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Episode 1: Activation
A lone figure stood in the center of the darkened room. Encircled around him, the Autobots finally came to a verdict, though it was never really in question.
A deep voice spoke, filling the chambers. "You have been found guilty of willingly assisting Megatron, Galvatron, AND Unicron during your time of service in the Great War. This charge includes assault with intent to destroy countless Autobots. We have determined that you are a greater danger to Cybertronians online than off."
The figure didn't expect such severe punishment. "But-"
"SILENCE!!" boomed the voice. "We have decided to show you mercy. While records will show you as deceased, your body is to be rebuilt and your mind wiped. Guards...Take him."
It all sank in slowly... "NO!" he shouted, leaping towards the head of the court. Two powerful blasts from the guard sent him sprawling across the floor. They stepped forward, lifted him, and carried him from the room.
"I still say we should have extinguished his laser core," one member growled. "He's done too much and he's known too much to be given a second chance."
"Don't worry," another member responded. "He never was all that bright. I'm sure he'll just fade into obscurity like all other Decepticons with their wires crossed."
"There is no further need for discussion," said the one with the deep voice. "Court is adjourned." At that, he lifted the gavel and brought it down with a
WHAM!!!
...Thud...Smack!
Our hero bounced a couple more times, skidded, and slammed into a large rock.
"Ooooh...Why Waspinator always have to do this?"
The cheering proto humans headed back for their village, taking their catapult back with them.
Waspinator began to whine, "If stupid fleshies not want Waspinator, then Waspinator not want them either. Waspinator will leave!" At that, he kicked the rock he had slammed into.
The rock began to hiss and whir.
"What? Waspinator not want to get destroyed by a rock again!" He curled up and began to quake in fear.
Suddenly, bright beams shot out from the rock, and began encircling the area.
"Scanning...Scanning...Suitable DNA recovered."
Waspinator leapt to his feet. "Waspinator find stasis pod? Ooh! New bot will be Waspinator's sub-commander!! Waspinator will rule!!!"
With a final hiss of an airlock being released, the stasis pod opened.
"I...*cough, cough*...am a little sore," groaned a weary female's voice.
Before Waspinator stood a brilliantly shining, blue bird.
"What...What's wrong with my body?"
"Ooh! Waspinator's sub-commander is Transmetal! Sub-commander, what is bird-bot's name?"
Still adjusting to her peculiar body, the new bot focused her optics on the bot in front of her.
"Ah yes, I remember...Icefire, MAXIMIZE!" And suddenly the bird became full sized Maximal warrior. She aimed a wrist blaster at his head. "Are you a Maximal or Predacon?"
Waspinator barked back angrily, "Waspinator is no Predacon! Never evil again!"
"Interesting...Well, thank you for recovering me. Where are the rest of the Maximals? Are there any Predacons? Where is Optimus Primal?"
Slightly befuddled by multiple questions, Waspinator fumbled to respond without appearing confused. "Monkey-bot took the Maximals to another planet, but left Waspinator to lead everything here!"
"Really, commander...Waspinator." She looked at him for a moment. He seemed too inept to be someone left in command, but she could figure more on that later. "Well, where's the base?"
"Base?"
She sighed. "Ok, first we'll have to establish ourselves a base. Are you familiar with the terrain?"
"Waspinator knows all! Where does bird-bot want to go?" He transformed and began to rise into the air.
"Icefire, beast mode!" She also transformed, and then followed him up. "High ground is always good. Do you know of any caves; possibly near the mountaintops?"
"Waspinator will show sub-commander where to find it!"
He took off, and she followed, shaking her head at the apparent ineptitude of her new leader. "Maybe he's a savant..."
As the two flew off into the distance, two pairs of yellow eyes glowed from the nearby undergrowth. A hulking figure stepped forward, brought up a shiny blade, and slammed it down, tearing straight through the abandoned stasis pod. A deep rumbling laugh grew . . .
The two flew into a cave on the top of a mountain.
"Waspinator has brought sub-commander bird-bot to the base!"
Icefire looked around, slightly uncertain of the poorly maintained location. There was just enough light to make out a few consoles and a large, bulky item in the center. All of it was clearly charred, as if there had been a massive explosion.
