Chapter Forty-Seven
Plan of Action
When Bulkhead, Pandora and Kemeko arrived back at the Autobot base, the girls showed the photos they had taken, and Ratchet choose one to upload onto the big screens for all to see.
Optimus and Leonardo had arrived back at the base not so long ago when they heard that Bulkhead and the girls had gathered information.
The Autobots and Hamato Clan were also shocked to learn that Breakdown had attacked Bulkhead and the girls, but they were glad that the wrecker was able to protect them.
Raphael, Monalisa and Leonardo were especially grateful to Bulkhead in making sure the girls were safe.
"So, who was this Breakdown Dude?" Michelangelo asked.
"Another one of the Decepticons." Kemeko answered.
"And a coward!" Pandora said, "The way he ran from the battle, dishonour all the way!"
Bulkhead sighed.
"He was a scout to the Decepticons during the first years of the Great War." He explained "But he was determined to work his way up to the warrior class by any means necessary." he said in a grave tone "I crossed him a few times on the battlefield, seeing how determined he was to prove his worth, taking down many of our soldiers ruthlessly and mercilessly."
"Jeez!" Pandora breathed "Given how he took you down, he seems the determined type."
"Not that much different to you Pandora!" Kemeko quipped "How ambitious you always were to work your way to being an official ninja!"
Pandora narrowed her eyes at Kemeko, yet Leonardo and Raphael coughed at them both in warning to which they both looked up at their fathers deciding to save their squabbling for later.
Looking at the screen, Optimus placed a finger on the golden ball in the picture.
"It is indeed an Energon Harvester." Optimus announced gravely "A powerful tool created by the Ancients, to remove raw Energon from any source."
"Greek Gods knew Autobots?" Kemeko asked in confusion.
"No way." Pandora agreed.
"No." Optimus replied, "The Ancients would often use the art of a given era to conceal messages."
"They used this fresco as a signpost to a Harvester hidden somewhere on your planet." Ironhide joined in.
Upon hearing that, Donatello looked up at the Prime.
"Um, Optimus, if the Harvester removes Energon from anything…"
Leonardo also looked up as he realised.
"And you all have Energon pumping inside you…"
"In Decepticon hands the Harvester would be a devastating weapon." Optimus said in agreement.
"You mean that golden orb will suck the energon right out of you?" Pandora asked.
"Correct Lass." Ironhide said.
"Then maybe it was a good thing that you destroyed that painting?" Kemeko suggested helpfully to Bulkhead who still looked doubtful.
"The kid's not wrong." Arcee said in agreement. "How can the Cons find it without the fresco?"
"By another way unfortunately." Donatello spoke up and produced his laptop which he had been able to fix since the Dingus incident by putting in a new hard-drive and he had luckily backed up everything on data sticks.
"High Speed internet." The brainy turtle said.
"Oh Gosh you're right Don!" Monalisa exclaimed then watched as Donatello typed into his laptop.
"If you do an image search for 'Greek God' and 'Golden Orb', this pops up. It's in a museum." She pointed at the screen on the laptop, and everyone gathered to look, and they soon saw the image.
"That's the God of the Sea." Michelangelo stated.
"Poseidon." Kemeko said.
"Or Neptune." Pandora added.
"And look what he's holding!" Monalisa pointed out and they all saw the statue holding the Golden Orb that was in the painting.
"That must be it!" Donatello said.
"That the real deal?" Arcee asked nervously.
"Darn tootin it must be!" Ironhide replied.
Optimus didn't say anything as he continued staring at the picture.
Deep down, he knew it was, and he knew that it couldn't fall into Decepticon hands.
"Contact Agent Fowler." Optimus requested to which Ratchet complied and Fowler's image appeared on the screen.
But unfortunately, an answering machine was all they heard.
"You've reached Special Agent William Fowler. I'm currently on an intensive training retreat and unavailable until Tuesday." The recording stated.
"I hate talking to machines." Ratchet grumbled.
Splinter agreed with the Medic.
"Machines and I have never gotten along either." He spoke.
"That sucks!" Michelangelo sighed "So now what?"
"Without Agent Fowler's direct aid, we will have to confiscate the Harvester on our own." Optimus announced, as he unfolded his blaster.
"Wait what?" Leonardo cried.
"Steal museum property?" Michelangelo repeated in disbelief.
"That sounds…illegal." Kemeko commented.
"I don't like the sound of that!" Donatello agreed.
