Transformers: Prometheus

Chapter 2: Commitments

Ron Witwicky sat in the old diner, fidgeting in his chair with nervousness. A middle aged skeleton of a waitress came over asking if he wanted more coffee. He simply answered with a smile and a nod as she poured him more of the tepid pick-me-up. After a while the door opened and a refined looking man in a long green coat entered. He looked to be in his fifties, a few years older than Ron, and quite out of place in the rustic setting. His eyes scanned over the small crowd of patrons until he spotted Ron sitting in a booth by the window. He smiled as he walked over to greet him.

"It's been a long time, Witwicky," he said as he sat down across from him.

"No offense, General, but I'd was hoping not to have to see you again."

"Of course. But circumstances don't permit us that luxury. After all, you made a promise all those years ago... Do you have it?"

"Y-yeah…" Ron stuttered as he pulled out a pair of photos; the picture of the strange metal object that his employee, Chip Chase, had taken, and the enhanced image of the strange symbol.

General Hallo eyed the two photos for a moment before reaching into his jacket and pulling out a picture of his own. His was a close up image of that same symbol emblazoned upon a plate of gold. "To think, it's been over fifty years since we found them, and now finally…"

Ron became nervous at his own lack of understanding of the situation. "General, please, tell me what's going on. How was my Grandfather in all this?"

"Of course, General Archibald Witwicky. My predecessor."

"General?" Ron chuckled. "My grandfather wasn't a General. He was a sea captan. He-"

Hallo cut off his explanation before he could finish. "He was the one who discovered the five titans, and thus, was put in charge of Project Lazarus. Just like I am now."

"Lazarus…? Titans…? What are you talking about?"

"As I said, your grandfather made a discovery. He was in charge of it, and when he became too old and sick to take care of it, I took his place at a very young age. I've been watching over them for years."

"Watching over who? What?"

"Ron, who else knows about this?"

"Two of my workers, I told you that over the phone."

"Names, Ron, I need names. You know that."

"Look, do we really have to get them involved?"

"They're already involved. Now… are you going to tell me?"

Ron sat silent. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head.

"Say, Ron? How's Judy?"

"What?"

"Sam just turned sixteen, didn't he?"

"Hallo, you leave my family out of this."

The general smirked and spoke in a smug tone. "You know, Ron, I can make things very difficult for them."

The enraged family man immediately reached over the table and grabbed the well dressed general by the shirt. The few other patrons in the tiny diner immediately turned to look.

"Now now, my friend. Let's not make a scene."

Ron then calmed down and fell back into his seat.

"Now…" the general repeated. "The names."

On Cybertron, the Autobots marveled at their own creation. The ship that would take them to new worlds and possibilities. The Ark.

"Not too bad if I do say so myself," Wheeljack said confidently.

"Good work, men," Optimus said pleased. "We have to get ready to take off immediately." Just as soon as he was able to speak those words, the shriek of jet engines could be heard approaching in the distance.

One of Optimus Prime's men, Prowl, immediately piped up. "Decepticons! The Seekers are on their way!"

Optimus Prime's commanding instinct kicked in has he started yelling orders to his troops. "Wheeljack, Ratchet, Jazz. You three get the Ark ready for take off! Ironhide, you take Trailbreaker, Hound, and Mirage and man the Ark's defense systems. I want any Decepticons coming within range to be shot down! Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Bluestreak and Prowl will stay out here with me, ready to jump onboard when the ship is ready. Bumblebee, take the Mini-Bots inside. I'm counting on you and Huffer to repair any damage the ship may take!"

"Prime!" Ironhide yelled, "They're here."

As three Cybertronian jets came into view, the Autobots all sprung to their assigned positions. The jet in front was none other than Starscream, the egotistical aerospace commander with the warriors, Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"Disable the ship!" Starscream yelled as he fired a set of cluster bombs at the back end of the Ark.

"Let's see you deal with this, laughing boy," Ironhide sneered as he targeted Starscream's left wing with one of the Ark's top mounted cannons.

"You can't take all of us!" Optimus Prime yelled as he and his comrades fired an upward rain of laser fire on the three jets.

Starscream nimbly dodged a large beam from the Ark, causing Ironhide to curse in frustration. Finally, the back engines began to fire up, but as they did, the sneaky Decepticon, Skywarp, flew up from behind and fired a heat seeking missile into the ship's engine, causing considerable damage. The engine then flared for a moment and burned out.

"We've done it!" Starscream laughed with confidence.

Without saying a word, Prowl took aim at Starscream with his blaster, waited a second, and fired a missile damaging the cocky Decepticon's wing. The two other jets immediately transformed into their robotic forms and, using their foot mounted jet boosters to stay airborne, caught their injured air commander.

"The deed is done!" Starscream snickered as he transformed to robot mode. "Return to the base." The three promptly transformed again, and disappeared into the horizon.

Optimus Prime sighed at the apparent damage. "Come on, Autobots. We don't have any time to waste," he muttered as he walked onto the shuttle with his soldiers behind him.

Back at the Decepticon's hidden fortress, Megatron paced back and fourth in front of the entrance to their new flagship, The Nemesis. "Where the hell is that idiot, Starscream? How long as it been?"

As if on cue, the three Decepticon Seekers than entered the hangar. "Starscream! Where the hell have you been?"

Starscream smirked with confidence. "Stopping the Autobots from getting the jump on us. You weren't about to."

Megatron sneered and stamped towards his smug subordinate. "You idiot!" he screamed, picking Starscream up by the neck. "We should have left megacycles ago! Thanks to your rashness, we have lost our advantage!"

"Bu-but…" Starscream struggled to speak. "I disabled their engines. They can't take off like-"

"Silence!" Megatron yelled, cutting him off. "It took you longer to get there and back than it will take them to repair their engine!" He then swiftly flicked Starscream to the ground with a yell. "Now, get on the ship before you fuck something else up!"

Starscream struggled to his feet with the aid of his two aerial companions. "C'mon, big mouth," Skywarp said as he and Thundercracker drug Starscream onto the Nemesis.

As they walked by Megatron, he grabbed Skywarp by the arm. "From now on, you two are only to follow orders from Starscream in the midst of a battle. Outside of that, all of his commands need my approval. Understand?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Skywarp nodded.

A short blue Decepticon was waiting onboard the ship. "You sure managed to get on Megatron's nerves this time, Starscream," he chucked.

Starscream merely stared at the tiny little robot before uttering "Shut up, Frenzy."

Back at the site of The Ark, the Autobots were working hard to get everything working. "Bah," Huffer groaned, "as if things weren't bad enough before…"

"As much as I hate to say this," Wheeljack admitted, "I agree with Huffer. This launch was sketchy before we had our engines blown out."

"Never mind that. Can it be fixed? Will this ship fly?"

"Well…" Wheeljack said eyeing the circuitry, "Maybe… lets see… if I can…" Wheeljack mumbled and tinkered for a few minutes before finally, all The Ark's systems powered up. "And there we have it!"

"Allright, Autobots," Optimus commanded, "The Decepticons already have the jump on us by a couple megacycles, so we have to hurry. Have you all scanned in your alternate forms?"

The various troops replied with nods and the like.

"Alright, Autobots. It's time to take off. Our next stop; Planet Earth!"