Several days later and Perceptor had yet to fix the alt-mode problem. Although they were close to solving it, he and Ratchet worked tirelessly in their lab. Meanwhile, Bumblebee had made the mistake of telling Sam all about the latest events, and the human just couldn't resist the opportunity to see the Autobots in their alternate prank modes. In addition, word of the prank had spread throughout the entire human community in Chicago (mainly, NEST soldiers), and all were hoping to get a glimpse of the Autobots. For the 'bots, walking through the city has become a hazard zone of snickers, whoops, and (when it came to the femmes) catcalls – although the femmes made sure that no soldier never catcalled more than once. And finally, Lennox had no choice but to bring his four year old daughter, Annabelle, to the city after telling her that he had met Batman. So by the time Sam arrived in Chicago, the prank was all anybody was talking about.
"Wow," Sam said while lounging on a pile of rubble with a bag of snack food. Jolt walked by and Sam snickered. "Sideswipe and his brother really know how to pull one."
Next to him Bumblebee buzzed in agreement.
"Ha, and where are they now?"
≈ Sarge has them ~ shoveling trash ~ three times a day. ≈ Bumblebee communicated through the radio.
"And all of you have the week off?" Sam asked.
≈ You got it! ≈
Sam chuckled again as Skids and Mudflap ran past, throwing large rocks at each other.
o~o~o
"Come on Optimus, please?"
"Colonel Lennox, is it really necessary?"
"Yes, it is! Just once Optimus. Come on, if not for me, think of the child!" Lennox stood below Optimus Prime, hands on the shoulders of the young Annabelle, both looking up at the Prime with begging eyes. Optimus, still stuck in his Batman getup, glanced down at the pair. One look into those eyes and Optimus knew he had to do it.
"Just once," Lennox repeated, knowing he had the Autobot leader hooked.
Optimus sighed through his vents. "Very well," he said before kneeling down, getting close to the humans. In a gravelly voice he uttered the much anticipated line: "I'm Batman."
A grin split Annabelle's face and she clapped enthusiastically. Lennox grinned as well and gave Optimus the thumbs up. And despite the ridiculous act he had just put on, Optimus couldn't help but smile at the delight of the small child as well. In the background, other humans were laughing and applauding, some, having recorded the event on their smart phones, were playing it back to each other.
Optimus went back to his work, which was overseeing the demolition of an unstable building; the last one in the city, actually. After this, all that was left was to clear out the last of the rubble and plan on the rebuilding of the city. Lennox had thought his daughter would want to see the demolition of a building, and so Optimus was also here to make sure everything went according to procedure, lest the human child get injured.
While the Wreckers and human demolition experts were installing the last of the explosives, Lennox crouched down next to Annabelle. "So you have to wear these before the explosion, to protect your ears" he said to her, handing her a huge (compared to her small head) pair of electronic noise-cancelling earmuffs. "When you put them on, push this little button here" and he showed her the button, "and it'll turn off all the noise, okay?"
"Okay," she said and took the earmuffs.
After another ten minutes the building was given the all clear. Lennox helped Annabelle put on the earmuffs, and pressed the little button when she forgot to. After the countdown, the switch was flipped and the building was brought to the ground in a swath of explosions and dust.
"Cool daddy!" Annabelle shouted after it was over, in an excessively loud voice because the earmuffs were still on. Lennox took them off, "You liked that?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said with a grin.
Optimus smiled, watching the pair, but the moment was broken when he was approached by Prowl, who had been standing aside until the demolition was over.
"We have a situation Prime."
o~o~o
Back in Perceptor's lab, the scientist was fiddling with some Cybertronian programming. He had found the source of the problem, but was having a hard time fixing the piece of code that kept their alt-modes locked into place. He was sure though that in no time he'd have the issue resolved.
"I just don't get it!" Ratchet raged behind Perceptor. "How in the Pit did those twins get into our systems? And not only that, how did they know how to mess up our programming like this?"
"I... I really don't know," Perceptor responded, still hunched over his computer screen.
Ratchet narrowed his optics at the scientist, suspicious of the hesitation in his reply. "Really?" he said, "you have no idea?"
"Well..." Perceptor trailed off, remembering a week ago when he had been visited by the two in question.
Sideswipe bounced into the lab, all cheer. Sunstreaker followed shutting the door that his brother had left swinging open.
"Hey Perceptor, I have a question for you!"
Perceptor was busy tinkering with some chemicals and only gave the red frontliner a sidelong glance. "Very well," he said "what do you want to know?"
"Well, I was just wondering," Sideswipe began, heaving himself up onto a table and swinging his legs. "With the whole Dino thing, how exactly do we do alt-modes?"
Perceptor gave him another glance. "How do you mean? How do our programs store alt-mode data or how our bodies actually transform?"
"Um, the first one," Sideswipe responded.
"It's a bit complicated, but in simple terms, a specific part in our programming stores the information it needs for a vehicle mode such as color, shape, texture, malleability, and molecular composition. Whenever we scan a vehicle it records this information and stores it in our programming, and then applies its properties to our external armor, which is made out of a very rare material that can take on virtually any property presented to it. We still don't know its true composition or elemental make up, but there have been theories that it has to do with a specific reaction between our self-repairing metal armor and the rarified energon found in our sparks. It's quite fascinating."
