Chapter 11-Absent Heroes
It was early morning in the Dakote National Forest when the dark night sky slowly turned into a bright canvas of orange and yellow before turning bright blue. The air warmed up and diurnal wildlife awakened to the dawn of a new day. The sunrise itself was one of nature's greatest sights.
Inside the tent he shared with Darren, High Wire awoke from his recharge and say up, taking care not to tear the tent with his wheel. He could've easily recharged outside, but Darren was insistent on allowing High Wire to sleep inside from the cold weather. He looked beside him to see Darren also waking up thanks to their tent getting a full blast of sunlight streaming through the treetops.
"Good morning, Darren." High Wire greeted his friend.
"Morning, High Wire." Darren said drowsily. He sat up in his sleeping bag and yawned. "Had a good sleep?"
"I did, though I could've done without the sleeping bag." He raised his arm and pulled the torn remains of his sleeping bag off the wheel on his arm.
"Blame Annie, she thought it was a good idea." Darren said and crawled out of the tent.
Darren got to his feet and stretched his stiff muscles, feeling a bit cramped from sleeping next to a Minicon. The fresh morning air helped wake him up and helped his mood. The forest certainly looked beautiful this early in the morning.
One would think that after almost being killed by Arcee's ex would scare him out of being in forests for a while, but he needed some time with other people-preferably his size. Better to take a break from the alien craziness before he has a nervous breakdown. He heard a grunt and turned to see Gina already out of her tent doing some stretches of her own.
The blonde girl, who would've rather spent her weekend in her workshop than camping in the wilderness away from her robotic toys, was wearing a thin short sleeve shirt, brown shorts and hiking boots. Her hair was tied into a bun and she wasn't wearing her signature glasses for once.
On his right, Annie was also waking up, though she was more violent in her awakening and was struggling to push Grindor off her. She didn't have a good night.
The kids and their Minicons were having a little camping trip. Namely to get away from the chaos of their normal lives, considering all three children had been through some stressful situations in the past month. When they explained their plans to the Autobots, they got different reactions to their decision; Optimus, Prowl and Bulkhead were against them going off on their own out of fear for their personal safety with the Cons on the move. Jazz, Bumblebee and Wheeljack thought the kids deserved some time to themselves without Autobot interference. Arcee was hesitant on the matter and Ironhide didn't give a damn.
In the end, it was Sparkplug's decision to allow the kids to go, but only if they took their guardians with them. It was a solution that everyone agreed upon, and later on they all would be slightly embarrassed about making such a big deal about it.
Darren took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled, glancing over at Gina, who was touching her toes. He blushed as his eyes roamed over her body, just now remembering that Gina was an early bloomer and noticing how her clothes hugged her mature figure. He looked away but Gina caught him staring and smirked.
"Like the view, Darren?" She asked.
"Y-yeah, everything looks amazing in the morning. The forest looks lovely." Darren said, clearing his throat.
"Oh come on, Darren. You can't fool me." Gina laughed and walked over to him. "You're a growing boy, it's only natural that you would start having…thoughts."
Darren groaned. Gina should not be this good at teasing at her age, it was sinful. Annie climbed out of her tent, pushing Grindor out of the way and looked over at her brother and friend.
"Morning guys. What'd I miss?" Annie yawned.
"Darren was trying to strip me with his eyes." Gina said with a giggle.
"I was not!" He yelled.
Gina giggled louder and went to wake up Sureshock. This was going to be such a fun trip!
XXXXXX
In another part of the same forest, the serenity of mother nature was interrupted when a ground bridge opened up in the middle of a clearing. Out of the portal stepped the Decepticon spymaster, Soundwave, who dismissed the bridge as soon as he exited it and looked around. His enhanced senses caught every sound of the wildlife around him, as well as the minute sounds that normal human ears wouldn't even be able to detect with artificial aid. Seeing that he was alone, Soundwave opened up his chest cavity and deployed two cassettes, who transformed into the twins Rumble and Frenzy.
"Hey, boss!" Rumble grinned up at Soundwave. "What's the job today?"
"Reconaissance. We are to locate the source of a wayward energy signal detected within this general region." Soundwave said. "Laserbeak has already been searching the forest for the origin point, but we will cover more ground on our end."
"Don't worry, boss. You can count on me!" Rumble saluted, almost knocking himself out with his clawed hand.
"Quit being a kiss ass, bro!" Frenzy sneered. "Besides, Soundwave knows I'm the mech for the job!"
"As if," Rumble snorted. "You couldn't find your way out of a paper bag!"
"Like you're any better fumble fingers!" Frenzy yelled back and marched away. "I'm bouncing. I can't even look at your ugly mug anymore."
"Ugly? I'm your twin you stupid genius!"
Soundwave ignored the bickering twins and communicated telepathically to Laserbeak. The avian mech had been tracking a military convoy in the region for two weeks now and from his knowledge, he knew that there were no official military installations this deep in the country. Hence, it was curious to see the Osean military have a significant presence here.
Laserbeak had yet to locate the base but he did locate some signs that it was hidden in one of the natural formations that were worth checking out. Without another word, Soundwave walked into the forest, leaving Rumble and Frenzy to their sibling spat.
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After breakfast, the group went to a lake that was a little ways off from their campsite. In order to keep a lookout for any passing campers, Gina sent out the Sky Spy to keep watch from the trees. High and Wire decided to take up fishing, which was hard with Annie dive bombing off a tree into the water.
Gina and Sureshock were watching Darren practice with his powers, wholly entranced as he used his telekinesis to weave a stream water around his body with slow motions. Sureshock noted how much at ease he was compared to his past experiences of using his powers.
"You're getting better, Darren." Gina praised, not taking her eyes off the clear stream that moved through the air like a snake. "I've never seen a psychic control water like that."
"Well, Jazz said mind over matter. Theoretically, I could probably do a lot of things with my powers." Darren said.
"You've never made attempts to practice before. What changed?" Sureshock asked.
"Everything, really. What happened with Flamewar was a big wake up call. My powers are the only thing that kept me and High Wire alive when Flamewar was gunning for us. If anything like that happens again, I want to be ready." Darren said. He wriggled his fingers and made the water steam vibrate in the air before having it poke Gina in the cheek, earning a giggle from her. "Now that I'm actually making an attempt, it's easier than I thought it would be."
"Telekinetics are limited only by their mental limitations. I heard that from an Autobot general with the same power as yours." Sureshock said, gaining Darren's attention.
"Who?"
"Elita-1."
"You told me about her." Gina said. "She's the leader of the Valkyries, that all-female Autobot strike team."
"The very same. She's an outlier, a telekinetic just like Darren and a really powerful one." Sureshock said. "I've heard stories of her taking on whole platoons of Cons with her team and taking out entire groups of them with her powers. From what people say about her fighting style, it's nothing short of magical."
"Someone's a fan girl." Gina teased. Sureshock lightly bumped her shoulder.
High Wire and Grindor say on a rock staring down at the water with their fishing rods waiting for something to bite their lines. They sat in that position for twenty minutes already and nothing had even come close to biting their bait.
"Hey, High Wire?" Grindor said.
"Yeah?"
"You catch anything?"
"No." High Wire answered. "You?"
"Nope. Nothing on my end."
"That's a shame."
They went back to sitting in silence for another five minutes before Grindor sagged his shoulders and signed. "Primus, this is boring."
"I know." High Wire agreed.
That was when the Sky Spy flew out of the trees and landed on High Wire's shoulder, blinking the red light on its camera head repeatedly in a pattern. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the drone.
"What's it saying?" Darren asked.
"Scrap," Grindor said. "Guys, we've got someone heading our way!"
"Cheese it!" Annie yelled at the Minicons, who immediately dropped their activities and took on their alt modes.
The bushes rustled and Darren motioned for the girls to act normal while he went to investigate. Reaching out, he jumped back as someone poked his head from the bushes, surprising him.
"Kevin?"
"Darren?" The taller boy blinked. "Hey, man!"
The two boys smiled and high fived each other with a laugh. Annie and Gina also went to greet the dark skinned boy, who was dressed in loose fitting pants and a green sleeveless shirt.
"What are you guys doing out here? I didn't peg you three for spending time in the great old outdoors." Kevin said.
"We just decided to go camping to get away from the chaos of civilization." Darren was a little ashamed at how quickly that lie came to him. Well, it wasn't a lie exactly. It was just a little wordplay. "What about you."
"I…wanted some time for myself. A little me-time to clear my head and stuff." Kevin said.
"No surprise, mister basketball star." Gina grinned. "So, where's Penny? She still reeling from that ass whooping her toy robot took up front or did she get caught up in figuring out the mechanics of tent making?"
"Nothing like that, though she's still looking for Zeus' head." Kevin gave her a look at that. "She's hanging back home to work on something with her friend Charlotte."
"Kev, we were just about to have a swim in the lake. You wanna come?" Annie asked.
"Sorry, but I'm heading over to a pond to fish." Kevin said.
"Fish huh?" Annie glanced over at High Wire and Grindor, who were both dreading another long and uneventful fishing session. "Can we come along?"
"Yeah, we barely talk these days. It's been a while since we socialized and all that." Darren said.
"Sure, the more the merrier." Kevin smiled.
The kids collected their things and the Minicons before following Kevin through the forest. The Minicons were a bit unsure about letting another human in on their trip, but there was little they could do at this point. Besides, it might be for just a moment.
Kevin led them down a path that made traversing through the wilderness easier on their feet and almost made it to the clearing he spoke about when he spotted something on the ground. "Hey, what's that?"
He pointed at something glinting from under a huge rock. Darren leaned down for a closer look and saw that it wasn't anything natural, it was metal. The Minicons also noticed this and instantly became worried.
"It looks like a metal door." Gina noted. "Obviously it's supposed to be secret, given its shoddy hiding place."
"Maybe we should call the rangers." He said as he took out his phone. Annie gave him a look.
"Seriously? What if this was made by 'them'?" She asked, careful not to give out too much information with Kevin around. If the Decepticons were possibly involved, then it was better to keep as little outside involvement as possible.
Darren thought about it and nodded. He dialed in Ratchet's emergency number they were given for, but as he did so, he saw that he wasn't getting a signal. "Huh…?"
"Freeze!"
The kids froze as they were suddenly surrounded by a dozen soldiers pointing assault rifles at them. Darren felt High Wire move slightly, but squeezed his handlebars to keep him still. It wouldn't do to blow their cover now. A woman with short red hair dressed in a black combat uniform stepped to the front.
"What are you kids doing on military property?" She asked.
"Military property? This place is on military grounds?" Gina blinked. "Don't military bases usually have barbed wire fences and signs that say keep out?"
"You know, to avoid shit like this from happening?" Annie said snidely, more annoyed than scared. The woman glared at her.
"Major Keller," Another soldier walked up to her. He was obviously the same rank as the woman, but he carried himself as if he was of a higher position. "We have to take them in."
"Take them-they're children!" Keller said, glaring at him. "You can't seriously think that they're spies, Lancer."
