Burning Bridges - Transformers Collectors` Club
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1. Overshoot hammered his fist on the heavy armor of the nearest drone and 1 burbled in response Luckily got a use for them beyond not shooting straight There were shapes now coming out of the mist shouting and firing The drones had interlocked their fields of fire and were keeping the Resistance at bay but their targeting matrices were hopelessly out of date and struggled to track the technologically advanced Maximals and Predacons Their cannon fire added sound and fury but Resistance casualties seemed minimal Overshoot was firing too but mostly he was checking behind him for a sign of the final Terrorbot 8RE 2Z1 It arrived just as he was about to give up hope taking a horribly inefficient path around a mortar crater He fiddled with his wrist mounted remote and got the drones to transform They shifted into robot mode without protest barely stopping the constant barrage of suppressing fire What he had in mind was not exactly in the poorly translated user s manual the Quintessons had so kindly supplied with their product He got the drones to advance slowly firing all the way while he scurried behind ready to pick me up at the center of the bridge in two or three cycles The Resistance fell back slowly firing at the drones Overshoot checked the three fuel and damage readouts carefully If any of the Resistance fighters got a good shot in this whole plan would be for nothing One or two wouldn t2. That s what I m saying Such a waste he slumped into a nearby chair Let s talk about something else Why What I don t follow said Stiletto genuinely confused When someone says let s talk about something else you don t say why you say what as in What shall we talk about Why Overshoot sighed Forget it I should have remembered you were built without an empathy chip Stiletto did look hurt at that at least I m sorry He chuckled without humor Yeah I know but there s nothing you can do Whatever happens the war could end tomorrow and still never get to see Crystal City They were silent for a long time been to Crystal City Stiletto said after what felt like an awkward eternity Overshoot perked up a little Oh What was it like Beautiful 5 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB BURNING BRIDGES He blinked as much as his visor allowed Beautiful was not a word he associated with Stiletto s vocabulary efficient yes tactically sound absolutely but beautiful no It was a pre war word a pre MCSF word a word from the time when Overshoot s life made sense There was nothing beautiful in Kalis and there never would be When I joined the Maximal Flying Corps we did a display over Crystal City once Even though two thirds of the crystals had gone dark by then
3. He d have to be careful or the rain would do permanent damage and replacement optics were expensive As he raised the scope again the drone to his right made a strangled sort of noise and fired its main gun without warning Instantly Overshoot saw a lithe shape silhouetted against the enormous explosion of the tank shell He aimed and Cease fire Cease fire for frag s sake he told the drone It s a friendly she s a friendly The other drone was slow on the uptake and fired another blast at Stiletto s hurtling figure This one was closer although still off the mark and the shockwave catapulted the purple Maximal into the air She landed obviously stunned a few mechanometers away and Overshoot hurried to drag her into cover one handed pointing his gun down the bridge He gave her a quick scan she was battered but nothing major had been damaged He could tell that her internal repair systems were working hard but she gave him a grim smile Bit off a little more than I could chew she reached up to wipe a dribble of hydraulic fluid from the corner of her mouth I m fast but they re coming More than we thought That s OK got a plan What can I do She tried to sit up but apparently her nano bots hadn t got as far as her leg joints yet Nothing yet you re too banged up and I m gonna need you airworthy Fragging Terrorbots used you for target practice
4. Stiletto This 1s it Thanks for the update Overshoot snarked but he gripped his gun tighter He checked his wrist display Drones en route Stiletto nodded not taking her optics off the vapor shrouded span before her 10 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS Clon The first wave hit them almost without warning The Resistance commander whoever he or she was had obviously noticed the advantage the poor visibility represented The first few bots had crept up in robot mode eschewing a wild charge or the rev of motors for a sudden violent assault Stiletto hit the deck faster than Overshoot could see but he was only an instant behind her as particle fire whipped overhead The charge started now battle cries and pounding mechanical feet joining the fizzing energy bolts All Overshoot could do was fire indiscriminately Stiletto was firing too methodically targeting the Resistance fighters as they tried to cover each other Four would advance take aim and fire as the next four charged They re covering a lot of ground Stiletto warned Yes but they re in the open pour it on With blaster fire sparking overhead and ankle deep in chemical soaked rust Overshoot couldn t say that he was exactly in his element Still Stiletto had been right he was a crack shot and this was a situation he could deal with eight moving targets no cover At the Academy he d have done this with one optic shuttered He took
5. You must have optics the target by now Neural receptors surged with pain as her senses reasserted themselves and let her know where she was This was much later or maybe straight after definitely not before Stiletto s internal chronology was patchy but she was sure of that much The flashbacks came in so many configurations and intensities This was a common one though She tried to will herself to experience the present the Resistance threat at Melpomene but it was futile cycle Aura just double checking Stiletto could see the huge purple and gray Predacon now He was twitching and pacing sparks occasionally crackling from his joints Come If we don t take him down Sledgehammer will get away and that shipment will wind up in Resistance hands Stiletto sighed I m going in for an arrest Wolfang 5 voice broke in on the same frequency Arrest crazier than ten petabytes of RAM a five petabyte motherboard He ll take you apart I ve never seen any bot this hopped up on the nucleon before I have to try Aura broke in Frag it Stiletto t let one mistake But she was already moving Sledgehammer 5 optics were wild When he saw her he roared with fury Sledgehammer of Peptex she said beginning the approved MCSF rights reading the accords laid down in the Cybertronia I hereby He charged Stiletto tried to dodge h
6. a message Her stun gun was gone only one thing remained Stiletto felt the weight of the knife in her hand hesitated just a second and let it fly She snapped back to the present abruptly using all her willpower to keep from flooding her engine She forced herself to adopt a casual tone silently grateful that he never pressed her about her odd behavior I m not sure That didn t seem to be the answer he was expecting How do you mean Stiletto looked past him optics unfocused The MFC ran a few sorties right at the beginning when it looked like maybe we could just scare the Resistance into backing down I dropped my fair share of high explosive but I never saw what it hit could have been Preds Maximals civvies even Builders for all I knew I think after Fortress Maximus went down they got scared It was obvious we were in it for the long haul They concluded the Flying Corps wasn t worth the energon expenditure started reactivating the Noisemaze Terrorbots and I got posted here Even to her it sounded flat rehearsed Overshoot was giving her a suspicious look You don t seem that beaten up over it Killing Predacons or the posting Either both Overshoot narrowed his optics at her It s not my place Scrap she d said that too quickly without thinking Maybe he hadn t noticed 7 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB Overshoot snorted So you re just like one of thos
