Transformers:
Age of Existence
Chapter 5:
A Lockdown Escape
Tom: With how TimPrime1 is coming up with more and more ideas for this new version. We're certainly getting underway as much as possible.
Sara: There certainly is a lot to change around and a lot that we're keeping under the radar.
Tom: Man, do you know it. As for right now. Let's go ahead and kick it. *he hits the touchscreen buttons*
TP1
Ever since Cemetery Wind narrowed down the location of Optimus Prime. Not only them, but a few of the Autobots as well. Sideswipe was on his way towards Optimus's location along with two others.
Unfortunately they were further away compared to another. The now purple and white autoboot that is disguised as a Chevy Sonic RS. He went as fast as needed to try and reach Optimus.
"Man! I hope I'm not too late in getting to Prime!" he said to himself then realized something else. "Crap! I hope that Cemetery Wind doesn't know where he is either." He added as he kept on.
Sideswipe was at a fairly far distance, but he was now in robot mode as he was evading a helicopter, thinking that KSI was trying to find him. "Man. This is not good." He said to himself as it went over to another location. "Well, that's good." He stated. He looked at the road and saw that it went a little way out of the way. "Might not be as direct, but it's better than nothing." He added and transformed into his Lamborghini vehicle mode and rolled out.
As he did Lockdown was also tracing him as well when he got the signal. "I best contact Cemetery Wind and…" that's when he spotted a vehicle that was far better compared to the one he was disguised as.
Especially since it more aligned with his style. "There we are." He commented as the car went by and he scanned it.
As they all were heading to where Optimus was, Cade was working on him. He felt as if he knew this truck. It's when he was working on it he saw something that seemed completely out of alignment. "What in the world is this?" he wondered.
"What? What is it?" Lucas requested.
"I don't know. Might be something important." Cade told him as he stared reaching in the hole. He was barely touching what it was and struggled a bit when he was barely able to move it. "Ugh. Come on!
What are you?" he questioned as he grunted. He messed with it a little more and it accidentally went into place. Right next to some type of weird looking glass. When it did a blue light ignited in it and the blue glass began to glow as well. That's when he heard something turn on in the truck. He heard what sounded like gears turning and grinding a bit. "What the?" he wondered in complete shock as he brought out his arm as he gasped a bit.
That when they both heard something shift in the truck and it immediately transformed. When it did, the arms come out of the sides of the truck, the windshields forming the chest as the grill flipped up and went behind to reveal the abs and the back of the vehicle mode formed the feet as a part of the legs rotated from within to let the feet come down as the feet folded out.
They hardly saw the transformation, even as parts of the sides formed the back panels and his gas tans rotated in and onto his back, but Optimus was attempting to grab his weapon that was forming on his back from within his gas tanks and they heard him groaning. "Where-where am I? What's going on? Sam! Where are you! Sam?" he shouted as his sensors and optics were coming back online. "Ungh. What is this place? Lennox?" he called out, wanting to know what all is happening.
"What the fuck?" Lucas questioned.
"Oh my gosh!" Cade stated as the two of them attempted to take cover.
Tessa heard the commotion and came running in. "Dad! What in the world is going…what the?" she exclaimed, completely shocked to see Optimus in their barn and he saw them.
He groaned as he took his gun and aimed it, not knowing who they were. "Stay back human! I mean it!" he warned.
"Dial…911 – RUN!" Lucas stated as he got up to run.
"Lucas!" Cade warned until Optimus swung his gun down and hit him on the forehead, but it wasn't too hard.
Lucas fell onto his back and groaned, the pain from the hit on his forehead from the red mark inflicted by it. "Easy human!" Optimus cautioned as he was being very defensive about his surroundings. "Ugh. My weapons, systems. Damaged." He said to himself.
"Woah, woah big guy. Easy now. You're safe now. You're in my home. My name is Cade Yaeger." Cade told him.
