Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.
SMALL MERCIES
Chapter 8: Turning Point
Inside the command center:
This was getting bad...
As the chaos unfolded over the just-barely functioning comms, Lawrence and Galloway stood in silence: as the bots and humans worked frantically to keep an eye on the battle above ground. With the power still out there was only so much they could do, and as the fighting began to slowly escalate, the tension in the room began to grow more palpable by the minute.
Meanwhile, away from the action; hidden in Wheeljack's lab with an open comm receiver as a means of listening in on the action, Jason and Beverly sat in silence as the humans and bots shouted and barked commands and information back and forth: relaying the enemy's movements at every turn, as they tried to hold the main entrance. It was both extraordinary, and terrifying; knowing their girls were up there, somewhere among that fray.
Wanting to keep a safe distance from Lawrence, and give Chromia some piece of mind: Sarah had asked her to drop her and the girls off in Wheeljack's lab. Finding Beverly and Jason already here, came as a slight surprise, (of all places, why Wheeljack's lab? Even the bravest human troops on the base knew not to venture in there) but it didn't really matter: Wheeljack, who was busy priming and readying weapons, had cleared a small space for them to hide in, safely out of the way as he frantically rushed around the room in a blur of half-panicked activity. As they listened over the comm receiver, and hoped and prayed their girls would come back in one piece: the parents daren't hold their breaths.
At the same time, in the med-bay:
"They're still out? But the charge dampeners did work: didn't they?" Sam thought aloud as he looked over Crystalwing's unconscious form,
"I don't understand this," Ratchet huffed in exasperation, as he looked over the unconscious telepath families: "The nanite diode stimulants should have onlined them by now; how're they all still unconscious?!"
"I don't know?" Mikaela replied in equal concern, "Did the EPC give a faulty reading when we checked the CPU outputs for any traces of misaligned code in the reboot routines?"
"You know damn well that machine is up to speed! I checked it myself just yesterday! There's no way it could have faltered, even when running on the emergency battery!" the medic fumed.
Mikaela let his outburst slide, as she tried to keep on track: "Okay, well have we checked for imbalances in the CPU/telepathy matrix alignment software? If their systems tried to reboot and the two weren't properly in sync at the moment they were all knocked out: their data-ratio programmes won't be able to initiate the onlining sequence"
Ratchet was about to retort, when he stopped; thinking about it, he realized her line of logic made sense: "Hmm..." he pondered it for a second or two, "...I hadn't considered that: being telepaths, they would be more susceptible to glitches of that nature..." he glanced down at Mikaela with a small smile, "Nice to know my apprentice actually does her homework"
"Well? You're a good teacher" she smiled back.
"Yeah, when he's not throwing spanners in our general direction" Sam joked dryly,
"Okay, let's try the data-realignment codes; grab the programme initializer's and prep the monitors to receive the alpha and beta readings" Ratchet suggested as he prepped the computer necessary for said task.
Watching the three of them work from where he lay on his berth, Jolt couldn't help but think: '...Wow, Optimus wasn't kidding when he said Mikaela had the potential to be a great medic'; he smiled,
... Though what none of them knew, let alone were aware of; was the presence of the tiny match-box size device that was stuck to the underside of Soundwave's berth: emitting a strange encrypted frequency, that went undetected...
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the base:
The light from the holo-projectors in her optics were the only light that illuminated the room: as Coldbore and Longrange stood before her, Blackshot watched the action outside with growing concern...
"At this rate, those drones will storm the first level within the hour" Coldbore observed.
"With Prime fighting them head-on out there, they won't get past the main entrance" Blackshot stated, "But even he won't be able to sustain the counter-offense, not with those jets providing air-support for the drones"
"What are you thinking?" Longrange asked offhand,
"I'm thinking this is what we need to force Majestrix to change her priorities" Blackshot frowned, "She has faith in her brother's strength and command: but she still worries for him..." she disengaged the holo-projectors, and glanced at Coldbore: "Take care of Optimus, but don't kill him. I want him alive for the final phase..."
With a discreet nod, Coldbore turned and left the room.
"And what about me?" Longrange asked tentatively: knowing how he screwed up in the training room, he knew he was walking on eggshells at this point. Glancing at him with a cold distant look in her optics, Blackshot gestured for him to follow her: "We still have work to do: with that battle keeping everyone distracted, we can prime the seed without risk of being detected"
"What about Shadowstar?"
"Our 'ally' is dealing with her as we speak"
As they left the room, their footfalls barely made a sound: and the darkness was as such that there was no need for them to use their stealth modes, there was no risk of being caught here...
...However, they both failed to notice the single red optic glowing in the pitch black some one hundred yards away down one of the long straight corridors, watching them as they walked by. And once they were far enough out of earshot, the one-eyed eavesdropper stealthily crept along, being careful not to make a sound...
At the same time, elsewhere inside the base:
CRANG!
She hit the wall so hard, that the armor plates on her left flank dented under the force of the impact. Trying to get back up, she didn't get the chance as another strike to the shoulder sent her flying into the other wall...
"You know well, the consequences for failure" the red-eyed figure purred as he smirked, "Not only did you lose them both, but you failed to kill the human too; Blackshot will not be pleased"
"I-...I told y-you before," Shadowstar hissed as she tried to ignore the pain: forcing herself up onto her feet, she hunched down like a cat with her back arched up: ready to defend herself again: "I had no choice! If I tried to kill the human I'd have blown my cover and risked being spotted!"
