Welcome back everyone. I'm not going to lie this chapter fought me in places. It didn't help that there is a lot going on in it. Considering this chapter takes place in Japan, I did do some geographic research, but I don't think it's 100% accurate. Now, I do try to be as vague as possible in some parts of this story so as not to jeopardize my T-rating or give some of my younger readers nightmares. I also know that what we imagine is worse than what anyone can write so please be advised. Without further ado, enjoy.
(Bold words mean speaking in Japanese)
Miko Nakadai groaned as she regained consciousness. Her head felt like Bulkhead had stomped on it repeatedly and a low buzzing sound kept her from really focusing her mind. There must've been an after party after the meet and greets. Idly wondering what she'd drank Miko went to rub her eyes only to find out she couldn't move. A little more awake, she was able to comprehend that several people were speaking around her in Japanese.
"The subject is awake? Should we administer a sedative?"
"No, it will interfere with our results."
"Remember, first priority is whatever makes it teleport."
Realizing what she was hearing, a cold shiver ran through MIkos' spark. This had to be a nightmare, she had to still be asleep!
Wrenching her eyes open she realized she was strapped down in an operating theater. Around her were several people in medical scrubs moving about and preparing equipment and containers. Most ominously, however, was what looked like a combination of saws, forceps and spreaders on an arm. Beginning to hyperventilate, Miko began trying to teleport away only for the buzzing sound to get worse.
"You won't get away that easily." Came a horrifically familiar womans voice. Eyes widening in shock, Miko scanned the room and there, on a catwalk overlooking her, were two people she hoped to never see again. A man and a woman both were in lab coats and surgical scrubs with masks covering their mouths.
"Do you think she recognizes us?" The man asked. Anger taking over her fear, Miko glared at the two.
"You can ditch the face panties oyaji, I know it's you and mama!" She yelled in Japanese. Sharing a look, Tadashi and Imako Nakadai lowered their face masks before giving their daughter a disappointed look.
"Disrespectful now as you were when you left daughter." Tadashi scolded the restrained Maximal. "Then again, you always were a disappointment."
"Your emotional abuse doesn't work on me anymore." Miko growled at her father. June and Rung had helped her to see their 'parenting methods' for what they were.
"Being strict is not abuse."
"It is a shame it has come to this." Imako added. "Before your accident, we had finished inking a deal for you to marry Takasu Hirokazu. He was so upset that we had to back out of the deal."
"That chauvinist pig!?" Miko exclaimed. She remembered Hirokazu, and his belief that women were only good for childbearing and rearing.
"That lion boy you seemed close to could hardly be better." Tadashi spat back. "All American children are just entitled brats and I'm sure he's attempted to-." Miko cut him off.
"That pig you wanted me to marry grabbed my butt last time we met, and you told me not to make a scene." She yelled. "You have no right to judge Jack."
"Be that as it may daughter." Imako interrupted. "The loss of you as a bride put us in a rather precarious situation. However, whatever materials we pull from you should be enough to help us break into new areas of enterprise." With that, husband and wife pulled their masks back up.
"No." Miko whimpered, looking up at the surgical arm as it began to activate.
"You can begin doctor." Imako called. As the surgical arm moved towards her daughter, she looked at her.
"While you may have ultimately been a failure as a child, we knew we'd ultimately find a use for you."
Shutting her eyes, Miko tried to think of anything other than what was about to happen. Focusing on the one person in her life who brought her the most happiness, it was easy enough to pretend the whirr of the saw was the purr of her boyfriend. Even as she let out a scream with the first cut.
In Autobot city, Blaster was listening intently on the country of Japan. He hadn't slept since the debacle with Volcanicus (He couldn't believe it had been barely a day since then) and a scattering of empty energon cubes was scattered around the communications center showing that he hadn't left his post either. Despite Ultra Magnus' notion of waiting for a lead, Blaster knew enough about the Maximals' history to know to listen in on some of 'the usual suspects.'
"Come on songbird." He muttered, straining his ears. He knew the vocal signature of every single person he'd ever worked with. Using the communications relay in Fortress Maximus, he was now trying to listen for a single voice in a literal crowd of millions. "One sound is all I need."
His focus was interrupted by a call from Ultra Magnus.
"Blaster, we've cracked the bounty hunters' code." He called. "Leobolt and Kumara are being held on a starship, callsign 'The Crucible'. We are planning to swarm the ship while Lightbright continues to work on a lead for Wingsaber."
"On it Magnus." Blaster replied. "One outgoing call coming up. Try to play it off as a missing persons case to buy me time to set up the spacebridge." He suggested.
"Understood, Magnus out." With that the Autobot commander switched frequencies to the Crucible.
As Magnus made contact, Blaster set the coordinates. He was surprised to find that three of their missing persons were behind the Earths' moon. However, just as he was about to assemble a strike team to the spacebridge, Magnus called again.
"Belay previous order Blaster." He called. "Arcee, Leobolt, and Kumara have managed to seize control of the ship and will be joining us. We also have a concrete lead on Wingsaber."
"Resetting spacebridge for Japan." Blaster commented.
"I suppose it was rather obvious." Ultra Magnus muttered.
Suddenly, a long, agonizing scream reached his ear. A scream that carried on a specific vocal frequency.
"Magnus, I think I just found Miko!" Blaster called out. Using the telemetry of her scream and the brail keyboard in front of him he quickly calculated her location to within ten square kilometers. Another scream from the Maximal made him shiver. "I have the coordinates set and am heading down to the spacebridge. Vinnie and I can narrow the location further on scene."
"Understood, I'll send Arcee the coordinates." Magnus responded. "The remaining Maximals and the Wreckers are all on standby and so is the medical team. Optimus will join us there, and Lightbright, take over for Blaster."
"Nyahh, I'm on my way." Lightbright called as Blaster left the communications tower. Hopefully they weren't too late.
