Disclaimer: The Transformers and all characters mentioned herein are not mine. Although I would think that would be obvious.

A Loss of Balance

"Where's Demolisher? Anybody seen him?" asked Snowcat.

The battered Decepticons maneuvered into Unicron's shell. What should have been an easy battle had not gone nearly as planned. They had taken heavy damage from the Autobots' energy grid and had come back missing one of their number.

"He's gone, Snowcat," said Starscream, attempting to sound sympathetic.

"You mean he's still coming through the space bridge. He'll be here soon, right?" asked Snowcat hopefully, almost desperately. He looked around, as if expecting the tank to appear at any second.

"Demolisher's dead, you imbecile. No longer functioning," snapped Megatron, annoyed at his subordinate's infantile behavior.

Snowcat whirled abruptly and shrieked, "Don't you think I don't know that? Don't you think I didn't hear him screaming as he was torn to pieces, as the very metal was ripped from his body?" His tone of voice had done a complete reversal, changing from optimistic to furious.

"And it's all your fault!" Snowcat's optics could not be seen behind his mask, but they were burning with rage. Megatron, startled at his subordinate's sudden outburst, drew back slightly.

"Watch your tone, soldier. I do not tolerate insolence in my ranks." He aimed one of his guns at the rebellious Decepticon. Normally, a threat like this would have been more than enough to send Snowcat into nervous, apologetic giggles. However, Snowcat was acting anything but normal.

"Go ahead. Shoot me," he taunted Megatron, sounding more as if he was jeering at an enemy then addressing someone who was not only his commander, but could destroy him with a mere thought. "Then all you'll have left is a brainwashed ghost and a hulking moron who's only loyal because he's too stupid to know better."

Tidal Wave and Starscream heard Snowcat's insults, but were too stunned at the ATV's out-of-character behavior to do anything about it. They only stood and stared as the odd tableau played out.

"That is enough, Snowcat!" At a mental command from Megatron, long tubes shot out from the walls and encircled the purple and white Decepticon. Snowcat yelped as he was lifted off his feet to dangle sideways in midair. Megatron tightened his coils, his wrath slightly assuaged by the pleasure of watching Snowcat squirm.

"I will only tell you this once, Snowcat," he commanded. "Shut up." He flung Snowcat to the ground. The white and purple Decepticon climbed to his feet, groaning.

"Now get out of my sight." Snowcat hurried to comply. He was angry, but not angry enough to get himself slagged. Tidal Wave looked inquisitively at Megatron, who waved a hand dismissively for him to leave. Starscream departed as well, turning insubstantial and fading into the wall.

Alone, Megatron settled back onto his throne. He opened his clenched hand for the first time and stared thoughtfully at the tiny point of light resting in his palm.

"Now what do I do with you?"

Snowcat pushed off with his ski poles and flew along the white slopes of the ice-planet. He felt a little better now, with the frigid wind flowing across his faceplate. Cutting loose with a wild laugh, his body descended in altitude while his vocalizer ascended into a yodel. With no one around to slap him upside the head for being annoying, he could do this all he wanted.

Snowcat slalomed side to side, avoiding the huge slabs of ice sticking up out of the terrain. Feathery waves of snow fanned out from the sides of his skis as he raced down the mountain.

Smowcat had been following the Autobots' ship for some time, as per Megatron's orders. Skulking just out of range of the Miranda II 's sensors had quickly become monotonous, so Snowcat had decided to take a little ski break. The Autobots were passing through this system anyway, so it wasn't as if he'd miss anything.

Now that he had cooled off, so to speak, Snowcat started to regret his rash actions. Talking back to Megatron like that; what the heck had come over him? Even for him, that was pretty wacko. He was lucky he hadn't been ripped apart.

Snowcat clenched his fists and sped up. It was a war they were fighting. People died; he could deal with that. But why did it have to be Demolisher? He was the only one who seemed to have any sense around the insane asylum that had taken to calling itself the Decepticon base of operations. And now he was dead, for the stupidest of reasons. Megatron certainly wouldn't have saved Demolisher's life if their situations had been reversed.

Ever since Megatron had returned, things seemed to be going speedily downhill for the Decepticons. Oh, it had been great at first, slagging Autobots and blowing up their cities just like old times. But lately they'd been getting their skidplates handed to them at every available opportunity. Megatron didn't even seem to care; he just demanded energon with increasing vigor.