"Uh huh," Sideswipe said after Perceptor was done. "But Dino mentioned that he had gotten one of his alt-modes from the internet. Soooo, how does that work?"
"Well then Dino must have somehow accessed the field elements of his alternate mode programming, and modified those specific elements such as color and shape that he could specifically observe with sight, and left alone those such as composition and texture, properties he couldn't possibly attain from an image by itself. I doubt he did this intentionally, but indirectly did so as he was trying to obtain his alt-mode through the image he found."
"Aaaand how would one go about modifying this program of which you speak?"
"Oh, it's just a matter of accessing the appropriate program and modifying the parameters. I suppose one of Ratchet's medical tools would have the capability of accomplishing such a task."
Sideswipe's face split into a grin and he hopped off the table. "Great! Thanks Perceptor, you're the best!" he said before leaving the lab, Sunstreaker bringing up the rear.
Not being one to keep a secret, Perceptor told Ratchet of the entire event. The medic just stared for a minute, flabbergasted, before speaking.
"You just... told them everything? Just like that?! What's wrong with you Perceptor? This is Sideswipe we're talking about! Slag it! That's where my scanner went! I can't believe you!"
Perceptor hadn't turned from his station, shoulders slightly hunched, but he responded to Ratchet's outburst. "I am sorry; it's been so long since I've been around those two together, that I forgot Sunstreaker's brother was so mischievous."
Ratchet glared at the scientist, then huffed through his vents. "Don't worry about it," Ratchet said, choosing to reserve his anger for the trouble making twins rather than the pacifist scientist. "But, the question now is how do we get back at them?"
"I don't really know," Perceptor answered, just relieved that he had been spared the wrath of the medic.
"How close are you to getting this resolved?" Ratchet then asked.
"It's nearly there."
Silence fell over the two, as Ratchet schemed and Perceptor worked, before they were hailed by the Prime. "All Autobots report to headquarters," was all he said before cutting the link.
o~o~o
At the makeshift NEST headquarters in Chicago, Optimus, Prowl, Mearing, and Lennox were all waiting for the arrival of the Autobots. On the projected globe in the center of the room were multiple pulsing lights that were clustered around the southern part of Africa. Once all were gathered, Lennox began the briefing.
"Five hours ago we detected several Cybertronian signals entering Earth's atmosphere," Lennox began. "We determined them to be Decepticon signatures, and like last time they were converging on South America. However, at the time the signatures were too scattered to formulate a counter movement, so we waited and watched. Since then the Decepticons have moved from South America, traveled across the South Atlantic Ocean, and are now heading towards Africa, meeting up with other Decepticons that have entered Earth space. We have now determined these signals are converging here." and Lennox used a handheld device to zoom in the globe on the southern half of Africa, and farther in on the northeastern part of the country of Namibia. "Luckily these Decepticons aren't gathering around any major settlements, which means a clean arena of attack.
"But here's the catch," he continued. "Just in the last hour six more signals have been detected and are heading towards our planet. They haven't entered the atmosphere yet, but they appear to be heading here, not Africa. But, we have not had enough time to determine whether they're Autobot or Decepticon."
Here Prowl took over the briefing. "In order to counter both groups, we must split up our forces. Unfortunately there is no time to correct our... current conditions before we must leave," and here Prowl leveled the twins with a hate filled glare. Sideswipe shuffled sheepishly. "So unfortunately we must go into battle as is."
The 'bots looked at each other, now fully realizing that that they were going to be seen by their enemies in their ridiculous getups. Lennox covered his mouth with his hand, trying his best to hide his grin, knowing this was a serious situation.
Prowl continued. "Optimus will lead the group into Africa; with him will be Arcee, Elita-One, Chromia, Tracks, Dino, Leadfoot, Roadbuster, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker. I will lead the party that is to counter the group heading here; with me will be Ratchet, Bumblebee, Hound, Perceptor, Jolt, Topspin, Mudflap, and Skids. Remember, we do not know whether these inbound individuals are Autobot or Decepticon, so we must use caution before engaging in battle. Those with Optimus are on an offensive mission: drive those Decepticons apart, we cannot have them gathering. Take prisoners if you must, but that is not our goal. Optimus's team, report to the C-17 for departure immediately; my team, remain here and I will lead us out."
"Alright, I'll be leading a team with Optimus, Epps will lead a team with Prowl," Lennox said when it was clear the tactician was done.
"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus said at last.
The Autobots disbursed to report to their assigned stations. In the middle of the bustle Ratchet approached the black and white. "Prowl!" He snapped. "What are you doing, those twins shouldn't be allowed to go into battle, you know how much they like it and rewarding them is the last thing we need to be doing right now!"
"Yes Ratchet, I agree," Prowl responded. "However, in the state that we are in, we need all the help we can get on the battle field, and unfortunately those two are the best we have right now, besides Optimus Prime and the Wreckers."
Ratchet snorted, but couldn't argue with the tactician's logic.
