Chapter 28-Hearts of Iron
Ironhide stood across from Optimus with his arms raised in a boxing stance. He had his left foot forward and bent, with his right leg slightly behind his left for lower stability. Optimus was in the same position, though he was hopping from foot to foot in place, ready to move quickly on a dime if need be. It was a habit he inherited from Jazz, way back when they used to train together.
The two Autobots were in the training room having a little spar, for old times' sake if nothing else. Ironhide had actively searched Optimus out to have one with the Prime, saying that he needed a real workout if he wanted to stay in shape. Optimus thought it strange, seeing as nothing was wrong with Ironhide's current technique, but refrained from questioning him and agreed to fight. Even at his advanced age, Ironhide was still no slouch when it came to fighting. Perhaps it was because of another reason. Optimus would not pry into where he was not wanted, but he hoped Ironhide would tell him in time.
At an unspoken signal, Ironhide rushed forward and attacked with a one-two combo, which Optimus blocked with his arms, and lashed out with a kick. Ironhide jumped back and did a low kick to sweep Prime's legs from under him. It worked, but Optimus put all his weight into his back and used his legs to kick forward, using the momentum to propel himself upwards, catching Ironhide in the chest, knocking Ironhide back and off balance.
Ironhide quickly righted himself, but Optimus didn't give him time to recover, as he rushed at Ironhide with a flurry of punches. Ironhide put up his guard, but he grunted as Optimus's punches caused his arms to rattle from the force behind them. Sure, the red Autobot was known for having denser armor than most Autobots, while not losing most of his mobility, but Optimus was also known for his immense strength. When putting the two elements together, Ironhide's armor could only take so much damage before he fell under Prime's relentless assault. He waited for Optimus to dish out another punch, but just as the leader reared back for another punch, Ironhide jumped up and did a spin kick at Prime's chest.
The kick connected, but to his surprise, Optimus grabbed his leg and hauled his body off the ground in an amazing feat of strength. With a grunt, Optimus threw Ironhide to the floor and pinned him twisting an arm behind the mech's back and putting all his weight onto his legs so he didn't have any leverage to move. Ironhide struggled, but found that he couldn't move, and reluctantly gave the match to Optimus.
"Fine," He grunted. "You win. Now get the hell off me."
Optimus got off Ironhide and helped his friend up. "That was a good fight, Ironhide. You're still durable as ever."
"And you're still hard as hell to take down. Seriously, what is it with young bots like you jumping around like Petro-rabbit, hopping all over the place?" Ironhide grumbled. "What ever happened to the good old days when you just stood in place and beat each senseless?"
"Things change, Ironhide. That's how life is." Optimus replied. "Let's take a break. We've been at this all morning."
"I can still keep going, Prime."
"You have recon coming up, and it won't do for you to be running on a half empty tank in the field."
Ironhide frowned but conceded and allowed the Prime to take him for a drink. As they walked through the vast halls of the Ark, Optimus wondered why Ironhide wanted to train so much. Ironhide was a persistent and diligent soldier, always checking on his weapons to make sure they were operational, always training hard in the sparring room to sharpen his age old skills. But lately he was a bit too focused on training, and spent a lot of time at the energon bar drinking in solitude. Whenever he was like this, it usually meant that something was bothering him. And Ironhide wasn't the type to talk about his feelings, but Optimus wasn't known for giving up before he tried.
"Ironhide, is something wrong?" Optimus asked. Ironhide frowned at the question.
"No, Prime. I'm doing fine." He answered. "I'm healthy as a lamb."
"It's not your health I'm worried about, Ironhide. You're only this active off duty when something is on your mind. Just tell me, I can help."
Ironhide grunted and rubbed his forehead. "Just…feelin' a bit self conscious, Prime. Spendin' too much time by myself and my thoughts just get to me. Age isn't my best friend right now and it's startin' to show."
"Your age has no effect on your skills as a soldier, Ironhide. If Kup is able to keep going despite his physical limitations, then you should have no problem either." Optimus said.
Ironhide said nothing, simply scowling. It was a common insecurity he had that only a few people were aware of. Age among cybertronians was a rare concern, seeing as many could just retrofit new parts onto their frames and call it a day. In fact, only a handful of Autobots and Decepticons fighting in the war still had their whole pre-war body frames, unaltered and untouched by the ravages of war and time. They could add new parts to their bodies and make themselves shiny and new, but cybertronians were far from immortal. Their Sparks were like miniature suns, they could live for millions of years, but eventually they grew smaller before shrinking out of existence.
People like Ironhide and Kup were old, Golden Age old, and they were at a point in their lives where their bodies weren't as responsive as they were back when the space bridges were still operational. Times changed, but they didn't, and sometimes when things were quite and they were left alone, they would suddenly remember that their lifetime of combat experience meant only so much in a changing universe, and that their bodies were only as good as they were so long as they stayed within their limits. Ironhide was nowhere near as old as Kup, but he was getting up there in years and he often wondered if he would still be relevant in the coming cycles.
'That is, if they survive to see the end of the war.' Optimus thought morbidly. "Ironhide, let's have something to drink. I'm paying."
"Prime, we don't have to pay anything."
"I know, but I know you like hearing it."
Ironhide grinned at Optimus and punched his shoulder. "Cheeky bastard." Ironhide didn't want pity, but he welcomed a chance to have a drink with a good friend.
Looking at Prime now, he had to marvel at how far they had come together. Back during the Decepticon Uprising, things were much different between them. The Autobots were just a security force made to fight the Decepticon terrorists who were sowing seeds of dissent among the populace. Ironhide had joined the force after leaving the state militia from Praxus along with Prowl, and he was absolutely disgusted by how haphazard the Autobots looked. Most of them didn't even know how to handle a gun, let alone fight against seasoned warriors and murderers, and they were all led by this kid, Orion Pax, who had connections with Zeta Prime. For a veteran like Ironhide, it was insulting to think that these bots who couldn't tell their aft from their afterburner was Cybertron's first and only defense against the growing tides of war.
Ironhide didn't hide his disdain for Orion Pax. He considered the mech an upstart from the beginning and was not afraid to criticize him for nearly every decision he made, from his recruitment choices to his style of fighting. His tactics may have worked on the police force, but things were different in the military. He made it clear to Pax that he thought that he wasn't a solid leader that could handle something as big as this, but despite all the insults he threw at the mech, Pax never once yelled back in anger. If anything, he took Ironhide's words into account, listening, rebutting and them acting on the criticisms. Ironhide didn't know when or how, but soon he was at Orion's side acting as his mentor in warfare and leadership, using his knowledge to help forge the Autobots into a force people could put their faith in (which was hard considering the growing distrust of the senate and its associated forces).
He didn't know when things changed between them for good. Perhaps it was when they were raiding that Decepticon cell hiding in Tesarus Minor. They walked right into an ambush thanks to some faulty info, and the Autobots were forced to retreat to avoid taking on any casualties. Orion, ever the hero, had stayed behind to cover their escape. He blew up the bridge that connected the small plate of land to the rest of the metal continent-with himself still on it. Ironhide was barely able to keep Orion from falling to his death, and nearly scrapped himself in the process. As he recalled, it took them two hours to climb back up to the surface, all while trying to avoid getting devoured by stray scraplets that lingered just a few feet beneath the surface.
When he asked Orion why he did that, with a straight face Orion replied, "How can I ask any of my soldiers to do what I am perfectly capable of doing myself? I would never do that to any of my friends, and that includes you."
Ironhide grinned as he remembered how he just stared at Pax for a solid minute before clocking him in the face and passing out. How could anyone be so selfless? He had personally vowed to stay close to Orion as his bodyguard, considering how he was such a high profile figure, but he layered that under an excuse of making sure that Pax didn't get himself killed being a hero.
"Optimus, Ironhide!" Sparkplug ran up to the two mechs with a look of urgency.
"Yes, Sparkplug?" Optimus said.
"Teletran just detected another stasis panel!" Sparkplug said.
Optimus and Ironhide shared a glance before Optimus said, "Looks like we'll have to put the drinks on hold."
