Vaughan stood behind Jazz's leg, hiding from Megatron and his Decepticon forces. At least to the best of her abilities.
"Give me the device now, Optimus Prime!" Megatron ordered.
"Try and take it Mega-turkey!" Trailbreaker mocked.
"So be it." Megatron replied. "Fire!"
The Decepticons open fired on the Autobots, Jazz kneeling down to protect his human friend. But Trailbreaker activated his force shield, protecting him and the others from the blaster fire. "Nothing like a force shield to take out the sting of laser fire!"
"Fool!" Starscream growled, pointing a finger at Megatron. "We could have taken them out, and reacquired Project: Remix! But you just had to have this ridiculous immobilizer!"
Vaughan tensed as she watched the seeker transform into his jet mode and flew up into the air, making a U-Turn as he rushed back down straight for them.
"Starscream is going to penetrate our force shield!" said Bumblebee.
"Oh yeah? Not if I can help it." Sideswipe grinned.
The red Autobot ran forward, leaping up into the air as he caught Starscream, pushing him to the side as the two crashed to the ground, Starscream's laser fire striking his own team mates instead. Once the force shield, the Autobots saw their chance.
"Autobots, open fire!" Optimus commanded.
Vaughan, Spike, and Sparkplug quickly ran for cover, hiding behind a large boulder as the Autobots fired back at the Decepticons who took cover in the forest, hiding behind the trees. Skywarp fired a missile near the humans as Sparkplug pushed the teenagers down to the ground. The missile just missed them, though it struck a tree right next to Jazz as the Autobot jumped for cover.
Once the coast was clear, Sparkplug pushed the teens forward, the two of them running into the woods when they spotted Ironhide. Where the heck was he before all of this? Vaughan knew that he was supposed to be standing guard but this was just ridiculous!
And a girl was with him?!
She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin, wore a light blue long sleeve blouse with dark blue jeans, and brown boots.
"Spike, Vaughan! Over here!" Ironhide called out, waving them over.
"Carly?!" Spike asked with surprise as he and his cousin ran up to the duo. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Wait, is that the girl from the arcade that I heard about?" Vaughan asked.
But before she could get an answer, another missile came flying their way, striking a tree as it broke and began tipping their way.
"Running for cover!" the blonde squealed as the four of them ran for cover.
Missiles were just flying everywhere thanks to Starscream's clumsiness. Vaughan watched as Megatron transformed into his gun mode, landing in Soundwave's hand. The Communications Officer fired at the missile, nailing it but also striking a tree, which landed flat on Optimus Prime, causing him to topple to the ground, dropping the Immobilizer.
"Optimus!" Vaughan called out.
"I gotta keep the Immobilizer away from Megatron." said Ironhide as he ran forward, diving for the device as he was shot in the chest, being knocked to the side by the blast. The teens gasped at the sight as Megatron transformed back into his robot mode, letting out a menacing laugh as he did so.
"This is all my fault!" Carly frowned.
"Your fault?" Vaughan asked with confusion.
The three of them watched as Starscream walked over, picking up the device. Only for Ironhide to fire a strange orange goo from his hand. It stuck onto Starscream's feet, making him unable to move.
"Retreat Starscream!" Megatron ordered.
"A Decepticon never retreats!" Starscream talked back.
But when he tried to move his feet, the Decepticon fell forward, dropping the Immobilizer as it bounced right into the frozen lake. Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons raced over, picking it up.
"At last! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Megatron laughed.
"That ooze has damaged my navigation!" Starscream shouted as he kept running into trees, trying to reach Megatron and the others on top of the lake.
"You're losing your warriors Megatron." said Optimus.
"Warriors are dependable. All that matters is I get what I deserve!" Megatron replied.
Vaughan ran out of the bush, running over to Optimus and Jazz to notice that the Decepticns were standing right on top of the frozen lake. She smirked, an idea coming to mind.
"Aright then, if you say so Megatron." she shrugged.
"Vaughan, what are--?" Jazz asked before Vaughan shushed him.
"I know what I'm doing." she whispered.
