Note: The characters in the first of the chapter belong to my dear friend and co-writer Tyroth Darkstorm.
Chapter Fifty
Suspicious and Seeking
Hours earlier in Chicago, unknown to the Hamato Clan and the Autobots, the Chicago Knights were patrolling not far away from the area of the Museum.
Like the Hamato Clan in New York, the Chicago Knights patrolled each and every night on the lookout for crime or any suspicious activity.
On this particular night, it was like no other, but that was about to change.
Tyroth the Dragon was flying over the buildings with his wife Sephie the Gecko on his back looking down over the city when they both heard the sound of jets.
"Do you hear that?" Sephie asked.
Tyroth nodded as he looked around.
"Sounds like low flying aircraft," he said, "Yet at this time of night?" he mused.
"Look!" Sephie cried out pointing to the sky and Tyroth looked up to see a strange looking aircraft flying over towards them and over their heads!
Tyroth flew down closer to the rooftops, yet he kept his eyes on the aircraft and saw how it was holding a golden orb underneath!
Sephie also observed and she quickly took out her shell-cell and took some photos of the aircraft before it flew away.
"That was weird!" the gecko said looking at her husband who landed on one of the rooftops and she slid off his back and looked at the photos she had taken.
Tyroth as well looked at the photos and studied the look of the Jet.
"I don't recognise that type of jet." He said, "Do you?"
Sephie shook her head.
"No." she replied.
Tyroth narrowed his eyes and sniffed the air as he watched the jet then looked back to where it had flown away from.
"Something's up!" he said, "Come on!" he gestured with his head for Sephie to jump onto his back which she did, and they started to fly towards where the Jet had flown off from.
No sooner did they arrive than they saw police gathered in front of a museum where the glass had been shattered and one of the pillars at the front was broken.
"By Odin!" he cried "What's happened here?"
Sephie slid off his back and looked.
"A break in gone wrong?" she asked, "Yet what could possibly be in the Museum that any criminals would want."
Tyroth narrowed his eyes then remembered the jet that flew over their heads earlier.
"Something tells me this was not human activity!" he said.
Sephie looked at her dragon husband then took out her phone to look at the photos she took.
As she did that Tyroth kept watching from the roof and he saw Hugh was amongst the Police officers.
"Hugh..." he thought then took out his phone to text the chief hoping to get some answers.
Sephie meanwhile looked at the photos and she studied the make of the Jet as well as the golden orb it carried.
"This type of Jet is something I don't recognise as any type of Aircraft we have here." She reported "And this golden orb it's carrying...I wonder if it came from there?"
Tyroth narrowed his eyes.
"I've just texted Hugh." He said, "Hopefully we'll find out soon enough once he's texted back."
Meanwhile back in Greece as Bulkhead had guessed, Starscream along with Breakdown and Knock Out along with a few Decepticons were preparing to harvest the Energon.
"Why move mountains now when we have a mother lode of Energon right here for the taking?" Starscream said as he held up the Energon Harvester in his hand which shone slightly in the moonlight.
"Courtesy of this gift from ancient Autobots."
"Uh…actually Commander Starscream, it was a gift from Breakdown and myself." Knockout corrected as he and Breakdown stood behind Starscream.
Starscream just sighed in frustration and aimed the Harvester at the both of them, causing them to cringe in fear.
Starscream fired the Harvester towards them but instead of hitting them, the beam hit a Vehicon that stood guard behind them.
The Harvester opened slightly and the Energon from the Vehicon was being drained and Breakdown and Knock Out looked on in horrified facnastion as he moaned and yelped in pain as he felt his life force being sucked out of him and flowed into the harvester in a swirl of blue and teal colours.
Starscream smirked as he watched, then with a few choked gasps and pleas for mercy, the Decepticon drone had fallen face first onto the dirt-and-stone-composed ground below, dead.
Knockout and Breakdown stared in horror then over at Starscream as the Harvester closed when its job was over.
