Within a large cavern several Decepticons were at work mining energon, the life blood of all Cybertronians. They were using lasers to cut through the glowing blue crystals and gather them up.
They were so busy they didn't notice a small remote controlled car enter and began driving around the cavern. On top of the car was a small camera that was streaming video to Raf's laptop not to far away. Since Raf had to be in a certain range to control the car he had bridged over with Optimus, Bumble Bee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack, they were currently hiding on a hill in front of the cavern entrance out hidden from sight by the trees of the surrounding forest.
"Okay theres one guard at the entrance and five guards located above the miners" Raf said examining the screen "Theres the computer console and theres the energon they've mined" he showed the bots a pile of energon cubes stacked up and ready for transport.
"Well done Rafael" Optimus said to the young boy before activating his comlink "Ratchet, activate the groundbridge" having Raf assist them in scouting out the cavern was one thing, but it was too dangerous to have him here during the raid.
The swirling green vortex appeared and Raf grabbed his laptop "Good luck guys" he said before entering the portal which closed behind him.
Optimus looked down at the drone guarding the entrance "We need to silence the guard before we enter the mine".
"And I know just how to do it" Wheeljack said with a smirk.
The drone was keeping his optics open when he heard a voice "Hey!" he turned to see Wheeljack standing at the other side of the entrance "You know where I can find the nearest fuel depo?"
The drone aimed his weapon at him "DON'T MOVE AUTOBOT!" he yelled. Wheeljack just smirked as Bulkhead jumped out of the trees, the drone turned just in time to see Bulkheads mace smash his faceplate into the ground.
As Bulkhead pulled his mace back revealing the drones crushed head Wheeljack spoke "Just like old times" with that both Wreckers laughed.
With the guard down they entered the cavern quietly, once in side they split into two teams, Optimus and Bumble Bee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack, to take out the guards overlooking the miners. Wheeljack snuck up on the first guard and drove his sword right through him, the second guard saw this but before he act Bulkhead grabbed his head and smashed it into the ground. The third guard heard a noise and went to investigate, he walked into one of the tunnels and looked both ways for anything strange. Seeing nothing unusual he decided to return to his post, he turned around just in time to see Optimus bring his blade down on him. The remaining two guards were standing next to each other when a small rock rolled inbetween them, they both turned to the tunnel it had come from and after nodding to each other they activated their blasters approached the tunnel. They jumped in the tunnel each facing one way looking for any threat, but the threat was actually above them. With great difficulty Bumble Bee had been able to hold on to the roof of the tunnel where the drones couldn't see him, he was directly above them and right between them. As the drones turned to each other Bumble Bee dropped down activating his blasters as he landed, before the drones could act he raised both arms and blasted both cons in their faceplates. Bumble Bee walked out of the tunnel and saw the others where the guards were but still out of sight from the miners, they each signalled that the guards had been neutralised.
One of the miners looked up to see the guards gone "Hey where'd they go? he yelled causing the other miners to stop working and looked around with no guards in sight.
Before any of them could act the drone who spoke up was shot from behind, the other drones turned to see Bulkhead and Wheeljack sliding down the cavern wall blasting at them. When the drones returned fire two more of them were shot from behind by Optimus and Bumble Bee sliding down the opposite wall. With fire coming from both sides the drones were dropping like flies, one of them made a run for the computer console call for reinforcements. Bulkhead saw the drone and knew he had to stop him, seeing a large drill next to him gave the Wrecker an idea. The drone dodged blaster fire as he neared the console, but just as he reached it he heard a noise from above him. He looked up to see the drill fly through the air at him, the drill hit crushing the drone and the console.
With the last of the Decepticons down Wheeljack deactivated his mouth guard "I see you haven't lost your touch" he said looking at Bulkhead's handy work.
"You better believe it Jackie" Bulkhead laughed.
With the last of the Decepticons down Optimus activated his comlink "Ratchet the cavern is clear, activate the ground bridge". Moments later the portal appeared and surprisingly Ratchet came through it.
"Arcee suggested five Autobots could move more energon than four, so I left Rafael in charge of operating the ground bridge" he explained.
They proceeded to take the energon cubes and carry them through the portal and back to base. As Bumble Bee was about to pick up a few he stopped as if realising something and ran off to the side "Bumble Bee what are you doing? Ratchet asked. The scout picked up something off the ground and ran through the portal, once back at base he walked to Raf and opened his servo to reveal Raf's remote controlled car they had used to scope out the cavern.
"You brought it back!" the young said excited "Thanks Bee" he thanked the scout who beeped in return.
The Nemesis
Inside the warships command centre Megatron stood above the Decpticons who were working on the consoles, all was quite until one of the vehicons spoke up "Lord Megatron, we may have a situation".
"What is it? Megatron asked.
"One of our mining sites was supposed to send a progress report but never did, I tried contacting the site but theres no response" the vehicon explained.
Megatron's instincts told him this the work of the Autobots, they had limited access to energon so stealing energon from his mines was not unexpected "Dreadwing!"
The blue mech stepped forward "Yes lord Megatron".
"Take Airachnid and Knock Out and investigate the mine. If there is a problem, remove it" Megatron's optics narrowed as he spoke.
Dreadwing bowed "As you wish lord Megatron" and left the room to find Knock Out and Airachnid. He didn't have to go far, he found them arguing in the hallway.
"Its called style Airachnid" Knock Out said in his usual arrogant tone "Some of us have it" he gestured to himself "and some don't" he gestured to her.
"Really, is that the same style that resulted in you pinned under an unconscious Breakdown on your last mission" Airachnid smirked.
"Your in no position to talk about my last mission considering how yours went" her smirk went away and her optics narrowed, Knock Out laughed "I thought the spider catches the bug, not the bug traps the spider in her own web" he stopped laughing when Airachnid slammed him against the wall "HEY WATCH THE FINISH!".
Airachnid brought up her extra limbs, the sharp blades inches away from Knock Out's faceplate "I'll do more than just ruin your finish!" she threatened.
"ENOUGH!" Dreadwing yelled getting their attention, Airarchnid gave Knock Out a warning look before releasing him. "There is a situation at one of our energon mines, lord Megatron has ordered me take you two and investigate" the two of them nodded.
Dreadwing activated his comlink "Soundwave prepare the ground bridge to the mine".
Inside the Cavern
The bots had moved a large amount of energon to the base, but much still remained so they were working to collect as much as they could. "This is a serious hall" Bulkhead said as he and Bumble Bee lifted a large amount of energon cubes "When we get back we need to celebrate!"
"Perhaps this time you could celebrate without being loud or breaking something?" Ratchet said.
"Wheres the fun in that?" Bulkedhead laughed as he and the scout entered the portal.
Ratchet rolled his optics, but then something caught his optic "OPTIMUS MOVE!" The Prime moved just in time to avoid an energy blast, they all looked up to see Dreadwing and Knock Out jump down.
Knock Out swung his energon prod at Wheeljack who used his swords to defend and counter attack. Dreadwing prepared to fire again but Optimus was able to grab the barrel of the canon and point it upwards as it fired. The shots hit the roof above the cavern entrance causing the stone to collapse sealing the entrance.
Ratchet saw Airachnid jump down but she wasn't joining the fight, she was heading towards the Groundbridge. "Rafael close the groundbridge now" he spoke into his comlink.
"Whats wrong Ratchet?" Raf asked confused.
"The base is about to be breached, close the groundbridge and don't open it again until we contact you!" Ratchet said quickly. Just as Airachnid reached the portal it disappeared in front of her, much to her irritation. The medic let out a sigh of relief, a normal Decpticon in the base would have been a disaster but someone like Airachnid would have been a catastrophe.
Optimus elbowed Dreadwing in the faceplate sending him back, Knock Out jumped back to avoid Wheeljack's swords and Airachnid quickly joined them. The three Autobots and the three Decepticons now stood across from each other "The entrance is sealed and the groundbridge is deactivated, here trapped in here with them" Ratchet said.