"A cheap excuse" the figure flatly stated, as he smacked her hard across the face with the back of his paw: "You failed to kill her, and now Prime and the others are aware of the plan. Thanks to you, we just lost the element of surprise, as well as critical information we couldn't afford to leak out"
Realizing it was the end for her, Shadowstar bitterly swallowed hard, and gazed up at him: waiting for the death-blow to come down: "...W-what are you going to do?"
"Unfortunately, were the circumstances not so dire, I'd be killing you 'round about now; but, Blackshot is still in need of your 'particular' talents" he replied,
At the back of her mind, Shadowstar breathed a sigh of relief: she'd live...for now: "...What now?" she tentatively asked,
"Now, we need to start making preparations for the final phase: with those attack-drones and their air-support keeping Prime and the other's occupied, the risk of completely blowing our cover is relatively low...The one difference now however, is that if you fail, it won't be your life that's at stake..." he smirked gleefully,
Shadowstar flinched, as she realized in horror, who he was referring to,
"Right now, your entire family is unconscious; with only the medic and his pet meat-sack to look after them. Storming the med-bay and eviscerating all of them will be quite easy, considering just about all the Autobots are outside, and are in no position to come running to anyone's aid...Complete the plan, and Blackshot will hold up her end of the deal as promised, but if you're getting cold feet? ..." he grinned with delight as he watched the fear transpire in her optics...
He was so enraptured in watching her fear him, and likewise Shadowstar was so focused on him: that neither of them had detected Majestrix and Eclipse standing some three hundred yards away, down the far end of the dark corridor. Silently listening as they watched them both...
While she kept her scanner's trained on Shadowstar and the figure looming over her, Majestrix also kept one audio trained on the open comm frequency, listening as the battle unfolded; and listening with growing worry, as she began to hear the exhaustion in her brother's voice...
The situation was getting worse...
Outside the base:
The battle was now beginning to turn into a stalemate: the drones hadn't been able to overrun the bots and gain access to the main entrance, but likewise, the drones were too hard and fast for the bots to overcome via close-quarter melee combat.
Having fallen back to defend the front line at the door, the bots had called the air base across the other side of the canyon to lend air-support and try to even the odds with the three jets, but that quickly proved to be a bad idea when the four Apache attack choppers they sent out were shot down, and the pilots needed to be rescued. The NEST troops and bots then tried to repel the jets from the ground via the use of a couple of Abram's tanks, and for a moment it seemed it might work, as the tanks managed to push back the drones with a few well-placed shots. But very quickly, the third jet flying overhead shot a couple of missiles down at the tanks: Jetfire managed to teleport ahead of the first missile's trajectory and teleport it into the desert a few miles away; Thundercracker fired several rounds at the second missile, but to his astonishment, the projectile corkscrewed around the his shots, missing them entirely, and continued on down, striking one of the tanks dead on.
Now, with four downed choppers and two destroyed tanks: the odds were not looking favorable for the Autobots...
As the drones came at the front line again, everyone was slightly taken aback when two of the drone's heads exploded; the drones stopped, looking to see what had happened as their lifeless companions fell to the ground, another two drone's heads blew off. Noticing how the debris got blown away in one direction at the point of explosion, Prime quickly realized: "Bluestreak and Deathshot"
"Well it's about bloody time!" John hollered as he fired at the drones again,
From where they were sniping, some four hundred yards away from the scene of the battle, atop a particularly tall ridge peppered with tall boulders: Deathshot and Bluestreak took it in turns to pick a target and fire. Protected by Deathshot's omnidirectional stealth-field, that made them both invisible to the naked eye, the older sniper could feel the third jet's radar sweep over them.
"That pilot may not be able to see us, but I think he's figured that something's up" Deathshot stated as he picked off another drone,
"Sooner or later we're going to have to find another perch from which to shoot" Bluestreak replied as he pegged another two attackers: "We could try the next ridge over, but we'll be more exposed..."
Watching both Jetfire and Thundercracker try to attack the third jet with little success, Deathshot frowned in frustration: with those protective force-fields surrounding them, no one could get at them. Scanning the third jet as it passed overhead for the fourth time, Deathshot was taken aback at the energy configuration that comprised the force-field. "A double-harmonic frequency?"
"What?" Bluestreak glanced at him confused,
"The energy harmonics of that force-field, their just like the one's the seekers in the Zokarr system used" Deathshot added,
"So?"
"So," he glanced over at the younger gunner with an optimistic smile: "The Black Solstus has a field disrupter that can easily take those shields out"
"What?! You're only just telling me this now?!" Bluestreak exclaimed,
"Give me a break, I hadn't been able to scan the jets up 'till now" the sniper deadpanned, before getting back on track, "The point is, if we can get to the ship and initialize the field disrupter, we'll be able to take out those jets"
"Sounds like a plan" Bluestreak replied as he took out another three drones, "Except, the canyon's on the other side of the fight down there, and as strong a flyer as you are, you won't be able to carry me over there!"
"Hmm..." Deathshot carefully scanned the desert near scene of the battle, "...How fast do you think you can drive the long way round?"
"Fast enough to keep up with you" the gunner smirked, "How low do you think you can fly?". Deathshot smirked, and transformed into his jet form: "Just be sure to stay where I can see you!" he called out through his external speakers. Bluestreak transformed in to his Nissan 350Z form, and sped off down the ridge with Deathshot shadowing him some fifteen feet above.
Meanwhile, far from the main battle, Miles and his team were stuck deep in a battle of their own: as the seven of them tried to keep Josie occupied, while at the same time, trying not to be turned into fried burger meat.
As Morri fired a powerful blast of energy, slamming Josie into the side of a bolder: she took the opportunity to get Becca and Tom out, who had both been pinned down after Josie had tried to blast them with a pure concentration of static. Tom's shield had held, but the speed of the attack left Becca unable to get her shield up in time.
