Generator Rex is owned by Man of Action/Cartoon Network
Transformers is owned by Hasbro
Chapter 1
Darkness Rising, Part 1
There was a red car driving down a deserted country road; talking to a buddy. "So, there I am on the lookout when out of nowhere these high beams light up my rear-view, and then it hits me - I'm illegally parked." He said to his buddy.
"Another parking ticket?" A cyclist questioned back since she knew where this was heading.
"Better. The boot." The car said back to the motorcycle with a proud tone.
"Big metal tire clamp. Impossible to remove." The two wheeled motorist said back as if answering a Driving Test question.
"Bingo! So, the local Po-lice do their thing, I let them get all the way down the block. That's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and BANG!" The red car motorist said back, and let the other person finish the story.
"New York's finest soil themselves." The female answered back with a mental chuckle.
"You know me, Arcee. Mess with Cliffjumper…" The man started to speak before letting his friend finish it.
"And you get the horns." Arcee said back and could not believe she get settled with this kind of partner. He laughed back because it was so true before hearing her out. "Not sure how that complies with Autobot rule number 1 - Keep a low profile." She informed since she often agreed everything her leader ordered.
"What can I say: patrolling for energon out here in Dullsville gets lonesome. Almost makes me miss the Decepticons." Cliffjumper explained back to her, and made sure that she heard his board tone.
"Like Jasper, Nevada's a party?" The cyclist questioned back before adding, "We are alone no matter where we travel on this rock, Cliff." He knew that she was still bitter of that past, but before he could console her a beeping was heard on his monitor.
"I'm getting a signal." Cliff said back to her as he checked out the screen.
"Need backup?" She offered back to him because he was her friend.
"Do I ever need backup?" He said back before going off road. After a mile or so he stopped in front of a crater of sorts. "I just found a whole lot a Energon." He informed his friend before a shadow formed overhead. "Decepticons!" The car turned robot shouted. A laser blast from the airship sent him into the crater.
'Target acquired.' One of the purple drones thought as he and ten look alikes landed on the surface of the planet.
"Arcee, about that backup?" Cliffjumper questioned since he had the gut feeling that this was going to be a challenge - even for him. "Fair warning boys. I'm gonna put a view dings in ya." Cliff informed transformed into car mode, drove up the cliff, changed back to robot mode, and then ground pounded the thugs.
"Arcee to Optimus. Cons are back. Cliff might be neck deep in scraps." The cyclist informed a semi.
"Understood. Ratchet, do you have Cliffjumper's coordinates?" The semi questioned an ambulance that was driving in Winter weather.
"I'm locked on his signal, Optimus, but our team is scattered across time zones." The ambulance answered back which caused the one known as Optimus to come up with a plan.
"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee rendezvous back at base and prepare to ground bridge." Optimus said to a motorcycle, SUV, and muscle car which did as they were told. Back on the battlefield Cliffjumper was doing his best until he was grabbed from behind, pushed forward, kicked, and sucker punched so hard that on of the horns on his head broke off.
"You want the horns? You got them!" The red robot said after transforming his hands into three barrel blasters, and opened fire. They returned it with their own gun hands, but one of their shells hit the blue crystals behind the hero causing an explosion.
'Nothing could have survived this.' One drone that was out of the blast radius until he and his friend noticed that the Autobot was still moving, so they decided to take him to their current leader.
"The Energon. It's worthless to me now." The warrior snarled in anger before hearing the elevator shaft lifting up to his room, and he saw that it was two drones and one Autobot.
"Scream, it's been a while." Cliffjumper commented before coughing up some Energon. "So, where's your Master?" He asked since everyone of the Autobots knew that Starscream hated it when his name was mentioned.
"Never-mind him. I am my own master." The leader said before jamming his claw into the hero's chest. "Anymore questions?" He asked sinisterly before pulling his hand out, and watched the warrior collapse at his feet. "Clean that up." He said to the two others. As the enemy vessel flew away Cliffjumper's allies arrived on the scene from a green portal.
"An untapped Enegon deposit." Optimus said after surveying the area and withdrew his gun after deeming it safe.
"What's left of it." A big, green robot commented as he could see that something blew it up.
"The first Decepticon activity in three years." Ratchet informed his old friend with a slightly worried tone.
