Author's Notes: I am still behind schedule! D: Here's hoping I can get my life together by this weekend! In this chapter we get to follow Grimlock and the gang as they uncover the last few secrets hidden by the New Council… As always, please enjoy, and let me know what you think! Happy reading!
Location: Crystal City Ruins
Grimlock
With an overburdened vent, Grimlock sat himself down on the rusted ground. He intended to park his skid plates in that spot until the sun rose again. Then they would start searching… He tried not to sneer as he took in the ruins. This place reeked of the one opticed scientist, even after a generous few million years.
He gave his mixed party a sideways glance. His company consisted of his team, the poor Dinobot bastards, a single unit of cloned Cons, and one very unwilling passenger they picked up from Iacon. He almost laughed out loud just thinking about what they must have looked like to any outsider.
Grimlock didn't know these smaller Con's. He was usually tasked with bumping fists with bigger pray. These Cons must have been cloned or something along those lines… probably by Shockwave. Cloning an army of identical cannon fodder seemed like a very 'Shockwave' thing to do.
The identical troopers landed from their arial formation like a swarm of bolt-bats. They were a strange group to be sure. He couldn't be certain, but they were more talkative than most other Con troops. Not that he and Cons had much to talk about in a normal situation. More than anything, Grimlock was surprised they were still sticking close. As much as Grimlock had gathered, the new Con chief, creepy Soundwave himself, had only ordered them to provide arial cover for the Iacon raid. Then their alliance would end when they were through the Groundbridge that would take them back to Kaon. But Grimlock seldom took marching orders from poor Optimus when he was still gracing the livin'. The new nerdy Con leader should have guessed Grimlock would never follow his orders. So, he and his boys gave the pretty green portal a pass and headed into the wastes, on a special mission of their own.
But that Iacon business was done solar cycles ago, and the twig sized Cons were still buzzing their helms. Grimlock would be the first to admit he was far from the smartest bloke on Cybertron, (even before Shockwave rooted around in his brainpan like he expected to find a cash of Shanix in there.) He assumed the Cons were there to keep their weird matching optics on his team, by order of their creepier new dictator.
Another chassis fell into the rust next to him. He stopped glaring at the Cons long enough to glance to his side, where Swoop was grinning stupidly at him. "You pissed?" the scrawniest member of his tag team wondered with a scrap eating grin that deserved a punch into the face plate. Swoop was damned lucky Grimlock had a soft spot for his stupid aft.
"Why you askin' Swoop?" Grimlock growled.
"Isn't Grim always pissed?" Slag offered with a shrug.
Grimlock responded by tossing a sizable chunk of rubble at both snickering bots. It wasn't a hard enough lob to do any damage. "I'm keeping an optic on the skinny Cons. Not real excited to power down with them stalkin' about."
"But we gotta." Slag grumbled as he sat amongst the ruins they deemed 'camp' worthy. "If we go any farther without resting, we'll all collapse into stasis lock, rust into the ground and then have whatever is left get scavenged by Insecticons. And if we're lucky, it'll happen in that order."
"Please don't bring up those things." Snarl pleaded with a shutter. He sat at the other side of the uneven circle they had unintentionally made. "Those infected bugs are everywhere. Make's my protoflesh itch just thinking about it."
"Hey boss?" came the taxed voice of Sludge from just behind the group. Grimlock and the other three all turned in unison as their final party member arrived with their unwilling cargo. "Where can I drop this?"
"Here's good." Grimlock offered and motioned towards their circle's center.
Sludge nodded before he dropped Sigil unceremoniously into the ground. The motion elicited a pained "Oof!" from their prisoner, along with a plume of dust thrown up from the disturbance.
Despite the restraints they fitted him with, the older bot winced as he squirmed into a more dignified position. Grimlock also noticed, between glares at the five of them, Sigil risked the occasional glance into the sky, as if he feared what was lurking just beyond the scope of their vision. Grimlock figured they could deal with whatever had spooked him later.
"At least he stopped talking." Slag said, eyeing Sigil.
