Song: Nothing Else Matters - Marlisa
Arcee followed Megatron and The Matriarch back to Iacon's remote nexus. It lay surprisingly in a crater with several space bridges pointing inward to the center. She could tell the bridges had seen far better days but watching a few Vehicons and the Constructicons touching up rough patches was a good sign the maintenance was extensive and progress in terms of functionality was most likely completed. Several Dinobots and Predacons also helped them clear out loose debris and unwanted natural growths.
"The Nexus is terrible cosmetically, but they will do," Shockwave said to Haywire who simply nodded. Grimlock was on standby watching his Dinobots and merely grunted in response.
Noticing Arcee and Megatron as The Matriarch separated from them, Haywire scoffed, "About time. We have the problems isolated; everything is fixed except one hitch. The main power has been severed for years."
"Great…" Arcee said, peering at Megatron annoyed.
Shockwave took over speaking. "With you here, we can get it back on track. The main Energon power line for the Nexus is a few hundred feet below us underground. There's an access tunnel to it, but we are too big to fit through. It was mostly built for Minicons. If you can fix the line, the rest should be simple enough."
Grimlock quickly interjected, "And be careful, Arcee. We were asked to investigate the bigger accesses and my scouts report there are scraplet nests in the main tunnels of Cybertron. Those nasty vermin eat everything and if Energon is available, that's where they will linger the most. If you can destroy some of the nests while you're down there though, that should also prevent any more damages to the Nexus and its supply line."
Haywire grunted, "The nearest access tunnel is to the east of us, just a small building that should contain a working elevator to the catacombs connecting to the maintenance area."
Megatron clasped her shoulder gently, "I believe you can handle this, right?"
Arcee shrugged, "Better than sitting pretty and being useless on a throne, I guess. I always get what I want, huh?"
"You give important orders! That's not useless!" Haywire argued.
"It is when there's nothing else to do except oversee but never be a part of the action."
"You got that wish almost a year ago."
"You know what I mean, Haywire."
Haywire shook his head and rolled his optics while Megatron merely gestured in defense of his sparkmate which earned him a peeved look from the former.
While they debated, Arcee climbed out of the Nexus and onto flat land where seldom buildings were seen, one of which looked to be the one Haywire was describing. It was a mile or so out but visible, and she would love to take a walk regardless. As she traversed the stretch of surface, she saw debris of old warships and other little scrap piles that had accumulated over the years. Then she saw the Predacons sweeping the small piles into single formations.
Predaking used his tail to smash a broken piece of upturned metal, presumably from a blast from one of the warships years ago. He flattened the surface to merely a pothole so it could be fixed swiftly once they got back to it.
Arcee walked up to Predaking and asked, "How's it going?"
"It goes," Predaking answered after shifting back to robot mode. "Although I don't like being a maid for others' mishaps, I do understand the importance of not wanting to clutter a very powerful space bridge nor do we want all this debris going everywhere if the bridge reactivates wrong."
"Do you need help? I mean I can't do much because half of this stuff is way too big for me to lift, but figured I would at least ask."
"And I appreciate that. Perhaps there is something...you could take the next step for us while we get the remainder of the debris collected. Here." Predaking handed her a few grenades which she raised a brow to before he explained, "They are disintegration grenades. Instead of exploding, they are designed to vaporize loose matter. Perfect cleaning tools if you don't like hauling it. If you can get rid of the clutter, it would help us greatly. We'll set up the piles; you destroy them. Fair enough?"
Arcee threw one of the grenades up before catching it in the same servo with a smirk. "Lead the way."
Predaking went towards one pile his fellow Predacons were working on. He clicked and seemed to speak in growls which the other Predacons responded to. One was a hippogriff-like mech and they came around their leader to stand beside Arcee. She was confused for a second until she saw the Predacon lower their wing and Predaking waved his servo to gesture to her to get on their back. Grinning excitedly, Arcee almost jumped at the opportunity to ride a Predacon like a sparkling but refrained to not scare off her associate.