"But don't worry," Prowl continued. "I want to see them punished for their actions as much as you do, and I think I know just how to do it. But we'll discuss this matter later, now we need to focus on the events at hand."
o~o~o
8,000 miles away, what appeared to be a huge, abandoned campsite lay sprawled out on the sparse grass under the baking heat of the African afternoon sun. In the distance, sand dunes rose up above the horizon. A small scaly creature wandered around the many pieces of scrap metal scattered around, using its long snout to sniff the debris that littered its land. A sudden movement caught its eye, making it freeze in its tracks, and a second movement sent the creature scrambling away.
A hatchling skittered across the grass, a small one, hardly big enough to be outside of its egg. It traveled from one fallen piece of metal to another, until it seemed to decide it was happy with one in particular. When it reached its destination, it immediately grabbed ahold of the metal's edge and started to gnaw on it. Suddenly a second hatchling appeared and tried to bully the first one away. The first one fought back, and pretty soon the two were squabbling, growling and chattering at each other in tiny voices. They were both so caught up in their argument that they didn't see the glints in the sky of two inbound aircrafts, nor did they hear the rumble of approaching engines. In fact they didn't even notice the incoming Cybertronians until the foot of one nearly squashed them both. The hatchlings scattered in fright, while the Decepticon whom the foot belonged to straightened as he finished his transformation into root mode, engines still whining down.
The tall, purple and yellow mech looked around, while his companion landed nearby. "Puh," he said in disgust, kicking some scrap metal away, "Pathetic."
The other Cybertronian, a blue seeker with red stripes on his wings, carefully wandered through the debris, watching the ground as if looking for something.
The bulkier Decepticon continued, "So this is where the mighty Megatron spent the last of his days, huh? Ha, mighty Megatron my aft."
"And our life is so much better up on that moon?" the seeker replied.
"At least we're not wallowing in the filth of this disgusting planet," the first 'con growled, kicking another piece of metal. It was a large piece, and a number of hatchlings had been hiding underneath it, all of who scattered upon being uncovered, squealing in alarm.
One of the hatchlings scrambled by the blue seeker, and he bent down to scoop up the tiny creature. The hatchling squeaked and wriggled in his grasp, but he didn't let it go as he stood up again. He watched the little thing squirm in his hand with mild interest.
"Careful Thundercracker, you don't know where that's been," the other said.
The blue seeker, Thundercracker, gave the mech a carefully controlled glare. But he let the small Cybertronian go, gently releasing it back onto the ground, where it scrambled underneath the nearest piece of scrap.
"Slag it, where are they? I told Astrotrain not to keep me waiting," the purple Decepticon spoke again, glaring up at the sun.
"Patience Blitzwing, they'll get here," said Thundercracker.
Blitzwing turned his glare onto the blue 'con. "It's Lord Blitzwing to you! And don't you dare try to smooth talk me, seeker!"
"My apologies, Lord," Thundercracker deadpanned, unfazed by Blitzwing's outburst.
Blitzwing snorted and turned away, completely missing the sarcastic tone in Thundercracker's reply.
About a half an hour passed. Blitzwing kicked more pieces of metal while Thundercracker just stood by patiently. And except for Blitzwing's grumblings, neither said anything else. But finally, the sound of an approaching aircraft caught their attention.
"Finally," Blitzwing growled, as he threw down some scrap that he'd been tearing apart.
Swiftly the aircraft approached. When it drew close enough to see, it appeared to resemble a human space shuttle, but when it began its descent it clearly wasn't. Although it shared a shuttle's shape, its Decepticon and Cybertronian origins gave it an alien design with a harsh, spiked exterior. Plus its landing speed was much faster than any Earth aircraft; in less than a minute the craft was touching down in a cloud of dust. And finally, its purpose was obviously different than that of a shuttle, for when it landed a hatch opened up on its back and a parade of vehicles rolled out into the open.
In the end, six battered vehicles came out of the ship. As they exited they transformed into dilapidated looking Decepticons, one of them a lavender and yellow jeep with wide optics, and another a large blue mech with a limp. When they were all out, the shuttle finally transformed itself into a large 'con, his large curved wings swooping onto his back.
"It's about time," Blitzwing growled, approaching the group.
"I'm not late," the shuttle 'con argued. "You're just impatient."
Blitzwing growled. "Don't get started with me, Astrotrain! If you don't start showing me some respect, you're going to seriously regret it!"
"Pft, yeah sure, whatever."
Enraged at the attitude he was receiving, Blitzwing approached Astrotrain aggressively.
"There are the others," Thundercracker suddenly exclaimed, diffusing the situation.
All heads turned to where the seeker had indicated, seeing a second shuttle-like craft approaching. Just as Astrotrain had done earlier, it landed and unloaded a small group of battered Decepticons, and finally transformed himself.
Blitzwing turned back to Astrotrain. "You get off easy this time, but next time I swear you're not going to be so lucky."
Astrotrain simply rolled his optics when Blitzwing couldn't see as he turned towards the group at large.
"You all need to start showing some spine out there!" Blitzwing began by snarled at the mechs assembled in front of him. "Look at yourselves, it's pathetic! You call yourselves Decepticons? The Autobots don't even know where you are and you're still losing. I'm not asking you to attack them; you have the easiest job in the world! We provide you all the resources you need, and all I ask of you is to return the favor by scrounging up some stupid Earth materials."
