When it comes to the unavoidable subject of aliens, who do you look to? The universe is vast, wild and unpredictable, but there remain only two types of universally accepted civilisations. The conquerors, and the conquered. We on Cybertron have always struggled with this ideology, as history has proven it before during the Great Defiance, conquerors don't stay that way forever. The Decepticon cause wasn't always a dark path, but rather a misguided reactionary cause to the corrupted systems during the peaceful era succeeding the Border Wars. Had it not been tainted by the revenge rage-driven Megatron, my once regarded, closest friend, I may have even fought alongside him myself, but his lust for vengeance poisoned his mind. The Autobots were created out of necessity by myself to combat this dark force, not only to change the world, but to stop the Decepticons from killing our planet, and then, what became of the war. The dreadful feeling of hate can only take you so far, and for the past 30 years we have been on Earth, that same hate brews inside our human allies. I don't want this planet to be poisoned by the mistakes of our war, and I'll do what I must to protect this world, even if it is from themselves.
Optimus Prime in his black and red E-ONE HP 75 Aerial Ladder Truck alt-mode, drives alongside the hangers of a convert Army Rangers base. This area is a massive military base, filled with air fields and soldiers from all kinds of organisations, ether training or fixing up equipment all around the area, it is a very busy day. Optimus drives into a hanger through an open door, and enters a parking area. A blond man, wearing a leather jacket and jeans, observes Optimus stopping in front of him. Optimus converts into his robot mode right in front of him, and he looks up to witness the robotic lifeform move around loads of mechanical parts to form a robot mode, alas, he is unfazed by this. When Optimus finishes, he crouches down towards the human and speaks, "When do we begin, Major Trakker?", the human responds, "Pretty soon." He turns around and begins leading Optimus through the hanger. "It's great that you out of all the bots showed up today, Optimus. It's been a nightmare trying to convince the board by myself." Optimus responds, "I appreciate your friendship Major Trakker." The human smiles reassuringly and talks, "Hey, we've known each other how long Optimus? You can call me Matt." They both continue to walk. "How are things back on ol' Cybertron? Going well, I assume? How's your brother?" Optimus smiles and talks, "Ultra Magnus seems to be handling things well for the most part. He is still very inexperienced however, and he still requires my assistance, much to his dismay of course." Matt chuckles, "Yeah, I remember when my fellow general Andy was like that too. He absolutely despised getting help from me." They reach a massive area filled with large computers and more military trained personnel gathered around the area. "Looks like we're here Prime. Time to get our game faces on, cause it's showtime."
It has been 30 years since we have been on this planet. Our human allies, M.A.S.K. have been in cooperation with the Autobots for some time now, securing our intertwined futures. However, that future is at risk of expiring permanently. M.A.S.K. is one of the many foundations, making up the Peaceful Nations Alliance, a secret government force consisting of the Autobots, M.A.S.K., other militaries around the globe, and Orson Robotics, who's leader, Mister Smith, is vengeful at the Autobots. They seem to care too much about their brand image, and it's causing issues at the P.N.A. meetings. Megatron is still missing, and Mister Smith's solution is to remove all Autobots from Earth, and if he successfully manages to convince both President Stillwater and P.N.A. Vice Chairman Rodriquez, then we will become fugitives of a world who once embraced us. I must attend to these meetings to try to convince this world's leaders that we are needed more than ever, but I fear that we are living on borrowed time, as complications arise. My only one true hope is that my new recruits perform that well of a job that the world will be convinced that we need to stay. For now, I know for a fact that the Autobots are protecting this world, just fine.
TRANSFORMERS: RENEGADES
"New Recruits: Part 2"
"You blithering idiots!" Ratchet's voice booms throughout the Earth Spaceport. "How could you have let vital information get away like that?! I gave you one simple objective, and you somehow managed to screw that up!" The Renegades are standing in front of Ratchet whilst a grumpy Lucina walks forward, "Hey! They still managed to contain the information and a whole Decepticon!" Ratchet looks down at Lucina with an astounded look, "AND you got a rogue civilian involved?! Do you have any idea what kind of issues you have all caused me?" Pinpoint talks, "Calm your sparkplugs, gramps! Give us a little credit, we still managed to get you the same information and a Decepticon!" Ratchet snaps back, "And just why didn't you contact me? I gave you all explicit instructions to contact me as soon as you encountered enemy forces and I have received absolutely zero transmissions!" The group look amongst themselves, Stereo trembling at her fists with anger, and she bursts out, "Oh yeah?! Well, maybe we'd all be better off if you didn't send us down here to begin with! Oh, and guess what? You're fraggin welcome for whatever information you got! I hope it was all well worth it!" She storms off around the side of the building, as the group stand there in shock as well as a dis-concerned Ratchet, "Well, I never." He speaks, rolling his eyes. Warzone talks, "Well, you made a mighty hiccup their doc." Ratchet gives a stern look back at him, as Lucina runs around the corner to see Stereo sitting down, looking at herself, very clearly upset. She walks up to her and sits beside her, "Heya blue. You, okay?" Stereo looks at her, "Y-...yeah. I uh...oh boy I really got mad there huh?" Lucina smiles and responds, "Yeah you sure did." Stereo sighs, "I didn't mean to scare you." Lucina laughs and responds, "Nah! You didn't scare me Stereo, in fact, I'm surprised none of you have caved that nasty Ratchet's face in already." Stereo giggles, "Yeah, that would be the day, hehe."
Mayday gets up in Ratchet's face, "You're a grouchy old meanie! You should be more appreciative of what we've managed to do for you!" Pinpoint also chimes in, "Yeah, you're welcome. What is even so important about the information? Surely if it's so important, we should be let in on it?" Ratchet groans, "Fine." He turns to the table and displays locations on the map. "The information you have collected has given us the locations of the emergency Energon deposits around the globe, as well as points of Cybertronian interest on Earth. We've been collectiong this data over the past few years before other needs required out attention. It's just going to be an issue trying to decode this." Pinpoint raises an eyebrow, "Decode it?" Ratchet responds, "It seems that Slipstream may have been a lot smarter than what we gave her credit for. She's encrypted essential parts of data with a Decepticon self-destruct lock." Sabre chimes in, "Did we get anything from Slipstream herself? Surely, we got loads of useful things from her, maybe you found a passcode?" Ratchet sarcastically responds, "Oh yeah! We've now got every single piece of intelligence the Decepticons have! Even the location of Megatron!" Sabre gets giddy, "Oh my gosh, really?" Ratchet growls back, "No! Of course not, you naive fool." Sabre looks down in disappointment, whilst Warzone gets up to Ratchet. "Listen here grouchy, I know what Decepticons carry on their memory banks. I don't believe for one moment that you don't have anything that we can't use." Warzone says to Ratchet, he sighs and turns to the table. "Well, if you must know, we've managed to scrounge up Seeker schematics and vital information. We can know accurately target their weak points and use this to further effectively combat the seekers...so, sigh...I can congratulate you for that as least." Mayday grins, "See? I knew we got something useful after all. You just like giving us a hard time, grimy!" Ratchet sternly looks back, "We still don't have an unlock code! I may be a top-of-the-line medic, but I am no programmer. You may have acquired us with useful data, but said data will be useless if we can't even decode it. Let me remind you all that you are still in no way, Autobots. You still have a long and hard journey ahead of you yet." The Renegades look at each other as Ratchet turns to the ground bridge as it activates. "Aha! Right on schedule! Optimus and the human forces will be arriving shortly." Lucina and Stereo hear a generating noise, "Oh listen, it seems that they're starting up the ground bridge again, we should come around and see what's up!" Lucina speaks, as Stereo gets up, "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."
