Chapter 2: Scourge and His Huntsmen
The former Megatron, with his hands shackled behind his back, was pulled through the woods like a beast on a leash. A collar had been latched to his throat, connected by four energy cables each held by a separate sweep that stood at all sides of him, his new fusion cannon being removed and held by the red female named Shatter.
"Where are you taking me?" The former Megatron demanded, his optics locking onto the red female before him.
"Just be quiet," Shatter whispered to him, keeping her gaze fixed on her mustached master at the front of the pack, "you'll see soon enough.. so long as you behave."
The hunting pack kept moving forward through the woods, the electric cawing of biomechanical wildlife filling the air around them as they trudged onward. The collective maintained a steady pace until they reached a clearing with Dropkick in the center of it. The blue vitol based bot stood with his foot resting firmly over the maw of a bound Darksteel in beast form. His trio of sweeps kept their optics on the treeline around them, Dropkick smirking towards his master.
"Took you long enough Scourge," he snickered, eyeing the former Megatron over his master's shoulder, "that old bucket of bolts too much for ya to handle?"
"Hardly, Dropkick," Scourge coldly eyed the blue Vitol before shooting a harsh glare towards the captured Darksteel, "Though you have managed to score an impressive prize you managed for yourself there, haven't you?"
"Was nothin' but a thing really." Dropkick boasted with a chuckle and a flex of his arms as Scourge came over to kneel down infront of Darksteel, "Scrap, I didn't even need any atha Sweeps I got pinned to."
"So you claim," Scourge's glare narrowed upon Darksteel who in turn snarled back towards him. "Even so… I am thankful we did not waste too many resources in the capture of such a tiny thing." He muttered, scratching the side of Darksteels jaw.
Not wanting to be treated with such disrespect any longer, Darksteel snapped his maw open wide enough to break the muzzle around his jaws before lashing his fangs towards Scourge's hand. Shatter, Dropkick and the sweeps all aimed their guns at Darksteel the moment he first lunged forward. They were all ready to fire on Scourge's command who seemingly allowed the Predacon to sink his fangs deep into his one hand before grabbing his throat from the back with the other. With one swift motion, the hunter buried the beast's face into the dirt and rubbed it into the gravel for good measure.
"Drop it," Scourge ordered, a small whimper escaping from Darksteel as he loosened his hold on the hunter's hand, "Good…" he eyed Dropkick, "Muzzle him again, two bindings this time."
Dropkick nodded, looking over to a pair of sweeps that stood behind him, "You heard the boss."
The sweeps cocked their crossbows without one second of a delay and each fired a light cable at the bound beast. The first latched around the front of Darksteel's maw, the second hitting closer to his throat but still constricting around his mouth. Darksteel winced, whimpered and squirmed as he was re-muzzled, scorch marks burning themselves deep into the paneling that made up Darksteels' snout.
The former Megatron snarled as he took a step forward only for Shatter to extend her arm forward with a swift and deliberate motion. Glaring back at him, she shook her head at the male.
"Stay back," he told him firmly.
He was both struck and perplexed by her action. While her body and voice gave off an intimidating energy, her optics gave off another. Anyone other than the former Megatron might have read this gaze as one of heartbreak. This single moment was only that, a single moment. It was one that to Shatter was easily broken as she effortlessly seemed to regain her cold composure and refocus her attention to her master Scourge.
"Master, are you alright?" she asked, lowering her raised hand. "We haven't any idea where that pest has been, it may be carrying something. A virus perhaps, or even worse."
"You have more pressing matters to concern yourself with Shatter," Scourge informed her, looking Dropkick in the optics. "As does your brother."
Dropkick gulped, "I-I do.. sir?"
"There were two others like this one," Scourge changed reminded the vitol based hunter, pressing his foot down on top of Darksteels' maw. "They are to be captured, and you are not to return home until they are. Is that clear?"
"Ugh, and why?" Dropkick scoffed at him.
"We have a code for a reason, Dropkick," Scourge told him, his hand becoming a serated blade that pulsed with energy at the mere flick of his= wrist. "Or have you forgotten that simple truth?"
