TRANSFORMERS PRIME: MY WILD ADVENTURE. DARKNESS RISING: THE PLAN OF ATTACK
NOTE:
Hello all, I hope your day is going well. This story is not dead, as I've made some big chapter additions to the original on Wattpad (you can find me there with the same name). Some interesting OC content will be added as the story progresses.
INFO:
- "text"- regular speaking
- "text"- Sean thinking to himself
- "TEXT" - story transition
Music links: the custom soundtrack for the story.
BEGIN STORY
Saturday night. November 27th, 2010
Sean Rodriguez quietly sighed as Bulkhead drove off of the highway exit ramp and into the town of Jasper. He and Miko never talked much, and looked away from each other on the way home. She was still grumpy at how Sean shut her down at the Decepticon Warship, but likewise, she understood what he meant.
"Hey Sean, do you have Raf's number?"
He turned to face her. "Yeah." And he listed the kid's phone number to her, along with his own.
"Thanks," she replied.
"Hey Sean," Bulkhead joined in, "Arcee told me that when she and Bumblebee first picked you up yesterday, you ducked and covered your face upon seeing her. If you don't mind me asking, what was that about?"
The blonde teenager replied, "before I knew what you guys really were, I initially thought that you all had some sort of facial recognition tech, and you would try to find us on the streets after what happened at the canal. I ducked because I didn't want Arcee to identify me with my face."
Bulkhead almost laughed but caught himself. "That's pretty funny, and smart too. With all that's going on, kids, you have to stay vigilant. The Cons, as you all know, can transform into vehicles just like we do. Well, I believe this is the place," the robot finished.
Sean looked out to find his house again. His parents are both home, too. 'At least it isn't 10:00 pm like last time!' Sean thought to himself. For clarification, the time on his watch was 7:30 pm, two and a half hours earlier than yesterday.
Just as he was getting out, Miko asked him, "Wait, your family's in the army?"
She must have noticed the army sticker on his dad's truck. Sean knew that eventually, he would have to tell the Autobots and his new friends about his dad's involvement in the military.
"Yeah, my father is a d-"
"Well, that explains your knowledge of military bases! The bots will need someone like you, instead of that Fowler dude!" She exclaimed.
Sean rubbed his head. "Well, he's a drill instructor, not a soldier. There's a difference. He's the guy that yells at all of the troopers to get into workout exercises, and that kind of thing. Besides, Fowler's a government agent, so he knows a lot more than I do. Well, see ya guys."
And with that, he left to go inside. Miko and Bulkhead drove off to meet Jack Darby.
His dad, Tyler, was drinking a large glass of water when his son entered through the front door. "Hey Sean, you're early!" he greeted as they hugged. "How did your meeting go? I haven't seen you all day."
Sean did everything he could to hide the fact he went on board the base of an inter-planetary force of robots bent on bringing chaos to this world. So he said how he got to hang out with Jack and the others and worked on some of his homework.
"How did work go?"
Tyler explained to him that he worked on doing obstacle courses with the recruits, and had to do a lot more yelling than usual, hence the large glass of water.
Shortly afterward his mom, who was cooking dinner, embraced him with a hug before asking about his day. Sean explained everything again, avoiding the alien robot encounters.
THE NEXT DAY...
Sunday, November 28th, 2010
Sean woke up to his phone alarm buzzing. He quickly turned it on to see nothing but the clock saying 9:00 am in red text.
The blonde quickly shot himself out of bed before brushing his teeth inside the bathroom. Switching on his daily clothes, Sean put on his socks and shoes before heading downstairs. His mom was downstairs, helping dad cook breakfast. It was not long before it was ready, and Sean chowed down on pancakes, eggs, and bacon.
His phone buzzed. Upon pulling it out, he saw an email from his teacher. Sean managed to get accepted into this year's yearbook club. His parents noticed and asked him, so he told them the news.
Shortly after finishing his breakfast, Sean scrubbed his plate before setting it in the dishwasher along with his fork and knife. Two buzzes inside his pocket confirmed a text message. He pulled out his phone- indeed, Bulkhead texted him. "Hey Sean, it's me Bulk. Just picked up Miko, and now I'm heading over there to pick you up. Optimus Prime found something overnight, things just got a lot more complicated. Eta five minutes."
Thanks to his father's teachings, he knew what "eta" meant. But he was more concerned with the warning. Sean rapidly tapped on the phone screen, "Alright I'm getting ready. How bad is it?"
Within seconds, the reply was "We'll brief you more when we get there."
"Hey Sean, are you planning on going out with your friends again?" asked Tyler. Sean confirmed, "Yeah, I gotta work on my school project, it's due next week."
"Alright, you better get ready soon. Call us if you need anything, ok?"
"I will, dad," Sean reassured his father.
'If things are as bad as Optimus discovered, then I have a bad feeling about this,' he thought.
Later, after a few minutes, the green muscle car arrived in front of his house. Sean walked out with his backpack and lunchbox, eager to know what Bulkhead meant with his warning. It wasn't long before Miko rolled down the window of the front seat, exclaiming, "Sorry, spot's taken!"
Sean didn't say anything as he got into the backseat. Soon, Bulkhead drove away toward their destination.
MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE AUTOBOT BASE.
