Chapter 8

Autobot base…

"Be on your guard, Bulkhead." Optimus said as the wrecker raced through the groundbridge. He then turned to Raf who was sitting on the upper level. "Rafael, lock onto the remaining coordinates. I will embark for the Antarctic." Raf (who seemed a bit edgy all of a sudden) immediately spun round to the desk and began typing on the keyboard.

Optimus then turned to Ratchet. "As for you, old friend. I would prefer that you have company on your mission."

"No one is left to join me, Optimus." Said Ratchet, looking round. "Even if Agent Fowler were alert…"

They both turned to the agent who, despite the occasional babble, remained on the berth unconscious.

"He's human." Ratchet completed.

"I was considering the only remaining Autobot alternative on this planet." Optimus explained.

Ratchet looked dumbfounded. "Bu…ch…you…can't be serious." He exclaimed. "Wheeljack is insubordinate. A ruffian! Besides he's Bulkheads partner."

"Your expertise is scientific, but Wheeljack is a highly capable warrior. You would be wise to welcome the temporary alliance." Optimus looked down at Ratchet.

All Ratchet could do was sigh at the order he had just been given.

Alex had watched as the kids and their guardians left for their intended destinations. He had to admit he was somewhat jealous of them travelling to New York, but there was a much more pressing matter to deal with. He noticed that Raf had become more fidgety over the past few minutes. He was hoping that the boy could remain calm long enough to help him. Alex knew that when Agent Fowler regained consciousness and the autobots returned they would immediately question his absence, but Alex was confident that Raf would be resistant enough to re-open the groundbridge. Besides, even if Raf blabbed the whole story after Alex is bridged, Optimus would surely carry out the plan and open the bridge despite any objections the Autobots (especially Arcee) might bring up. There was the possibility that Optimus might try to come after him before the bridge back or if Alex did not make it through, but the leader of the Autobots would probably be too distracted by Bulkheads injury. After all, Optimus would only complicate things and the best possible outcome for Alex's plan involved him not ultimately returning to the base.

…..

"Good Luck, Ratchet." Alex called out as Ratchet walked towards the active groundbridge. The medic mumbled something and wasted no time in stepping through the glowing portal and vanishing.

Rafael, still sitting at the computer, turned to Alex. "Now?" he inquired.

Alex took a deep breath. The brace around his leg was secure, he had a (still) fully charged cellphone (even though the warship would block any signal whatsoever), and he had taken enough pain tablets to kill a small animal. It was now or never.

"Now." He said as he turned and stood next to Raf. "Can you bring up a schematic of the Nemesis?"

Amazingly, he was able to. "Show me the corridor running next to the main deck." Alex pressed.

A schematic of the floor plan and surrounding detail appeared on the monitor.

"There." Alex pointed to a side space running alongside the main walkway, just opposite from the main entrance to the main deck "Ventilation shaft. Should be big enough for me to walk through. That will be our bridge point." He turned to look at the boy. "Think you can be that precise with the coordinates?"

Raf nodded. "I don't see why not. It's quite close to where we bridged to this morning."

"Remember," Alex made clear. "Wait for 30 minutes then re-open it. If I don't come through straight away, close it and wait 10 minutes. After that, open it again and wait for 2 minutes. If I don't come through that time, close it and don't open it again. Then you tell Optimus."

Raf slowly nodded.

"Good." Alex stood up straight. "Let's do this."

….

The Nemesis…

Megatron had opted to wait on the deck alone in for his retrieval teams to return. He was confident that they would all be successful in locating the relics, as he knew it would be difficult for the autobots to disperse their resources over such a wide field. After discovering devices such as the spark extractor and the forge of Solus Prime, it would be interesting to see what the decoded coordinates yielded.

Due to happenings such as Starscreams and Arachnids failed assassination attempts, and the downing of his vessel, He had had not much time to think about the specimen. Soundwave had maintained vigilance in the hope of the GPS signal re-emerging somewhere on this rock, but it was to no avail. Megatron was almost certain that Optimus Prime would not let the human out of his sight, even if the boy had kept his mouth shut. With any luck, the human might have no knowledge of the cybertronians anyway, and with there being no way to locate him, Megatron was beginning to hope more and more for this to be true.

Still, he would eventually find him. The human would not be able to hide forever…

…

The ventilation shaft opposite the main door to the deck briefly glowed an emerald green, however it went unnoticed as all decepticons had been ordered to their posts and to remain there until further notice.

Alex waited until the groundbridge had closed behind before him before moving. Finding footholds on the shaft, he climbed onto the main walkway a few meters away from the door. He marveled at the sheer size of the place. "It flies all over the world and nobody ever sees it?" he thought for a second. Seeing the entrance just ahead of him, he cautiously made his way to the side of it, sticking to the walls and shadows in case any 'con's would walk by. Thankfully, none did, and he was able to peer round the door and look inside.

There, in all his glory, standing on the main flight deck, never looking away from the view and hands behind his back with it towards Alex, was Megatron. The leader of the decepticons.

…..

Autobot base…

Agent enjoyed his coffee very much. A simple everyday pleasure that enabled him to function properly among the alien robots. Today though he was in desperate need of it, considering he had had the shock of his life earlier today, literally. Looking around the base, he found it to be deserted, apart from young Raf sitting on the steps with his laptop. There nobody else here. Nobody.

Sensing something was off, he turned to Raf. "Rafael, where's Alex?"

Raf looked up from his laptop, "He's…uh...up on the roof. He said he wanted some fresh air." He stammered. He then immediately went back to his laptop.

Agent Fowler may have not have been a parent, but he was very good at telling when people were lying to him.

"Son," he said sternly. "What's going on?"

The Nemesis…

The giant was still unaware of Alex's presence. Making sure there were no other 'con's in the room, he slowly his made his way along the gantry towards him, making no sound whatsoever. When Alex was roughly 50 meters away, he stopped. Megatron remained how he was. Alex knew he didn't have time to wait for the tyrant to notice him. He would have to speak first.

And while Alex was used to performing for sizable crowds with his saxophone, it took every ounce of courage and confidence he had to say something.

"I believe you wanted something from me." He stated, loud enough so Megatron's ears would have no trouble hearing him.

Megatron was brought out of his thoughts when he heard someone speak behind him. Looking into the glass in front of him he was able to make out the reflection of the human standing behind him. While he was more than surprised, he remained calm, as he always did when confronted.

Megatron turned round and gazed down at the boy. Eyebrows raised and a grin starting to form, he said:

"Well, well, I did not expect this. You are either very brave or very foolish to have come here." He looked around the room. "No doubt you knew of my ship's location as the Autobot's pets were able to bridge onto it themselves earlier today. Very resourceful, for a human."

"I believe you wanted something from me," Alex repeated. "As you have something that I want."

"Oh, and what is that?" Megatron smirked. He was planning to have some fun with this human before he grabbed him.

"My ticket home." Alex replied. "I propose an exchange. One piece of information for safe passage back to my world."

Megatron simply laughed. "Really! And you think you are in the position to demand that?!" He returned to his sinister stare. "And what exact piece of information would you part with if I agreed to this exchange?"

"You will find out when I am standing next to the active bridge ready to take me home." Alex replied.

There was a pause as Megatron studied the human. While he was impressed of the human's ability to talk to him, the twitching optics and the slight shiver the human had was enough to tell him that the boy was scared.

"What makes you think I would agree to this," he said finally and with menace. "When you are aboard my ship, do not have apparent back-up, and are defenseless against me?"

