Two weeks has past since Spike returned back to his new body. During those weeks, much has happened. Most of the planet has been restored, building wise, but some of the roads are still unsafe for travel. The good news, for Vaughan at least, her mother Margret has decided that the girl should continue to stay in Mission City where it was safe.
The bad news?
She wants her to go back to school.
Vaughan was practically hitting herself after hearing that. Sure school was important, especially since she was supposed to be graduating this year, but she has tons of things to catch up on since the devastation of the planet.
But at least one good thing came out of it.
On the year before, she took an online course. She and her friends received an email from their guidance counsellors that they can pick up from where they left off if they decided to take this courses. Once Vaughan talked to her mother about it, she seemed all for it. Anything to get her daughter back to her school work and less time goofing around.
So for the past few weeks, Vaughan had been busy working in her new online courses, catching up to her lessons in a breeze.
She was at the Autobot's base, finishing up her last assignment. "Aaaaaand done!"
"You're finished?" Spike asked, reading a book.
"Yep." Vaughan smiled with glee. "Now that I have free time, I think I'll check in on my YouTube channel and see how my songs are doing."
"Oh, can I see?" Spike asked.
"Sure." Vaughan shrugged.
Spike closed his book as he jogged on over, sitting next to his cousin on the floor against a wall as she logged into YouTube, bringing up her channel. The teenagers eyes widened as their backs leaned back into the wall.
"Whoa..." they gasped.
Imma Try It Out has over 5,000,000 hits.
Play Hard has over 3,000,000 hits.
We Go Down has over 2,000,000 hits
And finally, her Radioactive Dubstep Remix has nearly.... 10,000,000 hits?!
"Un.Be.Lieve.Able." Vaughan exclaimed.
"This is insane!" Spike gasped.
"What's insane?" Jazz asked as he entered the room, looking down at the two humans.
"Vaughan's Radioactive Dubstep Remix has nearly 10,000,000 hits!" Spike explained. "That means almost 10,000,000 people who live all around the world have listened to this song."
Jazz whistled. "Dang Little Lady, you're getting more famous everyday."
"It's kind of hard to miss. But I have to admit, all of this is kind of overwhelming." said Vaughan.
"What are you talking about Vaughan? Sure you've been mentioned on the radio and the local newspaper, but nothing major has happened." Spike realized.
"Hey, don't jinx it!" Vaughan tensed, pointing a finger at her cousin. "What I mean, is that people keep commenting and sending me messages to make more, and I don't know if I can keep up."
"You've posted four songs so far, who says a fifth one couldn't hurt?" Jazz asked.
"I want to make another Jazz, I really do. It's just that I'm running out of inspiration and material." Vaughan answered.
"Well, Halloween is coming up. Try making a Halloween Dubstep song for the holiday? Or remix a Halloween related song that's already out?" Spike suggested.
"Yeah, maybe I'll do that. But the question is, what?" Vaughan thought aloud.
******
After some digging around online, Vaughan comprised a list of Halloween songs she knew and listened to, listening to them to see if they could be remixed into Dubstep.
While a few of them did seem promising, there was one song that caught her attention. It was a song she listened to while in her freshmen year of high school.
"Heart thumps and you jump
Comin’ down with goosebumps!
You dared to go there
I’ma I’ma get you so scared!"
Vaughan tapped her right left hand against her knee as she sat against the wall, listening to the music, its lyrics, and the beat.
"We’re wantin’ to
We’re hauntin’ you
We’re wantin’ to
Eh eh
If you stayed in too late
To be getting afraid
This scene’s extreme…
I I I I’ma get you so scared!
We’re wantin’ to
We’re hauntin’ you
We’re wantin’ to
Eh eh"
Vaughan was really starting to get into the music as she bobbed her head to the beat of the song, humming along as the chorus came in and she tapped to the beat of the drums as the chorus played through her ears.
"Gonna get your body shakin’
Wishin’ you could just awaken
Here we go…
Tonight all the monsters gonna dance
We’re comin’ to get ya!
