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The Gang's All Here
Author's Note: Any spelling mistakes in Bouncealot's speech are due to his British-like accent. He doesn't pronounce the "h" in words. I have substituted the "h" with an apostrophe, i.e ‘Ello is "hello" and so on. And just to tell you, energon credits are like thousand dollar bills. Credits are normal dollars. There, now on with the fic!
**************************
"By the Matrix Locke, could you hurry it up?"
Rattrap shook his head. He sighed, another memory from his past. They seemed to be coming rather frequently of late. And there was nothing he could do to shut them out.
Oh well, he had nothing better to do right now. He might as well reminisce. Even though his old life was a bad one, it had it's glory moments.
Rattrap scanned the forest around him. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. No Predacons, nothing big and scary or anything. Just squirrels and chipmunks. Still, he had to keep an eye out, because Predacon attacks had been getting more frequent lately.
"Slag you BB!" Locke replied, glancing at the red and orange fembot. "Dese things are hard tah break."
"Well my exo-skeleton isn't, so hurry it up!" BendBlade replied. Locke grumbled to himself.
"How in de Pitt can you stand her Blacky?" Locke demanded of Blackjack, a large, black and dark-brown bot. Blackjack carried a large gun, in case any Predacon guards came, and were ready to fight.
"With a strong will and great perseverance" Blackjack replied.
Locke took out a laser lock pick, which looked like a miniature light-sabre from Star Wars. He inserted it into the lock, hoping to get the door open before any of the Maximal guards caught him.
The Gang still had to be careful. It was the time after the Great War, but for the Gang, it hardly seemed like it.
The group of six bots was always being assigned to some dangerous task or another. Stealing energon crystals for the Preds, taking incriminating photos of certain bots which their employer hated, and much more. They were a mercenary band, brought together by sheer luck and coincidence.
The six were always willing to do whatever their employer told them to, as long as he or she paid the group a sufficient amount of credits. Gangs such as theirs were hard to come by in times of peace, and most bots still felt that there were debts to be repaid, and that the Great War had not finished. The Gang enjoyed being at one with the rule of supply and demand.
Sometimes they felt that it was worse than fighting in the Great War. Of course, only Blackjack, Locke, Chance and BendBlade had served in the War. Nexus and Sparkplug had been programmed at the tail end of it, so they had only suffered the after-effects of the calamity.
Right now, they were breaking into the office of their employer's competition. Their employer, a respected Maximal by the name of Galexstarr was in the transportation business, he manufactured starships and rockets and all that. He had even built a few ships for the Earthling business NASA. But, he was worried about competition and his main competitor was rumored to have a chip that contained information about a new type of spaceship. Galexstarr wanted it, badly. So, the Gang had been called in.
"Don't worry Locke, we still have our Chance!" Sparkplug replied, pointing at the green and blue bot, who was keeping watch.
"Nerd joke!" Nexus said, snorting like a pig. Locke smiled. Trust Sparkplug to bring up that old joke again, when Pred guards could be anywhere and with energon loaded weapons.
"You're all ‘illarious, really" Chance responded sarcastically. Locke tried not to listen, such comments were ruining his concentration. He put the lock pick into the lock and twisted it around a couple of times, waiting for the beautiful "click" that would indicate the lock's deficiency. After a few seconds, he heard it.
"Dere yah go Miss Queen Of Cybertron, your liddle hide is safe" Locke said to BendBlade, motioning to the now open door.
"And I have only you to thank for it" BendBlade said, smiling her seductive smile.
"Great job Locke!" Sparkplug said, giving him her enthusiastic grin. Sparkplug was one of the younger members of the team, and a bit more innocent, or at least she looked like it. That was a quality Rattrap found oddly appealing.
"Chance you stay out there and keep watch" Locke commanded.
"Right-o old chap! If any Preds come I'll holler my head off, and wake the whole five blocks to let you guys know the danger!" Chance said, saluting.
"We must have picked him up in a looney bin" Nexus said.
"I ‘eard that!" Chance snapped back.
Locke sighed, and entered the room.
It was large and spacious, with many metallic chairs. On the walls lay copu-books, Earthling books put into a small computer format. The compu-books looked like little laptops, except on the top they had the title of the book, the author and the cover picture.It was quite an advance in technology really, and prepared after the Great War. They were new models, and Locke suspected that only a rich person could afford them.
