Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.
A battle rages on in a secluded, barren area of the American wilderness full of cliffs and mesas. The Autobots were fending off the Decepticons from a power station. However, unbeknownst to either side, the Insecticons were in the vicinity. While both sides were busy fighting each other, they would eat their fill of the energy. What they didn't know was their entry didn't go totally unnoticed. The Autobot, Cliffjumper, just managed to spot a glimpse of them entering the complex. "The others are too busy," he mused quietly to himself, "so, I guess it's up to me to stop those robotic cockroaches," and he went inside.
Cliffjumper followed the Insecticons, careful not to be seen or heard. Suddenly, he heard the familiar voices of the Decepticon insects, thus, he figured he must be getting close. Keeping close to the wall, he crept toward the room where he believed they must be. Cliffjumper peeked inside, and sure enough, there were the Insecticons, looking for the energy. 'Found 'um,' he said to himself as he made sure his gun was ready, 'now all I've got to do is wait for the right moment.' He took another peek, gun ready, only to discover that there were only two of the Insecticons in the room now. "Hey," he whispered, "where'd Shrapnel go?" The ceiling, as if on cue to answer his question, crumbled just ahead of Cliffjumper. Out from the hole jumped Shrapnel, in scarab beetle mode.
"Just as I thought-thought," mused Shrapnel, "a spy-spy." Cliffjumper turned to run, but Kickback and Bombshell leaped out from the wall, he was caught.
"He could be very useful to us if he were our spy," Kickback suggested. Cliffjumper didn't like the sound of that at all.
"An excellent idea-idea, for I'm sure the Autobots have a lot of data on this planet's energy resources-resources."
"In your dreams, beetle breath," retorted Cliffjumper, and he made his move. He fired his gun on Shrapnel, who barely caught the laser on the shoulder, and attempted to ram his way through Bombshell and Kickback. But, the two Insecticons caught him and threw him to Shrapnel, who grabbed him with a Nelson. Try as he might, but, no matter how much he struggled, Cliffjumper couldn't break free of the Insecticon's grip, despite the fact Shrapnel wasn't much bigger than himself.
"Implant the cerebro-shell-shell," Shrapnel commanded. Bombshell fired a cerebro-shell right at Cliffjumper's head, where it embedded itself. Cliffjumper could feel the tiny gadget doing its work, taking over his mind.
"It is done, Shrapnel," Bombshell announced, "Cliffjumper's ours now."
The battle was over, and the Autobots were the victors. Looking around at his warriors, Optimus noticed one of them was unaccounted for. "Where's Cliffjumper?" he asked.
"The last time I saw him, he was heading toward the power station," Prowl answered.
"I'm over here," called a voice. It was Cliffjumper, emerging from the exit of the power station.
"What's going on, Cliffjumper?" Ratchet inquired.
"I spotted the Insecticons sneaking inside," Cliffjumper explained, "they were using our battle as a cover to get the energy for themselves, but I managed to chase them away."
"Well done, Cliffjumper," Prime congratulated with a hand on the smaller mech's shoulder. What he and the other Autobots didn't suspect, however, was that Cliffjumper's story was only half true. "Autobots," Prime called, "Transform, and roll out." As the Autobots drove back to headquarters, the Insecticons watched from a distance. They were pleased with the damage they had caused.
At Autobot Headquarters, Ratchet and Hoist had just finished repairing the wounded and everyone was just hanging around, doing his own thing. Ironhide, Trailbreaker, Prowl, and Jazz were talking, Smokescreen and Windcharger were playing a card game which Gears was watching, trying to decide if he wanted join in the next round, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were arm wrestling. Cliffjumper, meanwhile, was just leaning against a wall when he heard a voice in his head. Bombshell's voice.
"Now, Cliffjumper," he commanded, "go to Teletran 1." Cliffjumper obeyed and headed out of the room, but not unnoticed. Mirage, seeing Cliffjumper leave a social gathering, which wasn't like the little Autobot at all, started feeling a tad bit uneasy.
"What's up, Mirage?" asked Hound.
"Nothing, Hound," Mirage replied.
Finally, Cliffjumper reached the main computer, Teletran 1. "Download the data on Earth's resources," ordered Bombshell's voice, "and bring it to us." The Autobot placed a data disk into the computer and reached for the button to begin the download. But, his hand stopped.
'No,' he said to himself, 'I can't do this.'
"Begin the download," ordered Bombshell.
'No,' replied Cliffjumper, 'If you think I'm just gonna sit back and let you do whatever you want with me, you're wrong.' All this time, Cliffjumper's hand's shaking due to the mental battle going on between its master and Bombshell.
Suddenly a voice called, "Yo, Cliffjumper." It was Tracks. "Some guys and I are going out, wanna come?" Quickly retracting hand, Cliffjumper agreed to come along. Back at the power station, Shrapnel and Kickback noticed something was not going according to plan.
