In a wooded area, Wheeljack was leanback his ship while tossing a grenade before a Groundbridge portal opened up behind him and he saw Ratchet, Whirl, Rack'n'Ruin, and Jetfire walk out. "Heh, Earth must be one big magnet if more of us Bots keep showing, eh Jets?" Wheeljack told to the new Autobot.
"It must be." Jetfire said with a smile before he and Wheeljack locked servos. "It's good to see you, Wheeljack. I see you're still going solo."
"Always have, always will. Just exploring the Earth to know what it has in store for me." Wheeljack said with a smile. "So, the boss said you Bots needed backup, huh?"
"If you must know, Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision." Ratchet corrected.
"I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, Doc." Wheeljack assured, walking away.
"Please, don't call me Doc." Ratchet said in annoyance.
"Whatever you say, Sunshine." Wheeljack teased as Jetfire, Whirl, and Rack'n'Ruin chuckled while Ratchet groaned. "But the problem is, the Jackhammer doesn't have enough room for this many bots. I mean, three, sure, but you guys won't fit much."
"Good thing two of us won't need a ship," Jetfire said as he transformed. "Whirl, to the skies."
"Right behind you." Whirl said as he transformed as the three ground Bots entered the Jackhammer as Wheeljack started up and it took off with Whirl and Jetfire trailing behind. Inside the cockpit, Wheeljack is driving towards the coordinates that Ratchet provided.
"So, all the Autobots are busy searching for these five Iacon relics?" Wheeljack asked the group while using his commlink to talk to Whirl and Jetfire outside.
"The five which are currently in play." Ratchet specified.
"There's more?" Wheeljack asked in surprise.
"Way more than you think, Wheeljack." Rack said.
"Megatron's got the entire Iacon database. Who knows other relics or doomsday weapons it has." Ruin added.
"Which is why we have yet to learn how many more relics or Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains." Ratchet explained.
"No worries, Bots. I got your backs." Wheeljack assured.
"Not that we need your help," Ratchet scoffed. "I've proven my metal during the War for Cybertron."
"Then we're lucky you're along with the ride, champ." Wheeljack commented.
"Ratchet, as Optimus ordered, it doesn't hurt to have every help we need." Jetfire said to the commlink.
"Uh, I hate to break this up," Whirl spoke up nervously, "But I think we got a problem following us, or more like, two problems!"
Behind them was Soundwave in jet mode alongside what appeared to be a yellow and blue flying robot shark with a jet engine for its tail.
"Soundwave!" Ratchet said in shock as he looked through the monitor.
Wheeljack saw him on one screen that acted like a rearview. "Megatron's communications chief?" He asked in surprise.
"He must be tracking the same coordinates." Ratchet theorized.
"But who's the other guy?!" Whirl questioned.
"Sky-Byte." Jetfire answered seriously.
"Sky-Byte?!" Ruin asked before groaning.
"I hate that guy," Rack complained.
Then Sky-Byte and Soundwave then fired their blasters at the Jackhammer and the two flying Autobots, causing them to serve around. "You Bots might want to grab onto something!" Wheeljack said as he took the controls and lifted the Jackhammer up, which pushed Rack'n'Ruin and Ratchet back to their seats.
"Are you trying to send us to the Scrapyard!" Ratchet questioned in disbelief.
"Wheeljack! Leave Soundwave and Sky-Byte to us! You three just go for the Relic!" Jetfire told him.
"Well, if you bots say so." Wheeljack said as he moved his ship over. "But next time, I get first hit." He said as he resumed course to the relic. The four flyers started chasing each other, while Soundwave then ejected Laserbeak as turn it's attention to the Jackhammer. "What's that?"
"Soundwave's surveillance Minicon: Laserbeak." Ratchet identified.
Sky-Byte and Soundwave then started firing on Jetfire and Whirl while Laserbeak started firing at the Jackhammer, causing it to tumble a bit as the two flying Autobots engaged the Cons in the sky. "It is a pleasure to meet you again, Jetfire." Sky-Byte said as he fired on Jetfire, who kept dodging the shots.
"I can assure you Sky-Byte, it will be for the last time," Jetfire said as he did a backwards flip, flying behind Sky-Byte and fired at him.
"Oh, why do I get Soundwave?" Whirl asked nervously as he barely managed to avoid Soundwave since his helicopter form isn't much for thrust.
