Here's another for you guys. Please be polite. I put a slideshow of my custom bots below that this story is based on. Just click the pic. After reading the story you should be able to tell who is who. Enjoy!
The Transformers: The Renegades, Part 1
by J.C. Williams
Two hundred years after Optimus Prime and his Autobot warriors left to search for a new source of Energon we Transformers experienced something terrifying. One day just like any other day during our usual struggle for survival against the Decepticons we all shut down. Every single Transformer on Cybertron just simply turned off. Everyone except for Shockwave. Then one day ten years before Optimus and the others awoke on planet Earth we ourselves awakened. After several minutes of adjustment the fighting resumed. We found out several days later that Shockwave was behind it all and he used our years of slumber to take over Cybertron. He built cities, created new technology, and increased the ranks of his soldiers. But he reduced Cybertron's remaining Energon to nothing. That is why when Megatron called he quickly ceded power to his former leader. After Megatron brought Cybertron to Earth we Autobots managed to get in contact with our leader and some of us even managed to travel to Earth to help him in his battle. My team of Autobots and I decided in 1989 to do the same. But our plans did not play out as we expected. My name is Razor and this is my story. Mine..... and my Renegades.
My soldiers are rough and reckless so Prime never really relied on us. We always caused too much damage. But we did always get the job done. And we slagged a lot of Decepticons too. I never actually spoke to Prime and his team about joining him but some men did. The twins, Strikeblast and Blaststrike, contacted their 'distant cousins' Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They were impressed with their war stories and wanted to be just like them. Young and inexperienced, they had no idea what war was really like. My second in command, Interceptor, had been by my side through every skirmish and Sniper, our sharpshooter, was just as sharp. My recon bots, Scarab and Bumper, were not as green as the twins but they could hold their on. We loaded up into our ship, the Juggernaut, and blasted off for Earth. With our new star drive the trip took only a few minutes but it was over far too quickly. As soon as we reached Earth orbit we were attacked.
"Scarab identify?"
"Unknown Decepticon, Razor. Class, fighter. Alt mode, Earth-style F-14 Tomcat. Standard class 4 weapons, comparable to seekers."
"Sniper. Take him down.....now, before he......buries us." I said between hits.
The Decepticon was good and most of his shots hit major systems. But Sniper targeted him with ease and the powerful laser blast knocked him into space. A warning alarm went off and I already knew what it meant when Bumper called out to me.
"We're going down Razor."
"I know. Interceptor, prepare the crash shield." Within seconds a force shield formed around the inside of our control center just as the ship began to glow red from re-entry.
"Estimated LZ, Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy in southern Asia." Bumper said.
"Great! Just great! That's thousands of miles off course. Scarab, upon landing assess the ship's damage. Blaststrike, find us some Earth-style alt modes. Preferably cars."
"Yes sir." They said in unison.
By now we had cleared the atmosphere and were coming in fast. Interceptor fired the landing thrusters but after a few seconds of burn they shut off, probably suffering damage in the attack.
"Hold on guys. This is going to be rough." I said as I grabbed the arms of my chair.
We slammed into the beach on the coast of Italy creating a huge crater which quickly filled in with sea water. The rear of our ship rested on the land and worked out to our benefit, allowing us to enter and exit on the beach.
"Major damage to all ships systems. Communications are out. Weapons down. Main power down fifty percent. The good news is Teletran 10 is operational. And by the way, Blaststrike, whatever you find for me it had better be black." Scarab said.
Blaststrike only laughed quietly in response.
"Everyone report to Teletran." I said as I stood up and stretched. My servos and joints creaked slightly as I moved. After seven million years I think it was finally time for an overhaul. I let my soldiers go first as I stood back and watched. Blaststrike was first and his brother followed. They stood in front of Teletran as the repair device rose into the air and bathed them in golden light. After several seconds they were reformed into identical Lamborghini's with Blaststrike being metallic green and Strikeblast metallic purple. I noticed, with some irony that they looked exactly like the Autobot Sideswipe once they transformed and stood up. I gave them a smirk and they just shrugged and smiled. Interceptor was next and he was reformed into a police version of the same car. He stood up and admired his new form, obviously liking the choice. Sniper was remade into a black Porsche similar to Jazz with gold highlights. He thanked the twins and left to begin the repairs of the ship. Scarab walked over and the light illuminated his small frame. It remade him into a completely black Volkswagen beetle, like Bumblebee. And Bumper was formed into a yellow version of Cliffjumper.
