//------------------------------// // Harvest Time // Story: Cybertron Girls // by SonicSpeedster97 //------------------------------// The Autobots and Joes searched feverishly to locate Spike and the Harvester, but for all their efforts, there was no sign of either of them for days. Still, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t deny that riding with the Joes and blowing up MARS facilities all over the west coast was a lot of fun. In fact, she was just returning to the Ark from one of those raids with Sandstorm and Roadbuster – on top of the world from the glorious destruction – when she found the others gathered around the computer console. “What’s goin’ on?” “If I’m not mistaken, we’re being taken off-mission,” Ironhide remarked, looking at General Hawk’s face on the screen. “No more blastin’ MARS.” “What?! General, you can’t be serious!” Rainbow said seriously. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but the industrial accident cover we’ve been feeding the civilian populace is starting to falter.” Hawk explained. “The President has ordered that all raids against MARS Industries must halt, effective immediately.” “General, the President knows just as well as we do that MARS has been nothing more than a Cobra subsidiary for years.” Duke reminded. “And now Cobra is in bed with the Decepticons, and they’ve got their hands on a Cybertronian weapon of mass destruction, which they are in the process of retrofitting.” “Actually Duke, need I remind you that as far as the President and the joint-chiefs are concerned, humans are the only sentient life on this planet and in the rest of the universe. As far as everyone outside both our bases is concerned, Cybertron does not exist.” the general countered. “All I’ve told them is that Cobra has somehow gotten their hands on a stash of decommissioned nuclear weapons.” “Nukes? Hidden outside Seattle? Aw cmon General, how long’s that gonna last?” asked Roadblock. “It’s the best thing I could come up with, soldier. And anyway, these raids aren’t giving us any results.” the general argued. “As far as I see it, our best choice is to wait until Destro finishes the weapon and hands it off. We find the hand-off site; we find the weapon and your dog. That’s the best I can swing. In the meantime, you’re all under orders to stand down. Hawk out.” With that, the general’s face disappeared from the screen. “Lucky for us, we’ve got our own chain of command here.” Rainbow smiled as she turned to Ironhide. “What’s our play, Ironhide?” “Ain’t exactly my place to decide,” Ironhide remarked. “You’re better off askin’ the boss.” “Speaking of whom, how is Optimus?” Twilight asked, glancing at Ratchet. “Not great. I had to take him off the medical Energon drip before he exhausted our supply.” Ratchet shrugged. “It’s all up to him now. He’s lucky he’s such a strong bot, because he’s gonna need every ounce of that strength if he wants to survive.” “Wait… wouldn’t Megatron be angry if he heard some human tried to ice Optimus against his orders?” asked Bumblebee. “What does that mean?” asked Sunset. “Remember how we’ve been telling you that Optimus and Megatron were friends before the war?” asked Bumblebee. “Well, when war was officially declared, Megatron made one thing explicit to all Decepticons; they can be as vicious as they like with whatever Autobots they find, but Optimus was his to kill.” “And if Megatron finds out Destro tried to pull a stunt like that, he’s probably gonna crush Cobra,” Duke remarked, glancing over at Flint. “This looks like a self-solving problem, Flint.” “So it would seem.” the soldier smirked as he poked his beret up on his brow. “But you heard Hawk; we’re off-mission until we find the weapon.” “Then let’s hope Spike can come through on his end,” Twilight said seriously. Thankfully, in the time Spike had been hiding in the plant in Missoula, he hadn’t been idle. After discovering that the plant’s shielding had rendered the comlink on his collar inoperable, he began sneaking around trying to uncover as much about Destro’s plan as possible and developing an escape plan, watching as his men worked with Astrotrain and Blast Off to rebuild the Harvester orb into the heart of a bot-sized gun. “I’ve gotta hand it to your men, Destro; they’ve been impressing me greatly over the last few days.” Blast Off remarked to the metal-faced man. “And it’s not just any weapons engineer that can impress a