I am the Dark. The Void is not here. We hunt the Sun. But today I choose here. They will not fix you. They have no time. I remain here to watch you fall to the unlife. I want to know about unlife. You will teach me.

"Me, Dinobot Snarl, know you. You the Virus. I no speak to you.

You are the smart one, are you not? You are afraid.

Me fear nothing. me... Dinobot.

We are not interested in you. We will not claim you into the dark.

I give nothing.

Pause.

Snarl suppressed a shiver. Dinobots do not shiver. Dinobots do not fear.

But you doubt. You question your validity. Is your life... good?

Snarl had a family. That was the good. He loved to hunt and fight with his brothers. That was also the good. But Snarl lacked that something special and unique, or so he thought. Slag was the fighter. Grimlock was the leader. Swoop, Snarl’s ‘birthday brother’ could fly like the Earth birds. Sludge was strong but the nice one. Him, Snarl was just Snarl.

Yes. Ordinary. And you are damaged. What damaged you?

Two hims, the Dinobot recalled. Two Decepticons in a shell and then two more and another Decepticon and they all came with axes and bright swords and one had acid. It hurt. But him, Snarl still fought and they died and Snarl did not. Not yet.

But soon. Soon there will be four Dinobots and then there will be three because Grimlock is dying too.

Him, Grimlock will never die.

What about you, Dinobot Snarl?

He thinks about it and thinks about it more but he did not know.

******

Those few weeks following the battle on Cratis left the Dinobots emotionally confused. Repugnus took Grimlock’s place as their leader. And while the Monsterbot was funny and patient with his charges, the Dinobots still wavered on the line of despondency. It wasn’t Grimlock alone who lay on the flat in medbay, but Snarl, too. The three remaining Dinobots dealt with their grief each in his own way. Slag acted out and picked fights. Sludge stumbled around, clumsier than usual and fell into long periods of inactivity. Swoop withdrew and kept vigil either at Grimlock’s stasis chamber or beside his ‘birthday brother’, Snarl.

Slag did not like Swoop sitting by Grimlock and Snarl all the time. The Triceratops thought it stupid. "Why you always sit like Autobot femme at a desk?" he demanded of his little brother.

Swoop shrugged. "Not want to leave him, Grimlock or him, Snarl. Me want them to wake up and fight and play and play-fight."

"They no play-fight with us," Slag snapped. "Never again anymore."

Swoop stood to his brother’s challenge. "Me, Swoop, not agree! Him, Grimlock strong and come back to us. Him, Snarl, come back, too. Dinobots never die!"

"You think me liar?" Slag shouted. "You stupid! You, Swoop, go ask doctor. They tell you what me, Slag say."

Swoop took up the challenge and left his post by Snarl’s bedside. Slag snorted after. Swoop did not turn to face his brother. He flipped Slag off as he left the room. Enraged by the insult, Slag charged after and slammed into the door. Swoop locked the door after him and Slag pounded at it until he transformed and rammed through it. By then his irritating little brother vanished from sight.

*****

By the time Swoop found Repugnus, the Monsterbot busied himself with a welding project. He shut off the torch, listened to Swoop’s story then grunted. "Don’t make me teach you pups a lesson on etiquette, Li’l Bird."

Swoop tilted his head in confusion. "Me, Swoop not know eddi-cate. Eddi-cate bad?"

"No," Repugnus answered evenly. "Jus’ complicating." the Monsterbot lifted his torch to resume his work when he caught the downcast expression on Swoop’s face. Repugnus lolled his head. He’d never admit to another spark how sad and adorable the pterodactyl looked just then. It was criminal. He set the torch down, leaned against the work table, one hand on his hip plate, the other on the table, fingers drumming. "Alright. So, Fido off and tells you t’ quit whining and pouting and be a super-dino in spite a’ losin’ it, yeah?" Swoop dropped his head and mutely nodded. "Mm. Situation sucks bad juice. I ain’t about t’ let ‘em start ‘nuther fight with nobody, Li’l Bird. He’s not happy. Slag gits all mad like you get drippy. You got that? It ain’t you."

