Part 6: The Infodump Chapter
The Autobase: Ghastly Gorge
The roar of a .7 L V8 UR engine, putting out 381 brake horsepower rumbled through a man-made tunnel inside the canyon walls of the gorge. Metal plating surrounded Swordbreaker’s truck alternate mode on all sides, numerous and uncountable man-hours and US money spent just to keep tons of rock from fall inwards on humans and Autobots alike entering the base.
“Holy shit…” Indigo trailed off as her eyes widened upon what she saw next as Swordbreaker pulled into the base’s main room, where nuclear missiles once resided decades ago when Russia and America, along with the rest of the world were at arms with nervous and twitchy fingers on triggers.
As Swordbreaker pulled to a halt, tires screeching against the metal floor slightly, Indigo as she got out noted a giant version of the Autobot symbol below her.
“Wow… real subtle…” she muttered as she heard the shifting of mechanical parts from behind her as Swordbreaker transformed to robot mode. Massive footsteps echoed into the distance as he walked off.
“Well, God only knows where the heck we are, so I think it kinda works,” Sunny Flare stared down at the sigil on the ground. “Plus, who else is gonna come here besides us and these guys?” she asked. From a rafter high above them, Sunder beeped out a greeting in Morse Code.
“Point,” Trixie admitted as she gave Sunder a little wave which he returned with a wing. “...Plus, it is kinda awesome to look at.”
Nearby, on a massive table that was probably the Cybertronian version of a hospital bed, lay Road Rage in bot form with a small red microscope scanning every inch of her form.
“Well,” the “microscope” observed, speaking with a slight English accent. “Prowl was absolutely right to bring you to me. That virus in your system, it’s progressing at an exponential rate. Rather frightening, really.”
“Nngh…” Road Rage groaned as she tried to sit upright, the virus in her body halting some of her servos. “Quiznak. (Twilight nearly squeed when she heard that word, knowing exactly where it was from) You think there’s a fix for it?”
“That’s… that’s the thing,” Perceptor admitted sheepishly as he transformed into robot mode, shifting in size as he did so. “I’m actually not sure. I’ve never even seen anything like this in my entire lifetime. It’s a new thing, needs more study before I can administer a-” he continued before Road Rage growled at him and Perceptor held up his hands defensively.
“Wonderful... “ she muttered. “Absolutely positively slagging wonderful. Time, if you remember, isn’t exactly on my side here. Sooner or later, if you don’t find that cure, I’ll be as wild and uncontrollable as a fraggin’ Predacon!” she snapped, and a certain bird-bot whirred out in offense. It was impossible to translate exactly what Sunder said, but it was probably something rude.
“...Sorry, Sunder,” Road Rage flushed, forgetting who was in the room with her for a moment. “It’s just…”
“I understand Road Rage, I really do,” Perceptor replied. “I’ll be devoting all of the time and effort I can to finding a cure before it does happen and the virus takes you over completely.”
“Hey. Can we help?” Sugarcoat stepped forward towards the paralyzed Road Rage and her medic, Perceptor. “What kind of virus are we talking about here?”
“I honestly doubt you can…” Perceptor trailed off, before he saw Sugarcoat’s look and sighed.
“Just give me an answer. Biological virus or digital virus?” She pushed her glasses close to her face. The look that quelled many an idiot friend of hers.
“Fine… It’s a new kind, that’s for sure,” Perceptor continued, as if having new humans in the base hadn’t even registered with him. “It’s digital and biological at the same time, but unlike anything I’ve ever seen. What basically happens is, and nobody’s sure how Road Rage here even got it, is that this thing slowly creeps into vital systems and drives them into a sort of madness. A hate plague, if you will. When she transforms, she becomes a monstrosity on the road with very little care for anyone or anything, and this persists a little as we’ve now seen when she goes back into Robot Form.” he explained.
“A berserk serum for machines. How perplexing…” Sugarcoat approached Road Rage. “Usually, those kinds of things have been developed for humans only. How one has been made for machines, I’ll never know. Have you got a computer screen that shows her vitals?”
“Yes, I’ll bring it up. Here.” Perceptor replied, going over to a console screen, and bringing up a small holographic readout of Road Rage’s vitals.
Sugarcoat (Along with Twilight) examined the diagnosis from top to bottom, leaning in close to see if she could find any irregularities. After a few moments, she eventually found a pulsating purple spot deep within the recesses of Road Rage’s neck unit, with trace amounts of the same purple light trailing down her vines like a very thin thread.
“Biological and digital at the same time. How clever,” Sugarcoat remarked and Twilight gave her a look.
“I don’t think we’re supposed to be admiring it Sugar…” Twilight trailed off. “Especially not in front of who it’s infected.”
Sugar had at least the decency to blush.
