Um, well, I don't know what to say, other than…Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrsorry! I meant to update this ages ago but I kept getting sidetracked by my other stories. Now that I'm putting them on hiatus for a while, I'll finally continue on with this...I don't own The Transformers or any of the characters which are associated with The Transformers, this is based on a short story by 9aza, so please be sure to check out her stories. And I guess that's it for the intro then, so please enjoy, don't forget to review and finally…thanks for reading!
Deep within the bowels of an abandoned power station, a number of Predacons were desperately searching for a way out. Their leader, a high ranking Predacon by the name of Vanquish, had led them there with promises of fame and glory, the chance to find an old Decepticon power generator. While they had indeed found it, they had not expected it to be booby trapped and so, due to the incompetence of one amongst them, they had found themselves trapped within it.
"Argh! This is going to take forever!" Cometjumper moaned.
"Well we wouldn't need to find an exit if you hadn't caused this place to go into lockdown!" NovaScream snapped, turning to face his comrade.
"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" Cometjumper whined, somewhat pathetically.
"Enough! The both of you! Just concentrate on finding an escape route!" Skystalker admonished the pair as he kept to the rear.
"…This is all your fault." NovaScream muttered to Cometjumper, causing him to scowl in response.
Elsewhere Blowout, Control and Enemy wandered down the halls of the factory, they too searching for some means to escape the factory.
"So, how exactly are we supposed to use this…thing, anyway?" Enemy asked his fellow Predacons.
"I don't know, and so long as I get paid, I don't care." Blowout replied in an indifferent tone of voice.
"It's absolutely none of our business anyway. You'd do well to keep your mouth shut." Control warned the smaller Predacon.
Enemy rolled his optics in disdain "Yeah, whatever you say big bot-Urk!"
He was cut off when Control pinned him to the wall with one large fist.
"I think we'll get on a lot better if you keep your vocal processors shut off." Control said, absolutely no emotion at all present in his voice.
Enemy nodded weakly and Control let him go.
"Smart move." Blowout muttered as he walked past Enemy.
Not far away, Magmatron, Gravedigger and Toxin were examining a large room they had discovered.
"Do you think we'll find a way out of here sir?" Gravedigger asked, oblivious to Toxin shaking his head in disgust.
"Of course we will, now keep looking for an exit." Magmatron replied somewhat absentmindedly as he ran his fingers over a door that had not only been locked, but welded shut, clearly the Decepticons had been intent on keeping intruders out…or something in…
"What's this?" Toxin asked, motioning to a pile of what looked like a pile of slag in a corner.
"Hmmm..it appears to be a Decepticon…but it looks as if he was…melted down." Magmatron murmured as he peered closely at Toxin's discovery.
"Not completely evidently." Toxin said as he noticed the look of terror and agony on the Decepticons face.
"What could have caused this I wonder?" Gravedigger asked as he cautiously ran his hand over the half melted Decepticons corpse.
"I don't know, but we should exercise caution. This was clearly done centuries ago, but it pays not to be careless." Magmatron advised "Let's move out."
"Accursed fool! I should be using that oversized battery to power my forces! Not searching for an exit!" Vanquish snarled as he led Demolisher down a corridor.
"Perhaps a slight…accident could be arranged for him?" Demolisher suggested.
"Make it so! I have no patience for idiots like him!" Vanquish commanded as he blasted away a cobweb.
Suddenly, two piercing screams echoed all throughout the factory.
"What in the Inferno was that?-!" NovaScream cried, spinning around, rifle raised.
"We're not alone in here.: Magmatron whispered as Toxin and Gravedigger almost leapt out of their casings.
"Trouble. You two, stick close to me." Control ordered.
"Hmmm?" Galleon asked as he searched for the source of the noise.
"I doubt even you can work that fast." Vanquish said to Demolisher.
"That sounded like Crumble and Hook!" Demolisher exclaimed, his optics going wide.
Vanquish looked horrified "What?-! You don't think those fools did something to my generator do you?-!"
"Quickly, back to the generator room!" Demolisher shouted as he ran towards the source of the noise.
"WHERE IS MEGATRON?"
"Argh! Please…I don't know!" Crumble pleaded as he felt his wiring begin to fry.
"YOU WILL PROVIDE ME WITH ANSWERS."
"But I don't know!" Crumble screamed as his right arm fell off and melted into a pool of molten metal.
"WHERE IS MEGATRON?"
"He's been dead-urk!-For centuries! The Great War is over! The Decepticons no longer exist! Please, let me go…" Crumble pleaded, his cries beginning to weaken.
"THEN WHO ARE YOU?"
"Predacons! The descendants of the Decepticons! Like you!" Crumble cried out as his torso began to spark.
The giant being who held Crumble in his grip narrowed his optics, before tightening his grip, causing Crumble to scream louder than before as his pain intensified.
"YOU THINK I AM LIKE YOU?"
"No, please! I'm sorry!" Crumble shrieked in agony.
"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU."
Crumble screamed as the pain overtook him.
Rushing to turn a corner, Skystalker almost collided with Blowout.
"You hear that?" Skystalker asked as he rushed towards the generator room.
"Kind of hard to miss the screams of pain." Blowout replied as Control pushed past them.
"By the Pit!" Someone ahead of them gasped.
Skystalker and Control's groups re-entered the generator room to see a smouldering pile of half melted slag lying in the centre of the room, the half melted corpse of Hook forcibly stuck to a wall and Sunstorm nowhere in sight. Standing there surveying the carnage were Magmatron, Toxin and Gravedigger.
"What happened here?" Enemy asked as he looked around the room.