Smiling at her child-like wonder, Predaking said, "Wildwing will escort you. All you have to do is aim and throw. I figure this will be faster than having to run across an entire field of debris by foot unless you wish to do it that way?"
Arcee sat on Wildwing's back as the Predacon outstretched their wings with an eagle-like cry. She responded, "Oh no, I will take riding on a Predacon over running any day! Youngling me would be jealous."
"Have fun then and try not to fall off," he chuckled. Transforming back into beast mode, he gave a roar and his subordinate responded.
Wildwing reared and Arcee quickly held on as tight as she could to their neck startled before the Predacon took off. Galloping across the flat metal surface, Arcee could see the buildings in the distance seemed to drift slowly on the horizon with the sun near its edge. With Wildwing, it made for a stunning view and the wind never felt better.
They were coming up to the piles of debris on both sides and Arcee snapped out of her trance to prepare herself. Timing was everything. One wrong move and she might vaporize something important. Aiming on her left, she chucked the first grenade into the pile. Right as she passed it, the grenade made a wicked, electric cackle and all the debris disappeared into burnt particles with a small wave of energy. What remained of the pile were tiny chunks of debris that couldn't be harmful to anything, especially not the Nexus. Wildwing took her around and each pile she saw, she threw a grenade at and marveled at the simplicity of the destructive properties it held.
She mused, "Where was this during the war? This would have been awesome to have against the Decepticons."
Wildwing made a grunt of humor before taking her around to another line up of debris, jumping over building equipment and temporarily gliding over large spaces to get as close as possible. Arcee smirked and threw one grenade down midair. The energy combusted behind them as Wildwing retracted their wings to resume running.
She saw Predaking and several other Predacons leaving more piles and the surface was already looking cleaner than it was. She blew them up without any hesitation. She could tell Wildwing was having as much fun as she was.
When she got to the last few piles, she was quick to demolish all but one that had an unusual glow. She refrained from automatically throwing the grenade by muscle memory and pulled a little at Wildwing's neck.
"Whoa, wait, wait, wait! Wildwing, stop!"
The Predacon slid to a halt and peered back concerned until Arcee hopped off and went to the last pile. A faint red and orange glow was emitting from within the scrap, and she carefully pulled out what seemed to be twisting energy contained in a thick, transparent cylinder and capped with metal. It almost looked like the inner workings of a bomb, or at least a piece of one. Arcee only knew of such a thing because Wheeljack's grenades had a similar explosive core and she had watched him numerous times taking apart his weapons back on Earth.
She heard the flapping of wings and acknowledged Predaking who landed beside her and transformed. "Something wrong?"
"Yeah...what is this? A bomb or...?"
Predaking frowned and took it out of her servo gently, examining it thoroughly. "I am not an expert in such materials unfortunately. It's hard to tell what it could be a part of as well. I can take it to Shockwave and Matriarch, they may know, and I'll get back to you as soon as they tell me."
Arcee nodded before saying, "Got all the piles except that one because it just happened to catch my attention."
"Oh, you did plenty and I can't thank you enough for helping. I'll take care of the rest."
"It was fun but now I need to go figure out how to turn on the Nexus in the catacombs. Lucky me."
"In the catacombs? Isn't that infested with scraplets?" He said worried.
"Yep," she said without missing a beat. "Going to do some exterminating while I'm down there too. If you don't see me in an hour, I'm probably dead."
The way she said it made Predaking smile despite the topic being serious. Arcee also cracked a grin and gave a thumbs up walking backwards before leaving to get back on track to her original task.
"Be careful down there," he snickered. "And if you have any of those grenades remaining, keep them on hand. They will disintegrate scraplet nests just as easily."
Wildwing made a trill of agreement and Arcee bowed respectfully to the Predacon. "Thanks, Wildwing! It was an epic ride!"
Arcee eyed the building she had suspected previously. The building had rusted patches, and the door had a rough time opening with various scratching metal against metal. How long it had been out of commission no one knew. She went inside and saw the technology was operational but various warnings were on one screen.