“Right, sorry…” she murmured before continuing. “Something that seems an impossibility is right there in front of us.” She tapped on the dot. “Perceptor? Have you managed to find this in your run-down of Road Rage?”
“Yes, one of the first things I noticed. That’s where the virus first started, near her Transformation Cog. Then it spread out the more Road Rage used it.” he replied. If he had glasses, Twilight imagined the scientist/medic would be adjusting or cleaning them.
“So what’s the cure for a duological disease?” Sugarcoat asked.
“Duological?” Twilight cocked an eyebrow.
“Biological and digital at the same time. Came up with it on the spot.” Sugar folded her arms smugly. Twilight sighed and shook her head, before rubbing her temples.
“Back on topic,” Perceptor continued. “That’s the thing, we’ve never seen anything remotely like this at all. Like I said, it’s new.”
“I can hear you three chattering away, you know!” Road Rage barked. “Just give me any good news you have.”
“That’s the thing,” Perceptor replied. “There is no “Good News”...” he trailed off, and at Road Rage’s death glare he flinched a little and sighed. “...At least for the moment. A cure will be found, we just need to study this a little more.”
“...Right, that’s what you’ve been saying for the last few cycles…” Road Rage muttered.
“But we know it’s dormant if she doesn’t transform, right?” Twilight lifted a hand. “As long as she stays in one form, it won’t trigger. Is that how this works?”
“Yes…” Perceptor said. “She can still go out on the battlefield, she just can’t transform. But even then, that presents a problem. Two actually. One, without a vehicle mode she can’t keep up with the faster Decepticons. Secondly... we’re supposed to be Robots in Disguise, not Robots of the Obvious.”
“...The Cons don’t seem to care for that rule, do they?” Road Rage deadpanned.
“Then—and I know this is gonna sound totally bad—but she’s a liability to have out on the field.” Lemon Zest said, but hung her head, taking no joy in saying it.
“Gee kid, thanks for the bluntness and no sugarcoating it…” Road Rage muttered.
“For the time being, I think it’d be best if you guys bench her, just until that virus gets fixed.” Indigo agreed. It was then Perceptor finally seemed to register the new humans in the base.
“...Wait, how many humans are we allowing into our fold again?” he asked himself before walking off muttering to himself about “Calculating for this new variable in the equation…”
Prowl rolled up, now in his newly scanned Ford Police Interceptor mode before transforming. His new robot mode looked very similar to his older one, but it had the obvious front bumper and hood of the Interceptor taking up his chest plate instead of his old form’s Nissan Fairlady Z vehicle mode parts.
“Looking good Prowl,” Road Rage complimented, groaning as she got up off the medical table. “New Alt Mode’s working for you sir. Hound said the new Holo-Drivers should be fully ready for their first field test soon.”
“And your… condition?” Prowl asked gently. Road Rage’s hanging of her head gave him all the answer he needed. He put a hand on one of her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Perceptor’s one of the best. He’ll find a cure soon.”
“Hah,” Road Rage laughed bitterly. “And Onslaught will just give himself up and renounce the Decepticon cause in the next week,” she replied, sarcasm filling her tone. It escaped her notice that Prowl had just shown a rare case of actual emotion and caring, instead of his usual cold, logical tone he often took with his troops.
“Er… bit lost here,” Trixie said, looking Prowl straight in the optics. “Autobots, Decepticons, Transformation Cogs? What the Hell is going on here, Trixie asks you. Mind filling in the gaps?”
“Okay, but this may require a bit of history,” Prowl replied. “Studied you high school kids, and I know how much you hate learning…”
Twilight looked ecstatic actually, forcing Prowl to amend his statement. “...Well, some of you anyways. It started 5 billion of your Earth years ago. During that time, Cybertron was divided up in a class system. What Alternate Mode you got, you earned your job relating to that. Some got to work in the Hells of the mines of Kaon, toiling away hour after hour seemingly without end.
“But there was one Cybertronian who was not having an inch of it,” Prowl continued. “His name was D-16, or as he soon began to call himself as he participated in dangerous gladiatorial arena matches… Megatronus, after one of the legendary Thirteen Primes of old who were some of the first to inhabit Cybertron and lay down the foundations of the modern day and the planet’s Golden Age. Megatronus, he won match after match, gaining support amongst the masses. In fact, as a gladiator, in killing others he began to appreciate the value of life if you could believe it, and in between matches he became something of an intellectual, debating the castes with other.
“This support allowed him to turn to the political side of things, and he soon made friends with a young archivist or librarian as you’d call it. That archivist’s name was Orion Pax. During this period, Cybertron, our home planet was in a time of great upheaval. Our current Prime, Sentinel Prime had just been assassinated and Civil War was breaking out. Even our best of the best, the Elite Guard, -of which me and Road Rage would eventually become members- was struggling to keep order. A new Prime was needed to bring things back to a state of calm.
