I had actually completely forgot about DRSMOOV's existence. I'll have to go watch those videos again. They were funny.

CHAPTER 11

~*~*~*~

Buster rode in Wheeljack's front seat, next to a hologram that looked suspiciously like Doc Brown from Back to a the Future "drove".

"Why is this seat so uncomfortable? It feels like plastic..."

Disconcertingly, the steering wheel spoke, not Doc Brown. "The whole inside isn't actually meant to be sat in, just to trick people."

"Then why does it look like some sort of trippy future car in here?"

"... From a distance. The seats are a polymer made up of really tiny fragments of the same material as our bodies. It's closer to plastic than to leather."

His curiosity satisfied, Buster turned to look out the window. A few moments later, Wheeljack chuckled. "What's funny?" Buster asked. "Oh... Nothing." Wheeljack explained. "Why do you robots do that? You get all quiet, and then act like someone said something."

"We're- You're kind of nosy- communicating to each other on a network which all Cybertronians, from the first to the last, are intrinsically linked to. It's got a lot of names, Primus, Vector Sigma, the AllSpark, but most just call it the Primal Program. All our lives spring from it, and eventually, we all return to it, but in our mortal existence, it acts as a sort of Data-web, or 'internetz', which we can communicate with each other on. We come from it... And we don't know where it comes from."

"Huh. And you were sharing a laugh with?"

"Hound. He made a comment about the warmth of human posteriors that was a riot."

~*~*~*~

How had Josie Beller's life turned out this way?

Not the alien part. That was a dream come true. The neurotic sociopath with a badge and a government paycheck she was working with, not so much. And, somehow, here they were, in a field, in the middle of nowhere, about to go through, not with her plan, but with his, because Director Mearing had decided hers more "costly".

Instead of reverse engineering the mech, they were attempting to remote control the thing. Which was a monumentally stupid idea. Their understanding of the things' computer systems (or really ANY of it's systems) was tenuous at best.

And yet here they were. In an empty field (the hangar was too small for a full test of it's capabilities) with agents guarding for a large radius, and an order for a satellite "malfunction" to hide the evidence.

A helicopter landed, kicking up swaths of grass and dust. The door opened, and a 40s something greying blonde woman stepped out with a clipboard. This was Director Charlotte Mearing. Throwing a disdainful glance at the proceedings, she raised a clipboard an realized she had no pen. Obediently, Dutch ran to her, and handed her one. "Thank you." she spat curtly. Dutch smiled anyway, nodded, and then scampered back to Simmons side.

Looking around, she made marks on her board as she crossed the field. Upon reaching her target, Simmons greeted her. "Ma'am." He casually dropped, smug in his accomplishment. "Agent Simmons," She replied, emphasizing formality. "Where is it?"

"On it's way." He smiled, oblivious to his mistake.

She noted this. "WHY you insisted on doing this in the day is beyond me."

"Everyone expects the shadowy government organization to be working at night... Besides, if we did it then, you wouldn't be able to see all the cool shit it can do!"

Mearing was at a loss. "Ah!" Simmons said gleefully as a truck entered the clearing. "Here it is now!"

~*~*~*~

Wheeljack swerved suddenly.

"That's it."

Hound nearly crashed, veering to avoid the other vehicle. "What's wrong with you?!"

"For the past week, I've been getting this same damn Sunstreaker signal-"

"You have a life sign on Sunstreaker and you haven't said anything?!"

"It was a ghoster!" Wheeljack explained.

"A what?" Hound asked.

"A ghoster! Older Energon Detectors catch them all the time, a very low life sign where someone's been before appears periodically. It was right near the base, and it never moved, or at least not enough for the detector to pick up, so I just assumed... Well, I just assumed. But it just appeared somewhere else."

"So?" Hound wondered aloud.

"Ghosters never move."

"What do we do?"

"We investigate!" Wheeljack exclaimed.

"What about Buster-" Hound began, but he was too late. Wheeljack was already flooring it in the opposite direction.

"What about him?" Wheeljack yelled back.

~*~*~*~

The golden yellow titan stood, it's feet digging into the grass. Onlookers watched it in awe. An apparatus with a camera attached to it's face, leading down into two wires connecting into something resembling a spinal column at a gap between armor plating on the neck.

An electrical signal wormed it's way into the titan's neural net. "Walk." it urged.

Detecting a foreign thought, it drafted one of it's own. "Why?"

"Walk." the signal pressed the issue.

Groggy, the titan started asking itself other questions. "What time is it? What day is it? Where am... I?"

Sunstreaker was waking up.

~*~*~*~

Had the world gone mad?

This was part of his routine patrol, he went by here every day. And suddenly, out of nowhere, today human planes start shooting at him!

Weird.

Of course, they weren't doing much damage. It was sort of cute, if he was inclined to look at it that way. But he was a Decepticon. And Decepticons weren't inclined to think that way. He prepared to fight back, but hesitated.

Why did he hesitate? Decepticons don't hesitate! Shoot 'em! He wasn't an Autobot, was he?

But he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Before he could consider that moral dilemma, he saw something below... An Autobot. Good, a chance to reaffirm his Decepticon-ish-ness. Er, to fight for the glory of Megatron!

...

Skyquake was not an Autobot, okay? He wasn't. If anything, anyone who thought he was probably was one, because... Because reasons, okay?!

After consoling himself, he sent a message.

::Blackout. Autobot at my location. Meet me.::

~*~*~*~

 

Two in 24 hours, how about that?

CHAPTER 12

~*~*~*~

Simmons was getting reports left and right.

"Unknown aircraft entering the vicinity- A vehicle just busted through our barricades- ANOTHER vehicle just busted through our barricades- Aircraft nearing your position-"

"Get Mearing back on that helicopter and OUTTA HERE!" he yelled.

"Yessir-" Dutch began.

"Hold on!" Josie said. "If that aircraft's hostile, we can't put her on a helicopter!"

"Sir?" a technician said.

"WHAT?!" Simmons snapped.

"NBE-2 is completely out of our control, sir." he explained.

"Simmons, you're fired." Mearing said coldly.

~*~*~*~

Sunstreaker looked to his side, and saw Hound and Wheeljack racing in his direction. "Hey..." he said groggily. "Hey... Hey guys!"

And Skyquake opened fire on him, ripping through his body. Sunstreaker slumped to the ground, a leaking mess. Hound transformed and started taking potshots at Skyquake. Wheeljack let Buster out. "Buster!" Hound shouted over the cacophony of bullets and laser fire.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Buster asked before following Hound's orders.

"Let's just say that was one hell of a rude awakening."

