Disclaimer: Don't own the cast of Armada, I just like to play with them. I don't own Edinburgh either – but I shouldn't have to say that…
May contain slightly-obscure Minicons, because we love them. Comments, crits and other feedback very much appreciated.
Up the Wall
At the time it had made so much sense. The Autobots couldn't go after a Minicon stuck in a building, not with humans wandering all over it, and they fit the requirements for the job. At the time, of course, they were being dragged through the base fast enough to make their gyros spin and talked at by Sparkplug.
This was probably why Comettor couldn't remember the rest of the rationale for their being in the city centre of Edinburgh… wherever that was.
"I can see a problem," he said gloomily. They'd found an alley off one of the quieter streets to lurk in, though they had a view of the path up towards the castle. It's up there somewhere…just how to get there?
"Yeah, me too." Nightbeat peered around the corner at the humans heading up the hill. It was safe for him to do that. Comettor had to stay further back, though at least his dark blue paintjob made him fairly unobtrusive. "If we break in somewhere and swipe some kilts-"
"It wouldn't help. We'd just look like dangerous alien idiots instead of dangerous aliens."
Nightbeat looked back at him. "I bet it'd work. A couple of them're wearing kilts, and you heard what Jolt said. People in this country wear them. He heard it from Carlos."
"There's no accounting for taste." Comettor shrugged. "Anyway, I wouldn't fit."
The younger Minicon sighed. "All right," he said, "technically this plan might be a dud. But we've still gotta get into that castle-"
Comettor gestured him to be silent. Getting a blank stare, the blue one grabbed Nightbeat's shoulder. He dragged the smaller bot back into the alley, then spun him round so he could see the entrance.
Nightbeat's single optic blinked at the human figure walking past it. "What's the big deal? He wouldn't have seen me."
"Check your sensors! That's not a human!"
"Another Minicon?"
"Rook and Crosswise." Comettor sighed again as Nightbeat twisted around and looked up at him, clearly expecting further explanation. "They're Sideways's Minicons. They have a combined form, Rollbar told me."
It was the first outing for both of them since waking on Earth; he'd only been fitted with warp technology a couple of days before. In comparison to Nightbeat, though, he felt like an old hand. Neither had much combat experience, but Comettor had been active a couple of weeks longer. He'd been able to get some kind of handle on what they were up against.
Besides which, Nightbeat could make anyone feel wise and experienced in comparison.
"Weird. Where'd they get the mask?" Nightbeat went back to peer around the corner again.
"I don't know how it works. It doesn't matter. The Decepticons are in ahead of us, so we need to get in fast."
"Right!" Nightbeat watched Rook and Crosswise strolling nonchalantly up the hill among the clusters of humans. Comettor heard him mutter something unpleasant before he turned back. "OK, I'll nick some clothes and go in, you can wait here as backup."
"I'm your backup?"
"Sure. You said it: you won't fit. Besides, you'd stand out too much."
Comettor looked at the eager young Minicon with wheels in place of hands. "Me?"
"You've got wheels," Nightbeat pointed out kindly.
Comettor tried not to sputter. "You've got handlebars!"
"Uh…" Nightbeat reached up to rub one of the offending articles self-consciously. "Good point. But someone's got to go in…"
"And here I am," said Laserbeak, swooping down and landing on a dustbin. The Minicons turned and stared at him. The camera-bird bobbed his head in a shrug. "Actually, both of you are my backups."
"Oh." Nightbeat sounded disappointed.
"Makes sense to me," said Comettor, relieved. This wasn't a mission he was prepared for, and it wasn't one they could afford to make a hash of. Not with another 'bot's life and freedom on the line.
No, all things considered, he didn't mind letting the professionals have first crack at it.
"Glad you agree." Laserbeak twitched his stubby wings and rose a little way into the air.
"But we're still your backup," Nightbeat said earnestly.
"Well… you and Mirage. I'll transmit the geographical data I've collected in a minute. Just follow my instructions and try not to steal any kilts."
The trees which clung comfortably to the hillside were not particularly big, or dense. Where their dappled shadows overlapped, though, they were enough camouflage for the green and grey Minicon to feel secure, even uncloaked. Humans weren't a problem: this spot was some way from the nearest path, and any Autobot Minicons… well, they'd make an amusing diversion. At worst.
