-the Nemesis-
"Is there a reason that you left Ethan all alone to those people?" Motormaster scowled down at Wildrider, who was sheepishly looking down at her pedes. Since Ethan had been taken by KSI and now was in the city of Chicago, Wildrider had come under verbal attack from both Stunitcons and Stuntikids, who were not pleased that she managed to lose him so easily, Bridgette and Motormaster especially.
"He's not exactly alone, per say -" Wildrider began to say while rubbing the back of her helm.
"He is alone!" Bridgette raged at her, and Wildrider winced. "And you let him be taken, you idiot!"
"That's enough, Bridgette." Motormaster stuck out his hand to stop his charge from further ranting, seeing as though Wildrider didn't already get a receptor's full of angry Stuntikids as Bridgette was not the only Stuntikid who was pissed at Wildrider. The rest of them were in the room, glowering at the Ferrari.
"Now, the question remains that do we go down to Chicago and rescue him, or do we just sit here and let him do... whatever the hell he's doing?" Breakdown asked beside Drag Strip and Dead End. The five of them were in Motormaster's office, currently planning on either a stealth mission or just plain reconnaissance to help out Ethan, seeing as though he was taken by something that they don't know.
"Speaking of what he's doing, what is KSI anyway?" Drag Strip asked, asking the elephant in the room.
"KSI is a robotics company, Kinetics Solutions Incorporated. Founded 1984 by a human with the name Joshua Joyce, and their headquarters is coincidentally in Chicago, probably where they are keeping Ethan." Dead End responded to Drag Strip, who just stared at him in wonder.
"And how do you know that?"
"The miracle that is the human internet. Quite fascinating for a species doomed to extinction."
Motormaster ignored that little remark. "We'll recon the building. Breakdown, you'll be put on patrol with Dead End. Samantha will be acting as our human eyes and will be playing as a civilian offering a management. Holly, find an agent and retrieve one of their cards. I don't care if you steal it or you get it off his beaten body. KSI is their headquarters and they're not going to let anyone in so easily. We'll then base off another phony card from that, and use it to get into the building. Once inside, Samantha will then upload the virus Zoey created and then we'll be able to get a full diagnosis on the entire building."
Motormaster then knelt down to his charge. "This is where you come in. Once the virus is uploaded, their whole system will be scrambled. We, meaning all of us, transform and start shooting the slag out of anything around us. You get inside, find Ethan, and haul ass out. Let nothing stop you."
Bridgette nodded. "I'll get him, Mos'. Don't you worry."
"I'm supposed to worry, because this is where it might get tricky. We have no idea what in the hell KSI is making in there, could be death rays or just some massive charity to an orphanage, plus all that attention will certainly attract the Autobots." Motormaster pointed down. "We are not retreating until Ethan is in our hands again."
"Should we get help?" Dead End asked. "If this is a battle we cannot walk away from, a little help wouldn't be so bad."
"I wish I could help more." Zoey tugged her scarf up her mouth to hide her face, and her shame, but Dead End rubbed is charge's back to relieve her.
"You've done as much as you can, Zoey. We couldn't ask for more." He reassured her.
"Maybe a gun or a bomb would help - OW!" Breakdown's ramble was shot down by Wildrider slapping the back of his head.
"Thank you, Breakdown." Motormaster said dismissively, "And yes, help is nice. But we are doing this on our own. We can't attract too much attention now with the Dinobots here on Earth. This is a full-on sneak attack, no transforming unless absolutely necessary or before KSI realizes that we have Ethan, understood?"
The Stunticons each gave a nod.
"Good. Primus only knows what the hell is going on with Ethan down there, if he's even still alive."
...
"Mind telling me where we're going?" Ethan asked Darcy, both of them several feet behind the ever-busy Mr. Joyce, who had a datapad in his right arm and a cell phone to his ear, blabbing on about some important business with someone named 'Attinger'. Ethan didn't know who Attinger was nor did he really care; all he wanted to know is what he was here for, and why KSI was hiding everything from him.
