T.M.I.
Optimus, Bee, Arcee, and I were surveying a weird energon frequency. Ratchet had theorized that the strange energy emanated from a datacron cylinder. We walked around the dusty canyon area. Prime and Bee ripped through a wall until they hit a hollow point. Arcee crawled through the hole and exited with the datacron. Then, vehicons converged on our position. Knockout, Breakdown, and Matrix lead the fliers.
Optimus COM'd base, "Ratchet, Decepticon ambush! The cylinder is at risk! We require backup!"
Knockout yelled, "I call Prime!"
"Fine, I'll get Arcee," Breakdown said.
"Um... I choose," Matrix looked between Bee and I, "the cute one!"
Matrix ran at Bee. I was stuck on the boring vehicon duty. I was outnumbered maybe four to one? I put down my mask and drew my swords.
Arcee dropped the cylinder when Breakdown hammered it out of her hands. Optimus and Bee were both distracted by their one-on-ones as well. Vehicons rushed to the datacron. I held them off. They were better at fighting than when I had left.
Bulkhead and Striker ran out of our groundbridge.
"Hey Bulk, Striker," I jested with a nod, "it's about time," I said.
"What? Do you really think I'd let you have all the fun?" Bulkhead said as he shook his head. Striker just rolled her eyes at me and mouthed something I couldn't catch. I was fighting vehicons at the time.
Bulkhead pounced on a vehicon and proceeded to fight a one-on-one.
I was distracted by the two vehicons; the third was going for the cylinder. I quickly spun with my swords extended, and then while my surrounding attackers were caught off guard, I sprinted to the fourth. I lunged at him and propelled him into the rock face. The two vehicons from before fired their lasers at me, so I returned to them in order to even out my odds.
Optimus punched Knockout so hard that he flew across the battlefield. "Autobots, he called, "Stand your ground! The artifact must not fall into enemy hands!"
Arcee ran from Breakdown to the artifact. Knockout rammed into her, knocking her out. He proceeded to transform and drive toward the cylinder for acceleration.
Knockout transformed again with a running start and said, "Come to Papa."
Bulkhead checked Knockout sending the con flying. "Run to Mommy," he retorted.
Breakdown punched Bulkhead's skull, then grabbed him by the head and held Bulkhead in a chokehold. "Say Uncle," Breakdown joked, "Say it!"
What the scrap is up with these really bad family puns?
One of my vehicons ran to Prime. I saw Miko in the distance running to the datacron. I continued to hold off my enemies.
Vehicons are actually fierce when they gang up on you and fight with numbers.
The two vehicons kept me on my peds. If I dodged one of their attacks, I would get hit with the other. I back flipped two lengths away. They fired at me. I sprinted toward them and slashed their cannons.
A portal opened up at the arrival coordinates.
Both vehicons looked in the direction of the portal. I sweep kicked one. The off guard con fell into the other.
A weird charging noise came from the device. It opened up and started to glow red. Bulkhead got free and started to run toward the device. Breakdown hit the bot from behind. Bulkhead fell on his stomach. A laser exited the cylinder and entered Bulkhead's skull. The laser stopped and it looked to me as if Bulkhead had fallen unconscious.
Knockout grabbed the device, "You really took one for the team, Bulkhead... My team!"
A new portal appeared. Knockout, Breakdown, and Matrix ran through it. Four vehicons got up, ran, transformed and flew in the direction of their ship.
I looked at Optimus, "I'm going to go get the datacron," I said. I quickly ran and transformed into my jet form. I followed the vehicons from a distance.
Optimus COM'd, "What you're doing is idiotic and dangerous! Return to base immediately!"
"Optimus, I can do this. You have to trust me."
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that..."
"It's what Optimus? I don't want this to fall into enemy hands."
"Neither do I."
"Then let me do this."
"Bulkhead is in the med bay with Ratchet. He might need your support more than we need that cylinder."
I sighed, "Optimus, I can do this, just give me a chance. I am almost to the Nemesis."
