Chapter 21
Infiltration
The Autobots and Avengers exited the ground Bridge and arrived on Cybertron, the Avengers didn't know exactly what they expected but it wasn't what they saw. A completely gray planet devoid of all life, the Scrap from destroyed cybertronians was everywhere. Buildings that must have once stood as high as mountains turned into Nothing more than Ash. Above them the sun had turned into an unnatural shade of purple, the color of the Decepticons.
it was obvious that war had been raging for hundreds, nay, millions of years, And this was one of its most brutal battles. Tony Stark took a knee and examined the ground before asking, "Optimus, what happened here,"
Before Optimus could answer Jazz did but this time without his usual jokester Attitude this time it was replaced with the Grim tone of voice, "The battle of Tarn," The Avengers looked at jazz as they had never heard him talk Like this, "In the early days of the war, Tarn Was in the hands of the Decepticons. Sentinel Prime ordered an attack, We managed to push the cons out but lost almost a quarter of the Attack Force,"Jazz explained. The Rim look on Jazz's face told the The Avengers that there is more to the story but they decided not to press it, something told them that there was more to the story, They would know more if Jazz decided to tell them more. "Let's just get out of here," Jazz said before transforming and driving off, Everyone else followed suit.
The Avengers flew over Optimus As they trailed Jazz, Tony fell beside Optimus and asked, "What's up with him,"
" Before the Great War Tarn was his home," Optimus explained.
Before Optimus could continue Steve said, "He doesn't like seeing his home turned into this,"
Something Tony didn't like was how different Jazz was. His Usual jokester attitude was gone. Instead it was replaced by A brooding, cold, attitude. Tony could tell his friend needed help But he didn't exactly know how to.
After driving for quite some time Jazz finally came to a stop in front of an Mostly in it intact building Except of course the fact that One of the walls was missing and there was a massive hole in the roof. Jazz transformed and entered the building, Optimus and the Avengers did the same as well.
The building was absolutely destroyed, tables were Tossed around and destroyed, There was a massive Mark in the center, Obviously from an explosion. In the back There was what appeared to be a Small stage, Much like the ones back on Earth. It appeared to be some kind Of bar. The entire group was wordless, no one said anything. Jazz Walked into the back behind the stage And came across exactly the reason he stopped to come into this trash pile. Behind the stage there was a wall covered with barely functioning holographic projectors Displaying each cybertronian musician to have ever walked in to this bar and at the very top there was labeled, "The greatest musician on Cybertron," Jazz scoffed at the title, it was hard to believe that Jazz, the second in command of the Autobots, Was a musician, Especially not the best one on the planet.
Jazz grabbed the Projector And stashed it away, He wasn't entirely sure on why he was doing this he just knew he had to. He walked out and saw everybody taking a look at the bar. "Let's go," Jazz said. He recognized the way he was speaking but he really didn't care. He wanted to get off Cybertron or at least out of tarn. He hoped never to see this place again, especially not after He led the attack to liberate this place, Consequently nearly Destroying the entire Autobot militia.
Everyone looked at jazz as he walked out of the bar and drove off. Everyone quickly followed his example and followed him. But before Optimus could follow him, Optimus grabbed a one-use ground Bridge device that was laying on the floor. He had a feeling he was going to need it later.
During the drive Steve had to ask, "So where is this 'shockwaves' lab,"
Optimus took a long time to answer, "During the war Finding shock waves lab was one of our main objectives, it is located in Kaon," The way Optimus said Kaon Told the Avengers that Kaon was a Decepticon Fortress.
Tony was interested in learning more about Kaon so he said "let me guess a Decepticon Fortress,"
If Optimus wasn't in vehicle mode he would have nodded, Instead he spoke grimly."Kaon Isn't Just a fortress it is the Decepticon capital,"
After that they drove in silence heading straight towards Kaon With every second they got closer The Dread only built. Optimus and Jazz knew that there was no way to get in there. they had tried in many different ways and always ended in death. Meanwhile Tony was running Millions of possibilities through his head Until he finally landed on one.
When he informed the others about this plan the responses ranged from, 'Are you insane' to 'Well you're dead' "But think about it, What reason would they have to suspect it," Tony pointed out.
That convinced both Steve and Optimus, But not jazz. Who was very adamant about not using the For one reason, "We are not changing my paint job that's final," Jazz said with finality.
"I hate this,"Jazz said, examining his new Paint job. Instead of his usual white and blue Jazz had been painted Purple and black with the Decepticon insignia covering The autobot insignia. They had located Kaon and were camped 10 miles out.
Kaon screamed Evil Fortress, It was surrounded by giant walls that made the Burj Khalifa Seem like a toy, It had massive guns Mounted all across the walls Each one a mile apart, With Decepticons Patrolling a top of the wall, With a singular massive door that served as the only entrance. It had at least 10 Decepticons guarding each side alongside two massive cannons.
