Editing Intersectionality

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=[[Transformers Timelines (fiction)|''Transformers Timelines'']]<br>text story
|prev=Foundation and Wreckage Part 1: Deadly Aim
|next=Trigger Warnings
|seriesissue2=''[[Beast Wars: Uprising]]''
|prev2=Micro-Aggressions
|next2=
|image=BWU-intersectionalitytitle.jpg
|caption=
|title="Intersectionality"
|publisher=[[Transformers Collectors' Club]] (online exclusive)
|date=[[August 25]], [[2016]]
|by=[[Jim Sorenson]] & [[David Bishop]]
|art by=[[Josh Burcham]] & [[Hosono Tomoya]]
|additional colors=[[Jesse Wittenrich]] & [[Christopher Colgin|Christopher "IKY" Colgin]]
|edits by=Jesse Wittenrich
|contributing editors=[[Louis Sun]]
|pagecount=81pp
|chronology=circa [[2384]]
|continuity=''[[Beast Wars: Uprising]]''
}}

'''As the crewmembers of the starship ''Dinosaur'' attempt to apprehend two fugitives, they encounter dangers both shipboard and planetside.'''

==Synopsis==
===Prologue===
On the borders of the [[Allowed Zone]], the [[Human Confederacy]] ship ''[[Spooky Action at a Distance]]'' is on patrol and all crew is being summoned. Crewmen [[Chak]] and [[Una]] take informal bets on exactly why. Captain [[Blix]], a resurrected Pleistocene caveman and psychic, tells them and ship AI [[Screwball]] that, in fact, Cybertron's probability of war just jumped from 7% to 96% after [[Broken Windshields|a rebel call-to-arms at a gladiator match]]. Now the ''Spooky Action'' will have a much harder job of monitoring Cybertronian space and they may need to sterilize their last colony, [[Elba]], as a warning. They've also picked up what appears to be a dimensional breach at Cybertron, fifteen [[Sun|Sol]] days ago. Screwball estimates that the only allowed Cybertronian warship in the area, the ''[[Dinosaur (ship)|Dinosaur]]'', will learn of the incident in thirteen hours...

===Part 1===
[[Image:Intersectionality 1 of 5.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.00|]]

On board the ''Dinosaur'', on an indefinite mission, a [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] crew kills time playing cards; their officers are all [[Maximal]]s, a [[Builder of Cybertron|Builder]] trick to keep both groups divided and unable to challenge the captain. The only time anything of note happened was when [[Killer Punch]], the intelligence specialist, got paranoid about a 'stowaway' and searched the whole ship in a mad panic. Afterwards, he had to have his systems gone over by [[Apelinq (BM)|Apelinq]] and people are still worried about his mental state.

[[Hydra (BWN)|Hydra]] crows about his winning hand but then accidentally collides with [[Dead End (BWN)|Dead-End]]. She chews him out, a series of insults in a long line—he worries she must be lonely. (So who is it she's talking to inside the airlock?). He gets chewed out again at the bridge by [[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]], the Maximal first officer, as he's a whole ''cycle'' late. A transmission was picked up a breem ago from planet [[Metascan Omega|LGC-8803]], Cybertronian in origin, and Longrack wants analysis. [[Synapse (BW)|Synapse]], political officer and one of two [[Builder of Cybertron|Builders]] on board, ''also'' wants this looked into, the Builders wanting an excuse to check out LGC-8803 for years, and 'politely asks' that Chief Engineer [[Magmatron]] is sure everything's in ''proper shape'' for a look. The implications irritate Magmatron, who holds his tongue. 

The transmission turns out to be from the Maximal felon [[Transmutate (character)|Trans-Mutate]] and [[Killer Punch]] finds that one of her fellow prisoners, [[Rampage (BW)|Protoform X]], has a recapture-at-all-costs order on his head. Hydra and Killer Punch try to convince Longrack that it all seems weird, but their reclusive Captain orders them on to the planet and orders Longrack to take an away team there. The first officer, excited to be commanding an away team, is aghast to find Synapse ''removing'' said team from his command and giving it to third-in-command Apelinq. When Longrack protests, he's told ''the Captain'' wants him to stay behind and he's too busy to ask for clarification...

On the bridge, Hydra has picked up another odd Cybertronian signal and Killer Punch fibs that it might be Terran so Longrack will let his buddy look into it. In private, Hydra tells him that the specifics of the signal make him think it might be the [[Resistance]]! Meanwhile, when sneaking off to talk to the Captain, Longrack instead finds Synapse and, looking for a reason why he was there, blabs about the signal. That's bad news for Hydra, who has cleaned up [[Lio Convoy]]'s call to arms and is engrossed in it, unsure how to think about the message, when the political officer comes to call. The comms 'bot is still thinking Synapse can help him understand what to think when Synapse shoots him in the head.

