“What is it?!” called Shahra.
“The brain impulses are conveying orders to the necessary weapons systems to fire the Heart of Cybertron!” explained Perceptor. “If we follow them, they’ll lead us straight to it!”
“And given how many went down his neck,” continued Grimlock, “it’s clear that he’s really going to town on the Autobots!”
“Let’s hope they’re buying us enough time!” muttered Drift. She then sensed something behind her. “Here come more! Follow them!” They all dived down the hole and followed the brain impulses’ path.
“THERE IT IS!” cheered Perceptor. Right below them, though massive to them, was the Heart of Cybertron, wired up just above Starscream’s Spark Chamber! The brain impulses then entered the Heart.
Starscream continued firing the Heart of Cybertron at the Autobots. They were being knocked down left, right, and center! He was clearly enjoying himself. “This ain’t good!” grunted Optimus as the medics got the wounded to the Repair Bay. “We’re losing too many! Activate the force-field!”
“Prime, what if Perceptor didn’t get enough time?!” argued Sonic.
“We have no choice!” Optimus then activated the force-field. The generator summoned a yellow energy dome and surrounded the two.
“Let’s rip the wires and get out of here!” urged Grimlock.
“No!” hissed Perceptor. “Look at the wiring! He’s turned himself into a bomb! One wrong move, and the area’s rubble!”
Starscream advanced on Optimus and Sonic. “Do you think that a mere force-field can stop me?!” he laughed. “The Hero of Mobius and the Youngest Prime, the greatest cowards of all! That thing can’t withstand my power for long! Are you too special to fight?! Well, if you won’t come out…I’ll just have to break on through!” He raised his hand, ready to fire the Heart.
Perceptor grabbed a wire and yanked it away from the Heart. Nothing happened yet, both good and bad. Deadlock then yanked Perceptor away as brain impulses entered the Heart.
The energy erupted from Starscream’s fingers and struck the force-field. It didn’t even budge. “Hm, I guess I need to use a little more power,” he mused.
“Thanks, Deadlock,” panted Perceptor. He ripped another wire away from the Heart.
“Perceptor, DUCK!” called Grimlock. Perceptor dove out of the way, but he still accomplished what Grimlock wanted as more brain impulses ran into the Heart. This time, they didn’t stop coming, making Perceptor pull his hand back more than once when he reached for the last wire.
Starscream continued his assault on the force-field. “We’re losing it!” called Sonic.
“Come on, Perceptor!” prayed Optimus as he adjusted the force-field’s frequency.
The brain impulses wouldn’t stop rushing past the team. “Starscream must be pounding the living daylights out of them!” gulped Grimlock.
“Come on!” Perceptor urged himself. “One last wire!” The background energy was overwhelming him. “Can’t…make it!”
Starscream was still firing the energies of the Heart at the force-field. Just then, the force-field cracked and shattered, the whole thing dissipating into thin air. “HAH!” cheered Starscream. “Say hello to oblivion!”
The brain impulses finally stopped. Perceptor picked himself up and crawled towards the wire. “Got to…disconnect it!” he strained as he reached towards it.
“It’s all over, Prime!” cackled Starscream.
“Not until everyone who resists you is erased from the universe, Starscream!” challenged Optimus.
“My sentiments exactly! You’re finished!” Starscream raised his hands above his head, then swung them down as if he were throwing something…but nothing happened. Starscream was confused, so he tried again, and again, and again, then he stared at his hands in horror. “What in…?! Diagnostics! Why isn’t the Heart responding?!”
“The Heart of Cybertron,” explained his onboard computer, “has been disconnected by microscopic organisms of similar shapes to Autobot Perceptor, a human woman, Dyno-bot Grimlock, and assassin Deadlock.”
“WHAT?!” yelped Starscream. Optimus only saw the horror on his face, but he guessed correctly on what happened.
“Perceptor did it!” he cheered. Starscream then glared at Optimus.
“You shrunk them down and had that Maximal throw their container at me so they could infiltrate my body!” he accused.
“Bingo!” confirmed Optimus. “Now the Heart of Cybertron can’t be controlled by you!”
“Well, if I die, at least they die with me!” Starscream then fired his null rays.
“Ha HA! We did it!” cheered Deadlock, smiling for once. Then, something odd happened.
“Hey, is it my imagination,” asked Grimlock, “or is everything closing in on us?!” The room looked like it was shrinking!
“Oh no, it’s us!” realized Shahra. “The spell’s wearing off! We’re returning to our normal size! We gotta get out of here!”
“Deadlock, TRANSFORM!” Deadlock’s shoulder pads swung up and came together to cover her head, then her arms folded into the shoulder pads, then her feet and legs folded to become her vehicle mode’s rear. After transforming, she hit the gas and barreled forward towards a wall. Grimlock managed to get a hold on the Heart and hoisted it above his head. She broke through and her teammates followed her out of Starscream. Once outside, they all grew to normal size and saw Starscream clutching the wound Deadlock gave him from inside.
“Um, excuse us!” apologized Shahra.
“YOU FILTHY RETRO-RATS!” shrieked Starscream. He then transformed and flew off in a rage.
“He’s getting away!” called Sonic. “Stop him!”
“No! Wait!” replied Deadlock. “We’ve got the Heart of Cybertron!”
“But Starscream’s use of it during his assault,” continued Perceptor, “has caused it to destabilize! It could explode at any second!”
“Get rid of it!” ordered Optimus. Grimlock threw the Heart into the air and Perceptor transformed, his microscope lens tracking its trajectory.
“One thousand miles!” he reported. “Fifteen hundred miles! Two thousand miles!” He then fired a laser blast at it. The Heart of Cybertron then exploded causing a brilliant light to fill the sky. Praxus was safe. Optimus released a breath.
“And that’s why you’re a sniper,” he praised as Perceptor transformed.
“Do you realize we just saved Starscream’s life by doing that?” asked Shahra.
“Someone saved ALL our lives,” replied Grimlock.
“Who?” asked Optimus, expecting a remark about how he saved the day.
“Ask Perceptor all about it.” …Optimus rebooted his audio receptors to make sure he heard that right. “And make sure you ask my buddy politely, more so than I did, because anyone who thinks he isn’t a hero is gonna have to answer to ME!” He wrapped his arm around Perceptor’s shoulder, unnerving the poor bot at this change of behavior.
“Erm, Grimlock…” he gulped.
“Perceptor, I owe you an apology. I was wrong about you. I thought only the smartest of my Dyno-bots were scientists worth respecting and you just proved me wrong today. Scientists of all types demonstrate their courage with their brains instead of their brawn.”
“So, you now hypothesize that courage IS in my “fancy” vocabulary?”
“…Yeah, and I got all the evidence I need to support it.”
“Splendid! Apology accepted!”
“You all did good today,” praised Optimus. “Perceptor, Shahra, Deadlock, and Grimlock, you just saved Cybertron and took down a major threat. Now we can concentrate on getting into the Vector Sigma Chamber before Megatron does.”
“When do we move out?” asked Deadlock.
“Our Metrotitans are all fixed up, so we leave once our medical staff fixes everyone.”
“Good. Then there’s only one problem to address.”
“…What’s that?”
“My name. With this act, I finally cast off the name of ‘Deadlock’. I have now drifted away from the Decepticons. Deadlock is gone. My name…is Drift!”
“Then welcome to the Autobots, Drift!”