Disclaimer:Transformers belongs to Hasbro, Takara, etc. The only thing in this that belongs to me is Arcee's sister.
"Lord Megatron," Shockwave, Slipstream, Barricade and Blitzwing all acknowledged as they bowed before their master in greeting.
"Shockwave, Slipstream, Barricade and Blitzwing, this is quite an unexpected turn," Megatron said, greeting the four Decepticons that Knockout brought back with him from Cybertron, "Shockwave, Barricade and Blitzwing, I thought you three perished on Cybertron, and Slipstream, I thought you perished on Junkion after we left you on the planet."
At that last sentence, Shockwave glared at Starscream.
"Yes, a-as did we all," Starscream stammered in fear as he tried to explain himself to the Decepticon mad scientist.
"Reports of my, Slipstream, Barricade and Blitzwing's demises were greatly premature," Shockwave said as he began to tell his tale, "A trio of Autobots infiltrated my facility on Cybertron, sabotaging my Space Bridge. I gave chase, but failed to accurately calculate the outcome. I awoke in the rubble, blinded. It soon became clear that I was marooned on our dead planet, with no means of communication. In time, I repaired my wounds and resumed work on my experiments with the Constructicons. With their help, I was able to make tremendous advances in my research. Until, one day, my instruments detected a massive surge of unidentifiable energy."
"While that was happening, I awoke from stasis in Kaon when I opted to stay behind on Cybertron during the Exodus, Lord Megatron," Blitzwing stated, "And soon I met up with Barricade and Slipstream, who made her way back to our home planet."
"We were soon confronted by Shockwave who explained to us what he found and asked us to join him," Barricade added, "Which all three of us agreed to accompany him."
"It took me a few minutes of scavenging around Junkion to find a ship to escape the planet in as the planet was being torn apart," Slipstream told Megatron as she began to tell him and the others on how she made it back to Cybertron, "And that ship was none other than the personnel ship of Wreck-Gar himself, the Minnow."
"And when I met up back with Slipstream, Barricade and Blitzwing, we traveled to investigate its origin, at the edge of the Sea of Rust, where we encountered your salvage team and the smoldering wreckage of the Omega Lock," Shockwave went on, continuing his story, "But this was not the search party I had anticipated so long ago. Leaving one unanswered question. Why was I left for scrap? Abandoned. Why?"
As he asked the question, Shockwave approached Starscream and towered over him, as he had done many moments in the past. The question was for him. Shockwave was interested in knowing how the cowardly second-in-command would lie himself out of this one. Even Megatron was watching with mild interest.
"The explosion, it collapsed the Power Core chamber! The last thing anyone witnessed was you charging into the Space Bridge portal. No one saw you come back out!" Starscream stammered as he explained, whimpering slightly.
"I find your reply to be…logical," Shockwave said, reaching a conclusion after letting Starscream stew for a few moments.
Never before had anyone seen Starscream so relieved.
"But, Shockwave, you will be pleased to know that I avenged your seeming demise by personally terminating the Autobot, Cliffjumper," Starscream told the Decepticons' mad scientist before laughing for a second as he and Megatron went to walk away.
"Careful, Starscream. You may dislocate a landing gear patting yourself on the back," Knockout warned Starscream with a drawl and a knowing smirk on his face.
"Anyway, me, Blitzwing and Barricade are wondering if you have any vehicles we can use as disguises on this planet, Lord Megatron?" Slipstream asked Megatron.
"Soundwave!" Megatron said, calling out to his chief of communications, who nodded a response and emitted four holograms of Earth-based vehicles from his visor for Slipstream, Barricade and Blitzwing to scan. An F-16 fighter jet for Slipstream, a Ford Mustang police car for Barricade and an F-15 fighter jet and M1 Abrams tank for Blitzwing. As the three Decepticons scanned the vehicles that Soundwave provided for them as disguises on Earth, their armor platings and frames shifted to match their new alternate modes with the words 'to punish and enslave' being written somewhere on both of Barricade's pedes, while Slipstream's arms changed from black to purple and her wings changed from completely teal to purple with the flaps being teal.
"Thank you, Lord Megatron," Slipstream told her master as she bowed her helm before him.
"It's the least I can do for you, Barricade and Blitzwing, for returning to our ranks," Megatron explained.
"As Megatron's second-in-command, allow me to welcome the four of you back to the winning team," Starscream told the four Decepticons, who have just returned to their ranks, ignoring Knockout's remark as he followed Megatron and Shockwave.
"And allow me to clarify the new chain of command," Megatron retorted, turning around to face the six Decepticons in the room with him, "While Starscream will retain control over military operations but with Slipstream as his second-in-command of his armada, Shockwave will be my first lieutenant in charge of scientific endeavors."