"Just keep your COM link open for further communication."
"Even when I'm on the Decepticon ship? What if it gets intercept—"
"Just keep it open, okay? Promise me that."
"Fine, I promise."
"Good luck." Optimus signed off.
Sigh, I can't believe I lied to Optimus. I really feel bad for doing that. I'm at least another ten minutes out from the Nemesis. I guess I'll just listen to music until then.
Skyscrapers: OK GO
Skyscrapers please forgive me I didn't mean a word I said
Skyscrapers I was just tangled up in my own head
And somehow in all the madness I thought that I was seeing straight
It ain't always pretty but it seemed there was no other way
And I guess all I ever loved was standing right before my eyes
And I, oh I, I was blind
So skyscrapers please forgive me I'm standing here a penitant man
Oh skyscrapers I'll never look down again, again
Oh 'cause I guess all I ever loved was standing right before my eyes
Oh yeah, I guess all I've ever known was standing here all the time
And I, yeah I, I was blind
You were right here all the time
You were right here all the time, I was blind
Watsky: Sloppy Seconds
Fuck you if you love a car for its paint job
Love you if you love a car for the road trips
Show me the miles and your arms and the pink scar
Where the doctor had to pull out all the bone chips
'Cause you were pressing on the gas just a bit hard
Right in the moment where the road curved a bit sharp
And when you woke up, somebody was unclipping your seat belt
And pulling you from the open window of your flipped car
Cold pizza
Tie-dye shirts
Broken hearts
Give'm here, give'm here
Hand me downs
Give me give me leftovers
Give me give me sloppy seconds
Give em here, give em here
I don't care where you've been
How many miles, I still love you
I don't care where you've been
How many miles, I still love you
Show me someone who says they got no baggage
I'll show you somebody whose got no story
Nothing gory means no glory, but baby please don't bore me
We won't know until we get there
The who, or the what, or the when where
My favorite sweater was a present that I got a couple presidents ago
And I promised that I would rock it till it's thread bare
Bet on it
Every single person got a couple skeletons
So pretty soon, in this room
It'll just be me and you when we clear out all the elephants
Me and you and the elements
We all have our pitfalls
Beer's flat, the cabs have been called
And everybody and their momma can hear the drama
That's happening behind these thin walls
Cold pizza
Tie-dye shirts (tie-dye shirts)
Broken hearts
Give'm here, give'm here
Hand me downs (hand me downs)
Leftovers (leftovers)
Sloppy seconds
Give'm here, give'm here
I don't care where you've been
How many miles, I still love you
I don't care where you've been
How many miles, I still love you
I don't care (cold pizza)
Where you've been (tie-dye shirts)
How many (broken hearts) miles, I still love you
I don't care (hand me downs)
Where you've been (left overs)
How many (sloppy seconds) miles, I still love you
My pattern with women isn't a flattering image
But I don't want to run away because I said so
I don't want to be the guy to hide all of my flaws
And I'll be giving you the side of me that I don't let show
Everything in fashion
That has ever happened
Always coming crashing down
Better let go
But in a couple years it will be retro
You rock Marc Ecko
My shirts have the gecko
'Cause in the past man, I was hopeless
But now's it's why my little cousins look the dopest
(whoop whoop)
Fuck the fashion po-po
Have a stale doughnut, I don't need no tips
Fuck a five second rule
That's a plan I never understood
It's September in my kitchen in a Christmas sweater
Sipping cold coffee on the phone with damaged goods
And there is not a single place that I would rather be
I'm fucked up just like you are, and you're fucked up just like me
Cold pizza (cold pizza)
Tie-dye shirts (tie-dye shirts)
Broken hearts
Give'm here, Give'm here
Hand me downs (oh hand me downs)
Give me give me leftovers (leftovers)
Give me give me sloppy seconds
Give'm here give'm here
I don't care where you've been
How many miles, I still love you
I don't care where you've been
How many miles, I still love you
I don't care (cold pizza)
Where you've been (tie-dye shirts)
How many (broken hearts) miles, I still love you
I don't care (hand me downs)
Where you've been (left overs)
How many (sloppy seconds) miles, I still love you
The vehicons decreased their speed. I increased the gap between us. I did not want to get caught.
