Eyo, update time! I hope it reads okay, it felt a little choppy to me, but I wasn't sure how to fix it, so hopefully it isn't too hard to read. Also, I realize the title is... special. My brain kinda farted tonight, and this was the result. You're welcome XD
Please note: I do not own Transformers. I do, however, have my own OC's which I have inserted into the story. My OC's include Reese Shields and Chase Sanders. Electra Belongs to my sister.
Insects, Stasis, and an Evil Spaceship
This chapter corresponds to the episodes "Armada" and "Flying Mind"
The next few days went by in a blur. Between getting BlueStreak and Chase settled into the base, and getting things sorted out with General Bryce, Reese hadn't really had a moment to think. Thankfully, General Bryce was willing to no longer consider Reese a threat to national security, though it had taken quite a bit of convincing on Agent Fowler's part. Of course, Reese was still on thin ice with the General, but it could have been worse.
On top of the whole moving thing, BlueStreak had insisted that Reese begin training at once, and his training regimen was grueling, to put it lightly. First it was cyberform training, then strategy, then combat.
"Can we call it quits for today? My arms are tired," Reese whined, stretching her arms to try and soothe them a little. She had been practicing jabbing and blocking techniques against BlueStreak's holoform for the past hour.
"Are you kidding? I wasn't planning on taking a break for another couple of hours!" BlueStreak seemed surprised.
"I'm not you, I don't have the stamina of a full fledged Cybertronian. Besides, I've made a lot of progress today," Reese pouted.
"But you won't get stronger unless you keep pushing the limits."
"If I keep pushing my limits, my arms might fall off."
"Awww, come on BlueStreak, give her a break. Besides, it's almost lunch time." Chase chuckled. He had been watching Reese and BlueStreak spar for the past half hour.
"Fine, I guess you can take a break. But I expect you to be ready to continue after lunch," BlueStreak huffed, putting his servos on his hips.
"Whatever," Reese grumbled as she hastily retreated from the training room.
"Don't you think you're being a little hard on her? I mean, you've been insisting that she train during every free moment that she gets." Chase folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at BlueStreak. "You've never made me train this hard."
"I'm making up for lost time. These other autobots clearly haven't been working with her enough. If they had, she probably could have gotten herself out of a lot of the predicaments she has been in."
"You don't know that. Besides, if you keep overworking her like this, she is only going to resent you more."
"But its quality bonding time," BlueStreak seemed surprised that Chase would suggest such an idea.
"No, quality bonding time would be doing things together that she enjoys, not forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do."
"I just want to keep her safe…" BlueStreak seemed a little hurt that Chase was insinuating that he was causing Reese more pain.
"Yea, but what good is all this training going to do if she's too tired to fight? Gotta take it slow and steady. After all, you've always said, Iacon wasn't built in a day."
"Look at you, using my own words against me," BlueStreak vented.
"What can I say? I learned it from you," Chase shrugged. "Anyways, I say you give Reese a break for the rest of the day. She will appreciate it a lot."
"Fine…" BlueStreak scowled a little, but he had to admit, Chase had a point.
"For Primus' sake, don't pout like that. Come on, lets go get some lunch."
The two walked down the hall towards the main room. They could clearly hear Ratchet talking, and it didn't sound good.
"I still haven't received any word from Bulkhead, but I am picking up some rather curious subterranean frequencies."
"Of earthly origin?" Optimus asked.
"I do not know yet what they are, but I do know where," Ratchet said as he pulled up the coordinates on the screen.
"The location of our last encounter with Megatron," Optimus immediately recognized the coordinates.
"And Airachnid," Arcee spat.
"And the insecticons," Ratchet added.
"Hold up, what are insecticons doing on earth? I thought they only lived on Cybertron!" Reese gaped. "Also, what happened to Bulk?"
"Bulkhead went to scout out a large energon deposit, but he has disappeared from our sensors, and we haven't been able to contact him. We are doing everything we can to try and locate him, but so far, the search hasn't produced anything of substance. In regard to the Insecticon question, we encountered some on a mission a couple weeks ago, along with Airachnid and Megatron, so it looks like some have found their way to Earth somehow," Ratchet filled Reese in.
"Did I just hear you say Airachnid," BlueStreak's optics darkened, and his voice held a tone that made Reese a little nervous. Her nerves spiked even more when she saw that Chase looked like he had seen a ghost at the mention of Airachnid's name.
"Do you know her?" Reese asked.
"You could say that. She and I had a few run-ins on Cybertron before I got shipped off to this rock. The last interaction we had didn't go so well for her, and she threatened to hunt me down and offline me. Of course, I didn't think I had anything to worry about once I was sent to Earth, but then she suddenly showed up out of the blue about two months ago. I don't know how she tracked me down, but Chase and I barely escaped with our lives. I don't care what her plans are for me, but the minute she brought Chase into the mix, she signed her death sentence."
"Huh, and here I thought that Arcee was the only one with a death wish out for Airachnid," Bumblebee mused.
"If you are expecting to run into Airachnid again, I intend to come along and finish the job I should've finished a loooong time ago," BlueStreak's entire demeanor had changed by this point. No longer was he the chipper, talkative bot that he usually was. There was no hint of a smile on his face and his optics were those of a cold-blooded killer. It sent chills up Reese's spine.
