4 - The Last Minispy and Battlechargers Forever

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

PART 1

I know I don't look much right now. I'm a tiny grey open-top vehicle, barely large enough to carry a human, but I'm telling you, appearances can be deceiving. I was, until recently, one of the heroes of the Decepticon army. Our enemies trembled at my name.

Yes, I was a Minispy. I'm impressed you've heard of us. Many people haven't. We were the precursors of the Micromasters, and flawed, I'll be the first to admit. It wasn't until the Autobots developed the miniature fuel and hydraulic systems in the first true Micromasters, and Thunderwing captured the Battle Patrol for analysis, that we were able to create fully mobile humanoid Transformers just seven feet tall. Sure, full-size Transformers like Ratbat and Soundwave could shrink when they assumed the likenesses of fixed-configuration objects, and the Insecticons could go one better and become tiny creatures with limited articulation for short periods of time, but they didn't have the versatility of the humanoid form, and they ran out of fuel in a matter of minutes. Proper miniaturisation eluded us for many years.

You wonder why I'm so effusive in my praise for the humanoid robot form? Well, let's just say that when you've had that freedom and lost it, twice, you come to appreciate the luxury of full body movement.

Anyway, the Minispies were over eight feet tall, quite a bit bigger than Micromasters, and had less articulation. No necks or elbows, for example, and their hands - our hands - were rubbish. To go from being a fully articulated Decepticon trooper to being trapped in that kind of straitjacket was... unpleasant, to say the least. But when Straxus said jump, you jumped! (And then fell flat on your face because you no longer had joints in your ankles or waist to help you re-balance when you landed.)

Several Minispies went mad within the first week and ended up in the Smelting Pool. Some, such as ShockSentry and Zombo, defected to the Autobots, which caused confusion as it meant we couldn't tell who was on whose side, and a few Decepticon Minispies got slagged by their own officers, who mistook them for Autobots. Those who remained were given Earth disguises, and more of us died during the testing phase of Spanner's Space Bridge. But several of us made it across, and found ourselves on a new world... Earth!

It was at this point that a few of my comrades such as Toioutta and Torque revealed their Autobot allegiance, shot a couple of Decepticons and drove off before we could stop them. My surviving team-mates, including my good friend Canny, tried to return to Cybertron. To the best of my knowledge, they didn't make it. The last surviving Decepticon Minispy, I transformed and set off in the direction of the Decepticons' coal mine base in Eastern Wyoming.

TO BE CONTINUED

[blueshift]

Yaaay Zombo returns

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jul 31, 2018 8:10:51 GMT blueshift said:

Yaaay Zombo returns

He and ShockSentry were such key characters in my Xaaron/Unicron fanfic that I thought they deserved an origin story.

Martin

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

PART 2

I arrived eventually, and Megatron offered me a job and a new body. I was overjoyed - my new leader had instinctively recognised my inner qualities, which had enabled me to survive up until this point in time while all my comrades had perished, and my loyalty and steadfastness were being rewarded at last. Megatron said he was creating a new team of elite combining Decepticons - the Stunticons - and I was to be one of them. And not just any Stunticon! The other five would be newly Matrixed Decepticons. I was to be the only veteran warrior on the team.

Imagine my horror, then, when I learnt that I was destined to lose the second-rate humanoid robot form I currently possessed, so that I could transform instead from my vehicle mode into a breastplate for the super-warrior, Menasor! Nor would I be appointed as team leader, which I felt to be my due. That honour would go instead to a clumsy oaf of a juggernaut called Motormaster, whose trailer I was expected to ride around in until needed. To add insult to injury, they refused to call me by my true name, said it didn't suit me and that I needed to pick another, one that would be acceptable to my team-mates.

The only ray of sunshine in this gloomy period of my life was that in order to work as Menasor's breastplate, I needed to be heavily armoured. My metal skin was reinforced with the same material as Motormaster's cab, making me almost as indestructible as Megatron himself.

Motormaster felt he had something to prove, and set out to challenge Optimus Prime to a game of 'chicken' on the open road. Before long, he managed to contrive a set of circumstances that saw him hurtling along at 140 mph, with the Autobot Leader coming on at full speed in the opposite direction.

I wasn't about to be a witness to this titanic collision from the confines of Motormaster's trailer, and insisted on being allowed out. Motormaster grudgingly lowered his rear ramp, and I rolled out and accelerated as I hit the road, quickly overtaking my determined companion.

Optimus Prime saw me emerge from Motormaster, and lowered his own ramp, deploying his scout car, Roller. It became a dual duel! Motormaster against Prime, me against Roller. And as the cars were faster, our clash would come first!

Roller was much larger than me, a big, six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle with a turret gun that fired at me repeatedly, but was no match for my armour. I charged between his front wheels, and with careful timing I activated my vestigial transformation circuitry. No longer capable of transforming into a humanoid robot, my vehicular form shifted its configuration just enough to boost Roller into the air and flip him onto his back, where he lay helplessly spinning his wheels, his turret gun smashed beneath his weight.

Victoriously, I turned back to see what happened to Motormaster when he hit Optimus Prime. I wish I hadn't looked. It was not the Decepticons' finest hour.

But I had my new name, taken from my defeated foe... Roller!

TO BE CONTINUED

[Fortmax2020]

Excellent stuff as always.

