Chapter 7
Autobot base…
The kids looked worryingly at the frozen Autobots. They had responded quickly after Fowler had sent the distress call to pick them up. It had been a real pain getting them back into the base, and to be fair the newbie hadn't been much help in helping them. Alex was still in wonderment as to how the medic had managed to carry all of his fellow cybertronians through the portal in such little time. One of those questions that had gone unanswered in the show.
"They're alive," Ratchet stated as he stood by his computer terminal. "But I have never encountered this form of stasis lock."
"The 'cons are crossing the Atlantic," said Agent Fowler. "Making a beeline for North America."
"Wait, we can track them?" asked Jack on the ground floor.
"Why aren't they cloaked like usual?" added Raf alongside him.
"None of this makes a lick of sense. They had us in their crosshairs but the 'cons just took off." Fowler elaborated.
"They even bailed on that…spark extractor thingy." Added Miko.
"But if the ship isn't cloaked, maybe the communications relay's open, and-" began Jack.
"Yeap, yeap," interrupted Ratchet. "Are you suggesting that we just…call Megatron and ask him what's happening up there?!"
The kids shrugged up at him.
Wide eyed, Ratchet turned to Fowler on the upper level, who also shrugged.
He then turned to Alex, who was watching them from his seat on the nearby steps.
He also shrugged. "Why not?"
Ratchet frowned. "You're quite calm considering our current situation."
"I believe the correct saying is 'keep calm and carry on.'" Replied Alex.
Ratchet turned back to the monitors. Reluctantly he began to type in commands.
Alex was in actual fact not paying much attention to the problem at hand. This was good as it prevented him from partaking in the conversation. "Just keep your mouth shut and everything will play out as it should." He thought. He was still trying to work out how he was going to phrase his reasoning to Megatron. As he would be unarmed against the tyrant, his only weapons would be words, "And don't be a sniveling wretch, he added. "Megatron is not going to take you seriously if you can't speak with confidence." Alex was also wondering what his exit strategy was. "Distract him?" he suggested to himself.
Annoyingly, that was the best idea he could presently come up with.
But what if this grand plan of his could have a better outcome….?
…
"Autobot Outpost Omega One, to Decepticon warship. Megatron, please respond." Stated Ratchet.
"Megatron." He repeated. The humans were standing together, waiting for a response.
A sudden beeping indicated the connection. There was a pause.
Then a sinister voice said, "Megatron has been relieved of his command."
"Who is this?" Ratchet enquired.
"Who is this?" the voice replied.
"Have you taken control of the decepticon vessel?" Ratchet continued.
"I AM the vessel." Stated the voice with an evident sneer. "Any cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized."
Images of frozen 'con soldiers and insecticons appeared on the monitors. Ratchet pressed on. "What mission?"
"Priority one." The voice said. "Decrypt Iacon database and recover decepticon technology."
"For what purpose?"
No response. Another beeping noise and the screen going blank indicated the ship severing the connection.
Miko place her arms on the guardrail before folding them. "It hung up?! Rude!"
"Rude?!" exclaimed Agent Fowler. "There's a giant spaceship, flying around, collecting decepticon weapons of mass destruction!"
"Ah, but a giant spaceship filled with neutralized decepticons." Interjected Jack.
"Point?" snapped Fowler.
"This could be our only chance to slip aboard and download the Iacon database." Explained Jack.
"So Optimus can decode it." Added Raf, smiling.
Ratchet turned to the humans. "Ingenious. I will infiltrate the decepticon warship."
But Jack disagreed. "Not ingenious. You saw what it did to the decepticons."
"And probably Megatron too." Said Raf.
"And team Prime?!" added Miko.
"But, it had me dead in its sights, and I'm still breathing." Said Fowler.
"The ship may be blind to humans." Stated Jack.
Ratchet turned to look at Fowler. "Very well, Agent Fowler. But at the first sign of trouble, I am bridging you right back here." He then turned to his workstation. "Now, in order to download the database, you will need a compatible transfer drive. He said as he handed the agent a very large flash drive.
"A what…?" said an obviously confused Fowler.
"He'll also need tech support. Said Raf. "And backup." Added Miko.
Jack turned to Alex who was sitting in one of the desk chairs. He seemed to be keeping up with them but had his own thoughts going on.
"You gonna come with us?" He asked.
Alex made a pained expression. "My leg's still acting up. I would only slow you down."
Miko waved him off. "Ugh, wimp."
Looking confused Raf asked, "So, you're not coming with us onto the ship?"
Alex immediately understood the confusion. Smiling, he said "Maybe later or some other time."
Raf nodded.
"I doubt you'll get another chance." Said Jack smugly.
Ratchet looked at Alex. Something was definitely afoot here…
…..
"Fowler to base, we're in." came the man's voice through the com link a few moments after he and the kids had walked through the swirling vortex.
"Good." Replied Ratchet. "Their data core should be accessible from any console."
Still in his chair, Alex said "So, this is what you guys do every day, huh?"
Ratchet turned to look at Alex, frowning. "We have our quiet moments."
Alex nodded and returned looking at the main monitor.
Ratchet continued to look at Alex for a few moments. After checking that his voice could not be picked up by the com link, he turned back to Alex and slowly asked him "Who are you?"
Alex looked up at the medic. He said absolutely nothing.
Still frowning, Ratchet said "You know of our existence, you know the names Orion Pax, Cliffjumper and Tailgate, and you were attacked by Megatron himself. You refuse to tell us who you are or how-"
"I told Optimus Prime." Interrupted Alex.
Ratchet went silent but then said "and you think that is enough? Because you told Optimus the truth?"
"Because he is the only one capable of understanding it."
"Hmph, and what is that supposed to mean?'
Alex said nothing.
Before Ratchet could continue, Fowlers voice came through on the computer. "What would a relic from Cybertron be doing in the Big Apple?"
Ratchet replied "The Iacon relics landed on Earth eons ago, Agent Fowler. Long before the city was built atop it."
"Which means if the ship wants this one, it may have to move some buildings out of the way." sounded Jack's voice.
A shocked silence followed this realization. "Commercial break." Thought Alex absent-mindedly.
"Our mission just got complicated." Said Fowler finally. "How do we deter this ship?"
"I would advise disabling the navigation module." Ratchet suggested. Call up the main navigation menu."
Ratchet and Alex continued to listen.
Suddenly there was the sound of crackling energy. "Agent Fowler" shouted Jack.
Then the ships sinister voice could be heard. "System access detected. Interference will not be tolerated."
"There." Raf called out. He was referring to a camera which had appeared and was moving.
"Reveal yourself." Said the ship, which was having no luck in locating the intruders.
"It doesn't see us." Miko stated.
"Yet." Said Ratchet. "The ship must not be scanning for carbon-based life forms. But once it widens its search parameters…"
"We're toast." Completed Raf.
"I'm bridging you back." Ratchet stated.
"No." insisted Jack. "There are millions of lives at stake in New York, and we three are currently the only ones who can do anything about it."
"You're out of your element, Jack." Ratchet argued. "These readings, the ships rapid recovery, all point to the fact that Megatron employed dark energon to repair it."
"Hold on. If you're saying the ship is fueled by dark energon, we can dump it, right?" Jack suggested.
"Hmm," Ratchet considered the idea. "You'll need to reverse the warships energon infuser. Follow the main overhead conduits. They'll lead you to the power core."
Ratchet turned back to Alex. "How did Megatron know how to find you?"
"I would prefer not to tell you." Alex replied.
Ratchet was growing frustrated. Patience was one of his virtues but this was stretching it. He was going to ask the human how he could lie so fluently but his attention was then drawn back to the com link when he heard the kids gasp.
"Megatron had the same idea." Jack stated.
"Then we're on the right track." Raf confirmed.
"The energon injection valve can only be operated manually." Ratchet explained.
"Manually?!" the kids exclaimed.
As the com link went quiet, Ratchet turned back to Alex.
"Is there anything you will tell me?"
Alex thought for a moment. "I can tell you that you should have left the kids alone with their science projects."
Ratchet went wide eyed. After a moment, he dared to ask, "Anything else?"
"I think it's safe to say you learnt not to test synthetic energon on yourself again." Alex added.
Ratchet took a step back. This kid knew things Ratchet would have preferred to have remained unknown. He pressed on. "And?"
Alex sighed. Taking a deep breath he moved to silence Ratchet.
"Scraplets. Lots of scraplets."
That did the trick.
Ratchet continued to remain silent. Suddenly they heard noises coming from behind them. Turning towards the med bay they saw Optimus had moved from his stationary position and was clutching his head in mild pain. One by one the other Autobots broke free of the stasis lock.
"Thank goodness." Said Ratchet, breathing a sigh of relief. His relief was short lived when Jack's voice suddenly rang through the com link.
"Ratchet!" He shouted. "Fire up the groundbridge!"
Ratchet turned to his computer banks. He motioned to Alex "See if they're okay."
Alex nodded. Despite the constant pain coming from wearing the brace, he walked briskly over to the recovering Autobots.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked.
The leader of the Autobots turned to look at the human.
"We're fine, thank you Alex." Said Optimus. "How long have we been like this?"
"A while," replied Alex. "But I think we have the situation under control. Agent Fowler and the kids should be back any moment, hopefully with the Iacon database in tow."
Optimus eyes filled with concern upon hearing that the kids were out in the field. He quickly strode over to where Ratchet was standing by the console.
The groundbridge was fired into life. A moment later, Raf and Miko trundled in struggling to carry an unconscious Agent Fowler.
"Where's Jack?" Ratchet anxiously asked.
"He's still at the computer trying to get that flash drive." Miko replied. Upon hearing this, Ratchet responded quickly and ran through the swirling vortex.
Alex climbed down the stairs to help the two kids carry the agent. With some struggling, they managed to get him up the stairs and onto the medical berth in the corner. Alex was getting a pillow underneath his head when he heard Fowler mumble "No Grandma, I don't want a cookie…"
"How did the writers come up with this guy's personality?" thought Alex.
Ratchet then returned through the bridge with Jack in one hand and the drive in the other. Placing Jack next to the other humans and powering down the groundbridge, he proceeded to slot the drive into a port. Immediately four sets of alien data appeared on the screen.
"The download of the Iacon database may have been incomplete, but we now possess four sets of coordinates decoded by the ship." He explained.
"Then we must act quickly," Optimus stated. "For Megatron possesses the same four sets. And he will not hesitate to obtain the potential doomsday devices, which lie at the sight of each."
Alex watched this unfold as he stood next to Fowler's side. With this final statement from Optimus, 'flying mind' had drawn to a close without any changes potentially caused by Alex. This was a good thing, as it would allow the next four episodes to proceed as planned. If according to plan, Megatron would remain on the 'nemesis' and wait for his retrieval teams to return. The plan was about to commence. There was however one adjustment to it. His return through the groundbridge to the Autobot base was still the escape route, but it was now a contingency plan. That was if Megatron wasn't convinced enough to allow Alex to return home…
To be continued…
Author's Note (PLEASE READ): I must apologize for this chapter as much of it is just dialogue from the episode, however it needed to be addressed if we are to continue with our story. There are now many factors to consider when thinking of my storyline, so it might be a while before the next chapter is published.
Also, some of you might notice that my OC is quite far-fetched in terms of understanding things, coming up with ideas and talking to beings much bigger than him while staring danger in the face. This is because I wanted him to be strong-willed, not some wimp who would just run and hide. And before you jump to assumptions, no. I do not plan on turning him into the next Prime. Do not fear though, I am intending to break him later on.
Thanks for reading, and reviews would be greatly appreciated, as they do help to spur me on.