Chapter 23-The Original Sin part 1
Optimus Prime sat alone in the solitude of his quarters, having finally had a rare moment to himself, with no Minicon or Decepticon activity to worry about. Here, away from the eyes of his soldiers and good friends, he was able to shed his usual strong leader persona and relax a bit. The stress of his role as leader of the Autobots and his status as Prime caught up with him again and he looked much older than he really was. The amount of responsibilities piled together would be enough to make even the youngest cybertronian turn gray with stress. Optimus wondered if the Matrix was the only reason he didn't look as worn out as Kup.
His quarters were larger than the other rooms on the Ark, but compared to the other Autobots' rooms, he didn't really have much in the way of personal effects. There was a recharge slab, a Teletran-1 terminal computer, and a desk. Soft classical music played from the terminal, something he had taken to listening to in his spare time. Old classical orchestra music really helped him wind down, especially Mozart, whom he frequently listened to.
His desk was mostly empty save for a few holo-images, one of them being a recent photo of Darren, Annie and Gina making silly faces with him on his shoulders. They all looked so happy back then. Things were so painfully different now.
The atmosphere on the Ark was stone cold after Mugen's defection and act of rebellion in revealing the horrible truth behind the Solomus Massacre. This turn of events had caused a schism between the Autobots and Minicons, fanning the flames of distrust between the two factions. Prowl's involvement in the cover up didn't help matters either. Even the Street Action Team looked at them with disdains, some even questioning Prime's command over his own troops. Optimus was glad that Sparkplug had managed to calm the Minicons down before things erupted into a war on the massive ship.
The children went out of their way to dissuade any violent actions against the Autobots, knowing that some bots like Jolt and Peppercat had made friends among Team Prime. Despite having their squeaky clean image of the Autobots tarnished by this revelation, they knew that at least most of the team wasn't responsible for the atrocities committed in the past. Darren won the Minicons over with a few wise words of his own that quelled their fury for the moment.
"I know you're all angry from this news and you want someone to blame. We all know it was wrong of Prowl to do what he did, and I understand your anger at him, but please don't group all the Autobots together. Optimus and the others had nothing to do with this lie, and we've all seen how far they'll go to make sure that each and every one of you will be safe from the Cons." Darren said. "I'm not saying that you should get over it, because I know that's not going to happen, but we can't lost faith in them right now. At the very least, trust us to trust the Autobots to keep everyone safe. If we lost our trust in each other, then we're no different from the Decepticons."
The Minicons still trusted the kids, if nothing else than because they were in the same danger of being used as pawns in this war as they were. Tensions eased somewhat, but many of the Minicons, even Sparkplug, were giving the Autobots a wide berth. It was going to take a while to regain their trust, if ever.
"Optimus." A voice rang from the intercom.
"Yes, Longarm?"
"Ratchet needs you down in the medibay. He says it's urgent."
Optimus straightened up, knowing that if the medic says it's urgent, then it must be very important. He just wished it hadn't cut into is rest period. "Tell Ratchet I'll be right there."
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Ratchet gave an interested hum as he looked into his proton microscope at the sample he was studying. His lab table was littered with a mess of yellow crystals and pieces of stone. Longarm stood next to his arm glaring down at the mess he made. He was definitely going to have to clean that up.
"Ratchet," Optimus said as he entered the room. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, Optimus, over here." Ratchet beckoned Optimus over to his work station, leaning back in his seat and rubbing his tired eyes. Prime looked at the mess on the table
"How long have you been at this?" He asked.
"Little over two hours. And before you chastise me on overworking myself, know that what I've learned is…troubling to say the least." Ratchet said.
Optimus waved his hand. "By all means."
"This mess assaulting my work table is the remains of the beings that Bulkhead and Ironhide fought in Belka."
"This?" Optimus said incredulously.
"Ratchet had the two retrieve as much of the beings they fought from the temple in Belka, which wasn't a lot." Longarm said. He kicked at a crystal by his foot. "This was all we found in the temple. The rest of the remains were dust."
"Which didn't help me identify these samples, though I was able to form something of a decent study on the crystals." Ratchet grumbled.
"What did you learn from them?"
"To start off, these beings are not just some form of incredibly powerful golem created by the Arian Empire. These are living organisms."
Ratchet pressed a button on his computer and brought up an image of what looked like cells, but they were crystalline in appearance. "See these silicon particles? They're actually a genetic cell structure, but they're hard and prismatic. What's more, these cells were supercharged by some form of energy binding them together, which I can only assume gave the creatures their powers as well as enabled their strong durability and strength."
"Silicon…not many creatures in the galaxy can boast that kind of rare divergence from organic properties." Optimus commented.
"At least creatures that are intelligent. I know of similar beings who lived in a hive network on a distant planet I went to with Brainstorm once, but they were more akin to living plants that truly earthen beings." Ratchet said.
Optimus recalled how the beings who called themselves Michael, Uriel and Raphael were extremely hard to kill and were very powerful. Annie had said that the strikes she dealt to them with Mjolnir was more of dumb luck than power on her part. Then a thought passed his mind-what if there were more?
He told Ratchet his concerns and the medic shrugged. "I can't say for sure, Optimus. But these are silicon-based beings living on a planet harboring carbon-based life, so it's not a stretch to say they were not native to Terra. We don't have enough information to say that there are more. Personally, knowing out luck, I think we might see more of them in the future."
"I hope we can answer that question before something happens, Ratchet." Optimus said. "If there are more of these…living statues, and they possibly ad dealings with ancient humans, then they might have had a deeper involvement with human myths and legends."
Ratchet gave him a look. "Like Mjolnir."
"Yes."
Ratchet frowned as he thought of the implications. If these beings had the power to create weapons that toed the line between science and mysticism, then they were more powerful than they could scarcely imagine. The three beings found in Belka could have been the first of many who were still on Terra, hiding and waiting. And Optimus feared that the constant fighting between the cybertronian forces on this world would force them to awaken once again.
Michael's last words hinted at others of his kind hunting down and annihilating all aliens on this world. Optimus wanted to write it off, but experience told him that this kind of thing was hard to ignore…and was usually true.
This planet really hated them, didn't it?
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"I'm bored!" The loud, whiny exclamation came from Annie, who was sprawled across the couch in a less than lady-like pose in her short black skirt. She didn't care about that, though. She was sharing a room with her brother, best girl friend and a bunch of robots who could less if she streaked through the ship butt naked (she filed that away on her mental to-do list).
"Annie, please don't be a brat right now." Darren said. "We're not in the mood."