Onboard the Crucible, Jack was staring off into space as Arcee set the course back to Earth. Ever since hearing that Miko had been kidnapped by her parents, his nightmares began playing out in his mind's eye again. Only now, he saw himself holding a grievously injured Miko as she told him she loved him and took her final breath. Jack was now hoping against hope that his dream wasn't prophetic.
"Jack." His mother asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you going to be able to do this?"
"I'm not sitting this one out." Jack growled. June didn't know if it was a trick of the light or not, but Jacks eyes seemed to glow red for a second.
"I didn't say that." June replied firmly. "But Miko needs us to approach this calmly. If we rush in, it could backfire."
"I know." Jack said, taking a deep breath. "But I won't let Mikos' parents hurt her again." He let that sentence hang ominously in the air, and June couldn't refute it since she'd had similar thoughts herself.
"Crucible, come in, we have a more accurate location." Ultra Magnus called over the ships' communication system. "She is somewhere in a ten-kilometer area between Kawasaki and Yokohama. There are a lot of warehouses in that area so we're bridging in to search." There was a pause. "I'll get back to you later, I need to answer this and update Optimus. He will meet you there."
As Ultra Magnus cut out, Jack noticed Arcee working on a different console.
"Shouldn't you be steering?" Jack asked as he walked over to her.
"Autopilot." Arcee answered. "And I'm adjusting the long-range scanners to take a DNA scan as we pass over Japan. I don't think We'll have time to stop so I can scan something directly."
"Alright." Jack nodded. "Once you're finished with that, please adjust our course for where Magnus said."
"We will get Miko back Jack." Arcee replied, stopping her work to crouch down and comfort her partner. "Just keep thinking it."
Jack nodded before turning to stare back into space. He believed it, but it didn't help the sense of dread welling in his spark.
Ultra Magnus entered the staging area with a grim look on his face. While updating Arcee, he'd been interrupted by a communication from Rodimus. It hadn't been good news. Seeing him enter, the other Wreckers all stood up.
"Ready to roll out Magnus?"
"Yeah, let's hit it!"
"You name em, we maim em!"
"Let's Wreck and Rule."
Magnus sighed. He knew this wouldn't be taken well.
"We're going to have to wait before we can mobilize." He explained. "Someone in the Japanese defense department has issued orders against any Autobot presence in Japan. Any attempt by us to rescue Wingsaber would be considered an act of war." He didn't like it, but they couldn't chance starting World War three with the humans. Immediately there was an uproar.
"What!?"
"Frag 'em."
"We can't just leave her there!"
"Hold up Magnus." Came agent Fowlers' deep voice amongst the group. He and his son captain Mike Fowler had both bridged back to base after the orders were given. "The order was against an Autobot presence. We Maximals however."
"I don't like this either, but the Maximals, are a part of the Autobots." Magnus countered.
"Let's say some of us 'went rouge' and snuck through the spacebridge." Fowler argued. "It would then be the Autobots duty to come through and retrieve any Maximal found there."
"Including Miko." Bulkhead realized. "Fowler, you're a genius."
"As interesting as that is, I still cannot condone that plan."
"Then we have only one thing to say to you Magnus." Fowler glared at the Autobot before smiling. "Goodnight."
"Wha-." Magnus was cut off as he felt a stinging sensation at the base of his neck. His vision went blurry as he passed out, revealing that Vince was behind him. The bat Maximal had snuck up behind the Autobot commander and used his fangs to drain enough of his energon to make him pass out.
"So." Vince burped after retracting his fangs. "Excuse me. Are we going or what?"
"Going." Fowler confirmed before turning to the assembled Autobots. "It will have to be us Maximals first." He began nodding to Rhinox, Nightscream, Botanica Mach Hoof, Cheetor, Rattrap, Heinrad, and Depthcharge. "Blaster, have Lightbright investigate the official who issued that order. I have a hunch that."
"Something is rustin' in Kaon?" Blaster finished, using a Cybertronian saying. Fowler nodded before turning to Bulkhead.
"We'll get her back safely soldier."
"Give them one for me if I don't make it in time." Bulkhead replied. "Blaster, start the spacebridge."
"Maximals, beast mode." Survive called, mentally switching to his codename. In synch, the other Maximals transformed to beast mode save Depthcharge who was using his flight modes' hover ability to carry the slow-moving Botanica.
"Now, move out."
As the Maximals disappeared through the spacebridge portal to Japan, Survive looked at the Wreckers again.
"Make sure Magnus has some energon when he wakes up and give him my apologies." With that, he stepped through the portal after the other Maximals, leaving the Autobots alone with their unconscious commander.
"Anybody have a pen?" Whirl asked, eyeing Magnus' face.
"NO!"
Tsutako Makoto was nervous. His security firm had been hired to provide protection to a group of warehouses near Kawasaki. He knew his bosses dealt with the Yakuza in the past, but why would a smart tech company want so many mercenaries? It wasn't helping that he swore he was seeing Yokai out of the corner of his eye and in the shadows.
It began when he caught a glimpse of what looked like a Tanuki and a Tesso zipping between two warehouses. When he went to get a closer look, the two of them vanished. He'd been on edge since that initial scare. Moreso when he saw what looked like an Uma-Shika a Jubokko pass through a flickering light. Makoto shook his head as he walked an alley between two warehouses. Maybe it was time he took a vacation.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a light thump behind him. Turning around, Makoto felt his heart stop. Standing before him was a large black cat with a long tail and yellow spots.
"Bakeneko!" He screamed as he drew his rifle and aimed at the Yokai while backing away. Before he could get a shot off, Makoto saw a large shadow looming over him. Turning around, he had the shock of a massive, clawed paw knocking his gun away. Looking up, he saw a large bearlike shape.
"Onikuma." Makoto whimpered before passing out from shock.
