Chapter 23:
Vertigo consumed me as we passed through the portal, the swirling colors overwhelming my senses. Thankfully we were deposited on the other side just as quickly.
I quickly chucked myself off of Arcee, falling and grasping the solid earth beneath us in sheer relief. The world was still spinning and I wasn't sure if this reaction was due to the portal, or the mental whiplash of standing and getting scanned all day. It was probably a bit of both. I breathed in the fresh and cool air, slowly taking in my surroundings.
We were around what looked like a clearing. There was chirping and the cooing of birds, the rustling of the wind through the lightly forested area added a gentle noise around us and casted the shadow of the foliage into a scattering array. The trees were thin, with large moss covered outcrops pushing up from the ground in an uneven grass below my hands was soft and everything smelt pleasant. A definite improvement from the dry, concrete and metal smells of the base.
Ahhhh, la nature.
"Autobots." The sound of whirring transformation behind me brought my focus back. I looked over to the source of the voice and saw Optimus Prime standing at the entrance of a large cavern, the moss and vines neatly hiding most of the entrance.
"Sir, we're ready." Arcee confirmed. Prime acknowledged her with a head nod, before focusing on me. I got up and dusted myself off, before giving a dramatic salute to the big boss.
"Ready as well!" I pointed to the sensor Ratchet had given me, and looked back to Bee who buzzed in the affirmative.
"Then let's roll out." Pure happiness. That will never get old. They all turned on their high beams for light (so interesting). Bee stooped down and offered out a hand. Carefully, I got on, and Bee stood back up and followed at the back.
"Stay on alert." Prime commanded, everyone nodded and took out their weapons. Being extra cautious in case this deposit was truly too good to be true was smart in my opinion.
I noticed the necklace canister around Bee's neck glowing slightly, but thankfully it was barely noticeable due to the container. It swung back and forth with every step of the giant's feet.
Bee gently moved me to his left shoulder, and I scrambled on, gripping onto the seam of his shoulder armor for stability as I situated myself into a more comfortable position. I held onto the seam with my right hand, and let my legs dangle down. The position allowed me to keep my left hand free to shift my weight as I needed.
The cave went down down down, the light above us from the entrance fading as we went deeper and deeper. I felt the pressure shift in my ears. The coldness of the cave and the draft caused me to pull closer to Bee for the slight warmth from his wires and to use his neck to break the draft a bit. The plunks of water from the stalactites echoed across the cave space. The light from the Bots swept across the floor.
We came to a stop near a narrow split in part of the cave wall. Prime went first, his arm ready to fire at a moment's notice, Arcee followed and finally Bee and I in the back, with Bee turning around to walk backwards to ensure the group's back was covered.
I tried to focus, getting my eyes adjusted to the dark setting and avoiding getting blinded by the Bot's lights. My gaze kept returning to the necklace that held the rod inside…
The walls opened as we went through what I now realized was a far larger crack that I had initially guessed. The space we were previously in faded into dark obscurity as we passed through safely to the other side. Bee turned around and I couldn't help the small gasp that left me.
A large cavern space surrounded us, with what looked like hundreds of openings and sections. The largest features were the multiple deep pits in the ground, some shallow, but others probably led deeper below. A stream of water could be heard distantly but I couldn't tell from where due to the echo.
I look to the Bots and notice Optimus looking at a map on his left arm. It looked like it was struggling to get a signal, saying the blue depicted energon deposit was multiple places now.
"Hmm, should we split up?" Arcee suggests as she looks at the map next to the Prime. Optimus considered her words.
"Ratchet, can you see where the energon deposit is?" Prime asks solemnly. I couldn't hear the answer, so I waited. "Understood. Rachel will stay here," He nods. I frowned.
Bee's hand went up to grab me. "Wait, what's happening?" Despite my confusion I still got onto Bee's hand as he gently deposited me to the ground. Darn, at this moment, I really wished I had an ear-piece or something to stay connected to the base too.
"Ratchet has informed us where the deposits likely lay based on previous scans. The environment of the cave seems to be interfering with our coordinates. Still, Rachet believes he may have seen possible Deception activity. It has been decided that you will remain here, while Bumblebee scouts ahead. Arcee and I will continue towards the Energon signature."
Shit. Well, there goes a peaceful adventure.
"What about the rod?" I ask. Arcee put a hand to her ears, or uh, where ears would be on a person.
"Got it." She looks at me, "Rachet says he'll continue to track it, but to stay put here." She accentuated the order by pointing down. A clear 'down dog. Stay.' command if I ever heard it.
Great, wonderful. Still, a small part of me understood. I would interfere if they got into any trouble, so I nodded my reluctant agreement.
They began discussing amongst themselves while I found a nice dry spot on the floor to sit on. Taking out my flip phone, I noticed messages from the kids. Apparently a group chat was made.
The Rad Humans [Rock On!]
Miko: Send pics if u die!
Jack: Good luck! And stay safe!
Raf: I found an interesting article about the caves I thought may be interesting? Apparently there is a history of strange sickness in the area. Possibly due to the energon?
Just what I needed to add to my health problems, extra radiation. Alas, I can see my life span further diminishing before my eyes.
The Bots left, Arcee and Optimus going down one path. Bee looked over to me and I gave him a thumbs up. He pantomimed to me to watch out and stay quiet. Bee went out scouting where I assumed the Con signals came from.
This left me alone in a dark cave as the last light slowly faded. The echoes of water droplets my only friend. Alas, alas! Oh woe is me… wait this was actually kinda creepy.