It seemed Haywire had tried to reboot the system but ran into the roadblock of fixing the main problem of the power line. She quickly looked at what the screen read and found it was stuck trying to connect to a non-existent power source, constantly refreshing itself in the hopes of catching readings of the power line to link to.
An elevator sat in the far-left corner of the room, and she used it to drop below the building's foundation. Years of no maintenance made the elevator creak like mad. It took almost a minute to reach the level of the catacombs below which Arcee nearly jumped out of the elevator impatiently as she couldn't take the noise much longer.
The catacombs were abandoned but thankfully, they were still completely intact. There were signs that pointed to the direction of the Nexus reserves and to other maintenance tunnels like Iacon's main power plant. While she took the Nexus route, she brought out her remaining grenades. Only six were on hand which meant if there were scraplets, she had to make them count or suffer a painful death.
"Arcee, can you hear me?" The Matriarch's voice spoke on her commlink.
"Yes, loud and clear."
"The power line is fluxuating the most energy three clicks from your position. Why, I cannot say. Shockwave would have reported this to you instead but he's busy. I thought I would be nice and at least help you."
Arcee smirked, "I appreciate that, Matriarch."
She knew there was a chance The Matriarch was merely doing what Shockwave suggested, not out of any kindness but she could live with the fauxness as it was better than the Decepticon leader not doing anything at all.
She followed the tunnel down several meters, noting the various old scratches and residue on the walls implied someone might have been pursued down here and got into a shootout or someone sabotaged the power line long ago. Whichever case, if at all, it was up to her to fix it. She ran into a larger area with a pump and an Energon waterfall. Multiple pipes seemed to web out from one direction going forward. Which one was the Nexus' power she couldn't tell. Walking past it, she continued into another corridor. It winded but she remembered the Nexus' line was in a tight spot that only Minicons could access as her friends had said. She kept an optic out for any space in the wall.
Skittering sounds made her pause as the echoed indicating something was up ahead. She stayed still to listen for the odd noise until she heard it again. Scraplet movement. She could tell by the small pin-like noises that their four tiny limbs were running across a surface. Silently, she looked for any cracks that a scraplet could fit in or a self-made entrance in the wall that scraplets built with loose materials to identify the nesting area. Then she spotted one.
On the left wall near the ceiling, a woven scrap nest was integrated in the cracks visible. She thought she saw a little body go in, but the lighting made it hard to tell. When scraplets were active in a territory but had yet to create nests, they would only do so once all threats and prey have been killed. Given the cyst-like structure was huge for a nest, it was safe to say the scraplets had plenty of time to settle down between Cybertronians leaving the planet and now. How many of them were down here was also a concern. Taking one of the six grenades, she used a small pipe located near the floor to hike herself up and placed it in the crevice where the scraplets would normally come out of. Activating it with a timer, she immediately ran backwards to give herself some space.
In a flash, the grenade went off and the walls echoed with the rattling aftermath. She could hear the scraplets hissing briefly before all the noise was solely the walls themselves. Once the tunnel stopped shaking, she peered at the nest and saw the entrance was now smoldering remains and capped off so no scraplets could leave if any survived. She figured the tiny space would push the pressure and radius of the grenade's power through the nest itself. So far, that's exactly what it did as she heard no movement.
Two other nests were in her path, and she did her thing and cleared them carefully. The sound of dying scraplets never ceased to please her. Call her cruel but the damn things repopulated fast, so it was a necessary extermination. They probably were unaware of her presence, still thinking the blast of the other nest was just something else.
Arcee continued and smiled when she found a walkway too small for most bots but big enough for humans and Minicons to fit through. She rolled her shoulders and got on her knees to climb through. It was tight, too tight in fact. Any wrong move and she could easily get stuck. Squirming through, she sighed, "Where's a Minicon when you need one?"
She instantly saw the Nexus' pipe room around the corner. Crawling out, her hips caught the lip and halted her briefly, but she pulled herself out and did a small roll onto her aft. Shaking off the landing, Arcee growled. She was careful not to make any more noise as more nests could be around. Sure enough, she saw one at the base of the wall and the floor. Pushing a grenade in, she crouched down to prevent herself from falling when it went off, shaking the room but the pipes were designed to take punishment. The scraplets within hissed before going silent. She waited a second to make sure she was in the clear before going to the pipes.
