Instruments of Destruction

Part 4

The Land of Confusion

By Nick Maro

Reality hit like a ton of bricks as the space bridge completed its journey from Earth to the alien word of Cybertron. The doors to the space bridge transport tube opened to find the Decepticon Shockwave and a squadron of his soldiers pointing weapons at the empty tube. Shockwave looked around in confusion. He was told to expect humans and a handful of Autobots. Yet none were in the receiving tube. Perhaps there was a mishap during the transport.

"Keep your weapons trained on the tube," Shockwave spoke in his echoing monotone voice. "I am going to scan the tube in case they are cloaked." He turned and began pressing buttons on a control panel. A screen next to the main monitor flickered on showing the inside of the tube. Shockwave pressed a few more buttons and waited patiently.

Inside the tube the Autobots and The Misfits sat in silence. The Autobots were talking silently between themselves on what they should do. Spike hoped the cloaking device that each Autobot was equipped with would hide their heat signatures from Shockwave's scans. His fears were heightened when Bumblebee began to roll slowly forward. He shrugged to The Misfits in the car. They carefully weaved their way past the Decepticon soldiers. Thankfully the door out of the room was open.

Bumblebee crept closer to the opening following Prowl's lead. Pizzazz was too busy staring in awe at the world around her to realize that she was in mortal danger. The whole world around her was metal. She looked at Roxy and Jetta behind her. Neither one was breathing hard. She looked at the monitor on Bumblebee's dashboard when Spike nudged her. She saw that Prowl was out of the room and heading down the corridor. Close behind them was the Autobot Cliffjumper. Hound was taking up the rear.

Roxy turned to look out the rear window at the giant purple Decepticon. The scan on the tube was finished revealing there wasn't anything inside. She felt Bumblebee start to move faster as he turned into the corridor. The hall was immensely large and of what looked to be polished metal. About three hundred feet up ahead was a closed dark blue door. She hoped that was the door out and away from the Decepticons. They truly did scare her to the core of her being.

Three long minutes passed as the convoy of Autobots and humans made their way to the exit. Anxiety was running high among everyone. The Autobots and Spike knew that Shockwave wasn't going to be fooled for long. They knew that he would eventually come to a logical conclusion and come after them. The idea was to get as far as they could before he did.

The blue door was only a few feet away when it opened. A Decepticon soldier walked through and glanced Prowl, disrupting his cloaking device. The Decepticon hit an alarm and Prowl broke his silence. "Okay Autobots, they know we're here. Split up and follow the plan. We meet our contact in the old commercial district in Iaconn City. Let's roll out and be careful out there." The police car sped off leading a Decepticon patrol away from the rest of the team.

"Okay guys you heard Prowl, let's roll out." Hound and the rest of the Autobots stayed cloaked as they sped away from the building that acted as a terminal for the space bridge. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper locked on to Hound's energy signature as they raced through the metal streets of Cybertron. Everyone except for Spike was not prepared for how Cybertron would look in person.

The two smaller cars stopped at a fork in the road. "Good luck, Hound. See ya in Iaconn." Bumblebee and Cliffjumper took the left fork as Hound went up the right fork. Bumblebee raced as fast as he could through the empty streets. Cliffjumper kept up his pace with the yellow car. They were both still cloaked, but Cliffjumper was almost certain that they were throwing off a massive heat signature from their speed.

"Everyone hold on this landing might be a bit rough." Pizzazz looked nervously at Spike when she saw what Bumblebee was talking about. The road was broken ahead but there was a road under the other. They were going jump down and take the lower road. Instinctually, Pizzazz checked her seat belt. Bumblebee chuckled. "That might be a good idea. Everyone strap in." He willed his safety belts to form around his passengers. Pizzazz looked out of the window to see that they were close to the edge of the road.

"I've got your back if the cloak fails, Bumblebee. You saw how easily it failed for Prowl back there."

"Hey, you got mine I've got yours, buddy." Bumblebee sped up as he closed the distance between himself and the chasm. When he finally reached the gap it felt like to everyone that he was still on the road then the sensation of falling hit. "This is gonna suck a bit." Bumblebee hit the lower street with a hard bump. His passengers all grunted as they bounced. He slammed on his brakes and turned around to watch Cliffjumper.