Stereo and Lucina, walk back into the base to see the ground bridge active. The Renegades, Lucina and Ratchet observe the bridge as it opens on the other side, and behold, Optimus Prime drives through in his vehicle form as well as loads of other large military vehicles, brandishing with M.A.S.K. logos all over them. The Renegades look around, as Sabre talks, "Wow, look at all these humans!" Ratchet scoffs, "Ech...humans with their primitive technology." Optimus drives up to Ratchet as Matt Trakker leaves his cab, and Optimus converts to robot mode. Ratchet beams, "Optimus! My, it's good to see you again so soon." Optimus smiles back, "It's good to see you too Ratchet, as well as all our new comrades here. How have they done for their first mission Ratchet? I assume all went well." Ratchet, with a discerning look, responds, "Well...ach...we managed to secure the information bu-" Optimus smiles, "Excellent work team, I knew I could rely on you all for the task at hand." Ratchet butts in, "But they also alerted a Decepticon!" Optimus returns to a neutral expression, and says "I see, I believe it was the seeker, Slipstream?" Sabre nods, "Yeah it was, but we managed to kick her butt!" Stereo talks, "We managed to successfully defeat the Decepticon threat!" Ratchet rolls his eyes whilst Optimus smiles, "You've managed to capture a Decepticon on your first mission. That's not something that every Autobot achieves on their first directive. For that I am thankful, team. You have all proven yourself worthy, and you have all earned your alternative modes." The Renegades gets excited amongst themselves, much to Ratchet's disapproval. Optimus talks, "If you could follow my friend Major Trakker here, he will escort you to where you will be able to select your alt-modes." Trakker stands forward, "Thank you Optimus. Alright rookies, I hope you're a fan of off-roading. It's a jungle out there and you gotta pick something appropriate for yourselves. I mean, we don't exactly put machine guns on Lamborghinis out of all things." He laughs to himself whilst the Renegades look confused. Warzone whispers to Mayday, "What's a Lamborghini? Is that like, a human term for a crummy car or something?" Mayday shrugs her shoulders, for she doesn't know. Trakker collects himself and directs them, "Okay, over this way rookies." He leads them towards a large parking area, as Optimus stands to the side to speak with Ratchet. "So how did the meeting go?" Ratchet asks Optimus. He responds neutrally saying, "I'm not sure. That Mister Smith from Orson Robotics really wants rid of us." Ratchet scoffs, "Typical humans." Optimus responds, "I don't entirely blame him." Ratchet confused speaks, "What do you mean Optimus? We're helping out here, aren't we?" Optimus looks at him, "I'd like to believe that Ratchet, but there are moments that are starting to make me doubt our presence here." Ratchet rolls his eyes, "These dumb humans don't know what they've got. They just take, take, take!" Optimus smirks and turns to Ratchet, "Wasn't it a human that helped fix these bridges?" he asks, as Ratchet struggles for an answer, "S-s-s-she had help from Autob- ahem, I mean Cybertronians…" Optimus grins, and speaks, "Any potential updates on how to access the locked data?" Ratchet annoyingly sighs, "Unfortunately not. I've been in contact with Prowl and he's informed me that Splistream is not giving up anything information at all. It looks like it will be up to ourselves to crack it." Optimus strokes his chin and thinks to himself, "There's only one person who I know who could crack a code like that." Ratchet smiles, "Well then, let's open a ground bridge an-" Optimus cuts him off and responds, "I don't think that would be wise Ratchet.", to which he replies, "Huh? Why not?" Optimus looks at the ground before responding. "They used to be an Autobot." Ratchet nods, "Aha, so it's the 'used' part that makes this difficult." Optimus turns to Ratchet. "Perhaps, we can use our new found comrades to locate the programmer for us."
The Renegades walk over with Matt to the area filled with parked vehicles. "Lo and behold, newbies. Feast your eyes on this demolition derby. Take your fancy." The Renegades look around with eager eyes and they run off to have a look around. Lucina and Sabre stay back to talk with Trakker. He sees Lucina and speaks to her, "Huh, I guess I'm not the first human to re-enter this run-down shack of a base." Lucina talks back, "I guess you aren't!" Trakker grins and responds, "My name's Matt Trakker, you?" "Lucina." "I'm guessing you're the one who fixed that space bridge?" Lucina beams, "Mhm! I'm a very good hacker." Trakker responds, "I can very well see that." Mayday is looking around the medical vehicles that M.A.S.K. have organised, she glances over the ambulances. "Hmpf, seems a bit morbid to weaponize medical vehicles like these, don't you think Pinpoint?" She turns to him, who is too busy obsessing over 4×4 vehicles. "Oh man, I'd love to grovel through a mucky field as one of these!" He speaks to himself as Mayday rolls her eyes. Her eyes then catch a smaller Land Rover Discovery, it has been attired with green and red livery, with the words 'Doctor's Car' written on the sides. She seems to take a liking towards it as she gets closer. It has been slightly altered to have much larger wheels, perfect for off-roading. She smiles as she scans the vehicle, her transformation cog taking in all the necessary information. Her body slightly alters, costing a small amount of energon, generating the necessary parts for the vehicle, Mayday for the first time, transforms into her vehicle mode. "Aha!" She shouts in excitement, "This is perfect! I can help those in need much easier now!" Pinpoint looks around and sees an assortment of vans. "Ohohoh, I can carry all my tools and gadgets in that beauty right here!" He says to himself as his eyes focuses on a Citroën DisSabre van. He scans the van and begins to generate the parts as well, and converts into his newly obtained, green van alt-mode. "Aw yeah! This is kick-ass!" He exclaims. Warzone hulks around an M41 Walker Bulldog tank and observes it. Stereo walks by him and says, "Ya know, you're going to get stuck if you go with something that's got caterpillars ya know." Warzone sighs, "Is that what those are called? I was just curious, figured this would have been a nice alt-mode for myself if this planet had hovercrafts by now." He turns around to see a Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter and grins. "Ah well, the skies the limit after all." He scans the helicopter, as he begins to spurt rotor blades on his back as well as other helicopter pieces around him. "Why fire with only one big gun when I can have many smaller ones?" He says to himself. Stereo looks at rally cars, passing by many of them, covered in racing décor. She seems disinterested until she comes to a shoddy looking 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, but what caught her eye was the sound system it had on the inside. "Well, hello there party machine!" She says as she inspects the subwoofers it has on this inside. "I could be a driving jukebox machine, sounds brilliant!" She scans the car and begins to grow the parts on herself and transforms. Trakker walks by her, "Huh, I thought we got rid of this old thing. Agh, have the car enthusiasts came by and tuned it? Looks brand new and shiny." He comments, just as Stereo converts to robot mode in front of him. "Oh, I'm brand new and shiny, I'm also ready to party!" She comments, as Trakker takes a look at her, he speaks, "Seems you're all happy with your choices! Hate to cut the chatter, but you're all needed back ASAP. Ratchet has got some work for you all." The Renegades transform into their vehicle modes and begin heading towards the communications room. "Thanks a lot Trakker!" says Stereo, as Trakker salutes them as they disappear back to Ratchet. Trakker then realises he was left behind. "Ah...crud." He says to himself as he feels around his pocket. "Now...where did I leave my keys…" He pulls out an electronic key and clicks it. A vehicle nearby makes an activation noise, Trakker turns to lime-green motorcycle with rotor blades tilted on its sides. Trakker grins, "Aha, I knew Turner left this around here. Guess the Condor's all mine now!" He gets onto the cycle, revs it and drives after the Renegades.