7. advantage of a break in the fire to raise his head slightly Three fighters were slightly ahead of the others He ran a quick targeting routine on their cranial units making sure he corrected for their heads turning in shock when the first went down Sighting down barrel he squeezed the trigger Three shots three sparking holes Not bad Stiletto patted his arm and pointed Look they re retreating The five survivors transformed and drove backwards firing all the while The biggest truck had a jury rigged mortar attachment It coughed once and a thunderous blast threw Overshoot and Stiletto to the ground Overshoot shook his cranial unit and waited for the pixels to realign Damage control looked was scuffed but functional He pinged Stiletto and got a positive response She was fully functional but the Resistance troops were gone They Il be back pointy he said by way of filling the silence Yes if they ve worked out there s just two of us come in force We need those drones As if summoned by a wireless signal there was a mechanical rumble behind them and both Maximals turned to see the unwieldy green bulk of the first Terrorbot threading its way through the torn up span of the bridge Right on time yelled Overshoot We might just win this I need to open the engine housing hand me one of your knives don t have one Sorry She gave him a sidelong glance and h
8. ever housed other models of ancient Quintesson Terrorbot drones Six wheeled Guardminder tanks perhaps or Dropkick haulers Alone with her thoughts Stiletto meandered to the periscope overlooking the blank expanse of the Melpomene Bridge The chasm between Kalis and Altihex had been formed during the last Great War Whatever forgotten atrocity of forbidden science that had created Kalis abysmal weather had also torn the crust of the planet asunder leaving the bridge as the only sensible transit option The bridge had been built during the golden age when both cities were flourishing havens and sending all commerce by air was becoming burdensome During the Great War Autobots and Decepticons had fought tooth and nail for the bridge tumbling into the abyss in the thousands never to be seen again Overshoot found her gazing at the desolate span connecting the two ancient cities long dark Pretty majestic huh She arched a brow at him You think that decaying relic is majestic He shrugged a broad shoulder Don t you I mean imagine the energon it took to bridge that chasm Two and three quarter hics wide Imagine the vision it must have taken Then without warning he seemed to slump into himself I m guessing we haven t built anything on that scale for centuries Not since long before the Maximals and Predacons came into existence Makes you think Overshoot slumped into a chair and Stilleto contem
9. in the hand He yelped and dropped the weapon She fired again and managed to take the knee plate off the closest Maximal He doubled up in a shower of sparks swearing violently She tried for a shot to the head to put him down but the gun betrayed her hissing sadly and ejecting a little puff of smoke The acidic vapor had gotten to the firing mechanism Stiletto froze Hey Bighorn a Maximal to her left yelled she s out of ammo What are we waitin for then they started to advance not even bothering with guns Bighorn was slapping a large club menacingly against his palm Instantly instinctively Stiletto s hands went to her magnetic sheaths but they were still empty I promised myself There was nothing else left but to run She leapt right at Bighorn while aiming a kick at his solid chest The servos 1 her leg struts propelled her bodily into the air and the added force sent him reeling backwards growling Finding herself in open space she ran as fast as she could for the Kalis end of the bridge Th COLLECTORS Clive Overshoot was anxiously drumming his fingers squinting down the sight of his blaster Another drone had driven up and the two of them sat there in tank mode whirring and burbling to themselves in the open space between the two Kalis anchored pylons It was as close to being comforted as anything in Kalis He sat up slightly and wiped a stinging drip from his optic
10. s optics powered back up Innate programming that she had kept at bay for many orbital cycles rushed to the forefront Unconsciously she scanned the debris around her for an edge weight and balance started calculating trajectories wind resistance Bighorn s probable movements impact points armor thickness Bighorn stopped stamping and roared in anger as the shard of metal erupted from his shoulder I thought dealt with you race traitor Yeah lots of people think that Stiletto gathered another shard and let it go burying it in the mess of circuitry that was one side of the huge 19 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS Cie Maximal s face Thing is I think worked it out Oh yeah Bighorn clearly didn t know what she was talking about he was just playing for time Stiletto let him It wouldn t make a difference She ducked his charge and spun powering up her palm magnets The improvised blades flew from Bighorn s wounds and settled themselves neatly in her hands She jumped a clumsy kick and slashed him across the chest It didn t do much more than surprise him his armor was too thick but the second s hesitation made it possible for her to shove the other shard into his flexible hip joint It tore through cabling and hydraulics in a spurt of hot mech fluid and he toppled going down on one knee He lunged at her and she danced away lightly tossing a shard from hand to hand as she considered wh
11. top of her climb she scanned about for Overshoot and saw him in the dead center of the bridge behind a wall of Terrorbots They were firing desperately at the Resistance troops even as smoke poured out of them and their lifeless optics flashed an ominous red 16 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CLIU Hurry Stiletto got nano kliks at most She could hear his terror but there was something else there too he really believed she could do it Frag right I can She dove like a technohawk stooping at its prey half rolling to avoid the support cables She threaded a course behind the drones allowing herself to slow down just enough for Overshoot to grab on They wobbled while she worked out the new weight distribution and managed to get them climbing again shots crackling ineffectually through the air around them before the shockwave hit The centre of the bridge drones Resistance and all erupted in a towering mushroom cloud as Stiletto and Overshoot were tossed around by its wake Stiletto had to shut off every optical sensor to avoid overload and concentrate on keeping her nose in the right direction which right now was simply away on I m losing it Stiletto felt Overshoot s hands grip tighter around her fuselage as she pointed them back towards Kalis That he said in a voice that he presumably thought sounded triumphant but actually just sounded tired 15 why they call them Overcharg
12. world view She didn t know whether to pity or envy him Ambition We were talking about ambitions now Overshoot shook his head becoming animated I was talking about survival MCSF was about the only good gig on this whole fragged up planet Good pay some kind of status exemption from arena call up Now it s a death sentence What about you Stiletto I can t figure you out Stiletto thought for a moment for something to say and the neural surge took her without warning memory circuits flaring in a chaotic sequences as the world dropped out around her For a second she was in total darkness as before with a rush that threatened to split her head like tinfoil the familiar sounds came back All units get down here quick the panicked transmission fritzed and re emerged top of everything S fire Stiletto engaged her speed pack shifting power from reserve into her upgraded servo motors She had no room to transform so it would be a sprint Hold on Betabear I m coming His response if he was able to send one was lost in a crackle of static and the rush of the air as Stiletto accelerated TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB BURNING BRIDGES Trusting her sensors to map the route without conscious thought she followed a colored line on her HUD It led her through a main street down a back alley under a half collapsed arch She found herself jumping from wall to wall to avo
