Chapter 29: Dare to Believe

Sly and Carmelita, having just jumped through the portal, don't find themselves at the Autobot base, but rather in the hot wide desert of Nevada. Sly struggles to get up, as his shoulder is still hurt. He taps his chest twice and his exo-suit comes off in hopes of feeling less hot.

Sly: What!? We should be back at the base! Maybe there was an error? A glitch in the system? From what I know, the portals always start at the base to the location and then vice versa.

Both notice Lugnut's portal sliced arm behind them. They see a big red button in the palm of its hand…or claw?

Carm: What does the button do?

Sly: DON'T TOUCH IT!

They faintly hear a car running from a long distance away. It is a certain unique orange with yellow accented car. It speeds at high velocity until drifting and stopping right in front of them and opening its door.

Hot Rod: Yo, Sly! Get in! I was told you'd be here.

Carm helps the wounded Sly into Hot Rod and the literal Hot rod speeds off.

Hot Rod: Wheeljack set the portal way out here just in case any Decepticons followed you. We wouldn't want any in our base. Some actually found it and got in, including one of the higher rankers, Soundwave, but we sent them to the arctic before he could send any coordinates.

Sly: Wow! Smart thinking.

Hot Rod: Heeeyy, Sly, you didn't tell me you had this flamin' hottie as your Conjunx Endura.

Carmelita, offended despite not knowing what that term meant, angrily punches Rod in the radio.

Hot Rod: Oww!

The song "Give it to me baby" by James Brown plays.

"When I came home last night, you wouldn't make love to me."

"You went fast asleep. You wouldn't even talk to me."

Carm, considering what happened this morning, was not in the mood per say and punched the radio again. Sly felt awkward.

Hot Rod: Oohh! Could you please knock it off?

The song it plays now is the first part of "Careless Whisper" by George Michael, a very seductive sounding tone. Carm just turns off the radio, frustrated. Sly still feels awkward. Hot Rod then starts speeding and turning at high levels.

Carm: Hey! Companero! In case you don't know, I work for a police force, so if you weren't an alien robot posing as a car saving us from a heat stroke, you would be fined thousands in speeding tickets and maybe some time in the slammer!

Sly: She always threatens me with the latter, but she never REALLY means it! (Chuckles)

Carmelita gives Sly a dirty look.

Hot Rod: Look, Carmino, Camiyana, Catiusa?

Carm: Carmelita!

Hot Rod: Right, Carmelita! Can't you just sometimes dare yourself…..dare to believe!

'Rod tunes his radio to a certain song. "Dare" by Stan Bush.

"You can fly, if you try, leaving the past behind. Heaven only knows what you might find."

"DARE! Dare to believe you can survive! You hold the future in your hand."

"Dare! Dare to keep all of your dreams alive! It's time to take a stand and you can win if you dare!"

Sly really ponders the song's meaning. The three eventually get to the Autobot base. Sly reunites with his friends as well as Panda King and Dimitri. Carmelita is introduced to everyone, quickly forming bonds with Arcee, Windblade and Prowl. She is also surprised to see the Cooper Van can transform now and finally takes a shower…. in a huge weird contraption that semi-resembles a car wash. She also does something to mess with Sly.

Carm: Hey Optimus Prime?

Optimus: Yes Carmelita?

Carm: Y'know, you're such a big, strong leader and handsome as much as a giant robot can be. Those rims on your tires look nice and shiny and kinda….. sexy. Tell me, do you ever have any off time from commanding?

Optimus: Yes. Why do you ask?

Carm: Any chance….you single? Estas Soltero?

Prime gives Sly a confused look. Sly just rolls his eyes, thinking "Is she really this desperate to make me jealous by flirting with a huge truck guy?". Ratchet, the medic, for no reason or maybe he overheard the flirting, uses his scanning ability to detect something on Sly and Carm.

Ratchet: My scanner indicates the Raccoon and Fox recently had a somewhat high frequency in sexual pheromones, as in….recent mating activity.

Almost everyone in the room looks at the two, who are pretty embarrassed. Sly then whispers to Ratchet in a negative tone.

Sly: (Whispers) Out of all the Ratchets I have met…..two….you are the worst! And I'm just gonna be honest, you're a terrible therapist and I was only acting nice.