The Renegades and Lucina riding on top of Sabre, arrive back at the war table, to see Ratchet and Optimus standing there. "Oh good, you've gotten your modes. Remember, these are for disguise purposes only! So don't go off lolly-gagging or...ugh...racing." Ratchet says, as Lucina hops off Sabre as the Renegades all convert to robot mode in front of him. Stereo speaks, "Maybe if you're nice Ratchet, then we'll play nice." She grins cheekily as Ratchet sternly frowns and looks to the table and points to a location on the holograms. "Listen up. I'm in a state where I cannot scrub through this sensitive data without erasing it due to this Decepticon anti-virus." Lucina chimes in, "Don't you think I could maybe take a crack at it? I can tinker a bit with electronics." Ratchet laughs, "Like I'd trust an over-confident human with this vital information!", Lucina grumps as Optimus continues, "I am aware of your experience with electronics Lucina, but this is vital information that we cannot afford to lose. It is of Cybertron origin, and it is of the upmost importance that this data be handled by someone who is wise in the way of Cybertron technology." Lucina sighs, "Fine, I guess." Ratchet scowls and responds, "Listen, all you got to do, is take this copy, and hand it over to the programmer. Surely, this can't be too difficult for you lot?" Sabre then speaks, "I'll do it!" Stereo speaks second, "I'm game." Mayday talks, "When do we leave?" Optimus Prime then begins talking about the hacker, "I've known Sunstreaker for quite some time now. She used to be very technical with her skill set, taught by many other commanders on Cybertron. She also carries with her many intelligences about programming and scientism. She is one of the few left who carry the remnants of Wheeljack's teachings. She disbanded her post about 10 years ago and ran off with other Autobots to live out their lives, abandoning the world. They have left us behind, and I hate the fact that I am asking you to find her, and ask for help." Ratchet then points to his holograms. "The whereabouts of Sunstreaker's last known location is around 20 miles south-west of here. It shouldn't be too long of a drive, since well, you all now have alt-modes so this should not take you long. I want you all to be aware that this is a transportation mission only. Find Sunstreaker, give her the copy to decompile and report back immediately. I don't want any funny business this time around. I've also taken the time to share the relevant data on what we know about the Decepticons from Slipstream but only to be used in emergency situations." Sabre smiles, "Thanks Ratchet, you're really helping us out a lot!" Ratchet, not used to kindness, scoffs and responds, "Yes, ahem...well. I'd figure you lot did well enough that I'd share what I've learned with you. Now, take this holocron, get out of here and complete your mission." Sabre then ducks down to let Lucina on, before Trakker arrives in the Condor. "Now hold on a second there! You aren't going with them this time Lucina." he says. Lucina speaks back, "Pfft. You're not the boss of me!" Optimus then speaks, "I'm afraid Major Trakker is correct. It would be wise if Lucina stayed here where we can protect her, and not risk putting her in danger." Lucina considers this before Sabre looks at her. "Optimus is right Lucina, you'd be a lot safer over here." he says as Lucina talks, "Yeah, but who's going to keep you safe?" Sabre giggles, "I'll be fine Lucina. We're just going to grab the information we need and we'll be back in an astro-second!" Trakker then disembarks his vehicle and walks to Lucina, "Besides, you've got a lot of expertise kid. Maybe you could help me fix up this facility a bit? These grimy Army Rangers are too gun-ho to have a designer's eye." Lucina looks at Trakker before back at Sabre. "Go on Lucina, we'll be okay!" he says, Lucina walks to Trakker before turning back and shouting, "Yo Stereo!" Stereo takes the holocron, then turns to see Lucina as she begins to talk, "Watch out for them and protect your own! If I find Sabre with a little scratch on him…!" Lucina speaks as Stereo then talks, "Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes on him!", she and the other Renegades then convert into vehicle mode. "Okay renegades, let's roll out!" She exclaims as the team drive out towards the forest and into the wilderness.
The Renegades are all moving at awkward paces into the forest. "Grah...erm, how does this work?" Pinpoint speaks as he keeps jolting forward. "I've never speeded with a wheeled vehicle before." he speaks, as the other slow down to help him. Warzone laughs, "That's why you pick something that can fly." Pinpoint scoffs back, "Oh yeah, of course the former Decepticon recommends the flying alt-mode." Stereo butts in, "Can it guys, we all chose these modes, so we're going to have to get used to these whether we like it or not." Stereo is skidding through a dirt road. "O-o-oh shit! I-i-it's way too slippy!" She tries to turn around at speed. "Aaah!" She skids and hits herself into trees, hurting herself. "Gah! Scrap!" She says to herself. "Stupid… dirt roads, why can't this planet just be all concrete?" A small groaning noise is heard from behind the tree. Stereo converts into robot mode and looks around the tree. She sees Lucina laying there, with a destroyed condor, dazed. "Lucina?! What are you doing here? You were told to stay behind!" Lucina shakes her head and gets up, "I had to put on a show for Optimus, Ratchet and Trakker. You guys aren't gonna get rid of me that easily. I'm not gonna sit behind some boring old desk for the rest of my life." Stereo groans, "Guys, Lucina's here." Sabre arrives to her, "Lucina! Glad to see you." He ducks down and let's Lucina saddle his back. "Glad to see you too Sabre." Mayday then chirps up, "Hey gang, my audio receptors are picking up a lot of chatter and… revving? It's coming from over this direction." Pinpoint rolls his eyes, "Not our problem, why should we care?" Stereo speaks, "Because there could be Decepticon spies in this area then we need to apprehend them! I'm surprised you don't want more brownie points Pinpoint. Lead the way Mayday, and try to be cautious about it." Pinpoint huffs as the Renegades slowly roll through a thick tree line. Stereo speaks, "Sabre, you've got the eye of the tiger. See what's over there." Sabre nods and activates his far-sighted vision. "You've got it Stereo." He looks far into the open area past the trees. "It looks like… a bunch of roads, turning around and going into each other and… I've got movement! 4 moving vehicles!" Pinpoint uses his goggles. "I can confirm, geez. One of them is an old Rover 10 hot rod, and a motorcycle? Their defiantly expansive on their alt-modes." Warzone pipes in, "I don't care what alt-modes they've got. They're all going down ether way!" Sabre then speaks, "W-wait! We don't know if they're Decep-" Warzone flies right past them. "Shit! After him!" Stereo yells as the Renegades convert and dash after him. Warzone flies into the track and transforms back into robot mode in front of a pink and white 2022 Kawasaki Ninja 400, approaching him fast. Warzone attempts to grab the motorcycle. "You're mine, Con!" The motorcycle converts into a smaller robot, using their own momentum to somersault towards Warzone, and jumps over his swinging arm, and lands behind his head. "Well, that's a terrible way to introduce yourself to a lady. I'm Arcee, what's yours?" she says as Warzone tries to grab behind his neck. "Get this stupid bike off me!" He tries to wrangle the Arcee who is still on his back. "Ooft, boy, you have terrible manners." She says, as she delivers a swift elbow to a sensitive point behind his neck, "GAH!" Warzone exclaims as he falls to the ground. Arcee lightly hops off him and observers her handy work. "My, my, what a brute." She says to herself, before she looks up to see approaching vehicles, they convert behind Warzone, Lucina hides behind Sabre and aim their blasters at this strange new bot. Arcee raises an eyebrow, "A human? This far out here?" she says, as Pinpoint cocks his gun. "Hold it there, two-wheels!" Pinpoint exclaims, "That's our buddy you've gotten there. Now we can do this the easy way, where you come with us quietly, or the hard way, where you come in pieces." Arcee raises an eyebrow and laughs, "That's some temper you got there, pipsqueak." Pinpoint snarls, "Yeah? And you seem over-confident for a skimpy little thing like yourself. You can't take us all on by yourself." Arcee grins, "Who says I was by myself?" She sticks a thumb up and points it over her shoulder.
