Chapter 19-School's Out

Scorpio and Leo stood outside of Pisces's quarters trying to figure out how to bring the man back to his senses, or at least Scorpio was making an effort. Leo was just munching on an apple while enjoying the show.

"He's been stewing in his room for four days now." Scorpio said. "I've never seen him this distressed before."

"He had it coming to him, showing off that fucking cube lie it was a damn trophy. Did he really think he wasn't going to lose it after lugging it around in the open like that?" Leo laughed and spat at the door. "Arrogant prick. This little fuck-up is just what fish-head needed to humble the bastard."

"You don't even know how to spell humble, let alone know its meaning." Scorpio said. "And this is serious. Losing that cube is a serious blow to the organization. We've lost our main advantage over the cybertronians."

"We still have Thornment. She can give us the goods."

"At her own discretion. She gives us information only when she wants to. Hell, the Destruction team was more helpful in a week than she has in the past several months!" Scorpio said. "We were in the process of developing hover tanks and finally completing the BATS, but now we've been set back to square one thanks to two little girls!"

Leo finished his apple and tossed the core away. "What about Pisces? He gonna get off his ass and do something about it?"

The door flung open and Pisces walked out. His hair and clothes were groomed and clean, his glasses were polished and his expression was calmer than a summer breeze. But his eyes were sharper than glass, and betrayed the murderous intent in his thoughts.

"Rest assured, Leo, I do plan on doing something about it." Pisces calmly said. "As a matter of fact, I'm already formulating a plan for my retribution."

"Retribution? Pisces, Ophiuchus ordered us to leave the children alone!" Scorpio said.

"I could care less at this point. Those children have proven to be just as big a threat to OZ's plans as the Autobots. We cannot allow them to interfere with our mission again!" Pisces growled. "I'm sure Ophiuchus will understand in time."

"She'll understand that you disobeyed her direct orders. Pisces, you're not so invaluable that she won't kill you on the spot."

Pisces spun around and pointed an advanced looking gun at Scorpio's face. It was a prototype, custom-made blaster powered by energon, built with Thornment's help. It hadn't been field tested, but it was believed to be capable of blasting through composite armor as well as cause serious damage to inhuman flesh (he tested that last part himself on unruly troops).

"And you aren't so invaluable that I won't consider killing you." Pisces hissed. "Go ahead and stop me, Scorpio. This gun was designed to bring down inhumans. It'll make short work of you."

"Now, now, children, no need to fight." Leo grinned and stepped between them, pushing Pisces's gun down. "I'm sure we all can come to an understanding here."

"There's nothing to discuss. Pisces's pride is more important than keeping to OZ's mission!" Scorpio growled.

"Go ahead and report me, Scorpio, but you know I'm right. Those children must die, and it will be the perfect way to demoralize the Autobots." Pisces said. "You can see that too. It's not treason, it's common sense. Aries knew that, and now I'm neutralize this threat!"

"Fish-man ain't gonna stop, and you know it." Leo said. "Might as well join him."

Scorpio, still livid from having Pisces point a gun at his face, said nothing more. He simply pushed them aside and marched down the hallway. Leo watched him go with a smirk.

"Wuss." Leo laughed and looked at Pisces. "So you got a plan for your little revenge scheme?"

"Of course I do. However, I'm going to need your help…and that of your students. Someone needs to lure the Autobots away from their precious flesh dolls."

XXXXXX

Annie and Penny sat on the bleachers in gm class with the other girls in their class watching the teacher instruct the students in self-defense techniques.

The special guest today was Gina's mother, Julia, a martial arts instructor and former Army officer. At the school's request, she came to the school to teach the children some basic self-defense moves in response to the growing crime wave spreading across the country. It was just basic stuff, nothing too complicated. The boys and girls were separated into their own groups for one on one practice sessions. Annie and Penny were watching Gina absolutely wipe the floor with one of her bullies in their grade.

"Once upon a time Gina could barely throw a punch." Penny said, earning a hum from Annie. "And now she's cleaning house. Have you seen her arms lately? They feel like steel!"

"Benefits of being a superhuman." Annie said and flexed her robot arm, which was covered in her usual black glove. "Wish I could join. Gets kind of lonely sitting by myself."

Penny turned away from Annie to see another interesting sight that made her grin. "Hey, check out your bro's sparring partner."

Annie looked up and she also grinned. "Oh my."

Darren was sparring with Brianna and it looked like she was giving him a run for his money. Darren was no master martial artist, but training under Arcee and Jazz had made him a decent fighter in the long run. Fighting Brianna had completely turned that on his head as she showcased her fighting skills by throwing her partners into the floor repeatedly.

"Please go easy on me, Darren." Brianna teased him. It was done in jest, but he hardly felt confident after watching her early display.

