Chapter 12: Return of MECH

Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Gears and Cinderray were chasing down a Decepticon escapee, which took the form of an orange 34 Ford Hugger car, down the road. "Man, this Con is fast." Sideswipe said. "Maybe. But we're still fast enough to catch him." Bumblebee said. Unknown to them, as they chased the Con, a familiar camouflaged agent was spying on them from a nearby tree.

Just then, Arcee, Strongarm, Grimlock and Mirage drove out in front of the Con, transformed and cut him off. "It's over, Speedcrack. Surrender." Strongarm demanded. Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Gears and Cinderray caught up and transformed, locking him in their trap. But the Con, named Speedcrack, transformed into an orange bear-like Cybertronian. He unleashed a powerful sound attack, causing Arcee, Strongarm, Grimlock and Mirage to become disoriented. They dropped to their knees as they attempted to cover their ears. "Get him!" Bumblebee exclaimed. But Speedcrack turned around and unleased his sound attack on them. "Argh! I can't take the sound!" Gears exclaimed. Speedcrack ceased his attack and grinned as his work. While Team Bee was still disoriented, suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, only for Decepticon Cinderray to punch him hard, knocking him out. "Time to hibernate, Yogi." Decepticon Cinderray said. "Good work, Cinderray." Bumblebee said as the team slowly recovered. "Yeah. Figured separating would come in handy." Autobot Cinderray said before remerging with her Decepticon half. "Alright, team, let's bring this load back to base." Bumblebee said.

After loading Speedcrack in Grimlock's trailer and driving off, the agent contacted the base as he watched them leave. "Sir, the targets have left." He reported through his com-link. Meanwhile, at the secret base, the leader watched the entire thing through his satellite footage. "Excellent. Then it's time to put my plan into effect."


(Intro)


After returning to the scrapyard, Team Bee placed Speedcrack inside his stasis pod. "I am sorry that I did not inform you about Speedcrack's disorienting sound attack. It must've slipped my bind-*glitch*-grind-*glitch*-mind!" Fixit apologized as he glitched out again. "No need to apologize, Fixit. Let's just be glad that we were able to capture him." Bumblebee said.

Just then, the bell rang at the gate. "Oh! Customer!" Denny cheered as he ran towards the gate. "Does he always get this excited whenever there's a customer?" Sierra asked. "Believe me. You should've seen him when this one customer sold him a vintage engine from '37." Katie said. Denny opened up the gate and saw a strange man in a trench coat. "Welcome. How can I help you?" He asked. "I'm looking for some parts for a special project I'm working on. I was told that this place may have what I'm looking for. Everything I require is on this list here." The man explained, handing Denny a clipboard listed with the items he was looking for. "Ah, you're in luck, my friend. I got lots of these. I'll just write down the aisle numbers next to the parts and you can help yourself." Denny said, writing down the aisle numbers on the clipboard before handing it back to the man. "Thank you, Mr. Clay." The man said, walking into the scrapyard.

As he looked through the aisles and collected the pieces he was looking for, Russell walked over to him. "Oh, sorry for the interruption, sir." Russell said. "Not at all, kid. I was already finished in this aisle." The man said, putting his items in his cart. "My name's Russell, Denny's son." Russell introduced. "Pleasure. I'm Draven." The man, Draven, introduced, shaking Russell's hand. "Well, I gotta help my mom with something. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Draven." Russell said, walking away. "Yes. I look forward to seeing you again someday, Russell." Draven said as he stared after Russell with curiosity, seeing something special in him. Unknown to him, Mariposa was watching from afar, sensing something off about him.

Later, after paying for the pieces he collected, Draven shook hands with Denny and bid him a good day before leaving the scrapyard. Russell was walking towards the Command Center when Mariposa walked up to him. "Russell, there's something I have to tell you." She said. "What's wrong?" Russell asked. "There's something off about that Draven guy. You have to stay away from him. I could sense that he's up to no good." Mariposa said. Russell felt unsure about what Mariposa said about Draven, but nodded in agreement, trusting her powers.

Meanwhile, Draven arrived at where he was working on his special project, MECH's secret base. Several agents walked up to him and greeted him with a salute. "I have collected the parts we needed. Take them and use them to complete the project." He ordered. The agents took the parts and walked off to finish the project. "Sir, what's next on your agenda?" One of the agents asked. "I want you to go back to the scrapyard and capture this boy." Draven said, showing his agent a picture of Russell. "He holds something special inside of him. And I want that something for our plans."


