Hooligan's Continuing Story

Hooligan II

Earth : The Atlantic Ocean

    --Flood is gona' buy it and soon if I don't act fast.-
    " Computer, analyze stability of rock formation above Predacon. "
    -working-
    -Fragmentation of lattice structure unstable-
    "See you in the pit, Predacon."
    You prime a large charge and attached it to your pneumatic grapple with out the safety line and fire. The charge WOOSHES through the
dark water, well over Seaclamp's head. A subdued KATHOOM, is all that can be heard after the ripples of orange light stream out. Huge
boulders tumble down onto the fearsome Predacon. Flood      narrowly escapes the avalanche himself.
    You reach into the billowing clouds and pull him free, "That's it for Lemon breath. Now can we get out of hear? My joints are getting
waterlogged!"
    Flood blinks at you in surprise, "Thanks, Hooligan, but we can't get out of here just yet, Terrorsaur is still down in that trench, and..."
    The ground quakes suddenly, and a loud thundering can be heard. The two of you spin and look up out of the chasm to see a great light
pushing following a rush of water and fish.
    Flood grabs you and swims straight up, so that the two of you can see over the ledge.
    There sat Trypticon, and around him the burning remains of the Predacon ship. The massive Decepticon transformer stood up, uncurling from the seabed. Flame wreathed him from the Predacon warship. The ship had seemingly tried to crash into Trypticon itself... and failed!

Earth : The Atlantic Shoreline

    --I am anything but a Seacon. If I didn't want the Decepticons back together so bad, I'd be outta' here!--
    You grudgingly attach the hydro drive and ballast regulator to yourself as the groggy Swindle rises to his feet.
    "Hurry up, cannon fodder. We gotta get down there and find that pu-teredactle thing before that Flood Autobot gets scrapped. Computer,
seal for deep water activity"
    SPLASH

The Ocean: the edge of a dark chasm

    "See anything yet Swindle?" you gurgle over your shoulder
    "No. Nothing ye.."
    Just then a blast interrupted the Combaticon's train of thought.
    "Slag! Computer reset to battle settings"
    You find that your processors have just allocated the file containing sensor status off line for immediate self repair.
    Three vague shapes could be seen through the waters as another blast lit the darkness.
    There was no time to analyze the attack. The forms let loose with a hail of gunfire.
    You quickly level your gattling gun at the speeding silver death. You let loose but they are too close and the blast sends you careening
upward.
    You still had no idea where Flood was and now the location of Swindle was to be questioned.
    "UGH! I just fixed that!" You complain as another set of equilibrium balances go off-line.
    Then, while floating.... Backwards?... an idea hit you.
    You spew out some oil then released a small charge that is mostly light and noise.
    "Now, if I can just swim to the north face, I can get the drop on these scum bags." You start swimming.... North?

     After a few minutes of swimming, your equilibrium gyros kick in, and you realize that you have been swimming downward, you think into the chasm.
     --Slag. This sucks.-
     Then you see some movement in the darkness. You move closer quietly.
     It was Flood, you almost called out to him, but you see him dodge to the side, apparently from a shark?
     Suddenly, the outcropping of coral where the mini sub had been floating jumps to life. The form of a giant lobster appeared and reaches out, snatching the shark's head in two. Bits of gore and blood floated about as the lobster transformed and blocked Flood's avenue of escape.
     As the scraps of shark flesh and slow clouds of blood swirl about him in a macabre dance, the Predacon Command Seaclamp stood ready
for battle.
     And Flood was his target.

Earth: The Atlantic

    "all right Flood, you and the criminal Terrorsaur are coming with me to Decepticon head quarters. " You gurgle, rather testily due to the water
swishing through your cylinders.
     You activate the comlink, "Swindle! I'm at the trench 1/4 mile East of Tripticon I have our guests. Move in to secure them."
     "Secure!" growled Flood, "Look, I appreciate the help, and I’m heading to Trypticon at any rate… but it probably isn’t a bright idea to
announce our position to…."
    "Don't try anything funny Flood. It would be a shame to have an accident!" You warn.
    "Why you conceited, arrogant…"
    "Lord Megatron, the package is in hand. Is the perimeter to base secure?"
    Skullcrunchers’ voice answered, "There sum, Pred movin’, but dey seem to be runnin’ like a bunch a scared froggies. They’ze ship go
kablooy, and it seem ta spook da ol’ boys."
    You look at Flood, "Where’s Terrorsaur."
    "Safe."
    "What do you mean, safe!?"
    "He’s deeper than anyone other than me can reach him."
    "Then let’s go get him."
    "Nope."
    "What?"
    "I can’t Hooligan. I’m too damaged at the moment." With that, Flood transformed and began to make his way back to Trypticon.
    "H… Hey…. Hey! Wait up!" You swim sluggishly after the speedy blue mini sub.