"Looks cozy," she commented.
Waspinator flew over to one of the consoles, transformed and began to type away. Light began to grow from the electronics that permeated the entire cave. Two of the consoles appeared to still be reasonably operative. And the bulk in the center...
"That's a gun!" Icefire shouted in shock.
"Was a gun," Waspinator grumbled. "Megatron and spider-bot built it wrong, so....BOOM. Waspinator got taken apart TWICE that day."
Icefire stared at Waspinator. "I still have no idea of half the things you're trying to say," she said.
Waspinator shrugged and pointed at the console in front of him. "Waspinator gave console power. Is bird-bot good with consoles?"
Icefire transformed and walked over to him. "I was the secondary technology specialist on a recent mission."
She began to type away, watching the output on the purple, translucent viewscreen in front of her. "Hmm...This doesn't look so good. But, if I can get some spare parts, I should be able to get this thing working well enough, and maybe even get that thing," she pointed at the massive weapon, "to act as some sort of long distance communicator to Cybertron. We could call for a ride home!" She turned to Waspinator. "Let's go retrieve my stasis pod; that should provide us with enough to get me started."
"Waspinator can carry stasis pods very far! Waspinator will lead the way...Beast mode!"
"Icefire, beast mode!"
The two took to the air, and zipped out of the cave. The land below them zipped by.
"Waspinator," Icefire began, "My stasis pod was left here. How many others are there?"
"Other stasis pods?" Waspinator asked, the idea not having occurred to him.
"Yes...I woke out of one of them. How many did Primal say were still here?"
"Um..." He thought for a moment. "None."
"Oh, so just me then?"
Waspinator paused for a moment. "No. There were only supposed to be none," he answered unhappily.
"What?" she asked, half disbelieving, half in shock. "So mine wasn't supposed to be left?"
"No. Monkey-bot was supposed to take all of them when he left."
"But...If I'm here, doesn't that mean others might be too?"
"Waspinator...does not know." Waspinator was beginning to get thoroughly confused. If monkey-bot hadn't left any stasis pods, then where did bird-bot come from? But Waspinator saw her come from one. So monkey-bot DID leave some? But how many?
Icefire looked unhappy. "This can't be a good thing...My stasis pod!"
Waspinator followed her gaze....to nothing. "Where stasis pod? Waspinator sees no-"
"I know! It's gone!"
The two landed and transformed. There was a trail where the stasis pod seemed to have been dragged a couple feet, but the trail disappeared into a mound of fresh dirt.
"Well...I guess it's digging time," Icefire said.
She raised her claw-blasters, and Waspinator raised his gun. The two blasted away, sending dirt everywhere and leaving a small crater.
"Waspinator cannot see anything," he grumbled, wiping dust off of his eyes.
Icefire shook her head. "Me neither...Something did this, and it wasn't us. But why?"
Suddenly Waspinator slapped himself on the forehead. "Waspinator knows where to find other stasis pods!"
He turned and rushed away.
"What? Wait!" Icefire, feeling more than a little annoyed, took off in the air after him.
As they left the area, the leaves rustled, and a pair of yellow eyes flashed fiercely.
"BEAST MODE!"
The sound of the transformation echoed through the valley.
The two arrived at the base of a completely different mountain. Waspinator reached into a nearby pile of rocks, pulled out a specific one, and spoke into it.
"Open door."
"Voice recognition not activated," a computer's voice said.
"Um...Waspinator says open door?" He tried.
"Voice recognition activated, authorization: Waspinator," the computer's voice said. "What is the password?"
"Password?" Waspinator asked.
"Incorrect password, please try again," the computer's voice said.
"What's the password?" Icefire whispered.
"Waspinator not remember password!" he said, worriedly.
"Correct password. Please proceed."
Icefire gave Waspinator a sour look. "I guess whoever designed this was counting on your brilliance," she said tartly.
Waspinator shrugged.
An opening appeared in the mountain base, just about twice the size of a normal bot. The two walked into a room humming with energy. Everything was bathed in a greenish light. There were three consoles on the right wall. On the floor near them there was a spherical object tool, clearly non-operative. A chair sat in the middle of a room with a console to itself. To the left, a stream of some sort ran through the lab. But the left wall contained the reason why the light was greenish.
