TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Prologue - Five Weeks Ago - Hoover Dam: Archives

"And?" Keller hunched over Whitmann's ancient chair, squinting to decipher the cryptic green numbers on the computer monitor.

"It's over," Glen squeaked in awe. "We won! We won!"

The dank room erupted in cheers. Simmons delivered a macho high-five that Keller awkwardly answered, and Maggie leaned down to hug her friend while he fought to be heard reading the rest.

"Four confirmed robot kills!" Glen shouted. "The survivors have stopped fighting!"

"What about the others?" Simmons gesticulated, struggling to describe what he meant. "The cars, the Camaro and its friends."

Glen typed furiously, and after a moment, the reply came. "They disappeared into traffic," he reported nervously. "They said they turned back into cars and drove off. The F-22s couldn't track them."

Keller furrowed his brow, straightening up and pointing at the monitor. "You tell them to get the National Guard in there and start pulling people out. Tell them to bring cranes to pick up the aliens. I want them off American soil pronto."

"Sir." The room jumped at the voice. Tom Banachek glanced down at Frenzy's twitching corpse while stepping over it before looking to Keller again. "We'd be missing a tremendous opportunity if we did that. Now that we've lost NBE-1 and the Cube, technological progress could stall. The economy could collapse. The Japanese will dominate American markets. We need those NBEs for our research. If we bring the dead NBEs back here, without needing to keep them frozen and with their military disguises, our research would go twice as fast as it did before."

Keller regarded Banachek with suspicion. "It would be a war," he declared in his press conference voice. "Every nation in the world will want that technology. The Chinese, the Russians, everybody will be foaming at the mouth..."

Banachek smirked under his moustache. "Why should they know? Take the most-fried NBE and some helicopter parts to the disposal site, film it, get it on every news station in the world. People speculated we faked the moon landing," he paused knowingly, "but no one could deny seeing that."

Keller stared gravely at Banachek for a moment. He snapped his fingers at Whitmann. "Do it."

Glen and Maggie glanced at each other.

********

Now

Weather reports around the globe have been reporting unusually high activity of meteor showers in recent weeks. Transformers of both factions from across the galaxy have converged on the American Southwest and Optimus Prime's signal. The new Transformers created on Earth by the Allspark have assimilated into the two groups.

Successful in his secret plan to destroy Megatron and his loyalists, Starscream leads the Decepticons to set up shop at an Air Force proving ground just outside Hurricane, Utah. While they lick their wounds, Decepticon technicians are working in a nearby abandoned coal mine to refine coal into Cybertronic fuel. Meanwhile, Starscream has dispatched spies to infiltrate the government and track down the fallen Decepticons.

The Autobots have taken refuge in Mission City, Arizona. The struggle to remain out of sight is continual. By night, the Autobots strip junkyard cars of parts for Ratchet's shop at an abandoned steel mill. A squad led by new first lieutenant Skydive has infiltrated Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada, to monitor the humans' activity at Hoover Dam. Bumblebee lives with Sam Witwicky in his hometown of Tranquility, California, with Ridge and Avalanche assigned as backup.

After the dissolution of Sector 7, Reggie Simmons was sent home with a tremendous government salary for the service of keeping quiet about what he knows. Defense Secretary Keller has hired Tom Banachek to direct NBE research at the Hoover Dam. Glen Whitmann and Maggie Madsen serve as two of his top researchers, while Captain Lennox and his team oversee security at the dam.

Hoover Dam: NBE-23 Chamber

A man who's seen everything rarely wears a novel expression. Tom Banachek stared out over the gargantuan frame of the NBE that was known to the Decepticons as Blackout. The dead optics stared at him hauntingly, but Banachek was unfazed. It was just a machine, he'd reminded himself a hundred times. A dead machine. Banachek checked his watch.

"Where's that cannon system?" he shouted over the monotonous hum of machinery.

"We're having trouble triggering the transformation mechanisms, sir," a technician shouted back. "I think some of the ports got severed in the battle."