A large desk was in the center. On the desk there was a large computer. There was also a smallish TV and some holo-videos. An energon dispenser was on the wall. Other than that the room was bare. An energon dispenser was the equivalent of an Earthling vending machine, except this energon dispenser had some rather healthy foods in it.
Locke grinned. Despite the fact that he was the leader of this gang, and therefor supposed to be the most responsible, he decided to be a bit of a slacker that day. He had worked hard picking that dang lock and sneaking into the building, he deserved something special.
Locke walked over to the replicator, put a credit in the slot, pressed the button for "refined energon+radium sandwich" and waited for it. In a few seconds his energon and radium sandwich came out. It was nothing very fancy, it was wrapped in plastic, and it was two slices of refined energon with radium as the filling.
"Really mature Locke" BendBlade said as he was about to eat it. She, and the rest of the gang, were searching through the compu-books, looking for the chip.
"Hey, what's the fun of looting someone's office if yah can't enjoy their grub?" he said with a smile. He bit into the sandwich, savouring the taste in his mouth. At the bars the Gang frequented for lack of money, food this good was hard to find.
"Can I ‘ave an energon pizza?" Chance asked, coming up behind him.
"Ain't you supposed to be keeping watch?" Locke asked.
"Nexus got lazy again, and ‘e wanted to take the job" Chance said, shrugging.
"Somebody is going to have to talk to that young bot" BendBlade said, while lifting up the TV and looking under it.
"I'll do it as soon as we get de chip" Locke said.
"Use your own credits" he said, turning to Chance. He moved up towards the desk, and began to check under it. That chip must be very valuable, so it could be hidden anywhere.
"Guys! I found the chip!!" Chance cried.
Everyone turned and looked at him. Chance lowered his voice.
"Right ‘ere!" he said showing it off. The chip was a small thing, with many wires and circuits on it. The thing certainly looked valuable.
"The pizza was supposed to be out of order" Chance explained, " but I really wanted some, so I pressed it and the chip came out!"
"That's why we call you Chance!" Sparkplug said, grinning.
"Freeze!" came a voice. "Predacon police!" Three policebots with pistols cocked and pointed appeared in the doorway.
"Freeze" Blackjack shouted "Maximal intruders with guns!" He promptly shot at one of the guards with his bazooka. Locke took a pistol he had stored in sub-space and fired at the other guard.
The third guard fell down, and Nexus appeared behind them. "Sorry guys," he apologized, "but I saw this really sexy fembot, and I was introducing myself to her and......"
"Just shut de slag up and get in here before de cavalry arrive you idiot!" Locke snapped.
Nexus quickly walked in and closed the door.
"You and I are gonna have a LONG talk!" he said to Nexus, who was looking very unhappy. "But not now" he added quickly, "we gotta high-tail it outta here first. " Locke chewed on his sandwich some more, and looked around him.
"Up there" Sparkplug said, pointing to the air vent. "We can sneak through it."
"But I can't fit" Nexus said. "And neither can Blacky" he said, pointing to Blackjack.
"You two will walk out of here" Locke replied. "Remember, act like you were never here. Even if an alarm is sounded, don't panic. Only when de guards come at yah, den you know you're screwed."
"Rattrap, come in Rattrap!"
"Air vents....what?" Rattrap asked. He had been so lost is a world where he was Locke, leader of a gang of mercenaries, that his new name Rattrap sounded odd to him.
"I've been calling you forever!" Optimus' voice came out on Rattrap's com-link. "There are two stasis pods headed directly to your area, I want you to to secure those pods!"
"I'm on it Banana-Boy!" Rattrap said. He saw where the pods were landing, and raced towards them.
******************************
The bot blinked, and stepped out of the pod. The first thing she noticed was that she had four legs. And a bare tail. And whiskers on a pointed muzzle.
"What in the Pitt?" the bot asked, looking down at herself. She was a type of.....animal?!
Yes, she was. The bot looked herself over. She had grey fur, that was long and dense. She had a white chest, face and underbelly. Her two feet were pink and devoid of fur, as was her long tail. The bot had a long muzzle, with small white teeth inside it. Her nose was pink as well as her feet. Two smallish, round ears were on the top of her head. On her belly was a non visible pouch, but the bot still felt it.
