3 weeks had passed since Shockwave’s attack. Optimus was as good as his word and helped his technical staff as well as Grimlock’s to fix the Dyno-bots’ t-cogs. However, the Dyno-bots had set up a system so they could interact very little with the Autobots. Swoop, the warmest, was against the idea and made frequent pleas of talking to Optimus with Grimlock. Grimlock wasn’t having it and the A.I of the Dyno-bot’s ship, Claws, didn’t help matters, given that she and Tails butted heads frequently. Tails acted as the middle man that would transfer bits of data between the Autobots and Dyno-bots. On one such day, Tails came onboard the Dyno-bot ship, specifically, on the bridge. It was empty of any dinosaur robots that had anger issues. “Grimlock? Swoop?” called Tails. The aforementioned Dyno-bots came in. Well, stumbled in, in Grimlock’s case. He had a half-full bottle of high-grade Energon in his fist.
“Hey, puny fox!” he slurred out. “You caught Me Grimlock at great time! Want drink?”
“I’m not old enough to drink the liquor of MY planet,” replied Tails. “Heck, I can’t even drink any kind of Energon.”
“All right,” sighed Grimlock, “more for Me Grimlock!” He took a swig.
“Er, Swoop, does he realize…?” ventured Tails.
“Even before we became Dyno-bots,” answered Swoop, “Grimlock’s speech would sound primitive whenever he’s over-energized.”
“You Swoop saying Me Grimlock drunk?” slurred Grimlock. “Me not even done drinking yet! Me Grimlock got thinking about all years spent in space, hunting magic weapons, and Him Optimus taking it all away in instant,” he looked at the bottle, “half gone already.”
“I’m here for another session,” explained Tails.
“Oh, Primus, not the annoying twin-tailed ‘genius’,” sighed Claws as a female Mobian version of an Oviraptor came up.
“Sorry, what was that?” hissed Tails. “I thought I heard the annoying sound of a dial-up computer!”
“Oh, how scathing,” dismissed Claws. “Did mommy teach you that?”
“And yet,” countered Tails, “Mommy, before she died, taught me how to beat garbage like you at chess.”
“What you mean is, you bored me into submission!” snarled Claws.
“So, you admit defeat, Junky?” insulted Tails.
“Not in a million decades, Furball!” growled Claws. Grimlock giggled.
“You two funny!” he laughed.
“No, I’M funny,” argued Tails. “She just goes onto the internet to find jokes to use so she could sound like she HAS a sense of humor.”
“Were you planning on doing anything worthwhile,” asked Claws, “or are you simply going to waste my processor time?”
“This would go a lot faster if the Dyno-bots weren’t isolated from the Autobots,” remarked Tails. Grimlock growled.
“Me Grimlock not eager to meet Him Prime again!” he rumbled.
“You do realize that you’ll have to get over your resentment of him,” snapped Swoop.
“Him Prime trapped us in being slaves to anger!” shouted Grimlock.
“And you forget the suffering we put him through?” argued Swoop. “We’ve done damage to his psyche and have caused him physical harm to get his weapons, yet you feel as if you were in the right!”
“Me Grimlock did what Me had to do!” insisted Grimlock. “It was for best!”
“Metal Sonic wants to destroy all organic life because it’s for the best,” recalled Tails, “Shockwave buries her emotions because they caused her to make a mistake. In many ways, I respect Eggman more, because he holds no illusions over who he is and what he wants.”
“Puny fox saying something?” growled Grimlock.
“Just making an observation,” replied Tails.
“Your observations,” interjected Claws, “are as worthwhile as your A.I’s coding skills! The data appears corrupted!”
“So it does,” conceded Tails. “I’ll have to bring this to Optimus’ attention. Teletraan, one to beam out.”
“Got it,” called Teletraan. Tails was beamed out of the Dyno-bot ship.
“I would not listen to the wannabe kitsune or the oversized chicken,” assured Claws. “I still believe in you and what you and your team had to do.”
“…Thanks, Claws,” muttered Grimlock as he stomped off the bridge.
Metal Sonic keyed in a code on a pad near the door. As it verified it was him, he hefted a large stasis pod with his Polarity Hands. The door opened and he went down the hall. Soon, he arrived at a makeshift laboratory where Shockwave was busy working with another stasis pod. He looked at her with a bit of disgust, after her emotional outburst on Metroplex. “I have returned, partner,” he called as he set his pod down. “I trust you didn’t strain yourself tinkering in your lab while I toiled like an organic mongrel?! I mean, I seem to collect stasis pods faster than you can identify their contents!”
“If you recall, Metal Sonic,” reminded Shockwave, “we moved our resources and equipment from the cavern beneath the abandoned church to Metroplex after we found him. He took said resources and equipment with him once he left. And Sonic and Shadow scattered the Chaos Emeralds across this world once they were finished with them. Given our lack of infrastructure and frequent need to relocate in order to avoid detection, it is illogical to expect greater productivity at this point in time.”
