Cybertronian Civil War part 11: Plans for the Future

[7Knight-Wolf]

Part 11: Planning for the Future

(Recap: Cybertronian Divisions wage war, blaming each other for recent Terrorist attacks. The Terrorists bought their weapons from the Crowe Mercenaries. Robots Topazor, Springer, and Cheetor and the humans Chris, Ben, and Jessica seek the Terrorists’ identity, on Earth. Rattrap, on Cybertron, is the only bot aware of Terrorists’ identity. Cheetor suggests a link between the War and the Vok. While defending the team’s ship, Ben is killed. Chris now defends the ship against thieves.)
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Chris could barely remember what happened next. He recalled sounds like thunder overhead, approaching specks in the sky, strange robots everywhere interrupting the feud with Russell. Next thing Chris knew he was looking at the dead body of Russell the thief, and shaking hands with a large robot bearing the insignia of Empress Airsweep.

It was not until the next day (when the doctors said he had recovered from shock), that Chris really knew what was going on. He had been fighting Russell, when Cybertronian ships (sent by Airsweep) broke up the fight and finished off the thieves. Apparently, the Empress wanted to help the struggling humans on Earth.

Chris got up from the hospital bed, and shook off the last shades of fog and drowsiness. Almost immediatly a wave of emotion hit him--he remembered Ben's death, the blood, the pain...

Springer distracted the human from his thoughts. “You okay, small fry?” he asked. "By the way...um, no hard feeling about the small fry thing, right?" Depite his usual indifference toward sentiment, Springer was very much relieved to see Chris alive and anxious to make up with him.

"Yeah...I'm okay," said Chris. His voice was stiff as he tried to hold all his feelings in check: the anger and depression surrounding the memory of Ben.

Meantime Springer was perfectly relaxed. “Anyway," he said, "you’ve been in a stupor so long I guess I’d better give ya the 411. Not that I blame you for being in shock…I’m really sorry about old Ben.”

Chris took a deep breath to control the grief that threatened to bring tears to his eyes again. “I’ll get through,” he said, evem more stiffly. “Now tell me what you guys have been up to.”

“Well, we just don’t know about this new ‘empress’,” began Springer. “As soon as her bots arrived, strange reports started coming in. First of all, we have news of how the war is going: the Maximal Reformists and the Predacon Rebel armies are still fighting, but Empress Airsweep and her unbiased bots are just waiting. They’re not even fighting anymore.”

“That's a good strategy," Chris pointed out, grapsing reality again. "Airsweep'll probably do her share of fighting, once Maximals and Preds are both weak."

“Exactly. And that makes me wonder about the Empress’ motives. She says she wants to destroy the Terrorists, but she’s not even fighting to identify them; she only wants Cybertron. And here’s something else to thin on--Australia is the only place visited by Airsweep, eve though she claimed to help all of Earth. It's like she's trscked us. And for the final dose, take this: the Empress hired Crowe Weapon-Sellers to help her!”

That blow should have been stunning. It should seem unthinkable that the ruler of Cybertron would stoop to hire Crowe, the bots who illegally sold weapons to Terrorists! However, Chris still felt numbed; what did Cybertron matter to him when his brother was dead?

Springer sighed. "Well, Cheetor's working on how to deal with all this. As for Topazor, the optimist in him wants to believe that these reports are untrue. But not even he can deny this last bit of info--the bots from Crowe are withholding our ship. According to them, it’s a stolen ship so we can’t use it.”

“So what? Let’s just use one of the Empress’ ships,” suggested Chris.

Springer shook his head. “They won’t let us. We’re stuck here. Topazor is still willing to give this Empress a chance, but I say as soon as we have proof, we steal a ship and get outa here.”

Chris thought it over. “You’re right,” he said. “Something doesn’t feel right about the Empress—my instincts tell me. All we have to do is find some undeniable proof that makes the Empress look bad. Are you in, big guy?”

“I’m in, small fry,” grinned Springer. “Say, you and I have some stuff in common when you look past the size, don’t we? Anyway I’ve got the perfect place to start on our mission—according to the Empress’ bots, the Administrator of Reconstruction is arriving today. We investigate him and we’re bound to find some good dirt.”

