Iacon Wasteland

"Five minutes until we attack!" Joor yelled to everyone as they were waiting in the barricade room in front of the jail. "Remember, Srig's group takes the jail entrance back to the dorms to access Dwell's room while the rest of us will take on a frontal assault. To the hallway to the Overseer's office hallway. We should expect minimal resistance until we get to the hallway, which will be loaded with enemies. It's recommended that you be very careful as we attack the enemy." With that last advice, he went back to checking weapons as everyone else was getting ready to go. Ratchet was with Swindle on the barricade, the two of them both checking their pistols. "You should've got a rifle," Swindle told him as he finished checking the pistol. "Slaggers won't let me have one."

"I'm not much of a killer," Ratchet told him. "I like pistols. Doesn't pack much of a punch."

"You're going to have to beef up your armaments to push these guys back and especially if we're going outside in that irradiated hellhole," he told him.

"Maybe, but for now, this should be okay," he insisted.

"Hmph," Swindle scoffed as Fervent took a seat next to them, shouldering a rifle on his shoulder. "And what do you want, crazy guy?"

"Nothing. We're going to the lounge together, so I might as well hang around with you two. It's going to be the three of us plus Srig going up the lounge while Joor takes the far larger group up the halls to Siren's area," Fervent told them.

"Huh, how interesting," Swindle muttered. "Now can you be creepy somewhere else?"

"Not particularly. You'll have to tolerate me when we attack the enemies in the halls," he told them.

"Yeah, great…," Swindle sarcastically groaned.

"Hmph, no need to be rude to me. We have to vanquish these foes together," he reminded him.

"'Vanquish these foes.' Who talks like that?" he questioned in disbelief.

"I do. Is that a problem?"

"Please, don't argue. If I'm going to die, I rather not end with you two bickering with each other," Ratchet complained to them, putting a palm to his head in pain.

"I deeply apologize. I usually don't engage in petty squabbles," Fervent asked for forgiveness.

"No surprise," Swindle scoffed.

"Swindle…," Ratchet growled.

"What?"

"I think he wants you to apologize to me," he told him.

"Why? He would be on my short list of people not to make deals with. I mean, come on, just listen to him," he chided.

"Which would honestly be justified in pre-armageddon, but we have more important matters to contend with," he fought back.

"Swindle, he's right. Please calm down. We're all on the same side," Ratchet told him.

"Hmph… fine," Swindle sighed. "But, for real, even you got to admit that you're a bit of a creep," Swindle told him.

"I wouldn't necessary said that, just a difference in culture. Please remember that I find what the lot of you do and stand for quite strange as well," Fervent reminded them.

"See, we're dealing with a culture clash and the sooner you two get over it, the sooner I have less headaches and we can get back to the more relevant situation of invaders killing anyone that gets in their way," Ratchet told them. Swindle crossed his arms and frowned at him while Fervent just stared calmly at him.

"…Fine," Swindle agreed, holding his hand out for him to shake it. Fervent stared at hand and then backed up at him.

"Is this an agreement?" he asked Ratchet.

"Uh, yes, it's the way all merchants and people in general complete an informal agreement. Seriously, have you never met another merchant?" he asked.

"Minimal involvement. The head priest did all the dealings with them," he told them.

"Head priest? Were you part of the Church of Primus?" Ratchet asked.

"No… I despised them," he told him before turning back to Swindle and grabbing a hold of his hand. "Let us end them."

"That's something everyone can get behind," Swindle grinned before letting go.

"We still got a few minutes before we head out. I want to know what exactly this head priest was," Ratchet questioned him.

"You don't have to know. It's hard to explain without some very important background that we, frankly, don't have enough time for," he told him.

"Well, was it a cult or something?" Swindle asked.

"I would say no, but you would say yes. It always ends up that way until it gains enough swell," he cryptically told them.

"I hate it when people answer questions with enigmas," Ratchet growled in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, but, if we do get to go out together, I would have no problems with explaining it to you two about it then," he told them.

"If we're alive," Swindle muttered.

"Are you three doing okay?" Srig asked as he came up to them.