Alex understood the meaning of this statement. "Don't think I don't have contingencies in place." He said. "If the Autobots don't hear from me in 40 minutes, they open a computer file I left for them. The file contains everything, and we both know you wouldn't want that knowledge to be at the fingertips of Optimus Prime." This was a bluff on Alex's part, but the idea of him doing that was so simple and logical that Megatron would have no trouble believing it. Which he did.

Megatron reveled. This human was smart. But he still held all the cards.

"It appears we have a stalemate then." Megatron said. "But considering that you will no doubt tell the Autobots of what you know anyway, why I shouldn't just kill you now." Megatron took a step towards Alex, who in turn took a few steps back.

"I won't; because of what you did, there is no need to tell them information which has become useless." Alex replied.

Megatron stopped. A calculated frown appearing on his face. "What do you mean useless?"

Alex took a deep breath. "The information I have of your war mentions nothing whatsoever of me." He stated.

Megatron failed to understand the meaning of this. "So?" he smirked.

Alex continued. "If I am now part of this conflict between you and the Autobots, that means that there would be some mentioning of me at some stage. I know up to the point when you finally discover the location of the Autobot base. And while I may not be all-knowing in this subject, there was never a word spoken about my existence. My presence now will affect the outcomes of future events. The future has been altered."

Even though the human had just revealed something of importance, Megatron didn't have time to think about it. If what the boy was saying was true, then he had wasted a huge amount of time and energon. The boy would be useless to him. He was starting to get angry.

"Prove it." He snarled." Prove that the future has been changed."

Alex had been ready for this question.

"Yesterday, you had an autobot intruder on your ship. My knowledge of that event includes you confronting him here on this deck. Yet when Bulkhead recalled the situation, he stated that that never took place." Alex cocked his head. "The confrontation was to take place before you received word that Starscream was on the ship too. What were you doing at that time?" with any luck, that last statement would convince Megatron of Alex's word.

It did.

Megatron was angry. The human was correct. Not only that but he had verbally beaten him, and nobody had done that and survived to tell the tale.

"It appears that your argument is logical, specimen." Megatron stated as he tensed up. "However, I must inform you that I have no intention of transporting you back to your world as it is impossible to do so. But that is of no consequence since you won't be leaving this ship alive!"

With that and in a single swift movement, Megatron raised his cannon and fired at the spot where Alex was standing.

But Alex had been ready for it. He had notice the giant tense up and had been waiting for him to react. He leapt to one side as the shot hit the floor just where he had been standing. Wasting no time and praying to God that his timing would be right, he immediately got up and bolted to the door.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FROM ME?!" Megatron shouted as he fired shot after shot at the running human. Alex was leaping from side to side on the gantry to avoid them. His leg was now on fire, the stitches struggling to stay in place as he ran. His adrenalin and blood pressure were beginning to skyrocket. Amazingly he managed to make it to the doorway unscathed. The ventilation shaft at which he arrived was just ahead.

Suddenly a shot from Megatron's weapon hit the floor a few inches from Alex, sending him flying. He fell to the ground on his belly. Winded, but conscious, He turned around just as a shadow loomed over him.

Autobot base…

Agent Fowler was frustrated. Rafael was refusing to explain Alex's absence and seemed to be avoiding the subject. However he could not dwell on this as Raf was busy assisting Ratchet and he himself had been dragged into talking to Bulkhead.

Suddenly a beeping from the computer indicated an incoming call. "Rafael," Optimus's voice boomed through the speaker. "Has Agent Fowler regained consciousness?"

"Stand by, Bulkhead. I'll be right back." Fowler said as he changed frequencies. "I'm here, Prime. What's your situation?"

"I require access to a research facility at my coordinates." Optimus explained.

"Let me make a call." Fowler replied as he took out his phone. He then moved deeper into the base to speak in private with his superiors.

Raf watched as Fowler disappeared round the corner. He had just uploaded the virus for Ratchet and was waiting for it to take effect. He checked his watch. 28 minutes. With Agent Fowler not watching, it was now or never…

The Nemesis…

Megatron stood above him with a look of anger on his face. "You are clever, human. But in the end you are nothing but a bug. And bugs are so easy to squash." He lifted his foot to trample Alex. In a splitsecond the foot was coming down on Alex fast.