13. TRANSFORMERS TIMELINES PRESENTS BURNING BRIDGES A TALE FROM BEAST WARS UPRISING mot cs pereg Ea ALE le BY DAVID BISHOP amp JIM SORENSON ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOSH BURCHAM COVER ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH BURCHAM Copyright 2015 The Transformers Collectors Club The chamber stretched so far back that it disappeared into the gloom rusting walkway ran the length of it allowing chest high observation of the enormous metal sentinels that dominated the expanse You know why they call them Overcharge drones don t you Overshoot asked as they started to walk the length of the hanger The trio of drones stood silently massive and eerie in their alcoves as Maximals passed by No why Stiletto asked surveying the grease smears and rusted railings with a slight frown Because they suck energon like nothing on Cybertron You have to literally overcharge them to get them to do anything constructive Stiletto cocked her head to one side as she gazed up at the hulking slab of a robot It was easily Builder height and breadth with thick armor clearly built for war I don t see why they made them so big Overshoot rolled his grey shoulders forward and visibly gathered his thoughts It was clear that he d spent much of his time contemplating his mindless wards It s a combination of a few things One you have to remember they re beyond old Some of them prob
14. ably pre date the last Great War Two they weren t even designed by the Builders they re Quintesson army surplus I hear Quintessa is literally swimming in fuel lakes of energon and everything with whole ecosystems they don t need to design around it Stiletto frowned That seems short sighted Overshoot shook his head Sure but what do they care They ve had these things taking up space for millennia They saw an opportunity and took it now I ve we ve got to maintain the pit darned things Know why they re really called Overcharge drones She looked at him incredulously You just told me It s because the Squids could make us pay whatever they wanted said with a guffaw He promised that he had a million of these Stiletto hoped he was exaggerating A few moments passed and he continued to look at her in a manner she regarded as somehow hungry At the least expectant She sighed inwardly and cast about for a follow up So how long have you been looking after them Overshoot gave the same rolling exaggerated shrug It piqued her and she wasn t sure why Better n forty stellar cycles It s pretty lonely but not so bad considering Stiletto was puzzled But I read your file when I was assigned here it says you re a crack shot Overshoot laughed Ha maybe the Bulks were handing out assignments alphabetically Besides I may be a crack shot bu
15. aken awake by her partner Hey pointy you ok She smiled up at Overshoot and buried the doubts that threatened to once again drown her Getting there big guy Getting there 23 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CLU
16. ation Stiletto rounded on her superior officer with barely contained rage Some medical procedure I came out more screwed up than I was before 3 Stiletto been trying to tell you the surgery was a success Before she knew what she was doing she had Aura up against the wall with her arm to her throat Then why in the name of the Chaos Bringer can I Still Fragging Remember Grow some bearings Stiletto You cant remember scrap Aura was practically spitting with rage Stiletto released her shoving her away Thats a Believe what you want Your transfer s been approved You can spend the rest of your tour questioning yourself in Cybertron 5 skidplate or you can stay here with your people and face whats coming Just remember Kalis is cold this time of year Aura turned away like Stiletto was beneath her notice Not as cold as in here Stiletto lay in sensory deprived haze as the nano bots dealt with the impact of Bighorn s punch She vaguely sensed the tiny machines sending signals to one another as they tried to work out how to get her mobile again Against all the clashing tolerance warnings telling her not to Stiletto got up and lunged for Bighorn His 18 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS Cie BURNING BRIDGES retaliation was artless but effective A headbutt slammed her back to the ground Overshoot shrieked and burbled his noises becoming even more mechan
17. ched his left eyebrow I can take or leave whatever you wish it is entirely your preference She nodded rapidly OK well then I think like to go back before the riot just take that whole afternoon I don t want to remember what I did COLLECTORS CIUB a a a BURNING BRIDGES Very well Vampire flexed his needle thin talons and an intense look came over his faceplate as he began to concentrate You ll have to sit very still is a delicate art Her vision came back in a rush She was horrified that her memory glitch had betrayed her at such a crucial moment She shook the cable off as quickly as she could but it was obvious she had lingered too long There were signals approaching only mechanometers away Hefting her pistol she reconfigured her power supply adjusting the energon flow for speed rather than conservation Her purpose built servos began to hum with potential energy Stiletto sprang Sprinting at full pelt she was faster than any other bot she knew of except maybe the ancient Autobot Blurr but he d be a rusted statue by now As soon as she broke cover they began firing A blaster bolt punched a smoking hole where she had been crouching a moment before Her speed helped her dodge the next attack a rocket propelled grenade howled past her at hip height detonating against a bridge support She fired back and caught the bot
18. d I keep asking where Betabear 15 but of course no one s seen him and like an idiot I never question it Problem is it all came back to me come on ask me when The big Maximal shook with fury trying to get himself upright without using his crippled arms You re no fun Fine it came back to me when I thought about how I needed to kill you I should thank you actually you ve been a big help I mapped about a dozen places on your body I could place knives with oh let s be modest ninety five percent certainty She was behind him now standing over him with the improvised blade poised ready to strike Even Bighorn calmed slightly when he realized how easy it would be that got me to thinking Why would I screw up something as easy as that throw That s my thing see that s my programming I m Stiletto You haven t heard of me but trust me She held the blade to the back of his cranial unit when it comes to knives break you he was yelling through a mouthful of broken teeth PI kill you for this 1 don t miss She punched the final shard through the top of his head The wound sparked and he convulsed for a second before his fiery optics dimmed and he finally lay still Overshoot had managed to reroute his speech circuits to the secondary speaker his vehicle mode used It was an eerie effect as the voice seemed to come from all of him at once Wow that was q
19. do it d have to be all three 15 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS Cie BURNING BRIDGES Amazingly his luck held As they reached the center of the span where the primary cables dipped lowest he commanded the drones to open their rear engine covers simultaneously and got to work Stiletto was lying in the sludgy rust while the nano bots worked on her wrecked hip She asked for a projected repair time and was told two cycles not bad all told The hulking drones had almost completely disappeared in the stinging cloud now and she couldn t see Overshoot any longer Nano kliks ticked by green icons told her that her various systems had been repaired or at least sufficiently patched She was peering around the paltry cover of the tower when she became aware of knife shapes intruding on her vision she gasped and tasted mech fluid in her mouth The ache in her processor was tremendous it had to be operating at well above normal capacity She didn t even fight the vision this time I killed him I killed She couldn t say his name Her long limbs were tucked up under her as she rocked back and forth slowly at an irregular frequency She felt as pathetic as she must look I know Aura said kindly But you shouldnt be able to remember that No Well I still Stiletto looked at her pleading I can remember the shape of his optics as the knife went I can remember the distress signal his transmitter put ou