~*~*~*~

Skyquake made another pass, swerving to avoid Hound's shots while trying to get at the other two. He decided that another person on his side would make this easier.

And then Blackout swooped in.

~*~*~*~

Red Alert, Sideswipe and Kup all received the same message at once.

::We found Sunstreaker. Decepticons found us. Help.::

Meanwhile, Sparkplug received this text:

"Might be abot to dye Love u dad"

~*~*~*~

Wheeljack dragged Sunstreaker into the CR Chamber. Instantly, it began to feed him Energon, used micro-welders to repair damaged circuitry, and released fast hardening polymers to replenish his armor. Upon recognizing a foreign body, it destroyed the visor on his face, but mistook the humans tapping of his cerebral circuitry for part of his Neural Net. In fact, it was making a few mistakes...

Whatever repairs the humans had done to him had helped tremendously, he was almost at operating condition before being shot. Wheeljack filed that away for later examination, and then assisted Hound.

The hulking Decepticons were bruisers; The Autobots were much faster and more agile. The battle waged for several minutes before the cavalry arrived for the Autobots, Sideswipe immediately going for his brother but the other two joining the fight.

The battle quickly and decisively went to Autobot's favor, Red Alert ready to pull out the Stasis Cuffs for the enemy's surrender, when suddenly he heard something. He looked up, and saw a red and white streak head directly upward, into the sky... And then suddenly divebomb at tremendous speed towards the Earth. It was a jet, shrieking in rage. Starscream transformed, his wings shifting into swords which he pulled out as he joined the battle.

 

And, finishing this arc off:

Chapter 13

~*~*~*~

The moment Starscream hit the ground, he began thrashing his enemies indiscriminately. Badges meant nothing to him- All of them deserved to die.

And the whole time, he screamed in a primal rage. Given this and his method of a attack, his name's origins became quite clear.

Kup jumped out of his way, and shifted his forearms into cannons, firing them at Starscream, who looked at him. "Where did an Autobot get internalized weaponry?"

"I'm ex-Wrecker." Kup explained.

"Regardless." Starscream shot Kup with both of his Null Rays, sending the veteran flying. Then, he turned his attention to Skyquake. In a way that made the fact that he was making it up on the spot very obvious, Skyquake said, "Forgive me, my liege, I only hid the information so you wouldn't waste time worrying about these Autobots-"

"Well, in that case," and he slammed a sword into Skyquake's chest, "I'll aim high."

Finally, he turned his attention to Blackout, and laughed. "You tried to betray me. A coup against Starscream? Please. I have too much experience."

His chest compartment opened, and launched a swarm of Cluster Bombs. They covered Blackout and a large portion of the surrounding area. Tick-Tick-Tick BOOM!

A few moments passed. Slowly, Blackout trudged out of the fire and smoke, a flaming endoskeleton. "KILL... ME!"

Starscream approached him, gingerly touched the back of his head, and pulled him close.

"No." he said firmly.

And he proceeded to smash Blackout's head into his knee.

"Who's left?"

~*~*~*~

What the hell just happened?

Okay... Okay. So, we were in the town, fighting. And then... I was in a field getting shot.

And... And what is this CR Chamber doing to me? My arm feels... Funny. My back... Heavy.

This machine's been tampered with. The programming is glitching because some Neanderthal too stupid to understand it has been trying. Which, in all likelihood, probably means humans. Wait, there's a logo...

What is "III"? Actually, wait, it's written around the border. Helpful. "Inhumanoid Investigation Institute". Is "Inhumanoid" even a word?

What's going on?

~*~*~*~

Starscream slammed Hound and Wheeljack together, then threw them aside. Finally, he noticed the CR Chamber. "Why is there a CR Chamber here?"

Sideswipe pointed his gun at Starscream. "Stand back."

Starscream activated his heel jets, launching himself forward, then swung his foot around, kicking it into Sideswipe. Then, he pointed his Null Ray at the CR Chamber.

"Goodbye, mystery box."

The heavy door swung open, slamming into Starscream. With his opponent knocked back, Sunstreaker stepped out. His body was completely transformed. Twin triple barrel missile launchers sat on either shoulder, his right forearm replaced with a Plasma Cannon, and his face was almost skull-like.

All his weapons sat trained on Starscream. "Stand down."

Starscream lunged, and all his weapons fired, blowing chunks out of his opponent.

"Enough of this."

Starscream leapt away, transforming as he did so. He blasted away, and Skyquake did the same, launching a cable into his fallen comrade.

Wheeljack looked up at Sunstreaker. "Digging the arm cannon."

~*~*~*~

 

Wht the hell happened to Sustreaker ?

 

Find out here.  

Chapter 14

~*~*~*~

At the Autobot base, a celebration was in full swing. Red Alert pulled out an open Energon cube. "I've been letting this ferment for the past week-"

"YEAH!" Sunstreaker yelled.

"LET'S GET STOOPID!" Sideswipe added.

"You've been hoarding Energon?" Hound asked incredulously.

"I hate to side with the walking panic button here," Wheeljack said, "but don't be a buzzkill! We took out Starscream! That's like taking out Megatron! Almost! Kinda! Not really! Besides, I'm pretty sure nutjob's always been doing that. For, like survival, right?"

"And letting it sit out so he can get drunk off of it?" Hound pressed further.

"Something's got to take the edge off the apocalypse." Red Alert explained as if it was obvious.

"Hound's right." Kup struggled to sit up. "We shouldn't be celebrating."

"That wasn't really my-"

"Not yet. We still don't know what happened to Sunstreaker."

Wheeljack sighed. "Well, if I must put on my thinking cap... These are my designs. The humans must have attempted to hack the CR Chamber-"

"That's true. There were digital fingerprints all over the coding. 'III- Inhumanoid Investigation Institute.'" Sunstreaker said.

"-Thank you. Whatever their programming did opened up the device's possibilities substantially, the thing made repairs it shouldn't be able to, it built new parts for him entirely- It's incredible."

"Good." Sideswipe said.

"Bad." Wheeljack replied. "It's polymer count must be near zero after a miracle like that, it's all but useless to us now. We can use it to fuse circuits, but meshing together new armored parts? Not so much."

A noisy vehicle rumbled into the driveway.

"Someone's here." Red Alert said, frightened. "It's the Decepticons! No! It's the Inhuman Instigation Institution!"

"Inhumanoid Investigation Institute." Sunstreaker repeated. "And he's probably right."

Buster spoke up. "No, that's probably just-"

Sparkplug burst into the room, and opened his mouth to speak, but, seeing his son, just rushed over and hugged him. "What happened?"

"Nothing-" Wheeljack began.

