HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS CHARLIE BROWN!
6: INTO THE FIRE
--Unidentified Titan--
"Any luck yet?"
Quickshadow huffed as she leaned over the comm station, working on getting a signal. "For the last time, I'll tell you when I get it working or not. Interrupting me with the same stupid question isn't going to get it done faster."
Brainstorm rolled his optics as he stood against the wall of the Titan's control room. "Sorry. Just wanted to make sure everything was going okay."
Quickshadow made no response. Sighing, Brainstorm looked over to Cerebros. The gray and blue Autobot was huddled in a nearby corner, cerulean visor cast to the floor. Frowning behind his mouthplate, Brainstorm walked over to him.
"Hey. You okay, buddy?"
Cerebros looked up at him, almost as if in surprise. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Translation: You're not." Sitting down to Cerebros, Brainstorm rested a hand on the other mech's shoulder. "Come on, pal. Tell me what's on your mind. It's not like we've got better things to do."
Cerebros said nothing at first, staring at his thumbs as he twiddled them. Then, his voice quiet, he said, "Do you remember the Institute, Brainstorm?"
Brainstorm blinked. "The Institute?"
"Yes. You worked there, didn't you?"
Brainstorm hesitated to respond. He glanced at Quickshadow, who did not seem to paying their conversation any head. Turning back to Cerebros, he spoke in a low voice. "How do you know about that?"
"I heard your name mentioned in passing during my time there--"
"Wait." Brainstorm stopped him, optics narrowed suspiciously. "You worked at the Institute?"
Cerebros nodded. "Yes. Is there something wrong?"
Brainstorm pinched the ridge of his faceplate as he shuttered his optics. "When did you start working there?"
"Er, Cycle 8924. Why?"
"The Institute was shut down a century before then. It was one of the first things Optimus Prime did when he took command."
Cerebros looked at him in surprise. "Really? But... I was told that Optimus Prime had allowed operations to continue, provided that only Decepticons were worked on."
Brainstorm shook his head. "That's insane. Prime would never allow such a thing to persist under his watch. Who even told you that?"
"My boss. The Grandmaster."
"The Grandmaster?" Before Brainstorm could ask Cerebros to elaborate, Quickshadow suddenly called out to them.
"It's working!"
Both Autobots launched to their feet and rushed over to her. The silver Autobot was hunched over the comm station, almost giddy as she sent out a signal to Autobot High Command.
"Here's hoping they pick up," she said.
"And if they don't?" Brainstorm asked.
"We'll figure that part later."
The three Autobots waited in silence as the console beeped intermittently. After several minutes had passed, Brainstorm was almost certain no one was going to pick up. He was about to say as much when a voice crackled through, accompanied by static and a fuzzy image on the viewscreen.
"Hello?" came the hissed response.
"Hello?" Quickshadow repeated. "This is Agent Quickshadow. Can you read me?"
"Han- -n. Giv- -e a sec--d." A couple of seconds passed as the person on the other end worked on getting a better signal. Eventually, the image on the viewscreen cleared enough for the Autobots to see their contract.
And it most certainly wasn't another Autobot.
Quickshadow gasped while Brainstorm and Cerebros flinched at the horrifying visage that greeted them. The monstrous robot clicked its mandibular features as it cackled.
"Sorry, did I startle you? Must be a habit of mine."
"Who are you?" Quickshadow demanded, blue optics alive with anger. "How did you intercept this call?"
"What interception?" the creature asked. "Were you not trying to call me?"
"This is the number for Autobot High Command."
"Indeed! So what is your situation?"
Quickshadow did not respond, staring at the viewscreen mouth agape. The monstrous figure then snapped its fingers as if in realization.
"Oh, that's right! You were expecting to see Prowl, weren't you? Here, just give me a minute...."
Suddenly, the visual on the screen changed and the creature was replaced by an image of Prowl, wrapped up in a cocoon of some sort and suspended in some kind of web. As the three Autobots stared at the scene in horror, the creature continued to speak over the image.
"As you can see, he is a bit indisposed at the moment. In fact, all of Autobot High Command is presently unavailable. I suppose you'll just have to make do with me." The screen then returned to the creature. "My name is Tarantulas, by the way. You could say Prowl and I have a history. It's a long and complicated one, so I won't bore you with the details. It's funny though; it seems like only yesterday--"
The screen went black before Tarantulas could finish. Quickshadow vented heavily as she slumped over the comm station, holding her head.
"We have to do something," she murmured.
"Who can we even turn to?" Cerebros asked. "Seems like everyone we know is either MIA or turned against us."
Brainstorm cleared his throat. "I... might know of someone... or some people rather."
Both Quickshadow and Cerebros looked at him. "Who?" the former asked, while the latter had a knowing gleam in his visor.
"Let me use the comm," Brainstorm said. "It's going to be a long shot, but it just might be our only hope...."
--The Lost Light--
"Any luck?"
Nautica frowned as she shook her head. "None of them are responding. Skids, Rung, Firestar... no one is picking up."
Rodimus rapped his knuckle on the arm of his chair, trying his hardest to not look nervous. "Maybe we've just got a shoddy signal."
"Trust me, we should be clear," Blaster said from his station. "Signal is golden on our end."
All of the crew gathered on the bridge waited in dreadful anticipation as Nautica attempted to hail their friends on Carcer again, silently praying that nothing bad had befallen them.
Standing to Rodimus' right, Minimus Ambus looked to the captain with a raised optic ridge. "If we fail to make contact with them... what then?"
"Then we'll scour the cosmos until we find them," Rodimus replied curtly.
"So I figured," Minimus murmured. "And if we don't?"
Before Rodimus could answer, Nautica suddenly spoke up. "I've got a signal!"
"Awesome!" Rodimus exclaimed over the cheers erupting over the bridge. "Put them on visual!"
"Wait," Blaster said, holding a hand to his head. "I'm picking up another signal--"
"Then put them both on. Minimus can handle the other one."
Both Nautica and Blaster complied and soon, on two separate viewscreens, two faces appeared. On the first was Firestar, while the other one displayed a face the crew had not seen in a long, long time.
A dead silence fell over the crew as Nautica stared in shock at the visage of Brainstorm. The Autobot genius stared back at her before sighing heavily.
"Well... this is awkward."
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