Banachek nodded patiently. Nothing a technician could do about that, was there? Banachek would have to call down Jeff Connor, his top electrical engineer. He patted his back pocket ineffectually, then tried the front, then his jacket.

"Has anybody seen my cell phone?"

The technicians were busy at work again. Banachek shrugged and turned to head back to his office. He always kept his cell phone on him, even when he slept, but there was a slim chance it had fallen out of his pocket at his desk.

********

Tranquility: Business Park

For another Autobot, the assignment would probably have been dull. Sit immobile in truck mode in a parking lot, waiting for the work day to end. When it had, wait for all the humans to get in their cars and leave, then drive back to the subdivision near the highway and cruise the streets all night. Repeat the next day. He couldn't even listen to his radio until 5:30. At least Bumblebee got to hang out at the noisy and bustling high school, and his days were shorter.

But Ridge was a very patient Autobot. He always took a parking spot such that he could see between the business park's buildings. Back there, through the fence, was a field where Ridge could make notes on the little creatures frolicking about and scavenging for food and wishing they had time to ponder the meaning of their lives. He'd always been observant, but this world had so much more meaning since his near-death experience in a Decepticon ambush shortly after his arrival on Earth. It was all rather fascinating.

********

Utah: Coal Mine

The pounding could be heard for a quarter mile from the surface. Mixmaster didn't like breaking the coal by hand, but Starscream had been barking at him for fuel, and they hadn't worked out the automatic excavation system yet. Three hundred feet below the desert floor, Mixmaster's optic lit the carbon boulder he'd broken free. He hefted it to bring it to the grinder for processing, adding to the layer of black dust coating his hide. It was starting to grate in his hydraulics. He hated this work.

Intrigued by the humans, Can Dew was keeping watch at the mall, lucky he was inside. Informing the autobots by night, and watching humans by day.

(OOC: Isn't Ridge dead in the character claims?)

Nellis Air Force Base

Skydive hated it when humans flew him.

The only experienced military officer among Optimus Prime's militia, Skydive had been many things in his day. A soldier. A dissenter. A defector. An outcast. And now, inexplicably, a trusted lieutenant. But never, in all his years, had the bookish Autobot ever dreamt he would be a vehicle.

It was a necessary evil, a part of his cover as one of the base's squadron of F-22s. He knew that. But he didn't think he'd ever grow to like it. Humans were just so...slow, so sluggish, that they couldn't use the cutting-edge abilities of his airframe to anything approaching what it was capable of. He was so ashamed for the poor organic creatures that he had occasionally 'helped' them by enhancing the manuevers they called for, but he'd stopped doing that when he realized that the fleshlings' own construction wasn't durable enough to withstand truly acrobatic aerial manuevers.

He and his small unit of Autobots had been here for weeks now, camouflaged as military vehicles, watching the humans at the nearby Hoover Dam suspiciously. They claimed to have disposed of Megatron and the other Decepticons in the ocean, but a series of fly-bys had shown that the mass of Cybertronian remains on the ocean floor was far less than would be required to account for all the dead Decepticons. Prime suspected some sort of treachery on the part of the humans, but after spending this long in their company Skydive was beginning to doubt they were capable of such things. They were just so...slow.

But still he stayed, and his men stayed, watching and waiting. Just in case.

(OOC: I figure Evac and Landmine would probably be part of the on-base team, since their alt-modes would be out of place anywhere else. It's up to you guys, though. )
________________________________________________

Hurricane, Utah

Barricade rolled through the streets at a sedate pace, carefully taking in all the sights. There wasn't much to see, though, in a small town like Hurricane. Still, he had to check; if the Autobots had managed to track him or any of his fellow Decepticons, they would eventually arrive here. And if they did, he would rather find out about it now than when an enemy attack squad showed up at one of the local facilities he and Starscream had co-opted.