And that ShockSentry. What a vile traitor!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

PART 3

Soon after his defeat at my hands, Optimus Prime's scout car was completely destroyed in a battle with the Insecticons in Washington D.C. And then Optimus Prime was destroyed, and Megatron vanished in an explosion on the Space Bridge. Nobody knew what had become of him at the time. He apparently resurfaced a while later in London, took part in the Time Wars and then travelled to Cybertron, where he and Ravage triggered the overthrow of Legonis, Octus and Seizer. But it was later revealed that this Megatron was an imposter, inhabited by the mind of Straxus, while the real Megatron had been on Cybertron all along, with the Micromaster Sports Car Patrol, plotting his return.

I mention all this for a reason. It becomes important later on.

Meanwhile, Shockwave sent the Stunticons to Antarctica in a Decepticon shuttle to look for an Autobot shuttle that he said had been left there by the Dinobots four million years earlier. We were unable to find it, but I believe the Dinobots themselves returned to it after the war had ended, and used it to transfer the mind of Snarl, whose body was disintegrating, into a real dinosaur.

However, what we did find in the Savage Land was a costumed human, who mistook Menasor for a robot sent to kill him and all his kind. He used his mutant powers to rip Menasor apart. He hurled Dead End waaay over there, and Drag Strip all the way over here. Then he tore Menasor's legs off - not just Breakdown and Wildrider, but Motormaster's legs as well - and he chucked one of them this way, and the other one that way. The shock of this rendered Motormaster inoperative. The human paused to survey his handiwork, and I think he realised at last that Menasor was not of Earth design. At this point, I struck, remotely activating Menasor's dropped cyclone gun. It didn't strike the human directly, but he caught enough of it to be sent spinning away across the forest canopy.

Breakdown, Dead End, Drag Strip and Wildrider recovered sufficiently to pull Motormaster back to our shuttle, and we flew away. The others didn't want to talk about what had happened, but I was fascinated by the powers we had seen displayed by such an insignificant-looking creature, and was determined to research his kind further.

TO BE CONTINUED

[blueshift]

Is that Magneto?

What's Roller going to get up to next??

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

PART 4

Picture the scene. The false Megatron puts his fusion cannon to his head, cries, "Die, Straxus!" and blows himself away. The real Megatron makes a short speech about his noble sacrifice, tells Ravage to dispose of the body and strides out to reclaim his destiny. Ravage looks down at a pristine Megatron body, minus its head. A body that pounded Grimlock into the dust, survived a human air strike, killed Cyclonus, Topspin and an unknown number of Deluxe Insecticons, fought Quake in the arena and overpowered Powermaster Optimus Prime during that Backstreet incident on Earth. If you were Ravage, would you dispose of it, or would you hide it away somewhere just in case it came in handy at some point in the future?

The real Megatron's destiny-reclaiming was short-lived, as his base exploded, apparently vaporising both him and his captive nemesis, Ratchet.

On Earth, Ravage showed Soundwave the Megatron body.

Okay, at this point I could pretend they came straight to me with it, but I want you to believe my story, so let's say they scanned the injured warriors destroyed by Starscream first - Hun-Grrr, Snaptrap and so on. They even considered Ratbat as a potential candidate. But their circuits were all too far gone, so they started looking at the living instead. I'll be straight with you, they approached me because I had already gone through a number of radical body alterations in my life and adjusted to them all without losing my mind. Plus I was loyal, ambitious and had shown an ability to improvise. So, to provide opposition to the weak leadership of Scorponok, I became Megatron!

After its head got blown off, the Megatron body was incapable of transforming and shrinking to gun mode, and obviously it couldn't draw on antimatter from a black hole, but after years stuck as a car, I wasn't fussy. Menasor would just have to do without his breastplate from now on!

Things didn't quite go as Ravage and Soundwave had planned, because Shockwave also re-emerged as a leadership contender, and neither of us would yield to the other in the interests of uniting our factions and overthrowing Scorponok. I liked being Megatron! And then I made the mistake of threatening Soundwave's life, and he turned against me. He tricked me into thinking Wildrider was a traitor, and I had no hesitation in killing one of my despised former team-mates. Then Soundwave teamed up with Starscream to depose both me and Shockwave, and began circulating rumours that I might not be the genuine article. When Bludgeon got wind of this and left me, I decided I'd had enough of being Megatron, stole back the spider-like ship Ravage had originally given me to go along with this body, and left Earth.

Motormaster, Breakdown, Dead End and Drag Strip were captured by the Autobots during the Irwin Spoon incident and incarcerated in their Churchill headquarters. I gather the humans took over that base soon after the Autobots abandoned it, and have permanently dismantled my comrades. I won't shed any tears for them.

Last Minispy standing, last Stunticon standing.

And this is the point in the story at which I started to really have fun.

TO BE CONTINUED

[Fortmax2020]

Don't stop! It makes sense of everything!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

PART 5

When I was just your run-of-the-mill Decepticon trooper under Lord Straxus, we liked to give ourselves impressive-sounding names - you know, like 'Worldmaster', 'Conqueror' and 'Leader-1'. I had a name like that, but after I became a Minispy and a Stunticon scout car, my fellow Decepticons refused to let me keep it, and so I became Roller, which wasn't a bad name, as everyone knew how I got it. But I still wanted my old name back.