"Oh this is great" the female announced " Last thing I remember I'm in the Axalon, talking to the captain, and now I'm a ball of fuzz! Computer: what animal am I?" the female asked speaking to her internal computer.
"Unit is Earthling marsupial: opossum, or Didelphis virginiana. Commonly found in woods with swamps or wetland areas. Has abdominal pouch for nursing and carrying offspring."
"Well, it could have been worse" the bot sighed. She curled and uncurled her prehensile tail. "I wonder what my name was?" she asked out loud.
"I don't know ‘bout your name miss, but I can tell you that you look tres belle" came a voice from behind her.
The female spun around. She saw a large, grey and brown snowshoe hare, with a creamy chest and underbelly. Other than that, he was a brownish-grey. His eyes were black and large. The odd thing about him was he had two wings on his back. These wings were a shimmering brown, with a few bands of black and beige.
"‘Ello miss" the rabbit said. "Forgive this ol ‘are-brain for not introducin' hisself sooner. Me name's Bouncealot, rabbit and warrior extrordinaire. I can fight, I can bite, I can kick and scream! I can slice and dice two ways from Sunday. I can even clean you're windows! All this and more for ownly 6.99! Some shippin' and ‘andling required. Call our manufacturer's 1900 number ‘otline in yew ‘ave any problems!"
The female looked at Bouncealot, who was taking a pause for breath. The fembot was feeling somewhat edgy around him now.
"Uh, that's great, but can you help me think of a name?" she asked.
The hare wiggled his ears and wrinkled his nose. "Hm.......Clara Bella?" Bouncealot asked.
"No" she replied.
"Marbelle?" he suggested.
"Um, got any others?" the opossum asked.
" ‘anson?"
"I think I'll go with Marbelle, thank you" the bot said, nodding. She looked down at her body. What color was marble anyway?
"Well, now we both got names! Ain't this a wunderful feelin'?" Bouncealot asked, prancing up and down on his two hind legs. "If yew don't ‘ave a name, you can't be a person, you know? A name reflects the real YOUness of YOU. My name reflects the MEness of ME. ‘Umans and bots need to give things names you know, they need to identify things. Because our minds can't accept nameless entities. We're just not that smart. Rabbits and ‘ares aren't that smart either. So, technically we're all stupid in our own way...."
"What in de world is he talking about?" said a voice. Marbelle turned around again. What she saw made her gasp. In front of her was a rat. But not just any rat. This rat was shiny and metallic. Most of his body was a reddish color, his hindquarters were brown, and his hands and feet were white. The bot had a brown face, neon green eyes, and white, large teeth. On the tip of his tail there was a red point.
That was not the only reason Marbelle stared. That voice, it was so.......familiar! The ‘possum scanned her databanks, but she could not remember exactly where she had heard the voice.
Suddenly, an odd scene popped into her head.......
"Dere he is!" Locke called, in a loud whisper.
The five gang members crowded around Locke, who was pointing at a large, menacing Maximal.
"Are you sure about that?" BendBlade asked. "We're supposed to assassinate THIS guy?! Our employer has got to be out of her mind."
"Dere you go with that self-preservation thing again!" Locke snarled.
"So, you care about your life too" BendBlade answered back.
Locke was silent, which meant he could not think of a reply to that.
"BendBlade one, Locke zero" Chance said, pretending to check off an invisible chart.
"Quiet guys, he's going into that building" Locke whispered.
"How can we kill him if he's in there?" Sparkplug asked. She shivered with fear.
This was the first time the band was ever assigned to do an assassin mission. But their employer, a female bot named Wirecut, had told them to kill this bot. She was also paying them at least twelve energon credits, and that was A LOT of money, especially after the War. Money was low, because all the bots had used it to make weapons, to pay soldiers, to pay Earthlings for technology and all that stuff.
"It'll all work out Sparky, it always does" Locke said, holding her hand. Sparkplug grinned at the nickname. Out of all the bots here, Locke seemed to be the nicest one. Blackjack was always silent, BendBlade was always flirtatious, Chance was always eccentric, and Nexus was always perverted. They were a mixed lot, at best.
