Chapter 8: We just got Conned
Tiberius and the others were leaving school to meet up with their Autobots to go to the base on a Friday afternoon about a week or two after the scraplet infestation. And as Tiberius climbed into Optimus's driver seat, he noticed that there was a black Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution with purple rims and black and purple flower patterns and black thorn vines on the paint job which seemed to be modified for drifting.
'What in the world…? What's a Japanese drifter car doing here?' He thought, the vibes of the car giving him a sense of wariness for some reason.
Meanwhile, inside the car, a holographic version of Jenova watched as the kids left, and noticed the way Tiberius interacted with Miko. This gave her a very wicked idea as she suddenly sported a blade like smile.
'I'll take pleasure in tormenting you…' She thought darkly, already making plans as she watched the Autobots drive off before leaving for the Nemesis.
(Later)
As everyone started to enter, Bulkhead and Miko were trying to decide on what to do for the day. "So now that chores are done, you wanna go dune busting?" The musician suggested.
"I dunno. I'm still getting sand out of my articulators from last time." The wrecker replied in an uncertain tone. "But I do hear there's a monster truck rally in town."
Before Miko could say anything, an alarm suddenly went off. This drew everyone's attention.
"What the hell is that?" The blonde asked as he was set on the catwalk by Optimus, discreetly tucking two slips of paper into his pants pocket from his backpack.
"Let's find out." Ratchet said before he did a scan. "It's an autobot communication beacon, high above earth's orbit."
"Another Autobot?" The Bioformer asked.
"There's more of you guys?" Raf added.
"There's bound to be, honestly," Jack commented. "Let's see who it could be." He added.
"We've been scattered around the galaxy, but cons have been known to fake signals before." Arcie added.
"Unknown autobot vessel, this is Autobot outpost Omega 1. Identify yourself." Optimus hailed to the ship.
"I've gotten warmer welcomes from the Cons' blockades." A male voice replied. Bulkhead perked up when he heard the speaker.
"No way. Wheeljack?!" He asked in excitement. "You no good con crusher, what're you doing all the way out here?!"
"Bulkhead? Is that you? What's with all the security?" Wheeljack asked.
"This planet is crawling with Cons." The green wrecker replied.
"Sounds like fun. I'll stop by and see if I can lighten the load." The fellow wrecker nodded.
"Sending landing coordinates." Optimus said as he sent Wheeljack land coordinates that happened to be in Egypt. "We will see you soon, Wheeljack, safe journey."
"See ya soon buddy, I'll make sure you get a proper welcome!" Bulkhead chirped.
"So who's the boyfriend?" Arcie asked.
"Heh heh, me and Jackie go waaay back." Bulkhead chuckled as he turned around.
"Let the record show, no confirmation or denial." Tiberius whispered to Miko, who giggled quietly at his words.
"We were part of the same unit: The Wreckers! Which means the cons are gonna wish he never found us." Bulkhead chuckled. After a moment, Ratchet managed to get the Ground Bridge open. Bulkhead, Arcie and Bumblebee immediately went through.
"Should we be worried?" Tiberius asked as they watched the scene on the screen, which showed Wheeljack surrounded by Vehicons.
"I only know Wheeljack by reputation. If he is as good as it suggests, then we have nothing to worry about." Optimus replied.
"Okay… Whatever you say." Tiberius said before he tapped Sierra on the shoulder. "Hey Sierra, come here for a second." He told her as he led her away from the earshot of the others.
"What's up?" The redhead asked. The blonde then pulled out the slips of paper, revealing them to be tickets to the Monster Truck rally Bulkhead mentioned. "What're those for?" She asked curiously.
"I'm… planning to ask Miko out to the rally soon." He admitted reluctantly. "I could use a little help for that." He added.
"Seriously? Like on a date?" The cheer captain teased, causing the boy to blush profusely.
"No!... Maybe… Can we talk about that part later?!" He retorted. Sierra just chuckled good naturedly at him.
"Alright, Romeo. I'll give you a hand." She replied with a grin.
