Chapitre 65: Lost memories Part 2
Cliffjumper and Arcee entered the S.A.F.E room and were both about to begin training.
"Ready to get into some serious training?" Cliffjumper asked as he started warming up.
"If you're talking about me kicking your tailpipe all over the place, then there's one thing left for me to say. Bring it on." Arcee told him as they both stopped warming up.
They start going into their battle stances and waiting to see who would strike first. Arcee was the first one to attack as she started sending a series of punches at Cliffjumper who was able to defend himself by blocking every punch that had been thrown at him.
"Is that all you got? Man, this training is starting to get boring." Cliffjumper taunted as he kept dodging her.
"Stay still and I'll show what I'm made of." Arcee told him as she kept trying to land a hit.
"Tempting. But no thanks." Cliffjumper said.
Cliffjumper starts attacking Arcee, who was able to dodge every attack he sent at her before she's able to counterattack but Cliffjumper was still able to defend himself properly from her counterattacks.
"Still so predictable." Cliffjumper said but his comment seemed to have triggered something in Arcee's head before she rushed towards him.
While she fought him, she started remembering a flash from the past. A long memory of the war. Just like Cliffjumper and Arcee are training, she and Tailgate did the same.
Flashback starts;
In this memory, Arcee was training with Tailgate.
"You're too predictable." Tailgate told her as they both jumped back and gave each other some distance.
"At least I'm not a blabber mouth like you, Tailgate." Arcee taunted playfully.
"Says the one who still can't beat me." Tailgate taunted back with a grin.
"Today I might." Arcee said with a small smirk.
"I highly doubt that." Tailgate said before he started rushing towards Arcee who dodged him by doing a rear jump to use the wall to impulse herself to use an impulse tackle attack that hit right on target and with one hit, Tailgate was down on his back.
"Nice one. Very good use of your surroundings. Think fast." Tailgate said before spinning his leg to make Arcee trip but she dodged it to keep a distance between them.
"Excellent. You've become really fast. Let's see how you handle this." Tailgate commented before rushing towards Arcee and attacking her with some quick punches.
His punches are very quick but Arcee had no problems in avoiding them as she kept dodging his punches until she was able to find an opening to strike him. After a moment, she had found an opening and used this opportunity to hit Tailgate with a pretty good move. She stopped his right punch with one servo and then stopped the other one with her other servo. After pinning down both of Tailgate's servos, Arcee impulses herself with his servos and uses her leg to grab Tailgate by the neck and drag him down. After he was down, she got on top of him and was about to lay down a punch on him but she stopped for a moment when he spoke up with a grin.
"Impressive. But you do know that's my move right? You stole it from me." Tailgate said with feign surprise in his voice at the end.
"I prefer the term borrowed." Arcee said with a smirk.
"You borrowed my move but there is one problem." Tailgate said as he started to smirk.
"Which is?" Arcee raised an optic ridge only to get grabbed by her arms and rolled back and Tailgate was able to pin Arcee when he was free.
"It's my move. And I know it's like the back of my servo and you lost again." Tailgate said with a grin as Arcee grunted from the impact.
"You got lucky." She said with a small smirk.
"I wouldn't say that." Tailgate said before getting back up and helped Arcee up on her pede.
"You really gave me a hard time. You might even be a better warrior than me." Tailgate commented with a sincere smile as it touched Arcee. It's as if behind this deadly warrior, she had a soft spot for him.
Just like earlier, she heard a voice calling her name and without realizing it, Arcee was down on the floor as she got distracted by her inner thoughts again.
Flashback ends;
"Arcee, are you okay?" Cliffjumper asked as he got worried when she didn't respond after he called her.
"Huh?" Arcee said as she snapped out of her thoughts.
"You've spaced out again and what's weird is that I knocked you down on the floor in a matter of seconds." Cliffjumper said as Arcee looked at him for a moment before looking away.
"Maybe I'm not in the mood for training today." Arcee said before getting up and started to walk to the exit of the S.A.F.E.
But before she could even leave, Cliffjumper stepped in front of her so he could talk with her about what's going on and why she kept spacing out. And he knows that something is bothering her.
"Arcee, I know something's not right and I want you to know that you can always tell me anything." Cliffjumper said as worry was in his voice.
"We've trained for a moment and now you think that just because you knocked me down you know something's wrong with me?" Arcee questioned him as Cliffjumper crossed his arms.
"I do. That move you used earlier. It was the one that Tailgate used. You haven't used it ever since... Look, I know you're not one to talk about that kind of stuff. But not talking about it is distracting you. If this happens in a mission, you could end up getting killed." Cliffjumper told her the name of her first and former partner and made her silent.
Arcee didn't say anything because deep down, she knew that Cliffjumper was right and such a distraction could get her killed in the battlefield as she crossed her arms as if to hold herself.
"Tell me. What's on your mind?" Cliffjumper asked as he put a servo on her shoulder.
Arcee wasn't able to say anything since she can't seem to find the right words on how to say what's been bugging her lately and Cliffjumper knew that it must be about her former partner.
"Is it something that has to do with Tailgate?" He asked gently as her silence deepened slightly as she still didn't say anything but after a few minutes, she was able to find the right words on how to say it.
"Yes... it has. I... can't stop thinking about him... I still find it hard to believe that... the one person I cared the most is back... and yet... it still feels like nothing has changed... I failed to save you... just like I did with Tailgate." Arcee admitted and Cliffjumper felt his spark ached at the sadness in her voice. She was still blaming herself for what happened back then, wasn't she?
"Arcee, what happened back then wasn't your fault. You did the best you could." Cliffjumper said as he put his servos on her shoulders as she looked at him with sad optics.
"And how did that work out? Tailgate is dead and it's all because of me. You have no idea what it feels like. This guilt... it's such a burden... For a while I was able to suppress it but now for some reasons, it comes back to haunt me and I don't know why." Arcee told him as her voice shook a little.