"I'm glad you're starting to see things my way Project: Remix." Megatron chuckled. "It's time for--AHHH!"
Megatron must have pressed a button on the Immobilizer, because the next thing everyone knew, the river to unfreeze and the entire Decepticon army collapsed into the water, being dragged away by its current.
"You deserved that alright Megajerk!" Vaughan yelled.
"Rust in peace!" Trailbreaker called.
Everyone laughed at the sight, watching Megatron and his Decepticons being washed away. The Autobots managed to save Wheeljack's body from being swooped away from the river, Gears, Ratchet, and Bumblebee carrying him with their hands.
"The good news is we gave the 'Cons a much needed beat down. The bad news is they have the Immobilizer." Vaughan pouted.
"We'll deal with them later. Right now, let's take Wheeljack back to headquarters. Lets hope the effects of the Immobilizer wears off like it did with the river." said Optimus.
"Let's go!" Bumblebee transformed into his vehicle mode, Jazz following close behind as Vaughan and Spike ran towards their partners.
"Can I come?" Carly asked.
"Sure! Follow us!" Spike waved.
The humans hooped into their desired vehicles and made a line as everyone drove back to base. Vaughan had mixed feelings about Carly tagging along for the ride. I mean, sure it may be a good idea for her to come. What if the Decepticons took her hostage since they saw her with the Autobots?
********
Vaughan and Spike sat in the hallway with Carly as the girl explained her side of the story. How she followed Bumblebee and Spike into the forest to check out the Autobots when she came across Ironhide, her appearance making him move away from his post and allowing the Decepticons to slip by unnoticed.
"If I hadn't been sneaking around, Ironhide wouldn't have left his post." said Carly while slouching.
"Don't blame yourself Carly." Spike replied, placing a hand on the girls shoulder.
Vaughan decided to stay silent, letting the two talk it out since Spike knew Carly longer than she did. She didn't want to risk saying anything that might set her off. Just by looking at the expression on Spike's face, the eldest cousin of the Witwickey's could tell that Spike had a crush on Carly.
The sound of footsteps alerted the teenagers attention as Ironhide walked by them. Instantly, Carly's face lit up as she sat up from her seat and ran after the red mech. "Ironhide! Ironhide, wait!"
Ironhide stopped and turned around to look at the blonde girl, her face filled with apology. "Can we talk? What happened in the forest wasn't your fault. It was mine."
Vaughan smiled at the girl, thinking that she was a fairly nice person. She could see why Spike took a liking to her. But also couldn't help but remember that when she tagged along with the Autobots, she was driving her own car! Is she 16? If Spike is 14 and Carly is 2 years older than her, would there be any slight trouble with the small age gap?
"Maybe, but I can't risk letting my failures put my friends in danger." said Ironhide.
"Promise me you'll think it over Ironhide?" Carly asked. "And, maybe you could show me around?"
"Well... sure. At least I can do that much." Ironhide nodded as the two walked down the hall.
"That seemed to go well." Vaughan finally spoke up.
"Yeah. But Ironhide seems to be down in the dumps. I hope he feels alright." said Spike.
"Me too." Vaughan agreed.
"So, what should we do now? The Autobots are busy figuring out what to do with Wheeljack." said Spike.
"I think I'm going to work on my Halloween Dubstep remix. I want to try and get it done before the holiday." Vaughan decided.
********
Minutes later, Vaughan was sitting in the command centre, mixing some music as she worked on her new song. In fact, she was making great progress.
At this rate she could finish it long before Friday.
Jazz walked over to her, kneeling down beside her. "Hey Vaughan, how's it going?"
"Good, I'm almost done my song. Want to listen to what I have so far?" she asked.
"Sure!" he smiled. "Alright everyone, listen up!"
Vaughan typed in a few things after Jazz caught a few of the Autobots attention. She pressed the space bar and the sound blasted through the speakers.
"Gonna paint it red, get inside your head, head, head
Like a demon choir playing with fire, fire, fire!"
The Autobots bobbed their heads to the beat, the twins even showed off a few dance moves. After a moment, Wheeljack's colour scheme came back to life as he groaned from being so stiff.
