Chapter 4: The Sierra Mountains and Tigressa's Anger
Dreadwing and Breakdown gripped the mountain's unstable rocks with caution. Both didn't enjoy rock climbing but in order to surprise whatever enemy came close to them, it was necessary.
Breakdown clawed at the sediment until he felt gravity increase its pull on his tired form. He slipped down a little before finding himself sitting on a rock he'd previously crawled over.
Dreadwing, however, had no trouble at all and rolled his eyes at his partner who continued to struggle up the mountain side.
"Really, Breakdown? Had you no experience with rock climbing before? Jeez, you've been on a floating rock planet for a while now and never learned to navigate on it?" He questioned, still watching a frustrated Breakdown.
Suddenly, a roar sounded above them and two clawed feet lingered over the cliff edge above them. The owner placed both hands in between his feet and peered over the rocky wall like a gargoyle perched on a cathedral.
Dreadwing recognized the individual as the monster that attacked the warship and had lost its wings since Artemis fought it. He noticed the beast had all of its limbs back with some welding marks on where the human had severed each limb.
Demon didn't seem to notice the two dangling mechs below and turned back with his tail swiping off loose rocks that missed Breakdown by a couple of inches.
The large seeker climbed to the edge and peeked up to see Demon lying on something. Breakdown followed but accidently scrapped his foot across the side. Both winced and ducked as Demon had his ears perked up towards the sound.
A low growl rumbled within him. He stomped towards them but right before he looked down, Dreadwing and his companion scooted to opposite sides and hid behind rock structures right next to the monster.
Demon hissed as he viewed nothing out of the ordinary. He raised a brow and extended with repaired wings.
Breakdown watched as the beast took flight around the mountain. He quickly sprinted for the unusual object the monster had been lying on earlier and snatched it up before motioning to Dreadwing to follow.
The seeker ran with the bruiser until a large form blocked their path. Dreadwing brought his sword out trying to cover his friend while Demon snarled at his feeble attempts to distract him from his prize.
The dragon snapped and backed off quickly as Dreadwing swung at him. He noticed the blue and silver mech getting away with the object at hand. He hit the seeker as hard as he could and made way towards the semi-frightened military SUV.
Breakdown looked back in horror and transformed into his vehicle mode only to see the dragon closer than he actually appeared to be.
The path around the mountain seemed too narrow for his alt. mode but still continued on. As he drove in what he assumed was on oval, he did the only thing he could do other than run.
"Anybody, Autobot or Decepticon, I need a ground bridge right now as well as Dreadwing who is sort of knocked out at the moment!" He screamed as Demon got closer.
Suddenly, a portal opened in front of him and he floored it. As he went through the bridge, Demon slid to halt knowing it would disappear as soon as he came close to it. Sure enough, the portal vanished and another one sounded on the other side with the trampling of several pedes.
He reopened his wings and flew around the mountain once again, only to see a group of Vehicons drag the seeker into the bridge. He roared angrily at his loss.
Demon shook his head in frustration before turning away from the Sierra towards the cavern where his twin resided.
It took a few hours but he made it to the dark mouth of the underground labyrinth. He scowled as he went inside knowing Tigressa would be furious with his failure.
"It wasn't my fault…"
"Well it had to be someone's and my ass isn't going on the line for your mistake!"
"Shut up! You know, none of us would be in this predicament if we actually killed at least one Cybertronian!"
"Gee, I wonder why we couldn't!"
Voices rang throughout the tunnel that he recognized instantly. He sighed hoping his sister was nowhere in the cavern.
Finally, he heard rustling and dog –like pain whimpers as he moved closer to the base of the underground lair. He spotted Spirit and Poltergeist trying to hurt each other as they continued to argue.
"Ah Demon, you're here. Good, could you help me get these idiots to stop fighting?" Ghost mumbled as he pushed the green and black dragon away from Spirit.
In retaliation, Poltergeist quickly leapt onto the mostly peaceful dragon and tackled him to the floor as Spirit decided to body slam the two.
"Enough!" A strained, malevolent voice yelled.
All mechs and femmes rose to their feet with Ghost having Poltergeist stuck in a choke hold.
Tigressa came into view with a deep frown sketched in her monstrous face, "Now, why didn't any of you do what I said? Is it that my requests are too much…or are you too weak to achieve them?!"
No one uttered a word, with the exception of the green and black dragon who was still struggling to breathe. Phantasmos twiddled his thumbs while his friends had their hands on their chins.
"Nobody? Alright then, let's move to a different subject then. Why is it that an animal contacted me earlier and said that someone has betrayed us?" She hissed as she paced in front of her throne.
"Luckily for whoever that was, the animal didn't reveal your name and whatever you told the enemy is also safe…for now. When I find out who did this, their organs will DECORATE these caverns like Christmas ornaments and their head will be a new TROPHY while the rest of their body parts will be FED TO THE METAL HEADS! Do all of you understand?!"
All of them nodded with fear after they saw her hand movements as she emphasized certain words. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of her anger right now nor did they want to get blamed for the mutiny that someone else "might have done".
Poltergeist finally fainted from the choke hold and Spirit just dropped him from where he once stood, not even bothering to move him to his sleeping chambers.
Spike poked his unconscious form with curiosity and grinned evilly at his seeker friend, Draco.
Optimus entered all the information each group provided with their encounters. It was truly obvious now that none of Tigressa's siblings really wanted to help her, but some also didn't like their species in general.
The Autobot leader peered across the room at all the bots that seemed neck-deep in conversations with each other.
Ratchet was conversing with Shockwave and a slightly annoyed Knockout who was complaining about the raccoon-like femme's damage upon his team.
Megatron and Arcee, of course, seemed only interested in each other at the moment. They both began to laugh as the warlord apparently said something funny.
Soundwave, the Wreckers, Breakdown, and Predaking only yapped about their adventures and exaggerated some of the story to make it more interesting.
Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Dreadwing, and Starscream were doing the same thing but each tried to compete with the others on whose was better.
Optimus smiled to himself and turned back to his entries, only to pause as a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Optimus, is something wrong?" Megatron asked.
"No old friend, there is nothing wrong. But I have a thought on how we can solve this new puzzle our enemies have put forth. If we can gain their trust and use their abilities again Tigressa, we might be able to defeat her as well as convert her siblings to join us."
Megatron raised a brow, "Well, even if that does work, what about the Metal Heads? It's not like they'll just disappear; they need a leader to control them otherwise they'll attack anything that gets in their way like savages."
Optimus frowned slightly, "Indeed. Perhaps not only can we convince the elemental beings to help us but we could also find a way to control Tigressa herself. If we were to present a challenge for her that if she fails, she'll be bound to our commands, then she'll have no choice but to co-exist with us and follow what we request."
The warlord rolled his eyes in disbelief, "Alright, fine! But if this screws us over, I will be kicking your ass for all eternity in the Well of Allsparks!"
Optimus chuckled as Megatron mumbled something about death.
"I mean it too, Optimus!" He yelled again as he made his way back to Arcee who sat happily on one of the control panels.