After a while of driving, Bulkhead and the two teens found themselves inside the Autobot base. Ever since they arrived, just as Bulkhead promised, Ratchet briefed Sean, Miko, and Raf (who arrived earlier) about the discovery. Long story short, the mathematic equation the teenagers discovered while on the bridge of the Nemesis was for the schematics of a space-time vortex generator, which is what allows a spacebridge to function correctly.
'Wait a minute,' Sean thought to himself. He remembered what Ratchet said when Raf asked what the "groundbridge" is: "A scaled-down version of space bridge technology. Since we don't possess the means of intergalactic travel..."
'So a space bridge is their way of traveling around outer space!'
"It was thanks to all of you that we now know what Megatron's plan is, his 'endgame' to be precise," Ratchet for once complimented them.
"We cannot allow Megatron to send Dark Energon through the space bridge. If we fail, the fallen warriors of Cybertron will rise, swarm through its vortex, and invade Earth, bending humankind to Megatron's twisted rule!"
The warning issued by Optimus Prime was well heard throughout the room. The kids shuttered in fear at the words. "A real-life walking dead," Sean almost cursed to himself, but the statement was heard by everyone. Rafael, who was standing near Bumblebee at the time, walked over to him.
"Only instead the zombies are robots in disguise! They can transform into vehicles, and have guns for arms!"
"Seeing the conditions the undead were in when we met with Megatron, I doubt they are smart enough to remember their vehicle forms!" Ratchet spoke up while looking at the big monitors in front of him. Bulkhead with his arms crossed snorted, despite having no nose like all animals do, "Well that's one less thing to worry about!"
"You watched the Walking Dead?" Miko, who joined in with the others, asked Sean, who nodded in reply. "I'm on the third episode," he added.
"I just got started on it last night!" She whined.
"Well now you got two hours of episodes to catch up," Rafael joined in. Just then, Bumblebee whirred and beeped, and the young kid had to talk to him about what the Walking Dead is about, leaving Sean and Miko by themselves. There was also Ratchet, who stood about six feet away from them.
"I bet Jack's watching it, too," the latter said to herself. The way she spoke seemed the conversation with Jack didn't go as planned. Sean felt that she noticed his curiosity, because afterward, she explained what happened.
Still, he understood Jack's decision to go back home. His meeting with Arcee at the burger place is the reason they all know each other, and given the recent tensions over Megatron's "main event" plan, he believes he is to blame for Miko's near-death experience yesterday.
"Optimus," Ratchet announced, "I've pinpointed the location of Megatron's spacebridge, high in Earth's orbit." "Out of our reach," the Prime concluded his thoughts.
"Okay, so you guys don't fly. But can't you just, groundbridge there?"
"A groundbridge has limited range," Ratchet explained, "stretched all the way into orbit its vortex could snap, and scatter us to the stars!"
Miko's jaw almost dropped to the floor. If she were in that situation, it's game over for not just the Autobots, but humanity as well. The argument with Sean yesterday rang in her head.
"Since Megatron may already be in transit, I am afraid we must take that risk. Reaching the spacebridge first is our only means of stopping him!" Optimus Prime spoke to his Autobots-in-arms.
And then there was a series of beeps from the entrance tunnel. Everyone turned their heads to see Arcee drive into the base before drifting into a stop. But what surprised them all was the person sitting in her seat.
Pulling out his helmet, Jack Darby announced "Hey, guess who's back?"
Guess who's back? Back again? Jack is back,' Sean sang in his head.
"Autobots," Optimus ordered, "prepare for departure."
"Where to?" Arcee asked, now in her robot form.
Before any of the bots could answer, Miko jogged over to the duo. "The final frontier!"
"Wait, as in space? I thought they didn't have a way to get there!"
"They don't, really," Raf said as Bumblebee gently lowered him to the ground. Sean spoke up for him, "Long story short, they can get there through the groundbridge, but according to our scientist friend here, there's a big chance the bots won't make it to orbit."
Ratchet grumbled at the phrase by the blonde human. Arcee, after Jack told her "be seeing you?" joined the others as the medic lowered the switch. The female Autobot shrugged as she joined Optimus.
"Be careful Bee?" Raf wished his scout friend luck, to which Bee whirred in reply.
"I'm so jealous!" Miko whined. Bulkhead shook his hand, "Don't even think about following me."
As the Autobots prepared for their arrival in space, Ratchet stopped Optimus in his tracks. "If you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans, I will never forgive you!" The Prime however replied, "Until we meet again, old friend." And Sean could've sworn he saw a smirk on the leader's face before forming his battle mask.
"AUTOBOTS, ROLL OUT!"
And just like that, they shifted their bodies into their vehicle forms, and they drove into the groundbridge tunnel at a thunderous speed. "Maximum overdrive!" Optimus exclaimed as the neon vortex swirled around them. Within seconds the light from the tunnel disappeared.
In the meantime, Miko prompted the others to go upstairs and listen to what was going on, which lessened Ratchet's stress about accidentally stomping on the humans. As Jack walked up with them, Sean asked him, "So how did Arcee convince you to come back?"
"Well, she's been through a lot recently. She and Cliffjumper were partners, so she's taking the loss hard. Arcee just didn't want to say goodbye to another friend."
"She already calls you a friend? We've only known the bots for three days."
"And yet, we've learned so much about them," Rafael spoke up. "They would do everything they can to protect us from harm."
MEANWHILE, IN OUTER SPACE.
"Autobots, transform and gravitize!"
The bots did just as told, before landing on the spacebridge platform with gravitational sensors attached to their feet. Bulkhead stumbled but managed to set himself straight.