"Well excuse me for speaking my mind." Annie frowned. "There's just nothing to do and I'm getting tired of wasting my free time in the Ark doing nothing."
"If you want to do something, Annie, go find Bulkhead or Ironhide." Sureshock said patiently. "You're not helping anyone by sitting around complaining."
"Yes, please shut up, Annie." Grindor said. Annie picked up a hammer and threw it at his head. "Ow!"
"Say that again, asshole!" She growled.
Gina shook her head and continued working on her project. So much for peace and quiet. "I need to start working at my workshop again. I can't handle these two all day long."
Darren walked over to her work table and glanced at the small objects she was working on. They looked like bracelets, but they were clearly high tech. "What are you working on?"
"Tractor beam gauntlets." Gina said.
"Oh…that's cool." Darren nodded. Gina glanced at him with a raised eyebrow and he grinned. "Just waiting for your highly detailed explanation on how it works."
"Well, since you asked so nicely," Gina smirked. "They fire neutron particle nets that have a neutralized nuclear reaction force that's basically a nullified narrow gravity well. When photons are bounced into the well, the gravity nullification is disturbed and each object touched by the net is attracted or repelled, depending on the polarity, at the same strength as the nearest gravity well pulling on its own mass."
"It uses the reaction caused between neutrons and photons to repel or attract physical objects using the same force gravity has on that object, right?" Darren said.
"That's…right." Gina blinked. "I wasn't expecting you to get that, actually."
"We're having a class on it right now, Gina. The science behind it isn't as hard as you think it is." Darren said. "But why are you making a tractor beam gauntlet?"
"It's a part of my trademarked "Gina Tech Pack". Something I can use on our missions to keep us from getting fragged by the Mini-Cons." Gina said, tracing a finger along the silver gauntlet. "After you knocked yourself out saving me, I figured I could do more than just be the nerdy girl on missions who couldn't defend herself."
"Gina…" Darren tried to refute her claim, but she held up a hand.
"No, you could've gotten hurt and I can't live with myself if something like that did happen. Besides, we all can use something to help out Centurion when we get attacked. We can't rely on him and the others forever." She said and slipped the gauntlet onto her forearm. "Now, Roll Bar helped me miniaturize the power source for this thing, but I haven't tested it yet. Could you stand still for a minute?"
"Stand still-no, Gina, don't-"
"Tractor beam engage!" Gina announced.
The gauntlet on her arm glowed a bit before Darren felt himself being flung back nearly a foot away from Gina. He hit the floor on his back, the breath knocked from him. As for Gina, she also went sprawling when the excess kinetic energy from the strong push knocked her off her feet.
"Gina, Darren!" Annie and the Minicons ran over to their friends. "Are you two all right?"
"Wow…" Darren coughed and sat up. "That was a doozy."
"Sorry, Darren!" Gina whined. "Jinkies, looks like I need to lower the power a little bit."
"You think?" Annie snorted.
"Yo!" Jolt hollered as he walked into the room. "What's up, glitches! I come with a news update!"
"What, you finally got a life?" Grindor quipped.
"No, you ass." Jolt glared at him. "I'm head towards the shuttle bay to meet up with Bee and the others. Optimus is leading a mission to Emmeria. Don't ask me why, but it must be big with the size of the team Prime has standing by."
"Seriously? What are we waiting for, then, let go!" Annie sprinted for the door, dragging Jolt along with her.
"Annie wait…and she's gone." Darren sighed. "You're lucky you don't have a sibling, Gina. Sometimes, they're more trouble than it's worth."
"Think of it this way, at least you don't share twin telepathy with her." Gina said, patting him on the back. "Come on, let's catch her before she gets herself hurt. Sureshock, could you clean up for me, please?"
"Okay, Gina." Sureshock nodded as the kids ran out into the hall.
At the ground bridge, Optimus stood before his team of five: Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Ironhide and Sparkplug. Arcee was manning the ground bridge controls.
"Teletran-1 just detected a strong energy signature in Airlann, one that's similar to the one Jazz and I picked up in Sunehra." Optimus briefed his team. "We must mobilize before the Decepticons get to the site before us. I have no doubt that they've already picked up on the signal as well."
"As long as we don't have to fight any dragons, I'm game." Bulkhead said eagerly.
"Hold up!" Annie up to them with Jolt in tow. She skidded to a stop in front of Bulkhead, nearly sending Jolt to the ground.
"Jeez, Annie, you nearly pulled my arm from its joint." Jolt said. Bumblebee knelt down to pick his partner up.
"Don't even think about it, Annie. This mission is not for little girls like you to be running around in." Bulkhead warned her. "The Cons are gonna be coming at us hardcore and a firefight between us and them is not a safe place to be."
"Don't do this to me, Bulk." Annie whined. "It's depressing around here and I can't take the angst anymore!"
"Sorry, Annie, but this is one hot zone you're not getting near anytime soon. You'd only get in the way." He said, earning a glare from her.
"Did you forget I saved your ass once with a magic hammer?" She asked, hands on her hips like a scolding mother. "I can help!"
"Annie, you're not coming with us, and that's final." Optimus said firmly. "Time is of the essence, Autobots. Transform and roll out!"
The Autobots transformed to vehicle mode and drove into the now open ground bridge, leaving behind a very angry Annie near the gateway. Then a wide smile spit her face and she glanced at Arcee who was still monitoring the ground bridge readings at the terminal. Seeing an opening, Annie ran for the portal, sprinting into the green vortex just as Gina and Darren entered the room.
"Annie!" Gina exclaimed.
"For crying out loud!" Darren groaned.
They chased after Annie, but she had a head start on them. She was already gone when they reached the archway and they were forced to run in after her. The two kids made it in just as Arcee shut the bridge down, not having heard them over the noise of the bridge's deactivation.
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The Autobots exited the ground bridge into the middle of a grassy plain, a common sight in Airlann, though the giant stone structure a few feet from their position was new. It was a collection of stones, four in all, situated in the four cardinal directions. The stones were long and curved inward, their pointed tips almost touching at the center of the circle formation.
"What is that?" Bumblebee asked.
"You're asking me? I don't have a clue about human architecture, let alone thousand year old doohickeys like that." Bulkhead said.
Wheeljack pointed his scanner at the structure and got a positive reading. "The energy reading is coming from there."
Jazz clapped his hands. "Well, let's get going before-"
"Incoming!" Ironhide yelled.
