The Immobilizer

by Ragey

Wheeljack's got a new invention to show off today, one he calls The Wheeljack Instant Immobilizer. The name isn't enough of an explanation for Cliffjumper, so Hound is ordered to help in giving a demonstration by generating a hologram of Laserbeak...

Just as Ironhide walks in and freaks out, opening fire all over the place and causing plenty of property damage before Spike informs him of what a silly spoon he is. Ironhide laments about how his scanners must be glitched, but Wheeljack shrugs it all off, feeling no qualms with his Immobilizer being busted and merely sends Bumblebee and Spike into town to fetch some new parts.
 

Of course, they just stop in the video arcade and play themselves some games, though while Bumblebee's playing a girl named Carly expresses interest in meeting him. They just get to shake hands before Spike reminds his chum that they were meant to be back at the base hours ago, prompting them to head off, but not without Carly following in her car.

Because Spike doesn't even try to pretend he's driving, it doesn't take long before he gets pulled over for being underage to be manning an automobile, but Bumblebee explains the matter to the officer. However, Ravage is watching and leaps at Bumblebee, pinning him down, though Spike makes use of the police officer's jumper cables, attaching them to the engine and to Ravage, sending the Decepticon off with his tail between his legs. But not without leaving a little something behind!
 

The two arrive at the base and Wheeljack can finally start his demonstration, but Ravage's present is actually a spying device! This allows the Decepticons to become aware of the Autobots' new toy and plan to take it for themselves, and they'll always know where it is thanks to Bumblebee barely noticing. Wheeljack mentions that he's unsure of the Immobilizer's full potential, so they roll out someplace else to test it out.

They arrive in a forest where Ironhide is left behind on guard duty, and the Immobilizer is used to stop a river in mid-motion. Jazz attempts to dive in, only to find it quite blatantly solid, and Brawn dares to question the claim that it's harder than any substance on Earth, and gets proven wrong.

Spike accidentally steps on the control panel, causing the Immobilizer to turn it's sights to him! Wheeljack shoves Spike out of the way and gets immobilized himself, which isn't good and leads Prime to tell his comrades that they must ensure the tool doesn't fall into the grasp of the Decepticons.

Meanwhile, Ironhide believes he sees a spy rummaging about the woods, so blasts down a tree and goes to explore it further...

But it's Carly! He explains this area is off-limits to civilians, but Carly doesn't get to explain much before laser fire is heard and Ironhide goes to check it out. The Autobots have been surrounded and at the mercy of the Decepticons, leading Ironhide to believe it's all his fault because he left his post.

Megatron demands the Immobilizer from them, but Trailbreaker denies him and makes use of a force field as the Decepticons open fire. Starscream tries to penetrate the force field from above, but Sideswipe leaps ridiculously high into the air and knocks him down, the Seeker's fire scattering the Decepticons and giving the Autobots an opening to chase them down.
 

Skywarp makes use of a bouncer bomb, which just ends up pinballing around the area and doing no good whatsoever, but Megatron's attempt to stop it knocks down a tree on top of Prime. The Immobilizer lands within reach of Starscream and Megatron, but Ironhide's attempt to take it from them gets him shot down. He does blast Starscream's feet with goo that nails him to the spot...
 

And makes him drop the Immobilizer onto the river. Megatron swipes it up while Starscream bumps into trees for whatever reason, and Prime even gets to stand right in front of Megatron and say he'll never win without getting shot in the face. Conveniently, the Immobilizer's effect wears off and sends the Decepticons downstream, allowing Trailbreaker to make an unfunny.

The Decepticons make their escape with the Immobilizer, while Prime deems Wheeljack's frozen status to be their top priority and return to base. Ironhide laments about what a failure he is for allowing the Decepticons to sneak in and get away, but the comforting words from Ratchet don't help him at all and he decides it would be best if he just left the team.

Carly laments that her intrusion is what caused the whole mess and apologises to Ironhide, but also asks to be shown around the base, swiping a grenade from the ammunitions bay. Wheeljack returns to his normal self and is brought up to date on what happened, and realises that if the Decepticons can make the Immobilizer's effect permanent, they're in deep transistor parts! Meanwhile, Spike notices that Carly has vanished, along with her car, so he and Bumblebee roll out to look for her.

Except Bumblebee is still in base getting briefed on their mission of stopping Megatron before the Immobilizer is used for devious purposes. Oh, animation errors!

It turns out that Carly has taken herself out to sea to get to the Decepticons' aquatic base and right the wrongs she caused by placing a grenade on the outer wall. Soundwave sees this on the security camera and dispatches Laserbeak to sort her out, eventually catching her.

Sparkplug alerts Ironhide to this via Teletraan-1's sky spy recording and deems him to be the only hope Carly has of being rescued.

Meanwhile, Carly is dropped before Megatron and the big cheese assumes the Autobots will come to rescue her. And he will be waiting, with death in hand to give to his enemies!

Another meanwhile, Bumblebee and Spike are wondering how they're even going to find Carly, when lo and behold, it's Skyfire!

Skyfire drops Ironhide off at the road, allowing him to explain to Bumblebee and Spike about Carly's current predicament.

The grenade Carly placed on Decepticon HQ finally explodes, but while the Decepticons manage to save themselves from any danger, Carly's holding cell has sprung a leak! Just as it fills to the brim and Megatron sees no reason to continue watching, the walls busts open and Ironhide saves his lady friend.

He takes her to the surface and Spike and Bumblebee are glad to have her back, but as they drive off they notice that Ironhide's not moving. He's been immobilized! Megatron gloats about the scheme he's got going here, but Prime steps in to wipe the grin off his face, which only prompts Starscream to start making use of the Immobilizer quite violently.

Bluestreak, Gears and Sideswipe are immobilized, but Carly gets Brawn to start tunnelling through the ground and come up right next to the Immobilizer. To assist them, Jazz puts on a sound and light show to distract the Decepticons, allowing Carly to switch the wires around and hope that works.

The immobilizing onslaught is continued, but it zones in on those already immobilized and unimobilizes them! Ironhide destroys the control panel before it can be used further, beating up Laserbeak before the tinfoil turkey can take off with the immobilizer and starts using it to free the rest of his buddies. And with that out of the way, he destroys it with a mighty thump.

The Decepticons retreat and the day is saved. Ironhide requests permission to return to the team and is welcomed back with no qualms. Carly explains to Wheeljack that by reversing the effect of the Immobilizer all she had to do, in scientific terms, was just reverse the polarity; something she learned with her scholarship at MIT. Spike then asks her out for a chocolate soda in gobbledygook language, and she happily agrees.

Skywarp's bouncer bombs? Never seen or used again. Probably for good reason.

You never actually see if Bumblebee gets his bug removed, but I fuss over the stupidest things.

Skyfire's presence is no longer than ten seconds, and doesn't speak at all during it.