Ratchet: Yeah, I know.

Sly: Alright, I'm sorry.

Later, Sly is talking with Bentley and Murray.

Bentley: So Sly…. While you were gone…. We experimented with something…

Sly: With what?

Coopercus: WE WENT TIME TRAVELING!

Sly: Bentley…..you told me you destroyed the time machine after you brought me out of Ancient Egypt?!

Bentley: Well….not exactly….. I hid it just in case we really needed it again…..

Murray: (Interrupts) We were gonna ask your ancestors to join us in the upcoming battle and bring them to the present.

Sly: (Yells) WHAT!? That is beyond stupid!? If any of them came at this time and either died or were hit very hard in the nuts in battle, It would be very likely that I would cease to exist!? Y'know, for a guy like you, Bentley, I don't know why you didn't see the obvious consequences of this!?

Bentley: Look, we still had it planned out. We would bring them here, me and Wheeljack would whip them up some exo-suits and assign them each with Autobot partners and when the battle would be done, Wheeljack has this memory eraser thing we planned to use on them once getting them each back to their periods so to them, the events never happened.

Sly: Even with that thought out plan, I don't think it would've gone the way you intended.

Bentley: Yeah ... .we realized that after traveling to the Ice Age to get your prehistoric ancestor, Caveman "Bob" Cooper and just decided to go back and scrap the whole plan.

Sly: Good!

Coopercus: Though there was this weird pit stop we made and oversaw this battle.

Murray: There was this big gorilla and purple T-Rex referring to themselves as "Optimus" and "Megatron". Both of them had forces that fought and the "Megatron" kept saying "Yeeeessssss", there was also this huge wasp that referred to himself in third-person. It was odd, let me tell you.

Later again, Sly saw Bentley alone. He very begrudgingly decided to tell his best friend about what happened to his ex-girlfriend who broke his heart by betraying the whole gang. How she was taken by the Decepticons, became fascinated with their culture, decided to stay with them and eventually became one of them. No longer organic, as well as her fascinated crush on the 'Con scientist who she partnered with and then turned her metal. As Sly explained, the Turtle's expressions kept changing from shocked to neutral and he was quiet. When Sly was done, he finally spoke.

Bentley: (Sighs) I'm gonna be honest….I haven't been completely over her and what she did to me, to us …..I think about it once …...maybe twice a week….. But my mind keeps telling me she will never come back…..to me….. The girl I loved is gone…..I have mostly accepted that I should move on and if she sides with more bad people, especially giant evil fascist robots, then so be it!

He rolled in his wheelchair out of the room, frustrated. The Cooper knew he would take the news a bit hard.

A while later, Optimus Prime calls everyone to the main room of the base.

Optimus: Autobots! Cooper Gang! Thanks to Sly, we now know where the Decepticon base is. I know Megatron in and out and am certain that at this point he knows we eventually plan to attack and is readying his troops for battle. We need to do the same. I am giving us two days to prepare. Wheeljack has kindly provided the mostly organic Cooper Gang with ability enhancing exo-suits, except Bentley who built his own mech. We may have a smaller force than them, but I have contacted the Autobot forces on Cybertron and a few of their soldiers have offered to help in our battle and will be portaled here tomorrow.

Murray: Ummm….Optimus, I thought you guys didn't have enough Energon to make a Spacebridge portal to Cybertron?

Wheeljack: Alright, I'm gonna admit, I kinda lied to you guys. We have a huge hidden stash of Energon, but a Cybertron portal still takes up a really good portion, so we conserve whatever and whenever we can. Trips to our home planet are still a bit rare, but what I told you was true…..from a certain point of view.

Sly: What about the Allspark fragments? Do they matter anymore?

Arcee: Sort of, sort of not. The 'Cons may have a bit of a collection of them hidden somewhere in the base that we can maybe steal.

She looks at Sly.

Sly: Hey! Don't look at me! Just because I'm a Master Thief doesn't mean I'm touching one of those again!

He looks at Carmelita, being reminded of the horrific nightmare touching that one fragment gave him.

Optimus: Megatron must be stopped….no matter the cost! (Raises fist) 'Til all are one!

Everyone raises their fists.

Everyone: 'TIL ALL ARE ONE!