They got into their practice stances and counted to three before moving at each other. Darren threw a punch at Brianna, but she grabbed his wrist and pulled him close. He blushed as their faces were inches apart for a second, before Brianna hooked her leg behind his and shattered his balance. She then pulled him close and threw him over her shoulder into the mat. Dazed, he was open to her submission hold, but instead Brianna just settled with mounting him and using her weight to pin him down.

"Damn." Annie whistled.

"That's match." Brianna grinned.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about being skilled. Not that I doubted you." Darren panted. He wiggled under her weight and huffed. "Um, could you get off me please? We still need to do this two more times."

"I think I quite like this position." She giggled. "If you want me off, you going to have to throw me off."

'Crap.' Darren thought nervously.

"I'd love it if you could get off my boyfriend, Brianna." A void said, sounding colder than a glacier. Brianna looked up and saw Gina walking over to them. "As in right now."

"A new challenger approaches!" Annie hollered. There were already a few students noticing the tense exchange between the girls.

Brianna got off of Darren and turned to Gina. "I wasn't expecting you to take part in the class, Gina. You don't seem like the type to know how to throw a punch."

"You don't live with a martial artist like my mother and not learn a few things." Gina said, crossing her arms. "After all, a girl's got to protect her turf, right?"

Darren took a step back from the girls as the air between them grew frosty. Getting a good look at them, he couldn't help but notice how similar they looked to one another. Their blond hair, matching eye color, their voice tones, even their…physiques. Another thing Darren also noticed was their shared interest in him (he did notice things like this from time to time).

'I really hope Gina restrains herself. I don't need my girlfriend breaking another girl's jaw for looking at me funny.' Darren thought.

Just as Gina and Brianna prepared to get started, their instructor blew his whistle, signaling everyone to stop.

"That will be all for today! Be sure to thank Ms. Harkins for her contribution to today's class. Great work everybody!"

Darren briefly heard Mandy complaining about a chipped fingernail before heading over to the girls, who still looked ready to fight.

"Uh, girls? Class is over. Shouldn't you be getting changed now?" He asked.

"Sure, Darren. We can always settle this on another day." Brianna smiled and went to the locker room.

Darren turned to Gina and sighed. "Gina, what's up with you? You two look ready to ripe each other's heads off."

"I'm just showing her it's not nice to annex another girl's boyfriend by mounting them." Gina said. "I'm not apologizing after seeing the look she was wearing."

"What look?"

"The 'I'm going to ride you like a stallion until we're both in a coma' look, Darren. She was seconds away from doing the bump and grind!"

Darren's face turned red and he cleared his throat. "Well, that's, um…y-yeah so you going to be here tomorrow? It's a half-day."

"Half-day? For what?"

"A special guest is having an assembly for the school. No clue who's coming, but judging from the growing number of HF goons slithering around the area, I think I can guess who's coming."

"Count me out. I'm heading back over to Cid-Alpha to check out those Saurian eggs. I want to know what exactly Pisces did to turn a five million year old egg into a fully grown inhuman." Gina said.

"That's a shame. I'm going to miss you." He pouted. Gina smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I'll catch you after the assembly." Gina said. "After today, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

XXXXXX

"I never pegged you for a MyPlace guy, Pisces."

Pisces didn't even spare Thornment a glance as he scrolled up on the webpage of the largest social media website in the world. One of his viruses was already hard at work in piercing the site's security odes to obtain confidential information. It wasn't hard work, but Thornment's unwelcome presence was breaking his concentration.

"It's not for me, Thornment. This is for my mission. These are children I'm hunting down. Social media is a primer way to know where they live and work at." Pisces said.

"You're putting way too much work into this." Thornment said. "You better stop now before your boss gets angry. That bitch is scary when you finally tick her off."

"Ophiuchus will understand. It's embarrassing that a couple of human tag-alongs are derailing so many of our operations. That girl cost us a valuable resource and I will not let it stand any longer." Pisces said.

Thornment shrugged. "It's your funeral."

Pisces hit a key and grinned as he saw the profile pictures of the three children. "No…it's theirs."

XXXXXX

As luck would have it, Gina's intuition was actually spot on. The next day the entire school had an assembly on the account of a special visitor coming over for the day—Melanie Crane, the head of the Human Front.

"Everyone settle down and find your seats. The assembly is going to begin." Said a teacher as the students of Heartsgrace made their way into the auditorium. "Mr. Crane wishes to speak with you all and I hope you have his full respect for this assembly."

'Some say assembly, others said brainwashing.' Thought Darren as he looked around, standing side by side with Annie, Kevin and Penny.

"Wow, people are really excited for this guy. That worries me more than seeing the man himself." Annie said. "Wonder what he's going to feed us today."

"Nothing good." Kevin muttered as he took his seat.

"I'm not looking forward to this." Darren sighed.

"On the contrary, I'm looking forward to this. I'm intrigued as to what made Crane crawl out of his hole to take his campaign to Osea's youth."

"Isn't he doing it in all major middle and high schools?" Annie asked.

"No, only the ones who have espers expose themselves." Said Brittany as she stepped into the isle, ignoring the stares sent her way by some student. As she took a seat, she ducked under a paper ball a boy two isles behind her threw out of her head. She picked it up and unfolded it to see a crude drawing of a spotted girl being cut to bloody ribbons. She winced by quickly schooled her features. "Childish, but what do you expect from these people?"

Annie took the paper, balled it up, and threw it back at the boy, hitting him right in his eye. Brittany smiled at her in thanks.

"Brittany, should you be here?" Darren asked.

"I thought about not going, but I'm not sitting this one out. I want a first-hand account of the man who's making ever esper's lives hell in this country." She said hotly and leaned back in her seat, slightly leaning on Annie for support.

"Everyone quiet down." Principal Davis said as he walked onto the stage. "As you know, espers are becoming a problem in our schools, in our neighborhoods, in our community. You may have heard of at least one case, but how many more are lurking out there? Espers are a quickly rising threat, and Mr. Melanie Crane will discuss what you should do if you encounter dangerous espers, as his associates pass around more information."

At that moment, an old man with graying black hair and dressed in a suit walked on stage.

"Thank you, Principal Davis. Thank you for your time, children of Osea. I'm Melanie Crane, and I'm here to defend your future as humans of Terra." The man smoothly said. As expected of someone in his position, his voice was the kind that made you think he was your friend, but to those who were paying attention, one could sense a phony quality to it. "As you know, there are a growing number of espers in our great nation, and the threat they pose to innocent people also rises with them. They may act innocent, but they can lash out at any time in any place without warning.

"My friends, I feel that humanity should stand together against the esper menace, to make sure we live in a happier, safer world" He continued passionately. "Where mothers can tuck their children in at night without worrying about some esper walking through their walls and snatching them up. Where everyone can safely walk the streets at night, knowing that they will remember exactly what they did the next morning without fear of a mind wiping. Espers play with our hearts and minds and would enslave us all if we humans allow it."

"Notice how he doesn't mention the Autobots." Darren whispered to his friends. "Even though his people have been ranting about them for six months."

"Almost everyone in this school is a fan of the Autobots. It wouldn't do any good for Crane to start bad mouthing them now." Kevin said.

"On the topic of those so-called heroes called the Neo Knights, they embody a disease threatening to uproot human values. We can no longer be proud because we are healthy, normal humans. We must be special, superior. Humans are strong, we are superior, and we have numbers. Are we going to let espers take us down? Allow them to show off to display their dominance?"

"The Neo Knights are heroes!" Annie yelled, earning a few hateful glares and jeers from the other students. "They're the ones protecting us from the bad guys, unlike you and your skinhead thugs!"

"It's very easy to get caught up in hero worship of the Neo Knights, young lady, but that is what they want." Continued Crane, not the least bit perturbed by Annie's outburst. "Do not be afraid to go against those more powerful. True strength will come. Those who have strength will not be bullied by any espers, thus the Human Front is a show of our strength, to strengthen the bonds between us. I see so much promise out there. Don't waste it. Don't let humans crush your hopes and dreams."

It was at that moment Penny decided to strike. "Mr. Crane, my name is Penelope Pincer, and as fascinating as I find your views, don't you think you are being a bit unfair with tarring espers with the same brush?" She began. "I mean, just because some espers might use their powers to harm humans, it's not right. I mean, we have Aztecans who get into the country illegally, but would it be fair to punish those who went through the proper channels for a few that didn't?"

"Now, young lady, you may have a valid point, but we're not dealing with any group, we're dealing with superpowered individuals who would destroy us in a blink of an eye." Crane said, confident in his ability to shrug off her comments.

"How do you know?" Penny said politely.

"Studies have been conducted. They said that espers are likely to misuse their powers because of a genetic imbalance." He replied.

"What studies?" Questioned Penny. "I mean, can anyone take a look at the data with these studies? Have they been collaborated with anyone else? Is this data that can easily be misread? Do the results support a well-reasoned hypothesis?"

"Such an inquisitive young girl. I do understand why someone would have questions for someone so young and not truly understanding how the world really works." Crane said with a smirk, with some snickers from his supporters. "But rest assure, my data is rather ironclad. The proof is there, espers are a menace."

"Insult me all you want, but what you're saying right now is pure hearsay, because no one's seen any studies." She pressed. "In fact, there have been studies that have been done and can be verified through reputable scientific journals that suggest esper powers might be the natural evolution of humanity, but it will take another few generations to be proven. Espers are what we may become or close enough to it in another hundred or so years. Anyone can look them up, they aren't very difficult to find. I even have a copy printed off in my locker if you want to take a look at it later."

'You go girl.' Kevin thought with a smile. 'World famous racist gets roasted by a middle school girl. I hope Darren's recording this.'

'Thank god I'm recording this.' Darren grinned, using a small marble-shaped camera (courtesy of Liftor and Gina) to record the interaction.

"These sources must be completely and utterly biased then, because anyone knows that espers are unnatural." Crane's voice cracked for the briefest moment. "As stimulating as this debate has been, we're getting off the subject. No matter what, we know that espers are a threat. All espers must be dealt with to keep them off our streets."

"Just one more question, Mr. Crane, if you'll enlighten me."

Crane's smile tightened. "Go ahead, Ms. Pincer."

"How far do you go when determining who should be punished for their abilities?" Penny asked. "Genetically speaking, there could be a child of two espers that would technically be an esper but exhibit no special changes."

"Now that is absurd," Crane quickly replied. "Obviously that person would be a human."

"But judging by your statement, they would still have esper blood in them and would be unbalanced." She replied. "Where do we draw the line? How many generations do we go back? The meta gene can remain dormant for your entire lives unless stimulated by certain conditions. Many of us could have an unactivated meta gene and not even know it. And that includes you, Mr. Crane, and everyone else in the HF. What would you do then if that were the case?"

The entire auditorium erupted in whispers, teachers and students speaking in hushed tones. Many were outraged at the thought of their family being tainted by espers but more than a few people looked thoughtful. Crane looked positively livid, but before he could formulate a response, a loud smash was heard and the side doors to the auditorium were blown right off their hinges.

Armed men and women in black body armor flooded into the room, pointing their weapons at everyone. Darren and Annie stood up in shock, but froze as they saw a familiar man walk into the auditorium.

"Oh god." Darren breathed. "It's Pisces!"

"What's OZ doing here?" Kevin hissed.

"OZ? Annie, what's going on?" Britanny asked, holding Annie's hand nervously.

"Trouble, Brit." Annie growled.

The Zodiac general walked onto the stage after his men pushed Crane and his people aside. Pisces looked down at the children and smiled.

"Attention to all present," His loud voice made everyone go silent as he spoke. "You are all under the care of me, Pisces, the man who holds all of your lives in my hands. Consider yourselves my hostages."

"How dare you!" Crane bellowed, pushing his way back on stage. Pisces waved his men to stand down. "Who are you to threaten these children here?"

"I am someone who is superior to you in every way, old man, so save your prattling for those gullible sheep you lead along." Pisces said.

Crane's face was red with anger. "You bastard. I am Melanie Crane, the man leading this nation's glorious war against—"

Pisces's arm shot up and leveled a gun to Crane's head before pulling the trigger. A gunshot echoed throughout the auditorium, and everyone went silent as Crane's skull exploded in a gory mess of blood and brain matter. Pisces hosted his gun and turned back to his audience.

"That will be your fate if you choose to be difficult." Pisces said with a cold smile. "Now let's have a pleasant afternoon, shall we?"

XXXXXX

Across Osea, there were three solar energy projects being doing as a joint human/Autobot collaboration. Two were almost done, but a third was still in the production phase. As a result, being in the middle of the state of Iona, it was the least guarded of the three. The perfect hunting ground for a lion.

"You guys are a fucking joke!" Leo cackled, ripping apart a Bushnell talos and throwing the halves aside. "This is your country's national defense? No wonder Karaba's bending you over!"

No one in their right mind would dare attack a military base filled with top of the line military talos. But Leo was never in his right mind, and he had OZ's brand new talos on his side—the Hoplites.

Hoplites were newly developed general purpose talos designed using the same palladium power source and Brahma operating system as the Throne series, but that was where the similarities ended. They were bright gold and red, but equipped with vibro-weapons capable of dealing tremendous amounts of damage to armored targets. There were a dozen of them he brought along, and the talos squadrons were unprepared for the ferocious and sudden assault.

'Best test run I've ever had!' Leo laughed. He ducked under a tank shell that flew over his head and rushed at the attack, his talos's high frequency claws shredding apart the Abrams tank with horrific ease. "Still, as much fun as this art is, it's still missing something…"

Leo pulled back on his joysticks and his Hoplite unit jumped back to avoid the large red and blue Autobot who almost landed on him. Optimus, Jazz, Bulkhead, Hound and Ironhide emerged from the ground bridge and pointed their weapons at Leo.

"OZ, power down your weapons and stand down." Optimus commanded. "You are under arrest."

"There's our guests of honor!" Leo grinned and contacted his squad. "All Hoplite units…go crazy on them!"

XXXXXX

Gina frowned at the holographic display of the top half of Civ-Alpha that she compiled from data gained from obsessively exploring the ancient city. Sara and Sureshock were resting at the relay station Wheeljack and Armorhide built for them as a little base to stay in while exploring the site.

