Hi everyone, Chapter 3 followed by another is up.
Dont mind any mistakes
All Rights go to Hasbro, 'cept Renegade... She's my OC
Please review and leave feedback :)
ENJOY
Howlback couldn't do this.
She wasn't supposed to be transformed into a car. She was missing vital parts that made a normal car run and she was tired. All the running around that the Autobots were doing was ridiculous, it wasn't until they reached the house of the Organic designated Sam Witwicky that Prime noticed Howlback struggling.
The dead weight of her Partner inside her had done its toll and when they pulled up in the drive way on the side of the house. The Beast sagged and dropped the entire frame on the concrete.
"What is the matter with the slaggin' little 'Con?" Ironhide spat and Prime transformed and knelt down beside Howlback.
She leant back away from the Prime and hissed ferociously but the Autobot knew that the Panther was exhausted from carrying the massive weight of Frontslayer. He knew that Howlback would do anything for Frontslayer. She hid no trace of going back to Megatron so now, the problem was; where were they going to hide Frontslayer until Ratchet could get her out of stasis lock?
Prime sighed and said to Howlback, "Stay here."
He and the other Autobots went around the back and Howlback sensed humans arguing from inside. Heaving herself onto bald tires, Howlback let herself roll down the driveway and onto the road where she struggled to keep her transformation and deactivating from exhaustion.
She wanted to close her optics and fall into recharge.
She knew she wasn't in the best state for fighting, her entire Decepticon Systems were screaming at her to attack the Autobots, to kill Optimus Prime but…she couldn't.
She didn't, because she was doing it for Renegade.
If Howlback followed the Autobots and got to the location of the AllSpark, she could steal it and use it to repair her partner.
Then…she could kill the Autobots; yeah, she could do that.
She heard Organics panicking over ruined gardens and her engine growled impatiently. Renegade was in stasis, she could die at any moment and the Autobots were dicking around with Organics.
She jerked violently when she heard another 'Bot come up to her in a silver Cadillac and with disgust she found it to be Jazz' signature.
"C'mon Beast Bot" the slick voice came out "I know you don't like me and I aint to fond of yerself. I don't like to say it but you hold somebody in yerself that is very dear to our Baby Bot. You…know that you can't hold her for much longer."
Howlback growled and Jazz retorted, speaking over her "C'mon Howler, you need to put her down. I can't be around those Organics; we will have a quick look around the town where we can put her until Ratchet can look at her."
She hated it when she knew he was right.
The Pontiac drove down the road and after a moment of hesitation, she followed the Autobot Saboteur.
They drove from the Residential areas and continued away and down some back alleys where they reached a darker side of the town. The houses were gloomy and mostly abandoned. They got stuck down a Cul-De-Sac and they came to a boarded house at the end that was severely dilapidated.
There was an old shed out the back with an old padlock locking it, nothing that Jazz couldn't break when he transformed into his Bi-Pedal mode.
He made Howlback open up and he took the pieces of the locked Femme in stacked them into the shed.
The dark Panther Saboteur zoned in on the broken pieces of her Partner, severely dilapidated and patched. Energon had drooled down her Protoform and dried and her dull grey optics seemed null. So dark and lifeless, so…unlike Renegade.
Jazz shut the door to the shed, locking Renegade away and hooked the padlock back through and crushed the top of it. It left no hope for a human to try and open that shed, she would be safe until they returned.
Howlback stared at the door for a minute before revering out from the drive as Jazz transformed back. "She better be alright when I get back to her" she warned and Jazz whirred in response "She'll be fine, just pray to Primus that the 'Cons don't get a track on her, if Barricade shot 'nd very nearly offlined her, dun' mean the others will take her back with open arms."
Howlback growled dangerously "Silence your vocals Autobot! How would you know that your 'scum!' wouldn't offline Firefly themselves?"
Jazz took the volatile attitude in stride and chuckled "So everybody still goes by Firefly still? I haven't heard of that in millennia."
Howlback wanted to attack the Autobot so badly but instead she hissed "We've been gone that long? Firefly…was broken and she heard everyone die."
