Chapter 26: Too Much Information
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B.E.A.T.N: Another great chapter. The moments between Tiberius and Miko were cute, it was cool to see all of these new MECH transformers, the fight on the Harbinger was epic, and I'm curious as to what Ironhide and his team found. Have a great day/night and stay safe
Dragon Emperor0: We based a few on different characters from other Transformers continuities. Such as Transmutate and Airrazor from Beast Wars, and Onslaught from War and Fall of Cybertron. So expect a few more to complete the Combaticons set.
ThermalsniperN7: Right. And you're about to find out what Ironhide and his team found.
-Autobot base-
Bulkhead and Ironhide groaned as they hauled in a large mechanical cylinder into the base, setting it down on the ground.
"Whatcha got there, guys?" Miko asked as she currently tried to sate the seemingly endless hunger of her growing child while watching monster trucks. A child who was entering the second trimester of development.
Tiberius, meanwhile, stopped working on what looked to be another Bionicle Mask, using his welder. Then he flipped his visor up.
"Is that a satellite?" He questioned.
"Far from it, kid." Ironhide replied. "This is a Cybertronian data cylinder. A very important part of our history is inside this thing." He explained.
"It could literally be anything inside. Finding one here on Earth is a rare opportunity." Bulkhead added.
"Huh, sounds like a perfect way to test out my new mask." The blonde hummed as he quenched the still glowing hot metal in water, revealing it to be a bronze Bionicle Mask.
"You made your own Bionicle mask?" Ratchet asked curiously. "What's it called?" He inquired.
"The Mask of Knowledge. It's designed to help the wearer sort through knowledge inserted into their minds from an outside source." The Bioformer explained. "Or absorb data and allow the wearer to scroll through it without internal damage." He added as he held up the mask.
In terms of appearance it resembled a Mayan mask, like the Mask of Ah-Puk from the show Ben 10.
"An impressive design." Optimus nodded. "Have you already given it the abilities you described? I can imagine that being done during the forging." The Autobot leader questioned.
"You'd be correct on that." Tiberius nodded. "Now all I need is something to test it on…" He hummed, tapping his foot.
"Why not test it on that cylinder?" Miko asked.
"Ep ep ep–We aren't even sure that'd work." Ratched interrupted.
"How do the cylinders release their data, anyway?" Tiberius asked, wondering how the design of the artifact in question worked.
"They're designed to recognize any Cybertronians as allies. Non-Cybertronian lifeforms, like humans, will cause the data to be released skyward and be lost to the stars." Optimus explained.
"But since Bioformers are part Cybertronian, we don't know what the outcome is." Ironhide chimed in. It was true; since Bioformers were Cybertronians and Bionicles mixed together, the outcome of an interaction between them and a data cylinder was unknown.
"Well, it seems like we'll need to figure it out, then." Tiberius stated as he walked over to the cylinder and set his mask up on a tripod in front of it. "Alright, one, two, three!" He yelled as he slammed his hand on the thing–causing it to activate and then shoot a red beam at the Mask of Knowledge–Zapping it.
It didn't take long to finish, only five seconds. Once the beam vanished, the golden haired father-to-be put his newest mask on. Immediately, he could feel information flowing into his mind at a regulated pace.
"Well, we learned two things today: The data cylinders don't like Bioformers and my mask really works." Tiberius stated. Then he opened up a notebook and started writing in it.
"What data did the mask absorb?" Ratchet inquired.
"Not a clue." The blonde replied as he started scribbling symbol after symbol on the paper with his pen, and as Ratchet read along with him–his optics widened.
"By the Allspark!" The medic gasped.
"What is it?" Miko asked, wondering what the big deal was.
"That mask absorbed a formula for a Synthetic Energon!" Ratchet exclaimed.
"Seriously?!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
"You have got to be kidding." Arcie added in disbelief at their luck.
"Hell yeah!" The twins cheered, high fiving.
"Ain't that a bitch?" Wheelie chuckled, Brains also seemingly amused.
"This is a great boon." Optimus nodded, visibly pleased with such a find.
"How soon can we start production?" Miko asked as Tiberius kept writing down the formula.
"I'd say it's gonna be awhile, cuz, even with the complete formula, this is pretty advanced stuff. Not to mention it's entirely theoretical–so there's no telling if this "Synthetic Energon" would even be viable once made." Tiberius stated, having a difficult time making heads or tails of the formula presented by his mask.
