The Monster of Kaon (Transformers Si): Interlude: Those left behind.

Arcee cursed internally as she saw the signs showing that the bridge they were on was about to end.

"Hold on tight!"

"WHAT!!"

She ignored the scream of the human and accelerated past the bridge, arriving at a canal, momentarily losing the Vehicons that were after her.

The human wasted no time in getting off her and backing up, only to collide with another human, this one much smaller than him.

But Arcee did not have the time to threaten the humans into forgetting about everything as the Vehicons that she thought she lost turned up once again. Worse yet, they transformed in front of the humans, forcing her to blow her cover as well.

Fortunately, she was not alone.

Just as the Leapers were about to destroy her, Bumblebee jumped off the bridge as well, transforming mid-air and attacking the main weakness of the Leapers, their back thrusters.

"Strong Autobot presence detected. Contacting HQ-"

"Oh no you don't-"

Unfortunately, Bumblebee was too late.

The Decepticon sent out the data package to wherever their headquarters were, and the response was immediate as a portal sprung into existence right in front of them.

And then, two figures straight out of her nightmares walked out of the portal.

"Scrap! Bee, we got Vindicators!"

"I can see that. Contacting base-"

Suddenly, another portal sprung into existence just as the one from the Decepticons closed. But this time, Arcee sighed in relief as a familiar team of Femme walked out of the portal.

"Get back to base, Arcee, Bumblebee. We will take care of this."

"Elita, we can help-"

"I know you are capable of helping us, Bee. But right now, you have a different situation to take care of."

The pointed look that Elita sent towards the humans made Arcee unintentionally swear.

"Scrap."

"Careful young lady, there are impressionable children here."

"Not in the mood, Moonracer. You can't possibly be telling us to take the children to the base. Besides, we need to find Cliff!"

"I am not asking. Optimus is. And don't worry about Cliffjumper, we already have a plan."

"Fine."

"Good. Elita One to base. Open Ground bridge and prepare for guests."

"Copy that. Be careful Elita. The Vindicators are not easy to deal with. Especially if they are the original models."

"I know Ratchet. I was there when Shockwave twisted Maximus's image into these abominations, remember?"

"Very well. I'll keep you updated about Optimus's side of things."

"Thank you, Ratchet."

The vindicators, Bots created by Shockwave in the image of his deceased friend and leader, finally got tired of waiting and decided to start attacking.
Their Laser Cannons, while not being as powerful as Shockwave's original creation that was given to Maximus, were still quite powerful, equivalent to a theoretical 10 Megawatt laser by human standards.

And just as expected from such a weapon, the laser which was invisible to human eyes carved a path through the air where Elita and her team were just a second ago, all the while spewing deadly radiation due to the powerful weapon's usage.

"Oh, man! This is going to be a headache to clean up, not to mention explaining the sudden spike in radiation to Fowler."

"Keep it together ladies, we have work to do."

"Let's go, Elita."
Starscream stared at his prisoner, Cliffjumper with a smug look on his face.

"How naïve of you. Did you Autobots think you were invincible simply because we were inactive for some time?"

"Hey, Starscream. Looking good-"

Cliffjumper stopped speaking as Starscream punched him in his faceplate, causing Energon to leak.

If it were up to Starscream, he would have offlined the Autobot already after gloating about his current position as the acting leader of the Decepticons. But he knew that such an action would not go unnoticed by Soundwave, who would in turn inform Megatron when he returns from his excursion to Cybertron.

Starscream shuddered to think what would happen if Megatron or Soundwave found out that Starscream had killed an unarmed POW. One only needed to look at what nearly happened to Airachnid before she fled to another galaxy to escape Shockwave when she killed Tailgate back on Cybertron. Thankfully, that lunatic Shockwave was dead at the hands of Arcee and Cliffjumper before they all arrived on Earth.

Then again, all this completely depends upon which Megatron is in control should this news reach his audio receptors.

If it is the regular Megatron, then Starscream is scarp, no two ways about it. But if it is the crazy Megatron, the one that spontaneously pops up once in a while ever since he infused himself with artificial Dark Energon, then Starscream might actually get rewarded for the act of killing an Autobot, even if he was unarmed.

But relying on such a game of chance is not in Starscream's best interest, so he decides to simply lock him up deep within the mines.

"Put him in the vaults, Lord Megatron will deal with him."

The two Leapers simply nodded and dragged the Autobot to the lower levels.

But just as he was about to return to work, the noise of combat rang out across the mines, indicating that Cliffjumper was not the only intruder in the mine.

"Soundwave! We have intruders in the base, I need backup-"

Starscream's words suddenly stopped as he received a data packet from Soundwave, showing that two of the ten Vindicators that they had aboard the nemesis were engaging the Autobot team known as team Elita.

"Holy Primus! Are you out of your mind Soundwave?? Megatron will scrap me if something happens to even a single Vindicator!!"

The sheer fear of what Megatron would do to him overridden any need that Starscream had to earn glory by capturing Autobots, causing the Decepticon to immediately transform and fly out of the mine, followed by the rest of the Vehicons and Leapers, heading straight for the Nemesis while he threw out a bomb, hoping to blow up the Mine, and hopefully, a few Autobots with it.

Of course, the plan failed when Optimus Prime of all bots suddenly showed up and shot his bomb out of the air, causing Starscream to curse out while flying. Megatron will not be pleased when he finds out that Starscream has let one of their biggest Energon mines fall into the hands of the Autobots.

All in all, this was a good day for the Autobots, but not the greatest.

Optimus Prime had still failed to fulfill his greatest wish. His search in the oceans of the Atlantic where the coordinates he received from a certain bot had nothing located there.

But Optimus would not lose hope, for hope is all that he has left that has kept him going for all these years.

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Vindicators: Made in the image of Maximus by Shockwave using Predacon and Beastformer CNA. Built right after Sentinel Prime and his Council fled underground to sniff them out, they have become a rare Decepticon elite force that is rarely deployed. But whenever they are deployed, they are a force to be reckoned with.





Vindicator Alt-Mode:





Decepticon Leapers: