Hello kiddies and welcome back. This chapter ended up being in two pieces in the end. I just had too much going on for one chapter. Someday I will ease up on the multipart chapters, but not today. So, for the time being, please, enjoy.
"So, we are ready then?" Galvatron asked his lieutenants as he stood on the Nemesis' bridge. Assembled around him were Tarantulas, Bludgeon, Onslaught, Slog, Jetstorm and Thrust.
"Yes." Tarantulas began. "The restoration of Trypticon is complete. Transformation capabilities and all."
"Very well." Galvatron continued. "Before we can proceed with our plans to awaken Unicron, we must first acquire a permanent base of operations." He also needed somewhere stable to enact his plan for reinforcements.
"We also need to retrieve Tankor." Thrust interrupted. It hadn't been a full week yet and that was still too long.
"And so, you and Jetstorm shall." Galvatron replied. "However, rather than try to infiltrate a fully staffed Autobot City, we shall force them to respond to two emergencies simultaneously. Yes."
"So, divide and conquer again." Onslaught added as he chewed his Cy-gar. "You need to get a new plan Galvatron, you don't want to keep recycling this one." He'd watched the videos of the invasion of Unit-E and while impressed, felt using the same plan twice was risky.
"To start with." Galvatron ground out, ignoring the Combaticon Leader. "You and your Combaticons shall accompany Tarantulas on his little errand. Enter with a bang and the Autobots will most likely send one of their combiners to stop you." Onslaught thought this over for a second.
"Alright, I have an idea that should take one out." He announced. "Defensor is their most likely candidate." He'd done his research on the current Autobot roster and their weaknesses for such an occasion.
"Excellent." Galvatron nodded. "And while they are doing that and our Vehicon generals are getting into position, the rest of us shall storm and secure our new base of operations."
"Coincidentally." Bludgeon spoke up. "You never said where it is. Enlighten us please."
"So glad you asked." Galvatron grinned. He'd been waiting for the right moment. "The location I have in mind can easily be refitted for our use in less than a week. There's open desert around it so we can spot any advancing troops, and it comes with its own non energon based power supply, so we don't need to ration our resources between the ship and ourselves."
A projection of a human city appeared before them. It was covered in neon lights and swarming with people.
"Too much life there." Slog muttered distastefully.
"A problem your Horrorcons and the Predacons shall rectify." Galvatron replied. "With some carefully ordered Vehicon backup." he added, looking directly at his two remaining generals.
"We shall ensure that they will follow your orders in the field." Thrust replied in a bored tone. It wasn't his fault that Galvatron didn't think in advance last time.
"In that case, we all know our assignments." Galvatron spoke. "Everyone, prepare to move out." As they left the bridge, Jetstorm turned to Thrust.
"Almost sad we have to miss this."
"Why?" Thrust asked.
"Vegas baby!"
In the Maximals' den in Autobot City, June Darby was nursing a whopper of a hangover from the party the night before. While her new body healed a lot faster than her human one, it would still be another hour or two before it cleared completely.
"Ugh." June groaned as she sat at the table with her grandkids. "I am going to KILL Swerve."
"I don't think he knew about your caffeine issues grandma June." Rattrap whispered, trying to be sensitive to her condition. Looking to Heinrad for support, he noticed his cousin staring off into space with a blank look. "Rad? You, okay?"
"I don't know." Heinrad muttered. "I think our plan to help mo-Miko last night worked a little too well."
"Whaddya mean?"
"I went to check on them after they left and heard...noises." He replied evasively.
"WHAT!" June shouted; she immediately regretted it as her head retaliated for the noise. She could only draw one conclusion from that description. "I SO need to talk to those two." She muttered, placing her head in her hands.
"Well, look at it this way Kibo." Gary laughed. "You just ensured your own conception."
"No, I didn't." Kibo replied. "We missed my conception date by weeks Gary." They still hadn't figured out why they hadn't been erased from the current timeline.
"Am I going to be a grandmother in this timeline too?" June groaned. The last thing they needed right now were infant Maximals in the middle of a war.
"That depends if their sparks were exposed." Gary supplied, trying not to laugh again and agitate his grandmothers' hangover. "When my mom got pregnant, dad admitted that their sparks were exposed to each other. Some kind of energy between them created my spark and started the pregnancy."
"The resultant energy feedback loop from two surging sparks would be strong enough to create a spark." A new voice added, making all three jump. "At least in theory." Looking at the doorway, they saw Raf and Enrique looking at the trio. Raf with an expression of curiosity and Enrique, amusement.
"How much did you hear?" Kibo groaned. He really didn't expect Raf to stumble onto their secret. And he had no idea what to expect from his uncles' human brother.
"I heard enough to confirm my suspicions, Kibo." Raf answered as he took a seat. Reaching down, he lifted Enrique up and set him on a specifically built stool.
"You already knew?" Gary asked.
"I figured it out when we were breaking down the time machine." Raf explained. "You both called my older self 'uncle' when we used the golden disk." He smirked. "And unlike your parents, I'm not oblivious."
"Fair." Gary shrugged. He knew at the very least his dad was a little dense. He'd seen proof of it.
"Hey!" Kibo whined. "They aren't that bad." Raf looked at Kibo.
"Your dad didn't realize your mom had a crush on him until she flat out spelled it out for him." Admittedly it was essentially a deathbed confession, but they didn't need to know that. They were interrupted by Vince and Sierra as well as Jack and Miko entering the kitchen with Allison bringing up the rear.
"Hey, way to go Lion King!" Enrique called to Jack before Raf could shush him. Both Jack and Miko froze and looked at the others.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, hoping he could bluff their way out of an embarrassing conversation. Unfortunately, his and his girlfriend's' matching blushes gave them away.
"It means you're busted." June answered. Before she could continue, Miko cut her off.
"Alright." She began, looking June in the eye. "Look, I've been contemplating taking that step with Jack for a while now." This statement caused looks of surprise from everyone in the room, including the mech in question. "I love Jack and when I heard that song last night, I knew that I wanted to show him how much I loved him. I'm not ashamed of that."
June kept eye contact with Miko before turning to Jack.
"And are you willing to take responsibility if you do become a father?" She asked.
Jack stepped forward and held Mikos' hand. He gave it a squeeze and smiled as she returned it.
"There's no one I'd rather take that responsibility for, or with."
"Good." June answered. "Just keep your chests closed and Miko won't get pregnant." She informed, causing looks of shock and embarrassment among the assembled Maximals.
"Wait, our bodies have built in birth control?" Miko asked as she looked down at her chest. "Sweet!"
"How did you figure that one out?" Jack asked, giving his mother a strange look.
They were saved from another awkward conversation by Arcees' arrival at the door.
"You better take breakfast to go." She began. "We have a situation." Everyone got up from the table and headed out the door.
"I want deets later." Sierra whispered to Miko.
"I don't." Allison whispered. Albeit a part of her wondered if she and Slash could? She shook the thought from her mind and kept walking.
"I'll spare you the details if you tell me where you and Slash got that booze from." Miko whispered back as she and Jack beat a hasty retreat from the kitchen.
June stood up to follow them when she felt her head suddenly clear. Turning, she saw that Raf had used his CR pulse to clear up the remnants of her hangover.
"Thank you Raf." June smiled, ruffling the Maximals hair. The smile faded rapidly however as the memories of last night came back with stark clarity. Apparently, being drunk didn't affect her new brains' ability to remember once sober. "Oh, god." She groaned, burying her face in her hands.
"What?"
"Oh, she probably just remembered saying something to Optimus." Arcee teased.
"I'm out." Raf called as he picked up Enrique and ran after the other Maximals. "Wait for us."
"Hermano, you could make a fortune curing hangovers at colleges." Enrique added as they rounded the corner.
"So." Arcee asked as June moved her hands to her head and pulled on her hair. "Did you and Optimus?"
"No." June moaned. "I just made a fool of myself and offered to." She moved her hands to her mouth, her face flushing red. She couldn't believe she'd propositioned Optimus like that. "I don't know how I'm going to face him after that."
