Transformers
Robots in Disguise

104 - Loss of Innocence

by Mike Watson

	How he loathed Megatron.  Predacons in general, in fact, but Megatron especially.  But 
there was nothing he could do about it.  They outnumbered him six to one.  He could take 
them all out separately, but the chances of getting them alone.  That was small.  Then there 
were the Autobots.  If there was anything he hated more than a Predacon, it was an Autobot.
	It was interesting to think where this hatred sprung from.  He had never been on Cybertron, 
or if he had all past memory had been wiped clean.  There was no way to know if he'd been a 
protoform volunteer or an original protoform.  Either way he had been programmed a Decepticon, 
and Decepticons were all programmed to trust no one.  He knew of the alliance.  Bah, the 
alliance.  Predacon words.  There was no equal partnership.  The Predacons treated the 
Decepticons like slag.  They used them only to make their numbers greater, and fueled the 
fire with their mutual hatred for the Autobots.
	But Scourge had not experienced any of this.  All that he knew had been programmed 
into him by the stasis pod.  Whatever the chips and drives on the pod knew about Cybertron 
and Transformer history had been transferred to him.  And with that he was able to pass 
judgment on all around him.  The Autobots were a weak faction based on trust and good will.  
It held together for some time, but it always fell apart.  Decepticon and Predacon view 
was based on fear and destruction.  If you are not for us, then you are against us.
	But the Predacons, they had been more deceitful.  After the great reformatting they were 
the ones who decided to keep the organic bodies they had.  They threw away all that Megatron 
had fought for, and what he had died for.  Both Megatrons for that matter.  Megatron had 
taken Cybertron and purged it of organic life.  He made it pure again.  For the first time 
since before the birth of the Maximals and Predacons Cybertron was mechanical again.  Then the 
Maximals and Optimus Primal interfered, causing the reformatting.
	Cybertron was changed, ideals abandoned.  The Maximals were destroyed for it.  The 
Decepticons should have done the same, but they decided it best to team up with the Predacons 
in order to eliminate what was perceived as the greater threat, the Autobots.  A mistake indeed.  
If the Decepticons had allied with the Autobots they could have destroyed the Predacons and 
the last of the organic life on Cybertron, then easily turned on the Autobots and the great 
wars would have ended.  But they didn't, and the wars continue.  They continued on Cybertron 
in the proper time at this moment.
	And now Scourge, great Decepticon warrior, was forced to take orders from Megatron.  The 
unfit namesake.  The steaming pile of slag.  This was not the situation one would hope for.  
But Scourge could work with it.  There would be loopholes in the future.  That, there was 
little doubt of.

										* * * * * *

	It was a bit strange to be in the middle of civilization.  Driving in the streets of 
a city without anyone realizing he was a Transformer.  But this was necessary.  If there 
was anything necessary, if was knowing the landscape, and this city counted as a big part 
of the landscape.
	Prowl's communicator clicked on.  It was Optimus.  "How's the patrol going, Prowl?"
	Prowl spoke in a low tone, just in case someone might hear his voice from outside.  
"Going well, Optimus.  The streets match the maps you got from the internet."
	"That's good," Optimus paused for a second.  "Take a few more cycles to explore, then 
report back to base.  Make sure no one sees you though."
	"You got it, Optimus," Prowl replied.
	"Optimus, out," and the commlink closed.
	All the Autobots had to study the standard rules of the road for humans in order not 
to create any accidents.  Of course it would be interesting to see the outcome of an accident 
when it's discovered that no one was driving one of the cars involved.  No one wanted it to 
come to that, of course, but it will still be interesting.
	Prowl made a right turn which would lead to the main exit of the city.  The city structure 
of humans was quite interesting in fact.  The general core of the city was the largest and 
most populated, and as you moved away from it the population got more and more dispersed and 
the buildings smaller and smaller.
	Prowl turned the corner, and all at once his thoughts were interrupted by what he saw in 
front of him.  A large black oil tanker.  Scourge.  Or it could be a real tanker.  Prowl pulled 
over to the side of the road.  The tanker was parked at a gas station, but it was not refueling 
the station, nor was it manned.