"Me, Swoop not know what to do. I sits and waits for him, Grimlock, to wake up. Grimlock does not wake. I sits for him, Snarl. But Snarl still sleeps."

Repugnus stood straight and folded his arms. "Gimme a minute. Lemme think ‘bout it." Swoop turned about face and took four steps before the Monsterbot spoke again: "Where ‘r you off to?"

"You say ‘think’. Me, Swoop know it take time to think."

Repugnus wiggled his finger and the Dinobot returned to his place. "I said gimme a minute, Swoop. I don’t need a century t’ use m’ noggin." the pterodactyl nodded and waited. The Monsterbot Dino-babysitter rifled through his head until he connected one idea to another. "Okay," he said, "here’s what we’re gonna do. Yer gonna go hang with Sludge n’ keep him outta trouble. Make sure he eats. I’m gonna go talk to a higher power about the situation."

Swoop understood the ‘hanging’ with Sludge. But ‘higher power’ did not quite register. "You speak to Primus about him Snarl and him, Grimlock?"

"Primus?" Repugnus echoed. "Nah. We’re not on speakin’ terms, Li’l Bird. But donchya worry ‘bout it. I’ll make sure somebody does somethin’. Got that?" Repugnus realized that his promise wasn’t enough to put a smile on Swoop’s sad face. It was a painful fact that the Dinobots have turned his heartless, rock-solid spark into mush. Repugnus never thought he’d go soft on anything.

This was entirely Optimus Prime’s fault.

Repugnus shook his head. "Come here." he grabbed Swoop’s head under an arm and gave the Dinobot a noogie. After all, hugs were for femmes and Humans. The Dinobots understood ‘noogie’. It was awesomely gruff enough that it brought out the smile Repugnus looked for without the panziness of a hug. "Scram," he said with a nod toward the door. "Go find Sludge and eat something yummy."

******

Blue signed an inventory digipad and signed a second pad for a medical assistant who came and left the moment Repugnus caught up with her. They traveled down the Horizon’s fourth level, far-left bow corridor, passing one window after another. She scrolled through the pad as they approached the closest elevator.

"Not so sure I have the time to look into it, Repugnus." she answered. I have a hundred other Autobots to care for."

They almost passed into the elevator when Repugnus blocked her path. The femme stabbed him with her optics. "Lookit," the Monsterbot said with flat tones. "I got three Dinobots on the verge of doing whatever a Dinobot does when it’s game fer cuttin’ loose and takin’ off. I ain’t askin’ for a miracle. I’m asking fer someone to give ‘em somethin’ more than the same- smelt-differ’nt-day thing. Ever’ one treats the Dinobots like they’re bricks. Truth is, they’re little upstairs. They don’t got ‘nuff of the stuff in their noggin’ t’ git that they’re a special unit. An’ that’s cuz ever’ one else shoves ‘em in a corner unless they gotta push or pull a wagon. You get that? I ain’t no doctor an’ I’m lookin’ fer an advocate."

Blue dropped her optics with a sigh. She thoughtfully nodded. Repugnus was right about the Dinobots; they always seemed last on everyone’s list. Losing Grimlock was a blow to the front line troops. It also damaged moral. The femme met the Monsterbot’s optics, two heads higher than herself. "Tell them I will visit Snarl later this afternoon. I’ll come in on my break and make a report."

He nodded in turn and gave her a rueful smile. "It’s a good start. We’ll be waitin’ for ya."

******

Swoop and Sludge waited off to the side of the room while Blue made a rudimentary scan over their brother. Snarl’s life signs, though strong enough, watered away as he waited for repairs. Blue made several notes in her datatablet then stood and stared, her face blank with thought.

Repugnus waited with measured patience. He glanced at two of his charges and hoped Slag wasn’t looking and finding trouble. No doubt the Triceratops prowled across the science station, hunting for stress relief. "Come on, Doc," he goaded. "You gotta have more ticking off upstairs than the half-bored look in yer peepers."

"I’m not bored," Blue defended quietly. "I’m just trying to figure out what to do. Snarl’s solar panels are damaged, most of them beyond repair."

Repugnus shrugged. "Make more."

"Can’t."

"What?"

Blue cast a there-and-back glance at the two present Dinobots and wished Repugnus had not brought them along. "I can’t make more. I can’t replicate them because the chrono-electrical flow differential is incomparable to the initial Earth technology in which the Dinbots originated."

Repugnus turned to Sludge and Swoop. "Did you get that? Did you write that down? Do you need her to translate it?" he swung back to the femme. "How about you use smaller words for the pups here?"

Blue stretched her neck with impatience. "It means that the technology that was used to build Snarl cannot be used here. Earth is a different place with different electro-magnetic frequencies."

Swoop tilted his head to the right while Sludge simply stared. Swoop’s optics narrowed with thought. "You not fix Snarl? You say Snarl not be fixed? Maybe... maybe give Snarl new shell?"

Repugnus caught onto the idea. "Yeah, Doc. How about that? Brainstorm from a Dinobot. Do you think you could build a new body for Snarl here?"

She huffed with disbelief. "You are talking about hundreds of hours of work! The medbay is full-"

Repugnus wasn’t interested in her excuses. He folded his arms. "There’s a whole other level here at the science station. And if you need heavy lifters, you got ‘em."

Blue stared at the prone Dinobot and silently weighed her options. She fingered the long spikes lining Snarl’s upper arms and an idea sprouted to life. "Well... I could recycle what he has into another form. But it means Snarl may not be Snarl anymore." she dragged her optics to Snarl’s brothers. "He will be a different Dinobot."

"Me, Swoop not care Snarl all different. Me, Swoop only care that brother be okay."

"Me, Sludge not care, too."

"Alright, then," Blue conceded. "You have to give me a few days to draw up designs and find someone to help out. Okay?" Blue dropped her optics from Swoop and Sludge to Snarl because she could not handle their hopeful faces. It was not likely anyone was willing to do anything for the Dinobots; not when there were others who had a greater chance of survival.

She doubted Repugnus was going to forgive her for lying to his charges.

******

Five days turned into seven and seven days lagged into nine. Day ten became the breaking point. Right from recharge, Slag hunted Repugnus down and found the Monsterbot fine tuning a laser rifle. Slag waited thirty seconds for Repugnus to acknowledge him and when his ‘nanny’ did not, the Dinobot slammed a fist on the closest table.

"Me, Slag sick of waiting! When they fix Snarl? When they fix him, Grimlock?"

"I don’t know," Repugnus answered patiently. "How about you and me go find out?"

"No!" Slag thundered. "Me not want to go find out. Me want to fix Snarl NOW!"

"Oh!" the Monsterbot put down his tools and shut everything off. "So you have a new body for your brother, do you? Hmm?"

"Me not care whose body him, Snarl in."

Repugnus half laughed. "Is that so? Well, we’ll just crack open that thick cranial chamber of yours and pour Snarl into it. Won’t that be cozy?"

Slag did not take that well. With a roar he charged across the room, flaming sword in hand. With a deft swipe, Repugnus’s work table fell to pieces. Everything thereon broke, scattered and tumbled across the room. Slag’s sword-arm swept upward and would have nicked the Monsterbot except that Repugnus ducked that much faster. He tripped Slag off balance and kicked the sword away. Repugnus transformed to monster mode and laid a pincer under Slag’s chin.

"Alright, Fido. I get that yer steamed and yer lookin’ fer some out-gassin’. Fine. Ya’ve come to the right person. But breakin’ stuff tends t’ put you on my not-so-happy list. Got that?"

