Rebooted

The Zapbots return to Earth as the Nonocons once again emerge in the new timeline.

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Synopsis

At the White House, security officer Mike Quartz notices a military jet flying dangerously low—until it transforms into a robot and attacks, deploying smaller robots to abduct the President.

In Columbus, Ohio, Anthony goes through an otherwise normal day—car trouble, texting his partner, and plans with friends—until a low-flying helicopter turns into an attacking machine. A rocket streaks toward Anthony, but his dormant XO-Suits reactivate, encasing him in a force field and triggering the return of his buried memories. With Wheelrun and Timetravel arriving to assist, the sudden Nonocons assault is pushed back and Anthony is taken to Fortress Misslemax.

Back aboard Fortress Misslemax, Anthony reunites with the Zapbots and explains the truth to his partner: years earlier, the Zapbots tried to guide Earth toward progress, but discovered government corruption and an unavoidable no-win political trap—so they erased most human memory of the Zapbots, hid in plain sight, and even sealed away Anthony’s and the HeadMasters’ memories for everyone’s safety.

With the Nonocons resurfacing, the crew regroups—Botimus Prime organizes an Earth-based investigation while Fortress Misslemax heads into space to confront Amphotron’s forces. A ground team (including Botimus Prime and Ultra Attack) quietly moves through human territory toward a suspected site, staying low-profile as they close in.  Meanwhile, in space, Fortress Misslemax transforms into battle-station mode as Amphotron reappears and taunts Shortstop directly, reigniting their long-running war. 

On Earth, the Zapbots are pinned down when an Eaton robot arrives—but the Combat Team intervenes, combining to destroy the threat and forcing the Nonocons to retreat. In the showdown below, Amphotron nearly destroys Shortstop, but Anthony disengages from the body and strikes with his XO-Suits power—driving Amphotron off and buying the team time, even as the Nonocons unleash a massive blast that disables Fortress Misslemax long enough for them to escape.

Afterward, Anthony confronts surviving world leaders, reminding them the Zapbots previously imprisoned corrupt leaders—and drawing backlash that the Zapbots are “no better” than their enemies. Anthony refuses to become Earth’s rulers, insisting they will stay out of politics and only intervene against off-world threats. In a bitter echo of the past, Mike Quartz senses he recognizes Anthony but can’t place him. 

To protect his partner, Anthony ends the relationship and chooses isolation—splitting time between Earth and Fortress Misslemax. With Tiny and Experiment helping safeguard his pets during missions, Anthony and the Zapbots prepare to return to Gearatron and face their High Council again, knowing the war with the Nonocons has officially dragged them out of hiding.

Featured characters

Zapbots	Humans	Nonocons	Planets
Alert Boaty Bop Botimus Prime Build Team - mentioned Click Combat Team Space-Ace Flip Bolts Passage Bomb Salvor Duplaflex Experiment Flier Fortress Misslemax Gaxator Hightone Slywing Scout Steel Flapbat Muncher Hot Shot Overload Pliers Repairs Roberta Rup Scan Slide Shortstop Speedy Superrobot Terrain Timetravel Tiny Ultra Attack Vision Wheelrun	Mike Quartz Anthony's Partner Various Friends Various World Leaders The President of United States	Amphotron Skydust Skyscream Lowtone Tri-Star	Earth Gearatron

Quotes

"Well look who the catacon brought in!”

Superrobot to Anthony when he arrives back on Fortress Misslemax for the First time.

“So um... I have a huge story to tell.” I said.

“Yea fucking think!” Anthony's partner said.

Anthony's partner to Anthony after they arrive to his quarters.

Notes

Versions

• First Version: 2013
• Second Version: 2021

Production notes

• This was the followup story I wrote on a plane ride back and forth to California. I had this idea and wanted to pick up several years later with the Zapbots and myself in hiding. So this was the next story written after the revision of Robot Trek II around 2000. After I finished this it would be not until 2020 that I picked up and worked on the stories between Robot Trek III and this one, finishing the saga.
• I kept the mention of the time travel in The Fall and Rebirth out of this story because, it is possible to start reading the saga here, and then retroactively go back. This provides less confusion to the user and also a surprise of how everything came to be, if you then go back and reread the story front to back. (Kind of like how the Star Wars prequels gave you more backstory once you watched them.)
• This story includes my partner at the time, and ironically I break up with him in the story and later would break up with him in real life.
• The time frame for when the mindwipe happened was around Robot Trek II era. Thus it allows the Matrix to be stolen by Tri-Star still and the humans are just starting to explore space, but are stopped. This gives the story the explanation of fitting into what actually happened in the real world up till 2012 (eg: September 11th attacks etc...) I understand its a weird premise, but I really wanted this to be a true reboot, in that the Zapbots never existed in people's minds till 2012. Very similar to how the Star Trek franchise was rebooted with the 2009 movie.

Continuity notes

• At this point it was a time to refresh the various Earth technology Zapbots. So Scan, Hightone and Lowtone get true vehicle modes.
• Amphotron is obviously still alive at this point.
• No mentions of where Secretish or Shock is yet.
• Rup, Hot-Shot and Vision are still in the universe at this point.

Real-life references

• Columbus, Ohio - Short North/High Street
• Detroit Michigan