Flying high up to regroup with Miles, Danny and Hailey as they circled high overhead, Morri dragged the two dazed youngsters up, and let them lean against her as they tried to get their breaths back.
"She's...too strong" Becca panted as she regained her bearings, "At this rate she's gonna beat us!"
"I don't know what Broadsword did to her, but whatever it is, it's given her superhuman strength for sure" Miles thought aloud, "And that static field, it's more powerful than our own BSHB's combined"
"She's also under some kind of brainwashing" Morri added, "Not once has she uttered a word or looked at us with any kind of emotion; it's like she's a puppet, having her strings pulled by someone else"
"I noticed that too" Miles replied, "Think there might be a way to get close to her and snap her out of it?"
"Without knowing what it is that's controlling her? We could end up giving her brain-damage or something!" Becky protested,
"Either way, we're going to have to do something soon: she's still got energy to spare, and we're all starting to run out of breath" Tom panted as he tried to stay airborne,
As Josie got back up, and became airborne again, it didn't take her long to send Miles and his team on the run again. "Listen, I'm going to head back and see if there're any tranquilizers: can you distract her so she doesn't see me slip away?" Hailey called out,
"Sure!" Miles replied, "Morri! You good for another round?"
"Let's do it!" the brunette called back: splitting off from the rest of the team, both Miles and Morri pushed their BSHB's to maximum power outage; as the blue energy began to flicker off them like flames, their forms became white silhouettes as they bombarded Josie with continuous rounds of energy blasts.
As Danny, Tom, and the twins flanked Josie from either side, it allowed Hailey to slip away unnoticed, and flying as low as she could to avoid detection, she sped back to the base. Now her only problem was trying to figure out how to get back inside without getting noticed by the jet circling overhead...
Back at the scene of the battle: although the drone's numbers had been cut in half thanks to Deathshot and Bluestreak, the remaining drones were still putting up one hell of a fight: and had succeeded in pushing Optimus and the other bots back, right in front of the front line where the NEST troops were holding the main entrance. The attackers were about to cut through between Ironhide and Cliffjumper, when suddenly, a deafening, booming roar announced the arrival of Grimlock and the Dinobot's, as they came charging towards the main entrance.
"Sorry for the delay Prime! But these ruffians have been keeping us pinned down in our caves!" Leviathan bellowed as he pulled one of the drones off Prime, and hurled it over his shoulder, where Dreadhide caught it in his maw and quickly made a meal out of it. The rest of the Dinobots followed suit as they barreled into the drones and pulled them out into the open to be eaten.
Finally free to move without fear of being immediately attacked, the bots and humans watched as the behemoths devoured their prey, and allowed themselves to breathe a cautious sigh of relief. Trying to get his breath back, Ashley still couldn't help but think about what happened earlier. But as he glanced back at the NEST troops, and saw his father smiling proudly at him, he allowed himself to forget it...at least, for now.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
Skywarp reappeared in the desert some distance from the base, and could see the Dinobots getting stuck into the fray: "Looks like we missed the party" he deadpanned,
"What now?" Jeanie thought aloud in a fluster, "How the hell are we going to convince Josie her sister's alive?!"
"Convince her?! How the hell do we even get near her?! In case you forgot, she's being controlled by the bad guys! Negotiations are the last thing on her mind right now!" Roxy angrily exclaimed,
"Well we've got to try something!" Chelsea protested,
"Like what?! I don't hear you coming up with any good ideas!" Roxy snapped,
"You're not exactly throwing any ideas our way either!" Chelsea pointed out,
As the girls continued to bicker, Darren looked around, running his fingers through his hair as he tried to think straight; when suddenly, in the distance, past the western mountain, he could make out the distinctive blue glow of the BSHB's energy pulses, emanating from out of the bolder field and river beds that snaked through that area.
"OKAY!-" he shouted: the girls shut up, and listened as he explained: "Getting Josie to her sister will have to wait: right now, we need to help where we can, and get this situation under control; understand?"
"Yeah, okay" Chelsea nodded
"Makes sense" Jeanie concluded
"So what've you got in mind, genius?" Roxy sarcastically raised an eyebrow.
"First off, I need to get to Wheeljack's lab and get my BSHB: I need to find Miles's team and fill them in on what's happened: the same goes for Prime. You three need to get to the command center: and use the open comm to try and explain what we've uncovered. If we can try and subdue Josie somehow, and try to 'snap' her out of whatever's controlling her, I might be able to get through to her"
"And me?" Skywarp asked,
"You go help where you're needed, with that jet circling overhead Prime and his team are going to need all the air-support they can get. But before then, I need you to teleport us down into Wheeljack's lab"
"Sure thing" the seeker nodded,
"Wait a sec!-" Roxy stopped them: "This is insane! Some girl claiming to be Josie's sister has us driven to her secret lair in the middle of LA, and tells us that if we get Josie for her, she'll make it 'worth our while'? This whole thing stinks of a set up! How the fuck do you know she's not in cahoots with those Broadsword creeps?! If fact, how do we know this whole thing isn't one big set-up, or something worse?! ...You may be a genius when it comes to computers and hacking stuff, but you don't know shit about people, especially when their taking you for a ride!" she jabbed her finger into his chest, "Of all the dumb-ass plans you've thought up, this is by far the stupidest! And I won't go along with it!" she ranted,
Darren was about to fly off the handle with Roxy, as he straightened up and inhaled, ready to shout back; but then, he suddenly noticed Jeanie standing behind her, staring over her shoulder. Staring at him with that same anxious fear she always had when she knew they were about to start another heated argument.