"After what?" Arcee asked.
"I offered to rock his world after the war was over."
"What does that mean?"
June looked at her sister.
"You don't know?"
"No." Arcee confirmed as the two began to walk out of the kitchen. "Is that a human saying?"
"Yes." June said with a sigh of relief. Maybe she could face Optimus after all. If he didn't know she meant sex, she might be able to save face.
"I wish you both luck then." Arcee interrupted her thoughts by transforming into her cycle mode. "Now come on, it's urgent."
Transforming into her spider mode, June followed Arcee down the hall.
Moments later, the collective Autobots and Maximals were assembled near the space bridge. Optimus greeted June with a warm smile as Ultra Magnus began the meeting. Worryingly, Rodimus was standing alongside Optimus, Magnus and Fowler. Whatever was going on, it was bad news from on high.
"The Decepticons have finally emerged from hiding." He began. "Six a.m. this morning, local time, a camper took these pictures of the Nemesis rising out of the Pacific." There was one of the ship partly submerged as well as one of it fully out of the water. A third photo showed what looked like a glowing light coming from the front of it.
"The camper was able to load the images to Facebook before he was killed." Agent Fowler added. A new photo showed a smoking crater in the middle of a campsite. "We think the cons didn't want to leave witnesses."
"Not even ten minutes later, the Nemesis appeared over Las Vegas." Ultra magnus continued. The still photos were replaced with armature video of the Nemesis hovering over one end of the end of the Vegas strip. From there, an energy beam lanced out from the bottom of the ship, obliterating three nearby hotels and allowing the Nemesis to transform into a kind of base taking up most of Harry Reid International. This surprised everyone in attendance.
"Their ship can transform again?"
"Uh oh."
"Looks like Mechagodzilla is back in play."
Ultra Magnus shot Brainstorm and Nautica a quick glance. They knew this was a problematic development since Fortress Maximus was nowhere near battle ready yet. Velocity, Lightbright and Blackrock were working on the brain module now. Rodimus stepped forward.
"After landing, the ship released multiple troops to storm the Vegas strip." Several videos came up simultaneously. "We have confirmed sightings of Vehicons, Horrorcons, and predacons."
"Don't call them that!" Scourge growled from his seat in the back, making everyone else jump. When did he get there?
"Either way." Rodimus continued. "They began to drive out all the humans. With extreme prejudice."
The videos were proof of that. On one screen was a group of tank drones firing upon every car in the street, creating huge explosions as their fuel ignited. Another image showed the Predacon Stinkbomb smashing his way into a casino before emitting a cloud of yellow gas which obscured the picture. When it cleared, all that remained of the people were their skeletons. A third had the Predacon Shriek and the Horrorcon Wildfly smashing up another casino. Most people turned and ran but a few were still playing on the slot machines.
"Hey!" Wildfly yelled. "Aren't you scared?" Apparently, this video had audio.
"Of what?" One woman yelled from her machine. "This thing's got to pay out sooner or later."
"This place is crazy." Shriek laughed at Wildfly. "I love it!"
"While most of the humans in the surrounding areas managed to evacuate." Rodimus continued, trying to draw attention away from the videos. "There are some who are currently sheltering in place."
"And the government wants us to rescue them and evict the cons?" Miko laughed. "Let's hit it!"
"Not quite Wingsaber." Ultra Magnus countered. "The U.S. government wants to deploy their own forces to liberate Las Vegas and rescue the civilians. Agent Watson." He nodded down the Autobots current liaison.
"The government wants to try to handle the situation themselves first." She confirmed. "Sector Seven is already in position to." She was cut off as most of the room gave a groan. "I know, none of us are particularly fond of them, however the White House did insist on having the members of Project: Pheonix assist them." June and both Fowlers stepped forward.
"I was also able to get assigned to the field to keep an eye on Simmons considering our...history." Agent Watson added. "In addition, I will be joined by Depthcharge, Arcee and Goldbug for security purposes."
Further speech was halted as Blurr sped into the room and up to Optimus Prime.