This didn't help. His shell might be secure. His dignity, on the other hand…
This could turn into a farce far too easily.
Inferno viewed the castle grimly. Were he attacking it, or trying to hide in it, he might be able to take some pleasure in the act. Either would be a more interesting scenario. Having to outright defend it wouldn't be as fun; it would still be better
But as he stood looking up at it, fists clenched by his sides, all he could think of was how he was going to climb the leaking thing.
He couldn't use his antigravs, for a start. Inferno had been flight-capable for a long time, but he hadn't used the ability often. The less he needed the technology, the less of a priority it had been when maintenance was limited. At this point, his antigravs were functional, but not efficient. Between the energy signature they gave off and the weak signal his sensors weren't designed to pick up on, he couldn't use one and trace the other.
It wasn't so much the hill – he could get up that easily: he was strong. It wasn't even the climbing – he could gouge out handholds if he had to. Getting up the walls would be simple. Not fun, but simple.
Where Inferno could see himself having trouble, however, was in going up and down and across every which-way, back and forth until he found the one bit with a stasis panel in it.
"I shouldn't be doing this," he muttered, reaching back and dragging Ramjet from behind his back. "What are you doing back there?"
Ramjet blinked up at him. "Does that come off?"
Inferno gave the little idiot a stare. "What?"
"That," said the purple flier, trying to point. "Your missile… pack. Thing."
"No."
"I was thinking, see; if it could come off, it'd be easier for you to climb without it weighing down your back."
"Wouldn't it." Inferno sneered and shoved the undersized jet-con away from him. He shot a glance to his left. As expected, Thunderclash was leaning against a tree and watching very, very casually. And I suppose then they'd expect me to leave it with them for safekeeping.
He looked back up at the castle and folded his arms. "You should be doing this," he said, mostly to Ramjet, though he'd gladly see both fliers up there instead of him.
"Maybe, but we're just too visible, I'm afraid. And not all of those soldiers are for show. Being shot down by a human would be plain embarrassing." In the corner of his vision, Ramjet shrugged. Of course, he'd have to worry about that, with the foil sheets he used for armour.
"Hmph. Who'd care if you were?" Inferno glanced at him contemptuously, knowing what the response would be.
"Tidal Wave," Ramjet said cheerfully.
"Personally," said Thunderclash from the other side, "I quite agree with you, Inferno. To ask a 'bot of your standing to go crawling all over some human rubble mound looking for one meagre panel is hardly befitting your status." Inferno turned and peered at him thoughtfully. The grey flier gave a sympathetic shrug. "But your talents are just too appropriate for the situation. You have the cloaking power, so up the wall you go."
"Are you coming or not?" Blackout asked over the radio. Inferno beeped irritably and strode towards the castle; he heard the other two follow him the couple of hundred metres to the edge of the trees, where their tracker was waiting.
"That's the closest side," Blackout said, as they came up. He was sitting in vehicle mode, tracking dish aimed up at the castle. "I think it's pretty high up, but I couldn't tell you for sure without getting closer.
"Well, that's helpful." Inferno snorted. "I suppose I should get this over with." As satisfying as keeping the other Minicons waiting might be, Thrust was somewhere in the sky above them, and it almost wasn't worth having a Decepticon partner when they got impatient. The grey and green Minicon stomped forward, powering up his cloaking device.
"Good luck," he heard Thunderclash call after him cheerily.
"…Getting yourself slagged," added Blackout.
Getting up to the castle was extremely easy. Admittedly, they tripped a couple of times. Rook put that down to Crosswise's inherent clumsiness. He formed the legs, after all. And Rook didn't trip up.
Which was why he was in charge, of course.
Nor did it take long to trace the Minicon panel to an open area with mounted guns – an old battery, he assumed. Redundant, of course, and no threat. The difficulty was the number of people gathered there.
What are they doing? Crosswise asked.
The gun, Rook said, eyeing the layout of the crowd. Between ten and twenty humans were standing well back from a mounted gun of some kind. They're waiting for him to fire it.
Uh-oh, thought Crosswise. They both knew the panel was somewhere there, under the crowd. We'll wait 'till they're done?
We can afford to, Rook mused. It's just a matter of clearing out these ones.
