(2 days later)
Zane sat up with a start in the hotel bed at an ungodly hour. He looked over to the alarm clock on the nightstand, and saw that it read six o'clock. Exhaustion swept over him for a moment as he tried to recall what woke him. Then, he leaped out of bed as an idea, so very obvious it hurt, hit him.
"Why didn't I start working on that earlier?! It would prove to be so very useful. And the relics! I need to get to them before the Bots or Cons."
Zane moved to the dresser to put on some dark jeans and a black t-shirt. Then the jacket he had when he came to this world and the bracelet, now practically radiating with power. He tried to reach inside of himself to find Unicron, but was met with an emptiness. Taking this as a sign, and hopefully a good one, Zane decided to return to his base.
XxXxXxX
Zane pulled open the hatch and slid down the ladder. There was a moment's hesitation before he retracted the door.
The once cavernous room seemed much smaller. There was still the red carpet through the center straight to the monitor, flanked by the metal columns, but now they were far more ornate. For some odd reason, there was no light in the center of the room. Zane walked down the steps that led to the floor beneath and channeled his power into the lights. They turned on all at once, revealing a most unexpected surprise
There, in the center of the room were transformers, 12 in all, who were all standing at attention. The moment the lights turned on, they saluted. Zane felt goosebumps appear on his skin. On the far left, there was Stinger, one of the man-made transformers from Age of Extinction. To the right, there was a perfect replica of Two-Head, Trax, Boss, and the three transformers that made up Junkheap, all of which were from the same movie. However, the next five were completely new.
The first, about as tall as Boss, was black as pitch with blood red highlights on his head, chestplates, arms, and legs. It's build seemed to focus on a mixture of defense and offense. The armor seemed to be of a medium thickness, and did not appear to have room for large weapons.
The next one was almost exactly the same as the first, but silver instead of black and dark blue instead of red.
The third new one was of the same height as Stinger, but more resembled a Decepticon, with purple instead of red. There was what appeared to be tears painted below the eyes, causing a pained look. All of the armor was thin, and as Zane watched the transformer shift slightly, it seemed to wince, as if out of pain.
The fourth looked as if it was a little more than a silver protoform, reminiscent of a skeleton. It looked as helpless as a baby, though Zane hoped that was not the case. There was a sad, resignated look in it's optics.
And last, but not least, was a silver mech, as tall as Two-Head. It's left arm was transformed into a blade, and the whole mech had a crazy, almost insane air about it. The build didn't help, either. It was all sharp edges, enough armor to say it existed, but worse than useless to defend against anything other than a butter knife..
"Ah, it seems that our leader has finally decided to grace us with his presence. Let's give Zane a tour of the new and improved base." A very familiar voice said. Zane looked around warily, before teleporting by the computer that housed Omicron. It looked exactly like the computer used by Mr. House in Fallout New Vegas. Zane started walking around it, looking in every nook and cranny. He then stepped back and decided to ask some questions.
"Have you given them names?"
"Not all of them. I assume you want the seven to retain their original names, but you may choose whatever you want for any of them."
"You assumed correctly. The first new one I think looks like a Malice, the next a Havoc, an Agony, Misfortune, and finally Roulette."
"Good job naming them. You are so very imaginative. However, that is not the extent of what those... gods had done for you." As those words were spoken, the last phrase almost hissed out, a dark cloud formed not to far away. A flash of light went off a few meters away from the cloud a moment later, and three humanoid robots walked out of the flash. Exos in every sense of word. They were dressed in the armor of the three types: a Hunter, a Warlock, and a Titan.
They were each dressed in the attire that most complimented their class. The Hunter was wearing armor that was thin and partly cloth, and a cloak that left only it's face uncovered. The Warlock was dressed in what appeared to be robes that looked similar to a trenchcoat. Finally, dressed in stocky body-armor and with a small piece of cloth on it's thigh of a purple star on a sanguine background, was the Titan.
After a few seconds of studying each other, the cloud dissipated, leaving behind purple robots. The Vex. There in the clouds place stood three Goblins, four Hobgoblins, five Harpies, two Hydras, and a single Minotaur. They stood still, as if waiting for orders.