"All that Energon in such a tiny vessel." Starscream said as he admired the Harvester's work, and feeling no remorse for the Vehicon, a soldier loyal to him had paid the price for the demonstration of how the Harvester worked.
"Those ancient Autobots never missed a trick, Lord Starscream." Knockout said, sucking up to Starscream, with Breakdown nodding in agreement.
Starscream glared at the two Decepticons and aimed the Harvester at them.
The two trembled and cowered in fear as they tried to shield themselves which made Starscream feel a sense of superiority as well as pleasure in the fact he had gotten the two Decepticons to cower before him as he held something that could suck out their energon.
Starscream hovered it over them, then he moved it towards the otherwise un-mineable Energon and activated the Harvester.
The blue substance that was their very life source flowed from the crystals into the harvester.
Meanwhile, Starscream was unaware that Bulkhead had arrived on the scene with Pandora, Raphael and Monalisa and had witnessed everything.
"That bastard!" Pandora hissed when she had seen Starscream use the Harvester on a vehicon guard.
"I hate those Decepticons, but still, killing one of your own for our own gain!?"
"Not much different to Shredder Tigress." Raphael glared.
"Or Dr Arden!" Monalisa agreed.
Bulkhead said nothing as he watched.
"Okay." He said "I'm gonna go in there and try and get the Harvester off of Starscream."
"How you gonna do that?" Raphael asked.
"Not sure, I might try the silent approach, catch Breakdown and Knock Out off guard then go for Scream."
"Good luck with that." Pandora said looking at Bulkhead and seeing how huge and rather clumsy he was, she doubted he could sneak up there like they could as Ninjas.
"Be careful." Monalisa encouraged "Any trouble we'll com Ratchet!"
"Thanks!" Bulkhead said gratefully "Stay here!" he said to which the family of mutants hid behind some pillars and Bulkhead started to make his way to the Decepticons.
He quietly slid down the hill and began running towards the Cons.
He stepped quickly and quietly and he believed he could get to Breakdown and Knock Out without them noticing him, but suddenly he accidently stepped on a clay pot, shattering it completely.
Upon hearing the noise Knockout and Breakdown turned and saw Bulkhead.
"Oh scrap." Bulkhead cursed as he smacked his forehead.
"Oh boy!" Raphael gasped as he watched with his wife and daughter from their hiding spot.
"Oh no!" Monalisa exclaimed.
"I knew Stealth wasn't his best quality!" Pandora muttered in a worried voice.
Breakdown shifted his hand into his sledgehammer and Knockout pulled out his Energon prod.
"Back for seconds?" Breakdown taunted before they both charged towards Bulkhead.
Breakdown went to the Bulkhead's left and Knockout went after the right.
"Uh?" Bulkhead said as he tried to think of what to do.
On his right, Knockout was spinning the staff rapidly like it was a baton. To his left, he saw Breakdown pulling back the arm that had the hand replaced with his hammer.
Raphael, Monalisa and Pandora watched in fear as that happened.
"Don't just stand there you big lug!" Raphael muttered.
Monalisa held her breath, but Pandora instantly screamed.
"DUCK!"
Upon hearing Pandora's scream, Bulkhead simply ducked down.
As he did that, Breakdown ended up smashing Knockout in the face with his hammer instead. Knockout was sent flying and lost his grip on his staff.
Bulkhead snatched up the Energon prod and stuck it into Breakdown's neck, knocking him out.
"Sweet moves!" Raphael cheered as he watched.
"Wow!" Monalisa gasped.
"Go Bulkhead!" Pandora grinned as she watched.
Bulkhead was satisfied as he watched his old enemy twitch in pain from the electrical currents coursing through his veins.
However, when he turned around, Starscream activated the Energon Harvester and the beam hit Bulkhead square in the chest.