"Kind of," Swindle answered for them.

"Well, can you get fully better? We're heading out in a minute and I don't want anything to go wrong," he told them, scratching the side of his head.

"We have. Just difference in cultures," Ratchet told him.

"Yeah, yeah, Fervent's weird, Swindle's a dishonest sneak, and you're actually a morally responsible person. You three together is a weird mish-mash, but you appear good enough. Much better than the group I was with in the military. Those were some screwy people," he told them.

"Why? I'm sure the military has some good standards for people to get in," he questioned.

"You would be surprised how surprisingly low they are," he chuckled. "Trust me, when the worst I can say about the guards I was stationed with here in this fallout shelter is Joot's over-patriotism, Modaro's flirtatiousness, and Jadanarano's overcompensation, I was relieved. I always felt the sane, normal guy on my previous team and never really meshed well. Okay, no one on the team meshed well at all, but I really couldn't keep up with their insanity and brutality. Glad that most of them are dead and the rest disappeared to never show up on my radar again," he told them.

"Huh, sounds interesting," Fervent muttered.

"Interesting, but chaotic," he added. "Frankly I like this a lot more, before it all went to hell in a turbofox nest, but hey, can't ask for everything."

"Nothing good lasts forever," Ratchet muttered.

"Although it wasn't that good to begin with," Swindle muttered. "It's hard to get good when the world was turned into an apocalyptic place in one day and now that world is actively trying to kill us."

"True enough. Place is far from paradise, but it was alright and I rather not have these invaders ruin it," Srig told them.

"Alright, Srig, get your group moving! We're heading out!" Joor told him as he began leading his group of ten out to get through the halls.

"Alright, I hope you guys are ready to go," he told them as he headed for the entrance to the prison.

"We'll find out," Fervent said as the three of them got up from the barricade and followed Srig up the room to the prison. They quickly climbed up the intersectional hallway up to the prison where Dwell was busy observing the dead body of the raider leader.

"Hello there," he said to them, getting up with a knife in hand.

"Dwell, we heading out through the secret entrance," Srig told them, heading out.

"Aw, best of luck. Remember, black X," he told them.

"We got it," he acknowledge.

"Oh, and Ratchet, here" he said, showing off Ratchet's knife and handing it to him. Ratchet glanced at him before grabbing it nervously.

"Okay…." Ratchet muttered, grabbing it carefully before placing it in subspace. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome. Best of luck," he gave a benediction as he bent back down over the dead body as they walked on out of the room through the secret entrance. After a couple of minutes of moving through the tunnels, they arrived in Barricade's room. Srig went over to the door and carefully unlock it and open it. He stuck his head out and looked around before waving them over.

"All clear," he whispered as he quietly walked out with them behind him. They walked to the left to the intersection, crouching along quietly until they reached it and Srig looked around. "Hold it," he whispered as they heard a door opening.

"Look, it's your turn. Quit being a whiny glitch and look around," he gruff voiced said.

"Come on, do I have to?" A very whiny, femimine voice said.

"Yes and it's perfectly safe, we have the conservatory and we got two posted at the other two door's hallways looking over the other areas. There shouldn't be anyone here," he tried to comfort her.

"Then why bother?"

"Just in case. You never know. Ring us up if you see anyone that shouldn't be here and put up a good fight if you do," he told her before the door close.

"What a slagger," the voice said before they heard footsteps. They hugged the wall and waited as the person came into sight, being a rusted up motorcycle femme in a barely visible blue and gray color scheme. She took a left and started walking down the hall, completely missing the four hiding. Srig motioned for them to hold back as he holstered his rifle and pulled out a combat knife. The enemy strolled across the hallway, muttering to herself about something as Srig got into stabbing distance. Almost immediately, Srig jumped on the significantly smaller individual, eliciting a yelp from the motorcycle, as he brought his knife up and brought it down into the back of her neck. The motorcycle started moaning and laid still, due to her severed spinal strut, as Srig brought the knife back out and jammed it into the back of her head, silencing her. Srig turned back to them and motioned them over, the three doing so, running on over to him.

