Chapter 539
The Diego Diaries: Titan 5 (539)
-0-Around
:It stopped: the Prime Minister of Great Britain said rising from the ground. He felt rattled to the core so he leaned against a box to watch. As he did, behind him a mech appeared along with two others.
Tracks knelt. :You lot are too close. Tyke is trying to transform. Time to fall back: He held out both servos lowering them to the ground. Several humans climbed aboard and by the time Trailbreaker and Bumblebee had the rest, they were walking back to the new front lines which were half a mile farther away from the drama on the field. They were taken there and placed on a flat surface, more boxes with parts and equipment.
Jessie turned to them. :Hound? What's the story of this format?: she asked. :I've chatted with Metroplex but he's sort of shy and quiet, that one:
Hound looked at her, then knelt. :They're very old, some of the oldest known. Metroplex is the eldest I know about myself. He was the prototype format of this group. He came about near the middle of the Golden Age and was alone for some time. There was a lot of expansion of the Empire at the time and resources went to other things like the bridges.
"About the time they began to make them in numbers, doctors were trained enough to manage the process easier. Ratchet was one of them, joining when he was just out of school as part of the military contingent. He was first in his class and a bot to watch so they drafted him. He helped with Tyke and Ace and who knows? Maybe Base and Con, too. He's one of the few left who can work on them. It takes a lot of specialized software and know how because so much is unknown or locked up in the big databases on Cybertron.
:He forms a bond with the ships, the ones he works with and only Prime can access them better than Ratchet and other big format doctors. They're designed to obey the Primes. They're sentient and self aware. They're independent and have free will but they're the best sparks so they stick with us and the faction. They're so humble and decent sometimes it amazes me.
"They'll stand with us to the bitter end. They will die to protect us and our missions as well as Cybertron. They're being hunted by bounty hunters for their tech. They hunt and kill them where they're found. Then they scavenge the bodies. Fraggers. I've had a few fights in my past against those abominations.
:Most of these bots are from the end of the Golden Age. There's an unknown number out there. They hide from the bounty hunters. I hope they all find us. We want them here. They're good sparks, all of them. Tyke is sick. Ratchet will fix him. Ratchet knows how:
:You call him Tyke?: the American President asked.
Hound grinned, then nodded. "He's the baby. He's the last one made. They were given their sparks by the AllSpark though the Well of Allsparks. Omega and his siblings were granted sparks by Vector Sigma. I can't say more than that. Just know that as alive as you are, so are they. As much as you feel, think, dream and desire, so do they:
:Ratchet helped create Omega and the sibs?: Jessie asked.
Hound nodded as did the others. :He did. The doctors who help with the creation of one form a bond with all the big formats. It helps them tell the doctors where the hurt is. They're the most intricate creations I've ever seen. They're so vast and enormous, most can't figure them out. That bonding linkage makes it possible to help them when they get hurt. That and their symbionts:
:Ratchet must be one of the older bots around: Mikaela said.
:Ratchet and Ironhide are from the Golden Age. So are most of the senior officers. Many of us are younger, those of us left. We're … almost immortal. There's a story for that, too, that I can't tell you but know that short of getting blown up we can live on forever, all things being equal. You notice Ratchet's age but I don't. To me, he's just Ratchet who knows a lot of stuff. I guess its all perspective, right?:
Jessie grinned. :I think so. I also think you and your people are awesome:
Hound grinned. :We feel the same way about you soldiers, too: He glanced at Titan, then the humans. :Most of us anyway: he said with a chuckle. :Stay here. If you look to be in trouble we'll come. You'll be protected:
:Until all are one, Hound: Jessie said with feeling.
He looked at her with great fondness. :Its the only way: Then he and the other two headed back. They watched the trio go, then Jessie turned to the rest. :These are my people, too. I'm Cybertronian by Primal Decree. They make me proud every day:
Fulton and Morshower nodded.
:What she said: Fulton said as they all looked back toward the scene.
-0-Inside
Ratchet dropped the first bolt, then considered the vast number awaiting his tools. "Frag this," he said and subbed another tool in his digits. With speed, he tapped each bolt as his servo swept around the circle of the cog's emplacement. Sizzling sounds could be heard as the bolts melted out of their sockets. Dripping to the floor, they hardened immediately in the cold. Ratchet transformed his digits, then reached for the cog. Pushing it, it moved surprisingly easily. He turned to the others. "We can pull it out. Magnetize your servos and we can-"
A huge sizzling sound was heard, then Ratchet slammed backwards taking Ironhide and Springer with him.
-0-Outside
They didn't hear anything but the humming of systems that hadn't been online seconds earlier. Prime glanced around noting that the panel of Titan's interface was fully alive. It pulsed with enraged energy and around them the systems of the command center began to activate. "Frag! He's going to transform! PROWL!" he called out over the rising hum of engines and systems.
"PROWL HERE!" He was knocked back from the ship as he reached the open hangar doors landing hard on his face in the dirt. The doors slammed shut with a loud bang even for the thin atmosphere of Mars. "WHAT'S HAPPENING!? IS HE TRYING TO LIFT OFF OR TRANSFORM!?"
:I DO NOT KNOW!: Prime replied over the rising din. :HOLD HIM!:
Omega and his siblings gripped Titan as the vast ship began to generate the energy and power necessary to transform. They held him but it was evident immediately that they might not be able to for an extended period.
"ACE! WHAT'S HAPPENING!? IS HE TRYING TO LIFT OFF!?" Fortress Maximus cried out from The City.
"I CAN'T HOLD HIM! OMEGA AND THE OTHERS ARE GOING TO HAVE THE Full LOAD! I'M HAVING POWER FAILURE SYSTEM WIDE!" Ace shouted as he attempted to power up his tractor beams. The damage he'd taken in their initial battle and the lack of adequate nutrition over an extended period of time began to collide as he struggled. "BASE! CON! HELP! HE'S GETTING AWAY FROM ME!"
