Chapter 9 : The Autobots' Communications

"Prime, this is Bluestreak reporting in. I found Drag Strip where they said he'd be and I thought Sunstreaker had come to provide backup for me but it wasn't Sunstreaker at all. It was a Stunticon painted up to look like him and I thought he was just ignoring me when I tried to talk to him, so I--"

"Sunstreaker's here in the Ark. Or at least he was before he heard that."

"Ironhide here. We lost him. He hitched a ride on that flyboy Vortex and took off!"

"Uh, Prime? I've got Swindle on a secured channel."

"Tell him to forget it. I don't like the idea of paying Decepticons for information, and we're definitely not paying for half-truths or selective omissions. If he had warned us about that maniac Wildrider it might be a different matter."

"Prowl to Ark. The Stunticons are back on the ground and appear to be heading away from Phoenix."

"Bumblebee reporting. I'm sorry, Prime, but they just went right by me before I could shoot. And I think Wildrider was trying to kill Drag Strip."

"Was he succeeding?"

"Oh man, Prowl, you should've seen it. They looked like Wile E. Coyote finally catchin' up with the Road Run…"

"Jazz? What just happened?"

"Massive explosion on the I-17."

"Not Motormaster this time – it was a tanker spill--"

"Damage reports coming in."

"All Autobots, secure the area and make sure the Stunticons are nowhere near it before human response teams arrive. The Protectobots are on their way as well."

"What about Silverbolt and his squad?"

"There was a confirmed sighting of three Decepticon jets at an oil refinery up north – taking advantage of so many of our ground forces being in Arizona. The Aerialbots are dealing with them right now."

"Can we follow the Stunticons and finish 'em off ? It'd be easy if they're fightin' with each other--"

"I'm sorry, Ironhide, but containing the damage and making sure any human casualties are safe has to be our priority. Especially if the Stunticons are retreating."

"Doin' what Decepticreeps do best. Guess that comes of havin' a lotta practice at it."

"We'll deal with them another day. You can count on that."

tomorrow4eva : Appreciate the feedback! I wanted this chapter to have funny moments as well as tense ones, so it's good to hear that you were amused.

I think different Stunticons are good at different kinds of tactics. Breakdown is the long-range planner, partly because he's a scout and therefore sees things coming from a distance, and partly because that's his way to deal with a crippling phobia : make preparations that will take his weakness into account. Drag Strip is too impulsive to make many plans in advance, but he's good at thinking fast in a bad situation. He doesn't realize this, though, since the others (not wanting to send him on an ego trip) often call him stupid. Dead End is the intellectual of the gang, but he's often too apathetic or depressed to actually use whatever he knows, and Wildrider has that "thinking outside the box" specialty, except it's not clear whether he's actually thinking.

Which leaves Motormaster out. Hm.

Steve : There's one more chapter after this one, so wait for that before you tell me it's good. :) The ending often makes or breaks a story.

As for Drag Strip going to help Wildrider, that could be because of honor or friendship. Or it might be the inadvisability of telling your commanding officer that you left an injured teammate to die, when said commanding officer can be a sadistic bully even by Decepticon standards. Readers can decide which one's operating here (possibly both, IMO).

Starfire201 : Thanks for the review. Swindle spilled some details of the race to the Autobots, hoping they'd intercept Drag Strip. And he'd have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling Stunticons.

Northwest Sage : Glad you like the story!