"Two of the most dangerous espers in Karaba are barely over eighteen. I'm not taking any chances." Lancer motioned for his men to move in. "Take them into custody."
"Lancer, this is stupid!" Keller growled.
"Orders are orders, major. You're welcome to argue with Fredericks about it." Lancer said, glaring back at her.
Kevin groaned while Darren shared a tired glance with the girls. This was just a typical day for the Autobots' friends.
Up in the trees, unseen by the humans, Laserbeak watched the exchange and smiled. He sent a transmission to Soundwave.
"Soundwave, I think I've just found what we're looking for."
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Because of the base's secret location, the kids were blindfolded as they were escorted inside. They couldn't see a thing, but judging from the metallic echoes and the sound of something mechanical activating suggested that they were on an elevator of some kind, which meant they were being taken underground. The Minicons made sure to take in every detail so they could break the kids out if they need to.
Once inside the base, which was a massive facility that was built inside the interior of a hollowed out mountain, the kids were separated from the Minicons and taken to a holding cell under armed guard. Their blindfolds were taken off and they were left alone. They took this time to process their situation, in which Annie vented her feelings by ranting.
"Of course this fucking happens on our camping trip." She growled. "Can't go a freaking day without someone trying to screw us over, human or otherwise."
"Annie, calm down. If they let us talk to someone, then maybe we can get them to see this as a misunderstanding." Darren said. Annie looked at him as if he was stupid.
"Darren, these guys are secret military black ops with no official group to keep them on a leash. What makes you think they won't pull some "we don't exist" bullshit to justify keeping us here?"
Darren sighed, but didn't reply, knowing she was right on some account. They went quiet when the door opened up and the woman from earlier walked in.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot here, kids." She said kindly, probably to get them to lower their guard. "My name is Agent Cole Keller. There's no need to be afraid, I just need to know how much you've learned and…"
"Spare us the good cop routine, sister." Annie said dryly. "We're imprisoned in a military base god knows how many feet underground that's supposed to be camouflaged, yet a five year old could find this place, and you expect us to remain calm? Lady, your buddy up there seems like the kind of guy who'd shoot us to keep this place secret, whether we're kids or not."
An awkward silence followed after her tirade. Kevin cleared his throat and said, "What she said."
Cole stared hard at her. "You're a wordy little brat, aren't you?"
"No more than you." Annie shot back.
Cole rubbed the bridge of her nose. These kids weren't as naïve as she thought. They definitely guessed how Fredericks would act to this situation. She sighed and told it to them straight.
"Look, I can get you guys out of here safe and sound, but I need you to cooperate with me here." She told them.
"Or else what?" Annie challenged.
"Annie!" Gina hissed.
"Or else you'll be locked up for the rest of your natural lives. Frederick Lancer is as paranoid as they come, and is more stubborn than a British boxer. Don't say anything that'll set him off and we can all forget this ever happened." Cole walked to the door. "Now sit tight and let me handle this."
The agent left the cell and Darren whacked his sister on the back of her head. "Could you not try to act like some stupid dumbass in front of a military officer? Is that too much to ask for?" He hissed.
Annie pushed him back and kicked the door. All she managed to go was give her foot a painful throb.
"Like that's going to work." Gina sighed.
"Well maybe if my brother got off his ass, then we could be out of this taco stand in a heartbeat." Annie said snidely.
Darren glared at her and gave a worried glance at Kevin. Sure, he could rip the door from its hinges with little problem, but he didn't want Kevin learning about his powers. It wasn't worth possibly losing a friend over something he could easily hide. Not to mention the army of armed soldiers that would be standing in their path.
Gina patted his shoulder and sat on the bench. "Let's just sit here and wait. I'm sure something will happen and we'll be all out of here soon."
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Soundwave stood hidden in the trees as he watched a camouflaged military armored troop carrier drive through the forest and into a disguised hatch built into the side of a seemingly unassuming mountain. Laserbeak sat on his shoulder, awaiting his master's command.
This was definitely where the energy reading was coming from. It was faint and quite possibly deep underground. But this was of no consequence to him. The humans would never know he was coming until it was too late.
"Laserbeak, infiltrate." Soundwave said. Laserbeak nodded and flew off his shoulder, leaving Soundwave to transform into his alt mode, a mini-cassette recorder.
Soundwave was of a unique but rare breed of cybertronians who could control their body's transformation on a sub-atomic level, enabling them to grow larger or smaller. Most cybertronians could only scan and transform into alt modes the same size and mass as them, but Soundwave could transform from a 32 foot mech into a palm-sized cassette recorder.
Laserbeak snatched Soundwave up in his claws and flew over to the base. He circled around, waiting another convoy to approach the hidden entrance. As the convoy passed under some trees, he dived in and dropped the transformed Soundwave into the back of the truck.
He perched himself on a branch and watched the truck disappear into the mountain base with his master. If it were possible with his beak, he would've smiled. The humans had no idea they just let their death in through the front door.
XXXXXX
Sean McCourie sat at his desk in the base's computer room reading a comic book he managed to sneak in a few days ago. It was a bit boring being stationed here, and he had no one to blame but himself as he was the one to volunteer for the job.
Working security duty for a bunch of tech heads fooling around with an experimental power source that could lead to another Three Mile Island disaster if they so much as poked it the wrong way was not a job that people were lining up to offer up their services.
He heard the door slam open and the only reason he stayed in this depressing dump marched into the room. Cole Keller was his partner and the only person who actually acted like they had some common sense around here. He was a part of Skywatch longer than her and recruited her from the Osean Army's Special Forces with the goal of defending the country, and by extension the world, from
"outside" forces.
