Chapter 10 A Loss
The siren was blaring around the Command center, earning several shouts of annoyance from the humans for the unnecessary volume and orders thrown around by the commanding officers. Oriona was trying to wiggle past a few of the larger mechs, none of them realizing that the femme trying to get through was her. There were times when she really hated being so short. Megatron ended up picking her up and swung her onto his back as he easily sent the other mechs scampering out of his path.
"What is going on?" he demanded.
"There's been a break in at the underground prison," Ultra Magnus replied, his fingers clacking over the keyboard in a blue and white blur. "Wingdagger, you know those tunnels better than any of us; get over there and try to head those prisoners off. Don't let any of them get out."
Wingdagger nodded before turning and darting out of the room, Padlock right behind her. Megatron gave Ultra Magnus a scathing look before growling that he would give orders from now on. Ultra Magnus bowed his head, his optics flashing in repressed anger; he did not like being spoken down to by any ex-Decepticon. He might have had respect for the massive mech, but he never liked being ordered around, not even by Oriona or Kup. Starscream moved forward and started typing away at the keyboard, growling as the screen flashed red to announce that his order had been rejected. He demanded to know who changed the password into the prison's security system, only to have Ultra Magnus tell him to get moving; it had obviously been hacked.
Oriona ordered everyone over to the prison, telling them that if any of the criminals shot at them they had permission to shoot back. The mechs stationed inside the prison radioed in to tell them that the inmates were loose and running ramped inside. Several of their numbers were already dead, but they were able to keep the mechs underground. Megatron ordered them to shoot anyone that got too close to the entrance; none of them were to get out. If they could somehow get the prisoners back into their cells, they were to lock them in and deactivate their weapons. No matter their brutality, they were to avoid killing as much as they possibly could.
They reached the prison and Starscream ordered some of the better snipers to stay outside in case someone did manage to slip past them. Bluestreak; Prowl had corrected them after they called her "Blue" in belief that it was her name; led the others up onto the tower, swinging herself up with enough skill to put a cyberninja to shame. Tracks had her gun out and was teasing Wheeljack over the fact that she had a bigger gun than he did. He glared at her and told her to pay attention instead of yakking, grumbling to Hot Shot about how he couldn't stand her. Oriona gave him a small glare before ordering him to follow them.
Oriona and Megatron split up, taking two groups into the prison. Immediately after they entered, Oriona and her group were involved in a violent gunfight. It didn't last long and they had luck on their side; all the criminals that had been shooting were lying dead on the ground. Wheeljack poked a few bodies with one of his guns and called that they were dead, spitting on them at the same time.
"Ew," Tracks commented before walking over. "Was that necessary?"
"Yes," Wheeljack growled before glaring at her. "These mechs don't deserve even the salvation of a jailcell."
"Are you in any position to say that?" she sneered, shoving her face in his.
"Yes, I am," he snarled in return, his defences rising instantly at her advance.
"Behave, you two," Oriona sighed before walking past them. "Keep moving; we have to get to the lower levels."
They both growled at each other, but followed anyways. Oriona couldn't help but smirk, knowing that those two were going to drive everyone crazy with their unending growling, cussing, and insults. They had been at each other's throat from the minute they had met. Wheeljack found Tracks' personality annoying and degrading. Likewise, Tracks' thought Wheeljack was boring and dull. They were almost complete opposites and almost always refused to work together. But, either way, they made an unstoppable duo when they actually cooperated.
They headed down the slopping hallway, glancing around at the empty cells with unease. Not all of them had been filled, but the fact that the doors were hanging open and energon was splattered against the frames made even the most sturdy fuel tank turn over. Oriona had to repress a shudder of disgust before leading them deeper into the winding depth of the prison. This place always gave her the creeps and she avoided coming down here as much as she could. But she had to appear strong and unmoveable to inspire a bit of courage in the mechs and femme following her footsteps.
She heard gunfire up ahead and they all sped up, swapping knowing looks; their enemies were just up ahead. There was an explosion around the corner in front of them and they all hit the ground as it shuddered beneath the force of the explosion. There was a sticky splat before a body hit the ground just ahead of them, having hit the corner of the wall first. Tracks let out weak gag before she scuttled closer to one of the mechs; judging by the soft growl, it was Wheeljack. Oriona looked up and balked in horror; a mech was lying in front of them, his dark optics staring at them while energon leaked out of his mouth. His lower half was twisted around, wires sparking and energon oozing out of ruptured fuel lines, while smoke billowed out of the mech's gut. She let out a yelp of surprise before backing up into Kup's lap, gawking at the grey lifeless form in front of her.
He patted her back gently before forcing her to her feet; everyone was as stunned as she was so they didn't seemed to notice that their leader just panicked. They all edged forward nervously, poking the corpse to make sure that it was dead. Tracks shuddered and backed away, grumbling about energon staining her boots as an excuse to stay away; it didn't matter that her face revealed that she was sickened and liable to purge her tank at any moment. Wheeljack flipped the corpse over with a grimace before stating that it was one of the criminals; it bore the slashed Decepticon insignia that Megatron gave each one that was sent into the prisons to show that they were no longer favoured amongst society.