"Still, better in our hands than with the 'Cons." Bulkhead shrugged. "Though I gotta ask: Should we be worried about Madame Ruin getting her disgusting hands on the mask? Or are you gonna leave it here where it can't be detected?" He asked, since that was an important thing to consider.
"Doubtful. With the energy signature of the data now one with my mask, it's unlikely that they'd be able to track it." The boy replied before finally setting his pen down. "And done." He added, closing his notebook and removing his mask. Ratchet looked over the formula and nodded.
"I'll make a copy so I can look over it." He said before going to work.
"So, what now?" Miko asked now that her man was done writing down alien math.
"Now…" The Bioformer responded as he turned around to face her, right as the base's scanners suddenly picked up the signature of another canister. "Apparently, we have another canister." He finished flatly.
"We best get to it before the Decepticons do." Optimus stated before turning to the medic. "Ratchet, open a ground bridge to the coordinates of the cylinder." He ordered.
"On it." Said Autobot nodded as he put in the coordinates for their objective.
"I'll tag along. I can use my mask to capture whatever's on that cylinder so the cons don't get it." Tiberius said as he turned into Creator.
"A fine idea." Optimus nodded before everyone but Ratchet and Miko went through the Ground Bridge.
(Later)
Ground Bridges opened at a single location as both Autobots and Decepticons came out of the two portals, guns blazing. Both sides fought like hell to get their hands on the data cylinder. In the midst of the fighting, however, several Cybertronian silhouettes were up a cliff.
There were five of them. One was recognizable as the Mechticon Onslaught, and four others named Brawl, Blast Off, Vortex, Swindle.
These were the Combaticons, so named after a Decepticon group of the same name, but these weren't Cybertronian–they were Mechticons.
Brawl looked like a munitions expert and a heavy hitter. He looked like an absolute tank and had two tank barrels with muzzle brakes sticking up from his back. He was heavily armored and had yellow optics along with what looked like tank treads on his shoulders. He was also colored military green.
Swindle looked like he had a jeep for his vehicle mode, judging by the wheels on his shoulders and legs. He was colored gold and had purple optics. He was the team's scout.
Vortex looked to be a large military helicopter, his gold, red and purple colors were similar to Swindle.
Lastly, Blast Off seemed to be either a rocket or jet, with two spiked boosters on his shoulders.
"What in the world is goin' on down there?" Blast Off wondered as he and his team watched the fighting unfold.
"No idea." Brawl hummed as he leaned forward. "But I'd say it has something to do with that cylinder." He added, pointing at the device.
"What could be so important about it that they fight over it like this?" Vortex asked with a raised eye plate.
"It could be an artifact of some sort. No idea for sure." Onslaught shrugged.
"Sounds like something we could sell or ransom." Swindle noted, ringing his hands in anticipation.
"Only one way to find out what's up: we get in there and nab it." Brawl declared, an assault rifle forming from his right hand and chambering a round.
"I guess so." The leader of the team nodded. "Combaticons, move in and grab that cylinder!" He ordered, and the team immediately moved forward towards their objective.
"Go get some!" Brawl yelled as he started firing a volley down on the two opposing groups as his team fell towards the ground. The two factions were forced to dodge the unexpected volley of bullets while keeping an eye on the data cylinder to make sure it wasn't damaged.
"What the–?! Why is MECH here?!" Knockout shouted as he dodged a bullet.
"They must've detected the data cylinder's signal, too!" Breakdown replied before he was forced to dodge a blade swing from Vortex.
"Combaticons! It's time to form Bruticus!" Onslaught yelled as he fired his minigun at the Decepticons, mowing down Vehicons like grass.
"Wait, what?!" Creator shouted as he jumped away from Blast Off. Then the five members of MECH went into a series of maneuvers: The first had Brawl and Swindle transform into a pair of feet, which Onslaught turned into a torso for them to attach to. Finally, Blast Off and Vortex flew into their positions on the construct as a right and left arm respectively. From that, a rather small head emerged along with Brawl's barrels jutting up from its back.
Both sides stopped fighting each other and stared at what the five MECH Bioformers had become. Creator, in particular, was actually impressed with what MECH had done, taking pride in the fact that they at least put his genetics to good use.