The away team's space shuttle descends onto LGC-8803 when they notice an [[Intruder]] ship heading right for the ''Dinosaur''! The remaining crew return fire but with the enemy not registering on sensors, they're forced to rely on nigh-impossible manual targeting. Longrack orders the shuttle to protect them but a tractor beam from the planet surface snags the craft, right before Intruder seismic-shock missiles come right at them! 

===Part 2===
The ''Dinosaur'' loses its repulsor shield and the Intruder corvette starts poking holes in their hull. Ignoring Longrack's orders, [[Guiledart]] and Killer Punch are able to finally shoot down the enemy but not before it fires two more missiles and knocks the bulk of the ''Dinosaur''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s power out! 

Apelinq gets a panicked [[Bazooka (BWN)|Bazooka]] to cease trying to fight the tractor beam and try to fly down with it, landing them suspiciously close to the source of the transmission. The team find stone ziggurats with vast dragon statues, many broken; [[Saberback]] has a sense of déjà vu and is unnerved to find the stone feels warm in a way his sensors can't detect. As Apeling gives commands for searches, Sabreback asks if he can swap places with Bazooka and stay at the ziggurat site. 

On the ''Dinosaur'', they've learned that the Intruders are going to crash near the away team but they have no way to ''contact'' the team thanks to odd interference from the planet's core. Synapse arrives and subtly steers Longrack into contacting the engineering team (pissing off Magmatron by distracting him from desperate work) rather than talk about finding Hydra, and suggests that Killer Punch, who is worried and wants to find his missing friend, is ''too vital'' to leave the bridge right now. Longrack is convinced that Killer Punch can be spared though and, to everyone's surprise, including his own and Synapse's, he snaps at the political officer when he tries to overrule him again.

In engineering, Dead-End is working down in Core 3's coolant in alternate mode and Magmatron hears ''something'' over the comms, she lies that it's just some debris being cleared... 

Down on LGC-8803, [[Hardhead (BWN)|Hard Head]] leads his three-bot to the transmission source, uneasy with being in charge and unable to shake the feeling that they're being watched. They find the source is yet another stone structure and Hard Head feels uneasy about this weird, out-of-place metal sphere that [[Crazybolt (BWN)|Crazybolt]]'s poking. He's right to as [[Bruton|it suddenly transforms]] and goes on the attack, with a [[Psychokhan|centaur buddy]] from inside the structure! The Predacons fight hard against the strangers and force them back, but centaur is about to dispatch Crazybolt when two stranger Cybertronians show up, one of them successfully taking down the threat! She introduces herself as Trans-Mutate.

In his search of ''Dinosaur'', Killer Punch finds only walls where Apelinq's lab door should be, and only white noise on the comms, and the wall ''moving'' as something ''breathes''. He tries to run for it, flicking between sensor frequencies to track which bulkheads are moving, and dives into the ducts, opened up by a gear-shredder missile. Here, he's able to regroup and think: if the ''Dinosaur'' can transform its insides, why didn't he know before and why is it using this against him? As he heads to engineering, he's unaware that the missile just transformed into a person...

The Predacons are led to Trans-Mutate's makeshift shelter and use her cobbled-together repair rig to start fixing up Bazooka. The whole situation leaves them awkward, more so when the intimidating and quick-to-anger X turns up. Things calm down when they realise that the Builders have committed acts of cruelty on the two, something that leaves Hard Head disgusted. Nobody's gonna be renditioning ''these'' two now the truth is out. The fugitives fill them in on [[Alone Together|what's up]] with the [[Destructon]]s.

Every time Apelinq scans the ziggurats, he gets a different result but in a fifth one, he finds Saberback is ''inside'' it. The Predacon is in a trance and has picked up an obsidian relic and when Apeling startles him, he drops it... and the room is bathed in painful green light before both 'bots vanish! 

Magmatron is unable to get the repulsors back online but has bigger worries when Killer Punch emerges from the ducts, claiming the ''Dinosaur'' is a Transformer. While he tries to shrug it off, Killer Punch—realizing the ship is trying to hide that Hydra is dead and not from combat—has the hard recorded data to prove the ship layout is shifting. Magmatron decides to cut all power for a [[Units of time|breem]]. This causes a ''lot'' of swearing on the bridge—and causes Synapse to head off to Apelinq's now-visible lab, beating Killer Punch to it. To the officer's horror, he finds the [[Micromaster]] gleefully telling him how Hydra died, and that the Captain had wanted to just scare off Killer Punch from finding the body; but he wouldn't stop, so now he has to die, just as Synapse had advocated all along. There's a rebellion going on back home and it wouldn't do for it to spread on this ship, now would it? Killer Punch has just enough time to try and fight before he hears a command for [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]] to kill him, and it all goes black...