"So you're saying that both me and Shockwave will each report directly to you," Starscream surmised, trying his hardest to show how unhappy he was with the new staffing the involved Shockwave.
"Affirmative," Megatron confirmed as he nodded.
Megatron, Shockwave, Soundwave, Barricade, Blitzwing and Knockout left the room afterwards with Slipstream soon following them after giving Starscream a sarcastic smile with every one of them but Slipstream being completely oblivious to the raging Starscream or were like her, they were fully aware of it and decided not to care.
"Completely logical, my liege," Starscream snarled, punching his fist against his thigh.
Despite vowing to be loyal to Megatron and swearing to never try to overtake him when it came to ruling the Decepticons after realigning himself with Megatron not that long ago, old habits tend to die hard.
After escaping the warehouse depot following the Decepticon attack, Arcee and Jack continued their journey along the road in their alternate modes as Optimus instructed until they reached farmland. It was then that Arcee realized that Jack didn't need as much Energon as she did considering that he was a newly formed Cybertronian.
"Hey, I just realized that you don't need to take as much Energon as I do right now, Jack," Arcee told her sparkmate.
"I guess I don't," Jack said, chuckling as he realized that she was correct, "I wonder when I'll have to take it regularly like the rest of you do."
"A few years at most," Arcee stated, "But at least we don't need to have gasoline as Energon powers our fuel and ammo and besides there's a town up ahead." She then drove into a cornfield with Jack following her, "I'm pulling over, I need to stretch my legs. I'm pretty sure you want to do the same as well, considering how long we've been in our vehicle modes."
They stopped near an abandoned farmhouse in the cornfield. Where they were, both Jack and Arcee could transform and stretch without being spotted by anyone. As soon as they stopped, they deactivated their holographic drivers and transformed into their robot forms after powering down their engines.
"Oh, yeah," Arcee moaned in relief as she stretched her limbs and joints.
"Arcee," Jack said as she turned to the setting sun, worrying his sparkmate, "Team Prime is scattered to the winds. For all I know, you and I could be the only ones left."
"I don't believe that, Jack, and I know you don't either," Arcee told him as she approached him and placed her servo over the side of one of his arms, "And besides, I can still feel Chromette through our split-spark, so I know that she's still alive, but not sure where she is."
"Maybe not," Jack said, agreeing with her, "But the Decepticons outnumber us 100-to-1. Aren't there any more Autobots who can help?"
"The War for Cybertron took a heavy toll. But there were others who escaped in the Ark," Arcee informed him.
"So where are they?" Jack asked her.
Arcee scooped some dirt into her servo and opened it, letting the dirt blow into the wind to demonstrate her point, "Scattered to the winds. So let's focus on getting back to Jasper. On getting Team Prime back together before officially making you an Autobot."
Raf and Bumblebee were also on a journey back to a small town they left behind. Neither of them could say for certain how long they have been apart. Nobody could say if they knew everyone else was alive and running either. Optimus. Arcee. Jack. Miko. Bulkhead. Wheeljack. Smokescreen. Chromette. Ratchet. June. Fowler. Were they alive? Did the Decepticons capture them? Was Jasper, Nevada actually still standing?
Nobody knew the answers. And the only way to find out was to go back. If there was something to go back to, that is.
Bumblebee buzzed a response to Raf, asking him if he found any sign of the others as the 13 year old genius was searing through a website with his laptop.
"Nada, Bee. Just the same old rubber masks and bad CG. But the usual conspiracy websites might be our only chance to-" Raf began answering his guardian before stopping in mid-sentence when he pulled up the next picture, "Whoa! I found something!"
It was a photo of Ratchet trying to escape the prying human eyes.
"It's Ratchet!" Raf told him.
Starscream snarled as he glared at Megatron and Shockwave working behind him with Slipstream, Blitzwing and Barricade nearby, "Shockwave is so transparent. Megatron's respect is earned by deeds, not words. And I so hate Slipstream's sarcastic remarks towards and the insults that she throws at me."
At the present time, Starscream was searching the internet from his console. Deep down, he knew that the Autobots were highly talented when it came to stealth. But even the most talented spies and chief of communications had the occasional slip-up or two. There have been past incidents which involved any of the Autobots - especially Bumblebee and Smokescreen - have ended up on these conspiracy websites. Maybe they would be able to find the Autobots that way.
"Useless, useless, useless. Billions of cameras in the hands of those miserable humans. One of them is bound to catch an Autobot eventually," Starscream grumbled.
Clearly, Starscream wasn't happy with his job until he stumbled upon the same picture of Ratchet that Raf found.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Starscream smirked before calling his master, "Lord Megatron, I have found something of great interest."
