Author's Notes: Another chapter; I do hope more readers will get involved and let me know how it's coming along, I must apologize if the personalities of the Transformers don't mesh too well with thier Marvel Comic counterparts, I'm afraid I've gone and merged Cartoon personality with Comic personality creating a sort of amalgamation for Earth 929, ah well; it makes for some great jokes. At least in my oppinion.

A mighty tractor trailer with a red semi cab comes bareling down the road; it transforms into the awe-inspiring form of Optimus Prime as the Transformer logo appears he fires a shot off-camera. "We now Return to the Transformers" (Oh and I don't claim to own these little blurbs either; they're from the cartoon, actually comercial bumpers, don't beleive me check out the DVDs if you happen to own the original cartoon on DVD, so don't sue me Hasbro/Sunbow whoever owns the rights now, I'm just borrowing these too.)

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At the exact same instant that Allan Rutherford was first witnessing the assault on New York by Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet a small squad of Autobots was currently posted onboard the SHIELD helicarrier to ensure that the Infinity Engine remained safe. The mobile airborne fortress wasn't the ideal place for a robot of Jetfire's type; the massive red and white Autobot stood an impressive height slightly taller then the Dinobots in robot mode, though not quite as tall as Devastator.
His fellow guardians assigned this thankless task weren't so encumbered; Inferno smiled as he headed over to the hunched form of their resident ace flier and currently only means of traveling vast distances without the use of Wheeljacks personal space bridge stylized warp generators.

"Energon." He announced tossing a cube, which Jetfire deftly caught.

"So, is Red driving the humans crazy yet?" Jetfire asked with a chuckle his mouth plate preventing him from smiling; tipping the energon cube back he took a swig.

"You know ol' Red; that Fury character had to lock him out of the computer systems because of all the false alarms." Inferno informed in a semi-gossipy tone; Jetfire was about to retort when alarm klaxons blared bringing them both to their feet and almost causing some of the ceiling to come crashing down due to Jetfire's hasty movements.

"Alert, all operatives we are under siege; battle stations." Fury's voice called over the ship wide intercom.

"Decepticons." Both Autobots guessed before rushing to find a means to the surface of the massive helicarrier.

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Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker swooped out of the sun in rapid formation; their lasers blazing as they tore across the surface of the massive human construct, Blitzwing followed behind in jet mode and dropped his payload; Megatron and Soundwave transformed mid-fall and landed on the surface of the mighty warship, for warship it was as evidenced by the lasers popping up all around in order to deal with this threat.

"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Ratbat eject." Soundwave intoned in his monotone opening the chest compartment; four familiar cassettes emerged and reconfigured into human sized mechanoids. Rumble and Frenzy were robots, a red and black and a mostly blue respectively. Ravage naturally was a black panther while Ratbat was a purple and black bat; the four of them looked to Soundwave for instructions, Soundwave had built them all or in the case of Ratbat adopted the Cassetticon into his forces, so they always waited for his instructions before enacting upon their own.
"Locate Infinity Engine." Soundwave ordered, all four dashed into the helicarrier easily evading detection by the oncoming defenders; the SHIELD men and women fired on the invading Decepticons to little effect. Despite their advanced technologies they were simply no match for Cybertronian crafted armor.

"Primitive flesh creatures." Megatron sneered opening fire with his mighty fusion cannon, the humans screamed as their bodies were atomized on the spot by the sheer force of the mighty tyrants weapon, their cries silenced as swiftly as they began.

"Hold it right there Megatron." A voice commanded as Inferno, Red Alert, Jazz and Jetfire arrived on the scene with the next wave of defenders.

"Autobots.!" Soundwave exclaimed in alarm. "Laserbeak, Buzzsaw eject; operation warfare." He added releasing the last of his Cassetticon forces.

"Soon to be junkyard fodder when we're through." Megatron proclaimed leaping into the air and converting into his pistol mode, which landed in Soundwave's outstretched hand; Megatron had long since felt that this form inadequate for his purposes. Relying as it did on the presence of his soldiers to aim and fire; unfortunately he had little more choice in the matter as the late Reflector had when the Autobot computer reformatted the fallen and stasis locked Decepticons with these primitive Earthen modes.
His attempts to alter this body had resulted in a semi-allegiance with the struggling Cobra terrorist faction, but that old tank body had been destroyed in a tussle with Superion and Thunderwing of the laughable Pretender sub-faction and so he was reduced to once again utilizing his classic look so to speak. Soundwave pulled his trigger sending a concentrated burst of pure cataclysmic firepower straight at the Autobots; however the accursed heroes were quick to evade and returned fire on the strafing seekers. Shockwave; who had been in observation mode several miles away decided that it was only logical for him to join in the assault if the Decepticons hoped to even emerge victorious today. As he approached and assumed his massive space cannon form he targeted one of the mighty engines of the incalculably immense human vessel and fired; the resulting explosion sent chunks of metal and various other debris flying into the heavens to come raining down on whatever hapless spot the SHIELD base was currently floating over.