Dropkick gulped before letting out a huff, "Fine, I'll round them before dark!"
With a motion of his head, the three sweeps under his command took to their hovercraft modes and he his Vitol mode. The four bots moved quickly rose to the top of the treeline, taking off and quickly vanishing in search of their targets.
"Code?" The former Megatron asked with a whisper to himself, a small laugh escaping under his breath, "Now what is he on about?"
"Finish what you started," Shatter told him simply, pointing to an antenna at the side of her head clearly designed for picking up audio from far away, "no matter the cost."
The former Megatron simply glanced at her, choosing not to say a word more after such a display. From that point forward he felt it safer to simply watch as Darksteel was hoisted up by a set of four Sweeps and carried off down the path in front of them. Scourge then turned his gaze back to Shatter, motioning his head forward.
"Bring him," the hunter commanded as he followed after his pack, "we're heading home."
The hunting party and their prisoner continued their walk, stopping only once the sun began to set and they arrived to a sizable camp made out of the trees themselves. To the untrained eye it would appeared as a completely natural formation, but to the optics of the former Megatron it was more than clear that each tree had been intentionally hollowed out at the base to house a full grown cybertronian.
All this he had been expecting in one way or another, however what he did not predict was the number of small hatchlings that were running. Some were napping in a tree in the center of the village, being watched by a pale green and white bot of indeterminate gender and a slender build. Many others meanwhile were climbing all over a few off duty sweeps, the sweeps themselves not seeming to mind save for the group that were carrying Darksteel.
"Master Scourge! Master Scourge!" Cried a hatchling, tugging at the hunter's leg while pointing at the beast, "What's that?! What's that?!"
"Nothing to worry about," Scourge told him simply as he ensured that Darksteel was firmly tied to the ground, the beast snarling at him, "just don't get too close to it."
"Oh!...OH!" Nodding the hatchling as he gawked at Darksteel, "Can we eat it!? Can we eat it!?"
"No little one, this is not for eating," Scourge cooed to the Hatchling as he gave him a gentle pat on the head, "Now I do believe it is time for you nap, so run along over to Ursa okay?"
The hatchling nodded the bowed, "Yes master Scourge! Yes master Scourge!" they sang out joyfully before running off to the hollowed tree in the center of the village, the pale green and white bot of indeterminate gender scooping them up with their arms and putting them into a bed.
"Why are there hatchlings here?" The former Megatron questioned. "And so small at that."
"That information is none of your concern," Shatter told him, keeping her optics fixed upon a tree hut with a large x carved into the trunk of it. She closed her optics, balling her hands into fists as she walked up to Scourge, "Master, what shall we do with the prisoner?"
"Lock him up," Scourge told her simply as he got back on his feet, "the old cages in the armory should do for now.. until we de-Dropkick the actual prison."
Shatter looked to the sweeps that held the former Megatron, motioning to a tree hut far to the left hand corner of the village. "You heard him, lock him up." She ordered them before making her way over to the x marked hut.
The former Megatron glared at her, "What happened to finishing what you started?"
Shatter stopped dead in her tracks. "Someone else is in need of my attention," she told him, keeping her back to him to refrain from looking him in the optics. "Soldiers... take him away."
"Get moving already!" Barked one of the sweeps, shoving the male bot was along the dirt path to a tree hut with what appeared to be large metal tarps covering the entrance.
The loud and crisp bang of a blunt metal object onto molten steel rang out from the tarps, the change in air pressure forcing the tarps to part and allowing unworldly levels of heat and the glow of well kept furnace to billow outward. The former Megatron retracted his feet and stepped backwards after he so much as felt the heat that was being cast off from within.
"Geez, is she in a mood today or what?" Chuckled one of the sweeps, "she's been hammering away like that all morning."
"COME IN ALREADY!" Roared a voice from inside the hut, followed up by hammer strike loud enough to shatter the audio receptors of anyone nearby, "I HATE WORKING WITH SOMEONE OVER MY SHOULDER!"
The sweeps froze for a moment, shoving the former Megatron along once again after a moment to gather their courage. "You heard her, get in there." They pushed him in, only two of the four sweeps having the circuits to follow him in.