"BlueStreak, we have no way of knowing if Airachnid will be there, and even if she were, I could not allow you to recklessly go after her alone."
"With all due respect, I don't think you realize the severity of the situation. Nowhere is safe until that femme is dead. As long as she's out there, Chase is at risk. The last time I fought her, she threatened to come after him, to hunt him down and kill him in front of me, just so she could add him to her "trophy" collection," BlueStreak seethed.
"I have to agree with BlueStreak on this one. She threatened to do the same to Jack. She already killed Tailgate in front of me. I won't let her harm anyone else I care about," Arcee shared BlueStreak's sentiments.
"I understand your concerns, and if we do encounter her, appropriate actions will be taken, but action will be taken according to my command. Is that understood?" Optimus posed it like a question, but it was clear to everyone that he was giving a command.
Arcee and BlueStreak glowered but nodded. There was no use trying to argue with a Prime. He was the leader, so his say was final.
"Then if that is all clear, Ratchet please lock the bridge onto the coordinates. We will go and investigate the subterranean frequencies. You remain here and continue trying to make contact with Bulkhead."
"Coordinates are locked. Please be careful," Ratchet advised, firing up the bridge.
"Thank you, Old Friend, we will," Optimus assured. "Autobots, Roll Out," he ordered before transforming and driving through the bridge. Bumblebee, Arcee, and BlueStreak followed suit.
Once the others had cleared the bridge, Reese turned to Chase, who still looked quite shaken up. "Hey, you okay?"
"Uh, yea…" Chase shook his head a little, likely trying to clear it of unpleasant memories.
"Don't worry, Airachnid won't hurt you. BlueStreak and the rest of the team will make sure of that."
"It's not me I'm worried about. I know BlueStreak agreed to follow orders, but knowing him, if he sees Airachnid, there is nothing anyone can do that will stop him. I just hope he doesn't end up getting himself into trouble."
"Optimus will make sure nothing happens to him," Reese tried to assure Chase.
"I sure hope so…" Chase sighed, not sounding very convinced.
"In the meantime, why don't we go get some lunch? I think Jack's mom brought some sandwiches over yesterday. There are probably still some in the fridge," Reese ushered Chase down the hall towards the kitchen.
"You're just trying to distract me, aren't you," Chase squinted at Reese.
"Yep, is it working?" Reese smiled innocently, pushing Chase into the kitchen.
"Not really," Chased rolled his eyes.
"Well, I guess I just gotta try harder then," Reese shrugged, opening the fridge and pulling out a plate of sandwiches. "Let's see, we could play a multiplayer video game, or maybe tinker with some of those prototypes we brought back the other day. Any of those ideas sound interesting?"
"I appreciate the thought, but I might just hang around Ratchet so I will know right away if anything happens," Chase sighed.
"You sure? I mean, if we played a video game, we would be in the same room as Ratchet. That way, if something happened, you would still know right away, but you would also have something to keep your mind from wandering to worst case scenarios."
"Well… I guess that might be okay."
"That settles it then. Do you have a particular game in mind? We have Speed Metal, Zombie Slasher 3, and Masters of Melody. The last one is pretty new. It's a rhythm game that I picked up a couple weeks ago. Its pretty fun."
"We can play whatever you want."
"Okay then, we can try Masters of Melody, but if you don't like it, just tell me and we can play something else. But, before we do that, at least eat part of a sandwich," Reese shoved the plate over to Chase, repeatedly bumping it into his arm so he couldn't ignore it.
"Fine. You can be really pushy sometimes, you know that?"
"Only when I want to be," Reese smiled innocently again and took a bite of her own sandwich.
The two finished their sandwiches and made their way back to the main room, pulling up the video game on the TV. They played for a while, and Chase seemed to really enjoy it. He even got a little competitive.
"Wow, you're really good at this game! Are you sure its your first time playing?" Reese set the controller down after losing to Chase… again.
"Yea, it's my first time playing, but I am pretty good at figuring out the melody of songs. BlueStreak always gets onto me when I listen to music because I drum my fingers to the beat on his dashboard," Chase chuckled. "That, and I don't like to lose, so I catch on pretty quick."
"Remind me never to challenge you to a videogaming contest," Reese said with a stretch. She had been hunched over the controller for quite a while and now her back was a little stiff. "So, what now? I think my fingers and back could use a break from video games."
"Uh… I don't know. I really would rather stay in the main room until the team gets back. I wonder how much longer they are gonna be…"
"Chase, these kinds of missions take time. It could be a while before they get back. Don't feel like you need to hang around here the whole time. If I hear anything from them, I will be sure to let you know," Ratchet spoke up from his work station.
"I would really feel more comfortable if I was able to hear from them directly…"
"Please, I promise that I will let you know if anything happens. I was patient enough to let you play your game, but I really need to get work done, and thats kind of hard to do when you two are in here making a bunch of noise."
"Don't be a stick in the mud, Ratchet. Were not as loud as the kids," Reese rolled her eyes.
