VII - Triangulation
"Brr, I despise this planet! If it isn't a scorching desert, it is a frigid wasteland!" I shivered, my heel struts sinking into the deep snow every time I took a new step.
"The current temperatures are not extreme enough to affect our biology." Optimus stated, giving me a wry look. "You'll be fine."
I huffed and threw my servos up into the air, "Fine, yes, but miserable! I should have taken that scooter from the Harbinger, at least it would have sped things up!"
"We are reaching the coordinates." He announced quietly. I took the hint to shut up. At least the snow muffled our pedfalls. We came to a stop, the sheer wall of a blue glacier towering up in front of us with a roughly square shaped hole dug out at ground level, considerably taller than I was. Red flags ringed the outside. As if I needed literal flags, the entirety of this site was red flag enough. "The Decepticons have already acquired the relic."
"Not necessarily," I suggested, cocking my helm knowingly, "I've never known them to plant flags at the site of their victories."
The Prime looked like he was about to reply, but suddenly a blue jet followed by four drones shot past overhead. I didn't need Optimus telling me to be quiet now. We both silently crept back against the wall of ice, transforming out our blasters.
The Decepticons looped back around, clearly having seen the Prime and I. They all transformed, landing a few paces in front of us.
"Optimus Prime." The blue mech rumbled. Then his optics fell on me, cowering behind the Prime.
"Skyquake!?" I gasped, "B-b-but you're–"
"You mistake me for my twin, who is one with the Allspark, as you are no doubt aware, former Commander Starscream." He growled, saying my name and title like they each were different sentences. I inched backwards nervously. "I am Dreadwing, and it is my duty as Megatron's first lieutenant to render all traitors to my lord and master for due punishment. And you, Starscream, have committed a capital offense. I knew you were of questionable honor, but aiding the Autobots…" he looked from Optimus to me and back with disgust.
"First Lieutenant?!" I gasped. The drones trained their blasters on me, and I shrunk back closer to Optimus, aiming to use him as a shield.
"Dreadwing," the Prime got the blue Seeker's attention, "if you wish to have custody of Starscream, I am afraid you will have to take him." Optimus transformed out his other blaster.
"And I am afraid that I am not giving you a choice," he retorted.
"I chose my side," I spat, "and if you have any sense of honor, Dreadwing–"
"Do not lecture me about honor, deserter!" the blue Seeker snarled, "If you knew what you were speaking of, you would be standing in my place." He looked to Optimus, "I will request, only once, that you surrender the relic."
"I was going to ask the same of you, Dreadwing." The Prime replied firmly.
"Then I would say we are on equal footing, were there not five of us and only two of you." He said cooly.
No one moved for a long, tense moment, save for optics darting around. Dreadwing's glared at mine; I felt as if he was looking through me, reading me not unlike how one would a book. I wrenched my gaze to his pedes, not knowing if I was shivering from the cold or from something else.
In a fluid motion, the blue Seeker unhitched a minigun from his back that I hadn't noticed earlier and fired a shot at Optimus. The drones followed suit by transforming out their blasters and Optimus returned fire. I did the best I could to steel myself, then added my red plasma to the mix.
I ducked to avoid a shot to my helm but then the Prime crashed into my side, pushing me out of the way of a shot bound for my chest plate. I skidded a short distance, looking up at him in surprise once I had regained my footing, but he had already rushed off.
He felled one of the four drones with a blaster shot to the helm, but the three others kept advancing, a safe distance away from Dreadwing's calculated blaster fire. The Prime sprang back to dodge the shots, and in turn landed one on the blue Seeker's shoulder plating.
Dreadwing snarled and switched to incendiary grenades. He fired three of them at Optimus, three of them at me. The Prime timed it perfectly, leaping up and dodged all of them simultaneously as they whizzed by harmlessly beneath him. I didn't see the aftermath, too preoccupied in an attempt to dodge the ones coming at me. I tried to copy Optimus by simply jumping over them, and it worked with two. The third glanced off my shin but didn't detonate, instead landing innocently at my pedes.