XXXXXX
Ironhide wondered how Ratchet and Gina were able to work so well together. They only knew each other for a few months and they already work as a coherent unit. Hell, even the Autobot cadets he trained didn't get this organized after months of training, and he ran a tight ship.
The pair were working at a Teletran-1 terminal to bring up the location of the stasis panel they were looking for. Downloading pictures from Gina's computer, Ratchet brought it on the larger screen.
"We found this on the internet an hour ago." Gina said. "It's a picture showing an annual festival in Azadistan."
The image showed a parade, where men in white robes were leading a crowd of people through the streets. In the center of the throng of people were four carriers holding a large platform with a golden chest on it. On the sides of the chest was a familiar symbol engraved into the gold.
"A Minicon symbol, that's definitely it." Ironhide nodded. "But is the actual panel in there? The last thing we need is to go rushing in on a wild Turbofox chase."
In response to that, Gina brought up another image; this one was of the priests praying in front of an altar, while the head priest held up a small blue and green object to those in attendance. The image resolution was garbage, as was often the case in these photos, but the Autobots could tell it from shape alone. It was definitely a stasis panel.
"When was this picture taken?" Optimus asked.
"A little over a year ago, turns out the panel was considered to be a sacred relic by the people of Azadistan." Ratchet said. "These photos who the priests transporting it from temple to temple during their annual celebration as per their customs. It's rare for any pictures to be taken of this event, much less of them in action during their prayers, which is why we're just noticing this now."
"Then we better get a move on before the Cons sniff it out before us." Ironhide said. Though the Cons' only spy on the team was gone, they couldn't let their guard down in regards to leads like this.
"Not so fast, Ironhide. Azadistan is in the Middle East, and it's a total warzone." Gina said. "The kingdom itself is a hotbed for insurgents and civil conflicts, which only add on to the nation's social and economic strife. It's not a safe place to be, especially if you're a foreigner, and it's also the last place you want to be holding alien robot death matches."
"To make things even more complicated, the country is one of Karaba's staging grounds in that part of the world." Ratchet added.
"Karaba," Ironhide grunted. "They're those pro-esper terrorists, right?"
"The very same." Gina nodded. "They rolled in last year and wasted no time in entrenching themselves into Azadistan's hierarchy, just a month after Queen Marina Ibrahim's coronation. It's an open secret that the queen negotiated with Karaba, offering sanctuary in her country in return for protection from neighboring countries looking to start any trouble with them."
"She made a deal with terrorists?" Ironhide frowned.
"It wasn't by choice. Azadistan was barely holding itself together thanks to being in the middle of two warring countries that sought their resources and territory. The last thing the queen needed was to have Karaba rolling in and causing more destruction to promote their views. If anything, she's using them as a deterrent to keep other nations at bay, including Osea." Gina said firmly. She knew the queen was a good person, she was just forced to do things in order to save her people. It was an honorable thing to do, something not many leaders can prove these days. "And I should also mention that the panel disappeared from its place at the temple around the same time Karaba appeared."
Optimus crossed his arms. "I doubt that's a coincidence."
"It's not. Karaba probably has the panel in their position and is using it as leverage against the Azadistan government." Ratchet deduced.
Optimus nodded and thought of how to safely approach this. A place like Azadistan was the last place he wanted a team going to, since all the fighting and chaos made it hard to properly work in secret. Karaba was another matter entirely with its own problems. "Stealth will be paramount on this mission. Ironhide, you're with me on this one. We'll gather information on the panel to confirm it's still in the area."
"Yes, Prime." Ironhide nodded.
"I know you don't need to hear this, Optimus, but be careful. Karaba may not be as bad as OZ, but they're still dangerous." Gina wanted to hammer in just how dangerous Karaba is. "They're hostile to any and all humans, since many of them were abused by humans. Some might even attack you on sight."
"We can handle it, kid. Our holomatters can take any punishment those yahoos can give." Ironhide said carelessly, but Gina shook her head.
"You don't understand, there are all kinds of espers in Karaba and one of them might be a telepath. If they scan your holomatter, then they might learn that you're not human. And in a place like Azadistan, they probably have some powerful espers in their ranks." Gina explained, deadly serious. "Any esper Beta level and above is dangerous, so be careful out there and don't start a fight if you can avoid it."
"Thank you for your concern, Gina. We will watch our backs." Optimus said kindly. "But depending on how this mission goes, we might cross paths with Karaba regardless. Should that happen, we will improvise."
"Now that we're done with debriefing," Ironhide cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. "Let's say we get a move on before we lose daylight? We got a Minicon to save."
XXXXXX
The kingdom of Azadistan was a small nation located near the central region of the area between Emmeria and Usea called the Middle East. Like much of the region, Azadistan was constantly embroiled in a struggle for survival, either from the elements or their fellow man, who seem keen on wiping out the small country. The stress of the current political and social decay in the kingdom were present on the faces of the people, decadent expressions that Ironhide recognized all too well from his time hunting for Cons in the city of Nyon back on Cybertron.
Optimus and Ironhide drove through the crowded streets of Azadistan's capital city, Anzu, in their vehicle forms with holomatters in their driver's seats. Despite it being one of the largest and most advanced cities in the nation, it gave off a feeling of holding more people than it physically could. It was evident they were still suffering the effects of the Gulf War instigated by the kingdom of Aslan a few years ago after Osea got involved in the mess. It was under the claim of protecting the republic's interest that they explained their reasons for interfering in the war, and because their involvement with their more advanced military and weaponry, Osea had gained the hatred and animosity from most of the government and public. With all the fighting that was going on, Ironhide could see that the people were sick and tired of being pushed around by other nations-local and foreign. They wanted to feel safe again, and were willing to ally with known terrorist if they had to get that security.
Ironhide kept an eye out for anybody strange, and saw that mixed in with the crowd were a few men and women wearing white body armor and sporting assault rifles bearing the symbol of a crescent moon with a star inside. They looked no different from the civilians, but Ironhide saw how they acted; they were alert, quietly scanning the crowd and streets for any signs of dissent, totally focused despite the nosiness of the city square.
"Prime," Ironhide said. "Those people in white armor…are they Karaba?"
"Yes. It seems their presence in the area is more dominant than I thought." Optimus said.
"They aren't even trying to hide themselves. Aren't they afraid of getting seen by the Osean military?"
"I doubt they have anything to fear. By allying with Azadistan, they've essentially made it so that any action taken against them will be seen as an act of war against Azadistan. A double-edged sword." Optimus explained, idly scanning the people he drove past. "But that doesn't stop some people in Osea from demanding a strike against the kingdom without care for the political turmoil it'll cause."
"Karaba acts as Azadistan's sword, while Azadistan acts as Karaba's shield." Ironhide muttered. He couldn't fault the logic in that. "That's pretty damn smart."
"Karaba has to be smart while striking out against a world power like Osea in the name of amalgam superiority. They're gaining more and more members every day and they've become a small army. They're small, but strong enough to make others think twice about standing against them. Azadistan is taking advantage of that to ensure that they maintain their sovereignty."
It was something both Bots were familiar with. Back on Cybertron, numerous parties joined the Decepticons, back before they evolved into an army, out of the promise of breaking free from the stagnate ties that had degraded their society beyond measure. Some joined because they were promised a world where they didn't have to look over their shoulder just for speaking out of turn. The people were desperate and needed someone to protect them, to guide them into a new age. Megatron, ever the opportunist, had used this to great effect in his campaign and gained thousands of followers all over the planet. It was a miracle the Autobots had managed to hold off the Decepticon advance with their lack of resources and numbers in comparison to the Cons.
"When they stopped at an intersection, Prime gave Ironhide the game plan. "Ironhide, we'll split up here. We will have to search for clues for the panel's location, and that means asking around. If it turns out that Karaba does have the panel, then we must locate their base."
"Wouldn't they put it inside the city?"
"They may work with the Azadistan government, but that doesn't mean that they're welcome. There is a high probability that Karaba has a base outside the city, far from Anzu, but close enough that they can still keep an eye on their agents. We must be thorough, but also be careful as well."
"Got it, Prime." Ironhide said. "Good hunting."
