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Episode 8: Mirror, Mirror
Previously, on The Waspinator Chronicles
Noctorro was already beside him, digging. "According to my sensors, we're standing right on top of an energy signature...I thought it was one of theirs at first, because I didn't recognize it, but now I'm not so sure."
Atlas took a step back, caught slightly off-guard. "Really?" A devilish grin grew on his face. He lifted his foot, and stomped. The ground shook slightly, and suddenly a yellow light splashed everywhere.
"Scanning...Scanning...Scanning...Suitable life form found."
Noctorro and Atlas faced each other as their jaws dropped.
"Let's go!" Atlas commanded, regaining his composure. He reached into the ground with his hands, Noctorro dug in with his feet, and they lifted a stasis pod out of the ground.
"Computer ... Override ... Gargoyle, authorization ... Destron, code...D - 6 - 9..."
The beams cut out, and Atlas and Scavenger were left wheezing.
Out of everyone else's eyesight, Scavenger reached up to the console next to him, and hit a couple buttons in rapid succession.
Meanwhile, as Torca moved forward, his rifle tip went from Buzzclaw's head to Atlas's.
"Atlas, leader of the so-called Autobots, I Torca, representative of the Maximal authority on this planet, am placing you under arrest for secession, and attempting to alter the timeline."
"What do you think you're doing, boy?" Atlas growled. "I haven't altered a thing, and when I do decide to do anything, it will only benefit our kind. YOU are the traitor here!"
Buzzclaw tapped Torca on the shoulder. "What in the Pit are you doing? This wasn't part of the pla- I mean, nothing!"
Atlas paused for a second and blinked. "...What?"
"Atlas, the transfer is complete!" Scavenger shouted out.
Atlas slowly turned and stared at Buzzclaw. "The PLAN. PLAN? This was A SETUP!?"
Buzzclaw shook his head quickly. "No, it's not like that at all! They ... I ... See, it's Poison Bite's fault!"
Atlas, still on his knees, kicked Torca's out from under him. With one fluid motion, Atlas pulled out his sword and drove it into the center of Buzzclaw's chest, and straight through the other side. Buzzclaw made a strange choking noise, and slowly slid off the blade, slumping into a pile on the floor.
"NOOOOO!!!!" Torca screamed.
Icefire triumphantly hit one last button, and the pod popped open. Injector collapsed to the ground, wires and tubing popping free from his body and his huge freak-head.
She hugged Injector. "Thank Primus! Come on, you grab Torca, and I'll grab Buzzclaw."
"Buzzclaw?"
"It's a long story. Just trust me on this. And we'll need to be quick...Poison Bite's on a rampage."
Injector nodded, still clearly woozy and disoriented. "Ok, let's move."
He stumbled forward, glanced around until he saw Torca, and made a rush for it. Icefire rocketed forward, scooping up Buzzclaw into her arms. As she turned to look for Injector, she was met with a blinding fire.
Noctorro stirred. He lifted his head, and managed to make out the image of Scavenger quietly setting Atlas into a CR pod.
"Sir?" He asked wearily.
Scavenger shook his head. "We will have our revenge on them all...On the fuzor, on the rest of the traitors..."
"Yes sir," Noctorro mumbled.
His vision blurred again as his head fell back to the floor, and everything went dark again.
And now the continuation
Noctorro grabbed the sides of the stasis pod, pulling himself up to peer inside of it.
"Is this the pod Atlas and I retrieved from the swamp amidst the stormy weather?"
Scavenger nodded, typing away at a spare console.
"When Atlas and I examined it," Scavenger explained, "we realized it had a spark, but lacked a core consciousness. Instead of wasting a perfectly good potential ally, we decided to capture one of the Maximals' most effective warriors and copy over his core consciousness. With a few programming alterations of course."
"Of course..."
Noctorro's mind wandered to Buzzclaw. If only we had seen his faulty programming earlier, he thought. Conceivably, we could have salvaged him as well...
"In any case," Scavenger continued, "it is time."
He walked over to the pod, tapped a button on its side, and with a hiss, the hatch slowly opened...
THUD
Icefire tumbled over yet another cable. In a nanoclick, Injector was by her side, helping her to her feet.
"You need to stop pushing yourself so much," he told her.
"I'm fine," she snapped.
"If you'll just go to beast mode, internal repairs will begin to implement themselves. Maybe even help you start seeing again."
"What would really help me start seeing again is a couple megacycles in one of the CR pods."
"Yes, maybe we should toss Torca down the mountain, and in the far-flung future, when we meet him again in the Matrix, we can tell him your optics were just too important."
Icefire threw a dark look his way.
"Fine. Icefire, beast mode."
Ever since Poison Bite had fired directly upon her optics, her vision had been beyond impaired. For the moment, she was blind.
"Waspinator is glad bird-bot listened to fish-head." He sighed wearily. "Waspinator knows all about needing internal repairs..."
Injector wearily dragged himself over to Waspinator, with Icefire at his side.
"Waspinator, you always tell us about how many times you got your thorax beat down. How did you manage to survive to this point?" Injector asked.