The two cars kept driving until they reached the street that the Organic Sam lived in and Jazz said quietly "Many Femmes were killed, they just seemed to…vanish; After you tried to save everybody at Youth Sector Delta 39 with Frontslayer. 'Cons of yer Faction disappeared as well, one defected and joined us-…" the Saboteur trailed off and Howlback said venomously "Our efforts were pointless, we failed and then we were branded traitors and banished by the Leader himself."
Her engines fumed with anger before both the Autobot and Decepticon saw Bumblebee closely followed by the others and began driving down the road.
Jazz sped forward to catch up and Howlback struggled to keep up with the more powerful, high performance cars. Since she didn't have established with the Autobots she didn't have a clue on what was happening.
Had Barricade come back online already?
Had more Autobots or Decepticon's risen?
Heck! She didn't know; she could only struggle to keep up. She swore that the 'Bots were more manic than the 'Cons led by the Screamer.
They sped across the town, overtaking cars and large vehicles and over gutters until they reached the large sewer pipe underneath the bridge.
Then, Prime transformed towering over anybody else even as the other Autobots done the same. Howlback stayed as she was and she saw the cause of the problem in a black 4WD coming towards them. In one scan, Howlback was able to identify Sam and the Femme Organic he was with in a car with two other strangers.
Prime's optics flashed in annoyance and he reached down and grasped the car roof with his fingers and held the car up, letting it dangle until the roof ripped off scaring everybody until the boy Sam looked to the strangers and almost said smugly "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Optimus Prime."
The other two men looked like they had just shit bricks. A term Howlback liked to refer to when she witnessed terror like this.
When they got out of the damaged car and being a Beast Bot, Howlback had finely tuned sensors and receptors.
Prime continued to intimidate the men and Howlback sensed a foreign signature on the Organic Mech. It was faint but it was definitely there; and it was Cybertronian.
Howlback growled as the Organic turned aggressive as Sam talked back and ordered them to remove their protective layers of cloth as he handcuffed them to a pole and to each other.
Jazz jumped down and claws elongated, he made a magnetic pulse and took everybody's weapons from them.
The Panther ran numerous scans; numbers and letters running up the inside of her windscreen. She needed to identify that scent, what other Cybertronian had landed on Earth? Was it friend or foe?
Did they need help?
It could be anything, but midway through her analyzation Howlback was cut short.
When Bumblebee lubricated on the man
Bang, scent gone
'Diagnosis incomplete'
"Bumblebee stop lubricating on the man" Prime reprimanded and the man yelled out in disgust and horror.
Howlback was beyond furious before she noticed a device in the Organics hand. By memory file, it was a mobile phone and it was on.
Howlback sent out a jarring signal, blocking the phone but she realised it was too late as the Organic turned to the other and said: "Speaker."
The Beast Bot detected more signals and backed away as Prime detected them as well. He turned to his other Autobots and held out his hand "Autobots roll out."
All the 'Bots transformed and scattered all over the place and Prime scooped up the Organics and disappearing quite quickly for a Robot his size.
Howlback remained and her engine rumbled 'Bring it!'
Down the road, lights shone and swept down the streets and more vehicles and helicopters appeared.
Cars pulled up to the long line of Organics and as they were released from each other the loud-mouth one flung his arms around and shouted "There are five of them! Five! Get out there and find them."
He spun around and saw Howlback parked there and he pointed to her "That's one as well, don't leave that one behind."
A Militant Officer looked towards the little Spider and held up a gun and that activated Howlback's battle systems. She shuddered in anticipation and as the bullets fired her hopes dwindled a little bit as she activated her shield.
It absorbed the bullets easily and she calibrated her aim and shot back at the Organic with double the force and the bullets exploded out from his back. Red liquid spurted out, covering his comrades and the road and Howlback switched on her large headlights, illuminating the entire front of her.
She snarled animalistically and then she spun her wheels and screeched forward aiming right for the Organics.
She was a Decepticon, she didn't care; she was not an Organic loving 'Autoscum'; she was a ruthless killer.
The Organics jumped away and Howlback spun her wheels and aimed right for one and she hit him and there was a sickening 'Ka-Thunk' as he disappeared underneath her wheels. The revolting feeling of warm liquid in between her gears repulsed Howlback and she couldn't help but shudder in disgust.