They skirted the edge of the crowd, making note of the security cameras, the layout, the movements of the crowd. Visitors, Rook decided. Sightseers. Fools. The combiner passed a few taking pictures of each other.
Rook felt the energies around them twist a little, and doubted the images would come out well.
Laserbeak swooped low and scanned the courtyard below, flying fast enough that the humans on it wouldn't notice he wasn't a real bird. He didn't see anything, exactly, but the readings he was getting…
"Any luck outside?" asked Mirage over the radio.
"I'm narrowing it down. Pretty sure it's up my way, though."
"Yes, that's more or less what I thought. I'll head to that end; it might be on the inside up there."
"Right." The camera-bird banked and skimmed as close to a wall as he dared, trying to pick up anything from within the stone. "There're way too many humans about."
"You're telling me?" Mirage's voice sounded a little strained for an instant.
"You're cloaked, though. I have to keep moving so they won't notice."
"I'm cloaked, yes. But I'm in an enclosed space with a load of humans – and these corridors are very narrow!"
"Oh. Good point."
It wasn't that there was no signal. There was, but it had died to a faint blip after its initial activation had alerted the base computers. Finding it was like picking out one tiny pinpoint of light in a pitch-black room – not impossible, but not as easy as it sounded, either.
And a light that had gone on the blink, Laserbeak added mentally, as the signal flickered onto his sensors and vanished again. The only consolation was that, stuck outside of the search area with no way of helping, the other Autobots were probably more frustrated than he was.
It took no more than a minute to find a fire alarm. Lurking next to it was all they had to do, in theory – Crosswise's presence would set it off sooner or later. But they wanted to wait until the gun had been fired. Rook kept track of the energy his inexperienced partner was attracting and tried to keep it under control. With no talent of his own in that direction, he couldn't dissipate it himself – but tied into Crosswise's systems, he could at least stop it venting for a while.
The seconds spun past. Crosswise was fidgety; Rook held him still in silence. They should be firing any-
Something slammed into their torso. Crosswise panicked and nearly disconnected. Rook caught their balance, held them together as they staggered-
The energy gathered around them flared. He didn't have time to try and stop it.
Every alarm in the building went off simultaneously. The humans around them jumped, reeled and scurried; Rook hardly noticed. He turned their combined body, seeking a sign of the fool who'd hit them.
Calm yet? he asked coolly.
What happened? Crosswise asked.
We were punched, idiot. By someone invisible.
Inferno?
Hm. Unfriendly as the grey and green Minicon was, it wasn't the braggart's style. He wasn't that subtle unless he had an agenda. Rook opened a comlink to him anyway, starting to move their body back up towards the battery. "Where are you?"
"What do you mean, where am I?" Inferno snapped back. "I'm out here crawling all over this blasted heap of mouldering rubble, as you damn well know."
"Just checking. Blackout had a bet you'd run off while we couldn't see you." Rook closed the link while Inferno spluttered. It was possible he did have an agenda, and some undemonstrated acting skills, but Rook doubted it. Inferno wasn't that nimble, either.
"So all we can do is sit and wait?" Nightbeat asked rhetorically. He slumped against a wall and stared at the dustbins grumpily.
Comettor looked over, then passed him back the guidebook. "We can sit and read."
"So we can read about the castle, but we can't go see it."
"Not unless it's an emergency, no." Comettor turned his attention back to the data he was receiving. "Or until we find a way closer without being spotted."
Nightbeat sighed. He looked up at Comettor. "What'll you read, though?"
"I'm downloading a street map to find a way closer." The dark blue Minicon looked back over at his partner and sighed. "Oh, if you're that bored, your alt-mode's probably inconspicuous enough to go for a wander."
"Great!" Nightbeat tossed the book back to him and transformed, engine revving delightedly.
"Just remember to stay close to the castle," he reminded the motorbike.
"Don't worry!" Nightbeat cruised happily into the streets. "I'll be closer than you!"
"Don't I know it."
Blackout sat back against the base of a tree and kept his sensors tuned for any Autobot-allied Minicons. To his left, Thunderclash was leaning against another tree, arms folded, looking completely at ease. From the sound of it, Ramjet had found a low branch above them to sit on and comment from.
"Pretty old, for a human structure," Blackout noted. "Should make it nice and crumbly for him."