"I do not wish to break human law. However, once the Decepticons learn of the harvester's location, they will not hesitate to obtain it by any means necessary. We must act covertly." Optimus proclaimed.
"He's got a point guys." Monalisa said "without Fowler's help, what choice do they have."
Pandora chuckled slightly as she looked at Optimus and clearing her throat, she spoke.
"No offence, Optimus, but covertly and giant robots don't really go well together." She reminded him.
"Yeah!" Michelangelo agreed "You guys are huge and kind of stick out in a crowd! In more ways than one."
"He's right." Raphael agreed "For once." He added under his breath.
"Museums are public. And they have guards and security cameras."
"And may I remind you of what we are too?" Michelangelo said gesturing a thumb to himself and his family.
"We're ninjas! We stick to the shadows."
"Yeah!" Pandora agreed "We can sneak into that place undetected!"
"What?" Bulkhead asked, "You sure that's wise?"
"But it might be our best option, Bulkhead." Optimus told his friend.
"Besides, the more time we spend debating over what strategy we're gonna use to obtain the Energon harvester, the more time we give the Decepticons to steal it." Ironhide remarked.
"So, it looks like we have a mission guys." Leonardo said "Donatello, where's the museum located?"
Donatello looked at the webpage and his eyes widened.
"No way!" he said.
"Donnie?" Monalisa asked then saw Donatello point at the address.
"No way!" Pandora cried.
"Chicago!" Michelangelo cried "The turf of the Mutopians!"
Leonardo narrowed his eyes as he stood up straight and thought hard.
Optimus noticed his friends look and cocked his head.
"What is it, Leonardo?" he asked and the rest of the Hamato Clan looked to him.
"Guys." He said, "I think we might need to get Mutopia involved."
"What!?" everyone cried in unison.
"You mentioned these Mutopians before." Optimus said remembering his and Leonardo's conversation from that night they were stopped by the traffic cop.
Leonardo nodded.
"Think about it guys, we may need to inform them of what's happening, so we don't get mistaken as criminals,"
"You mean we get in contact with them now?" Monalisa asked.
Leonardo shook his head.
"No, not now, we'll head to the Museum and do what we do best as Mikey would say." He glanced at Michelangelo who grinned.
"If we're lucky we can get the Harvester out and none would be one the wiser if we plan this right."
The Hamato Clan looked at each other and murmured as they thought about the situation.
Michelangelo again thought about Kate and how much he was keeping from her, and how she would react when she found out.
Pandora and Kemeko also thought about how Sonia and the Geckolings would react hearing about the Autobots, like Michelangelo they felt bad keeping secrets from their cousins and best friends.
Monalisa also thought about Sephie's reaction, as close as they were as sisters, she had honoured Leonardo's wishes that the Autobots remain a secret for now, even though they knew they would have to speak of them sooner or later.
Leonardo then cleared his throat getting everyone's attention.
"Okay guys." He said, "This is what we're gonna do."
"We're listening my Son." Splinter said.
"And so are we." Optimus joined in as he and the other Autobots gathered at the raised platform.
Leonardo nodded and he got everyone to gather to explain his plan, hoping it would work.
Meanwhile on the Decepticon Warship, Breakdown after he had fled the scene in Greece was ground bridged back to the ship, and he reported back what he had seen.
Before he had thrown Bulkhead against the painting, he had seen it and identified the gold orb as well and he wasted no time in informing Starscream.
After he had informed the seeker, Soundwave wasted no time in researching and soon he was showing the same image on screen face for everyone to see.
Breakdown took one look at the screen, and he nodded in confirmation.
"Mm-hmm. That's defiantly it." Breakdown said in agreement.
Starscream also observed and he smirked as thoughts came into his head about what he could use the Harvester for.
With this relic, one that could suck the very energon out of his enemies, he believed he had something that would bring the Autobots to their knees, once again something he could achieve which Megatron couldn't.
"Then I'm afraid Megatron's wellbeing will have to wait." Starscream declared with false sadness as a smirk crossed his features.
"It's harvest time."
So the Autobots and the Hamato Clan have learnt of this Golden Orb and it's located in Chicago.
Meanwhile the Decepticons have learnt of the same Orb and are ready to grab for it too! Uh oh!
Note: I did some research on Breakdown to give him a bit of a Backstory which I hope works here. When it comes to the basics on Transformers, there's a guy on Youtube who is great to listen to, Chris McFeely, who does amazing videos about all your favouraite Transformers characters, from the main characters to those in the backgound, which Tyroth Darkstorm recommended to me and I'm forever grateful!