The Nexus' main line, the largest of three, had Energon running out and down a spire implanted in the ground to keep its structure up. The Energon leaked through a visible hole, no doubt the place was once flooded before it gave way and disappeared down into parts unknown. The fact that Energon still flowed was a good sign that planet was rejuvenating its energy sources everywhere faster than they anticipated. The rip in the bottom of the pipe diverted all the Energon from its destination, and that was indeed a problem. She couldn't say for sure what caused the rip in the metal, but it looked like it was from a weapon, a sword most likely.
"Matriarch, I found the problem. The Energon power line has a giant break in it. What do I do?"
"You actually got in there? You are small, not an insult...just kind of unexpected. Fixing the pipe? Usually, maintenance crews carried welders with them. Maybe there's one in a specialized containment closet nearby?"
Arcee rolled her optics and peered around until she noticed a bent door blending in with a few broken pieces of metal. Ripping the door off, she found several tools including the welder. She pressed the toggle multiple times annoyed as it clicked like it wanted to light but couldn't. A sudden burst of flame had her grinning like mad, but first she needed to turn the valve to the pipe off or risk setting herself on fire with all the Energon around her.
Once she got the valve in the off position, she grabbed the nearest piece of metal that could hold the weight of tons of Energon and began the process of covering the rip. It took time as the metal wanted to be difficult, but she managed to secure it. Being next to a wide hole though made her paranoid scraplets would come crawling out at any given time. They didn't but she still eyed it distrustfully.
"Line repaired. Turning the valve on right now," she reported.
The power line roared to life and the Energon didn't leak from the mended metal to her relief. The pipes shook for a second having not been used to the flow for years but settled once they were consistent. She could hear faint rumbling above. The Nexus was coming to life. Gears rotated smoothly and no other breaks were visible.
"Good job, Arcee. The Nexus is receiving the proper data now, and it is nearly ready. With its power restored, all we have to do is activate it. Come back to the surface and we will brief you on the final step we need to take. There should be another elevator just up ahead, but I don't know if it is functional," Shockwave's voice said.
She did as she was ordered and crawled back out. Although she knew the scraplet threats were neutralized on her left, she was curious about the right area. Following it, she knew there had to be more scraplet nests but with only two grenades left, she had to pick her targets wisely if there were more than that amount. One nest was just beyond the door which nearly startled her. She was quick to remove it from the wall with a bang. The second nest was next to the elevator, and she didn't bat an optic at blowing it up. Grimlock would be proud to hear the scraplets had been taken care of too.
The elevator didn't budge at first despite pressing the button numerous times. She could hear the gears attempting to turn but they seemed unable to or like everything else, lack of use took a huge toll on it. After a minute, she grew frustrated and sent a powerful kick to the back wall. The elevator jolted and slowly started to rise. She scanned all sides of the elevator stunned before swiping her servos together.
"Sometimes kicking things really does solve the problem."
The elevator stopped and she found herself in an unfamiliar building. Exiting it, she was in Iacon itself. Iacon was beaming with bright lights and constant flowing traffic both on the ground and up high over the city. It had been forever since she had seen it from a passerby's point of view. She got a few looks but no one approached her, so she assumed she wasn't being recognized as the queen.
"Hey, pretty lady, you seem lost. If you're looking for Maccadam's, it's down the block. Nova Point is east of here," a smooth-talking mech said.
Arcee was taken aback by the nickname but ignored it in favor of moving on as quick as possible. "Oh, thank you."
The mech was a stunner but far too young even for her, not that her large generation gap seemed to be a problem for him. She could tell he was eyeing her and possibly thinking of other things. She remained friendly and carried on. He gave a wolf whistle and said something she didn't catch. When she confirmed he couldn't see her expression, she grimaced. Megatron would have a field day with this if he heard about it.