"Good kill," Fervent congratulated as Srig pulled his knife back out and sheath it.

"Yeah, not bad, although I was a bit slower. She may have had enough time to signal to the others about us," he told them.

"Well, the door's right here," Swindle said, knocking against the door next to them. "Let's head on in."

"Right," he agreed as he got the card out and inserted it, unlocking it and opening it. "Alright, head on in. I'm hiding the body in here," he told them moving over to get it. Ratchet didn't hesitated, following behind Swindle inside as Fervent stood in the doorway. The two of them waited for a few seconds as Srig entered, carrying the body over his shoulder and laying her down as Fervent closed the door behind him. "Okay, the spilled energon should camouflage with the debris and filth in that, so they shouldn't questioned her disappearance. Probably assume she went outside her boundaries and got killed."

"Right, let me go open the secret passage," Swindle said, heading to the ocker, allowing Ratchet a good look around the room. Dwell apparently was a decorative sort, posting many posters showing anatomy of a Cybertronian, posters of horror movies, and most disturbingly, actual photos of mutilated corpses on his slab.

"Wow, I severely underestimated how disturbing Dwell is," Ratchet muttered, walking over to the desk.

"I must admit, this is a bit much, even for me," Fervent said as he examined a photo of a mutilated body. "These must be his favorite autopsies."

"That's… intriguing," Srig said, holding back disgust. "Glad he's not against us."

"Indeed," Ratchet agreed as he opened a drawer and found a datapad. He picked it up and looked at it. It held a couple of entries and Ratchet looked them over.

'Hmm, things are getting quite interesting and I'm certainly happy about it, even though it is life endangering. Pyrobyte did me a huge favor a finally gave me an autopsy, blowing a hole in his head. Cause of death was easy to determine –single bullet to the head that went one way and out the other, destroying function of the brain module and CPU- but the details were interesting. Pyrobyte had a piece of ultra-sharp metal stuck in his head, which was actually a leviathan plate, which are used to heal head injuries. The bullet hit it at the right angle to split it in two on the way out, leading to a rather messy exit. One half went into Ratchet's head and the other is currently missing, not that it's important. Still making me help find it, so I'm trying to make measurements – I dabble in physics- to figure out where it would've gone, so I'll figure it out soon and they can stop bothering me and I can get back to autopsying Pyrobyte. I want to look at every part of him necessary.

Ratchet shuddered at that last sentence. It gave him more incentive to not die and have him autopsied by him. Still, at least it gave him more information about what happen at the incident and the bullet's path. With that, he looked at the next one.

We've got a problem. I did the math for where the bullet travel based on the exit wound, the confirmation of where Ratchet's half went, using whatever bullet fragments Ambulon fished out of his helm to get me some idea as to what the bullet looked like, and it didn't turn out well. My calculations said it went the direction of the nuclear reactor, so I went over there and took a look and found it lodged in the reactor.

That's a problem.

Look, I have a fascination with death and all things related to it, I will admit, but I'm not fatalistic. Still, this is interesting. Could make things more intriguing, as long as it doesn't go into total catastrophic meltdown. I'm very unsure how this will go. I'll be informing Siren about this after I finish my entry –my audial receptors are going to suffer- and get someone who knows how the reactor works on it. I wonder how this will turn out. Hope for the best, but prepare yourself for the worst. I'm packing my tools up for a mass exodus after I'm done with Pyrobyte, just in case. I may be optimistic, but I'm not stupid.

Ratchet raised an eyebrow at that. He had to give Dwell credit, he was pretty smart, being able to use all those variables to figure out where the bullet went and what caused it to split after exiting the helm. It would be nice if he show that side more often and not the nightmarish persona that he always puts up. He might actually be a good person to talk to if he could just stop acting like a serial killer.

"Alright. Entrance is open. Let's get going," Swindle told them as he backed off to let Srig take the lead.

"Alright, I'll lead. Swindle, right behind me. Ratchet, make sure Swindle doesn't stab me in the back and Fervent can watch the rear," he told them as he turned his Pipbot's light on and entered the entrance.

