TRANSFORMERS : THE DEVIL'S GAMBIT

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Death's Head – I do not own The Transformers, nor Death's Head. Takara Industries/Hasbro/Marvel US/Marvel UK/Sunbow Entertainment/Saban Entertainment, all own parts of The Transformers. Marvel UK owns Death's Head. There are five characters in this story, which are of my own creation. Outlaw : The new form of Raiden, former Decepticon. Black Autobot, which transforms into a black truck trailer (Kenworth design). Valkyrie : Decepticon femme, who has been brought back as an Autobot. This time, she is a Tripler Changer, a silver futuristic fighter jet and a hover tank (If you've seen the movie Sgt. Bilko, with Steve Martin, the hover tank in that is the same form of Valkyrie's.). Seraphim : Autobot femme, who is the sister of Outlaw. Her vehicle form is that of an F4 McDonnald Douglas Phantom. She is also a Targetmaster. Citadel Supreme : A Decepticon version of Fortress Maximus, now back as the Autobot Fortress Maximus. Alpha Destroyer : Decepticon version of Omega Supreme.

Also, please, please, PLEASE read all of my first Transformers story : Transformers : Book 1 : Death's Head and Transformers : Book 2 : Megatron's Revenge. A lot of information is in that story, which is carried over into this one.

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Autobot City, Earth :

The 'VULTURE' landed on one of two remaining landing pads, and as Death's Head stepped out of his ship, his gaze wandered over the ruins. The battle of Autobot City had been particularly vicious, heavy casulities on both sides. As he walked away from the pad, he looked over at the lake and saw the ruined Fortress Maximus lying there. He sighed as he remembered that there was another Fortress Maximus on Cybertron, who had once been the Decepticon Citadel Supreme. While he walked along, he saw the Technobots were still conducting repairs to Metroplex, who was laid out next to the ruined city.

As he stopped and watched them, the old warrior Kup, approached him.

"Death's Head, what brings you back here? Thought you were still after Megatron and the lunatic who brought him back?"

Death's Head faced Kup.

"Raiden dead. Now he's Outlaw, and he's an Autobot. Bad news, yes?"

Kup sighed and rested his hands on his hips.

"About time he came back to us. I take it that femme of his, Valkyrie, is an Autobot as well, right?"

Death's Head nodded as he turned and headed towards the buildings, Kup following.

"Raiden, Valkyrie and Seraphim, three of the most brilliant strategists, scientists and warriors ever to have been Autobots. They've created marvels together on Cybertron, before the war that was."

Death's Head looked at Kup as they walked along.

"Thought Raiden was only a few thousand years old? Same with Seraphim and Valkyrie. You know something about them, better tell me, yes?"

Kup nodded.

"Yeah, they were created about a hundred years before Optimus and the Autobots with him, left Cybertron. The three of them served Emirate Xaaron for some time, and helped me and my lads out on quite a few occasions." He sighed "And then Shanix captured them. They were his prisoners for a thousand years, wasting away in the holding cells of Polyhex. Myself, Hot Rod, Blurr, Dogfight, Backstreet and Guzzle managed to break into the cells to free Sizzle, Fizzle and Override from under Astrotrain's nose."

Death's Head snorted.

"Astrotrain. For a Decepticon he was sort of smart. Smarter than the other two."

Kup smiled.

"Yeah, that he was. But it was Dogfight who had found them, near total system shutdown. Raiden, however, had managed to hack into the power system for the cells, and rerouted the power into himself, Seraphim and Valkyrie. Nearly blew their circuits completely, but fully energised them. Raiden told me to get the others clear, while he causes a distraction to get the Decepticons away from the cells. Seraphim and Valkyrie went with him. The three of them blew up one of the main power generators, shutting down over half of the base's systems."

Kup paused as he remembered what happened next.

"Hot Rod and myself, witnessed their capture by Ratbat, who had Seraphim and Valkyrie destroyed. Raiden threw himself at bat, but was cut down by Astrotrain and Blitzwing. Ratbat had Raiden brought to a lab, where he conducted some sort of experiment on him, which subdued his Autobot programming. I remember seeing the look on Optimus's face when he heard of the destruction and subversion of Raiden and the two femmes. He was distraught, as was Dogfight."