Cliffjumper was already falling by the time Bumblebee was turned fully around. The other Autobot landed hard on the edge of the lower road. The cloaking device flickered a few times before it went completely offline. Cliffjumper spun his front wheels hoping to get a good grip to get himself up. Bumblebee spotted an approaching Decepticon squadron. He quickly ejected the people who were riding inside of him while pulling his gun as he transformed. He ran toward Cliffjumper and fired randomly at the Decepticons.

With his wheels finally catching, Cliffjumper sped forward and transformed after everyone got out. He helped Bumblebee fire at the Decepticons. "So nice of the Deceps to give a warm reception, huh?"

"Yeah, although I would've preferred a cake." Bumblebee looked at The Misfits. "C'mon, we're almost there."

Bumblebee turned around and walked head first into a Decepticon seeker.

Rubbing her tired eyes, Jerrica held back a yawn. Since arriving at the Ark she hadn't slept at all. That was almost twenty-four hours ago. She couldn't sleep even if she tried. She was physically and emotionally stressed out. Jerrica tried escaping from her problems by looking over Starlight Music business. She turned off the monitor in frustration and walked out of her room. She knocked on Rio's door and entered. Rio had his arm draped over his eyes as he rested. "Hon, you awake?"

Sighing softly Rio shook his head from under his arm. "I'm drifting in and out." He sat up and blinked a few times to focus in the dim lighting. "Haven't you slept yet?"

"No," Jerrica sighed and sat on the bed next to Rio and laid her head on his shoulder. "I tried everything to try and sleep. Hell, I even read the overseas daily report. God is that dull."

"Wow. I'm impressed. You just mention that report and I want to fall asleep." Rio wrapped his arm around Jerrica and pulled her closer. "If you want you can stay here with me. We are engaged after all. I've also been meaning to ask you something else, but I guess it can wait until after all of this is over." Jerrica gave him her special look and he melted. "I was wondering if I could move in. You know while we make the wedding plans and all."

Jerrica sighed and pulled away slightly. "I don't know. What kind of message would this send to the girls? But I think having you around more would be a positive male influence on them. Not like they don't see you enough. It's just that they need to see you more often especially since we're getting married. They have to realize you will be living there." She stopped talking and looked at him. "I'm sorry. I was rambling. I do that when I'm stressed and tired and trying to make up my mind." She gave him a small smile.

Rio chuckled and gave her a small kiss on the lips. The kiss grew in passion and intensity as Rio pushed Jerrica down on his mattress. He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her deeply. His hand gently moved down the curve of her back as she moaned into his kiss. Jerrica's breathing quickened as she combed her fingers through Rio's hair. Slowly Jerrica broke the kiss and took a deep breath.

Outside Rio's door, Aja stood listening with the Starlight Girl Terri. They both heard Jerrica let out a small giggle and sigh. Aja felt herself blush slightly and led Terri away from the door. "Tell you what, Terri. You can sleep in my room. I think Jerrica and Rio busy."

"Busy doing what?" Terri looked up at the Chinese woman with curious eyes.

"They're having a tickle fight. An adult tickle fight. Just them."

Terri giggled. "Ashley and Deirdre say that they have monkey jungle love. What is that?"

Aja sighed and groaned to herself. "I'll tell you later when you're older."

Bumblebee looked up at the green and silver Decepticon seeker before him. He took a step back and stood side by side with Cliffjumper. The Misfits, Kimber, David and Kaori hid behind some debris in the tunnel. The soldier smirked and brought one of his arm cannons up, pointing them at the two Autobots. Kimber hugged one of David's arms while Kaori grabbed the other. Roxy and Jetta grabbed each others hands.

The sound of a loud engine revving caused everyone to turn and look behind them. A red and yellow blur jumped off of a make shift ramp and transformed in mid-air while pulling two guns. The new Transformer began shooting in mid-flip at the Decepticon as he landed, sending sparks into the air while he skidded to a halt. "Oh yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! Wooohoooo!" He kept shooting until the Decepticon fell over the edge of the gap. The newcomer turned and looked at Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. They both saw he bore the Autobot symbol on his chest. "C'mon, theres bound to be more on your exhausts."

