Pulseshot winced with each step as she trudged through Tarn's Dead End, keeping her precious cargo clutched close to her chest. The rusty mechs populating the streets glanced her way, eyeing her much shinier frame, but made no moves against her.
Walking up to a ramshackle structure, she shoved aside the metal sheet used as a door and stepped inside. She immediately realized she wasn't alone, as a red and blue mech stood in her living room.
"Who are you?" she demanded, lifting up the box so she could use it as a weapon.
"Pulseshot of Pellechrome," the stranger introduced. "My name is Orion Pax. I understand that you are part of the Lightbreakers, a system that offers you only enough to function. I've seen you stand for mega-cycles at relief stations, only to be turned away due to your jet mode."
"Listen, tough guy, I don't know what you think you'll get by robbing me, but-"
"I'm not here to rob you," this Orion assured. "My friend understands how little the Lightbreakers care for their underlings, and wants you to join us. I wish to make things fair, so that nobody needs to stay in a Dead End, and I know you do too."
Orion held a hand out, Pulseshot staring for a moment before shaking it. "Alright, Orion Pax, I'll join you."
Chapter 16: Combined Efforts, Part 2
Pulseshot stepped out of her home to see Optimus standing in the middle of the street. "How did you get here?" she asked, as the information caught up with her. "You wanted to see what Concordia went through."
"I do," answered Optimus, glancing into the memory of the living quarters. "Where is Shamble?"
"Just come this way and you can watch what happened," the silver mech replied, ignoring Optimus' question.
Concordia stood up on wobbly knees, watching as her component's weapons came together and combined into a massive gun. She picked it up, as Menasor produced the hilt of a giant energy sword. As the weapon formed, the two combiners ran at each other, Concordia firing her gun as Menasor swung his sword.
"Analysis of combat data proves surprising," commented Shockwave. "Despite these combiners sharing the minds of five separate Cybertronians, they function and move as though they were a single entity."
Menasor grazed Concordia's arm, making the Autobot combiner howl in pain, which had the knock on effect of making the Decepticon combiner cover his audio receptors.
"The pain receptors on Concordia register at sextuple the normal amount an ordinary Cybertronian would register. This would imply that, rather than one mind being dominant over the rest, the combined form itself has its own consciousness, which it shares with the individual components. It appears that pain sent to one member of the combination is felt by every member-"
"Stuff it, nerd!" yelled Menasor. "When I've sliced off this Autobot's head, I'll shove it through your eye!"
He swung his sword towards Concordia, hitting her left shoulder. The Autobot combiner winced, moving back to soothe her damaged appendage. Suddenly, her left arm (formed by Wretch) and her right leg (formed by Turbulence) both came loose, and somehow the two components swapped places.
"How did you manage that?" asked Optimus within the mindscape. "I'd never heard of combiners able to swap limbs before."
"I can't explain it," replied Pulseshot. "We got hit in the arm, and then I… we… somebody in us felt like we could better defend ourselves from Menasor's blade if we were in the air. Next thing you know, Turbulence becomes an arm, and we have some degree of flight." She stopped, noticing Optimus staring at the back of her neck. "What?"
"You don't have any mnemosurgery marks," the Autobot leader commented, placing a hand to his chin. "If that's the case, why wasn't Shamble there at our meeting?"
"You wanted to know about Concordia, sir?" she deflected, continuing to watch the memories play out.
With flight now possible, Concordia lifted off the ground, far out of Menasor's reach. Aiming her gun, she was able to fire at his wrist, causing him to drop the sword.
"Ha!" she cheered triumphantly, although this was short lived. Menasor swapped another of his limbs so that one of the bulkier bots became his right arm, which grabbed Concordia's leg and slammed her into the ground.
"It would appear that the natural born combiners possess the ability to swap limbs as needed," recorded Shockwave. "It would seem they carry some internal logic regarding what configuration best suits their needs."
"Whatever you say," retorted Menasor, as his left arm was replaced by his other bulkier limb.
Now in possession of two powerful arms, the Decepticon combiner began to slam his fists into Concordia's chest. The Autobot combiner quickly swapped her right limbs, slamming a fist into Menasor's face and throwing him on his back. Rising up before he could recover, she began to punch and kick him as much as she could, until eventually something happened and Menasor broke apart.
"Test one completed," announced Shockwave. "The victor-Concordia. Remain combined for the next phase of testing."
"Next phase? I don't think so," snapped Concordia, beginning to stomp over to Shockwave's location. "The only next phase you're gonna see is the next phase of life!"
Concordia was distracted, though, when she detected five Decepticon signatures approaching. The quintet rode up in vehicle mode, before combining themselves. This other combiner looked a lot sturdier than Menasor did.
"The second test will begin shortly," announced Shockwave. "The natural-born combiner will now be facing an artificially constructed one. Concordia versus Tumultor. The second test begins now."
