Chapter 3

Early next morning Blackjack and his team of Stunticons arrived at the Constructicons' workshop, located not too far down the hall from their laboratory, on the second floor inside the Central Tower.

"What are we doing here first thing in the morning, anyway?" Dead End whinged to his team leader. "I'm not feeling too good right now."

"That's probably because you have a hangover," Blackjack retorted, as he stepped inside the workshop to look around. Other than his own team, there appeared to be nobody else about. "I did warn all of you not to overdo it, didn't I?" But all he received were moans and grumbles in protestation.

Then he heard a voice speak up from near one of the work benches in the far side of the room. "I couldn't help but overhear…" it said, and a mech stepped forward until Blackjack and his team could see him clearly. He was accompanied by a second mech, and Blackjack recognized them as two of the Constructicons; Mixmaster and Scavenger. It was Scavenger who had spoken. "We have energy restrictions in place. You shouldn't have gotten over-energized."

Blackjack walked up to face the two of them, looked Scavenger up and down as if to try and intimidate him, but the face mask he wore made it virtually impossible for anyone to read his expression. "That's really not any of your business, now is it?" he replied.

"Well, actually, it–" Scavenger attempted to explain, but was cut short.

"Where's Scrapper?" Blackjack demanded.

It was Mixmaster's turn to speak. "He's not here yet," he said, stating the obvious, and then added, "Have you checked the lab? He's usually in there, if he's not in here."

Blackjack stared at him for several moments. "He said to meet him here. It's no problem, we'll just wait for him," he replied, and then turned and walked back to his team mates. He pulled up an empty chair, sat down and leaned back, looking more than happy to wait for the Constructicon leader as if he had all the time in the world.

Dead End sat himself down on one of the work benches, while Drag Strip walked around on an uninvited tour of the workshop, picking up the odd curious item and then placing it back down again. Breakdown followed his lead, exploring a shelf full of tools at the other end of the room, and as he reached up to grab something from the top shelf, Scavenger leaped towards him in an effort to stop him.

"No, don't touch that!" Scavenger called out, just as a container filled with unstable fragments of ormus crystals slipped out of Breakdown's grasp, most of its contents spilling to the floor. He scrambled to grab the container before it rolled off the shelf, and immediately started to gather the precious crystals from the floor.

Mixmaster bent down to help him, and when they were finished he turned to face Breakdown, who stood before them watching in curiosity without offering to help. "Perhaps you should all leave," he told them in frustration, "before you start doing some real damage around here."

But Blackjack did not appreciate being spoken to in such a manner, and he kicked up his feet onto a bench, clasping his hands behind his head. "No way – not until we see Scrapper," he said, looking back at him defiantly.

Mixmaster frowned in anger, and was about to tell the Stunticon leader where he could shove his exhaust pipe when Scrapper entered the workshop, followed by Hook. Scrapper stopped short when Blackjack got up from his chair to approach him.

"We're ready," Blackjack said, only to receive a look of confusion from Scrapper, so he reminded him, "You know, for the combiner tech?"

Scrapper rubbed at the side of his head in thought, looking back at Blackjack in surprise, not to mention a little apprehension. Apparently, he hadn't realized just how keen Blackjack was about the combiner technology, and hadn't expected to see him again so soon. He glanced over at Mixmaster and Scavenger for an instant, and then towards Hook.

"Combiner tech?" Hook asked, doubtful.

Scrapper sighed, moved past Blackjack to get to his work bench. "Blackjack asked me about it last night. He wants to know if his own team would be able to merge. I told him I'd have to run some tests first, to see if they're compatible."

Hook studied each of the Stunticons in turn. Admittedly, he had been more than a little curious to see if the physical and mental merging of members of other teams would work just as successfully as it had for the Constructicons. "Oh, I see," he said simply.

As Scrapper busied himself with sorting through a pile of data pads and modules, Blackjack seemed to grow more agitated by the astro-second, until he exclaimed impatiently, "Well? Are you going to do it or not?"

Scrapper turned to look at him, startled, and an awkward silence settled around the room. He was about to tell the Stunticon leader that he was currently busy with other things and to come back later, but then he thought better of it. The test itself wouldn't take too long, so he decided that he may as well get it over and done with now rather than have to put up with the demanding mech for the rest of the day. He shook his head exasperatedly, picked up one of the data pads on the bench and selected the test program. Then he made his way over to Blackjack, extended a probe from his hand held computer and inserted it into a port at the back of the mech's head without warning. "We'll start with you, then," he said, and began running the algorithms.

Having just returned from the North Tower, Skywarp entered the main research laboratory on the ground floor of the Central Tower, where his two trine mates, Starscream and Thundercracker, as well as Shockwave, Megatron and Soundwave, were gathered around a holo image of Cybertron and its neighbouring planets.

"The Autobots plan to negotiate a trade deal with certain worlds within the G Nebula," Soundwave informed the Decepticon leader, as well as the other Decepticons present. "For the purposes of obtaining more natural energon."

Megatron turned to look at his communications officer, straightening to his full height as he considered the latest news. Then he simply shook his head in disapproval. "It is not an unexpected move."

Starscream exchanged glances with his friends. "Apparently, those worlds drive a hard bargain. The Autobots may be successful in acquiring a fresh supply of crystals, but at what price?" he explained, voicing aloud the same thoughts shared by Megatron and Shockwave. "Cybertron will be no better off, and will only be further depleted of its natural resources in the long run."

