Chapter 20-The Red Pyramid
Thundercracker flew over the twisting sands of the Elmia Desert, the sun beating down on his metal hide and making him feel like a lightening rod that's been superheated by a thunderbolt during a storm. He groaned at the uncomfortable feeling and hoped that he didn't have to worry about overheating in this hellish sandbox.
Terra had to be on his list of the top five worst planets he served on in his career. There was that one planet with the living explosions whose name he forgot because he was blasted into a coma after spending one day on that fiery rock, the planet with the exploding crystals, the world that was home to a race that piloted mecha that looked suspiciously like lions as their main defense force (the number of times he had his wings ripped off in that campaign was just ungodly. And they had to fall back from that planet when said lions combined into a single giant robot that lost them two dozen warships), but the worst one had to be the planet of green skinned giants. He was mistaken for a toy by one of the natives and held prisoner in the child's room for three weeks before anyone had the brass balls to rescue him. Slipstream never let him live that travesty down.
He saw Blackout's large dark form standing on top of a sand dune and he changed forms to land, making a show of blowing some sand in the mech's face as he did so. He hid a grin as Blackout sputtered to get the sand out of his mouth and eyes.
"Very funny, you slaghead." Blackout grumbled. "Did you find anything?"
"Nope," Thundercracker said. "There's too much ground to cover without some location to use as a reference. It's easy to get lost out here, wings or not."
"All the same, we're going to have to wait for the panel to activate again." Blackout sighed. "Go join up with Lord Megatron. I'll take it from here."
Blackout transformed to his helicopter mode and rose into the air. The strong winds caused by his rapidly spinning blades blew sand everywhere, mostly in Thundercracker's direction. The Seeker cursed as sand got all over his body and Blackout gave a deep laugh as he flew away into the distance.
"Damn it," Thundercracker growled. "Walked right into that one."
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Gina let out a sigh as she looked through her binoculars at the vast expanse of desert before her, seeing only waves of sand dunes that went on for miles and visible heat waves distorting the horizon. Sand, nothing but sand-and the occasional scorpion, which she filed away on her GTFO list. Her thin sleeveless olive green shirt clung to her developing curves thanks to her sweat and her jean shorts were weighed down by the handy dandy tool belt she made for missions like these. Darren and Annie were dressed in similar attire to combat the desert heat, but it was a losing battle.
"Now I remember why I never wanted to go to Egyptia." Gina panted and wiped her forehead. "I forgot how hot this place could get at this time of year."
"How could you forget something like this? It's the middle of freaking summer over here!" Annie groaned, wringing her shirt out to get some air on her sweaty skin. "This whole damn sandbox is the only reason aside from the pyramids that Anea is so famous."
A large shadow fell over the kids and they looked up to see Goldfire standing over them, using his body to provide some shade.
"How's this?" He asked.
"That's great, Goldfire, thanks." Darren said. There wasn't any sign of rain in this desert yet he felt like he took a dip in the Nile.
Optimus and Ironhide stood apart from the others, looking over the desert from the vantage point of a nearby dune. The Autobots and their allies were on another Minicon retrieval mission, which took them to the hottest region on the planet-the Sahara Desert near Egyptia. After hearing how harsh the conditions were in Egyptia, Optimus was obviously reluctant to take the kids there and risk them being dehydrated or suffering from health problems from the intense heat, but they insisted on coming along. They were still a bit guilty at losing the last panel and wanted to make up for it.
So here they were, with their guardian Minicon team consisting of the combined Goldfire and D-Va. This was just one team of the human/Minicon team Annie dubbed the Microns, which actually stuck with the Minicons living in the Ark. Prowl had his reservations with growing evidence of a spy on the team, but he kept his opinions to himself. Optimus knew Prowl was keeping a close eye on the Minicons and tried to curb Prowl's more…erratic tendencies that threatened to cause a rift between the Autobots and Decepticons. He knew this spy issue had to be addressed sooner or later, but he had more important things to worry about.
Things like wondering where to start in this vast desert. The panel's signal was faint and barely registered on their scanners, which could only mean that it was likely underground. Where underground was the question.
"Has Wheeljack found anything yet?" Optimus asked.
"No, Prime. The most we got is that we're in the general vicinity." Ironhide said. He crossed his arms and frowned. "And have I mentioned that I don't like waiting around here for Skyfire to give us an update? This place is too open and we're defenseless if the Cons ambush us here."
Skyfire had gone on ahead with Comettor in order to do a grid scan of the desert from the air. It was the most efficient way of finding the panel in the area, where one could get turned around and become lost very easily. Many of the Autobots were hoping the panel was at least somewhere accessible. If the panel was buried beneath a sand dune, then they had a problem on their hands.
Ironhide was suspicious of Skyfire of course, given her history as a high ranking Seeker, but Optimus stamped those suspicions down immediately. It was bad enough that Prowl was incriminating the Minicons of espionage, but treating each other like they're spies of traitors will not be tolerated on his team. Cooperation was a necessity that they could not take for granted, and if that falls apart, then the whole operation on Terra was lost.
"It's a desert, Ironhide. The whole place is wide open space." Prowl said. "If it bothers you so much then try to think of a possible solution instead of complaining about it."
Ironhide glared at him, but Optimus raised a hand to stop a potential argument. This was not the time or place to start fighting amongst themselves. Out here in the heart of the desert, overheating was a very real danger, and the Autobots had to watch themselves to avoid dropping from such ailments-namely trying not to expend energy beating each other senseless.
Optimus looked over to the kids, who were conversing with the Minicons. He hoped they could handle the heat a little longer. The conditions in the Elmia Desert were strong enough to prove hazardous to an unprepared adult human, and a child even more so.
"I see her!" Mugen said, pointing to the sky.
They Autobots looked up to see Skyfire's green form streaking through the sky like a bullet. The flyer reached them and landed, changing to her bipedal mode as she touched down and kicked up sand everywhere.
"Watch it!" Annie yelled, covering her face.
"My bad." Skyfire apologized, though she didn't sound as sorry as she should have.
"What did you learn, Skyfire?" Asked Optimus.
"Well, I got good news and bad news." Skyfire said. "Which one do you want first?"
