Autobots, Assemble!

Part 2:

Galvatron Rising

Chapter 21

After bidding Ghost Rider a polite farewell, Galvatron made his adieu from the demonically possessed man and his possessed motorcycle with a surprising amount of hesitation. He had thought he was the only one who knew what it was like to have a monster caged inside one, but now he had found someone who had suffered a similar fate, and still suffered from it to this very day.

Was there a way to help the man? Was there a way to remove the Pit-spawned thing that had been locked inside his very soul? Was there a way to free him?

'Galvatron, you need not worry yourself endlessly over Mr. Blaze's fate. You would be surprised to know that Zarathos does not control Johnathan in any way. On the contrary, Zarathos is forced to obey Mr. Blaze's orders. Johnathan has learned to control the demon over time and through assisted practice, and now they share an almost symbiotic – if somewhat begrudging – relationship.'

"Really?"

'Really. More than once he has saved the man a crippling injury by forcing the Ghost Rider transformation on him. Because if Johnathan dies, so does he.'

Huh. That was an odd way of looking at a demonic possession, but now such a possession didn't seem inherently negative to him any longer. Zarathos was actively protecting someone he saw as an asset - even if said asset had been forced upon him - but not in a mean-spirited fashion like Unicron had done with him. It was a symbiotic partnership rather than a parasitical one. Zarathos protected Johnathan Blaze, and in return Blaze gave him a sense of purpose by keeping the demonic legions of Limbo constrained to their dimension, wrangling any if they got loose.

Galvatron and his mental counselor lapsed into companionable silence as the aircraft flew around while searching the streets and skies for some subtle sign of Winters Soldier or his spectral team. He wanted to make sure they had gotten the captured villains safely to the Raft. He also just wanted a little more interaction with them. They seemed like such a bizarre bunch to him - secretive yet outgoing and teasingly playful. Barnes himself evidently did his best to keep the team below the radar so they had the advantage of surprise, but Galvatron knew there was more to it than that:

Barnes was intensely protective of his little team. He had even seen such protectiveness firsthand on Cybertron. He looked after them like an older brother looked after younger siblings. Ghost Recon were the brothers - the family - he had never had as Winter Soldier. If he lost them through any means he would shatter like a panel of glass.

He felt his counselor stir uneasily at the back of his mind, as if his thoughts had dredged up something he had been trying to either skirt around or else avoid entirely. That did not bode well to him. Was Primus actively lying to Barnes about something relating to Ghost Recon?

The deity sighed: 'No, not lying. All you did was bring up a harsh point in a bluntly poetic manner. Ghost Recon will eventually have to return to me at some point, as per their deal with me for being sent back to the land of the living. Staying here indefinitely was not part of the contract I made with them.'

Alright, then what exactly was this contract he'd made with them, then? He was still puzzling over why they were here to begin with. He had though leaving the Allspark wasn't possible.

'Their contract (though I prefer to say "mission") is to help Barnes come to terms with his past. They are to assist him in gaining closure, so that he may one day soon return to the Avengers, guiltless and free of shame. It is a long term assignment, but it will eventually come to an end. At that point, they are to return to the Allspark. And to me.'

Galvatron mentally winced. Well, that day would not pretty when it came about. Like he'd said, Barnes would shatter as though made of glass if Ghost Recon were taken from him. Was Barnes himself aware of this inevitable outcome, or was he being in the dark to save his feelings until the last possible moment?

'He knows. He is not at peace with it, but he knows.' Primus murmured softly.

The sheer amount of emotional anguish in his voice nearly made the mech's spark crack in half. He didn't want to take Ghost Recon away from Winter Soldier, but that was what would eventually happen once their mission of closure was complete. When one made a contract with the deity there was no getting around it, no going back on it - it was binding. They had known that the moment the contract had been formed, and Barnes knew as well due to his role as their target and leader.

He may not be totally accepting of it, but there was no avoiding it. Hopefully when that day came there would be someone to help him through that loss.

With a faint growl of his engine he took off in the direction of the Bay. Now he really had a desire to find the former Hydra assassin before he slipped under the radar once again, lost to the shadows. If he vanished before he managed to get to him at the Raft he would be very difficult to locate, in no small part thanks to his subterfuge training.

