Tyger, Tyger

Chapter Three- The Confrontation

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.

(For anyone who's wondering, my version of Tigatron as far as appearance is the about same as his Beast Wars counterpart, but with a bit of a Transmetal 2 edge. Their transformations are identical.)

The Decepticons were slightly intimidated. The creature had just revealed himself to be a technorganic Autobot and had challenged them. Lugnut, anxious for battle, charged at Tigatron. Tigatron dodged the fist then rapidly tapped the arm with his claws.

When Lugnut turned to face him again, but this time found his right arm was no longer functioning. "What in the pit?"

Tigatron flashed his claws again. "Cyber-acupuncture. A few well placed jabs and you can knock out any part of a bot for hours. Nothing your internal repair systems can't fix, but it's very inconvenient."

Lugnut lunged again, this time having his left arm disabled. He tried again. This time Tigatron sent a flurry of strikes across his torso. Hundreds of quick finger-jabs per second hit the Decepticon. When the strikes stopped, Lugnut stood paralyzed over the technorganic Autobot. Tigatron raised his hand and gave a little flick to Lugnut's optic, causing him to lose balance and fall flat on his back.

"And, down for the count," Tigatron said cockily as he stood over the huge Decepticon.

Bumblebee couldn't believe his optics. He stood, mouth agape, shocked at the amazing display of skill demonstrated before him. "That was awesome!" he said in shock.

Prowl just looked at the tiger-robot questioningly. Something was familiar about this strange new Autobot. "That technique," he said aloud to himself. "I haven't seen such flawless execution like that since…"

Blitzwing pulled himself from the wall and charged at Tigatron. (G) "SCRAP YOU, AUTOBOT!!"

Suddenly, Tigatron's stripes flashed blue and his body seemed to vanish in a flash. The triple-changer looked about in confusion as his manic face flipped in place. (M)Blitzwing sang, "Oh vere, oh vere has my kitty-bot gone? Come out kitty!"

Suddenly, Blitzwing was hit several times by invisible punches. He staggered as the blows knocked him off balance. His intellectual personality took over and analyzed the situation. Clearly this Autobot had a stealth mode that made him undetectable to his optic and heat sensors. He looked about for a way to remedy that situation. Nearby, Blitzwing saw a fire hydrant. He ran to it and kicked it, allowing the water to flow out. He placed his foot over the stream of water and let it spray over the street.

Blitzwing smiled as the water splashed over the invisible figure, making him at least noticeable. He fired his freeze cannons at the water, creating a frozen restraint around the Autobot's legs. Tigatron returned to normal and struggled to break free.

"Too bad Autobot," said (I)Blitzwing. "Your element of stealth is gone und I have you at my mercy. Your ninja skills can't save you now." He pointed his cannons towards the Autobot. "Any last words?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Blitzwing turned at the voice and received a flying kick in the face from Prowl. The kick knocked the Decepticon hard on his side. Bumblebee then ran up to Tigatron and melted his bonds with his stingers.

Tigatron smirked. "Took you bots long enough to jump in."

"Well we didn't want to deprive you of your fun time," replied Bumblebee.

Blitzwing struggled to get up and looked right at Tigertron. "VAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?" (G)Blitzwing asked derogatorily. "STOP ME WITH PUNY NINJA SHURICANS?"

"Nah," said Tigatron as he drew and impressively sized blaster from his back. "I prefer the conventional approach."

(I)"Oh, nuts."

The blast shot the Decepticon far down the street. He skid across the pavement with a black burn mark on his chest-plate.

"It's days like these dat make me think maybe I should have stayed in the debugging vard," he groaned as he passed out.

Tigatron re-stored his blaster and turned to his fellow Autobots. "Well, that was definitely the best welcome party I've ever had."

"Dude!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "You were so awesome, with the jabbing and the stealth and the blaster… That was amazing."

"Cool your servos kid," Tigatron replied. "I'm not used to this much praise."

"As I recall it," said Prowl, "you managed to get scorned at least once a week by the master."

Tigatron gave Prowl a shocked look for a moment, then shook his head and smiled. "Never could get anything past you huh Prowl?"

Bumblebee looked at the two bots in confusion. "Waitaminute, You guys know each other?"

"Actually, we go way back," Prowl replied. He smiled at his old friend. "It's been a long time… Mirage."

Suddenly, a blast sounded in the distance. The bots turned to see a cloud of smoke rising above the city.