"You were all Autobot warriors!" Sigil spat despite the plain fear in his optics.
"Never mind," Slag vented. "He's started again."
"We're still Autobot warriors, for yer information there, chief." Grimlock stated. "We just never did things the way you fancy, high tower bots wanted things done. Or had the tanks to do yourselves. But speaking of gettin' things done, let's take this resting time to really ponder… We've spent some time together on this little road trip, havin' a few laughs and making memories, but we are reaching the end. And depending on how you answer this question I'm getting ready to ask, it could be the end of your road, in a more permanent kind of way, if you catch my meanin'."
"He mean's we'll kill ya." Sludge elaborated.
Snarl dropped his helm into an awaiting servo, as Swoop almost fell backwards with laughter.
"I think that was well established." Slag said to Sludge.
Grimlock fought the urge to laugh along. Instead, he focused on Sigil's sinking presence at his peds, waiting for the upper crust bot to respond.
Sigil had to physically swallow his fear before he could muster an answer. "If I answer, will you still surrender me to Soundwave? If I am captured by the Decepticons, I will be terminated. Even if you let me go, these Vehicon troopers will just capture me from you! They will betray whatever alliance they have tricked you into!"
"Fair point." Grimlock agreed. "How about this? You let me worry about what kind of threat these skinny Con fellas are to my boys, and you just start talking. First, you know where we are, and more importantly why we drug your sorry aft here?"
Sigil hesitated, probably trying to decide what Grimlock was playing at. He would be wondering for a while, because Grimlock tended to wing things. There was rarely any 'higher planning' involved. "Yes, to the first at least… This is, was, the esteemed Crystal City. Before the war, it was the cultural capital of Cybertron." He answered carefully.
"Right you are." Grimlock confirmed with a smile. "And it's still just as pretty as I remember it from before the war…" he paused as a fading mural wall crumbled when Sludge leaned up against it. "Hu, that probably wasn't important. But can you guess why we're here?"
"I could not guess." Sigil said flatly.
Grimlock shook his helm. "Ah, you blue bloods never were good at lying to a bot's face plates."
"This is not a game to me!" Sigil almost shouted. "You have betrayed the cause you were once loyal to and have betrayed Cybertron!"
"And did Ultra Magnus betray Cybertron?" Grimlock demanded.
Sigil almost choked on his words. As Grimlock maintained his fixed glare, he half wondered if Sigil's processor had stalled. Finally, he managed to mumble, "I- I don't understand, you're meaning. Ultra Magnus took a leave of absence."
"You're a bad liar." Grimlock informed him, as coldly as he could. "You want to know how I know? Bot's who go on vacation don't tend to send out destress beacons, and make sure to code you and Decimus's names along with the words 'culprits if I disappear' before they go off the air waves." Grimlock tried not to smile when he saw the reality of his words hit Sigil in waves, the hope turning to fear in his optics. He was probably realizing he would be safer with the Cons. Sigil's fear was more satisfying to Grimlock than it should be, but he had long since come to peace with the darker side to his Spark. It came with the territory of being half monster, and the other half being a soldier.
"I- he… We were…." Sigil failed to complete the thought.
"That distress message was the only reason I agreed to help that Megatron lovin' fanboy, better known as Soundwave. Ultra Magnus was one of the few bots in command who worked with us after Shockwave turned us into freaks. Even I learned to tolerate his chain of command." Grimlock said. "So I'll be real straight with you. If Magnus is dead, and you lot were the one's to kill him, you gonna die just the same way he did, but I'll make it hurt more." Whatever Sigil had feared in the dark skies was long forgotten. All he could do was stair up at Grimlock, terror gripping every atom of his being. "This place, or the tunnels under it, was a lab Shockwave used. Of course, my old friend Shockwave had labs stashed everywhere, the murderous nerd. But this one is important to you because It's closest to Iacon. You have been using it to stash away all the things you don't want Cybertron to know about. And Magnus is here, isn't he?"