"So, one of our guys shot him?" Kup asked.
"No," Wheeljack replied, standing up and nudging the body away. "No one has a weapon with this much power behind it. This was another of the inmates that did this."
"Why would they do this?" Tracks asked stepping forward to poke the corpse with her toe.
"Because he's insane," Wheeljack replied before turning down the passage. "He's heading for Cybertron's core and we have to get there quickly; he's crazy enough to try to kill Primus."
Oriona ordered everyone to move, stepping gingerly over the dead body. She tried not to cringe as she started to run down the hallway; she hated walking near dead bodies. She yelped in surprise as a body tackled her to the ground, sending them sprawling on their back. She groaned before sitting up, only to meet the business-end of a blaster. She yelped in surprise again and tried to scramble backwards, only to watch Wheeljack whack the mech over the head with a snarl.
"Get off," Wheeljack snapped. "Don't you know your leader when you see her?"
The mech scuttled backwards with an apology as Wheeljack helped her to her feet. The mech was shoved around for a few minutes as Megatron, Starscream, Hot Shot, Side Swipe, and Ironhide made their way over to her. After repeating that she was alright, she wiggled out of the group and kept heading down the passageway. Ironhide called after her to wait up before she felt Megatron's arm pressing against hers.
"We have to move quickly," he stated as he increased his pace. "Wingdagger called over the com link to say that she had a dangerous convict heading towards Primus' resting place; she was planning on heading him off."
"She's in over her head," she hissed as she struggled to keep up with him. "We just found another criminal that the mech shot; his gun ripped a hole right through the mech's torso."
Megatron's footsteps faltered in surprise, his optics widening. He cursed loudly before charging forward, ordering his mechs to stay behind to provide backup. She shouted after him asking what was wrong and all he replied was that Wingdagger wouldn't make it out alive if she cornered him. They made it into the door leading into the central chamber and Megatron shouldered the door open. He let out a snarl as the purple mech standing in the center of the room jumped and spun around to point his gun at him.
"Shockblast!" he snarled, lowering both guns on his shoulders. "You scum, who let you out?"
The one-opticed mech in the center of the room shifted slightly before shrugging. "Let myself out," he replied before chuckling. "Aw, you came to bring me back? I didn't think you cared."
Oriona felt her protoform quake under her armor. Shockblast was in jail for trying to keep the war going even after the truce was in place. He had killed hundreds of innocent mechs and femmes in hopes of starting another uprising. Instead, he had ended up getting caught, beaten up, and dragged all the way from downtown Kaon to Autobot headquarters in Iacon. Megatron had wanted to kill him outright in front of all of the soldiers, but instead she had managed to convince him to throw him into jail to rust. She suddenly wished she had let him kill the purple mech.
She levelled her gun with his face, narrowing her optics. He glanced at her and snorted before pointing his gun at her. Megatron snarled at him before firing a shot at the other mech's feet, warning him of the death that would follow swiftly if he fired at her. Shockblast growled at them both before glancing around, twitching his antennas in outrage as he looked for an exit. Primus was glowing softly over their heads, almost as if he was asleep, and Shockblast took aim at him.
"I got him!" a voice shouted before Padlock and Wingdagger dropped from the darkness over Primus.
Both of them dropped onto Shockblast and managed to wrestle him to the ground, growling and snarling the whole way. Shockwave's shoulders vanished under both of them, almost giving Oriona a spark attack in the process. Wingdagger patted Padlock's head in approval as she tried wiggling backwards slowly, keeping her gun pressed into Shockblast's head. She managed to get halfway to her feet, most of her weight on the knee shoved into the larger mech's back. Padlock wiggled off of him, keeping his gun trained on Shockblast's head.
"Nice work," Megatron growled before stepping forward. "A little warning next time might have been better though."
Wingdagger didn't look up but she smirked anyways. Padlock turned away to smile up at Megatron and Shockblast twitched. Wingdagger let out a shout before she was sent flat on her back, her gun firing and blowing off one of Shockblast antennas. Megatron leapt forward and slammed a fist into the other mech's abdomen, only to receive a blast to the stomach, sending him sprawling on his back. Oriona fired at him and blew most of his shoulder armor off, making him howl in pain. But it didn't stop him; in a whirl of colour, he had Padlock crushed to his chest, his hand closing around his throat as his other hand, the one that bore his gun, aimed at all of them.
"One move," he snarled, "and he dies!"
Wingdagger let out a cry before aiming her gun at Shockblast's head, only to drop it as he tightened his grip on Padlock's throat. Megatron snarled at the mech, rolling weakly onto his side as he bled out of the wound in his stomach. Oriona growled before lowering her gun; she didn't trust him at all, but she wouldn't risk Padlock's life. Shockblast let out a laugh as he backed away, pointing his gun at them until he managed to back out of the room.