He then remembered what she told him earlier:
Look, I get that you're angry at her, and have been for a very long time: but you can't let past grudges get in the way of right now. It's not a question of shaping up: it's about trying to accept each other as you are
Realizing what she really meant by those words, Darren found himself overcome with regret; just because he was the smarter cousin, didn't mean he was above Roxy, or anyone else in his family for that matter. This anger, it wasn't just her means of trying to maintain the buffers of her comfort zone, she was actually afraid, and it upset him to think that he practically forced her into this; all of this, not just keeping her on the base. Letting his breath go as he calmed down, Darren allowed his anger to slip away: he knew now, what he needed to tell her...
"... That's okay" he replied calmly.
Suddenly taken aback by his abrupt change in attitude, Roxy stared at him as though he had taken leave of his senses: "...What?!" she gawked,
"I hear what you're saying, and yeah you're right; I don't know if there's an ulterior motive to why all this is going down? Maybe Amy isn't who she said she is? But either way: this is going to get bad regardless of what you or I think..." Darren explained: Roxy was too astounded to retort back as he continued:
"...Look, there are no guarantees or certainties when it comes to these kinds of situations: believe me, I know, I have been here before! You can plan for this kinda shit all you want, but that won't stop the bad guys from throwing a spanner into the works. All you can do, is go with what you know, and trust your gut-instinct to lead you in the right direction: wherever that may be...Now, if you don't trust me on this, that's okay: I won't hold it against you and it doesn't make you a bad person; I'll tell Bluebird to come and pick you up. But if you intend to see this through, if you chose to help me, then you do as I say: and trust me to know what I'm doing..."
Roxy stared at him: for once, she didn't know what to say. This wasn't Darren; it wasn't like him to keep his cool with her, not after berating him like that. Chelsea and Skywarp were equally surprised, and as Roxy contemplated what he said, she folded her arms and sighed in defeated exasperation...
"Fine. Whatever..." she huffed, trying to keep her deflated ego calm, "But for the record, if you fuck this up: don't say I didn't tell you so"
"Fine by me..." Darren nodded, "Skywarp?" And without further ado: they teleported away.
Reappearing in Wheeljack's lab; they were surprised to see Beverley and Jason, as well as Sarah Lennox, Allie, Lizzy and Rosy; who suffice to say, were quite surprised to see them here too.
"What the-, Darren?" Sarah blinked in surprise, "How-, what are you doing here?"
"Me? What are all of you doing here?" he gawked,
"Hiding from the In-law from hell! That's what!" Lizzy exclaimed,
The four youngsters stared at them in confusion, "Okay, what?" Chelsea raised an eyebrow,
"Alright, it's like this..." Lizzy proceeded to explain the incident in the rec-room, and how things sort of flew off the handle with Lawrence and his brother: as Roxy, Chelsea and Jeanie listened in astonishment, Darren discreetly went over to Sarah, and asked in a hushed voice: "Seriously, that's what he came all the way to NEST for?!"
"I'm afraid so" Sarah sighed, "It did get pretty intense; that's why Bluestreak dropped Jason and Beverly off in here: figured he wouldn't come looking for them in a restricted area of the base. I came because they could use a little support. Anyway, where have you been all this time?"
"It's-, kinda complicated," Darren nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "Long and short of it: we uncovered some vital information that we need to get to Optimus"
At that moment, the door opened, and Hailey flew inside: only to stop at the sight of her parents and everyone else gathered in the lab: "Wha-, Mom? Dad? What's going on? What're you all doing in here?!"
"Hailey!-" her dad rushed to the edge of the desk, and grabbed a hold of her in a tight hug as she landed next to him: "Oh thank god! We've been sick with worry over you!" he sighed with relief, "Tell me sweetie, are you okay? Are Becca and Becky okay?" her mother asked, as she looked her over for cuts and bruises.
"Mom, Dad, seriously, I'm fine-" Hailey assured them as she pushed her father off, "Where's Wheeljack?! I need a tranquilizer right now!"
"Uh? I think he left for the command center, to try and help get the emergency generators on?" Allie replied offhand,
"I'm back!-" Wheeljack announced as he quickly strode into the lab: but stopped in his tracks as he suddenly noticed Skywarp, Darren, Jeanie, Chelsea and Roxy were suddenly present, as was Hailey, "...Uh? What'd I miss?"
"Long story, I'll tell you later-" Darren walked up to him, "Right now, Hailey needs a Tranquilizer and I need my BSHB primed; I need to help take Josie down"
"What?" Hailey gawked,
"The situation's changed: I'll explain the details, but I need that BSHB right now!" he demanded,
"Uh-, right, I'm on it!" Wheeljack nodded as he rushed to find said BSHB unit: "How bad is it?" Sarah asked offhand.
"I'm not sure, "Darren admitted, "But we might have found a way to take care of Josie, at least: the jets and drones? I don't know yet"
"Well? It's better than nothing: she's creaming us out there" Hailey stated,
"Okay, whip your T-shirt off and hold still..." Wheeljack instructed as he primed the device used to adhere the BSHB to the skin. Darren threw his T-shirt off, and waited as the end of the nozzle pressed against the back of his left shoulder; "Don't worry, I have half a plan" he assured her,
"And the other half?"
"I'll-, figure out as we go along" he nervously replied, and as Wheeljack attached the device to his back, Darren suddenly felt the surge of energy fill his veins, as the blue energy surrounded him, and began to flicker like fire.