     You clamber into the airlock beside Flood, Hooligan was there as well, having caught up to you on the swim in. He still looked like slag, but
didn’t seem to have incurred any extra damage.
     You cast a dark look at Flood, who seems to ignore you…
     The inner doors slid open and Flood stepped out, "Where’s Megatron?" he asks the robot that is waiting…. It’s Skyjack.
     "He’s on the upper bridge, he instructed me to escort you to the CR Chambers."
     "When can I talk to him?"
     "When he wants you to. For now, just be content he allowed you to board." With that, the large black jet transformer gave Flood a shove
towards the CR chambers.
     You scrabbled after them, eager to hit the CR chamber yourself.
     "Hooligan, Swindle, report to the main bridge." Voiced the intercom.
     --Slagg… just when I thought I might get some R&R--
     Swindle looked at you and sighed, " You know what this is for…"
     "What?"
     "The Shuttle? The one that went down after it was attacked by Preds? The one with Starscream on it? The one that WE were supposed to
retrieve for Megatron?!?!?"
     "Oh, slag."
     "That’s right, we’re scrapped, and I’m not sure that tellin’ the old fusion cannon that Starscream AND the Pred’s were the last on the shuttle
is such a bright ideal…"
     Not a bright ideal at all, but if not the truth, what then….

Earth : Trypticon

     You and Swindle find yourselves standing on the control platform on Trypticon’s main bridge. Megatron had stared out over the edge at the
massive monitors while you had related your story…
     "So, Starscream has a new body?"
     "Yes Lord Megatron," you answered, "He seemed to be willing to help our cause at the moment, albeit with us at shotgun’s point. Though, I do believe, as always, that he only did so for ulterior motives."
     "Yea," adds in Swindle, "I’m still not too sure how I got out of the shuttle, last thing I remembered was a double barreled blaster pointed in
my chest."
     "Interesting."
     "The shuttle was last heading out toward the Atlantic, and it had taken serious damage from the fight onboard. It had to have crashed
somewhere out there."
     "Swindle, you will stay here with your fellow Combaticons. I may have need of Bruticus before long. Hooligan, you will return to the
Atlantic after repairs. Bladewing will accompany you. The two of you are to locate and bring back the shuttle. With or without Starscream. If
the shuttle can not be recovered, then you are to destroy it."
     With that, Megatron dismissed the two of you. As you left the control platform and headed for the Repair Bays, Swindle breaths a sigh of
relief.
     "Whew, nothin’ like the old days… There was a time he woulda melted us to slag for putting a dent on the shuttle on the way in! Much less
for loosin’ the whole slaggin’ thing!"
     "Yea, well, at least he’s not Galvatron…"
     "Oh, joy, the trigger happy kid.. Hey, Swindle…"
     "Yeah?"
     "Remember what Trypticon said before we left?"
     " ‘I am hunger!!’ Yeah, why?"
     "D’ya think it meant that it was that old Terrorcon, Hun-gerr?"
     "No, I think it meant it had the munchies. Besides, Hun-gerr is still back on Cybertron. I saw those losers before they headed to Charr.
Shortly before we headed to Earth. He’s quite alive and kicking… and smelling…"
    "Hmmm… then why did he say that?"
     "I dunno, you could always ask."
     "Ask?"
     Swindle walks over to the wall, and hits a spot on a flat, black panel. The panels shifts to a smooth, glossy surface, and symbols light up
across it’s surface. Swindle waves you over to it.
     You look at the panel and instantly your mind works on computations for different ways to access it, even as you reach for the voice
controls, you begin to computate how to derive levels of security access to different parts of Trypticon’s system.
     "Trypticon, you said earlier, ‘I am hunger.’ What did you mean by that?"
     "I am the devourer, I hunger for chaos and an I feed on torment. I seek the madness in others, for that is where power truly lies."
     "Oooookeeedokey, so, you’re Megatron’s loyal puppy then?"
     "I serve no force but one, and with it’s henchmen shall I sow the seeds of discontent."
     "Allllrightythen." You hit the button, "Shees, and I thought I was crazy. C’mon I think we both need a good CR…"

Earth: Trypticon

    --Ahh... There is nothing like a CR chamber…
    Nothing like a good nap…
    Nothing like goofing off…
    Nothing like waking up to five charged particle blasters'--

     "Gee Swindle, Couldn't you have done something more subtle like form Bruticus in the middle of base.
     Five pairs of hands grab you and drag you out of the shuttle.
    "OWWW!   Just a joke. Sheese"
    "Shuttup and listen, punk." Grated the shiny transmetal Brawl.
    "So what am I being shang-hied to do this time."
     "Nothing, this is just a neighborly warning call." Growls Vortex as Brawl lifts you up by the scruff of your neck.
     "Yes, "steps forward Blast-off, "It seems that you and that Bladewing fellow are going to retrieve our shuttle."
     "Yeah, that’s the plan."
     Onslaught stepped up to bat, "We just want to make sure that you don’t let it stay in Starscreams hands. You see, anyone could have gone and found our shuttle, but it HAD to be
that slag sucking piece of crater trash, Starscream. Since you’re the s.o.b. that bought the shuttle, and started all this slag to begin with. It’s up to you to get it back. Without any more
damages than you’ve already caused."
     "I’ve caused!! Swindle was with me!"
     "He was deactivated when the shooting started."
     "So! He was…"
     Brawl gave you a good shake.
     "We just want to make sure that you don’t do anything stupid, like try to run away with the shuttle."
     "I wouldn’t…"
     "Oh, just to make sure, Blast-off has a little gift for you."
     "Oh, a gift.. I like… OWW" Brawl reaches up and wrenches a chest plate free.
     "Just hold still while I install this…"
     "Hey, what the slag are you puttin’ in there!!"
     "It’s a bomb. If you attempt to leave the earth’s atmosphere and boom, and, I’ve added a nice little transceiver so we can detonate it for kicks if you tick us off."
     "Great, you guys get the best presents…"
     Brawl drops you to the floor, you begin to bolt back on your chest plate.
     Blast-off leans over, "Of course, it has all the amenities, a trigger if removed early, fire wall to make sure it doesn’t blow from impacts, and a handy dandy separate unit for it’s
destruction codes. A unit I’ll keep hold of…. If you don’t mind."
     "Oh, sure, be my guest…"
     Swindle leans over with a smile, "You understand of course, this is all just business."
     Onslaught chuckles, "Yeah, we’d think you were a swell guy if you didn’t owe us property."
     "But…"
     The door slides open and Bladewing walks in.
     "Uhm, what’s going on?"
     Swindle smiled at the bot as the others began to leave, "We were just congratulating Hooligan on his new assignment as your parnter. See ya around boyos!"

