What's Wrong with a Little Destruction?
The Wreckers

The continuing awesomeness of IDW's top strikeforce!

Notes: I'm not going to lie. Part of me doesn't want to put this chapter up, part of me doesn't want to end this even as part of me was looking forward to it before I began writing this last chapter. It's been so much fun writing these guys, but after 150 chapters... well, even I can't claim I can keep them interesting forever (i'm shocked that i did for as long as i have). I'm so happy so many people have enjoyed reading about them, that I've introduced this group to so many new readers and reintroduced them to those (like me) that loved them in the Marvel UK comics.

Thank you, all my readers. To the ones that stuck out from the first chapters to the ones that came in during the middle to those that started reading even after I put this last chapter up: thank you for your support and your interest. To those that reviewed once or multiple times, thank you for taking the time to do so and for those of you that reviewed every (or 70 percent), my God are you dedicated XDD

This won't be the last time I write the Wreckers, I can tell you that right now, though this is most likely going to STAY the last chapter of Destruction. I certainly hope others will be encouraged to give them a try. I'd love to see others' interpretations and I don't really mind if you use my ideas as a launching pad. There needs to be more of these guys so share the love!

Special: Wreck and Rule

"For men of the same tribe or family little value one another when dangers press; but a band cemented by friendship grounded upon love is never broken, and is invincible."
-Pammenes

"Here's the preliminary information we were given."

"Yeah, that's some bind they've got themselves in."

"So what's the plan, Chief?"

Springer studied the numbers and positions, various analyzers and programs whirling at a dizzying rate- planning, discarding, modifying, testing and retesting thousands of moves in an instant. At one side was Roadbuster, Whirl on the other, both watching the blips on the holographic terrain map, processors churning numbers and results just as fast. Opposite them the other Wreckers waited patiently for their assignments.

"The detachment knows to expect us, right?" The triplechanger asked, optics not moving off the map.

"We got an encrypted message down to them. They know we're here."

(They all know the Wreckers only come when things are at their most hopeless, but news of their arrival bolsters the Autobots and the Decepticons can't help but be surprised- maybe even a little afraid –at the sudden renewed resistance. The Autobots press their advantage- even those whose line is on the verge of crumbling. The mere presence of the strike force, their very name gives strength and courage to those on the frontlines. The Wreckers come when things are at their darkest. The Wreckers come and they turn the tide of battle. The Wreckers make the impossible happen. They make even the most average Autobot feel as if they can be as invincible, as if they can make the impossible possible.

The Wreckers are one of the few that can change the course of a fight before they even set foot on the planet.)

"With both moons in the positions that they are," Whirl put in suddenly, "it's causing just enough interference to the Decepticons' orbital relays that they haven't picked us up yet."

"Scoop- you think you can hack into one of their satellites for Xantium to bounce us without alerting them?"

The shovel made a show of cracking his fingers. "It might be a bit of a challenge, but that's what I'm here for!"

"Good. The longer it takes for them to realize we're here, the more of an advantage it gives us." Springer's hands danced over the map, enlarging one area in particular. "Alright, we'll land here. That'll put us within easy distance of the front but far enough away the Decepticons won't be able to pick up the particle build-up. Xantium, after we're on the surface, keep cloaked in the interference. When we're set to begin a massive offensive, I'll give you a signal to pick off the Decepticon orbital relays."

Xantium's lights flashed in an affirmative. Springer smiled, patting the curve of her console. "Good."

(The same interference that's been keeping her from detection also keeps Xantium from locking her weapons on the satellites but she long ago programmed the calculations and positions into her weapons systems. As Springer's signal flashes through her receivers, Xantium maneuvers just far enough from her cover to fire on the satellites, all of them silently blossoming in their high orbits. The Decepticons have no idea what's happening, they pick up no signal, they have no idea a battlecruiser is high over their heads.

They don't know that Xantium is already powering up her weapons, waiting for the coordinates for their command center, missile silos, weapons storage, anything she'll be called on to hit. She hangs up there, an invisible reaper hidden in the dark shadows between twin moons. She is patient. She will wait forever if she has to because she will always have patience and she will always have faith in her mechs.)

"I don't like this empty space right here." Springer growled, jabbing a finger at the point in question. The holoimage zoomed in, the glowing lines denoting terrain features the only thing that floated in front of them. There were no structural markers, no moving units, just vast nothing.

Next to him, Roadbuster brought up the intelligence report they received from the base, the text scrolling through the air. "Apparently there's some sort of scrambler set up in that area. Couldn't get a read on it before the 'cons blasted out their satellite systems."