"Wrong Doc" Wheeljack said "They're trapped in here with us".
Dreadwing stepped forward "Your attempt to steal Lord Megatrons energon has failed, now this mine shall be your tomb" he readied his canon.
"You might wanna rethink that" Wheeljack said "With your aim your gonna hit the energon. So unless you wanna see a few tonnes of exploding energon up close, you might wanna put your canon down".
Dreadwing's optics narrowed, he knew the Autobot was right. He hustled his canon and brought out his sword "Eliminate the other two, Prime is mine!" with that he charged.
Optimus activated his own blades and blocked Dreadwing's attack before kicking him in the chest knocking him away and swung his blades which in turn were blocked.
"I've got spiderbot" Wheeljack ran forward and jumped into the air, he pointed his swords downwards as he fell to try and impale the assassin.
Airachnid saw him and used her extra limbs to leap out of the way and onto the wall as Wheeljack's swords cut into the ground. "Not bad" she had never seen this Autobot before and she was curious to see what he could do "Catch me if you can" she challenged before climbing into the tunnels. Wheeljack pulled his swords and of the ground and climbed after her.
This left the two medics "Looks like its doctor vs doctor" Knock Out said resting his energon prod on his shoulder.
"Please" Ratchet scoffed "If your considered a doctor then Decepticon standards must be alarmingly low".
Knock Out glared at Ratchet and activated the prod "Lets see about that shall we?" he charged and lunged at Ratchet who had to move quickly to avoid it. "Having trouble old timer?" Knock Out mocked as he twirled his energon prod above his head creating a circle of crackling energy "Can't say I'm surprised..., " he was cut off when Ratchet punched him in the faceplate making him stumble backwards.
"You talk too much!" the old medic said.
Once he recovered Knockout he resumed swinging the energon prod at Ratchet kept dodging, he jabbed it at his leg hopping to disable him. To his surprise Ratchet lifted his leg and slammed his foot down on the non-energised part of the prod, Knock Out was able to hold on but was brought down to ground level. Ratchet then activated the blade in his left hand and delivered a backhand slash to the Decepticons chest making release the prod and step back. Knock Out looked down to see a large cut going the whole way across his chest "You scratched my paint" his shock then turned to anger "PREPARE FOR SURGERY!".
"Ha, I'd be amazed if you could even perform a simple mesh wound repair let alone surgery" Ratchet mocked. Knock Out let out a snarl and activated his weapons, his left hand transformed into a drill and his right into a saw, both of which began spinning.
The sword fight between Optimus and Dreadwing had taken them to the tunnels as they matched each other blow for blow. Dreadwing swung his sword upwards and as Optimus stepped back to avoid it he jumped forward delivering a snap kick to his faceplate making him stumble backwards. When the Prime recovered he saw that Dreadwing had stepped back and had traded his sword for his canon "No energon in here" he said before firing two explosive shells.
Optimus saw the shells coming, but instead of running from them, he transformed and drove straight ahead. The shells flew straight over him before hitting the ground and causing explosions that shook the tunnel. As Optimus neared Dreadwing jumped into the air intending to have the Prime go under him and then blast him. But Optimus was prepared for this, just before he went under Dreadwing he transformed back to robot mode and grabbed his leg, with his added momentum he threw the Decepticon so hard he crashed through the wall of the tunnel and into the next tunnel before falling on his face. "Stay down Dreadwing" Optimus said as he approached "This fight must end".
"This fight will end" Dreadwing picked himself up "WHEN ONE OF US JOINS THE ALLSPARK!" and he charged.
Airachnid was in her six legged form using her agility to dodge Wheeljack's swords and was backed up against the wall. He lunged forward with both his swords but Airachnid jumped and as she went over him she lashed out with one of her limbs leaving a cut across his back. "You have a name Autobot?" she asked as she landed.
"The names Wheeljack" he said as he turned to face her.
"Well tell me Wheeljack, wheres Arcee been hiding?" Airachnid wanted to know why Arcee hadn't been seen in so long and decided to get the information from him.
"Shes the least of your worries right now" Wheeljack readied his swords and charged.
Airachnid started firing webbing at him but Wheeljack used his sword to slice through the webbing "Your good" she said. Before he could reach her Airachnid began drilling into the ground, Wheeljack jumped forward and swung his sword but she was already gone. He took a defensive stance and looked around the tunnel for any sign of the assassin, suddenly he heard a light dinging sound. He saw tiny pebbles falling on his sword from above, he looked up in time see one of Airachnid's extra limbs pop out of the ceiling and strike his faceplate, fortunately his mouthgaurd gave him some protection. Airachnid's top half came out of the hole in the ceiling, all six of her extra limbs came down grabbing Wheeljack and slammed him against the tunnel wall. She then slammed him against the opposite wall before repeating the process twice more, when Airachnid released him she dropped down returning to her two legged form and delivered a round house kick to Wheeljack's faceplate knocking him off his feet and on to his back.
Airachnid smirked "As I said, your good" she shot two webs and stuck his hands to the ground "But not good enough". She approached the downed Wrecker "Alright Wheeljack you can either tell me what I want to know, or" she activated four of her extra limbs "I can cut it out of you". Wheeljack looked up at Airachnid, his mouthgaurd deactivated and to her surprise he was smiling "What are you smiling about?" she asked raising an optic ridge.
"I thought all the cons had gone soft on me, but you've got some fight in you" Wheeljack activated both his blasters and fired through the webs holding his hands letting him break free, changing them back he rolled backwards on to his hands and shot forward driving both feet into Airachind sending her flying backwards. Once he was back on his feet Wheeljack picked up his swords and smirked "This is gonna be fun".
Optimus and Dreadwing had put away their swords and were now in hand to hand combat. Optimus threw a punch which Dreadwing blocked and countered with a right hook that made the Prime turn to the side, he tried to attack again but Optimus came back with an uppercut that actually lifted the con off the ground before punching him in the chest knocking him back. "If you do not stop I will be forced to terminate you" Optimus warned.
Dreadwing glared at him "The same way you did my twin".
"Skyquake was an honourable warrior and I attempted to reason with him but he refused. I regret the part I played in his downfall but if you continue to support Megatrons tyranny, you will suffer the same fate" Optimus finished.
Dreadwing charged and threw a punch which Optimus caught, but he jumped to kick Optimus in the face. He threw another punch but Dreadwing dodged it and slipped around him placing one of his explosive devices on his back "This ends now" he thought to himself. Optimus swung around and back fisted Dreadwing in the faceplate, he swung his other arm forward punching him in the gut making him double over Optimus then rammed the Decepticon face first into the tunnel wall. Dreadwing was disorientated but felt Optimus grab his back and throw him down the tunnel where he skidded to a stop. "Your combat skills are impressive Prime" Dreadwing said as he got up "But the key to victory" he took out a small device similar to a cell phone "is strategy" he smirked as he pushed a button and a beeping noise could be heard in the tunnel.
Optimus was unfazed by the noise "And to strategise, you must know your opponent" he then turned revealing the charge was no longer on his back and transformed to vehicle mode and put some distance between them.
Dreadwings optics widened when saw the charge was gone, then he realised that the beeping was coming from behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see the explosive charge now attached to his back, he quickly grabbed the charge removing it from his back and threw it forward. But it didn't get far before it exploded in midair in a powerful fireball that shook the tunnel more than the explosive shells had. Dreadwing was hit by the explosion and sent flying backwards before tumbling as he hit he ground, when he finally stopped he attempted to get up but failed and slipped into unconsciousness.
Optimus transformed robot mode and looked past the flames and scorched rock, after seeing that Dreadwing was down he returned to vehicle mode and headed back to check on Wheeljack and Ratchet.
Airachnid was firing energy blasts from her hands as Wheeljack charged using his swords to deflect the blasts. The Wrecker jumped pointing his swords forward and spun like a corkscrew towards her, the assassin was barely able to duck underneath him as he went over her. When he landed Airachnid smirked "This has been fun, but I'm afraid I have to cut this dance short" she raised both her hands and fired the biggest web she could at him. Wheeljack wasn't impressed and simply cut through the web, but the moment he did Airachnid jumped in from behind the web and drove four of her extra limbs into his shoulders, he let out a yell as she slammed him against the wall. "Game over" she smirked showing her fangs.
Suddenly Wheeljack's head popped up "Gotcha" he twirled his swords upwards and sliced through Airachnid's extra limbs making her scream and pull back. The Wrecker then delivered a roundhouse kick to Airachnids faceplate knocking her off her feet and skidding down the tunnel.
She looked back at the approaching Wrecker "HOW DARE YOU" the assassin shouted.
"I'm a Wrecker" he said casually as a pulled out one of the spiked limbs stuck in his shoulder "Its what I do".
Airachnids optics narrowed, she through up her hand and fired blast at the ceiling causing rock to fall forcing Wheeljack to jump back. When the rocks stopped falling he saw that the assassin had escaped, deactivating his mouth guard he set off to find the others.
Ratchet had been on the defensive, using his blades to defend against Knock Outs saw and drill but he knew he had to go on the offensive. Knock Out threw his drill forward but Ratchet side stepped it and drove his blade into the cons arm making sparks fly.
"AAAAHHH" Knock Out yelled as he pulled away, a moment later the drill stopped spinning and he couldn't restart it "Do you know long this will take to fix WITH ONE HAND!"
"Even one handed that would take no more than fifteen cycles to repair" Ratchet countered "At least for someone who was qualified".
Knock Out snarled as he transformed his drill back into his hand and charged swinging his saw making Ratchet back up to avoid it. He kicked the old medic in the chest knocking him back against the cavern wall and swung his saw down at him, Ratchet had to deactivate his blades to grab Knock Outs arm stopping the saw inches away from his faceplate. "Well this seem familiar" Knock Out referred to when Ratchet was under the effects of the synthetic energon and confronted Megatron only to be nearly offlined. "You know I never was able to figure out that green substance you enhanced yourself with" he said.
Ratchets optics widened "What? But I destroyed it".
"All but a drop" Knock Out corrected "Tell you what, if you tell me what it was and how you made it you might get out of here in one piece" he put more pressure on his saw bringing it closer.
Ratchet remembered something else from his time using the synthetic energon and it was what he needed to get out of this "Get wielded!" he transformed his hand into a wielding tool an lit it against the cons faceplate.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Knock Out screamed as stumbled back holding his faceplate, he balanced against one of the large drilling machines. He took his hand way and looked at his reflection in the blank screen to reveal a large burning mark between his optics. "THAT'S IT!" he turned around to see Ratchet holding his energon prod.
"Relax, its just a scratch" Ratchet said before jabbing the prod into his chest shocking him, when it was pulled it away Knock Out fell to the ground unconscious.
"Nice work Doc" Ratchet looked up to see Wheeljack sliding down the wall followed by Optimus "Didn't know you had it in you".
Ratchet tossed the prod away "Well you don't spend centuries as a combat medic without learning a few things".
A noise brought their attention to the cavern entrance, the rocks that were blocking the entrance began to move indicating that someone was trying to get in. They took battle stance in case it was more Decepticons. The rocks suddenly blew apart in a cloud of dust as if something huge had smashed through them, when the dust cleared it revealed Bulkhead and Bumble Bee "What we miss?"
"Just a Decepticon attack" Wheeljack shrugged his shoulders "No big deal".
"Raf said you told him not to open the ground bridge again" he said to Ratchet "We managed to get him to open one on the hill,
Suddenly a ground bridge portal opened at the opposite side of the caver, vehicons began pouring out of it and a voice got everyones attention "NO BLASTERS" they all looked up to see Dreadwing standing above them, his armour scorched from the explosion "You might ignite the energon".