"Shut up. What happened?" He asked again. "Nothing, we just... We just got into a little scrape is all. Decepticons-"

"We're leaving." Sparkplug said. "No- Dad- Wait-" Buster started, but his father drug him out of the room.

"What just happened?" Red Alert asked.

"I think Wheeljack just cut off our fuel supply." Kup said.

Wheeljack grabbed the cube and took a swig.

~*~*~*~

"I want you to fix him." Starscream said.

Blackout's body lay mattered in pieces across Knock Out's operating table. Skyquake sat in the corner, pressing against his wound as Starscream and Knock Out observed the Air Commander's handiwork.

"Well, my lord, what you might want isn't necessarily possible." Knock Out explained. "He's badly damaged, perhaps beyond repair... You're asking me to put band-aids on a malignant tumor."

"Damn. This job is already critically understaffed... I have a plan. Prepare the Space Bridge, I'm taking a trip to Moon base 2."

 

Wrote this in two days. I think it's the best chapter yet.

Chapter 15

~*~*~*~

He gripped the brassy knob, and then halted himself.

To most, a knob meant nothing. Just another fact of life... But to a four million veteran, someone who had once known peace times such as himself, these little devices meant everything.

Once, long ago, doors operated on more advanced mechanisms. Sensors tapped into the Underbase, and, within proximity, someone could send out a mental command to operate it. Once, everything had been this way. All of Cybertron was networked together- Everything was interconnected. From Sentinel Prime to the lowliest miner to someone's Energon processor... All was one.

There had been religious elements who decided to interpret this as something spiritual. They called the Underbase "Primus", and all Cybertronians his children. A memorable quote by a scholar of Alpha Trion and a member of the Circle of Light, had said "All things of Cybertron of equal worth... We flow into each other all the time. By transitive properties, that means we're all the same, right?"

As an archivist, just before the war, the contemplative one with his hand on the door had actually discovered the name of the quote's originator. "Tailgate". This was an important find; that bit of on the spot philosophizing had largely inspired Sentinel Prime's revisionist Autobot movement. But the name had been lost in the Senate's great data purge. Normally, he would have received a pat on the back from the people who had tried to hide the information in the first place, and the records would have been updated.

But on the brink of war, that's not what happened. No, he had been chosen to have a seat on the Imperial Council... "Communications officer" indeed. In actuality, he had been asked him to oversee all their nefarious secret projects. And just like that, he had gone from archivist to Director of Decepticon Internal Affairs.

And he had fulfilled his roll well. But what his leader didn't know- What nobody knew- Was that he couldn't have cared less about the ideologies at play. He worked with who he did because the Decepticons had seemed more likely to win. He would've stayed no matter what because after what he'd done the Autobots would have downloaded his mind into a single data drive, isolated it and destroyed his body, effectively killing him. If he thought he could get away with it, he would jump ship if need be.

But no one knew. He was simply a loyal soldier. The MOST loyal soldier.

The loyal soldier finally returned his attention to the knob.

And, not for the first time, he silently hoped that he'd find the monster on the other side dead- A smoking crater replacing his head, a pistol in his hand, and a broken glass of Engex dropped on the floor.

But he knew he wouldn't. He heard the soft throb of Spark, as he heard everything.

Soundwave turned the knob.

~*~*~*~

"So... This sucks."

Sunstreaker looked around the circle of Autobots for agreement. Sideswipe nodded. "Yeah... We should be happy! Sunstreaker's alive! But instead, we've got to sit here, and worry about our impending starvation!"

"You guys, come on." Hound said. "Don't be jerks. And Wheeljack, come be with the group!"

Wheeljack sat in the corner, looking at the floor. He didn't respond.

Thoroughly uncomfortable with his own emotional display, Hound pressed on. "Come on... Guy, it's not your fault. It was a mistake anyone could've made."

"No." Sunstreaker said. "It takes a special kind of idiot to drag a child into a war zone because he forgot."

"That's enough." Kup said firmly. "I'm not gonna sit here and let you insult your comrade like this. We're not doomed, we've built up a pretty good cache of fuel. It'll last a while."

"Nice try channelling Prime there, boss," Sideswipe began, "But the optimism doesn't suit you."

"Have you ever even met Prime?" Kup asked.

"We've met Prime!" Sunstreaker said. "Once! ... At a rally."

"Oh, wow, met him at a rally! I drank with him." Kup bragged.

"Bull." Sideswipe said. "Oh, wait, don't take that as Carte Blanche for-"

"Story time!" Kup exclaimed.

"Do you do this a lot?" Hound asked.

"Sometimes, I forget your still sort of new. Anyway, you all know I'm old. But did you know I'm actually Pre-War?"

"That's crazy. You're saying you're four million years old- At least." Hound said.

"Right! Let's get started!"

~*~*~*~

It was midnight at Fort Yuss. Ahead, the Sea of Rust- hundreds of miles of pure, corrosive nothingness where the heart of civilization had once sat. Acid rain dropped in heavy pellets from the sky. Staring out into the abyss, a young, teal bot stood, awaiting something.

And then, two red forms appeared on the horizon, one of them hitched to a trailer. They sped through the night, their paint being slowly eaten away. Special Magnawheels had replaced their normal ones, and the signature bright cyan LED accents signaling their status as Autobots streaked across their form.

The teal bot had different lights. Emerald green. Hauler class.

Upon reaching the hangar the teal bot was standing in, the two transformed. One was squat with touches of yellow, and began cursing about the conditions outside immediately. The larger of the two, which upon closer inspection was a healthy mix of red and blue, and lacked a traditional mouth ("Faceplates were in." Kup explained), spoke to the Hauler. "Hey, pal, it's way too bad out right now for us to report to whoever's in charge here, and for you to take over carrying this stuff- It can wait till morning."

The squat one's voice rose to audible levels, "Yeah, let's get drunk."

The big one didn't waver. "There's a great little bar nearby called 'Maccadam's'."

~*~*~*~

"Maccadam's a 'little bar'? Please. That was the best known fuel pit on Cybertron! I've never even been to Cybertron and I know about Maccadam's!" Sunstreaker said.

Kup rolled his optics. "Well, this was before the war. Things were different. Now, back to the story,"

~*~*~*~

"Watch this."

The squat one ("Ironhide") pointed at his friend and talked to the teal bot. "This is funny."

The larger bot, upon hearing this, set his drink down. "Come on, man. That's not cool."

"Hey, I reserve your right to do whatever you want with your own face- But I also reserve my right to laugh at how absolutely silly it looks." Ironhide said.

"You know we don't even need mouths. The first Cybertronians didn't have them. It was a design cue we picked up from organics."