===Part 3===
Dead-End is fed up, tired, and looking for downtime when she emerges from the coolant, but what she finds is a very paranoid Magmatron. Killer Punch had been able to transmit part of his encounter with Synapse and the engineer knows exactly how screwed they are. To his surprise, and to his relief, Dead-End boils it all down for him: they need to kill the Builders and take the ship fast. Magmatron accesses the computer core to put engineering's surveillance footage on a loop and, while Dead-End stays behind to monitor comms and stop the ''Dinosaur'' from interfering, he's off to the bridge to recruit the others. With cameras watching his path to the bridge, he can only hope brazening it out will work. Once he's at the bridge, he reports the situation and both Guiledart and Longrack agree that, if Synapse has killed two of their own, they can't side with the Builders (even if Longrack's nervous about mutiny). That's when autocannons drop out of the roof; both are blown to scrap by Guiledart, provoking a ''roar'' from the ship. Magmatron declares that Longrack will guard the bridge and monitor ops while he and Guildedart find and disconnect the Captain, still believing that he's merely ''connected'' to the ship. 

Down on the planet, the Predacons have learned about the Destructons and that the Intruder ship had been theirs. They also recall an Intruder ship that the [[human]]s had driven off recently, which had been trying to head to Cybertron. Hard Head realizes that the Destructons are here trying to capture the Transformer's ship so they can sneak past the humans and in through Cybertron's back door! With the threat known and Apelinq not picking the comms up, the Predacons know they have to get back to the shuttle and try, at least, to fight off the Destructons. They get back in time to find [[Lord Imperious Delirious]] tinkering with their shuttle and all five Transformers charge into battle under Hard Head's command. 

''Somewhere'', Apelinq awakens to find himself bodiless on a vast glowing plain. Panicking, he thinks he's gone to the [[Pit]], but Saberback's disembodied voice reminds him that if he is capable of processing, he must still exist. The Predacon calls him over to a new environment, revealing also that they can visualize themselves as having bodies to make this realm easier to grasp. Apelinq has just enough time to marvel at how quickly Saberback grasped this world's rules before a tentacled sphere attacks them! The Maximal is able to save Saberback from this polterglitch and as the two fight, he realizes that if this realm is in their minds, he can give himself ''a lot of big guns''. In another burst of sourceless knowledge, Saberback realizes the wounded polterglitch is about to explode and imagines a great forcefield around them. They survive but the explosion has left a jagged hole in reality itself; knowing this is the way out, Saberback knocks his boss unconscious and makes for it.

The ''Dinosaur'' keeps trying to kill Magmatron and Guiledart, at one point ''laughing'' as it tries to crush them with sliding walls. As they fight through, Synapse has headed straight for the engine room and swifly takes down Dead-End; of all the crew, he tells her, he hates her ''the most''. Suddenly a new mech, and so she quickly falls back to being unpleasant. Medusa claims she's here to liberate Transformers "from the yoke of design" and that attacking the ''Dinosaur'' was about sacrificing a few Transformers for the great good, a line that tells Dead-End to open fire. Unfortunately she's completely outgunned. The Destructon doesn't even kill her, just destroys the main turbine: now they're in an unstable orbit over a gravity well, with no way of fixing things!

At the battle below, the Destructons turn out to be more powerful than expected but eventually, after Hard Head is able to direct X, Bruton is killed—but Crazybolt, Trans-Mutate, and Bazooka are down. After Imperious shoves his fist into X's monstrously powerful cannon, X goes down too and Hard Head is left alone with the horror. He starts to back away to the shuttle, talking to cover his acts, as Imperious advances. Bazooka reactivates just in time to help distract the enemy before Hard Head makes his play: initiating an emergency lockdown of the shuttle, rendering it unusable. The last thing he sees before Bazooka's body is thrown at him is Imperious roaring in frustration.

===Part 4===

[[Image:Intersectionality 4 of 5.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.20|]]

As the turbine goes down on the ''Dinosaur'', Magmatron and Guiledart are stuck in a contracting-wall deathtrap. Magmatron fakes a tantrum that leaves all sensors and cameras destroyed, then uses the cover to dig into the ship's circuits and fake that the walls have joined. The Predacons are free and 12 frames from the Captain. Dead-End, meanwhile, is panicking as the whole engine room begins to fall to bit. On the bridge, Longrack is panicking at the loss of orbit, the quiet, and the lack of crew that, he believes, could have solved the problem. When Synapse strides into the room, Longrack expresses his frustration: he's sick of these Predacons pushing him around, man! Synapse is happy that at least ''one'' bot is on the 'right side' and declares death to all enemies.  

