EPISODE 6: THE ENERGON SCHEME
Hot Spot looked at his surroundings and knew that it was the dirty work of the Decepticons. "Can't they leave these humans alone?"
"The injured have been shifted out Hot Spot." The blue Autobot looked down to see the longtime friend of the Autobots, Spike Witwicky.
Hot Spot then nodded and spoke, "This is the third time the Decepticons have attacked a power plant and we were unable to prevent it." Spike nodded.
"Something is wrong, how could they have known where the Autobots would be? It's like they know our every move." Said Spike as he noticed Blades and Groove's arrival.
"No Decepticons, and they made off with a large quantity of Energon… again." Said Groove as he saluted his leader.
"Again… like the other two sites. I wonder…" muttered Hot Spot.
Dirge slowly took a cube of energon out of his storage compartment and popped it into his mouth. "Ahhh… that felt good."
Thrust turned to his comrade and shook his head. "We're not suppose to eat any energon. If Sixshot found out, you'll be with your manufacturer in a micro-cycle."
"Well," started Dirge, "Sixshot isn't here and who cares? That psycho-bot is nuttier than a storage center of Autobot junk."
"Well, he's still our…" Thrust stopped in mid-sentence as Cyclonus's voice shook the secret Decepticon base.
"We have another job… Dirge, Thrust, Stunticons and Predacons, come for briefing immediately."
Dirge and Thrust immediately ran out of the chamber.
Rodimus looked at Ultra Magnus's report. The Decepticons had taken a sizable amount of energon and had done so at times that the Autobots were nowhere near the attacked power plant.
"How is it that they know when the Autobots would not be in the area?" wondered Rodimus out-loud.
"Could there be a mole?" asked Emirate Xaaron. The golden Autobot had once advised Optimus Prime and it seemed only fitting that he advise the present Autobot leader.
"Would have been easily found Xaaron. I do not believe that an Autobot would betray his own." Said Rodimus and shaking his head at the same time.
"What about Punch?" asked Xaaron. "Optimus was always worried that Punch would finally give in to his Decepticon programming."
"No, I refuse to believe that." Said Rodimus.
"Anyway, Punch is on Charr. There is no way he could alert the Decepticons on Earth." Interrupted Kup.
Xaaron turned to face the old Autobot but did not rebut. He knew most of the Autobots did not trust him nor even liked him but he knew they needed him nonetheless.
"Whoever it is, we have to find him pronto so I'm going to Earth."
The whole panel of Autobots there looked at Rodimus in shock. "You can't leave Cybertron, not with all the work that has to be done." Said Xaaron.
"Sorry kid, but I have to agree with Xaaron, you can't head to Earth now." Said Kup.
"Yes, the Space Bridge project is too important at the moment." Said Hoist.
Rodimus shook his head. "I've made up my mind. Jazz will hold the fort while I'm gone." With that, Rodimus left the room.
"Our mole has given information on the next Autobot guard roster and our spy has confirmed them so you all are ready to go." Said Cyclonus.
"Who is this mole and the spy for that matter?" asked Motormaster.
"That's for me to know and you, to never find out." Said Cyclonus with a smirk. "All you need to know is that they are somewhat reliable."
"So, what's the plan?" asked Dead End as he leaned against the wall.
"The usual. Convert the energy to energon and take all of the energon you can make back to the base and avoid conflict with the Autobots."
"I hate this! We are warriors! We should be battling the enemy, not running around like thieves!" shouted Razorclaw and the other Predacons roared their agreement.
"I have to agree with Razorclaw." Said Motormaster.
Cyclonus nodded. "I understand how you all feel but you know that the Autobots outnumber us almost 4 to 1. If we do not find a way to change this number drastically, the Decepticons cannot survive." The Predacons' roars stopped abruptly.
"We must not see what we want but instead what the whole Decepticon army needs." Said Cyclonus.
"Enough of this, let's just get on with the job." Said Dirge as the group of Decepticons left.
Scrapper looked at the plans lay out before him. Shockwave was a genius, or at least an architectural genius to have come up with the construct that was presently being constructed by the Constructicons.
"How are we doing?" asked Mixmaster as he continued mixing a new batch of bonding solvent.
"Just fine. Don't worry Mixmaster, this structure will be remembered by Decepticon descendents for centuries to come." Replied Scrapper.
"What shall we call it?" asked Hook as he lifted some metal rods.
"The Inferno." Replied Scrapper with a glimmer in his optics.
Sandstorm and Broadside were unsure what the situation was but the SOS sounded fairly desperate.
"Decepticons just don't know when to quit eh?"
"Did you ever expect them to Sandstorm? I mean, they started the whole dang civil war in the first place." Said Broadside as he continued to keep pace with Sandstorm in his jet mode.