Earth : Trypticon's repair bays

    Brawl gives you a parting kick in the stomach as the group walks between you and Bladewing, you’re sure he doesn’t even see it. You sink to the ground and curl up in a fetal
position.
    Bladewing strides up to the healing pad after the others leave
    "For the love of..." "HOULIGAN ! Get up you lazy bastard."
     --play it off, save face--
    "No mom I didn't reprogram the tutor bot to do a strip-tease....   wa,   *Yawn* What's the chronomitor reading?"
     "Sometimes I don't understand Megatron", Bladewing grumbles. "On your feet. We are supposed to salvage the shuttle. And… you’re in command..."
    You shift a parabolic dish into position, not believing your normal audio registers, "EH!? Come again?"
    "You are in command, alright?!"
     "WOO-HOO !!!"
    Bladewing gives off a pitiful groan.
    You confidently stride over to a control panel. "Tripticon! I need you to construct an emmitions sensor and two jaming exo-suits."
     "I don’t need a jamming suit." Bladewing preempts, "I’m… adept at jamming."
     You nod, "Ok, then you know the mission?"
     "Find the shuttle."
     "Right.   Let’s get out there." You pick up a small scanning sensor from a panel on the wall where it had materialized.
     --Allright, command, what I finally deserve!!—

     The two of you stepped out onto the landing platform of the transformed Trypticon.
     "Well, I’ll just use this palm sensor to triangulate the coordinates of the shuttles vapor trail. Trypticon’s sensors can be used to give me a vector for matching against the downward
velocity of…"
     Bladewing taps you on the shoulder.
     "Huh? What?"
     "Maybe we should just look up."
     An explosion rocks the massive Trypticon fortress. You look up in the sky to see the shuttle a few hundred yards off. Predacon’s were dropping out of the shuttle in an onslaught of
firepower, and at their head was a large combination monstrosity that you had not seen before.
     Bladewing’s optic scoped out as he looked at the leader monster, "It’s the Tripredicus council."
     "What?!?"
     "They’re a combiner, and an ugly one at that."
     Your comm unit squelched, "Bladewing, Hooligan. Change of plans. Get on that shuttle and stop it from attacking. Any way possible

Earth: The Atlantic Shoreline

     You give an urk as a Bladewing grabs you and jumps off the platform.
    "Hold on." The black winged robot warns.
    He ducks around and into a shadowed area.
     "Activate your jamming suit and let’s go." He warns you.
      Explosions rock the massive Decepticon city as you hear the sirens signaling transformation.
     "Ok, you’re the fly boy, get us out there." You snort as the jamming field begins a quiet, but high-pitched whine around you.
     The black and silver robot pushes out from the shadows with a silent grace.
     You hear gunfire explode as the Predacon’s begin their assault and the Decepticons respond.
     "Why aren’t those slaggin’ Autobot’s doing anything?" You complain, trying not to fidget as you were lifted high into the air.
     A large explosion and the groan of strained metal quickly answers your question.
     You both look, and see that the massive Autobot city was suddenly lilting to one side and slowly shifting below the waters. Smoke poured from one side, and the waters around it
churned as the great city began to sink down.
     "Looks like the Predacon’s have a few saboteurs of their own." Bladewing mutters.
    The smoke pouring out of Metroplex was quickly being churned up by the winds sweeping in from the ocean. "They won’t sink much." He ponders, "They’re too close to the shore.
At the most, it’s just gonna get Metroplex mad."
     However, your optics zoomed in and took a closer scan. Logically, the area where the explosion took place is near where the transforming cogs were. You can see that a solid
break in the lines could hold him up, and possibly even paralyze the massive robot.
    You shake your head, "That wasn’t their target. Look where the smoke is coming from. Energon to mud bets that they just blew out the transforming coils. And if they were smart
they probably hit the communications and weapons systems too."
     "How the slag can you tell that from here."
     "Just a… gift I guess."
     "At the very least, that smoke will give us some cover for visuals. Make it easier to get inside."
     "Let’s do it then."

