Transitional Stages

by V the Happy Lurker

"How come you never let me drive?" It all started out with a simple question and a car wash. Things snowballed after that... Slash, UST, angst, body horror, general horror, and an unhealthy dose of CRACK.

11. Stage 02-01: Terminal Lunations

Note: Warnings for this and subsequent chapters include: period accurate language that includes slurs, homophobia, very politically incorrect attitudes about disabilities and mental illness in general, and other sensitive topics. There is also body horror as well as body dysmorphism, stalking behaviors, self-harming, moral ambivalent to outright criminal behavior, discussion of conspiracy theory nonsense, violence, brutality, and fnord. Please remember that this is a work of fiction. Actions taken by the characters are to progress the plot or otherwise enhance the story. If it sounds dangerous, illegal, or morally dubious to do in the real world, then the author wishes to remind you that you shouldn't do it yourself nor do I condone a lot of shit that went down in the 80s and 90s.

"Hey," said a voice in the darkness. "Sorry to disturb you, but we… uh, we need you right now."

"What?" Hellrider groggily sat up, staring at the dripping ghost of Presser that stood by the bed in the creepy golden goat get-up.

"We need you right now," they repeated urgently. "It appears that Starscream has seen fit to hasten events by using a far more virulent type of nanite than what he claimed to have given us and we are forced to use you much, much sooner than planned…" They paused, then added cheerily, "Oh! And happy birthday! Sorry for making you work it, but we desperately need your help. Please, come along."

"How?" he grumbled, swinging his legs over and wincing as his feet touched the icy floor. "Door's locked. Even if I picked it, there's definitely alarms. And the cameras…"

"Power's out again in most of the facility," they said curtly. "We have to draw a lot of electricity to do what needs done. This section is one of those affected currently."

"Door's still locked."

"You need not worry about doors where we are going. Now, come. There is work to do."

Hellrider just sighed and followed the ghost into the pitch black shadows that even his newly augmented eyes couldn't see through. All he could see was Presser floating along in front of him as they walked for what felt like hours. Finally, they came to plain looking door and he thought he could just make out the sound of a little child crying but trying hard not to be heard.

Presser opened the door and quickly shoved Hellrider into the room before shutting the door back. It lead from a closet out to a kid's room, but with an eerily barrenness and a bit too much religious paraphernalia for his liking. Everything was distorted, with skewed angles that made the room seem far too big and left him feeling like a little kid having a nightmare. From beyond the other door, he clearly caught the distinct sound of a woman sobbing as a man screamed and beat her around.

The sickly little boy, barely over four years old, on the bed shrank back fearfully at the sight of him. "Who… who are you?"

"Uh… I…" As Hellrider floundered for words, Raoul quickly took back control as rage washed over him. "I'm a friend. Now, wait here while I…"

Raoul tried the door, only to find it opened out into the void.

"Oh. Shit." He quickly shut it back, wondering where those sounds were coming from.

"You… you shouldn't use bad words, mister."

"I'm going to use more than that on the bastard hitting your mom… That is your mom, right?"

The boy nodded meekly. "Father is mad with her again."

"Again?"

The boy nodded. "He gets mad at mom about a lot of things. This time, it's because she let Nana take me to the doctor about my legs…"

"Why the hell would he be pissed about that?"

"Because father says that the doctors all work for the Devil and only God is supposed to heal you," said the boy miserably through a fat lip which had a fresh scab on it. "He also says that my Nana is going straight to hell because she took me to them and got me glasses and then got me vaccinated, too."

Raoul stared at him a moment, the oppressive atmosphere of the room weighing on him like a lead blanket, then quietly said, "Let me guess: your family are Christian Scientists, right?"

"That's was father says we are," the boy grumbled, pronouncing his word very precisely as he hugged his stuffed bunny tightly. "According to him, Nana and Pawpaw and all the rest of mom's family are going to hell anyway because they're Lou-tha-rans. And father says that only people who follow preachers like Pastor Holloway are going to be saved when Jesus comes back."

"Sounds like you and your mama would be better off without him."

The little boy let out a nervous giggle. "That's what Nana and Pawpaw say, too. Uncle Jim even offered to help get mom a dee-horse." The boy suddenly went grim again, eyes watering as he tried to stay quiet. "And that's going to send her to hell, because you can't do that and go to heaven. And it's all my fault again, because I keep getting sick and my eyes aren't good and I don't pray enough… and I'm a crybaby and I act too much like a 'sissy' and I'm broken… I'm broken… broken…"

"No, sweetie, no," Raoul said gently as he sat down next to the boy. "No. This isn't your fault. You're just a little kid whose mom and Nana love you and want the best for you. That bastard is the one doing wrong here. He's got no right to call himself a father or even a man."

"Pawpaw's always saying that, too."

"And your Pawpaw's right." Carefully, he patted the boy on the shoulders to sooth him. "Now, calm down. Everything's going to be okay."

"I don't believe you…" the boy said softly as he squinted at Raoul suspiciously. "Hey! I… I've seen you somewhere before."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You were… we were…" The boy's brow furrowed. "There were a bunch of really, really big robots… There was one really, really nice one, too… His name might be Owl… No. No, it's Prowl… His name is Prowl… and… and…"

The loud bang as the hall door burst open caused Raoul to look away suddenly. When he looked back, the boy was now a familiar teenager.

"What are you doing here?" asked Chip, apparently unaware that everything but the bed had slowly dissolved into the void.

"Good question," Raoul grumbled back. "I got dragged here by a little ghost, and she didn't bother to tell me shit."

"We did not need to," said Presser as they stood floating at the foot of the bed. "You have done precisely what needed done."

"What?" Chip gasped, clinging to Raoul in fear. "She… she's real?!"

"Yeah."

"Who… what is she?"

"I'm guessing they're the Devil Z currently," he muttered with annoyance. "And I'd also like to know what the fuck is going on."

"Chip was trapped in a… well, we do not know how to put this to words, but his past trauma had trapped him in loop. We were expecting this but we still have… uh, difficulties working with humans, which is why we needed you to come along."

"A loop?" asked Chip.

"Yes. Basically, you would have been stuck reliving those wonderful childhood memories of your over-glorified sperm donor abusing you and your mother over and over and over… until either you got lucky and died or became a vegetable and spent the rest of your miserable existence trapped in that hell. So we had Raoul here serve as a distraction to break you out of it."

Raoul just frowned as he looked to Chip. "The bastard beat you too?"

Chip was quiet a moment, then rapidly said with a chilly calmness, "Doesn't matter any more. That was the last night I ever saw him. Our neighbors called the cops, my father decided it would be a great idea to punch one of them, wound up in jail, my mom went to a lawyer as soon as she left the hospital, divorced him, got sole custody as well as an order of protection and we moved to Washington well before he got out." When he noticed the look on Raoul's face, he just chuckled and shrugged. "My stepfather is the best dad anyone could ask for and I guess Carly can be a good sister, too. The rest is all dead and buried in the past now."

Presser started to say something, but stopped when Raoul glared at them. Instead, they shrugged and said, "Well, since you have been calmed, it is time for us to get on with things."

Raoul was about to ask them what that was, but the void resolved into the gullet chamber with Chip laid out in the Sarcophagus and him sitting on the side. He noticed Chip looked pale and feverish, then he looked down to where the guy's legs should be. "Oh fuck…"

"What?" Chip sat up slightly, following Raoul's gaze. "Oh. Huh. So that's why I've been feeling all that itching."

Chips' legs seemed to have been melted off, ending in mess of tissue mid-thigh like dripped candle wax. Beneath the skin, things squirmed and writhed as they slowly chewed, making the skin bubble and seethe as they methodically ate away the flesh.

"And that is why you are here," said Presser as she lowered herself in closer to them. "We have work to do, prophet."

Chip stared up at her in horror. "What the hell is that?"

"That's Dr. Elise Presser," Raoul said casually as he stood up and started assessing the damage on Chip's legs. "Just how the fuck am I going to…"

"You're not." Presser's words rang sharply, echoing through the chamber. "That's why he is here. Starscream triggered the kill command, and now the nanites are literally eating you alive. There's nothing else that can be done, except…"

"She's offering to make you a robot," Raoul said bluntly.

"Really?" The horror in Chip's expression changed to a hesitant hopefulness. "How is that…?"

"This whole room is designed to make robots," Raoul said, gesturing to the various machines as Hellrider took over. "The Sarcophagi in which you lie shall dissolve your body into the aqua regia of Chaos Bringer, the profane fluid refined from the pathetic flesh to be combined with the divine host of Primus' living metal in this tank. You shall become the gold and silver caterpillar melting within this mechanical cocoon… This womb of steel, of plastic, and of glass… And as the moth and butterfly rise again, so shall you, young brother. Very beautiful… very powerful…"

Chip gave him a nervous look, shrinking away slightly. "Okay…"

"And there's more." Hellrider's voice was soft as he spoke, smiling gently at Chip. "While that's going on, the rest of your body is used to form the initial seed for the spark. An emerald germ that will be placed in that machine to be bound into a crystal matrix and is then placed into the laser core here in your new body. The source of power for the new flesh and the blessed curse in the form of a marvelous gift. A small consolation for our damnation… The last phase is when the synthetic flesh and other parts are formed onto the synthiod shell. The roses of our masters shall be woven into the body and the key. The blood of dragons that flows from that sacred burning heart of our truest form." He gently stroked Chip's hair. "And then shall you not only be whole again but also one of us, young brother."

"…this is how Cybertronians are made, isn't it?" Chip softly asked.

Raoul nodded, regaining control again as he backed off quickly. "Yeah, mostly. There's a few minor differences to account for the human scale, the inclusion of trans-organic organs, and the incorporation of the God Master technology. Basically, this process will turn you into a robot that serves as the laser core and brain module to a transtector."

Chip stared at him silently for a long time, then suddenly began laughing. "This… This can't be real! I… I'm hallucinating, aren't I?"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you're dead, Raoul."

"What?"

"You are dead," Chip repeated. "I remember Professor Vine telling Metalhawk you died on the operating table when we came to get you. Prowl didn't want to bring me along, but I talked him into it because I thought you'd rather have another human around. I… I don't remember much else, because that's when I passed out because…" He pointedly looked back at his legs, the laughter turning to choked sobs. "Oh god… I'm dying, aren't I?"

"You're not dead yet," Raoul replied sharply as he began hooking Chip up to the machine. "And Vine lied to you. I'm still very much alive…"

"Oh. Oh…" gasped Chip. "I know this is not a good time, but Tracks…"

"Don't worry about that now, okay?" he said as Hellrider sneakily took control again while he was double-checking to make sure that the scientist had supplied everything needed. "You need to be more concerned about yourself."

Chip was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Will it hurt?"

"Yeah," he replied. "It's going to be the worst pain you'll have ever felt. But you can make it. The agony shall become the ecstasy. Because this is what you've always wanted, isn't it Chip? You've always wanted to throw that body away for a new one. A better one. Something stronger. Right, Chip?"

"…yes. I have thought about that," Chip said hesitantly. "The devil lady talked to me about it before I fell into the loop, said I had to make a choice. Like she kept asking me in my dreams… She said I could either die a human… or live on as a robot. A lot of people in my position would love to have a chance like this. I mean, not only can I finally be able to learn more about an alien species, but being able to walk too? To not feel so… well, helpless? Yeah. I do want this."

"Good." Hellrider, pressing a brotherly kiss on Chip's forehead before he looked up at Presser. "Can I stay with him? I don't want to make Chip go through this alone… like I had to."

"We were here too, you know?"

"You know what I mean."

The Devil Z giggled. "Yes, yes. You may stay. In fact, we wish to have you assist us in our friend's rebirth. But first, shift into your armor. It will protect you from the radiation and the heat as well as make it easier to do the work."

Hellrider did as he was told, donning his armor as Presser sealed the Sarcophagus shut. He stood nearby, watching as Chip's body was dissolved while whispering soothing words to the boy even long past the point when he knew Chip could no longer hear. As the shimmering green mass began the form, the Sarcophagus opened and Hellrider gently fished it out.

As soon as it was out, the mass started to falter and come undone. With gentle touch, Hellrider used his claws to pull it back together. Once he was done, he held the nascent spark in his hands and watched as it's pulse steadied and it grew brighter. Still speaking gently to it, he placed the spark into the batch chamber and started up the process to weave a matrix to hold it.

But the machine froze up, leaving Chip's spark hanging inside as it began to fade again. Quickly and with care, Hellrider pulled the spark out and, not knowing what else to do, began to use his claws to spin the crystal filaments into the matrix to house the spark. Once it was glowing brightly and it's pulsing became steady again, he took the newly finished spark and carefully placed it into the body. All that was left was to wait as the body was rebuilt.

When that was done, Chip staggered into Hellrider's arms and clung onto him like a desperate child.

"You're okay," he said gently, holding the boy up and helping him stagger over to sit on the side of the Sarcophagus.

"It hurts…" Chip said, slumping against the open lid.

"What hurts?"

"My legs… It… It hurts to stand."

"It will pass," Hellrider said softly.
"I haven't walked in about ten years…" said Chip with a nervous laugh. "I… I don't know how I'm going to… Feels like I'm going to have to relearn everything."

"It'll be okay," Hellrider said, patting his shoulder. "I'll do what I can to help. It's going to take time, but you can do this, Chip."

Chip started to speak, but was cut off by the chamber reopening and a group of scientists lead by Vine coming in. Hellrider and Raoul both noted bitterly that it was only two armored and masked soldiers and Burns this time, but none of them had weapons drawn until they saw him standing there.

"What the hell?!" Burns barked, leveling his pistol at Hellrider. "What the fuck is that?"

"That is Raoul," Presser replied in a mild tone. "The armor choice was a bit… dramatic, but they did not give us much say in the matter. Though we will say that it is still perfectly able to stop a normal bullet, Burns."

"Are you okay, Chip?" Vine asked, pushing past Burns as a tech brought over a wheelchair.

"I'm fine, sir," he replied, getting into the chair and tucking a blanket around himself. "Just a bit… sore."

"Good. Good…" Vine turned to Hellrider. "[How the hell did you get in here?]"

He just shrugged. "[Well, since I'm dead, I guess my ghost must've took a little walk and came over to meet your new lab rat.]"

Chip's brow furrowed as he looked over at Hellrider. "Why are you speaking Spanish?"

"He's got a form of aphasia, Chip. He can no longer understand or speak anything but Spanish." Vine spoke with the tone of a teacher talking with his pet student. "I think it might be linked to the damage he suffered prior to being changed."

"You told us he died, professor," Chip snapped suddenly, catching on that something fishy was afoot. "Metalhawk asked you to give Raoul back, and you said he was dead. You told Prowl you couldn't give us his corpse or even show it to us because it'd gotten irradiated somehow."

"Chip, now isn't the time for this…"

"Why did you lie to us?"

"Son, this is a matter of national security," Burns barked, stepping aside to let the heavily armored back-up surround Hellrider. "We are not going to let a bunch of potential hostiles take control of assets that could be used against us."

"Hostiles?!" huffed Chip as he was pulled away from Hellrider. "Are you kidding me? The Autobots are on our side, you asshole!"

"That's what they claim," said Vine in a tired tone. "But we don't know if we can really trust them. So, for the time being, it's in our best interests to consider any N.B.E. not created by us to be dangerous. I know you were… uh, close to them—especially to the one called 'Prowl— and I'm sorry but we can't risk having them turn you against us."

"…of course not," Chip snapped back. "I mean, you're all already doing a fantastic job of that yourselves!"

Vine frowned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Chip, I realize that you've just experienced an extremely traumatic procedure, but that was uncalled for."

"Professor, you're complacent in literally kidnapping me and Raoul!" barked Chip. "I think I'm completely in the right to say that you all are acting shady as hell."

"Chip, we will talk about this later. For now, I want you to let Reid take you to your room to examine you and make sure you're comfortable."

"But Professor…"

"Please, don't argue." Vine nodded to Reid, who wheeled Chip out along with all but two of the orderlies. He turned back to Hellrider with a frosty glare. "[I don't know how you managed to get in here or where you got that armor from, but—]"

"[I told you: My ghost decided to take a little walk]" Hellrider replied sweetly despite the vocal distortions. "[As for the armor? Well, it's another piece of me for you bastards to try and dissect.]"

"[So you have conscious control of it, right?]"

"[Yes.]"

"[Then take it off and let security escort you back to your room.]"

Hellrider laughed softly. "[No. I'm going to stay just like this. Feels more… natural.]"

"Interesting," mused Vine, pulling out a pad to jot a note down. "[So you find it more comfortable to be in an armored shell than to be human?]"

"[This is merely a component. A puppet. I want my body.]"

"[What?]"

"[My body, Vine]" he said quietly. "[I know it's here. I can feel it nearby. And I want it.]"

"What the hell is he on about, Vine?" asked Burns.

"He wants 'his body'."

Burns raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, his what?"

"The subject apparently is exhibiting a form of dysmorphophobia," Vine replied calmly. "He thinks that the robotic shell is his real body. And he wants to have it."

"There is no way on God's green Earth I'm letting you put it into that machine, Vine."

"Why not? This might be the perfect opportunity to see how the suits are piloted."

"No, Vine. I am vetoing that right now. Too dangerous."

"But they might not have had time to install weapons in him," Vine said as he subtly leered at Hellrider. "The subject's shell is also a civilian model, so it may be easy for us to keep under control even without a killswitch. We've proven that most non-military N.B.E.s usually lack heavy armor and, from what we learned during the Atlantis fiasco, our current weapons are now even more effective against them all."

"I don't give a damn, Vine. I wouldn't let you do that even if it had a killswitch. That thing's too damn smart. It got out of it's cell and somehow made it to here without getting caught. It knows something we don't. You are not to let that thing any where near it's shell, understand?"

"Burns, you're being un-…"

"I said 'no', Vine," Burns said in a sharp tone. "Is that understood?"

"…yes."

"Good. Now tell that thing to take off the armor or it's going to get two in the head."

"We wish to point out that might not be a good idea," Presser hummed with a little chuckle as several small tremors rocked the chamber. "We do not believe you want a repeat of what happened the last time shots were fired while inside us."

Burns just glared at Vine. "Doctor, I suggest you remind that… thing that I am fully authorized to have it liquidated at any time."

"Please stay out of this, Elise," said Vine gently. Then he turned to Hellrider and said in a terser voice, "[Raoul, we are not able at this time to allow you access to your shell. Now, please remove your armor, hand it over to me, and return to your room. I will check in on you once I've gotten Chip settled in.]"

"[I can't.]"

"[Why not?]"

"[I told you: This armor literally is part of my body, Vine.]"

"[Do you mind explaining how?]"

Hellrider shrugged. "[It just is, Marty.]"

"[Can you put it away?]" Vine asked, his jaw tensing. "[Our security director is concerned there might be… problems if you remain armored.]"

Hellrider just stood there silently for a moment, then disengaged the armor. Immediately, two soldiers went over to cuff his hands behind his back, but he didn't resist. Hellrider simply stared at Vine with a little smile as they dragged him back to his room. He was a bit annoyed that Burns had the room checked first before he was allowed back in, trying in vain to find out how he'd escaped. It was a bit funny to see how quickly the soldiers darted out after the cuffs came off, locking the door behind them.

They'd likely be spending weeks analyzing the videos to figure out how he got loose, despite the black-out. Maybe they had backup power for essentials like medical equipment, electrified fences, and the all-seeing cameras.

"They don't," said Presser from nowhere. "Have backup power, I mean. Sector Seven is still in deep shit over what happened with… well, with us, so they've been cutting a lot of corners to keep things under budget. Not to mention the fact that everything is 'military spec'…"

"[Huh? You just said their cutting corners]" muttered Hellrider. "[Or are they just spending the most cash on state of the art guns and shit?]"

"Military grade actually means using whatever the lowest bidder had or recycling what was left over from WW2 up to 'Nam. They are mostly relaying on technologies that are 'tried and true' and often outdated as hell, especially with their security and computer systems. We even saw some shit that looked like it came from the Civil War…"

"[Seriously?]" he said, speaking Cybertronian softly. "[What about their fancy bullets, then?]"

"I said 'mostly', boy," she grumbled. "And we are communicating telepathically right now, so you just need to think the words."

"[I'd rather say them out loud]" Hellrider replied. "[I want them to think I'm good and crazy.]"

"Honestly, it just sound like you're beat-boxing and making radio static sounds at the same time," said Presser.

"[Even better! I want them think I've lost my fucking mind, man.]"

"You do realize that will likely get you put under heavy sedation and stuffed into a straitjacket, right?"

"[Let me guess: Martin into bondage?]"

Presser went silent a moment, then said bluntly, "Well, yeah. But I also know him well enough to say with certainty that he's not the type to rape a drugged up patient."

"[What if I just try seducing him the old-fashioned way? Invoke some tried and true pity fucking to get his guard down? And then get those keys…]"

"That might have worked, to be honest. You really are his type and he is into younger men," she replied. "But you've been doing your damnedest to burn every bridge you can. Just napalming what little sympathy he has left."

"[He acted pretty nice to Chip]" he said quietly. "[Or does he have a thing for white boys in wheelchairs, too?]"

"Chip is a student of his. Martin still teaches for the Academy on top of his work with Sector Seven."

Hellrider chuckled. "[So is that how they recruit new eggheads? Go trolling the schools for gifted kids too naive to realize what they're signing up for?]"

There as another silence. "Yes. That's pretty much exactly what the brass expects him to be doing. But I doubt Martin ever planned on recruiting Chip in the first place. He's… rather fond of the kid."

"[Is that why he didn't let them bring the riot squad to get him?]" asked Hellrider. "[Or is it because he's a good little WASP and I'm a Puerto Rican with a rap sheet longer than my arm?]"

"Racism does factor into this. But there's also the fact that you've been observed to be perfectly capable of attacking and even killing other humans."

"[They backed me into a corner]" Hellrider said softly. "[I… I didn't mean to kill that guy. I just wanted to get away…]"

"And yet you were really gung-ho about getting into a brawl with the Shredder. Which is not exactly the kind of thing a mental stable man does…"

"[Fucker had it coming.]"

"Well, yes. Saki has had it coming for years…," Presser said with a small laugh. "It's going to be hilarious to see him die at the hands of a group of turtles straight out from the sewers of Hell's Kitchen."

"[Turtles? What, that a new gang or some shit?]"

"No. They're literal turtles. Mutants, true, but the four of them will be mere boys—barely fifteen or sixteen when they strike down the Shredder to avenge their master's fallen family. Such is the way of the ninja, we guess…"

"[You telling me there's a bunch of teenage, mutant, ninja turtles living in the sewer?]"

"Well, they're toddlers currently, but yes."

"[And they're New Yorkers?]"

"Yes."

"[Makes sense. But I'd have thought they'd be rats or alligators…]"

"Their sensei and adopted father is a rat, if that counts. Though Splinter was born in Japan."

"[Let me see if I'm getting you right: There's a mutated Japanese rat raising four mutated turtles in the sewers of New York and training them to be ninjas to kill a man in revenge for killing the rat's family?]"

"Splinter's family were humans, just to be a bit clearer."

"[Still, raising his adopted kids to be killers?]" Hellrider said coldly. "[Even if the bastard deserves it, that's pretty fucked up, man.]"

"It's no worse than what has become of you, prophet."

Hellrider just shrugged and flopped backwards onto the bed. "[Fuck it. I'm done with all this crap for the night. All I want right now is a beer, a smoke… and maybe some head.]"

"Quiet, prophet. They return."

On cue, the door opened and Vine came in with Donaghue, Phelps and Jones with the camera, plus five heavily armed soldiers.

"[Raoul, we need you to come with us]" Vine said curtly.

"[Why?]"

"[The MRI is back up]" he replied. "[We are going to run a scan on you to see what's going inside you.]"

"[Why? You too chickenshit to use a scalpel? Or are you scared you ain't got nothing hard enough to cut me?]"

Vine smiled politely. "[I would prefer not to resort to invasive procedures if possible. But we have lasers and reinforced saws that can penetrate the armor of an N.B.E., if it comes down to that…]"

"[Fine.]" Hellrider got up and stretched lazily.

"Where's his shoes?" asked Donaghue with a motherly frown.

"He never put any on. [There's slippers in the bottom drawer]" Vine said, pointing at the dresser.

"{I'm good, thanks.]"

Vine just hummed, took out his notebook to jot that down. "I think the subject is not inclined to wear footwear, Donaghue."

"The floor is rather cold, you know?" she said, going over to get the slippers and placing them in the boy's hands. "Here. You might be more comfortable with these on."

Hellrider obediently put the slippers on, doing his best to hide how unpleasant the rough terry-cloth lining felt, then let them lead him out and down the winding halls till they reached the MRI room. He stood to one side flanked by two soldiers as the scientists went about getting the machine prepped for him.

Then the lights went out again.

"God damn it!" Vine snapped as the soldiers cut on the flashlights strapped to their harnesses. He made an odd gesture with his hand towards Donaghue "Marcus, you and Ortiz stay here with Donaghue and Phelps. Holt and Williams, guard the door while I take Rosenberg and Jones along to find out what happened. Clear?"

The soldiers barked affirmatives as they did their duty. Soon it was only Donaghue, Phelps, and two soldiers left with Hellrider. As soon as the door shut, Donaghue turned to Phelps.

"I don't know how long Vine can stall, Zartan," she said sharply. "Zarana and the boy need to swap clothes quickly."

"So, you're the Baroness?" Hellrider said with a grin as he swiftly took off the loose bottoms and the slippers, handing them to her as 'Phelps' just as swiftly stripped down. Underneath the old man's clothing and a really obvious wig, she as already disguised as Raoul, right down to the convenient bandages around her chest. "What you do-"

"Don't bother, darling," she said with a vaguely European accent, playfully tickling under his chin. "I have a man. But you are cute."

"Aunt Ana…" groaned one of the soldiers, clearly big bad Victor.

"Here," Zartan said as Zarana handed over 'Phelps' clothes, keys, and a little earpiece. "Phelps is a rather private individual, recently brought after getting headhunted from Black Mesa. None of the people here knew him at all, but if you need coaching on his background, the code is two taps on the earpiece and I will be feed you prompts. He was partially deaf due to a lab explosion, so no one will notice since it will look like you're just adjusting the volume. He was sent over to study the entity called 'Gilmer' and has a background in mechanical engineering. Also a lover of classic cars and motor racing, in case you need to make small talk. Can you…"

Hellrider's grin widened as he effortless did a few shifts to mimic the pale skinned old man with thin, graying hair while he dressed.

"Impressive," Zartan said, watching the boy put the wig on to complete the look. "I'll have to study you more closely once this is over. I would be happy to improve upon my own body with that kind of technology."

"So, what's the plan now?" Hellrider asked, ignoring the creepy smile on Zartan's face as he turned to the Baroness.

"You are to await further orders, darling," the Baroness said sweetly. "Just blend in and observe. If you can, get as much information on the others, the security, and whether or not they can be recovered safely."

"And if that's not possible?"

"Destroy them."

"All right. Anything else?"

"No. But I must say, you are handling this like a professional."

Hellrider just shrugged, shifting uncomfortable at the feeling of a starched shirt, a canvas lab coat, and tweeds. "Thanks, I think?"

The lights came back on, cutting any further conversation short.

"Fucking idiots…" Vine hissed as he came back with Jones and Rosenberg. "They overloaded the grid to sedate the Atlantis N.B.E. after the previous blackout woke it up."

"Is it back asleep?" asked 'Donaghue'.

"Yes, but this is troubling," Vine said quietly. "In it's struggles, the restraints were damaged. Hopefully, we can get them repaired soon. As for the MRI, I'm afraid we're going to have to postpone it till they get the power sorted out." He turned to 'Raoul'. "[I'm afraid we can't do the scan just now. The soldiers are going to take you back to your room and I will come by later to check in on you. Okay?]"

'Raoul' just nodded, letting the soldiers lead 'him' back out.

Vine then turned to Hellrider, handing him a folder. "Phelps, I want you take this to Powell and see if he needs help examining the items the boy had with him when he was brought in."

"And where is that, sir?"

"In the armory, room 108," grumbled Vine. "Just follow the green line on the wall, okay?"

"Yes, sir." Hellrider dutifully left and followed along the green line winding deeper into the base. As he walked, he opened up an encrypted line. "[Hey, Viewfinder? You up?]"

"[Yes. Are you back in your cell?]"

"[No. The snakes decided to move and I switched places with Zarana. I'm on my way to room 108. I need you to kill the cameras when I get there.]

"[Why?]"

"[Reasons]" he replied. "[Now, can you do that?]"

"[Yes.]"

"[Good. Next, are there any 'cons nearby?]"

"[The Stunticons, Combaticons, Buster, and Firefly can be there under a quarter of a joor]" answered Viewfinder. "[Motormaster, Swindle, Hydra, and Onslaught have already infiltrated the base, awaiting orders.]"

"[Lockdown's with them. Says he'd be happy to help.]" Spyglass said with a bit of surprise. "[Funny. I don't remember anybody hiring him…]"

"[Who's Lockdown?]"

"{He's a merc, Hellrider. A very expensive one, at that]" explained Viewfinder. "[But Lockdown certainly is worth every credit. No idea what he's doing here either. I though he bailed after selling Swindle those hands. Still, it's good to have the bastard on our side.]"

"[Very good. That'll give me plenty of time.]"

"[To do what, Hellrider?]"

"[First, I'm going to break my foot off in Powell's ass]" he said calmly. "[Get Tandy, you three, and my shit after I'm done with him. Then I'm busting everybody out of this hellhole.]"

"[Ratbat is going to be pissed]" Viewfinder said mildly.

"[You think I give a fuck?]"

"[No. But we want it to be made clear that we, the Reflector, are only going along with this under duress.]"

"[You want me to leave your asses?]"

"[No. We just want to be very, very fucking clear that this ain't our idea and we in no way, shape, or form are condoning your actions. We simply answered your questions and are taking advantages of a potential way to escape but wish to make it clear that this is a bad idea.]"

"[Soundwave's listening, isn't he?]"

"[Not at the moment.}" Starscream said politely, his voice over the commlink was so smooth and deep compared to that familiar screech that he almost sounded like a completely different person. "[Hellrider, you are to stand-by and await further orders.]"

"[Eat a dick. I ain't staying here another minute.]"

"[I do so loath having to repeat myself]" Starscream said, his posh tone going very soft. "[But I will say it again: You are to stand down and await further orders.]"

The door of 108 was just at the end of the hall. He flashed the guards his ID and was waved through the gate. "[No. I am getting out. And I'm taking the others with me.]"

"[You are jeopardizing your own life and the lives of your comrades]" replied Starscream, his voice pleasant to the point of saccharine sweetness with a bit of a rougher, more natural Vos accent creeping in. "[Once again, you are stand down and await orders.]"

The lights flickered ominously. Then Viewfinder said, "[We have control of the cameras, Hellrider. As per our current standing orders from Ratbat, of course. 108's cameras are offline and we've looped the feed on all halls leading from there to Gilmer's enclosure. The Devil Z is also ready to kill the power again. We have also contacted the others and they are on the way, ETA in approximately 06:19:00 in 'Eastern Standard' time, giving you roughly forty Earth minutes. Are we doing this?]"

"[Reflector, you are violating a direct order from me]" Starscream spoke with such gentleness it was starting to creep Hellrider out. "{I will give you one last chance to stand down and await my orders. Failure to obey shall be met with severe consequences. Is that clear, soldier?]"

"[Let me repeat: We are doing what Ratbat ordered. And he stated that, should the opportunity arise to escape, we were to take it. We do not need to be present at this base as we can access everything remotely. Are we doing this, Hellrider?]"

"[Fuck yes.]"

Cutting the comm off, Hellrider stepped through the door and locked it behind him before coming up behind Powell.

"Phelps? That you?" the man asked without even looking, trying to pry Tandy open with a screwdriver. "I think I've almost…"

Hellrider cut Powell short hurling him across the room. Before the man could recover, Hellrider was on him and let loose a brief but brutal beating that soon render Powell unconscious in bloody heap. Once sure the other man was out, Hellrider went over and picked up Tandy.

"[You okay, sweetie?]"

"[Fine… I've got scratches on my hinge, though.]" She paused, then said in a worried voice, "[Is that man going to be okay? You… you hit him pretty hard…]"

"[Don't worry about that, sweetie. For now, just hang tight]" he said gently before subspacing her, then doing the same for everything else but the Reflector. "[Can you guys still work the cameras if you're in the pocket?]"

"[No. Subspace disrupts our frequency since it's effectively a different dimension. Just hang us around you neck. The guards won't question one of Vine's assistants having a camera with them]" said Viewfinder. "[Oh, and get this fucking label off of us!]"

Hellrider obliged. "[Call Hoffman. Tell her to get Chip and John Doe. Are they keeping all our transactors together or in different areas?]"

"[They're all in the same hanger, topside. We will have Painkiller bring the others there and meet up with you once the power's killed. Just a warning, though. There might be issues with the guards. We could use a distraction…]"

"[I'm going to let this Gilmer guy out. That good enough?]"

"[…uh, you sure?]"

"[You got a better idea?]"

"[…no. We do feel it necessary to disclose that, while he was one of the 'nicer' members of his trine, Gilmer is still a vicious and brutal bastard. And none of them are particularly fond of humans, given their history and current situation. So just take this one word of advice: when Gilmer comes back online, you better run like hell.]"

"[Right. Over and out.]" Hellrider left 108 and took out the guards quickly, knocking both men out before they could even react. He took their guns and the spare ammo they had, slipping them into the pockets of his lab coast as he hurried down the hall.

Another flicker of the lights threatened darkness again as he hurried along, guided by the Reflector to the hanger with a rather nondescript robot chained down at the center. The guards didn't even question him, waving him through when they saw the ID. He made his way over to one of the consoles connected directly to the robot with the confidence of a seasoned professional, and smiled when he saw it was directly hooked up to the brain module. He was even more pleased to see that these computers were linked up with the ones running the various security holding Gilmer down, a terrible mistake on their part but a godsend for him. Under the guise of observing the readings, Hellrider slipped a claw into one of the ports and slid into Gilmer's sleeping mind.

"[Wakey-wakey, motherfucker…]" he hissed through the connection as he began overriding the various safeguards and rouse Gilmer.

"[What the fuck…?]" came the grumble of a very pissed off old man.

"[Get your ass up.]"

"[…who are you?]" Gilmer asked, groggy and slurring.

"[Never mind right now. Just get up and let's go, old man.]"

"[You a 'bot?]" he asked. "[You sound like an Autobot…]"

"[Who cares? Just get up, asshole. We've got shit to do.]"

Gilmer began stirring, limbs jerking fitfully and straining the already damaged restraints. "[I don't like you tone, boy…]"

"[Like I give a fuck. Just get up.]"

"[Watch you mouth, boy]" snarled Gilmer. "[You got any idea who in the Pit you're talking to?]"

"[Yeah, I do!]" Hellrider snapped back, skillfully sneaking around Gilmer's mind to trigger everything he could possibly find to make the old mech furious, especially the most recent memories of his capture. "[Sounds like I'm just talking to an over-glorified piece of scrap too lazy and stupid to realize he'd being held captive by a bunch of pale-faced, hairless apes with a superiority complex.]"

"[I'm warning you, boy…]" came the menacing growl as Gilmer's body began to shift and pull against the bounds holding him down.

"[Oh… I'm so scared!]" he chuckled. "[What you going to do, you old bastard? Kill me? Ha-ha! Some fucking monster you are! You can't even take on some stupid little meat-bags!]"

There was the threatening groan of metal under strain as Gilmer tried to sit up, awake now and thoroughly pissed off. "[I ain't letting some little punk 'bot talk to me that way…]"

"[Oh, what you gonna do? Kick my ass?]" laughed Hellrider, using a few subtle nudges to the psyche to really set the old monster off.

The techs began panicking, with someone shouting to 'shock the bastard'. And the power went out again right as Gilmer broke free in a shriek of splitting metal.

In the chaos, Hellrider disconnected, shifted into his armor, and ran like hell. A brief glance over his shoulder let him see Gilmer become encased in slimy, fleshy shell as he began lashing out in rage. Hellrider's escape was barely impeded as he rushed to an elevator, tore the doors open as he got in then up through the roof and into the shaft, scaling the wall up several floors like a speed-demon lizard. Tearing the doors apart, he burst out into a hallway and charged down it without even paying attention to the frightened personnel swarming around in confusion. Guided by the Reflector, he made it past the soldiers that had surrounded the surface hanger with the transactors.

In addition to Chip and Knock-Out in his vehicle mode, there was two cyborgs, a lanky man who just stared blankly ahead, and a dun colored robot with purple eyes.

"What the hell?!" snarled Victor, his armor having a cobra theme to it. "Who gave the order to leave?"

"Me." Hellrider calmly said, going over to his currently locked body. "I ain't spending another minute in this shithole."

"You moron. Our orders were…"

"Your orders were to wait. But I ain't very good at following orders…"

"Gentlemen," said Painkiller, helping Chip into the cockpit of a plane that looked more at home in a scifi movie. "I believe we have much more pressing matters to worry about right now."

"Chip, you okay?"

"No, Raoul. I am pretty far from 'okay'…"

"You'll be fine, boy," Painkiller said gently, getting him strapped in and closing the cockpit.

"So now what the fuck are we going to do?" asked the purple-eyed robot, his English having a faint but distinctly East Indian flavor.

Knock-Out let out a nasty little huff. "[Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am almost at my limit! If I get one more ding, I swear to Primus I'm going to…]"

As if on cue, a spray of suppression fire came in through a window, several rounds hitting Knock-Out, putting deep gouges into his vivid red finish but otherwise doing no real harm.

Knock-Out went dead calm as he transformed and took out a trident. The others barely had time to get out of the blast zone when he slammed it down into the ground and unleashed a pulse of energy strong enough to cause the soldiers outside some serious damage.

Hellrider glared at him. "[You could have done that this whole time?!]"

Knock-Out meet his glare with one of his own, but before he could say anything there was a sudden commotion outside.

In the midst of what sounded like a demolition derby in the middle of a war zone, the was a violent 'boom!' as the hanger doors ruptured and a white robot with a red face came charging in.

"[I'm here to save you!]" he barked with a voice that sounded shockingly deep for such a boyish face as he rushed over to Knock-Out. "[Are you all right, sir? …oh fuck! You've been hit…]"

"[Oh, please, don't worry yourself, dear boy]" sighed Knock-Out, suddenly swooning into the taller mech's embrace. "[I'll live… horribly disfigured and traumatized… But I'll live.]"

"[Don't worry, sir! I'll take care of you and fix it as soon as I get you back to the base.]"

Knock-Out smiled, clearly enjoying the attention despite the noise of a pitched battle going on around them. "[Oh, you are truly a sweet boy…]"

"[What the fuck, Breakdown?!}" screamed a yellow robot that was laying down suppressive fire with a plasma-gun. "[Stop flirting with that geriatric fragger and give us a hand out here!]"

"[Watch your fucking mouth, Drag, or I'm going to kick your head in!]" Breakdown roared back, leveling his pistol at Drag with one hand while cuddling Knock-Out protectively in the other.

Drag just stared at him in dulled shock, not even noticing the gunfire just grazing him. "[When in the Pit did you install a set of bearings?]"

"[Shut up you fucking idiots!]" boomed a thunderous voice straight from the depths of hell over the chaos of battle. "[Now get out here, you useless piece of shit!]"

"[You really shouldn't let him talk to you like that, darling]" Knock-Out said as Breakdown pulled away.

Breakdown looked visibly deflated, but forced a little smile. "[It's okay. I'm used to it, sir. Can you transform?]"

"[Yes.]"

Breakdown turned towards Hellrider. "[Hey, uh… what's your name? Can you drive?}

"[It's Hellrider. And, yeah, I can.]"

"[Then get your asses in gear and let's go! We'll cover you.]" With that, Breakdown ran back out to help the others keep the base's forces occupied so they could escape.

"[…such a gallant boy]" mused Knock-Out, taking a moment to clearly appreciate the site of Breakdown's backside before he transformed and gunned it out of the hanger.

Hellrider pushed the unresponsive John Doe into the passenger seat of his alt, then looked over to Painkiller. "You good?"

"Not sure. I'd use the VTOL to get airborne, but I don't think I can break through the roof without doing some serious damage to myself."

"Let me take care of that," Swindle said, aiming a cannon and blowing a massive hole in the roof with a round of scattershot. "That good enough?"

"Yes, thank you." With that, Painkiller tapped her bracers and phased out of sight as her vehicle form rose up quickly and was hurtling away into the brightening sky.

Hellrider turned to see about Victor only to find he'd vanished too. The he heard the sudden sound of thunder and smelt ozone thick in the air.

"[Hydra's fine]" Swindle said with a grin before he transformed into a jeep. "[Now, let's get out of here. And try not to damage yourself. I gave up not only my dignity but a fortune to get those parts, pretty boy.]"

Hellrider laughed and started to climb in to the driver's side, stopped, then after a moment's consideration, tapped his bracers together to merge with the transactor. For the first time in what seemed like centuries, he finally felt whole. Revving his engines, Hellrider peeled out and sped off after Knock-Out with Swindle somehow keeping close behind while the other 'cons kept the soldiers what looked like some Autobots. They flew past the destroyed fence, blazing down the gravel road as tremors suddenly rocked through the earth, as if some massive creature was chasing after them as it burrowed below the ground. Hellrider didn't have long to think about what it was as Knock-Out disappeared down into an almost invisible tunnel. With Swindle practically riding his fender, he was herded into the tunnel and forced to follow after Knock-Out as drove at breakneck speeds.

After what must've been hours of non-stop racing, the tunnel finally opened out into a spacious underground chamber. Knock-Out elegantly doing a little flip as he transformed to meet Starscream, who'd been waiting for them with his trine mates and Painkiller, with comically tiny Chip cradled in her massive hand.

"Good evening, commander," Knock-Out said.

"Evening." Starscream's tone was curt, turning a nasty smirk at Hellrider as he came to stop to let the John Doe out and also pull the Reflector out of his subspace pocket. "I see your impulsive stupidity has somehow managed to garner a critical success, boy. Not only have you freed our comrades and brought both Gilmer and the Devil Z back with your teammates, but also did significant damage to the human's base. And the firefight has forced the humans to reveal that they have their own mechs as well as weapons capable of almost matching our own. Well done."

Hellrider transformed, grinning. "You're wel—"

Starscream's fist cut him short, sending Hellrider reeling back a few steps. "You also violated a direct order, soldier," he said sweetly, another punch crashing into the dazed young mech's face. "I do not like having my orders disregarded so callously. And I did warn you that there are consequences for disobedience."

The next blow sent him sprawling onto the floor, then he heard someone close by shift and felt the grip of a pistol land in his hand. Acting on the VR 'muscle' memory trained into him, Hellrider immediately took aim and fired pointblank at Starscream. The Seeker dodged getting shot in face, but still caught the brunt of the plasma blast to his wing, leaving him hissing in pain much to Hellrider's satisfaction. He scrambled to his feet, keeping the pistol on Starscream. Then he saw the purple Seeker that had been hanging back with Thundercracker blink out of sight. A sharp kick to the backstrut sent him crashing back down the floor as Starscream and the purple Seeker beat on Hellrider until he finally went unconscious.

…

"…have to hit him in the face?" grumbled Knock-Out.

"At least he still functions," said a voice with a decidedly working-class politeness. "I legitimately thought Screamer had killed the idiot."

"…not an idiot," Hellrider growled, head ringing as he opened his optics then quickly engaging the visor to cut down the painful glare.

"Oh good. He's awake," said Scrapper. "Can you stand up, lad?"

"Yeah…" muttered Hellrider, getting up off the table despite his head feeling like it was about to explode. "I'm good to go, man."

"That's the spirit, lad!" the guy said, clapping Hellrider's aching shoulder. "Now, get your aft in gear. We've got a lot of work to do, what with all the damage those humans caused our boys."

"Uh, where the fuck am I?"

"You home, my boy," Scrapper replied pleasantly. "Back on Cybertron."

"…what?"

"We had to evacuate via the New Jersey space bridge and abandon the base because the humans basically swarmed it," he said. "No big loss, though, as we were about to decommission it for a much more secure position a bit further inland. So it was a win-win when we blew it up."

Hellrider stared at him, trying to process the sudden info-dump. "…what the hell? How long was I out?!"

"Given that Starscream and Skywarp would have killed you it Thundercracker hadn't intervened? About a deca-cycle," said Scrapper brightly as he handed Hellrider a repair kit. "Now, I need you to go to room 207 and piece Breakdown back together."

"What happened?"

"The boy seems to have gotten a little too gung-ho in fighting the Earthlings and wound up getting the living slag shot out of him. None of us knew the squishies had such powerful weaponry… or that there were neutrals working for them. From what Onslaught reported, they must've all been cold constructed very recently… Even said they were still chirping, for god's sake! Cold constructed or not, I can't believe the bastards sent babies into combat…" hissed Scrapper, then he calmed down. "The Autobots showed up shortly after the humans sent out those poor little kids and… well, it all went to the Pit. They really did a number on all our boys, but Breakdown was the most severely damaged. Lockdown had to haul him in and we almost lost him several times, but he's stable right now. Thank the Lord that merc was gracious enough not to charge out the aft for that. The poor, stupid boy…" He gave Knock-Out a dirty look. "The way Breakdown was acting, you'd think he was trying to impress somebody…"

"I don't know what you're implying," huffed Knock-Out. "But I've been so worried for the boy, I haven't even repaired myself yet! Or did you forget that I did nearly all the surgical work to keep him alive?"

"All I'm saying is that the boy might not even be in such a condition if he wasn't showing off for someone's benefit…"

Knock-Out threw up his hands. "I cannot believe this! Look, the poor boy was just doing his duty. I'm getting rather sick of you all just assuming the worst of me in regards to Breakdown…"

"The way you act, I'd hardly saying I'm assuming anything," huffed Scrapper as he turned to Hellrider. "Now, I need you to go and-"

"Oh, no you don't!" snapped Knock-Out. "Hellrider is not going anywhere near that boy! Breakdown is a delicate boy who needs to be handled with care. The poor little dear is already so high-strung at the best of times, so in his current condition it'd be dangerous to upset him. So he certainly should not handed off to an inexperienced intern! So, I will postpone my own repairs until I've finished-"

Scrapper cut him off with a little huff. "Oh, shut up! All the damage on you is superficial… And you are going to finish repairs on the Air Commander's wing. Hellrider will tend to Breakdown."

"Why?"

"Because you have far more experience in doing delicate jobs such as that," said Scrapper, clearly frowning behind the face-plate. "Starscream's been patiently waiting and now that Breakdown's stabilized, it shouldn't be difficult to complete his repairs."

"Why not let the boy do it?" Knock-Out said sharply. "How is he supposed to get more experience if you won't let him do anything challenging?"

"Didn't you just say Hellrider is an 'inexperienced intern'? But leaving aside that and the fact that you literally specialize in extremely delicate surgery as well as cosmetic procedures (Screamer wants there to be no marks, you know…)… Oh! And that Breakdown is underage and you're literally several millennia older than the boy, of course…" grumbled Scrapper, his expression clearly not pleased beneath the faceplate. "Besides all that… I don't think it would be a good idea to let the boy here alone with surgical tools and one of the mechs who nearly murdered him strapped down to an operating table."

Hellrider looked at him with a smile. "Why not? I'm sure I could make a lot of people happy when I take out his fucking vocalizer…"

"We've tried that," muttered Scrapper. "Bastard spent so much time bitching over the comm-lines and via datapads that we had to put a new one in… I even managed to get it to sound the way it did prior to the war. Of course, Soundwave broke it again just because Megatron said that rasp 'suited' Starscream better."

Knock-Out raised an eyeridge. "Really? I thought it was because our illustrious Air Commander liked getting choked out…"

"Eh, well… yeah, that too…" Scrapper replied dryly, clearing his vents with a little cough. "And I would rather have the boy do something relatively easy, seeing as he just recently had a near-death experience."

Knock-Out sighed dramatically. "Then why didn't you just leave Hellrider back on Earth? I'm certain that Hook would be more than capable of doing those repairs. I personally trained that boy, for Primus' sake!"

"Because apparently both Soundwave and Shockwave believe our new friend here was going to do a runner if he stayed on Earth. Besides, Hook is busy helping Glit and Mixmaster do inventory on the Nemesis."

Knock-Out started to say something nasty, then thought a moment before grinning. "While I understand not allowing Mixmaster unsupervised access to the pharmaceuticals, you do realize I outrank you, don't you?"

"I outrank you both," droned Shockwave as he came into the room. "Knock-Out, complete repairs on Starscream, then tend to Breakdown. Scrapper, prepare the operating theater on Level Six for three units to be converted into Headmasters and make sure it is stocked with enough materials to rebuild them fully as well. Scorponok will be bringing along the 'master' components shortly. Hellrider, come with me."

Still a bit dazed, Hellrider followed him out as they went down the hall at a brisk pace. They finally came to a halt in one of the antechambers leading outside, where Painkiller was waiting with a dog-sized creature that looked like a centipede/armadillo mix hanging on her shoulder and a trio of Constructicons having a smoke nearby. Hellrider idly noticed that Painkiller's robot mode was olive drab and khaki, only contrasted by the dull red of her visor.

"Is everything ready, Painkiller?" Shockwave asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Head out at once for the Well and the catacombs to acquire the materials. Then bring it all to the operating theater."

With that, he turned and left them to it.

"You good, Hellrider?" asked Painkiller.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Oi! You the new guy?" chirped the Constructicon with the shovel arm on his back.

"Yeah?"

"You single, pretty boy?"

Hesitantly, Hellrider said "Yes."

The shovel guy chuckled. "Good! You got any plans for later?"

Hellrider looked at him with a smirk, finding the eager puppy energy the guy had kind of charming. "Depends. Do you, cutie?"

"No, Scavenger." rumbled one of the others as he pulled the shovel guy away and glared at Hellrider as he loomed over him. "Going to make one thing clear right now, glitch: My baby brother here is off limits. Got it?"

The shovel guy groaned miserably. "For fuck's sake, Long. I just want a bit of tail… Ain't like I'm gonna bond with the guy…"

"Gotta back Long Haul up on this," said the other Constructicon, who was just as massive as Long Haul. "Can't let you ram your rod into crazy."

Scavenger glared at him, his frustration palpable. "Look, I know his voice is creepy, but he's got a nice face and that's a fine aft. Kind of aft I'd like to get to know better… And he's surgeon!"

"A mnemosurgeon. That's a whole 'nother level of bug-fuck crazy. Trust me. I used to fuck with Trepan before the war."

Long Haul stared at him. "For real, Gravedigger? You had sex with that lunatic?!"

"I am not a smart mech," said Gravedigger. "But that shit was almost worth it just for how good the bastard was with his hands."

"And I now I have 'em," Hellrider said, holding his hands up, idly noticing how both wrist cuffs had been polished to a very shiny smoothness as he deployed the needle-claws. "But now I really hope Hook washed and autoclaved them before they got installed…"

"Pretty sure they were cleaned as soon as they came out of the crypt. Lockdown's a stickler for scrubbing parts before selling them. He even removes all the identifying marks, just in case."

"Fantastic. By the way, you got a spare vape? Been craving a smoke…"

Long Haul handed one over.

"Thanks. Hey, you guys know where I can drink around here?"

"Yeah, I know quite a few places," rumbled Gravedigger, clearly checking him out.

Painkiller let out a vent rattling cough. "Boys? Now is not the time to work out the pub crawl itinerary for tonight. We've got work to do."

"Uh, just what are we doing, Pain?" Hellrider asked.

"Shockwave wants us to get a trio of corpses from the catacombs to convert into Headmasters," she said in a business like tone. "First, though, we need to get the corresponding sparks out of the Well."

"Hold up!" rumbled Long Haul. "We're going to what?"

"We need to first get the sparks of Squeezeplay, Fangry, and Horri-Bull, then their bodies. I thought Shockwave already explained this to you."

"Uh, no. All he said was we were hauling their corpses back here to be used as transactors. Didn't say a fucking thing about blaspheming before the Marker themselves!"

Painkiller sighed. "Those are the orders, Long Haul. And you can wait outside if it bothers you so much."

"No. We ain't going," he snapped back, pointing angrily at the creature on her shoulder. "Whatever that thing is going do is sacrilege! And we ain't desecrating holy ground like that!"

"Uh, but you're perfectly fine with desecrating their bodies," said Scavenger. "And weren't those guys murdered? I mean, I think they might like to be alive again…"

Gravedigger glared at Painkiller. "See? You bastards are already corrupting my little brother-in-law here!"

"Brother-in-law?" said Hellrider. "I thought you guys were all siblings."

"Nah! They married in," chirped Scavenger. "See, Mixmaster and Bonecrusher are Gravedigger's brothers, while Hook is Scrapper, Long Haul, and my brother. We were all compatible for combining, but it's much, much more stable if everybody is either siblings or bonded with each other. When Hook finally bonded to Mix, they became fully part of the gestalt with Devastaor."

"You forgot about Erector, Quickmix, and Hauler," muttered Long Haul. "Fucking traitors…"

"Hey! I didn't know Quickmix was gonna join the Autobots!"

"Don't give me that slag!" huffed Long Haul. "How in the Pit didn't you see that coming when you're idiot brother ran off with Erector right at the start of the War?!"

"Look, none of us thought he was serious about the bastard," Gravedigger replied with a snort of exhaust. "I thought it was a casual hook-up or something…"

"Yeah, well that 'casual hook-up' left us linked to a bunch of 'bots!"

"Oh! Like you've got any right to talk, since you're fucking around with Hightower…"

"He's a Wrecker, not an Autobot."

"All right, then what about that mess with Grapple?"

"Hey! I didn't here you complaining when he offered to fuck all of…"

"No! I ain't talking about that," snapped Gravedigger. "That was a bit of fun. And Grapple is such a good sport, even if he was just doing it to get the little Bumble-bitch back. I mean what Hook did after that."

Long Haul groaned, went rumbling. "Look, mate… My brother has a few… uh, issues when it comes to that bastard, all right?"

"Yeah… Issues that got him nearly killed by a minibot!" said Gravedigger. "But Hook should've seen that coming… I mean, we all saw what Hoist did to Overlord…"

"Gave Mixmaster a chance to talk things out with him," Scavenger chimed in brightly. "Still took Hook a while to pull his head out his aft and see that Mix was a far better match for him…"

Shockwave's voice suddenly drone over the intercom. "I gave orders that you are to immediately go to the Well and the catacombs to get the materials. Cease the prattling at once or there shall be severe disciplinary actions."

Despite a few grumbles of disapproval, Long Haul and Gravedigger finished off their smokes before they transformed. The others followed suit, with the creature perching on top of Painkiller's turret, and they drove out into the ruins of Iacon.

As they went along to the Tri-Torus Loop, Hellrider noticed that Painkiller lagged behind while Gravedigger took the lead while Long Haul and Scavenger flanked either side of him. He realized they were purposely keeping him penned in, likely afraid that he'd try to bolt off as soon as an opportunity presented itself. But they didn't need to bother. As much as Hellrider wanted to escape, he had no idea how to get back to Earth. There was the Space Bridge, but he didn't know where it was located or even how to operate it. He'd just have to wait, build up trust with Shockwave or another commander and hope he could convince them to send him back home…

"So you are just going to abandon Chip?" asked the Devil Z, their voice burrowing around his mind like a million maggots.

Hellrider thought it over, then admitted that he needed to figure out how to save Chip, too. It was the least he could do, after what he helped do to the poor guy.

"Oh, now we have a conscious?"

Now? He never really lost it. It was just that his punch-drunk brain had forgotten about Chip till the little monster mentioned it. True, rescuing Chip was going to complicate things, but Hellrider was sure he'd figure it out.

"Like you did escaping Sector Seven? You nearly died and that was pulling off a massive success! How badly things would things end should you fail…"

He ignored them, focusing instead on the road ahead as they turned off onto the bypass cutting along the border between Protihex and Altihex, two former city-states that had been merged into Iacon shortly after the Torus was created during the tenure of Nomininus Prime. It was designed to be a grandiose triumphal promenade leading straight to the Forge Pyramid, still a magnificent and imposing sight despite being rendered a desolated shell of it's former splendor by the War.

They pulled up to the entrance of the Pyramid, where a purple mech with bat wings was waiting for them.

"Greetings, comrades!" he barked, sounding like the robot version of Bela Lugosi as he walked towards them with open arms. "We have been expecting you. Come! There is work to do."

The Devil Z jumped down from Painkiller as she transformed and the guy embraced her in a very awkward hug. Hellrider transformed as well, but managed to avoid getting dragged in by jerking back at the last second but ended up having the Devil Z clamber up to perch on his shoulders. As they followed him into the Pyramid, Hellrider noticed that only Scavenger tagged along with them, leaving the other two sitting on the stairs having another smoke break.

"We have been working on rebuilding the Pyramid," Mindwipe explained cheerfully when he noticed Hellrider looking around at the various drones and mechs scuttling around the place. "Lord Megatron has seen fit to restore this most scared site in the hopes of restoring our world."

"And because he needs to create more troops," said Scavenger brightly. "See, we've been cold constructing bodies and liberating our comrades from prisons or just cleaving spark matter by budding for a while now, but it's still not fast enough to repopulate Cybertron. And there's been a rumor going 'round that Deathsaurus is planning a rebellion, so we will lose access to their factories if that happens. That's why the Pyramid is so important. This place was built upon a massive hot spot. We've already got the protoform assembly lines back online and recaptured several natural smelting furnaces to began sustainably harvesting large amounts of birth metal. We even finished excavations to reopen the Well of All-Sparks just a few days ago!"

"We have indeed been blessed with a most fortuitous series of events as of late. Initially, I was not optimistic about our ability to revive the dead hot spot here. But shortly after we woke up Wrung… uh, Ring? Wong?… eh, the strange old man, we discovered that not only did this hot spot became active again, but our intel shows that many others across Cybertron have returned. I personally am so pleased to see this since I happen to be one of the few blacksmiths left to make the new births possible. I hope that soon, these halls shall again ring with the chirps of protoforms and the throb of forges," Mindwipe said proudly as they travel further down into the structure. "Most of the other ones either got killed during the early years of the war or joined the Autobots. I have been seeking out apprentices to teach, but you would not believe how difficult it's been finding anyone capable of doing the work and with the proper temperament to raise the young properly! At least now I finally have a student… Pity he's currently mode locked because Skywarp's antics. Ah! Here we are, comrades!"

They came up to a massive, ornate gateway that looked like it had recently been added. A battered blue-green robot rabbit sat before it, watching them.

"Hi, guys," said Chip with a strangely glitching voice, sitting up on his haunches to wave a paw at them. He then turned to Mindwipe. "Everything's ready, sir. Rung just dropped off the photonic crystals."

"Excellent! Now, who shall be going into the chamber?" he asked, turning to Painkiller.

"Hellrider will, along with the Devil Z."

Mindwipe gave her a puzzled look. "Uh… what?"

"Shockwave needs us to retrieve some sparks from three dead mechs," Painkiller explained calmly. "Apparently, Hellrider is the only one that can fish them out for us."

"But why does he need to bring the… uh, the creature with him?"

"He needs them to be an anchor. Now, are we doing this or do I need to get Shockwave down here?"

"No, you don't, thought I would like to say that all he told me was that one of your men needed to access the chamber," grumbled Mindwipe as he went over to a control panel. "He said nothing about going to the Well or retrieving sparks. I mean, it's quite… distasteful to disturb the dead in such a manner."

"You literally hold seances all the fucking time," she snapped back.

"Yes, but that's mere necromancy," he replied with a huff. "Talking to the departed is one thing… What you're doing is… well, it's blasphemous!"

"You're opinion has been noted," she muttered. "Now will you please open the damn gate so we can get this over with."

"Very well. But I still want to be clear that this is an affront to Primus himself."

"Again, noted."

On that, Mindwipe activated the release of the much smaller, much plainer door that clearly had been added to the gateway so recently that Hellrider could still smell the welding flux.

"Uh… are you sure I should be doing this alone?" Hellrider asked nervously as he stared into the darkness. "I mean, everybody's been saying this ain't exactly kosher… Shouldn't we wait and get a priest or a rabbi or something to come along?"

"You're a prophet," Painkiller said flatly as she forced him to take the case. "That's good enough. Oh, and take these, too."

She took a basket with three things out of her subspace: a trophy with some kind of chicken-thing on it, a large storage box, and a chunky, clear plastic bracelet with a fancy looking chip set into it that reminded Hellrider rather uncomfortably of something a little girl would wear.

Hellrider took them with a frown, then reluctantly walked through the door with the Devil Z. He jumped as the door clanged shut behind him and waited for his eyes to readjust to the sudden darkness before looking around. He stood a the top of a staircase that lead down to cavernous room with a massive well at it's center that cast the faintest glow in the distance. He cautiously descended but after a few steps a deep thumping began to shake the corridor. Hellrider braced himself against a wall, only to jerk away again when it split apart to reveal gears and pistons lit up with fiery red light. The thumping became even stronger as he staggered down the stairs, which had also been stripped down to just bare grates.

The further down he went, the louder and more menacing the sound of machinery furiously pounding away became. The sound was so powerful that he felt it shake his body at every step. Hellrider could feel his teeth rattling and his insides quake under the onslaught of noise. To make it even worse, there was an overbearingly rancid stink of burnt tires blended with some kind greasy but disturbingly organic rot. Then came the heat, just as relentless as the grinding of the gears. It soon got to the point that he could barely manage to stay upright. All he wanted to do was throw up and curl into a little ball of misery. But he kept going.

With the Devil Z calmly scuttling ahead, he followed them down deeper and deeper into what he could only think of as the infernal engine of Hell. Finally, they reached a circular chamber surrounded by yet more mechanisms, but now the lights had shifted into the blue-white brilliance of a welding torch flame. The thumping had also calmed to just the faintest rumbling in the distance. The heat was still there, but now it had a comforting feeling, like pulling on a favorite shirt just out of the dryer. At the very center of the chamber was a wide pool the glowed softly. Hellrider carefully approached the well, pausing just at the edge of it's knee-high wall to sit the junk Painkiller gave him down so he could look in.

Spheres of light swirled through the wispy plasma in a whole rainbow of hues but Hellrider noticed that nearly none of them were green.

"Well, here we are. The Well of All-Sparks. The Source of All. Gateway to the Afterspark.," muttered the Devil Z as they sat on the edge. "Now, just climb in and fetch those sparks."

"Hold up!" he said sharply. "This thing's the gateway to the Afterspark? As in, Robot Hell?"

"Yes. Though it is much more like Purgatory or the Elysium Fields."

"These guys are Decepticons," Hellrider replied. "I don't think they're asses went anywhere but straight down."

The Devil Z sighed. "Look, if it will make you feel better, you do not have to actually dive into the Well. You can just scoop around with your hands, though that is going to take bit longer."

"I ain't even putting my hands in there!"

"But you must."

"Uh, no. No I must not!"

"It is really not that big a deal."

"They why don't you do it?!"

"We cannot."

"Why?"

"Because the last time we tried, it throw us straight into the ceiling," they replied, pointing up at the indentations far above their heads. "But you gained the Maker's favor several thousand years ago, so the Well shall allow you to take the souls of dead to give them life anew."

"And how the fuck am I suppose to do that?"

"Just take an object that had significance to the soul you are looking for, hold it in one hand and use the other to grab the first spark that clings tightly to it."

"So all this shit's bait?" he asked, holding up the trophy.

"Yes. That is Squeezeplay's object: his first win on the track."

"And how the fuck do I know this is even going to work?"

The Devil Z sighed, then took the barbed that looked like it'd broken off something and another photonic crystal out of their subspace. "How about we do a little test? Just put this into the Well and see what you catch."

Taking the barb, he looked at it skeptically. "What's this?"

"That was Impactor's harpoon hand. That should be more than enough to attract his spark."

Hellrider looked at the barb, then back at the well. Carefully, he dipped it into the swirling plasma and waited. After what felt like hours, one of the spark spheres swam up to the barb and latched onto it. He quickly yanked the barb back out, pleased to see the spark was still hanging onto it.

Holding it on the tips of his finger-needles, Hellrider turned back to the Devil Z. "Okay. I've got it. Now what?"

"Just stuff it into this crystal."

Hellrider took the darkened little orb and, as carefully as he could manage, began trying to weave the spark into it. But it struggled and writhed in his hands, as if the spark didn't want to go into the matrix of the photonic crystal. Finally, he gave into his frustration with the damn thing and slammed it hard into the crystal, successfully merging it to the matrix.

"Well, that was not quite what we were expecting…"

"Are they all going to be like this?" asked Hellrider, staring at the crystal and getting the oddest sensation that it was glaring back at him.

"Not really. Guess he must have really liked being dead."

"Then why the fuck did you make me fish this Impactor guy out?"

"That will be important a little later. For now, just hook him up to your lasercore to keep him stabilized till you need him."

He held up the bard. "And what do you want me to do with this?"

"Put it in you pocket."

Hellrider gave them a dirty look, but placed the barb into his subspace. Then he opened his chest plate to access his lasercore, placing Impactor's spark inside but making sure it couldn't actually access anything vital. He suspected that, if given even half a chance, Impactor would gladly kill them both just to go back to the Well.

He closed himself back up before taking the trophy and going back to the Well. Gently, he dipped it in and waited. His arm had nearly gone to sleep by the time a spark caught onto it, clinging and pulling at the trophy. With a flick of the wrist, Hellrider pulled the trophy and spark back out. Opening the case with his free hand, Hellrider then peeled the spark away from the trophy and forced it into one of the four crystals.

"One down…" he muttered as he went back to the well and picked up the box, noticing how suspiciously heavy it was. "Okay. How the hell am I supposed to hold onto this and grab the spark?"

"The box is not important. It is what is inside that you need."

Opening the box, Hellrider took a look at the contents. He stared at it for a long, awkward moment. "Is… is this a real head?"

"Yes. He's name was Kaput. He was Fangry's best friend."

"Why the hell would he keep his buddy's severed head?"

"Because Fangry decapitated him."

"Let me get this straight: this guy murdered his best friend and kept his head? And it's also his most prized possession?"

"Yes. We suspect Fangry might have had a crush on the guy, but there is nothing proving they were anything more than friends."

"Please, explain to me why the ever-loving fuck anyone would want this psycho back? I get that these are Decepticons, but holy shit…"

"Squeezeplay and Horri-Bull are his siblings. It is best practice not to break up a trine, given all the problems that can cause. And Shockwave's orders were to bring all three of them back. Not only that, but we need all three of them for our own plans. It shall be beneficial for you personally to comply to these orders too, my prophet."

"…and that's why I've got to do this, right?"

"Yes."

"…fine. But this Fangry guy didn't do any sick shit with this, did he?"

"Funnily enough, necrophilia is one of the few disturbing things Fangry was not into."

"Okay. One more thing…" He picked up the bracelet. "Horri-Bull wasn't some kind of robot kiddie diddler, was he? Because this looks like a little kids toy from a Happy Meal…"

"Actually, it is a prototype chic chip band. Needlenose gave it to him when they first met."

"Really? He gave the guy some cheap ass costume jewelry?"

"They are supposed to allow you to recorded images along video or sound clips. Kind of like those plastic things for pictures that come with wallets. You cannot put too much on them, though, and they were actually dirt cheap to make. They also were very easy to break, but that actually was a selling point. The fragility of the chic chips made them appealing to the upper classes, who were more than happy to pay the marked up prices Tracks and Mirage had been selling them at. It was something of a fad, like the trade in crystal birds or having panels of clear plastic to show off internal structures. Needlenose absolutely hated what they did with his invention, since he was adamant that anyone no matter how rich or poor should have been able to own one. He never understood that he would need significant capital and a network of influential 'friends' to get very far as an inventor. In fact, he was rather deeply anti-capitalist by nature…"

"So he's a dirty commie?"

"Well, kind of… Needlenose is like one of those college kids who read Marx and now has all this grand ideas about how to make the world better without really understanding how things actually work in the Real World, right down to having a giant poster of Megatron on his bedroom wall, like that Che Guevara picture… He is blindly devoted to the ideals of the Decepticon Rebellion while failing to see how it actually is just as corrupted and flawed as the Senate was. This idealistic outlook shall serve us well in the future…"

Ignoring those cryptically threatening words, Hellrider fiddled with the band till he found the on switch and caused it to light up in a rainbow of colors. Immediately, he was treated to slideshow of pictures and videos of Needlenose. It was pretty obvious that Needlenose wasn't aware that he was being recorded and it shocked Hellrider to see that guy acting like such a goofy little nerd as he showed off inventions and just hung out with whoever was recording. And it was even more obvious that he was crushing hard on this person. But Hellrider also noticed that there were several points where Needlenose's voice would break into awkward little chirps, making it disturbingly clear he had been still just a little kid at the time. At most, Hellrider estimated he'd probably around the equivalent age of thirteen at the most, but probably much younger.

"He was closer to sixteen," replied the Devil Z as they noticed the look on Hellrider's face. "Needy was something of a late bloomer…"

"He was jailbait."

"And how is that different from you and Tracks?"

Hellrider laughed nastily. "Well, to start with, I wasn't some blushing little virgin when I meet Tracks. I didn't grow up sheltered like Needy did. I knew better. And the big guy wasn't using a hidden camera to take pictures for a spank bank…"

"As far as you know," hummed the Devil Z, their mandibles moving in a way that might have been a grin. "Not sure if that was what Horri-Bull was using it for, but that is not important. All that matters right now is that bracelet was Horri-Bull's most valuable possession. He kept it on his person right up until his death when Soundwave took it off the corpse."

"Why?"

"He was planning on planting it on Tracks or Jazz to frame them for the murders. Thought we really do not see why he needed to bother. Needlenose has always been pretty keen on killing his brother and brothers-in-law since the war began. We guess Soundwave was trying to cover his bases and give himself some plausible deniability. But plans have changed."

Hellrider put it aside as he took up Kaput's head. "Before I go fishing, just tell me one last thing: What will I need to get Tracks back?"

"Good question!" hummed the Devil Z.

A few moments passed in uncomfortable silence.

Finally, realizing they weren't going to answer him, Hellrider dunked the head into the Well. After another grueling wait, a spark finally grabbed onto the head… and then a second one caught hold of it too. Puzzled, Hellrider pulled them both out with the head. "Uh, what the hell?"

"Do not worry about that right now. Just put them in the crystals."

"Yeah, but which one's Fa—FUCK!" One of the sparks suddenly lashed out with a pulse of energy, causing him to drop the head as it hung on his fingers like an angry leech. Angrily, he tore the aggressive spark off and squeezed it tightly, causing it to writhe and flicker. "This little shit bit me!"

"That would be Fangry."

"And who the hell is the other one?!"

"Kaput."

"I thought Shockwave just wanted the three assholes?"

"He does. Kaput simply gravitated to his severed head because, as part of his former body, it holds the strongest spiritual significance to him. Which was why we tried to talk Shockwave into letting us get the corpses first to use as bait, but he was concerned about causing issues with Rung. Dear old dad is even more protective of this place than Mindwipe. But Kaput will be important, so it is good that we got him now."

As he angrily slammed Fangry's spark into a crystal, Hellrider glared over at them. "And do you mind telling me why?"

"Kaput is a medic with a specialization in spark research. He shall be very useful to us. Which is why we asked daddy dearest to make up four photonic crystals along with getting Scrapper to put extra supplies out for us. And, since you are going to repair him first before you make the new Headmasters, he shall be extremely helpful in rebuilding them."

"Right…" After tucking Kaput into the crystal next to Fangry's, Hellrider picked up the bracelet and leaned back into the well.

To his surprise, a spark almost instantly latched onto it and jerked the bracelet out of his hand. Cursing, Hellrider tried to catch the spark, but it darted from his grasp and swam deeper into the well.

"…you have to be fucking kidding me…"

"Well, looks like you will have to go in after all!" chirped the Devil Z, strapping a harness onto his torso.

"Uh, no. How about we don't?" he grumbled, trying in vain to escape. "I mean, we've got three sparks already and…"

"The trine won't be stable without Horri-Bull. Even if Fangry and Kaput hooked up, the bond would be too recent to hold the trine together. They would all end up going batshit insane…" They paused as they clipped a retractable leash onto the harness, then added, "Well, even more batshit insane in Fangry and Squeezeplay's case. That would render them useless for both Shockwave's and our own purposes. We need Horri-Bull. Now suck it up and get in there!"

"Why don't you do it, if this is so important?!"

"We just told you that we have… problems engaging with 'sacred ground'," they replied.

"Is that why all the machinery went crazy?"

"Oh, no! That is just Megatronus being a dick. Because of you, Solus Prime was resurrected thousands of years ago after she was slain by her mate, who became the Fallen. And the first thing she did was hunt down the Fallen and turn him into the Forge From Which She Creates. Which is what we are standing in, right now."

"How the… You know what, never mind!" huffed Hellrider. "I really, really don't want to think about how that could possibly have happened and any other time traveling bullshit."

"Good. Now, get in the Well!"

"Look, I really don't think that's a good idea," he said quietly. "If you have problems when dealing with holy shit, what makes you think that I'm going to not have the same problems?"

"You literally resurrected a god," the Devil Z said flatly. "And not just any god, but Solus Prime, the Creator and the Maker. The very god that the Pyramid was built in honor of. This is her greatest temple. It is basically her Mecca. And the Forge is a much her body as it is Megatronus'. Kind of a package deal, what with the pair of them effectively being the dual gods of creation and destruction. And you have earned her favor, my prophet. Plus, Brainstorm is not here being militantly atheistic. So, no. No you will not have to worry about pissing her off again."

"Again?"

The Devil Z pointed a claw upward and Hellrider looked at the ceiling to two suspiciously mech shaped dents. There was even the rusting ancient remains of a matte black door-wing stuck into one of them.

He sighed and reluctantly climbed over the wall and into the well. To his surprise, the plasma barely came up to his hips and felt pleasantly cool against his panels. Hellrider carefully waded further in, noticing the floor beneath his feet was sloping gently downward. Soon, he was up to his shoulders in the currents of souls as the sparks swam around him. It took a few moments before he saw Horri-Bull's spark bob up to the surface, the bracelet now enveloped inside it as it pulsed happily. But as soon as Hellrider moved to grab it, the spark darted away and went even further down into the well.

Groaning miserably, Hellrider instinctively took a breath and dove into the plasma. He swam further into it, his rather basic breast stroke being just good enough to take him deeper into the well. As he went down further and further, a group of sparks followed along behind. Curious about his new companions, Hellrider paused a moment to get a better look at them.

They were five normal looking sparks orbiting a stranger central spark. It seemed as if they were tethered to the central one with wispy bits of plasma that reminded him of cobwebs. He slowly reached out to them, surprised that they let him hold them in his hands for a moment before darting away suddenly. Hellrider noticed that they were still staying close by and he'd felt a strange familiarity with them, but he had a job to do, so he resumed his pursuit of Horri-Bull.

He finally found Horri-Bull's spark lurking far down in the depths of the Well, this time catching hold of it. With the struggling little bastard tightly clenched in one fist, Hellrider began awkwardly swimming back to the surface, only to have a different spark speed straight towards him and slam into his chest.

Raoul was stricken by a flood of memories from another life. To his growing horror and shock, he realized it was Trepan's. From all the terrible experimentation and torture on behalf of the Institute to the very… interesting relationships he had with Gravedigger and other lovers to his capture by Prowl and Chr—no, his name was Tumbler back then. He changed it to 'Chromedome' only after he joined the New Institute to become Trepan's student… and another conquest…

More memories came forward, drowning out his own thoughts as Trepan began to take over. And as Raoul faded again, he could clearly recall that time when he was called upon to take an upstart miner turned gladiator and make him a more productive member of society…

"Protest," Trepan recalled saying. "Is a form of sickness, Megatron. But don't worry… I'm here to cure you."

But that didn't go so well, had it? Trepan quietly cursed the unfortunate circumstances that the arrival of that old fool had caused. If only he could have finished his work, maybe things would turned out differently. Perhaps the Decepticon rebellion would have been snuffed out and the Great War would never have happened at all. Alas, that doddering old fool's interference had single-highhandedly caused the most profound and disastrous chain of events in history. But he would deal with the idiot latter. First, he had unfinished business to take care of…

Trepan peeked into the memories of this boy with his stolen hands and saw that Megatron had only gotten worse, the aborted shadowplay likely having contributed to his messianic persecution complex and volatile mood swings. Such a difficult case. Trepan knew he would have to take much more drastic measures to cure this patient. He recalled that even the psychotic Overlord had sought to destroy the self-proclaimed 'savior' of Cybertron. The madman was so consumed by his obsession that he even imprisoned Trepan to learn the craft to get an edge on his nemesis… Though Trepan had wondered if Megatron ever even noticed.

Well, Megatron had seen fit to have Trepan murdered, so maybe he wasn't that oblivious to Overlord's mad schemes.

He then idly wondered if the Old Slag-maker was still churning out bad poetry and deranged manifestos. Once Trepan was done with putting the maniac back 'on message', he could use Megatron's dubious poetic talents to his own advantage. He did find the idea of having his own pet dictator appealing, seeing that he no longer had a horde of senators breathing down his neck…

After all, to paraphrase Froid, there was nothing wrong with ambition…

Somewhere in Raoul's psyche, a little switch was tripped and Hellrider started clawing back to the surface.

Unaware of this shift, Trepan realized he had have to a new body before he could do anything… And as he looked over the tech specs, he saw that this one would be a perfect vessel. They had even kindly taken apart that rabid beast Sunder and graciously installed his unique systems into it. And it would soon all be his, once he'd snuffed out the boy…

But Hellrider violently wrested back control of his mind and yanked hard on the leash. To his relief, the Devil Z reeled him back in. As he floundered into the shallows, he could still feel Trepan clinging onto him, a desperate ghost who only released his hold when Hellrider jumped over the well's wall and landed on the ground outside it. He was more than a little surprised to see he'd kept hold of Horri-Bull's spark. Hellrider laid there a long time, quietly thanking God that he wouldn't have to go back in there and risk getting hijacked by Trepan.

Then Hellrider noticed the burning on his right wrist.

He held the offending limb up and saw words neatly etched into the cuff: "Cleanse and Control".

Fitting, given that the little fucker had been in 'sanitation'.

After staring at it for several long moments, Hellrider got up and went over to the crystal case. He managed to pry the bracelet away from Horri-Bull's spark so he could slam it into the last photonic crystal. Closing the case, he gathered everything up and turned to the Devil Z as he subspaced the bracelet. "We done here?"

"Yes."

Without another word, Hellrider marched out of the chamber and back onto the steps. Though the hellish roar of the Forge resumed, he hardly felt it now. He simply climbed the staircase, keeping his attention focused straight ahead as he listened to the Devil Z scuttling along behind him. Unlike the descent, the ascent felt like it passed by in a matter of seconds and he walked out of the gate.

"You got the sparks?" asked Painkiller.

Hellrider just nodded, showing her the case and shoving the basket of bait into her arms before grabbing Chip and marching back out to the street.

"Raoul, what's going on?" Chip asked as they approached the two Constructicons waiting outside. "And who are these guys?"

"That's Gravedigger and Long Haul," he replied curtly, handing Chip to Long Haul. "He's coming with us and if either of you let anything happen to him, you better hope I just kill you."

"…'kay."

"Rah-ool?" huffed Gravedigger. "Ain't that a squishy name?"

"These are transtectors," Chip said helpfully. "We were…"

"Nebulans," Hellrider said sharply. "We were badly damaged, so when they rebuilt us, they had to bond us to Nebulan Power Masters to keep us alive."

"Ain't Rah-ool only used for Nebulan females?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

The Construsticons gave each other a look, then Long Haul said thoughtfully, "Well, that explains a lot of things…"

"Wait! You're a girl?" asked Scavenger, taking Chip from his brother as the others joined them. "Wow… I've never done it with a femme before…"

"And you ain't gonna start now," snapped Long Haul.

"Because I'm a man," Hellrider said in a flat tone as he subspaced the crystal case. "Now, where are the catacombs?"

"Follow me!" said Scavenger as he transformed and took off down the road with Chip clinging onto his cab.

Hellrider transformed and soon caught up to the backhoe as they swerved down the streets. They soon reached the gates of the Grand Necropolis, the somber gardens that served as the major burial grounds for Cybertron. They pulled up to a large, imposing building that reminded Hellrider more of a government office than a tomb with all it's stern décor and monumental stairs. This proved to be just a facade when he followed Scavenger inside, since once they'd past the grand lobby the catacombs were a disaster of looted crypts and sarcophagi, with severed limbs and gutted out bodies strewn around carelessly.

"Don't worry," Scavenger said when he noticed the expressions on Chip faces. "These were graves for the Towers. We inter our own down-HEY!"

As they rounded a corner, Scavenger ran into a pair of mechs who'd been running down the corridor carrying a bundle of wires and batteries.

"Hey! What are you doing here, glitch?" huffed the darker of the pair.

"Hehe… Yeah, loser. Like, what the fuck?" the paler one snarled, then looked over to Hellrider. "And like how did you get a corpse to walk and stuff?"

"We're here to collect a couple of bodies," Hellrider said coldly. "Now, get out of my way."

"Whoa! She can like talk and shit, Runabout!"

"Yeah…" Runabout moved towards him, clearly trying to be sexy. "Hey, baby, come to Runabout."

Hellrider just smiled, letting him get close before slamming his knee into Runabout's groin as hard as he possibly could.

The pale mech just laughed nasally. "Hehe… The zombie chick totally just kicked your ass!"

From his fetal position on the ground, Runabout glared at him. "Shut up, Runamuck!"

Scavenger just looked at them with a resigned disgust. "You two idiots were up here surge dancing again, weren't you?"

"Uh, like, no… Not today," muttered Runamuck. "Shockwave sent us down here to check and see if Horri-Bull and his trine-mates' electrical systems were still like working and stuff…"

"Yeah, and then that crazy old fart got mad and like threatened to kick our asses…"

"Hehe… yeah! Like, we told him that we weren't down there looking to score. Shockwave even made Crasher come along to help and stuff."

"Like, Crasher's still down there arguing with him and she, like, told us to go get backup…"

Runamuck nodded. "Yeah-yeah! Like, he was threatening to stab us with his Great Sword and shit! Which would be so badass…"

"Uh-huh," agreed Runabout. "Like, he joined up with these knight guys and they like gave him this awesome sword. But now, like, the old fart sucks because he got religious and stuff."

"Yeah… Used to be cool when he got stoned all the time. Now he's all, like, angry and sober and stuff!"

"Like, it sucks!"

"Fantastic," huffed Hellrider as he pushed past them and went further into the catacombs with Chip and the other three lagging behind. After going down a few floors, he heard the faint sounds form down a hall that was much better cared for than the upper floors. As the sounds grew, he could make out two distinct voices: one a very angry Australian woman and the other a man with that distinctively slow West Coast hippy drawl that Raoul hated. He finally turned the corner that lead into a rather spartan lobby where a little purple robot was arguing with a much taller gray one who had two swords on his back and one on his hip.

"What the fuck is your damage, Deadlock?!" snarled Crasher. "Shockwave ordered us to do it!"

"And just where is your proof?" he replied, frowning down at her.

"Proof?! I just fucking showed you the datapad, you idiot!"

"That can be a forgery."

"Why in the Pit would I do that?"

The look on Deadlock's face spoke volumes.

"… are you mental?" Crasher hissed, her voice indignant and disgusted. "You… You seriously think I'm down here to surge dance?!"

"Well, you did bring along the Battlechargers…"

"But Shockwave really did order us to get some bodies," huffed Scavenger as they approached.

Deadlock turned to the new comers, glaring like disappointed grandfather when he saw Hellrider. "Oh, no… Scavenger, you ought be ashamed of yourself! What have you done to that poor femme? Desecrating a body is a sin against…"

"I'm not dead. And I am male, thank you very fucking much."

The older mech stared at him a moment, then his shock turned to righteous anger. "By the Lord! What are you doing with this abomination?!"

"Huh? What are you on about, you old junkie?" asked Crasher.

"That's a sparkeater," he replied, hand tightening on the handle of the sword at his hip. "That is a monster…"

"Yeah, who the fuck cares?" huffed Hellrider. "We're all Decepticons. Now, move your fucking ass and let us do our job!"

"No, I will not move aside." He unsheathed the sword, it's blade crackling faintly with blue energy as he braced for a fight.

Hellrider just sighed, pulling out the spark case and opening it up to show Deadlock. "Look, man. As much as I'd like to just die, I've got too much shit to do today. You see these? I just fished them out of the Well of All-Sparks. And now I need their bodies so I can rebuild them because Shockwave told me to. Now, will you please back the fuck up off of me?"

Deadlock stared at the photonic crystals with reverent surprise. "You… you went to the Well?"

"Yeah. I even swam in it. Because Horri-Bull is a fucking piece of jailbait chasing shit. Now can we go get them or not?"

As Deadlock sheathed his sword, Chip hopped over and cleared a vent.

"Uh, would somebody please explain what 'surge dancing' is?"

Before anyone else could speak, Hellrider answered mildly, "It's an act of necrophilia where you hook a body up to a battery so it'll move around. It's just really nasty masturbation."

Chip frowned in disgust. "Thank you, Raoul…"

"You're just mad we've been scoring with Tower babes," huffed Runamuck.
Hellrider laughed quietly. "Wow! What kind of losers have to brag about fucking corpses?"

Runabout glared at him. "Uh, aren't you like a demon or something?"

"Yeah, hehe… Like sparkeaters are like zombies, right?"

"Hehe, yeah! If you scored, it'd be like reverse necrophilia!"

"What are you jackasses talking about?" Crasher asked, clearly itching for a fight. "He's just a pretty boy with a creepy paint-job!"

"That they shall forsake all color and bid welcome to the Abomination will mark them as among the damned," Deadlock muttered under his breath as he turned to the open the gate.

"Interesting quote," said Painkiller as she showed up with Long Haul and Gravedigger with the Devil Z perched on her shoulder. "The Spectral Rites, I believe. The passages discussing the apocalyptic visions of Xal recorded before his martyrdom at the hands of the Quintessons. That verse specifically denounced those who did not take part in the rebellion, comparing them to 'demons'."

"Yes. It's fitting, seeing as you are a sparkeater too." Deadlock sighed deeply. "Have we become so desperate that Megatron will even make deals with the Chaos-bringer?"

"Who knows?" she replied with a shrug. "But, as much as I'd love to discuss theological matters with you, we really must be getting on with it. Shockwave's already been calling to ask what's taking us so long."

Without a word, Deadlock turned and lead them down into the Decepticon tombs. Hellrider was a bit surprised to see how well-maintained it all was, but he couldn't help noticing that among the rather standard crypts were coffins fashioned out of what looked like random debris.

