"The Autobots arrived just in time," said one of the operators, typing rapidly at his terminal as he tracked the unfolding battle.
Tom crossed his arms, maintaining a firm posture. "Perfect. We can buy time until the army reinforcements arrive with heavy artillery." He turned toward the command room. "Deploy our armored units! I want those aliens out of my backyard."
Camouflaged doors around the perimeter of the dam burst open with hydraulic force. Heavy Sector 7 tanks emerged, advancing in tight formation, and began firing at the Decepticon forces with strategic precision.
"Focus all fire on the Decepticon aerial units!" Tom commanded, eyes glued to the field data updating in real-time across the surrounding monitors.
Fowler stood close, his eyes locked on the massive silhouette of the Decepticon warship hovering above the battlefield.
"We need to take that ship down. Now."
"We don't have the firepower for that. The government banned the use of nuclear-grade weapons under Sector 7's control," Tom replied with a nearly sarcastic chill in his voice.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Fowler turned abruptly, clearly outraged. "How much is Sector 7 funded again?!"
"Not enough... for me," Tom replied dryly, turning his gaze back to the tactical screens.
One of the operators suddenly stood up in alarm. "Sir! A Decepticon formation is moving into position. They're locking directly onto the dam!"
"They're going to blow the damn thing up," Fowler growled, fists clenched. "If they succeed, we're looking at a disaster of epic proportions!"
"Somebody get Optimus Prime on the line—NOW!" Tom barked, stepping toward the main transmitter. "Synchronize all shortwave frequencies! I want the Autobots hearing every word we say!"
"Comms calibrated! Broadcasting now!" shouted the operator.
Tom took a deep breath and stared at the screen. "Prime, this is Sector 7. The Decepticons are targeting the dam! I repeat: they're going to breach the Hoover Dam!"
The synchronized radio signal hit Optimus's systems instantly. He turned sharply, spotting the Decepticon squadron maneuvering above, missiles primed and locked onto the dam.
Without hesitation, Optimus sprinted to the edge of the structure and raised one of his energon cannons. With a precise shot, he blew the first attacker out of the sky. The impact was so powerful the Decepticon's remains rained down in molten shards. The second one was hit in the wing, spiraling into the earth with a violent crash.
The third, faster than the others, managed to launch two missiles before being blasted apart.
Optimus locked onto the missiles—he destroyed one mid-air, but the second continued its deadly path.
Then, Bumblebee shot out from the flank, his blue optics blazing with resolve. With a single well-aimed shot, he detonated the missile just in time, saving the dam from destruction.
"Good work, Bumblebee," Optimus said firmly, then opened his comm channel. "Sector 7, are you coordinating with us in this battle?"
"Yes, Prime," Tom answered over the radio, voice steady. "I know you don't like human involvement in your war, but right now we need to stand together. This dam holds something the Decepticons are after... and possibly something you might care about as well."
Optimus arched a mechanical brow. Before he could ask more, he dodged a hostile blast and, in response, took out another Decepticon with surgical precision.
"Very well. I'll trust you—for now. But protect the civilians."
"Don't worry, Prime. We're more prepared than you think," Tom replied, calm and collected.
Then Optimus remembered something critical. "Is Agent Fowler there?"
"I'm here, Prime. What do you need?" Fowler answered quickly.
"You mentioned Lux was at the dam. Is that true?"
Fowler opened his mouth, but Tom cut in, overhearing the question. "Yes, he's inside the facility. Safe. And... accompanied by a certain Cybertronian."
Tom glanced at one of the screens and frowned, seeing Lux causing chaos alongside the mysterious gothic alien. "Focus on the battle for now. We'll discuss the details later."
"Why didn't you tell Optimus about Lux?!" Fowler snapped, turning to Tom with visible frustration.
"Because if the Decepticons find out what Lux truly is, this battle will escalate into something no one here can contain," Tom replied with cold calculation. "We're not entirely sure what we're dealing with. We feed the Autobots just enough to keep the balance."
"But they already know the kid's special!"
"Yes, but they don't know he's a limitless power source. Not yet." Tom crossed his arms. "Lux came here because of the Jewel. And frankly? Let him fix the mess he created."
Fowler clenched his jaw, clearly displeased.
"You're improvising, Tom. This could spiral out of control."
Tom stared at the battlefield through the surveillance screens, eyes sharp and resolute.
"I know Lux's potential. He holds himself back all the time. But this battle... it'll force him to stop hiding. And when that happens... the fate of this planet will rest entirely on his shoulders."
***
Meanwhile…
In a narrow corridor lit by flickering red emergency lights, Airachnid and I were basically starring in what looked like an action movie scene mashed with a slow-motion music video.
