I really need to stop setting dates for when I update.
Turns out spring break is this week. So, this will be the only update you get this week. Sorry.
I don't own Ben 10 or Transformers Prime.
Prime 10: T.M.I.
In the Autobot base, Miko, Yuki, and Bulkhead were watching a monster truck rally on the TV. The drivers were driving their trucks over rows of cars.
"Give it up for the baddest beast machines on the planet!" the announcer said.
Ratchet looked up from where he and Perceptor were working on a project. "Would you mind lowering the volume?" he asked.
"Hey, Ratchet, check out the monster truck rally that Miko took me to last week!" said Bulkhead.
"I compiled the highlights on my cell phone!" Miko added, holding up said device.
"Then why were you watching it again?"
"Cause Yuki didn't get to go."
The Necrofriggan exhaled a puff of cold air and folded her arms. "One little prank, and I end up in the doghouse," she said.
Perceptor looked up at her statement. "I do not call what you did 'little,'" he said.
"What did you do?" Miko asked.
Yuki grinned. "Let's just say that Perceptor does not like Slenderman," she said.
"I don't know anyone who does."
"As in 'screams like a femme and jumps in the air' not like him."
"Tell me you got pictures!"
"Depends on what I can get for them."
Before the two could talk any further, they were interrupted by Ratchet. "Innocent vehicles battling it out for the pleasure of human spectators? Bloodsport!"
"Yeah!" the trio shouted.
"Bulkhead, you could be out in the field helping Optimus right now."
The green Wrecker scoffed. "He doesn't need my help to search for some ancient educational thing-a-ma-bob," he said.
"The 'thingamabob,' to which you refer happens to be a Cybertronian data cylinder," Ratchet said as he pressed a button that displayed an image of it on the TV screen.
"Hey, I was watching that!" said Yuki.
"And there is no telling what intelligence it might hold," he continued. "During the Golden Age of Cybertron, dozens of these cylinders were created. Each containing the sum total of Cybertronian knowledge on any given subject: stellar cartography, medicine, ancient mythology. When the war broke out, the cylinders were hidden throughout the galaxies to keep them as far as possible from Decepticon reach. Detecting a signal here, on Earth, is the opportunity of a-"
"T.M.I., Ratchet," said Miko.
"T.M. what?" asked the medic.
"Too much information," said Yuki. "Now change it back! I want to see the hoedown smackdown!"
Before he could reply, a transmission from Optimus came through. "Ratchet! Decepticon ambush! The cylinder is at risk! We require immediate backup!"
"Backup is what I'm built for," Bulkhead said, smashing his fists together.
"Go bend some fenders, Bulk!" said Miko.
Ratchet gained a mischievous light in his optics. "I have an important mission for you too, Miko," he said.
"Yes!" cheered Miko. Ratchet handed her a mop. "Oh, come on!"
Perceptor stood up. "Yuki," he said. "I require your assistance repairing the equipment that was… damaged during your prank."
Yuki drooped. "Someone save me," she said.
Miko was about to ask how it was damaged, but a look from Perceptor made the question die on her lips. Taking a look at Ratchet, she saw that he was having trouble with the groundbridge controls. Seeing that Percepter wasn't paying attention to her, she dropped the mop and ran into the open groundbridge.
The vortex dropped her on the edge of a battlefield. She immediately had to duck as a Vehicon head bounced off the ground three feet away from her. She looked up, and then scampered as the rest of the drone came flying her way. She hid behind a rock and risked peeking out.
Optimus blocked another punch from Knockout, and said, "Autobots, stand your ground! The artifact must not fall into enemy hands!"
With that, he landed a punch of his own on Knockout's faceplate, which sent the Decepticon medic tumbling across the battlefield. Unfortunately, he landed next to the relic.
Knockout grinned. "Come to papa!" he said, reaching out to grab the cylinder.
Only to be tackled by Bulkhead. "Run to mama!" he said.
The green Wrecker was caught in a chokehold by Breakdown. "Say uncle! Say it!" he added.
While the three bots were fighting, Miko sneaked around them and made it to the cylinder. When she got to it, she pulled out her cell phone and called the base. "Ratchet, come in!" she said.
"Miko, this is an emergency channel! We need to keep it open for the oth… wait, where are you?" Ratchet said.