Around a bend, racing towards them, is a red Chevrolet C8 Corvette and a yellow C7 Corvette. They convert behind Arcee and aim their blasters at the Renegades. "These guys bothering you, Arcee?" The red Corvette speaks. The yellow Corvette says, "Good timing too, Sideswipe could do with visual calibration. His shots have been pretty bad recently." The red Corvette pipes back, "Hey! I'll have you know that you're the one who has crappy accuracy, Sunstreaker." The Renegades look at each other, knowing they've found their target. A Rover 10 hot rod bursts round a corner and converts in between all of them and puts his arms out, "Everyone, cease fire immediately!" He points to the Jeep, "Sideswipe, weapons off!" The red Corvette waves his arm to the group as they lower their guns. The Renegades, confused do so as well. Sabre talks, "Uh… is this normal?" The hot rod speaks as he looks to the Renegades, "Please, we do not need to fight my friends. Please identify yourselves." Stereo walks forward and speaks, "My name is Stereo. We're all Autobots sent on a mission to find Sunstreaker. We were given direct orders from Commander Ratchet." The hot rod then lightly smiles and relaxes his arms, the yellow corvette drops her weapons and goes up to Stereo, "Fat chance, I ain't doing nothing for no warmongering Autobot." The hot rod pulls her aside. "Easy there Sunstreaker," as he turns back to Stereo, as he continues "You said Ratchet? You were sent by Ratchet? Hah, no wonder you guys went in guns blazing. I don't blame you, Ratchet's a bit rough around the edges, but you'll get used to him, I assure you." Pinpoint shakes his head, "I'm sorry, but who the hell are you exactly?" The hot rod smiles and introduces himself, "My name is Rodimus Prime, commander of the Hot Shots." The Renegades stand in amazement, Sabre speaks, "A Prime?! Holy smokes guys, we almost got into fights with Autobots!" Mayday speaks up, "Why don't you guys have faction symbols?" Rodimus smiles and turns to the group. "Hot Shots, reveal your shields!" The nearby Cybertronians swipe over their hidden Autobot symbols, revealing them to the naked eye. Mayday speaks, "You guys… hide your faction symbols?" Sideswipe comes forward, "Yeah well, it kinda ruins the image of the car, don't you think?" Sabre tilts his head, "You don't want to display your symbol on your alt-mode? Why?" Sunstreaker looks at him, "Pfft. Why identify as an Autobot? That's like having a big sign over yourself saying, 'Yes, I have indeed killed many of my own kind.' I've got better things to worry about." Sabre looks disappointed with the answer. "So... what are you?" Sabre asks, to which Sideswipe responds, "We're the Hot Shots, and we're all about Earth racing culture. We built this track here ourselves to test out our alt-modes and drive around here for ether recreational purposes, or for fun!" Warzone grumbles as he helps himself back up. "Grah… what happened?" he speaks, as Lucina informs him. "We've met some friends." Arcee speaks at Warzone, "You haven't told me your team's name sweetheart." Warzone then retorts, "Ahem, we're the Renegades, ma'am."
The Renegades, Lucina and the Hot Shots are all around the racing grounds, ether chatting amongst themselves or tussling in combat training exercises. Stereo and Rodimus sit on the side lines and talk to each other. "Wow, that's some group you've assembled there Stereo." Rodimus says, Stereo sheepishly responds, "Heh, yeah, I didn't choose them but ya know. It's nice to have ended up with a group of friends you can rely on. I'm assuming you are your friends are like that too?" Rodimus nods and speaks, "Oh for sure. Like for example, Sideswipe over there used to be a front-line scout, he was one of the first to arrive here on Earth, and was around during the Battle of Megladon City, but after the war ended, he got sick of all the warmongering and wanted to live life to the max without all the killing and destruction. He was born for racing I tell you. Same with Arcee, she was one of the first to arrive on Earth as well. She may be small but oh boy, if you get on her bad side." Stereo and Rodimus look over to see Arcee, Mayday and Warzone talking with each other. "Do you think he's trying to apologise?" Rodimus asks Stereo, to which she responds, "Heh, knowing Warzone? He's probably trying to coax the fighting techniques out of Arcee, and knowing Mayday, she's probably trying to make sure Arcee keeps it to herself." Rodimus laughs, "He knows he's leader scale, right? Asking for scout fighting techniques isn't going to do him much." Stereo and Rodimus laugh and smile. Stereo's eye is then caught over to see Sunstreaker, tussling with Sideswipe and Pinpoint, with Lucina watching from the sidelines and cheers them on. "Woof, she's tough." Rodimus smiles, "Yeah, that's Sunstreaker. She is Sideswipe's older sister, and she doesn't take any shit from anybody." Stereo nods, "Ain't that right huh?" She sees Sunstreaker knock Pinpoint over and holds Sideswipe in a noogie hold. Stereo raises an eyebrow, "She's pretty hard on him." Rodimus responds, "Yeah, she is, but that's only cause she's looking out for him. Tough love works in many ways Stereo, and she just wants him to be ready for anything that comes his way." Suddenly, Sabre jumps onto Sunstreaker, as she lets go of Sideswipe and tries to grab Sabre off her, before Sideswipe gets on his knees in a stool motion, and Sabre leans Sunstreaker over towards Sideswipe, and knocks Sunstreaker over. Lucina points and laughs. Stereo and Rodimus smirk at the exchange. Sunstreaker gets up and points at Sideswipe, "You got a lucky break! It's not gonna happen again.", and she storms off, passing by and giving Stereo the side eye, "What are you looking at, twerp?" she exclaims, before Stereo responds, "Someone who got their ass beat. That's what." She grins before Sunstreaker gets right up in Stereo's face. "You ain't shit kid. One day that mouth of yours is gonna get you into serious trouble." Stereo then asks, "Would it be trouble if I asked you to decode this Decepticon data?", she holds out the holocron in her hand, to which Sunstreaker simply glances at and laughs, "I ain't doing a single thing for you kid, you got to earn my time." Stereo then retorts, "How about I race you for it?" Sunstreaker then bursts out laughing, before seeing Rodimus motioning for her to go along with it. She exclaims, "Fine. I'll give you a race 'baby blue'. If by some miracle you win, I'll decode your silly little holocron." Stereo beams happilly before Sunstreaker's sinister grin turns Stereo into a worried mess. "But if you lose, then you gotta turn your alt-mode into a garbage truck, and that'll show the world what a pathetic loser you and the Autobots really are." She cackles as she walks off, converting and driving around the track. Stereo sighs and rubs her head, slightly regretting what she just did. Rodimus notices her face, he leans over to her and says, "How are you finding your alt-mode?" Stereo gives an unhappy look, "It's great for my music tastes and all but… I don't know how to turn corners." Rodimus raises an eyebrow, "Corners? You just made a bet with a Hot Shot, and you don't know how to turn your wheels?" Stereo shakes her head, "No, I know how to turn, it's just, I don't know how to do it at speed." Rodimus gets up, "Come on rookie. It's pretty simple. I'll show you how to drift."