Disguised as he was in the colours of a Utah Highway Patrol squad car, his dayly runs through Hurricane, St. George and other nearby towns didn't attract much attention. And, luckily, they never turned up anything particularly suspicious, either. Although he would happily crush any Autobots foolish enough to make an incursion into Decepticon territory, he knew that they weren't quite ready to face their old foes in force. Not yet. Not until their numbers had recovered to something resembling a real army again.

But soon...soon, we'll be able to take them on. Once our spies start reporting back on their targets...

That thought in mind, Barricade finished his circuit and headed back toward the Decepticons' main headquarters facility. As he approached the old Air Force proving ground, highway traffic grew more and more scant, to the point that it was basically nonexistent. No one was around to see as the Highway Patrol car began to ripple, it's paint scheme flowing into that of a USAF Military Police cruiser.

"Sub-Commander Barricade returning from patrol," he transmitted in Cybertronian to the security AI that he'd set up to monitor the base entrances. Moments later, the gate in front of him rolled aside, and Barricade drove inside.
________________________________________________

Banachek's Office, Hoover Dam

His tiny hands moving so quickly that they were virtually invisible to the human eye, Wire Tap typed in commands on the foolish human's terminal. The tiny, newborn Decepticon had spent most of his short life being carted around by the disgusting fleshling, but his sacrifice had finally paid off. For once, the usually-diligent human had left him behind in a room with a computer. He probably only had a few minutes to himself before his so-called 'owner' returned, but he was making the most of it.

He'd already seen several of the dead Decepticons stored in the Dam with his own optics, but he knew Starscream would want more than that. He'd want names, dates, maps, security logins, door codes, passwords, and every other scrap of intelligence that Wire Tap could gather. The small Transformer was more than willing to oblige; he hated seeing so many of his brother Decepticons in this state, being picked apart by disgusting organic creatures.

Off in the distance, he heard footsteps. And he recognized them. After all, he heard them from inside the fleshling's pocket every day.

The window of opportunity has shut, he thought sadly as he transformed back into his cellular phone mode. But I've gotten enough to start with. First chance I get, I'll transmit it to Starscream.

Decepticon Field Base, Outside of Hurricane, Utah:


He'd spent hours doing research. Days, even. And there was no logical alternative. Nothing on Earth could provide the appropriate alt-mode weaponry.

And, some small, creative part of him that was generally quashed on the subconscious level wholeheartedly agreed that nothing else looked right.

Which meant that, for now, Shockwave stayed under cover.

And for now it worked. He spent his days soaking up data, studying the fleshling's tactics, weapons, and general physiological and psychological data. When the time was right, he'd make his move. Control of the Decepticons would fall to the one most logically suited to lead.

Him.

***********************
Mission City:


Ironhide sat in traffic, every part of him bored. Traffic laws, human pedestrians, animal pedestrians, street signs..... It was maddening. And the number of "bump-n-runs" that had happened to him in the last week alone..... if he was in another one, he'd decided to transform(blending in be damned) and obliterate the offending vehicle.

Then there were the attempted carjackings. Driving down a back alley with three gangbangers hanging onto his doors, truckbed, and in one case his tailgate was not, in his conscidered opinion, fun.

************************
Hoover Damn, Security Control:


Lennox stared at the monitor images of the four Cybertronian wrecks. It always kind of worried him that they'd never found that giant scorpion. In fact, though he'd never admit it to anybody but his wife(she'd been there for the times he'd woken up, screaming in primal terror), he only hoped that it was dead. He wasn't sure, couldn't be sure.

He could only hope that it was dead, or couldn't track him here.

That was the nice thing about this place. Solid concrete and reinforced steel. It couldn't get through to here, could it?

He picked up a clipboard and started riffling though reports, needing to find something that would distract him.

Mission City

Ratchet could get used to this. Being the team medic, he didn't have to go out on long patrols, he just cruised through town enjoying the scenery. He had to be prepared, but with the Decepticons no where to be found, he could take it easy for a while. Nights though, well they were a different story.

