Warrior's Fury
By Tony "Thunderbolt" Klepack
Somewhere...
We watch as the Transformer's body drifts through
the Iciness of the celestial void. He is no longer functional. His
battered corpse is covered with ice as we teleport him into our lair
and moisture begins to form on his still body.
We scan his primitive cerebro circuitry and find
that he was once known as Cliffjumper-an odd choice for a codename in
our opinion. But then, we suppose exposure to Humanity can do that to
the unprepared mechanoid.
Further scans reveal that he was onboard a shuttle
bound for Autobot Headquarters on Earth, to restore supplies to their
City-base there. Interesting, they were at the tentative beginnings of
a true cooperation between Humans and Transformers, But his memory
reveals a surprise attack by the Decepticon faction, which is what
appears to have rendered him inoperative.
How delightfully primitive this universe
is-factions! And pathetic attempts at cooperation with Humans! They
have no idea what they could all become...and now it looks as if they
may never do so. Despite this, we cannot take that chance. In time,
they could resolve their war peacefully and then...no. It is too great
a possibility to simply ignore. We must take action! They must remain
at war, no matter the cost.
This one, this Cliffjumper, is of no consequence
here in this universe. But elsewhere, as my agent, he may prove useful.
Perhaps.
But he is weak and powerless in this form. When the
time comes for us to reveal our presence, we will need strength-a war
machine capable of doing our bidding, whatever that may yet be.
Restoring his life to him is child's play for beings
of our power. With little thought, part of our being becomes one with
our machines and we design a new bodyform that is infallible for
Cliffjumper's--and eventually our own-needs. Quickly, his new form is
readied and we replicate his personality engrams into the waiting
circuitry.
However, we see fit to add a few alterations of our
own. He will become battle-ready and merciless to our enemies when he
fights-a living lethal weapon, or so we hope. We will test him in a
battle, first, before he is placed into his new home.
*
*
*
The twin moons of the mysterious planet illuminated
the dull pink alien sky, giving it a most picturesque appeal to the
planet's inhabitants.
"Where...where am I?" Cliffjumper asked himself
aloud, his mind emerging from a bizarre haziness. "I-I was heading to
Earth on the shuttle, when we were ambushed by the Decepticons and
Galvatron-" He stopped as he remembered with horror what had happened
next. It was not a happy memory, to say the least. First, Galvatron had
dismembered Tailgate, as slowly and painfully as possible, making sure
Cliffjumper had stayed conscious to watch every moment' of the torture.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of mind-numbing cruelty,
Galvatron had his soldiers cast Tailgate's tattered remains into space.
Then, Galvatron had torn one of Cliffjumper's arms
off, and then, the other-laughing all the time as he'd done it and seen
Cliffjumper's agony. His maniacal appeal for pain appeased, the
Deeepticon leader had then shot Cliffjumper through the chest fatally.
His last memory had been of being tossed off of the shuttle and into
the frigidity of space...its cold numbing his near-lifeless body, the
void preventing him from even crying out.
Cliffjumper shuddered slightly at the mental
imagery. He remembered that much of the grizzly occasion that had ended
his life. So why was he here? Why was he uninjured? And why did he have
a new body?
He didn't understand any of it-why was he still
alive?
Nearby, a noise snapped him back to the present and
reality.
"Who's there?" he called out, slightly afraid of the
possible responses. He looked around at the alien shrubbery and thick
vegetation, his sensors searching for the source of the sound. After
several moments of near total silence-save for a few native animals
making noise-he concluded that maybe he'd imagined the sound. After
all, given the circumstances, who could blame him?
Then, it attacked!
Cliffjumper spun about in time to see a blur crash
into him. Instinctively, he flipped the creature off of himself and
leapt back to his feet.
The creature gleamed with the coldness of steel and
he knew it probably wasn't native to this planet. It certainly wasn't a
naturally-occurring beast at any rate. The beast roared at him, and
Cliffjumper materialized his gun out of its interdimensional storage.
The beast stood a moment longer, as if sizing up its prey first, and
Cliffjuraper had a moment to study its design: it was a mechanical
beast with a wolf's head, a bat's wings, and the body of a large
animal, possibly a bear. It's silver steel shone brightly as it tensed
and its red optics focused on him.
At incredible speed, it leapt at him and slashed its
claws into his right shoulder. Smashing a fist into it, Cliffjumper
tossed it out of the way and awaited its next lunge. Much to his utter
amazement, the creature's claws had done no damage to him at all!