However, he didn't know that Raf had seen the same picture and was in the process of scrubbing it so the Decepticons wouldn't find Ratchet.
"The photo was taken yesterday, in a junkyard outside Woodland Park," Raf reported before doing the usual picture-scrubbing procedure from the past, "I'd better scrub Ratchet and replace him with…"
"An Autobot," Starscream decreed before stepping aside from the Cybertronian Computer system monitor that he found the image of Ratchet on.
However, by the time Megatron, Knockout, Slipstream, Barricade, Blitzwing and Soundwave, who just appeared in the room, were looking, the picture of Ratchet had been replaced with the gif of the tap-dancing monkey.
Needless to say, Megatron, Knockout, Slipstream, Barricade, Blitzwing and Soundwave were anything but amused over what they presumed to be a practical joke Starscream was trying to pull on them. Knockout let out a few laughs to escape his dermas, while Slipstream snickered…before a daring glare from Megatron rendered Knockout silent and stiff as a soldier.
"Wait! What?!" Starscream gasped in horror and disbelief as he realized what had happened, "It was just here! Surely one of you saw it!"
"None of us did, Starscream," Slipstream told her superior.
"I didn't see anything either," Blitzwing said, agreeing with the femme seeker.
"Me too," Barricade stated, agreeing with them before looking at the air commander with anger, "Do you take us for fools, Starscream?!"
"Starscream, you would do well to take a cue from Soundwave on occasion, and keep things to yourself!" Megatron decreed.
"Yeah, as if Starscream would ever try that," Slipstream muttered, sarcastically.
"Vow of silence. Such a cop out," Starscream grumbled as he returned to his console, defeated.
"Lord Megatron, surely our Autobot prisoner is a more valuable source of information than this primitive data-net," Shockwave suggested as he took this time to cut in.
"I'll have you know, Shockwave, that I have been grinding Wheeljack down for days," Starscreem said as he turned away from the console, his work long forgotten as he tried to salvage what little was left of his reputation, "If he knew anything, he would've spilled it by now."
"Again, some prove to be better at holding their tongues than others," Megatron retorted.
"Agreed, sometimes too much brute force can kill a prisoner before you get the information they have," Slipstream said, agreeing with the Decepticon warlord.
That caused the cogs in Shockwave's helm to start churning more than usual. More in frustration rather than due to the development of some kind of idea. Shockwave was a big believer in science and logic over violence and instincts. He began hoping that his next suggestion would prove that his belief was fact.
"Perhaps you would have better results, if instead of a club, you used a scalpel. I recommend a Cortical Psychic Patch," Shockwave recommended.
Megatron couldn't help but agree with Shockwave's suggestions. Sometimes, to get inside the head of your enemy means literally going into their minds and seeing how they think, how they feel and see what they have seen in the past. Almost like looking through a looking glass.
Besides, it worked on Smokescreen, didn't it?
Miko and Bulkhead had finally arrived at the designated Wrecker rendezvous point. Many years ago when the Wreckers were still functioning during the war, they all designated a rendezvous point on every planet that they were aware of, in case their civil war with the Decepticons ever went beyond Cybertron and they were separated on different planets.
This just happened to be the rendezvous point for Earth.
They have been waiting for hours or days - neither of them knew anymore. Wheeljack was still nowhere in sight. Bulkhead had never given up in the past. Now was certainly not when he was going to start giving up. He was still hopeful. Miko, on the other hand, was certain that the waiting was a waste of time.
"I don't think he's coming," Miko said as she finally voiced her thoughts aloud.
"Don't worry, Miko. Every Wrecker know's the protocol," Bulkhead reassured her, "Jackie'll show. If he's still kicking."
And if Bulkhead knew Wheeljack's situation, he would understand why he was waiting. It wasn't like Wheeljack would be able to help being captured by the Decepticons.
"Do your worst, Doc," Wheeljack challenged Shockwave as the Decepticons' mad scientist prepared him for the Cortical Psychic Patch, "I'm a Wrecker. I can take it."
"Trust me…you, in fact cannot," Shockwave told him with a crackling connection for the Cortical Psychic Patch in one of his servos as he aimed it towards the Wrecker as he went to perform the procedure on him.
When Shockwave went to report to Megatron sitting on his throne within Darkmount, he did not bring good news.
"The Patch failed to yield any new information on the whereabouts of the Autobots or where the new Triple Changer who appeared on Earth without being detected came from that traveled with the Autobot known as Arcee that as you and Starscream has stated looks like one of the Autobots' human pets," Shockwave announced to Megatron's horror.
"Hmm, I see," Megatron mused.
