"Ah, excellent timing. I trust Prime caused you no trouble?"
Starscream grinned as both Onslaught and Swindle finally walked through the ground bridge into the laboratory of the Harbinger. Swindle only chuckled at the seeker's question, shaking his helm as he did, while Onslaught answered curtly. "Of course not."
"Marvelous! Once again, you prove that my brilliant…"
"Stop right there." Vortex said suddenly, standing up from the wall he had been leaning on. "I'm really not in the mood to listen to one of your egotistical tangents. I already got robbed of snuffing out one spark tonight," he cast a grumpy glance in Onslaught's direction. "So if you're not careful, I may have to settle for yours."
"Ah… no need to be hasty…"
Brawl let out a loud snort. "You got robbed? I didn't get to do a single fragging thing. While you were going head-on with Prime himself, I had to lug boxes around. I didn't even get to see how those human things squish."
"The humans were not the focus of the mission." Onslaught said simply. "Like I said, killing one of them would only have provoked a swifter and more aggressive retaliation."
"As if they could be a threat." Blast Off scoffed.
"I don't know." Swindle said, who had walked over to the stack of crates that contained the pilfered weapons and was currently shufflin through and examining the contents. "Some of this stuff actually looks like it could cause some decent damage. With a few upgrades and some good old engine grease, I think we could actually have quite an arsenal here."
Blast Off only rolled his optics. "You can't be serious. If you really think any of this junk is even going to annoy Megatron, then you're all stupider than I thought. I have no idea what I'm still doing here."
"I hope you're not having second thoughts." Starscream said with a sharp glare in the brown seeker's direction. "I understand if you are… hesitant about engaging Megatron in combat, but I assure you, my plan guarantees his demise."
"If it guarantees his demise," Onslaught growled. "Then why haven't you told us what said plan entails?"
Starscream let out an annoyed huff. "I've already told you, Onslaught; in good time. Just know that it requires all five of you if it is to succeed." He turned away from the gathered Combaticons. "But for now, I think it is time to initiate the next phase. Now that we have a passable arsenal, I think it's time we secured a cache of energon. I'm afraid we will simply not be able to continue with our current reserves so low."
"And how do you propose we do this?" Blast Off asked with a sneer.
"Simple. We steal it from the Decepticons."
"Alright, now I know you're glitched in the processor." The brown seeker threw his servos up into the air. "I've had enough of this scrap; I'm not hanging around you clowns anymore."
He made a motion to walk towards the doorway, but Brawl stepped into his path.
"Where do you think you're going?" The green bruiser growled, clenching his fists. "In case you've forgotten, Screecher said he needed all five of us to axe off Megatron. Which means you're not going anywhere until I've crushed his head into a ball."
"I'm sorry, what did you call me?" Starscream demanded, but he was ignored.
"Oh, feeling tough all of a sudden?" Blast Off scoffed. "As if you could even stop me. I've been offlining stupid lugs like you since before the war started."
"Though, to be fair, most of those were from far away with a null rifle." Swindle said with a grin, before quickly adding. "Not that I mean any disrespect, of course. I'm an avid supporter of your work, rest assured Blast Off."
Vortex rolled his optics as he leaned against the wall. "Why do you always sound like you're trying to sell us something?"
"I'm sorry, have you met him?" Blast Off asked, allowing himself a half-grin in the purple bot's direction, and earning a chuckle in return.
"Aw, come on. That's unfair." Swindle said, his dealer's smile only growing wider. "I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm only trying to introduce you all to a bigger wo..." He stopped suddenly, before letting out a sheepish chuckle. "Sorry, force of habit."
"That's enough!" Onslaught said at last, glaring at the four Combaticons. As each of them fell silent, the massive blue and orange bot directed his gaze towards the brown seeker. "Blast Off, if you want out, we need to know now. I can't have you deserting us in the middle of a mission. So, either you stay and help us fight, or you leave, and any chance of killing Megatron disappears. What will it be?"
The two bots stared at each other for a moment, Onslaught's yellow optics boring right into Blast Off's red, before the brown seeker finally sighed and shook his helm. "I'm staying. I'll take any chance I'm given to get rid of the buckethead, even if I've got to risk my own plating with you idiots."
"Good." Onslaught turned away to face Starscream, who was watching all this with a surly look on his faceplate. "Alright, let's not waste anymore time. What's our next move?"
