Chapter 12-Argonautica
It was almost a week since the debacle with the government base and Soundwave's unexpected assault on the complex. In that time, the kids introduced Kevin to the Autobots, garnering different reactions (you could guess what Prowl's reaction was) though their immediate concern was this black ops organization that seemed to have an inkling into their kind's presence on Terra. It was a pressing concern that there were more humans that knew of their kind on the planet, but with nothing to go on aside from a name and a few individuals who were probably dead, they couldn't do much.
As for the children, this latest incident had pretty much proved Arcee and Optimus' worries about the children's' safety, and thus Sparkplug suggested they take self defense lessons from them. Annie was all set given that she learned how to defend herself from Julia, Gina's mother, as has Kevin who learned how to fight from his uncle. Darren and Gina were another story altogether, and thus it led to the Minicons overseeing their training sessions.
Dressed in workout clothes, Darren and Kevin got into their fighting stances as they faced off against Mugen, who had a laser staff in her possession as she smirked at the boys.
"You two sure you want to do this?" She asked. "I may be an avid gamer, but I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting."
"We're going to have to fight Leader-1's team on some missions, so it's better to prepare for it now than regret not doing it later." Darren said. Two close calls with Leader-1 and Soundwave's proxies was enough for him, thank you.
"And since Razor likes to hype up your skills, we figured you were the best person to help us." Kevin said and lit two flames on his shoulders. "You ready?"
"Always." Mugen got into her stance.
There was a few seconds pause as both parties waited to see who would make the first move…then Darren went first. Slashing his arms, he tore up strips of metal from the floor and sent them at Mugen, who charged through them and leapt forward, swinging her staff in a wide arc that forced Darren to jumped back to avoid a nasty bruise on his cheek.
Kevin stepped in and fired some energy blasts at her to keep her at bay before leaping up and kicking a larger blast from his feet. Using her staff as a pole, she dodged the blasts and front flipped a few times to close the distance between her and the boys. Darren shot a few TK blasts at Kevin to charge up his energy reserves before he charged at Mugen, assaulting her with a series of punches strong enough to break stone. Mugen skillfully evaded his strikes and smacked his legs out from under him, grabbing his arm and tossing him into the wall. Darren sent out a telekinetic wave that pulled the metal panel from under her feet, making her lose her balance.
He tried to take the staff from her hands, but she rushed at him and grabbed him around the middle, throwing him into the air. Darren gave a very unmanly yelp as he was thrown out of the ring and onto the cold metal floor. Mugen smirked and ducked under an energy blast shot by Kevin before running at him too. Kevin leapt at her and she ducked under a kick aimed at her head, rolling over to her staff and grabbing it before blocking his punch. She spun around him and smacked the back of his head and flipped over his body to kick him in the chest. His energy absorption ability granted him a degree of durability, but the kick still took the breath from him and he landed hard on his back. Mugen stood over him and pinned him down with her staff on his chest.
"That's game." Mugen smiled. The boys groaned and remained lying on the floor.
"This is getting really old now." Darren sighed. "What's the score now?"
"I don't know. I thought you were keeping check." Kevin said.
"It's okay, I got this one." Mugen said and looked over to the newest addition to the Minicon team. "Hey, Roadstorm!"
On the sidelines, Roadstorm, the Minicon who came from the panel that OZ tried to steal, was lying on his side napping. When Mugen called out to him a few times (he was listening to some music downloaded (illegally) into his brain) he didn't respond as he was in his own little world. He didn't even notice D-Va until she kicked his arm out from her and let his head hit the floor, abruptly waking him up.
Roadstorm was a steel grey Minicon with a small-even for a Minicon-stature and a very odd configuration; he had no hands, only the two wheels that formed his motorcycle alt mode, his legs were his alt mode's exhaust pipes and his head was his alternate form's headlight and handlebars. It made grabbing things really difficult for him, and the tiny but durable manipulators on his arms weren't that useful despite Roll Bar's assurances.
"What the-oh, it's you." He groaned. "What do you want, girl? Can't you let a brother sleep for one day?"