Tony refocused on his group and Jazz was still complaining About the fact that it had to be him to get the paint change not Optimus, "I mean I mean why did I have to do this Why couldn't it be Optimus," Jazz complained.
Tony sighed And said, "Jazz, You have asked to this question three times and we have explained it five times, It has to be you because they would instantly recognize Optimus Prime,"
"Fine," Jazz groaned, "Run the plan by me again,"
Tony Swore that if it wasn't going to be the Decepticons that killed him it was going to be jazz. Tony displayed a hologram Of Kaon That he got when he flew over the city And somehow avoided being detected, while he explained to the plan, "You use your disguise to sneak us in-" A hologram of jazz appeared The displayed both Tony and Steve in the trunk, "- Once we're inside I'll hit The production facility here shutting down production of this Energon," Near the center of Kaon A building with Smoke Stacks begin pulsating red, "Steve Will hit the Storage Depot here," A building on the outskirts began pulsating red, "Taking out whatever Energon they've already produced, And if we're lucky It will send set off a chain reaction hopefully destroying The entire supply chain. Jazz you have the most difficult mission, You have to figure out Where shockwaves main lab is located, Once you've done that Optimus will use that one time use Mobile ground Bridge to join you in the fight against Shockwave,"
Tony shut down the hologram and said, "we'll join you shortly," Tony concluded. Everyone looked at each other and understood the plan then it went into action.Both Tony and Steve got out of the giant suits, Tony wearing his Iron Man suit and Steve wearing a rebreather, He could breathe in cybertron's very toxic atmosphere. Jazz transformed and both Avengers got In his trunk.
Jazz Drove up to The entrance, The Decepticon just waved him through, Barely caring, or Noticing. Once he was inside the city his trunk opened up and the avengers came tumbling out. "I can't believe that worked," Jazz said While stretching his back.
"I told you it would work since there are no more Autobots on Cybertron, what reason would they have to suspect you," Tony said, again.
"Yeah I know, I know, you've said that what, 30 times now," Jazz said, putting on a clearly fake smile and said "Let's take this fight to Shockwave,"
Tony Could tell that being back in Tarn had brought up some bad memories for Jazz. Tony knew that they had to get off Cybertron and back to Earth. Who knew how Much longer they had left. So they initiated the plan. Steve ran West using his incredibly small size to sneak by the cybertronians, Jazz walked South, his disguise Working perfectly. Tony flew up and North until he saw His objective, a large cybertronian building with smoke stacks bellowing out white smoke. He flew down the smoke stacks And when he was in the clear he was floating in the middle of a massive Automated factory. A giant robotic arm Scooped up a large amount of pink Energon And dumped it into a machine with a conveyor belt coming through. Eventually the pink Energon came back into visibility but it was now compressed into a Glowing pink Cube. Given how regular Energon was extremely volatile pink Energon was even more volatile. A single Repulsor blast to the Energon Who would destroy the building but it would destroy him before he could get out of the blast radius.
Tony had to figure out how to blow the building up from a distance. Tony noticed that The conveyor belts looked old and rusted if you could just figure out how to jam them. It might be enough to set off an explosion. As Tony was wondering about how to do this he barely dodged the giant metal fist of a Decepticon. It looks like he found his Explosive. Tony just had to find a way to take him down now.
Tony dodged several more attempts to knock him out of the air Before he finally fired his repulsors back Connecting each shot making sure he didn't accidentally set off a chain reaction. Interestingly, unlike the other times his repulsors actually did mildly Damage the Decepticon. Upon seeing this Tony pressed the attack. Tony used his speed advantage to constantly hit the Decepticon without himself actually being hit. Tony blasted the Decepticon's hand off Before firing his unibeam at the Decepticon's head Blasting straight through it Fully killing the con. Tony flew down to inspect his handiwork And he realized that this Decepticon had been Coming in here everyday and using the pink Energon. Then Tony made the connection that excessive use of pink Energon may lower the durability of a cybertronian, Thus Making the Cybertronian an easier kill.
Tony saw that this Decepticon had grenades attached. It seemed like a really bad idea to bring explosives into a place that's creating extremely volatile fuel. So Tony flew down and quickly armed the grenades Before flying off faster than he's ever flown before. He just barely got out of the explosive radius when another explosion went off to the south west where Steve was. Tony immediately flew towards the explosion And quickly saw Steve running from the building Acting quickly Tony flew down grabbed Steve by the arm and flew into the air.
But before they could even exchange words Jazz's voice crackled over the comm, " I found a Shockwave but I could use some help," And instantly Tony changed course and began speeding towards Jazz.