"Dang it, that's the second one." Cheetor grumbled as he stepped over the unconscious mercenary. While Nightscream was trying to narrow down their target to one warehouse out of a hundred with his hearing, Survive and Cheetor were attempting to capture one of the guards that were combing the area for questioning. Unfortunately, the said guards weren't made of strong stuff. Both one's father and son had cornered fainted after being confronted by what was to them, a mythical creature.
"Yeah." Survive replied. While being in beast mode may have made it easier for the team to hide and give them some plausible deniability regarding being identified. Their beast modes seemed to be scaring the people they wanted to interrogate. "Nightscream, any news?"
"I just heard her cry out again." The bat Maximal replied. "We need to head northeast." Before anyone could move, an alarm began shrieking.
"What the hell!"
"Survive, we were spotted." Depthcharge called. "All the humans are headed for warehouse 96."
"Then that's where we go." Cheetor yelled switching out of his 'Night Slash' mode back to his standard yellow and black. "Converge on warehouse 96 everyone!" As he and Survive transformed, they noticed Rhinox barreling past them towards the hanger. "Heads up, our door opener is enroute."
The sound of gunfire grew louder as Rhinox Survive and Cheetor arrived near warehouse 91. The mercenaries that'd been hired had regrouped and were throwing down cover fire to keep the Maximals at bay. The group was taking shelter near a couple of neighboring warehouses to avoid the bullets.
"We need backup!" Mach Hoof yelled over the alarms and gunfire.
"Don't they have law enforcement here?" Depthcharge yelled.
"If the Nakadai parents are rich enough to afford this many mercenaries, they probably paid off the fuzz too." Rattrap replied. He looked at Heinrad. "Yo, Rad, remember that trick you pulled when we were twelve?"
"I remember, I just don't think I can get all of their weapons in one shot." Heinrad called, ducking as a shot took out a chunk of concrete.
"Count to three." Cheetor began. "I'll get the half on the right; you get the half on the left." He was fast enough for that much. At Heinrads' nod they both called out.
"Heinrad, Maximize!"
"Cheetor, Maximize!"
As Cheetor blurred past the others, he drew one of his swords. In the blink of an eye, he sliced each gun on his side in half. A couple of times he took fingers off doing it, but he couldn't be bothered to care at this point. If they were willing to help in the kidnap and torture of a child, he'd show no mercy. He dodged right to avoid the wave of temporal energy Heinrad sent at the other half of the mercenary group. He watched as their guns aged to rust in a matter of seconds.
Seeing as their opposition was now unarmed, the other Maximals joined in.
"Botanica, Maximize!"
"Mach Hoof, Maximize!"
In a matter of seconds, the opposition were either trapped in vines or twitching on the ground from a Nucleon taser shock. Seeing an opening, Rhinox charged at the warehouse door in beast mode. The metal groaned before being torn asunder like tin foil. Transforming, Rhinox ignored the people running in all directions and looked for Miko.
Finding the operating table, Raf paled and held a hand to his mouth to keep from puking as the Fowlers' followed him in. The fact that they'd both been to war kept them from imitating Raf.
"Ratchet! We need the med team!"
Some distance away, Tankor watched as the Maximals made their way across the warehouses. A black sports car was already driving away from the building, but it didn't matter. He'd already directed his Predacons and the Deathsaur into position. By listening in on the various Autobot frequencies after he left, he knew the exact circumstances surrounding this battle, and planned accordingly. Most people mistakenly thought Tankor was a dumb brute, but that was far from the truth and if this went by the numbers, his plan would work.
Outside warehouse 96, the remaining Maximals watched as Ratchet, First Aid, and Velocity bridged into the hangar. Agent Fowler and Mike had told them not to enter and only allowed Raf to stay so that he could help 'put her back together' as they were told. Ratchet said something about getting Miko stabilized before taking her back to Autobot city and a 'CR Chamber'. None of them knew what that was, but they didn't have long to dwell on it.
From the far end of the area several unmarked black SUVs emerged with more mercenaries exiting to train advanced looking weapons on the Maximals. Before either side could open fire, however, two things happened at once. First, another spacebridge portal opened allowing Scourge, Drancron and Razorbeast to step through and face the mercenaries. Second, the Crucible descended from the sky.
Undaunted, the mercenaries trained their weapons on the Predacons as the ships' boarding ramp opened and Jack and June jumped down.
"Scourge!" Jack called. "What's going on? Where are the bots?!"
"The situation is problematic." The Predacon leader replied. "We have the healers here tending your mate, but." He was cut off by Ratchets' voice in the warehouse.
"Is that nurse Darby?" He asked before yelling. "June, if you're here, we need you!"
"We shall protect you, GO!"
As June and Jack began to make their way toward the warehouse, the mercenaries opened fire. Giving a roar, the Predacon trio transformed and combined into Tripredacus. Givingh a mighty roar, the Predacon combiner unleashed a volley of fire forcing the mercenaries back while Arcee in the Crucible shot up the road behind them preventing their escape or further reinforcements from arriving.
"You shall not PASS!" Tripredacus yelled as several operatives opened fire upon him.
Making their way over to warehouse 96, Jack and June were met by both agent and captain Fowler.
"June, head on in, you're needed in surgery." Agent Fowler put a hand on her shoulder, Fowler guided June to the assembled med team.
"Heinrad, we'll need you too." June added. The others had told her about the trick her grandson had used to accelerate Optimus' surgery. It may come in handy again.
Gulping, the time traveling Maximal nodded. He just hoped his mother would be okay.
"Not you commander." Mike said, stopping Jack from following them.
"But Miko."
"Trust me, you don't want to see her like this." Mike explained.
