Transformers Regenerated: Pax Cybertronia II, Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

--Cybertron--

    Alarms blared throughout Trypticon Prison, bathing the entire facility in red. Autotroopers and Vehicons rushed to and fro, moving from corridor to corridor. Warpath shouldered past them as he made his way to the command center, where Security Chief Checkpoint was stationed.

    "How are we looking, Warpath?" the veteran Autobot asked as the red tank stepped in.

    "Bam! We've got two of 'em already," Warpath replied. "Venom and Barrage, I think their names are. Howlback says she and Garboil are onto the flying one. Wham!"

    "Yeah, I see 'em." Checkpoint nodded to a screen which showed Ransack at the mercy of a blue feline Decepticon. "And what about the fourth one? Chop Chop or whatever he's called?"

    "Still no sign of him. Zoom! We've got bots searchin' high and low for him."

    "Well, there's only so many places he could've gotten to," Checkpoint muttered. "We'll find him, one way or another."

*  *  *

    The Chop Shop component winced in pain. Outside, it could hear its sister unit getting accosted by a pair of Autobot guards. It had no time to mourn its loss however; it had a job to do, and it would not stop until the job was done and the money was in the bank.

    Squeezing its way through a narrow gap in the wall, the bug unit began climbing through a maze of pistons and wires until it finally emerged on the other side. There, slumped against the wall in a dark secluded chamber, was a deactivated purple Genericon.

    Chop Shop had no idea who he was or what Ratbat wanted with him, but the Insecticon didn't care. Not wasting any time, Chop Shop skittered over to the robot and climbed up to its head.

    Opening up a panel beneath its pincers, the tiny Insecticon extracted a small device and plugged it into the back of the robot's head. As data began to download from the robot's processor, Chop Shop thought he noticed its visor briefly flash red... but that must've been his imagination, right? Ratbat had said the robot was supposed to be dead....

    Suddenly, a loud groaning sound came from all around the chamber. Before Chop Shop could react, a purple hand seized him and threw him across the room. As the bug collided into the room, the purple robot got up to its feet, joints creaking from years of disuse.

    "No," it rasped, its voice crackling with static. "I still function."

    All around Chop Shop, the facility began to rumble. Walls began to shift and close in. The floor began to open up, leaving the Insecticon teetering on the edge of falling into the depths of Trypticon.

    "Before I end you," the robot said to him, "allow me to ask this: Where is Megatron?"

    Chop Shop blinked. "Uh... I'm pretty sure he's dead."

    "I don't believe you."

    With that, the rest of the floor vanished and Chop Shop plummeted into the abyss....

--Fort Max--

    "You know, Skullcruncher, I never did like you."

    A flash of fear crossed the Decepticon's gold face as he was sent flying by a blast from Spacewarp's gun. He collided into the Autobot Kup, saving Crankcase from the predicament he had been in.

    "I had it handled!" the Triggercon snapped.

    "Shut up," Spacewarp muttered. "So far, I've been doing all the hard work. You guys are the worst fighters I've ever seen."

    "I dunno, Spinister seems to be holding up," Crankcase said.

    Spacewarp turned around to see the helicopter Decepticon in question wrestling with Misfire on the floor. To her surprise, he ended up tearing some sort of block off of the back of Misfire's head... which then converted into a tiny robot of sorts.

    "Wait a second...." She rushed back to where Skullcruncher and Kup lay, ignoring Crankcase's questioning, and grabbed onto the former's head. Sure enough, part of it came free and she now had a swearing Cyberdroid in her grasp.

    "Headmasters!" she exclaimed. "I thought they were just a myth."

    "Would be news to me."

    Spacewarp and Crankcase both turned to see an orange Cyberdroid emerge from behind a pierce of wreckage; a result from the Scavengers' explosive entrance. When the Decepticons raised their guns at him, Infinitus held up his hands.

    "Don't shoot! I'm not with them. My friend and I were trying to get away from them when you showed up."

    Crankcase narrowed his visor. "Say, I recognize you. Weren't you that bot who thought he was Sentinel Prime?"

    "We can catch up later," Spacewarp said. "Can you help us free these guys from your pals?"

    "Actually..." Infinitus suddenly vanished from view only to reappear seconds later with his arms crossed. "I already have."

    The two Scavengers exchanged looks only to then realize that, all around them, Autobots and Decepticons alike had been liberated from their Titan Masters, with Krok joining a recuperating Misfire.

    "How the hell...." Crankcase started.

    "I just learned I can slow down time," Infinitus said. "I saw what your friend did over there and thought, 'Hey, there's a thing I can do.'"

    "Okay, two things," Crankcase said. "One: Spinister is not my friend. Two: Can you say cop-out? I was just getting warmed up!"

    Infinitus shrugged. "Can't blame me for helping you."

    "Uh, yeah, I can. 'Cos you just did."

    "Forget it," Spacewarp said. "We've got bigger things to deal with."

    As she said that, the sound of engines heralded the arrival of two trucks and a tank, followed closely by two large fliers. As the five vehicles transformed, the Decepticons pointed their weapons at them only for Rodimus Prime to raise his hands.

    "Relax! We're not under any mind-control." He gestured to Vector Prime, who held up four bound Titan Masters. He then nodded to the ones Infinitus had just dealt with. "I see you guys already have things in the bag."

    "Rodimus?" said Cerebros, helping a recovering Brainstorm to his feet. "What's going on here?"

    "I've been asking myself the same thing," Rodimus said. "Though I imagine our little friend Apex here may have the answers."

    "You haven't won," the Titan Master growled. "We may have lost Fortress Maximus, but there is still one other Titan under out control. There will be no stopping the coming devastation."

    "Cute. You can tell us all about it later. Right now--"

    "Uh, Rodimus?" Nightbeat said, raising a hand.

    The Prime sighed. "There's something behind us, isn't there?"

    Sure enough, as Rodimus, Vector and Orion Pax turned around, hovering over them was a large red and white ship with a distinctive blue variant of the Autobot insignia.

    "The Xantium?" Broadside exclaimed. "What's it doing here?"

    "My guess is it's the rescue party," Rodimus said. "Better late than never, I suppose."

--Cybertron--

    "Checkpoint? It's Ironhide. Do you copy? Repeat: Checkpoint, do you copy?"

    Checkpoint groaned as he shifted in the crater he had landed in. Raising a hand to his comm, he said, "Yeah, I copy."

    "What the blazes just happened? We had Trypticon Prison on our screens but now its gone, like it just got up and flew away."

    "Uh, yeah." Checkpoint rubbed his head, staring at the sky. "Pretty much. Everyone got ejected out of it, including the prisoners."

    "Any casualties?"

    "Uh..." Checkpoint winced as he noticed Warpath picking up the mangled torso of an Autotrooper. "Quite a few, I'm afraid."

    "We'll send a rescue squad to your position," Ironhide said. "You can give us the full details later."

    "Great," Checkpoint muttered. "I can hardly wait."

*  *  *

    Earth. Megatron was on Earth.

    Full-Tilt wasn't sure how he knew this, but it was the only thing running through his mind -- and from his mind into Trypticon's. Now it was all that drove the Titan as it traversed the cosmos towards the organic world.

    Full-Tilt could hardly wait to finally take his revenge on the cause behind his downfall. Megatron would fall... and Trannis would rise again.

TO BE CONTINUED