"Shadow, are you there?" Optimus called.
"Yeah, what is up?"
"We may not require the data cylinder."
"Really Prime? How so?"
"It seems that Bulkhead has absorbed the data and is expelling it."
"Are you certain Bulk's purging it from his data core?"
"What do you mean?"
"Prime, I grew up around a datacron. Actually a few, one contained philosophy, another art, another law and... You know what? The details aren't important. What is important, is that we purge the information from Bulkhead before it starts to overwrite his memories."
"How do you know this?"
I just told you.
"Take my word for it. Anyway, I'm almost to the ship. I'll contact you if anything happens."
"Same, I'll update you on all things coming from my end." Optimus hung up again. I was glad that he didn't ask about my repeated statement about how close I was to the ship.
The Nemesis came into view. The Vehicons prepared to enter through the hanger door. I stealthily hung back behind them. They entered the ship. Just before the hanger doors closed, I accelerated into the ship. The hanger area was empty. I crept to the hallway. I looked out from behind the corner, no one. I continued quietly through my former home.
"Shadow," Optimus called.
I jumped and checked my surroundings. No Decepticons. But, I wanted to be safe. I entered a nearby door, which lead to a supplies closet.
"Yes Optimus," I answered.
"You were right about the datacron."
"Told ya so," I kidded.
"However, I cannot allow you to be put into harms way by retrieving the data cylinder."
"What? Ah, come on! I'm already here!"
"With the artifact?"
"No, with the ship."
"It is my understanding that Megatron would not let the artifact out of his sight."
"Well, I never said getting it back would be easy."
"I am going to arrange a deal with Megatron. You should come back to base. I do not want you to confront Megatron alone."
"Come on Optimus, let me try something else. I could try to get something like the data cylinder."
"No, you are to come back to base immediately."
"Fine," I lied (again), "I'll come back to base immediately," I sarcastically told him. I hung up.
Let's see... Base is how far away? Half an hour maybe? I don't know. If I just get this over with quickly, Optimus won't be able to tell I didn't return immediately. Besides, I can always make some excuse like... Oh! I know. I could say that while I was on my way back to the hanger, I heard Megatron coming. Then, I could say that I hid in the closest place I could find. Which just happened to be the place, which stored the exact device I was looking for. Perfect!
I exited the supply closet and continued to the vault, still no Decepticons. I reached the vault door. There was a pin code lock.
Slag! My code probably doesn't work anymore! I could try, but what if it set off an alarm? Hmm... maybe it would work for Matrix? I could most certainly manipulate her to do it. Now where would she be?
I walked back to the main hallway.
Maybe she's in her room?
I walked forward, and then took a left toward the dormitories. I heard Megatron and a group of Seekers in the main hallway.
Good thing I turned in here earlier. Oh! Now my excuse holds more ground!
I walked towards Matrix's room. Once I got there I knocked.
Why the frag did I just knock?!
No response. I opened the door and looked inside. She wasn't there. I went over to her desk and saw a note next to her monitor. It was a checklist. The first unchecked box said 'Go to Med Bay and Get scratches buffed!' I sighed.
Great, another detour!
I walked out of Matrix's room and back to the main hallway. This time I turned right towards the Med Bay. By now, I guess you could say I was a little bit annoyed. I wasn't really thinking about my surrounding too much. Not my immediate surroundings anyway. I could only think of what to do in the case of, well, every case that could possibly go wrong. What if I couldn't get the storage device? What if Prime called my bluff? What if Megatron came back? What if Matrix wouldn't help me? What if other Decepticons were with her in the Med Bay? I couldn't stop thinking about all these questions as they popped into my mind.
...