"Same to you, Ironhide."
They split up and drove towards different parts of the city. Optimus headed to the marketplace where there were more people, while Ironhide searched the residential areas, which was a more inconspicuous route for him. Neither mech knew who to ask or what to look for. They had to be careful to avoid raising a stink among the populace lest they draw attention to themselves and that was something they wanted to avoid at all costs during the early stages of the operation.
Naturally they had varying degrees of success. Ironhide's gruff demeanor and the rugged appearance of his holo-avatar had made his interrogation of the locals more difficult than it should be. The way he carried himself just screamed 'thug' and people avoided him, which only made him more aggravated. Meanwhile, Optimus was having a lot more luck in his search. He still exuded a natural charisma that helped ease the people he talked to out of their shells, allowing them to feel at ease around him despite the large size of his holomatter and deep voice. But despite this, they had no luck in finding anything out about the panel aside from what they already know-it went missing a few weeks after Karaba had set up shop in Anzu.
"No one has seen the relic since its disappearance," Said an old woman Prime was conversing with. She was making a clay pot as she spoke to him, her white eyes staring up at his large form unblinkingly. "Anyone who might have seen it on the night it was stolen was killed during the theft, presumably so they wouldn't talk."
I see," Optimus frowned. "Has Karaba made any demands or taken responsibility?"
"Of course not, young man." She scoffed. "Do you think they would really confess to the crime? No, those Karaba bastards didn't say a word, but everyone knows they did it. But there's nothing we can really do about it, is there?"
So Karaba steals the panel, but doesn't make any demands, leaving them open to suspicion, but without any proof of their guilt, the kingdom couldn't do anything without starting hostilities with Karaba. Karaba keeps the panel under heavy guard, giving the unspoken demand that Azadistan holds up their part of the deal or else their precious religious symbol is lost forever. Optimus wasn't worried about the panel being damaged, they were built to withstand the worst environmental conditions nature can muster, including falling from orbit, but he still needed to find it to rescue the poor soul within.
"Thank you for the information ma'am. You were a bit help." Optimus said and began to walk away.
"Who are you, boy?" The old woman asked. "I know you're not from around here, and those questions you're asking are bound to draw attention to you? Are you some sort of secret police agent or one of those government lapdogs from across the sea?"
"I am just a soldier trying to make the world a better place for all of us." Optimus answered calmly.
"That makes both of us." The old woman cackled. "Word of warning, boy. These Karaba goons are no joke. Start snooping too much and they'll make you disappear if you start causing too much trouble for them."
"I was be careful, ma'am. Thank you for the warning." Replied Optimus and he walked out of the marketplace down a little side street to reach his vehicle mode. Unfortunately, he ran into someone less pleasant than the old woman.
"Hey, you!" A man shouted. "Hold it right there!"
Optimus bit back a curse as he saw two Karaba soldiers heading his way. One was a large man who looked like a bipedal crocodile clad in a tight white bodysuit that barely held his reptilian bulk in. The other was a woman with long blue-green hair that reached down to her tailbone. Optimus' keen eyes saw that her hair moved on its own, coiling and uncoiling around the ends like snakes. She wore the same white bodysuit as her partner, but this one hugged her figure and enhanced her natural beauty.
"Yes?" Optimus asked as they stopped in front of him. "Is something a matter?"
"You bet your ass something's wrong!" Crocodile Man growled, his forked tongue sliding between his sharp teeth. "Word around town says that you're askin' questions about us. If you have something to say, then say it to our faces bub!"
"Gila, chill out." The long haired woman said. "Look dude, you've done nothing wrong, but it looks a bit suspicious that a foreigner is asking questions about us. With how chaotic things are getting here and in Osea, we can't be too careful these days."
"So how about you cut the crap and piss off?" Gila said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any trouble." Optimus said. "I have a wife who's visiting for the week and she wanted to pray before it once before she went to head back overseas. I only wanted to know where it is so she can-"
"You think we give a damn about that!?" Gila hissed, his voice turning into a growl.
"Gila, chill out. It's too hot for your trigger temper." The woman sighed.
"No, fuck that Lorelei!" Gila shouted. "Self entitled pricks like him are the reason we're slumming it out in this fucking dust bowl! I'm getting tired of bowing down to these humans when they're better off mulch for the worms!"
Optimus took a step back as Gila stomped towards him, gnashing his sharp teeth and growling ferociously. He got into a stance, ready to fight the man off with force if need be, but before Gila could throw the first strike, long strands of oddly colored hair wrapped around the crocodile man's neck, arms and waist. Surprisingly, she was actually holding him back. Her hair must be stronger than it looked.
"Beat it, human!" The woman grunted, her feet sliding across the ground in her attempt to restrain her partner. "Scram before he rips you apart!"
Optimus nodded and ran back out of the side street. Once he was around the corner, he disengaged his avatar and full consciousness returned to his real body. Sighing, he contacted Ironhide.
"Ironhide, did you have any luck?"
"No," Ironhide grumbled over the line. "Freakin' cowards kept avoiding me like the rust plague. I could barely get a word in before they just sidestepped me like I was gonna mug them."
Optimus wanted to say that's what he got for choosing a holomatter avatar that looked like a member of a biker gang mixed with a serial killer, but he was nice enough to stay silent on that. But it didn't stop that smile that broke across his face. When Ironhide asked him about his part, he told him what happened with the Karaba soldiers.
"Ha! And here I thought I was going to be the one to start a fight with the locals." Ironhide grinned.
"It was fortunate that one of them had enough restraint to hold him back and not join in on the fun." Optimus said. Though the holomatters, being hard-light technology instead of flesh and blood, were immune to pain, a powerful attack was enough to severely harm their real forms before they had a chance to retract their psychic link to the avatars.
"So I guess that answers our question of who has the panel. Wonderful." Ironhide sighed. "So what's our next move?"
"Locate where their base is, then formulate a plan on how to get in without knowing the layout of the facility-if there is one." Optimus said, sounding tired. This mission just got even more complicated within a very short span of time. "Remain on standby until I can figure out where to begin."
"Yes, Prime."
Ironhide cut the link and sighed. He looked out the window, watching the people walk by him. He huffed in aggravation and drove away from the quiet neighborhood, heading towards the marketplace where Prime would be. Looks like there would be no action for him today.
XXXXXX
"I hate this place so much." Ironhide grumbled. "I should've gotten Jazz to go instead. He likes wasting time on missions."
He was stuck in the middle of the overcrowded marketplace trying not to hit impatient pedestrians who thought that running in front of him was a good idea. He was sorely tempted to do just that to make a point to force others to obey traffic laws; damn fools. They were lucky he was an Autobot. After driving around in circles for a parking spot, he finally found one and snagged it before another driver in a van too large for the spot could even look at it. Of course the driver tried to start something over said parking spot, but considering Ironhide's holomatter looked like he was part of a biker gang and rolled with the best of him, the driver quickly backed off. With that little altercation done, all he could do now was wait.
And so here he was, slumming out in the middle of a city that was just a few murders away from tearing itself apart. All this inaction was making his trigger finger itchy and that was something that didn't bode well for anyone near him. He didn't get it, Karaba were terrorists, and he had seen the damage they've caused in Delpoi, the people they've killed in their pursuit of conquest. Why weren't they just shaking a goon down for the location of their base and then storming the place under a disguise? He knew the reason, he wasn't like those Autobot cadets who think with their guns instead of their heads. Taking aggressive action against a group as volatile as Karaba could spell disaster for the people of Azadistan, or even Osea. They could start an international incident if they were reckless.
'If these bastards were OZ we wouldn't be sneaking around them. We'd have taken them out before they even knew what hit them.' Ironhide thought. Thinking about those cannibalistic nutjobs got his oil boiling again and he groaned. 'How long is Prime going to take with this?'
"You're not going anywhere you little freak!"
A yell caught his attention and he curiously looked down the alleyway to his left. Three men were cornering a young woman against the wall. She was a young thing, a teenager basically, with long lavender hair that reached halfway down her back and short curved horns on her head, dressed in a tight white shirt and jeans. Ironhide saw the bats and other blunt objects in their hands and knew this wasn't a happy get-together. Scowling, he generated his holomatter and walked into the alley. He just found the perfect way to vent his frustration.