Time seemed to slow. Behind me, fiery explosions erupted from the five grenades, sending melting ice into the air. The explosion reflected off the glacier's walls and the mixture of ice and snow beneath my pedes in a dazzling shower of colors. I didn't transform, it would only make the virus kill me faster as Optimus and Ratchet had said.
Then time sped back up, so I turned and tried to run right as the incendiary detonated at my pedes and the explosion blasted me into the air. Massive tongues of flame swirled around me in stunning, violent shades of orange and yellow as I flew through the air, stubbornly refusing to transform into a jet. At least snow made for soft landings.
Optimus felt more than saw the grenade go off at Starscream's pedes as the smaller Seeker tried to run. But he did see whatever remained of the charred mech go flying and vanishing into the thick, black smoke.
"Starscream!" He shouted, moving to rush off into the smoke and already dying flames, but Dreadwing pulled out his sword and brought it down next to the Prime to focus his attention.
"You and I," the blue Seeker snarled, "were not yet finished."
Suddenly Dreadwing was the perfect candidate for Optimus to vent on. The Prime roared, transforming out a sword and aiming to deliver brutal blows, which the other mech each time narrowly managed to deflect. Dreadwing slowly gained the upper hand and Optimus received a few shallow cuts because of it, but the Prime hardly noticed or cared.
Optimus feinted a slash downwards that had enough force backing it up to take the blue Seeker's arm off and Dreadwing fell for it. He raised his blade, blocking Optimus's sword and leaving his chest plate unguarded. The Prime roared again, delivering a flying kick.
Dreadwing skidded backwards, unfazed, and twirled his sword. "Rage cripples one more than wounds in battle, Optimus."
"As I am well aware," the Prime growled.
Dreadwing ran forward and brought his sword down towards Optimus' helm in a cruel, silver arc.
I flew through the air and landed on my wings in a deep pocket of snow, the cold feeling amazing against my hot plating. I opened my optics, stinging from the heavy, black smoke that still covered me like a blanket. I coughed, trying in vain to expel some of the stuff from my intakes. Groaning, I brushed a few blackened, half-melted ice chunks off my chest and hauled myself to my pedes. The smoke was still so dense, I could see maybe five meters in each direction, if that.
"Well," I huffed quietly, "that could have been worse." I felt a bit burned, but otherwise intact. I thought for sure that incendiary was the end of me, but was I complaining?
I looked down at my chest plate. Knock Out would have had a spark attack; the layer of soot and char was so thick that I couldn't see any silver beneath the black. The same applied everywhere else, and I assumed my faceplates were no exception. I wiped at my optics, and my servo came back blacker than it already was.
"Op-Optimus?" I called out, but then doubled over as a fit of coughing wracked my frame. I hoped that had cleared most of the smoke out. But no answer came, other than more of the stuff blowing into my intakes. I circled around, trying to get my bearings but it was useless with all the smog.
"I may as well be underground," I grumbled, picking a random direction and tromped off. Every once in awhile I had to stop to dig the packed snow and ice out from in between my heel struts; it was simply too cold to bear. The thing that worried me the most was that I was leaving an obvious trail for any optics that might be looking. Again, if I could only use my wings I would save so much time…
The smoke finally thinned and even eventually cleared. "About time–" my voice escalated into a shriek as I nearly walked off the edge of a cliff face. Chunks of snow dislodged beneath my pedes and I skittered backwards, panting from how close I had come to splatting on the ice below. Or worse, shattering through it into the even icier sea.
I shook off the unpleasant thoughts and looked ahead. The drop wasn't as far as it had appeared at first, I could probably jump and be intact. But that wasn't what had caught my attention. A small cluster of human buildings squatted in the middle of the lowest part of these glaciers, most likely for military or research purposes if I were to guess.
"As I suspected, humans. I imagine I will find the relic here." I watched a few helicopters take off, which led me to guess that Agent Fowler had cleared out the area, knowing our proximity to it. "Then again," I murmured to myself, "I can only say 'our' if he is still functioning after that explosion." The unsavory thoughts followed me like the black cloud that I had escaped: lingering at the back of my processor but not entirely out of sight either.
I started down the side of the icy cliff, hoping with all my spark that I wouldn't slip. It was as if I had lost my T-Cog all over again…
"This is too unfair!" I punched the ice wall, chipping it.
Dreadwing sheathed his sword and readied his fists, charging at the Prime. Optimus did likewise, but the Seeker got there first and tackled the red mech off the edge of a cliff face. The remaining three drones started, thinking both of them would offline.
But the pair got up and traded blows once again, until Dreadwing uppercutted Optimus' helm. The Autobots' leader skidded in the snow and rose again. He transformed out a blaster and the blue mech was about to do the same, but Optimus jerked it above him, firing at the cliff face.
"Your aim is poor." Dreadwing sneered.
"That is a matter of perspective." Optimus countered as the icy wall of the cliff splintered and crashed down around the blue Seeker. The Prime transformed, skidding and swerving out of the way of the avalanche and off in search of Starscream, if he was even functioning. The Prime hoped so.
The trio of drones cautiously walked and slid down the icy slope, looking for any signs of friend or foe. Then Optimus charged out of the chilling fog, blasters blazing. One of the Vehicons was down before he even knew what hit him, and the other two scrambled to transform and fire their blasters at the incoming Prime.
Optimus kicked one of the drones down with a flying leap, then jerked him up and used him as a living shield against the blaster fire as he ran at the other. He tossed the one he had used as a shield aside, and the other, knowing all too well how this would end, transformed and shot off into the sky. Optimus allowed him to leave, let him go report to Megatron of Dreadwing's failure. Further division and chaos among the Decepticon ranks would only make them easier targets for engaging the Autobots.
He drove off again in search of the relic and whatever remained of Starscream, just as Dreadwing pulled himself free from his icy prison. The Seeker heard the rumble of Optimus' engine and saw his tire tracks stretching off into the distance. He smirked and transformed, flying off in pursuit.
"Hellooo?" I crooned, strutting into a warehouse. "Is anyone in here?" Only my voice echoed back in reply, and the drip, drip, dripping of icicles melting overhead. "No? Oh well, then this relic must be free for the taking." I smirked, my optics settling on the only thing in the room other than dusty old boxes and crates. A chunk of clear ice, massive by human standards, and within it, the relic, already extracted from its container.
"Well, well, what might we have here?" I smirked, fingertips inches from the ice.
"The last thing you shall ever see."
I gasped and whirled around to find Dreadwing standing in the doorway.
I backed away from the relic, "B-but Optimus–" I didn't even have the luxury of finishing my sentence before said red mech walked up behind the blue Seeker. Optimus' optics completely missed me, standing in the shadowy corner of the warehouse.
"Dreadwing, I cannot allow you to leave here with this relic." Optimus declared.
"I know that, Prime," he hefted his minigun, "but I do not intend to give you a choice."
Dreadwing managed to fire a shot just as Optimus knocked his blaster out of his servo. They began to pummel each other again with swift, calculated strikes and dodges that were of the same caliber. They took the fight further and further from the warehouse that had so suddenly turned from my prison into a refuge.
I approached the sparkling, clear ice that the relic was trapped in again, unable to discern yet as to what it was or its make. And there was nothing in this warehouse that resembled an appropriate tool, let alone an ice pick.
"Well," I sighed in resignation, "beggars can't be choosers." I brought my fists down hard onto the ice. It showed no sign of cracking. I frowned at it, so close and yet so far. "Ugh, this is going to take awhile."
