Chapter 31-The Golden Asp
Penny Pincer held back a yawn as she scrolled down the long internet page on her laptop. It was a slow day for her, with school being closed for a two-day holiday and the weather was getting a bit too chilly to stay out for too long. Most of the Autobots were out on recon for energon, which she learned was their main fuel source, which they were slowly running out of. According to Gina, Cybertronians could survive for long amounts of time without energon, but eventually, it came down to how much energy they used before they needed to refuel.
The Autobots' recent battles were draining their energon stocks faster than they would've liked and finding most was top priority. Searching for new deposits that weren't occupied by the Decepticons was getting a bit hard too. Penny thought it was a bit disconcerting to see these big, powerful robots desperately looking for their equivalent for food and water. It certainly made them seem more vulnerable.
Penny wished she could help them, but she had no idea how. She was just a regular, if not extremely intelligent, girl with no fancy powers or giant robot to fly around in. All she could do was sit at her desk and help search for signs of stasis panels on the internet. She thought it was useless to do what an alien supercomputer could do on its own, but it passed the time. She wasn't getting anywhere near Gina stupid "weapons development" program she was working on.
"Penny?" Gina called out to her, walking into the room with Sara in tow. "What are you doing here?"
"Research," Penny replied, not taking her eyes off the screen. "I'm trying to find those stasis panels of yours on the web. Figured Teletran-1 could use some help or something."
Penny felt a bit silly trying this method of searching, but it made sense. Gina had told her that many of the Minicon panels were often treated as sacred objects seen by ancient man as gifts from the gods. The internet was their best source of information, and they had to inspect every piece of ancient paintings, carvings, scriptures, and tombs that looked like they had a connection to the Minicons. It was mostly by chance they made connections in the past, but it gave the Autobots somewhat of an advantage on the Cons instead of waiting for the panel to release its retrieval signal.
"Um, Penny, you know Teletran can do this-"
"I'm well aware it can do this by itself, Gina, but I'm bored!" Penny slammed her head onto the table and groaned.
"Perhaps it's best to take a break and recharge your systems." Sara suggested. "Prolonged physical activity is detrimental to your health. Ms. Gina suffers similar afflictions as you do, Penelope."
Gina looked at Sara confused. "How so?"
"Penny has high blood pressure and an increased heart rate," Sara explained. "The same thing happens to you whenever Darren Radcliffe gets close to your or initiates physical conta-"
"Okay! That's enough, Sara!" Gina said loudly, clapping a hand over Sara's mouth.
Penny gave her rival a smirk. "Increased heart rate, huh?"
"Not a word." Gina growled.
"I'm in the same boat as you, sister. I ain't tellin' anyone about another girl's prey." Penny grinned and zipped her lips closed.
The moment was cut short when Penny's laptop started beeping. Gina leaned over Penny's shoulder as she read the data on the screen and her expression turned serious.
"Congratulations, Penny, you just found your first Minicon on the first day of the job." Gina said and roughly patted her rival's back. "Now you get to see the fireworks begin."
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At the same time, onboard the Nemesis as it traveled far above the continent of Usea, Soundwave also detected a Minicon panel at the communications station in the bridge. Megatron called Nightshade to the bridge to inform her of this new development.
"Soundwave detected a panel already?" She said. "But the computer didn't give out any alerts."
"We didn't detect the panel itself, only a possible clue to its whereabouts." Megatron pointed to the monitor, which showed a lavish mural depicting a king kneeling before a queen holding out a small pentagonal object as an offering. "The Autobots have gotten the jump on us multiple times in the past by investigating this planet's ancient history, something I've admittedly brushed aside in the past. But this method is looking to be highly profitable for us."
Nightshade nodded. "Tell me where to go and I will assemble a team at once."
"You're not going anywhere, Nightshade." Megatron said sharply. "I'm far from pleased with your performance on the last few missions. It's starting to get embarrassing that my own second in command can't even snuff out a few Autobots when they're already weakened."
Nightshade bristled. "Megatron, what happened in that city was not my-"
Megatron held up a hand, silencing her. "If I want anything done right, then I'll have to do it myself. I will lead this mission, and you will act as support with Blackout and Barricade."
"As you wish, Megatron." She scowled. She knew he was getting sick of her recent failures, so this was to be expected, but it still stung to be sidelined like Starscream.
"Good," Megatron turned to Soundwave. "Soundwave, set a ground bridge coordinates for Anea. It's time to see what the humans call their cradle of civilization."
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The continent of Anea was known for many things, mainly its abundance of animal life and harboring prehistoric humans back before the supercontinent Pangaea split apart billions of years ago. Much of the continent was dominated by a vast desert known as the Sahara, and the southern regions were covered in either wide plains or dense jungles. Despite the year round scorching weather, people and animals still populated this ancient land in great numbers, descendants of those who also called Anea home.
An Autobot team consisting of Optimus, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Ironhide ground bridged to Anea on a mission literally formed just a few minutes ago. Their lead on the Minicon panel led them to the Anean continent of Aithiops, going on nothing more than a mural that showed the panel in the hands of an Aithiopian king. For retrieval of the panel, Kevin and Penny came along, with the latter acting as the team's historical consultant and acting cover. The girl was excited to be on her first mission since meeting the Autobots. But her hype quickly died down when she realized that they had no solid leads to go on and had to resort to going around the countryside gathering information; aka, talking to the locals who were experts on local superstitions and legends.
"I told myself I'd never go back to a desert again, especially after Azadistan." Ironhide grunted. "And like a moron, I jump at the first chance to go to another sandbox like this one."
"Oh relax, Hide, it's not that bad." Razor said. "At least it's not someplace cold like the arctic or something. Right, Undertone?"
Sitting next to Razor was the only other Minicon who accompanied her on the mission, Undertone. He was a white mech with two wheels on his shoulders and a slender chest with two swords mounted on his back. Undertone wasn't much of a talker, he rarely interacted with the other Minicons since he arrived at the Ark and barely gave the Autobots the time of day, but Razor was happy she managed to convince him to come along.
"So you guys excited for what we're going to find on this mission?" Penny asked. "I'm sure Terra's a completely alien world to you, Undertone. Don't you feel a least a little bit overwhelmed?"
Undertone said nothing, but he shook his head in response to her question. Penny pouted at him and Kevin smiled.
"You ain't going to get a peep from him, Penny. The guy's a real ninja." Kevin said.
"I'm not going to give up." Penny said stubbornly and crossed her arms. She'd appreciate a decent conversation from the Minicon. It'd make her feel better.
After minutes of driving along the dirt road miles away from civilization, the Autobots came upon a small village. Kevin and Penny got out and started asking questions about their prize. Optimus, via his holomatter, went with them to keep them safe. Some locals weren't very friendly to foreigners. Asking for directions wasn't the most efficient way of completing a mission, but it was better than driving around in the Savanna aimlessly. After a few minutes, the kids were back and hopped back into Optimus' plush leather seats.
"That was fast." Bumblebee said. "Did you guys get some info?"
"I'm assuming Penny did, because I barely got a word out before she snatched me up and dragged me along like a poodle." Kevin said, glaring at Penny.
"Sorry, but I just got a juicy lead on where we need to go." She said and took out a map. "First off, the panel was in the possession of King Solomon, the man holding it in the mural. Solomon was a king from the Middle East, and had traveled to a region called Axum with the panel as a gift to the queen of Sheba."
"And the panel is somewhere in Axum?" Razor asked.
"Most likely," Penny nodded. "Sheba ruled over the kingdom there and she was buried somewhere in the wilderness in a secret tomb that only a few people know the existence of."
"Nice work, kids." Bumblebee said.
"But we still don't know where the hell the panel is, and now we have to go hunting for a graveyard? Wonderful," Ironhide grunted. He really was not looking forward to driving around in sandstorms.
"I have an idea where we can look first." Penny pointed at something on the map, which showed a small snake-shaped landmass in the Axum region. "We should go here."
"Why? What's so special about that place?" Bulkhead asked.
"It's where Sheba had stored her treasures, and that includes the panel." She answered.
"It's a bit of a stretch, but it's something to go on." Ironhide sighed. "What's the play Prime?"
"This is worth investigating," Optimus said and started his engines. "Let's go Autobots. We're losing daylight."
The Autobots started to drive away, carefully weaving through the village as they traveled back into the wilderness. But they were being watched. The red and black form of Laserbeak sat in a tree amidst the branches and leaves, his red eyes watching his enemies drive away. Once they were far enough out of earshot, he called it in.
"This is Laserbeak," He said with a caw. "I have a visual on the Autobots."
"Follow them" Soundwave ordered. "Transmit your position. We will be there shortly."
XXXXXX
A few miles away from the village, the Autobots were given a firsthand experience of one of Anea's hazardous weather conditions. As they approached a valley north of their position, the Autobots ran into a fierce sandstorm that took them by surprise. Optimus kept his windows shut so no sand got inside and hit the kids, but it didn't help the rest of the team with their visibility.
"I can't see a damn thing!" Ironhide grumbled. "Where the hell did this sandstorm come from?"
"They're a fact of live in Anea. They come out of nowhere and hit you like a wrecking ball. For someone walking on foot, sandstorms mean certain death if you don't know where you're going." Penny said.
"How long do these storms last?" Arcee asked.
"Sometimes a day, sometimes a week. Depends on how lucky you are." She answered.
Tracer looked through the window and peered through the thick cloud of sand blowing against Ironhide's windshield. "Guys, I think I see something up ahead." Tracer said.
It was hard to see through the sandstorm, but the Autobots were still able to barely make out the large forms of two Decepticons, one large and one small. As they got closer, they saw it was Blackout and Barricade, their weapons pointed right at them. Powerlinked with Cannon, Blackout raised his arm and fired a sonic wave directly at the Autobots.
"Evade!" Optimus exclaimed.
The Autobots separated as the sonic attack reverberated through the air. Barricade grinned at seeing his enemies "dance" for him and hefted a large tripled barreled scatter blaster onto his shoulder, unloading a large burst of plasma fire at them.
"What are they doing here?" Penny asked, trying not to get thrown out of her seat by Prime's driving.
"Who knows, who cares," Bulkhead growled as another sonic attack flew past him. "Let's just beat these guys down!"
"We can't, Bulkhead, not in these conditions." Optimus said.
He knew that these two were most likely decoys to slow them down, which meant that there were more Cons also on their trail. Optimus didn't know how they knew where to go, but all that mattered now was beating them to the panel. Optimus swerved through the shifting sand and floored it, increasing his speed and pushing the children into their seats as he drove straight at Blackout and Barricade.
"He's not stopping." Blackout pointed out.
"Then make him stop!" Barricade fired his scatter blaster, but even for him it was hard to see Prime through the sand.
Blackout prepared to take Prime out with his thunderclap cannon, but something white flashed before his vision and landed on his shoulder. It was the Minicon Undertone. Appearing out of nowhere, he ran along Blackout's body, slashing at his armor with his swords. Blackout tried to smack him away, but Undertone jumped off his shoulder and onto his arm, stabbing in between his armor panels. Sparks spewed from Blackout's arm as Undertone severed some circuits and wasn't quick enough to keep Undertone was forcefully cutting Cannon from his connection port.
Kicking Cannon aside, Undertone ran up to Blackout's face and slashed at his eyes, blinding him. Hearing his partner's enraged cry, Barricade turned to help Blackout, but heard a loud truck horn right behind him. All Barricade saw was his reflection in Prime's stainless steel grill as he rammed into him with tremendous force, smacking him away. The other Autobots followed their leader into the valley.
"Holy…that was amazing!" Kevin laughed.
"Undertone, get back here!" Tracer called out.
Undertone leapt off Blackout's head and transformed into a larger, low rider motorcycle and sped after the Autobots, leaving behind a stunned and half blind Decepticon. Blackout held a hand to his damaged eye and called his other two comrades.
"Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, level the canyon!" He yelled.
Sitting atop the cliff on one side of the canyon, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw watched the fight below with amused looks before hopping off their perch to perform their part.
"Leave it to the big guys to screw it up." Laserbeak cawed.
"Never trust a two leg to do a bird's job!" Buzzsaw cackled.
Together they fired their dual laser cannons into the canyon walls, blasting apart large chunks of rock and started a landslide on both sides of the canyon. The Autobots increased their speed, swerving wildly to avoid the heavier rocks that crashed around them. Kevin and Penny were holding onto each other for dear life as things got even more chaotic.
As for Undertone, he was skillfully dodging and avoiding the large rocks that fell around him, shifting to robot mode and leaping onto the falling boulders to use as footholds to propel himself towards his comrades. Jumping and flipping in a style that would make Jazz jealous, Undertone leapt over to Bulkhead, slashing a boulder in two before it could hit the green Autobot and landed on his hood. He smoothly slid into the empty driver's seat through an open window and sheathed his sword.
"Wow, Undertone, that was awesome!" Razor chirped. Undertone gave her a slight nod of thanks and she beamed.
As the valley was filled with rocks behind them, cutting the off from the Cons, the Autobots continued on their way, dirty but unharmed.
"Is everyone okay?" Bumblebee asked. "Kevin, Penny?"
"We're fine," Kevin said in a shaky voice. "I almost fainted back there, but were fine,"
"Good lord, Gina and the twins do this every day?" Penny breathed, trying to calm her fast beating heart.
"Not every day," Bulkhead said. "Just enough times for you to question their sanity."
"We need to put some distance between those goons and us." Ironhide said. "Not that they'll be bothering us anymore thanks to Undertone."
"I told you bringing a ninja would help us in the end." Razor said smugly.
Barricade pulled himself up and held his broken arm, limping towards the stone wall Laserbeak had made. It was supposed to slow the Autobots down, but now they were blocked off from the rest of their team. And Blackout was in no shape to be flying blind in this weather.
"Of course Prime and his pets gets pass us. What the hell was the point of this distraction?" Barricade raged. Blackout put a hand on his shoulder.
"We've done our job." Blackout said, his damaged eye still sparking. "Megatron and the others are probably already at the tomb by now. The Autobots are too late to stop them."
Barricade scowled, wanting nothing more than to give chase and snuff out those Autobots himself. But Megatron's orders were very clear, and the mission came before anything else.
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The Autobots drove nonstop away from the hazardous canyon where they left their enemies buried and didn't slow down until they reached the former territory that once belonged to the ancient kingdom of Axum. Deciding that they had put enough ground between them and their enemies, they pulled over and let the children and Minicons out to take a breather after that near death experience. Penny stumbled out of Prime's cab and took a deep breath of fresh air to calm herself down. Somehow she had forgotten how chaotic a fight between those guys could get, despite being in the middle of an Autobot/Decepticon clash. Optimus transformed and knelt down next to her.
"Are you alright, Penny?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just forgot how…nuts it gets when you guys fight, that's all." She shook her head and composed herself. "Man, I can't believe the others go through this on an almost weekly basis."
"Your friends have gotten used to our…heated encounters with the Decepticons. Perhaps too used to it." Optimus muttered. "Do you want me to bridge you back?"
"No!" Penny exclaimed and cleared her throat. "I mean…Gina didn't wuss out when she started going out on missions with you guys, and neither will I. I'm just going to be a little more careful from now on."
Optimus chuckled. "That's a reasonable drive. Don't worry, Penny, the Minicons will keep you safe."