"We're only going to say this once, demon," The ringleader, a young man who would've looked handsome had he not been sporting an ugly scowl on his face, growled. "Get out of our home, and take those other freaks with you. You bring bad fortune upon our nation, and we can't take it anymore!"
The girl didn't look scared at all. If anything, she looked a bit annoyed. "Samir, we've been down this route before. I can't order my comrades to leave the city. They're under the command of someone higher than me. Surely, even someone of your intelligence can understand that."
"You better watch your mouth you little bitch or-"
"Or what? None of you can touch me." She said.
"Is that so?" Samir sneered. "Let's see if you're still talking shit after we beat you to a bloody pulp!"
"Yeah, let's show the bitch her place!" His friends cheered.
Samir reached out to grab the girl, but his hand was suddenly caught in a vice grip that nearly shattered his wrist. Both he and the girl looked up to see Ironhide looming over them, his face stone cold.
"That's how you treat a lady." Ironhide growled.
"Stay out of this, outsider!" Samir shouted. "We're showing this demon what happens to people who invade our kingdom. Don't interfere!"
"Yeah," Ironhide drawled. "That's not going to happen."
Ironhide leaned back as one of the men swung a bat at his head and lunged forward, punching the attacker in the jaw. The blow nearly shattered his jaw and threw him face first into a dumpster, breaking his nose on impact and knocking him out. The other good took out a pocket knife and tried to stab him. Just like his friend, Ironhide quickly took him out with an elbow to the face before throwing him into Samir, sending both men to the dirty ground.
"Next time, don't try to fight a guy taller than you. It'll save some of your dignity." Ironhide grinned and turned to the girl. "You okay, kid?"
The girl glared up at him. "You didn't have to help me. I was doing fine on my own."
"What, no thank you?" Ironhide quipped. "Kid, you were cornered by three thugs in an alley. I don't know how things go around here, but that's not a good sight for me."
"I am a warrior of Karaba, stranger." She said firmly. "I can take care of myself. Observe."
The girl raised her arm and to Ironhide's surprise, the limb began dissolving into sand, which shot over his shoulder into Samir, who was trying to get Ironhide with a sneak attack. Samir screamed as thousands of sand particles tore at his face, stripping away at his skin, getting into his eyes, nose and mouth. Each grain of sand was sharp enough to cut into his flesh, and it was like being inside a cloud of glass shards flying straight at him. Ironhide was awed yet horrified at the sight and noticed that Samir was starting to choke on the sand.
"Whoa, hold up!" He said. "You're gonna kill him!"
"That's the idea."
"Look, kid, if you kill him, then the cops are gonna get involved," It was the only excuse he could think of. "And I know you don't want any more trouble than this."
The girl stared at him for a moment before stopping her assault. The sand cloud stopped tearing into Samir, who had passed out from the pain, before reforming into the girl's arm. Ironhide let go of the breath he was holding. Sure, he had seen espers in action before like Darren and Kevin, but they didn't have powers as outlandish as that. Honestly, it was a bit unnerving.
Still, this might be the opening I was looking for.' He thought. "Hey kid, you said you're from Karaba right?"
"Yes I am." She answered. "Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. In fact, you're just the person I'm looking for." Ironhide grinned. "Do you know where I can join?"
XXXXXX
"Ironhide, this plan of yours is too risky," Optimus said over the comm channel. "The chances of things going wrong are too great."
"We don't have a choice, Prime. I saw an opportunity and I took it." Ironhide replied, sounding confident in his decision. "And I've already put my plan into action, so I'm sticking with it."
After telling Optimus of his encounter with the Karaba soldier, Ironhide formulated a plan that he literally thought up on the spot. It involved him having the agent taken him into the base and infiltrating their headquarters under the guise of a potential esper recruit. Optimus didn't hesitate to tell Ironhide that the plan had too many flaws and had a small window for error, but he failed to convince his friend not to go along with this dangerous plan.
"Trust me, Prime. I know what I'm doing." He said. "I'm not green like those kids we work with."
"I know, Ironhide. I do trust you, but the circumstances have me worried. There's a high possibility of the espers finding out about your true identity. What will you do if that happens?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I don't make contingency plans like Prowl. I just know this is going to work."
Optimus sighed at his security officer's stubbornness and relented to his plan. "Very well, be careful. I will follow your signal and be in position for extraction is things go wrong."
"Hopefully that won't be the case." Ironhide chuckled. "Be ready in case things get hot. I'll see you in the lion's den."
Ironhide signed off and Optimus sighed again. As experienced Ironhide was on the battlefield, he wasn't all that skilled in espionage like Jazz and Bumblebee. But he trusted his security officer to keep things under control, and so far Ironhide managed to at least get a potential lead on this mission. He just hoped things go smoothly, or they'll have another human organization hunting them down.
XXXXXX
Ironhide gave the still nameless girl a ride to the secret Karaba base that was located a few miles outside the city. Once she contacted her superiors, she gave Ironhide directions to the hidden base, taking them a few miles away from the city, out into the wilderness that was rarely traversed by people these days, save for military convoys and merchants. Ironhide had long since lost sight of the city and hoped Prime was still keeping tabs on him, knowing that the narrow canyons and tight corners would prove to be a problem. These people knew the land well enough to set up shop in places where they could be sure that no large military force could travel through.
Ironhide's avatar glanced at his passenger, who hadn't said a word to him since they left the city except to give him directions to the base. She led him to a small rocky outcropping after driving through a curved, narrow canyon. Initially not expecting much, Ironhide was surprised by the community he saw living there.
The canyon spread out into a large valley that was completely composed of black solidified magma. The ground, canyon walls, even the rock formations above the cliffs were covered in smooth, polished onyx that glinted beautifully in the blazing sun. His destination was a large gate at the mouth of the valley, where two guards were stationed. As Ironhide drove up to them, the girl quickly explained that he was with her and allowed them through.
As they passed through the front gates, Ironhide was surprised to see that this supposed terrorist camp looked more like a small village. Like the canyon, everything was covered in onyx, which composed everything from the large houses and the fortifications that looked impossible to make without the power of an esper. Ironhide even saw children playing in the open area. Woman sat chatting while watching the children, men were hard at work either selling food, building or patrolling the village. Everything looked normal, save for the dozens of people sporting visible animalistic or abnormal appearances that ranged from simple animal appendages to truly strange appearances like a woman whose body was covered in hard armor plates.
"This was not what I was expecting to see." Ironhide said. The girl looked at him.
"What exactly were you expecting?" She asked, not sounding malicious, only curious.
"I don't know." Ironhide shrugged. "Soldiers doing exercises, weapons training, maybe a prison block or two. You know, what they show on tv."
"The Osean Republic likes to paint a picture of us based on our actions. They see a few training camps separate from settlements like this and they think that every man, woman and child is a terrorist in order to justify the unmitigated killing." She said. "This place is a temporary sanctuary for espers who live in this region. While we're stationed in Azadistan, we've made it our top priority to find and recruit as many espers as possible. Here, some people have a chance to have some semblance of a life, away from the hateful stares and violence."
Ironhide saw a little girl who looked like a humanoid cat playing with a boy who had sharp hair like porcupine spines. "A lot of children here." He noted.
"War orphans. They've lost their homes to the fighting between insurgents and rogue militias here. Some were abandoned and chased away because of their powers."
"Parents would do that to their children?" He frowned.
"You'd be surprised how fragile the bond between a parent and their child is when espers are concerned. This is common knowledge no matter where you come from." She looked out the window. "It seems that you are not very well versed in how this world really works, despite you age."
'It would seem so.' Ironhide thought.
This place was a shanty town for the abandoned and forgotten, people who were hated by the world because they grew wings or could control the elements. It never occurred to Ironhide that Karaba was also a haven for people who had no place else to go, and was a group that welcomed those who were angry at the rest of humanity for what they did to them. In the world of espers, the bonds between siblings, parents, even children, were not as sacred as they are with naturals. Here was a tightly knit community that saw each other as family in all but blood, because their real blood tried to stone them to death or led a mob that tear them to pieces on the grounds of doing "God's work".