He pushed Wheeljack out of the way of six missiles that hit the ground near them. Optimus looked up and saw Nightshade swooping down in beast mode to attack. He fired his ion cannon at her, but she dodged and changed to robot mode mid-flight, using her momentum to kick Optimus in the chest. He rolled onto his back and shot at her, just missing her wing. Ironhide rushed in and fired his arm cannons at her, making her back off.
"Optimus!" Bumblebee went to help his leader, but a police car rammed into him and knocked him over. As the car swerved for another go, he rolled to his feet and took out his blaster.
"Pay attention to your own battles, scout!" Barricade growled.
Bulkhead and Ironhide were engaged with Lugnut, who was unleashing a rain of fire with his missiles payload released from the pods on his back. Wheeljack used his overshield to protect them from the bulk of the missiles while Bulkhead fired his blaster at Lugnut. Laser bolts bounced off his thick armor as he stomped toward the Autobots, raising his mace that was almost as tall as him.
"For Megatron!" He bellowed and charged at the Autobots like a raging bull. Bulkhead met his charge with his wrecking ball and clashed with the ebony giant.
This was the chaotic battle Annie ran into the middle of. The entire field was a mess of explosions, blaster fire and metal hitting metal. She was careful to stay out of sight and far enough from the battle that no one, especially the Cons, could notice her.
"This is perfect." Annie whispered. She looked at the odd structure not too far from the battle. "I wonder what that thing is."
"ANNIE!"
She heard her brother's enraged shout and grunted when he slammed into her, sending them both to the grass covered ground. Darren grabbed her arms and glared down at her, using his weight to pin her down when she tried to struggle.
"What the hell were you thinking?" He hissed at her, displaying an anger he rarely directed at her. "You can't just go into a warzone like that! It's dangerous!"
"So is finding Minicons, but we still do that, don't we?" Annie replied.
"Don't pull that shit with me. We're going back to the Ark right now, and I'm having Roll Bar cuff you to the damn couch!" Darren said.
"Uh, Darren," Gina tapped his shoulder, pointing at the empty space behind them. "The ground bridge is gone."
"What?!" Darren looked up and saw that it was true. "And we didn't bring our phones with us! Crap, what else could go wrong?"
Annie gulped. "Well…there's also Nightshade giving us the stink eye."
They looked at the aforementioned femme and saw her glaring right at them with her dark purple eyes. Nightshade powerlinked with Songbird and aimed her rail gun at them.
"I'm killing you if we die, Annie!" Darren shouted.
Before Nightshade could fire, Optimus charged at her and kicked her arm aside, diverting her beam. As the beam hit the ground next to them, he grabbed her arm and threw her across the field into Barricade, nearly crushing the smaller mech.
"Optimus, this is Arcee. The kids aren't in the Ark!" Arcee reported.
"I have a visual, Arcee." Optimus replied, glaring at the children.
Annie looked up at Optimus and said with a straight face. "It totally wasn't my fault."
"You have some nerve!" Darren exclaimed.
"That's enough from both of you." Prime said firmly, using a tone he rarely took with the kids. "Hide over by the structure and wait for someone to escort you back to the Ark. Don't move unless told you, understand?"
The children nodded and ran for the stone formation. Optimus had Arcee send the Street Action Team to their position before ducking under a plasma blast from Nightshade.
"Why am I not surprised you have fleshies doing your dirty work, Prime." Nightshade sneered at him.
"I don't rely solely on them, Nightshade, though I', not one to immediately dismiss anyone because of their composition." Optimus said.
"You'll forgive me for focusing on fighting a war than a bunch of animals!" Nightshade said and charged at Prime.
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Annie watched the battle from the safety of the pillars. Darren was keeping an eye out for any unwanted visitors that might spring up on them, and Gina was doing…what she did best, really.
"This is your fault, Annie," Darren said. "If anything happens to us, I'm holding you responsible."
"Go blow a gasket, bro. I was only trying to get some decent snapshots for the scrapbook." Annie said. She wasn't concerned at all that Optimus might give her a serious tongue lashing afterwards. "I mean, we never get to see the real action since we're too busy getting stasis panels, and-"
She screamed when a stray blaster bolt hit the ground near them, sending grass and dirt into her face. Darren raised a telekinetic shield to deflect any other debris from hitting them.
"That's why. We'll only get in the way if we run around a battle zone throwing rocks at the Cons. And I'm not looking forward to telling sis how you died trying to get some pictures." Darren said.
"You make it sound like I'm willing to jump in front of a gun for a good picture!" Annie yelled. Darren grabbed her shirt and pulled her close.
"You would!"
Gina stood apart from the twins, intently studying the symbols inscribed on the pillars. She had the sky spy drone in hand to record the runes in the stone as she tried to read them. Something was oddly familiar about these symbols, she was pretty sure she had seen something like them before. The blonde was so into her work that she barely noticed the ground bridge appear next the site.
Centurion stepped out of the portal and ran over to the kids. "Get to the bridge, now!"
Darren over to Gina to take her hand and pulled her along. "Come on, girl, our ride's here."
"Hold on, I need to get the rest of this!" Gina said.
"We don't have time-"
"Look out!" Annie shouted.
She and Darren jumped back to the safety of the pillars as Lugnut's rain of missiles exploded around them. Darren summoned his barrier again, but his defense trembled under the force of the powerful explosions. Seeing that the kids were pinned, Centurion ran for them, dodging the laser blasts and missiles flying everywhere. He didn't care that he was running headfirst into a hot zone, all that mattered was keeping the kids safe.
Barricade, who was grappling with Bumblebee, saw the gestalt running across the field and smirked. He kicked Bumblebee away and pointed his blaster at Centurion.
"No!" Bumblebee powerlinked with Jolt and converted his arm into his solar accelerator.
He fired a blast into Barricade's chest, but not before Barricade got his shot off. The laser blast hit near Centurion, engulfing the gestalt in flames. The kids watched in horror as their friend was sent flying by the explosion and crashed into the center of the rock formation. The gestalt separated into the Street Action Team as the pain of their wounds shattered their focus.
"High Wire!" Darren ran over to his friend and the girls went to their guardians as well.
Then they noticed something strange happening. The minute the Minicons entered the circle, it began to glow. Gina gave a soft "jinkies" as she saw the runes on the pillars glow along the length of the stone. Darren felt the air around them change, as if being charged with electricity and tried to bring up a force barrier…only to find that his powers weren't working.
"What's going on?" He yelled over the crackling energy. Energy lanced between the pillars, forming an energy field around them.
"I don't know!" Annie yelled back. "Just hold on to the Minicons and pray!"