Rodimus and Stereo are standing at the start line of the race track. It is a multi-formatted track. It has straights, hairpin turns as well as dirt road sections. Rodimus stretches himself before converting. "Drifting will help you get around corners a lot more easily and effectively." he speaks, as Stereo transforms herself into her vehicle mode. "Is this an easy thing to learn Rodimus?" she speaks, Rodimus then speaks back, "Nothing is easy if you want to ride, and if you want to ride Stereo? Watch and learn!" Rodimus revs his engines up and zooms around the beginning straight of the race track. Stereo throttles herself forward and follows Rodimus from behind. Rodimus drives at a fairly fast pace being easily able to turn at the slight bends, but the first turn is rapidly approaching. "Okay Stereo listen up! Flick your driving wheel to the side as you turn this bend! Handbrake and clutch, slide, then accelerate!" Stereo is at a loss for words, "W-w-what does any of that mean?!" Rodimus then turns round the corner, drifting around the hairpin and continuing at the same speed. Stereo tries to handbrake, but ends up turning too much, and spins out. "Aaaah!" She screams as she topples over the road and lands into a bunch of safety tires. Sunstreaker notices this and chuckles to herself. Rodimus turns around and heads back. "Let's try that again." he speaks, as Stereo groans. Rodimus and Stereo head back towards the starting line and approach the bend, Rodimus explains what to do again, and he drifts around that same turn effortlessly see, Stereo approaches the bend but doesn't turn enough and she accidentally ends up braking to a halt. Rodimus explains, "You gotta make sure you still have power and speed, Stereo." Stereo sighs as they go at it again. Time and time again, she attempts to get around the corner but fails again and again. However, after a few many tries, she seems to be getting closer and closer, and Rodimus can feel it. After a certain while, Stereo is at the starting line with Rodimus, and the Renegades and Hot Shots all observing. Rodimus speaks to Stereo, "This time, this time you can do it. You've practised and practised, you're gonna nail that corner!" Stereo nervously looks around, whilst Sunstraker walks up beside her. "Hope you like the smell of second place!" She chuckles to herself, before converting and revving her engines. Stereo whispers to Rodimus, "Ahem, it's great when you've got all eyes on you huh?" Rodimus speaks to her, "Hey, focus on yourself. Eyes on the prize. Now, own that hairpin!" Stereo nods in confidence as she converts into vehicle mode and pulls up to the starting line. Her front door opens as Lucina sneaks into her driver seat. "I'm gonna help you out here!" Lucina speaks, grabbing Stereo's driving wheel. Stereo sighs, "Didn't you crash the Condor, when you snuck out? You're gonna get yourself killed Lucina.", to which Lucina responds, "Hey, when you've looted as many clunkers as I have, you learn a thing or two about getaways." Sideswipe counts down, and shouts "Go!", to which Lucina floors it, sending Stereo forward at a fast speed heading toward the corner, right behind Sunstreaker. Everyone watches in anticipation, as Stereo is zooming toward the hairpin. Stereo then decreases her speed, and begins to turn the corner, in front of Sunstreaker. Lucina flicks her wheel to the side turning Stereo's front driving wheels to the side, and simultaneously handbrakes and clutches, destabilising Stereo's back wheels, she skids around and then throttles it, aiming her wheels back forward, and successfully zooms right in forward of Sunstreaker. She straightens herself out and races down the rest of the track, with the Renegades and Hot Shots cheering, with Rodimus looking on, proud of his teachings. Stereo arrives back at the starting point, turns back into robot mode and stands with the rest of the Renegades. "You were awesome Lucina!" Sabre exclaims, "How did you manage to do that? That was sick!" Mayday says, "You totally wrecked that course!" Pinpoint congratulates Lucina as she tries to get them to stop. "Guys guys, honestly, it's cool." Stereo looks at Rodimus who is grinning at her. She goes up to him and shakes her head. "Grah, I didn't do anything Rodimus. It was all her doing the work." Rodimus waves his hand and responds, "Ach, it's no biggie. You'll learn eventually Stereo. I like seeing a good underdog story, I'd say you're an honorary Hot Shot." Stereo beams with pride. Sunstreaker waltz over with her arms crossed, "No fair. You used a human to help you out. I call a rematch!" Rodimus then butts in, "Hey, a deal's a deal Sunstreaker." to which she displays a shocked reaction, "W-w-w-who's side are you on?!" she growls at an amused Rodimus. "You accepted her challenge and lost, just take the L and help her out." Sunstreaker groans in annoyance, before swiping away the holocron, pressing buttons all over it in quick succession and throwing it back to Stereo. "There, you're welcome." Before she sticks her cross her arms in a huff. Stereo looks at the unlocked holocron, they have been given a location. Stereo smiles and looks back to Rodimus, "I'd love to stay but uh...we've got a mission to do." Rodimus nods, "Oh yeah, totally get it." Stereo speaks, "You guys should totally come!" Rodimus shakes his head. "Nah, it's too political over there. We're free spirits, and we ride for the thrill of it." Stereo looks down in disappointment, but Rodimus looks at the group and talks, "Hey, Renegades!" They direct their attention to Rodimus. "Look out for each other, and listen to your leader. She knows best." Stereo looks up and smiles. "Thank you, Hot Shots, you've been a wonderful help." Sabre says, as he transformers into Beast Mode and starts hopping towards the objective. Mayday waves goodbye to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker before converting and following Sabre. Arcee walks up to Warzone and uses her finger to aim for him to get to her level. Warzone gets on his knee, as Arcee speaks to him. "Sorry for bapping you over the noggin sweetheart. You be good for your team and I'll see you around." She gets on her tiptoes and plants a small and quick smooch on Warzone's face. Warzone smiles and stands up, "Will do ma'am." Pinpoint grins cheekily and follows Warzone as he converts. "You've got a thing for motorcycles, huh Warzone?" Warzone growls, "Shut your fraggin mouth, junkheap.", and he flies behind the group. Pinpoint snickers and whispers to Mayday, "I bet you he totally reads Flamewar magazine." Stereo salutes to the Hot Shots and transforms, Lucina gets in the front seat, and she races up to the rest of the group as they head towards the mission. Rodimus looks from afar, he speaks to himself. "Ride in style kid. Ride in style."