Starscream huffed and crossed his arms. "Oh? You don't want to waste anymore time, do you? Are you sure we can't fit in a little more unnecessary drama?"
"Sarcasm? That's a new one." Vortex said.
"It just means he's getting tired of all of your iron-headed scrap." Brawl growled. "And so am I."
"Nobody cares what you think." Blast Off sneered.
"I said enough!" Onslaught yelled, optics narrowing. "Starscream, continue."
"Thank you, Onslaught. It's good to see at least one of you cretins can give me some proper respect."
"Don't push me, Starscream."
"Who's pushing who?" He asked, a venomous undertone in his voice. "Now, if we are quite done, may I give you all a proper briefing?"
"Go ahead." Swindle said with a smile. "I for one am excited to get some proper energon. That stuff you've got in the cargo bay has gone stale."
"Energon doesn't go stale." Blast Off grumbled, but no one acknowledged him.
"Yes, well, as you all should know, Megatron's Decepticons already have control of the vast majority of energon mines. Most are cleverly hidden from the prying eyes of humans and Autobots. But luckily, I, as the former second-in-command of the Decepticons, already know most, if not all of their locations."
He paused, as though he were expecting praise and acknowledgement for this, but he was instead met with five, blank stares.
"Well?" Vortex said. "Go on."
"Yes, of course." He coughed lightly. "Well, since Megatron possesses so many different mines, and since the Autobots have a habit of finding them and plundering the energon within, I am confident that our own raid will go more or less unnoticed. Now, I have located a smaller mine that I believe will be of the least value…"
"No." Onslaught interrupted suddenly. "If we are stealing from Megatron, I will not be content scrounging his table scraps. We're going to attack the largest mine that his Decepticons have."
"Are… you sure that is the wisest course of action?" Starscream asked. "The last thing we want is Megatron catching on to what we are planning. At the moment, he isn't even aware of your existence."
"I'm sure." He said bluntly.
The seeker faltered for a moment before shaking his helm and shrugging. "Very well. As long as you don't draw attention to yourselves, I suppose we could use as much energon as we can get, especially for our secret weapon."
"The weapon so secret, you won't even tell us what it is?" Vortex grumbled.
"In good time. Now, I think the plan is set. Shall we begin?"
"Lead on." Onslaught said with a hint of amusement.
"Excellent. Give me a moment, and I will have a bridge prepared for you all."
And within moments, a ground bridge had been opened, with coordinates set to a massive energon mine hidden deep within the mountains of Nepal. Onslaught, Vortex, and Brawl were each geared up and prepared to infiltrate the mine, while Starscream readied one final briefing. Swindle was remaining behind since he was hard at work converting and upgrading the stolen human weapons into more powerful munitions, while Blast Off was staying because Onslaught had concluded that his alternate mode wouldn't be able to adequately maneuver in the underground mine.
"Typical." He had grumbled. "I can snipe a scraplet from twenty-five mega-ticks away, but the moment we have a mission where I can't fly, I have to stay behind."
Onslaught didn't humor him with a response.
"Now then." Starscream said to the three gathered Combaticons. "I'm sure you all know your mission. Remember, we cannot afford your existence to be revealed quite yet, so it is of absolute importance that you remain undetected. I will be sending you directly into their storage area, so it shouldn't be an issue, but you should still be wary of any working drones that might raise an alarm."
Brawl suddenly let out a loud, blatantly obvious groan. "What? I thought we were gonna get some action! You know, bash some heads in!"
"That goes completely against what we are trying to achieve here, Brawl."
"Why do I even have to come then?"
"Because you're the one who can carry the most crates." Vortex said with a smirk.
Brawl growled, but he managed to not retort with a threat.
"That raises a good question:" Starscream said, crossing his arms and looking at Onslaught. "Are you sure bringing him," he pointed at Brawl. "is a good idea? He is far from the subtle type."
"I'm sure." Onslaught said curtly, narrowing his optics down at the seeker.
Starscream huffed and was about to try to argue, but eventually just shook his helm. "Very well. In that case, I suppose it's time for you three to get started. Remember, we need as much energon as you can carry, but you must remember to first deactivate the tracking devices inside each of the cases, otherwise the Decepticons will be able to learn of our location. They are hidden in a secret hatch towards the bottom…"
"We know." Brawl interrupted with a growl. "We're not stupid, Starscream. We heard the plan, now how about you let us follow it?"