"I know how much you felt guilty about Tailgate's death. We all did and I know that you want to forget about what happened. I know that if Tailgate was here, he would tell you to move on and keep fighting. That's what he would've done." Cliffjumper told her as Arcee was starting to feel much better.
"Yeah. Tailgate wasn't one to give up easily." Arcee said with a small smile.
"Got that right. I can't count the number of times he and I trained and neither of us would give up." Cliffjumper said as he chuckled slightly as Arcee chuckled as well.
"I remember. You both tried to beat each other out. Always trying to surpass the other." Arcee said with a wistful smile.
"In the end. You were the only one who could beat him. I still remember his face when you knocked him down on the floor." Cliffjumper said with a grin.
"Yeah. I wish I could've been a better warrior back then." Arcee said as Cliffjumper smiled at her.
"You are. To me; you, Arcee, are the best Autobot warriors around. Next to me of course." Cliffjumper said as Arcee punched his shoulder playfully.
"You had a lucky shot." She said as Cliffjumper laughed slightly.
"Oh really?" He asked as he and Arcee walked back to the training room.
"Well If you want to try and take me down, please be my guest." Cliffjumper said as Arcee smiled and felt better from his words.
"Let's see how lucky you are this time." Arcee said with a grin as they both started to train again.
Meanwhile Emily was having a nice game of Chess against Ratchet while the other Autobots were so tired of piling and sticking the cubes that they didn't even pay attention to what he was doing with the kids as for the Autobot leader, Optimus was walking around the base like he tends to do when things are quiet and peaceful around the base.
"Man. My arms are hurting like crazy." Bulkhead said as Bumblebee whirred in agreement.
"Me too, guys. Pushing those cubes all day is not a walk in the park." Smokescreen said with a groan.
"If you ask me, I think we're getting too old for this." Wheeljack said as Smokescreen gave him a look.
"Hey, don't say that. I'm about to feel like I'm old just like Ratchet." Smokescreen commented.
"Will you four keep it down? I'm trying to focus here." Ratchet told them.
Ratchet was thinking of a strategy to win against Emily who had taken out many of his chess pieces. Thinking that he had found the right way to go, Ratchet proceeds to make his move but since he is a huge robot and he has big digits, he might break the whole Chess board by trying to move a pawn. So Jack had decided to move the pawns for him.
"That one." Ratchet said as he pointed to one of the smaller pieces.
"That little one?" Jack asked.
"Yes, that one." Ratchet said.
"Are you sure of that?" Jack asked him.
"I'm sure of it." Ratchet said as he was determined to win the game.
"Okay." Jack nodded before moving one of the remaining pawns from its previous position as the pawn was in position to defeat another.
But without knowing it, Ratchet had given Emily another chance to take down another of his pieces. After his move was over, she made her move and took down Ratchet's pawn yet again which scored her another point.
"There goes another one." Emily said as she put the pawn that she took down to the side.
"What? Are you serious?" Ratchet asked in shock.
"Mhm, honestly this game has been a bit easy. You've made some good moves but it's a bit predictable." Emily said with a nod.
"Don't give up now, Ratchet. It's just your first time. Besides Chess is a pretty hard game." Jack told him as he nodded in understanding.
Miko and Raf were both watching Emily and Ratchet, with Jack moving Ratchet's pieces, playing their game of Chess as Miko and Raf kept a score on the two.
"I can't believe I'm gonna say that because Chess is the most boring game ever. But I kind of like seeing Ratchet getting his butt kicked by Ems." Miko said with a grin as Raf nodded.
"Yeah. But since it's his first time, it had to be expected." Raf said as Ratchet started thinking of a strategy that could help him win.
He decided to make one of his pawns move to another square just like he did earlier.
"That one." Ratchet said as Jack nodded.
"Okay." Jack said as he moved the pawn.
With that single move, Emily was able to make her move as she moved one of her pawns in a position where Ratchet could take it down.
"Ah-ha. I have you right where I want you. Jack, will you do me the honors?" Ratchet said as he could practically tell that this match of chess was his.
"Sure." Jack said as he moved the pawn and Ratchet had taken down one of Emily's pawns.
"I knew it. That sooner or later you would make a mistake." Ratchet said as Miko couldn't help but watch.
"Is it just me or his head starting to get bigger than his ego?" Miko asked Raf who shrugged.
"I have no idea." He said casually.
"Nice, Ratchet. Very nice move. Unfortunately for you." Emily said before moving her bishop in front of Ratchet's king.
And since his king is surrounded by the other pawns around and has nowhere to go, it's checkmate for Emily yet again.
"It's a checkmate." Emily said with a grin as Ratchet was dumbstruck by this
"Again?" Ratchet asked in disbelief.
"That's 2 for Emily. 0 for Ratchet." Jack said as Raf put the score.
"Nice match." Raf said with a nod.
"I agree. Did I just say that?" Miko said before asking in confusion but the boys just shrugged as Bolty was watching the match curiously.
"That last move wasn't legal at all. There's now way you would have defeated me that easily." Ratchet said as Emily shrugged but decided to explain how it worked.
"That move was perfectly legal. It's called checkmate." Emily told him as Ratchet was curious.
"What is a checkmate?" He asked in confusion.
"It's when the king is totally pinned down and cannot move." Jack said but that confused Ratchet even more.
"What king are you talking about?" Ratchet asked in confusion as Jack picked up the pawn that looked like it had a crown and small plus symbol on top.
"I'm talking about this piece here. It's called a king. You see, every pawn in the game has names and each has its own way of moving." Jack said as Ratchet looked at the piece curiously.
"Let me explain better. The pawn with a round head on top is called a pawn. The one Jack is holding is called the king, next to him is the queen, next you have the rooks. They're the pieces that look like castle towers. You have the knights, they're the horse looking ones. Last but not least. There's the bishops. Just like the one, I used to win. Like Jack said, each piece moves differently. Here's an example. The bishop moves diagonally. It can move as many squares as it wants, which is very useful. The rook moves from up and down, to the right and left, like a cross. The knight moves like an L. In other words, it has to land in the squares that form the end of an L and it's the only piece of the game that can jump over other pieces. A very useful tactic to take down a few other pieces and finally you have the queen and the king. These are considered as the principal pieces of the game. The queen can move in all directions. It's one of the hardest pieces to beat. The king, however, had limited movement. It can only move to one square in each direction. It's not much but it makes it hard to catch. The only way to win the game is to make sure the king is blocked in every direction. That's how you get a checkmate." Emily explained it to them and by the time she finished explaining everyone went silent.