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Inside Nick Fury whirled to face his trusted second a look of concern and very real fear on his features; over all the years since their presence was revealed the Decepticons had never truly attacked the SHIELD Helicarrier, now it was looking like this would be the last hurrah for the old girl.

"This is bad, initiate the evacuation command just in case." He ordered chomping as ever on a cigar butt locked between his teeth. "Oh well; I've been wanting to improve on the old girl for quite some time, this'll just be some incentive to get a newly commissioned better outfitted helicarrier." He muttered to himself as he watched the two alien factions duke it out atop the mightiest vehicle the world had ever known; at least one that had been human made.

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"Jetfire get those Decepticreeps off our six will ya; or else Shockwave and Megatron'll blast us out of the sky." Inferno cried cocking his rifle and blasting ineffectively at Skywarp who was making another pass. Jetfire converted into his armored flight mode and took to the air; it was based on a Cybertronian jet design, but had been modified with existing technologies on Earth. Red Alert fired a rocket at the Decepticon boarders and managed to destabilize Soundwave long enough for Jazz to tackle him.

"Time for you to go down the charts while I rustle up some number one hits." He proclaimed driving his fist into Soundwave's chest and cracking it; Megatron leapt free of his comrades' grip and reverted to robot mode aiming his barrel on Jazz's head. Before he could blast the Autobot into oblivion however Shockwave blew out another engine causing the massive vessel to tilt crazily throwing off Megatron's shot, Red Alert cursed their luck as he fired on Megatron it wasn't looking so good.

"Jazz I don't think this human made vessel will survive further assaults of that nature, assist in removing Shockwave from the equation if you please." The security chief requested in a strained tone; Jazz shrugged Megatron off of him and converted into his Porsche mode, racing down the landing strip he drew even with Red Alert as they both drove closer to Shockwave's hovering location.
Megatron continued to fire on them; even reverting to pistol mode and once again landing in Soundwave's outstretched hand as the duo attempted to blow the Autobot's tires out, to little avail. Adopting robot mode simultaneously both of them fired with their strongest weapons; Shockwave was hit in the side and lost part of his propulsion systems, he plunged screaming from the sky and Jazz waved his pistol around triumphantly even as Jetfire raced past blasting Thundercracker and Skywarp out of the fray as well.

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Meanwhile within the prison facility, which had been evacuated by all save one guard Rumble and Frenzy finally located what they sought; Rumble examined the room the engine was located in uncertain as to why it was even down this far.

"This is it?" Frenzy exclaimed hefting the tiny sphere; it looked rather unassuming, like the brain casing of a Transformer the size of Devastator, only with blinking lights and a small tube filled with Energon pumping into the center of the device.

"It's gotta be." Rumble proclaimed. "It's the only active Cybertronian tech onboard." He added.

"Let's get out of here then." Frenzy stated smashing a gaping hole to the nearest bulkhead. "Unless you want to retrieve Reflector too." He added with a smirk; Rumble shook his head and blew open the bulkhead revealing the sky outside, together the two of them leapt into the air.

"Ravage, Ratbat we got it; bug out." Rumble reported over the com; Ravage growled softly and quickly made his way back to his master, Ratbat simply flew off intent on returning to headquarters. The lone guard shook her head and groggily climbed back to her feet, she couldn't remember what she'd been doing down here; nor when she'd lost consciousness, but judging from the lilting of the deck it was obvious the ship was going down.
Vanessa ignored the oddly gaping holes leading out into the open air and raced for one of the escape pods; she failed to notice the smashed containment unit she had been guarding, or the fact that its' alien occupant was long gone, although she did notice that she seemed to be a little faster suddenly.

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"Megatron, objective achieved!" Soundwave cried as he batted Jazz aside once again; the Decepticon leader sneered with contempt as he knocked Inferno to the decking.

