Chapter 3 A Glimpse
Scourge chuckled as he watched the panther cub pin Brimstone down to the platform. With her jaws clamped down on the back of the pterodactyl's neck and a paw pressed down on each of his wings, her optics were bright with excitement at her victory while her tail waved back and forth. Brimstone groaned once before going limp in defeat, even though he hadn't really been trying that hard to win. She waited a moment, no doubt enjoying her "hard earned" win, increasing the pressure on Brimstone's neck before hopping off and cheering.
"I won!" She mewed happily as she bounced around.
"Yes, Spirit, you did very well." Scourge agreed as he walking onto the training area. "But, in a real battle, you would be wise to kill your opponent so they cannot attack you again once your back is turned."
Spirit nodded her head. She had been quick to grasp the concepts that he had told her when her training began. She had a little trouble when it came to using her Cyber Planet Key, but she was getting better and didn't trip over her energon claws, which were designed for her adult form and not her youngling stage, and she was getting better when the new power flooded her systems. The first time it had done that, she had been bouncing off the pillars like she had an energon high. Her attitude needed to be corrected and calmed down a bit, since she still thought like a sparkling, but her enthusiasm was promising, meaning that she would fight with everything she had. Her "name" suited her, even though he had a feeling that she was lying about it. "Spirit" did not seem a proper for her, "Blackspirit" maybe, but definitely not simply "Spirit".
"So," a new voice sounded from behind them, causing Spirit's optics to widen, "this is the youngling you mentioned."
"Ah, Megatron," Scourge chuckled as his protégée spun around, "I see you made it. Yes, this is Spirit."
"H-h-hello," she squeaked nervously, her tail straight up as she sat down on her haunches. "It's a pleasure to meet you…Megatron, was it?" She asked, stumbling over her words slightly.
Megatron's optics narrowed slightly, almost like he was trying to place the panther from a previous encounter, which wasn't unlikely because the femme had been all over the planet already. He opened his mouth to say something just as Spirit's ears twitched to catch a sound that none of them could hear. Her optics brightened before she turned around to face Scourge.
"Are my lessons over for the day, Master?" She asked, her tail twitching with excitement.
"I suppose." Scourge replied with a dark look. "Why?"
"I have to go touch bases with a relative." She replied. "I haven't seen her in a while and she only just arrived in the area. I'll be here tomorrow and train my skid plates off, promise!"
Scourge grunted in response, giving her permission to leave. She bowed again before spinning around and charging off the platform to vanish into the trees; it appeared to be her favourite way off the temple. "Did you open a sparkling-sitting service, Scourge?" Megatron asked with a sneer as he grinned coldly.
"She is a youngling and she is in training." He replied. "She holds much promise and merely needs discipline."
"I'm sure." Megatron replied before he turned. "Has that fool Overhaul bothered you again?"
"No, he hasn't shown his face since our last encounter." Scourge replied smugly, remembering the strange mech rolling around on the ground while trying vainly to get away from his flame-breath.
Megatron snorted before he walked away. "Then, I'll go make sure he isn't in the area. We certainly don't want that trouble-maker anywhere near here, now do we?" He stated. Without waiting for a reply, he transformed and took to the skies.
Scourge snorted back before he turned and walked into his temple. Megatron seemed to be distracted as of late, so he must be using whatever excuse he could get to help get his nerves down. He personally hoped that Overhaul was in the area so that his "friend" could let off some steam. He certainly didn't want the giant mech's fury turned on him; he had a reputation to hold up.
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Redscream chirped in annoyance. What was Lord Megatron thinking, pairing HER up with these two idiots? They were holding her up, forcing her to report everything that she found out when the evidence was sitting right in front of them! And if they would learn to keep their mouths shut for more than 20 astroseconds, they might be able to spy for themselves. And it wasn't like they understood her or anything. Lord Megatron must have been out of his mind when he gave the order.
She growled in annoyance at that thought. No, Lord Megatron only thinks about winning; the idiots must have needed her to make them smarter, which was saying something considering she was a Scrapmetal. Although, she was quite intelligent for any Scrapmetal, far more gorgeous as well, loyal, trustworthy, almost everything that a good soldier should be. She kind of wished that Master Starscream was more loyal so that he wouldn't hurt Mistress Whitesilence when he fought with Lord Megatron. Even though she was far away at the moment, she could still feel the pain that coursed through her when she remembered her almost-mate and father arguing.