The triplechanger let out an annoyed growl. "Sandstorm- that's all yours."

"Do you want me to stir up some trouble while I'm there?"

"Priority is finding out what they're trying to hide. After that, use your best judgement to handle the situation. But," Springer smirked darkly, "I won't be adverse to you making their lives Pit."

Sandstorm's red visor flashed. "I was hoping you'd say that."

(Despite the heavy fighting at the front the area is still heavily guarded which doesn't bode well for the Autobots one way or another. Sandstorm already sniped three Decepticons- one of which looked to be of fairly high rank –and he knows there's no less than two squads out looking for him. Of course, one squad is off in the hills and another trawling along the riverbank. Sandstorm himself is camped out just beyond the sensory perimeter of whatever it is the Decepticons are hiding.

He can't make out just what it is, but it looks big and it seems to be absorbing a lot of energy. He sits, crouching in the shadows, and debates what he should do. Even with those squads on a wild goose-chase, hunting down phantom signals Sandstorm left behind for them, it's too dangerous to get out of radio scanning range to report in. He doesn't trust how the situation looks anyway.

Well, he thinks to himself, switching the settings on his rifle with silent ease, I'm here to be tricky. Time to earn my pay.

It takes a lot of focus to draw his electrical signature in tight- he can't show up even as a random blip on their scanners for this to go off. In one hand he holds a grenade- designed to stick on contact and emit an electronic signal –and he puts the grenade launcher attachment to his rifle before seating the ammunition. Then he sights in, finding his target and a suitably nearby mech to play his decoy- the poor unwitting sod. Sandstorm lets the tension ease out of his body, crouches and waits for that moment when he knows he'll hit what he needs.

A small power generator explodes, throwing two Decepticons on their faceplates and a third cries, claiming he's been hit by shrapnel. Then the third squawks at the Autobot signature suddenly coming on his scanners- right next to him! He's on the comm, yelling about an infiltrator and suddenly the airwaves are alive with dozens trying to find out what's going on, trying to coordinate a counter-strike. No one notices a stray call emanating from their perimeter and being received behind Autobot lines.)

"This ridge here is a tactical advantage that we have to control." Of course the ridge Springer pointed at was already deemed a must-have by the factions already on the surface. Unit markers swarmed over it, lights flickering rapidly on the map. "I'm going to need my heavy hitters here." He looked up at Roadbuster, then at Broadside. Both Wreckers lifted their heads slightly, gauging the terrain.

"From the looks of it," the combat vehicle said slowly, "we'll have to bring some heavy artillery with us."

"Whatever you think you'll need to get the job done."

"What do you say, Side?" Roadbuster asked with a hidden quirk of his lips. "Feel like lugging around some Mark-40's?"

"If we can't take the ridge, blow it out from under the 'cons?" Broadside tilted his head, as if considering the idea. "Destructive and effective. I have no problems with that."

(There's not too many times either Roadbuster or Broadside are actively thankful for their size but as they take the huge artillery up the ridge, they're ever glad for it. They comm the officer on the field, letting him know what they have planned and they stay carefully out of sight of the Decepticons fighting. His hand flying with silent signals, Roadbuster sends the large triplechanger through the taller crags for added cover. The two split up, moving quickly and as low as they can before reaching their predetermined objective points.

Practiced hands set up the Mark-40's, stabilizing them on the rocky ground. Over their comm link, Roadbuster pings the other Wrecker, "Ready to go?"

"Ready, willing and able."

"Alright, then." Roadbuster racks the weapon, explosive round sliding into place and over the link he can hear Broadside doing the same. He swivels the turret, sighting in to hit behind Decepticon front lines. "Fire!"

The ridge erupts with two explosions throwing dirt and bodies, one after another. The Decepticons yelp and curse, trying to figure out what's happening and the Autobots don't waste a moment in pressing their advantage. As two more explosions rip through the line, Broadside can't help but ask:

"So, you think they've noticed us yet?")

"Topspin, Whirl, you'll be acting as support over on the left flank here. Your priority is to give aid in backing up Roadbuster and taking this ridge, but help out the rest of the detachment if you're able. Spin, if they need an extra body doing repairs-"

"I got one hand on my rifle, the other on a welder," the jumpstarter finished. "I got it in the bag, Chief."