Later, as night arrived, everyone was up and patrolling the scrapyard, keeping an eye out for any intruders. "West side's clear. Anything on your ends?" Bumblebee asked through the com-link. "Nothing to the east, Bee." Raf said. "We'll let you know if anything changes." Sideswipe said. As the team continued patrolling, Russell sat near one of the aisles, thinking about what Mariposa said about Draven. "But what could Mr. Draven possibly be doing that could concern me?" He asked himself. Suddenly, a shadowy figure ran by, startling him. He looked around, but saw nobody. "Hello? Is someone there?" He called. Just then, the same shadowy figure ran by from behind him, startling him again. Now he was starting to get scared. "Okay, this isn't funny. Hank, are you doing this? Hello?" He called. But then, the shadowy figure slowly came up behind him and captured him in a big bag. Russell shouted in fright as he struggled to get out. But the intruder put him over his shoulder. As he prepared to leave, Cinderray ran over upon being alerted to the commotion. "Who goes there?!" She exclaimed. Just then, she saw the intruder with Russell screaming in the bag. "Stop right there!" She exclaimed. But then, the intruder threw something at her and it exploded, knocking her down before he took off with Russell.

Team Bee heard the explosion and quickly rushed over, but found Cinderray recovering from it. "Cinderray, are you okay? What happened?" Bumblebee asked as he helped Cinderray. "I'm okay. But Russell's been kidnapped." Cinderray said with worry. Denny and Katie were horrified to hear that their son had been kidnapped. "That's it, team. We have our new mission." Bumblebee said. "And that mission…is rescuing Russell." Arcee said. Team Bee all transformed and the Nebula Rangers hopped in. "I'm coming too." Denny said. "I thought you would, Denny. Hop in." Bumblebee said. "Katie, stay with Fixit and Hank where it's safe." Denny said. "Please, Denny. Bring our son back." Katie pleaded, close to crying. Denny gave her a quick kiss to seal that promise and hopped in Bumblebee before the team all drove off. Fixit put a comforting hand on a still worried Katie's back as they watched the team leave.

Meanwhile, the intruder brought Russell to his group of MECH agents. "Mission accomplished. Contact the boss." He said. The agents contacted Draven through their video-phone. "Sir, we've secured the boy." He reported. "Excellent. Bring him to me at once. I have a little experiment in mind for him." Draven said as he smiled sinisterly. After ending the call, the agents tossed Russell in the back of their truck. Russell managed to free himself from the bag just as the doors closed. He ran over to the doors and started banging on them. "Let me out! Let me out!" He cried The agents hopped in the truck and drove off. Just then, they heard a police siren. "The cops?" One agent asked. Another looked out his rear-view mirror and saw Team Bee chasing after them. "Worse. Autobots." He said. "Alright, team. Let's stop that truck and get Russell out." Bumblebee ordered. Team Bee started to speed up, attempting to catch up with the truck.

The driver saw the team about to catch up. "That's close enough, Autobots. Let's try out our little project." He said. One of the agents pushed a button on the dashboard. Just then, the truck's roof opened up and revealed a giant gun. "Uh, what is that thing?" Sideswipe asked with worry. "Oh no!" Bumblebee gasped in horror. The agents chuckled as the gun started powering up. "GET CLEAR!" Bumblebee exclaimed. The agents activated the gun, firing an energy blast at Team Bee. Cinderray managed to get clear, but the others got hit by the blast. "Guys!" Cinderray cried. Suddenly, Team Bee felt their power starting to shut down. "What's…happening?" Strongarm asked. "EMP blast…shutting down…systems." Arcee said. In seconds, the entire team shut down. "Rusty!" Denny cried as he tried to get out of Bumblebee, but couldn't open the door. "It's no good! We're locked in!" Brook exclaimed. "The EMP shorted out the locking mechs!" Raf exclaimed. "Cinderray, it's all up to you now!" Jack called. Cinderray felt hesitant to leave her teammates, but she knew that it was all on her now. "I'm coming, Russell. Hold on." She said as she drove after the truck.

Meanwhile, Russell tried to break down the door and ramming it. "Let me out! Let me out!" He cried as his ramming proved no good. He was close to crying. Suddenly, his eyes started to glow cyan. "Let. Me. OUT!" He shouted as his body unleashed a powerful cybernetic explosion, destroying the truck. Cinderray saw the explosion from down the road. "Russell!" She gasped, speeding up. Russell recovered from the explosion, climbed out of the wreckage, took the opportunity and ran towards the forest. The agents recovered from the explosion and saw Russell run into the forest. "Get after him! Get him back!" The leader ordered. The agents ran after him. At that moment, Team Bee recovered from the EMP blast and came back online. "Oh, what was the number on that truck?" Grimlock groaned. "That was most unpleasant." Mirage groaned. "Let's keep going." Bumblebee said. As they continued driving, they caught up to Cinderray, who was inspecting the truck wreckage. "Cinderray, what happened?" Bumblebee asked. "I don't know. I saw an explosion while I was chasing them, and when I caught up, the truck was all this." Cinderray explained. "Rusty." Denny said with worry. "There weren't any bodies though. It's just an empty shell." Cinderray said. "There's only one place they could be." Arcee said, looking out at the forest.