"He just noticed?" Yuki asked Perceptor.
"I'm with the thingamabob!"
"The thing-a-ma… the data cylinder?"
"Yeah, could you bridge it out of here?" Miko replied.
"I'll activate the groundbridge," Ratchet said.
The spinning vortex appeared… on the other side of the tussling bots. "Can you get it any closer?" asked Miko.
"You'll have to give me the coordinates!"
"Uh, fifty yards?"
"Precise coordinates!"
Miko ducked as a blast came dangerously close to her. She put away her phone, and started pushing the cylinder. Unfortunately, she wasn't having any luck. Frustrated, she kicked it. It didn't even rock.
"WHOA-WHOA-WHOA!" Miko looked up to see a bunch of Vehicons waving their arms and trying to keep their balance on… a patch of ice?
"How's it chilling?" a voice said as Yuki appeared right beside the Asian girl.
"How did you do that?" Miko asked.
Yuki laid a finger next to her non-existent nose. "A magician never reveals her secrets," she said.
"So, why are you here?" Miko asked.
Yuki turned serious. "Ratchet got worried when you hung up, and Perceptor gave me the okay to come and help you."
"So, can you lift this? You don't look very strong."
"We Necrofriggans are stronger than we look."
Miko and Yuki both put their hand on the cylinder and began to push. However, when Yuki did, the cylinder let out a beeping sound and a red light on the end started blinking.
Miko blinked. "Is it supposed to do that?" she asked.
Bulkhead heard the beeping and turned to see his charge and Yuki next to a beeping object. "Miko!" he cried and started running toward them. However, Breakdown took this opportunity to knock the Wrecker on the ground.
Just then, the cylinder shot out a beam of red light that hit Bulkhead in the helm and knocking him out.
"Bulkhead!" cried the two females and they rushed over to their large friend.
Knockout darted by them and picked up the cylinder. "You sure took one for the team Bulkhead," he said with a smirk. "My team."
That was when he was knocked off his pedes by a yellow sphere. Knockout fell back on his aft as the sphere uncurled into a bipedal alien. It was big and bulky. Its back was covered in yellow armor-like plates and the Ultimatrix dial was on its chest.
Jack, in the form of Cannonbolt, pumped his arms. "Oh, yeah!" he said. "Str-ike!"
Knockout lifted himself up and felt a scratch on his chassis that he got from falling over Jack. Glaring at the shapeshifter, he lashed out one of his pedes in a kick. While it failed to harm the alien, it had the effect of knocking him flat on his back, where he began struggling to get up.
While Jack was struggling to turn over, Knockout activated his comm. "Knockout to Nemesis, we have the artifact. Requesting groundbridge."
The groundbridge opened and Knockout and Breakdown ran into it. The remaining Decepticons fled into the sky. The Autobots went over to Bulkhead who was just coming to.
"Bulkhead, are you alright?" Optimus asked.
"I'm fine," the Wrecker said. "Didn't even smart."
"If nobody is too busy, could someone turn me over?" Jack asked from his position.
Miko blinked and asked, "Couldn't you have turned off the Ultimatrix or something?"
Jack laid there, stunned by the obvious solution. "I should have known that," he said, tapping the dial and returning to normal.
"So what took you so long?" Miko asked Jack back at the Autobot base.
He frowned. "I ran out of juice," he said, holding up the Ultimatrix. "Had to wait for this to recharge."
Meanwhile, Ratchet had just finished doing a medical scan on Bulkhead. "Come on Ratchet, I helped lose that thing. I want to be out in the field with Optimus and the others looking for it," he said.
"Ah, ah! You're under my watch now," said the medic. "Optimus' orders. And I think that running a scan of your neural net will be a wiser use of your time."
"Come on, doc, there's nothing to scan up there anyway."
"He seems fine to me," added Miko.
"Well, if you insist on being useful, you can help Miko and Yuki tidy up," said Perceptor grabbing another mop.
Miko groaned. "They're mad with power," she said.
"That's Ratchet. Null vector squared alright," said Bulkhead.
Yuki tilted her head. "Huh?" she asked.
"Why aren't you ordering Jack around?" complained Miko.