“What I find illogical,” hissed Metal Sonic, “is that you have emotions!” Shockwave paused her work.
“Your point is?” she asked.
“When I met you,” explained Metal Sonic, “I saw perfection. No emotions, no hesitations, no reason to have interference. Your use of the Chaos Emeralds shattered my views on you.”
“You are free to leave at any time,” replied Shockwave. “It makes little difference to me. If anything, I won’t have to listen to your hypocrisy.”
“What hypocrisy?!” protested Metal Sonic.
“You are as emotional as the beings you hate,” explained Shockwave.
“I am not!” roared Metal Sonic.
“So, that is NOT a display of temper I see?” quizzed Shockwave. “You ARE ruled by emotions. That’s not technologically pure, correct? You can feel the anger and rage bubbling in side you. You’re about ready to explode in hatred.”
“NOT TRUE!” screamed Metal Sonic as he leapt at Shockwave. She grabbed his head and shoved him against reflective metal.
“Look at yourself,” ordered Shockwave. “See the very emotions you hate. You are as beastly as your creator. Now, if you’re done ranting, I have found another pod. Retrieve it.” She tossed Metal Sonic over her shoulder and he bounced for a while. When he picked himself up, grumbling while doing so, an alarm sounded. “Proximity alert,” reported Shockwave.
“The Autobots? G.U.N?” asked Metal Sonic.
“Logical to believe such,” replied Shockwave, “but the military force heading our way is too massive to be the Autobots and their organic allies. Besides, that army has only one organic bit, not what G.U.N would send.”
“A robot army with one organic bit?” muttered Metal Sonic. Then a theory presented itself. “That fat fool!”
“Eggman has been confirmed,” reported Shockwave.
“What does he want?!” snapped Metal Sonic.
“It is only logical to ask him,” replied Shockwave. She transformed and headed outside. Metal Sonic followed. Soon, they arrived in front of Eggman’s army. “Explain yourself,” demanded Shockwave.
“Ah, Shockwave, good to see you again!” greeted Eggman. “I see you’ve encountered a setback with the Autobots. The whole ‘using the Chaos Emeralds to make a metal city fly’ thing, love it!”
“Move away, freak!” shouted Metal Sonic.
“Ah, Metal, good that I bumped into you as well!” cheered Eggman. “Scientists always need another voice to help them get the facts.”
“What do you want?” quizzed Shockwave.
“Just trying another method to convince you to ally with me,” answered Eggman.
“We will NOT side with you!” insisted Metal Sonic.
“Metal, silence,” demanded Shockwave. She turned to Eggman. “Doctor, you may speak.”
“The Autobots set you back considerably, did they not?” recalled Eggman.
“Not enough to halt us!” hissed Metal Sonic.
“So, you have a means of getting back on your feet?” inquired Eggman.
“As a matter of fact, we…” argued Metal Sonic.
“What he means is,” interrupted Shockwave, “is that we lack infrastructure and have been on the run for a while. My experiments are constantly being interrupted whenever we move to avoid detection.”
“What am I, a rust spot?!” muttered Metal Sonic.
“So, you claim to have a place for us?” asked Shockwave to Eggman.
“Plenty of room for your experiments,” confirmed Eggman, “and a personal army at your disposal.”
“What do YOU get from such an arrangement?” asked Shockwave.
“Knowledge,” replied Eggman. “Specifically, genetic knowledge. After I’ve encountered a major setback with the Autobots, they get a little funny from taking t-cogs from their dead, I discovered a double helix in one of the t-cogs I had before the Autobots took it from my newest invention. After careful study, I came to the conclusion that t-cogs were organs, hence why they got so cagey about my activities. So, I went in another direction and started cloning t-cogs. Sadly, they burn out and I’ve been driving myself mad trying to figure out why they do so.”
“And you’re trying to clone your own army of Transformers?” guessed Shockwave.
“Exactly,” answered Eggman. “Imagine it. An army of robots at your command, changing and adapting at speeds the enemy couldn’t imagine!”
“An army of drones,” simplified Shockwave, “since you want everyone to obey you.”
“That’s the idea,” replied Eggman. “And I intend to be at the apex of the hierarchy. My mind needs to be in a robotic body, but I’m nothing, if not patient. As it stands, I’m thousands of years behind.”
“If you think we’re going to allow you to contaminate machines with your filthy, organic mind…!” snarled Metal Sonic.
“What he means,” interrupted Shockwave, “is that it seems like an ambitious goal worth helping. We accept.” Metal Sonic goggled at her.
“Surely, you don’t mean that!” he protested.
“On the contrary,” countered Shockwave, “I’m being most sincere.”