"Cool." was his only response. Finally it was my turn. I walked over and adjusted the settings on the screen to add in a complete mechanical upgrade with new parts and weapons. But I forgot to change the body setting so when it was finished, I was a black Lamborghini like my friends. I didn't mind it after a few moments. My weapons were very powerful with new additions like missile launchers in my legs and electro-magnetic pulse generators in my hands. I gathered my troops together and we headed for the rear exit. As Sniper pressed the switch, I turned to Blaststrike.
"Why exactly did you pick these forms?"
"Uh...well...there was this race nearby with a bunch of cars competing in it so I figured....."
"You figured you'd copy Sideswipe.....didn't you?"
"Yeah." he said with a smile after a long pause.
"I suppose you want us to change our name to the Lambo Brigade? You are lucky I ......" I was cut short as a series of blasts hit the top of our ship.
"Renegades! Get outside!" I yelled. I ran out onto the beach into the blinding sun as my bots rolled out and headed in different directions. I quickly saw that the jet that shot us down had found us once again. I withdrew my gun from my back holster and took aim. He turned in the air sharply and swung around to fire on me. I cut loose with a barrage of shots as I launched missiles from my legs. As he dodged my shots he failed to notice the critical hit Sniper had fired at him.
His engines caught fire and he crashed to the ground several hundred feet away. "Sniper take point. Renegades flank that slag." I said as I transformed. I drove over to our prisoner, amazed at the speed of my new body. I transformed and took aim as the others arrived, covering the Decepticon as it began to stir.
"Don't move. Who are you and why did you attack us?" I ordered.
"Name's Darkwing, Autobot. You invaded our airspace."
"Last I heard, Earth belonged to the humans. Now give me one reason why I shouldn't finish you off." I said coldly.
"Earth is ours and soon the universe will follow. And all Autobots will be tread beneath our feet!" He yelled as he tried to transform. I shot him in his cockpit and he collapsed to the ground.
"Twins, take him to the cell and increase the electron bar power by 75 percent. Sniper, come in."
"Nothing on the scanners but the local authorities are finally headed our way. I guess it's explanation time for you boss."
"Yes. Keep a look out. Where there is one Decepticon there are usually more. I'll handle the humans."
A week later after all repairs had been completed we finally managed to contact Optimus Prime's team. Sniper and Interceptor were at the comm station and a human answered their call. It was the young man known as Spike and he informed us that Prime and most of his Autobot's were in Africa fighting Megatron. Perceptor and Wheeljack then took over and we told them our story. The humans had been kind enough to allow us to stay and even helped with repairs. All that was left was our engines. In return we would help protect them and their resources from the Decepticons. Wheeljack told us that Prime should be back soon and they could arrange transport for us then. We began our daily routines of maintenance and surveillance trying to keep ourselves busy. I used Teletran's skyspys to survey the entire country of Italy before heading over to Asia's main continent. The twins took turns exploring the countryside searching for enemy activity but they found none. Interceptor stayed on constant guard duty over our prisoner, only leaving once a week for tune-ups.
A month had passed before we knew it and I finally decided to contact the Autobots. There was no response. This went on for days and then weeks. After two months of silence we rebuilt our ship's engines and using all of our strength we removed the Juggernaut from the sand. We fired up the engines and set a course for the Ark. An hour later we were over the ocean the humans call the Atlantic when a huge explosion shook the ship. This was followed several seconds later by Sniper over the comm system. He told us that Darkwing had used some sort of explosive device to blow out the cell security system which in turn took out Interceptor. Darkwing had escaped and was out of the ship. Several seconds after this we found out where he was.
"Raise the shields, Scarab! Bumper, take him down!" I ordered.
"I can't Razor. He hit the weapons guidance system with the first blast. I think he tapped into our ships systems somehow." Bumper replied.
"He's coming around for another pass! He's targeted the bridge." Scarab said.
"Hold on guys!" I yelled as I grabbed the arms of my seat.
The Juggernaut had been through a lot and I knew the bridge could not withstand a direct shot. But the shot never came.
"Scarab, what happened?"
"Looks like we got some help boss. A jet came out of nowhere and attacked Darkwing." "Origin?"
"Don't really know. It's design is that of a seeker jet like that slag heap Starscream or Skywarp. It's gray in color with a blue Autobot symbol."
"Blue? Could it be?" Everything was dark and calm.
I floated in empty space, too dark for me to see. Then in the distance I heard something. It got louder and louder as if I were getting closer to it. Then I realized my optics were off. I 'opened' my eyes and dazed at my ship's control console. As my vision cleared I noticed the view screen.......and the image of a large mountain of ice heading right towards us! The sound I had heard was the proximity alarm and we were about to crash!