Jacks' eyes scanned what he could see of the warehouse. Not far from the med team were several containers that looked like they'd been emptied recently. With a horrible lurch in his stomach, he realized that he could recognize Mikos' scent coming from each one of them. He remembered Miko had once told him she had a nightmare about her parents cutting her up to sell for parts. Now she was living it. With a loud moan of despair, Jack reverted into his beast mode, burying his face in his paws as the other Maximals tried to comfort him.
"She'll be okay Jack; the doc bot is looking after her."
"Mikos' tough, she can pull through."
"We will have her back in Autobot City in no time."
Jack, however, wasn't paying attention anymore. He just kept running the scenario over and over in his mind. All he could think of was Miko being cut open and alone. Trying to be strong only to begin crying out for help that wouldn't come.
Then he smelled it. A scent that was familiar and not at the same time. The familiar part smelled like Miko, but he couldn't quite place the other part at first. Then it hit him. Miko's nightmare coming true may have been more accurate than he thought. Breathing in deeply, he realized that the scent belonged to two people who were like Miko, but also hurt her. The scent was fresh too, less than fifteen minutes old.
Jack gave a low, threatening growl that made the other Maximals back up a step. Taking another couple of sniffs of the air, he figured out that they left in a car towards the nearby highway. His eyes began to glow red as he spoke to the others.
"Help Tripredacus and keep anyone else from following." Jack growled. "I'm going after them." With that, he bounded off towards the highway as fast as his four legs could take him.
"What's gotten into him?"
Several miles away, Tadashi and Imako Nakadai were speeding down the highway in a high-performance sports car. The husband-and-wife duo took off the second they heard the alarms at the warehouse. Both were seriously annoyed at the Autobot interference. What was the point of bribing government officials if they didn't do as they were told.
"It is no matter." Tadashi said, glancing at his wife. "We shall find another way to grow our company."
"True." Imako replied. "However, a tactical retreat would be best for the time being. I hear China is nice, from an extradition standpoint."
"Hai, we just need to get to the next leg of our escape route first." Tadashi finished. They'd planned an escape route before they had their daughter captured. Better to have and not need it than need and not have it. They would take a private train from Kawasaki to Osaka and from there fly out to China with false passports. Thankfully at this time of night, the roads were nearly deserted.
A loud roar sent a shiver down both of their spines. Looking in the side mirror, Tadashi noticed a red and blue lion with blazing red eyes and what looked like rocket engines in its' mane was running after their car. More concerningly, it was catching up with them. Looking in her own mirror (and ignoring the warning about objects in the mirror that was mocking her) Imako saw it too and turned to her husband.
"Then I suggest we go faster."
Behind the black car, Jack was sprinting as fast as he could. He'd been pleased to learn that he still had his thrustors in his new body as they were allowing him to catch up. Had he been a real lion, he knew he would not be able to go this fast. Either way, he didn't care. The ones who hurt Miko were right in front of him, and he would make sure they paid.
His attention was caught by the sound of another loud engine on the highway. Looking to his left, he saw a cobalt blue and pink Transmetal wolf following him on a pair of hubless wheels made of what looked like pink light. Its tail was silver and looked like a blade and there were two exhaust pipes protruding from the haunches. A pink visor with a green lens was fit across her blue wolf head.
"Hey partner!" Arcee called. "Need a hand?"
"Fine." Jack growled, surprising Arcee. "Just don't let them get away." With that, he seemed to speed up.
"Arcee to Optimus." Arcee began. "What's your ETA, Jack and I are following Mikos' parents, but I don't think capture is what Jack has in mind." She hated to do it, but Jack was too close to the situation for his own good.
"I will be there in moments" Optimus replied. "Hopefully I can prevent Leobolt from doing anything he will later regret."
Arcee was about to ask Optimus to clarify before a truck horn tore through the night. Looking to her right, she saw a familiar blue and silver big rig enter the highway followed by a green SUV, a white and red sports car. Behind Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead and Wheeljack were Drift, Blaster, Perceptor, Springer, Kup, and Whirl.
The Wreckers had entered the fray.
From his new vantage point, Tankor saw the Wreckers arrive on the highway. Giving a satisfied nod, he gave the signal to his Predacons. The Wreckers would be a good test of their strength, and when the test was over, he'd use Deathsaur to finish them off. He'd judged the Wreckers right in any case. No matter the universe, you hurt one Wrecker, and they all want payback. It made them predictable and pitifully easy to pick off.
"I thought You guys were barred from coming here?" Arcee asked. She'd heard about the hold orders after she used the Crucibles' computer to scan her new wolf mode.
"The situation is...evolving." Ultra Magnus replied cryptically. "However, Leobolt, you and I need to discuss your soldier's demeanor after this."
"I think we have bigger problems." Blaster called. "We have inbound."
Looking down the road, the collective Autobots were shocked to see a blackish blue shark fin cutting through the highway asphalt towards them. As it dodged around both Leobolt and the Nakadais' escape car, they heard someone singing.
"Who's the badest shark around? Who's the meanest shark in town?"
Suddenly a large dark blue and silver great white shark with glowing red optics and bits of hide missing erupted from the highway. Once airborne, the shark began to transform. The sharks' chest and jaw split and extended into a pair of legs while the rest of his shark body curled around to form shoulder armor as the dorsal fin became the top of a grinning robot head and his tail splitting into a four bladed hook.
"Sky-byte, that's me!" He sang as he landed in front of the group.
Slamming on the breaks, the Wreckers and Arcee quickly transformed. Her pink hard light wheels blinked out of existence as the rigs for both as well as her exhaust pipes folded back into her body and her wolf legs extended. From there, she did a handstand as her wolf back unfolded, allowing her new technorganic body to unfurl with her wolf head rising to become part of her new chest like Leobolts' lion head did. Arcee watched as both the cars' taillights and the fire from Leobolts' thrustors faded into the night. She hoped Optimus was closer than she thought he was.