_________________________________________________________

Autobot Base

Cliffjumper loved going fast and fighting Decepticons. Keeping watch over the Autobot base involved neither of these. Sure it had do be done, but he just wished there was a least a few humans to scare off. So far, nothing.

Mission City


Night Beat flapped down from his perch on the corner of a building and glided in through Ironhide's open window and landed on the passenger seat.

"nothing to report Boss no activity round here , managed to sneak on to a computer and go online, someone reported seeing a robot up by somewhere called Mount St Hilary, i think it's a dead end. Checked his posting history, last month it was something called Bigfoot, before that it was little grey men."

USAF Base, outside Hurricane, Utah

Barricade rolled through the base at a sedate pace, not wanting to draw undue attention from the skeleton crew of humans that maintained what was, essentially, an empty base. That wasn't unusual, he had discovered; in between flurries of activity when new airframes were tested, the proving ground was basically derelict. The fact that the Decepticons could basically come and go as they pleased said a lot about the state of the facility; even before Barricade had hacked the base's computer network and made it into his slave, the place had been laughably easy to infiltrate.

The Decepticon rolled past a knot of humans (all of which seemed to be more interested in smoking and telling stories than actually doing any work), then pulled up onto a vehicle elevator. He transmitted a signal to the elevator's RF transponder, and the lift started to sink into the ground, eventually depositing him in an underground hangar.

Once he was inside the hangar, Barricade dispensed with his disguise and transformed to robot mode. There was no chance of being spotted here; one of the first things he'd done when he'd suborned the base computer to the Decepticon cause was flag this hangar as the most heavily restricted area on base; in theory, not even the Secretary of Defence had the authority to come here.

Barricade's needle-sharp facial projections curved upward into the mechanical equivalent of a smile. This place was his, his own private lair, where he could be free of the puny humans and even his fellow Decepticons. And he had been busy; an assortment of video monitors, computer systems and scientific equipment lined the walls. All horribly primitive, of course, cobbled together as it was from stolen human technology. Nevertheless, it provided the Decepticon everything he needed to stay one step ahead of the humans, the Autobots...and even his fellow Decepticons as well. Important at the best of times, the unexpected arrival of the one designated 'Shockwave' meant that surveillance on his own kind was every bit as important as the intelligence operations he mounted against their enemies.

What does it matter if we destroy every last Autobot, he mused, if I'm not here to see it?

(I know very little of American geography and not much culture, so forgive me if I make a mistake)

Optimus Prime Cruised down the near empty highway, a single Peterbuilt surrounded by desert. He enjoyed every chance to see more of the world he now called home. When he fell from orbit as a protoform, he'd scanned several other continents, and secretly wished he could meet the people there. But his duty came first. Transporting goods around the area made a good cover for patrolling. To be safe he randomly checked in with the Autobot base, if anything to make sure Cliffjumper was alert. As he spotted the turn towards their base, he opened a comm channel.

'Optimus Prime to base, status report Cliffjumper'

_____________________________
Hoover Dam, Research Lab 3

Glen sat happily at his computer, a plate full of crumbs sat had once been donuts next to him. Three wide flat screens sat in front of him, two of them streamed data from the artifact housed behind a reinforced screen, the one NBE piece that still showed any life. The tail that had once belonged to the NBE he'd dubbed the Scorpian (After the Spiderman villain).

The third screen however ever, showed recordings from the fights 5 weeks ago. Even now, seeing the battles still left him speechless, they were so cool.

'That's it Prime, get him! Get him,' he burst out as a shakey video showed him Prime leaping on Megatron.

Two scientists closer to the screen looked up from their terminals, shook their heads and returned to work. They'd suffered these outbursts from their 'head' for the past 3 weeks and were nearing braking point.

