Wheeljack tossed a grenade in the air as he leaned against the Jackhammer, then a Ground-Bridge opened, and Ratchet stepped through. "The boss thought you might need backup, huh?" Wheeljack asked.
"If you must know, Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision." Ratchet said. "I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, doc." Wheeljack said. "Please don't call me 'doc'." Ratchet said. "Whatever you say, sunshine." Wheeljack said with a grin. Ratchet groaned. They boarded the Jackhammer, and it took off for the Iacon Relic.
"So, all of Team Prime's busy chasing down these four Iacon Relics?" Wheeljack asked. "The four which are currently in play." Ratchet said. "There's more?" Wheeljack asked. "Megatron maintains possession of the entire Iacon Database. We have yet to learn how many more Relics, or Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains." Ratchet explained.
"No worries, doc. I got your back." Wheeljack said. "My name is not 'doc'! And I do not require anyone watching my back. I proved my metal during the war for Cybertron." Ratchet said. "Then I'm lucky you're along fir the ride, champ." Wheeljack said. The monitor started beeping. "'Cause we got a bogey on our tail." Wheeljack finished.
Following close behind was the Decepticon spy-master Soundwave.
The screen displayed the spy-master. "Soundwave!" Ratchet identified. "Megatron's communications chief?" Wheeljack asked. "He must be tracking the same coordinates -" Ratchet was cut off when the Jackhammer trembled as Soundwave fired at them.
"You might want to grab onto something." Wheeljack said. Ratchet was thrown into his chair as the Jackhammer ascended at an alarming rate. "Are you trying to send us to the scrap yard?!" Ratchet asked.
The Jackhammer flipped around until it was behind Soundwave, and Wheeljack started shooting at the spy-master. The fliers flew and swerved as Wheeljack kept firing at Soundwave. Something flew off Soundwave and rocketed at the Jackhammer, but the ship moved aside before the projectile could hit. However, the projectile chased them.
"What's that?" Wheeljack asked. "Soundwave's surveillance drone, Laserbeak." Ratchet said. Wheeljack spun the Jackhammer, dodging Laserbeak's shots, knocking the Autobots around. "Wheeljack, maintain pursuit. Soundwave is merely using the drone to distract us." Ratchet said.
"I welcome a good distraction." Wheeljack grinned. Laserbeak kept shooting the Jackhammer, but Wheeljack flipped the ship around, and they were now chasing Laserbeak. "The hunter becomes the hunted." Wheeljack said.
"This is no time to be hot dogging!" Ratchet said. Wheeljack kept shooting at Laserbeak as they glided through the clouds. Eventually, Laserbeak disappeared from sight. "He's gone.
"Now, we can go find Soundwa-AHH!" Laserbeak appeared out of nowhere, and Wheeljack fired at the minicon again. They flew through the clouds.
As soon as the clouds broke up, a cliff was visible. Ratchet screamed in mortal terror as Wheeljack commanded the Jackhammer to fly up the wall, and the ship was hit a little, but it was okay.
Laserbeak appeared again. Wheeljack and the minicom fired at each other. "What are you doing?" Ratchet questioned. Wheeljack and Laserbeak kept firing. "Wheeljack?!" Ratchet alsed again. Wheeljack yelled as Ratchet screamed, "WHEELJACK!"
Just as Laserbeak and the Jackhammer were about to collide, the minicom flew over the ship. The Jackhammer turned around and chased Laserbeak. The systems locked onto Laserbeak. Wheeljack smiled as he fired, an Energon podshot hit Laserbeak, sending him falling out of the sky.
"Choke on that, 'Con!" Wheeljack said. "You did it!" Ratchet congratulated. Laserbeak fired wildly, and a shot hit the Jackhammer, causing its wing to catch fire. The ship spun out of control and hit the ground with a great thud.
Later, Wheeljack and Ratchet examined the damage. "Right thruster's fried." Wheeljack said. "If you had pursued Soundwave as I instructed," Ratchet said with anger. "His little birdie would still be pecking at our tailpipes." Wheeljack defended.
"Well, we need to resume our search for the relic immediately. Soundwave may have already reached it." Ratchet said. "The Jackhammer is not going anywhere. If you want to catch that 'Con, we need to roll." Wheeljack said and walked forward.
"Make up your mind. Are we walking, or are we driving?" Ratchet asked. Wheeljack grabbed his swords. They found a damaged Laserbeak. "Wheeljack, keep your distance. Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave." Ratchet warned.
Wheeljack flipped Laserbeak over with his sword. "Not anymore, it isn't." He said.
Soundwave flew through thr air, and landed on a mountain. His visor scanned for the Iacon Relic and detected it.
"Operating system appears functional, but offline. However, the crash clearly damaged its optic and audio receptors." Ratchet said as he scanned Laserbeak. "Guess someone's gonna need a new snitch." Wheeljack said. "A minor victory, and not the one we are here to achieve." Ratchet said.