"Another new age Predacon." Drift explained as he drew his sword. He had given a brief explanation after returning from the fight with Lockdown.
"You guys take him." Bulkhead spoke as he and Wheeljack prepared to transform again. They weren't about to let the ones who hurt Miko get away any more than Jack was. "It's only one." He was almost immediately disproved as a mech as large as him leapt onto the highway and a shoulder tackled Bulkhead to the ground.
"Nooot quite." The mech said. His voice made most of them think of a cow mooing. He was as tall as Bulkhead, but where most of his size was evenly distributed, the Predacons' body seemed to have more upper than lower to it.
"Designation, Tor-loooco." The newly dubbed Tor-loco called out as he transformed into a demented looking rodeo bull. Most of the bull hide was localized to his shoulders and upper back with the rest of the body being mechanical in appearance. His horns were decidedly mismatched, one looked like a scythe blade whereas the other looked like a bent drill. As Tor-loco charged towards the downed Bulkhead, Wheeljack leapt onto his back, causing the bull Predacon to try and buck him off.
"Yee Haw, ride em cowbot." Wheeljack called.
"It's an ambush!" Magnus called. A loud cackling answered him.
"No pit Sherlock!" Came a voice from behind Magnus before he was knocked over. Looking up, Magnus saw a brown and purple Hyena with a spinning saw in the back of its' neck and a long lethal looking tail. "Oh, why so serious?" He laughed before transforming into a bot mode. Magnus noted that his tail became a battle axe that the Predacon now held in his right hand (which was also his hyena head).
"Ole' Jawbreaker can put a smile on your face."
"I'm on him Magsy!" Whirl called as he transformed, taking aim at Jawbreaker.
"Nope, I'm on you." Came a new voice.
Whirl was caught off guard as a black screech owl Predacon divebombed his rotor blades, knocking him out of the sky. Transforming back as he landed, Whirl looked at the newcomer. The owl snorted before transforming himself, his bird head folding down and wings becoming like a cape.
"Call me Shriek." The Predacon introduced himself.
"Hello." Whirl then gave out a shriek himself as a way of saying his opponent's name. Shriek the Predacon laughed.
"Oh, you and I are going to get along splendidly. Pity you must die." Lauging, he deployed a pair of feathers into swords before charging Whirl.
Not too far away, Kup and Springer were being tormented by Ravage and Snowkat.
"Come out into the light so I can hit ya." Kup yelled as he fired his laser musket at Ravage. The Predacon however, kept fading in and out of sight. It was annoying enough for Kup to want a Cy-gar.
"Has that worked on anyone, ever?" Ravage asked. It was just enough for kup to wing him in the shoulder with his musket.
"It's enough to trick you into giving me your location." Kup smirked. The only one who never fell for that gimmick was Onslaught. The kid was his best student and it made him sad when he joined the cons. He was brought out of his brief reminisce by Springers' half frozen body bowling him over.
"Goal!" Snowkat yelled. He'd used his ice powers to freeze up the triple changing Wrecker mid-transformation before slapping him around like a hockey puck.
"You couldn't've done that sooner?" Ravage asked as his shoulder healed.
"Oh, bite me."
Opposite them, Drift had locked blade with hook against Sky-byte.
"You seem like an honorable warrior." Sky-byte began. "Allow me to grant you the honor of a noble death."
"You think highly of yourself." Drift rebutted. Why did this guys' voice sound familiar? "Especially if you think you can take me in a fair fight." He was caught off guard by a blast to the side from a small pistol in the Predacons' right hand.
"Who said I was honorable?" Sky-byte laughed, holstering his gun. "The only thing I am is done being the hapless victim." Suddenly, the hapless victims' voice suddenly connected to a name.
"St3v3? Is that you?" Drift asked. He'd worked with the hapless Vehicon a few times during the early days of the war. His confirmation came as the Predacons' optics went wide before he charged Drift with his hook. The last thing he wanted was to be remembered by that name.
While Sky-byte (aka St3v3) were locking weapons. Blaster and Perceptor were having troubles with a particularly foul Predacon. Foul, being the word.
"Man, I can't focus on anything with that smell overloading my olfactory." Blaster complained. He wanted to know just what the pit the cons were thinking of by making a Predacon skunk.
"I concur. This odious gas is making it impossible for me to shoot." While Blaster was unable to see it, the Predacon had created a noxious yellow cloud around them that made him difficult to fight. "To use a human phrase, this guy is a stinker."
"Stinkbomb, actually." The Predacon corrected. Quietly as possible, Stinkbomb transformed into his bot mode. Maybe it was saying something that his tail became something akin to hair in this form. Deploying a pellet gun from his wrist, he took aim at the two. "Stinker, is what you two a, what are you doing?!"
"Running a little experiment." Perceptor answered. He had activated a lighter that he used to ignite Bunsen burners in the lab. "To see if your little mixture is." He was cut off as the fog around them ignited. While the fire itself wasn't harmful to them, Perceptor was pleased to see that could not be said for the semi furred Predacon.
"Did you just stop him by lighting a." Blaster started to ask before Perceptor cut him off.
"Yes, and please do not bring this up again." Perceptor replied. He knew where Stinkbombs' gas came from and knew the jokes about essentially lighting a fart would be endless if it got out.
"Cute." Stinkbomb growled as his burns healed. "But not enough to." He was cut off as a transformed Arcee spun through the air and slashed his back using her tail blade as a sword.
"Thanks, Arcee." Blaster greeted as Perceptor took in the femme's new form.
"I really need to examine you when we get back." He spoke as Arcee transformed again.
"Later." Arcee confirmed. Seeing the new Predacons were well in hand she was about to take off after Jack again when the road began to shake. Combatants on both sides stopped fighting as a large blue and silver saurian monster with wings and a beak erupted from the highway.