"What did Freddy do this time?" Sean asked with a smirk.
"Overreact like he always does. Some kids found our base and he just arrested them like they were spies or something." Cole huffed in frustration and slumped down into the chair next to him. "I know that not putting up signs or cameras was a bad idea. The fact that a bunch of kids were the first ones to find one of the emergency exits just makes this debacle more embarrassing."
"So did you pay the brats a visit to calm them down?"
"Didn't need to. Those kids were stone cold, and one of them even mouthed off at me." Cole said, sounding a bit impressed. Sean chuckled and she whacked him on the arm. "Those kids certainly knew how to stay calm."
"Almost too calm, Major." General James Frankel walked into the room, looking freshly crisp as ever and radiating his ever present aura of superiority. Cole's face hardened and she stood up to confront them.
"You bastard! You can't just snatch up kids like that! What if they're parents start looking for them?" She hissed.
"I'm doing what I have to for national security. Those children were a severe security risk for our operation." Frankel replied.
"They aren't even a threat, you moron! You're just making the situation worse! Don't drag them into something that could be avoided!"
Cole didn't like Frankel, the man took his position in Skywatch way too seriously. And she definitely hated his methods of getting information and maintain the organization's secrecy. Frankel knew that they worked outside the chain of command and used that to justify his morally grey actions. He'd do something and his first defense was preserving the nation's security and defense against threats human or otherwise, whatever that meant. Cole was certain he'd shoot the kids if she wasn't there looking over his shoulder.
"You'd defend them blindly, but would you change your tune if you saw this?" He walked over to a computer and began typing on it. "Few people in our organization know of the threats we were tasked to defend this world from. Only high ranking Skywatch officials know the true reason this group was formed and you're about to see what I mean."
Frankel brought up the security camera footage of the kids being brought in and changed the image to thermal. "Now look at their vehicles."
Cole and Sean warily did as they were told and to their surprise, they saw that the bike, moped and skateboard were emitting a strong heat signature not unlike those emitted by humans and most other living creatures.
"What the hell?" Sean muttered.
"You see, Skywatch has had past interactions with aliens, namely those of a different sort than movies and television would show." He grinned mockingly and pointed at the screen. "Those aren't normal vehicles-they are living beings disguised as human vehicles."
"That's impossible." Cole breathed.
"Nothing's impossible in this line of work, Keller." Frankel said and stood straight. "Now those kids know about these creatures and I intend to find out just what they know. If you'll excuse me."
Frankel walked out of the room with a barely noticeable cocky stride, greatly irritating Cole. She punched the computer and jumped up.
"Whoa, where are you going?" Sean asked.
"To stop that son of a bitch before he does something stupid."
Sean watched her go before following after her as well, partly because he wanted to keep her from killing the man, and mostly because he wanted a front row seat to the fireworks that were going to go off. This left the computer room empty-save for the tiny micro cassette that pushed the door open.
The tiny blue device crawled along the floor on four thin spider-like legs as it skittered towards one of the computers. Stabbing its appendages into the side of the table, he climbed up onto the desk and over to the monitor, plugging into the jack and interfacing with the computer.
Within seconds Soundwave's mind was connected to the base's systems. The first thing he did was download a map of the base and learn where the location of that energy signature was.
Once that was done, he delved into Skywatch's more prominent files, ones that were easily decrypted than the classified ones. This organization, Skywatch, seemed to be a government agency that operates off the books, so secret that even the president doesn't know about them. What's even more interesting was that these humans were fully prepped (in their minds) for alien incursions, most notably those of the mechanical nature.
Something about the way the man reacted when he noticed the Minicons made Soundwave suspicious and he tried to penetrate the mainframe to access their files, but the firewalls protecting them would take too long to break. For now he would have to be satisfied with what he was able to obtain. Now it was time to get what he came for and eliminate any witnesses.
"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, eject. Search and destroy."
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The kids were not having a very good time. Nearly thirty minutes into their imprisonment and they were beyond bored and annoyed at how long it was taking. It didn't help that Gina was making strange noises with her mouth.
"What are you doing?" Kevin asked.
"Well, since we're in a cell, I thought it would be prudent to act the part of the prisoner with a harmonica. And since I don't have a harmonica, I needed to improvise." Gina said.
Annie looked at her friend and shook her head. "God, you're sad when you don't have your toys, huh?"
Their conversation was cut short when the door opened up and the man from earlier walked in, with Cole close behind.
"Did you finally decide to grace us with your presence, king under the mountain?" Gina said snidely.
"Make all the quips you want, girl. But we know about your friends' secrets." Frankel grinned. Darren narrowed his eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Kevin asked.
"Trying to play innocent, eh? Fine, let's be blunt." He lost his grin and glared at them. "You children have been in contact with NBEs; Non-Biological Extraterrestrials. I want to know how you came to be in possession of those aliens disguised as vehicles you brought in."
"What? Is this a joke?" Kevin said. "We don't know about any aliens!"
"You may not, but your friends might." Frankel continued. Seeing the trio give no reaction, he decided to tip his hand. "I guess if you really don't know, then you wouldn't mind if we subject those rides of yours to some tests."
"Like hell we will, you raisin skinned freak!" Annie yelled. "You're not laying a finger on them!"
"Annie!" Gina hissed. Frankel smirked at Cole.
"I told you so." He turned back to the kids. "Tell us everything we know, and we'll let you all go. There's no point in trying to hide anything from us."
"We've got nothing to say." Darren said as he stepped in front of the girls.
"Either you tell me or we'll force the truth out of you. Don't think that just because you're children I won't use force." Frankel threatened.
"That's enough, Frankel!" Cole shouted.