"Somewhere." Darcy replied plainly.
"Oh that helps." Ethan grumbled to the side. He was starting to get antsy with little to no reason for him being here, even if Mr. Joyce was kind enough to fly him here, but how long would it be before Wildrider and the others came? They wouldn't leave him here.
Would they? Ethan asked himself. He was only a medic, but the human medic as well; he kept charge of everything that kept the Stuntikids healthy and ready for duty. Megatron wouldn't order his abandonment, or termination, unless he really did something incredibly stupid, like sharing precious information with the rest of humanity...
Ethan's eyes grew along with his fear. Is that what they were thinking he was doing down here? He knew they had the right to be suspcious; human agent goes missing and suddenly appears in some populated area that the Transformers can't really access without showing their true forms. Maybe Megatron finally decided to let him go, and order another human medic into the Decepticons...
"Mr. Bain?" Ethan looked forward to see Joyce talking to him, "Mind coming with me to our warehouse?"
He shrugged, "Sure," and went with Joyce. Darcy walked away to record her new findings from the Antarctic search while the boy and her boss went away.
"I'm sure you have many questions." Joyce began, "And you'll get them."
"How about I get them now? For starters, how do you know my name, the Stuntikids and the Decepticons?" Ethan asked, no demanded from Joyce. They were talking about his family for one, and second that seemed to be impossible to know the Stuntikid title since they only used it on the warship. And even then, how did Joyce know the Decepticons? Had he seen them in action? Maybe that little stint he and Wildrider did back at San Francisco half a year ago caught more attention than the ferry full of tourists.
"You need to relax, son." Joyce said in an aggravatingly calm tone of voice, which just made Ethan madder. "Before you go all Hiroshima on me, let me give you a little history lesson, about a boy, like you, and a dream. The boy, ever since he could walk, wanted to make the world a better place. He wanted to invent things that would reshape humanity, create something so revolutionary that it would be written down in the history books."
"I can guess that the boy was you, huh?" Ethan responded, and Joyce nodded, as if the Decepticon already knew the answer.
"But then," Joyce continued, "Something comes along during his time of need. He's grown older, made a name for himself and is now running a multi-billion dollar company. But he doesn't have an edge, until give or take a year ago, when your friends started showing up."
Joyce offered the datapad that he was holding to Ethan, and much to the Decepticon's shock he saw what looked like a video of Optimus Prime and Megatron duking it out in a forest, with Vehicon drones surrounding the two. It then cut to static, and then showed more features; Ethan and Samantha retrieving the polarity gauntlets from the Wrecker Whirl, Menasor ripping apart a train to try and kill the fleeing Bumblebee, and the sudden arrival of Turmoil's forces and the battle at his ship.
"How?" Was all Ethan could respond with.
"Simple. I have friends in high places, just like you." Joyce said as he and the Stuntikid CMO entered the gigantic warehouse at the end of KSI's huge headquarters, and what Ethan saw inside would be forever imprinted in his memories.
Among the dozens of people working in white coats and other sorts of tools he never knew existed, there were hundreds upon hundreds of Vehicon drones, all dead and in pieces. People were splitting them apart, cutting out the other metals and getting to the better stuff from withing; the sparks, the t-cogs and the other organs that made a Cybertronian. He saw what looked to be a pile of unnecessary parts being placed on a wide treadmill and carted off to somewhere else in the factory. The rest that remained, mostly the torsos and heads, were then removed and placed apart in piles, some bigger than others. Vehicon heads had their brain modules removed and their heads melted down into raw material, for whatever product that Joyce had in mind.
"You're... you're melting down dead drones." Ethan gaped at the sight. "Dead Decepticon drones."
"Yes. I am. Remember when I said that I needed an edge? Well, your metal friends here are made up of something I call Transformium." Joyce said to the boy, who had a good enough mental state to respond coherently.
"It's Cybertronium." Ethan said as he saw another Vehicon head being melted down.