Waspinator shrugged.
"Waspinator is just good. Waspinator takes a beating, but Waspinator just puts self back together and keeps on fighting. Not weak like two-heads, or stupid like ant-bot!"
Injector rested his head in his hand, still weary from the operation the Autobots had run on him. And talking with Waspinator wasn't helping. Icefire sat quietly in her own thoughts, feeling very lost without her eyesight. However, the conversation was cut short by blaring sirens. Waspinator jumped up and hit a couple buttons on the console.
"Waspinator detects intruder! Activating defense matrix!"
A purple glow came over the mouth of the cave as Noctorro came into sight, firing his weapon. As he grew closer, he instead relied on his weapon of choice: his massive fists. He pounded away on the defensive shielding with all his strength.
"Your shielding cannot withstand my force forever, Maximals!" Noctorro shouted.
Waspinator cocked his gun, Injector cocked his stinger-arm, and Icefire transformed, pointing her claw-guns at the sound of the voice.
Injector grinned. "We can only hope it won't."
Suddenly Waspinator thought back to a time where he stood in front of the Maximal base. He had been told he was leading the attack...But when he arrived in front of the walls outside the Ark, he found himself toe to toe with Optimal Optimus, and very much alone. Instead, Megatron had other plans...
"Waspinator remembers! Bat-bot not stupid...Bat-bot is tricking Maximals!"
Suddenly, all of them fell to their knees from the tearing force behind them as a massive drill tore up through their floor.
"All your hopes are about to come true, fuzor!" Scavenger roared.
He leapt into the air, transformed, and landed on his feet. Immediately, he took aim and blasted two neat holes through the console that operated the shield generator. The shield vanished like smoke in a breeze, and Noctorro dived down at his prey. Waspinator darted up to meet him, and swung his fist. His longer reach connected easily with Noctorro's head, and the fuzor spun off to the side, while Waspinator shook the stinging out of his hand.
Meanwhile, Scavenger dove forward. Injector grabbed his right wrist, and his stinger-hand clashed with Scavenger's left drill-hand. Scavenger tore his right hand free, and with Injector off-balance, he kicked him onto his back.
"You're smaller, wounded, weaker, and stupider. I outclass you in every way, freak," Scavenger said, almost laughing at his opponent
"That may be true," Injector countered, "but I've got one thing you don't got."
"Oh? What's that?"
Injector smiled. "Balls of chrome steel."
Injector kicked Scavenger's legs out from under him, and just before Scavenger fell on top of him, he raised his right arm, stabbing straight into Scavenger's stomach area. Scavenger wheezed painfully as Injector forced himself to his feet, pushing firmly into Scavenger as he did so. The Autobot regained clarity of thought for a moment, and rammed both his drill hands into Injector's stinger-hand. Injector felt them cutting in, and in pain, he tried to wrest free. He gripped his wrist with his left hand and tugged, knowing that if he fired, his hand would undoubtably be torn off from malfunctioning machinery. Scavenger forced his drill hands in further and further, regaining his dark laughter.
"Having some problems, hm?" He laughed.
"Funny you should ask...After all, you're the one impaled on a blade," Injector spat.
With all the strength in his body, he leapt into the air, tearing a gouge right up Scavenger's body, leaving his torso at the point between his neck and left shoulder. Injector fell to his knees, nursing his hand as Scavenger stumbled backwards, mech fluid squirting all over the kneeling fuzor. Scavenger coughed, choking on his words, and finally managed to spit out his command.
"Aquasting... *cough, cough* ... now!!!"
Injector squinted at the massive ant, wondering what on earth he was shouting about.
Meanwhile, though Waspinator had taken a good first shot, he no longer had the upper hand. The two had circled around the shield generator a couple times, but next time, instead of going around, Noctorro looped upwards, and landed on Waspinator's back. Again and again he pounded at Waspinator's head as Waspinator flailed his gun around, unable to get a good shot off at the Autobot on his back.
"You bore me, insect. Your intellectual impotence makes this far too simple of a battle."
Waspinator shouted angrily, "Waspinator not impotent! Waspinator ruuuuules!"
"Indeed... Let us see about that."
Noctorro draped his wing over Waspinator's eyes and gave a quick tug at his antennae. At the last second he leapt off, and Waspinator slammed into the ceiling. As he began his descent to the floor, Noctorro hopped on yet again, slamming his fists into Waspinator's head just as he smashed headfirst into the ground. Waspinator bounced a couple times, before flapping his wings enough to remain airborne. He spun through the air, dipping and twirling.
"Must destroy all Autobots-Autobots. I, Shrapnel, shall destroy them all-all!"
Noctorro landed and slowly backed away from the loopy ex-Predacon. As he stepped backwards, he lost his footing and tumbled onto his back. As he searched for what he tripped over, he found himself staring at a blue, golden, and very feminine leg.
"Confounded female!" he snapped.
Icefire smiled. "Just keep on talking, Autobot."
She raised her claw blasters at the source of the sound and unleashed a volley of blasts at him. He tumbled backwards under her fire.