Death's Head looked at Kup.

"Dogfight and Seraphim..."

"Yeah, they had something going. And when she was repaired and sent here, centuries later, Dogfight followed. He got another shock, when she didn't remember their relationship. Oh, she knew him, but only treated him as a comrade in arms."

Death's Head chuckled.

"Now I know why Dogfight was always protective of her."

Kup nodded.

"Yeah, Dogfight tends to overreact about things."

Death's Head stopped and faced Kup.

"So why tell me?"

Kup looked at the freelance peacekeeping agent.

"Because of your relationship with Raiden. You know how he thinks, how he acts and..."

Death's Head raised a hand to stop Kup.

"Correction. I knew Raiden. I do not know Outlaw. Outlaw acts completely different from Raiden and from what I saw on Cybertron, he's completely unpredictable and dangerous." A smile appeared in his optics "Need more Autobots with those qualities, yes?"

Before Kup could respond, Arcee approached the two.

"Ah, there you are Death's Head. Rodimus Prime is waiting for you, if you'd like to follow me..."

Death's Head nodded at her, then looked at Kup.

"Kup, at the moment there's only one thing out there which worries me. Not Megatron or Galvatron. Not the Decepticons or the Mechannibals. Not even Scraplets. Outlaw though, HE worries me, yes?"

Death's Head turned and walked off with Arcee, leaving Kup by himself. The veteran warrior sighed and shook his head, as he remembered the past.

"Damn it all. Raiden was always ahead of his time in all things. Now, what is he planning?"

Inside the office of Rodimus Prime :

Death's Head was lounging in the same chair he had sat in before the recent battle there. Rodimus looked at him.

"So, you want to go after Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge again? 10,000 shanix was the reward I offered then, and as it stands, you were the only one who had gotten so close to achieving it."

Death's Head studied the young leader.

"How did you guess? My, my, you must be a mind reader, yes?"

Rodimus smiled as he sat down.

"I just remember what happened last time Death's Head. And yes, I still intend to honour that contract. But remember, we altered it. 10,000 for Cyclonus and Scourge. With Galvatron, I'll make the total 30,000 shanix."

Death's Head nodded.

"Reasonable amount considering who I'm hunting. Any other of my 'associates' sighted in this sector?"

Rodimus nodded.

"One. Double-Dealer."

Death's Head's optics narrowed.

"Double-Dealer. I've run into him before with Raiden, yes? Never liked him."

Rodimus leaned back in the chair.

"I've heard. Where was it again, the mechanical world of Scarvix. A hive of robotic mechanical violence and disturbance. Bad place to live."

"Good place for business, yes?" Death's Head stood, his torn red cloak flowing "I'll be on my way, after you tell me the transponder frequency of the shuttle with the dead Decepticons on it."

Rodimus looked at him, a puzzled look on his face.

"The transponder signal? Why?"

Death's Head turned.

"If I was Galvatron, and I needed troops, I'd head after that shuttle, and reactivate the Decepticons on board, with the same way they brought the Constructicons back. Know what that means, yes?"

Rodimus nodded, his face pale.

"Oh wonderful..."

"Indeed. The frequency..."

Rodimus pressed a few buttons, and gave the code of the frequency to Death's Head. He looked at him.

"Death's Head, honestly, can you stop them?"

Death's Head shrugged.

"Don't know. Depends."

Depends? Depends on what?"

Death's Head opened the door and looked at Rodimus.

"Depends on Outlaw. He's after Megatron. Megatron may have same idea as Galvatron. In any event, that shuttle will soon be full."

Rodimus looked at the screen.

"Death's Head, if you can find out where Galvatron is, and when he's going to be at the shuttle, I'll get three shuttles of Autobots out there."

Death's Head shrugged.

"Makes no differences to me, as long as I get paid."

"You will."

Death's Head walked out of the room and headed towards the landing pad. Rodimus leaned back in his chair, and started to think about the mess the Autobots were in.

"It's days like this that make me wish I was still Hot Rod."

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Death's Head : Third chapter up and one more to go. I've alread written the first four chapters, so I thought why not upload them now and see what kind of reviews I get. Also, I'm going away for about a month or two, and I'm not working on this, or any other of my stories during that time. Read, enjoy and let me know what you think.