"Same thing." Joyce said back. "With all your battles and your destruction, does it not make you wonder to what actually happens to your comrade's corpses?"
"The Vehicons are what we call genericons; expendable and very easily replaced. I doesn't really concern me when I have less patients to treat. But now that you mention it Mr. Joyce, we don't really know what went on with our numbers that fell in battle." Ethan was a medic; the dead had no real connection to him other than the fact that the dead drones brought back were scrapped for parts, just like what Joyce and his workers were doing now.
"Well, now you know." Joyce said.
"Does Fowler know about this, or General Bryce?" Ethan guessed the only two members of the US government that he knew that might have some ties with KSI receiving dead Decepticons. It only made sense; extremely prosperous company gets raw material from government to make something new against the Decepticons, and possibly the Autobots if the case calls.
"What Fowler doesn't know won't hurt him." Joyce wiped his glasses away from his face. Cemetery Wind is the one that picks up the dead for processing here, not the grunts or field scientists that movies often display.
"Joyce, a question; I'm a Decepticon. Seeing this," Ethan gestured to the manufacturing around him, "might make me want to report back to my commanders about this, maybe they already know I'm here. Maybe Megatron is sending out some of his best warriors to retrieve me, get me back to the Nemesis before you can use me."
"Well then, we don't have much time now do we?" Joyce responded. "Ethan the real reason I brought you here was for that." Joyce pointed to what appeared to be an unknown Cybertronian on a large metal slab, probably made from the dead drones. People seemed to be working nonstop on perfecting the Transformer, or something like that. The Cybertronian seemed to be a femme, considering the large bust, thin hips and a more slender form, a black and red decal covering it's form. It seemed to be a combination between Wildrider and Bumblebee, an attempt to utilize the best of both.
"What is that?" Ethan asked, "Your prototype?"
"We call her Stinger." Joyce said as he and Ethan walked toward the femme. "She's our first combat prototype, outfitted for anti-terrorist repulsion, urban security and if you're rich enough, personal satisfaction. She's completely state-of-the-art, with a little help from your friends here, she just might be the most advanced member of her kind, and the first man-made. She's going to make us huge, she and the others."
"Others?"
"Yes, over there." Joyce pointed to an assembly line of bulky Transformers being carted off on a massive pulley system, each one of them a different color. From what he could guess about them, Ethan had to say that they were the others Joyce was referring to. They seemed to have a much simpler design then the Stinger model behind him; far more simplistic and ordinary.
"And their function?"
"Civilian products. We call them Traxes." Joyce explained clearly. "Imagine you're a father, with a wife and two kids, driving down the road on a bright sunny day until a gunman decided that he's going to take you and your family out because he want the paper in your wallet. You don't have a gun on you, and it's a one way road; nothings going to stop the gunman until he gets what he wants. Those things, the Traxes, are designed to be the ultimate in personal security, the world's greatest bodyguard, guardian you name it, the Traxes are it."
"And my part in this?"
Joyce chuckled; the boy was persistent on what he wanted to know, wasn't he?
"We built the bodies, and now you build the minds."
Ethan looked back at Stinger and the Traxes being carted off, and then to Joyce. It all started making sense. Who else would they capture if they wanted to make a true Transformer, none other than their medic of course, and human as well. Ethan knew how to repair Cybertronians, but making one come to life was another task entirely.
But then again, he'd done it before.
"And if I say no?" Ethan dared to ask.
Joyce chuckled, in the manner of "I'd knew you'd ask that". "Well, let's just say your precious friends aren't going to be spending their days peaceful anymore."
Now Ethan was terrified. He knew that Joyce probably knew all about Megatron, the warship and the massive amounts of energon scattered throughout the planet, and the current members of the Decepticons here on Earth. He made man-made Transformers from the bodies of dead drones, remaking them into a product to buy and sell. Who knows what else they made, Ethan didn't even want to list all the possibilities. And so he made his choice.
"I'll start with Stinger over here."
Joyce smiled widely. "Splendid! I'll get your tools and workdesk set up right away."
