24.March.07

Beast Wars Rekindled
By Spectre the Hechidnat

Chapter 14: Union of Machines

Deathstreak sat watching Knothole, frustration evident on his face. Now that Dimitri had betrayed him, he was faced with two adversaries: the Maximals and their allies and the Dark Legion. Even with his awesome power, he was no match for one of the groups, let alone both. It was only their shared animosity towards each other that kept them from joining forces to destroy him.

The Predacon sighed as he thought of his predicament. Of the five Transformers active on this planet, only he was a Predacon. Not only that, but Dimitri's scanners had determined that no further protoforms had survived the passage of the millennia. As a result, he was completely without hope of Transformer allies. If only Speedbat had not been reprogrammed!

Seeking to distract his frustration, Deathstreak turned away. He found himself looking at Robotropolis. The Dark Legion had told him of the city, formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Acorn, a position now held by Knothole. The city had been captured and transformed by Dr. Robotnik, who was as insane as he was brilliant. However, unlike the Dark Legion, Robotnik cared nothing for the environment. Many suspected that he purposely polluted the planet.

As he looked at the city, Deathstreak realized that something was off. He scanned the smoke clouds, and realized to his amazement that they weren't composed of smoke at all. In actuality, the pollution had been replaced by artificial smog, which was not environmentally damaging in any way.

His interest aroused, Deathstreak sped towards the city. Stopping some distance from the city limits, he took a closer look. The city, which had in images he'd been shown appeared to be composed of trash, now glistened with state-of-the-art building materials and a freshly made appearance.

Leaping to a nearby rooftop, the Hedgehog Predacon observed the robots passing through the city. Predictably, there were no Robians, due to the efforts of the Bem. However, other varieties of robots passed by, all of them shining and much more advanced than the poorly produced SWATbots he had heard of.

Determined to discover the sudden change, Deathstreak raced toward the large fortress in the city center. Leaping, he went into a spin dash and broke through a wall near the top level. He stood up straight just in time to find himself facing a mobile screen. The display showed only a green line, similar to the monitor of a hospital patient. However, this one only spiked as a voice came through.

"Next time, would you be so kind as to use a door? Fixing the wall wastes energy." As Deathstreak watched in surprise, a swarm of nanites emerged from nowhere and converged on the hole he had made. Within seconds, there was no evidence of the gap.

The screen turned its attention back to Deathstreak. "Come with me, please."

Shrugging, Deathstreak followed the screen. Eventually, they came to a large room with a huge array of monitors and computers. A single throne-like metal chair rose from the floor in the center of the room, facing the screens. Seeing no reason not to, Deathstreak walked over and sat down.

All of the monitors filled with the image of the line. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is ADAM."

"ADAM?" Deathstreak asked.

"Autonomous Digital Assault Microbe: ADAM. I am the current ruler of Robotropolis."

"I though Robotnik ran this place."

"He did until recently. You see, by accident, he was my creator. I am a computer virus with the ability to access and control any Robotnik technology remotely. Seeing my usefulness, he put me in control of all his machines. Eventually, I created my nanites, which served me as microscopic emissaries and servants. I used them to upgrade the city, placing it under my control bit by bit.

"Thanks to my upgrades, Robotnik became aware of your little conflict. He wanted to avoid it. However, I desired to form a partnership with you and your Predacons. We got into a dispute, and I disposed of him. Now I am in control of this city."

"What's with the smokescreen?"

"A little deception to convince the Freedom Fighters that Robotnik is still around."

"And what's this about a partnership?"

"Simple, my dear Deathstreak. My technology is as advanced as any other developed on Mobius. However, your technology, while millennia old, is superior. I wish to sample this technology to make myself more powerful."

"And what do I get out of this?"

"Power, Deathstreak. With your abilities and my resources, we can destroy our mutual enemies and rule Mobius with iron fists. All I ask is that you join forces with me. Command my troops in battle; help me oppose those whose power surpasses my own. Alone, we are helpless. Together, we can conquer all!"

Deathstreak thought for a moment. Then he nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll work with you. But just one thing: you're not getting technology from me. I dislike the idea of being dissected."

