Transformers
Robots in Disguise

102 - The Pods

by Mike Watson

	This couldn't be true.  There was no way.  To think that they'd gone back in time, and 
to Earth, it made ones head hurt.  Well, it probably only made his head hurt.  The others 
probably didn't grasp this.  The magnitude of it all.  It was amazing.  They had been 
transported to a planet rich in energon and at a time period after the ancient Autobots and 
ancient Decepticons had left the planet to return to Cybertron.  There they would become the 
Maximals and Predacons, and the rest was history.  Well, actually it was the future, but 
to Megatron it was history.
	Megatron the great.  Megatron the conqueror.  He had chosen this name for himself after 
hearing of the great power and ferocity of the original two Megatrons.  The first one had ruled 
with an iron fist.  He was ruthless and powerful, not letting anything get in his way.  He 
ultimately failed.
	Then the second Megatron.  An evil genius.  From the very beginning he had planned to 
carry out the original Megatron's schemes, which waited even after the great Decepticon's 
death.  Even after he was converted into Galvatron by Unicron and all memory of this agenda 
was lost.
	Yes, the second Megatron had been powerful.  He nearly won the Beast Wars, and in a 
moment of stupidity by Optimus Primal he was able to overtake Cybertron.  However, his insane 
ambitions and obsession with purging himself of all organics was the end of him.  Him and 
Optimus Primal.
	Curse that name.  Optimus Prime.  Optimus Primal.  Now Optimus Prime again.  However, this 
Optimus did not have the following or leadership of the first Prime, or the intelligence 
of  Primal.  The following was key though.  Great armies of Autobots defeated Megatron and the 
Decepticons.  But this was different.  An isolated few against an isolated few.
	That was where his plans came in.  The Vertigo had been stocked with a good deal of 
stasis pods, complete with protoforms.  Of course the large majority of the ship was non-functional, 
and no doubt many of their sparks extinguished, but what was needed was not a large amount.  
To take down four Autobots would not be a problem.
	Megatron's thoughts were interrupted by the door to his quarters opening.
	"Megatron, we've found the stasis pods," Slapper said, quickly adding "Sir!" to the end.
	Megatron slowly spun around in his chair to look at Slapper.  Sniveling fool.  The only 
reason he followed the Predacons was to avoid being destroyed by them.  However, using fear 
as a way to control troops was a tried and true method.
	"Excellent.  Are they functional?" Megatron asked.
	"Yes, sir.  Well, some of them.  A few had their sparks extinguished," Slapper said carefully.
	That was hard to believe.  The crash had wiped out nearly all the systems in the ship, but 
only a few sparks had been extinguished?  "How many is a few?"  Megatron asked.
	"Um," Slapper paused.  "Over seventy-five percent of them," he said, cringing.
	Megatron looked at Slapper, amused and enraged at the same time.  "Well then, that would be 
more than a few," he said in a surprisingly calm tone.
	Slapper relaxed his face and looked up at Megatron who was was nearly three times his height.  
"Y-yes, it is, s-sir," he stuttered.
	Megatron became enraged.  "You worthless pile of slag!  I want them all on-line and I want 
them all to be Predacons!"
	Slapper cringed again, knowing what he had to say next would not be enjoyed in the least by 
Megatron.  "There's another problem."  Megatron just looked at him.  After a second Slapper 
continued.  "Um, the ship, when it entered the atmosphere, jettisoned the majority of the working 
stasis pods.  They're currently in orbit around the Earth."
	Megatron stared at Slapper with a look that could have melted a hole in his skull.  "How 
many where put into orbit?"
	"W-we're not sure, but we only have th-three working pods with sparks on the ship, s-sir."  
Slapper said, waiting to get blown up.
	"Three.  Hmmm," Megatron pondered.  "Actually, that will probably be enough," he said in a 
calm tone.  "I want our new Predacons on-line as quickly as possible!" he commanded.
	Slapper's insides felt like they had tied themselves into knots and then been melted down.  
"There's another problem with that."
	This was all too much for Megatron.  He glared at Slapper, grabbed him by the neck and
slammed him against the wall.  Then, face to face, very slowly he said, "What is the problem?"
	Slapper talked quickly in hopes that Megatron would drop him.  "They were programmed to 
be Decepticons, not Predacons."  Megatron dropped him.  Slapper rubbed his throat, then looked 
back up at Megatron.  "And Dark Scream says that they've been security checked for a Predacon 
shell program.  Any attempt to write one into them will cause the pod to extinguish the spark."
	"Accursed Decepticons!" Megatron yelled, slamming his fist into the wall, leaving a rather 
large dent.  He then thought for a second, looking at the dent he left.  "Fine, I suppose 
Decepticons will have to do.  Bring the stasis pods to me."