"How do you feel Wheeljack?" Ironhide asked, helping the engineer balance on his feet.
"I feel fine." Wheeljack answered. "What is that music?"
"Gonna get your body shakin’
Wishin’ you could just awaken!"
"Oh!" Vaughan pressed the space bar, pausing the song. "I'll give you guys a minute."
"Thank you Vaughan. We'll continue our jam session later." Optimus thanked.
Vaughan nodded with a smile as she closed her laptop, putting it back in her bag.
"It seems the affects of the Immobilizer wore off." said Optimus.
"What about Spike?" Wheeljack asked with worry.
"He's fine, but the Decepticons snagged your Immobilizer." said Ironhide. "And I'm afraid I was responsible."
"But the good news is, they fell into the river." Vaughan smirked, trying to brighten the mood.
"If the Decepticons can make the Immobilizer's affect permanent, then we're sunk." said Wheeljack.
"They can do that?" Vaughan asked with shock. "Aw man..."
"We've got to recover the Immobilizer before the Decepticons turn it against us." Optimus stated. "Autobots, let's roll out."
As the Autobots transformed into their vehicle modes, Vaughan took a look around the room to notice that Bumblebee and Spike were nowhere to be seen.
"Where did they go?" Vaughan thought as she glanced around.
Come to think of it... Carly wasn't around either. Maybe the boys decided to take the girl home? Vaughan shrugged it off for now as she hooped inside Jazz and the Autobots drove out of the base.
"Hey Vaughan, play that song again. I could use a fast beat to get pumped up." said Jazz.
"You got it!" Vaughan smiled with a thumbs up.
Vaughan brought her laptop back out from her bag, opening it up and bringing up the app. She turned up the volume as she taped her foot to the beat of the music.
"That's not bothering you is it Jazz?" she asked.
"What? Sorry I can't hear you over this loud, awesome, bass-tastic music!" Jazz answered.
Vaughan chuckled at the reply as she continued her action, leaning back in her seat as she listened to the song, thinking about how she couldn't wait to get this out to the public.
"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!"
*******
After a long drive, the Autobots pulled up to a beach. Jazz pulled off to the side allowing Vaughan to get out, with her laptop case strapped over her shoulder. As she looked around, she could hear Megatron's voice, gloating.
She spotted them, pointing him and the Decepticons out to the Autobots.
"We will immobilize this planets race, and your friends will be its first targets." said Megatron.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Optimus stated as he and the rest of the Autobots transformed into their robot modes.
Vaughan looked down to see Ironhide was frozen by the Immobilizer, as Bumblebee, Spike, and Carly stood by him. Vaughan sighed with relief, glad to know that her friends were alright.
Optimus open fired on Megatron, striking him in the chest, sending him flying back. "Surrender Decepticons."
"And give Wheeljack's Immobilizer back!" Vaughan yelled.
"Never! Now I, Starscream lead the Decepticons, and I say we attack!" Starscream ordered.
"Well, that escalated quickly." Vaughan muttered.
As the Decepticons made their move, Rumble taking control of the Immobilizer, Vaughan slid down the cliff, running across the sand of the beach as she grouped up with Spike, Carly, and Bumblebee who was protecting them. With Jazz busy helping his friends dealing with the Decepticons, he wasn't going to be much help of protecting his human partner as of late.
The four of them hid behind a boulder as they watched in complete shock as Starscream distracted the Autobots, and one by one, Frenzy it them with the Immobilizer. First Ironhide, then Prowl...
"Gears! Look out!" Jazz screamed.
Just as Gears was about to get away, he got hit with the immobilizer, during his transformation.
"We've got to do something." said Bumblebee.
"But what? If I try and use my power on the Immobilizer it might destroy it. Then the others won't turn back to normal." Vaughan replied.
"Then what can we do?" Bumblebee asked.
"I--I think I've got an idea!" Carly spoke up.
"You do?" Vaughan asked with surprise.
Carly nodded. "I just need to get close to the Immobilizer.
"I'm gonna blast that creep--!"