She sped away down towards the bridge, her little engine rumbling and growling under exertion. She pulled up and saw a helicopter sweeping through the sewer lines and up underneath the bridge, she saw Optimus hiding up in between the steel beams with the Organics on his shoulder plates.
She watched the Femme lean over and her companion sprung out and tried to catch her when she began to tip.
It was inevitable.
The Femme fell and her friend reached and grabbed her, only to topple from Rime's shoulders as well and the helicopter flew beneath them and there was the danger of them falling into the blades. Not that Howlback cared; she would find it rather amusing.
The Organic Sam lost his grip on Prime's smokestacks and they fell to the concrete below.
Prime flung himself out and tried to get Sam to get hold of his foot but he only hit it and failed to grab on.
Howlback waited for the initial 'Splat' but a loud rumble echoed out down the drain and Bumblebee gave himself away as he transformed and caught both the Organics in his servos. He cradled them to his chest before putting them down quickly as he was surrounded and shot at by the helicopters.
Howlback noticed Prime go back into hiding and she realised that he was going to allow Bumblebee to be captured by the pathetic humans.
Renegade would not have allowed that!
Even though he was an Autobot, this particular 'Bot was dear to Howlback's partner; and the Pits be damned the moment Howlback decided she was going to help.
She saw hooks and chains fly out towards the young Autobot, pulling him down before she let a vicious roar escape her.
It drowned out every other sound and from that small Spider on the edge of the drain, a blinding yellow light flashed out. It got as bright as day for a split second and that was enough to blind every human that was down in that drain, in vehicles or helicopters.
The Helicopters swayed dangerously and humans dropped their guns and covered their eyes and the Spider twisted and transformed and Howlback launched into the drain and rumbled down it.
She still couldn't be seen by the stupid humans, her ruby optics flashed menacingly and she elongated her claws and launched up; a roar escaping her.
She sliced through the cables holding Bumblebee down and she buzzed at him in Cybertronian:
"You better be thankful Autobot! I am doing this for Renegade because you're so fraggin' important to her!"
Her light faded from the visions of the humans and the quicker ones were even quicker to react when they saw an enormous Panther Robot freeing the one they had pinned down.
She jumped away snarling; her optics glistening dangerously. Her guns extended out and her missiles came out on her back legs. Then her rounds went off towards the helicopters.
'Target acquired' her processors whirred 'Eliminate.'
::Stop her!:: Optimus shouted over the to Bumblebee ::she is losing all control::
Bumblebee got to his feet and launched himself at Howlback, wrapping his arms around the enraged Decepticon and pulling her away to stop the attack on the humans. "Eliminate" she snarled "Eliminate"
The two robots struggled to and Bumblebee managed to haul Howlback up. She extended out her wicked sharp claws and that's when a human aimed to grapple Howlback but got Bumblebee instead.
A cry escaped his vocaliser and the young Autobot lost his balance and he stumbled, dropping Howlback resulting in one of her long hooked claw to snap right off her foot.
She snarled in anger and looked back to the humans and she was instantly fired at.
Hooks and chains were shot at her and they pulled her back as they grappled her back legs.
They continued to launch attacks at Bumblebee even though he refused to defend himself, he was brought down to his knees and Howlback was completely immobilised and she began to grow more and more angry and her lust for any type of blood was glowing in her optics. Bumblebee couldn't have her harming and killing any more humans that she already had.
Though her intentions had been good, she had already killed several humans and injured many more. Bumblebee had no choice but to fight against the cables and lean over to the struggling, yet murderous Howlback and saw the tough cabling and wiring between the cracked and faded armour separating her head from her shoulder.
He then jammed his finger in and sent an electric pulse into the Beast Bot.
Without Renegade to bring her back online quickly, Howlback was knocked into temporary recharge.
That was the partnership between the two Femme's. One couldn't function properly without the other. So without Renegade in the picture; Howlback struggled to come back online quickly and that was her weakness.
The terrible two, Renegade on the defensive; able to defend and hold up in even the toughest of battles while Howlback was her offensive. Deadly and lethal, Howlback lunged in claws extended and could rip any robot apart even before Renegade got to them.
All 'Bots and 'Cons knew not to underestimate them.
"I'm sorry" Bumblebee thought "Now..." Another hook grappled him and he heard Sam shouting the officers that surrounded him and Mikaela "Don't do that! He isn't hurting anybody! He isn't doing anything! Leave him alone."