The Renegades travels through the forests, rolling over hills and scurrying through ditches whilst Warzone tails behind in the skies, as well as Sabre bounding through the trees. "Man, after all that racing around on that course, I think I'm coming to love this!" Pinpoint exclaims as he races alongside them. "Certainly, beats boring, smooth hovering our modes on Cybertron had, don't they?" Mayday adds, Lucina looks at Stereo's screen inside her vehicle mode and speaks, "Guys! There's a point of interest that's literally a five-minute drive! Let's head over there and have a little look?" Pinpoint speaks, "Erm… I dunno. We kinda got in shit last time for not contacting." Lucina groans, "Aw come on, don't you guys want to look good for Optimus? Think about it, first day on Earth, and you capture a Decepticon AND something cool from Cybertron?" Stereo speaks, "Ach, fine. We'll take ONE look and then we'll report back to Ratchet. Let's go, team!", as she races off towards the location. Sabre increases his running speed as Pinpoint and Mayday follow closely behind. Warzone grumbles to himself, "We are so getting screwed for this." A few minutes later, Lucina eyes' catch Stereo's GPS and notices that they are approaching their destination. "Guys, let's stop here!" she exclaims as Stereo slams her breaks and they skid to a stop. Sabre transforms back to robot mode, "That was a fun run!" He speaks. After Lucina exits the car, Stereo, Mayday and Pinpoint transform from their vehicle modes to stand up whilst Warzone descends and converts into his robot mode, making a small thud as he lands down, he then speaks up. "Why are we stopping here?" Stereo then points to a large open area, through the tree line, with a large warehouse in the middle. Pinpoint then speaks, "That looks like an abandoned facility if I've ever seen one." Stereo responds, "Let's try and be stealthy about this, guys. That includes you too Lucina. We'll take a quick glance inside, see if anything's weird and we'll report back to Ratchet." Mayday says, "Sounds good to me!" They begin to approach the building, walking slowly over towards the closed entrance of the facility. Suddenly they hear a weird creaking sound. Warzone speaks sharply, "Someone's defiantly in there." Pinpoint smirks, "How did you come to that conclusion genius? I'm supposed to be the smart one around here." Warzone then snarls, "Because that noise is a Decepticon shield generato-" A beam from inside the warehouse blasts from the top and masks the entire warehouse and the surrounding areas in a large energon shield. Sabre looks around, "Uh, guys, are we stuck here?" Mayday responds, "Hmm, yup. That's a Decepticon energon shield alright. That means nothing Cybertronian can pass through." Warzone annoyingly stares at Pinpoint. Stereo then speaks, "Okay, hold on. Before anybody does anything, let's do what we set out to do and contact Ratchet." Stereo tries connecting to the Earth Spaceport, but to no avail. "Hey, is anybody else's comms down?" Sabre speaks, "Nothing Cybertronian can pass through it right? I'd hate to say it, but I think that includes our comms as well." Warzone then snarky remarks, "So much for 'listen to each other'.", Pinpoint then snaps back, "I'm still smarter than you, tin-face!" Stereo then shushes them, "Guys, cool it! We need to quieten down. We've still got a job to do." Mayday then speaks up, "How do you suppose we get out of this Stereo?", Stereo looks around before speaking, "Lucina, you can easily walk through that shield and call for help." Lucina retorts, "I ain't walking through that! There's no way I can run 20 miles back to base that quickly, and I'm not leaving you guys by yourself." Stereo rubs her optics, "Okay, well, we don't have a lot of options so I propose this. Let's sneak inside and see what's created that shield. Maybe we can disable it somehow." She slowly opens a small garage door near the back of the facility, she then continues to talk, "If we're sneaky about this, then we won't have to fight the cons in here." She turns and signals for the group to follow her, but stops Warzone. "Woah woah. Hey big guy, I need you to stay here." Warzone then asks, "Uh, why?" Stereo then uneasily responds, "No offence, but you really don't look like the stealthy type. Just wait here, and if you here gunfire, run in guns blazing alright?" Warzone grumbles, "Fine, sure, whatever." Stereo then turns around and leads Sabre, Mayday, Pinpoint and Lucina into the facility.
Stereo sneaks behind what appears to be huge boxes around the inside of the warehouse, followed by the others, until they start hearing voices. They sneak to a safe spot where they can safely peak over and see who is talking. Stereo peaks over, and she sees Decepticons. She ducks down and whispers, "Okay, there they are. Pinpoint, who are these guys?" Pinpoint looks over, he sees 3 seekers with different colours and another grey blocky con, who looks rather fragile. He ducks back down and whispers to the group. "My memory banks may be fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure two of those seekers are Bitstream and Hotlink." Lucina whispers, "That red and blue one, we saw before. He was the one who betrayed Slipstream. I can still feel the bump on my head she gave me." Pinpoint then continues, "If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure that's the Decepticon second-in-command Starscream." Sabre then asks, "So… who's the other guy then?" Starscream then booms, "How do you feel, mighty Megatron?" The Renegades look at each other fearfully as they look over. "Spare me from your mockery of hospitality Starscream. You know I am in an impaired state, and you need to be gathering me more energon instead of belittling me with your presence!" Sabre starts to panic, "Oh no, awh no this is bad! That's Megatron! The leader of the Decepticons! Guys, we barely scraped past one of them before! We can't take on 3 of them and the leader!" Pinpoint hushes Sabre, "Hey, they don't know that we are here so let's keep it that way." Mayday speaks, "Pinpoint is right Sabre, we need to find a way to disable that shield." Stereo looks around the place and sees Bitstream guarding the shield generator. "He looks like he's glued to that, so there's no way we are getting through him." She says to herself, "We know how to take on seekers, but I don't know if we're strong enough to take on 3 of them...That's out of our league. They'd crush us in an instant." Mayday then speaks, "Does anybody have any ideas?" Sabre and Pinpoint look around, and Sabre spots an aerial dish. "Hey, that's a communication thingy right?" Pinpoint then talks, "Yeah, but I don't think a simple dish going to work in here. Primitive human radios." Stereo's eyes widen, "Pinpoint, you're a genius!" Pinpoint raises an eyebrow, "I-i-i am? I mean, ahem, of course I am! Like I said! Heheheh! Erm...uh...remind me, why am I a genius?" Stereo then explains, "That's a human built, earth-based aerial communication array. I'm still able to get signals on my vehicle mode radios!" Lucina begins to grin, and speak "Nothing 'cybertronian' gets through the shield…" Pinpoint continues, "But something human could! If we somehow connect that dish to our Autobot comms, we might be able to send out a distress signal over the radio waves to HQ!" Mayday then speaks, "Then it's settled, but uh, which one of us is going over there. It'll have to be somebody who can be fast and stealthy." Lucina offers herself, "I could sneak ar-" before Stereo interrupts her, "No way, you're staying right here. Those cons will destroy you, and you've caused us enough trouble. There's got to be another way." The group then slowly turns their optics to Sabre, who is confused, "No no no, I am not doing that! This is insane you guys; don't you realise who is down there? That is the Decepticon leader!" Stereo responds, "Sabre, you are the fastest and smallest out of all of us. You're the only one who has an alt-mode that can scale the area and be sneaky about it." Mayday then talks, "Plus, I think that Megatron guy looks a little bit under the weather." Pinpoint then talks, "I'll keep over-watch, I'll make sure you stay out of trouble." Sabre then looks at the ground, unsure of themselves. Lucina then speaks, "You can do this Sabre, we all believe in you." Sabre then looks up with a more vibrant expression, "Then...i-i'll try!" He transforms into beast mode and heads off towards the lower levels of the warehouse.