"Well, let's get in dere" Locke sighed.
"Wait!" interjected BendBlade. "This place is the restaurant called "The Blue Hubcap." I know this place. It's a sleaze hole."
"How sleazy?!" Nexus asked quickly, his optics lighting up.
"Try, servingbots walking around without their torso plates" BendBlade said. Sparkplug suddenly felt the urge to wretch.
"Lemme in there!!" Nexus cried, rushing out of the alleyway. Unfortunately for him, Blackjack grabbed him by the arm.
Locke glared at Nexus. "After dat disaster at dat office a week ago you'd better be damn happy I'm even letting you come with us" he scolded.
"You guys, Nexus got what he deserved, let's just leave it at that" Sparkplug said, calming down an argument. Sure, Nexus had done a stupid thing, but that was in the past, and Sparkplug hoped he would remember the lesson. He looked sorry enough now, though.
"Always the peace-maker" BendBlade muttered under her breath, but Sparkplug heard her anyway.
"Okay, look" Locke said, in his commanding voice "Blackjack, Chance and I will go in. We'll flush that huge bot out of there, and we can all jump him."
"No fair, why do you....." Nexus protested, but shut up as Blackjack glared at him. "Okay, okay, I'm quiet" he mumbled.
"Not that I'm trying to object here, but why are you three males going in?" BendBlade demanded. Sparkplug had not said anything, but she was wondering that as well.
"Because respectable young ladies like Sparky don't go into crack pots like dis" Locke replied.
Sparkplug knew that that was what the whole group thought, that she was kind and innocent. And that was what she wanted them to think, because it was true. She was nicer than them, and sometimes she wondered why she kept with the Gang. Sparkplug knew why she did though. They were her FRIENDS, and that was something no one could ever back away from. Friendship was the best thing that could ever happen to a person, and to disrespect that was something akin to a sin.
Locke continued."And I'm afraid dat BendBlade here might meet an old boss or something, and she'll be forced to dance with handcuffs and......"
"Oh you are sick!" BendBlade snapped. "Fine, you three can go in. But just make sure you don't slip in some little "entertainment" on the sidelines." She directed this last line at Blackjack, whose face lit up in a rare smile.
"You weren't the first love of my life" he said chuckling.
"Yeah, but I'm the best" BendBlade replied coolly, running her hand across his chest. Sparkplug wondered, as she had many times before, if Blackjack and BendBlade were actually serious as lovers, or just liked flirting. But, as usual, Sparkplug gave her female friend the benefit of the doubt, and assumed they were serious.
"What was dat I said about dancing around in handcuffs BB?" Locke said. The red and orange fembot looked like she was going to charge after him, but Locke had already dashed into The Blue Hubcap.
" ‘Ere we go, into the woild blue yonder, flying ‘igh, right into the sun" Chance sang, like a bible hymn. Before he went in, he made a holy cross symbol, an Earthling sign that meant he was trying to ward off evil.
Chance seemed to know the most about Earth, and put it into his daily vocabulary. Sparkplug had heard him say he was served on Earth during the Great War. But, of course, Chance could have been embellishing, being modest was never one of his strong suits.
Blackjack saluted, and went inside the bar. Sparkplug saw BendBlade give her "lover" a warning look, just as he disappeared through the doorway.
As soon as his commanders were gone. Nexus started whining. "Aww!" he whimpered "I wanted to see those girls with their torso plates off! Now I'll have to ditch you guys and sneak over to this place alone at night! Then I'd be alone and it wouldn't be any fun. And besides, people could kill me. I don't like dying."
"I'd even take my torso plate off myself just to get you to shut up!" BendBlade snapped.
"Really?" Nexus said, his red optics lighting up like two staring Christmas lights.
"Of course not!" BendBlade replied.
A few minutes passed, while the three bots sat in silence. Sparkplug did not like silence. She liked it when everyone was talking. Even though she herself never contributed much to a conversation, she just liked to hear the chatter and prattle of her friends. It was much better than silence.
"I wonder when they're coming out?" she said finally.
"The guys are probably watching all those cute bots" Nexus whined again.
"Yeah, they're probably looking at some poor fembot's skidplate and slobbering like dogs" BendBlade agreed. "Sickos" she mumbled.