Dreadwing had Optimus in a headlock, "Yield, or face destruction."
"Not while my spark still beats!" Optimus grabbed his arms and hurled him forwards but the blue Seeker landed nimbly on his pedes, though it wasn't too hard to tell that they both were growing tired.
"Unfortunately for you, that will not be for very long." And he flipped out a detonator and pushed the button. Optimus' optics widened, and he flung a bomb off his back. It exploded in midair as the Prime ran, but he was still blasted off his pedes.
Optimus charged back at the Seeker after regaining his footing, "The only spark you've taken today is Starscream's, I cannot allow you to rob our species of another!" The Prime's tone was full of malice and grief.
The ice around the relic finally shattered and I tried to shake some feeling back into my cold servos. I wiped more soot and ash off my faceplates, holding it up to the meager light in the dim warehouse.
"Armor… of Decepticon origin," I smirked, examining it even more closely. The trigger for its activation was in the form of a protruding spike on its underside. Without hesitation, I stabbed it into my chest plate, not sure of what to expect and also hoping that I hadn't just punctured my spark chamber.
Immediately, it rapidly expanded outwards over my chassis. I felt it flatten my wings down, each new plate sliding out over my arms and legs until it completely covered me from helm to pede not a second later.
I grinned, examining my new shiny armor, which fit like a glove. I made a new exit, via the roof, redefining the meaning of "making an entrance" as I landed in front of Optimus and Dreadwing. The armor cracked the ice, and I would have been worried had the latter not been meters thick.
"I could get used to this," I grinned, now standing several feet taller than Dreadwing, who had his sword at Optimus' throat, the Prime on the ground. The blue mech glared at me, while Optimus looked like he couldn't believe his optics.
Optimus struggled to get to his pedes, but Dreadwing shoved him down again, "Starscream? You are–"
"Sooty, but very much intact," My grin deepened as I strode towards Dreadwing, and even he looked unsettled.
"The Apex Armor." The blue Seeker snarled, pushing his sword closer towards Optimus' neck cables. "You dare to claim what rightfully belongs to Lord Megatron?!"
I chuckled, "And what do you intend to do about it, Commander?" I raised my fists, a grin still etched into my faceplates. "Now," I cracked the side of my neck cables from side to side, rolling my shoulders, "shall we do this the easy way or the hard way?"
He rushed at me with a roar and his sword raised high above his helm, and brought it down on the suit's chest plate with enough force to cleave a boulder in two. I flinched at the sound of the impact, but when I looked down there wasn't even a scratch. I cackled at his 'feeble' attempt, and gave him a slap that sent him skidding twenty meters.
"The hard way it is. Not so big and strong, are you now, Dreadwing?" I met the blue mech's glare with a sneer.
Optimus was already on his pedes with a finger to his comm unit, "Agent Fowler, we need a bridge."
I stomped over to Dreadwing, more than ready to finish the job, but Optimus rushed forwards and grabbed my arm from behind to stop me. I almost batted him away but instead looked down, startled with myself at how quickly I had almost turned against him. He appeared not to notice, but I suspected the opposite.
"The battle is won. We need not inflict harm past the point of when it is necessary." The Prime said stoically.
"Would Dreadwing extend that courtesy to us if the situation were reversed?" I shot back, storming towards said Seeker again.
"And that is yet another thing that separates us from the Decepticons." He countered, letting me go. "Starscream! Behind you!" He suddenly shouted
Dreadwing held up the detonator. I was confused, turning away from Dreadwing and looking back towards the Prime, who had stepped back a short distance. "Wh–" then I gasped as Dreadwing pushed the button on the device, and a bomb started ringing… the sound coming from behind my shoulder. And it was right in the spot I couldn't reach.
Then it blew up, but I was still standing when the smoke cleared, except "doubled over laughing" would have been more precise.
"Is that all you have, Dreadwing?" I cackled, hearing what sounded like a touch of madness inflecting my tone.
