Transformers Regenerated: No Other Like It

TALES OF THE DISAPPEARED

NO OTHER LIKE IT

Orvus Base, Cycle 9794

“Come on, Searchlight, you’ve gotta believe me!”

The look the white and blue Autobot was one that Scrounge was well-accustomed to; one that he had received more times than he cared to count. It was a look that was a painful mix of skepticism and weariness. It was the type of look that Scrounge would get even if he was stating an indisputable fact, such as “Autobot symbols are red, Decepticon symbols are purple,” or “Omega Supreme is big.”

It was a look that Scrounge was very, very tired of.

“I believe in facts, Scrounge, not daydreaming hallucinations,” Searchlight curtly replied, returning his focus to his surveillance station. “You seriously expect me to believe you saw Metroplex?”

“I didn’t say I saw Metroplex,” Scrounge protested. “I said I saw something that looked like Metroplex. Look, can’t you just check the cameras?”

“Can’t. Goldbug wants me to keep an optical sensor out for the Steelhaven; it’s scheduled to make a stop here any cycle now. I can’t waste time investigating your wild claims.”

Scrounge crossed his arms. ”If it were Slink, you’d be interested.”

Searchlight scowled. “Slink has been imprisoned at Garrus-16 for….” He shook his head. “Look, just keep quiet and let me work. Maybe after the Steelhaven leaves, I’ll check it out. Or, better yet, ask Rollbar or one of the others to look.”

“I already have. I’ve asked everybody.”

“Then that’s too bad, I guess.”

Scrounge sighed dejectedly as he converted into his wheel mode and rolled out of the room. It always frustrated him how no one ever took him seriously. Sure, he had exaggerated a tale or two in the past, but he almost never made stuff up. Even when they saw that he was right about something—like that time he discovered a scraplet infestation at one of the bases he was stationed at—they still treated everything he said with a high degree of dubiousness.

Perhaps it was because of this that he often felt like a burden to his fellow Autobots, and that the only reason they kept him around was because of his special, multi-purpose arm (there truly was no other like it). Perhaps it was because of this uniqueness that he had a hard time fitting in with others. Regardless of how many times they clashed with each other, Goldbug and his Throttlebots had been together for long enough that they were almost like a family unit, a unit which Scrounge was not a part of. Due to this, he had transferred from base to base more times than perhaps any other Autobots, because this sense of isolation would always hurt his morale and cause his superiors to send him off somewhere else to be someone else’s problem. The only bot who ever seemed to tolerate his presence was Blaster, but he had vanished with the rest of the Ark’s crew ninety years ago. Since then, Scrounge had felt more alone than he had in his entire life.

Rolling up to a window, Scrounge transformed and looked out to the planet of Salvvatan VI. He was positive that the large white shape floating over the planet’s surface was Metroplex, or at the very least a Titan of some sort. No one had seen Metroplex since he defeated the Decepticons’ weapon Trypticon during the early days of the war, and if he was right then this would be an opportunity to find out what Metroplex had been up to in all this time. But apparently Goldbug and the others weren’t interested in that….

After receiving word that the Steelhaven had arrived and docked at Orvus Base, Scrounge waited a few minutes before making his way to the command center. There, all six Throttlebots—Goldbug, Searchlight, Chase, Freeway, Rollbar, and Wideload—were gathered to greet Fortress and his crew; apparently Goldbug was already getting the pleasantries out of the way without waiting for Scrounge to join them. Not surprising but disheartening nonetheless.

“Feel free to make yourselves at home,” Goldbug was saying to the Steelhaven’s gray-and-dark-gray commander. “The lab is always open to Brainstorm and the Technobots.”

“Brilliant!” said Brainstorm. “I’ve been meaning to make a few final adjustments to my mass-displacement gun.”

“Yeah, better you mess up someone else’s lab rather than our own,” muttered Hardhead.

Waving for the two to be quiet, Fortress said to Goldbug, “Thank you, commander. We won’t be here too long; just making a stop while we continue our hunt for Scorponok.”

“You guys are still searching for him?” asked Freeway. “Hasn’t he been missing for… well, longer than Prime or Megatron?”

“Until I know for sure he is either dead or in custody, I will not stop searching for him,” Fortress said firmly. “Who knows what terrible things he could be up to as we speak.”

Goldbug cleared his vocal processor. “Um, right. Well, in any case, I hope that you find your stay here to be a welcoming one.”

“Uh, may I interject?” Scrounge spoke up.

Goldbug turned his head to look at him; even with his visor and faceplate, Scrounge could feel his commander’s wariness. “What is it, Scrounge?”

Before he could say anything, Searchlight interjected, “Scrounge, if this is about that Metroplex scrap, then I already told you to wait until after Fortress and his crew have left!”

Fortress raised an eyebrow. “Metroplex?”

Goldbug waved a hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. Scrounge claims he’s seen Metroplex on the surface of Salvvatan Six, but all of our scanners indicate that there’s nothing there.”