She quickly accessed an internal map to check where she was. The Nexus and the maintenance building were somewhere on the right side a bit out of the city limits. Transforming, she sped through the city towards the outskirts.
"Arcee, this is Optimus. If I could have a moment of your time, I want you to meet me at the Iacon Hall of Records. There is something you should see, and Bolt is here too."
Arcee slowed down and said, "Is it like an emergency or can it wait an hour?"
Bolt then spoke instead, "Try really important. There's something about the other worlds you need to know about before we blindly go through and possibly get ourselves killed. I will send you a ground bridge to your coordinates when you're ready."
She sighed to herself knowing Bolt would start to press her if she chose to delay the inevitable. She supplied her coordinates via commlink and transformed, leaning against a building as she waited. Right on time, a ground bridge appeared.
Going through it, she blinked a bit caught off guard seeing the entirety of the library and its various data screens running up and down the walls. Moving platforms operated manually ascended and descended to find the necessary screens the users wanted. Optimus and Bolt stood side by side on a platform that landed on the base stretch she was standing on. Surprisingly, Moonhunter was with them.
"Glad to see you, Arcee" Bolt said before becoming dead serious, placing his servos together and pointing them at her, "we have a few issues."
Optimus corrected him, "More like some speculations on the worlds Cybertron supposedly forgotten."
"You found otherwise?" Arcee asked.
Bolt somewhat swayed his head, unsure of how to respond. "We...can say that. First and foremost, we found out about Velocitron. They cut ties with us before you and Megatron were ever created. They were the last planet to severe communications, but their breakup was, arguably, the worst. Velocitronians are very proud, not unlike Cybertronians themselves. Well, you mix stress and conflicting ideals, you get one hell of an uphill battle trying to maintain the peace. Ultimately, Velocitron left us abruptly during trading season and that screwed everything up."
Optimus nodded, "Velocitron now is at peace after a brief civil war of their own that we accidentally caused upon visiting the planet during our escape from our dying planet. Override is their leader still, but she is very weary of us. They use races to determine outcomes like politics and representatives. The best way to win the favor of a Velocitronian is to race them."
Arcee huffed, "Yeah. But how do I win against a Velocitronian?"
"Don't know," Bolt said bluntly, "but Caminus is different. Caminus left our trade in favor of another world, Devisiun, which has better supply lines and safer accessibility. They weren't too impressed with our attitudes, so they sought out a planet that wouldn't back talk whatever they wanted to agree or disagree with. Alpha Trion kind of pissed off their leader as well."
"Caminus is known for its majority femme populace and praise the one called the Mistress of Flame, a religious figure. She controls everything on the planet, and no one disrespects her. Windblade and the combiner, Victorion, are from Caminus who settled here upon our revival of Cybertron. They are great allies to have and so is Caminus as a whole. Do whatever the Mistress of Flame says, and we can convince her we no longer wish to be controlling," the Prime replied.
The Vehicon then scoffed, "Then there's Chaar...three guesses who runs that planet and the first two don't count. The Matriarch won't trade with Cybertron unless physically here. She doesn't trust anybody, and it makes sense considering she is still a Decepticon and not everyone is pleased there are war criminals wandering Cybertron under pardon. So, talking to her to open trade again is easier said than done. Shockwave is probably your best bet to win her over. Get him to consider and The Matriarch won't stray far from what Shockwave deems 'logical.'"
"How did a Vehicon like Matriarch get to be the Decepticon leader?" Arcee asked.
Bolt laughed, "Uh, Starscream got kicked out by Predaking, Shockwave didn't care and no other Decepticon was ballsy enough to take the throne while Megatron was deemed living, so The Matriarch took charge because she wasn't afraid of Megatron and the Decepticons needed an active leader before they started killing each other. The Matriarch worked and, in a way, she's kind of scarier than Megatron because with Megatron, you at least know what to expect. The Matriarch? She's a little unstable and since she has the strength to back up any threats...you can obviously see where this is going. Point made. Woo Shockwave and The Matriarch might take the bait considering they are sparkmates after all. And don't ask what Shockwave sees in her because I don't know either."