"Maybe we should start with that motor mouth girl." He sneered. "I'm you she'll have lots to say."
Darren's gaze went cold and he clenched his fists, ready to blast the ugly bastard away with a strong force blast and bash his head against the wall. But that never happened as the whole base shook from a distant explosion.
"What the hell was that?" Cole questioned. A soldier ran into the cell, sweating and out of breath.
"Sir, we're under attack. Some giant robot cat is rampaging through the facility!"
'Ravage.' The name ran through Darren, Annie and Gina's minds. Frankel's eyes widened and he glared at them.
"You," He growled. "You three had something to do with this! I know it!"
"Frankel, come on! We need to act now!" Cole hissed.
Frankel cursed and pushed past Cole to leave the cell. "Block all exits and summon the Zygarts! Lockdown the base!" He glanced at the children. "And assign a security detail to watch over this cell. If they try to escape, shoot them!"
Frederick was gone, and Cole gave the children a sympathetic glance before she ran after him. The door was slammed shut and they were alone again.
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As their partners were taken to their cell, the Minicons were stashed within another holding cell, though this one was only for confiscated items. It was fortunate that the soldiers were unaware of their true natures, because when the alarms went off following the explosions, they wasted no time in switched to robot mode.
"What's that?" Sureshock asked.
"Not sure, but it sounds like this place is under attack." High Wire said.
"Who cares what's going on! We need to find the kids and haul ass!" Grindor exclaimed.
Their discussion was interrupted when a squad of soldiers ran into the storage room and pointed their rifles at the Minicons.
"Freeze!"
High Wire's eyes turned into slits and he looked at his time. "We don't have time for this! We need to combine!"
Grindor and Sureshock nodded and before the astonished soldiers' eyes, the three Minicons changed forms and combined into a much taller thirteen foot tall gestalt-Centurion. He glared at the soldiers and slammed his fists together, shooting sparks from his metal hands.
"Move aside!" He shouted in his booming voice.
The soldiers immediately opened fire on the gestalt. Centurion ignored the bullets hitting his armor and sprinted forward. His large form barreled into the soldiers without a care and rushed down the hallway. He didn't care about causing casualties, he needed to find the kids before whatever was attacking brought the entire base down on them!
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The kids could hear shouting outside their cell as another explosion rattled the base, this time sounding a lot closer. They had no idea what was going on, especially Kevin, who was starting to lose his patience.
"Could someone please tell me what's going on? What was all that stuff about aliens earlier?" He demanded.
The others glanced at each other before Gina stepped forward with a serious expression. "Kevin, can you keep a secret?"
"Yes, I guess so." Kevin replied uncertainly.
"Okay then." Gina took a deep breath and began her tale. "A few months ago, we stumbled upon a race of alien robots from another planet who arrived on Terra about a year ago. They're involved in a civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons. The nice guys protecting us are the Autobots, the evil guys are the Decepticons, and the rides we brought with us into the base? Those were Minicons, refugees trying to escape the war but got stuck on Terra 4 million years ago, until we woke them up two months ago."
"The bad robots attacking the base are Decepticons, and if we don't get out of here right now, they're going to kill us along with everyone else here." Annie finished. "You get all that?"
Kevin gave a shaky nod. "Y-yeah. Autobots good, Decepticons bad, get the hell out of dodge before we get killed. Got it."
"Good. Then I hope you can keep another secret, because Darren's going to get us out of here."
Darren nervously glanced at Kevin before moving to the door. He placed his palms on the metal door and telekinetically grabbed the metal, roughly wrenching the screws out of place and violently flinging the door outward, letting it slam against the opposite wall. The guards posted outside were caught off guard and so they weren't able to react when Darren split the door in half and hit them in the face with the metal strips, knocking them out with broken noses.
Annie whistled as she surveyed the damage. "Nice to see you stepping up to the plate, bro."
"I'm so glad I've earned your approval." Darren retorted. Kevin stared at him shocked.
"You're an esper?" He breathed. Darren nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I am. I didn't tell you because…well, you know." He shrugged and fidgeted. "So…are you mad?"
"Mad? Hell no! I'm actually relieved!" Kevin laughed. "Now I don't have to hide either!"
"Wait, what?" Darren blinked.
Two more soldiers ran down the hall after hearing the commotion and saw the kids standing over the unconscious guards. They quickly pointed their rifles at the children. "Stop right there!"
Darren moved to take them out, but Kevin stopped him and said, "Darren shoot a blast at me."
Darren spun around in shock. "What?"
"Trust me, just do it!" Kevin insisted. "And make it large!"
Seeing the soldiers point their weapons at them, Darren acted fasted and shot a force blast at Kevin's chest. Instead of pushing the boy back, however, Kevin's body absorbed the telekinetic energy, making his body glow. Kevin smirked and rushed forward faster than anyone could see, punching his fist forward and firing a magenta beam of energy at the guards.
The first soldier was caught in the chest and sent flying down the hall, landing hard on his head. The second soldier tried to grab him, but Kevin elbowed him in the throat before lifting him over his head and slamming him to the ground, making sure to knock him out with a nose breaking punch. Darren, Gina and Annie looked him with equal parts impressed and surprised.
"How the hell…?" Gina muttered.
"I'm a living battery. I absorb energy and channel it anyway I want." Kevin said proudly. "You should see me during a fireworks show."
"That's so cool." Annie grinned. It was nice to know her friends could kick ass like that whenever they wanted.
"Let's find the exit and get out of here." Kevin said. "It's going to get crazy around her."
"But we still need to find the Minicons. They have no idea where we are." Annie said.