"Well…" Sandstorm stopped short his sentence upon seeing two fighter jets streak towards them.
"Cons!" shouted Broadside as purple laser fire filled the air.
"What was that about not engaging the enemy Dirge?" asked Thrust as he targeted Sandstorm who had transformed to Dune Buggy form.
"Heh, just to give the others time to return to the base." Said Dirge as he fired a plasma missile at Broadside.
"This is Broadside to Autobot City. We're under attack!"
Rodimus walked out of the Autobot shuttle and was greeted by Ultra Magnus and the Pretenders.
"Enjoying your stay?" asked Rodimus lightheartedly as he shook Cloudburst's hand.
"Well, we did get to see Metroplex in action and blast Bomb-burst a new disposal unit. Yup, it was fun." Said Cloudburst as the five Autobots laughed.
"Was?" asked Ultra Magnus as the laughter subsided.
"Oh, didn't they tell you?" asked Rodimus as he turned to face the Pretenders.
"We kinda forgot in all this excitement." Said Landmine with an uneasy smile.
"About what?" asked Ultra Magnus when Hound rushed out to the Autobots.
"A Decepticon structure has been detected!" shouted the green Autobot.
"What?!" shouted five Autobots in unison.
The Constructicons slotted in the last batch of energon into the 'Inferno' structure. The structure had been lifted out of its underground domain onto the surface so that the Autobots would find it.
"So, what did happen to those two Triple-Changers?" asked Drag Strip.
"Heh, heh, you don't want to know." Replied Dirge with a smile.
"The Autobots have detected this structure." Said Soundwave in his monotone voice.
"As Shockwave expected." Said Bomb-burst as he and the other Pretenders entered the complex.
"Now, we wait for the fun to begin." Said Motormaster with a smile.
All the Autobots, except Sandstorm and Broadside, had arrived at the coordinates of the Decepticon structure.
"What is that?" asked Rodimus as he scanned the complex with his in-built visors.
"It seems to be an energon storage facility Rodimus." Said Perceptor as he transformed back to his robot mode.
"Ultra Magnus, take a small group and find out what is in that complex." Ordered Rodimus as his visors disappeared.
"Affirmative Rodimus." Said Ultra Magnus as he walked towards the group of Autobots.
"So when do we get to see this masterpiece in action?" asked Long Haul as he tapped against the controls.
"When the Autobots are in range. You know that an energon surge would drain at a quarter of the energon supply. We need to conserve." Said Scrapper as he continued looking at the radar.
"How's about we just flush our quarry into…" Headstrong's sentence was cut short by the wail of alarms.
"A group of Autobots coming in from the south side. About 12 of them." Said Scrapper.
"12? Ultra Magnus must be overconfident." Mused Drag Strip.
"Probably wants to test our defenses. Nonetheless, let's take this chance to test our new toy." Said Bomb-burst.
"Heh, heh, this is going to be fun." Said Mixmaster as he pressed a button.
The energon storage container started to churn and glowed a light purple. Suddenly, an explosion could be heard.
"What's going on?" asked Pipes as the complex started to glow.
"Don't know, but be careful." Said Ultra Magnus.
Suddenly, a purple ripple erupted from the structure and washed over the 12 Autobots but stopped about twenty paces from the main Autobot group.
The twelve Autobots rolled around in pain as purple sparks erupted from their bodies.
"What's happening?" asked Sideswipe in agony.
"Energon overload… systems shutting down." Said Ultra Magnus as he tried to stay active.
"Can't… go on." Said Pipes as he fell to the ground, in stasis lock.
"Go… to stasis… lock." Said Ultra Magnus before finally flopping over.
"Yes! There goes a bunch of those losers!" said Hook as the other Decepticons cheered.
"Oh, Shockwave will be so happy when we report this to him." Said Mixmaster as he clapped his hands.
"What in blazes was that?" asked Cloudburst as he saw the twelve Autobots go down.
"An energon surge capable of deactivating even the strongest Autobot." Replied Rodimus. "This is bad. If the Decepticons perfect this weapon, we are goners."
"There's got to be a way to destroy that thing." Said Landmine.
"I have a theory." Said Perceptor.
"Go on." Said Rodimus.
"The energon surge would only be capable to affect fully metallic life-forms. The Pretenders are partially organic in nature and should not be totally affected by the energon surge." Said Perceptor.
"Are you sure?" asked Waverider.
"Without the necessary test and data, I am unable to answer your designated question." Replied Perceptor.
"It's a risk we have to take." Said Cloudburst as he prepared to enter the radius of the energon surge range.
"You sure?" asked Landmine as he grabbed Cloudburst to hold him back.
"Do we have a choice?" asked Cloudburst.
"Guess not. Let's move!" said Landmine as the three Pretenders headed towards the structure.
END OF EPISODE 6