Shell program


 * A shell program is a Spark-manipulating control program.

A shell program is a Decepticon-designed personality altering program that can be installed within a Transformer to change the way they act. A shell program can even compel a Transformer to behave in ways diametrically opposed to what they would do without the shell program.

Traitor
Bombshell and the Insecticons hired out their services to Megatron during his experimentation with the electro-cells as on-call guards, in exchange for a share of the profits. The Autobot Mirage attempted to turn them against each other, however, by stealing the Insecticons' reward and framing the Decepticons for it. Bombshell and the others staged an assault on the electro cell station and their Decepticon "comrades." During a spray of one of Shrapnel's grenades, Mirage was inadvertently caught in the blast while invisible. Bombshell seized upon the opportunity to implant one of his cerebro-shells in the fallen Autobot and used a shell program to turn him into a slave. What he DIDN'T do, however, is question what an Autobot counter-intelligence agent was doing sneaking around Decepticon camp just then. Megatron had to force Bombshell to think at gunpoint before he realized that Megatron wouldn't rob them while Optimus Prime and the Autobots still lived. Maybe after, but not before. The united 'Cons then attempted to set a trap for the Autobots using Mirage, but ultimately Mirage was set free and the electro-cells were destroyed.

The Insecticon Syndrome
On their next joint venture, Megatron arranged for Bombshell and the Insecticons to have access to the Nova Power Core, a meal that filled them with raw energy and caused them to increase in size dramatically. In exchange, they aided the Decepticons in raiding the armored installation known as Iron Mountain to gain control of the defense computer being housed there. Their new power went to their heads, however, and the Insecticons were overheard plotting against Megatron by his spy Soundwave. Soundwave didn't get far, however, before Bombshell captured the Decepticon and turned him with the help of a shell program installed by one of his cerebro-shells.

He then systematically "bugged" the rest of Megatron's troops; by the time Iron Mountain was successfully infiltrated, Megatron was the only Decepticon left. The nova power proved to be too unstable for the Insecticons to synthesize, however, and an antidote was administered to rob Bombshell and Kickback of their additional mass and power. Shrapnel, however, exploded into pieces before the antidote could be properly administered. Somehow, though, Bombshell was able to completely reconstruct his fallen comrade in a matter of seconds, using a special insecti-shell to reunify the pieces.

MUX History:
In October of 2012, while exploring Cybertron, the Decepticons inadvertently released the Dweller nano-virus, which among other things installed a shell program into each infected victim, causing them to infect others, seek out energon, and serve the Dweller.

in seeking the Dweller, nano-virus-controlled Bombshell and Windshear sought a path to the Hiberation Chamber through the tunnels beneath Kalis, only to be stopped by the Centurion droids.