Combaticon.” “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Always happy to hear someone appreciates the McCullen touch.” Destro smiled. “Think it’ll fit your needs?” “I’m certain of it.” Blast Off nodded. “How long until it’s done?” “Just finished the final calibrations.” Scrap Iron reported. “Congratulations Blast Off, you are now the proud owner of a MARS Industries-certified weapon of mass destruction.” Destro smiled. “Nice work.” Blast Off smiled as he picked the weapon up, revealing it to be a large shotgun-like weapon with a cube-shaped tank in the back. “Astrotrain, contact Lord Megatron. Tell him the weapon is ready.” Spike knew it was now or never, so he quickly put his escape plan into action, activating his Armor and leaping out from his hiding spot, breathing fire all around the base. “It’s the Autobots’ humans’ pet! Take it down!” Astrotrain ordered as he raised a blaster. Destro’s men all grabbed guns and started firing on Spike, but their bullets barely even tickled the large dog as he shot fire at Astrotrain’s weapon which seemed to fry it, before he leaped at Blast Off and grabbed the Harvester from his hands with his jaws, racing for the door which easily gave way under his strength. Once outside, he quickly took to the sky on his wings, dropping the Harvester into his dexterous paws as he flew high above the city. “Don’t just stand there, ya idiots; get after ‘im!” Destro ordered the two Decepticons, who gladly listened as they raced outside and transformed – Astrotrain turning into a space shuttle – shooting into the sky after Spike. Thankfully, Spike wouldn’t be alone for long; an alert came through almost immediately at the Joes’ base. “General Hawk, we have satellite confirmation on Spike,” Hi-Tech reported. “He’s over Missoula and he’s got the Harvester; two Decepticon tangos in pursuit.” “He’s coming through on the lines now.” a redheaded woman – Cover Girl from her voice – reported. “Put him through, and pipe this through to the Ark,” Hawk ordered. “Spike to anyone who can hear me, I need help!” he called. “I don’t know where I am and I don’t care as long as I’m anywhere else or at least have help in a few minutes!” “Spike, this is General Hawk; we’ll have you out of there any second now,” Hawk reported. “Optimus, you copy all that?” “Word for word, General,” Optimus reported. “Jetfire, Powerglide, take all the Wreckers with a flight-based vehicle-mode and assist him as quickly as possible.” “We’re on it!” Jetfire reported, quickly leading Springer and his aerial teammates – as well as the girls with flight capabilities – to an area outside Missoula, each quickly launching into the air – showing that Whirl had chosen a Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter and Rotorstorm had chosen an Apache – flying toward Spike and his pursuers. “Spike, this is Jetfire. Hang tough; air support is on the way.” “Not just you, Jetfire.” Ace reported over the coms, as more Skystrikers flew over the city as well. “Ace? What’re you doing here?” asked Rainbow. “Giving the story General Hawk’s planning some weight.” Ace reported. “Just an Air Force training exercise, nothin’ more.” “Solid copy; let’s get this done.” Rotorstorm smiled, spinning his miniguns to fire on Astrotrain, who quickly rolled to avoid the gunfire and started returning it. “Astrotrain to Nemesis; the Autobots have stolen the Harvester. Requesting air support,” he called. “Astrotrain, this is Starscream; I’m leading a Seeker wing to your position as we speak.” the air commander reported, their sudden appearance surprising the Autobots. “We’re outgunned here, Ace.” Powerglide noted. “Break off; we’ll lead the Cons out of town and engage them in bot-mode.” “Copy that; shakin’ bandits, buggin’ out. Let’s go, people!” Ace ordered, quickly leading his wing away from the battle as the Autobots led the Decepticons outside the city, where several among them promptly transformed to bot-mode and opened fire with heavier artillery. “Spike, you still got the Harvester?” asked Powerglide. “Got it right here.” Spike smiled as he gingerly placed the device next to the red flyer. “Then why don’t we use it?” Whirl smirked as he grabbed the weapon in his large claws, aiming it out at the Decepticons. “Nobody move! I have no idea how to use this thing, but it feels really dangerous!” “Oh, I assure you; it is.” Blast Off nodded, carefully lowering his blaster… and drawing something else from behind his back. “Which