They were impressed by Emily's knowledge of Chess. However, Miko's face revealed that she felt bored since all this information had made her brain go overloaded by too much boring information.
"Oh man, my head is hurting like crazy right now thanks to all your gibberish." Miko said as she held her head.
"Are you serious?" Jack questioned her in confusion.
"Uh, yeah. This is the most boring thing that I have ever heard in my whole life. It's even worse than school." Miko said with a 'duh' look.
"Why am I not surprised?" Jack asked with a small sigh.
"Despite my recent opinion. I now see that this game is not as ridiculous as it looks. I might even say it's interesting. Very interesting. I would like a rematch. Now that I know how this game works. I believe I have all the data I need to win the next match." Ratchet said as he was looking forward to a rematch.
"I don't mean to be rude but it takes more than data to win. Trust me. It took me years to get good at Chess." Emily said as she was fixing the pieces with Jack.
"Well, I believe the correct term for this is that I have all the time in the world." Ratchet said before the scanners started beeping as it seemed to have detected something somewhere.
"Scanners are beeping." Bulkhead said as he and the others all became alert by this.
"Finally, we might get to see some action." Wheeljack said as he smirked.
"I hope so. I have this urge to hit some Decepticons in the faceplate." Smokescreen said as he was really pumped on beating some cons.
"Hold on, you two. I need to check what's going on first." Ratchet said as he approached the main computer to check what the computers had detected.
When Ratchet starts checking the scanners, he sees that the scanners have picked up the signal of some kind of beacon but not just any beacon. A Decepticon beacon. Bumblebee beeps to say that he's surprised that the scanners have detected a Decepticon beacon somewhere.
"How did the scanners detect this beacon?" Bulkhead asked curiously.
"I don't know. But whatever it is. It must have been around here for quite a while." Ratchet said with his eyes narrowed in concentration.
The comm-link started ringing and they saw that it was Agent Fowler who was calling the base.
"It's Fowler." Emily said as she sat up.
"Great, more trouble." Jack said but got a playful nudge from Miko as the two older teens stopped rearranging the chess pieces.
Ratchet then answered to see why Fowler was calling them for and it might be something important.
"Agent Fowler, mind I ask the reason for this call?" Ratchet asked through the comm link.
"Glad you asked, Doc. Believe it or not our satellites have picked up a weird signal. Some sort of beacon. First intel reveals that it's from Decepticon origin." Fowler told them.
"Very interesting. Our scanners have picked up a Decepticon signal too." Ratchet said as he was curious but confused on why the scanners were acting up.
"I see. Well, here's the thing. Our satellites aren't able to get a fix on the signal's location." Agent Fowler said as Ratchet wasn't surprised.
"Doesn't surprise me. Human technology isn't exactly reliable in these circumstances. Let's see. Rafael, would you mind giving me a hand?" Ratchet said but turned to Raf to ask for his help.
"Sure thing, Ratchet." Raf nodded.
Raf takes out his laptop and starts to see if he can get a fix on this Decepticon beacon signal and the location of it with Ratchet helping.
"I'll try to get the coordinates of where this Decepticon signal is coming." Raf said as he typed away.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Did I hear that right? A Decepticon signal?" Agent Fowler asked in shock as Emily nodded.
"Yes. We just detected it." Emily said as Raf continued to type.
"This might take a moment." Raf said as he was trying to get the coordinates on the signal before he was able to get the coordinates of the signal's exact location.
"Here are the coordinates. Latitude: 60° 00' 0.00 North. Longitude: 105° 00' 0.00" East." Raf said as Agent Fowler looked to where it was.
"These coordinates lead toward... Uh oh. It's Siberia." Agent Fowler said as Ratchet was a little uneasy and worried at the same time.
"Siberia? Never heard of it." Smokescreen said in confusion.
"Me neither." Wheeljack said with a shrug as Bumblebee whirred in agreement since he never heard of it before.
"I just heard rumors. They say that it's a very cold place." Bulkhead said as Ratchet turned back to the screen as the coordinates were locked on.
"What is Siberia?" Ratchet asked curiously.
"Bad news, Doc. I need to inform all Team Prime about this including Optimus. I'm on my way to the base right now. I'll brief you all in person." Agent Fowler said as Ratchet nodded.
"Understood, Agent Fowler. We'll be waiting right here for you." Ratchet said before Fowler hung up before Ratchet turned to Emily.
"Emily, I need you to find Optimus and tell him that he has to come here right away. Where are Arcee and Cliffjumper?" Ratchet said before noticing that both Arcee and Cliffjumper weren't present.
"They're in the S.A.F.E." Emily said as Ratchet nodded.
"Tell them to come here right now." Ratchet said as Emily nodded.
"Understood." Emily said as she ran down the stairs of the human area before running off to find Optimus, Cliffjumper and Arcee to tell them that they were needed.
Meanwhile in the S.A.F.E room, both Arcee and Cliffjumper were still training.
"And here I thought this training would be boring. I'm starting to like this. You're really good at it." Cliffjumper said as he dodge another punch.
"I do recall that I was always better than you." Arcee said with a smirk.
"And how does getting beaten by me a few minutes early qualify as better?" Cliffjumper questioned only for Arcee to punch him and knock him down.
"Because you fell for it." Arcee said with a chuckle.
Cliffjumper rubbed his face due to the pain that he just received from Arcee's punch. Damn, she's a femme that sure leaves a mark that's for sure.
"Hey, that's not fair." He complained.
"Consider this payback." Arcee said while crossing her arms.
