Transformers Prime-Part 10: Runaway Train
Masterlist <-Previous Part
“Morning all, I’m heading out,” you announce to your parents as you unceremoniously cram a muffin from the kitchen into your mouth.
“And how long will you be gone this time?” Your mom asks with one brow raised.
“Uh, I dunno, probably most of the afternoon,” you shrug nonchalantly as you start lacing up your shoes.
“Better hurry it up, your car’s getting impatient,” your dad says in an amused voice.
A smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth and he dips his head to one of the windows. Your eyes widen and jump to the red car sitting by the curb in front of your house.
The one with headlights that were blinking all by themselves.
I’m going to kill him!
“I-It’s not supposed to do that,” you stammer.
“Maybe the Nevada heat’s getting to it,” your mom jokes, pretending to fan herself with her hand. “I know it’s taking its toll on me.”
“No no, it’s just a glitch in the car, probably from messing around with it yesterday at the auto-robotics club. I’ll have to look into that,” you rush to explain.
He’s going to get me into trouble. Maybe the heat is getting to him.
You can see your parents are about to respond when you hear Cliffjumper honk his horn and, fearing a barrage of prying questions, blurt out a quick goodbye before rushing out of the front door. In a few strides you are sliding into the passenger’s seat of the red car and closing the door.
“Mornin’,” Cliffjumper greets cheerfully as he clicks your seatbelt into place before gently tugging the material around you.
“Are you crazy? Normal cars aren’t supposed to flash their headlights or honk their horns by themselves,” you say as you lightly smack the dashboard. “You nearly got me in trouble.”
“First off, ow, that was uncalled for,” Cliffjumper says, to which you promptly respond with an eye roll. ”And two, I got bored waiting for you, I thought for a minute you weren’t coming out.”
“Oh please, you can’t get rid of me that easily. You’re stuck with me-“
”For the long haul, I know,” Cliffjumper finishes.
You open your mouth to say something else when you suddenly get the feeling that you are being watched. Glancing out of the tinted windshield, you see that your parents have discreetly pulled back the blinds of the front window. It was subtle enough for the common passerby to not notice it, but not subtle enough to escape your observant gaze.
“Mind if we start heading to the base? We’re being watched,” I say flatly.
”That’s the third time this month we’ve caught them doing that,” Cliffjumper notes.
“That’s what I’m saying, Cliff, they're starting to get suspicious,” you say as he pulls away from the curb and down the street. “Dad’s been the worst about it so far. It took me an entire week to convince him that you weren’t my secret lover boy.”
Cliffjumper makes a strange noise between a snort and a scoff as he passes by the city limits sign and out into the Nevada desert. “So what did you convince them I was?”
”Well, originally I was thinking “giant metal robot”, but I felt like that would be a bit much,” you say thoughtfully.
”Agreed. I’m much too advanced for a high school student such as yourself to simply build in school,” Cliffjumper responds and you lightly glare at his steering wheel.
“So I went with “regular car that I was tasked with upgrading”. So my parents think you’re some car that I’ve added robotic parts to in my auto-robotics class,” you explain.
”Hm, not bad, kid,” Cliffjumper praises.
“And the flashing headlights and horn honking was just a glitch in your system, that most likely won’t happen again,” you state pointedly.
”We’ll see.”
You give the steering wheel another light glare before rolling your eyes and chuckling slightly. “You are so getting me in trouble one of these days.” ***
“Priiime!” the angry voice rings through the Autobot base.
”Special Agent Fowler, to what do we owe the—“ Optimus begins.
“What else? Cons. I chased them off of some hard ordinance, but not before they blew me out of the sky!”
“Again?” Miko snorts and you both share a look.
”They tried to smash and grab for the DYNGES.”
“The whatsit?” Arcee asks.
”Dynamic nuclear generation system,” Agent Fowler explains. “Aka DYNGES.
”That is an unfortunate title,” you comment.
Agent Fowler switches up his communications to show a picture of the DYNGES.
”It’s a prototype energy source I’m porting to the coast for testing.”
“That’s absurd. Why would Starscream bother with such primitive technology?” Ratchet asks.