"That we know of." Optimus commented before sliding his face plat off of his mouth. "If they're scouting for Energon they may be preparing for his return." He informed before he and his team walked closer to the crater.
'Where are you going sister?' A yellow robot thought as he followed her into the crater. The blue robot looked around at the battlefield, and saw one piece of metal that she did not wish to see.
"No." Arcee said after picking up the fallen horn, and showed it to the others.
"Ratchet, can you track his position?" The leader questioned the medic since he did not wish for his friend to suffer a relapse.
"No! Cliffjumper's life signal just went offline." The medic informed the others after activating a screen on his right arm and watched as one of the five blips on the screen faded away. Back on the enemy cruiser the silent giant decided to show something to the acting leader.
"Soundwave. What is it?" The acting leader questioned, and that was when the robot in question played back a piece of news.
"Like Jasper, Nevada is a party. We're alone where ever we travel on this rock, Cliff." He repeated to the second-in-command.
"The one called Arcee. Why slay just one Autobot? When we still have the advantage of surprise." Starscream said to the eyes and ears of the ship with a sinister smirk on his metal face. Back on earth as the sun was setting the heroes were holding a memorial.
"We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgment. As of today only we five Autobots remain on this Earth. We owe it to ourselves, to the memory of Cybertron, to any Autobots in any galaxy seeking safe harbor, to humankind, and we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade - to survive." Optimus stated and watched as Arcee placed the horn on the ground, and was about to walk away. "Arcee…" He was about to speak with her, but she cut him to the quick.
"If Cliff's gone standing here sulking won't bring him back. So, unless anybody minds think I'll get back to protecting humankind." She said to them in a bitter tone while walking away.
"Optimus, helping humans will only result in more tragedy." The medic informed as they watched the female of their party transform to vehicle mode and speed away.
"Your opinion is noted." The leader answered back, but he was still certain that protecting humans was the right thing to do. Within the town of Jasper, Nevada everyone was just going about their lives as normal.
"Welcome to K.O. drive-in where every patty's a knockout. May I take your order." The window worker questioned into his microphone.
"Two super combos, extra fries." The person ordering commented.
"Okay. Dos numero two. Anything else?" The window worker said as he got that much of the order done.
"Yeah. Some advice - how do I get an awesome job like yours." The man said back as he and his friend started laughing about that comment.
"So, that's two 'we're not as funny as we think we are combos with a side of bite-me." The window worker said back after putting the orders in the paper bags and set them on the windowsill.
"What'd you say?!" The customer questioned out of anger when he finally realized that what the window worker said was a shot.
"$ 5.59, sir. At the window." The worker said back before manning the register, and did not notice that they had arrived until he heard laughter and that the food was gone. "Hey! I have to pay for that." The worker said as he watched them leave.
"Twins." Acree, who activated a holo-driver as she went into town, said after seeing that she was being tailed through her rearview mirror. To avoid conflict the motorcycle went into a parking lot. "Take five, Sadie." The machine said before deactivating the holo-driver, activated the kickstand, and just stayed in the parking spot.
"Hey, mom. I just got off. No, I'm not going to the dance. Experience says I should never cut a rug unless I'm installing carpet. Be careful? Seriously? This is Jasper." The window worker said as he spoke on his cell phone and was just walking about the parking lot until he spotted a motorcycle. "I love you." The human whispered before realizing that his mom was still on the line. "Yeah, I love you too, mom. Gotta run." He said to his mother before hanging up. "Hello beautiful. Where have you been all my life?" He asked before stroking the seat. "Nice." The raven haired youth said as he liked the feel of the seat.
'Did this human actually touch me?' Arcee thought while watching him with her rearview mirrors.
"It may take a few K.O. paychecks, but I will own a ride like you someday." Jack said to the machine; not realizing that others heard him.
"Are you talking to your motorcycle?" A red head questioned before she and her blonde haired friend started laughing about it.
"My motorcycle? No…I mean yes, yes, it's mine, but…uh…no I'm not talking to…well to you…I am. How's things, Sierra?" The raven haired human said after that moment of awkwardness. "Take you for a spin, some time?" He offered as he tried to make up for his earlier fumble.
"Come on, smooth operator. Wrap it up." Arcee muttered under a whisper as she saw that the twins were approaching.
"You know my name?" The red head asked since she did not recall the teen boy's face.
"We're in homeroom together. I'm Jack, Jack Darby." He informed the female before two pairs of high beams blinded him.
