Colorado Canyons. 8:00 AM

The canyons of Colorado were quite barren and empty. Great walls and canyons arched high, and if anyone were to sit on many of those arches, they could stare down at small streams of water down below that could be ridden by kayaks. Not much plant-life grew around, it was only around in a few patches.

But out in the open plains and stretches far beyond the rivers was a small military base, taking up a giant plain. Some roads were paved, like a runway. Mostly for fighter jets and cargo planes to land and take off on. And coming down the runway was a carrier plane, holding many US soldiers on board, who were all arriving back to the base after a tough mission in another country.

One soldier in particular was a woman with pale skin, and puffed up indigo colored hair. She carried a pair of signature goggles on her forehead, and piercings on her ears.

"Great work out there Captain," one of the soldiers saluted.

"Thank you, soldier!" Indigo saluted back.

She carried her belongings, hoisted over her soldier and walked with everyone over to the tents and small buildings set up.

"Did everyone leave my jeep alone, like I told them to?" Indigo asked.

"Yes ma'am," another soldier remarked. "Although one of the boys tried to give it a wash, and apparently according to him, the jeep 'went nuts'."

Indigo froze. "How so?"

"I don't know. Said it kept backing up into him, like he didn't want them to touch him, and honked at him a few times the minute he tried to touch the hood."

Indigo rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Sorry about that. Its the little security system I installed in that bad boy. Easily detects who's touching it, and won't freak out if it sees me. Lets just say the machine has a little life inside of it..."

As Indigo walked over to her tent, she waved at a few other soldiers passing by, giving a few salutes and hellos. She opened up the flaps to the inside, and she set her stuff down. Inside her tent was just her cot, a trunk with her belongings, a small table that had her computer and other stuff set up around, along with a few personal knickknacks. But also inside the tent was an old military jeep, aging back to the 1940s from the World War. A small military star was over on the left side, while a faded Autobot logo was on the other.

"Hey Hound, old buddy. I'm back!"

She closed the tent covers, concealing the two inside.

The lights from the jeep flared, and it began to change shape. The jeep it once disguised had changed into a biped who got down on one knee to keep himself from prodding through the tent cover.

"Welcome back, Indigo," said the green Autobot with faded paint. A smile was on the green-headed mech as he looked down to his old partner. "How was the mission in the east?"

"It went pretty well. No troubles, everyone came back alive, and we managed to save some lives," Indigo said, wiping off her forehead.

"Great to hear," Hound smiled.

"Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Other than your soldiers need to learn not to come at me with a sponge at my undercarriage," Hound grumbled.

Indigo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I really need to talk with them about that..."

"Other than that, I'm just sitting still and enjoying some recharge time," Hound replied.

"That's good. Any mail, or phone calls come in?"

"Nothing really. Just a few bills, and you've got a package delivered to your home back in Michigan," The retired soldier said.

"Sweet!"

While Indigo was enjoying some much needed reconcile time, there was much trouble to come. At the same time, a black armored helicopter was flying over the area, in a menacing tone. Its blades spun around like one giant saw blade with intent to slice and dice.

"Sir? We have an inbound, unidentified infiltrator a few clicks out East."

The radar screens spun around in circles,

"Unidentified infiltrator, you are entering restricted airspace. You must turn around right now, and proceed east out of the area."

The helicopter's blades still spun, completely ignoring the instructions it received on the radio transmission. Its black paint shining menacingly in the scorching sun.

"Sir, we have no response," the soldier responded.

"Send the Eagles to intercept, bogey is a few miles out."

"Sir, I'm not sure if we can do that," the technician replied.

"Why not?"

"Because he's already here..."

The soldiers looked out the window of the watch towers at the base. Far off in the distance, they could see the spinning blades of the helicopters.

"Send some soldiers out, surround the helicopter once it lands.

Half an hour went by as the helicopter flew, and it was descending down onto the runway. It flew over it, and immediately aimed for one of the big yellow circles marked for their helicopters. The landing gear unfolded and it slowly went down, its rubber tires bouncing on the pavement.

Soon afterwards, some soldiers began to come out with rifles, machine guns, and any other weapon that they had available out and clutched in their hands, ready to use them. They surrounded the helicopter, taking fighting stances and shooting poses.

"MA-53 pilot, power down now!"

The helicopters engines began to slowly power down, softly sounding off. The helicopter blades slowly began to stop spinning.

"Step out of the aircraft, now!" The general ordered.

The blades continued to slowly die down, when suddenly, they slammed right in the middle of the spin, stopping instantly.

"Now! Or we will open fire!"

Everyone waited for the doors to open, a sound of the engines, something releasing or unloading. But nothing. Not a sound, not a movement. But then, it happened. The helicopter began to move.