"Is something wrong, Gina?" Sara asked.

"It's nothing new, Sara. For all the data we've gained from those ancient tests we translated, we still barely know about this place." Gina said.

"The data accumulated on these "saurians" is more than sufficient. We know that this was one of their last cities, and that they were at war with their creations." Sara said.

"And that those eggs were sound were possibly the offsprings of the same slave race that rebelled against them." Sureshock said.

"Yes, but what about the saurian themselves? Their culture, their science, the good stuff. Just learning about what they did and how they died out isn't good enough." Gina pouted. "Not to mention we know next to nothing about those Shadows."

"I think the less you know about them, the better, Gina." Sureshock said. "Those things really creep me out."

Sara froze as she heard someone calling on her comm-frequency and switched it on. It was High Wire and he had bad news to tell her. Gina and Sureshock noticed her silence and turned to her.

"Sara, what's wrong?" Gina asked.

"We must go back home." Sara said. "Your school has been attacked by OZ!"

XXXXXX

"Optimus! Optimus do you read me?"

Optimus dodged a slash from Leo's claws and kicked him away before blocking an attack from behind with his ion rifle and slicing off a Hoplite's legs. His team were fighting hard against the OZ talos and two gunships that were coming at them at full force.

"Sparkplug, I'm busy at the moment!" Optimus grunted. He deflected another one of Leo's attacks, but the Zodiac scored a hit into his side.

"Pay attention, Big Red! It's not fun if you're half-assing it!" Leo shouted.

"Optimus, there's an emergency in Tranquility. An OZ division just took the children's school hostage. I think one of the Zodiac is leading them."

"What?! How—"

"I said pay attention to him!" Leo leapt at Optimus and slashed at his face. Optimus grabbed the Hoplite's arm and threw the talos into the ground. Leo made his talos kick Prime in the chest to knock him back.

"The children…Sparkplug, have Arcee, Moonracer and Cliffjumper head to the school!" Optimus ordered. "Don't let OZ hurt anyone in that school, do you understand?"

"Crystal!"

Cutting the comm-link, Optimus turned to face Leo, drawing his axe. "The attacks on the solar plants are diversions."

"You're a smart fucker, aren't ya?" Leo grinned, raising his vibrating claws. "Not like you can do anything about it."

"What do you want with the children?" Optimus demanded. "Tell me!"

"Make me!"

Jazz had torn a Hoplite in half when he saw a bolt of energy burst from the ground next to him. He leapt back, but a laser beam hit him in the chest from the smoke and sent him to the ground. He rolled to his feet coughing in pain and looked up.

"Scrap," He growled. "Boss bot, we've got company!"

Optimus looked over at the dust cloud and saw the massive form of Scorpio's insectoid mecha crawling into view, its stinger pointed right at him.

"Damn." Prime scowled and prepared to fight. It was up to the reserve team now.

XXXXXX

Grindor snuck through the hallway of the school as quietly as possible. He took a peak outside and saw a team of talos stationed in key positions around the school.

"Never thought I'd have to sneak around like this." Grindor muttered. "I hope Annie will forgive me for trashing her locker."

"Grindor, where are you?" High Wire asked.

"I'm heading to the side entrance. The school is crawling with soldiers and…scrap!"

Grindor scrambled to run away as two soldiers rounded on him with assault rifles and opened fire. He sprinted around the corner with the men in pursuit.

"Slag, I've been had!" He yelled. "Guys, get in here and help me!"

The two soldiers chased after him, but as they ran passed the chemistry room, the door exploded outward. Sara burst out into the hallway and kicked the first man in the face before slamming him into the wall. She spun around and slashed the second man's rifle apart before kicking him in the throat and dropping like him a rock.

"Sara! Thank Primus you're here!" Grindor sighed.

It wasn't just Sara. Gina, High Wire and Sureshock were there too.

"You three form Centurion and go help the children. I'll handle the bastard running this OP." Gina said. The Minicons looked at her.

"Gina?" Sureshock said curiously.

"Let's just say I have a good idea who's bold enough to attack our school in broad daylight."

They heard a noise down the hall and saw more soldiers running around the corner. The Minicons quickly combined into Centurion and the gestalt charged into the soldiers at full force, with Gina and Sara heading the other way.

"It's time we finished this, Pisces." Gina growled. "I'm coming for you!"

XXXXXX

'Come on out, Gina. I know you won't abandon these people to die, let alone your friends.' Pisces thought, looking over the crowd of students and teachers. He had the bodies of Melanie Crane and his lap dogs removed earlier so that they didn't stink up the place. 'Killing that man was a great service to the world. People like him are a waste of precious oxygen.'

Pisces finally got the call he had been waiting for on his radio. "Sir, we've spotted the target. She's with a Minicon and an unknown girl heading your way."