20. e drones I overloaded them all three at once and well the bridge isn t going to be in Resistance hands Or anyone else s His optics shined and seemed on the verge of leaking It s just a bridge Overshoot Stiletto felt her overtaxed supply of energon sputter and give out They were mechanometers above the sludgy Kalis ground now and she glided them in transforming and sitting down heavily Overshoot sat down beside her and they didn t say anything for a while as systems rebooted and fuel levels stabilized Will you look at that he said wearily his outstretched arm pointing at the smoking bridge A ragged gash had been torn clean through the middle and the support cables were snapping one by one As they watched the central span between the four towers disintegrated from the middle out plummeting into the void below The changing weight distribution proved too much for the north east pylon It succumbed to its ancient damages and wrenched downward pulling most of the way out of the canyon side before coming to rest at a crazy angle That stood for millions of stellar cycles and we just blew it up He shook his head Amazing what you can do in a day As long as the Resistance doesn t rebuild it Nah they can t that took proper Builder tech Constructicons with plenty of energon and supplies working for a long time There wasn t another one like it on Cybertron Sad really Even if
21. e drones You just go where you re put No argument No question Stiletto cocked her head to one side Don t you Frag no he paused and the look on his face told her he was about to concede the point Well yes I go but I at least have the decency to grumble about it Actually His absent nodding was interrupted by an angry klaxon the normal flickering white light replaced with flashing emergency yellow The proximity sensors at the Altihex end of the bridge had been tripped Scrud Overshoot gave low whistle It s the Resistance It has to be I was beginning to think they weren t coming Stiletto edged closer to the armored wall of the bunker and slid back one of the shutters Nothing on the bridge yet was very strongly hoping they weren t coming Overshoot jabbered flaring emotion circuits apparently drawing power from some of his lesser motor functions Stiletto was all business Get 1 together Maximal she said It s just us and a whole bridge to defend Remember your orders How many Terrorbots are fuelled and active She dropped her optics to the display on her wrist three patrolling just west of here they re low on fuel but they might provide a distraction Signaling now Bridge sensors are reading movement Overshoot gibbered as he stabbed at the monitor controls The rain was particularly heavy and the sensor
22. e stared at her intently Oh OK I just thought Nope sorry No problem improvise Overshoot ran to the drone and checked its power readouts and ammo count This one s looking good Good tell 1t to cover me I m going to scout the other end of the bridge Stiletto hefted her heavy pistol in one hand and steadied it with the other TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB BURNING BRIDGES Seriously Overshoot babbled You re going to leave me I m going to come back but if we re going to have a chance we need more information You know as well as I the drones won t be any use without targeting data her faceplate was set and would brook no arguments Just cover me alright She jogged off moving quickly but conserving energon for the next fight It all clicked into place Hey Stiletto Overshoot couldn t resist calling I ve worked out what your deal 1s That s nice she shot back over her shoulder I ve always wanted to know You can tell me when get back 5 The was holding a camera What Stiletto blinked Say that again camera Wolfang repeated though his tone was kindly Sea Panic was trying to take a quote unquote selfie with Betabear Look we survived the riot that sort of thing 5 Stiletto slumped in her seat I thought it was weapon I know lo
23. elp himself Either way he s going to kill that bot and I ve got to do something Stiletto was babbling and she knew it Bighorn didn t care what she had to say and Overshoot was too damaged to process it Still she had to keep talking or Vampire s modifications might kick in again While she kept herself distracted she could fight That s the missing piece that s what I wasn t getting Sea Panic s this big soft target I could have hit any number of non lethal places to shut him down You know like I m doing to you right now Another piece of debris found a home in the pit of Bighorn s functional arm He cried out as fibro steel tendons were severed however he s this big armored bot looked lot like you actually you d like him To take him out from that distance it was a kill throw or nothing So I did it Thing is that looks kind of bad for the department Even in these interesting times Hero Cop Forced To Kill Drug Addicted Partner makes for one PIT of a headline so they got me when I was still processing what I d done convinced me that a bot called Vampire for Primus sake had my best interests at heart Bighorn roared and went in for the charge head down Stiletto twisted easily aside and tripped him He cursed as he went chin first into the slimy rust they took away my memories but left the guilt Except now I m guilty about some scrap that I never even di
24. ere to plant it See Betabear heard of him No Bighorn tried to stand and the hip gave way again OK thought not just indulge me for a sec would Bighorn just growled So yeah where was I Betabear that s it He was my partner He was a good for promotion did a lot of outreach work with scrambled protoforms down in the projects Thing is do you see where this is going She sidestepped neatly as Bighorn attempted a clumsy painful looking lunge Stop your prattling fool he roared Rude Pll be done in a minute The thing is our Betabear has a secret a nasty little habit he can t quite kick I don t know if it was from before he joined the force or if he picked it up undercover but Betabear is hooked on a nasty little substance called nucleon I m sure you ve heard of that Bighorn came at her again fists flailing sparks pouring from his wounds She sprang into a backflip swatted his hands away kicked him in the face He grunted as she continued Yeah so Betabear s got this habit that everyone sort of knows about at least I did before Stiletto chopped Bighorn s elbow joint as he surged past her He howled as the arm shut down with a little mechanical whine of protest Now the bit I can t work out is if Sea Panic s connected to Betabear s dealer and he s seen a chance or if he s just strung out on Nuke and can t h
25. gan to pull back Even the most enraged could see she was serious Unfortunately so were they Realizing she was being careful with her stun shots the crowd found its second wind and poured towards her She managed to drop two or three but they were trampled by their comrades with little regard for their safety Every few nano kliks her off hand wandered to the magnetic sheaths that held her knives Survival instinct was kicking in now and it was everything she could do to resist giving in to its primal urgency Stop in the name of the The crowd hit her like a tidal wave bearing her bodily off her feet The gun was gone instantly and she was back to hand to hand The sun was blotted out by the mass of bodies the grinding of metal against metal rent the air as so many bots crowded in to get at her It made them clumsy and slow Stiletto could work with this She dismissed the targeting module from her HUD and brought the Metallikato program to the fore She went to work Stiletto jerked to and realized to her horror that Overshoot was staring at her She stood staring stupidly at nothing while the welding torch crackled and sparked in her hand She hastily replaced the cover on Unit NCQ 21218 though repairs on its drive train were still unfinished Hey hey you sure you re OK pointy He asked an artificial smile plastered on his face Scrap I m fine just low on power I should take a break Su