"Never going to let it go, will you?" he wondered as he fall in behind him and Ratchet following along with Fervent tailing him. They went forward for quite a bit before they found a ladder heading up, which they climbed, with complaints from Swindle and his wide frame. They reached the top of it and went forward for a little bit more before taking a left forward and having to go down another ladder, with more complaints from Swindle, as they went down and went forward slightly to a dead end.

"Alright, let me look around for a button or a hatch," he said, looking around before looking down to see a square line in the floor. "Found it, I think," he said, crouching and pulling it up slightly, allowing some light to come into the secret passage, allowing him to turn his Pipbot's light off. He bent down and peeked around the room to see a couple of people around the room, one being a lean looking black-yellow-and-red racer sitting in a chair, leaning in it with his elbow and a hand on his head, appear to be nodding off and the other one appeared to be a slightly larger one with a black-and-brown color scheme on his knee, staring blankly at a wall. The room itself consisted of a large table in the center, counters on the side, and a fridge to keep cool glasses of energon with the door out currently closed. The room's state was pretty good, only having a few things messed up and some dents in the fridge's door. The hatch appeared to be over the counter, allowing people to use that to get down. "Two of them, shouldn't be too much trouble," he whispered to the others.

"What are they doing?" Swindle asked.

"One's looks like he's napping and the other is just staring at the wall," he told him.

"Staring at the wall. That's strange," he muttered.

"No kidding. Looks like not all of them are sane," he said as he heard something. "Quiet, someone's entering." The door opened and a large, brown colored figured with spikes on the front of his shoulders and yellow optics figured enter the room. He had a large gun in his hand that looked like a minigun of some sort

"Wake up!" he shouted and the one on the chair jumped up, getting on his feet and saluting him. The one staring at the wall merely turned to look at him before standing up and looking at him with a blank expression. "Listen here, Bladeguard and Faraway. We got most of our men in preparation for the attacking defenders. I need you to follow me," he told them.

"Why?" the racer asked, scratching his neck, causing a few flecks to come off.

"Faraway, the room I need access to requires three people to enter it," he told them.

"But, we need to make sure that the Overseer doesn't sneak out while we're away and join the others," the other one, Bladeguard, said. "He might take this moment to escape and we won't be able to kill him."

"To where? The only way out is to enemy lines. He wouldn't risk it. Besides, I doubt he'll peek out of his room, especially since he got that damn lock working. That door is far more durable than I could give it credit for. Come on," he ordered, heading out.

"Right behind you, Turmoil," Faraway said, the two of them following Turmoil out of the room and closing the door behind them, leaving no one behind.

"All clear. Let's go inside," he said, opening the hatch all the way and dropping down to the counter and jumping to the floor. Swindle and Ratchet followed closely behind with Fervent coming right behind them and closing the hatch behind him.

"What are they after?" Swindle asked, thinking about it. "What would require three people together to open it?"

"I don't know and I don't care. They're leaving themselves open to Siren's office, so let's get going," he told them, moving to the door and peeking it open. "Alright, I see the intersection basically right next to us. Let's go," he told them, opening the door completely and moving on out, the three following quickly behind them. There was no one around and the group quickly made their way to the intersection. Srig took a look around to the left and right and grimaced. "Enemies both sides, but there's thankfully only one at Siren's door and the other two guards are looking the other way. Let's go, quietly," he told them, moving forward. The group quickly moved quickly, Ratchet looking behind them to see the two guards leaning against opposing walls chatting together about something. Ratchet turned back to see another raider at Siren's closed door, who appeared to be looking the door over, looking for a way through it. Srig quicken his pace and brought his knife back out for the kill. He closed the distance quickly and grabbed a hold of his head and pushed it against the door before stabbing him three times through the back of his head, ceasing movement from the raider and letting him down softly. "Alright, Ratchet, I hope you can pick it," he told him