"Skyfire, just tell us." Prowl sighed.
"Good news it is!" Skyfire chirped. "First, I've found the panel's location. The signal's coming from this huge ass mountain near a valley with large statues and slag."
"That's the Valley of Kings." Gina said. "It's the largest tomb with Egyptia that was the resting place for many pharaohs from the in ancient times."
"And since it's a resting place for kings," Darren pointed out. "Then it must hold some treasure and valuables belonging to those ancient kings."
"Which might also hold the panel." Annie smiled. "Sweet, we're on the right track."
"So what's the bad news?" Mugen asked.
Comettor popped off Skyfire's wing and fell into a sand dune as he transformed to robot mode. Skyfire helped her partner up as he began to explain the little setback they ran into. "It's really far from this position. About north-northeast on the east bank of the Nile. And I think they're humans there too."
"I don't think we have to worry about that." Gina said. "Sure, the Valley of Kings is a popular tourist destination, but less and less people have been visiting the area since that horrible massacre of tourist and tour guides back in 1971."
"Wow, what caused that?" Annie winced.
"Lots of things that are mainly centered on keeping westerners out of Egyptia. But we don't have to worry about the tourists so much as we have to be mindful for archaeological digs. I'm sure that security is lax around this time of year with all the sandstorms that have been ravaging the area." She continued. "All the same, we should careful."
"Agreed." Optimus nodded. "Skyfire, send Teletran-1 the coordinates of the panel's signal. We'll take the ground bridge to the Valley of Kings and begin our search there."
"What should we do if they're humans there, Prime?" Prowl asked.
Optimus paused. "I'll think of a plan if it comes to that."
Unknown to the Autobots, their enemies were also concocting a plan of their own-one based on information gleaned from a spy within their ranks.
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"I hope you're hearing this. The Valley of Kings, north by northeast. Possible human presence in the area, so proceed with caution. Agent X11 out."
"That's my girl." Leader-1 said and looked up at Megatron. "We've got a bite. The Autobots are moving out."
"Excellent." Megatron grinned and turned to the Seekers. "It's time to move out. Starscream, your team will hang back until the Autobots are within range."
"At once, my lord." Starscream bowed.
"Blackout, you're with me. Your job is the most important on this mission."
"I understand, my liege." Blackout said.
Megatron turned to the huge expanse of desert before him and he wondered if this is what the world will look like when he was finished draining every drop of energy from its core. These days, killing a planet was a rare thing in his line of work.
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The Valley of the Kings was one of the most famous places in Egyptia. Here, the tombs of the pharaohs who ruled from the eighteenth to twentieth Egyptian dynasties were located, untouched for thousands of years until they were robbed by treasure hunters in the 1800s and later roped off for archaeological digs. It was a gold mine of historical treasures and information on the ancient Amara kingdom that ruled the land of Egyptia to Nubia.
The Autobots exited the ground bridge and entered a large valley that was mostly composed of sand and rock. The canyon walls were small and weathered from the constant pounding of sand grains against its rocky surface that slowly eroded the stone over the centuries. On the ground there were tire tracks and footprints showing that there were humans here sometime earlier, though they were clearly gone now.
"Looks like everyone hauled ass already." Annie observed.
Mugen shielded her face from the flying sand and looked around. "It's really windy here, isn't it?"
"That's because there's a sandstorm coming. It's peaceful now, but give it another hour and we'll all be buried alive in a cloud of sand." Gina said.
"Then we can't waste anymore time." Optimus said. Looking down at the Minicons, he said, "Escort the children into the tomb. We will stand guard here and-"
Out of nowhere, a purple beam hit Optimus in the shoulder, spinning him around from the concussive force alone and knocking him into a wall. Skyfire and Prowl drew their weapons as Ironhide ran over to him.
"Prime! Are you alright?" He asked. Optimus grunted as he stood up, his shoulder smoking but mostly okay.
"I'm fine, but where did the blast come from?"
Prowl look in the direction the blast came from, seeing nothing but desert. Then another blast was fired at him and he ducked, letting the attack hit the canyon wall behind him.
"We're under attack!" Ironhide yelled and ran forward, raising his arm cannons and looking around. "Where are they?"
"Out of range." Prowl grunted, brushing dust off his back door panels. "Megatron's taking pot shots at us from afar."
Optimus took out his ion rifle and looked at the Minicons and humans. "Go, now!"
Goldfire nodded and grabbed Darren and Annie before running for the tombs with Mugen carrying Gina. Optimus, Ironhide and Prowl formed a defensive line near the Valley's entrance.
"No one gets in without getting past us." Optimus said. "Hold this line no matter what!"
Prowl spotted three shapes coming in fast from their north. As they got closer, he saw they were three oddly colored fighter jets. "We've got incoming Seekers."
"I'm on it!" Skyfire transformed and took to the air, flying miles away from the Autobots in just a few minutes.
Starscream saw Skyfire heading straight for them and acted quickly. "Skywarp, take her out!"
"Got it." The grin could be heard in Skywarp's voice as he teleported from view.
Skyfire saw Skywarp vanish and immediately had Comettor expand his sensory range for any spatial distortions around her. Having worked with Skywarp for a long time, she knew that he'd used old, mediocre surprise and ambush techniques on her, which wasn't a smart move. Skyfire knew how his powers worked and made up a little method of locating him before he appeared; whenever Skywarp teleported, the air around him crackles and shimmers as he disappears and reappears, followed by a light energy surge. Skyfire had trained herself to instinctively locate those shimmers when Skywarp and it came in handy as the outlier appeared behind her-just as she guessed.
"Got ya!" Skyfire spun around, changing to robot mode and firing her particle cannon into Skywarp's nozzle as he flew right into her assault.
"Son of a-ah!" Skywarp got a face full of energy fire and his entire front side took major amounts of damage. Skyfire axe-kicked Skywarp in the cockpit and sent him spiraling towards the ground. He cursed and transformed to keep himself from crashing.
Skyfire looked back and saw Starscream and Thundercracker approaching. "Hey, Screamer. You miss me?"
"Shut up!" Starscream snarled.
The sky erupted into a fierce flurry of weapons fire and deafening jet engines being pushed to the max as the three flyers got into an intense dogfight. Megatron shook his head at the sight.