Optimus caught the sound of a ship's engine. Turning to their right they all saw the Nemesis approaching the massive orbital object, before slowing down to a stop in front of the spacebridge.
"So Megatron's packed enough Dark Energon to raise the dead back on Cybertron?" Arcee asked.
"Indeed, Arcee. And since we don't possess ready means of disabling the spacebridge," he activated his arm cannons, "nothing gets in or out!"
MEANWHILE, ONBOARD THE NEMESIS
The Decepticons have already found their enemies arrive just before they did, all thanks to Soundwave alerting the energy signature of a portal activation from their energy sensors. The small gang knew they were being watched, but that didn't matter to them.
Megatron cackled before saying, "Optimus Prime never disappoints. Unlike you, Starscream!"
The former stammered, "No need for concern, master. Soundwave is locking onto Cybertron's coordinates, as per my instructions."
The leader stared at his subordinate before returning his focus to the Autobots.
MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE AUTOBOT BASE
All of the teenagers and Ratchet listened to the radio chat by the gang. Sean however was working on his homework- mainly the project that is due soon. However, his concentration was cut when Ratchet quickly turned on the radio chat between the Autobots.
But what caught their attention was the system's video feed of the spacebridge. Floating dangerously close to it was the Nemesis.
"The Nemesis is already there!" Jack pointed out.
"That's not good," Sean replied, "Shoot, this is not good at all."
"Well, what are they waiting for?" Arcee's question was piked on the radio.
"It appears the Decepticons have sustained serious damage to their interstellar navigation systems."
"Huh, that's my handiwork!"
"Great job Bulkhead! Without the dish, Megatron won't be able to aim the spacebridge at Cybertron!"
"Wait, don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?" Raf asked.
"Naturally. But Cybertron is many light-years away! To reach their target their aim must be astronomically precise!" Ratchet replied.
"If Megatron went with the trouble of rendezvousing with his spacebridge, he must have an alternate targeting system. A remote one." Optimus replied on the radio.
"Hmph, from what I know of Earth's technology I doubt there is a single radio telescope dish from this planet powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron!" The medic replied.
Rafael quickly headed over to a nearby computer and tapped on the keyboard. "What about a whole bunch of linked radio telescope dishes? Like the giant radio array in New Mexico?"*
Ratchet almost lunged at the kid. "Zip-tip-dip-tip! This is not child's play!"
"Good thinking Raf!" Optimus exclaimed on the comm channel, "Ratchet, have Agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security hazard."
As if ready for the queue, Agent Fowler, who was still on the hospital bed, woke up and blurted "You, soldier! You're out of uniform! Put on some pants!" before collapsing back onto the bed.
"That may be a challenge," Ratchet spoke on the comm.
Rafael walked over to the computer and logged onto the website, only to find the website doesn't exist. "I can't get past the erase firewalls, they're too thick!"
"You? You think you could keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet sarcastically asked him. "Maybe, if I could get in."
"Wait, what if we could get you all the way in. Inside the building in," Jack asked the kid. "I could log into their internal network on the other side of the firewall!"
"Absolutely not! The risk is too great! The Decepticons will be there, perhaps even on-site!" Optimus Prime spoke with worry on the radio.
He had a good point. Optimus knew that the kids cannot be at risk with the enemy.
But Jack stepped up. "Optimus, with all due respect, you've said it yourself. This is bigger than the safety of three humans!"
"Yeah! If we have the Cons win, we'll all be fragged, including everyone else on our planet!" Miko joined in.
"Plus, you've dealt with them centuries before you and your friends arrived here! But if there's one thing that helps us, it's that we're natives of this world, and we know how to deal with human technology. And since you're all way up there, we're the only bit of hope left," Sean joined in.
Optimus Prime knew in his spark that Sean Rodriguez never wanted to get involved- even all of the kids felt this way, especially Jack. But he also knew that the humans were right. Ratchet has to stay behind and help the Autobots, so naturally...
"Raf?"
The kid took a moment to gain his confidence. "I want to give it a shot."
"Alright, I'll let you go there. But if you are in any sense of trouble, or if Ratchet detects any Decepticons on site, you will be bridged back to base immediately. If any of you get hurt, the same will happen. Do you understand?"
Ratchet punched in the coordinates to the telescope station before activating the ground bridge. All of the teens ran through, with Ratchet sighing in relief the humans were gone.
And again, the tingly feeling returned. Their muscles began to vibrate as they ran towards the light at the end, which flashed and was replaced with the view of telescopes. By the time they jumped out of the portal, their muscles and bones were sore enough that they got slightly dizzy.
"That will take some getting used to," Jack groaned, before catching a glimpse of the station in front of them. Spotting a door in the main building, they quickly ran towards it before opening the door and heading inside.
I just hope we don't get caught by the cons or the security, Sean thought.
MEANWHILE, IN OUTER SPACE
"Surely Lord Megatron, the Autobots are up to something?" Starscream poked at Megatron. But he had eons of experience with the seeker, and knew his old tricks. So he turned around and sarcastically replied, "Really, Starscream?"
The seeker nervously laughed at his remark, which earned him a dirty look from his master. The latter turned and swung his fist at the alarm button.
"Crush them!" he ordered.
Shortly afterward at least a dozen seekers flew out of the hangar toward the Autobots.
"Here comes the welcoming committee!" Bulkhead readied himself.