"Scarab! Wake the hell up or we're gonna die!"
"Wha.... oh Primus!" He said as he opened his eyes. He pulled back hard on the controls and Bumper jumped up to help. The two of them tugged with all of their strength and the ship's nose began to rise. But it was too late.
"Autobots...brace for impact!"
The ship was a complete wreck. She would never fly again. We hit with so much force that the three of us found ourselves in the center cargo hold of the ship. Fortunately my guys were ok. From the sensor info we had apparently the new jet that showed up to help us had killed Darkwing. Then he had shut us all down and somehow steered our ship to the south pole. We awoke just in time to avoid slamming into the tallest mountain on the continent of Antarctica. We had been kidnapped for six hours and taken off course only to crash land here. After careful inspection of our wreck we realized we were deep under the ice and snow and quickly decided to get to the surface. Sniper tore open the rear hatch and the twins began using the flamethrowers in their arms to melt us a tunnel. We each took turns and shortly we had a path a hundred feet long which slowly sloped upwards. As I was about to step up and replace Interceptor he called out to me.
"Razor, you better see this."
"What? What is it?" I walked up beside him to stare at a piece of gray metal sticking out of the ice.
"Any idea?"
"No. Strikeblast, what do your scanners say?"
"Well, according to this, uh, its Skyfire."
"What? That's impossible." I said. "Skyfire is currently with the Autobots in North America."
"Yes but I am looking at his body and frame beneath all that ice. Same jet design and specs, although....."
"What?"
"He seems to have gotten a huge weapons upgrade."
"Come on 'Bots. Let's dig this guy out of here and see if we can wake him up."
We soon managed to reach the surface and began removing the ice. Once we uncovered it we saw that it was Skyfire. Or at least an Autobot that looked just like him. As my team began repairs I walked around and inspected him. I soon discovered that it also had the same blue Autobot symbols as our hero from before. It was gray in color with white markings and it boasted an impressive array of weapons. In addition to multiple clusters of bombs and missiles, it was also outfitted with lots of guns and laser blasters. It had a huge double barreled blaster with a smaller one mounted on its back between two large rocket boosters. I found it very hard to believe that anything with this much fire power could actually be an Autobot. As I continued to survey it Sniper approached me.
"Razor, we have completed repairs. But we cannot reactivate him. It would require at least a million volts of energon to do that and we just do not have it." "What about the ship's engine core?" "Good idea Razor. I will try it right away."
Thirty minutes later Sniper advised us to step away as he reached inside the cockpit of the jet. He pressed a button and jumped clear of the ship. The jet rose slightly into the air and transformed. The enormous Autobot staggered for a second and fell backwards. It shook all over and then seemed to regain its self control.
"Uh.....I....ungh. Power surge. It seems my systems are attempting to adapt to a new energy source."
"Yes." Sniper said.
"I had to equip you with the power block from our ship's engine. It will take some getting used to but the good news is your energy supply will never run out. It is a self sustaining system."
"I....thank you. Who....are you?"
"My name is Sniper and these are my friends the Renegades. This is our leader Razor. That is Scarab, Bumper, Interceptor, Blaststrike and Strikeblast."
"Who are you, friend?" I stepped forward and asked.
"My name is Peacemaker." he said as he got to his feet.
"My internal clock informs me that I have been here for over six million years. How is that possible?"
"I don't know, but we will find out together. Come on. Let's get back inside our ship before our relays freeze up. Then we'll talk."
Peacemaker told us that he had been a soldier for the Grand Guard of Primus, an elite unit of Autobots created by Primus himself, the first Autobot. Their mission was to protect Cybertron and all Autobots from any threat large or small. While Prime had been fighting Megatron, Peacemaker and his team were on the dark side of Cybertron battling it out with some Decepticons calling themselves the Triumvirate. We learned that the Triumvirate consisted of three identical Decepticons intent on taking over Cybertron and the universe. The three of them were gray in color with one cycloptic eye. And, as we guessed, Shockwave had been one of them. Striving to always be unique he had upgraded himself and changed his coloring to purple.
Constantly experimenting on Transformers using banned science and dangerous new technology, they were quickly becoming a threat to everything. During their final battle the Triumvirate were believed to have been destroyed. However, this proved not to be true when a weakened Shockwave turned up sometime later under Megatron's rule. Peacemaker had been sent to investigate a rumor that the remaining two members, Shockblast and Shockforce, had fled to a distant planet to regroup. Peacemaker had located the two Decepticon leaders here on Earth and tried to attack them but he was hit from behind.