The humans watched with horror as the Omega formats struggled to hold down the youngest, most technologically advanced of the metro-city bots. Then they heard a siren from Autobot City, one that rolled across the plain. Turning to look with shock and amazement, they saw Fortress Maximus begin to transform upward.
Pylons and cables, feed lines and other attachments fell from his body as he let them go in his emergency transformation mode. Lines and slots were sealed in his interface ports as he began to rise upward to the dark sky. All through his body, mechs and femmes were located, then shifted into cells that would protect him in the event he had to transform with them inside.
As he did, Titan began to move pulling hard against Acroplex and the Supremes. He strained hard, his engines howling at a dangerous level, then he broke free. Kappa fell, rolling to one side as the others lost their grip.
Titan slid, his energetic efforts translating into a rebound that sent him sliding toward Terra 38 miles away across the slick surface of the rescue pad.
From the sky Seekers swarmed, half transforming to grip his superstructure in a desperate attempt to halt or slow his slide. His engines flared pushing him blindly forward as everyone's efforts began to prove insufficient.
Omega and his siblings rose from the dust and began to give chase. As they did, farther down the plain other sirens signaling transformation could be heard. The noise was astonishing between everyone involved and those waiting on the sidelines including the humans watched with astonished horror at the worst case scenario forming before them.
Behind Titan two miles away, Metrobase and Metrocon were transforming through emergency mode, their process cutting down time as they began to rise upward from ship to root format as sirens signaled the change. The sound of their transformations were astounding but the equipment that the humans wore compensated. At one end of the field two nearly completely transformed city-bots were turning to run forward even as they still transformed while another in Autobot City was already running toward them after meticulously avoiding stepping on anything and anyone near or around him.
The ground shuddered as the three hurried forward.
Acroplex struggled to transform as well but injury and lack of energy was hampering him.
Titan was sliding with gathering speed heading into a direct collision course with Terra. Terra where several million individuals lived.
-0-Earth
The visuals of the calamity beginning to come together before them ended conversation as everyone either broadcasting or watching sat in aghast appalled silence. It was surreal and more compelling than science fiction. Something catastrophic was shaping up in front of them and when it was over the 'actors' would not be getting up again. A big ship format was sliding toward a helpless city filled with families, children and beautiful buildings. It was taking out a highway along the way as well, throwing up boulders bigger than houses and sand and dirt everywhere like the prow of a ship in a typhoon.
-0-Terra
They stood at the windows of their apartments, most of them stunned into inaction. Sound beyond their doors indicated that some had had the presence of mind to try to flee but for most of the inhabitants of Terra, they stood transfixed by the rush of doom heading their way.
A titan was sliding toward them. They watched almost abstractly as he took out light pole after light pole on the big highway that led onward to the Tri-Cities and the industrial Park City beyond. They saw Seekers swarm to grip him, trying with their combined thrust to slow him before it was too late. But they weren't enough.
Beyond, they could see Acroplex struggled to rise and the racing formats of Metrobase and Metrocon. The Omegas were rushing as well but they were too far away. They wouldn't be close enough. They stood together side-by-side in their homes with their families watching as death came at them at high speed.
Down below, the rush of those who could break the stalemate of their inertia were crowding the lobbies and tearing down the streets in big numbers, a terrified mass of fear and flailing, rushing against the Watchmen and femmes who were running to buildings to try and evacuate who they could. It was a cacophany.
Then something flashed in front of them and reached out bracing his big peds as he gripped the superstructure of Titan. Fortress Maximus reached Tyke as he began to slide down a slight incline toward the city, picking up speed as he did.
-0-Moments earlier
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH!" Metroplex cried out in anguish as Titan broke away. "ACE! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"I CAN'T HOLD HIM! HELP ME! HELP HIM!" Acroplex cried out as he tried to transform and give chase.
"WE'RE ON OUR WAY!" Metrobase called out as he sounded his siren. Metrocon was already on his way up when he made his call, forcing his transformation through.
"I AM COMING!" Metroplex said.
"NO! I WILL! YOU HAVE TOO MANY RESIDENTS, METROPLEX! YOU CAN'T EMPTY YOUR DISTRICTS IN TIME!" Fort Max cried out as he began to signal for the evacuation of his environs. They were running a skeleton crew as most of his military residents were out on the emergency or filling in for others elsewhere who were. The rest followed procedure and ran downward to the emergency shelters that were placed down below the barracks and work areas for just such a purpose. A few wouldn't make it and they would find out what it felt like being physically shifted into protection cells by the rising behemoth that was their home and work site.
The sound of explosions could be heard as he blew his connections, freeing himself, shutting them off internally so he wouldn't burst into flames or shed energon over the ground. He began to rise swiftly, the mechs in his command center folded into a safe room just for such an occasion. They would still be online but safe from the horror of being crushed to death.
The big mech rose up, the spotlights of the airfield turning to highlight him. He looked like Godzilla rising out of the sea, his magnificence never more on display than right then. As he turned toward Terra miles away, he placed his peds carefully, stepping over the Temple and residential towers, missing business plazas and other buildings as he made for open spaces.
When he was clear of habitation, he began to run in earnest, his ped falls shaking infrastructure and causing a partial collapse in the underground that fed Crystal City. Passing Luna at a dead run, he began the calculations that would allow him to intercept his brother who'd begun to pick up speed in his slide away from his captors.
As he ran he adjusted this and that, increased in speed and velocity, then he leaped with a calculated amount of power. Flying through the air like a colossus raining fire from heaven, he raised his servos and collided with the superstructure of Titan. The sound of it was unbelievable.