Shortly afterward lasers began firing on the bots, who fired back at the seekers. The latter shifted into their robot forms and threw fists and blaster fire at the enemies upon landing on the spacebridge platform. Optimus was the first to fight back, as he grabbed one of the Cons by the head, shot at the head, then threw the body at another seeker.
Bulkhead, meanwhile, started throwing down his fists on the drone that landed in front of him. And then he looked up to see another one seeking behind Arcee, so he swung the body of the first drone around before shouting, "Arcee, duck!" and throwing it at the second drone. She ducked instantly, just to see what Bulkhead did, before turning around and firing her arm cannon up the chin of the drone sneaking up on her, ending his spark. However, more began to appear, so the assassin jumped around before activating her arm glavies and slicing up the enemies.
And during all of that, Bumblebee was busy helping the other three take them down.
MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE ARRAY OFFICE IN NEW MEXICO
"Where is everybody?"
"I don't think that many people work here, Miko," Jack replied as everyone walked down the hallway.
"We need to find the server room, but the room can be anywhere!" Rafael complained.
"We have to find it soon, the bots are counting on us to save the world from a robot walking dead," Sean reminded everyone. After a few minutes of walking, they saw a door with the label reading: RADIO ARRAY SERVER ROOM. Sean noticed there was a fire alarm switch next to the door, and he knew that Rafael was very sensitive to loud noises.
But it can also be a good distraction in the event Optimus Prime's warning comes true. Just in case...
"There's an alarm switch right outside this door. Just in case we get attacked by the Decepticons, I'll set it off."
"Wouldn't that alert all of the Cons to our location?" Jack asked Sean.
"Quite the opposite," Rafael supported Sean, "the Cons would realize that the alert would be transferred to emergency services, which would force the enemy to retreat from the building!"
...that's not what I was originally thinking, but that's a good point, Sean thought. Raf turned on the main computer and logged in with his account, before accessing the firewall controls.
"Alright, I'm in...and so are the Decepticons!"
"W-What?!"
Aw Crap!
"How can you tell?"
"It's the schematics," Rafael explained, which the computer, sure enough, revealed the same alien schematics they saw back on the Nemesis, "with the same alien math we saw on their ship. But this time, I can download it!"
Miko sighed, "It must be the spacebridge!"
"The Decepticons are syncing it to the dishes, but I can steal it from them!"
"Wait," Jack backed up, "will they know?"
"Even if the Decepticons see that I'm in the system, they'll have no idea I'm in the house!" Rafael typed away on the computer while his hard drive gathered the information. Jack turned to Sean, "Hey Sean, how's it looking out there?"
The blonde turned and slowly ducked under the door to see-
There was nothing in sight. He slowly opened the door to look out. Again, nothing.
"We're good for now. Besides, they're at least the size of large buildings- there's no way they can reach in here and snatch us away."
And then there was a soft wirring noise coming from outside. "Do you guys hear that?"
"It's the dishes, they're moving!"
"Double crap!" Sean exclaimed
MEANWHILE IN OUTER SPACE
Bulkhead just finished punching a seeker in the face when the spacebridge platform began lurching into place, with loud gears vibrating underneath the welded metal. "What just happened?"
"The Decepticons are locking onto Cybertron!"
Inside the Nemesis, the second in command, Starscream, watched as the schematics appeared on the screen. "Lord Megatron, the spacebridge is ready for activation!"
"Finally!" the warmonger sneered.
BACK ON EARTH- NEW MEXICO
"The Decepticons have locked onto Cybertron! But not for long!" Rafael exclaimed as he typed away on the keyboard. Within seconds, the noise returned. "The dishes are down!"
"Thank God!" Jack sighed.
Sean quickly texted on his phone to the bots. "To all: Cons are here on the radio array. Raf is wrestling for control over the arrays with them. No hostiles yet. - Sean"
OUTER SPACE
The Autobots again felt the gears turning underneath their feet. Instantly Bumblebee cheered in beeps and boops.
"Indeed, Bumblebee. This can only be Raf's doing!"
"Starscream! What is happening?" Megatron's head shook in frustration. The latter stammered before giving up and demanding Soundwave a status report.
Back on the spacebridge, the Autobots were watching more seekers approaching them. "Optimus, Sean just sent a message. The Cons are at the building with them, but have not engaged in combat yet! But the Cons are fighting for control over the spacebridge!"
"That's good to hear, Bulkhead!"
NEW MEXICO
Soundwave was busy giving the data to the Nemesis when he heard the order. He quickly hacked into the camera systems and searched through the feeds before discovering what- or who- was interfering in their plans. Four humans were in the server room.
"HUMAN INTERFERENCE. WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM. WON'T TAKE LONG." was the message to the Decepticon command.
"Argh! Blasted humans; always interfering or getting in the way!" Starscream threw his hands in the air. "It's always the humans!"
"The dishes are locking back onto Cybertron! I'll just undo that again."
"Anything?" Jack asked Sean. He looked out before shaking his head. "Nothing yet."
"What happens when the Decepticons realize they're being punked?" Jack asked Rafael. "It's only virtual combat, like online gaming!"
"Yeah, Jack!" Miko said, "What are the Cons gonna do? They're probably like a thousand miles away from here!"
Sean, who was busy watching Raf do his work, turned around to look out the door, when he noticed-
It was slightly opened, and something approached the room. Realizing what it was-
"Guys WATCH OUT!"