She growled again before she sat down on her haunches and lifted her back leg to scratch her neck. Those idiots would be here any minute now expecting her to report. If they would just stop yapping they could see for themselves that the Autobot Hotshot was becoming a threat, that Override was still not responding to anything that Lord Megatron told her, and that the old fool Breakdown and his trainee Clocker were aware of the difference between the Decepticons and the Autobots. Lord Megatron must have been very desperate for recruits when he took these two imbeciles into his mighty army.
"Hey there, Reddy!" Great, Ransack. Why he called her "Reddy" was beyond her, considering that she was far more dangerous than some disgusting name as "Reddy". Shudder and hack up the energon she ingested, as Blacksprite often said.
"Do you have anything to report?" Crumplezone asked as he stepped into view.
She bit back her snarl; she might as well humor them. "Well, nothing new really." She replied in growls and chirps. "Hotshot's getting faster though. And you two are too stupid to understand me anyways, so why bother talking to you?" She asked, cooing the last part to see what they would do.
"You know, I don't know why Megatron teamed us up." Ransack stated as he scratched his head. "I can't understand a word that comes out of its mouth. Why didn't Megatron teach it to speak properly?"
She growled before she turned around and walked away. Idiot, she lacked the vocal processors to articulate their words. Ssessh! Did they know nothing about the Transformer anatomy? Not likely, considering they were the dumbest mechs she had ever met in her life, and that was saying something considering how absolutely idiotic Thundercracker was. Frag, could her Lord have chosen someone a little more intelligent? She lifted her head up as a new scent entered her position. She grinned to herself; Override was out for a drive. This could prove interesting, and maybe profitable if she played her cards right.
She raced across the sand dunes at top speed, heading for the road that was lifted up off the ground. With a powerful spring, she hurtled through the air and landed with a soft thud on the road. She looked up and grinned again as Override came into view; time to see what Override though of Scrapmetals. The red racecar slammed on her brakes before transforming to tower over her.
"What's a Scrapmetal doing here?" Override asked, a blaster on her hip.
Redscream chirped sweetly as she crawled forward. She shook her head slightly, wanting Override to drop her guard. She could get this femme to truly trust her before she sent her position to Lord Megatron to come and talk to her. Femmes had a habit of loving mechs with pets, strange sometimes, but effective. Override bent down slowly before reaching out and stroking her helm.
'Yes, that's right, pet me.' Redscream thought victoriously as she searched for Lord Megatron's signal. 'It will speed the process up that much faster!' She found a signal that was familiar and sent the data out.
She heard the warp gate open and felt Override stiffened. "Who the frag are you?" She growled as she stood up.
'There is no reason to be afraid of me.' Whitesilence's voice echoed through her mind. Opps, wrong signal.
"Why do you look like Megatron?" Override demanded as she brought her blaster up. "It's seriously creepy!"
'What better way to avoid detection than disguising yourself as an enemy?' Whitesilence replied. 'You and I have something in common, Mistress of the Speed Planet.'
"And what would that be?" Override asked, no doubt slightly flattered by her mistress' use of words.
'Megatron wishes to have something that we possess.' Whitesilence replied, no doubt having already scanned Override's mind to discover everything.
Redscream cooed as she walked over to her, rubbing her head against the white leg affectionately. Whitesilence was perfect in her optics; long ago, her body had given way to the curves of maturity and she had stepped into the role of top femme without even realizing it. Tall, silver horns adorned her helm, while they were not as large as her father's; they still showed that she was of superior spark. Her slim physic was alluring to any mech within the army, even though she was completely unaware of the fact. It also belied her strength; if she so desired, she could probably take Megatron down in hand-to-hand combat, not that she ever would though; she was far too loyal to her father to commit such an outrageous act of treason. She might have had a femme's body, but there was a warrior underneath it all, and a clever one at that. Well, that was at least the point that she took it from; a loyal pet never saw their masters as weak.
'You are here, Mistress.' She thought happily, directing her thoughts to her mistress. 'Although, I was hoping to reach Lord Megatron to have him convince Override to give him the Cyber Planet Key.'
Whitesilence smiled at her before crouching down and petting her softly. 'Such a clever little thing, wouldn't you agree?' She asked, moving her mouth in time with her words to make it look like she was talking. 'Amazing what a little attention will do.'
Override blinked a few times before she shook her head. "Wait, back up. What do you mean by "we both have something that Megatron wants"?"
'Megatron wants to be able to control Scrapmetals because they multiply quickly and are much better soldiers than the average mech. Megatron wants the Cyber Planet Key of the Speed Planet.' Whitesilence replied as she straightened up. Her blue optics narrowed slightly. 'Do you even know where it is?'
