Wazup y'all!
Welcome back! Fanfiction's fixed! Feel free to review what you think of my story so far, I really appreciate all feedback.
Enjoy chapter 3!
Two drones dragged Corruptor through the hallways of Darkmount by his shoulders. Soundwave walked ahead of them toward the interrogation room by Megatron's orders. The drones struggled to lift Corruptor onto the chair at one end of the table but were eventually successful. Soundwave remained beside the doorway like a sentry.
Corruptor slowly regained consciousness as Megatron entered the room.
"Hello, Corruptor." He greeted.
The only reply was a pained groan.
Megatron then sat at the other end of the table and opened a holo screen, occasionally swiping through it.
"Let's see here… known acquaintances… ah yes, Persecutor. Killed in action… how sad." He quipped.
Now Corruptor is fully conscious and giving Megatron the death stare.
"...weapons forger… flight specialist… Ah yes, Seeker Commander date 1st Cycle 598 - 2nd Cycle 3810." (1)
Corruptor did not break eye contact.
"Thank you for your services commander, but I'm afraid you have new orders now."
"I am not a commander anymore," Corruptor interjected.
"Well, that need not be mentioned considering your most recent activities."
Megatron paused for a moment as Corruptor continued to stare him down.
"I like you Corruptor," Megatron started, "You are a skilled soldier, you were able to stay under the radar for so long, and you dominated every challenge put in front of you. Including dealing with Persecutor's dea-"
"Do not speak his name." Corruptor seethed after slamming his fist into the table.
"I see that is still an issue that needs to be resolved." Megatron quipped. "I'll skip to the end shall I?"
Corruptor slowly sat back down in his seat.
"You have been assigned a special mission, Corruptor. This is a locate and retrieve mission."
"And what exactly am I retrieving?" Corruptor grumbled.
"That's on a need-to-know basis."
"Which means it must be valuable."
"You're smarter than you look. But the reason I am sending you is that I'd prefer not to send some of my valuable troops on a suicide mission."
"And what if I try to take this object for myself?" Corruptor asked.
"All of you will be equipped with collars that will monitor your location at all times. So in the end, whether you die, or bring me back what I need, I get what I want. Some may say it's a win-win scenario." Megatron sneered.
"'All of you'? There are others?"
"I'm glad you asked that. Bring them in." Megatron commanded Soundwave.
Soundwave left the room, but not long after returned with four other bots in chains.
Corruptor stood in pure shock.
"Corruptor, I would like you to meet your new companions. Impactor, Knockout, Trench… and Persecutor."
– – –
I trained with the Seekers for almost six Deca-cycles before we had a change in schedule. Today was our first day in the field. After we trained our targeting and flight skills on several courses multiple times, Jetfire thought we would be ready for a field trip. He was leading us to a preparation camp far away from the training facility.
We landed in the camp to see soldiers moving loads hidden in cases to other parts of the camp in haste.
"Are we preparing for battle?" A Seeker from another group asked.
"Yes, this battle's purpose is to fight for ownership of this region."
"Will we… be fighting?" Another asked hesitantly.
"That's what you've trained for isn't it?" He asked, turning to make contact with the Seeker.
The Seeker shivered in fear, he is not ready for this war.
"What are your orders, sir?" I stepped forward.
"I'm glad you asked, cadet. Today you will all be using the skills you have perfected in training for surveillance and air support. Your job is to scout the enemy lines without being seen and provide backup for the boys on the ground. Any questions? No? Good." He briefed quickly.
A Seeker in the back began to raise his servo, but Jetfire talked too fast to give him a chance to ask.
After the Seekers separated into their groups to be briefed by other officials on what specifically they would be doing, Jetfire pulled me aside.
"Corruptor, right?" He asked.
"Yes, sir," I replied.
"I've been eyeing you a lot on those training courses, you are exceptional considering your lack of experience in the Decepticon military. Keep in mind that your actions in this battle may draw attention from high officials. A promotion is highly probable."
"Thank you, sir, I'll do my best."
"That's what I like to hear," Jetfire replied, patting my shoulder as he walked past me.
…
We flew through tall abandoned buildings slowly to avoid drawing the attention of potential hidden Autobot snipers.
"How we doing Bitstream?" Acid storm asked.
"Not seeing any signs of life in this quadrant through the infa-red scanner. We're in the clear." He replied.
"Good, let's try and locate the enemy camp from here." Acid storm continued.
"Ummm, I see something back in no man's land, a cluster of heat signatures," Bitstream replied.
"That's them, find a rooftop where we can get a closer look," I replied.
The other Seekers of my group scaled a large skyscraper while I picked up my tank and followed afterward. We all landed and transformed at roughly the same time. I used my com to notify base that we found the camp and are scouting it from a rooftop. Bitstream set up his sniper and scouted the camp through his scope.
"Well?" Hotlink asked impatiently.
"They seem to be the same size in numbers as us… I don't see any combiners or anything… Don't see Optimus… I do see a large red bot with a tank barrel on his chest though."
"What?" Redwing asked, stealing the gun from him to get a look for himself.
"That's Warpath, an Autobot general," I replied.
"And how do you know that? You didn't even look!" Hotlink exclaimed.
"I did my research, there aren't many Autobots that fit the description of large and red with a tank barrel on their chest."
"Is he a threat?" Sunstorm asked.
"Not as much of a threat as Optimus Prime, but he is called Warpath for a reason. He may become a problem." I replied.
"I can take him from here." Redwing mused as he clicked the safety of Bitstream's sniper off.
"And give away our position? I don't think so." Acid storm refuted, grasping the barrel of the sniper.
"Besides, his armor is thick enough that the bullet might just ricochet off of him." Bitstream continued.
"Notify Jetfire of what we found and return to base." Acid storm ordered.
"You're pretty bossy for our 'unofficial leader'." Nacelle quipped.
"Yeah? Deal with it." He sneered, turning in Nacelle's direction.
"Let's not fight today and just go." Slipstream interrupted as she jumped off the edge and transformed.
We all did the same as I picked up my tank in jet form again, dropping it when we were low enough.
Once we returned to base, we once again told Jetfire what we found.
"Good, Warpath will become an annoyance but we should be able to win this battle. Get our soldiers ready and stand by." He replied.
We gathered everyone outside and prepped everyone for battle.
Everyone lined up as Jetfire walked onto a platform and began his speech.
"Today, we are gathered in Lord Megatron's name to take back what belongs to us. This may just be one more battle in this war, but we are fulfilling our purpose of eradicating the Autobot rebels and curing Cybertron of their corruption. Today we not only fight for Megatron, and for this land, but we fight for our cause. To return Cybertron back to the glory it once had. Back, into Decepticon glory! Hail Lord Megatron!"
Everyone chanted back in unison, "Hail Lord Megatron!"
I was not among them. I am not here to fight for that tyrant, yet I have no choice.
I watched from behind the hoards of Decepticon soldiers as they all rushed toward the enemy in a war cry, with Jetfire leading them alongside Barricade.
One of the officials began to draft groups of Seekers into the skies early for immediate support.
I saw in the distance Warpath storming into battle, clearing waves of soldiers with a spread of machine gunfire. Jetfire replied in kind, then they began to fight amongst themselves.
"Red team! You're up!"
We all positioned ourselves as if we were setting up for a training course, Acid storm on my right and Hotlink on my left with everyone else behind us.
"Get ready folks!" Hotlink started.
"This is gonna be a bumpy ride!" I finished.
Hotlink laughed and wooted once we took to the skies.
We all split and spread out, taking shots whenever we saw them, while also dodging shots from below.
"This is WAY better than training!" Redwing hooted.
"Don't get too excited, it looks like they're setting up missile launchers," Bitstream replied.
"I got 'em!" Nacelle exclaimed as he shot rounds of flares at the launchers as they fired.
They all exploded into a huge radius of flames.
"WHOOOO! Boom!" He exclaimed followed by laughter.
"How's the wing, Sunstorm?" I asked.
"Better than ever! I've already got 5 confirmed kills." He replied as he looped in the air above me, firing at the enemy once his nose faced the ground.
My tank absolutely plowed through the enemy, literally. It fired rounds upon rounds and literally ran over most of its kills, the enemy had no idea how to handle it so most of them just ran away. Or tried, anyway. I noticed Warpath was overpowering Jetfire, despite the aid of Barricade firing at him from afar.
I took this opportunity to attempt to help him. My tank took a hard left and sped straight for Warpath, firing all my heavy shells in the process, exploding on his armor upon impact.
Warpath stepped back a little after every shot. Then the tank ramped off of a heavy Autobot soldier on his knees from the impact of one of my shells and arced toward Warpath in the air.
Warpath let out a war cry and literally backhanded my tank away from him. I then flew down to assist further, transforming with my tank once it hit the ground.
As soon as I landed on my knee from the momentum of Warpath striking the tank, I turned and grabbed his backplate from the neck and lower back. I then picked up the hulk of a bot and held him above me, crying out in struggle. I then threw him to the ground on his face on my left.
I then look out my rifle and aimed at his cranium plate. Warpath was able to recover fast enough and knocked away my rifle from my hand. Then he sucker-punched me in the face, which made me turn from the impact. Then he took a right hook to my chest to send me to the ground.
"Heh, fresh meat." He mused as he took out his rifle this time.
Jetfire then stepped in and uppercutted him in the chest, and then a hard right jab immediately after. Then he sent a left hook into his face, turning around from the momentum while pulling out a rifle in the process, to shoot him in five different places once turned back in his direction.
The bullets did not have much of an effect on his thick armor, but it did give me enough time to get to my peds and respond with a few blows to his face and abdomen. Once Warpath was flat on his back, he transformed and shot me in the chest, only to drive away.
I was sent back so far from the impact, the damage I received from hitting the ground was almost as severe as the shot itself.
Jetfire flew toward me and transformed at my side.
"You dead, cadet?" He asked.
"I wish I was." I groaned.
"We don't all get what we wish for." He replied, stretching out his servo to help me up.
I grabbed his arm and he hefted me to my peds again with some effort. The pain from my chest felt like I was on fire, I hope it's not fatal.
"Let's get you to sickbay, you did good today, Corruptor."
"Thank you, sir," I replied painfully.
As we transformed and began to fly back to camp, I heard my fellow Seekers in my group cheering, but not for themselves, it was for me.
"Well done, recruit! That was crazy!" Redwing exclaimed.
"Please teach me your ways." Nacelle continued followed by laughter.
"Maybe later, gotta try not to die right now," I replied through the com.
"Do us a favor! You're showing us all up!" Sunstorm replied followed by laughter from everyone.
"Thanks, guys," I replied, turning off my signal.
The medic said that my wound wasn't fatal, and only needed a daily treatment for the next Deca-cycle. I heard that we actually won that battle. Jetfire then summoned me to the command center.
"You summoned me, sir?" I asked, noticing the other officials around the large table as I entered.
"Greetings Corruptor, please sit." Jetfire began.
I obeyed and listened to what they said.
"We've been watching you a lot throughout your training, Corruptor." An official began, "you have exceeded expectations on every turn and every shot fired. In the battle you fought in only a few Solar-cycles ago, you continued to do so. Which is why we summoned you."
"Son, as much as I hate to admit it, you saved my life. And I would like to repay the favor. With your exceptional leadership and tactical skills, I am officially promoting you to Commander."
"Sir?" I began, surprised, "Isn't that Starscream's rank?"
"Yes, you will be leading the Seekers alongside him."
"Sir, if I may, Starscream isn't the most… collaborative Seeker there is. I don't think he'd appreciate sharing his job with someone else. Especially me." I replied.
"Are you suggesting that you want to refuse your promotion, cadet?" Jetfire asked.
"No, just wanted that out in the open before he starts any drama," I replied, standing from my seat.
"Thank you all for this opportunity, I am honored to be able to serve alongside you." I continued.
"As are we, Commander," Jetfire replied.
I then nodded and left the room. I felt uneasy saying that. I am anything but honored to fight alongside people who agree with Megatron's psychotic ideals.
I walked out of the room emotionless on the outside, but seething on the inside. I am not done yet. I need Prime. I need to kill Optimus Prime.
(1) Best thing I could get to actual dates. His time as Commander ends a few years (vorns) before the Ark crosses through the space bridge.