I returned to Earth to find all the Decepticons gone, transported back to Cybertron by Primus to fight Unicron. All except those surviving Decepticons who had been created on Earth. I found the Constructicons and Combaticons cowering in Shockwave's underwater headquarters, wondering what to do, and I offered them my services as leader. But by now they knew I wasn't the real Megatron, and were hesitant to accept. So I enquired as to their immediate goals, and they told me about the mobile base, how it was built to transform into one of the most powerful Decepticons ever seen, but needed superpowered humans to act as its Powermaster engines before it could become fully operational.

As it happened, I had been making a study of mutant humans ever since that encounter with the master of magnetism in the Savage Land, and knew where I might find a couple of likely candidates. I offered to get the Decepticons what they needed if they made me their leader. They refused, so I said never mind about being leader, I'd get them their mutants if they'd let me become the controlling Decepticon mind of their new war machine. Scrapper and Onslaught discussed it in private, then told me they'd decided to accept my offer.

I had one final condition, which I knew they wouldn't argue with. I wanted my old name back.

TO BE CONTINUED

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

PART 6

I've never had more fun than I had that day on Klo when Bludgeon posted me all by myself to hold the eastern land mass against the invading Autobots. Scrapper had told me of my new body's abilities, but it wasn't until I actually used them to traverse the dimensions and jump from Earth to Klo in the blink of an eye that I truly appreciated the privileged position I now found myself in. My binary-bonded mutant recruits were similarly intoxicated by the power they now shared with me.

Splashdown led the Autobot assault force, approaching my coastal position from three directions - land, air and sea. Groundbreaker, Backstreet, Override, Steeljaw and the Monster Trucks Patrol came at me from the land, Sky High and Dogfight rocketed down from the sky, and Broadside joined Splashdown in a naval bombardment.

The weapons fire from all three groups bounced off my reinforced armour, and I took my time, savouring their weakness. In my battle station complex mode, I launched rockets that rose into the air and then fell directly onto their targets. Splashdown, the Autobots' leader, exploded, and a hole was blown straight through Broadside's deck, causing him to sink beneath the waves.

I transformed, splitting into two giant vehicles, each with a human mutant at the controls. The jet fired its lasers, burning holes through Dogfight's wings and melting Sky High's rotor blades. The tank used its main gun to blow Backstreet, Big Hauler and Heavy Tread to bits with a single shot, then recombined with the jet to form me, Overlord.

The five remaining Autobots regrouped and prepared to attack, but I had the Powermaster energy of two superhumans at my disposal, and the body of the Constructicons' finest creation just waiting to show what it could do.

It was all over far too soon, and I waited impatiently for further orders, hoping that Bludgeon would need my help in wiping out Autobots elsewhere on the planet. The orders, when they finally came, were not what I wanted to hear. We were going to retreat!

How could this be?

I radioed Bludgeon, offering to come and destroy whichever Autobots were giving him trouble. He said no, it wasn't just Autobots, it was also something he referred to as the ultimate warrior. This intrigued me - I thought I was the ultimate warrior! Then Bludgeon told me the Autobots also had mutants fighting alongside them. This news gave me pause for thought. Anyway, said Bludgeon, the surviving Decepticons were heading in my direction and were counting on my dimension-hopping abilities to take them all to safety.

Months later on Hydrus Four, I eagerly awaited a second opportunity to battle the Autobots, but things didn't work out quite so well. The Autobots were prepared to deal with me this time. By the time I realised the fast-moving Motorvators were simply a diversion to draw me out into the open, Ultra Magnus and Computron were virtually on top of me. I almost beat them! They had intended for three super-warriors to attack me, not two, but Omega Supreme had been rendered immobile by the Nucleon that had restored him to life earlier in the year, and was standing uselessly on the edge of the battlefield.

I smashed Computron, and was about to crush Magnus, when my luck changed, and Omega Supreme burst out of his shell in his new Action Master body. And get this... he transformed!

TO BE CONCLUDED

[Fortmax2020]

Eeeeeee!! I was thinking he'd become someone else. Should've seen that one coming.

[Pinwig]

I love the fact that Martin knows the lore so well that he can just knock this out at will. Brilliant!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY

CONCLUSION

"And that's how I come before you today, reduced once more to the form of a non-transforming scout car, the only part of me to escape the battlefield of Hydrus Four. One of my humans died that day in battle with the Autobots. The other, I think, returned to Earth and died soon afterwards in a failed attempt to join my first mutant acquaintance, Magneto, on 'Asteroid M'. I know I don't look much right now. I'm a tiny grey open-top vehicle, barely large enough to carry a human, but I'm telling you, appearances can be deceiving. I was, until recently, one of the heroes of the Decepticon army. Our enemies trembled at my name. And with your help, they will do so again."

In the great hall of the Decepticon fortress in the former city-state of Kalis, Trypticon looked down at Roller/Overlord/whoever-he-was and blinked in bewilderment. Blackjack, Brunt, Detour, Full-Tilt, Hyperdrive, Pounce, Road Hugger and Wingspan stood around the room in twos and threes, equally perplexed by their diminutive guest's bizarre narrative.

"Well," said the giant robot dinosaur. "It's a tradition of many races to welcome a traveller who pays for his host's hospitality with a story. But I'm afraid your tale condemns you to banishment from this place. Why do you think all the Decepticons you see here today are alive and unmolested by the Autobots on this planet, who now outnumber us more than thirty-to-one?"

"Your fighting prowess is legendary..."

