FLOOD

Malibu: Earth

The warm waters lap around you as you wait next to the larger form of Seaspray. The large Autobot was a burnished purple metallic that glinted with a pearlescent swirl of colors in the warm sun. A group of children sat on His foredeck, listening to a young woman.

You were tired. You've been running underwater explorations for two students at a time in the coral reefs below. The kids loved it, and you enjoyed sharing the oceans beauty with them.

The class began to break up as the teacher finished her lessons. They all clambered back into Seaspray's cabin, all but one that is. A sandy haired kid with a dak tan. His leg was a prosthetic, cybernetic. He made his way toward the edge of Seaspray.

"You comin' back ta port with us?" gargled the ancient Autobot.

"No way, Seaspray!" yelled the young kid who was carefully lowering himself into your cockpit, "Flood wants to prove that all that hot air he blows about deep swimming ain't all crap!"

"Watch it punk," you chided at the kid, "or those reef sharks'll make a nice snack out of ya."

You liked the kid, he had a deep sarcastic streak in him, and was next to fearless in the water. You promised him that you'd take him into a deepwater trench. There was one about two hours from here that was unexplored and went several miles deep. He challenged you with the

prospect of finding some of the dark water's denizens.

"Yeah, well mom'd be kinda ticked if all you brought back was a hand and maybe some toes. Might be worth it to see you try to explain it, though"

"Oh I wouldn't drop you here, I'd wait till we were a mile or two below surface, it'd be months before they'd find you..."

The darkness grew in intensity as you lowered yourself into the dark trench. The colorful corals that dotted the edges of the canyon began to disappear as the light was blocked out by the swirling waters.

"A little dark..." muttered Aaron. He turned off he music tracks he had been listening to.

"VR mode," you muttered and were gratified to here a gasp of surprise as your windows lit into vibrant light, as if daylight could reach down into these depths. The rock walls still bore some colorless plant life, and strange transparent and glowing fish could be seen every so often.

You kept your engines quiet and outside lights off so as not to scare off anything that might be living down here.

An immense squid swan slowly past you, his tentacles reaching 3 meters in length! Strange gape jawed fish, looking like nightmares from the past swam around the dark waters.

The bottom was coming near, you were nearly three and a half miles down in the waters!

"What's that?"

Your scanners leapt forward to see what Aaron was talking about. There was a large metal structure on the bottom of the canyon! Huge! As you neared it you could make out the wrecked form of a massive ship. It's hull was covered with barnacles, but metal still glinted through the

oxidized surface. You ran a quick scan of the craft. And it gave off energy readings...

"Something's still running on that pile of scrap!"

"Whoa, let's check it out!"

"I don't know, it might be dan..."

"Oh PLEASE, don't go pulling the 'I'm stronger than you're pitiful race' crap on me again. Ive got a pressure suit, it can hold me for ten minutes while we scope the wreckage. C'mon! All your friends are doing it! Besides, It's not like you can drop me off on the nearest beach."

"Ok, Ok! We'll check it out, I'm not getting any life readings at any rate. Just, let's be careful..."

Malibu, Earth:

The ship below is vast and heavy looking. As you near it you are awed by it's size. You scan it's surface as best you can. The ship itself seems intact. There do appear to be pitted areas where the hull may have caved in due to pressure, but it's almost impossible to tell with the massive amounts of mineral deposits that crowd it's surface. You scanners date it... nearly 3 million years old! You pass the info on to Aaron.

"Wow, that wrecks older than those joke Seaspray tries to pass off. What kinda ship you think it is?"

"Hard to say... It's too encrusted to make out it's shape, and to top it off, those minerals seems to hampering my scans."

"Well, it's not like we can't blast our way in!"

"Hold on trigger, let's see if there's a more peaceful way to enter."

"Aww, it's not like anything's alive on that thing!"

"You never... hey, what's that?"

You're scanners picked up an indention near the lower side of the dark ship. As you near it you can almost make out the hull of the ship.

"What is it?" asked Aaron.

"It's almost like something... carved away a chunk of the deposits to get to the hull at some point."

"That's it, suit's on... You'll need to transform."

"I think you may be right..."

A few minutes and a lot of squirming about later, and Aaron popped the hatch and swam through the magnetic containment field of your canopy.

"Flood... TRANSFORM!" With a winding of gears and clicking of joints, you're fish-like mini-sub form* shifts and alters into you're robotic form. You stand about 3 to 4 times Aaron's height... Blue green, with a glass chest plate and glass plating on you're upper legs. Your eyes light

with a blue intensity to give Aaron some leeway for vision. You're shield/board is attached to your back as the two of you float softly to the sandy bottom.

You pull your cutlass and begin to carefully slice away the remaining mineral deposits. Aaron produces a dangerous looking mining saw from somewhere and also begins to carve.

##You shouldn't be carting cutter blades to school 'young man'## You broadcast through your commlinks.

##Yeah, well I figure I need something to cut you damn voice box when you start lecturing on plankton's many forms!##

The two of you make quick work of the minerals.

As the dust and debris settles in the murky water, you're eyes fasten on a door hatch. An obvious airlock. A computer panel on the side flickers with light as it lays in sleep mode.

You look down at the kid... He should still have another ten minutes of air pressure in that thing. You reach up and touch the panel. It flares into life, but immediately starts to scroll garbage across the screen.

Whatever's running it is solidly scrambled.

Suddenly, the doors lurch and a quick inrush of water nearly knocks you down. It drags the kid in and you lunge after him. As soon as you clear the opening doors, they slide shut with a finality that send chills down your circuits.

##I guess that meant 'enter'## squawked Aaron's voice.

You cast a glance around the small airlock. A second of silence seems to deepen, until a thud sounds through the water around you. And suddenly your feel the warm waters rushing down and swirling out near your feet.

##I feel welcome... Don't you?## You grimace down at the small child. You start to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a good ideal after all...

Earth: The Alien Ship

The warm waters swirl away in the large chamber, and the only sound is soon Aaron's breathing and the water drip, dripping from your body.

Then, without warning the inner doors open, you brace yourself for another onslaught of water, but are surprised to find that air pours in instead.

You and Aaron look at each other.

"Well, I guess that's a good thing...?" Aaron mutters as he steps through the colossal doors.

You quickly following, turning your scanners on full. Energy is running all through the ship, and, even weirder, there's air in here! It's a little stale, but still well within breathing limits for humans.

You relay this to Aaron who shuts off his pressure suit to conserve air.

"Keep your helmet on, just in case."

"You worry too much." He complains, but keeps his helmet in place at any rate.

Lights that had been in sleep mode flare into life as you begin to walk down the hallway. Then, with a sudden jolt you realize that you recognize the design style and alloys of the ship.

The ship is from Cybertron!

Your scanners still detect no resident life forms, or energy signals, and while they won't reach beyond the ship, they are able to scan the full extent of the ship. Energy is running through most of the ships systems, though some patterns are erratic. It's a wonder that the energy

could keep flowing for this long at any rate. This ship is dating over 3 billion years!

The two of you cautiously make your way to the bridge of the ship. Given the date, it's no wonder that the halls and the ship are so large. Most Cybertronians these days are Maximal or Predacon, therefor, most commercial ships are smaller.

You've been trying to squeeze a message through to Seabase, but have so far been unsuccessful. The waters depth and the energy from the ship seem to be acting as a jamming device for outside signals.

As you walk down the hallway, Aaron knocks on doorways as you pass. The first few open, then a jilted mechanical voice answers the knocking..."Do-or acc cc ccess denied. Pressurized inininninininstab bb bb b ility inn inninninnsidddde."

"I guess that not all this ship made it down here in one piece." mutters Aaron.

The door of the bridge lies crooked on it's tracks up ahead of you. You step in front of Aaron, "Best let me take a look first."

"Glory hog."

You step into the dark bridge, and computer screens start up, jumping out of sleep mode as they detect the first sign of life in millennia.

And, sitting in a chair in front of the main panels, lies a large grey carcass. It bears huge blast marks scarring it's surface. It's right arm is missing, wire hanging down in a tangle, and the grey green stains color the floor beneath it, where the oil from the bot dried away. It's head is ripped down to it's inner skull, a mechanical jaw leers into emptiness, and one remaining robotic eye stares into nothingness, held in the socket only by it's wiring. What little of the helmet lays in

scrap behind the crown of the head.

"Kick ass!" Yells Aaron as he begins to scramble up the robots body.

"I've looked at the techs, but never got to see one of you guys in actual life!"

"Remember to let me show you as much enthusiasm next time we find a human carcass sitting around." You say in a deadpan voice.

"That would be pretty cool too!" comes Aaron's reply from where his head is shoved inside the robots chest cavity.

You look at the computer consol. Wires have been pulled out and attached to a solid looking black box that rest on the consol's top. You see a lense at the end, and it scans as a recording device of some kind. You flip the switch.

The robot suddenly lights up and speaks. Aaron jumps and hits his head. Then suddenly swears as he informs you that you just triggered a holoprojector. You shift the lense away from the body and begin to listen to the recording.

"This is my final record that I leave for those who may find it. I grow weary, and the damage caused by mine enemies is too great to bear this time. I have returned here to make this record and destroy my body and this ship. The black box will be all that will remain. If you have

found it, then let me say this. I have fought this war for millennia, and I fear that perhaps we have forgotten it's purpose and cause. We fight for fights sake. Have I strayed from our original plan, will peace never be attained. My goal to unite Cybertron and to guide the galaxy in unity has been tainted. Our war last without end. And now, as my wounds prove mortal and beyond my repair, I refuse to fight any more. Let this be my final statement and testimony, let this be the end

to my legacy. For all friends lost, betrayed, and destroyed. For the glory of Cybertron. I bid you farewell..."

Aaron snorts, "Looks like whoever it was failed in destroying the ship too. Get's his ass kicked and then dies before fulfilling his vow. Dope."

He then promptly sinks his head back into the robot and continues pulling on fused masses of wiring.

"I don't know, It's a shame. We found peace finally and this old bot never got to see it for all his pain."

"Yeah well, he's gone a few mill... holy slagg!!!" Aaron jumps back and falls off the robot. You catch him before he hits the ground.

"What!"

"L... look!"

You look up at the old robot and then see what shocked Aaron. A low, slow pulse had started in the chest, giving off a purplish light that could barely be seen.

pulse.........pulse............pulse...

Like a heartbeat.

No, like.... a spark.

Earth: a Cybertronian ship

You stare at the pulsing glow in awe. Slowly you approach it and look in the cavity, it's pulsing, and it's definitely a spark. You've never heard of one surviving this long without energy though.

Quickly you rearrange your plans in your head. you earlier scans signaled that the air should be fine in his ship as long as nothing breaks the seals. If it's been sealed this long and there is still

breathable air, the converters must still be running.

Then you turn your attention to the bot. Aaron has already started to scramble back up to get a better look. You scan the body in depth. All outward symbols of allegiance are ripped and burned off from his final battle. He is little more than a pile of scrap. Your scanners reveal something rather confusing. It has apparently only been about 400 years since deactivation.

Aaron looks up, "It's weird, these connections aren't normal."

"Wattya mean?"

"Well, I've read the texts on these kind of inner structures from older Cybertron," Aaron's genius IQ always shows up and surprises you,"And the connection of these wire bundles looks almost home-made, as if someone spliced them to make them work."

You give off a chuckle, "Not uncommon before CR chambers were invented. You had hack doctors and second rate scientist trying to piece together their comrades whenever they got blown to bits."

"yeah, I guess... well, you won't be puling much from his data tracks, their slag. Any residual memory would be in the spark."

You turn your attention toward the ships computer. You access it with a lead from your internals. Immediately you find yourself inundated with crap. The tracks are irrevocably scrambled, it's a wonder that anything works at all on this ship. it might also explain why anything IS working on this ship. They should have shut off centuries ago. The logs are slag, and you can't even pull a registry or ship name.

You try to access the ships radios. They're slag too.

Aaron looks up, "So you wanna save the 'bot and get your rewards or what? We can pull the spark up if we can get it back to Seabase in an hour or two. Hell, then again it's lasted this long without any solid connections, who's to say it won't last another million years?"

Earth: Cybertronian ship

You and Aaron set about to removing the spark from the robot. The spark still pulsed, though feebly, but Aaron was right, it hadn't been hooked up to any power source. At least, not for around 400 years.

You placed it into your chest plate, and your robotics secured it. There was an odd tingling sensation as it adjusted to being fed power (though only minimal levels).

Finally, you grabbed the black holo-recorder, and made your way back to the airdock.

Now, you can't say your sad to leave the ship. It had the oppressive feeling of a tomb (go figure). Your engines begin to hum softly as you make your way back to Seabase.

The trip takes about three hours. And you and Aaron remain silent for the most part.

As you near Seabase. you send out a general hailing. The automatic computers pick up, but no one seams to be home. (not unusual, the sea-based tf's tend to be free-spirited. It's been months since you've even visited here.)

Seabase itself looks like a group of bubbles floating on the surface of the water, high glass domes that allow it to go subsurface at will for large scale operations.

It possess a rudimentary intelligence, but , being built by humans, it was fairly limited.

You enter into the landing dock areas of the base, and Aaron climbs out with the large black box in tow. You transform and climb out of the water yourself. You walk through the drying fields as you near the inner doors. Then you begin to head down the hallways.