"I don't think so" Sparkplug said. She hoped they were not. Just the thought of Locke staring at another woman.....why did that disturb her so?
"Well, you're our goody-goody medic" BendBlade replied. "You believe that everybody is as good as you, and that we're all really angels in Cybertron.
"Hey, it's better than believing that my three friends are in there slobbering over a couple of half naked females" Sparkplug replied, somewhat defensively.
"You know I was only teasing you, girl" BendBlade said, suddenly nice and serious.
"Ugh, female stuff!" Nexus replied.
"Go to the Pi-" BendBlade and Sparkplug began, but they were cut off by a crashing sound.
The huge bot, the one they were supposed to assassinate, was chucked out of The Blue Hubcap. Another bronze and blue bot, not one they knew, took out a ray gun.
Before anybody could react, the huge Maximal they were supposed to kill was shot in the head repeatedly with the gun, which did not emit a sounds as it was fired. The huge Maximal's blue spark came up out of his body, and slowly rose, but whether it was going to the Matrix or the Inferno the three bots could not tell.
"Looks like someone beat us to it" BendBlade whispered. She took out her gun and dashed out of the shadows, tackling the bronze and blue bot.
Just as she was doing that, Locke, Blackjack and Chance came out of The Blue Hubcap. The three of them quickly took out their weapons.
Sparkplug stared at the dead Maximal. The blue and bronze bot had killed him. This Maximal, who probably had not deserved anything bad to befall him. He had been killed. Sure it had not been a painful death, but still, his life had been taken. And the blood could have been on her hands! Sparkplug felt sick. She could have helped kill that bot.
"Ew, you can be his cerebral circuits" Nexus whispered to her. Sparkplug nodded, and covered her mouth with her hand. She felt sick. Sure, she had seen wounds before, she was the team's medic, but she just felt sick at the look of pained surprise on the huge bot's face.
Locke and Blackjack allowed the Maximal's killer to scamper of. The two of them had interrogated him, and taken his weapons.
"Well," Locke said, walking up to Sparkplug "de deed's been done for us. We can go back to our boss and tell her we killed the Maximal, and she won't know de difference."
Sparkplug stared at them. "You don't care that this bot just died?" she whispered, shocked. "You don't care that his life was taken? Or that we could have been the people that killed him?" She looked at the faces of her friends.
Blackjack's face was blank, a poker playing face. Nexus' face registered disgust at the sight of the dead corpse, but he looked confused as to what she had just said. BendBlade, Locke and Chance all looked at her with pity.
"Once you've served in the Great War, lady" Chance began "these things all begin to become part of your daily life. You stop caring after a while, about sparks and all that."
Locke glared at Chance, then took Sparkplug's hand. He looked her right in the eyes and spoke."Dis may not be de last time we're asked to do something like dis" he said to her. "Next time, would you like tah stay home?"
Sparkplug nodded dumbly.
"Good" Locke said. "I'm sorry Sparky, you didn't need to see dis" he said, nodding to the dead body.
Blackjack, Chance and Nexus picked the body up, Nexus retching as he saw the face. The six bots went back to Wirecut's headquarters via the alleyway. They looked more like a funeral procession than a gang of trained mercenaries.
"Hey lady!" Rattrap said.
Marbelle shook her head, and snapped back into the real world. Where had that scene come from? Was it part of her past? Was she one of those people? Sparkplug, maybe?
"Sorry," she apologized. "You're beast mode just looks really weird."
"It's a Transmetal mode" Rattrap replied. "Come on, I'll show yah to de Axalon, it's our base."
"Okay" Marbelle replied. She and Bouncealot walked after him slowly. Absent-mindedly, she replayed the scene in her head. What was it that she used to be....
***********************
The Great War, thought Malice, that was a tense time indeed. All the Decepticon attacks, the Autobots counter-attacking. Ambushes, bombings, shoot outs, germ warfare.....it certainly kept one on ones toes. I served under a bot called Underslice, who served under Optimus Prime. I was in the 58th regiment, one of Underslice's many privates. From the first times I was programmed by Vector Sigma, I came out in a world of war. Vector Sigma programmed me near the beginning of the Great War. I named myself Blackjack. Now the Maximals have this ruling class, called the Maximal Elder, to give bots names. Maximals may be just like Autobots, but I think sometimes they are a lot more silly.