"Guys, is anyone else where wondering why the Cons are here?" Bulkhead asked, shaking sand from his armor panels. "How did they even know we're here? There's nothing to track."
"Except us," Bumblebee pointed out. "The Cons might've caught us in action and followed us to see what we were up to."
"Or we've lost the advantage of using history to gain a head start on this Minicon hunt." Optimus said, walking over to them. "The Decepticons most likely used the same tactic we've employed to find previous un-activated Minicons by using their connection to ancient human civilizations."
"And them being here at the same time as us is just bad luck on our part, huh?" Kevin sighed. "Typical, what else could go wro-"
Razor rushed to slap her hand over his mouth. "Don't say it. Bad things happen when you say it."
"How long do you think we are from our destination?" Ironhide asked. "Because getting blindsided like that has me more fired up than Blurr at an asteroid racing circuit."
"Not too long I hope." Razor mumbled. Then she was hit in the head by a rock. "Hey! Who threw that?"
Optimus looked up the hill and saw Undertone standing at the top waving them over. "It seems Undertone did some recon for us."
"Nice of him to tell us that" Bulkhead grumbled. "How did he get up there without us noticing?"
"Are you seriously asking that now after his performance back there?" Bumblebee smirked. His staunch silence aside, he was really starting to like Undertone.
The Autobots climbed up the rocky slope Undertone was leading them to and when they reached the top, they found what they were looking for-the tomb of the starcrossed lovers. These burial grounds were as mysterious as the legend of the forbidden romance between King Solomon and Queen Sheba. When they died, their bodies were buried together in a secret location with their combined treasures from their respective kingdoms. Seeing the tomb in person led to the question of how people didn't find the place sooner.
The tomb lied underneath a massive 19 foot tall statue of a golden asp made of bronze and iron. The asp coiled in on itself, with a staircase running along the length of its body up to the door, which sat at the base of the snake's throat. The Autobots and humans took the magnificent sight in as they approached the statue.
"These people must really love snakes." Bulkhead whistled.
"Snakes were Axum's sacred animal." Penny said. "Kind of like how cats were worshipped in Egyptia."
"And what about these freaky lookin' hunks of metal?" Ironhide nodded his head at the three statures sitting in a semi-circle around the asp.
The statues that sat in front of the asp were massive, at least 35 feet tall. Each statue was drastically different than the last; the first one, Nyame, was the most human of all of them, modeled after a king with a powerful figure and an imposing face. The second one, Oshun, had a woman's face, but her body was composed of rings of various sizes that made her look like some humanoid slinky. The third statue, Anansi, was the oddest of the three; he had a large arachnid's body with two long, spindly arms that ended in clawed hands and a masked face that sported a wide, jigsaw grin. These statues were meant as wards to warn off intruders and thieves who thought they could waltz into this sacred place and steal from the dead.
"I think they're statues of Anean gods worshipped by local tribes in South Anea." Penny said, squinting up at the tall statues. "From what I remember…they're Nyame, Oshun and Anansi."
As they got closer to the asp, Optimus held up a fist, stopping his team. Without another word, he spun around and pointed his ion cannon at the rocky hills surrounding the tomb.
"Come out, Decepticons!" Optimus called out. "I know you're there."
After a minute of silence, a silver tank rolled out into the open from its hiding place and transformed into the towering form of Megatron, his silver and black armor gleaming in the bright sun. He grinned mockingly at the Autobots as he took sight of Optimus and his team.
"About time, Prime," He said. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to notice us."
"You don't seem surprised to see us here." Optimus said. He glanced back at the humans and Minicons making their way to the entrance, which, he noticed, was sporting scorch marks clearly caused by blaster fire.
"It was a simple distraction, nothing else." Megatron shrugged. "If you were held back by such a simple-minded plan, then my respect for you would've dropped considerably."
"Glad we've made your day." Ironhide stepped forward and raised his arm cannons. "Now come closer so we can kick your ass."
"Why rush? It'll take a while for our respective Minicons to retrieve the panel we both came here for, so let's take our time and savor the rare experience of killing each other." Megatron lifted his arm and brought out his sword. "Four million years of warfare and we barely fight like this anymore. I want to savor it as much as possible!"
"Stop playing games, Megatron and fight!" Optimus growled.
"Don't you remember, Optimus? War is a game-a game I intend to win!" Megatron grinned and snapped his fingers.
A shadow fell over the Autobots and they split apart as Soundwave crashed to the ground, vibro-blade in hand. Standing up, he fired a few rockets from his shoulder-mounted rocket launcher at Bulkhead to keep him back while Bumblebee rushed him from the front. He fired his stingers and Soundwave raised his arms to block the bolts, ignoring the stinging pain in his arms. Bumblebee's right arm shifted into his vibro-blade and he slashed at Soundwave's chest, barely leaving a scratch before Soundwave kicked him in the chest. Bulkhead shot his blaster at Soundwave's shoulder and staggered him before charging forward to attack him directly.
Megatron and Optimus fought without any more words shared. Optimus ducked under a slash from Megatron's arm blade before drawing his energo-axe and spinning it in a wide arc towards Megatron's chest. Megatron dodged it, but Prime punched him in the face and stumbled back, allowing Ironhide to rush in and ram his shoulder into Megatron's chest. Ironhide pushed forward, smashing Megatron through a boulder and throwing him to the ground.
"Get up, Megatron! You don't get to lie down on the job!" Ironhide said. Megatron obliged, getting to his feet and grinning.
"No rest for the wicked, it would seem." Megatron said. "Nightshade, eradicate Prime's lacky!"
A black form appeared in the sky and swooped down at high speeds. Nightshade, diving towards Ironhide, released her mini-missiles from her wings. The missiles shot at Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who were unable to fully escape the missiles that hit the area around them, though Bulkhead shielded Bumblebee with his larger body.
Nightshade transformed and kicked Ironhide in the chest, slamming him to the ground before drawing her swords and stabbing at his face. Ironhide tilted his head to avoid the sharp blades and jumped back up, taking out his tomahawk and swinging it at her, making her leap back. She deflected his tomahawk and avoided his plasma blast from his cannon before slashing at his head, which he also blocked with his weapon.
"Good to see your age hasn't dulled your fighting skills." She taunted.
"If you think I'm still good, you should fight Kup and see if you still think that." Ironhide said and fired his cannons at her again.
Nightshade ran in a wide arc around him and sheathed her swords before drawing Gandiva, shooting an arrow at Ironhide. The red Autobot dodged the arrow, and it hit the side of the asp's head, completely blowing it off in one shot. Unknown to Nightshade, her misfire would cause the entire battle to go in an entirely different direction.
As soon as the asp's head hit the ground, the statues began to shake. Everyone stopped fighting when they saw the statues slowly begin to move, stone and dust falling off them like dried paint to reveal sleek metal plating underneath. Nyame, Oshun and Anansi shook off their stone coating and slowly stood up, old gears and servo-joints creaking and groaning with each movement. Once they stood to their full height, the golems focused on the Autobots and Decepticons, and everyone knew that they weren't going to be greeted lightly.
"I hate golems." Bulkhead groaned.
The Ogoad wasted no time in attacking the intruders of their master's resting place. Designed for the sole purpose of protecting the graves of the king and queen, the golems performed their duty with utmost diligence and attacked their enemies without hesitation. At this point, Autobots and Decepticons alike could only hope that their smaller counterparts could find the panel fast enough.
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Kevin, Penny, Razor and Undertone walked down the stairs leading to the massive mines the asp was built over. They hadn't even taken a few steps down the stairs before they were assaulted by some still operational traps, which Undertone took care of without problems. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they entered a large cave network of multiple levels that composed the vast accumulation of the royals' wealth.
"This place is every bit as amazing as the stories said they were." Penny marveled. She couldn't believe she was actually exploring this place in the heart of Anea. "This is history in the making, people and we've got front rose seats to it all."
