AN: This chapter gave me some few ideas while writing this work. I tried to experiment and some went well. Of course, this is basically similar to Transformers ROTB, but I managed to alter few elements for this. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 9: Hunt for the Primus: Retrieve
At the center of the CSU Fullerton, between Commons squad, Campus Bike path and ECS Quad by Titan's Gymnasium, many people were there; protestors, police officers and students. While most students were hanging out at the library, or in classrooms, the huge parties of both showed their support or oppose for the upcoming election.
"Protect our Democracy!" a protestor shouted.
"Make America Great AGAIN!" one of the counter-protesters shouted.
"Trump's vision brought CHAOS!" a protestor shouted.
"Harris' vision will be catastrophic!" one of the counter-protesters shouted.
"You're main man will bring CATASTROPHE, you idiot!" A protestor said.
"Oh, you're dead man," One of the counter-protesters said, as he's about to jump the fence, getting ready to fight. He was stopped by an police officer when he tackled him to the ground.
As the protest keeps going as they witness this, four figure walks through the protestors, wearing casual college clothing, with pins that reads, "Harris and Walz 2024," with t-shirts that reads, "Protect our Democracy!" They were Julian, Dipper, Libby and Molly as they walked through the crowds like they go to college.
"Okay, I knew this was a bad idea," Dipper said, "but surprisingly this worked out great."
"Of course it worked," Julian said, "I lived around here and I know the society like a student."
"But aren't you a student here?" Libby asked.
"Part-time student," Julian replied.
As they managed to get out of the crowds, Julian send a text through his phone.
Hector, who was waiting at Library Makerspace, a message through his flip phone. Hector received the message which reads:
Text: "We're close to the engineer building. Just passed the crowds."
"Okay, they're almost to the building," Hector said as he talks to his radio, attached to his belt, "Everyone, status report."
Over at Gerontology Program, Team A, (Luz, Anne, Star, and six falcon troopers), were up the roof, observing their surroundings. Their van parked at Lot H.
"Team A, reporting in" Luz said, "Nothing around here. Armed and ready."
Over at Titan Shop, Team B, (Sasha, Pacifica, Grime, Amity and another six falcon soldiers), were sitting in the grass in shades while the soldiers were standing behind them. Their vehicle parked behind the shop.
"Team B sees no Pandacons," Grime said.
Over at Quad near Clare's Performing Arts Center, Team C, (Marco, Olivia, Marcy and another six falcon soldiers), stand by as they sat in the grass while the soldiers walked around. Their van parked over at lot F.
"Team C here," Marco said, "Negative sight for Pandacons."
Over at Parking lot I, close by the engineering department, Team D, (Six other Falcon soldiers), were waiting inside their vans, armed as they watch from inside.
"Team D, reports negative sight of the enemy," One of the solider said, "we'll keep you inform."
Over at the engineering building, Julian and his team got to the entrance. He see the slide doors are connected to a keyboard for swipes. He pulled out his ID card and swiped it down. The door opened wide. They got in as the door closed in behind. Julian grabbed his phone to called Hector.
"We're inside, hector," Julian said, "we'll give you update when Primus is in our hands."
"Good work, Julian," Hector said through the phone, "We'll give you any update as well."
"Roger that, sir," Julian said, "over and out." They head down to the elevator. They got in and headed down to the basement.
Far from CSU Fullerton, over at Brea Mall, where people hangout in the afternoon, chatting, eating, shopping, etc. There, six black, red and gray GMC vans and a truck parked by Red Robins. It's the Pandacons. They were standing on the roof, just below the Red Robins. While the foot-soldiers were portaling around their surroundings, the generals and The Dark Minder looked through the holographic monitor, above from Ajay's tablet. It showed footage of Julain and his team as they gone to the basement.
"It appears that the falcon had beaten us to it," Ajay said, "It's that falcon's wacko scientist. They seem to be heading down, just below the engineering building at CSU Fullerton."
"That's where Primus is located," Captain James said.
"So why are we here instead of there, sir," General Jermone said.
"It doesn't seem logical," General Pam said.
"It's actually quite simple, my generals," The Dark Minder said, "It's like letting a professional technician work his service while we wait for functional work. In other words, they're doing our job for us."
"That…that actually sound brilliant," Captain James said, "but then how are we-"
"Ajay," The Dark Minder said, "send in our drones and Crankcase to retrieve the key under their nose."