The Minicon started fire at them, and Soundwave took the chance to continue his way. Ratchet saw him. "Wheeljack, maintain pursuit. Soundwave's merely using the drone to distract us." Ratchet advised.
"I welcome a good distraction." Wheeljack smirked.
Laserbeak chased them with constant fire until the ship performed another maneuver and ended behind it. Now it was Wheeljack who was firing at his opponent. "The hunter becomes the hunted." Wheeljack said.
"This is no time to be hot-dogging!" Ratchet shouted.
"Because it sure isn't!" Rack exclaimed.
The Jackhammer continued firing until it lost sight of Laserbeak. "He's gone." Rack said in relief.
Now we can go find the relic-" Ruin was cut off until they yelled when the ship moved suddenly when Laserbeak reappeared.
The chase continued through the clouds, until they followed the Minicon and headed right to a cliff. Wheeljack simply speeded up, making Ratchet and Rack'n'Ruin screamed loudly while holding each other, but the ship evaded the cliff. Back to the sky, Wheeljack spotted Laserbeak coming at them, so he fired his ship's weapons, the same as the Minicon.
"What are you doing?!" Ratchet asked as both flyers got closer and closer. "Wheeljack?!" But the Wrecker simply shouted in excitement. "WHEELJACK!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rack'n'Ruin exclaimed in fear.
Laserbeak passed above them, so Wheeljack turned around, and with the Minicon on his target site, he fired, and managed to shoot it down. "Choke on that, Con." Wheeljack said victorious.
"You did it." Ratchet added surprised, and glad.
"Nice ." Ruin commented.
But during its falling, Laserbeak continued firing, and one of the shots hit the Jackhammer's engines. That caused the ship to fall back to the surface. It crash-landed on another part of the forest.
A while later, the three Autobots stepped out of the ship, "Bah, right thrusters fried." Wheeljack said after checking the ship's damage.
"If you had continued to find the relic as I instructed…" Ratchet started.
"His little birdie would still be pecking at our tailpipes." Wheeljack interrupted.
"He got a point, Ratchet." Rack said.
"Laserbeak is a tough con." Ruin added.
"Well, we need to resume our search for the relic immediately." Ratchet advised Soundwave and Sky-Byte may already have reached it if they manage to deal with Jetfire and Whirl."
"The Jackhammer's not going anywhere." Wheeljack said to them. "You wanna catch that Con, we need to roll." He added before he looked like he spotted something.
"Make up your mind! Are we walking or are we driving?!" Ratchet questioned in annoyance.
Ratchet and Rack'n'Ruin saw the reason why Wheeljack pulled out his swords: Laserbeak also crash-landed, and it was right in front of them. Wheeljack advanced with his swords in combat position.
"Wheeljack, keep your distance. Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave." Ratchet warned.
Wheeljack used one of his swords to flip Laserbeak like a toy. "Not anymore, it isn't." he smirked.
Far from there, Soundwave and Sky-Byte transformed and landed as he reached his destination: on top of a mountain.
"So my trusted confidant, any sign of our destined bounty?" Sky-Byte asked as the silent Decepticon scanned the floor around him until he found where the relic was buried.
In the middle of the forest, right after Soundwave and Sky-Byte went off to the mountain, two air vehicles crashed down from the sky as Jetfire and Whirl transformed and groaned as they got up from the ground. "Should've seen that coming." While muttering while rubbing his head.
"Grr, Sky-Byte and Soundwave for formidable opponents, but even they haven't met their match yet." Jetfire said while rubbing his shoulder. "They must be heading their way to the relic. We must get there and hope Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Rack'n'Ruin catch up."
"If they get there in time." Whirl said as he tried to transform, but it shuttered before he groaned. "Ow, that hurts."
"The crash and the fighting must've damaged us." Jetfire muttered as he tried the same thing, but groaned in slight pain. "Miserable Cons. We'll have to go on foot from here." He said before seeing a smoke billowing in the distance. "If I had to guess, Wheeljack's ship took damage too."
"At least it gives us a sign of where they are." Whirl said a bit optimistically.
"Let's tread lightly. They might need our help." Jetfire said as he and Whirl started running towards the crash sight.
At the same time, Ratchet was checking Laserbeak with his device. "Operating system appears functional, but offline. However, the crash clearly damaged its optic and audio receptors." Ratchet said.