"Aside from making first contact with aliens." Kevin smirked. Penny scowled at him and smacked his arm.
"Don't ruin the moment, Kevin."
"So, where are we?" Razor asked. "What's so special about this place?"
"Well according to legend, these mines were once the secret meeting place of where King Solomon and Queen Sheba would meet each other in private." Penny explained. "They loved each other deeply, but they could not be together because of the differences between their respective kingdoms. They courted each other in secret and even had a child that stayed with Sheba, but ultimately they died apart from each other."
"That's a bit stupid." Razor frowned. "What's the point of being king or queen if you can't do whatever you want?"
"Love is seldom simple, Razor." Kevin shrugged.
"These gold mines were a testament to their love. Some say that it was Sheba's gift to Solomon, but others say that all of it was a testament of Solomon's love for Sheba." Penny continued. "But the fact is that all of this is a sign of just how strong love is, even when both spouses are restricted to different parts of the world."
"This all just sounds so complicated. Couldn't they just say how they feel about each other and save everyone the trouble?"
"If only it were that easy, Razor." Penny sighed and glanced at Kevin. Emotions were a fickle thing, and people's reactions and fears only made it harder to everyone involved.
After crossing a bridge, they walked through a few narrow corridors until they reached a natural canyon that was carved out smoothly from one side of the mine to the other. It was so narrow that only two people to could through it side by side at a time. There was some natural light afforded by, if you could believe it, small energon crystals embedded in the walls, but they could barely see more than a foot ahead of them.
"Energon, huh? Go figure." Penny idly said and took a step forward, only to hear Kevin yell out to her.
"Penny!" Kevin jumped forward and covered Penny with his body, letting the red energy beam hit his back and be absorbed into his body. His body glowed briefly as he pulled Penny back to the Minicons.
"Whoa, where did that come from?" Penny asked, a bit shaken from almost being incinerated on the spot.
"No clue, I can't see anything up there." Razor said, looking at the dark area above them.
Another laser blast was shot at them from the darkness. Razor grabbed the kids and jumped back as it hit the ground near them. Undertone looked up and pointed at where the beam came from, and then glanced at Kevin, who understood what he meant.
"Let's shed some light on the situation." Kevin drew upon the energy he absorbed from the beam and shot a blast upwards. The blast gave a little bit of light, but they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Think our hit man bailed on us?" Razor said. Undertone shook his head and tapped her shoulder, indicating he had a plan to solve this dilemma.
Sitting on his perch on one of the ledges high above the group, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw tracked their movements. They were completely out of sight, protected from any attacks they could throw at them and undetectable to any sensors they might have. They also couldn't see the group, but neither Con cared as they continued shooting in the direction of the voices they heard.
Buzzsaw looked over the edge and saw only three people down below. The white Minicon was missing. "Hey, where'd the white one go?"
Laserbeak scanned the area and saw Razor leaping along the walls to reach them. "Hold that thought!"
He flew off his ledge and fired his laser cannons at Razor, but was shocked when the lasers shot right through her and hit the wall, causing her image to fizzle out. It was a hologram! At that moment, an energy blast hit his wing hard enough to blast him out of the air and spiral out of control.
"You got him, Kevin! Roast that birdy!" Penny cheered. Kevin raised his arms and fired another blast that hit Laserbeak in the chest and sent him crashing into the wall, tumbling down to the ground and out of sight.
Buzzsaw cawed angrily and flew at them, shooting his laser cannons at the group. He didn't notice Undertone running along the wall until the mech had jumped on his back and stabbed into his wings, severing important joints that stalled Buzzsaw in the air and sent him falling fast. Undertone stayed on top of him until the last minute and jumped off Buzzsaw as he hit the ground, bouncing once before landing on his back unconscious.
Kevin and Penny approached the downed Con warily with Razor in front of them.
"Who's the bird?" Penny asked.
"The one behind us is Laserbeak, and this little freak is Buzzsaw. They're both Soundwave's agents." Razor answered, kicking the wounded mech's bird-like head. "If they're here, then chances are that they didn't come here alone. I'm willing to bet my videogame collection that Rumble, Frenzy, and Ravage are here too."
"Three Cons against two Minicons and an esper." Kevin frowned and crossed his arms. "Not the best odds, huh?"
"Numbers…not important…" Surprisingly, it was Undertone who spoke, though he spoke in broken sentences that clearly caused him some effort to do. "Quality…not quantity."
Blinking, Tracer smiled and patted Undertone on the back. "I knew you were a cool guy, Undertone."
Penny raised a finger. "Before we go, I want to do something first."
Just barely conscious, Laserbeak weakly lifted his head and saw Penny marching over to him. The girl stood over him and lifted her boot, and the last thing he saw was her foot heading towards his face before his vision went dark.
XXXXXX
Megatron cursed the forces that be for creating such an infuriating planet such as Terra as he ducked under a swipe of Nyame's massive broadsword. The kingly golem was armed with two swords, which it wielded with astounding skill and efficiency despite their large size. Nightshade and Soundwave regrouped to fight it, but the golem's wide reaching slashes and swift movements kept them mobile and unable to properly counterattack. Nightshade wasn't even able to use Gandiva with how fast Nyame was moving.
Megatron transformed to his tank mode and drove around Nyame's legs, firing his fusion cannon at its legs. His aim was on point, but any satisfaction he felt was immediately gone when he saw his beams being diffused by some energy barrier around its vital areas. Megatron could see a collection of tiny crystals buried in Nyame's armor that were generating the local force field.
Soundwave ran behind the golem and shot a few rockets from his shoulder launcher at its back. To his surprise, they hit their mark, making Nyame stumble forward while also blasting off a chunk of its armor.
"Megatron, use physical weapons and projectiles. Energy attacks are ineffective." Soundwave said, leaping back to dodge the large sword slamming into the ground just inches from his chest.
Nightshade was already on it, shifting to beast mode and shooting her micro-missiles at its body. Despite being hit by the missiles, Nyame was still in the game, and it showed this by throwing one of its swords at Megatron. Megatron changed back to bipedal mode and jumped out of the sword's path as it slammed into the ground, nearly cutting him in half. However, he wasn't expecting the golem to suddenly charge him, swinging a giant fist that slammed into his left side, breaking his arm and sending him flying four feet into the side of a rocky mound.
Soundwave continued to fire his rockets at Nyame, but the golem's armor was more durable than he anticipated. With its remaining sword, Nyame attacked Soundwave, but the spymaster jumped out of the way, allowing Nightshade to fly in and land behind it. Taking out her swords, she started slashing at its Achilles heel, managing to slice into the metal and sever vital power conduits arranged in a manner similar to muscle tendons around the golem's endoskeleton. That one good hit was enough to send Nyame falling to its knee.
"Just die already!" Nightshade growled.
A bellowing war cry from Megatron was all the warning she got before she jumped off as Megatron jumped on the golem's back. Looked as good as he felt, sporting a broken arm that was almost mangled and pointing in the opposite direction, and a broken shoulder. Still, he was strong enough to fight, and he reached to a storage compartment on his back, pulling out a handle and pressing a button. The handle generated an energo-field, creating an energo-mace, a weapon that he rarely used but always had on hand in case his other weapons were disabled. He began smashing his spiked mace into the back of Nyame's head, trying to cave its skull in the old fashioned way.
Nyame grabbed onto Megatron and threw him to the ground, where he fired his fusion cannon into its face. As the energy blast blinded it, Nightshade flew onto its shoulder and began stabbing her swords into its neck cables. Nyame tried to grab her, but she continued hacking away at anything that looked vital. Her efforts didn't take long to take its toll on the large machine; the golem fell to its knees as power flowing from its body to its head was interrupted and its movements began to slow. A final stab severed the connections in its neck and it groaned to a stop, its head falling off its shoulders and hanging by just a few cables. Nightshade sighed in relief and jumped off the dead robot.