(Play Kung Fu Panda 3: the arrival of Kai from 1:30-1:45)
Just like that, Ajay tapped his tablet, wirelessly connected to a van, which opened a roof, revealing three drones from the last hunt. The trunk opens up, revealing the mechanical beast from the last hunt. It was a Crankcase. It was vicious as it were. It looked up to it's master as the drones hovered up, leveling the same height to The Dark Minder.
"Retrieve Primus from the falcons and bring it to me," The Dark Minder ordered, "anyone who defied you, do what you can, my precious."
Just as he gave the words, the drones and Crankcase then went south as their stealth mode activated, turning invisible like a ghost. They ran fast, like twice the speed for an average dog. The Dark Minder sees them as they run through the city, feeling
happy.
"The Master will be pleased," The Dark Minder said like he was speaking to himself.
Back at the engineering department, Julian's team had just arrived at the basement. What they see might surprise them. It was like most of the office appears, only longer than an average office workplace on sixth level. The lights were almost dimmed down for a basement, hanging from the ceilings. The air was breeze as the air conditioner was functional.
It had five dozen cabinets used for storage files. It even had hundreds of old computer desks. Most of the shelves stacked at the wall are where all of the previous record files were either stacked, shelved, or lying around the room, like a paper waste ready to be burned. It was madness.
"It's a mess around here," Dipper said like he was disappointed to see the basement, "Like they barely had time to clean."
"My guess is that everyone must have been told to halt their work here," Julian said, "Must've been at a party, but we'll have to hurry." As the gang scattered around, they dived in to search for the key. They wiped the files off the desk, swooped them off the ground, and even opened the cabin as they catalog, but none found the key.
Molly looked around and noticed something on the desk. She sees a shattered framed photo of many high schoolers, at least 10 of them, and one coach, wearing lab coats. They were presenting their robotic project, a bot with a claw that is a spring-loaded shooter in the middle. The caption of the frame stated:
"Class of 2005
Dancing Bears of CART
First place state championship"
Molly stared at the image and noticed something familiar. One of the high schoolers looks like someone she saw until she gasped.
"Guys came here!" Molly said as Julian, Libby and Dipper came up to her.
"Woah, baby!," Julian said like he just realized the truth, "The Vex team, dancing Bears! He's part of the team?!"
"I guess that explains his robotic obsession," Dipper said, "Let's keep searching. The key must've been around here." Molly and Dipper went apart to search more files.
As Julian examined the photo and resumed his search, Libby noticed a folder that was underneath the image. She was determined to check it out. She turned to her ego, the bloodhound of truth. She grabbed the folder. It had a writing, stated:
CLASSIFIED FILE:
ITEM PROJECT CASE: D-5197.
She opened the folder and saw a few files stored, such as the blueprint of the key, the coded data, etc. She looked through and found a piece of paper at the back of the folder. It had nothing but numbers written in red pen, handwritten:
20-8-5 11-5-25 23-9-12-12 19-8-15-23 23-9-20-8-9-14 20-8-5 6-18-1-13-5. 2-5 3-1-21-20-9-15-21-19.
She managed To Go to the neat desk for decoding. Molly saw this.
"What you've got Libby?" Molly asked.
"Trying to decode this," Libby replied, "maybe this may be a lead to the key."
"Woah," Molly said, "And that's why you're a awesome and a cutie bloodhound." Molly quickly realized what she said and cover her mouth with both of her hands for a moment and blushed. Libby stopped and blushed to hear Molly's compliment of being cutie.
Dipper and Julian saw them, confused yet understandable. Molly went back to her searching while Libby returned to decoding. Both tried to act like they didn't hear anything or avoid the awkwardness. Dipper and Julian stared at them
"Okay," Julian said as he pulled out his apple phone to avoid this small awkwardness moment, "Any update out there, Hector?"
Back outside, Hector held his flip phone to hear Julian.
"I'll check," Hector said as he grabbed his radio, "any eyes of the Pandacons?" Most of the response came from the radio.
"negative," Team A reported.
"Nothing over here," Team B reported.
"Not a single sigh here," Team C reported
"Negative, sir," Team D reported.
"Okay, keep me updated," Hector said as he switch his radio to his flip phone, "There's no sign of them anywhere. We'll keep you updated, Julian."
"Okay," Julian said, "we're still searching for the key. We'll give you any updates."
Unaware that Crankcase and the drones were near by the engineer building, whom just deactivated their stealth mode. The Drones used their lasers, to make a hole for the Crankcase to enter, followed by the drones. Crankcase begin to activate it's heat sensor, found the most heated area just below as it scanned. There were four individuals down there. It then deactivated the heat sensor. It growled like a dog, mixture with lion and bear.
