Hi everyone, welcome back. We are finally nearing the end of the Iacon Relic Hunt arc, with only two chapters remaining, including this one. This arc has been one wild ride and I'm glad you all have been enjoying it. This is one particular chapter that I've been wanting to write for some time. Now, with all that being said, let's get started.
Red Triage
The Grandberry airship, which served as the mode of transportation for the Sigma Team flew through the cloudy skies above massive mountain range that was known as the Alps. Currently, the bridge of the ship was being operated by Toto with the masked Wizard right beside her.
"We've entered the Alps' airspace." Toto reported to the rest of Sigma team via their comns. "We should arrive at the Relic's location soon. No sign of any Decepticon activity yet."
"But be ready to be deployed at a moment's notice." Wizard told them. "It may be calm right now, but that can all go up in flames any second."
"Rodger."
The rest of Sigma Team, consisting of Marrybell, Orpheus, Oldrin, Ashley, Sokkia, Tink, Leonhardt, Markia, and Jean, all stood on the overhang bridge in the Knightmare docks, all their respective units right below them.
"Comfortable there, Doc?" Ashley joked.
Their only Autobot companion, Ratchet, was also present in the deployment area. But due to his enormous size, he had to be squeezed in with the rest of the Knightmares. There was barley any room for him to move around as he was currently stuck in-between the Lancelot Trial and Lancelot Grail.
"Yes, yes, I'm quite comfortable." Ratchet made no attempt to hide his sarcasm. "And please don't call me 'Doc'."
"Everyone else calls you Doc." Orpheus pointed out. "I don't see how this is any different." They heard Ratchet scoff before Orpheus noticed Sokkia staring at him awkwardly. "What?"
"Sorry, it's just… you look just like Oz." Sokkia said. "I mean, it's like I'm staring right at her. Only… you know, you're a guy and she's a girl. That said, you're every bit as pretty as she is."
"Sokkia…." Oldrin placed her hand on her face in embarrassment, while Orpheus simply looked unamused.
"We are twins after all." He pointed out.
"Well not every twin scenario comes out with identical twins." Sokkia pointed out with a grin. "Two very pretty identical twins. Honestly, if you wouldn't mind a bit of incest, you'd make some beautiful bab…"
Marrybell quickly silenced her by clasping her hand over her subordinate's mouth. "Okay, okay, that's enough perverted thoughts out of you!" She smiled apologetically to Orpheus. "Sorry… she's just got a very dirty mind."
"We've all known Oldrin for years so… been through so much together." Tink said in a tone that was bit more understanding. "It's a little weird to see she has an identical twin brother."
Both Orpheus and Oldrin looked toward each other and seemed to be in silent agreement. "Sorry if I'm making anyone feel awkward." Orpheus commented.
"No, don't worry. It can't be helped." Oldrin assured.
"Well, at the very least, I'm happy you two are starting to get along." Marrybell smiled as she let go of Sokkia. "And anyone who's friends with Oldrin, is a friend to the rest of us."
Orpheus chuckled. "Ironic… Britannia's anti-terrorist unit making friends with somebody from a network of supposed terrorists."
"Yeah, the world's gotten even more screwed up than before." Ashley joked, earning some chuckles and laughs from several people present. "Speaking of which…" He looked towards Marika. "Wasn't your older brother one of those Pureblood scumbags? Just wondering, how's it feel to be on the opposite side?"
Jean stomped onto his foot.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"
"You could at least try to be sensitive; you know?!" Jean scolded.
"It's okay…" Marika raised her hand slightly. "Guess it's best to address the elephant in the room. Kewell and I didn't exactly have the best relationship. We didn't hate each other, per say… but there really wasn't any love either." She looked away slightly. "Our parents… valued our noble status above all else. The two of us would often compete to see which of us would be worthy of being the family's successor. Kewell beat me in nearly every field…"
"Except Knightmare training." Leonhardt quickly told his lover. "You always aced that tool in that regard."
"True." Marika confirmed. "That's how I ended up here. But it was Kewell's connections that led him to joining the Purebloods." She looked down with disgust. "But the fact he framed an innocent man and used the death of Prince Clovis to help further his and his comrade's agenda… he really seemed to value status above all else, just like our parents." A complicated look fell on her face. "I'm… not going to celebrate my brother's death or anything… I wish he hadn't died… but at the same time… I know it was probably unavoidable." She looked to Ratchet. "I don't hold any grudges, I promise."
Ratchet gave a nod of understanding.
"So, changing the subject… what exactly can we expect to find from this 'Iacon Relic'?" Tink asked Ratchet.
"Hard to say." The Autobot medic replied. "Iacon was home to many ancient relics as well as Decepticon weapons of mass destruction."
"So about fifty-fifty?" Ashley asked. "Fifty percent chance of being an alien gun, and another fifty of being an alien star chart?"
"Not quite the way I'd put it… but something along those lines." Ratchet confirmed. "All the more reason to get a hold of it before Megatron does. Even if it isn't a weapon, knowledge can be power, especially when it comes to the Ancients."
"And power can be very dangerous in the wrong hands." Jean said, looking down as she was instinctively reminded of her former leader, Shin Hyuga Shang, and all the destruction he would have unleashed with his own power.
"That's why we're here." Oldrin said in assurance to her newfound comrade. "To make sure that doesn't happen."
"And it won't." Orpheus agreed with his twin sister. "We'll either get this Relic or destroy it."
Back on the bridge, all was silent as Wizard simply sat on the command chair while Toto worked at the operator controls. Neither of them said anything to each other, but it wasn't awkward for either of them. Toto just remained focused on her work, keeping an eye on the radar for any possible sign of enemy activity. Though Wizard would silently admit that it is rather ironic to see this girl again.
She didn't know who was behind that mask, but he recognized her. Toto was a maid to the Zevon family and Oiagros remembered her very well. She grew up alongside Oldrin and they were practically siblings. After he took the head after he arranged for his sister's death, something that would haunt him forever, and Oldrin left to join the military, Toto followed without question. He couldn't help but admire the kind of loyalty and friendship. Even if Oldrin and Orpheus hated him at the end of all this and decided to kill him, he was at least glad they had real friends and family to depend on.
However, Toto didn't particularly feel the same. Nobody else in the world knew the truth about her. The mission that V.V. assigned her to when she was only a child, the reason she had a Geass, was to keep Oldrin and Orpheus from ever meeting one another, and if they did, she'd use her Geass to wipe their memories of the event. But the more time she spent with Oldrin, the more she came to love her, the young Zevon treating her like family, and the more torn up she was internally. But now, given the state of the world and current circumstances, she felt greatly relieved that Oldrin could be with her brother, and she would no longer have the need to wipe their memories. In a way, she was glad the Decepticons destroyed Britannia and everything Charles and V.V. built, but she would still give her all to protect Oldrin and her friends and family.
Suddenly, the alarm sounded. "What is it?" Wizard stood up from his chair.
"We have company." Toto revealed.
Just outside the flying Grandberry, a sleek reaper-drone had flown at faster speeds, descending from the cloud cover and straight toward the massive airship. It then transformed to reveal the silent and dangerous Decepticon that landed on the top of the vessel.
Soundwave wasted no time, locating the cockpit and quickly made his way over before extending two tentacles from his chest which stuck to the cockpit before sending an electrical surge into it.
However, a series of turrets emerged from the sides of the haul around Soundwave before opening fire on him. He quickly deployed Ravager and Laserbeak, who immediately went on the attack. The former leapt to one turret to rip it to shreds with his fangs and claws before shooting at the turrets on his side while Laserbeak flew to shoot out the turrets on the other side.
Toto struggled to regain control as Soundwave's electrical surges began to fry some of the Grandberry's internal systems. "We've lost all defensive turrets! We have to get that Con off our ship now!"
Wizard immediately made contact with the rest of the ship. "Soundwave is here! He's attacking the Grandberry's haul! Get into your Knightmares and be ready for deployment!"
Sigma Team wasted no time in manning their respective Knightmares and prepared them for battle, though Ashley seemed a bit less serious than the rest. "All ten of us just for one Con? Doesn't that seem a bit overkill? Not that I mind."
"Do not underestimate Soundwave, Ashley!" Ratchet told him sternly. "There's a reason Megatron keeps him so close to his side!"
"All the more reason to get him off my ship!" Marrybell said as her Lancelot Trial powered on. "Is everyone ready for deployment?"
"Yes ma'am!" Oldrin, Tink, Sokkia, Leonhardt, Marika, and Jean all reported at the same time.
"Ready whenever the rest of you are." Orpheus confirmed.
"Sorry Ratchet, but you might wanna hang on to one of our Knightmares." Marrybell told him as the Autobot medic remained in between the Knightmares of Marrybell and Oldrin.
"Sorry… For what?" Ratchet asked in confusion.
"Toto! Emergency drop! Now!" Marrybell ordered.
"Rodger! Dropping now!"