As soon as Springer and Chris left the hospital, they saw Jessica. Chris was relieved to see her unhurt, concerned as he always was about her safety. Giving Chris a hug, Jessica said, “Good to see you two. Chris...I’m so sorry about Ben.”

Chris was able to ignore the painful reference to his brother and focus entirely on Jessica, whose usual shell of apathy was gone. “I’m glad to see you expressing yourself again.”

After giving Chris a kiss on the cheek Jess left. “I’ve got to help the town get back on its feet.”

Chris watched Jessica go, and then turned back to Springer. “Hey Big Guy, do YOU have a girl?”

Suddenly a strange bot ran up to Springer and gave him a hug. “Apparently I do,” said Springer, confused, and then he realized who the strange bot was. Miratron!

“Miratron!” exclaimed Springer, shocked. “How are ya, old duck-feet? What are you doing here? I thought you dumped me for those mercenaries!”

Miratron’s blue optics glittered. “Well, I may be a mercenary but I haven’t forgotten about my friends,” she said. “Hello to you too, Chris. I heard you got kicked out of Crowe.”

Chris only shrugged. Memories of wepaon-selling were not pleasant for him.

“Well, Crowe Mercenaries escorted the Administrator of Reconstruction down here,” answered Miratron in her smooth voice. “In case you’re wondering, the Administrator’s name is Megatron.”

There was a short silence in which Springer and Chris stared open-mouthed in astonishment. Then Springer exclaimed, “MEGATRON?! As in Megatron the Predacon who stole the golden disk, almost caused time to be changed, mysteriously broke out of jai during the Battle of the Prison, and then captured us?!”

Miratron looked uncomfortable. “Yeah…one and the same. But look, Megatron is under control now. He’s sworn loyalty to the Empress and to Cybertron. And if his flotilla capture you, I’m sure it was just because he wanted to report strange sightings to the Empress. After all, it is pretty strange to see a politician like Topazor with a well-known mercenary like Chris and a big green soldier who THINKS he’s the coolest out there.”

“You mean you TRUST Megatron?” exclaimed Springer. “This is unbelievable!” He turned to Chris. “Well small fry, this is all the dirt we need to dig up. The Empress daring to hire a thug like Megatron is all the proof we need! Chris, let’s find Topazor and Cheetor. See ya later, Miratron.”

After looking around Walden for a while, Springer and Chris found Topazor and Cheetor. Chris signaled for the team to go inside private quarters. When everyone was there, Chris explained what Miratron said about Megatron.

“So you got this information from Miratron?” asked Topazor eagerly. “I’d like to see her again.”

“We’ve got other business right now,” said Cheetor gruffly. “I’ve been keeping some secrets from most of you. Here’s the truth: Rattrap and I worked together to find the identity of the Terrorists and protect the DR-C coding device. Also, we hoped to discover a link between the War and the mysterious Alien Vok. This is a dangerous game, and the only way we can go on is with teamwork.”

“All sportsmen and soldiers are team players,” said Springer proudly.

“What do you think Megatron's part in this is?” asked Chris.

“He’s not the mastermind,” replied Cheetor, “but he could certainly have a lot of cards to play. According to Nightscream’s data tracks, Crowe had done work for the Empress. This isn’t surprising cuz Crowe works for anyone with cash. By order of the Empress, Miratron helped blow the Dome, and Nightscream broke out Megatron during the Battle of the Prison. The Empress and Megatron must have been plotting together for a long time. Somebody who knew the details of Crowe’s business-partners could tell us what the Empress is planning. And that somebody is Rattrap, our bank of information about the Empress and about the Terrorists. We need Rattrap.”

Here Chris interrupted heatedly, “Just a second! I heard about Nightscream’s death. I heard the energon build-up killed him. But you—you were the one who took his data tracks!” Chris’ voice grew fierce. “Why shouldn’t I believe that YOU killed him?! After all Cheetor, you’ve been lying to us about other things.”

“I can’t make you believe me,” rejoined Cheetor coolly. “But I can ask for your trust. I’ve done a lot of bad things for the sake of the ultimate good, but I don’t think I’m ready to add cold-blooded murder to the list.”

Topazor cast a fleeting glance at Cheetor. “I don’t believe in justifying wrongdoing,” he said; “but as for Nightscream, Cheetor did not contribute to his death. Chris, you’ve suffered a lot with Ben’s death and Nightscream’s death, but now is not the time for a temper tantrum. We must decide a plan of action.”