Just then, Ship came around the corner. "Jack, I'm ready for you," he said. "You better suit up."
Jack's response was to activate the Ultimatrix.
When the green flash died down, in Jack's place was another yellow-armored alien. This one, however, resembled an Earth armadillo with small grey ears and a skinless tail. Piston parts could be seen in his arms. The Ultimatrix dial was displayed on his chest.
"ARMODRILLO!" Jack cried. "Coming," he added before following Ship to the SAFE.
"Lucky," Miko muttered before she turned her attention to mopping.
"Hey, do we have any paint?" Bulkhead asked.
"Why? Got something on your mind?"
"What do you mean it's empty?" asked Megatron, back on the Nemesis.
"My lord," said Knockout, indicating the cylinder, which had four flaps opened to reveal a dimmed red bulb. "These cylinders not unlike Earth batteries. The data is stored within as a type of energy. When it is fully charged, it acts like an energy reading, which is how our scanners picked it up to begin with. But now…" He tapped a sequence on a keypad on the side, only for it to release a bit of smoke.
"Dead battery," Breakdown finished.
"Did you drop it, you one-eyed oaf?" Megatron growled.
"No way was I going to touch it after I saw what it did to Bulkhead."
The three Decepticons started and thought on what Breakdown had just said. "Hey, you think…" began Knockout.
"I know," said Megatron. "And I must find what that vessel contained. When it comes to the secrets of the Ancients, knowledge can be power."
"Seriously Ratch," said Miko. "You've got to see what Bulkhead's painting in here."
Ratchet rolled his optics. "Yes, I'm sure one hasn't lived until one has beheld Bulkhead's take on still life with lug nuts," he said.
They turned around the corner and Ratchet stopped dead in his tracks. The walls were covered with complex symbols and equations. Bulkhead was by the tunnel entrance, painting more symbols wherever he could reach with his mop.
"See!" Miko said.
"The differential of 1/3 R cubed is R-RD-R," the green Wrecker muttered.
Ratchet shuttered his optics, and then said, "This is not art," he said. "It's… SCIENCE!"
Ratchet pulled up the results of the scan as the rest of Team Prime drove into the base. "What's the diagnosis?" Arcee asked.
Ratchet pointed to a small red spot on the image. "This red spot you see here?" he said. "It is information, data, living energy."
"Hold on," said Miko. "It's alive, it's on fire, and it's in Bulkhead's brain?"
"The correct term is 'processor,' but essentially you are correct, Miko," Perceptor said.
"Chill, Miko," said Bulkhead. "The data is only taking up a fraction of my brain. Infinitesimal by neural network densities." He then realized what he had said. "Wait, how did I know all of that?"
"One, I'm the one who does the cold thing," said Yuki. "Two, why is the data in Bulkhead's cranium?"
"Based on what we have witnessed during our skirmish, the living data must be programmed to eject when it senses unauthorized access," said Optimus.
"A security measure," clarified Ratchet.
"It would have jettisoned heavenward," continued Perceptor. "Lost to the stars."
"Except my fat engine plug got in the way," Bulkhead finished.
"But why didn't it react until Yuki touched it?" Jack asked.
"These cylinders originated from Cybertron's Golden age, predating Autobot and Decepticon divisions," Ratchet answered. "So, it doesn't consider any native of Cybertron a threat."
"Only alien life-forms with the potential to damage it," continued Perceptor.
"So, are we looking at genius or gibberish?" Bumblebee asked.
The two scientists exchanged a glance. "I don't want to get anyone's hopes up," said Ratchet. "But these equations look like a formula for synthetic Energon."
All of the other Autobots, besides Optimus, started at this. "Seriously?" asked Arcee.
"We hit the mother-lode?" asked Bumblebee.
Miko looked at the Cybertronians. "What's the big fuss?" she asked.
Bulkhead turned to her. "Miko," he said. "Energon provides our fuel, ammo, and supplies our life force. With the natural stuff in short supply on Earth, this could solve a lot of problems."
"Such as providing the edge we need to turn the tide of this war," Optimus added.
"Or giving us the key to revitalizing Cybertron," finished Perceptor.
"We got the goods and all Megatron got was an empty bucket," Arcee said with a smirk.
"How often do I use my noggin to save the day?" asked Bulkhead.
