Chapter Forty-Eight
Breaking in
A few hours later, it was the dead of night and Autobots arrived in Chicago and pulled into the museum parking lot.
It was dead quiet and not a soul could be seen which worked well in their favour, but they weren't going to take any chances, just in case.
As quietly as his truck engine would allow it, Optimus pulled up to the front entrance of the museum.
Ironhide, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee followed him then they started to head off to designated points around the museum watching all exits.
"Autobots, confirm position." Optimus requested.
"Westward ho." Arcee responded as she pulled up onto the footpath and deactivated her engine.
Bumblebee bleeped to Optimus confirming he was at the East Side.
"South side covered." Bulkhead answered as he and Ironhide parked in the back of the museum.
"Maintain your guard." Optimus ordered before deactivating his engine.
Back at the Autobot Base, the Hamato Clan, or rather, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Monalisa, Pandora and Kemeko were all dressed in ninja suits, so they blended into the shadows were ready to make their move and were standing on a scissor crane so they could transport the artifact back to the base.
Donatello volunteered to stay behind to keep an eye on things via Shell cells and video links.
"Oracle Donnie." Michelangelo had called him, referring to a character in his comic books.
Leonardo had suggested that they try and enter the museum and try and remove the artifact without any fuss, and hopefully so much so they wouldn't have to contact Mutopia of their activities, but if it was discovered that something had happened, they would have to inform them, and Leonardo hoped this wouldn't be the case.
"Okay, ready to rock and roll!" Pandora said excitedly.
"Be still Tigress." Raphael growled "We need to keep focused here!"
"I am focused!" Pandora snapped.
Monalisa was about to speak when Optimus's voice was heard from Ratchet's Screens.
"Hamato Clan, I will have a clear view of you. Once you secure the harvester, I will contact Ratchet to bridge you back to base." He stated.
Leonardo nodded then gave Ratchet the thumbs up to activate the Ground-Bridge.
Ratchet nodded in confirmation and activated the ground-bridge.
"Now since you'll bypass all points of entry, you won't have to worry about setting off the alarm. But take care to avoid any security guards." Ratchet warned the Hamato Clan.
"We getcha." Michelangelo said with a salute.
"Stay safe my children." Splinter called down from the raised platform with Donatello.
"If the worse comes to the worst?" Kemeko held up her fingers "Pressure points, no problem!"
Leonardo nodded at his daughter in approval.
"Atta girl, but hopefully it won't come to that."
He then led the way through the Ground-bridge and before long they found themselves in the museum and in the exhibit with the statue.
As well as the statue and orb they were after, there was also a reconstructed skeleton of a T-Rex and a large statue face from Easter Island.
"There it is!" Michelangelo cried out as he saw the orb, only to have Raphael clap his hands over his mouth.
"Shush!" he hissed.
"Both of you!" Monalisa scolded then looked up at the statue then saw the security camera and narrowed her eyes before she looked to see Optimus flashing his lights at them from the windows looking inside to which Leonardo nodded and activated the crane to lift them up to the camera.
Monalisa then angled herself to look past the security camera and she took out an old-fashioned camera which developed pictures instantly and took a picture of the statue.
The photo soon appeared from the front to which she ripped it off and shook it before it appeared, and she quickly placed it in front of the security camera so to anyone watching the video would be none the wiser, that is if no-one spotted anything suspicious.
"Well done, Mona!" Leonardo said winking at Monalisa then he activated the crane to go to the statue so they could grab the orb.
Outside and watching through the windows of the museum, Optimus kept his position, but then a sound of wheels approaching.
Optimus felt his spark beat in worry then he saw a rather sleek red sports car approach next to him then he heard a wolf whistle.
"Sweet rims. 24 gauge? You're reeeeeeal heavy duty!"
Optimus recognised the voice of that being Knock Out, the Decepticon Medic, one he would consider an almost equal to that of Ratchet yet a more sinister type, but he didn't have time to think on that when he heard more revving of engines and he saw another vehicle appear and its colour scheme instantly reminded him of Breakdown.
Just then, a weapon appeared on the roof of Breakdown's vehicle mode and Optimus saw in horror a missile was fired.
Seeing no choice in the matter, Optimus transformed into his bipedal mode and caught the missile with his bare, metallic hands.
Yet the missile sent him backwards a few feet and he kept his pedes onto the ground feeling the same burning sensation from when he had stopped the train carrying the Dingus.
Optimus skidded to a stop by the window of the museum, but the end of the missile left a huge chip in the window, almost shattering it!
As that happened, the Hamato Clan were were in the middle of making a grab for the Energon harvester when they heard the glass crack.
They glanced nervously at Optimus who looked at them sheepishly behind his battle mask then the Prime looked around to see if what happened caught anyone's attention only to see Knock Out with an Energon prod!
Optimus was alarmed but before he could move, Breakdown stabbed the prod into his neck!