"NO!" Alex shouted as he lifted his hand to shield himself.

At that point, Alex's body was in overdrive. It was producing a lot of body heat due to the combination of fear and adrenalin. Deep inside his system, this combination activated a collection of dormant cells. These cells had not been in his body for long, and if remained dormant, they would have been of no consequence. But these cells were volatile, and if activated they had the ability to create energy on an incomprehensible scale. This energy was now live, and if it had remained in Alex, it would have incinerated him instantly, but it didn't. It needed to be expelled, and that's exactly what happened.

Before Alex had time to think, a ball of cackling orange energy materialized in the outstretched palm of his hand. This ball of energy grew by the spilt second until it was the size of a bowling ball. When Alex had shouted the word 'No', the exclamation had provided the extra kick needed for the energy to be finally released. The energy was fired from his hand and hit Megatron squarely in the sole of his foot. The decepticon reeled back, howling in pain as energon began pouring out of the wound.

Alex sat up and looked at his hand. "What?" he said as he examined it. However he didn't have time to look at it as while Megatron was still in pain, the look he gave Alex had one meaning: Murder. He snarled as he moved to come back at Alex.

Alex quickly got back up and ran for all his worth towards the shaft. "Please Please Please…" was all that was going through his mind as he reached it. He was quick but Megatron was quicker. As Alex jumped down into the shaft Megatron took a swipe at him with his now extended blade. The blade missed him by inches. Alex fell to the floor of the shaft and faced it. No portal. He needed to repel Megatron. He turned back to the decepticon leader who, despite unable to follow him into the small shaft, was charging his blaster up for another shot.

Alex looked at his hands. "If I did that," he quickly thought to himself. "Surely I can do it again?"

He concentrated. In a second another ball of energy had appeared between his hands and was beginning to grow rapidly. Megatron had noticed this and paused. A Look of utter surprise on his face.

Alex kept concentrating. The heat coming from the orb was intense. "Interesting." He said out loud. When it became too much to bear, Alex made the motion of throwing the ball forward. The energy left his hands and hit Megatron in his left shoulder. The giant yelled out in pain and pulled back into the corridor clutching his injured side.

At the same time, a green light came from the shaft behind Alex. Turning round, he saw that his ride had come. Not wasting a second, Alex ran with all his might towards the glowing portal, the pain in his leg becoming too much to bear.

Behind him, Megatron roared "HUMAN!" while in a bout of pure hatred and pain. Watching as the boy disappeared through vortex and it closing behind him. With that Megatron howled to the ceiling…

Autobot base…

Rafael powered up the groundbridge and almost instantly Alex ran through. He breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could power down the device, Alex had stopped at the edge of it. He collapsed onto the floor and immediately unscrewing the bolts of the leg brace. With each bolt came instant relief. When it was finally off, he threw it onto the ground next to him and just sat there panting and seating buckets. He looked up at Raf, a look of pain, distress and fear etched on his face.

"Well, how'd it go?" Raf asked anxiously.

Alex looked up at the young boy, only now had he come to realize what Megatron had said.

He was stuck here.

He couldn't leave this world.

His family, his friends, he would never see them again.

His lower lip began to quiver as tears began to form in his eyes. Up until then he had been able to keep calm with the situation, but now he couldn't bear to hold it in.

Agent Fowler returned from around the corner. "Rafael, did I hear you power up the ground-"

He stopped as he saw Alex on the floor below. He had his head in his hands and was rocking back and forth. The sound of sobs could be heard.

Fowler turned to Raf. "What in Sam Hill happened?" he asked.

Raf said nothing. All he could do was be quiet and watch as the teenager sat on the floor and wept.

To be continued…