"Pretenders! They're copying the shells of our fallen Brothers!" Breakdown growled, banging his hammers together.
"Easy Breakdown, let's see if we can keep them in good shape so we can pick them apart later." Knockout told his partner, his hand transforming into a circular saw.
"Bruticus will kill you all!" The giant Bioformer growled as he raised his right arm… and deployed a fucking flamethrower.
"Oh scrap, MOVE!" Arcee yelled in alarm as she bolted out of the way right as flames were blasted all over the battlefield.
The giant robot kept blasting flames at the two opposing sides, before he blocked a blow from Knockout with his rotor arm, and spun the blades, sending the con flying and scratching him up.
"You ruined my paint job!" The vehicle enthusiast yelled angrily.
"Cry me a river." Bruticus scoffed in reply before a shot hit him in the face. "GAH!" He grunted as he staggered lightly before looking in the direction it came from and saw Breakdown glaring at him.
"I'll kill you!" He yelled as he lunged at the giant Cybertronian voltron, only to get caught, and yeeted clear across the ravine.
"That went about as well as expected." Creator deadpanned, Arcee and Bumblebee nodding in agreement.
"Wait, who had the cylinder?" Bulkhead asked, having forgotten about it in the heat of the fighting.
The two groups looked around and then saw that Bruticus was holding the canister in one hand.
"Bruticus to Cylas. Requesting ground bridge evacuation." The Brute growled.
"Roger that. Stand by." The MECH leader replied before a Ground Bridge opened up behind him.
"Don't let him get away with that cylinder!" Bulkhead yelled as he tried to stop Bruticus from escaping,.only to get kicked away and land next to Breakdown. "... Well, now I know how you feel." He groaned, glancing at his rival.
"Good to know." The one eyed Cybertronian groaned in reply.
(Later)
Tiberius groaned as he placed an icepack on his head. "So hang on, the Combaticons were a set of combiners on Cybertron?" He questioned.
"Ones that were offlined during the last hours of the war, yeah." Arcee nodded as Ratchet patched her up.
"MECH probably copied them by pure chance. There's no way they knew the appearances and functions actually existed at a past point in time." Ratchet deduced.
"A logical conclusion. I imagine that this will cause an upset within Decepticon ranks." Optimus nodded.
"Either that, or they could be reincarnations like me and Miko." The blonde hummed.
"That'd be a trip." Miko chimed in.
[It would help explain their robot appearances.] Bumblebee commented.
"Let's just hope MECH doesn't do anything stupid with that data cylinder. I don't know what kind of interaction the data will have with organic minds." Ratchet sighed. For all he knew, it could cause a human head to literally explode.
"Probably nothing good." Tiberius groaned as he leaned back.
(Meanwhile)
Cylas looked over the data cylinder scans with an analytical look in his eye. After the Combaticons returned from their mission with the relic, they immediately set about doing scans on it to assess its properties. So far, they knew that it contained energy, and the engineers thought it was a power source, but Cylas knew better.
There was more to this than just one scan's results.
"Lieutenant Transyl, tell me. If you were to want to store data, what do you think would be the best method?" The man questioned.
"I'd store it as a frequency, impossible to detect or decrypt, only transfer as is." The beast transformer replied. "Why?" He asked.
"We may have to do something… unorthodox here." The man said, humming thoughtfully. "Corporal Davenport." He called as Swindle transformed into his human form.
"Yes sir, Mr. Cylas, sir!" The Bioformer nodded, walking up to the man, saluting. His human appearance was that of an African man with black hair that was swept back, purple eyes and purple shaders to match. He also wore the standard MECH uniform. He also had the aura of a shady businessman.
"See if you can find a way to reach out to the Decepticons. I wish to barter with them." Cylas told him.
"Yes sir! Oh, I do love a good deal." The man nodded as he became Swindle again and drove off, getting in the open and started looking for the Decepticons' communications frequency, and then piggybacked on it to get in touch with them.
"Who is this?" The voice of Megatron demanded.
"My name is Swindle, and I'm calling because the leader of MECH wishes to barter with you." Swindle told the gladiator.
"And what, pray tell, would a human have that I would show interest in?" The Decepticon leader questioned.
"Would a cylinder filled with your race's most valued data catch your optics?" The Bioformer/salesman asked in reply.
