Chapter 7: Mask of Creation, Uncovered
In the frozen landscape of the Arctic, the Autobots were investigating odd readings coming from the surface and subsurface of the ice. For example, Creator was following an odd feeling he'd been having since they got there, while Arcie supervised him.
"Are you sure you don't just have a glitch because of the cold?" The two wheeler asked as she crossed her arms and started to shiver.
"Positive. We should be close to the source of the readings." The Bioformer nodded, before he stopped. "Hold it." He told her as he then summoned the Mask of Light and started soaking up sunlight before coursing it into his hands and rubbed them together, causing them to become heated. After he did this he placed them on the icy ground and reached down for a minute before pulling out something covered in frost. It seemed to be a mask. Arcie narrowed her optics, trying to identify it before they widened in recognition.
"I don't believe it. We found the Bionicle Mask of Creation!" She said in awe.
"Well that would explain the odds feelings… Whoa!" Creator said as he took off the Mask of Light before the Mask of Creation floated around him as it thawed out and then linked itself to the middle of his upper back. "... Well, that happened." He said, unsure of what else to say.
"Yeah it did." Arcie nodded before contacting the base. "Ratchet, we found something you might wanna see. Bridge us back." She called.
Moments later, the ground bridge opened and the two walked through, and were soon met with everyone else discussing another find that Bulkhead and Bumblebee found.
"Well, we can't find out what's inside while it's frozen." Ratchet mused as he turned to the two-wheeler and Bioformer. "What exactly did you two find out there?" He asked.
"Show him." The blue femme prompted while jabbing the taller bot with her elbow, causing him to summon the Mask of Creation to his face. This got surprise from pretty much everyone in the room who was Cybertronian.
"The Bionicle Mask of Creation… I never thought I would ever see it again." Optimus said, his voice full of surprise.
"I think it's fitting that I have it, since Creation is one of the main things Primus tasked me with." The Bioformer said, taking off the mask.
"Don't let it go to your head." Sierra teased, causing everyone to chuckle even as the four Arctic explorers got defrosted.
"You know I can just turn back to my human form and get warmed up that way, right?" Creator told Ratchet as he got his checkup.
"Yes, but I think it would be best to get used to this in advance, regardless." The medic told him.
"*sigh* Fine." He sighed as the diagnostic continued.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile on the Nemesis, Starscream entered the sick bay to see Jenova as Madame Ruin running her hands over Megatron's body as said appendages glowed a Dark Energon purple.
"What are you doing?" He asked sternly.
"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to repair Lord Megatron." The femme stated as the dark energy started to cause the Decepticon's metal skin started to bend back into place and start to improve in appearance.
As much as Starscream wanted to stop her, he knew that it would only cause trouble for him in the long run. So, with a scowl of defeat, he turned and left.
Madame Ruin smiled as she started repairing Megatron's damaged face. "I'm not sure if you can hear me, my lord, but I'm here for you. And I promise, you will be back in working order soon. I'll make sure of it." She whispered into his audio receptors while stroking the side of his face with her glowing purple hands.
Little did the granddaughter of Unicron know, the Decepticon leader could indeed hear her in his comatose state, and his mind was still very much active. He would be sure to thank her for restoring him when he recovers.
(Meanwhile)
Back at the base, the others saw Optimus and Arcie off as they went to continue the search for more possible finds, though as they left, the ground bridge suddenly shorted out.
"What the-?" Ratchet got out as he tried to power up the bridge but got no response. "Scrap." He cursed.
"Eh… What's up, doc?" Tiberius asked as he sat on the catwalk next to him, a cup of warm Earl Grey tea in his hand as he tried to warm himself up.
"The Ground Bridge has gone offline, and I can't get it to turn back on." He replied as he fiddled with the controls before giving up.
"... *Siiiiip* Would you like me to help?" The boy asked, taking a long sip of his beverage.
"If you would be so kind, yes." He nodded. With that, the boy leapt down and summoned the Mask of Creation to his face before peering past the panel on the floor.
"Jesus Christ, do you guys get mice often?" He asked, seeing wires, breakers and microchips being eaten through.
"What does that mean?" The medical bot asked.