"SirIjustreceivedanemergencycommunicationfromamilitaryR&Dfacility." He began. "TheCombaticonsandafewotherDecepticonsjustbridgedinandstartedshootinguptheplace."
Taking a moment to decipher Blurrs' speed speech. Optimus looked at Ultra magnus.
"This cannot be a coincidence." He began. "The Decepticons most likely are attempting to split our forces to attack a third target." It was eerily like what happened last time the Decepticons appeared, and Optimus didn't like it.
"My money is on us." Jack added. Seeing everyone looking at him he decided to elaborate. "While they may not be looking to destroy us yet, they may be trying to infiltrate the base to free their friend."
An ominous silence fell over the room. Most of the rank-and-file Autobots didn't know about Tankor being in a holding cell, but everyone in this room did.
"If that is the case." Optimus began. "We need to mobilize to counteract their plans." He looked over at Ultra Magnus.
"Commander, take the Protectobots and some of the Wreckers to the military base to head off the Combaticons."
"I'm going with you." Kup announced as he stepped forward.
"Are you sure Sargent?" Magnus asked. While the grizzled veteran Autobot and former Elite Guard captain had taken up Trailbreakers' old role as head of security for Autobot City, he had refrained from going into the field until now.
"Don't forget kid, I trained Onslaught before the war." Kup replied. He and Onslaught were two of the few survivors of Monstructors' slaughter of the Elite Guard "I know how he thinks."
Ultra Magnus nodded. That was fair. Honestly, if things had gone differently, Onslaught might've been the leader of the Wreckers instead of him.
"While they are dealing with the base, several teams of us will be assembling not too far from Las Vegas." Optimus continued. "I feel backup will be needed sooner rather than later."
"You expect things to go south?" Fowler asked.
"After what happened a few days ago, I'd rather be safe than sorry." Optimus countered. After seeing what happened with Volcanicus, he was wary about Devastator facing Monstructor.
"Fair."
"Optimus." Came a voice in the back. Turning to look, the Autobot leader saw Chromedome enter the room with Rewind right behind him. "On the chance that Tankor IS the intended target, I'd like to try another idea to get information out of him."
"And that would be?" Optimus asked. Chromedome gave a sigh.
"I'd like to attempt a Cortical Psychic Patch." He admitted. This statement left some of the Autobots uneasy.
"A what?" Agent Watson asked. She'd never heard of such a thing before.
"Chromedome wants to go into Tankors' mind and attempt to learn what the Decepticons have planned that we don't already know about." Goldbug explained.
"Then why didn't we do that before?"
"Because agent Watson, it's illegal." Ultra Magnus answered. He gave a sigh. "However, I think we may have to attempt it anyway." As everyone in the room gave him odd and questioning looks, he explained. "With what we now know from the golden disk, time is of the essence. Using the patch on Tankor might buy us more time."
"Golden disk?"
"I'll explain later Charlie." Goldbug replied. While a little more known now, the message on the golden disk was still considered secret. The bots were still working on a way to convince the governments of Earth that the contents of the disk were real without revealing the existence of Heinrad and Rattrap. The temptation to capture a pair of time travelers would be too great to not act upon.
"Loathe as I am to agree." Optimus interrupted. "Our options are limited. While we are dealing with the Decepticons, Ratchet and Chromedome shall attempt the procedure. The remaining Maximals will remain behind to guard against intrusion."
There was some murmuring, but most gave an affirmative to their orders.
"Autobots, roll out."
As various Autobots moved around the base, Grimlock strode through the halls of Fortress Maximus. While he was willing to take the fight to the Decepticons, when he saw the other Dinobots had volunteered to join Optimus Prime, he decided he'd rather help the Maximals with guard duty.
He refused to even acknowledge the others after they forced him into a combiner. Honestly, it was the kind of thing Shockwave would've done. The fact that they'd consider such a thing after what the emotionless scientist did to them was appalling.
Coming to an intersection in the halls, Grimlock was pulled out of his thoughts when Slash stepped in front of him. Glaring at her for a moment, he turned to head back the other way only to find Slug and Snarl had blocked it. How did bots that big move that quietly?
"Boss." Slug began. "We need to talk."