"They'll find us. They know where we are, so we just need to stay put long enough for them to find us." Darren said.
A loud boom rattled the hallway and at the end of the hall they saw a man land hard on his neck and go still. His uniform was torn and bloodied from deep gashes in his chest that tore through his bulletproof vest. He was dead. Then a large, dark feline form prowled around the corner, glaring at the children with narrow crimson eyes.
It was Ravage.
XXXXXX
The entire base was on red alert as it was attacked from within. Frankel and Cole were making their way to the research center where their experimental weapons and technology were located. Why they were heading there away from the danger was a mystery to Cole, as she thought they should be fighting off whatever was attacking instead of leaving the security team to fend for themselves.
"They're soldiers, Keller!" Frankel growled as she voiced her misgivings. "They're trained for this. They know how to take care of themselves. Right now, our top priority is securing our prototype!"
Cole really hated this man. His holier than thou attitude because he was friendly with the director pissed her off, along with his willingness to toss his subordinates to the wolves.
"Major!" A voice shouted from the radio. "We've got a problem!"
Frankel cursed and grabbed his radio. "What's the situation, soldier?"
"It's those kids! They've escaped!"
"What? How the hell did that happen? I posed two armed guards there!" Frederick raged.
"Two of them are amalgams, sir, v-variants. They used their powers to break free and now they're heading for the armory. What's more is that their vehicles we put in containment also broke free-they're robots sir, in disguise. They're tearing the base apart!"
"Find and capture those brats before they can cause more damage. I will not let civilians, let alone those freaks, get away with classified intel. Send the talos to restrain that metal monstrosity along with the other robots attacking us." Frankel said. "Capture or kill for all enemies, soldier! Even the brats!"
"Yes, sir!"
Cole didn't even bother trying to convince Frankel otherwise, knowing that his temper was at an all time high. She let him run off before calling Sean. "Sean, you there?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Those kids managed to escape and now they're loose in the base, along with the killer robots." She told him. "You need to find them and get them out of here."
""I can do that, but what about Frankie?"
"The bastard sent out a capture or kill order on them. You need to find them first and get them to safety. Understand?"
"You got it, Collette."
Cole smiled a bit at his use of her full name-something she hated-and ran the opposite direction Frederick went. She was certain he could handle things on his own; he was dedicated, if nothing else. She had other, better priorities to worry about.
XXXXXX
The whole purpose of this base was for the development and testing of an experimental power source created based off of Arian technology scavenged up from local ruins and from allied countries like Yuktobania. It was a long and slow process, but one that proved to revolutionize clean energy and a potentially renewable power source for new and improved talos. The magic took place in the research center at the heart of the base. Anyone with clearance to get in needed to wear a protective suit as a pre-caution, since they were working with potentially dangerous elements.
Frankel saw the mangled, bloodied bodies of the research team, men and women unlucky enough to be in the robot's path, as he ran over them, his boots almost slipping on the puddles of spilt blood. Frederick pushed through the doors and ran into the main lab, where he slid to a stop upon seeing a giant robot in front of the reactor.
It was Soundwave, standing tall and in his fully glory in his robot mode. For a moment, Frederick stared up at him in awe, unable to comprehend what he saw. There he was, a real, living relative of the alien codenamed "ice man"! So there were others like him! It took him a minute to realize that Soundwave was reached for the glowing metal sphere encased in protective bulletproof glass. Frankel shook his head and raised a rocket launcher he snatched up on the way here.
"That reactor is Skywatch property, machine!" He shouted.
He fired the rocket and watched it hit the side of Soundwave's head. The spymaster leaned to the side a bit, but he was still standing. When the smoke cleared, Frankel saw that he was unharmed save for the black mark of scorched armor on the right side of his face. Soundwave looked down at Frederick and gave the order.
"Frenzy, terminate."
Frankel was still shocked that the rocket did no damage and was unable to properly react when he heard something drop down behind him. He turned around just as Frenzy ran his drill arm through his chest. Frederick groaned in agony as the drill gored through his organs and smashed right through his spine. He coughed up blood and lost the feeling in his legs.
Frenzy grinned at the dying man and pulled his arm back with a sickening squelch and let him fall to the ground. Paying no more attention to the human, he looked up at Soundwave.
"That was fun." Frenzy said. "So what now, boss?"
Soundwave held the reactor in his hand. The reactor felt warm in his hand, and probably would be dangerous if he held it for too long. It was best to get this back to the Nemesis before the radiation started affecting him.
"Now we retreat. Leave Ravage and Rumble to eliminate any witnesses." Soundwave said.
XXXXXX
Cole ran down the route that led to the mecha hangar, where the kids were sighted to be heading towards and hopefully in one piece. She wanted to believe that Sean had met up with them and were already getting out, but after the numerous reports of base personnel getting killed by the robots, she was starting to have doubts.
She made it to the armory, which she had to go through to reach the hangar, and she saw the bodies of men and women lying on the floor and against the walls. People she fought besides and spoke with daily were either found mangled or brutally crushed beyond recognition. It was pitiful and enraging-these things were going to pay!
The armory was a mess. Weapons, ammo, warheads and rockets were scattered about and destroyed, and there were more bodies of soldiers who were killed resupplying or trying to mount a defense. In the middle of the room was Sean, who was struggling in the grip of a blue and black robot with large pile driver arms. He was on the verge of being snapped in half!
"Get away from him!" Cole snatched up an assault rifle and opened fire. Her aim was on point enough that she avoided hitting Sean, but the high velocity bullets did little to do any significant damage, though she caught him by surprise and made him drop the man. That and she succeeded in pissing him off.