He looked up at a beep. Ramjet leaned forward and peered down at them. "If he falls off and dies, I call dibs on his stealth tech."
Blackout snorted. "You wouldn't get anyone to install it."
"He could take a little fall like that," Thunderclash said. "How's he doing?"
"Well, he hasn't found it yet," said Blackout. He hadn't actually asked for an update in the last fifteen minutes: Inferno just snapped negatives at him and anyway, he didn't need to. "As soon as he does, he'll be all over the radio congratulating himself."
"Good point."
"What's with the noise?" Ramjet wondered. They glanced from him to the castle. Listening, Blackout realised he could hear some kind of klaxon.
"Blackout, you unreliable flicker-spark, I'm still up here." Inferno was on the radio quite suddenly. Startled, Blackout checked: he hadn't left a comlink open; the other Minicon couldn't have heard them.
"Really." He viewed the castle flatly. What was that about? A few minutes ago, Inferno had been telling him to shut up until he was called on. Now he's ticked 'cause I'm not paying him attention? "Did you set off the alarms?"
"Of course not! I don't know what that is, and I don't care. Check up on Rook; he and his friend are the ones inside."
"Pretty far away to be giving orders to us," Blackout reminded him coolly. "Why bother, anyway? You getting nervous up there on your own?"
"Hardly," Inferno sneered, making Blackout wonder if he'd taught that tone of voice to Thrust or copied it from him. Or maybe it came standard with Irritating Bastard programming. "I simply wanted to confirm that some part of the group knows how to take orders."
"We're the ones waiting for you to deliver."
"And I suppose I'll have to take your word on that? It's not as though I can see from this angle…"
Blackout had enough sense to resist rising to bait. The implication of disloyalty, from someone who treated their own partner as a status symbol, was enough to shake that resistance. "Why don't you ask your buddy in the sky, then? You and the rest of Team Smarmywings down here won't believe anything a Bulk doesn't tell you to."
"Inso-mmph!"
"What the…" Thunderclash said, eyeing the castle. Blackout looked at him, then at the castle wall. Something was sliding irregularly down it. If he looked hard enough, he could make out what looked like a flailing Minicon…
"Oof- damnit- hold still, you little-"
Or, Blackout thought, like a flailing human. A flailing human caught on something invisible and moving.
"What's going on?" Ramjet was asking Inferno.
"Blasted fleshling just dropped on top of- argh, slaggit!" The human – and presumably the Minicon under it – fell a few metres, paused for a millisecond, and tumbled to the hillside below them.
Blackout and the jets stared for a few seconds. Then Ramjet darted forward, calling out, "I've got dibs, remember!"
Thunderclash exchanged an amused look (on the jet's end, at least) with Blackout, and then followed his purple colleague. "But how are you going to find him?"
"Watch." Ramjet kicked industriously at the ground, apparently looking for the bit that would rip his head off.
Blackout grumbled mentally as he followed them over. He stopped short of the fliers, though, and looked around. To one side, he could see where the human had fallen – one of the soldiers, dead or unconscious or smart enough to pretend. "Inferno, if you're all right, you'd better slagging tell us."
"What's going on down there?" Thrust demanded. Ramjet froze and looked between the others; Thunderclash looked up at the sky curiously. "What are you doing out in the open?"
"We're-" Blackout stopped and glared around them, ignoring the startled jets. "No, why don't you tell him, Inferno? You're in charge of this, aren't you?"In retrospect, he should have known Inferno would punch him before answering.
You had to give him credit. Rook was awfully good at sending people over the edge, even when they'd only just met.
Crosswise giggled at that thought as they disconnected. "He's out of the way, all right. Nice one, Rook."
His partner didn't answer, just looked down at the flagstones in assessment. Crosswise watched him, not quite sure what would happen next. It was much the same look as Rook wore when he spoke of the other Minicons, or the Decepticons, or an inconvenient wall. It was always followed by an instruction, usually simple, seldom understandable except in hindsight. This time, he was sure he understood.
"Move the gun," Rook said, and Crosswise wasn't surprised.
They shifted it together, without much effort, just far enough according to Rook. There was another moment of studying – looking for a fracture point, thought Crosswise – then Rook punched through the stone, sending bits of grit and dust flying.