"Probably because we realized how stupid we looked when we tried to drink somethin'." Ironhide said.

"'We' didn't 'drink' anything! 'We' had fuel intakes. On our chests. You're- And I don't like to pull this card- But you're being kind of shapist, dude."

"Oh, please. I remember back when gettin' called shapist took a little more than a bit of gentle ribbin'." Ironhide responded.

"Just the other day you were making jokes about how all helicopters are crazy! And then, about sports cars being flighty, and tanks being dumb!" The big one argued.

"Well, those are just good jokes. Humor knows no bounds." Ironhide defended.

"I could write a dissertation the size of a small novel on how problematic that thought process is." He turned to the hauler. "I'm sorry, my friend and I can get... Philosophical, rather quickly. It occurs to me we've never even asked your name?"

"Pickup." The Hauler said. "But my friend's call me 'Kup'."

"'Pickup'?!" Ironhide asked incredulously, and then laughed. "That's awful, man. That'd be like if my name was... 'Soldier'. Or 'Patrol Guy'."

"Hey, that's the guy's name!" the larger one slapped Kup's back. "I like it, 'Kup'."

"Oh, please. That's just because your name is the worst name in the history of names."

"What is it? If you don't mind my asking." Kup asked timidly.

"It's-" his eyes darted to Ironhide, who looked back at him innocently as he sipped from his mug. The big one sighed. "It's Orion Pax."

Ironhide laughed so hard he spit his drink accross the bar. The bartender, a short, four fingers on each handed white and red fellow was ready to wipe it up, but Ironhide grabbed the cloth.

"I got this one, Swerve."

"You better have this. Last time you were in here you broke three glasses and a stool, and left poor me to explain it to the boss." Swerve said.

"In my defense, that guy was bein' a jerk." Ironhide argued.

"You busted two of those glasses and the stool on his head after you had already knocked him out with the first glass!"

Ironhide shrugged. "I needed to be sure he would stay down! Anyway, I got somethin' you might like." He pulled off a silver square off of the bottom of his chest.

"I don't even care. But it is shiny, and as a metallurgist by day it's my job to feign interest in shiny things. So what is it?" Swerve asked as he inspected the square.

"My new badge. They call 'em rub signs." Ironhide said. "They respond to touch. You'll never know a vehicle is an Autobot until- TCHUE-SHEE-TCHUE-SHEE-TCHUE! - It's too late."

Swerve touched the surface, and bits of silver appeared on the black. He wiped his hand across it, and it revealed the Autobot sigil. "Wouldn't an enemy know that it was a Cybertronian from the vehicle type?"

"That's the genius- They're co-developing a system in which you'll be rebuilt and have new armored parts forged, so that when you transform, the enemy will think you're one of theirs."

"That's incredible." Swerve said.

"It is." agreed Orion. "But it also seems underhanded to me. War in general is terrible, but all the subterfuge and espionage makes me feel sick. There's just... A dishonesty to it. A cowardice."

"Well, buddy, war is a pretty dishonest thing." Ironhide said. "Thousands of people gather together and kill each other on an industrial scale and for what? To prove a point?"

"If you hate war so much, then why are you a soldier?" Kup asked.

"Well, we're not." Orion rebuked. "Not really. We go on peace keeping missions, arrest people, we've had a few adventures in the Manganese Mountains, and been off world as guards for diplomats... And that's about as close as we've gotten to any actual fighting for the cause. Mostly we just go around the planet, and do work for the Senate. Like hauling supplies across the Sea of Rust, for instance."

"But you know you'll have to fight if we ever do go to war- You'll be the first ones to fight." Kup said.

"Not me!" Ironhide said. "We start fighting, the first thing I'm doing is sneaking off world. I'm not about to be the Senate's pawn... Or at least no more than I have to."

"I don't know." Orion said. "I could be a soldier. I'd fight for the right cause."

"Like what?" Ironhide asked.

"Like... Like freedom, I guess. And I know that's hokey, but that's why I'm an Autobot. Because... Because I don't want to just do what I was built to do. I want to go out, and see the world I live in, and learn about it without the Senate's interference. I want my own identity, not just the Senate's programming. I want that freedom. And if someone tried to take that away from me, or from anyone... Yeah, I'd fight for it." Orion said

Swerve chuckled. "And people call me long winded."

Orion chuckled too and grabbed his drink. A straw like device poked out from under his chin, and sank into his beverage. Slurping sounds ensued.

"Look! He's doin' it!" Ironhide cackled.

"Doing what- Oh, come on."

~*~*~*~

"And the four of us closed down the bar. When we left the next morning, we went our separate ways." Kup finished.

"I don't buy it." Sunstreaker said.

"Yeah, me neither." Sideswipe agreed.

"Why?" Kup asked.

"Because- Tell 'em why, Sunstreaker." Sideswipe said.

"You just happened to talk to the future Prime, and you just happened to hit it off, and he just happened to speechify about freedom? Come on. That's too perfect, there's no way it's true." Sunstreaker answered.

Kup shrugged. "It's true."

"But it doesn't change my point." Sunstreaker said. "We still don't know what we're gonna do."

"We'll work it out in the morning." Kup said. "Let's just get some rest."

~*~*~*~

The lights were off in the throne room. Only the purple highlights etched into the walls allowed for any visibility. Soundwave stepped in cautiously, and looked to his leader's chair. Starlight backlit his chair via the plexiglas window overseeing Darkmount. Soundwave spoke.

"My liege?" No response. He pressed further. "Lord Megatron?"

Upon hearing it's name, the creature in the chair shifted. "What is it, Soundwave?" it spat from the darkness.

"When was the last time you refueled, master? Or, and forgive me, changed your oil?"

"What do you want?" It spoke again, impatient and annoyed.

"There was a break in on Moonbase 2. A Driller was stolen from the mining sites, along with countless amounts of data."

"Autobots?" the wretch asked, it's interests piqued.

"No, sir, it was a single attacker. And he was sure to cover his tracks- No footage could be recovered."

Megatron sat up, smiling, and for the first time sounding like himself, he muttered "Starscream."

"Yes sir. And you'll never guess what he stole... Or, more appropriately in this case, who."

 

Chapter 16

~*~*~*~

What's happening to my systems? What planet is this?

Error: 01101001101011010101

It's a computer malfunction. Fine. Engage manual pilot.

Error: 10100111010101010110

Disengage.

The computer was giving him nothing. And he could read binary. If it was a virus, as he suspected, remaining connected was dangerous. Imagine if it spread to his CPU. He looked out the window. Calculating his trajectory in his head on a glance, he worked out that of the two continents he could make see, he was destined to crash off the western coast of the one to the south.