										* * * * * *
										
	It was almost time to strike.  Conveniently, this gas station was located right next to a 
major supplier of various computer equipment.  Ostech Inc.  The company had been around for 
only ten or so years, but in the last three it had become a major superpower with the internet 
and technologies revolution in full swing.  Their products could be found in nearly every 
computer in the world, from processor chips to motherboards to sound cards, they did it all, 
and they did it well.
	It was also fortunate that much of the equipment they produced could be used to aid in the 
repair of the Vertigo, which was the reason Scourge had been sent here.  From truck mode he 
looked up at the sky, then towards the building.  No time like the present to alert the humans 
that their worst nightmare was back.
	"Scourge, terrorize!" he yelled.  How he hated the transformation command.  It reminded 
him that he was still a Predacon, despite their differences.  Since the great war and alliance, 
transformation had become an unnecessary trait, so it became obsolete.  The Decepticons never 
bothered to alter the activation codes, so thus the non-organic Decepticons were stuck with 
Predacon transformation codes in case they decided to take up transforming.  Or in this case 
if they were forced to by an unstable environment.  Lousy energon.
	In robot mode Scourge towered over everything.  With the great war came a new reason 
to revert back to the larger bodies Transformers had before Maximal and Predacon existed.  These 
new bodies were more efficient, however, than the ancient Decepticons and Autobots, though 
not quite as much as the smaller Predacon and Maximal bodies.  They served their purpose 
however.
	Of course the initial reaction to his presence was utter chaos.  In the street a few cars 
crashed into each other, and people walking on the sidewalk either stopped to stare, or ran 
away.  Five years was not a long time, even for humans, but it was long enough to forget.
	Scourge looked at the humans with disgust.  Wretched things.  No time for them now though.  
He quickly stepped over to the Octech building.  He came up to the third story.  If the 
schematics they had intercepted were correct, the storage area would be on the tenth floor.  
Scourge looked up at the building, then smashed his feet and hands into the windows and climbed 
the building like a ladder.

										* * * * * *
										
	"Prowl to Optimus, we've got problems," Prowl said through the commlink.
	"What is it?" Optimus said through the link.
	"Scourge is, um, making friends," Prowl said.  "In robot mode."
	"Prime," was all Optimus said.  The after a brief pause he said, "Do what you need to do 
to stop him, but don't injure any humans.  We need them on our side if we're going to defeat 
Megatron.  I'll send help as soon as possible.  Optimus out."
	"Great," Prowl muttered to himself.  Scourge was a lot bigger than he was, and had a lot 
more weaponry.  This might end up being bad.  "Prowl, maximize!"  Prowl quickly transformed 
to robot mode, much to the surprise of the people watching Scourge scale a building.
	Prowl quickly ran over to the building.  "Scourge!" he yelled.  Scourge turned his head.  
"I'm afraid you're going to have to stop that!"
	"Ah, Prowl, so nice to see you," Scourge said.  His tone was somewhat bitter.  "I'm sorry, 
but I won't be taking orders from you."  Scourge, still hanging onto the building, grabbed his 
gun and fired a few shots at Prowl who quickly dodged them.  One of the shots hit the canopy 
of the gas station, but did not cause anything more to happen.
	Prowl looked back at the gas station, now in ruins.  He couldn't let Scourge do that again, 
or the people watching, however few of them were left, would be toasted.  He was left with no 
other option.  He quickly attached his blasters to his back, switched a setting on them and 
turned them on.  He flew straight up to where Scourge, looking very surprised, was hanging 
from the building.
	"Ah, so you have a few tricks up your sleeves I see," Scourge said, swinging his gun and 
Prowl, though not firing it.
	"I'm taking you down, Decepticon," Prowl said in a low, dark tone.  He then very quickly 
disabled one of his blasters, which reset its settings, pulled it from his back, enabled it 
and fired a shot at point blank range into Scourge's chest.  The blast knocked Prowl into a 
spin and he finally crashed near the gas station.
	Scourge, on the other hand, was blown into the building , but the weight of the damaged 
floors could not hold him and he slid down, causing parts of the floors to pancake down.  When 
he finally hit the ground, which was ten floors below him at the impact, he sparked a few times, 
but otherwise did not move.
	His internal computers then spoke up, "Warning, severe damage to spark chamber, stasis lock 
will commence in five cycles."
	Scourge shook his head to get rid of the rock and dust covering it and muttered, "Make it 
ten."  His computer replied simply with "Acknowledged."
	Prowl, though not as injured as Scourge, had taken a harder fall and was between being 
knocked out and being conscious.  He was facing Scourge, however, and he saw him slowly 
get up.  Then blackness.  Now Scourge was slowly limping towards him.  Blackness again.  Now 
he was closer, and his sword was drawn.  Blackness.  Now he was right in front of him.  Prowl 
tried to get up, but his arms gave out, and he fell face first into the pavement.
	As Scourge stood over Prowl, sword raised above his head, ready to strike the final, fatal 
blow, he got a rush.  The rush a Decepticon gets when he knows he's about to kill a great 
adversary.  He raised his sword as high as his arms would allow, the blade pointing straight 
down and aimed at Prowl's head.
	"See you in the Pit, Autobot," Scourge said with much hate in his voice.
	Just as he was about to strike however, his hands were hit by weapon fire which made him drop 
the sword.  He stumbled back and who he saw, standing a few yards away, weapon drawn, was 
Optimus.
	"This ends now, Scourge," Optimus said.
	Scourge looked helplessly at Optimus, then down at Prowl, who had come to and knelt.  As 
if warning him his internal computer said, "Stasis lock will commence in seven cycles."
	"Give it up, Scourge, there's nothing you can do," Optimus said, still aiming at Scourge.
	Scourge looked at Optimus again, then at Prowl, then over at the rubble where the gas 
station was.  Suddenly it came to him.  Without a word he swiftly drew his gun again and fired 
a shot at the gas station.  Optimus looked in horror, eyes widened.  The huge explosion knocked 
all three very far from the blast, though none were injured a large amount.  A wall of fire and 
smoke now separated Optimus and Prowl from Scourge.
	Scourge took this opportunity and transformed to vehicle mode and sped away as fast as he 
could.  Prowl drew his weapon and was about to fire, but Optimus put his hand out to stop him.  
He motioned towards the people, all watching, some in awe, some with horror.
	"Transform," was all Optimus said.  In fire truck mode deployed his water jets and sprayed 
the fire until it was out.  Prowl then transformed and the two left the scene.  A single person 
picked up a rock and threw it at Prowl, making a crack in his rear window.