"Take care of the Minicon and direct the girls to the gymnasium. I'll be right there." Pisces said and quickly went for the doors. "Finally, I'll get my revenge."

Darren saw Pisces leave the auditorium with a couple of soldiers, leaving some behind to guard the hostages. "He's leaving?"

"Gina and the Minicons must be inside. He's going to fight her personally." Penny said.

"So what do we do?" Annie asked. "Fight them?"

"It's two of us against six soldiers scattered throughout the auditorium. We can't take them on at the same time before someone gets hurt." Kevin said.

"You two don't seriously mean to fight these guys." Brittany whispered.

"We aren't. Not yet, at least." Darren said. "We wait for Centurion to come, then we'll take care of them."

XXXXXX

Gina and Sara ran through the halls towards the auditorium, where Centurion had split off to save their friends. Gina's first priority was making sure that Pisces didn't try anything with the rest of the school before she found him. At the very least she had to stall for the Autobots to come save them.

"Gina Harkins," Pisces's voice came over the school intercom. "If you're hearing this, then you know why I'm paying your school a visit. Come meet me in the gym if you wish to settle things. Your…friend may come too. It won't make a difference at the end of the day anyway."

"Arrogant bastard." Gina growled. "I'll rip his face off!"

"Gina, there is a good chance that we're heading into a trap." Sara said.

"I know, Sara, but I don't doubt Pisces wants us all to himself." Gina replied. "Just stay on your guard."

They made it to the gym, which was at the end of the first floor of the school. Gina took charge, smashing through the doors with a powerful kick and jumping onto the basketball court. The girls faced the only man in the room who stood in the center of the gym smiling at them.

"Hello, Gina," Pisces said. "Are you ready to die today?"

XXXXXX

Bullets bounced off Centurion's body as he charged down the hallway like a mad bull. The soldiers that weren't ruthlessly smacked down were smart enough to pull back before the gestalt tore through them as well. Centurion cared not for the bodies he left in his wake. All that mattered was saving the children.

"Stay out of my way!" He bellowed, punching a poor woman in the chest with enough force to crush her chest cavity even through her bulletproof vest.

"We're not slowing that thing down, sir!" One of the soldiers said to his commander. "He'll reach the hostages in no time!"

"Get the scramblers!" The squad leader yelled.

Designed to subdue Cybertronians, the soldiers were entirely confident in their ability to bring this gestalt down. As soon as Centurion rounded the corner, they fired the scramblers. Like little darts, they stuck to Centurion's armor and channeled strong electrical surges into his body, making him stagger. When Centurion kept going, they hit him with another volley, bringing him to his knees.

Seeing how effective these weapons were, Centurion tore a metal door off its hinges and used it as a shield before he kept going.

"Filthy robot!" The squad leader spat. "Get the heavy weapons! We'll blast it apart!"

Before his men could act on his orders, they heard gunshots behind them, followed by a loud roar coming from the auditorium.

"What was that?" He shouted.

The doors burst open and a large cheetah the size of a small pony leapt forth, clawing at the man's face. Before the other soldiers could react, the cheetah shifted into a humanoid form, a fur-covered girl no older than fourteen, who kicked and punched them too fast for them to defend against. The last man standing stumbled back to point his gun at her, but the broken door he was standing on flung up and slammed into his face with enough force to break his nose. He felt back unconscious at the feet of Darren and the others.

"And stay down." Darren ran out of the auditorium with Annie. "Nice work, Brit."

"Thanks." Brittany smiled, trying to cover her nudity. "Though I'm not too crazy about shedding my clothes every time I change."

"You'll figure something out." Annie said as she gave Brittany a long curtain to cover herself with. "You were awesome anyway."

With the danger passed, Centurion ran up to the twins and hugged them tightly. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine, big guy." Darren said. "But you need to get the others out of here."

"Already on it." Centurion turned to the gawking teachers and students standing by the doors. "What are you standing there for? Follow me outside!"

That was enough to get the adults and children moving. Centurion led the people down the hall to the nearest exit. Annie and Brittany were approached by a few students and teachers who thanked the spotted girl for her brave actions, prompting smiles from the two girls.

XXXXXX

"What the hell is your problem?" Gina yelled.

"You know what my problem is." Pisces said calmly, taking off his glasses. "It's you."

"Don't screw with me. I know OZ isn't into the business of holding entire schools hostage in the middle of the day for no reason. So why are you doing this?"

"To get rid of any threats to our organization. You children have been more trouble than was worth ever since Aries started playing his little war games with your friends." Pisces unclipped the large adamantium staff from his back and held it in one hand. "Aries, Aquarius, myself, we've all sacrificed so much, only to have one of you brats send it all crashing down. Well no more!"

"This is about the proto-cube. You're mad that I destroyed it!" Gina realized.