"I, will not negotiate with Decepticon threats…" Sigil began to say, forcing defiance into his trembling voice box.
Grimlock considered the statement. "Let me rephrase that." He stood slowly, his shadow eclipsing the moonlight from Sigil completely. He retrieved his energy sword from his back and brought it to life. It's multiple sectioned teeth exploded with devastating energy. The hot flames licked down the activated blade, chasing the shadows he cast away from Sigil's horror-stricken face plate. "Is Magnus alive?" he asked in a casual tone.
"Yes." Sigil managed to whisper.
"And he's here?"
Sigil could only nod.
Grimlock smiled and sheathed his blade. "Great. And you'll be kind enough to lead us to him?"
"Y-yes, I will."
"That is a very smart move. I have a good feeling about your continued existence." Grimlock said. He sat back down, and Sigil almost collapsed into the rusted ground. He was fairly satisfied with how the prompt to interrogation went.
"That was absolutely terrifying." Came a light sparked snickering voice. Grimlock cast a suspicious glance towards the Con who spoke, or at least the one he assumed to be the culprit. It was the trooper who seemed to be leader of the fliers. Definitely the most talkative among them.
"I learned a thing or to in the company of you Cons." Grimlock said with a shrug. "But usually, I can get a bot to break in half that time. I'm tired, so don't judge."
"None at all. We have Energon by the way if you need to refuel. It should last us until we get back to Kaon if we ration." The Con offered. They seemed sincere, but Grimlock knew better.
"You sharing?" Swoop asked in disbelief before Grimlock could manage to.
"Of course. We were ordered to provide back up. Letting you all starve would not fit the whole, 'back up' thing."
Grimlock felt one of his optic ridges raise before he could stop it. "Neighborly of you… But why are you lot still trailing us? Our little group mission ended when we left Iacon."
"Why are you talking them out of giving us Energon?" Slag snapped.
"That may have been your orders, but it wasn't ours." The Con explained. "We were ordered to stay with you to stave off threats. As leader of this squadron, how long we stay to watch your backs is left up to my discretion. If you're attacked before you make it back to Kaon, well we didn't provide adequate back up then, did we?"
Grimlock couldn't help but huff a laugh. "You have a name, kid?"
"Sharpshot." They said, rolling the large canister of Energon towards them.
Grimlock blinked. "Like the Insecticon?"
"No, I'm a Vehicon Trooper." Sharpshot explained.
"I am so fragging confused…" Grimlock admitted.
"I do have a serial number though, if that would work better for you." Sharpshot offered, hesitant, and acting a little confused as well.
"Nah, I'd never remember it without writing it down." Grimlock said, cracking open the canister. "But that name you got belonged to an Insecticon I fought. You knew him too?"
"No." Sharpshot said. "I read it somewhere and thought it sounded cool." They admitted.
Grimlock and Swoop ended up laughing at the same time. Letting his guard down was stupid, but he had to admit the Con was funny.
"We, are not spending the night here, are we?"
Grimlock, along with everyone else, turned to Sigil when he asked the question.
"Why wouldn't we?" Slag ventured suspiciously.
"Real good point." Grimlock huffed. He stood, and Sigil visibly shrunk when he did so. "I finally managed to scare you into shuttin' up, yet here you are talking again. That can't be a good sign."
"He knows something we don't." Sharpshot agreed.
"Well then you have my permission to start yappin' again." Grimlock encouraged. "What you worried about that we are ignorant to?"
Sigil fidgeted under so many glaring optics. "We are, simply out in the open. In these turbulent times, anywhere will be dangerous at this late hour."
"Not buyin' it." Grimlock snapped, and Sigil jumped as if the words were barbed. "Something about this place has you scared. I seen the way you were watchin' the sky when we got here."
"We have scanned higher Insecticon activity in this sector." Sharpshot added. "We thought it was just a coincidence."
"No such thing as coincidences." Snarl pointed out.
"You want to see my sword up close again, Sigil?" Grimlock offered innocently.
"T-threating such an old and helpless bot is unbecoming of you!" Sigil managed to stutter in defiance.
