It was just a few moments after the Decepticons had successfully raided a dam for Energon. In the Decepticon's base, Beater sorted away the Energon cubes while Solon cleaned algae from Starscream's intake vents. Megatron stomped towards Chopblock and the two stasis pods.

"Are these both from the Exodus?" he questioned.

"One of them is," answered Chopblock, gesturing to the unfamiliar orange stasis pod on the left. "The other one looks like it's come from an Autobot prison ship."

"Open it." The helicopter did so, Megatron glancing at the robot inside. "Yes… yes, yes, yes!"

"What's so special about 'em?" asked Solon, trying to peek inside.

"He is part of a special team," was all Megatron would divulge. "I only need four other pods from this prison ship, then I can truly wipe out the Autobots… and the Exodus pod?"

"I installed a shell program, the civilian inside shall obey your orders."

"Very good, Chopblock, awaken them." The Decepticons watched as the pods opened up, their newest soldiers coming online.

Chapter 5: Recruitment

The Exodus pod's occupant was first to awaken; a tall Cybertronian, red with blue accents. He stood up and looked around, gasping as he saw Megatron standing before him.

"I see you're awake," the tyrant began. "I can't say I know your name."

"It's… I-It's Overcast," the jet stammered, taking in his surroundings. "This isn't right, I-I was trying to escape from-"

"You are where you need to be, Overcast," said Megatron firmly. "And you will obey my instructions without question or hesitation. Am I understood?"

Overcast's optics widened, taking a step back. "I…" he hesitated, looking ready to run. Instead, however, he dropped down to kneel. "I am your servant, Megatron."

The other Decepticons seemed satisfied, but Solon was puzzled. "He looked ready to bolt," he whispered to Starscream, "so why didn't he?"

"Because of the shell program," his mentor answered, a satisfied grin on his face. "It makes him obedient to Megatron. It doesn't matter what he wants, what we want is a loyal soldier."

The second pod opened up, the figure from there stepping out. He was taller than Starscream and much bulkier, with pieces of some type of ground vehicle mode adorning his legs, and black and purple plating. Megatron looked very satisfied to see him.

"Pathsmasher," he greeted, a grin on his face. "A pleasure to see you again."

"I wish I could say the same," grunted Pathsmasher, mouth curled in a snarl as his fists balled up. "Those worthless heaps called Autobots caught my team off guard, placing us in stasis and stranding us on this rock."

"Calm yourself, comrade. We shall find your team, and nothing will stop us from destroying the Autobots." Megatron pointed to Starscream. "Take our new recruits to find alternate modes at once."

"As you wish," sneered Starscream, leading Overcast and Pathsmasher away.

A few days had passed since the attack at the dam, and Speedstar and Evac were maintaining a few extra systems aboard the Exodus. Speedstar intended to get back to their ship, the Second Chance, but it crashed in Antarctica and the Autobots lacked the resources to travel such a distance.

"Ground bridge systems are relatively intact," remarked Evac. "Even so, we lack the Energon to get the bridge online. Looks like you'll be stuck here for a while, Speedstar."

"There were at least fifty pods on that ship," the green Autobot fretted, running a hand over their chin. "If even one of them ends up in Decepticon hands, it could mean disaster."

"Have faith, Speedstar," came the sudden voice of Optimus, who stepped up behind the two. "Hot Rod is currently scouting for Energon deposits as we speak. If we can find enough to power a ground bridge, we shall reach the Second Chance as soon as we can."

"I'm picking up Hot Rod's signal close to an area called 'Steven Springs Speedway,'" said T-AI. "Analysis of area suggests no Energon deposits."

The three Autobots looked at each other, none of them seeming surprised.

At the track, Hot Rod whooped as he slid through another corner, passing by cars left and right. He came by this dirt track once every six months since he came to Earth, finding it to be a great way to unwind. There were once a number of racetracks on Cybertron, and its colony world Velocitron, but they had either been blasted to bits or shut down during the war. Plus, none of those tracks had dirt, which made for a more interesting challenge in Hot Rod's opinion.