Determining this, a bolder, brasher bot might have devised some clever, daring escape. But this bot was neither bold nor brash, and so he simply flicked a switch, lowering himself and his chair into the Crash Vault. Shock absorbent gel filled the room, and he entered stasis.

A religious bot would have prayed. But this bot was not religious. He was a servant of pure, unadulterated logic. So, he simply hoped the numbers were in his favor.

~*~*~*~

"A ship went down in the Pacific, just off the coast of South America!" Red Alert said.

"That's nice." Sunstreaker said.

"No! A spaceship! Cybertronian!"

All six Autobots stood together in the cramped room. The patrols had been cancelled to conserve fuel, so everyone had to stay in all day every day. "A Cybertronian spaceship crashed?" Kup asked skeptically.

Red Alert nodded, and projected an image from his optics. In it, a grainy shooting star was going down over the Pacific. "This was posted online two hours ago! I found it on a conspiracy theories message board while looking for info about Triple I! But it was taken down. Hunter O'nion-"
"Hunter Onion?" Sideswipe mocked.

"No! O'nion! Oh-Nigh-On! The leading Triple I theorist! Anyway, he thought that they did it to hide the truth. Because they think it's Cybertronian!" Red Alert explained.

"Well, wouldn't we be the experts on the matter?" Kup asked.

"Yes! That's why I enhanced the photo, and I found this!"

He zoomed in on the side of the ship, revealing markings; Cybertronian numerals. A serial code.

"So what do you propose we do about this?" Sunstreaker asked.

Red Alert looked confused. "We go find it. What else would we do?"

"Anything but?" Sidewipe joked.

"Red Alert, you can't seriously expect us to drop everything and go to South America with such limited resources." Kup said incredulously.

"Yes. I can. We're sitting here, waiting to die, and this is a way out!" said Red Alert.

"We don't even know if it's an Autobot ship!" He argued back.

"If it's a Decepticon we'll shoot it in the face! We can't just let ourselves starve! We gather our remaining fuel, and go find it! And if we get killed, at least it'll be proactively!" Red Alert said.

"You know what?" Sunstreaker began. "That's the first thing anyone's said in a while that's made any sense." Sideswipe finished.

Kup considered this. "Hound... What do you think?"

Hound looked up. "Huh?"

"You're dependable. Reasonablity is a commodity." Kup explained. "My gut says 'no', but what do you think?"

"Honestly?" Hound asked.

He looked to Wheeljack, who sat in the corner, dejected.

"We've got nothing to lose. I say go for it."

~*~*~*~

"Ow... Owie..."

Runamuck laid on the operating table muttering to himself.

"This is all your fault." Starscream said. "I told you to get out of the way."

Knock Out looked up from a monitor. "It's done. We're a closed network- Nothing is getting in or out of our systems. We're fully secure."

"Good." said Starscream. "Then we're ready. Do not connect to any other Decepticon servers."

He pulled out a Data-Slug with recently scratched off identifying markers, and began to put it into the monitor's port, when Knock Out grabbed his hand. "If I let you put that in there," Knock Out said, "What will that mean for my status as a Decepticon?"

Starscream acted confused. "What so you mean?"

"You came through that Space Bridge riding a Driller and running from an explosion." Knock Out reminded him. "It was awesome." Runabout added. "Until you hit... Me... Ow..." Runamuck strained.

Knock Out ignored them. "And then you insisted on me locking down the servers. I've had my doubts from the beginning, but now, I'm sure of one thing. This mission has not been endorsed or sanctioned by Megatron. And, furthermore, I'd wager that if he knew what we were doing here, words like 'high treason' might come up. So I'm asking right now; is it in my best interests to stop you?"

Starscream smiled. "We'll see."

He snatched his arm away, and planted the drive into the computer. After a moment, a yellow circle appeared against a black screen.

"Shockwave: Online."

 

huh....

 

Wow this is getting... good. I mean I liked it before but after reading these recent few updates things are beginning to get really interesting. I'll be looking forward to more.

 

"huh" is right. What the hell is going on with Shockwave?

Wow... Thanks, man. That means a lot coming from someone like you, who I consider to be pretty damn smart.

~*~*~*~

Chapter 17

~*~*~*~

Buster laid on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. His life had very suddenly, drastically increased in interest... And just as suddenly receded back into dullness. He might have thought it was a dream if not for the notebook, which had recorded all of it. It sat there now... Mocking him...

DOO-DEE-DOO-DEE-DOO

His phone went off alerting him of a text. He lifted it, and slid his finger across the screen. It was from Jesse.

What's wrong with you? You've been all distant and stuff.

He considered this. His actual life as a high school student with mediocre grades and a girlfriend had fallen by the wayside. It wasn't it's fault; how was it supposed to compete for his interests when the competition was giant alien robots?

Not that it would have to now. Parents. You end up in one little warzone and they get so damn protective...

I've been busy with the scrapyard. he lied. But it's over now.

Suddenly a sharp rap hit the door. "Could you get that?" Sparkplug yelled from downstairs.

Buster leapt out of bed and bounded down the stairs. He opened the front door.

Nothing.

He checked the backdoor.

Hound lay outside in a a heap, leaking Energon into the street.

"Help... ME!" He managed before passing out.

"DAD!" Buster yelled.

~*~*~*~

A FEW DAYS PRIOR

City after city, desert after desert, forest after forest, and eventually jungle after jungle, the Autobots made their way for the American northwest to the South American west coast. Kup carried their Energon rations in the bed of his truck, and they only gave pause for nips of fuel.

Eventually, Red Alert shouted "And... We're here!"

The caravan transformed, and took in their surroundings. A jungle on the coast. "We're gonna split up." Kup said. "Three groups of two. Wheeljack and I are going to make the dive. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, you stand guard by the water. Hound and Red Alert, patrol the surrounding area. Let's get started."

Kup and Wheeljack sealed off all access ports, and waded in.

Hound looked at Red Alert.

"Good luck." Sunstreaker laughed.

~*~*~*~

Starscream looked at the screen nervously. "Shockwave? This is-"

The yellow circle turned as if to look at him. "Air Commander Starscream. Member of the Imperial Council. I remember you."

"... Indeed. Well, since I have... Liberated you from Luna 2-"

"I know what you're after. I do not know why you need me to find it." Shockwave said.

"It is somewhere beneath this mountain-" Starscream explained.

"And you cannot locate it. I am guessing you found some piece of it, leading you to believe it is in fact here, but you are clearly too stupid to find it. In fact, I would wager you have been manually digging a tunnel because your older scanning equipment is ineffective at best."

Embarrassed, Knock Out slid a shovel out of view.