You pass a few human techs who wave to you, but dont give you much more of a glance than that. You and Aaron make your way through the hallways of Seabase to the CR chambers.

Perhaps a new life will shed some light on this mystery...

Earth: Seabase

The lab was clean and sterile, and as soon as you stepped in a friendly voice chirped, "Good morning Aaron, good morning Flood."

Aaron snorted, "It's afternoon Seabase, check your clock schedule."

"What do you require of Sealab's base, this morning."

"Piece of..."

You interrupt Aaron before Seabase tries to process his statement, "We need the CR chamber Seabase. Oh, and has any other Autobots been here this morning?"

"The last Autobot that was reported in base was Razorclaw at 0100 on the 5th of this month."

"Razorclaw is Predacon. you patiently inform the computer." That was two weeks ago, typical.

"Well activate the CR and let see what it can do for this bot."

"Yes."

The CR chamber hisses as the bolts slide off and the door swings up. You lean over and place the spark in the care of two graspers near the center of the chamber.

The CR chamber is connected to a database of design formats. It will scan the subconscious of the individual and select a suitable form for the transformation. It should also scan for allegiance and sigil.

The chamber begins to hum. The process will take probably about seven hours from scratch. You look up at the ceiling, "Seabase, send me an alert signal when the new form is ready. BEFORE consciousness is achieved."

"Yes sir."

You look down again at Aaron, "let's go call your parents and tell them your at Seabase for the night."

"Oh yeah, they'll LOVE that... you know we were only s'pposed to be gone for about four hours..."

The two of you walk off to make the call, get a snack, and wait. Maybe there's a good movie on the holoproj...

Earth: Seabase

A small beeping alarm overrides the movie you were watching. It was about 11:00 a night, and Aaron had decided to catch some sleep on one of the other couches in the lounge. You were sitting on a larger one(or course) and had been getting antsy as the time went by.

You logged in the location of the ship. But there hadn't been much else to do. Most of the human techs went home around seven at the latest.

Even a quick swim outside hadn't helped any. Besides that, rain had begun to sheet down outside, and now it could be heard pelting the large viewport windows that arced over your head.

Thunder rumbled as you leaned over and pressed a small panel on the circular holo-proj consol. "Yeah, what's the word... 'Seabase'."

"Repairs are complete and power is ready to be restored to spark in lab."

You hear Aaron yawn and stretch behind you, "Okay, we're on our way down. Don't proceed until we get there."

"Affirmative."

The CR chamber's doors opened with a thunk and a hiss as the hydraulics pulled up the heavy lid.

At first it just seems like there's a box inside, then you realize that the form chosen was large. The shape unfolds itself, two large legs step out of the chamber first, then the rest of the body is pulled out with it.

He stands about twice as tall as you do. Average Transformer height. He is a slate blue color, with a silver canopy of some kind of jet on his chest. Wings sweep down on his back. His upper arms and legs are a pearlescent white in color.

As he stands to his full height, he stretches, and his eyes flicker into life. They are silver, and bright. Set into a youthful face. His helmet is relatively plane. Two panels angling back over his forehead, and side panels down in the front-sides.

He lifts a hand and looks at it wonderingly, "This body, so new, and powerful..."

His voice is like two low grating slabs of granite. Deep and resonant.

Aaron speaks up, "Yeah, the CR chambers link to the most powerful settings it thinks your spark can handle..."

You clear your throat...

The large slate robot looked down at Aaron and you for the first time. He seems to look right into your spark. "And you are...?"

"My name is Flood. We, uhm, found your body in a ship beneath the ocean. This is Aaron, he was with me on an exploration of a deep trench."

"Impressive, not many could have withstood the pressure at that level."

"You did."stated Aaron, "Which leaves us at the question of just who are you?"

--impatient little...--

"To the point." the large robot chuckles, "Very well then, my name is... Megaplex."

You look at the shoulders and the wings, but see no visible sigils.

"Uhm, what allegiance were you?"

"Were I, how long has it been?"

"Couple hundred years. Have a nice nap?" smirked Aaron.

"A couple..." the robot regained his composure quickly, "I was on a deep space mission when we were attacked by... Decepticons."

"Yeah, well, shouldn't have much problems with that anymore."

"And why..."

You step in again, "The Decepticons were disbanded about 3 centuries ago. Peace is on Cybertron. The Great War is over."

"So, uhm, how come you don't have any sigil?" leave it to the kid to pick up on detail...

"I'm not sure... "

"The chamber shoulda selected insignia from your spark."

"Perhaps... my final wish was to fight no more, perhaps that was translated into no allegiance."

"Perhaps." Aaron said thoughtfully.

You step forward and raise your hand, "Well, at any rate. Welcome to Autobot Seabase on Earth, Megaplex."

Earth : Seabase

You take Megaplex to the lounge and let him have some time to catch his thoughts.

Meanwhile, you take Aaron to the Med Lab and fix a bed for him. He goes to sleep almost immediately.

Then you head to the main bridge.

A lone human tech sits in a seat snoring softly to himself. He jumps with a start as you speak, "Seabase. I want a memory scan of any Megaplex in the history books, cover the period between 1980 to 3000."

You realize that it's not likely for him to be listed. Not only is the computer here not a Cybertronian data bank, nor is it a military data bank. He may also have been a Cybertronian based Autobot, in which a roster probably doesn't exist around here of him.

The tech yawns and mutters an apology, you wave at him and assure him its all right. This place is quiet as a mouse, pretty much twenty-four seven (another reason you don't frequent it).

"Search complete, Megplex does not appear in any of the requested data banks, or in any logs of oceanic tidal distribution form the year 1800 to 3392."

"Uhm..." you look down at the human tech, who just shrugs, "Thanks, Seabase."

You head back toward the lounge.

You sit with him awhile and talk, trying to answer his questions about the Great War and its ending, about Cybertron, and about Optimus Prime.

"So... Prime hasn't been seen for a century or two?"

"Well, were totally informal here on earth. After all, the Autobots were officially disbanded... as a token of food faith for the Pax Cybertronia. It's possible that he's still active, and there's been no reports of his death that I've heard of. Hell, he may even be at Autobase... I haven't been there in 73 years."

"Fascinating... It's hard to imagine a world where peace is the only force. My millennia of military training might be a little lost, at first. But then, we are machines of adaption aren't we." Megaplex says wistfully.

"I've got your black box if you wanna see it, " you remember.

Megaplex's large eyes narrow for a second, "Yes, I would like to hear what I said."

You bring out the box and hook it to the holo-proj. The air flickers into the form of the ruined Megaplex on the ship. Megaplex watches impassionately, and speaks finally when it is over.

"Then, perhaps it is a good thing I failed to destroy myself. For the peace I wish for has been achieved. So, Primus leads us all to our destiny."

You both talk for a little while more. You ask him about his final mission. He tells you that he had been making a run to Earth's Moonbase when he was attacked by a rogue band of Decepticons. The ship was shattered and crashed on Earth. He was nearly slagged, and had grown weary of his battle. Hence, the tape that you saw.

Then, you take him on the two-cent tour of the base. showing him the newer advancements, and finally ending up at a guest room for a Cybertronian. You tell him to rest there, and that you'll see what happens in the morning.

You then go to another room yourself. Plopping down on a pallet, you pull a computer screen over and start tapping on the smooth key panel. You try to access Autobase's data banks, but find a message indicating that the system is in overhaul mode, and will not be available for

several days. This may also mean that the data banks are being re-archived, making them less accessible without the proper pass-codes.

Great, looks like your 72 years of freedom are up. It may be time to visit Autobot City... Time to visit Metroplex.

Earth : Seabase

Your scanners shut on fully recharge and refreshed, which was great after the energy expenditure of yesterday.

You walk down to the room where you left Megaplex, only to find the room vacant.

All kinds of scenarios start running through your mind as you spin and head down the hall. Then your sensors pick up on voices coming from the lounge.

You look in to find Megaplex dominating the larger couch, and Aaron sitting Indian style on the smaller. The two were entrenched in a debate.

"But how can you say that. The human race has survived for thousands of years without the guiding hand of a baby-sitter."

"But your history is replete with bloodshed and violence. The influence of the Autobots, by your own admition, is the only thing that brought your planet to reign."

"The Autobots didn't force themselves on us, rather we asked for their help to clear up the problems that any society would have. After all, our history isn't the only one that is caught up in violence. "

Megaplex was about to retort when he noticed you standing in the doorway, "Ah, Flood. I didn't need much rest, so I came here to catch up on lost history, " he waved a hand at the holo-proj, "Aaron joined me after his stasis cycle and we began discussing political structuring

that has been in place here on Earth."

Aaron turns around with a smile, "Yeah, this guy's like a walking history book. He can remember things that happened 3 to 4 hundred years ago without batting an eye."

"Yeah, " you reply, "That's 'cuz he lived them yesterday."

Aaron sticks his tongue out in reply.

"Oh, real mature."

Megaplex seems amused by the parlay, "The human child is quite fascinating. His intelligence is rather high."

"Yeah, that's why they say he's a trouble maker."

"Hey!"

"But really, he can be rather helpful at times." You smirk at the young human.

"By the way, I think today you and I should take a trip to the headquarters for the Cybertronians here on Earth."

"Alright!" shouted Aaron as he jumped up.

"Woah, I said me and Megaplex. you should be getting back to your home."

"Hell, I need to go to Metroplex. Remember that report I have to do? My teacher wants a really good source for the anatomy reference on your cyber-biology. I could spend a little time looking around Metroplex, take a couple of pictures, I'm sure to get an A!"

"Well."

"Let the human go. After all, he seems eager enough to learn, and what better way..?"

"O.K., O.K.! Then lets get going, it's a fair distance..."

"And I'm a quick flier, "comments Megaplex as he stands up.

It was no exaggeration, even with you holding on for dear life on top of him, Megaplex passed the sound barrier in nano-seconds. If not for the magna locks, you'd be ripped of like a piece of paper.

It was with no small relief that you felt the plane slow down and bank towards the glittering city below.

Metroplex was always an awe inspiring sight. Like the glittering streets of Cybertron, the city took on a silver sheen that was crawling with life. Humans inhabited it for the most part now. It had become a great training center for the mind and body. Military schools and

libraries had been built onto the neighboring lands, matching the original city with a flawless transition.

You flew down to a landing strip on the outer borders. You send the proper hailing sequence and are cleared for landing.

As you deactivate the magna-locks and step clear of Megaplex, Aaron joins you to the side.

Megaplex shifts to robot mode and looks around with a strange, almost apprehensive look in his large eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just strange how much it reflects Cybertron." He looks down and clears his throat, "Perhaps we should be moving..?"

You move on toward the transport system, moving walkways cris-cross the complex. The complex itself is over a hundred miles by now.

You soon find yourself at the center, at Metroplex proper. The old base glitters silver and white in the warm noon sun.

The doors open and you enter the hangar area. Humans scramble doing their various jobs. When a unfamiliar sound stops all motion.

The throbbing claxon triggers a much lost memory in your systems. A warning, a battle call, the Autobot call to arms.

You look at your companions as a comm system shuts on. "All Autobots, please report in, this is a planet wide call. Please report in immediately."

Your companions look at you, and you break into a run toward the elevator doors. Megaplex scoops Aaron up and begins to follow you.

The elevator shoots you to the command bridge, as it opens you see an old Autobot that your sensors register as Hound standing in front of the large view screen.

He turns in surprise, "That was quick! Flood, it's good to see you again, I wish they were under better circumstances... And who is this..?"

"His name is Megaplex, we... found him."

"You look... familiar, but there will be time for introductions later, the others are contacting by radio and being given instructions."

"What's wrong?"

"A city in Norway was slagged by a Cybertronian life-form apparently."

"What!!?"

"There is little in the way of proper reports, it was a small town and it's nothing but ashes now. The attack was quick, and brutal."

"Who was it?"

"Like I said, a Cybertronian from the description, but I've never heard of the one described, they said he looked like a flaming phoenix of some sort. He then transformed and began to lay down flame. Everything he touched apparently burned to ash."

Megaplex steps forward, "What warriors are near?"

"That's another problem, we don't have any warriors. Most of us are unused to battle after all these years, and we are scattered. Add to that the lack of jets..."

"I can fly, and I can take Flood with me."

"Then go. Get there as fast as you can."

"What about me?" asks Aaron.

"Oh no. Not this time, you're here to study , and study you will do. Hound, can you find a tutor to help him?"

Over Aaron's moan of disappointment Hound replies, "Sure, no problem. Just get out there, we've got to stop any more deaths. Not to mention, if word spreads to quickly about this, Transformer popularity may take a dive for the humans.

Earth : Norway

(Thor comes out...

no really, I swear...)

You hold on for dear life as Megaplex roars across the Atlantic Ocean. The shores of Norway are a welcome site as you near them. Megaplex banks and falls down toward the coastline. Then, far ahead, you see a black column of smoke rising into the sky. About 10 miles inland, a small town lies smoldering in ruins. As you and Megaplex near it you are appalled by the enormous damage that has been reeked. Slovos was a town of about five thousand. Now, nothing was left but a smear of ash and charred earth.

