Wazup y'all!
Sorry I haven't posted this chapter in a bit, there were some issues with my doc manager I had to figure out. But everything is fixed now!
Please enjoy chapter 4!
"Persecutor?"
"Hey, K."(1) He replied.
"How are you-"
"Alive?" Megatron interrupted, "Well that's fairly simple, you see your brother here betrayed his faction by attempting to give sensitive information to the Autobots. Since there was no way to just let him go without him doing it again, I kept him here. And just to be sure there wouldn't be any suspicion for his sudden disappearance, I faked his death."
"You… What!?" Corruptor asked in an enraged tone.
"I think I did rather well, really. It certainly convinced you. How did you like my eulogy?"
"You son of a-" Corruptor started, stomping in the Decepticon's direction.
"Don't." Persecutor interrupted, stopping Corruptor in his tracks, "It's useless."
Corruptor stepped back, with his stare burning into Megatron's optics.
"Now I understand that you already have some history with the other three so everything should be in order for your departure."
Corruptor continued to stare down Megatron in rage. After a moment Megatron added, "I like you Corruptor, so I will give you a choice." He continued, taking a step forward, "You can walk away from all of this, from the Decepticons, from everything. You can be a free Cybertronian. Or you can fulfill my request."
"What's the catch?" He asked.
"If you want to walk away… you must execute your brother for his crimes."
Corruptor stared angrily at Megatron for what seemed like an eternity.
"Shall I give you time to decide?" Megatron asked.
"No need." He replied, "I'll do it. We'll get your stupid artifact."
"Good. You leave at dawn."
– – –
As time progressed and I fought in more battles, I got stronger. Faster. Smarter. I developed so well within the Seekers that I gained a very good reputation and was respected by some of the highest officials. I even became a minor celebrity among the Decepticons, I was nicknamed the "Silver Bullet" for my ability to dispose of enemies quickly and brutally.
My team and I were on a scouting mission, we had to travel three cities to our destination which was the estimated location of an Autobot outpost. We had to stop halfway through for refueling and planning.
As I was collecting Energon from our storage compartments, I heard Hotlink telling stories to the rest of the team in our camp.
"...and that's when I shot his big mug off from a skyscraper's rooftop with the only one round left in my null ray!"
Everyone laughed as Slipstream replied, "I find that very unlikely, Hotlink."
"What? You think null rays can't reach that far?" He asked.
"No, first, you're as scared of confrontation as Bitstream is. And second, you couldn't land a shot if it was two feet ahead of you."
"She's not wrong," Redwing added after a slug of Energon.
"Ok fine, let me redeem myself when we find this outpost of ours."
"20 credits says he misses." Nacelle quipped from behind.
"30 says he just runs away," Sunstorm adds beside him.
Everyone other than Hotlink laughs in reply.
I happened to approach the group with more Energon when the laughter began to die off, "What I miss?" I asked.
"Oh nothing, just placing some bets," Sunstorm replied.
"You have to admit I am at least good at storytelling." Hotlink replied.
"I will give you that," Sunstorm replied.
"Oh? I have yet to hear a story from you, Hotlink." I replied.
"Well, then you're in for a treat, Mr. Bullet." He quipped.
"In the era of Primes, after Unicron was defeated, Megatronus defected to Unicron's ideals of chaos and destruction. All the other Primes aside from Prima, in an effort to protect the Matrix of leadership from the dark warrior, took the artifact far away from Cybertron. To conceal its location, they sacrificed their bodies to encase the artifact in their own tomb. Prima, however, remained in a final attempt to halt their oppressor. Inevitably, Prima was defeated. According to legend, his spark was torn from his body by his adversary. Megatronus, in an act of cruelty, cast Prima's pure spark into a vein of Dark Energon to prove that purity is weak and will always be dominated. Prima's spark was then corrupted by the Dark Energon, but it did not turn in the way you would expect. With the two forces of light and dark clashing together, neither prevailed over the other. The pure opposites then merged into one. The Corrupted Heart. An undead spark that has the will of Prima and the hatred of Megatronus. This artifact is rumored to give the wielder immortality and untold amounts of power, but they are cursed to fulfill an unending mission: to maintain balance in the universe."
"Wow. It's almost like it's coming from a different person." Bitstream quipped.
"Is that story real?" Sunstorm asked.