Back with the others, Raf noticed the two talking. "Wonder what they're talking about?" He asked Jack.
"I'm not sure." The boy shrugged. Back with Sierra and Tiberius the redhead was trying to help the genius try and figure out how to ask Miko out to the rally.
"Hm… You could just straight up ask her if all else fails." The cheer captain offered.
"I can't do that! I'll embarrass myself!" The green eyed teen hissed quietly.
"You don't know that." Sierra stated, placing her hands on her hips. Before anything else could be said, however, the others came back. And right as Ratchet closed the Ground Bridge, it short circuited.
"Blasted scraplets!" Ratchet cursed. "The equipment hasn't been the same since the infestation."
"I'd make some new parts, but I can't do that without straining myself." Tiberius commented as he walked back to everyone with Sierra.
Though they were all too busy listening to Bulkhead recounting a war story with Wheeljack. "There we were, surrounded by cons, we didn't have anywhere else to go, and Jackie-well-go on, tell em." The bot prompted his friend.
"What I do best. Blow stuff up." Wheeljack stated.
"He takes his only grenade and hurls it into an Energon repository. And then BOOM!" Bulkhead laughed. "The joint went supernova!"
"Cool!" Miko exclaimed in delight.
"Yeah. I'm still picking shrapnel out of my backside." The bot chuckled as he scratched said area.
"I'm not surprised, given the size of your backside." Arcie commented with a chuckle, Bumblebee beeping in agreement.
[She's got ya there, Bulk.] He chuckled.
(Elsewhere)
Jenova transformed into Madame Ruin and took her resurrected Cyberbite Serpent by the head before making it bite on a canister and extract some of its venom, then she took a canister of her own Dark Energon blood and put it in the same canister before placing it in a centrifuge to spin.
"Now, what other chemicals could I add to increase the damage and side effects?" She wondered aloud. She looked through the selection and found a few that were satisfying. "Hm, these should do." She mused as she added them to the dangerous cocktail.
She then waited for the mixture to finish mixing before she took a small sample in a human sized syringe in her human form and turned towards her test subject: A prostitute who she snagged from Japan to act as the first guinea pig of her new concoction. The woman was chained down and gagged and Jenova grinned as she leaned over her and aimed the needle at the woman's forehead.
"Do tell me how this feels, would you?" She asked in a tone that was anything but innocent as she pressed the needle into the woman's brain and injected the cocktail before pulling back and watched the results unfold as her test subject started screaming and writhing around in agony as horrifying things began happening to her body inside and out.
(Elsewhere)
Back with the others, Wheeljack and Bulkhead were throwing around a giant metal ball while Miko was playing on her guitar, Jack was talking to Arcie, and Tiberius was trying to figure out what he was going to say to Miko with Sierra having fun dancing with Raf and Bumblebee and Optimus… Was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, where'd Optimus go?" The black haired boy asked.
"He went for a drive. Primes don't party." The two wheeler replied casually right before Bulkhead lobbed the ball at Tiberius for the Bioformer to catch it as Creator and throw it back.
"And that?" Jack asked.
"That's lobbing, a favorite pass time on Cybertron, especially among the warrior class." The two wheeler explained. Creator sighed as he sat next to Arcie and Jack and transformed back.
"Guys, I have no idea what I'm gonna do." He groaned in dismay.
"About what?" Jack asked. The blonde's response was handing him his two tickets. "Two tickets to the monster truck rally? You thinking of taking someone?"
"I'm thinking about taking Miko." The Bioformer sighed. Jack blinked before he smirked at his hybrid friend.
"So, is this like a date or…?" The boy asked. This got Arcie's attention as Tiberius yet again started blushing like mad.
"Um, what are you two talking about? And why is Tiberius' face red like that" She questioned.
"A date is usually an outing between two people who like each other." Jack explained, this made Arcie nod.
"Oh, yeah we did stuff like that on Cybertron too." She nodded before smirking, now realizing the context of Tiberius's reaction. "So I'm guessing that you mentioning that Tiberius may like Miko is why his face is red? Ya know, because he's embarrassed?"
