Highly Combustible
By Snare-chan
Pairings: None
Ratings: T
Category(ies): Humor
Warning(s): None
Status: One-shot, complete
Summary: Crossover between the 2007 movie and Animated. Two of Megatron's most loyal followers, Blackout and Lugnut, go head to head.
Notes: Practically a dare by zosocrowe, whom I've had multiple discussions with concerning such a momentous meeting occurring, I just had to take her up on it. Also, it's her birthday, so what better gift than Decepticons fighting?
Since this really has no place to go, all that really needs to be known about the setting of this story is that it takes place relatively in the 2007 movie verse, but involves both the Animated and 2007 characters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers 2007 or Animated; wish I did like everybody else. They should put TF in stock, then I'd buy it all!
The control room was uncharacteristically empty, the only two occupants on duty monitoring energy output, exterior anomalies, and the ship as a whole. Lugnut had an ulterior motive in paying extra attention to the Nemesis and its occupants – the one he was currently sharing this room with, in particular.
Who does Blackout think he is? The purple mech groused, alternating his attention between the monitors in front of him and the flier to his right side.
He did not trust him, not in the slightest! At least the others were blatant in their dislike towards their glorious leader. All of them were unworthy: Bonecrusher with his unadulterated loathing towards Lord Megatron, and Blackarachnia in her taking advantage of his generosity, to name a few. None saw the commander for the magnificent being that he truly was. The entire galaxy should be devotedly worshipping him on hands and knees!
Blackout was different from the others residing on this ship. He was worse, claiming to believe that Lord Megatron still lives and acting all loyal despite his absence. Disgusting! Of course, Lugnut already knew all of that, and had since the very beginning, too. Never had he thought otherwise, because his master was indestructible, having survived a millennia of harsh conditions and harsher battles thus far. Anyone who doubted his strength and power were traitors who deserved nothing more than to be shot, and those who were conceited enough to correct them, more so. That nasty flier, coming in here like he owned the place and understood all of their leader's whims!
Not even Lugnut, his most dedicated subordinate, was that arrogant! Lord Megatron's plans and motives always far exceeded the most complex reasoning; thus, none should be able to comprehend him to the degree that Blackout implied. So egotistical and foolish, that Blackout! No one could be closer to their commander; only he came closest, and even then, Lugnut fell short, for none should ever even attempt to gain equal footing with one such as the Decepticon ruler.
Openly glaring a hole into the other now, his thoughts continued along the same line and out of control, boiling around like a smelting pot of tainted materials.
"Is there a problem, Lugnut?"
The words sharply cut through his line of thinking, putting a damper on them, but not a stopper. His mental attempts to fry the other through sheer force of will had failed as well as been noticed, not that he had a problem with this. In fact, it provided ample opportunity to express exactly what was on his mind.
"As a matter of fact, there is!"
Blackout straightened and finally spared him a glance, mild interest displayed.
"Why, did you discover something?"
"No. The problem here is you!"
"What?"
"You heard me! You are the problem here!" he reiterated, pointing an accusing finger at the other.
"What is the basis for this conclusion?"
"You are a scheming liar and a traitor. Always spouting off whatever will get you closer to Lord Megatron's graces and claiming loyalty when all you do is hide behind his glory!"
A hint of annoyance finally entered the other's countenance; the flier started from his seat with enough force to send it falling backwards, had his hand not been holding onto it enough to keep it firmly in place. His grip was no more promising, however, as it nearly shattered the back of it with the force that was soon applied.
"That is out of line."
"You are out of line!" Lugnut persisted, getting to his own feet and matching him easily in height, "And such insolence calls for punishment; if no one else will do it, then I will!"
Confidently, the black robot pointed out, "And you forget yourself. Only one person has that authority, and you are no Lord Megatron."
"Silence! You have no right to say that name!"
Driven into a rage, he lunged at the other full force, tackling him into a set of controls. With an indignant screech, Blackout raised his fist to retaliate, clocking him cleanly in the face. For such heavy duty mechs such as themselves, the strike was felt, but not powerful enough a hit to dislodge him completely.
"I hate inferiors like you the most! You are nothing to Lord Megatron; never forget that!"
"And you are no more special than I! Just because he tolerates your incessant nonsense doesn't mean he favors you."
To emphasize his words, Blackout reached back and inside the unresponsive control panel to retrieve one of the larger cables residing within. Wrenching it out, he pressed the sparking wire to the other's face. With a howl of pain, Lugnut scrambled away, his single optic blinking on and off in rapid succession as his components struggled to remain functioning. The sudden influx of uncontrolled energy had scrambled his sensors, everything dim and red.
A static image flashed as what was left of his vision indicated, in various strings of zeros and ones, an incoming assault – namely, Blackout's fist. Miraculously, Lugnut caught it and twisted; gears in Blackout's hand crumpled and bent, rendered utterly useless and limp in his grasp.
"You're so conceited!"
"Conceited?" Blackout voice rose in indignation, "I'm conceited? Do you even know what conceited stands for?"
With a shove from his free hand, the purple Decepticon pushed the other back and narrowly ripped the other's appendage clean off in the process. Preparing to outright open fire, he was interrupted by an unforeseen turn of events.
"Scorponok, deploy!"
In a flurry of claws and lashing tail, the drone burst forth from its compartment, leaping off Blackout's shoulder like a springboard to adhere itself to Lugnut's face. Its squeals were his only warning as it clung to him and begun an attempt to dismember what remained of his optic.
"Aaaargh! You dirty cheat, I order you to get this abomination off of me this instant!"
Reaching up to forcibly remove the creature himself, Scorponok remained one step ahead and crawled to his back, just out of Lugnut's reach, and proceeded to wreak more havoc on his frame. This gave Blackout more than enough time to wrench his chair from the floor and slam it into the heavier Decepticon's midsection.
"Vile oil stains, the both of you!"
"And you are a buffoon!"
"Moron!"
"Dimwit!"
The insults didn't cease when the door leading into the room was unlocked, nor did the violence relent, despite the newcomer demanding an explanation.
"Lugnut! Blackout! What is the meaning of this?"
It was Starscream, who had no doubt been one of the many to overhear the commotion and notice the disorder caused by their fight. As the only one who was – unfortunately – responsible for looking into disturbances and stopping them, he had, of course, investigated. The second-in-command looked as surprised to see them as they were to see him – which is to say that none of them were shocked in the slightest. Lugnut was sure that any complaints Starscream had about needing to exert his superior position were a farce; the lieutenant enjoyed any opportunity to punish those who caused some trouble.
Ignoring the other completely, his arm shifted into his primary firearm, the detonation-like device activated and aimed dead center for his opponent's chest. Blackout mirrored his position, his EMP weapon glowing a foreboding blue as energy crackled and shot out in a deadly line, meeting Lugnut's attack.
The resulting explosion was powerful enough to shake the entire space vessel, smoke and other debris filling that particular section of the Nemesis with an impenetrable cloud that hung in the air for several minutes until the emergency vents opened up. As things settled, all that remained of the once-intricate and advanced control room was rubble and scorch marks.
Lugnut was first to recover, his heftier build pushing through the scrap metal to discover that it appeared he was truly alone.
"I did it! I defeated that no-good bzzzt!"
A deft smack to the top of his head temporarily short-circuited his vocalizer; a glance above revealed it to have been Scorponok who inadvertently hit him. In the blast, it had been propelled to the ceiling, the hunter's frame hitting it so hard that it had become slightly embedded up there and its current struggles to be free had loosened some fragments. With a sound akin to peeling tape off of a hard surface, it broke free and landed on Lugnut's head as well, the only sign that it had been attached to the ceiling a simple outline amongst the burn marks.
Agitatedly, he shook his fist at the clumsy creature, which went on to ignore him completely. He could have sworn, however, that it flicked its tail at him in a very vulgar and insulting way. It waddled to and fro, burrowing its pincers into several piles until one moved, a hand eventually shooting forth from it, one attached to a dark coated arm, which was a part of a large upper body that, to Lugnut's utter horror, all belonged to Blackout. While Scorponok seemed to rejoice in its own simplistic way upon discovering its master unharmed, and Blackout seemed relatively pleased to notice his drone was intact as well, Lugnut wanted to gag. How can Lord Megatron bear to keep that gentle giant in his faction? He's tainting the Decepticon name!
Out loud, Lugnut declared, "When I get out of here, I will finish you off, you dolt!"
"Don't be such an imbecile. I will enjoy seeing your attempts, for proving you wrong and crushing you completely will bring me no greater joy!"
By the door – or where there once stood an entrance, anyway – Starscream made his reappearance. Like all the others present during the blast, he, too, had been buried under the remains of their main control center. With a strength wrought only from pure anger, he threw the several-ton sheet of metal covering him to the side like it weighed nothing and leveled them all with a glare.
"You are both idiots! Now clean this mess up, and that's an order!"
-Fin-