26. he and Overshoot would have time to feed the data into the Terrorbots to give them an advantage in the coming battle When she had gathered as much as she dared she decided it was time to get moving Slowly cautiously she stepped backwards and was horrified to find she couldn t move She had caught her ankle in a loop of wire that spilled from the cargo hauler like entrails She shook her spiked foot hoping to free it noiselessly If only I had a knife she thought carelessly then cursing herself as she opened the door to another memory In the chaotic dataworld of her mindscape he leered large and threatening looming impossibly close to her fangs extending syringe fingers clicking against one another in an endless rhythmless tapping Though the Predacon Secret Police worked in tandem with the Maximal Command Security Force few Maximals ever saw the insides of The Mandala Fewer still emerged I don t know if you can help she asked more haltingly than she would have liked The black and red Predacon opposite her sat almost disturbingly still waiting just a fraction too long before replying Of course I can Your declining efficiency rating your doubts about the righteousness of your cause The glitches in your memory matrix I can certainly fix all of that It is after all what your superiors have ordered Yes It s just I don t know how much of it I want or don t The surgeon ar
27. ical and strained as the huge Maximal continued to crush his torso She shook herself and dragged herself forwards half crouching half crawling You just don t stay down Bighorn sliced a kick at her face and she reeled back spitting out a gob of mech fluid Don t the MCSF traitors teach you to know when you re beat Stiletto rolled onto her back and laughed despite herself faces loomed in front of her Sledgehammer s nucleonic rage Wolfang s desperate agony Vampire s predatory grin disguised as bedside manner Wolfang s twitching limb and most of all Sea Panic s wide terrified optics as the knife pierced his brain module Feels like that s all they ve ever done She closed her eyes expecting oblivion Simultaneously without warning and inevitably Stiletto found herself back in the riot She wanted to cry out at the futility of it all Her head span with the sounds and colors some familiar some new The crowd was filled with faces she d seen over and over a thousand times a million and blank voids where Vampire s needles had unpicked the tapestry of her memories Betabear was as she always remembered atop a pile of floored Predacons leaking fuel from minor cuts and covered in dents His power levels were fluctuating and he looked about to go into stasis lock Vampire was there though he shouldn t be she was sure of that much He was trying to tell her something to distract her but th
28. id a debris strewn sidewalk The riots that had been sweeping Cybertron had finally found their way to Peptex In her private moments Stiletto had wondered if the rioters have point Lio Convoy attack on the Games had reopened questions that had long been forgotten or pushed aside Perhaps certain aspects of society could stand to be renegotiated Foremost however Stiletto had watched Lio Convoy commit murder on a live vidcast in order to get his point across and Stiletto as an officer of the law could not condone that Lio Convoy aside Stiletto had sympathy for these bots Most were local none were wealthy they were angry and scared The hardcore rabble rousers were few and far between and would have caused her trouble any day of the orbital cycle Most were just confused and lashing out Nonetheless her partner was merely doing his duty and he was seriously in danger of being overwhelmed She had to act The plaza was a shifting mass of variegated bots Stiletto didn t have time to catalog them individually but she could tell they were exclusively Predacon Any Micromasters in the area had unsurprisingly withdrawn at the first sign of trouble Betabear was at the center of the whirling melee Having apparently abandoned approved crowd control guidelines the burly Maximal was holding one Predacon by the scruff of his neck while another held onto his back and tried to wrestle him to the ground Stiletto 5 first assessment was that
29. ighty blue soldier started to walk away shoulders slumped Lio Convoy took one last wistful glance at his monitors then shut them off with a wireless signal He fell in beside his dejected trooper So B Boom did I ever tell you about the time Bighorn and I took a run at the Cortex It was just him and me at a forward TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CILIUB BURNING BRIDGES listening post when we received word that a Builder with an exo walker had been spotted in the vicinity We d all heard the rumors about the Games getting started again so probability was high that it was a high value target As it turned out ILA Overshoot had freed himself thanks to the distraction she had provided He stood over a pile of Terrorbots waving a weary hand in greeting Bighorn 5 black white and red form reared up from behind light glinted off something small and metallic in his hand Overshoot couldn t see him and she doubted his proximity sensors were working particularly well She couldn t close the gap and there was too much noise on any of the available bands to get him a message Her stun gun was gone only one thing left Stiletto felt the weight of the knife in her hand and then hesitated The object could be a weapon but it could be something innocuous sensor of some sort Bighorn fired and Overshoot s head blew apart as she screamed in horror She felt herself trembling with terror then realized she was being gently sh
30. is time she wouldnt let him This was the hardest This was what she couldn t admit even to herself this was why Aura accusations stung so much she remembered it differently every time Only the details the names of the shops the faces of the crowd conveniently filled with people she d met teachers she d had merchants she d frequented The outcome was always the same wasn t it The memories writhed and pulsed through her neural net They fought where they met one truth establishing dominance over another while it slunk away to build its strength before surging back to the fore to rewrite Stiletto 5 history once again Again inevitably the gray and green shape of Sea Panic rose up behind her colleague Again he raised the camera Stiletto tensed her throwing arm except Neurons surged as the nanobots tried to rewire the pathways of her cranial circuits She blinked everything was different Betabear was well aware of Sea Panic She saw him turn grab the luckless Predacon round the throat and start to squeeze Stiletto tried desperately to call out to stop it Her sensors picked up Sea Panic 5 lifesigns de stabilizing as the battle rage took Betabear She looked down the knife in the process of flying from her fingers She frantically attempted to switch her targeting solution from lethal to incapacitating but it was too late Betabear slumped sideways as the blade buried itself the back of his cranium Stiletto
31. is wild swinging fist but he caught her a glancing blow on the side of the head Sledgehammer 8 nucleon infused hydraulics gave him a strength that smashed her to the floor causing a momentary glitch in her visual feed Sledgehammer s momentum took him barreling past the prone Stiletto and she had time to scramble to her feet before he turned around hereby she continued charge you with a breach of the He cocked his head on one side There was a shipping crate to his left Keeping an eye on Stiletto he smashed it into fragments with one punch 5 going for the contraband Aura said urgently Oh scrap would you look at that Sledgehammer had retrieved a sword almost as long as he was tall That punk filched an energo sword Wolfang said with awe Builder weapon he shouldn t even be able to lift it Aura 5 voice was even more urgent now Its the nucleon Stiletto you havent got a chance shut him down Sledgehammer advanced towards her the tainted fuel had addled his processor beyond the use of speech but his capacity for violence did not seem at all diminished Stiletto watched his advance nervously A breach of the Pax including handling stolen goods dealing in controlled substances use of said substances The sword came down She only just jumped back in time as the massive weapon carved a shrieking gash in the warehouse floor possession of a dead
