“So can we please have the child back?”

Tempest blinked at the captain. “You may. But let me make this also clear to you. We’re going to give the child back, but you’re not going to do anything to stop us. If you so much as contact others to detain us or attack, you won’t be getting the boy back. Understand?”

Captain Spitfire nodded, and looked to Fleetfoot and Soarin. Both of them gave solid nods as well. Then up to Arcee and Strongarm, who understood the sitation well enough to put their weaponry away. Flareup and Blastwave groaned, nodding along with them. But no one could see Flareup mingling with her wrists behind her, along with pressing a small button on the side of her wrist.

“Good. But before we go,” Tempest began, “Shockblast, come in. We have what we came for. Open up the Groundbridge and pick us up.”

“Affirmative,” Shockblast replied.

The Decepticons waited for the Groundbridge to open. Any second now, it would open and they could make a break for it. But… nothing. No bridge, no glowing portal, nothing.

“What’s going on up there?” Tempest snarled.

“Minor technical difficulties. Please stand by.”

As Tempest impatiently tapped her foot on the stand, in the middle of the two opposing sides. As everyone just stood awkwardly, Steve cleared his throat.

“So, um… Spitfire, how are you?”

Spitfire sighed. “Fine, Steve, just fine…”

“Good. Fine is good. Arcee, Strongarm?”

“We’re okay,” Arcee nodded.

“That’s good. How’s Cliffjumper, is he doing okay?”

“Cliffjumper is fine, he’s back on Cybertron,” Arcee replied.

“Ah, that’s nice,” Steve nodded. “Everyone else okay? Bumblebee, Jazz, Sideswipe?”

“They’re okay.”

“Okay, why are you talking to them?” Barricade asked.

“I’m making friendly conversation, is that so wrong?” Steve asked.

“They’re Autobots, they’re your enemies!”

“Well, yes and no. They arrested me for fairly good reason, but at the same time, they’ve been nothing but kind to me since I’ve been in jail.”

Barricade scoffed. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Maybe because you weren’t provided with some nice services when you were in prison,” Steve badmouthed.

“Psst, hey! Unit ST3V3, can you hear me?”

Steve stopped talking and backed away from Barricade to accept the call.

“Hello?”

“Unit ST3V3, can you hear me?”

“Spacewarp? Is that you?”

A gasp was on the other line. “You still remember me?”

“How can I not remember you after all the times you sang to Poker Face?” Steve joked.

Spacewarp chuckled. “Ah, yeah. Anyways, listen, I have a request for you. I don’t know how well that negotiation is going, but I need to ask you for a quick favor.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, does Shatter still have that kid? The human?”

Steve turned around and looked at the small boy in Shatter’s arms.

“Yeah… and why is she—“

“—Really long story, but if this negotiation doesn’t go well, I need to you to help transfer that kid back to base.”

“Okay, and let me ask you this; why me and what is going on? You know I die instantly, right?”

“Long story short, that smelly corpse is not an Autobot, human driving that body, and we're negotiation for that human's return to the Autobots. Steve, please, I’m asking you because you’re my friend. You know you’re not evil, and neither am I. Please?”

Steve looked back to Shatter, seeing Betamax struggle to get free in her hands. To no avail was he able to get out, but he couldn’t help but feel sympathy. This smaller creature didn’t look like he wanted to b there, or even needed to be there. This felt wrong.

“Alright, I’ll help. But I’m not sure—“

“Great, thanks, call us when you’ve got the kid!”

And just like that, she hung up. Steve shook his head, wondering what kind of predicament he just put himself into. But wait, nothing was happening right now. Maybe Shatter could just hand over the kid? Unless she was A-okay in doing something wrong like this.

“Tempest. I regret to inform you of the malfunction. The signal is being jammed by an unknown source. And it isn’t from one of our own.”

Tempest’s face scrunched up at the revelation. Then slowly, she turned her head and looked at Captain Spitfire with a ‘you’re dead to me’ look.