“Megatron’s already a step ahead of you,” came a familiar voice.

“Who’s there?” demanded Cheetor, brandishing his blaster.

Miratron stepped out from the next room of the meeting house. “You should have checked more thoroughly for spies,” she said, smoothly. “Relax—I’m not a tattle-tale. I’ve been paid to do bad things…” her voice softened, “but maybe I can change. …I’ve changed already. I’ve seen and helped with horrible things which the Terrorists and even the Maximals have done. I accepted cruelty as the only way to purge the planet of evil, but in so doing I became evil myself.” A wistful look came into Miratron’s blue optics. “…I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

Topazor walked over to Miratron and smiled. “I welcome you to the group,” he said.

But Cheetor snarled for silence. “We’re not accepting the mercenary as a friend yet. However, since she overheard our meeting, we’ll have to include her in the plan.”

“I also have information about Megatron,” stated Miratron. “He’s after the DR-C. That’s why the Empress only sent help here—to Walden. Megatron is willing to tear this town to bits in order to get the DR-C, but first he’ll try diplomacy. He‘s going to quietly kill you bots, so Chris and the DR-C will be defenseless. In exchange for all this info, you guys BETTER include me in your plan!”

“Speaking of the plan,” said Chris decisively, “here it is. Cheetor and Topazor, you guys are going to steal back the ship and go up to Cybertron. Get the information from Rattrap and then contact us. Springer, Miratron, and I will stay here. We’ll protect Walden with our lives. For safety precautions, though, Topazor had better guard the DR-C.”

Everyone was willing to try Chris’ plan. Even though he was only a human, the group subconsciously thought of Chris as their leader. “But Chris,” said Topazor, “don’t you WANT to leave Earth? I thought you hated this place.”

Chris cleared his throat and said quickly, “Returning to Earth was very painful for me, but now I realize it’s my duty to protect it. And Topazor, it’s your duty to protect Cybertron.” His face was almost as leader-like as Ben’s had been. “We have to split up,” he concluded, “and our missions aren’t easy. Like it or not we may be the universe’s last hope of really getting to the bottom of this war. We’ll defend our liberty and liberty of our comrades; even if…even if great leaders have to die for the cause. Now Topazor and Cheetor, go steal yourselves a ship.”

Topazor took the DR-C from Chris, but before leaving he whispered to Springer, “Take care of Miratron, okay? And be careful. And keep Chris safe.”

Springer yawned. “Easy work. Any other requests?”

“Just one,” laughed Topazor: “grow up!”

Soon it was only Chris, Springer, and Miratron left in the room. Chris said, “I’m pretty confident we could lead a rebellion against Megatron’s Administrative rule. If only we had a little extra help.”

“I’ve been reading up on history lately, and I know how to get a LOT of extra help,” said Miratron. “As the history teachers always say, we should look to our ancestors for help. I happen to know where the body of a certain Maximal is kept in a sort of robot comma. I think we can wake him.”

“What Maximal do you mean?” asked Springer. “What are you talking about?”

Miratron smiled. “We’re going to wake up Tigerhawk.”

“Tigerhawk?” asked Springer. “But I thought he was killed in Optimus Primal’s final battle against Megatron. How could Tigerhawk survive?”

“It’s one of the many closely-guarded secrets of Crowe,” answered Miratron. “The spark of Tigerhawk, which was actually an infusion of two sparks, was discovered by archeologists. I guess it survived the blast of the Nemesis. Anyway, the archaeologists also discovered traces of Tigerhawk’s body, rebuilt it, and put the sparks inside. But Tigerhawk remained dormant. Crowe purchased the Tigerhawk and offered him on the black-market.”

“Any buyers?” asked Chris.

“Yes,” answered Miratron; “the buyer was Empress Airsweep! But she’s been so busy with the war that she hasn’t picked up the prize yet. I suggest we snatch Tigerhawk’s body before the Empress can get to it. I don’t know how we’ll wake him up, but we’ll find some way. Crowe has many bases on Cybertron and on Earth—we’ll find Tigerhawk in the base nearest us. Airsweep wanted the prize close to her, I guess.”

“Let’s do it,” said Springer.