"I'll try," Ratchet said, heading for the door lock and finding the energon lock quickly while the other three aimed at the other two guards. The holographic image came up and Ratchet went to work, this one having three segmented circles on it this time and having the new challenge of connecting at the corners as well. Looking at it, Ratchet saw that quite a bit of it looked very similar to each other and twisted the segmented parts around, it was quite confusing and Ratchet knew he had to be quick. The timer gave him thirty seconds to complete it and he worked quickly, spinning the segments around o find multiple combinations that could work if it wasn't for being slightly off at a couple of lines. With fifteen seconds left, he already went through five good-looking combinations that failed at a couple of segments. Obviously, this was one of the hardest possible combinations that locks could do, which meant he was going to have problems down the line if he encounters a lot more of these. With five seconds left, Ratchet was getting desperate and moved the segments quickly for one last combinations in the hopes that it would work. All of sudden, the screen flashed green in approval and the screen went away with the door unlocking. "Got it," he told them as it opened up and let him inside the office, which he was reacted with by Siren quickly aiming his gun at him behind his desk. "Woah, friendly," Ratchet said.

"AH, GOOD TO SEE!" Siren greeted and Ratchet inwardly groan.

"We've been made!" Srig yelled as both him, Fervent, and Swindle took aim at the two guards and fired, the two of them unable to get ready fast enough. Several bullets and lasers impacted, making energon spurt out and causing them to collapse to the ground.

"SORRY! ASSUME YOU TOOK THE AREA OVER!" Siren quickly apologized.

"We'll worry about that later –ah!" he shouted as Fervent suddenly pushed him into the side room together as a swarm of bullets came their way and Swindle instinctively pushed Ratchet inside as well and Siren ducked behind his desk as the bullets went over him and hit the screens behind him. Ratchet was surprised at what happened, wondering what was happening as more bullets was heading towards them.

"What is that?" Ratchet asked.

"It's that Turmoil guy with a minigun," Swindle told him. "Where did he get that?"

"HE CRACKED THE TERNARY CODE!?" Siren asked as he crawled out of the desk towards the locker.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I have no idea," Ratchet told him.

"SCRAP!" he yelled as he opened it and grabbed a device. He stood back up and ran to the entrance and peek around to the room Fervent and Srig was, seeing the two of them inside the room, avoiding gunfire. "HERE!" he yelled, quickly tossing it high to avoid the gunfire and to the two, which Srig catch. "WE'LL TALK LATER! FIND THE SECRET PASSAGE IN THERE AND GET OUT!" he ordered.

"Got it!" Srig yelled over the gunfire and closed the door with Siren doing the same, leaving the bullets to hit the door harmlessly.

"Okay, what are we going to do? We're stuck here now," Swindle asked as he and Ratchet got up.

"I GOT AN IDEA! I WAS WAITING FOR A WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS AND YOU CAME AT THE RIGHT TIME!" Siren thanked them.

"You got a plan?" Ratchet asked.

"YES AND ITS SIMPLE!" he told them as he got behind the desk and pulled the computer up and clicked some things in it. "HERE WE GO!" he said and suddenly the desk spilt open and part of the floor receded to show a staircase.

"A secret passage. I should've guessed. Where does it lead?" Swindle asked.

"THE ENTRANCE!" he answered.

"Wait, seriously?" Swindle asked him.

"YES! IT'S A STANDARD IN ALL VAULTS! NONE OF THE OTHERS HAVE THE OTHER HIDDEN PASSAGES!" he informed them.

"Cool," he smiled.

"Wait, where are we going to go?" Ratchet asked.

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? OUTSIDE!" Siren explained to him.

"Are you kidding me? We're leaving everyone behind?!" Ratchet yelled at Siren in disbelief, getting in his face.

"NO! TO GET HELP!" he told him.

"Wait, help?" Swindle asked, getting in-between them. "You believe we can find help out there?"

"MAYBE! I'VE HEARD CONVERSATIONS FROM THEM ABOUT ANOTHER GROUP THROUGH THE CAMERAS WHEN I'VE HAD THE CHANCE! IF WE COULD FIND THEM, WE MIGHT FIND SOME ALLIES!" Siren told him.

"Ha! Knew it!" Swindle bragged as Siren glared at him.

