Author's Notes: This chapter's featured character was a request from Impressionsguy. Honestly it took me a while to even think of a storyline for Trailbreaker that felt natural for the story, but I think I came up with something good here. At the very least it was fun to write. Chapters 5 and 6 will feature Decepticons that have been requested, and if any of you have a character request for this fic let me know :)
Also: I have a poll on my profile page to let the readers decide which storyline will be the subject of my 50th Transformers fanfic. Go to the poll if you want a say on which idea seems like the best for this milestone, and thank you all for reading and keeping me motivated to continue :)
Chapter 4
Trailbreaker
When Megatron received the comm from Reflector with their latest report he was surprised to say the least. As the Nemesis rose from the ocean to welcome the triplets home he had to wonder how they had done it. According to the report, not only did Reflector break protocol by fighting instead of observing, but they had managed to capture the most important Autobot to Prime's cause.
"I can't believe those little creeps managed to capture Prowl," Thundercracker commented from his post in the control room, "He's got the best battle computer on Cybertron installed in his processor. No way could they sneak up on him."
"Who says it was Prowl?" Skywarp asked challengingly, "I say they took Ratchet. No medic, no reinforcements."
"You're both wrong," Scrapper scoffed at the seekers, "Wheeljack is their inventor and the most unpredictable mech on the battlefield. Clearly he is the one Reflector is bringing back as a trophy."
"You think they could catch Ironhide?" Bonecrusher asked curiously, "Maybe they found out his weakness and used it against him. After all, capturing the weapons specialist would be quite a haul. It's gotta be him."
"But Megatron said the most important mech, not the most powerful," Skywarp reminded the Constructicon, "What would Optimus Prime consider to be the most important part of his team?"
"I think the better question is, what would Reflector consider to be the most important part of their team?" Thundercracker chimed in.
The Decepticons stopped debating the question when the doors to the bridge opened up and the first Reflector triplet walked in. Megatron raised an optic ridge when he saw the little camera-former was merely holding one of the Autobots' human allies. Well, that was a disappointment.
"This is Prime's most valuable asset?" Megatron asked mockingly, "You're even stupider than I give you credit for!"
"No, my liege," Reflector replied humbly as he held out the human; Spike, "This is merely the bait we used to keep the Autobot in line. He wouldn't dare attempt to escape as long as the human is in our clutches. It was the only way to capture him, Lord Megatron."
At that moment three shadows appeared in the doorway. On either side were two smaller figures, the Reflectors, and in the middle bound by energy ropes was...
"Um, who is that?" Megatron asked as he squinted to try to place which Autobot he was looking at, "Is this a joke?"
"No, sir!" Viewfinder, standing to the right of the prisoner, replied proudly, "We have observed the Autobots on earth for two years now, and we have captured their most important teammate. Lord Megatron, we present as a gift to you, Trailbreaker."
For a few moments there was stunned silence in the control room, but then suddenly the other Decepticons broke out into fits of uproarious laughter. The Reflectors looked on in confusion, not really sure what was so funny. Even Trailbreaker and Spike looked a little befuddled.
"That's your big score?" Scrapper asked in between bouts of laughter, "That guy? The force field guy? You've gotta be kidding!"
"Hey, do you have any idea how many times Trailbreaker has been the Autobots' secret weapon?" Viewfinder snapped defensively.
"Well, I think secret weapon might be a bit of a stretch," Trailbreaker replied modestly, "I just do my job."
"You idiots!" Megatron yelled at the Reflector triplets, "You gave away your position and your observation post all for the sake of capturing one of Prime's ineffectual nobodies!? You three are getting more incompetent by the orn! Being on earth has made you soft. Well, you made this mess and now you have to deal with it!"
"W-What do you m-mean by that, Lord Megatron?" Viewfinder stammered nervously.
"I mean we're going to negotiate with Prime for the return of his lackey and his vermin, and until he comes to get them you three imbeciles have to guard them. Now move!"
"Yes, Lord Megatron!" All three Reflectors replied quickly as they rushed to retreat with their prizes.
