Disclaimer: Still don't own Transformers, Hasbro et al still does. Night-stalker, Dive-bomber, Darkfire and Stormchaser however are mine and I'm very protective of them.

Any questions, queries or general comments please feel free to e-mail me.

Would also like to thank Kristina for reading an unfinished version of this chapter.

Now on with the show!

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            Ravage surveyed the room. The few remaining Maximal elders cowered to one side. The young Maximal he had met in Earth's past. His eyes fell on Night-stalker.

"I believe these are yours," he said, tossing the heads of the fallen Predacons onto the table in front of him.

Cheetor watched, as Night-stalker looked at the heads and to his surprise a wry smile appeared behind his semi-transparent faceplate and his purple optics glowed briefly.

"My information may be out of date" he looked up and smiled at Ravage, his voice remaining deadpan. "But aren't you dead?"

"Almost. Look good don't I, especially compared to your companions" Ravage motioned towards the two severed heads on the table.

"Yes, well accidents will happen"

"Yes, you always did seem to have a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time didn't you" Cheetor leaned forward behind Night-stalker.

"You know him?" he asked, the surprise clearly showing in his voice. Night-stalker turned.

"Know him?" he looked back at Ravage. "You could say that"

"Oh come now. He always was a little shy" Ravage looked down at Night-stalker and noticed that his smile had changed to a scowl. He merely smiled back. "He knows much more than just know me. He was to be my protégé. So who did you upset to get this assignment? I taught you to be much more than a measly politician"

"Well what can I say?" Night-stalker again smiled at Ravage. "Bad teaching?"

"Well that's one problem I can now deal with. Sadly for you I know that you could become a problem. Goodbye Night-stalker" Ravage raised his weapon and pointed it at Night-stalkers chest.

            Buzzsaw sat on a ledge high up on Iacon's dome. He was looking out over the local area. There wasn't all that much happening really considering they had just had a large number of the population massacred. There were just a few Maximals who seemed to be wandering aimlessly around doing nothing special. One or two hurrying in and out of Iacon delivering messages of some kind he supposed. And a small group of Predacons entering the passageway to the underground Council Chamber. Buzzsaw quickly sized up the situation and activated his communicator to warn Ravage.

            What a way for it all to end, thought Night-stalker. All his scheming and planning to be killed by one of the only transformers that he had ever trusted. The one who had taught him his profession, one until this moment he thought was dead. Poetic justice really, killed by a corpse. Before Ravage fired however his communicator bleeped and a very concerned sounding voice came out of the speaker.

"Ravage, this is Buzzsaw answer" Ravage stepped back to answer his comm. Sadly for him his communicator was on the arm that he was using to hold his weapon.

"Ravage, go ahead"

"You've got company headed your way, approximately four Predacons. There's another three on guard out here. I'll deal with them, but watch your back" As Ravage deactivated his comm. He was sent reeling backwards by a stiff kick to his chest. As he looked up he saw Night-stalker leap out of his seat and dive into the shadows. Ravage recovered quickly and fired in the direction that Night-stalker had disappeared in. Slag he thought.

            Buzzsaw leaped from his perch and checking he wasn't being watched dove at the three Predacons. To late one of them looked up in time to be incinerated by a blast from Buzzsaws twin mortar cannons, his companions being blasted backwards crashing heavily to the ground. Buzzsaw landed on top of one and kicked his weapon out of reach. He then grabbed the other within his beak and punctured its chassis. It cried out in pain and shock before collapsing, energon flowing from its wounds. Buzzsaw then bit into the one struggling under his claws and began pulling cables from its chest like a vulture tearing apart carrion. After he had confirmed the kill he moved towards the plinth. He looked around to be sure no one was watching and using his beak typed in the code to open the passage. The doorway silently slid open. Buzzsaw looked down the passage, the heat signatures of the Predacons still registered. Good, he thought. Tucking his wings in as close to his body as he could he carefully walked into the passage and began following the Predacons. Behind him the hatch slid silently closed.

            Ravage was looking into the shadows, his vision changed to infrared. He had to keep an eye on the Maximals, find Night-stalker and be careful, as there was a small group of Predacon troops headed his way. All in all a pretty normal day. A familiar voice rung out from the shadows, though Ravage was unable to tell from which direction it came.

"I can see you, can you see me?" asked Night-stalker, his enjoyment clearly audible.

"Show yourself and fight like the warrior you pertain to be" answered Ravage.

"But I don't pertain to be anything" replied Night-stalker, then with a slightly mocking tone. "Except maybe a measly politician"

Ravage scowled then trained his weapon on the Maximal Elders.