"That's coming from the junk yard," Prowl observed.

"So much for my good parking space," Tigatron said in a surprisingly unconcerned voice.

Ratchet had just arrived at the Junkyard when the whole thing went up in flames. He transformed and ran to the flames. "Wreck-Gar!!" He called.

He was surprised to see Megatron himself hovering over the burning refuse, with the femme Blackarachnia on his shoulder. The Decepticon noticed the med-bot but didn't care. He reverted to vehicle mode and flew off.

Shrugging off his nervousness, Ratchet ran into the flames to save his friend. He found the junky Autobot knocked out on a pile of garbage. He used his magnets to lift Wreck-Gar and carried him out of the flames.

Ratchert immediately set about checking over his friend. There was no serious damage and Wreck-Gar soon came too.

Looking at his burning home, Wreck-Gar frowned. "Well this going to set back my real-estate values."

"Well that was pointless," said Blackarachnia, this time riding on top of Megatron in robot mode. "We didn't learn a thing about what that Autobot is doing here from the ship's computer and we still haven't gotten word from the others."

"Patience Blackarachnia," replied Megatron. "All shall be revealed in time."

"If I had an energon cube for every time I heard that," she muttered sarcastically.

"What was that?" Megatron said sternly.

"Nothing."

The Decepticons had been stasis-cuffed and towed to government facility where they would be stored until the Elite Guard could be called to pick them up. Meanwhile, the night had passed into day. Tigatron had accompanied Prowl and Bumblebee to their Headquarters.

Tigatron looked over the run down factory. "Nice base," he said sarcastically.

"It's the best we could do on short notice," Prowl replied.

Optimus and the others all had gathered to meet the new robot. Everyone was uncertain of what to make of his semi-organic exterior.

Prowl moved to make introductions. "Everyone, this is Tigatron." He motioned to the others for Tigatron. "Tigatron, this is Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Wreck-Gar and our commander, Optimus Prime."

"Pleasure sir," Said Tigatron, extending a hand.

Optimus returned the gesture, shaking hands with the bot. "It's a pleasure to meet you Tigatron."

Tigatron turned to the Junk bot. "I already met Wreck," he said.

Wreck-Gar hung his head. "Sorry about your ship. If it's any consolation, the flames burned up all my garbage."

"It's okay," Tigatron said casually. "I wasn't planning on leaving too soon anyway."

Bulkhead took a closer look at the new Autobot. "Wow… you're like Blackarachnia, only a guy."

"That's what I said," replied Bumblebee.

"That is very interesting," concurred Ratchet.

Tigatron motioned for them to give him room. "Easy guys. I can't stand all this attention."

Prowl scoffed humorously. "You wouldn't know it for all the pranks you used to pull."

"You two know each other?" Asked Prime in amaze.

"A long time ago, yes," replied Prowl. "We were both trained in Circuit-su Ninja technique on Cybertron. That was before his… change."

"Yeah," continued Tigatron. "Back then I went by the handle Mirage…" He shifted into his stealth mode. "…for obvious reasons."

Sari, who had been hiding a bit behind Bulkhead, was shocked when the tiger-bot reappeared leaning down in front of her. She screamed to that effect.

"So, who's the little lady?" Tigatron asked, not missing a beat.

The little girl backed away a bit, a tad unnerved by his strange appearance.

Bulk head nudged her a bit. "Don't be rude Sari. He's our friend."

"Sari huh?" Tigatron said. "Like cats kid?" Tigatron shifted to animal mode.

Sari flinched again, but then Tigatron purred softly. Feeling less nervous, she went up and pet the large robotic cat. Tigatron's response to rub into the hand was just like a normal cat's. This caused Sari to giggle a bit.

Tigatron transformed back to robot mode. "See, I'm not so bad."

Sari nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, so she speaks," he said sarcastically before chuckling. "A pleasure to meet you too Sari."

Ratchet, bearing his usual stern appearance, spoke up. "I don't suppose you'd indulge an old bot's curiosity and explain how you came to be this way?"

"Okay," said Tigatron. "But you all might want to take a seat. This is gonna be a long story."

Bulkhead immediately folded up the panels on his back under his body and sat on the built in chair. "Lay it on me."

The others also took seats around the techno-organic.

"Well, it all started on Cybertron…"

CLIFFHANGER

Next time, the origins of Tigatron.

AN R&R. Also, could people check out my Harry Potter fic. I know it's pathetic, but could really use some feedback. Thanks.