Starscream flustered."You will help us-"

"Will I?" Shockwave asked. "On one condition. You must build me a new body."

"First you will locate-"

"I've already located it. You will create my body, and then I will help you."

Starscream paused. "We lack the resources to-"

"Then you are useless to me."

"MAY I FINISH ONE SENTENCE?!"

"You just did. This conversation is over."

Suddenly, the Driller stirred. Growling, it chewed it's way into the ground.

"You're really bad at this leading thing, huh?" Knock Out asked.

"Follow that thing!" Starscream hissed.

~*~*~*~

"This is TOTALLY inconspicuous."

Buster and Sparkplug had covered Hound with a tarp. Unfortunately, it came short; his legs were completely exposed, and his right hand stuck out. They were lucky that he had thought to go to the backdoor. A giant robot in the front yard would have been impossible to hide.

He sat on the back porch waiting for the sound of his dad's car. He had gone to collect the fuel converter at the Autobot's warehouse. It was funny how his hard anti-Autobot stance seemed to have softened when faced with the prospect of one dying in his backyard.

"Buster!" Sparkplug whispered urgently. Buster turned, finding his father struggling to carry the Cybertronian/Earth tech hodgepodge device. "Get the gas can!"

A few minutes later, they had the device purring. They looked at Hound, and eventually decided on injecting the fuel into the mouth. A few moments passed, and there was no response. Buster looked at his dad. "Maybe it's not in the mouth-"

"ARRGH!"

Hound woke with a start, struggling to remove the tarp. Confused, his optics searched around the neighborhood, until he noticed the humans. "Why did you bwind me with a giant sheet?!"

Sparkplug looked up at him. "There are government agents running all around town because of your rampage."

"You don't have to wowwy about them fow the neaw futuwe." Hound muttered.

"What's wrong with your voice?" Buster asked, concerned.

"Wechawge always weaves you a wittle numb. Thank you, by the way..." He murmured, struggling to articulate. "What happened?" Buster asked.

"Something attacked us. I managed to escape- ARRGH!" Hound grunted, gripping his left arm. He moved his hand, revealing a leaking stump midway down his forearm, surrounded by bite marks.

~*~*~*~

The escaped Autobot should have been dead. Hehad monitored his Spark signature as it moved north for hundreds of miles, only to finally give out in... "Oregon".

He set the ship's course, towards the Autobot, and began planning his new body design. He took inventory of the Stasis Locked Transformers on the ship, whose parts he would... Appropriate for his needs. Five Autobots and three Decepticons lay in Stasis Pods, slabs of meat ripe for his consumption.

That is, to use figurative language. Which Shockwave would never do.

 

............holy crap. Shockwave is actually scary

 

Yeah, actual Cannibal Shockwave LaBeouf. He and Megatron are both terrifying compared to their other interpretations. I like it!

 

He should be. I wrote him that way.  

He is a monster. Logic being his sole purpose for being, he should have no compunctions about committing atrocities, not weighed down by respect for his fellow life forms.

Why thank you!

Chapter 18

~*~*~*~

Kup and Wheeljack reached the ship, their heavy metallic feet sinking into the sand.

::Wheeljack, can you get us in?::

He didn't respond, and instead simply trudged towards the door. He began streaming access codes, but the door only trembled slightly. Sighing, Wheeljack pulled out his gun. CHOOM! The door flew apart, twisting and contorting as though it were a tin can with a car dropped on it.

They had accessed a cargo hold. It was almost cut off from the rest of the ship, save one sealed door, which Kup pried open. The two rushed in with the salt water, and with a major effort, Kup resealed the door.

"Was that door made of Play-Doh?" Kup joked, reaching out.

"... Unlikely..." Wheeljack muttered.

This was gonna be a long trip.

~*~*~*~

Hound sat, setting his gun on the ground, and leaned against a tree. "What are you doing?" Red Alert asked. "We need to keep watch!"

"We've been driving for days. We need rest." He explained.

Considering this, Red Alert sat down too. Neither of them were good talkers. The silence was awkward to say the least. "So, uh... You're new. Ish. Where were you posted originally?"

"I was a scout for Autobot High Command. And not a low level nobody, either, I would have been mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Bumblebee." Hound said.

"And why aren't you?" Red Alert asked.

"My scanners got fragged by a thermal bomb. I was taken prisoner, and they used electromagnetic manipulation to shut them down for good, and sent in a Shadowplay expert called Bombshell to pull my memories. Eventually, the moved me to Luna 2, with the other POWs, to work the mines. Say what you will about Megatron, but you can't tell me he's not resourceful." Hound explained. "I was released in one of the mass prisoner trade offs. They released me for someone who should've been locked up in Fortress Maximus, because they didn't know I had been rendered useless. When they found out, they just started assigning me one shit post after the other."

"That's awful. I'm sorry." Red Alert said.

"The mines being the closest I've ever gotten to home, it sort of... Burned me out on Cybertron. On Cybertronians, too, I guess. And despite patrol work being such a shitty job, I think... I think I'm starting to like humans better. To like Earth better. I don't know... What about you? Where are you from?" Hound asked.

"Cybertron. Yeah, I'm that old. But you wouldn't realize it because I keep upgrading. The idea of a mechanical failure really freaks me out. But, yeah, Cybertron. I was built in Praxus, the last Neutral state. The rest of the planet had been consumed by endless war, but there we were, a pinprick of a time long since gone." he smiled. "I was introduced to the concept of war when a bullet flew past my head. The last neutral City-State meant the last place to conquer. And so, it was chaos. There were no clear lines... Everyone was just killing everyone, and in the span of thirty minutes I had been Autobranded, handed a gun, and told to jump in. Two months later we evacuated the planet, and I've stuck with Kup ever since the Wreckers disbanded."

"That must have been... Scarring." Hound commented.

"My psychotherapist (psychiatrist?), Rung, diagnosed me as a paranoiac with antisocial tendencies and a major anxiety disorder. I guess that's why I have no friends." Red Alert said.

The silence's awkwardness was as dense and as powerful as a supernova. Hound was at a loss for words. But then, he remembered what someone had said to him.

"I'll be your friend." Hound said.

Before Red Alert could respond, metal tentacles ripped out of the ground, moving at phenomenal speeds towards them.

~*~*~*~

Wheeljack removed the access panel to a door lock. He reached in, matching different access ports with his fingertips. They broke apart, and began to interact with the machine. After a few moments, he grimaced. Then, suddenly, he screamed and ripped his hand away.

"What's wrong?" Kup asked.

Wheeljack gripped his hand. "... Nothing."