As he entered the penultimate lap, the red Autobot could detect something on one of the hills. After a minute, he was able to confirm it was Mountrek. Unable to figure out what she wanted, Hot Rod drove off as soon as he finished the race, trying to catch up with her.

"Hey, Hot Rod!" a voice called, and the Autobot came to a stop. It was Matt, his human friend, who was waking over. "What's up?"

"What are you doing here, Matt?"

"Watching the races, of course. And I see that you were competing. So, where ya going?"

"I saw Mountrek up on that hill, and I wanna find what she's up to," replied Hot Rod.

"It shouldn't be too hard," shrugged Matt. "You just gotta find a cougar that doesn't fit in." At the vehicle's silence, he continued. "She only looks convincing at a distance, Roddy. Come on, I'll help you out."

So the young man climbed in, as they drove back towards the mountains.

Starscream led the two new Decepticons up a ridge, where they could look down into the valley below. The humans had set up a military base there, and it was packed with vehicles of all types.

"I enjoy this species," remarked Pathsmasher. "They certainly know how to make instruments of destruction."

"Indeed. I'm sure Megatron would quite enjoy some members of this species," added Starscream, drawing his own human charge closer to him. "Now, pick something that fits, you two."

The brute shoved his way to the front, eyeing a large APC with some sort of cannons on its back. Scanning the vehicle, he transformed into it not long after.

"Very nice," was all he said. "I think I'll like this planet."

Overcast was pushed forward next, looking out across the vehicles present. One was a fighter jet, which he decided to scan. And like Pathsmasher, he transformed into this new mode, hovering above the other two.

Satisfied with this, the Seeker called in with his leader. "Starscream to Megatron, our new recruits have their modes."

"Very good. Now, why don't you take them out for a test run?"

"With pleasure, sir." Starscream turned to the other two, picking up Solon before speaking next. "Come, let's find an effective demonstration for your new firepower."

With that, he too transformed to jet mode, leading the other two away. Inside Starscream's cockpit, Solon couldn't help but look back at Overcast. He wasn't a Decepticon, and yet he was basically forced into being one. He'd have to talk with their new "recruit" in private.

In the mountains close to the Exodus, Mountrek stepped through the forest in beast mode, turning her head in the direction of any sound she deemed suspicious. The familiar sound of a motor running along the road was enough to draw her attention, and she moved aside as an especially familiar vehicle skidded off the road to a stop right in front of her.

The neutral snarled before the vehicle spoke up. "Mountrek, relax, it's me." He stopped for a moment, then he seemed to talk to someone else. "That is Mountrek, right?"

"Yes, it's Mountrek." The pretty human from before stepped out the passenger side door. "You wouldn't believe how many regular cougars he's done that to."

"It's not my fault," said Hot Rod defensively, transforming to robot mode. "Beast modes aren't much different from regular mechanimals on Cybertron."

"He does have a point there," agreed Mountrek, following his example. "I've found I only blend in at a distance."

"So, what were you doing watching me at the race?"

"Well, I saw you there, and I wanted to see what you were doing. It's as simple as that. This is the first time we've met since you found my pod."

"We could meet more often," suggested the magenta Autobot. "You could join the Autobots, then we could meet every day."

Mountrek's optics flicked over Hot Rod, before responding with, "I don't think so."

"Come on!" interjected Matt. "The Decepticons attacked a dam a few days ago. They put people in danger!"

"I'm tired of factions, I want nothing more to do with them!" snapped Mountrek. "I was forced into the Defense Force after the last war, and I don't get much choice there. Now, I'm choosing to pick my own path, and live a peaceful existence here on Earth."

Hot Rod looked ready to say something else, when they heard something from the road. Stepping back as an APC pushed trees aside, they were taken completely off guard as two nets soared overhead. Matt ran for cover as they came down, all three vehicles transforming into Decepticons. He recognized Starscream, who carried that human in his cockpit like a papoose, but the other two were unfamiliar.