32. it was still beautiful The way they sparkled never seen anything like it before or since Stiletto s faceplate softened as a faraway look crept into her optics after a little while she seemed to realize she was being caught in an unguarded moment and the spell was broken better than here anyway Hey Stiletto Overshoot asked Ever kill a Her eyes unfocused as they occasionally seemed to and she stared at nothing for fifteen or twenty nano kliks The fingers on her left hand twitched and he wondered where she was A few short seconds and Stiletto was standing among a heap of prone barely conscious bodies Predacons were strewn about clutching vulnerable joints and pressure points Her sensors were alive with information She knew she was burning through her fuel reserves but she couldn t bring herself to care All that mattered was getting to Betabear and putting an end to this madness Betabear had freed himself She had caused enough of a distraction that the part of the mob that was still mobile was slinking away He waved a weary hand in greeting as a gray and green Predacon troublemaker who she recognized as Sea Panic reared up from behind light glinted off something small and metallic in his hand Betabear couldn t see him and she doubted his proximity sensors were working particularly well She couldn t close the gap and there was too much noise on any of the available bands to get him
33. ive enough to think that the Builders are perfect but for the most part the planet is stable The Great War is over and for a long time there was no real sign anything like it would start up again That has to be worth defending by us She banged her knuckles on the armored plating of one of the colossal gray legs and the hollow ringing noise echoed through the sparse chamber By real robots not mindless drones like these Terrorbots or what s the point Nah there s more to it than that Overshoot told her Someone who actually wants to defend the Assembly doesn t get posted to the skidplate of Cybertron to babysit Blitzwing s processor fragged little brothers It doesn t matter though you tell me or you don t either way we re stuck here He wandered off looking somewhat irked As he didn t seem interested in giving her more of a tour Stiletto took it upon herself to explore The bunker was meant to house at least twenty builder scale bots so despite the low ceilings and damp fetid atmosphere there was actually plenty of room Her explorations didn t yield much A spiderbot had spun a web in the southwest corner desiccated corpses of buzz flies littering the ground TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS Clog BURNING BRIDGES below its minute domain She lifted a grease stained tarp to discover the disassembled remains of a Noisemaze production type tactical bomber Idly she wondered if this structure had
34. ly weapon Frag it all Stiletto Your orders were to shoot to kill The sliding doors of the warehouse flew open as Aura and Wolfang advanced firing their blasters The particle beams tore great holes in Sledgehammer 5 thick armor but failed to slow him down He might be dead from his wounds in a few cycles but right now the nucleon was COLLECTORS CLUB BURNING BRIDGES keeping him moving He hit Wolfang at a run knocking him flat and lunged for Aura She ducked the sword and jumped up wrapping her arms and legs around his torso Sledgehammer flailed around trying hard to shake her off Stiletto come Aura yelled desperately to hand Finish him off Stiletto looked down The knives were there It would be so easy to just walk up behind Sledgehammer and jab one in his main energon duct She let the knife slide into her hand The weight felt good She could sense the point was sharp S Do it now But it was too late Sledgehammer managed to shake Aura off and round on Wolfang The great energo sword slashed down and suddenly Stiletto s audio receptors were filled with Wolfang s horrified screams as his leg came off at the knee the foot bizarrely changing from blue to red as it hit the ground and clattered around Sledgehammer wasted no time leaping away from the carnage and disappearing into a second story window Stiletto started back to the present aware that Overshoot was looking to he
35. nodes were beginning to corrode Give me numbers He shook his cranial unit to defrag it Uh between six and twelve all about Maximal sized but I m reading a lot of energon out there They re fuelled up but good It s a scouting party Long range I m guessing hence the extra energon If they get across this bridge they Il signal their main force and before the Builders can reposition the Resistance will have a back door to strike at each of the Torus States in turn Overshoot abruptly sat heavily missing the chair and perching awkwardly on the side of the console You mean we re it He seemed nauseated She suppressed an urge to berate him It wouldn t help him and might slow him down She consciously edged her patience and empathy for him up a notch Us and three half fuelled Terrorbots 99 yes His shoulders did that annoying circular shrug Well that s just She had already made the foot of the ladder and cut him off as she scampered up We have to get out there now Overshoot sighed We really do don t we As she crested the ladder instead of the familiar vista of pylons and cables instead of the howling of the winds through the unnatural canyon her senses took her back to the before TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB BURNING BRIDGES Stiletto Quit stalling and do something Auras voice came in loud and clear in Stiletto s audio receptors
36. ok it happens The blue and grey Maximal turned to his partner all yellows and blues Aura don t it happen It certainly does in a violent crowd control scenario like that situations evolve things get missed You t blame yourself 3 She shook her head I dont see anyone else to blame telling you its OK Stiletto suppressed a wince as Wolfang took her hand We ve already wiped the plaza sensors cleaner than Sunstreaker 5 finish to be square with ya the riot had already done most of the work for us and your knife was retrieved before any civvies saw it No ever going to find out But Look Sea Panic was a stupid thuggish dock worker slinging simultronics on the side I even busted him myself once you may have done everyone a favor by giving him the Harlem sunset Wolfang shrugged think its time we closed the book on this Stiletto was struggling to process this Sea Panic but Look we booked you in for an appointment at The Mandala Aura suppressed a shudder while Wolfang s expression was carefully blank We think it s for the best send you the details Stiletto wanted to wipe Aura indulgent smile right off her face She shook herself back to the present Flashes in a warzone could get her killed She crept past the pylons closest to Altihex without incident and was approaching the far end of the bridge They we
37. out in it but it played hell with his finish TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CLU He glanced back at 5 she remained pristine It irritated him in way he couldn t put his finger on possibly it was that what little he had learned about Stiletto in the last few orbital cycles told him that her finish wouldn t have concerned her 1 the least yet somehow she still managed to gleam This sucks he kicked an empty energon canister against the wall I can t wait to get out of here Stiletto regarded him coolly You ve changed your tune Not here the bunker rather be here than out there I mean here the MCSF My tour is almost up Forty two stellar cycles here seven on foot patrol in Ultrix got less than a stellar cycle left before I light out for Crystal City and start over Stiletto looked at him for a long time Crystal City s gone Overshoot s processor skipped a refresh Wait what Some Resistance fragwit strapped on an antimatter vest took the MTS to the center of town and blew himself and the whole Spark damned city up It was on the vidcast not sure it matters No way could anyone afford to power those crystals anymore Stiletto spoke evenly clipped efficient Overshoot imagined it silent dark towering crystals only reflecting the scant light of the two moons He shivered it was an eerie image