Jack and Miko immediately swung around to see Sean slam the door shut, before something immediately banged against it- hard.
"It's them! Get yourselves ready!" he exclaimed.
"Scrap!"
Sean gripped the door handle and pulled it towards himself as much as he could. Another bang echoed from the metal door. Rafael began typing faster.
And then the Con tried opening the door. Sean with a firm grip swung the door back in, still gripping the handle.
"I won't let them lock on again!" Raf said to himself.
"Raf, wrap it up quick!" Jack almost shouted. Miko stood by in a defensive stance. He agreed, but noticed that the downloading process is at 98%. "Just a little more!"
The machine pulled the outside handle harder, and Sean swung the door back in. But the Con had enough and pulled again with such force the door itself was dislodged. Sean nearly fell face-first onto the floor, but caught himself. But as he was getting up, the tentacle slammed him into the wall on his back.
"Scrap! Sean is down!" Jack shouted.
The tentacle flew inside the room, and from there it was chaos. It attempted to reach Rafael, but Jack and Miko grabbed ahold of the tentacle and moved it away from him. But it was very fast and strong, for soon it flung both against the wall.
Sean groaned as the pain from his bruise three days ago worsened. Dammit, this is going to *&%#+&$ hurt.
He slowly got up to see the tentacle moving around the room, attacking the others with incredible speed. His adrenaline kicked in almost immediately. I don't care who this Con is, but he doesn't know that I won't go down without a fight, especially if he hurts my friends!
"I got it!" Rafael shouted, before unplugging the hard drive from the computer. Just as he did so, the tentacle lunged itself at the boy. He dodged, but the computer was kicked off the table, removing all virtual evidence of the schematics remaining.
"Sean!" shouted Jack. "Pull the fire alarm!"
"You got it! Everyone, plug your ears!" Sean replied. He ran over to the switch near the door, and quickly pulled the lever. The lights began flashing while the alarm blared across the building. But whoever was attacking them didn't seem to care about this at all, as the tentacle continued to assault the teenagers.
Raf quickly covered his ears and put on his backpack.
"Miko, the fire ax!"
Instantly she grabbed it from the box inside, and swung it down onto the tentacle's main body. A loud CLANG ruptured from the impact, but the axe barely dented the metal skin. Miko threw it down again, only for the arm to slam itself against her, knocking the axe out of her hands.
Sean was about to rush in when he spotted the arm grab the axe from the ground. 'Oh hell no!'
He dashed inside and proceeded to wrestle control with the lone Decepticon over the axe. However, the Con was not planning to kill the humans, as the arm began to retract itself from the room. Sean held on, mustering his strength to pull the axe from its metal claw.
The arm slammed Sean onto the hallway wall as it approached the double door, nearly knocking him unconscious, but he blocked the impact with his left shoulder and arm. This unfortunately made him lose his grip on the metal arm, and he fell down onto the floor, just before the double doors.
His back and arm were roaring with great pain. Sean struggled to get himself up but heard the rapid footsteps of his friends. "Sean! Are you okay?"
"It's a lot of bruises, Raf," he coughed. Then he realized the real problem, and quickly got up and swung open the doors.
The room was large, massive enough to house at least one or two Decepticons, if they crouched low enough. In front of them was a series of wires connecting the server room to the different radio arrays, and the power station nearby. Overhead was an arched window that stretched vertically across the ceiling, allowing the sunlight to come through.
The rear end of the window was smashed through, and already standing on top of the roof was a giant figure. It was the Decepticon that attacked them earlier.
Even though the giant robot was already on the roof, it must have heard them from inside, because as soon as they saw it, the giant turned around to stare right back at them.
This Con looked different from the ones they saw yesterday and the day before. Those drones had almost no face except for a red visor for the eyes. And they were about as large as Bumblebee. This one looked taller than the drones, but with a slimmer body shape. The arms were nothing but flat metal sheets painted dark grey. The whole Con was gray, except for a few areas where purple lines illuminated.
But perhaps the most notable feature was the Decepticon's face. Like the drones, no facial features at all; no nose, no eyes, and no mouth. Instead, there was a flat-screen on the face, in the shape of an upside-down triangle.
"Woah."
Sean noticed the Con was watching them before its facial screen appeared to flash. And then it shifted before flying away as a jet.
"Why's he leaving?"
Rafael noticed the axe from the server room was there in the giant room, except it was resting on a set of wires. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the ax cut the wires in half, and those wires were connected to the server room and the radio dishes. Small sparks flew from the ax.
"He cut the hardline. The dishes are locked onto Cybertron, for good."
Oh s***, this is not good at all.
Jack's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to answer the call.
"Jack, the alarm has been activated at your location. What happened?"
"We have bad news Ratchet."
OUTER SPACE
The schematics for Cybertron's coordinates have finally been transferred to the Nemesis computers.
"Now, Starscream?" Megatron impatiently asked.
"Now."
The seeker pushed a button. Immediately Megatron watched the space bridge illuminate a familiar bluish/green light. The massive teleporter has been activated.
Smirking, he turned and left the bridge, before entering the laboratory that contained the massive Dark Energon crystal. The warmonger grabbed a hold of the crystal, which was pretty heavy for a giant such as him. As he was lifted onto the top of the ship by the helipad, Megatron laughed inside of his mind. "At last!"