"Junkion has a leader known as Wreck-gar. We encountered him some time ago and he is a bit…hyperactive," Optimus said.
"Looney is more like it," Bolt snickered. "But I heard he's pretty open to a lot of things. He would be by far the easiest to persuade. Junkion technically separated from Cybertron because Wreck-gar felt his planet needed to be a haven, not controlled so he did what he felt was right. Kanjis, on the other hand, is a whole different scenario. The Kanjians were open to us, but we severed ties with them.
"The remaining Primes were so afraid that the Kanjians would use the fact that they were more powerful than we were and try and take over. This paranoia caused Cybertron to get offensive when, in reality, the Kanjians didn't care for power. They just wanted a decent economy and good trade. But because of Cybertron's increased paranoia did the Kanjians warn us not to continue or else. What happened? Cybertronians and their pride...they sent almost an entire army to invade Kanjis and not one Cybertronian managed to get close to the cities."
Arcee said, "Let me guess, Kanjians sound like they are more powerful so obviously Cybertronians fought them and-"
"Wrong! The Kanjians never fought us. The Kanjians didn't even have to lift a digit to conquer Cybertron's invasion," Bolt interrupted abruptly. "We didn't even make it to a city border because the goddamn wildlife on Kanjis killed everyone first. Metalwoods, predators-hell, the landscape killed people. Cybertron didn't even get in a half-mile radius of any city on that planet, and all the Kanjians just watched the clown show laughing their asses off most likely. King Kronos, the ruler of the planet, just watched and shrugged at the buffoonery we did. We were so ashamed I heard; we apparently destroyed the space bridge to Kanjis just to bury our own humiliating defeat. That's sad, so no wonder the Kanjians wanted nothing to do with us after that. Who the hell wants to befriend a race that got their asses kicked by trees?!"
Optimus was silent this time around and Arcee understood the awkwardness that an attempt to defend the Cybertronian race from something that humiliating was nearly impossible and she knew there was a chance when she encountered the Kanjians they would bring it up somehow.
"Anyways, moving on, Aquatron...without the Quintessons, I assume the Aquatronian race eventually came out of hiding, especially after getting rid of Quintessa who was the last active leader, so I heard. I don't know who rules Aquatron now but good luck trying to persuade them of anything. Last but not least is a well-known favorite: Earth."
Arcee perked up instantly, "Earth? You think we can bring Earth as a fellow trader?"
The Prime answered, "Yes, Bolt and I think, given the vast amount of history our two worlds share, that Earth is finally ready to see us as we are."
"However," Bolt said, "be careful. Humans claim they would be stoked to see aliens like us, but they don't know how to handle the ones trying to kill or hurt them. There isn't one leader to Earth too so you're just going to have to figure out a place to start and go from there. I kind of miss that little planet."
With all the information gathered, Arcee now had a clear concept of what needed to be done and how. To impress the leaders of the other worlds, including Earth, she had to play on what they condemned Cybertron for and prove it was all in the past. It would be a challenge given the Cybertronian race was now nothing short of aggravators in their eyes, but opinions could be changed with patience and hard work.
"We've already hit rock bottom in the universe, right? Can't imagine we can fall any farther from grace," Arcee said.
Bolt didn't share her enthusiasm. "Perhaps, but that doesn't mean it's impossible either. Although your spark is in the right place, that doesn't mean anyone else's is, and some people will use the advantage of the past to gain power over you."
Arcee made a mental note of that. Indeed, the past did matter but how to move forward was a question that would either free Cybertron or damn it to the Pits forever. She had to take her chances. "Thanks for telling me what you found out. I'll keep all of that in mind."
Bolt then asked, "Are you going back to the Nexus?"
"Yes?"
"I'm coming with you. After all, I didn't come back from the dead to watch you risk your life without support. If we do die, get arrested, or anything else that can go horribly wrong, I'd rather be by your side than let you go through all of it alone."