Grimlock cracked a smile. "Sigil, I am the last bot on Cybertron to give a damn about your age. And even if I did, we all know you are far from 'defenseless.' So, tell us what you know, or we may take cover and leave you here on the surface."
"You came here because you are looking for Ultra Magnus!" Sigil said, trying to hide his growing panic at the concept of being abandoned out in the open. "Well… Insecticons are drawn to this area, because of our work with Shockwave in regard to the Dark Energon virus. They always have been, but we were never foolish enough to stay in sight long enough for them to attack!"
Interesting. With that new bit of info, Grimlock knelt onto the ground, his bulky form making the move less then graceful. He pressed his helm to the rust, tuning his scientifically manipulated auditories higher to pick up any subtle frequencies.
"Boss?" Sludge wondered.
"Everyone shut up." Grimlock encouraged then closed his optics to focus.
Through the layers of ground plating, just barely audible, he heard it. The familiar screech of an Insecticon swarm, and something more chilling. The edge of Dark Energon hunger in their twisted voice boxes. He was sure any Insecticon in the area would hear the cries much clearer than he could. That would indeed draw the bugs in to investigate. "New plan." Grimlock said as he pushed himself from the ground. "Everyone chug your Energon. We're going underground now."
His team jumped up, ready for another fight as always. Grimlock was impressed the scrawny Con's didn't put up a fuss.
"Now?" Sigil demanded with a sharp intake. Of course, he would be the one to complain. "But… you are all exhausted, and there are not nearly enough of you to achieve what you are attempting! The laboratory is highly guarded with the most sophisticated of alarm systems, and-"
"Then it's a good thing we got you here to disarm them." Grimlock said, flashing a fanged grin.
"I am tired too!" Sigil pointed out. "And I am Energon starved as well! I might make a mistake inputting a code."
"So, you are." Grimlock agreed. "Sludge, set him up with a canister before we go."
Sludge nodded. He opened a canister, then splashed the contents into Sigil's faceplates. "Feel better?" he asked Sigil innocently.
Grimlock snickered as Sigil shook the Energon off with a disgusted groan. "Now if nobody has any more gripes, we're going under."
Sludge scooped Sigil off the ground and hurled him over his shoulder.
Once again proving their usefulness, the Cons used some sort of fancy sonar to locate a tunnel covered by a rusted hidden door. Grimlock made quick work of the door in their way, revealing an old tunnel stretching on into darkness. It was hardly anything new for Grimlock. He spent more time underground then above after all. The smell of damp rust and old primal Energon felt homy.
Guided only by their own lights the party trekked downward. He listened hard, hearing the distant screeching of Insecticons get closer with every step. Though anything was hard to hear over Sigil's racing Spark pulse.
Chittering around the corner of a second chamber made the two groups come to an abrupt halt. Sharpshot was like a shadow, silent as they snuck to the end of the tunnel where it split. They used a reflective portion on their blaster to glance around the corner. They snuck back, motioning to remain quiet. "There's a tankard of Energon." They whispered. "At least thirty Insecticon are drinking from it."
"What?" Sigil demanded in a frightened whisper. "There should be none outside of their cages! How did they get out?"
"Because you blue bloods suck at your job?" Slag snickered quietly.
"How full is that tank they chowing on?" Grimlock asked Sharpshot.
"Maybe half?" Sharpshot said.
"More then enough." Grimlock said with a grin. "I'd stash him somewhere; you'll need your claws incase a few make it through." He said to Sludge.
Sludge glanced at Sigil, then the surrounding area. There was a metal panel on the wall his focus landed on. Sludge ripped the panel off to reveal a small compartment area. Before Sigil could protest Sludge shoved him into the compartment and replaced the bent panel as carefully as he could.