Apelinq comes online to find a bizarre, life-filled realm where whales soar through a sky and each one has an ecosystem on it. Here, Saberback says, he's been unable to manifest anything. To proceed, the Predacon says they need to head for a pyramid with an eye carved into its center Annoyingly, it turns out that however far they go they still never get any closer to it, as they turn out to be spinning around it without realizing; Apelinq identifies this and they get out of the perspective trap.

On the planet, Imperious is twenty cycles in to trying to gain access to the shuttle systems. Bazooka is in great pain but functional; Protoform X tried to attack when ''he'' came round but was taken down; and when Imperious gets tired, Hard Head is dragged off into the ziggurat, a sight that causes Bazooka to pass out in shock. A deal is made to a bound Hard Head, that he can either give up the shuttle codes and be allowed to live (until the ''Dinosaur'' crashes onto the planet) or he can be mutilated to death. Hard Head spits in the man's face. In response to that, Imperious Delirious rants that the Transformers are nothing but abnormal parasites, a 'spark' that disgustingly inhabits a machine's body... and he plans to extinguish the Predacon's spark and let Bruton use his body, just as he plans to snuff out every 'parasite' spark on Cybertron!

Magmatron finally reaches the Captain's room and, to his surprise, the door opens itself. The Captain, an ex-Decepticon called [[Full-Tilt (G1)|Full-Tilt]] who is wired into his environment, wishes to talk, and warmly says he's glad to have met them. To their surprise, the Captain has already ''been'' disconnected from the ship. He'd objected to Synapse killing Hydra and Trypticon, long resentful of his crew who get to actually ''walk'', had decided to side with the political officer and against the 'bot who used to be his friend. The Captain only lives as he's Trypticon's [[transformation cog|T-cog]], having undergone [[Powermaster]] conversion during the war to keep the monster alive. At the very ''mention'' of Trypticon's name, the Predacons are disgusted and outraged: no wonder the Terrans never let them near their space, the ship is a notorious war criminal! Magmatron decides he's going to reconnect the Captain to slow down the ship and give him a chance to ''lobotomize'' their foe. He heads back to engineering and puts Dead-End on lobotomy duty—she makes a detour to the airlock and 'her little pet', hoping for an edge.

Guiledart is guarding Full-Tilt (whose personality has forced him to not see the Builders as a monolithic force) when Medusa comes in, hoping to kill the Captain and finish the ship off. 

In the digital realm, Apelinq and Saberback reached the vast, ''vast'' mountain and begin to climb the stairs that lead to the distant iris. While the Maximal would rather not use faith and instinct, he follows Saberback's advice that this is a pilgrimage and they must climb rather than fly. It takes them twenty-five thousand steps (Apelinq knows that if this realm is real-time, the others will have stopped looking for them) and at the iris of the eye, Saberback asks the eye for guidance. It seems to not work, not until Apelinq says this isn't working, at which point it turns out ''something'' has taken control of Saberback. 

Crazybolt is woken by the dying screams of Hard Head and is disgusted by Protoform X's warped litany in celebration of it. Still, he puts it aside in order for them to escape. Trans-Mutate is able to dislocate her neck enough that he can use her helmet's spire as a lock-pick. Crazybolt escapes, then realizes the others, but it's too late by then. Hard Head is dead, his body hollowed out for Bruton's mind. Enraged, the Predacons and fugitives launch an attack. Once again, Bruton is taken down, this time quicker (though Protoform X is blasted down), but all that means is Imperious himself, transforming into a vast dragon, will kill them himself!

===Part 5===

Nothing the Predacons have works against Imperious and only Trans-Mutate can harm him. While they're routed, Bruton uses Hard Head's corpse to vocally override the shuttle's lockdown. His reward is to be left behind to stop Crazybolt from interfering with the shuttle launch. Protoform X, however, has recovered enough from his wounds and at Crazybolt's request, he jumps onto the shuttle as it launches. While he doesn't give a fig about Cybertron, he sure wants to hurt Imperious! 

After a long search, Dead-End locates the very heart of the ''Dinosaur'' and thus Trypticon's metaprocessor. But at the Captain's room, Guildedart is forced to fire every weapon he has to stop the powerful Medusa and the explosion caused severs Full-Tilt's primary life support trunk! At the last second, Trypticon is no longer restrained and is able to sic a [[Brunt (G1)|tank drone]] on Dead-End. And in engineering, Magmatron has almost fixed it so the ship can have a steady orbit and that's when Synapse and Longrack come in. 