"If they were here too, I would probably be losing my processor right now. Lucky for me, they're at school. If only school could never end."
Reese shot Ratchet a glare.
"Look, if you're going to stay in here just be quiet, okay?"
"Sure, whatever you say," Reese rolled her eyes. She turned back to Chase and looked at him expectantly, putting the pressure on him to decide what they would do next.
"Really? You're gonna leave this up to me?" Chase quirked an eyebrow at Reese.
"Well, you're the one who needs distracting, so you tell me what would distract you the best."
"I don't know…"
"Very helpful," Reese deadpanned. "Fine, I'll decide. How about we watch a movie?"
"Oh joy," Ratchet grumbled from his workstation.
"We will keep the volume low, geez."
"Fine, I guess we can do that," Chase conceded.
"Great! You pick out the movie, I will go make us some popcorn," Reese jumped up and darted off to the kitchen.
Chase climbed off the sofa and pulled out the crate where the kids kept all their movies. There were a lot to choose from, but Chase finally found one that seemed vaguely interesting. It was about space pirates. The premise almost reminded him of some of the stories BlueStreak would tell him.
Reese came back with a bowl of popcorn just as he was pulling it up on the DVD player.
"Oooh, I don't think I've seen this one yet. This should be fun!"
"Yea, I thought it looked interesting, so hopefully its good," Chase plopped himself down on the sofa and graciously took the bowl of popcorn from Reese. She sat down beside him, and they started the movie.
June dropped the kids off from school about halfway through the movie, so they joined Reese and Chase for the remainder of it. The movie actually ended up being pretty good, one that both Reese and Chase enjoyed, but by the time it was over, it was already starting to get dark outside, and the team still hadn't phoned in. By this point, Even Reese was starting to get antsy.
"Ratchet, I'm a little worried now. Why hasn't the team checked in yet? They usually would have called by now." Reese climbed off the sofa and walked over to Ratchet's workstation.
"They may not be in a place where they can check in. The frequencies were subterranean, remember? They are probably underground, and their communication signals aren't able to make it through.
"Have you tried contacting them?" Chase came up to the railing now too, looking on the computer screen to make sure everyone's life signs were still active.
"I typically refrain from contacting them unless I notice that one of their life signs has hit critical, or if it's an emergency," Ratchet explained. "You just need to be patient and trust them. Their health is all well within the acceptable range, so they are fine. As a matter of fact, Optimus is checking in right now!" Ratchet pulled up Optimus' incoming transmission.
"Ratchet, please summon a ground bridge; We are ready to return."
"Understood. How did the mission go?" Ratchet asked as he pulled up the coordinates on the ground bridge.
"We will discuss it once we have returned," Optimus sounded tired. That probably wasn't good.
Everyone watched intently as the team came through the portal. Arcee and BlueStreak were the first ones to come through, and they didn't look happy. Optimus and Bumblebee followed, carrying a very large stasis pod. They carefully set it down, making sure not to accidently open it.
Reese and Chase ran down to meet the team, who all looked very worn out.
"What took you guys so long? Is everything alright? What's in the stasis pod?"
"Not what, who," Optimus corrected.
"It's that glitch, Airachnid," BlueStreak spat, shooting a death glare towards the pod.
"You brought her here?!" Chase blanched, taking a couple steps back.
"Don't worry, she's on ice. She won't be hurting anyone anymore," Bumblebee whirred, trying to calm Chase's nerves.
"But what if something happened and she broke free? You should have left her!" Chase was practically shaking by this point.
"I say we should've killed her, but Optimus thinks this was a more fitting punishment," BlueStreak grumbled.
"If we had left her, the decepticons would have undoubtedly found and freed her," Optimus explained. "I think you two made the right decision in not killing her."
"Yea, well it's a decision I'm already regretting," Arcee fumed.
"Would someone at least explain what happened?" Reese interrupted.
"We found an entire hive of insecticons in a large underground cave system. That is what was producing the anomalous frequencies. Airachnid showed up and took control of the insecticons. Arcee and BlueStreak lured Airacnid deeper into the cave while Bumblebee and I dealt with the insecticons. They were able to trap her within one of the stasis pods that the insecticons had been sealed in," Optimus explained.
"You found a hive?! On Earth?! Where are they all now?" Reese ran her hand down her face in panic.
"We defeated the ones that Airachnid sent after us, but we aren't sure where she sent the rest of them," Bumblebee offered unhelpfully.
"Great, just great," Reese facepalmed.
"Ratchet, have you received any word from Bulkhead?" Optimus changed the subject.
"No, unfortunately I haven't," Ratchet vented, checking Bulkhead's signal again. "Wait, actually, it looks like he is on his way back here!"
No sooner had the words left Ratchet's mouth that the team heard Bulkhead's vehicle mode barreling up the entrance tunnel. He sped into the base and transformed, looking wild eyed. "You guys are not going to believe the day I've had," he panted, but then his optics landed on the stasis pod with Airachnid in it. "Huh, looks like I'm not the only one."
"What happened? Where have you been? You've had us all worried!" Ratchet scolded.