Sabre sneaks around the lower levels behind the energon containers and other large boxes, narrowly avoiding the roaming Hotlink and Starscream, who are loading energon in what appears to be some kind of beacon. "Faster Starscream!" Megatron booms, "The longer you take to load up the beacon, the faster the Autobots have more chance of discovering us!" Starscream grins, "Why, glorious leader, it is not my intention to make you wait for your return to your glorious leadership." Megatron slams his hand on the beacon. "Then double time it, you worthless scrapheap!" Starscream yelps and starts to work faster. Sabre continues to head towards the ariel dish. Successfully, managing to sneak his way there, he reaches this dish, and below it seems to be communications equipment, dial-ups and microphones. Sabre looks back up to the group and gives a shrugging expression, as he doesn't know what any of this means. Lucina tries to use her hands to explain that Sabre needs to quietly turn the dials to the Autobot HQ centre, she uses her fingers to describe the numbers to Sabre, who turns the dials and knobs into the right communication frequency as quietly as possible. Sabre takes one look around to see that the Decepticons have not taken notice of him. He then looks to Pinpoint who tells him to whisper into the microphone. Sabre then looks at the microphone, and activates the press-to-talk button and whispers, "Uh...hello-" As soon as Sabre finished that word, a loud squealing feedback emitted around the entire echoing warehouse. The seekers, Megatron and the Renegades all hold their ears in pain, as it stops a few seconds later. The Decepticons turn to the dish and see Sabre under it. Stereo speaks, "W-w-what happened?" Pinpoint then responds, "...maybe human equipment doesn't like Cybertronian vocal processing?" Starscream and Hotlink aim their null rays at Sabre, "Die Autobot spy!" Starscream shouts as he fires at a running Sabre. Stereo shouts, "Agh, scrap! Okay, new plan! You all know their weak spots! Lucina! You stay right here and don't move! Alright Renegades, we need to protect Lucina! There's more of us then them, we can overwhelm them! Let's go!" As herself, Mayday and Pinpoint jump down to the lower levels and begin to fire at the Decepticons, Lucina ducks behind the stacks of crates and hides herself. Warzone smashes through a wall, "Come at me, Deceptipunks!", as he converts into his vehicle helicopter mode and fires his miniguns at the seekers. Megatron then yells, "Starscream, you idiot! You've trapped Autobots inside here with us!" Starscream scrambling for words speaks, "I had no idea they were in here Megatron! Honestly!" Megatron snarls, "No matter! We will have to accelerate my treatment! Defend me with your life Starscream!" Megatron takes cover behind the beacon and attaches his hands to it, looking like he is transferring energy from it to himself. The seekers and the Renegades fight it out, blasting each other from behind cover and exchanging blows. Starscream takes point, observing the seekers and the Renegades battling it out, he speaks to himself. "Hmpf, I'm not getting myself all worked up for Megatron. My seekers can easily take care of them for me!"
Bitstream begins to fly in the air, giving them the high ground. Sabre gets an idea to climb up the nearby walls and jumps onto him. "Gah! Get off me you stupid cat!" Bitstream tries wriggling Sabre off him before Sabre digs his claws into Bitstream's jets, before he crashes into the ground. Sabre exclaims with excitement, "Guys, I-i-i-i got one!" Bitstream gets up and holds Sabre down. "You didn't get anything you stupid Autobot!" Sabre tries to wriggle out of the seekers' grasp. "I'll give you something alright!" As Bitstream points a null-ray right in their face, Warzone smashes Bitstream's face with a hammer, sending them into a wall and putting them in stasis. Warzone sees Sabre on the ground, with a worried and an unhappy look, he then gives out an open hand. "Thank Primus we've gotten those schematics beforehand huh? You did a smart thing there, kid." Sabre smiles and takes Warzone's hand, as they lift them up off the ground. "Now what do you say we finish em off?" Warzone says, in which Sabre responds, "Let's take em all down!" And they both rush back to the fight. Stereo and Mayday cannot seem to land hits on Hotlink, who is avoiding all the blows to themselves by teleporting out of the way. "You can't hit me Autobots!" As he teleports, he punches Stereo and Mayday without giving them a chance to hit back. "How are we supposed to beat this guy?" Stereo says. Hotlink then appears and is about to hit another blow before Pinpoint jumps on behind him and cripples his wings disabling his null-rays. "Gaaah! You scrapheap!" Before Hotlink grabs Pinpoint and slams him into the ground and grabs his head. "I'm going to crush you into a trillion little pieces!" Pinpoint points upward, and Hotlink looks forward, to see both Stereo and Mayday perform a double uppercut sending Hotlink flipping backwards and entering stasis. Stereo shakes her hand and compliments Mayday, "Ya know, for a medic, you've got a pretty mean left hook." Mayday smiles and responds, "Well, you should know as much as I sweetheart. Girls always got to be prepared." Pinpoint exclaims, "Ahem, ladies, a hand please?" Stereo and Mayday grin as they help Pinpoint up.
Starscream realises he is by himself and aims his rays at the group. "I-i-i-i'm warning you all, stay back!" Warzone laughs, "This is the guy who ran away from us last time? Hah! And I thought Sabre was a scared-y cat! So much for a second in command!" Mayday also grins, "You're as wobbly as a worn-out bot, and you've got nowhere to hide now!" They corner Starscream before he screams out, "M-M-M-Megatron! H-h-help me!" Stereo aims her blaster at Starscream, "It's over Starscream. Come quietly and I'll try to make sure you're treated fairly." Pinpoint laughs and adds, "Key word being try." Suddenly, the beacon then turns off and the Renegades turn to look at it. Sabre then speaks first, "Uh, why did that turn off?" Starscream then laughs maniacally, "You stupid fools! You are all so undeniably screwed!" Megatron appears from behind the beacon, he is fully charged and his intimidating presence has changed the feeling of the room. The Renegades are scared, and Megatron knows it. Warzone not fazed shouts at him, "Heh! If I can take down a seeker, I can take this idiot down too!" He then lunges forward. "You're going down Megatr-" "I don't talk to traitors." Megatron responds and a blast from his fusion cannon sends Warzone flying through multiple walls. Sabre tries to run before Megatron grabs him. "Don't think you fools can escape from my wrath!" He throws Sabre into Mayday and knocks them both out. Pinpoint tries to throw every gadget he has at Megatron before being swatted away like a fly. Stereo converts and drives back outside the warehouse, she skids and turns around. Megatron and Starscream are inside the warehouse, with open sections all around it, Stereo then suddenly gets an idea. Megatron bursts through the main warehouse door and aims his fusion cannon at Stereo. "Die, autobot!" He yells before he charges a blast up. Stereo revs her engine and zooms away as Megatron blasts the ground. She begins to drive around the warehouse as fast as she can, avoiding Megatron as she zips past him. "Grah!" He yells. "Starscream, you cowardly fool! Grab this annoying pest whilst I still let you live!" Starscream scrambles to his feet as he converts. "Right away Megatron sir!" He then spins around the warehouse right after Stereo, she sees behind herself and notices she is being tailed. "Perfect." She thinks to herself. She begins to turn around the warehouse more and more, and she says to herself, "Okay… turn, clutch and handbrake." She slowly but surely begins to drift around the warehouse. "What is this Autobot buffoon doing?" Starscream yells to himself, "I'm tired of your games! I'm gonna destroy you here and now!" He then fires his engines to maximum speed. Stereo sees this and begins to act. She turns her wheels inward as fast as she can, as she drifts inward through a small garage door and into the warehouse. Starscream unable to change course, screams in a high-pitched tone, and crashes into the wall, converting into robot mode. Stereo grins to herself. "Haha! I did it! I drifted!" She then turns her attention to Megatron who is staring right at her. Stereo then collects her thoughts, "Okay, time to put Megatron out of commission for good!" Then then turns her wheels inward and skids a donut in the warehouse collecting speed, she then bursts right out of the crashed warehouse door, drive around the warehouse to the other side, and she blasts right at Megatron with the fastest speed she can achieve and smashes herself into Megatron, only for her to realise at the last second, that Megatron has caught the front of her vehicle mode with his hands. Stereo begins to panic and tries to reverse but it's no use. Megatron growls and lifts her up in the air, before slamming her into the ground. Stereo yelps in pain before she is flipped to the side, just on the edge of the energon barrier. She is upside down in her vehicle mode, seeing no other option, she uses the last of her energy to turn into robot mode, and trembles as she attempts to stand up. "Can you feel it Autobot?" Megatron begins to talk, as he slowly approaches the weakened Stereo. "Do you feel how utterly fruitless your efforts are?" Starscream appears behind Megatron, grinning. Stereo holds her fists in front of her. "Tsk, such blind hope has gotten you nowhere, and yet you are still full of it." Megatron speaks sinisterly as he grabs Stereo by the neck and hoists her up. She tries desperately to punch him but he is too far, and his grip is too strong. "What a perfect return for me Starscream, perhaps you are of some use to me." Megatron says to a beaming Starscream, then he turns his attention to Stereo. "Know this Autobot, when I obliterate you, I am going to destroy your friends as I pick them apart piece by piece and I am going to enjoy their screams of torment and pain, knowing you failed them. Let's start with your head." He aims his fusion cannon at Stereo's head and just as he is about to fire, the shield suddenly powers down. Megatron in shock, drops the weakened Stereo and looks up in confusion. "Starscream! What happened? Why is the shield down?! This is supposed to be impenetrable!" Lucina emerges from the warehouse with a human communications machine in her hand. "You know, it's quite handy how human technology can make electromagnetic pulses, huh? Of course, it helps when I spice it up with a little energon from your buddies back there." Megatron growls angrily, "Fine! I'll take your head instead!" He aims his cannon before being fired upon from the hillside. "Grah! What now?!" He booms as he sees Optimus Prime, the Hot Shots and M.A.S.K. vehicles armed with rocket launchers and miniguns, firing upon him. "Megatron! It's Optimus! And those annoying humans!" Starscream shouts. Megatron angrily yells, "This isn't over Autobots! I will destroy, every last one of you yet! Starscream, retreat!" Megatron and Starscream transform into their alt-modes, a large twin blade helicopter and a fighter jet, and they zoom away as fast as they can.