"Hang on there, doc." Wheeljack said. "Oh." Ratchet groaned at the nickname. "Situation's right for an old Wrecker trick." Wheeljack said as he held a grenade. "I'm... I'm not sure I follow." Ratchet said. "Sooner or later, Soundwave's going to come looking for his pet. We let them reunite and return to base packing a live grenade. The first time 'Wave reaches inside,' he trips the pin and 'kaboom'." Wheeljack explained.
"Why plant a mere incendiary device when we could plant a more devastating bomb?" Ratchet asked. "A virus, engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave, then directly into the Decepticon warships mainframe, where it will transmit the contents of the entire Iacon Database to us." Ratchet explained as his servo turned into a torch, and he cut through Laserbeak's back, opening it up.
"Sounds complicated. Thought we were in a hurry." Wheeljack said. "Optimus would agree. Risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest is a worthwhile gamble." Ratchet said. "You really have the chops to pull off that kind of programming?" Wheeljack asked.
"I'm not alone. I will require backup." Ratchet said.
Over in Autobot base, Agent Fowler was watching the monitor while Raf was on his computer. "Rafael, we have a situation." Ratchet said on his computer.
Soundwave's tentacles started drilling into the ground.
"If you can write a source code for the virus, my scanner will translate it to Cybertronian script as it uploads." Ratchet said. "I can do it, but if we want to keep the virus hidden from the 'Cons, we'll need a decoy. You know, like a second virus." Raf said.
"Or something less complicated." Ratchet smiled. "A decoy as in, 'we wanted them to find it, but it doesn't blow'?" Wheeljack asked. "Correct." Ratchet said. "Seems like a waste of a perfectly good grenade." Wheeljack tossed a grenade to Ratchet. The medic carefully removed the core and placed it inside Laserbeak.
"Wait a minute, a grenade inside of Laserbeak inside of Soundwave? Like a 'turducken'." Raf said. "I'm sorry?" Ratchet asked. "It's a turkey stuffed with a duck, stiffed with a, never mind." Raf said.
Wheeljack walked away. "And where are you off to?" Ratchet asked. "To buy you some time, and who knows, maybe pick up a relic." Wheeljack transformed and drove for Soundwave and the relic.
Soundwave found what he was looking for and pulled it out of the ground. He heard a car, and Wheeljack transformed. He roared and knocked Soundwave away. "You dropped something." He said.
Soundwave looked at his now empty tentacle, then looked over the ridge. Below them was the Iacon Relic. Wheeljack and Soundwave stared at each other. "This should be fun." Wheeljack roared and swung his swords at Soundwave, who twirled around and blocked the blades with his long, slender arms.
Wheeljack's sword barely scratched Soundwave's visor. Wheels kept swinging his swords, but Soundwave kept blocking him. He grabbed one of Wheeljack's swords, and a tentacle knocked the white Wrecker away. Wheeljack nearly fell off the edge but regained his balance.
Soundwave looked at Wheeljack's sword. Wheeljack roared and charged at the spy-master again. Soundwave's threw the sword at Wheeljack, but he blocked it with his other sword. A tentacle grabbed Wheeljack and threw him into the ground, causing the ridge to crumble a little. Soundwave threw Wheeljack towards the ledge.
Soundwave turned Wheeljack around and pinned him down. His other tentacle started drilking towards Wheeljack's helm. The Wrecker moved it towards the other tentacle, taking it off. Wheeljack leaped up and headbutted Soundwave, causing a crack to grow on his visor. Soundwave twitched a little.
"There I go again, shattering expectations." Wheeljack said.
"Rafael, I hacked into Laserbeak's uplink transmitter. When you're ready, I will bring its operating system back online in order to receive the transmitter." Ratchet said.
Wheeljack roared and shot Soundwave towards the ledge. He kicked the spy-master, sending them both falling to the ground below. Soundwave noticed the relic. Wheeljack aimed his cannon. "Any last words?" The Wrecker asked. Soundwave didn't say anything.
"Right, silent type." Wheeljack said. Soundwave secretly used a tentacle to grab the relic, and he pulled the trigger. The relic created an ultrasonic frequency, causing Wheeljack to bellow in pain until he fell down. He couldn't move.
Raf finished the virus. "Ratchet, the virus is coded. Commencing upload." Raf said. The coding bar started filling up. Laserbeak came back online, and Ratchet held the minicon down.
Wheeljack groaned as Soundwave approached him. His tentacle placed the relic onto his servo, and Soundwave aimed it at him. The weapon activated. Soundwave's visor displayed Laserbeak and emitted a distress signal from the minicon.
"Rafael, what is our progress?" Ratchet asked. "50 percent." Raf said.
"Doc." Wheeljack hroaned through the comms. "Wheeljack, I told you not to call me that!" Ratchet said. "I'm sorry." Wheeljack groaned. "What's wrong? Where are you?" Ratchet asked. "I think you got, maybe, two minutes." Wheeljack groaned.