In the unknown realm, the gestalt entity in Saberback's body praises the Predacon for his faith and devotion, and informs Apelinq that he gets five boons. In answer to his first, a question, it explains that it and the place are both [[Metascan Omega]], a beacon created by the lost [[Logicon]] race to pass on their knowledge once they'd left the universe. Lord Imperious, they say during the second question, has hijacked some of their equipment after once having tried to find them. When Apelinq asks if his friends are okay, he is informed of the fate of Hard Head and the decaying shuttle orbit, the latter of which risks damaging Metascan Omega when it crashes. His fourth boon: help him save his friends.

Protoform X makes it to the shuttle's front and after four heavy blows, he breaks through the windscreen and engages with Imperious. The foes throw down on the surface of the shuttle, which begins to dip with no one to control it. Imperious manages to win, or so it seems, pinning X to the roof. That's when the Transformer activates his Galva-conductors, sending electricity through both of them, and with Imperious paralysed, X ''rips his head off''. Deciding, in the end, he quite likes the name 'Rampage' that Imperious kept trying to stick him with, he pushes the shuttle on a collision course with the ground and roars with delight at the thought that this might finish him off.

On the falling ship, Synapse tells Magmatron to carry on fixing the engines: once Trypticon tells him it's all good, ''then'' he may or may not kill the engineer. Magmatron can't passively resist as if he doesn't fix the ship, all his friends will definitely die. When the ship briefly drops, however, he hits on a plan, all based around the fact it shouldn't drop for another 60 nanokliks. Magmatron asks Synapse to promise that Guiledart and Dead-End won't die and when Synapse lies that they won't—Magmatron is contemptuous of the fact Longrack is ''relieved'' when Synapse lies, actually believing him—he asks for it in writing. Synapse laughs this up, confirming that he was lying and saying that the others will die—he should have stayed loyal like Longrack. ''That'' causes Longrack to physically assault Synapse, battering the Micromaster unconscious for threatening his crew. When the ship lurches again, Magmatron doesn't need to make a move after all and goes back to his repairs, amused that Longrack's still bringing up rank.

Dead-End, meanwhile, has remembered that Trypticon was supposed to have been easily provoked. And Dead-End is one rude woman! She insults him until his drone is firing at the inner airlock door and blasting it open, letting all the coolant out... and the stowaway, her pet [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticon]], [[Gnaw (G1)|Gnaw]], a Builder-sized beast that chomps through the drone. The way clear, she gets into the metaprocessor and disables it, but the lengthy work leaves her emotionally exhausted as she hears Trypticon plead for life. And in the Captain's quarters, a panicked Guiledart realizes the only way to save the dying Full-Tilt is to plug the life support into his ''own'' fuel pump. The Captain comes back to life just in time to fire the engines, except the time is not enough...

And on the ground, Trans-Mutate watches the falling ship, the falling shuttle (and her friend's joy at his impending doom), the glowing ziggurat, the Predacons restraining Bruton, and accepts the incoming death. She asks the Predacons to join her in being thankful for the time they've had and such a spectacular end, and they decide what the hell.

And at the interface realm of Metascan Omega, Saberback senses that the intelligence will answer "no" to Apelinq's fourth boon. He pleads with it to intervene, whatever its ancient codes of conduct, knowing that by actively struggling with the Omega he risks dissolving his own mind. And hey, they want balance, right? Well, if Imperious had used ''their'' [[tractor beam]] to interfere, then using it themselves would surely balance things out?

The ziggurat shoots out two tractor beams, one slowing the shuttle (Rampage is ''not'' happy) and one for the ''Dinosaur''. This extra push won't stop them crashing but, Magmatron realizes, will slow them enough that they can use the retro thrusters and land the ship. It hits hard and skids its way towards the away team, but the final crash is stopped when the mighty spaceship transforms into Trypticon's theropod form and plants its feet down. Once stopped, it transforms into its city form, right next to an amazed Crazybolt.

After a few orbital cycles of hard work, Magmatron and his crew of workers manage to the new Dinosaur City more or less functional. With Metascan Omega granting their last boon, permission to stay, they could turn this war machine into an interstellar trading hub. (Their crew even now includes Bruton, eager to be part of the crew and, with every worker needed, he is accepted... with weapons disabled) Now it is time for Magmatron to leave. Half the crew are staying behind—a bitter Synapse in the brig until the war is over and he can face trial—and Longrack proclaiming himself mayor of Dinosaur City. Bazooka and Crazybolt (on the verge of a [[Conjunx Endura]]), Guiledart, and Rampage are all coming with Magmatron to join the [[Grand Uprising]] on Cybertron.

On the watching ''Spooky Action'', Una merrily points out to Chak that a bunch of Cybertronians ''have'' stopped feuding.

===Epilogue===
Deep within the shuttle's computer core, unnoticed by its crew, a massive semi-sentient kernel continues to unpack itself. Lord Imperious Delirious will live again...