“You lied…”

“Ma’am, I didn’t—“

“—I told you what would happen if you so much as tried to prevent us from escaping… well now you won’t be getting the child back, ever!”

“Now!”

Flareup and Blastwave jumped from behind, performing single rolls and unloaded their weapons. Not even taking in the reality of the situation, they let loose a rainstorm of lasers onto the Decepticons. Wanting to avoid open fire, Tempest and her pack began to run.

“That’s it, we’re getting out of here! Shockblast, what’s the nearest point where we can Groundbridge and escape?” Tempest shouted, leading her pack.

“There is a deserted ghost town just a few miles from your location. Head there, and I will get the Groundbridge up and running.”

“Then speed it up! Everyone, come with me, we’re getting out of here!”

As they began to run, Blastwave and Flareup transformed into vehicular modes.

"Come on, we've gotta stop them!"

"Hey, wait!"

"No time!"

The two recruits sped up and raced after the fleeing Decepticons. The Wonderbolts and Arcee and Strongarm were left dumbfounded. Spitfire however, was furious. They had basically given the Decepticons what they wanted, but now they were getting away, and even worse with the hostage they were trying to save.

"Someone called, someone made a call and broke this entire operation!" Spitfire shouted. "Strongarm, did you call someone?"

"No!"

"Arcee?"

"Not when a human's life is at stake!"

"You two!?"

Fleetfoot and Soarin shook their heads.

"Well if you guys didn't make the call, then who did!?"

“Hey, mind if I make a suggestion?” Steve shouted as he tried to keep up with everyone else who was running on their own two feet.

“What!?”

“Let me take the kid. You guys go, I’ll watch over the kid and try and lead them away from you guys. Then once the time comes, you can simply Groundbridge me and him out!”

“But you—“

“—I’m a punching bag, I know! But I literally cannot die!”

Tempest was now starting to see the usefulness of the Earthly-named Vehicon.

“Fine, Shatter toss the kid to him!”

“Yes Tempest!”

Shatter did just that, she literally threw Betamax up into the air who screamed at the throw. Steve’s visor flashed a glow.

“Why did you do it so literally!?” Steve shouted, trying to run to catch the child. He ran to the right moving just in time to catch Betamax before he would have fallen. Carefully, his arms held tight to latch on the small child, sighing in relief that he managed to catch him.

Betamax felt his heart pounding from the throw, but he stopped screaming. A small smile started to grow on his face, accompanied by a few mile chuckles.

"Heh, that was fun! Lets do it again!" Betamax cheered.

"Maybe another time with someone who can actually catch!" Steve shouted, continuing to run. But as he ran, he gazed back at the group who were far gone from him. But even worse was right behind him. Two vehicles racing after him, Flareup and Blastwave.

"Scrap! We won't get anywhere on foot... or better yet, drive!"

Steve's body began to fold up and transform, until he was no longer running but driving. A sleek purple car with a spoiler on the back, shining paint, and slender look. And Betamax sitting in the passenger seat as he drove.

"Hang on little buddy, I got ya!" Steve said as he began to race on the desert.

"Thanks! Who are you?"

"I'm Steve! And I'm here to keep you safe little buddy! Just hang on tight!" The shift stick in Steve's vehicle mode slammed forward and he raced even faster. Betamax was thrown to the back of the seat as Steve accelerated on the pedal.

While Steve was praying to get the little kid safe and sound, Tempest and her crew were starting to drag from the running.

"Okay, everyone, transform! We'll pick up the pace!"

Tempest jumped up into the air, and instantly transformed into the firetruck mode, leading the way. Soon after, Flamewar joined, jumping up and transforming into her motorcycle form. Barricade jumped and flipped into his police car form. Bludgeon changed into an armored tank which a small little turbo on the back, allowing him to catch up with the others. Shatter and Dropkick changed and raced together. Slashmark pushed past some of the crowd of racers, and Thunderblast transformed and flew up into the air.

“Everyone, to the ghost town!"

Little did Tempest know that the Autobots were ready to try a similar plan. While they were on the run, Autobots began to take evasive action and get themselves together to get moving. Guns loaded, power packs charged, and quick stretches before running to the Groundbridge.