The helicopter blades raised themselves up, and all folded together, pointing backwards at the back rotor. The two parts underneath the blades began to open up and fold out. Sheets of metal plating and boards began to pull out, beginning to transform. The back of the rotor began to change, forming into a pair of legs. Suddenly arms began to pull itself from within the helicopter, with giant fingers.

The arms and legs held onto the ground and began to push itself up, as the cockpit pushed down and formed into the bottom, like a chest cover. Soon, a head emerged with blood red eyes, and a snare so scary, he could bite you if he could.

"Fire!!!"

Everyone pulled the triggers on the guns, opening fire onto the Decepticon.

The monster let out a roar of anger and frustration, and immediately unleashed his own weapons. He pointed some machine guns at the men, pulling the trigger and firing at them. The blasts went around the men who instantly ducked for cover, but unfortunately they wouldn't have very much cover to hide behind. The Decepticon fired at some of their jeeps and trucks, blowing them up into pieces.

Then with a single foot raise, he slammed his foot into the concrete, creating tremors all around. The resulting tremors send a visible electrical wave that went in all directions like a pebble splashing into a pond. Suddenly all of the equipment and technology instantly shut down. Fried, short-circuited, one giant blackout.

"Get every man out here, get everyone out here now!" One of the soldiers yelled as she ran for dear life.

The Decepticon ignored her cry and began stomping forward, sending more tremors into the ground as he began his mission. Find Indigo, and capture. Simple as that.

He raised his foot back and kicked one of the tanks, throwing it into the air and watching it crash onto a jet, exploding from the impact. As he charged forward, he kicked a few more vehicles into the air, to wit, they exploded once they crashed.

Indigo kicked her tent tarp opened and looked outside. She watched the dangling helicopter blades of the Decepticon dangle as he created the chaos.

"Hound. I think we're both going to have to come out of retirement..."

"Then lets do it!"

The Decepticon reloaded his weapon again, blowing up another tank and a half-track as he did so.

"Hey!"

He turned around, hearing the cries coming from the adult woman who called for him. Then bursting through the tent like a jaguar, Hound performed a roll as he held two pistols in his hands.

"Come and get some, glitch!"

As Hound rolled onto his feet, he pulled the triggers on the pistols and shooting at the taller mech. He covered his face to avoid being shot in the visual receptors, blocking a few of the bullets and lasers. Then pointing his gun back, he pulled the trigger and pounded Hound's armor with his own shells. The shells bounced and pierced his armor, and a few of the shells hit the grille on his chest.

"Never seen you before," Hound commented as he kept his stance. "Who are you?"

The Decepticon spat. "Blackout..."

"Well what do you want, Decepticon?" Hound asked, pointing his pistols.

"The human... give the human to me, now!"

"Never!" Hound answered as he kept firing at the helicopter.

The Decepticon chuckled as he held his arm up, blocking more of the blasts.

"Don't you want to join up with Ironhide?"

Hound froze. "What are you talking about?"

Blackout cackled. "You really don't know, do you Autobot? You've been away for so long... you couldn't stop me from sealing Ironhide's fate."

That one single sentence dropped like an anvil on Hound's spark. There were no words. Ironhide was... gone? A friend he fought beside for so long, a friend who helped save Cybertron's fate from desecration, practically a brother! And now he was no longer in that mortal coil, now moved violently to the other side.

The Energon that flowed inside of his circuits began to boil and bubble up. His teeth grit, and he reloaded his weapons.

"Now you've asked for it!" Hound yelled like a drill sergeant.

Reaching behind him, he pulled out a large Gatling weapon, holding it with both arms.

"Now die!!!"

He pulled on the trigger and a hail-fire of lasers shot at the black robot. Blackout kept an arm up, blocking the lasers from hitting his face, while the rest of the onslaught of fire pierced his armor. Hound kept moving forward, trying to get the lasers towards his spark. He wasn't about to let him get away so quickly, not after being told he was responsible for killing Ironhide. He was going to take him out, and it was going to be today!

Blackout, in an act of quick thinking spun around and let his helicopter blades spin. As they spun rapidly, they bounced off every single laser that Hound tried to take into his direction. Not one came through and hurt him.

Hound kept firing as much as he could until the gun could only spin. No more ammo for that weapon. Angry, he threw it to the side and pulled out his pistols again. He ran forward, and Blackout moved back just in time to thwack Hound in the face. Hound nearly fell back, but regained his composure. The Decepticon charged forward and threw another punch at his face, then to his grille, denting his armor. The last blow came as he gave one giant kick to his chest, knocking him down and making him slide against the concrete.

As he was down, Hound went to get back up, but not until the Decepticon cocked his weapon at his face.

"Rest in peace, Hound. I'm done wasting my energy on retired old veterans."

Hound slowly moved himself back, trying to move away from the incoming blast. But before Blackout could shoot, Hound looked back up at him with a smirk.

