The Voyagers soon follow Team Bee to a city that had once been densely populated in the past, but has been reduced to a smaller settlement composed of a few city blocks. As they enter through the scrap gates, The Voyagers notice modified streetlights outfitted with large fans to keep the fog out surrounding the perimeter. The gate guards spot the Autobots and open the gate to let them in. "It's a good thing we made a good impression on the people of Milford. They've let us use an old factory as a temporary base." Bumblebee told The Voyagers. "What did you do?" Jake asked.
"We fought off some 'Cons that were attacking the settlement." Bumblebee told them. "Speaking of which, what happened to Ped, Sharp? Weren't you after him?" Strongarm asked Grimlock as they entered the settlement. Sharp-T gives her a long unsure drone as he followed them to the factory. The factory Bumblebee's team is stationed is dimly-lit with Cybertronian computers on the walls hooked up to an inactive groundbridge arch. "Nice place you got here." Fallback said as The Autobots transformed into their robot modes.
"You guys can rest up here before you go to Griffin Rock." Bumblebee informed The Voyagers. "You said you were looking for escaped convicts. How many are there, and where did they come from?" Simon asked Bumblebee's team. "There was a prison transport ship called the Alchemor that was transporting at least two-hundred prisoners from Cybertron to the Garrus System when it malfunctioned as it passed Earth." Bumblebee explained. "The stasis pods that carried the prisoners were scattered across the world and the ship crashed into Crown City, Nevada." Drift continued. "We think there may be sabotage involved, but we are unsure at the moment." Strongarm concluded.
"So Cybertron just sent you four?" Backfire wondered. "Yeah. They even sent Sharp-T to assist because of a recommendation from his father, Grimlock of the Dinobot Knights." Bumblebee confirmed. "Are you sure you don't need help catching these guys?" Finn offered. "We're fine on our own. We've already captured fifteen prisoners and kept them in the remains of the Alchemor." Strongarm declined. One of the computer screens activate to display the face of another Autobot, but the video is static and blurred so they are mostly obscured.
"This is Fixit. Have you found Ped yet?" the Autobot asked with a very wimpy-sounding voice. "No, not yet, Fixit. We found The Voyagers while on patrol." Bumblebee informed the Autobot. "The Voyagers?! I've heard a lot about them! They're very impressive despite their team leader behind human! Get their geograph *STATIC* boarding pass *STATIC* autograph! Get me their autograph when you get back!" Fixit said excitedly. "Sure thing, Fixit." Bumblebee agreed. Fixit then left the call.
"That was Fixit. One of the guards on the Alchemor." Bumblebee informed The Voyagers. "He suffered severe systems damage upon crash." Drift added. "There is a human that offered to help us back in Crown City who is trying to repair Fixit despite his limited resources." Strongarm continued. "You guys sure are having quite the adventure." Chad said. "We sure are. I thought of Earth as a second home for centuries. I'm just glad I'm back." Bumblebee said nostalgically.
Entering the factory is a local boy from the settlement; aged no less than fifteen, garbed in yellowed clothing with a head of messy blonde hair. "We need help!" the boy asked the Autobots. "What's the problem?" Bumblebee asked. "They're here, it's M.E.C.H.!" the boy told them. "Did you say M.E.C.H.?" Bumblebe said worriedly.
"Autobots, rev up and roll out!" Bumblebee rallied his team. Bumblebee's team then ran out to investigate; Sharp-T transforming into dinosaur mode on the way. "Let's follow them. I wanna see what's happening." Jake suggested before The Voyagers follow behind Bumblebee's team. The citizens of Milford and guards are gathered at the front gates when black-and-green sports cars led by an S.U.V. of similar colour scheme arrived to the town. A speaker on the S.U.V. sparked as masked soldiers wearing green-grey suits and orange-lens goggles exited the cars with rifles.
"You know the drill, Milford. Fork over your harvest and nobody gets hurt." a menacing voice threatened from the S.U.V. speakers. Bumblebee and his team then approached the hostile militia and are met by their soldiers pointing their weapons at them. "M.E.C.H.; I haven't heard that name in a long time." Bumblebee said as he looked down on the humans. "Autobots? This is… unexpected." the driver of the S.U.V. said in surprise. "If you still know about us after all these years, you know better than to threaten humans under our protection." Bumblebee told the driver as Sharp-T growled behind him.
"Actually, the kind citizens have been paying us for protection in exchange for their produce and scavenge." the driver rebutted. "Oh, I know you protection-types. You're only protecting these people from yourself aren't you? By the time I'm through with you, I'll have a detachment here to make sure you'll never come back." Bumblebee said as he cracks his knuckles. "You will soon find that difficult." the driver said. Just then, the green cars surrounding the S.U.V. disassemble into masses of shifting geometric shapes that darts around before reforming into green mid-sized Transformers with wheels for feet and long metal blades mounted on their arms, as well as faces similar to the ground troops' masks. "Did they just… transform?" Strongarm wondered in surprise.
The S.U.V. also disassembles into a mass of shapes and flies into Bumblebee, knocking him down. The mass reforms atop Sharp-T's head into a large green Transformer with the same body-type as Megatron's form in exile. "You have K.S.I. tech? I thought Joyce locked up the patents after Galvatron's attack on Hong Kong!" Bumblebee said in worry. "He did. We found it and used it for ourselves." the leader told Bumblebee before grabbing onto one of Sharp-T's horns and jumping down, slamming the Dinobot onto the ground sideways. "What is your name, warrior?" Drift questioned the leader.