She spun through the air, kicking, striking, and crushing soldiers with perfect, choreographed precision, like it was some kind of combat talent show.
"Seventy-seven!" she announced, hurling a guard into the wall with enough force to knock him out before he even hit the floor.
"Seventy-eight... and seventy-nine!" she added, grabbing two guns from the ground and throwing them with absurd accuracy at two guards turning the corner, nailing them square in the face like a bowling strike.
"Glad I'm not competing," I muttered, smashing a soldier in the gut with my overstuffed backpack. The satisfying THUNK echoed down the hallway.
Airachnid paused for a moment and looked at her hands, a maniacal little smile curling across her lips.
"And that makes... four hundred and eighty-four broken bones." she whispered almost in ecstasy, like she was about to have an actual orgasm just from counting.
"That's your version of meditation, huh?" I asked, sweating and trying to keep up. Only now did I realize I was counting broken bones as a bonus count. This woman was crazy.
She looked at me for a second, eyes glowing with macabre satisfaction.
"This is self-care."
We entered a massive chamber and holy crap! IT WAS FREEZING.
"IT'S FREEZING IN HERE!" I yelled. "I'm gonna turn into a damn popsicle!"
Airachnid visibly shivered. As tough as she was, her Cybertronian sensory systems, adapted to simulate human sensation with amplified intensity, were frying in freezer mode.
"You want some hot cocoa?" I teased.
She didn't answer, just kept trembling. I reached out and took her hand.
"Let's get outta this meat locker before my organs start singing Jingle Bells."
She grabbed my hand, eyes widening slightly. "Your hand is... warm."
Before I could reply, she jumped onto my back with the agility of a ninja cat.
"Seriously?" I said, trying to glance over my shoulder.
"Don't complain. I'm cold. That's how humans talk, right?" She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, nuzzling her face into my neck. Clearly, she had no intention of letting go.
Carrying my clingy goth spider like a koala, I started examining this overly large room and that's when I saw it.
In the center of the gigantic cold storage chamber, frozen like a statue, stood a colossal Cybertronian. At least forty feet tall. I swear I barely noticed him, probably because I had a seductive gothic alien wrapped around my neck.
"Whoa... What kind of Cybertronian is that?" I asked out loud. His design was unlike anything I'd stored in memory, thick armor, brutal proportions, built for destruction. He didn't resemble any standard frame I knew.
Airachnid slid off my back and went silent. Her expression shifted, part respect, part caution.
"I know him," she whispered. "That's Grimlock. An Autobot… victim of Shockwave's experiments."
I was surprised to see how serious she looked. Her face hardened. It wasn't the way she looked when she couldn't try something new to eat.
"He was part of a supersoldier project. Shockwave tried to create living weapons. But with Grimlock... he went way too far."
"An experiment? Shockwave? Okay, this is sounding a bit too sci-fi even for me." I swallowed, still staring at the frozen titan. Even encased in ice, the pressure he radiated was insane. Like standing next to a nuke that hadn't decided whether to blow up yet.
Airachnid looked away, voice lower now.
"Grimlock lost part of his logic processors... but gained strength beyond comprehension. Shockwave tried to control him… and failed. He leveled an entire Decepticon facility at the end of the war and vanished. Everyone assumed he died."
"And now he's here... Of all places? If this were a book, I'd call it a weak plot twist."
Suddenly, a distant explosion shook the entire structure. The ground trembled beneath my feet. I looked up just in time to see cracks begin to spread across the ice surrounding the giant bot, each fracture sounding like a death toll.
"Oh, fantastic. Of course this could get worse." I groaned, rolling my eyes. "I'm not in the mood to get flattened today, so let's be smart and get the hell out before Robot-Hulk wakes up in a bad mood."
"Absolutely," Airachnid agreed, snuggling even closer to me for warmth. I had officially become her portable heating unit.
After breaking through yet another door—eighth? Ninth? I'd lost count—I couldn't help but imagine whoever ran this place seeing the aftermath later and absolutely losing their mind at the trail of destruction we were leaving behind.
"Finally. I couldn't take that freezer any longer," Airachnid said, now running beside me with the grace of someone taking a casual stroll through the park.
"You think it was a good idea leaving that giant monster back there?"
"Look… if I know Grimlock's reputation well, the fact that humans managed to trap him at all is already insane."
"You saying that actually scares me more than the monster himself," I admitted, just imagining that mechanical caveman waking up with the Cybertronian equivalent of PMS.
We made our way to the next door. Airachnid gave it one of her signature martial arts kicks, and it flew off like it was made of cardboard, crashing onto the corridor floor ahead.
"You really have a thing for doors, huh—" My sentence died in my throat as I saw what was waiting on the other side: a full squad of soldiers, heavily armed, all aiming directly at us.