==Featured characters==
(Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in video footage.)<br>
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s
|c1=
* ''[[Lio Convoy]]'' (6)
* [[Longrack (BWN)|Longrack]] (11)
* [[Transmutate (character)|Trans-Mutate]] (17)
* [[Apelinq (BM)|Apelinq]] (19)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]
|c2=
* [[Hydra (BWN)|Hydra]] (7)
* [[Guiledart]] (8)
* [[Hardhead (BWN)|Hard Head]] (9)
* [[Dead End (BWN)|Dead-End]] (10)
* [[Saberback]] (12)
* [[Killer Punch]] (13)
* [[Magmatron]] (14)
* [[Crazybolt (BWN)|Crazybolt]] (16)
* [[Bazooka (BWN)|Bazooka]] (20)

|h3=[[Builder of Cybertron|Builder]]s
|c3=
'''Autobots'''
* [[Synapse (BW)|Synapse]] (15)
'''Decepticons'''
* [[Full-Tilt (G1)|Full-Tilt]] (18)
* [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]] (23)
* [[Brunt (G1)|Brunt]] (27)
'''Others'''
* ''[[Supersonic]]'' (5)

|h4=[[Destructon]]s
|c4=
* [[Psychokhan]] (21)
* [[Bruton]] (23)
* [[Lord Imperious Delirious]] (24)
* [[Medusa]] (25)

|h5=Others
|c5=
* [[Chak]] (1)
* [[Una]] (2)
* [[Blix]] (3)
* [[Screwball]] (4)
* [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] (22)
* [[Metascan Omega]] (26)
* [[Gnaw (G1)|Gnaw]] (28)
}}

==Quotes==
"Fine. Whatever. I choose to believe you, all the while knowing that your inevitable betrayal shall only make me more certain of life's pointlessness and cruelty."
:—'''Protoform X'''

"We Destructons are Second-Born Intellects, mechanical life built by organic life. You… I don't know what you are. Energy beings animating mechanical sock puppets. It's disgusting."
:—'''Lord Imperious'''

"Forgive my friend. He, and I, do not process the world the way most do. But we mean no offense." <br>
"Sometimes I mean offense." <br>
"We usually mean no offense."
:—'''Trans-Mutate''' trying to apologize for '''Rampage''', who isn't helping.

"You're right, Synapse. I am loyal. Loyal to the Maximals, and to the crew under my command!"
:—'''Longrack'''

==Notes==
*{{w|Intersectionality}} is a social theory focusing on the ''intersecting'' nature of all social categorizations such as race, class, and gender.
*Characters in this story who are mentioned but do not appear include: the [[Intruder]]s, "[[Blackarachnia (BW)|some dim-skipping cowboy]]", Professor [[Ōgaki]], [[Deluge (G2)|Deluge]], [[Spanner (G1)|Spanner]], [[Desecrus]], the [[Builder Assembly|Assembly]], [[Primus]], the [[Unicron/Generation 1|Chaos Bringer]], [[Gaea|Gaia]], [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]], and the [[Quintesson]]s.
* As in previous stories, most of the characters have bodies which are "virtual" redecoes of existing toys. Apelinq takes the design of [[Hulk#Crossovers|''Crossovers'' Hulk tank mold]], Magmatron is the revived ''[[Diaclone]]'' line's  [http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/pictorial-review-of-diaclone-reboot-diabattles-v2/35531/ Dia-Battles V2] toy (which appropriately has three combining components), Hydra is [[Terrorsaur (BW)#Combiner Wars|BotCon 2016 Terrorsaur]], Hard Head is [[Hot Shot (Armada)/toys#CyCDF|''Cybertron'' Cybertron Defense Hot Shot]], Dead-End is [[Undertow (PCC)#Power Core Combiners|''Power Core Combiners'' Undertow]], Saberback is [[Bumblebee (WFC)/toys#Beast Hunters|''Beast Hunters'' Bumblebee]], Crazybolt is [[Wreck-Gar (G1)#Transformers (2010)|''Reveal the Shield'' Wreck-Gar]], Bazooka is [[Warpath (G1)#Generations|''Generations'' Warpath]], and Guiledart and Killer Punch are [[Roadbuster (G1)#Generations|''Generations'' Roadbuster]]. Longrack, similarly to his IDW ''Beast Wars'' counterpart, repurposes the design of his [[Longrack (Cybertron)#Cybertron|''Cybertron'' counterpart]].
* Following the trend in previous stories, the names of characters in this story which are shared with other characters in the continuity have alternate spellings. (e.g. ''Beast Wars Neo'' Hardhead is spelled "Hard Head" to distinguish him from [[Hardhead (G1)|Generation 1 Hardhead]]).
* Similarly to [[Blackout (G1)|Blackout]] and [[Spaceshot]] in "Micro-Aggressions", the ''Uprising'' incarnation of Dead-End debuts as a [[female Transformer]] when her previous incarnations have been male.
* Per Sorenson on The Allspark Forums, this story came about because he didn't like the idea of leaving Trans-Mutate and Rampage out in space while the action focused on Cybertron, and he wanted to tie-in ''Alone, Together'' to the main story thread. The use of the ''Beast Wars: Neo'' cast came about during a brainstorming session.<ref>[https://www.allspark.com/forums/topic/132060-new-tcc-prose-bw-u-intersectionality-now-online/?p=3326161 Post by Jim S on The Allspark Forums, 2016/08/31]</ref>
*That the Destructons retain their original design was a deliberate choice, since Sorenson didn't want to lose their original aesthetic.
*This story was the second ''Uprising'' story began, but for various reasons (like length) it was pushed back. The five-act structure is taken from ''Five Faces of Darkness'', and various 5-part ''G.I. Joe'' seasons openers. An early idea was that it would be separated into five whole parts, the "covers" being a leftover of that discarded idea.

===Errors===
*On the cover, Hydra is miscolored as the nigh-identical [[Lazorbeak]]—having a red-orange face instead of Hydra's silver.

===Continuity notes===
*The dimension breach the crew of ''Spooky Action at a Distance'' detect is Blackarachnia returning to her home reality, followed by Lio Convoy initiating the Grand Uprising, as seen in "[[Broken Windshields]]", the broadcast of the latter is seen by the characters of this story.
*[[Ask Vector Prime/Facebook src#May 23, 2015|An entry]] of the Facebook edition of [[Ask Vector Prime]] mentioned the existence of Terran "[[Second-born intellect]]s" who did not consider themselves strictly male or female.
*Trans-Mutate, Rampage, and the Destructons reappear following the events of ''[[Alone Together]]''. The Destructons can now transform, having acquired the technology from the computer they found at the end of that story.
*In ''Alone Together'', Trans-Mutate and Rampage were to be shipped to the prison facility [[Garrus-16]]. This story reveals that said facility is located on [[Elba]], which is home to the more famous [[Garrus-9]] in the [[IDW Generation 1 continuity]].
*The Destructons' personal transport is a probably-stolen warship constructed by the [[Intruder]]s, the race which built Medusa.
*Trypticon was previously mentioned by [[Cerebros (G1)#Beast Wars: Uprising|Cerebros]] in "[[Head Games]]", which established the sheer destructive power possessed by [[cityformer]]s in ''Uprising''.
*The [[Great Push]] was previously mentioned in the cybertronix in "[[Micro-Aggressions]]", though not by name, as the final, failed military campaign led by [[Galvatron (G1)#Beast Wars: Uprising|Galvatron]] against the humans.

===Transformers references===
* Demonstrating how advanced the humans of ''Uprising'' are, Una mentions that the humans [[quantum lock]]ed Earth some time ago. The Facebook edition of [[Ask Vector Prime]] previously mentioned this as an ability of the [[multiversal singularity]] incarnation of [[Vector Prime]], which he used to protect the hiding place of the [[Origin Matrix]]. 
* The ''[[Gung Ho]]'', the Maximal ship from ''Beast Wars: Neo'' is mentioned by Captain Blix, and later by Crazybolt.
* Blix name-drops Cybertronian scientists [[Deluge (G2)|Deluge]] and [[Spanner (G1)|Spanner]] as scientists who'd work out Doctor Okagi's work on superstring resonance flatlines. Both characters have associations with [[Space bridge|Space Bridge]] tech.
* Crazybolt appears to share some of the coloration used by [[Crazybolt (RID)|his ''Robots in Disguise'' namesake]].
* [[Seismic-shock warhead|Seismic-shock missile]]s debuted in the [[Transformers: Energon (comic)|Dreamwave ''Energon'' comic]].
* A similar fate befell a [[Trypticon (WFC)|different Trypticon]].
* This is not the first time the Destructons' plans were messed with by the [[Logicon]]s.
* In [[Transformers: Universe (comic)|another continuity]], another Magmatron met a different fate on [[Arkus]].
* The eye-pyramid that Apelinq and Saberback encounter seems to be based on the [[Brigadoon]] from the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon.
* Hardhead was a dim but enthusiastic guy in ''[[Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Neo (cartoon)|Beast Wars Neo]]'' but the ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars Sourcebook|Beast Wars Sourcebook]]'' had him as a NCO who could competently lead troops. Once Bruton takes over his body, the latter characterisation ''becomes'' the former.