										* * * * * *
										
	"Man, I still don't know why we haven't abandoned this place.  Megatron knows every inch 
of it.  We've got to be insane to stay here!" X-Brawn objected.  He and Sideburn were speeding 
through the hallways of the Vertigo in vehicle mode.
	"Yeah, but you heard the signal we picked up.  Megatron's got three stasis pods!"  Sideburn 
said.  "And we've got to get them on our side."
	"But they said they had security checks to keep them from being Predacons," X-Brawn said.
	"Yeah, Preds, not Autobots," Sideburn said.  "I'm willing to bet the Decepts who put those 
checks into the pods didn't make it check for Autobot shell programs.  The alliance hates 
each other more than who its supposed to be fighting against."
	"Well, what if you're wrong?  Then the sparks go out?"  X-Brawn noted.
	"They were doomed anyway.  Better dead than Pred," Sideburn said, almost coldly.
	"Or Decepticon," X-Brawn added.  "Here we are!"  They had arrived at the stasis pod 
storage chamber.  "Anyone inside?"
	"I'm not picking up anything," Sideburn said.  "Maximize!"  He quickly drew his gun and 
ran over to the door.  He peeked his head through the window in the door.  It was empty inside 
except for a few opened stasis pods and three sitting in the center of the room.  All three 
were active.  "I got 'em!"  Sideburn said, turning towards X-Brawn.  "I'm going in."
	"Maximize!" X-Brawn drew his weapon.  "I'll cover you."
	Sideburn slowly opened the door, which normally would have been automatic if it weren't 
for the ship's power being out.  He looked in, and all around the room.  Nothing.  He turned 
around and said to X-Brawn, "I'm going in to shell them, you stay out here and warn me if 
anything bad goes down, okay?"
	X-Brawn smiled and nodded, and walked out the door, leaving Sideburn alone.  Sideburn 
walked over to the first stasis pod and flipped open the front panel.  It was a procedure he'd 
read about many times, a procedure he'd even studied before.  Doing it though, well that was a 
whole different thing.
	In fact this was something seldom done by Autobots.  Very rarely was a Predacon or 
Decepticon protoform shelled to become an Autobot.  The Preds and Decepts, on the other hand, 
wouldn't hesitate a second to shell an Autobot protoform.
	Wait, something was wrong.  Not enough power flow?  How long had these things been activated?  
System check...only a few mega-cycles.  That's weird.  Damaged in the crash probably.  Come to 
think of it, it was amazing they were even still functional.  He glanced up at the other 
stasis pods in the room.  All of them were smashed or damaged in some other way.  The sparks 
extinguished.  Very sad really, even for Decepticons and Predacons.
	"Well, looks like I need to daisy chain you guys together for some extra power," Sideburn 
muttered to himself.  It was actually a standard procedure.  He'd done it once before with two 
Autobot stasis pods, but never with three.  He opened another panel at the top of each pod, which 
revealed a cable and an outlet.  He plugged them into one another, in a chain, and the final 
pod be plugged into a power outlet on himself.
	"Computer, relocate all available power from weapons to main energy storage," he instructed 
his internal computer.  The computer responded with a simple "Acknowledged."  Easy as pie.

										* * * * * *
										
	X-Brawn looked nervously down both sides of the hallway, then back into the room Sideburn 
was in.  He was wiring the stasis pods together or something.  X-Brawn never really understood 
these technological things.  He was more a fighter than anything else.  Not that he really 
enjoyed fighting, or even confrontation, it was just what he was best at.
	He was actually quite nervous about fighting.  He knew he could handle himself, but he 
never really liked the idea of going into something with the possibility that he might not 
come out of it.  It just seemed a bit odd.
	Then there was a sound.  Footsteps.  He drew his weapon and aimed it at where the sound 
was coming from.  Then they stopped.  That was weird.  Now a new sound replaced it.  It sounded 
like some sort of vehicle.  Then it appeared.  It was an odd shaped car with Slapper and Gas 
Skunk riding on top of it!  X-Brawn quickly fired a few shots, connecting with Slapper, but 
the other two shots missed.  When it was about twenty yards from him, the strange vehicle 
stopped and transformed.  Into Megatron!
	"Ahh, X-Brawn.  Good to see you," Megatron quipped.
	"Eat it, Megatron," X-Brawn said.  He then fired a few shots at Megatron, one of which hit 
him square in the face.
	Megatron stumbled backwards in amazement, which quickly turned to anger.  "You'll pay for 
that, Autobot!"  He said.  He then drew his staff and charged X-Brawn, who stood his ground.
	"Transform!" X-Brawn yelled.  He then accelerated, full speed, towards the charging Megatron.  
Megatron saw this, and, just as he was about to hit X-Brawn, he jumped over him and stabbed 
downward his his staff, which punctured X-Brawn's roof.  X-Brawn then went into a spin out and 
he crashed into the wall.
	"Ahh, foolish Autobot," Megatron said.  "Gas Skunk, come with me!"  They both walked over 
to the door.