Meanwhile, Russell ran through the forest and hid behind a tree to rest, panting heavily. But then, he heard chattering nearby. He peeked out from the tree and saw the agents coming his way. He became scared and started running again. "I heard something. This way." The leader said. Russell ran over to an old hollow tree and hid inside it, panting quietly as he heard the agents walking around him. The agents looked around the surrounding area, finding no trace of Russell. Just then, the leader turned his attention to the hollow tree. Russell covered his mouth with his hands to keep his breathing quiet. The leader slowly walked towards the hollow tree. But suddenly, a vine grabbed him by the neck and yanked him up. The other agents became startled as that happened. Just then, the Nebula Rangers leapt out of nowhere and attacked the agents. One by one, the Rangers used their powers to beat up every agent hard and knock them out. Russell slowly came out and saw the Nebula Rangers standing over the bodies of the agents. "You okay, Rusty?" Miko asked. Russell nodded. "Russell!" Denny cried as he rushed over and embraced his son in a big emotional hug with relief. Team Bee arrived to the emotional scene, relieved to see Russell is safe. "Fixit, Russell's safe and sound. We're coming home." Bumblebee said through his com-link. "Excellent work, Lieutenant. But I recently detected something strange. A cyber explosion where the truck's wreckage is currently positioned." Fixit said. "That's the explosion I saw when I was chasing it. And Russell was inside it when it happened. But I didn't see what caused that explosion when I got to the wreck." Cinderray said. The team looked at each other in confusion.

Later, the team returned to the scrapyard. As Russell got out of Strongarm, Katie ran over to him and embraced him tightly, shedding heavy tears with relief. Denny joined the hug, happy and relieved that the Clay family was back together. "Bumblebee, who the heck were those guys?" Strongarm asked. "A group of humans I thought I'd never have to see again. MECH." Bumblebee said. "MECH?" Grimlock asked. "They're a group technologically advanced terrorists bent on world domination." Bumblebee said. "They became obsessed with Cybertronian technology after witnessing Optimus save me and Miko on a military train 3 years ago." Jack said. "They dissected the Decepticon known as Breakdown, tried to gut me when they teamed up with my old archenemy, Airachnid." Arcee explained. "And they even tore out my T-Cog, attempting to create their own Transformer prototype." Bumblebee said venomously. The team was horrified by this. "But when Bumblebee got his T-Cog back, MECH substituted for Starscream's." Raf said. "With everything they've learned, they created their own working Optimus variation. Nemesis Prime." Miko explained. "Sweet Solus Prime!" Fixit cried in shock. "After Optimus managed to bring Nemesis Prime down, we long thought MECH's leader, Cylas, to be dead. Crushed by his own project." Bumblebee explained. "But we were wrong. MECH transplanted Cylas' body inside Breakdown's corpse, melding man with machine." Arcee said. "After destroying his own troops, Cylas joined forces with Megatron, using MECH's satellite weapon to target and destroy us." Jack explained. "But after our favorite genius here terminated the satellite, Megatron started using Cylas as a guinea pig." Miko said, giving Raf a little noogie. "Knock Out told us that they intended to use a combination of Dark Energon and Synthetic Energon on Cylas, but ended up creating a monster." Bumblebee said. "And that's the last anyone's ever saw of MECH. Until now." Arcee said. "If MECH is up to their old plans again, then our mission just a whole lot more difficult." Jack said. "Which is why we need to be more careful now." Bumblebee said.

Meanwhile, at the MECH base, Draven received the report about Russell's escape. He slammed his fist down on the control pad, deleting the report. He was gravely disappointed that the mission was a failure. But he would have other chances to pay Team Bee back for everything they've ever done to MECH.

How was that? After all these years, MECH has finally returned and attempted to kidnap Russell for their evil experiments. But thanks to the Nebula Rangers, Team Bee was able to rescue Russell from MECH. But what was that blast Russell used to blow up MECH's truck? What were MECH's intentions for Russell? Leave a review if you'd like.