He slid through the automatic door. All of his movements were quickly paced, hurried, almost. He locked the door behind him. This was new. St3ve wore... was it an expression of concern on his face? It definitely gave off an air of worry.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
He was out of breath. He fanned his hands in calming motions reminiscent of rising and falling waves. He said, "I'm fine. Everything's fine. There's nothing to worry about."
"Then," I asked –trying to gain insight on the locked door- "should we leave now for the training session?"
"No!" He screamed. "No," he repeated in a shaky tone. "We... we should just stay here for a reasonable amount of time. Then, and only then, should we open this door, and walk through the more vulnerable areas of the ship."
"The hallways?"
No response.
"St3ve," I calmly said, "If there's something wrong—"
"There's nothing wrong."
"Well, if there's something that threatens the security or safety—"
"Nothing's wrong."
"You can leave me to report it."
"My duty lies in your protection—"
"From myself."
"My point remains."
"Whatever it is, if it's dangerous, you should go inform someone."
He was silent.
"Not reporting a dangerous force equates to aiding it," I said.
I looked into his optics.
"Decepticons could be hurt, especially if this 'enemy' catches them unaware."
He stared back at me. Something shone through the red lights of his eyes. He stood, silently, almost as if he were waiting for a directive.
"Use the terminal," I said.
"No transmission," he replied.
"Right..." I forgot that Snowstorm had put in place a contingency plan for almost every situation. If I were a danger to the Decepticon cause, it would've been idiotic to give me the chance to contact others for my benefit. That's why St3ve's terminal didn't call out, and why I assumed no COM links were active in the detention areas. I sighed.
"I will not risk your safety."
"I know," I said. "I won't tell Megatron."
It really shouldn't matter to him where our priorities lie. Not when our loyalties remain tied to the cause.
...
I heard noise coming from within Knockout's lab. I readied myself for a fight. I crept closer to the door and listened. The sound of a buffer turned off. Footsteps crept closer. The door opened, Matrix walked out. I was so relieved.
Matrix was surprised; she raised her arms and exclaimed, "Woah, I just got this paint job redone."
"Matrix," I said silently, "Do you want to make a deal?"
"What sort of deal?" she asked.
"One beneficial to the both of us."
"Will Soundwave find out?"
"No."
"Cool. So, what do you have to offer?"
"The name, class, and alternate form of the mech you thought was cute."
"I'm in. Wait a second... What is it that you want?"
"A door code."
"Yeah, I can do that."
"It's for the vault."
"Yeah. So, what's the cutie called?"
We talked as we walked to the vault.
"His name is Bumblebee. Bee for short."
"Aww, even his name is cute."
"He is a muscle car."
"Cool. That is pretty cool."
"And, he is a scout. So, about your age."
"Awesome!" Matrix lowered her voice, "I mean, awesome."
"Now, your part of the deal."
We arrived at the vault. Matrix put in her code.
"Here you go. It was nice speaking to you again. I just need to go before you get caught."
"I won't get caught."
"Yeah, right. Good luck on whatever it is that you're doing."
Matrix left. I entered the vault. I looked around for a storage device. I went to the gathered parts of the Doom Cannon.
"Here we go." I grabbed one of the storage drives. These were meant to store data as energy and vice versa. They were to fuel the cannon once they are stored with cybertronian sacrifices. If they could store sparks... "This should work."
I left the vault and closed the door after me. I snuck back to the hanger and exited. I flew in the sky towards base.
Let's see... Should I go back to base? Would Optimus question anything about my timing? This trip wasn't exactly quick. Okay, groundbridge. Wait, does that make the most amount of sense? Well, Miko uses it a lot... Miko's with Bulkhead. Okay, so I could use the groundbridge. Worst-case scenario, if I want stealth, I call Miko. But, what if Miko's where Megatron went? What if Bulkhead went after her? Bulkhead can be tracked. That data signal isn't exactly stealthy. No. I'm getting ahead of myself. But, it wouldn't hurt to check.