“But, Eggman can’t give you the quiet you need!” snarled Metal Sonic.
“He CAN give me resources to conduct my experiments,” argued Shockwave. “Besides, you were made by him, so it’s only logical for you to be upgraded by him.”
“I will not allow an inbred freak like him upgrade my systems nor will I allow an emotion addled junk pile like you join him!” roared Metal Sonic.
“WHO’S THE RESULT OF INBREEDING?!” screamed Eggman, clearly angry. Shockwave turned to Metal.
“I trust that those slurs were unguarded emotional outbursts,” she warned, “so, I will ignore them this time. Make plans to obey Eggman without question or I will use you as a new lab rat.” She turned back to Eggman. “I require some of your bots to move our belongings to your base of operations.”
“Yes! Of course!” promised Eggman. He turned to a group of his Egg-pawns. “Get their stuff to our home and make it snappy!” he bellowed. The Egg-pawns hurried to obey as the rest of the army returned to Robotropolis with Eggman, Shockwave, and Metal Sonic following behind.
What were the Autobots doing? They were testing camouflage with G.U.N. Originally, it was all business, but soon, it became one big round of Prop Hunt. The object was that the disguised people had to survive 4 minutes before getting 10 paintball pellets on them. At the moment, the round had Optimus and a human woman called Topaz as the “Props” while Jazz and a female Platypus called Michelle were the hunters. At the moment, Topaz was eliminated with only 20 seconds left and Jazz and Michelle were looking for Optimus. They all had their comms open so they could talk and Optimus was clearly wearing a scrap-eating grin. “Well, Ms. Topaz,” laughed Optimus, “you’re dead and I’m not. Now what does that say?”
“I don’t understand what y’all are talking about!” called Michelle.
“Ah HA!” realized Topaz. “He’s a rock on top of the big rock in the southern corner!”
“WHAT?! NO, I’M NOT!” shouted Optimus. “TOPAZ, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” A paint pellet hit his disguise! “NO!” he yelled as he started running with his rock disguise still on. “I HAD NINE SECONDS LEFT!” For a while, Michelle was chasing a rock running on robot legs, trying to cover it in paint. “COME ON! I CAN WIN THIS!” urged Optimus to himself. Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! Optimus breezed by Jazz! “YES! I WIN!” he cheered as he flung the disguise off.
“Jazz!” protested Michelle. “He went right at you!”
“Wait, I missed him?!” yelped Jazz.
“What’s all that noise?!” barked Commander Tower.
“Sorry, Sir,” gulped Topaz. “The Autobots just introduced us to Prop Hunt.”
“I thought I asked you to test camouflage,” snarled Commander Tower, “not play games.”
“Come on, dude,” replied Optimus, “sometimes playing can improve combat.”
“Forgive me if I’m skeptic on that,” argued Commander Tower.
“Sir, you will notice that we recorded effectiveness on our disguises,” countered Jazz.
“I just hope it wasn’t…tampered with by your placement of fun over work,” muttered Commander Tower.
“Clearly, you and I have a different command style,” observed Optimus. At that point, they heard a scream of pain. It sounded almost cartoonish.
“That was from Tom and Jerry!” yelped Optimus.
“You met those agents?” asked Commander Tower.
“Wait, you have agents named Tom and Jerry?” quizzed Optimus.
“Agent Tom is a male, grey, Mobian Cat,” answered Commander Tower. “Jerry is a male, brown, Mobian Mouse.”
“The only Tom and Jerry I know of that slightly fit those descriptions,” remarked Jazz, “are the famous slapstick duo of a cartoon cat and mouse. The mouse always outwitted the cat!” At that point, the aforementioned Mobian G.U.N agents ran in, the cat chasing the mouse.
“AGENTS TOM AND JERRY!” shouted Commander Tower. The two stopped their antics and stood to attention. “What were you dimwits doing?!” They were about to speak when Tower interrupted again. “Never mind! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t care who started it! What I DO care about is that Her Majesty is coming tomorrow and you idiots are trying to make a mockery of G.U.N!”
“Her Majesty?” repeated Jazz.
“Are we talking about a Queen coming to visit?” asked Optimus.
“Not A Queen!” replied Tower. “THE Queen! Queen Aleena Hedgehog of Mobius!”
“The Queen of all Mobius is coming?!” yelped Jazz.
“Why didn’t you tell us?!” shouted Optimus. He commed the other Autobots. “Guys, hold off on recreation! The Queen of Mobius is coming here tomorrow and I want everyone looking their best!”
“Understood, Sir,” called Prowl. Communications ended and Optimus turned to Commander Tower.
“One of these days, we’re going to have a nice, long talk about communication and using Alexis’ abilities a little more,” he remarked. He and Jazz then headed off to base to join the other Autobots in getting ready to meet the Queen tomorrow.