Tankor let out a satisfied growl as Deathsaur emerged amongst the battered Autobots and Predacons. He knew the Predacons would regenerate and join the battle. However, he was more interested in Tarantulas' newest super soldier. Converting that deserter into their newest weapon had been one of Galvatrons' better ideas. Not that it was a high bar thus far. Seeing Deathsaur crackle with electricity, Tankor was pleased to see the upgraded nucleon system was working. Time to enjoy the show.
Back in Autobot City, someone else was watching the fight as well. Lightbright looked at Deathsaur with a shocked expression. It was larger now, lacking the tusks and a different color scheme, but she recognized the beast form on the screen. She'd only seen it a few times, but the bot it'd belonged to was unmistakable.
"Sparky?!"
"What the scrap!" Arcee yelled as Deathsaur crackled with electricity. The colossal beastformer gave a chittering roar before swinging his tail at her. Transforming into her wolf mode, she sprung back to avoid the blow. She then had to dodge left to avoid being hit by Stinkbomb, who'd just finished regenerating.
"Arcee to Autobots, we need back up."
"Maximals are on the way." Survive called as another spacebridge opened allowing him, Cheetor, Nightscream, Botanica, Mach Hoof, Depthcharge and Rattrap to enter the fray and give the Maximals some much needed assistance.
"Our dragon friends are keeping an eye on things at the warehouse." Survive explained as he deployed his sniper rifle and began shooting into Deathsaur.
Ultra Magnus nodded.
"Alright Wreckers, let's wreck and rule!"
Several miles away from the fight. Imako and Tadashi exited their getaway car near the Kawasaki train stations' railyard. While those other robots managed to prevent the other Autobots from following them, the boy Miko had fallen for had dogged them the entire way. They knew they'd only have moments to get from the car to the bullet train they'd reserved to take them to Osaka. Fortunately, they'd alerted a driver to prepare for immediate departure when they left the warehouse.
Suddenly, a low growl cut across the air. Tadashi looked to the left and saw a red pair of eyes glowing through the darkness. Hearing the crunch of the gravel under the lions' paws, they watched the big blue and red cat step into the moonlight from between two train cars. Standing in front of his wife, Tadashi watched as the lion bared its' gleaming teeth and crouched down. Slowly backing towards the open train door, the lion leapt forward.
Only to be tackled back to the ground by a silvery white lion with a golden mane.
Seizing their chance, the Nakadais scrambled across the yard and into the train as the two rolled around on the ground biting and clawing one another.
"Quick, while they are busy fighting each other. Get us out of here, now!" Tadashi yelled at the driver. The driver gave a nod before the train started down the rail out of the yard.
As the train took off, the two lions began clawing at each other while standing on their hind legs. After batting at each other's heads for a minute with their clawed paws, Optimus finally managed to pin Jack down. Both were breathing heavily.
"They're getting away!" Jack yelled. He couldn't believe Optimus would stop him like this.
"Miko wouldn't want you to become a killer Jack." Optimus argued as he watched Jacks' eyes fade from red back to blue. He got off Jack so that the two of them could transform. Wincing a bit from the injuries Jack inflicted on him, Optimus turned to the Maximal commander.
"And they aren't getting as far as they think." He added. "Come on." The two then transformed and took off at a run towards their next destination.
Back where he was positioned, Tankor was observing the fight between the Autobots and Maximals against the Predacons and Deathsaur. While the collective forces had the edge over the Wreckers alone, the Maximals managed to bring the conflict to a stalemate. Had the experiments allotted the use of Vehicon drones, he felt that the battle would be won already. He'd have to make a note of it to Galvatron.
Giving the signal to Tarantulas to send a spacebridge, Tankor fired several shots onto the battlefield to scatter the combatants. As the spacebridge swirled into existence, the Predacons ran towards it with Deathsaur being recalled remotely by Tarantulas. Frankly, the Vehicon general didn't want to think about what the spider had done to that Decepticons' brain. As he was about to call for a bridge for himself, Tankor was knocked sideways by a large hulking combiner with wings.
"You go nowhere." Tripredacus growled. Once he'd forced the mercenaries to retreat, the combiner had taken off in search of the Maximal leader. What he'd found however, was the battle between the Autobots and Maximals as well as a new breed of Predacon pretenders. However, he saw that the Vehicon general seemed to be coordinating the attack and so, like an ambush predator, he waited for the right moment to strike.
Growling in anger, Tankor transformed into his tank mode and fired off several shots at Tripredacus. The combiner managed to dodge the first few before using his axe like a bat to knock the last shot back at the general. Transforming, Tankor charged forward, firing at Tripredacus as he advanced.
Rolling under the blasts, Tripredacus swung his axe and managed to slice part way through Tankor and send him sprawling. The Predacon combiner received a shock however when the damage seemingly healed itself. What was with these new opponents and regeneration? Then again, there was one thing that could stop him, regeneration or not.
Giving a short burst of fire from his chest, Tripredacus watched as Tankor fell backwards to avoid the flame. As his opponent went to get back up, Tripredacus made his move. Swinging his fist downward, he watched as it connected with Tankors' head, knocking him out. Giving a roar of victory, Tripredacus split back into Scourge, Drancron and Razorbeast.
"Scourge to Autobot City." The true Predacon leader called over his coms. "We need a pickup for a prisoner, immediately." Hopefully, they could get their prisoner back and restrained before he awoke.
Not too far away, the Nakadais' train pulled into Tsurumi station. This surprised the couple as they had left the Kawasaki train station not even five minutes ago.
"What is happening?" Imako asked her husband. Out the window she saw another bullet train pull up next to theirs. "Are we changing trains?"
"No." Tadashi answered his wife. "This was supposed to be a nonstop train to Osaka." Looking out the back of the train, he saw a third one pull up behind them. Running towards the front of the train, he whipped open the door and looked at the driver.