”I’m guessing to make a big fat primitive weapon of mass destruction. If this baby were to melt down, it would irradiate this state and the four next door.”
“Womp womp,” you say quietly, earning a snicker from Miko and an eyebrow raise from Jack.
“Uh, did Agent Fowler say what state he was currently in?” Raf asks you.
You just shrug and cross your arms over your chest.
”I’m a sitting duck here, Prime. I need you to spin up your bridge and send the DYNGES to its destination before the Cons come back for it,” Agent Fowler states.
”I’m afraid that sending such a volatile device through a ground bridge is out of the question,” Optimus replies. “If there were to be an accident during its transmission, the radiation alone of which you speak could propagate through the groundbridge vortex and harm all 50 states, and beyond.”
”You got any better ideas?”
”Ha! Road trip!” You exclaim, and all the bots look in your direction.
“Not a bad idea, kid,” Cliffjumper replies. ***
“It’s not fair, I should come with you!” You state as you and Cliffjumper stand by the ground bridge, waiting for Ratchet to trace Agent Fowler. “It was my idea in the first place, that should mean something.”
You begin to pace back and forth in front of your guardian, huffing in frustration as you try to convince him to let you go.
“As much fun as it would be to blast the radio and go on a road trip, you know it’s not safe,” Cliffjumper says.
“Agent Fowler’s going,” you counter.
”Agent Fowler is a special agent.”
”What’s so special about him? He’s gotten shot down by the Cons like, three times this year.”
”Come on, kid-”
”It’s only May!”
“Y/n-”
“And I’d be with you, so even if the Cons show up, I’ll still be protected. I mean, that’s what guardians are for, right?”
”Y/n, stop,” Cliffjumper says, gently placing a hand in front of you to stop your pacing. “You know it’s too dangerous, you’re getting to be as bad as Miko.”
”I wanna help!” You exclaim. “I can do more for the Autobots than teach you guys pop culture and give you someone to hang out with.”
”C’mon, you’ve been doing more than that. Remember when you saved me from those lousy Cons when we first met? Or when you ground bridged into that building in Texas so you could hack into the Con space bridge? Or when you saved Ratchet, Bulkhead and Bumblebee from the Scraplets? Sound familiar?”
“Oh well, when you bring all those out…“ you huff sarcastically.
“What I’m saying is that-“
“Optimus, I’ve located Agent Fowler,” Ratchet announces, cutting off Cliffjumper.
Frowning at the interruption, you cross your arms in front of your chest and let out a defeated sigh. “Well, go and be a hero, Cliff.”
He casts a long look in your direction before transforming and following Optimus as he drives through the portal, the rest of the Autobots in tail, and then the groundbridge powers down. ***
“We are locked onto your coordinates, Optimus,” Ratchet states as you, Jack, Miko, and Raf watch the five steadily blinking dots on the monitors. “Fairing any complications, you should reach the drop off point by sun down.”
What started as a fun mission tracking the team and calling out directions had, after about five or six hours in, lost all its appeal. You cross your arms in front of your chest before letting out a huff of air and walking over to the faded yellow couch by the tv, deciding to check up on Cliffjumper. Before you can even reach back to pull out your flip phone, you feel it vibrate with an incoming call. It had been Cliffjumper’s idea to connect your phone with him in case he was late from picking you up or needed to contact you. You quickly grab it from your back pocket and answer with a small grin.
”How’s the road trip going, Cliff?”
”It’s about as fun as helping Ratchet with a project. How are things back at the base?” Cliffjumper asks.
”That bad, huh? Things are equally boring here,” you reply with a chuckle, an image of Ratchet yelling at you not to touch his stuff playing vividly in your mind.
”Really? So you don’t enjoy being stuck at base wi-“
You frown as Cliffjumper’s sentence dies out and quickly wonder if something is wrong. Did the Decepticons find the Autobots so soon?
”What is it? Cons?”
”Uh, don’t think so,” Cliffjumper responds after a moment. “Is Ratchet picking up anything on the scanners?”
”Let me check. Standby.”
You pull the phone away from your ear and look over to the screen, craning your head to see around Ratchet, but there is no indication of any Decepticons activity so you put the phone back up to your ear.
“Nothing. Why? What do you see?”