Icefire screamed. "By Primus, NO!"
Hanging upright were seven stasis pods, each filled with a fluid. In most of them, the fluid was a milky white. In two of them, the fluid was green, and lights behind them bathed the room in green.
"What happened here!?!" She demanded.
Waspinator hung his head. "Megatron's...lab. Megatron wanted a virus that stopped transformation." Waspinator kicked at the sphere. "Spider-bot made this, but it used too much energon. Megatron used something green to try to make something work. But Megatron used it all on those two," he said, pointing at the two pods filled with the green fluid.
"But these two...They're the only ones who look normal!" She peered back into those pods, one with a dinosaur, likely a raptor, and one with a fish, definitely a barracuda.
Waspinator sighed unhappily. "They are...Fu-zors," he forced the word out, pointing at the other five pods.
"Two beasts fused into one alt mode. Unusual, but aptly named. But again, what about these two?"
"Waspinator is not sure. Megatron said they have two animal modes."
Icefire recoiled in disgust. "What horrid creations!"
Waspinator nodded.
"Wait," Icefire paused. "When I asked if there was a base we could use, why didn't you take me here?"
"This is under a mountain. Bird-bot wanted to be on top of mountain."
"What!?" Icefire held her head in her hand.
"Hmph! Nothing ever pleases chick-bots!" Waspinator walked over to one of the pods and lifted it with a smile. "Now we have pods! Sub-commander, grab a pod and follow Waspinator!"
At that he took off out the door and into the sky.
"Wait!" she shouted. "We could just...set up here....Aw scrap. I'd better not let him go off on his own, he might hurt himself."
She grabbed a pod and followed him into the air grumbling. As she did so, she thought to herself, "Did he say ‘Megatron'?"
Just as their mountaintop base was within her sights, Waspinator zipped by her in the other direction. She hurried to set her pod down and catch Waspinator.
"Jets, maximum burn!"
She got the base a few nanoclicks after Waspinator. "Now wait just a moment, slag-for-brains!" she snapped.
Waspinator set down the pod he was about to take.
"I was trying to tell you something. Why take the pods over to the mountain, when we can just use THIS for our base?"
A voice came from the corner. "I was just about to ask you the very same thing."
Icefire and Waspinator's heads whipped around to see a pair of red eyes in the shadows. A blue, transmetal rhino, in tank mode, pulled forward.
"On second thought," he growled, "why don't you two leave, and let me use it for my base."
Waspinator jumped behind Icefire in fear. Icefire, oblivious to her leader's actions, defiantly demanded, "Who are you?"
"My name is Atlas...Maximize!!" he transformed and peered down at Icefire with his bright, burning yellow eyes, menacingly swinging a sword in his left hand.
"Hey, you're a Maximal!" Icefire said happily.
"True...But you're not!" he snarled, and backhanded her.
She flew across the room, leaving Waspinator crouching behind nothing. Waspinator gulped as Atlas picked him up by the neck and shook him at Icefire accusingly.
"Those who associate with the enemy, will be treated as the enemy."
"What?" she asked fearfully. "That's Waspinator; Optimus Primal left him in charge. He's a Maximal, like us!"
Atlas threw Waspinator across the room, hitting the wall just above Icefire. "Then why," he asked, typing in commands into a console, "does this show a Predacon signal sitting right next to yours!?"
Icefire looked in shock at Waspinator. The word "Megatron" floated across her mind momentarily. But despite that, she turned angrily towards Atlas. "Predacon or not, he's done nothing but help me out. We're all in the same boat here; he should be treated as one of us."
"Lies, treachery, and deceitfulness are the ways of Predacons. If you choose to follow him, then I will wash my hands of you. Leave," he ordered, pointing with his sword.
Waspinator pulled out his weapon. "Waspinator is not Predacon! Waspinator is sick of being evil and sick of getting blown up!"
Icefire stood as she raised her claws with a smile. "Nice sword, but these shoot."