"I don't want to sound ungrateful here, but who are you?" Bumblebee asked cautiously.

"Name's Hot Rod now let's get moving. I'll explain everything on the way back to Iaconn. Magnus is waiting for us there." Hot Rod transformed into what The Misfits thought was a sports car from the future. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper shrugged and transformed. The Misfits and the rest got into the cars. Hot Rod turned his lights on and led the Autobots down the dark tunnel.

"So, here's what I know. Prime contacted Ultra Magnus, the leader of the Autobot resistance here on Cybertron. He told Magnus that the humans have some kind of ancient tech that could be used as a weapon. So naturally Megs gets it into his chips that he must have this. So he sends his spies into the Ark and only gets about half of it. Now for the fun part, he sends you guys here to hide it from Megs and the Deceps. How? I have no idea. Magnus won't tell or say." Hot Rod led the small caravan through the tunnel that was gradually getting less cluttered.

"I'd say that's about right." Cliffjumper stayed close to Bumblebee and Hot Rod. "Have you heard from either Prowl or Hound? They acted as diversions so we could get to Iaconn safely."

Hot Rod stopped before a large door, after a moment it slid open and he drove through. "They're fine. Kup, Springer and Blurr helped them get away. I was assigned to meet up with you guys. Personally I think they were hogging up all of the action." Hot Rod pulled onto a platform, it began descending when everyone was on board. Hot Rod transformed and stretched his arms out as the platform revealed a busy command base. "Welcome to Autobase Gamma."

The elevator stopped with a slight jerk. Cliffjumper and Bumblebee transformed after their occupants got out. Spike turned slightly to the right when he heard his name called out. He smiled wide when he saw a young blonde woman in her twenties and a boy about seven running toward him. "Carly! Daniel!" He ran up to them and took them in his arms for a long hug. "I've missed you both so much."

Spike turned and waved The Misfits, David, Kaori and Kimber over. "Hon, this is Phyllis, Roxy, Sheila and Mary; better known collectively as The Misfits. And this is David, Phyllis' twin brother, Kaori, David's girlfriend and Kimber of The Holograms."

"It's so nice to meet you. I'm Carly Witwickey, Spike's wife and this is our son Daniel." Carly shook each of their hands and Daniel just smiled. She waved the new arrivals to follow her. "Come on. I'll show you where your quarters are and get you a change of clothes. Trust me. You'll need them up here." She gave Spike a kiss on his cheek and gave him Daniel's hand. "Finally, you and your son can have some bonding time."

Carly led the group of friends down a few large corridors to a more human sized one. "I can't tell you how happy I am to actually talk to some new people. Don't get me wrong, I love being here with the Autobots and all, but you just need to talk about things only a human would understand." She stopped at what looked to be a storage room. "Here we developed these to bring back to Earth and for any other humans that showed up."

Pizzazz studied the little objects that Carly had given her. The pair looked to be very small hearing aides. "What are they?"

"They help dampen the sounds of battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. When the fighting gets loud enough they filter out the sounds but you can still hear each other talk. It's very useful around here." Carly gave a slight shrug. "I don't know how they work exactly. By the way, this uniform I'm wearing is made from a metallic cloth. It's amazingly comfortable and a great form of armor and protection. You'll each be given a uniform." She led them to the dorm area of the base. "Welcome to Cybertron and Autobase Gamma."

The seven friends found a room and split up. David and Kaori went into a room together. Kimber and Stormer shared a room while Roxy and Jetta found their own room. Pizzazz put the sound dampeners in her ears and entered her own room. She looked around and took everything in. It felt so surreal that she was on an alien world and yet it reminded her so much of Earth. A low rumbling began in her stomach. She immediately knew what it was and ran for the bathroom where she proceeded to vomit. It was the last reaction she expected to have with arriving on an alien world.

Inside his office, Techrat searched through the inventory records of his newest acquisition, Fujiyama Industries. There were a few items listed that he couldn't find in any of the warehouses in the United States. He decided to check the warehouses and storage facilities in Japan. The one item that bothered him that he couldn't find was the project called Nightbird. The workers only spoke of it as rumor and in hushed whispers. He wanted to find out what was so terrifying about it.