With that out of the way, Grimlock retrieved his energy sword. It's sections came to life with flames that lit up the tunnels. "I'd stand back!" Grimlock laughed, rushing around the corner to see the Insecticon swarm for himself. Mandibles dripping Dark Energon drool and bulging red optics turned up to face him in surprise. Just as Sharpshot said there were well over thirty bugs crawling along a large tanker once used to store Energon for the lab. It was riddled with chewed open holes, leaking blue onto the surrounding floor and covering the bugs themselves.
He flung his blade and made it shift, its sections unhinging and flying like a whip into the Energon pool. His blade's flame lit up the Energon, fire rushing upwards into the tank. He dove back around the corner before the explosion shook the tunnels and rained debris down onto their helms. He was a bit disappointed. The explosion hadn't been as large as he was banking on. Insecticon screeching was still audible over the crackling flames.
Grimlock felt the familiar burn in his chassis, his T-cog struggling to keep up. He focused on the feeling, his mind going away as he surrendered to the transformation, twisting him into a beast. He came back online, as he trained himself to do. He was standing taller, primal power running through his veins. "Start pickin' them off, boys!" He snarled at his team, though didn't wait for their own transformations. He stormed back into the burning tunnel, vision turning red when he saw a charred Insecticon charging at him with dripping fangs.
He smashed his bigger body into the Insecticon before it could bite. It landed on the ground with a crunch, screeching as it struggled to slash at him. He flung his tail around, smacking his opponent into the far wall.
Something hit him hard broadside. Grimlock strained to turn his massive helm in his current form. Three Insecticons clawed at his back, trying to bite into his hard plating to reach proto flesh.
Swoop's familiar form flew past him, snatching one Insecticon from Grimlock's back along the way. Swoop flung the Insecticon into a burning pool of Energon before it could strain up to bite him. "Got your back, Boss!" Swoop assured him, coming back around to grab for another one.
Grimlock smashed his back into the wall, crushing one bug with the attempt. "Just try not to get kidnapped like you do every other mission, ok Swoop?"
"Primus! Thank you, someone had to say it!" Slag huffed as his alt form charged past, stabbing a flaming bug through with his horns. "Hey guys, look! Got me a torch!" he bragged while waving the flaming Insecticon about.
"I want me a torch!" Sludge complained, long neck straining to snatch a bug from the air so he could dip it into the pool of flaming Energon.
"Boss!" Snarl said, no humor in his voice as usual. "Get that one off your back, it's about to bite through your plating!"
"I got it!" Swoop volunteered while he whirled around. An Insecticon tackled him out of the sky before he could reach Grimlock. "Ack! Ok, don't got it!" he corrected while he and the Insecticon wrestled on the ground.
Grimlock swiped at the bug on his back with his tail but couldn't manage to dislodge it. Its claws were dug into his plating, affixing itself just out of his reach. He could feel the heat from its jaw, just chewing through his final protective layer, ready to clamp down and spew its poison into his veins.
Ten well aimed gun blasts hit into the bug at every weak point, wrenching it from his back. Grimlock glanced up and saw the shooters were the Vehicons. "Since when did you flunky Con's actually learn how to hit something?" He asked.
Almost comedically, every Vehicon pointed to Sharpshot at the same time before they jumped back into the fight. Sharpshot lowered their helm a bit, as if embarrassed. "Shucks guys, it wasn't that big a deal." They said before taking down another Insecticon with a well-aimed blast.
Grimlock slashed at another Insecticon before it could drop from the ceiling onto the much smaller Con Troopers. With that attack the flare in his chassis had died down, the rumble of battle slowed.
He scanned their battlefield. Every bug was in pieces or smoldering, save for one. The final Insecticon was still snapping at Swoop on the ground, long proboscis tongue drawing close to bite. Grimlock snatched it off Swoop and slammed it against the ground a few times until it stopped moving. He smashed it down once more for good measure. "Sound off, who's not dead?"
Swoop groaned from the ground, but otherwise everyone was still on their peds.
With a good deal of effort and compacting plates, Grimlock shifted back into his normal self. He held out a servo to Swoop and pulled him up. "You ok?" he asked. Swoop shifted back to normal and managed to give him a shaky thumbs up. With that confirmation, he turned back to their Con company. "Ya got Spark, kid. That was the first time I think I ever saw a Con hit its mark when ya needed to. But don't let that go to your helm." He told Sharpshot sternly.