"You were supposed to keep score of our matches, Roadstorm." Mugen said sternly. He shrugged carelessly.
"So? You were just going to win anyway. Doesn't make a difference if I watch you kick their asses or not."
"Your confidence is invigorating." Kevin rolled his eyes.
Mugen sighed and rubbed her forehead. Roadstorm was a strange mech who was either off sleeping in a corner, or trying to find his way on the "road to life" as he called it. The other Minicons tried to get along with him, but his uncaring attitude rubbed some of them the wrong way, and gave him his space during the Exodus' maiden flight. Even the kids found it hard to hold a conversation with the slothful mech. The only person who could tolerate the Harley was-
"Yo!" Jazz walked into the room with his usual jovial attitude. "How's it hangin' my favorite little people?"
"We're not that little!" Darren yelled.
Kevin couldn't help but marvel at the way Darren interacted with the Autobots as if they were friends for longer than two and a half months. His short time with the cybertronians was an amazing experience. Talking and interacting with these larger than life aliens was something he never could've dreamed about, even after reading Penny's sci-fi fanfiction (her dirty little secret), and the experience was not something he was going to forget for years. It just amazed him at how human they seemed to him, like they were giant robots towering over him but just regular people with likes and dislikes. Jazz he especially liked, as the Autobot's taste in music was phenomenal.
"What's up, Jazz?" Mugen asked. "Something come up?"
"Yup. We just found a clue to another Minicon panel." Jazz said. "And I think it's something you're going to be interested in."
XXXXXX
Once everyone was in the command center, to their surprise, it was Gina who was giving the crucial info to the panel's possible whereabouts. She was cycling through some pictures she found on the internet and transferred them onto Teletran's monitor.
"The Argo?" Darren blinked. "You mean as in-"
"The same Argo that served as the flagship of the Argonauts, led by Jason." Gina nodded. "The story goes that it was built from the wood of a divine tree whose blessings were believed to protect the crew from evil."
"And guess what they thought was a part of the tree they made the ship from." Annie grinned.
Gina brought up an old Elladan painting of the Argo. Standing on the ship's bow was Jason, stand regally in front of his men holding up a glowing object that looked familiar-a stasis panel.
"Of course. Why the hell not?" Ironhide grumbled. "What the hell is a panel doing in a painting?"
"The humans must have found the panel buried in a tree and thought that it was a gift from the gods." Prowl deduced. "They weren't that far from the truth."
"And it must have really galvanized them, because they were near unbeatable for nearly a decade before the ship finally sank on its return trip to Elladas." Gina said.
"So if we want to find this panel, then we have to find the Argo. Sounds almost easy enough." Kevin said. Gina shook her head.
"Except that no one knows where the Argo sank. It was last seen somewhere near the Elladan islands, around Ithica, but that's all I can tell you."
"That's good enough, Gina." Optimus said and looked at his team. "Prowl, Jazz, you're with me. We're going to Ithica to find any clues about the location of the Argo."
"Or what's left of it." Jazz added.
"Oooh! Can we come along?" Razor chirped, dragging Mugen behind her. "We never get to see any action!"
"That's because this is a dangerous mission, not a vacation." Prowl said. "You know, the word you never seem to know the definition of."
"Can I come along too?" Kevin asked. The others looked at him.
"You sure about that, Kevin? This isn't a field trip. These missions are rough enough just trying to find the panels." Darren pointed out.
"When we're not having Cons trying to snuff us out." Annie grunted.
Even still, Kevin was adamant about coming along. "I know it'll be dangerous, but I want to go. Just this once if possible."
"Well, if you're going, then I'm going as well." Gina said with a final tone. "There is no way you guys are discovering the long lost Argo without my supervision!"
"Gina…" Sureshock wasn't too crazy about the idea, but any concerns she had were cut off by Tracer, who threw an arm around her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Shockblast-"
"Sureshock."
-We'll take good care of the kiddies. Let us handle the heavy lifting for a bit while you rest those tired old legs of yours."
Sureshock gained a dark look in her eyes. "Excuse me?"
"No offense, but you do kind of act like a cranky old femme when you get mad. I just thought you were a little…out of date. Those scratches near your optics aren't for show you know, I hear that's a sign of a femme who's been around the block." Razor said lightheartedly.
"Okay! Let's get a move on before the trail get's cold, shall we?" Jazz said loudly to break the growing tension.
"That would be best." Sureshock growled.
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Ithica was a beautiful island that was a part of the Elladan nation, along with other settlements like Scylla, Delos and Lykos. Warm and sunny, the place was a tropical paradise, but the Autobots were not there to enjoy the sights (despite Roadstorm's protests). Optimus, Prowl and Jazz split up to explore the city and interact with the locals to get some information. Tracer tagged along with Prowl while Kevin and Gina conducted their own investigation in the harbor.
Roadstorm and Mugen were parked near the harbor keeping an eye on the children as they talked to a couple of sailors. Both Minicons had their holomatters engaged; a tall handsome young man who looked like a Greaser from an 80's biker flick for Roadstorm and a cute Joseunese girl with fair skin and long brown hair for D-Va.
"Would you stand still?" She growled at her partner, who kept fidgeting in his spot. "You're setting me on edge."
"Don't get snippy with me. I don't like this place," Roadstorm said with a frown. "The streets are so damn narrow and everything is cramped together. I can't take it."
"It's nothing to worry about, Roadstorm. Just calm down and enjoy the scenery. That's always been your thing, right?" Mugen said, smiling as she saw a group of children run past her down the cobblestone street. This place reminded her of Harmonex, a place she visited one time with her…she shook her head of that memory. "Enjoy what a beautiful day it is."
"I'll enjoy it when I'm on the open road." He grumbled.
Jazz had taken it upon himself to make Roadstorm his partner on the field. Of course, the Minicon wasn't really happy about this, but he didn't want to waste energy arguing with someone as stubborn as Jazz. It was an effort to get him to be more of a team player and associate more with the others, but in D-Va's opinion, it was a lost cause. Roadstorm made no friends before and during the launch of the Exodus, and he wasn't interested in making any now.
The kids finished talking to the sailors and they walked back over to the Minicons. "So, any news?" Mugen asked.
"There's a cove a few miles from here, along the same route the Argo took thousands of years ago." Gina said.
"The cove is known for being a place where ships were wrecked and sank to the bottom of the water. If we're looking for the wreckage of the Argo, it's the place for us." Kevin said.
Roadstorm frowned. "Does that mean we're going swimming?"
"Looks like it." Mugen smirked and got on her "bike". "Let's call up the Bots and get a move on. The day's still young and we have all of Elladas to see."
XXXXXX
"Hurry it up, you fool! I don't have all day."
Blackout glared up at Starscream from inside the hole he dug. Both he and Starscream were standing inside an old abandoned church somewhere in Engalia that was the current resting place of another stasis panel.
"Don't tell me what to do, you sniveling coward!" Blackout growled.
"When you get a promotion, you can give the orders." Starscream said. "Until that highly unlikely moment, shut up and get that panel!"
Grid shook his head, his body giving another twitch that almost sent him falling into the hole. They had spent the better part of an hour looking for the panel because the thing was buried underneath the building, dampening the signal. It was dumb luck that they managed to find the thing with all the bickering the larger Cons were doing.
Finally, Blackout uncovered the panel and picked it up, only to have it snatched out of his hand by Starscream.
"Another job well done by yours truly. Oh how I wish that I could use this Minicon, but alas, Megatron seems fit to make me his delivery boy." The Seeker scowled. "Give this thing to Lugnut. Once again he insults me by practically giving his ass kissers everything on a silver platter and making me do all the dirty work."
"Good lord, what do you want, man? Do you want Megatron to die or make you his second in command? Just make up your mind already!" Grid groaned, tired of listening to his partner's constant whining. How the hell did this guy become the Seeker commander?
"Shut up, Minicon!" Starscream yelled.
Their argument was cut short when Barricade called them over the comm. "Starscream, this is Barricade. I've discovered a possible Minicon location the Autobots have been investigating."