"Then it seems that Wheeljack has outlived his usefulness," Starscream stated as he, Slipstream and Knockout appeared behind Shockwave before bowing before Megatron, "With your permission, Lord Megatron, I will see to his immediate termination."
"That's the first good suggestion that I've heard from you since I returned to the ranks of the Decepticons, Starscream, after I was abandoned and left on Junkion," Slipstream told him with a smirk.
"Wake up, Wrecker," a Jet Vehicon ordered Wheeljack as he groaned and woke up as it took him a while to gain his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was being in a cell with Shockwave coming in with a Cortical Psychic Patch. His servos were now bound together as he was standing on a ledge and didn't know where he was, "Time to smelt."
Wheeljack looked down and saw the bubbling orange lava in the pool down below, similarly to the original Darkmount back on Cybertron. Ready to burn him alive.
Oh. So that's where he was.
"Commander Starscream and Lieutenant Slipstream both wanted you conscious so you'd know precisely who ordered your execution," the other Jet Vehicon informed him.
"Where is Screamy and Slipstream? Don't have the bearings to do this themselves?" Wheeljack asked, drawly, "So Slipstream has rejoined the ranks of the Decepticons after being left on Junkion all those years ago."
That earned him a hit from the Vehicon that had him hurtling to the ground. Well, the ledge, at least, He wasn't hit hard enough to be sent into the smelting pit.
Not yet, anyway. But it did give him a rough idea of what was to come.
Well, at least that was what the Vehicons were thinking.
"Jump," the Vehicon ordered, nudging Wheeljack closer to the edge.
"Hey, are you a flier?" Wheeljack suddenly asked him.
The silence was enough of an answer for Wheeljack. He kicked the Vehicon that was closest to him in the chassis before using his bound servos to grab him - the one he asked what vehicle transformation he possessed - and threw him over the edge towards the smelting pit.
But he wouldn't burn. Because Wheeljack had a plan in his processor.
"Okay, I'll jump," Wheeljack told the remaining Vehicon, who was standing next to him with his blaster aimed at the Wrecker with two other Vehicons on the other side of the smelting pit, aiming their blasters at the Wrecker as well, telling him that they would shoot him if he didn't jump into the pit willingly.
When Wheeljack jumped, the Vehicon was still in freefall towards the pit. However, the Vehicon didn't have any plans to die just yet. Especially being burnt alive. He transformed into his alternate mode and went to fly away from the pit.
"Thought so!" Wheeljack said as he decided to hitch a ride on the Vehicon as he landed on the Vehicon's back, "Yee-Haw!" He held onto the jet as it flew away from the pit. Obviously, the former Wrecker was happy that his little plan was working so far.
The other Vehicons transformed into their alternate modes and began flying after them, firing at the two Cybertronians as Wheeljack slammed his fists into the cockpit of the Vehicon that he was riding. They didn't care if they hit the Vehicon that Wheeljack was riding. They didn't care if that Vehicon died as long as the Autobot didn't get away.
"Thanks for the ride," Wheeljack drawlled before he jumped off of the Vehicon that he was riding as it crashed into a pillar, exploding on impact. Then he decided to jump on the back of another Vehicon, who was flying nearby. As the other Vehicons, who were shooting at Wheeljack as he tried to escape…well, most of them ended up crashing into Darkmount. The shots they fired were deflected by the Vehicon that Wheeljack was riding as he transformed his servo into his blaster and began firing his blaster at a Vehicon that was flying towards him and the Vehicon that he was riding.
After shooting some down and he was at a suitable distance from Darkmount, Wheeljack forced the Vehicon into a crash dive towards the ground. Upon contact with the ground, he was quick to transform into his alternate mode and take off, knowing Megatron would be well aware of his escape by now.
"This is how you handle things?!" Megatron snarled at Starscream, while Slipstream glared at her superior with a smile on her face.
Yes. Wheeljack's instinct about Megatron being aware of his escape was correct.
"Wheeljack is not the first prisoner to escape Starscream's care," Shockwave stated.
"I agree, Starscream has done this multiple times, Lord Megatron," Slipstream said, agreeing with Shockwave, "After me, him, Thundercracker, Skywarp and a few other seekers joined the Decepticons and even more so after us and the Autobots left Cybertron."
That was true. There have been many incidents in the past where Starscream had managed to capture an Autobot - on Cybertron, during their voyages in space and on Earth - and within a matter of moments, they would escape and were never seen again except on the battlefield.
Starscream is one of the most ruthless, most feared interrogators among the Decepticons - coming short to shockwave, naturally. He would live up to that reputation if he was able to keep his prisoners in the dungeon.
"Actually, master, I allowed Wheeljack to escape," Starscream told Megatron.
That was something Megatron didn't expect to hear from his second-in-command.