"You say all you need to other day." Grimlock ground out. He turned and started to walk down another hall when Sludge ran out an open door, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into an empty room. Slug, Sludge and Slash followed him in before Swoop shut the door.
"We're talking anyway." Snarl growled as Sludge released Grimlock. The Dinobot commander wrenched his arm away from Sludge and turned to glare at his team.
"After you do to me what Shockwave did to all of us? What more you want say?" Grimlock yelled. "Actions speak louder than words."
"We we're trying to help you!" Slug yelled, getting in Grimlocks' face. "Do you want to drool oil for the rest of your life?"
"Not first choice but would be MY choice!" Grimlock bellowed.
"You'd rather live as a snarling beast?" Swoop asked. He wasn't as sturdily built as the others and was keeping out of arm's length of his commander.
"Sad thing was me going to ask you to put me out of misery if it got to that point." Grimlock growled. This brought the other Dinobots up short.
"You wanted us to?" Snarl began before being cut off.
"If me get to that point, me wanted you to kill me, yes." Grimlock confirmed. "Then you take away choice by forcing me into combiner with you." He glared at them. "That make you little better than Shockwave."
"So, you were willing to make us kill you but not willing to trust us with another possible treatment?" Slash growled as she advanced on Grimlock.
"You took choice out of my hands."
"Because we know how stubborn you are!" Slash yelled. She gave a sudden yelp as Grimlock lifted her by the arm. "You know I'm right." The smallest Dinobot grit out, never taking her eye off her commander.
"She does have a point Grimlock." Snarl added stepping forward. "I admit, what we did was wrong, but it was with good intentions."
Grimlock dropped Slash.
"You know what they say bout path to pit." He groused. He hated to admit it but maybe they had a point. The fact that he'd rather die than risk the other Dinobots lives was a well-known fact about their commander, and the fact that the others risked their lives for him so foolishly was the true source of his irritation with them.
"Why you even think combining would fix me?"
"We all wanted to help heal your brain." Snarl began. "We didn't know you'd be so angry at the prospect. Let alone that it'd effect the combiner." There was a moment of tense silence as Grimlock digested this information.
"Me still angry." Grimlock began. "But me get over it eventually." He opened the door to the room.
"So, we're good?" Swoop asked. Grimlock gestured down the hall.
"Come on, we got meat bags to rescue."
From his operations center just outside of Vegas, agent Seymour Simmons of Sector Seven watched the situation on the strip unfold. While the bulk of the people had managed to evacuate, some had been unable to and were now being rounded up at the end of Las Vegas Boulevard. A couple dozen buses had been arranged and the captured civilians were being held there under the watch of what looked like a large bull and an ant. Closer inspection revealed a shark fin circling the buses He'd received a shock when one man tried to run only to be swallowed up by the shark attached to the fin.
"Simmons." Came the voice of Scrapper, his Cybertronian second in command. "We're ready to go, we are just waiting on the group from Autobot City. And for the record, I still don't like your secret weapon idea."
"Duly noted." Simmons responded. It wasn't like they were the first to make something from a giant robots' corpse. Any further debate was cut short as a spacebridge swirled to life near their outpost. Out of it stepped agent Watson (the traitor!) in a gold muscle car, as well as the Fowler twosome and the senior Darby. More surprising however, was that they were followed by the fish bot they'd met briefly during their inspection as well as a wolf bot he'd never met before.
"Watson! What's the meaning of this?" Simmons bellowed. Those two were not part of the deal. His ire only rose as she got out of the car and the car transformed into another bot. The woman took her shades off and glared at him.
"Given your teams' history with some of the members of Project Pheonix, the president agreed with my suggestion of Autobot security." Agent Watson replied as she stared the man down. "Now, what's the situation?"
"Galvatron has taken full control of the strip, and his forces are fanning out into the surrounding suburbs." Scrapper explained before the idiot human could put his foot in his mouth. "Any civilians they capture are put onto those buses. For what, we don't know."
"Where are we on a rescue plan?" Kumara asked as she looked at the man who'd destroyed her life not so long ago. Part of her wondered if she could step on the little prick and call it an accident.
