Optimus, the leader of the Autobots, sat at his desk in his office checking over reports recently sent by Prowl and Red Alert. The Decepticons were getting more ruthless with their attacks lately, having attacked Crystal City the previous orn (20 hours). The Constructicons left the city ultimately destroyed.
The Prime sighed as he leaned back into his seat, it had been rough lately but they've pulled through. He still questions how he has come so far. To think that he used to be just lowly Orion Pax, a data clerk at the Iacon hall of records, now he bears the title of Prime and must lead an army against the Decepticons and their leader, Megatron.
But that was not what brought us to where we are now, in the heart of Iacon, where the Autobots are stationed, most busy training or at monitors, hoping to pick up a signal of a survivor from one of the Decepticon's attacks or some hint for where they will next strike.
The Allspark had recently created the last generation to be sparked after it ceased producing life, and one of the surviving sparklings was a little mech named Bumblebee. A small yellow and black thing with nubs on his back struts for where his wings will form when older.
Ironhide and his team had stumbled upon the sparkling in the rubble of a youth centre, sadly, he was the only survivor. He had no creators, so Optimus ended up adopting the mechling when Bumblebee started showing signs of attachment to him.
Not having realised he had been stuck in his processor for so long going over recent events, he almost didn't notice the ping from his comm, alerting him to someone trying to contact him. It was Prowl. He answered immediately.
.: Prowl to Optimus :.
.: Optimus here Prowl, what is the issue? :.
.: Jazz has picked up on a faint spark signature from the ruins of Crystal City, it is not curretly moving. We believe it is either a survivor or a group of them stuck under the surface :.
.: Very well. Assemble a small team you think will benefit us in this mission :.
Optimus vented before placing down his data pad and leaving his office. After some walking, he eventually made it to the main room which held Teletraan I and the occasional meeting. He was greeted by Ratchet, Jazz, Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Ironhide, and Mirage. There were members ideal for being sneaky and others to provide backup or heavy artillery.
"Prime."
"We will be entering enemy territory so we must be stealthy. Jazz, Mirage and the twins will act as our espionage while Prowl, Ironhide and I will be acting as bodyguards should the mech be found injured or surrounded by Deceptions. Ratchet will step in if anyone is wounded."
The team immediately transformed and left towards the city, hoping to find someone. In the meantime, Red Alert, Perceptor and Smokescreen watched over the screens at Teletraan. The medbay was being watched by First Aid and Moonracer.
As the team of Autobots left Iacon's walls of safety, they immediately headed towards Crystal City, which wasn't too far from Iacon, a joor long journey minimum if there were no issues. They could see Praxus in the distance, or at least what remains of it. Not many made it out but the few who did joined the Autobots. Some examples being Prowl, Smokescreen and Bluestreak who was found recently as a youngling.
Coming up to the crumbling walls of the fallen city, the bots transform into bipedal mode and sneak through a hole big enough for 2 bots to fit through side by side. They stick to the building edges and walls as they head towards the signal's location.
Mirage enables his cloak and runs ahead of everyone to spot any Decepticons and take them out. Jazz and the twins take the lead with Optimus and Ratchet in the middle and finally Prowl and Ironhide taking up the rear.
It was after walking for a few kliks (1.2 minutes) that Jazz finally noticed a signal on his right, near the poorer parts of the city. Jazz stopped and alerted the others, heading towards it. Simply opting to just follow him instead and watch his back. It was around a breem (8.3 minutes) later that they had found themselves deep into the poor industrial area of Crystal City where big buildings for manufacturing were found.
There was no sign of life anywhere, no lights, buildings destroyed left to right, pathways blocked by rubble. And yet the Autobots pushed on. It was when Jazz stopped in front of one of these factories did Mirage reappear. There was talk of Shockwave having been spotted in the city after the Constructicons destroyed it.
"Sir, no sign of any Decepticons nor of any other life signal." Said Mirage.
"Nothing? You'd think the Cons might've picked the signal up too and gone to investigate." Replied Sunstreaker as he huffed and crossed his arms.
"Let's see this as a good thing and pray that we get to that signal before it is too late." Optimus immediately got the attention of his surrounding Autobots and they continued on their journey.
Eventually, they stumble upon a blocked off entrance to the subway which was where the signal was hiding. The team glanced at each other before the strongest removed the rubble and the others stood guard. They just needed a big enough gap to go through
Mirage enters first and activates his cloak, scouting out the area to be safe before alerting the bots to come down. They all enable their headlights and step onto the tracks, finding one exit to the tunnel blocked off but the other side free and that is where they head to.
Sideswipe and Mirage run ahead with Jazz not far behind. After some twists and turns, they eventually stumble upon a hole in the tunnel wall, almost as if it had been smashed in by something. The team arm their weapons and cautiously enter the dark room.
They noticed further that there was equipment at the back, a few monitors, desks, status chambers, energon, tools etc. It looked like a mixture of a laboratory and torture chamber. Jazz heightens his sensors to further pinpoint the source of the signal and wanders towards some overturned berths with dried energon and tools surrounding them.
A faint whimper is heard and the berth wobbles slightly, Jazz quickly disengages his weapons and hollers over Ratchet. Getting onto his knees, he slowly reaches out to the berth and lifts it before gasping loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of the team.
"It's a sparkling!"