     Within minutes, you found yourselves onboard the shuttle’s box-like exterior.
     The shuttle was delivering heavy blasts at Trypticon, who had now transformed into Beast mode. The terrible lizard roared and thrashed with frightening ease and speed, tossing
Predacon warriors to the side like mosquitoes as they tried to land on him.
     "Look, Bruticus is going after That big monster combiner!" You point out.
     It was easy to see that Bruticus was pitifully outmatched. His blasts were dodged with ease by the smaller robot, and you watch as the Predacon brings a bladed weapon up into
Bruticus’ torso. Parts go flying as the weapon cuts through Bruticus’ heavy armor like tin foil!
     Bladewing mutters hastily, "Great, we’ve got to get this thing out of commission."
     "Oh, I don’t believe you’ll be doing any such thing." A grating voice makes you jerk your attention to the rear of the ship.
     Starscream stood with rifle at the ready…

Earth: The Atlantic Shoreline

     You give an urk as a Bladewing grabs you and jumps off the platform.
    "Hold on." The black winged robot warns.
    He ducks around and into a shadowed area.
     "Activate your jamming suit and let’s go." He warns you.
      Explosions rock the massive Decepticon city as you hear the sirens signaling transformation.
     "Ok, you’re the fly boy, get us out there." You snort as the jamming field begins a quiet, but high-pitched whine around you.
     The black and silver robot pushes out from the shadows with a silent grace.
     You hear gunfire explode as the Predacon’s begin their assault and the Decepticons respond.
     "Why aren’t those slaggin’ Autobot’s doing anything?" You complain, trying not to fidget as you were lifted high into the air.
     A large explosion and the groan of strained metal quickly answers your question.
     You both look, and see that the massive Autobot city was suddenly lilting to one side and slowly shifting below the waters. Smoke poured from one side, and the
waters around it churned as the great city began to sink down.
     "Looks like the Predacon’s have a few saboteurs of their own." Bladewing mutters.
    The smoke pouring out of Metroplex was quickly being churned up by the winds sweeping in from the ocean. "They won’t sink much." He ponders, "They’re too
close to the shore. At the most, it’s just gonna get Metroplex mad."
     However, your optics zoomed in and took a closer scan. Logically, the area where the explosion took place is near where the transforming cogs were. You can
see that a solid break in the lines could hold him up, and possibly even paralyze the massive robot.
    You shake your head, "That wasn’t their target. Look where the smoke is coming from. Energon to mud bets that they just blew out the transforming coils. And
if they were smart they probably hit the communications and weapons systems too."
     "How the slag can you tell that from here."
     "Just a… gift I guess."
     "At the very least, that smoke will give us some cover for visuals. Make it easier to get inside."
     "Let’s do it then."

     Within minutes, you found yourselves onboard the shuttle’s box-like exterior.
     The shuttle was delivering heavy blasts at Trypticon, who had now transformed into Beast mode. The terrible lizard roared and thrashed with frightening ease and
speed, tossing Predacon warriors to the side like mosquitoes as they tried to land on him.
     "Look, Bruticus is going after That big monster combiner!" You point out.
     It was easy to see that Bruticus was pitifully outmatched. His blasts were dodged with ease by the smaller robot, and you watch as the Predacon brings a bladed
weapon up into Bruticus’ torso. Parts go flying as the weapon cuts through Bruticus’ heavy armor like tin foil!
     Bladewing mutters hastily, "Great, we’ve got to get this thing out of commission."
     "Oh, I don’t believe you’ll be doing any such thing." A grating voice makes you jerk your attention to the rear of the ship.
     Starscream stood with rifle at the ready…

Earth : The Atlantic Shoreline

    Bladewing steps forward, moving up toward the taller black and blue robot, "So, Starscream, working for the Pred's now, are we?"
    "Hardly, Bladewing. I am the master of this house. The Predacon’s merely serve my purpose… for the moment."
    He moves inward… and away from the line of sight that included you. You realized that he was trying to draw attention away from you, probably long enough so
you could do     something. You slipped down to the ground and began to work.
    "What's in it for you, besides Megatron being out of the picture again?" you heard Bladewing ask.
    "Au contraire, LaserRod, I don’t want Megatron dead. In fact, I want to see him win this battle. He is the key that I need…"
    You had a panel off and were working on rerouting the ship’s controls…
    "That you need? What key?"
    "Really… oh," there’s a pause as you look up and see his rifle aiming at you, "And Hooligan, you can stop messing with that circuit board now."
    You look down, ready to make the last connection, but the wires slid and pulled themselves around, as if changing the connections you had made, you jump back
as the coverplate snapps to suddenly, and by itself.
    You sputter as you stand, "It… it was rerouting itself, as if it…." You lapse into silence, your mind working to piece together… something.
    The conversation between Bladewing and Starscream fades into the background, pieces of memories slide and shift in your head, trying to understand the panel.
    --And how’d he get the drop on us. There could be outside cams, but I was jamming… AND wearing the stealth suit. He was out here before we could
blink!!—
    Then things started falling into place… and another memory slid in with it, Starscream’s death, the new body, and…
    "And what do we get out of it?" you hear Bladewing ask.
    "You get… you get a ride off this mudball of a planet."
    You and Bladewing look at each other.
    You turn back, "Yeah… I trusted you before…"
    "And you were not shot by me, but rather by your frosty companion. I avenged your death and ended his life."
    "What about this…"you continued, "Earlier, we were on the shuttle…"
    "And the Predacon’s attacked. I stopped them, but you had already jumped out. I didn’t tell you to, and everything was still under control."
    --Slag, he’s right…--
    You lapse into silence the pieces of the puzzle fitting into place.
     "So how can you give us a ride off of here?" Bladewing asks.
     "This shuttle. I’m sure that Hooligan can attest to the power of its engines. It is equipped with the latest tech, and can take us back to Cybertron in a blink."
     "And what’s to keep us from just slagging you and taking it?"
     "I have the upper hand at the moment? Not to mention that neither of you are fighters, you’re espionage agents. Deadly to be sure, but easily outmatched in your
current situation."
     It snapped into place, everything became clear for a moment, the shuttle, the spark chamber, and what the Combaticon’s had MEANT for it to be…
     "I wouldn’t be so sure." Bladewing threatened, but you put a hand on his arm.
     "There’s more."
     "What?!?" He looks at you as if you’d lost your spark, and you weren’t sure if you hadn’t.
     You turn to Starscream, "Isn’t there. You and this shuttle share a link. That’s how you knew we were here, even with the inviso-suits."
     "Ah, so the grease monkey has figured it out."
     "How’d it happen? How could a transformer be linked to an inanimate shuttle? I knew there was a spark chamber, but why didn’t you become the shuttle?"
     "Really, I’m not positive. All I know is that I was left to die on the table inside of Trypticon. As so many times before, my spark left it’s housing and began its
quest for a new host. Deathspire’s old design had served me well, but it was time for a change. I floated up, but found myself drawn back into the deep of the
Everglades. There, the shuttle sat in the muck, awaiting my spark. I tried to merge with it, but the process nearly destroyed me. Instead, it formed a body that was
linked to the shuttle itself. The body you see now. I promise you, I have lost no power in the conversion. In fact, I am far more powerful now than ever. It is time
for me and Megatron to finish our struggle for supremacy once and for all."
     "Then why do you need us?!?" Bladewing spat.
     "Look out there. Even the assault on Trypticon itself has not brought Megatron out of his new fortress!! The coward sits and trembles, no longer fit to even lead
his own forces into battle!!"
     "Then I take it you don’t believe the assault will succeed?" the black robot asked.
     "HA!! Granted, it’s a well-laid plan, the Autobot fortress is useless, the Decepticon forces deplted, and Tripredicus’ strength is immaculate! However, the
Autobot’s themselves are soon to set in to the Decepticon’s aid. That in it’s self will equal out the forces. Optimus Prime is leading them onto the battlefield. Even
that pompous insect will find Optimus and his cronies hard to chew up so easily, especially after expending the energy he’s using against Trypticon’s shields.
     "If that wasn’t enough, the Earth Defense Forces are on scramble and will be available within the mega-cycle!!
     "The assault is doomed to fail. Too bad, but all I’m interested in is Megatron. Bring him to me, and we shall leave this rabble behind."

