Chương 35: LOG-033.

The deeper we went, the stronger the feeling of our presence being a very much unwelcome one got. Zero stepped forward, holding a servo to the side of his armoured helm for a moment as we paused at some strange intersection of sorts, slowly making our way across a thin bridge.

"We've completely lost contact with outside forces, creator. I've attempted to raise the vanguard's elements but... they're not picking up." I nodded as I finally made it to the other side, running a digit across one of the walls.

"Problematic, but not entirely unexpected. We are multiple human kilometers below the ground, after all." The Zaku tilted his helm, a trait I'd noticed more and more of my creations picking up as they interacted with me. Behind him, the rest of my security detail crossed the gap, one of the mechs taking a moment to look over the edge.

"Then... what do we do? We're cut off from reinforcements. We're in unknown territory with no clear exit and we have who knows how many potential hostiles locked in with us." I paused in my inspection of the cybermatter making up our current surroundings to glance at him.

"We'll be fine, Zero." The mech nodded, gripping his rifle tightly.

"I am glad you say so, but how can you be so sure?" Venting air, I began to walk further down the latest tunnel we'd decided to explore, my escorts following behind me.

"Because I've been in worse situations with less, and come out on top. Yes, we are cut off from reinforcements. But we have each other." Stopping, I stared up at the ceiling, noting a large pipe of some sort trailing from it.

"We are in unknown territory, but I have begun noticing a pattern to how it is all laid out, and I believe I know where we are going." I continued to follow the pipe, turning left down a T-junction and passing through a weirdly barren chamber.

"And finally... you're right. We are trapped down here with multiple hostiles. But if that was something that made me hesitate, I likely would have been offlined eons ago. So trust me when I say this, our situation is entirely managable. Now help me with this." Crouching down next to a barely visible seam in one of the chamber's walls, I dug my clawed fingers into the miniscule gap and began to pull. Zero and another Zaku promptly reached for the other side, helping me wrench the panel open.

Revealed beneath was a small passage leading into yet another chamber, our group slowly crouching beneath the entrance and emerging into the next room. It was exceptionally dark in here, prompting me to increase the intensity of my optic's brightness. The Zakus all followed suit, bathing the room in red. But what drew my attention was the large, incredibly corroded looking machine resting before us. V-2 stepped forward, scanning the massive organ.

"Is that a...?" I nodded, getting closer to it.

"A T-cog, yes. Utterly damaged beyond repair, but still recognisable." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. And fuck if the thing hadn't been utterly ravaged by whatever had gotten it to it's heavily damaged state. The entire forward segment was practically melted to slag, with the rest of it looking as if it had been left to rest in industrial acid... for a century or two. Circling the structure, I let out a hum.

If I went by human anatomy, we were in an area that approximated where the pancreas rested, albeit more to the side rather than the center. Of course, that was assuming that Unicron had a similar structure to other cybertronians when in root mode. Who knew where his T-cog was relocated when he was in his alt mode. Stopping in front of the thing, I let out another hum, before nodding.

"Alright. We're going to blow this thing up." Zero's helm snapped to face mine, even as one of the younger Zakus (a former vehicon) performed a quiet, yet visibly excited fist pump.

"Creator? Is it not already damaged?" I shook my helm, running a servo against the giant organ.

"Given the restorative properties of dark energon, I wouldn't be surprised if Unicron could restore it, given time. We're going to ensure there's nothing left for him to fix." I paused, tapping the T-cog with a digit and producing a slight ringing sound. Hm.

"While locking him in the reliquary is still our main goal, I'd prefer to have a few contingencies. If that means crippling him permanently by sabotaging each and every single one of his organs from within?" I rubbed the bottom of my helm with a servo as a few Zakus removed grenade packs from their respective subspaces.

"Then so be it. Now everyone gather your explosives together. I'll see about rigging up a remote charge."

Arcee panted, allowing her fans to cool her down as the last member of the newest horde of terrorcons to burrow up from underneath them was finally put down by Bulkhead and a bulky mech with three sharp horns jutting out of his chest and shoulderplates.

They'd been advancing through this Pit damned tunnel for what had felt like cycles now, or maybe human hours, and as annoying as it was to admit, they'd likely have been overwhelmed near the start if it wasn't for the constant high temperatures being released by their Predacon 'friends.' Slag if it didn't mess with her coolant systems though. And she didn't quite know how to feel about the bestial cybertronians either! They were science experiments.

Creations of Shockwave, which was bad enough, no matter how convinced Optimus was that the mad mono-eyed mech was fighting off the shadowplay somehow. But they were also... normal. Cybertronian. Some were brash sure, but in a way that just further highlighted their relative youth. They joked. They laughed. They worried over each other when one of them took a hit. They weren't Decepticons, but they also weren't Autobots.... She didn't quite know how to feel about that.

They didn't give off the same vibe Neutrals did, either-"Hey!" The femme was forced to repress a violent twitch as one of the bestial cybertronians waved to her, already walking over. A rusted helm, freshly detached from it's undead owner was crushed flat as the large Predacon's pede dropped down on it while she strode up to Arcee, grinning.

"Crazy fight, huh!?" Then, her face spun, being replaced with a less manic and more calculating expression.

"According to your medic, we should have some time to recuperate for a moment or two before we have to move on." Another spin, the Predacon's expression now angry as she kicked over one of the larger corpses, sitting down on it.

"So what's your designation, huh Autobot!?" Arcee stared at the possibly insane femme for a moment, before shaking her helm and electing to join her in sitting down. Across the latest large chamber they'd stopped in, she eyed Optimus and Shockwave's pet dragon glancing at a projection Ratchet was showing the pair. Wherever they were, it wasn't as close to Unicron's core as the last time team Prime had been down here.

Which meant they needed to focus on moving quickly enough that they weren't overwhelmed, but not so quickly that they exhausted themselves before they reached their intended goal. She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of yet another spin, the happy face seemingly taking over again.

"Wow, I know I get stuck in my processor sometimes, but you've got it down pat! That's a phrase I learned off of the human dictionary, by the way! Nifty things, dictionaries!" The blue Autobot snorted (an annoyingly persistent trait she'd accidentally picked up off of Jack) at the Predacon's words, before blinking at her own accidental showing of emotion. Shrugging her shoulders, Arcee looked up into her temporary conversation partner's golden optics.

"Arcee. My name's Arcee." The Predacon grinned, sharp denta glinting in the purple light that pervaded their surroundings, only occasionally broken up by the warm yellow colour that heralded a blast of flame from one of the Predacons.

"That's a nice name! Did your creator give it to you?" Arcee's mouth quirked upwards slightly, before the Autobot nodded.

"Yeah, my carrier and sire agreed on it. Before the war. I'm guessing... Shockwave gave you yours?" The tri-faced femme nodded rapidly, smiling.

"Yes! He named me-" BOOM! The loud explosion shook the tunnel we'd evacuated through, producing a loud ringing noise that lasted for a few seconds, alongside the sound of metal being torn apart as the chamber containing the now utterly destroyed T-cog collapsed behind us. Regardless of what happened now, Unicron definitely wouldn't be transforming anytime soon. Not without completely reconstructing a new T-cog at least, which would hopefully take at least a little time.

I made to wave my group forward, before pausing.

"Halt." My raised fist was signal enough for everyone to stop in their tracks, all going quiet and tensing up, weapons at the ready as I slowly raised my cannon. In the quiet, I could hear it. The distant sound of a malevolent sparkbeat. Slow but steady. Lowering my cannon, I nodded.

"We advance. Let's move."