Insanity comes slowly for most, creeping up on it's target until you forgot who and maybe even what you are. Sadly, the former did not happen for our Lord and Commander Megatron. For him, oh yes it hit him like a missile, like a storm in the night. Only a cycle after the Autobot's "defeat" did his processor glitch and he gave way. Gave way to a sense of being the terrified even the most hardened of Decepticons' hearts.
We all received the transmission that cycle. It was sent across a Decepticon-only channel, but we all knew that no Autobots were listening. They were all either dead or in prison, and Optimus was chained in the center of Kaon, to be mocked by it's new citizens. Son Cybertron would be back to what I remembered it as. But back to the message- once you opened it all you saw was four words mixed in with columns and columns of code:
R̥̳̺̥̞͊̍̃ͧ̋̆̆ͮE̷̶̢̜̦̽͑̋P̢̠ͣ̌̄ͦ̂͛ͥ̇͘O̖͙̯̘̭̝̍̽͜ͅR̸̻̲̮̹͍̩͍̼̽T͍͖̰̘̜̣ͮ̾̃ͯ̏͗͜͞ ̸̛̥̣̩̹ͩ̉͗ͧ̈̋̀T̶͉̊ͅỌ̠̿̎̃ͩ͗͝ ̲̲̗̝̈́̅͊ͬ̂́͛I̷̟͙̮͈ͨͮ͌ͤ̽̅͠O͇͖̓ͨ̊͡Ŝ̷̡̜͔̪̣̯̭̙ͨ͛͐̽͒ͬ̎̀͝ ̬̱̰̑̂̀̀͛Ĭ̧͕͎͎̫͆̆ͅͅḾ̸̯͉̅̒ͩ̒͂͑̂͡M̵̘͔̻͎̮ͥͣͫE̤͖̝̪͙̻̝̜͋͐ͨͫͤ̍̇ͩ̎Ḋͧͦͮ͛҉̸͎̥̝͉̙͉̲̼I̡̲̣̪̟̝̤̭͛ͨ̓Ą̞̯̯̞͓͎̫̄ͨ͋ͣT͇̦͇̘̫͈͍̼͑ͧ̋̂͛͟͡ͅĚ̜͚̗͖ͤ̇͜L̗͉ͬͯ̐ͪ̃̀̃͡Y̷̧̦̟͈ͥ̆̕
And so that is what we all did. You did not defy the leader of the Decepticons, even when you knew he was leaning on insanity. Ios is a comfortable planet, able to sustain organic lfe. It is nothing like Cybertron. It is lush and fertile, filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes. The Decepticon Army was deposited in a massive field, surround a holographic generator, that -when turned on- projected our Lord Commander Megatron at least the times his normal height.
He was sitting on his throne with the only Decepticon he had not ordered to report to Ios. Thunderblast. The dumb glitch was curled in Megatron's lap like the slut she was. Next to me, I could've sworn to hearing Lieutenant Cyclonus beside me whispers the words "I swear to Primus I will destroy that glitch. I cannot believe her."
Hmph. I had not known they'd been lovers at one point.
Besides, I knew that Thunderblast fragged any mech with power. She was a fine specimen of the females of the Cybertronian race, might I add. After being surrounded by familiar and formidable faces for what felt like a solar cycle, Megatron finally spoke. And they all listened intently.
"My loyal followers-" he began, coughing. Thunderblast giggled softly, tracing circles on megatron's buff forearm. "I gathered you all here today to test your loyalty to me. I'm sure all of you all know that you are on an uninhabited planet called Ios." By uninhabited, I'm sure he meant that no intelligent life-forms occupied the planet, just mindless creatures. "This planet was named and claimed by a group call the Seers of Solace."
Yes, most intelligent Decepticons knew the names of the all-female cult. They had claimed Ios long before the war had started, but they believed in Solace Prime as the one and only goddess, no Primus, no Unicron, and definitely no male thirteen members. They used Ios for strange worship sessions and odd ceremonials that none wanted to believe were true.
" The Seers were an interesting group, different from all the other cults that were out and about on Cybertron before the war. They absolutely despised males. So every Stellar Cycle they held games of death on Ios. My current favorite, the Gladiator games was the final event. The surviving competitors from the other challenges fought to the death. Of course, they were all male. The winner became the leader of the group's private servant. A high honor for males within the Seers. The others were used for nothing but Cannon Fodder."
" You see, my followers, I have decided to use this method to pick someone very special out of the lot of you. Yes, I have not forgotten a prize." Everyone was utterly silent by now. At least everyone around myself.
"The winner shall be my heir!" He laughed maniacally, causing spark-chambers to rumble, but no one moved. Simply put, eyes locked, partnerships were made, but so were enemies.
"NOW FIGHT MY SUBJECTS." Megatron rumbled. "For I'm sure you all want to chance to win."
And with that the hologram flicked off.
Then the chaos began. Many were dead within seconds, others disappeared in the woods at the edge of the field. I, I only knew one thing;
I had to win.
-Starscream
Lord Commander of the Seeker Armada
"W-What going to do, S-S-Starscream?" Skywarp stuttered and it drove the Seeker Commander bonkers, could he not even document his experiences without being bombarded by idiotic questions? Starscream turned to face his Trine Brother, and being leader of the trio, he had to answer all the stupid questions thrown at him. His scarlet red optics narrowed at Skywarp, who was propped up against a massive tree, of which Ios was home to.
The younger Seeker had faced major circuitry damage during the initial chaos of Megatron's Game. The back of his head, and his processor must has taken extensive damage, because he was no longer the cocky, light-hearted jokester and romancer that he used to be. Skywarp had been terrified of everything, and he faced -what Starscream guessed- was post-traumatic stress.
