The trio returned to the Maximal base, panting and shell shocked.
"So…" Optimus managed between breaths, "is that what you meant by…fireworks show?"
"Uh huh!" Airazor shouted unintentionally loudly over the ringing in her ears. Greyback quickly shook it off.
"The Preds like to show us that they're not getting complacent," he explained.
"Yup," said a new but familiar voice. "Wouldn't be home without the annual shells and grenades spectacle." Optimus was both overjoyed and stunned to see who the voice belonged to. Rhinox. His left arm was a stump at the elbow, and most of his left leg had been replaced with a makeshift one. "Here's the security reports you asked for, chief," the rhino said to Greyback, handing him some files. "But I'll save you the bother. We've lost all surveillance in the east quadrants, and almost half the cameras in the west are on the fritz."
"Oh joy of joys," Greyback remarked with another sigh. "Well, we'll have to figure this out later. We can't risk deploying any units at the moment."
"I could see if there's any way I can reboot the system. But it's gonna take a few hours."
"You do that." Greyback said distractedly. Rhinox finally looked up at Optimus.
"Heard you were back," the rhino stated flatly. "Better late than never, old friend." He turned on his heel and disappeared into one of the complex's many tunnels.
Optimus sighed. "Well?" he asked no one in particular. "What happened here?" His tone was a little more dismissive than he intended, but his patience was wearing very thin.
Airazor spoke first. "It was pretty standard for a while. Megatron was out for universal domination, us Maximals would try to stop him and find a way back to Cybertron, you know. The usual. After a while though, things started to change. We saw less and less of old Megahead as he collected more and more of our poor comrades and reprogrammed them into Predacons. Eventually, he stopped showing his ugly face, and would…would…" She stumbled on her words, and attempted to regain her composure.
Greyback continued, "He would send wave after wave of his new recruits on…suicide missions. That's how we lost the Axalon. A whole battalion of young bots, unknowingly rigged with energon explosives embedded in their circuitry." Optimus felt sick as Greyback continued. "We lost five Maximals that day. Rattrap took it really hard, blamed himself. He was never the same after that."
Both bots went silent. Optimus dreaded to ask, but he had to know, "How did he…?"
Greyback shook his head roughly and said firmly, "That's enough information for one sitting. Let it sink in, will you?" With that, he turned on his heel to study Rhinox's reports.
"I don't think I can."