"What the…?" Rumble looked at Cole as if she insulted him. "Did you just shoot me?"
"What do you think, tin man?" Cole growled. Rumble grinned and marched towards her.
"Wrong move fleshy."
Rumble slammed his pile drivers into the floor and sent out a shockwave that rippled through the room. In such a small space, Cole and Sean got hit by the brunt of the wave and were blasted back into the wall. Cole, dazed from the attack, could feel her bones still vibrating from the impact as she looked up and saw Rumble reaching for her.
"When I smashed the skulls of those other humans, they made a cracking sound, like a nut." He sneered down at her, and reached for her head. "I wonder if yours would sound the same."
Just as he touched her head, a large form barreled into Rumble and sent him crashing into a wall. Cole looked up and saw a large robot with different colored, mismatched body parts that looked a lot like the vehicles the kids brought into the base with them.
'Frederick was right!' She thought, amazed. Centurion looked down at her with an impassive gaze.
"Stay there." He told her and leapt at Rumble.
Cole crawled over to Sean, who was watching Centurion beat down Rumble like he was at a movie. Checking him over quickly, she was pleased to see that he had no broken bones and watched the battle with him.
"I never thought I would be seeing this in my lifetime. Two robots engaged in a death match with each other." Sean said mildly and glanced at Cole. "That big one is on our side, right?"
"Possibly, but I doubt it's happy to see us."
Centurion lifted Rumble and slammed him headfirst into the floor, knocking him out and burying his head in the floor panels. Letting Rumble's body go, he turned to the two humans. When he walked toward them, Cole and Sean pointed their weapons at him.
"That's as far as you go, big guy. We don't want any trouble." Sean said.
"Where are the children?" Centurion asked. Sean and Cole looked at each other confused.
"Who wants to know?" Cole asked. Even though he saved their lives, she wasn't going to hand those children over to a potentially murderous robot.
Centurion growled and grabbed Cole, lifting her up to pin her against the wall. Sean fired his gun, but the bullets didn't do anything but irritate the already pissed off gestalt.
"Those children are under my protection. You will tell me where they are or so help me, human or not, I will make you regret ever seeing me." Goldfire hissed.
Cole struggled in Centurion's iron grasp, but she was unable to get free. Seeing she had no other choice, she nodded. "Okay. They're probably in the hangar; you can find your way there with the directory on the walls. They were being chased by some giant cat robot, so they might be in trouble."
"Then you better hope that we reach them in time." Centurion didn't care about not harming humans. The children were his only concern, and his sole objective was making sure they were safe.
XXXXXX
The hangar was a wide, open area where the armored transports, humvees and talos were stored. For quick deployment, there was an elevator hatch that led to the surface for immediate mobilization to the surface. It was the only other way aside from the main entrance to the surface.
The kids were fast on their way to the hangar, managing to enter the chamber and spread out. Darren was the last one in, but he had to use his powers to jump faster to avoid Ravage's jaws. He tripped and fell on his face as the jaguar mech glared at him.
"You'll die first, boy." Ravage growled and ran at Darren. An energy beam hit the side of his head he stumbled onto his side from the attack.
Supercharged by Darren's TK blasts, Kevin fired powerful energy blasts from his arms at Ravage, hitting the mech with strong concussive blows that actually hurt him. It wasn't enough to keep Ravage down, only make him angrier. Growling, Ravage lunged at Kevin, only to get hit in the side from a force blast from Darren. Darren's attacks packed more of a punch and together with Kevin, they combined their powers into a brutal assault that forced Ravage back.
"Jinkies, they're actually beating him!" Gina said. Darren had come a long way from a few months ago, when he barely used his powers. And Kevin seemed to already be a master at his powers, seamlessly mixing his energy attacks with his increased physical abilities.
"Yeah, but he's not going down." Annie pointed out. The boys were doing a good job in fighting off Ravage, but they're going to tire out soon.
She looked around the hangar and saw a few modified Murphy talos sitting across from them. Annie nudged Gina and nodded at the machine. The blonde genius hesitantly followed Annie over to the talos; she would totally be against this, but seeing as this was a life or death situation, she was willing to do anything to make sure Darren stayed safe.
'What is this guy made of?' Kevin thought as he fired a continuous energy beam at Ravage. He and Darren were still pelting the Con with attacks but he just wouldn't stay down.
Ravage tried to lunge at Kevin, but another force blast from Darren hit him right in the face, knocking a tooth out. Stumbled a bit, he glared at Darren and yelled, "Enough!"
Ravage fired one of the proton missiles on his hips at the boys, who jumped apart as it blew up an armored truck. Kevin, who was the closest, absorbed the kinetic energy from the explosion, that increased his already high energy reserves, while Darren landed on the hood of a jeep, right on his shoulder and fell to the floor groaning. Ravage stalked towards him, red eyes gleaming like he was some kind of hellcat.
"Don't you dare!" Annie's voice shouted.
A black talos on tank treads rammed into Ravage and threw him into a truck. Darren watched puzzled as the talos fired his arm-mounted machine gun at Ravage, hitting his face with high velocity bullets that stung like bee stings. That was when he saw Gina hanging onto the side of the talos.
"Gina?" Darren breathed. Then he made the connection. "Oh god, Annie?!"
"This is so awesome!" Annie laughed in the Murphy's cockpit. Gina banged her fist on the mecha's head.
"Stop screwing around and take him out!" She yelled.
