Fire of Youth
Chapter 8
*Note to Kaleia: You ever try logging in with Facebook? That's what I do. Way simpler than making an actual account. If you have an account, it'll log you in automatically. You don't even need to put in a password (maybe your Facebook one, I don't recall). Just click and BOOM – you're on!
Also, yeah. I'm one to stick in pop culture references. I pick them based on tone and how well they would fit. Buh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry at the "Ohana" one! D: I feel like a horrible...oh, wait. I made you cry like crazy in the first couple of chapters. Well, I'm clearly an evil person. I'd say I'd stop messing with your feels, but this is a pretty feelsy story all 'round. So I'm not gonna make a promise I can't keep. I:
The Primeling landed in front of Hangar E's entrance with much more grace than he had the last few times. He felt a little bit of well-deserved pride over it, viewing such a good landing as a personal accomplishment. Hey, for someone who wasn't a flier by nature he was making progress in the whole flying business in veritable leaps and bounds. That was something to be proud of if nothing else was.
Remembering his shoddy attempts at getting airborne and his first rough landing, made in front of this very same hangar no less, made him mentally chuckle. Dear Primus that had been utterly embarrassing in hindsight. He'd almost face-planted the ground. Under normal circumstances such fails might've made some of the others laugh, so Infernus considered himself fortunate that the circumstances had been less than normal at the time. But, thinking back on it, maybe them laughing would've been a good thing. Maybe it would've helped to dispel some of the grief that had been suffocating the hangar then.
'Heh. Now you're thinkin' 'bout things the right way around. A good laugh helps with anything. Doesn't matter what's wrong; laughing over something always help ya to feel better. No better form of therapy in the universe. Why else do ya think I'm such a slaggin' goofball around ya, kid?' Amalgamous chuckled.
Um, because it was his thing? The Shifter Prime had said before he was the clown of the bunch, so making others smile and laugh was kind of his gig from all he could gather. And he was eternally grateful to have such a laid-back, casual, entertaining personality coaching him on remaining positive. Out of all the Primes he had thus far spoken with, Amalgamous was the one he could relate to most easily. He acted like an overgrown teenager rather than a mature adult mech, which was a huge contrast to other, more serious and adult-like Primes like Optimus and Alpha Trion.
'Aww. C'mon, kid. You're makin' me blush here. Seriously, cut it out already.'
At that, Infernus broke out laughing in his helm as he padded across the hangar's entry threshold. When he transformed he was smiling, and from the looks on the others faceplates they were happy he was doing better emotionally. Not even Prowl could prevent a minuscule little smile from ghosting in and out of existence. He was relieved his sibling was faring better than when he'd last seen him. Smokescreen not chipper and happy was like Bluestreak not babbling on about anything and everything he could possibly think of.
"You called, Prowl?"
The black and white mech nodded. "Yes. Do you feel up for a simple scouting mission? As you know, our Energon supplies are dangerously low. Ultra Magnus brought a small amount with him, but that will only last us for so long. Ratchet has located a decent amount in a mine in a mountain range one state over. Not a massive source, but it will be enough to stabilize our supply for the time being."
"However, if we can detect it, the Decepticons might already have detected it as well. Expect company." Ratchet warned. "I'd tell someone to go with you, but they're needed elsewhere, and more than one Autobot arriving on the scene might draw unwanted attention."
Infernus gave his word he would be careful and then, transforming, bounded out of the hangar. A few powerful flaps of his baby blue wings and he was soaring off into the distance, headed for the low rise of mountains on the near horizon. In less than a few minutes his brilliant white form had vanished from visible range, leaving the remaining Autobots to hope nothing happened to him while they were out scouting, too. They couldn't afford to let just one mech handle the scouting missions, but they also couldn't afford to lose the Primeling.
'Primus, keep him safe. I don't know what we'd do if we lost him, too....' Ratchet prayed, unaware the others were thinking nearly the exact same plea.
