“Now I get it!” laughed Clocker as the Fortress Maximus crew set themselves up around the Decepticon vessel. “Leave Override in there and let her create havoc!”
“That’s the general idea,” replied Optimus. “I guessed that her old, more individualistic attitude would come to the forefront and become worse than it was.”
“There’s just one problem,” remarked Llyra, “Megatron is no one’s fool.”
“She’s right,” muttered Amy. “Pretty soon, he’ll be putting two and two together, then what’s gonna happen to Override?”
Amy’s answer was right inside the ship. Scorponok was the first to come out of the CR Chamber and he relayed the incident to Megatron, Saurion, and Dirt Boss. “We…we looked up…” his lower lip trembled as he felt horribly embarrassed, “…blam!” That “blam” explained everything.
“I don’t believe this! I had her pegged!” snarled Dirt Boss.
“Well, it seems we’ve made a mistake by reprogramming that femme, yes!” growled Saurion.
“Fortunately, this can be rectified!” declared Megatron. “It’s time to bring this experiment and her rule to an end! It’s time for the next plan…a hostage situation!”
“We gotta move! And FAST!” urged Sonic.
“Not yet!” replied Optimus. “If we intervene, we’re facing 29 people on that ship, including Override!”
“And if we don’t,” countered Amy, “we’re facing 28 people and pieces of Override!”
“Not unless Override is taken hostage,” answered Optimus. “Knowing Megatron, that’s exactly the angle he’s going for. And, if things go well, it’ll blow up in his face and we can attack the bridge.”
Override headed into an empty bridge. She was a little perturbed at the atmosphere. “Oh, Override!” called a voice. Megatron and Dirt Boss then stepped from the shadows. “Such a pleasure to see you, Override.”
“Always a treat to see you too,” replied Override cautiously.
“TRAITOR!” snarled Dirt Boss. Override got the hint.
“Yep, you’ve got a point there! Figured you’d find out sooner or later! In which case, they’re playing our song, boys!” She grabbed them by the shoulders and brought them to her. “Time to dance!”
“Oh, I do so hate to disappoint,” replied Megatron, “especially after Dirt Boss told me that dancing with you is not something to miss, but you wouldn’t mind if I…sit this one out, would you?!” He shoved Override back, making her let go of them and stumble into being surrounded, the people circling her consisting of Knock-out, Scorponok, Eggman, and Morgaine! Override arched an eyebrow and smirked as she looked at the two humans.
“So, you two are back on THEIR side, now? Gee, a girl can hardly keep track!” Eggman and Morgaine then gulped as they realized what she was going to do.
“What’s she talking about?” demanded Scorponok.
“Don’t listen to her!” pleaded Morgaine.
“When I scrapped you two, the featherless chicken, and Bug Eyes,” explained Override, “they were watching and smirking!”
“Th-That-THAT’S A LIE!” wailed Eggman.
“Then how come you two are so shifty all of a sudden?!”
“YOU WORTHLESS SACKS OF FLESH!” shouted Knock-out as he leveled his gun at Morgaine.
“We are not-!” Eggman’s protest was cut off by Scorponok.
“They’re smirkers! MANGLE THEM!” The two bots scooped up Morgaine and Eggman each.
“All right, I am getting sick and tired,” snarled Morgaine as she prepared a spell, “of being man-handled by useless hunks of iron!” She fired a magic blast into Knock-out’s chest. Eggman, meanwhile, jabbed an electric prod into Scorponok as his Eggmobile arrived and scooped him up while leveling a gun at the Predacon. Knock-out looked down at his chest in horror.
“You…you scorched my PAINT JOB!” Knock-out pulled his Cyber Key out and flicked it to the ceiling. “PREPARE FOR SURGERY! CYBER KEY POWER!” The Key inserted itself into his arm and his hand was replaced with a circular saw-blade. Scorponok continued to try to sting Eggman as he was under fire from Eggman’s vehicle while Morgaine used her magic to levitate odds and ends and threw them at Knock-out, forcing him to deflect them.
“NO! IDIOTS!” shouted Megatron. “GET HER! SHE’S THE ENEMY!” Too late. Override spin-kicked them into a groaning heap. She then fired her gun into Megatron and Dirt Boss’ knees, forcing them to collapse.
“Well, what do you know?” chuckled Override as she examined her handiwork. “I win!” She went on speaking as Megatron and Dirt Boss shakily picked themselves up. “Reprogramming me was the worst mistake you’ve ever made! Now that I’m a Vehicon, I’m just a little too crafty for you!”
“That’s becoming…painfully obvious!” grunted Megatron. His optics then settled on the Transmuter.
“It’s called irony, sport!” continued Override. “I take over and you head straight for the recycling bin!”
“So it seems,” mused Megatron. “Even now, you’re teaching me a valuable lesson.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Sometimes, members of the Decepticons gloat too much!” Megatron activated one of his concealed fusion cannons and shot Override into the Transmuter. It activated and subjected her to the same painful treatment, this time, rewriting her brain back to its original self. She shook her head as her canopy and optic lenses returned to blue.
“Wha…what happened?” she mumbled.
“Accelion buffoon!” Megatron fired again, disrupting her motor functions. Dirt Boss managed to slap stasis cuffs onto her wrists. “As I said earlier, when in doubt, a hostage works! …No, a trade! The Planet Cup, the Omega Key-”
“Power Key,” corrected Dirt Boss. Megatron glared at him before continuing.
“And Override if they surrender the Energon Crystal formation to us!”
“That’s our que!” called Optimus to his team. “Activate Spark Signature dampeners! Stay quiet!” The group then went into the ship, all managing not to trigger the alarms.
Within Police Headquarters for Velocitron, a Mech with police-colored dragster alt-mode kibble named and a Mech with high-speed police cruiser alt-mode kibble were starting to nod off. Crime was at a low at the moment, so they were content to sleep within their office. Just then, the comms rang, waking the dragster bot up. He rubbed his optics before pressing the accept button. “Commissioner Cruiser here,” he said.
“Working nights, Commissioner?!” laughed the voice of the Vehicon Leader.
“Dirt Boss!” snarled Cruiser. His partner, Chase, woke up startled at that name.
“Dirt Boss?!” he yelped.
“You’re forgetting my associates!” remarked Dirt Boss.
“I must say, I, for one, am wounded, yes!” oozed Saurion.
“As am I,” agreed Megatron. Fear gripped the two law bots’ Sparks.
“Megatron!” they whispered.