The Con laughed, their blaster shifting away. "Thanks… I may have read up on different techniques to help my troops in training. Don't tell our command, but a good chunk of our battle style comes from a branch of Autobot warriors I read about. The Lightning Strike Coalition Force is what they went by during the war, until they changed it to something more-" they hesitated as they glanced the remaining Dinobots who had yet to transform back. "Fitting."
Grimlock paused, trying to read the Con's lacking features to see if they were being sincerer. Then he smiled. "Well hell, now I'm the one flattered. Who knew we had Con fans?" He slapped Sharpshot on the back, making the Con stumble forward to keep themselves upright. "And I will be the first to say Lightning Strike Coalition Force is a mouth full. I'm sure we would have changed it even if we didn't run into Shockwave."
They took a few nano clicks to regroup, Sludge retrieved Sigil from the wall, and they ventured further down. The tunnel walls went from the natural rigid metal to dark polished plates lined with dim lights. The first door they encountered had been chewed through from the inside out. Grimlock caught Sigil staring wide opticed at the sight. "So, I assume ya thought this would keep the rabid bugs in?" he said.
Swoop transformed and flew through the large hole, scouting ahead for any traps or other Insecticons. He came back and poked his thin helm through the hole. "Yep. It's definitely a Shockwave lab. It has that smell still lofting in the air that makes you want to purge your tanks." Grimlock noticed Snarl shutter. He gave his teammate a reassuring pat on the shoulder before he motioned Sludge forward.
Sludge dropped Sigil down in front of the door's keypad. It only took a well-placed glare for Sigil to crumble under the pressure and type in the combination. The doors opened with a protesting screech. Grimlock took in the dark laboratory with a growl. It reeked of chemicals and spilt Energon. Swoop had been right, it was Shockwave's flare alright. From the mess, he assumed the Insecticons had been free for a while.
"What did you have the good scientist working on down here? I don't see any Predacons." Grimlock demanded of Sigil.
Sigil bristled from the question. "It, was our attempts at finding a cure for the Dark Energon Virus. We kept infected Insecticons and bots in this facility for testing."
"If it's for the infected, why imprison Ultra Magnus here?" Swoop asked.
Instead of answering that question, Sigil only shook his helm in disbelief. "This facility was supposed to be full proof. I don't understand how any test subjects got out."
"Did Shockwave tell you it was full proof?" Grimlock asked.
Sigil hesitated. "Yes?"
"And you took his word for it?" He added.
"Well, yes. But he-"
"And what team is Shockwave on?" Grimlock interrupted.
Sigil blinked at him, realization slowly dawning on him. "The… Decepticons…"
Grimlock snickered. "Yeah, sounds stupid when you say it out loud, don't it?" He motioned a servo forward towards the dark corners of the lab. "Alright, start looking for Magnus. Cut down any bugs in the way."
Sludge did not pick up Sigil right away. He instead tilted his helm thoughtfully before stating simply, "You dumb."
Grimlock's resulting smile from the interaction faded when he spotted Snarl not following his orders. He instead remained fixed at the entrance of the lab; optics glued to the floor in a thousand kilk stare. "Snarl? You still with us?" he asked.
Snarl pursed his mouth plate hard enough for his jaw hinge to click. Judging by the trembling alone, Grimlock saw the internal war raging inside his teammate's mind. "I can't. I can't do it. Not a place like this."
Slag vented loud. "Really? Get a spinal strut installed, Snarl. It's not like Shockwave's here."
"I get he ain't here!" Snarl shouted back. "That doesn't help me! I don't do labs! It smells too much like him!"
"No more fighting." Grimlock snapped at them both. He managed to get Snarl to glance up at him. Before anyone else but them could notice, he gave Snarl a knowing nod. "You just watch our flank. Blow away any bugs that may come from the tunnels behind us."