The bay doors suddenly opened, causing all nine Knightmares, and the Autobot medic, to fall from the Grandberry and into the open sky. As the Knightmares quickly activated their respective Float Systems, Ratchet, the only one who couldn't fly, gave a loud and startled scream.
Fortunately, the Lancelot Trial had caught him before he fell too far. "That's why I told you to hold on!" Marrybell said.
"Duly noted!" Ratchet confirmed as he clung to the red Knightmare before they all flew their way to the top.
Soundwave was shot in the back, halting his attack on the cockpit as he, Ravage, and Laserbeak all looked up to see he was surrounded by nine hovering Knightmares including the Lancelot Trial and Grail, the Gouka Byakuen, two Bradfords, the Vincent Gram, the Zetland, the Dagonet; and even Jean's newest Knightmare, upgraded from the Gracchus, the RPI-32A Aglovale.
"Surrender Soundwave." Marrybell demanded as Ratchet let go of her Knightmare dropped down onto the ship's haul. "You are outnumbered."
In direct response to that, Soundwave had opened a Groundbridge portal just above him, dropping down the dangerous six-bot team of Decepticons known as the Constructicons.
"Someone call for back-up?" Mixmaster declared.
"Hey, those are some fancy Knightmares up there. How about we tear them apart?" Scrapper stated as the Constructions readied themselves for battle.
The entirety of Sigma Squad looked either surprised or serious in that one moment. Ashley was in the later category as their problem of one Con suddenly became seven total.
"Ooooh. See your point, Doc."
"I tried to tell you." Ratchet shook his head in annoyance before he drew his arm-blades and both sides clashed with one another.
Scavenger's massive body leapt over the side of the Grandberry, but rather than fall… he grappled onto the side of the vessel with one of his large arms before climbing underneath it, using both his arms to hang on. He looked ready to use his wheel-like body to tear up the insides of the Grandberry but the Bradfords piloted by Leonhardt and Makira both flew in and shot at him with their slash harkens, but Scavenger batted them away. A pair of double-barrel Energon blasters appeared on his shoulders as he shot at them, forcing the two Knightmares to flee and return fire.
As the rest of the Crimson Knights engaged in battle with the Constructicons around him, Ratchet charged Soundwave, who swerved to avoid Ratchet's swipe with his arm blade before he batted him back with his own unnaturally long arm. Ratchet took a bit to recover, but he was able roll out of the way and avoid Soundwave's electric tentacles. When Soundwave shot said tentacles at him again, the Lancelot Trial landed in between the two Cybertronians to slice the tentacles away with its dual MVS blades.
"I got your back, Ratchet." Marrybell smirked, something Ratchet returned with a smile.
"Thank you, Marrybell." The Autobot medic nodded before he turned around at the sound of a growl to face the pouncing Ravage.
Oldrin's Lancelot Grail swung its own blades towards Mixmaster, who danced around them easily enough before unleashing a stream of an acidic-like substance at her, which Oldrin tried to block by crossing her Knightmare's blades, she was shocked to see the swords already melting away before she discard them, and tried to come in with her short-ranged sword-blazer, but Mixmaster curved under that and smacked the Grail in the face to knock it down before he aimed his arm mixer-weapon at her again.
"Let's see how fast that thing melts." Mixmaster said, only to get shocked in the back by the Byakuen's massive armament arm right before the white Knightmare kicked him back. He would have fallen off the ship entirely, but the Constructicon leader was able to grab a hold of the side.
"Orpheus…" Oldrin looked in surprise as she brought her Knightmare up.
"We agreed to work together, and that means watching each other's backs, right?" Orpheus smiled in his sister's direction.
Still surprised at first, a smile formed on her face. "Right." The Zevon Twins stood together as Mixmaster pulled himself back up and charged again.
Long Haul tried to grapple onto Tink's Zetland, trying to see which of the heavier duty units was the strongest. It almost looked like the large green Constructicon was about to crush the black and red Knightmare.
"Aw, I didn't know you cared." Tink joked before activating his blaze-luminous shield to knock Long Haul off. Tink then focused a pair of missiles on the large Constructicon, firing and knocking him back, but Long Haul only skidded back on his feet a short bit before glaring at his enemy. "Oh boy, guy's big and heavy for a reason." Tink said seriously before he hovered his Knightmare in the air to avoid the grapples of Long Haul once more.
Hook flailed his hook-like weapon toward the hovering Vincent Gram, snagging onto its shoulder before pulling down to slam the Vincent Gram onto the haul of the ship, shaking up Sokkia inside.
"Oh, so you wanna play dirty, huh?" Sokkia glared as she pulled up the Gram, quickly pulling up her Knightmare's armored right arm to block the hook-slash before quickly drawing her Wolves' Tooth dagger to slice off the cable, severing Hook's weapon, much to his shock. "Well, two can play at that game."
Scrapper rushed the Aglovale, trying to punch it, but Jean swerved around him to draw her Knightmare's sword and try to bring it down onto him. But Scrapper not only ducked under it, he bashed his shoulder into the silver Knightmare, knocking it back but Jean quickly recovered, coming back-to-back with the Dagonet as it faced off with Bonecrusher.
"So, I see you're having trouble, eh Jean?" Ashley maintained his grin. "Pretty crazy to be on the defensive end for once?"
"You got some kind of plan?" She asked.
"Yeah, let's trade dance partners and see where that goes." Ashley said as the Dagonet leapt over the Aglovale, a sword in one hand and a gun in the other as Ashley shot at Scrapper, who crossed his arms to block it before getting sliced at and knocked down by a sword strike from the Dagonet. In the meanwhile, Jean followed her friend's lead and swung her blade at Bonecrusher, who tried to use his excavator 'third-arm' on his back to block it before he brought his knee into the Aglovale's chest to knock it up, but she quickly recovered and pulled her controls up to spin her Knightmare up vertically and deliver a flip-kick to Bonecrusher's face and knock him back.
Marrybell swung her Lancelot's Trial MVS swords at Soundwave, who ducked and blocked all her strikes with his arms, catching the next strike between his arm and side and slapped her red Knightmare back with his tentacle.
The former Britannian princess tried to catch her breath a bit. "A tough guy, aren't ya?" She commented before charging forward again.
Ratchet used his arm-blade to bat away Ravage as he tried to pounce on him, but the robotic jungle cat recovered and began to circle around the larger Autobot like a wild predator with the medic eyeing him cautiously. As Ravage walked closer towards Marrybell's fight with Soundwave, Ratchet noticed something small and fast moving in on her position.
"Marrybell! Laserbeak incoming at forty-three degrees from your six!" Ratchet warned as Ravage pounced on him again, knocking him down. Ratchet held the jungle cat back as it tried to snarl and bite at him, but Ratchet was able to swipe him off.
Marrybell happened to hear Ratchet's warning and saw on her Lancelot's radar that there was indeed something incoming. She used one of her MVS blades on her right arm to slice at Soundwave, distracting him while using the Trial's left arm to fire a slash harken at the incoming Mini-Con, scoring a direct hit on its right wing and causing it to tumble mid-air, before falling from the sky and into the clouds below.
"Guess you're gonna need another pet bird." Marrybell said to Soundwave who shot both his tentacles to push back the Lancelot Trial.
Soundwave then made a brief observation of the battles around him, even Scavanger's down below. This battle seemed pretty even for the most part, but the defeat of their enemy was not his objective. They had to end this battle now and resume their hunt for the Relic. Soundwave then transformed back into his drone-mode and flew around the Grandberry's rear, concentrating all his fire on the starboard engine. It wasn't long before the engine caught fire, causing the whole vessel to begin tip over.
"We just lost our starboard engine!" Toto reported as the bridge began to tilt to the side, with her trying to hang onto the controls and Wizard doing the same on the command chair.
"Can you stabilize it?!" The masked man questioned.
"No! This ship is going down!" She replied. This prompted Wizard to grab her hand and pull her away from the controls.
"Then it's time to leave!" He ran out of the bridge, pulling the young girl right behind him as he contacted the rest of Sigma Team. "The Grandberry's going down! Abandon ship! Repeat! Abandon Ship!"
"You all heard the man!" Orpheus told the rest of his comrades. "Everyone off! Now!" The Byakuen took to the skies with the Lancelot Grail alongside him. The Lancelot Trial grabbed a hold of Ratchet before flying off along with the Vincent Gram, Zetland, Dagonet, and Aglovale, even the Bradford pair flew from the underbelly of the falling Grandberry.
Many of the Constructicons had already fallen off the vessel, with Scavenger already letting go from the bottom haul; Long Haul, Bonecrusher, and Hook slipped off while Mixmaster and Scrapper just jumped off. The Constructicons didn't fall very far however as Soundwave had already opened several Groundbridge portals to catch them and teleport them to safety just before he flew away to resume his hunt for the Iacon Relic.
As the Grandberry fell, and explosions erupted from the rear as the engines caught fire, another explosion erupted from the docking area as the Agravain flew out, piloted by Wizard with Toto riding inside the cockpit alongside him.