"What are you doing? We need to keep going." Tadashi scolded. He then received the shock of his life when the trains' driver flickered before vanishing and the trains' computer screen turned to black with an Autobot insignia.
"All passengers, please disembark and stay behind the white line." The Autobot spoke over its' loudspeaker while opening the doors. Panicked, the couple ran out the nearest door and backed away as the bullet train they'd been riding in transformed and stood up to its' full and considerable height. The shock was only magnified as the two other bullet trains that appeared began to transform as well. Soon three towering Autobots had blasters trained on the Nakadais.
"Greetings, I am Railspike." The Autobot they'd been riding in began. "These are Rapid Run and Midnight Express." He indicated the other two. "And on behalf of the National Police Agency of Japan, you are under arrest."
"On what charges?" Tadashi argued. If they were to talk their way out of this situation, they had to know the charges.
"Kidnapping for a start." Optimus said as he and Jack arrived on scene and transformed. Taking care to keep himself between Jack and Mikos' parents, Optimus continued. "In addition, you are charged with assault, unlawful operation of an illegal medical facility, bribing of government officials and doing harm to a dignitary to name a few." He looked over at the trio from Gigantion. "Thank you three for keeping them here until the police arrive."
"Those charges will never stick." Imako countered. "Our team of lawyers will have us out before sunrise."
"And then, we shall hire more mercenaries to hunt each of you down." Tadashi threatened.
Jack made a move to attack them before Optimus stopped him. Turning back to the couple, he fixed them with a cold look.
"Not unless prison labor pays more than I think it does on this world." Optimus began before activating his comms. "Lightbright, did you do as I requested?" There was a moment of silence before she responded.
"Yes, I did Optimus." Lightbright replied over the comms. It took her a few minutes to translate what she wanted to say into Japanese. "You see, from the officials you bribed, I was able to back trace and follow several ghost traces back into your personal accounts." She explained. "In addition to freezing your corporate accounts, I've taken all the money you've squirreled away and donated it to various charities around Japan and around the world as well as given all your employees a hefty bonus."
Both Husband and wife felt the bottom of their stomachs drop out. Even if they could get out of those charges, they'd be bankrupt.
"You mean?"
"Your cupboards are bare now." Optimus supplied. At the sound of police sirens fast approaching, he gave them another look. "And you will not harm anyone where you're going." As the National Police officers arrested and led the two away Tadashi threw out a parting shot at Jack.
"I hope you enjoy having a disappointing life with that brat, you American pig." He spat.
"You know." Jack replied in Japanese with a look of disgust at the man. "If you're going to insult someone in another language, you'd better make sure they don't know it." He couldn't spend all that time sharing a head with Miko and Raf as Magnaboss without picking up a few things.
"He is right you know." The officer added to the red faced Nakadai patriarch as he led him away.
As the officers led the Nakadais away, Optimus got a call over the comms.
"Optimus, do you read me?" Ratchet called. The medic sounded tired.
"I read you, old friend." Optimus replied. "What's the status on your patient?"
"She is alive, but sedated." Ratchet replied, causing Jack to look at Optimus with bright eyes. "We were able to undo everything those monsters did to her, but we need to get her back to Autobot City and the CR chamber to finish healing her."
"Understood, get her back and then send a portal for the others." Optimus replied. "We'll meet them there."
"About that." Scourge interrupted over the comms. "While the new Predacon pretenders got away, I was able to capture one of the new Vehicon generals." He explained. "We managed to isolate him but are waiting to interrogate."
"I see." Optimus answered. This was a new development. "Autobots and Maximals, roll for home."
In Unicrons' void dimension, things were not going well for Galvatron.
"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" The chaos bringer bellowed as Galvatron writhed in pain. Tarantulas, Jetstorm and thrust watched with glee. "NOT ONLY HAVE YOU MADE NO PROGRESS TO KILL OPTIMUS PRIME, BUT NOW ONE OF MY GENERALS HAS BEEN CAPTURED!"
"Please, master." Galvatron screamed in agony. "Allow me to rescue Tankor."
"NO." Unicron replied. "I SHALL HAVE JETSTORM AND THRUST RETRIVE TANKOR." There was a brief pause as Galvatron was left panting once the pain stopped. "YOU SHALL BEGIN WORK ON THE PLANS FOR MY RETURN. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE I WILL KEEP A CLOSER EYE ON YOU AND YOUR OPERATIONS."
"I have an idea for that." Tarantulas added. "I just need the Combaticons to help me retrieve it."
"VERY WELL." Unicron began. "AND THE OTHER PROJECT?"
"I've nearly finished the design for the dark energon seeders." Tarantulas supplied. "Once I'm done with them, we can build enough to awaken you fully."
"SO, BE IT." Unicron replied as the Predacon and two Vehicons faded back to reality, leaving Galvatron alone with Unicron. A situation that unnerved Galvatron greatly.
"Master, if I may." Galvatron began, the idea of a plan to placate Unicron coming to mind. "Even with you aiding us directly and Trypticon repaired, we may still need additional resources to eliminate Optimus Prime and his Autobots."
"YOU ASK FOR MORE WHEN YOU HAVE GIVEN SO LITTLE?" Unicron replied.
"I have an idea that may allow us to overwhelm the Autobots and Optimus Prime no matter what they throw at us." Galvatron explained. There was a moment of silence as Unicron contemplated Galvatron, he nodded.
"PROCEDE."
Back in Autobot City, Optimus was walking down a hallway towards the med bay. He'd just finished trying to interrogate the Vehicon general they'd captured only to be met with stony silence. Whatever this spawn of Unicron was, he would not reveal his secrets so easily.
Coming up on the med bay, he found it to be mostly empty save for Jack, June, Bulkhead and Wheeljack. The two Wreckers were sleeping in their vehicle modes while Jack, in his beast mode, was curled up in front of the new CR chamber that, for the moment, housed Miko. Most everyone else had retreated to their hab suites to rest after a stressful 48 hours. As he was about to leave them to rest, Optimus heard a voice that sounded like many.