"All that bragging about Seeker pride and he can't even handle one Autobot flyer." Megatron muttered. Blackout called him on the comm-channel.
"Lord Megatron," Blackout said. "I'm in position with Leader-1 and Grid."
"Good, Blackout." Megatron smirked. "Drop them off and return to my position. We're going to give the Autobots hell."
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When the kids tracked the faint signal to the side of the canyon, the kids thought that the panel was somewhere inside one of the tombs. It was a pleasant surprise when they found a secret entrance near one of the tombs to the east end of the Valley. At this point, stuff like this didn't surprise them anymore.
Once the battle began, they quickly entered the corridor and found themselves going down a large staircase that went almost a mile downward into the earth. The steps were carved one by one and they didn't know how far down they had to go. Gina led the way with Mugen backing her up and Centurion (who had to crouch low to follow them) taking the rear. The Sky Spy drone was scanning the path in front of them for any surprises and so far, nothing major happened…yet.
"Are we getting close, yet?" Annie asked.
"Yes, but it's still a little ways off from our position." Gina said.
Darren heard a muffled boom from above ground "Let's pick up the pace. It sounds like a warzone out there."
"Well it is a war after all." Mugen muttered.
The staircase went on a little longer before leading to a long corridor that led to a large chamber. It was about the size of a school gymnasium, with hieroglyphs lining the walls and glowing crystals mounted in the walls that actually provided light to the room. They group entered the chamber and looked around in awe.
"This place looks amazing." Gina breathed. She couldn't believe that none of the archaeologists who visited the Valley of the Kings never even stumbled upon the entrance. "Jinkies guys, I'm so hype right now, you cannot even fathom it!"
She almost wandered off to look at the walls, but Darren held her back. "Focus, Gina. We have a job to do."
"Yeah," She sighed. "I know."
Centurion pointed to the corridor at the other side of the chamber. "We must go."
They headed for the only other opening to the chamber, but as Gina's foot stepped on a loose tile, the room began to rumble, putting them on guard.
"What's going on?" Mugen asked.
The ceiling opened up above them and a large metal ball fell from it. Centurion pushed the kids out of the way and jumped back as the ball landed between them. It was large, made of gold with an Egyptian eye in the center of the sphere. Four slots opened up and from them extended four large and very sharp blades that stabbed into the ground and lifted the sphere up as makeshift legs.
"Run! Get the panel!" Centurion yelled.
"But what about you?" Annie yelled back.
"I will be with you soon. Just go!"
Mugen hurriedly pushed the kids down the hall, giving Centurion a parting nod before following them. When he was sure they were gone, Centurion fired his wrist cannons at the golem to draw its attention to him. The eye on its body glowed a bit as it focused on the gestalt and charged at him, stabbing its front legs forward.
Centurion jumped aside to avoid the blades, but he was prepared for the second blade to change direction so quickly and got hit in the side. He wasn't hit, but the sphere's large body slammed into him and he flew into the wall. Dazed, he was just barely able to dodge the blade coming down on him, earning a deep slice in his shoulder.
The sphere lashed out at him with fast attacks, stabbing its forelegs at him repeatedly at speeds that a normal human could not match. Centurion dodged as fast as he could and tried to gain some distance from it, but the golem pursued him relentlessly.
'I can't keep this up any longer.' Centurion thought. 'I need to finish this and regroup with the others.'
Quickly thinking of something, Centurion stood in place and waited for the machine to rush him. When it got close enough, the golem jabbed its right leg at Centurion, who waited until the last second before leaping o the side, just enough that the blade chipped off a piece of his armor before wrapping his arms around the leg and raised his arm. Bringing it down as hard as he could, he severed the sharp limb with a mighty chop and it fell to the ground.
Lifting the large blade over his head, Centurion jumped onto the golem and stabbed the blade directly into its eye. The sharp blade easily sunk into the eye and skewered its inner mechanisms, destroying its processor and causing it to sway unsteadily before falling over. Centurion hopped off it and took a deep breath to cool his heated systems.
"That thing won't be bothering anyone else anymore." He said.
"And for that, we thank you."
Before Centurion could react to the new voice, he was hit in the back by an energy beam. The gestalt felt his entire body freeze, and he fell to his knees, frozen but still conscious. From the shadows, Leader-1 and Grid walked up to the fallen gestalt, the former carrying a large triple barreled beam cannon.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen." Leader-1 sneered and backhanded the crippled Centurion in the face. "Don't worry, the effects will wear off soon. But by the time that happens, your human pets will be bloody smears on the walls."
They walked past Centurion and continued towards the opposite hall, leaving him alone in the darkness with no help from the outside or in.
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Optimus and Ironhide dodged the three missiles that were fired in their direction. Blackout was attacking him from the rear, laying down heavy fire just out of their range. Skyfire was still engaging the Seekers and Megatron was quickly closing in on them in his tank mode.
"We're being attacked from all sides, Prime." Ironhide said. "Megatron's going to be on us in seconds and Blackout has us pinned."
"Leave Blackout to me, but can you hold Megatron off for a little while?" Optimus asked.
"Define a little while." Prowl said, but he did as he was ordered. He and Ironhide began shooting at Megatron, managing to land some hits as he got closer, though their attacks did little damage to the warlord's dense armor.
Optimus started climbing up the side of the valley and reached the top of the cliff, where he ran along the edge tracking Blackout's movements. He took out his ion rifle and fired a blast at the mech's tail rotors, disrupting Blackout balance centers. He cursed and tried to maintain control as he spiraled towards the ground, but that was the least of his worries,
Optimus jumped off the cliff as Blackout fell past him and he grabbed onto him. The added weight hastened Blackout's descent and Optimus jumped off just as Blackout crashed into the sand. The Con spun around in the dirt before transforming to robot mode and getting to his knees.
Optimus rushed at him and landed a solid punch to his chin that pushed him back and another to his chest. Blackout stumbled back, his frame rattling from the powerful blows his body could not take head on, thanks to having weaker armor than most mech's of his size and stature. When Optimus fired a blast from his ion rifle into his shoulder, he knew he wasn't going to last long in this state and called out his Minicon.