"Aw great, now they've got Sideswipe!" Vaughan whined.
Brawn barrel rolled to the side, avoiding a blast from the Immobilizer as he knelt next to the group.
"Brawn, can you dig a hole underground, just under the Immobilizer?" Carly asked.
Brawn nodded as he transformed into his vehicle mode, a driller appeared on his dashboard. "No sweat." He slammed the gas pedal just as Carly and Spike hooped inside him and began drilling a hole through the cliff.
"I'll provide a distraction!" Vaughan yelled through the hole as she ran to Jazz's side. "Hey Jazz? How about we continue our jam session a little early?"
"I'm all for it." he grinned.
"Give us your best performance." Bumblebee smirked with a thumbs up.
"Wish us luck!" Jazz replied.
The two of them ran up the cliff, appearing behind the small group of Decepticons that surrounded the Immobilizer. Vaughan whistled loudly, catching their attention. "Hey guys!" Jazz transformed into his vehicle mode and Vaughan hooped right on top of him as Jazz brought out his speakers, the girls laptop hooked up to them from the inside.
"It's show time!" Jazz cheered as Vaughan's 'Calling All The Monsters' Dubstep remix blasted through the speakers, along with the extra boost of Vaughan's sound waves.
"Happy Halloween suckers!" Vaughan exclaimed with a mock.
Something about this blast from Vaughan felt different. It was like, as her music was playing, it was like the sound waves increased in size and strength.
The Decepticons placed their hands on their heads, covering their audio receptors as they tried to block out the sound. "It's disrupting my controls!" yelled Rumble as he dropped the remote that controlled the Immobilizer. The drop caused the device to stop firing as it steadied itself. A hole appeared in the ground, with Carly popping out of it and crawling towards the device. She opened up the panel and switched the wires and attached them to different inputs.
Once it was set, she placed the panel back on and hooped back down the hole. "That's our cue Jazz, fall back." Vaughan yelled.
Jazz turned off the sound as Vaughan seized fire, hooping into Jazz as he backed up down the cliff and away from the Decepticons as they all tried to regain their hearing and sight.
Once they were back down at the bottom of the cliff, Brawn emerged from the tunnel with Spike and Carly, meeting Bumblebee behind the boulder.
"Carly, your plan is working!" Bumblebee exclaimed.
Everyone watched with amazement as the Immobilizer fired a red beam of light, but instead of freezing its targets, it unfreezes them. Setting Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Gears free from the effects of the Immobilizer.
"What are you doing Rumble?! Optimus is right over there!" Megatron yelled.
"Something's wrong! I can't control it!" Rumble spoke with fear.
"Your time to shine Ironhide!" Vaughan called.
Ironhide made his move, drawing his blaster as he fired a laser blast at Rumble, knocking the Minicon to the side before firing one more shot, destroying the remote of the Immobilizer. Soundwave opened his chest plate, ejecting Laserbeak as the red and black cassette tape transformed into a metal hawk.
"Laserbeak, recover the Immobilizer!" Soundwave ordered.
But before Laserbeak could swoop down and snatch the Immobilizer in its claws, Ironhide grabbed him and swung him to the side. He then snatched the Immobolizer in his hands as Optimus grouped up with him.
"Nice job Ironhide. The Immobilizer is ours." he smiled. "I think you know what to do with it."
"No!" Megatron cried. "It's mine!"
With a wide grin plastered on his face, Ironhide smashed the device to the ground, exploding into thousands of pieces.
Megatron growled. "Savour your victory Optimus Prime, it won't last!" He yelled before he and his Decepticons flew up into the air and away from the battlefield.
Everyone celebrated, the three humans high fiving each other.
"I don't know about you guys, but I say we head on home." said Vaughan. "Agreed?"
"Agreed." Spike and Carly laughed in agreement.
*******
Outside the Autobots base, the Autobots gathered around Optimus and Ironhide as the red Autobot was reinstated into the Autobot ranks.
"Permission to return to active duty Prime?" Ironhide asked with a salute.
"Permission granted." Optimus nodded as Ironhie lowered his arm.