"Oh crap…" I muttered. "The door was already broken, right?"
"Yup. Totally shattered..." Airachnid said with a sarcastic smile.
"Done playing Karate Kid with my men?" an irritated voice cut through the tension. Simmons stepped into view, visibly frustrated—probably having lost both his patience and half the base's doors. "Not how I planned to meet you, but it's a pleasure, Lux."
"You know my name?! What the hell—Are you some kind of stalker?!"
"What?! The hell are you talking about?!" Simmons' eyes widened, clearly offended.
"You just called me by name with zero context! I think I'm entitled to be concerned!" I crossed my arms, feigning outrage.
Simmons took a deep breath, clearly trying to keep his composure while the soldiers kept their fingers twitching on triggers.
"I'm definitely not paid enough for this," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. "This girl... she's a Cybertronian?"
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Airachnid crossed her arms, already having scanned the whole room. The way she was eyeing the soldiers made it very clear that she could kill everyone in the blink of an eye and was probably hoping for a reason to do so.
"She's my..." I started, then muttered to her, "We really didn't think this through, did we?" and finished, "...let's just say she's my current guardian."
Simmons glanced between the two of us, then sighed again, completely drained.
"Lower your weapons," he ordered. The soldiers obeyed, albeit reluctantly.
"No killing? Really?" Airachnid said in a disappointed tone, like a child finding out the amusement park was closed.
"Sorry, she's kinda an idiot sometimes," I said, earning a punch to the shoulder that nearly dislocated my arm. "Ow! Alright, I get it. Now tell me, how do you know my name?"
Simmons straightened up, trying to sound formal despite the chaotic absurdity hanging over everything.
"You probably have some idea who we are, don't you?"
"If you're that organization old Einstein mentioned… then yeah, you are a stalker," I said, piecing it together. "Let me guess: some kind of global alien defense group? Like the Men in Black, but with more paperwork and less fashion sense?"
"Part of me is offended by that... but you're not totally wrong," Simmons replied with a disgruntled grunt.
"So you admit to spying on me. Where's HR in this dump so I can file a civil rights complaint?"
"You don't even have an ID, you walking mystery!" Simmons shot back, incredulous. The soldiers tried (and mostly failed) to stifle their laughter.
"Oh, look who's talking! You guys are so secret you probably don't even have social security numbers!"
"We're a black-ops government agency, for God's sake! Want us to have a booth at Comic-Con?!"
"If you're anything like Area 51, you've been past the secrecy phase for decades..." I said thoughtfully, arms crossed.
"Exactly... EXACTLY! Thank you. But we're losing focus here!" Simmons blurted, taking a breath like he needed to summon patience from another dimension. "Lux, Sector 7 has been watching you for decades. We know who you are... and we know you might be the only solution to the biggest crisis this country has ever faced."
"Even in the bathroom?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Can you, for one second, take this seriously?"
"I am taking it seriously. You just said you've been monitoring me for decades. That's a little more alarming than expired milk, don't you think?"
Simmons opened his mouth to retort, but whatever dramatic speech he had rehearsed clearly evaporated. All that remained was awkward silence and deeply shared discomfort.
"Lux, wouldn't it be better to continue the plan instead of arguing with a mere human?" Airachnid interrupted, clearly bored of the conversation.
"Plan?" Simmons narrowed his eyes. "What plan? What exactly are you two doing here, and how the hell did you even find this base?!"
"My objective is what's behind that stone column," I said, pointing past the wall Simmons was standing in front of. "I want to fix the mess I created. But to do that, I need you to let me through."
"You want me to just let you walk past… just like that?" Simmons asked, half in disbelief, especially after everything that had happened in the last twenty minutes.
"Yes. After all, we want the same thing. Let's act like civilized people and avoid an action scene where, with all due respect, your soldiers would go flying like inflatable tube men."
The soldiers exchanged glances. One of them looked at Airachnid—who was already playing with a blade that had emerged from her arm and immediately dropped his weapon on the floor.
"Yeah, I'm not in the mood to get hospitalized. My insurance has a co-pay," he said, raising his hands.
"For God's sake!" Simmons snapped, turning around in disbelief. "Did you all forget the benefits package includes dental, physical therapy, and even mental health?!"
Before Simmons could spiral further into madness, an explosion rocked the base. Dust fell from the ceiling, and the floor shook violently, reminding everyone that time was running out.
"Let's end this," I said, locking eyes with him. "If you want to give humanity a fighting chance, you need to work with me."
Simmons hesitated for a moment, but deep down he knew the orders were clear: cooperate with Lux, no matter the cost.
"…Alright," he said with a long breath, swallowing his frustration. "Allow me to show you the way."