As promised, the first chapter of the new (and hopefully improved) Team Storm!
It had been a week since the fateful launch of the Autobot ship the Ark, followed closely by the Decepticons' ship the Nemesis. All was silent on Cybertron for the moment; the Autobots and Decepticons who were left behind, either by choice or by being late to their respective launches, were still settling after the departure of their respective leaders.
Of course, not all of the higher ups left; Shockwave was very much home and alive, if the activity of the Decepticon hidden lab was any indication. The bots inside moved about, knowing that just because the cyclopic scientist wasn't physically there it didn't mean he wouldn't eventually discover any tardiness.
As busy as they were, however, they somehow managed to not notice the racket happening outside until a giant form burst through the wall with the door. The massive two-legged being roared, biting a Decepticon unfortunate enough to be next to him in half.
The chaos only worsened for the Decepticons as four more beastly machines joined the fray. In a flurry of powerful limbs, horns, spikes, teeth and flames, the Decepticons were no more.
The bipedal beast grunted, spitting out a Decepticon's torso as he turned to the other four, "Me Grimlock say transform."
In a series of shifting parts, the five of them turned into more humanoid forms, all of them still being bigger than the Decepticons that once surrounded them.
Grimlock pointed to the one with panels sticking out of his back, "You Snarl search computer. Find Energon."
Snarl nodded as he went to the terminal, "You should really let me look at your voice box, Grim. It won't get any better on its own."
Grimlock grunted, turning away to look around the room.
Snarl sighed, speaking as he continued to type, "Sludge, how's your arm?"
The largest of the bots that used to be a long-necked beast rolled his right shoulder, "Never better, Snarl. Helped me bash more Cons than Slug."
The bot who turned into a three-horned beast grunted as he placed his fists on his hips, "Says who?"
"Says me!"
Slug stepped forward, jabbing his own chest with his thumb, "My horns cut through 'em like Beryllium Bologna."
The other three groaned as Grimlock glanced over, "You mean Cesium Salami."
"No..." Slug turned to Grimlock, "Beryllium Bologna."
"Cesium Salami!"
The flier got between the two of them, "Alright, guys, cut it out."
Grimlock grumbled, "Fine, Swoop."
"Alright, I'm in." Snarl's optics scanned the screen, a frown forming on his face, "Grimlock, I think you'll wanna see this."
The leader stepped over, "What?"
"They've got the standard things here; mostly weapon design and testing, studying Insecticons, and a small Energon storage." Snarl tapped the screen, "... But Shockwave has two personal projects stored here."
Grimlock folded his arms, "What are they?"
"From what I can see," Snarl turned to him, "their names are Paddles and Jadewing."
He tensed, grabbing the edge of the console, "More?"
Snarl nodded, turning to the console, "From what I'm seeing. Looks like Shockwave found the bot named Paddles mere hours after we shut down his Space Bridge, then modified his CNA to be some sort of aquatic creature he'd found on the same planet he found our modes."
"And Jadewing?"
The team medic turned back to the console, reading the project file, "Jadewing's a Seeker he found two weeks ago, just outside–" he stopped, optics widening as he got closer to the screen.
Grimlock frowned, "Outside where?"
Snarl was silent, still staring at the screen. After a moment of reading and rereading, he finally turned to Grimlock, "The Sea of Rust."
The Dinobots fell silent, looking at one another.
Snarl turned back to the screen, "She was lost, looking for someone when she was found by Shockwave's Insecticons. She only had enough time to amplify her sensor's transmitter, which sent out..."
Grimlock turned away, "The Energon signature."
Slug glared, "So it's her fault we're like–"
"No." Grimlock spoke forcefully, "She not know we come alone. She amplify signal hoping rescue also come."
Swoop nodded, "Right! Shockwave's still responsible for what happened to us; she's just as much a victim as us."
Grimlock nodded, turning to Snarl, "Now, she like us?"
"No, not like us." He scanned the computer, frowning slightly, "Shockwave said she wasn't strong enough for splicing her CNA with the same stuff he spliced us with, so it would've been a 'waste of resources' to do it. So instead he altered her with CNA from some sorta extinct Insecticon."
Swoop rubbed his head, "What's with that mech and Insecticons...?"
"Dunno, but it looks like he succeeded. They're both suspended in stasis for the time being."
"Okay. Snarl, come help with prisoners. Rest of you, Energon."
"You got it, Grim!" Swoop ran off through the door, Sludge and Slug hot on his tail. Grimlock sighed, stomping through the door with Snarl.
It took a minute, but after some walking the two found themselves in a large room filled with numerous scientific instruments surrounding a medical table, with two stasis pods on opposite ends of the room and a computer against the back wall. Snarl turned to one of the pods, "We should wake up Jadewing first."
Grimlock huffed, "Why not both?"
"Because they might be in a fragile mental state, and while Paddles is in the same boat we are, Jadewing isn't; not completely. I can't handle both of them at once, especially if Jadewing sees us as a threat. It'll be bad enough with two of us, we shouldn't add a third giant."
"You saying me Grimlock bad at calming?!"
Snarl arched an optic ridge at his leader, keeping dead quiet.
"..." Grimlock turned away, crossing his arms, "Shut up."
"That's what I thought." Snarl moved to the first stasis pod, messing with the controls. It only took a few seconds of messing with the controls for the stasis pod to start opening with a soft hiss, the door sliding out of the way to reveal the figure inside.
She was small even to a normal Cybertronian, meaning she was absolutely tiny compared to the Dinobots. She was covered in black and dark green plating, with a set of rounded, translucent green wings sprouting from her back. Her legs were striped, and each shoulder possessed a pauldron that formed half of her Insecticon head, if the large blue eye and antenna on each one were anything to go by.