Two months ago, Sam Witwicky's life had been very different. He was worried about getting 3 A's and scrounging up enough money for his half of a new car. It had even gotten so bad at one point, that he started hocking off some family heirlooms (he still shuddered a little at the events that his decesion set off) - but, the reason behind it was noble. It wasn't just about the teenage freedom that comes with your own car, no - the car was what would get him the girl

Ah, the girl......

"Shot through the heart
And your to blame!"

The sudden loud music jerked Sam awake again. They were cruising along one of local highways, on his way to the beach. While there were few cars on the road, the brand new yellow Camero attracted attention at the best of times, it would have been worse if someone had spotted it's driver asleep behind the wheel.....

"Sorry BB." Sam said weakly

"Don't worry about it Sam, but if you're going to sleep, move to the other side and I'll put up a hologram."

There was a joking tone in the robotic voice that issued from the car's speakers. Sam felt like an idiot when he was driven around like that. Besides, if you "owned" a car like this, you wanted to drive it.... even if you weren't doing the driving.

"What's the plan for today?" He asked, staring at the steering wheel.

"Figure I'd surprise you, though I thought we'd take a detour first and pick someone up."

Sam's eyes glazed over at that, and in his mind's eye, he saw her opening the hood of his old, beat up, '76 Camero. Things had certianly changed......
**************************

If Bumblebee was in robot mode, he would have shaken his head. It had been almost two months since the Decepticons had been defeated in their bid for the Allspark. Initially, he had been worried for a counter attack - not all of the Decepticons on Earth had been accounted for. But, as the hours, days and then weeks wore on - Bumblebee got more comfortable with his role as protector and friend of the human: Sam Witwickey.

He was enjoying touring around the small-ish town, "hanging out" with Sam and Mikaela, going to drive-in's (he was becoming a fan of some of the Earth action heroes) and learning more about his new home. On the surface, he thought that things might stay this way. That he wouldn't have to fight any more......

On the surface.....

Hurricane Utah , Universal Exports Warehouse.

Scrapper sat at the console in the quarters he had fashioned beneath the building.


So easy to set up a false identity, to channel funds to buy material without the humans meeting one another.

Scrapper had answered Starscream's call and had been tasked with logistics once the immediate need for his medical expertise was over. His tasks included keeping the Decepticon force supplied , setting up a permament med bay facility and investigating alternatives to the diode breaking coal conversion process. Mixmaster had been adamant that it would need to be a number 1 priority.

His first step had been the acquisition of the run down ware house near the Hurricane Canal and now he was starting the process of trading and ordering supplies. With the aid if a computer link and a hard light holographic projector.

Tranquility

A red streak flies through the skies of the city and rests on top of a building revealing his red, robotic form resembling a condor. His beak opens up revealing a small camera lens.

"Mission Log 01- Beginning scan of the settlement called Tranquility. Earth Sentient life seem to have low defenses. Earth militia nowhere to be seen.." Says BoosterX10 scanning the area gathering data on Earth vehicles. "Master Incinerator... Next Location Data please?"

Iraqi Skies

"Gather further data at a place called 'Hurricane, Utah" says Incinerator, flying in his Osprey mode. "There gather more data inside warehouses, possibly finding data on the Earth military. If by any chance you find another Decepticon, tell them Incinerator sent you."

Tranquility

"Yes master. On route to next location. X10 signing off"

Tranquility: Business Park

Ridge waited patiently for his clock to strike 5:30. Every car in the parking lot had left except one. Ridge started his engine and backed up from his parking spot. He glanced at the other remaining vehicle, a silver Chevy Avalanche, in his rear-view mirror before shifting into drive and cruising through the raised gate. He didn't want to call Bumblebee yet - he'd rather try to track him down first. Ridge had been observing Sam's habits, and he had a hunch where he might be going at this hour.

********

Utah: Coal Mine

Mixmaster folded his arms impatiently while waiting for the process to be finished. The powdered coal had gone into a blast furnace, where it was combusted and squeezed at incredibly high termperatures and pressures. Reverse entropy was then applied to the plasma, and trace raw elements were mixed to congeal the appropriate molecules. Then it moved on to a cooling chamber to bring the superheated gas to a consumable liquid form. Nobody liked hot fuel, after all.