Ethan didn't feel very proud of himself then, and if he had known what he was getting himself into, he probably would have never entered that van.
-Omega One-
As he lay in the dark completely alone, Sprawl could not help but think about what led to this event.
Of course his sister turned to the Autobots after she left. Ever since that incident with her seeing him gun down Flare-Up and Scattershot at Iacon, Shadowraid began to question the outcome of the Decepticon cause quite profainly, often demanding knowledge that she didn't deserve from her superiors. Sprawl, being the wiser of the two, warned his sister that if she kept flapping her metal gums about how horrible the Decepticon cause had become then she would make more than enough enemies that none of them wanted.
And sure enough, she got some.
In the form of the Decepticon Justice Division.
Tarn had been furious to know that the sister of a proud Warrior Elite was badmouthing Megatron behind his back, and nearly fed her to Tesarus' chest-grinder if it weren't for Sprawl's intervention. He begged the DJD commander that Shadowraid was just being a little rebellious, which was common for a Decepticon who hadn't been around for the entire war. Sprawl explained how his creators sparked Shadowraid mere vorns before Megatron began his big push and didn't really knew what they fought about, as per a typical warborn.
Tarn had Kaon give a background check on Shadowraid and found Sprawl's words to be true. They left, but not before issuing a warning...
...
-Cybertron, about five million years ago-
"Forgive us, Sprawl. We did not know that she was so young into this war. Hopefully you will show her some insight on what the Decepticons stand for and who our Lord and Master once was and whom he shall become." Tarn bowed his head to the Elite and turned to Shadowraid, "I hope you've learned your lesson. Unlike your loyal brother, I will not be as courteous to you if this happens again." Tarn quickly left the two among the ruins of nearby Iacon and entered his ship, the Peaceful Tyranny, with his fellow DJD members. The ship's thrusters kicked into high gear as it took off into the sky, leaving Sprawl and Shadowraid alone.
"You idiot!" Shadowraid screeched at her brother, "Now because of you I nearly got myself on the List!"
"Because of ME?!" Sprawl roared, "How about we do an attitude check and see how much your bratty mouth nearly got you killed!"
"I could've taken five mechs!" She yelled back, quite oblivious to her situation. Sprawl sputtered at her stupidity. How she became a Decepticon was a complete mystery to him.
"Are you joking? Do you know who those "five mechs" are? They're the DJD, the Decepticon Justice Division. They hunt down and slaughter glitches like you and brutally murder them in the name of Megatron!"
"Oh, puh-leeze, Sprawl." Shadowraid scoffed, "They're a bunch of zealots who would follow that idiot Megatron into a smelting pit."
"Do you want them to come back?!" He screamed at her, "Do you realize how close you were to death? Tarn can literally convince your spark to snuff itself out by using his VOICE! And let's not forget about Helex's built-in smelter, Kaon's lightning blasts, Vos's detachable face and Tesarus' chest-grinder! Or are you so oblivious you can't see that your mouth is gonna get you into trouble one day, and I'm not gonna be here to bail you out."
"I don't need your sympathy, Sprawl!" Shadowraid turned around and crossed her arms, "Just because you were born first doesn't mean that you're wiser!"
"I'm wise enough not to piss off the DJD!" He argued back. Bringing up their creators was always a touchy subject that drove another knife between the siblings. Sprawl was much older than his sister, as he could remember the time that began before Nova Prime's disappearance and the formation of the caste system, the slow corruption of the once-proud Senate, Megatron's rise to power and the start of the Great War.
Shadowraid didn't even know the name of the Prime that was in command before Optimus.
Sprawl's and Shadowraid's views on the war were different, almost totally. Sprawl believed that you needed to know exactly what you were fighting for in order to truly be a Decepticon, or an Autobot. Shadowraid simply believed that the only thing that mattered was the badge and the leader. It was infuriating for Sprawl to see all these Decepticon warborn, these children, bragging about how they'll be able to kill Optimus, or take the Matrix to be a Prime, and even heard a group of punks speak about how they'd kill Megatron in his sleep and take the mantle of Decepticon lordship. He didn't even want to talk about how much he hated Shockwave's idea of building Decepticon fighters. Even though he found the drones useful for manual labor, they were inept shots and couldn't hit the broadside of Broadside.