I called base, "Hey Ratchet, is Bulkhead there?"
"Well of course he's here. Why wouldn't he be..."
"Ratchet?"
"He's not here."
Is he with Miko?
"If you give me the last ground bridge coordinates I could fly there."
"Sure, I'll send you them immediately."
"Thanks."
I changed my course towards the coordinates.
"By the way, how are negotiations going?"
"I think they have broken into battle. Why?"
"I might have, through miraculous coincidence, gained a device similar to the datacron."
"Didn't Optimus tell you to come back here immediately?"
"He also told me not to confront Megatron. When I was heading back to the hanger, I heard Megatron head down towards the same direction. I hid in the nearest room, which just happened to contain the replacement data core."
"I'm not even going to question how any of that happened. Just get to Bulkhead's position."
I mentally started cracking up.
"Got it." I turned off my COM link and sped towards Bulkhead's position.
It took me a bit of time to arrive. I flew over the Monster truck stadium. I found him in a parking lot with Miko, Striker, Knockout and Breakdown. I was way too high in the sky to be noticed. As I flew above them, two beams of red light shot upward from Bulkhead's position. I assumed that they contained the data. I transformed and used my swords as a conductive device for the beams into the storage device. It worked. I fell a far ways down before I was able to transform again and regain my stability. I saw that the rest of the Autobots had arrived at Bulkhead's location. I flew back to base, as Optimus originally requested me to. When near our base, I transformed into my car form and drove in through the main entrance. I transformed again inside, and held the storage device behind my back. I really wanted to surprise everyone. The group crowded around Ratchet's medical station. Bulkhead was lying on his back, back on the medical berth. He was unconscious. I walked up to my teammates.
"The data has been fully expelled." Ratchet explained, "But, Bulkhead remains completely unresponsive."
"Because the energy took Bulkhead's mind with it." Miko stated depressed. She looked up, "Heavenward, lost to the stars."
"I hate to ruin this pity party but..." Everyone looked to me, "First, That's not how the information expulsion process works, Miko. And, second..."
Ratchet glared at me and I shut up.
Fine. Have your pity party. I don't care. It's your loss.
Miko continued, "It's my fault you'll never learn the rest of the formula! And it's my fault Bulkhead's gone forever."
Optimus consoled, "Miko, your quick thinking prevented the formula from falling into Decepticon hands."
Haha! My hands! Technically not Decepticon, but still funny. To me at least.
Arcee added, "If anyone would've backed that play, it's Bulkhead."
"It's simply too early to know the extent of his condition," Ratchet said, "Something as simple as a familiar sight or smell, perhaps even a sound could trigger Bulkhead's awakening."
It was obvious that the Autobots didn't think I was taking this seriously. Even though, I did know more about this than any of them! I walked to the outskirts of the group and waited.
Miko played her electric guitar and Bulkhead woke up. As I knew he would.
Bulkhead groaned.
"Bulkhead?" Miko asked.
No, it was just the response to your Primus awful guitar playing! Of course it's Bulkhead! Grrr! How is it that I am ignored just as much as that Primus awful... Wait a second? I feel ignored. Just like at the Decepticons. Ha. Maybe it's just a 'the energon always looks clearer on the other side' type of thing. I then thought to both Optimus and Megatron before I forced myself to stop thinking.
Bulkhead got up and started to strum an air guitar. "I love that song!" he screamed. He looked at the human, "Miko..."
"Oh Primus... Could you, Ahhh!" I kept on trying to speak. The problem was that my servos were halting my speech by covering my mouth. It didn't help that my annoyed expressions -caused by the Autobots' idiocy- rendered my face useless.
"Shadow!" Ratchet yelled, "Can you not see that we're having a touching moment over here!"
"You know what? Fine! You guys go have your 'moment' and I'm gonna go."
Arcee yelled, "Shadow! We've had a very tough day! We thought that we had lost a teammate! Miko thought she had lost her best friend! All together, we had lost the formula. And, there was no proof Bulkhead was ever going to wake up!"
