Optimus part Nine.

“Optimus!” Road Rage shouted from inside the mill. “Come here, quick!” Optimus dropped what he was doing and ran up to the mill. He tripped and cursed and fell into the river. After pulling himself out he crouched through a hole in a wall and saw Road Rage huddled over with her video camera. “What was so important I needed to take a mud bath?” He said spitting out muck. “Look!” She said holding the camera’s screen up to his face. “That’s your montage video.” Optimus said. “I don’t get it.” “Wait…” She said. Optimus watched as the video showed their toiling at the barn. That crappy old barn. Then he flinched at the sudden arrival of the Decepticon snake thing. The camera jerked and fell backwards, facing up. Smoke and the occasional glimpse of metal was all that was visible. “I’m glad we were able to record our latest aft-kicking for posterity.” Optimus said. “Just watch for God’s sake…” Road Rage tapped the fast-forward button. The footage of smoke and sky sped up until she hit play. The Decepticon machine filled the view as it leaped over the camera to burrow. She paused it and the image of the machine was frozen crystal clear. And that’s when Optimus saw it. “Wait, is that…?” He pointed at the screen to a dull purple cylinder with lights on it. “An exposed core?” She finished. “Yes, and I’ve been comparing it to our logs.” She cleared her throat as she held up a reader. “Specifically a class seventy-seven gyro-controlled maintenance drive core, used predominantly in shipping equipment, the core saw infamy in it’s wide spread use in now-decommissioned Decepticon exploration transports as backup cores and is a favourite of Decepticon miners.” “Well,” Optimus thought. “They were, and I guess still are, digging in that mountain. That fits with what we know.” He rubbed his chin. “So this thing uses an maintenance core, so it’s not combat-certified, and they didn’t bother armouring it?” “They probably didn’t think we’d be able to stop it.” Road Rage said. “Well, we need to capitalize on this.” Optimus said. “We need to lure this thing out again, kill it for good.” Road Rage wasn’t as enthusiastic. “That thing nearly took me to China….” She said. “But I guess we kinda have to. How‘re we gonna lure it? What do the Decepticons want that we have?” “Y’know what the hardest thing about being in command is, Road Rage?” Optimus said. Road Rage clapped her hands together and pointed at him. “The hours!” She said, then pretended to play the drums. “I wasn’t making a joke.” Optimus said. “No, the hardest thing is telling your underlings that they’ll have to play bait for a giant worm drill thing.” “That’s oddly specific.” Road Rage said. “But yeah, I guess that is hard.” Optimus stared at her. She stared back. “Stop that.” She said. He kept staring. Road Rage threw her arms up. “Oh hell no!” She crawled out of the mill. “Aw come on!” Optimus said. “You’re the only one fast enough to evade it!” “What about you? You’re fast-ish.” She said. “I’m also the size of a tow-truck. We need someone small and scrappy to get this thing into position for the rest of us to attack.” Optimus put his hands together. “Please? For humanity! For future generations” Road Rage sighed and reached behind her back and pulled out a piece of paper with a target on it and stuck it to her head. “Then it is so.” Optimus stood tall. “Ironhide!” He shouted. Ironhide poked his head out through the trees. “We attack at dawn!” Optimus pointed to the sun. “’’Kay.” Ironhide said. ------- Shockwave predicted planetfall within a three mile radius. The ship would crash down in the snowy northern region, a fair distance away from their base by Shockwave’s standards. He got the feeling Obsidian felt different by the amount of profanity he muttered after Shockwave told them they’d be heading to the north end of Nunavut. Still, if the mission was to succeed they needed an edge. A game changer. They needed something Megatron didn’t know about. Something he couldn’t predict. And so they left the base at night, While Megatron and Strika were is stasis pods for recharge. Preparing to take off, Shockwave heard a noise from the bushes. “Something wrong?“ obsidian whispered, noticing Shockwave. He scanned the tree line and saw a possum scurry away. “Nothing.” Shockwave said in a low tone. The two transformed and silently took off. From the bushes another possum ran out. Then another. Strika fell out of the bush, many possums gripped her face. She shook and the furry things escaped into the brush. Megatron jumped out of a tree. “I told you one day those life-sized fully detailed replicas of you and me would come in handy!” Megatron gloated. “Now we can finally see what those two treacherous schemers are scheming about. “Do possums lay eggs?” Strika said with a bit of concern. “I think a few got into my auditory receptacles.” “Do not be a fool,” Megatron waved her complaint off. “Everyone knows possums reproduce through budding, just like all reptiles.” He nonchalantly pulled a small device from behind the canopy on his chest. “We should begin pursuit now, while they’re within scanner range. I shall pursue from the air, you follow on the ground. Alert… them…” Megatron’s eyes shifted back and forth. “To follow my signal and await my command to arrive!” Before Strika could say anything, Megatron was gone. She sighed, then transformed and drove away, stopping for a moment. She heard a rustling, then dismissed it for the possums and continued on. Moments later Optimus dived from the bushes, possums covering him head to toe. Screaming and flailing he dislodged most of their numbers and the remaining possums retreated. Road Rage and Ironhide emerged from the bushes a minute later. “I don’t get why they didn’t attack us.” Ironhide said. “I guess we were too well hidden, or they didn’t care.” Optimus said getting up from the ground. “I meant why the possums didn’t go for me and Road Rage, but yeah that too I guess.” Ironhide replied. “Well,” Road Rage said. “Guess the attack’s off. We gave ‘em our best shot but what can ya do?” She began to walk off but Optimus grabbed her head and spun her back around. “Oh no no no…” Optimus said. “You heard Megatron, there’s dissention among their ranks!“ Optimus said, he cusped his hands and slouched over for emphasis. “This is the perfect time to attack! Instead of fighting four, we only fight two groups of two!” “Your mathematical wizardry astounds us,” Ironhide said. “But why not let the Decepticons just fight-” Ironhide was cut off by Optimus. “Autobots, let‘s-” He began, but then noticed something was missing. “Hey, where’s Jetfire?” Ironhide shrugged, Road Rage turned back into the bushes. “Jetfire!” She called. There was a rumbling in the ground and rustling in the trees. Jetfire’s head poked above the branches. “Sorry,” He said. “I never did take that nap I wanted.” He pushed aside the foliage and into the clearing in front of the cave. “Anyway,“ Optimus said “Autobots, let’s roll.” Ironhide and Road Rage transformed. “Jetfire, you follow in the sky. Make sure Megatron doesn’t spot you.” He and Jetfire both transformed and the four took off in pursuit.