“A group of cars surrounding me on both my sides,” Cliffjumper replies casually. “And a helicopter.”
”And you’re sure they’re not Cons?”
“If they are, they aren’t any I’ve seen before. Wait a minute, they’re humans.”
“What?” I ask in disbelief.
“Hang on, I’m going to have to call ya back, kid.” Cliffjumper says before hanging up.
You pocket the flip phone and walk back over to the other kids, sharing a look with Jack before looking to the screen. You watch the blinking lights with a laser focus, trying to determine which one of them could be Cliffjumper. Ratchet had the coms turned on and you can hear a voice speaking, but it’s not one you recognize.
“I do hope you take better care of the DYNGES than you do your captives.”
The voice is menacing and low, and immediately you picture a buff man hardened by years of military training when you hear it.
”Special Agent William Fowler here. Identify yourself,” sounds Agent Fowler from the comms.
“I am Silas. But of greater consequence to you, we are Mech,” the strange man on the comms says. “Fair warning, we will be helping ourselves to your device. Even if it means inflicting casualties.”
Your eyes shoot to Miko besides you and you frown slightly, but she only shrugs.
”Is that so? Tell me, Si, what’s the market price for a DYNGES these days?”
”What makes you think we intend to sell it, Agent Fowler?”
Your eyebrows furrow as you think about Silas’ words and the impact they hold. The DYNGES is a very powerful weapon with capabilities equal to that of a small nuclear bomb. In the hands of the Autobots, it was certainly safe. But in the hands of people like Mech? You weren’t exactly sure the intentions behind their organization, but their actions thus far proved that it couldn’t be anything good. After a moment of silence, Silas goes on.
“There’s a war brewing between the new world order and the newest. The victor will be the sidearm with the most innovative technology.”
”Who does this guy think he is?” you quietly question.
”So, Si, you think Mech has all the most radical tech?” Agent Fowler asks, and your lip twitches up in a smirk. “Later, Si.”
”Optimus, prepare to initiate Phase 2. 5 miles ahead to the south you will reach the rendezvous point,” Ratchet calls. ***
5 miles was all it took for everything to go sideways, as seemed to be the way every mission with the Autobots went. In addition to this Mech group, the Decepticons decided to make a guest appearance, Silas somehow figured out about Phase 2 of the mission to protect the DYNGES and was en route to intercept the train, and now Optimus wasn’t responding to Agent Fowler. You and the other kids quickly begin to brainstorm a new plan, adding a Phase 3 to the mission.
“All right, if Mech wants the DYNGES, they have to get on that train,” Jack says as he starts to pace in front of us.
”What if we get on board first? You know, run some human-on-human interference?” Miko suggests energetically.
“That’s a terrible idea.” “Absolutely not.” You and Ratchet share a look before Jack stops pacing to look at Miko and add, “Yeah, that would be suicide.” ”Hello? The United States of meltdown?” Miko counters with her hands on her hips. “Lives are at stake.”
“Yes, yours! You want me to not only bridge you into a confined space, but one traveling at 90 miles per hour?” Ratchet all but yells in a worried tone. “I can’t even count the number of ways that could go wrong. Mass displacement, trauma, twisted limbs, metal burn…”
You stare at Ratchet with a slightly bemused expression as he starts listing off problems like there was no tomorrow, but the concern you pick up in his voice surprises you. Of all things, Ratchet being concerned for your health even remotely somehow caught you off guard for a moment.
”Well, maybe not the last one. Regardless, it is nearly impossible to fix ground bridge coordinates on something moving at that speed.”
“But not entirely improbable,” you begin, your brows furrowed in concentration. “You’d just need…”
”Would it help if we had access to the train’s coordinates?” Raf asks suddenly as he quickly types on the computer nearby.
”Well…” Ratchet trails off uncertainly.
”Real time coordinates plugged into the ground bridge should do the trick,” you comment as you look at the computer screen and then to Ratchet.
”Su-weet, road trip turned train ride!” Miko exclaims besides me. ***
“Everyone ready?” Jack asks, looking from you to Miko as the ground bridge powers up in front of you.
”Let’s kick some Mech butt!” Miko replies enthusiastically.