"Okay guys, A, as in first out of the list—"
Miko cut in, "That would be f."
I face palmed, "No, A. As in fist letter out of a multi letter list."
Everyone glared at me.
"Anyway, first, Bulkhead was always going to wake up. If any of you had bothered listening to me I could have explained that. But, apparently none of you care to hear what I have to say. Second, you know what. You all look annoyed so I'm just gonna stop here." I showed them the data drive, passed it to Ratchet, turned towards the exit, and yelled, "That's the data you all thought was 'lost'! Call me when you want to hear what I have to say!"
I transformed into my car form and drove out of the base.
Why am I always leaving these group situations annoyed and other things? What is even my life? I laughed.
I drove down the road towards Jasper. I planned to go speeding on the Jasper highway. Maybe even race some cops.
Optimus established a communications link. "Shadow..."
"Yes?"
"What is this?"
"The data drive? You mean the thing I tossed Ratchet?"
"Yes, that."
"It's an advanced storage device that can store transferred energy as data and vice versa. It was created by Shockwave as a fuel source to... Wait, do you even care?"
"I care if you care."
"That's pretty cryptic, Prime."
"And the formula is stored on here?"
"If the formula was the information from the datacron, to Bulkhead, to the 'apposed stars' then yes. Yes, it is stored on there. And you know, just for the record, since I know that you all are listening. Screaming at a teammate -who is trying to help- is just as if, no, is more rewarding than a simple 'thank you'."
"We're sorry."
"For what? What is it that you guys did wrong? I mean: the Decepticons would have done the exact same thing."
Actually, no. The Decepticons would have actually accepted my input. Not like those Autobots. To the Decepticons, all information mattered. Also, Megatron would have understood. He would have totally understood my whole list thing. I mean: I only make those lists when I am annoyed. That guy got me, not like the Autobots and their human pets.
"Shadow, I think that anger is clouding your judgment."
"Of course it is! Uh -Prime- I am currently planning on racing cops. That is like the top of anger for me right now."
"Well..."
"You sent Bulkhead after me... Do you even, agh."
"Shadow, I followed you of my own free will."
"Bulkhead it's not very smart, because—"
"Because why? Is it because you're angry? Is it because you don't want me to ruin your law-breaking extravaganza? I know that speeding is essentially a minor crime and that it might not mean that much to you to break such laws. But to me, to me it seems like you need a friend. And, something else, you went to the Nemesis in order to help me out. And I want to repay the favor by showing you that I can be a good friend. Frag, I can be a friend much better than those you had as a con.
"Bulkhead, it's not that it's—"
"Shadow," Optimus said, "what Bulkhead is trying to say is that we Autobots are here for you. We will listen and join you on activities. We will be more like good friends or a family than the Decepticons used to be. We all realize that you have done a lot in order to help us. We also realize that we have not fully appreciated you, as we should have. But, Shadow, if you are calm and patient with us, we are sure to be a far better family than the Decepticons."
"No, I get that it's just—"
Miko got on, "Shadow, I'm also sorry."
"It's fine, it's just—"
Arcee joined in, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have yelled at you earlier."
"Please, all fine. Just let—"
"I'm also sorry," Ratchet said. "It's just that -as a Doctor- I tend to get protective of my patients."
"All good. Let me speak now, okay? The reason I have been trying to say for the past five minutes is that Bulkhead should not be out of the base because he is still emitting low level energy that could be tracked by the Decepticons."
Bulkhead yelled, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
I sighed, "I didn't say it earlier because everyone was talking. And, it is very rude to cut off a teammate."
"Oh," Bulkhead said, "Yeah, we're sorry for that too."
"It's fine. We could just turn around and... Yeah, no, it's too late for that."
"So, what now? Are you still up for racing cops?"
"Uhm, I think it would be smarter if we just ground bridged in. We have maybe five seconds before the seekers arrive."