"Meaning Laserbeak isn't gonna tell…" Rack started.
"Or let Soundwave see for a while." Ruin added.
"Guess someone's gonna need a new snitch." Wheeljack joked.
"A minor victory, and not the one we are here to achieve." Ratchet said, turning around.
"We have a relic to get." Rack added.
"So, let's roll." Ruin added as the two-headed Autobot walked off after Ratchet.
But Wheeljack smiled as an idea came to his mind. "Hang on there, Bots." He called, making them turn to him."Situation is right for an old Wrecker trick."
"I'm…not sure I follow." Ratchet said in confused.
"What are you getting at, Wheeljack?" Rack asked.
"Sooner or later, Soundwave's gonna come looking for his pet." Wheeljack started off. "We let them reunite and return to base, packing a live grenade. The first time Wave reaches inside, he trips the pin and Kaboom." He explained as he showed a grenade.
That made Ratchet think about a better chance. "Why plant a mere incendiary device, when we could plant a more devastating bomb?" Ratchet walked back to Laserbeak, changed his hand for a torch and opened the Minicon's upper part, revealing its inside. "A virus, engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave. Then, directly into the Decepticon warship's mainframe, where it will transmit the contents of the entire Iacon database to us."
"Sounds complicated." Rack commented.
"Thought we were in a hurry." Ruin added.
"Optimus would agree: risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest is a worthwhile gamble." Ratchet summarized
"You really have the chops to pull off that kind of programming?" Wheeljack questioned.
"Hmm, not alone. I will require backup." Ratchet said, thinking of someone or two who can.
Back at the Metroplex, Fixit and Raf are monitoring the missions while Fowler and Kup were at the console some distance from them before the commlink went off. "Rafael, Fixit, we have a situation." Ratchet spoke through the commlink on Raf's laptop and Fixit's monitor.
"What is it, Ratchet?" Fixit asked as he and Raf gave worried looks.
Back at the mountain, Sky-Byte and Soundwave walked to the precise spot where the relic is buried. "Well, here we are, Soundwave." Sky-Byte said to him. "So, would you happen to have a means of retrieving the relic since we didn't bring any miners?" he questioned.
Soundwave simply looked at him before taking out his two tendrils, which startled Sky-Byte as he backed away before the tendrils started drilling the ground while Sky-Byte watched in surprise.
"If you two could write a source code for the virus, my scanner will translate it to Cybertronian script as it uploads." Ratchet explained after finishing explaining to Fixit and Raf his entire plan.
"We can do it, Ratchet." Raf said with determination.
"But if we want to keep the virus hidden from the Decepticons from discovering our virus, we will need a deploy… Deboy…" Fixit glitched before Raf smacked him. "Decoy. Like a second virus to make them think it's the first." He finished.
Ratchet get the point before he had an idea as he turn to Wheeljack. "Or something less complicated." Ratchet said looking at Wheeljack's grenade who realized what he was referring to.
"A decoy as in we want them to find it but it doesn't blow?" Wheeljack questioned.
"Correct." Ratchet nodded.
"Seems like a waste of a perfectly good grenade." Wheeljack expressed as he passed it to Ratchet, who pulled out its explosive core and planted it into Laserbeak.
"Wait a minute. A grenade inside of Laserbeak inside of Soundwave? Like a turducken." Raf realized in surprise.
"I'm sorry?" Ratchet asked.
"What was that, Raf?" Fixit asked in confusion.
"It's a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a… Never mind." Raf waved off, seeing that now was not the time to explain.
Ratchet continued to work on Laserbeak as Rack'n'Ruin and Wheeljack looked at each other and nodded as they began to walk off. "And where are you two off to?" Ratchet questioned.
"To buy you some time…" Rack started.
"By keeping Soundwave and Sky-Byte busy." Ruin added.
"And who knows? Maybe to pick up a relic." Wheeljack shrugged as he and Rack'n'Ruin transformed and drove off to the coordinates while Ratchet watched them go.
Back on the Mountain, Soundwave kept digging until he found the right spot of the relic while his face showed his progress. "Have you found it?" Sky-Byte asked as Soundwave brought out his tendrils and it was revealed to be some kind of blaster weapon that started emitting powerful waves of sound through the air. "My word, what an interesting relic. Megatron will be most pleased."