"Letting you children live long enough to make fools of us was an oversight that must be corrected." Pisces crouched low. "And it starts by killing you!"

Before Pisces could make his move, Sara was already flying at him with her energy blades deployed. Pisces spun his staff to block the thrust aimed at his head and kicked her into the floor. He back flipped away to dodged the exploding energy sphere that blasted apart the floor and took out an advanced looking gun.

Gina paid it no mind when he shot at her, raising her arm to block the bullets from hitting her face. But a sharp pain in her forearm made her hiss in pain and she looked at her arm to see blood leaking from wounds left behind from the bullets. Which was impossible, as an Inhuman's skin was dense enough to only be bruised by most small arms fire.

"What?" She gaped.

"As strong as Inhuman skin is, it's still vulnerable to heavy weapons fire." Pisces smirked. "Armor piercing rounds with diamond shells that are just durable enough to make you bleed. Imagine what a headshot can do to you."

Gina cursed. Pisces had discovered the same thing she did about Inhuman physiology. "Like I'm going to just stand still and let you shoot me!"

Sara attacked Pisces from behind, but her blade was diverted by his staff, which shot up to catch her in the chin. Gina charged at Pisces, but he grabbed Sara's arm and threw her into Gina, causing her distortion halo blast to misfire. Pisces spun around and swung the staff at her head, smashing it against her skull.

As durable as her skeleton was, the blow still dazed her long enough for Pisces to let loose several more diamond rounds into her shoulder. Sara tried to grab his gun but he avoided her reach and shot her in the arm. The bullet hit her elbow and nearly blew it off.

"Sara!" Gina pushed Sara aside and threw a punch at Pisces.

The Zodiac just barely managed to block her punch with his staff, but the force was enough to send him skidding back. Gina charged up another halo blast, but Pisces fired two rounds into her abdomen. This time, she really did feel the pain and cried out.

"I bet you thought you were invincible. Unbeatable." Pisces fired a shot into her leg, making her fall over. "But you aren't. Your body can only handle so much before it gives, and no one knows more about Inhuman biology than me!"

Sara fired her palm blaster into his side and rushed at him. She slammed her body into his and they both hit the ground struggling against one another. Sara tried to wrench the gun from his grasp, but Pisces held onto it. He scowled up at her hatefully.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, android." Pisces kicked her off and grabbed her arm, throwing her over his head to slam her into the floor. "I'll kill you soon enough!"

He punched her in the jaw before raising her body over his head and slamming her down on his knee. Her spine snapped with a sickening crack and he tossed her aside. Pisces raised a foot to stomp her into the floor but howled as his back erupted in plain. He tucked into a roll and retrieved his staff before facing Gina again.

"You're very eager to die, aren't you?" He sneered at her.

Gina slowly got to her feet, keeping her weight off her wounded leg before spitting at him. "Stronger people than you have tried to kill me and failed."

"Stronger?" Pisces spat the word out with no small amount of scorn. "You should know that strength isn't everything, girl!"

He charged at her and Gina shot halo blasts at him. He ran around the energy burst and threw his staff at her, catching her right in her wounded shoulder. She stumbled back when he got in close and snatched his staff out of the air and slammed it into her bloody leg and again across her back. Gina swung her fist at him, but Pisces dodged and swung his staff right at her face just as her eyes flared up with a distortion halo.

The moment his staff impacted her eyes, the energy went off prematurely, causing an explosion that blasted them apart. Pisces landed on his burnt back, while Gina landed on her side, screaming and clutching at her burnt eyes.

"That was…unexpected." Pisces coughed, standing up with a lamp. "But most fortunate for me."

He limped over to Gina and checked his gun. Three rounds left, meaning all three would go into her skull. He grabbed her by the hair and lifted her so they were at eye level.

"This is what happens to those who oppose OZ, pain and death awaits them. You could have grown up to be a remarkable woman. But unfortunately," Pisces pressed his gun to her head. "We all never have our destinies work out the way we want them to."

"Let her go!"

A girl's scream made him pause and Pisces looked over his shoulder to see a scrawny looking grown haired girl standing in the ruined doorway.

"Excuse me?" He asked, honestly shocked that this random girl was demanding something of him.

"Y-You heard me!" Justine stammered, unable to keep herself from trembling. "L-Let her go."

"…I don't have time to deal with you." Pisces raised his gun at her and pulled the trigger…but nothing came out. "Huh?"

Justine took a deep breath and flexed her senses outward, releasing a telekinetic pulsewave that shattered the gun and blasted Pisces back. He rolled across the floor before getting to his feet.

"An esper." He growled. "This was the wrong time to play, girl!"

Pisces charged at Justine, leaping over Gina and raising his staff to bash Justine's skull in. Though he was aware of Justine being an untrained esper, he misread the situation. Training with Darren had given Justine some measure of skill to her immense power, but they were still tied to her reactions. Having a terrorist come at her with a large staff with the intent to kill was a liable reason for her to panic, and so her powers lashed out.