The animal roared and he could see its steel
musculature tensing for the next strike*
"No, you don't!" he yelled. He felt an anger he'd
never known before welling up inside him. This animal had dared attack
him! He would make it suffer for that. As the creature lunged,
Cliff-jumper's shoulder-mounted gattling gun roared to life, tearing
into it with dozens of explosive bullets. He sidestepped the creature,
which collapsed to the ground behind him. It was in no apparent hurry
to get up.
Cliffjumper walked up to the wheezing body of the
beast. Quite unexpectedly, its hand gripped his foot tightly.
"Pathetic!" he sneered. He lifted his foot into the
air slightly and slammed it down on top of the animal's head, crushing
it completely.
The battle over, Cliffjumper became aware of his
surroundings again and noticed that he stood fairly close to a cliff.
Around him, in all directions, were mammoth mountains rising into the
air, their darkened forms an impressive sight to behold. Then, he
noticed a light in about three kilometers below and ahead of him. His
optics automatically increased power to focus in on a small town ablaze.
Without another thought, he converted into his car
mode and roared down the small gravel path nearby. He realized that he
became a labrighini now, and beamed as he imagined what his fellow
Autobots would say about his great new finish.
That is, if he could ever find them again.
A few minutes later, Cliffjumper raced into the
town. Several robed, reptilian inhabitants ran in fear of their lives
and swerved to avoid the new alien thing in their midst. He noted their
attackers: more of the mechanical beasts! Several flew and soared
downward at the reptilian aliens, while others crept about on the
ground, tearing into buildings and aliens alike.
"Vermin!" ho snapped as he transformed into his
robot-mode again. Almost immediately, three of the creatures dove
downward at him, each preparing to make him their next prey.
Cliffjumper materialized his sword and leapt aside, slashing out as he
did so. One of the beasts fell dead, its head neatly severed from its
body.
The two others swung about in mid-air, preparing to
take another pass at him. He moved fast, bringing his gun out and
firing off two particle blasts at them. The white energy tore through
both of their bodies, and they exploded in a shower of sparks*
Charging into the town, Cliffjumper, fired his
weaponry at the invading creatures, destroying them with the precision
of a skilled warrior. Taking care not to hit the reptilian inhabitants
of the town, some of whom stood watching as the strange crimson
creature stood and defended them against certain death. He destroyed
every one of the beasts that he could find.
A few minutes later, Cliffjumper stood atop a pile
of smashed metal limbs and torsos. Nearby, the reptilian aliens watched
the metal being whom was their savior with awe-and, perhaps, fear of
the future conqueror.
Cliffjumper turned away silently. The threat to the
innocent inhabitants of this town was over, and he felt his abnormal
rage settling quickly. He wondered why he felt so fiercely angry at his
enemies-it wasn't normal. For Grimlock, maybe, but not for him.
It was almost as if he had been taking out his rage
against
Galvatron on these beasts, but that was-
Cliffjumper heard a roar and looked upward a moment
too late, seeing one of the animals diving downward at him! He
half-leapt right, but was not entirely successful as the creature
connected with the left side of his torso, dragging him to the ground.
Both combatants tried to recover first, but the
creature managed to pin him down. It growled and snapped its fangs at
him. Only his head’s last second dodge to the right avoided its jaws.
He wasn't sure if it could breach his armor or not, but he didn't want
to find out either.
Unable to reach his sword or rifle-both had been
knocked out of his hands in his attempt to dodge the creature-and
unable to aim any of his bodily weapons at the creature, Cliffjumper
managed to wiggle his right hand upward at the beast. Ha mentally
activated his 'glass gas' spray and caught it through the mid-section.
The creature looked stunned at the crystallized section of itself.
Taking advantage of its momentary distraction, he smashed his right
first up and through the beast! It toppled off of him and pieces of its
crystallized-self dropped harmlessly against his armor.
Cliffjumper rose and aimed his wrist guns at
creature's still-intact head. He opened fire and its head-module
exploded, killing whatever was left of the animal.
He scanned the area around himself thoroughly, but
saw no more of the mechanical beasts anywhere.
It was over. He had won. He breathed a sigh of
relief and then transformed and raced out of the alien village. He
didn't know exactly where he was going; he just hoped that somewhere
out there lay the answer to the questions he had like why he was here,
why he'd been rebuilt, and how it had all happened.
We are satisfied, Cliffjumper has survived his
testing with little difficulty. He is now ready to be implemented in
the field, we need only await the proper time and place to activate him.
We reach out with our mind and teleport him here,
into stasis.
And so it begins. The pieces of our plan start to
fall into place, and when we are done, the Transformers will be but a
distant memory in this universe.
As it should be.
We shall stand unhindered and unchallenged in our
uniqueness and our power.
We look forward very much to that coming day.