Chapter Eleven

“Move faster! We need to have all the Energon collected by the sun-rise!” One of the bigger Decepticons yelled.

“Ugh, the system of time on this planet is infuriating!”

Many of them growled but they continued the drills in the rock. Two in particular were in the corner, attempting to start the engine of another driller. Suddenly, there was a sudden whip and hiss of air. The two drones froze, then dropped to the ground. The others whirled around to see what had occurred. They were about to shout for help, but then another whip of air shot through the cave and ended their sparks as well.

“What was that!?” One cried.

“Sniper! Get down!” The one in charge cried.

Another drone was shot down. The Decepticons were scrambling for cover, and scanning the area to find their attacker.

“An Autobot!?”

The con in charge looked around and spotted Iris peeking from behind a rock with her rifle. The commander laughed.

“It’s just a human! Get it!”

Just as the words left his mouth, three more cons were shot dead.

“Call for backup!” The commander ordered, “There’s another one!”

.

Suddenly, the team of Autobots lunged from their hiding spots. Roadshot rained boiling hot blasts on the Decepticons, while Hamilton was behind her, more carefully aiming for the drone’s weak points. Bumblebee unsheathed his glowing orange sword and shield and slashed them down. Some of them were tougher to beat, as they had spiked maces to swing. Nightshock continued to shoot from above, while Iris quickly moved her position and continued her advances.

.

The cave became silent.

“What’s happening down there, Bee?” Taylor’s asked through the comm link.

“All taken care of Captain!” Bumblebee announced.

“You certain?” 

“Positive!”

“And it looks like we’ve got some new handy drills as well at our disposal!” Roadshot announced.

“Excellent!” Taylor exclaimed, then explained to Lennox, “Those can help us extract the Energon we need.” 

“You got anyone who know how to operate them?” Lennox asked.

“I do Major” Wadewatch’s voice replied, “My caretakers taught me how.”

“Affirmative. Major, it’s imperative that at least some of that energon deposit is mined in order for Preceptor to initiate his experiments.”

“Understood, Captain.”

“Okay team, I need you to mine one whole crystal and bring it back to headquarters, promptly.”

“Copy that.” Bumblebee replied.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Wadewatch and Marie met up with the rest of the team and they got to work. Agent Janis and Nightshock took first watch while the Autobots cranked up one of the drills into action. It took a few minutes for Wadewatch to determine how to run it, then a few hours to drill.

In the meantime, Hamilton inquired, “If you don’t my asking, what are ‘caretakers’? Are they like parents in your society?”

“They are very similar,” Roadshot explained, “Except that caretakers are more like adopted parents. We Cybertronians can’t procreate like humans can. However, there were offspring called ‘sparklings’, whom pairs of partners would imprint on and care for them.”

“Did you have caretakers, Roadshot?” Marie asked.

Roadshot frowned, and turned away slightly.

“Not every bot was fortunate.”

.

At that moment, Marie heard a rustling sound. She turned around. She didn’t see anything that would’ve caused the noise.

“Bats?” She wondered.

She heard it again. This time it sounded like gears grinding horridly against each other. She glanced at Wadewatch, who was still speaking to Bumblebee about the drills, then began to follow the sound. It was coming from behind a large stack of stalagmites. It was getting louder. Then, she heard a disgusting gurgling. Suddenly, a large mass lept from the darkness. It was a Decepticon drone, blasted to bits, but still clinging to life. Marie screamed. She pulled out the gun from her pocket and fired. It bounced off the drone’s helm. Marie attempted to run away, but it grabbed her ankle, causing her to trip. It all happened so fast it took the team a few seconds to react. The decepticon growled. Marie pulled at her ankle to get away, but then, the Decepticons hissed:

“You will die, flesh creature. You and your Autobot friends!”

.

“Dr. Davis!”

Wadewatch drew his gun and blasted the con’s helm clean off its shoulders. The body spazzed and twitches until it turned ashy gray. Marie scrambled away. Wadewatch knelt down and examined her.

“Are you hurt, Dr. Davis?” He asked with great concern.

He cupped her head with his huge metal hands.

Marie went red in the face and stuttered, “N-no, I’m fine!” She insisted.

“Are you positive?” Marie nodded.

Wadewatch pulled away.

“Oh, and…Just…Marie is fine.”

Wadewatch looked at her pleasantly surprised, then nodded.

.

Bumblebee walked over to the drone corpse and turned it over.

“What happened, Bee?” Taylor asked, nervously.

Bumblebee flinched and quickly withdrew his hand. A gooey purple substance oozed from the chest and into the floor.

“Dark Energon infusion” he announced, “Poor scrapheap must’ve thought he still had a chance.”

.

“Lieutenant!”

Bumblebee turned around and saw Nightshock pointing beside the drone.

“He’s got something in his hand.”

Bumblebee looked down. Sure enough, there was a slender, rectangular black box in the drones hand. He carefully pried its hand open, watching closely for poisonous dark Energon, and took the box.

“Lieutenant?” Roadshot asked.

Suddenly, Bumblebee scowled. He threw the box on the ground and smashed it with his foot.

“A signal box!”

.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. Rocks and large boulders flew everywhere. The Autobots shielded their human companions and struggled to look. A large chunk of the cave wall had been blown away, and a few split seconds later, lasers burst from the new entrance. Decepticons were swarming in. The Autobots fired their weapons. Roadshot punched a few heads. Bumblebee drew his sword and shield, and Wadewatch continued to fire his gun.

“Knightingale, we’ve been ambushed!” Bumblebee exclaimed after slicing two Decepticons and bashing a head, “One of the drones sent a distress signal before we found him!”

“Are you able to find a way out?” Taylor asked.

Bumblebee turned around. Just as he did this, the entrance they had come from was suddenly being buried by Decepticon firepower.

“No, no way out” He panted.

Decepticons continued to flood in like a swarm of flies. Nightshock and Iris were soon overwhelmed and had to change their positions to prevent being trampled. Other cons scrambled to snatch away the Energon Red Delta had mined.

“Bumblebee? Bumblebee can you hear me!?” Taylor pleaded.

.

Then, Bumblebee had an idea. It was risky, but it was the only plan he could think of.

“Team, fire at the ceiling!” He ordered.

“What? Are you crazy, Bee!? We’ll be buried!” Roadshot exclaimed.

“We can’t let the Decepticons take this Energon!” Bumblebee shouted.

“Bee, I can’t let you do that! You could all die in there! Your human companions will suffocate!” Taylor objected.

“We don’t have another choice!” Bumblebee argued, “Now!”

“Bumblebee! Stop! That’s an order!” 

The rest of the team didn’t know whether or not Bumblebee was making a wise decision, but they could see they had no other choice. Finally, they listened to Bumblebee and began shooting at the ceiling. Rocks began to fall. Huge boulders fell on top of Decepticons, dozens at a time.

“Protect the humans!” Bumblebee ordered.

Wadewatch, Roadshot, and Nightshock shielded their small partners from the falling debris. Soon, the entire cave was buried, and neither Decepticon nor Autobot could escape.