Meanwhile, outside:
Having sped across the desert at break-neck speed, and reached the open-air hanger in record time: Bluestreak nearly gave Deathshot a pump-attack when he drove off the edge of the canyon, transformed in mid-air, and landed on the left stabilizer of the Black Solstus. After getting into the ship via the airlock on the top-most side of the ship's forward gun turrets: the young gunner followed as Deathshot led the way to the bridge, and immediately got to work firing up the ship and its defense systems. "Okay, that jet should pass over again any second now" the sniper thought aloud, as the terminals and control panels flared to life,
"And the field disruptors will work right?" Bluestreak worried,
"If I prime them to a high-enough output, they should take out any shield within a three mile radius" Deathshot then let out a frustrated sigh, "The only problem is, they-re not omnidirectional: we'll have to launch the ship up out of the canyon to get the best line of sight for all three jets"
"Then do it!" the young gunner panicked,
"Okay: you know how to work a class-three destroyer system?"
"Sure, I've ran auxiliary control for the Ark enough times" he shrugged nonchalantly.
"In that case, you take the weapons control; I'll handle the launch sequence" Deathshot said as he rushed to another control panel next to Majestrix's 'throne' at the top-most level of the bridge, while Bluestreak took control of the terminal he'd just been standing at. The complexity of the controls intimidated him a little, this wasn't the Ark, but he knew enough about advanced cybertronian tech to know a weapons control system when he saw it.
Everyone near the entrance to the base looked around in confusion as the air was suddenly filled with the deep thunderous roar of giant propulsion engines. And as the Black Solstus's gigantic form rose up from out of the canyon and loomed over the scene, everyone was quite taken aback. Optimus was about to comm the command center to find out what was going on, when suddenly, a sharp crackling sound drew everyone's attention to the two jets hovering nearby. Their force fields were weakening: the oval spherical shields that surround their exteriors fell in and out in waves, and it didn't take Optimus long to realize what was going on...
"...Field disruptors" he frowned: taking aim and shooting one of the jet's in the wing: his shot hit its mark as the wing and its engine went up in flames, followed by a barrage of shots from the other Autobots as they tried to get past the faltering force field.
"It's working!" Bluestreak excitedly pointed to the scene below.
However: from where Coldbore was perched atop near the peak of the western mountain, the sniper watched in alarm as the Black Solstus blocked his line of sight to Optimus, but not the view of the two jets getting wreaked...
: Are you watching this? : He commed Blackshot, who immediately linked through to his optic's live feed,
: What is going on up there?! : She angrily demanded,
: It's Deathshot; he's using the ship's field disruptor to take out the jets shields:
: Stop him! That disruptor field will ruin everything if I lose my link to the ship! I'm sending Longrange up to aid you; I'll take care of him from my end: she replied. Folding away his sniper gun back into his left shoulder, and activating his stealth mode, Coldbore disappeared up into the air.
At the same moment, some distance away heading south west, Hailey and Darren flew parallel to one another as they searched the desert for any sign of Josie and the others...
"Her's sister's alive?!" Hailey gawked in shock,
"She said if we retrieve Josie for her, she'll make it worth our while" Darren called back,
"And you took her at her word?"
"I'll admit I was being pretty rash at the time" Darren reluctantly admitted, "But I didn't know what else to say or do? I didn't know if we were going to be able to get outta that place in one piece"
"But you think there may be something to it?"
"Maybe?" Darren shrugged offhand, "I dunno: my instincts say's she's legit, but I can't be sure. I need to talk to Prime about it"
Hailey was about to say something else, when the sounds of energy discharge and rocks being smashed and blown up drew their attention to the fight dead ahead of them. There, they saw Miles and his team flying rings around Josie, as she tried to shoot them down with wave after wave of static energy blasts.
"Okay," Darren grabbed Hailey's attention, "I'll try to talk to her..."
"Be careful!" Hailey called after him as he flew into the fray, and landed right in front of Josie. As the rest of the team shouted at him to get out of the way, Darren paid them no attention as he anxiously approached Josie. He didn't know what was worse, the fact she could kill him at this close range, or the fact that her face didn't betray a single emotion; she just stared at him like a lifeless automaton with soulless eyes. But the fight had evidently taken its toll, as she panted for breath; and as she raised her hand, forming another energy ball to shoot at him, Darren made his move...
"Josie? I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here to let you know, Amy wants to see you"
At the mention of her sister's name, Josie froze: the energy ball in her hand dissipated, and she just stared at him. Everyone watched in surprise and amazement, as for the first time throughout the whole fight, a glimmer of something resembling emotion flickered in her blue eyes. Realizing he hit the right button, Darren continued: "Do you remember Amy? She's been looking for you, for a long time now...She misses you like crazy; don't you want to see her again?"
Suddenly, Josie's body began to shiver and shake as her eyes glazed over, and a look of pain overcame her fair face as she clasped her hands to her head; realizing she was trying to fight whatever was controlling her, Darren approached closer and held her steady as she tried to stay standing. "No-, NO! You c-can't make me!" she grunted as she gritted her teeth.
"Yes, that's it! Fight it! Come on Josie you can do it!" Darren encouraged as she struggled to fight back,
Realizing he had gotten through to her, Miles and his team cautiously landed, and approached: watching as Josie tried to regain control of her mind.
But whatever it was she was struggling against, wasn't giving up without a fight. It was then Darren noticed the various tiny wires running along her suit, up into her neck, penetrating right into her skin: it was then he realized with horror, that her suit and all its micro-systems were physically melded to her, both internally and externally. The control wasn't from some kind of hypnosis like he'd previously thought: it was from the systems feeding into her. Feeding data directly into her brain. 'Oh hell' he thought in a panic 'how do we get it out of her?!'