"It's not as easy as that," one of the mechs spoke up. Onslaught limped forward, glaring at Blitzwing. "You don't provide us with nearly as many supplies as you say you do. My team's only been detected by the Autobots once since you've taken reign, Lord, but the one time they did engage us in battle we lost miserably." Here Onslaught threw down his weapon, which was still malfunctioning. "To defend ourselves from the Autobots we need better weaponry, we need more energon, and we need medical supplies. If you really want this system to work, you need to provide us with better support, or else we won't be able to provide you your precious resources, and if that happens guess what? You and all of your friends up there in the luxury of space won't be able to make any energon, and then you'll be in real trouble."
After Onslaught's speech, Blitzwing didn't say anything. He didn't even look at the big 'con before he had paced a few steps, seemingly in thought. When he finally did spare him a glance, it was accompanied by the barrel of his cannon, and he shot Onslaught right there, right through the spark chamber. Onslaught staggered back. He didn't look shocked, but rather grudgingly resigned to his fate before he fell to the ground, dead.
"That's what happens to those who are weak," Blitzwing growled, indicating the dead mech. "Those who complain are weak, because they are afraid, a trait no self-respecting Decepticon should have. If I find any one of you complaining like this one, you will meet the same end as he."
The Decepticons shuffled uneasily. However, Swindle looked completely unfazed; in fact he hadn't even flinched when his brother had been killed. Blast Off, the other shuttle 'con and Swindle and Onslaught's brother, acted the same way. Ever since Brawl, their third sibling, had died here on Earth, their gestalt bond had fallen apart. After his death, Blast Off and Vortex, their final brother, had opted to leave Earth with the other flight capable Decepticons and take refuge in the hatchery on one of Saturn's moons, while Onslaught and Swindle were left on Earth to scratch out a living. The two sets of brothers had practically disowned each other; Onslaught and Swindle hadn't even spared Blast Off a glance when they had met up just now, and vice versa. Now they were another brother short, and they acted as if they were completely unaffected by it. It had hurt when Brawl died, their sparks had screamed in pain as their bond had been ripped apart, but just now when Onslaught had died, it had only felt like a dull throb.
"From now on I want to see a one-hundred percent increase in resources gathered, and no complaints," Blitzwing finished. He started to turn away, and waved a hand at them dismissively. "Take them back to their posts, and bring the other groups," he said. There were far more than twelve Decepticons living on Earth, but with only two 'cons that had the ability to transport Cybertronians, it would take several trips before Blitzwing could transmit his message to them all. So he walked away to where he would wait for more of his subjects to be brought before him.
As the Decepticons gathered to be transported back to their designated locations, Swindle approached Onslaught's fallen chassis. He tsked at his dead brother, shaking his head. "'Slaughty 'Slaughty, I warned you. You should have let me help you when I gave you the chance. And now look at you. Such a shame," he said without a hint of remorse in his voice. He leaned over and picked up Onslaught's dropped weapon, subspacing it. Next he put a foot on Onslaught's chassis and with a shove, rolled it over. "Now let's see what you've got for your dear brother, I've had my optic on that titanium knife set of yours, yeah you know the one; so nice of you to let me have it for free!"
Swindle knelt down to rummage through his brother's subspace pockets. He was well into his looting when a nearby shout distracted him: "AUTOBOTS!"
The Decepticons looked around wildly. Blitzwing whirled around. "Where are they?" he shouted, pulling out a massive gun. "I want to introduce myself to them."
Several Decepticons pointed and suddenly they could all see the line of incoming vehicles, framed by a cloud of dust being kicked up behind them. A manic grin spread across Blitzwing's face as he marched out front. "Let them come," he said. But then his grin transformed into a confused frown as he stared at the approaching 'bots. "Who the frag are they?"
The other Decepticons were looking confused too, for the vehicles they saw in the distance were completely unrecognizable and some were downright ridiculous. One of the 'cons laughed nervously, "We might actually have a chance against those alt-modes," he said, but the grin on his face faded quickly when Blitzwing leveled a murderous glare at him.
Blitzwing turned back at the sound of a transformation. The one Autobot that had been driving in the front, the big, black one, had braked and transformed, looming in root mode several hundred meters away. Most of the ragged land-based Decepticons shrunk back; they wouldn't describe the big black's design as ridiculous, despite the odd "cape" flowing from his shoulders in the hot African breeze, and even though they didn't recognize him as the Prime, they were certainly intimidated by his size and obvious power. The two battle-hungry looking Lamborghini 'bots flanking the big black didn't help to reassure the 'cons, and certainly made up for the rather unintimidating 'bots that pulled up behind them.
"Decepticons!" the big and black 'bot shouted to them, and the 'cons instantly knew they were dealing with the Prime. "You are not welcome on this planet. However, I am willing to work on peaceful terms, if you would choose to cooperate. If you choose otherwise, then be gone! Make your decision now!"
Blitzwing growled and cocked his gun, but before he could make a move he heard shuffling behind him. He turned to find his troops beginning to back up. "Hold your GROUND!" he bellowed at them. They stopped in their tracks and he turned back to the Autobots.