Back to the basement as Julian's team were still searching, Libby was still decoding.
Molly looked at more file, but took a good stare at Libby. She couldn't help it but feel admired towards Libby. Her hearts beats three times than average heart rate. That is until Dipper tapped her by the shoulder, causing Molly to yelp like a small kid get scared that she dropped the files to the ground and fell behind.
"Ops, sorry Molly," Dipper apologized, "Didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay," molly said, "I just need a break."
"A break from your daydream of your crush?" Dipper asked.
"No, like taking a break from searching, you know," Molly lied through her teeth and smile, "It was exhausting after all of this," She chuckled a bit. Dipper raise his right eyebrow like he was buying Molly's statement. At this moment, Molly gave up.
"Okay, fine I was daydreaming about Libby." Molly admitted, "but please don't tell anyone about this."
"Alright, I won't spill," Dipper said.
"Look, it's just I can't help myself," Molly said, "Libby's been in my mind for a while and I couldn't throw it out. Libby have always been there for me and I've been for her so much."
"I see," Dipper said, "and you've been feeling butterflies whenever you're around her?"
"Of course I do," Molly said, "but I'm just scared. What if she doesn't like me this way?"
Hey, don't think about it," Dipper said, "all that matters is if you can give it a shot to Libby." Molly took that in for a moment until Libby shouted out.
"Julian, where's the picture?" Libby asked Julian, still holding the photo.
"I still have it," Julian answered as he lift up the picture, "Why you-"
"Because of this," Libby said as she snatched it out of Julian's hand as she goes over to the table with tools. She picks up a screwdriver and begin unscrewed the nut out of the frame, releasing the photo. Libby managed to snatch it before it reached the ground. She turn over and saw something there. It had a number code and a phrase in quote as both reads:
Passcode: 7407
"Allspark"
Libby looked across the room and saw a cabinet, a four stack cabinet made of iron and metal only it was like a strong aluminum. It had a label, visibly, as it reads "Allspark." She approached the cabinet and pulled it out, see a silver and gray colored metallic box, like a watches box but a bit bigger in length like five inches wide.
As she was happy, she picked it up. Yet, the box was a bit somewhat a bit heavy like 10 pounds when exercising chest press. She managed to take the box the desk next to the iron cabinet. The others were amazed, especially Molly who went full blushed covered her cheeks and eyes sparkling like an anime.
Libby saw the lock combination, like a number rotating, on the box. she looked at the paper and figured out. She inputted 7407 and the lock was opened as the lid opened. The Primus key was found untouchable for years. The green circuit board was lined with silver and purple, with items that is wielded or connected like mechanical circuits would be.
Libby saw this and was awe to it. In her head, she not only managed to find the key, but she felt proud to stand out of her comfort zone, like a brave knight. Julian examined the key with his goggles, and was in she lifted it up, the box did something.
The metallic box then began to shake as the recorder inside activated to projected a screen above it. It begin to showcase footage from Alfred, who seemed not in his laboratory, was sitting at a table in the outdoor. He seems to be tired, while dressing in his soccer outfit.
"Well, this's seem to be lovely in this weather condition over at south Whittier," Alfred said as he runs out of his breath, "Had a soccer game with my families, ate some lunch, and work on my assignments as well. Of course, I'm this close to finish my project. I just need to test this baby out."
Alfred bended over his right side as he grabbed his bag to place it in front of him. He unzipped it and pulled out an object. It was a diamond, size of a soccer ball, with red and purple colors mixture applied.
"This crystal here is the last ingredient and the start of all," Alfred continued, "I found this crystal just months before I developed project Zapper. This object just crashed landed at my school. It was insane, like a meteor hit. I managed to have it test and this baby was magnificent that I somehow gotten connected like telekinesis shit, like I can feel the power. Anyway, I took it home and I begin to testify that this crystal can access portal to another world, but it went haywired that I have to touch to maintain control. Now, I just need to assemble my pieces together and to test my work. Looks like my family are heading out. I gotta go as well. Alfred, signing off."
The footage ends, but shows another map, but it's near to them. It showed a college campus map, pinpointed there. Julian saw this and dropped his mouth down before he pushed it back. The team were shocked that not only found the next item, but learned some info of the crystal. Libby was stunned. The map then faded out as the recorder powered down.
"How did I manage to got us a new clue?" Libby asked the others.