Deciding to take advantage of the situation, Hailey discreetly slipped behind a large bolder, and took the cover of the syringe she'd been carrying. Looking back over at Josie, she planned out her route around the bolder she was standing in front of, so as best to try and sneak up in her blind spot. But as she watched Josie struggling to break free of her mental shackles, she wondered if this was a good idea? If she tranquilized her now, would whatever's controlling her regain its hold over her? Would she only make the situation worse? Deciding to see if Josie could beat it on her own, Hailey hung back; but kept the syringe ready, just in case...
CRACK!"
Without warning, part of the bolder right behind Josie's head exploded as a bullet ricocheted off, cleaving part of the rock, which flew off and struck Josie hard in the back of the neck. She fell over forward unconscious, but Darren was quick to catch her; and dropped down behind the bolder with the others following suit, while Morri quickly threw up a shield.
"Sniper! That was a sniper!" Tom suddenly realized,
"But where did the shot come from?!" the twins panicked,
Everyone stopped and listened as a resounding THUMP! echoed over their heads into the bolder field: the sound of the shot itself, having been fired from the gun.
Cautiously looking up at the area on the bolder where the shot had hit, Darren realized the trajectory had come from somewhere higher than the bolder field they were in, but the only place higher than the bolder field was the western mountain: whose southern slopes were facing them, and were peppered with large boulders and shallow depressions; perfect hiding places for a sniper to make his foxhole.
"The mountain" Darren realized, as he strained his eyes to try and spot any sign of movement on the slope,
"But was that meant for us? Or her?" Morri speculated as she maintained her force-field shield, covering everyone.
At that moment, Josie regained consciousness; everyone held their breath as she sat up out of Darren's arms, and looked at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. "...A-Amy's really alive?" she asked desperately.
Looking at her neck, Darren noticed the tiny cables that ran into her skin had been severed, along with part of her suit on her shoulder, where the wires connected to the suits circuitry. That must have happened when the rock struck her: the impact caused the damaged, and evidently severed the suits connection to her brain. Looking into her eyes, it was clear that whatever was keeping her in a brainwashed stupor was now gone, as she gazed at him with fear and desperation.
"P-Please!" she begged, "You said she's alive, is it true?!"
"Yes..." Darren tried to get his head back to the here and now: "...I met her, not fifteen minutes ago"
Josie allowed a cautious smile to tug at the corners of her mouth, "...Sh-sh-she's really been looking for m-me?"
"Yeah, but first, we need to get outta here" Darren pointed to the mountain, "You see that mountain there? Someone hiding up there just took a shot at us, so we need to keep our heads down. I promise I'll take you to Amy, but first, we need to get outta here in one piece; do you think hold out just a little while longer?"
"I-, I don't-" Amy tried to think straight: her head was filled with tangled up thoughts of all the worse-case scenarios; but one thought above all gave her some glimmer of confidence. "...I don't know if I can do this; I-I just want to see my sister"
"...That's okay" Darren nodded in reassurance, "Come on, I'll help you" he added, as he took her hand, and led the way through the bolder field, being careful to stay low to the ground, while Miles and his team brought up the rear as they followed Darren's lead. Relieved that the situation was now under control, Hailey discreetly replaced the cover on the syringe, and slipped it into her pocket: making a note to hand it back to Wheeljack later.
Glancing over towards the base, Morri gasped when she spotted the Black Solstus hovering above the canyon...
Meanwhile, at the same time, in the command center:
While everyone went about their tasks: Bishop stood on the central terminal platform, overseeing every order and bit of data that passed along the lines of communication. Suddenly, he felt a buzzing in his pocket; it was his cell phone's silent alarm. Discreetly slipping it out and quickly glancing at the tiny screen, his expression seemed to pale at first, before a brief look of annoyance flashed across his face, before he regained his poker face and carried on like nothing had happened.
Though no one on the terminal had noticed what had just happened: Prowl's ever sharp hawk-like optics didn't miss it, and as he looked back over his shoulder at Galloway, who was also on his cell-phone, the SIC began to get an uncomfortable feeling in his pump. Discreetly leaning down to speak directly into Red Alert's audio, he whispered: "Any luck hacking their cells?"
"That's just it" Red Alert whispered back with worry, "I can't isolate their cell signals"
Confused, Prowl clarified: "...What do you mean, you can't isolate their cell signals?"
"I mean," the security officer gritted his dental plates in annoyance "Their phones are on and are in perfect working order: but the signals are heavily encrypted: far more so than what the NSC regulation encryptions permit"
Prowl frowned; if there was one thing he didn't like, more than the Lambo twins and Decepticons combined, it was something shady going on, right under his nose-plates: "...Keep at it, I'll contact Prime" he whispered back.
"Prowl!" Bishop called to him,
Keeping cool and level headed, Prowl straightened up: "Yes Colonel?"
"Looks like the enemy has finally been eliminated: Skywarp and Jetfire just brought down the final jet" he told the SIC,
"Very good Colonel" Prowl tipped his helm: but deep down, his suspicion as to the Colonel's strange behavior had him wary.
"I'll call the airbase and tell them to stand down" the Colonel got out his cell-phone, and turning his back to the SIC, pressed the buttons and pressed the phone to his ear...
As the action decreased and the tenseness in the room seemed to subside; Lawrence breathed a cautious sigh of relief...
Meanwhile, in Wheeljack's lab:
As they listened the action die down over the comm receiver, the humans and one Autobot breathed a wary sigh of relief,
"Sound like everything's gonna be okay" Sarah smiled,
"I knew Ironhide would whoop their afts!" Annabelle beamed up from where she stood at the base of the counter.
