"I DON'T BELIEVE IT! CAN'T YOU BRAINLESS NOOBS DO ANYTHING RIGHT!?" Raf keyed the music from his computer louder, trying to block out the irate yells as his mentor groaned nearby.
"Dear Primus," Ratchet said through clenched denta as he focused on the ground-bridges exposed internals, "Give me strength." Raf was thankful Ratchet hadn't let his frustration get the better of him. Throwing wrenches might have worked with the Autobots but Raf wasn't sure how Fowler would take his agents getting hit with tools as big as they were. Raf glanced over his shoulder, where the annoyance in question was ordering workers around with more authority than he really had.
He was tall, a little over Jack's height, which meant Raf only came up to just below his shoulders. He was wearing a simple white lab coat over a pair of dark grey jeans and a purple Gears of War T shirt. His auburn hair was long and messy, partially hiding his face but unfortunately not quite long enough to get in his mouth. But he was the least of Raf's concerns.
'Slag it,' Raf cursed to himself when the simulation he had been running finished flawlessly. He glanced up at Ratchet and the currently defunct ground-bridge. "Anything Ratchet?" Raf asked tiredly stifling a yawn.
"Negative," The medic glowered, not taking his optics off the portals circuitry. "I assume the simulation failed once more?"
"Yep," Raf sighed resetting the program and opening a file. "This doesn't make any sense; according to the operation history, we input the commands perfectly, and they WERE executed." He placed his laptop on the console in front of him and slouched back in his chair, taking off his glasses and running a hand through his messy brown hair.
"You should recharge Rafael," Ratchet said guessing the boy's exhaustion, "it is unlikely that I will solve this problem before you awaken."
"Okay," Raf yawned, getting out of his chair before descending the catwalk to the floor. He made sure to avoid the flurry of activity taking up the east wing of the hanger and made it to the door that would lead him outside and that much closer to his nice warm bed. But just before he could grasp the handle, the door opened, revealing the face of a tall lanky teen with black hair. He smiled.
"Hey Raf, long time no see."
"Jack!" Raf shouted in joy, immediately hugging his best friend, and Jack was a little surprised he no longer had to kneel for Raf to give him a proper hug. The teen had hit a growth spurt in recent years, one that didn't seem to be slowing down though Raf was still a little on the short side. Jack was just glad he had been able to maintain their big brother little brother bond in the chaos of Unit:E's escalating operations.
"Long night?" Jack asked noticing the bags under Rafs eyes and glasses.
"Yeah," He said looking back at the ground bridge, "Me and Ratchet have been trying to figure out what went wrong with the bridge, but so far..."
"Nothing," Jack said tiredly, clearly under the effect of jet-lag. Seems you don't really appreciate being able to instantaneously transport anywhere on earth until you're stuck riding a C-130 between bases. He started to ask a question, before another yell from across the hangar drew his attention.
"Not that left, MY LEFT! YOUR RIGHT!" Jack suppressed a groan, but not quite well enough.
"Something the matter Agent Darby?" Jack stood a little straighter as he turned and faced his supervising officer.
"uh, Director Fowler I was just uh."
"Save the formalities for the briefings son," the army rangers veteran said tiredly even as he walked toward the ground-bridge waving the two young men to follow him. "Just say whats on your mind." Jack and Raf shared a glance before falling in behind the Director.
"I just don't see why you make the staff here put up with that jerk," Jack said bluntly. "Its not like he does anything besides take up space and waste power." Fowler gave an amused scoff and smirked at the young agents snide remark.
"Honestly, I'd kick him to the curb in a heartbeat," He admitted, "if he wasn't one of only two people on earth that understand cybertronian anatomy." 'And the only human not employed by MECH,' he added silently. "So yes, he's a pest. But until we find someone smart enough to replace him, Masterson stays." The sound of vents cycling above them was not lost on the humans.
"The only thing that insect understands," Ratchet huffed, "is how to take up the valuable time of others." Fowler sighed and hung his head; he did not need this, not after flying in from Shanghai, but thankfully the Autobot medic changed the subject. "Why are you here Director Fowler?"
"Briefing," the rotund man snapped, lowering voice slightly as he, Raf and Jack climbed the catwalk up to the ground-bridges control console. Ratchet cycling a groan, then grudgingly put down his tools and walked where he could better hear the humans. "I had to make sure the information is given face to face," He said coolly, taking a manila folder from his jacket and handing it to Jack, who then handed pages to Raf and Ratchet. "Didn't want any of this going digital. These were taken by one of our high orbit satellites over Singapore just yesterday."
Raf's breath caught as he recognized the object of the picture; a dark blue almost black modified MQ-9 Reaper drone, one that had a familiar extra set of fins in front of the tail.
"Soundwave," Ratchet half growled, easily crumpling the paper held between his fingertips.