Crosswise stepped back, beside the humans' gun, and watched his darker colleague pull a stasis panel from the stone. Its faint green glow rose a little, but it didn't activate.
The silver Minicon didn't hide his perplexity. He didn't understand how these things worked, and Rook knew that too well to be impressed with masks. Masks didn't impress Rook full stop – hardly anything did. I wonder if he's stopping it somehow.
As if reading his mind – maybe he did – the black Minicon looked up at him, optics glowing in the small triumph. If you pushed it – and he might as well, these days – you could imagine he was looking friendly. Crosswise whistled cheerily in return, folding his arms and leaning against the gun.
Which went off.
Oh smeg. And he'd been hoping Mirage was wrong.
Anyone who'd met Sideways remembered his Minicons. Or Laserbeak did, because they scared him. He dithered above them, terrified that Rook would spot him, terrified of what the others would say if he did nothing.
When the gun went off, it startled his wound-up circuits into overdrive. Luckily for him, they knocked him into action, not out of the sky.
Rook dropped the stasis panel in surprise; it went clanging to the ground a few feet away from him. While the Minicon was getting his bearings and scolding his partner, Laserbeak had his chance.
He wasn't really thinking. He just threw himself out of the sky and onto the panel, friction generators engaging automatically. The camera-bird half-bounced back into the air, hauling the stasis panel (three times his size, five his weight) with him.
There was an unearthly hissing and a surprised beep from behind him. And laser fire. All around him. He was past the castle wall now, but that only stopped them grabbing him. They could still blow his head off…
With the panel weighing him down, he couldn't duck, couldn't spin, could hardly turn. He needed to warp out-
A shot hit his wing and sent him reeling; he lost his grip on the panel. Laserbeak recovered in time to see it falling down towards the rocky slope below. He steadied himself, hissing curses, then dived in pursuit.
He chased it as it hit the ground, bouncing and rolling down the hillside, zigzagging after it and almost catching up-
Another blast knocked him to the ground. Laserbeak glimpsed a dark figure bounding past him as he fell. He didn't have time to think about it. His frame jarred and jolted as he hit the rocks hard - he bounced a couple of times, sending his gyros all over the place before he came to rest.
For a second or two, Laserbeak stared at the rock in front of him and decided the pain wasn't as bad as the disorientation.
Urggh. He flipped himself over with a wing and staggered to his feet, scanning the slope below him. There's the panel, there's Rook, there's a bunch of Minicons and a dead human- damn.
Laserbeak shook his head and flew down the slope. First, the panel.
It was obviously hopeless, though: Rook was almost there, and even if he caught up, Laserbeak couldn't fight him. He hesitated and hovered back a bit. It was painful to let them go for the panel, but there wasn't anything he could do…
A small motorbike zipped out from the trees, skidded around in front of Rook, and was off with the panel before the combined Minicon could react.
Laserbeak stared. The Minicons stared. Rook shot after the bike with uncanny speed.
Oh. Right. I have backup.
"Whooohooo!" Nightbeat swerved around someone's legs, causing another shriek from behind him. He hadn't looked back, but he just knew he was leaving a trail of shouts and curses and shaken fists.
Let's hope some of them are Decepticon. He whistled to himself, and sped up as he skidded around a corner, horn blaring, stasis panel gripped tightly to his side. Round a bollard, through some humans, round more humans- aaaghcatleft, left, damnit!
He got into the high street with cat-free tyres and slowed down a bit. He'd lost Rook, so it was probably safe to relax a bit. If they found him now, Nightbeat figured, there was nothing that'd beat a motorbike on these streets.
The snarl of an approaching engine came from behind him. Nightbeat cast his sensors back for a second, in time to see Sideways burst from a side street.
…Except maybe a bigger motorbike. Eeeek! The Minicon bike accelerated as fast as his engine would let him. "Aagh, Comettor, problem!"
"What? Where are you?" Comettor demanded.
"I'm on the high street-" sharp turn!"-wait, not any more – um, I'm not sure, and Sideways is chasing me and help!" He swerved madly to avoid a knot of kids. "Outta the way!"
More shrieks behind him. Hopefully they moved in time. He caught a flash of purple from above him. No time to worry about that.
"Warp out!"
Ohslag, bendy bit. Rightrightleftbarreldodge! "I can't!"