Kup sighed. "Wheeljack... You've got to get over this. I mean, you messed up. Boo freakin' hoo. It happens. I you want me to tell you that it's alright, that you're the most special-est little snowflake who ever lived... But I'm not gonna do that. Firstly because what you did was really stupid, and you deserve to be ashamed for it- really, truly ashamed, not dramatizing how you know you should feel, like you are now. But mainly, because you're acting staggeringly immature. Even by your standards. So, please, just get over it, and start being productive again." He let his words sink in, and then restated his question. "Now, tell me, what's wrong?"

"..." Wheeljack considered. And then suddenly, "Alright, so these ships' locks are designed to be counter intuitive from a mechanical perspective. The idea being that a crew member would have the activation codes. But, other Autobots might need to access the ship- rescue teams responding to an SOS, for instance- so it can be bypassed. But, since it's a designer mind-frag, it's not gonna be easy."

"Can you do it?" Kup asked.

"There are Autobots- smart ones- who train their whole lives to do this, for salvaging purposes. It's an insanely complex system they have to learn over and over again, until it's burned into their memories. Nine out of ten die young from strain on the neural processor. Their brain module literally falls apart and they die from doing this, because it's so hard." Wheeljack explained. "It might take me a few minutes."

~*~*~*~

A FEW MINUTES LATER

Kup and Wheeljack trudged out of the water, carrying armfuls of Energon cubes. Wheeljack yelled. "WE BROUGHT MUNCHIES-"

And then they noticed the gigantic metal monster worm fighting the other four Autobots and three Decepticons.

"Man, we just can't catch a break, huh?" Wheeljack asked.

~*~*~*~

 

Short but sweet.

 

Sorry, I almost forgot about this...

Chapter 19

~*~*~*~

Stray embers danced in the breeze like a dandelion.

"He's leaking out. I mean, I think he is, but- Oh Primus it's everywhere- I'm not sure... I'm a weapons engineer, not a medic!"

Hound had drifted out of consciousness, and Wheeljack was doing his best to stop him from losing Energon. Kup stood nearby, firing at whatever piece of the Driller dared show itself. "STARSCREAM!" he yelled.

Starscream flayed a tentacle with one saw, and then brought the other down, slicing it off. "What?" He asked.

"We need a medic!" Kup explained.

"We're helping you because it's in my best interests, not because we care about your survival! What's one more dead Autobot?" he sneered.

"How's about if you don't help me, I leave you Decepticons to what is clearly a Decepticon affair, and let this monstrosity devour you?" Kup yelled back.

"Knock Out! Help the Autobots!" Starscream commanded.

Leaping across the Battlefield, Knock Out made it to Hound. "What happened to him?" he asked.

"The thing ate his hand, and he's leaking really bad..." Wheeljack explained, but Knock Out was already laser cutting a hole in Hound's arm. "It's simple. Just reroute the circuitry... Bring me some Energon! His system's lost too much to sustain consciousness. We have to move quickly, before his body enters involuntary Stasis Lock."

"What happens then?" Wheeljack asked.

"Then... My job gets harder." Knock Out said, never stopping his work. "The Brain Module will instinctively send out a shutdown code, cutting off all functions, including processing and cerebral activity, in an attempt to conserve the Spark's energies. Without the vital chemicals and nutrients necessary for survival flowing through his circuits, vital parts of his body will rapidly deteriorate, denoted by a distinctive drain in coloration. With all access ports shut off, Energon has to be mainlined into the Spark, a complicated procedure in it's own right, and by the time circulation starts up again and his systems reboot, vital mechanisms like the Brain Module or Morphcore may have deteriorated to the point of uselessness, permanently handicapping him."

"So this is kinda important, huh?" Wheeljack asked.

"At this point, the preventing Stasis Lock is a simple process- but extremely delicate." Knock Out explained. He paused. "So if you could, you know, take a hint-"

A bullet slammed into the side of his head, and he slumped to the ground. The force caused his head to cave in on itself, leaving little more than a leaking wadded knuckles above his shoulders.

"What the hell-" Wheeljack began before another was fired, striking him in the chest.

A storm of bullets tore across the clearing from either sides of the brush. Suddenly, it stopped, and six gunmetal grey robots stepped out into the open. They had a simplistic hand and security cameras in lieu of heads. Every joint, every gear, every visible mechanism all resembled Cybertronian physiology, but heavily watered down. Instead of a right forearm, their arms became anti-aircraft guns below the elbow. They were markless except for a distinct corporate logo; these machines belonged to "Blackrock Enterprises".

"Is it me," Runabout asked, "Or do those guys look a lot like that yellow Autobot?"

~*~*~*~

Someone was in the ship.

The crash vault had initiated the intricate scrubbing process which cleansed his body of the shock absorbent gel. Then, his systems were drained of the preservatives that had been administered to protect them from decay, and they were slowly replaced by Energon. The deactivation process took days, happening right under the invader's nose- The crash vault's systems weren't connected to the larger ship's computer network, they were automated, connected to a series of a pressure pads along the ship's corridors that would cause them to activate if movement was detected.

And movement had been detected. Based on the fact that no one had come to greet him, he was guessing it was a Decepticon. Which of course answered some questions; he had been sent to investigate the disappearance of the Shooting Star and it's occupants, who were under the command of Sergeant Kup. If Decepticons were on this planet, and they were the ones that uploaded the hostile malware, they were likely responsible for both events.

His programming told him to go to the bridge. He pulled a pistol, and moved his back to the wall. He inched onto the bride, and then quickly turned, pointing his gun into the room.

It was empty.

He holstered his weapon in one of several hidden compartments. Suddenly, behind him, he heard the distinct sound of metals interacting. He whipped around, reaching for his gun, utterly terrified.

It was one the ship's mechanical arms, grabbing a fuel cell from the cache, and slowly moved down the magnetized track running through every corridor and into every room of the ship.

Stupid. If that had been a Decepticon, he would've been killed. He never should have put his weapon away, and even if he hadn't, the fear would've made him sloppy. But it wasn't a Decepticon, and now he had a trail leading directly to the enemy. It was time to press the advantage.

The arm placed the cell... In the Medibay. The intruder was just around the corner. He gripped his gun. 1... 2... 3!

"YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" He yelled, swinging around.

It was Shockwave... He recognized the cyclops from old CCTV footage he had seen during his history classes at AJD Training. The fuel cell was locked into his chest cavity, which slowly slid shut, and the power cable which had been keeping him online until that point disconnected. Another arm opened the CR Chamber, and pulled out a molten piece, dunked it in a fast cooling agent, then attached the newly forged part to Shockwave's left arm. Then, a third arm spray painted it.