(He doesn't even bother to curse to himself as he sees the situation he's been put in. He pretty much already resigned himself to patching up bodies more than blasting holes into them judging from the way the Autobot forces are struggling on the map. With Roadbuster and Broadside drawing most of the Decepticons' attention it'll certainly help to ease Topspin's workload to an extent, but there's still plenty of damage waiting for his attention.

He slaps two mechs on the back, yelling to be heard over the explosions. "You and you! Start gathering the wounded and bring them over to the Triple-A! If you know anyone with medical or engineering skills, send them to me!"

They hesitate, ready to argue about getting bossed around by a mech they don't know. One of them, though, either recognizes who Topspin is or understands he's trying to patch up their buddies. He elbows the other before grabbing a cracked armguard and dragging him towards the closest wounded. Topspin ducks and runs towards the unmanned anti-aircraft artillery. He passes three others who he also slaps on the shoulders, "You three are with me!"

They must be rookies, he thinks to himself, because they follow without question. None of them have the bulk or armaments to be a front-liner. One he initially mistakes for a minibot but soon realizes is a femme. Good, he can use her processing power.

Topspin hurries to the large weapon, pushing out the body that sits in its seat. He doesn't feel anything as he does it- the poor sod is long dead and he doesn't have time to be gentle if he wants to keep everyone else alive. "You!" He points to the mech that twitches in a way that says this is his first actual battle. "On the artillery! You," he tosses his rifle to the femme who nearly buckles as the thing slams into her arms, "give him a hand!"

The rifle Topspin lugs around so effortlessly is heavily modified and while it normally won't do much good against those in the air, he had the foresight to attach a power converter for added range and switch the ammo to armor piercing. The femme's arms will go numb from the weight and recoil, but femmes are notoriously good shots, all of them able to calculate and track targets as easily as any sharp-shot and strategist worth their cranial casings. Topspin doesn't doubt she'll be able to pierce more slender wings and fuel tanks than the rest of them.

"And you," he turns to the last mech who has the looks of a lab-breed scientist, "are going to provide me cover! As the wounded come in, have them grouped by priority and let me know if an emergency comes up!" Topspin pulls out his medkit as the first two mechs come up with a body between them and three walking wounded following close behind. He knows the Decepticons will consider a group of wounded Autobots to be easy pickings and Topspin hopes the presence of the anti-aircraft weapon and a high powered rifle will keep them from bombing them. He comms Roadbuster, letting him know the jumpstarter won't be able to act as covering fire for some time. When the first body is laid out before him and his two helpers run off to get more, Topspin flexes his hands for a moment before diving in.)

"Whirl, your position here will be serving as dual-purpose. You'll be laying down suppressing fire where needed but I want you to be ready to take off in case Sandstorm needs backup. There's no guarantee Xantium will be able to bounce him once he goes that deep behind enemy lines but I don't want to leave him completely isolated."

Long arms crossed under Whirl's cockpit and he asked, "What about air defenses?"

A half-smirk was his answer. "You think the Decepticons can develop air defenses that can beat you?"

"Just thought I should ask." But Whirl waved a long hand dismissively. "Besides, you know how much I enjoy a challenge."

(As much as Whirl knows it's important for him to be able to do it, he has never been a fan of ground fighting. He's meant for the air and open spaces but without additional support and with all the Decepticon jets flying overhead, it's far too dangerous for him to be up there on his own. So he's on the ground, directing fire and ordering the seriously wounded to Topspin.

A short, encrypted message from Sandstorm comes through to him and he bounces it along to Springer. "What's the verdict?" Whirl asks over the comm.

There's a slight pause as Springer goes over the message and plans the appropriate course of action. "We need some kind of distraction. We need to pull more Decepticons towards us and give Sandstorm the chance to find out what they've got going on."

Whirl knows what he means. He wants to know if Whirl is capable and willing to be that diversion. Not far away, the anti-aircraft artillery comes to life and a jet explodes in a ball of flaming metal and shrapnel. The helo looks around, calculating and itching to get back up in the air.

If the Triple-A can down more of those jets… but there's only one and what sounds like Topspin's modified rifle going off. Between those two and himself, though, they should be able to take care of the jets along the ridge. And if Whirl goes on strafing runs, pushing out a little further towards the Decepticons' projected command center and firing off his missiles at any structure that he finds…

"No worries, Chief." Whirl's expressionless face still manages to give off a dark, hungry grin. "I got it covered.")

"The line's looking to break right here. Twist, Scoop- what do you think about this valley just behind the Autobot forces?"

It was a small, narrow dip off to the side of the weak link, but they studied it thoughtfully. "It has potential," Scoop said slowly, "we'd have a better idea once we're actually on terrain, but it looks like we can set up some hasty-rigs along these openings here."