"What?"
Stupid, stupid, disorganised moron… "I can't warp yet! It's not installed!" More humans- what're they all doing here? He laughed hysterically at that, while people scattered around him.
"Oh, for… hold on. Hold on. Let me think a minute… what street are you on?"
"Uhhmmm…" He turned sharply to the right and managed to glimpse a sign as he flung himself down the new street. "Now? Bread Street, heading east!"
"…OK. Do what I tell you." Comettor started giving him directions. Nightbeat dodged humans and tried not to panic about the giant angry robot with guns on his tail. Oh, and now he only had the pavement to work with…
Typical fragging cars, he thought, nearly scraping a wing mirror off as he swerved again. Think they own the road…
Over the comlink, Comettor kept count as Nightbeat chanted. "First left, second left, third left, fourth right-"
"TURN!" Comettor yelled, desperate for him not to miss it.
"OK! I did! First right's coming up… first left, second right…"Nightbeat counted; Comettor directed. He'd downloaded the street map earlier, and now, bit by bit, he was guiding the other Minicon around to him. If Nightbeat could stay ahead of Sideways, they had a chance.
And Nightbeat did have the advantage, in the streets full of people – and cars – and sharp turns. Size wouldn't help Sideways there. Then again, if he's still on Nightbeat's tail, he must have supernatural driving skills…
Comettor shook his head. This wasn't the time to get anxious. They could do this. Nightbeat was almost there.
"Sixth right-" "Turn!"Nightbeat skidded into view and shot into the alleyway. Comettor reached to his left and caught the speeding bike between the handlebars. Nightbeat braked frantically, Comettor hauled, and miraculously, nobody's arms fell off.
Nightbeat gave a tiny beep. "You didn't say it was a dead end," he said weakly.
"Have you got the panel?" Comettor leaned over to see. It was there, clamped to the bike's side.
"'Course I have."
There was a low chuckle from the alley entrance. Comettor looked up sharply, feeling his optics brighten. Sideways and his Minicon rider edged in at a steady crawl. For an instant, he thought the light around them shifted and dimmed.
"Er, Comettor? There's no way out," said Nightbeat nervously.
"Actually," said Comettor cheerfully, "here's one I prepared earlier."
He activated his warp circuits.
Nothing happened. The Decepticon kept chuckling.
"Oh," Comettor said quietly. "Fraggit."
Nightbeat's headlamp flashed. "Huh? Comettor?"
"Looks like you're having a little problem with your warp tech," remarked Sideways, cruising forward. "Here, lemme help you with that."
Nightbeat rolled near to him as the Bulk came closer. Comettor kept his grip on the younger Minicon. "Come around behind me."
"Why?"
"Because when I say to run for it, you've got to be facing the right way."
Comettor didn't hear what Nightbeat said to that. He was watching Sideways. There, he'd stopped…
Sideways started to transform. Nightbeat was coming around to Comettor's other side. The dark blue Minicon swung his arm up and shot the transforming Decepticon.
He wasn't expecting to hit anything serious. He knew his lasers weren't very powerful. So long as he hit, that was all right. Nightbeat bumped up against his leg.
If I distract him long enough, Nightbeat can get away…The sudden offensive seemed to surprise Sideways. He stepped back, raising an arm automatically. Comettor just kept firing, tracking Nightbeat's position, about to tell him to make a break for it…
Something settled on his shoulder. Comettor hardly noticed. So the sudden jerk as they were dragged into warp caught him completely by surprise.
"Admit it," said Laserbeak, as the two Minicons caught their balance and looked around in surprise. "You forgot about me."
Comettor turned his head to look at the camera-bird on his shoulder. "…Oh."
Nightbeat's optic blinked as he caught on. "We were kinda distracted." He transformed and waved the stasis panel for emphasis.
"But you did," chided Laserbeak, more amused than anything else. "And after you'd just backed me up, too."
"Yeah, all right," admitted Nightbeat sheepishly.
"It won't happen again, I promise," Comettor said. "In future, we'll expect you to haul us out of every tight corner."
Laserbeak laughed gleefully as Mirage warped in behind them.
"Clear the warp pad!" he yelled, springing between them hastily. Comettor flailed; Laserbeak took off to avoid being swatted. "There's half a convoy of Autobots behind me!"