"Oh yes it is Sunstorm. Yes. It. Is." Hotlink replied, leaning back on the rock he was sitting against with an Energon drink in hand.
"I don't know, sounds like a typical scary campfire story to me." Slipstream replied.
"Hey you don't know, maybe there is an undead spark with the power of two Primes out there somewhere," I added followed by laughter from everyone.
"Well, you guys are boring, I'm gonna go set up for launch. I think it's dark enough for us to be hidden in the skies." Hotlink replied, getting up from his seat.
…
We flew for about another Solar-cycle before we approached a small temporary structure, the outpost.
"What were our orders if we found this outpost?" Bitstream asked.
"Blow it up?" Redwing asked.
"I don't think those were Shockwave's exact words…" Slipstream replied with a slight chuckle.
"Who cares? Let's blow it up!" Hotlink exclaimed through the com before banking down.
"Wait!" I called out, chasing after him.
Hotlink transformed behind a rock, looking over the outpost.
"What do you think you're doing? You're going to give away our position!" I exclaimed quietly after transforming beside him.
"I'm going to redeem myself, nobody sees the sniper." He replied, aiming his null ray at a soldier carrying a load to another section of the outpost.
I grabbed the barrel of his null ray and pushed it down.
"Hotlink, we are 900 meters out. A null ray isn't going to reach that far. You are going to give away our position and get us both killed."
"Watch me." He replied pushing me off of him.
"Hotlink, if you fire that shot you're in deep scrap."
Hotlink ignored me and aimed high with one optic closed and the other lined up with the barrel.
"You see, since null rays fire bullets of pure energy, or Energon, they do not obey the laws of physics like normal bullets do. They are not affected by gravity as much. They do dip a little from a far shot however, so you still should aim high to be able to arc the shot. The bullet will never stall or drop to the ground, it won't even dissipate, energy is consistent. Considering we're 900 meters out, it should be about… there." Hotlink explained, slightly raising his null ray during the last sentence.
As soon as he said 'there', he fired the null ray. We watched as the round arced through the sky, dimming consistently the farther it went. The Autobot soldier was stopped, looking in all directions for the source of the sound.
The round from the null ray the dipped at just the right angle, to nail the bot right in the chest.
"Haha! Yes!" He exclaimed, involuntarily giving away our position.
The Autobots outside the outpost all saw us and trained their weapons on our position.
"Scrap!" Hotlink exclaimed before transforming and blasting away.
"Hotlink! Wait!" I exclaimed as I did the same to chase after him.
Hotlink performed an aileron roll to avoid the shots fired at us, which gave me time to catch up to him.
"Air support!" I called into the com.
"On it!" Sunstorm replied as they all dive bombed the Autobots with grenades, missiles, and machine gun fire.
One shot still made it through however, and got Hotlink in the wing. He immediately began to plummet in a barrel roll.
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" He screamed into the com.
My thoughts during this moment seemed to surpass time itself. I immediately remembered what Jetfire said on that first day of flight training. "If your man is rolling he is gone!"
I then saw Hotlink plummeting and immediately saw him as Sunstorm like the memory was replaying before my eyes. Instinctively, I dived, just like before. I matched Hotlink's spin, flew under his belly, and pulled up with all my might. I tried to steer us away from the enemy, but the winds were too rough and pushed us toward them. I pulled up enough that we were flying just above the ground, like a missile targeting the soldiers on the ground. My tank sped up behind us, ready for transformation.
I then fired my machine guns ahead of us to take out the few we would miss during the impact. We both tumbled into the ground through their forces.
I got up from the ground in bipedal form with Hotlink on his side behind me, groaning in pain. I looked around at every Autobot with their gun trained on me all around us.
"We gonna go?" I asked, "Ok then, let's go." I said, with my fists raised.
They all began to fire in unison. The bullets all ricocheted off my armor.
"Really guys? C'mon you're better than this." I smirked, walking forward toward one of the soldiers.
He kept firing directly at my face in an attempt to blind me, it was ineffective. Once I was close enough, I grabbed his gun from his hands, looked at it in mine, and then crushed it. The soldier looked up at me in fear.
"My turn." I sneered, whipping out my corruptor rifle as I call it, and firing a bullet through his face.
His body dropped to the ground immediately.
A heavy Autobot ran up from behind while everything else shot at me. He sucker punched me in the back of the head which barely did anything. I turned, grabbed him by the chestplate and punched him hard enough in the face to knock him unconscious immediately.