"YOU WHAT?!" Megatron roared as he rose up from his throne onto his pedes in anger.
"But the Autobot's every move, his every word, will be monitored," Starscream added.
That earned Megatron's interest, allowing the Decepticon warlord to cease his anger…for the time being.
"Thanks to a simple tracking device implanted while the prisoner was still unconscious, following the failed Cortical Psychic Patch," Starscream went on as he held up the design of the tracking device to prove his point before sneering, "Now, all we have to do is wait, watch and listen. When the Wrecker reunites with the other Autobots and that unknown Triple Changer, my and Slipstream's Armada will strike."
That was enough for Megatron to forgive Starscream for allowing the Autobot to escape.
Bumblebee and Raf arrived at the scrapyard where they saw the photo of Ratchet. Anxiously, Raf looked around, searching for him.
"He's gotta be here," Raf said, anxiously.
Bumblebee drove around the next bend before suddenly skidding to a stop. If Raf hadn't been wearing his seatbelt, he would've collided with the dashboard. Taking a moment to adjust his glasses, he began to understand why Bumblebee had suddenly skidded to a stop.
Ratchet was in front of them.
"Ratchet!" Raf said, calling out to the medic as he rushed out of Bumblebee's alternate mode after unfastening his seatbelt before Bumblebee transformed into his robot mode as he followed Raf, "Ratchet. It's me, Raf! Uh Ratchet."
"Go away!" Ratchet ordered them before Bumblebee bent down towards them beeping a response, "You're interrupting my power down." Bumblebee then beeped another response.
"Come on, Ratchet, we need your help to find the others!" Raf pleaded with the medic before Bumblebee beeped a response, telling him that they need to stop Megatron and the Decepticons.
"We can't stop Megatron, not anymore. The war is over, and we've lost," Ratchet told them, sadly.
"You're giving up?!" Raf said in disbelief and surprise, "We can't just give up!"
"Then tell me what we can do?! Without communications, without a Ground Bridge, without a base of operations or resources of any kind," Ratchet retorted when he suddenly transformed before Bumblebee beeped an answer, reminding him that Starscream had a base of operations when he was rogue.
"Bee's right, we know Starscream had access to a Ground Bridge while he was operating solo," Raf said, agreeing with his guardian.
"Yes, yes, he'd clearly been using the derelict Decepticon ship, the Harbinger," Ratchet told them before scoffing, "What does that have to do with anything?!"
"It could be full of Cybertronian tech, and it's probably abandoned again now that Starscream's back with the 'Cons," Raf explained.
"Well, resources won't be of much use, not without someone to lead us," Ratchet stated after scoffing.
Now they were beginning to understand the true root of Ratchet's problems. Everyone was separated and there was no way to find each other again. Especially with Optimus being mysteriously unaccounted for and Jack not being ready to take up the mantle as the next Prime, considering he lacks the leadership skills, wisdom, Cybertronian combat skills and recently becoming a Cybertronian.
"It's a start!" Raf told him.
"Then you'll have to start without me. This is someone else's fight now," Ratchet stated.
"There is no one else, Ratchet! Just us! Just the team!" Raf argued.
"Please," Ratchet said before transforming back into his alternate mode, "Just let me rust in peace."
"Come on, Bee," Raf sighed before the Autobot scout transformed into his alternate mode and Raf climbed into his passenger seat, leaving Ratchet alone in the scrapyard.
Little did they know that Ratchet was already beginning to regret his choice to give up.
He also remembered what Megatron did to Cybertron near the end of the war on Cybertron, conquering Jasper, trying to Cyber-form Earth into a new Cybertron and turning all human life into mindless Cybertronian slaves and having Jack transformed into a Cybertronian before they could do it themselves without Decepticon interference.
The sun was peeking over the horizon when Ratchet finally decided to make up his mind. He had enough Energon reserves to reach the Harbinger.
He just hoped it wasn't too late.
Chromette was looking after Optimus when Smokescreen phased through the cave's walls as he returned.
"I'm back," Smokescreen announced as he approached them.
"How'd it go, Smoke?" Chromette asked him, worryingly, "Did you find anything?"
"I combed through every square micron of our old base, I couldn't find Ratchet's medical kit. Not even a bandage," Smokescreen answered, grimly.
"The Forge… of Solus Prime…" Optimus rasped, weakly, his optics flickering on and off with each heavy intake he took.
"It's gone too. The 'Cons picked the place clean," Smokescreen sighed, sadly.
"Why would you need the Forge, Optimus?" Chromette asked her leader before remembering the properties of the relic that her, Arcee and all female Cybertronians ancestor possessed as she looked at Smokescreen, "Smoke, he needs the Forge to repair himself!"