As you drew near, you can make out the forms of the massive police mechs that the Earth United Nations used. They lumbered around the site, and several swivelled toward you as you approach.

You send out the appropriate signal code and motion for Megaplex to land.

You unlock yourself and jump off, pulling out your hover board as you fall. Megaplex also transforms and hovers a few meters off the ground.

The earth forces basically ignore you, they are busy working on salvaging and rescuing. You have your own mission.

The two of you float over the streets, looking down at the slagged buildings. Charred skeletons can be seen amidst thick black puddles of molten rock that were lying everywhere.

Not a building was left standing, not a soul seemed alive. The mechanical thumping of the Earth mechs gave an eerie surrealism to the smoky scene.

"What could do something like this?" You murmur.

"There are many dark creatures in the Cybertronian ranks."

"Yeah, but even that ancient rust bucket Megatron wouldn't have done something like this."

"Yes, but Megatron was a conqueror, not a destroyer. His intentions were never ones of destruction such as this. He only strayed from his chosen path and fell into the belly of a dark war."

"Yeah, well later for the history lesson big blue. Right now, we need a way to track down whatever caused this mess."

Static crackles over the commlink, "Autobots, this is Sgt. Timus. We have a trail and several of our fighters went in pursuit. Go to the Northern edge of the city, and I think you'll see what I mean."

"Thanks for the info, Sarge." You answer back and the two of you hover toward the North side.

As you set your board down on the ground, you blink in surprise at the 'trail' the Sergeant spoke of. You wouldn't have missed this very easily, for leaving the city was a strip of scorched earth, nearly ten meters wide! It stretched off into the mountains North of town.

You kick your board back into the air and look at Megaplex, "Let's hit it, weapons on full!"

Megaplex pulled a small hand gun out of one side, and a longer barrel out of another and snapped the two together with an ominous click. He hefted the -now cannon like- gun and smirked, "The first one there gets to gut the murderer's servos."

The two of you speed off towards the mountain range.

Earth : Norway

The two of you cover nearly fifty miles in a matter of 30 minutes, but your board becomes depleted in energy, and Megaplex is forced to carry you.

Up ahead, another smoldering spot can be seen. As you near it, you can see the ruined remnants of a battle. Several Earth style hover ships lay amidst the smoking slag.

Megaplex grunted, " Apparently the Earth force caught up."

"Yeah, and it looks like it wasn't to long ago, those flames are still burning." The two of you land next to the wreckage.

You pull your fist in, replacing it with a vent-like grate. Convertors in your arm pull in the atmosphere around you and alter the hydrogen and oxygen into water. The fires hiss and crackle as you hose them down.

"Scanners on full, detect human life." You look over at Megaplex, who has launched himself into the air.

"Scanners, Maximum. Code for Cybertron spark." You hear him mutter.

Your sensor scan reports back, "No human life in immediate area."

"Slag, we're too late. Probably about twenty dead here."

You turn to look over at your companion, only to find him gone!

"What the..!?"

You hear a terrifying screech and a roar of fire as you are engulfed in a blast of fire. A purple and gold pterodactyl passes over you and arcs up.

"TERRORSAUR!! TEEEERRRRROOOOOORRRRRRIIIIIIIZZZZZEEEEE!" Screeches the flaming beast.

He lands with a thud, and looks at you with burning eyes, "At laaaast, after all these centuries. A Cybertron. A taaarget!!" with that he launches himself at you, green talons leaving a smoking trail as they grasp for you.

You raise you arm and blast out a pressurized stream of water as you duck to the side. The Predacon is tossed back and his metallic skin sizzles and pops. He rolls to his feet and charges again, but this time your spear gun is out and you launch a lance into his chest. The spear thuds into him, but he only stops, look down and snaps the shaft as though it were an afterthought. He lunges at you, his talons raking your chest glass. Searing heat and pain shoot through you as the

hardened crystal melts away like butter.

You pull your sword and shield to parry another blow, but his claws leave a smoking hole in the surface of you shield. You find yourself hammered backward by the ferocity of the attack.

His attacks are almost mindless, as though he were in a berserk rage that could only be quenched by your destruction.

As you fall further and further back, your shield in scrap and your swords edge dulled and cracking, you begin to realize that you are severely under prepared... three hundred years of peace have dulled your combat abilities, and, while you are picking them up quickly, you don't

think you will be able to survive long enough to ever use them again.

Then an ominous click sounds over the grunts and cracks of your battle. The Predacon looks over your shoulder, and his eyes seem to clear for a second. You dodge down and away by instinct and a thunderous boom shatters the momentary respite.

You roll over and sit up to see Megaplex standing with his smoking rifle, and Terrorsaur flying backward with a large hole in his chest. You new the power levels on this bot were high... but that was incredible.

Terrorsaur gives a pitiful shriek and transforms, igniting his thrusters and taking wing in retreat.

Megaplex grabs you and takes to the air, "We can't let him go, there's a city not 5 miles from here!"

You find yourself in no position to argue as you hold on for dear life.

Terrorsaur's injury and Megaplex's overweighted load seem to equal out, and the two of you gain no ground on the fleeing Pred. Until, you see him drop down into a valley and transform. The two of you follow him and see him land on a stretch of road down below.

A vehicle skidded to a halt and a human screamed as he stepped out of the car.

Terrorsaur clawed the man in two, and picked up the car with his huge hands.

Inside the car you hear a woman and a child scream in terror. Both you and Megaplex screech to a halt.

"Stand back, Maximals, or else the fleshling creatures burn in the pit for eternity!" came Terrorsaurs crackling, insane taunt.

He laughed, a low deep laugh, "Yes, I know your weakness. I know the pit. And I also know you..." He points at Megaplex, "But your no Maximal..." He seems to pause, "It's been soooooo long!" He grasps the side of his head and screams. The car drops as he lets go and hits the ground with a crash.

Terrorsaur stumbles back, "The bubbling, the heat!! Why can't it go AWAAAAAYY!!"

With that his hands stretch toward the car, and begin to smolder. A jet of lava pours toward the vehicle, but with lightning speed Megaplex is between the two.

You've haven't seen anything move like that in years, and more so, as the lava hits him, he barely flinches.

"Not today, Predacon. I know the insanity that infests the mind, and I will have it no longer!"

With that he raises his cannon again and lets out three powerful blasts.

Pieces fly as the Predacon is all but incinerated in a ball of fire and blast of heat.

Quickly you step forward and spray Megaplex and the area down with water. Before the humans in the car take any more damage.

You scan the car and find that there are still two life forms inside. you look over at Megaplex and yell, "We've got to get them to that town. Can you still fly?"

For a second he seems lost in thought, staring at the smoldering crater left by the Pred. Smoke pours off of his steel blue body giving his silver eyes a glittering almost supernatural look. He blinks and looks up, "Yes."

He hoists both you and the car up and jumps into the air.

Earth : Norway

As Megaplex hovers who tell him to hold for a second. You aim your arm toward the ground and a small panel flips on top of your rist. Two darts speed out and slam into the ground near the leftover Pred parts and the dead human. The darts flare into a smoky brilliance as the

flares ignite. You then send out a wide band signal encoded with the important info on the scene.

Immediately a reply crackles across your comm, "Hey, Flood. This is Rapido. Me and Bumblebee are on our way there, I'm reading that the human's got the call also. We'll make sure everything's O.K."

"Good to hear from you Rapido, " you say as you see his sleek red car form and the gold sports car* beside him kicking up dust half a mile away, "Make sure you give this Pred a proper pick-up. I don't want him causing any more trouble. "

Another voice comes across the comm, a slightly more youthful voice, "Will do Flood. Me and Rapido're only sorry we missed the action. See ya in the Sunday papers!"

Megaplex kicks his thrusters into high gear.

The town is larger than the one that got slagged. That isn't saying much. However, it did boast one equipped med facility, and after dropping the humans off and getting a quick overview of their condition (mostly just shock and bruises) you and Megaplex speed back toward the

battle sight.

"So, Megaplex. You gonna tell me just how that Pred knew you?"

Megaplex looks over his shoulder at you, "Hmm, I don't think he did. I've certainly never seen a creature like that."

"Yeah, but he said 'I know you and you're no Maximal.' What exactly did THAT mean?"

"I'm not sure, but he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind. After all, he said you were a Maximal."

"I know, but before you killed him, you said, 'I know your insanity and I will have it no longer.' What the cold slag did you mean by that?"

He seems to pause for a second, "I have fought for many milenia, berserkers in battle were responsible for deaths to friends and enemies alike, and it was never a clean or a good sight. I mearly meant that such things would no longer be accepted."

You accept his response, but only partly. Something about Megapelx's story wasn't ringing true, but you weren't sure what. The Battle sight was up ahead though, and more questions would have to wait.

You could see The red Rapido, and The golden chrome Bumblebee standing along with an assortment of police vehicles, ambulances and other emergency ships, including a tall Earth mech.

You land next to them and tell them about the humans' condition.

A voice booms over the speaker system of the mech, "It's too bad you couldn't have stopped this guy before he screwed the whole town back there. What the hell caused this guy to freak? And can we expect any more 'surprises' from your world?"

"Look, " you start in, "None of us have ever seen this guy, and we aren't too sure how he got here. He's neutralized now, and we'll take his scrap and learn exactly why he went insane, and who sent him."

"Uhm," Bumblebee interrupts, "Flood, there's some bad new I think you should know."

A dark premonition comes over you, "What."

"When we got here, there were only these smoldering blobs of lava where his body was. It's like he just melted away. We aren't gonna get anything out of that."

"Great. Well, at any rate, he's dead, " You wish you had a body to be certain, but you saw the blasts Megapex hit him with, "And we'll be on alert vigil for a while now. If anthing else happens, we'll do our best to stop it before..."

Your commlink sqwauks, "Flood, this is Hound. I think you and Megaplex better get back to Metroplex ASAP."

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"There's someone here to see you. I think you had best not let them wait, Hound out."

You look at Megaplex.

Rapido speaks up, "I can handle things here Flood. You get back to the base. Bumblebee, I want smples of those lava spots. Sergeant, I need to have a further talk with you, and we need to set up a press conference..."

Rapido has taken control with his usual adeptness. He was a born leader, and it would show as he saw to this problem.

You and Megaplex take to the air. You wonder what could be waiting for you at the base...

Earth : Metroplex

The day was nearly over as you reached the massive city. The towers of Metroplex were turning golden in the waning afternoon sun.

You had been unable to contact Hound since the last transmission, but the city below you seems at peace.

Megaplex had been extremely quiet on the trip home. He seemed deeply trouble by his own thoughts, but you could not get im to talk about them.

Below you, on the landing pad for Metroplex, a large, sleek, black ship is resting. Impressive, looks like the latest tech and...

It's markings are Predacon!

Outside of the ship, there is a motley collection of forms. One large red and black robot is on his knees, being held by a Predacon. The Pred is orange and black and holds a pair a pinchers which he is using to hold the former.

Next to them is a purple and blue Predacon. Some kind of flying insect by the looks of him. Behind them are three other Predacons. A green one with wings, a brownish one with huge lobster claws and an exoskeleton, and another brownish one that must change into a beetle.

Hound also stands on the plateau.

As you approach the lobster one appears to be passing sentence on the held 'bot. He stops and stares at you as you jump free of Megaplex, and Megaplex transforms.

You both land with thuds.

You look around, "What the... Hound! What's going on around here. I haven't seen this many Preds since..."

The green one speaks up, his voice in a commanding tone, "We are the Tripredicus council, " you feel your mouth hang open, "We have come here to take the one called Megaplex into custody."

"What?" you spurt out.

Megaplex interrupts, "And by what authority do you have to take me into custody when no crime has been committed?"

The green Pred gives him a knowing look, "We know exactly what crimes have been committed. Banter not the relevancies of our jurisdiction. We are the highest ranking officials present, and as such, the only ones present to give commands. We are not to be questioned."

"And I am not a fool to be trifled with. You're only intention is to silence me before I can cause your plans any troubles. I know how the trappings of power work. I've dealt with many ploys and plots that make you as transparent as crystal to me. 'An enemy that appears to be

peaceful may only be biding his time, waiting to strike!'"

"True, but the debate is over, there are none here to hold your argument against us, and none here that will break the treaty Cybertronia to help you escape. I assume I am correct Autobots?"

You fight for a reason, but he's right. To disagree might break the peace that has held the Predacons at bay for centuries. You look at your newfound friend. He seems lost in thought.

Then a rolling sound, an engine's roar. A black shape darts in and transforms. A smooth, black vehicle. Molding free as if from the shadows, and changing into a winged robot with large, dark eyes.

Close on it's heels a modern rig. Grey front, with blue windows and red on the cab's sides. A grey trailer with two large missile launchers on top, and a set of blue and white stripes down it's side, ending in the ancient Autobot symbol.

The black robot looks over at the rig, "Like I said... well, gotta go. You now me."

The robot melts into the growing darkness of the evening.

The rig sits for second, as if contemplating. The sky turning a deep red as the sun begins to fall behind the horizon, outlining the shape as it finally transforms.

The Autobot has a youthful look to him. A new body. The cab front turns into wings behind him, the top comes down as his chest, a winged Autobot symbol emblazoned on it. His arms are white and khaki, and his legs blue. His face draws every eye to it. Two, blue eyes set

above a steel maskplate, and a blue helmet He is big and powerful looking, and something in his eyes seems to look straight into your being.

