June was finally cleared to leave the base's medical center with orders to return should she feel weak or in worse pain at all.
She had nodded, and gotten a ride on a golf cart over to their building. June needed to check on Smokescreen and her son. Smokescreen had refused to let her out, even when it probably would have been safer for him.
Predaking had not taken her refusal to betray the Autobots well. Or the fact that she would not condone him being near Jack, no matter how lonely he was.
(He also wouldn't accept that Jack's designation was Jack's to change, insisting that 'Ripclaw' was the right one… Smokescreen had gotten a bit heated at that, not taking Predaking's rudeness well.)
All of the bots were there to her surprise. Though Smokescreen was still unconscious, Jack was in wolf mode and seemed to be conversing with a giant pterodactyl with growls and klicks.
He immediately perked up his ears and wagged his tail turning to look at her. the pterodactyl like Predacon chirped at her in greeting.
"Alright, what did I miss?" June asked.
Ratchet gently picked her up and set her down near the couch, which she collapsed into. Raf immediately scooted over to give her a gentle hug.
"I thought your ribs were broken?"
"Cracked. I just have to be careful. How's Smokescreen?"
"Predaking managed to cut a few energon lines, but he'll recover." Ratchet reported.
"Alright, Prime! We've got the go ahead to recruit more bots, as well as to expand operations to the Hangar with Ultra Magnus's ship." Bill came in. "And we need to get moving, we've got reports of a flying shark in Monterey Bay."
"Due to how spread out the signals are, we will also have to be spread out. At the first sign of trouble, Rafael will bridge you back. Ultra Magnus, are you able to resume field duty?"
"I'm ready."
Ratchet grumbled, but didn't object.
"Then you and Agent Fowler will deal with the Predacon at Monterey Bay."
"Understood."
"Divebomb, you will be partnering with Arcee and heading to the Mexican border. If the other Predacons prove feral, you will be needed to talk them down, so be prepared to come help the rest of us."
Divebomb agreed, moving to Arcee.
"Bulkhead, you have the signal in Montana."
"You got it." Bulkhead nodded.
"Wheeljack, you'll take the signal in Alberta, Canada."
"Looking forward to it." Wheeljack gently bumped Bulkhead with his elbow.
"Bumblebee, you will take the faint signal off the coast of Maine."
Bumblebee beeped an acknowledgment.
"I will take the Signal in Sonora, Mexico. Ratchet, will take the signal in Alaska. Roadhauler and Miko in the Apex armor will take the faint signal in Scotland."
"Optimus I must protest!" Ratchet immediately argued.
He wasn't the only one.
"I understand your concerns, but unfortunately, with Smokescreen out of commission we are spread thin, and Roadhauler will hopefully be able to talk down whoever is there." Optimus looked at where Jack had stood up. He remained in wolf mode, and gave a short nod.
"I can Monitor Smokescreen while you're gone, the instant something happens, you'll be notified." June offered.
"If necessary, Roadhauler will also be on call to talk down other Predacons, but only as a last resort. Hopefully the other Predacons will aid us."
"This is very much against my better judgement." Ratchet was not happy. "If you so much as trip, I want Miko dragging you back."
"Alright! Roadtrip! Can I ride your back?!" Miko grinned.
"… Only if we're being chased." Jack grimaced. "At least I can track you down easier if you run off." He muttered, shifting on his feet.
"You'll be fine." Arcee said. "If not, Divebomb and I will be there to back you up."
Divebomb trilled in agreement.
"Hey! He's got me!" Miko had the apex armor and was positively bouncing.
"Just one question, Optimus… what if they say no?" Jack asked, and everyone paused slightly. "Divebomb wanted a pack, which is why he decided to help. These Predacons abandoned him for not keeping up, they might not be interested in helping us."
"If they do not want to help us, we will leave them alone, and Agent Fowler will take steps to monitor them and make sure they stay away from inhabited areas." Optimus replied. "We don't have the resources to capture and hold them."
Loch Ness, Scotland
Miko was estatic. For two reasons. She was going on a mission, and she was going with Jack! Ratchet had been a total mother hen and kept the Apex armor out of reach so she couldn't try lobbing with Jack.
Of course, Jack was still being a buzzkill.
"Miko, I think you're supposed to stay in the armor." Jack complained. He was trying to stay low.
"Jack, we're at a giant lake!" Miko pointed out. "The nearest building is miles away!"
"You're forgetting monster hunters, I know I'm smelling humans." Jack grumbled. "Of course the signal is at Loch Ness."
"Relax!" Miko scoffed. "Any monster hunters out here?!" She yelled to prove a point.
"Yo!" To her shock someone else answered.
A familiar face popped out from some trees.
"Vogel?!"
"Hey, Miko!" The New Yorker greeted. "Who's your friend? And where's Jack?"
"Uh, you first?" Miko flushed.
"I'm here because me and some of my internet and CB radio buddies are trying to find Nessie. I got here early to set up camp and my sensors." Vogel explained, holding up a hand held fish sensor. "I even got a couple weird signals yesterday. So where's Jack?"