is why, if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking it.” In the blink of an eye, the Combaticon drew a large magnetic grappling hook and fired it, grabbing the Harvester from Whirl’s claws and whiplashing it away. “All yours, Commander!” Starscream quickly jumped and grabbed the weapon by the trigger. “Ah, thank you Blast Off. Now…” He flipped the safety off and the weapon revved to life. “Let’s see exactly what this thing can do.” He pulled the trigger and a bolt of blue energy shot out. “Get down!” Springer yelled and shoved Whirl aside, taking the blast right in the chestplate himself, groaning as he felt his Energon drain. “Tell me; is Prime still alive?” Starscream taunted. “Astrotrain said Destro drained a good amount of his Energon, but if Lord Megatron were to hear he was dead, I’m sure Cobra wouldn’t like to be on the same planet as him.” “Buddy… I don’t wanna be on the same planet as you…” Springer groaned as he slowly approached against the beam. “But I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to report that… Megatron’s still gonna get his duel.” “What?! What’re you doing?!” Starscream asked as more Energon flowed from the Wrecker. “What I do best…” Springer smirked, drawing one of his swords from his back. “Wreck stuff.” Forcing all his remaining strength into his sword, Springer delivered a single powerful slash through the Harvester, making the barrel burst into flame, as well as whatever Energon was close enough to the barrel. Springer was forced to slash through the other wisps of Energon before they reached his body and caught his body on fire. “You imbecile!” Astrotrain remarked in fear. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?! The Harvester’s about to go ballistic!” That made Twilight’s optics pop in fear as she quickly scanned the device. “And with the amount of Energon inside it, the explosion will take out half of Montana.” she calculated. “We have to get it into the upper atmosphere!” “Way ahead of you!” Jetfire smirked, quickly racing over and punching Starscream in the face before he transformed to jet-mode, grabbed the Harvester with a magnetic hook on his undercarriage, and shot straight into the air as fast as he could, firing his afterburners several times over the safety margins. “Jetfire, are you crazy?! Just port back to the Ark, load it into a cannon, and shoot it into space!” Rainbow ordered. “Too risky; the Harvester’s too unstable.” Twilight calculated. “If it detonated inside the GroundBridge, it could rip apart the universe!” “Which is why I’m being crazy!” Jetfire assured, quickly reaching the ionosphere and transforming back to bot-mode. “Besides, it’s just like a certain great ‘bot once said; ‘Sometimes crazy works’!” With that in mind, he gave the Harvester his heartiest throw higher into the atmosphere, where it exploded in a massive explosion of blue fire… the shockwave from which forced Jetfire back down into the atmosphere, knocking him unconscious as he tumbled down toward the planet. Even on the surface, the others could see the massive explosion, prompting the Autobots to aim their weapons back at the Decepticons. “Well… looks like someone just lost their trump card.” Rainbow taunted. “It is of little consequence; you are still vastly outnumbered,” Starscream assured as he and the other Decepticons readied their own weapons. Twilight hated to say it, but he was right; the Decepticons had them outnumbered at least 3-to-1. Or at least, they did before a GroundBridge opened behind her and the others, allowing all the other Autobots from the base to roar through, even Optimus who looked to be running a bit slower than usual. Empowered by the sight of the Autobots all transforming and leveling their weapons, Twilight smirked. “Count again.” Everyone could easily see the terror on Starscream’s face as he quickly started to run. “Retreat! Retreat!” he yelled and transformed, soaring away. The other Decepticon flyers didn’t even think about arguing as they all transformed to jet-mode and flew away like bullets, amid a storm of blaster bolts, rockets, and bullets from the Autobots. Once they were gone, Springer finally allowed himself to pass out. “Oh boy… We’d better have more Energon, Ratchet because I think Springer’s gonna need it.” Sandstorm noted… just before Jetfire swooped in and stumbled into a landing near the others, bleary-eyed but still in one piece as he faceplanted in the