Bumblebee checked his internal clock. "Well, I have to go pick up Raf," he said.
Optimus nodded. "Dismissed," he said. Bumblebee transformed and drove through the tunnel.
A couple of hours later, Bumblebee drove back through the tunnel with Raf in his passenger seat. Bulkhead was in front of a metal plate, painting another part of the synthetic Energon formula. Miko was in the human area with Jack. "Aren't you done yet?" she asked.
"I have to admit, it sure is weird to see Bulkhead in brainiac mode," Raf said to his guardian.
Bumblebee beeped an affirmative. "No kidding," he said.
Bulkhead had ran out of room on the plate, so Arcee came over and dragging it over to the med-bay. Miko jumped up excitedly when she saw this.
"Alright, break time," she said. "You up for a lighting round of Sumo Slammers: Speedway?"
"…Energon temperature and volume…" muttered the green Wrecker, not paying attention to her.
Bumblebee went over and pick up the other end of the plate and helped the femme move it the rest of the way. "Got another round for you to log in, Ratchet," she said.
Ratchet wave a servo in the general direction of the others, most of his attention focused on a scan he, Optimus, and Perceptor were looking over. "It's just as I feared," he said. He pointed at another screen. "This is Bulkhead's neural net as we saw it a few hours ago. This," he said, tapping the one they were looking at, "is one I took a few minutes ago." The small red spot had grown to cover half of the processor. "The data seems to be actively and aggressively rewriting Bulkhead's neural network. I had hoped that he purging the data, but he's merely transcribing it as it…"
"Consumes his mind," finished Optimus.
"And by all indications, by the time Bulkhead finishes writing the formula, his own thoughts and memories could be wiped clean."
"Wait," said Yuki from where she was standing on one of the med berths. "Are you telling me that if the data stays in Bulkhead's processor, he'll become a mindless drone? Like Perceptor?"
The red Autobot looked up indignantly. "I heard that!" he said.
"You were meant to!" Yuki shot back.
"But if we stop him, its goodbye synthetic Energon," Arcee said.
Ratchet shook his helm. "You speak as if we had a means to stop him," he said. "Neither I or Perceptor have instant access to the wisdom of the Ancients."
"Regardless, I will never allow one of our own to be sacrificed," Optimus said firmly. "No matter what the cost."
Perceptor tilted his helm as a stray thought struck him. "If the data had transmitted from the cylinder, we might be able to coax it back in," he said.
"One small problem," Bumblebee said. "The Decepticons have it. How do we get it from them?"
"Megatron will bring it to us," Optimus said.
Meanwhile, Bulkhead was still painting. Miko dragged her guitar and amp over behind him and set them up.
"… but when divided by eight, it is amplified…" said Bulkhead to himself.
"You want amplified, don't you?" Miko said.
"… proving Que's paradox is inaccurate…"
She turned on the amp and played a riff on it. Bulkhead dropped his mop brush and held his audio receptors in pain. "What is that?" he demanded.
"Metal!" answered Miko. "You love this song!"
"I'm trying to concentrate here," Bulkhead retorted.
"Urgh, you're starting to sound like Ratchet," Miko said.
"Who?"
Miko's eyes widened and she ran over to the medic. "Ratchet!" she said. "I think Bulkhead's losing his mind!"
Ratchet just looked away.
"You already knew?" she asked.
"We didn't want to frighten you," he said. "But don't worry, Optimus has a plan."
"Optimus isn't Bulkhead's doctor. I just need to know, when he is done spitting out the formula, he'll go back to being regualar old Bulkhead, right?"
Ratchet bowed his helm and closed his optics. Miko closed her own eyes in pain.
"Lord Megatron," said Knockout. "We have detected a familiar energy profile."
"The data?" asked Megatron.
"Bulkhead must have left the shielded radius of their base," Knockout continued. "Breakdown and I will-"
"Fail me again?" Megatron asked. "No, I will go myself."
In the area where Knockout had detected the energy signature, a groundbridge opened up. Out of the vortex stepped Megatron and a squadran of Vehicons. However, instead of finding Bulkhead, they discovered the rest of the Autobots. In Optimus' servo, he held a green canister that was blinking on both ends.