"Um, I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but uh-" Miko pointed at Jack.
"Thanks, Miko." Jack grumbled.
"Your voice gives you away." Miko tried to justify it.
"Kid?! Did the aliens put your brain in there?!" Vogel was concerned.
"The bad guy we hit with the train did, and my human body is gone, so I'm stuck." Jack growled.
"Damn!" Vogel exclaimed. "I should have hit him harder!" He walked up to Jack. "How are you feeling? Can you still feel things? Humans do not do well with sensory deprivation, you may need therapy or something!"
"I can still feel things, it's a little weird, and we're working on it."
"Okay, but if you ever need it, I know places you can hide that the man can't find." Vogel addressed both of them. "Let me give you my burner phone number, just in case."
Miko agreed to that. Vogel was a good guy and wanted to help.
"So, what brings you here?" Vogel asked.
"Short version, there are other animal like robot aliens, and somehow I can find them."
"Cool. Wait, Nessie is an alien?!"
"Possibly? We don't know if it's Nessie, exactly, but there was a signal …"
"Well, if you need any equipment, I can help!" Vogel offered.
"I think we'll take that offer." Jack sighed. "Oh, and my name's Roadhauler now, there are some people who are a little too eager to copy what was done to me …"
"Yeah, MECH, right?" Vogel sounded annoyed. "A couple robotics guys went missing after refusing to work for them, all conspiracy guys know about them. They work for the government." Vogel explained as he brought them to his camp. "I haven't started the cameras yet, don't worry, I don't have enough film, so I'm saving it."
"Film?" Miko blinked.
"So it can't be digitally altered." Vogel explained.
"Actually, they infiltrated the government and are doing the whole 'create a new world order' thing." Jack corrected Vogel about MECH.
"No Kidding? Well, there's also Dr. Arkeville to watch out for- the guy is invested in mind control tech, rumor has it he's succeeded and his assistant is actually under his mind control. And there's Dr. Morocco, dude does robots and weapons, but there's pictures of him going back to like the eighteen hundreds, some say he's not human." Vogel explained.
"Huh. We'll let the others know." Jack sounded tired again.
Vogel's camp was surrounded by trees and as far away from everyone he could get.
"Don't want to get a false positive on my sensors." Was his explanation.
"Miko, could you check the map?"
"Okay!" Miko pulled out her phone. Ratchet had done something to connect their phones to the autobot computers- what, she didn't know exactly, but it also let them track her phone. "We're close! Uh … the signal's in the Lake."
"Let me see?" Vogel looked over her shoulder. "Supposedly there's a really deep section of the loch just ahead." He pulled out a map of the loch's depths.
"Of course… I guess I'll try to swim?" Jack did not sound convinced of his own plan.
"Good idea! I'll armor up!" Miko held up the Apex armor. Vogel was impressed.
"Sure you'll have enough air in there?" Jack asked.
"If not, I will come back up." Miko promised.
"I'll keep an eye out for trouble." Vogel offered. "I have two radio headsets."
"Thanks!" Miko took one. It didn't take long to set up a channel and Vogel was amazed with how the armor covered her.
Good news, the Apex armor had air. Bad news, it didn't really let her see anything once they got deep enough. Jack's yellow lights were just barely visible.
"There's a drop off here, you still good, Miko?"
"You bet, Roadhauler!" Being almost blind wasn't going to stop her.
"You're going the wrong way." Jack pointed out. "Are you having trouble seeing?"
"Yes, but I'm fine." Miko promised. "How are you doing?"
"Other than freaking out over being submerged? Not too bad, I guess I sort of have night vision- whoa!"
Something with glowing yellow eyes was right in front of him. Yellow lights that traced the edges of whatever it was almost vanished into the dark.
There was a loud noise, almost like whale song. Jack started communicating back.
"Heads up, we've got some planes overhead, don't recognize the colors." Vogel reported.
"Copy that. Roadhauler, Vogel says we may have company."
The yellow eyes looked at her and then at Jack who growled, the Predacon nodded letting out a very haunted sound before starting to rise up.
"Miko, get on my back." Jack started running after the Predacon.
It was too bad she couldn't take a picture of the moment all three of them breached the surface of the loch.
The Predacon was the size of a school bus and mostly neck.
The flying vehicons scattered like pigeons as the Predacon breathed fire into their midst.
"Miko, check on Vogel!" And then Jack was lunging, pouncing on another sucker who hadn't took flight. Miko used him as a springboard to goomba stomp two other fliers.
Vogel was alright. His camp was pretty well hidden and by the time Miko turned around, the seekers were pretty much flattened.
The Predacon was nuzzling Jack. Now that she could see, it looked like an aquatic version of the long necked dinosaurs she had seen in museums. Bits of vegetation were hanging off of it.
There was another haunted noise, and the Predacon pulled the bodies of the vehicon seekers into the loch.
Jack came over, lying down.
"He'll be back up in a moment. His ship is apparently buried down there and he can't get it out." Jack reported.
"Cool! What's his name?"
"Paddles. Or that's what I'm translating it as, at least."