"Way a good, bloodhound buddy!" Molly said as she carefully hugged Libby from behind. Libby blushed to see this.
"This is fantastic!" Julian said as he pulled out his phone and dialed it. The call goes out to Hector, who answered. "Hector," Julian said, "we managed to obtain Primus, and we found the next hunt and where exactly. UCLA"
"Wonderful news," Hector said, "Then, let's move out."
"Roger that, sir," Julian said as he ended the call. He turns to the team. "Okay, gang, let's return to Hector," Julian said.
"How do you know the crystal is over at UCLA?" Dipper said as they're heading back to the elevator.
"Dipper, you're talking to an expert who specializes in location based on maps and the city-" Julian said as he was cut off, just as Crankcase fell to the ground in front of them, blocking the elevator entrance, and roared at them. The team jumped back with Julian jumping on Dipper like scooby doo.
The girls held on to each other as they moved back slowly as the mechanical beast moved forward with drones following. They moved back close to the desk. They were pinned.
"How did they know?" Dipper asked towards Julian.
"They must have tracked us," Julian theorized, "well, technically you guys to be specifically."
Just as he said this, Crankcase barked at them so powerful, Dipper and Julian jumped scared. Crankcase looks at the girl as it sees Primus. It then approaches them slowly as it gets ready to pounce. Molly noticed this, as she pondered until she had an idea. Crankcase began to get lower and lower until it jumped high and leaped towards the girls. Just as it makes its impact, Molly pushed Libby to her left while she pushed herself to his right, making a hole for Crankcase to land towards the cabinet, crashing it as it made a mess.
Surprisingly, Libby pulled out her taser blaster, a taser with an upgrade like a nerf toy. She quickly aimed it at the drones, bullseye as the drones malfunctioned before they crashed. This allowed the team to move to the elevator and go up. Julian pulled out his phone and called Hector.
"Hector!" Julian said as he was giving a warning, "The Pandacons send in their spies to us, but we took care of them. I recommend we move now before the enemy comes in."
Back outside, Hector stood up as he began to run back to his van. He was still on his phone with Julian.
"Okay, get back to our train at once," Hector ordered, "over?"
"Over and out," Julian said through the phone before Hector ended the call as he switched from his phone to his troops.
"All units, our enemy spotted us," Hector said, "Team D, escorted Julian's team back to the train."
"Yes sir," Team leader D said through the radio.
Hector gone over back to DB-17. He ignited his DB-17 as it starts. He drove off to the street, going around the campus by the engineer department. Team A got back to the van, same goes Team B, and Team C as they gone east of the campus by engineer building.
The protestors, confused, looked at the vehicles coming around and witnessed this.
Team D goes over by the engineering department. They look for Julian's team until they spot them running towards them..
"We got Primus!" Libby said. Team D led them back to DB-17 and got them inside.
"Package secured," Team D Leader radioed to Hector as he drove away.
"Let's move then," Hector said as he drove off, along with others as Team D got back to their van and drove off.
Just as then, Crankcase and the recovered Drones came out. It saw the vehicles moved out. Crankcase ran up to DB-17 by jumping on the roof as the vehicles drove off. Just as the drones begin to followed, they were stopped by The protestors, attempted to help out, but the drones tasered some of them. One of the protestors noticed a symbol on it's side. He panicked.
"Pandacon!" A protestor shouted, "retreat!" The protestors scattered and ran away from the drones.
The drones humming rhyme as a communication.
Back at the mall, Ajay noticed a beep, like a Morse code, from his tablet. He translated and showed to his boss.
"My lord, our spies detected movement from the falcons," Ajay said, "and it reported the enemy
"The falcons must have found the key," The Dark Minder stated, "let's move out!" The Pandacons troopers and general went into their vans. The Dark Minder got into his truck as he ignited it. The truck goes, followed by vans as they gone through the highway.
AN: I decided to make Libby to be more confident in this chapter. I gave her a moment to achieve a small yet proud moment as a brave knight to find Primus. I figured this makes a perfect opportunity since she was shy and being punch-bag character from the show. I want to give her character extended as not only a knight, but also as bloodhound of truth, which may happen in the future.
I decided to give some interaction between Molly and Dipper, regarding of Molly's crush. I wanna give this as an opportunity to extended friendship between characters, like the duo, Libby and Marcy, just to make a connection between characters.
The protest was actually based from my encounter during my college years. It was somewhat tough to include, but I used it as an obstacle, like a parade in Peru in ROTB, only this is a nod for the upcoming election.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter is the race/chase. Until next time.