"Cannon, deploy!"
The compartment in his lower back popped open and his new Minicon, Cannon, dropped to the ground. In his alt mode, a green and blue cybertronian tank similar in design to a panzer, Cannon said nothing as he linked to the underside of Blackout's right forearm. His arm split apart to reveal a cannon extending from behind his hand and Blackout aimed and fired the weapon.
A single blast hit the ground before Optimus and Prowl and exploded outward, sending out a devastating wall of sound that hit them full force. Prowl was sent flying while Optimus crashed against as statue, their audio and visual sensors scrambled by the sonic waves that hit them like an EMP wave. Optimus stumbled a bit as he tried to force his systems to recover faster. He heard a high pitched whine on his fight and jumped back as Blackout fired a thunderclap wave at him. He ducked behind a statue for cover and waited for his systems to get back to normal.
Blackout powered up his cannon once more, planning on taking out Prime for good this time. The thunderclap cannon was supposed to completely knock him out with a sonic wave that also scrambled visual and auditory systems, effectively crippling the target. But Optimus was a hard mech to keep down, even in his condition. Seeing that the other Autobots were preoccupied with holding Megatron back, and Skyfire was still dog fighting the Seeker trio, Blackout knew he was in the clear.
'No interruptions,' Blackout thought. 'Good.'
Optimus waited for his optics to give him at least a fuzzy image of his surroundings before formulating his plan. He could barely see, but Blackout was a big enough target that he was hard to miss, even when half blind. He folded up his ion rifle and took out his battle axe. He waited until he heard Blackout's heavy footsteps get closer before he jumped from cover and threw his axe.
Blackout wasn't expecting that move and took the axe blade right in his shoulder. The heated blade burned through his armor and into her sensitive circuitry underneath, almost cutting to his internal frame. With Blackout distracted, Optimus charged in and slammed his elbow into Blackout's face, scrambling his processors from that blow alone before grabbing his arm and throwing him a great distance into the valley-right at a transforming Megatron, who just appeared at the valley's entrance.
Optimus relished Megatron's enraged cry as Blackout crashed into him and sent both of them to the ground and spun his retrieved axe, getting ready for the real fight. He hoped the kids were having a better time than he was.
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"We're getting close." Gina said as she looked at her scanner. "The panel should be just up ahead."
The children and Mugen ran down the long hallway after the Sky Spy, which was hot on the panel's growing signal. There were so many hallways that led to dead ends, and a few of them had booby traps that were easy to miss. According to Gina, it was typical of tombs of kings and queens to have dangerous little presents waiting for tomb raiders. It was only thanks to the sky spy mapping their route that they made it this far in without running into any traps-aside from the one Goldfire was currently fighting.
Gina was looking at her scanner the entire time, letting Mugen keep her from running into any walls, as she wasn't looking where she was going. Obviously this wasn't very safe, and she realized this too late as the minute she walked through the last door they needed to enter, she almost walked off a steep ledge with a very deep drop. She shrieked as she nearly fell over, but Mugen caught her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back.
"And that's why you shouldn't text and run." Mugen quipped.
"T-Thanks." Gina gulped and looked down at the steep drop she almost went over. "Jinkies."
Darren and Annie looked around at their supposed destination. It was a large cavern that looked smoothed over and polished in a manner befitting of a king rather than uneven and natural like it should've been. More crystals illuminated the otherwise dark room and their dim light glinted off the organized piles of treasure within the chamber. The treasure was separated into piles based on what items they were; there was a pile for jewelry, another for ornaments, statues, and so on.
"Darren," Annie whispered excitedly. "We're rich!"
"We can't think about that now, Annie." Darren said, though he was personally zeroing in on what gold he wanted to snatch up himself. "We have to find the Minicon panel first."
Gina held out her arm to let the sky spy land on her and it plugged itself into her scanner to transmit its data. She read it over and turned to her friends. "It's near the center of the room. Just north of us."
At that moment, a large green beam was fired at them from behind. Acting fast, Darren brought up a telekinetic barrier that blocked the brunt of the blast, but destroyed the ledge they were standing on. Mugen leapt forward and grabbed Gina as they fell into one of the gold piles below, while Darren formed a telekinetic platform under him and Annie to stop their fall.
Back in the hallway, Leader-1 and Grid walked up to the destroyed ledge, looking down at their new targets.
"This is going to be fun." Grid laughed.
"You got that right, Grid." Leader-1 agreed.
They jumped down the slope and landed on the ground. Mugen stood protectively in front of Gina as Leader-1 cracked his knuckles as he glared at the children. "Did you brats think I forgot about you? I certainly didn't. Hard to forget when a couple of freaks made me look like a fool!"
"You were already a fool before we even met you!" Annie yelled at him. Leader-1 snarled and switched the barrel on his cannon before firing a pulse blast from his cannon at her.
Darren pulled Annie out of the way as the powerful beam exploded behind them. Pushing his sister behind him, Darren tore up a few large stones from the ground and flung them at Leader-1. The Minicon fired more blasts from his cannon that vaporized the stone and fired more at Darren, who took cover behind a gold pile.
"Annie, could you please not further antagonize the dude with the giant cannon?" Darren grunted. "Our job's hard enough without a Minicon with a vendetta chasing us."
"Suck it up, bro. We're already on the Con's shit list." Annie replied. She looked up and smacked his shoulder. "Eyes forward, Darren, Gina's making a run for the panel."
The boy spun around and saw Gina running through the chamber, sneaking between the piles to avoid Leader-1's murderous gaze. He didn't notice her, but Grid certainly did.
"You ain't goin' anywhere, fleshy!" Grid lunged at her, but a hard kick to his face knocked him back. Mugenlanded on top of a golden pedestal, twirling her cobalt staff around.
"You're going to have to get past me first, bozo."
Mugen leapt at Grid and swung her staff at his head. He ducked under it and charged into her, tumbling down the gold pile to the ground. Coins and trinkets rained down on them as Grid kicked her staff away, but she punched him in the face and spin-kicked him in the chest, sending him into a statue. It fell over and broke apart, but Grid snatched up the sword it dropped before grinning at a despondent Grid.