"Huh? Cade… Yaeger?" Optimus questioned, something in his systems started up on a search from his name. When that did he looked around and saw that he wasn't in any form of danger anymore and he just went at ease. "Cade… I-I am in your debt. My name is Optimus Prime." He told him in an introduction. "But-but your name. It sounds… familiar." He told him as his systems still looked through his data banks.
"That's because I've worked with you guys before. I was once in the army; a part of NEST." Cade attempted to remind him.
Optimus's systems narrowed him down with his afce and voice and a picture came up in this optical sensors. "Yes. I do remember you." He replied.
"Wait! You remember my dad?" Tessa asked.
"Yes. I remember him. He helped to fight against the Decepticon invasion years ago." Optimus pointed out.
"The one in Chicago. Where…" Tessa started until she developed some tears.
"Hey, Tess. It's all right." Cade reassured her as she went over to her.
"Yeah, you have nothing to worry about. Am I right?" Lucas questioned himself before he looked up to Optimus. "Is there anything we do need to worry about?" he requested as he looked back to Cade and Tessa.
"Yeah. We have nothing to worry about." Cade reassured as he held his daughter who managed to keep it together and let her father know that she was all right.
This is where Optimus realized something. "Wait! The signal I put out. My Autobots. They could be in danger." He stated and attempted to move until the side part of his head fell off as he stumbled forward and grunted. "I need to go. I need to go now." He told them
"Woah, woah, woah big guy. There's no way you can go anywhere." Cade reminded him.
"But… I need to get back to my team. They could have been taken offline." He stated until he realized something. "Wait! How long was I out for?" he requested from them.
Cade was a bit baffled. "Umm… pfft. I have no idea. We only found you in a garbage dump." Cade informed him.
"What-what year is it?" Otpimus asked.
"The year? It's 2017 in July." He told Optimus.
"Jul-July? I've been offline for months. Probably five." He stated.
"It sounds like you've been through a lot. Possibly even more from how you look." Cade replied.
"From what happened months ago. There was an ambush. An attack, set by other humans." Optimus told them.
"Wait a minute now. An ambush? That doesn't make any sense." Lucas told him.
"Lucas, how much to you know about what went on?" Cade asked him.
"Openly, I don't' even know. One thing I heard about was is that these guys were given refuge." He replied.
"We were, for a while. But something happened. We were attacked and forced to escape." Optimus told them. "Afterwards. When I was ambushed, I saw who helped the humans. Luckily enough I managed to escape and take another form before this one." He told them before he presented them a hologram of the semi tuck and they all saw how beat up it was.
"Wait! The humans attacked you and you had to make two different escapes?" Tessa questioned.
"Yes." Optimus started before he deactivated his hologram. "I took this new form and remained as is. I knew they had to of been tracking me and spotted my vehicle mode." He stated. "As for right now, I still need to get moving." He told them.
But Cade went in front of him with his hands towards Optimus. "Woah, remember big guy? You're in no condition to get to them. I think I can help you out." He told him as he went over and picked up the piece that fell off.
"You think you can? How so?" Optimus requested.
"Because I became a mechanic after I left." He told Optimus.
With Cemetery Wind, they were nearing Texas with he coordinates they had. James Savoy managed to find the location on his maps radar and saw how it all looked. Even with a few cars on the land. "It looks like some farmland, but he's not growing any crops." He pointed out.
One of his men took a quick peek and made a wild guess. "Your guess is as good as mine, sir. What all do we do once we get there?" he requested.
"Simple. We find Optimus, take him down and hand him over to Lockdown." He reminded them in a pretty irritated tone.
"What of the people who live there?" another one requested.
"Unlike with Sam. We'll dispose of them. Remember: no witnesses." He stated as they continued on.
It was later on into the evening that Cemetery Wind stopped off at a hotel, knowing they couldn't make it the whole way. "We'll stay here for the night. We get up early to get a head start." James ordered them.
"Right, sir." One of them acknowledged before James Savoy checked them in and they went up to their rooms.