Ironhide was sickened by this. Knowing this, it was easier to understand why Darren and Kevin went to such great lengths to keep their powers hidden. No one knew how people will react to espers among them. It reminded him too much about the Decepticon Uprising and the absurd lengths Zeta Prime took to root out any sympathizers to eliminate-kill, not capture-in order to quell the growing revolution. Her stance and approach only made things worse for the Autobots and did more harm than good. If the human/esper conflict kept going the way it was going, then Terra was in for a rough ride.
The girl, whose name he still did not know, directed him to the large base that was located outside of the village. It was made of metal, built into the canyon wall and fortified by cooled magma. A man stood outside the base; he was a handsome young man and very tall too, standing at an unnatural 8 feet in height, with a muscular yet slender build and a well shaped face framed by short curly blonde hair and bright green eyes. Ironhide thought of the Elladan statues of the perfect human body, which this man looked similar to. All he wore was a sash around his shoulders and loose fitting pants that puffed out at the ankles.
"Genn," He said in a chipper tone. "You're finally back! I was getting worried something had happened to you. And you brought a friend, too."
"Adonis," The girl, Genn, nodded her head in greeting. She motioned to Ironhide. "This is…"
"Arron Hide." Ironhide introduced himself. A clever (to him) human alias he gave himself on the ride there.
"He tried to rescue me from some local thugs, even though I could take them just fine." She said. "And he wants to join Karaba."
"A new recruit? That's great news!" Adonis smiled, his teeth looking as perfect as his smile and the rest of his face. "None of the espers in the village want to join us against those human scum, so it's a breath of fresh air to have someone new onboard."
"That's nice." Ironhide said, a little put off by the man's enthusiasm. Genn just gave him a look that said 'It comes with the full membership.'
"Follow me, I'll take you to the commander."
Adonis led Ironhide inside the base, but he noticed that Genn wasn't joining them. "You're not coming with us?"
She shook her head. "My job is done. We part ways here." Genn said. After a minute, she said, "Thank you for trying to help earlier. Esper or not, it's rare for strangers to stick their neck out for someone they don't know.
"It was nothing, kid." Ironhide smirked. "See ya soon. I hope."
Genn watched the strange white skinned man walk into the base and the door slide shut behind them. Ironhide was in, and now hard part really began.
XXXXXX
The interior of the base was just as odd looking as its exterior. The entire canyon wall had been hollowed out by the same esper that coated the valley in cooled magma. The walls and floors were black and smooth, covered with metal panels and lit up by golden white orbs that definitely aren't light bulbs. There were fully formed rooms, from meeting areas to barracks and even a water cooler (how that worked here Ironhide didn't know at all). There were armed guards of course, many of them with normal appearances, but some sporting some extra-normal features. Ironhide wondered why a bunch of superhumans needed semi-automatic weapons, no realizing that not every member of Karaba had an offensive power. The guards who went about the base with weapons were espers with either useless or non-offensive powers, probably unseen mutations.
'No electronic alarms from what I can see.' Ironhide thought as he studied the environment. 'And it doesn't look like they have a lot of advanced tech here that might give me some trouble. That's good, the less noise I make going out, the better.'
Adonis led him to the room near the heart of the base and knocked three times. "Commander, it's me."
"Come in."
Ironhide followed Adonis into the room. The room looked like it was decorated by a Britannian gentleman, with fine china situated on smooth, spotless shelves and fine furniture here and there. Antique swords sat on the wall behind the room's only desk in an orderly fashion, and sitting at that desk was the commander of the Karaba cell in Azadistan.
He was a very muscular man clad in a white suit with the top buttons left open, exposing some of the hard planes of his chest. He had short curly auburn hair that was neatly groomed and wore glasses over stern green eyes that followed Ironhide's every move. Ironhide could just tell from the way this man was sitting that he was a warrior; a trained killer.
"So you're the man that helped Genn against those unevolved animals. Quite the hefty one, aren't you?" The man said in an even tone. Adjusting his glasses, he leaned back and did a quick once over with his eyes. "What's your name?"
"Arron," Ironhide answered, making sure he gave nothing away with his expression. "Arron Hide."
"Arron Hide, not a common name in Azadistan." He noted and introduced himself. "I'm David Fauntleroy, acting commander of Karaba's Middle Eastern branch. It's not much, but we've been able to ensure the humans that we are still a formidable force here in Azadistan despite our small numbers."
"I can see that." Ironhide said dryly.
"Arron wants to join Karaba, Fauntleroy." Adonis said.
"So you want to join Karaba, then? You certainly picked a hell of a place to start a new career. Joining Karaba isn't just some job you can sign up for; it's a life commitment to dedicating everything aspect of your life to the preservation and advancement of esper kind." Fauntleroy said. "I hope you understand that we can't just up and accept anyone into our group. There are enemies all around us, even espers who seek to exploit us for their own gains. We have to be careful not to bring in anyone who might be some slave of the humans."
"I get that. In this line of work, being a bit paranoid keeps people alive." Ironhide nodded. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but he hoped that they didn't dig too deep into his reasons for wanting to get close to them.
Fauntleroy looked at Ironhide long and hard before standing up. Ironhide almost whistled at how tall the man was as he stood before him, staring Ironhide right in the eyes.
"If you want to join the club, then you're going to have to show us your stuff." Fauntleroy said. "Here in the Middle East, even espers are wary of Karaba. They think we bring more war and death to their already rotting cesspool of a country. Some even openly oppose us despite our goal of helping espers like them, so we must be very careful of whom we bring into the fold."
Ironhide nodded wordlessly.
"So," Fauntleroy continued. "What's your power?"
This was something Ironhide had been preparing for. He couldn't simulate flashy powers like telekinesis or energy control, he could change his holomatter's appearance based on an alien species he came into contact with in the past. And these yahoos would be none the wiser. All he had to do was make a convincing enough show to make the act look real.
Ironhide gritted his teeth and flexed his muscles to make it look like he was straining and then began to change his body. The transformation was slow and was made to look physically and mentally painful to show how grotesque it was. Bones cracked as they shifted and extended, muscles ripped under his skin as they grew larger and thicker, his legs bent forward like that of an animal's hind legs and made him a bit taller. Black fur grew along his body, and his face flattened to show feline features. His clothes ripped a bit from the slightly larger body mass he was exerting and the increase in size. The human Ironhide was gone, replaced by this bipedal black furred feline that looked like a panther standing on two legs.
"A Transformation-type, impressive." Adonis said with a smirk. Finding Transformation-type espers were uncommon in these parts, since the environmental factors that sometimes affected the activation of a person's meta-gene. Arron was one of the lucky ones who could control their transformation ability.
"It's not as fancy as magnetism or something like that," Ironhide said in a gruff voice partially marred by his large fangs. "But it gets the job done when someone tries to start something with me."
This form was an altered holomatter of an alien species he had aided during one of his first off-world missions on an alien planet following The Fall. They were known as Ishtarans, and they lived on a world that was rich in energy producing crystals and tectonic activity. Ironhide and his team was stationed there to help the natives fight off a Decepticon platoon that had been harnessing the planet's natural resources to fuel their weapons production facility. It was a long, drawn out war of attrition that led to many deaths, but Ironhide had promised the people that he would liberate their land. In the end, he did exactly what he promised, and the looks the joy-filled Ishtarans gave him had energized him for years to come. It reminded Ironhide of just why he was fighting in this hellish war in the first place-to make sure that people like the Ishtarans didn't have to pay for the mistakes of the Cybertronians.
"So how about it?" He asked, smirking down at Fauntleroy, whom he now towered over. "Did I make the cut boss?"
XXXXXX
Genn sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the village. Her eyes gazed down at the people mingling about, as if they weren't hanging out with the world's most wanted terrorist group. They knew what they were involved in, but they were desperate for someplace to call home without having their neighbor try to gut them in their sleep. She watched the kids play around in the dusty streets, kicking a ball around, looking so innocent. They had no idea of the world that hated and feared their kind, and would go to great lengths to eliminate them for their own self-preservation. They were starving and thirsty, but they still had their families.