The robot steps over to Megaplex. The two look each other in the eyes, and an understanding seems to pass between them.

"There is one here who can speak against you." The voice rumbles from the newcomer.

There is no doubt left in your mind.

It is Optimus Prime.

Earth : Metroplex

Optimus Prime, you've only heard of legends, and you've never thought you'd meet him after all these years. You find yourself waiting to hear what this new twist will bring.

Prime speaks up, "I, Optimus Prime, am empowered with the right to offer refuge to any I deem fit. Your plans for... Megaplex... are unacceptable."

One of the council, the green one, steps forward, "You know nothing of our plans, nor do you realize the extent of what this one has done. He has attacked countless outpos..."

"Enough, I know more than you think... Cicadon was it? And if he to seek sanctuary here, than I would hear his request." He looks expectantly at Megaplex.

"Prime, " Megaplex begins slowly, "You have known me for millennia, and you know better than anyone what crimes have been committed. But I tell you that I no longer wish to fight. The wars are over, let them stay in the past."

You can hold back no longer, "Optimus Prime, I've heard the accusations here of some past that is not revealed, but I know what I have seen. Megaplex has saved, not only my life, but those of two humans that were threatened by a mad Predacon. I stand by him, and ask on my honor as an Autobot, protect him from the council's wishes."

"Well put, Flood." He looks down at the diminutive Autobot, "And for what it's worth, I am willing to give Megaplex a chance. That means that the council will be allowed to stay or go, but Megaplex may stay."

You look at the Tripredicus council expectantly, ready to call on your harpoon to defend the legendary leader if need be.

A sudden explosion causes you to whip the gun out as a reflex.

You look around, the explosion was thunderous, but wasn't near. Then you see the reddening of the evening sky. No longer the sunset, but rather an angry, flickering light. FIRE!

You turn as your sensors pick up a Cybertronian signal from the other direction. You make out a box-like shuttle on the horizon, and a shape detaching from it.

This bodes ill, an attack on Metroplex, and no telling who these newcomers stand with. You pull your saber and jump on your board. Prime begins to bark orders, "Megaplex, investigate that flyer... Flood, go with him. Hound, with me, let's see what caused that explosion! Metroplex, battle ready! Move out Autobots!"

Earth : Metroplex

You yell to Megaplex as the two of you launch into the air, "I'll check that form separating from the ship, you get the shuttle itself!"

"Agreed!"

The two of you separate and head off at different angles.

As you approach, you see that it is definitely a Cybertronian, but he didn't jump from the shuttle, rather, he appeared to be falling from the boxy ship.

You speed to reach him, but it is already too late, he hits the ground with a crack and shatters upon impact.

You jump down beside it and see that it appears his body was frozen by some kind of blast. His spark is open to the air now, and it's pulse is beginning to fade.

You picked it up. You had to get it to a CR to save it, but that would put you out of the battle for sure.

Then, a squeal of brakes attracts your attention. You turn to see another black vehicle, this time the familiar form of Metroplex's small-six wheeled partner, Scamper. He transforms into a tall robot.

"Flood, Metro sent me to make sure that everything out here was OK!"

"Am I glad to see you, I need you to get this spark to a CR. Make sure it's locked, 'cause I'm not too sure whose it is."

"Gotcha!" He grabs the spark and transforms. "By the way, it looks like your buddy might need a helping hand!"

He kicks up a cloud of dust as he speeds back down the streets.

You look around, several humans stood sheltered in doorways of the various buildings lining the streets here.

"Get inside, and stay out of the battle!" you yell over the sounds of explosions coming from above.

You leap back into the dark, smokey sky. Your hover board roaring into life underneath you.

You near the area in time to see the Megaplex firing at the retreating form of the shuttle.

Then you see a metallic hornet land on his back and sink his stinger into your friend.

Megaplex goes limp, but suddenly, from the smoky sky, a hand plucks the hornet off of him. Whatever it is, it is HUGE! The hand holds the hornet between several fingers and is obviously crushing the bug. You pause, trying to get a better look at this newcomer.

The smoke parts and you see a quinteformer! Immense and powerful, you haven't seen one of these groups in centuries! They were powerhouses of armor and weaponry. This one was saying something, but you can't hear him from this distance. You kick your board into motion and got closer.

Suddenly, Megaplex comes back to life, but something is wrong. His eyes are still dark. He raises his cannon and blasts the combiner.

To your surprise, his shots raise through the massive Cybertronian. They cut through the side of the robot as if through butter!

The combiner releases the hornet and separates into a collection of machines.

The hornet falls and transforms. You recognize it as one of the Preds from the platform. He shakes his head and seems to get his bearings.

Before he can react, you decide to remove him from the battle.

You launch a harpoon into his shoulder. It hits with a shell crunching KACHUNK!

He spins around, facing you. Shakes his head a bit, and falls to the streets.

You look back up and Megaplex has lowered himself to the top of a building. You speed over and join him.

"What... What happened?"

"That bug tried to do something to you, and then some robot saved your..."

The rest of the sentence fell off as five forms landed in a circle around you.

They were a collection of colors : grey, brown and purple, dark olive and black camouflaged, green, and tan.

And each of them bore the ancient mark of Decepticons.

You raise your harpoon gun, ready for your final fight.

Then the camouflaged one raises a hand.

"Hold, Autobot. We are not quite sure what to make of this. But we saw you stop the Predacon bug. He attacked our lord, and therefore, we are in your debt."

"Your lor..."

Suddenly the five Decepticons take knee around you.

"Lord Megatron, the Combaticons are once again at your disposal."

Earth : Metroplex

You try to run logic programs, assimilating what you just heard. You rationally decide that they could only be referring to Megaplex.

You slowly turn around, and mouth the word, "Megatron?"

He steps forward, "Onslaught, why have you returned here?"

"We have come to resurrect you my lord. The shuttle we brought... that was brought to this planet, contained the necessary mechanics to create a new body for you."

"The shuttle?"

"Yes, the one that Starscream now controls." With this he gives an irate glare at the tan robot in the circle. That robot merely shrugs and looks decidedly uncomfortable.

You can contain the question no longer, "Megaple... I mean Megatron. What the slag is going on here!"

Megatron hold a hand up, "Combaticons, go to where that fire is. There you will find Optimus Prime and Hound. You are to assist them in dealing with the problem."

"My lord!?"

"You heard my command, Onslaught. Now go! We will join you momentarily."

The Combaticons take to the air.

"I have tried to put these wars behind me time and again..." Megatron begins, "Flood, I could not tell you who I was. By your own admonition, the Decepticons were outlawed centuries ago. I had a chance to return as an unknown... a new life. I could put my past behind me...

But the ghosts of the past have crept from the darkness of history to haunt my existence once again."

You hesitated, you weren't sure what to believe. Different things made sense now, but there were too many unanswered question. Then, the memory of two humans in a car comes to the forefront of your thoughts.

"I know you have a history, but that is in the past. I say let it stay there. You do have a new chance with this place, and Optimus Prime has already agreed to allow it."

He gives a low chuckle, "Autobot optimism. We shall see, Flood. However, I do not believe these Predacon's will slip so quietly into the night."

Another explosion sounds from the East. You see a gout of flame fork it's way into the air.

You jump up and onto your hover board,"Well, no time to worry about it now. Sounds like Prime may still need our help. Let's go... Megatron."

He transforms into his jet mode and the two of you streak towards the inferno.

Earth : Metroplex

As you pass the landing platform on Metroplex, you notice a strange and dangerous scene unfolding.

Below, a large black robot stood next to Aaron, the two of them looking in shock at the Predacon ship.

You see the black robot pick up Aaron and jump farther away, and then spin and pull his gun.

Then you see the cause of their distress.

On top of the ship a Pandoras box of creatures seems to come from a hole torn through the hull.

The first is some huge kind of monster. Some kind of mutate, it's jaws leering and slavering, two powerful tusks on either side. Long, sharp teeth line it's mouth, and it's head is sloped back and smooth, with gills on the side and a fin on his back. A fish-like tail swishes in the air as it hoist itself up on thick elephant like legs, it's three toed claws digging further into the ships metal hull.

It gives an unreal bellow, a mix between a whales song and an elephants trumpet.

It glares down on the platform with two insane, red eyes.

Then, from the side landing hatch of the ship you see a lumbering alligator waddle out, on it's back is a spiked shell. It gives out a rumbling his and snaps it's jaws at you in anticipation.

A high pitched squeak melded with a deep snort draws your attention to a dark shape that is winging it's way out of the hole on top of the ship.

A weird bat creature with clawed wings and a bull's head is taking wing into the smokey sky. Close on it's heels is a peach and green praying mantis with lizard-like legs and claws.

You're not sure where the black one or these others came from, but you do know that Aaron is definitely in trouble...

Earth : Metroplex

You decide quickly that you HAVE to get Aaron out of there. You kick your board into a low sweep of the platform, but, as you begin to drop toward the platform, a high pitched shriek combined with a gruff snort draws your attention to a dark form speeding towards you. You lunge to the side, but find the bat-like creature agile and quick. A horn catches you on the side and knocks you from the air. You slam onto a building next to the platform.

Quickly you activate your comm, "Optimus, Metroplex, ANYONE! There's trouble at the platform..."

"Handle it!" crackles the voice of Optimus Prime, "Scamper should be there to help you and Megaplex, and I've got my hands full just trying to keep the city from burning to the ground!"

You switch off the comm just as the bat-bull creature lands on the rooftop across from you.

His eyes glare with a red madness, and you realize that he's in some sort of frenzy. Froth bubbles from his jowls as he stamps the ground, lowering his head to give you a charging glare...

Earth : Metroplex

You look at the monster apprehensively. Smoke stirs around his nostrils and his flapping wings.

You scan for signature, and find that the mutant's pouring from the ship have no allegiance signature. --Slag, they ARE berserkers!--

You do the only thing you can... you quickly pull a bright red cape out and begin to wave it tauntingly.

The creature bellows in rage, and begins a charge across the rooftop.

As he nears you, you pull the cape aside and step out of the way, correcting for his speed. You're saber lances into the creatures leg, straight into the knee. The monster screeches a high-pitched shriek and stumbles to the ground.

You turn and scan the area, "Megapl... Megatron!"

"Here..." You see the blue shape wrestling with the large tusked creature on the platform.

"Can you get to Aaron?"

"I'm trying to, but these creatures fight like mad bots!"

"They're berserk's, try not to hurt them, I don't think they know what they're doing!"

"Easy for you to say!"

You open your comm channel to wide band, "Listen up, whoever's out there. The creatures have a glitch. Don't hurt them, I think if we subdue them..."

Suddenly a huge weight bears you to the ground, "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The creature growls as his claws sink into your structure.

You spin and flip, kicking him back, but he immediately jumps back toward you. This time you're ready, and your shield catches him. You stand up quickly, holding him on your shield, above your head.

"LISTEN TO ME!! You have to control your RAGE!"

"HERRREEOOOOOOOOUUUGGGHH!!!!"

--was that a word?--

You see a chunk of metal from your shield go flying as the monster rips into it.

You bring the shield slamming down into the ground. You've seen this happen before. A protoform activated without coding.

He rolls over, "WWWWWAAAAUUUAUARRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOORORRR!!!"

If you could activate his coding module, you could get him to stop, or if you could get him to transform...

He charges again, his leg already repaired from your saber slice. You grab his horns and flip onto his back.

Immediately he wings into the air.

"Listen to me, you have to stop this. Try to transform, say..." It occurs to you that you don't know his name.

"Look torro, you just have to say 'Maximize' and you can stop your...WHOA!"

The bat-bull flips over and dives toward the street, "TTUUUOOOOOOOROROOOOROROOROOOOOOO!!!!"

"NO TORRO!!" you yell as the two of you speed toward the ground. "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOCOCOCCCCCTOUOUOOOOOOOOUUUOOOORRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUXUXXXXXXXXXXEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAMAMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIYIYYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Apparently, his systems thought this was close enough. WHHHHHHAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

---look at all the pretty stars...----

Earth : Metroplex

You wake up a short while later, inside of Metroplex. You look around to see a perplexed lot. Megatron and Optimus Prime stand in conference. Both are charred and covered in soot. The Combaticons are also there, sans Onslaught. They too bear scorch marks and are making a

rather large mess on the chairs they lounge in.

Aaron is talking to the large black and silver Maximal that was on the platform. He notices you are awake and walks over.

"Welcome back to the land of the living!"

"What..."

"Scamper brought you back here, but you weren't injured enough to be considered for the CR. Onslaught, Hound, Metro's two side partners, and that unknown you found needed the most repair."

"What about the mutants?"

"Oh them, there in the other room, at least two of them are. The other two we lost track of."

"Who attacked?"

"Well, it looks like Starscream was responsible for one attack, and the other attacker never got seen. He set a huge chunk of the city aflame, and scrapped three police mechs as well as Hound and the others. Once the Combaticons showed up, he took off though, or at least that's

everyone's guess. The 'bots left played fire department for the next two hours, and that pretty much brings us to here."

"What about the Preadacons?"