As they did one of them had a thought. "Hmm. Wouldn't it make more sense for us to continue throughout the night? That way we can catch them by surprise?" he requested.
"I doubt Mr. Savoy is that concerned right now. We have enough fire power, even if we don't' catch them off guard." Another replied.
It was into the same night that Cade had managed to help repair Optimus. He had opened up his arm and analyzed his sword compartment.
"Well, bug guy. How is it?" Cade requested as he faced Optimus.
Optimus closed up his arm slot and looked to Cade. "Thank you, Cade. You certainly know how to repair a Cybertronian. Even though you're a mechanic." He commented.
"No prob. I remember helping out the Autobots with repairs when I worked with you guys." He stated as he fixed up a component that he had on his person. "I'll say this. Even though I've helped out to repair you Autobots, it certainly has helped me to be ready for being a mechanic engineer." He stated.
Optimus looked at the component that Cade had. "Cade? What is that component?" he requested.
"Oh. It's an old carburetor. I'm hoping that this can be used in another car that needs repairs. A lot of people trust me to fix their vehicles." He stated, but he noticed what time it was. "Shoot. I best get back inside. It's a bit late for me to be out here." He stated.
"Well, Cade. I hope you have a good night. I'll see you in the morning." Optimus told him.
"See you in the morning, Optimus." Cade replied as he left and Optimus turned back into the semi-truck. Cade went inside and saw his daughter putting things back up and she looked to see him.
"Well now. This is rare for you." She commented.
"I know, Tess. I know. But Optimus has turned off for the night and I'm ready to do the same thing." He told her.
"Tell me this then. Are we even going to trust him? After all, don't you remember what all happened in…" "Yes, Tess. I remember. Stop making it seem as if the Autobots turned on us, alright? They never did. Do you understand!" he stated as he pointed out multiple areas.
"I don't know how they didn't betray us. Didn't Sentinel…" "He's dead. Okay. He was killed when the Decepticons came to earth. The Autobots put up one heck of a fight to stop them." He told her.
"I just honestly don't know if I can trust them, okay?" she confessed before she went up to her room.
Cade only watched her as she went up to her room and gave off a small sigh, knowing how she was.
The following day Cemetery Wind left their hotel and departed early in the morning. They were hours away from their target and knew they had to get where Optimus was.
Back with Optimus, hours had passed by that morning and Cade was up. He went into the barn and saw that Optimus was still in his vehicle mode. "Hey, Prime. Come on, rise and shine." He called out to him.
Optimus heard him and began to move his parts around as he transformed. "Morning, Cade. I know you probably don't know this, but we transformers don't necessarily have to sleep. We mainly just stay up."
"Well, that doesn't mean that you don't need some type of rest, right?" Cade replied.
"If we do rest, we normally power off. Or go into a type of stasis." Optimus informed him.
When Cade looked at Optimus he noticed something on his head. Two red marks. "Huh? Prime. I just noticed. You have two red markers on your head." He informed him.
Optimus looked at Cade then a refection of his head in a distant mirror and noticed them as well. "These two red marks must've occurred when I changed my vehicle modes." He commented.
"Well, I must say. They look good on you, Prime. Definitely shows a small change of pace." Cade complimented before he got to work on fixing a few items meant for other vehicles.
As he did Cemetery Wind was closing in on his how as they were still following the coordinate from the signal. As they were Lucas managed to arrive and he got out of his car and went into Cade's barn and saw Optimus as Cade was working on some spare parts. "Man! I'm not used to this." He commented as he looked at Optimus.
Cade looked to him then to Optimus. "Well, you best get used to it." He informed him before he looked back at the spare part he was working on. "He's going to stay here for as long as he needs to." Cade stated as he made some adjustments on the vehicle part.
Optimus looked to him, curious about something. "Cade? Even thought you've worked with us before. Why help me out?" he requested.