Fortunately, he did manage to reach the Raft just as Ghost Recon was making their way out, captured villains safely stored away in the massive prison's cells. They seemed quite pleased with themselves, and with what Galvatron knew of the Maggia that was understandable. With them down a lieutenant the criminal organization would suffer from a power struggle in its ranks as they tried to fill the power void. That would leave them vulnerable and open to outside attack.

Jazz and Skywarp both hollered up to him with twin waves and broad grins. Obviously they'd been expecting him to bump into them a second time, and were more than happy he had managed to intersect them before they went back under the radar with their leader. After all, their squadron name was "Ghost" Recon. After a successful mission they would vanish just like a phantom would, only to reappear again when needed or called upon. Criminals were a superstitious lot, and this tactic only served to increase the supernatural fear their presence invoked.

"Heyo! Come on down!" Jazz shouted cheerfully, waving at him expectantly.

Galvatron lowered down, but elected to remain in vehicle form. It seemed fairly obvious to him that the team was about to head out once again, most likely to one of their numerous safe-houses he'd heard they used, and he'd rather not keep them waiting. He could talk to them while they moved about below him. It was more efficient that way.

They started off, Winter Soldier taking the lead on foot while four little colorful light orbs bobbed along behind him. Faintly visible around them like mirages were the spectral, human forms of the disguised sparks, but they were very faint - barely visible. Occasionally the man would reach out and lightly bop at the orbs playfully. Galvatron personally wondered at this while mentally smiling to himself. Barnes seemed not to really care that, in a sense, he was being "haunted".

Seeing as they had a giant aircraft following them from above, sticking to their usual side-streets and alleys wasn't as viable an option at the moment. Instead they chose to use less populated but still active main streets. While most other people walking by didn't seem to mind the odd sight of a man in black combat fatigues being followed by a bunch of floating lights who were in turn being followed by a giant aircraft - frankly they'd seen weirder sights - a few people they passed cast startled glances at them the nonetheless.

Jazz, Skywarp, and Cliffjumper seemed to relish the attention, their forms growing a little bit more distinct as they casually waved at startled passerby.

Mirage, on the other hand, pulled his blue and white hood up and kept his gaze locked on the pavement under him. He was social and polite when it came to interaction, but he wasn't very fond of being stared at. Oh, the trials of being a ghost. Why couldn't Barnes have taken a side-street? All these people staring at him was making uncomfortable.

He jolted when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Barnes's gloved hand and wrist laying there, a little half-smirk, half-smile forming on his lips. Barnes winked and nodded silently at him, jerking his head over to an alley they were about to pass by.

Just like that, Mirage turned down the alley, shimmered, and vanished. Galvatron distinctly heard Barnes murmur under his breath two words:

"Scaredy 'Bot..."

The others heard him and broke into quiet snickers. Above, they heard the sound of the aircraft's engine rolling along in mechanical chuckling.

Winter Soldier looked up at the aircraft, his expression slightly embarrassed. He'd rather not draw any more attention, especially since they were heading to a safe-house, and police comm. chatter was saying that the Avengers were finished with Zzzax. It was probably best that the mech head on home now before any more unwanted attention was drawn on them.

"Hey Galv?"

He felt the vehicle's attention fall on him. "Yes?"

"Maybe it's best we part ways here. I gotta get my guys back home safely, and well..." He trailed off awkwardly, inwardly feeling immensely rude for dismissing him in such an abrupt manner. All this mech wanted to do was help him and protect him, and here he was essentially giving him the boot. God, he felt like such a jerk right now.

Thankfully the mech didn't seem upset, instead replying understandingly: "Very well."

Galvatron began to pull away, but stopped when Barnes shouted out for him to come really quickly, saying he wanted to give him something. The mech felt a ping as a data packet was transmitted to him from the assassin. He opened it to find the man's personal comm. frequency along with those of each of his squad mates.

"In case you ever need another assist with the Maggia or their supergoons. Or, you know, you just get bored one day and have no one to talk to." Barnes explained hastily, still sounding massively embarrassed and also surprisingly shy. Barnes really was just a boy shoved into an adult role.