More Military officers surrounded both Sam and Mikaela, pointing guns at them as Bumblebee felt the painful bite of nitrogen freezing his circuits. He grabbed Howlback's limp body as a net was thrown over them as the humans continued to freeze them.
They fell back onto the concrete and the net was secured around them. As much as the young robot wanted to escape, he couldn't risk hurting the humans.
He just had too much of a kind spark.
He felt another painful bite in his wires and he whined out in pain again and he turned his head to see Sam being escorted away with a gun poking him dangerously in the back.
Bumblebee struggled some more before he opened up some internal menus in his helm unable to handle the pain. He selected the options to force himself into temporary recharge. If him being caught by the humans meant that Optimus could find the AllSpark he would die happy.
But as he was falling into darkness he had a fleeting thought of Renegade and how furious she would be when she came back online to find that he had been captured by humans.
She was a Decepticon and she didn't give two hoots about ending many lives but when it came to him, he knew she wouldn't. All the times she could have killed him but let him go. She had a gentle spark and she only did what she had to do because she was ordered to.
"I'm sorry Firefly" Bumblebee thought sadly "I failed you."
Optimus walked around the building and saw the vast road ahead of him and let a sigh escape his vocals. Being the Leader, Prime knew he couldn't display weakness in front of the other Autobots.
'What if it doesn't work?
What if Bumblebee is killed because they didn't act on his capture?
He looked back down to the tiny glasses clenched in between his fingers and he muttered to himself; "Please, let this work."
He turned around to his subordinates and Jazz walked along the top of the building and he said encouragingly "Fire it up Optimus."
Prime didn't hesitate then and he directed a beam from his helm on the glasses at an angle and to his utter relief, a world map came up from the encoding on the glasses.
"The code" he said studying the map "The code on these glasses indicates the AllSpark is 230 miles from here."
With a rough idea in which direction to head and where he was leading his team, he distinguished the light and the holographic map disappeared.
He turned around and both Ratchet and Ironhide looked up at him.
"I sense the Decepticon's are getting ready to mobilise" Ratchet said before turning to Ironhide who nodded and agreed with the medic; "They must know it's here, as well."
All attention was then drawn on Jazz as he walked along the top of the building when he piped up and said in a stern voice:
"What about Bumblebee?" We can't just leave him to die and become some human experiment!"
Jazz was a kind spark and very big on not leaving team behind and that's what made Optimus Prime feel all the more guilty before he said back to Jazz, gently reminding him who was leading this charge.
"He'll die in vain if we don't accomplish our mission."
Optimus gathered the 'Bots up and began to walk forward as he finished speaking "Bumblebee is a brave soldier this is what he would want."
"Why are we fighting to save the humans?" Ironhide asked glaring up to Optimus "They are a primitive and violent race."
Prime's optics narrowed and became sad as he looked down to the ground; "Were we so different?" he asked and Ironhide couldn't come back with a valid argument against that. "They're a young species, they have much to learn. But I've seen goodness in them; freedom is the right of sentient beings… You all know there's only one way to end this war, we must destroy the Cube."
Optimus walked out to the vast horizon and looked out at it before unclicking his chassis and opening his spark chamber up, "If all else fails, I will unite it with the spark in my chest."
"That's suicide!" Ratchet interjected his face plates stern and he was speaking in that kind of 'Are you fraggin' running on one processor unit?' type look. "The Cube is raw power, it could destroy you both."
Optimus turned to his ever faithful medic and he said "A necessary sacrifice to bring peace to this planet. We cannot let the humans pay for our mistakes."
"What about Frontslayer and Howlback? Are we willing to go save them as well? The Howler is a 'Con and she is reckless but to see a 'Con risk their lives to save an Autobot like she did isn't normal" Jazz argued.
"She knows of Frontslayer's ties to Bumblebee and how much he means to her, she acted on behalf of her fallen partner. Who here would disagree with me if I said that Frontslayer wouldn't stand by and let him get caught the way we did?"
There was a brief silence before Ironhide looked up; "The humans still caught them" he sneered "Bumblebee knocked the Howler out because she wasn't hesitating in killing the humans. In her position she was put into, I would have done the same thing."