"She's right! If you had the Forge, you could fix yourself up! Power of the Primes!" Smokescreen said, agreeing with the pink and white femme, "Optimus, hang on just a little longer. That hammer's gotta be somewhere in Megatron's fortress. Chromette, continue to keep an eye on him."
"I will," Chroomette told him, "But there's something I want to tell you before you go, Smokescreen."
"What is it, Chromette?" Smokescreen asked her.
"I just want to say what I wanted to say before Optimus woke up, Smokescreen," Chromette answered before looking up at him in his optics, "Since you returned with Optimus from Egypt with the first Omega Key after me and Arcee thought Megatron killed you, I realized that I had feelings for you, and I… I love you."
"You love me?" He asked her, not sure if he heard her correctly or not.
"With all my spark," she confirmed as she placed one of her servos over her chassis and spark chamber.
"I… I feel the same, Chromette," Smokescreen told her as she lowered her servo before placing one of his servos over one of her shoulders in a romantic manner, "See you when I return with the Forge."
Chromette smirked, knowing that Smokescreen shares the same feelings for her that she does for him as he phased through one of the cave's walls as he went to recover the Forge of Solus Prime from the Decepticons.
Another day was dawning over the mountain horizon where Bulkhead and Miko were hiding.
Bulkhead was eagerly watching the roads. He still hasn't given up on Wheeljack meeting them at the rendezvous point. Miko had fallen asleep close to midnight. She was still sleeping and was snoring as she leaned against Bulkhead's pede.
Bulkhead was about to nod off briefly when he heard a familiar roar. Not the roar of an animal. But the roar of an engine.
But at this stage, he didn't know who it was.
"Miko, wake up," Bulkhead ordered Miko as he stood up.
If it wasn't Bulkhead's voice that woke her up, the sudden fall to the ground did. Yawning, Miko sat up and stretched before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Why?" Miko asked as she sat up.
"Someone's coming," Bulkhead answered as he transformed his left servo into his Wrecking ball mace and his right servo into his blaster.
The roar of the engine continued to come close. Over the road, Bulkhead had his blaster charging and ready to fire.
Then he stopped as he knew the sound of the engine.
"I'd know the hum of that engine anywhere," Bulkhead said as he transformed his Wrecking ball mace and his blaster back into his servos.
Sure enough, in his vehicle mode, Wheeljack drove around the bend at a high speed. He was traveling so fast that he ended up skidding before regaining control. After driving a few more hundred meters, he slowed to a stop and transformed into his robot mode.
"Ha-ha, Jackie!" Bulkhead said as he laughed, excitedly before suddenly hugging him tight, "Where ya been, buddy?!"
"Catching up with a few old dance partners," Wheeljack rasped.
He faintly registered the snap of a photo being taken. With her phone in hand, Miko stepped forward.
"Good to see ya, kid. Safe to assume we're the only three Wreckers around?" Wheeljack drawled as he made a pose.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's do some damage," Miko told him.
"What's our next move, Jackie, circle back to base?" Starscream heard Bulkhead ask Wheeljack as he, Slipstream, Megatron, Knockout, Barricade and Blitzwing were overhearing their conversation from the tracker that he put inside of Wheeljack before the Wrecker escaped their custody.
"There is no base, 'Cons blasted it to dust," they heard Wheeljack answer Bulkhead.
"The dimwit played right into my hands," Starscream sneered before turning to the second-in-command of his armada, "Slipstream, order our armada to attack."
"Yes, Commander," Slipstream said, reluctantly before contacting their armada, "All Seekers to the flight deck! We have pinpointed the enemy!"
Within moments, the Nemesis heard the sound of Seekers taking off. Immediately, Starscream and Slipstream both could see the different symbols on the Cybertronian Computer screen.
The triangles representing the Seekers on the prowl and the beeping circle representing Wheeljack's location.
"Attack, our armada!" Starscream smirked, gleefully.
The armada that Starscream ordered Slipstream to send out to exterminate Wheeljack landed at the coordinates that were provided by the tracking device that was installed prior to Wheeljack's escape. The Seekers transformed into their robot modes and landed on their pedes before transforming their servos into their blasters and charging them as they began searching the area, watching their backs as they did.
"We're at the coordinates, Commander Starscream and Lieutenant Slipstream," One of the Seekers reported.
"Hold fast," Starscream ordered the Seekers from the Nemesis as he tracked the Seekers' movements on the main computer, "They are approaching your position."
Immediately, the Seekers stiffened and prepared for battle as they saw something approaching them from the stream they were standing near.
Could it be the Autobot that they were sent to kill? Starscream did say that Wheeljack was approaching their position.