All ten Knightmares, as well as the hanging Ratchet, could only watch as they saw their vessel fall from the sky. It fell through the clouds before heading toward the mountain range below, skidding along the side of one mountain, causing it to tilt and spin even more before crashing upside down on a ridge and grinding to a halt.
With a feeling of defeat and reluctance, Sigma Team descended to where their ship had crashed to try and assess the damage.
After landing and stepping out from their respective Knightmares, they all got a good look at the unfortunate fate of their beloved ship. The Grandberry looked like it may never fly again.
"There's no way we can fix this. It's completely totaled." Toto shook her head with a sigh, causing the former Glinda Knights to look down in shame. Ever since the fall of Britannia, the Grandberry had been their home. It felt like a part of the team, whom they had now just lost.
Sokkia walked up and placed one hand on a piece of the Grandberry's damaged haul. "Farwell old friend… you were a faithful and mighty steed."
"Can't believe she's gone…" Makira looked down with Leonhardt clasping her hand and Tink putting his hands on both their shoulders.
Even Ashley had to admit this was rather upsetting, though he didn't feel that strong a connection to the Grandberry he actually did like the ship in the time he spent with the Glinda Knights.
"Sorry." He looked towards Marrybell with a sincere expression, which she returned with a sad yet appreciate smile as she put a hand on his shoulder as silent thanks.
"Maybe there's a way we can salvage something from this?" Oldrin looked to Wizard as well as Ratchet.
"Perhaps… but that's not our objective at the moment." Wizard said.
"Yes, we still have our mission." Ratchet got everyone back to the mission. "Soundwave and the Constructicons may have already reached the Relic."
"Ratchet's right, we need to go. Now." Orpheus said.
"Wait." Jean stopped everyone from moving as she caught something out of the corner of her eyes.
"What is it?" Marrybell asked as Jean quickly made her way over to what they originally thought was a small pile of debris, but she quickly pulled out her pistol and aimed it at something that sparked on the ground before approaching cautiously.
Ratchet, Wizard, and the others made their way closer as well and saw what Jean had discovered. It was Laserbeak, grounded and heavily damaged, but still possibly dangerous. Once they all saw it, all the humans pulled out whatever guns they had and aimed it at the downed Mini-Con, with Wizard being the one to cautiously approach it.
"Wizard, be careful!" Ratchet warned. "Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave!"
The masked man walked his way up to the front, tapping his foot on one of Laserbeak's wings, backing away and keeping his pistol trained on it. There was no movement. Getting a little more daring, Wizard shot at the wing, causing all of Sigma Team to aim their weapons at it, while Ratchet eyed it cautiously. There was still no movement, which was enough for Wizard to lower his guard as he smiled.
"Not anymore he isn't."
The sun slowly began to set around the area as Soundwave's drone mode flew and arrived at the location of the coordinates for this particular Iacon Relic, the flat top of a large natural arch on the side of one of the largest mountains. The silent Decepticon surveyed the area for a brief moment before activating his Groundbridge portal again, allowing the Constructicons to arrive as well.
"Did you find it?" Mixmaster asked.
Soundwave nodded in confirmation before pointing to the whole team, sending a message that Mixmaster understood.
"Got it. Secure the site." The lead Constructicon told his subordinates as they began to spread out around the area. "Keep an eye out for any Bots and their human pets. They're still out there somewhere."
"So, is it dead?" Marika asked cautiously as Ratchet took out his scanner to get a proper reading on the disabled Mini-Con.
"No. Operating system appears functional, but offline." The medic informed. "The damage it sustained clearly affected its optic and audio receptors."
"It's blind and deaf." Orpheus smirked. "That's one less pet for Soundwave."
"Nice shot, Mary. Expect no less from you." Oldrin threw one arm around her princess in congratulatory fashion.
"Don't celebrate." Marrybell broke off. "We didn't come here to cripple a Mini-Con, we came here to retrieve a potential doomsday weapon."
"Agreed, we must retrieve the Relic immediately." Ratchet said.
"Hold on a second…" Ashley got an idea, stopping everyone from leaving. "I've been spending some time with those Wrecker guys back on Horai Island and they come up with some flashy stuff. This seems like a good opportunity to cause some damage."
"Care to elaborate, Asura?" Wizard questioned as everyone gave him his attention.
"Bird-boy here ain't dead so old silent-but-deadly's gonna come back and find him, right?" Ashley began. "Why not slip in a little surprise? Let's say… a couple of live grenades. Pretty sure we can even get a few missiles out of whatever's left of the Grandberry. The second that Con puts his pet back inside and boom! No more Soundwave."
"That… might actually be pretty good idea." Tink said.
"I'm with Ashley on this." Jean was in agreement. "Yes, the Relic is important, but this could be an opportunity for us. Taking out one of Megatron's most irreplaceable henchmen, his surveillance chief no less, could deal quite the blow to the Decepticons."
"I'm not exactly in favor of assassination…" Marrybell was reminded far too much of the incident that took her mother and sister's life with this idea. "But removing Soundwave from the equation does seem like a good idea."
Even Ratchet looked intrigued by the idea. "Why plant a mere incendiary device, when we could plant a more devastating bomb?"
"What are you talking about?" Marika asked as Ratchet walked over to the disabled Laserbeak.
"A virus." Ratchet explained as his right hand converted into his blow-torch tool, which he used to slowly and precisely open Laserbeak's outer haul and expose its inner-systems. "One engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave… Then directly into the Decepticon network… where it will transmit the contents of the Iacon Database to us!"
"Whoa, seriously?!" Leonhardt exclaimed as everyone looked in surprise.
"You do that?!" Sokkia questioned.
"Why stop with just the database?" Orpheus asked, looking rather eager himself. "Think maybe we can use that virus to tap directly into the Decepticon network and download all their information? Their base locations, their weapons, everything!"
"That would be too great a risk." Ratchet disagreed. "We would run the possibility of Soundwave retracing the virus to Horai Island and learning all our secrets."
"Then perhaps all their information on the Iacon Relics, specifically the ones they've already obtained?" Wizard suggested. "Such as the Forge of Solus Prime, or even any of these other active Relics they may have retrieved and our comrades were unable to."
"Yes… I do believe that to be manageable." Ratchet confirmed. "Risking one Relic to obtain he rest is a worthwhile gamble."
"Eh, seems a bit overly complicated for me and not as flashy, but if it means sticking it to those metal bastards, I can get behind it." Ashley was on-board as well.
"This all sounds well and good, and I'd be willing to help you as well Ratchet… but do we really have the time and capability to pull off that kind of programing?" Toto asked.
"Hmm, not alone. I will require back-up." Ratchet said with a knowing smile.
Horai Island
Many Black Knight operators were currently within one of the operation towers on Horai Island, doing what they can to monitor the mission status of all the on-going retrieval operations on Horai Island.
The one leading it all was Nina Einstein. Things seemed to be going smoothly for the most part, though all their teams had engaged the enemy, there wasn't that much she can do other than hope they would succeed.
"Nina." She suddenly got an alert on her personal portable tablet. She quickly accessed it to see it was Ratchet contacting her. "We have a situation."
Meanwhile, the Constructicons had already managed to secure the perimeter of the location where the Iacon Relic was hidden. Mixmaster and Soundwave both stood at the top of the archway was the former received a wave from Bonecrusher.
"The perimeter is secure, no sign of the enemy." Mixmaster reported to Soundwave who nodded in acknowledgement before his own built-in scanners locked on the specified coordinates he had downloaded from the Iacon Database beforehand. "Found the Relic?"
Soundwave nodded before proceeding to extend his tentacles, their tops spinning like drills before burrowing into the ground.
"Think you could use a hand? Digging stuff out is kinda what we do." Mixmaster offered, but Soundwave ignored him. "I'll take that as a no." He shook his head.
'We're more than just muscle.' Mixmaster thought to himself. 'Honestly, I think the whole reason he even brought us along is because we form Devastator. I do like killing Autobots, but I'm not just a killing machine.'
Back with Sigma Team, Ratchet had informed Nina of the situation and told her their plan. "…If you can write a source code for the virus, my scanner will translate it to Cybertronian script as it uploads."
"Ratchet, I can write the code, but if we want to keep this virus hidden from somebody like Soundwave or any other Decepticon, we'll need some kind of decoy." Nina explained, something the others heard as well.
"A decoy? What like a second virus?" Leonhardt asked. "I don't think we have time for something like that."
An idea then came to Ratchet. "Or something less complicated…. And bit more flashy." He looked towards Ashley; all eyes then set on him as he came to the realization of what he was talking about.
"A decoy as in, we want them to find it, but it doesn't blow or take anyone out?" Ashely asked for clarification.
"That's typically what a decoy means." Marrybell teased.
"Here take one of the Zetland's missiles." Tink offered as he was already in his Knightmare and briefly deactivated it's weapon system, opening the missile silos.
