章 3: Chapter 3: Welcome to Ocean City
2034 CE
Ocean City, Earth
Far off the coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean was a large, towering construct. Ocean City was the first of the Cybertron Cities built on the planet Earth by the Cybertronians and the Earth Federation with the purpose of providing a mining platform for Energon ore that was plentiful unerneath the ocean floor. At the peak of its prestiege, Ocean City served as a hub for the Autobots and the Earth Federation. Its Energon reserves were plentful enough to support the first Energon Tower. During the early phase of the Fourth Cybertronian War, it served as the headquarters for Supreme Commander Optimus Prime himself. The population rivaled that of many of the larger cities on Earth even though everyone who saw the city was sworn to secrecy. A large highway was created that stretched from Ocean City all the way to the coast of the United States, though the public had no idea where the road led to and it was guarded twenty-four-seven by Earth Federation guards. Gardens were grown to be lush and vibrant in the beautiful city. Schools, hospitals, fisheries, and other forms of employment were available. Despite the fact that the city fell under attack multiple times during the war, it was the shining beacon of human-Cybertronian collaboration.
This was not the case today. Alexis frowned at the city which was visible far below her. She was sitting in a United States Air Force Helicopter, looking down from the window on her side of the cabin. To her left was General Franklin, who had never set sights on Ocean City before. He looked down at the city and still knew how far it had fallen from its height. Across from Alexis sat President Holt and across from Franklin sat Secretary Colton. Holt too was looking down at the city, a glare of disgust in his eyes. His frown was not one of sorrow but one of disappointment: Disappointment in humanity for building such monumentous lies behind the backs of the people. Secretary Colton, usually more reserved and quiet compared to Holt, was ruffling around with some paperwork and was deeply immersed in his work on the behalf of the President. The sounds of paper shuffling was nothing compared to the loud roar of the helicoper's blades. This roar was but an instrument in an orchestra of a cacophony as it flew in formation with many other helicopters, each holding passengers related to the mission at hand. In order to prevent themselves from going deaf, the passengers had earplugs in. Despite the muffled sounds she heard, Alexis could still hear her own voice in her head criticizing her. How could you have let this happen?
Ocean City was in disrepair. For one, the once great highway was no longer present. Instead, only a few signs that there was once a highway could be seen just to the east of the city. These remnants of a highway were ragged at the end and served a much better diving board into the ocean than a highway. When the Earth Federation was decomissioned, the highway underwent demolition. The pieces of the highway were deep, deep below the surface and lying on the ocean floor. Speaking of the ocean floor, what Energon reserves that were there were gone, a casualty of the Fourth Cybertronian War. Alexis imagined that the mining tools of Ocean City were rusty and dusty. The one proud and shining Autobot symbol was faded and scratched with evidence of the elements wearing it down. The paint was nearly gone and the bits of bird excrement disrespected the symbol of honor. The gardens were dry beyond imagine. The buildings around the main spire were all in disrepair as well and Alexis could even see that part of Ocean City School had collapsed into the shopping district, crushing many buildings.
Colton said some inaudiable words to the pilot, and the helicopters began their descent on Ocean City. Most helicopters landed in the main region around the main spire, but the helicopter Alexis was in approached the top of the main spire where Alexis could see the closed gate on the top, the gate that had opened many times to allow the Energon Tower to rise and help with the defense of the planet. The passengers got off at the top of the tower, and the helicopter flew back into the air to continue with other plans irrelevant to Alexis's situation at the moment. Colton raised his hand to an earpiece and spoke.
"Thanks for the flight, Lift-Ticket."
Alexis felt the ocean breeze against her as she looked around their landing area. There was evidence of damage from tropical storms and hurricanes that brushed against the city in the time that had passed. A cockroach scuttered by in the shadows, afraid of its new guests.
"Ah, yes. The great Ocean City. What a waste of tax money." Holt sighed. Alexis held in her anger. Ocean City was the reason the planet still survives! It only became a waste of tax money when the Earth Federation was shut down! "I've heard that this city can sink. Why did you Feddies leave it up?" Holt asked Alexis. Alexis gave him a glare before speaking.
"We were scheduled to, but the hydraulics were broken." Alexis would have mentioned tha the hydraulic lift/submerge system was prone to malfunctioning due to the weight of the city, but she didn't wan't to give Holt more of a reason to call the city faulty. "Before we could repair it, we passed the deadline to get out of the city. Besides..." She looked around at the state of the city. She wondered if the city being submerged would have minimized or increased the damage. "Who know what submerging the city for over a decade would have done to it."