"Okay, well." Cliffjumper said before sweeping Arcee's legs from under him and made her fall to the floor.
"You can consider us even." Cliffjumper said as Arcee rolled her optics.
"Yeah, right." She muttered.
Cliffjumper soon gets back up and offers his servo to Arcee so she can get up as well. She grabs his servo and gets back up but for a reason, she accidentally trips on her pedes and lands on Cliffjumper's arms as he caught her on time. They then both look at each other as if they got lost into each other's gaze before they suddenly got nervous and started letting go of each other and averted their gazes from each other.
"I'm, uh, sorry my bad. I accidentally tripped." Arcee said with a small blush on her cheeks as Cliffjumper was trying to fight off his own blush.
"Yeah and then I caught you, and, uh, I'm sorry I didn't want you to get hurt." Cliffjumper said as Arcee nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Arcee said before they stopped talking since they're both trying to get rid of the embarrassing and awkward tension in the air.
"Well, this is awkward." Cliffjumper said with a small smile.
"No kidding." Arcee couldn't help but chuckle softly.
While both Autobots were trying to get past the awkward moment, someone was entering the S.A.F.E room and it was Emily as she came in.
"Hey, guys, you've got to come with me now..." Emily said but trailed off when she sensed that something happened between the two.
"Hey, something happened here." Emily said as the feeling didn't disappear as she looked at the two and noticed they were blushing.
"Nothing major. We were just training. Getting ready to beat up some cons." Cliffjumper said as he tried to make his blush go away but failed.
"No, I don't mean that. I was talking about you two." Emily said as both Cliffjumper and Arcee looked at her.
"What? Us?" They both asked in confusion.
Arcee and Cliffjumper both look at each other and just after that they started feeling nervous and looked away while wanting to make the situation to end by telling Emily that nothing happened
"As if." They both said again as Emily put a hand on her hip.
"Come on, you guys. No need to be shy. I mean I totally get it." Emily said.
"Nothing happened, Emily." Arcee said but Emily wasn't having any of it.
"Look, I know you guys wanna keep things a bit private but there's no need to. I won't tell anyone. I just feel bad I missed the first CliffCee moment. Anyway, you guys have to come with me." Emily said before getting serious as Arcee perked up.
"Is everything okay?" She asked in concern.
"We've found something. Something very important. You have to come to see it for yourself. Fowler will brief us all on it." Emily explained as best she could.
After telling Arcee and Cliffjumper that their presence was needed, they both followed her as all the members of Team Prime were assembled. Fowler had arrived and he was going to explain the details of everything that he and the Autobots know so far.
"As you all are aware, I've detected a strange signal. Further analysis suggests that it's of Decepticon origin. However, the origin of the signal itself is not the problem. The problem is the location of where the signal has been detected. Take a good look at the map." Agent Fowler said as he motioned for Ratchet to start displaying the location of where it is.
"Siberia. A very cold region. Located between Europe and Asia. In Russia." Agent Fowler said as Jack cringed with the other kids.
"Talk about a hard decision here." Jack said.
"Very hard." Emily nodded in agreement.
"What are you guys talking about?" Arcee asked in confusion.
"Nevermind that. Let's just go check this beacon thing and see if we run into a few Cons." Wheeljack said as he punched both of his fists together.
"Hold on, hot shot. It's not quite as simple as that. Take a closer look at the screen. The scanners tell us that the beacon is in an abandoned factory." Agent Fowler said with a serious look.
"What does that mean?" Ratchet asked in confusion.
"It means we might have bigger problems here." Emily said with her arms crossed.
"I don't get it." Arcee said as she looked confused on why they look so serious.
"Me neither. I mean, the bots have already been to Russia. When Mech caught Breakdown, remember?" Miko said as she was not getting the idea of why they were getting so serious and worried about it.
"Yes, although last time you kept things under the radar and luckily for us, we avoided disaster." Agent Fowler told them.
"Agent Fowler, what kind of catastrophe are you referring to?" Ratchet decided to ask since this seemed to be a serious matter.
"One that could cause a whole bunch of trouble. I'll explain so you can understand. A long time ago, the United States and Russia had what you may call an alliance. Some sort of relationship. Political relations are considered to be fragile. Their objectives are to maintain peace between the countries around the world. If peace between countries is broken, it would cause a whole lot of chaos." Emily explained and bots finally understood why the situation was serious and worrisome. If something happened, it would cause a war between two countries.
"Exactly. Which is why this mission must be done under the radar no matter what. If something happens, the Russians might think the United States might be involved in this." Agent Fowler agreed with her as he turned to the Autobots.
"Hold on. Why would these Russian guys think your country is invading them?" Smokescreen asked in confusion.
"Because the law stipulates that no country can enter another country's territory without proper authorization. If we do that it causes a major incident, the Russians would consider this an invasion." Agent Fowler explained
"Oh, come on. I'm sure that since this has something to do with the Decepticons, they can turn a blind eye for once." Wheeljack said with his arms cross but Optimus has to disagree with him
"I'm afraid not, Wheeljack. Getting involved in the politics of this world could have great consequences. I won't allow this world to suffer the same fate as Cybetron." Optimus told him. He rather not risk the planet that he considers a new home to suffer the same fate as Cybertron did.
"But, Optimus, if this thing has any ties to the Decepticons, we can't just ignore it. If we do so, we might be giving Megatron the upper hand." Bulkhead said as it seemed to have added a whole level of worry.
"For once, I agree. Who knows what it's in there? Probably a weapon of mass destruction." Ratchet agreed with Bulkhead.
"Then how about we stop arguing and get a move on it?" Arcee suggested as she stepped forward and caused everyone to turn to her.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Cliffjumper asked in confusion as Bumblebee whirred the same question.
"Fowler said that this mission had to be done under the radar. So I'll be doing this mission. Alone." Arcee said with a serious and determined look as Cliffjumper looked at her in shock.