Thinking about family made Genn grimace and she took out a worn photo from her pocket. It showed a younger Genn sitting next to an older boy and a pretty woman with dark skin and long black hair, smiling kindly into the camera. This picture kept her going for five years, and brought her stability as well as intense sadness to her.
"Nice picture."
Genn jumped and looked up to see Ironhide standing next to her. She huffed and turned away, tucking her photo against her belly.
"What do you want? I thought you were speaking with the commander?" She asked.
"Just got done meeting with him." Ironhide said. "He told me he would talk to me after thinking it over, though I think I impressed him with the show I gave him."
"That's new, commander Fauntleroy is a hard man to please, much less impress." Genn said. Ironhide shrugged.
"I guess I'm just special like that." He said and sat down next to Genn to look out at the village with her.
They sat in silence for a moment, though it was more neither of them not knowing what to talk about than enjoying the peace or anything like that. Genn could tell that he wanted to ask about her picture, but was kind enough not to pry into her business, which she thought was kind of sweet, if a little annoying. Finally, Genn broke the silence by answering his unspoken question.
"They're my mother and brother." She said softly. "Both of them are human."
"Really?" Ironhide blurted out in surprise, then immediately cursed himself for it. But Genn wasn't insulted; she expected this kind of response.
"Despite what you may think, not all espers in Karaba have completely forsworn contact with humans." Genn said. "Some still have close ties with human relatives who accept them for who they are and try to support them. My mother and brother, they're the only family I have in this world."
"And…your father?"
"Gone, he vanished just after I was born. As a result, my mother was considered an "improper" woman because she had two children out of wedlock. They treated her like trash, just for doing what was in her nature." Genn growled.
"Harsh." Ironhide muttered.
"It's nothing new to see this kind of bullshit in this part of the world. In the Middle East, people adhere to traditions thousands of years old, and it's not uncommon to see people born different from society's norm to be treated like crap."
Ironhide didn't know what to say. He knew very little about human society, both because he didn't care to know more than what he was supposed to learn, and there were so many cultures that he couldn't be bothered to study. That was Jazz's thing. Still, seeing her brought one question to his mind.
"If you have a family, then why are you hanging out with these guys?" Ironhide questioned her. "I imagine that you mother would be worried sick about her daughter working in a terrorist group."
"It's because of my mother that I work for Karaba." Genn replied strongly. She took a deep breath and looked away. "My mother was kidnapped and sold into slavery by slave traders. Espers, if you can believe it. The day she was taken was also the same day I manifested my powers. The stress of losing my mother and almost losing my freedom caused my meta-gene to activate."
Genn lifted her hand and it dissolved into a small cloud of sand that hovered around her. "I flayed those bastards alive before helping my brother escape. I wasn't able to get my mother back."
"I'm sorry." He sighed, but she shook her head.
"That's how life is here. The strong survive, the weak perish. But that doesn't mean I have to sit by and take it." Genn said. "The only reason I joined Karaba was not for esper dominance over Terra or the subjugation of humans; I only came here because Karaba has the resources I need to locate my mother. Once find her, I'm done with Karaba."
"That's a ballsy move. Think they'll let you go when the time comes?" He didn't think that these guys took resignations very well.
"If they will not let me go willingly, then I will use force. I will not be led along for my powers, nor will I be cowed in my quest for my mother." Genn said passionately. "My family comes first."
"Haha!" Ironhide laughed loudly, clapping Genn on the shoulder. She glared at him, but he paid it no mind. "I like you kid! With an attitude like that, no one will try to walk over you."
"Depends on what you want to know."
"Do you have any friends or family back where you came from; back in Osea?"
Ironhide thought on how to answer that without looking like he was hiding something. Jazz always said that the best lies were ones that had enough truth to them to come across as natural. "No family, parents are dead and I've got no siblings. I have friends, but most of them are acquaintances at best save for a few guys I…work with." He allowed a small smile to spread on his face. "But there is a special someone that I have back home."
"Really?" Genn said, looking at him like he was telling an interesting story.
"Yeah, she's a handful. No different than me in terms of personality so you can imagine how much shit we cause for the people around us. She's a bit of a hothead and has a temper, but I love all the same."
"Do you…" Genn wondered if she should ask something so sensitive. "Miss her?"
"Not a day goes by when I don't think about her kid. Fact is that I've been away from home for a long time, and I doubt I'll be seeing her anytime soon." He said solemnly. "But the thought of her keeps me going, that and the fact that if I die, she's going to dig straight to hell and drag me back out."
Genn chuckled. "She sounds like a strong woman."
"That she is." Ironhide smiled. "Seems like we both have a reason for living."
"Indeed."
They sat in silence after that, enjoying the warm atmosphere that had washed over them. As the evening slowly faded into the night. Once the sun began to set, Ironhide and Genn bade each other goodbye, although for the young woman, this would be the last time she spoke to the Autobot as a friend.
XXXXXX
Ironhide waited until it was late into the night to begin the heist. He knew that there was a guard posted outside his quarters, another means to keep an eye on him, and he phased his holomatter through the wall past the sleeping guard to sneak down the hallway. Stealth wasn't Ironhide's thing, but his holomatter was flexible in that regard. He nullified its weight so that he could walk down the halls without making any noise. He was out and about, so all he needed to do was get to the panel's location. He had memorized the layout of the base, so that was taken care of as well.
He used what little stealth skills that he knew to avoid detection while also making his way towards the little treasury they had. It helped working with people like Bumblebee and Jazz, who were masters at this kind of thing, and he was using tactics he never thought he would use in his life to make this job a lot easier; look around corners using reflective surfaces to avoid getting caught by surprise, look behind you periodically so you don't get jumped by an unsuspecting guard by mistake (Jazz deemed that the worst and most embarrassing way to get caught), and always put you weight on the heel of your feet to avoid making too much noise with your footsteps. It was all way to intricate and complicated for a mech who got things done by blowing them straight to hell with overwhelming firepower, but Ironhide knew that there were other ways to win battles that didn't include fighting. There was a reason stealth teams were specialists-there wasn't anyone else right for the job.
After a few more minutes, Ironhide finally made it to Karaba's munitions vault where they kept their weapons or any special items they've acquired on their missions. There was a single guard patrolling the hallway, so Ironhide waited for him to pass before sneaking up behind him and took him out with a quick chop to his throat.
"Sorry, buddy, but I need your looks for a while." He whispered, smirking. He dumped the guard's body in a closer and altered his avatar so that it was identical to the man he just knocked out. Making sure his disguise was perfect, Ironhide walked up to the other guard who just turned the corner. "Rough night?"
"I'll say. You'd think we'd be able to relax a little out here in the middle of nowhere, but no, that's too easy." The guard yawned.
"Why don't you go get some sleep? I can handle things here." Ironhide said.
"Really? Thanks, man." The guard clapped Ironhide on the shoulder and trudged his way back to his room. Ironhide mentally apologized to him for all the trouble he was about to cause for the poor guy.
Once he was sure that no one else was coming his way, he got to work on the door. Fortunately for him, the door wasn't fixed with any security measures or even locked, so getting in was easy. With his immense strength, he got the door open and hurried inside. There were tons of weapons here, from semi-automatic weapons to RPGs and even grenade launchers, and further back was the vault that held the more valuable possessions, like gold. Running to the vault, he pulled the door open and searched the room for the panel. It didn't take long to find it, since it was sitting on a small platform made of onyx, hiding from view by some well placed jewels.
"Found ya, now to get out of here." Ironhide picked up the panel, but as soon as he did, alarms blared around him. "Slag, don't tell me this thing was wired!"
The alarms woke everyone in the base, and the first to arrive on the scene was Lorelei. The woman was very angry at having her beauty sleep interrupted, her hair waving around wildly, some strands digging deep gashes into the wall thanks to their tensile strength and sharpness. Someone was going to get choked by her wicked weave!
"Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on before I start tearing shit up!" Lorelei screamed over the noise.