"Here's my decision!" Blitzwing shouted to the Prime and promptly opened fire on him.
The Autobots broke formation and scattered to avoid the bullets. Optimus transformed and barreled towards the 'cons while the other 'bots chose to run instead. While the twins had speed on their feet, they couldn't outrun their leader in his tank alt-mode.
Blitzwing charged with Thundercracker and a few brave Decepticons behind him. Optimus had time to reflect how efficient this strange alt-mode was when it came to off-roading before he transformed again and met Blitzwing head on.
o~o~o
Prowl's group pulled to a stop and spread out, transforming into root mode. The projected landing spot for the inbound Cybertronians was just about an hour out of Chicago, and they were about to enter Earth's atmosphere. The Autobots lined up and took out their weapons, ready for whatever was coming their way.
"Don't shoot until we've confirmed their identity," Prowl commanded. "There's a good probability they are Decepticons, but we have no intel on this one. Await my command." Although the identities of these inbound Cybertronians had been inconclusive since Ratchet hadn't been able to definitely confirm that they were Decepticon, Prowl couldn't believe that this new group wasn't Decepticon with all the activity going on in Africa. Therefore Prowl made sure they would be ready for anything.
"Oh ah hope we get soom Deceptipunks, ah could really pound some helms right aboot naow," Topspin said as he shuffled and flexed his hands in anticipation.
"Yeah yeah, we need some action too!" Skids agreed as he and his brother bounced on their pedes and punched the air.
"I think I would rather prefer more Autobots," Perceptor chimed in as he stood to the side.
"Await my command before engaging," Prowl reminded his troops sternly.
Topspin shrugged dismissively at Prowl's command and proceeded to take out his cannon and start to fine tune it.
"To be honest I don't know where we're gonna put all of you guys if more of you are comin'," Epps said. Several of his human troops agreed.
After that there wasn't much conversation. The Earth-bound Cybertronians were due to enter the atmosphere any minute, and as the seconds ticked by the Autobots grew a little restless.
"There they are!" Hound finally announced as they all saw the six flaming asteroids appear against the midmorning sky. The rest of the Autobots took out their weapons and stood at attention, waiting for further orders. Prowl broke the line and moved farther away to where he could clearly see the incoming Cybertronians, doorwings flared, alert, as he watched and calculated.
The troops stilled again. It would take another several minutes before the Cybertronians landed on Earth, but it was already clear the soldiers had chosen their spot well, as base of operations reported to them an updated landing zone, which was only about a mile away from their current location.
Several seconds passed, before they all witnessed something unusual in the sky. Five of the incoming asteroids changed course before them. They peeled off to the east and flew on their own power towards the horizon, while the remaining one asteroid continued to hurtle towards the ground.
Prowl began to receive reports from NEST about the newest development, but he didn't need them. Cursing to himself, he quickly activated a secure comm-link with Optimus, who was by now in Africa battling the Decepticons.
"Prowl, report," came the curt reply from the Prime.
Prowl could clearly hear the sounds of battle in the background, but he ignored it as he delivered the news. "Five Decepticons heading your way, NEST will give you the projected arrival time. Be on the alert."
"Will do, thank you Prowl," the Prime responded before cutting the link.
"Autobots, transform!" Prowl ordered his troops. "This is likely a Decepticon, we must head him off!"
"Alright!" Topspin shouted as he eagerly followed orders.
The other Autobots followed Prowl's command as well, but a little less exuberantly than the Wrecker. None of them were too excited about engaging their enemy while in their ridiculous alt-modes. But when the fight was eight to one, and with the human NEST soldiers to back them up, it really shouldn't be that much of a contest. Once Epps's team had quickly loaded up, the Autobots followed their commanding officer onto the nearby road. They raced towards the incoming Cybertronian even as it continued to fall, Prowl's police siren blaring the way.
Several seconds later the Cybertronian struck the Earth in the middle of a pasture, in a flash and spray of dirt. The Autobots were right behind as they skidded to a stop and transformed, pulling out their weapons. Prowl was at the front of the pack.
A tense silence fell over them all as the last of the debris kicked up by the crash landing fell back to the ground. Sounds of a transformation came from inside the crater, and the Autobots and humans watched apprehensively as a form rose above the ground.
Prowl's doorwings flared aggressively as he addressed the mech, "Stand down Decepticon! Or we will open fire!"
Strangely not in protoform, as is usual for a Cybertronian coming out of space travel, the mech paused as he looked over the line of Autobots and humans. Then he spoke: "I've received a warmer welcome from a pack of starving sharkticons!"
Prowl twitched his doorwings in confusion, taken aback by the unexpected reply. But before he could say anything, Topspin beat him to it. Having recognized one of the most famous voices among the Wreckers, the mech eagerly jumped forward. "Oi, is that Springer ah hear?"
"Topspin...!" Prowl tried to order the soldier back, but couldn't finish the command before the mech was already way out ahead.
The nearby mech looked at Topspin before a grin split his face. "Is that a Wrecker I see?" he responded.
