Prelude 1: Variations on a Theme
"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
~ Andy Warhol

Approximately 8000 B.C. - Not too long after the Dynobots have disappeared without a trace.

Sighing at the report he'd finally finished, Springer gently placed the datapad atop the pile, trying to ignore the fact that he'd had to file many such similar reports of late. Each lay there in the silence, a heavy and guilt leaden reminder of too many "almosts", too many "what ifs."

"We did what we could with the information we had." Springer looked up with tired, defeated optics. Roadbuster moved from the doorway, stepping into the office as the doors shushed gently shut behind him. "There are only so many miracles we can pull off, Springer. After a while... even we hit a wall." He shook his head as he slumped into one of the many chairs in the office, sinking into the unit with a soft groan. Holding his hands before him, Roadbuster cupped them together. "We just didn't have enough information." His fingers spread apart; a poor way to illustrate all that had been lost during the past few days but a simple, effective one nonetheless.

"Everyone is stretched thin. 'We don't have the resources to provide you with more'." Springer leaned forward, optics dimming as he started at the top of his desk. "They keep saying that." They meant it too, Springer knew this. He'd spoken with the Intel officer himself, so enraged at the time he'd been barely able to restrain himself from slamming the smaller mech in a wall. The defeat in Springer's voice was an echo of that same mech's, one which he'd ended up delivering to the medical bay after he'd collapsed from exhaustion into the startled triple-changer's arms.

"We're all stretched too thin." It didn't matter which one of them had said those words, as silence fell between them once more. Both felt the same way. Both knew the disaster they'd just lived through, so many lives lost on all sides, military and civilian alike... they knew it had been inevitable. More would die, still, that could have been saved. Things had been hard before - since the disappearance of the Dynobots unit, however, everything had gotten harder, fast. And the only team left for last ditch, no hope left missions were the Wreckers, now. And at this rate, they'd be left with no Wreckers soon, at that.

Both mechs remained silent in the darkness of the room, until Roadbuster looked down with a short, tired bark of laughter. "Primus. Make 'em build an intel unit based on the Wreckers, why not? Can you imagine how that'd work out out?" He chuckled mirthlessly, shaking his head at the sheer ludicrousness of the idea. It was the soft glow of Springer's optics, suddenly over-bright in the darkened room that drew his gaze back up. "Uh..."

"That's it." Springer started to grin slowly at the confused blink which met his words."No, really ... you're a genius." The leader of the Wreckers looked right through his second as he started to think, shoulders stiffening in unconscious defiance and back straightening as he went through idea after idea, dismissing each in favor of something more solid, something more concrete. Something which might possibly... just... work. Data scrolled long his HUBs and his analysis programs went into sudden, exhilarated overdrive.

"You're glitched," was the answer, widened optics staring at him across the desk. And yet, leaning forward slightly, Roadbuster was starting to smile as well. It wasn't the bitter, twisted thing his expression had been ever since they'd wrapped up their mission and stumbled back to Xanthium to tend to their wounded, but rather disbelief blending in with anticipation. "No way anyone would go for it... you know how Intel is about keeping control of all their field operatives!"

"I'll make it work," was the fervent reply.

A.N.: So... you can all blame this on ajremix, truth be told. When she announced the end of her series, What's Wrong With a Little Destruction, my first thought was "But no! I don't want to stop reading about the Wreckers!" My second thought (ok, maybe fifth or sixth) went along the lines of "hey, if you can't read what someone else is writing about, just write your own stuff!" which made perfect sense at the time. However, as it turned out after a bit more thought - I didn't want to write about the Wreckers as principal characters because 1) ajremix did it and 2) I liked the way she's represented them and fleshed them out (pun unintended, oops?) and thus, didn't want to play with her interpretation of the characters.

So... I made up my own instead. This is a series with Original Characters as a main cast, set in the world of Destruction. I have pretty two awesome principal betas: ajremix has been reviewing these (which means I get to be sure that when the Wreckers do show up, they stay in character as it were!) and rexlapinii has been cheering me on while letting me know when I completely go off track in terms of storytelling, as well. Both are awesome and deserve many many thanks for helping me out with the Ghosts. I wanted to work with the "drabble" format, hence I kept a similar format to Destruction. I'm a complete fan of quotes, so you get those too.

And all I can say, 50k + words later and many more incoming is...

It seemed like a good idea at the time! XD

PS : Actually, my last thought as I wrote this? ...oh crap, I don't have a title for this! Ha!