"Scrap." Arcee stated when she realized that the two recognized her. She decided to flee with the human still on her back.
"WHOA!" Jack screamed as the motor vehicle he was sitting on squeezed in between the cars, and sped away. The boy glanced in the mirror, and saw that the two were still behind him.
"Do not let go!" The motorcycle instructed firmly causing the frazzled human even more worry.
"Who said that?!" He screamed out before seeing the two try to sandwich them, but the vessel saw this, and pulled back causing them to slam into each other. After that she sped passed them, and took a hard right.
"Commander Starscream, target sighted, accompanied by a human youth." One of the purple cars informed as they restarted their pursuit.
"Destroy them both." The commander ordered causing them to speed a bit faster. The two stopped in an alleyway, and it was then that the human dismounted.
"What are you?" Jack said with fear in his voice and eyes as he backed away. A piece of him thought that it was a monster from when his dad was a teen, but all of them were wiped-out, so what was it?
"I don't exist. Tell anyone about me, and I will hunt you down." She threatened which he believed her words, and fled down a different passage. The vehicle then sped off when she saw the twins coming after her. "Scrap." The Autobot stated before turning to go after the human after using her pursuer as a ramp.
"I don't even know her." Jack shouted out while resisting as best as he could from using his family's weapons. Luckily the motorcycle drove over the car, and came up alongside him.
"Hop on." She ordered, and drove off with the two still after them. They went onto the freeway to try to loose their pursuers, who deployed guns from the hood, and opened fire.
"Why are those guys shooting at us?" The human shouted at the motorcycle since this was all a bit much for him.
"There's no 'us', kid. And they're no guys." The vehicle answered back causing the human to look over at the purple cars. In a merging lane a yellow car slammed into them which caused the two to stop for a bit.
"Friend of yours?" Jack asked the motorcycle after seeing the stalling stunt.
"Family." She answered back while continuing to drive. The yellow/black car tried to keep the two away from his teammate, but one was able to get alongside him, and hit him into a road railing. On a not often used road under the freeway was a boy playing with a remote controlled car.
"Hi, momma. Racing. Right up the street. Okay, just five more minutes." The youth said after answering his razor cellphone, and put it away. On the freeway was Darby and cycle approaching the end of the road, but she jumped off the road, and into the street below.
"Whoa." The youth said as he saw the last part of the stunt.
"You have no idea." Jack said to his fellow man before dismounting. At that time the two pursuers came to them, and transformed into robot mode before landing on the empty street. The two saw that the cycle had done the same as the cars, and the humans decided to get out of the way.
"It ends here, Cons." Arcee said to the two attackers before charging at them as they shot at her. The Autobot nailed one with a high kick, evaded fire from the second one before giving him a kick too.
"What are they?" The glasses wearing teen questioned since he was a little overwhelmed about all this.
"Talking cars that turn into robots. Or the other way around." The taller gent said as he realized that these were not the ones that his father dealt with back in his day. The two then watched as the blue/pink one pounded one of the purple creatures.
"This. Is. For. Cliff." The cycle said for the last four blows only to see that the one she was attacking was still willing to fight. To prove that point the robot started to open fire, and even though her four back-flips were impressed the armored warrior was still struck.
'I might have to break my promise to mom.' Jack thought and was about to step into the fray until…he and the other heard another engine overhead. They saw a yellow/black care leap off of the freeway, transform, stomp on one, and punch the other in the face.
'Slag, that stung.' The female fighter thought as she got back to her feet. As for her teammate, who had delivered another blow or two before stepping away from them.
'What was that?' The new robot thought as he heard a crunch beneath his feet, so he looked down, and saw that it was a crushed toy. Knowing the taller one could not hold onto the handlebars, and a toy at the same time he decided to apologize to the smaller one.
"No problem. Really." The smaller one replied back even though all Jack heard were forms of beeps and boops. Before anything else could be said the newest fighter was blasted. They watched as the two held the recovering robot at gun point.
"Hope you like the taste of concrete." Jack shouted out before the other could speak, and to everyone's amazement his left arm had turned into a big, metal cannon with the back tearing a chuck of wall behind them, and shot it at one of the purple attackers.
'That was uncalled for.' The other attacker thought after seeing his friend get hit with a chunk of stone. When he turned to face the strange human, but was slammed with a concrete ball as well.