"Then it is time to disembark, and for our Autobot friends." He added as he leapt into the air and targeted the lone engine still managing to keep this massive vessel aloft; well it wasn't exactly the only engine still operational, but it was the final straw so to speak. "A little going away present." He finished bursting into evil laughter as he fired three consecutive shots; the engine exploded along with a substantial portion of the surrounding area, the helicarrier began to list badly and Inferno and Jazz started sliding towards the empty air and the rather long drop to the surface.

"This isn't good." Inferno remarked clutching at his arm to keep it from falling off as he clung tenaciously to several industrial sized cables. "Got any ideas Red?" He asked glancing up to Red Alert who was clutching the support struts above him; all that remained of one of the engine mounts Shockwave vaporized.

"Need a lift?" Jetfire quipped rocketing up beside the plummeting helicarrier; Jazz chuckled as Jetfire opened his entrance hatch.

"Come on you two let's be daring; the last one in is a rusty herring." He remarked comically as he leapt clear of the plummeting Helicarrier and landed inside Jetfire.

"Where does he come up with those?" Inferno wondered even as he and Red Alert also jumped clear. "It's like he's got some eighties cornball dialogue director in that casing of his or something." He added jokingly.

"I'd hate to see the bill for that." Jetfire remarked as the Autobot jet warrior flew away; Red Alert sighed as he moved to sit down in one of the Autobot sized seats.

"I don't relish reporting this to Prime; they got the engine." He lamented with a sigh; Jazz lowered his head mournfully and then glanced up to the retreating forms of the Decepticons just barely visible on the horizon.
The helicarrier slammed into the waters of the Pacific sending up a massive gout of spray; from his personal escape craft Nicholas Fury watched it slowly sink beneath the waves like some grotesque parody of the Titanic, he knew the recovery was not feasible this time; he'd moved the ship over the deepest part of the ocean close enough to the mainland. Still there were several irreplaceable pieces of technology and numerous files that would need to be retrieved; no human could ever hope to reach it, but perhaps he could persuade Namor and his Atlanteans to assist him, if not the lousy Autobots could just play deep diver, they were the root cause of this loss anyway.

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I smirked as I caught sight of the Insecticons clinging to the Statue of Liberty; right where my sensors had located them, part of me was in awe as I stared up at the massive Lady. This was my first time up close with the national monument and the tourist buried deep inside was feeling a tad giddy; well ok I'd seen her a couple times on the Holodeck, but as I discovered upon first encountering Jetfire and the like, holograms couldn't compare to the real thing.

"What are we gonna do now?" Rogue wondered curiously; I smirked as I tapped Windcharger's dash.

"It's all up to Windcharger here, but he shouldn't have too big of a problem; we're here to back him up." I stated; Windcharger pulled to a stop at the base of the statue and we hopped out while he converted back to robot mode weapon in hand.

"I'll handle Shrapnel, you two deal with Bombshell and Kickback." He requested; I nodded and sought out Bombshell, I felt I would have a greater chance of avoiding any of his cerebro shells if he used them because I knew what to look for.

"Kickback's the grasshopper." I added for Rogue's benefit; she smirked playfully at that and hopped into the sky.

"Should be easy to squash some overgrown bugs." She returned before Windcharger started firing alerting the Insecticons to our presence.

"Insecticons, Ticons; we are under attack, attack!" Shrapnel exclaimed even as he leapt off of the statue and transformed into his impressive looking robot mode; although I say impressive in the sense, that much like a child I was awed by the up close and personal look at the Transformers I was getting. Rogue charged Kickback and attempted to knock him off the statue in turn, but the overgrown grasshopper leapt straight at her instead and lashed out with his impressive rear legs; she screamed in pain as she was flung what looked like clear across the bay.
I chose a different tactic with Bombshell; instead of rushing in blindly I short circuited him, or at least tried to, his tough rhinoceros beetle hide mostly absorbed the electricity and he shifted into his own robot mode to target me. Dodging the stream of energy particles fired my way; I reached out with my gravitational powers and attempted to magnetically ensnare his rifle, I couldn't get it out of his hand though, his grip was too tight.

"You possess powers of Magneto's kind, but you aren't very smart to challenge the likes of the Insecticons mutant filth." The Insecticon stated coldly before firing a second stream of particle energies; I dove out of the way once more and noted that Windcharger wasn't faring any better in swatting Shrapnel, and Kickback was ganging up on him with Rogue still miles away.