Slowly her optics came online, a groan emerging from her vocalizer as her processor came back online, "What...?"
"Hey," Snarl kneeled in front of her pod, "my name's Snarl. We're-"
"Eek!" The tiny femmebot squeaked, quickly vaulting over the surprised Dinobot medic and stumbling slightly as she landed, "S-Stay away from me!"
"No, we're not here to–!"
"Stop!" She backed away, pointing at him, "I'm not going to let you... You..." Her voice died down as she looked down at herself, optics widening as she looked over her frame, "I... I'm..."
Snarl got to his feet, "Listen, Jadewing, we're friendly, so just - wait, stop walking, you're going to–!"
The medic's warning came too late, and Jadewing tensed up when she bumped into a leg. She turned and looked up... And up... And up...
Grimlock peered down at her, reaching down.
The tiny femmebot screamed, holding up her arms and shutting off her optics. When all she felt was a light tap on the top of her head, she dared to turn on one optic and peer through the gaps between her arms.
What she saw was Grimlock awkwardly patting her head, "There, there. Me Grimlock no hurt."
"U-Uhuh..." Jadewing slowly backed away, glancing between the two.
"We're friendly. See?" Snarl tapped his chest, drawing attention to his badge, "We're Autobots. Just like you."
"You... Are...? But then... Why are you... Here?" She motioned at the lab around them, "In a Decepticon lab? Did... Did you receive my message...?!"
The two glanced at each other, then Grimlock nodded, "Yes. We figure out Shockwave's plans, thanks to Jadewing."
The femmebot gulped, "... Jade. Y-You can just call me Jade."
"Well, Jade..." Snarl stepped forward, "We're here to get you out, and another bot Shockwave experimented on. Like us."
"Like..." Jade scanned them, her optics suddenly going wide, "You mean you're...?"
"Our alt-modes were changed against our will, too. Just like you."
She scanned them again, the gears in her head turning. After a moment, her voice came out as a whisper, "Okay. Okay, I'll believe you."
"Thank you." Snarl looked her up and down, "You don't feel like you're in any pain, do you?"
Jade shook her head, "No, I feel..." She frowned, looking at her hands, "... I was gonna say normal, but..."
"Don't worry about it," he moved to the second stasis pod, "I'll run a full diagnostic when we get back to base, okay?"
She nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around herself, "I... Yeah. Okay."
Snarl nodded, fiddling with the controls on the second pod before it started to open with a hiss as well.
Inside was a large mech, not too different from Sludge but not quite as big; in truth he was about the same size as Grimlock, though that was still a titanic size for a Cybertronian, especially compared to the tiny Jade.
Slowly, the mech inside started to come online, "Ugh... What's going on...?"
Snarl held up his hands, "Easy, big guy... You're in safe hands now."
"Who are..." He went to step out, stumbling slightly. It was only thanks to Grimlock's quick steps and strong grip that he didn't fall on Snarl and flatten him.
"Careful! Careful," Snarl guided Grimlock into setting him down, "Your systems are still warming up... You've got a lot of that, you know."
"W-Wait, we're in Shockwave's lab! We're–!"
"Perfectly safe!" Snarl rested a hand on his shoulder, "We took out all the Cons posted here; this is a rescue mission. Your name's Paddles, right?"
"I... Yeah. Yes, that's my name..."
"I'm Snarl. The big guy's Grimlock," the giant nodded with a grunt at his name, "and the femmebot over there is Jadewing."
She waved nervously as Paddles turned to face her, shrinking under his confused gaze.
"Wait..." Paddles glanced over her kibble, "She's an... Insecticon...?!"
"No, an Autobot who got their CNA spliced with Insecticon CNA. And another victim of Shockwave's."
"Oh," his expression softened, and he gave Jade an apologetic look, "Sorry."
"I-It's okay."
"Your legs should be operational by now, Paddles." Snarl patted the larger mech's knee as he got up, "Let's go. We have three more teammates who are searching the base for anything we can use; let's meet them by the entrance."
Paddles slowly got to his feet, following them out of the room, "Wait... Team of five, Grimlock..." His optics went wide, "Are you the Lighting–?"
Grimlock spoke quickly, "We Dinobots now. You too now."
Paddles blinked, "Dinobots?"
Snarl looked over his shoulder, "Shockwave called the creatures our alt-modes are based off 'dinosaurs', so we took the term for ourselves."
"Dinobot..." Paddles grinned a little, "I like it!"
The four entered the main room again, the other three Dinobots already there and waiting with stacks of Energon cubes.
"Hey, you found 'em!" Swoop waved them over, "Nice to meet you folks! The name's Swoop. The grump's Slug-"
"Never describe me as a grump again, Swoop, or I'll tear off your wings."
Jade shuddered at the thought but Swoop went on without a care, "- and the big guy's Sludge!"
The giant mech waved at them, "Hello."
The Insecticon gulped, "I'm Jadewing, b-but you can just call me Jade."
"And I'm Paddles!"
"Alright, now that we're all best buds," Slug jabbed a thumb at the door, "can we leave before someone realizes we trashed the place?"
Jade gulped nervously, "Y-Yes, I'd like that...!"
Grimlock nodded, "Okay. Dinobots," he looked down at Jade, "and company, move out."
The others all nodded, then quickly set about leaving the place.
Aaand scene! In case it wasn't already obvious, this chapter is what I'd planned for Jade in the original fanfic. Also Paddles is here! The first of (hopefully) many neglected characters I'll be giving some much-needed attention.
I'll see you all in the next chapter! And hopefully you enjoy this like the original fanfic.
Til All Are One,
- Alpha Prime