Earth : The Atlantic Ocean

    Bladewing turns away from Starscream, "Very well then, I will see about getting Megatron out here."
     You sputter, "Bu.."
     Bladewing grabs you and jumps off the shuttle before you can say anything else.
     "You’re not really going to trust that pile of lying scrap bolts!!" You squirm as you climb onto his back.
     "Of course not, we’ll just tell Megatron what he wants. It’s up to Megatron as to how he deals with it."
     "But that leaves him up here with that blasted shuttle!"
     "What are we to do about it? You already tried hacking into the controls, he’s in full control of the shuttles systems! All we could accomplish by staying is to get
scrapped, one way or another."
     "Yeah, maybe…"
     "No maybe about it. We relay our story to Megatron, and then we’ll figure out how to take out that shuttle."
     Below you, Trypticon was slashing around in the water furiously. Tripredicus was slashing at his shields, and dodgeing everything that Trypticon threw at him.
     You lean over and look down, "And you want to go into THAT!?!?"
     "Maybe not, Bladewing to Megatron…"

After explaining your story, Megatron informs you that he would deal with Starscream, and you were to return to the shuttle and make sure it was no longer operable.

Earth: The Atlantic

    You and Bladewing make your way up under the shuttle, "Ok, there’s an open door on the side, I saw it as we were flying away. We can activate our stealth
crap and crawl inside, hopefully without Starscream noticing."
     Bladewing flies closer, "But he noticed us before, what’s different this time?!"
     You look over at where a slate blue jet was burning a trail toward the shuttle, "This time Megatron’s going to be keeping that slimeball go-bot busy!"
     You jump up inside the open side doors with your stealth suit activated. Quietly you move inside. You turn and look for Bladewing, but he’s nowhere to be
seen.
     --Fine, I’ll do it myself!—
     You move quickly into the main bridge area, sitting at the console is a single Predacon. You sneer and bring your Gattling guns up, tearng into the back of his
chair. The black and orange Predacon slumps forward and over to the ground, smoking.
     "That was fun!" You move up to the control panel and sit down, quickly deactivating all systems before the Preds have a chance to counter attack.
     This threw Powerpinch to the back of the ship, as it begins to free fell. Without a word you switch the power back on and the automatic righting system forces
the ship into in a ballistic steep climb, rattling everything including the command chairs that were
never fixed.
     --This should knock Starscream for a loop!!--
    Suddenly, both chairs are shaken loose from their fixtures, you tumble backward with the chairs and are nearly crushed as you fall into a tangle with Powerpinch.
    You begin to extract yourself when a blast nails the pile, tossing you free.
    You get up to see the Predacon Hornet standing near the doorway. The ship had righted itself, and he had a rifle lowered at you.
    Then, explosions rocked the shuttle itself and klaxons began blaring. You both look out of the viewscreen up front to see Megatron pummeling Starscream
mercelessly.
    You sneer "That’s it, Predacon. Megatron will rip Starscream’s processors out and send this game will be over!!"
     Hornet turns and nails you dead on with his rifle. Sparks fly as you fall back, feeling the burning paralysis ripping through your processors from his toxic venom.
"Starscream can go to back to the Pitt for all I care!" he moves toward the controls.
     Then, you see Bladewing seem to materialize out of nowhere behind the Predacon. His sword swept in a glittering red arc that sliced straight through Hornet’s
neck.
     As the head tumbles to the ground, Bladewing’s optics glint with satisfaction, "That’s for messing with my head."You hear him whisper. He looks down at the
disembodied head as the rest of the Predacon slumps to the ground, "Guess you Predacon’s loose this battle after all, eh?"
     You hear the Predacon gurgle a final reply, "Nnn…o…no..tt ye… t…"
     Suddenly the ship seems to envelope itself in a blue green energy and you see a blast arc out toward Megatron…