"What are you?" The one with glasses asked with alarm in his voice.
"Long story." Jack answered back before calling back the gun since he knew this wasn't going to cut it since they were getting back up. 'New plan - run like scared weasels.' The human thought before racing to the closest exit which was a pipe of sorts.
'Can't let them get away.' One of the two grunts thought before following after them. The mortals had just made it inside when Darby saw a clawed hand coming at them.
"Keep running." The cashier shouted as he tried to pick up the pace, and once he was out of reach Jack turned and was about to use a different build until he saw their pursuer being pushed back.
"Get to safety." The good, yellow robot stated in his usual voice.
"Thank you." The young man said with a smile while the other tried to remain the responsible one.
"Don't look back." Jack said with a serious tone after kneeling down and placing a hand on the fully human's right shoulder.
"What did we just see?" The shorter one questioned as he saw the other stand back up.
"No idea, and I'm not sure I want to find out." Darby informed while gently pushing on the kid's back so he would get the hint that they were not needed on the battlefield. Back on the battlefield the two were not fairing too well with their two on two match until…
"Who's ready to rumble?" Bulkhead after transforming from vehicle to robot, and stood ready to take them on. The two knew of the latest one to arrive, and due to their damage from Bumblebee and Arcee they did not feel up to taking on this strong man.
'Retreat.' The two thought as one before transforming into car form, and sped the opposite way. When they were gone the three heroes decided to talk for a bit.
"What kept you?" The motorcycle questioned since she knew that he was often the first to come to a fight.
"Traffic." Bulkhead answered her as calmly as possible. It was then the two saw that their scout was acting a bit sheepish after hearing that. With nothing else to do the three robots headed for their base.
"And the Cons would have been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human." The cycle explained the situation to her boss, and it was the 'h' word that got his attention.
"Human?" He asked just to make sure he heard her right. Bumblebee added his two cents by showing off the number two with his fingers. "Two boys." He added after hearing his scout's add-on.
"I guess a second one could have caught us in action. I don't know. Was a little busy at the time." The blue/pink one retorted while occasionally glaring at the scout for pointing out the second one.
"If the Decepticons are targeting us - anyone perceived as our alley will be at grave risk." Optimus stated, and decided to do something about it. At the local school the next morning the final bell sounded, and the kids were being let out.
'Just can't stop thinking about yesterday. I did something I promised mom I'd never do, and it felt…good.' Jack thought as he got out of school. The kid was about to enjoy a day away from work until he looked to a tree at the corner to his right, and saw someone wave at him. "Raf. Hey, look let's just keep this between us, and forget anything ever happened okay." The human offered to the youth, but fate wanted to overrule him.
"Jack." The smaller human said as the both of them saw a muscle car roll over to them.
"Oh no. Not again." The secret bearing human stated as he watched the car stop before them, and open the door closest to them. "It wants us to get in?" He questioned while gesturing to the open door.
"No, just me." The glasses wearing human stated which surprised the super human.
"How do you know that?" Jack asked with caustion in his tone since this didn't seem right.
"It said so." The boy answered back as if this was a normal thing.
"What?!" Darby shouted in alarm, and after hearing that Raphael decided show that he had a ride as well.
"Yours is over there." He said while gesturing to the motorcycle sitting at the entrance of school. Jack knew who it was, and felt even more uncomfortable about it.
"Look, I really don't think that…" Darby stated but was cut off by the eager beaver.
"How's it going?" Esquivel questioned as he boarded the car, and before the taller one could say anything the yellow/black car drove off. The human then looked at the bike, but instead of jumping on board - he walked away.
'Is he actually leaving?' Arcee thought as she watched the human that sat on her was walking off. She decided to tail him.
"Coolest bike ever." The girl by the school steps said as she was drawing the bike before her until her cellphone went off. "Host parents? Ignore." She said before going back to work only to see that the bike was gone. 'Where di…" She thought before hearing/seeing the bike drive beside the school, so she decided to follow.
"Relax, I just want to talk to you." The bike said after going into the ally he went in, and cut him off.
"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" The human questioned while motioning about the person on the seat.
"Kid, there's a lot you don't understand." Arcee pointed out after deactivating her holo-driver, and slowly inching toward him. Feeling that this was about recruitment, and not just a friendly chat the non-fighter decided to say something about it.