"No! We are still here because we abode by the post-Unicron truce, the terms of which bound the Autobots to wipe out all former alleged crimes carried out by the Decepticons. None of us took part in the battles of Klo and Hydrus Four. If we had, then we would have lost the immunity granted to us by the terms of the alliance against Unicron. We cannot provide shelter to any Decepticons who broke that truce and forfeited their immunity. So I tell you what I told Frenzy, Reflector and Rumble when they came here - we have no place for you. We will provide you with fuel, but then you must go, and never come back."

"What about-"

"GO!" Trypticon roared.

THE END

THE LAST MINISPY

EPILOGUE

Roller/Overlord trundled away, unsure of what direction to take. Perhaps he could track down Frenzy's little band. Maybe they would be interested in forming a new army with him and taking Cybertron back from the enemy Autobots and traitors like Trypticon.
___

Inside the Decepticon base, Onslaught, Scavenger, Scrapper and Swindle stepped out from their places of concealment.

"Well?" demanded Trypticon.

"I don't know that much about the events early on in the story," said Scrapper, "but we can confirm the parts about the creation of Overlord as a Double Powermaster. Maybe it's all true. But with Ravage and Soundwave dead, we'll never know for sure."

"Recommendation?"

"He's dangerous," said Onslaught. "He could make trouble for us, now he knows where we are. Want us to take care of him?"

"No. Send an anonymous tip-off to Metroplex. The Motorvators have been searching for this guy for years. They'll take him out cleanly. Just one more loose end..."

THE END

[Fortmax2020]

I am not coping well without a daily dose of Martin-fic. Please help.

[Andy Turnbull]

The X-Men fanboy in me would guess you'd set Magneto's appearance from after Uncanny X-Men 274 just after he got his full powers back from Zaladane.

Really enjoyed this Martin.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Thanks, guys. I'm leaving the Marvel superhero references vague as my knowledge of those series is far shallower than my knowledge of the TF comics. From a TF continuity standpoint the Menasor/Magneto encounter in the Savage Land would have to occur some time in the years 1987-1989 (a year or two before UXM #274) and I'm trusting Magneto is at liberty and available at some point within that timeframe. Mind you, I realise times and dates within the Marvel superhero canon are vague and open to various interpretations.

Ideas circulating in my head now for something centred on the Protectobots' lives on Earth (their home planet) after the end of the war in ATAP. If I do it I don't think I'm going to be able to resist including a few more nods to the wider Marvel and/or G.I. Joe context. It's very, very self-indulgent, but it's not like I'm doing a crossover with anything that the original, official TF comic didn't open the door to doing a crossover with.

Martin

[Grand Moff Muffin]

FACT-FILE INTERFACE

OVERLORD/ROLLER

Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Self-contained Nomadic Assault Machine
Sub-groups: Minispy, Stunticon, Double Powermaster
Human components: Giga, Mega
First appearance (as Menasor's breastplate): Transformers UK #63 ('Second Generation')
First appearance (as Megatron): Transformers UK #261 ('Starting Over')
First appearance (as battle station complex): Transformers UK #276 ('Bugged')

"I stand my ground... I accept any challenge... I am hungry for conflict."



A legend by nature of his existence, Overlord emerged as a new and deadly Decepticon anti-hero. He was one of 24 outlandishly named Decepticon troopers engineered to become Minispies. The others included Aaarrrggghhh, Canny, Cuffs, Nick, Prowly, ShockSentry, Shuffle, Speedbump, Sting, The Namer, Toioutta, Torque, TPAC and Zombo. Around half of them defected to the Autobots. Overlord was the only Minispy to make it across the Space Bridge to Earth to join Megatron's Decepticons on Earth, and was re-engineered to become Motormaster's scout car and Menasor's breastplate. During his time as a Stunticon he defeated Optimus Prime's scout car, Roller, and appropriated his name.

In 1989, when Megatron was blasted into interdimensional space with the Autobot Ratchet, the Decepticons Ravage and Soundwave transferred Overlord's brain into a new head for the body of the false Megatron originally created by Straxus. Assuming Megatron's identity, Overlord led a group of Decepticons on Earth for several months before those who knew his secret grew disillusioned with his performance and engineered his downfall. He briefly left Earth, and so avoided being transported to Cybertron by Primus to battle Unicron. When he returned to Earth, he located Shockwave's underwater battle station complex. In return for recruiting two powerful human mutants, codenamed Giga and Mega, to act as his Powermaster partners, Overlord was given complete control of the battle station and despatched to Klo where he was posted to the eastern land mass and destroyed twelve Autobots single-handedly before Bludgeon ordered the retreat.

On Hydrus Four, Overlord's body was destroyed by Omega Supreme. The mutant Giga died in that battle. Mega escaped back to Earth and assisted the mutant rebel Fabian Cortez in the theft of a shuttle for the purpose of seeking out Magneto on Asteroid M. SHIELD agents interfered and Mega sacrificed herself to allow the shuttle to get away. All that remained of Overlord was a small grey open-top scout car. He sought out Trypticon on Cybertron, but Trypticon considered him a threat to the peace he now enjoyed and betrayed him to the Autobots. True to character, when the Motorvators finally had him cornered, Overlord denied them the satisfaction of taking him alive.

FILE ENDS

[Grand Moff Muffin]

THE LAST MINISPY: JAWS OF STEEL

PART 1

1991. The Battle of Klo.

"Do not argue, Overlord," Bludgeon's cold voice hissed over the radio. "The Autobots are rising from the dead! We have no choice but to retreat! Prepare for dimension-jump as soon as we arrive at the pre-arranged co-ordinates."

Overlord looked around at his handiwork. Apart from some small pieces of debris floating on the surface, Broadside, Dogfight and Splashdown had sunk to the crushing depths of the churning ocean. Steeljaw must have instinctively shrunk down to cassette size when his hind legs were blown off, for he was nowhere to be seen. But the other eight Autobots still lay where they had fallen.

"Rising from the dead, are they? We'll see about that..."

He bent down, seized the head of the nearest Autobot and proceeded to rip it apart.

"Let's see you rise from the dead when your brain module's at the bottom of the ocean!"
___

1993. Cybertron.

The Motorvator Lightspeed blinked into existence as he slowed to an observable velocity, then came to a complete stop. A cassette tape ejected from his dashboard and transformed into a robotic lion. Lightspeed transformed. The lion stumbled and almost fell, then shook its head and regained its balance.

"Your sudden deceleration has temporarily destabilised my equilibrium," complained Steeljaw.

"Sorry," said Lightspeed. "Not used to carrying passengers. Can you still function?"

"It hasn't thrown off my tracking sensors, if that's what you mean," replied the lion.

"I read that when you visited Earth and there were no Decepticons around, you liked to stalk mice, garbage trucks and young women. Is that true?"

"That's not exactly what my profile says... but it's true I like to keep my senses sharp. There are no rodents, decomposing waste transporters or perfumed humans here. But I am picking up a Decepticon. It's... him."

"Are you sure?"

"After what he did to the rest of my unit, it's a scent I'll never forget."

TO BE CONTINUED

THE LAST MINISPY: JAWS OF STEEL

PART 2

1991. The Battle of Hydrus Four.

As Ramhorn impaled Krok, and the Autobot Action Masters, Bumblebee, Inferno, Jazz, Sideswipe and Tracks, overpowered the Nucleon-infused Soundwave, Steeljaw ignored the main battle and padded softly towards a corner of the complex that was hidden in shadow. To the other Autobots, this was empty space. Steeljaw knew better. Nothing could fool his sensors. The Autobot tracker had wanted to be on the other side of the facility, battling Overlord, but he followed his orders and understood the reason for them. This was the job he was created for.

A second later, Steeljaw had Ravage by the throat, the black Decepticon's optics ablaze with pain and terror, his fiery breath spewing out futilely into the cool night air. Steeljaw bit deeper...
___

1993. Cybertron.

The two flying components of the Autobot Micromasters' Battlefield Headquarters, piloted by Full-Barrel and Overflow, swooped out of the sky and lowered their cargo ramps. Lightspeed's fellow Motorvators, Flame and Gripper, roared out in vehicle mode, dropped thirty feet and landed rolling on their heavy-duty tyres. The two aerial defence craft ascended again into the clouds, leaving the three state-of-the-art Autobot warriors looking to the golden lion for their directions.

"This way," said Steeljaw, bounding down a nearby tunnel.
___

Before long, the ceiling became too low and the walls too narrow for the Motorvators.

"We should have kept those Micromasters with us," grumbled Steeljaw.

"Not necessary," said Gripper, revealing his small inner robot. Flame and Lightspeed followed suit, and they proceeded on their way, leaving their larger robot bodies standing inert, awaiting their return.

"He's cornered," growled Steeljaw, pointing into a darkened recess.

"If what's left of Overlord is in there, he can't amount to much," said Flame.

"Don't underestimate this one," cautioned Steeljaw, priming his side-mounted pellet guns. The three small Motorvators powered up miniature versions of their laser swords, and all four advanced into the gloom.
___

Ten minutes later, the Autobots staggered out into the moonlight. All three swords and Steeljaw's teeth were dripping oil, and all four had visible battle damage. Flame signalled Full-Barrel and Overflow to pick them up and take them to Hothouse and Ironworks for repairs.

"Well, you got him at last," Lightspeed said to the Autobot lion. "I suppose you'll be returning to Autobot City now."

"Who's next on your fugitive list?"

"The Reflector trio," said Gripper. "We're under orders to take them alive."

"When do we begin?" asked Steeljaw.

THE END

[Grand Moff Muffin]

BATTLECHARGERS FOREVER

PART 1

"Runabout?"

"Yes?"

"Are you there?"

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean, you're not sure?"

"What do you mean by 'there'?"

"Um, wherever you are, I suppose. Heh heh."

"In that case, yes, I'm there... I mean, here."

"But where are we?"

"Ah. Could we be dead?"

"Maybe! I thought death would hurt more than this."

"How much does it hurt?"

"It doesn't. Heh heh."

"Me neither. But it sure hurt when that nasty human blew us to smithereens."

"Is that the last thing you remember?"

"Yes."

"Me too. So maybe we are dead."

"Or maybe we're at the bottom of Upper New York Bay."

"Ah! Good thinking. That would make a lot of sense. What goes up, must come down, after all, heh heh!"

"I wonder how many pieces we are in. Can you feel your body?"

"No."

"Me neither. Can you see anything?"

"No."

"Me neither. Do you know how deep the Upper New York Bay is?"

"No."

"Me neither, but it must be pretty deep, for it to be so dark."