"For the moment." Simmons began, unable to resist the chance to show off. "You and your team will be strictly backup if needed. Using our newest creations with backup from the Russki and Davey Jones over there." He indicated Stranglehold and Octopunch who glared at the names. "Once we've gotten the civilians clear, Devastator shall lead the charge of both my team and the National Guard in driving the cons out of Vegas." He finished.
"And these creations are?" Agent Watson badgered. Simmons smirked as he activated his comms in his ear.
"We are a go for launch, scramble the Sky Reign squadron."
On a foggy partially demolished military base near Boulder Colorado, a spacebridge portal swirled into existence. From it emerged Ultra Magnus, Kup, Bulkhead, Perceptor, Drift, Whirl and Wheeljack. Hotspot and the Protectobots brought up the rear of the group.
"Alright everyone." Magnus whispered as the portal faded. "Spread out and start searching for the Decepticons."
"No need." Kup whispered as he leveled his laser musket. "If I know Onslaught, we're expected." They were suddenly besieged by various gunshots going off around them.
"Right in one sarge." Onslaught called, his voice echoing in the fog. "Don't mind us, we're just on a little shopping trip."
"Colonel Onslaught!" Ultra Magnus yelled. "If you and the Combaticons turn yourselves in to us peacefully, we can guarantee you fair treatment." Considering the Combaticons' history with the Decepticons, the idea wasn't too unreasonable.
"Tempting." Onslaught admitted. If the situation was different, he might've taken them up on it. "But circumstances dictate we work for Galvatron. There was a moment of silence before the Combaticon colonel gave the order.
"Alright boys, form up and hit it!" Hearing this, Ultra magnus turned to Hotspot.
"Protectobots, merge, now!" He ordered. Kup however, had realized the voice came from ground level. Too low. Most likely some kind of recording. Realizing that Defensor was probably what they wanted, he tried to stop them.
"Magnus, no!" Kup hollered. "Belay that order." But it was too late.
"Swindle, Brawl, now!" Onslaught called. From the fog a trio of laser blasts hit the transforming Blades, knocking him to the ground with a large sparking gash on his side. As Defensor formed enough to notice he was missing an arm, the Combaticon leader called out again.
"Hit it tex."
Out of the fog, Vortex raced towards the partially complete combiner in his helicopter mode. Dodging the blasts of the Wreckers by flipping upside down and transforming into the arm of Bruticus Maximus, he slotted himself into Defensors' right shoulder. The effect was instantaneous, not only was the wrong limb on the combiner, but said limb was insane. Defensor fell to his knees clutching his head with his left-hand as the foreign mind wreaked havoc on their collective one. All the while Vortex punched every inch of the giant Autobot he could reach while cackling maniacally.
"Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."
"Hang on guys." Bulkhead yelled as he ran to rip Vortex off them. He was waylaid by a tank charging through the fog and ramming into him.
"Don't even think it sucka." Brawl growled as he transformed. The two glared at each other for a moment before charging one another.
As the two behemoths began to trade blows, several other combatants emerged from the fog. Wheeljack suddenly found himself having to deflect several shots from Swindle with his swords as he fired a gatling gun at him.
"Nice moves." Swindle complimented. "And I bet those are sterinium swords, aren't they?"
"You know your weapons." Wheeljack smirked. "All the better for cutting up cons."
"I just wanted to know how much I can get for them after I kill you." Swindle replied before changing his aim and hitting Wheeljack in the thigh. "Business is business after all."
Off to the side of them, Whirl was squaring up Blast Off.
"Hmm, a bootleg Soundwave." He mused. "Do you even have a rub sign?"
"You imbecile!" Starscreams' voice yelled from Blast Offs' mask.
"Ohh, good proof of authenticity. Got any music?" Whirl asked. He was answered as Michael Jacksons' 'Beat It!' came on. "Okay, that'll work." He laughed as he held up his hooks. "Let's go!"
While the two flyers 'beat it', Drift attempted to assist Defensor. He sensed rather than saw movement out of the corner of his optic and his instincts were the only thing that saved him. Drawing his sword, he barely got it in place before Bludgeons' sword could decapitate him.