Pushing away from the desk he rubbed his eyes from the lack of sleep. He'd been spending too much time inside and out of the natural light. Techrat stood and stretched, his back hurt from sitting so long looking at the computer. He walked out of his office and headed for the break room. A few of the employees were inside eating and watching television. They were watching more coverage of the Autobots arrival.

Techrat grabbed a bottle of water from the communal refrigerator. The story on the news caught his attention right away. The reporter was talking about rumors surrounding the Autobots before they had revealed themselves. One of the stories was about the Autobots dealing with a robot called Nightraven or Nightfalcon. He knew that she was talking about Nightbird.

Immediately Techrat pulled out his cell phone and immediately called Clash. The other end rang a few times before a very tired voice answered. "Hi hon," Clash tried to hide her yawn, "let me guess, you've lost track of what time it is." She paused. "Again."

"I guess I did. I'm sorry, but this is important. Remember how I was searching for that Nightbird project?" He took her silence as a yes. "Anyway, the news just mentioned that the Autobots fought a robot called Nightraven or Nightfalcon. I'm guessing that they meant Nightbird. So, uh, are you up for a trip to Oregon?"

Clash groaned into her phone. "Okay, I love you and all but it's almost three thirty in the morning. Can we talk about this when I'm awake or something? I mean, I just went to bed an hour ago."

Techrat nodded as Clash talked. "I didn't realize what time it was. I'm still in the bunker here. No windows, just clocks. I was searching those bloody inventory lists for hours. Give me a call when you get up. I'm going to make a few calls here and I'll see you later. Okay?"

"Yeah. That's fine, hon. Love you. Get some rest, too." Clash hung up with Techrat. He went back into his office and looked at the old address book that Dr. Fujiyama had. He searched for anyone who would have knowledge of Nightbird and the Autobots. Techrat felt foolish for never making that connection before between the two.

Spike led David down a few halls and corridors until he stopped before an unmarked door. He typed in a short code causing the door to slide wide open. The lights automatically turned on as they each stepped inside. David looked around at the walls carefully. It was an armory. He saw various energy weapons that lined the walls. Spike tossed a metallic cylinder to David. It was about a foot long with a button on the side. One end was capped off and the other looked to be open.

"Okay, I give. What is it?" David looked at it curiously.

"Hold the open end away from you and me and then press the button."

David held the cylinder to side and pressed the button. A soft snap-hiss sounded as a blade of energy shot out of the open end. He looked at the shifting energy blade as electricity ran over it. "Great. It's a freakin' light saber." David turned and smirked at Spike. "Does George Lucas know about this? I'm sure he wants his royalties." Spike let out a laugh.

"That's the exact same thing I thought when I saw it. It's actually a stun blade. It'll knock out humans and stun some of the smaller Transformers. Like Rumble and Frenzy. It's very useful for that. I wouldn't recommend you using it on someone like Megatron or Starscream. You'll just annoy the crap outta them." Spike shrugged casually. "I just figured you could use this since you didn't have your swords."

"It's funny that I remembered to bring them to the Ark, but I forget to bring them here." David spun the energy blade around. It made a slight hum in the air. It was very light and felt natural in his hand. He found a second blade handle and pressed its button. He spun the two stun blades around. The hum of the blades together merged into one sound. He shut them both down and smiled at Spike. "I work better with two blades."

"Take 'em. That's what the armory is for." Spike began gathering weapons and placed them on a cart. "Well, help me out. The sooner we get done here, the sooner we go find what Wheeljack is looking for. He said it was deep within Cybertron, but didn't say where. I guess Magnus knows or something." David started grabbing weapons and helped Spike load them on the cart. He wondered just what kind of resistance the Autobots were expecting.

Marveling at the true size of the planet they were on, Pizzazz studied the map of Cybertron that was on the wall of the briefing room. She figured the planet was the size of Jupiter. There was writing in both English and in Cybertronian on it. She spotted where Iaconn was on the map after a few moments. She kept studying the map as the doors opened behind her. The sound of heavy footsteps of the Autobots didn't bother her anymore. She was getting used to it and that began to worry her in the back of her mind.