But then, the two Decepticons started hearing engine noises from the cliff above. They looked up and saw Wheeljack and Rack'n'Ruin driving right off the edge before the two Autobots transformed, pulling out their respective weapons. Soundwave and Sky-Byte jumped back to avoid Wheeljack and Rack'n'Ruin's attacks as the Autobots stood up straight and glared at their enemies.
"You drop something cons." Wheeljack said with a smirk as Sky-Byte and Soundwave looked and saw that Soundwave dropped the weapon as it was on the ground below.
"No!" Sky-Byte growled before the two Cons glared at the Autobots while bringing out their weapons. "You Autobots should not have done that."
"Why, this…" Rack started.
"Will be…" Ruin added.
"Fun." Both Rack'n'Ruin said in unison with a smirk as they ready their blasters.
"You said it, partners." Wheeljack said as he and Rack'n'Ruin charged at the two Cons, they clashed weapons and shot their blasters, which the two Decepticons narrowly avoided as they exchanged blows as well and blocked the Autobot's strikes.
"Foolish bots!" Sky-Byte exclaimed as he blasted Rack'n'Ruin back as Soundwaved swung his tendril at Wheeljack, knocking him back and grabbing one of his swords as the two bots barely got their balance from falling off the edge. "You bots are out of your league. While the Wrecker is a skilled fighter, you two are outmatched for us both."
"Then how about we even the odds a bit?" Jetfire's voice spoke up while jumping up from the mountain was him and Whirl while Whirl grunted a bit as he climbed up a bit before standing beside Wheeljack and Rack'n'Ruin.
"D-Did we arrive too late?" Whirl asked while catching his breath.
"No, you were right on time, pal." Wheeljack assured with his remaining blade ready.
"Then let us proceed." Jetfire said as they charged at the two Decepticons, which Soundwave tossed Wheeljack's sword and used his tendrils to grabbed him and Whirl and slammed them to the ground while Jetfire and Rack'n'Ruin then fought Sky-Byte and engaged in close combat. "So, we meet again." He muttered while glaring at Sky-Byte.
"Yes. But soon, one of us won't see each other again." Sky-Byte said before he kicked Rack'n'Ruin away and pushed Jetfire back.
"I don't think so!" Jetfire exclaimed as he charged at him again.
Whirl and Wheeljack groaned before Soundwave's tendrils grabbed them and summoned one more that started spinning as a makeshift drill and aimed it at Whirl. "Oh, this is gonna hurt!" Whirl feared as he braced himself before Wheeljack quickly grabbed the makeshift drill.
"Sorry, no drilling today!" Wheeljack called as he moved the drill onto the tendrils, making Soundwave staggered back in pain before Wheeljack jumped up and headbutted Soundwave straight in the face, which caused his screen to crack while Sky-Byte and the others looked in shock at what just happened. "Here I go again, shattering expectations." He joke.
"You… cracked Soundwave's faceplate." Sky-Byte said in shock, losing his heroic accent before Jetfire kicked him in the face, sending him back.
"And I will crack a lot more on you!" Jetfire stated and threw a punch.
Meanwhile at Ratchet position, the Autobot medic was holding his scanned device near Laserbeak.
"Rafael, Fixit, I've hacked into Laserbeak's uplink transmitter." Ratchet informed them in his commlink. "When you're both ready, I will bring his operating systems back online in order to receive the transfer."
Then the four Autobots all used their blasters at the two Decepticons, overwhelming them before knocking them off the mountain as they tumbled down a bit with the Autobots falling beside them as they landed with a thud.
Sky-Byte groaned as he turned to Soundwave. "Unless you have a plan, Soundwave, we're going to be in a staggering phenomenal amount of danger." He muttered as Soundwave simply stared at him before turning to the blaster close by before the Autobots aimed their blasters at the two Decepticons.
"You had a good run," Rack started.
"But it looks like this," Ruin continued.
"Is the end of the line," Rack'n'Ruin both said in unison.
"So, any last words?" Jetfire questioned while Soundwave was obviously quiet while Sky-Byte simply just glared at them.
"Right. Silent types." Wheeljack said with a smug look before Sky-Byte gave a smirk when he saw Soundwave's tendrils holding the weapon and aimed it behind the Autobots.