"Perfect," Starscream smirked. He flipped the panel in his hand as he gave his orders. "Send me the coordinates and I'll be there with my team. Follow them, but don't engage until we get there."
"You're going ahead with the panel? But Megatron said to bring it to him right after we found it!" Blackout said as he climbed out of the hole. Starscream didn't look the least bit concerned as he lifted Grid onto his shoulder.
"I'll just say that we're having a bit of a delay in finding the panel. Besides, once we snatch it from the Autobots, my little white lie won't matter to Megatron once I give him not one, but two panels." Seeing the incredulous look on Blackout's face, he rolled his eyes and said, "If you're so concerned about it, then you're welcome to come along and help me. The more firepower, the faster we get this done."
Starscream converted into jet mode and flew away. Blackout only grunted, thinking how bad an idea this was as he shifted to his helicopter mode and followed after Starscream.
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The Autobots took a ground bridge to the exact location where the cove was said to be. There was a river trailing from the cozy little cave where it coalesced into a deep pool at the heart of the cove. Sunlight streamed in through the small opening at the top, shining down on the calm water in a scenic manner.
Once there, Gina sent out her Sky Spy to pinpoint the location of any ships stuck at the bottom of the water. It only took about a minute for the drone to scan the area and locate the large Elladan ship sitting on the sea floor. It was wooden and was still in one piece despite being clearly old and worn from spending nearly two centuries underwater. There was a large hole in the bottom of the ship that most likely led to its burial at sea.
"That's our ship." Jazz said.
"How do we get it, though? None of you can explore something that small," Kevin said. "And I don't know about you guys, but I don't do well underwater."
"We won't need to swim at all." Optimus said and told them of his plan.
As they conversed, Starscream stood near the hole at the roof of the cave, staring down at them like he was above them all, which they were technically, but more in a metaphorical sense. Behind him stood Thundercracker, Skywarp and Blackout, who was not happy at what they were doing.
"Once they get the ship to the surface, we move in closer and get into position." Starscream told them. "Skywarp and Thundercracker will take them from the east behind those two rocks, while Blackout and I will engage them from their flank."
"This isn't a good idea, Starscream." Blackout warned. "We should at least tell Nightshade about-"
He was cut off when Starscream whirled around and backhanded him. "You aren't here to think, you're here to shoot! You are with me, and if you disobey my orders, you'll be meeting your fallen comrades in the Afterspark!"
Blackout glared at him, wanting to cut the Seeker in two for his actions, but right now the "mission" came first. Seeing his submission, Starscream smirked and turned back to the Autobots. "Good. Now get into position."
Down below, the Autobots were working on finalizing Optimus' plan-raising the ship from the water. Using Jazz's grappling hook, Optimus tied it around a large, heavy boulder to make it an anchor. Tracer dived down to the ship and tied the hook end to the ship's mast. Once they were done, the Autobots dived into the water and swam down to the ship to get into position.
On Optimus' signal, they all pushed, using their immense strength make the large ship move through the sand. On the beach, the kids and Minicons pulled the line in tandem. It took a few minutes since the ship was so massive, but they managed to get the vessel out of the water, and once the mast broke the surface, the anchor did its thing, acting as a counterweight to help pull the ship onto dry land.
Kevin, Gina, Mugen and Razor stepped back and watched the ship slowly rise to the surface. The ship was made of wood, hard and sturdy and still in pretty good shape despite the wood being worn from the salt water around it. To Gina's eyes, it didn't look any less magnificent.
"Penny is going to be so jelly if she knew what I did with you guys on a weekly basis!" Gina gushed. "Jinkies, I love hanging out with you guys!"
The Autobots resurfaced and swam back to shore, with Jazz holding four bronze poles that fell out of the ship during its ascension.
"Look what I found." Jazz dropped the poles on the sand for everyone to see.
"Bronze? Hardly efficient building material for battleships." Mugen noted. Gina knelt down to study them.
"Bronze was all they had, and it would be centuries before iron and steel would be used on an industrial scale, let alone for building. These poles show that we're on the right track, since bronze was the main material used for reinforcing battleships." She said and sighed. "But I don't think this is the Argo."