										* * * * * *
										
	Back at the Autobot base, Prowl was put into the CR chamber.  Optimus sat down in one of the 
chairs.  Rail Spike walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
	"We saw what happened," he said quietly.  Optimus looked up at Rail Spike.  "It's on the 
news right now."
	Optimus switched on their television feed.  Sideburn had set up a satellite dish a few 
days earlier.  The newscaster spoke.  "-the return of the Transformers.  In this exclusive 
footage taken by a local who lived across the street from where the incident occurred, we see 
that at least three of the famed Transformers have either returned from Cybertron or were left 
behind, staying hidden all this time.  The battle between the three caused over two million 
dollars in property damage, along with three deaths and fifteen others injured.  Needless to 
say folks, things haven't changed.  We'll have more on this story as it develops."
	Optimus switched off the feed.  "We failed, Rail Spike.  We got the humans involved 
again.  And only five years after our ancestors left them alone.  This shouldn't have happened."
	"Prime, you had no way of knowing this was all going to happen," Rail Spike said.  "Even 
if you hadn't interfered with Scourge there still would have been damage and loss of life, maybe 
even more."
	"Maybe so, but we shouldn't even be here.  This isn't how history has gone.  We're messing 
up everything that was and maybe everything that will be," Optimus said.  "We shouldn't be 
here."
	"Well, until we can take care of Megatron and his minions," Rail Spike said.  "There's no 
way we're leaving this place.  The people may not know it, but we're on their side, and we're 
the only ones who can stop Megatron."
	Optimus looked back up at Rail Spike.  "I know, I know you're right."  He paused.  "But 
I wish we could do it without involving anyone else.  This isn't their war."
	"We'll find a way, Prime," Rail Spike said, though he didn't even completely believe it.
	"I hope so," Optimus said.  "We need to put a stop to this, and quickly."  He flipped the 
feed back on.
	The the newscaster's voice rang through the room.  "So, who are these new Transformers?  
Did they return to Earth to carry out some unfinished business, or were they merely left behind 
by their comrades, hidden from us the whole time, right under our noses?  Right now, we don't 
know, but hopefully one day we can get answers from these robots in disguise."

THE END