Atlas laughed, and reached for his gun sitting next to the console. "You think I need to chase you out with this?" he asked, throwing his sword aside. "Though I do detest such simplistic weaponry..." He began to pick up his gun, but it got blasted straight out of his hand. He turned, snarling.
A thin line of smoke rose from the mouth of Waspinator's gun.
"Fine," Atlas snapped. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to resort to my ‘secret weapon' so soon, but....Lieutenant, now!"
Atlas dove behind the chair as the ground began to shake. Just outside the doorway a massive drill tore out of the ground.
"Scavenger, MAXIMIZE!" The massive bot began swinging his drill-hands around. "As the saying goes, better dead than Pred...So I figure I should do you the favor of rectifying your situation!"
Atlas stood up. "Still having fun, kiddies?"
Waspinator and Icefire stood back to back, neither of them ready to take on such powerful opponents. Atlas and Scavenger slowly closed in.
Atlas took a step towards Waspinator. "So you're the closest thing to a seasoned veteran between the two of you? You don't look like you can handle yourself, let alone another spark. I, on the other hand, have a few million years of tactics tucked under my belt."
Moving in the blink of an eye, Icefire spun around and steadied her claw blaster on Waspinator's shoulder.
BLAM!
"Then you'd think you'd have learned how to shut up by now," she snapped.
"Left yourself open, darlin'," Scavenger sneered, lunging at her.
Waspinator turned and lunged, firing his weapon. Scavenger stumbled backwards from the blows to his chest, and waved the smoke out of his face.
"Well, that was fun," he said smiling. "I certainly hope there's more where THAT came from!"
He dove forward, both drill-hands extended. Icefire swung her claw forward, deflecting one drill. The other claw caught the other drill precariously between talons.
Atlas, having both weapons out of reach, simply dove for Waspinator. One hand grabbed and held Waspinator's gun hand, uselessly aiming at the wall. The right one formed a fist and slammed into Waspinator's chest again...and again...and again...and again. His chest began to buckle under the overwhelming pressure.
"Puny little bug," Atlas spat out. "This battle was over before it started. Go back to the pit, where you belong."
Waspinator, hunched over and gasping, looked up at the warrior furiously. "Waspinator said...Waspinator is sick...and tired...of being...blown...UP!"
Waspinator shouted the last word, and instinctively fired blasts out of his eyes. Atlas flew backwards, slamming headfirst into the wall. Waspinator stepped back in surprise.
"Waspinator forgot he had those!"
He happily unleashed a barrage of shots at Atlas, keeping him trapped behind the chair.
Meanwhile Scavenger, by leaning his entire weight on his arm, had maneuvered his drill dangerously close to Icefire's face.
"It appears that you've got a cavity. Sad to say, but we're just going to have to drill that!" He pressed closer. "But first, some anesthetic!"
The drill hummed with energy, and a blast fired out of it. Icefire flinched, but it still managed to scorch her head. As she fell onto her back, she was able to kick Scavenger back for a moment.
"Waspinator...Help me!"
Waspinator turned, and saw how much danger his friend was in. He grabbed Icefire's shoulder. "Follow Waspinator."
Waspinator dove, grabbed a stasis pod, and headed straight up to an opening in the ceiling, with Icefire in perfect mimic, a step behind.
"No!" Atlas bellowed.
He grabbed his gun and began firing. Scavenger joined in, firing at them with his hands. Since Icefire was towing a pod behind her, it took the majority of the shots. Unfortunately, it took enough damage that a hole was ripped in the bottom. An orange, baboon-like beast fell to the ground, riddled with holes and blaster burn. It gave a twitch, an electric crackle ran through it, and then it shuddered into lifelessness.
Scavenger frowned at the ceiling as Atlas settled into the central chair. "First order of business," Atlas decided, "patch up the roof."
Scavenger nodded. "Yes, sir."
Atlas gave a nod. "And Scavenger...Let's see if we can't salvage the remainder of these Maximals," he said, walking over to the three remaining stasis pods. He stopped at the third. "And perhaps we should save as much of this green fluid as possible. From what I understand, it's VERY valuable."
Back at the mountaintop, three stasis pods were opened for the first time.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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