To Maranda Peterson: Soundwave got the moves~

Okay. This is the chapter I've promised. I wanted this out on Halloween Night, but nope! It wasn't finished… *sad noises* But now it is!


Autobot Blaster clashes with the Decepticon formerly known as Dreadwing. The titans lashed decisive blows; Blaster's clenched fist barrages down on the enemy, leaving no room for error, Silas shields himself with his arms. A small opening in the attack presents Silas an opportunity to step behind his attacker to deliver a sucker punch with his right fist. Unexpectedly, Blaster's left servo caught the punch and returns a swing from the right, but the same thing happened and now his right fist is caught by Dreadwing's left.

Now it was a battle of strengths to throw off the other's balance.

Blaster, keeping his pedes glued to the ground, tries to make the other budge. "So, how is it like playing with the big bots?"

"It's a new perspective." Cylas replies, exerting as much strength as possible.

"I bet. You're a lot taller now."

"Joking during battle is a sign of weakness."

"Nah," On the contrary, it seemed like Blaster is having no problem holding his ground, "It shows that I have a great sense of humor. Also, I need to make sure you don't suspect anything until the last minute. One of the fatal tactical errors: never forgot how many opponents you're dealing with." The orange and yellow Autobot's insinuation did tip off Cylas that something was up, of course, at the last minute.

While distracted and held in a stalemate of strength, Cylas didn't notice Jazz climbing on his back. "I wonder if your nervous system is truly connected to Dread's." To test this theory, Jazz pulls on the expose cables that lay between the flier's wings and behind Dreadwing's gun. It's a known fact that cables are sensitive, and tugging on a flier's wing cables is the most awkwardly unbearable feeling in the world. Jazz's eyes caught a green flash originating from under the wires, however, he was much focused on trying not to be flung off by the irritated Cybertronian poser.

As the theory shows to be correct through Cyclas' lost of balance due to tampered sensitive wires, Blaster took the chance by pulling the flier down toward ground level at the same time he shot his knee up and kneeled Dreadwing's lower abdomen. Barely given a time to recover, his entire body felt the burning sensation of electricity coursing through him. Once Blaster retracted his tendrils, he takes the dazed body of Dreadwing and hurls it against the canal's walls.

Jazz was already off of Cylas before Blaster delivered the 'shock-and-lock' combo as he likes to call it. "1 for the Autobots, negative 5 for the cons." Jazz whooped, giving a thumbs up to his mechanical friend.

"That was a nice workout. I almost sprung a wire for not stretching beforehand." Chuckled the victorious mech.

:: Jazz, blaster, status report. :: Ratchet commed in at the right time.

"Everything smooth as ice, Ratchet," replied the special Ops, "No need to worry about us. We got everything under-" Before Jazz could finish, sounds of rapid bullet shots against metal and a piercing cry grabbed his attention. "Blaster!"

"Another tactical error: Never assume the enemy is down." 'Dreadwing's' face darkly grins, putting away his weapon once Blaster kneels to the ground, energon leaking from his right side and leg. Nothing fatal, but dang that hurts!

… … … … … … … …

"Jazz?! What happened?" At the Autobot base, once Ratchet heard Jazz and Blaster's outcry, he feared the worse. Blaster's minicons who also heard their employer's name cried out in distress, were anxious about the situation.

:: Blaster's been shot and our Con is rolling strong.:: The sounds of blaster fire blended in with Jazz's voice. :: I wouldn't mind a few extra hands. Or 20 explosives. ::

"Hold on until support arrives." No way Ratchet can rely on Wheeljack again as he is remains injured. The use of his ship again might attract attention this time from regular humans. He pressed a button on the command terminals, contacting the other members of Team Prime. "Optimus, Blaster and Jazz requires immediate backup."

"What about us? We can help!" Volunteered the minicon Rosanna.

"Yeah. We can't be sitting on the benches when Blaster is in trouble." Add the slightly older minicon Eject.

Ratchet shakes his head. "I can not allow you two to engage an enemy like this. You're not suited for combat like the others."

Defiantly crossing her arms, Rosanna would like to challenge that. "Says you!"

"Let 'em go help, Doc." Leaning against a supported platform, Wheeljack heard pretty much everything. "If they say they can help, they can help. Primus knows they can stand up better than me."

Why does it seem like Ratchet has to make the most difficult decisions when Optimus isn't around?

… … … … … … …

This doesn't make any sense. Any normal bot would be down for the count by now, but 'Dreadwing' is like a terrorcon that keeps coming back up . The abnormality doesn't stop there as Jazz begins to notice that Dreadwing's body lacks the evidence showing what damage he went through; no dents that show the punches, or even a scratch when Wheeljack shot him out the sky in vehicle mode. Albeit he still looks like a zombie mess in terms of appearance, he isn't falling apart no matter what.

"I'm sure as hand sanitizer that you shouldn't be standing up…" Jazz danced around the Con's pedes in an attempt to trip him up while also being careful not getting under them. At least then it would buy him enough time to discover a weakness, and out of shooting range. "What's your secret?"

"What? You're not impressed by my new upgrades?" Cylas trying to step on the agile mech is very troublesome.

"If integrating the remains of your human body inside of a possibly deceased Deception is what you call an upgrade, then I would have hated what you may have done to me."

Catching on what Jazz is trying to accomplish, Silas faked stepping with his right pede forward and swiftly kicked the tiny mech right in the helm, knocking him down. Fortunately, his techno-skull prevent any serious injury even from a two-ton lead foot, however, the impact left the special ops stunned and dizzy.

"How about I return the favor for all that you've done?" Cylas seized Jazz, holding him tight in his grasp. "Let me share the experience of crushing suffocation." Upon hearing the sound of a reading blaster, Cylas turned to the source which was the orange and yellow Autobot ready to fire. "Now, now. Do you really want to risk blowing your friend up to smithereens?" Cylas head Jazz in Blaster's line of sight.

He's right. There's no way Blaster would risk getting Jazz harmed instead. Some friend he would be if he did that.

Where is that backup? Before Jazz becomes a new brand of juice, high pitched frequencies invaded Cylas' host's audials, which in turned affected his sense of hearing as the noise was as pleasant as nails on a chalk board. He grunts in pain, unintentionally dropping Jazz to cover his audials.

When it stopped, the pretender Cybertronian surprisingly heard a, "Look over here, big fella," then met with, "Say cheese," after he turned around, only for his optics to met a powerful, stinging flash.

Freed, Jazz uses his grappling hooks and was able to get it snag on Dreadwing's pedes. The dazed Silas tripped over it.

"Take that, you big brute." Rosanna blows a puff of air on her resonance blaster in form of a microphone.

"Not the greatest photo, but it's the memory that counts." Eject grins with his ultra-powerful, stun-inducing flash camera.

Jazz greets the mincons by playfully messing with their hair, an action that Rosanna hates, but is allowed this one time. "Nice to have the cavalry finally show up.

"And not a moment too soon." Blaster sighs in relief and then winced attempting to move. "When did you guys get here?"

"As soon as we heard you guys were in trouble, Ratchet bridged us here." Eject explained, relieved to see his deployer not in terrible shape.

Still, Rosanna concerns over the injuries Blaster has. "Are you okay, Blaster?"

"It's just some holes, I'll be fine."

Dreadwing reaches for his machine gun but grabbed nothing. Dumbfounded, he scans the surrounding areas for it. "Looking for this?" Jazz waves the weapon tauntingly. He must have swiped it off while Silas was distracted. His flickering green to red optics narrows in despising at the Special Ops.

The pretend Cybertronian slides back onto his feet. "More techno-organics, but what is going to change out of that?" As if some celestial force answered Cylas's question, a brute strength collided with his back, the impact causing the large bot to fly into the canal walls.

"That's what's gonna change." Stood where Silas once was, Bulkhead held onto his heavy duty weapon.

"Whoa. Knocked him right outta the park!" Speculating the event with enthusiasm was Eject.

Bulkhead turns to the gang. "You guys alright?"

"You couldn't have arrived at a better time, my man." Jazz bears a grin to the bulky techno-organic. "What, you got bored of your part of the mission?"

Bulkhead shrugs. "You can say hoverboarding isn't my thing."

"Neither will living when I'm through with you." Came a sure retort from Cylas, planning to keep his word.

However, none was phased by the threat; they took it as a challenge. Blaster got into a battle stance. "Let's send this pile of bolts back to the grave."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Cee-Cee?" Chirped the little Chirpwing when he entered the main room looking for Cee-Cee, Arcee. When he didn't see anyone else around but Ratchet, he frowns. "Wan' Cee…"

"Not now, Chirpwing. Everyone is busy. Go play quietly until they get back," The medic shook off the child without so much turning around to look at him.