"What's wrong-wrong?" asked Shrapnel.
"It would seem that for a minute there, I was beginning to lose my hold on the Autobot."
"Huh?" asked Kickback. "He was trying to fight my control," Bombshell explained further, "But, the chances of him winning are very slim."
Over the next few days, Mirage kept an eye on Cliffjumper whenever he could. He noticed that Cliffjumper kept being absent from social gatherings and spent more time at the main computer room. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he just knew something was very wrong with the small mech. It was the fourth day that the Autobots were called to action. This time, the Decepticons were trying to get energy from an oil field. What the Autobots didn't know was that Cliffjumper had a data disk with him. The Insecticons were on the sidelines, waiting for their mind-slave.
"Cliffjumper?" Mirage called when he couldn't see the spy anywhere on the battlefield, "Where'd he go?" Cliffjumper was with the Insecticons.
"You have it, I presume?" asked Bombshell. Cliffjumper held out the disk, now containing the data on the Earth's energy resources.
"Excellent-lent," mused Shrapnel as he reached for it. However, Bombshell felt something change in his connection to Cliffjumper's mind, something he'd felt before. Just when Shrapnel's fingers were about to grab it, Cliffjumper crushed the disk before Bombshell could stop him. "What-what!" exclaimed Shrapnel, who received an uppercut from Cliffjumper instead. Kickback was about to attack when the Autobot pounced him. While he was wrestling with the Insecticon, Cliffjumper clutched his head in both hands when he felt a horrible pain. Bombshell was regaining control.
"In place of giving us the disk, you will now destroy one of your friends," Bombshell demanded.
"No!" Cliffjumper cried before he ran down the slope after the one Autobot that caught his optic-Ironhide.
Ironhide was taken totally by surprise when Cliffjumper jumped him. "Cliffjumper, what in da world's gotten in into you?" he asked as he tried to get the smaller mech off his back. But, Cliffjumper wouldn't be shaken off that easily. Ironhide didn't want to go through with it, but he felt he had no choice. "Look, kid," he said as he managed to turn himself around, "I don' wanna hurt ya, but-," and he flipped Cliffjumper off of him. However, Cliffjumper didn't stop there. His next target became Sideswipe, who he hopped onto from the top of a peak when the twin-bot flew beside it. Cliffjumper wrapped his legs around Sideswipe's waist, grabbed his shoulders, and started trying to steer. Sideswipe, meanwhile, tried to shake Cliffjumper off and avoid whatever the little Autobot was trying to get him to crash into. Sideswipe groaned as his frontside scraped the side of a mountain he had just barely managed to avoid. On the ground, Sunstreaker could see what was going on. As much as he hated to do it, his brother needed some help, so, he took aim. But, Sideswipe kept veering this way and that and flipping over. 'Rats,' Sunstreaker said to himself, 'I can't fire, I might hit Sideswipe. What's gotten into that little guy?' Suddenly, Sunstreaker's expression became horror-struck. Cliffjumper now had Sideswipe on a collision course towards the ground, and try as he might, Sideswipe couldn't pull up.
Just when it looked like it was all over for Sideswipe, a blue and white streak appeared out of nowhere, and pushed off Cliffjumper, giving Sideswipe just enough time to land on his feet. The blue and white streak was Mirage, who now had Cliffjumper pinned to the ground by his arms. "Cliffjumper," he pleaded, "Cliffjumper, stop." Cliffjumper, however, grabbed his gun and was about to blast his attacker when Mirage seized his hand. "Snap out of it, Cliffjumper," Mirage tried again. Tilting the hand back, he managed to get Cliffjumper to let go of the weapon. Then, Cliffjumper kicked him off, grabbed his gun, and aimed it right at Mirage's head. "Fight it, Cliffjumper," he pleaded, "The Cliffjumper I know wouldn't give up so easily." Just then, Cliffjumper's hand started to shake.
'What am I doing?' he thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard Bombshell's voice in his mind.
"Destroy him, destroy him now," the Insecticon ordered. Cliffjumper's hand continued to shake, but he started to lower it. "I said destroy him!" Bombshell's voice commanded, and Cliffjumper continued to resist. However, just like earlier, the battle for control caused severe pain for Cliffjumper, and, like last time, he clutched his head, screaming in agony. "Destroy him, Cliffjumper, you have no choice," Bombshell continued. Cliffjumper knew he was right, he could feel that he was losing this battle. He had to do something, and fast.
All this time, Mirage watched with worry. It turned out his suspicions about Cliffjumper's symptoms were correct. Now, it appeared a battle was going on inside the little mech's mind, and a very painful one at that. "Cliffjumper, what's wrong?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. But, he got one anyway.