"Quit whining you harpy!" Gila ran up to her in his liazardman form, hefting a large assault rifle on his shoulder. "We've got an intruder in the base and we need to ice that fool before the commander gets back."
"Who the hell would be stupid enough to sneak into the base?" Lorelei asked. "In fact, how the hell did he get inside in the first place?"
Gila listened to the chatter in his earpiece. "We can ask his corpse when we're done. He's coming our way."
Ironhide barreled through the halls like a football player, keeping the panel tucked under his arm as he bulldozed his way through the Karaba grunts that shot at him with the force of an angry bull. The bullets passed harmless through his avatar and he was an unstoppable force compared to most of these guys. When he turned the corner and saw Gila and Lorelei, he didn't even look surprised.
"Wait, aren't you the new guy?" Gila asked surprised. "What the hell, dude?"
"Sorry, kid, it's nothing personal. I'm just helping out a friend of mine." Ironhide said. "Now step aside and no one will get hurt."
"Like hell I will traitor!" Gila snarled and fired his rifle at Ironhide. Unsurprisingly, except to Gila, the bullets passed through Ironhide's body as the disguised Autobot ran at his adversary. Gila blinked and scowled. "Fine! I don't need a gun to take you out!"
Gila tossed his rifle aside and charged at Ironhide, lashing out with his sharp claws. Ironhide ducked under a swing from his lethal talons and slammed his knee into the esper's chin. He felt Gila's nose crunch from the blow and followed up with a strong punch to his jaw that slammed the man's head into the wall. Ironhide landed and ducked under a quick swipe of razor sharp hair that almost beheaded his avatar.
"That was my friend, you asshole!" Lorelei growled and slashed at him with hair that was like steel cords sharp enough to cut through metal.
She split her hair in two whips and spun them to make a drill, digging into the floor as she attacked Ironhide relentlessly. He managed to avoid getting impaled, but a strand left a deep gash in his side from behind and he winced in pain. Any wounds he got in his holomatter could be felt in his real form, and if he was dealt a killing blow, then the results wouldn't bode well for him. So he let a tendril grab his arm and pull him off his feet, but he angled his body so that he was shooting towards Lorelei. She realized too late what he was doing as he planted his feet in her face, using the force gained from the momentum of his short flight to send her crashing into a wall, unconscious with a bleeding face.
"Sorry, but I don't have time for you right now." He said.
Ironhide left a trail of unconscious bodies and destroyed equipment in his wake as he ran for the exit. He was grateful that the place couldn't initiate some lockdown procedure or he would've been in big trouble. There was one last group of soldiers, four, who were standing between him and freedom. Ironhide didn't hesitate as he kneed one soldier in the face, kicked another in the chin and spun around, taking the other two out in a clothesline. Jumping over them, he phased through the door and got outside…where a platoon of soldiers was waiting, all pointing their weapons at him.
"Son of a glitch." Ironhide groaned.
"What do you think you're doing, Arron?" Adonis, who stood in front of the soldiers, asked in a frosty tone. His friendly disposition from earlier was gone, replaced by the look of a warrior prepared to kill if necessary. "We offer you a place amongst our ranks and this is how you repay us? By stealing our possessions?"
"To be fair, this wasn't yours to begin with." Ironhide replied. "You stole this thing yourself, so don't think you can talk smack to me about theft."
"Don't try to turn this around, Hide." Adonis said. "Put the relic down and surrender peacefully. We will not kill you if you do not raise arms against us."
"Sorry, kid, but I can't. This little thing is coming with me." Ironhide said.
Adonis scowled. "This isn't up for negotiation. You're outnumbered and outgunned. There's no one to help you now."
"Ah, but I do have someone to help me," Ironhide smirked. "Myself."
Ironhide's real form revved up his engine and drove through the front gates. He tore through the village, careful of the scattering villagers as he plowed through the armor clad soldiers, forcing Adonis to jump back. Then, in a severe breach of protocol, Ironhide transformed to robot mode, towering over the awestruck Karaba soldiers with his cannons trained on them.
Looking down at Adonis, he gave a smirk. "Howdy."
Adonis was surprisingly calm despite what he just saw. He looked up at the Autobot, then to the holomatter avatar holding the panel. It didn't take him long to put the pieces together and realize that the man he was confronting probably wasn't who he said he was.
"I don't know what you are, Arron Hide, if that's even your real name," Adonis said in a strong tone. "But if you think your size intimidates me, then you're gravely mistaken. Behold!"
The veins under Adonis' skin glowed before his body exploded in a bright burst of energy. Steams flew into the air and Ironhide saw a large form emerge from the cloud before a fist punched him in the face. He crashed back through the base's front gates and tumbled onto the road leading to the village. Ironhide grunted, rubbing his aching jaw as he glared up at the figure who punched him.
Adonis had transformed into a golden giant that was as tall as Ironhide, looking like the famed Colossus of Rhodes as he stomped through the damaged gates and glared down at him with electric blue eyes. Adonis nicknamed this form Rhodes, after the magnificent statue in Elladas, and it was his special ability, one of the more powerful transformation-type espers in Karaba's ranks. Despite being made of solid gold, he moved as fluidly as if he were made of flesh.
Ironhide huffed and got to his feet. "I hate espers." He grumbled.
Adonis ran forward, quickly closing the distance between them in long strides before throwing a punch at Ironhide. He caught the fist, but Adonis followed up with a kick, which Ironhide caught, though he was pushed back a few inches. Ironhide grabbed his leg and pulled him off the ground, lifting him into the air and throwing him a few feet away into the outer perimeter of the town. Adonis glared at Ironhide and charged at him, grabbing the Autobot around the middle and throwing him into the sand, punching him in the face repeatedly.
Ironhide dodged his last punch and kicked Adonis off him before slamming his fist into the esper's chin. Adonis' head reeled back from the blow, but he quickly grabbed Ironhide's arm and twisted it behind his back, putting nearly all his strength into tearing the limb off. Ironhide grunted from the painful strain his elbow joint suffered and slammed his other elbow into his opponent's face, dazing Adonis long enough to get free. He spun around for another punch, but Adonis recovered quicker than he thought and punched Ironhide so hard in the chest that his chest plate almost caved in. He stumbled back and clutched his chest while glaring at Adonis.
'This isn't going to be easy.' Ironhide thought.
Ironhide wouldn't have such problems fighting Adonis had his entire focus been on the fight, but he still needed to get his avatar out of the area. The faster he did that, the quicker the fight could end. During the battle, Ironhide's avatar ran through the village, where people were clamoring to escape the battle between giants that threatened to damage their home. He made it through without incident and was now making his way to the narrow canyon at the entrance to the valley. He wasn't sure if Prime was close enough to call over the comm-link and he wasn't risking calling a ground bridge with so many people close by.
His avatar flickered like a bad television reception, the result of Ironhide's wavering concentration. If his avatar destabilized now, then he'd lose the panel and the mission will be a failure. Ironhide was almost at the canyon when the ground under his feet erupted and he was engulfed in a cloud of sand. His arms and legs were pinned to his body and the panel fell to the ground as he was lifted into the air. The sand coalesced in front of him into a humanoid form he recognized instantly.
It was Genn. Since she couldn't shift her clothes into sand along with her, she was completely bare before him, leaving on her features from her bare shoulders up. She was like a dust devil, with her horns and angry eyes, sand swirling around her violently. She scowled at him with a look of anger and…betrayal?
"So you were a spy then," She said angrily. "An agent sent by the Azadistani to steal their relic from us. A traitor to your own kind."
"I'm not a spy and I'm not working for anyone," Ironhide grunted, shutting his eyes from the sand hitting his face. "And you can't call me a traitor to a cause I never believed in."
"Then you were just a vagabond looking to make a quick buck. A barbarian no better than the people who took my mother away from me!" Genn shouted. The sand flew more violently around them as her anger grew. "Was it all a lie then? Your friends, your lover, all a lie just to gain my trusts?"
Ironhide didn't know how to explain himself without exposing the Autobots. Genn wasn't in the mood for lies or half-truths right now. If he gave her the wrong answer, he was doomed-both in spirit and in body. He could probably expend some energy to break free, but taking out an esper who could become sand in a heartbeat was hard to deal with. So for once since he came to this planet, Ironhide resolved to solve this problem without using his fists.