As more vehicons came through the portal Optimus knew it was time to leave "Autobots fall back!" with that they transformed into vehicle mode and sped out of the cavern.
"AFTER THEM!" Dreadwing yelled and the vehicons went after them.
They followed Bumble Bee and Bulkead back to their vantage point where they had sent Raf back to base just as a ground bridge portal appeared, they all sped through it and found themselves back at base.
"What happened?" Arcee asked.
They all returned to robot mode "Yeah, me and Bumble Bee were putting the energon in a storeroom and when we got back the portal was closed".
"Airachnid was about to infiltrate the base through the ground bridge, so we couldn't risk opening another until she and the other Decepticons were subdued" Ratchet explained.
"And all she got was a few arms removed" Wheeljack said.
This caught Arcee's interest "Really, tell me everything".
"That will have to wait" Ratchet interrupted "I need to take a look at your injuries first" referring to the cuts in his shoulders.
"I've had worse" the Wrecker shrugged.
"As the chief medical officer I'll be the judge of that!" Ratchet lead him to the med bay.
"Well despite the Decepticons showing up I call this mission a success" Jack said looking to the energon that was yet to be taken to storage.
"True, but Megatron will no doubt increase the security of the energon mines" Optimus said "Returning to this mine will not be an option".
"I thought as much" they all looked to Wheeljack in the med bay "That's why I left the cons a little something" he said with a smirk.
Inside the Cavern
The vehicons had returned and were explaining to Dreadwing that they had lost the Autobots when Airachnid arrived "Wheres Knock out?" she asked not out of concern but because she needed treatment.
A groan got their attention as the medic began to wake up "Oh my aching processor". As he got up he spotted something lying behind a large energon crystal, cylindrical in shape with a glowing green ring around the middle. There was a disk on the ring with a glowing circle in it, most of it was red while a little was green, suddenly another part went read and Knock Out realised what it was. "GRENADE!" he shouted before transforming and raced out of the cavern.
Dreadwing transforms into his vehicle mode a jet and since Airachnid could fly properly with her injuries, she jumped onto his back as he blasted out of the cavern. The vehicons started for the exit just at the final part of the ring turned red and the grenade exploded in turn setting off all the energon in the cavern making it all go up in a humongous blue explosion. Only a few of the vehicons managed to get out in time while the rest were caught in the blast.
Dreadwing, Airachnid and Knock stared at the burning pile of rubble that used to be the mine the Knock Out broke the silence "Megatron is not going to be happy about this".
The Nemesis
"INCOMPETENCE!" Megatron shouted at the three Decepticons before him "Not only were you all defeated, with the mine destroyed we have no idea how much energon has taken!"
"Forgive us Lord Megatron" Dreadwing said "We did not discover the explosive until it was too late. But we still have any many mining operations, the loss of this one will not harm the Decepticon cause".
"The mine is not the problem, the problem is the amount of energon the Autobots had taken" Megatron said in a dangerous tone "One of our greatest advantages over the Autobots is that they have limited access to energon. That is why we cannot allow them to obtain more".
Knock Out spoke up "Please Lord Megatron we've suffered enough for our failure, just look at what they did to us" he gestured to his faceplate.
Megatron was clearly unsympathetic, he gave three of them one last angry look "Now get out of my sight, all of you!"
They bowed their heads and left the command room, Dreadwing went a separate way "This has got to go" Knock Out said running a finger along the mark on his faceplate.
"That can wait" Airachnid said "I have actual injuries for you to treat".
Knock Out smirked "As the ship physician it is in my authority to decide who is treated first and chose, me!" he laughed.
His laughing stopped when Airachnid grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall "Try and again" she said raising one of her sharp fingers an inch away from his optic.
"Then again a few scratches can wait" he said in nervous voice "Cleary your injuries are more urgent".
Airachnid released him "I'm glad you agree" she said in a dangerous sultry voice as she headed to the med bay.
Knock Out glared at her from behind "Psycho!"
Airachnid stopped and turned her head back "What was that?"
"Nothing!" he said quickly.