"Maybe it's not dark. Maybe the blast blew out our optics. Heh heh."

"But we can still speak, and hear. Perhaps, if we're not so deep, we could call for help."

"From underwater?"

"Why not? I can hear you clearly enough."

"But who are we calling out to?"

"Humans, I guess."

"Why will they help us?"

"We could bribe them."

"Heh! You mean like when we bribed the records 'bot to bump our intelligence ratings and ranks up to six on our official technical specifications, when they are really both supposed to be three?"

"Yeah!"

"But we haven't any money."

"They don't know that."

"True. Heh heh. Wait! What if the bad humans hear us?"

"Oh! Well, we could say we want to switch sides and be good from now on."

"Just like Runabit, Runalot, Runarace, Runaredlight, Runaround and Runaway."

"You mean the Throttlebots! That's what they now call themselves."

"True. Heh heh. So what will we call ourselves?"

"I'll be Kitt... and you can be Twit."

"I like that. It rhymes. You make me laugh, Runabout. Heh heh."

"Or I can be Katt, and you can be- ARRRGGGHHH! That light!"

"I'm blinded! No, wait! It's gone. Dark again."

"A blinding light... maybe we are dead, after all?"
___

"That was a job well done, even though you did violate orders. But that's not why I'm firing you two."

"What?!"

"Really?!"

"That's why. Thirteen Transformers - all gone."

"I didn't want to let them go, Mr Barnett, but that was the deal I had to make to get their co-operation. I had no other choice."

"I know you meant well. But my boss expects you to capture robots, Circuit-Breaker, not release them. And with you refusing to share you suit's technology with the government... I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Mr Barnett! Sorry that I ever struck a deal with those machines in the first place! Soon, they will be sorry! But I'll do it with my own hands. Goodbye."

"Likewise, Barnett."

When he was sure that Beller and Finkleberg had vacated the premises, Walter Barnett made his way to Holding Bay Number 2, of which they still knew nothing. He felt a little guilty for lying to them about the reasons for their dismissal, but discipline needed to be re-established if they were going to proceed to phase 2. And those two would not respect the chain of command.

He entered the building and switched the light on briefly to check on the two prisoners, then switched it off again and went out, shutting the door behind him. As the door closed, he thought he heard one of the robots say something.
___

"So we're dead, then. What are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know. I've never been dead before."

"Shall we play 'I Spy'?"

"But we can't see anything."

"I know, but we could pretend."

"HELLO."

"ARRRGGGHHH! What was that? Was that you, Runamuck?"

"No."

"NO, IT WAS ME."

"Are you Primus... or the other guy?"

"I AM PROFESSOR PETER ANTHONY MORRIS."

"Are you dead too, then? And also, can you please stop shouting?"

"I AM NOT DEAD, AND NEITHER ARE YOU. AND I AM NOT SHOUTING. I AM COMMUNICATING WITH YOU VIA A NEW INVENTION CALLED THE 'WORLD WIDE WEB'."

"Where are we? And where are you?"

"YOU ARE PRISONERS OF THE RAPID ANTI-ROBOT ASSAULT TEAM. I AM A PRISONER IN ANOTHER GOVERNMENT FACILITY. OR RATHER, I IMPRISONED MYSELF FOR MY OWN PROTECTION. I AM A LONG WAY AWAY FROM WHERE YOU ARE BEING HELD."

"What do you want from us?"

"I THINK WE CAN HELP EACH OTHER TO ESCAPE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED."

"Just give us a minute to talk it over, will you?"

"ALL RIGHT."

"Listen, Runamuck, this guy's our ticket out of here. We can make a deal with him, and then stab him in the back when we've got what we want."

"I CAN HEAR EVERY WORD YOU ARE SAYING."

"Shhh, will you? I can't hear myself think when you keep shouting like that."

"He's not shouting, he said he's communicating with us via-"

"I know what he said! Anyway, what do you reckon? String him along and then dump him when we no longer need his help?"

"Sounds good to me, Runabout! Heh heh!"

"HAVE YOU REACHED A DECISION?"

"We sure have, Prof! Let's do this thing! What's your plan?"

"THIS IS WHAT I NEED YOU TO DO FOR ME, BEFORE I CAN HELP YOU..."

TO BE CONTINUED

[Grand Moff Muffin]

BATTLECHARGERS FOREVER

PART 2

It shouldn't be difficult to outwit these two moronic Decepticons, Morris reasoned. It had, after all, taken them long enough to realise that Americans couldn't read graffiti written in Cybertronian, and now that they had learnt English, they were apparently too stupid to realise that it might be sensible to revert to their native language when speaking to one another in the presence of humans.

They also appeared to be too stupid to realise that they had their own potential means of escape at their fingertips. As he had learnt from his extensive study of the Dinobot Swoop, devoid of a brain module, a Transformer was simply a machine that could be controlled by a computer signal. His mistake with Swoop had been not to remove the brain module before sending the Dinobot into battle against what he thought wrongly at the time were non-sentient creations of the industrialist G.B. Blackrock.

This time around, RAAT had considerately already removed the Battlechargers' heads from their bodies, so all that was required was to establish a remote connection with them and take control. But that was easier said than done. If he had direct physical access to the Battlechargers' hardware, Morris knew that he could create the necessary linkages. But from this distance, he could not do it. It was a compatibility issue. As with the Battlechargers and their early graffiti, he knew what he wanted to say, he just didn't know how to say it.