Optimus let out a grunt of pain, then fell on his knees to the ground away from the museum before fully falling flat on his face!
"Optimus!" Everyone cried in horror.
"Not again!" Leonardo exclaimed in fear.
Taking his chance, Knockout jumped into his back and struck him with the Energon prod again.
Optimus let out a silent scream of pain as he felt the painful electrical currents course through him.
"That Bastard!" Pandora cried "Who is that guy?"
"I don't know!" Raphael snapped "But we got to get this Orb back to the base!"
"What about Optimus?" Kemeko asked.
"Focus!" Monalisa snapped "Optimus wants us to remove this Orb and get it back to the base and out of the Decepticons' hands!"
The Lizard Lady felt those words were like poison, but she knew the other Autobots could help the Prime whilst see and her family tried to secure the Orb.
As if on cue, just as Knock Out flashed his headlights at the other vehicle who fired the missile, who started to head towards the front of the museum, Bumblebee appeared and started to drive towards Breakdown to both stop him and save Optimus!
As Bumblebee approached, Breakdown fired a missile at him. The missile hit close to Bumblebee as he transformed so the force of the impact was enough to send him flying and eventually skidding along the road.
Breakdown also sensed Arcee and Ironhide approaching to help, and seeing the motorcycle and van, Breakdown fired another missile which exploded close to them.
The blast knocked Arcee onto her side, skidding along the road, Ironhide following suit and they crashed into Bumblebee who had just got up after being knocked down.
Breakdown smirked within, but he soon heard the sound of someone else approaching and he soon saw Bulkhead jumping onto the ground from the roof of the museum. Seeing another chance to fight his enemy, he transformed into bipedal mode and socked Bulkhead in the face.
The punch sent Bulkhead flying backwards towards the museum.
As that happened Knock Out saw the wrecker flying towards him and he wasn't quick enough to get out of the way and, together, the two crashed into a pillar holding the museum up.
One of the pieces that broke off flew through one of the windows and as it did so, it set off the alarms!
Inside the museum, the Hamato Clan's blood ran cold as that happened and the alarms rang through their ears!
"Oh Shell!" Michelangelo cried.
"We're fucked!" Pandora cried.
"Don't give up guys!" Raphael shouted and he pushed the Orb onto the crane!
"Yes!" Kemeko cheered.
"Okay! We got it!" Leonardo said, "Now let's get it out of here before we're caught!"
He lowered the crane and they started to make their way down the hallway to get away from the battle outside so they could com Ratchet to bridge them back.
Kemeko jumped off the crane and ran on ahead to find a way out, Pandora instantly started to follow her.
As Kemeko turned a corner, a torch was shone in her eyes, and she covered them!
"Kem!" Pandora was about to shout but she felt Michelangelo's paw over her mouth prompting her to keep quiet.
Kemeko blinked as she tried to see who was before her and to her horror it was a security guard!
"Aww shell!" she muttered.
"Who are you?" the guard asked, "What are you doing here?"
Kemeko gasped in alarm but before she could say anything or explain, the guard grabbed her arm.
"Better come with me miss!" he said seriously and dragged her away into a side door.
Pandora's eyes widened as she saw the whole thing and Leonardo went pale with fear and worry for his daughter.
"No! Lotus!"
"Not good!" Michelangelo cried.
"I'm going after her!" Pandora announced as she attempted to go after her cousin but Raphael and Monalisa stopped her.
"Don't you dare!" she said to her daughter fearing what would happen should the guard see her and realise that she was a mutant.
"But!" Pandora protested and Leonardo looked ready to agree but Raphael shook his head.
"We can't, not now..." but his sentence was cut off when he saw ahead a garage door which he believed to be where deliveries were made then saw it get opened by a clawed hand and a pair of legs appeared.
"Arcee!" he cried in relief, yet his joy was short lived when the door was pushed open more and they saw who it really was!
"Oh shell! It's Soundwave!" Michelangelo cried in terror.
"Oh crap!" Pandora cried to which Raphael and Monalisa stood in front of their daughter to protect her.
Soundwave looked in seeing the mutants then reached in with his tentacles pushing them out of the way to get to his prize, the energon harvester!
"No way!" Pandora shouted as she tried to make a grab for the orb but one of Soundwave's tentacles pushed her out of the way and he grabbed it before pulling it towards him then before anyone who say another word, he transformed into his flying vehicle mode and took off into the skies!
"No!" Raphael shouted as he watched "You Fucker!"
Leonardo watched in silence, both feeling a sense of failure that both his daughter was in custody of the museum and the fact that Soundwave had made a grab for the energon harvester and who knew what would happen next.
"No...oh shell no..."
The Autobots and the Hamato Clan had tried to make a grab for the Energon Harvester, but it seems all has gone pear shaped, how will things go from here?
Check in next time to find out!