										* * * * * *
										
	Sideburn was not stupid.  He knew what was happening outside.  He knew Megatron would 
eventually overpower X-Brawn.  He just hoped X-Brawn could hold him off long enough so the 
stasis pods could finish their start up procedures.  They were just about to scan for alternative 
forms.  At that point the door flung open, with Megatron and Gas Skunk standing in the doorway.  
Sideburn looked back at them quickly and then at the pods which he had already entered the 
shell program into.
	Megatron, without a word, walked over to Sideburn, who was essentially helpless, picked 
him up and tossed him across the room, disconnecting the power cable from his leg.  He then 
looked down at the pods, flipped open a panel and entered in a few things.  The pod replied to 
his request, "Old programming overridden, new shell in place.  Scanning commencing."
	"Blast!  Blast you!!" Megatron yelled at Sideburn, who was sitting against the wall after 
being literally thrown against it.  "Ah well, if they are not for us," Megatron said, stopping 
to charge up his staff weapon.  "They are against us," he said darkly.
	Sideburn looked on with wide eyes, but suddenly the protoforms came on-line with a bright 
flash of light.  Megatron, the closest one to the pods, was knocked backwards into Gas Skunk.  
The covers on all three pods opened and a bright light emitted from them.  That was the 
protoform coming on-line and adapting itself to its new form.
	Megatron regained his bearings and sat up, looking angrily at the pods.  Three forms rose 
from the pods.  Each one was tall and lanky, looking similar to each other, but each with their 
own distinct features.
	"Well, well, what have we here?" the tallest one asked, drawing his weapon.
	"It appears the time has come for a tactical retreat," Megatron muttered to himself.
"Jet mode!" he yelled, transforming into his jet and scooping Gas Skunk onto his back at the 
same time, he then quickly blasted a hole in the ceiling, flew through it and then down the 
hallway of the floor above them.
	"Is this a regular thing?" one of the new Autobots asked, looking at the hole.
	"It looks like it's going to be," Sideburn said.  "Oh, I'm Sideburn, by the way."  He 
extended his hand to the new Autobot who had spoken before.
	"I'm Rail Spike," he said, shaking Sideburn's hand.
	The tallest one spoke up next.  "I'm Midnight Express."
	"My name's Rapid Run," the final one said.
	Sideburn grinned and glanced over at X-Brawn, still crashed in the hallway.  "That pile of 
junk over there is X-Brawn.  Now if you fella's will follow me, I'll introduce you to the 
big bot."

										* * * * * *

	"Rail Spike, Rapid Run and Midnight Express," Optimus said.  "Welcome to the Autobots."
	"Or what's left of us," Sideburn added.  Optimus shot Sideburn a look.
	The seven of them were outside of the ship with a few pieces of equipment.  A CR chamber, 
some computer equipment and various other things.  X-Brawn was still in vehicle mode with a 
hole in his roof, the rest were all in robot mode, helping to move the various stolen articles.
	"So if we outnumber those stinkin' Preds, then why're we moving out?" Rapid Run asked.
	"Well," Optimus said, looking up at the Vertigo, which was visibly damaged.  "We can't 
risk staying in that ship.  It may be largely off-line, but it's still a Predacon ship, so we 
won't be at any advantage while we're in it with Megatron.  We need to think ahead.  We need 
our own base, free of Predacon and Decepticon influence."
	"Except for the stuff we stole from them," Prowl noted.
	"We may outnumber them at the moment, but no doubt Megatron will add to his following, so 
we need to be prepared as possible.  The ancient Autobots have recently left Earth only five 
years ago, so hopefully we gain some help from the inhabitants."
	"Actually, I wouldn't be overly defendant on that, Prime," X-Brawn finally spoke up.  "After 
the Autobots and what was left of the Decepticons left, a lot of the people on Earth were happy.  
The war between the two had caused a lot of destruction on the planet.  A lot of people were 
hostile towards Transformers.  They may have worn out our welcome for us."
	"Prime," was all Optimus could say.  "Well, first thing's first, we need to find a suitable 
base.  We can figure everything else out from there.  Let's transform and roll out!"

THE END