"How about a little sound to the wave?" Sky-Byte quipped as Soundwave activated the weapon. The relic released a powerful blast of sonic energy that made the four Autobots cry out in pain. After a few seconds of enduring the sonic attack, the Autobots collapsed onto the ground and they both groaned weakly, allowing Soundwave to stand up while Sky-Byte stood up as well. "So, that's what that relic does. It suits you, Soundwave." He added with a smirk as Soundwave nodded.
At the Metroplex, Raf and Fixit worked on the virus as they smiled. "Ratchet, the virus is coded." Raf informed them.
"Commencing upload now." Fixit said as the two then started uploading the virus.
When the virus began uploading, Ratchet saw it happening on the scanner device before Laserbeak suddenly started to fly away. Ratchet quickly held the Minicon drone down to keep it from flying away.
Back with the four Autobots, it was now them under the Decepticons mercy, "What was it you said, Jetfire?" Sky-Byte taunted as Soundwave placed the relic on his left arm, "Any final words?" he asked while Soundwave aimed at them.
But before Soundwave could deliver the final blow, his faceplate turned on as he started to pick up a familiar signal on his screen face and Sky-Byte noticed this.
"What is it? Is that Laserbeak?" Sky-Byte asked. "You're not saying he survived a crash from the sky after getting shot down."
Soundwave said nothing and he removed the relic from his hand, handing it to Sky-Byte as he had an assumption on what he wanted to do.
"You want I to take the relic back to Megatron while you go get Laserbeak? But we have these Autobots at our mercy!" Sky-Byte protested firmly. "I'm not missing an opportunity to terminate them! Especially Jetfire!"
Soundwave only walked closer to Sky-Byte in an intimidating way, giving him the impression that he was most likely saying 'our mission is more important' to him. Knowing that bad things would happen to anyone who crossed Soundwave, Sky-Byte let out a sigh of defeat.
"Very well. But next time, I'll destroy them on the spot." Sky-Byte said before he transformed and flew away with the relic in his cockpit, while Soundwave turned to where Laserbeak's signal was coming from.
Meanwhile, Ratchet was continuing to hold down Laserbeak, who was still twitching around and trying to fly away. "Rafael, Fixit, what is our progress?" He asked them.
Back on Metroplex, the two looked at the download as it was halfway there. "50 percent." Raf answered.
"We're halfway finished." Fixit nodded.
As Ratchet continued to restrain Laserbeak, the Autobot medic started getting another call from the other four.
"Doc." Wheeljack said in a weak tone.
"Wheeljack! I told you not to call me that!" Ratchet scolded sternly.
"The others and I just wanted to say… we're sorry." Wheeljack muttered, which was enough for Ratchet to widen his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Ratchet asked in worry.
"We tried our best… but…" Rack started.
"They were too strong…." Ruin finished.
"Sky-Byte left with the relic…" Jetfire muttered as Ratchet got worried and looked in shock. "But Soundwave, is on his way to you…"
"Where are you four?" Ratchet asked in concern.
"We figured you… got maybe… two minutes before Soundwave." Whirl finished.
After hearing this, Ratchet turned to the distance and he saw Soundwave flying straight at him, getting closer by each passing second.
"Or less." Ratchet admitted. "Wheeljack, Whirl, Reck'n'Ruin, Jetfire, what are your conditions?" However, he didn't get a response from the four Autobots. "Autobots?" He questioned before he decided to switch callers. "Rafael, Fixit?"
"We're almost there." Raf answered.
"Just a few more seconds." Fixit added as Laserbeak started to struggle some more, Ratchet stood up while tightly holding the Minicon drone and sat back down before looking at his scanner to see the virus was almost loaded up.
On Metroplex, Raf and Fixit watched the download on both screens as they saw it closely before it gave a beep. "Done!" Raf answered.
"The upload is complete, Ratchet. You can let go of Laserbeak now." Fixit informed.
Laserbeak's open hatch closed up and he flew out of Ratchet's grasp, losing a piece of his wing before collapsing. Ratchet then saw that Soundwave was nearly at his location. Hidden behind the rock, Ratchet saw Soundwave arriving, transforming and landing. The Decepticon walked to Wheeljack's ship before aiming his new weapon at the rock where Ratchet was hidden.
"Scrap." Ratchet muttered.
