"Well we still need to learn more about earth customs," Optimus Prime told his fellow Autobots, "And the best way is to keep up optical and audio sensors open."
"So let's get started," said Bulkhead using his shoulder flats to form a chair.
Prowl picked up the remote control and pressed the "on" switch.
"We've got over 5,000 channels to monitor here," said Bulkhead inserting a metal pipe into his oil drum and began to drink it.
The first thing they witnessed was an advert promoting car fuel. "So the next time you fill your tank, be sure to use Super Premium Mega Fuel!"
"That looks like that hurts," Bulkhead frowned as the lady in the advert inserted the pipe into the fuel tank of the car.
Prowl changed the channel when they instinctively sought to race cars crashing into one another.
"Not as much as that," said Prowl and quickly changed the channel.
An image of a wrestling ring with a man standing at the centre appeared on the screen.
"Do you have a dream of being thinner? Taller? Faster? Even stronger? Well, these people did." A large computer screen displayed a man and a woman; both were old, fat, and dirty. "And they turn their dreams into reality." A new image appeared. The couple had been replaced by a handsome and muscular man and a woman who was now thin and beautiful.
"And you can do that too! With my bio-chemical makeover!"
"Ah, human upgrades," Optimus nodded. "What will they think of next?"
"Hi there, I'm Prometheus Black, and I can transform you. If you're still not convinced, well, you had better watch one of my greatest bio enhancement success stories in action!" The crowd cheered wildly. "You see them every day, they clean your house, they teach your children, and they take your jobs! But tonight, men will triumph over machine in a no holds bars fight to the finish!"
"What RAM damaged programming impaired bot would agree to be a part of such a degrading spectacle?" Ratchet growled.
"Representing the 'machines' I give you," Black waved his hand to the cloaked figure in the corner, "Bumblebee!" Bumblebee ripped off the sheet and threw it off the ring.
Bulkhead spat out his oil. "What?"
"I was wondering how come Bumblebee didn't want to watch TV with us," said Blackarachnia.
"Hey, good evening Detroit!" he greeted his "fans", who were now booing. Bumblebee looked at "Coach" Sari, who shrugged.
"And representing the human race, I give you Cyrus, the Colossal Rhodes," Black motioned to the opposite corner.
A withered, bent-over, an old man who was only as tall as Sari and had metallic pods attached to his back stepped out of the shadows.
"That's a human?" Bulkhead frowned.
"Must be a new model," said Prowl.
"I have a very bad feeling about this," said Blackarachnia.
"Good luck, and may the better man win," Black stepped out of the ring, leaving Bumblebee and the tiny "Colossus" alone.
"Don't worry, little guy," Bumblebee squatted down to come face to face with Rhodes, "I'll go easy on ya."
"Don't do me any favours, machine," Cyrus growled.
They then heard the sound of the bell, and almost immediately, the pods on his back slammed down inside of him. His right arm wobbled and in an instant went from three inches thick to twelve and now reached the floor. The pods rose and slammed down again. Rhodes' other arm bulged with muscles followed by his torso. In two more injections, the steroids had turned the ninety-pound Cyrus into the three hundred pounds Colossus, who was twice as tall as Bumblebee.
"Who's the little guy now?!" Rhodes roared.
Colossus picked up Bumblebee by the head and threw him at the ropes. The ropes launched Bumblebee back at Rhodes, who punched him in the face. Bumblebee flicked across the air and landed on his back.
In the VIP suite, Fanzone was watching the fight and was attempting to put mustard on his hotdog.
"Please select your condiment?" the machine asked.
Fanzone pressed down on the button for mustard, but nothing happened.
"Please select your condiment."
Fanzone kept on pressing down on the button, but still, nothing happened.
"Please select your condiment."
Fanzone then kicked the bot and shot out mustard that covered his hotdog and his hand.
"Would you like a napkin?" The vendor-bot shot napkins into the air, and Fanzone caught one while it was falling and wiped off his hand.
"This is why I hate machines."
"I knew we had something in common, Captain Fanzone," said Prometheus Black as he entered the room and sat down next to Fanzone. "Enjoying the luxury box?"
"Yeah, not to mention the VIP parking, the complimentary neck massage, and the coupon for one free bio-enhancement." Fanzone counted the accommodations on his fingers. "You wouldn't be trying to influence the Detroit police department in any way, would you, Mr Black?"
