Intro
This was a crucial time for both Autobots and Decepticons alike, each side fighting to obtain all four Omega keys before the other. And, with this, came the hope of restoring their homeworld that was long-lost to war, Cybertron. Though, beside this, the Decepticon warlord had plans of his own to get the revenge he'd so long desired, the peak of his desperation being now...
Chapter One
Aboard the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis, Soundwave stood before a console, at work decoding the Iacon data. With him almost finished, they would soon have the coordinates to the next Omega Key, and hopefully before the Autobots did.
Megatron was pacing on the bridge anxiously, constantly glancing over at the surveillance chief and checking his progress. He was growing impatient, the longer this took the higher the chance the Autobots would get the next Key first. That was one of the least of his concerns at the moment despite its importance. There were other matters that interested him far more. Finally, his pacing stopped, and he turned to face his second in command. "Havoc, I want you to bring me the daughter of Optimus and Lineus Prime."
The way she raised an eyebrow at him said it all about what she thought on this rather rash order. "Might I ask, why?" Havoc began, but before Megatron could speak Havoc continued. "Is now really the time for a foolish act of revenge? Indeed, the Autobots need to die, but a smart leader would know to keep his focus on the task at hand: Retrieving the Omega Keys." Megatron only growled at this, angered by the fact that he was questioned. Without much warning, his arm shot out and he grabbed Havoc's throat in a constructive grip. "I could care less about those keys right now, but that's none of your concern. You will bring me the girl, and Optimus will die. And, if you question me again, you can perish right beside him." He threatened, continuing to tighten his grip. Havoc made an attempt to pry his hand off, but with his greater strength, it was of no use. "If you really wanted to kill me, you would've done so a long time ago…" She managed to choke out. Megatron growled at her a second time, but with this, he released her and let her fall to the floor. As Havoc rubbed her throat, coughing, Megatron looked over at Soundwave. "Are you almost finished decoding the next entry, Soundwave?" He asked impatiently. The surveillance chief glanced over and nodded, before his focus went back to the screen. Again, Megatron's cold glare shot back to Havoc, who had gotten herself back to her feet and was returning that same glare to him. "You are not to return to this warship until you have their daughter, is that understood?"
"Of course, my Lord Megatron." Havoc responded in an almost mocking tone. She turned to walk away, then stopped after taking a step. Her head turned to look over her shoulder, back at Megatron. "I'll be taking Dreadwing." Havoc said, before she looked away and continued walking. After that, she left the warship's bridge completely.
~.-.~
Havoc stopped as soon as the door closed behind her, her current posture suggested that she was probably annoyed and even pissed about what had just happened. So, that's how you treat your wife now? Havoc thought to herself.
After a moment longer of standing outside the bridge, Havoc commed Dreadwing and gave him his orders. "Dreadwing, assemble the Seekers."
Chapter Two
At the Autobot's base, Autobot Outpost Omega One (an old, military missile silo passed down from humans), Optimus was at work decoding the Iacon database for the coordinates to the next Omega Key. Though, his mind wasn't completely on the task at hand right now. There was something else, something that was bothering him and had been for some time,Celestial. Optimus glanced over his shoulder to see Streamline standing behind him, but he was quick to look away with a sad-sounding sigh.
~.-.~
Streamline hadn't missed Optimus's brief glance at her, nor had she missed that worried look in his eyes. She didn't need to ask, she already knew exactly what was bothering him, and it gave her a feeling of sadness just thinking about it.
Streamline walked up to Optimus and placed a hand on his shoulder. When he turned his head to her, their gazes locked with each other. "You don't need to work yourself so hard, Blitz can also decode the Iacon data, you know that." She told him, with the silent hope that he would take a break from it soon. Optimus just gave her a nod and turned his head away, back to the screen in front of him."I'm almost finished with this set, then I-" He sounded like he was struggling to finish his sentence, or it was something he just didn't want to say. But, he did finally spit it out. "I need to speak with you about something." He finished in a much lower voice. Streamline didn't like the way Optimus had said that, she didn't like talking about anything to do with her past, but someday, she'd just have to face it. "Alright." She responded, taking her hand off his shoulder and stepping away to leave him be.
"Streamline?" Optimus stopped her before she could walk away completely, though, he still wasn't looking at her. This time, had his head turned in the direction where the Autobots were. Streamline looked to the same place he was, and that was on Celestial (who was lobbing with the Wreckers). "Can you choose some of the others to accompany Celestial?" Optimus asked. When Streamline nodded, his eyes went right back to the database again. Streamline took a minute to think, but the first choice seemed pretty obvious. "The Wreckers." She said. They seemed to be getting along well with Celestial. Despite being a bit rash and foolish at times, they could offer good protection for her. "And…" Her voice trailed off as she began searching around the room. "Smokescreen." Streamline decided. He was always eager to prove himself, maybe his chance to do that could be now.