Mustering all of his strength, he hurled the massive crystal toward the space bridge. Meanwhile, on the spacebridge platform, Optimus Prime noticed the giant Dark Energon piece flying through. He fired his arm cannon, and the crystal was barely moved by the lasers.
Optimus and the other Autobots watched in absolute dread. "Scrap, what the hell are we supposed to do now?" the thought ran through their heads.
CYBERTRON
Cybertron, the dead world that once ran on the All-Spark, has been silent for a long time. Due to Megatron corrupting the All-Spark with the Dark Energon thousands of years ago, the massive planet core shut itself down to prevent more lives from being corrupted. This unfortunately meant no more natural Energon, or life being produced. However, this also meant the planet can run out of Dark Energon on its own, which it has been empty shortly afterward. The planet has been a lifeless world...
...until Megatron hurled the Dark Energon crystal through the spacebridge portal toward the massive cemetery of former Autobots, Decepticons, and the Cybertronians that lived before the Great War ever started. Not even Jetfire and the seeker Autobots were safe from the destiny that befell their bodies eons after their last breath was exhaled.
Despite being dead, Cybertron still had a working atmosphere, which meant that when the crystal approached the planet, it began to burn up on entry. After a few seconds, it crashed into the metal fields near Iacon.
Pretty soon, the effects were worldwide. Corpses of robots long slain by the enemy slowly woke up, hungry for food. Hungry for life.
And then one loud command echoed in their minds:
"ARISE, MY LEGION!"
The will of Unicron overrode their emotions. For there is nothing but the hunger to consume the living.
BACK AT THE AUTOBOT BASE ON EARTH
The kids walked out of the groundbridge tunnel, all with grim looks on their faces. When Ratchet called Jack earlier, he was informed of what happened: despite all of their efforts, the Decepticons beat the humans, permanently locking the dishes onto Cybertron. The news were then relayed to the Autobots stuck on the spacebridge.
"This is not good."
Rafael sat on the chair, grabbing his hair in disbelief. Jack stared at the computer monitors, watching the Autobots' progress. Miko and Sean sat near Raf to calm him down, but deep down they were afraid, too. Despite their best efforts, the Decepticons beat them at their own game. With the radio arrays permanently locked onto Cybertron, humanity has at least a few more hours before the zombie army wipes them out.
But there is some good news. Agent Fowler woke up as soon as the kids arrived. The electric energon shocks did a number on his brain, but he managed to recover thankfully.
"So, you're working for the bots now, huh?"
"Well, we didn't have any other choice, especially now," Jack replied.
"Now is an exception, but after the Bots take care of the Cons, we're gonna have a talk with Prime."
Jack sighed, he knew that this would eventually be brought to the rest of the Autobots. He looked back at the screen-
The monitors depicted the spacebridge and its vortexes on both sides, showing Earth on the bottom and another planet on the top. An alert popped up on the screen, which enlarged the second planet.
"Wait, what's that?"
Ratchet took a good look at it before muttering quietly to himself. He turned on his comm channel to the gang, and addressed Optimus directly. "Optimus, I'm registering a rapidly expanding mass in their spacebridge vortex. All of which have a peculiar energy signature."
"Dark Energon," was the immediate response. "Ratchet, we must destroy the spacebridge! There is enough live Energon coursing through it to achieve detonation! But we lack the firepower to detonate it!"
"If I knew how the space-" Ratchet said, before realizing something. He quickly turned to the kids. "Did you ever find anything about the space bridge?"
"Yes, Rafael managed to download the schematics on his hard drive."
When the medic appeared confused, Jack explained what a hard drive was and how it worked. "I see," Ratchet stroked his chin. "Is there... any way you could upload it to the monitors?"
Rafael immediately got the idea, and nodded, before plugging in his computer to the large set of machines and inserting his hard drive. Within moments the files of the schematics were seen on screen.
"Optimus, I must say, the spacebridge is our sole hope of ever returning to Cybertron. Are you certain its destruction is the only option?"
"I am afraid so," Optimus Prime replied, with a hint of grim in his voice.
"Look," Ratchet turned to see William Fowler leaning on the fence, "I may not speak on all behalf of the Earth's militaries, especially for this country. But Prime has a point. The Decepticons, including you, are technologically superior compared to the human race. Despite how good Raf was at coding, he lost to just one Con. I'm afraid not even the most powerful hackers in the world, or maybe even the most destructive weapon can stop them. This is the only way."
Ratchet mentally groaned, he really didn't like staying on an alien world, but common sense was evaporating all his doubts. Turning to the screen he exclaimed, "Then, by all means, let us light our darkest hour!"
Sean and the others proceeded to watch the green monitors. It's up to all of you now, he thought.
THE SPACEBRIDGE
"Autobots, take your positions, and follow Ratchet's lead!" the Prime ordered his fellow bots. Detecting a particular Energon signature, he turned around to face the Nemesis. "While I make my stand!"
After a few seconds, a massive jet flew in from the massive warship, before shifting into his robotic form. Megatron landed near his old arch-nemesis.
"Your fellow Autobots are wise, Optimus," the warmonger growled, "for they know when to retreat!"
"I hold no illusions about engaging your army, Megatron. But I might derail its objective, by removing its head." The Prime replied, before activating his wrist blade.
Megatron laughed, "Highly unlikely Optimus, as I am infused with their very might!"
"One shall stand," Optimus exclaimed, "one shall fall!"