"Tumultor…" mused Optimus. "So you've encountered him as well."
"That's putting it lightly, sir," replied Pulseshot. "I always knew about the Decepticon combiner experiments, they were open secrets. But seeing one in the metal was another experience."
"'Experiments'?" repeated Optimus. "As in multiple? That is concerning."
Tumultor put up a greater fight than his predecessor, as Concordia found herself giving up ground quicker than she had before. The body of the other Decepticon combiner was bristled with weapons, each one firing away at the opponent in order to whittle down her strength.
"You can grow as large as you want, Concordia," he taunted, "but you're just as weak as any Autobot."
Suddenly, a red energy shield appeared over Concordia's left arm, as her gun rematerialized in her right hand.
"It would seem that the natural born combiners can possess certain abilities," observed Shockwave. "I shall be logging this phenomenon for future reference."
Tumultor tried increasing his fire, but before he could even leave a dent in Concordia's shield, she fired her gun right at his torso. This caused the Decepticon combiner to come apart, the five bots that constituted him landing with a thud.
"And now it's your turn!" she shouted at Shockwave, stomping towards him.
"Further testing shall be halted," was all he had to say, opening a communications channel. "All troopers must report to the bottom of the Crater immediately."
Shockwave transformed to his tank mode and drove away, Concordia preparing to fire on him before swarms of enemies appeared. They immediately opened fire on the combiner, who struggled to repel all the attacks.
"How could the Decepticons have so many troops?" asked Matt. "I figured both your numbers were really depleted."
"Because they built them," replied Evac. "Those are Vehicons, mass produced dummies with no sparks and no intelligence to question orders with."
"They only got enough brains to follow orders," added Speedstar in their usual tone. "But put enough of 'em in a room, and, well…" They gestured up to the screen, as Concordia began breaking apart.
Pulseshot was aware enough to transform before hitting the ground, firing her jet mode weapons at the mob of Vehicons. Most of them went down, while others continued to fire.
The rest of her team got ready to fight back, before powerful shots from above obliterated the enemy army. The silver mech let out a chuckle of relief, watching as an armed shuttle landed in front of the five.
The relief faded as Autobot soldiers marched out, pointing blasters at their heads. Pulseshot was forced to her knees, hands stasis cuffed as the last figure stepped down the ramp. It was Sentinel, one of the other councilors.
"Pulseshot, I charge you with smuggling weapons to primitive cultures," he announced, pointing an accusing finger her way. "I order you and your accomplices to follow quietly, or we'll have you deactivated here and now."
"What… Smuggling?" repeated Pulseshot, fighting in her binds. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sentinel!"
"Really? Then what are those?" he asked smugly, pointing to several Decepticon weapons crates. "You chose to come down to the Crater to loot some gear from the Ceppies, and the Vehicons were intercepting you and your cargo when we arrived. Isn't that right, Soundblaster?"
Pulseshot's jaw dropped as the mercenary in question stepped out of the shuttle. "You said it," he stated. "My main man Sunder's got mad editing skills, showing you breaking your own rules." On his chest window, he displayed several edited images showcasing Pulseshot on some foreign world, delivering weapons to the natives there.
"You can't just lock me up over false charges, you-"
She scowled as Soundblaster placed a finger to her lips. "If you can't take the heat, this ain't the job for you," was all he had to say there, before transforming and driving away once more.
Before Pulseshot could do anything else, the stasis cuffs kicked in and everything went dark.
"And that's how I ended up being arrested," finished Pulseshot. "Does that answer all your questions?" Realizing what her leader might ask, she added, "About how I ended up here."
"Yes, it does," answered Optimus. "What was Sentinel's goal, you think?"
"My guess is power. He always questioned how you rose to power or why we should follow your old chain of command. He probably had me put away to clear the leadership of Elita's allies."
"Very troubling," the Autobot leader mused. "As it stands, the Decepticons have two complete combiners, with a third hidden somewhere on this planet. We need to find the rest of Concordia lest we find ourselves outgunned."
The connection ended, as both Optimus and Pulseshot stood up. "Pulseshot, you can consider yourself forgiven of your 'crimes'," he told her, giving a small smile. "If you want to learn about this planet, I'd suggest speaking with Hot Rod about it."
The silver mech nodded and walked off, as Matt and Anna looked up at Optimus. "You seemed really concerned about her past for some reason," commented Anna. "What brought that on?"
"She wasn't alone when I came to recruit her. She was carrying cybercrosis chips for her mentor, Shamble. I understand something happened to him, but for some reason I never saw him in her memory."
He crossed his hands behind his back and walked off, lips pursed thoughtfully.
Next time: Flashflood and the Crawlers meet a new ally, who begins stalking the Autobots' human allies.