Arcee gave deadpanned smirk, "You just want to come along because you want to know of each world's fauna as the cyberbiologist you are-"
"-As the cyberbiologist I am...correct. Maybe that's the main reason, but I will not confirm or deny anything."
"Nice to see you again, Bolt," she laughed. "Let's go."
The Vehicon fist pumped before pointing at Optimus. "You're in charge of Iacon. No parties."
The Prime merely shook his head with a brief smile before resuming studying the data feeds of the worlds they had been researching.
Arcee and Bolt both went to the Nexus where they found Megatron and the rest of their friends awaiting them. Megatron gave them an overjoyed grin while Haywire seemed slightly surprised at seeing Bolt out of Iacon. Shockwave, however, went straight to the point.
"The Nexus is fully operational by what the data says but we must turn it on before we know for sure. As you can see, there are five bridges in the Nexus which means five switches to find. For accurate teleportation without any margin for error, it is crucial that all five are active."
Scythe, who appeared beside Haywire to Arcee's surprise, nodded, "The Nexus was designed to be the main transport to every colony and world, accessible to said planets on their end as well whereas the singular bridges were mostly remote access only. When Cybertron stopped communicating with the other worlds, the Nexus was left to rust, only to be used during the war to hide precious cargo from both factions."
Haywire said, "The switches should be at the base of each bridge. If you would do the honors, your Majesty?"
Arcee smiled before turning to Megatron, "First to three is the first to talk to the leaders of the other worlds."
"Oh, okay, we're racing then. It is on, my dear," he sneered back.
While Megatron took off in one direction, Arcee went to the nearest bridge behind her. The base of the bridge had a console showing off its data of the bridge's functionality. Everything looked alright so far. She looked around for any type of switch or sequence needed to activate it before noticing the console was sectioned off into three segments, one for main controls, one for coordinates, and one for maintenance. They all communicated with each other, automatically updating every second with precision. Playing with the console, she searched for the right set of commands but oddly found none until one button began pulsing after accessing the power schematics. She didn't hesitate to hit it, assuming she didn't just screw up the bridge with her impulsive gesture.
A loud bang erupted above her and the bridge shook before its structure lit up blue. Several parts realigned to point towards the middle where her friends were. They all moved out of the way as the energy converged in the bridge's center before a beam shot down in the middle of the crater. Pillars rose from the middle and seemed to contain the beam from consuming anything on the outside like her peers by accident.
Now that Arcee knew what to do, she raced to the next one and repeated the same process. Hitting the button, the second bridge lit up and its energy combined with the first bridge's and the portal they were creating became more defined. Megatron activated his end as well before moving on to his second. When Arcee reached her third bridge, there was some hesitance, not because of the bet. As she heard Megatron turning on the second to last bridge, she contemplated what it meant to start the Nexus entirely.
Once she pressed the button, there would be no going back. It was a heavy weight on her chest, and she knew that there was a chance something could go wrong by doing what they were doing. If the planets hated them so, she doubted they would show mercy. Once they crossed the bridge, everything would be out of her servos on how the rest went down. Her servo hovered over the button as Megatron approached.
"Arcee?"
She blinked at him as he looked down upon her unsure form. He seemed to not care for the race anymore in favor of making sure she was alright. She gave him a forced smile this time, "Just thinking."
Megatron looked away for a second before saying, "Nothing will ever change if someone doesn't take the first step to change, even if there are personal consequences. It's your choice though, Arcee."
She stood there unsure but knew Megatron was right. No pain, no gain. No sacrifice, no victory. A leap of faith could kill her either way, so why not go out fighting for change? "Damn my moral compass."
The button slammed down, and the bridge rumbled almost life-like, like a giant awakening from a long slumber. Gears and metal readjusted before it connected with the other four. The five beams came together among the pillars in the center and a swirling vortex appeared. Energy webbed across the ground throughout the crater, and they all felt the warmth of it.
As the two walked back to their peers, Arcee had a sudden realization. "Wait, did we just open a portal randomly on Velocitron?"