"LISTEN UP! I don’t know who called, but now they’re making an escape! Whoever sent that call to jam their Groundbridge; I want to know who they are so I can scream and rant at them for half an hour!” Spitfire yelled. “But we’ll do that later; right now we gotta hunt them down!”

Spitfire pointed to the radar screen, getting everyone’s attention.

“Thanks to Blastwave and Flareup’s arrogance, they’re running off and chasing one of those Decepticons. I don’t know who has the child, but we need to get him back! Bltizwing and the rogue Decepticons will Groundbridge to the ghost town and take the freed prisoners head on, they're the biggest and the toughest of them all! At the same time we must dispatch some to stop whoever that lone Decepticon is!”

Spitfire then looked up at all the gathered troops.

“Inferno! You take a small team and join Blastwave and Flareup!”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Hoist, Grapple, man the control screens, try to advise them out in the field!”

“Right!”

"Any questions?" Spitfire asked.

A single hand stood up.

"Yes Jazz?"

"Yeah, don't you think you should send more of us out into the field to help stop them from escaping? You got plenty of Autobots at your disposal--"

"--I'm acting Sunset for the time, and by god, I'm not going to let thousands of our brothers and sisters die!"

"This is such a bad idea..." Sunstreaker muttered, shaking his head.

Ignoring Sunstreaker's comment, Spitfire hollered again. “Everyone else, lets move! Move! Move!”

“Alright!” Nitro Zeus slammed his fists together. “Let’s go get some!”

The Groundbridge opened up, and the rogue Decepticons transformed.

“Ready to fight Blitzy?” Nitro asked.

“Ready.” Blitzwing said before his face swapped to his rage mode. “Now lets crush them into spare parts!”

Blitzwing and Nitro transformed into their jet modes and soared right through the Groundbridge. Not too far behind were the rest of Nitro’s crew who raced through the portal, huddled together. After it closed, Nitro Zeus and the pack appeared only a few feet away from the town.

The gang raced on through, and began to change shape. Mohawk spun to the side and flipped into robot mode, digging is tiny feet into the sand. “Okay, we made it!” Mohawk said, whipping out a gun. “Now we just gotta wait, and then kick their sorry cans.”

Nitro Zeus soared down, transforming into robot mode and slamming his fists and feet into the ground, creating a small tremor. “Oh I feel a fight comin’!”

Roadblock loaded his guns. “Get your weapons everyone, they’ll be coming soon.”

Dreadbot hissed and played another small audio cue from his radio. “But no deaths, okay—I’m too old for this stuff.”

“But don’t be afraid to show them how much we’re not kidding. I’m ready to show them a real Decepticon,” Blitzwing snarled before his face flipped. “Right after I give them all a grand tour of this town! Hahaha!”

Wouldn’t you know it, just up ahead; they could see Tempest and her crew descending into town. Some of Tempest’s pack raced until they saw Nitro Zeus and company up ahead. Everyone went into a slamming halt and transformed to keep themselves from sliding any further. Tempest pushed through and stomped past her freed crew, to take center of attention.

Nitro Zeus and his team were all standing tall, gazing back. Now it had become a stand-off, two sides opposite of one another, glaring with violent intent.

"Decepticons!" Nitro shouted.

"Traitors," Barricade retorted.

"Give up fellas, you're not going anywhere," Nitro quipped.

Tempest quietly chuckled to herself. "Naive, machine. Here's the deal, we're leaving and you all are going to get out of the way... or we make this difficult, for all of you."

Berserker growled like an angry tiger, and got on all fours like she was ready to make the charge.

“We won’t repeat ourselves again, surrender now!” Roadblock shouted.

Tempest snarled. “No.”

Nitro’s teeth made a small clicking sound and his eye swiveled.

“Boys.”

His arm gun loaded up, cocked and ready. Two small gatling guns unloaded from his shoulders, and a small gun mounted on his other arm unfolded. All of which pointed to Tempest and her pack.

“We fight!”