"So, we meet again." The skeletal samurai greeted him, leaping backwards. "I hoped we would meet again. Now defend yourself!" Bludgeon charged forth again, locking swords with Drift.
Sliding left, Drift attempted to slice his opponent's sword arm off only for Bludgeon to sidestep him. Holding his left arm up, Bludgeon launched several small throwing stars from his right wrist. The Decepticons' optics seemed to flash as the throwing stars embedded into Drifts' side, causing him to cry out in pain.
"That's new." Drift ground out through his teeth.
"I learned some new tricks." Bludgeon replied. "Surprises keep foes confused. Here's another one." Thick black smoke erupted from his feet diminishing the already poor visibility and allowing Bludgeon to disappear.
Listening carefully and tuning out the sounds of battle around him, Drift began to search for the Decepticon again, knowing an attack could come at any moment. He was proven right as Bludgeon rushed past him on the right and sliced his shoulder. Fighting through the pain, Drift barely brought his sword up in time to block his opponent's frontal attack.
"A skillful parry." Bludgeon complimented. "However, ahh." The samurai was cut off as a blast from Kups' musket pierced the smoke and hit Bludgeon in the hand, knocking his sword out of it.
"What is it with Decepticons and not being able to keep their yaps shut in battle." Kup groused. He didn't need to be a swordsbot to know how to fight one.
"I never was able to figure that one out myself." Onslaught admitted as he strode up to Kup and Ultra Magnus. A gun trained on both. "It was a key lesson in the Elite Guard."
"A lesson that I wish more bots followed." Kup countered as he trained his blaster on his former student. "And not another step closer kid."
"Wouldn't dream of it sarge." Onslaught agreed. His mentor from the Elite Guard was one of the few bots who rarely fell for his plans, and he respected him for it. It was almost a pity that they went in opposite directions when the war broke out with him forming the mercenary Combaticons while Kup helped to form The Wreckers.
"What are you here for colonel?" Ultra Magnus asked. While Kup kept the Combaticon leader at bay he took aim at Vortex to shoot the mad mech off Defensor. Pulling the trigger, Magnus was frustrated when Vortex spun his rotor blades to deflect the blast into a nearby building. Laughing, Vortex retaliated by grinding his knuckles into the top of Defensors skull while the combiner desperately attempted to pull him off.
"Auto noogie!"
"Honestly Kup." Onslaught answered while shaking his head at his pilots' antics. "I have no idea; they wouldn't tell me."
"I'll explain it when we're back at base." Tarantulas said as he rolled up in his motorcycle mode. Behind him, he was towing a hovering platform with several large crates on it. "Shockwave, we need a bridge back."
"Tarantulas." Ultra Magnus growled as he aimed at the Decepticon scientist. "Drop whatever it is you." He was cut off by a blur of golden yellow before the end of his blaster fell away, rendering it useless. Turning, Bludgeon mockingly saluted Ultra Magnus before leaping backwards to Tarantulas and Onslaught.
"Alright everyone, back to base." Onslaught called as the spacebridge appeared. "I love it when a plan comes together."
"And one more for luck!" Vortex laughed as he punched Defensor in the face one last time before separating. The sudden separation was enough to force the combiner back into the Protectobots. The remaining Wreckers were able to do little more than watch as the group disappeared through the portal. They'd never been routed so thoroughly.
"Ratchet, we need an emergency bridge." Ultra Magnus growled in frustration. "We have wounded." He looked over the destroyed base as their spacebridge appeared. "What on Earth were they even after?" He muttered as he followed Kup and Hotspot back to Autobot City.
Back in Las Vegas, the collective members of the Autobots, Maximals and Sector Seven watched as a series of six modified F-35B jets in various colors flew over the area. Collectively they banked left before heading towards the encampment. As they neared the staging area, they activated their VTOL capabilities before surprising most of those in attendance by transforming into Cybertronian sized mechs with the jet cockpit on the chest. The six were nearly identical save their colors, Red, Black, Beige, Green, Blue and Grey.