"You know something, Decepticon? There's something you should know about old veterans."

"What's that?"

Hound flashed a grin. "They always have a surprise in their gears!"

A small rocket launcher whirred up onto his shoulder and it let out a hum, pointed at the Decepticon. Blackout, realizing how close he was to death, quickly got off and ducked just in time as the rocket launched.

The rocket flew right past him, and it exploded upon impact, blowing up a half-track. Blackout laughed, seeing the failure.

"And you can't shoot--OW!"

Hound shot again, finally getting a shot into his face.

"I just needed you to get up!" Hound smirked, firing some more.

As Blackout got back up, he felt some bullets bounce and ping his armor. Looking back, he saw the military start to release everything they could on him, trying to kill him.

Now that he was distracted, Hound ran back and stopped in front of Indigo's tent, seeing her with a few belongings at hand.

"What does that Decepticon want!?" Indigo shouted.

"He said he's after you!"

"Me!?"

"Over my dead body, he is!"

Hound violently transformed, going back into jeep mode.

"I don't like to run, but our only chances of making sure both of us are alive are getting out of here, fast!"

Indigo strapped what little belongings she had into the trunk of the jeep, throwing another bag into the passenger seat, and sitting in the driving seat.

"Then lets go!"

Hound's tires swerved, and he sped on the pavement. Indigo watched as Blackout fended off against the military, before jumping up and transforming back into his helicopter form, taking off for the skies. He wasn't going towards them, thank goodness, but Indigo and Hound still didn't feel safe going back where chances of being attacked again were likely.

Even so, Hound revealed himself in front of several men and women. If he stayed, they would have shot him too, or worse, tried to experiment on him. He was taking no chances going back, and neither was Indigo. If she went back, boy, her status as captain would have been removed, or worse; thrown off the base and promptly fired. This was the first time someone outside of CHS and CPA had learned of the Transformers existence... and frankly, neither were in the mood to stay.

As Hound's wheels grinded onto the sand, he flipped on the radio for Indigo to listen to, all the while thinking deep in his thoughts.

I won't let you down, Ironhide. I promise...

---

Back in Oklahoma, Shatter, Dropkick, and a horde of Vehicons kept driving down the open roads, driving past several great plains and pieces of farmland that Oklahoma had to offer. The scenery was rather nice, and very peaceful as well. No one to complain and no one to get mad about the horde of cars that were cruising down the road.

"Very nice scenery," Shatter sighed. "So peaceful, and relaxing..."

"Reminds me of all of those hikes in the Sonic Canyons, remember those?" Dropkick chimed.

"Oh... I remember those. Oh, they were so nice..."

"Remind me, when you and I get off this planet... we're headin' straight for the Sonic Canyons," Dropkick replied in a soothing tone.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm..." Shatter giggled.

The pack made a left turn, creating a few skid marks on the once beautifully paved road. As they drove, Dropkick's windows lowered, and the music he had playing on the radio began to smoke out from within. A heavy beat of rock and roll pumped from the speakers, making the cars dance on the road.

"Now that's the beat," Dropkick chuckled.

Shattered chuckled as well, her inner eyes gazing around at their surroundings and environments.

"Thank goodness its not tornado season. We picked quite the right time to go out," Shatter commented as they made another turn. "Oh, we're almost there."

"Now remember, the people we're talking to are Sour Sweet and Smallfoot, just in case you forget."

"Oh, I never forget. After all, with names like that, who can?"

The couple chuckled again, and they glided across the pebbles on their giant driveway. They had parked in front of their small ranch-house, and big red barn. Accompanied was also a giant cornfield far off to the side, where a sprinkler system was going off.

"So do we lure them out, or we storm their home?" Dropkick asked.

"No. Let us get them outside. I can encourage them to come with us..."

"And if they don't?"

"Then we let their dwelling burn."

Back inside, Sour and Smallfoot were getting their early morning coffee, enjoying the sweet and hot taste that woke them up from their sleepy gaze.

"Ahh... just the thing," Smallfoot sighed.

"mmmhmm," Sour chimed in.

The two of them took another sip from their mugs, until their son called for their attention.

"Mama? Mommy?"

"Yes sweetie?" Sour asked.

"Um... someone's here," Betamax said, pointing to the outside window.

Sour tilted her head, confused. She walked over to the window and looked outside, seeing the red and blue sport cars outside. In addition, she saw three other black cars behind them, their bodies still shaking with the rumbling engines.

"Okay... this is weird. You didn't get any government calls, did you Smallfoot?" Sour asked.

"No, I don't think so," Smallfoot replied, looking out the window.

"Okay... Betamax, stay right here. Mommy and Mama are just going to go see what they want, okay?" Sour instructed.