"What's the deal with those?" he asked, pointing one such coffin out.

"They were spectralists," Painkiller said. "Their funerary customs dictate that their dead are placed in coffins made from whatever was in the surrounding area where they died. Ideally, they use materials colored various shades of blue and violet to denote mourning or, in the case of violent death, to show that the survivors will seek to avenge the fallen. More peaceful deaths are denoted by the use of bright greens or oranges, but just as often they use colors that the deceased liked in life."

"You are oddly knowledge about the faith, monster," said Deadlock coldly.

"I'm an archaeologist and sociologist," she replied quietly. "So I've been using whatever downtime I have to learn more about Cybertron and it's culture."

"Huh? What do you mean 'Cybertron's culture'?" asked Long Haul. "Weren't you created here?"

"Apparently, Painkiller's a colonial," grumbled Crasher. "At least, that what Needlenose said was in her file. Didn't really say which planet she's from, but it's clear she ain't a proper Cybertronian."

"So what's your deal?" Long Haul said, looking to Hellrider. "You from the colonies too?"

"I'm from Vos."

Crasher just laughed. "Yeah. Couldn't you tell? He's got such a heavy accent it comes through whatever damage happened to his vocalizer."

"Okay. Where's the bunny from?"

Before Chip could answer, Hellrider said sharply, "He doesn't remember. Apparently, somebody tried to domesticate him before the war but failed. He kept his intellect and basic knowledge, but it screwed up the little guys memories so bad that he was nearly a blank slate. Now he thinks he's from Earth because that's what Prowl told him."

"And you never tried to fix the guy?" asked Gravedigger.

"I'm a mnemosurgeon, not a miracle worker."

Scavenger whistled. "Oh, wow. They must've really fucked him up if even mnemosurgery won't try to fix it."

"Hey, wait a click… Did you say that Prowl told him he was from Earth?" asked Crasher.

"Uh, yeah. See, we crashed landed on Earth and the Autobots got hold of us. To make a long story very short, they tried to make us all think we were originally natives of that planet and their friends."

Crasher gave him a funny look. "So what you're saying is that there's a good chance you and your buddies here might all be Autobot spies. Is that what you're saying, Hellrider?"

"Yeah, right!" chuckled Gravedigger. "This guy's about as much an Autobot as I am!"

"Really? Hey, how's Quickmix been doing? Are he and the hubby getting on well?" she asked, clearly trying to pick a fight but Gravedigger just ignored her.

"Maybe they're like Repugnus and his trine," muttered Scavenger. "I mean, they're technically Autobots, but keep getting kicked out. Or maybe they're Wreckers…"

"I highly doubt Springer would allow sparkeaters to join their ranks," Deadlock said dryly.

"Maybe they join when Impactor was in charge," said Crasher. "The bastard would be crazy enough to take in demons. And we all know the Emirate definitely would have made him do it!"

"You better watch what you say about Impactor," Long Haul grumbled. "The Old Slag-maker is still pretty hung-up on the guy…"

"And you better hope Soundwave didn't hear that," she shot back.

"What? I'm just saying he used to be Megatron's drinking buddy! Don't mean they fucked or anything…"

"He definitely fucked that kid from the docks, though," said Gravedigger with a chuckle. "What was his name? Orbital? Origin?"

"I think it was Orion Pax," grumbled Long Haul. "Not that it matters, 'cause the guy got killed right at the start of the War."

"They never found his body…" muttered Scavenger.

"So? They ain't found a lot of bodies. Probably got dumped in the Smelting Pools or carved up for scrap."

Deadlock came to sudden stop in front of three relatively new looking tombs. "Here lies Horri-Bull, Fangry, and Squeezeplay. Do with them as you will."

As he started to leave them, Hellrider grabbed his arm. "Hey man, you mind telling me where Kaput's body is?."

Deadlock just smiled. "Oh. He's not here."

"Then where is he?"

"In the Autobot's catacombs."

"Cool. So, how far is that from here? I really need to get him too."

Everyone but Painkiller and Chip stared at him in horror.

"You're… you're joking right?" gasped Crasher.

"No. I need to get Kaput too."

"That was not in our orders, Hellrider," Painkiller said as the Devil Z got down to snuffle around the tombs.

"Yeah, well I'm going to need some help putting these idiots back together," he grumbled back. "And Kaput was a medic who specialized in sparks, so he'd be one of the best people to have on hand."

"I don't think you get it," said Crasher. "The Autobot Catacombs are in the Wreckers' territory."

"I thought Shockwave controlled Cybertron."

"Technically, he does… But even he couldn't drive them out of there," she snapped. "So we've just let them have it and don't go there any more."

"Look, all I need to do is get Kaput's body. In and out. A quarter of a joor tops!"

"You don't understand. We. Do. Not. Go. There."

"Why not?"

Crasher stared at him. "Do you have any idea what the Wreckers are?"

"A bunch of Autobots, right?"

"Well, technically, yeah. But they were really Emirate Xaaron's personal attack dogs. These are the guys the Autobots call up when they want you dead. These bastards are the ones they send off to die on lost causes and suicide missions. They're the ones who ain't got one slagging fuck to give any more!"

Deadlock's smile widened. "And they have their origins as a sacred order of warriors charged with not only as the protectors of the dead and guardians of their resting places, but also with the destruction of monsters. Like you."

"Basically, they're what would happen if the Knights Templar survived and became the Navy Seals," Painkiller said flatly.

"Okay…" Hellrider sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Then I'll just ask them to let me have Kaput's corpse. I mean, guy was a murder victim. It shouldn't be too hard to explain why I need it…"

They were all staring at him now.

"You're joking, right?" asked Scavenger as he dumped Fangry's body into the back of Long Haul.

"No."

Deadlock kept smiling as he shook his head. "You honestly believe that they'll allow a monster like you to just walk right onto sacred ground and rob the graves?"

"It's not grave-robbing," grumbled Hellrider. "I'm simply going to ask them to let me exhume Kaput so I can resurrect him. Like Jesus did to Lazarus…"

"Uh, what?" asked Deadlock.

"Please excuse my young brother," said Painkiller. "The damage from the crash and the Autobots' tampering has caused issues with his memory banks. He also suffers severe bleed over from the psyche of the boy they binary bound to him."

"Hold up…" Runamuck huffed. "You got a squishy for a head?"

"Actually, I think they're more like the Power Masters," said Scavenger as he and Gravedigger finished loading Squeezeplay and Horri-Bull. "At least, that's how Scrapper explained it. But he also said they were humans, not Nebulans…"

Runabout cackled nastily at the other Battlecharger. "Dude, you were trying to score with a squishy…"

"And you got your ass kicked by a human!"

Angrily, Runabout slapped Runamuck upside the head and it soon spiraled into a rather nasty fistfight but nobody really paid them much attention as they tumbled away from the rest of them.

"So, you've got one of those dirt monkeys inside you?" asked Crasher with a deep disgust.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Is it awake?" she asked, now morbidly curious. "Or does it, like, go into recharge while in there?"

Hellrider sighed in annoyance. "Look, it's… uh, complicated, okay?"

"Complicated?! Look, I don't fucking like you 'master' things…" Crasher growled angrily. "Makes me wonder if I'm talking to a real person or just some kind of meaty creature wearing a fancy suit…"

"Who cares?!" Hellrider snapped back. "I know I am real… I am the realest motherfucker in the Universe!"

"Did they know?" Deadlock asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"The Autobots. Did they know you were a sparkeater when they bound that human to you?"

"Does it matter?"

"For the sake of that poor unfortunate human's soul, yes. Yes it does matter greatly."

Hellrider threw up his hands in frustration. "Who the fuck knows?"

"Hey, wait a minute…" Long Haul's vents rumbled as he thought something over. "If they were binary bonding humans and Prowl had a pet squishy named 'Chip'…"

"Prowl put him in a transtector to fuck him," said Crasher with a knowing nod.

Gravedigger gagged. "Oh, Primus… That ain't right, Crasher!"

"What?! We all know the prick's into some seriously fucked up shit!" she barked. "Ain't that hard to believe he'd do something this sick."

"So how you explain Hellrider and Painkiller?" Long Haul asked.

"Look, I've been thinking it over, and now I'm pretty sure they're both actually what they said they are. Painkiller's just another colonial trying to act posh. And Hellrider is just too much a fucking little punk to be from anywhere but Vos!"

With a huff, Gravedigger asked, "Okay. So why the fuck were you telling us your squishy was Nebulan?"

"Because maybe I just don't like humans all that much," Hellrider hissed. "Now, can we just get going? I'm pretty sure Shockwave's starting to wonder what the fuck is taking us so long."

"I've already gotten sixteen messages from him asking for updates," said Painkiller, then she frowned. "…make that seventeen. He is getting rather annoyed."

"Fine. You guys better head on back to the Tower."

"And what are you doing?"

"I'm going to get Kaput's body. It'll probably be easier for just me to do it alone."

Crasher gave him a funny look. "Listen, I get it. It sucks to have to timeshare a body with a useless little bloodbag. But there's easier ways to commit suicide, buddy."

"And our orders were to bring back these three to be rebuilt," Painkiller said dryly.

"Don't worry. All I need is just one body. Shouldn't take too long…"

"You don't even know where it is."

Deadlock stepped up and calmly said, "I'll be going with him."

Painkiller gave him a long, hard glare. "And why would you do that?"

"Because that poor, unfortunate human within him doesn't deserve to die like that," grumbled Deadlock, going from grim to geeky in less than a second. "And I'm morbidly curious to see where he's going with this."

"You're just looking for any excuse to see Hot Rod again." Long Haul huffed nastily.

Ignoring the snickering and dirty looks, Deadlock turned to Hellrider. "I will meet you outside."

With that, Deadlock transformed and gunned it out of there.

"…dirty old codger," muttered Scavenger. "That boy's hardly of age!"

"And he's an Autobot," added Crasher.

"Yeah, but he's a really attractive Autobot," Scavenger said brightly. "Might be worth the effort to talk him into joining up with us…"

Long Haul rasped out another angry huff of exhaust. "I'd rather not have Ultra Magnus gut me, thank you very much. Now, let's go."

The others transformed as well, driving off and leaving only Painkiller, Chip, Hellrider and the Devil Z standing by the emptied crypts. For a moment, the only sound was the distant brawl still going on between Runabout and Runamuck. Or maybe they were 'facing each other. Hellrider couldn't be sure, but he really didn't want to dwell on that thought too long.

"Well, are you guys going back to base or what?" he asked.

"Shockwave's orders were to retrieve those three sparks and their bodies," Painkiller said in a cold tone. "I don't think he's going to be pleased to see you've run off to grab an Autobot too."

"Look, I could use the help," Hellrider said, venting in annoyance. "We don't have a lot of medics and I'm guessing some of the guys are still pretty fucked up from what Sector Seven did. So we're going to need all the help we can get. Besides, Kaput's a specialist in sparks. I think that alone is a good enough reason to bring him back too."

Painkiller said nothing for a long time, looking as if she'd zoned out suddenly. Then she said quietly, "Okay. I just sent a message explaining the situation to Shockwave. He's not happy, but does think it's worth the risk since you will be with Deadlock. But if you're not back in one cycle, I've been authorized to send Overlord in after you."

"Seriously? I thought you'd send a team of guys or something…"

"Overlord is a Phase-Sixer. I think he'll be more than capable of handling things if it comes down to it." She transformed, letting the Devil Z climb up on her turret. "Now, run along boy. I'll be waiting for you back at base."

"Uh, before you go…" Hellrider scooped a very bewildered Chip up and sat him on top of the Devil Z. "Can you see if Scrapper or Knock-Out can fix the little guy here?"

She sighed. "I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything. Knock-Out in particular is not at all keen to work on 'primitives' and Scrapper usually busy working on whatever deranged building project Shockwave or Megatron need this week."

"I'm sure he can find a minute or two to help Chip out."

"I doubt that. As soon as we're finished converting those three idiots into Headmasters, we'll be overhauling the Aerial Battle Fortress…"

Chip little nose wrinkled suddenly. "Wait. Isn't that the Big Blue Griffin."

Painkiller rasped out a sigh. "Actually, they're apparently purple, not blue."

"Still pretty stupid…" muttered Chip.

"Well, ain't nothing stopping him from doing Chip's repairs while you're waiting on me to get back." Hellrider stretched before changing into his alt-mode. "I'll see you guys soon. Bye!"

With that, he speed off, eager to get this over with. And maybe, if he played his cards right, figure out a way to get the Autobots to rescue both Chip and himself.