"Thank you." Galvatron accepted. He'd personally believed he would never get these frequencies due to the team's phantom-like behavior - there one minute and gone the next. Frankly there were a few sensitive questions he wanted to ask them at some point, namely about their place of origin. It wasn't everyday a severed mech could ask an already merged spark about the Allspark's nature. He wanted - no, he yearned - to know: What was it like there?

Then with a loud roar of his engine he rocketed off, soon leaving the assassin and his spectral band of brothers behind.

Reaching the Bronx in record time, the mech set about trying to contact his team mates. However, all he got back from their respective ID card frequencies was screeching, unnerving static. But in hindsight that made sense. It didn't mean the Avengers were missing or dead, far from it. It just meant that Zzzax had obviously fried their ID cards' communication relays - no doubt along with everything else electronic in the general vicinity of their battle with the energy creature.

Oh, the power companies were going to have a field day with this villain-caused, possibly borough-wide blackout. Repairs to all of the power cables and telephone lines and other household utilities such as lights and air conditioners would take quite a while, he knew. They'd be at that task for a while. Of course, that wasn't even counting the undoubted collateral damage such a fight resulted in - but the Avengers were very good at keeping collateral damage to a minimum, and such repairs would be overseen by the group known rather simply as "Damage Control".

So, foregoing trying to contact them wirelessly, he set about searching for them visually and via his scanners. What he was looking for was a concentrated spike in gamma radiation - the tell-tale sign of the Hulk. If he found the Hulk then he would find the Avengers not too far away.

'Ah. A clever strategy.'

Eventually he managed to locate what he was looking for, and he zeroed in on it like an overeager bloodhound. He wanted to know whether or not they were unharmed, and whether or not Zzzax had been successfully captured. How did one capture a being of gamma-enhanced, sentient electricity anyway? Stick it in a specialized Tesla coil or something?

He heard his counselor chuckle gently: 'Something like that, yes.'

Drawing nearer to the source of the gamma spike, he easily picked out the bulky green figure of the Hulk accompanied by the other colorful forms of the Avengers and the fluctuating ionic form of Wonder Man who appeared none the worse for wear despite being made of energy. The area around them didn't appear too badly damaged - most of the damage was obviously electrical and not physical - though there were a few small puffs of smoke coming from fried telephone poles and other power-conducting objects.

"Galv!" Ms. Marvel cried out in what sounded an awful lot like relief. His spark swelled knowing how much she - how much they all cared about him.

He flew over and greeted her: "Major. I trust you and your allies were successful?"

"Yep! We caught Zappy!" Wasp reported cheerfully.

She grinned over at Tony and Wonder Man who were busy fiddling with what looked like some sort of giant capacitor or power cell. Inside was an agitated mass of yellowish electricity that seemed to be trying with all of its might to overload its prison and escape, only to fail every single time as the temporary prison counteracted these attempts. Every so often, two burning white eyes seemed to form out of the mass before disappearing.

"So I can see." He noted, himself relieved that Stark had taken the necessary precautions when entrapping the creature. Iron Man, despite his genius-level intellect, was just as prone to making mistakes as any other person, especially when pressed for time. Thankfully he now had Simon to assist him in power-related issues such as this.

"Vision and Carol are gonna fly this sucker over to the Raft and into the Radon wing where all the Cube prisoners are kept. Doc Samson radioed us and said he'd take it from there."

Galvatron's interest perked. "Who?"

"Friend of Hulk's - well, technically Dr. Banner's - who so happens to be a friend of ours in consequence." Cap clarified. "He's a former Cube technician who got accidentally dosed with gamma radiation when the place blew sky high during the Breakout, but he never went full gamma monster. One of the good guys. We offered him a place on the team, but he declined. Does what he can to help us regardless."

Hawkeye smirked up at him. "What 'bout you? Get into any trouble while we were busy?"

"Archer." Thor scolded, casting a reproving glare at him.

Clint shrugged nonchalantly: "What? We all know the guy's reputation by now. I'm just askin' is all. You never ask, you never know."