"You just answered it. I've worked with you guys before and I'm glad. Otherwise you wouldn've have gotten reactivated." Cade told him, but then became puzzled. "How'd I do that, though?"
"Simple enough. You realigned the matrix of leadership with my spark chamber. As it not only contains my life force, but also my memories." Optimus informed him.
"Huh? I thought you had memories in your head." Cade replied. "But, with how you described your spark, it sounds like you also described it as a soul. OR more likely your heart." He recalled.
It was hours into the day that Cemetery Wind was finally within range of the farm. Even as they were, Lockdown had managed to arrive as well, but in a completely different vehicle mode as it was a black, green and red, with bits of silver/white on it. Not to mention there was an engine block coming out of his hood and spikes on the front of his car along with on the sides of his tires and an orange windshield and windows.
When he transformed, his side doors came out to form his arms and hands. His front end split in two after the engine block went down into it a and his feet extended forward as his roof came up and over his head to form his new chest and his wheel guards folded to the sides as the left part of the back part of his vehicle mode came up and over to cover his left shoulder. When he finished up with his transformation he grabbed onto a silo and climbed up it and he watched Cemetery Wind get close to Cade's property. "Don't engage unless I give the command." He told them knowing what'll happen if they do.
They heard him, but didn't respond; thinking that they knew what they were doing.
Tessa saw them arrive and thought that something was up. "Dad!" she called out.
He heard her and looked to Optimus. "I think they found you." He told him.
"Wait! What are we gonna do then?" Lucas requested ads he was about to panic.
"Come on! Let's get these boards up." Cade told him as he walked to where a small pit was and moved the boards.
"Oh, man! We're going to be criminals for this." He claimed as he assisted Cade.
Later on they went outside and saw Cemetery Wind drive up and each of them got out of their vehicles. As they did, James Savoy went up to Cade, knowing he knew about Optimus' whereabouts. "Okay, I got a question for you." He told him.
"A question, for me? Well here's mine. What are you people doing here on private property?" Cade requested in a demanding tone.
"We can and will come onto your property if there's anything going on." He attempted to retort.
"Well, guess what. There's nothing going on here. So why are you here?" he demanded.
"Well, we've been looking for a Transformer. I don't know if you've heard about him: Optimus Prime." He told him.
"Optimus Prime? The leader of the Autobots? Nope, I've never seen him." Cade lied, knowing he needed to keep this a secret.
"Never seen him, huh? Well, we've got a signal the other day that says he was here." James told him.
"Wait! A signal of him being here?" Lucas questioned.
"That's right. We've managed to trace it here and now we're demanding to know: where is he?"
"Well, then. I strongly doubt you'll find him here." Cade told him.
On the other line of James's com link, Harold Attinger was listening. "He should know something. I know it." He said to himself, even as his assistant was doing something on the computer.
"Listen. If you don't cooperate with us. Then we'll have no other choice but to search the area." Savoy claimed.
"Search the area? You need a search warrant." Cade reminded him.
"Not when I'm working for the government. Now tell me, where is he?" Savoy further demanded in a calm tone.
"Listen, he's not here. I might have had a semi-truck, but that wasn't even him." Cade stated.
"A semi-truck?" Harold acknowledged. "Search the area!" he ordered Savoy.
"ALRIGHT TEAM! SEARCH THE AREA!" he commanded them.
"Wait! Search the area? What are you guys… oofff!" he was tackled by one of Savoy's men as they searched around. Tessa and Lucas were also tackled. "HEY! GET THE FUCK OFF ME, MY LITTLE GIRL AND LUCAS!" he ordered them.
As this was happening the same white and purple care arrived and saw all the men in the area. "Oh, no! I hope they haven't found Prime." He said to himself.
"I don't think so. You said there was a semi-tuck here?"
"Yeah, but not anymore. It's gone." Cade stated.
"He's right sir. It's not on here." One of his men informed him.
"Search the barn." He commanded them.