"What? But this is the place where it was supposed to be." Jazz groaned. "And I got my gears wet for nothing."
"What makes you think this isn't the ship, Gina?" Optimus asked.
"The Argo is a flagship, so it should look bigger and stronger than the rest of the ships in its fleet, something you'd immediately recognize at first glance. Looking at this ship now, I don't think it really fits the bill, don't you?"
Prowl looked at the ship and saw what she meant. "Yes, you do have a point. Ancient human warriors do have a thing for making their personal vessels rather extravagant and noticeable."
"I think this ship might just be one of the many battleships from the Argonaut fleet." Gina hypothesized. "But we can still use anything we can learn from the ship to find the real location of the Argo."
Suddenly the peace of the cove was shattered when Thundercracker and Skywarp appeared behind the Autobots in a flash of light. Optimus bent down to cover the kids and Minicons just as the Cons opened fire on them. With laser bolts pelting his armor, Prime ran over to the ship and placed them down by the hole in the lower deck.
"Stay inside the ship." He ordered. Kevin gasped when he saw Skywarp appear behind Optimus.
"Behind you!"
Optimus spun around and punched Skywarp in the chest and sent him flying into the rocky cave wall. He took out his ion rifle and began shooting at Thundercracker, making him back off. A red null beam was fired from above and blasted Prime's weapon from his hand, as well as making his hand slightly numb. Optimus looked up and saw Starscream and Blackout descending from the hole.
"Optimus Prime, Megatron's little failure. It seems that we came just in time." Starscream taunted, pointing his null ray at Prime. "Hand over the Minicon you've uncovered and I'll make sure to make your deaths quick and painless, though I can't promise I'll succeed."
"Your mission is in vain, Starscream. There is no panel here." Optimus told him. Starscream growled and shoved his null ray in Prime's direction.
"Don't lie to me! I know there's a Minicon here, why else would you be in this soggy dump?" He said. "Tell me where it is now or I'll make you suffer a slow and painful deactivation!"
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Optimus said. "Jazz, now!"
Jazz powerlinked with Roadstorm and raised his arm, which converted into a three-barreled cannon with a circular shield around his forearm. He fired three azure blue blasts from his cannon and hit the Seeker's outstretched arm. Starscream hissed in pain and looked at his arm, horrified to see that the places where he was hit were rapidly freezing over, like he dipped his hand in liquid nitrogen.
"What is this?!" Starscream yelped. The cold bit at his armor and stung so bad it felt like fire. The frost reached Grid, who immediately disengaged and fell to the ground to avoid serious damage. Prowl rushed in and punched Starscream in the jaw, knocking him down and making him drop the panel he held.
"No!" Blackout ran to get the panel, only to feel a burning pain in his leg. He looked down to see Prime's battle axe buried in his leg near his knee. Optimus yanked the axe free and punched Blackout before he could react.
Thundercracker and Skywarp were fighting Jazz and Prowl, but they were kept at bay by the cryo-blasts that Jazz fired. Skywarp teleported behind them and shot Prowl in the back, but Jazz quickly spun around and fired a few blasts into his arm, freezing the limb right up to his shoulder.
"Agh!" Skywarp grunted, wincing at the terribly freezing pain in his arm. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jazz leapt forward and kicked that same arm, shattering it like glass. "Come on!"
"You should've quit ahead of time, bro." Jazz grinned. He loved powerlinking with Minicons-they gave him all sorts of cool toys to play with.
Blackout tried desperately to get the panel from Optimus, swinging his fast spinning rotor blades to cut down his enemy. Optimus swung his axe and severed the rotors from his arm, but a sonic blast from Blackout's concussion blaster blew him back into the one armed Skywarp. This allowed Prowl to rush in and lift Skywarp over his head to throw him into Thundercracker. The blue Seeker rolled to the side, but Prowl threw three throwing stars that stuck to his chest plate and exploded in his face.