"If we can get the detachment to fall back this way," Twin Twist added, drawing lines with a finger, "and set up some remote detonators along here, we can force the Decepticons to flow in that way. That'll give us the high ground and bunch up their forces. Making them easy pickings."

(Their hands are skillful and steady. They don't even have to discuss their plans, they've been working with each other for so long their thoughts have long since synced. They have to be able to work seamlessly together, even though they're not on the front as often as some of their other teammates, the work Twin Twist and Scoop do is something even more important. If they succeed in their plan here, it will give the Autobots a chance at outflanking the Decepticons. If they fail, the Decepticons will have a straight shot at the command center.

As Twin Twist finishes rigging and hiding the explosives to block the Decepticons' escape route, Scoop double checks their calculations to make sure it all comes off without a hitch. Or as close to without a hitch as reality will allow. They have contingency plans in case the original idea won't work the way it's supposed to, but they have faith in their abilities. They have to. If they ever doubt their skills they'll fail and the cost of their failure, all the lives being gambled in the success of their traps, is too much for them to do anything less than be flawless.

One final check and Twin Twist turned to the payloader. "You all set?"

"Yup." He gave thumbs up in return. "We're good to go."

"Springer," Twin Twist said into his comm, "we're hot.")

"And you?" Roadbuster asked. "What are you going to do?"

Springer pointed down to the map where the Autobots were being pushed back. "I'm going to link-up with whoever's in charge of this group here. While Scoop and Twist are preparing their traps, I'll make myself a presence to the Decepticons. When the rest of the Autobots fall back to the ridge, I'll act as bait and lead them down into the heart of the trap."

Springer would be too tempting a target for the Decepticon's frontliners. Especially if it seemed like he was retreating, the average grunt would be all-too willing to follow after him to try and finish him off. It was dangerous, but it would work.

He looked around at his team who stared back steadily. "Alright then, gentlebots. You have your assignments. Time to earn our rep."

(Everything seems to stop on the battlefield the moment he steps on it, as he comes into view of everyone. It's almost like all weapons and shouts mute for that one brief nano-klik as he looks at the fighting before him. The Autobots can't help but grin now that their back-up arrives and most Decepticons find themselves shrinking back. They've heard stories of Wreckers, of their leader in particular, twisted and exaggerated with time and retellings and they can't help but be afraid.

Springer just looks at them and his smile is dark and battle-hungry and he's itching for the fight. Time and sound starts up again as he throws himself into the charging line. But in that brief lull of sound, the cold, eager edge of his words was heard with almost frightening ease.

"Wreck 'n rule.")

Tiamat: Honestly, thank you for reviewing at all! It's not how many times you review, to me, it's that you take the time to do so, and I'm glad that my chapters moved you enough to warrant a review! Springer and Prowl being an anti-pairing? I like that X3

flamingmarsh: Yeah, it's sad that it's come to an end but, well, it had to sometime. I'll probably put that other story up here once I have most of it already writen out.

JML: You knew it had to come from somewhere! No better place than Impactor.

Kyra: I'm actually kind of sad that I killed him off, too. Impactor just doesn't have a good life expectancy anywhere XD

Dragowolf: Impactor was probably only second to Kup in how much Springer respected him, really.

Casus: Did anyone really expect me NOT to make Impactor important to Springer? XD He was always one of my favorite comic-only characters!

Naria: I hadn't planned exactly what happened to Impactor, but in a nutshell he was killed in the line of duty- most likely trying to fix some higher officer's fuck up. Instead of being labeled a hero that saved many lives, he was hit with a post-mortem dereliction of duty charge. Simply put, Springer didn't take that too gracefully and after some harsh words (and probably the occasional fist) was relieved of his rank and kicked out of the military.

Silveriss: I'm flattered- I really am. I like finding little tells in official sources and expanding on them but to hear that others enjoy it so much... well, it really warms my heart to know that. I'm glad your transition back to work has been a fairly smooth one and I hope it continues to be so until your filing is done!

Kyarorin: Hope life hasn't been yanking too hard recently (puts ice on ears).

To everyone: Again, thank you so much for your support. It may sound contrite and cliche, but I honestly wouldn't have continued this for even half as long if it weren't for you and your ideas. All the interest and reviews and spin-offs from these series, it's been one of my more humbling expereinces to know how much people have enjoyed and looked forward to each chapter. I can't thank you enough for sticking it out for so long but, nonetheless, thank you.