Lost in thought, Snowcat wasn't watching where he was going. His left ski caught on a rock hidden under the thick snow, and the ATV went careening head over skidplate. s compulsive yodeling kicked in as he tumbled yowling down the mountain. Snowcat clawed at the slippery slope, trying to halt his descent, finally managed to stop by rolling into a snow bank.

"Ow."

He lay groaning for a while, staring up at the whirling white fluff that made his optics all but useless. Snowcat didn't like feeling like this. It was Demolisher's job to do the deep thinking. After Megatron disappeared, Demolisher had had several bouts of depression, going on about purpose and philosophical nonsense like that. This had annoyed Snowcat, then Cyclonus, to no end. Sure, working for the Autobots had sucked. That's why he'd joined up with Scorponok at the first chance he'd gotten. He'd expected Demolisher to do the same, but the tank hadn't. He'd stayed with the Autobots until he finally saw Megatron for himself, and even then, had hesitated.

Demolisher had not been loyal to Megatron first and foremost. Oh, he had acted loyal, and any outsider would have just thought him just another big, dumb, mindlessly obedient grunt. They'd be dead wrong.

Demolisher was loyal, but he was loyal to the Decepticon cause. Following Megatron was just the best way of expressing that loyalty. Back when they'd been on Earth fighting over the minicons, Demolisher had been the one trying to keep the Decepticons fighting as one unit while half the base was trying to backstab the other half in constant power struggles.

He'd practically saved Starscream's life once, when Megatron had gotten so furious that the he'd taken the jet into a storage room and nearly beaten him to death. Demolisher had broken in and bodily restrained the Decepticon commander. Coming from anyone else, something like that would have been seen as insubordination. Coming from Demolisher, you knew that he was acting in the interest of the cause.

Cyclonus had teased the tank about his views constantly but it had always been just jokes. The truth was that he had been glad to have someone stable as his friend, someone to counteract his own maniacal, unbalanced ways. Demolisher knew what he was doing and why he was doing it, and Snowcat could always look to him for support when in doubt. Now, the equilibrium of crazy jokester vs. ponderous straight man was lost, and Snowcat wasn't quite sure what to do about it. He needed someone to keep him steady, and that someone was gone.

The sound of thrusters disrupted his reverie. Snowcat clambered to his feet and looked down upon the Miranda II as it slowly maneuvered its way among the frozen cliffs. He gave an interested yodel, watching with glee as the ice closed in around the Autobot ship.

The ship was forced to halt in midair, clamped tightly between the frigid walls, the metal of its hull groaning in protest at the pressure. Snowcat chortled with glee. How ironic that his chosen element was lending itself so willingly to the Decepticon cause. The ATV activated his comlink.

"Yo, Tidal Wave."

::Tidal Wave is here::

"You'll never guess who just pulled up."

::The Autobots::

Snowcat thought he detected a certain hint of smugness in Tidal Wave's monotone voice. He wanted a little payback, too. "Right in one, big guy. Looks like their little fleshie found them a new source of energon. Right now, they're wedged right in between a pair of glaciers, defenseless. We can swoop in and crush them like bugs and they won't be able to move." Or bring their energon grid online, he thought.

:: I will tell Megatron::

The comlink fell silent and Snowcat resumed his downward glide towards the bottom of the mountain. His face contorted into a sinister grin behind his mask. "You're on my turf now, Autobums. Ready or not, here I come."

Snowcat skied until he wound up in a glacial cave overhung with glistening icicles. "Hee hee hee!" he laughed, his high-pitched giggles resounding off the walls of the cavern. "This is so much fun! I love this!"

The thrill of the impending battle acted as an antidepressant for Snowcat. Now he could finally do something instead of just moping around. When he fought, he only had to think about fighting, and there was no room for depressing introspective thoughts. That was one of the reasons Snowcat enjoyed combat so much. A thick voice suddenly spoke up from behind him. "The party doesn't start without me, Snowcat!"

Snowcat wheeled in place on the slick frosty ground. Behind him stood a bulky green, brown, and purple transformer who bore the Decepticon insignia. He had a stack of missile launchers above his head, and huge wheels at his sides and ankles. Snowcat could not recall ever seeing the strange mech before in his life. Still, something about the new Decepticon tugged at his memory banks.

"Who are you?" Snowcat queried. Where had he met this guy before? A bar, maybe? No.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you don't recognize me," guffawed the large stranger. He started pummeling the icicles into crystalline shards, apparently just for the fun of it. Snowcat paused for a moment. The form was alien, but that voice was so familiar. Was it possible?

"Demolisher?"