"I FIND SEVERAL THINGS THAT THEY'RE DING QUESTIONABLE, INCLUDING LETTING YOU HAVE ANY FREEDOM TO DO ANYTHING! THEY SHOULD'VE LOCKED YOU BACK UP AFTER SETTING YOU FREE!" he chastised, making Swindle nervously scratch the back of his neck.

"Yeah, um, about that-"

"It doesn't matter," Ratchet interrupted. "We've got enough problems with these raiders as it is, we don't need to turn against each other, even if Swindle kind of deserves it." Swindle glance at him for that last part, but was happy that he was standing up for him.

"TRUE," Siren acknowledged, "HOWEVER, HE'S STILL A VERY DANGEROUS INDIVIDUAL."

"Yes, which is why it's a good reason to keep him around on our side. No need to keep him stuff in a cell, especially since he's trying to make up for that colossal screw-up in giving Pyrobyte the weapon," he continued to defend him. Siren glared at them, shifting gaze between the two before relaxing.

"FINE! HE'LL COME ALONG, AS LONG AS HE'S WORKING FOR US, NOT AGAINST US!" he assented.

"You got it," Swindle nodded. "If I'm going to be a lying backstabber, it's to help us, not for myself."

"NOT THE RESPONSE I WAS LOOKING FOR, BUT I'LL TAKE IT!" Siren agreed as he turned back to the stairs. "LET'S GET GOING! LAST ONE DOWN, CLOSE IT BEHIND YOU!" he said, heading down the stairs. Ratchet glanced at Swindle, who gave him a snide smile in return.

"Come on. Let's see what the wasteland is like," he told him, heading down the stairs behind Ratchet. He gave a sigh of annoyance, looking around to notice a datapad at his feet. He grabbed it and quickly took a look at it.

'I'm noticing signals that might be used to our advantage. I figured out which one these people attacking us are using and found out these don't match them. Pushing them back is suicidal as they have far more people to throw at us. It will be even worse if they find the secret passages and flank us through them. I need to head out as soon as I can as soon as I establish communications with the other people. I just hope I don't get overwhelm early and have to leave without informing them about what I'm doing. It'll be even worse if they crack the ternary code. That's where we-'

It cut off their. That must've been when he entered the room. With that added to his Pipbot, he hurried after the others, thought of what was the ternary code for as he closed the secret passage. It must be something really bad if he's this worried about it. He quickly got to them as they walked a series of corridors and up several stair cases stairs, with a door every now and then to the side that held side rooms that were pretty barren.

"What's the point of these rooms?" Swindle asked.

"STORAGE! PROTECTION! LIVING QUARTER! MANY OTHER THINGS!" he answered. "MOSTLY JUST EXTRA SPACE THAT WE COULD USE FOR WHATEVER!"

"Ow," Swindle muttered. "These tunnels really amplified your voice and leave a loud echo."

"SORRY!" he told them.

"Right…," Swindle muttered as they reached a dead end, "Secret door?"

"HM-MMM!" he agreed as he went to the corner, crouched down, and pushed down a part of the floor, depressing it. With that, the wall opened up, showing off metal.

"Alright, metal door. Open it," Swindle ordered.

"WHAT?! THAT SHOULDN'T BE THERE!" Siren said, looking it over. He analyzed it by bending over to look at the ground. "SMALL OPENINGS. THIS MUST BE A METAL OBJECT OF SOME SORT PUT OVER THE ENTRANCE!"

"If that's true, can we just push it aside?" Ratchet asked, looking it over.

"NO! TOO HEAVY!" he replied.

"Ugh, then let's look inside these rooms for a lever of some sort to help us out with this," Swindle stated as he went over to the nearest door and open it, immediately gasping. "What the frag?"

"What is it?" Ratchet asked as he got next to Swindle to look inside the room. Inside was a barren, gray room that was lit up by a light hanging from the ceiling. Under that light was a large, familiar figure laying down, unmoving. "Hey, that's Treads!" Ratchet asked, running over to him and looking it over. He appeared to have taken a beating of some sort, with all the various dings, scratches, and cuts on him, a small amount of energon pooling around him. He hasn't bleed enough to die, but it was pretty damaging. One thing that really interested Ratchet was the large indent on the right side of his head. Looked like he took a hard punch to the head.