Mixmaster partially marvelled at the ingeniousness of the process, but mostly he was just bored. It didn't help that the machinery wasn't entirely efficient, letting odiferous hot air leak on him. When the last of the barrels hooked to the hose off the cooling chamber was filled, Mixmaster shut down the processor and easily hoisted the palette the barrels were on. He tromped back to the ancient service elevator he'd repaired and set it to raise to the surface and return in an hour.

"Payload," he transmitted in Cybertronian, "this is Mixmaster. Come to the mine to pick up two barrels of jet fuel, two of diesel, and two of gasoline. Hail Starscream," he added drably.

********

Hoover Dam: Banachek's Office

The footsteps continued rhythmically toward the door, finally stopping where a shadow could be seen in the crack below it. After a moment of fumbling with his keys, Banachek strode in and glanced around. His first thoughts were to look under his chair and across the floor. He was surprised to find his phone sitting obediently on his desk.

That's odd. Why would I have left it there?

Banachek shrugged, picked up the phone, and dialed. "...Jeff? It's Tom. There's a circuit problem with 23. They're working on ejecting that cannon in the torso. Right. Right, but there's some damage to the triggers. Get down there and have a look at it. I'll be down in an hour."

The phone beeped in Banachek's ear before he finished, and he looked at it to find a low battery display. This new phone had been devouring batteries like crazy. He scoffed at the idea of having time to get it replaced. Banachek plugged the phone into its charger, set the door lock, and walked out again.

Autobot Base

Cliffjumper was over joyed to hear Prime's voice on the radio. He was beginning to think everyone had fallen off the face of the Earth.

"This is is Cliffjumper to Prime, situation normal".

_____________________________________________________

Mission City

Ratchet really enjoyed the peaceful times he had to himself. He wished that they could last forever, but they never did. Knowing that the daylight hours were drawing to a close, Ratchet turned around and started back towards base.

Mission City:


Ironhide's holo-driver(adult male, mid-fifties, slightly weathered complexion, black hair and mustache) looked over at the small mechanical bird that had perched on his passenger seat. "Better check it out anyway, Night Beat. The best way to reveal yourself to the people around here is to only reveal yourself to the crazies. Nobody'll ever believe them."

***********************
Hurricane Base, Utah:


Shockwave sat in vehicle mode. It was facinating how not having "TOP SECRET!" stamped all over the faux paperwork that had been transmitted, as well as allowing free access to the hangar that he'd been stored in kept people away from what was listed as a "still active war surplus field artillery piece" and being covered by a very large tarpaulin had kept people away in almost rabid droves.

That being said, the fact that nobody had dusted him at all was also facinating.

Barricade's Lair, Utah

Sitting at a hastily-assembled Transformer-scale computer terminal, the Decepticon sub-commander downloaded a status update from the increasingly-complex network of hardware and software that he had hooked into the humans' worldwide network to monitor any traffic of interest.

• Intercepted transmissions indicate that several human military units and a tabloid 'news' crew are attempting to mount expeditions to the supposed underwater location of the dead Decepticons' bodies. Threat Index: 2.3%.
• Messages posted to several conspiracy theory boards claiming that alien activity has been observed in Utah, so far ignored by mainstream media. Threat Index: 4.8%.
• Several transmissions on Autobot frequencies intercepted near the Hoover Dam area. Encryption scheme so far indecipherable. Threat Index: 28.3%.
• Human transmissions from same area partially decrypted. Indications seem to confirm presence of fallen Decepticons. Awaiting confirmation by agent on scene. Threat Index: 13.4%.
• Unit designated Shockwave continues to access information archives at an alarming rate. Unit has not been observed to move from assigned hangar in many days. Threat Index: 42.8%.