Galvatron replied rather cheekily yet casually: "Oh, nothing at all serious. Traced a Maggia supervillain to a secret underground meeting; inadvertently helped lead a team of ghosts right to them; aided their ambush; had a little talk with Ghost Rider; helped stop a possible demonic incursion by warning him of a dimensional weakness..."

Every single Avenger stared at him in disbelieving shock. Their eyes were as wide as they could go as they stared up at the great dark aircraft hovering above them.

"What. The. Actual. Hell." Hawkeye gawked slack-jawed. Then a massive grin spread out, practically reaching ear to ear. He gesticulated wildly with his hands before pointing at their alien team mate, exclaiming: "What did I tell you guys? I called it! I freakin' called it!"

"We can't seem to leave you alone for five minutes, can we?" T'Challa observed amusedly, head to one side as he regarded the aircraft.

"Okay, that's definitely a story for when we get back to base!" Ant-Man laughed. "I think we all want to hear the full version of that little escapade!"

Thor roared in laughter at his side: "Decidedly!"

Hawkeye was on his skycycle in an instant, forcing the vehicle into the air excitedly. "Then what're we standin' around here for? Let's go!"

And just like that the other Avengers either took to the air, hopped onto their waiting vehicles, or simply started off down the nearly empty streets of the Bronx.

As soon as they were gone the dark burgundy trucks of Damage Control rolled in to begin their task of reconstruction - which was thankfully very minor this time around - while the multi-colored trucks of the various power companies snaked in behind them. With the heroes gone they could begin their task without further ado.

Interestingly enough, if one looked closely, one would discover that two of these responding vehicles, each labeled with the growling bulldog logo of Damage Control, were apparently driver-less. And if one listened closely, one could hear the two vehicles speaking to one another and to the workers nearby:

"Yo, what happened this time, bro?" One of the vehicles demanded of the other. It was a heavily built but not massive crane-like vehicle, the type most often seen after heavy thunderstorms repairing power lines. Neatly hidden on the crane's trolley was a Cybertronian Neutral crest.

It's friend, an equally bulky Chevy pick-up truck with the same crest hidden beneath it's control panel, replied: "Heard it was some kinda energy monster. Lucky for us. Means our job's gonna be easy. Don' have to risk droppin' our cover for any heavy liftin'. Could use a break from tha' hones'ly. Tha' fight with the Wrecking Crew a while ago - sweet Solus Prime that was a lotta damage!"

"It was the Wrecking Crew. What'd ya expect, bro? It's in their slaggin' name." The crane deadpanned humorously.

A muscular, African-American man nimbly jumped out of one of the Damage Control vehicles that was just arriving on the scene. Cupping both hands over his mouth, the man hollered over in their direction: "Jib, Drawbar, you boys ready?"

"Ready as we'll eva be, boss-man!" They replied cheerfully, engines revving eagerly.

The foreman grinned. Having friendly, faction-less Cybertronians under his employ was a little bizarre, but it was worth it. His father had found the two hiding out in an old salvage yard in Jersey years ago just as Damage Control was starting to come together as a company, and his old man had kept them secret per request, only revealing them when he was older and capable of understanding. They were more or less part of the family now. He wouldn't have it any other way.

"Then let's get this job done."

Author's Note: Yeah, it's another short-ish chapter. My brain's being a bit of jerk right now in terms of plot. I'm thinking it might be time for Galv to switch teams for a bit to spice up the interactions. What do you guys think - X-Men? New Avengers? Fantastic Four maybe? Sound off in the comments what you guys think!

*Note: I don't know a ton about Ghost Rider (and I'm not going off Movie-verse lore because of it's inaccuracies), so I kind of like to think that Zarathos and Johnny Blaze are kind of like frenemies in the more light-toned yet still serious EMH universe. They're forced to work together by Mephisto's design and doing, but enough time has passed that I think they've started to get along, albeit grudgingly.

*Note: I've always like the idea of Neutrals kind of just hanging around on Earth and keeping a low profile while doing what they can to help out the humans. Jib (the crane) and Drawbar (the pickup) are two such Neutrals I came up with. I like to think these two have been on Earth for a while, but only fairly recently joined up with Damage Control. Don't worry - they enjoy it! :3