Tonight all the monsters gonna dance
We’re comin’ to get ya!
If you’re only dreaming
Why I hear you screaming?
Tonight all the monsters gonna dance
We’re comin’ to get ya!
We’re comin’ to get ya!
Callin’ all the monsters, callin’ all the monsters
Callin’ all the, callin’ all the, callin’ all the monsters!"
"Yeah, that's the one!" she exclaimed quietly as she took a note of the song in her phone, saving the song onto her YouTube play list, and buying the song on iTunes. Just before she was about to get started to work on her Halloween Dubstep, the Autobots began pouring into the room, gathering around the Autobot engineer.
"Jazz, what's going on?" the girl asked, spotting her partner as he walked into the room again.
"Wheeljack's got a new invention he wants to present." Jazz replied. "Want to check it out?"
"Sure!" The girl smiled.
Jazz waited for his human partner as she closed and put her laptop back in its case before following the Autobot as the two made their way into the crowd, looking up at the Autobot engineer.
"What is it Wheeljack?" Optimus asked.
"A clever little creation of mine that I like to call, the Immobilizer." Wheeljack answered.
"The Immobilizer?" Vaughan asked with some confusion.
"What does it immobilize?" Cliffjumper asked.
"Excellent question." Wheeljack raised a finger. "Hound, a demonstration if you please."
Hound nodded, activating his projection screen as a figure came to life in the air. It was a hologram of one of the Decepticon minicons, Laserbeak.
"Whoa, that hologram looks a lot like that dirty bird Laserbeak." Spike said with surprise.
"It's supposed to Spike." Wheeljack replied.
The light from Hound's projection disappeared as Laserbeaks hologram began flying around the room. "Now, imagine you're out on patrol one day and all of a sudden old Laserbeak shows up--"
"Take cover!"
Wheeljack was interrupted when Ironhide entered the room and it looked like the red Autobot nearly blew a gasket! He whipped out his laser gun and open fired on the hologram. Everyone yelled as they ran for cover, Bumblebee and Jazz protecting their human friends.
Ironhide's lasers struck some of the rock foundation from the ceiling as some giant rocks came crashing down on Wheeljack as he protected his new invention.
"What happened? Did I nail Laserbeak?" he asked.
"Ironhide, he wasn't real! It was just one of Hound's holograms!" Spike clarified with a whine as he brushed some dirt and dust off his shirt.
Ironhide walked over to the rock pile, helping Wheeljack out of the rubble. "Ah, sorry guys! You okay there Wheeljack?"
"Probably, but the pulverizer for my Immoblizer is pooped out." Wheeljack answered as Ironhide pulled him out of the rubble.
"Aw wingnuts! I can't believe I was fooled by a hologram." Ironhide muttered. "My scanners must be glitched."
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself Ironhide." Vaughan chide.
"Vaughan is right." Wheeljack agreed, placing a hand on the Autobot's shoulder. "None of us is perfect Ironhide. My Immobilzer demonstration will just have to wait a while." Wheeljack looked over at Bumblebee and Spike, showing them a piece of his invention that was broken. "Bumblebee, run into town and pick up a new Pulvirizer for me will ya?"
"Got'cha Wheeljack." Bumblebee gave the engineer a thumbs up. "Come on Spike." The yellow Autobot and the boy took off running, as Vaughan's face lit up and she shook her head.
"Hey wait up! I wanna come too!" But she only ran a few steps when something, or should I say someone, caught the collar of her shirt, pulling her back. "Hey!" Jazz lifted her up into the air, placing the girl on his shoulder.
"Oh no you don't."
"Aw come on Jazz!" Vaughan whined. "Can I go with them? It's been ages since I saw downtown all bright and shiny!"
"That will have to wait for another time. I promised Prime that I'd get some training in for you today." Jazz explained. "I figured we'd get started on controlling these new powers of yours."
Vaughan sighed. "Oh, okay."
"Hey Vaughan! Are you coming?" Spike asked with a yell as he was getting ready to hoop inside Bumblebee.