"Her lie!" Slag rolled away and jumped to his feet. His optics flashed with the brilliance of rage. His right hand squeezed into a fearful fist. "Bitch made promise and her LIED! Her said she do and she did not!"

Repugnus hesitated, pincers at the ready for another assault. "Who told you that? Who said Blue lied? Hm?"

"Me ask him, Perceptor. Him, Perceptor said nobody work on Snarl. Nobody care about Snarl or Grimlock. Nobody care about Dinobots!"

Repugnus kept his voice level. "That is not true-"

"IS TOO!" Slag transformed and rammed a path of destruction wrought of frustration and betrayal. He forked his great horns at Repugnus who easily avoided impalement. Slag pounded his tail on the metal flooring, leaving great dents and a single gash, exposing long thick lines of fiberoptic.

Repugnus crouched first then tackled the Dinobot under the chin where Slag’s plated armor did not cover. The Dinobot wiggled and wormed and deeply sliced Repugnus’ right thigh with his claws. Ignoring the pain, the Monsterbot successfully pushed Slag onto his back then headlocked the Triceratops. Slag squirmed and roared in a tantrum.

"Bad doggie," Repugnus grunted.

Slag’s tail spanked the floor and gave him enough leverage to break free. He rolled over, Repugnus rolled backward and leapt to his feet, prepared for another assault.

"Round two." the Monsterbot declared. He dodged several shots from the Dinobot’s double-barreled electro blaster. He scaled the wall with his huge red pincers then crossed the ceiling in the same manner. Slag roared in frustration and tried to shoot him off.

"Me, Slag, tired of target practice!" he said.

"Okay. If you say so." Repugnus let go and dropped down, down and crashed on the Dinobot. "Oops."

Slag struggled under his sitter’s weight, growling and swearing. With a great heave, the Dinobot threw the Monsterbot off his shoulders. Repugnus leapt right back and Slag delivered a jarring right-cross. The Monsterbot staggered back, tripped over his large feet and tumbled into a collection of crates and a metal shelf. Several bottles of liquid slipped off the shelf and broke like eggs on Repugnus’ large bug-like head.

"Hm. Not bad, Fido. Lacks finesse and grace. But it gets the job done."

Slag approached the Monsterbot. His shadow loomed overhead. His optics glared with irritation. "You, ‘pugness talk too much."

"You don’t talk at all."

"Me, Slag, need no words."

Repugnus made no move to extract himself from the trashed crates and broken shelf. "I got that. All talk and no fight makes a dull Fido." He lifted his right-hand pincer then shrugged his great shoulders. "Are we done here or should we go find out what’s the hold-up over Snarl and Grims?"

Slag swung his huge body right to left and transformed into his Dinobot form. He roared and thunked his tail. "You, ‘Pugnus, not Dinobot! Dinobot matters not matter to you!"

"Yeah, I get that, too, Fido. Yer all tight-knit, right? Dino-for-Dino."

Slag paused and confusion dimmed his glaring optics. "What you mean?"

"I mean you guys ‘r tight. Dinobots all stick together, right? Take care of each other, protect each other? Right? ‘Cept right now, there’s only three a’ you. Three Dinobots and yer pissed cuz yer missin’ yer family. That’s all."

"Umm... family?"

"Yeah. ‘S right. Family." Repugnus stayed put while the dingy Dino struggled to process the idealism.

Three minutes into his thoughts, Slag opened his mouth: "Not family. No family. Me, Slag not like nothing. Me, Slag and him, Grimlock always fight-"

The Monsterbot grunted. "All families fight, Slag. So, yer tellin’ me that if you had the chance, you’d not woulda kicked that Decepticon’s aft across the planet for giving Grimlock that aft-whoopin’? Huh?"

Slag gave the ugliest face Repugnus ever saw on a Dinobot. "Me, Slag want to KILL SMELTING DECEPTICON! Nobody kick Grimlock but ME!"

