CHAPTER FIVE
--Washington--
By the time Springer and the others had reached the bottom of the staircase, Guzzle was lying flat on his face, completely knocked out cold. He had landed at the opening of a long hallway, which was too low of the Autobots to walk down but wide enough for them to drive.
"Ironhide, I want you to stay behind here with Guzzle," Springer said as he, Kup, and Bulkhead transformed, with Simmons and Walker getting into Kup's truck form. "Comm me in case he wakes up."
"Will do," Ironhide said, waving after his comrades as they drove down the dimly-lit corridor.
Kup was silent for most of the trip, his mind still lost in Guzzle's biting accusations. Springer kept close to him, evidently concerned for his old mentor.
"So," the Wrecker leader eventually said, hoping to bring some levity. "This place remind you of anything?"
The pickup truck said nothing, silent but for the hum of his engine. Inside, Agent Walker was looking out her window with a perplexed look on her face.
"I'm sure being reminded of something," she murmured. "This almost looks like the interior to our base at Hoover Dam."
"Sam!" Simmons hissed to her. "Classified intel!"
Walker rolled her eyes. "They're already in the know, Seymour. Besides, it's not like we're holding anything important there anymore. Not after the Ice Man incident."
"Ice Man incident?" Springer asked.
Walker ignored Simmons' warning look as she elaborated. "Up until the late Eighties, Hoover Dam housed an extraterrestrial being that had been discovered in the Arctic nearly 120 years ago. We called it 'the Ice Man' since that's what the old man who had discovered it called it in his ramblings."
"What happened in the Eighties then?"
Walker hesitated for a brief moment. "We were attacked by Decepticons--"
"Decepticons?" Bulkhead blurted out. "And this was before we woke up here on Earth?"
"We never made the connection until well after you guys showed up," Simmons grunted. "I'm sure Fowler would've told you guys, but the Director kept us all hush about it since he knew Prime would probably raise questions about the Ice Man."
"And what happened to the Ice Man?" questioned Springer.
"The Decepticons destroyed him," Walker said. "This was long before I joined, so I wasn't there... but our agents theorize that they had mistaken him for Megatron and killed him when they found out he wasn't the real deal."
"Another lookalike, huh? I wonder how our Bumblebee duplicate ties into all this...."
Walker bit her lip, exchanging a look with Simmons. After taking a deep breath, she said, "His name is Centurion."
"Pardon?"
"His real name is Centurion. During the Cold War, he worked with Sector Seven and our counterparts in the U.K. to bring down a Decepticon plot--"
"Hold up!" Springer screeched as he swerved around to block Kup's path, forcing the pickup to stop. "How long ago was this?"
"Fifty-two years," said Simmons. "Believe it or not, we've been dealing with your kind for a very long time. Long enough to tell the difference between your two groups; otherwise, we'd have blown up Prime and his boys the moment they woke up."
Springer revved his engines. "And did you tell Prime about any of this?"
"Director Banachek probably would've, if Joshua Red hadn't taken over. See, Red really, really doesn't trust your kind. At all. Doesn't matter if you're red or purple; he just hates giant alien robots."
"So just how long have you known Bumble-- Centurion? How long has he been active here on Earth?"
"Our sources indicate that he's been active since the Industrial Revolution, though he didn't start working with official government affiliates until after 1944," Walker said. "During that time, he was working with a German American scientist named Garrison Kreiger. Centurion went missing during the late Eighties, though Kreiger made no effort to retrieve him. He told us he didn't need him anymore."
"And where's this Kreiger now?" Springer asked.
"No one's seen him in years," Simmons replied. "Our last contact with him was ten years ago. Only the top brass have the details... which includes Red."
Springer fell silent for a moment, taking in all that he had just been told. He then asked, "What else is there that you've been hiding from us? Anything you'd like to share before we proceed?"
Before either agent could answer, a cry of rage bellowed in the distance, coming from the way they had came. It was shortly followed by the roar of an engine as a massive tank came barreling towards them, firing off its turret.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Guzzle screamed, his sides scraping violently against the walls. "First Kup, then Springer, then the whole freaking lot of you!"
"Ironhide," Springer muttered to himself. "You were supposed to comm me...."
At that moment, a red truck sped up from behind the tank and transformed, latching himself onto Guzzle's turret. As the rabid Wrecker fired blindly, Ironhide grabbed onto his barrel and pulled on it with all his might. He managed to bend the barrel just as Guzzle fired again, causing it to explode. The explosion threw Ironhide off of the tank, which screeched to a halt right in front of the others.
With a low growl, Guzzle transformed and slammed his fist in front of Kup. The pickup truck remained parked as the larger Autobot loomed over him.
"Anything to say, old timer, before I rip your spark out and make you eat it?"
"Guzzle," Springer said carefully. "I understand your frustration. I was upset too when Prowl made the decision to cover up the incident. Hell, there's been a lot of things High Command's done that I'm not fond of... but there's no need to take it out on Kup. Yes, what he did was wrong, but he was under--"
"Here we go again, makin' excuses for the Autobot everyone loves," Guzzle snarled. "You can shove it up your actuator, Springer. I'm through with the lies and deceptions. I thought we were supposed to be better than the 'Cons. But I guess I was wrong."
"He's right."
Both Springer and Bulkhead moved with a start as Kup suddenly opened his doors to let Simmons and Walker out. The old Autobot then transformed and splayed himself in front of Guzzle, holding his arms open wide.
"Believe me, kid, I'm as peeved as you are," Kup went on. "I wish someone had told me the truth as well; then I would've accepted any punishment High Command wanted to give me. Now... I guess I'm gonna have to do their work."
"Kup, what are you doing?!" Springer exclaimed.
"Do it, kid," Kup murmured to Guzzle. "It'd make us both happy."
Guzzle stared at him with a nonplussed expression; clearly he had not been expecting this from the bot he had loathed for so long. He started to raise a fist only to hesitate, either because he was having second thoughts or because he was suspecting this to be some sort of trick.
Regardless, Ironhide took no chances in waiting to find out. Lunging from behind, he threw his fist into Guzzle's head and knocked the Wrecker out. Kup and the two humans quickly got out of the way as the large bot collapsed onto the ground.
Once it was certain that Guzzle was completely out of it, Springer exhaled heavily. "Right. Does anyone have any restraining devices or something?"
"Hang on." Bulkhead reached into a compartment and produced a pair of stasis cuffs. "Will these do?"
"They'll have to." Ironhide took the cuffs and slapped them onto Guzzle's wrists. He then looked back to Springer. "Now what?"
Springer sighed. "I'll leave Bulkhead here with you. If you can, radio Earthbase and request for a pick-up, just to get him out of our hair. The rest of us will press on ahead."
Ironhide nodded. "All right. Be careful down there."
As the two remaining Wreckers drove off with the two agents, Springer accessed his personal radio to speak to Kup.
"Were you really going to let him kill you?"
Kup was silent and for a moment Springer didn't think he was going to get an answer. Then, the veteran's gruff response crackled through:
"If I were in his boots, I sure would've."
After that, both bots were silent for the rest of the trip.
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