into mindless, ruthless, Terrorcons. The servants stepped back and were scared for their lives.
Miner 5: "Holy Slag! What are they!?"
Miner 4: "Don't know, but I don't want to find out. RUN!"
The two miners ran and hid while the others drones and miners stood their ground to fend off against the zombie cons with blasters and close combat fighting. As they were all easily distracted, the three recruits peeked out of the stack of regular energon and saw the group busy with the undead robots. Miko smirked to herself and was pleased with her work.
Miko/Kaosu: "All right, they're distracted; let's go before those zombies see us."
Soon enough, the group got out of their hiding spot and sneaked right to the exit, looking back and forth at the carnage that was going on. Once the door opened, they got out of the energon storage and entered another hallway. Rodimus then punched the panel for the door and ripped the circuitry out of it, locking the door completely in case the battle spilled outside. Once they walked away from the door, Jack sighed and couldn't believe what just happened.
Jack/Rodimus: "Well that was stupid. Of all the crazy ideas you've done Kaosu, this took the cake! I mean, resurrecting a few cons with Dark Energon? Haven't you learned your lesson after what happened back at the Shadow Zone?"
The Wrecking Cadet looked to him and smirked.
Miko/Kaosu: "Well it worked, didn't it? We needed some way to keep those Cons busy. What better way to keep them distracted than a Zombie Con outbreak? You're lucky we made a mad dash out of there before those undead bots woke up and started tearing up the place. Otherwise, we've all would've all been dead by now."
Vince managed to take a gander at the Terrorcons too and sighed in complete relief.
Vince: "I got to say though; those zombies are very aggressive by the way they fight. No way am I going near them anytime soon."
The hacker looked to him and told him that it was a good idea.
Raf/Firewall: "Good thing you decided on that, Vince. Otherwise, you would've been good as dead once those things got a look at you."
The group continued to run as they were nearing the lift that would take them up. As they reached the end of the hall, they approached a huge dome-like room with a metallic statue of Megatron wielding his dark energon sword blade down, looking quite confident in himself. Kaosu sighed and didn't like the look of that statue.
Miko/Kaosu: "Another statue of Megs himself? Wow… He's certainly full of himself."
Sari smirked a little and helped her rephrase her words.
Sari: "Full of himself? Looks like he's more of an overachiever."
Jack looked around to see where they needed to go now. That's when he spotted the metal doors behind the statue, with a panel right next to it. Looking at this door, he knew what it was.
Jack/Rodimus: "Over there, that must be the elevator that can take us up. Let's hurry."
The group headed to the elevator, ready to leave this place as soon as possible. Getting to the front of the lift, Raf looked down at the panel and even though it was in Cybertronian, he knew that it was the call button and clicked on it, letting it know that they were waiting. Just as they waited, Megatron's speech boomed through the speakers yet again.
Megatron: "During the war for Cybertron, our future was clear and we were supposed to be victorious. But sadly, the war consumed our planet and left our home in ruins. Because of this, we had no choice but to flee our planet and search the stars for energon deposits. During our search, we found one planet that had enough energon to sustain us. And that planet was Earth. But the Autobots found this planet too and we've been battling them ever since. That was of course until we discovered a way of restoring our planet. The Omega Lock."
The moment the speech ended, Sam looked to the others and asked about that.
Sam Witwicky: "The Omega Lock? What is that?"
Rodimus turned to him and sighed, explaining about what they heard.
Jack/Rodimus: "The Omega Lock is a machine made specifically to restore Cybertron. Once the Omega Keys were installed into that lock, it would restore our planet to what it once was. Our friends had some ups and downs when they were trying get those keys, but they managed to succeed and were about to save Cybertron. But then, things got… real sour real fast and before you knew it, Megatron decided to place a fortress near Jasper."
Vince listened to Rodimus and realized something else.
Vince: "Wait a minute… That light in the sky… It was the Omega Lock that created this place, wasn't it?"
He turned to Jack for an explanation while he turned to the bully and talked about it further.
Jack/Rodimus: "Something like that. See, the Omega Lock can reformat a planet, restoring or building anything it touches. At first, we believed that Megatron wanted to restore the planet just to take over it with his political background. But as it turned out, we were all wrong, as he wanted to have both Earth and Cybertron to himself."
Vince turned back and now knew why this leader wanted to attack his town, just to take over the world.
Vince: "Guess that makes sense. This Megatron is like all other psychotic leaders that have all the power. They want more power."
Jack/Rodimus: "Pretty much. You're lucky that Optimus managed to destroy the Lock. If he didn't, then this entire planet would've been converged into a Cybertronian planet and all organic life would've been wiped out. Still, it was all too late as the Decepticons now have a home here. If we are to survive their wrath, we need Optimus back. Let's just hope that we reach the rest of the team in time."