He threw Padlock into the room and he stumbled for a moment, his optics wide. He smiled at them in relief, stepping forward to race to Wingdagger's side. Oriona's optics widened in horror as a huge blast ripped through Padlock's chest, flying clean across the room and breaking the wall. Wingdagger let out a scream before darting forward, crying her sparkling's name before she caught him. She stared down at his greying form, begging him to hold on, too hysterical to realize that his spark casing had been blown across the room.
"Hold on, sparkling, hold on," she begged, petting his grey faceplate. "Please, just hold on."
Oriona hung her head, covering her face in horror; she should have shot him. She heard Megatron let out a pained grunt and looked over at him, finally feeling the pain leak through the bond. He was clutching the wound on his stomach, trying to stop the energon from leaking out past his fingers. He was snarling down his com link for Skywarp to get into the central chamber and get him to the medbay immediately. She ran over to him and pressed her hands over his, growling as energon leaked down her wrists.
There was a noise beside them before Skywarp materialized, placing his hands on Megatron's shoulders and nodding to her. She backed up, staring at her mate's red optics, and letting the feeling of loss flow between them. His optics saddened before he shook his head, twitching his wings as pain flared up again. Skywarp was gone with him a moment later, leaving her behind with the heavy sobs of her friend echoing around her.
She forced herself to stand up and head over to Wingdagger's side, unsure of what to do. She looked at her energon-soaked friend and internally cringed. Padlock's energon was covering her chest and legs, seeping out at a constant rate that was turning her orange armor purple. There were thundering footsteps before Starscream raced into the room. His footsteps faltered and he stopped dead, staring at his mate and dead son in disbelief.
"No," he whispered as he stumbled forward and fell down beside Wingdagger. "Oh...Dag...."
She leant on his chest, cradling Padlock's body in her arms. "I didn't...I couldn't...it's my fault...," she stuttered.
"Ssh," Starscream murmured as he held her close. "No, no it wasn't your fault; you couldn't control this."
Wingdagger sobbed into his chest and Oriona murmured a soft farewell before forcing herself to leave the room. She met up with her sons just outside the doorway; Shockblast had taken a side route and escaped. They asked her what had happened and she shook her head, shoving them back up the passageway, whispering that Wingdagger and Starscream needed to be alone. They didn't understand but listened to her request and led the way back above ground.
The other soldiers tried to ask her what had happened, but she refused to give anything away. It was not her place to say anything. She ordered an update on what happened and was not overly joyful at the news; any of the prisoners that weren't killed had escaped. She sighed before comming Ultra Magnus and telling him to get the planetary defence grid online as soon as he could; trouble was coming and fast.
She heard some of the mechs gasp and looked back at the entrance to the jail. Her spark let out a wail of despair as Wingdagger walked out with Padlock in her arms. Starscream had a hand resting on Padlock's head, his now green optics looking at the ground in front of him. Everyone backed away, murmuring soft words of comfort. Wingdagger only shook her head before taking to the sky, clutching her sparkling's shell to her chest as she headed back to base. Starscream followed her, his pace lagging behind as blue optical fluid trailed down his face.
"Everyone, head back to base," Oriona murmured before transforming. "We've got to make sure nothing like this will ever happen again."
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"He's...dead?" Thrust whispered in shock.
Sideways nodded his head sadly, staring at the purple mech that was retelling how he escaped getting caught for the fifth time. Thrust buried his face in his hands and let out a gentle sob for his sister's loss. Padlock; he had never known the little mech personally, but if he had been his sister's he must have been quite the mech. To have him snatched away so violently...it must have been tearing his sister's spark to pieces.
Because of the darkness, he couldn't sense his sister's pain. Probably a good thing, all things considered, but he would have wanted to comfort her. He owed her that much for her understanding of why he had turned against his own kind. She saw past his declaration of being Unicron's tactician and knew that he was only siding with him to be with his lover. She had encouraged him to follow his spark the whole time she had been fixing his legs, smirking as she told him that she'd always side with him first before anyone other than Starscream.
He wished her could be there for her now, even if all he could do was hold her. At least she had Starscream; she would always have Starscream. Sideways' hand travelled over his helm before he was pulled onto the mobile mech's lap.
"He is in the Matrix now; he knows no pain," he stated gently.
"How do you know?" he replied as he leant his head on his lover's chest.
"I know more than you could ever dream of," Sideways replied cryptically before leaning down to nuzzle his face into Thrust's neck. "His death was necessary; there will be one more on the way that will tear the leaders' sparks to pieces, pushing them to action."
"Must there be so much death after the war is over?" he whispered.
"Death is part of life; we must learn to accept that," Sideways replied. "But for now, sleep; I'm still siphoning energon into our bodies and we must be ready to flee at any moment."
Thrust smiled before nuzzling closer. Sideways had everything planned out; he didn't have to be afraid. As long as his partner was with him, he would be safe. He would never be alone to face the never-ending nightmare that he was trapped in. Sideways would always protect him. Always.
Author's note: Not much to be said other than Padlock's death was needed. You probably all know what will happen next.