The M.A.S.K. forces keep firing in the air, as Lucina comes up to Stereo. "You okay Stereo?" She asks, Stereo responds, "Y-yeah, I'm good. Bwooh, boy that was really scary." Sabre and Mayday both holding up the injured Warzone walking out of the warehouse. Pinpoint speaks as he exits holding his aching back, "Yeah, you can say that again! Geez, he has had a really mean smack there." Warzone then speaks, "Hey uh, guys...look I want to say I'm sorry for being crappy earlier on. You guys are actually okay." Stereo then smiles and shakes Warzone's hand, "It's good to see that you came along eventually friend." Pinpoint, still sceptical, simply scoffs. Optimus and Rodimus then approaches the Renegades. Stereo speaks to him, "Awh man, are we glad to see you Rodimus, and you too Optimus. How did you know where to find us?" Optimus responds, "We received a signal over human waves. It was, ahem, very loud and very strange but it gave me enough of a reason to send a squadron after I discovered its origin. The Hot Shots were the closet unit I knew I could rely on." Rodimus smiles, "Yeah well, normally I'd say no but, I can't resist helping the underdogs out." Sabre smiles awkwardly, "Ahem, y-yeah, sorry about the ruckus." Optimus smiles and responds, "No need, we had suspicions about your expedition anyway due to a certain someone missing." Lucina glows red with embarrassment. Optimus continues to talk, "Nevertheless, thanks to your teamwork and bravery, we have solved the mystery of Megatron, and we now know that he is on Earth, and that he is ready." Pinpoint asks, "Ready for what Optimus?" Optimus looks at them, "War." The Renegades look amongst themselves in uneasiness. Optimus then looks around to see human forces and unknown Autobots take away Bitstream and Hotlink. "However, you as a team still managed to subdue two more Decepticons, and for that I applaud you. Megatron may be out there, but you have all proven yourselves. As far as I am concerned, you are all Autobots." The Renegades beam with happiness, cheer and all high-five each other. Optimus then speaks, "Head back to base, Ratchet will be there waiting for you." Stereo grabs Lucina and sticks her in her front seat as she converts. leading the group through the forest, "Come on guys! I'll race y'all there!" she shouts as she drives off, with the rest following her behind, "No fair! You cheated!" Warzone yells before flying after them, following them the base. Optimus then turns to Rodimus, "You know, there is always room for more Autobots at the Earth Spaceport." he speaks, before Rodimus responds, "You guys are cleaning up that old crib? Hah, must be tight if you're expanding back to out here." He then gives a more saddened expression. "You know why I left Optimus. I can't come back, it's not my fight anymore." Optimus speaks back, "It was never your fight Rodimus, and if we don't help now, then it might end up being your fight whether you like it or not." Rodimus stands his ground, "I told you no, and that's that. Sigh… I don't want to be a part of this war anymore. It's time you consider the same." Rodimus converts and leads the Hot Shots and they drive away from the area. Optimus sighs and turns his attention to the facility. He then proceeds to walk into the warehouse and investigates the beacon closer. He then receives a call over his comms and answers. "Optimus, how was the mission?" He responds, "Positive outcome. We have managed to capture both Bitstream and Hotlink.", the voice responds, "Okay, what about Megatron? Did you discover anything?" Optimus then sighs, "Yes, Megatron is on Earth. He has returned at full strength." The voice speaks, "This isn't going to look good at the meetings Optimus. Think about what the President or Major Rodriquez will think. Your renegades have not only failed to capture Megatron, but now he is free upon the world to do as he pleases." Optimus then speaks back, "I think we may have bigger problems then Megatron." The voice responds, "Oh yeah? What could possibly be worse than Megatron?" Optimus looks at the beacon. "This beacon is not Cybertronian." The voice talks, "No? Then what is it?" Optimus looks at is closer. "I'm scanning the beacon for sources. I've found an identifiable chip inside. It's engraved with a motherboard entitled….V.E.N.O.M.?" The voice talks back, "V.E.N.O.M.? You said V.E.N.O.M. right? As in Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem, right?" Optimus responds, "I'm afraid so Major Trakker." Trakker sighs and speaks, "Great, so our terrorist friends are back at it again. I'd figured they be lurking in the darkness waiting to return. Thank God we've discovered this now." Optimus then continues, "I'm afraid I've found something even more frightening." Trakker responds, "What is it?" Optimus inspects closer, "I've found imprints on this device belonging to a codename. 'Wolf'." Trakker speaks, "Wolf? You said...Wolf, right?" Optimus speaks, "I can confirm that." Trakker is silent, before speaking, "This... this changes...everything."
Back at the Earth Spaceport, Matt Trakker is on a phone on the war table. "If Mayhem is back and working with V.E.N.O.M, then that could be catastrophe for everyone…" he speaks into the phone, before Optimus responds, "Nevertheless, human or Cybertronian, I will do everything in my power to defend this world from threats of all kind." Trakker smiles and talks, "Great to hear Optimus. If Megatron and V.E.N.O.M want a war, then we're going to need all the help we can get." Optimus talks, "Do you have any plans?" "I do." He responds, before looking at the ground bridge, as he sees a few humans walking through it and into the base, one looking forward with a guitar and goggles. They look around to see the facility full of military vehicles, being equipped with Cybertronian weapons. The guitar player, staring at a broken piece of machinery points and yells, "Is that my god damn Condor?!" Trakker grins and speaks, "Let's just say, I'm getting the band back together."
END OF PART TWO