"Alright, alright, I'm doing it." Annie said and pressed down on the left foot pedal to turn the unit. Piloting a standard, if a bit outdated, Murphy was easy enough if you knew how to operate it before hand (she watched enough specials on the Military Channel to know how to work an old school talos like the Murphy) and she was getting the hang of it. There were three foot pedals, one to move forward and reverse, and two on both sides to move left or right. The joysticks controlled the arms and weapons, which was an arm-mounted machine gun and a shoulder mounted cannon. Seeing Ravage stand back up, she pressed the trigger button on the left joystick.
The cannon fired a powerful armor piercing shell that hit Ravage in the leg just as he lunged at them. it blew off his front foreleg, but his body still crashed into the Murphy. Gina screamed as the mecha fell back, jumping off as it crashed to the floor.
"Children!" Centurion yelled out as he ran into the hangar. "I'm here to save…you?"
He engines idled when he saw the children were all right, if a bit tired and sweaty. Ravage was missing a leg and lying on his side next to a burning truck, while Gina and Kevin were helping Annie out of a fallen talos. Darren, who was sitting on the hood of a jeep rubbing his aching shoulder, looked over at Centurion and gave him a weak wave.
"Hey," He smiled exhausted. "What took you so long?"
XXXXXX
Soundwave walked out of the elevator hatch that he destroyed to get out. He had the reactor in one hand and Ravage in the other. Rumble and Frenzy were transformed and resting in his chest compartment.
The mission was success, more than that even. This Skywatch group needed to be investigated further, and their knowledge of aliens in general may be something worth taking note of in Megatron's campaign on this world. As primitive as they were, it wouldn't do to have another wild card in this war game.
All threats to Megatron dream of conquest must be identified and neutralized accordingly. That was his job, and he did his job well.
XXXXXX
Late into the afternoon, Centurion carried the children up a hill overlooking the base. He set Darren and Kevin down by a tree and separated into the Street Action Team again.
"So," Darren said. "You're an esper."
"Yeah. Sorry I hid it from you." Kevin apologized. "It's not exactly something I wanted to advertize to the whole town. The real reason I was out here was to practice with my powers in private and near some water if anything went wrong."
"That's nuts. And here I thought I was the only esper in our school." Darren smiled. "Does anyone else know about you?"
"Only my mom and Penny." Seeing Darren's look, Kevin nodded. "Yeah, she knows too. Penny's sort of like my sidekick/coach when it comes to my powers. She helps me practice and studies my progress."
"Huh. You learn new things every day." Darren said. Kevin smiled and gave him a fist bump.
"Thanks for the save, guys." Gina said and hugged Sureshock. "It's good to see that you're all okay."
"Please, girl, we're Centurion. It'll take more than a bunch of humans to beat us." Grindor laughed.
"We're just happy to see that you kids are alright." High Wire said.
"How did you guys know where to find us?" Annie asked.
"That redhead with the temper pointed us in your direction." Grindor said. "She was planning on getting you guys out but was waylaid by Rumble."
"Is she…?" Gina asked, but High Wire shook his head.
"She's fine, though the same can't be said about the rest of the people down there." He said. "Rumble and Frenzy were very thorough in the massacre."
"Serves them right. Threatening us like that, those people can burn." Annie spat. Everyone looked at her surprised. "They got what they deserved."
"Annie, don't say that." Darren admonished.
"Why not? Those bastards threatened us and the Minicons, who we're supposed to keep a secret. Remember that little tidbit, bro? Did you forget that no one was supposed to know about the Autobots or the Decepticons?" Annie glared down at her twin and walked back into the forest. "What happened to them was nothing short of karma. They had it coming to them, and you better hope that they don't come knocking on our door tomorrow."
She vanished into the forest and Grindor ran after her. Gina sighed and turned back to the destroyed base. No matter what the others thought, she hoped that Agent Keller got out of there safely. No one deserved to die like this.
XXXXXX
"Dear god," Cole whispered in horror as she looked over the overcrowded medical center. "This is everyone who made it out?"
"Yeah. At least the ones that weren't in their way." Sean said solemnly.
The medical center was full of the base personnel who survived the Decepticon massacre. Half made it our without injuries, but the remainder of the survivors, who were mainly soldiers, were either moderately or severely wounded. Broken bones were the light injuries in this case, and missing or crushed limbs were the most severe. All in all, they were beaten very badly.
"We've lost half our personnel and Frankel, and the evil robots got what they wanted along with god knows what else. This is a disaster, and I can tell the director is going to have a fit about this." Sean sighed. "Hey, did those kids get out okay?"
"I'm sure they did. They weren't found amongst the bodies and security footage showed them in the hangar fighting off that robo-cat." Cole said. "And that thing that manhandled us would've made sure that they made it out alive."
"Can't say we can know for sure, but it's better than being stuck as prisoners down here." Sean sighed. "Let's hope that thing treated them better than we did."
Cole hummed in thought. She wasn't going to tell her superiors about those children. They were not going to get caught up in this mess ever again, no matter how much they knew about these aliens. Still, it'd be best to keep an eye on them. If they were associated with that giant robot, then chances are they were going to get caught up in something way out of their league.
'Thank god for facial recognition.' Cole thought. 'I never even got their names.'
Cole wasn't the kind of woman who believed in fate, but she knew that there was a possibility of running into them again. She just hoped it was on better terms.
For Kevin, I no longer made him a pyrokinetic, instead he can absorb different kinds of energy, ambient and directed. He can store this energy and use it to increase his strength, speed, endurance and durability to superhuman levels or he can release that energy as concussive blasts, even manipulate it into shapes. Kevin can even absorb kinetic energy, but not from intertial kinetic impacts, like hitting solid objects. There's a limit to how much energy his body can take, but he hasn't reached that level yet and certainly doesn't plan to.