"But, that's not possible," Jack said quickly, "We trapped Soundwave in the shadow zone on board the Nemesis. There's no way he could have warped back. Unless..." Raf's eyes lit up, and his glasses nearly fell from his face.
"THE GROUND-BRIDGE!" He yelled, flying to the controls and yanking open his laptop. "It DIDN'T Malfunction! It was Soundwave! That's why when the team went through, they came flying right back. It was because Soundwave had opened another ground-bridge and crossed it with ours."
"But that still doesn't explain HOW he opened another bridge," Jack said, remembering his and Rafs own experience in the shadow zone. "The Nemesis is still on Cybertron."
"If there's a way," Ratchet said grimly, "Soundwave could most certainly find it."
"And now that ole faceless is loose," Fowler said taking the photos back, "We need to keep our eyes and ears open for any and all Con activity. Ratchet, get on the line with Cybertron as soon as you can. All the other Con commanders are either locked up or missing. That makes Soundwave the highest ranking Decepticon left."
"What if he's working alone?" Jack wondered out loud. "We haven't found any more Vehicons on earth, save for those Megatron left guarding the mines." Ratchet had of course taken care of those, with more than a little help from some well placed human artillery.
"Can't risk it," Fowler said flatly. "If there's one thing the cons do well, its hiding in plain sight. And I'll bet all fifty stars that that mute has some kind of reinforcements hiding somewhere."
"I will contact Cybertron," Ratchet said walking over to the cybertronian size console opposite the catwalk. "Ultra Magnus will doubtless want to send a team to find and eliminate Soundwave." He paused and looked back at the Director. "We should contact Bulkhead as well, and have him bring Miko back to base." The only response he received was three identical stares from the humans.
"Ratchet," Jack said with the slightest hint of sarcasm, "This is Miko Nakadi we're talking about. Remember what it was like trying to keep her at the base?"
"Trying," Fowler emphasized, "Being the appropriate word. Besides I wouldn't have okay'd Ms. Nakadi's vacation if I didn't think she would be safe." Ratchet glanced at the human, scanning his face for any indications of deception. While William Fowler had never gone out of his way to deceive any of the Autobots, that they knew of, Ratchet had a feeling in his fuel pump that the former Agent was holding something back. "In the mean time, Rafael," Fowler said looking to the computer genius, "I need you to update all of Unit:E's encryption algorithms, new codes on everything, every file, every email, anything Soundwave can hack, see that he don't. We can't let the decepticreep get anything."
"Yes sir," Raf said giving an informal salute, only to yawn right after.
"After a power nap of course," Fowler added, then turned to Jack. "Agent Darby, I'm reassigning you here to Omega Two. Once we get a lead on Soundwaves location I want you to take a team, intercept, and do whatever you have to to bring him down. Speaking of which, follow me." He gave a slight nod to Ratchet and Rafael, then descended the catwalk and despite his apparent lack of exercise, quickly crossed the hangar to where Masterson was still ordering staff around.
"Oh is that so!?" He screeched in a nasally voice that reminded Jack a little too much of Starscream for comfort. Apparently someone had finally gotten fed up with him and decided to put their foot down. "Well tell me, Did You reverse engineer an alien robot from outer space?! NO?! Did YOU reconfigure its control circuits to work with!"
"MASTERSON!" Fowler barked, stopping the inventor cold, who gave one last glare and muttered curse toward the subject of his wrath before stomping over to Jack and Fowler, hands thrust in his lab coat pockets.
"What do you want?" Jack was literally inches away from knocking the punk out cold, but Fowler put his arm across his path, stopping him.
"An update," He said flatly, "How close are you to prototype stage?"
"Well I would be closer if these nimrods would hurry up with setting up my la,"
"A number Henry." Jack smiled when he saw the inventor flinch and his high and mighty air vanish.
"...Two weeks," He said after a moments thought, "I've already figured out the command frequencies and designed the basic frame but."
"You have three days," Fowler said curtly, then turned to walk away, only for a panicked Masterson to dash in front of him.
"Whoa-ho-hoo man, be reasonable!" Jack's glare said it all, and earned another flinch from Masterson. "Okay I get it, you don't like me, your loss. BUT THREE DAYS?!" Jack's glare never wavered.
"You said you've already designed the frame," He said with the slightest smirk.
"Yeah, the basic frame. I still need to figure out how to link it to a main body! Not to mention all the neural bypasses, armor plating, individual measurements!"
"The measurements have already been emailed to you," Fowler said, leaning in close to Masterson as his tone lowered to dangerous tones. "And you have three days to get a suit made to those specs up and running, because on the forth day this base is liable to be a charred pile of rubble." Masterson's face had lost most of its color by this point, and the inventor simply nodded and went back to setting up his lab, at a much quicker pace than before. The Director said nothing as he turned and walked away, closely followed by a very serious Jack.