"Captain, I am a humbled businessman; I merely wish to demonstrate my product under ideal conditions."
"So, what's the trick?" Fanzone asked, looking back at the match.
Colossus was practically mopping the floor with Bumblebee, clearly proving that the fight was completely one-sided. Bumblebee crashed to the ropes which wrapped around his arms, preventing him from moving. Colossus then approached him and began slamming his feet into his chest as hard as he possibly could.
"Electronic pulses stimulated the subjects steroids that I introduced into his body. As you can see, Captain, my biotechnology is far superior to robotic technology because a human brain controls it."
The crowd cheered as Colossus continued to pummel Bumblebee.
"Picture a brand-new police force, huh?" Black smiled, placing his arm around Fanzone's shoulders. "With bio enhance human offices instead of those mindless Sumdac robot drones."
"You know me, I owe them too crazy about sending machines to do a man's job," Fanzone admitted.
Colossus then picked Bumblebee up into the air.
"Well, you don't have to, Captain, if you choose my biotech over Sumdac robots."
Colossus then tossed Bumblebee across the ring until he hit the corner.
Sari rushed over to him. "Come on, you're getting your gears cleaned. You can take this guy."
Sari then injected her key into the slot in his forehead, fixing the damage that Colossus had inflicted.
"Just stay out of his reach," said Sari.
Bumblebee got back onto his feet, still a little delirious. "Which one? The guy in the middle of the two on either side?"
"Just swing at all of 'em!" Sari encouraged.
Bumblebee shook his head again and charged. He went around Rhodes, activated his stingers, used his wheels, and skated around Rhodes while stinging at him. Rhodes tried to hit the speedster but was too slow.
"Hold still, shorty!" Colossus barked. Bumblebee skidded to a halt.
"Now that's just wrong! I didn't make fun of your height when you were little!" Bumblebee shouted.
"I told you to hold STILL!" Rhodes roared.
"Make me!" said Bumblebee activating his wheels and skidded across the ground right through his legs.
He then came to a stop and immediately performed a flying kick right at the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.
"Yes!" Sari cheered.
Colossus then began injecting himself with more steroids, making himself even larger. He then reached out and grabbed Bumblebee and lifted him up into the air for everyone to see. He then swung his massive fist right into Bumblebee and sent him flying straight through the wall and the
"Well, I believe this proves my point about bio-tech technological superiority is the way of the future," Prometheus smiled.
Colossus gave a glass-shattering roar and leapt through the hole he made in a blind rage.
"You were saying?" Fanzone commented.
Bumblebee found himself outside, but before he had a chance to recover, Colossus landed right in front of him. The people outside immediately began to panic and ran, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.
Rhodes picked up a dumpster and was preparing to slam it right down on top of Bumblebee. Bumblebee, himself was badly damaged and was leaking oil from the last hit he took.
"Bumblebee heads up!" Sari cried.
Bumblebee looked up and saw the dumpster hurry his way and managed to roll out of the way just the nick of time."
"Hang on, I'll fix you up!" Sari yelled, dashing towards him. "I'll catch you up."
Sadly before she even had a chance to insert her key, Rhodes grabbed Bumblebee leg and dragged him towards him. He then immediately tossed into a truck parked not too far away and picked up a car.
"Just hope there's something left of you to patch," said Sari worriedly.
Colossus tossed the car at Bumblebee, who quickly got out of the way, but an explosion knocked him back.
"Stand and fight! What are ya?! Yellow?!" Rhodes taunted.
"Well, duh!" Bumblebee retorted.
"Call off your overgrown gorilla!" Fanzone yelled it Black.
"It's not like he's got an off switch!"
Rhodes picked up a car and chucked it at Bumblebee. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for the crushing pain, but it never came. He opened his eyes and found the truck floated mere inches in front of him in a glowing purple field.
"Looks like you're in over your head again, kid," said Ratchet moving the car away and letting it fall safely to the ground.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Bumblebee snapped.
"Well, you did almost took a one-way ticket to the scrapheap because you want to show off," Blackarachnia pointed out.
"Mute it! We've got bigger problems, guys!" Optimus interrupted.
"What? Bigger than me?"
"What are you talking about?" Prime wondered.
Rhodes charged, and Bulkhead did the same thing.
"Time for the big guns!" Bulkhead roared, slammed himself into Rhodes' gut, and sent him flying backwards.
"Oh, rub it in, why don't ya?!" Bumblebee grumbled.
"What? What did I say?" Bulkhead frowned.
This diverted his attention, allowing Rhodes to kick him off of him. Bulkhead was pushed back and collided with several cars causing alarms to go off. The pods on Rhodes' back sparked and twittered. Rhodes gritted his teeth and clenched his fist in pain. Prowl saw it and launched his shuriken at the pods. Colossus fell to his knees and began to shrink back to his original size.
"Good thinking, Prowl, way to cutting down to size!" Optimus cheered.
Prowl walked over to Bumblebee and slapped him in the back of the head. "Next time, use your head. Find your opponent's weakness and strike there."
"If you can reach it," Bulkhead poked Bumblebee in the shoulder.
"Oh right, I get it. Cuz I'm short!"
"What? I'm just bursting your bumpers, little buddy."
"Why's it gotta be 'little buddy'? Why can't it just be 'buddy'?!"
"What's gotten into him?" Ratchet asked Bulkhead as he picked Sari up.
"Ah, he's just sore cuz he came up a little short." Bulkhead, Ratchet, Blackarachnia and Sari laughed while Bumblebee steamed.
"Now you're just doing it on purpose!"
Fanzone hasn't been too impressed with Black's biotech; if one guy could do this amount of damage using it, he dreaded to think what kind of chaos would bring his officers used it.
"That's it!" Fanzone yelled. "I'm telling the mayor to scrap your contracts! I'll take those Sumdac rust buckets over this mess any day!"
"You can't do this. I'll be ruined!" Black grabbed Fanzone by the collar.
"Not my problem, Mr Black!" said Fanzone pushing him back and walked off.
"Filthy machines," Black cursed and then he noticed on the ground a piece of Bumblebee's armour covered in fluid
"This is not over," Black smiled.
Black returned to his lab and began working on his new project and trying to convince Porter C. Powell of the implications.
"Clearly, mere physical strength is not enough to defeat these machines. However, by combining the Autobot's fluid sample with my steroids…" He then examined his new concoction on his microscope and smiled broadly. "I have discovered, as they say, the chink in the armour. Thus ensuring the superiority of my bio-tech over Sumdac Robotics."
"All very well, Prometheus, but your investors are still furious about the negative publicity from that wrestling match," said Powell.
"I will make them forget all about Colossal Rhodes; I just need time, money and a new human test subject."
"Not a chance! Even the prisons won't give you test subjects anymore! We're cutting our losses and your funding."
"You can't do that!" Black roared, slamming his hand on the desk.
"I'm sorry, Prometheus," said Powell and ended the transmission.
"THOSE FOOLS!" Black smacked away the bottles, vials, and flasks on the table. "I'll show them that I am better than Sumdac's greasy robots! Even if I have to take matters into my own hands."
It was then that his new corrosive had managed to melt right through the piece of Bumblebee's armour as well as the table. He then mixed in with the chemicals that he accidentally spilt on the floor, and fumes rose up and quickly filled the room.
The fumes began to affect Black, and he began to stumble around; he then tripped on some wires and fell into the concoction. He began to scream as the fluid consumed his entire body.
"They'll pay for this. They'll all PAY!" He walked out while where his hand touched the door melted through…
The next day, Professor Sumdac was now demonstrating his newest police drone to the mayor and Fanezone.
"Today, we unveil our newest model of the Sumdac Systems police drone. Not only is it that it's larger and faster, but it also has improved recognition software." Professor Sumdac then activated the new police drone. "So we don't have a repeat of that unfortunate incident with the captain's wife."
Fanzone just narrowed his eyes.
The drone then began making its way to the target, but then it began to short-circuit and exploded.
"Look out!" Fanzone yelled, tackling the mayor to the ground. "This is why I hate machines."
"Oh dear, it wasn't supposed to do that," said Sumdac. "I am so sorry."
"Call us when you get those bugs worked out," said Fanzone and left with the mayor.
"My-my regards to your wife, captain!" Sumdac called. He put his head in his hands. "How could this have happened?" Sari walked over to the scrapheap that was once a police droid. She noticed that a piece of it had some green gunk on it.
