Nanosec
Going through everything that needed to be done for training was a lot.
Bulkhead needed to work on situational awareness, so she assigned Prowl to help him.
"I'll want him to spar with you as well, Prime. You're strong, but Nemesis kept using his strength to back you into a corner." Prowl spoke up.
"Fair." She accepted that analysis.
"Red Alert has extra weapons, he's gonna train me on them." Chromia announced.
"Great. Ratchet?"
"I survived the war, but I can teach basic field first aid. We don't need to wait on Sari to arrive to keep from leaking out."
"Thank you. As for Bumblebee-"
"Why don't we fix Bumblebee's stingers?" Red Alert asked.
"Huh?" Bumblebee asked.
"Your stingers were locked into one setting, they can be stronger."
"So why haven't we unlocked them yet?"
Because there were laws against it. Elita was already breaking several, and had already talked to Bulkhead about the risks.
Bumblebee was youngest of them, she'd tried to keep him out of it as much as possible but now …
"We'll do that, but Bumblebee, you can't use it against humans." She would rather he be alive than dead.
"Understood, Boss Bot! My speed is more than enough!" Bumblebee bragged.
"Just be careful."
Megatron was frustrated, even as he pretended to care about Sumdac's research.
There were multiple decepticons on this mudball, but he couldn't contact them for various reasons.
Starscream had attempted to kill him.
Flamewar was willing to go off the communications grid for anything including petty arguments with other decepticons, and she wouldn't access it for far too long. He'd sent a ping but he wouldn't wait for her to get over whatever snit she was in.
Tarantulas and his pet were even less likely to help, Tarantulas preferred focusing on his experiments and would probably leap at the chance to have Megatron at his mercy, and Nemesis could not refuse an order from Tarantulas, though occasionally he would resist. Minor things, sometimes, but Megatron had always been amused, especially when it was such as putting something down just millimeters out of Tarantulas reach.
That sparked an idea.
The indirect assault on the Autobot base using the drones had been ill planned, more a desire for revenge than actual strategy.
He needed to be more subtle. What he needed was to use the humans.
It's not hard, just like cybertron there are those that steal, either for necessity (Megatron ignored them, it was too familiar and he was never going to admit sympathy for organics) or for a thrill (which reminded him, he needed to talk to Strika about the Stunticons) which was easier to find.
Nino Sexton was an adrenaline junkie. A former high school track and field star who had gotten bored with the system in college (he had been caught illegally betting on his races, he was promptly banned from competing, he maintained it wasn't his fault) and found a thrill in stealing that he hadn't had in competition.
That said, it was getting predictable running from police bots, he needed something new. A new challenge.
The Autobots, especially the yellow one, were an unpleasant surprise.
He had been caught.
He had never been caught. Cops were slow on foot, and cop cars and police bots weren't capable of maneuvering in tight alleys.
The Autobots were capable of both.
He'd slumped in the holding cell waiting for them to finish processing him and telling him whether or not he was eligible for bail (probably not, he had been running circles around them for a while, so they'd likely label him a flight risk, which he was) and wondered about the odds of running with his hands tied when a a police bot approached the cell and delivered a package.
"Hello, Nino Sexton." A not police bot voice came out. "I believe you and I can help each other. Put the suit on and start running."
Nino didn't ask questions, he did listen as the voice explained what the suit did.
The door opened and it was like the world stood still.
Nino was across town long before anyone noticed something wrong.
"Impressive." The voice was back but in his ear. Nino almost ran into a wall. "I have a job for you. Don't worry, I shall be compensating you for your time. Go to this automated teller machine for your down payment."
Nino obeyed and saw more money than he'd ever stolen come out.
"What's the job?"
The voice helpfully gave him the directions.
At which point Nino Sexton's life went south with arrival of the autobots.
Captain Fanzone had enough headaches in his life.
"Oh, Captain, this is a surprise." Elita Prime greeted him at the door of their base.
The giant robots were gonna be the biggest.
"Alright, I got three problems thanks to you lot. First, who's the new guy?"
"Red Alert, he crashed a week ago and he's getting his license soon. We put him in charge of security."
"Because of the decepticon Flamewar? Fair enough." Not his jurisdiction, but at least he was somewhat in the loop.
"And the second?"
"Want to tell me why Bumblebee was breaking every speed limit?"
"He wanted to compete with Nanosec's speed. He and Sari got a hold of the booster prototypes from Sumdac tower. Only he couldn't control them."
"They have test tracks for that."
"I am aware. We already discussed this." Prime sighed. "Unfortunately, Bumblebee and Sari are both act first think later types."
"Look, the chief has decided not to pursue the issue as long as those boosters aren't used in the city unless it's an emergency or he's able to control them. We are issuing a fine, but it's cheaper than it should be on account of Nanosec. That said, we're onto problem number three. The two new decepticons that showed up on Halloween."
"Tarantulas and Op-Nemesis."
"That. You keep trying to say a different name. You know this guy?"
"… Captain how much do you know about reprogramming machines?"
"I can't do it."
"Well, it's one thing to reprogram your technology. It's another to reprogram someone like us. It's illegal, but from what I understand it's because the process is unpredictable. You reprogram someone to be loyal to you, you might get someone obedient to you, but you might also get someone who just laughs and sits in a corner."
"Nemesis is a reprogrammed Autobot, huh?" Fanzone
"A friend of mine. From our meeting… he kept attacking me to almost the exclusion of all else. It could be a result of reprogramming, make the prisoner violent to a former friend." She crossed her arms. "He ignored Bumblebee and Sari, first when capturing Bulkhead and Chromia, and then when they attacked him. Nemesis just gave Sari to Bee and refocused the attack on me."
"What was his name before?"
"Optimus. Our Sergeant said he was Optimistic." She looked away. "Captain, we don't know if his name was programmed to be a trigger, it's likely safer if he's referred to by Nemesis."
"Fair enough. You gonna deprogram him or something?"
"We're going to try. But we won't let him rampage through human lives if it comes down to it."
"Good enough for me." Fanzone didn't particularly care about Nemesis. "A word of advice?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"Don't do something you'll regret. I don't need a sad robot getting hurt or killed because she had to kill her friend. Too much paperwork." Fanzone got in his car and left. At least he wasn't the poor sap stuck figuring out how Sumdac's personal bank information got leaked.
End Note: Mm, Nanosec will return … I rewatched his ep and decided he was fun. He's gonna come back, because I needed to rewrite a villain team up.
As for Slo-mo … maybe? Need to rewatch her.
Might replace professor princess with a G1 marvel comic era villain I like.
Next up: Sound and Fury rewrite: hello Soundwave