Meanwhile, Scavenger attempted to clear his vision. He was sorely wounded, but still functioning.
"Aquasting...Attack!!"
"Stop saying that!!" Injector shouted.
BLAM
Injector went flying over Scavenger's head. He rolled with the blow and sprung to his feet, furious at the fact that he got sucker punched. As he rose to his feet, he saw a shining, golden wasp in bot mode hovering right where he had been standing.
"Guess he won't have to say it anymore, eh gruesome?"
Injector and Icefire froze as they heard the words spoken by transmetal wasp, with each word driving the terror one step deeper into their hearts...Because the voice that sprung from his voice box was completely identical to Injector's.
"No..." Icefire whispered.
"That's right, Maximals," Aquasting laughed, "I've got the smarts, the skills, and the wit of bee-butt over there. And the balls of chrome steel too."
He leaned over towards Injector with a sneer on his face. "But I bet you'd trade all of that just to look like me."
"Smelt off, you sickening piece of slag," Injector said darkly.
Injector raised himself into the air and charged at Aquasting, swinging his massive blade for the bug's head. Aquasting hovered, arms folded across his chest. At the last second, Aquasting spun, bringing his own golden blade up to hold off Injector's attack. At the same time, he raised his knee, driving it into Injector's side.
Scavenger couldn't help but grin broadly at his creation...It was all he could have hoped for. Noctorro crawled over to his commander.
"Sir...Your wounds necessitate repairs!"
Scavenger shook his head. "No, not yet...I've got to see this play out!"
Waspinator buzzed by, babbling to himself. "A little heavy on the electrons-electrons!"
Scavenger squinted thoughtfully at the swooping wasp. "What in the name of Primus is he talking about, Noctorro?"
Noctorro shrugged. "He claimed to be some being named Shrapnel."
"Shrapnel, hmm? I'll have to investigate that upon our return to base...Ungh!"
Noctorro grabbed Scavenger as his commander hunched over in pain.
"It's imperative that you receive treatment soon. Come with me."
He began dragging the woozy ant towards the cave's opening.
"But we have...urgh...the advantage..." Scavenger argued.
His onboard computer interrupted his pained words. "Warning. Loss of spark eminent. Stasis lock commencing."
"Well, can't argue with that, heh." His optics dimmed, and his body went limp.
Icefire sat quietly, oblivious to anything but the two voices trading insults in the air above her. One was her teammate, a companion. The other...The other was merely a perversion of the original. But without her eyesight, she couldn't hope to tell them apart...
"You're past your prime, Injector," Aquasting said mockingly. "A shame it was so short."
Injector swung his blade again, this time for Aquasting's side. Again, the wasp blocked, and this time he followed through by punching Injector in the face. Injector's head lurched back, and he paused wearily.
"No..."
"Ha ha ha...Yes, it's true. I'm simply the better man."
Aquasting raised his sword, pointing it directly at Injector's chest. He fired an energy bolt out of it, and Injector careened into the wall. Aquasting dove forward, ramming him into it again. In the close quarters, Injector managed to punch Aquasting in the stomach. He followed through by ramming his knee into the Autobot's face. He lifted his stinger-arm, and swung down, aiming for Aquasting's head, but the wasp swung his sword with all his strength, and Injector's stinger arm hurled through the air, clattering uselessly against the ground. Injector howled in pain, and Aquasting rammed his sword through Injector's wing, pinning him against the wall.
"Now then, my precious butterfly, would you like to beg for mercy?"
Injector spat mech fluid into Aquasting's optics.
"No thanks, I don't really think you deserve any."
Puzzled, Aquasting cocked his head at Injector, when a voice from behind startled him.
"I can tell you use jets to fly. The nice thing about that, is that not only are they easy to locate, and they're extremely easy to tell apart from wings."
Icefire took both claws and jammed them into Aquasting's exhaust ports. His body began to rumble and shake violently.
"ARGH!! What have you done!?" he shouted as he spun to face her.
Icefire flipped her wings around and sealed herself behind her blast shield as she smiled.
"*sigh* I guess it's true...copies just never come out quite as sharp as the original."
With a hefty explosion, Aquasting flew out the mouth of the cave. Noctorro heaved Scavenger along with him as he retreated. However, at the mouth of the cave, he turned and shouted, "Do not forget, infidels, that you are housing a bot guilty of treason...One guilty of willingly assisting the enemy during his time of service in this war!"
At that he scampered off as quickly as he could to Aquasting's crash point, with Scavenger in tow.
Waspinator slowly lowered himself to the ground, holding his head.
"Waspinator willingly assisted ... Megatron? ...During time of service in ... Great War? But Waspinator not work for that Megatron! *sigh* Waspinator even has headache smashed into his memories this time."
Icefire pulled Injector free of the wall.
"Hang on tight," she said with a smile.
"Can you really carry me?" he asked.
"Do I really have a choice?" she asked back, grinning.
Injector shook his head at her joke and grabbed on as she slowly lowered him to the ground.
Megacycles later, under the cover of darkness, a purple glow returned to its familiar location, covering the mouth of a mountain cave.
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