Chapter 444: Skyfire (Part 1) (Patreon)

Transformers Begin : Table of Content/Chapter List

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Washington, the capital of the United States, is also known as the Washington Columbia District.

Named after the first president of the United States, George Washington, it is located near Virginia and Maryland in the northeastern part of the Mid-Atlantic region. It was established as the capital in 1790 and is directly governed by the United States Congress as a special administrative district.

Washington may not be a cosmopolitan metropolis like New York, and its population might not be as high as some state capitals within the United States, but no one dares to underestimate it.

Why? Because it is the decision-making center of the most powerful human nation on Earth—the United States.

As soon as they entered Washington, Sun Cheng and Forerunner immediately landed on the ground.

This place truly lived up to its reputation as the capital of the United States. The defense forces seemed loose and scattered, but the deployment of anti-aircraft radars was almost several times denser than the military bases they had bypassed. There were even four sets of dark-spectrum reconnaissance systems continuously scanning the airspace without any blind spots.

All signs indicated high alert!

"Master, it seems the alert level has increased since my last visit," Forerunner suddenly spoke. The base had collected a lot of information about the United States, especially related to the two nuclear powers, the United States and Russia. This included news, military information, and more, totaling at least 70-80 exabytes based on Earth's computer storage units.

Forerunner had obviously read some information about the United States to understand the concept of alert levels.

Sun Cheng furrowed his brows slightly upon hearing this.

Forerunner had been sent to the United States not long ago, and it had been less than a month.

In such a short time, the alert level in Washington had increased significantly, and it seemed to extend beyond just the capital area. Throughout their journey through the United States, they had felt the heightened alertness almost everywhere they passed.

This was a bit strange!

Regarding the characteristics of the Americans, whether in the Transformers Universe or the real world, Sun Cheng had learned from various news and politics that they were arrogant, unreasonable, disregarding of others, and reckless.

Although this was built on the foundation of confidence in their own military power, Sun Cheng believed that once the Americans found out about the existence of the All Spark fragment, they would never let the Autobots take it away, especially after suffering a painful price in the battle of Las Vegas.

Therefore, since he learned that boysam possessed an All Spark fragment, Sun Cheng, like Forerunner, became suspicious. He didn't believe that Sam could hide the fragment from the scrutiny of the U.S. government and bring it home.

The only remaining possibilities were that the Autobots knew about the fragment from the beginning, but for some reason, they didn't expose or demand it from Sam.

Or, the fragment was delivered to Sam separately at a later time.

The latter possibility was too bizarre, and Sun Cheng wasn't sure why such a thought popped into his mind. He considered it as a result of his own excessive suspicion.

However, if it was the former possibility, then even if the All Spark fragment was stolen, the Autobots should have conducted a private investigation instead of making a big fuss about it. Otherwise, their American allies would give them a big headache if they looked into it.

Optimus Prime couldn't be unaware of this. Although the Autobots were helping humans to the best of their abilities, in the eyes of the humans, both the Autobots and the Decepticons were foreign invaders. That's why there were always voices of hostility towards the Autobots within the United States, and people firmly opposed any cooperation with them.

Continuing to speculate, the reaction of the U.S. government was just too strange.

"Could there have been other incidents in the United States in the past few days that irritated the Americans apart from the fragment being stolen?" After pondering for a while, Sun Cheng reluctantly gave up. He knew too little about the current situation. Even though he had established some underground connections in the United States, this time he came to Washington not to gather intelligence but to deal with more important matters. Avoiding unnecessary complications, Sun Cheng refrained from activating his intelligence network to find out the truth behind the scenes.

Using their optical camouflage devices, they were slightly slower, but after over an hour, the two Decepticons successfully reached their target location—the "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum."

Despite the slight delay, by the time they arrived in Washington, it was already midnight, making it convenient for their next actions.

Forerunner was already familiar with the place. Leading Sun Cheng, he easily bypassed the high walls and guardhouses outside the museum and entered the outdoor exhibition area of the museum.

After three to five minutes, they arrived outside the exhibition hall where the Blackbird was on display.

Forerunner pointed at the large rolling shutter door that sealed the exhibition hall and respectfully said, "Master, the Decepticon I discovered is in this museum, in a dormant state!"

Sun Cheng had already noticed the surveillance devices all over the museum area. With a thought, two blue beams shot out of his eyes, allowing him to quickly grasp all the surveillance devices within the area, taking in everything inside the museum.

During midnight, there would naturally be no tourists in the museum, so the dimly lit exhibition hall only had some exhibits, including the Decepticon that Forerunner had discovered, which seemed to be a dormant Pathfinder.

Although there were two security personnel inside the museum, one of them was in the security room smoking and watching TV, occasionally glancing at the dozens of surveillance screens in front of him. The other one was lying on a chair with a hat covering his face, seemingly resting.

Sun Cheng didn't want to disturb them to avoid drawing the attention of the Autobots.

He knew that although the U.S. government had publicly announced that they had arranged the Autobots to be stationed on Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean to appease Congress and some domestic forces that were hostile to extraterrestrial visitors, they had reached a secret agreement with Optimus Prime. This agreement allowed a small elite team of at least four Autobots warriors to be stationed at a U.S. military base in Washington, D.C.

So, he had to be cautious to avoid unnecessary complications.

For two Decepticons, a rolling shutter door was no obstacle at all.

After giving a command, Forerunner immediately stepped forward, extending his right hand and shooting two flames from his index and middle fingers, quickly cutting through the rolling shutter door.

In just over ten seconds, he quickly created an opening on the large door that was enough for them to pass through. Then, he reached in and pulled Ironhide out, gently placing him on the ground beside him.

Sun Cheng lowered his head and entered the exhibition hall through the opening. As soon as he stood still, his gaze immediately focused on the Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft in one corner of the exhibition hall.

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 445: Skyfire (Part 2)