"Mirage, hit me . . . with . . . anything you've . . got," he pleaded.
"What?" Mirage gasped, he couldn't believe what his comrade was asking him to do.
"Please, Mirage . . . hit me with . . . your missile," Cliffjumper continued pleading with urgency. Mirage complied, and fired the missile on his shoulder, but he was careful to aim near Cliffjumper and not right at him. The force from the missile's explosion was enough to knock Cliffjumper back a good twenty feet, and he was rendered unconscious when he hit the ground.
Meanwhile, back at the cliffs where they were hiding, it was Bombshell's turn to scream and clutch his head. "What's wrong-wrong?" asked Shrapnel.
Groaning, Bombshell answered, "I . . I've lost my hold over the Autobot."
"C'mon," gestured Kickback, "let's split," and the Insecticons took off.
Down at the battlefield, Mirage ran to Cliffjumper's side. "I bet I know what's been going on around here," he mused as he knelt down. "Aha!" he said as he found what he was looking for, "Just as I thought," and he extracted the cerebro-shell. Cliffjumper groaned a little after the gadget was removed, but otherwise, he remained unconscious.
"No wonder Cliffjumper attacked us," said Sideswipe as he saw the thing in Mirage's hand.
"Yeah," Mirage agreed, "Bombshell implanted this cerebro-shell into him."
"When did that happen?" asked Ironhide.
"My guess would be during our last battle with the Decepticons at the power plant," answered Mirage. With that said and done, and the battle over, Ironhide scooped Cliffjumper up in his arms and carried him away.
Back at the base, Ratchet had finished repairing Cliffjumper and Mirage filled Prime in on the cerebro-shell. Both of them entered the repair bay. "How is he?" asked Prime.
"He's still out cold, but he'll be fine," Ratchet answered, "What I don't get though, is why the Insecticons would implant a cerebro-shell into him."
"Simple," said Mirage, "they were using him to get some information on Earth's energy resources." Prime and Ratchet look at him, surprised.
"Are you sure?" asked Ratchet.
"Positive," replied Mirage, "I even checked with Teletran-1, and it seems that the one program Cliffjumper accessed these past few days is the one with that sort of information, plus, according to the data-trail he left, it looked to me like he copied the information onto a disk."
"Mirage, do you by chance know if Cliffjumper did give the Insecticons that disk?" Prime asked gravely, if the Insecticons had gotten hold of such information, it would be pandemonium.
"That, I'm afraid, I don't know the answer to," Mirage replied almost as gravely.
Prime turned to Ratchet, "Ratchet, as soon as Cliffjumper wakes up, let me know at once."
"Right, Prime," Ratchet saluted, and Prime and Mirage headed for door. However, just at that moment, Cliffjumper started groaning and began to stir. Ratchet could've sworn he saw a finger twitch from the corner of his optic. "Prime," he called, "I think he's waking up."
Cliffjumper continued to move a little and his optics started flickering. "Cliffjumper?" he heard Ratchet say.
"Cliffjumper, can you hear us?" said Prime's voice, and he awoke.
"Ratchet? . . . Prime?" he wondered.
"As I believe the humans say, welcome back to the world of the living," said Mirage as he came into Cliffjumper's range of view.
Cliffjumper sat up, "Where am I? How did I get here?"
"You're at Autobot Headquarters, Cliffjumper," Ratchet answered, "Optimus carried you back here in his trailer." Suddenly, Cliffjumper remembered something.
"Prime," he said, turning to his leader, "the Insecticons, they bugged me with a cerebro-shell. They were using me to infiltrate Headquarters so they would make me give them a copy of the energy data we have. I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to betray my fellow Autobots, I tried to fight Bombshell's control, but-" Prime cupped his hand over Cliffjumper's mouth and placed his other one reassuringly on Cliffjumper's left shoulder.
"It's all right, Cliffumper, we know," said Prime.
"After he knocked you out, Mirage located the little monster and got it out of your system," Ratchet explained.
"And, speaking of data," said Prime as he removed his hand from Cliffjumper's mouth, "what happened to the disk, Cliffjumper?"
Cliffjumper grinned mischievously, "I destroyed it just before Shrapnel got his mitts on it. The data's still safe, Prime."
Prime gave a little chuckle, "Good work Cliffjumper."
"We knew you had it ya," said Ratchet.
"Now, I'd say it's time that we give you some time to recover," said Prime, and he and Mirage once again headed for the door, while Ratchet went on to doing other work elsewhere.
Just when Mirage was about to exit, Cliffjumper called, "Mirage."
Turning back, Mirage asked, "Yes?"
"Thanks," replied Cliffjumper with a small grin and a thumb's up.
After a short pause, Mirage grinned back and said, "No problem," and he left the room. Cliffjumper, meanwhile, laid back onto the repair table and relaxed.