”Waiting on you,” you say with a curt nod, which Jack returns before facing the ground bridge once again.
Taking a deep breath, you enter the swirling vortex of light at a run and a moment of dizziness hits you before you suddenly exit, landing roughly on your hands and knees on the hard metal of the train car. You sit up and quickly clamber to your feet besides Jack and Miko.
”We’re in,” Jack says into his phone, and distantly over the clattering of the wheels on the track you hear Raf respond.
Just then the sound of a helicopter nearby reaches your ears so you go to the side of the train and open the door. Peaking your head around the door, you see a dark colored helicopter hovering about 10 or 15 feet over the roof of the train car.
”Raf, Mech’s landing on top of the train,” Jack reports into his phone, looking over your shoulder at the helicopter as well.
Wind rushes past you, grasping for your hair and clothes as you grip the side of the train car and lean out further to see that Silas’ helicopter is getting lower and lower. It’s about to land on the roof when you hear the loud clunk of metal shifting underneath the train and you feel the train abruptly jerk to the right as the train takes the left turn in the track junction. The sudden movement catches you off guard and you feel yourself losing your balance before someone grasps your arm and pulls you backwards. You quickly glance behind you to see Jack letting go of your arm and nod in thanks before looking back out of the side of the train. A few moments later you hear the bang of metal on metal coming from the roof and your heart clenches as several sparks start raining down above.
Mech was drilling into the roof of the train car.
”So, what’d that buy us? 10 seconds?” Jack asks.
”Raf is losing his touch,” Miko comments.
You all slowly begin to creep backwards as the line in the roof starts to form into a decent sized hole. Any minute now and the section of roof would drop down in front of the DYNGES and Mech agents would be dropping down into a train car full of nothing but a nuclear weapon of mass destruction and three teenagers. You were starting to think that maybe the odds weren’t quite in your favor at the moment.
”Yeah, well Raf isn’t the one about to be attacked by Mech,” you reply as you take one more step backwards, only for your back to hit the wall.
Miko glances behind her and picks up a fire ax hanging from the wall, Jack picks up a fire extinguisher, and that leaves you with…nothing. You groan in frustration and watch as the line of sparks completes its square and the section of roof drops to the floor with a loud clang. You can only ball your hands up into tight fists and assume a fighting position as three Mech agents appear over the opening above.
“You want a slice of this?” Miko asks aggressively, brandishing her fire ax. “Well do ya?”
“What she said,” Jack quickly adds.
‘We’re all going to die’ you think dully as you glare up at the men surrounding the opening.
No sooner had the thought crossed your mind when the men suddenly backed away from the roof, and a minute later you can hear the blades of the helicopter firing up as the Mech agents retreat from the train.
“I guess they forgot their train tickets,” you muse as the whir of the helicopter soon fades to the distance. Almost as quickly as they had appeared, the Mech agents disappear from view, the whirr of their helicopter filling the train car before it lifts up from the top of the train and flies away. You, Jack and Miko all stick your heads out from around the door and watch as the helicopter gets smaller and smaller in the distance until you lose sight of it. “Woah, you’re pretty fierce,” Miko says, but the moment of victory is short lived. You watch as a cloud of smoke seems to rush above your head, followed by a loud explosion that rattles the train, and your heart nearly drops in your chest. A plume of thick smoke rises in the far distance as the train reaches a bend in the tracks, revealing a large crater directly in the middle of where the track used to be. Jack is already calling Ratchet by the time you all duck back into the car and you scan his face anxiously as the call goes on, but it doesn’t look promising. There was no possible way for Ratchet to bridge you back without active coordinates plugged into the groundbridge system, which wasn’t a problem before you left, but this time you worry something had happened to Raf’s connection with the train. Time was running out and so were your options. “Maybe we should jump?” Miko suggests. “At 90 miles an hour?” Jack shoots back. “It’s the impact or the meltdown, take your pick,” Miko counters. “Well if this train doesn’t stop, we’re going to experience both,” you reply as your eyes scan the inside of the train car, to no avail. “What were we thinking, volunteering for this?” “Next time you need to do a better job of talking us out of these situations.” “Next time…” Jack’s eyes meet yours, worry and frustration flashing as you watch, and the impact of our decision really starts to sink in for you. You bite your lip and look away, leaning out of the door again and watching with a growing sense of anxiety as the crater where the railroad once laid grows closer and closer with every passing second. You tune out the rest of Jack and Miko’s arguing, something you had grown quite good at as of late, though if you were about to die from his train impact, you figured it wouldn’t be a skill you’d need for much longer.