I immediately went to settings to put my phone brightness to the max.
I texted in the group chat: Hey guys! Bots went to scout, I'm sitting still here at the entrance.
It's only when I hit send that I realized I didn't have any signal. The messages I had received were all from earlier. The bots could still get a signal, why couldn't I? Darn inferior human technology.
Sighing I looked up into the void of darkness above me.
In the dark darkness. Into the blackness. Sleeping while awake. What is real and what is fake?
...
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. The air felt stagnant and cold going through my lungs.
...
The quiet was… actually nice.
...
The trickling stream, the pitter patter of droplets echoing.
Something hard hit my face.
AGH! ShIT! What the hELL?! Shhhhiiiiiii-! My nose!
I covered my face with my hands, bitting my lips to stop any sounds escaping from me. A clanging sound echoed as something hit the floor. The unexpected pain, sudden and sharp, now settled into an aching throb, the pain focused especially on my nose. Something warm and wet dripped down my face.
Shit! Was I bleeding? I dab my fingers to the wetness, wincing at my touch, before bringing my hands into the low light of my phone. Sure enough, red. It was flowing enough that a few drops fell onto the floor. The hell?!
The cyan glow told me all I needed to know about the culprit, but at the moment I didn't care. What did I have to stop…? My clothes I guess. It wasn't ideal, but I brought my shirt up as a means to stop the bleeding and tilted my head back. I glared daggers from my awkward position at the stupid rod that had bounced a foot away from me.
After the shock withdrew, a foaming anger was all that was left in its place.
" You stupid, good for nothing, freaking rod!" I whisper at it. Grabbing it, I stood up and chucked it into the cavern space as hard as I could. It left my hand carouseling out into the open cave area, it's cyan color monetarily casting light on the cave walls and ceiling as it passed. Finally, gravity pulled it down, and I realized I'd chucked it towards one of the pits. It fell in, and I heard the clangs echoing as it bounced off the walls as it fell.
Eh, whatever, it'll come back.
I sat down, leaning my head against a wall with my head still tilted back, applying pressure to what I hoped wouldn't become bad swelling. Small benefits, at least it was cold in the cave, so that should probably help.
"Ah!"
Exactly! Painful-
I shot up, listening carefully.
That wasn't from me. It sounded distant and faint. Roughly below.
A chill went down my spine. My brain helpfully reminded me of possible Con activity nearby. I quickly grabbed my phone and closed it, plunging everything into darkness. I waited with bated breath.
A distant surprised, then angry, and unfamiliar mechanical voice echoed. I tried to pinpoint it, crawling closer to the cave wall.
Maybe it was the darkness playing tricks on me. It could just be Bee or Optimus with the added distortion of the cave!
More of those muffled unfamiliar voices came up, I could barely make out the voices coherently. One thing was for certain though, it was coming from the pit I'd just thrown the rod down. A nervous curiosity took hold of me. I slowly and carefully edged closer toward the sound and the direction I had thrown. My hand traced the cave wall to its end, to the edge where the platform sloped down to the cave floor.
There was no helping it, if I wanted to get closer, I'd have to use light. Maybe, I'd be best if I waited. If the voice was one of the Bot's, they knew where I was. They would come to me.
But if it wasn't. I just really, really just screwed up.
I carefully opened my phone, the sudden brightness immediately hurting my eyes. I quickly dimmed the brightness to a decent degree. Enough light so I could go down without falling onto these sharp rocks, but not enough (hopefully) to attract unwarranted attention.
I carefully came down the slope, praying the sound of the water would mask the sound of the rocks shifting. I slowly slid down, trying to make the least noise possible. It was slow going, but eventually I made it.
What was I doing? If anything moving further away should help. It would transport the rod thing back to me. Instead here I was getting closer.
My heart was pounding a mile a minute.
Slowly, crouching low to the ground, I made my way towards the hole. I tried to hide behind rocks and stalagmites as I made my way. I ended up stopping behind a large stalagmite near the pit. There was nowhere to hide that was closer. I closed my phone and waited, peering at the hole from behind the stalagmite.
If I saw blue eyes it was one of the Bots, and I would reveal myself. If it wasn't…
If it wasn't then what?
I waited for another voice to drift upward. Or sound. Or something .
I remembered the text I received from Bee once. Could I use it to send a message? Would it require a cell tower signal?
Nothing happened as the seconds ticked by. Maybe I didn't actually hear anything. The quite dark might have messed with my head.
I'd have to crawl back up that rocky slope. Ugh. And my nose still ached. If that glow stick stayed lost forever it wouldn't be the worst thing.
The metallic screech of nails on rock pierced my ears, jutting down my spine like a knife.
I barely managed to cover my mouth before a noise of surprise escaped. I still couldn't see anything.
Red eyes pierced the darkness, coming out of the pit. Metal claws dug into the rock as I heard the shift of the monster pulling itself out.
A/N: Continuing. I'm slow, sorry. I'm so slow, I'm thinking about releasing the future chapters I have now, even though we haven't gotten to the times/events. That was people who want to know where this is going (and how long we're looking here) can spoil the story for themselves.
This is a two part-er. Will have next chapter shortly.
As usual, I reserve the right to edit if I see a mistake or error.
Criticism's? Questions? Theories? Want to just say Hi? Comments are appreciated!
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Also Note: I do not own Transformers Prime, or Transformers, just the jumpscares