Inside was a darkened room, with empty cages lining one wall and racks housing armor and weapons of all kinds adorning the other. In the center of the room stood a tall muscular bot of a gunmetal grey colors scheme, with deep orange highlights being visible just under her monochrome armor. Her make gave off the impression that she was a living forge as she hammered away at the actual forge infront of her, the forge and herself being the primary source of light and heat in the room.
The forgery bot shot a glare up to the sweeps and the former Megatron, "Prisoner huh?" She uttered with a huff before swiftly looking back down to her work, pointing only a shoulder to the line of cages, "Put him in a box, then get out of here."
The sweeps nodded, grabbing the former Megatron by his arms and cramming him into the biggest cage they had. Once he was inside, the sweeps bolted it shut with a heavy padlock they before looking over to the forgery bot.
"So Cinderhammer…" the one sweep spoke, "is there, anything you need?"
"No," the forgery bot told them simply, continuing to hammer away. "Now leave."
The sweeps exchanged glances before shrugging towards one another and making their way out. Before they left however, the forgery bot's loud hammering stopped very suddenly.
"Wait!" She called to them as she pointed a finger to the left most sweep, lowering it to the crossbow on his hip, "let me see that."
The sweep unhooked the crossbow and stared at it, looking to his fellow sweep with a raised brow who gave back to him an equally confused shrug.
"Why?" The sweep asked as he came over with the weapon, holding it out to her.
Cinderhammer, without answering, swiped the weapon away and began to study it. After a moment or two she let out a heartbroken gasp. "My poor baby, you're all banged up!" she held the weapon close to comfort it, "What did has this brute done to you?"
"I uh… clubbed a beast in the head with it earlier?" the sweep uttered, shaking as Cinderhammer glared at him.
She gave him a hard smack on the head then latched the crossbow onto a nearby weapon rack. "If you're gonna treat my child like that, than you simply do not deserve to hold it!" She grabbed a simple metal club then handed it over to him.
"W-What am I supposed to do with this?!" The sweep exclaimed, Cinderhammer simply going back to her work.
"Club something with it," she told him sternly, continuing her hammering. "Now go, before I club you in the head."
The club burdened sweep grumbled as he latched his new weapon onto his hip, the other sweep chuckling at him as they left the room. The former Megatron, now alone with Cinderhammer and without much to do, simply sat there in his cage and watched the forgery bot go about her work. While watching her he could not help but feel he knew her from somewhere, but despite his best efforts he could not remember exactly.
After what felt like hours of work, the forgery bot lifted the large piece of metal she had been hammering away and held it up in the air to inspect it. It was still burning bright orange so she dipped in a bath of cool fluid, allowing the color to die down until what was now clearly a blade turned as black as obsidian. As she raised the metal once more, the former Megatron was able to see that it was a claymore style sword and a large one at that. Standing about twice the length of Cinderhammer herself, the blade itself was of a standard design, with what appeared to be dragon wings adorning the guard.
"Hmm…" she gawked at the sword, motioning the arm she held it in up and down before letting out a heavy sigh of defeat, "still too heavy." She muttered as she placed the sword on one of the weapon racks in front of her. "Work for tomorrow I suppose," she stretched her limbs out, a click and a crack being heard now and again. "By the way, I can let you out if you want me too."
The former Megatron raised a brow at her, "Aren't I a prisoner?"
"Aren't you a living creature?" She continued to stretch, "those boxes are cramped, you can't possibly be comfortable in there. Besides, the sight of a caged animal is one I find depressing, even it does plot to kill me."
His brow raised higher, "You believe I am planning to kill you?"
She looked to him, raising him a brow of her own, "Are you?"
The former Megatron just gawked at her, letting out a huff before turning his gaze away from her, "Just.. let me out already if you are going to."
She smirked at him, "Guess I'll take that as a no then," she pulled a key from her hip, twirling it around on her figure as she strutted over to him and unlocked the cage.
The former Megatron got up, only to stumble upon the first step he took. He fell forward, but fortunately for him she was there to catch him.
"Whao, easy there." Cinderhammer chuckled as she sat him down on a chair in the light, her optics shooting open once she got a better look at him. She gasped.