Earth : The shuttle

    You stumble toward the repair kit, and spray some neutralizer in the smoking wound on your chest, "You don't think you could have done that about five micro-cycles sooner?"
    You stagger up to the main controls, "What's going on with this monkey ride anyway."
    Quickly, you bring up ship status on the viewer, "By the burning inferno!"
     "What? What is this!?" demanded Bladewing.
     But you were already crawling through the maintenance hatch to confirm the readings. Past the jungle of relays and conduits lay the spark chamber, and in its
center was growing two, glowing sparks.
     "You know, When a bot buys a ship he doesn't expect permanent tenants"
     You quickly head back toward the bridge, "Let’s get out of here!"
     "What? I’m not abandoning my ride home!"
     "Yeah, well, it’s not really a good ride home now!"
     "What are you talking about!"
     "It’s turning into a transformer, and if we don’t move, we’re likely to get crushed in the process!"
     As if on cue, there is a loud groaning as the ship strains to alter its configuration. The control panels began to flip and shift, and struts of machinery jutted out of
the walls and floors.
     You open a top hatch out of the control room.
     As you make your way out you hear, "What are you two doing?!?"
     You look to see Optimus Prime and Flood standing near the edge of the shuttle, apparently about to jump in the side entry.
     You yell, "I wouldn’t go in there! It’s going through changes!"
     "What?!" Flood yells.
     The noise out here was immense, the sounds of metal and electricity fighting for supremacy.
     "The shuttle, its taking Megatron’s spark into itself and forming a new robot!"
     Prime blinks for a second, "What kind of robot?!?"
     You shake your head, "It’s just a body rebuild. Starscream’s already part of it, but it looks like Hornet activated the systems to suck in Meg’s spark as well!"
     "Can we stop it!?" Flood yells.
     "Not without loosing them AND the shuttle!"
     The noise below your feet begins to resolve into the sound of gears whirring and panels sliding.
     "Then let’s get out of here!" Prime orders.
     The four of you jump to safety, noticing that another black and orange Predacon, Powerpinch, carting a decapitated Hornet, jump free of the shuttle as well.
     The six of you land on the beach below, near the collection of tanks.
     There is a bright light engulfing the shuttle, and you watch as pieces are shed, and panels are slid. Parts fall away into the ocean as the shuttle sheds its extra
weight. Wings slide out, mounted with racks of missiles, and soon, a definite shape appears.
     The shuttle changes into a large ATF bomber. Grayish green and black camouflage striping it’s hull, and glistening silver edges to its triangular shape. An
enormous round cannon was on the belly of the jet. Megatron’s body falls away, releasing its grip on Starscream, but the blue and black robot was changing as
well. His colors were altering to match the larger bomber, and he was converting to his jet mode.
     The two linked together, completing the form of the new and deadly looking robot.
     With a sudden boom, the transformation completed. Engines roared into existence and the jet bolted into the sky under it’s own power.
     Prime mutters, "It’s designed after Dreadwing’s old body…"
     The jet circles Trypticon and Metroplex, then spins toward you on the beach. There is a moment of seperation as the two jets split apart, and then the sound of
transformation, just before they both land with a thud, in robot mode.
     Megatron looked at the heavy, thick arms of the robot mode, stretching his hands. The huge gattling cannon had become a shoulder mount, and the nose of the
plane was his chestplate. The sings had folded back along the sides and still held their deadly load of missiles.
     Megatron looks up, and his voice and Starscream’s in unison speaks, "I am reborn."