What they saw come around the bend wasn't Wheeljack or even a part of him. Instead, they saw what looked like a piece of wood or debris from something. What it was, wasn't clear as it was too far away from the Seekers for them to positively identify it, but they knew it wasn't a threat, so they lowered their blasters.
From a rocky structure overlooking the scene, Wheeljack, Bulkhead and Miko were surveying the scene before them. They knew what was going to happen next.
And they were going to love it.
"Target's in range," Bulkhead observed.
With a smirk, Wheeljack held a detonator in his servo, ready to press the button when the time was right.
The item that was floating down the stream towards the Seekers was, in fact, a small log. But it wasn't the log that was important.
It's what was hidden inside of it.
The tracking device Starscream had planted on Wheeljack before his escape attached to one of Wheeljack's signature bombs.
"And boom," Wheeljack muttered as he went to activate his signature bomb's detonator.
"GRENADE!" One of the Seekers yelled as he noticed Wheeljack's signature bomb on the log underneath the tracker that Starscream placed on Wheeljack before the Wrecker escaped as it began to go off.
From the Rocky structure above, Wheeljack, Bulkhead and Miko enjoyed the fire show that unfolded before them as Wheeljack's signature bomb destroyed every single one of the Seekers that Starscream ordered Slipstream to dispatch to intercept the tracking device that he placed inside of Wheeljack.
Starscream, on the other hand, wasn't, while Slipstream looked at him with a sly smile on her face.
"He tricked us," Starscream said with disbelief.
"Really, Starscream, you thought this would work as you planned?" Slipstream asked her superior with disbelief, "Wheeljack is one of the smartest Wreckers out there."
Like Slipstream, Megatron knew that Starscream's plan wouldn't succeed. They rarely did after all. But he did find some enjoyment in this.
Despite all appearances, it's like what Slipstream said, Wheeljack was smarter than he lets on.
"How'd you know the 'Cons planted a tracker on you?" Miko asked Wheeljack as the smoke began to clear.
"I figured the 'Cons were up to something, so I did a little poking around under my hood," Wheeljack answered.
"That's my Jackie!" Bulkhead said, laughing.
"So, what's our next move?" Miko asked Wheeljack.
"I salvaged some munitions from the Jackhammer on my way out," Wheeljack said, tapping on the signature bomb of his that was on his skirt plate before he transformed into his alternate mode, "You think that made a loud noise? Just wait."
With those words said, Wheeljack took off at a high speed. Eager to get on the road as well, Bulkhead was quick to transform into his alternate mode and open the passenger door for Miko. Immediately, the Japanese exchange student jumped into the passenger seat, allowing Bulkhead to chase after his fellow Wrecker.
Meanwhile, Raf and Bumblebee had managed to find the wreckage of the Harbinger, which Starscream had used as his base of operations when he went rogue. As Raf suspected, the ship was loaded with Cybertronian technology, which explained how Starscream lasted as long as he did before rejoining Megatron.
Right now, though, the technology is dead. Starscream had disconnected all of the equipment before he left to offer Megatron the four Omega Keys. So Bumblebee and Raf had to reconnect everything.
They just hoped they did it right, because Ratchet was the one who usually did this sort of thing.
"Hold it right there, Bee," Raf instructed his guardian after the scout beeped and plugged a cable into the Cybertronian Computer systems as Raf danced around the keyboard and pressed some buttons on the screen, "And powering up!"
They saw a bright flash and heard a hum as everything began to power up…only for the flash and hum to disappear as quickly as they appeared. They hadn't hooked everything up correctly.
"Keep trying, we'll figure it out," Raf assured Bumblebee.
"Yip-yip-ip!" They both suddenly heard Ratchet yelling his all-too familiar gibberish, causing Bumblebee to beep his name in surprise, "You're mis-calibrating the Energon transducer."
"Ratchet!" Raf cried in surprise as he saw the medic as well.
"Now step out of my way so I can work," Ratchet ordered as he approached the computer and began correcting the mistakes that Bumblebee and Raf had made.
Things were finally starting to look up.
For them at least.
For Jack and Arcee, as they zoomed across the countryside of the United States in their alternate modes, things weren't looking hopeful.
"The last time things looked this bleak, Optimus slipped me that Keycard, back when I was still human, and something we could hang our hopes on," Jack recalled.
"I know you're feeling helpless, Jack," Arcee told her sparkmate, "But this doesn't need to be your burden."
Arcee and Jack's conversation stopped when they heard the familiar whooshing of either a Cybertronian spaceship or jet approaching them. They both skidded to a stop when the Cybertronian vessel flew over them and turned around to land before them.
It wasn't a Decepticon attacking them. If it were, they would be dead by now. So they transformed into their robot modes with Arcee transforming her servos into her blasters, prepared for anything.