"I get it. I get it. The first rule about robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club." He said before turning his back on the bike and added, "What you need to understand is that I don't want a bunch of crazy, talking vehicles following me around - trying to get me killed." His mother's main request was to not get involved in anything his dad is doing, and he wanted to obey that request.
"Look." Arcee, who went to robot mode since she believed this narrow passage was a good public spot to do so, said with an authoritative tone before adding, "Jack, is it? Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence." The name was the only thing that threw the human for a loop.
"Wait. Optimus Who?" The mortal questioned since he had never heard of that name - not even by his inter-dimensional uncle.
"You may be in danger because you are one of the few, one of the only who have ever seen us." Arcee said as she inched closer and closer to the human who didn't know how to react to the closeness, but luckily a voice broke this one on one moment.
"Dude, what are you waiting for? Go with!" The girl from before said as she was watching the whole thing with a grin plastered across her face.
"Scrap." The blue bot muttered under her voice since she knew that boss bot will want her as well. She went to vehicle form and ordered the two to get on, and once they were she drove off.
"Whoo-hoo." The girl shouted out as the two robots in disguse were on the open highway.
"And why exactly are we taking her?" Darby questioned after listening to that for the last three miles.
"Rules." The cycle answered back as she continued to their base. After rolling into a fake stone wall that led into their base.
"Cool." The young one said as he looked at a big red/white bot by a console. The other two were amazed at the green themed giant walking into this room. After coming to a stop the three kids disembarked and the two rides transformed into their humanoid forms.
"I thought there were two?" The red/white one questioned as he saw a third fleshling before them.
"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply." The female fighter stated before walking off since she still wasn't liking this idea in the least.
"I'm Raf." The shortest of the three stated when he saw the new person.
"I'm Miko." She answered back while being mesmerized at the big, green bruiser before her. "Who are you?" She questioned with great enthusiasm in her voice.
"Bulkhead." The green one answered back since he thought it only right to answer her question.
"Are you a car? I bet you're a truck - a monster truck. Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" Miko questioned, and the tall man did like getting noticed, but she was asking him questions before he could even answer one.
"So, if you guys are robots, who made you?" Raph questioned as he took Miko's idea, but decided to ask an actual question, and not random fun facts.
"Puh-leaze." Ratchet answered back since he did not wish to explain a complicated subject to a primative species. At that moment there was some heavy stepping causing the kids to turn and face a red/blue robot.
"We're autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots." Optimus said to the three before him. Jack decided to speak before the one he believed was this - Optimus Prime the female warrior spoke of.
"Why are you here?" Darby questioned politely.
"To protect your planet from the Decepticons." The big bot stated to the human.
"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night." The cycle clarified to the two that witnessed that fight.
"Okay. Why are they here?" Jack asked as he was still wanting to know what was going on.
"A fair question Jack." The leader said after kneeling down to be closer to their level. "In part they are here because our planet is uninhabitable. Ravaged by centuries of civil war." He explained to them which peaked the other male's interest.
"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf questioned since he did not like fighting of any kind unless there were rules in place.
"Foremost over our world supply of Energon. The fuel and life blood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike." Optimus answered back before activating a special holo-imager built into his optic sensor to explain the back-story a bit easier. "The combat was fierce, and endured for centuries. In the beginning I fought along side one whom I considered a brother, but in war ideals can be corrupted, and it was thus - that Megatron lost his way." He explained before deactivating the holo-imager.
"Is there gonna be a quiz?" Miko questioned since she did not see the danger of the big robot's story one bit.
"So, what does Megatron or any of this - have to do with us?" Jack questioned after hearing the tale, but still not sure how three humans could be of any part of their past.
"Megatron has not been seen or heard from in some time, but if his return is immanent as I fear: it could be catastrophic." Prime explained to the teens not knowing that one Decepticon had proof of such a thing.
"Those transmissions are emanating from deep space." Starscream said to Soundwave, the one displaying the noise on his faceplate. "I would hate to waste the Energon…unless you are absolutely certain." He added after turning to face the informant of the ship who nodded as a response. "Then lock on transmission coordinates and activate the space bridge." He said with a disgruntled sigh. The drone did so, and out of their device came their leader.
"Decepticons! I have returned." Megatron said after transforming from vehicle to robot. The bot then went back to vehicle, and flew to his ship.