"We will do what is necessary to try and save them both" Optimus said "I have seen potential in both Femmes that could be strong Autobot traits. But for now… we look for this Cube."
He looked to his faithful Autobots "It's been an honour serving with you all" he turned to the road and readied himself to run towards it and transform and he said:
"Autobots, roll out!"
It was abnormally cold when her processors flickered to life. A small alarm was beeping in her menu's that showed error and damage reports. She switched them off and her head opened a little to let a red visor slide down and cover the top half of her head as she ran diagnostics on her damage.
Like Renegade, Howlback had disintegrated over the years and her reports came back and read that she was running on a low 38% capacity. She wouldn't be able to fight again without copping severe damage and running the risk of being permanently offlined.
Her visor lifted and she went to go and lift her legs but found them to be chained and bolted to a large steel bench. Most people would have panicked when they saw this but Howlback couldn't help but feel a little amused.
Chains couldn't hold back a Beast Bot, humans were so clueless.
Her claws and her teeth could slice through the toughest of Cybertronian armour like butter; they even gave Ironhide the spooks whenever she decided to attack him. Measly chains could not hold her back.
She bit through them easily and freed herself before scanning the room and detecting all the scents and signals in this unfamiliar place. She lifted her head to the concrete rook and knew instantly that she was partially under water in this facility and with no oceans or major rivers to hold this much water it had to be a dam.
She quickly opened up her menus and done a quick search and the only dam that came up on her search that was anywhere near where she was; was Hoover Dam.
She quickly gathered pictures and prints of them dam and had a rough idea and where she needed to go and escape. She still hadn't forgotten that fight that she was so shamefully unfairly put in recharge and she didn't want to hate Bumblebee any more than what she did, so her hatred for the humans boiled within her.
She wanted revenge.
She stepped off the steel platform that she had been bound to and jumped up against the wall as she heard noises erupt from the next room over. She recognised the agonised cries of Bumblebee and carefully, she extracted her large reflector and spun it over turning it into a mirror. She peeked in and saw Bumblebee strapped to a platform like she had been; and he was being shocked and electrocuted as the humans were experimenting on him.
Howlback looked back to the platform she had been on and she saw a similar device hanging over it. She let a deathly snarl escape her and she brought back up her error reports and wondered if they had been experimenting on her.
She bared her teeth and sprung back to it and launched onto it, hanging off it and tearing it down. It came down easily and the alarms went crazy in screeching.
The humans came running and Howlback easily leapt over them as they tried to fire liquid nitrogen at her.
As she landed, Howlback felt bolt come loose and the metal crumpling a little bit in her front left leg. It rattled before another bolt fell off and Howlback hissed; she needed a miracle to save her now.
If the AllSpark fell out of the sky and landed on her, she would thank Primus himself, but she knew that was impossible. There was no way in the history of Earth that it would happen.
Howlback dashed through the room, all attention on her as humans called for backup on the PA systems. They all abandoned Bumblebee as Howlback crashed into computers and trolleys set up with tools. She growled when she a couple of steel implements covered in glowing blue energon and she ran back and knock all of the trolleys over, tools or not.
She was causing mayhem that the humans wouldn't be able to fix.
She ran out of the room and into an open hangar where the air didn't feel as dank and Howlback knew she was out of the chambers that was under water. She got into the base of the hangar and her processor glitched when she looked up and she knew what the foreign signature had been.
It had been Megatron.
He was on Earth
Another glitch went through her processor and her long silent audio's buzzed to life and she heard the and transmissions from fellow comrades that was on Earth.
:: AllSpark located::
::Starscream::
::Barricade::
::Blackout::
::Bonecrusher::
Starscream was here as well. Along with comrades that she had worked alongside in the War of Cybertron; her comrades, fellow Decepticon's that would come to her if she activated her audio and called out to them.
Not to help her, but destroy where she had been.
Her processor still buzzed from the words 'AllSpark located' and she ranged out her scents and got nothing. Unless she saw it with her own optics, she would only presume it wouldn't exist.
She looked around her desperately as her only way out was blocked around milling humans. Howlback didn't have a choice so she took off, she extended her claws and sliced through the walls, making them crumble and she got away that way.