"No clue, but whatever got Hook and Crumble made off with the Decepticon by the looks of it." Magmatron replied.
"What?-!" Vanquish cried as he, Demolisher and Galleon entered the room.
"What's happened here? Where are our sentries?" Demolisher asked.
"Well, it would appear that Hook became a fixture on that wall over there and I believe you're standing in Crumble." Magmatron pointed out.
Demolisher looked down at the puddle that he happened to be standing in and quickly leapt back.
"Maximals! They must have followed us, killed the sentries and stole my generator!" Vanquish seethed, balling his hands up into fists.
"This lacks the signs of a Maximal approach. Those weaklings probably would have tried to capture Hook and Crumble alive, they can't stomach death." Blowout pointed out.
Magmatron cursed "Then another Predacon faction! Quickly, we must not allow them to escape!"
"Oh, I hardly doubt they'll be able to do that. Chances are high that they're just as trapped as we are." Skystalker replied.
"Regardless, I want them found and I want them dead! Do you all understand me?" Vanquish asked through gritted teeth.
"Of course, perfectly." Magmatron replied calmly.
"Well then don't just stand there! Find them!" Vanquish roared, startling the majority of his men into action.
"Do you want them dead by our hand, or dead by yours?" Demolisher asked as he cocked one of his many weapons.
Magmatron stopped to consider this before replying "Bring them to me, I have knowledge of certain techniques that serve to pronounce and prolong pain for as long as possible."
Demolisher nodded "As you wish." And with that, he and the others rushed off in order to find their assailants.
"When I get my hands on the slaggers who did this, I swear I'll…" Vanquish murmured, clenching his hands into fists.
Only the Seekers remained behind, unsure of their orders.
"Uh, sir?" Skystalker asked "Do you really think it wise to split up our forces after-?"
"Perhaps you didn't hear me Sergeant. I want these assailants found and I want them destroyed, preferably by my own hand. If you fail to do so, or refuse then dire punishments may be in order." Vanquish replied ominously.
Skystalker paused before he made his response "Yes sir, but given how Crumble and Hook were dispatched, it may be better to-"
He was promptly interrupted by a blast that grazed his cheek, leaving a long, thing gash in it. Cometjumper and NovaScream were shocked but managed to pull out their rifles. In response however, Demolisher raised both of his cannons.
"That was your final warning Sergeant. Right now, you're too valuable to me to dispose of, unlike that idiot Crosswire, but don't think I won't do if it you force me to." Vanquish warned as he lowered the smoking barrel of his pistol.
Skystalker rubbed his check weakly, partially in shock, before shaking out of it in order to make his reply "Yes sir, right away sir. We will find the assailants, we can assure you of that."
Vanquish smiled "Good, now I suggest that you go out and do just that, or there shall be severe punishments to be dealt out."
Skystalker nodded, before rushing off, closely followed by his fellow Seekers, who cast nervous glances back behind them.
"Demolisher?" Vanquish asked in a small voice.
"Yes?"
"Make a note reminding me to eliminate the insubordinate Sergeant Skystalker as well as his incompetent lackey." Vanquish said in that same tone of voice, which Demolisher now noticed had an edge of malice.
Demolisher made a slight bow "It shall be done."
Vanquish nodded "Good. Now we can only wait and hope that these fools can retrieve my chance to overthrow the Predacons and the Maximals. If anyone else should get their hands on my generator, be I Maximal or Predacon, then there shall be the Inferno to pay!"
"If you say so." Demolisher muttered as he edged towards the door, partially to help take part in the search for the mystery attackers and partially to get away from Vanquish, who it was apparent was becoming somewhat…unstable.
"Where are you going?" Vanquish asked sharply, not even turning his head to look at Demolisher.
"Uh…to aid in the search for whoever stole you generator…sir?" Demolisher offered.
"No, you will stay with me. I need someone I can trust to remain with me. You are loyal to me and my cause, are you not Demolisher?" Vanquish asked, a tinge of threat clear in his voice.
"Yes, I am Van…sir." Demolisher said in a quiet voice, peering down at his feet.
"Good. We'll wait here and allow the others to report back to us. After all, why should we have to endanger ourselves or be forced to go to my subordinates? No, we shall wait here until news arrives." Vanquish muttered absently, turning to observe the dark spot on the wall that was all that remained of Hook.
"Um, sir?" Demolisher said.
"What is it Demolisher?" Vanquish asked, not turning to face his second in command.
"You appear to be standing in Crumble sir." Demolisher replied, averting his optics in case Vanquish's response was less than calm.
Vanquish merely peered down in order to confirm what Demolisher had told him, before raising his head again in order to stare more closely at Hook's partially melted corpse.
"Admittedly impressive work, whoever did this has certain flair about their work." Vanquish sighed "A shame that I'll have to kill them."
Deep in the bowels of the factory, a colossal figure stood in the shadows of an empty room. Peering through a crack in the door, he observed three of the so called Predacons rushing about, searching for something.
So, the figure though, these are the ones who have replace the Decepticons? Perhaps the change would have been inevitable, regardless of my fate, or maybe they would remain if it they hadn't shut me down. Either way, they will pay for the crimes of the Decepticons. The figure pressed his hand to the door and watched in silence as it began to melt from his mere touch. Oh yes, they will pay.
So, what do you think? Again, I am so, so sorry that it took so long to update this. And again, be sure to check out 9aza's stories, especially The Noose, to which this is a sequel. Once again, I hope that you enjoyed this, please remember to leave a review and finally…thanks for reading! Until the next chapter (which I swear will not take as long to update as last time), bye!