I walked away without paying attention to anything else, turned when I was far enough away, and got ready to watch the show.
The hole in the first bot's face began to glow purple, the Dark Energon corrupting the corpse's systems. The Terracon then screeched and lunged toward one of the Autobot soldiers. It must have taken out about 20 or 30 soldiers before it came for me. It lunged at me, screeching in the process. Without the need to get up from my sitting position, I caught it by the neck. It squirmed and writhed trying to break free. I got up and slammed the Terracon into the ground. As it was dazed, I flattened its chest with my ped.
Only a few Autobots were left now, the strongest always survive the longest. Most of them were bulky or were skilled with their weapons. Good, I want this to be somewhat fun.
I ran forward and grabbed a bulky one by the face fast enough for them to not have enough time to react. I then fired one of my other guns with my other hand at another large bot in the chest, killing him.
As one of the other bulky bots ran after me, I flung the first bot at him with one arm, freeing up both my hands.
I boxed with two large bots at the same time while one of the gunslingers took some shots at me from behind which was oddly effective. These bots might be strong, but they're slow. One of them went for a jab, I dodged it easily and grabbed his arm. The other bot ran toward me so I kicked him in the chest. Then I decided to thrust my elbow into the first bots face to knock him unconscious. The second took out a large weapon and fired. I then hefted the unconscious bot above me and flung it toward the incoming bullet once it was fired. The explosion was almost blinding, a grenade launcher.
I ran through the explosion and sent several blows across the bot's face and chest, and then to finish him off I plunged my fist through his armor, and ripped out his spark.
I then heard a click behind me and felt a rifle's barrel on the back of my cranium plate.
"You got me?" I asked.
Then there was a shot that rang out behind me. The gunslinger behind me fell to the ground lifeless, with a hole through the side of his head.
"I got you." Hotlink replied weakly, holding his injured side with his null ray smoking.
The others then landed once I told them the coast was clear through the com.
"So I guess you didn't need that air support then." Slipstream mused, examining the aftermath of the battle.
"You guys probably saved my life with that aid. If it weren't for you I might look like Hotlink here." I replied.
"Oh shut up." He replied through a cough.
"Although, he did make that null ray shot he was telling you guys about."
"Wait, seriously?" Nacelle asked.
"Yep, he is a fantastic shot." I added.
"So nobody wins the bet then… great." Sunstorm groaned.
"Woah… what happened to him?" Redwing asked, looking over the dead Terracon in the ground with a flattened chest.
"He took a corrupted bullet to the face. I finished him off when he did enough damage." I replied.
"Corrupted bullet?" Redwing asked, "Like from the rifle you showed me a few days ago?" He asked.
"Yep. This is what happens when you literally shoot something with Dark Energon." I replied.
"Damn… I need to get me one of those." Redwing mused, turning back to the corpse.
"I wouldn't bank on it if I were you." I mused.
"How did you even get Dark Energon, let alone know how to use it properly?" He asked.
"That was all with my brother. He taught me how to handle that stuff safely, then one day we got bored and weaponized it."
"Hah, of course you did." He mused.
I then walked back over to Hotlink.
"How's the wing?" I asked Hotlink.
"Nonexistent." He replied weakly, turning to show me where his right wing should be.
"How do we get him back?" Acid storm asked.
I thought about that for a moment.
"I've got an idea. But you're gonna hate it." I mused.
"Ugh," Hotlink replied, "Let's get this over with."
…
We flew high but low enough to be able to hear Hotlink's complaining without the com.
"Agh! Why- is this- so- bUMpy!?" Hotlink exclaimed, riding my tank as it sped through the sandy ground below us.
We finally made it back to base and transformed inside the hangar. My transformation forced Hotlink off of my tank, dumping him on the ground.
He exclaimed upon impact, standing up slowly.
"Ahh, Corruptor! How was the mission?" Starscream asked in his usual sarcastic tone.
"Very successful, Starscream. We eliminated all Autobots at the outpost and returned with important information." I replied.
"That's great! Oh no, Hotlink, what happened?!" He feigned just enough fake sympathy to fool something as mindless as a scraplet.
"Get offa me, you psychopath." He replied weakly, shoving Starscream's arms off his side.
"That's no way to talk to your Commander, cadet!" He exclaimed, his mood changing in an instant.