Tempest and her crew yelled, making the first move. Barricade, Shatter, and Dropkick threw small grenades up into the air, rolling them towards Nitro and his group. Just as they ran to try and chase, the grenades exploded, making them all fly up into the air, and fall onto the ground.

“Attack! Now!” Tempest ordered.

The rogue Cons got back up and charged towards Tempest’s crew. Guns were unloaded and everyone began to jump at each other.

Nitro ran head first at Tempest, readying a fist to punch Tempest in the face. He missed the punch as Tempest slided her head to the right. He threw a punch again, and she only moved her head to the left. By the third throw, Tempest moved her hand up and grabbed onto his fist, keeping him from punching.

Tempest sneered and punched Nitro in the face, pushing him off of her. Nitro growled and aimed his gun at her, only for Tempest to perform a roundhouse kick to his chest, sending him flying through the air and falling on his back. He was about to get up, but Tempest pinned him to the ground, keeping him still.

"Decepticons, Autobots, you're all alike!"

"And you're talking too much!"

Two small Gatling guns whipped up from his shoulders, and started to shoot at the plating on Tempest's shoulders. The power wasn't great, but it was enough to get her off.

Around a corner, Roadblock performed a roll like a police officer making ready his gun.

"Freeze!"

But his order didn't come to meet. Instead he was shot in the face, making him cry out in pain. That shot came from Barricade who continued to shoot at the former police officer, not giving up. But just as he was about to get up, down on his hands and knees, he gazed up to the loaded barrel of Barricade's gun.

"I hate cheap knockoffs", Barricade spat.

With one shot, all of his lights and power turned to black. Barricade stared down at the head now full of holes before turning around and joining the battle once again.

Berserker screeched and howled, angry at the loss of her comrade. Scraping her feet and hands into the ground like a buffalo, she began to jump and pounce towards Barricade. Barricade turned to see her charge and immediately started to run. But right then, Berserker felt someone jump on her back making her lose her balance and fall. Getting back up, she saw Bludgeon was the source of the attack.

She threw one of her claws at Bludgeon who leaned back, dodging the claw attack. She swung again, Bludgeon jumping back and this time swinging his sword and slicing off one of Berserker's hands. Berserker screeched and held onto her wrist, distracted by the pain. Bludgeon cackled and he kicked her right in the gut, pushing her away. Taking opportunity, Bludgeon charged forward with his swords flying back. And with a high jump into the air, he raised his sword up and dug it into the middle of where her spark was, right at the weak point.

"You are a Dread. Powerful for sure, but you lack patience and coordination."

He twisted his sword around, making her scream some more, until her screams quickly died down, and the lights in her eyes slowly shut down.

"Good, good, good!" Flamewar cackled. "End them all, end all of these deceptive dirt kickers!"

She opened fire with her crossbow, nailing her target. Her voice laughed and cackled like the madwoman she was, and she went charging to finish her opponent.

At the same time, Steve was still being followed by Flareup and Blastwave who wouldn't give up until they got him.

"Spacewarp, mind getting me out of here!?" Steve cried.

"We're trying, hang on! Wait, that's it! We got it!"

Steve was so distracted he didn't realize where exactly he was about to drive. That is until the little boy in the car screamed.

"Stop! We're going to crash!"

"Oh!"

Steve slammed on the breaks and transformed into robot mode, holding onto Betamax with a steel grip. His feet skated on the sand, thankfully grinding to a halt as they came to an edge of a cliff, that led straight down a canyon. He gazed down, seeing how big the canyon was, thankfully looking as if there could still be means to travel and escape. But now was not the time to try and see if he could survive a big fall.

"Freeze, Decepticon!"

Flareup and Blastwave transformed and pointed their guns towards Steve who was contemplating his current situation.

"Hey, hey, easy now, lets just talk..." Steve said, calm as ever.

"Hand over that... that... human, now!"

Steve paused. "Were you going to insult him?"

"No! ... Maybe. A little. Not intentionally!"