Bulkhead was the first to notice what was going on. After slugging Lugnut in the jaw, he turned to see the kids and their guardians trapped in a vortex of spiraling energy that grew in intensity by the second. Without a second thought, he broke off his engagement and ran to save them.
"Bulkhead, wait!" Wheeljack exclaimed.
The dome exploded outward, releasing an energy wave that blasted Bulkhead off is feet and knocked the other bots away as well by the sheer force of the shockwave. Optimus looked up and lost sight of the kids in the middle of the violent storm as the energy charging between the pillars reached their peak capacity. Everyone present saw a pillar of light shoot up from the formation, parting the clouds and bathing the immediate area in a bright blue light that lasted only a few seconds. After those few seconds, the beam of light vanished as if it was never there…as were the children.
"What in Mortilus' name just happened?" Nightshade demanded, as surprised and confused as the others present.
"No." Optimus muttered. The kids and the Minicons were gone…and he had no idea where they went.
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"And that's what happened." Nightshade finished her report to Megatron as they stood on the bridge discussing the events from earlier. "There was no sign of the humans or the Minicons. They were just…gone. As if they were-"
"Vaporized?" Megatron suggested. She shook her head.
"No. The blast wave the stone circle released would've at least damaged us more than a few burns if it was harmful. And I didn't detect any radiation. It looked like some primitive form of warping technology."
Megatron narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. This was definitely something worth investigating further. "Are the Autobots still at the site?"
"They high tailed it out of there after losing their human pets, but I think they might return." Nightshade replied.
"Gather a team and return to the site. I want to know exactly what that thing-"
"Lord Megatron!" Thundercracker burst through the doors with a look of panic. Megatron and Nightshade glared at him.
"Have you lost your senses, Thundercracker?" Nightshade hissed. "What possessed you to barge in here and interrupt important business?"
"I-It's Soundwave, Nightshade," Thundercracker stammered. "Something's wrong with him?"
"What?" Nightshade froze as her eyes went wide. "What's happened?"
"I don't know. He just collapsed in the middle of the haul and we had to haul him to the medibay."
Nightshade was already out the door before anyone could move. Megatron and Thundercracker followed her, though she was already halfway to the medical bay thanks for her long legs. When she reached the medibay, she heard pained screams coming from it, and from the mechanical tone of those screams, it was clear they belonged to Soundwave. Nightshade glanced back at Megatron before walking through the doors to enter the room.
Inside, Soundwave was strapped to a medical slab with steel restraints on his hands and feet, writhing in place from some sort of pain. A strange sound rang from his vocoder, and Nightshade realized it was his screams. Soundwave, the stoic, emotionless spymaster, was screaming. His flailing was probably too violent to allow him freedom of movement without hurting himself, so he was restrained. At least that better be Knockout's reasoning.
"What's going on here, Knockout?" Megatron asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out, my lord." Knockout gulped. "Thundercracker told me that Soundwave just collapsed out of nowhere just a few minutes ago and he's been writhing in pain since then."
Nightshade looked Soundwave over. "I don't see any visible wounds."
"I don't think his pain is caused by anything physical." Knockout said. He pointed to the monitor showing a scan of Soundwave's brain activity. "His brain activity is fluctuating wildly, so I presume whatever he's experiencing must be mental."
Neither Megatron nor Nightshade knew what to do about this. Soundwave's senses were turned up to the maximum, and his telepathy was a result of his hearing being so acute he could pick up and translate the electrical signals in a person's mind. He initially had no control over this power, leading him to suffer hearing the stray thoughts of others he unconsciously picked up. Years of training had mitigated these side effects, but this was different from what Nightshade knew Soundwave had been through.
"I've never seen him like this." Ravage said, confirming her thoughts. "His powers had never caused him pain like this before. It's never gotten so bad that he's writhing in agony."
"Is there anything we can do? Can you find out what's causing him pain?" She asked.
"If you have any suggestions, be my guest. I'm a doctor, not a psychiatrist." Knockout said. Ignoring Nightshade's glare, he continued, "The best explanation I can give, and it's theoretical, is that some outside force it causing this reaction. Something powerful enough to override his mental defenses and enter his mind. It must be painful if he's in this state."
Megatron looked down at the struggling Soundwave, silently noting how the only emotion that the spymaster ever gave was intense pain. He wasn't there when Soundwave was aimlessly roaming Cybertron, nearly insane from all the thoughts that he absorbed. The power to read minds, even at a limited range, was a power that many coveted, but Soundwave did his best to suppress. He never understood why at first, but seeing him in this state right now helped him realize how it could be a liability.
"Put him in stasis." Megatron ordered.
Knockout nodded and pressed a button on the slab, which made it release a low frequency EMP wave that shut down Soundwave's motor functions and put him in stasis lock. Soundwave calmed down and his body went still, allowing Nightshade to sigh in relief.
"Monitor him for any more abnormalities and notify me if his condition changes." Megatron said.
"Yes, my lord."
"Nightshade, with me."
Megatron left the medibay with Nightshade and they walked back to the bridge in silence for a moment. Nightshade noted her leader's ponderous expression and knew he was deep in thought.
"What's on your mind? You look like you've got some questions." She pointed out.
"The humans being teleported by some ancient warp device and Soundwave's seizure…they're timed too closely together to be anything more than some coincidence." Megatron told her.
"You want me to check it out?" Nightshade asked. He gave her a look.
"That would be nice, yes." He replied, earning a glare from her. "There is something going on here that we're not seeing, and I intend to find out what."
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Darren felt cold. Cold as in his whole body had a chill that ran right down to his bones, as if he spent an entire day standing in the rain without a coat. As he regained consciousness, he grunted and moved his stiff limbs, opening his sore eyes to see a slightly dirty Gina leaning over him.
"You're okay." Gina breathed, sagging in relief. "Thank Gaia, I thought you were hurt or something. You were out for a while."
"A while?" Darren rasped and coughed. He slowly sat up, hissing as his head throbbed painfully. "What about the others?"
"The Street Action Team are still in one piece, at least, but they're pretty beat up. Annie and I aren't hurt, though." Gina said. "You're the last one to wake up."
Darren stood up with Gina help (noticing how cold she felt) and looked around. They were in the middle of a stone structure that was almost the same as the one in Airlann, though the pillars looked shorter and lacked the runes the other one had. They were in the middle of a cave, but the walls looked too smooth and polished to be natural.
The Minicons were lying on the wall outside the formation. Darren was relieved to see that they were not seriously hurt, but their injuries were still bad. They had severe burns all over their bodies, and parts of their armor were warped from the intense heat of the explosion that almost got them. Annie was sitting a little ways off from them, not facing anybody.