"What? You can't be serious, Arcee. You can't go out like that alone. Who knows if it's not a Decepticon trap." Cliffjumper said as he grew worried that his friend might get hurt and Optimus seemed to have thought the same.
"Cliffjumper is right, Arcee. The risk is far too great for only one Autobot. We will have a better chance if we all go together." Optimus said as Wheeljack seemed to be excited to head out.
"You heard that, guys? Let's pack it up and get ready to roll." He said but Arcee seemed to have an opinion in mind.
"Optimus, with all due respect, I think it's best if I go in alone. If we go in together, something might go wrong. I'm the only one that can go in and out without causing any ruckus. However if you feel like I should go with someone, then Emily can come with me. She could learn a thing or two." Arcee said as she looked to Emily to see what her answer was.
"Thanks, Arcee. But I would rather watch from behind." Emily declined as she gave a polite smile.
"Then I'll go with you." Cliffjumper said as he stepped forward.
"No offense, Cliff. But you're not exactly the silent kind." Arcee said as Cliffjumper seemed to deflate slightly but he can at least try and insist that to let him come with her.
"But you can't go in alone. Optimus, you can't let her go on her own like that." Cliffjumper said as he looked to Optimus for help but it looked like Optimus had to give in. The mission needs to be done under the radar. He cannot afford something happening.
"I'm afraid it's a risk we're gonna have to take. Arcee is right. At this point she's the only one who can carry such a mission. That is if Agent Fowler approves it." Optimus said before turning to Agent Fowler to see what he has to say in the matter.
"Very well, just try not to make a big mess. I'm counting on you, Prime." Agent Fowler finally agreed.
"We will do our best, Agent Fowler." Optimus told him with a reassuring nod.
"Then you don't mind if I stay to supervise this operation." Agent Fowler suggested and Optimus had to smile at that. Some help from Fowler is appreciated when it comes to how countries and politics work.
"Not at all, Agent Fowler. Your expertise for such terrain could be of use to us." Optimum said with a small yet grateful smile.
"Arcee, are you sure you can do this on your own?" Jack turns to her in concern as she looks at him with a reassuring look.
Emily puts her hand on Jack's shoulder to reassure him that Arcee was sure of it.
"Trust me. If someone can pull this off, it's Arcee." Emily said with a small wink as Jack smiled at that knowing that it was true.
"Man, that sucks. Arcee is the one who gets out on a mission while we have to sit back and watch." Wheeljack said as he seemed to pout as Bulkhead gave a small chuckle.
"Better luck next time." Bulkhead said.
"Do not worry, Wheeljack. We will remain on standby in case Arcee needs reinforcements." Optimus said as he turned to Wheeljack who shrugged at that.
"It's better than nothing." Wheeljack said.
The other Autobots gather to wish Arcee good luck on her solo mission while making sure that she is careful.
"Good luck out there, Arcee." Smokescreen said with a smile to which she returned.
Bumblebee beeps to tell her to not let her guard down in case something was up.
"Thanks, guys." Arcee couldn't help but smile at them before Cliffjumper approached her.
"Be careful. Do not get distracted." Cliffjumper said with a smile but the worry was still present in his optics.
"Make sure you come back in one piece." Jack said as he was worried as well as Arcee put a servo on her hips.
"You know me, Jack. It takes more to bring me down." Arcee said before Ratchet spoke up.
"Are you ready for transportation?" He asked as she nodded and walked to the ground bridge.
"Yes." She said with a determined look.
"Alright then. Just remember that where you're going, the temperature can go below zero. For now there's no sign of any storm whatsoever. If anything happens, be sure to contact us." Ratchet said and Arcee knew what that meant. Contact the base once her core systems reached the blue zone.
"If you need any help, be sure to contact us immediately." Optimus said as Arcee nodded.
"Understood, Prime." Arcee said with a determined look.
"Good luck out there." Miko said as she gave her a thumbs up.
"Rafael, do you still have the coordinates?" Ratchet asked as he turned to the 12 year old who nodded.
"Yes. I'm sending them now." Raf said as he gave Ratchet the coordinates to which he put the coordinates to the ground bridge.
"Coordinates received. Activating the ground bridge." Ratchet said as he put the coordinates down and activated the ground bridge.
"Watch your back out there." Smokescreen said as Arcee smirked at that.
"Right." She said before she ran to the ground bridge and transformed before driving through the portal.
On the other side of the portal, she came out and had arrived in the cold territory of Siberia. After she came out of the ground bridge, she transformed and began looking around the snowy terrain.
"It's very snowy here. At least it's not cold." Arcee said as she looked around her to see the vast area covered in snow and the good thing was that it wasn't hailing up a storm.
Back at the base, Ratchet had closed the portal and Emily let out a small breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Phew... That was a close one." Emily muttered quietly to herself but Miko was able to hear that.
"What was that?" She asked curiously but was a little suspicious and caused Emily to tense up slightly at that and became nervous.
"Nothing. I didn't say anything." Emily said as she looked anywhere but Miko.
"Why didn't you accept a mission with Arcee?" Miko asked again.
"Call it a feminine intuition." Emily said as Miko continued to look at her suspiciously.
While Miko thinks that Emily is hiding, Jack had noticed that something was bugging Cliffjumper after Arcee left through the ground bridge.
"You too are worried huh?" Jack couldn't help but notice as Cliffjumper turned to him.
"You caught me huh?" Cliffjumper said.
"You know, I used to think like that back then when you were still... you know. In a way, she also worries about me. It made me realize that Arcee has a great heart and that she's strong enough to endure anything." Jack told him.
"Yeah. But still I can't help feeling worried about her. If something happened to her..." Cliffjumper said as he tried to stop the negativity from surfacing.
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't think like that. Everything is gonna be alright." Jack stopped him from thinking of bad things that might happen to Arcee.
"I hope so. And just so you know, you're way out of your league with her." Cliffjumper teased as Jack couldn't help but laugh.
"Are you jealous?" He asked.
"Of you? Pfft, dream on." Cliffjumper said with a smirk as both of them laughed before they were both cut off when the comm links started ringing.