At that very moment, a Groundbridge began to spawn out of nowhere, right beside Steve. Blastwave and Flareup still kept their weapons open, ready to shoot whoever would come through that portal. And wouldn't you know it, someone did come from out of that portal.

Cyberwarp jumped out, landing with a knee out. She gazed up and was met with Blastwave's snarl.

"Steve, do you--"

"--Yeah, I'm good!"

Steve quickly rushed over to Cyberwarp and passed Betamax over to her.

"Cyberwarp!" Betamax cried.

"Its okay, I'm here, I'm going to get you out of here! Thanks Steve!"

Both Decepticons ducked from a shot aimed at them, and Cyberwarp quickly made her choice. Without looking back she ran back through the Groundbridge portal with the little boy, freed from incoming fire. As she made it to the other side, she quickly ran from the Groundbridge portal, escaping to the outside air without even as such a second glance. She didn't even notice Shockblast was standing there, waiting for her to come back... along with someone else right with him.

"No!" Flareup shouted. She screamed at the top of her lungs, failing to apprehend the criminals who had escaped with the human they were trying to save. And now they had not only failed, but they had no idea where she was. Unless... unless maybe they could just run through that portal and get out?

But before anyone could, the two new recruits heard the sound of driving right behind them. A few Autobots soldiers who had finally caught up revealed themselves, transforming into their alternate modes and loading up their guns, pointed at Steve and the open portal.

"Freeze, punk."

Steve was cornered. If he ran, he would have gotten shot. If he tried to make it to the portal, they would have all pounded on him before he could even leave. So what to do? It would have to be now! He had a chance to leave, but he had to act, fast!

Steve was about to take his chance and run as he jumped to the front of the portal, but he felt his heart sinking as he saw who was coming through. Coming in fast, actually.

"OH SWEET--"

Steve didn't see what happened next as his body was slammed to the ground by whoever came through, right on his stomach. His vision was blinded by the hot scorching sand, but he did not dare get back up. Not if he wanted to be another target for shooting. To be honest, the sound of scary screeching only further influenced him to stay. But he could feel the presence real close by, like inches from where he was faceplanted.

After a few minutes, the sounds of intense screaming and yelling began to die down, until the only sounds left were the scorching wind and the sound of odd clicking. And oddly, stomping footsteps approaching Steve.

"Unit ST3V3."

Steve groaned and pulled his face out of the sand, gazing up at the one-eyed Decepticon who called for him.

"Shockwave, you got new colors. I didn't know you had a thing for green."

"I am not Shockwave. But you are Unit ST3V3."

Steve groaned as he pulled himself up. "I prefer Steve, that's just straight to the point and isn't so hard to say." As he got up, he looked all around him. The Autobots that had cornered him were wounded and on the ground. None of them moving, none of them groaning, just nothing more than a bunch of bodies piled around him.

"Did you kill them?" Steve asked.

"Partially. Only 1 of them, while the rest had been taken care of by our newest ally."

Steve sighed and wiped a little lubricant off his head. "Well, thanks. I’m just glad—" Steve immediately froze when he looked at what was behind Shockblast, busy digging at the heart of one of the downed Autobots. A tall bony like Decepticon, with a bug-like presentation. Antenna, mandibles for a jaw, green and yellow and black skin, multiple arms, and purple glowing neon on what would have been the eyes on the insect. A small Decepticon symbol was visible near his neck, as well as the source of all the clicking sounds.

"--OH. SWEET SOLUS PRIME!!! Wasp!” Steve gasped, pointing his black talon to the tall Decepticon in front of him. “I thought that was you! Weren’t you an Autobot? Actually no, I take that back, weren't you dead?"

The taller robot snarled.

"The former Autobot known as Wasp had gone through a surgical procedure. My surgical procedure. Now he's one of us," Shockblast coldly droned.

"Oh, well, right. Sorry," Steve remarked, looking in awe at Wasp. "I just can't believe I'm meeting you, I heard tales about you, on how you perished Unicron! That was you, let me just… wow. I just can’t believe I’m meeting you and I’m seeing my red eves reflect off of your new body as you charge at me with murderous intent—I don’t mean right now.”