Megatron activated his large wrist blade underneath his purple cannon, before rushing in with a mighty roar.
The two giants clashed and clanged their metal swords against each other, each threating to break and attack the body. Both swung their blades with incredible speed and precision, with thousands of years of experience. Optimus punched Megatron in the face, which ended up pushing the rival about six dozen feet away. The Prime stormed after him, and swung down on his head, but Megatron blocked it with his blade. His rage swelling, he pushed Optimus away before swinging at lightning fast speeds.
THE AUTOBOT BASE
"Those things are getting closer," Agent Fowler observed. "How much time are we talking before they cross the bridge?"
"By my best calculations-"
"Ratchet, we're in position!" Arcee announced through her channel.
"Arcee, pay close attention!" Ratchet said, just as Rafael pulled up a close eye view of the schematics. "We have approximately eight minutes before the undead cross the bridge!"
THE SPACEBRIDGE
Megatron swiftly punched Optimus in the face, before kicking him in the belly, and slicing his blade in half. He then punched upwards, which lifted Optimus off his feet, before Megatron grabbed his foot and slammed him onto the ground chest first, before throwing him aside.
Sparks flew out as Optimus prime struggled to get up. Megatron waited for this moment for a long time, to crush the Autobots' hope of survival. He readied his blade-
"Master?"
"Starscream, what is it?!"
"I do not wish to question your all-seeing wisdom, but I believe the Autobots are up to something again. They are beneath your bridge this time."
"Ah, misdirection, Optimus! You would've made a fine Decepticon!"
He swung his blade down with no hesitation, but Optimus stopped it yet again with his broken blade. "I chose my side."
He lifted Megatron's blade up before rapidly shifting his arm into a cannon and firing point-blank at the enemy. Megatron was knocked back, before regaining composure and flying away in his alt-mode.
"Starscream, my army approaches! Rendevouz with the space bridge for pickup!"
Meanwhile, underneath the space bridge, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee were following Ratchet's directions. Bulkhead and Bumblebee stood guard while Arcee did the maintenance work.
"Now follow the line from the flow regulator to the Energon pump, there should be a valve!"
"I see it!" she exclaimed, before pushing a button. The pump moved upwards.
"Good, so turn all that power against itself. All you need to do is reverse the current!"
She did as instructed, and it made a humming noise. "Current reversed!"
"Yes!...right?" Agent Fowler's voice was heard on the radio.
"I'll ready the groundbridge!"
"Uh, guys? I think I see him!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
As soon as Megatron approached, they opened fire on him. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to slow him down. Megatron fired his lasers at them in return, knocking Arcee off of the platform.
"Scrap! Arcee is down!"
Meanwhile, the spacebridge began to malfunction, and energon began to explode from the steel compartments. The platform ruptured violently as Optimus Prime ran from the platform.
Megatron, realizing what they just did, swung around to meet up with his army. Soundwave projected that the ETA for the army's arrival was 30 seconds.
But Starscream also knew what exactly happened, those Autobots managed to reverse the current of Energon influx from its storage capacity. Without the Energon needed to stabilize the machine...
The second in command ordered the ship to withdraw from the spacebridge immediately.
Megatron already shifted into his robot form to greet his undead army, but he knew that the spacebridge was growing unstable. He just needed more time.
"Starscream? Where is my ship?!"
"We would never make it! Megatron, don't be a fool! Take flight and retreat!"
Meanwhile, Optimus was running towards the edge of the platform as fast as he could. Ratchet spoke to him on the radio, informing him the groundbridge was ready.
"Autobots! Jump!"
And with that, they deactivated their gravitational sensors and jumped from the exploding platform. Optimus was the first to go, before Bulkhead joined in afterward. Bumblebee managed to capture Arcee from drifting away, and jumped through the groundbridge portal. Shortly afterward it closed.
Meanwhile, Megatron noticed his army was closing in quick. Just a few more seconds...
"My legion..."
But massive blue explosions informed him that that plan was about to go wrong. He was so close, he had the power of Dark Energon to command all of Cybertron's dead.
"No!"
The spacebridge broke itself off, and began to suck itself in before erupting into a massive explosion, severing the link between Earth and Cybertron. Speaking of which, every single undead Autobot and Decepticon were already off of the dead planet, and were close before being incinerated by the explosion on the other side. Their bodies were destroyed into tiny fragments, removing all traces of Dark Energon from them.
"Decepticons," Starscream spoke, while the crew present on the bridge were silent. Soundwave couldn't believe it either, but he could not allow his emotions to cloud his judgement.
"It is with great sorrow that I note for the log. Megatron's spark has been extinguished. I know that many of you are in great denial. How could such a powerful leader as Megatron lose his life so quickly? My fellow Decepticons, do not allow the grief of our leader's passing to cloud your judgment. Do not slacker off and lose your hope so easily; his spark would not allow us to suffer such excuses. No, now is the time to reconfigure our plans of ending this war. We have suffered great trials before, where the Autobots gained significant advantages over us. The death of Megatron is no different. Save your taste of vengeance against the Autobots when we confront them later on. They have adapted to our methods, and we need to adapt and counter their aggression by all means necessary. This edge of space is new to many of us, and we have to adapt to the conditions of this remote garden world and its system. For now, we have great work to do."