Megatron snorted angrily and left the bridge, unwilling to deal with anymore nonsense. The other Decepticons waited until Megatron was gone, and then they started laughing about the situation all over again.
In the brig Trailbreaker sat despondently while Spike paced back and forth in their cell. The Reflectors were all stuck with guard duty, and while they normally could watch people doing nothing for hours, it wasn't nearly as much fun when their subject could watch them back. All five individuals were starting to get bored.
"Hey Trailbreaker, I'm getting hungry," Spike whispered to his fellow captive.
"I know, but there's no use asking the 'Cons," Trailbreaker told him, "They don't know the meaning of sympathy."
Meanwhile, at the guard post the Reflectors kept close watch on their prisoners, and Spike was starting to feel a little freaked out by their unwavering attention.
"Those guys are kind of creepy," Spike muttered under his breath, "It makes me wonder what they're thinking."
/Hey guys,/ Spectro called out to his brothers through their spark bond, /Is that cell secure? If Trailbreaker escapes we'll never hear the end of it./
/Sure we will, because he'll probably kill us,/ Spyglass remarked cynically, /Those fools we call teammates have no idea the service we did them. Trailbreaker killed off the first horde of Insecticon clones, protected the Autobots' ship from the sun, saved countless human villages, and has been the first line of defense for vorns even before we all got stuck here on this mudball of a planet. If our colleagues watched the Autobots as much as we do then they'd understand why we had to take Trailbreaker./
/Yeah, and the worst part is Megatron is going to give him back,/ Viewfinder added bitterly, /Sometimes I wonder why we bother. We hand them the biggest Autobot menace on earth on a silver platter, and they send him back because it wasn't what Megatron ordered./
/You just made us sound like waiters,/ Spectro chuckled, which caused jovial waves to be broadcasted throughout the bond, and suddenly the situation didn't seem so grim.
"Hey Decepticreeps!" Trailbreaker hollered, and the Reflectors walked over and scowled up at him for being so rude, "Hey, you got anything Spike can eat? We've been in here for hours."
"You're still worried about that little brat?" The Reflectors all asked in unison, "He's the reason you're stuck in there!"
"Just as I figured," Trailbreaker lamented, "You lousy 'Cons don't care about anything but yourselves. Just hang in there, Spike. I'll figure a way out of this."
/Oh scrap!/ Spectro exclaimed over the bond in a panic, /Guys! We can't let Trailbreaker escape, and if he thinks long enough he'll think of a way out! We have to do something!/
/Okay, don't panic,/ Viewfinder replied as calmly as he could manage, /If we feed the human he'll be complacent for a little longer. Think guys, think! What do humans eat?/
/Um...paint?/ Spectro guessed incorrectly.
/I heard they eat plants,/ Spyglass offered, /They call these plants vegetables. So, where can we find vegetables down here?/
/How about seaweed?/ Spectro suggested.
/Good. You two go get the seaweed and I'll stay here with the prisoners,/ Viewfinder ordered, /Oh, and bring a heat gun. Humans like their food cooked./
Spyglass and Spectro ran off to complete their task, which left Viewfinder alone with the Autobot and the human. He looked up at them with his typical intent stare for lack of anything better to do, and Spike felt creeped out all over again.
"So, where did your posse go?" Trailbreaker asked Viewfinder after a few moments of awkward silence.
"They left the ship, that's all you need to know," Viewfinder replied haughtily, "Don't worry Autobot, we won't torture you this time. Apparently Megatron feels negotiating with Optimus is a much better deal. Frankly though I don't think the negotiations will work. I know your kind well enough to know your leader will try to pull a fast one on us."
"Hah! That's rich!" Trailbreaker laughed mockingly, "You're the ones that doublecross us every time we try to negotiate peace, and you dare to say that we're underhanded liars? That's a good one!"
"Yeah, it's so easy to sound righteous when your biggest problem is worrying about the lives of a bunch of organics!" Viewfinder sneered.
