Note: The character Vulstrun comes from Tyroth Darkstorm's fanfic 'Nemesis' go to his profile or my favouraite stories page to read it.
Chapter Eighty-Two
Meeting Again
Another few day's past after the incident with the Shadow-Zone and it was back to business with the Autobots, the Hamato Clan and the Mutopians.
After Pandora, Kemeko and the Geckolings told the adults and the bots about their adventure in the Shadow Zone, they were shocked to realise that Skyquake was trapped in there as a zombie, and they were in a way glad he was as he couldn't hurt anyone else when trapped in there.
They were also proud of the way the kids had handled themselves as a team when faced with the Zombie-Con.
The kids were proud of themselves too, yet Pandora surprised everyone by saying that it was experience she hoped not to repeat.
"Come again Pandora?" Sonia had asked surprised at her honoured cousin and Pandora often boasted that she would take any enemy in a re-match if they ever faced her, no matter how dangerous or if the hybrid had almost lost her life in battle.
Though she was brave, everyone knew the hybrid could be way in over her head a lot.
"After what we went through?" Pandora answered, "I think I'd rather stick to our usual enemies, even Shredder didn't compare to that monster we faced in the Fourth Dimension, not even Vulstrun!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear you say you wouldn't repeat what happened again!" Tyroth had said with a knowing smirk.
"Do you feel the same about Vulstrun?" Raphael had asked after Pandora had brought up Tyroth's Golden counterpart.
"Between the Zombie Con and Vulstrun?" Pandora asked and everyone had watched her curiously.
"I'd pick neither." She said, "I wouldn't want to repeat of that Golden murderer at all."
"Oh, thank goodness for that!" Sonia had replied "After what we witness those years back, and you were only thirteen!"
"Younger than little Kemeko here and you took on a beast twice your size?" Ironhide had exclaimed "You are one tough lass!"
"Tough as nails that's me!" Pandora had grinned at the veteran "Learnt it from the best!" she said gesturing to her family and the Knights.
"Still got to work on the impulse urges though." Raphael muttered "But I can give you credit for actually working with your cousins to get yourselves safely away from Skyquake."
"Shows Pandora can be sensible!" Freya teased and nudged the hybrid "Think you can continue to be more like that?"
"No promises!" Pandora chuckled.
"Nevertheless." Optimus interrupted "We are just glad that you are back with us and safe."
"I couldn't be more grateful!" Leonardo smiled up at the Prime as he continued to hold Kemeko close.
"Especially to you Ratchet." Raphael chimed in to which Ratchet smiled again proudly as well as sheepishly.
After a couple of days, the Mutopians decided to return to Chicago since Hugh had told them that he had been given a few tip offs about crime activity over there, and as much as they didn't want to say goodbye they knew they had a job to do in Chicago and they promised they would return if and when the Hamato Clan, the Autobot's and Fowler needed assistance to which Optimus promised them that they had a home and a place whenever they returned.
Loki had been reluctant to leave given how he had enjoyed learning about the Autobots and especially the cybertronian technology and he was already begging his parents on when they would return to which Tyroth promised that if he was good that they would return to the silo much to his excitement.
As of now, Bulkhead had travelled to Northen Russia to an abandoned Town in the shadow of a smoking volcano where he had been given a mission to scout energon.
He had managed to find the location of the energon and was about to mine it when a hammer appeared out of nowhere and sent him flying into one of the buildings.
Bulkhead was alarmed and winded as he went crash into one of the buildings, then he looked up to see a familiar face and weapon before him and one he was not at all happy to see.
"Bulkhead! Imagine you and I bumping into each other in the middle of nowhere while tracking a stray energon signal!"
There before him, morphing his hammer weapon back into a servo was none other than his arch enemy Breakdown.
"Yeah Breakdown, must be your lucky day!" Bulkhead spat with sarcasm and anger, and he jumped up and both bots ran at each other before clashing their servos and pushed against each other.
"Where are your little pets?" Breakdown asked cruelly as he smirked at Bulkhead.
"How about when I finish with you, I pay the little brats a visit?"
Bulkhead growled.
It was bad enough to insult him and fight him, but the way Breakdown spoke of his two organic friends that he had come to love, this was too far.
With new strength added to his anger, Bulkhead shoved Bulkhead back and pushed him to the ground.
"So, the Wrecker's got a soft spot!" Breakdown mocked.
