Axis’ smile changed to a confused expression. She had been fine playing along with Zipline’s absurdities so far, but she wasn’t sure how to handle this one.
“In all my time looking into the Matrix to speak to the Primes of the past, I’ve never encountered one named Gigantosaurus.”
She said.
“Well it’s been ages since I’ve seen the old relic hunters, so I’m honestly not sure.”
Maximus replied.
Aralysa shrugs. “Eh, that’s fair. But it would be cool to get them all back together again.”
“Because my man’s been robbed!” cries Zip. “Duocron, Unicron’s little-known twin brother, erased Gigantosaurus Prime from everyone’s memory as his last act before he died! Gigantosaurus wasn’t even allowed into the Matrix after he perished on the great field of battle, saving the multiverse for the seventh out of eight times! You have to believe me, lady, he’s been wronged!”
Cargo reaches forwards and yanks Zip back. “Zipline! Not here! You must retain yourself! This is our friend, whom we helped save the universe!”
“Which time?”
“The only time!”
“What about the Glaxica system?”
Cargo’s eyes light with a cartoonic fire. “We owe this to her, okay? We are not playing games.”
Zip crosses his arms and pouts.
“Okay?”
"Okay, Señor Boring."
“Alright.” Cargo turns back to Axis. “Lady Prime, we both would be happy to assist you in any way you’ll have us. No demands.”
“But just the museum one!” Zip shouts. “No, the hat one! Wait, no… Okay, no demands! Except maybe, the hat one…”
“It’s been a while since I’ve read the Covenant of Primus, but I don’t remember Unicron having a twin brother,” Watchdog remarks. “Though with how many times history’s been re-written, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Considering Sentinel seemingly did some wrewriting himself, who knows what we’ll find. There’s no telling what secrets will be rediscovered when we reach the Tomb of The Primes.”
Axis noted.
“Didn’t Primus and Unicron have a sister? Gaea I think?”
Maximus asked.
“No, Gaea was a fabrication. Dreamed up by a junion lunatic who also believed cybertronians were made by quintessons as military and commercial goods. Honestly it would have been entertaining to watch him ramble obscenities if he weren’t so hostile about it.”
The Prime replied.
“Oh right. Now I remember.”
Maximus said.
Conjoint raised his new arm to his face to emphasize the fake cough he was about to perform.
“Cough (fake)”
“So, um, shall we proceed then?”
“What are you guys looking for in tomb, anyway?” Aralysa asked, now quite interested at the prospect of this quest. Nearby, Stonefist shrugged.
“Probably something like that.” the gray-armored bot said with a grunt.
“We’ll leave as soon as you’re all ready. The sooner the better I say. We don’t have much time to waste.”
Axis replied.
“A hidden data storage compartment was discovered in Sentinel Prime’s journal. The information contained within is more than likely why someone wanted to steel it yesterday, and I have reason to believe the decryption key is hidden somewhere in the tomb.”
The Prime explained.
“Ooh, intriguing.” Aralysa replied, the Hecatan robot’s curious nature sparked by the idea of such a thing. Stonefist just grunted. Again.
Zip squints. “Well, obviously you guys haven’t been to the secret underground libraries of Sophos! There, Gigantosaurus Prime’s journal explains the whole thing.”
“I promise,” Cargo argues, “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“Does this… ‘Gigantosaurus Prime’ have anything to do with the attack or what’s hidden on the journal?” Watchdog asks, thoroughly bewildered.
“Well, that’s what I’m here to find out,” says Zip, beginning to talk in a Southern accent. “It’s a mystery, and one I intend to solve.”
With Watchdog preoccupied with Zip’s delusions, Overclock responds to Aralysa:
“We took the drones after the terrorists were arrested,” she tells her. “The guys in forensics are taking them apart as we speak.”
Watchdog gives Cargo a sympathetic look, feeling for the more-lucid bounty hunter.
Aralysa nods in satisfaction.
“That’s good. Anyways I think we’re all set to go.” the Hecatan transformer finished, taking a quick look around the room.
“Whoa.” The 'bot seems taken aback, regarding Roaster with new eyes. “You managed to take on one of the Eukarians? Waitwaitwait- there was a dragon there?” She flips through the files again, looking for something she missed.
Snowblind would see that Snapjaw, the predacon, had a wicked-looking dragon beast-mode, with a bladed tail and an artillery cannon mounted on his back.
“Yuppie, some Predacon jerk.” Roaster said.
Roaster’s brain lights up for a blink and she reaches back, pulling out her spatula. It would be a familiar sight in her hands, Roaster used it all the time on her show. But then she turned it so the flipper pointed to the ceiling and the kitchen utensil grew and slightly reshaped into a polearm. She holds it out in front of her like some warrior sage with a staff, resting but ready for a scrap.
“Never fought one of them before, but this isn’t my first tango. Junkion isn’t the safest place, so I’ve picked up a few things.” She pauses for a moment, thinking back on the fight. “I hope one else was hurt. One of the dragon’s shots missed and hit a building.”
Though these thoughts are soon interrupted when Axis and company come into the room. Hearing the doors open, Roaster turned to look, expecting to see Headbite joining them now. Instead, she found the Prime was now here, back with cat friend in tow.
“Oh. Okay, I guess we’re doing this now. I kind of had other plans…” Roaster said disappointed, but wasn’t going to fight on it.
Tokamak just listened to all that was being said, formulating a response. The Prime coming in was unexpected, wasn’t her bodyguard here to represent her? Only, she now wanted to take them all the way to the tombs for an investigation. Though no matter how much he crunched the numbers, none of this quite made sense to him.
Standing up, Tokamak addresses, “No offense Prime, but why are you recruiting us? The Knights or Bellator military sounds more equipped for this task than a random collection of civilians.”
Axis smiled at Tokamak’s remark. She had been waiting for someone to ask that very question.
"In my experience, fate has a very peculiar way of bringing bots together. Chance encounters that seem inconsequential at first, but can change the very course of history. Be it an unexpected visit from a strange space ship to your home, or an unprovoked attack on a cultural landmark.
"Each of you are connected by one thing. Even if you had never known one another before yesterday, you are all united by one event. By a willingness to do what you thought was right. None of you had any obligation to assist in the attack. You had no duty, no responsibility. You could have turned and walked away, and no one would have blamed you for it. But that isn’t what happened. Each of you decided to throw yourselves in harm’s way with no promise of reward or even safety. You did it because you knew it was right. All of you for one reason or another went out of your way to help others in need.
“There’s a feeling deep in my spark that disaster is approaching. Someone wanted the data in this journal, and I know it wasn’t for anything good. We are living on a precipice, and it will once again be up to the likes of heroes, not ones who act out of obligation, but instead who act out their own will, who will see things right. I feel- no. I know, that each and every one of you will have a crucial role to play in shaping Cybertron’s future. That is why I call upon you today.”
Snowblind looks up with annoyance at the interruption. Who did this bot think she was, the Prime? Oh. Oh this was the Prime. Which meant that she had been involved in the crisis yesterday…
Snowblind slides her goggles over her eyes, leaning back against the wall and clearing her throat. “So, what, you’re recruiting the people who almost got a bunch of hostages killed yesterday to do a bunch of more dangerous things?”
“I don’t care, so long as it gets you all out of the city for at least a few hours,” Watchdog grumbles.