The two mechs met and clasped hands in a traditional Wrecker style greeting. "Et's Topspin," the blue warrior introduced himself.
"And you guessed me, it's Springer," said the other.
"Wait!" Prowl suddenly intervened, and everybody turned to stare at the Praxian. "If you're an Autobot, then who came with you to Earth?"
o~o~o
Optimus Prime dodged a punch thrown at him and threw one of his own at his adversary. His troops were holding up well in the battle, most of the Decepticons didn't have much fight in them. But this one was different; he was tough and ferocious and kept driving Optimus farther back with his assault. The Prime held his own against the 'con, but he was worried about the five Decepticons that were heading their way, according to Prowl. Lennox and the human unit had called in air support, but it would be too long before it would arrive. Meanwhile the humans had set up defenses nearby, although there wasn't much they could do against enemies in the air.
Optimus's opponent grinned nastily when the Prime stumbled back from one of his blows. "My name is Blitzwing," he said, finally deciding to introduce himself. "And I will be your downfall!"
"We will see about that," Optimus retorted. He pulled out his energon-blade and charged. Blitzwing met the assault with glee.
The battle raged on for another five minutes or so. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker fought Thundercracker, who surprised them with his prowess in battle on land, while the other Autobots tackled the rest of the enemy. The poor Decepticons would have retreated a long time ago, if they didn't fear their newest leader more than they did the Autobots. Nevertheless, they put up a reasonable fight.
Optimus was beginning to overcome Blitzwing. When the Decepticon realized this, he snarled in frustration and brought his cannon up to smack Optimus under the chin. While Optimus recovered, Blitzwing opened fire again.
"Prime, five enemy aircraft inbound, ETA one minutes!" Lennox suddenly shouted into Optimus's comm as the Prime took some of Blitzwing's bullets.
"Understood," Optimus replied before opening up a link to the rest of his Autobots. "Brace yourselves for more Decepticons!"
"Why are the Decepticons suddenly converging now?" Arcee asked over the frequency as she and her sisters traded blows with a 'con.
"Who cares!? All ah knew is tha' these Deceptipunks are gettin' a right-well poundin' from us!" came Leadfoot's voice in reply.
"Haha! I'll second that! Bring it on!" Sideswipe chimed in.
Optimus ran to the side as Blitzwing fired more bullets in his direction. He dodged most of them, and managed to bring out his own ion cannon and shoot at the Decepticon. And so the battle continued for the next minute, until Optimus received an update from Lennox: "Enemy aircraft are in sight! I repeat, enemy aircraft are in sight! ETA ten seconds!"
Optimus rammed his shoulder into Blitzwing's side, forcing the 'con to stumble, and giving the Prime enough time to glance into the sky. Sure enough, there were five visible shapes approaching their position fast. But just then he received an unexpected call from Prowl: "Prime, the inbound Cybertronians are friendly! Do not engage; the Cybertronians are friendly!"
Briefly forgetting his one-on-one with Blitzwing, Optimus turned to pass the news along to his troops. But before he could, Blitzwing took advantage of the pause in their fight to gain the upper hand. The Decepticon aimed his gun and fired again, catching Optimus in the leg and bringing him to his knees in pain. The Prime looked up to see Blitzwing smirking in victory, but the sneer was soon wiped from the 'con's face when Optimus returned the fire, hitting the 'con's hand and knocking the weapon away.
Optimus turned to warn his troops of the inbound friendlies, just in time to see Leadfoot bring his gun up and bombard the incoming aircraft with bullets.
"Hold your fire!" Optimus bellowed at his troops.
Taken aback, the Autobots and Decepticons alike stared at the Prime, until they were forced to scatter as the five aircraft thundered in over their heads and opened fire on them. The Decepticons fled from the barrage while the Autobots aimed their weapons up at them, before they noticed the aircraft were firing solely at the Decepticons. As the five fliers screamed past, three of them pulled up and circled around for another go. One of them, the second smallest but by far the bulkiest, transformed into mech form, landed with a thud, and immediately began pounding the unfortunate Decepticon that found himself in his way. The final Cybertronian aircraft, the smallest of them all, attempted to swerve away like the other three had done, but started too late and wound up crashing into a fleeing 'con. The two smashed to the dirt, the smaller flier ending up sitting dazed on the ground in mech form, while the Decepticon, with one of his own wings bent painfully from the collision, snarled and approached the other aggressively. The 'con would have gotten ahold of the smaller mech if he hadn't been tackled by Sideswipe first.
The Autobot and Decepticon shared a few blows before their fight was interrupted. The other fliers finished their circle back and landed, transforming into root mode and formed a circle around the dueling pair. Alarmed at seeing Sideswipe surrounded by unfamiliar warriors, the other Autobots approached and aimed their weapons at them. When the Decepticon at the center of the entire thing realized he was surrounded by enemies, he snarled and transformed, blasting away in shuttle form and throwing Sideswipe back a couple hundred yards. Similarly, the only Decepticon left on the field now, who was being attacked by the bulky flier nearby, noticed he was alone and panicked, making a hasty retreat by transforming and driving away at top speeds.