Megatron raised an optic ridge. "Optimus," he said. "You're not the Autobot I expected to find here. But let me guess. You rigged a transponder to mimic the frequency of the data I seek."
"That would be correct."
"And I assume you want the data cylinder."
"That would also be correct."
"You can have the cylinder, Prime," said Megatron. "In exchange for Starscream."
Optimus stood in silence for a while. He finally said, "We do not have Starscream in our custody. However, if you give me the cylinder, I will return full of energy."
Megatron smiled. "That would be an acceptable substitute," he said. "But what trifles did it hold that made you so anxious to give it away?"
"Accept my proposal and you will find out why."
"Do you remember the time you and Wheeljack were surrounded by Decepticons?" asked Miko. "And you saw him chuck his only grenade into the heat exchanger?"
"Who?"
"Wheeljack! Your best bud!" she said, showing a picture she had taken when the white Autobot had visited the base. "Besides me, of course."
Bulkhead just stared at the photo.
Miko sighed. "Do you even know who I am?" she asked.
"Of course! You're… you're…" He trailed off and then went back to writing the formula.
Miko hung her head.
"…equivalent to the progression of void elements to the tenth power…"
Ratchet came over to pick up the filled plate. "Keep them coming, Bulkhead," he said.
Meanwhile, Raf was talking on his cell phone. "Okay, Mama," he said. "I love you." He hung up. "Can someone take me home?" he asked. "My mom's getting worried."
Yuki stood up. "I can," she said. "Hey, Ship! Can I borrow your motorcycle?"
"Just bring it back in one piece," came the tired reply.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "You're going out like that?" he asked.
Yuki grinned and pulled out a mask similar to the one Ship had worn when he had come to the base. She put it on and there was a green flash. When it had died down, in her place was a young human woman. She looked like Arcee's holoform. She was dressed in a dark blue shirt with snowflake designs printed all over it, with light blue pants and a jacket that had the same spots as her wings. Her shoulder-length hair was also a dark blue and she had green eyes.
She raised an eyebrow at Jack, daring him to say something. When he didn't, she approached Ship's motorcycle, which was parked near the entrance, and pulled out two helmets out from somewhere. Giving one to Raf, she placed the second one on her own head. She started up the bike and drove out through the tunnel.
Miko looked fron where Ratchet was logging in part of the equation, to the unsupervised groundbridge and had an idea. She typed in a set of coordinates, and started it up. She then went over and took the mop out of Bulkhead's servo.
"Hey!" he said.
She waved the mop. "Come on!" she said. "Do you want to finish your formula?"
Jack saw Miko run through the groundbridge, with Bulkhead in hot pursuit. He rolled his eyes. "Girl's gonna get herself killed one day," he said as he ran after her.
"Do you accept my proposal?" asked Optimus.
Before Megatron could answer, his comm. crackled. "Lord Megatron," said Knockout.
"A moment," said the warlord, walking away from the group a bit. "What is it, Knockout?" he asked.
"First, did you find what you were looking for?"
"It's complicated. What else did you have?"
"Well, Breakdown and I may have located the bogey. Fully charged."
"Proceed."
"One problem. We don't have the cylinder."
"Then bring me his head."
Miko and Bulkhead were in the monster truck arena. Bulkhead was painting more of the equation on the walls while Miko was trying to jog his memory.
"Look," she said. "You love monster trucks! Remember when we snuck in here after the show last week?"
He just kept painting symbols on the walls.
Miko sighed. "Is any of this ringing a bell?" she asked.
"Bell curve?" Bulkhead asked. "No, no, that won't factor in."
Jack shook his head. He had transformed to keep out of sight and was currently in the form of Wildmutt. In this form, he was covered in orange fur, with two sets of gills that granted him the ability to see even though he didn't have any eyes. The Ultimatrix dial was on a collar around his neck.
However, having a radar sense isn't useful if you weren't paying attention. Jack found this out the hard way when he received an electric shock. Before he lost consciousness, he heard someone say, "I didn't think Earth had any dogs that ugly."
Miko sighed. "Okay, forget the past," she said. "Starting now, we can make some new memories." The green Wrecker just kept on painting. "Bulkhead, I know that somewhere inside of you, you'll always remember me. And I just want you to know, that I will never forget you either," she said.