"Listen, you best get them out of there and release my little girl and our friend." He demanded.
"RELEASE THE DRONES! HE SHOULD BE HERE SOMEWHERE." Savoy commanded.
His men got out the drones and sent them out to find Optimus. As they did the other two looked through the barn and saw all the car parts he had. "What the fuck does this guy do for a living?" one of them wondered.
"Looks like he's a mechanic." The other one pointed out. As they searched the barn. Optimus was keeping himself close to the surface, keeping an eye on them and listening.
"Listen, you best let us go if you know what's good for you." Cade warned him.
"How about this." James replied as he got out his gun and motioned for another guy to do the same. He shot a bullet right near Tessa's head. Seeing that she was close to death, she started to cry, not wanting to die. "That shot was only a warning. You best tell us where he is." He demanded from him in a calm manner still.
"Let go of them! We don't know where he's at." Cade pleaded. As he pleaded Optimus was hearing the commotion outside and knew that Cade needed help.
"Savoy! Do what you need to do. Find him." Harold Attinger ordered him.
Savoy looked over to his men. "Do it." He ordered.
Tessa kept crying and Lucas had an incredibly worried expression on his face. As they were about ready to shoot Tessa. Optimus looked up, knowing what he had to do. He managed to jump up and break through the wood, throwing it around. Knocking the two agents down in there. Right after he burst through the barn and started shooting close to the other agents to distract them, "HERE I AM!
AAAUUUUGGHH!" he announced. "Cade! They're going to kill all of you. Get out of here." He warned them.
Seeing this distraction Cade managed to grab the other agents leg and made him fall down. He hit his head with his foot and managed to grab his gun. From there he shot the other two agents who had
Tessa and Lucas pinned down. The bullets hit them in their legs, making them grunt in pain. "RUN!" he told them before he threw away the gun and ran and they followed him.
"UGH! GET THEM ALL!" James commanded, seeing had just happened.
Seeing that Cade, Tessa and Lucas were in danger, he knew what he needed to do. "Shit! Best help them out!" the Autobot exclaimed and stepped on it. The other agents barely heard the engine sound, but they didn't have enough time to react as the car came up and one of the tires hit one of the agents on the head. Once he landed, he drove over to Cade, Tessa and Lucas and opened his door. "Quickly, get in." he told them. Not even questioning this they hopped in and he closed the doors and drove off.
Lockdown saw all of this and grew incredibly irritated. "Damn you, Cemetery Wind!" he exclaimed. He opened a few areas on him after adjusting his shoulders back and fired his missiles, not only hitting around Cade's home but also right behind Optimus. Once he did Optimus stumbled forward a good bit but used this to his advantage. He tumbled forward, flipped over and transformed right into his vehicle mode.
Both Optimus and the other Autobot managed to get away, but Cemetery Wind was hot on their tail and Attinger was getting himself ready to head out to their location. "Have my helicopter ready. We leave in fifteen minutes." He ordered.
"You got it, sir." His assistant acknowledged and he brought up a new screen to notify the pilot, but he had another tab still visible that said 'report' on it.
As Optimus and the other Autobot with the humans escaped, Lockdown jumped off the silo he was on and transformed back into vehicle mode and chased after them.
The Autobot that the three of them were in began to drive away from Cemetery Wind at a fast speed. "Man! I didn't expect any of this to happen. Hope you guys are okay." He told them.
"I honestly don't know who you are, but please, drive!" Cade exclaimed.
"I wasn't planning on sitting still." He retorted as he drove away.
He drove as he followed Optimus who was about to have a run in with a certain bounty hunter. Lockdown managed to get close enough to Optimus and collided with him. Making Optimus transform into his robot mode. From there Lockdown transformed and nearly knocked Optimus off his rocker when he punched him, but Optimus managed to stand his ground and kicked one of his legs, making him fall over a bit, but he still managed to pursue Optimus.