Comettor and Nightbeat exchanged a glance as the warp gate activated again. Then they got out of range, fast, before it started sprouting Bulks.
"It seems you are incapable of carrying out orders unsupervised."
Inferno stood stiff and unrepentant, returning Thrust's stare. He didn't expect the others behind him to be the least bit sheepish, and there was no chance he'd invite the blame.
Thrust stared at them with a mild disgust before continuing. "I had hoped to convince Megatron of your worth as independent units, but if all you can do is bungle tasks, perhaps you really are only good as batteries."
Inferno locked his vocaliser and kept his silence. He could hear Ramjet shift and dither to his right. Thrust was one of three Decepticons the little cyber-gnat actually tried not to annoy – though only because Tidal Wave liked him, of course. Inferno gave a mental sneer, pleasure at his partner's influence softening the humiliation he felt.
Of course, Thrust was only addressing the ones who had failed. Inferno certainly hadn't failed, so this didn't apply to him, he decided comfortably. Although he'd have to find a way to explain that to Thrust…
And then Thunderclash spoke. "Ah, sir?"
The Decepticon's gaze focused past Inferno, on the other Minicon. "What is it?" he demanded impatiently.
"If you recall – perhaps you were occupied with other matters – but Sideways actually had the Minicon in his grasp. Ramjet followed their pursuit, you see – he and his Minicons had the Autobots' little friends cornered and yet… he allowed them to get away."
Not that Ramjet thought to help, I'll bet, Inferno thought, seizing the opportunity anyway. "Rook dropped a human on me," he said. Whether it was true or not, it might be, and that was all a scapegoat needed. "Distracted me from carrying out the mission."
"Did he really?" Thrust regarded them with a thoughtful frown and some amount of suspicion. Inferno gave a firm, brusque nod.
They waited while the tactician considered.
He can't say we're lying, Inferno thought. He had the rest of the force to keep out of our way. He must have spent more time placating Megatron than watching us…
"Hrmm." Thrust gave them a final frown and straightened up. "Perhaps… but there will be no more excuses," he said sharply. "I am not Megatron." His optics brightened slightly. "Fail me again, and you will have no second chances."
They relaxed a little as he turned and walked out of the room, presumably turning his attention to Sideways.
"At least his suspicion lies where it should now," Ramjet commented.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Inferno brushed his arms off, making to follow his partner. He added over his shoulder, "Count yourselves lucky Thrust saw fit to pardon you."
There was a sound like a choking engine. Inferno wheeled around and met Blackout's furious gaze. "You arrogant glitch," the tracker said heatedly, the first time he'd spoken since their return.
"Pardon 'you'?" Thunderclash mused to the air, tone politely casual. Inferno ignored him.
"You have a problem?" he said to Blackout.
The dull beige and red Minicon sneered. "I don't. You pathetic bunch of suck-ups are another story." In the corners of his vision, Inferno saw the two jets turn their heads to stare at Blackout. "Always picking up your masters' lines before they've finished saying them. Never heard you come up with an opinion of your own."
"I've formed the opinion that you're a stuck-up little slag-spouter," said Inferno, keeping an optic on the others.
"Interesting," Thunderclash said lightly. "I have independently reached the very same conclusion."
Ramjet nodded. "Same here."
A stupid little slag-spouter, Inferno mentally crowed. Attacking me, you might have stood a chance, but you had to go and insult everyone, didn't you?
Blackout seemed to realise his mistake. He glanced between the jets on either side, then at Inferno, obviously calculating the chances of winning an argument or a fight. After a second, he snorted, folding his arms and swaggering between them. He was obviously heading for the door, but his route took him past Inferno.
Of course he had to slam against the other bot on his way.
Inferno turned with the impact and slammed his other fist into the sensor array on Blackout's back. Disoriented, Blackout stumble forward and grab at the nearest wall to support himself. Inferno ran with it.
"You should watch where you're going around your betters," he said coolly, eyeing his opponent. That's the price of being obstinate, you silly lump of pig iron. He turned back to the door, speaking over his shoulder to the two jets. "Let's go. I'm sure our partners will be looking for us."
Ramjet laughed, the second most irritating sound he'd heard all day. Inferno ignored it for now. There were greater nuisances.