"Should have got one of the other Autobots to come too; in all honesty humans are just no match for Decepticons." I muttered to myself. "And these ones aren't as weak as Reflectors components." I added for effect; hovering out of Bombshell's range I waited to see what he might do, as was typical of his race he turned to Windcharger instead of pursuing me underestimating my abilities with arrogant assumptions.
"I wonder if they're just as dumb as Reflector though." I mused an idea forming roughly in my mind; it was time to use the ancient tactic of misdirection. "Computer locate Decepticon frequency." I ordered verbally rather then mentally simply because the neural links to my armor although several times faster, just couldn't compare to the sheer Saturday morning cartoony fun of verbal commands; and sometimes I just liked playing around.

"Frequency located; Insecticon Controller Frequency also located." My armor reported internally; I nodded slightly.

"Open communications channel." I ordered; time for me to get into the play acting role I enjoyed, although this might be a bad idea on my part.

"Unable to comply; incoming communication already establishing." The armor returned; I frowned slightly at that, if I couldn't trick them perhaps I could listen in.

"Intercept Eavesdrop protocols." I requested.

"Shrapnel, Soundwave reporting per Megatron's commands; cease all hostilities within the city of New York." Soundwave was heard ordering; the communiqué sounding as though it were being bounced off of several different sources.

"But, the Autobots, Bots." Shrapnel argued.

"Are of no further concern; mission accomplished." Soundwave countered; his monotone voice sounding surprisingly angered, Shrapnel visibly trembled with certain rage and then rose his left arm high.

"Insecticons, Ticons; retreat, retreat!" He ordered; even as he did so I could see the Insecticon Swarm attacking New York fade, as the orders to the Drones were cut off. The three Insecticons took to the air and zipped away; I lowered myself back down to where Windcharger was standing a frown pursed on his lips.

"Now why'd they do that; they had us outnumbered." He wondered; I sighed and shook my head.

"I have a feeling we just got owned; as the lesser intellects of the world might say." I returned; Windcharger nodded and reverted to vehicle mode.

"Need a lift back?" He wondered; I shook my head.

"I think I'd better go see about my girlfriend; Kickback might have broken something." I countered refusing his invite as politely as I good; Windcharger revved his engine and took off, and I followed the trajectory Rogue had taken on her unscheduled flight.

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Emma Frost watched as the man called Allan Rutherford gently ran the Tricorder device over Rogues' leg; he'd already healed her rib cage and she was breathing fine now, that kick must have been really powerful to damage Rogue like that. Banshee was visiting with some of the others including Jubilee and Illyana so it was just her, Rogue, Hank and Al in the medical ward; she still had to help his sub-conscious understand the nightmares he'd been getting. At least she'd promised Rogue as much; she cringed at the thought of how different she was becoming, so unlike the evil White Queen she'd once been as part of the Hellfire club. A lot of people had underestimated her desires to remain free of purgatory; in a way, when she first encountered the Shadow King that's when she began to re-evaluate her life.
With a curt done Al flipped the tricorder closed and then kissed Rogue; she smiled gratefully as she remained laying down, she looked a little tired and Al promised he'd come back to see her later, but first it was time to speak with Emma. Rogue nodded and promptly fell asleep; Hank had given her some sedatives earlier, before Al reminded him that it was unnecessary, but Hank liked to think he was still useful around here as long as the young man had his tricorder.

"Shall we reconvene in the study then?" Emma asked approaching the young man; he nodded and slipped his hand free from Rogues a wistful expression passing behind his gaze before he turned and left the room.

"So; how do we get my sub-conscious out to play?" He wondered with a chuckle; Emma smirked secretively and shook her head.

"It won't be as easy as that, but I have a feeling your mind will let us know what's been plaguing it relatively easy enough." She returned; it was his turn to smirk and then the two of them vanished into the elevator.

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Megatron stood before the Decepticons regarding the tiny seemingly insignificant bauble a permanent smirk playing across his lips; Starscream took one look at the thing and was clearly unimpressed.

"You'd think Wheeljack would build something that doesn't look like a rip off of their precious Matrix of Leadership." He scoffed; Megatron ignored the comment and gently handed the device to Scrapper, the leader of the Constructicons.

"Find out how this works." He ordered. "Swiftly."

"With pleasure Megatron." Scrapper returned a hungry glint in his optics; he was most eager to ascertain the properties of the Infinity Engine and just what marvels they might be able to use it for.

To Be Continued; Uh-Oh, what dark secrets does the Infinity Engine possess? How will the Decepticons use it to gain unlimited energy and become masters of Cybertron? Be here next time for the continuing saga... Oh wait, Laserbeak!

A black and red audio cassett flys through space as though ejected recently from Soundwaves's chest; the Transformers logo floats behind it as it transforms into Laserbeak and fires off a shot. "The Transformers will return after these Messages."