Repugnus jumped to his feet and struck the Dinobot across the face. Slag dropped like a rock then pushed himself up on his arms. The look of shock practically glowed from the Dinobot.

"What that for?! Me, Slag not attack!"

"For being an idiot," Repugnus answered. "Ya lie to yerself, Fido." the Monsterbot rudely stepped over Slag’s wide form and aimed for the battered door. But Slag’s temper rallied and he caught the Monsterbot by the feet. Repugnus went down with a yelp and threw an arm over his face when Slag punched him from every angle.

"YOU STUPID! ME, SLAG NOT LIKE YOU! ME, SLAG NOT LIKE ANYBODY! ME, SLAG SAY ME HOPE YOU DIE! EVERYBODY HATE DINOBOTS. EVERYBODY SAY GO HERE AND DO THIS AND THEY NOT CARE ABOUT DINOBOTS!"

Repugnus kicked the Dinobot off, rolled on top, pinned his arms and butt his head against Slag’s hard noggin. The Triceratops growled and squirmed and Repugnus cracked their heads together three more times. It left the Monsterbot dizzy, but Slag finally got the message.

He started to cry.

It wasn’t the result Repugnus aimed for. He released the Dinobot and refused to feel guilty. He sat and waited, expecting another round of fists, fury and firearms. Instead, the grieving Dinobot crawled toward Repugnus and collapsed into the Monsterbot’s arms.

Slag sniffled and silently wept. "Me no wanna lose Grimlock. Not want to see Snarl die. Nobody more die." he wrapped his arms around the Monsterbot and nuzzled his head into Repugnus’ thorax.

Awkward.

But Repugnus decided to be flexible and went with it. He laid a hand on the oversized puppy’s head and nodded. "Ever’body’s scared, Fido. An’ nobody’s gone an’ left ya by yerself. Ya ain’t by yerself. You an’ me and yer bros are gonna make sure them doctors do it right. But I gotta tell ya, Fido, hittin’ people don’t make it better. Ya get me?"

The Dinobot meekly nodded. "Slag be good. Slag not fight... for now."

"Eh. Good ‘nuff for me."

*********

The project lacked volunteers. Three Humans, Blue herself and a couple of Paratrons with nothing but time on their hand units came to help. Repugnus’ innards flamed. He wanted to prove Slag wrong, that people did care about the Dinobots. The Monsterbot, a social outcast himself, decided to confront First Aid about Snarl’s ordeal.

"I am sorry... erm... Rebugnus-"

"Repugnus. But you can call me ‘Pugnus if that’s to yer likin’."

"Right. Well, as you can see, my tank is full. I have wounded and dying and dying in stasis-and they are in stasis for a reason."

"Snarl ain’t in stasis," Repugnus argued, "I git that ya can’t help Grims. But Snarl’ll end up on yer critical list if nothin’ gets done.

A familiar, if annoying voice, called from behind the Monsterbot: "why don’t you simply abduct the good doctor and drag him kicking and screaming to Level two, Repugnus?" Grotesque joined the duo and grinned from Autobot doctor to his fellow Monster.

"Don’t tempt me." Repugnus answered. "Ya know I’d gone and done worse."

Grotesque laughed. "How about we ask Quasar? She’s pretty much ‘pro-dino’." The Monsterbot gleamed an extra-wide grin at First Aid who glared hotly.

"I have nothing against the Dinobots," the medic defended.

"That’s alright, Doc," Repugnus dismissed. "We got it covered."

"I just don’t have the time-"

Grotesque patted the Protectobot on the back, "we know you’re all busy saving the Humans and the Autobots and the Paratrons and fixing the computers and checking inventory and handling disease control. We know, ‘Aid. It’s not a problem." he laid a hand on Repugnus’ shoulder and the two Monsterbots headed for the elevator.

"ALRIGHT!" the medic shouted.

They glanced round their shoulders; Grotesque smiled innocently, Repugnus grinned with an evil twinkle in his optic.