"Greetings," the Seeker began, gesturing to the other two. "As you can see, we've been recruiting. That one there, he even came from the Exodus."

Mountrek took notice of this, turning to the new jet. "Overcast?" she gasped.

The red one didn't seem happy to be recognized, but Starscream continued. "He's now a loyal, subservient Decepticon. Just as you're going to be when we're done with you."

"She's not going anywhere!" declared Hot Rod, arm pipes already spewing flames. "Mountrek, get outta here, I'll hold them off."

Mountrek obliged, transforming back to beast mode and running in the opposite direction. Making sure he couldn't be seen, Matt did the same thing.

At the Exodus, the Autobots had occupied themselves with a separate project; creating a scanner to locate the rest of the Exodus' stasis pods. They managed to get the program up and running, but there came a separate issue.

"A lot of these pods are in other parts of the world," said Evac. "Looks like Speedstar is right, we will need that ground bridge operational, and fast."

The green one looked pleased, but a notification buzzed on the screen before they could say anything. "An encrypted message from Hot Rod," announced T-AI. "He says he has engaged three Decepticons trying to capture a civilian. Human Matt Summers was in the area, but his current location is unknown. Also, one of the Decepticons is a reprogrammed civilian."

"Must be serious," the medic remarked. "I had no idea he could send a message that long."

"Speedstar, I want you to locate Matt and get the civilian to safety, I'll back up Hot Rod," ordered Optimus, the two of them driving off to the rescue.

Hot Rod was doing the best he could; but when up against three Decepticons who were a head and shoulders taller than him, his best wouldn't last him very long. The huge one moved his cannons to his shoulders, firing missiles at him. They missed, but they also brought down a tree, and the Autobot had to act quickly to prevent it from toppling down on him.

"Sorry about this," the red one-Overcast-announced, before socking him right in the jaw.

The magenta bot was slammed into a tree, watching cyberbirds wheel around his vision before Starscream stepped up to him. "How valiant," he mocked, pointing the end of his null ray right at his chest. "But still, we'll have that recruit for ourselves, and the Autobots will be down one member."

"You're wrong on both accounts, Starscream."

The Seeker barely had time to look up before something crashed down from one of the trees, the others looking to see Mountrek standing atop him. Claws had come down over her robot mode hands, which scratched the Decepticon's armor significantly. Overcast and Pathsmasher looked ready to jump in and help, before the arrival of Optimus Prime and Speedstar knocked them aside. Seeing that he was now outnumbered, the Seeker quickly ascended and transformed to jet mode.

"Decepticons, return to base!" he ordered, his underlings doing as requested and following him out of there.

Once the dust settled, Matt stepped out from his hiding spot, looking over Mountrek and the assembled Autobots. "You were cool out there, Mountrek."

"Yeah, you showed that Decepticlown," added Hot Rod, the neutral turning to see the rest of the assembled Autobots watching her.

"I've said it before, I'll say it again," remarked Speedstar. "We could use her on our side."

"And I said it should be her choice," reminded Optimus, kneeling down to look at her. "Well, Mountrek, what is your choice?"

Mountrek looked from Optimus back to Hot Rod, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll join you," she answered at last, rolling her optics as he pumped a fist in the air. "But if the war leaves Earth, then I'm staying behind to live peacefully, okay?"

Optimus' mouthplate retracted to show his smile, as he reached out to shake their newest member's hand. The Decepticons may have outnumbered the Autobots, but they had faith the odds would be in their favor.

The premise here is about the same as it was in Beast Wars, with neutral protoforms being reprogrammed to serve the villainous faction. Unlike that series, I changed how shell programs work, with the civilians aware that they've been programmed for evil but unable to do anything about it, since that seemed like an interesting idea. Anyway, both sides have new members to their teams, but the Decepticons have slightly more than the Autobots. That might change soon, that might not, stay tuned and you'll find out.

Next time: The Autobots find an empty stasis pod, while a lone Decepticon finds herself fighting to survive the occupant.