"Arcee to base, do you read me?" Arcee asked as Ratchet pressed some keys to open the comm-links.
"We hear you, Arcee. What's your status?" Ratchet said.
"I'm okay but I need to recheck the coordinates." Arcee said and Raf did just that.
Back in Siberia, Arcee looked around since she wasn't near the factory.
"The factory is a bit too far from where I am." Arcee said.
Back at the base, Raf checks the coordinates again to see if they're the right ones.
"The coordinates are good. Maybe we weren't precise or something." Raf said as he looked up and Ratchet nodded before replying to Arcee.
"Arcee, I have complete confirmation. Maybe this is due to a miscalculation." Ratchet replied.
Back in Siberia, Arcee nodded and knew it was time to roll out and head for the factory.
"I see. Well, I better get a move on." Arcee said.
"Be careful, Arcee. The terrain is very dangerous." Ratchet told her and she appreciated his concern.
"Got it. Time to roll." Arcee said before stopping on using her comm link before transforming before driving to where the factory is located.
Meanwhile not far from the factory, Airachnid in her helicopter mode was getting closer to her destination when her scanners had detected an incoming Autobot's signal not too far from where she was.
"An Autobot signal nearby. I do hope it's someone I know. It would make things a bit more interesting. For now, I better move fast." Airachnid purred with sadistic glee.
Once Airachnid gets close to the factory, she starts to descend slowly before transforming into her robot mode and lands perfectly on her pedes and smirks at the sight of the abandoned building.
"Here at last." Airachnid said to herself before looking around the old factory.
"This place looks like it has been abandoned for a while." Airachnid noted.
While she was looking around, she noticed a big hole in one of the walls and figured out that the capsule that she's looking for had made a hole on the wall when it was launched from the ship as the hit created an opening through the factory.
"Well, well, well. An opening. A lady sure loves when the door is open for her." Airachnid said with deadly pleasure before she shifted into her spider form to walk a bit faster towards the entrance.
She soon enters the huge holes that lead inside the factory and sees that just like outside, the factory looks abandoned since it was full of broken machines and spider webs. It made Airachnid feel very comfortable and more at home actually.
"This place is totally fit for my image. Oh where, oh where would this capsule be?" Airachnid muttered before taking out a scanner to locate the capsule.
The scanner soon started beeping normally before she suddenly saw a big hole similar to the one outside. The scanner started beeping slowly and indicating that the capsule was in the hole and it probably landed somewhere in the lower levels of the factory.
"There." Airachnid smiled before using her web to lower herself through the hole.
She soon reaches the lower level on where the capsule landed as Airachnid walked around a bit, using the scanner before suddenly the scanner detected something. It was close. Airachnid then walked to the direction the scanner was indicating and just like that she had finally found the capsule.
"Ah, there you are. And lucky for me you're still one piece. The time has come to use you against the Autobots including this pest Arcee." Airachnid said as she approached it. She wiped the frost that covered the piece of it which was glass to reveal someone familiar before opening it to release him from the capsule and stasis.
Meanwhile outside, Arcee was still driving to get to the factory. When she got there, she transformed before she informed the base that she had finally arrived at the factory.
"Arcee to base. I have reached the factory." Arcee said as small rounds of cheers from their human friends were heard.
"Thank Primus." Ratchet sighed with relief.
"Hmm, this place looks abandoned." Arcee noted as she noticed that the whole building was rusty and covered in ice and frost but not completely.
Back at the base, that was not surprising since it was abandoned for years now.
"Doesn't surprise me. This installation was used to make weapons. The Russians decommissioned the whole place a while ago. So the only thing there would be this Decepticon signal." Agent Fowler said before Raf asked a curious question that's been bugging him
"I'm curious. Why is a Decepticon signal coming from there?" Raf asked curiously as he turned to the Autobots.
"Forget the signal. I wanna know what it is." Miko said and earned a nudge on her side from Emily.
"Based on my analysis. There's a slight possibility that it's some sort of containment unit." Ratchet said after checking the scans again.
"Are you sure?" Arcee asked to be sure.
"I'm positive." Ratchet confirmed as Bumblebee whirred a questioning tone since he finds that hard to believe.
"On this planet? No way." Wheeljack said in disbelief. How can there be a Decepticon beacon there?
"I came in a Decepticon pod. What are the chances of it being the same?" Smokescreen said as he felt a little offended by it. He came from the Decepticon pod for crying out loud.
"Well if you're here, I'd say the chances that there's a con inside are pretty high." Bulkhead joked only to get a look from Smokescreen.
"Very funny." Smokescreen said sarcastically with a roll of his optics.
"Okay so it could be some sort of pod or whatever. But how come none of you asked yourself how it came here to Earth?" Miko soon raised a question and she made a point there.
"She's right." Cliffjumper said.
"It's not complicated. I mean if it is a pod. It must've been sent here from Cybertron." Wheeljack guessed but Ratchet seemed to know how it got to the planet.
"Maybe. Maybe not. I think I have an answer to it. I've been doing some research. And based on what I've found, I can tell you that this containment unit is in fact a Stasis Cell." Ratchet said as this caught Emily's attention. A what?
"A Stasis Cell? What's that?" She asked curiously.
"Stasis Cells are pods that are used for Cryo-Stasis. When used, the one inside enters into a Deep Stasis. Before the war, the Stasis Cells were used to contain dangerous criminals. But when the war began, the Decepticons started using them to lockdown many Autobots who were captured." Optimus explained as she nodded slowly.
"Okay but that still doesn't explain how this Stasis Cell thing landed on Earth." Agent Fowler said.
"Maybe it was brought by a ship. Like the Decepticon warship." Bulkhead suggested.
"Or maybe by another ship." Ratchet said before his optics widened slightly.
"No offense, doc. But the last Decepticon ship I've seen flying around this planet is the Nemesis." Wheeljack said but Ratchet had to disagree with him. The only other Decepticon ship that was on Earth's orbit before they found the Immobilizer.