“Maybe if you would actually look with your own optical sensors, you would see what I’m seeing, instead of relying on faulty—”

“That’s enough, Scrounge. Get back to your work station before I—”

Before Goldbug could finish, he was interrupted by an alarm blaring from the main computer. Searchlight rushed over to check the monitor before turning back to the others with a distressed look.

“A Decepticon ship just came out of hyperspace.”

“A waship?” Goldbug asked.

“No, but still pretty big. It’s an older model, too; seems to be barely holding together.”

“Should we try hailing them?” asked Rollbar. “I mean, I know they’re the enemy, but ever since the ceasefire they haven’t caused us too many problems….”

Searchlight studied the ship on the monitor. “I don’t think they’ve even noticed us yet. In fact, it seems like they’re heading straight for the planet itself.”

Scrounge’s optics lit up. “Maybe they’re here for Metroplex! Goldbug, we have to stop them!”

Goldbug sighed in exasperation. “Scrounge, for the love of Primus….”

“He is right about one thing, though,” said Fortress. “If the Decepticons are here, it can’t be for anything good—Metroplex or no Metroplex. We should send someone to at least keep an optic on them.”

“Fine,” Goldbug muttered. “Roadburn, take a scouting team down to the planet to—”

“My name’s not Roadburn!” protested the red and blue Throttlebot. “It’s Chase!”

“There’s already someone named Chase.”

“He wasn’t protoformed until after I came online! Hell, I was already calling myself ‘Chase’ before he—”

“Whatever. Just take Rollbar and Scrounge with you and keep an eye on the ‘Cons. Do not engage with them; just report back to us if they start doing something fishy.”

“I’ll have Hardhead go with you to provide support in case they spot you and engage you first,” said Fortress.

“Sounds good.” Goldbug turned to Scrounge, Chase, and Rollbar. “Any questions?”

The three assembled Autobots shook their heads, and with that Goldbug gave them the signal to go. As Scrounge rolled up into his wheel mode and followed the two Throttlebots, with Hardhead trailing behind them, he couldn’t help but feel excited about this mission. He knew he was right about Metroplex being down there on the planet, and maybe once they all saw him for themselves they would finally believe him and never doubt him ever again. Because the alternative would mean that no one would ever believe him about anything ever again and would forever treat him as nothing more than a burden with a useful arm.

And that was something he did not even want to consider….

*  *  *

Departing from Orvus Base, the Autobot shuttle carrying Scrounge, Chase, Rollbar, and Hardhead trailed the Decepticon ship as it entered Salvvatan Six’s atmosphere and descended towards the planet’s surface, heading directly for Metroplex. Or, rather, what Scrounge was positive was Metroplex.

“See?” he said to the others, pointing out the viewport at the large white structure. “That’s Metroplex! Don’t tell me you don’t see it!”

“I mean, I see it, whatever ‘it’ is,” said Chase. “But it could just be an abandoned outpost or something.”

“Then how come no one has spotted it until now? You guys have been stationed here for longer than me; surely you did a scan of the planet when you first arrived.”

“That’s a question for Searchlight or Goldbug, not me.” Chase shook his head. “Look, just pipe down for now. Rollbar, keep an optic on their trajectory.”

Scrounge crossed his arms as he slumped back sulkily in his seat. Even with visual proof, they still didn’t believe him. What was it going to take?

Sitting near him, Hardhead looked over at Scrounge. “If it makes you feel any better,” he said quietly, “I have friend who would definitely be interested in this.”

“Really?” Scrounge asked.

“Sure. Nightbeat lives for the unexplained. He might not believe you on word alone, but if you give him physical proof, then he’s all in.”

“Too bad he’s not here, then. Because right now, I feel like—”

“PULL UP! PULL UP!” Rollbar cried.

Scrounge and Hardhead held on tight as Chase pulled back the ship’s control just as it was struck by gunfire, causing it to shake violently.

“Scrap, they’ve spotted us!” Chase exclaimed. “They shot out our navigation systems; gonna have to make an emergency landing.”

As the ship plummeted towards the ground, Scrounge caught a glimpse of the Decepticon ship ahead of them. A ramp had lowered to allow several Decepticons—all heavily armed—to disembark; while some of them headed towards Metroplex, the rest made their way towards the Autobot ship. By the time Chase had finished his rough emergency landing, they were completely surrounded by Decepticons, all with guns pointed straight at them as they emerged from the vessel.

“How many of these guys do you think you could take on by yourself, Hardhead?” Rollbar whispered to the larger green Autobot.

“Let me get back to you on that,” Hardhead grunted.

“You Autobots sure don’t know how to mind your own business,” growled the leader of the Decepticon group. He was a tall and lanky bot, with a right arm that terminated with a sharp, curved hook. Scrounge recognized him to be the bounty hunter Lockdown, who had attempted to assassinate Sentinel Prime prior to the reignition of the Great War.  “I thought that little agreement you signed after the Cataclysm meant you would let us stay in our lane.”

“I’m not the right person to ask, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t say anything about letting you guys encroach on our territory,” retorted Chase. “The Salvvatan system is in the Autobot Commonwealth, last time I checked.”

“Figures. In any case, we’re not here to cause trouble. Just picking up something we were hired to find.”