"Nah, not this time Spike." Vaughan yelled back.
"Aw that's a shame. Me and Bumblebee were thinking about stopping by the new arcade that opened up downtown." Spike yelled back with a wink.
Vaughan gasped as she took a deep breath. "Do not play that new Super Street Fighter game without me!"
"No promises!" Spike yelled back as he hooped inside Bumblebee and the Autobot took off.
*********
"That's it Vaughan! Focus all of your power on the targets." said Jazz.
Vaughan was in the training room of the Autobot's headquarters, firing soundwaves left and right at moving targets. At one point, one of them tried to whack itself right into her, but Vaughan just moved away at the nick of time, although she fell over with the target swinging back around and coming straight for her again.
She remembered the trick she used back on Cybertron, releasing her palms on the floor as she sky rocketed into the air, flipping over the target as she fired one more soundwave and destroyed the target.
"I got it!" She cheered.
"Don't get cocky Little Lady." Jazz grinned.
She huffed and puffed, her body out of breath as the targets slowed down to a complete stop. "How long have we been at this?"
"A while. Bumblebee and Spike should have been back ages ago." Jazz shrugged.
"Ah, they must have stopped by the arcade." Vaughan sighed as she sat down.
She groaned, her muscles aching as she rubbed her arms. "You okay?" Jazz asked her as he walked over towards the girl.
"Yeah, I'm good. My muscles ache a little bit. Ever since my gym course got cancelled back in September, I haven't been getting as much exercise as I used to." Vaughan replied.
"Why did it get cancelled?" Jazz asked.
"This year my school enrolled a lot more freshmen that usual. Like, at least 40% more. I have never seen my school halls so crowded before! It's like trying to make my way through a stampede!" Vaughan explained with exhaustion.
"High school can be pretty chaotic huh?" Jazz knelt in front of the girl.
"Oh you have no idea." Vaughan shook her head with a laugh.
Jazz extended his hand towards Vaughan, helping her up to her feet. "That's enough training for today. Let's head back to the command centre and wait for the boys to get back."
"Sure. While I'm at it, I'll send a text message to Spike to remind him." As Vaughan followed Jazz out of the training room, she pulled out her iPhone, turning it on as she opened up the message application, typing a message to Spike.
"Are you two coming back anytime soon?" - Vaughan
Within moments, Spike replied.
"Just a second Vaughan. Bumblebee is scoring triple bonus points on his first try!" - Spike
"Aw don't tell me you're playing Super Street Fighter without me?! I specifically told you not to!" - Vaughan
"Better, he's playing Galaxia. ;)" - Spike
"Just get your butts over here, Wheeljack's been waiting for you guys." - Vaughan
"Fine, we're on our way." - Spike
After that, Vaughan put her phone back in her pocket as the two of them entered the command centre. Optimus, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Trailbreaker, Gears, Sunstreaker, Prowl, and Brawn who were all cleaning up the mess from this mornings accident.
The sound of a car engine caught Vaughan's attention as Bumblebee zipped into the room, pulling to the side as Spike ran out, holding an object in his hand. "We got your pulvirizer Wheeljack!'
"It's about time." said Wheeljack as the boy handed him the object and the engineer hooked it up to his device.
"Can't say I disagree." Vaughan crossed her arms, looking at her cousin.
"What can I say? Bumblebee hit the high score." Spike shurgged.
"Next time, call us if you're going to be late." said Vaughan. "And next time we go into town, you're taking me to that arcade."
"Yes ma'am." Spike teased a salute as the girl nudged him in the arm.
"What took you guys so long? It doesn't take hours to beat one high score on an arcade. Esspecially since it just opened today." said Vaughan.
"Well the thing is, we met someone... a girl." Spike replied.
"A girl?!" Vaughan exclaimed.
This made Vaughan curious. What if Spike used the excuse of hanging around at the arcade just so he could talk to this so called 'girl' that he met? She had to wonder, was Spike in love?
"Okay, demonstration time!" Wheeljack announced.