"IS HE OKAY?!" Siren asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Ratchet said, checking him over for anything else before he attempted to wake him up by shaking him lightly. "Hey, Treads, can you wake up?" Almost immediately, he heard him groaned as his yellow optics came online to look at him.

"Ratchet…," he moaned as he sat up and hold his head in his hands. "Ugh, what happen?" he asked. Ratchet looked over to the other two, wanting to know if he should tell him, and the two nodded. "We've… been attacked."

"Attacked… yeah, yeah. Me and Tidal shock when we the door fell open somehow. I tried holding them off, but something happened. It all went black," he said, looking up at them and looking around. "Wait… where's Tidalshock?" he asked.

"We… don't know," Swindle told him.

"Then where are we. I don't recognize this place," he said, looking around.

"It's a secret passage leading from the Overseer's office to the entrance," Ratchet told him.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

"I don't know… maybe Tidalshock brought you in and then headed on out for something," Ratchet guessed.

"That metal object over the door. What if that's the vault door?" Swindle asked. "If they blew that open, they probably found a way to go for the joints somehow and knocked it over. He could've grabbed it and placed it over it."

"That's a large object for just one bot, even for one like him." Ratchet muttered, "but it might not be impossible."

"The way out is blocked?" he asked, trying to stand up as Ratchet looked over him to make sure he wasn't stressing himself out.

"Yeah. A large metal object. Looks really heavy," Swindle told him.

"Then Tidalshock must've closed it. Let me get it open," he told them, rushing to the way out.

"Hey, wait!" Ratchet yelled as he and the other two followed them out of the room and Treads took a running start and impacted the object, causing it to be pushed back to the right hard, making a way out just big enough for everyone to slip through. "I got it," he said, heading on out to the stunned look on everyone.

"Damn… that guy is really strong," Swindle said as he moved forward and slipped through the crack as well. Ratchet and Siren shook out of their daze and moved on ahead, Siren going first followed by Ratchet, slipping through quickly and walking out of the entrance booth to the ruined entrance, which had blast marks everywhere and quite a few bullet casing and what looked like energy boxes. The four looked around, seeing no one around. "Where are the rest of them?" Swindle asked everybody.

"I SAW THEM WORKING ON SOMETHING IN THE ATRUIM FROM MY OCULUS! MIGHT BE RELATED!" Siren told him.

"Did you see Tidalshock from there?" Treads ask, turning to him.

"I COULDN'T SEE HIM!" Siren answered.

"Right… you three wait here. Maybe check out the atrium and see what's going on there. I'll go outside and clear it of any enemies and be on my way. If Tidalshock isn't here, he has to be somewhere else and I have to find him. Sorry that I can't help you," he told them.

"No, we understand. Your conjunx endura is missing and you have to look for him. Doing better than some others," Ratchet agreed.

"Some others? Did someone lose there… no, don't tell me. I don't need to know what could happen to me," he said, turning around and running for the way out. "Give me five minutes then come on out!" he told them as he disappeared from view.

"Well, at least he's alive," Swindle muttered, crossing his arms. "That's one less person to worry about."

"YES. VERY MUCH!" he said, bringing a communications device out. "WOULD YOU TWO MIND CHECKING OUT THE ATRUIM WHILE I TALK TO SRIG ABOUT WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO!"

"Feel like some recon, Swindle?" Ratchet asked him.

"I guess taking a look won't hurt, if it gets me everyone's blacklist faster," Swindle agreed, heading to the door. "Just got to be quiet, which should be easy if Siren's not with us," he reminded him, as Ratchet followed along to the stairs. The two of them traversed down the stairs quickly, making sure that there were no enemies coming their way as they went. Before long, they reached the end of the stairs to the door that was kicked door, laying on the floor in front of them. The two of them peeked carefully into the room to see no one on the balconies, so they carefully walked across the balcony and looked over the railing down below. There, they could see many of the raiders around with weapons, sitting around, checking weapons, and drinking energon.