38. plated the bot she d be serving with for the next few stellar cycles She tried to see the bridge through his optics and nearly succeeded Four towering pylons two on either side of the chasm emerged from the walls of the canyon before angling up The nuclo titantum deck was ten lanes wide with embedded LED displays to define traffic The cables were durabyllium and described a perfect arc But then she blinked and once again saw the scars the blast pits the upper half of the hastily repaired northeast pylon a darker shade than the rest angry pits where the acid resistant coating had been chewed away by frizz rats the fraying and in some instances missing suspender cables No her first instinct was right Whatever ancient functionality 1 had once had today the Melpomene was an ugly waste of metal pointlessly linking two dead cities over a rift that plummeted into the endless depths of Cybertron s core During the brief tour Overshoot had gleefully told Stiletto the rumors that the endless corpses of Builders past climbed the walls of the chasm at night She had not commented but right now she knew how they felt Despite her hope that a new environment one devoid of the stresses of patrolling what was increasingly looking like an occupied city would help her flashes worsened Visions of her visit to The Mandala headquarters of the Predacon Secret Police intruded on her endless stretches of monitor duty Botched arrests and angry conf
39. r of all bots for moral support If only he knew what a joke that was Us and three drones versus the whole Resistance His voice quavered with horrified awe He attempted to stare down the span of the bridge but visibility was almost zero in the rain Stiletto shook her head irritably Don t exaggerate sensors estimate no more than a dozen bots Once again you miss the point Overshoot slapped a charge cartridge into his photon blaster That was what we call exaggeration for effect Exaggeration of any kind has place in a combat zone Are you ready Stiletto was already moving forward Overshoot sighed Oh yeah you know me I was forged ready but she was already advancing and would soon reach the relative safety of the closest towers She sensed him hurrying after her When he caught up to her she was kneeling mostly concealed behind a collapsed support frame Overshoot joined her and they scanned the bridge as best they could creating a local wireless connection to share sensor data so nothing was missed For agonizing minutes they waited the only sounds were the rhythmic drumming of the rainstorm and the mechanical whir of their servos as their heads swiveled left and right Overshoot was about to say something when a blaster bolt hurtled out of the gloom and ricocheted in a shower of sparks It was followed by a volley most going over their heads Get ready said
40. re shrouded in vapor when she spotted them eight bots then eight more and a further eight and on and on they were arrayed like Decepticons in a Great War propaganda vid the ranks looked endless She checked her HUD there were exactly ninety six bots Maximals and Predacons of all shapes and sizes This was no scouting party it was a full troop movement They weren t testing the viability of the Kalis front they had already committed TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB BURNING BRIDGES The bots were waiting eagerly while an enormous Maximal shouted a mixture of threats and encouragement Stiletto realized that they had no idea she was there She had the drop on them but there were so many She could get a little closer try for a more definitive scan of their weapons and capabilities Maybe even hear some spoken orders so they would have a better idea of what they were dealing with After shutting down any functions that caused more than the most minimal sound she crept forward low aiming for a position behind a wrecked cargo hauler She was only mechanometers away from the leader now A scan of his IFF signal told her his name was Bighorn although given how he projected his voice during his oration Bullhorn may have been more apt a name She told her sensor suite to gather data Statistics and measurements started to stream in She did not have time to consciously assimilate it all now but she hoped s
41. re thing he said It s not like these metal morons are going anywhere Drip fizz drip fizz Overshoot stared vacantly at the hole in the shelter and the corresponding hole that was slowly being burned in the floor Rain s getting in he said redundantly Stiletto did not reply She rarely did In the three orbital cycles since she had transferred here she had seemed to find her own rhythm and 1 didn t have much need of him Most of the time she seemed far away and attempts to engage her either resulted in confused looks or monosyllabic half answers In a futile attempt to stave off boredom they alternated between maintenance of the drones and surveying the bridge The supply of energon was large but not so generous that they could splurge Much of it went to keeping the woefully inefficient Terrorbots running Yep he said to nobody and slouched into the next room The above ground portion of the bunker was rudimentary to say the least Only the front wall the one facing the bridge was armored at all the rest was a crude patchwork of low grade cyber steel and various polymers Kalis acid rain was a constant companion Overshoot skirted a steaming puddle catching a glimpse of himself in an unusually reflective monitor screen He was a sorry sight After a few decades keeping the rain off was too much trouble so his paint job was now mottled and scarred It didn t hurt unless he stayed
42. rontations with her superiors intruded on an excursion to pull Overcharge Unit 381 PCE out of some ancient blast crater it had somehow driven into and couldn t extricate itself from But the most pernicious was constantly reliving the riot itself Betabear I cant get to Stiletto grappled with a terrifying looking Predacon He tossed her to the ground and a great clawed foot came down heavily on her ankle She twisted and threw the attacker off jumping to her feet and delivering a roundhouse kick that shattered his spiked teeth Betabear was struggling now pinned down by the sheer weight of numbers Stiletto s temperature sensors went crazy as another engex cocktail exploded to her left She winced and covered her optics When she recovered Betabear was at the bottom of a heap of bodies Peptex was a Predacon city MCSF were barely tolerated even in the best of times Ever since that spawn of Ls TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CLU BURNING BRIDGES Unicron Lio Convoy had pulled his little stunt during the games tensions across the planet were at an all time high MCSF patrolling Predacon cities were under strict orders of non lethal force only She thumbed the switch on her pistol to the stun position and went in firing It was a use of precious energon have to justify in her report later but Betabear 5 life could be in danger Bots dropped left and right she stepped over them as respectfully as she could The crowd be
43. t It tasted like copper Aura took her hand and gently bade her to get up As we told you before you t change what happened all you can do is try to live through it I can t stop remembering It comes back whether I want it to or not The surgery The surgery worked projecting Stiletto you know the facts of what happened so filling in the blanks Vampire warned you this might happen Then whats the point I keep turning it over I m an expert with knives I m purposely built for it Why didnt I throw to wound Aura reached up to touch her faceplate The point dear Stiletto is that no one can hold onto a false memory forever We can get you through this Overshoot s panicked transmission jerked her back to the present I don t know if you can hear me I need evac like yesterday Never again she swore Come in come in Overshoot got you The plan s gone sideways that 15 to say it s worked too well explain later pinned down Stiletto jumped up and boosted into airplane mode It felt glorious to be flying again even though she couldn t make time to enjoy it After arriving at Kalis she had overflown the ruins a few times surveyed the bridge even got as far as the other side of Altihex but the whole vista just depressed her and the acid rain made it more trouble than it was worth Reaching the