"Well, they took to the air just after you became street pizza. They're supposed to be sending down to attache's to deal with the 'problem' here. They are claiming that the attack was staged, and that they still should have Megaplex. They claim that they were merely activating the stasis pods to defend themselves, and that my intervention has caused a greater problem. Basically they're calling me a trespasser and a saboteur."

"Good job."

"Only the best." Aaron finishes with a smile.

That leaves a big mess still. With the Predacons above and Starscream, Megatron, and the Combaticons down here...

And you have a sneaking suspicion as to the identity of the fire bug, but how could you prove it? Now you just have to wait and hear the decision of Optimus Prime.

Earth : Metroplex

GENERAL EPISODE:

The Predacon called Hornet surveys the group with large, insectoid eyes. Close at his side is one of the mutant berserkers, peach colored with green pieces.

The assembly quiets down as they begin to take their seats. The conference tables form a large U shape. Optimus Prime and Megatron are at the center, and the others who were in the CR chambers join the already assembled group. The room was filled, including, BlackShadow, Nocturro, Torca, the Combaticons, Hound, Flood, Aaron, the two great leaders, and the two Predacons.

As they all take their seats, the doors swing open again. A earth forces mech stands in the doorway. This one is a little fancier though. It's shell is a pearlescent white, and gold trim lines the edges. The armor looks heavier and denser than the other ones. It steps into the room, "I am Force Commander Charles O'Bryant. I have come to take seat as representative of the Earth alliance in these proceeding."

Optimus Prime stood,"Greetings Commander, we were not aware that the Earth alliance was to be involved, but you are welcome."

"The Earth alliance isn't sure how we wouldn't be involve, Optimus Prime. It's been a long time since you slept, things have changed. We don't have the armaments we used to, but we've learned to take care of ourselves in your absence."

"My apologies for any inferences that may have offended you. I merely meant..."

"I know what you meant, and I apologize as well. I'm no diplomat, I'm a field commander, and I'm not too happy for the position I've been placed. High command felt I would be the best choice as I was in the city at the time of the attack."

"Then let us begin..."

Some time of bickering and arguing ensues. Not much is decided. Hornet and Buzzclaw claim that the Predacon's merely tried to launch the stasis pods to defend themselves from the attacking forces. They blamed the break in of their ship on the humans, and the consequent berserking of the proto forms. They also claimed no knowledge of the phantom firebug that attacked the city in the midst of the fight.

Demands were also made for the spy that escaped during the fighting, and the return of the other proto form. Nocturro, Torca, and BlackShadow were safe, as they now had their own free will to decide their fates, but the Predacons wanted the fith proto form back.

The Predacon's also wanted Megatron and the Combaticons placed under custody. Optimus held to the fact that they helped in repelling the destructive forces unleashed on the human city, and the Earth council agreed. The Predacon's began to threaten treaty breaking and all out war, but Prime held firm and they began to relent.

Then the topic of Starscream was broached, and Prime signaled for the prisoner to be brought in.

Hooligan looked around at the gathered Maximals, Predacons, Decepticons, and Autobots and a variety of emotions passed over his face too quickly for anyone to interpret.

"Hooligan, you were thrown from the shuttle that Starscream was in. Due to the nature of your fall, I will not hold you prisoner for any longer than this questioning takes, but we must know what happened up there."

Hooligan looked at Prime, eyes narrowing as he thought. Then Megatron stood up, "Hooligan, you once served in my forces. If you hold any memory of the pledges you once made, then you MUST answer the question."

Hooligan dropped to his knees, "Lord Megatron, I have not forgotten my pledges, and it was for those pledges that I was killed. I now once again pledge my loyalty to your new Decepticon forces and empire."

Megatron face was unreadable, but a fire of anger seemed to burn from his silver, cold eyes. "Stand up, " he almost spits, Hooligan looks startled, but rises, "All I've wanted since I was blasted to scrap centuries ago was peace. I tried to destroy myself to ensure the end of the empire, but I was brought back. I tried to hide myself, for I knew what my presence would do to the peace that has lasted since my death, but I was sought out. I do not want loyalty now I WANT ANSWERS!" His voice echoes off the hall in his vehemence. Prime gave him an odd,

contemplative look, his eyes narrowing.

Immediately Hooligan began to spill out the story of his ship and Starscream's betrayal.

When he was finished, Prime stood up. "Then I would propose a four pronged search. First, we must find Starscream. He is a threat to us all. Hooligan, if you would, I would like you to go with the Combaticons to find him if possible.

I would like then like Flood, Megatron and Buzzclaw to search for the one who is causing the fires. I believe it to be the same Predacon that Flood and Megatron faced earlier, and if there is a Predacon along, perhaps he will have a better clue as to who it is."

Hornet interrupts, "I believe I would be the better choice for the mission, Buzzclaw is new, and does not have as much knowledge of the Predacon ranks as I do."

"Very well, then BlackShadow, I would like you, and Nocturro to seek out Bladewing. Torca and Hound will look for the Predacon proto form. I will stay here with Buzzclaw as the Predacon representative and the Commander as Earth's rep. We will work on what to do about the

situation. Agreed?"

Everyone agrees, but the Commander stands up, "Optimus, I believe I would best be serving if I too went with the team to find the firebug. My presence here really only involves that at the moment."

"Very well, then I suggest we all get moving. I want reports every five Earth hours. you will each be given a specific signal code, and I expect each of you to report. That will ensure no creative elimination of other forces."

The groups begin to split and prepare for departure.

Earth : Metroplex

You walk over to the Earth Commander, "Hi, my name's Flood."

"Well met. I've heard of you before, you're a little out of your area, aren't you?"

"I just got 'lucky' I guess."

You nod at Hornet, he merely turns and heads toward the main computer, where the others were all getting their communication codes.

"Friendly fellow," mutters the Commander. You look at his white and golden mech. It's fairly impressive, and you've seen what these things could do. It was a mistake to underestimate there capabilities.

You both get your communication frequencies, and join Hornet and Megatron on the landing pad outside.

The air had cleared, and it was almost dawn. The platform had been swept free of the falling ash, and you could see sanitation vehicles beginning cleanup on the injured city.

"I can ride on Megatron's back, but what about you?"

You ask the commander.

"Vehicle mode." was the only response.

The Earth forces mech folded up and shifted into a hover tank, "Ready to go!"

Megatron looks down at him, he had been lost in thought, "Indeed, we shall search the city area where the fires burned the worst. If we can track down where they started, maybe we would have a starting point for our search."

The four of you moved into the city. The streets where the fires had been were shocking. Buildings were melted and bodies lay charred and caught in the cooled slag.

Earth forces mechs walked among the ruins, still searching for any survivors. You scanned the area and found that your sensors were hampered by the metals that had become fused together. Searching would be going slow.

A white and blue Earth mech approached the group.

"What have you found?" asked the Commander.

"Sir! It looks like there are distinct 'trenches where the fires began. Almost like something just walked along spreading fires where it stepped."

You look at Megatron who was grimacing.

Hornet spoke up, "Transfer all data on the trench patterns."

The Earth mech looked down at the smaller Predacon.

"Do it. " commanded Megatron.

"Transferring data."

Hornet seemed to be looking inside of himself for a moment, "The pattern is sprawling and inconsistent. If it was by walking, he could control when he burned the ground and when not."

You think for a moment, "Then try scanning for the age."

"Foolish, the char marks would only be minutes apart. The scan's would have to be very precise to do such work."

You notice Megatron look over at the insect. His eyes narrow, and he give him a vicious look.

Hornet takes a step back, as if shocked. His mandibles work spasmodically, and he stutters, "B..but maybe given a few moments of silence I can figure it out."

You look back at Megatron, but the large robot had already turned away.

After a few minutes, Hornet had seemed to regain his composure. "I found the oldest set, they stop over there."

The group of you walk over to where indicated. You can see the deep furrow in the ground where the fire had begun.

"There's nothing here. Could he have flown away?"

Hornet quips, "Without ANYONE getting a visual on him. Even with YOUR outdated Autobot technology, the Predacon command ship was overlooking the city, and they didn't see anyone leave."

"Then could he still be here?"

Megatron spoke, "Unlikely. Why suddenly just stop and stand still. According to Prime, no one even caught a glimpse of him. Hound and Onslaught were hit from behind, and the only Earth mechs to encounter it were slagged in short order as well."

You look around for a possible clue or idea...

Earth : Metroplex

For hours the search continued, you set the Earth forces on alert, and began intense scanning of the ground below where the burn trenches ended. You thought there may be caverns or tunnels underneath, blocked off by molten rock as the fire bug passed by. The only hint of slagged rock or metals was from small cracks that criss-crossed the whole area. The metals from the city had been heated enough to pour into the grounds in small veins throughout the ground.

You look around you, the smell of char being dampened to a moldering scent in the morning dew. The scans of the grounds have provided nothing, and everyone was intensely alert, awaiting a possible new attack.

Hornet buzzes for the twentieth time, "He is not here, there will be no new attack here."

You spin on the blue and purple insect, "Look, what makes you so sure that he WON'T attack here again!"

"He is a Predacon, insane... but a Predacon, and so am I. It wouldn't make any sense to keep attacking Metroplex, eventually he will be found."

"So where WOULD he attack?"

"Somewhere as far away as possible, but without delay. It is best to keep your opponent off-balance with quick strikes when they can overpower you."

You grimace at this, "Megatron, can we get an approximate speed on that Predacon we fought earlier?" This was the first time that you had mentioned the Predacon that the two of you had fought yesterday, but Megatron knew what you were hinting at and immediately gave an extrapolation on the speed that you had followed the Pred at.

"But, " he finishes the report, "you realize that he may have moved slower than that. If he had traveled by air, he would have risked being sighted by any number of passer-byes. I think perhaps we are heading in the right direction, but we are only guessing at the speeds. Hornet is correct on his assumptions ONLY if we are dealing with a rational robot. From what I saw of his fight with you, he seemed anything but."

"It's all we have to go by though. Commander O'Bryant..."

"Yeah." The pearl and gold Mech looks up as it glinted in the midmorning sun.

"What cities lie in that direction."

Megatron added, "In a 5 degree radius out AT a 500 mile distance."

"There's the cities of Bronstin and Toronado."

"I would suggest that we head to one or the other, " Megatron suggests, "To split our forces would be dangerous and futile."

O'Bryant adds, "Toronado is the larger of the two. It has two police mechs on duty, as well as a police force of sizeable standards."

As you look out toward the distant horizon, something odd seems to tickle the back of your mind.

"Megatron, that shuttle that you shot at... What direction did it head?"

"The shuttle was heading away from this point... O'Bryant, what are the coordinates for the two cities."

As the Commander spits out the map coordinates, a look of disgust passes across Megatron's face. "The coordinates for Toronado are EXACTLY opposite of the direction that Starscream fled. I've known that snake for millennia, and something like this would never have been a coincidence."

"So what do you think?"

"He doubled back and went out in the same direction... maybe radioed our 'friend' and went to meet him?"

Hornet snorts, "Ridiculous, that oversized Autobot City would have picked up a hint of radio transmission. The signal would have been a broad band hailing fequency if Starscream wanted to reach someone he didn't know."

"Who's to say he didn't know him?" asks O'Bryant.

"The timing was too close. Starscream would have JUST gotten to earth before Icefang and Hooligan reached that ship."

"I agree, " concurs Megatron.

"Yeah," you pushed, "but whose to say that no one DID pick up a signal. This is a city, there were hundreds of signals being processed between news carriers AND panicky citizens calling their relatives and what not. There were so many signals, one directed at a certain area, say a mile width direct beam would have gone unnoticed."

"A wide laser pulse of hailing frequency, easy to pick up, but it wouldn't be broadcast to any but those receiving..."

"Predacon signal frequencies?"

"We didn't pick up any signal." states Hornet.

Megatron smirked, "and unless you were in that mile radius, you wouldn't. The plan sounds just like something that scheming Starscream would come up with."

"So what does that leave us with?" asks O'Bryant.

"Toronado?"

Earth: Toronado

Toronado. It was a large city, as you look around it you wonder if your choice had been right. The group of you had traveled here as quickly as possible.

But there had been no reports of attacks as of yet. Now, several hours later, you were all becoming a bit despondent.

You've walked from all over the town, searching the streets, and hearing nothing. The most exciting thing all day has been a daring rescue of a kids cat that got stuck in a tree...

The police force mechs were set and ready. Itchy trigger fingers ready to shoot at any transgressors of the peace, and you have the feeling that they'd include your group as well.

Hornet walks up to you and glares up at you.

"Can I help you?" you ask with acid dripping off your voice.

"We are wasting our time and resources in these searches of yours. I suggest that we do something more proactive in our hunt."

"LIKE WHAT! I'm not a detective. You tell me what YOU in ALL YOUR INFINITE Predacon wisdom would DO!"

The Predacon twitches his wings. Obviously fighting to control his trigger finger. You almost wish he'd give you an outlet for your frustrations.

"I would suggest we start with the radio transmission. It is possible that it is in the back logs of Metroplex's databanks. He would have probably picked it up on a carrier wave, or from one of the towers. There may have been too many signals at the moment to sort through, but time has passed now, and with that time comes understanding. He should be able to search his records for some sign of that signal, and once found... Even your outdated Autobot processors should be able to decode the signal used."

You wanted to laugh at him and tell him he was a stupid fool, but he wasn't... He was absolutely right. It could lead you to discover where the bug went, IF Starscream sent the message in the first place.

But then, if he wasn't, and he attacked the city while you were gone...

Earth : Toronado

"Flood to Metroplex," you grumble as you hit your com-link.

"This is Hound."

"Hound, we need to you to check up on Metro's logs. We're looking for a transmission from the approximate area where the firebug was."

"What frequency?"

"Predacon, Buzzclaw should be able to help there."

"Predacon? where should it originate from?"

"We think Starscream may have used it, we want to know if there was one, and what it says."

"Gotcha, Hound out."

You pause for a moment, maybe back logging is the way to go, "Flood to Rapido."

"Yeah, Rapido here, what's the word, Flood?"

"Rapido, what EXACTLY happened to the scraps of Terrorsaur that we left you?"

"Well, you and Megaplex took off to the hospital with the humans, meanwhile the whole slaggin' emergency forces showed up, we stopped them before they got to the spot, and told them what had happened. I did my best to keep everyone calm, but by the time me and Bumblebee had returned to the spot, the body was gone. You could tell where the pieces had been, but there was just char marks left on the ground. Also, the sand where they had been had melted and fused."

"Fused?"

"Yeah, turned into glass. It could just been the heat caused by Megaplex's scrappin' the Pred, but he'd hafta use a LOT of energy to produce that kind of heat."

"Thanks Rapido, Flood out."

Megatron was standing a few meters away and was listening, "I didn't use enough heat energy to fuse that sand, unless I had hit it directly."

"I know, I'm not sure what the deal is..."

Two more hours pass as you wait, Hornet seems to take to brooding on his own, and Megatron isn't much more company.

O'Bryant talks to you a bit, discussing the possibilities of the identity of the new Pred.

Then Hound calls you, "Hound to Flood, I got what you wanted."

"And?"

"It's scrambled. We had to radio it to the Tripredicus ship to uncode it, here's what they say that it apparently had an invite from Starscream to the Predacon below, it had the following coordinates."

"Got it, they didn't return the full translation?"

"Of course not, apparently it had a coding on it that Starscream shouldn't have been privy to and the council wants to make sure WE don't have it either."

"Bet it's eatin' them alive."

"Better believe it. You may have company at the meeting place."

"Got it. We'll stay alert."

"Good hunting, Hound out."

Earth : Toronado

With the coordinates received, your group makes no hesitation about leaving the human city. As you hold onto Megatron's back, the four of you race toward your new destination.

Hornet radios you, "So where IS this meeting place?"

"Looks like it's in the lower Southeast of this continent. A place the human's call the Everglades. It's one of this worlds largest swamps."

"Why would they be in a swamp?"

"Dunno, that's what we're gonna figure out."

"And what do we do if they ARE there?"

Good question, you activate your comm again, "Flood to Metroplex. Are there any backup units in the vicinity of our destination?"

"This is Prime, Metro's computers read that there is an Autobot by name of SwampVine in the area. I'll radio her to meet you."

"Gotcha Prime, what's the status on the other searches?"

"We...." the transmission terminates suddenly with a wave of static.

"Prime!? What the slag's going..."

Suddenly a brilliant wash of energy cascades down on the group, knocking your systems off-line.

You wake up on the ground. A little damaged, but not badly. Megatron is standing a few feet from you, and you can hear Hornet moaning in the bushes no far from you.

Commander O'Bryant's mech helps you to your feet.

"What happened?" you ask a little woozily.

"Got me, communications went haywire, and then all of you guys dropped like rocks. There was some kind of energy wave that passed through the sky as well. It's only been about ten seconds, just enough for you guys to hit the ground."

"Great. Repair systems on-line."

Hornet staggers out of the bushes, bussing to himself about thorns.

Then, a strange sounding cry of a hawk could be heard ringing through the skies. It had a metallic quality to it that caught your sensor's attention.

The four of you back together in a circle, watching the sky.

Then, a cascading flash catches your optics. The flutter of white wings comes toward you through the treeline, and a creature that could only be described as stunningly beautiful lands in the clearing.

"Airrazor Maximize!" calls the female robot as she converts into her robot mode.

Megatron seems the most unaffected by the Maximal's entrance, "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"I am from the past AND the future, and I have come with a warning and to offer aide. You hunt no mortal Predacon. The one you seek is called Terrorsaur, and he has the power to destroy us ALL."

Earth : a clearing

For a few moments you can only stare. She stands tall, golden metal gleaming on her torso and legs. Blue cobalt metal shining from her upper arms and from long, dangerous claws attached to her forearms. Long white wings hung behind two powerful looking metallic blue turbines. The metal near them was strange. It was shinier than most. As if solid chrome. Her face was made out of shimmering red crystals of energy, two silver pinpoints of light shone through above a small golden beak-like mouth.

Then you collected your wits about you, "Where did you come from and what do you have to do with all this?"

"I was sent here by an alien race, they have long watched over this planet and kept it from harms way as best they could. A billion years ago, a Predacon was trapped in the Earth's magma core. His structure had been accidentally enhanced. It withstood millennia of fire and pain, until it became one with those elements. His name was Terrorsaur. He's been reactivated after all this time, and he has the power to destroy this very planet!"

Megatron grimaced, "The robot we fought was powerful, but not THAT powerful."

"His power grows exponentially when he is destroyed. Every death he undergoes, part of his spark dies off, leaving only a fire fed death machine."

You speak up again, "And you can stop him?"

"I can try."

You look at Megatron. He seems... impatient as he asks, "How do we know we can trust her. She could be another Predacon ploy. "

"She's a Maximal, and something about her makes me believe her."

"She's an alien," complained Hornet.

"Hey, " speaks O'Bryant, "So are all you guys, and I'm willing to trust her."

"So be it, we are heading to the swamps. Will you accompany us?"

"Affirmative." answers the strange Maximal.

"Airrazor, MAXIMIZE!!!" with an ear piercing call she transforms into a powerful metallic hawk. Her engines shift, and a torrent of heat pushes her off with incredible speed.

The group of you race across the continent. In a few hours you will find yourself in the Florida Everglades.

Earth : The Everglades

Your group had made it to the edge of the Everglades Swamps fairly quickly. The coordinates Starscream had sent to the ground were broad, but definitely in the deepest parts of this swamp.

About fifteen minutes after trudging into the swamp, a motor could be heard approaching.

A green and tan swamp glider pulled up soon, and transformed.

"Hello," It was a female Autobot with a thick African accent, "Optimus told me I'd find you here. Name is SwampVine."

You introduce the rest of the party, she seems surprised at Megatron's name, but says nothing about it, " There's been some weird happenings in the swamps today. I've registered Decepticon's flying in toward the center, but I've been unable to follow... Seeing as I had to meet with you here. But they seem to be going toward the same area as yourselves. We'll see what all this mess is about."

You began mucking your way through fetid bogs, insect swarms, and snarling gators for nearly three hours. The sun began to set and the swamp was growing dark.

Airrazor had been fairly silent since joining you, and you had been unable to find out any more about her. Now, you pull a black snake from your leg and toss it back into the water, and look up to notice her staring at the darkening horizon.

As the sun drops behind you, a new light shimmers on the far night sky. "What the slag is that? There's no cities here..."

"That's where we'll find Terrorsaur."

You look at the distant light and wonder what else you'll find there.

Earth : The Everglades

You turn to Swampvine, "What is out there usually?"

"Not anythin' that would give us that kind of light. There used to be an old shack and a lot of really tough gators. Since I don't believe in killing the swamp creatures, I stay away from the area and tell any others to do the same."

You spread your scanners out wider, and find that there is a massive energy reading coming from that area.

Megatron looks down at you, "Yes, it's a huge energon signature. It seems to be city sized. I would suggest caution."

Then from somewhere up ahead, the roar of gunfire can be heard.

Hornet reports, "Gunplay about six miles ahead of us. It was only for thirty seconds. I'm reading six Decepticon signatures in that direction."

Megatron grunts, "Probably Hooligan and the Combaticons."

"But what are they doing here?"

"There about half the distance between us and whatever that energy reading is. I'm willing to bet they're headed to the same spot. They were to follow signs of Starscream... looks like maybe our guesses were correct."

"Can you radio them?"

"There's some kind of jamming zone around us. No signals are getting in or out."

"Great."

"I could fly there and find out what is going on."

"I don't think we should split us until we know what that thing is up there."

"I can walk up to it's front doors and see?"

You look at him to see if he was being sarcastic. But the silver eyes were hard and contemplative, not filled with false braggato.

"How?"

"When your CR chamber rebuilt me, it installed a fairly advanced stealth array."

"That's how..."

"I 'disappeared' when we first went against Terrorsaur? Yes."

That changes things. If he can disappear from plain sight then perhaps he could go ahead and check things...

Earth : The Everglades

"Ok, Megatron will check it out and the rest of us will keep moving forward."

You turn back toward the large slate colored Cybertronian, "Be careful."

An odd expression passes over the Transformer's face, "Take care of yourself, Flood..." He seems about to say more, but turns suddenly and disappears into the swamplands.

For the next hour or so your party makes their way toward the source of the lights.

You're comlink beeps at you, "Flood here."

"Flood, this is BlackShadow. I'm in the swamps with Nocturro about 3 miles ahead of you. We're heading for the same point it looks like."

"Can you see what it is?"

"You mean you havn't loo...."

Suddenly, an explosion rocks the swamps. It hits about three miles ahead of you, but is large enough to shake the ground around you.

"What the slag?!?"

Airazor jumps up into the air above the treeline, "By the MAKER!!"

"What is it?!"

"There's a city out there, a BIG city!"

SwampVine looks up at the silvery Maximal, "Nonsense, there is no city in the swamps!"

"Look, sister, there's a city out there, and it just fired on the others!"

Earth: the Everglades

You radio to the other team, "Are you guys ok?!" but only static replies, then across the swamp you hear a thunderous voice boom, "Combaticon's merge and form BRUTICUS!!!!"

Airrazor calls down, "There's some large gestalt attacking the city now!"

"Megatron, You still out there!?!"

Static.

"Combaticons!" you try.

"Bruticus smash insolent city!!!"

"Great, why are you here?"

"Bruticus come to aid!!!"

"Aid?"

"Bruticus have no time for Autobot boat. Bruticus will smash city!!"

--Well, that means the comm-links still work at least.--

"Airrazor, can you see the others?"

She drops back down to the ground lightly, "No. If that missile made a direct hit, I wouldn't bet on hearing from them for a while... if at all."

"Everyone move into defenesive positions. We've gotta get closer to that city!"

"Hey!" Commander O'Bryant yelled, "Where'd that Pred go now?"

Swampvine spun around, "What the inferno'd you bring into my swamp!"

"Look, I don't know WHAT'S going on around here!!"

Another explosion announced the cities cannons coming on-line.

"Evasive maneuvers!!!"

You duck behind a tree as a cannon blasts incinerates chunks of the swamp.

"They still don't seem to be worried about us!" yelled Airrazor who had transformed and flown above the trees again, "I think their busy worrying about Bruticus and some other bot... IT'S TERRORSAUR!!"

"What?"

"He's attacking the cities shields, and there's some other bot attacking him!"

"Airrazor, get closer to the city and keep an eye on what's happening out there!"

"Gotcha!"

"SwampVine and O'Bryant, you make your way to the base of that city as fast as you can, I'm gonna fly up and over to it!"

"Right."

You hope that this is a good idea...

As you rise above the trees on your hoverboard, you see an explosion take place by the shields.

"Terrosaur just lost!" radioed Airrazor, who was almost at the cities perimeter by now

You see another form fall from the explosion.

You zoom in and catch the falling... and smoking... form of the robot called BladeWing.

Then you take a good look at the city. It's huge, and glittered evilly in the spotlights that dotted it's surface. The purple of it's buildings seemed to glisten and shimmer in the nighttime darkness.

This is bad... real bad...

You kick your hoverboard forward and wonder again if this is such a bright idea.

Earth : The Everglades

As you near the city, you get a good look at Bruticus. His right arm and left leg are different! They shimmer with a chrome color and niether look like any of the Combaticons! You watch as the massive quintecombiner dodges blasts from the two cannons at the base of the main tower of the city. Even when he fails to dodge, you watch in amazement as he blocks with the shiny new appendages. The blasts ricochet off of them as if they were nothing!

You look down to where Bladewing fell. Only to see Hooligan skidding to a halt beside him...

See Bookie Bot...

Earth : The Everglades

You lower your hoverboard near Hooligan and shout out his name.

He spins and glares at you for a second.

"You found Bladewing!" you continue.

"Yeah, though I think he's solidly off..."

Hooligan cuts his sentence short as a flickering red energy sword whipped through the air and stopped nanometers from his throat.

"Who are you and why are you attacking MY city!" Bladewing croaked as he sat up.

You pull your saber and take a step forward, but Hooligan grimaces as the blade tightens on his throat. He waves a hand in motion for you to stand down, "Heya... Look it was you who attacked us!"

"And slagged several Maximals." you add bitterly.

"We did no such thing. The missile was not from any of Trypticon's missile banks."

"TRYPTICON!!!!!" You and Hooligan exclaim in unison.

"Yeah, Trypticon, and if you don't call off your bruiser up there I'll command my men to destroy the entire SWAMP!!"

"Hey now!" Hooligan blurts out, "you wouldn't destroy your fellow Decepticons."

"Keep attacking and just watch!"

"Look, " you step in, "We don't know what's going on here, but I'm sure if we all stop shooting and swinging blades at each other, we can figure this out once and for all."

The three of you suddenly become aware of the silence that had descended on the swamp.

You look up and see Bruticus hovering outside the cities shields.

Then, your comm units crackle to life.

"This is Megatron. I have assumed control of the city Trypticon. Combaticons, Hooligan, Starscream report to me in the main control tower."

Earth: Trypticon

Hooligan grinns at you, "Looks like you will both be staying for a while?"

With a thud, Bruticus lands beside you.

Bladewing growled, "I wouldn't have it any other way. Take me to Megatron."

You grimace, "Likewise, I want to know just what the slag is going on around here."

Bladewing gets up, smoke and lubricants were leaking out of almost every joint. The cockpit on his chest was melted and cracked, his wingtips were melted down and charred. He had burn marks all over, and, you see on his back as he turns, claw marks. He had been the one fighting Terrorsaur.

The two of you are taken to the headquarter building, and then to the third level of the main bridge.

Bladewing turns toward the two robots at the command consoles. One is a large, purple and green Decepticon. The other is smaller, green, and a Predacon.

"What are you two doing?!?"

The larger one turns toward Bladewing, "Working. Or is that a problem'"

"It is when you should be working for ME!"

The Decepticon threw his head back and laughed, "Oh, little blade boy, You think awful lot of yourself. Dontcha? I said I'd HELP you. I NEVER served you. I been commander of this base for three centuries. Megatron is my rightful leader. He say he want the keys. Well, he get the keys."

You're both pushed forward by Onslaught.

You look up at the command platform two stories above you.

Megatron stood from a command chair and stepped to the edge.

"MEGATRON! What in Primus' name is going on around here?!?"

"Flood, I am truly sorry that this had to be."

"What had to be?"

"The Autobots would not be able to keep me away from the Predacon's for long. There are to few of you, and they are now many. I must take steps to begin a new army that will do what is necessary to deal with the Predacon threat."

"What are you saying?!?"

"I am saying that this is the beginning of a NEW Decepticon Empire. Tell Prime that I hold nothing against him and the Autobots, but if they get in my way..."

"Megatron, this doesn't have to be the way!"

"Don't be foolish Flood. Prime and you Autobots have been ideling your time away on this planet for three centuries. You're soft and weak. The Predacon's have been sharpening their knives behind your backs, and they want to use me to start the Great War again. All they needed was an excuse to show the Autobots and Maximals in the wrong, then they would sweep in like locusts and slaughter you. Now, they must deal with me and a rag-tag band of renagades. The peace treaty is still intact, and the war will stay away from Cybertron."

"And it will come to Earth... AGAIN!!"

"Regrettable, but I at the moment have no way of escape. I shall try to leave this world, but I believe our time is growing short. Already, the Predacon's have no doubt activated the proto-forms in their holds. They're numbers now equal the Autobots, and they are well prepared for war."

"How do you know this?"

With a jerk, Megatron throws something on the floor. It is the mangled remains of Hornet, "Return this lacky to the Predacons, he is still alive, but his spark is in stasis lock. Tell them not to try ever again to control Megatron. "

"But..."

"Leave now Flood. Take the other Autobots and Maximals with you and do not return. I have a war to fight."

Onslaught grabs the wreckage and you and drags you both off the bridge.

Earth: Trypticon

You're ushered to the door by Onslaught.

Outside you find SwampVine waiting with Commander O'Bryant, "What's going on? Why is there a city in my swamp?" she queried.

You fill them in while Airrazor flaps down and joins you.

"I scanned the area," she begins, "It looks like that black Transformer actually won against Terrorsaur. I'm only reading particle traces from the explosion."

"So we don't have to worry about him anymore?"

"No, we have to worry MORE about him, every time he dies, he gains power. This time he'll be even stronger. On the upside, I'll be able to sense him probably as soon as he's rebuilt."

"Terrific, well, we've got to get these parts back to base and find out if Megatron was right about the Predacons. "

"What about Blackshadow and Nocturro?"

"Slag, I almost forgot... Let's go see what's left of them."

The group of you return to the coordinates where the missile had first hit into the swamps. A huge crater lay, still smoking. small scraps of black metal were embedded into the trees.

SwampVine looks around with a low intake of breath, "Look's bad... there!"

She points into the surrounding trees where two forms could be seen hanging.

You hoverboard across the crater and up the trees, Airrazor was already there.

Nocturro and Torca, the new Maximals were lying half slagged in the trees.

"Pull them down, we'll take them back to Metroplex for repairs. SwampVine, any sign of Blackshadow?"

"None," she answers with a downcast face, "I'm reading residuals of spark matter though..."

You ball a fist up and smash it into a tree, "and so the first casualty of a new war."

You turn and begin the journey back to Metroplex.

Earth: Metroplex

As you crested the surrounding mountains, the dawn lights gleamed off of a new city.

Metroplex was different, the towers gleamed with a metallic chrome, and they were rounder, more bio-looking. Everything was still basically the same, but something drastic had changed the city.

You neared the city and came to rest on the large landing platform. It's surface was an almost blinding white chrome in the brilliant monring sun. Gone were the ashes from the days before, gone were the scars in left from the short battle. Below, in the city, life seemed to be springing eternal. Busy vehicles crowded the streets, and the slagged areas were busy with cranes and worker machines as the melted buildings were rebuilt.

You turned to find Optimus Prime standing in the doorway, a smaller, white robot standing at his side. You recognized the robot as an Autobot named Jazz.

"Flood! Jazz, help Swampvine get those bot's to the CR's"

"Righto bossman! C'mon lady, these Maxi's look like they need a little rest and reeelaxation!"

The two cart the three bodies off.

"Report. What did you find in the swamp... and where's Megatron and BlackShadow?"

Quickly, you tell Optimus Prime what had transpired at Trypticon.

"Hmm, I was afraid something like this would happen. What was you assesment of Megatron's mental state?"

"He seemed rational, and if what he says is right, then we have to start worrying about the Predacons."

"That may be trickier than it sounds. We can't start a new war, not here, not on Earth. We have to stop both Megatron AND the Predacon's before they destroy this planet with their battles. Buzzclaw returned to the Predacon ship sometime ago, and if what Megatron said was true, that may be why.

At any rate, I want all the Autobot's battle ready, just in case. Report to the CR's and get your battle computer's fully operational.

Commander O'Bryant? I need you to help ready the city surrounding for an unlink. If the Pred's do attack, I'd rather that we not be in the center of the human populace while he does it."

"No problem."

You turn and head toward the CR chambers. The thought of war tugs strangely at your processors. It had been a long time, and you were surprise to find excitement racing through your circuits.

It only took a matter of minutes to set your computers to active. You watched as old systems were updated and new weaponry added onto your defensive lists. You're harpoons gained new varied tips, explosive, corrosive, hot/cold... Your water processors were boosted and a chemical additive allowed you to control liquid as never before.

You stepped free and walked over to the chamber holding Hornet. He had been slagged pretty hard. Energy bars marked where the computer needed to rebuild the limbs that had been torn from his body. You wondered at the savagery that had done this, and you felt a shudder as you remembered the tales of Megatron's fury.

Then the alarms set off.

You bolted to the bridge, which was active with Autobots. You saw Rapido and Bumblebee, Hound and Jazz. Seaspray was even present along with several others.

Prime stood staring at the overhead screen from his control platform.

On the screens the Predacon ship hovered menacingly.

"Autobots," Prime began as the last of you entered the room, "The Predacon's have announced an official declaration against both us and the Decepticons. They have gotten the permission of the Maximal Elders to capture Megatron at all cost, and any who stand in their way will be considered outlaws.

I have said that I would not include this planet in a war, but we may be pushed into one without any say in the matter.

Metroplex will be separated from the human city in two hours. Until then, we can not risk a battle.

I have also held council with the Earth forces leaders, and they currently agree with my plans of action. They also have granted us a small force of Police Mechs to aid with the attempt at buffering this world from war.

The Predacon cruiser has entered our airspace and set demands for the return of Hornet, Torca, and Nocturro.

Now, I ask each of you if you are willing to return to service as Autobots. The Maximal Elders have let the threat of the Predacon's go unchecked for to long, and we have sat in the shadows pretending that our galaxy was at peace. No more! Once we all obeyed a code of behavior that demanded that we deal with any threats to those species that needed help. It is time the Autobot code be resurrected If there are any of you here that wish to leave, it will be understood. You have two hours to report to me for active duty. After those hours, I will issue our answer to the Tripredicus council.

That is all."

Earth: Metroplex

Troubled, you wave to Prime to get his attention. He walks down from the command platform and comes over to speak to you, "Yes Flood, what's troubling you?"

"Besides the general state of war we're going into? Well, I was wondering what EXACTLY are we planning to do?"

"I can't be sure, not until I know more about the situation."

"I'm all about protecting the humans and slaggin' anyone who messes with them, but..."

"But what?"

You look up into Optimus Prime's yellow eyes. In them you see the weariness of a thousands wars, the deaths of countless friends, and the hopes that it will never happen again.

"But, I don't know if I can hold with going against Megatron and his Decepticons in full force. Sure, he may be in the wrong as far as the Maximal elders are concerned, but they aren't here and all they remember of Megatron is the tyrannical warlord he once was."

"Flood..."

"He doesn't have a bad goal, just a bad means to get to it! Here on Earth, we've seen a different side to him. Were it not for the Predacon threat he could very well be out fishing with me very carefree right now, or engaged in a debate with Aaron. "

"Flood, I understand your worries, and I hope that what you say is true. But I'm still not that sure."

"Prime! He helped me, he helped us! All Megatron wants is to stop fighting and to protect himself. He's proven that he's a friend and..."

"Flood, I want you to listen to me. Megatron is a very influential Cybertron, and sometimes he uses those around him to get what he needs."

"But he hasn't done that with us!"

"Hasn't he? Who came up with the idea to go to the swamps? How did he just happen to know that Terrorsaur went that way? Megatron had those coordinates long coded into his programming, and it's likely that he was the ONLY one to have them."

"What?!? Prime, you're grasping at..."

"Look, " Prime walks to a nearby computer station and activates the monitors. You see an autoscan of the skies above the city, "This was taken during the fires last night."

You see it pan until it hits the Decepticon shuttle as it hovered over the city. Starscream flies out of the hatch, just in time to slam into Megatron. Missile blasts are exchanged, then the two grapple in robot modes, "Camera zoom and clarify." Optimus Prime touches the screen where the two robots are fighting.

You see them 'fighting' but at the closer angle.

"So what?"

"Megatron could rip Starscream in two without thinking, there would never be a prolonged hold between the two like this, and there, that blurring near their mouths, it's not conclusive, but I'd almost say they were talking."

"But you don't KNOW."

"No, like I said, there's no conclusive proof on either side. But I want you to be aware that he may have used you to get to Trypticon without notice. As long as he was working WITH us, the Predacon's wouldn't try anything too quickly. Once he was near his home, he could break free."

"Prime, the true threat is the Preds, and I'm all about slagging them. But I don't know if I can go against Megatron without any more cause."

"Nor would I, but if we are called against Megatron I want you to be ready, and loyal."

"I'll be glad to take on the insignia and be an Autobot again. I'll defend this planet and it's inhabitants and our own selves against any threat. I just worry that we may go against the wrong side."

Prime looks up at the massive screens overhead that displayed the Predacon ship hovering over the city. He places a hand on your shoulder, "So do I, Flood. So do I."

TIME PASSES

Earth : The Everglades

    "Optimus Prime! this is Flood! Emergency! Emergency!!"
    "Prime here."
    "Terrorsaur is up and burning a napalm trail straight toward your position!"
     Airrazor interrupted, "Optimus, I must remind you NOT to try to destroy Terrorsaur! His power ratings are incredible at this moment, another death may make him a GOD!"
    "Affirmative, but I'm not positive he's heading toward us."
    "Then who?" you ask.
    Airrazor turns toward you, her crystalline face glittering with an inner fire, "He's after Megatron."
    "What?!? He's never even MET Megatron!"
    "Yes, but Starscream no doubt mentioned Megatron's name, and think about it, he didn't fly at Trypticon like a friend would. He attacked it!"
    "Great, we'd best move it then."

    Your speed after the flaming robotic pterodactyl. Soon the ocean came into view. Beside it, Metroplex stood near the edge. In the water coming up to his knees (which actually put him nearly a half mile out...) His cannons and artillery were displayed, but not yet activated. Not far, the Predacon ship hovered in the air. And the sea itself was churning with activity.
    "Flood, Airrazor. Prime here. I've managed to have the Predacon's hold off for the moment. Terrorsaur is down there, and he's attacking Trypticon. Megatron is holding his attacks to defensive only, but his shields won't last to long. Deapsea and Seaspray are submerged at the moment and are trying to help, but the Predacon's won't hold of for long, and the Decepticon's won't sit still for much longer either. We need you to go down and stop him!"
    You look at Airrazor, "Ready to swim?"
    "Heh, good thing I'm at least slightly equipped for the water. Vehicle mode!" Airrazor's bird form alters into that of a pontoon plane. "I can swim underwater for a few minutes, but not indefinitely!"
    "Then we'll hurry!" with that, you drop Torca, and change into your submersible form.