"I don't know 'Warp." Starscream answered. "Do you know where Thundercracker is?" He asked, turning back to face the broken Mech. Sparks jumped out from the half of his face that had been ripped apart by -from Skywarp's stuttering retelling of the first battle- Lockdown. Megatron's bounty hunter had a claw instead of a servo and Starscream wanted to rip it off with his bare servos.
"I t-think he w-went out to l-look for some energon." Starscream rolled his optics and walked over to where his Trine brother sat. The Seeker Commander took a seat besides his brother, letting a sigh escape his breath. When he wasn't annoyed -which was rare, mind you- with his Seeker brethren he felt as though they were the were the only ones he could actually relax while in the presence of his Seeker brethren, excluding that vile femme Slipstream.
Starscream looked at Skywarp's broken face. Sparks fluttered from the circuitry that was exposed to the open air. Silence fell at the Starscream inspected his trine brother's destroyed features. It felt odd seeing the trickster in this beaten, broken form. What was he thinking? Starscream pondered, gaze turning to glance around the scenery for a moment. Taking on Overlord all on his own. He's still such a fool. Hasn't learned anything, no matter how much Thundercracker corrects him. Starscream shook his head and glanced up when Skywarp spoke up again, his vocal modulator was strained to point of crashing, so Starscream gave the younger Seeker a stern look.
"Am I-I, g-gonna b-be like this forever?" The purple, black, and silver Seeker stammered, answering Starscream's stern look with a nerve-wrecked one. Starscream could see that Skywarp was genuinely scared to be too weak to fight on in the competition.
"No." He answered plainly, scarlet optics keeping his eyes on the surrounding trees and the sky above them. "You're going to be fine. We'll find Hook or Shockwave and force them to help you. Even if we just find some supplies I can simply path up the rip in your faceplate." He gave Skywarp's leg a soft pat in comfort -to be honest, he wasn't very good at giving it.
"R-Really?" Skywarp asked in return, familiar -yet different- maroon optics looking up at Starscream as a miniscule droplet of energon dripped down his broken faceplate.
The Seeker Commander nodded, confirming his promise. It was one he vowed to keep, which was rare for a sly Decepticon. It was in their name, wasn't it? Starscreams sometimes wondered how smart Megatron really was if he had come up with a name that simple. Starscream liked to believe that Megatron had gotten the idea from Soundwave. Honestly, everything about that Mech rang deception.
After a few simple -but blessed- moments of pure silence, Starscream's -and Skywarp's- attentions were grabbed by a sharp rustling in the bushes to the right of them. Starscream shot to his feet, and may or may not have had some aid from his thrusters. He raised his weapons, which were ironically enough his hands. His right transformed into a blazing-red null ra - his favorite weapon, and choice weapon of most Seekers- and his left stayed in it's normal state, but he aime dit anyway, he still had the rocket on his wrist. Best not waste energon. Or rockets, for that matter.
"Who's there?!" He ordered when familiar blue form shuffled out of the foliage.
"T-Tee-C-Cee!" He heard Skywarp call.
Starscream narrowed his optics as another form followed. Nothing good ever came from being an easy aly.
"Everything, okay, 'Warp? 'Screamer?" The blue Seeker asked with a faithful tilt of his head. He fully pushed through the bushes and motioned for the other form to follow forward. Starscream gritted his teeth in annoyance, what was this? They were still his subordinates, you didn't just bring an enemy into basecamp! Maybe the Seeker Commander was being over-sensitive -as usual- but he didn't care. "I found a friend."
Out of the bushes came a bright -but still injured- Sunstorm. Another Seeker to care for.
Great.
Starscream stomped his foot and threw his hands down in protest. "How DARE you bring another into our base camp, Thundercracker! Fellow Seeker or not, what if you had gotten caught while searching for him, hmm? What then? Me and Skywarp can't just go off looking for you-"
"Starscream!" Sunstorm charged at him, a bright smile on his face. He swooped the screaming Seeker into his golden arms and Starscream struggled and howled in agony as he was picked up and squeezed by the golden and maroon Seeker.
"Let go of my you little-" Another decided to interrupt him.
"Calm down, Screamer. It's just Sunny, he's not going to do any damage at least not now." Thundercracker mused, a smug look coming across him.
Still fuming, the Seeker Commander pointed one long, claw-like servo at the blue Mech. "Watch yourself Thundercracker, Sunstorm may stay, but don't try to bring anymore pets home." Starscream growled, turning around and stampeding over to the other side of the clearing, letting the massive trees cloaked him from sight. He wasn't far from the other Seekers, but he was out of plain sight, and that gave him comfort.
Even the most esteemed officers needed a break sometimes, right?
Starscream sighed and rubbed his brow with two servos, being careful not injure himself with those dagger-like things. What were they going to do? He now had three Seekers to care for besides himself: Thundercracker, Sunstorm, and a severely injured Skywarp.
What was he to do?
It was supposed to be an every-man-for-himself kind of competition, what was he doing trying to do, ge this entire team of Seekers together and then win that way? At the end though, only one of them could win, and it would be Starscream, through any means possible.
"So what are you going to do, Sir?" He heard footsteps behind him and Thundercracker's voice ring out.
Starscream turned to face them and before he could answer he heard a shout from the clearing. He glanced at Thundercracker, who had Sunstorm standing beside him.
"Starscream! T-Tee-Cee! Sunny! SOMEBODY!"
It was Skywarp.