She immediately made her way to the plant and handed the piece of scrap metal over to Blackarachnia Ratchet to examine.
"Definitely sabotage," said Ratchet looking at the metal with his telescopic eyepiece. "But I've never seen a corrosive like this." He then taught a piece of the metal and administered the acid to a piece of their alloy, which melted through it. "It can even melt through Autobot alloy."
"I've found something," said Blackarachnia looking over the information on the terminal. "From what I can tell, it's a variation of our fluid, but it seems to have been enhanced with some sort of steroids."
"We should run some more tests," Ratchet advised. "It should only take a couple hours."
"That long?" Bumblebee moaned.
"His attention span is short too," Bulkhead whispered to Prowl.
"I heard that!"
"Apparently, so is his fuse," Prowl responded.
"Oh, the ninja gets in a good one!" Bulkhead raised his hand, which Prowl slapped in a high-five.
"Who knew he had it in him?" Ratchet chuckled.
"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be the strong, silent type? Emphasis on silent," Bumblebee frowned.
"Knock it off, you motorheads, we've got to warn my dad," Sari interrupted. "He could be in trouble."
"I would say that is very definite," said Blackarachnia. "Although I can't confirm it, I believe that Prometheus Black is responsible based upon the analysis."
"Why would you say that?" Optimus asked.
"He hates robots and Professor Sumdac, plus he is an expert on biotechnology. I've been going over his research myself, and it's very impressive."
"Why you so interested in that sleaze?" Sari asked.
"Because I was hoping that he would have a cure for my condition," said Blackarachnia bluntly. "That's a given his hatred to robots. I very much doubt he would ever help me."
"Regardless, we need to get to Sumdac Tower now," said Optimus. "Transform and roll out!"
They all immediately transformed and drove off towards Sumdac Tower, though Blackarachnia was hitching a ride on Optimus' back.
His platform boots clunked with each step. And with each step, a centimetre worth of floor was eaten away in smoke. It had been hard constructing this suit, but it would keep him from falling apart while not inhibiting his powers. He strutted to the reception desk.
"I am here for Isaac Sumdac," he said to the reception-bot
"You have an appointment, Mister—?" the reception-bot questioned.
"The name is Meltdown!" he said with an acidic voice.
Acid seeped out of the cracks in his armour on his arms. Meltdown grabbed the robot by the face and held it tightly. The head slowly melted in his hand and dripped to the floor.
"Have a nice day," said the reception-bot as it slowly melted away.
Professor Sumdac was still trying to figure out what went wrong during the unveiling when the alarms went off.
"Oh no, not another malfunction," he moaned.
"Dad!" Sari appeared on a vid-chat. "Those breakdowns this morning were no accident. It was sabotage."
"Sabotage? But who would want to—"
"Isaac Sumdac!" Sumdac looked at the door. The door melted open, and a man who was dripping with Black and green acid stepped into the room.
"You and I have to have a talk," said Meltdown.
Professor Sumdac gaped at his doom.
The Autobots were now within sight of Sumdac Tower, and Bumblebee quickly took the lead.
"Last one in is a rusted axle!" said Bumblebee as he picked up speed.
"Wait!" Sari warned.
Bumblebee then hit something so hard that he transformed back into robot mode, and Sari were sent flying. Optimus quickly transformed and grabbed her before she hit the ground.
"Gotta," he said.
"What the spark was that?" Bumblebee asked.
"A force field," Sari explained. "When the tower is under attack, it goes into auto-defence mode."
"What a dumb design; if your dad is in trouble, how are we supposed to get inside to save him?" Bumblebee asked.
"A magnetic field might be able to disrupt the force field and create an opening wide enough for us to enter," said Blackarachnia
"Leave that to me." Ratchet pulled out his magnets and made a small hole in the force field.
"I don't think so," said a voice behind them.
The Autobots looked back to see Cyrus Rhodes. He activated his steroid pods and grew into Colossus. He pulled a streetlight out of the ground and swung and struck Optimus. Prowl leapt over his head and threw his shuriken at the pods, but they bounced off.
"Boss reinforced that little weak spot," Cyrus smiled.
"Bulkhead, you and I will keep him busy!
"Now it's payback time!" Colossus roared, swinging the lamppost over his head.