"True. But there was another Decepticon ship that once navigated through earth's atmosphere upon our arrival. The Harbinger." Ratchet said and the situation became a little more serious.
"So it would stand to reason that this Stasis Cell was part of the cargo the Harbinger was carrying." Optimus said as he was worried about what the stasis cell might have in its contents.
"That would explain a lot." Arcee replied dryly.
"The Harbinger? I heard a rumor about it that said that this ship was attacked by other Autobots and was cut in half during the battle." Wheeljack said as Agent Fowler turned to them. How come he's hearing it now?
"Hold on a minute here. Are you telling me that there was once a Decepticon ship flying around Earth's atmosphere? How come I'm hearing about it just now?" Agent Fowler questioned as Team Prime had a look that said 'You never ask'.
"I'm with him on this one. How come I didn't hear about it?" Smokescreen said as he totally felt lost.
"Yeah me too." Cliffjumper agreed with him.
"We didn't say anything because that ship crashed long ago." Bulkhead said as Fowler turned to him.
"How do you know that?" He asked curiously.
"Bee and I were part of the Autobots who made it crash. We barely escaped with our lives." Bulkhead said a grim tone that tells that many lives were lost during the fight.
"I can't believe I missed that." Smokescreen said but noticed the stern and serious looks everyone was giving him.
"Sorry." Smokescreen quickly apologized.
"I wonder." Emily muttered with a thoughtful hum as Jack turned to her.
"Something on your mind?" Jack asked curiously.
"Is there a way we can access the Harbinger log to see what's inside that Stasis Cell?" Emily asked as everyone turned to her.
"What for?" Raf asked curiously.
"To see if we can find who was put inside that Stasis." Emily said but Ratchet stopped her.
"Out of the question. If we try to access the Harbinger's log, the Decepticons would detect it's signal. Besides, the only thing other than this Stasis Cell was the Immobilizer." Ratchet said since the situation is too risky if they did that.
"The-what now?" Miko questions in confusion.
"The Immobilizer." Arcee replied.
Back in Siberia, Arcee was looking for an entrance to get inside while explaining what the immobilizer is.
"A weapon created by the Decepticons. It freezes anyone touched by it's light. Some sort of Stasis. But unlike ordinary Stasis, you're still conscious. It's like a living dead." Arcee explained.
Back at the base, Miko made an 'Oh' face while nodding in understanding. So that's what froze Bulkhead and the others before.
"Oh you mean that stick thingy that froze you all at once?" Miko asked as she looked at Bulkhead and the others who nodded.
"Yes. But other than that, I don't see the connection between those two." Ratchet said as Miko went into thinking.
"Maybe the Decepticons had an Autobot in it. That would be so awesome." Miko guessed with an excited grin.
"I hate to break it to you, kid, but the Cons aren't known to be merciful." Wheeljack said as he found that hard to believe. The Decepticons putting an Autobot in the Stasis Cell? Well, Smokescreen did come from a Decepticon escape pod, who knows who it is in the Stasis Cell.
"Why do you think it could be an Autobots when it could possibly be a Decepticon?" Emily had to agree with Wheeljack.
"Oh please, now why would Megatron put one of his own in stasis?" Ratchet questioned.
"Exactly. Megatron wouldn't put a Decepticon in stasis unless this one was too dangerous even for him. That would explain why the ship carried a weapon that could induce stasis. Whatever is in that Stasis Cell, must be dangerous." Emily said and Wheeljack sensed where this was going and smirked.
"Well there's only one way to find out. Let's go to the Harbinger to find out what we want to know." Wheeljack said as the bots knew that the only way to know who or what is in the stasis cell is to go to the Harbinger to find out.
"Hold it right there, loose cannon. If you're thinking I'm gonna let you check the Decepticon ship that has been taking the dirt nap ever since Lincoln was president, you got another thing coming." Agent Fowler stopped him with a stern look as Wheeljack gave him a look.
"Listen, tiny. I don't have to take orders from a guy like you." Wheeljack warned him as Bulkhead tried to stop him from hurting Fowler.
"Easy, Wheeljack." Bulkhead said as Bumblebee helped him restrain the other Wrecker and whirred for him to calm down. Optimus quickly intervened and had already thought that maybe checking the Harbinger for info about what's in the stasis cell can be helpful.
"Agent Fowler, checking the Harbinger might be dangerous. However we must know if the Decepticons have hidden some sort of weapon powerful enough to destroy us." Optimus told him as Agent Fowler had to let them but they're not going there without him.
"Fine but I'm going with you. I don't want them to release a weapon of mass destruction on my planet." Agent Fowler said and that was acceptable before Emily stepped up.
"I'll go with you." She said as Miko turned to her.
"Whoa, wait a minute. You refused to go with Arcee to Siberia but you don't mind going to an old Cons ship. Are you sure you're not hiding something?" Miko said as she was a little suspicious on why Emily didn't want to go to Siberia.
"No, I already told you that if I didn't go with Arcee it is because I feel like she could do this on her own." Emily told her as Miko was still giving her the suspicious look.
Back in Siberia, Arcee heard that and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Emily. Good news, everyone. I think I've found a door." Arcee said as she stopped by what looked like the door.
"Arcee, keep your comm-link open." Optimus told her.
Back at the base, everyone was getting ready to depart to the Harbinger to get some answers.
"The others and I are going to the Harbinger." Optimus said as Smokescreen grinned excitedly.
"Yes. Finally some action." Smokescreen said.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go already." Cliffjumper said but was stopped when Optimus put his servo on his shoulder and made him look up to him.
"Cliffjumper. I believe it is best you stay here and keep an eye on Arcee." Optimus told him as Cliffjumper looked confused but understood what he meant.
"Are you sure? I mean it's not like I don't want to, it's just..." Cliffjumper said but couldn't finish his words as Optimus nodded in understanding.
"I know. That is why you have to stay here until we come back. Ratchet, prepare for departure." Optimus said as the medic nodded.