Darren scowled and stood up, shaking Gina off as she tried to stop him. "Darren, don't…"
He ignored the throbbing headache he had as he marched toward his sister and stood over her. "What the hell were you thinking?" He yelled at her. She looked at him but didn't reply. "That stunt you pulled could've gotten us all killed!"
"Excuse me for not knowing that we were going to get teleported halfway around the world." Annie said. Though her words were biting, they lacked their usual snarkiness.
"Don't get snippy with me. Centurion was almost killed trying to save us. All because you wanted to get your daily fix of adrenaline!"
"What the fuck do you want me to say? I'm sorry, okay? What else do you want me to do?" Annie yelled at him.
"I want you to start acting like you have some damn sense." Darren hissed. "This isn't a game, this is war. When are you going to remember that?"
"Darren, Annie, please stop." High Wire grunted. He winced as he felt his scorched joints grind painfully together in his movements. "This isn't the time to be fighting. We need to work together."
"Yeah, kid, lay off the poor girl." Grindor said weakly. "She's learned her lesson. No need to go ham on her."
The twins glared at each other before Darren looked away with a huff. Gina joined them as they planned their next move.
"How are you guys feeling." Gina asked the Minicons.
"We're alright…mostly." High Wire answered softly. "The flames did more damage than the explosion itself. We're a little burnt, but nothing our self repair systems can't handle. We should be good in about 30 minutes or so."
"We don't have 30 minutes. We need to find out where we are and find a way back to the Autobots pronto." Annie said. "Bulkhead's probably worried sick about me."
"Him and everyone else." Gina said. She looked around at the cave and had an idea. "Let's get out of here and go see where we are."
"Not without us." Sureshock said. Of the three Minicons, she was the least damaged, but Gina kept her from moving.
"I'm sorry, Sureshock, but you three need to stay here and rest up. We won't go too far."
"Even still, what if you run into trouble? None of you have any weapons aside from Darren's powers." Sureshock said, hoping they would at least reconsider going by themselves.
"We're good, High Wire. I may not have any weapons, but I still have this." Gina held up her wrist, which still had the tractor beam gauntlet.
"The freaky bracelet that almost gave you and Darren a concussion?" Annie crossed her arms, not looking that impressed. "Sure, add two of you to the care list and leave me alone in this hellhole."
"Well it's all we got, Annie, unless you have any better ideas." Darren said, glaring at his sister. She said nothing, and he nodded. "Okay, then. First thing on our list is to see where we are. Then we can contact the Autobots."
"Darren…" High Wire groaned.
"You aren't really in any position to stop us, High Wire. We need to at least know where that portal thing took us." Darren said and patted High Wire's unwounded shoulder. "We'll be careful, I promise."
High Wire sighed and nodded. "Just stay close to each other and watch your backs. Your sister will have our Sparks if anything happened to you three."
The children nodded and walked into the tunnel leading into the cave. Darren gave the Minicons one last look before following the girls out.
The tunnel was large, about three times the size of Centurion. It led upwards, heading straight to the surface at an angle where the kids had to almost crawl up to keep going. After around five minutes, they saw sunlight shining through the opening at the other end. Annie quickened her pace and reached the entrance first.
"Annie, what do you see?" Darren asked. When he heard her gasp, he grew concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Dude," Annie breathed. "You've got to see this."
Darren and Gina hurried towards the entrance, and stood up next to Annie. When their eyes adjusted to the bright light, they were similarly shocked by what they saw.
"Jinkies." Gina gasped.
"We are definitely in a place we are not supposed to be." Darren said despondently.
XXXXXX
Optimus and Ironhide made their way through the large halls of the Ark at a brisk pace. After withdrawing from the battleground, Optimus made his way to the command center with his security officer in tow. He already called Ratchet to locate the kids and the Street Action Team with Teletran-1. He hoped they were someplace safe, or at least still alive.
"This is a fine mess we're in." Ironhide grumbled.
"Your opinion is noted, Ironhide. Now help me find a way to get the children and Minicons back. Every moment we waste places them in potentially more danger." Optimus said. He sounded more agitated than normal, but one couldn't blame him given the circumstances.
They entered the Command Center, where the rest of the team were assembled. Ratchet was at the computer diligently working with Teletran-1 to pinpoint the kids' locations via their guardians' biosignatures, with Prowl looming over his shoulder.
"Have you found anything, Ratchet?" Optimus asked.
"Nothing, Optimus! I can't detect any signals from the sky spy or the Minicons!" Ratchet growled frustrated. "It's like they just vanished off the face of Terra!"
"You better hope that's not the case." Skyfire muttered.
"Work harder, Ratchet. Who knows where they are now? We don't have time to be half-assing this." Bulkhead said. Ratchet glared at him.
"Don't you think I know that?" Ratchet spat. "Go make yourself useful and search for them outside. Vent off some of that frustration that always seems to be nagging you. It'll give us all some peace of mind."
"I'll vent my frustration all right!" Bulkhead stomped towards the medic, but Skyfire held him back.
"Chill out, big guy. This isn't the time for a brawl." She said.
"She's right. We don't have time for this." Prowl said and looked at the others. "Does anyone know how to call them?"
"I have Darren's phone signal on me. I can call him using that." Arcee said. Placing two fingers to the side of her head, she linked her comm to Darren's phone. She heard the cell ringing, but it sounded louder than usual.
"I think you guys might need another plan of action." Tracer said as she held up Darren's ringing cell phone.
"Looks like we're out of luck." Skyfire sighed as she crossed her arms. "Oh well, I'll go arrange the funeral."
"Shut up, Skyfire." Arcee huffed. So much for that idea.
"Ratchet, can you at least tell if they're still alive?" Jazz requested. Ratchet did so without a word and when he was done, his mood improved somewhat.
"Yes! The Minicons' life signals are still online!" He said, garnering sighs of relief from the team.
"If the Street Action Team is still alive, then that means the kids must be alright as well." Arcee said.
"Yeah, but that doesn't answer where they are or if they're not in any danger." Ironhide said. There were still so many questions and not enough answers, let alone any leads to follow.
Optimus rubbed his chin in thought. "Skyfire."
Skyfire perked up. "Yeah?"
"How high can you fly?"
"Well, I'm not one to brag or anything , but on a full fuel tank I can reach the atmosphere in no time." She said proudly. "What do you want me to do, big red?"
"I want you to run some recon. We'll get nowhere searching here from the ground and we can't move the Ark without gaining attention from the Decepticons." Optimus said. "You have the best chance out of all of us in finding at least some signs of where the children are from orbit."
"Say no more, Prime. I'll do it." Skyfire saluted and headed out the room.
Optimus addressed the rest of his team. "Wheeljack, Ratchet, you're with me. We're going to investigate what that structure is and how it works. The rest of you will remain on standby until I give the order to move out."
"But Prime…" Bulkhead went silent when Optimus gave him a look.
"Anyone mobilizing without my authorization will be spending the rest of the day in the brig." Prime said firmly. "This is a critical moment and we can't lose our focus or restraint. Doing so will invite chaos not only on ourselves but on our friends as well. Is that clear?"
""Yes, sir."" The Autobots said.
"Prowl, you have command." Optimus told his tactician and left the room with Wheeljack and Ratchet.
Bulkhead clenched his large hands, feeling helpless and out of control. Arcee put a hand on his shoulder.
"Bulkhead, calm down. Now's not the time to lose our cool." She said to him. "Annie's fine. She's in good hands, and so are the others."
"I know, it's just…" Bulkhead shrugged helplessly. "There are worse things than the Cons out there, you know? And the Minicons can only do so much to protect them from what I've seen out there. Thinking about the danger they're in gets me steamed."
"Well stressing yourself out about what you can't do isn't going to achieve anything save overheating yourself." Prowl said from the terminal. "We'll find a lead to go on, but until then, I suggest you all recharge and stand ready in case Prime needs us. Ironhide and I can handle things here."
Arcee nodded and left the room with Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Jazz. Ironhide stood by the terminal watching Prowl work with Teletran-1.
"You don't seem all that worried for the kids." Ironhide pointed out.
"That's because I'm not. Despite my personal views on their involvement, I'd be a fool not to acknowledge the childrens' resourcefulness in handling dire situations." Prowl said calmly. He exhaled and looked at the older red mech. "But Bulkhead is right. There are more dangerous powers out there than the Decepticons, and I hope they don't run into them like you and Bulkhead did."
Ironhide grunted and crossed his arms. "As great it would be if that were true, we both know with our luck, something like that might happen anyway. Let's just hope that High Wire's team can keep those brats safe."
Prowl had very little faith in that statement, but he wisely kept his thoughts to himself.
XXXXXX
Soundwave laid on the recharge slab, his body still unconsciously twitching in pain-filled spasms as his body remained in induced stasis lock. Though he was no longer screaming, his mind was still filled with an agonizing rush of images and flashes that came at him with unearthly intensity. It was a feeling little different from the uncontrollable flood of thoughts from a thousand minds at once, that endless limbo he spent much of his life suffering from. Soundwave thought that once he had control of his powers again, he'd never experience that hell ever again. He was wrong.
But this was different. it wasn't his own powers going out of control, rather an outside force was assaulting his mind. Something big…something powerful. He could feel it breaking through his mental defenses, tearing away his mental walls in order to get information on him and his people. He couldn't allow sensitive information to be stolen like that so easily.
Seizing his body, Soundwave fought back against the invading presence, strengthening his mind and pushing back against it. He remembered what Ravage told him about focus, thinking on one thing and blocking out all other distractions. He forced his mind to resist and slowly push this invading presence out of his psyche. That was when he felt whatever was attacking him speak.
"You are not like the others." A deep voice rumbled. Just hearing it in his mind made Soundwave's body tremble. "You actually harbor some will to stand against me. Curious, but futile. I am a god, and I will take what I want. Who are you to deny me my rights?"
Soundwave's body seized up again as his mind was assaulted again, this time by a flurry of images. As the invader gleaned information from his min, he was doing the same, though he could barely get anything more than that. They depicted a beautiful world of floating mountains and an aurora filled sky. Another image showed that same world dead and lifeless, its colorful sky gone and the planet itself a shattered husk.
"Who are you aliens to seek to wage war on our world? You think that you can take what is yours without the consequences? Arrogance! Blasphemy! The time of alignment is coming, and when it comes, judgment will be set upon you!" The voice said. It wasn't just a threat, it was a promise. "This world is ours, and neither man nor alien can take it from us! We are coming!"
The resulting mental backlash was so violent that Soundwave was knocked from stasis. His arms and legs jerked free from their restraints and he fell to the floor. Startled, Knockout ran up to him and helped him to his feet.
"Soundwave, what are you doing? You're supposed to be resting!" Knockout exclaimed.
Soundwave took a moment to gather his senses and looked up at Knockout. "Take me…to Megatron."
"Whatever it is you want to tell him, it can wait until-urk!" Knockout gagged as Soundwave grabbed him by the throat and pulled him in close.
"Call…Megatron…" Soundwave growled.
"S-Sure, anything you say buddy." Knockout said nervously. To think that some people thought being a doctor wasn't a dangerous job.
XXXXXX
Wheeljack ran his scanner along the pillars of the stone formation in Airlann, humming a little tune as he did so. While he was working, Optimus and Ratchet stood nearby, discussing the events from earlier.
"And you noticed it didn't activate until Centurion crashed into it?" Ratchet repeated Prime's words as he rubbed his chin.
"Yes, it activated and generated some kind of energy field that teleported the children and Minicons somewhere else." optimus said.
Ratchet glanced over the pillars and studied the markings with a critical eye. He was no expert on alien history and such like the Autobot Valkyrie Glyph, but he spent enough time with Gina to know what these symbols were.
"These are Arian markings." He said. "In fact, it must be their language."
"Their language?"
"Yes. This structure must have been built by the Arians, just like nearly everything else on this planet." The medic explained. "And if that's the case, then it's possible that this isn't some shrine or burial mound but is instead some form of ancient technology. Wheeljack, have you found anything?"
"I'm detecting huge traces of energy in and around the circle, but I can't identify it." Wheeljack said, scratching his head. "It's weird. I'm definitely getting something, but my scanners aren't really picking up on just what this is."
"That's typical." Ratchet huffed.
"The most I can tell you is that this energy is ambient. It's still in the atmosphere around us, just coalesced to this point by the pillars."
Optimus tried not to get frustrated. None of this was getting them any closer to finding their missing friends. However, this information is a little interesting. He filed it for later and told Wheeljack to keep investigating.
Sparkplug noticed that Optimus seemed to be running on a short fuse since the kids were taken. He thought it was just the stress of the situation getting to him, but looking at Prime's expression, it seemed like something more.
"Optimus, are you feeling alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Sparkplug." Optimus sighed. He felt as if he aged a century in a single day. "I'm just feeling a bit stressed. It's nothing to worry about."
Sparkplug didn't look convinced, but decided to let it go. Optimus turned away from his Minicon partner and looked up at the sky. Advanced technology was at work here, technology that worked in very odd ways. It was becoming clear these Arians were more advanced than he originally though, and this was evidence enough, but they still had no idea where the kids had gone. He just hoped they were safe wherever they were, because it felt like this world was getting more and more hostile the longer they spent on it.
Prime lightly touched his chest plate, where the Matrix of Leadership rested under his Spark core. The ancient relic that had been lost since Nova Prime's disappearance was inactive most of the time unless he called upon its power in times of dire need, but today it was burning like a piece of metal left in the furnace for too long. The Matrix seemed to favor using pain to alert Optimus that something big was coming. At times it would slightly sting, and other times it would feel as if he was being incinerated from the inside out, but today it was getting worse.
Optimus knew this was some kind of omen, a prelude to something that was much bigger than himself, Megatron or any other cybertronian on this world. He had a feeling that it had something to do with those stone creatures that seemed to lord over this world in ancient times. This wasn't just a message, it was the start of a battle to the death.
XXXXXX
When the kids exited the cave, they entered what could only be described as a natural paradise. It was a bright and beautiful forest that surrounded an oasis, with streams of crystal clear water running through the trees. Birds could be heard chirping in the trees and colorful insects hovered near flowers. The air was crisp and clean, the weather warm and pleasant, with sunlight warm and inviting. One thing of note, however, was that aside from birds and insects, there weren't any other animals around, forget about looking for any other humans.
"Where are we?" Darren asked.
"No idea, but this place is pretty bitchin' considering we're in the middle of Fall." Annie said. "Man, it feels like spring around here."
"I can't tell where we are at all. This place…it's hard to get my bearings." Gina said. "There are tons of places in the world that has forests."
"But have you seen anything this beautiful." Annie took a deep breath of fresh air and started walking into the forest. "Come on; let's see some more of this place. I think it actually might be kinda cool."
Gina sighed and followed Annie into the brush, leaving Darren behind. He looked up at the sky, seeing what he thought were clouds, but were really large clouds of mist. Something about everything, from the trees to the mist clouds to the sky itself, seemed artificial. Even the flora here felt fake. It wasn't a good feeling for him and he remained on guard for any surprises.
The girls were busy looking at everything they could find. Annie, who was never one for flowers or pretty things in general, couldn't help but look at the wildly colorful plants in the small glade they were in. Gina, however, was looking at things from a more analytical standpoint.
"Some of these flowers are from other parts of the world. I recognize this one," She pointed at a white lotus flower. "It's from Xing. And this one," She pointed to a tall stalk of reeds sticking up from a pond. "Is from Egyptia. What are they all doing in one place?"
"That's another for another time. Right now, we need to call the Bots and tell them we're alright." Darren said.
"Wherever here is." Annie muttered.
Darren reached into his pocket but stopped himself. "I forgot, we left our phones back at the Ark."
"And I only have my sky spy." Gina said. "Wait, doesn't Annie have hers?"
"I think she does. Annie, do you…" Darren looked around and saw no sign of his sister. "Annie?"
Annie had broke apart from her friends to explore the forest more. There was something about this place that felt strange, though it was hard to describe. Maybe there was something in the air. Whatever the case, she felt strangely at peace here, like she could stay here forever. Away from the noise and problems of the outside world. Then she came upon another oddity.
"Whoa," Annie breathed. She now found herself at the forest's edge, where a large gate stood in front of an old and worn out temple made of stone. Its design was reminiscent of a Sunehran temple, but different in aesthetic.
Bordering the gates of the temple were two statues. Unlike the temple, they were made of metal, each with blue and red armor laced with gold along the lengths of their bodies. The statues had the shape of a canine, but their heads were shaped like huge cones and lacked eyes, noses and even mouths. Tiny golden wings extended from their spines and their tails looked like barbed whips. Walking closer to them, Annie saw signs on the stools the statues sat on, written in a strange language. Though Annie couldn't read it, the blue armored statue's name was "Fearless" and the red armored one's name was "Fairness".
"This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger." Annie remarked and approached the gate. She grabbed the rust gate and shook it hard, trying to get it open. "Come on, don't be like that. Open sesame!"
As Annie continued to struggle with the gate, she didn't notice that the noise she was making had attracted the wrong kind of attention. The statues, once lifeless and still, actually began to move. Fearless was the first to slowly move for the first time in thousands of years, its joints creaking and groaning from years of disuse. Annie didn't notice the statues moving until Fearless lashed out with its barbed tail, hitting her arm with its sharp spines ad leaving a long gash from her shoulder to her elbow.
"Shit!" Annie jumped back alarmed, spinning around as the statues jumped off their pedestals and stalked towards her. She backed away, clutching her bleeding arm. "G-Get back! I know kung fu you stupid-"
Fearless cut her off with a loud, metallic roar and lunged at her. Annie jumped to the side and barely dodged a swipe of Fairness's claws. She fell to the ground and hissed as her arm stung. Seeing both lion-dogs circling her, Annie did the only thing she could think of in this situation.
"HELP!"
Darren and Gina heard the scream that shattered the serenity of the forest and ran towards it without a second's hesitation. Annie continued to make as much noise as possible to make it easier for them to find her, and they emerged from the trees just in time to see her being attacked by two strange creatures.
"Leave her alone!" Darren ran forward, telekinetically tearing up two large stones from the ground and throwing them at the beasts. A wave of his hand shattered the stones into a dozen sharp pieces that stabbed into their armor. Gina ran forward and activated her tractor beam gauntlet, repelling Fairness and sending the beast crashing through the gates.
"Annie!" Darren ran over to his twin and looked her over. He winced at the bleeding cut on her left arm. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It's nothing Ratchet can't fix." Annie smirked, though she wasn't feeling very good at the moment. She just made another blunder was might actually get them killed this time.
Gina yelped as she repelled a charging Fearless, but was flanked by Fairness. Darren reached out and psychically grabbed her shirt to pull her back from the snapping jaws of the monster into his arms. He pushed Gina behind him as he shot a force blast at Fearless's leg, shattering its limb like fractured stone and sent it tumbling onto its side. Even still, it dragged itself towards them, and Fairness was also trying to flank them.
"It was nice knowing you guys." Gina whimpered. "You two were the best friends a nerd like me could ask for."
"Don't write your will, just yet, Gina. We're not dead yet," Darren said. "And I don't plan dying anytime soon."
"Think you can back that up with more than just words?" Annie asked.
Darren clenched his fists and levitated two large pieces of rock around him. "Watch me."
Fearless and Fairless chose that moment to attack, and Darren prepared himself to fight them to the bitter end. He had survived almost getting blown away by Megatron, being hunted by Flamewar-twice- and almost getting his head shot off by D-Va. He was not going to die at the hands of these monsters!
Just as he prepared to summon his ebony armor, something very unexpected happened. A large sword fell from the sky and impaled Fearless straight through the torso. Darren jumped back in surprise and Fearless struggled a bit before going limp. The sword pulled itself out of the body and separated into three tiny, human-sized aircraft that flew into the air. The kids immediately recognized them as cybertronian alt modes, each resembling terran aircraft; a sonic cruiser jet plane, a supersonic transport jet plane, and a cybertronian shuttle.
The sonic cruiser flew in low and fired automated guns into Fairness's side. The jet plane and shuttle performed a fancy aerial formation and fired two missiles each at the beast. They kids jumped back as Fairness exploded in a burst of flames and metal. The three aircraft flew above them before lowering to the ground and changing to robot mode.
They were all Minicons-the mech in front was a mostly gray mech with orange red powerlines running along his arms and a matching visor and faceplate. The mech who was a jet plane was slightly taller than the first mech, with a larger silver body with blue on the chest and wings on his back, sporting a faceplate that was just a clear orange. The mech who changed into a shuttle was the least armored of the trio, sporting the same silver color scheme as his companions and had sharp angular fins on his shoulders, with a red faceplate and orange visor.
"You alright there, squishies?" The mech with the cruiser alt mode asked. "Mighty dangerous of you to go roaming around these parts. Those baddies like to prowl around ruins like these to guard them from intruders. Don't they boys?"
"Yup." The jet plane nodded.
"Totally." The shuttle agreed.
"It's good luck we heard you screaming when we did or you would've been mince meat-or whatever those things eat."
"I don't think they eat, Runway." The shuttle said.
"Really? Damn, looks like I gotta fix the captain's log again." The mech named Runway said.
"Excuse me," Darren chose this moment to cut their rambling short. "Thanks for saving us. I don't think I could've handled them both at once like that."
"Anything to help a wayward traveler." Runway said. "Name's Runway, and this is my team…"
"Jetstorm." The jet plane nodded to them.
"Sonar." Said the shuttle.
"…And we're the Air Defense Team!" Runway said cheerfully. "We're from a distant planet you've probably never heard-"
"Cybertron." Gina said.
Runway stared at her before clearing his throat. "Okay, well, um, we're a race of robotic organisms from Cybertron called-"
"Minicons." Annie said.
Runway grumbled and continued. "A-Aren't you people wondering what we're doing here so far from-"
"Your ship crashed and split in half thousands of years ago. The whole crew was placed in stasis panels and scattered across the planet before the ship crashed. You guys crashed here and have been stuck in this forest since awakening from your stasis panels." Darren said.
"Okay, you guys are the worst." Runway sighed.
Darren chuckled. "I'm Darren and this is my sister Annie and my friend Gina. We're humans, the natives of this planet we call Terra and we've been helping the Autobots find the scattered Minicons all over the world for the past few months." He explained. "Now that we got the obligatory introductions out of the way, can you please tell us where we are? We were teleported here by mistake and our friends are really hurt."
"We can't tell you where we are, but we can tell you what this place is." Jetstorm said.
"Brigadoon." Sonar said.
"Briga-what?" Annie blinked.
"Brigadoon," Sonar repeated. "It's the name we gave this island."
"Island? You mean this place is an island?" Gina questioned. That was strange, since this place seemed too large to be an island. Not to mention the lack of moisture in the air that would suggest being near any body of water.
"Yeah, welcome to Brigadoon, the floating island!" Runway said proudly. Seeing the growing looks of horror on the kids faces, he asked, "What's with the faces?"
"Oh we are so fucked." Annie groaned.
For once, Darren agreed with her statement. Things were only getting worse by the minute.
XXXXXX
"I hate this planet." Flamewar growled. "I hate this planet with the fury of a thousand stars."
"You're not the only one, Flamewar, not stop whining and do your job." Nightshade said.
The two femmes were traveling towards the location Soundwave described from his dreams. Megatron was a bit skeptical at going on little more than dreams, but if there was something that could inflict such mental pain on Soundwave (in a manner all too reminiscent of the three Witches he killed on Lemnos), then it might not be such a waste of time after all. Megatron sent Nightshade and Flamewar to scout out the area. Both femmes were highly trained in field operations and recon in various environments, but that didn't mean they liked being near each other.
"So we're traveling through the coldest place on this god forsaken planet on the whims of a madmech who sounds like someone took a leak in his vocoder?" Flamewar snorted. "My abilities are too useful to be wasted on this farce."
"Shut your mouth!" Nightshade hissed. "Keep in mind you are still on probation for deserting the Decepticon army, so I'd watch my words if I were you. There are a lot of Cons out there who want a piece of you, among them Razorclaw. Do you want me to hand you over to him?"
"…No." Flamewar grumbled. That was not something she was looking forward to. If Razorclaw ever got a hold of her, death would be a mercy compared to the torture he would inflict upon her.
Nightshade shook her head as she watched Flamewar drive across the frozen tundra in her alt mode. Flying through the icy covered mountains that surrounded them, they continued on their route when Nightshade got a call from Songbird.
"Mistress," The targetmaster's voice sounded breathless as she gave her report. "I think I have found something that proves Soundwave's claims."
"How bad is it?" Nightshade asked, knowing it was probably something she didn't want to see.
"I think you should see for yourself, mistress."
'That bad, then.' Nightshade thought. She increased her speed, leaving Flamewar behind as she reached the cliff of the mountain they were on. She switched to robot mode and landed on the snow covered ground. When she walked to the edge, her eyes fell wide open as she saw what made Songbird so breathless.
"By the Allspark." She gasped.
There was a massive cloud that slowly drifted through the mountain pass, far too low for a cloud of that size to be traveling. But this was no cloud. Nightshade could see inside it and spotted a massive island floating in mid-air, held aloft by some invisible force that defied the laws of gravity. Nightshade could only gap at the strange sight as Flamewar drove up next to her and changed to robot mode, looking down at the giant landmass with a bemused look.
"I take it you never saw a floating island before?" Flamewar remarked. In a flash, Nightshade had a sword to her neck. "It was a joke, calm down."
"We need to call this in to Megatron." Nightshade said. "This…is something he must know about."