"Like you would care anything about human life," Trailbreaker growled, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!"
"Oh please! I know why you really protect those skin bags!" Viewfinder shouted accusingly, "It's because they feed you! Their governments supply your people with all the energon you could ever need. You don't have to steal to survive like we do! You don't send any of your supply back, either! We at least send back energon to keep Cybertron running for another few orns. You Autobots don't even care!"
"Of course we care!" Trailbreaker shouted heatedly, "But we can't send anything back without Shockwave intercepting the shipment or you Decepticons blowing us into oblivion. There are still Autobots left on Cybertron that could use our help, but we can't even get to them! We don't even know how many are left. We protect the humans because they don't deserve to get caught up in our war. They've welcomed us and accepted us, and we're not about to betray their trust."
Viewfinder was tired of talking to Trailbreaker. He clearly believed in the Prime's propaganda, and Viewfinder got tired if he spoke out loud for too long. Besides, he didn't know how to defend a position he barely believed in himself.
Fifteen minutes later the Spectro and Spyglass returned with armfuls of dried out seaweed. Viewfinder quickly opened a small area of the energy shield, threw the seaweed at Spike's feet, and closed the opening again.
"What's this for?" Spike asked in confusion.
"It's your food, human," Viewfinder informed him, "Eat it."
Spike looked down at the warm gloppy green plant life, its roots exposed, and he turned almost as green as his dinner.
"Um, that's okay," Spike replied as he tried to avoid retching, "I'm not really hungry anymore."
"That wasn't a request," Viewfinder replied threateningly as he held up a laser pistol aimed at Spike's chest, "You wanted food, and we brought you food. Eat it."
Spike gulped more from revulsion than fear, and then looked down again at the stringy ocean plants. Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Spike sat down cross legged and picked up a seaweed leaf. Gingerly, Spike bit off a small edge of one leaf and chewed so that the demanding Decepticon knew he was actually eating it. He swallowed hard and made a cringing face. Satisfied, Viewfinder put the gun back in his subspace and went back to the guard station with his brothers.
Another two hours passed. Spike ate a few more bites of the seaweed and saved the rest just in case their imprisonment lasted longer than he expected. The Reflectors continued their perpetual staring while Spike and Trailbreaker talked quietly among themselves. At one point Trailbreaker even picked Spike up and let the boy sit on his shoulder, something the Reflectors thought looked strange but kind of endearing. It was odd seeing the pair of prisoners get so comfortable in their cell, and it gave the triplets an interesting perspective into the black jeep-former.
"Hey Reflector," Trailbreaker called out, surprising the trio as they were close to dozing off.
"What do you want, Autobot?" Spyglass asked grouchily.
"You said Megatron was negotiating for our release," Trailbreaker reminded them, and they nodded, "Do you know what he's going to ask for?"
"Energon, obviously," Viewfinder replied in a no-duh kind of voice, "We're down so low that the smaller 'Cons like us and the cassettes have been cut off completely until we get more."
"Wait, so you guys haven't eaten?" Spike asked in concern, "In how long?"
"Three orns," Spectro replied sheepishly, "I guess in human time that would be between...42 to 45 days."
Spike gasped at that one. He had never seen any of the Autobots go such a long time without refueling. He didn't know how the Reflectors were still standing let alone functioning on such low fuel levels.
"Let me guess, the officers are still getting their rations?" Trailbreaker asked, and the Reflectors nodded, "Well then, maybe I can help you."
"You're already helping us," Viewfinder replied matter-of-factly, "With you as our hostage the Prime will have to give us energon. Even if he refuses, it'll still be easier to steal the stuff with you behind bars."
"Figuratively speaking of course since we don't use actual bars," Spectro added with a simple smile.
"I meant I could help you right now," Trailbreaker clarified, "Just unlock my subspace and I'll give you some energon I have on me."
"Nice try, force field boy," Viewfinder snorted, "If we did that then you would pull a weapon on us and escape. Just how dumb do you think we are?"
"Dumb enough to join the Decepticons," Trailbreaker remarked wryly, "That's not the point though. I have energon in my subspace, and I really will give it to you. I know times are tough, and even if you are on the wrong side you're still Cybertronians. Come on, just trust me. I promise I won't shoot or stab you, okay?"
Viewfinder pondered this proposal. Under normal circumstances he and his brothers would never trust an Autobot, especially one as resourceful as Trailbreaker, but they hadn't refueled in weeks and desperately needed energon. Viewfinder conferred with his brothers through the bond, and after a few minutes of deliberation came up with a solution.
"Alright Autobot, I'm gonna lift the energy field enough for Spectro to go through," Viewfinder explained warily, "If you try anything though, I'll shoot the human right through his fuel pump. Once Spectro is inside, I'm activating the energy barrier again. Give the energon to him, okay?"
"Fine," Trailbreaker replied casually; seemingly unconcerned with how fearful the Reflectors were of him.
The three Reflectors nodded to each other before the energy field was lowered enough for Spectro to quickly shuffle inside. The barrier was activated again with Spectro now trapped inside the cell with Trailbreaker and Spike.
"Alright, now what geniuses?" Trailbreaker asked in amusement.
"Give me some energon first," Spectro ordered, "When I'm done with the cube Spyglass will come in to drink some."
"Now that hardly seems efficient," Trailbreaker replied with a patronizing smile on his face plate, "Tell you what, I'll give you three cubes, and you can go back outside the cell with them. I promise, no weapons."
Spectro was skeptical that Trailbreaker meant what he said but was still hopeful that he might get the energon unscathed. Trailbreaker rooted around in his subspace until he found three full cubes and set them on the floor in front of Spectro. The stack of cubes was as tall as he was!
"Hey, this has a lot of glow around the edges," Spectro commented when he inspected the cubes, "Is this...high grade?"
"Yep. I make it myself," Trailbreaker told him cheerfully; happy to share his hobby with a listening audial receptor, "Sideswipe and I make it together sometimes and then distribute it to other Autobots that are in-the-know. We can't tell Prowl though because he hates it when Autobots drink high grade while on duty. Hey, it's like I always say, it's 45:00 somewhere."
Spectro smiled at the tantalizing cubes of pure liquid charge, but Spyglass was concerned.
/You know, if he makes that stuff himself it could be poisoned,/ Spyglass pointed out over the bond.
/That's silly,/ Spectro dismissed the argument, /He makes it for Autobots, and he wouldn't poison his own crew. You know how popular this guy is with outdoorsy Autobots like Hound and Beachcomber. He's not like us. They respect him, so he has no reason to turn on his own team./
/Are you insinuating that we do?/ Spyglass asked crossly.
/I know we wouldn't,/ Spectro quickly amended, /However...you have to admit that we would be justified if sometimes we only did our jobs halfway. Commander Starscream treats us like slag, and Megatron still can't tell us apart even though we've spent 6 million years as Decepticons. It's kind of depressing./
"Hey Reflector," Trailbreaker called out to the minibot, who was just standing there having a silent conversation with Spyglass, "You gonna exit the cell and have a drink with your fellow 'Cons?"
"Yeah, sure," Spectro replied distractedly, trying to keep his processor focused on the outside world, "Thanks for sharing with us, Autobot."
"Yeah, just for that, we'll get the kid some more seaweed," Viewfinder offered gratefully.
"Um, no! That's okay! A good deed is its own reward," Spike replied as quickly as possible so he wouldn't get stuck eating his weight in wild plant matter again.
Spectro managed to grab the cubes and exit the cell without Trailbreaker escaping. The Reflector triplets didn't understand why Trailbreaker wasn't making their lives miserable by running away, but then reasoned that he probably knew he was getting out unharmed anyway so there was no point in wasting energy.
Two hours and three empty cubes later the Reflectors were overcharged like nobody's business. The cubes were large enough for standard sized mechs, and the Reflectors were starved minibots, so it didn't take much volume to get them totally cratered. Spike was surprised however by how the trio acted when under the influence.
"Kodachrome! Gives us the nice bright colors!" Spectro sang in an off-key voice, "Brings us the greens of summer, and makes you feel the whole world's a sunny day! Oh yeah!"
"Ya know, Trailbaker," Spyglass slurred as he spoke to the Autobot, "Sometimes I'd just like to tell Megatron to kiss off. Right between the shifting plates!"
"Eh hehehe!" Viewfinder giggled for probably the fifth time in as many minutes as he sat slumped over on the floor, "Shifting plates! Hehehehehe!"
"Mama don't take my Kodachrome! Mama don't take my Kodachrome! Mama don't take my Kodachrome away-yay-yay!" Spectro continued singing undeterred despite the conversation happening around him.
"This is insane," Spike whispered to Trailbreaker, "What do we do if they get violent?"
"Same thing we do if Cliffjumper gets drunk," Trailbreaker replied.
"Call Ironhide? Somehow I don't think that'll work in here," Spike commented.
"Oh yeah," Trailbreaker simpered sheepishly, "I forgot."
"Oh land of the metal moons, how I miss the contour of your logical shapes!" Spyglass shouted at the ceiling with his hands held above his head in a dramatic claw-like fashion, "Oh, how the slums of Nuon glowed in the light of the twin metal moons! The gentle patter of the turbo rats' footsteps, the sight of loyal cyberhounds sleeping by their masters, and the taste of fresh Cybertronian energon! We were maniacs! We blew it all up! We have been condemned to the pits of inferno!"
"Oh, lighten up," Viewfinder replied with a drunken smile, "The ocean isn't so bad. At least the fish look cool, not to mention all the spying we've done on the Autobots over the years. I wish they'd get some femmes though. I mean, if we have to take pictures of these idiots in the wash racks I wish we could at least have something better to look at. I'm still scarred for life from seeing Seaspray's bare circuits!"
"You've taken pictures of us in the wash racks!?" Trailbreaker asked in horror.
"Oh, n-not all of you," Viewfinder slurred, his inebriation getting worse, "I mean, I'm not even sure Brawn bathes. I've never once seen h-him in there. If you wanna see what Tracks looks like in a shower cap though, I've got that picture s-somewhere in my hard drive."
"Not to mention the one of G-Gears t-talking to his loofa sponge," Spectro added, "That was almost in-incriminating, actually. He told it...he told it about...about how you guys planned on sabotaging our space bridge. Yeah, if he had said more, we-we'd have been able to have got you guys good."
"Permanently," Spyglass added ominously.
"Hehehehehe!" Viewfinder laughed again like an idiot.
Trailbreaker fumed over the information that Reflector was not only spying on them, but had absolutely no concept of the meaning of privacy. As he pondered this however Viewfinder suddenly passed out, and soon Spectro and Spyglass followed suit; leaving three unconscious Decepticons on the floor.
When Trailbreaker noticed they were out cold, he pulled a code picker out of his subspace and used it to turn off the energy field. Spike openly gaped as Trailbreaker pulled off this feat, and Trailbreaker upon noticing picked up Spike so he wouldn't have to try to keep up with the Autobot as he ran.
"How...how did you do that?" Spike stammered, "Wait, could you have done that at any moment?"
"Sure, but I wanted the Reflectors unconscious so they wouldn't shoot you," Trailbreaker replied with a sly grin, "Don't worry Spike, we'll be back at the Ark in no time at all."
...
The Reflectors awoke the next morning to see that their prisoners were gone. They collectively groaned both from their failure and from their shared hangover.
"Well, we tried to warn Megatron that mech was dangerous," Spyglass shrugged, "This is what happens when you cheap out on the security."
"On the bright side, now we know which Autobot's quarters to raid for more high grade," Spectro pointed out with a smirk.
Viewfinder smiled at realizing this as well. They had lost their prisoner and possibly were going to get in trouble with Megatron, but they also had a ticket to free booze. Overall, it wasn't such a bad orn after all.