"Boo-hoo. I'm shedding lubricant," Breakdown said as he and Knockout entered the arena.
Miko gasped and turned to Bulkhead. "If you don't follow me right now, these guys are going to… steal the formula," she said.
Bulkhead's optics widened. "My equations!" he said.
"Come on, come on!" Miko said, and the two fled.
"Not like Bulkhead to run from a fight," Breakdown said.
"I'm afraid our friend has had too much to think." Knockout activated his comm. "Lord Megatron," he said. "We are good to go."
"Very well," said the warlord. Turning to the Autobots, he said, "Upon careful consideration, Optimus, if you want the cylinder, you will have to take it."
With that being said, the Vehicons attacked. Optimus and the other Autobots counterattacked and the fight was on.
Knockout and Breakdown found themselves in a parking lot full of vehicles. "Oh, joy, fun and games," said Knockout. They split up to better find Bulkhead. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, said Knockout.
Breakdown's method was more direct. He started smashing the cars.
Miko peaked out from inside Bulkhead's alt. mode. Seeing that they had some time, she tried calling the base for a groundbridge, but all she got was static.
"The 'Cons must be scrambling the signal," she said.
"…the tri-sector of the polygon is an integral subset…" said Bulkhead.
"Shhh! Quiet!" said Miko. "I'm going to try to contact base," she said. "Stay here, keep silent, and don't move."
Optimus sliced a Vehicon in half while Arcee finished the last one. Looking at the remains of his force, Megatron shook his helm.
"In that case, no one gets it," he said, dropping the cylinder on the ground and crushing it under his pede.
Enraged, Bumblebee and Arcee shot at the Decepticon leader, but he simply transformed and flew away.
"Optimus!" said a panicked Ratchet. "Bulkhead, Miko, and Jack have left the base! I have their coordinates."
"Bridge us back," said Optimus, hoping to be in time to rescue their teammate.
"Bulkhead," said Breakdown, tapping a finger on the window of a truck. "Is that you?" He smashed the front of it. "I guess not."
Hearing tiny footsteps, he turned around to see Miko running behind another truck. He started to go after her, but Knockout said, "Forget the human, Breakdown. Games are only fun when you're winning."
He held up an energy scanner, which was blinking. "And something tells me that I'm warm."
Knockout stopped in front of an immobile Bulkhead. "And the victor of the game is-"
Before he could finish what he was saying Bulkhead transformed and painted an equation on Knockout's chassis.
"You… painted my paintjob," said Knockout. "PREPARE FOR SURGERY!"
But before he could do anything, Breakdown equipped his hammer and slammed it on the Wrecker's head, knocking him out. Looking at Knockout, he said, "The patient is ready."
"True, but we have the wrong doctor," said Jack, finally catching up with them.
Breakdown narrowed his optic. "Leave if you don't want to get squashed, fleshy," he said, raising his hammer.
Jack activated the Ultimatrix. "If it's a smack-down you want, then I vote Rath!" he said as he slapped the dial.
Jack began changing, but it was obvious it wasn't Rath. Jack's hand became an orange pincer. His legs folded into his lower body as his head shrank into his shoulders and fused with his neck. His intelligence increase as the size of his head did. When the change finished, he was a four-foot crab-like alien. The Ultimatrix dial was on a brace around his abdomen.
"BRAINSTORM!" he said. Then he looked at himself. "I am not Rath," he said. "I am a seafood dish!"
Breakdown started laughing, but Knockout had paled even whiter. "This is not good," he said.
Breakdown scoffed. "What can that thing do?" he asked.
Jack grinned. "I believe what the good doctor is thinking, my good Decepticon, is that you are severely outmatched, as my current guise has electro-kinetic abilities," he said.
"Huh?" asked a confused Breakdown and Miko.
Jack sighed. "Perhaps a demonstration," he said, opening his skull plate.
"Ewww," said Miko, upon seeing the exposed brain. "Cool!" she said after Jack shot lightning out of it that landed near Knockout's pede.
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Let us now see how you take a shock to your nervous system, my good doctor," he said, before releasing a very strong lightning bolt.