"Anny?" her mother blinked in surprise, "Wha-, what're you doing here?"
"Listening to Ironhide and daddy kick those bugs ass's to the kerb!" she cheered,
"But-, how long have you been here?"
"Max? How long have we been here?" Annabelle called over to the far end of the room.
"About ten minutes? You all looked kinda busy listening to that thing so I just kinda let myself in, the door was open anyway" Max replied: looking around in confusion, Wheeljack spotted Violet and Jay-jay sitting next to Max, who had perched herself between two large mainframes and a router, and was busy reading something on her laptop. Surprised to see her sister here, Chelsea got up and climbed down from the desk, heading over to where she sat on the floor.
Looking over at Jason and Beverly, Sarah could see Jason was intensely vexed: concerned that something was wrong, she asked, "What's wrong? The bots have everything under control again, I'm sure Hailey and the twins are okay"
"...I know" Jason quietly replied, "Its just-...Lawrence is still on the base: and he's not going to leave until he gets what he wants"
Almost in an instance, the feeling of relief deflated, as everyone concerned remembered what happened in the rec-room, and that uncomfortable feeling of being stuck between a rock and a hard place returned with a vengeance.
"Oh, yeah" Allie let her shoulders sag,
"Okay, I'm totally confused," Lizzy threw up her hands, "What the hell is your brother's problem?! How'd you two fall out so badly that it's come to this?!"
"Yeah, I mean: after everything that's happened already, what does he hope to achieve from this?" Jeanie thought aloud,
Realizing just how much trouble Lawrence had put everyone to, over this pointless exercise: Jason felt obliged to give an explanation. Taking a deep breath and rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to keep his nerves tempered as he anxiously explained: "...It was never any secret that Lawrence was always the apple of our mother's eye; he was the one she invested the most in, the one who was 'destined' to carry on the Waineright name. Me and Reggie? We were just-...Second best. No, even less than that; she expected both of us to tow the line and succeed as much as Lawrence had. Only problem is, how're you supposed to do well at anything, when your own mother constantly reminds you that you're not your brother? ...She thought sibling rivalry would do us all some good, keep us wanting to strive to achieve greatness ...Only, that all backfired. Badly"
"Reggie" Rosy realized
"So your brother is basically a mommy's boy who thinks he's doing the whole family a favour?" Roxy raised an eyebrow as she folded her arms.
"It's much more complicated than that" Beverly corrected,
"Growing up, Mom wanted all of us to go into politics, but I wanted to go into law; and Reggie-, he just wanted his life to be his own. But that was never an option as far as mother was concerned: we all had to be carbon copies of dad, to remain Washington's political royalty; regardless of our wants and needs...She could be pretty mean about keeping us under her thumb"
"What? She beat you up?" Lizzy gawked,
"No, nothing like that, it-..." Jason tried to think of the best way to explain: "...Okay. When I was in college, there was this girl who was a waitress, in the cafe around the corner from my dorm. She was studying business, and I used to see her every day on the way back from classes; and, every day we used to talk: she'd tell me about herself and I told her about me. She was funny, smart and articulate, and told me she wanted to run her own restaurant one day; time went by, and we hit it off pretty well..." his expression then turned unreadable, "...But then, somehow; mother got wind of our budding relationship, and drove all the way up from Washington to see me about it. She tried to talk me into 'letting go' of her: that a Waineright cannot afford to be seen with someone of 'her ilk'; I told her no, and that it was none of her business who I chose to spend my time with...She then went to the cafe, and explained to the girl, that under 'no uncertain terms' was she to ever see me again, or she would make things 'difficult' for her..."
"Dude" Allie blinked in surprise
"What did you do?" Lizzy pressed him,
Jason and Beverly both glanced at one another, and smiled as he gently held her hand: "I told my mother to go to hell, and that she had no right to stick her nose where it wasn't wanted. I continued to date the girl, who graduated with full honors: and for the three years I was at Harvard she stayed by my side. And finally, the day after I passed the Bar, I asked her to become my wife"
"And I said yes" Beverly smiled fondly,
"Really?" Sarah smiled "Good for you",
"I guess your old lady didn't have a lot of say in the matter after the wedding, huh?" Lizzy thought aloud.
"We made our intentions clear, and there wasn't much she could do anyway; although god knows she didn't hide her disapproval" Beverly frowned,
"Like, how?" Rosy asked offhand,
"Well? She wore a white gown to our wedding" Jason deadpanned,
"Seriously?" Sarah grimaced, "That's -..."
"I know..." Beverly hunched sheepishly, "That's when we decided to move out here, to California: at least this far away, we didn't have to worry about her breathing down our necks"
As the little group continued to talk among themselves; Chelsea kept one ear on the conversation, whilst keeping an eye on what Max was doing: "You still think there's something more to this Reggie guy?" she asked offhand, a little surprised Max had become this engrossed in the subject, "I don't know if you noticed? But we're in the middle of a little bit of an emergency here?! The base is being attacked, the power's still out, and Hailey and the twins haven't come back yet!"
"Hey, I'm already way too deep into this to turn back now" Max waved off, "Besides, things are getting interesting"
"Interesting how?" Chelsea craned her neck over her sister's shoulder to get a look at the laptop screen.