Autobot warborns were even more annoying and staunchy about the war, so much more than the Decepticons. They didn't know squat about Optimus or Megatron and who they once were. All they knew was that Megatron was bad, Optimus was good and to end the war you must kill any and all Decepticons in your way. Quite disgusting, in Sprawl's point of view.
"You know what?" Shadowraid sneered at her brother, "Talk to me when you grow up outside of Megatron's shadow." And with that said she transformed into a sleek speeder and took off. Sprawl fought the very, very strong urge to utilize his railguns on his sister. It was a wonder how her colleagues even had the patience to deal with her behavior.
Sprawl was cut out from his inner rambling as Turmoil and Dropkick transformed behind him, the tank-former's huge cannon smoking around the barrel. Dropkick eyed the retreating form of Sprawl's younger sister and leered at the Elite.
"You gonna do something about her, Sprawl? I mean, she's all alone..." He spoke with a somewhat lusty voice at the mention of Shadowraid being helpless in the middle of the ruins. Sprawl's razor-thin visor thinned impossibly and grunted a snort.
"I don't care." Sprawl spoke as he transformed into his goliath tank form and took off in the opposite direction from her, "She would be better off without us."
As Sprawl drove away, Turmoil could not feel anything but pity for the Warrior Elite...
...
Sprawl was interrupted from his daydreaming by the opening of his cell. He clearly knew it was a Wrecker by the obnoxiously loud clanging of their footsteps and the large eminence of an EMF. Though he couldn't exactly see who it was directly, he eyed for another method by seeing their shadow. The floorlights allowed the Warrior Elite to gaze upon a round, bulbous shape and a sleeker, smaller form.
He instantly recognized the latter as his sister, Shadowraid. As they began to step closer to him, Sprawl offlined his optic visor to listen to them without thinking he had woken up.
"Can't believe you two are siblings." Now he knew who the other Autobot was: Bulkhead. "I mean, he's like a gazillion years older than you."
"Tell me about it." Shadowraid said with an edge of anger. "He always going to his observatory in Simfur, looking in the stupid telescope hoping for Nova Prime to come back. Then he'd come home and tell me all these stupid stories about the Primal Vanguard and how they were the greatest Cybertronians to ever live. He's been a fanboy of just about every ancient leader right up to his "Master"."
Sprawl held himself back from unleashing a torrential downpour of insults to his sister.
"Primal Vanguard? Those guys were pretty big."
"Yeah and you know what they're also, Bulkhead? Dead. So who gives a scrap-pile?" Shadowraid spat at the Wrecker. "Plus now I don't have to deal with him breathing down my vents all the time."
"Weren't you a Decepticon?" Bulkhead asked.
"I was, but then I realized that Megatron was just a genocidal monster and whoever followed him were either insane, foolish or just flat out stupid." Shadowraid sighed out, must have been flexing her joints. "So I just got up and left. Went to Optimus and told that my views had changed and I wanted out."
Now Sprawl knew that was a complete lie. He had gotten hold of what really happened after he had torched Iacon; Shadowraid was arrested for smuggling Nightmare Fuel across the Undergrid, and was then forced into the Autobot army under Prowl's orders as their numbers began to dwindle. Sprawl wondered what they would have done with her if the New Institute was still up and running and no longer a charred ruin.
"Did you see that?" Bulkhead said suddenly, drawing Sprawl's attention. "The lights flickered again."
"The power to this dump keeps turning on and off." Shadowraid smarted out. "Get those little fleshbags to fix it. I'd rather not have those heavy energon bars suddenly deactivate and then he gets to slaughter us all." The two Autobots left the "sleeping" Elite, and Sprawl gave himself a small cheer.
He was getting out very soon.