"Get off me!" Megatron pushed Soundwave away when he tried to help him up. He got to his feet and held his broken arm.
"You're hurt." Nightshade pointed out as she walked over to them. "I'll call Knockout for a med-evac."
"Do that and you'll be spending the next few months walking home!" Megatron hissed. "I'm not leaving here until I get what I came here for!"
Nightshade scowled at her leader's anger. "Do you think you can fight in that condition? You can barely speak without coughing!"
"My orders are absolute, Nightshade!" He growled.
"I don't care. My duty is to ensure your well being." She yelled back.
Before their argument could heat up, Nightshade was hit from behind by a thick stream of liquid that pinned her to a boulder. The strange fluid solidified upon contact and trapped her to the rock, leaving only her head, wings and hands free. Megatron and Soundwave turned to see the spider-like golem Anansi crawling towards them, still wearing that creepy smile on its mask-like face.
"What is that abomination doing here? I thought it was fighting the Autobots!" Megatron snarled.
Acting on a hunch, he turned to look at the Autobots, who were fighting Oshun. He saw Optimus give him a mocking two-fingered salute before returning to his fight. It didn't take long for Megatron to put the pieces together.
Megatron's enraged scream could be heard for miles across the Anean countryside.
XXXXXX
Deep in the tunnels underground, the team of humans and Minicons traveled through the winding maze of hallways that would've gotten them lost had it not been for Undertone's amazing sense of direction. They managed to avoid dead ends and traps as they made their way to a large cavern with a deep pit in the middle. There was solid ground at the bottom, but the drop was too far to survive without some kind of mechanical assistance. The only way to the other side was an old, rickety bridge that somehow withstood the test of time.
Kevin looked up at the ceiling and saw trickles of sand leaking through tightly sealed seams that were just barely noticeable. "That doesn't look reassuring."
"The ceiling looks like it's about to cave in." Razor said.
"That's probably the whole point. It's meant to dump a desert on us if we make a wrong move." Penny frowned and rubbed her chin. "Got to admit, these guys knew their stuff when it came to giving grave robbers a workout."
"If you're done praising the ancients, Penny, we need to keep going. Soundwave's pets are probably at the treasury already."
Kevin took a step toward the bridge, but Undertone held him back and pointed across the bridge. On the other side were two tall figures standing at the corridor, and Razor recognized them as Rumble and Frenzy.
"What's up Autobitches?" Rumble grinned. "How were Laserbeak and Buzzsaw? Did they make you go cold turkey?"
"Wow, that was a bad joke, even for me." Razor groaned.
"We'd love to stay and beat your collective asses, but we're on a tight schedule." Frenzy said. "Bro, waste them!"
Rumble's power driver arms began hammering the ground repeatedly. The vibrations generated from his body traveled through his arms into the ground and spread out through the cavern, effectively creating a localized earthquake. Kevin tried to attack Rumble, but Razor pulled him back before the rocks could crush him. Undertone looked up and saw the ceiling start to crack.
"Have fun with our sand castle, scrubs!" Rumble cackled and ran into the tunnel with his brother as the cave continued to shake.
Undertone and Razor backed away with the kids as the ceiling finally gave away and a flood of sand fell into the cavern. Thousands of pounds of sand flowed in from the surface like a waterfall, and dust filled the air, obscuring everyone's vision. Kevin and Penny had to cover their nose and mouths to avoid breathing in the dusty air as the Minicons stood protectively over them. The sand was powerful enough obliterated the bottom of the pit, punched through the floor, and fell through the lower chambers down below.
The sand continued to fall for 2 minutes before the flow started to taper off, shrinking into a trickle before stopping entirely. Once the dust settled and everyone could see again, they got a good look at the damage caused by the sand. The bridge was destroyed, as was the bottom of the pit, where a massive hole sat, which led to the chamber below them. Penny looked down and whistled as she realized that she could see all the way down to the lower levels of the mines.
"Damn, that was a lot of sand. I didn't think that much sand could cause so much damage." She remarked. Looking up, she sighed at the broken taters of the bridge. "And we don't have a bridge now. How are we going to catch up to them?"
"Maybe we can jump across." Razor suggested. "I can warp over there, and I'm pretty sure it's no trouble for Undertone to jump across either. Hopefully the rock isn't weak from that overflow of kitty litter."
Kevin hummed and looked down into the hole. "Why don't we climb down?"
"Climb down? As in try to go straight down nearly two stories of floors without climbing equipment?" Penny looked at her best friend with no small amount of skepticism. "How is that going to work? Surely there's a better, safer idea to try out."
"Penny, we've wasted enough time dealing with Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, and almost getting buried under half a desert worth's of sand. We can't play it safe anymore." He insisted.
"I don't know. Do you think we can manage that?" Razor asked, not very sure about the idea.
Undertone stepped forward and studied the hole. After a quick minute, he looked at the others and nodded, drawing his swords and motioning for Kevin to get on his back.
"Looks like Undertone's on board." Kevin smiled and turned to the girls. "Ladies, the choice is yours."
Penny and Razor looked at each other. When Razor shrugged, Penny groaned and patted her cheeks, gearing up for one of the many difficulties that came with being a member of the human/Minicon retrieval team.
"Alright, we'll do this the hard way!" She grumbled. "Let's get this over with before I wuss out."
XXXXXX
The vault containing King Solomon and Queen Sheba's treasures was located at the bottom level of the tomb. Heavily fortified against intruders, the chamber that held the vault was lavishly decorated with smooth, partly chipped walls that were a beautiful shade of aquamarine that had tiled murals depicting mythical creatures from both rulers' cultures. The support columns were made of dark limestone that was only slightly faded with age, much like the rest of the chamber. As for the vault itself, it lied behind two large doors made of adamantium, the world's strongest metal, with two gold plated engravings of Solomon and Sheba touching hands.
Blasting the doors apart didn't do any good, as Rumble and Frenzy quickly learned. Even Rumble's pile driver arms barely made a dent in it. Adamantium was a hardy metal after all; difficult to find, difficult to break. Ravage was the one to make a connection when Frenzy accidentally summoned some sort of orb from the ceiling upon stepping onto one of the two platforms in front of the door. When the same thing happened on Rumble's side, it presented an idea that the feline Minicon was willing to test out.
"Stand on the platforms, both of you." Ravage ordered.
"Hey, who died and made you boss?" Rumble protested. Ravage peeled his lips back in a snarl at the challenge to his authority.
"You will if you don't listen to my orders!" He growled.
"Okay, okay we'll do it." Frenzy said, punching Rumble in the shoulder. He wasn't going to piss off the robo-kitty that was twice his size.
The brothers stepped onto their platforms and the orbs appeared before them again. When they touched the orbs, nothing happened, prompting Frenzy to ask what to do next.
"Try touching them at the same time." Ravage said.
The twins did as they were told and two beams of light shot from the eyes of the engravings of the king and queen on the door, running up and down the two Minicons as if scanning them. Ravage waited impatiently for something to happen, and after a minute something did, only it wasn't what he was hoping for. Once the beams were done scanning, they turned from green to red and the twins jumped back in pain as they were blasted off the platforms.
"What is this?" Ravage growled. "I thought that was how the doors would open! What went wrong?"
"Frag this!" Frenzy took out his blaster and pointed it at the doors. "I'm gonna mess that pretty painting up."
"You will no such thing!" Ravage exclaimed, hissing at the red mech. "Not until we know what we're dealing with. Or maybe you want to tell Megatron how we lost the panel because you had an itchy trigger finger?"
Frenzy gritted his teeth and lowered his weapon, but his anger didn't subside. "You weren't just zapped by a fraggin' heat ray! How about you stand up there and see if anything different happens."
"Yeah, do something useful for once instead of barking orders!" Rumble shouted.
Ravage bared his teeth in a snarl as he glared at them through narrow red eyes. He was just as frustrated as they were, but he hid it better, which was lucky for them. If he had a hair trigger temper like them, they would be in pieces on the ground at his feet. Their deaths wouldn't make a difference, there were always casualties in war, friendly fire being an unfortunate truth. Granted, he figured that the universe would be a better place without those morons wasting space and air.
A loud noise from the hall alerted the three Minicons and they turned to the entrance. Rumble and Frenzy ran to the doorway and pointed their weapons at it and Ravage stood ready to pounce at the first sign of the intruder. When the unintended visitor made their appearance, Ravage almost leapt at him but stopped himself at the last minute.
"Laserbeak?" Ravage said, surprised to see his fellow beast here of all places. "What are you doing here?"
"I came from the canyon," Laserbeak said in his broken speech patterns. He landed on top of a rock as he gave his report. "They got Buzzsaw, but I made it away. The humans and Minicons are stalled, but we need to get that panel now."
"We're workin' on that. Rumble grumbled. "But the damn door has been givin' us problems."
Ravage narrowed his eyes at Laserbeak, sniffing at the Con. "What took you so long to get here? It shouldn't have taken you so long to find us."
"I got mixed up." Laserbeak replied. "There was another room that looks just like this one and I went into it by mistake."
That made the other three Cons pause. They all looked at Laserbeak as Frenzy asked the golden question.
"Another…room?"
"Who's the bird here, you or me? I just said there's another room!" Laserbeak cawed. "What's the problem?"
"That explains why the door isn't opening. We're in the wrong room." Ravage muttered. "Hurry, we must head to the other room before the Minicons find it!"
The Minicons left the chamber and went back down the tunnel to the fork in the path they bypassed. Not long after they were gone, Kevin and Penny came out of their hiding place and ran into the chamber. Penny gasped at the room and quickly took a couple of pictures of the place with her camera that she brought along (she wasn't sure if she was going to get another chance like this ever again, so she came prepared).
"Let's get to work. Undertone's trick won't fool them for long." Kevin said. He walked up to the door and tapped his knuckles against it. "Anybody have any ideas on how to open this thing? I doubt I could break through this even if I was fully charged."
Penny ran her hands along the smooth ridges of the murals. When they were hiding, she noticed that Rumble and Frenzy tried opening the doors using some ancient scanning mechanism. Such technology would have been out of place in a society that hadn't even reached steam power yet, but many cultures around the world utilized Arian technology without even knowing what it was or how to properly use it. It was just another thing about the Arians that people never understood.
"Penny?" Kevin's voice shook her from her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, right, sorry." Penny stepped back from the door. "Okay, from what I've seen, this door is equipped with some kind of scanning device or something that was made to keep unwanted visitors out."
"Like fingerprint scanners that some high tech companies and banks use?" Kevin questioned.
"Yeah, only this one will fry you if you're not the right person on the list. We've got to be careful about this."
Kevin looked at the platform and stepped up on it, causing the orb from earlier to appear from above. "I think they did it like this…"
He touched the orb, but nothing happened this time. The mural on the door did not scan him like it did Rumble. "It's not working."
"Let me try." Penny got on the other platform and touched her orb as it appeared, but just like Kevin, the mural of King Solomon opposite her did not scan her. "Okay, this is not good."
"What do we do Penny?" Kevin asked.
"I don't know, but we need to think of something fast!" Penny bit her lip. "I don't think Razor and Undertone can hold the Cons off for any longer."
XXXXXX
The minute Ravage, Frenzy and Rumble entered the room that "Laserbeak" told them about, it was immediately clear that there were no similarities to the chamber they just left. It lacked the visible majesty and splendor the other chamber had, looking more like an earthquake hit the place. What was even more of a kick in the teeth was that there wasn't even any vault!
"Laserbeak, what is this-" Ravage spun around to tear into Laserbeak, but was surprised to see Laserbeak's image flicker and change into a less friendly face-the Minicon Undertone, who had disguised himself using a holomatter generator! "Kill him!"
Rumble leapt forward to crush the mech's skull in his claws, but Razor warped in front of him and kicked him in the face. She grabbed his head and slammed him to the ground before jumping back when he grabbed for her. Ravage roared and pounced at her, but she warped out of his reach and shot her pistols into his face to push him back.
Frenzy ran forward to join his brother, but Undertone was already zeroing in on him and leapt at Frenzy. The red mech converted his hands into drills and stabbed at Undertone, who deflected the drills and weaved around Frenzy to slash at his left leg. Staggering, Frenzy was unable to stop Undertone from grabbing him and throwing him into the wall, jumping forward and slashing his blades into Frenzy's chest in an X formation.
Tracer dodged Rumble's large pile drivers as she warped around him shooting various parts of his body that weren't fully protected. Rumble, heavy as he was, was unable to get a lock on her and couldn't even catch her in time. Ravage growled and brought out his plasma cannon from his back, firing at Razor to keep her in one place. Razor yelped as a plasma bolt shot past her face and she returned fire of her own, hitting Ravage's front leg and making him stumble.
"Filthy little glitch!" Ravage growled.
Ravage shot a missile from one of the missile pods on his waist at her. Razor dodged the missile, but it exploded close behind her and the blast wave threw her to the ground. Dazed, Tracer couldn't move in time before Rumble to charged at her and slammed his pile driver into her chest, smashing her into the wall. Ravage grinned and shot another missile at the prone Minicon, but Undertone leapt into the air and kicked the missile aside, sending it at Frenzy.
"Scrap!" Frenzy cursed and scrambled to get away. The missile exploded close to him and he was blasted away, crashing into the side of a fallen column with flames licking at his armor.
"Bro! You're gonna pay for that ninja-boy!" Rumble snarled and prepared to unleash his pile drivers into the ground when Ravage head-butted him off his feet. "What's the deal, Ravage?!"
"You'll bring down the entire mine down on us if you use your pile drivers here, you idiot!" Ravage hissed. "Use your head!"
Behind them, Frenzy painfully stood up from where he was thrown, his body stinging in pain from the burns he suffered. Glaring at Undertone and Razor, he powered up his enhanced vocoders and inhaled. Ravage noticed too late what he planned to do and tried to stop him, but to no avail.
Frenzy released his sonic scream that sounded even louder in an enclosed space. Friend and foe were strongly affected by the deafening shriek but the actual sonic wave was directed at the Minicons. Undertone pushed Razor away and took the full brunt of the scream, taking it to the chest and slamming his body into the wall behind him, pinning him there with pure sound waves alone.
"That's it, bro! Torch that cog sucker!" Rumble cheered, despite being barely audible over the noise.
Frenzy slowly advanced on the trapped Minicon, increasing the pressure on the mech until his chest plate started deforming from the intense sound waves putting pressure on his body. Frenzy tried to turn out the power of his scream to crush Undertone into scrap metal, but then he felt a sharp pain in his chest stopped his scream. A long sword was sticking out of his chest, stabbed through his back. Razor, who had taken Undertone's sword and warped behind Frenzy, lifted the mech's body over her head and threw him aside.
"Frenzy!" Rumble cried out and slammed his pile drivers into the ground. "You're going to pay for that, bastard!"
Razor pulled her sword from Frenzy's body and raised it to the two Cons. "You can come over here and make me. You bozos don't scare me!"
XXXXXX
As the Decepticons battled Anansi, the Autobots had their own problems fighting Oshun, who looked like a glorified slink. In reality, its body was composed of thin blades sharp enough to cut through solid stone. A deep cut on Optimus' forearm showed that it was quite effective on cybertronian armor too.
Its long arms carved deep gouges into the ground as it slashed them at the Autobots. They were forced to stay mobile in case it decided to switch targets on a dime, which it often did. Ironhide fired a plasma blast at its head, but the golem just weaved its body out of the way and kicked him back, nearly severing his cannon arm in the process.
"How long are the brats going to take down there?" Ironhide grunted, rubbing the gash on his arm. He jumped aside to dodge the whip-like arm that slammed down beside him. "What the hell are they doing there, sight-seeing?"
"If you think you can do a better job, Ironhide, you're welcome to show us your skills." Bulkhead said, also shooting his blaster at it.
"Don't start with me, Bulkhead, I'm not in the mood!" Ironhide growled and hissed when one of its blades dug into his thigh.
"Stop chatting and kill it already!" Bumblebee yelled.
He and Optimus shot at Oshun from both sides but Oshun was still able to keep an eye on all the Autobots at once. When Optimus tried to shoot its leg, but it moved the limb and kicked Optimus hard in the chest. He fell hard on his back, and Oshun advanced on him, spinning its arms in tight circles to emulate saws. It stabbed one of its arm at him, but Bulkhead rushed in and grabbed it.
"No you don't!" Bulkhead grunted, wincing as he felt its sharp finger blades cutting into his arms and chest.
Oshun merely looked down at the Autobot trying to hold it down, and lifted its arm. Bulkhead yelped as he was pulled off the ground and stared at the golem right into its crystal blue eyes.
"Uh…hi?" He said nervously.
Oshun slammed him into the ground once and flung him away. Then its chest panels opened to reveal a large chunk of yellow crystal, which crackled with energy. Oshun fired a strong bolt of electricity into Bulkhead's chest and sent him flying out of the clearing into the rocks a few feet away. With one Autobot down, it turned its attention to Bumblebee and Ironhide, who weren't feeling very good about their chances now.
"This is going about as well as I predicted." Ironhide muttered.
XXXXXX
"Come on, Penny, we need to think of something quick." Kevin said. He could hear more explosions through the thick stone walls and it wasn't helping his nerves.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking! Shit," Penny rarely cursed, but the stress was getting to her. "Maybe it only opens under certain conditions. Like those tombs in Azteca."
"What does that have to do with our problem here?" Kevin asked.
"In Azteca, the Mayans made secret vaults that could only be opened by mimicking different poses shown in paintings or by statues. Maybe it's the same here, just more abstract." Penny said, and then she got an idea. "I think I've got it!"
Penny hopped off the platform and dragged Kevin off his, making him switch positions with her. Once they were standing perpendicular to the king and queen respectively, Penny instructed him on her theory.
"We just need to match the positions of the people on the mural. That means I stand in front of the queen and you stand in front of the king." Penny said.
"Okay, that's easy enough." Kevin nodded.
"Then…we need to copy their position on the mural, and that includes us getting a bit…close." She blushed.
Kevin blinked. "How close."
Penny pointed to the mural, which showed the king and queen lovingly embracing each other. Kevin gulped. "Oh, that close."
Penny cleared her throat. "Yes, but chin up, Kevin. We're doing this for a good cause."
"You make it seem like this is a bad thing." He teased.
"S-Shut up and hold me!"
Kevin and Penny stood facing each other on their platforms, standing close enough that their faces were inches from each other. Trying and failing to hide their embarrassment, the two children remained in place while staring into each other's eyes, staying in that position as they touched the orbs. The eyes on the murals glowed and scanned them, taking only a few seconds to finish the job. For a few tense seconds it seemed that nothing happened, but then they heard a loud groan and turned to see the doors starting to slowly slide open.
"Oh my god, it actually worked?" Kevin gaped. Penny squealed and hugged him tightly around the neck.
"It worked, we did it!"
But the joyous moment was cut short when they saw Razor run into the chamber looking tired and hurt. She was scratched and bleeding in several areas, as well was covered in many burns along her body.
"You better make it snappy, loves." Razor panted. "We've got company comin'!"
Just as she said that, Ravage came charging after her, roaring ferociously. She jumped to the side to avoid his lunge, but Ravage continued on his rampage towards the children. Razor jumped onto Ravage's back and pulled his head back, making him stop. He ran around trying to dislodge her, but in her wounded state, she wouldn't be able to hold him for long.
"Penny, go inside and get the panel." Kevin told her."
"What?" Penny looked at Kevin. "But what about you two?"
"We'll hold the line here, but someone needs to go inside, and that's you." He said. "This is your time to shine, Penny. I'm just the bodyguard."
Penny bit her lip nervously, but Kevin gave her a reassuring smile. She touched his hand before running past the doors into the vault. Ravage snarled when he saw the girl run in to steal his prize.
"No!" Ravage jumped onto his back, forcing Razor to push herself off him to avoid getting crushed under his weight. She rolled to her feet and jumped back when he snapped at her, but Ravage fired his laser cannon at the vault.
Kevin jumped in front of the beam and took the energy straight to his chest. His shirt was almost destroyed, but his body absorbed the energy, strengthening his body and erasing almost all of his fatigue. Razor leapt over to him and drew her blasters.
"Where's Undertone?" Kevin asked.
"In the hallway taking care of twiddle dee and twiddle dum. He's hurt, but he can still fight."
They turned to Ravage, who was pacing back and forth, waiting for the right moment to strike. Then another combatant joined the fray, the heavily wounded but still kicking Laserbeak. Kevin cursed and channeled energy into his arms.
"No one gets in until Penny get's back with the panel." He said.
"No need to tell me, love." Razor grinned and aimed her guns. "Let's put these enemies back in the zoo!"
XXXXXX
Penny didn't slow down in her sprinting, even when her lungs began to burn and her legs began to ache from the constant running. She knew every second wasted put more pressure on Kevin and Tracer, and she wasn't going to let them get hurt because of her laziness. She just hoped that they found that stupid panel or else things would go wrong for everybody.
The first thing she registered when she reached the interior of the vault was the smell. The chamber was musty from not having any fresh air for nearly a thousand years, sealed almost air tight with no one opening it since it was first closed. But that was the last thing she was concerned about when she saw the gold-mountains and mountains of gold…and jewelry, can't forget about that. Sure, the treasure was all dusty and stuff, but it didn't stop her inner treasure hunter from flaring to the surface.
It all came rushing to her in realization-here she was, standing in King Solomon's fabled mines, right in the middle of his legendary collection of gold that hundreds of people died searching for. Such a discovery was almost enough to match Gina's milestone of making first contact with aliens, and she was going to make sure she remembered it!
Another explosion brought her out of her moment, and she remembered why she was here in the first place. The Minicon stasis panel, that was why she came here…but it didn't stop her from snatching a couple of handfuls of jewels and stuffing them into her bag. Having pilfered enough gold and jewels to make her pockets bulge and make her backpack feel like it was made of solid lead, Penny started digging through the treasure to find the panel. But she had no idea where to look and the vault was too big to search thoroughly.
Then she heard something blow past the back of her neck and she spun around to see what it was. There was nothing behind her but another smaller pile of jewels, however, she saw something sticking out of the pile. It was a small ring shaped like a lavender crystal rose. It was connected to a chain, and when she pulled on the chain, she found that it was wrapped around something. Pulling harder, she was shocked to see that the chain was wrapped around the panel!
"Well slap me twice and call me Sally." Penny grinned and looked up at the tall statue of the forbidden lovers. "Thank you."
XXXXXX
"I remember you," Ravage growled as he circled Kevin. "You and your friends caused me a lot of pain that day."
"You act like I care." Kevin replied.
Ravage leapt at him, but Razor kicked him aside and shot her blasters at Kevin, who absorbed the laser blasts that impacted his body. Jumping back, Kevin fired energy blasts at Laserbeak, who fired lasers of his own from his wing cannons. Laserbeak took a shot to the wing, but he swooped down and grabbed at Kevin with his sharp talons. Kevin barely dodged the sharp claws, but still got scratched on his back diving low to avoid the Con. Letting Laserbeak pass fully over him, Kevin jumped up and grabbed his tail feather, using his enhanced strength to drag Laserbeak to the ground and land a punch to his beak.
Razor flipped around Ravage, shooting her blasters while dodging Ravage's plasma cannon. The feline mech shot a missile from his waist mounted pods, but Razor warped away to allow the missile to hit a wall.
"Nice try, but you won't get me this time." Razor taunted.
"Then I will just try another method." Ravage sneered and pounced at Razor. An energy blast hit him in the side and knocked him to the ground.
Kevin charged at Ravage firing his energy blasts non-stop. They hit Ravage with enough strength to push him back, but Ravage fired two missiles at Kevin to force him back. As expected, the esper absorbed the kinetic energy released by the missiles upon exploding, but he was still blasted off his feet.
"Would you just go down already?" Kevin grunted.
"It'll take more than just you, boy." Ravage grumbled, though he was visibly hurt from the strong energy blasts that blew chunks of his armor off. "You should've stayed home. Now die, human!"
Ravage charged at Kevin, but something large slammed into the side of his body and threw him into a column. It was Frenzy's body, and he had a shuriken thrown into his leg seconds after hitting Ravage…an exploding shuriken. It detonated and blasted them apart, sending Frenzy's smoking body one way and a severely burned Ravage the other way.
Razor and Kevin saw Undertone jump into the room with Rumble hot on his tail, trying to smash him into scrap. Undertone had lost his other sword and was just trying to dodge the Con. Undertone was doing a great job in holding Rumble back, but a wound in his right leg made him stagger when he put too much weight on it. Rumble used this opportunity to rush in for the kill, trying to crush Undertone's head in his claws. Undertone kept his claws from his head, but his joints strained under the pressure.
"You're good, fly boy, but not enough to beat me." Rumble grinned, slowly increasing the pressure on him. "No one is stronger than me!"
Razor warped behind him and stabbed Undertone's sword into his shoulder, making him flinch away in pain. Undertone broke free and retrieved his sword, leaping up and slashing Rumble across the face, shattering his optical visor and cutting into one of his eyes.
Rumble roared in pain, but he didn't have time to get angry at his situation as the Minicons split apart and allowed Kevin a clean shot. The boy fired an energy blast into the middle of Rumble's chest and sent him flying backwards, crashing right through the wall.
"That was nice teamwork, guys. Best feeling I've felt all day." Kevin smiled.
"Guys, guys!" Penny ran, or rather waddled, into the room with the panel in her arms and pockets and bag full of valuables. "I've got the panel! Let's…" She looked around at the battle damaged chamber and the battered Cons at her feet. "Wow…what did I miss?"
"Nothing much, just us kicking ass." Kevin grinned. "Now let's get out of here and call the Autobots."
XXXXXX
"Hya!" Optimus roared as he severed Oshun's arm, just as its sharp fingers impaled his shoulder. Oshun attacked him again, but he leapt away, ripping the blades from his wounded shoulder.
"Ow, ow! Careful, Bee, that stings." Bulkhead complained as Bumblebee helped him up.
"Stop being a baby, it's not that serious." Bumblebee said, glancing down at the still sizzling spot of irritated armor on Bulkhead's chest. It was nothing more than a large scorch mark on his rotund belly, barely reaching an inch into his thick armor. Had he been any weaker, the blast could've done some serious damage. "We're barely making progress with this thing, but at least the Cons aren't doing any better than us."
Bulkhead looked back up the hill and saw Megatron and Soundwave still battling Anansi. Its speed and fast reflexes made fighting it difficult on top of Nightshade's current predicament and Megatron's injuries. Blackout had joined them, but all he was doing was pissing the golem off even more.
"How long do you think it'll take them to beat it?" Bulkhead wondered.
"Probably another hour, if not half that time." Bumblebee answered.
Optimus ran over to Ironhide and helped him up from where he landed after Oshun kicked him. Taking out his battle axe, Optimus planned to rush in and finish that golem himself when he finally got the call he was waiting for.
"Optimus, we've got the panel and we're heading back to the surface!" Razor reported. "We'll need a safe exit!"
"Copy that, Razor." Optimus said and called the Ark. "Teletran, we need a ground bridge at Minicon Razor and Minicon Undertone's location. Autobots, fall back to secondary positions away from the statue."
"But won't the golem chase us along the way?" Bumblebee asked.
"Just do it, Bumblebee. Trust me." Optimus said. "Now go!"
Optimus ran at Oshun and slashed at its leg, getting its attention and led it away from the asp just as a ground bridge appeared at the entrance. Oshun chased after Prime, slashing at him and also shooting bolts from its chest. Optimus transformed and drove up the hill to where the Cons were still fighting Anansi. He didn't even slow down when he rammed into Soundwave, knocking the spymaster over as he sped past them. Behind him, Oshun still continued its pursuit, nearly running over Soundwave as it chased Optimus. As for Megatron, he saw the ground bridge appear for Optimus and pointed his fusion cannon.
"You're not running away, Prime!" Megatron fired his fusion cannon at Prime, but Optimus changed forms and jumped into the ground bridge, where it disappeared.
At this point, Megatron knew he had lost the panel, and that they were essentially here for no reason anymore. Before he could let out his frustrations on the damaged Anansi, a large shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see Oshun's expressionless face staring down at him. Megatron finally reached his tipping point.
"PRIME!"
XXXXXX
"Holy slag, he actually did that?" Runway laughed. Razor nodded as she told her story.
"He totally did. It was the best thing ever. I just managed to spot Oshun hovering over Megatron when Prime went into the bridge." She smiled. "It was bloody gold!"
"Ha! Who knew Prime could've been such a troll!" Sonar cackled. "I love the guy!"
As Tracer told the story of the mission to the Air Defense Team, the others were gathered around the new addition to their roster, an old war hound named Refute. He was a heavily armored bright orange mech who had faded battle scars all over his body, some from age, and others from scuffles he got into back in his day. He transformed into a mining vehicle with large pincers at the front of his alt mode designed for crushing or lifting heavy loads.
"Welcome to Terra, Refute. My name is Gina." Gina introduced herself to the Minicon.
"Pleasure to meet you. Sparkplug has said a lot of good things about you and your friends." Refute said in a deep voice, his gratitude evident even in his blue optic visor. "I can't thank you enough for doing what you do for the Minicons."
"All in a day's work." Gina smiled cutely.
On the sidelines, Annie and Penny were discussing the latter's little…discoveries in the vault. Everyone else didn't notice, but Annie (who had a bit of an eye for shiny things of great value) zeroed in on her overflowing pockets and backpack and took Penny into the corner.
"Please tell me you snagged some bling in that tomb?"
Penny's grin was positively blinding. "Damn right I did!"
Penny took Annie to a secluded part of the room and emptied her pockets and bag, and the girls shifted through the large amount of gold and jewels she had pilfered from the vault. Annie got the monopoly on anything that wasn't gold, having a bit of a thing for shiny rocks. Sparkling gemstones were more interesting to her than gold anyway, so when she spotted the rose ring Penny found, her eyes sparkled like two stars.
"Well hello," Annie picked up the ring and held it to the light, relishing the way the crystal rose gleamed in her eye. "What's this?"
"I found it on a chain wrapped around the panel when it dug it out." Penny told her. "Take it, it's yours. Rings aren't my thing anyway."
"Thanks." Annie slipped the ring onto her finger on her right hand and went back to inspecting Penny's spoils. During their shameless digging, neither girl noticed that the ring glowed for a split second before going dark again.
The rose had planted its roots.