At any point in the past the Primeling would've been shrieking in ecstasy at being able to fly. He'd always wondered what it was like. He'd had friendly connections with a few Autobot fliers, and they'd always describe in vivid detail what it was like. He'd never fully understood it, though. Now he did understand, did know what it was like, but such knowledge had come with a terrible, terrible price. He felt no happiness over this gift he had been given. Maybe in time he would, but for now he just saw it as a means of transport. Thus, neither the sharp wind in his faceplates nor the warm thermals billowing beneath his wings convinced Infernus to relax or enjoy himself. He was on an important mission. Relaxing was a luxury he couldn't afford right now. Doing so in a war was a surefire way of getting yourself killed, especially if you were a high ranking officer like he was now. Dying was not on his list of priorities. He missed Optimus for sure, but not that much, and he'd sworn to protect the others no matter what. He couldn't do that if he was offline.
Zeroing in on the coordinates provided by Ratchet, he tucked in his wings and slowly lowered towards the mountains at a steady pace, optics quickly scanning the ground below for signs of movement. Aside from the occasional bird or deer there was nothing, not even a pulse from the Matrix. Huh. Was he really the first one here? That seemed too good to be true, but maybe the 'Cons were already inside the mountain? Maybe it wasn't reacting yet because he had to be within a certain distance?
'I wish I could answer that for you, but sadly I cannot. No one truly understands how the Matrix works, not even those within it. Tread carefully. You could very well be walking into an ambush.'
Mentally he groaned. Joy. Well, so much for always getting the drop on others. He must've just gotten lucky or something at Darkmount – a useful case of beginner's luck maybe. Slag it. He'd been hoping for something a little more, well, practical when it came to what the Matrix could do and when it could it. It was turning out to be a bit fickle in its favors.
Shaking his helm in mild aggravation, he began to circle in broad ovals as he searched for a viable entrance into the mountain. He had to admit the upgrades to his optics were utterly amazing. He could pick out little swirls of dust that formed from strong breezes, individual pebbles on the stony ground. The quality of his vision had increased by...honestly he didn't know by how much, but slagged was it way better than before. He felt as if he'd been blind before.
At last spotting what might be a cave entrance, he circled lower until he finally touched ground, this landing even smoother than the others before. He couldn't help the proud expression from forming as he padded along at a brisk trot. He was really getting the hang of this whole flying and landing gig. Guess hanging around flyers and watching birds on scouting missions was paying off in more ways than one. He permitted himself a happy little bounce as he clambered around on the uneven terrain, accidentally spooking a trio of deer close by into bolting away. The Primeling watched them for a second before continuing onwards, feeling a little bad about disturbing them.
His hunch about the possible entrance turned out to be accurate. It was a very large entrance, and it looked, oddly enough, like it had just been dug out by a massive tunneling animal or something. Just from the way it looked he knew it wasn't natural. It was too...clean in the way the rocks had been carved away. Had the 'Cons dug this while searching for the Energon inside? Sure seemed that way, but maybe this had been dug by humans in the past and the 'Cons had just enlarged it, taking advantage of the tunnel already made. 'Cons always were opportunists he reminded himself with a mental frown.
Without hesitation he slunk in, leaving the shining golden rays of the sun and the clear, open skies in favor of the dark, constricted bowels of the earth.
He had no idea exactly how deep underground he was, but for the first time in his life the Primeling felt afraid of the dark, afraid of the stones that surrounded him. He would jump at the sounds his own talons made as they clicked and scraped along the the tunnel's rough floor – not massive jumps, but enough to make him feel rather silly. He looked over his shoulders, under the impression of being watched by unfriendly eyes. But with true perseverance he endeavored to ignore that latter sensation and focus on what lay ahead. He couldn't afford to be scared right now, no matter who or what was watching him. He was on a mission.