Snarl managed a grateful nod before he stepped out. Sharpshot seemed to have noticed. They glanced between Grimlock and Snarl, obviously confused by the exchange. Grimlock only shook his head at the Con, hoping they would catch the hint and mind their own business. To his surprise, Sharpshot ordered three of their own troopers to provide Snarl backup at the door. Grimlock almost objected, knowing Snarl wanted too just be alone. But he kept his mouth plate shut and carried on into the lab. In truth, Snarl wouldn't be in the right state of mind to provide true cover. Back up would be the smart choice, whether Snarl wanted company or not.
"Hey shoulder pads!" Slag snapped into the too quiet lab, affectionately using the name they would mock Ultra Magnus with in old times. "Your ride's here! Sound off so we can go home!"
Grimlock scanned the cages that didn't have Insecticon sized holes in them. Bots not in total stasis lock trembled against walls or were curled up and moaning. Dribbles of infected Energon exuded from every orifice. It was a virus straight from the Pits, and Grimlock was surprised Shockwave wasn't behind it for once. Really, was it too much to ask for Sigil to have axed Shockwave along with the other Cons the New Council wanted dead?
"Found him!" Swoop exclaimed, cutting off Grimlock's train of thought. He hurried over to the transparent cage Swoop was pressed against. "Up and at em big guy! We're your ticket out…" Swoop cut off; his cheerful demeanor gone up in smoke. "Oh no."
Grimlock pressed a servo into the glass and spotted a familiar form in the shadows. A bot once the embodiment of Autobot pride and military might, was now huddled unmoving against the wall. "Magnus." Grimlock said to rouse him.
"What's wrong with him?" Slag demanded then pounded on the glass of the enclosure to try and provoke some sort of response. It worked. Ultra Magnus flew out of his huddle and smashed into the glass like a wild animal. There was not a hint of familiarity in his optics. He clawed at the glass, devouring Grimlock and the others with his hungry stare.
Grimlock vented deep, looking into Ultra Magnus's vacant optics. "So, he wasn't put here, just to be a prisoner. Was he, Sigil?" He said the old bot's name with pure contempt. When he turned around, Sigil shrank under his glare.
"He…He was not killed." He pointed out.
"But him gettin' infected was no accident, was it?" Grimlock said coldly.
Sigil didn't need to say anything. The guilt was clear in his terrified blue optics.
"Wait, what are you saying Grimlock?" Swoop demanded. "They infected Ultra Magnus on purpose?"
"I guess he knew too much." Slag hissed. "We can return the favor. Throw Sigil into one of these cages and let him get bit."
The effect the comment had on Sigil was immediate. He put up a pitiful fight to get out of Sludge's grasp, spewing one excuse after another. "It was a temporary punishment… Ultra Magnus hacked into the New Council's security footage and saw the termination of Prowl. He tried to inform the others before we would have the chance to explain! He would have been cured along with the others! But Shockwave escaped, and there was little more we could do! You must believe me, this was all for the good of the Autobots, for the good of Cybertron!"
"Sludge," Grimlock began. "Get him away from me before I pop his helm off to shut him up for good."
The old fool continued to shout at Grimlock as Sludge drug him out, insistent of his innocence despite his previous confession.
Grimlock stepped forward and smashed open Ultra Magnus's cage. Before his old commander could leap onto him, Grimlock snatched him by the throat, keeping him out of biting distance. "Sorry about this commander." He said sincerely. He whacked his freehand into Ultra Magnus's helm, effectively knocking him out cold.
"Grimlock." Said Sharpshot in a quiet tone. "In Kaon, we can keep him and the others in stasis, so they don't suffer. We can get back faster if you let me call Lord Soundwave for a Groundbridge."
He looked up from the unconscious Ultra Magnus to his team, their shoulders slumped hopelessly and sullen. Then his focus fell back onto the Con, who for reasons beyond Grimlock's understanding, had been nothing but kind to them. "Fair enough. Give your creepy boss a call. We'll take you up on the Bridge this time."