~.-.~
"Come on Wheeljack, I know you can do better than that!" Celestial teased in a playful manner, before tossing the ball back to him with a hard throw. Wheeljack caught it, sliding backwards just a bit from the force. "I know, but I'm just going easy on you kid-"
"Bullshit." Switchblade interrupted Wheeljack, and that was followed by a shriek from Bulkhead who must not have noticed 'Blade standing behind him. Miko looked over from where she was sitting by the TV and gave Bulkhead an odd look. "Did you just scream like a girl?" She asked. "Uh, no." Bulkhead lied. Celestial couldn't help but laugh a little as Wheeljack and Bulkhead started bickering over whether or not Bulkhead had really screamed. Something else caught the corner of her eye, and she looked to see what or who it was. Hot Rod? What does he want? She wondered as he walked over to her and stopped. Celestial turned herself to face him completely. "Hey, Celestial… um… are you busy right now?" He asked, shifting his feet around a bit. Celestial wasn't sure what to think of the question, and she glanced over at her parents, only to quickly look back to Hot Rod when she noticed her father's stern look. Celestial gave Hot Rod a nervous smile,before saying"Not right now, why?" She honestly was curious.
Chapter Three
Dreadwing was with Sunstreak on the warship, they were alone, having an important discussion. Dreadwing was expressing his concerns about being with the Decepticons, and even suggesting that they leave together. He was constantly worried about Sunstreak, and he feared what Havoc and Megatron might do to her if he made one wrong move.
That's when he heard Havoc's orders over the comms. Soundwave must've obtained the coordinates to the next key. He sighed, before looking back to Sunstreak. Dreadwing didn't want to leave her here, alone, but he had no choice." I must go." He informed her, sounding disappointed to cover up his fear. Sunstreak leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Be careful, and don't worry about me." She told him gently. Dreadwing couldn't help but worry, nonetheless he still nodded. As he started to walk away, down the hall, his mind still stuck on Don't worry about me. He stopped in his tracks, thinking, before he looked back to Sunstreak. "What if you came with me?" He asked, despite his hopes that she would say yes, he had a feeling he already knew the answer.
~.-.~
"I can't, I repair ship's engines and faulty consoles, I'm practically useless." She told him. Sunstreak could just see the look of disappointment in his eyes. "You aren't useless, not to me. But, perhaps you'll be safer if you remain here." Sunstreak listened to his words, then watched sadly as he walked away. When Dreadwing disappeared altogether, she went back to her work.
~.-.~
"Ripcord, report to the bridge immediately." That was Megatron over the warship's loudspeakers. Ripcord nearly jumped out of herskin, it was so sudden that it'd caught her by surprise. What does he want? she wondered to herself. He had been suspecting a traitor for a little while now, though she was silently hoping that wasn't what this was about.
Ripcord headed to the bridge, and upon arriving at the door she passed an extremely ticked off Havoc. She kept herself calm as she opened the door and entered. She kneeled into a bow. "You summoned me, Lord Megatron?" Megatron turned to face her, and it seemed that just before that he'd been saying something to Soundwave in a hushed voice. "Ah, Ripcord. Yes, I did summon you." He said as he approached her, and she stood from her bow. When he stopped in front of her, Ripcord noticed that suspicious glint in his eyes. "I brought you here because I have a traitor among my ranks. So tell me: Who has been sending encrypted transmissions off of my ship?!"
(DunkelNotes - 1/30-2018
Well, that's day one and I am pooped because it's really early in the morning. Well, good night, sorry if I screwed anything up [Let me know if I did] and I'll try writing more tomorrow after I draw a picture of someone)
Chapter Four
"Oh, you know…" Hot Rod started scratching the back of his neck as he spoke. "I was thinking maybe we could go for a drive together, or something." He told Celestial. His eyes flitted over to Optimus and Streamline after the words came out. If your father doesn't kill me first, Hot Rod thought silently. Then, he looked back to Celestial and added, "Er… if your parents are okay with that…"
~.-.~
The moment Hot Rod had walked up to Celestial was also the moment Optimus' mood had changed to that of irritation, and he even tensed up a bit. It wasn't just the fact that Hot Rod had disappeared for awhile and abruptly returned out of the blue, it was also that he'd gone straight over to Celestial. Optimus kept glancing over and checking on them, all the while his attention to decoding the database began to fade as he glared at Hot Rod. What is he up to...? Optimus wondered.
"Celestial's not going to be alone forever."
Hearing Streamline's voice nearly made him jump, but he still didn't take his eyes off of Hot Rod, and Optimus instead let out a low growl.