“Megatronus, shortening his name to the more simple Megatron pleaded with Orion Pax to the Council to end the corruption and fighting in the streets that was plaguing the planet. But sadly, at the time at least, Megatron was too power-hungry and Orion was chosen instead. He became known as Optimus Prime. Megatron was furious, and his followers -Calling themselves the Decepticons- united half the planet and the war became ever bloodier with each passing year. He even got to a part of the Autobot Elite Guard, led by Onslaught at the time and corrupted Onslaught’s elite unit, the Combaticons and swayed them to his cause. Onslaught was corrupted by the most dangerous of your Seven Deadly Sins… Pride, and his Combaticons soon followed suit with each having their darker natures emerge. Lust, Greed, Wrath, Envy…
“Eventually however as the years passed,” Prowl continued. “Even Megatron, despite all the destruction he’d caused, began to see he’d lost sight of his true goals of uniting Cybertron and formed a peace treaty with his old friend Optimus and together, a new Golden Age was formed. All was well… for a brief while. Peace and exploration was the new status quo. But some, sadly, would not have it. Onslaught, along with several others including his Combaticons along with hardened criminals like Steeljaw fled Cybertron, and here we are, giving chase and tracking them down.”
“Hold on for a second,” Sunny Flare held up a hand, stopping Prowl in his tracks. “This is an awful lot to take in, you know. I couldn’t even make out half of what was going on for a few seconds there.”
“Well, I could,” Lemon nodded. “Megatron got mad that he couldn’t bring everyone together, so they totally went Transformers: Civil War on each other and decided to fight. But then, they decided to get all buddy-buddy again. Simple.”
“...That’s putting it in a very simple way of saying it, as things were far more complex than that, but whatever works…” Prowl murmured. “Now, to answer your question on Transformation Cogs… Trixie, was it?”
“That’s my name, don’t start wearing it out.” Trixie smirked.
Prowl muttered something along the lines of “Teenagers…” and sighed to himself. “Anyways, Transformation Cogs. They’re not just technology as you would think of us, but biology instead. They’re vital organs, and simply just can’t be built as you please if one wears out and replaced. No… The sad fact of the matter is for Road Rage, her T-Cog is infected and it’s dying as if were one of your organs like say a liver. Suppose you could say she’s got a form of cancer, I guess…” Prowl mused sorrowfully to himself.
Then there was a loud roar of “PROWL!” as the base’s elevator doors opened and a very familiar figure to Sunny and the Autobots alike stepped inside the base.
“Agent Fowler.” Prowl said politely, unfazed by the former Army Ranger’s rage.
“D-Dad?” Sunny whispered in shock. Fowler didn’t seem to notice his daughter or her friends, as his rage was solely directed on Prowl.
“Aw slag…” Road Rage muttered to herself.
“Do you know the amount of danger you put my dear Sunny in?” Fowler’s footsteps left small cracks in the bridge leading up to the girls and Prowl. His hands gripped a handrail tightly, barely keeping his composure “You and I know full well that humans die in one hit! How could you just let her out on the firing line like that?!”
“You think I don’t know the danger she was in? Why do you think I disregarded protocol like that, and had Road Rage and Swordbreaker rush to her and friends’ rescue not even bothering with our cover identities?” Prowl fired back. “I get that you care for your daughter, I understand that, but you’d be better off yelling at Steeljaw as he’s the one at fault here, not me! If your daughter hadn’t gotten the idea of texting you, we wouldn’t even know she was in danger!”
“Prowl, look, I’m just on edge, alright?” Fowler took a deep calming breath and stepped backwards. “Cinch is gone, and all I have left in my life is Sunny. Without her, I’d be completely heartbroken. So to have her in danger like that is something I’m not comfortable with. At all. Now, do you see?” He asked.
“Yes… Yes, I understand.” Prowl murmured as Twilight and Trixie stared at Sunny in shock, not realizing her father was a government agent nor was her mother Cinch of all people. “While Cybertronian family units are very different from your Earth families in many ways, in others they’re quite the same. If I was in your position, and my sparkling was all that was left of my family…” he trailed off.
“Fowler, lay off the guy a bit will you? Guy’s got enough on his plate without you yelling at him. Guy’s a cop, and his main concern should be catching the crooks. Let the other Bots worry ‘bout the kids eh?” a new voice chimed in, a little scratchy as a yellow-skinned woman with flaming hair and a vest with medals pinned all over it stepped into the room. Lemon and Indigo’s jaws dropped, and Lemon nearly let out a squee.
“You’re… You’re Spitfire, former Captain of the freaking Blue Angels for five years running! I had a poster up my wall of you once!” Lemon squealed, as said former Captain rested up against a railing in a casual manner.