As that happened the same Autobot kept on driving and Cemetery Wind was still on their tail. "Jeez! These guys don't ever give up." He commented as he continued to drive.
"Then keep going! If you can, try and lose theem." Cade told him.
"If he possibly can." Tessa replied.
"Whoa! Go that way. I know of where a good ramp is." Luca told them.
"A good ramp?" Cade questioned.
"Hey, if it'll save us." Tessa pointed out.
"She's right. We could use it to our advantage." The Autobot acknowledged. Tessa was surprised when he agreed with her and he followed Lucas's directions and he went through some of the buildings.
"Right. It's this way." Lucas told him.
"How do you know about this thing?" Cade asked Lucas.
"I've been through here with my friends plenty of times." Lucas told him.
"Then let's keep on…Prime!" he gasped. He saw Optimus and Lockdown fighting as Optimus climbed a building and Lockdown followed suit, trying to stop him.
When they drove through, Optimus saw them and the Cemetery Wind vehicles. When he did, Lockdown nearly got the jump on him, but he managed to grab a small crane and managed to catch the cord around him a good bit, kicking him off the building, making him hang for a bit of time. After that Optimus followed the others. "Cade!" he called out. After a few more turns the Cemetery Wind forces were closing in on them, but Optimus managed to jump on them, flipping their vehicles.
They all watched in awe as Optimus bought them some more time, but Lucas managed to spot the building he and his friends went into. "There! That building." He told them.
Through the Autobots windshield he spotted to the building. "Got it!" he acknowledged and he drove in the direction of the building.
They got on to the spiral ramp and started going up it. "Okay, once your on the fifth floor, get on it. There's an opening for the ramp on the back part of the building." Lucas told him.
"Got it. Leaving my scanners open for the ramp." He told them, but Cemetery Wind was right behind them now.
"Get out your guns… and shoot them." Savoy ordered, realizing that they haven't even shot at them during the chase.
Upon his orders, they opened fire, but they barely hit the car. "Damn it! They're shooting at us. Where's that ramp?" Cade demanded.
"Look, there! I see the opening." Tessa told them.
"Hold on tight." The Autobot told them and went straight for the opening. He went right through it and fell towards the ramp. Once they landed, the Autobot kept on going and flew off the ramp as Optimus came off the roof, transformed and followed them. Unfortunately for Cemetery Wind, they could go much further as one of their vehicles got damaged as they attempted to pursuit them. But Lockdown only watched as they all drove off. He brought out his binoculars and watched them from where he was before putting his binoculars back up, and annoyed expression on his face.
As they drove off Tessa looked to her dad and Lucas. "Guys! We lost our home." He told them in a very sullen manner. Both Cade and Lucas were sad at what they had lost as well, but Cade was happy enough that they were still alive.
They drove to a good enough distance that Cade, Tessa and Lucas got out of the other Autobot and he transformed and slowly got up after his waist rotated. Right after he did Optimus transformed and slammed his fist on the ground and the others looked at him.
"I'm so incredibly sorry that you all got involved." He told them sympathetically. "But remain here so I'm sure we weren't followed." He told them but then looked over to the other Autobot. "Make sure they remain safe until I get back." He told him.
He stood at attention hearing this. "Sire!" he acknowledged.
Optimus then looked at the others. "I'm afraid that we're all targets now." He told them as he turned back into his semi-truck vehicle mode and rolled on out.
Cade, Tessa and Lucas watched him roll out but then looked at the other Autobot. "Thanks, for helping us out back there." Cade told him.
"No problem. I'd say it was the least I could do." He replied.
"But who are you, anyway?" Cade added.
"My name is Rollbar. I was meant to look after Optimus." He informed them.
TP1
Tom: We're certainly getting along with this work.
Optimus: The humans requested for us to play by their rules.
Sara: More Tranformers: Age of Existence will be coming up shortly.
Tom: See keep a sharp eye out, even as I push the button. Only Tooanmi.
Me: Until next time.
TimPrime1 out