"Well, that energon signal I was investigating turned out to be a decepticon energon mine. I was climbing down to it when the Nemesis showed up. I may have panicked a little and lost my footing. I fell into a stack of energon cubes, and when I came to, I was aboard the Nemesis. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice me among the cubes, so I was able to sneak around without being noticed."
"You? Sneaking? That's oxymoronic," Reese stifled a laugh.
"Yea, well I had some help. Apparently, Starscream made clones of himself somehow, and those clones served as ample distraction. Not to mention the swarm of insecticons that were attacking the ship."
"So that's what happened to the rest of the insecticons!" Bumblebee whirred.
"Yea, well they didn't attack for long. The attack stopped without warning, almost as suddenly as it started. I took that as my cue to act. I made my way to the power core and did what I do best!" Bulkhead smashed his fist into his other servo.
"You crashed their ride like a rockstar in a hotel room," Miko broke in, emphasizing her point by doing the devil horns hand gesture.
"Then we should hit the decepticons now, while they're vulnerable," Arcee suggested.
"Megatron's warship may be grounded, but let's not forget that we remain vastly outnumbered. Especially since he undoubtedly has added the insecticon hive to his ranks," Ratchet objected.
"Then maybe it's time for me to call in an airstrike," Agent Fowler, who had been quietly listening from the background, finally stepped forward.
"It would be too dangerous. This situation calls for more extreme measures, Agent Fowler," Optimus vetoed Fowler's plan.
"What do you mean?" Fowler asked, crossing his arms.
"I mean that it might be time to bring out the Spark Extractor."
"Optimus, are you certain you want to travel down that path? That would kill every being on that warship," Ratchet looked at Optimus in surprise.
"While I am deeply reluctant to deploy a weapon of this caliber, especially one forged by decepticon hands, this may be our only chance to end the war, once and for all," Optimus nodded gravely. Then, he walked off to retrieve the relic without another word.
"Optimus is taking this very seriously! I never imagined that he would resort to using the spark extractor," Reese had to sit down, this was all so much at once.
"It is quite surprising, but it is also the most logical plan of action. It would very quickly level the playing field between us and the decepticons and could very well be our ticket to ending all of this," Ratchet vented. It didn't sound like he was terribly thrilled by the idea either.
Optimus returned shortly holding the spark extractor. His face was grim, and Reese could tell that this wasn't an easy thing for him to do. "Is everyone prepared?" He asked seriously.
"As ready as we probably can be," Arcee muttered. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and BlueStreak nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn to Ratchet's computer system. The Nemesis's signal was flashing, and a loud beeping sounded. Ratchet turned to investigate what would cause such a signal.
"Optimus, I am reading a massive energy surge coming from the decepticon crash site, and it appears to be dark energon," Ratchet gasped. "If I had to guess, I would assume that Megatron has decided to use dark energon to fix his ship. If we are going to attack, we need to do it now!"
"Autobots, transform and roll out!" Optimus ordered, signaling for the team to proceed through the bridge. Optimus transformed and prepared to follow his team through, but Agent Fowler stopped him.
"Hold on Prime. If you are going to deploy some kind of super weapon and destroy the decepticons, then it is my job as a representative of Earth to bear witness," he declared.
Optimus seemed to think it over for a moment before responding. "Very well, but I recommend you stay a safe distance back. I do not want you to be put in harms way, should battel ensue."
"I can do that," Fowler agreed and followed Prime through the portal.
Reese debated asking if she could come too, but she knew there was no use trying to worm her way into this mission. She knew that Optimus, Ratchet, and BlueStreak would be strongly against it.
Instead, she joined the rest of the humans around Ratchet's computer, keeping a close eye on everyone's life signs.
The team hadn't been on the field for more than a few minutes when suddenly everyone's life signals showed induced stasis.
"What is going on?! This can't be right! the decepticons don't have a way to induce mass stasis, do they?" Ratchet pressed several buttons, hoping that it was all just a malfunction with his systems. As he was doing so, a call from Agent Fowler came in over the comm link.
"Agent Fowler, what's happening?" Ratchet asked as he opened the link with Fowler.
"You're not going to believe this, but the Decepticon warship just fired some kind of freeze ray at the bots. I thought I was a gonner, but then it just took off."
"I see, I will open a bridge. You return to base while I bring the others back," Ratchet ordered as he hurriedly reopened the ground bridge to its previous coordinates. Once Agent Fowler had safely arrived in base, Ratchet hurriedly rant through the bridge to retrieve the other bots.
"Agent Fowler, are you sure you're alright?" Reese ran over to the agent.
"I'm fine. Like I told Ratchet, I was in their decepticon crosshairs but then they just flew away. I'm pretty worried about Prime and the others, though. You don't think that laser…" Fowler trailed off, not wanting to finish the question.
"No, it didn't kill them. Ratchet said that their life signals are showing some kind of stasis lock, but they aren't dead." Reese assured, knowing exactly what Fowler was thinking.
A moment later, Ratchet came back through, carrying Arcee. She was frozen in the same position she had been in when she was struck by the beam. Ratchet gently set her down before heading back through the portal to retrieve the others.
Everyone else in the base made their way over to inspect Arcee's condition.
"She doesn't appear to be unconscious. Isn't that what happens when a bot goes into stasis?" Agent Fowler poked Arcee's leg a couple times, just to see if she would do anything. She didn't. She stayed completely motionless, frozen in place, optics wide open. It was kind of creepy, to be honest.
"This seems less like being in stasis and more like being paralyzed. I can't tell if she's conscious in there, but maybe don't do anything that she would be mad at you for later. If she can feel and see everything that's happening around her, she probably won't be happy that you were over here poking her," Reese lightly swatted Agent Fowler's hand away.
"Fair point," Fowler pulled his hand back, rubbing it slightly in response to Reese's gentle attack.
One by one, Fowler brought in everyone's paralyzed frames. Setting them up around the base. If it hadn't been due to an induced stasis, their strange poses would have been humorous.
Once everyone was settled and in positions where they wouldn't fall over, Ratchet went back to the computer to monitor their life signs.
"Can you undo the stasis?" Reese came up beside Ratchet.
"I've never encountered a form of stasis lock like this. Their life signs are stable, but I don't know how to reverse the stasis."
"Well, we have much bigger problems at hand," Fowler butted in, drawing everyone's attention. "The decepticon warship is crossing the Atlantic, making a beeline for North America!"
"Wait, we can track them?" Jack and the other kids came over to Ratchet's workstation as well.
"Why aren't they cloaked like usual?" Raf continued Jack's thought.
"I don't know. None of this makes a lick of sense," Agent Fowler went on. "They had us in their crosshairs, and yet they just took off."
"Yea, they even left behind that spark extractor thingy," Miko added.
"Well, if the ship isn't cloaked, then maybe the communication relay is open," Jack said aloud, an idea forming in his head.
"Ep, ep, ep, you aren't suggesting that we just call Megatron and ask what's going on, are you?" Ratchet gawked. Jack merely shrugged his shoulders in response. Ratchet then turned to Reese, Chase, and Agent Fowler, expecting them to see the absurdity of such a proposition, but they all just shrugged as well.
"Why not? What's the worst that could happen?" Reese asked.
Ratchet threw his servos in the air but relented, "Fine, fine, I'll call the warship. Gosh, I can't believe I'm doing this," Ratchet grumbled as he pulled up the communication frequency.
"Autobot Outpost Omega 1 to Decepticon Warship," Ratchet spoke into the communication link. There was silence on the other end. "Megatron, please respond." More silence. "Megatron, do you read me?"
Finally, a voice responded, but it wasn't that of Megatron.
"Megatron has been relieved of his command," The ominous voice said.
"Who is this?" Ratchet asked.
"Who is THIS?" The voice responded with the same question.
"Have you taken control of the decepticon vessel?"
"I am the vessel! Any Cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized," The voice boomed. It then pulled up a visual, showing the halls of the warship riddled with paralyzed decepticons.
"What mission?" Ratchet asked, fishing for more information.
"Priority one, decrypt Iacon database and recover decepticon technology."
"For what purpose?"
There was silence on the other side, and then the communication link was terminated. Apparently, the voice had decided it had shared enough already.
"It hung up? Rude!" Miko huffed.
"Rude? A decepticon warship is making its way to the United States with the intention of seeking out weapons of mass destruction, and you're concerning yourself with its manners?" Agent Fowler shouted, the vein in his forehead pulsing a little.
"But… this ship is full of neutralized decepticons," Jack offered.
"Your point?" Fowler shifted his glare from Miko to Jack.
"This could be our only opportunity to slip aboard and download the Iacon database," Jack explained.
"Yea, and Optimus can decode it," Rafael added.
"Ingenious! I shall infiltrate the decepticon warship," Ratchet exclaimed with determination.
"Hold up, it said that any Cybertronians that messed with its mission would be neutralized, and I hate to break it to you Ratchet, but you're a Cybertronian." Reese said, bringing Ratchet back to reality.
"Well, that tub had me dead to rights, and I'm still breathing," Fowler pointed out. "Maybe Ratchet can't go, but I sure can. And if that thing is headed to the United States, then it's my job to stop it anyways."
"Huh, the ship must be blind to humans," Jack surmised.
"Very well, Agent Fowler, but at the first sign of trouble, I'm bridging you right back here," Ratchet vented. "Now, to download the database, you will need a compatible transfer drive. Here, take this," Ratchet handed Agent Fowler the Cybertronian equivalent to a USB drive.
"He'll also need tech support," Raf pointed out, adjusting his glasses a little.
"And backup," Miko added, roping Jack in as well.
"Miko, I don't think there's a whole lot you could do if scrap were to hit the fan," Reese ran her hand down her face. "Ratchet, if Miko and the other kids are going, at least let Chase and me come along too, to be their backup."
"Reese, it might be too dangerous for you and Chase to board the ship. You are part Cybertronian, after all," Ratchet seemed hesitant.
"It should be fine, as long as we stay in our human forms. I have my energon cloaking device too, which will mask my Cybertronian signature."
"BlueStreak built me an energon cloaking device too, so I think we'll be fine," Chase agreed.
"It's too risky," Ratchet argued.
"Riskier than sending Agent Fowler and the kids onto the decepticon warship?"