"Show yourself or I blow them to pieces" he knew that this was a desperate move but needed to at least try something to find Night-stalker.

"Would you? Please do. It would make my job so much easier"

Suddenly there was a massive explosion from the direction of the emergency escape tunnel, followed by the sound of rapid laser fire. As Ravage looked towards the sound he noticed a slight ripple in the shadows. Without thinking he fired. He heard a muffled shout and what sounded like metal hitting the ground. He knew that he had missed his target but that it had now fallen. He brought his weapon to bear directly onto where he thought his target was but before he could fire he was knocked to the ground from behind. Looking up he saw the young Maximal he recognised from Earth in Beast mode pinning him to the ground.

"What the slag's wrong with you" Cheetor shouted at the shocked looking Elders. "Don't you recognise an escape attempt when you see one?" With that they all leapt to their feet and began running towards the main entrance corridor. Cheetor was about to jump off Ravage and run in the same direction when a massive explosion ripped through one side of the room and blew Cheetor backwards. He fell heavily to the ground and as he looked up he saw a large gold and black coloured metallic condor step into the room. Cheetor dove towards the entrance corridor as he saw the door start to slide shut. He passed two elders but another explosion knocked them to the ground. He fell through the door just before it closed and watched on in horror as it trapped the two elders in the room with the two Decepticons. As Cheetor looked towards the control panel he saw a rippling effect and moments later a recognisable shape appeared. Night-stalker turned and marched towards the lift.

"If any of you want to leave here before those two break through those doors I'd follow me now" he said over his shoulder as he stepped into the lift.

            Buzzsaw looked down at Ravage.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine" Ravage answered. He got up and looked over at the closed doors and then at the two fallen Maximals. "Are they still functioning?" he asked. Buzzsaw looked at them.

"They'll survive, for now"

"Good. How do feel about a little interrogation" Buzzsaw just smiled and moved menacingly towards the fallen Maximals.

            For a long while no one in the lift spoke. It was very cramped with the seven remaining elders Night-stalker and Cheetor all squeezed into the confined space. Cheetor turned towards Night-stalker, a scowl clearly visible on his face.

"You left them in there to die" Cheetor finally said to Night-stalker, the sorrow unmistakeable in his voice. Night-stalker didn't even flinch but merely continued staring forward as if in a trance. "Couldn't we have done anything?" he asked looking around. The elders merely stood still heads hanging towards the ground. Cheetor knew the answer to his question was a no but couldn't help but voice his feelings of loss. In less than a few megacycles nearly the entire Maximal Elders council had been wiped out, not to mention the hundreds of other Maximals and Predacons who had been killed in the first assault by the Decepticons. Silence again fell on the occupants of the lift until Night-stalker, without turning to look at the elders asked,

"So, will you give control of the Maximal forces to Predacon Generals?"

"But your two best Generals, and probably the only two that we would trust, have been killed. We all saw their heads" came the reply from one of the Elders. There was a murmur of agreement from the other Elders.

"In which case you will be happy to learn that the two heads that you saw on the table were not those of Obsidian or Strika rather they were merely two unlucky individuals that had been chosen to play their parts, we couldn't risk anything happening to the real Obsidian or Strika now could we"

"So you expected an attack?" asked Cheetor, his calm tone belying his feelings. Though spending so much time with Night-stalker recently, and knowing he would do almost anything to get his way, but to risk a possible attack from the Decepticons just to get what he wanted seemed even to reckless for Night-stalker.

"I expected that something could go wrong, but not what happened" Cheetor noticed that those last few words began to sound quite wistful as if Night-stalker was still in deep thought about what had happened in the chamber.

            Night-stalker was in fact very concerned. Ravage and what looked to be either Laserbeak or Buzzsaw had been able to get into the Council Chamber, without Dive-bomber alerting him. Surely not even he was so foolish as to miss them. Also, though it had been his idea for Obsidian and Strika to be replaced by doubles in case something should happen, he had not been prepared to come face to face with Ravage. Ravage, now that was a name he wasn't expecting to hear very often again. He knew the identities of nearly all of the Decepticons who were on the planet but why wasn't he informed that Ravage was here? And, more worryingly for himself, he had the chance to kill him as he stood before him but instead merely made his own escape. Could he kill him? That thought concerned him more than he would ever let anybody know. Why did he waver? He also still had the problem that the Elders were still being stubborn even though they must know that using Obsidian and Strika would be the best choice for leading a joint Predacon Maximal force. They have no direct loyalty to either side just to Cybertron itself. Of course they would be given assistance by Predacon generals but then that to should be obvious. Predacons in their nature were better soldiers than Maximals, despite Maximal efforts to stop any form of Predacon military build-up. They would be quite surprised with what they were going to see.

