Chapter 3: Darkness Rising Pt. 3
Jack arrives at work on his bike, he gets off the bike and looks up at the building before letting out a sigh. "Nice bike." Jack turns around after hearing the voice from behind him, he sees Arcee and Natalie sitting there.
"Really dude, you're pedaling to work when you could be riding a motorbike?"
"You two, really Miko already tried. Tell Optimus that I respect him big time, but if you're at war with the Decepticons, there's nothing I can do to help."
"Optimus didn't send me and nobody's asking for your help."
Natalie gets off Arcee, "I mostly just came to see if the food here is any good," she says as she walks towards him. "There are many ways you can help, Jack. Besides, you are crazy to give up a one-time chance to be one of the only civilians who are in on a government secret." Natalie walks past him to head inside the restaurant.
"Look, Jack, I just lost someone I cared about. Maybe it's the grief talking, maybe you're growing on me. Whatever it is, I'm just not ready to say goodbye."
That seemed to do it as Jack decided to return, but before he could climb onto Arcee Natalie came out of the restaurant. "Never mind, it's gonna take too long. There are a few customers inside and it's taking them forever to serve them. I figured I better leave before Arcee gets a demonstration on how humans fly." She gets onto Arcee, "Sit behind me, kid. I don't sit behind anyone."
Jack gets on, sitting behind Natalie, and the three head back to base. When they arrive they see the other Autobots getting ready to head out, "Autobots, prepare for departure," Optimus commanded.
"Where to?" Arcee asked in confusion.
"The final frontier," Miko replied.
"Space?" Jack questioned, "I thought they didn't have a way to get there."
"They don't, really," Raf responded as Bumblebee carefully placed him down on the ground.
"Um… Be seeing ya?" Jack asked as he looked up at Arcee. Arcee just smiled at him before walking away to join the others.
"Be careful, Optimus," Natalie said with concern evident in her voice.
Optimus smiled down at her, "I will be."
"Optimus, if you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans, I will never forgive you," Ratchet says as the others head for the Ground Bridge he just opened up.
"He's just having trouble showing how much he loves us," Natalie jokes. Ratchet just glared at her.
"Until we meet again, old friend," Optimus says before covering his mouth with his face shield. "Autobots, roll out!" They all transform before driving through the Ground Bridge.
Natalie listened as the others talked about how the Decepticons had sustained damage to their interstellar navigation system followed by the belief that Megatron found an alternate way to connect to Cybertron for this plan. The satellite dishes are the only thing that could pinpoint Cybertron. She laughed when Fowler started yelling at Ratchet thinking he was a soldier out of uniform.
Raf mentions that if he could somehow get in he could stop the Decepticons from taking control of the dishes and Jack got the idea to go directly to the place where he could get access, but Optimus didn't like the idea. "The risk is too great, the Decepticons will be there, perhaps even on site."
"Optimus, with all due respect, you said it yourself this is bigger than the safety of three humans," Jack stated with a determined look on his face.
"Yeah, if we let the 'Cons win we're fragged along with everyone else on our planet," Miko added.
"And besides, I'll be going with them so they will have some form of protection," Natalie speaks up.
Optimus goes quiet for a second as he thinks it over before saying, "Raf?"
"I wanna give it a shot," the young boy responded.
Natalie and the kids exit the Ground Bridge at the base where the satellite dishes are, right outside the building. Natalie was the first one out of the Ground Bridge and she was already heading towards the building, Jack, Miko, and Raf exited the Ground Bridge after her and they had to take a moment to steady themselves as their heads were reeling.
"That's gonna take some getting used to," Jack says as the three grab or rub their heads.
Natalie stops walking and looks back at them, "You'll get used to it eventually."
"How long did it take for you to get used to it?" Jack asked her.
"I think I pretty much got used to it after the second time."
Once the three were able to steady themselves, they looked at the building before running towards it and Natalie followed them. Surprisingly, they were able to get into the building with ease. Where were the soldiers that were supposed to stay guard in this place? Something about this doesn't sit right with Natalie.
They make it to a room where they can access a computer and Raf gets to work, Miko looks out the door to make sure nobody is coming before closing the door. "Security sure is lax in this place."