"Frag me." Mugen groaned. As if he wasn't trouble enough without a sharp weapon.
Darren and Annie dodged the pulse blasts Leader-1 fired at them. He was dead set on killing them and Darren sought to use that to force him into using up his weapon's power cell or whatever it ran on, but it was clear early on that the thing had a lot of juice in the tank and wasn't going to run out anytime soon. They took cover behind a statue to make a new plan.
"We need to get that thing away from him. At this point, he's just wasting our time." Darren said.
"How do we do that? He'll shoot us down before we can even reach him." Annie said. "The recharge time on that thing is unreal."
"Well, if we can't take out the gun," Darren looked back at the trigger happy mech. "Then we need to focus on the mech himself."
Leader-1 advanced deeper into the chamber, searching for the twins and hoping they would pop out so he could finally snuff them out and get them out of his figurative hair. He could start blind firing in the hopes of killing them, but he wanted to see them get blown to bloody chunks. He deserved that satisfaction for the trouble they were causing him.
"Come out, brats!" Leader-1 yelled. "You were so brave and cocky the last time we met. Where'd all that bravado go?"
Annie jumped out and threw a gold plate at his head that bounced on his cranium with a loud clang. Leader-1 spun around and changed the setting on his cannon before firing a continuous pulse beam, slowly sweeping it across the room after Annie. She ran to avoid the beam, but tripped over a scepter and fell.
'That's it! I have you now, you little bastard!' Leader-1 thought gleefully.
His sadistic glee was interrupted when Darren charged at him from behind. Leader-1 tried to turn, but the large cannon hindered his movements and Darren fired two TK blasts at his face, pushing him back. Waving his arm, Darren overturned the ground and knocking over Leader-1.
As the cannon hit the ground, Darren rushed to grab it, but Leader-1 was faster than he thought. The Minicon leapt up and grabbed him by the throat, throwing him into a cat statue.
"Darren!" Annie cried out. Gina heard her cry out and saw Darren lying on the ground.
"No." She breathed.
Leader-1 picked up his cannon and hefted it onto his shoulder. "I was going to kill the girl first, but let's make you suffer a bit, eh?"
He aimed the cannon at Darren and fired. Gina and Annie watched in horror as the pulse blast shot at their friend, who had nothing to protect her.
"DARREN!"
Seeing the white hot beam of energy shoot towards him, Darren felt himself freeze. Death was staring him in the face, coming straight towards him, and yet he couldn't make himself move. He always knew hanging out with the Autobots would get him killed if he made the wrong move, but it didn't seem real now that it was about to happen. What would Debbie do if he died here? What would happen to Annie? Gina?
'The girls…' Darren thought. If he died here, what would happen to his sister and best friend? With Mugen occupied, they would be defenseless if something happened to them. Leader-1 would kill them, torture them with his death hanging over their heads. Just the thought alone made Darren angry. He couldn't let anything happen to them! He wasn't going to let that bastard hurt his family!
With a mighty roar, Darren rushed straight at the beam, cocking his fist back as if to punch the beam head on. Unnoticed by Darren, his body began emitting faint wisps of silver energy that surrounded his body. It enveloped his body just as the beam reached his fist, and Darren's vision went white.
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Megatron pushed Blackout off him and got to his feet, snarling like an angry animal. "What's the point of even having you around if you can't even hold your own in battle?" He shouted at Blackout.
Ironhide charged at Megatron, firing a blast from one of his cannons that hit Megatron directly in the face. The Decepticon leader stumbled back from the unexpected attack, and Ironhide leapt up to land a punch to Megatron's jaw. He then took out one of his axes and brought it down on Megatron's head.
But Megatron grabbed Ironhide's arm in a tight grip, strong enough to cause Ironhide's armor to groan from the pressure of his grip. The red Autobot gritted his teeth but he ignored the pain.
"Did you think you could fight me alone?" Megatron growled. He punched Ironhide to the ground and kicked him in the side. "Me? The leader of all Decepticons?"
"No," Ironhide spat energon from his mouth and grinned up at Megatron. "But it's a decent distraction."
In the sky, Skyfire flew circles around Starscream, taunting him with insults and jibes. She only fired her Vulcan cannons at Starscream, annoying him in a blind rage as he couldn't even properly lock on to her. Getting Ironhide's unspoken signal, she dived towards the ground, allowing Starscream to give chase while insulting his inability to fight her.
"What's the matter, Screamer? Can't keep up for more than five minutes? It's okay, lots of mechs your age have the same problem." Skyfire laughed.
"Just die already!" Starscream yelled and fired two missiles at Skyfire.
Inwardly smirking, Skyfire allowed the missiles to track her in her descent and she changed her angle so that she was heading for Megatron and Ironhide. As the last possible second, Skyfire transformed and flipped over the missiles, letting the missiles fly under her and hit another target-Megatron. Starscream felt his Spark turn cold as he saw Megatron take his two missiles directly to the chest and disappear in the ensuing explosion that engulfed his body. Normally, Starscream would relish Megatron's pain, but this was an actual mistake that he had no intention of doing and he knew Megatron would crucify him on the spot.
"STARSCREAM!" Megatron roared. He marched out of the cloud of smoke and flames, two warped and burnt holes in his chest and shoulder that looked absolutely painful. The searing pain of these wounds only deepened Megatron's rage and his enraged gaze turned onto Starscream.
"Oh scrap." Starscream groaned.
Megatron leveled his fusion cannon at Starscream and fired. The fusion beam cut through the air faster than Starscream could react and tore into the right side of the Seeker's jet mode. This blew Starscream out of the air and sent him crashing into the ground, crashing into a rock and reverting back to robot mode.
"So you would attack your own soldiers in the midst of a battle?" Optimus said, walking up to Megatron with his ion cannon drawn. "I expected better from you, Megatron."
"Spare me the lecture, Prime!" Megatron shouted.
They ran at each other and drew their melee weapons, swinging their blades at each other and clashing in a deadlock. Megatron hissed as he felt the burning wounds where the missiles hit his chest sting and the pain weakened him. Optimus, never one to waste an opportunity, pushed Megatron's axe down and punched him in the chest, right in the wound.