"Very well" Night-stalker was jogged out of his thoughts by one of the Elders. He turned to see which one of them was speaking to him. Before him he saw Stormchaser, the Elder who had been the most vehement opponent to Night-stalker, tall almost muscular in appearance his bright red and silver chassis starting to show the rigour of age but his mind was still extremely sharp. "We agree that Obsidian and Strika be given primary control over our forces"

"Primary control?"

"Yes. We want there to be at least two Maximal Commanders present during the planning and assault stages" Night-stalker looked to be considering the Elders deal but really had expected nothing less.

"Agreed, as long as there are the same number of Predacon Commanders involved" Stormchaser was about to argue until someone behind him said,

"Agreed" Looking deflated Stormchaser's shoulders slumped and he nodded in acquiescence.

"Excellent. As soon as we get out of this lift we shall prepare"

            "I think this ones starting to wake up" Buzzsaw said nudging one of the Maximals slumped in the corner of the room.

"All the worse for him" replied Ravage. "How's the other one?" Buzzsaw kicked the other Elder square in the chest, a slight moan emanating from its vocaliser.

"Should be conscious soon"

"Good, it'll be much easier to move them if they can walk themselves rather than attempting to carry them"

"Why move them at all, surely we could gain any information we want from them easily in here, kill them and be gone before any enemy forces could get here in large enough numbers to harm us"

"Perhaps, but if for any reason they are able to get here quickly then we're sitting cyber-ducks" Ravage moved towards the slowly recovering Elder and hoisted him to his feet. "Pick that one up," he said turning to Buzzsaw. As commanded Buzzsaw grabbed the Elder in his beak and started to move towards the emergency passageway.

"Won't they be expecting us to come out this way" asked Buzzsaw, his voice muffled due to the Elder in his beak.

"Perhaps, but then would you prefer to leave via the direct route through Iacon?" Buzzsaw grinned considering the damage he could do released inside Iacon, but eventually agreed with Ravage. He again folded his wings and led the stumbling Elder, and Ravage bringing up the rear, through the passage.

            Their progress was extremely slow. If Shockwave didn't know better he would think that this organic substance was actually attempting to block their path on purpose. Ahead of him he could see Blitzwing and Motormaster slicing their way through the organic strands. As they tried to delve deeper into the passage, and thusly through the depths of Cybertron, the organic growth appeared to be getting thicker and their progress getting slower. Behind him he could still hear Galvatron spitting curses vehemently at him and the other Decepticons. Soon he would be restored, or destroyed, whichever became the most logical choice when they reached their destination. Shockwave was beginning to feel uncomfortable though. Though they were now quite deep within Cybertron, and they had left the Combaticons on guard at the tunnel entrance, they were losing space around them with the amount of growth that this organic life took up down here. If they were to be attacked by the Predacons or Maximals there would be very little room for them to manoeuvre in, not that he was entirely worried about the strength of an individual Maximal or Predacon, however if there were enough of them the Decepticons greater size and mass would limit their manoeuvrability and could place them at a distinct tactical disadvantage. He turned to Scrapper.

"You and the other Constructicons remain here to make sure that we are not being followed. We will inform you when we reach our destination"

"As you command Shockwave," replied Scrapper as he and the other Constructicons fell to the back of the group. Shockwave turned to continue but still felt as if there was someone or something watching him, even though he knew that it was illogical.

            Dive-bomber sat in the command chair, his mind wrapped in internal turmoil. On the one hand he had performed his duty to the Predacon Council flawlessly, allowing the Decepticons clear and easy access to the Maximal Council chamber via the passageway. On the other, however, he was wrapped in guilt for not warning Night-stalker that they were coming. He had attempted to warn him of the danger by sending down a small recon team after Ravage had already gone down. He had hoped that they would reach Night-stalker quickly enough so that he would be able to escape the probable torture and execution that would have occurred down there. Sadly he had forgotten about the second Decepticon and they had lost contact with the whole group shortly afterwards. There were two possibilities running through his mind. One, the Decepticons had killed all the Council members and Night-stalker and would soon return to the surface victorious, at which point he was to let them leave and report back to the Predacon Council. Two, Night-stalker had somehow survived, probably by using the experimental personal cloak that he and Dive-bomber (and a few other Predacons) had been fitted with. Either way Dive-bomber knew he was going to have problems. If Night-stalker were dead then he would probably lose the respect and control of the troops on this ship. They had all been handpicked by Night-stalker and were extremely loyal, some fanatically so, so would not react well to the knowledge of his destruction. If he survived he would be less than impressed with Dive-bomber for not warning him of the impending danger, and to the fact that Ravage was even down here. Dive-bomber himself was extremely loyal to Night-stalker; hence his position in the ships pecking order, but had felt unable to disobey a direct order from the Predacon Council even though it set him directly at odds with his own morality circuits. What ever happened he knew he was in trouble.