"That is all that I remember until I saw all of you before me."
"I wonder what ever happened to those two?" Scarab asked.
"Are you familiar with an Autobot named Skyfire?" I asked.
"Skyfire? Yes. I believe he was the last unit to be built at the foundry where I was made. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that you two have the same design. We thought most older Autobots had unique specs."
"No. We are from a different time. Things were simpler then. If multiple units were built, production could be increased for the coming war. But Skyfire chose to be a scientist." "Before we landed here, an Autobot jet saved us from an enemy attack. It had the same markings as you. Do you know anything about that?"
"The same markings? It is possible that it was Kronos, my team leader. He was second to Primus and created by him to protect time. If he helped you then you were meant to find me and we have a dangerous time ahead of us. I am built solely for destruction and slagging Decepticons. If Kronos guided you here then we are all in danger."
"Time? Are you serious?"
"Yes, Razor. Kronos can travel anywhere to anytime. Past, present,....."
"And future." a voice said from behind Peacemaker.
We raised our weapons as he began to smile. He stepped aside to reveal the same gray jet we had seen earlier. He looked exactly like the Decepticon Starscream except that he was gray and black. He had unusual silver panels on his frame and blue optics which seemed brighter than normal Transformers eyes.
"Please lower your weapons my friends. I will not harm you. Besides, before your first shots could even leave their barrels, I would have traveled back a split second before and aimed them at you."
"Kronos I presume."
"Yes Razor. I'm glad to finally meet you instead of just observing you from a far. I have watched millions of Autobots over countless decades. And you are the one I really needed to watch all along. There is much for us to discuss. Peacemaker, please make yourself ready for transport. We have several errands to run and I need your help as well as understanding."
"But we came here to join up with Optimus Prime." Bumper said.
"Prime's destiny is not your destiny, little one. Prime will soon be dead. The Matrix will soon be passed to a new leader. We all must do what is necessary to make sure that event comes to pass and that means that I take you from this planet. Please. I will explain on the way."
"What do you mean dead?" I said angrily.
"You can not change someone's destiny, Razor. I have tried. Eventually, all who live...die. Now please, we must go."
I tried in vain to understand the last few minutes but it was hopeless. Peacemaker stepped outside into the increasing darkness and blinding snow and transformed. He lowered his ramp and we all got inside. There was plenty of room for us but Kronos sat down beside me.
"You may want to strap yourselves in. Peacemaker is very fast."
"Why do you look like the Decepticon seekers?" I asked him, as the ramp closed. "Actually they look like me. A fellow Autobot named Strafe was here with me in 1984. While I was here to awaken the Autobots and see that they were repaired properly, Strafe was at a human military base on a surveillance mission We also had the same exact jet design so when Teletran 1's skyspy flew over the base it actually scanned Strafe and used his schematics to create the seekers. Hold on."
Peacemaker's powerful jets ignited and we shot off into the air headed for space. Once we left Earth's atmosphere, Kronos began speaking again.
"I must apologize for my remarks about Prime's death. Do not be concerned with this. He will be reawakened several years later to save the entire universe from destruction. Optimus Prime's destiny spans many millions of years and he is only halfway through it." "And ours?"
"Again I must apologize. I did in fact steer you on the right course for finding our big friend here. But I did not mean for you to lose your ship. However, it matters little. You are to hunt down the final members of the Triumvirate and destroy them. There is a massive alien being called Unicron on a direct course for Cybertron. He will not arrive for several years and Prime's Autobots will deal with him. The Triumvirate are building another creature similar to Unicron in addition to forming a huge attack force. They have traveled to a distant world and you must stop them."
"I don't guess we have a choice in the matter, do we?" Sniper said.
"I'm afraid not. It is your destiny. All Transformers are set on a path that will never stray from its destination. Such is the will of Primus."
"Speaking of Primus, where is he? And why is he only myth and legend?" I asked. "Primus is everywhere. He is in everything. He is always with you."
"Thanks. That really helps." I said sarcastically.
I turned and stared out the view port to my right as the stars passed by. Once we cleared the moon Peacemaker increased his speed and the stars became a blur. I had no idea what was in store for us. I just hoped our 'destinies' didn't lead us to the Matrix.....too soon.
"If it matters, I have a story to tell you. We must pick up other Autobots from before we are to battle the Triumvirate. Let me tell you about them."
The End of part 1
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