Nevada Winds - TFP

11.

KAYDE

"I knew math when I saw it." Rafael said. It was the day after the fight with Megatron and the dead rising, where Optimus and Ratchet had fought for their life. The two warriors were still nursing a few minor injuries from the incident. Kayde had been relieved to wake up that morning with the purple hue to his eyes gone and the symptoms lessened enough to ignore. Whatever that rock did to me, it ain't good. And I ain't plannin' on touching any of that stuff again. If he could help it at least. The improvised weapon had been surprisingly sharp, cutting through Megatron's optic easily.

As soon as Kayde had found out Flynn had been on the Decepticon warship he'd of course flipped his shit. At the same time, Flynn had been indignant and insisted that showing up on a battle field uninvited was a more egregious offence. Either way, they'd both put themselves in danger for different reasons. Kayde had shown Flynn the images he'd gathered of the battle before being spotted. It hadn't budged him one bit. They had argued for several hours that morning and now Flynn was sitting on the couch at base with his arms crossed, refusing to look at him. Fine. You wanna be pissy and play that game, you go right ahead.

Rafael leaned up to hand a microchip to Optimus, who carefully took it between his massive digits. With precision, he placed it into a slot on the console. It slid inside and disappeared. Rafael frowned from the consumption of his hard drive. "Am I going to get that back?" He mumbled.

Kayde shrugged. "Wouldn't bet on it, kiddo."

Ratchet stared at the screen with narrowed optics, studying the odd triangular shape and unfamiliar symbols floating around it. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee seemed just as lost as Kayde felt. Optimus appeared to get the gist of the depiction, crossing his arms as he studied. "These are...coordinates." He ventured. He tilted his head to the side, Kayde could practically see the cogs turning in the bot's head. He's smart, he knows how to interpret this. How? He's a military leader, not a mathematician. At least...as far as we know. He hasn't exactly told us a lot about himself. Ain't none of them have. "Ratchet-"

"Those are plans," Ratchet jumped in. "Building plans, spacebridge technology. The Decepticons...they've built a spacebridge. Optimus,"

"We cannot allow the Decepticons to use the bridge." Optimus immediately decided. He stood up taller and uncrossed his arms, turning to address his companions. "Megatron raised the undead with dark energon. We have no idea where he could have gotten it. But if it has more and if his plans are to raise the dead...there is only one place with more Cybertronian undead than Earth."

"You mean he's...he's building a spacebridge to bring the zombies on Cybertron to Earth?!" Flynn asked, jumping to his feet from the couch. Kayde's stomach lurched. Was that really what Megatron was planning now? To recreate what he had just done to try and kill Optimus and Ratchet, but this time bring countless legions to Earth instead of a single battlefield in the middle of nowhere? But if that was the case then that didn't just mean the Autobots would be in danger. Rather, all of humanity. Not even just humanity. Any organic being on Earth. Why would he do this? The Decepticons are just here to snuff out the Autobots and finish the war, right? So why would Megatron care to hurt more than just them? Unless...Does he want Earth for himself? Does he want to find a replacement for Cybertron? "That's crazy! We can't let him!"

"Precisely my fears." Optimus confirmed.

"Zombie cons," Miko high-fived a very unenthusiastic-looking Jack. "Nice." She frowned when her hand held in the air, unreceptive.