The former Megatron turned his gaze to her with a somehow saddened smirk, "So now you recognize me?" He boasted, "What will you do? Cage me once again?"
Despites all his prouding, Cinderhammer did not answer to a word of it. She was not shocked, but rather intrigued. Not by him, but by his armor. She ran her optics all over it, grasping at his shoulder armor and flexing it open and closed.
Her optics narrowed as she looked the former Megatron in his own, "You were once a gladiator in the pits of Kaon... weren't you?" she spoke finally. "Tell me, what did they call you back then?"
He dodged her gaze, "Megatronus was what I called myself, " he told her with a sigh.
"So it is you," Cinderhammer dropped the piece of his armor she held, "and not only did you destroy my planet, but now you have gone and defaced my work as well? That's certainly low, even for you Lord Megatron."
"Neither of those crimes were of my choosing." He shot a glare to her along with a snarl, "and as for that name, I have since relinquished it." Cinderhammer simply stared at him.
"Fine, have it your way," she uttered after a moment of silence as she walked over to a desk in the corner of the room, "it makes no difference to me." She pulled out a crate of energon vials, taking a pair of them and holding one out to him, "Company is company, that's all there is to it. Though if I had something to call you, that would certainly make things easier."
"Wouldn't locking me up again do the same?" The former Megatron looked at the vial of Energon, taking it as he met her gaze. "If your patrols come by, they'll most certainly turn a few heads not seeing me behind bars."
"I'll shove you back in your box before they come in," Cinderhammer told him simply, pulling up a chair from the other side of the room before sitting down beside, "Now are there anymore silly questions that you would like to ask?"
"A few," the former Megatron connected the energon vial to his arm.
"Well then how about this," Cinderhammer cracked her vial right open, drinking it via her mouth. "You ask one of yours, than I'll ask one of mine. You start."
The former Megatron took a long pause, looking around the forgery that was doubling as a prison. Among the rusted cages were huge piles of scrap metal, making it clear to him that the hunting party he now found himself in the clutches of had been there for a while.
With this in mind, he came up with his first question, "Where am I?"
"Thirteen hundred and seventy-five thousand light years away from Cybertron," Cinderhammer told him, "As for this planet, we aren't sure of its name. For now we simply call it home."
"Home?" he gawked at her, "that's just bad comedy."
"Well, that's your opinion to have. Now it's my turn," she sipped her energron as she looked to him. "Do you still have them? The weapons I gave you before you left the arena that day?"
The former Megatron looked to his wrist, popping out his sword before holding it out to him, "The blade remains in my possession. The fusion cannon however... did not survive the crash."
"Pity," Cinderhammer sighed heavily, running her hand over the edge of the former Megatron's blade with misty optics. "Oh well, what's done is done I suppose."
"It served its purpose until the end, you should be proud of your work from back then," the former Megatron told her as he eyed the sword hung on the wall. "Speaking of, what are you working on now?"
"A pet project of mine. Still far too heavy for my liking though, and in need of a name," she told him, "I had something humble in mind. Godslayer, or something along those lines." She smirked, looking up to him, "Beg me all you'd like Lord Megatron, I am not giving it to you."
"As I told you before, do not call me that name," he growled, turning his head away from her, "and not project such avorousion upon me, forgery drone."
"Oh my, such strong words coming from you." She almost giggled, taking yet another sip of energon and letting out a delighted gasp afterwards. "Alright sir Buckethead, you have officially saved my mood on this day. So tell you what, I shall give you a second question free of charge."
The former Megatron huff, hunching himself over more as he gave it a bit of thought, "I only have one question more… if I am to be honest with you."
"Alright," she nodded, raising a curious brow, "and what would it be?"
"The one who calls herself Shatter… " he spoke simply, "she mentioned she had someone to attend to before I sent to this makeshift forge." he turned his head to meet Cinderhammer's gaze, "Who did she mean by that?"
"Really… that's what you want to know?" She raised a brow to him. The former Megatron simply nodded. "Alright, then you better get comfy Buckethead… it is a bit of a long story."
Next - Chapter 3: Shatter's Wildfire