====Swindle, Swindle and Swindle====
* At the end of the story is an ad from [[Swindle, Swindle and Swindle]]. In true [[Jim Sorenson]] fashion, it's chock-full of references, including:
** The [[Triptych Mask]] is a double reference: not only is it based off of the supernatural tripartite mask worn by [[Onyx Prime]], but the three mask pieces here are shaped like an elephant, a bird of prey, and a lion, referencing [[Magnaboss (BW)|Magnaboss]] and the [[beast mode]]s of his components.
** The [[Inspiration Counter|inspiration counter]], [[Buddy Bracelet]]s, [[Phase Bit]]s, [[Deep Earth Scout]]s, the [[anti-gravity patch]], the [[Invisible telephone|invisible phone]], and the [[space-time continuum rupturing toaster]] are all inventions from the ''[[Transformers: Rescue Bots (cartoon)|Rescue Bots]]'' cartoon.
** The [[Mini-Con storage panel|Mini-Con panel]]s debuted in the ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]''.
** [[Plasma dynamic thruster]]s are from the ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Animated]]'' franchise. The advertising blurb mentions its capability to warp Transformers around the galaxy, and encounter "[[Rock Lord|rock monster]]s"; both of which happened in "[[TransWarped]]".
** The [[Omega Key]]s are from the ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Prime]]'' cartoon, but the accompanying blurb describes their propensity to "throw entire dimensions out of kilter"—a reference to "[[Echoes and Fragments]]", where [[Sideways (RID)|Sideways]] and [[Renegade#Gong|Gong]] used [[Omega Lock]]s to do just that.
** [[Mindwipe (Animated)|''Animated'' Mindwipe]] appears in an ad promoting a hypnosis course. 
** The [[Power booster rod|power booster rod]] appeared in the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel G1 comic]]. 
** "Papa Galvatron's Patented [[Time-jump mechanism|Time-Jump Mechanism]]" also put in an appearance in the Marvel comic, the method by which [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] travelled back in time in "[[Target: 2006]]". The ad copy notes that it's a good way to escape "[[Death's Head (G1)|freelance peacekeeping agents]]".
** [[Stasis cuffs]] have appeared in multiple continuities, but the ones here are clearly based on their ''Animated'' incarnation.
** The [[O-Part]]s were introduced in [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)|''Car Robots''/''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon]] as a key MacGuffin, linked to [[Fortress Maximus (RID)|Fortress Maximus]] (or as in ''Car Robots'' and in the catalog, Brave Maximus).
** The ad for an "exploding [[cy-gar]]" depicts [[Kup (G1)|Kup]]'s [[Kup (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW incarnation]], the first character to take up the habit.

===Real world references===
*Fittingly for a story set in the late 24th century, the human uniforms in this story bear a resemblance to the [http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Starfleet_uniform_(2350s-2370s) Starfleet uniforms] of ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}''. Captain Blix even wears a baldric similar to [http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Baldric#Klingon_baldric that of Worf]!
*"[[Ny Norge]]" is Norwegian for "New Norway".
*Chak is an alumnus of an institution named after {{w|Ayn Rand|Saint Rand}}.
*Fittingly for a biologically-enhanced human, Una swears by {{w|Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid|Francis Crick}}, and later, {{w|Gregor Mendel|Mendel}}.
*As a genderfluid being, Screwball uses {{w|Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns|gender-neutral pronouns}}.
*{{w|PBS}} produced a biopic about Professor Ōgaki. 
*The Desecrus Formulation is based after {{w|René Descartes}}'s famous philosophical proposition "Cogito ergo sum."
*Trypticon's "death" draws inspiration from HAL 9000's defeat in ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''. Cementing the homage, Trypticon pleads that he can "feel [his] mind going", before finally admitting that he is afraid—dialogue lifted almost verbatim from the film.
*Rampage's kamikaze plunge aboard the shuttle is lifted from ''[[wikipedia:Dr. Strangelove|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]]''. This is not the [[The Agenda (Part III)|first]] [[:File:InternationalIncident4 Cosmos on nuke.jpg|time]] it has been homaged in ''Transformers'' media.
*The ad copy for the Triptych Mask in the "Swindle, Swindle, and Swindle" advertisement says it grants "sight beyond sight," a reference to one of the trademark abilities of the Sword of Omens from ''{{w|ThunderCats}}''.
*According to Sorenson, Longrack's behavior is partially derived from {{W|Arnold Rimmer}}, the fundamentally unlikable chicken soup-machine repairman / smeghead of British science-comedy series ''{{w|Red Dwarf}}''.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://transformersclub.com/prose/Beast-Wars-Uprising-Intersectionality-V1.2.pdf "Intersectionality"] at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club

[[Category:Beast Wars: Uprising media]]
[[Category:Text stories]]
[[Category:Timelines media]]