"You can call me… C.Y.L.A.S." the leader told them. Drift then deploys twin katanas from his back. "Now I know what to write on your grave!" Drift threatened. "Autobots, rev up and roll out!" Bumblebee rallied his team. The town guards start evacuating the citizens away from the area as the two forces start to fight.
The Voyagers spotted the fight from afar and observed. "Who are those guys?" Finn wondered at the sight of the M.E.C.H. forces. "If 'Bee's fighting them, they gotta be evil!" Backfire assumed. "Well, what are we standing around for? Let's kick some drongo skidplate!" Fallback rallied as he readied his assault rifles. He runs into battle before Finn, Jake, and Backfire follow.
Bumblebee and Strongarm tag-team the soldiers after them, Drift cuts them to pieces with his katanas, and Sharp-T breathes fire upon the soldiers to blind them before tail-swiping them. Ambushing Bumblebee from behind is C.Y.L.A.S., armed with a twin-bladed hand-scythe. Bumblebee quickly parries the weapon away with his arm stinger weapons before punching C.Y.L.A.S. in the face. C.Y.L.A.S. retallies by swiping his scythes at Bumblebee's arm to disable his stingers. As soldiers were about to shoot Bumblebee from behind, Jake stretches and slams them into each other.
"Dang, these guys are heavy!" Jake said as he looked at the unconscious soldiers. Fallback came in and shot the soldiers in the chests, causing them to collapse and fall apart into metal shapes and tires. "Y'dingoes ever eaten lead?!" he shouted. Finn spots several odd shapes within the piles of metal. He walks over as a battle rages around him and finds a grey hunk of metal the size of a human head.
He picks it up and finds a clear dome at the top showing a human brain. He then drops it in shock before the metal around him reforms around the head into a M.E.C.H. soldier. The soldier picks up a Transformer-sized combat knife and thrusts it down to Finn before he deploys his arm sword and cuts off the blade in a single swing. The soldier looks at the broken knife in shock before being shot in the head from behind by Backfire, causing the brain pod to fall into Finn's arms again. "It's just like Lockdown's drone leader; it's a brain controlling a Transformer." Finn noted.
Soon enough after much fighting, the M.E.C.H. troops retreat out of the gates with C.Y.L.A.S. being thrown out last by Sharp-T. "This isn't over, Autobots!" he cursed at them before he and his troops transform into their vehicle modes and retreat. The citizens of Milford gather around the Autobots and cheer at their victory. "You're welcome, humans of Milford." Drift said to the crowd. "Sir, those terrorists are sure to return to finish us off." Strongarm told Bumblebee.
"I know. I've encountered them in the past a millennia ago after the Battle of Chicago." Bumblebee told her. Approaching Bumblebee's team is Fallback holding Finn atop his palm. "Bumblebee, look at this. It was inside one of those drones." Finn said to Bumblebee as he presented the brain pod to him. Bumblebee picks it up and looks disgusted at the brain. "M.E.C.H.'s using human brains in their drones!" Bumblebee said to his team in shock.
Later in the abandoned factory, Chad was busy at work hooking up the brain pod to a Cybertronian computer. "Here we are. Now we can take a look inside." Chad told everyone as he finished initialization. The computer displayed first-person memories of various events of the brain's life from celebrations, battles, discharges, and attacks of Autobots and Decepticons alike. The most notable memory shown is of Ratchet, the resident Cybertronian medic of the Hub Dome, badly damaged and menaced by a tall dark Cybertronian seen from behind. "That's… that's Ratchet!" Bumblebee said as he recognized his comrade.
"Autobots, Decepticons, like little children. Always fighting, making a mess out of the universe." the dark Cybertronian said in a familiar gravelly voice as he transformed his right arm into an alien weapon. "Then I've got to clean it up. There is one way you survive: tell me where he's hiding. Where is Optimus Prime?" the villain interrogated Ratchet. "Never…" Ratchet muttered. The villain steps on Ratchet's abdomen and plunges his weapon into his chest, tearing out his spark. "Never is here…" the villain said as he walked away.
Chad then ends the memory. "Bumblebee, are you alright?" Drift asked Bumblebee. "I'm fine, that's all in the past. The Resparking restored Ratchet, and that's all that matters." Bumblebee dismissed. "This was from before the war, wasn't it?" Seamus asked Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, do you know who these M.E.C.H. guys are?" Finn asked.
"In the past there was a group called Cemetery Wind that was in charge of hunting down Autobots and Decepticons. After they were dissolved upon the death of their leader, they were replaced by the Transformer Reaction Force, led by William Lennox; and old friend of mine and your teammate Elisa's ancestor. The members that refused to join T.R.F. defected and formed M.E.C.H., who continued their mission at an even more radical scale." Bumblebee explained. "We were very lucky to not encounter them, but there were many Autobots and Decepticons in hiding that met their end by their hands." Drift added. "When dad said you guys went through a lot, he wasn't kidding." Sharp-T commented in surprise. "I'll see if I can find their base in this guy's memories." Chad said. Finn then turns to Bumblebee.
"We saw something like this before. Lockdown has a human brain in one of his drones. Do you think he got the idea from M.E.C.H., or the other way 'round?" Finn asked Bumblebee. "I'm not sure. One thing's for certain, M.E.C.H. has to be stopped, not only for Milford, but also for this twisted experiment they're doing." Bumblebee answered. "I found it!" Chad told everyone. The computer screen displays an abandoned seaside military base. "That's the old Rescue Bot Training Center." Bumblebee commented.
To be continued…