Prowl got clipped by it, but Optimus managed to duck in time. "Blackarachnia, you and Sari say he can't deactivate the author defence. Prowl, Bumblebee, the two of you get to Professor Sumdac!"
Sari, Blackarachnia and Bumblebee jumped inside. Bulkhead then swung his wrecking ball at Colossus, but he knocked it back as if it was a baseball with the lamppost. The force of the swing was enough to send Bulkhead backwards, and his rear end ended up trapped inside the hole before Prowl had the chance to jump in.
"Bulkhead, move your oversized fender!" Prowl pulled on Bulkhead as hard as he could, but he wouldn't budge.
"I can't! I'm sorta stuck here!"
"I can't open the field any wider!" Ratchet shouted, "Bumblebee, you'll have to go on alone!"
"Oh, lucky me," Bumblebee looked at Sari.
The three of them quickly rushed into Sumdac Tower, and Sari and Blackarachnia quickly rushed towards the reception area and began accessing the terminal to switch off the defence system. At the same time, Bumblebee made his way over to the elevator and pried the doors open.
He looked up the elevator shaft and quickly saw the elevator plummeting towards him. He immediately jumped back, and the elevator fell all the way down to the bottom; he then noticed the cables had been melted.
"Somebody used astronomic cable," he said. "But it will take more than that to stop yours truly."
He then jumped into the shaft and placed his wheels against the wall, and used them to climb up the shaft.
"Going up!" he yelled.
Professor Sumdac was currently hiding behind his desk while Meltdown approached him.
"Prometheus, why are you doing this?" he asked.
"Because your a flawed," he said and placed his hands on the desk and began melting right through it. "I'm smarter, better looking and more educated than you. And yet, everything you touch turns to gold." Meltdown picked up a small golden trophy. "While everything I touch—!" the trophy melted in his hand, and he threw the slag out the window, "Just look at me! I've become a freak! But I refuse to
Blackarachnia and Sari were still accessing the computer terminal to terminal the defences.
"I have to hand it to your father; he's certainly brilliant," said Blackarachnia.
"Let's just hope we can rescue him," said Sari frantically.
"I believe now we just need to find the right port, and we can switch off the shield."
Sari nodded, pulled out her key, and inserted it into a data port. Unfortunately, instead of turning off the shielding only strengthened it.
"Either I'm getting bigger, or this thing is getting smaller!" Bulkhead wailed as he felt the force shield tightening its grip around him.
"Sari, stop!" Ratchet yelled over the com-link. "You're making it stronger!"
Colossus then struck in the back of the head with a lamppost, and then he began making his way to Bulkhead. Fortunately, he was not as helpless as he seemed, then quickly launched his wrecking ball right into his chest, knocking him back.
Professor Sumdac was still face-to-face with Meltdown, who was on the verge of melting him into nothing.
"Are you ready to feel the burn?" said Meltdown advancing towards him with his acid cupboard hand.
Bumblebee then burst into the office and vehicle mode and slammed into Meltdown right through the wall.
"Neither left?" Bumblebee asked fans for me his arm and grabbed Professor Sumdac.
"He wanted to melt me!" Professor Sumdac panicked as Bumblebee placed him inside himself.
Meltdown had just got back on his feet when he saw Bumblebee driving off and quickly fired a burst of acid from his hand. He messed, but a few drops of acid did land on Bumblebee's armour.
"Ouch!" he yelled. "Hey, watch the paint job!"
Bumblebee then drove out of the office, and Meltdown chased after him.
"You're not going anywhere, machine!" Meltdown roared and shot out of the stream of acid, which welded the doors to the elevator shut.
"If this is about the wrestling match, I'm retired from the ring!" said Bumblebee, quickly spinning around to face him.
Meltdown then jumped out of the way as Bumblebee drove right past.
"Fasten your seat belt. It's going to be a bumpy ride!" Bumblebee yelled as he crashed right through a door.
He then began driving down the stairs, and Professor Sumdac was clinging onto his seat as tightly as he could.
Meltdown realised he would be able to chase them down the stairs, and so instead, he began to burn his way through the floor.
Blackarachnia and Sari were still trying to deactivate the defence grid.
"Try another data port," said Blackarachnia.
Sari then quickly inserted her key into another data port, and this time the force field dissipated, and Bulkhead was released.