44. t I m not actually cracked These days there s a war going on out there and this seems as good a place as any to wait it out Command is still calling it a peace keeping action A brief flash of mech with a knife protruding from his cranial unit flashed before her optics but she dismissed it with a miniscule shake of her head Her new partner still playing tour guide seemed oblivious She wondered how long that would last She rewound her senses and took in the sense of his words Hey the Bulks can call it what they want I just go by my optics and audio receptors All I know is cities have been attacked all over and Fort Max went dark half an orbital cycle ago Sounds like a war to me Stiletto bristled despite promising herself she wouldn t OK fine it s a war and you re still Maximal Command Security Force TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CIUB Overshoot would have smiled sadly had he anything to smile with Right and when I joined up MCSF used to mean you just got paid to harass empties on the corners and bust Nucleon dealers when they couldn t pay up I don t know about you but I never expected to rust my skidplate off guarding the fragging Melpomene Bridge with a bunch of mindless drones and I sure as scrap never expected to fight any fragging war Nucleon dealers and empties That was your ambition Stiletto was genuinely curious she hadn t met anyone with such a detached
45. the situation could get out of hand fast engex bomb sailing over her left shoulder caused her to mentally upgrade that fast to already She winced instinctively as the canister burst and flaming fuel spilled everywhere Betabear she called to you Betabear had no response He was using every micron of his concentration and power to fend off the mob Stiletto hesitated the plaza was filled from one row of burning shops to the other with rioting Predacons The crush was tighter than the worst post victory Arena invasion her speed would be of no use Mentally she shrugged off the speed pack sliding into tactical mode She felt her sensors boost to heightened levels of awareness and some of the torque drain from her limbs The first rioter to notice her stepped up and roared in her face brandishing some kind of power tool Not having time to spend on niceties Stiletto cold cocked him The punch was a simple Metallikato technique and it took him by surprise Stiletto stepped over him as he went down Stiletto shook her head and recalibrated her vision fighting back nausea as her equilibrium circuit did somersaults The flashbacks were getting worse but she was finally doing something about them wasn t she Overshoot gave her a funny look having no doubt noticed her ten hic stare Nothing to do but plow forward Well she said I ve always believed there is strength in order I m not na
46. times it was fruitless occasionally he emerged from the data stream with new insights unexpected implications to the Targetmaster Extirpation a new angle on the Darksiders an intuition regarding the economy of Vos His reverie was interrupted by B Boom bursting into his sanctuary Boss bro you gotta approve this air strike ASAP Lio Convoy steepled his fingers and leaned forward He was mildly irritated that his session had been interrupted before some useful knowledge could be gleaned but he suppressed it Why Dude the Melpomene Bridge operation total bust MCSF traitors blew the bridge Bighorn got stuck on the other side and went down hard Another seventeen MIA or KIA BA hacked a satellite and we got eyes on the two that did it If we scramble now we can With a single raised hand Lio Convoy cut off the enthusiastic interloper P1 save you the trouble B Boom No Permission not granted The blue Maximal s face fell Bu but why Boss dude Everyone loved Bighorn we can avenge him if we act now Don t you understand this isn t about revenge We re fighting a war of liberation here We can t afford to waste resources hunting down every truculent MCSF or PSP B Boom started to turn Besides such resources are better spent on the Builders There s still a chance the MCSF will come around to our way of thinking The Builders the Builders have no future His m
47. ts and scrapes half his face was missing its plating but he still had his strength and he easily hoisted Overshoot into the air Before Stiletto could react he dashed the Maximal to the ground and stamped down hard on his chest Overshoot writhed as internal conduits ruptured and coolant started to pool around him I can t change what happened to my bots Bighorn growled But you turncoats re gonna pay Overshoot was trying to call for help but his voice synthesizer was filling with fluid and he could only make a desolate clicking noise buried beneath the gurgling and bubbling liquid energon seeping loose from various crushed internal mechanisms Stiletto lunged at Bighorn but a sweep of his arm knocked her sideways Metallliko wouldn t be any use against a Slab of hawser strong nano muscle like him She hit the ground hard Her sense circuits dropped out as her tactical programs rebooted You running away Aura looked and sounded disgusted I don t have choice I cant trust myself Or you she silently added The whole thing stank of a cover up and she wanted no part of it We given you no end of choices Why do you keep throwing them back at us 5 Stiletto stopped walking sighed and her shoulders slumped Because I cant pretend that it didn happen No one is asking you to The mnemosurgery was a medical procedure to help you cope so you could do your duty without hesit
48. uite something No wonder they call you Stiletto You hear all that she asked wearily Most of it sure Want to talk about 1t She sighed combat mode euphoria giving way to the tiredness deep in her struts Let s talk about something else Why I TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CLU Stiletto punched him lightly on the arm and he yelped Careful I m fragile here She helped her battered companion to his feet You re not going to be transforming anytime soon It s a long walk back to civilization You can fly Yes but I m hardly going to abandon anoth I m not going to abandon my partner am I We destroyed a magnificent bridge together She offered him her shoulder to lean on Come on you can tell me the other nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety seven reasons why they call them Overcharge drones actually only had three Make some up We ve got time MO ND pees fo cx xt ce In his command module deep inside Resistance headquarters Lio Convoy leaned back and tried to take it all in Dozens of screens surrounded him piping in information from every corner of Cybertron and even a few ships and outposts Every scrap of intelligence they could find raw and unfiltered displayed before him absent of context Some thought it a useless affectation but he knew better Though some
49. we win this 1011 never be repaired Stiletto was unmoved Not as sad as a Resistance invasion of the Torus States Maybe OK she said Let s hear it What s my deal Oh said Overshoot It s something to do with blades right Your name you see Most of us have names that mean something don t we I m called Overshoot because I shoot stuff yeah it s pretty thin sometimes but there has to be a reason you re called Stiletto and I ve never seen you with a knife or sword you never looked at my feet She held her ankle up showing off her narrow heel strut She tried to smile but it came across as a sneer as the memory refused to be laughed aside She looked down and swallowed hard trying to rid herself of the copper taste building in her throat you re right I made a mistake and someone died 7 TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS CLOG BURNING BRIDGES Yeah I figured 1t d be something like that you re too noble and stupid not to be on the front lines otherwise Case in point today you did everything right and a bunch of people are going to go on living Oh is that what you think came a harsh voice from the smoking ruins behind them Overshoot shrank back as an enormous shape came barreling out of the gloom Pity I m on your side of the bridge ain t it Bighorn hit them like a battering ram He was covered in cuts den
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