"NO! Where are you all going! I didn't tell you to retreat!" Blitzwing shouted from the sidelines. When everybody turned to stare at him, Blitzwing backed up a step and then turned to the Prime. "This isn't over," he snarled before transforming and taking off.
"Slagging coward!" came a sudden shout nearby, and then all optics turned to the bulky mech whose opponent had fled moments ago.
"Leave it be, Slingshot," the biggest flier said, before turning and approaching Optimus. When he reached the Prime, he stood at attention and threw a salute, "Silverbolt, leader of the Aerialbot squadron, reporting for duty sir."
Optimus felt a wash of relief come over him. He knew of the Aerialbots, and had even worked alongside Silverbolt several times during the war on Cybertron, and had guessed the Aerialbots the second he heard that the inbound Cybertronian fliers were friendlies. "Silverbolt," Optimus greeted, offering his hand, "I am glad to have you here."
Silverbolt returned the greeting by taking the Prime's hand, and the Prime could tell he was trying very hard to not give the Prime's Batman getup an odd stare. Optimus decided the time to explain things would be later.
"Hey Optimus, what's the situation?" Lennox suddenly said through the intercom.
"All is well, Lennox. These are the Aerialbots, they are friendly," Optimus responded.
"Dude! You guys have fliers? Man where were these guys like, seven years ago!"
"I am sure all will be explained later, Colonel. Let's pack up and head back to base."
"Yes sir," Lennox said before ordering his troops.
Silverbolt was looking confused by Optimus's one-sided conversation and the Prime hastened to explain. He motioned towards the human NEST unit, "Silverbolt, these are humans, natives of this planet, and that is the unit led by Colonel William Lennox that is part of the human/Autobot defense force against the Decepticons. They are our allies. Proper introductions will be made once we are back at base."
Silverbolt nodded in understanding and agreement.
Nearby one of the fliers was helping the smallest one off the ground. "You alright Fireflight?" he asked.
"Oh yeah," Fireflight responded cheerfully. "Thank you Air Raid, I just didn't see that coming, that's all," he ended with a laugh.
Air Raid smirked and then turned to get a look at the Autobots surrounding him. "Whoa there guys, we're not the enemy!"
The Autobots looked at each other, and then saw their Prime greet Silverbolt, before lowering their weapons. Sideswipe was the first to break the ice as he approached Air Raid cheerfully. "Hey there, Sideswipe's the name. That grouchy lookin' guy over there's my brother, Sunstreaker. So you can fly, huh? What are you, the Aerialbots?" Sideswipe laughed.
"Yes, actually," Air Raid returned. "This here's Fireflight, that's Slingshot, Skydive, and Silverbolt. And I'm Air Raid! By the way, thanks for saving this one's behind, he tends to get himself into trouble a lot."
"No problem," Sideswipe said with a grin.
Nearby the other Autobots were greeting the Aerialbots. Fireflight had wandered off somewhere, Dino, Tracks, and the femmes had started a conversation with Skydive, while Leadfoot and Slingshot were talking together, and Sunstreaker was just waiting impatiently for them all to get a move on.
"Oy, wot aboot thes poor sap?" Leadfoot suddenly called out, indicating Onslaught's dead body. Optimus approached and looked solemnly down at the deceased Cybertronian. "Ah'm pretty sure 'e was dead when we got here," Leadfoot said.
"Let him stay here and rust," Slingshot growled from nearby.
"We will dispose of him as we have done with all other fallen Decepticons. "Lennox, we will need a disposal team,"" Optimus said through the comm.
"On it Prime," The Colonel responded.
"Eh, et's either rust here or at tae bottom of tae ocean," Leadfoot shrugged.
"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus suddenly commanded.
"Aerialbots, fall in line," Silverbolt seconded.
"Guess we're heading back to base," Sideswipe said as everybody started to move towards the C-17 close by.
"Cool. But I gotta ask, what's up with the strange getups?" said Air Raid as he specifically indicated Tracks, Dino, and Optimus. "They lose a bet or what?"
Sideswipe looked at the mentioned mechs before laughing. "Oh, ha! No, but that's kinda my and Sunstreaker's bad. It's actually really funny, I'll explain it to you later."
They all walked away for a minute, before they were stopped by a voice. "Um, you guys, take a look at this!"
They turned and saw Fireflight off in the distance. He had wandered off to inspect the strange campsite nearby, and was currently holding up a large sheet of metal and looking under it. The 'bots all hurried to see what the small flier had found. When they reached him and looked under the metal, they gasped and pointed.
"What the frag?" Sideswipe said.
Optimus pushed through the crowd to see what was so strange for himself. When he finally knelt down to take a look, he found multiple pairs of small, red optics staring back at him from underneath the metal.
o~o~o
Blast Off tried to get up into the outer atmosphere of the Earth. He tried really hard, but the flier that had rammed him had not only bent a wing, but damaged one of his engines as well. That stupid flier, what did he think he was doing? Blast Off was going to have to get his revenge against that one, if he ever got the chance. But for now, he needed to worry about staying in the air. He was sure Blitzwing, Thundercracker, and Astrotrain had already left the planet, and he wasn't about to get stuck on this rock with the ground pounders, that was for sure. At least, that's how he felt, but by the looks of things he wasn't going to have a say in the matter. His engine sputtered, and even as he tried to ascend, he began to descend towards the ground. Slag it, slag it all! Blast Off thought as he struggled to stay in the air. But it just wasn't going to happen, and soon he was forced to glide to prevent himself from crashing to the surface of the Earth. Even with the help of gliding though, he was approaching the ground rapidly.