"... I'm listening." Megatron responded, sounding a little interested. This is what Swindle wanted.
"Excellent! I'll supply you with the coordinates of a neutral territory where the trade can occur." Swindle smiled.
"Best make sure you don't waste my time." The warrior warned.
"Absolutely. I look forward to doing business with you, Megatron, sir." The bot nodded. "Swindle, out." He added, signing off. Then he went back to Cylas and returned to human form.
"Well?" Cylas prompted.
"Megatron is interested in bartering. I've already supplied him with coordinates for neutral territory, so all we need is to bring the cylinder there with its data still inside." The Bioformer reported.
"Excellent. I'd say we'll be able to get a victory out of this day." The man nodded.
"That it seems indeed, sir." The salesman nodded.
(Elsewhere)
Megatron narrowed his optics after he ended the call. After Knockout and Breakdown had come back empty handed, he'd been furious since they had lost a data cylinder to humans, of all foes. Though when they mentioned the MECH Bioformers taking the forms of their fallen comrades, he felt a spark of confusion enter his processor.
How did MECH copy the design of the Combaticons? It just didn't make sense to him.
He decided to shrug it off. It was probably just a coincidence.
"Lord Megatron, you aren't seriously thinking of bartering with humans?" Airachnid questioned as she went to the warlord's side.
"Exactly, I mean, the guy literally called himself "Swindle"." Madame Ruin added.
"Oh, I trust this organization about as far as I can blast it. Should they try to stab us in the back, we will take the cylinder by force." The Warlord told the two femmes.
"A reasonable plan." Airachnid nodded.
"I like it." Ruin added.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, the Combaticons, Wingnut and Cylas stood with the Cylinder in tow, waiting for the Nemesis to come into view.
And where were they? On top of the giant rock formation called Devil's Tower.
"Are you sure they'll come?" Wingnut asked Swindle.
"Oh, they will. This cylinder's data is so valuable to them, they'll come to it like moths to a flame." The businessman nodded in reply.
"And that's liable to mean all of them, so the Autobots will come here too once they detect its signal." Onslaught stated.
"But we'll be long gone by that point." Brawl stated as the Nemesis uncloaked itself above them, and Megatron slowly descended onto the rock below.
"Megatron." Cylas greeted as he strolled up to the warlord, hands behind his back, not even remotely scared of the large con in front of him.
"You say you wish to do business. Let me see the data cylinder before I reveal what I am willing to give to you in exchange." Megatron demanded, and Swindle promptly presented him with the artifact in question. The Decepticon leader brought out a scanner and used it on the artifact, the scans coming back telling him it was still holding whatever data was inside. "Still holding data. Excellent." He nodded in satisfaction.
"And what will you be willing to give us in exchange?" Cylas questioned.
"Soundwave." The champion of Kaon said in his comms. "Send the Energon cubes." He added as the tractor belt lowered again. On it were fifty Energon cubes. "Will this suffice?" The warlord asked.
"Indeed it will." Cylas nodded as the Combaticons secured the resource. "A pleasure doing business with you." He nodded as Swindle gave the data cylinder to Megatron.
"You as well." The warlord nodded back professionally as the last of the cubes were removed from the lift and he stepped onto before being raised back to the Nemesis. The ship then went invisible again and flew off to parts unknown while MECH returned to base.
"I'd say that today was a very successful day." Cylas nodded as the group returned to base.
"I'll say! This amount of Energon should help our projects considerably." Swindle nodded with a grin as he looked over their payment.
"And solve our energy problem." Brawl nodded.
"All in all, a good day indeed." Wingnut nodded as they disappeared into their base.
Dragon Emperor0: … Well, that certainly turned out different than expected.
ThermalsniperN7: Yes it did. Not only did Tiberius create the Mask of Knowledge, he also managed to use it to keep the entire Synthetic Energon formula. And MECH also managed to get their hands on a data cylinder themselves before selling it to the Decepticons in exchange for some Energon… Well, both sides have their own cylinders now. Let them have their edges.
Dragon Emperor0: This'll be important for later. We have a big "intellectual arms race" planned for Beast Hunters, and these two cylinders will be some of the key pieces of it. Also, Miko's halfway through her pregnancy.
ThermalsniperN7: It's almost time for a baby Bioformer to be born. Not quite as soon as some of you think, but still. Anyway, see you next time.