The following night, Epsilon and Firearm returned to the city in order to find alt-modes. The Autobot medic wasted no time scanning a fire truck, and after careful consideration, his commanding officer decided on a pickup truck.

"We should be able to blend in, now," Epsilon said.

"Do the humans even make green-and-purple vehicles?"

"Apparently, there's such a thing as 'customization'."

"True." The two drove off, not realizing that they were being followed by a purple bomber. They soon reached the Victory, which opened its entry shaft, allowing them to enter. Silent Strike transformed, activated his cloaking device, and snuck in after them.

"Did you two pick out some good vehicle modes?" Detector asked.

"I would say we did. Epsilon can tell you about that, because I need to return to sickbay. I'm working on a new diognostics program." Firearm converted and drove back to his station.

"He seems a bit prickly."

"Not 'prickly' so much as 'very invested in his work'. A good medic is critical for a successful mission, and Firearm takes that to heart."

"Well, I still say the doc's a little too grumpy," Detector responded. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna go see how much air I can get on those hills nearby." He walked out of the ship, transformed, and accelerated away.

"Don't mind him. He's just trying to sound cool," Quartz clarified.

"Maybe he should have picked a snow plow as his alt-mode, eh?" Shocker joked.

"Actually, that would be physically impossible; the size difference would be too large-"

"It's a joke, Numbskull."

...

Meanwhile, Silent Strike was sabotaging the shuttle's engines. He removed several vital components and siphoned the majority of the processed Energon within the fuel tank.

"Phase 2: complete, Lord Megatron," he reported over the comlink.

"Excellent. With no engines, the Autobots will be locked to Earth. Destroy the communications station, and they will be unable to contact their government on Cybertron. Then, it will simply be a matter of indentifying the location of their base, so we can go in for the kill."

Silent Strike began to make his way for the Victory's communications center.

...

Within a few cycles, the Deception saboteur had all but destroyed the ship's long-range communications beacon. Before he was able to leave, Hardhead absentmindedly wandered into the room, muttering a chemical formula to himself, and walked right into Silent Strike, causing them both to falls to the floor.

"Oh no! I am so sorry..." The Autobot scientist stopped when he realized that he was crouching on nothing. He carefully and slowly lowered his hand to the ground. The minute it touched the Deception's chest, he grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the room.

Numbskull grunted in pain as his opponent deactivated his cloaking device and drew an energy pistol and fired. The Autobot narrowly dodged the shots and called for backup.

"Epsilon! There's a Deception in the com center! I need reinforcements, quick!"

"We'll be there as soon as possible!" the commander replied. "TickTock, get some weapons from the armory and bring them to us in the communications center! Firearm, ready the medbay! Quartz; Blades; you're with me!" The three transformed and rapidly advanced to the conflict.

...

Meanwhile, Hardhead was still managing to avoid harm, but he started to run out of energy.

"I could...really use...that backup soon!" he panted.

"We have you covered!" the blue Seeker said as he flew into the room. Quartz converted into his robot form and hit Silent Strike with a momentum-boosted kick. The Decepticon careened backward, but quickly regained control and shot and the opposing Autobot. Quartz ducked the first blast, jumped over the second, but was hit in the wing by the third. Silent Strike holstered his pistol and transformed the outer parts of his arms into two very sharp blades. He was about to skewer his fallen enemy, but was interrupted by an orange convertible drifting into the room and knocking him over. The Autobot transformed and drew two long swords, which glowed with purple energy.

"In terms of close-ranged weaponry...I would say I have you beaten."

Epsilon followed close behind, and pulled out his rifle as he converted.

"You're outnumbered and outmatched, Decepticon!" Epsilon cried.

"And you're only half right." Silent Strike leaped over the Autobots' heads, firing on them with his duel pistols.

"Half right?" Hardhead mused. "Let's see...five energy signatures, including mine. Therefore, the Deception was saying that Epsilon was correct in that we outnumbered him, but incorrect in that we-" Numbskull was interrupted by a kick to the head from the sabotaging Seeker. Blades retailiated for his comrade by attempting to strike Silent Strike with his duel swords. However, the Attack was parried by the Deception with his own blades. While the two's weapons were locked together, Epsilon took the opportunity to run up to their opponent and knock him away with a well-placed punch. Silent Strike staggered back, allowing Hardhead to bring him down via a kick to the back.

"That was pretty close," Quartz remarked.

"What was he doing on the ship?" Epsilon wondered.

"Actually, I may have an idea..." said Hardhead.

Before the scientist Seeker could finish his sentence, Silent Strike, without any warning, blasted Epsilon in the shoulder. Quartz dashed at him, but fell to the floor after being hit with a sweeping kick. Fortunately for the Autobots, TickTock arrived at the com station with some weapons.

"Everbody, grab one!" he yelled as he tossed the weaponry into the air. Epsilon grabbed an extendable sword and attached it to his arm; Blades reluctantly caught a pistol; Quartz crawled to a blaster rifle and readied it. Finally, Hardhead picked up an EMP Grenade and activated it.

"It's lights out for you, Deception!" Then he realized he probably should have armed the bomb after his mediocre attempt at a on-liner, rather than before. Everyone ducked back as the grenade went off and deactivated Numbskull.

While Hardhead's comrades took a moment to stare incredulously at him, Silent Strike attempted to sneak away. However, TickTock noticed him and threw a pair of auto-attach stasis cuffs at the saboteur. They locked onto his hands, bound them together, and deactivated his flight and weaponry. Epsilon and his crew approached him.

"All right, Deception. Why did you infiltrate our ship."

Silent Strike said nothing. Before his commander could ask another question, TickTock's acute audio receptors pick up something.

"Wait...that beeping...he's got a bomb! We have to get out of here!" He, Blades, and Quartz immediately left the room as quickly as possible, but Epsilon grabbed Hardhead and ran for cover, carrying him on his shoulders. Silent Strike smiled one last devious smile before the explosive within him burst.

...

Back in the Deception lair, Soundwave was keeping his master up to date on Silent Strike's mission.

"Sir, it appears that Silent Strike's self-detruct mechanism has activated." Megatron simply smiled.

"He achieved his primary goals: that is, to disable the engine and long-range communications beacon of their ship. Anything else is beneficial, but unnecessary. In fact, his death has likely eliminated several of our Autobot opponents. Soon, we will strike them down. And you, Soundwave, will be our instrument for that."

...

Extra Zone: Hardhead (AKA Numbskull)

Tech Spec:

Strength 4/10

Speed 6/10

Intelligence 10/10

Courage 7/10

Leadership 5/10

Firepower 2/10

Personality:

Hardhead is one of the most intelligent Autobots to ever be enlisted. He is logical and tactical, as well as making an excellent strategist. Unfortunately, he is somewhat absentminded and clumsy, which earned him the nickname "Numbskull".