Starscream's optics narrowed, and he looked as though he was suppressing a snarl. "Of course. Then by all means, go ahead. Just remember; I have just as much invested into our goal as you five do. Probably more. So if you mess it up…"
"We will not mess it up." Onslaught said simply. "Do we have permission to leave now, sir?"
The grey seeker grumbled, face contorting into a frown, before finally nodding. "Of course. I won't hold you."
Onslaught grunted in mock gratitude before turning and walking towards the swirling ground bridge portal. He motioned to Brawl and Vortex to follow, and within seconds, all three of them had vanished into the depths of the portal.
"Disrespectful grunts." Starscream murmured as he watched the bridge disappear into nothingness. "I free them and give them all a second chance at life, and how do they repay me? Bah!" He threw his arms into the air. "I think it's time I showed them how they should treat their betters…"
"Alright." Vortex said as he stepped out of the ground bridge and into the cavernous mine deep below the surface. "Looks like Screamer actually had the right idea."
Indeed, the three Combaticons had been dropped off exactly where Starscream had said they would be; in the middle of a massive storage chamber deep within the mine. The stone walls of the chamber were smooth and well maintained, and great, steel columns and supports were secured all across the overhead rock, to prevent any and all underground collapses. At the far end of the chamber was the one entrance that allowed access to the chamber, and that was closed off by a heavy, reinforced blast door. There were almost certainly guards on the other side of that door, but the chamber itself appeared to be devoid of any Decepticon patrols. They likely thought it impossible for the Autobots, or anyone else for that matter, to bridge directly into the storage chamber, and as such focused their efforts on making sure no one took the more direct route.
And for good reason. Glowing cubes of energon were stacked up in piles that towered even over Onslaught, and they stretched out as far as the optic could see. This was, without a doubt, the most energon that any of them, even Onslaught, had ever seen in one place.
"Holy Primus." Brawl almost gasped. "Look at this! There's gotta be enough energon here to blow this whole rock up!"
"And then just enough get over-energized." Vortex agreed. "But there's no way we're gonna be able to take all of this back. It'd take days, and we'd probably get found out by then."
"We're not taking it all." Onslaught said simply.
"Well, obviously." Vortex said, leaning back to look at the top of one of the taller stacks of crates.
Brawl suddenly noticed that Onslaught had started walking away from the duo. "Hey, boss. Where are you going?"
Onslaught didn't bother to answer Brawl's question, and as he squeezed through the stacks of energon, careful so as to not knock any of them over, it appeared as though he was heading towards the blast door at the end of the chamber.
Vortex, as he watched the tall bot take the path towards the door, suddenly broke out in a wide smile. "You may get the action you were hoping for after all, big guy."
"Whaddaya mean?"
Before Vortex could answer, Onslaught had stopped in front of the door blocking off entrance into the rest of the mine. Without a word, he bent down and transformed into his carrier mode. The dual turrets at the back of his vehicle spun around and, after aiming the barrels at the heavy blast door, let loose a volley of explosive shots. The charges pounded into the door and, despite it being designed to withstand heavy physical impacts, couldn't stand against Onslaught's assault. The door caved in, and crashed to the ground with a resounding boom, leaving two very suprised vehicon guards to stare as Onslaught transformed back into his towering robot mode. Before either of them could even draw their weapons, Onslaught had leapt forward and grabbed both of their helms, smashing them together and crushing their processors. Both of them fell to the ground, instantly offline.
"Whoa, hold on. What are you…" Brawl tried to say.
"Vortex. Brawl." Onslaught ordered. "Prepare for battle."
"But I thought Starscream said…"
"Starscream's orders are now void. We're taking this mine and incapacitating every worker here."
"And what if they call reinforcements?" Vortex asked, though he believed he already knew the answer.
"Let them come." Onslaught said with a smirk.
Brawl let out a booming laugh. "Oh yeah! Let's crush some heads!"
"Combaticons." Onslaught said, drawing his weapons. "It's time we made some noise."
Author's note: Okay, I know I said that the Constructicons would make another appearance in this chapter, but... I'm bad at planning. I also write too much.
So I was left with a decision: Should I write out all I had planned and make this chapter twice as long as it should be, or cut it off a little before I had originally planned. I decided on the latter because it would mean less time in between chapters and get this one out to you all faster. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer. And don't worry, I PROMISE that the Constructicons will be in that chapter, so you can all hopefully look forward to that.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Thank you all for viewing and reviewing, and I'll see you later.
Yours Truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.