First Aid produced a digipad from subspace. "Let me get some tools and talk with Blue about the designs."

Repugnus and Grotesque took the elevator and waited as the car descended. Repugnus crossed his arms and leaned against the safety rail. "How d’ya always know when I’m gettin’ inta trouble?"

"I’m your friend, ‘Pugs," Grotesque answered smoothly. "I know you said you don’t got no friends. But you an’ me? We both like puppies. Heard Blue came up with a cool new design. So, I sorta got interested. You okay with that?"

Repugnus dropped his head one side then the other, feigning decision. "Yeah," he said simply. "I’m guessin’ the puppies won’t mind ya playin’ with us."

Quasar joined the little group of (drafted) doctors, volunteers and Snarl’s brothers later that afternoon. She and Blue outlined the procedure on the wall so Swoop, Slag and Sludge understood what was happening and when. The femme scientist sent the Dinobot trio out for supplies and equipment when it came time for the workers to dismantle Snarl’s body. The procedure took three hours from dismemberment to temporary life support attachment.

*******

Him, the Quintesson stranger, came to Snarl in Snarl’s head, like a dream. But Snarl knew it wasn’t a dream. Snarl did not know who him was. But Snarl knew what the him was. He stared back at the Dinobot with the ugly red face with horns (they were all ugly, but this one looked like a Human devil).

"You are such an ignorant child. And I loath your body. But I will take it." the Him declared

The Virus, the Dark, glanced from the Quintesson to Snarl. "How can this person take your shell? Why? Will this make you alive?"

"Me know this," Snarl said to the Quintesson after a short pause. "You say you take. But me not leave. You ghost and me, Snarl, not afeared of ghosts. You BAD."

"Do not make me take drastic measures, you oversized bamblegak! I am Korenthius, lead geneticist here on Bare Anches! And you are trespassing!"

"No!" Snarl retorted. "Me say MINE. You no take! You DEAD."

It chuckled with condescending tones. "Only a thing of your pathetically limited capacity would fail to understand death. You think of death as something that no longer lives. Only the body dies, my pathetically simple-minded organism. The life force is energy and energy cannot be destroyed. However, it can be displaced. I will replace you and regain control of the science station."

Snarl backed off, uncertain and ashamedly intimidated. The Quintesson expanded itself until its whole self filled all of Snarl’s vision. Snarl shrank into a corner as doubt and confusion clouded his thoughts.

The Dark watched as the Quintesson spread its consciousness across the Dinobot’s mind and leaked into the new circuitry as the Autobots pieced it together. "Korenthius is a Quintesson," the Virus said to the Dinobot. "Is this... ‘him’ more powerful than you?"

Snarl sat in the corner and watched as the ancient tentacled creature grew in strength and consciousness. "Me, Snarl, not know. Not know what to do. Not fight like this before. Me, Snarl... not know."

The Virus sat beside the Dinobot and watched with him. The Quintesson huffed and pushed and laughed with each conquered inch. "Optimus and Rodimus fights. Primes fight. But you will not fight. Primes fight hard. They keep their minds and their bodies. They make good for play. But you do not fight."

"Me, Snarl, not smart. Not read or write. Not think good like Primes."

The Virus dipped its head so as to stare squarely into Snarl’s optics. "Do you have to be intelligent to live?"

Snarl continued to watch. Life support alarms blared off the computers. Blue declared an emergency: "We’re losing him!" and the crew worked even faster.

"Him, Wheeljack and him, Ratchet, make Dinobots. But they make Dinobots like Dinobots, not like them, Aerialbots or them, Technobots."

The Virus nodded with deep dips of its head. "So now, the Quintesson wants to be a Dinobot, too. It wants to be you... Dinobot Snarl. And when it is Snarl, you will not be Snarl anymore. Perhaps that is unlife."

Now Snarl looked at the Virus with horror on his face. "You say him, Quintesson be Snarl? That Snarl not be Snarl anymore?"