The two shook hands as the rest cheered them on. Vaughan smiled, glad that the old Ironhide was back to his normal self again.
"Good to see him all happy again." said Vaughan.
"Now I don't feel so bad about the trouble I caused him anymore." Carly replied.
"I just don't get it Carly," Wheeljack began as he read the blueprints of the Immobilizer. "How did you know how to reverse the affects of the Immobilizer?"
"Well, when I saw the Decepticons working on it, I realized that the ion flow could be redirected by a simple wire crossing. Of course I wasn't interally sure if it would work or not." She explained.
"Whoa! How do you know all of that?" Vaughan asked.
"I'm... a bit of a techno-know-it-all. I'm an intern for a science scholarship over at M.I.T." Carly answered.
Vaughan's eyes widened as she heard the news. Smart and pretty? Dang! Spike hit the jackpot with this one. At the corner of her eye, she noticed Bumblebee whispering something in Spike's ear. After a moment, Spike exchanged a glance with Bumblebee before gulping nervously and walked over to Carly.
"Hey Carly? Would you like to.... go out for a Emulsifying CO2?" Spike asked nervously.
Carly was surprised at first, but giggle with a wide grin on her face. "I don't know what that is."
"Chocolate soda?" Spike shurgged.
"You're on!" She smiled.
The two teenagers raced for her car as Spike waved goodbye to his friends. Vaughan waved back as she leaned to the side, leaning against Jazz's right leg.
"Our little Spike is all grown up." she said with a tease.
Jazz chuckled. "Yes, yes he is."
*********
Days later, Halloween had arrived. Vaughan had posted the song days before, and it had gotten so many views and so much hype. When the mayor heard that Vaughan was in Mission City, he asked her to perform the song at the city's charity event on Halloween night to help raise money to finish the reconstruction of Earth.
Vaughan agreed and later that night was getting ready in her Halloween costume. She was dressed up as the Queen of the Vampires. She wore a long red dress with a long black wig, red lipstick, black eyeliner and black high heeled boots.
She could hear the crowds cheering for her as she walked down the backstage hallway, getting into position as the stage crew attached a headset to her dress and gave her a microphone.
Once everyone gave her the all clear, the show began with the electronic piano beginning the song. Everyone was going crazy as they yelled the chant of the song.
"Callin’ all the monsters, callin’ all the monsters
Callin’ all the, callin’ all the, callin’ all the monsters!"
The stage manager gave her the signal as Vaughan ran out onto the stage, everyone cheering for her as the music really started going.
She looked around the audience to see a ton of people had showed up, all dressed up in costume. She even caught Spike and Carly in the mix, standing and cheering in the front row. Spike was dressed up as a werewolf and Carly was dressed up as a mad scientist.
"How's everyone doing this Halloween night?" I yelled out to the crowd.
Everyone screamed with excited expressions on their faces. She looked up on a large hill to see the Autobots sitting around, watching the performance take place.
"Let's get it on! Come on, sing along!"
"Oh yea aye, oh yea aye, oh yea aye!"
After everyone cheered that sentence, I rushed down the front aisle of the stage jumping to a stop once I reached the end, and began to sing.
"You hide or you try…
Kiss tomorrow goodbye!
We thrill to your chill…
B-B-B-Buckin’ for a freak-out!"
"We’re wantin’ to, we’re hauntin’ you, we’re wantin’ to, eh eh!"
"We might just bite underneath the moonlight
More fun if you run!
I-I-I-I'm I'm already chasin’!"
As everyone repeated the last phrase, I walked around the aisle, clapping along to the beat before I knelt down, reaching my hand out to high five some of the audience members.
"Gonna get your body shakin’
Wishin’ you could just awaken
Here we go…"
After that, that's when the music really started getting going, lights flashing and confette bursting out from hidden cannons and floating all around the audience.
"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?"
I jogged back to the front of the aisle, pointing a finger at the Autobots before finishing it off with a salute.
"Tonight all the monsters gonna dance
We’re comin’ to get ya!
We’re comin’ to get ya!"
Best. Halloween. Ever!