As he descended, Blast Off looked for a suitable place to touch down. He was aiming for a stretch of flat land when he spotted a group of pathetic looking ground pounder Decepticons, the very same group he had been with when the Autobots attacked. He really really hated the thought of joining them, but he recognized the advantage of having others nearby when he was damaged. Not for their help, no, but so that he could salvage any parts he might need from their bodies. Ultimately Blast Off chose to land close by so that he could trail them, and pick apart any of the 'cons that were unfortunate enough to die in this African wasteland. Actually, all of them were going to die eventually, he knew, and he'll use their deaths as a means to get himself off this miserable excuse for a planet.
So preoccupied with his plotting, Blast Off didn't even notice the second Decepticon shuttle as it landed a short distance away. Astrotrain transformed into root mode and approached the bedraggled band of 'cons. They were a sorry bunch, even more pathetic now than what he had seen of them in South America. The group that wasn't from the Americas hadn't been as damaged as the ones that had fought the Autobots nearly two weeks ago, but the recent scuffle with the 'bots had left them all worse for wear. Astrotrain studied them for a moment, wondering whether they'd be as much use to him as he had thought prior to the Autobot attack. Eventually he made up his mind and approached the purple and yellow 'con on the outskirts of the group. Several mechs looked up at the shuttle 'con as he walked past, but none of them cared enough to do something about his presence.
Swindle on the other hand, acted as if he had no idea he was being approached. Lying flat on his back with one leg draped over the other, he inspected the spoils he had taken from his brother's body. Currently he was looking at a very sharp titanium knife, watching as the light from the evening sun glinted off the blade's edge.
Astrotrain finally reached the mech and just stood silently to the side, until Swindle finally looked up, as if just noticing the other's presence. "Oh hello Astrotrain, what brings you to our place of paradise?" he said with a casual wave of an arm and a crafty grin.
The shuttle 'con didn't appear amused in any way. "Get up Swindle, I have a deal to make with you," he said.
"A deal? To make with me?!" Swindle said as he hopped up. "I'm all audios," he grinned again.
"Blitzwing does not deserve to lead," Astrotrain began, speaking loud enough for all the others to hear. "He has no sense of tactics and he's too shortsighted to realize that brute force is not going to defeat the Autobots. He only cares for his own interests, and so when he's done with all of you, he's going to discard you like pieces of scrap metal. Blitzwing says he'll be a better leader than Megatron, but the reality is he has no sense of what it means to be a Decepticon. We haven't lost yet, but I can assure you Blitzwing will be our ultimate downfall! We need to get rid of him."
"Let me stop you right there," Swindle intervened when Astrotrain paused. "I can see where this is going. Why are you bothering with us? You have all the resources you need up in space, why don't you just convince all the fliers up there that Blitzy's so bad, and stab him in the back yourself?"
Astrotrain glared at the smaller Decepticon. "Because I'll never be able to convince them, all they see of me is the transport shuttle, and I'm sick of it! All I've ever been is the transport, and even if they manage to overthrow Blitzwing because of my words, somebody else will become the leader, probably Thundercracker, and I'll still be stuck doing transport. Just like all of you! Don't look so offended, all they use you for is to gather resources for them. You have no part in their plans to defeat the Autobots, and once they win, they'll have no use for you anymore. But what they don't realize is that we have the power to overthrow them! Without you, they'll have no access to raw materials that they can convert to energon. But there's one problem, and here's where my deal comes into play." Astrotrain turned back to Swindle and pointed out towards the desert. "Blast Off has been grounded, and he's just outside of your camp. If you can convince your brother to join us, I will help you defeat Blitzwing. Even if I stop transporting for them, they'll still be able to use him to retrieve materials. Get him on our side, and they really won't be able to ship anything back and forth. I'll be back in a couple of days, don't waste my time."
Astrotrain turned to leave, but Swindle stopped him with his voice, "I never agreed to the deal."
"Yes you did," Astrotrain said back before he transformed and flew off.
Swindle stood with his arms crossed and watched the shuttle until it was out of sight. "Mighty arrogant of him," he said, before turning to look in the direction that Astrotrain had pointed earlier, tapping his foot in thought.
Author's Notes: And the plotline returns! Yay! Okay, so my updates on this story are going to slow WAAAY down now after this chapter, and for anybody who's been reading this story, feel free to send me a review while there's a break! Let me know what you think about this story: what you like or don't like about it, what you think I can do better, what you think is coming next, whatever. I always welcome constructive criticism, so lay it on me. I'm reaching the point where I'm not sure what's going to happen next, and so I might not touch this story for quite some time unless I know there are people out there looking forward to the next chapter. I can't guarantee speedy updates even if lots of people want to see more of it, but at least I'll know not to abandon this story if I have to make that decision. So, let me know, I'll very much appreciate it!