CHAPTER SIX
--The Lost Light--
"Gotta say, Star Seekers are easily distracted."
"Not now, Twin Twist." Rodimus Prime leaned over Roller's shoulder and pressed a finger to the crackling comm-console. "Orion? Is that you? Can you hear me?"
The comm burst with static before clearing up to sound a familiar voice. "--idmus? Is everything all right? We lost contact with you and the Wreckers."
"It's a long story," Rodimus said, glancing outside. Tidal Wave was still stationary but if the Star Seekers regained control, he would soon be moving again. "Right now, we just need something that can deal with a skyscraper-sized Decepticon without causing needless destruction. Don't suppose you can help us with that?"
Orion paused for a moment before saying, "Have you tried calling the Alchemor? It went down to Earth with you and the Xantium."
"You mean Spacewarp and her crew?" Rodimus frowned before sighing. "Well, if nothing else...."
Leaning back over the comm, he quickly changed channels. "Spacewarp, do you read me? Yeah, listen, we're gonna need some help...."
* * *
"So, what, do we just sit here then?" Jack kicked away a stray soda can as he sat on the pavement next to Verity and Raf. "Wait for the giant robot to kill us?"
"Where did that Scourge guy run off to?" asked Miko, looking up at a dejected Bumblebee. "Did he just, like, get crushed by the tower or something?"
"I don't know," Bumblebee murmured, looking back to where the Onyx tower had fallen. "The others got out fine. I don't see why he would--"
"Sari?"
Everyone turned to see Sari staggering on her feet, moving uneasily. Jack and Raf had rushed over to her, trying to keep her steady.
"Are you all right?" Raf asked. "What is it now?"
"I feel...." Sari shuddered as she raised a hand to her head. "Strange."
Verity looked over to Bumblebee. "Are you picking up any scary signals again?"
The Autobot shook his head. "No. This must be something different. As to what, I couldn't tell you."
"Is there anyone we could take her to?" Charlie asked. "Like a doctor or... someone who would know what's going on with her?"
"I think I might know."
All eyes turned to Tommy. The former Onyx worker ran a hand through his hair as he blew out his breath.
"A while back... when I first started working at Onyx... I stumbled into a room I shouldn't have been in." Tommy cleared his throat, looking down at the ground. "I was new, so I didn't quite knew my way around. The room looked like the one I was supposed to go to, so I stepped in and...."
He stopped before looking over to Sari. "What was your name again?"
"Sari," she murmured, eyeing him warily. "Sari Sumdac."
"Right. Daughter of Isaac Sumdac. And when were you born?"
She hesitated. "March of '97."
Tommy nodded as he looked over to the remains of the tower. "Well, what I saw had the Sumdac name... and there was a date from 1997."
Sari shuddered. "You mean these guys have been keeping a profile on me or something?"
Tommy shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't stay around long enough to find more; as soon as I realized I was in the wrong room, I got out of there as soon as possible. But now that I know these... robots have been involved with Onyx for some time, I feel that there must be a connection between what I saw and you're going through. And even though this Onyx place is no more, I know there are others across the world that we can investigate."
"Great," Verity said under her breath. "Because this alone was so much damn fun--"
"Um, guys," Raf broke in. "I see another spaceship."
Everyone looked up in time to see another massive vessel appear in the sky. It came to hover over Tidal Wave, who had still yet to make a move. A ramp lowered, revealing a gray and purple Decepticon with large wings. Bumblebee reacted in alarm as the Decepticon brought out a large, multi-colored gun.
"Leave it to me to save everyone's afts," Spacewarp muttered.
Taking aim, she pointed the gun at Tidal Wave and fired. Bumblebee and the humans all shielded their eyes as a bright light engulfed their vision....
* * *
Fowler was not the kind of person to believe in luck or anything like that. However, something had to have caused a stray shot from one of the brawling bots' guns to blast off Stakeout's mode lock device, giving the police car full control of its functions again. Without wasting any time, Stakeout had sped towards the open viewport and drove out of it, plunging towards the ocean below.
Then there was a great flash of light and Fowler could not see a doggone thing. All he knew was that Stakeout had landed in the ocean without flooding his interior and was now signaling someone for pickup.
When his vision finally did return, Fowler saw that he and Stakeout were back on the beach, having been brought ashore by some blue boat bot who was different from the boat bot before. Tidal Wave was nowhere to be seen nor were any members of Mayhem or the Star Seekers. Instead, all Fowler had left to worry about was a good part of Santa Cruz having been left in disrepair.
As all things went, Fowler figured that was probably the best he could have gotten from the situation. Of course, there was still the matter of having lost a Sector Seven base....
"Boy, is this gonna take a while to explain to the Big Suits," Fowler muttered as he walked unsteadily on the sand, running a hand through his hair.
"Tell me about it," Stakeout said, standing next to him in robot mode. "This breaks all sorts of rules in the Tyrest Accord." He then smiled at Fowler. "But hey, at least we're alive."
Fowler smirked back. "Yeah. For now."
* * *
"That was stupidly easy."
"You're welcome, by the way," Spacewarp grunted, releasing the Transwarp Blaster as it split up into a trio of Mini-Cons, which then gathered at her feet.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the last minute save," Rodimus Prime said, standing on the shore of Santa Cruz as his crew regrouped with the Wreckers and aided in the cleanup. "I just feel like... like it was a little too easy. What did that gun even do to him?"
"Sent him halfway across the galaxy. He's still alive out there, just as far away from here as you can get."
"That's better than nothing I suppose." Rodimus stopped as he noticed Springer walking up to him. Behind him were Roadbuster and Guzzle, who had their hold on a white and red lion bot with a face that very much resembled Optimus Prime's.
"This is Leo Prime," Springer said. "He's the leader of Mayhem."
"Was the leader," Leo Prime muttered. "Not much of one now that all of my followers are halfway across the galaxy."
"Yeah, I've heard of you," Rodimus said. "You used to lead the Maximals, right?"
Leo Prime cast his gaze to the ground. "Yes."
"Right. Well, we're gonna have to wait until we get back to Cybertron before we can sort you out. In the meantime--"
"There's something else," Springer said. "Someone else you should meet."
Rodimus raised an optic ridge before seeing a small yellow Autobot standing behind the Wrecker. His optics went wide as he took in the bot's distinctive horned helmet.
"Bumblebee? What are you...?"
"Yeah," Springer muttered. "This is gonna take some sorting out."
* * *
"There was nothing you could have done."
Star Saber exvented heavily as he stared down at the charred remains of Getaway, his parts joining those of Scorponok. Skids stood beside his captain, mourning over his late partner.
"Hell, I wish I could've done something instead of spending time in stasis lock." Skids sighed as he lowered his head. "Still, at least he took that spawn of a glitch with him. It still would've been nice to get some answers from him, but...."
"I've already lost Axe and Devcon," Star Saber said quietly. "Did Rodimus ever lose three bots in as many days?"
Skids didn't answer him. He knew it wouldn't do much good. All he could do was rest a hand on Star Saber's shoulder as the clouds parted above them to reveal the glowing moon.
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