"Very well, I surrender." Shockwave said calmly.

The ship's rightful occupant hoped that Shockwave couldn't see his hands shake. "My name is-"

"Prowl. You are an licensed officer of the Autobot Justice Division, and an official enforcer of the Tyrest Accord." Shockwave said. "As you can see, I'm having some bodily issues, but once my arm is complete, I'll happily enter your custody."

Prowl didn't know what to say.

"I don't intend to threaten, but you hardly have any choice. I've had some time on my hands, so I read your stats- They're impressive, but they don't touch mine. I've been looking for you- Bur your Crash Vault is well hidden." Shockwave said.

"Why should I trust that you won't attack me the second your arm's complete?" Prowl asked.

"I give you my word." Shockwave said.

Around that time, Prowl noticed the cannibalized bodies in the corner. "What did you do to them?" He asked, horrified.

"I needed parts. Parts require raw supplies. These units were abundant in raw supplies." Shockwave explained. "I would think that somewhat obvious."

"These are fellow Cybertronians! Some of them are Decepticons-" Prowl choked in fear.

"Oh, Prowl, if you intend to survive in the world we live in, you're going to have to think more logically." Shockwave said. "And the first part if that is to rid your mind of all sacrosanctities. Survival comes first, everything you assign false value to must be pushed to the back of your mind. For instance- Promises."

Shockwave blasted him with his now complete left arm's Fusion Cannon.

 

Awesome!  

 

SHOCKWAVE IS BOSS!!!  

 

HA !!!

 

Dayum!

 

I'll make sure to address these concerns in the future.

~*~*~*~

Chapter 20

~*~*~*~

"This is a truly terrible idea."

Josie Beller sat in a control room with 12 handlers, all looking at monitors.

"I know... Since we took on this project, I've been afraid of getting sued by whoever owns the rights to Lamborghinis." Blackrock said.

In the wake of Simmons'... Relocation, the NBE project had been licensed to a private sect robotics firm, Blackrock industries. Blackrock himself had overseen the project, along with Josie Beller and William Barnett, the new mission handler.

"Josie..." William said.

She ignored him. "It's true. The NBEs won't be stopped by your flimsy imitations."

"Those imitations are hardly 'flimsy', Ms. Beller." Blackrock said. "Our Vehicons are made of maraging steel, carbon/carbon composites, and Spectra Fibers- Some of the strongest substances on Earth. The areas containing their computers and their batteries are shielded by a super strong alloy discovered by Caltech scientists so recently it doesn't have a name yet. They're armed with anti-aircraft cannons containing rounds that release an electromagnetic pulse specifically designed to disrupt the magnetic bonds holding together their polymers enough to cripple their yield strength for a short time. They've been programmed with the subconscious computer functions and survival directives you discovered in NBE-2. We have people," he gestured around the room, "monitoring their vitals at all times, telling us when they've taken damage and if they need to be taken off the battlefield. In short, they're uber badass."

"Sir?" One of the handlers said. "We have a problem."

~*~*~*~

"YOU-"

Sunstreaker punched the Vehicon in the optical sensor, shattering it even as it tore like paper off the droid's head.

"ARE NOTHING-"

It's arms instinctively smacked at Sunstreaker, who grabbed them and ripped them from it's sockets.

"BUT A CHEAP-"

He forced his Plasma Rifle through it's torso, and fired, blowing it's back out all over the ground.

"KNOCKOFF!"

He dropped to his knees, letting his shoulder based missile launchers blow the slumping mess to kingdom come.

Sunstreaker turned to the others. "It's alright! These things are made of some sort of tissue paper!"

"That's it!" Kup yelled. "I'm calling for a tactical retreat! Let's let these Decepticons sort out their own mess! Someone grab Hound and someone grab Wheeljack, and let's get the hell out of here!"

He transformed into truck mode, revving to life, before a tentacle whipped out of the ground and into him, sending him high into the air, before raising above him, and smashing back down to Earth. "Jeez!" Runabout said. "Soon you Autobots will have lost more guys than you'll keep-" another tentacle wrapped itself around him, squeezing and smashing him out of context.

"Damn you Shockwave!" Starscream said, before transforming and blasting away from the battle. A Vehicon shot one of his thrusters, causing it to explode and sending him crashing into the ground.

Red Alert leapt from the bushes onto it's shoulders, breaking off both arms. Kicking the ground, Red Alert leapt into the air, spun, and smashed the Vehicon into the ground. He picked himself up, and was slammed in the back by a tentacle.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker shared an uneasy look. Two tentacles grabbed their legs and dragged them underground as they kicked and screamed.

The Driller searched the battlefield for anyone else.

~*~*~*~

I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid. And now. I'm about to die because I'm so stupid.

In one fluid motion Prowl rolled onto his hands and knees as he hit the ground and crawled, kicking off the ground onto his feet and breaking into a run. He was operating purely on survival directives programmed into his brain module by the AJD Academy. His actual conscious mind was busy going into shock.

Shockwave stepped out into the corridor. He lifted his arm to fire, but Prowl jumped around and turned as he fell on his back, firing his pistol as he unleashed his entire stock of weaponry from every hidden nook and cranny of his body. The majority of it found it's target, unleashing deadly payloads against his body.

Not a scratch.

"I am surprised you did not see that coming." Shockwave said. "The strength of our metals come from their nature as magnetically bonded polymers. The more polymers that are bonded together, the stronger the bond becomes. And so trithyllium- so named because it contains three times the standard polymer count of Cybertronian alloys- is the strongest metal possible. Most can only support so much of it because it weighs so much as to strain the Spark's power thresholds. But this is not a problem for me. I have no Spark. They took it from me."

Prowl knew he had to keep him talking. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"That last blast I gave you was at a minimal charge. I've been waiting this long for something properly lethal."

He took aim.

~*~*~*~

"Oh Primus, please don't be dead..."

Wheeljack had dragged Hound into the forest, and was now frantically babbling to himself in terror.

"Wait- You're not dead! This is... This is Stasis Lock!"

He had grabbed an Energon cube as they left, in case Hound needed it. He pried opened Hound's chest.

Hound's Spark was dull. It was small and weak- Although some of that may have been from trauma. Wheeljack held the cube. "Please let this work..." He slammed it into Hound's open Spark.

There was no response.

And then Hound roared back to life. After a few moments of panic, he looked at Wheeljack.

"What happened?"

A tentacle grabbed Wheeljack, and whisked him away. Scrambling to his feet, Hound leapt and transformed mid-air, tearing up dirt as he fled in panic.

Oh Primus, what am I gonna do? Where am I gonna go? All the other Autobots are-

Buster.

~*~*~*~