"Right, your Instant Immobo-something." Sparkplug mumbled.
"Instant Immobilizer." Wheeljack clarified. "It can stop any moving object in its tracks."
"Oh, so it's like a freeze ray!" Vaughan spoke in awe.
"Once I upgrade it to max power, it can stop the Decepticons from where they stand." Wheeljack continued.
Vaughan grinned at the thought of frozen Decepticons, just posing there like statues. Now that was something that she definatly wanted to see.
"I'm still not sure of its full potential Optimus Prime."
"Then we'll test it under safety conditions. Autobots, transform!" Optimus commanded.
The Autobots obeyed as they all transformed into their vehicles, revving their engines as Spike and Sparkplug hooped inside Bumblebee while Vaughan tagged along with Jazz.
"Roll out!"
********
The Autobots drove through a forest not too far from the Autobots base.
Along the way, Vaughan hummed quietly along to the song she chose to make the remix, checking for any drops she could put, maybe a little extra base, etc.
Optimus ordered Ironhide to take the first watch, just in case they had a run in with the Decepticons and that they would just so happen to discover Wheeljack's new device.
The rest of the Autobots pulled up to a river, transforming into their robot modes after the two Autobots, Jazz and Bumblebee, allowed their human friends an exit.
Wheeljack walked over to the edge of the river, putting the Immobilizer in place. "Okay everyone, here it goes." Wheeljack brought out a remote control, pressing a red button as the device came to life. An antenna popped out from the top as red lights from the bottom spun around in circles.
Vaughan watched with complete amazement as the atenna fired a laser right at the river, and the water turned grey, stoping in its tracks!
"Incredible!" Vaughan exclaimed.
"It works! The molecules of the water were stopped in mid motion." said Wheeljack.
"I don't know man." Jazz replied with uneasiness as he walked to the edge of the river, kneeling down and examining it closely. "It still looks the same to me." Jazz jumped forward in an attempt to splash in the water, but with a 'THUD' he smacked down on the frozen solid water.
Vaughan couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You were saying?"
Wheeljack set the controler down as he walked over to the small waterfall of the river, touching it with his finger. "Right now this is the hardest substance we've ever known."
"Not harder than my hydrolic knuckles!" Brawn protested. He ran forward, throwing his fist straight at the waterfall. The fist collided with the solid water, a loud vibration echoed all across the area. Brawn stepped back with amazement as he shook his hand. "I take that back."
As Spike ran over to check out the solid water for himself, he accidentally stepped on the controler, making the Immoblizer beep and the red lights appear again. "Uh no!"
"Spike what did you do?!" Vaughan asked.
She gasped when she discovered that the antenna of the Imobilzer was aimed right at him. Wheeljack noticed this too, running towards the boy and pushing him out of the way just as the Immobilzer open fired, and froze Wheeljack in his pose.
"Wheeljack!" the teens called.
"He--He's frozen solid." said Ratchet as he tried to get the engineer to move.
"And we don't know how to reverse the effect! What do we do?" Vaughan asked with worry.
"I don't know. But we must make sure that a powerful weapon such as this doesn't fall into Decepticon hands." Optimus answered.
"Right you are Optimus Prime!" a voice yelled.
Everyone looked up into the sky to see Megatron and his army of Decepticons flying by over head. They swooped down, landing on their feet as they open fired on the Autobots. The Autobots fired back, with Optimus protecting Spike and Sparkplug while Jazz stayed with Vaughan, his human partner.
"How did they know we were here?!" Vaughan asked, trying to talk over the sounds of the blaster fire.
"I don't know Vaughan." Jazz replied, firing a shot before ducking for cover. "But I got a sick feeling that they're after the Immobilizer."
And after the Immobilizer they were. Within moments, sadly the Decepticons had the Autobots and the three humans surrounded. Megatron stepped forward, aiming his ion cannon straight at Optimus Prime's head.
"Fare thee well Optimus Prime. We'll take the Immobilizer now if you please." he grinned.