This allowed Ratchet to walk up and extract one missile, which he carefully opened to extract the explosive warhead inside. On its own, it wouldn't do much damage. But in its current position, inside of Laserbeak, inside of Soundwave, it would likely deal devastating damage to the Decepticon surveillance chief, and that is exactly what they want the enemy to think.
"So, we got an explosive, inside of Laserbeak, inside of Soundwave…" Sokkia summed up. "Isn't there some kind of fancy dish like that… where it's a turkey inside a duck inside a chicken?"
"A turducken." Makira answered. "And I think it's the other way around."
"Yeah, a turkey would be too big to stuff into either of those." Jean added. "I think it's the duck that goes inside the chicken and that goes inside the turkey."
"I always thought it was the chicken inside the duck. Hey, who the heck invented something so convoluted anyway? Some random elitist Britannian with a sadistic side?" Leonhardt questioned.
"Weren't you and the rest of your team all Britannian elitists?" Orpheus reminded.
"Touché." Leonhardt granted.
"Ahem!" Ratchet coughed loudly, getting their attention. "Can we please focus back on the mission? Nina?"
"Already working on the code, I'll have it sent soon." She confirmed.
"In the meantime, the rest of us will try and buy you some time, Ratchet. And hopefully retrieve the Relic." Wizard said as he entered the Agravain, prompting everyone else to do so as they quickly manned their respective Knightmares.
"Toto, you stay here and help Ratchet however you can." Marrybell ordered.
"Yes ma'am." She nodded as all ten Knightmares shot into the air and flew in the same direction, leaving Ratchet and Toto alone as they got to work on Laserbeak.
Back with the Decepticons, Mixmaster continued to watch as Soundwave dug deeper into the ground beneath them. Mixmaster could tell from the visual on Soundwave's visor that he was nearing the buried Relic. A beeping noise and target-lock on the visor all but confirmed that they had found it.
Soundwave then retracted his tentacles, revealing that his right one had obtained the Relic. It appeared to be a small gun-like device.
"That's it?" Mixmaster seemed rather underwhelmed. "I was expecting something a bit bigger."
Though the head Constructicon was unimpressed, Soundwave knew exactly what it was that he had retrieved: the Resonance Blaster, a weapon of his own personal creation. It was truly fortunate that Soundwave himself would be sent to this set of coordinates.
"Incoming!" Long Haul alerted as multiple missiles and hadron blasts rained down from the sky all around the area, forcing the Constructicons and Soundwave to dodge and avoid all the oncoming attacks and resulting explosions.
The dust quickly cleared to reveal ten Knightmares had arrived and hovered above the group. At the forefront was the Agravain, flanked by the Gouka Byakuen and Lancelot Trial. On the right side hovered the Dagonet, Aglovale, and two Bradfords; while on the left hovered the Lancelot Grail, Zetland, and Vincent Gram.
"It's them again! Those annoying humans!" Mixmaster shouted.
"That's the Crimson Knights to you, Cons!" Ashley shouted back. "Ready for a rematch?
"Because we certainly are." Oldrin glared.
"This will be your only opportunity. Hand over the Relic or we'll take it by force." Wizard demanded.
"Here's hoping you chose the latter option." Orpheus said, gripping the controls of his Knightmare.
Mixmaster scoffed. "I think we all know the answer to that. Constructicons, attack!"
With that, the Decepticons opened fire with whatever long-ranged weapons they had, forcing the Knightmares of Sigma Team to disperse and return fire. Already explosions lit up the whole mountainside as the battle began.
Marrybell and Oldrin flew directly at Soundwave, both variants of the Lancelot drawing their respective blades and slicing at the silent Decepticon. Facing off against both the Grail and Trial put Soundwave on the defensive, using his unnatural arms to block their strikes or swiftly dodge it. He ducked and swerved under a slice from the Grail and flipped over the Trial as it tried to impale him. He landed to face both of them before deploying both Ravage and Rumble to assist him.
"Time to crack open some Knightmares!" Rumble used his pile drivers to launch himself into the air and straight toward the Trial, prompting Marrybell to lunge her blade at him, but Rumble activated and drove his piledrivers onto the tip of the blade, causing it to vibrate and crack before breaking apart much to Marrybell's shock.
"What…?!" She was then rocked in her cockpit as Ravage rushed around her, firing Energon blasts from his mouth and tail all across the Lancelot Trial. She fired her Slash Harken at Ravage, who leapt out of the way, while using her remaining sword to slice at Rumble, who slid under the Trial and shock up the ground with his pile drivers, prompting Marrybell to fly into the air. She took a brief glance to see Oldrin was facing Soundwave alone, with the fight more in Soundwave's favor as he blocked one of the Grail's sword strikes before one of his tentacles latched onto the Grail, lifted it up briefly before slamming her down onto the ground.
Ashley gave a laugh as he swung his Dagonet's blade at Mixmaster, who dodged and lept back, prompting Ashley move forward and bring his blade down again, just as Mixmaster fired a corrosive substance from his mixer-weapon. Though Ashley pulled back just in time, he looked in shock to see his sword was already melting, which he discarded.
"Hey! No fair!"
"All's fair in war, kid." Mixmaster said right before the Aglovale appeared to kick Mixmaster in the back and knock him from behind.
"I agree, so you wouldn't mind an attack from behind, right?" Jean grinned.
Scavenger wheeled forward, the largest Constructicon present aiming his side-mounted blasters at the two Bradfords again piloted by Makira and Leonhardt, both doing their best to avoid it as the later flew in from behind to try and attack with his arm-mounted harkens, but Scavenger spun his wheel configuration backwards.
"Whoa!" Leonhardt was barely able to dodge the crushing blow, but this left Scavenger open to Makira's attack as she flew straight forward, her Bradford's spear going for his face. Though it did pierce Scavenger's eye, causing him to glower in pain, he was able to swipe her back with his arm.
Orpheus drove his Byakuen straight toward Bonecrusher, thrusting his electrical barrel device at him, but Bonecrusher ducked underneath the thrust and grabbed the Byakuen to tackle and drive it into the nearby rocky wall, causing a brief rumble in the area that shook up Orpheus in his cockpit. But Orpheus was able to steel himself as he drove the Byakuen's knee into Bonecrusher to knock him back before spinning his Knightmare around to slam his foot into his face and knock him back.
"Hey there, big guy." Tink's Zetland faced off against Long Haul once more. "Ready for a rematch?"
"You need to ask?" Long Haul slammed his fists together as he rushed the Zetland again grabbing it by the shoulders and slamming the heavier Knightmare down to the ground. But Tink was prepared as he fired a couple missiles at close-range to blast off Long Haul and knock him back.
Scrapper and Hook tried to double-team the Agravain as the former tried to grab the Knightmare from behind while the later attempted to shoot its head off, but Wizard spun his controls to spin so that Hook would end up shooting Scrapper instead, forcing him to let go. The Vincent Gram came in with a thrust of its luminous-cone drill toward Scrapper, but he was able to leap back just as both Knightmares ascended into the air.
"Wizard, we're not making a lot of headway like this." Sokkia told him.
"Agreed." He noted as he saw most of the Crimson Knights seemed to fight on even footing with the Constructicons, with Marrybell and Oldrin having quite a bit of trouble with Soundwave and his Mini-Cons. He then came up with a strategy.
"All units, get airborne and fire at the base of this plateau! Cause a rockslide and send all these Decepticons falling!" Wizard ordered.
"Understood." Orpheus saw where he was going with this and shoot his Byakuen into the air, with everyone else right behind him, including the Lancelot Trial and Grail which broke off from their fight against Soundwave.
"Aim your heavy artillery at a single point! Now!" Wizard ordered as the Agravain fired its arm-mounted Hadron canons, with the Vincent Gram and Zetland doing the same as the Lancelot Trial shot its VARIS Rifle. All converged at a single point, which caused the entire natural plateau to destabilize and crumble.
"Hey! Only I cause a crumble!" Rumble cursed before he and Ravage returned to Soundwave, who simply transformed and flew away, seemingly leaving the Constructicons behind as they fell and slid off the mountain side with the ensuing rockslide.
"Talk about crumbling expectations." Leonhardt commented.
"Where's Soundwave?" Oldrin asked.
"Directly above us." Orpheus answered as they all looked to see Soundwave transform and land on an elevated rock that was well above him.
"Ten of us against one Con? We can take em!" Ashley grinned.
Suddenly, a loud smashing noise was heard beneath them, getting all their attention. "What was that?" Sokkia asked nervously.
Makira got a good look at her Knightmare's radar system. "Guys… there's a massive Energon surge directly below us."
Out of the large dust cloud below them shot an enormous metallic arm, which grappled onto the side of the mountain, followed by another. As the dust slowly began to clear, the whole of Sigma Team looked down in shock and terror to see a massive metallic monster climbing its way back up the mountain.
"Devastator online!"
"Oh scrap…." Marrybell's face paled.