Earth: The Everglades

You turn to Airrazor, "Incidentally, Airrazor. How are we supposed to stop him if we can't destroy him.
Airrazor's voice crackels through the communit, "I was created by the same energies, and I hold the key to his destruction... I hope."

Earth: the Ocean (Atlantic shore)

"Ok, let's rock!" you tell Airrazor as the two of you hit the water.

    Bubbles surge up under you and you can hear the powerful strokes of Torca in the water beneath you.
    You speed past the Fuzor and head down into the darker depths.     The water was warm and cloudy..... No, the water was hot! And filled with ash!
    The carcass of a large dead fish floated past you, it's skin already blistering and cracking from the heat.
    Through the waters, the sounds of battle can be heard.
    You run a VR scan and filter out most of the ash.
    There was Trypticon, it was a nightmarish creature, and it lay curled up in a fetal position on the Ocean bed. All around it, hot jets of lava and ash were being thrown up from the Earth's crust. Terrosaur stood facing off with the two Autobots, DeepSea and Seaspray, but the two seemed at a loss as what to do, and had been backed into a defensive battle, trying to keep Terrorsaur distracted.
    You see Seaspray duck in under Terrorsaur and try to tackle the smaller Predacon. Terrorsaurs claw reached back and caught the Autobot, ripping metal with a burning hiss as he threw him to the side. Seaspray struggled to get up, but a fissure opened below him and a hot geyser propelled him upwards, only to land with a muffled thud n the ocean
sand.
    Airrazor joined that battle with lightning speed, distracting Terrorsaur before he could attack Deepsea. Deepsea swam over to you.
    "The battle is going poorly!" came the husky sounding voice of the Autobot female.
    You turn to her and register that her systems are badly damaged.
    "You go get Seaspray and hold back until we have to use you!" You order.
    She gladly swims to gather Seaspray and pull back.
    Torca lands beside you with a thud.
    "What now?"
    You turn and see Airrazor jump away from one of Terrorsaurs attacks. A burst of blue energy erupted from her eyes, but it only glittered off the Predacon's armor.
    "I'm not sure. she said she could handle him..."
    "Yeah, but it looks like he's more than she bargained for."
    "So we'd best give her a hand."
    "Great, " Torca pulls out a rather large and menacing looking rifle and cocks it, "I haven't had a chance to test my new weapons systems yet." He steps forward and lowers his rifle.

Earth: The Atlantic Ocean

    You grab the barrel of Torca's large cannon, "Hold on, Torc. We can't destroy him or he'll be more powerful.
   "I've got an idea. You lay down some cover fire for Deepsea until her and Seaspray get clear, then continue the cover fire. Aim to distract and impair, but not destroy. I'm gonna circle around back of him and come up real stealth-like."
   "What then?"
    "I'm going to try to... dis-arm him." You reply with a wicked grin.

    You transform into the submersible form and move off into the cloudy gloom of the ash filled waters.
    Airrazor and Terrorsaur trade licks in the same oppressive darkness. The wet clouds lit by brief flashes of heat and light as they try to subdue one another.
    Torca, meanwhile had started a thundering stampede across the floor of the ocean.
    Terrorsaur throws Airrazor into the path of Torca's run, and the bird-bot barely transforms in time to use her jets to push away from the oncoming threat.
     You surge out of the gloom, transforming and pulling your saber from it's holder. With lightning speed you slice cleanly through one of Terrorsaur's arms. The arm begins to float off in the waters, magma dripping from it's severed circuitry.
    Then the magma seems to swirl up and reconnect.
    The arm pulls itself back onto the dark Predacon.
    He spins and smacks you backwards. You hit the ground hard, pain receptors flashing as heat tore through your motor systems.
    You stagger back up to see Torca slam into the Predacon.
    This wasn't working.... You think on the problem....
    "Airrazor, if Terrorsaur was made stronger through death, what if we killed you? Aren't you made from the same technology?"
    "No offense, but I think it's a shitty idea!"   Burbles back Airrazor as she lets loose with another blast at Terrorsaur.
    "But aren't you made from the same tech? Wouldn't that work?"
    "No, Terrorsaur is a mutation of the Transmetal technology. His exposure to the Earth's core has not only driven him mad with pain, but somehow it reacted with the alien technology as well to mutate him and change his physiology. He's more than just the Transmetal that got trapped, and apparently his spark is now stronger than mine!"
    With that, a blast of superheated magma shoots out and blasts Torca to the ground, Terrorsaur leaps up, cackling in glee.
    You register a power buildup near you, a large one.
    "This is Flood to Trypticon!!! Do NOT, I repeat do NOT fire!!! We have the situation under control!!!"
    Your comm crackles, "THIS is your idea of under control, Flood? I thought you smarter than that." Megatron's voice answered.
    "If you blast him, he'll only grow stronger!"
    "If we don't he'll tear you apart."
    "There's got to be another way."
    Torca's voice crackles over the comm, "Airrazor said that his spark was too strong."
    "Yeah, so?"
    "So let me take a shot at him."
    "What?"
    You see Torca pull his rifle free and lower it at Terrorsaur.
    "Torca, NO!"
    A blast of light blue energy leaps through the dark waters and seems to splash across Terrorsaur's body.
    Terrorsaur roars in pain.
    Megatron's voice squelches through the comm, "What happened, Terrorsaur's power levels just took a dive!!"
    "It's my weapon systems. They register as some kinda spark diminishing blast!"
    "What!?!? Why didn't you say so!"
    "I tried to shoot him earlier! You didn't let me!"
    "AHhhhhhggg!!!"
    The ground shakes underneath your feet.
    "Whatever you Autobots are doing out there, you're wasting time!" Megatron warned, "His power levels only dropped for an instant, and now he seems to be amassing a zone of heat around himself. In a few minutes, the ocean floor will start to split!"
    As if to punctuate his transmission, the ocean bed shakes again, nearly knocking you down. You're metal skin was registering a sharp increase in hull temperature.
    "Torca, you'll have to hit him harder, and Airrazor, Then you can try your magic!"
    "Gotcha!" Yelled, Airrazor as she came back down through the waters, "I just had to get a breath of fresh air. Let's take this freak out, NOW!"
    "Harder hit? Need a closer shot, Torca, BEAST MODE!!!" The Fuzor leapt through the waters into the superheated waters. Steam rolled off in waves of his thick, elphantlike hide, and even from this distance, you're VR sensors registered thick blisters marring his hide.
    Terrorsaur was focused inwardly and did not seem to notice the oncoming Maximal. His attention is focused on drawing the powers of the Earths molten core....
    You could see thick clouds of blood trailing away from the heroic Maximals body.
    "Torca, MAXIMIZE!!!!!!!" There was a roar, and a large cloud of bloody, sparks flew as the circuitry in the Maximals body succumbed to the heat, but still he stood tall and drew his weapon.
    "Weapon, maximum charge!!" The rifle seemed to glow with a cool blue glow, a sharp accentuation to the red heat that broiled around the Maximal warrior.
    "Now Torca, Airrazor, hit him hard!!!" You raise your rifle, a cryo-spear loaded in it.
    Torca's blast tore at the Purple monster, pouring over the strange mutation. There was a terrible scream and a flash of red from Airrazor's crystalline face. A wave of energy seemed to explode over you, and you felt a rush of heat.
   You had your sights on where Terrorsaur went, but in the rush of power and energy, you knew that your harpoon would do nothing against the titanic forces at work, but you did know where it might help another....
    You shifted the harpoon to your other hand with a quick toss as your stabilizers held you in place in the colossal power of the rushing waters. The harpoon smashed into the ground, right at Torca's feet. A wave of cold ice flowed up and hissed into nothingness in the intense heat around the Maximal.
    Another flash of light and energy shook the ocean, and you flew
backwards, your stabilizers failing. Darkness overwhelms you....

You wake up seconds later, the ocean waters still warm and sizzling around you, but an eerie silence covering the scarred oceanscape. You lift yourself, cracking free of the brittle glass that formed from the fused sands. A quick assessment scan informs you that you are at sixty percent operationablity.

Earth : Atlantic Ocean

    "Initiate repair systems, minimum level."
     You have more important things to do than repair.
     You run a scan of the immediate area. Torca lay about twenty yards from you, his energy sigil was weak and fluctuating. Terrorsaur lay in a charred and burning pile near the epicenter of the blast, and Airrazor lay about fifty yards away. Her white wings crumpled in a darkened mass. Fluids leaked from her systems and floated away on the tide.
     You feel a pair of hands hoist you to your feet. It's the taller DeepSea.
     "You ok, Flood?"
     You shake your head, feeling a piece break loose and float away.
     "Worry about Torca and Airrazor. I'm going to check the Predacon."

     She nods and move to where Torca lay. You swim quickly over to Terrorsaur's broken form.
      The Predacon's life signs were massively different, and the rips in his frame no longer ooze lava, but rather leak mech fluids.
     The thudding sound of massive explosions jerked your attention away from the Predacon.
     "VR scanners wide range!"
     The underwater landscape shifts into crystal clear light as your VR systems vidmap the area. You can see the massive Trypticon, curled like a snake on the ocean floor. Hot shrapnel slowly drifted around him in the waters.
    The Predacons were attacking.

Earth : Atlantic ocean

    You watch as Trypticon moves with a frightening speed, uncurling itself like a snake preparing to strike.
     "Wh... where AM I..." came a scratchy voice.
     You look down to see Terrorsaur coming to.
     Hoisting the wounded Predacon over your shoulder, you begin to make your way toward Trypticon.
     "Where are you taking me?" the weakened Predacon struggled feebly.
     "Shut up..."
     You're scanners register something. Five bots have entered the water, and three were on a course that would intercept you before you could reach Trypticon.
     Another set of projectiles smashed into Trypticon's shielding.
     "Megatron, this is Flood."
     "We'za lil busy, bot." Came a heavy cajun accent.
     "Patch me through dammit!"
     The shock wave of the explosions thuds through the water.
     "Megatron here. What is it Flood?"
     "I've got the Predacon fire bug in hand, but a couple of thugs are trying to cut off my escape."
     "There's not much I can do for you. The barrage is too much to send my warriors out."
     "Yeah, but if the Predacon's get their hands on this guy..."
     "Agreed, I'll see what I can do, but it will take a few minutes."
     "Understood. Flood out."

Earth : The Atlantic

    --Then it's dodge and hide time.-
     Grimly, you heft your load over your shoulder. The three Predacon shapes had picked up speed, one shooting out in front of the others.
    Panels slid aside on your shoulders, "ECM jammers launch!"
    Several blue white projectiles shot out into the waters, leaving a bubbling trail behind them. You spin and swim off over the edge of a small chasm.
    "Vehicle mode!" you transform, grabbing onto the Predacon with a set of graspers that issue from your belly. You're engines whine to life,
straining with the load of the large Pred.
    The foremost of the Preds was keeping pace, and even gaining on you! As he moves into range, you get a quick scan of him.
    With a cold shudder of realization, you can see the way he is moving. Swimming with a wavelike motion, two claws trailing behind.
    It was a lobster.
    SeaClamp.
    --I am sooo screwed.-
    You spot a cliff up ahead, a large crack left from Terrorsaur's earlier tantrums.
    "Time to loose some extra weight!"
    "What? Wait, I can't go down theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee e e e e e   e    e      e          e....."
    The sound of crunching metal hits your receptors as Terrorsaur falls into the pressure filled darkness.
    "Thermal imaging."
    Suddenly, your vision flares into a swirling sea of colors. Reds, yellows, oranges, all fighting for supremacy. Quickly you switch off the
thermals.
    --Slag, the water's still too hot from Birdyboys rampage.-
    You switch back to normal VR.
    A short distance deeper, you spot a rocky out cropping of coral beds. You've rarely seen such a large area! It looks like somehow it was
underground, maybe in a cave under the ocean floor that was opened by Terrorsaur.
    You quickly dive towards it, hoping to play dodgem' for as long as possible.

    It has been about five minutes. You know that at least two Predacon's followed you in, but one definitely stopped at the edge of the coral
canyon.
    Murky darkness covered you now, your VR screens showing the canyon wall around you, and the softly swaying life that covered them.
Plankton swirled on the eddies in the waters as you moved silently in robot mode.
    A shark floated slowly past in the depths, it's eyes large and black. It takes no interest in you, after all, you're a robot. Non living metal.
    You swim on.
    --how long is it going to take them!-
    A school of fish scatter as another shark floats through them.
    You watch as this shark curves lazily towards you. Curious, he comes near you.
    --Curious? He shouldn't even notice me!-
    Alerts go off in your diodes and you jump to the side.
    But the shark isn't the one to attack.
    A heavy claw shoots from a craggy surface that shifts color to show the rocky carapace of a giant sea lobster. The claw reaches out and
snaps the sharks head in two. Part of a jaw lined with sharp teeth floats lazily away as the lobster jumps off the rock into the cloud of blood.
    "Seaclamp, TERRORIZE!!" The Predacon Commander transforms amidst the red cloud, pieces of shark floating in an obscene dance
around the deadly robot.