"Sir" Dive-bomber looked blankly in the direction of the voice, attempting to regain his composure.

"What" he snapped.

"We have detected the two Decepticon signatures leaving through the emergency escape tunnel. It seems that they have two Maximals with them. What are your orders?"

"Show me," he barked, attempting to put some strength into his voice, but merely sounding as lost as he was feeling. He looked towards the viewer as the image zoomed in onto where Buzzsaw and Ravage had left the tunnel and were attempting to keep control of the now fully conscious Maximal Elders.

"If we act now we can stop their escape" Dive-bomber paused, again considering the orders that he had been given from the Predacon Council.

"Let them go" he ordered.

"Sir?"

"You heard my orders! Let them go"

"Yes Sir" came the reply. So it starts, thought Dive-bomber. They weren't even trying to hide from their voices that they disagreed with him. On the viewer he watched as Ravage climbed onto the back of the larger, bird-like Decepticon as it grabbed the two Maximal Elders roughly in its claws and flew off into the distance. "Sir"

"What" he snapped, this 'tech was beginning to annoy him.

"The Commander has ordered us to collect him and some Maximal dignitaries from Iacon, should I inform him about the Decepticons leaving the area?"

"NO" cried Dive-bomber, he really didn't need any more complications.

"As you command" replied the 'tech. Dive-bomber knew full well that he would. He was already dreading having to explain his actions to Night-stalker, and the 'tech would no doubt leave nothing out of his report in order to ingratiate himself with his commander. Slag it.

            The lift door opened and Night-stalker marched into the Command Centre. Dive-bomber looked over at him. He could clearly see by looking into the optics of his friend that he was very unhappy, though anyone who didn't know him wouldn't even notice a change in his general demeanour.

"Would someone please escort the Maximal Elders and Cheetor to some quarters in order to allow them to 'freshen up'" he commanded. Dive-bomber began moving towards the lift. "Not you" Night-stalker snapped, his purple optics boring through Dive-bomber. He turned towards one of the other Predacons at a console. "You" he ordered. He then turned to the Elders, who had remained in the lift and said graciously "If you would leave the names of the Maximal Commanders that you would like to assist with the assault with the orderly then they will be collected" He then turned to another Predacon "Set course for station Omega" The Predacon inputted the commands into the console and the ship could be felt to move. The lift doors closed as the orderly entered it. Immediately Night-stalker turned on Dive-bomber. "My office NOW" and he turned towards a door at the back of the Command Centre. Dive-bomber mentally gulped and followed his commander through the doors and into the office.

            The door slid quietly closed behind Dive-bomber. Before him he saw Night-stalker leaning back in a chair behind a small quarter circle shaped desk. He could see Night-stalker studying him, his eyes seemingly penetrating his very spark. And that smile, he dreaded seeing that smile. He remembered the last time he had seen that smile, the two of them lying in wait for the Maximal security agent who had gained too much information on the Predacon military build-up and the Predacon traitor who had been his informant inside the Predacon military. They had both underestimated how good the Predacon Intelligence Agency was. Night-stalker had that same smile when he had punctured the Maximals spark and, somehow considering the damage that was done, made it look like an accident, and as for the traitor. Dive-bomber shuddered when he thought about what had happened to him. That was only about a Decacycle ago. Now he was being scrutinised by those same cold eyes and most likely being judged a traitor. Again Dive-bomber shuddered. He looked at Night-stalker and as he did so he saw his optics look directly into his own.

"I'm feeling betrayed Dive-bomber" began Night-stalker. "Yes, betrayed and hurt. You wouldn't want to hurt me now would you Dive-bomber?" Night-stalker looked questioningly at Dive-bomber his head tilted to one side. Night-stalker continued, his voice still soft, and yet also seemingly so cold. "You wouldn't do anything that might hurt me or disappoint me would you Dive-bomber? You wouldn't knowingly allow a few Decepticons to have complete access to the Maximal Elders Council with the knowledge that you had comrades down there, would you Dive-bomber? And you certainly wouldn't allow those same Decepticons to escape from right below you without even attempting to stop them would you? No you wouldn't do such a foolish thing. You who has been my most trusted aid, and friend for all these many Stellarcycles. No you wouldn't do such a thing, would you?" By this time Night-stalker had got up from his seat, walked around his desk and was stood with his arm around Dive-bombers shoulders.