"Ah yes, it wouldn't do us any well if the city collapsed underwater, would it?" Holt asked. Alexis had a momentary lapse of hope that Holt had a change of heart and would restore Ocean City. "If it was destroyed, how would we get our message out today?" Alexis's heart sunk at the realization that the President, once again, was only speaking out of his own interests. Franklin looked visibly upset at the President. Holt glanced over at the gate holding the Energon tower in. "Colton, are your people ready yet?" He asked. Colton tapped his earpiece.
"Alright, Joes, this is General Colton. I need those Energon reserves hooked up to the power converter by yesterday!"
"Flint here." A response came. "We're still waiting on the Energon reserve delivery, sir!" As he was saying that, a large transport helicopter that had just landed down below the spire opened up its back ramp and out soldiers came hauling carts and carts of raw Energon. "We don't have anything to power it with if we don't have the-"
"Acknowledged, Flint. I'm looking at the reserves now. It should be arriving to you in an ETA of 30 minutes."
"Yo, Joe." Flint replied.
"Just a while, Mr. President." Colton replied to Presdient Holt. "The shipment just came in from Mexico." He said, gesturing to the carts being unloaded.
"Excellent. Its lucky for us that your people found that Energon underneath the Aztec ruins in Jungle City." Holt said to Alexis. "Or else that fool Jones would have us with a handful of dead cities when he sent all our Energon into damn space!"
"Who were you talking to, Secretary Colton?" Alexis asked, ignoring Holt and changing the subject. "Was that the rumored G.I. Joe team?"
"Hrn. No. They don't officially exist and neither do those rumors, ma'am." Colton replied, irritated that his secret unit was not-so-secret.
"You know..." Alexis started, deciding to open up a bit. "The tabloids say you made your own private army to take over not only the government but the entire world as well. They talk about you like you're Napoleon or something." Colton did a mix of a sigh and a laugh.
"Those rumors are especially false. Off-the-books, the Joint Services Special Counterterrorist Group, code-named G.I. Joe, is a unit created to serve the United States in secret missions to secure American assets and to provide a defense against any potential threat the United States may face, foreign, domestic, public, or secret." Colton replied.
"Yes. In fact, they were created in reaction to the Constanza-Dang Papers." Holt added, stinging Alexis. "If the whole world can form a multinational organization and wage war in space without the public knowledge, what else can be done secretly? And what best to fight secret threats than a secret organization on the side of the angels?" Alexis, irritated, as about to fire out a retort when Colton tapped his earpiece.
"Mr. President, the Energon is ready." Colton reported.
"Excellent. You have my permission to emerge the Energon Tower." Holt replied. Colton tapped his earpiece.
"Bring it on up." A moment of silence happened. "Anytime now." Colton added.
"Sir, the computers are still powering on over here at Level 1. These things are old, outdated, and haven't been used in over a decade."
"Results, Mainframe. That's what I need."
"I understand that, General, it's just that... Hold on..." A loud clashing noise could he heard from the earpiece that made Colton jump in pain from his ear. "There we go! Just had to give it the ol' wake-up punch. Initiating Energon Tower Emerging Sequence... Ah, blast. Its not detecting an Energon Tower in the chamber!" Mainframe called out.
"Uh, sir, the computer isn't recognizing an Energon Tower in there." Colton reported to Holt.
"Hrn. Did you try plugging it back in again?" Holt joked when Alexis made a connection.
"The computers are still probably working on the first Energon Tower here that we had to-" She watched the way she would word the conclusion of the sentence. "...we had to re-deploy to protect other assets benefitial to humanity." Afterall, saying we sent all our Energon Towers into space to protect alien planets while Optimus Prime fought Unicron would have irritated Holt more. "Set it to the new tower." Colton relayed the information to Mainframe.
"Uh, sir, it needs a password..." Mainframe replied.
"Do you know a password for it?" Colton asked.
"Well... Not really, it was Doctor Jones who installed it...Wait..." Alexis thought. "Try "Junior.""
A moment later, the gate on top of the spire open and a large tower slowly emerged.
"Baddabing, badda boom." Mainframe said over the earpiece. General Franklin felt a sinking feeling as the tower arose.
"Now." Holt started. "We'll fire this up and get the attention of that alien. The helicopter." Holt turned and smiled at Franklin before quickly turning to Colton. "Get your men up here. When he comes, take him down. We'll make an example out of our guest to all aliens on Earth: We are humanity." Holt looked back up at the tower. "And we are fighting back."
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