The dinosaur like Predacon emerged from the Loch, transforming into robot mode.
"Who friend?" The words were a little stilted.
"That's Vogel."
"Hi." Vogel managed.
"Hi." Paddles greeted back.
"Miko, might want to call Raf. It was good to see you Vogel."
Miko got out of the armor, giving Vogel his radio back.
"Anytime!" Vogel grinned at them. "Oh, Miko, here. I know I can't keep this." Vogel gave her a Polaroid picture of them emerging from the lake. It was a little blurry, but still epic.
"Awesome! You rock, Vogel!" Miko cheered.
He ended up shaking his hand from her high-five, but he was smiling as he assured them he was going back to fishing. Even though 'Nessie' was leaving, he was planning to enjoy his vacation. Now with more time to check out the local pubs and the abandoned castles for ghosts and or aliens.
"Mission Accomplished! We've got Paddles! Anyone need help?" Miko announced over the comms.
"Well done. Return to base and wait for further instructions." Optimus's voice ordered.
"Opening Bridge now." Raf said.
Near the USA/Mexican Border
Arcee rolled along as Divebomb flew above her. She was having second thoughts about this mess. Maybe she should have gone with Jack. He was her partner, afterall.
That said, the two faint signals could be echoes and there was nothing there. In which case, Jack was on an easy mission with Miko which would let him get out of the base and get some fresh air. Which would be a good way to judge if Jack could leave the base for emergencies.
The ground exploded as a missile just missed her.
"Predacon! You will listen to me!" Starscream was there and yelling at Divebomb. "You must join your brethren fighting for the decepticons!"
A second pterodactyl like Predacon was next to him, the colors were purple and green, and it screeched at Divebomb.
"Starscream …" Arcee transformed.
Divebomb screeched back, and then the two Predacons were fighting.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Starscream demanded. "We need to recruit it!"
"Problems, Starscream?" Arcee asked.
"None of your business!" The seeker glared at her.
Hopefully the others were having better luck.
Montana
Bulkhead bounced off the ground and hit Shockwave who was struggling back up.
"I don't think it understood either of us." Bulkhead offered.
"It appears that the spectrum of intelligence is more varied than anticipated." Shockwave was unbothered. "I recommend coordinating our attacks. It does not seem to recognize anything other than brute strength."
"Fine by me."
The Predacon they were trying to talk to just seemed interested in tearing things apart, like the poor Vehicons who were trying to help. It was ground based, and resembled a bipedal alligator.
It roared in challenge, using the vehicon as a weapon.
Alberta, Canada
Wheeljack's only relief for this was that he got to see Soundwave get knocked out of the sky. The Predacon was best described as a shark with legs and attempting to talk- or in Soundwave's case, playing a pre-recorded message from Predaking- had only gotten a tree thrown at them.
Annoyingly, Soundwave was jamming the comms, so he'd have to retreat to get help.
After getting thrown through multiple trees (and Wheeljack was sure the Predacon had aimed for the only trees in a ten mile radius) Wheeljack was debating on whether or not his grenade would do anything other than tick it off more when Soundwave got the drop on it, shocking it into unconsciousness.
Before Wheeljack could close the distance, Soundwave used a ground bridge and dragged the Predacon away.
"Scrap. Soundwave got the Predacon, anyone need help?" Wheeljack grimaced.
"Ultra Magnus could use back up. Miko and Paddles are heading to Bulkhead. Roadhauler is heading to Bumblebee. Divebomb and Arcee are heading to Ratchet." Raf reported.
Alaska
Ratchet dodged the fireballs. The attempt to talk had gone down less than optimal.
On the upside, Knockout was also failing at getting it to talk.
The two headed but wingless dragon had been ignoring them until they started talking to it.
Then it had started shooting fire out of one mouth and ice out of the other.
"There's no need to set my paint job on fire!" Knockout yelled, indignant.
The two ended up behind the same outcropping of rock.
"It could at least transform to say no." The decepticon medic grumbled. "It doesn't have to attack."
"Since when do decepticons understand the word 'No'? Roadhauler was quite clear you didn't listen to him." The only reason Ratchet wasn't going to attack the decepticon medic was because he was more concerned about the unhappy Predacon.
"His choices were science experiment or a stain on the floor! I picked the better option- not my fault Predaking used the synthetic energon!" Knockout retorted. "Humans have ridiculously short lives anyway, a hundred of their years at best."
Ratchet's retort was interrupted by the Predacon attacking.
Divebomb and Arcee arrived and had to dodge the fire as well.
Divebomb shrieked at it, and it stopped blowing fire long enough to listen.
Only, it didn't listen for long, lunging at Divebomb who dodged again.
"What's going on?"
Divebomb transformed and landed, shielding Arcee from a fireball. "He'll only listen to someone stronger or has something to interest him, like Windrazor did. He's not a good pack mate." Was his judgment.
The other Predacon roared, and they looked up to see a ground bridge had opened up and the Predacon was falling through.
"You couldn't have done that before?" Knockout yelled out as he lunged through the bridge to avoid Arcee.
To Be Continued