"I had orders" Dive-bomber began, his voice uncharacteristically shaky.

"Orders from whom?" asked Night-stalker quizzically, his voice soft and quiet near Dive-bombers audios.

"My orders came from the Predacon Council"

"You see this isn't so difficult after all. Now, tell me exactly what those orders were and who gave you them" Dive-bomber stumbled through his answer. He wanted to tell Night-stalker everything. He wanted to show that he was no traitor, that he could still be trusted. That he was still his friend.

"My orders were that if any Decepticons were to make an appearance I was not to hinder them in any form, whether they were headed into or out of the area. If they attempted to enter Iacon or the escape corridor I was to allow them complete access without hindrance. Any and all Predacon or Maximal lives were an irrelevance. I was to maintain complete radio silence with you or any other Predacon troops in the area. The hope was that the Decepticons would destroy the Maximal Elders and allow the Predacon Council an easy position to take control of Maximal troops and place them in a position to take control of the planet after the Decepticon problem had been dealt with. What was I to do? It was a direct order from the Council" Night-stalker smiled,

"And I also know that you broke those orders and sent down a few troops into the escape hatch, slightly foolish but it did save my life" Night-stalkers smile had changed to being much friendlier. Dive-bomber wasn't sure whether he should be happy or even more scared than before. "But you haven't yet told me who in the Council gave you those orders. Please, enlighten me"

"Honestly, I don't know who gave me the orders" again Dive-bomber was beginning to become more frightened; he knew this wasn't the answer that Night-stalker wanted. "The orders were encoded through the communications system and passed through to me" Again Night-stalker grinned, almost laughed.

"I know. I've been informed of everything that's happened since I went into Iacon. However there is one pressing piece of business" his smile faded abruptly and his face became dark. He moved towards a communications panel on the wall and punched it. "Would Darkfire please report to my office immediately" Again that evil smile appeared beneath Night-stalkers faceplate and his purple optics momentarily glowed. The office door opened and Darkfire stepped into the room. Dive-bomber hated him. He knew he had been after his position as second under Night-stalker since he came on board. He was as tall as Night-stalker, but much more slender than both Night-stalker and Dive-bomber. His chassis colour of black and white suited his personality well, thought Dive-bomber. Night-stalker moved towards him, smiling as he did so. He ushered Darkfire through the entrance, the doors sliding shut behind him. Night-stalker turned towards Dive-bomber and placed his arm again over his shoulders.

"You see" he began. "It was Darkfire here who informed me of exactly what happened up here" he outstretched his arm and placed the back of his hand against Darkfires chest. "It was he who told me that you had received a secret communiqué from the Predacon Council. It was also him who reported that you had been told to leave me down there and that you were going to obey those orders to the letter" Dive-bomber noticed Night-stalkers fist clench and less than a nano-klic later heard a quiet whoosh sound and Darkfires entire body tensed, his face wrapped in pain. "But what he accidentally let slip was that it was he who had been receiving and relying secret messages to the Predacon Council every time I communicated a report. You see my dear Dive-bomber we've both been sent on a little ride by the Council in order to try and get rid of us both, and the Maximal Council. You are not the traitor dear friend, merely a fool. This piece of flotsam is the traitor" Dive-bomber looked at Darkfire as Night-stalker slowly withdrew his arm from Darkfires chest. From Night-stalkers wrist protruded a large serrated metal spike about 12inches long that was retracting into his arm. Dive-bomber stared at Darkfires chest. Inside he could see his spark, a hole cut clean through it. Darkfire collapsed onto his knees looking up at Night-stalker. Night-stalker placed the back of hand against the side of Darkfires head. Leaning close to his audios Night-stalker whispered, "tell me who's been giving you orders and I might let you die quickly" Darkfire smiled, his face still struggling against the pain as his systems slowly shutdown.

"I don't know, but the Council know about your and the Intelligence Agencies attempts to usurp power from the Predacon authorities"

"You don't understand, we ARE the Predacon authorities," replied Night-stalker. Again the whoosh sound and Dive-bomber watched as the spike again shot out of Night-stalkers arm, slicing clean through Darkfires head. His eyes brightened briefly and after a few sparks dimmed. Night-stalker retracted the spike and began walking towards the exit as Darkfires body collapsed on the floor. He stopped in front of the door before it opened and said casually over his shoulder "I've got a report to send, as no doubt you do to" He stepped forward and the door slid open. Before leaving, as if just as an after thought he turned to Dive-bomber and said "get someone to clean that up would you" He walked off before Dive-bomber could answer leaving him in the room alone with Darkfires body, the message was clear.