The Decepticon troopers were impressed, and many began clapping. Even Starscream was impressed at his thunderous applause, for he has betrayed Megatron many times before. Soundwave knew that the seeker was right, for they must get back to work and gain an advantage over the Autobots sooner or later. But at the same time, Starscream has greedily waited for this moment for so long. Yes, he had his time governing the Decepticons during Megatron's absence, but feeling the satisfaction of taking it from Megatron himself was his spark's greatest desire.
"All hail Starscream." the seeker quietly muttered.
MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE AUTOBOT BASE
"Spacebridge destroyed!"
The teenagers began cheering loudly, Miko being the happiest. Rafael covered his head and looked back and forth between the main monitors and his computer, double, no triple-checking to make sure what happened was real. Sean sighed in relief, covering his face in utter shock. 'Holy crap, we just saved the world.'
"Alright, settle down, we can celebrate later," Ratchet grumbled, before focusing his attention on the groundbridge tunnel, the humans following suit.
"How are the bots?" Agent Fowler asked.
"Four life signals, one very faint," Ratchet answered as he watched the said life signals on his wrist computer. Just after he said this, the tunnel portal opened, and they all saw who came in.
Optimus arrived first, staring at the humans in silent relief. Everyone noticed the countless scratches on his arms, chest, and shoulders.
Bulkhead came in second, looking a little tired. But the welcoming shout by Miko brought his attention. He was just very glad she was in one piece.
'If they're fine, then who could be dying?' Sean thought to himself.
The last two arrivals confirmed the answer as Bumblebee rushed in, carrying Arcee in his hands. She was limp, and unresponsive. Jack ran to the yellow scout and stared in disbelief into her eyes.
"We lost one this week- by the Allspark don't make it two!" Ratchet was worried.
Jack Darby didn't believe it for once, there was no way she is dead. He walked up to her and softly touched her hand. Sean was late coming down, but he was cautious around the giants. By the time he approached Miko, he saw Arcee's eyes were opened.
"Jack, really? There are other motorcycles in the world." She muttered.
"But, you're my first."
While Sean admitted it was heartwarming to see her survive, Ratchet inquired as to what happened to Megatron. "Not even he could've survived ground zero." Optimus replied.
"Prime!" Agent Fowler called. "I didn't get to thank you bots for the save. I owe you one; we all do. We will talk about the kids later," he said as he entered the elevator doors. And with that he departed.
Bumblebee helped Arcee get to her feet, which she easily did. She looked upon the four humans with contempt, especially towards Jack. Her smile proved that she has earned his trust.
But Miko interrupted the scene with a very important question: "So, is this the part where you say goodbye and tell us to forget we ever saw you?"
Optimus Prime stared down at them, and thought about it before giving an answer.
LATER...
Long story short, due to the death of Megatron, the Decepticons won't be leaving anytime soon. In fact, with Starscream in charge, he will start going on incredibly risky missions with the Decepticons, something even Megatron would not approve of. The others will swear revenge on the Autobots and fight harder than they usually do. And because Sean, Jack, Miko, and Rafael have gotten themselves involved and seen by the Cons at least three times, there is no doubt that they have been labeled targets. So, they're stuck under the care of the Autobots. Optimus Prime took advantage of the fact and said that the kids must limit their time outside as much as possible, due to the fact the Cons might be spying on them as cars.
By the time the Bots got back from their mission, it was around 12:00. Even the kids couldn't believe that time flew pretty fast throughout their mission. And by then, they were getting hungry. Out of all the kids, Jack forgot to bring in his own lunch, so he ended up sharing with the rest.
Throughout lunch, the Autobots were being checked for any damages by Ratchet. He worked on Optimus and Arcee the most, and it took a lot of welding to do, and the kids thought it was cool to watch the whole thing.
And then there was a discussion among the kids where they talked about that adrenaline experience back at the radio array station.
"Out of all of us, you took the most beating Sean," Miko said. "That's crazy."
"Yeah, I wrestled with one tentacle from one giant Decepticon, and one single-arm was strong enough to give me more bruises on my back and my arm."
"How bad is it?"
Sean tried moving and stretching his back and arm. They were very painful, but otherwise, they weren't broken. "It hurts, but I'll make it."
"I'm sorry, did you say one tentacle?"
The kids turned to see Bulkhead nearby, and little did they know that the other bots were listening carefully. "Yeah, the Con had a tentacle for one of its arms," Jack replied. Noticing the concerned looks, he asked "Why? What's wrong?"
"Are you sure it had a tentacle? Did the Con look...how do you humans call it, skinny?"
"Yeah," Miko said, "I took a photo. Here!" She pulled up her phone, and showed the image to Bulkhead.
"Soundwave..."
"Who?"
"Soundwave is the Decepticon's best recon and intelligence-gathering agent in the whole army. He is in many ways one of the most dangerous Decepticons. That makes a lot of sense now," Ratchet spoke aloud.
"All the more reason to stay cautious when outside."
Throughout the rest of the day, Sean and the others resumed their homework. Within the next few hours they finished most, if not all of the weekend homework; all that's left is the science projects, but by then there wasn't enough time to finish them today. By the time 5:30 rolled around, the Autobots took the teenagers home. This time, Optimus drove Sean home.
None of the humans couldn't believe it, they saved the planet from a zombified alien robot invasion. And their parents and everyone else will never know of their sacrifices. This did bother them, but at least they can enjoy the time with each other.
When Sean finally arrived at his home, he embraced both of his parents with a big hug. He told them that he got his homework done.
'And I and my friends saved the world,' he thought to himself.