"Hey! We're not kids!" Miko crossed her arms in indignation.
"Yes, you are! You may think you're all grown up, but you're not." Reese snapped at Miko.
"And you are?" Miko sassed back.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am! That's part of being a legal adult."
"Alright, alright, that's enough arguing. Fine, you two may go," Ratchet agreed to let Reese and Chase go on the mission, mostly to stop Reese and Miko from arguing any further. "But if the ship shows any indication of recognizing you as Cybertronian, you are to return to base immediately."
"Return to base if we get noticed, got it," Reese gave Ratchet a thumbs up.
"Alright then, open up that ground bridge. There's no point in dawdling any longer," Agent Fowler instructed.
Ratchet entered the Nemesis' coordinates into the ground bridge and activated it. He watched a little apprehensively as Reese, Chase, Agent Fowler and the kids went through.
Once aboard the warship, the group took a look around, trying to get a bearing on their location within the ship. Reese and Chase, who had never been aboard the warship before, both looked quite overwhelmed.
"Fowler to Base, we're in," Agent Fowler informed Ratchet using his communication earpiece.
"Good, their data core should be accessible through any console," Ratchet informed the party.
"Alright then, let's go find ourselves a console," Miko said, leading the way down the corridor they had bridged into. Everyone walked in silence, staring warily at the paralyzed decepticons that littered the corridor. It was eerie, like they could come to life at any moment and attack.
As the group rounded a corner, a console came into view. Only problem was, it was guarded by Knockout, who, despite being paralyzed, was still as intimidating as ever. Raf gulped a little anxiously, but Miko ran right up to the con without the slightest of hesitations. Before anyone could stop her, Miko banged her fist loudly against the side of Knockout's pede.
Everyone grimaced a little, half terrified that Miko's action might bring the con out of stasis, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Miko grinned proudly. "Doc Knock's knocked out!" She declared triumphantly.
Reese only facepalmed. Leave it to Miko to recklessly put the team into potential danger. "Miko, of all the stupid things you could have done. What if he hadn't been in stasis? Or what if hitting him brought him out of it? You can't just recklessly run into dangerous situations."
"You're not my mom, don't tell me what to do," Miko stuck her tongue out at Reese, seemingly still miffed about their previous argument.
"Miko, Reese makes a valid point. From now on, you stay with the group, or you are going back to the base. Is that understood?" Agent Fowler glared at the girl.
"Fine, whatever," Miko folded her arms across her chest and pouted.
"Look, the ship has already decoded three sets of Iacon coordinates," Raf pointed out, effectively changing the subject. "Let's rip and run!"
Agent Fowler nodded and ran forward, climbing up Knockout's paralyzed frame to get to the control panel. Raf climbed up next, followed by Reese and Chase. Jack and Miko stayed at the bottom to stand guard.
Agent Fowler inserted the Cybertronian data drive into the port on the console and everyone watched as the database started to upload onto it.
As they were watching, the console started beeping and a map of Manhattan appeared on one of the many screens.
"Why is the warship heading towards Manhattan?" Jack asked with concern.
"Because that's where the first set of coordinates are located," Raf explained, putting two and two together.
"Hey Ratchet, what would a decepticon relic be doing in the Big Apple?" Agent Fowler asked over the comm link.
"These 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 to get to it," Jack said grimly.
"That complicates the mission a little bit. We can't allow the ship to reach New York. We need to stop it by whatever means necessary," Agent Fowler slammed his fist into his hand.
"And how are we going to do that?" Chase asked dubiously.
"You can start by trying to disable the navigation module. You should be able to do that from the main navigation menu," Ratchet instructed over the comm link.
"And where is that?" Fowler asked, sounding increasingly more annoyed.
"Over there," Raf pointed to one of the panels on the console.
"Step aside, son. Let me handle this," Fowler placed a hand in front of Raf to keep him from running forward.
The agent walked over to the panel and knelt down to activate it.
"Wait Agent Fowler! We don't know if the ship has implemented any kind of failsafe mechanisms," Reese called out, but it was too late. Agent Fowler touched the panel, and as he did so, electricity shot up his arm and electrocuted him, sending him flying off the platform.
"Agent Fowler!" Everyone cried out in unison. Jack and Miko, who were still on the ground, were the first to reach the fallen government operative.
"System Access Detected. Interference Will Not Be Tolerated!" The ship's voice said angrily. It activated a camera, which extended out of a compartment in the ceiling, and scanned the area for any signs of intruders. "Reveal Yourself!"
"Nobody move," Reese whispered tensely.
Everyone stood completely still, holding their breath as the camera scanned the room. It seemed to linger on Reese and Chase longer than the others, but finally the camera retreated into its ceiling compartment once more.
"It can't see us!" Miko fist pumped excitedly.
"Maybe not yet. The ship must not be scanning for carbon-based life forms, but once it widens its search parameters you will no longer be able to evade its sensors," Ratchet informed the team. "It's too dangerous for you to remain on the ship. I'm bridging you back."
"No, there are millions of lives at stake in New York. We have to stop this ship," Jack argued.