dirt. “And uh… Jetfire too.” “I’ve got enough to get ‘em stable; from there, they’re on their own.” Ratchet shrugged. “Well, let’s get ‘em hooked up.” Rainbow shrugged, slinging Jetfire’s arm over her shoulders as she marched through the vortex, Sandstorm and Broadside carrying Springer. It wasn’t long before they were hooked up to the life support and stabilized, though Ratchet was none too pleased. “Three tons of freshly purified medical Energon, all down the drain on two bots.” “A worthwhile sacrifice, old friend,” Optimus assured, though he didn’t look so good. “You sure you’re okay to be out here, Optimus?” asked Twilight. “I will be fine, Twilight,” Optimus assured, a bright blue glow emanating from his chest. “The Matrix will heal what damages remain.” And sure enough, the Prime seemed to look stronger by the second. “Well, the good news is that the Decepticons are short one superweapon.” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m sure Megatron was happy to hear about that.” Predictably, Rainbow was right; Megatron’s anger was boiling over, whoever much he tried to keep it hidden. “So you mean to tell me, Starscream… that not only did you lose the weapon to an Autobot Wrecker whom you assured me was dead… but you dared order the humans who found it to ‘test’ it against Optimus Prime?!” “I- I ordered no such thing!” Starscream assured in terror. “Destro’s decision to turn the Harvester on Prime was his own; I had absolutely nothing to do with it!” “You will forgive me if I do not believe you, Starscream. You do not have the most truthful reputation.” Megatron scowled. “And either way, I will be having a very long conversation with the Cobra Commander. You assured me he would not attempt to betray us, Sky Shadow.” “I assure you, Lord Megatron, this act was not in deliberate disregard of your orders.” Sky Shadow assured. “I informed Cobra of your wishes to destroy Optimus Prime yourself, but Destro had never seen Prime before; he did not know it was Prime he was targeting.” “Ignorance is no excuse.” Megatron reminded. “Inform the Cobra Commander that if he cannot keep his soldiers on a shorter leash, I will wipe them from the face of this planet personally.” “Understood, my lord.” Sky Shadow bowed honorably, leaving the bridge only to be swiftly replaced by Nightbird. “My master.” she bowed honorably. “In a moment, Nightbird,” Megatron assured, turning back to Starscream. “I trust you have something worthwhile to report to me to make up for your latest blunder, Starscream?” “Thankfully, yes sir.” Starscream nodded. “My Seekers have confirmed the Eukarian Spark-readings in the nation the humans call Russia; they have located the one known as Tigatron. All you need to do is give the order and I can order them to abduct the beast so he may be brought to the Nemesis.” “Then you live to scheme another day,” Megatron remarked. “Leave in shame, and be grateful for your life.” “To call you most noble is a severe understatement, Lord Megatron,” Starscream assured as he left, though he actually hated talking like this. “Oh, how far to the reverse that actually is. Soon, Megatron… Soon…” he muttered to himself, finding himself met by Thundercracker and Skywarp. “Any leads on the other Eukarians or the AllSpark?” “Not as of yet, brother, but we’re working on it,” Thundercracker reported. “If I may, are you planning any more sabotage against Lord Megatron’s more desirable warriors?” “Keep your voice down, imbecile; Soundwave has eyes and ears all over this forsaken ship.” Starscream reminded. “But no; I have something much more… critical in mind.” Nightbird had watched Starscream leave, and turned to Megatron. “Why do you keep him around, master? He is not to be trusted.” “Obviously not, Nightbird.” Megatron agreed. “But there is an old expression I refer to whenever someone asks me that; ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer’. I fully expect Starscream to try to betray me at some point, and I intend to be ready for it. Now, what did you want?” “I have assumed my vehicle form, master,” Nightbird reported. “I wish to do as you willed, and bring you the Omega Lock.” “Then do so, without delay,” Megatron ordered. Nightbird seemed almost underwhelmed by these orders, but bowed and left without delay. “Now… let us see if there cannot be any further delay on my plans.” Thankfully, what would next happen was exactly the sort of thing Megatron had been hoping for.