"Kid…Genn," Ironhide said. "I never lied to you. I only gave you half the truth about me. I never sought to trick you, but this panel is the heart of something you can't even imagine. You have to believe me. There are things going on that are more than any human or esper on this planet. Bigger things."
Ironhide ducked under a punch from Rhodes and grabbed him around the middle, squeezing hard. Rhodes gave a metallic roar that sounded painful to anyone still near the warzone and began pounding his fists down on Ironhide's back and head. Each hard blow left dents in Ironhide's thick armor, and continued to rattle the Autobot. When Ironhide's grip finally slipped, Rhodes leapt back and kneed him in the face, sending energon spurting from his mouth. Ironhide stumbled back, but was just barely able to dodge Rhodes' outstretched hands as he reached for him.
With a cry, Ironhide threw a kick at Rhodes, who met it with a kick of his own. Their legs collided with enough force to send a strong shockwave rippling through the area, with a resounding boom. Ironhide's leg held strong for a moment, but the force of Rhodes' kick had caused his knee joint to groan and creak. Then to his horror, Ironhide's leg shattered at the knee, causing him to fall to his other knee. But he wasn't out yet, as he shot back up onto his good leg with a yell and landed a punch square in Rhodes' face, knocking the giant esper off his feet.
"What purpose does the relic have to this?" Genn asked. "And what is that robot? Where did it come from? Who made it?"
"This panel does not belong to Karaba or Azadistan. It's no gift from the gods, but a person's survival depends on it." Ironhide answered. He could feel his vision waning, he couldn't hold on anymore. "As for the bot, well…let's just say I'm not human-natural or esper. I'm somethin' else entirely."
Genn looked at him with an unreadable expression then turned to the chaotic battle going on not too far from them. She wanted to discredit Ironhide so badly, think that he was lying just to save his own skin. But something in his eyes told him that he was honest about his words. Something big was going on here.
"Genn," Ironhide continued, not knowing if she was listening or not. "I wasn't lying about what I told you. I do have friends and a lover, but I'm not who you think I am. Lives are at stake not just in Azadistan, but in the entire world. I know I've hurt you, buy you have to trust me. Just this once."
Ironhide's holomatter was visibly flickering now, and Genn's mind was running a mile a minute. She didn't know what to believe or what was going on right now. But she did know that something was going that she didn't know about, and that unsettled her. She figured that he could probably escape her grasp right now, but was unable to. If he really wasn't human, then this changed things entirely. What should she do?
XXXXXX
Ironhide gritted his energon stained teeth as he glared at Adonis' motionless body and spat at him. The bastard was hard to take down and he was tougher to fight than Ironhide expected. He didn't think the giant esper could do this much damage to him. Just another grim reminder of how old he was getting. That's a wonderful thought.
"Prime, you there?" Ironhide called. "I'm gonna need an assist. I got the panel, but I'm damaged."
"I'm on my way, Ironhide. Just sit tight." Optimus replied.
"Oh, I'm hanging all right…on the fragging edge." Ironhide grumbled. "My head's killin' me."
Ironhide started to get up, but just as he did, Rhode's shot upright, glaring at the Autobot. He leapt to his feet and launched a lightning fast punch to Ironhide's head. Ironhide flew through the air into one of the houses in the village and Adonis charged at him. He slammed his shoulder into the Autobot's chest and sent them both crashing through the building before Ironhide punched him off and grabbed his arm. Holding him steady, Ironhide took out his war hammer and slammed it into the back of Adonis' arm, breaking it.
Adonis gave another loud roar and began smashing his fist into the side of Ironhide's head. Each punch was as devastating as the last, and even though Ironhide was densely armored from head to toe, his head was the weakest part of his body. The strong blows he was taking to his cranial unit were not good for his internal components, and any longer the damage to his brain module could become fatal.
Enraged and frustrated, Adonis continued pounding Ironhide's head with all the force he could must, but a loud horn stopped his assault. He looked up to see a red and blue truck racing towards him before it reconfigured before his eyes and became a giant robot with a very big gun. There was a blinding burst of light and a powerful energy blast hit Adonis in the middle of his chest. It wasn't fatal, but it really hurt. Adonis tried to recover, but Optimus fired another shot and got him in the face. Adonis fell onto his back, making the ground shake.
Optimus waited for any signs of movement, but when Adonis remained still, he folded his weapon into his back and ran over to Ironhide. "Ironhide, are you alright?"
Ironhide groaned, his head sported a serious dent in the armor and one of his optic lens was cracked. "You took your sweet time getting here."
"I had to divert a few Karaba reinforcements on the way here." Optimus explained. "They were carrying a lot of heavy weaponry, along with a power esper."
"Fauntleroy, yeah fighting him would've sucked, all right." Ironhide grunted. "Let's get the panel and beat it before we learn what that guy's power is."
Optimus helped Ironhide into a standing position and went over to grab his leg before they made their way out of the now empty village towards the canyon. After making it up the hill, they saw the stasis panel sitting on the ground, where Ironhide's holomatter dropped it after it destabilized. Genn was nowhere to be found.
'Thanks kid,' Ironhide thought. 'Sorry for all the slag I put you through.'
Optimus picked up the panel and called the base. "Ratchet, we're ready for a ground bridge at our location. And standby to a possible limb reattachment."
Ironhide looked at the ravaged village and base one last time as the ground bridge appeared. He sighed and allowed Optimus to help him into the portal, where they disappeared. Once the bridge vanished, the sand on the ground began to swirl in the air as if kicked up by a breeze. The sand flew through the air before rushing into a white shirt and pants that lay discarded on the ground, reforming into a humanoid figure-the esper girl, Genn.
"So they aren't human after all." She muttered. "But what does this mean for all of us?"
XXXXXX
The next morning, Karaba reinforcements arrived at the village and saw one of their outposts in serious disarray. Fauntleroy stood on the sidelines watching two telekinetic espers clear away the debris of a fallen house while one of his officers went around getting an account of what occurred last night. Fauntleroy scowled, so many espers under his command required medical attention after getting stomped on by a single man. Even Adonis was defeated by some robot that posed as Arron Hide's truck. In addition to that mess, the relic they took from Azadistan was gone as well, leaving them without any leverage against the kingdom.
The rebuilding effort was going well, but Fauntleroy was going to have to have Sue place more magma fortifications to keep something like this from happening. So much work to be done, and with heavy hearts as well. If it turned out that Azadistan was behind this, then it will be war between them and Karaba.
"Fauntleroy," A woman called out, her voice sharp as glass. "Is this where it happened?"
"Yes, ma'am. The battle took place near the village." Fauntleroy spun around and nodded to his leader…and mother-in-law. "I was in the city meeting with the queen when it happened."
The woman he addressed was a beauty still in the prime of her live; she had a firm, toned build wearing a dark red sleeveless bodysuit and long red armored gloves. She had dark pink hair tied into a ponytail and thin glasses over a pair of amber eyes. The woman gave off an air of authority as she surveyed the damage caused to the outpost.
"So the man's truck became a giant robot?" She asked.
"Yes, ma'am. According to witnesses, it had no driver, but suddenly starting operating by itself." he answered. "Another vehicle, a truck, also appeared and attacked Adonis."
The woman scowled, there were no records of talos that could do any of that, and they certainly weren't golems either. She had no idea what was going on, and she wasn't a woman who liked no knowing about things. "Fauntleroy."
"Yes?"
"Reinforce our numbers in the region." She commanded, smoke rising off her shoulders."Find that man and those two robots by any means necessary. Find out if the Azadistani had anything to do this with this. do whatever you have to do to get the answers we need. If they're innocent, then they have nothing to hide."
"And if they're guilty, ma'am?" Fauntleroy asked.
"Burn the city to the ground!" Growled Magda Lensherr, co-leader of Karaba, her eyes blazing like two miniature suns.
No one insulted Karaba like this and lived to tell the tail. Their retribution will be swift as it is devastating. And the entire world will know that.