Megatron nodded in agreement, and then with nothing further to say on the matter he turned his attention to the latest arrival. "Skywarp, what is the situation at our perimeter?"

"From what I can tell, it's getting worse. Small groups of rioters are trying to force their way in, and their numbers just seem to be growing by the hour," the seeker replied, crossing his arms.

"All looking for free energon, no doubt," Thundercracker commented.

Skywarp nodded in acknowledgment. "But it's not just here – it looks like all of Kaon's flipping out."

"Are they breaching our defenses?" Megatron asked him after a pause.

The purple and black seeker replied, "No; we're strong – for now."

At least that was one bit of reassuring news. "Good, but keep monitoring activity," Megatron told him.

Skywarp smiled contentedly. "No problem."

Scrapper removed the probe from Wildrider and glanced at the test results. He had already run the test through twice on each Stunticon; the first round of tests had yielded uncertain results and he had been unable to explain exactly what the problem was, but Blackjack had insisted that he'd done something wrong so he'd agreed to do a retest, even having Hook help him to ensure that he was conducting it correctly.

He scanned through the readout in an attempt to determine the cause of the incompatibility, as Blackjack waited impatiently for an explanation. He had not expected such a result; in fact, since the Stunticons were all spark mates and shared the same creation event, just like his own team did, he could not see why the test indicated a negative match.

Hook pointed to an anomaly in the readout, looking over his shoulder at the data pad. "There," he said. Scrapper examined the source of the problem, and realized that he'd made a fundamental assumption about the test subjects, which had caused him to miss the obvious.

"Well, what's the problem?" Blackjack demanded.

The Constructicon leader looked back at him. "The problem seems to be with you, Blackjack," he stated, pointing at the mech's chest with a finger.

"Me?" Blackjack exchanged glances with his team mates, trying not to appear worried. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the combining process that I created can only work when there's a strong bond between each team member. The test clearly shows that you don't share the same kind of bond that the others do," Scrapper explained, indicating towards the other four Stunticons with a sweep of his hand. "Sorry," he concluded, and with nothing more to be said on the matter he turned back to his work bench, putting down the data pad and shifting his attention back to his other tasks.

Blackjack's expression turned grim, and he clenched his fist in anger. Noticing his hostile reaction, Hook stepped in front of him, his arms crossed, with the intention of preventing a possible conflict. "You heard him. There's nothing more we can do. Now, we really do have other things to attend to, so I suggest that you all leave," he told him, in no uncertain terms. When Blackjack stared back at him stubbornly, he elaborated further. "Don't make me have to call Devastator," he warned him in a threatening voice.

After a few more moments, Blackjack backed down. Now was neither the time nor place to start a fight with the Constructicons, regardless of how much he wanted their combiner technology. And besides, he did not want to raise any further suspicions, particularly the Decepticon leader's, more than he already had. "Fine," he said, and abruptly turned to leave. "Let's go," he said to his Stunticons as he walked out, and the four of them began to follow him out of the workshop.

Scrapper turned to watch them leave, and then glanced towards his friend in puzzlement. "What's gotten into him?"

Hook just gave him a small shrug; he had no idea, either.

"How can we have failed that test?" Drag Strip queried his leader, exasperated, as the Stunticons gathered near the Central Tower's main exit.

"Does that mean we won't be able to combine like Devastator?" Breakdown asked disappointedly, cutting in before Blackjack could give Drag Strip an answer. Then Dead End and Wildrider began to ask him questions along the same vein, until the four Stunticons were all talking at once.

"Guys, guys!" Blackjack held up a hand to quieten them all down as he turned abruptly to face them. His team mates gathered closer around their leader, whose voice then noticeably dropped in volume. "Look… I'm not about to give up just yet. We might still be able to get the upgrade."

His team mates all looked back at him in confusion. "How?" Wildrider asked.

"Don't worry about the how – you just leave that part up to me. All I need you guys to do is keep quiet about it, and–" Blackjack stopped short when he heard a heavily modulated voice directly behind him speak his name.

"Blackjack."

Blackjack spun around to see the Decepticon communications officer standing right behind him, and he felt a sudden surge of panic with the thought that Soundwave had overheard him talking.

But Soundwave gave him no indication as such. "Megatron wishes to speak with you," was all he said.

The Stunticon nodded apprehensively. "Uh, sure, Soundwave. I just have one small errand to run, and then I'll be right back," he replied, pointing a thumb back towards the Tower's exit.

Soundwave said nothing more, but simply continued to watch him, remaining where he was, and it made Blackjack feel incredibly uncomfortable. There was something about Soundwave that he didn't like at all, and he realized that it was probably due to the fact that he could never tell what the mech was thinking. Not to mention that he'd heard from Dirge once that apparently he possessed the uncanny ability to hear other mechs' thoughts.

Nobody should ever be allowed to have that kind of power, Blackjack thought. He forced a smile at the mech, and then unhurriedly turned and walked away.

Soundwave watched patiently as Blackjack and the other Stunticons exited the Tower. Then, once they were out of sight, he pressed a button on his left shoulder to open his chest compartment. "Ravage, eject: tail Blackjack," he said, and the Cassetticon did as he had been instructed, transforming in mid-air to his jaguar-like form and leaping towards the main exit, determined to carry out his assignment.