Megatron snarled and winced at the pain erupting from where he was hit. He head butted Optimus and staggered back to gin some distance. He was going to tear Starscream a new one after this.
"I didn't peg you for a mech to hit a wounded warrior where it hurts, Prime." Megatron panted. "I expected better for you."
"You know I would always make an exception for you, Megatron." Optimus said. He fired his ion cannon, but Megatron collapsed into his tank mode.
As he transformed, he sent a private signal to Skywarp to attack Optimus right after he fired his cannon. The Seeker followed his orders without question and got into position. Megatron idly thought that Starscream's subordinates were more loyal that the traitorous bastard himself. The minute Megatron fired his fusion cannon, Optimus dodged the beam and Skywarp teleported behind him.
When Skyfire saw Skywarp appear behind Optimus, she called out to him. "Prime, on your six!"
As Skywarp reappeared in jet mode behind Optimus, he fired two cruise missiles at Prime's back. To his surprise, and that of those watching the scene, Optimus twisted his body away from the path of the missiles, allowing them to shoot right past him and hit another target-Megatron.
Even Prowl had to crack a smile at the bad luck Megatron was having as the missiles hit their mark; one hit the ground near Megatron's treads while the other hit his front. The explosions forced Megatron into robot mode and he collapsed on his knees, sporting a burning wound on his back where his alt mode was hit.
Megatron glared at Skywarp, who shrank away from his gaze as Optimus gave a smirk. "Never underestimate teamwork, Megatron. It might save your life one day."
XXXXXX
Mugen and Grid traded blows as they dueled with their weapons. Mugen kicked Grid in the chest, and slashed at his head, but he ducked under her staff to launch himself at her. She leapt back and dodged his sword, elbowing him in the face and knocking him down. He immediately sprang back up and resumed his attack.
Mugen was hard pressed to admit that for how garbage his fighting skills are, Grid's quick reflexes and sickening inability to feel pain made him a tough mech to fight. He gets knocked down but always came back up. It was getting annoying.
Granted, this was probably what he was aiming for. For all she knew, Grid was one of those mechs who acted like they were garbage, but had just enough fighting skill to avoid getting slagged within ten seconds of the fight. The type who wear down stronger opponents before going in for the kill.
But Mugen was no normal fighter. She jumped away from Grid and picked up a goblet to throw at his face. He ran right into the object and it hit his face, stunning him. She took out her blaster and fired repeatedly at one of his legs, tearing apart his knee join and making him fall over. Before he could hit the ground, she jumped up and drop kicked him in the face, smirking as she heard the satisfying crunch of his faceplate cracking as she launched him almost a foot back into the outstretched arms of a statue that ironically saved him from a painful fall.
"Ugh…why did you have to…" He wheezed. The kick to the face damaged the vocal speakers in his head. "Hit me so…hard…?"
"That's war, Grid. Don't come at me swinging a sword and expect not to get a beating." Mugen said.
A bright flash of light followed by an explosion shook the cave with a loud boom and Mugen spun around with wide eyes.
"What the hell was that?"
XXXXXX
Leader-1 had seen many things in his life. The abuse his kind suffered at the hands of the Senate, the destruction of his home and everything he held dear, the awakening of the Metrotitans Metroplex and Trypticon, and their battle in the middle of Iacon (it was hard to top that last one). But what he saw in that tomb definitely made it into the top five strangest things he's ever seen.
He knew the beam reached its target, and for a moment, Leader-1 thought the body perished in a foolish attempt to protect himself. But when the smoke cleared, the boy was still alive, and what's worse, he was completely different.
Darren's body had changed; encasing his body was a six foot tall silver armor made of energy. Its appearance was humanoid, akin to a stylized suit of armor, with a head sporting two short horns curving back over his head and white eyes. Darren's body was faintly visible inside the solidified wisps of telekinetic energy. The boy was gone, and in his place was a warrior.
"Darren?" Gina gasped. This was the secret power that amalgams were developing all over the world, a pitch black armor formed from nothing!
"Holy crap, my brother just went god mode." Annie whispered.
"What the hell is this?!" Leader-1 growled. "How the hell did you-?"
Leader-1's rant was cut short when Darren suddenly sprinted forward and covered the distance between them in seconds. He had no time to aim his weapon as Darren slammed an armored fist into his face, knocking him to the ground. His visor cracked from the force of the punch and Leader-1 was momentarily dazed from the blow. Darren grabbed his head and picked him up with one hand.
"Do you feel so superior now?" Darren hissed.
He punched the Mini-Con in the chest and sent Leader-1 flying into a statue. The blow dented the mech's chest plate in and Leader-1 groaned in pain. Darren leapt forward and prepped for another punch, but Leader-1 was quick enough to catch this one, though it hurt his hand to do so. Darren simply got around this by kicking him in the chest and throwing him to the ground.
"Keep it up, Darren! You got this!" Annie cheered.
'I won't let it end like this! Dying at the hands of some filthy hairless ape!' Leader-1 thought murderously. Reaching into a hidden compartment in his waist, he took out a hilt and unfolded it to create a vibro-blade. The blade hummed as Leader-1 charged at Darren and swung. "I won't die at your hands, human!"
It wasn't arrogance that made Darren make no attempt to block Leader-1's strike, it was assurance in his new and powerful armor. He was sure that it would protect him from the dangerous melee weapon. It didn't.
The girls watched in horror as the blade tore through Darren's armored chest with a downward slash. The armor was torn away like paper, lacking the density it once had mere seconds ago. Darren's lack of concentration weakened the armor's constitution and left him vulnerable. None were as shocked as Darren, who remained unharmed, though shocked as this sudden turnaround. Leader-1 smirked and jumped back, changing to vehicle mode and aiming his twin cannons at the boy before firing. Two pulse blasts hit Darren in the chest and left shoulder, blasting him back head first into a pile of gold. Once again, Darren was unharmed, but more of his armor was blown away, and now it seemed to be dissolving off his body like smoke.
"What the…?" Darren grunted as he saw his armor disappearing before his very eyes. "No, no, not now!"
"Ha! So it seems your little power up isn't the trump card you thought it was." Leader-1 laughed. He quickly leapt over to his fallen cannon and raised it. "Let's see if your friend is as full of surprises as you are!"