'Come on, Smoke. Just focus. The Energon's gotta down here somewhere. Wish I'd thought to ask for a scanner. Scrap!' he thought to himself. He'd been in such a hurry he had neglected to ask Ratchet for one.
He continued ever deeper into the cavern tunnels. After a while his sharpened audial receptors began to pick up the sounds of clicking and what sounded an awful lot like digging. Not digging with tools like he would've expected in a mining operation, but with claws or other such additions, and it didn't sound like very many sources from how faint it was. Probably less than five or so individuals was his best guess. Then came another series of sounds he was all too familiar with – that tank-curdling, sickening sound of mechanical gurgling that were only made by one type of Cybertronian:
Insecticons.
Following the gross sound, he came to a place where his tunnel intersected another. Carefully, he peered around just enough to get a glimpse of what was going on that involved Insecticons and digging. What he saw was two of the bug mechs digging into the wall with gusto. Once satisfied they'd apparently dug deep enough, one of them plunged a clawed hand in, the other letting out a screeching noise of victory on beholding what the other now held. Still the Primeling watched from the shadows, wondering what it was they'd found, because it clearly wasn't Energon.
At first glance it looked like a weirdly shaped rock. It was colored similarly to one, after all. Some parts of it were slightly rounded while other parts were jagged and angular. On zooming his optics in, he was stunned to pick up a very faint sheen and to find that the coloration was actually rust. Rocks didn't rust though. So what was that thing...?
"Hnn. This is what Shockwave wants?" gurgled the Insecticon holding the whatever-it-was.
That instantly set the Primeling on high alert. If the one-eyed mad scientist wanted this thing the bugs had dug up for him, he had to make sure he never got his oily digits on it. If he did, that would only lead to a world of hurt for his friends. He could take these guys. But he had to be fast about it before they called in support from other hive members. He couldn't let them send out a telepathic distress signal. He would get swarmed in minutes if that happened. And the best way to do that was to separate them – take them out one at a time, and before the other got suspicious.
'Smart kid. But, uh, how do ya plan to get Bug Number One to come waltzin' over to ya?'
He permitted himself a sly, toothy little smirk. If the Shifter just sat back and watched, then he'd see. He'd seen enough of the Batman: Arkham and Assassin's Creed games thanks to Miko to know how this type of stealth attack worked. You lured one guy into a place out sight with something significant enough to distract the one closest to you, and it was common knowledge that Insecticons weren't all that bright, so luring one was going to be a walk in the crystal park.
'I'm not so certain that video game logic applies in real life, Smokescreen...' Alpha Trion cautioned, sounding as though he was eyeing him a little strangely, but with noticeable amusement.
Puh. Then he'd just have to wind up surprised. All he probably had to do was kick a loose stone in their direction. And it wasn't like he didn't have the training to back it up. He wasn't only using video game strategies for his information, as he knew the actions of the characters on screen were dependent on complex lines of code. He was melding them to the situation and to his own training, so it was more like strategic improvising than rushing in blindly and hoping for the best. But then again, some real life people did that rushing-in-blindly thing in real life so...he supposed there was that in Alpha Trion's defense. He wasn't saying he liked what the old archivist was unwittingly implying of his thought processes, but he got the point.
As carefully as he could, he plucked a small tone up in his claws and tossed it out into the tunnel where it clattered ominously.
A startled gurgling noise came: "Cllllrrrrrk? What was that?"
He stayed perfectly still, perfectly quiet. Even his air intakes became slower, softer. After one nerve-wracking moment he heard the heavy galumphing of one of the bug mechs as it headed towards him to investigate. The Primeling retreated further into his own tunnel, abdominal plates practically brushing the stony ground. He found a convenient recess in the walls and transformed out of his dragon mode, one hand changing into a serrated blade. He steeled himself as the Insecticon drew ever nearer. Then, as it was just about to pass his hiding place:
SHRRNG!
