Spectre: Sorry it took nearly six months. Just had a lot of things to go through like college and graduation. On the bright side, I could say I got my motivation back!
Psudocode Samurai: The Cons often didn't get the memo it seems.
Guest: Yep. Because it's also based on the cover art of the fic of her. And I always get the impression she'd be a tall, and athletic human being if she was one.
Steve: We'll get to that, in time.
LongingResider: I'd say he be close to Perceptor. But some of his actions would be considered...questionable depending how would you describe him morally.
Kaijucifer: We'lll see, my friend!
darkmachines: I'd say Airachnid would appreciate other human-made media like books or movies. We'll soon see what she would like of them!
Chapter 14: Discoveries
It was a busy day in Memorial High's Cafeteria where students lined up to have their fill for the day. For the former two-wheeler, it felt as if she was getting her ration of Energon, albeit more frequently due to her altered anatomical system. Arcee took her time to consider her meal, deciding to settle for what it seemed to suit her tastes from all the choices shown to her.
After the student in front of her had left the line for his seat, she walked at the counter to find a woman older than June, having a larger build than her wearing an outfit appropriate for a Cafeteria staff with a hairnet with Arcee guesing her name or at least surname, to be Simmons. "Never seen your face 'round here", the lady mused in curiousity. "Came from 'nother school?"
Of course she didn't have any other response, so might as well play along. "Well, you could say that", she replied in a somewhat friendly voice; no reason to sound so detached most of the time. "Still trying to know just about anyone I could"
The lunch lady lightly chuckled at that. "Working here for twenty years ought to give that kind of feeling, even if it won't last long", she remarked, putting a scoop of mash potatoes onto Arcee's meal after she had put a ham sandwich, milk and some fruit on it. "With that stature, I'd say you'd be a hit in any sport that kids would take an interest at, or the boys 'round here"
"That's what the others have been telling me", the bluenette replied, grabbing a spoon and fork from the side. "But I got my own priorities at the mean time"
"Atta girl!", the lunch lady gawked, impressed at her reply. "Most girls would think of gettin' their boyfriends or out partying. Nice to see some variety at these times!"
Arcee only smiled in response, waving a farewell to the lady once her meal was ready. The other choices weren't exactly the best, but she'll have to make do to what she have for now. Picking up her tray, she looked around the venue to find Jack and the rest, which was easier said than done due to the crowd before her. More than a few people in their seats along with their friends gestured her to the empty spots beside them, but Arcee finally found Miko waving her hand to let her know where they were.
She walked past through a few tables before she took a seat next to Jack, who had a empty space beside him while Miko grinned at her usual dorky manner. "So Ms. Smith, what do you think of your first day in Memorial High so far?", she asked her, using a feigned formal tone at her jokingly.
Arcee sighed in boredom, opening her milk carton. "All I can say is, that I'd rather be on the field than sitting around listening to information that I'd probably would never use", she replied before taking a sip from it.
"You tell me!", Miko guffawed at that. "But on the bright side, you gotta know what we've been trying to keep up with every week while you guys fight the Cons"
"And arguably safer than that", Raf pointed out to Miko, then turning to Arcee. "But it's a bit noticeable that it felt weird to be in a school again, isn't it?"
The blunette couldn't help but agree with the prodigy, taking a sip from her milk carton. "Probably. Could definitely tell that I've been longer in the field than I was at the Academy"
"Sounded like a pretty boring time before things gone hot, right?", it was Jack's turn to ask this time, intrigued of her time before the war in Cybertron began. Arcee noticed what the three of her charges were curious about, and decided it wouldn't hurt to tell, all the while keeping it down so others wouldn't hear of it.
"Before the war, it's pretty mundane if you got bots like Chromia and Ironhide letting you know how we live on the planet", Arcee mumbled, twiddling her fork on her mashed potatoes, all the while her mind was heading to memory lane. "While some made me want to kick their tailpipe just how on much of an afterburner they've been like Prowl and Sunstreaker, although they mean well at the end of the day"
Miko and Jack lightly chuckled at her jab of her old acquaintances. "From what I heard from Bulkhead and Ratchet, you used to operate as a police officer before you became a scout for the Bots?", her partner said to her. "What was it like?"
She gave him a quiet nod at that, taking a bite from her meal. "Being an officer and scout in Cybertron wasn't a walk in the park when you got more than a few troublemakers with various charges like speeding or outright violence.", she recalled. "But during the fading days of Cybertron's Golden Age, the officer corps of the Police Force began to splinter. While bots like Prowl and Dropforge remain steadfast to their beliefs to protect and serve, others like Barricade, Howlback, and Nightstalker basically just gave up in trying to be 'good' cops when the system was becoming unbearable, and that's where I ended up in Delta Team when the war finally began"
The three noticed her mood steadily becoming stressful, noticing that she recalled a few memories she didn't want to remember. And so they didn't press the matter further when Miko then decided to ask her something else. "So, any interesting new faces you've met so far?", the younger girl asked. "Wouldn't hurt to be familiar with a few"
"More than a few", Arcee affirmed for her. "Aside from Sari, I'd say Lori, Alexis and Misha from different classes were approachable, but I don't think the rest are too interested at that."
"Well, Arcee. From the looks of it, they probably think you're out of their league", Miko replied.
The bluenette raised an eyebrow at that. "And why is that?"
Miko pondered for a moment. "Let's see...tall, older, athletic, wouldn't take anyone's crap, quite the looker. Basically foreign to just about anyone here in school", she gestured to the bluenette. "On your way to be a big shot if you know what I mean!"
Arcee still didn't get what she was talking about. "She's saying you're unique Arcee. That you wouldn't let anyone get picked around because you think it wasn't right, and that well...you look really good and stood out to most students here", Jack told her. "And because of that, I'm sure you'd do pretty good in time, even it were temporarily"
She appreciated their words to her, knowing what they meant even if it were still foreign to her at a personal level. "Well, I can't just stand around and do nothing right?", she humorously remarked. "Just as I said, I got to keep an eye on the three of you"
"Speaking of which...", Miko then looked to find Vince and his friends sitting on a table far away from them, with the teen looking at them with a frown, with the rest of Miko's friends looking as well. "Yeah, look at him...all moody and probably sulking that he knew he'd get his butt whooped if he kept pushing it"
"Tempting, but I got to keep it down if I don't want to get any attention", she replied, taking a mouthful from her sandwich. "Any word from Optimus?"
"Last I heard from them, is that he and the team are on their way for another Energon raid" , Raf told her, having called Bee earlier in the morning. "They should be okay since he told me that Que had given them a few tools that'll help them of their mission"
Arcee felt relaxed upon hearing it; at least she wouldn't have to constantly worry about them every now and then. "We got a few subjects left till we're out of here. So, how's living in Jack's house working out for you, Arcee?", Miko asked again. "And did you two go places already?"
The bluenette put down her spoon, having finished her mashed potatoes. "It's fine actually, could even say relaxing on some parts. We went over the mall the other day to run some errands, looked around. Afterwards, help one another in clean up in the shower-"
Miko suddenly spat her milk, gobsmacked at what she just heard and left Raf with widened eyes, while Jack looked at her in sheer horror whereas she looked a bit surprised at his reaction. "Arcee!", Jack hissed in a shushed voice. "I told you not to tell anyone about that!"
Arcee gave him a blank, but confused look. "I thought you said that June shouldn't know it", she reasoned out. "And thought it be okay if it were kept between us and our friends"
The Japanese girl, rested her fist onto her cheek, grinning at Jack. "So, bro. How is it? Were you good back there?", the teen began to bombard with questions that he wasn't enthusiastic to answer. "How big was she?"
Jack only groaned, burying his head onto his arms in embarassment while Arcee still looked confused of his reaction. Do humans really find that information compromising?, she thought.
"All right, we're almost done here!", Que proclaimed as he brought over the modified Cortical Patch on the table beside Bulkhead. "Now all we need is to double-check if all components have been thoroughly scanned and tested!"
Airachnid took a closer look on the device, pinching her chin while seeing his work to be sufficient enough. "Just as we need them. All the easier on knowing what's inside his head", the former Decepticon quipped, looking over at the Vehicon strapped onto the berth.
One of the Wreckers wasn't so convinced. "Make sure it does, Spidey", Wheeljack sternly reminded her, sounding untrusting to the former Decepticon. "Cause I swear if this is going to lead the Cons onto to us, I'm gonna-"
The woman waved her hand to cut him off, lightly scoffing at his presumptions. "Save your banter, Autobot", she retorted. "I know what I'm doing here"
Ratchet connected the modified Patch to one of the cables as instructed, though he shared the Wrecker's sentiments of skepticism and mistrust to her. "As you have said, we don't need to manually connect with him based on your hypothesis", the medic said. "And I'm certain that this isn't enough to make sure it is safe"
"That's where you'll want to cut off his link to the Nemesis located on the mainframe", Airachnid instructed them, re-calibrating a portion modified Patch for better connection. "If you can see it, there is a black chip embedded onto his processor that serves as the connection between him and the ship, so best to take care of that"
Ratchet and Que digged a bit further into the Vehicon's head, locating the said object embedded into its processors. With a nod from the medic, the inventor moved forward where his hand transformed into a cutting torch, carefully removing the Vehicon's connection to the Nemesis.
Once she saw that the inventor had been finished, Airachnid them laid out her next instructions. "After you had your lead, make sure his processing system is reformatted in case he had a relapse"
Ratchet was still uneasy of the methods they were performing, not to mention having breached a few lines regarding this already. "Where did you even learn how to do this?", he questioned her inquisitively.
"Unsupervised dissections has its benefits", the former Decepticon quipped humorously, connecting another segment of the Patch. "I thought of taking one of them as my henchmen, but I found working alone to be better than to have deadweight on my ship"
"Given the nature of the process, I suppose it is expected given your role as both a stealth operative and an interrogator", it was Optimus' turn to speak, sounding stoic though a bit uneased as well.
"And among the worst too", Wheeljack haughtily added with a frown, having heard of those reports himself and the poor Sparks that just had the bad luck being captured by her. "Just as bad with the likes of Tarn, Nickel, Wildwheel and Lockdown when it comes to coaxing information out of prisoners"
"I'll take that as a compliment, Autobot", their prisoner smugly mused. "Although we were recommended that others be brought to Shockwave for...myriad purposes"
An air of silence reigned over them. They were more than familiar of the Decepticon scientist who was feared all throughout Cybertron in his cold and logical outlook in everything around him. Last report they heard of him, is that Arcee and Cliffjumper manage to take him down during their escape from Cybertron to Earth via a Space Bridge. But they aren't so certain that he would be taken down so easily.
"And what are Shockwave's designs in using a method such as this?", the Autobot leader continued, now curious as the rest.
"He preferred to find a more logical approach from his point of view when it comes to gathering intelligence, although this method took a bit longer", Airachnid said, calibrating the Patch's wires to connect into the monitor before them. "Why connect one's mind to another when you could use only one for the rest to see for themselves?"
Bulkhead cross his arms at her. "And how long did you work for him?"
"Not long", she replied, seeing that she was nearing completion of her work. "I usually turn over my clients to him once I got what I need from them. But as to what happened to them? Not that I ever bother to know"
Wheeljack huffed at that. "Of course, you don't", he sneered at their prisoner.
From the side, Que and Ratchet had finished combining the needed components of the modified Patch, and bringing it closer to the Vehicon. "We're ready and waiting, Optimus. Waiting for your call", the inventor stated to the Prime.
Their leader gave them an approving, but somewhat reluctant nod, especially since this is a former Decepticon's idea. "Very well, but tread carefully", he cautioned them. "If what he had said is true about the Decepticons having a new lead, then we have to make haste"
Some weren't so eager at that and the Prime understood their mistrust. "I don't know, Optimus", Bulkhead chimed in, sounding uncomfortable at what they're doing, even if their unwilling test subject is a Decepticon. "Sure, this is valuable intel we're getting at. But this has to cross a line right?"
"We all made questionable choices throughout our life cycles, Bulkhead", Que spoke up from his station, attempting to give assurances while plugging in the chord behind the Vehicon's head and re-routing the power into one of the monitors. "This one's not so different, if not benign compared to the others"
Looking over at Ratchet, the inventor signalled the medic into pulling the lever that activated the modified Patch, where the screen before them came to life. It was filled with static at first, before the screen became clear moments later.
ANALYZING NEURAL NETWORK... PROCESSING DATA... MEMORY FILES DOWNLOAD...
"This is going to take few cycles...", Ratchet began to work into the console, deciding to fast forward to the present day when it was clear that they have began to the Vehicon's first activation.
"Hold on, doc...", Wheeljack watched closely, noticing one of the new faces aboard the Nemesis. "Stop! Stop there..."
The Autobots and their prisoner watched the screen closely, where it showed the figures of Lugnut and Blitzwing approach the bridge where a familiar large figure stood behind them, turning to find them kneeling before him in reverence. "It would seem that both of you have fully rested", the Warlord mused, maintaining his powerful and controlling aura that would cause others to tremble before him. "And prepared of what comes next"
Lugnut was the first to step forward, always eager to play his part in the cause. "We answer your call, oh great and magnificent one!" , the bomber hailed over to the Warlord with an arm raised in reverence. "How we may serve you, my master?"
Megatron took a moment to survey both new members of the Nemesis, seeing the sincerity of their act. "I have need of your talents. After two of the relics had been taken by the Autobots, we cannot afford another to be taken lest they be used against us"
Blitzwing had an idea of what his leader meant. "Do we have the location of another one, my liege?", his 'icy' exterior curiously mused, which was confirmed by a single nod from the Warlord, who spun to glance at his most trusted servant. The ever so silent communications officer, Soundwave.
"Yes. Soundwave have recently obtained a lead and we have sent in a scouting force to investigate the area" , the Warlord looked over the screen detailing its coordinates. "And it would only be a matter of haste should the Autobots get wind of this"
The rest looked over at Ratchet, who wasted no time tapping in the information provided to them by the screen.
"Should the relic be retrieved to make sure the Autobots have no use of it, then it would serve as a step further to end this war once and for all", Megatron continued to give his briefing to the pair. "And I would not expect less of a success, especially to the likes of both you when it came to decimating their ranks back at Cybertron"
The purple and beige Triple Changer placed a servo on his chassis where his insignia was embedded. "As you wish, my liege", he obediently said with a bow.
"Yes! I swear we will not fail you, grand and glorious leader!" , Lugnut made his zeal known to those in the bridge while kneeling before Megatron. "In the name our noble cause, we will secure what is needed to end this insurgency once and for all!"
The Warlord's brow twitched in annoyance, but simply resigned at letting them do their work. "Just go...", he waved the two of them off, and the pair marched over to the hangar, heading over to the said location. "And there would be no room for further failure"
He watched the pair depart and turned to the group of Vehicons from the other side. "As for the rest of you, there is an ongoing Energon harvest operation nearby. Make yourselves of use by assisting them of their work. Dismissed"
The recording ended there, with the screen being replaced by static. As did the medic's current analysis of the location that Soundwave had shown to them. "I am detecting anomalies from the location that the Decepticons have pinpointed", the medic reported with urgency. "If what we saw is true, then we don't have much time till they would get relic"
The Prime agreed with the Medic's statement. Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Bulkhead all stood in preperation for the Prime to give the go ahead, making sure their weapons are ready. But then the Medic turned to their prisoner, who relaxed herself as she crossed her arms. "At normal circumstances, I would thank you for your cooperation", Ratchet professed to her, but maintained a stern look. "But that would imply that you have done something selfless"
"I'm patient enough to await your gratitude", she quipped sarcastically. "Provided you survive at what lies ahead"
Wheeljack rolled an optic at that, while Bumblebee gave her a deadpanned look. "Whatever you say, Spidey", Bulkhead snarked at her, but then turned to their guest still strapped on one of the berths. "But what about him?"
His fellow Wrecker looked at him as if the answer was obvious. "What else, Bulkhead? Make sure they don't get out of here", his arm morphed into one of his blasters, pointing it at the Vehicon's head.
Before he could however, the inventor stepped forward, holding the barrel of Wheeljack's blaster with his servo. "Now, hold on, Jackie!", Que stopped him short of blowing up its head. "We may have something else to gain from him as well!"
Close to a mountain range at Cerro Gordo, Mexico, a green vortex swirled harmlessly out of the void. From it, emerged the team of Autobots acting on the information presented to them, ooming along at top speed on a road that led to a entrance inside the mountain. With Que's help, the Vehicon's processors and command systems were reformatted, preventing them from being tracked by the Nemesis. The inventor initially wanted them to bring along a few of his inventions to help, but Optimus chose to decline it for the mission, seeing the possibility of the relic going haywire despite their effectiveness.
The tides have steadily stacked against them, now that the Decepticons now have two powerful warriors that are just as strong as the likes of Skyquake. The Triple Changer and the Mayhem Squad member are in the process of extracting the relic, and they have no intentions in letting them get this one.
"Gotta hurry if the Cons are working on it!" Wheeljack urged to his team, driving beside Bulkhead as they neared the entrance.
"We should be nearing the coordinates provided," Optimus Prime briefed his team. "Proceed with caution and be prepared at what they would have against us"
As expected, the number of Decepticons inside the caverns were swelled than usual. At the centre at the bottom there were dozens of Vehicons with their mining equipment, be it the vehicular drills or those used by their own hands. Splitting into two groups, with Optimus and Bumblebee taking one side while Bulkhead and Wheeljack took the other, they traversed through the labyrinth of tunnels created, silently taking down any unfortunate Vehicon walking by their path.
"Make haste, you fools!", they heard a loud, booming voice of a purple bomber angrily demanding to the miners, raising his pincer-like fists in a threatening manner at them with their lack of progress. "Further delay will not be tolerated!"
"Patience, Lugnut", he turned to find Blitzwing approaching him from the side, having finished his survey in the area for any intruders. "They are already doing the heavy lifting for us, so best to provide reinforcement through positive means"
He looked over to the miners, who watch the exchange between the two. "You can return to work now", the Triple Changer calmly ordered, before his face rotated to reveal a furious persona. "Or do I have to rearrange your scanners to make myself clear?!"
The Vehicons immediately complied, with Blitzwing's face returning to its 'icy' exterior. "Bah, what's the difference?", Lugnut scoffed at this combat partner, standing by to ensure the operation went unimpeded.
Behind from one of the rocks, Bulkhead tapped onto his comms to make contact with Optimus. "Optimus, we have a clear visual on Lugnut and Blitzwing along with their Vehicons. What's the plan?"
The Prime carefully thought over their course of action. They would have to standby until the Decepticons could locate the relic, but even then, they were outnumbered. Outgunned even with the weaponry those two had in place. Meaning they would have to stage a diversion to allow others to extract the relic once presented and fall back immediately. "Bulkhead. Wheeljack" he called out to the two Wreckers". "We will engage the enemy forces in the area while Bumblebee, take position at one of the cliffs over there and extract the relic once you have a clear visual. Only then we will signal Ratchet and Que for immediate extraction.
"We'd be able to deal with the purple bruiser. The Triple Changer's gonna be the tricky one", Wheeljack mused from his position. "But nothing new nowadays. Come on!"
It was here when one of the Vehicons approached the purple and beige Triple Changer. "Sir, we have found the relic. It will be extracted as soon as possible", he reported.
"Excellent work", Blitzwing commended the trooper with a blank look. "Now all we need to-"
He was interrupted when a pair of blaster shots fired above them, causing a few spike shaped rocks to collapse where they end up impaling three Vehicons who were unfortunate enough to be in the way. Without any hesitation, the Triple Changer swiveled down the two turrets behind him, while Lugnut's fists began to heat rapidly. "AUTOBOTS!", Lugnut roared at the interlopers. "We cannot let them take Lord Megatron's prize!"
Blitzwing's face rotated into a red enraged one, grabbing the miner by his neck. "Keep searching for the relic while we deal with these piles of scrap heap! Now!"
The Vehicon immediately complied, with a few of the miners continuing their work while several others activated their blasters. Lugnut's back launched a volley of missiles onto Bulkhead and Wheeljack, who both dodged the projectiles and went close to the bomber. Bringing up both his arms, Lugnut attempted to slam Bulkhead right in fron of him, only for his arms to be caught by the Wrecker, while Wheeljack unsheathed one of his swords and manage to land a clean slice at the back of Lugnut's leg, catching him off balance in pain. As he looked up to find Bulkhead activated his mace, he immediately morphed his fists into pincers where he caught his hand, using his greater strength to throw the green Wrecker on Wheeljack where they collided against the wall.
Optimus looked to find two powerful beams fired on to him, quickly dodging as he find Blitzwing aiming at him. He activated one of his swords and lunged, with Blitzwing narrowly avoiding the strike as fired three missiles from his wrists. Dodging, Prime went in for another lunge, only for his arm to be caught by the Triple Changer, who raised his other fist to land a powerful punch onto the Prime's face, who tilted his head and it struck the wall behind him instead. Mimicking this move, the Prime landed his fist onto Blitzwing's face, catching him off guard before front kicking him away.
Bumblebee watched as the battle unfold, but not before shifting his attention onto the miners. He jumped down the cliff, meeting the hail of blaster fire from the Vehicons and miners alike as they worked to extract the relic. Blitzwing watched from the side and fired his turrets on to the scout, forcing him to veer of course before he narrowly dodged a blaster shot from the Prime.
Lugnut shielded himself with his arms, one being struck by Wheeljack's swords and the other by Bulkhead's mace. Enraged the Bomber gathered all his strength to push back both Wreckers away from him. And his fist began to head up and the thrusters behind his elbow began to make momentum.
"You glitchhead! You'll end up burying us both if you use the punch here!", Blitzwing's red face berated him, which forced the bomber to divert his course.
Bee narrowly dodged another punch from an incoming Vehicon, using this chance to punch through its chassis and blowing up its head with his blaster. He moved around to face another Vehicon, this time grabbing both his arms and delivered a powerful frontal kick to his chassis, severing them both and rendering the Vehicon offline. His optics found the sight of the relic, being contained in a silver capsule and is being extracted by the remaining miners.
Blitzwing forced both his servos to catch the Prime's incoming blade, with Optimus trying to force down the weapon onto the Triple Changers head. Using this momentum, Blitzwing allowed the weapon to drop by letting go one of his servos, quickly sidestepping out of the way where he landed a fist straight to the Prime's chassis. Using this opportunity, Blitzwing then used his torso to ram against Optimus, knocking him out even if momentarily.
Bumblebee knocked out the last of the miners, getting his hands onto the capsule. But as he did, the ground below him exploded when he was about to make contact with the team. As a result, it was released from his grip.
As the Scout regained his bearings, he watched in shock as the relic was now at the hands of the of Triple Changer. Its appearance was that of a cannon, except there are traces of blue energy flowing within with a cylinder-like mechanism near its handle. The Decepticon appeared to be fascinated at what it was, whereas the Autobots looked in distress as he held the weapon.
"The Temporal Sphere Cannon", Blitzwing spoken in fascination of the unearthed relic, pointing the weapon at the Autobot team. "Now let us see what it is capable off..."
Spectre: To give you an idea on what that is, imagine TLK Hot Rod's Stop Le Time Gun.