Just then, Bumblebee drove into the lobby.
"I believe this is your stop," said Bumblebee opening his car door.
Professor Sumdac then stepped out and looked very dizzy.
"Dad! You're all right!" Sari smiled, hugging him.
Just then, Meltdown landed right in front of them. "But not for long."
"Leave 'em alone!" Bulkhead yelled and grasped Meltdown in his claw.
"You wish to give them a hand? So be it!" Meltdown charged.
Meltdown then unleashed his acid and began eating away at Bulkhead's claw, causing him to howl in pain.
Optimus and the others were still battling against Rhodes, who was completely wrecking the place. Currently, they were using a fallen truck as cover.
"We've tried everything! What does it take to bring this guy down?" said Optimus.
"More than you've got tin can!" Colossus roared and leapt into the air and smashed his fist down.
He missed Optimus but smacked him away with another blow. Optimus flew into a church tower and banged on the bell, and its sound drove Rhodes nuts and caused his pods to shoot sparks.
"The bell!" said Prowl gaining an idea. "Hit it again!"
Optimus caught on and activated his axe, banging it against the bell. Colossus clenched his ears.
"The frequency must disrupt his techno-organic circuits," Ratchet theorised and quickly used his magnets to bring down the bell right over Rhodes' head. Optimus leapt down and continued his sonic onslaught. The lights on Rhodes' pods went off, and he began to shrink.
Bulkhead was doing everything he could to maintain his grip around Meltdown, but soon he fell down onto one knee was forced to lose his grip.
"Heh heh heh, see how easily I bring you to your knees?" he laughed as he freed his arm. "I will melt you into molten slag." He then shot out some acid straight at Bulkhead.
"No!" Bumblebee yelled, transforming.
Bumblebee leapt into the path of the acid, and its scorched his side.
"Bumblebee!" Sari cried.
Blackarachnia quickly rushed over to Bumblebee side to stabilise him. "The acid hit nothing major; he'll live."
"More than I can say for him," said Meltdown raising his hand at Professor Sumdac. "Now it's your turn!"
"I don't think so!" Optimus yelled and then tossed the bell that he was carrying right down on top of him. "There that should hold him."
Unfortunately, Meltdown began melting through the bell.
"Guess you didn't get the memo about the acid that melts through anything," said Ratchet.
Meltdown and soon emerged from the bell, looking annoyed. "Fools! Nothing can hold me!"
He then shot out some acid at them, and they quickly jumped out of the way.
"Suggestions on how to stop him?" Prowl asked Optimus.
"Hey, how about the one thing that stopped us?" said Optimus.
"The auto-defence field!" Ratchet yelled at Blackarachnia and Sari.
"On it!" Blackarachnia yelled as she and Sari rushed to the controls.
Blackarachnia began accessing the controls transferring the defence system into the cable, and threw a gently towards them. Sari then used her key to give the controls an extra boost and gave Ratchet the thumbs up. The energy travelled through the wires, out Ratchet's magnets, and surrounded Meltdown in a force field. He tried to melt it but only filled the bubble with his slime.
"You can't melt what you can't touch," said Ratchet and began shrinking the force field.
Meltdown kept on trying in vain to melt through the force field and ended up giving up sitting in his own acid.
"I say we let him stew in his own juices," Ratchet smirked.
"Big help you were, Bulkhead," said Bumblebee sarcastically. "Why did you just draw big bull's-eye on that oversized chest plate of yours?"
"Gotta admit, kid," Ratchet smiled. "For a little bot, you've got a great big spark."
"You showed a lot of courage taking that hit from Bulkhead," said Optimus
"Sorry about yanking your crankcase. I was just having a little fun," said Bulkhead.
"Little?" Bumblebee looked at Bulkhead, "Did you just say 'little'?"
"What? No! Well yes. But no, I didn't mean—"
"I may be small, but I'm scrappy! And I can run circles around your sorry, big old rusty chasse!" said Bumblebee and began driving around in circles. "You know I've got some major skills."
"He's gonna be impossible to live with now, isn't he?" Sari concluded.
"Oh, yeah," Ratchet agreed.
"But we wouldn't have any other way," said Blackarachnia shaking her head.
Bumblebee continued driving around, transforming every now and then to pose.