That's what's not sitting well with Natalie, it was too easy to get in. "I'm in," Raf announced, "And so are the Decepticons."
"What?"
"How can you tell?"
"Schematics, with the same alien math we saw on their ship. But this time, I can download it," Raf said as he brought out his portable hard drive.
Natalie furrowed her eyebrows as she glared at the computer screen that was showing the same schematics they saw on the Decepticon warship. Are they doing it from their warship or is one of them here? She ended up zoning out where she could no longer hear what the kids were discussing, a sense of dread gripping her. Something's not right.
She shakes her head and comes back to her senses as she finally hears what the kids are discussing, "The dishes are heading back toward Cybertron, I'll just undo that again."
"What happens when the 'Cons realize they're being punked?"
"It's only virtual combat, you know like online gaming."
"Yeah, Jack. What are the 'Cons gonna do? They are probably like a thousand miles away."
Natalie could hear a noise coming from behind them and she turned her head at the same time Jack did to look at what was behind them. She sees the metal appendage as it attacks Jack, picking up him and Miko and throwing them around the room before throwing them into a wall. Natalie managed to dodge it and get out of the way, she slid on the floor underneath it to get out of the room. She ran down the hall to the room at the end where the appendage was coming from and she could see the Decepticon in the room. Soundwave. The second most dangerous Decepticon there is.
She runs into the room and stops at the doorway, "Soundwave!" She shouts to get the 'Con's attention. She looks around at the unconscious soldiers lying around the room. That explains the lack of security.
Soundwave looks at her, he knows who she is, all the Decepticons know who she is. They had an encounter with her and her team when they first arrived on Earth, all alien beings that come to Earth have to deal with her and her team before anything else. Becoming Optimus' human partner is another reason the Decepticons know who she is, being his partner puts a big target on her. They would for sure try to do something to her just to get to Optimus.
The other appendage shoots out from his side to strike her but she dodges it as she pulls out her sword and brings it down onto the appendage, hitting it. Soundwave pulls back his appendage, surprised that the sword was able to do damage to it. The other appendage starts coming back, holding an axe. Soundwave swings the axe at her but she blocks it with her sword before trying to slash at the other appendage, but Soundwave moves it out of the way.
Natalie uses the skills she's learned to dodge and block all of Soundwave's attacks while trying to fight back. She jumps onto the appendage and tries to run up it to get to his upper body but it proves to be more difficult than she thought. She sees one of his servos reaching over to grab her and she jumps up to dodge it before bringing her sword down to slash the servo that was trying to grab her. Soundwave ignored the pain in his servo as he grabbed the sword, the other appendage shot out and grabbed her, wrapping its tendrils around her body, before slamming her into the wall.
Soundwave examines the sword in his servo, somehow this thing can do damage to Cybertronians. How were these primitive creatures able to create such a thing? He looks over at Natalie who is trying to get free from the tendrils that are holding her firmly against the wall, her team is not to be underestimated.
He breaks the sword before throwing it down, "Stay out of our way," he says with a mixture of audio before electrocuting her and throwing her to the side. He made sure the dishes were locked onto Cybertron before cutting the hardline. The kids run into the room and see Natalie passed out on the floor while Soundwave gets ready to leave. He looks back at the kids and Miko takes a picture of him, and he takes a picture of them. He then transforms and flies off.
The kids run over to Natalie to see if she's okay, "She's just unconscious," Jack says with relief.
"That's a relief," Raf says as he turns to look at the other side of the room.
"So, why did the 'Con leave?" Miko asked.
"He cut the hardline," Raf said as he pointed to the axe and the cut wires. "The dishes are now locked onto Cybertron for good."
The Autobots managed to blow up the Space Bridge and put an end to Megatron's plans. Arcee was shot at by Megatron and her life signal was low but she pulled through. After all of them were back at base and it was confirmed that Arcee would be just fine, Optimus looked around for Natalie, he grew worried when he didn't see her.
"As you feared there was a Decepticon on site," Ratchet starts explaining, "Soundwave was there and Natalie tried to fight him but he electrocuted her. I Ground Bridged her to the hospital so she could get some medical treatment."
Optimus is worried but he's comforted by the thought that Natalie is at the hospital being treated.