The thing that drawn Ratchet's optics the most was a gate of some sort, made of rusted metal. The two of them wonder what it was for when someone went over to the console and activated the switch. When that happened, a green energon went around the gate before a green portal appeared. The two of them gaped at it as they saw people emerged from the portal and to the atrium. The one leading them was a large figure walking in a dusty grey color and a patchwork of scars all over him. He was outfitted with a large cannon on his back and red optics that glared at everyone with a dangerous look. They saw a symbol that was very prominently shown on his chest and looking around, they could see them on the other raiders behind the grime and the rust. When his group had left the portal, he addressed them. "Where is Turmoil?" he asked them calmly in a guttural voice, his mouth showing off his incredibly sharp teeth.

"He's busy attacking the Overseer's office and defending it from the inhabitants," the gruff voice from earlier when they were in the dorms spoke.

"Hmph, fine," he muttered. "Tell him he will now serve as Co-leader of the attack with Lugnut here," he told them, laying a hand on the figure next to him. He was even larger than him with a purple-and-gray color scheme, his head jutting forward severely, and five optics. One on his forehead and two next to it. "I trust, Lugnut, that you will ensure the capture of the area."

"I will, Lord Megatron. I always do whatever you want," Lugnut agreed in a boisterous voice, bowing lightly.

"Good," Megatron coolly replied, turning back to everyone. "Remember, this place is critical in out endeavors. Wipe the people out and then control it."

"Understood, sir," the gruff voice said, nodding slightly.

"Very well. Carry on in the name of the Decepticons," Megatron said as he headed back out the gateway.

"For the Decepticons!" Lugnut shouted as the other in the rooms repeated it as well as Megatron disappeared. When he left, Ratchet and Swindle looked at each other before making their way back out of the room, heading up quickly. Before long, they were back up at the entrance where Siren was waiting for them with crossed arms.

"YOU'RE LATE! WHAT TOOK SO LONG?!" he questioned them. With that, Swindle quickly told him.

"They have a groundbridge and their using it to transport troops here!" he answered.

"A GROUNDBRIDGE! THAT'S HIGHLY DANGEROUS!" Siren said.

"Yeah, and we got the name and leader of the group. A person name Megatron is their leader and the group is called the Decepticons," Ratchet told him.

"That Megatron guy is really scary-looking," Swindle told him. "Sharp teeth. Bunch of scars. Looked like a gladiator."

"THAT'S TROUBLESOME!" he said, thinking this through. "WE'LL HAVE TO BE CAREFUL! JUST THE GROUNDBRIDGE IS WORRISOME, SHOWING THEY HAVE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE TO BUILD ONE!

"No kidding. Until that's gone, they'll send as many as they want to attack them," Swindle pointed out.

"We have to find out who the people the Decepticons are warring with and hope they can help us," Ratchet said.

"YES! WE MUST! AND THE FIRST STEP IS GETTING OUT!" Siren said, turning to the way out and walking towards it. "COME ON! THE OUSIDE IS WAITING FOR US!" he told them. The two of them followed along, walking through the winding caves, Siren leading with his Pipbot's light, followed by Swindle, and Ratchet tailing it off. The three moved along careful, pieces of the cave jutting out, scraping them slightly as they walked around the caves, moving up through it. Ratchet couldn't help but feel tense as he moved up. It had been over 300 years since he's been outside. He was in what was basically an underground hermit town, isolating themselves from society as it was destroyed. Now, he was heading out to the ruins of it. It left a weird feeling in him.

"Please tell me that's light from outside!" Swindle shouted in joy and Ratchet tried his hardest to look above them and he could see a blinding light in front of him.

"IT IS!" Siren shouted as he turned his Pipbot light off and started sprinting for the cave entrance. Swindle and Ratchet both picked up the pace as well as they continued heading for the blinding light. They ran quickly, their HUD not adjusting fast enough as they reached the entrance and outside.

Into the wasteland.