"Need some help there?" a female voice sounded behind her.

Pizzazz shook her head. "Just looking, Mar—" she stopped mid-sentence when she turned around and found a pink and white female Autobot crouched down, looking helpful. "I could've sworn I heard Mary."

The female Autobot giggled. "I just got that from your friend Roxy. I'm guessing that there really only is so many vocal patterns in the universe. You're bound to find someone who sounds like you as well." She gave Pizzazz a smile. "My name is Arcee. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you earlier. I was out with some of the other Autobots. We needed to scout ahead for the mission."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Arcee. Now that I listen to you, you don't sound that much like Mary. There is a difference in your voices." Pizzazz turned back to the map. "Your planet is huge. How are we going to get to where we need to be?"

"That's a good question. There's a bunch of ways we can go. Many unexplored tunnels do exist. In fact, all of Cybertron has not been explored. There's a theory that Cybertron is what you humans call a Dyson's Sphere around a small star, but if that was true, we'd have all the energy we'd need. I'm sure one day Cybertron will be fully explored." Arcee straightened up.

Pizzazz took a look at the map again and shook her head. She was in awe that something like this could exist in the universe.

The idea for a concert was a last minute idea. Jerrica needed to get her mind and The Holograms minds off of their recent escapades. She was starting to feel like a prisoner inside the Ark, so she came up with the concert as an excuse to get out. The Starlight Girls came with her and the Holograms to shop for instruments in town when they went. Grapple and Hoist of the Autobots helped construct the stage.

Sparkplug was observing the construction of the stage with Jerrica. He reminded her of her own father. They spent long hours talking about their respective families. Jerrica learned that Janet, Sparkplug's wife, died giving birth to Buster, Spike's younger brother who was attending college on the east coast. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that he also didn't think much of the Autobots when they first arrived. But then he saw all of the good they were doing and that changed his opinion.

Jerrica was helping Aja set up the cables for Synergy to the stage. Optimus Prime thought it would be safest if they kept Synergy inside the Ark and she agreed. They didn't know what could happen during the concert. Trailbreaker was going to be near the stage with his force field around The Holograms and the stage. Jerrica felt much safer with that in place. She was beginning to see Sparkplug's point of view on things.

"So what do you think Kimber is up to on Cybertron, Jerrica?" Aja asked after checking a cable connection.

"I'm just hoping she's safe. Chip hasn't heard anything from them, but he said they could just be keeping radio silence." Jerrica gave a light shrug. "David is with her so I'm not too worried. I know he'll protect her." She checked the last connection and gave Sparkplug thumbs up in the control tower.

Flipping a switch Synergy came to life on the stage. Aja and Jerrica smiled at each other. The holographic projectors that Wheeljack put together were working perfectly. Synergy gave the two women a very puzzled look. "Where am I? And what's been going on?"

Jerrica brushed her blonde hair out of her face. "You're at the Ark, the home of the Autobots. As for what's been going on, I think its best you ask Teletran-One. I think you're connected to him." She waited while Synergy seemed to pause in place while she communicated with the other computer.

Out of nowhere an energy blast hit the control tower that Sparkplug was in. Jerrica and Aja looked around and found the attacker immediately. It was the Decepticons. Panic welled up in Jerrica as she ran towards the slow falling tower. Aja was close behind her yelling for Jerrica to get down. She ignored her longtime friend and continued toward the tower which was now on the ground in a crumpled heap.

The sound of the firefight caused Aja and Jerrica to cover their ears. They were both scared out of their minds. Jerrica began immediately pulling the debris away from the tower's collapse. Tears streamed down her face when she found Sparkplug. He wasn't moving. Aja moved more debris out of the way so that they could each get to him. She checked his pulse and his breathing. She couldn't find either.

Wiping her tears from her face Jerrica spat out a curse at both the Autobots and the Decepticons for letting harm come to this man. She wish they both would just destroy each other and be done with it then get the hell off of her planet.

TO BE CONTINUED IN "HUMAN TOUCH"

PART 5 OF INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION