JMJ
Chapter Thirty-Six
Trios
The place did not look too much better than the last time they had been here. The Predaking had little interest in changing the memorial grounds of his ancient kin. Though no more dead Predacons lay there, it was his site and it was claimed to him to be untouchable by any but Predacon feet. Bumblebee would have gone entirely alone had he thought it would have helped to appear more humble before the Predaking, but Bulkhead would not let him, and Arcee was soon to follow.
"Now remember," said Bumblebee in a low voice to Bulkhead and Arcee as they made their way cautiously towards the Predaking's domain, "we gotta be prepared for anything."
The Predaking had given his word not to kill the followers of Optimus Prime, but if Megatron had been the victor of the fight, was what unnerved him more.
They did not go too near the gravesite, but only close enough to know that the Predaking would see the flash of light they shot upward. Where the Predacons actually lived, the Autobots did not exactly know, so they could not exactly go up to his front porch and knock.
After the light died down, they waited.
It did not take long to receive attention.
A deep swoop echoed over their heads suddenly from a nearby outcropping. A second mirrored it from the opposite side of them. Then before them, landed Skylynx and Darksteel transforming from their beast-modes into robot-mode with deep purposeful landings.
"How dare you trespass!" snarled Skylynx.
"We're going to rip you apart one piece at a time!" sneered Darksteel.
"We've violated nothing," Arcee firmly.
Although the Autobots stepped closer together they stood their ground firmly.
"Yes," said Bumblebee. "The Predaking said only that no one was to step onto the memorial site."
"Then what are you doing here?" demanded Skylynx.
"We only wanted to know," said Bumblebee bravely, and he lowered his head with added humility, "if it's true that Megatron has been seen by you."
Darksteel growled. Skylynx's optics narrowed.
Bumblebee glanced briefly at Bulkhead and Arcee but waited patiently.
"Not one piece can be straightened to fix him," said Skylynx after a moment.
"If you want to find him," added Darksteel with a huff, "he's right at your feet as much as he's halfway across our domain!"
Bumblebee was taken aback. Arcee straightened and Bulkhead winced. The trio backed up in their surprise. They had been nearly standing on some mangled piece of inner-workings— less than scrap metal now.
Bumblebee looked back up at Skylynx who sniffed haughtily.
"Megatron's destroyed!?" demanded Bulkhead throwing out an arm in gesticulation.
"Never putting him back together," said Darksteel knowingly. "Even if that squealy one that mocked our king escaped— no thanks to Skylynx."
Skylynx growled.
"You lost the element of surprise!" he snapped as he shoved his companion aside. "And it's no fault of mine he went straight through a wall!"
"Ahem. What about your master the Predaking?" asked Bumblebee with care.
"Healing from his wounds," said Skylynx.
"Is he alright?" asked Bumblebee with further delicacy.
"He's healing!" snarled Darksteel. "And we don't need your help!"
Darksteel immediately leapt into the air and transformed back into his gryphon-like form, but Skylynx stayed a moment longer. He lifted his head up high and straightened further to better look down at Bumblebee.
"The Predaking has taught us honor that we did not have before even if it takes longer for Darksteel to get anything!" said Skylynx. "We'll let you live as followers of the Prime, especially as you are his successor Bumblebee, but we had a really bad day that day and we're still in a sulky mood about it. You're lucky for the Predaking's word."
Then Skylynx tore away as well with a screech in his beast-form and all the theatrical flair of his master.
Once she was sure Skylynx and Darksteel were far enough away not to hear her, Arcee turned to the others.
"Was that an apology?" she asked wryly with a hand on her hip.
Bumblebee shrugged. "Yeah, that's what I got out of it."
He smiled, but he did not feel quite as excited as he should feel about Megatron being defeated. Perhaps it was because everyone had thought him to be defeated one too many times however thorough it seemed to be this time.
#
"Oh, thank the Allspark you're here!" gasped Starscream.
His optics would have been brimming with tears of joy had he had tear ducts.
By the look on Ratchet's face, Knock Out easily surmised that the old medic wanted nothing better than to turn around right then and there and leave the room again more promptly than he had entered and without a single word. His brief look of surprise that should not have been surprise was replaced with a deep aggravated frown. But though he paused, Ratchet did not leave. He came further in with a professional doctor's air.
Knock Out smiled with amusement.
"At last I won't have to be trapped with this lunatic!" Starscream wailed on from his new medical table in the hospital. "I feel better already seeing the true medic of the Autobots! I have no idea why anyone would let this mad scientist run loose around Cybertron after his homicidal tendencies have been laid bare, especially with the delicate hatchlings!"
"If you care about the hatchlings so much," Ratchet remarked, "do them a favor and stop howling like a mental patient rather than a physical one."
"Of course, doctor, whatever you say," Starscream said sulkily.
Ratchet glanced at Knock Out and Knock Out only returned him with a nonchalant grin. Then he returned to Starscream.
"From what Knock Out told me there isn't much more to be done anyway," he said, "and now that I'm here I can see that you're well enough to make a scene without too much damage to your inner workings. Obviously. You should be grateful for Knock Out's good work on you."
"Why thank you, Ratchet!" Knock Out beamed.
Ratchet flustered just a little from Knock Out's amused tone in an already irritating situation, but he did not get a chance speak of it.
"Now that you're here, can't he leave me in peace?" Starscream demanded.
"Of course," said Knock Out. "Starscream deserves to have his favorite doctor, after all."
And with that he promptly left, though not without some sympathy for poor Ratchet who now was left with the duty of caring for the dear mental patient.
#
Skywarp looked rather sullen as he hooked up the energon line to the pump on hand. This in turn was already attached to a creature salvaged from Lockdown's ship.
And there are more where that one came from, Skywarp thought dryly.
Although most of the Knight's zoo inhabitants had been of the fleshy sort, some were of Cybertronian stock or of distant Cybertronian origin. These had been the most prized according to Shockwave and Soundwave. This little beast in particular seemed to please Soundwave more than most; though after speaking to Skywarp when he had managed to slip back through his portal, Soundwave been very silent with communications kept in the manner in which most people were accustomed to him speaking.
Not that Skywarp had a problem with that, really. He did not speak much himself these days— not since he was part of his trio was official broken up. The silence was welcoming more than not, but Skywarp did somehow get the sense that he was being shut out sometimes as the "Waves" did their thing. Skywarp could not help but notice that they were rather in tune with each other.
With a pout almost worthy of Starscream, Skywarp watched the energon flow go in and on the creature. It was half-awake rather than in stasis— groggy and unhealthy looking. It lolled its queer red optics up at Skywarp, and Skywarp slowly made a face of sheer disgust.
Flexible metallic lips curled upward along the long snout of the beast, revealing razor teeth and a strong almost snaky tongue as it made a drawn-out sleepy growl. Its sharp, ear-like stubs on top of its head flattened a little at the sight of Skywarp's frown.
Intelligent beasts. The worst.
Rising slowly to his full height, Skywarp looked down upon the beast a little longer. Bound as it was, he did not truly fear being attacked, but he knew he sure would not want to be near it when it was released and fully functional.
He raised a lazy optic to Shockwave.
Even if Shockwave did not seem overly pleased with Soundwave's takeover as a whole, he did find the creatures interesting, and he had no qualms whatsoever in bringing them back to health or manipulating them to his own design.
Scientists…, Skywarp could not help but think with disdain and a slow roll of his optics.
"You could've made it less ugly," he remarked idly.
Shockwave, whose attention had been elsewhere until this point, hooked up energon to another gruesome beast, and turned the Skywarp, "That one is one of the three in the set that is Soundwave's own special unit. I do not interfere with his work. That one in front of you has been renamed Ravage. The two to your right near him…"
Skywarp turned to the other two creatures—these resembled Laserbeak after a fashion, except that they were more advanced in design and had originally true sparks besides just being simply as gruesome as Ravage.
"…are to be called Ratbat and Buzzsaw," Shockwave continued once he felt that Skywarp he sufficiently surveyed they work. "They will help us with our conquest, and it is illogical to be concerned with any of their appearances anyway. I hope you do not prove to be as illogical in your conduct as your fellow-model Starscream."
Skywarp lowered his lids and raised his brows. He lifted his head with just the slightest tilt enough to express how his pride had just been hurt, but he spoke nothing about it.
"What is the plan?" hissed Skywarp in a tone which meant that he did not believe Shockwave knew anymore than he did.
"Soundwave knows," said Shockwave returning to his work.
"Hmm…" said Skywarp after a blinking pause.
"There is no reason to question Soundwave," returned Shockwave. "His motives are only for the Decepticon Cause. It is all any of us have left."
Skywarp shrugged minimally.
He's planning a new generation of his own, thought Skywarp with mild care. One that will grow faster than the real one, but will it be enough to defeat the old generation is the general question.
He had just been about to leave, but his idle presence seemed to already have agitated Shockwave. He turned to Skywarp once more and said, "He has as a main event, a plan to recapture the Predaking under our control."
Skywarp almost smiled and only very briefly.
He knew enough from what Galvatron had told him that Shockwave had been more than overseer of the Predacon project. Project Predacon had been Shockwave's dream. Countless centuries had been spent on its success.
So that's your secret now, is it? thought Skywarp. Now it's become… personal…
He still did not know for certain whether Shockwave had known of Soundwave's betrayal ahead of time, but it was obvious that the scientist was most loyal to his own projects above all. The most loyal one among the remaining trio had been Soundwave himself, and he probably was at that moment broodingly torn about what he had done as he had felt it was the only thing to prevent Galvatron's madness from destroying the Cause he and Megatron had created. But had Shockwave ever truly cared about the Cause?
Scientists… thought Skywarp again.
For their more slender form, Skywarp, Starscream, and Thundercracker had been on the verge of being scientist themselves once. In better times before the decadent fall of the council, they might have been. All three had been made energon seekers instead, of course, though with their intellects and dexterity they were taught more science than others and thus around scientist more than they had to be.
Starscream thought he had it rough with them?
Ha!
Starscream had been made Decepticon Commander. Scientist had to obey him just as much as any other segment of the Cause. Even Thundercracker had gotten out of it more than Skywarp as he had been the thickest and physically strongest of the trio, but Skywarp more often than not had found himself amongst only scientific company. Haughty, smart-alecky, and bossy— not to mention secretive. But Skywarp had not complained about it. Nope. Not like Starscream and Thundercracker. Played the occasional trick on them… maybe… but never complain.
A scientist trying to figure out what was wrong with a computer until digging inside found out every single wire had been plugged into some outlet it was not intended for before getting a mini explosion in the face was much more rewarding. But alas without Vehicons, he could not hope to get away with such things these days. The only one who knew the true culprit in those days was Thundercracker— oh, and possibly Starscream when he was actually paying attention to something other than his fears of losing his position.
Skywarp paused thoughtfully a moment in the doorway. Behind his nearly expressionless scowl, he felt a growing feeling of regret. He found himself regretting… missing, really, when it was still the three of them.
They were not officially brothers like Skyquake and Dreadwing (born from the same split spark), but they sure had become as sibling at one time.
Skywarp was the last one left of that trio. If Starscream had survived the Predacon onslaught, he would never be welcomed back by Soundwave, and if Starscream ever showed his face, Soundwave would not waste a second on his begging like Megatron always had. He would be offline before he could open that stupid oral vent of his.
Even Starscream's company was better than Shockwave's, he had to admit, despite his earlier disappointment that Starscream had outlived Thundercracker.
Scrap, how he wished Thundercracker was here now. It had been millennia since he last saw him. He could picture his last words with him— well, not his final words really, but the last time he had really had a conversation with him. How little he knew then it would be the last. How cliché it was to think such a thing in a war that lasted so long, and yet…
#
"Of course, most Autobots are grounds," Thundercracker told him proudly in an all-but-forgotten hallway leading to the bridge. "They're too close to the ground to see beyond the dirt they shove their faces into."
Skywarp sneered and glanced idly at him with feign disgust. "Says the Decepticon who nearly exposed Prime-sympathies not too long before his hire."
Thundercracker frowned, not the least bit amused. "They can't prove that! That was Starscream's accusation."
"It most certainly was not!" scoffed Starscream. "There's no time for idle chit-chat about the past. We have Autobots scarp to stop ground or otherwise."
And with that he huffed off in his Cybertronian jet, plunging down the hallway towards the already open bridge glowing through a broad archway door.
Skywarp's sneer only broadened as Thundercracker exchanged glances with him.
"Just go pop some more wheelers and prove Starscream wrong, right?" teased Skywarp. "We know he's only insecure."
"I will!" Thundercracker promised with a smile finally appearing of its own accord.
"You're Autobot count is always more than his," said Skywarp. "He over thinks everything, and he doesn't listen to me. Remember. Don't think…"
"'Do,'" finished Thundercracker sharply rolling his optics again, but there was just a touch of amusement in them before he transformed into his powerful blue and black Cybertronian jet.
Skywarp turned quickly into his purple and black favorite they flew forward to lead the vehicons and the rest of the armies behind their silly commander.
#
Why was it that it was always the sharpest, and no-funny-business types were the ones that got killed first? Well, except Soundwave…
Skywarp blinked back into the Black Hole, so aptly named for these dark and empty days.
"Tch!"
Whatever, he thought. Take your own advice, Skywarp!
And let the automatic door slide shut behind him as he stepped further into the corridor.