Bulkhead roared and lifted his right servo which morphed into a wrecking ball to bring down on Breakdown's head, but the Decepticon took the chance to roll away just as Bulkhead brought his weapon down, then he took a few swings at Bulkhead who ducked and swung back, but Breakdown soon got the upper hand and struck the wrecker in the jaw sending him flying back and he landed on his back winded.
He groaned in pain, yet he couldn't find the strength to get up before Breakdown stood over him and he felt the Decepticon's Hammer against the side of his head.
"As much as I'll miss our little reunions." Breakdown smirked "Hammer time!"
He lifted the hammer to bring down on Bulkhead and offline him there and then when he felt an electrical surge run through him and he shouted in pain before falling backwards and unconscious.
Bulkhead blinked as he saw Breakdown go down then saw several helicopters fly through the sky above him.
Because it was so dark, he couldn't tell who they belonged to, and his strength was fading him from where Breakdown had hit him, and he soon passed out with exhaustion.
What Bulkhead nor Breakdown didn't know was that the terrorist Organisation Mech had been in the same area, and they had tracked both Cybertronians to this ghost town and their intention was to acquire one of them to be studied for their use.
Despite the failure to acquire the Dingus those months back, Silas after he had become aware of the Cybertronians had made it his mission to track down one of them to study their biology and technology so they could be of use to his organisation.
Silas stepped out of one of the helicopters as his soldiers ran up to the two motionless bots.
As he studied them, one of his right-hand men stepped up to him.
"Sir." He said, "We only have the resources to transport one."
Silas frowned as he would have liked to have had both, but he thought for a moment before settling on Breakdown.
"Take the victor." He smirked to which his colleague nodded and called out orders to the others to secure and transport Breakdown.
Bulkhead wasn't sure how long he had been out cold when he heard a voice in his audios.
"Bulk! Bulkhead! Bulk! Do you read me?"
Bulkhead groaned as he opened his optics and looked around.
"Ugggh, Pandora?" he asked.
"There you are Bulk!" Pandora exclaimed "What's going on? Are you alright?"
"Ugggh." Bulkhead moaned then his optics shot open as he remembered what happened and he sat up with his fists at the ready in case Breakdown was still around, yet he couldn't see his rival anywhere.
"Hey kid." He said, "Let Ratchet know I need a ground-bridge."
"Right away!" Pandora's voice was heard.
About half an hour later, Bulkhead was back at the base sitting on a medical berth whilst Ratchet was patching up his wounds from his fight with Breakdown.
Pandora and Kemeko were standing nearby.
Both girls were wearing dance clothes, Pandora was wearing a black and orange leotard whilst Kemeko was in a white ballerina's outfit complete with a tutu.
Before Bulkhead had headed out on patrol, he had arranged with the girls to join them in their dance and aerial activities.
Even though the wrecker couldn't climb the silks or dance delicately and gracefully, the girls had used him as a support and prop when they practised.
For example, Kemeko would practice her spins and pirouettes whilst Bulkhead held her hand or he would hold the end of Pandora's silks and lift her up letting her swing and fly around him.
Their parents and the Autobots were worried for a while but once they saw Bulkhead taking care as he assisted the girls, they enjoyed watching him and applauded him.
However, this time it looked like their session was put off because of what happened to Bulkhead.
As the wrecker sat there, he looked up at Optimus who looked rather disappointed with Arcee, Bumblebee and Ironhide standing beside him.
"Engaging the enemy on your own was foolish Bulkhead!" the Prime scolded.
"Breakdown jumped me!" Bulkhead defended "I knew I could take him!" he groaned in pain as Ratchet continued to work on him.
"Stay still!" Ratchet ordered, not taking his eyes off his work.
"But we should see the other guy, right Bulk?" Michelangelo asked from the raised platform where the rest of the Hamato Clan were gathered.
Bulkhead looked awkwardly at the turtle.
"Uh, yeah, about that." He said.
"Huh?" Pandora asked from below "You didn't torch him?"
"Not exactly." Bulkhead admitted "I figured you all did!" he pointed at the rest of the team.
"Not us." Ironhide said "We were elsewhere."
Arcee and Bumblebee agreed.
"When I came to, Breakdown was just gone." Bulkhead reported "I remember hearing a copter before I passed out, maybe it was Agent Fowler!" he theorised but he soon heard the Agent's voice from above.
"Not me!"
Everyone looked over to see the human liaison to the Autobots walk from the lift to the edge of the raised platform.
"William!" Leonardo exclaimed as he saw the agent walk in.
"How do you do?" Monalisa cried "What brings you here?"