"Got it one, Arcie." Jack nodded with a grin, causing the boy in question to hide his face in his hands.
"Come on, guys! Not cool!" He mumbled into his hands. Jack and Arcie chuckled at his state before the two wheeler grabbed the Bioformer and pulled him close, already having an idea to help him.
"Listen carefully. This has to work." She whispered to him, getting his attention. "I want you to take Miko for a flight, and ask her out to whatever you two wanna do while you're both in the air. That should help keep you confident enough to not mess it up." She explained quietly.
"So do it in the air so I have to keep myself from crashing due to nerves, I got you." He nodded, before going red in the face again. "And have Miko inside the cockpit of my vehicle mode, aka inside me! Oh man!" The boy groaned as he covered his face in embarrassment again. Jack and Arcie had to stop themselves from laughing at his predicament.
Meanwhile, Sierra and Miko had just offered to give Wheeljack a tour of the base after he and Bulkhead nearly took out the Ground Bridge while lobbing.
"So this base, where is it exactly?" The autobot asked.
"If I told you, I'd have to rip out your spark." Miko replied as sternly as she could. Wheeljack just looked at her oddly. "I'm kidding! It's just outside of Jasper, Nevada." She finally replied with her hands behind her back.
"I'm supposed to know where that is?" He asked.
"We don't expect you to." Sierra chirped as they continued to walk around. "Hey Miko, you gonna go to that Monster Truck rally that's happening this weekend?" The redhead asked the girl next to her.
"Heck yeah I do!" The Japanese girl exclaimed with a grin before her shoulders slumped. "But I don't have any tickets." She mumbled.
"Oh, well that's a shame." The redhead shrugged with a smirk.
(Later)
On the Nemesis, Jenova looked at the results of the cocktail with a grin. So far the toxins caused convulsions, hemorrhaging, seizures, and internal bleeding before it suffocated the victim. Then when the Dark Energon kicked in, it caused the body to quickly putrefy and then petrify and mummify in a matter of seconds, making the corpse into a lifeless mummy in no less than ten to thirty minutes.
"This is gonna come in handy for when Lord Megatron is able to see it happen first hand." She purred demonically to herself. She then looked at a picture of Miko she took earlier. "And I know just who to use it on." She grinned before she started cackling maniacally.
(Meanwhile)
As Miko, Sierra and Wheeljack came back, Bulkhead decided to say something to his friend. Because he had been having an odd feeling about him ever since he arrived.
"Hey Jackie, ya know that story about the battle of Wheelshock pass? Why don't you tell us about it?" The bot suggested.
"That's quite a story." The bot replied in a slightly uneasy tone.
"I know. Tell it!" The green wrecker ordered sternly, causing a few of the others to look at him in surprise since this is the first time he's acted like this. Though Tiberius quickly recognized this situation from the many films he'd seen over the years and made sure to get behind Wheeljack.
"Alright. Well, at the start of the battle me and the wreckers were giving the Cons hell, plasma blasts were flying everywhere, explosions and the occasional body part flew past us. Ultra Magnus ordered a full frontal assault once the enemy front line was breached, and then me and Bulkhead with the rest of the guys ran in to engage the enemy… and then rest is history. Right, Bulk?" The autobot asked after recounting the story.
"Yep, that's about it… Except for one little detail." He nodded before glaring at the imposter. "I was never there." He growled, causing said fake's optics to widen. "I had left the wreckers and joined Optimus' crew before that battle took place. You'd know that if you accessed Wheeljack's public service record!" He continued, still growling.
The counterfeit war hero looked from side to side frantically before moving to grab Miko, only to be grabbed and slammed into the catwalk next to the Ground Bridge controls by Creator.
"Nice try, imposter!" The Bioformer growled as he aimed his chest cannon at his back. "Are you okay, Miko?" He asked.
"Y-yeah… I'll live." She replied in a slightly shaken tone. Creator growled as he started booting up his chest cannon.