He grabbed the Insecticon before it could topple, not bothering to cover its mouth to prevent it from crying out to its partner. With the way Energon was gushing from its sliced neck cables, thus internally clogging its air intake vents and glitching its vocalizer, there was no need. It wasn't capable of speech. In less than a second its body went completely limp, and he set it down as gently as he could. When the second one grew suspicious of its friend's absence, it too came galumphing around to investigate and, like the other before it, its neck cables were sliced cleanly. It died just as quickly in the same strangled, gurgling manner and joined its friend on the stony ground at the Primeling's pedes.
Infernus then switched the blade back into a clawed hand, feeling a pang of guilt in his spark as he looked at the still corpses. He didn't like killing, even if it was a naturally aggressive Insecticon made by Shockwave and working for the 'Cons. True, he'd helped blow up a whole escape pod of the bug mechs, but he hadn't had much of a choice in either matter. Kill or be killed was the rule against all Decepticons, one Autobots in the past had learned the hard way. Right now, for Team Prime, it was simply a battle of survival. You did what you had to in order to live another day, even if you didn't like it.
Optimus rumbled sadly: 'Yes. Sometimes there are choices where none of the answers are pleasant. But I respect that you endeavor to try to make their ends as swift and painless as possible. That is a mercy a Decepticon would rarely if ever show to an Autobot, whether they be a prisoner or a soldier on the battlefield. It is a forlorn hope I admit, but perhaps your actions may influence theirs in the future. If there is one thing I know that can end violence, it is compassion, no matter the form it takes.'
His spark clenched a little at these words. He was about to argue how killing was a form of compassion, but then he recalled his own thoughts and actions during the attack on Darkmount – how he had terminated the Vehicon troopers in a fast, hopefully mostly painless way, thinking that perhaps death would give them a little taste of freedom and free will. Thus, he decided not to argue. He simply accepted it.
Now to see what the Insecticons had dug up for Shockwave.
He knelt down over the prone body of the second Insecticon, shimmying the semi-reflective, rust-covered object from its stiff hands. Upon success, he held it up to get a better look at it. It was definitely metal, but it wasn't some oddly shaped piece of ore either. The shape was far too...detailed for that. Honestly, it looked like someone had grabbed a piece of metal from a workshop and carved it, then tossed it here to rust. Whatever it was, the edges were very well-defined, meaning it definitely wasn't natural. You didn't find something like this naturally.
Out of curiosity, he used his hands to scrape away some of the rust coating the object. A few large flakes of the rocky-colored substance fell away to reveal a color he was all too familiar with now – gunmetal grey. Coupled with the oddly angular look of it, the rust, the very slight curvature of one part of it that seemed vaguely familiar to him...Realization struck him with the force of an oncoming train, almost to the point where it made him stagger.
This wasn't just any old piece of metal. No.
It was a fossil. A Predacon fossil. On Earth. Buried in a mountain. And Shockwave wanted it.
Spark racing in panic, he promptly turned tail and bounded towards the surface. For the moment he forgot about the precious fuel he had come there to retrieve. Only one sole, solitary thought pounded through his processor: he had to get out of here, had to get back to the hangar, had to get this seemingly harmless piece of metal into safe-keeping. He had to keep it out of Shockwave's oily hands. If it fell into his power...he didn't even want to think about that. He knew just as well as anyone else some of the fantastical yet horrifying stories surrounding Shockwave. There was a reason he was called "Megatron's pet mad scientist" by both Autobot and Decepticon alike. Some of his experiments, the ones not shrouded in rumor anyways, were downright unnatural, enough to make even the most stoic of Cybertronians shudder.
He reached the cavern's mouth in record time, and with a loud leathery snap of his wings, he launched into the air.
Private Daily, en route to the building that housed the command element of Area 51, was rather surprised to see the great white-and-fire-accented form of Infernus soar by overhead like some bestial plane coming in to land, his return far earlier than he had expected. His flight path was completely rigid and aimed like a pointer in the direction of Hangar E. The young man was able to deem that something had happened on his mission, but what exactly he couldn't say. All he could tell for certain was that the mech was spooked by something or other and that he hadn't returned with the needed supplies of life giving fuel he had mentioned they were low on.