Runabout and Runamuck, on the other hand, knew the protocols for interfacing with their bodies remotely. He just had to trick them into divulging those codes without them realising that they could do it themselves and had no need for him to act as a middle-man.
___

Now that he'd finally got them in the same room together, Walter Barnett was struck by how much G.B. Blackrock and Tony Stark looked alike.

"Thank you for giving me your precious time today, gentlemen. You may have been following the news saga of the two Transformers who have been defacing public monuments across the United States of America. I am happy to report that the situation has now been resolved."

"So I've heard," said Tony Stark. "Congratulations."

"You know what I think about all this, Barnett," said G.B. Blackrock. "If Triple-I would only accept the distinction between Autobot and Decepticon, your job would be made a whole lot easier."

"That's not an argument I'm prepared to get into with you today, Mr Blackrock. Regardless of whether all, or only some, of the Transformers are a genuine threat to our national security, it is this administration's policy that we show the world that America is capable of taking care of the threat ourselves without relying on the robots to keep each other in check."

"It seems you've had some success in demonstrating that in recent weeks," observed Stark.

"Yes, we have captured a... number of Transformers. But this is New York, the superhero capital of the world. We are disappointed that we had to make certain trade-offs in order to bring down the two Battlechargers. Mr Stark, where were your friends while all this was going on?"

Stark spread his hands. "It may not be widely known, but Iron Man has turned vigilante and is currently hunting down anyone with an armoured suit that contains stolen Stark technology. As for the rest, you will surely be aware that Avengers Mansion has just been destroyed in a concerted attack by an alliance of some of the most powerful super-villains in the world. And as a more general point, Earth's mightiest heroes do have a long list of competing priorities. Catching graffiti artists and evicting squatters from opencast coal mines are some way down that list. And I must agree with my esteemed competitor in one respect - whether by accident or design, the crises to date initiated by these Transformers of yours have tended to be resolved by other Transformers. The liberation of G.B.'s oil-drilling platform and aerospace plant, the halting of the rampages of those robot dinosaurs, the foiling of the attacks on the Sherman and Hoover Dams, the destruction of that giant weapon that they built pointing out into space - perhaps you should reconsider your rather hasty dismissal of what this guy's been trying to tell you."

"All right, never mind about the Avengers' lack of involvement to date. That's not really why I asked you here today. The point is this - we've just lost our number one asset."

"You mean Circuit-Breaker?" said Blackrock, recovering from the unexpected vote of support he'd just received from one of his fiercest rivals.

"I mean the Circuit-Breaker costume. Ms Beller had to go - she was too much of a liability. But we are sorely missing the technology that she created, which has proven to be the most effective anti-Transformer weapon created by humans to date."

"I can't help you there," said Blackrock. "Yes, she created her costume using my resources, but she never shared its secrets with me."

"What about you, Mr Stark. Surely your company has the know-how to replicate the process for us?"

"It's possible, but Stark Enterprises is no longer in the business of designing advanced weapons technology for the government. Too often it gets into the wrong hands, which is why Iron Man is now doing what he's doing. But I don't understand why you didn't simply seize the suit from her."

"Josie was crippled in a robot attack, Tony," said Blackrock. "The Circuit-Breaker suit is, first and foremost, her means of dealing with her condition. I think even the shadiest government agency - no offence, Mr Barnett - would hesitate before mugging a disabled woman and running off with her wheelchair."

Barnett coughed. "Regardless of my organisation's ethics or lack thereof, we're not convinced we'd have the expertise to make the suit work for us even if we did have possession of it. As you say, it's been engineered to meet one individual's particular requirements. We don't need the parts that enable Ms Beller to move around normally - we only need the elements that give her additional capabilities."

"Like flying and hurling lightning bolts and interfacing directly with computer systems."

"Precisely."

"Well, I'm sorry. I don't think we - either of us - can help you with that at this time."
___

Back in Holding Bay Number 2, the disembodied voice of Professor Morris had finished explaining to the disembodied heads of Runabout and Runamuck that he only knew how to free one of them initially, but would be in a position to free the other just as soon as the first one had helped him with his own little problem.

They were now arguing over who would get to go first.

TO BE CONCLUDED

[Grand Moff Muffin]

BATTLECHARGERS FOREVER

CONCLUSION

"Runabout?"

"Yes?"

"You will come back for me, won't you?"
___

He wondered if it was more than mere scientific curiosity that drew him, moth-like, towards that distant flame... that made him decide to leave his five companions and take his mechanised alter-ego, Centurion, over to investigate.

It was more like fate that brought him here now... to his doom!

"Die, Rodimus Prime... DIE!"

For a seemingly interminable moment he stared into lunatic eyes... and then there was nothing.
___

"Sir! We have particle beam discharge detected in Holding Bay Number 3!"

"That's where the Battlechargers' headless bodies are being kept! But who-"

A black Lotus Turbo Esprit with red-tinted windows smashed through the wall of the RAAT facility, then on through the security fence and out onto the public highway before anyone could even think of reacting. They'd spent days putting the captured robots back together - no-one had thought that anything like this would happen as a result of their efforts.

"Hey!" said Runabout's head, still stuck to the wall of Holding Bay Number 2. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"CHANGE OF PLAN, BOYS," said Professor Morris, and cut the connection.
___

Morris drove Runabout west. They would be after him, certainly, but he had the element of surprise, and so a little time.