"No," Shockwave said, "the vortex you see is not linked to any location. It is merely ready to transport you once you enter the coordinates just like any other bridge. It keeps its end active constantly, but the exit won't stay open. I'll set the coordinates for the next jump to Velocitron's capital, Delta. From there, I'm sure you'll find your way."
Suddenly, Grimlock passed Shockwave and extended his T-rex arm holding the unknown cylinder she had found with Wildwing and Predaking. "Here, have this."
Arcee took it and frowned, "You found out what it is?"
Predaking answered next to Grimlock, "Perceptor said it was a radiant core. They were normally made for weapons but without the proper set up, they are mainly harmless. Maybe you'll find some use to it. He said they were one of few items that were commonly found across the colonies, popularized by trade. Who knows? The other worlds might have them too."
"And we'll find out, won't we?" Bolt said as he approached with Scythe and Haywire. "Oh, and we're missing one member of our crew."
"Wha-? Who?" She asked concerned.
Scythe made a loud whistle and Arcee heard a familiar yowl. Running down the side of the crater and sprinting towards them, Moonhunter sounded off in delight. "Why, the most important one, of course."
Moonhunter slowed to a prance and rubbed against Arcee's legs purring.
"That's a brilliant cat you have," Haywire said. "He's a sweetheart-"
Bolt scoffed, "No, he ain't."
The Nitrotiger glared at the Vehicon and flicked his ear but stayed silent out of mockery so Bolt couldn't prove his point. Both knew Moonhunter wanted to hiss at him. Arcee merely looked between the two before shrugging at her friends.
"It's complicated."
"Arcee, Megatron," The Matriarch announced, "Shockwave and I are heading back to Chaar as a test run for the Nexus. We won't see you off so good luck and try not to get yourselves killed. I'm not paying for anyone's funeral."
Arcee shook her head at the statement but knowing The Matriarch, that was as good of a goodbye as she was going to get. Grimlock set the coordinates for Chaar first and they watched both Cons depart with an automated platform carrying the Driller grub cages and several supplies. Seeing a few of the grubs click and mewl was adorable had it not been a constant concern they would one day be full of fangs and big enough to eat the likes of a Combiner.
Once the Decepticon leader had crossed through the portal, Arcee suddenly got a commlink message. "Home sweet home, Queenie. Do send the leader of Velocitron my regards."
Grimlock altered the coordinates to Shockwave's preset ones, and the bridges made a sound though the portal remained. "Locked and loaded on Velocitron's signal. Awaiting you, Arcee."
She addressed Megatron, Bolt, and Moonhunter after acknowledging him. "Let's get started. Remember, all or nothing."
Bolt replied, "I'm ready for the action. Megatron?"
"Hopefully, Velocitron doesn't hold a grudge..." Megatron said.
Arcee raised a single brow unamused, "I'm afraid to ask. What did you do?"
"You weren't with us in the exodus, were you?" He asked confused. She slowly mouthed the word "no" and he understood before awkwardly stating, "Optimus and I chased each other across the galaxy, across some of these worlds and I may have pissed off a lot of people. Will just say that."
At this point, Arcee wasn't even surprised as Haywire and Scythe looked at each other. She just sighed and said, "I'm mated to a formerly unhinged, murderous warlord. I don't know why I even question anything I find out you've done."
"Because you love me?"
"I think it's because I find out things about you even I didn't know before, and I worked under you for a millennium. That's scary. You are a genuinely frightening mech," Bolt said.
Megatron shot him a glare, but he ignored it as Arcee stepped up to the portal ghosting a servo over its energy.
They kept behind her as Haywire said, "Good luck, Arcee. We'll be in contact with you the entire way."
That was enough for Arcee to gain a bit of confidence that her plan to reunite the cyber worlds would work. With the proper support and a badass crew, she was ready for the unknown. She stepped into the light until it became blinding as did the others who followed her lead.
AN: And now, we're rolling. Prepare for longer chapters, more characters including favorites that haven't been seen in some time, and a new world to explore. Inspiration comes from platforming games mostly. I would add collectibles but kind of hard to translate to a written fic...except for a few items essential to the story as you'll see soon.