Come on, think. Think, y/n! There has to be another way. Suddenly a blur of red and blue catches your attention and you watch with a rising wave of excitement as Optimus Prime flies past you in his vehicle form, transforms, and starts running in pace with the speeding train before grasping the engine and digging his heels into the ground. Your body lurches forward against the metal of the train as your weight shifts, the sound of metal surrounding you as Optimus’ foot scrapes against the railroad track. Slowly the train loses momentum and eventually stops, and as you crane your neck to look ahead, you realize that if Optimus had shone up even a few minutes later, you would not have stopped in time. The front of the engine was mere feet from the massive crater the Mech agents had blown in the tracks to stop us. You watch as the Autobot approaches the train car, his bright blue eyes sweeping over each of you for several moments before nodding slightly, almost as if reassuring himself you were all safe. “Cutting it close, huh?” you muse as a euphoric feeling begins washing over you, a feeling you see shared between the three of you as Miko turns to Jack with a mischievous smile. “No kidding,” Jack says as he runs a hand through his wind-blown hair. Moments later the sound of a roaring engine comes speeding through the canyon, Cliffjumper’s familiar red form catching the sunlight as he pulls up next to the train and transforms, his eyes scanning over you the same way Optimus’s had before. You quickly clamber down from the train and walk over to him, a reassuring grin on your face as you wave to him. “Looks like I got to come anyway,” you comment. “I had a sinking feeling that you might,” Cliffjumper says with a shake of his head, crouching down to see you better. “You alright, kid?” “Oh, I’m fine. Gotta say, near death experiences really change your outlook on life,” you reply thoughtfully. “I swear you get in these situations out of spite for my concern.” “But did I die?” Cliffjumper gives you a hard look before muttering something under his breath and transforming again. The swirling ground bridge opens just a few feet away and you waste no time in sliding into the passenger seat, the material of your seatbelt pulling tightly against you almost protectively before Cliffjumper revs his engine a few times and drives through the portal.
***
The familiar sight of the Autobot base fills you with a sense of relief as you find yourself perched on the yellow railing near the tv where Miko was watching cartoons with Raf, but your mind was far from at ease. It takes you a few moments to even register that Jack had walked up to you, his light touch on your forearm snapping you out of your thoughts with a startled blink. “Huh?” you ask.“I said it’s almost painful,” Jack repeats as he leans against the railing next to you. “What is?” “Watching you think.” Your head snaps in Jack’s direction and you smack his shoulder with the back of your hand, ignoring his protest as you shake you mutter a half-hearted “you suck”. “Seriously though, y/n, what’s up?” Jack asks curiously as he rubs the back of his neck. “It’s just…” you sigh and look down at the hands clasped in your lap for a moment before meeting his gaze with your own worried one. “Something about this Sylas guy…he’s different from what we’ve faced before. Decepticons are one thing, but Mech? They don’t play around.” “I know what you mean. They didn’t even know us, but they were willing to blow up a train with both kids and a device capable of melting the States down,” Jack says seriously. “Do you remember what he said on the comms? ‘There’s a war brewing between the new world order and the newest’. Do you think we’re really ready for a war between the Decepticons and Mech?” you frown as you look over at the Autobots. “Hey, come on, they may be tough but they’re still human, just like us,” Jack counters firmly. “Do you really think the Autobots can’t handle them?” “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I say slowly, looking back to him and thinking about what he had said. It was true, every word, and although Mech was something new, you knew that the Autobots could take care of whatever was thrown at them. “Hey, what do you say we go over and watch cartoons with Miko and Raf for a bit?” Your thoughts pause as you look down at Jack’s outstretched hand, and you only hesitate a moment before taking it and pushing yourself off the railing, letting him lead you to the couch where Miko greets you both enthusiastically.
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