"Okay," Betamax replied, sounding a bit scared.

Sour and Smallfoot approached the door, but they stopped. Smallfoot looked to her side, looking at a painting hanging on the wall. She removed the painting, which revealed a small compartment. Unlocking the lock, she opened up the compartment, and pulled out two small guns. But they weren't regular guns, the guns resembled more Cybetronian technology.

The two of them tucked them behind their backs, carefully hidden away. Once they were concealed, the two of them stepped outside as carefully as they could, their footsteps crunching the pebbles below them.

"Ahem," Smallfoot cleared her throat.

"May we help you?" Sour asked, raising a brow.

Shatter and Dropkick's engines still rumbled, but they eventually turned their attention.

"Miss Sour Sweet?" Shatter asked.

"Yessss?" Sour asked with some slight hesitation. "You're a Cybertronian, aren't you?"

"Well, I... Yes, yes I am. How did you guess?"

"Because no one can make their voice loud enough to speak from the engine of the car!" Sour snapped. She stopped, realizing she was yelling. "But uh... no, that's uh, heh, kind of what I assumed..."

"Now if I may ask... who are you two?" Smallfoot asked, with curiosity.

"My name's Shatter. And this is my partner, Dropkick--"

"--Very nice to meet ya." Dropkick commented.

"--But we're here because the Autobots sent us. They want you back, they said they needed you."

Smallfoot sneered. "Well forget it, cause we're not! I don't care what you have to offer, Sour and I have specifically said, we're retired from Autobot work, okay!"

"But surely--"

"No, I don't care! You can just tell Sunset Shimmer, that we..." Smallfoot's eyes lingered to one of the rally cars sitting behind them, and her voice droned off. She caught the purple Decepticon logo in the grille of the car, and immediatley shut up. "... aren't... interested..."

"But its a matter of urgency, don't you two even care?" Dropkick asked. "I mean seriously, what if one of your friends is hurt?"

Smallfoot nudged Sour's shoulder, getting her to look at the car she spotted. Sour quickly caught on and she looked to her partner, giving a nod.

"Maybe you're right, maybe someone is... could you just give me and my partner a moment of privacy?"

"Of course. Take all the time you need," Shatter replied.

The two of them turned around, huddling close.

"Decepticons, what are they doing here?" Sour whispered.

"I don't know. Think we should call for backup?"

"By the time we do, they'll be too late! Look, our safest bet is to get Betamax and get down into the cellar. We can't let them near. Lets just get Betamax, grab quick provisions, and get into the basement."

"Right."

The two of them turned around, putting on the most convincing looks they could muster.

"We'll come with you. But uh, we need to get something, I hope that's okay?"

"Of course, just don't go to the bathroom for the 11th time," Dropkick deadpanned.

"Right..."

Sour and Smallfoot moved back inside the house, slamming the door shut. And they could hear the door close with an audible click.

"That's it. The house is going down in flames!" Dropkick snarled.

"Then let us do a little light target practice!"

Shatter, Dropkick, and the rally cars behind them all backed up, making some distance from themselves and the house. Then once by one, all of them propped up small rockets and missiles, ready to launch. The energy charged up with a loud hum on each rocket, and all of them stood mounted, ready to fire.

"Ready..."

"Aim..."

"FIRE!" The two shouted.

All at once, the rockets launched together, aiming for the well constructed house. All at once, they collided right into the home, and exploded upon impact. A big explosion of flames erupted into the air, and the house was reduced to nothing but pieces. Wood planks, brick walls, concrete pieces, they all rained the sky as it was blown to bits.

Some of the bricks and wood fell and hit the hoods of the cars, bouncing off of some of them. But no one flinched, winced, or reacted to being so close to the explosion. And they waited as the explosion began to die down. Flames were still about, but it stopped hailing on them.

"... Tempest said to bring them back alive, didn't she?" Dropkick asked.

"... Yes." Shatter stopped.

Dropkick growled and sighed. "Wonderful..."

"So what do we do now?" One of the Vehicons asked.

"The only thing we can do is head back. Contact Shockblast, tell them its a mission failure," Shatter said, her engine revving.

"What if Tempest gets mad? She's gonna blame us for killing them," Dropkick asked as he and Shatter led the pack.

"There will be other opportunities," Shatter replied.

The pack of cars drove away, leaving the scene. Once they were far away, they kicked up their engines and revved up as fast as they could, speeding away to get to the distance they needed to Groundbridge away.

The house that was once there was no more. All that stood was just a few walls and pieces of what was left of the foundation. The only other piece of building that stayed was the barn, which thankfully suffered minimal damage. But the fires grew in the place of the house, and not a soul or sight had seen the damage. After all, who could when you lived far off in the country, all alone...

Next Chapter: Chapter 9: Sour Return Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 16 Minutes