"Yes."

Panic surged through the Dinobot and Snarl stood. "But them, Swoop and Sludge and Grimlock and Slag, they not know that Quintesson is Snarl! They not see that Snarl not Snarl anymore!"

"Then it must be unlife."

"NO! Me, Snarl, not be unalive!"

"Then you must fight like the Primes. You must fight to stay Snarl. You must fight to stay a Dinobot."

"But how? How me fight? Why you want me fight?"

Dark stood and stretched its back upward like a cat then dragged its body backward, stretching out its thin front legs. "We want to see unlife. But you do not wish for unlife. If you make the Quintesson unalive, we will devour it. If you chase it out of your shell, we will chase it and devour it."

Confused, Snarl stared with a blank expression. "Why you wait for me, Snarl to fight?"

The Virus tilted its head and Snarl winced at the creepy sensation bridging from Dark to his spark. "We want to watch. We crave hunt. We watch fight. Fight always a good thing."

"Me think so, too."

The word ‘hunt’ suggested a tactic Snarl had not considered before. His confusion and doubt bowed away for Dinobot survival skills. It occurred to Snarl that fighting was not always done with the outside of his head, but inside too. A hunt, as the Dark suggested, was exactly the right plan. Good plan.

Him, Grimlock, would be proud.

Snarl searched all the areas of his body not taken by the Quintesson. Then Snarl searched all the places where the Quintesson stretched too far. He cut them off. He blocked passages and cut all power links. Little by little the Dinobot forced the intruder’s tentacles to a central area.

"YOU CANNOT WIN!" The Quintesson hissed. "You do not have the power or the intellect to conquer me!"

Razors deeply sliced Snarl’s legs.

Acid ate his back.

Powerful blows struck his middle and damaged plating. His chest cracked and bled. His battered face burned with leaking gashes.

Then a tentacle snaked round his feet and tripped him up. Snarl clawed the flooring. He tried to twist around to face his foe but another tentacle wrapped tightly about his arms and the two tugged and yanked until Snarl thought he’d rip in two.

The Quintesson’s ‘green face’ leered in Snarl’s vision. "Just give up, sub-life form. You have nothing more to live for."

Snarl struggled against the ever-tearing bonds. His body ached and bled. He grunted with effort as Dark trotted up. A long, forked black tongue smeared the edges of its mouth. Snarl gasped and arched his back. "Dinobots not die!"

"We watch for the unlife. Here, this, Dinobot Snarl, does not wish to be unalive."

The Quintesson spit acid at the Virus and sneered when Dark only looked at him. "This does not concern you, freak! LEAVE US!"

The Virus stretched its neck forth so that it met the Quintesson face into face. "We heed not what not spoken by Prime. You are not Prime. We attend no words of yours, Quintesson. You are prey and prey does not speak to us."

Snarl did not stop to think about what conspired between the Virus and the Quintesson. All the Dinobot cared about was how the Quintesson’s hold loosened when

Korenthius used two other tentacles to slap the Virus away. Utilizing all the power and determination built into him from day one, Snarl yanked himself free and transformed. He charged for the Quintesson who screamed in terror.

"ME, SNARL SMASH YOU ALL AWAY! ME SMASH!"

The laboratory alarms blared and bleeped, warning Blue, Quasar and First Aid of several powerful electrical surges. First Aid frantically ordered all computers and equipment shut down. But they could not shut the systems down fast enough. Three computers and two diagnostics panels exploded. Blue and Quasar ducked when one computer fragmented the lighting above them.

All equipment shut down and cast the room into total dark. The Autobots huddled on the floor and waited. The acute silence cried for action and First Aid clenched his fists, willing himself to remain patient. Seconds accumulated into three minutes before he failed. The Protectobot medic patched into a line to report the incident to Magnus. Just as he opened the link to speak, a computer panel lit up brighter than it should. The vaporous body of a Quintesson emerged from the lighting. Blue gasped and skittered backward, her optics bright with shock.