Override nodded. "Yeah, but I'm not going to tell you where. It's safer that way." She replied. Whitesilence nodded, while sending Redscream a picture of where the Key was located after she had dug it out of Override's CPU.
'Well, I would love to stay and chat, or race perhaps, but I have other places to be at the moment.' Whitesilence stated as she turned around and opened another dimension gate. She glanced back and grinned. 'It's pays to know what the warp sequence your enemy uses.' She laughed. Redscream crooned as she followed her mistress; she'd come back later to find Megatron.
"Wait!" Override shouted as Whitesilence took a step towards the dimension gate. "What can I call you? How can I be sure I can trust you if we meet up again?"
Whitesilence grinned cruelly down at Redscream before softening it as she turned to look back at the red racer. 'Call me Silence.' She replied before she stepped through the warp gate, Redscream following obediently.
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"Where is she?" The panther cub muttered as she raced into the clearing. "She told me to meet her here, but where is she?!"
Megatron crouched down in the bushes beside the clearing. His optics narrowed in concentration as he watched the black cub pace. It looked so familiar, not to mention sounded familiar. Spirit; what an odd name. Surely her parents could have come up with something a little more creative. Her pacing paused before her ears snapped up. She let out a happy giggle as a smile bloomed across her muzzle.
"Auntie!" She shouted as she spun around and charged into the undergrowth.
"Frag." He muttered as he stood up. "It's going to take a while to catch up again."
He hurried after the youngling, keeping to the trees as much as he could. He could hear her giggling up ahead, taunting someone no doubt. He could hear an angry snarl from another being, no doubt the one getting taunted by the pint-sized terror. He inched closer slowly, making sure that he wasn't making too much noise; he didn't want to alert the other Transformers to his presence. He had a feeling that the panther cub was hiding something, whether it was that it worked for the Autobots was still under debate, although why they would recruit such a pathetic little thing for a spy was beyond him. Spies had to be mature, intelligent, and able to blend in; this little youngling stood out too much.
He heard a soft gasp. "Really?" The panther cub asked. "Oh no! But I didn't hear anyone following me!"
There was a low growl before he saw the youngling come darting towards him, mouth opened as if it was going to bite him. He lifted an optic ridge before the cub slammed on its brakes and stared up at him. It swallowed before sitting down and closing its optics. It gave an open-mouthed smile before lifting its paw and waving.
"Hi!" She giggled nervously. "What brings you out to this neck of the woods?"
Megatron growled slightly before he straightened up, giving the youngling a hard look. "Whatever my reasons for being out here are, they are none of your concern." He replied coldly.
She cringed slightly at his tone, the smile vanishing. "Well…you don't have to be so rude about it!" She snapped as she hopped back to her feet, glaring at him from what could be described as a cute face.
"Excuse me?" He asked coldly, narrowing his optics. "What did you just say to me?"
"You heard me!" She squeaked, her courage vanishing just as fast as it had appeared. "I mean, it's not MY fault that you're…an old grouch!" She spat, grinning like she had just said that most clever thing.
His optics narrowed. "I beg your pardon?" He growled as he took a step forward.
"Yeah! And, um, yeah." She muttered as her ears fell back against her head and she backed up a step. "You're so old…you make a red super giant look young!" She added, not realizing that she was just infuriating him more.
"You insolent little brat!" Megatron snarled as a burst of electricity shot out of his hand at her. She screamed and hit the ground with her paws over her head in defense. "How dare you insult me!"
There was a loud snarl before something very big hit him from the side. "No!" He heard the cub hiss. "Get out of here stupid! Primus, I thought you were supposed to be smart! Vamoose!"
He growled as he regained his footing, spinning around just in time to see a flash of red vanish into the undergrowth, closely followed by the panther cub. He snarled before he took a step forward to follow, but something made him stop; a mere whisper in his mind, a distant voice telling him that it wasn't worth his time to give chase. He paused concentrating on the voice, trying to figure out where it had come from and what it was doing intruding in his mind. There was a soft laugh before he heard the voice again.
'You'll understand later, sire.' The voice whispered before disappearing as if it had never been there to begin with.
Megatron gave his head an angry shake; he must have been imagining the voice. He turned and headed back towards the temple, transforming into his jet mode to get there faster. He didn't care about the panther cub anymore; if she was at the temple, he would let Scourge deal with her.
He missed the white figure walk out into the clearing shaking its head, the panther cub giggling beside it as she skipped along. The red Scrapmetal beside the figure hissing as it collapsed in fatigue from the attack on him. Or even the icy blue optics that followed him, waiting and calculating when it would be safe to let him know of their presence.