Monterey Bay, California, USA
Evacuating Monterey Bay was not an easy proposition. The best he could do was rope off the area around the Aquarium for a couple miles.
And that was definitely not secure.
Agent Fowler could foresee the weeklong paperwork headache. Especially since the flying shark seemed very interested in the aquarium.
To add to the headache. Megatron was there.
"Listen to me, Predacon, the Autobots will destroy you unless you ally yourself with me and the Decepticons! Together we can build this world into a paradise for our kind!"
From what Fowler could tell, the Predacon wasn't actually destructive, just … flying around the aquarium. Megatron finally got its attention by slamming into it and knocking it into the bay.
"What do you want?! This is a protected area!" The Predacon transformed
A woman screamed. Fowler winced to see that she had been on a boat, most likely trying to get to the dock, only to get swamped when the two bots had slammed into the water. She had a red jacket on, but had most likely removed her life jacket at some point or had never put it on.
The Predacon scooped her up.
"Release the human, she's done no harm to you!" Ultra Magnus shifted. "Don't hurt her!"
"I'm not gonna hurt her!" The Predacon huffed. "I gotta put her down on land! Humans can't handle the open water for long." He made no move to do so, however, instead he tilted his head as if listening to something.
Fowler glanced at the nearby aquarium. The automated announcements were still playing, Fowler could faintly hear them, but which one the Predacon was listening to was up for debate.
"Magnus, he's listening to the Aquarium announcements!" Fowler called out.
"Cease listening to the humans babble. They are beneath you!" Megatron looked annoyed.
"This planet and its inhabitants are to be protected from Decepticons! We Autobots have taken up that charge. It's not easy, and we're still learning how, but Megatron is willing to kill all life on this planet so Decepticons can rule!" Ultra Magnus informed him.
"Allow me to get rid of the distraction." Megatron's arm canon pointed right at Fowler and Ultra Magnus.
Fowler had a moment to think that he wasn't going to be able to run in time when Megatron got blasted.
"You're gonna hurt the indigenous species of this planet, I won't help you." The Predacon got out of the water, gently setting the woman down.
"Hey, ma'am, are you alright?"
"Iie, no." The woman stumbled through two languages. "I just wanted a nice vacation, not another disaster. Instead of Flying lobsters there's a flying shark!" She was a little hysterical, and it took a little while before she calmed down to give her name.
Megatron was not pleased by getting blasted. Wheeljack's arrival and Megatron receiving a call only had him glare as he retreated through a ground bridge.
"I'm Ultra Magnus, second in command of the Autobots. This is Wheeljack, a wrecker."
"I'm Sky-Byte." The Predacon introduced himself. "Is the human okay?"
"I'm Kelly." The woman looked up. "Thank you for saving me. I need to lie down for a bit." She muttered something in Japanese that sounded a little less put together, Fowler recognized the word for 'dream'.
"She'll be alright, I'm Agent Fowler. Welcome to Earth!"
"We need to leave, apparently there is trouble with the others." Ultra Magnus announced.
"I'll do cleanup. Head back to base and let Sky-Byte know what's going on." Fowler agreed.
Sonora, Mexico
Optimus Prime dodged multiple fire blasts. The situation here had deteriorated swiftly, as neither the unknown Predacon or Predaking was happy with his existence.
However, the unknown Predacon had been destroying things at random and had swiftly attacked Predaking as well. Optimus did his best to keep them from approaching any human settlements.
This Predacon was a two headed dragon with wings, and the heads were very likely to snap at each other as they were Optimus or Predaking.
Of course, that was when Megatron arrived and slammed Optimus away from the fight.
"I see diplomacy has failed yet again." Megatron noted.
"Ultra Magnus to Optimus Prime, we're sending the Predacons to help Roadhauler. Miko is staying at base with Ratchet. Shall we join you at your coordinates?"
The humans didn't have facilities to spare to hold a rampaging Predacon. Megatron and the Decepticons however, did.
"No. Bridge me back to base." Optimus left Megatron to deal with the dragons.
It did not take long for Megatron and Predaking to subdue the final Predacon.
Wayward Island, Maine, USA
Jack was not expecting to see Bumblebee with other bots and humans.
'I'll brief you on everything later. These bots are a civilian rescue team, they are to remain hidden from Decepticons, who have standing orders to kill them. They caught the signal as well and came to investigate. Megatron sent Vehicons. The Predacon destroyed the Vehicons. It's bad.' Bumblebee explained.
Jack nodded, noticing the nearby Vehicon body. Someone had tried to patch up the body. He lifted his head to sniff the air for a moment. He could smell the Predacon and a lot more dead Vehicons.
"If only we'd been faster." One of the bots whispered.