Earth: The Atlantic beach

     The massive robot stretches out an arm and looks at it, "Fascinating."
     The group of Cybertronians facing it, look at each other apprehensively.
     Optimus Prime, scuff and damaged from his tussle with the monstrous Tripredicus was the first to react, "Megatron?"
     The large robots head snapped up at the name, his eyes glowing red for a brief second, then slowly shifting to a sparkling silver hue, "Yes, and more…"
     The smaller, aqua colored Autobot, Flood, spoke up, "Megatron, what happened?"
     The robots eyes glittered above the black faceplate, "The shuttle… it was created to house my spark?"
     A derisive snort came from a orange and rust colored robot that sat, hunkered down on a large rock on the beach. Oil and mech fluid dripped slowly from a
wound in his stomach. As he clenched at the exposed wires, Hooligan looked up at the others, "Yeah, that was how all this got started, sorta…"
     Optimus looked over at the old Decepticon, "Explain?"
     Hooligan gives a laborious sigh, "Well, at least that was where my part started here. You see, the Combaticons built that shuttle to try to reclaim the spark of
Megatron. Then, to get it to Earth without Starscream knowing about it, they sold it to… to this Predacon cat that I hired on with to get off of Cybertron."
     "How did the Decepticons know about Megatron?"
     Hooligan shrugged, "How did the Predacon’s know?"
     Flood shook his head, "The Predacon’s knew because of Razorclaw. He was working for them the whole time. He was on Earth as a Predacon scientist and
has been running tests on the water environments.   In the confusion with the Tripredicus council we forgot about him AND that he had the access codes we were
using here on Earth! He snuck on board Metroplex and detonated the bombs at the beginning of the battle today."
     Megatron looked over, "That explains the Predacon side of things, but still gives us no idea how the Combaticons knew where to find me."
     A lanky black robot with a red eye and huge silver wings shakes his head, "It appears that none of you are two adept at intrigue."
     All eyes turn back as he leans against one of the white Earth Defense Force tanks, the setting sun glinted off the red cockpit bubble on his chest, "If you want to
know how, why don’t you just ask someone who IS adept."
     "Who?" Flood gives Bladewing a stubborn look.
     The black and silver robot only raises a sword to point at the smaller of the paired robots standing on the beach. The formerly blue and black Starsream, now
hunkered in the shadow of his enormous counterpart, Megatron. His gray and green camouflage making his nearly invisible in the slanting light.
     "Soundwave." He states grumpily.
     Bladewing nods, "Soundwave, an ancient Decepticon adept in telepathy. He must have sensed where Megatron’s spark was."
     Prime looked dubious, "Then why not come earlier than three centuries?"
     Flood’s eyes got wider, "He couldn’t sense Megatron until I rebuilt him! When I found him and threw him into a CR chamber I started all of this off." He leans
back hard against another of the EDF tanks.
     Prime looks over his shoulder at the smaller bot, the sun shining through a crack in the glass crystal of his door-wing, "Don’t blame yourself, Flood. You only did
what was right."
     Megtron’s eyes glinted red, "Yes, ‘don’t blame yourself’. The only danger that has been caused was by the Predacon’s interference!" He spun toward the
crouched robot that sat slightly apart from the rest of the group, a black and orange carapaced robot with a slew of gun blast wounds across his back. He looked
up from the decapitated body that he was working on, stemming the flow of mech fluids from its gaping neck wound.
     Megatron’s gun raised, but Prime moved in front, "NO! It is over Megatron.   The council has lost, and are defeated."
     "Spare me your idealistic ways Optimus. One does not leave a enemy in his tent hoping that he will not slit your throat in the night."
     Flood moved to Megatron’s side, "No, he’s right. Remember what you told me! Remember how you just wanted to be left alone. Now is your chance! End the wars here and now!!"
     Megatron seemed to consider this for a moment, then lowered his cannon.
     The Predacon, Powerpinch, was visibly relieved. He stood up, setting Hornet’s carcass down, "Now what."
     Prime sighed, placing his hand on the larger Megatron’s shoulder, "Now, we rebuild."

     The next week was spent with a combined effort at reconstructing Metroplex’s hull. It ended up being easier than expected, as his new technology seemed to have a fairly advanced restructuring ability.
     The Predacon’s were all rebuilt, weapon’s deactivated, except for the Tripredicus council. It was by joint agreement that until they could be returned to Cybertron that their bodies would remain in stasis lock.
     Megatron becomes listless as the days go by.   When approached he seemed agitated and angry. Even Optimus and Flood could not drag out of him the reason. The strange duality of his voice did fade as a few days passed, however, and once again he and Starscream seemed to operate almost independently.
     Extensive cleanup and geological repair began as soon as Metroplex was rebuilt. The ocean floor had taken considerable damage from Terrorsaur’s attack, not to mention the several cities that had been slagged by the mad Predacon. The attack on Tripredicus didn’t help either. Around a hundred miles of ocean shoreline suffered due to the battle, but with the combination of the Autobots, Maximals, Decepticons, and Predacons, repair efforts were very successful.

     Bumblebee leaned back in the cushy chair in Metroplex’s main bridge. He was the only one on duty, and he was nearly ready to be relieved. It had been a quiet
night. Outside, Metroplex was working on a geological fault line that had been severely shaken by Terrorsaur, but the work he was doing required little or no help
from the smaller Cybertronians. The viewscreens were set to show the ocean depths. A beautiful coral reef was not too far off, and Bumblebee had early on set the
zoom to show the reef exclusively.
     Life swam across the massive screen in sharp relief as the computers on board Metroplex lit the area with a form of virutal definition. Colors were vivid and
sharp, and the seen was breathtaking.
     Or at least it was six hours ago when Bumblebee had first brought it up.
     Now, the golden robot sat cleaning his chromed gun. He had come a long way from the bubble-like body he first had on Earth. He was now a sleek car,
powerful, fast, and armed.
     He clicked his gun together with a resounding snap and holstered it back in his leg. He leaned back looking out into the blue waters again, nearly powering down
in boredom.
     The door behind him hisses open. In the glare of the control panel, Bublebee sees Rapido walk up and look over his shoulder.
     "Beautiful, ain’t it Rap?"
     "You were falling asleep."
     "Yeah, but let’s see how you do after six hours of waterworld."
     "Ok, get up. I know how to turn on the link to Earth’s holo vids. It’s a movie night tonight!" the red robot chided.
     Suddenly a small beep attracted both the robot’s attentions. Bumblebee hits a button and a star map of the local solar system appears in the center of the kelp
bed.   On the edge of the system, a large blinking ship appeared on the scanner.
     The two Autobots looked at each other in disbelief and worry.
     Then a screen panel blinked. A large rust colored, and slightly charred looking Cybertronian face appeared in the panel.
     "This is Backdraft, Captain of the Cybertron ship Soulfire. We are in a state of emergency and war. If there are any Cybertronians on Earth, please reply."