“Metroplex….” Scrounge murmured, looking towards the Titan that overshadowed them.

Lockdown shrugged. “Not necessarily him in particular. Just any Titan we can get our servos on.”

Scrounge turned to Chase and the others. “Now do you guys believe me? Even the Decepticons think that’s Metroplex! Or at least a Titan of some kind!”

“Okay, okay, you were right,” grumbled Chase. “Do you want a consolation prize or something? We still need to stop them from taking Metroplex.”

“Yeah, you’re in no position to do that.” To the rest of his gang, Lockdown said, “Keep an eye on them while I check on Clobber and the others’ progress.”

With that, Lockdown raised a hand to his cranial communicator, most likely speaking via inter-Decepticon radio. Scrounge rewired his special arm’s sensors to his audio receptors so he could listen in on their conversation.

“Report, Clobber.”

“We literally just got here, Lockdown. We’ve just started setting up the transporters.”

“Make it quick. We’ve got a tight schedule to keep. You know how antsy our employer can get when we miss deadlines.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’ll tell ‘em to… wait.”

Lockdown scowled. “Wait for what? I told you to get a move on.”

“No, no. Timeframe’s trying to tell me something. He says that the Titan is starting to teleport!”

“What?! You didn’t try to shut off his systems?!”

“You didn’t give us time to—”

“Enough.” Lockdown converted to his alternate mode, a spiked car, and revved up his engine. “Get out of there and return to the ship. Have Meganeuron—”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Hardhead charged towards Lockdown and lunged at him as the bounty hunter attempted to drive off. The other Decepticons started to open fire, but with their attention focused on Hardhead, this left them vulnerable to Chase and Rollbar’s guns as they unloaded their weapons as well.

“Wait, guys!” Scrounge tried to cry over the sounds of gunfire. “Metroplex is about to teleport! We have to….”

He quickly realized, however, that no one was listening to him, too preoccupied with fighting to care about anything he had to say. Hell, even if they weren’t, they still wouldn’t care. It had taken him many years to realize this, and he was just about done with it.

Rolling up into his wheel form, he sped off towards Metroplex, whose body was beginning to glow, indicating that the Titan was going to teleport at any moment. As soon as he reached the Titan’s massive outer hull, Scrounge transformed to his robot mode and began to climb up, converting back and forth to give himself momentum as he rolled up onto the city-sized robot. As he did this, he spotted the Decepticons that Lockdown had sent into Metroplex scrambling out of the Titan, led by a massive purple Decepticon whom he figured was Clobber. None of them seemed to notice him; for that matter, his fellow Autobots apparently hadn’t noticed his absence yet either, as they were still too busy dealing with Lockdown and the other Decepticons.

Typical, he thought. He really did mean nothing to any of them. If he were to leave now with Metroplex, wherever he was going, it wouldn’t make any difference—besides the fact that they would no longer have an Autobot with a special arm like his. There was, after all, no other like it.

Suddenly, he caught movement in the corner of his optic and he looked up to see a cloaked figure standing over him. Scrounge’s optics went wide as he took in the stranger’s skeletal appearance. Throughout his life he had caught glimpses of the mythical Necrobot, the neutral who wandered the deserted battlefields to collect the dead, but had never seen him up close. Until now, of course.

“This is it, huh?” he murmured. “This is how I die.”

The Necrobot knelt down and took Scrounge’s hand into his own. “No, my friend,” he said softly. “This is how you live.”

It was at that moment that Scrounge noticed the briefcase in the Necrobot’s other hand, and before he could even question it, the world vanished around him.

*  *  *

“Gone? What do you mean he’s gone?”

“You can go down there and check for yourself,” Chase replied once he had finished debriefing Goldbug and Fortress of what had happened down on Salvvatan’s surface. “When the Titan—or whatever it was—vanished, Scrounge must have gone with it, ‘cos he’s nowhere to be found. The planet’s a desolate wasteland, too, so there wasn’t really anywhere for him to fallen into or behind.”

“And the Decepticons?” Fortress asked.

“They left as soon as the Titan vanished. Guess it was all they had come here for. Hardhead managed to restrain himself enough to not kill any of ‘em, so hopefully this incident doesn’t cause any problems for the higher ups.”

“Based on your report, it sounds to me that Lockdown was working for someone other than Decepticon High Command,” Goldbug said, rubbing his chin. “It’s anyone’s guess as to who, though.”

“In any case, I’ll inform Twincast of Scrounge’s disappearance,” said Fortress. “I know that her brother Blaster is friends with him, so he might want to know once he and the rest of Prime’s crew are found.”

“If they’re found,” Goldbug replied.

“Ever the optimist, aren’t you?”

With that, all of the gathered Autobots went their separate ways to return to their normal lives. Goldbug and Fortress went off to file a report to Ultra Magnus. Brainstorm secluded himself in his lab. Chase and the other Throttlebots returned to their respective stations. Twincast filed away the news of Scrounge’s disappearance for when—if—she ever saw her brother again.

And for the next twenty years, that was the last time Scrounge of Altihex was ever thought of by anyone.