Maybe it was just the growing tension in the air as Optimus continued to stare Hot Rod down, or perhaps it was because he took a step closer to Celestial, but something triggered his temper to snap. Now enraged, Optimus stepped away from the console and made his way across the room, straight over to where Hot Rod and Celestial were. The Iacon data can wait for a moment, he told himself. As he passed, the arguing Wreckers silenced themselves after one muttered something almost inaudibly to the other. Optimus didn't wait for a reaction, as soon as he reached them, he grabbed the frightened looking Hot Rod and pulled him away from Celestial. Going to a bit of an extreme, Optimus pinned Hot Rod roughly against the wall by pressing his arm down against the younger bot's chest.
"Dad, what are you doing?!" Celestial protested.
Optimus glared hard at Hot Rod, all but ignoring everyone else as the entire room went quiet. "Where were you?" He demanded. Hot Rod's eyes widened a bit, his fear was obvious. "I went for a drive, sir." Hot Rod gulped nervously. Optimus growled a second time, shoving him even harder against the wall. "I didn't-"
"You left this base without first receiving permission to do so. I didn't ask what you were doing, I said 'Where were you?'" Optimus interrupted Hot Rod, his patience growing thin." It wasn't far from here, I didn't do anything bad." Hot Rod claimed, only continuing to anger the Prime. Optimus raised a fist, Hot Rod flinched. But, just before the blow could be struck, he felt a hand seize his wrist in the air. Surprised, he turned his head to see who it was. Streamline. "Optimus! What has gotten into you?" Streamline sounded concerned, and her eyes brimmed with worry as she kept a tight hold of his wrist. Ashamed as he was, he still pulled himself free of her grip and shot one last glare at Hot Rod. "Stay away from my daughter." Optimus warned, before releasing him and walking straight back to the console without another word.
What has gotten into me...? Optimus asked himself as he went back to decoding the Iacon database, almost finished.
(DunkelNotes - 2/2-2018
Here's another chap. for the day, sorry if it seems kinda short. A majority of shorter chaps. is kinda my writing style. :/ Sorry.)
Chapter Five
Ripcord stayed calm still, even despite Megatron's indirect accusation towards her. "I don't know who's been sending the transmissions." She simply said, looking him right in the eye and hiding her fear. It was hard to even look at the one who had killed her family, let alone serve under him day in and day out, because she was given a mission that only one knew about: Join the Decepticons as a spy gathering information for the Autobot cause.Megatron clearly wasn't buying her response. "Oh, really? Is that so?" Megatron asked in an almost taunting manor.
"I did spot a vehicon out of place earlier, perhaps question him?" Ripcord suggested.
Megatron still appeared disbelieving, and only continued to question her motives. "And, why exactly didn't you report this to me immediately?"
"Because you told me to finish my status report ASAP." Ripcord answered, handing him a datapad as soon as she finished speaking. Hopefully it would be enough to get Megatron off her case.
~.-.~
Megatron looked over the report carefully, as if searching for some flaw in it that he could use against her. Nothing seemed to be out of place. After a brief, cold look at Ripcord, he turned and walked over to Soundwave. "I want you to keep an eye on her." Megatron ordered Soundwave, handing him the datapad, his voice had been kept low so that only the surveillance chief could hear him. After receiving a slight nod from Soundwave, Megatron walked back over to Ripcord. "Go fetch me this… defective trooper. You are to bring him to me immediately."
"Of course." Ripcord bowed a second time, then proceeded to walk away. As soon as she reached the door, Megatron threw one last threat at her. "When I discover who this traitor is, I will gut them. Slowly." Ripcord came to a stop as he spoke, but he was unsure of her reaction as she left the bridge completely and the door closed behind her. I know you're up to something, and I will find out what…
~.-.~
Knockout was heading to the lab, Nightlock at his side. They were locked in conversation as they walked. "Is it just me, or has Lord Megatron been acting rather… strange lately?" He asked curiously. Nightlock looked over at him, almost appearing amused. "A bit. Maybe he's on drugs?" Nightlock suggested as a joke.
"Maybe." Knockout shrugged as they turned down another hall.
Nightlock stopped in front of him, making him stop as well.."Knockout, I was kidding." She said, putting a hand on her hip. "You are so cute when you're stupid."
"Well… we do have that Dark Energon…" Knockout pointed out, almost sounding guilty. It seemed Nightlock had caught that tone of guilt in his voice, because her expression suddenly changed, and she shot out a scolding finger into his face. "What the hell did you do?" She demanded. Knockout went cross-eyed for a moment looking at her finger, but he slowly pushed it to the side, out of his face. "It was nothing bad." He lied. Nightlock narrowed her eyes, then gave him a hard slap across the face. She thrust her finger out again. "If you don't tell me what you did right now, I will cut off your balls and toss them off the warship. You will tell me what you did, now."