"Right. I shall upload the coordinates and prepare the ground bridge now." Ratchet said as Raf looked at him surprised. Did Ratchet save the coordinates to that place?
"You've kept the Harbinger's coordinates?" He asked curiously and Ratchet couldn't help but chuckle.
"Of course. You wouldn't expect me to erase the coordinates of an ancient Decepticon ship." Ratchet said with a chuckle and Raf couldn't help but smile.
"Whoa, talk about thinking ahead. Anyway if Emily is coming with you guys, can I come?" Miko asked but Bulkhead clearly has the look.
"No, you can't. You stay here where it's safe." Bulkhead told her and made her let out a frustrated groan.
"Sorry. Better luck next time." Emily said as she pats her shoulder.
Emily walked down the stairs to join the others and so did Fowler.
"Okay, I'm ready." Emily said before taking the brooch out of her pocket and putting it on before activating it as Fowler watched in shock and surprise as Emily was wearing an advanced looking battle suit.
"Sweet eagle." Agent Fowler said in shock and surprise as Emily just shrugged with a small smile.
"Yeah, I know. I get that reaction quite a lot." She told him as Ratchet finished putting the coordinates in.
"Ground bridge online." Ratchet said before activating the ground bridge.
"Autobots, roll out." Optimus commanded.
Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Wheeljack all transform and drove straight through the portal. Ratchet stayed behind to transform and to carry both Emily and Fowler inside him.
"Get in." Ratchet said as he opened both of his doors.
Emily and Fowler get inside Ratchet as they buckled the seatbelts on and Ratchet closed the doors.
"Hold on tight." Ratchet said as he drove towards the portal.
On the other side, the others had reached their destination and transformed back as Ratchet along with Emily and Fowler had caught up with them. Before he could transform, Ratchet opened his doors to let Emily and Fowler come out before he transformed while Fowler breathed in shock at the sight before his eyes.
"Well, I'll be..." Agent Fowler said in shock.
The whole team was gazing at the wreckage of the Harbinger since it was cut in half.
"Unbelievable." Smokescreen felt his optics go wide at the sheer size.
"That's one big ship." Wheeljack couldn't help but look at the ship in shock.
"I never thought I'd see this." Agent Fowler said as he was still in shock before the comm-links started to notify them.
"Base to Optimus, do you read me?" Cliffjumper asked as Optimus answered him.
"We do, Cliffjumper." Optimus said.
"That's good to hear." Cliffjumper said in relief.
They all gazed at the wreckage while most of them remained silent as Smokescreen turned to Bulkhead.
"It must've been quite a battle." Smokescreen said as Bulkhead nodded sadly.
"You don't wanna know, kid. Believe me." Bulkhead said as he remembered those that were offline during it.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Emily said sympathetically as she looked up to him.
"It's okay. I'm just glad we were able to get rid of it." Bulkhead said in reassurance as she smiled slightly at him.
"Cliffjumper, we are about to enter the ship." Optimus said as they started to walk towards it.
Back at the base, the others listened as Optimus continued.
"In order to avoid the Decepticons detecting us, we must turn off our comm-links. Keep an eye on Arcee. Be sure to contact me if anything happens." Optimus told him and he nodded.
"You got it. Good luck out there." Cliffjumper said as they looked at the screens.
Back at the Harbinger's crash site, Optimus appreciated his concerns.
"Many thanks. Prime out." Optimus said before he and the others turned off their comm links.
"So what now? We go in and get the information we're looking for?" Agent Fowler questioned as Emily nodded.
"That's the plan." She said as she and Fowler quickly went to the Autobots.
"Remember, Autobots, we must be careful. The Decepticons might have sprinted traps around the ship. Be careful of your surroundings." Optimus told them as he slid his battle mask on.
"Hey, I'm always careful of my surroundings." Wheeljack said but Fowler had to disagree.
"Not from what I've seen." He said quietly to himself as he was referring to the damage he did after encountering Dreadwing.
"Let us move now." Optimus ordered as they all started walking to the Harbinger to see if they could find any answers.
Meanwhile back in Siberia, Arcee was trying to unlock the entrance that she had found.
"Almost there." Arcee muttered and after a few minutes of trying, she was able to unlock the entrance to get inside the factory which made her smile.
"Arcee to base." Arcee said as she turned on her comm link.
Back at the base, the others perked up at hearing Arcee.
"I'm finally in." Arcee said.
"Ah, that's good." Jack sighed in relief.
"Glad to hear it. Just try to be careful from now on. You don't know what you might find there. And whatever you do, do not open the Stasis Cell." Cliffjumper told her as she couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"You really should stop worrying about me, Cliff." Arcee said as Cliffjumper just let a smile show.
"I know, I know. I just don't want anything to happen to you." He said.
"It's fine. This place looks like it has been abandoned for eons. It's not like a Decepticon might get the jump on me. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go find a Stasis Cell." Arcee told him as Cliffjumper just sighs.
"Fine... I'll stay here in case you need me." Cliffjumper said before she hung up as Jack looked at him impressed.
"Wow, you handle it pretty well." Jack said as he turned to him.
"Yeah but I can't help feeling concerned. There's something about this that worries me." Cliffjumper told him as Jack had to agree.
"You and I both, pal." He told him.
"Come on. Don't try to get all mushy on me." Cliffjumper joked as Jack couldn't help but laugh.
"Funny because I think you're the mushy one around here." Jack teased him as Cliffjumper just rolled his optics in amusement.
"This is great. The first mission where there's zero risk of getting shot at by Decepticons, I have to sit on the bench. So unfair." Miko grumbled as she crossed her arms.
"Well, while we wait for them, maybe we can play some chess." Raf suggested as he went to where the board was and set everything up.
Miko seems reluctant about playing such boring but since she has nothing else to do, she has no choice but to play chess.
"Worst day ever." Miko said as she let out a sigh before joining Raf to play chess.
Looks like Airachnid got to the Stasis Cell first. But the question is, what or who is in it? Will the Autobots get the answers from the Harbinger? Find out in the next chapter.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone