So here we are again. It's always such a pleasure. Except when no one bothers to give me their thoughts.

But yeah, we're back with the latest chapter. Sorry it took so long to the..maybe person still reading this but life got in the way. There will be an epilogue and a taste of things to come.

Anyway Transformers Emanated is owned by Hasbro/Takara I own nothing.

While it hadn't been the strangest meeting he'd been in, it had been one of the most unusual Optimus Prime had ever taken part in. Fanzone has returned to city hall, covered in oil and wielding a broken camera.

"I found out where our friendly orange attacker scampers off to when he's not wrecking the place" He announced

"You know where Scoop's hiding out?"

"Didn't I just say that?" Optimus opened his mouth to answer but quickly decided to close it. Humans tended to have some...interesting mannerisms when it came to discussions. Something which Sari had taught him when they first awoke.

"I tailed him after he ran off, found his "secret lair" he's running with the oil stealers from last time."

"You mean the Constructicons, as in all of them?:

"All of them plus the orange guy and a bigger guy."

"Did he look like he had a crane on his back?"

"I didn't really get a good look," Fanzone folded his arms, splattering them with oil. ",though now that you mention it..yeah I think he did."

To Optimus it was a confirmation that Scoop was lying, but it could also mean trouble. Hightower was bigger than most, even bigger than the Constructicons if he recalled correctly. The crane truck was a gentle soul but the bots he ran with were anything but.

His strength had already been turned on the Autobots once. Which was an experience Optimus hoped not to relive.

"Can you lead us to the location of the hide out captain?" He asked. Fanzone gave a meager shrug in response.

"I can but the place iss stacked full of oil."

"Of course it is." Optimus sighed. Leave it to the Constructicons to have only one thing on their processors.

"So we can't barge in there without risking setting the oil on fire…" Optimus mused it over and glanced at Fanzone.

"Wait, didn't you say that you were tracking oil robberies?"

"We were, but I've got a good hunch that I just found my perpetrators." He said. "Ended up making one of them knock over a few barrels too." Fanzone motioned to the oil, still dripping from his arms.

"Knowing the Constructicons they'll want to replace the oil, which means that if we can find where they are then they could be detained."

"That's the problem big guy, we don't know when they're gonna move out." Fanzone said.

"I think I can get a pair of optics to let us know." Optimus said with a hint of a smilie. He glanced back toward Ratchet and Jazz. Catching the glance, Jazz nodded and walked over to them.

"Whatcha need O.P?"

Optimus and Fanzone proceeded to explain everything that they knew. Fanzone did most of the talking as he'd been dealing with the oil robbery case for a while.

"So you need me to do some basic spy work?" Jazz asked once explanations were done.

"I figure it won't be too much trouble," Fanzone said with a wink. "After all, you almost managed to tail me and the medic undetected."

Nothing could be done to stop Jazz and Fanzone from snickering. Much to the confusion of Optimus. Ratchet just sighed and shook his head.

"Alright you cogs listen up and listen good!"

The Constructicons all stood at attention, Scoop had reverted himself to his original colors before this meeting. His injuries were covered up well enough that no one had really taken notice.

Except Scrapper, whom hed forced to help with the repairs. However, Mixmaster was still covered in oil from head to ped.

"Seeing as how a certain cog didn't want to work promptly, we're down a third of our oil supply!"

Mixmaster felt the piercing gazes of his comrades and tried to look away, hoping they wouldn't know it was him. Unfortunately it was a lost cause for obvious reasons.

"So we need to make yet another oil run to restock our supply!" He growled and started pacing in front of them. "I'm not sure if any of you bolt for brains realize how much this sets us back."

As Dirt Boss rambled, Scoop began to leak energon from the side of his mouth. He coughed as silently as possible, but some energon still came out. It was clear that some internal injuries had been inflicted.

"Are you alright Scoop?" Hightower whispered.

"I'm fine Hightower." Scoop said, trying to mask his anger. As he spoke though, some energon bubbled out.

"That doesn't look fine to me, what happened speaker?" He asked.

"You don't need to know anything besides the fact that I am fine." Scoop almost snapped.

"Got something to say to us all or are ya running yer mouth?" Dirt Boss asked, he ten looked him over and stared at the energon dribbling out.

"You getting sick on me?"

Mixmaster and Scrapper both flinched and froze. The panicked looks that they gave Scoop indicated that if he wasn't careful, things would be blown wide open.

"I'm fine just a bit of-" Scoop began and started to bang on his chest plates. "-trouble with the intake."

"Well get it fixed, we can't have ya leaking while on the job!" He snapped angrily.

"Yes sir." Scoop half muttered. Getting back to business, DIrt Boss turned to the rest of the Constructicons and sneered.

"So tonight we're going ta be making one of the bigger jobs a bit earlier than expected."

It was at this point that Scoop turned out most of what Dirt Boss had been saying, half out of annoyance and the other half to think. It was sheer luck that Dirt Boss hadn't caught onto his injuries. But the plan needed to go into action tonight

He began to listen in a little once more as Dirt Boss dropped the name of where the heist was taking place. An oil plant that was right on the lake itself, no doubt because an oil tanker had just pulled in to replace the oil which had already been pilfered.

"So are we just going to steal the oil off the ship, because no offense, but that might take a while."Scrapper pointed out.

"Of course I know that ya loon, we're not just taking the oil, we're taking the whole ship!" With this proclamation, Dirt Boss jumped atop a nearby crate and sprayed his arms wide. "Once we're done with that, we'll destroy it in full view of the whole city!"

Scoop felt his optics almost big out, Hightower just blinked, and Scrapper and Mixmaster were concerned as they'd both heard this sort of idea before. The only one who seemed to give any less of a care with Skipjack.

But then again he rarely said or did anything besides bust in doors and screw around with security tape.

"What purpose does sinking the ship serve?" Scoop dared to ask, causing the rest of the group to flinch.

'What purpose, what purpose?" Dirt Boss snapped. "The purpose is to make a statement!"

"That we can set things on fire like some kind of common vandel?" Scoop said.

"I'm pretty sure even the biggest moron on Cybertron would be capable of that."

That alone caused Dirt Boss to grind his denta in sheer anger. Scrapper and Mixmaster looked at Scoop in horror while wondering just how this was part of the plan. Scoop remained silent in this moment as Dirt Boss stepped forward.

"Alright wise guy, I've had enough of you and yer negative nancy behaviour!"

"I wouldn't call logical behaviour negative!" Scoop said to defend himself. Dirt Boss ignored this defense and shot off and before he could react, it drilled into his head.

"Speaker!" A horrified Hightower shouted.

"I think it's time I taught you a good lesson in respect!" Dirt Boss shouted. Scoop frozen up, trying desperately to fight against the diminutive con's control. An ultimately futile gesture in retrospect but he couldn't help but try.

Dirt Boss grinned evilly as the rest of them stepped back. Scoop found himself sitting in place unable to move under his own power, giving a glance toward Dirt Boss. His grin hadn't wavered and in spite of himself it was starting to unnerve him.

His arm suddenly flew up and connected with his chest plate. Scoop let out a startled yell, feeling the energon rise up again.

"So ya got a problem with yer intake eh?" He asked.

"Let me help ya straighten it out."

It was nightfall when the Constructicons moved out. Hightower once again attached to a trailer, with Dirt Boss and Skipjack riding atop it. Scrapper and Mixmaster made up the rear of this small procession as they rolled out of the warehouse.

Unbeknownst to them, across the street and atop another building lurked Jazz. He peered down, watching as the Constructicons trundled out of sigh.

Jazz radioed to Optimus that the Constructicons had moved out, all except Scoop. He had little doubt that he'd be following shortly.

He was rewarded as Scoop lumbered from the entrance, though he was in pretty bad shape. He was limping terribly, energon dipped out of his mouth and down his chest.

With a small gasp and a shifting of gears, he transformed into his alternate mode and rumbled away, as he did, the door began to close behind him.

"Looks like the party's been wrapped up." Jazz commented before jumping down and landing in a crouched position. Without even wasting a single click he was back on his feet and racing towards the closing entrance; just barely sliding in before it closed.

"Which is good for this bot, I'm feeling up for a solo party tonight." Jazz flicked on his headlights and looked around the empty warehouse.

The Constructicons at the very least, had to foresight to turn off the lights to try and conceal their location. But it did little good when it came to hiding from Jazz.

"Now let's see what we got here." Jazz said.

The place wasn't very sparse in decor, very little in the way of personal effects. Most of them having been lost when Slipstream threw them out of their previous home.

But what really caught his attention was the large room, filled almost to the roof with oil drums and barrels.

"Looks like I just found the jackpot." He said to himself with a grin. He stepped forward, before jumping back as he heard a small "squish" on the ground. Looking down, Jazz spotted that he'd step in a patch of oil. Scraping his foot off on the concrete, his visor traveled over the smashed and broken oil drums that had been casualties of Mixmasters incident.

"Man these guys would be terrible internal decorators." He chuckled before reaching for his radio.

"O.P, I found the goods."

"Can you secure the warehouse in case one of the gets away?"

"Is Sentinel's chin almost as big as his ego?" Jazz joked as he prodded around a bit more.

"I'm pretty sure that his ego surpassed his chin a while back." Optimus sighed, leaving Jazz to snicker.

"I'll keep watch in case our favorite crazy manages to sneak back in."

"Well hopefully we'll be able to stop him after we wrap this up."

"Good luck to you Prime, over and out." Jazz said before ending the com call. He glanced at his surroundings before shrugging.

He'd done what he'd came here to do and that was simply secure the place. He situated himself in a non oily spot in the middle of the room and sat Lotus style.

"At least I've got more time to catch up on training." He said to himself, and with that, he set to work meditating.

"Are you sure that this plan of yours is gonna work?"

"I'm not but what other choice do we have?"

The entire facility had been mostly drained of oil throughout the day, leaving only a few empty barrels left lying around to be taken as bait.

Optimus and Fanzone were standing on the deck of the ship which had been docked hours prior. If one took a closer look however, they would have noticed that the ship was in a pretty poor state. covered in old, flaking paint, with rust stains all over it.

They'd spent almost the entire rest of the day setting up this trap for the Constructicons and they hoped it would pay off. Sari crouched low in the security office, whilst Bulkhead hid near a large stack of oil drums. Bumblebee was near the entrance and finally Arcee and Ratchet were in positions to watch and see if there was anything incoming.

"So what exactly is gonna happen if this works out, because these bozos have broken a lot of Earth laws." Fanzone glanced up.

"Well normally we'd sent them through the Space Bridge to be go through a trail on Cybertron, like we did with Nightstrike."

"I dunno if any of the lawyers will be okay with that." Fanzone said with a slight shiver. The lawyers were representatives of the companies which had been robbed. Along with trying to calculate losses and insurance, they'd also been breathing down his neck to get the case solved.

"But if that Sentinel clown's still in charge then I got little doubt they'll be able to do anything."

Optimus sighed inwardly, as much as he hated to go around and badmouth his former friend, they had a point.

"First I think we should see about capturing them."

"That's probably true."

A few moments passed by as they waited when from the front of the yard they spotted a flash of blue. Arcee raised her sword high into the air before bringing it back down just as fast.

"What the heck does that mean?" Fanzone asked.

"It means that we've got our "perps" inbound."

Optimus grabbed Fanzone, who gave an irate shout, and ran behind the ship's bridge to hide as the lights of the Constructicons alt modes pulled near.

Hightower rumbled up to the entrance before stopping with a squeal from his brakes.

"Mute it cog!" Dirt Boss hissed.

"Sorry."

Dirt Boss glanced back at Skipjack before slapping Hightower on the back. Skipjack climbed up an over the trailer and onto Hightower's crane. Hightower lifted his crane arm up and began to extend it.

Arcee and Ratchet watched as he extended it up and over the wall before lowering it some.

"When did they add him?" Arcee asked, glancing at Skipjack.

"I dunno..but he reminds me of someone." Ratchet said.

Skipjack climbed over the wall and dropped down into the complex. Hightower brought back his arm and Skipjack ran over to the security office.

Upon seeing this, Sari ducked under one of the tables and hide as Skipjack forced the door open. He walked through the room, stopping two tables down from where Sari was found herself holding her breath as Skipjack began to mess with the controls.

As the doors to the complex began to open, Hightower lead the procession in. Skipjack stood back and watched before shutting the doors once again.

This part of the plan was clear, and beneath his apparently blank exterior, he was a little excited. Thanks in part to his creation via cloning of probably the smallest autobot ever, he'd been left out of many a raid.

But now it was his time to go out and shine.

This moment was a very fast fleeting one though. As he walked past the tables, Sari shot her foot out from under it. Skipjack's legs hit the leg and with a startled cry, he tumbled forward.

Sari sprung from under the table and landed onto his back. Skipjack tries to move, but Sari managed to pin down his arms.

"Sorry little guy, but the party's leaving without you." Sari said. Skipjack was too stunned to reply, but Sari kept it that way by pushing his face down.

The other Constructicons had no idea what had just happened to their comrade, and so pushed further into the complex. They rumbled over to the docks and the three of them transformed.

"There she is boys, our big score!' Dirt Boss threw his arms up.

"Eh, "She" looks a to be at retirement age." Mixmaster commented.

"A bit past that." Scrapper said, tapping the side of the ship with his knuckle. "I think it's well on it's way to the scrapyard."

"Who cares where it came from, it'll be easier ta sink this way!"

"Did he just say sink?" Bumblebee whispered to Bulkhead.

"I'm pretty sure..unless my audio's are acting up again."

"Take a look and see how much oil is in this tub." Dirt Boss said. "If there's room for more than we load it from the yard."

Dirt Boss glanced at the three before pointing toward Scrapper. He then motioned toward the ship and Scrapper balked

"How come I;ve gotta go on board."

"Consider it part of your…"redemption", and I don't trust these two clowns given their recent mistakes." Dirt Boss gestured toward the other two. Hightower looked away while Mixmaster just fixed him with a glare.

Scrapper, deciding that he shouldn't argue, began to climb up the side of the old ship. The ship itself groaned and buckled as he climbed up it's side.

The entire time he was worried that it would either tilt, or just simply collapse. Lucky for him it did neither and he'd soon reached the deck.

"I made, it, hey guys I made it!' SCrapper called back.

"Keep it down you slagging moron!" Dirt Boss shouted back, the irony lost on him. Scrapper sighed as he boosted himself up and onto the deck.

The deck gave him little reassurance about the ship itself, it looked even worse than the hull. Covered in patches of old oil, parts lay scattered about, and some bits were even partially disassembled..

"This is starting to get spooky." Scrapper said to himself. He started to make his way down the ship's deck; jumping and screaming each time a loud noise was made.

"Don't freak out Scrap, otherwise Dirt Boss will...well scrap ya." he said.

He was so focused on his own fear, that he hadn't noticed Optimus Prime sneaking up from behind him. Scrapper kept his optics trained on the deck ahead, listening as the old hulk creaked with each step.

Suddenly the floor seemed to vanish in front of him. His foot almost went into it but he jumped back just in time.

A large hole had been made into the ship's already rusted deck. Scrapper got to his knees and peered into it.

"Hey uh...if any oil's in here do..something."

His "something" was the only reply as it echoed around the interior of the ship. Scrapper blinked before he went to look back toward the docks.

"Hey guys I think that the ship's-" His sentence died midway as Optimus rushed forward, swinging his axe toward him.

"Aw scrap." Was all that could come out of his mouth.

The swing caught Scrapper in the chest, knocking him back and into the air over the hole. For a moment he seemed to hover. Then gravity took into effect and he fell into the dark depths of the ship.

The "THUD" from Scrappers descent made the ship shudder from end to end. The other Constructicons all stared at the ship as it slowly stopped shaking.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Asked Hightower innocently.

"Something tells me that we may have walked into something bad." Mixmaster said, taking a step back.

"Great detective work," Ratchet said, stepping from the shadows with Arcee. ",and I thought you were the one lacking a processor."

"HEY!" Mixmaster shouted, before it quickly hit him. The rest of the Constructicons turned to see Bumblebee and Bulkhead moving out into the open as well.

"Autobots, this was a setup!" Dirt Boss scowled.

"You mean like the one that you've been doing for the past few weeks?" Bumblebee asked.

"How did he know-" Mixmaster asked silently

"Doesn't matter, once we get back I'm punishing the lot of ya for this getting out!" Dirt Boss said and punched his fist into his other palm.

"Fer right now, just scrap em!"

With that line, Hightower and Mixmaster charged at the Autobots. At least that's what they were supposed to do as per orders. Instead the two of them tired to move around the Autobots and make for the exit.

"Where do you clowns think yer goin!?: Dirt Boss roared.

Even with the commanding cry from Dirt Boss, the didn't get very far. Bulkhead swung his Wrecking ball in an arc, slamming it into Mixmaster's chest.

The air inside Mixmaster came out while he sailed back into an oil tank, crushing most of it.

Hightower tried to transform and make a break for the exist, only for the door to slam right into his face.

"Umm Skipjack..buddy...I think you might want to open the door." He said nervously. However Skipjack was unable to reply due to being pinned down by Sari.

With no option left, he tried to transform and get over the wall. However his was stopped when Bumblebee zapped his hand.

"Ouch!" Hightower said, clutching his sizzling hand.

"Don't leave just yet big guy, we've got a big party planned." Bee said.

"This doesn't look like a party." Hightower said. Right then, Arcee jumped in and before anymore could be done, she slapped a pair of stasis cuffs over his wrists. Hightower just simply stared at them and then back at the Autobots.

"Well this was...way easier than I expected." Bulkhead said.

"No kidding, all talk and no bark these guys." Fanzone commented as Optimus walked over, carrying a struggling Dirt Boss.

"Let go of me ya slagging cog!" Dirt Boss demanded."Do you know who I am!?"

"The smallest control freak ever?" Bumblebee suggested.

Dirt Boss glared at him angrily, as a pair of stasis cuffs were slapped onto his wrists as well. The Autobots stood there for a moment and Captain Fanzone gave out a sigh of relief.

"All those weeks of tracking these guys and it's all over in less than a few minutes."

"Not quite, we still need to find Scoop." Optimus said.

"Oh great, so we get to go hunt him down now too?" Bulkhead asked.

"We can't just let him run around Detroit freely." Arcee commented. "Who knows what he'll end up doing?"

"How about head right for the main gate?" Sari's voice said over the comlink, terror ebbing in.

"Heading for the where, Sari how do you know where he is?" Optimus asked.

"Because he just showed up on the cameras!"

That was the last thing Sari got to tell her friends before the doors were ripped from their hinges. Scoop raced forward, throwing the destroyed doors into the closest Autobots.

Bumblebee and Ratchet were both knocked over, pinned under the parts of the doors. Scoop slammed his bucket into the ground and flipped himself into the air. In mid air, He transformed and kicked Bulkhead in the chest. Fanzone tried to scramble out of the way but was sent flying by the small shockwave from Bulkhead hitting the ground.

Scoop hit the ground before turning to face the last two Autobots, a sneer forming across his face.

How did he do that? Optimus thought to himself in shock.

What most failed to know or realize was how agile one had to be to work in Construction on Cybertron. An already dangerous trade on Earth, it was just as bad if not worse in some cases. Scoop had been forced to avoid or outright stop a few accidents in his time.

Those skills now put to a good sue fighting the Autobots. But that wouldn't be right now. Not yet, he needed his house in order. Even without his injuries the cards were stacked against him.

"I'm not here to fight false Prime, not today." Scoop said simply.

"You could have fooled me." Optimus said, tightening his grip on the axe. Arcee readied herself and her swords.

Before a fight could start though, a pair of globs came out and splattered against their feet. They quickly hardened, sticking the two of them there.

"Ey Hey, glad ya made it Scoop!" Mixmaster said happily, running over toward him. "Sorry, the plan kinda took a bad turn"

"No kidding, I figured something was wrong when the Autobots failed to show up." Scoop said, before looking around.

"Where is Scrapper?"

"Right here Scoop!" Scrapper shouted and ran over. Mixmaster had gone and sprayed the ship's hull with acid to free his buddy.

"Took ya long enough!" Dirt Boss snapped, bringing everyone's attention to him.

"Get us outta these cuffs and blast these Autobots!"

Scoop stared coldly at Dirt Boss, and then at Hightower who looked a bit sheepish toward him.

"You're going to free us..right speaker?" He asked.

Scoop felt his face harden angrily. He should have felt grateful for Hightowers efforts to save his life, but these efforts had gotten them under the steel toe of Dirt Boss for months now. The more he thought on it, the more he got angry. Hightower never really had the spark to do what needed to be done.

He was muscle plain and simple. Muscle that had outlived it's usefulness thanks to Scrapper and Mixmaster.

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid there is little I can do my friends." he said.

That got everyone's attention and the complex went silent for a brief second. The Autobots were confused, so was Higthwoer.

"What do ya mean!?" Dirt Boss angrily snapped.

Scoop didn't allow him to continue as he raised his weapon high and proceeded to open fire on the Autobots. Optimus and Arcee both yelled as the blasts knocked them from the cement around their legs.

The others were still barely recovering and could do little as Scoop shot at them too. He turned back toward Scrapper and Mixmaster.

"What are you to waiting for, GO!"

The pair didn't need to be told twice and transformed; gunning their engines and racing toward the exit.

"Come back you blasted Cogs!" Dirt Boss bellowed. Scoop ran over them, blasting everything that moved.

Autobots and Fanzone ducked and dove away from the energy blasts as he came close to Hightower.

"Speaker please, you can't spread the message alone!" He begged.

Scoop gave Landslide a cold, hard stare, one that sent a shiver down his spine. Hightower felt like he wanted to transform into vehicle mode and hide forever. A luxury that wasn't available to him.

"I'm terribly sorry Hightower, but I don't think the organization has room for you anymore."

"W-what?"

"Yes I'm afraid it is so." He said, placing a hand onto Hightower's shoulder. "But do not lose hope, maybe if you prove your worth again there will be room?"

Hightower's face seemed to become more sullen. He was confused, what had he done to fall out of Scoops good graces.

"What is that speaker?"

"Never let me see you again." Scoop said in a low tone.

"Ever."

With that said Scoop transformed and drove off into the night; leaving Hightower a crestfallen and emotionally broken mech.

The Autobots all recovered and ran for the doorway, staring after them.

"Nuts and bolts, he got away!" Ratchet said to no one in particular. Dirt Boss continued shouting after the three but was ignored.

"Eh, at least we've got three of them" Fanzone said with a shrug "Hopefully they'll just go back to sitting around and doing nothing."

"I doubt it." Optimus said, looking in the direction where they went off.

"Something tells me that Scoop might have had something like this in mind from the start."

Upon hearing this, Dirt Boss began ranting even harder. While Hightower lowered his head and shut his optics.

Once again, he had trusted wrong.

Hope I didn't make it feel rushed but as I was typing I realized that the COsntructicons are just kinda thugs so they cannot really fight. Probably part of the reason why It took me so long.

Anyway one more chapter to go and then in the next story the plot really starts! Till next time, please leave a review..anyhting really.

Also Ive started Cross posting on A03 so look me up there!