"Leave him be, I'm taking him to sickbay." I interrupted, pushing Starscream further away as I passed.
I heard him growl as we walked away.
"That guy is such a pain in the tailpipe." Acid storm grumbled.
"Heh, you're one to talk," Nacelle muttered.
"Agreed, Acid storm." I replied, ignoring Nacelle's remark, "But we can't do anything about it. Now can we?" I continued, staring him in the face to tell him he isn't going to do anything to Starscream.
"You may be my Commander too, but everybody breaks rules from time to time." He replied.
…
After Hotlink was repaired, I reported back to Jetfire.
"Sir?" I said as I entered the doorway.
"Corruptor, please come in," Jetfire replied.
"Was your mission successful?" He asked as I sat down.
"Extremely, I've submitted all findings into the Decepticon database," I replied.
"Any casualties?"
"Hotlink was injured, but he's fine now."
"How was he injured?"
I sighed, I really hope I'm wrong about how he's going to respond.
"He was shot in the wing," I replied.
"How did he survive? Was he low to the ground?"
"No, sir. Same way Sunstorm survived."
He stared at me for a moment, seemingly emotionless. Not stunned, just bland.
He walked up in front of his desk in front of me.
"Well done, Commander. You never cease to impress me."
I'm stunned. Why isn't he upset?
"Uh… Sir?" I asked.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, I'm just… Why aren't you reprimanding me like you did during training?" I asked.
"Corruptor, you are a Commander of the Seekers for a reason. Every commander is required to make split-second decisions for the greater good of their cause. You did that today. And because of it, Hotlink survived and has returned to base safely. Besides, zero casualties is much better than one, let alone two."
"Thank you, sir," I replied.
I began to walk out the door before Jetfire stopped me.
"Oh and Corruptor, before you go… I have a new mission for you."
I turned and sat back down while Jetfire did the same.
"After your team submitted all of their reports, we have concluded that you are much more effective on the ground in hand-to-hand combat than firing from the skies."
"Sir, I am just as effective in the air than on the ground. I've saved lives that way." I replied.
"And you also saved mine. I would like to give you the option to change your post to the Decepticon militia. Your rank would continue to be Commander respectively."
"And what will happen to my team?"
"Acid Storm and the others will be fine under Starscream's leadership. I'll make sure he won't give them much trouble."
"Trust me, it would be quite the opposite." I chuckled.
"Would you like some time to think about it?" Jetfire asked.
"No, I am willing to accept my new assignment."
"That's very good to hear. You will be missed among the air force." Jetfire replied, raising his arm toward me.
I grabbed it in a handshake, and with a nod, I left the room.
…
Jetfire took this opportunity to walk me through the hangar to the hall of honor we set up on the hangar wall. Plaques of fallen Seekers who died in battle hung side by side.
I read each one from left to right until I came across a plaque of myself. The picture depicted me holding Warpath above my head in my first battle. The name on the bottom of the frame read "Corruptor, the Silver Bullet" followed by the mark of Commander.
"I'm not dead y'know." I joked.
"Not yet," Jetfire smirked.
"Thank you, sir. I'm honored."
"The honor is mine."
Then my old team of Seekers approached behind us.
"You summoned us, sir?" Acid storm asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid we have some news for you cadets. Corruptor has been transferred to the Decepticon militia to fight on the ground."
They all looked at me with different expressions.
"So.. what happens to us then?" Redwing asked.
"You are all being promoted to the elite squadron under Starscream's command."
Once again I saw different expressions. All the Seekers had excited expressions… other than Acid storm.
"Behave yourself ok?" I told Acid storm.
"If need be, I'll kill him on your behalf." He replied.
I smiled in return.
After I said my final goodbyes to my squadron, Jetfire and I left for the dropship.
As we walked, I reminisced over the memories of fighting alongside my former team, all the fun times we had, the friendships we made… Maybe not all Decepticons are as bad as they seem.
I stepped into the doorway of the dropship and looked back into the hangar. The training center, the recreation room, my friends laughing in a group… I'll miss this place.
…
We landed in another hangar not far from the Seeker's hangar. This one was much larger and more developed. Everything was bigger, like this was the VIP version of the Seeker's hangar.
I jumped off the dropship while Jetfire stayed inside.
"Good luck Commander! You will be missed!" He called out over the engines of the dropship.
I saluted in return as the dropship took off.