"Stay behind me," Arcee ordered her sparkmate.
The hatch then opened on the underside of the ship and lowered to the ground, revealing four figures in a hazy smoke. One of the figures had the same body type as Optimus but was mostly blue and red with a tint of white with large shoulder pads, one of the others had Cybertronian exhaust ports over their arms and some sort of flame-like design over their chassis with fins over their back plates and was colored red and yellow, another of the others had a chassis that looked similar to a mirror but was red with an Autobot insignia in the center of it and a shoulder cannon over their left shoulder with their frame being mostly colored red, black and blue and the final one had a frame of a Cybertronian Triple Changer with their chassis being colored yellow and was mostly green.
Arcee had her blasters ready to fire at the mysterious strangers…until they stepped out of the smoke.
"Jack, I don't think we're gonna need that Keycard," Arcee told her Sparkmate, who looked like he was going to ask why before he got a good view of the new arrivals that stood in front of them, "Meet Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Rodimus and Springer."
"So not only did you fail to destroy the Autobots, but you allowed their number to increase," Megatron told Starscream with visible anger on his face, "IS THERE NO ONE WHO CAME BRING ME THEIR HEADS?!"
"If I may, Lord Megatron," Shockwave said, interrupting Megatron's latest verbal attack on Starscream, "During my exile on Cybertron, I resumed work on a long dormant project with help from the Constructicons, one that I believe can provide a solution to our current problem."
"Cyber-Nucleic-Acid?" Knockout asked with confusion as Shockwave brought the data up on the screen in front of everyone.
"The building blocks of all Cybertronian life. This hails from a specimen that me and Scrapper excavated upon our planet, and has yielded promising results," Shockwave explained.
"What does any of this have to do with hunting Autobots?" Blitzwing asked him.
"Yeah, I agree, Blitzwing," Barricade said, agreeing with the Triple Changer, "What does our building blocks have to do with hunting Autobots?"
"Didn't either of you hear what Shockwave said?" Slipstream asked them, "He wants to clone an extinct animal from Cybertron." She then sighed and placed a servo over her face, "Why do I even bother? After all, I'm smarter than the two of you put together."
"The Autobots continue to evade us. What makes you think we can afford to wait for the answer to our prayers to be birthed in some petri dish?" Starscream demanded the Decepticons' mad scientist.
"You misunderstand. The subject has been fully cultivated, and only need to be transported from my laboratory on Cybertron," Shockwave clarified.
Starscream gasped at that. He was hoping that would take too long to come into fruition so Megatron could shoot it down, citing the fact that they did not have enough time and needed to take care of the Autobots now.
"Then, by all means, activate the Space Bridge," Megatron ordered.
On the desolate planet that was once a hotspot for firepower and large battles, the only light that shone in Shockwave's laboratory was the light that shone from the Space Bridge portal. That light disappeared from the portal as it closed behind him as seven green and purple Cybertronians with black helms, silver face plates, red visor-like optics and frames that looked like that of Cybertronian construction vehicles and they were none other than the Constrcticons, Scrapper, Mixmaster, Hook, Long, Scavenger, Frontloader and Bonecrusher, looked at him.
Shockwave then approached a large storage container with fluid that preserved his experiment.
Oh yes. This is what they needed.
With the press of a few buttons on his console, the lab came to life around him and the Constructicons. Lights were turned on. Machines started humming. Electricity started cracking around the containment pod that contained his desired experiment, giving it the charge it needed to come to life.
Turning around, Shockwave watched as the fluid drained and Shockwave's results came to fruition.
Megatron sat on his throne in Darkmount, waiting patiently for Shockwave's return with the Constructicons and his experiment.
He did not have to wait long. Soon enough, another Space Bridge portal opened as Shockwave and the Constructicons emerged from the Space Bridge portal. The portal didn't shut behind him like it did when Shockwave returned to his laboratory on Cybertron.
This indicated that something else besides Shockwave and the Constructicons was coming through the Space Bridge portal.
"We present to you, my liege, the ultimate Autobot hunter," Shockwave told Megatron as everyone, except Shockwave and the Constructicons, naturally gasped at the creature that was emerging from the Space Bridge portal after the Decepticons' mad scientist and the Constructicons. Even Megatron was left amazed.
The creature was, for all intents and purposes, a large mechanical dragon. It had the head, the scales, the body, the tail, the wings; everything that made a dragon, a dragon, which roared at everyone.
The Decepticons just witnessed history coming back to life.
For standing before them, was a Predacon.
Next is Prey and please favorite, follow and review. And Long is supposed to be Long Haul, but they took the 'Haul' part out of his name and there is no explanation if this was intentional or not and what type of construction vehicle should Frontloader be considering he's only in the Aligned Continuity?