Instead of Ratchet, Soundwave saw Laserbeak, still on the ground, unable to move. The Decepticon grabbed his little buddy and placed it back on his chest. Ratchet observed him as he was about to leave and groaned, trying to not slip. That caught Soundwave's attention, who deployed his tentacles and moved them to Ratchet's hiding. Ratchet moved his hand to not touch one of the tentacles while the other moved over him. At the end, the tentacles grabbed the missing piece of Laserbeak, and placed it inside the Minicon. After that, he changed to his vehicle form and took flight.
Finally Ratchet could sigh in relief. "Soundwave has taken the bait. Autobots." He called again, but without response. "Scrap." He changed to vehicle form and went to search for his companions.
On the Nemesis, Soundwave and Sky-Byte had arrived on the main deck and were presenting the relic they found to Megatron. Dreadwing, Lockdown, and Clobber were next to them, having returned from the Antarctic.
"Here's the relic, Lord Megatron." Sky-Byte said, giving his leader the powerful weapon in respect.
Megatron grabbed the relic and turned around to inspect it.
"Ah, the Resonance Blaster. Crafted by Decepticon scientists for maximum sonic devastation." Megatron identified, very pleased. "Soundwave, Sky-Byte, you have both performed admirably. Unlike Dreadwing, Lockdown and Clobber here, who somehow managed to lose the Apex Armor to Starscream! However, two more decrypted coordinates remain in play. And I have every confidence that Knock Out, Shadow Striker, Deadend and Astrotrain will…"
In that moment, they heard new footsteps and saw Knock Out walking at them, with his new recent look. "Can you believe what the Autobots and their companions did to me?!" He exclaimed.
"Did you retrieve the relic?!" Megatron demanded with a firm look.
"No, master." Knock Out answered, feeling a bit timid.
"Then I suggest you convince me of your continued usefulness by examining Laserbeak, doctor." Megatron said, gesturing to the Mini-Con drone on Soundwave's chest before he saw Deadend and Shadow Striker walk in with their heads down, "Let me guess, you failed to procure your relic?"
"Uh, yes… Lord Megatron." Shadow Striker muttered with a nervous look.
"We had the Enigma right in our servos but then Astrotrain-" Deadend tried to explain.
"You lost the Enigma of Combination?!" Megatron demanded. "Do you have any comprehension of the consequences of your blunder?!"
"W-We know, Lord Megatron." Shadow Striker said in fear as she and Deadend backed away slightly. "B-But then Elita and her team used it to combine themselves and beat Astrotrain!"
"Who apparently needs repairs on deck." Deadend added with a cringe look.
"I don't care about one Decepticon in need of medical attention!" Megatron shouted, moving in front of them as they reeled back while he trembled in rage, "One of the most powerful relics in Cybertronian history is in the hands of the enemy! That means the Art of Combining is now at the command of the Autobots!" He stated as the other Decepticons cringed in worry.
Back at with Ratchet, he drove through the forest before he saw the four down Autobots laying on the ground. "Autobots!" He said as he quickly transformed and rushed towards them and inspected them.
"J-Just… resting our optics." Wheeljack muttered as the four Autobots started to awake as they groaned.
"Not to mention…" Rack started.
"Our audio receptors." Ruin finished.
"But they got away with the relic." Jetfire muttered while rubbing his head.
"They may have the relic, but I believe we have something that is worth the struggle." Ratchet said to them with a bit of optimism.
Soundwave was seen laying on a medical table as Megatron and Knock Out stood next to him, with the Decepticon doctor using a scanner to detect something in Laserbeak.
"What is it?" Megatron asked.
"An obstruction of some sort." Knock Out replied as Soundwave got off the medical table.
The communication Decepticon then removed Laserbeak and opened his back hatch to reveal the explosive core inside, causing Knock Out to become very alarmed.
"Grenade!" Knock Out shouted fearfully before he ducked down.
"Ah, that is clever." Megatron commented. "Knock Out, prepare to properly dispose of the obstruction."
Knock Out was then seen running down the Nemesis' corridors while nervously holding the explosive core. Soundwave placed Laserbeak on his chest once the core was out.
"Soundwave, if we are to maintain any advantage over the Autobots…" Megatron said before an explosion and Knock Out's scream was heard. "Decoding the remainder of the Iacon database must remain your top priority."
Soundwave simply nodded to his leader.