The Wrecker was suddenly moaning and gasping as he felt the Energon being sucked from his body, and he fell on all fours
Raphael, Monalisa and Pandora were horrified as they watched.
"Bulkhead!" Pandora cried "No!" she was about to jump out from her hiding place, but her parents grabbed her and pulled her back.
"No!" Monalisa cried.
"There's nothing you can do Geisha!" Raphael cried.
"But Bulkhead!" Pandora cried as tears formed in her eyes and she looked to Starscream.
"Leave him alone you bastard!" she screamed.
Starscream didn't hear Pandora's yell as he smirked evilly watching the Energon being sucked out of Bulkhead.
"You're a big one. This could take a while." He sneered.
Bulkhead glared up at Starscream, and despite how weak he felt as the energon was being drained from him, he suddenly got an idea.
Using all his strength to get back up to his feet he charged towards Starscream.
The would-be Decepticon leader was caught off guard by Bulkhead's actions.
"Wait? What are you doing?" He asked in surprise.
"What I do best." Bulkhead answered as he grabbed the Harvester with one hand.
"Breaking things!"
He punched Starscream on the face with his other hand and the blow sent Starscream flying headfirst into the wall.
Bulkhead took the Harvester from the seeker's hand and crushed it in his own.
This caused the Harvester to start short-circuiting.
Seeing the sparks, Bulkhead pulled his servo back and chucked the device into the air.
Raphael, Monalisa and Pandora watched in shock and amazement as that happened and Pandora grinned.
"Yay! Go Bulkhead!" she shouted then she cried out as the Harvester exploded in the air, releasing a wave of Energon that lit up the area like a giant firework before it quickly dissolved into nothing.
"Whoa!" Raphael cried as he saw that then they looked over to see Bulkhead as wobbled a bit before he fell backwards onto the ground. Even though he had escaped death, He was exhausted from the amount of Energon drained from his body by the Harvester.
Meanwhile Knockout and Breakdown had recovered from Bulkhead's onslaught and walked over, standing above the collapsed Autobot.
"He's a glutton for punishment." Knockout commented with a sinister smirk.
But before they could do anything, a Ground Bridge vortex opened and Optimus, Ironhide, Bulkhead and Bumblebee emerged from it and started firing their guns at the Decepticons.
Breakdown shielded his face with his arm.
"Fight?" He asked his partner.
"Mmm, drive." Knockout corrected, as they were seriously outgunned.
They both transformed and drove out of the area as fast as they could.
As they did, Pandora smirked.
"Run like the cowards you are!" she shouted after them "Yellowed bellied Chickens!" she looked back at Raphael who held up his shell-cell showing he had commed the Autobots to their location and Monalisa kissed his cheek gratefully.
At the same time, Starscream had recovered from being thrown into the wall, and he was furious another plan had failed, but seeing how he was outnumbered by the Autobots, he transformed to jet mode and flew away!
As that happened, the Autobots all surrounded Bulkhead who looked up at his friends and smiled.
"Hey." He said weakly.
"Bulkhead!" Pandora shouted as she jumped from her hiding place, her parents not far behind and the Autobots looked down at them.
"Is he okay?" Raphael asked.
Ironhide looked at Bulkhead then over to the mutants.
"He will be," he said, "He's drained from being hit with that Harvester, but after some rest and re-charge as well as a few drinks of energon, he'll be alright!"
"Thank goodness!" Monalisa said.
"Let's get him back to Base." Optimus said, "And you three as well." He looked at Raphael, Monalisa and Pandora.
"Well done keeping an eye on him!" Arcee said with a wink.
"No problamo!" Raphael smirked and winked.
Looks like the activites at the Museum have attracted the attentions of Tyroth and Sephie who happened to be patrolling near the area of the Museum!
And Bulkhead has managed to stop Starscream and destroy the Harvester! Yay!
But Kemeko's still at the Museum hiding and what will Hugh inform Tyroth and Sephie when he gets their message?
Stay tuned to find out!