The taller bot grabbed him by the neck and hissed.

"Shockblast make Wasp strong, make Wasp powerful, make Wasp... WASPINATOR!!!"

Steve chuckled nervously. "You still got that voice like a bug!"

Wasp, now Waspinator screeched into Steve's face. And with one angry roar, he let out a powerful energy blast into Steve's face and slashed at his chest, creating huge scrape marks. The Vehicon screamed out of pain, and then he was dropped onto his back.

"AAAH!!!" Steve screamed from the pain before he was let go and dropped to the ground. "AH I'M GONNA DIE, I'm gonna..."

Steve perched up, leaning up on his behind. His face was a little singed, yeah, but it was still in one piece. A few scorch marks were still left behind. But what about his spark? Still there! He was still online. Waspinator didn't reach for his spark!

"I'm alive! WHOO-HOO! I'm not gonna die today!"

Steve watched as Waspinator vanished through the Groundbridge, and Shockblast slowly stomping behind, ready to walk on through.

"Whoop! Wait for me!"

Steve stumbled to get on his feet, and he walked behind Shockblast, making it to the other side of the portal, escaping back to Hawaii, just in time for the portal to close. And as the portal vanished, a small moan escaped the lips of one of the downed Autobots.

Flareup nauseatingly looked up, seeing the carnage around her. She moaned for a few more seconds before laying her head back down, limp on the ground with an extra groan.

The tide was quickly turning on the Autobot's side. Three members were now dead, and only four remaining. And they could barely keep up the fight!

"Blitzwing, where are you, dude!?" Nitro yelled just before Flamewar clawed at his face.

Nitro kicked her off, but he knew it wouldn't last. And right with her were some more allies who were about to gang up on them. But the sound of a racing jet engine came hurling through the sky and racing on the ground level. Several beams of lasers shot at Flamewar and the others, all of them going down like dominoes.

The jet that had shot at them was none other than Blitzwing who took them on from the air. He raced over them and went straight up like he was about to burst into the sky, until his body transformed and he slammed his engine feet on the ground.

"Blitzwing..." Shatter observed. "Has Megatron fallen so hard that now one of his most valuable assets is working with the enemy?"

"The war's over, Shatter. And Megatron means nothing to me anymore!" Blitzwing's face swapped to his crazy demeanor. "Being reformatted and back doesn't do much for your brain cells! He went crazy, even for me! Hahaha!" Then his face changed to his angry look. "Enough! You're going to be crushed by my power!"

Blitzwing transformed into a tank, and pointed the turret at Shatter. Shatter started to move to avoid the fire, but Blitzwing fired. Missing the mark, the shot went straight to an old saloon, blowing it to pieces. His turret moved and pointed at Shatter again, but she jumped just in time for the shot to explode on impact, right into one of the remaining rogue Cons.

"ARRRGHHH!!!" Blitzwing ranted. "I will crush you with my bare hands if I have to!"

Blitzwing transformed and was met with a swift kick to his back, throwing him onto the ground. Taking the chance, Tempest shot at Blitzwing's chest multiple times until he just fell back down, flat on the ground.

Tempest smirked, happy that she finally took him down. As she looked, she couldn't help but admire the chaos around. All of them against seven, and three of them had been massacred. Her work there was done.

"Let it be a sign for them to never take us on," Tempest announced. "We will not take prisoner, we won't rest until all Autobots have been destroyed, and all Decepticons are off this planet!"

The Decepticons with her all cheered with her, yelling and howling into the skies. And in the nick of time, a Groundbridge had finally opened up, allowing them to walk through and escape. Now that Tempest had her pack, she had the chance to accomplish her goal. Now it was time to get things on schedule, and soon... everyone would be gone.

So yeah, the tide's turnin' on our heroes. And so the special 'cargo' has been revealed. Which by the way, for those who don't know or don't remember, is a callback to an old EGID story that featured that particular character.

Will things get better? Will they get worse? Stay tuned for the next chapter, to find out!