"Hmph…" Out of all the Autobots in the base, Ratchet was the only he couldn't get any type of attention from. A temper tantrum would be ignored and he doesn't want to get hurt trying to mess with Ratchet's tools. The next best thing was for him to wander around the rest of the base for something to do. He knows he isn't allowed to walk alone in the corridors of the base, but what else can satisfy his boredom with a little sense of adventure? He can play pretend, imaging he's a knight traveling inside a huge castle. Too bad he doesn't have a sword… or armor…

"Is it you again, Bumblebee? Your footsteps sound lighter…" Came a voice in the hallway.

What the child didn't expect was there to be another person in the base. Eager to see this person, Chirpwing scurries to the end of the hall where the cells were at. "Hewwo?" He pears into the cell where Dave resides. Although Chirpwing doesn't recall this vehicon due to his amnesia, the jet black hair color, black with light purple patterned clothing, and the shades masking the eyes; those qualities brings on a sense of familiarity...

… … … … …

"They're attempting to disable the satellite!" On the Nemesis, the Master of the ship notices that the Autobot hacker hasn't been dealt with yet. "Cylas, how difficult is it to squash a child? Cylas!" Megatron angrily growls, not receiving a response from Cylas for a while.

"He can't even squish a human. How pathetic," Starscream grunted amused, giving Knock Out a glance. "And we're expecting to keep him aboard?"

"Let's hope not." The crimson medic said truthfully. Safe to say that no one on board is thrilled at the idea of Cylas being a residence. Soundwave, in particular, will abhor the thought.

Speaking of Soundwave, the spy reports to Megatron from the satellite's command center. "We have the codes? Then target the intruder and destroy it!" If you can't rely on someone else to do things right, Soundwave is the next best option.

… … … … … … … … … … …

"I'm almost there..." The computer boy genius, Rafael, types without stop.

Even though Miko can't read a lick of code, she could tell the satellite was moving on the screen and assumes it is the boy's doing. "Raf, rock on! It's moving!"

This made Raf worry. "Uh. that isn't me."

The map on the screen enlarges onto a familiar state, focusing right on… "Uh, guys… That's Jasper.." Jack points out.

"Ooh, I could see my host parent's house."

"And I can see my house right in their target sights." Looks like the Decepticons figured out where the interference is located at.

"Anytime, son," Fowler advised.

Raf taps the final key. "Full thruster burn."

Miles above the Earth's atmosphere moments before the satellite delivers a fiery laser, thanks to Rafael's hacking expertise, the beam missed Raf's house (although, the K.O Burger's sign got a new look). Then, it spins out of control from orbit as it starts to burn in reentry.

Cheers filled the room for Raf's accomplishment of saving their lives and anyone else the Cons may have used the satellite on. However, the celebration was cut short as their cheering attracted the attention of Raf's mom who knocked on the door, "Rafael Jorge Gonzalez Esquivel! What is going on in here?" She opens the door to see her son and three other people sitting in a circle with a book.

"Study group." The young boy smiles causally. This is the best that they could come up with on such a short notice.

… … … … … … … … … ...

Meanwhile, whatever advantage Silas had was long gone. The presumably unlimited stamina and immunity to all attacks diminished. Blaster and Bulkhead teamed up to give Cylas a really bad first day on the job. As to make matters worse, Megatron commed, not sounding pleased at all...

:: Silas, return to base immediately. ::

When a ground bridge opened behind Cylas, he had no other choice but to flee into it. It was humiliating enough to lose to four techno-organics and a damaged full grown Autobot, so hopefully Megatron wouldn't discredit him more for being unable to take down Rafael as originally planned.

"Looks like Cylas' big plan just burned up in reentry." Bulkhead looks up to the burning satellites in the air, almost like it was a shooting star.

Eject whistled impressively, looking at the sky. "Nice fireworks."

Jazz turns back to the group. "You know what this means?"

"We are going to through a huge party at the base until it ends with Ratchet threatening all of us?" The ex-wrecker guessed.

Blaster chuckles. "Just like back home on Cybertron."

"First, you need to be patched up, Blaster, before anything else." Bulkhead suggested.

… … .. … … … … .. … …

At Autobot H.Q, Miko was just in the middle of telling the human side of the event, "So Raf with his mad geek skills blew away the satellite moments before it melted us like nacho cheese." If Raf could hear all the compliments, he would be blushing. "And then his mom came upstairs and we all had to pretend to be studying. Never in my life, I had to use an English book unless I'm drawing pictures on it."

"Nice to see all of you guys out in one piece." Jack Darby greeted the returning bots. Blaster, Jazz, Bulkhead, and the minicons were the last to be bridged back to base. When they arrived, instantly Blaster had to go to the med bay for repairs.

"Nice to be back in one piece." Jazz replied, "Y'all wouldn't believe who we fought."

Wheeljack hazard a guess since he was partly there. "Dreadwing, right?"

"Half right. It was Cylas in Dreadwing's body. Like, in his body controlling a dead husk type of takeover." Eject explained. The Cybertronians noticeably flinched or make a look of disgust hearing that.

Bumblebee couldn't believe it. "That's horrible." Even if Cons don't deserve sympathy, no one deserves that type of cruelty.

"It stands to reason that Cylas' ambition for the most cutting edge technology, as he would put it, was to become one with it without taking morals into consideration," Optimus stated.

"There was a lot more to him than meets the eye, I can say that for certain..." Sighed Jazz. Jack almost snickered, recalling Arcee saying something similar. Too bad the femme wasn't in the room to hear that; she's currently checking on Chirpwing. "Didn't think he would try out his plan to control a Cybertronian like that, though." Jazz scratches the back of his head.

Wheeljack raised an optic brow. "You knew about this beforehand?"

"I knew of his plan of trying to control a Cybertronian when you and I invaded the base. I was digging through MECH's database and found out there were some ideas like mind control via frequency waves, but nothing about crawling into one." The special ops explain some of the details. He already explained a majority of this to Optimus. "He also labeled us as Transformers in his data logs." And certainly, that was one of the small details that render itself as significant to Jazz. "Transformers… Sounds really catchy after a while. Transformers... More than meets the eye…" Jazz hums a tune.

"Transformers, robots in disguise?" came a musical hum from Miko.

Jazz snaps his fingers in agreement. "Yes. Blaster, you hearing this? I want this as a theme song later on this week."

"On it." Blaster gave a thumbs up while Ratchet repairs him.

Rosanna looks at Smokescreen. "So what's up with the tan?"

"Oh, you know. The big laser of death is very hot if you're in proximity of it." Smokescreen explained. Honestly, he didn't notice how much he'd tan until he rolled up his sleeve and compared his two-colored skin. "Too bad it didn't the rest of my arm. Now I just look uneven."

"I think some of my eyebrows singed off." Bumblebee commented, recalling that his face was slightly too close to the beam at one point.

"Guys, before we start busting out the party favors, I can't find Chirpwing. He's not in his room." Arcee made this announcement after she stepped back into the main room.

Jazz didn't find this to be a huge problem initially. "Okay, we can find the kid, then we can have a party."

Ratchet hums in thought, remembering that the boy was in the room. "I could have sworn I heard him in here… He must have wandered off somewhere."

Arcee did not like that answer at the slightest. "And you let him do that?!"

"I was a little busy at the time!" Ratchet will gladly argue that monitoring the status report of every Autobot is more important that a cranky youngling.

"Come on. The base isn't that big," Smokescreen steps in. "I mean, as long as he didn't follow any of us out of the ground bridge."

"Smokescreen, don't say that!" Jack tried to shush Smokescreen.

"What? I mean it's not like anyone saw him leave through it! If that's the case, the only possible places he would be is around Raf's house, and where that place was with all the Decepticons shooting- oh." Okay, pointing out worst case scenarios is a bad idea. Smokescreen notices as such when Arcee's face changes from regular carrier worried to terrified to beyond her mind worried.

"After this," Jazz pulls Smokescreen off to the side. "I'm going to teach you the value of silence and how it avoids many deaths."

… … … … … … … … … … … …

The Autobots split up into small teams as it will increase the chance of finding the child quicker. Smokescreen ends up being paired with Bumblebee. As they walk down one of the hallways, the rookie Autobot looks at the scout slightly worried. "You don't think Chirping would sneak out of the ground bridge behind any of us, do you?"

"I highly doubt it since he was supposedly taking a nap, and him going out of the groundbridge without anyone noticing is not likely. Although, it's not like a human hasn't found their way around the system before." Aka, Miko.

"I was afraid you were going to say that…" It is the truth after all and there's no arguing out of that. They both froze momentarily when they heard something. "Hey, do you hear that?" Smokescreen inquired.

"Is that crying?"

Bumblebee and Smokescreen explore deeper knew the cell area where the vehicon is at. There, they saw Laserbeak being held by the vehicon with the cell opened. The security door system was hacked, but that was their least concern of how that occurred, especially when Dave asked, "Why is Laserbeak here?"

… … … … … … … … ...

Back on the Nemesis, it was about time that Megatron bestows Silas with a reward that he truly deserves. "Silas, you have earned your place at the table."

"Lord Megatron. I am honored."

"Knock Out's dissection table." Megatron sharply finished.

"The jokes on him now." Breakdown chuckles darkly, looking over at Knock Out who shared the same amusement. Even Starscream enjoyed the sweet taste of irony.

"No, Lord Megatron. Why?!" Dreadfully confused, Cylas needed an answer, although he can surmise one.

"Because Damocles was the best you had to offer, and it is no more. The human factor did indeed tip the scales… in favor of my enemies." Before Silas could beg Megatron to reconsider, a surge of burning electricity interact with his nervous systems, causing him to collapse. "He will be a fascinating case for study."

The vehicons begins dragging Silas out of the bridge per command, however, he refuses to go down peacefully as he struggles against the vehicons.

"This will bring you down," Knock Out amps up the electricity and proceeded to deliver another shock to Cylas again. However, this didn't dissuade the mech's persistence, much less cause his systems to burn out. "Strange… this has enough juice to fry Breakdown circuits." Breakdown shudders at the flashback. Clyas, having one arm freed from hold, he snatches Knock Out's energon prod and stick it into a vehicon, electrifying it indefinitely.

"Hey!" Tempted to slice Dreadwing's servo off, the bot was already getting back up. Aware of the height difference Knock Out did not want to test his luck with his opponent, not on the ground (he's already short as he is).

That's where Breakdown comes in. "Don't sweat it. I got it. An eye for an eye, just what you deserve," Breakdown tries pummeling Dreadwing's legs with his Warhammer to cripple and bring him down, but it doesn't appear his attacks are effective… The strangest part was when he made a visible dent, the injury vanished. "Did… did anyone see that?" Well, everyone at least saw Breakdown being kicked across the room.

Cylas didn't notice that the stealthy Soundwave climbed onto his back, preparing to use the end of his tendrils as a drill to decapitate Dreadwing's head. The sharp pain in Dreadwing's neck initializes a swift reaction to grasp Soundwave. Tendrils and other limbs held down by a giant hand, the TIC was trapped.

Normally, Starscream would mock Soundwave's rare incompetence of being captured, but seeing how Cylas threw the mech into the consoles, this wasn't a time for a smart aleck remark. Actually, this was maybe a good time to slip out of the conflict before he's asked- demanded to get involved.

Now Megatron decides to blast a hole where the pathetic body, the human body of Cylas occupies Dreadwing's chambers. "What is the meaning of this?" His eyes widen in a mixture of shock when the wound caused from his cannon regenerated in a flash.

Cylas cast down a glance at the small Cybertronians' pitiful efforts to defeat him. His green optics reflecting the helpless crew. "Needless to say, I've brought another surprise to the table. I'm more indestructible than you can possibly imagine." Cylas taunted for a challenge.

Megatron refused to let that go unanswered. "Any nearby Vehicons and Insecticons report to the bridge immediately to eliminate our overstayed guest." The bridge's door slides open promptly after Megatron's order was given out. Although, instead of seeing responsive Vehicon soldiers, insecticons blocks the door defiantly.

Astonished and outraged, the Warlord had it up to here with everything not going as planned. "Why aren't you attacking?!"

The light clicks of heels against metallic floors echoed into the bridge. The occupants of the room stare at the source; the most devious and venomous femme to walk the surface. "Because their Queen has returned."

Airachnid.


Welp…. On a scale of 1 to 10, these Cons are probably screwed, but not my problem~

This was a fun chapter to write and I'm still working on fight scenes… but it's the thought that counts, right?

Anyway, next chapter is gonna be the little 'blooper/deleted scenes' chapter before the story resumes back onto it's regularly scheduled program.

Don't forget to leave a comment~!

Amia is out.