"Then you might have been killed as well." Jack pointed out. "Either by the Vehicons or the Predacon."
"Who are you?" The red bot growled.
"Roadhauler. I'm here to help with the Predacon. You all should retreat and leave Bumblebee and I to take care of it."
"But what if there's someone who survived? They'll need medical attention."
Rescue team. That was probably similar to the Red Cross or Peace Corps on earth.
They wouldn't leave if their skills were needed, but he needed them out of the way.
"You have a boat?" Jack asked.
"Yes." The man in a police uniform spoke up.
"Then get on it and wait. Bumblebee will contact you if we find any survivors." Jack did a double take as he noticed the police officer had a child holding onto him. "You definitely want to send the little one home."
"Blades, get Cody home." The red bot ordered.
"Dani, you'll be going to keep an eye on things back home. Let Graham and Boulder know what's going on."
"Right. C'mon Cody, let's go."
'Keep them safe.' Bumblebee beeped.
Jack heard and smelled the Predacon before it happened. Jack lunged at the flying Predacon without taking in details.
Metal feathers like knives were flung at Blades as he got into the air, but hopefully the trajectory was knocked off enough.
"Tail rotor's hit! Going down!" Blades yell carried.
"There was a cub aboard!" Jack snarled. Green flooding his vision, helped along by the other Predacon's talons as the two scuffled in the air.
Instinct instead of planning had Jack transform the moment the other tossed him off.
Jack hit the ground on all fours, green receding enough to recognize that the other was running off.
An unknown with a Vehicon scent got too close and Jack snarled.
'No! Friends!' Bumblebee got in the way.
Jack's teeth still ended up biting down before he registered that it was Bumblebee.
'It's okay, I know you can't help it.' Bee was saying.
But all Jack could feel was horror as he released Bee's arm.
"Bumblebee!" The civilian bots were just as horrified.
"Bee, I …" Jack glanced to see it was the police car that he had initially lunged at, the police man was visible inside. "I …" Jack's legs gave out, followed by his vision.
Bumblebee was now worried. 'Roadhauler!'
"What in the pit was that?!" Heatwave demanded.
"What Heatwave said!" Kade demanded.
Bumblebee explained as Blades translated for the humans as he patched up Bumblebee's arm.
"Roadhauler was captured by Decepticons, and they forcibly reformatted him into the wolf form using an extremely experimental type of energon that makes you get angry the stronger you get. He's normally very nice but now he lashes out when pushed too far. The only visual warning is his optics turning green. It's why Roadhauler wanted us off the island, he didn't want to hurt us on accident." Blades translated. "He got really upset when Cody was put in danger and Chase got too close too fast."
"So, he's got the cybertronian equivalent of an IED- Intermittent Explosive Disorder?" Dani asked.
"Sounds more like Roid Rage, given the chemical component- what? I know some medical stuff." Kade shrugged.
"Either way, we should get off the island." Chief Burns sighed.
"Let me patch Roadhauler up first, he got pretty clawed up and he did save my life, even if my tail rotor got hit." Blades moved to help the downed wolf. "What the, those are not healthy levels, he's practically got nothing in his system!!"
'That's the other side effect. He's last call for a reason.'
"The decepticons knew about this?!"
'Yes. They wanted an autobot to test it on. Megatron probably found it funny, turning the bot that spared him because he didn't want to kill a helpless opponent into an uncontrollable killing machine.' Bumblebee explained. 'Roadhauler is dependable, he looks out for everyone and pulls others out of danger. He doesn't like fighting. He'd have been a rescue bot, if things had been different.'
Miko had once asked what type of cars they would be if the kids could turn into vehicles. It had been a fun afternoon. In the end, Miko had been undecided, torn between looking like Wheeljack or Bulkhead, Raf had been labeled a smart car, and Jack had ended up as a tow truck as Raf put it 'you're always towing me and Miko out of trouble.'
Bumblebee had, as a joke, put the two altmodes into the small file they had on their kids. Miko had spent several weeks more drawing herself (and the other two) as a transformer, trying to figure out what she wanted to look like.
Bumblebee refocused on Jack as they finished patching him up.
"The Decepticons sound kinda awful." Cody piped up.
'You have no idea.' Bumblebee sighed. 'Please, Roadhauler and I can do this, but not with civilians nearby.'
"Fine, but if you need any medical attention, you know where we are." Heatwave acquiesced to the request with bad grace.
Jack onlined his optics. Blue blinked for a moment before he noticed them. "Sorry, Bee."
'Not your fault. Ready to go hunting?'
"Yeah. Thanks, Blades, for patching me up."
"You were unconscious?"
"I can smell it was you." Jack got up. "You better go before they come back."
The Rescue Bots left.
'Where to?' Bumblebee asked Jack.