Runabout's skin was scratched and dented from his battle with Circuit-Breaker, and driving him through the wall had further reduced his potential to attract attention purely on the basis of being an expensive-looking sports car. The tinted windows helped immensely also, but were no substitute for having a real live human in the driver's seat. As he found the command to hide his Decepticon insignia and switch to California licence plates, Morris wondered if he dared risk gambling on stupidity one more time.

He looked for the slip-road leading onto the interstate, and sure enough, he spotted what he wanted - a hitch-hiker.

"Whoa," said the student, upon peering into the car as it pulled up, and seeing that it was driverless.

"DO NOT BE ALARMED," said the Lotus. "I AM THE KNIGHT INDUSTRIES TWO THOUSAND, BUT YOU CAN CALL ME KITT. HOP IN. DRIVER'S SIDE."

Morris found the command to deactivate the tint on the windows, turning them clear.
___

Back at the RAAT facility, Walter Barnett put out a call to all police units to look for a black Lotus with red-tinted windows, Oregon licence plates, a purple insignia and no driver.
___

"Runabout?"

"What?"

"I think I've worked out how we can escape."

"What? How?"

"Well, you know how three days ago, you gave the control codes to your body to that human so that he could use it to bust us out of here?"

"I remember it well."

"Well, what if instead of giving my control codes to a human, I try to use them to bust us out of here myself?"

"Um."

Twenty minutes later, Runamuck was erratically heading south, both his head and Runabout's wedged into the front seats, the police in hot pursuit.

"Now, how are we going to find my body?" grumbled Runabout, peering over the dashboard at the sight of other road users swerving out of the path of the oncoming Battlecharger.

THE END

[Fortmax2020]

Those darn turn coat Battle Chargers/Throttlebots!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Sept 3, 2018 0:09:22 GMT Fortmax2020 said:

Those darn turn coat Battle Chargers/Throttlebots!

BATTLECHARGERS FOREVER

EPILOGUE

Six months of stakeout at the Triple-I bunker where Professor Morris had sealed himself came to an abrupt end in the middle of the night when the Dinobot Swoop flew down, picked up the police cruiser and its two dozing occupants and gently relocated them to a quiet residential area some twenty miles to the east.

As they vanished from sight, Runabout pulled up at the kerb, and thirty seconds later Morris emerged from the building, weighed down by a large sack of food and other provisions. He stuck them in the back and pulled out an improvised robot control unit, not complex enough to direct a Transformer's movements in its humanoid or dinosaur configuration, but more than sufficient to drive one in car mode.

A minute later, he was gone, heading north.
___

A few months later, the five surviving Battlecharger defectors, now known as the Throttlebots, were captured by Ratbat and sent to Earth to wipe out an infestation of Scraplets. The sixth, Runalot, had been captured and killed by the Decepticon bounty-hunter Axer, and his body was later sold on to the Junkions by Gutcruncher. Its Battlecharger/Throttlebot design gave the Junkion Leader, Wreck-Gar, ideas for a possible future project.
___

Walter Barnett was working late in his office. He desperately needed a break, but tiredness got the better of him, and he felt his eyes begin to close.

He dreamt...

The planet Scarvix. The year 2017.

"What's the situation?"

The two towering green-skinned security guards peered down at the diminutive one asking the question.

"Why haven't you evacuated the area as ordered, human?"

"Sub-Lieutenant Mystra, Space Marines."

"I'm... sorry, ma'am. Didn't recognise you. We have a Decepticon up on the twelfth floor. He's killed five guards and is threatening to level the entire neighbourhood if he doesn't get a fast ship in the next hour. We're... awaiting backup."

"It's here."

"Orders?"

"Stay put."

She pressed a switch on her wrist, and circuitry spread down her front from the steel band encircling her neck, and up her legs and arms from the bands around her calves and forearms. Microtechnology in the circuits generated a tight electromagnetic field, levitating her to the roof, fifteen floors above street level.

Silence, for a minute.

"She's picking the electronic lock on the skylight."

"I know that."

Then there was a crash, and a shout, and the sound of firing weapons, and Rumble was blasted out of a twelfth-floor window by a concentrated burst of electricity. He smashed into the pavement not far from where the two guards were standing and lay in the crater he had created, giving off smoke and sparks.

They looked up, and saw her descend, arms outstretched, shining like an avenging angel.

Barnett woke up with a start.

"Penelope," he addressed his secretary through his desk intercom. "First thing, make a note not to order that pizza again. Second, send a memo to R&D requesting an update on the Circuit-Breaker reproduction project. I really, really need them to tell me that they're on the verge of a breakthrough."

"Yes, Mr Barnett. Sir, I've been trying to reach you. I have a 'Big Steve' on the line for you. Says it's urgent. Says he has six Transformers sitting in his used car lot. Says he's heard about the reward. Says he's filled their tanks up with soda pop, and they're ready and waiting for you to come and pick them up."

Yes, thought Barnett. That's one other way to stop them, I suppose.
___

Runabout's head was never reunited with its body. Eventually the Battlechargers gave up looking for it and made their way back to Shockwave, who saw fit to build him a new one. Then, in 1991, both head and body were consumed by ancient Cybertronian demons, not far from the place where Unicron had melted Runamuck with his eye beams.

THE END