"Ratchet, Jack's right. We can't just leave the ship to level Manhattan. There has to be a way to stop it before it widens its search parameters, right?" Reese backed Jack up.
"You are all out of your element. These readings, the ship's rapid recovery, they all point to the fact that Megatron likely employed the use of Dark Energon. You need to get out of there."
"Well, if the ship is being fueled by Dark Energon, then can't we just purge it from the ship's systems?" Chase asked.
"You know, that could actually work. You would need to reverse the ship's energon infuser. If you follow the overhead conduits, they should lead you to the power core." Ratchet instructed.
"What should we do with Agent Fowler? He's out cold," Reese pointed out, jumping down from the platform to check on the unconscious agent.
"Leave him for now. He shouldn't be in any danger for the time being."
"If you say so," Reese replied a little uncertainly, but headed down the corridor with the rest of the party anyways.
The group followed the overhead conduits as Ratchet had instructed. Before long, they found themselves in the room with the power core. They weren't the only ones there, though. A paralyzed Megatron stood in front of the power core, his servo holding the lever to the energon infuser.
"It looks like we aren't the only ones that had this idea," Reese muttered, shrinking back a little. Despite being frozen, Megatron still terrified her. He was the scariest of any of the decepticons she had encountered so far.
"Listen carefully, the energon ejection valve can only be operated manually. You are going to need to find a way to pull the lever," Ratchet interrupted Reese's thoughts.
"Manually!?" Everyone exclaimed in unison, glancing over at Megatron's paralyzed frame again. None of them liked the idea of using him as a ladder to get up to the valve.
"Well, no use standing around. We need to get up there, regardless of Megatron," Chase squared his jaw and took the first step towards the warlord. The others reluctantly followed behind him.
Chase carefully climbed up the paralyzed Megatron, and soon he found himself standing on the panel with the ejection lever. Everyone else watched from below as he pushed against Megatron's servo, which was grasping the lever. Alas, no matter how hard Chase pushed, the lever wouldn't budge.
"I'm gonna need some help up here, this thing is heavy!" Chase called down.
Reese sighed but stepped forward and proceeded to climb up to the platform. She stood beside Chase and they both pushed the lever together, but it still wouldn't move.
To make things worse, the ship's voice echoed around the room. "I'm infested with alien lifeforms!" It declared with disgust.
"Scrap! We've been spotted!" Reese cursed.
The large mechanical claw arm that was used to feed energon cubes into the power core suddenly came to life and began chasing Jack, Miko, and Raf.
"Jack, get up here quick and help us push this lever! Miko, Raf, go hide among those energon cubes over there!" Reese ordered, watching as the kids barely managed to dodge the angry claw arm.
Everyone did as they were told. Miko and Raf went to hide behind the cubes, while Jack quickly scurried up Megatron's frame.
Once Jack reached the top, the three pushed the lever together. They felt it give ever so slightly, but it still wasn't enough. "Dangit! Why won't this thing budge!" Reese banged her fist against the lever with a resounding clang, which unfortunately, caught the claw arm's attention. It rushed towards the three young people.
"Frag!" Chase shouted as he grabbed both Jack and Reese's arms and yanked them back before the claw could grab them. "This isn't working. The only way we are going to push this lever is if we use our Cybertronian forms, Reese."
"That's not an option. We will get frozen just like the rest of the cons on this ship! Besides, I still haven't mastered transforming on command," Reese nixed Chase's plan.
"Well, what if I transformed and you and Jack pushed at the same time?"
"I don't know, Chase. What if you get frozen?"
"That's a risk we have to take. We are out of time. Look, I'm gonna transform on the count of three. Okay?"
"Fine…" Reese nodded reluctantly.
"One… Two… Three!" Chase counted and then began transforming. His eyes glowed blue, much like Reese's when she would transform. Then, his skin shifted into a silvery metal with blue and black detailing. He looked really cool, but Reese didn't have time to stare. She, Chase, and Jack all pushed against the lever as hard as they could.
The lever gave a little more than last time, and yet, even with the added strength of Chase's Cybertronian form, they still couldn't get it to fully release.
"Any Cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized," the ship's voice repeated its threat from before as a stasis ray descended from the ceiling.
"Chase, watch out!" Reese screamed, her eyes glowing blue and her body moving on instinct. She involuntarily transformed as she jumped in front of Chase. The beam hit her instead of Chase, and her paralyzed body began to fall from the platform.
"Reese!" Chase yelled, reaching out for her, but his fingertips barely brushed hers as she fell. She landed on the ground below with a loud crash.
Chase quickly transformed back into his human form before the stasis ray could fire again, glancing worriedly down at Reese's frozen frame on the floor. This was his fault. He was the one that had insisted they use their Cybertronian forms. Now Reese was frozen because of him.
"Chase, I think I have an idea," Jack interrupted Chase's spiraling thoughts.
"I'm listening."
"If we can get that claw arm to hit Megatron, it might be enough to knock him over, which would in turn pull the lever," Jack explained. "We just need to get its attention and then jump out of the way before it can get us."
"It's risky, but I don't think we have any other options at this point," Chase sighed, chancing another glance down at Reese on the floor. "Alright, lets get that thing's attention."