Barricade absorbed the computer report quickly, aware of how limited it was in scope. Even working with the software he had designed, the human hardware had proved to be extremely poor at sifting out useful information from all the dreck that infested the human network, although admittedly it was getting better (his status reports hadn't included references to any of the Internet's countless pornography sites in a few weeks, thank the Allspark). But it was still far from adequate.

The equipment available on this backwards world is little more than a shadow of what Cybertronian technology is capable of. A pity we are so desperately outnumbered by the natives and driven to take on disguises. If we could bring the Nemesis down to the surface, the transport's computer systems would make this kind of analysis much easier. But, alas...we do what we can with what we have. And speaking of...

The Decepticon reached for a different section of his cobbled-together computer array and activated his communications array. Lacking the complex encryption systems and tight-band transmission gear that a more advanced Cybertronian facility would offer, Barricade had been forced to improvise. Instead of trying to cobble together something resembling a Transformer comm network, he had simply written software that allowed him to transmit to his comrades over the human Internet; little more than an advanced version of what humans would call a VOIP protocol. Primitive, but almost impossible to trace when routed properly.

"Scrapper," he transmitted to the Decepticons' logistics expert, "what is the status of our computer hardware acquisition program? My monitoring station still requires far more computing power to adequately observe and analyze all the network traffic on this benighted world."
_____________________________________________

Banachek's Office, Hoover Dam

Wire Tap had resisted the urge to blast the human's skull apart with a high-pitched sonic burst, but only just. His fellow Decepticons needed the information that he was stealing from this pathetic organic patsy, and he wasn't about to disappoint them for the sake of his own personal satisfaction.

Besides, he thought, when I have all the data I need, I will get more than enough of an opportunity to eliminate the foul creature. Soon. Very soon.

Once Banachek had left, Wire Tap allowed himself a few moments of rest as his recharged his battery. He no longer really used his primitive human cell as a main energy source; during his time at the base, he had managed to steal a pair of tiny-but-powerful Cybertronian power cells from Blackout's corpse and tie them into his own systems. They had been nearly empty, though, and even though he had been tricking the human into recharging him at every possible moment he'd only managed to bring the Cybertronian cells up to 25% of a full charge. That was more than enough for regular operations, but it hampered his ability to use his offensive equipment, should he need it.

And need it I might. Wire Tap had been stealing data from Banachek's computer and recording the security codes he used for weeks. That line of investigation had turned up quite a bit, but his latest incursion into the fleshling's computer gave him the feeling he had taken it as far as it would go. I'll have to take a more pro-active approach if I'm going to get the job done.

The Decepticon had no question about his ability to out-think the humans who ran the facility. They weren't even close to a match for him, being lower forms of life that would be expunged from the surface of this world like the vermin they were (for fun, if nothing else) once the Decepticons had eliminated their Autobot protectors. He was impatient to get on with it, but if he was going to do the job right, he needed power.

Thirty percent, he told himself. I can get the job done at thirty percent. It won't take too long to get the charge level up to there.

Or so he really, truly hoped.
_____________________________________________

Nellis Air Force Base

After Skydive had been wheeled into his hangar, a human maintenance crew had spent several hours crawling over him, marvelling at how his systems never seemed to undergo the decay and wear that the regular, human-built F-22s did. Not knowing he was actually a highly-advanced alien robot, the techs could only chalk his impressive durability up to incredible luck or the grace of their oddly-insubstantial patron deities. Once they had left, he got to work.

The Autobot quickly activated a cut-out in the hangar's video monitoring, transmitting a still frame to the security office to cover his movements. Then he transformed to robot mode. He had to remain hunched over, his nearly forty-foot frame unable to stand straight in what was, to the humans, a very large building. But he was able to move, and move he did. He sidled over to a computer terminal and interfaced with it, inserting new orders into the base computers. The orders called for a solo F-22 flight over an unoccupied stretch of desert at below-radar altitude, as part of a training regimen for a pilot who, although he didn't actually exist, seemed to log quite a few flight hours in Skydive.