As they were waiting, they heard footsteps at a distance as they turned to see shadows from another hallway. Knowing that more trouble was coming, Jack looked at the elevator and was getting a little worried.
Jack/Rodimus: "C'mon, c'mon. Get down already! How come elevators go down so slowly?"
Miko looked at the hallway fully expecting that more Cons were going to come as she armed her sonic blaster cannons for a battle.
Miko/Kaosu: "Well, there's no way of getting out of this. Let's torch these goons and get going."
But Rodimus lowered her weapons and told her not to do it.
Jack/Rodimus: "Wait! We can't fire our weapons in here. It might attract attention. We have to keep quiet until we get to the communication facility without any trouble. Remember?"
Sari looked at the hall to see the soldiers getting closer to them and was getting extremely nervous.
Sari: "Hey guys, they're getting closer."
Kaosu looked back too and just about had it as she turned to the young mech and told him that she had to do it.
Miko/Kaosu: "Listen, I know that whole stealth thing is cool and all, but this is where we have to stop. We need to shoot them and make a mad dash to the comm. center."
Jack/Rodimus: "Well we made it this far with stealth. We can continue with it."
Miko/Kaosu: "And that will get us killed. We need to fight our way through this place now."
Jack/Rodimus: "We will be surrounded by Cons if we decide to pull the first shot. We need to get by without getting detected."
Miko/Kaosu: "No!"
Jack/Rodimus: "Yes!"
Just as they were arguing, Vince watched the shadows getting nearer and told the two to stop arguing.
Vince: "Guys, now's not the time to start bickering. We need to get out of here right now."
The two looked down the hall and soon found out that trouble was coming their way. Miko decided to sigh to herself and got her blasters charged for a major sonic blast.
Miko/Kaosu: "That's it… I'm going to blast them."
Jack looked to her and waved it off.
Jack/Rodimus: "No, we don't! We're not going to shoot."
The Japanese femme turned and spat back at him.
Miko/Kaosu: "Oh really… And what's your plan? More sneaking? That worked out really well."
The former teen had just about had it with her and tried to argue back. But before he could do that, there was a ding sound heard behind them and turned to see the elevator arrived. He smiled and turned to the femme for his plan.
Jack/Rodimus: "No. We take the elevator. Come, this way."
Miko groaned and shut off her weapons, as she and the others approached the elevator as it was about to open.
Jack/Rodimus: "Once we enter the elevator, we'll take it up to the top and get to the communication center. As far as the guards, they won't see us since we'll be gone in a matter of seconds. It will be a piece of cake."
The moment the doors opened, the team didn't expect a group of silver Airadicons in there staring right at them. Jack was like a deer in the headlights as he didn't expect that to happen. But Miko looked to him and smirked to herself.
Miko/Kaosu: "You were saying?"
Immediately on instinct, the troops armed their weapons and aimed it at the recruits and the humans on their shoulders. They stepped back and didn't know what to do. But then, more Vehicons entered the hall and saw the group as well. They too armed their weapons and pointed it at them.
Vehicon 16: "All right, nobody move!"
The team looked back and forth and realized that they were between a rock and a hard place. So the Wrecking cadet and the hacker armed their weapons and turned back for a response.
Miko/Kaosu: "Well Rodimus? Can we fight now?"
Rodimus looked at the two groups with their weapons armed and sighed in defeat.
Jack/Rodimus: "Oh well… Guess we don't have a choice in the matter."
So he closed his visor and mouth guard and armed his blaster and shield for a battle. The enemy charged their blasters and were ready to fire. But the young mech looked at the two and came with a plan.
Jack/Rodimus: "Everyone get down! Hit the dirt!"
Quickly the group got down as the two teams fired their blasters at them. Though they missed them, the blasters went past each other and headed straight for both of them. The Vehicons took cover to avoid the shots, but the Airadicons got caught in friendly fire and they got shot though the chambers and head, dropping to the ground in a thud. Once the firing ceased, the recruits looked up and saw Airadicons all offline in the lift. The former teen looked on and was glad that they were out of that mess. But turning to the guards that were recovering from the attack, he told the others to get in.
Jack/Rodimus: "Our entrance is clear! Everyone into the elevator!"