"At ease!" Agent Fowler said giving a salute then walked over to the rails.
"But I have an idea who!" he said looking at Bulkhead "Show me where is con-napping occurred!"
Bulkhead nodded and he turned to Ratchet who had finished working on his arm and making sure the girls were not underfoot, the medic went over to the screens and pointed where he had sent Bulkhead on his energon scouting mission as well as where he had been picked up after he had requested a ground-bridge.
"This is where we picked up Bulkhead.' He informed.
"Where's that?" Kemeko asked as Bumblebee lifted her and Pandora up so they could have a look.
"The Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia." Fowler explained "Much of it was abandoned twenty years ago when it's volcano first erupted, my intel reported Mech Activity there earlier today."
Hearing the word Mech, the Hamato Clan's blood ran cold as they remembered their first encounter with them when helping Fowler transport the Dingus.
"No way!" Michelangelo explained "Those Techie jokers!"
"The ones who tried to crash the train with the Dingus on it!" Raphael cried.
"Those bastards!" Monalisa snarled as she remembered as well as how she had tried to shoot down the helicopter with her arrows.
"The very ones who know of our existence on your planet." Ratchet said darkly.
"They must have tracked one of us there!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
"But what would they want with Breakdown?" Raphael asked.
"What's it matter?" Arcee drawled "they can have him!"
Bumblebee bleeped in agreement.
"Darn tootin' they can!" Ironhide quipped.
Bulkhead laughed.
"Dragged off by humans! Guess I softened him up for them!"
Optimus meanwhile frowned.
"Ratchet, reactivate the previous ground-bridge co-ordinates." He requested to which Ratchet nodded and did so.
"We will rescue Breakdown." He spoke.
"WHAT!?" everyone shouted in surprise.
"Optimus you can't be serious!" Arcee exclaimed.
"You lost your mind Prime!?" Ironhide demanded.
"No way!" Raphael cried "Rescue a Decepticon?"
"Mech can melt him down for all I care!" Bulkhead said, "Let the cons rescue their own!"
"Yeah! If Megatron cares, he can call in the rescue team!" Michelangelo cheered.
Optimus coughed.
"It is unlikely that Megatron would bother with an errand of mercy." He said.
Pandora frowned.
"Dishonourable Fuck!" she spat.
"Pandora!" Monalisa exclaimed.
"Watch your potty mouth!" Donatello scolded.
"Well he is!" Pandora growled "Not that much different from the Foot! Shredder, Arashi or Dr Arden would be the same if one of their cronies ended up in the scrap!"
"She's got a point!" Michelangelo quipped.
"Enough!" Splinter snapped then turned to the Autobots.
"I'm with the Hamato Clan with this!" Arcee said "This is Breakdown we're talking about!"
"Sometimes we must rise above ourselves for the greater good." Optimus responded.
"Oh what's that supposed to mean!?" Bulkhead demanded "Breakdown's gonna be grateful and go all soft and join the cause?"
"Fat chance!" Pandora agreed.
"While it is unlikely that any Decepticon will choose the path of good, even they possess the potential for change." Optimus stated.
"There's some truth in that." Splinter said.
"Uggh! I knew where this was headed!" Bulkhead groaned.
"By greater good, I meant Humankind." Optimus said in a serious tone.
Everyone was confused as they heard the Prime, but Leonardo caught on.
"Guys! He's right!" he exclaimed.
"What?" the turtles, Monalisa, Splinter and the girls looked at the blue masked turtle.
"Mech presents a clear and present danger!" Leonardo said "Think about it! They got Breakdown and they're gonna pick him apart to see what abilities he has, and they may use him as a weapon to threaten humankind!"
Monalisa gasped as she listened and she remembered how Dr Arden had used her as an experiment and her DNA, and he had done the same to Tyroth years back.
"Oh shell!" she cried "When Arden used me and Tyroth!"
"Oh man! I remember that!" Donatello said looking rather pale.
Fowler looked at Bulkhead and glowered.
"Prime and Leonardo are right two ton!" he said, "Mech's obsessed with obtaining groundbreaking technology!"
"Which means we cannot allow Cybertronian biology to fall into their hands."
"And who knows what might happen if they can use it against anyone." Donatello said, "The Foot aren't that much different given what they've tried to acquire to use against us and their own enemies."
"Agreed Donatello." Splinter said then turned to Optimus hoping he had a plan.
And now we're onto the Operation Breakdown Episode! Hope you enjoy my take on it as we progress!