You stumble forward, setting the small generator down on the lower hanger deck.

Things had been boring around here.

For the past week, everything had been repair this, mop up that, transport those…

Being part of the Decepticon legions again was not proving an adventure.

The Predacon’s had been rebuilt and had agreed to be nice and peachy until they could be transported back to Cybertron. Well, all of them were rebuilt and repaired EXCEPT for the Tripredicus Council. And without their leaders, the little colony bugs were just larvae.

You leaned on the generator, resting your arms. The deck down here in Trypticon was spacious, but it’d be nice to get back outside and cruise around for a while. It’s been to Solar Cycles since the big lizard went underwater! All the open air from before had gotten to you, now it’s absence in this underwater ‘Con tank was really bothering you.

The outerdoor warning shut on and the wide doors at the end of the room opened, leaving a large shield to hold out several tons of water.

It was a nifty sight, seeing the weird flesh fish scurry away as the heavy repair sub drifted inward from the ocean’s depths. Water rolled off it’s surface and jets hissed on as it pulled in and settled down onto the deck. Beside it, a small blue robot transformed and jumped through the shield.

Flood landed on the deck with a soft thunk and shook off the extra water that the shield didn’t scrape off.

“Well, THAT was productive.” He grumbled as he moved across the deck, away from the repair sub.

A hatch on top of the sub snapped open, and Swindle’s head popped out, “Well, how was I supposed to know that coral wouldn’t hold that rock up?”

Flood grimaced, “YOU were supposed to be holding the rock so the miner could finish it’s work.”

Swindle jumped down, “Eh, I thought maybe that old Earth ship might have had something we could use in it.”

You shake your head, “In other words, he though the old Earth ship might have something SHINY in it.”

The Autobot Flood smirked, “Oh well, it wasn’t really an important operation at any rate, I…”

The general speaker system shut on suddenly.

“Decepticons, prepare to break moorings and raise Trypticon to the surface. Incoming Cybertronian ship to dock with the city. Clear upper decks of equipment upon surfacing.”

You look at Swindle and Flood, “Incoming ship?”

Swindle shrugged, oh yeah, the sub picked up the initial transmission. The said something about war or somethin’.

You and Flood look at each other, “WAR?!?”

With that, Flood spun and headed for the turbo lifts

Earth : Trypticon
You decide to go get some fresh air and stretch your legs after the work from raising the city was done… well, mostly done.

You had been spending a great deal of time actually just looking like you were doing something all afternoon.

So far, no one had noticed that you had carried that looped coil of wire all over the city about three times.

You go up to one of the towers and pop open a hatch to the night air.

As you clambered out, you hear your name.

You jump and spin, seeing Bladewing sitting on top of the tower as well, “Oh, heya, you shirking duties too?”

He shrugs, “Something like that.”

“So, you know what’s going on?” you plop down a few meters from him, dangling your feet over the side of the tower. Down below you could see the Cybertron Captain’s warship. It was fairly large, and heavily armored. From here you could see a linkage hatch that should have been mated to another ship. A smaller ship, probably a weapons backup or booster ship. You wondered where that ship was.

“Not a clue,” Bladewing answers quietly, “except that there’s a warship that might provide a nice ride back to Cybertron.”

“Yeah, but here tells there’s some kinda war back home. Figures.”

“Figures?”

“Yeah, I left cuz it was so slaggin’ boring, and now there’s a whole war being raged there!”

The enigmatic robot’s optic lens swiveled a bit at this.

Below, a school of dolphins of dolphins breaks the still surface of the Atlantic.

“So? You ready to return?” he asks.

“Ready and willing. Slaggin’ knows that all I’ve found here is a planet-full of monkeys. Take me back to the bars on Cybertron. After all! I’ve finally got a few energon rods saved up to spend now!”

Silence lasts for a few minutes while the two of you stare out at the night air.

“You going to the meeting?” you ask.

“Meeting?”

“Yeah, down below, there gonna announce what’s up on Cybertron. It’s supposed to start in a few cycles.” You started to get up.

The black robot stands with you, “Yeah.” He follows you down into Trypticon.

A long table ran along the walls and sat all the others assembled here. At the forefront was Optimus Prime. Megatron sat beside him and the Earth President beside him.

The crew of the ship, the Soulfire, stood in the center of the gathered crowd.

Optimus spoke, “Autobot, Decepticon, Maximal, Predacon, Cybertron, Destron, and Human. For the first time in perhaps all of our history do we all stand side by side, joined in peace and united through a common danger. For those of you who do not yet know why we are here, Cybertron has again fallen under attack. Our homeworld has become the target of conquest from an outside force, and now calls to us to stand against it’s would be enslavers. Captain Backdraft is the first ship to reach us, to ask for our assistance in this new fight. He will now, hopefully, shed some light on what has happened on our homeworld.”

Silence reigns in the room. With a heavy sigh, Captain Backdraft squared his shoulders and began…

CONFERENCE

Earth: Trypticon
You stagger out of the Conference chamber. Mind reeling.

--I’m a leader!?!—

Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, but you’d need help. It wasn’t like you could rebuild all of this crap by yourself.

The humans could help, and they sound like they’d be willing to. Swindle… slag, he and Some of the other, smarter Combaticons are good mechanics. That Predacon bug, Hornet. He’s got brains. He might be a good resource. The Autobot’s gotta have some people to, and Thunderfist was Backdraft’s engineer, he’s gotta know something about that ship.

--How did I get myself into this!!!?!!!—