Quickly, the group got in and was ready to leave, but with all the added weight, it would be difficult heading on up. Vehicons continued to fire as Jack got his shield up to deflect the shots. Raf then looked down at the few dead drones and came up with a really good idea. Extending the cables from his arm compartments, he wrapped them by the legs and lifted them high into the air. One by one, he threw the carcasses to the Cons as they ducked from the incoming dead bodies. The lift was empty of dead cons as the team was ready to leave. But before they could leave, Miko decided to pull off one big finale. Getting to the front and without anyone noticing, she armed her cannons on her shoulders and aimed at the bottom of the statue. The moment Rodimus pushed the floor that will take them up, the Wrecking cadet fired her rockets and they blew up the statue. The statue fell like a tree and headed to the group as the Vehicons scattered for their lives. One of the Vehicons got crushed by the statue of Megatron as he was trying to get away. Once the smoke cleared, all that was left was a destroyed room and a bunch of confused guards. When they saw the closed elevator doors, one of them turned to the other and told him to contact the second in command.
Vehicon 16: "Get in touch with Starscream. Tell him we've got a problem."
At the same time, the recruits and their human companions were heading on up to the top floor. Sam just took a breather after that unexpected fight and never thought it would go that wrong.
Sam Witwicky: "I got to say, I'm certainly missing my family and Mojo right now."
Vince turned to him and told him that this was nothing.
Vince: "You think that was bad? You try surviving a major firefight against a large group of these Decepticons and that one-eyed freak. It's certainly no picnic, I tell you that."
Rodimus looked at the rounded glass walls surrounding the metal interior of the lift and groaned to himself, knowing that they are now in the scrapper.
Jack/Rodimus: "So much for stealth. Now the Cons know that we're here. Better figure out a way of getting out of this elevator before more drones decide to show up. Let's hope there won't be any trouble on the way to the top."
Kaosu felt happy about that and was ready to fight after all that sneaking around.
Miko/Kaosu: "Finally! Some real action! Was getting a little bored with the whole hiding deal. Time for a serious brawl!"
As the Japanese femme was getting pumped, Firewall looked at the back that showed the inside of the tower and couldn't believe what he was seeing. So he told the others about it.
Raf/Firewall: "Hey guys? I think you need to see this."
They all turned, wondering what the hacker wanted. But what they saw shocked them the most. At the see-through windows, they saw long lines of vats of hot lava being poured into moldings of what appeared to be parts of Drones. Those parts were closed off and raised to a higher floor where they were being cooled in a freezing mechanism. Then the moldings were separated and taken to the assembly line where the parts were removed, attached, and welded into the different classes of Decepticons. That included the new Decepticons such as the silver Airadicons, the Tankicons, and Combaticons. Floor after floor, they saw different stages of the assembly line including energon injection, processor downloading, weapon mode inputting, T-cog assembling, and spark installation to bring them to life. They even saw the assembly line of the Shredders they encountered in Jasper as an artificial spark was created and enclosed in a sphere-like container with spiky treads wrapped around the center. They saw vats containing Scraplets like the ones they had encountered in the sewer; these were being manufactured in another level. During the ride up, Miko snapped photos with her optics and saved them into her processor, knowing that the team should know about this. During their ascension, Megatron's voice boomed through the speakers to give his own rendition of what happened to the Omega Lock.
Megatron: "The Omega Lock was our only chance of restoring our planet to the way it was before it was consumed by war. We had high hopes that we would be victorious and bring peace to our planet. But Optimus by his careless actions destroyed the Lock, the only salvation left for our survival. Because of him, not only did he doom all Decepticons to extinction, but also the rest of the survivors. However, we managed to find a suitable replacement for our survival. Earth…"
The group simply ignored the speech as they looked at the assembly of these new soldiers. Jack stared in awe as he told Raf that he was right.
Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like you were right, Firewall. Darkmount really is a factory."
Miko/Kaosu: "Tell me about it. Look at this place. They're pretty much building a huge army!"
Sari looked on and when they entered the next floor, she feared the worst.
Sari: "Not only building a huge army guys. They're training them. Look!"
And the group watched as they looked at what appeared to be a training facility on the next floor. Sector after sector, they saw newly created Cons fighting, transforming, driving, and shooting. Judging by the look of the training, they were fully operational and well organized. Which meant that the Autobots would be very busy with them. They then went up to the next floor and saw the hangar bar with loads of Decepticons keeping watch and loading supplies and weapons while the flagship, the Nemesis, was docked and ready for departure. Miko continued to snap more pictures of those floors while Megatron continued to talk through the speakers.
Megatron: "Optimus cost us the very planet we wished to return to. It doesn't mean that we would give up. This planet is deemed suitable to become our replacement. But the humans, the species that live on this planet, are an annoyance and an infectious kind. They will not let us share this land, for they believe they are the most dominant force. Well that's where they are wrong. Rest assured my soldiers, what happened to that pathetic little town was only the beginning. Soon, we will spread our forces across Earth, wiping the human race from existence. And for those that survive our wrath… Well… We will do what the Autobots have done. Make them out own personal pets. The era of the Decepticons has begun, and nothing, not even the Autobots will stop us!"