I was a fighter born and bred, the first job I ever took was for the Autobot military, there were no Maximals at the time. Underslice was a relatively new general, so he got stuck with the new recruits. The losers. The young bots, who sacrificed their lives by going off to the War. Not like there was any choice, almost everyone was expected to join the War.
Underslice gave orders, and I followed them to the letter. I never disobeyed, like some of the more hot-headed teenbots. But, like them, I still had the innocence of youth. I still got sick whenever I head to lop the head off a Decepticon.
But, my innocence faded quickly, more quickly than the others. I didn't mind that much, this was a war, and such feelings as pity for the enemy faded quickly.
Oh, I still felt sad for some of my comrades, whenever I saw an Autobot fall, but I saved those feelings for when the battle was over. I never let emotion interfere with my fighting. And, soon I began to never let emotion interfere with any part of my life. I just grew cold. People began to see why I called myself Blackjack.
One day, Deathblow came into the 58th regiment. I remember she was the most beautiful bot I had ever seen. At first I knew she was scared of me, but I was determined that such a beauty should fight by my side. I began to open up to her, to show her that I did care for people, and that it was only in battle did my compassion failed me. She began to accept me, she was a very accepting person. She was so full of life an energy, and she just brought out the best in me, my more tender side which I thought I had lost. Soon, we were officially a couple.
I could tell Underslice wasn't happy about this, but whenever he tried to confront me about it, I would put on my best poker playing face and say I didn't know what the heck he was talking about.
Deathblow and I lived each moment to the fullest, knowing that any moment one of us could be dead. The two of us were good fighters separately, but together we made an almost unbeatable combination. She was trained in long range combat, I was trained in hand-to-hand combat. We began to learn skills from each other, so I was soon good in long range, and she was soon efficient in hand-to-hand. Underslice liked our teamwork, and soon he began to forget we were romantically involved.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of battling and tactics, the Great War ended. The Pact Cybertronia was made, and Autobots and Decepticons both lay down their weapons.
Deathblow and I were free from war, and free to do whatever we wanted with our lives. We decided to live in a house, one of the few ones that were still standing after the Great War. I got a job at an energon mining business, Ener-Co, and Deathblow opened up a restaurant.
We both laughed a lot over her opening it up. She, a seasoned warrioress, opening up a restaurant....it was hilarious! But, DB did it anyway. She called the restaurant the 21 Eatery, in honor of my name, Blackjack. We had learned it was an Earthling card game, and to win you had to get some playing cards to total twenty-one.
I must say peace was scary at first. Whenever I saw a Decepticon, I immediately reached for my gun holster, only to find I had no gun in it. But, I got used to seeing Decepticons and Autobots walking the streets together. I never worked with any Decepticons though.
Then, all of a sudden, two new factions sprung up. One was the prodigy of the Autobots, called the Maximals, and the others were of the Decepticons, called Predacons. They were a new wave of bots, who lived in times of peace. They were called by the Autobots and Cons "Generation P" for peace.
They introduced new ideas, and brought Cybertron back on it's feet, introducing new industries and such. The Maximals and Predacons were dedicated to making Cybertron a better place, they were not a bunch of old warriors who now had nothing to do. They were taking charge and making changes. They were two factions who wanted to forget about the War. Many Autobots and Decepticons joined the Maximals and Predacons, and Deathblow and I did too.
We were so happy, living our lives. The 21 Eatery was doing well, it was always such a happy place. Deathblow found the stress of managing a restaurant too much at first, but with my help we handled it. Soon, she was happily telling me how much her customers loved her homemade radium pudding.
Then one day, my life was destroyed. A Predacon called Recktor was intent on starting the Great War up again. He destroyed many villages. Mine was the first.
I was talking with my co-workers about how bad the Starcredits energon coffee was, when the screams began. I looked out the window, and saw a swarm of Predacons, shooting and marauding. My mind went back to the days of the Great War, and I dashed out of that building without a second thought.
I charged out onto the street. Predacons were everywhere. I managed to dodge the shots, and knock out a few Preds myself. I ran to the 21 Eatery. It was burned to the ground. I searched frantically for Deathblow, my fluid pump in my mouth. Eventually I found her.
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