It overloaded Knockout's systems, making him jerk his limbs in random patterns. One flailing arm hit Breakdown, causing the blue 'Con to fire off a missile accidently. The unexpected projectile hit the prone Bulkhead.
The green Wrecker opened his optics and fired off a red beam as the data made its way into the sky.
"Not again!" cried Breakdown.
"Get down!" said Knockout taking his own advice.
When the data had finished shooting off into space, the two 'Cons got up. "Dead battery," said Knockout. "Megatron is going to peel our paint for this."
"So, we are going to have to peel you," said Breakdown as Knockout activated his buzz saw.
Just then a groundbridge opened and the rest of the Autobots came out of it.
"Or peel out of here!" said Knockout as he and Breakdown transformed and drove off.
The Ultimatrix timed out and Jack transformed to normal, while everyone looked at Miko who was sobbing against Bulkhead.
Ratchet scanned Bulkhead, then shook his helm. "The data has been fully expelled, but Bulkhead remains unresponsive."
Jack looked at Miko, who was being held by Yuki. "She's taking it pretty hard," she said.
Arcee knelt beside him. "Yes. She thinks that she is the reason that we lost Bulkhead."
Jack hung his head shamefully. "Well, at least she wasn't the reason you lost the data."
Ship came up behind him. "It was your first time using Brainstorm, Jack," he said. "You had no idea what would happen."
"And besides, it kept it out of Decepticon servos. If anyone were to back up that plan, it would be Bulkhead."
"I wouldn't give up on Bulkhead just yet," said Ratchet. "He may come out of his comma in response to a familiar sensation, be it sight or smell, even a sound."
Upon hearing that, Miko went over to her guitar, which was still plugged in. turning on the amp, she played the same note that she had played earlier. Bulkhead still laid there and Miko hung her head again.
But just then, Bulkhead let out a groan.
"Bulkhead?" asked Miko.
He grinned and strummed an imaginary guitar. "I love this song!" he said.
Miko pumped her fist with joy. "Yes! Bulkhead's back!" she cheered.
During the cheering, Ship pulled out his Plumbers badge. Reading the message it had, he sighed and went over to Jack. "They're having technical troubles at HQ, and they want my help," he said. "You good for a couple of days?"
Jack nodded. "I'll be alright," he said.
"Good," Ship said. "Keep practicing you're your aliens." He then tapped a button on his badge and teleported away.
Deep within the reaches of space, the wreckage of a ship floated. What was once a fearsome cruiser, was now a floating wreck. This was the final remains of the final battle between Vilgax and Ben Tennyson. For fifteen years, it has laid undisturbed, mostly because of the strong cosmic radiation that penetrated the area.
But now, the radiation has begun to die down, and a ship makes its way towards the wreck. It is a black ship, with blood-red stabilizers, and a strange insignia of the same color. It is of a stylized skull, looking vaguely rat-like.
The two passengers of the ship are dressed in dark uniforms with the same badge. They look like Earth rats that decided that it would be a good idea to walk on their hind legs. One is fatter than the other, and one ear is ragged. The other is a foot taller than his companion.
The taller one speaks into his communicator. "Commander Y'Clun," he said. "We have reached the wreckage. Preparing to touch down."
"Excellent work," someone said. "I want to be posted on all that is found on that ship, F'ngbuarn."
"Will do, F'ngbuarn out."
"I still think that this is a bad idea," said his companion. "Why are we out here anyway?"
F'ngbuarn slapped his head. "For the last time, Ch'sefief, this is the wreckage of a ship belonging to Vilgax the Conqueror. The boss wants to know how he got his power.
"And what Skeruge Y'Clun wants, he gets."
And there we are.
And behold, a new player enters the arena! He won't make a major reappearance until next season. (Which for this fic will be after the end of 'Orion Pax.'
I changed the conversation between Optimus and Megatron because I figured Bucket-head would have asked about his missing SIC. And I pitted Jack against Knockout and Breakdown because I figured it was time he had a fight in the war. Plus I wanted to introduce Brainstorm.
Thanks for sending in your reviews! I don't think I have said that yet. Keep sending them in, I use them to gauge my work. Also send in the aliens you want to see. Just don't expect to see them in this season. I've got the rest of the roster picked out. I'd tell you them, but spoilers.
-Bilbiothekar of the LibraryNexus