Infernus was a responsible, caring sort in Daily's mind. Even if he didn't feel quite comfortable in a command role yet, he put the safety of his friends above his own in a way that some people would deem reckless. Something pretty major must've resulting in him getting so distracted that he had forgotten his mission parameters in favor of something else and returned so quickly.
Though devoutly wishing he could go and investigate what the trouble was, he fought that urge and continued on his way. He promised himself he would use the short break he had to go and check on the young Prime. He had already expressed a desire to be a sort of liaison/courier/messenger for the aliens, and also a kind of casual counselor for their appointed leader – just someone for him to talk to who was "removed" per say from their war. A human companion of his own, one who could act as a psychologist for him and who had a greater understanding of what he was going through than any of the three teens currently under the aliens' protection.
He really, really wanted to help the alien through his ordeal, and be there for him for as long as he needed him. He hated seeing anyone in distress or struggling.
That was why he was going to see the command element. They had contacted him, said they had gone over his request and now had a decision for him. He just had to hope they had said "Yes".
Those in Hangar E could well be excused for visibly jumping on hearing the heavy flapping of Infernus's wing's. All cast startled looks at the white beast as he landed with a solid thud on three legs instead of four, the fourth limb curled up and his claws coiled around some odd stone-like object that would, at the right angle, gleam under the harsh artificial lighting. He was holding the item with extreme care, almost as if it were a live bomb.
"Kid? What are you doin' back already? Where's the Energon?" Wheeljack wondered pointedly.
The Primeling transformed then, still holding the object in one claw-like hand. "Forget the Energon. I found something way more important and way more valuable – and that's because Shockwave wanted it."
With that statement, he came over and put what was in his hand onto one of Ratchet's worktables, carefully moving some of the medic's tools out of the way to provide his prize with more room. Team Prime gathered around the table to get a closer look, Wheeljack looking the most skeptical of the group (in his mind, how could a hunk of oxidized rock be more valuable than the stuff that kept them alive?). From the catwalks that ran parallel along the hangar's walls, Jack, Miko, Rafael, and June observed curiously, each noting the peculiar metallic sheen of one part of the object.
Ratchet was the first to react, his optics widening as a sharp intake of air was discerned coming from him. Using the utmost care, he picked the object up to examine it, scraping away some more thick flecks of rust, soil, and ground stone with the tip of a tool plucked from the opposite side of the worktable to reveal more dark grey metal underneath. His blue optics riveted onto Infernus.
"Where did you find this?"
"What? What it is?" Miko demanded. She was doomed to wait a while for her answer.
Infernus explained that he had found it in the mountain cavern he had gone to look for Energon in, that he had come across two Insecticons digging around for it and he had stolen it from the instant he had heard Shockwave's name mentioned, putting particular emphasis on that fact. What exactly the one-eyed mad scientist wanted it for he had no idea, but it couldn't mean anything good for them. He had stopped whatever it was he had been planning, though.
Ultra Magnus shook his helm grimly. "I wish that were true, Smokescreen, but it likely isn't. Shockwave always has contingency plans set up in case of a failure, and contingency plans for those contingency plans. I have a bad feeling that all you have managed to do is delay him. He'll find a way to get past this setback. Believe me when I say he always does. Stopping Shockwave is no easy feat. Countless Autobots have tried over the course of this war. All failed."
Infernus winced. "Scrap."
"Is no one gonna explain to me what that thing is?" Miko demanded once more, the rising annoyance in her voice plainly detectable.
He looked over at her, blue gaze even, replying: "It's a Predacon fossil."
Author's Note: Yeah, shorter chapter than usual. Busy, busy, busy! Next chapter I'll try to make a bit longer to make up for this. :)
