Note: I do not own any of these characters, they Belong to Hasbro.
It had been a long day for everyone. After sitting through a four-hour meeting and listening to Megatron drone on and on about possible energon sources without even Starscream there to relieve the boredom with a snarky comment (he was in the med-bay recovering from the punishment for his latest verbal jibe), the entire Decepticon team looked ready to drop.
Blackout and Bonecrusher exited the briefing room without even a glare at one another before wearily retreating into the Mess Hall, probably hoping to get overcharged on Starsceam's hidden supply of high-grade. Soundwave stayed behind at Megatron's request to discuss battle tactics and possible plots for universal domination. Barricade nearly offlined on his way to his quarters where he promptly and contentedly fell onto his berth and into a deep recharge.
-the next morning-
Barricade cursed once again that his room was the one nearest the Rec Room as he was startled from his recharge by the sound of Star Wars. From the sound of it, whoever was watching had just started the movie and was now at the scene of an epic battle.
Rubbing his optics exasperatedly, he gave up any hopes he had harbored of falling back into recharge, he got of the berth and shifted from ped to ped uneasily. Something was off. He felt lighter, as though something were missing. Feeling panic rise inside of him, he realized what it was. Frenzy was gone. The chamber inside his chest which the minibot usually occupied was empty.
Fighting down waves of panic, he tried reasoning with himself. When was the last time he had seen Frenzy? He though back to the night before and realized with a sick sense of dread that he hadn't seen Frrenzy since before the meeting with Megatron.
Feeling dizzy and almost reeling with a sense of unease, he stepped out of his quarters and passed into the Rec Room. Soundwave was intensely studying a strange glowing box (obviously squishy in origin) which he had recently become addicted to. Barricade thought a moment before remembering that they called it a tell-eye-vision or something of the sort. The glowing part of the box was showing small moving organics and as he stepped into the room he heard a voice come from the box. It stated :"I have a bad feeling about this"
You and me both buddy. Barricade thought as he examined the rest of the Rec Room.
Blackout and Bonecrusher were sitting at the card table in the back of the room. Blackout had his head in his arms and was moaning something about high-grade and Starscream and What the frag is a rubber ducky? Barricade wondered, eying Blackout warily as he moaned the foreign term like a mantra. Bonecrusher was flopped in his chair with his limbs splayed out in different directions, staring vacantly into space.
Deciding that Soundwave was probably his safest (and least violent) bet he walked over and sat down beside him.
"Hey 'Wave."
"Uh-huh."
"Have you seen Frenzy around at all?"
"Uh-Huh."
"Really, where?" Barricade asked feeling hope rise in his chest, unintentionally leaning in front of the TV. And blocking Soundwave's view.
"Huh?" Was Soundwave's response, turning irritably to look at the mech who was currently interrupting the best part of the movie.
"Have. You. Seen. Frenzy?" Barricade asked again, his patience and his nerves running thin.
"No, but maybe Blackout or Bonecrusher has." Was the distracted reply as Soundwave leaned around Barricade, obviously trying to get a glimpse of the kissing scene.
With a sigh, Barricade stood up and strode warily over to the table from which Blackout and 'Crusher hadn't moved. In fact, it looked to Barricade as though neither of them had even twitched since he last saw them.
"'Kout?" He asked tentatively. "You seen Frenzy around?"
With a glare that could have frozen energon, Blackout peeled his head from the table, folded his arms over his chest and fixed Barricade with an accusatory stare.
"He stole my rubber ducky." He pouted with a whiny tone to his voice that would have done Starscream proud
"Come again?" Barricade asked after doing a quick internet search of this "rubber ducky".
"Him 'n Scorp and Rav. They stole it 'Cade!" Blackout looked like he was about to burst into tears. Really not needing to add a weeping Blackout to his list of things-that-have-made-today-unique, he patted him awkwardly on the back.
"Well see, if you tell me where they are, I could find your rubber ducky and bring it back to you." Barricade negotiated.
Blackout sniffled. "Really?"
Barricade resisted the urge to recoil and nodded. "Uh-huh."
Blackout look like he was going to hug Barricade. "'Kay, I'll show you." He staggered to his feet and, leaning on Barricade for support, staggered down the hallway. He followed Blackout out of the Rec Room, down past the quarters, through the Mess Hall, , and into the Mess Hall's restroom(much to the amusement of everyone in the Hall).
Just as Barricade was about to turn on Blackout and spout some rather unique bits of vocab he had picked up from the squishies, he heard a bout of maniacal laughter coming from one of the stalls.
Striding over to the stall, he pushed open the unlocked door to see Ravage, Frenzy, and Scorponok sitting guiltily around the toilet seat with a shredded rubber dusky resting on the lid.
Everyone in the mess hall looked over to the restroom in bewildered amusement as a great wail of "My rubber ducky!" Echoed throughout the base.