"You're… *ehem* Y-you must be Corruptor." A drone stuttered behind me.
"I am," I replied after I turned around.
"Allow me to lead you to your new team." He replied.
As we walked, I examined the training centers we passed, they were filled with targeting ranges, hand-to-hand combat training with dummies, and even-
"Can you sign this?" The drone beside me asked, holding a literal 50 caliber silver bullet in front of me as we walked.
"I'm a… really big fan." He added.
"Uh.. yeah sure," I replied, scratching my initials into the bullet with one of my knives.
"Wwwwoooowwww! You signed it with your knife! I gotta show C-53." He rambled, running off completely forgetting about him leading me to my team.
"Hey! Forgetting something?!" I called out, but he couldn't hear me.
I sighed and looked around for any other options.
"Ah, the Silver Bullet himself." A sly voice behind me mused.
"That's right," I replied, turning to face him.
"You're a little shorter than I imagined." He mused again, I guess that's his normal tone of voice.
"Am I supposed to be offended by that?" I asked.
"No, just observing aloud. I'm Knockout." He replied with his arm outstretched.
"And what does that have to do with me?" I asked, without taking his arm.
"Well, I'm your new team member! Or should I say, you're my new boss."
"Good, I've been looking for you. Where are the others?" I asked.
"Allow me to show you the way, sir." He quipped as he walked ahead of me.
"Are you going to be this annoying all the time?" I asked.
"That depends if I like you or not, so far everything's looking aces."
"For you or for me?"
"I'll let you figure that out for yourself." He quipped before he opened the door to an enclosed room.
"Knockout! Where've you been?" A somewhat large bot with a constructicon build exclaimed.
"Oh, just exploring, and look what I found!" He said, gesturing to me.
"Eyyyy Corruptor! Took you long enough!" Another bot of the same size walked forward. This one had a gun barrel for a hand and a yellow and purple colour scheme.
"I'm Impactor," He introduced.
"Trench." The constructicon added with his servo raised slightly.
"Good to meet you all." I replied, "Who is your commanding officer?"
"Uhhh… Are we supposed to say Megatron?" Trench asked.
"Do you not have a commanding officer?" I asked.
"Well we technically have Soundwave, but he's not really the talkative type," Impactor added.
"Are there any officials here I can talk to to receive my orders?" I asked.
"We are already preparing for battle in the next quadrant." Impactor replied.
"Well then what are we sitting around here for?"
"What does it look like? We're preparing." Trench quipped as he downed an Energon drink.
"Well, it doesn't look like it," I replied.
"Let's just say things are a little less strict around here than in the Seeker's base." Impactor replied.
"Well then let's just say I'm gonna be making a few changes around here," I replied sharply.
There was a moment of silence before I broke the tension.
"I'm going to the battle zone to see what we're dealing with. I expect you all there in 5 Astro-cycles." I replied, walking out of the room.
I flew to the camp where preparations for the battle were taking place. After I checked everything and figured out where my team and I would be positioned, I noticed two drones behind me talking just within my earshot.
"Y'know, I was in a battle with the Silver Bullet before." One of them bragged.
"Really? What was he like?"
"He was amazing of course! Tearing through the enemy like a literal bullet! No wonder they call him that."
Their conversation traveled through small talk until it reached a very interesting topic.
"Y'know, I got word from some other officials of what Megatron is gonna do with this land when we capture it."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. He's gonna build this thing called an Energon harvester and suck the life out of Autobots for extra power."
"Sounds cool. Those stupid Autobots deserve it."
What?
"Where did you hear this?" I asked, intruding on their conversation. They didn't know I was listening, let alone in the same area as them so you could imagine they were a bit shocked.
"C-c-corruptor!" The second exclaimed.
"Where did you hear this rumor?" I repeated.
"I uhhh… It's supposed to be confidential…"
"I am a Commander."
"Ok ok, an official told me. He said it's in the data files for this quadrant."
"Thank you," I replied, transforming and flying back to the hangar.
Megatron was rumored to be brutal, but I can't believe even he would do something this gruesome. I have to see this for myself.
I walked into the hangar and asked a drone for the closest database console. Once I found it I immediately searched up the data on the quadrant we were fighting over. It required a declaration of rank for passage followed by my bar code. I did so and it let me through.
The latest installment in the database read just as the drone said. The Energon Harvester was going to be built on that land as a power generator for any large machinery. It could conjure up enough Energon to power a starship. But it required Cybertronian sacrifices to be powered. I have not been focused on my surroundings, I am actually surrounded by less powerful duplicates of Megatron. Everyone who joins the Decepticons agrees with his ideals. From what I'm reading right now, I no longer trust anyone wearing the Decepticon insignia.
I returned back to the room I met my new team in later to see if they had followed my orders. They were all still hanging around, so I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation outside the doorway to see what I'm really dealing with on this side of the military.
"So what do you think of Corruptor?" Impactor asked the other two.
"He's alright I guess, looks hefty enough to live up to his reputation. I wanna see him fight before I establish any opinions." Trench replied before a loud slurp.
"I think he's delightful." Knockout added, "Maybe a bit on the moody side but I can work with that."
The conversation stayed around small talk so I decided to barge in.
"You don't like following orders, do you?" I exclaimed, bursting through the doorway making Knockout jump, but Trench didn't even flinch. He never even made eye contact, just stayed in his reclined position sipping on a drink of Energon.
"Get off your tailpipe and move!" I commanded.
Trench slowly sat straight and hefted his weight into a standing position, then slowly walked up to me.
"Yes… sir." He replied as he begrudgingly walked past me.
Knockout followed with a sarcastically playful salute on the way out.
Impactor also left the room without a word. I followed and we all walked out of the hangar.
Once we arrived at the camp, I took a mental census of our forces while my team helped move objects with the other soldiers.
"So, Corruptor, what made you join the Decepticons?" Impactor asked behind me as he was cleaning a rifle.
"That is a story for another day." I refuted without turning to him.
"Are you normally this… consistent with your first impressions?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hmm let's see, how do I put this? You're an absolute jackass."
"Well then let me put it to you this way," I replied, now facing him, "I'm sick and tired of you. All of you are lazy and have no discipline, and frankly, I just don't trust you."
"And why's that?" He asked, raising his voice enough for others around us to turn their heads in our direction.
I hesitated, not knowing how to reply without revealing that I didn't trust any Decepticons, especially their leader.
"We'll talk later, you're making a scene and we need to focus on the task at hand."
"Whatever." He grumbled, polishing his rifle.
…
We lined up just outside the camp, preparing for combat. I loaded my rifles into their holsters before cleaning them. I walked up to my position before I noticed a bot beside me. He was very annoying, constantly muttering to himself.
"Homicide… suicide… genocide… hehehe… I like genocide…"
"What's your problem?" I asked, assuming he was some sort of mental case.
"What's your solution?" he shot back with no hesitation, not even slightly surprised that I'd caught him talking to himself.
"What?" I asked involuntarily.
"What what?"
"You have issues."
"Do you have tissues?"
"Are you normally this random?"
"Are you normally this nosey?"
"I don't know why you're here, but I can't deal with you much longer. For my sanity's sake."
"Oh you have a voice called Sanity too!? I know he's just… so… blech…"
"Also, you will be dealing with me, already are in fact. So, which pieces do I use, which do I capture, and how many credits is each worth?" He asked.
"What the pit are you talking about!?" I exclaimed.
"Have you not played Chess before? Interesting… Perhaps I can teach you while you're bound to the chair."
"What chair?!" I exclaimed.
"The proverbial one, or maybe it was the literal one? Or was it figurative… I really don't remember. Sanity usually withholds all that information. I'm Insurgence by the way." (2)
"I don't think I need to tell you who I am," I replied.
"How right you are. The Silver Bullet. The great and mighty Rook that takes pieces quickly and swiftly."
"Should I even ask?"
"Well I think it's pretty self-explanatory, however, you are not the most powerful piece… no… hehehe… no you are not. Not all pieces are weighed the same… it all depends on the circumstances…" he finished with a leering grin.
"You're Insane…" I sighed, turning to face ahead of us.
"What was your first clue?" He asked before Onslaught got everyone's attention for his speech.
I was completely tuned out for the entire speech, all that was going through my head was what I was going to do next. Do I really want to continue to make a name for myself amongst the people who would literally suck the life out of others for extra power? Who am I really fighting for? Myself, or the enemy of which I sought to destroy?
…
We easily overpowered the Autobots in that battle and won possession over that land. Later that day, Trench Impactor and Knockout along with some other Decepticons were celebrating in the bar. Once I found them and approached their table, Trench immediately spoke up.
"Uh oh! Here comes the party pooper!"
"What are you doing here?" Impacter asked after.
"Celebrating our victory. You all fought well today." I replied.
"Wow! The 'grumpy bullet' is giving compliments!" Knockout mused.
"It's the truth, you reminded me a lot of my last team," I added.
"That Seeker team you fought with?" Trench clarified.
"Indeed, they are all on the elite squad now," I replied.
"Hey, that reminds me, you never answered my question earlier." Impactor started.
"Oh? And what question was that?"
"What made you join the Decepticons?"
"Ah… This story." I sighed.
"This'll be good." Trench mused.
"Fair enough." I began, "Before I joined the Decepticons I had a brother, his designation was K-753. We would call each other 'K' for short. He eventually began to develop opinions about the Autobot and Decepticon conflict before it spiraled into an all-out war. When it did, however, he joined the Decepticon forces under a new name, Persecutor. He was ambushed and killed in action shortly after by none other than the great Prime himself."
"Well that's kind of a stretch don't you think?" Impactor interrupted.
"Excuse me?" I asked, surprised by his 'no filter' demeanor.
"Well, think about it. Optimus Prime doesn't normally prioritize ambushing a small group of soldiers when he has to protect the land he's fighting for. Unless your brother was trying to take out a Prime single-handedly, Optimus would stay in the center of the battle. He might order an ambush but he wouldn't be the one doing it, that would be at the bottom of his to-do list." He suggested.
"Are you saying my brother's death was a lie?" I asked in an exhausted tone.
"No, it's just pretty unlikely."
There was a moment of silence before Knockout spoke up.
"Well in an effort to break this awkward silence, I can tell you all why I joined the Decepticons."
"Nobody cares, quick draw." Trench quipped before a slug of his drink.
"Well that was rude." Knockout mumbled.
I honestly had enough of Trench. I did not want to reprimand him now considering this was a special event, so I ignored him and tried to keep some kind of conversation going.
"So what do you think Megatron's gonna do with that land?" I asked.
"I don't know, maybe some sort of storage facility, maybe an outpost." Impactor replied.
"Why do you care?" Trench asked.
"Just curious, you never know what Megatron's up to these days," I replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Knockout asked.
I let my guard down. This team may not share my views of our faction, I may have just made a grave mistake. Now it's time to try and change the subject.
"Well he's always got some new plan we only hear about at the last minute, I just wonder what it is," I replied, though not delivered very effectively…
"Yeah, you've got a point. And I'll admit some of them are a little… extreme." Impacter replied, with the 'extreme' being more of a whisper.
Perhaps I was wrong?
"Heh, yeah that Shockwave scientist of his is such a madman, I'm almost certain he's behind all of it." Trench replied, sitting up so we could hear his whisper.
"Normally I wouldn't care, but I just got word of something big." Impactor replied.
"Oh?" I asked, leaning in.
"I wouldn't have said earlier because it's confidential to specific people of different ranks, but apparently, Megatron is planning to turn the land we just won into a giant Energon harvester. It literally sucks the life out of Cybertronians to store power when the big guy needs it."
"Should we be talking about him this way? We might get in trouble." Knockout replied, taking a look behind him.
"Are you saying you doubt Megatron's leadership?" I asked, this will determine if I can trust them.
"I mean… What he's doing is insane for lack of a better word." He replied.
"Oh that's the right word alright." Trench added.
"So you all agree that Megatron has officially lost it?" I asked again.
"...Yeah." Impactor replied hesitantly with Trench nodding.
"The fact that there is fear about even talking about him says something. Like most of us are just following him out of fear." Trench added.
"I just have one question." I started, "Why withhold this from me? Were you worried I would report you?"
"Well yeah, you're a commander, obviously you would have some degree of loyalty to him." Knockout replied.
"Well, rest assured I feel the same, and in fact, I came across the same information Impactor shared. I feel like I should do something about it before anyone gets hurt."
"Listen pal, we are at war, people are gonna get hurt no matter what we do. Besides, what are you gonna do about it anyway? You're just one bot against Megatron and anything at his command, including you." Trench asked.
"Fair point… I guess I'll just have to think about it." I admitted.
"I may have an idea, but I think I should share it when we have a bit more privacy." Impactor replied, looking around us.
"Lead the way," I replied.
…
Once we all entered our enclosed room, Knockout closed the door behind us.
Impactor then opened the holo table and began to lay out his thoughts.
"Ok, so Megatron is going to be in this location trading with the Mercenaries over here. The most defenses he would have is Soundwave at all times, maybe Shockwave, and maybe also a few drones, but keep in mind that Megatron himself is a weapon. We as a team stand no chance against Megatron even if he was on his own. I suggest if we want to prevent this harvester from happening, we do not attack Megatron at all. Instead, we share all the information on the harvester and Megatron's location with the Autobots, and then they will decide what to do with it."
"I don't know if I like helping the Autobots," I admitted.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Impactor replied, looking me in the eye.
"I signed up for this faction for a better Cybertron. If this maniac is gonna kill people in cold blood just for extra power I don't wanna part of it. I'm in." Trench replied.
"I'm in too, I love causing a little chaos from time to time." Knockout added.
I looked at all three for a moment before asking, "How do you suggest we execute this?"
"We have an abandoned outpost not far from here that I can hack to send a signal to the Autobots with all the needed information." Impactor replied.
"Will we be undetected?"
"I can make it that way." He replied with a smirk.
"Alright, it's your plan so you lead this party. Give me any orders you deem necessary." I replied.
"Ooh, you get to boss around the boss!" Knockout exclaimed.
"More of guiding, but sure," I replied reluctantly.
"When should we depart?" Knockout asked.
"When we aren't scheduled for anything, that way we have free roam, and we aren't expected to be anywhere. We don't want to raise unwanted suspicion."
"Ok… how bout now?" Trench asked.
Impactor checked the holo screen on his arm for a moment.
"Uhhh… yeah I guess so, you guys ready?" He asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I replied.
…
I flew high above the abandoned outpost, high enough to not be detected but low enough for me to see.
"I don't see anything, we're in the clear," I told the team through my tank form that remained with them.
They all transformed and sped quickly to the outpost. Impactor turned into a tank slightly smaller than mine, Knockout was a speed boosted patrol car, and Trench was a military-grade excavator.
I flew down to the outpost and transformed once I reached my tank.
"How we doing Impactor?" I asked.
"We are completely… invisible." He replied, typing vigorously into his holo screen.
"How do you know how to do all this stuff? You don't seem like a techy guy to me." Trench asked.
"I'm a lot smarter than I look. I took a couple lessons from Shockwave himself when he was overseeing my unit." Impactor replied.
"Shockwave? When would a scientist oversee training for soldiers?" I asked.
"What if I told you I wasn't always a soldier?" He replied.
"What? Were you a doctor?" Knockout mocked.
"Of sorts. I was a prodigy for technological sciences. I got bored of it after a while and dropped out."
"Hah, of course you did." Trench laughed.
"How long until this thing can send out a frequency?" I asked, halting the small talk.
"Uhhh… like five Astro-cycles?"
"Can you do it remotely?" I asked.
"I mean, yeah I guess but it might take a little longer if I don't have a perfect signal. Why do you ask?"
"Because we might have a problem," I replied, gesturing outside.
In the distance was a cluster of vehicles approaching our location from far away.
"Wha- how? We've been practically cloaked this entire time!" Impactor exclaimed.
"We gotta move guys." Trench replied, also seeing the vehicles.
"You go. I'll stay and make it seem like it was just me trying to send the message. Run and hide." I ordered.
"Yes sir." Knockout replied for the first time without sarcasm.
All of them dived toward the ground to the left and transformed only to drive away at full speed in the opposite direction of the enemy.
All I had to do now was wait. Just wait a little bit longer, and then I can finally get what I needed for so long. Megatron's destruction.
(1) "K" In this context is Persecutor and Corruptor's nicknames for each other. It refers to their designations "K-753" and "K-754".
(2) This is actually the first appearance of Jdog's newest OC. I asked his permission to premier him on my story for this scene, he may or may not be used later. To give you a brief bio, Insurgence is basically the Joker. "He's a genius chess obsessed psychopath, armed with a deadly claw infused with the powers of acid, plasma and cryogenics. Loyal to no side but his own. He is his own right hand man." -Jdog. To clarify, he is hired by both sides similar to a Mercenary. That's why he's fighting with the Decepticons in this scene.
Also, if you have any questions about the plot, the characters, or if you think you found a discrepancy, please feel free to PM me or leave a review. That way I can make this tory better for everyone. Thank you for reading!