In spite of its ghostly form, the Quintesson’s chilling, terror-stricken wail filled the air. It spirited across the room and through the far side wall. Two seconds later, a dark, insidious spider-like figure crawled out the same computer panel. It dropped to the floor and ignored Quasar’s and Blue’s screams. It skittered, long legs scraped the metal flooring before it folded its ghastly shadowy form into a bi-dimensional image and slipped into the crevices along the wall.

"GAH!!" First Aid hid his optics when the lights shot back on and the computers bleeped to life.

******

Even with Monsterbots and Dinobots working together it took nine days, six hours and fourteen minutes of intense, sleepless labor to unite the major components of Snarl’s new body. Blue and Quasar assigned the exotic Autobots the largest, simplest pieces. Everything else had to be done by engineers and technicians. So neither Repugnus nor his charges knew the exact shape of Snarl’s new form.

*****

The stupid doctors and scientists and other peoples wanted Snarl to test out his new body. They wanted him to run on this thing and punch down that and kick something else. But Snarl did not care to do any of those things. He wanted to be with his brothers. He wanted to tell them he was okay. But the stupid doctors made him run on the... thing and then they wanted him to kick a wall and they wanted him to do his tail-thing. Snarl ran the course and then they wanted him to do it again.

But Snarl didn’t want to. He already smashed the Quintesson out of his body. He could walk and run and smash things and he did not need a doctor to tell him he could. So when nobody saw, he sneaked out of the room and dashed down the hall as fast and quiet as he could. Nobody caught him. Nobody found him because he wanted to see his brothers.

Stupid doctors.

Once they finished their apportioned task on Snarl’s body, Repugnus dragged his charges off the scene. Slag gave him ‘grief’ over it. Swoop whined and Sludge pouted. But Repugnus knew Blue, First Aid and their crew needed silence and space to complete the task.

"Let’s go babysit," he suggested to the three Dinobots. Less than inclined, they obeyed and followed their nanny to the gigantic hydroponics building. Workers removed a number of trees to form a grass clearing so the refugee children had a safe place to freely play. But at the moment, those children not in a study group sat in front of a large screen TV and watched an old, old wrestling program. The Dinobots settled behind the children (who were tickled the Dinobots sat with them) and watched a match between Hulk Hogan and Jake the Snake Roberts.

Little by little Swoop fell asleep first then Slag. Sludge and Repugnus remained quiet even when the wrestling ended and an action movie started.

Ten minutes into the film, Sludge heard unfamiliar foot steps. Some kind of quadruped approached from the entrance. He waited for the stranger to clear the ring of trees then the Brontosaurus grinned. He shook Swoop.

"Uhhh, me, Sludge say you, Swoop wake up."

Repugnus dropped his lower mandible as all the children chorused a "whoa!" Slag awoke and sat up. The stranger before them looked nothing like Snarl. The tail halves that once capped his shoulder struts now lined his back. He held a large club with a great knot at the end and a smile, a for-real smile, lifted his face.

Swoop took the first timid steps. "You, him, Snarl? Me, and hims Sludge and Slag misses you."

"Me miss you, too!" their brother declared loudly. "But me not Snarl anymore. Me SMASHER!" And he laughed. "Me gone and SMASHED and did not go unalive!"

Slag nodded in approval. "Him, ‘Smasher’ sound good to me, Slag. Like new you." he pointed to their newly-resuscitated brother, "you transform like all us Dinobobts?"

"YEAH!!!" ‘Smasher’ tossed the knotted club up while he tucked his arms inward and a thick plate of armor slid over his back. The club dropped and attached at the end while panels that once lined Snarl’s back folded outward along the sides.

A young boy gasped with excitement, "COOL!! It’s an Ankylosaurus!! Can I ride him??"

Smasher pounded the ground with his clubbed tail and emitted a victory roar echoed by his brothers.

Fin.