Back with the five Autobots, after Ratchet fixed up Whirl and Jetfire enough to transform, they were in vehicle mode while on their way to the Jackhammer. "Fixit, send a Ground Bridge." Ratchet said as the five Bots transformed back into robot mode as Wheeljack walked up to his ship.
"Care to join us, Wheeljack?" Jetfire asked the Wrecker, "Your injuries need treatment like the rest of us."
"The only thing I need is some haul sealing." Wheeljack said as he inspected his ship. "Trust me. The Jackhammer here is in more need of repairs than me."
"Well, if that's what you want." Whirl said with a shrug.
"Listen, Wheeljack. I want to…thank you for your…backup." Ratchet admitted
"Yep." Wheeljack simply said as he started to fix his ship just as the ground bridge appeared and the five Autobots walked to it. "See you around, team." Wheeljack saluted, making the four Autobots smile as they entered the Ground Bridge.
At the same time, Soundwave stood in front of a terminal and placed his tentacles on it to start working on decoding the Iacon database.
At Metroplex, Fixit and Ratchet saw the Ground Bridge opened up as Ratchet, Jetfire, Whirl, and Rack'n'Ruin came from it. "Ratchet! Come here!" Raf called out to the Autobot medic.
"You're going want to see this!" Fixit added as Ratchet turned to the console and saw the Iacon Database being uploaded.
"The Iacon Database?!" Ratchet looked awed.
"It's downloading to our mainframe!" Raf cheered.
"And it's being uploaded to the Autobot Omega Outpost as well so that Optimus should work on it from there if he's not available here." Fixit added with a smile, which made Ratchet give a joyful laugh.
"Rafael and Fixit, you two are geniuses!" Ratchet complimented as Fixit and Raf gave smiles.
Megatron, Shadow Striker and Knock Out stood beside the door while watching Soundwave work. "Hmph, he seems busy," Shadow Striker commented.
"Oh, believe me, Soundwave will provide the coordinates to the remaining relics." Megatron declared.
"Yes. We are fortunate to have him on our side, Lord Megatron." Knock Out replied, hiding the sarcasm in his voice.
"And see about repairing his cracked visor, will you?" Megatron instructed before leaving.
Knock Out and Shadow Striker glared at Soundwave and growled silently, "Megatron's pet," Knock Out grumbled in jealousy.
"He just hasn't had his chance to fail yet," Shadow Striker said, knowing Soundwave's good luck would run out eventually.
Back on Metroplex, Fixit is opening up another Ground Bridge. "Bulkhead, Crosshair, and Grimlock are coming through, Agent Fowler and Kup." Fixit said as the Ground Bridge powered up.
"Good, come on home, boys," Kup said with a smile.
"I can't wait to share the news!" Ratchet said with a smile.
"You said it." Whirl said with a smile as they looked at the Ground Bridge, as they saw Crosshairs walking in weakly as he leaned against the wall.
"Crosshairs?" Jetfire asked as the others rushed to him.
"I-I'm fine." Crosshairs said with his arm raised while placing a hand on a console for support. "Just… a bit… light headed."
"What happened?" Whirl asked in concern.
"Tox-en," Crosshairs said seriously.
"What?!" Ratchet exclaimed in horror, as were the others.
"They were close to it, but they managed to get rid of it." Kup said as he supported Crosshairs and placed him on a chair.
"Where are Bulkhead and Grimlock?" Jetfire asked him.
"Grim's alright but Bulk," Crosshairs started before suddenly Bulkhead flew right out of the Groundbridge, crashing to the floor with his back smoldering, completely still.
"No." Ratchet whispered in horror.
"Bulkhead!" Kup called out as the group looked down at Bulkhead in horror before Grimlock charged out next from the Groundbridge.
"Bulk!" Grimlock yelled as he rushed to the group while looking down at Bulkhead. "Oh, dang! No!" He cried out as he joined the group who looked down in horror at Bulkhead's condition, the others wondering how this happened to him.
Did not see this coming.
Looks like Jetfire and Sky-Byte got to tango once more. Their rivalry is based on their Cyberverse counterparts.
Though the Decepticons managed to get the Sonic Resonator, but thanks to Raf and Fixit the Autobots now have access to the whole database.
But just when things look good, it gets worse. Stay tuned to find out exactly what happened to Bulkhead in "Toxicity".