"You've really pissed me off now." He snapped as the cannon started charging before the fake Wheeljack suddenly stomped on his foot and caused him to back up and then turned on the ground bridge after it calibrated. As Makeshift was backing up into the portal with his weapons trained on them, however…
WHAM!
The real Wheeljack came flying out and kicked him in the back. This caused everyone to pause and look between them.
"Uh… Huh?" Creator got out, unable to form words at the moment.
"How are we supposed to tell the real one?" Miko asked as her Bioformer friend got her out of the way by tossing her inside his cockpit without thinking. "Hey! Not cool!" She exclaimed indignantly.
Wheeljack and Makeshift circled each other, blades drawn and glaring at one another. Bulkhead growled and slammed a fist into his open hand and made to approach the imposter, but Wheeljack stopped him.
"Don't. Ugly's mine." He said firmly. This was responded to by the others backing up while he lunged at Makeshift and threw him into a wall, and then received a fist to the face in return. The Decepticon then tried to slash at the Autobot war hero, but his strike was expertly blocked.
"Hey con." Wheeljack said as he grabbed Makeshift by the arm. "Let me show you the door." He added as he swung the Decepticon around and then hurled him through the Ground Bridge.
"... That's my Jackie." Bulkhead chuckled after a moment had passed.
(Elsewhere)
On the top of the Nemesis, Starscream was on the verge of blowing a circuit when he failed to get the invasion force he'd assembled through the Ground Bridge. He hoped that Makeshift had at least learned something useful.
"Please tell me you at least got the location of their base…!" He semi-pleaded in a stressed tone, and got a nod in return.
"Yes, Lord Starscream. Its-" He started to say before he heard a beeping noise. The Seeker looked at the disguised Decepticon's waist and his optics widened when he saw an active charge before he scrambled to get away. Makeshift looked at where he was looking and sighed. "Oh no." He managed to get out before…
BOOM!
"MAKESHIFT, YOU FOOL!" Starscream yelled as he flew away from the ship.
(Meanwhile)
Creator was flying through the air of the Nevada desert with Miko in his cockpit. The musician had protested the unexpected flight, but upon seeing just how breathtaking the view was, she went silent and opted to enjoy the flight in the oddly starfighter looking cockpit of her friend/crush. Creator himself could practically feel the bliss rolling off of his passenger, and decided to make some chit chat before asking her out to the monster truck rally.
"Enjoying the view?" He asked.
"Yeah, the desert looks even better from the air than on the roads. Makes me kinda wanna do this more often..." The girl nodded. "Don't tell Bulkhead I said that. He gets jealous easily." She added.
"Don't worry. I won't." The jet chuckled. "... How do you feel, being at this altitude?" He then asked.
"I feel… free. And safe… like nothing can hurt me while I'm up here." Miko replied, a sense of safety and freedom grasping her senses as she relaxed.
"Oh good. For a minute there I thought you'd get airsick." The Bioformer sighed in relief. "So… About that Monster Truck rally this weekend…" He started to say.
"What about it?" The girl asked. She got her answer when a slot opened up and out came two tickets to said rally. Miko's eyes widened before she took one, the fact that there were two of them registering instantly. "Y-you want me to go with you?" She breathed before she smiled brightly. "Yes! So much, yes!" She exclaimed in delight. It took all of Creator's self control to not do a barrel roll in joy.
"I guess I'll see you this weekend, then!" The hybrid said with an audible smile.
"Yeah! So, pick me up at… Say 6:30?" She suggested.
"Sounds like a plan." Her flyer replied in agreement before he brought her back to base for Bulkhead to take her home. For some reason, Miko found herself hating that she had to go back to the ground.
(Later)
As Optimus parked in the driveway of the Darwin household, he noticed his human protégés sunny disposition at the moment. "Did something happen that raised your spirits, Tiberius?" He asked.
"Oh, like you wouldn't believe." The boy replied. "I asked Miko out to the monster truck rally this weekend, and she said yes." He explained.