"Hey! Over here claw face!" Jack yelled, waving his arms in the air.
The claw turned towards Jack and Chase and lunged forward. The two boys jumped out of the way just in time to evade being skewered, and the claw collided with Megatron instead.
Megatron's frame fell backwards, pulling the lever in the process.
With the lever pulled, the core began the energon reversal process. The ship roared in frustration, trying to use the claw to push the lever forward again, but it was too late. The crate of dark energon emerged from the power core, effectively ending the Warship's reign.
Once the dark energon had been completely purged from the ship's systems, the stasis lock on the decepticons began to wear off.
Chase and Jack jumped down from the panel, and Chase ran over to Reese, helping her now unfrozen body into a sitting position.
"I'm so sorry! You were right, we shouldn't have used our cyberforms. Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, checking her over for any injuries.
"S'okay, I'm just a little woozy," Reese held her head tenderly, allowing Chase to help her stand up. He helped her over to the others who were waiting by the entrance to the Core chamber.
"We gotta get out of here, the cons are starting to come out of stasis," Jack said, glancing warily at Megatron, who, though no longer frozen, still lay on the floor.
"Alright, lets go," Chase nodded, draping Reese's arm over his shoulder and wrapping his arm around her middle to support her as they ran. "Ratchet we're gonna need a bridge! Open it at arrival coordinates!"
They made their way through the corridors of the warship, back towards the control panel they had plugged the data transfer device into. They found Agent Fowler struggling to his feet, and the transfer process about halfway complete.
"That's all that's downloaded?" Jack sputtered in disbelief.
"The Iacon database must be huge!" Raf deduced.
"On your feet soldier," Miko grunted, trying to support Agent Fowler, who was still quite unsteady. Then, the bridge back to base swirled to life behind them.
"Get Agent Fowler and Reese through the bridge. I'm going to grab the data drive," Jack said seriously.
"No way, we are just going to have to leave it," Chase argued.
"We can't leave it here! Not after everything we've had to do to get it!" Jack ignored Chase and climbed up Knockout's frame, which had yet to come out of stasis.
Chase looked between Jack and Reese, the latter of whom was still struggling to recover from the effects of the stasis beam. "Fine, just make it quick," he sighed before rushing through the bridge with Reese.
On the other side, he found Ratchet and the rest of the team waiting for them expectantly. It appeared that everyone there had been freed from the stasis lock as well.
"Ratchet, Jack stayed behind to get the data drive. He could probably use an assist," Chase informed the medic. Then, he gently helped Reese over to the stairs where she could sit.
Ratchet ran through the bridge, but he wasn't gone long. After only a minute or so, he came back through holding Jack in one servo and the data drive in the other. He gently set Jack down on one of the platforms and closed the bridge. Then he turned to check on Reese and Agent Fowler.
"What happened two these two?" He directed his question at Chase, who was trying to get Reese to follow his finger with her eyes.
"Agent Fowler got zapped when he tried to access the control panel, and Reese ended up getting hit by the ship's stasis beam," Chase explained.
"Reese, I thought I told you not to use your cyberform! Why didn't you listen?" Ratchet snapped, activating his holoform and inspecting Reese's condition.
"Sorry…" Reese apologized, still holding her head.
"Don't blame her; It's my fault. We didn't have enough strength the push the ejection valve lever on our own, so I suggested we try using our cyberforms. Reese objected, but I transformed anyways. The ship immediately detected me as a Cybertronian and shot a stasis beam at me, but Reese transformed and jumped in the way to keep it from hitting me…" Chase trailed off, biting his lip a little bit.
"I see…" Ratchet muttered as he shone a small flashlight in Reese's eyes. "Well, I think she will be alright. The effects of stasis seem to affect techno-organics a little more strongly than normal Cybertronians, but she should make a complete recovery."
"That's a relief," Chase sighed, running his hand through his hair.
"As for Agent Fowler, he's been through worse. He'll just need to sleep it off," Ratchet deactivated his holoform and walked over to the computer console, not really bothering to check on the agent. Instead, he picked up the data drive and plugged it into the console, pulling up its contents.
"We may not have gotten the whole database, but at least we still got four sets of coordinates, decoded by the warship."
"Then we must work quickly, for Megatron possesses the same four sets, and he will not hesitate to obtain the doomsday devices that lie at the site of each. We will need to split up to cover as much ground as quickly as possible," Optimus said seriously.
"But Optimus, when it comes to numbers, we are already at a grave disadvantage, even with the addition of BlueStreak to our ranks," Ratchet argued.
"Under the given circumstances, swiftness of action is paramount. This is a race that we absolutely cannot afford to lose. We will just have to do the best with the resources we have and hope that it is enough."
"Very well," Ratchet vented, knowing that Optimus was right, and they didn't really have any other options. They would just have to hope that their efforts would be enough.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments! I hope you enjoyed it! it might be a bit before I upload again, since I was looking ahead at the next few chapters, and I have made the realization that my timeline for the next few chapters is a little screwy, so I'm going to have to figure that out. But don't worry, I don't plan on dropping this story. It just might take a little longer between chapters. Thank you in advance for your patience, and I will see you next time! God bless - Lucy