Ratchet turned to his side and saw Soundwave flying towards him. "More or less." He muttered. He kept pinning Laserbeak down. "Wheeljack, what is your condition? Wheeljack?" Ratchet asked but got no response.
"Rafael?" Ratchet asked. "We're almost there." Raf said. Soundwave was closer. Ratchet hid behind a rock while gripping Laserbeak. The bar was nearly full.
The transfer was complete. "Done." Raf said. Laserbeak's back closed, and Ratchet let him go. A piece broke off the minicon as he barely flew away and fell down.
Soundwave transformed and landed. The spy-master examined the wreckage of the Jackhammer. He pointed the relic. "Scrap." Ratchet juttered as he hid himself. Soundwave noticed the wounded Laserbeak. Ratchet squeezed his optics, but Soundwave approached Laserbeak, picked him up, attached him to his chassis, and walked away.
Ratchet sighed in relief, but Soundwave heard him. He scanned for whoever made that sound. He extended his tentacles towards the rock Ratchet was hidden by. He saw the tentacles and braced himself. A tentacle grabbed the broken piece of Laserbeak and put it on the injured minicon. Soundwave transformed and flew away.
"Soundwave has taken the bait." Ratchet said. "Wheeljack? Scrap!" Ratchet transformed and drove to find the Wrecker.
On the Nemesis, Megatron examined the Iacon Relic. "Ah, the Resonance Blaster. Crafted by Decepticon scientists for maximum sonic devastation. Soundwave, you have perfect admirably. Unlike Dreadwing here, who somehow managed to lose the Apex Armor to Starscream!" Megatron growled and Dreadwing looked down in shame.
"However, two more decrypted coordinates remain in play. And I have every confidence that Knockout and I -" Megatron stopped when Knockout stormed into the bridge, his paint job demolished.
"Can you believe what the Autobots did to me?!" Knockout sneered. "Did you retrieve the relic?!" Megatron roared at him. "No, Master." Knockout admitted. "Then I suggest you convince me of your continued usefulness by examining Laserbeak, doctor." Megatron said.
Ratchet drove across the desert and found the wounded Wheeljack. "Wheeljack!" The medic said alarmed. "Just resting my optics." Wheeljack groaned as Ratchet helped him up. "And my audio receptors." Wheeljack added.
Knockout scanned Laserbeak. "What is it?" Megatron asked. "An obstruction of some sort." Knockout said as Soundwave stepped off the medical berth and detached Laserbeak's from his chassis. The minicon's back opened, revealing Wheeljack's grenade. "Grenade!" Knockout yelled and dove away for cover.
"Ah, that is clever." Megatron said as he leaned closer to Laserbeak. "Knockout, prepare to properly dispose of the obstruction." He said. Knockout ran through the Nemesis and yelled as he clumsily held the grenade.
Soundwave reattached Laserbeak to his chassis. "Soundwave, if we are to maintain any advantage over the Autobots,"
Megatron paused right as the grenade Knockout was dealing with exploded, rocking the room a little. Megatron looked at the reader and barely raised an optic brow. "Decoding the remainder of the Iacon Database must remain your top priority." Megatron finished. Soundwave nodded.
"Rafael, send the Ground-Bridge." Ratchet said as he and Wheeljack transformed. "I still advise that you return to base, you require a thorough examination." Ratchet said to Wheeljack. "The only thing I require right now is some hull sealant. Trust me, the Jackhammer here is in more need of repair than me." Wheeljack said.
"Listen, Wheeljack, I want to... thank you for your backup." Ratchet thanked. "Yep." Wheeljack said as he removed a panel and began repairs on the Jackhammer as a Ground-Bridge opened. "See you around, Ratchet." Wheeljack said.
Soundwave attached his tentacles to a Decepticon terminal and begun to decode the Iacon Database.
The Ground-Bridge opened and Ratchet stepped through. "Ratchet, come here!" Raf said happily. On the terminal was the Iacon Database. "The Iacon Database?" Ratchet gasped. "It's downloading into our mainframe!" Raf exclaimed.
Ratchet laughed happily. "Rafael, you are a genius." He said. Raf smiled.
"Oh, believe me. Soundwave will provide the coordinates to the remaining relics." Megatron said. "Yes, we are fortunate to have him on our side, Lord Megatron." Knockout said. "And see about repairing his cracked visor, will you?" Megatron asked and walked away. Knockout growled.
Raf activated the Ground-Bridge. "Bulkhead, Cyclonus, Chromia, and Jetfire are coming through, Agent Fowler." He said.
"I can't wait to share the news!" Ratchet said. "Cyclonus, Chromia, and Jetfire came through. "Where's Bulky?" Anna asked as she appeared from the lounge area. "I thought he was with us." Cyclonus said. Bulkhead suddenly flew through the Ground-Bridge, smoke emitting from his back. Everybody stared in horror. "No!" Ratchet gasped.
To be continued...