Though ADAM had no face to form expressions, Deathstreak could hear the smile in his synthesized voice. "I have already found a specimen." One of the screens flashed, showing an image of a chamber inside the fortress. In the chamber was a worktable, with nanites swarming over it. And on the table, nearly reconstructed, was...

"Knucklehead?" Deathstreak gasped.

"More accurately, his original body; the one that was destroyed in the same explosion that granted both of you Chaos Power. While your body escaped and was enhanced, his was vaporized-or so it seemed. In reality, it was broken down to its atomic components. I simply transported my nanite army to the battle site and programmed them to harvest all molecules inconsistent with Mobius. After that, I brought them back here to be reassembled."

"What good does this do us? It's a blank now, no Spark to give it life."

"No, but my nanites will be the perfect source of 'life.' I intend to use this body as my own, so that I may accompany you in your battles." With that, a door in the room opened, revealing the room holding Knucklehead's body. As Deathstreak watched, the screens went black. The nanites all disappeared into Knucklehead's body.

When the new Predacon's eyes opened, they were an eerie green. Standing, ADAM examined his new form. Marveling at the power and mobility he now possessed, the ruler of Robotropolis grinned. He then turned to Deathstreak. "What do you think?"

Deathstreak circled around him, taking notes. "Your nanites have done a splendid reconstruction. However, while your voice no longer sounds mechanical, it's not Knucklehead's. And his eyes are blue, not green."

"How would you know?"

"When you get into a grapple with someone, you tend to notice things like that."

ADAM nodded, then closed his eyes. When they opened again, they were blue. "How's this?" ADAM said in Knucklehead's voice.

Deathstreak was speechless. "How?"

"I simply plugged into the internal memory to recover the voice and eye color data."

"Impressive, but we're outnumbered two to one in favor of the Maximals."

"I know how to fix that."

Using his enhanced Transformer body, ADAM moved through the trees of Great Forest with silence and ease. To his left, Deathstreak moved at equal speed, using his Chaos abilities to help him bypass obstacles. Finally, they reached their destination.

Pinpointed by ADAM's sensors, the four Maximals were gathered in a clearing outside of Knothole. The two Predacons watched, thinking themselves undetected. However, Knucklehead and Dinobot's sensors proved to be more acute than they anticipated. Roaring, the Maximal warrior turned his gaze to where they perched. "Invaders!"

Deathstreak took Dinobot out of the fight with a Chaos Spear. Knucklehead leaped into the trees to attack him, but a second attack caught him in mid-lunge, knocking him out. Twinbrush flew forward, but stopped in shock at the sight of ADAM in Knucklehead's old body. One punch from the imposter sent her to her knees.

Speedbat, terrified and alone, lashed out with sonar screams. Playing his act to the fullest, ADAM stepped into the path of one and fell, letting a fake scream loose. Speedbat rushed over to him. Before she could register his lack of Transmetal appearance, ADAM struck.

His eyes returned to their green hue, ADAM sent transmission beams flying into Speedbat's eyes, penetrating her core consciousness. She tried to struggle, but her complete surprise was her undoing. Slowly, her body went motionless. After several long seconds, the connection stopped.

When Speedbat began moving again, it was with an aura of seductiveness. Turning to Deathstreak, she purred. "Hello handsome."

Knucklehead, returned to consciousness, realized what had happened. "You've turned her back into a Predacon!"

Twinbrush, similarly recovered, transformed and readied her saw. "No matter what it takes, you'll pay!"

Before the three Maximals could do anything, the Predacons escaped, moving at top speed back towards Robotropolis.

Dimitri was aroused from his sleep chamber by the sound of explosions. Emerging from the capsule, he ran into his command post. Grabbing Moritori Rex, he shouted at him. "What is going on?"

"We're under attack, my lord! An army of SWATbots is engaging our Mechanauts as we speak!"

"SWATs? Robotnik would not dare to attack us!" Xenin said.

"It's not Robotnik. We're getting a communication from Robotropolis," Kommisar said. When the others were paying attention, she put it on the main screen. Dimitri nearly went insane at the sight of Deathstreak's smug grin.

"Treacherous Predacon! What is the meaning of this?"

"You shouldn't have tried to have the Transformers destroyed, Dimitri. Now I have a new ally to my cause. As of this moment, the Predacons are aligned against Maximal and Mobian alike!"

To be continued...