As soon as the speech has ended, Vince watched what he had seen and heard and realized something.
Vince: "Guys, I think I know what this Megatron guy is planning."
Everyone turned to the bully as Rodimus asked what he was thinking.
Jack/Rodimus: "Well Vince, what is it?"
Vince looked to them all and explained about the worst case scenario.
Vince: "Well you all heard what this loon said through the speakers, right? Well, it would seem that he's planning to take over this world since his own is long gone."
The group soon found out what he meant as Firewall continued.
Raf/Firewall: "Dear lord, Vince, you're right! It would seem that the Decepticons are planning for a planetary invasion. The evidence proves it. The factory that was building the new Cons, the training facility, the ground bridge hub, the defenses, all of which is connected for one goal. If a small army managed to destroy Jasper, imagine what they could do to a city."
Jack listened to him and gave the hacker the worst case scenario.
Jack/Rodimus: "Worse than that, Firewall. Imagine what they could do to an entire planet. What happened was just a small taste compared to what they are planning. And since they pack more firepower than the humans, this new Great War will last only a matter of hours. We have to get the team in here fast if we are to rescue Prime and protect this planet from the coming war."
Kaosu crossed her arms and explained that it won't be a piece of cake.
Miko/Kaosu: "Easier said than done. After what we did on the ground floor, it will only be a matter of time for those drones to come to the doors and blast us before we can get out. We need a plan of escaping."
Jack nodded and knew they needed a way out of this mess after what they did. But looking up, he could see a compartment on the ceiling and came up with an idea.
Jack/Rodimus: "I seem to have a plan. I just hope that this will work."
As he was formulating a plan, Starscream was at the command center while Soundwave was on monitor duty. After the mess with Megatron for not telling him about the energon signatures from earlier, he now has to remain cautious. One brief mistake could easily cost him his life. It happened before with Dreadwing; it would never happen with him. Just as he was trying to forget about that, there was a beep on the comm. channel as Soundwave looked down and pressed a button. That was when a Vehicon voice was heard.
Vehicon 17: "Command, this is unit twelve. We have a situation. Do you read?"
Scream heard that and approached the monitors with his servos to his back, responding to the urgent message.
Starscream: "This is Starscream, reading you loud and clear. What seems to be the problem?"
Vehicon 17: "We seem to have a breach in the lower levels; three unknown Cybertronians were at one of the elevator access ways, Access Lift 35 and are on the way up. We tried to stop them but they prevented us from destroying them."
The second in command listened in and was surprised by the news. For quite a while, there were calls about some unexpected events. First there was a hole on one of the freight containers when it was delivering scrap metal to be melted, then the unexpected ceiling crash in the ground bridge hub along with a bunch of unconscious drones in the maintenance closet, one of the cameras that was short circuited unexpectedly, and then three Terrorcons came out of the blue and attacked the servant and warrior classes. Thankfully, that was contained before this outbreak spread. But now news of three intruders in the fortress. Is it possible that these three are the young Neutrals? So he asked the drone on the Comm.
Starscream: "The three intruders you've talked about. Are they the Neutrals that attacked the town?"
There was a bit of silence until the Vehicon spoke up.
Vehicon 17: "We didn't have a chance of looking at them. They sort of took down the statue before they went up. It was impossible to see their faces."
Starscream listened to them and couldn't come to a conclusion just yet. And although the Neutrals could be in the base, he would need some proof if they were in here or not. So he ended the comm. frequency.
Starscream: "Thank you for letting me know about this, soldier. Take your men to the medical ward so Knockout can fix you up."
The moment he ended communication, Soundwave turned to him and gestured if he could let Megatron know of this. The commander stared at him a little annoyed and responded as well as he could.
Starscream: "I know I should speak to our master about what happened recently. But we're going to need proof to know if they've managed to enter Darkmount. And I know how we will get the proof. Have some drones secure Access Lift 35 on all floors, tell them if that lift stops at any of them, order them to fire. I'm certain the bodies of these Neutrals will be compensation enough."
The Intelligence officer nodded loyally and went back to his workstation to contact any drones near the elevator lift. As he was doing that, Starscream felt a little gleeful, knowing that his plan will not fail.
Done with chapter nine. Got to say, the whole stealth thing wasn't really that easy. Had to come up with a few plot devices just to make it work. But other then that, I say it worked out really well. Don't worry; you'll get some action in later chapters. You might like what I got in store for all of you. And on the next chapter, you will finally get to see Team Prime after the recruits little adventure. Please Review.