"Whose measurements?" He asked quietly, soliciting a sigh from Fowler.
"Jack, you know I have the utmost respect for you and your friends after what you did for Optimus and Team Prime." Jack's gaze fell at the mention of the last Prime, and Fowlers tone was more solemn but no less frank. "But lets be honest, out the four of us who's the only one who's actually fought a Con metal to metal and come out on top?" The color drained from jack's face as the realization dawned.
"Oh scrap...Miko...you gave him Miko's measurements." The director nodded and glanced back towards Masterson.
"Better her than some punk who doesn't know Uncle Sam from Lady Liberty," he said, before he stopped and whispered to Jack as he handed him a key card. "And just in case Masterson can't meet his new deadline, use this in the elevator. It'll let you access the basement level and storage."
"Must be pretty important," Jack observed, "What exactly do you keep down there?"
"Oh just a few moth balled old vehicles and tech from the Mobile Armored Strike Command program."
High above the Island of Honshu Japan, Soundwave had abandoned his surveillance of the human charge, choosing to let his casseticon partner Laserbeak keep an optic on her while he saw to other needs. He streaked down through the clouds in the darkness, cutting his engines and gliding slowly down to the ground before transforming and landing with practiced grace. He silently surveyed the wooded terrain around him, taking in the vegetation and scanning the landscape of Oze National Park. They had once attempted to establish an energon mine near here, however the site had never yielded anything beyond the initial energon signature their ship had detected.
But his time in the shadow zone had given him time to think, and look, and think some more. A ping from his scanners alerted Soundwave, and he immediately started in the direction of the signal, still completely soundless. If anything his time in the shadow zone had made Soundwave creepier; wandering across earth unseen by any and all had served to bring back some very unpleasant memory files for the Decepticon communications officer.
Before the war, nobody had even known who he was. Nobody paid any attention to those in the entertainment caste other than during their performances. But Soundwave always paid attention to them, and his casseticons were listening and watching ever so intently to every little detail and data byte exchanged during his performances in Tyger Pax's theaters. It wasn't long after he happened upon Megatronus and his message that Soundwave had abandoned his old life entirely and devoted himself and all his resources to the mech he knew could finally restore Cybertron and their species to what they had once been. So when Megatron finally did start his uprising, everyone had just assumed Soundwave had been there since the beginning, a gladiator like his leader fighting in the pits of Kaon.
He slowed his pace, the pinging from his sensors increasing in pace, indicating he was close to his goal. He examined the terrain, the whole area was covered in low and high vegetation. There was a stream nearby flowing down the gorge from a waterfall to his north east, the mist from the falls resulting in a strangely refreshing cool sensation on his plating. From there a ridge stretched across his field of vision, sloping down until it merged with another rock face. He scanned the ridge, not finding any signs of a device that might cause the energon signature until his scanner showed one part of the ridge had been disturbed recently.
Recently being a term expressed in decades for Cybertronians, but the plant growth surrounding the scan area confirmed that this had been the sight of a rock slide. He walked up to the pile, at a slightly lesser slope that the rest of the ridge and dug his claws and cables into the earth. There was some small gratification in touching after being a phantom for so long, and before long he had removed enough soil for his intentions. Retrieving the mining charge from his sub-space, Soundwave planted the charge in the freshly dug hole and armed it before quickly transforming and retreating to a safe distance.
The charge exploded, showering the area with dirt and debris as the rocks collapsed, revealing the entrance to a cave. Soundwave landed and ducked inside the cave mouth, forgoing his exterior lights for his scanners. he didn't have to go far before the source of the energon signature revealed itself as a themselves. Soundwave's optics widened in surprise, no one would have expected to find these four on earth. Though in hind site, Breakdowns presence on this planet should have been an indication his brothers and sisters had been here at some point as well. Gestalts rarely remain separated for long periods of time.
Soundwave scanned the bodies. All of them were in stasis lock, low on energon, and had suffered varying degrees of external wear, but that was to be expected after being trapped underground for so long. Then he saw the fourth mech, and Soundwave had to recheck his sensors. Not only had he been presumed dead since before the exodus, but his entire body seemed to have been systematically cut up and sliced apart.
This was unlike how Knock Out preferred to torment his prey. These cuts had been swift, quick and precise. A scan of the mech's spark chamber confirmed Soundwaves suspicions; He would need a new body if he was to function again, one compatible with his class. A quick flick of his cables and Soundwave had downloaded the mech's memory core, though he was more concerned about how he would control the others until their leader was back online. Repairing the other three would be easy enough, but for the leader what He needed was a cybertronian body of comparable size, power and class to hold the spark.
And fortunately, Soundwave knew just where to find it.