But then I choked, hearing a familiar ringing sound overlapping itself from multiple sources. Optimus and I exchanged a horrified glance. The Prime wasted no time, transforming and drove to a distance where he wouldn't be blown to atoms, but I, as usual, wasn't as lucky. Dreadwing had been fast. Those spiked, blue bombs that matched the other Seeker's paint ringed me in a tight circle, and the blue mech himself was nowhere to be found, having already flown out of here. Then the Cybertronian numerals on the tiny screens of the explosives simultaneously hit zero.
I screeched, explosions once again erupting around me. But this time I was falling. "NO–!"
I was rescued from the icy depths of the ocean by a ground bridge. It appeared beneath me, and then I was skidding across the floor of our base, yet again. Optimus followed shortly behind me, having apparently leapt in by the way he had better footing than me. The bridge closed behind him with a bright flash of light.
"Whoa!" Jack, Miko, and Raf gasped.
"Totally didn't see that one coming." Arcee smirked sarcastically.
Bumblebee chirped excitedly as I got to my pedes, [Is that the relic?]
"Yes it is." I now towered up above all of them, even Optimus, and the base had begun to feel rather small.
"You want to take that off so others could give it a try?" the blue femme requested, holding out her palm expectantly.
"All in due time. I put a few dents in dear Dreadwing, did I not, Optimus?" I smirked, punching the button in the center of the armor's chest plate to deactivate it.
"Yes, you performed admirably, Starscream." Optimus congratulated as the armor deconstructed itself.
"But remember what Ratchet said?" Raf asked, nervously adjusting his glasses and looking to me, "Did you transform?"
"Other than my blasters, no." I now clutched the Apex Armor in a servo, dangling it out of Arcee's reach with a light smirk.
Suddenly an arm identical to my own reached right through my black chest plate and plucked the armor from my grasp. I yelped, whirling around. Seven smirked at me, playing catch with it.
"W-what is that?" I asked, pointing to the device on his wrist with a trembling finger.
He stuck his servo through the armor, "A phase shifter."
"And I thought mine would be better," I huffed, feigning annoyance, "but yours allows one to be untouchable as well."
Then Miko leaned over the edge of the platform behind Seven and brushed her fingers through his helm's crest, "Boop!" she broke into a fit of giggling.
"Boop yourself!" Seven tried to catch her, but she hid underneath a table, eyes sparkling.
Optimus smiled and we all chuckled while Seven turned off the shifter and proceeded in an attempt to chase the girl, walking through the platform. Agent Fowler glared at us as he pushed buttons at the computer, his expression clearly stating that he would rather be undisturbed. There was always one.
Then Miko "booped" his chin, and we all started laughing again.
"Why must you?" Seven protested halfheartedly, trying and failing to suppress a grin.
She smiled knowingly, "If it puts you in a better mood, then it's worth it!"
I wiped some soot out of my optics, "How touching, Miko. If you all will excuse me, I have a well-earned wash with my name on it. When I'm done, my armor will hurt to look at."
"And you're saying that it never does?" Arcee quipped. I gave the femme a little sarcastic wave and strode off towards the quarantine showers, which we used as regular ones under most circumstances. Well, Seven and I were the only ones who needed to. The others all used human car washes, but it was a mystery to me how they managed to pay for them.
An image of Bulkhead being put under arrest by human police for stealing a car wash suddenly popped into my helm and I chuckled quietly to myself, "No, officer, you see, I'm actually an alien robot fighting a war on your planet… but they don't pay us. And I can't just get clean in a river, they don't have the colorful soap…" I trailed off, laughing too hard to keep going.
Soon enough, I stood under a near-scalding stream of water. After being in Antarctica, albeit it wasn't for too long, the hot water felt so nice on my cold plating. I set to work finding my silver paint job beneath the black soot and ash, resolving that when I emerged, even Knock Out would be jealous.