"Some of the circuitty has bite marks on them along with burns. They'll need to get replaced." He explained. "And judging by the shape and size? I'd say our culprit has little ginsu knives for teeth and a turbine for a mouth." The Bioformer added. The description caused Ratchet to freeze.
"No… It couldn't be…" He muttered fearfully.
"Hey guys! Look at what I found!" Raf called behind them.
"We're busy." The medic sighed as he turned to the boy… And upon seeing what he was holding, he jumped back in fear. "GAH!" He yelled, getting everyone else's attention. When Bulkhead and Bumblebee saw the silver critter sleeping in Raf's arms, they immediately joined Ratchet and even pointed their guns at it.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! What's going on?" Tiberius asked as he blocked them.
"SCRAPLET! SCRAPLET!" Bulkhead yelled in terror as he pointed his gun at them.
"What's a Scraplet?" Raf asked.
"The most dangerous vermin to ever walk the surface of Cybertron." Ratchet told them with a shudder.
"Um, how exactly can something this tiny be that viscous?" Sierra questioned with a raised eyebrow.
[They eat anything and everything metal! Especially living metal!] Bumblebee told them, which made Tiberius and Raf gulp. And seconds later, the scraplet woke up. Upon seeing the three Cybertronians before it, its mouth opened, revealing the cascade of rotating teeth within as it leapt out of Raf's arms and charged at them. This caused them to panic and start shooting at it, but it was really nimble, it seemed and dodged all the shots before getting onto Bumblebee and started eating his metal.
"Quick, get that damn thing off!" Tiberius yelled. Bumblebee started waving around until he flung it off and it landed in front of Tiberius. "Come here." He growled as he grabbed the creature and then summoned the Mask of Life and slammed his face to the scraplet's own face, causing it to shriek and squirm.
The creature then slowly started to rust and crumble until it fell to the ground in rusty little chunks. The others looked at the display in shock and amazement.
"Okay… What's Bumblebee's damage?" Miko asked as she calmed down from the unexpected occurrence.
"Just a mesh wound, he'll live." Ratchet said before Tiberius transformed and started using the Mask of Creation to create new metal mesh and started applying it to Bumblebee's wounds.
"Well, at least there was only one of them." Jack sighed, but Ratchet shook his head at that.
"With scraplets, there's never just one." The medic sighed. The group then went to the object they found in the Arctic and examined it. "As I suspected, it's a trap. A scraplet trap." He told the group.
"And by the looks of it, an empty one." Tiberius noted.
"How many were in this thing?" Raf wondered.
"Probably thousands, which means an infestation is underway." Ratchet said grimly.
"Then we need to figure out how to beat them, and fast." Jack said.
"Yeah, but how?" Sierra questioned.
"I would suggest an EMP blast, but that's a stupid idea in all honesty. " The child scientist sighed.
"Best bet is we could have Tibs try and do what he did to that one scraplet on a larger scale." Miko offered.
"Trust me, I would if I could, but using the Masks in rapid succession like that takes a lot out of me." The genius told her.
"So what should we do?" Raf asked.
"My only guess would be to fix the ground bridge and send them to the Arctic so the cold would freeze their asses." Tiberius states.
"If we can figure out the problem behind not being able to use it." Jack said.
"Then we'll have to work fast, or Optimus and Arce will perish." Ratched concluded.
"Then let's get moving." Tiberius said as everyone got ready to figure out the problem.
(Elsewhere)
In the Arctic, Optimus was climbing a cliff face as his sensor flashed blue, indicating core temperatures were low and systems failure was imminent.
"Optimus, my sensors are flashing blue. That's our cue to leave." Arcie chimed.
"Optimus to base. Sensors have reached the blue zone, requesting a ground bridge." The Prime said as he activated his communicator. The only thing that he got was static, much to his confusion. "Optimus to base. Do you read?" He asked, but got static still.
(Back at the base)
"Ratchet to Optimus. Do you read? Optimus?!" He tried to call his leader, but got static. "The scraplets have gotten into the communication system!" He groaned.
"For fuck's sake, don't these things ever stop eating?!" Tiberius yelled as he tried to fix the power routers.
"No they don't." Bulkhead sighed.
"How much metal do they leave behind?" The cheer captain asked.
"Next to nothing. They go for the smallest and juiciest parts first, and work their way up from there. When they devour a living Cybertronian, nothing is left and I mean nothing!… Not even the optics." The large transformer explained with a shiver.
"I should be fine in my human form... Hopefully." Tiberius said with a shiver of his own.
"We'll need to figure out the extent of the damage they've caused so far and try to contain them." Ratchet informed them.
"Then we'll search every inch of here, two humans and one bot." Jack said. "Tiberius, you and Raf go with Bumblebee. Sierra and Miko, you go with Bulkhead. I'll stay here with Ratchet." The teen instructed.
Tiberius seemed to go ridgid at the order of the two teams. Sierra had been making knowing comments and badgering him about his 'apparently obvious' crush on Miko for the past couple weeks, and now was starting to dread the inevitable conversation the cheer captain would start with the exchange student about it. Glancing at Sierra, he felt his heart sink when he saw the teasing gleam in her eyes aimed at the Japanese musician.
'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!' The blonde thought as he quickly tried to get out of there to avoid embarrassing himself.
(Elsewhere)
Back in the Arctic, Optimus and Arcie were trying to walk through a blizzard that had blown in towards them as their bodies started to look like a car line of a dealership in Vermont after a night of freezing and snow. Though the Prime did have to stop to help his two wheeler companion when she dropped to one knee out of exhaustion.
"Ngh… You sure a long drive wouldn't help? I hear Miami is great this time of year." She managed to quip in spite of the situation.
"The distance of the nearest temperate climate is far too great. It would be best if we try to find shelter, and insulate ourselves." Optimus replied as he helped her up.
"Makes me wish Tiberius was here. Kid figured out how to use the Mask of Light to super heat his hands, that'd sure be useful right now…" The motorcycle said as they limped to a covered area.
"I must agree with that sentiment…" Optimus nodded shakily.
They both hoped they'd be back home soon.
(Meanwhile)
Back at the base, Bulkhead, Sierra and Miko were looking around in the hall where Raf found the first scraplet for any clues… And the former Wrecker was apparently very jumpy.
"So Miko, what exactly did you think when you first saw that drawing that Tiberius made of you?" The redhead asked. Miko shuffled awkwardly for a moment before answering.
"It was… Oddly detailed… And I felt a little flattered for some reason." She replied. "Why do I want him to make more drawings of me like that one?" She whispered to herself. Sadly, due to how the sound bounced around, the cheerleader heard her words.
"Sounds like you'd like to be a model for when he draws." The girl teased. The musician blushed lightly as they continued to walk until the power went off and Bulkhead suddenly screamed. A few seconds later, the power came back on and the two girls looked at the wrecker, trying to contain their laughter.
"D-did you just scream like a little girl?!" Miko asked as she covered her mouth.
"No!... Maybe… Can we talk about this later?" The bot said indignantly. The girls giggled as they continued for a minute or two minutes or so before a piece of the ceiling came off and caused Bulkhead to start shooting in its general direction like a madman as cables dropped on him… and also screamed like a little girl again.
"Calm down, would you? They're just cables!" Sierra called out, causing him to look and see that they were indeed cables.
"Oh.. Whoops." He chuckled sheepishly… Right before scarplets started falling on him, causing him to start screaming again.
"Oh scrap!" The two girls yelled in panic.
(Elsewhere)
"I really hope Miko and Sierra are okay." Raf shivered.
[And Bulkhead.] Bumblebee added.
"Same here guys." Tiberius nodded.
Suddenly, they heard the telltale sounds of buzzsaw noises and knew that there were scraplets nearby. When they rounded a corner, they saw that a vent cover had been eaten through.
"At least we know where they're going now." Tiberius said as the three went back to the ground bridge room.
(Elsewhere)
Back with Arcie and Optimus, the two were huddled in a cave away from the winds, and and the blue femme was finding it harder and harder to stay awake.
"Arcie, you must stay awake." Optimus said, jolting her from her tired state for the moment.
"I'm fine. Just… resting my optics." She replied.
"The longer we stay alert, the longer we stay alive." The larger transformer stated.
"What do you suggest? I know, let's play a game, 'Who screwed things up at base?'" The two wheeler suggested.
"Our predicament could be the result of a simple malfunction." Optimus inputted.
"Caused by Bulkhead, or Tiberius and his pet Cyberbite Serpent… What'd he call that thing again? Jormungand?" The femme countered.
"I highly doubt it was Tiberius, let alone his serpent. Bulkhead… He may be large but he still knows restraint." The Prime stated.
"Doesn't exactly mean he's graceful." The blue and silver femme muttered. "Heh, remember when we first got here and he tripped on those power lines? Heh, who knew he could dance like that?" The motorcycle chuckled.
Optimus was silent, though he did have the faintest of smiles on his face at the memory of said event.
(Meanwhile)
Back at the base, everyone was regrouping, and Tiberius quickly checked Jormungand, and saw that he was okay, and… had the headless body of a scraplet in his coiled grasp.
"Good boy." He praised with a smile, stroking his pet's head. Then he got an idea. "Hey Ratchet, did the Scraplet ever have any natural predators on Cybertron?" He asked the medic.
"Yes, actually. It was said that…" He started to say before noticing the headless scraplet body in the serpent's mouth and grinned. "Ah, I see what you're going for." He noted.
"I'd say it's chow time, what do you think, bud?" The boy asked his pet, who winked at him in response. "Then let's go find some more food for you to eat." He said with a grin. Though he didn't have to do too much looking as a swarm of scraplets suddenly burst into the room and started flying towards them.
Taking the Cyberbite Serpent from its cage, Tiberius turned him loose and the flying metal piranha bugs saw it as he rattled his tail at them and dived. However, this would be their undoing as Jormungand opened his mouth and suddenly sprayed a viscous purple fluid at them from its fangs, causing everyone that was hit to suddenly lock up and crash to the ground.
"Now that's what I call entertaining." Raf commented with a grin.
"Paralyzing agents in the form of a neurotoxin in its venom, intriguing." Ratchet commented. When a small group was left, the snake unhinged it's jaw wider and sprayed another liquid, this time green which suddenly ate away at everything it touched.
"And apparently, very strong stomach acid." Raf added.
"Well, at least we learned something." The Bioformer shrugged.
"Was that the last of them?" Bulkhead asked warily.
"Doubtful, these were just scouts." Ratchet sighed.
"We gotta do something then. Fast." Miko said. Ratchet looked at the tech for the Ground Bridge and groaned before he blinked.
"If the ground bridge still won't receive power, then there must be a breach, in the Energon fuel line." The medic said in realization.
"We're not gonna have to do that, are we? We're pretty injured as it is." Bulkhead asked, gesturing to himself and Bumblebee, both having signs of being attacked by scraplets.
"Don't worry. We can take care of the leak ourselves." Sierra told him as she gestured to herself and the others.
"And I'll act as bait so we can lure them towards the Arctic." Tiberius added as he started to transform, but was suddenly stopped by Miko grabbing his arm.
"The hell you are! They'll eat you alive!" The girl snapped at him.
"The cold temperatures will freeze them solid before they can actually get inside my body. I'll be fine." He said in a reassuring tone.
"But-guys try and tell him that's a crazy idea!" The Japanese girl said to the other humans.
"Aren't you usually for the crazy ideas?" Sierra asked.
"Not when they're gonna for sure get any of us killed!" Miko ranted.
"I gotta agree with Miko. This is insane." Jack nodded.
"I'm sorry, but do you guys see another option?" Tiberius snapped angrily. "No? Well then sit back and leave it to me then, I'll handle it." He added as he transformed.
'Dammit, why does he do all these crazy things?!' Miko thought somewhat angrily, her heart clenching at the thought of him dying.
"Come on, we need to hurry and fix the breach!" Raf said as the four ran off. As soon as they left, Creator sighed angrily. He hated it when the others didn't think he thinks things through, he's a genius for crying out loud, all he does is think! And he especially didn't want to hear it from Miko. Half the time the roles were reversed so it really ground his gears.
"Something wrong, Tibs?" Bulkhead asked, noticing that the bot had his fists clenched.
"I hate the fact that those four seem to be under the impression that I don't think things through. I'm a genius! Thinking is all I do! For them to believe that I don't is just… just…" He tried to say before throwing his hands in the air in frustration. "GAH! I can't stand it!" He ranted.
[You had to ask, didn't you, Bulkhead?] Bumblebee said pointedly at his rotund comrade.
"Didn't think it would be that sensitive." The green bot shrugged.
With the four humans, they carefully tiptoed by dozens of scraplets that had their mouths open.
"It's okay, guys. We're not made of metal." Jack said in a wary tone. As they walked along the pipeline, Raf noticed a section that was leaking.
"There's the breach!" He said as they ran over to it and got to work, however as they were finished with it after a few minutes… the scraplets started flying off.
"Oh no… They're going to feed! Quick, back to the control center!" The cheer squad captain exclaimed in alarm.
"Right!" The other three nodded as they ran towards the room. Once there, the scraplets busted through in droves.
"Ratchet! Everything's fixed!" Raf told the medic.
"Fire it up!" Miko added. The medic quickly activated the ground bridge. Destination: Antarctica.
"Ground bridge activated." The medic groaned before collapsing. As the portal opened, Creator whistled to the scraplets to get their attention.
"Come and get it!" He yelled as he turned and ran towards the ground bridge and drew the little pests after him.
(Elsewhere)
At the other end, Optimus and Arcie were slowly starting to feel their systems fail as the cold set in.
'Damn it, so this is how our lights are going to go out?' Arcie thought. 'I wish I could have at least said goodbye to Jack one last time…' She thought as her eyes started to close, right as the ground bridge appeared. "W...what…?" She uttered before Creator came out with the scraplets following him. He quickly threw himself on the snowy ground, where the pests saw the freezing Autobot duo and flew toward them.
Just before they could reach their new meal, the temperatures of their environment quickly froze them solid, causing them to harmlessly fly past them and even bounce off of them in a few cases.
"Urg, I'd invite you guys inside to get out of the cold, but the place is a mess!" Creator chuckled nervously as he shook off the frost on his head.
"We'll take it, anyway." Optimus told him as he helped Arcie up.
(Later)
Everyone was now trying to recover from the ordeal that they had just gone through, while Tiberius slowly put Jormungander into his cage as the serpent let out a loud belch. He was clearly pleased with his meal.
"Excuse you." The blonde chuckled before walking over to the others. "Man are we lucky this happened on a Saturday! Phew, if this happened during the week you guys woulda been screwed." He said as he sat down.
"How do you know you wouldn't be?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because I still go to school with you guys, remember?" The boy pointed out.
"Oh." The three other teens said in unison.
Optimus nodded. It was indeed fortunate that their human friends were there to help them today, they truly were strong, despite their size. Suddenly, Miko screamed and her pigtails stood up on end.
"What is it? Is it a scraplet?!" Jack asked as he looked around, a pipe at the ready.
"No! It's a spider!" She exclaimed fearfully, causing the others to slump their shoulders even as the Japanese girl ran away in fright.
"... Did she just scream like a little girl?" Bulkhead had to ask.
"Pot meet kettle." Tiberius sighed as he went off to calm the girl down.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile on the Nemesis, Jenova was walking along an examination table as the corpse of a Cyberbite Serpent laid long ways on it. Smirking, she bit her thumb to draw blood, and dripped some of her Dark Energon blood into the Serpent's open mouth. For a few moments, nothing happened. But after another few moments, it began to move before it rose its head and looked around.
"Oh, you're gonna be very useful." Jenova smiled evilly. She knew exactly how she was going to use her new pet.
Dragon Emperor0: This can't be good…
ThermalsniperN7: Considering her lineage, that's to be expected. She's an Oda. Also, the Mask of Creation apparently found its way to Earth. Wonder if any other Bionicle relics ended up there…
Dragon Emperor0: Me too. Also, anyone else still think that Bulkhead screaming like a little girl in front of two girls was hilarious?
ThermalsniperN7: I have a feeling that a lot of people will think that. I mean, how can they not? It's a funny scene.
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. And then there's the thing with Jenova: apparently Megatron's at least somewhat aware of her taking care of him despite being in stasis. It's like Johnny got his gun, only with Cybertronians.
ThermalsniperN7: Well, I guess that's one way of putting it. Anyway, see you guys next time.