Optimus was silent for a moment before he realized what he was referring to. "Ah, I see." He nodded. He wasn't too familiar with the concept of dates, but he did at least understand the appeal of doing something you love with those you cared about. Since it was something that Cybertronians also did.
With Tiberius, he entered his house and saw that his parents had already set out food and started dinner with Knockout burgers being the item on the menu today.
"Hey mom, dad." He sighed happily as he sat down with them. Mathias instantly noticed the look in his son's eyes.
"I know that look in your eyes. That's the 'I asked a girl out and she said yes' look." He said, causing the boy to freeze as his father smirked. "Who's the lucky girl?" He asked.
"Uh… Miko Nakadai." The Bioformer told him.
"Oh! Isn't that the name of that cute exchange student in your science class I keep hearing about?" Serena asked in a teasing manner.
"... Yes." Tiberius admitted. His mother's smile turned into a grin.
"Well then, I think you better show her a good time, don't you think?" The woman asked.
"Trust me, I plan to." The boy nodded. "I'm taking her to the monster truck rally this weekend, so that's bound to happen." He explained.
"Well remember to be a gentleman to her." His father told him.
"And be yourself." His mother added.
"I will. I mean, those were bound to stick with you two being my parents." The boy nodded, getting chuckles in return.
"Good now, let's eat." Mathias said as he dug in, his wife and son following suit. Though as they ate, the patriarch and matriarch of the family stole discreet glances at their son.
'When will you remember your past? Or have you, and you're just hiding it from us?' Mathias thought.
'I hope you can trust us when you show us that you've started remembering what you are. We won't judge you for it.' Serena thought.
Tiberius of course could feel their gazes, but was too hopped up on joy inducing hormones to heed them. It could be worried about later.
(Elsewhere)
Miko sighed as she plopped down on the bed of her host home, and started texting her parents. Her host parents weren't home so she had the house to herself. "I just got asked out today. And no I don't think it's a date, just in case you're wondering. (So don't get any ideas, dad)." She typed.
"Who's the one that asked you out?" Came the response from her father.
"A boy at my school named Tiberius. We hang out a lot with a few of our friends. We're gonna go to a monster truck rally that's happening this weekend." The girl responded.
"You were always a sucker for those. He better treat you right, or I'll come over to America just to beat some sense into him." Her father replied, causing her to chuckle.
"You will not!" Chimed in the girl's mother.
"If you can, that is. But I don't think he'll treat me badly. He's too nice to do anything of that sort." Miko replied.
"Good. Have fun at that rally, sweetheart." Her father replied.
"And do be sure to send us a picture of you two together. I want to see what he looks like." Her mother added.
"Don't worry. I will." Miko replied before the texting session ended. The girl put her phone on the nightstand and lied down on her bed with thoughts going through her mind, one thought in particular standing out…
"Why did flying with Tibs feel so right…?" She wondered aloud to herself. It certainly was a stand out feeling.
Dragon Emperor0: Well that could have gone horribly wrong. If Tiberius didn't step in when he did, Makeshift would've squeezed Miko into pulp!
ThermalsniperN7: No kidding. And onto more concerning matters, Jenova's made herself a max tier toxin with some of her own blood in its mix. The results are… horrifying, when it's used on humans.
Dragon Emperor0: I really don't like how she's thinking of using it on Miko…
ThermalsniperN7: Neither do I. She's just asking for Creator to come and turn her into his punching bag with that kind of plan.
Dragon Emperor0: But what does that stuff do to Cybertronians?... Ya know what? I don't wanna know.
ThermalsniperN7: Ditto. I'd rather leave that topic alone… Does anyone think that asking a girl out at high altitude is pretty high level?
Dragon Emperor0: I mean, it worked for Hiccup when he tried to win over Astrid. So why not? Wow, there's actually a couple parallels between Tiberius and Hiccup here, huh...
ThermalsniperN7: Hm… Let's see: Nervous about asking out the girl they like, actually asking them out at high altitude and both are brainiacs… Wow, there actually are. Huh. Anyway, see you guys next time!