That done, Skydive returned to vehicle mode and activated his holo-avatar. He transmitted a request for launch clearance to the air traffic control tower, received an OK, and blasted out of the hangar. He restrained himself from dancing in the air, not wanting to attract undue attention while he was still within visual range of the human base.

He allowed himself to fly for a few minutes, not bothering to think about anything other than how much he enjoyed being in control of himself again, before his sense of duty took over.

"Evac, Landmine, this is Skydive. I'm heading to rendezvous point delta. Please meet me there in half an hour." He took great care to phrase his order like a request, not wanting to provoke the same sort of resentment in his small observation team as he'd manage to spur in some of the other Autobots he'd worked with.

Nellis Military Base

Ever since Landmine Had landed on this planet he had been bored out of his mind. The only thing that was any fun was that fact that his Vehicle form was an off road dune buggy and the odd Taget practice was also a bit enjoyable. But the humans were so inacturate with his wepons that he even went so far as to assist them without raising suspicion.

Sitting In his parking spot he waited for word from his fellow Autobots.

His wait was over when he finnally got orders fromSkydive ."I will be there as soon as I can , These Humans are getting harder to destract without raising there attention " He replied on and Encrypted channel.

He quikly launched Flare into the Sky to take the Guards attention away. When they were gone he used an EMP pulse to disable the lights and cameras in his area. He then deplyed a decoy to fill in for his absence. With his Distraction Complete Landmine Transformerd and jumped over the Fence Behind his parking area . Once he was over then fence he transformed back into his vehicle mode and drove off to meet Skydive.

Autobot Base

Ratchet pulled up to the old steel mill that was now his workshop. It wasn't much, but it was enough. "Hi, Cliffjumper" he said as he drove past Cliffjumper. Cliffjumper nodded back a reply. Finally he he arrived at a the huge steel mill. When he got inside he closed the door after him, and transformed. As soon as he was standing on his two feet, he got to work repairing some make-shift equipment.

_______________________________________________________

Autobot Base

As usual, Ratchet arrived back at the steel mill just after dark. Cliffjumper nodded at him, but did not let a simple greeting distract him. He knew that if anything was going to happen, it would probably happen at night. He needed to have Ratchet look at him for a routine check-up, but had to wait for Can Dew to come by and watch things for a while.

Warehouse , Hurricne Universal Exports

Scrapper's optics flared as Barricade's message came through.

He transmitted his reply back to Barricade

"I am acquiring the hardware, however the need to cover are tracks is delaying our progress, I am routing everything through several layers of shell companies. As an interim measure i have discovered a way of accesing human's computers by piggybacking it onto a university research programme, thus we will have acess to 1000's of the humans computers processing power."


Nellis Air Force Base

Evac activated his holo avatar and opened a com channel.

"This is Echo Victor Alpha Kilo filing a flight plan for training area Charlie, we've got the commadant's inspection coming up so we're going to practice our low level flying , so don't worry if we drop off radar."

Evac simulated background crew chatter

His rotors whupped the air as the engines spooled up and he took off.

Mission City:


Ironhide rolled to a stop as the light turned red. "What I want to know is where the 'Cons went. We whipped 'em good, but there were a few that weren't..... there......" He sighed. "Y'know, Night Beat, I might just go to this Mount St. Hilary place with you. I'm getting sick of this. Hang on. It's gonna get a little bumpy."

The holo-avatar's head turn in time to look at the person who had walked up to the driver's door. "No."

The punk, who was in the process of pulling the 'Nine out from under his shirt, blinked. "What you say, man?"

"I said no. You're not stealing this truck."

The punk finished pulling out his gat, aimed it at the avatar. "I'd da one wit' da gat, man. Get outta th-"

First", Ironhide's avatar scowled, "If yer gonna threaten somebody with a gun, keep it clean." The punks eyes widened as he saw the truck's gearshift drop into gear without any human assistance. "Second, don't mess with somebody who's out of your league."