Goldbug and agent Watson looked at each other. These were far too close to the seekers they'd fought in the eighties. Charlie looked at agent Simmons.
"Explain." She ordered simply.
"Gladly." Simmons replied smugly. "Using the body of that one Decepticon we found in eighty-seven, we began slowly making progress in creating our own transforming military vehicles." He began. This confused the duo since they remember off lining two seekers that day.
"These six." Simmons continued, not noticing their confusion. "Are the final evolution of Earth and alien technology in that regard. Piloted by six of the best jet jocks in the Air Force." He nodded his head to Scrapper. "Our new partners allowed us to fully integrate the two techs together and gave them a little something extra."
"I'm still not sure that was advisable." Scrapper interrupted. The notion of what they did with Skywarps' body still disgusted him. To say nothing of them bastardizing combiner technology. However, he did have to look professional in front of witnesses.
"I'm sure captain Galen and his team would've said something was wrong after the testing." Simmons argued. He turned to the red seeker. "Does it feel any different captain?" The glass on the chest cockpit turned transparent to show a man in a kind of harness with a flight suit and some kind of advanced helmet on. The visor and mouth on the helmet retracted to show a smiling African American male.
"All systems optimal sir." Galen answered. He gave a thumbs up that was mirrored by the mech in real time.
"That settles that." Simmons grinned. "When I give the signal, your squadron will fly in and drive off the guards on the civilians. Afterwards, merge and start down the strip towards their base." With a little luck, they might be able to seize their base as well.
"Merge?" Watson asked.
"You'll see." Simmons replied. "Move out!"
From his new control center in the recently renovated pyramid of the Luxor casino. Galvatron watched as the humans prepared to rescue their hostages. This did not bother him that much as the captives were merely a decoy to draw out human resistance and maybe a few renegade Decepticons for extermination. Whereas the Autobots made their presence known via diplomacy, he would simply maneuver the fleshlings into a position where they would be forced to leave his new base alone.
Simply put, it was a trap within a trap.
Galvatron was distracted by a communication from Tarantulas. The scientist was still using the lab facilities in Trypticon for his experiments. He had returned from his errand a little while ago and was now unboxing what looked like various parts to a Cybertronian. Part of him wondered how this tied in with Unicrons' desire to keep a closer watch on him.
"Ah, Tarantulas. Report." He ordered.
"The raid went better than expected." Tarantulas began as he removed a hand from a crate. "I managed to find all the parts to what I was looking for and we were even able to beat back the Wreckers." He continued, now placing a lower leg with a pair of wheels on the table with the other parts. "Bringing the Combaticons onboard paid off in dividends." Tarantulas looked over at something off screen and sneered.
"If you think this hurts, wait until we test my spark mitosis experiments." He taunted before turning back to the screen. "Sorry, trying a little something with one of my test subjects." He couldn't help laughing at how Megatron kept volunteering to take Transmutates place as a test subject for his experiments."
"Quite." Galvatron replied. "You know, you never told me what it was you were retrieving."
"I wanted it to be a surprise." Tarantulas laughed. "Don't forget, our mission is to kill Optimus Prime." He began. "And looking through some hacked human files I found something that almost did do it."
"Something made by humans?"
"I know, it surprised me too." Tarantulas chuckled. "It even had an actual T-cog in it. It just needs a little further modification and it'll be ready for the boss to possess. And as you yourself said." He continued as he reached back into the crate. From the crate he pulled out a perfect replica of Optimus Primes' head.
"Victory tastes best, when seasoned with Irony."
A/N- That's right folks, Nemesis Prime shall rise again! I admit, this chapter has more setup than anything, but I wanted to dedicate as much attention to the action in the next chapter as possible. I based my 'Sky Reign' squadron on the seeker clone combiner from IDW comics. It seemed like a fun idea to incorporate them, and their leader Galen is a nod to Fortress Maximus' original binary bond partner in the G1 comics in the 80's Headmaster comics. In any case, I'll see you next time. Untill then fav, follow and review.
Next Time: Vegas is Bust Pt.2- Unlikely Heros