Darren paled as Leader-1 pointed his cannon at Gina and fired another pulse blast. Without thinking, Darren raced forward at superhuman speeds to reach the blonde, landing in front of her. Forming a force shield around his arm, he deflected the beam aside, sending it into a wall on the far side of the chamber, where it left a hole. Leader-1 glared at the amalgam boy.
"All right, let's see how you defend against this, boy!" Leader-1 sneered and increased the power in his cannon, changing the barrel to photon setting and taking aim.
Pulling the trigger, Leader-1 was almost knocked off his feet by the hard recoil as his cannon fired an even more powerful photon blast. Darren stood his ground, digging his feet into the stone floor before summoning a telekinetic barrier just as the blast hit it with enough force to send him skidding back on his hells. He didn't dare lose his concentration. If he faltered now, he and Gina were done for and he wasn't letting some no-name Minicon kill them down here!
"Darren, you can't handle the strain for much longer! Stop!" Gina yelled, seeing that Darren was struggling to keep his focus.
"If I stop, we both die!" Darren grunted.
Leader-1 scoffed at what he saw as one creature's refusal to die and increased the power of the beam. The beam's power pushed against the barrier and caused further strain on Darren. At this point, it was only a matter of time before they were both destroyed.
Darren channeled as much power as he could into the barrier, but he could feel the heat of the beam seeping through his defenses. Glancing back, he saw Gina's tear stricken face and forced himself past his limit. Unseen by him or Gina, his eyes glowed bright silver and his telekinetic awareness extended out from his barrier to the beam itself. He began unconsciously manipulating the energy of the pulse blast itself and weaved it around the barrier to make an extra layer of protection. Leader-1 noticed too late what was going on and tried to stop the beam, but his cannon would turn off.
"What the hell is going on?!" Leader-1 exclaimed.
Darren's glowing eyes glared hatefully at Leader-1 and with a mighty yell, he released the energy from his barrier in a massive energy wave that echoed throughout the cave. Piles of gold and statues were blown away by the sheer force of the wave, and Leader-1 took the full force of the blast head on, shearing off armor, shattering his optic visor, ripping into his arms and legs and destroying the canton. He could even scream as he was nearly torn apart and his internal components were severely damaged from the concussive force alone.
Mugen ran for Annie just as the wave battered the gold piles and she jumped on the girl to protect her from the fast flying objects that definitely would've broken from bones. Annie shut her eyes and held on to Mugen for dear life as the blast rattled her ear drums and blinded her.
XXXXXX
The Street Action Team ran through the halls towards the location when they detected the huge energy wave that rattled the entire tomb. It didn't take them long to realize that their partners were in trouble and the minute the effects of the stasis beam wore off, they separated from their combined state and ran to aid their friends. They weren't completely a hundred percent, but they will fight to protect their charges.
When they reached the chamber, they saw only darkness. The crystals illuminating the chamber were shattered and there was thousands upon thousands of gold objects lying around on the ground, but no sign of their friends.
"Guys! Are you in here?" High Wire called out.
"If you're okay, answer back!" Sureshock yelled.
"We're okay! But you need to come get us!" Mugen's voice called back.
High Wire sagged in relief and led his team into the chamber, using his headlight to light the way. As they climbed over the mounds of fallen treasure, Grindor tripped over something and fell on his face.
"Ow! What the hell did I-whoa!" Grindor scrambled back as he saw that he tripped over someone's body.
It was Leader-1…or what was left of him. The mech looked like he took a phase charge to the face and was thrown into a grinder afterwards. He was little more than a broken torso with his head attached and his limbs were just little dangling pieces of metal and energon barely connected to his body. They would've thought he was dead had it not been for the pain groans coming from his static ridden vocoder.
"Wow…" Sureshock gasped.
"What…happened to him?" High Wire asked.
"You have Darren to thank for that." Mugen's voice said behind them.
She walked up to them with an unconscious Darren on her back. Annie was helping Gina along as well, a stasis panel clutched in her arms. High Wire noticed that the girls look tired and exhausted from their ordeal. Something big happened down here, but the Minicons were wise enough not to inquire further.
High Wire traded a worried glance with his team before calling it in. "Optimus, we have the panel. Mission accomplished."
XXXXXX
Megatron was not so proud enough to admit that things were not going his way right now and that the mission was probably lost already. He was seriously wounded, by his own soldiers no less, and of the Cons he brought on the mission, only Thundercracker was still in the fight. Skywarp had been taken out by Skyfire after trying to shoot down Prime and was in the process of hounding Thundercracker across the sky.
As for Megatron himself, he was left alone with three high ranking Autobots who actually knew how to fight. Numbers didn't concern him, since he fought larger numbers in the past. But he was wounded and that last missile strike damaged his fusion cannon. He wasn't too concerned about Prowl, but Ironhide and Prime were strong fighters together. The only way he can salvage this mission was to acquire the panel and retreat.
'Where the hell is Leader-1?' Megatron thought. 'He should've gotten the damn panel by now. How hard is it to squash a couple of Minicons and their human pets with a beam cannon?'
The silence between the four combatants was broken when Prime got a call on his comm. Listening to the message, Optimus straightened up and Megatron knew it wasn't anything good for him.
"It would seem that Leader-1 and Grid have been disposed of, quite brutally I might add." Optimus said. "Now you have two choices: leave and take your broken soldiers back to your base, or you can stay here, keep fighting, lose Thundercracker and try to take on all of us alone after suffering damages from your own soldiers. It's your decision."
"But it'd be nice if you chose option two." Ironhide commented.
Megatron glared at Optimus for a moment before sheathing arm blade and standing back. "I know when I'm beat, Prime. But don't get too comfortable with your win." He warned. "My retribution is as swift as my wrath. And there are other ways to win a battle without firing a shot."
Megatron signaled the Nemesis and had Soundwave perform an orbital bounce that transported himself and his team off the battlefield. As soon as the Cons were gone, the Autobots relaxed their guard.
"That was intense." Prowl said. Ironhide nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I thought we were going to have a hard time dealing with them." he said.
Skyfire landed next to him and brushed off some sand from her shoulders. "Damn I'm good."