Spitfire smirked as a chuckle came from beside her and Special Agent Chrysalis stepped out of the shadows. “Gee, bet you had some very “special” times to it as well…” Chrysalis remarked causing Lemon’s jaw to drop at her audacity and Spitfire to pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
“Special Agent Chrysalis, a little decorum please?” Fowler asked.
“Very Special Agent Chrysalis. And relax Fowler, don’t get your panties in a twist, just having a bit of fun…” she teased, tracing a finger along his jawline causing him to blush quite red as Spitfire laughed her head off.
“Y-Yes, well, I-I…” Fowler stammered out and Spitfire only laughed harder.
“Is she always this… provocative?” Perceptor lifted one of his own eyebrows as he returned holding a datapad in his hands.
“You could say that…” Chrysalis smirked as she stared into the optics of the Autobots, seemingly sizing them up.
“In a word… Yes.” Spitfire deadpanned. Fowler meanwhile, was struggling to regain his composure, making Chrysalis chuckle to herself.
“So what are all you guys doing here anyways?” Sour asked. “Aside from sizing up everyone and laughing at Chrysalis’s antics.”
“Well,” Prowl began to explain. “Special Agent Fowler, Captain Spitfire, and Special Agent Chrysalis are here to help us maintain our covers here on Earth, and keep the general public at large unaware of us. Special Agent Chr-”
“Very!” Chrysalis chimed in.
Prowl sighed. “Very Special Agent Chrysalis, in particular, has been very helpful in forging fake IDs for our holo-drivers that Hound’s been working on.”
“...Mind you, she seems to have a little too much fun designing our human bodies I think.” Road Rage snarked.
“What can I say?” Chrysalis asked cheerfully. “I have a fine appreciation of the human body.”
“Too fine.” Fowler put in sounding rather annoyed and Chrysalis sighed.
“Oh, you’ll come around, they always do…” she trailed off.
“If I may continue?” Prowl asked, clearing his throat. When no objections were raised, he did. “Fowler, he keeps the Pentagon informed of our, and the Decepticons movements.”
Sour made a coughing sound that sounded suspiciously like “Babysitter…” to everyone’s ears.
“Meanwhile, Spitfire keeps an eye on the sky. She’s got connections in the military of her own, so any strange flyovers or such, she alerts us at once and we check it out,” Prowl continued. “Plus, her squadron is on beck and call if things ever were to get… Oh, how do you humans say it?”
“Hairy?” Trixie offered.
“Yes, that.” Prowl smiled. “Now, if you excuse me, I have important matters to attend to with Chrysalis and Spitfire. And quite honestly, I think you kids should get some rest, you’ve got school in the morning after all. I’ll have Hound and Swordbreaker drive you home.”
“I’ll be taking my daughter home,” Fowler put in. “In my own car. She and I… well needless to say we have things to talk about.”
“Oh boy…” Sunny sighed as she was led to her dad’s car. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation, to say the least.
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... Can we have this Chrysalis for the EG universe? Cause I like this one.
Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant I tell you! Genius I say!
8815669
Hmmm... Finds notes for EG Chrysalis at Hasbro headquarters and makes off with them before rewriting them so this Chrysalis comes to the fold instead
But seriously, think about it. Trained FBI agent, which means she's got a whole bunch of skills to bring to the table, and probably could handle both sides of an interrogation, Points to pervert in the background. Stop laughing you, not in that way! even when dealing with Cons.
8815708
Thanks, man. On another note, I apologize for not getting your OC in this story yet. I meant to get him, and another OC requested in this chapter as cameos, but I couldn't find a way to make it feel natural.
8815736
Yeah, I imagine so.
8815739
That is completely fine. It is your story, take all the time you need.
And so we have the divergence from canon.
Very well done! I see that you used “The Doctor” from Revenge of the Fallen...
8816709
...Er, where did I use him? Only Transformer that turns into a Microscope here is Perceptor, who's a completely different character entirely and he's been around much longer.
8816729
Ah, okay
8816765
Here's some information on him. http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Perceptor_(G1)
8816769
Also in the war for and fall of cybertron games he had a tank mode so he is technically a triple changer as the games are officially Hasbro cannon.
G1 refinance recognised and possible cure idea
Second rage virus or read plague was in g1 as well and cured by matrix so in theory sunset and her friends harmony beam could do the same.
8816418
Not a bad one Megatron did have good intentions and in the official cannon offered to let the autobots leave cybertron after he infected it's core. So my guess is around that time OP and Megatron actually had a spark to spark and came to terms. Both did believe in a better cybertron and had once been friends.
Ooh, Spitfire and Chrysalis? Nice!
Ooh, so this is like a mix of IDW and Prime canon? I like it.