"I just found Reggie's medical records: in addition, I've been talking to an old college buddy of his on Facebook, who kindly filled in some details..." Max explained as she read the data on the screen, "Turns out, poor Reggie had an issue with drugs, and spent most of his life in and out of rehab: but college was where he had it bad. To say Ruth was a helicopter mom is an understatement, she called her boys three times a day, every day: and get this, one time, she drove all the way up there to break him up with a girl she didn't like. It seemed like his time at college was one big post-teenage rebellion. He partied so hard he put the whole eighties to shame: he eventually suffered a delusional break after hitting the meth too hard, and spent three years in a mental hospital in Jersey"
"So the guy's had it tough: and his mom only made it worse by getting on his back all the time"
"It seemed like, no matter what he did: nothing was ever good enough for her; no wonder it drove him to-..."Max paused: as the memory of her father's death made her stomach turn cold.
"But it doesn't explain why Lawrence would want to kill him?" Chelsea frowned, "There something out of place here"
"I'll say; does Jason know about Antony's sealed record?" Max thought aloud,
"...If Jason didn't know about that, or how Reggie really died; then there's a lot of stuff about his family, he doesn't know about" Chelsea sighed uncomfortably: "...Come to think of it; should we really be doing this? This is getting kinda personal"
"Not for me" Max shrugged, "Hailey wanted to know what her folk's background was: I'm just doing what was asked"
"Just-..." Chelsea hesitated, "Don't let what happened with our mom come into this; it-...isn't the same thing"
Max glanced at her with an unreadable look: "...No offense Chels'? But from what I've read on here? It kinda is..." she turned her attention back to the laptop, and sat up straight as another window popped open, "-Found it!"
"Found what?"
"Reggie's birth certificate: of all the legal stuff I've been trawling through, this has been the hardest to find"
"Why would a birth certificate be so hard to find?" Chelsea frowned curiously, "Aren't they like, a matter of public record, or somethin'?"
"Not unless the kid in question was adopted" Max explained, "They seal the records concerning the birth parents"
Chelsea's eyes grew wide: "Reggie was adopted?!"
"Yeah..." Max replied as she read through the certificate: "According to this, Reggie's dad was-, Antony?"
"Jason and Lawrence's uncle?"
"Yeah, and his mom was..." Max paused: her expression paled slightly as she stared at the screen in astonishment: "What? What is it?" Chelsea pressed her,
Max turned to her sister, unable to say what she'd read on the screen: "Help me find a spare comm"
"What? Why?"
"I need to reach Hailey: she needs to see this..." Max handed her laptop, and pointed to the line of information in question: as she read through it, Chelsea stared at the screen in equal shock; "...Oh my god..."
Meanwhile, outside, near the main entrance:
"Looks like we're done here, eh dad?" Ashley smiled as his dad and the rest of the men cautiously approached the downed drones: looking them over for any sign of life; while the bots kept their weapons trained on the two downed jets.
"Looks like it" John sighed with relief as he cautiously lowered his weapon.
But before anyone could totally drop their guard: the distant sound of a shrill whistling made them all look up; it didn't take anyone long to realize what it was...
"INCOMING!" Lennox yelled at the top of his voice: and as everyone dropped to the ground, the incoming missile struck the side of the Black Solstus with such force that it made the ship veer dangerous to one side. Fortunately, the ship's own shields had remained intact, but the resulting fireball had come close to engulfing the ground near where the Autobots were.
"What the hell?!-" John gasped as he got back up: but paused in shock, as he watched what was coming into hover, right above the grounded jets...
A forth jet, much the same design as the first three, but nearly five times the size: loomed over the battleground like a great vulture: dark, menacing, and with its guns pointed down at them all...
"TAKE COVER!-" Prime yelled as the jet unleashed a barrage of machine-gun fire, ripping up the ground as the Autobots and humans ran for cover in the doorway of the base entrance. Everyone just barely made it, as the dust and sand thrown up turned the air dark: and as the humans coughed and spluttered, trying to clear their throats, the bots chanced a cautious look, and were alarmed by what they saw next...
The undercarriage of the jet opened up, and twelve Decepticons dropped to the ground: all black with yellow optics, their Decepticon insignia's gone, and armed with human/cybertronian hybrid weaponry. On each of their shoulders, was the insignia of a sword clasped by a gauntlet within a shield, with the American flag beneath, and the word 'Broadsword' above it. Though the cons had obviously been redesigned and re-purposed to all look the same, they all still retained their own individual facial designs; and one in particular, all the bots recognized immediately...
"Barricade" Optimus breathed in astonishment,
"So that's what they did with them" Ironhide frowned,
As soon as the cons were on the ground, and all standing in a fighting stance, ready for combat: the jet above them fell apart, and transformed into a giant seeker that stood over forty feet tall. For a moment, everyone stood there in amazement: before Grimlock charged the seeker with his jaws wide open; but to his and everyone else's shock, the seeker punched the Tyrannosaurus hard, sending him flying through the air, clear over everyone's heads, and slamming into the side of a nearby ridge. Though the impact didn't faze Grimlock and the giant Dinobot got right back up again: the fact that an opponent was able to punch him hard enough to send him flying, spoke volumes to the bots, of how hard this fight was about to get.
"...Fuck..." Epps cringed,
"Round two?" Ashley grimaced
"Round two" Optimus frowned, as he cocked his gun, and took aim as the former-Decepticon's charged at them.
However, the charge kept the Autobots so occupied; that no one noticed that one of the former cons had slipped away, transformed, and was heading out into the desert...
I could've carried this chapter on for another ten or so pages: but when I took a step back and read through it as a whole: I realized it'd be best to stop at this point and pick up the action in the next chapter. Pacing it out evenly and what-not.
Anyway: hope you enjoyed the action thus far, cuz now we're heading into the main innings B)
R&R please :)