Back with Ratchet and Toto, the former appeared to have everything ready as he contacted his partner. "Nina, I've jacked into Laserbeak's uplink transmitter. When you're ready, I'll bring its operating system back online in order for it to receive the transfer."
"I've almost got it ready. Standby."
"Ratchet, won't starting up Laserbeak's systems alert us to Soundwave?" Toto asked.
"Perhaps, but we have no alternative." Ratchet replied.
"But if Soundwave sees us, or even sees us through Laserbeak, he'll know something's up." She stated. "Yes, we have the decoy with the bomb… but do you think that Soundwave would expect that from you?"
"Do you have another idea?" Ratchet asked.
Toto gave a sigh before responding. "Do you think a Geass would work on Laserbeak?"
To say Ratchet was surprised was an understatement. He knew Marrybell had a Geass, but he wasn't aware one of her subordinates had one.
"My Geass allows me to erase the memories of others, but I need direct eye-contact in order for it to work." Toto explained. "If Laserbeak is connected to Soundwave, and I use my Geass on Laserbeak, provided it works, I can probably erase yours and my faces from their memories of this particular day. Soundwave will never suspect you were here, and that'll make him think Marrybell and the others were the ones who implanted the bomb, further covering for the virus."
Ratchet took the moment to think. "Perhaps… provided your Geass will even work. Depending on how strong it is, it may not work on Cybertronians if its too weak. But then again, Laserbeak isn't like a natural Cybertronian. Honestly, I'd say there is only a fifty percent chance of something like that working." He got a good look at her uncertain face. "Judging by your expression, I'm assuming the rest of your team is unaware of this?"
Toto only nodded in confirmation, looking down in shame.
"Was it Cera or V.V. who granted you that power?" Ratchet questioned.
"V.V." She answered. "It's a long story… and I don't think we have time to explain it."
Ratchet simply shook his head with a sigh. "I won't ask on the details, but you should tell your friends about this. You owe them that much."
"I understand."
"Now, let's operate under the assumption that your Geass will indeed work on Laserbeak, and by extension Soundwave… here's what you need to do." Ratchet began to lay out his instructions. Despite the obvious risks, this could still be a viable strategy in order to ensure the virus worked as intended. This could be the key they need to win this war.
Devastator had climbed to the uppermost part of the mountain, using his enormous size and strength to clear away huge chunks of the summit, providing himself with some flat ground to stand on as the ten Knightmares of Sigma Team fired their guns and even heavy artillery, but the large Combiner simply blocked the attacks by holding up his arms, leading to minimal damage.
"We're not even making a dent in this monster!" Jean exclaimed.
"Hey Mary, think maybe you can use your Geass on that thing? Get it to work for us?" Ashley questioned.
"I'll have to get in close! But I don't think it'll let me!" Marrybell replied.
"I can get you there, but you gotta be as close to me as possible!" Orpheus told her.
"Alright, the rest of us will keep Devastator occupied!" Wizard stated. "Spread out and hit from all sides, keep him from focusing!" He was the first to attack with the Agravain, firing its arm-mounted Hadron Canons as well as all its missiles, with the Zetland providing additional bombardment from above.
Devastator crossed his arms again, forcing him backwards slightly with the resulting explosion, but he stood his ground and prevented himself from falling. His left arm converted into a drill as he tried to lunge it at the two Knightmares, but they flew around and avoided it for the most part.
The Lancelot Grail was next, flying in from behind and landing at Devastator's back before Oldrin tried to plunge her sword into it, but Devastator shook his body wildly to shake her off before smacking his left arm to send the Grail flying, though Oldrin was able to stabilize herself, her Grail had taken quite a bit of damage.
Sokkia's Vincent Gram, with the Dagonet and Aglovale, covering her, tried to come at Devastator from underneath. "Get him in the scrotum!" Ashley shouted as he fired his Dagonet's gun at Devastator's underside.
"Really?! You're making those kinds of jokes, now?!" Jean exclaimed as she lunged her Knightmare's sword into Devastator's right leg as Sokkia did the same with her Vincent Gram's drill into the left leg.
"Hey! I'm trying to not be totally freaked out of my mind right here!" Ashley exclaimed, but was caught off by Devastator's roar as the behemoth shook its legs to knock off the Aglovale and Gram before attempting to stomp on all three Knightmares which they were just barely able to avoid.
Both Bradfords circled around Devastator's head to fire their greatest weapons. Their respective Megido Harkens shot out and combined to fire the Hadron Spear, a condensed blast of Hadron energy into Devastator's face. This did manage to cause the Combiner pain, but he quickly recovered as he attempted to lunge his drill at Makira's Bradford.
"Makira!" Leonhardt shot his Bradford at his lover's and pushed her out of the way in time, getting his own unit grazed in the process.
"They got him pretty distracted. What's the plan?" Marrybell asked as her Lancelot Trail literally held onto the waist of the Gouka Byakuen.
Orpheus' eyes lit up as the Geass sigil appeared in both his pupils. "I've never done this before with somebody else with me. You have to hold on, and I won't know how long this will last! Get ready to use your Geass!"
"Got it." Marrybell accepted.
As Orpheus' Geass activated, making it as powerful as he could, a red energy sphere expanded around both his and Marrybell's Knightmare, creating the illusion of Soundwave's reaper drone form. It tried to fly in as close as Devastator as possible.
Meanwhile, the real Soundwave continued to watch from a safe distance. If he got close enough, he could easily neutralize this with his own Geass Canceller, but Devastator was already covered so there was no need to intervene.
Devastator noticed the approaching illusion. "Hmmm, Soundwave?" It got in real close to his head just as the illusion vanished, Orpheus unable to sustain it any longer as his head felt like it was about to split open.
Before the Combiner could react at the sudden appearance of two enemy units, the cockpit of the Lancelot Trial opened up, after it was set on autopilot, as Marrybell quickly stood up, activating her own Geass as the sigil appeared in both her eyes and she stared right into the monster's optics.
"Devastator! You are my puppet!"
The sigil flew directly into Devastator's optics, but the second it made contact…
"Activate Geass Canceller." The Combiner's optics turned from red to green as the upside-down sigil of a Geass appeared, neutralizing Marrybell's own power in an instant.
"What?!" The horrified former princess' face went pale.
"Did he just say Geass Canceller?!" Orpheus seemed just as terrified himself.
Everyone in Sigma Team had heard that over their Knightmare's comns and were just as shocked as everyone else, and even more so as Devastator managed to grab a hold of both the Trial and Byakuen in his right hand.
"Mary! Orpheus!" Oldrin shouted as she saw her lover and brother caught in the monster's grasp.
"You two. Watch. Watch your friends all die." Devastator growled as his chest-plate opened up, activating his most dangerous weapon, the Vortex Grinder. It already began to create a massive vacuum force as he tried to aim it at Sigma Team.
"SCATTER! DON'T LET IT SUCK YOU IN!" Wizard exclaimed as all eight remaining Knightmares attempted to pull out, but Sokkia's Vincent Gram did manage to get caught in its vortex.
"HE'S GOT ME! HE'S GOT ME!" She tried to put full throttle on her Knightmare's thrusters, but they barely made any headway.
"HANG ON!" Ashley's Dagonet slammed into the ground as he jammed his sword in to keep himself grounded before firing both his slash harkens, which the Vincent Gram caught. However, the force would begin pulling both in as the Dagonet was being dragged across the ground, but both Bradfords came in from both sides and grappled around the Dagonet along with the Aglovale, who also fired its slash harkens, which got tangled around the Vincent gram.
But even with all four Knightmares working to pull the other one back, it only seemed to slow down the vacuum force as Devastator's Vortex Grinder continued to work. Tink, on the other hand, got a good look at the inner workings of the horrible machine, even at the distance he was at.
"Wizard, I have an idea!" Tink contacted the only remaining unit available. "I'll fire my Mega Hadron Launcher right into that monster's weapon, but you try and sever its right arm to free Marrybell and Orpheus!"
"Understood. We'll fire both at the same time, just don't get in too close!" Wizard agreed.
"Rodger!" Tink flew his Zetland as close as he could get to Devastator, who turned to notice his presence just as the Zetland began to configure and form its main weapon. It's shoulder-units quickly began to unfold and merge with its arms, as the arms themselves combined together into a single, massive cannon, that seemed almost as long as the Zetland itself.
At the same time, Wizard's Agravain aimed its Hadron canons at Devastator's right joint. "Oldrin! Marrybell! Get ready to fly!" He warned the trapped pair as Devastator strengthened his grip, partially crushing both Knightmares.
Soundwave however quickly noticed what was happening as he saw the Zetland's canon being charged and measured the energy output. He then contacted Devastator directly and gave the command to disperse immediately.
"Oh scrap!" Devastator heard Soundwave's warning and quickly deactivated his Vortex Grinder, closing his plate just as Tink fired.