"ENOUGH!" Everyone stopped fighting and turned to Starscream, who had his arm cannons trained on the ship, right where the kids and Minicons were hiding. The Seeker commander looked positively livid and was in no mood to play games anymore. "I've had enough of this time-wasting farce! Relinquish the Minicons in your possession or I blow your friends to kingdom come!"
Optimus got to his feet and held his hands up. "Easy, Starscream. You won't shoot them."
"You think that I won't do it, but I will." Starscream smirked. "There's a reason I'm one of the mightiest Decepticons in the galaxy. It's because I don't make friends with my subordinates, like you do. They're here to follow orders and to be expendable if need me. I don't need the added baggage."
"You have no friends, Starscream, because you're not worth the trouble. You see everyone, even your Seeker brothers and sisters as cannon fodder, and for that you will end up alone for the rest of your life." Optimus said coldly. "While this superior attitude may release you of liabilities, it also means that no one will truly help you when you find yourself at your enemy's mercy. Like right now."
A large energy blast was fired from the top deck of the ship, hitting Starscream in the back of the head. Starscream fell to his knees, scratching at his burning metal skin as Kevin, who had snuck up onto the deck unseen, having nearly depleted his energy reserves to fire an energy blast strong enough to punch through steel. Optimus ran forward and grabbed Starscream, holding the glowing blade of his axe under his neck.
"Leave," He commanded the other Cons. "Now."
"As much as I want to leave that bastard, I can't without getting slagged by my superiors." Blackout said.
"I will release him on the condition that you all retreat and leave us alone. You have lost this battle, a fight you didn't need to wage in the first place." Optimus said. "There's no point in fighting anymore."
"Don't listen to him." Skywarp said. "We can still take them."
"Shut it, you cog sucker!" Blackout snarled, punching Skywarp away. "It's because of him that we're in this situation!" Blackout turned back to Optimus and said, "We have a deal."
Optimus threw the severely burned Starscream at Blackout's feet. He was screaming obscenities in both Terran and cybertronian, mainly about Blackout being a traitor, even as Skywarp teleported them out of the cove. Optimus looked at the panel they snatched from Starscream. The Seeker was definitely going to get hell from Megatron for this.
"Is everyone alright?" Jazz asked. Gina, Razor, and Mugen walked up onto the deck over to a panting Kevin.
"We're fine, thanks for Kevin here." Gina said, patting him on the back."Nice move there."
"Thanks, but don't expect me to put up a lightshow like that again today." Kevin grinned.
"Hey, guys! Look what we found!" Razor chirped. She held up an old book that was only slightly damp despite being inside a submerged ship for the better part of a century. "It's a logbook. Mugen found it in a chest under the deck.
"You were right about this not being the Argo, Gina." Mugen said. "This ship was captained by Atalanta, one of the Argonauts. This book has lots of clues as to where the Argo sank after it was separated from the fleet."
"Well done, all of you." Optimus praised. "We're one step closer to our goal."
They didn't get the panel they were looking for, but they were making a lot of progress as it is. If only the same could be said for the Decepticons.
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Nightshade was standing on the bridge of the Nemesis overseeing the crew as the ship flew over central Emmeria during its daily rounds. Blackout and Starscream entered the bridge, looking as bad as they felt.
"So I heard from Thundercracker and Skywarp that you had a Minicon in your position but failed to deliver it back to base as ordered." She said, not looking at them. "Is this true?"
Seeing that Starscream wasn't going to answer, Blackout did so in his place. "Yes, sir. Starscream thought he could score two Minicons at once after we took on Prime's team."
"I see. Despite how things turned out, you did well in exercising caution, Blackout. That's needed when fighting a war." Nightshade said. Blackout bowed his head to her.
"Thank you, sir. I was just doing my duty as a warrior for lord Megatron." He said honestly.
"And you have certainly done just that, make no mistake." Megatron walked onto the bridge, red eyes trained on the nervous looking Starscream. "As for you, Starscream, we are going to have a nice long talk about your actions today."
Starscream looked up at Megatron, who was on the verge of exploding into a violent rage. It was moments like this where he preferred being beaten by Optimus. At least he was quick about winning a battle and it wasn't as humiliating.