"Optimus Prime." Came Vector Sigmas' voice. Looking back Optimus saw that Jacks' eyes were glowing white and looking right at him.
"The time of the cataclysm draws nearer." The computer began. "It will soon be time for the reborn to remember who they are."
Optimus, the thirteenth of the original Primes nodded. "I know who they are and where each of them is, and I will be there when the time comes Vector Sigma."
"I shall call you all to where you are needed when the time is right." Vector Sigma replied. "Till all are one, Optimus Prime." The computer then lowered Jacks' head back down before leaving his body.
"Till all are one." Optimus whispered.
On the other side of Fortress Maximus, Ultra Magnus, Brainstorm and G.B. Blackrock were heading back to where Project: Cerebros was stored. All three were exhausted, but with most of the other Autobots asleep, it was the perfect time to do some more work on restoring Fortress Maximus.
"Alright, I think I can make it so that we could move more than one limb at a time now." Brainstorm began as they walked.
"Not much." Blackrock replied. "But it is a step in the right direction."
"We'll get there." Ultra Magnus interrupted. He opened the door to the work area and stepped into total darkness. "Brainstorm, did you turn the lights off when you left? He asked. He knew the lights were on when he left before conducting the search the day before.
"We had to do something for dramatic effect." Came a feminine voice through the darkness.
"Nautica?" Brainstorm asked. The lights came on revealing the femme in question as well as Velocity and Lightbright. Immediately, Magnus went into damage control mode.
"Ladies, this isn't what it looks like."
"What it looks like." Velocity began. "Is you three disregarding Optimus' orders about trying to restore this titan."
"From a tactical standpoint, it's practical." Magnus began only for Lightbright to cut him off.
"We agree with you, hence why we want to help you."
"What?"
"We agree, short of the Primes, what better protector could we ask to assist us than a titan." Nautica added. "And between my engineering skill, Lightbrights' programming, and Velocities medical knowledge on both humans and Cybertronians."
"We could have Fortress Maximus battle ready in weeks as opposed to months." Blackrock finished.
"Precisely."
"One question." Brainstorm asked the three. "What do you get out of this?"
"I get to work with you." Nautica grinned at Brainstorm, making him look away embarrassedly."
"I can help restore one of the titans, reward enough." Velocity stated simply.
"And you Lightbright." Magnus asked the diminutive Caimen.
"I recently learned what happened to Sparkstalker." Lightbright began. "The Decepticons turned him into that thing you and the Wreckers fought in Japan." She explained, surprising Ultra Magnus.
"And you need." He asked again.
"I believe that the cons used dark energon to turn him into that monster." Lightbright began again. "I also know that Leobolt, Wingsaber and Rhinox can purify it together. However, I can't guarantee that they'll ever be in the same place as sparky, and I know you had access to classified medical data on them so I'm hedging my bets." She looked at them.
"Please tell me everything you know about purifying dark energon." Lightbright begged. "Help me save my Sparky."
Inside the CR chamber, Miko jolted back into consciousness. Looking around she barely noticed that she was in what looked like some kind of closet before her memories began rushing back to her.
The lab
Her parents
The surgical saws
"No, no." She whispered as she started banging her hands around. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Miko screamed before teleporting outside of the CR chamber and into the med bay before drawing her katanas. The sound of transformations caught her attention, but in her panic, she didn't recognize them for what they were.
"Miko."
"Woah it's us!"
"Give her some room." June called to Bulkhead and Wheeljack. Considering what her honorary daughter had just been through, it was no wonder she had a panic attack.
A loud rumbling reverberated across the lab which made Miko wince a little. When the expected pain didn't come, she realized that it wasn't the whirring of saws she was hearing, but the purring of her boyfriend. Realizing it was a familiar sound, she began to calm down. Turning around she saw Jack sitting in front of the thing she'd teleported out of.
"Jack?" She asked, her voice wavering. Seeing him give a nod, Miko dropped her swords and held her arms open for him while he transformed. As she embraced him, she finally broke down crying.
"It's okay Miko." June whispered as she knelt next to them before wrapping them both in a hug. "We have you."
"You're safe pretty bird." Jack soothed.
"Those monsters can't harm you now." Bulkhead added. Optimus had told him about what he and Lightbright pulled, and he was impressed with it. After all, there was more than one way to wreck something.
From the other side of the med bay, Optimus smiled at the scene. They had all their missing friends back now. While he knew that the darkest hour was coming, right now however, was a time to heal.
A/N: Okay, phew. That was a lot to cover. I'm not 100% sure what Optimus and Lightbright did was legal, but it was satisfying.
I chose a wolf mode for Arcee after I rewatched Transformers Prime and heard Miko refer to her and Wheeljack as 'lone wolves'. Her body is a fusion of G1 Carnivac and Transmetal Rattraps' aesthetic with a motorcycle mode with hubless wheels. Throw in her Prime color scheme and voila.
I don't think it was too big a stretch turning Sparkstalker into Deathsaur. When I was researching ideas, I noticed some similarities between their modes and decided it'd be a fun way to introduce a G1 Japanese favorite of mine.
Apart from Tor-Loco (who is of my own design), most of the 3.0 Precacons I used were pulled straight from my Beast Wars sourcebook albeit from both the Maximals and Predacons. I did give T2 Prowl the name Shriek to make him sound more menacing and yes, I did include Sky-byte. I couldn't help myself from making him a reformatted St3v3, however.
I did have a minor debate about which trainbots to use but having had team bullet train as a kid I'm a little partial to them and they're a little more familiar to western readers. I'd love to see a reissue of them someday.
Next time: Date Night
Until then, fave, follow, and review please.
Thank you.