In the next few seconds, many things happened. Pisces's staff was halted inches away from Justine's head, and then she released a powerful telekinetic wave directly into his body, breaking bones and rupturing organs, severely injuring him with the sheer concussive force of her attack.

His broken body flew back the entire length of the gym before he hit the wall with a meaty thud and fell to the floor. His consciousness fading, Pisces issued the recall signal for an emergency MASS evac. The signal was received and his body was quickly teleported away.

Breathing heavily from her adrenaline rush, Justine managed not to pass out and ran over to Gina, who was still lying on the floor bleeding.

"G-Gina! Gina, are you alright?" Justine saw that Gina's eyes were badly burnt and she had multiple gunshot wounds in her body. "Oh my god."

Something large burst through the doors, making Justine scream. It was Centurion. Seeing both Gina and Sara so severely wounded, he ran over to them.

"What happened?" He asked in his deep voice.

"T-There was this man. He was going to hurt Gina and I stopped him…please, you have to help her!"

"I will. Thank you for saving them." Centurion knelt down and gently picked Gina up.

"Y-You're welcome." Justine said, just realizing that she was being thanked by an Autobot.

She helped Centurion carry Sara to a safe location, where the Minicons can safely call for medical assistance.

XXXXXX

Optimus watched the news with a piercing gaze and a tense form. His large arms were crossed as he watched the people on the monitor evacuate frightened school children and his hands clenched into fists.

'They were so close to being killed…again!' He thought angrily.

As fast as OZ began their attack on the solar power plants, they disengaged once Pisces retreated from the school. Leo, who was a particularly vicious opponent, had left the battle begrudgingly, though not before causing significant damage to one of the power plants. Optimus wasted no time in sending the Autobots over to the school, where Centurion had rushed Gina and Sara to the medibay at the Ark.

"Prime." Walter Barnett walked up to Optimus, having just drove to the Ark via the ground bridge. "How are things?"

"Worrisome. It's not like OZ to attack anyone, let alone a school, so blatantly like this, though I suppose that they could no longer tolerate interference from the children." Optimus sighed. "What's the cover story?"

"Terrorist attack. Anti-government elements and all that. It's not too far from the truth given all the craziness that's happening." Barnett said. "It's a mess, Prime. Pisces had murdered the head of the Human Front and espers all over the country are having a laugh. My superiors aren't happy that the ringleader escaped either."

"Getting a handle on the Zodiac was never easy, colonel. I hope your superiors will understand that."

Barnett nodded and put his hands into his pockets. "How's Gina?"

"She suffered serious wounds, but she'll recover with enough time. Her Inhuman physiology makes her incredibly resilient." Optimus said. "Sara will recover to thanks to Liftor. But the ramifications of this attack trouble me the most."

"I know. I'm a father, so seeing that school being attacked like that puts me on edge." Barnett took a deep breath. "I really hope we catch that bastard, Optimus."

"We will, colonel. If there's one thing that I've learned as a Prime, it's that those who commit evil will always get what's coming to them in the end. No matter how long it takes."

XXXXXX

It took several days for Pisces to recover from his wounds. Had he not been blessed with his unique physiology like the other Zodiacs, he would have died at the hands of that wretched esper girl. OZ doctors, equipped with advanced medical technology, did their best to repair his fractured skeleton and performed surgery on his damaged organs that were still healing.

"You're in deep shit now, Pisces." Scorpio told him in the medical ward. "Ophiuchus wants your head. She just got done reprimanding Leo and sent him home with his tail between his legs."

"I'll…talk to her when my body has healed enough to…walk." Pisces rasped.

"No, you're taking a wheelchair and going to see her in an hour." Scorpio said, pointing to the mechanical wheelchair sitting beside his bed. "Ophiuchus wants you to either walk or roll to her, Pisces. Saying no is not an option."

Pisces took a deep breath and laid back down. "Fine. Is there anything else?"

"One last thing, we've got a call from your old friends, Gowthrain and Sherisha. Turns out they've been rather busy."

"Oh?"

"They've been hunting down the remaining Minicons in the country, but haven't found any stasis panels. But just recently, it appears that David Hollander of Skywatch has contacted them for their services in combating our alien visitors." Scorpio raised an eyebrow at Pisces. "They wanted to know if you're game."

Pisces smirked and closed his eyes. "Time to go back to the basics."

Finally got this chapter out. Nothing much to say other than to expect a multi-part chapter coming up that will focus on a specific group of Minicons Armada fans might be familiar with. I'll be updating my Sofia story next before returningto this one. Be sure to check out the official Transformers Titan website on WordPress. Thanks for reading, stay safe, and please leave a review!