"Zane, these are your troops, I am still working on the Protectrons and Securitrons you wanted. Unicron was kind enough to provide me with the schematics and materials to make both them and Vex, but the latter require your power to bring to life. Oh, feel free to visit Room 6 for the weapons and armor you requested. I have the schematics for them, too. By the way, it seems that Primus made Ghosts for the guardians, and gave it to them and gave both them and I the knowledge on how to create the same kind of teleportation used by the Stranger, whoever that is. Do you have need of anything else?"
"Yes. Put Boss in charge of communications, when others hear him referred to as Boss, they will assume he is in charge, that way I can operate in the darkness. The Warlock I want to be named Spectre, the Titan Vector, and the Hunter Rogue. Specter can be my SIC for now, and Vector my TIC. Rogue will be my assassin... Oh! Clear the science room for me, I want to start work on nanobots and other related things. I have some very useful ideas, from modified magnets, to trackers so small they are unnoticeable. But you, continue production on the Securitrons and Protectrons, in addition to Vex. Prepare the Goblins, Trax, and Rogue for travel. We need to collect some Cybertronian relics before the Autobots and Decepticons. And since I know where they all are, we have the upper hand."
"Of course, that is the smartest idea. Which is why I'm surprised it came from you."
"Did Unicron make you an AI?"
"I would be of little use otherwise, Zane."
"Slag."
XxXxXxX
(A few hours later)
Zane and those who he chose were gathered in the center of the main room. At an unspoken order, they fizzled into white specks that disappeared. A moment later, they were in the Antarctic. Zane led the others for a few hours, not even feeling the cold, both because he actually enjoyed the cold and because he just could not feel it.
They eventually reached an ice wall, which Zane stopped to stare at.
"Trax, scan the ice. Report if there is anything made of metal."
Trax wordlessly did as he was told, then spoke in a deep, resonating voice.
"There is metal in the ice, that is for sure. Do you wish for me to retrieve it?"
Zane thought a moment, all the while staring at the cliff wall. After a moment, he spoke.
"No, this is a good time for me to test out my power. When Megatron was possessed by Unicron, he made some very fancy armor. I wish to try something."
Zane closed his eyes and focused. A moment later, a purple glow was seen around him. It could also be seen coming from the ice. A full minute later, a perfect replica of the deactivated armor appeared, though glowing purple. It quickly hardened into a molten black metal, as the purple glow faded. Zane looked at it and smiled, before his legs buckled. Rogue quickly moved forward, and grabbed Zane, not letting him fall.
"It is fine, I can stand on my own."
Rogue spoke then, in a quiet voice full of confusion, even if it was a single word.
"Why?"
"An Autobot will be coming here, and I want to let the show continue how I remember it. But we now have an almost exact copy of the Apex armor, and with that scan I know it's every weakness. Which is why this version is immune to the Phase Shifter. Now, we have need of a single item, known as Tox-En. It resides near a volcano in central- South America. We need a small sample, enough to create more. If I can do what I plan to do, we will have a useful tool at our disposal. Now, shall we?"
And with that, the group and copied Apex Armor fizzled out of existence.
XxXxXxX
The group appeared by the volcanoes, and stared up at the rising smoke. Zane wordlessly led the way, trying to recall what path Bulkhead took. After a few minutes, they reached a small white-with-gold-markings container. Zane reached down to grab it, but he was interrupted.
"Look." Stated Rogue. Zane looked up, and noticed about twenty more. His right eye twitched, before he sighed.
"There can only be one left. We must take the rest of the Tox-En with us, or else Bulkhead will not be able to destroy it all. Vex, I want you to collect all but that one and then return to base. I have a few more artifacts to collect."
Zane, along with Trax and Rogue, fizzled out of existence, leaving the Vex to bring the Tox-En containers and modified Apex Armor back to the base.
XxXxXxX
They appeared in the middle of a desert, somewhere in the Midwest of America. Zane looked around the barren landscape, seeing nothing but sand in all directions. He closed his eyes and focused, trying to find metal. That idea failed quickly, as he realized that this specific desert seemed to have a higher metal content than he otherwise expected. Zane, confused, thought back to the episode he had seen. However, it was worse than useless due to the fact that they never showed more than the hole. He was drawn from his musings, however, by Trax.
"I sense Spark energy underneath the ground. It… is rather powerful." Zane, startled, closed his eyes and focused once more. Trax had been correct, there was a powerful Spark signature deep underground, though there also seemed be an increase in metal the closer you got to the center of the energy. Zane though back to the show, and remembered that not only were the Decepticons still trying to dig it up, but the artifact was in a locked container.
Then it hit him. He focused on his power and used it to create purple robots, small enough to easily get through the sand. He dropped them, and watched as they drilled through the sand. The robots continued to dig, even as they reached the container. They drilled a hole almost too small to see, and went in. They proceeded to do what they were made to do, scan the device within and return to their creator. One stayed behind to fill the hole back in so no sand would get in the container and likely changing what he needed to happen.
When they came back up, Zane picked them up and focused once more on his power. In his hands, the robots grew and molded into the scans they had done. They flattened in a circle, and continued to look more and more like the original Spark Extractor. Eventually they hardened into a dark purple metal that Zane couldn't help but gawk at. He shook his head to compose himself, and then disappeared in a flash of purple.
XxXxXxX
Zane, Trax, and Rogue met up with the rest of the group in the main room. Everyone but Zane left, through doors big or small, or just vanished like the Vex. Zane walked up to Omnicom, and asked for it to pull up the map of the base. Omicron obeyed, and Zane was surprised at the sheer size. There were now a couple dozen rooms on the main floor, ones that Zane had not added. ALong the right wall, there was a communications hub, a room for his experiments, and even a room specifically for the artifacts he had just gathered. A few meters to the left of them, were a couple storage rooms and in between those was a huge area that had no cameras, a fact that made Zane realize that most of the other rooms did have cameras, dedicated to the Exos. On the left side of the floor were a set of 10 bedrooms, a master bedroom-with no cameras, thankfully- for Zane, more storage rooms, and a room with no door but reinforced walls. After Zane got done inspecting the map, he notices a small button on the keyboard started glowing. It was the down button. Zane pressed it, and noticed the whole map changed. The name in the name in the top right hand corner now said "Sub level 2". There, there was the Rec Room, Vex Assembly, Vex storage, and Transformer's Resting Area. Zane grinned, before vanishing in a burst of purple.
Zane appeared in the Artifact room, and saw the improved Apex Armor, Spark Extractor, and Tox-En. Zane grabbed the Apex Armor and teleported away to the Transformer Resting Area. He walked up to Misfortune, jolted and then quickly saluted, making Zane shake his head.
"No, no, no. You need not act so formal. Feel free to tell the others. No, I merely come here bearing a gift for you."
Misfortune jolted and, then excitedly grabbed the deactivated armor. As soon as it touched him, it conformed perfectly to his shape, as if made for him. Misfortune spun around, and Zane looked at him in humor.
"Thank you," said Misfortune in a voice reminiscent of a child's happiness. Zane teleported out, a grin evident on his face.
Zane appeared by Omicron's computer, and his grin turned into a smile.
"It would appear that we have a very good chance of accomplishing our goals. Now, we need to work on creating an army of Vex and robots. We have a short time before I plan to make my first move, so I must divert all of my power on my experiments. If all goes right, no one will be able to oppose us."
"If I may, what are your plans?"
"Revive Unicron so I can have a god on my side. Finish our army. And then finally, fight the Autobots and Decepticons. maybe not in that specific order. My definition of a complete army is rather large, and it may be a while before I can revive Unicron..."
"What is the use of an army to fight them, when you have so much power in your control?"
"I forget, you were only born the other day. You are full of knowledge, but have little wisdom. You see, they need to feel threatened. Threatened enough to create an alliance. I need to keep that alliance going long enough that they trust each other and get along."
"Then turn them against each other."
"...No. That has a chance of backfiring. No, my goal is to end this war, prevent the death of so many. That is what I was sent here for, after all."
Omicron seemed to mull this over for a second, before blinking out of existence. Zane frowned, then teleported in a burst of purple light to the master bedroom.