"EAT THIS!" The Zetland's Mega-Hadron Launcher opened fire, blasting a hadron blast that was almost three times its normal size, and quickly drained most of the Zetland's power supply. While Wizard, simultaneously, fired the Agravain's Hadron canons at Devastator's left joint.
*BOOM!*
Both attacks struck; the larger explosion hitting Devastator in his chest, while a smaller one blasted off Devastator's entire left arm, which quickly transformed into Hook, and freeing the Lancelot Grail and Byakuen.
As Devastator began to tumble backwards from the resulting blast, Orpheus activated the barley functioning glide system in his Byakuen, pushing the Grail toward the ground and a bit away as both he and Marrybell made it to safety, though both their Knightmares were heavily damaged from Devastator's crushing grip as well as the impact onto the ground.
"He did it…" Wizard breathed in relief, knowing his nephew and Marrybell were safe.
But their victory was short lived. Devastator was forced to disperse as the legs converted back into Long Haul and Scrapper, resulting in Scavenger and Mixmaster falling to the ground. But, Bonecrusher, still in the form of Devastator's drill-arm, had launched almost like a makeshift missile, straight for the Zetland.
Tink had no time to react as the drill shattered his Knightmare, him inside, ending his life in that one instant as Bonecrusher transformed back and fell to the ground hard, all the Constructicons forcibly knocked unconscious.
"TINK!" Marrybell screamed as everyone in Sigma Team gasped in horror; Oldrin, Makira, and Sokkia were already brought to tears, as even Leonhardt began to choke up. Jean and Orpheus looked in just as much shock as their eyes shook, while Ashley glared in rage, being reminded of Joanne, as well as half of his team that died in Slonim.
"You metal bastards!" He exclaimed at the downed Constructicons as he, Oldrin, Sokkia, Leonhardt, and Makira, and even Jean, looked ready to end them right then and there.
"You're gonna pay for…!" Leonhardt was cut off as a massive sonic blast was unleashed upon them from behind
The culprit was none other than Soundwave, aiming his Resonance Blaster and firing a massive surge of sonic waves at maximum range with maximum power. All six of them screamed as they felt the intense ringing in their ears, the force of the sonic blasts was enough to not only knock down each of their Knightmares, but even cause their internal systems to fritz out of control.
"No! Stay away from them!" Marrybell watched helplessly as one-by-one, all six of the Knightmares of Sigma Team were rendered inoperable, causing them to topple over.
"SOUNDWAVE!" Wizard roared as he shot his Agravain at the silent Decepticon, drawing both its MVS blades to swing down at Soundwave, who quickly jumped back to avoid the slash. Wizard was about to move in again, but Soundwave fired the Resonance Blaster once more with a more focused blast at the Agravain, sending it crashing into of boulders. Soundwave kept his weapon focused on the sole Knightmare, causing its chest unit to crack under the pressure.
Even inside his unit, Wizard himself could not only hear the screeching noise, but also felt the external pressure… so much so that his mask began to crack.
Back on Horai Island, Nina finished typing the last of the coding on her personal tablet before contacting her Autobot partner.
"Ratchet, the virus is coded. I'm uploading it to you now." With one button press, she began to wirelessly upload the virus to Ratchet's scanner on the other side of the planet.
Looking at his scanner, Ratchet could see that he was indeed receiving the virus from Nina. He then looked towards Toto, who stood directly in front of Laserbeak. She nodded to him and he nodded back as he pressed the command to bring Laserbeak's systems back online and begin uploading the virus.
Already, Laserbeak's wings began to flap, forcing Ratchet to hold it down and keep it steady. Not to prevent Laserbeak from flying away due to the damage it sustained but allowing Toto direct eye-to-optic contact as her Geass sigil appeared in her left eye.
"You will forget my face, as well as the Autobot named Ratchet. You did not see us on this mission." She said as the Geass sigil flew from her left eye and into Laserbeak's optics. There was a brief flash of red as the optics turned back to normal. Toto couldn't explain it, but she knew that Laserbeak had been affected by her Geass and Soundwave would be as well once he reunited with his Mini-Con.
Orpheus had already pulled himself out of his Knightmare, helping Marrybell to do the same. The sound of a Groundbridge portal opening drew their attention as they saw the unconscious Constructicons get pulled away by a vortex before it closed. Less than a second later, Soundwave appeared over them and aimed the Resonance Blaster at the pair.
"Do your worst, Con." Orpheus glared along with Marrybell.
However, before any execution was made, Soundwave's visor lit up, showing a familiar signal reached the silent Decepticon. It was Laserbeak's signal. He then turned into a specific direction before transforming and flying away. Marrybell and Orpheus could only look to one another in worry, knowing exactly what that meant.
"Nina, what is our progress?" Ratchet asked as he continued to hold down Laserbeak, with Toto staying close to him.
"Just more than fifty percent." She answered.
"Toto! Ratchet! Come in now!" They both heard Marrybell's call, and by the sound of her voice, it wasn't good.
"Marrybell, I read you. What is it?" Toto asked with concern, looking toward Ratchet who mirrored her expression.
"Our whole team is down, and Soundwave is heading your way! You probably have two minutes, tops!" She exclaimed worriedly. "Please tell me you got that virus in!"
It was true, Ratchet need only look in a certain direction, and even from the vast distance he was at, Soundwave was closing in fast. "Nina…?"
"We're almost there. Seventy-six percent done."
"We need to hide…! If Soundwave sees us…!" Toto was already beginning to panic.
Not needing to be told twice, Ratchet picked up the struggling Laserbeak and moved back behind a boulder with, Toto clinging as close to him as possible. But even with their hiding spot, the noise Laserbeak was making would give them away. Ratchet held up his scanner to see that the virus was almost completely uploaded. This was going to be close.
Nina watched the loading bar on her screen closely. She saw it reached the end and turn red, signaling the upload was complete.
"It's done!"
Ratchet pressed the button on his scanner, finishing the upload before letting go of Laserbeak, closing the compartment that had the bomb hidden inside. Laserbeak hovered, banging against the ground as it moved away from the hiding Autobot and human operator, though a piece of it did break off. It bounced a bit closer to the remains of the Grandberry before coming to a stop, almost like it was out of power.
Soundwave had just arrived, transforming mid-air before landing on the ground. Ratchet quickly hid behind the same boulder as he motioned for Toto to be quiet, bringing his finger to his mouth. She then clasped both her hands over her own mouth to be as quiet as possible.
The silent and dangerous Decepticon walked closer to what was left of the Grandberry, scanning it for any activity…
Then suddenly aimed the Resonance Blaster in the direction of the boulder where Ratchet and Toto remained hidden behind. The medic gently held his hands in her direction as the girl was already sweating and shaking with fear, keeping herself from making so much as a peep.
Soundwave then spotted the downed Laserbeak. He walked over toward his Mini-Con… and closer to the hiding pair. He picked up his damaged Mini-Con and re-merged it with his chest.
The second Laserbeak made contact, Toto's Geass command had transferred directly into Soundwave without him even noticing. In that one instant before he even knew what had happened, any visual memory of Ratchet or Toto from this mission had been erased and he would never even notice.
Soundwave then proceeded to walk away. Ratchet glanced from his hiding spot and looked towards Toto with a slight nod, causing her to breath in relief.
However,… it seemed that sound had caught Soundwave's attention as he turned back in that direction. He scanned for any further sounds before extending his tentacles, which slithered across the ground like a pair of snakes and close to that very boulder, curving and coming around from both sides.
Ratchet noticed the one on his right, quickly raising his hand to keep it from being detected. Toto noticed the one coming from the left and above, causing her to clasp her hands over her mouth again as she scooted back against the boulder as the tentacle lowered itself past her and Ratchet. The medic heard a small cling of metal, noticing the piece of Laserbeak's wing that broke off bounced up slightly. He raised his left foot as the right tentacle came in to collect it, causing both tentacles to retreat back to Soundwave, who put the piece into himself before transforming and flying away.
"He's gone." Ratchet said.
Toto fell on her hands and knees, letting out several breaths in relief. "Oh my god… that was terrifying…!"
"Soundwave has taken the bait." Ratchet said before transforming into his ambulance-mode and opened his driver door. "Get in. We need to get to the rest of the team."
"Right." Toto got inside, allowing Ratchet to drive away at top speed.
The Nemesis
After returning to the warship, Soundwave had reconvened with Megatron, as well as the recently returned Starscream, Onslaught, Steeljaw, and Schneizel and had showed his master his prize.
"Ah, the Resonance Blaster." Megatron looked upon the weapon he held with a grin. "Crafted by Decepticon scientists according to your specifications, for maximum sonic devastation. You have performed admirably, Soundwave." He then turned to look at the rest of his subordinates. "Which is more than I can say for Steeljaw and Schneizel, both of whom were somehow able to lose Relics of the Primes to the enemy!"
"Our humblest apologies, Lord Megatron." Steeljaw bowed apologetically as Schneizel performed a similar action.
"There is no excuse to give. I failed, simple as that." The former Britannian prince said.
"I happened to retrieve the Apex Armor, master." Starscream boasted. "And that should more than bolster our already great power."
"That depends on how it's used, or rather who uses it." Megatron cast a glare towards Starscream, who only looked down with a slight growl, briefly making eye-contact with Schneizel.
"Our mission wasn't as successful as he had hoped." Onslaught said. "The amount of Red Energon we've recovered is barely enough for one dose as it is. Shockwave may find some use for it, but I doubt even he could reverse engineer enough to fuel our army."
"Perhaps not, but I am certain Shockwave will put it to the best use he can." Megatron replied. "And he himself has returned with a rather grand prize himself, his hunt being a complete success. And two more decrypted coordinates remain in play, and I have every confidence that Knock Out and my Nemesis will…"
The door to the bridge suddenly opened, catching all their attention as they saw that it was none other than Knock Out himself, his entire paintjob still a complete and scarred mess, and he was still fuming over it.
"Can you believe what those Black Knight brats did to me?!" The Decepticon scientist exclaimed, but Megatron was far from interested as he loomed over him.
"Did you retrieve the Relic?!"
"No, master." Knock Out reported reluctantly.
"Then I suggest you convince me of your continued usefulness by examining Laserbeak, Doctor." Megatron told him.
The sun had set on the mountain range as darkness filled the sky with the whole of Sigma Team pulling themselves out of their disabled Knightmares, Marrybell already helping Ashley out as Oldrin had already got out before pulling out Sokkia and Jean, with Leonhardt doing the same with Makira. Orpheus had gone over to the Agravain to see if he could help Wizard.
Ratchet's ambulance form had just arrived on the scene, Toto got out before Ratchet transformed as both went to see if they could help the group.
"Marrybell, everyone…" Ratchet addressed them.
"Knightmares are disabled, but still intact, mostly." Marrybell reported.
"What did this?" Ratchet asked.
"Some kind of sonic weapon… way more powerful than anything we've seen." Oldrin answered.
"Yeah… probably not some kind of ancient magic relic made by alien-robot Jesus or whatever." Ashley cleaned his ears out. "My ears are still ringing."
Toto noticed someone from their group was missing. "Where's Tink?"
The former Glinda Knights looked down in sorrow. It didn't take long for Toto figure out what happened, along with Ratchet.
"I'm sorry." Jean apologized. She didn't know the man as well as the others did, but that didn't mean she wouldn't morn him. Toto was already in tears as Oldrin ran up to hug her childhood friend, crying herself.
Even Ratchet closed his eyes in remorse.
"Please tell me that virus worked." Marrybell hopped.
"Soundwave took the bait." Ratchet confirmed. "But we won't know if the virus itself is successful until Soundwave accesses the Iacon database." He didn't reveal Toto's Geass, something she silently appreciated.
The group then looked over to the Agravain as it finally opened up and Orpheus helped out the masked man.
"Hang on Wizard, you'll be alright." He told him.
"Orpheus… I…"
However, it was only then that Orpheus saw that the Wizard's mask was cracked, and the cracks had spread up and down until, the mask itself broke in half.
Both pieces fell to the ground as Orpheus, Marrybell, Oldrin, Ratchet, Jean, Ashley, Leondhart, Makira, Sokkia, and Toto all saw the face of Oiagros Zevon.
The Nemesis
Megatron was in the ship's laboratory, overseeing Knock Out's examination of Laserbeak as Soundwave laid on the examination table. Given Laserbeak was the Mini-Con that sustained the most damage from Soundwave's report of the mission, it only made sense for it to be looked at.
Knock Out held his scanner over Soundwave's chest, but he found an odd reading that only caused him to look in confusion.
"What is it?" Megatron asked.
"An… obstruction of some sort." Knock Out replied, sounding a bit curious himself.
Soundwave then stood up from the table, detached Laserbeak from his chest and into his hands, opened the compartment to reveal the makeshift bomb inside.
"It's a bomb!" Knock Out shouted in a panic as he ran to the corner of the room, threw himself to the floor and held his hands over his head just waiting for it to explode.
"Ah that is clever." Megatron said in a tone that mixed impression and annoyance before addressing his cowardly scientist. "Knock Out, prepare to properly dispose of the obstruction."
Seeing how he had no choice in the matter, Knock Out took the bomb in his hands and ran out into the ship's hallways as fast as he could, while also taking care not to drop the explosive in his hands.
Right after he left, Soundwave put Laserbeak back as Megatron spoke to him.
"Soundwave, if we are to maintain any advantage over the Autobots and Black Knights…" Megatron was briefly interrupted by the muffled sound of an explosion from a short distance, accompanied by a scream from Knock Out that sounded akin to a cartoon character. He paid it little more than a curious gaze before getting back on topic. "Decoding the remainder of the Iacon Database must remain your top priority."
Soundwave nodded in understanding.
Orpheus backed away as he saw the face of his uncle, the face that all had now come to see. Wizard, the masked man who led the Anti-Britannian network known as Peace Mark was in reality, Oiagros Zevon, head of the Britannian noble Zevon family. The Glinda Knights each had their own expressions of shock as they recognized this man, even if it was the first time they've met him or not.
Ratchet winced, fearing this would happen. He was among the few individuals who knew Wizard's true identity.
"Who the hell is that?" Ashely asked bluntly, not recognizing the man.
"You idiot, that's Oiagros Zevon!" Jean scolded him. "He's the head of the Zevon Family! Or rather… he was given that Britannia's gone now."
"Eh, I never paid much attention to all that stuff." Ashley shrugged nonchalantly.
Bot for Oldrin and Orpheus… it was a completely different story.
Oldrin remembered it all. She remembered her mother, Olivia, dueling with her uncle. Swords clashed fiercely as brother and sister saw to end each other's lives, something the young Oldrin couldn't understand at all. Even as he cut her down and ended the life of her beloved mother
"Stay on guard Oiagros… My death is not the end of your journey… but the beginning."
"My life… has been wandering in the wasteland…"
"Uncle Oiagros… why…?"
The anger and hate Oldrin had for her uncle had never once left her body. It was the main reason she left her family to join the military, something Marrybell knew as well and hated the man for it, even more so as Charles never did anything about it even though Olivia was a Knight of the Round.
However, that anger and hate was felt two-fold for Orpheus. He himself recognized that face. The face of the same man, dressed in black, who led a squad of Knightmares into the village that took him in as well as his beloved Euliya… only for that man to burn it all to the ground and kill her right in front of him.
"Do you hate me, boy? If you do, come and kill me. If you can! All those around me… have a technique and talent beyond standards! We are Britannia's special forces! We are Pluton! If you are afraid, give up the fight. And devote yourself to an ordinary life!"
And as it turns out, the man he swore to kill and avenge Euliya, the man he hated more than anything… was also the same man whom he had respected and gave him purpose once again. Wizard was Oiagros!?
Before he knew it, Orpheus was seeing red as he gave a roar and punched his uncle across the face so hard, blood sprayed from his mouth as he was knocked down. He would have beaten him even further but Ashley quickly came up to hold him back.
"Hey! Hey! Take it easy, man!" Ashley struggled to hold the raging Orpheus back.
"You killed her!" Orpheus shouted to the recovering Oiagros, who could only look down in shame. "You killed her! You killed Euliya! You and your precious Pluton!"
Both Marrybell's and Toto's eyes widened more than everyone else here.
'He was a part of Pluton…?!' She truly had no idea about that. But then again, the children born and raised in the Geass Order shared no interaction with Pluton unless V.V. permitted it, and she had not received said permission.
'He was the one… the one who killed… Euliya…?' Marrybell remembered Orpheus telling her back in Castle Weisswolf the fate of her sister and how she was killed by Pluton from the Geass Order. And as it turns out, the man who caused her beloved Oldrin so much pain was also the same man who took her sister away permanently. She too, along with Oldrin, were about to rush and beat Oiagros to a pulp, perhaps even to death; but Leonhardt, Makira, Sokkia, Jean, and even Toto all tried to hold them back as well.
"Oz! Mary! Don't!" Sokkia exclaimed.
"It's not worth it!" Makira shouted.
"He-he killed my mother! Our mother!" Oldrin screamed out. "Mary's sister!"
"That's enough! All of you!" Ratchet stomped his foot on the ground, halting everything as all eyes set on him. "Listen, you all have every reason to despise him, some more so than others, but this is neither the time nor the place for it! Especially so soon after the fate of your comrade!"
Being reminded of Tink's death did bring the former Glinda Knights to a sorrowful calm, allowing them to release Marrybell and Oldrin, gazing at one another with sad expressions that also mixed with glares as they once again looked toward Oiagros as he pulled himself up and wiped the blood from his mouth.
Orpheus looked ready to rip him limb-from-limb like a rabid animal, but Ashley still held him back.
"Look man, I get it. Trust me, I do." Ashley told him. "But you gotta cool it. We don't even know what the hell's going on with this guy."