"This way."
Bumblebee followed, letting base know there was a Predacon and it was indiscriminate in attacking.
"We're sending you the other Predacons." Ultra Magnus informed him. "Good luck."
Divebomb and Paddles arrived and greeted Jack with gentle nuzzles.
Sky-Byte, on the other hand, immediately decided to argue that he was the leader.
"Do you have any idea of what's going on?" Jack asked.
"I'm not stupid! We're looking for another like us!"
"And how would you get them to listen?"
"Uh… catch them in a net?" Sky-Byte offered.
"Well, that's one option. Right now, follow my lead, we can discuss leadership once everyone is here to discuss it."
"Fine, but I'd be better!"
Bumblebee watched on amusement as Jack started organizing the other Predacons, sending Divebomb and Sky-Byte to explore the sky.
It's almost anticlimactic, finding the last Predacon in a cave dealing with its wounds. It looks like a griffin, purple stripes breaking up its silver hide.
"We didn't know there was a cub." They say sulkily. "I thought they were more Decepticons."
"That's fair." Jack sighed. "They smelled like the dead one."
'What.' Bumblebee beeps, but they don't seem to notice.
"They were a rescue team, they help anyone injured. They don't know how bad the Decepticons get." Jack explains.
"Foolish." The new Predacon scoffs. "You sent the signal that woke us up?"
"Yes. The Autobots need help against the Decepticons. If you don't want to help fight, you don't have to, I just ask that you don't help them." Jack offered, and the Predacon scoffed again.
"Why do you think we had our ship programmed to answer a distress signal? We shall help you." They flared their wings. "First, tell us your story. You are obviously defective."
Bumblebee ducked out of the cave as the Predacons squeezed in. He needed to make sure the Rescue Bots left.
Excerpt from Video File T-A3O10. Special Agent Fowler Reporting
"So, let's discuss which Predacon is which?"
"Right, the pterodactyl is Divebomb, he flew to Smokescreen's aid the moment he heard the signal. Sky-Byte is the flying shark, and he's very interested in earth culture, he's fascinated by concept of literature. Paddles is actually another Autobot that got reformatted by Shockwave into his first wave of Predacons that he sent to Earth and left to die. Paddles is the oldest and the ship he was in crashed here in Loch Ness. He can't get it out, so he's been spending most of his time in stasis waiting for help or a signal. Razorclaw, the striped griffin is a bit odd."
"How so?"
"According to Ratchet, Razorclaw has two sparks. This contributes to Razorclaw using 'we' and 'us' when referring to themselves. Apparently back when they first arrived they were two different bots, but Earth had other alien visitors at the time, The Vok. According to Ratchet that species likes to study newly created planets until they reach a certain point and then they find someone else to study. Apparently, during the fighting the two bots were injured and the Vok that picked up the two thought it would be interesting to merge them into one person, but it didn't quite work."
"Any chance of the Vok returning?"
"Only if we blow ourselves to kingdom come, they also study how worlds and species end."
"Ah. And how are they integrating into the Autobots?"
"Roadhauler's been put in charge. Sky-Byte is not happy, but he's willing to put up with it. Apparently the other Predacons voted for Roadhauler despite him being sick."
"And the ones that are not helping the Autobots?"
"With the Decepticons." Agent Fowler sighed.
"And the incident where Roadhauler bit Bumblebee?"
"Bumblebee is saying it was his fault- Roadhauler was still feral and Bumblebee approached despite seeing the green optics meaning Roadhauler was under the influence."
"And Roadhauler's opinion?"
"He requested that the others kill him if he lunges at any of them again. The bots are talking him out of that and would prefer to just put him in a coma instead."
"I see."
"Oh, it gets worse, remember how I remarked that Prime refers to the Autobots that visited earth as 'Ancient Autobots', and that their concept of time is a little skewed compared to ours?"
"Yes?"
"Smokescreen, Roadhauler and Bumblebee are the equivalent of teenagers. To the Autobots, it's the equivalent of having a kid ask you to shoot them."
"That explains a lot. I do have to ask if you think we will have to deal with the problem."
"Sky-Byte has already volunteered to kill him if Ratchet fails to induce a coma. If he fails then yes, we should be prepared to stop Roadhauler."
End Excerpt
The Decepticon roster will be in the next chapter.
Sky-Byte joins us from Robots in Disguise of the early 2000s. He was joined by Kelly, a background character of the same series who kept getting caught up in the transformers business without becoming a main character.
Crossover with Rescue Bots, but this is their only cameo in this story. (Maybe?)
Razorclaw is an alternate version of Tigerhawk from Beast wars. Only he got picked up at some point by Unicron. The backstory given is roughly that of Tigerhawk's, but I honestly prefer the name Razorclaw.