"Oh, shut up." Prowl sighed.
Optimus walked over to the opening where the Minicons and kids were just leaving the surface. Looking at the haggard state of the children, Optimus looked questioningly at High Wire, who sighed.
"We'll explain later when we get back to base." He assured Prime. "Right now, we all need some rest."
"And a long nap." Annie groaned.
XXXXXX
Ratchet was hard at work in the medical bay as he treated Darren and Annie for their conditions. Annie had suffered from skin burn from the energy wave she narrowly avoided and Darren was resting from overexertion of his powers. Annie accepted the long process of applying ointment to her skin, knowing that if he didn't do it, Debbie would, and she wouldn't be gentle with it.
Darren regained consciousness a little while after they returned to the Ark. Using his powers the way he had back in the tomb had put enough strain on his body to make him pass out. He was fine otherwise, but he had a headache the size of Skyfire's ego.
"How are you feeling, Darren?" Gina asked as she sat at his bedside.
"Like crap. My head is still pounding and my body feels ten times heavier." He groaned, rubbing his forehead.
"You should've seen yourself, Darren. You just created your own amalgam armor, just like those amalgams on television!" Gina said smiling. She was really interested in seeing how he was able to do that up close, but that could wait. "And if it makes you feel any better, you tore Leader-1 a new porthole."
Darren grinned at that. "Yeah, that does make me feel better. So, who's the new Minicon?"
"He's a speedster named Incinerator. He's doing fine at the moment, Sparkplug's giving him a rundown of the situation." She explained. "He's a friendly mech but a bit insecure. So watch what you say around him."
"Will do." He nodded.
Gina went quiet for a minute and looked down at her hands. "Thank you…for saving me. I'm sorry you almost hurt yourself protecting me. I wasn't really thinking when I ran off to get the panel."
"It's not your fault. We've made it out and that's what matters. And besides," Darren reached into his pockets and pulled out a handful of gold and jewels. "I managed to swipe some stuff from the tomb before the fighting started. A little something for our troubles."
Darren picked up a sapphire ring and took her hand, placing the ring on her finger. He only realized what he did when Gina's face went red and blushed himself. Gina looked up at him and launched herself at Darren, engulfing him in a tight hug. His blush deepened when she gave him a big kiss on the cheek, smiling like a madwoman.
"Jinkies, Darren," She cooed. "You're the best friend a nerd like me can ask for."
XXXXXX
Elsewhere in the Ark, a more serious conversation was taking place between Optimus and Prowl in the privacy of the Prime's quarters.
"It happened again. The Decepticons got the jump on us again with intel on where the panel is." Prowl said. He was sure of it now, though he hated to be right. "One of the Minicons is a spy."
Optimus had to agree with them. That coordinated ambush in the Valley of the Kings, followed by the attack on the children with Leader-1 armed with a weapon that took out the kids' guardian gestalt, it was no longer some coincidence. There really was a spy in their ranks…but who?
"Optimus, we can't let the Minicons roam free anymore. As of today, they're a security risk and a threat to our continued mission on this planet." Prowl requested. "We can let them on or off the Ark until we get to the bottom of this."
"Out of the question." Optimus said firmly. "We are not treating the Minicons like criminals. They distrust us enough as it is without us taking away their freedoms."
"Optimus, they're conspiring against us!" Prowl said, trying not to shout. "We need to nip this weed in the bud before it grows out of control."
'When did it turn from one spy to a whole Minicon conspiracy?' Optimus thought. "I will not strip away their rights and blindly convict them without even knowing the identity of the spy. If we do that, then we risk alienating the Minicons and possibly playing right into the spy's hands."
It was known among the Autobots that the Minicons were only just beginning to trust them thanks to the various friendships the members of Team Prime have with their Minicon partners. The Minicons were more inclined to trust the children, who have done their part in making sure they felt at home and helped them as much as they could. Optimus had to admit, it was due in part to the kids that relations with the Minicons were so well, but one wrong move could cause friction between both races.
"Then what do you suggest we do? Wait for the spy to sabotage us and kill one of our friends?" Prowl asked.
Optimus sighed and leaned back in his chair. "We act now, and any chance of us finding the spy will be lost. Right now, secrecy is key. When the spy strikes again, that is when we will act. And we need to narrow down whose working against us before we start pointing fingers. You were a private investigator, Prowl. This shouldn't be new to you."
Prowl's already dark mood worsened as Optimus brought up a part of his life that he long since buried. Both he and Prime were once apart of Cybertron's law enforcement caste, though on different levels. He knew they had to go about this gingerly to avoid alerting their target. Besides, he already had his group of suspects to watch.
One of the four Minicons that came on the Egyptia mission.
XXXXXX
It late night as the Minicon femme sat apart from her fellow Minicon and their Autobot partner Arcee. She was talking into her comm channel in hushed whispers, but her caller on the other line wasn't speaking so quietly.
"Why didn't you tell me that the boy had that kind of power?" Leader-1 shouted into her audial. The femme winced and lowered her comm's volume.
"Don't blame me," She replied heatedly. "I warned you that he was a wildcard with his powers. It's not my fault you decided to rush in like a gun-toting maniac."
"Don't get fresh with me." He snarled. "Those brats…they're pissed me off for the last time. They've been a thorn in our side for too long and I will not stand by as they continually insult me honor as a Decepticon. Before it was business…but now it's personal."
The femme sighed. "Leader-1…"
"You want to hurt the Autobots as much as they've hurt us, don't you?" He demanded.
"Yes, I want that more than anything else in the world." And that was true, she wanted vengeance for the pain they've caused her, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to like what Leader-1 had planned.
"Then we'll hit them where it hurts. Attack their heart and let them bleed out. Make them truly suffer." Leader-1 said with sadistic glee at the thought. "When you get the chance on the next mission you have with them, kill the humans."
"What?!" The femme exclaimed.
"You heard me. I don't care how you do it, just snuff them out. Make sure the Autobots feel the pain of loss that we've suffered at their hands. Only then will be able to get our revenge on the Autobots!"
The femme sighed and cut the comm-link to look at the starless sky. For the first time since she left her home on Epistemus, Mugen felt true fear.