Orpheus stopped struggling, but his rage hadn't left his body, even as Ashley let him go. He then turned toward Ratchet with an accusatory look in his eyes.
"You knew?" The Autobot gave a single nod in confirmation. "Who else knows?"
"Optimus, Zero, Cera, and only our most inner circle companions." Ratchet explained, which also consisted of Bumblebee, Kaguya, Tohdoh, Ohgi, Kallen, Arcee, Bulkhead, Rai, and Ironhide.
Somehow that didn't surprise Orpheus, or even Oldrin and Marrybell.
"Look…" Oiagros finally spoke up, looking at all of them with an expression of grief and regret. "I… The things I've done… I won't make any excuses, nor will I ask forgiveness. But… I do plan to give you an explanation, at least understand why I did it. Just not here. Once we get back… and see if that virus worked… I'll tell you everything. And then, you can hate me as much as you want and decide what to do with me afterwards."
Orpheus glanced back to his twin sister, who mirrored his angered expression as well as Marrybell. The three seemed to come to a silent agreement.
"Fine." Orpheus accepted. "But you are not sneaking your way out of this!"
"If you try, we will hunt you down and end your pitiful life!" Oldrin declared.
"And even if we hear everything… that does not guarantee your life will be spared." Marrybell scowled.
"I understand." Oiagros nodded.
Marrybell turned toward her knights, with Makira and Leonhart nodding to each other as they went over to Oiagros and stood close to him. They wouldn't restrain him, but they'd be keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't try anything.
Ratchet then accessed his comns. "This is Sigma Team, we need a Groundbridge to our current coordinates. Be certain to send a retrieval team to recover the Knightmares as well, they need extensive repairs.
A Groundbridge portal quickly opened for the team as they all entered, leaving the Alps behind.
Back on the Nemesis, Soundwave immediately followed his master's orders and got to work on decoding the remainder of the Iacon Database. His tentacles attached themselves to the console as he began to type, accessing the Decepticon network and Nemesis mainframe, beginning his work.
Unbeknownst to him, now that he was directly connected to the mainframe, the implanted virus automatically uploaded itself into the mainframe, connection to the network and searched for anything related to the Iacon Relics, including information on Relics already obtained, and began to wirelessly copy and transfer all that data and information to where the virus originated from.
As Team Sigma exited the Groundbridge portal at Horai Island's outside perimeter, a Black Knight retrieval team, headed by Ganabati, entered the very same portal right after them in the form of several large trucks in order to retrieve all the damaged Knightmares back at the Alps.
"Ratchet! Everyone!" They all saw Nina running up to them with an excited look on her face. "Look!" She pulled out her personal tablet and typed in a few key commands to project a holographic display of Cybertronian script that Ratchet recognized immediately.
"The Iacon Database?!" He looked in awe and surprise, along with everyone else.
"The virus worked!" Nina said enthusiastically. "The database and everything on the Iacon Relics are downloading into Horai Island's mainframe as we speak!"
Ratchet gave a triumphant laugh. "Nina Einstein you never cease to surprise me!"
The girl looked away with a blush and bashful smile. She was immediately pulled into an affectionate headlock by Ashley and given a noogie
"Come here you little genius!" The redhead ruffled her hair, causing her to laugh as she tried to push him off, but Jean was able to pull them apart, but she couldn't help but smile.
The rest of Sigma Team couldn't help but smile with each other. Tink's sacrifice wasn't in vain. They may have failed to retrieve this Relic, but they might just have gained the means to get all the others, including all those the Decepticons have retrieved. Makira leapt into Leonhardt's arms as he twirled her around, both laughing; Marrybell and Oldrin smiled to one another emotionally as they held each other's hands, Sokkia of course interrupted their tender moment as she pulled them in close, but they still smiled, nonetheless. Oldrin then glanced to her brother, Orpheus, who merely smiled as he nodded toward her.
Even Oiagros smiled at their success. He knew he still had a lot to answer for and would be on the receiving end of such anger and hate, as he so deserved, but he was still happy that they were happy, and that Tink's death truly wasn't for nothing. He then turned in surprise to see Toto smiling at him, looking toward him with genuine assurance, causing him to return the smile as well.
"Oh, believe me, Soundwave will provide the coordinates to the remaining Relics." Megatron said to Starscream and Schneizel as they walked away to let Soundwave work undisturbed.
"Yes, we are most fortunate to have him on our side, Lord Megatron." Schneizel said. "I can't imagine the damage he would inflict upon us if here an Autobot."
"Perhaps you would do well to take a cue from him yourself once in a while, Starscream." Megatron told his second-in-command. "Primarily how to stay silent and achieve results. Just one triumph out of a hundred failures on average does not mean you've earned my favor." He said before walking away.
Once he was out of earshot, Starscream gave a growl before he slammed his fist into the nearest wall. "I did achieve results, today! I've brought our forces the most durable armor in Cybertronian history, and this is the thanks I get?!"
"You need only endure it only a little while longer, my friend." Schneizel told him with a sinister grin. "After all, his reign is about to come to a just and swift end. Very soon."
Another Groundbridge portal opened on Horai Island, causing Ratchet and the rest of Sigma Team, as well as Nina, to look in surprise.
"One of the others is teams is back?" Oldrin asked.
Nina looked at her data pad to get a reading. "It seems to be the Omega Team retuning."
"I can't wait to share the news!" Ratchet said excitedly.
However, Marrybell looked behind in surprise to see Euphemia and Diethard both running toward them as fast as they can. The pink-haired princess had a look of worry on her face.
"Euphie…? What is…?"
"THEY NEED HELP!" Euphemia screamed. "GET THEM HELP! NOW!"
Before anyone could ask what she meant, Orpheus noticed something coming out of the Groundbridge vortex, and coming in fast.
"DUCK AND COVER!"
They all moved out of the way just in time as several large objects fell out of the portal, which shut behind them, and crashed onto the ground.
It was Omega Team… or rather… what was left of them.
Bulkhead laid on his front, a large gaping hole in the back; Wheeljack was on his side, his right arm torn off; Ironhide was covered in steam and drops of lava, holding a critically injured Chromia close. Warpath landed on his back, his central canon ripped clean out from his chest which was gushing Energon. The only two Knightmares were the Raiden and Galeschin, the later had its entire lower half missing as Nonette climbed out of the cockpit, blood falling down from the side of her face.
The Raiden appeared to be in even worse shape, despite being in one-piece. It was covered in a sickly green-like substance, some of which appeared to be corroding or even partially melting away at the outer armor. But what stood out was a large slice into it's central chest area, as though it had been stabbed by something. The cockpit opened to reveal Tamaki trying to pull out the horribly injured pilot.
"HEY! GET THIS KID A DOCTOR! NOW!" Tamaki shouted as he pulled out Rai.
The kid was covered in blood, his left arm horribly mangled and twisted beyond words.
"No…!" Ratchet looked in horror, just as everyone else.
Done.
So... that all happened.
We had a rather epic battle with Ratchet and the Crimson Knights going up against Soundwave and the Constructicons. Sadly though, Tink lost his life in the process and the Decepticons succeeded in retrieving the Resonance Blaster.
On the positive side though, the virus was successful as it not only copied and downloaded the entire Iacon Database for the Autobots and Black Knights, it also gave them all the information regarding any other of the Relics that the Decepticons retrieved, notably the Forge of Solus Prime. You can expect that to play a big role later on.
I had a lot of fun writing those fights. And yes, we got the signature Ratchet scream as he was dropped out of the Grandberry (LOL), and we even got the Knock Out-Goofy scream too. :)
Let me explain something a bit about how Toto's Geass worked for this particular moment. It's not as strong as how Lelouch's is, so it can't affect normal Cybertronians directly. But Laserbeak is not your average Mini-Con, it is partially sentient so a Geass can affect it, and it's spark is not as strong as a normal Cybertronian (which was why Lelouch's Geass didn't initially work on Cybertronians back in R1, the energy of a Cybertronian spark was greater). And once it was hooked back into Soundwave, the Geass command to forget Ratchet and Toto's faces for this mission traveled to Soundwave and he didn't even notice, so there was no need to activate his Geass Canceller, and yes Soundwave does have one and he will be using it at one point in the future. I hope that makes sense and doesn't feel forced or like a Deus-Ex-Machina trope.
Oldrin, Orpheus, and Marrybell also know about Wizard's true identity as Oiagros Zevon, the man who killed two of the people they loved and caused them so much pain (especially Orpheus) and as you can imagine, they did not take it well. He will give them a full explanation in later chapters (the one after next even) and you'll just have to see how everything else goes.
But… Omega Team has returned from their mission at the equator… and are in pretty horrible shape. What in the world happened to them? I'm sure you can all take something of a guess based on the foreshadowing that took place over the few snippets of previous chapters throughout this arc. The final chapter of the Iacon Relic hunt arc is up next and it is going to be big!
Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there.