Hey guys. Hope that you're all still holding up well. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out there but the world has been...well crazy is an understatement. I also had some things to sort out myself but nothing that should've hindered my writing too much (especially not for nearly two months), I just had a bit of writers block I guess.
Special thanks goes to mighnightthemuteation whose recent reviews helped me a lot in getting this chapter finished.
I don't really have that much else to say to be honest apart from work hard and be nice, hopefully this story can distract you from the real world and allow you to recharge, if only for a moment.
"Fort Scyk."
Onslaught along with Vortex and Blast Off stood on a ridge overlooking the dark fortress. This was the site of the first major Decepticon victory. Before the war it acted as a training ground for the High Council militia. It also housed one of the main nodes in Cybertron's old planetary Communications Grid. The node was knocked offline shortly before the war however, as Megatron's supporters detonated an electromagnetic pulse bomb close to the fort. When the war actually started, Fort Scyk was the site of its first true battle.
The three Combaticons remembered the skirmish vividly. In the midst of it was Megatron, fearless among the chaos as he led the Seekers into battle. Despite all of their efforts, the Autobot militia stood no chance, and were soon driven away from the fort, leaving it in the hands of the Decepticon army.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Vortex commented.
Onslaught grunted and Blast Off folded his arms. "Yeah, back when the Decepticons were a force to be reckoned with, and not some little group hiding in old buildings."
"Come on Blast Off, once we bring back Swindle and Brawl taking this planet should no challenge."
"Hmph. Sure. Things'll be real fun with Shockwave running Cybertron."
"Hah! You honestly think he won't be overthrown by then?! Shockwave may be smart, but he's no Megatron. No one is actually loyal to him."
"Can it, both of you." Onslaught interrupted. "What happens when we take over Cybertron is a problem for another day. Right now we need to figure out how to get our team back together, starting by searching this fort." Onslaught never really said it aloud, but his close companions knew he disliked Shockwave as much as they did. Despite giving them the ability to combine, the Combaticons still hated how condescending the scientist was to their combined form, given its brutish exterior nature, and by extension them.
"Right." Vortex acknowledged, turning to Blast Off. "Ten Shanix says its Brawl."
"You're on!"
The two of them transformed and flew down to the fort's entrance. Onslaught watched them go, happy to see his team beginning to return to normal. Then he jumped off the ridge and followed.
...
The fort's mangled entrance was at least one hundred feet tall, large enough to fit a combiner through it. The doors themselves were in shreds, looking as if something had torn them open from the outside. No doubt the work of Devastator, Onslaught thought. He remembered clearly, the six Constructicons rushing past his troops, merging into one giant force of destruction. When Shockwave offered his team a chance to wield the same power the Combaticons were both understandably cautious and ecstatic. The experiment was a success, and their combined form of Bruticus had a power that was near unmatched. Unfortunately their astounding strength came at the cost of their cognitive function. Onslaught's tactical mind was of no use, as the combiner wanted only to destroy.
Vortex and Blast Off landed beside their leader. "Looks like we won't have to knock." Vortex commented.
His counterpart grunted. "Shame. I was looking forward to destroying something today."
Onslaught walked up to the busted doors and peered inside. A corridorwith a ceiling as high as the entrance stretched on into darkness. The only source of light from within was coming from various holes made by a battle long since fought, making the light seem patchy and scattered along its length.
"You see anything boss?" Vortex asked.
Onslaught straightened, morphing his arm into a blaster cannon. "Not yet. But keep an eye out for traps. Some areas may still be active." Vortex and Blast Off looked at each other, shrugging before doing the same as their commander and following him into the dimly lit tunnel.
...
They had only been moving down the corridor for a few minutes but it felt like hours to the Combaticons. The three of them would walk for a while and then Onslaught would hear a noise, stopping them in their tracks in case they'd triggered a trap. This tedious progress was especially taking its toll on Blast Off, who was becoming twitchy at the stillness. The indoors made him feel...restricted. He was always bewildered by cons like Shockwave who spent almost all of their time indoors, or worse yet - underground.
Blast Off shuddered at the idea of being trapped under the fort if it collapsed, unable to fly free. That would be his eternal torment if the Pit existed, forever having the unbearable sensation of claustrophobia and being unable to do anything about it.
His thoughts were interrupted by a yelp from Vortex, who had tripped over something. As the Combaticon stumbled, small holes materialised in the walls. "Hit the deck!" Onslaught yelled, tackling Vortex, causing the startled Decepticon to fire his weapon wildly, sending a volley of neutron rounds into the ceiling. Blast Off followed his commander's lead at the last second, feeling hundreds of small metal arrows rush over his head.
After they heard the last of the sharp objects embed itself into the opposite wall with a metallic thud, the Combaticons began to stir. "What in Unicron's name was that?!" Blast Off asked incredulously.
Onslaught got up, walked over to one side of the corridor and plucked an arrow from the wall. It was only slightly longer than the width of his palm. "A trap. More primitive than I expected, but effective, I'll give it that." He turned the arrow in his hand. Upon closer inspection the head was actually in the shape of the Decepticon insignia. Onslaught found this slightly amusing. They had fallen into their own trap, placed centuries ago.
"It looks like Vortex wasn't looking where he was going." Blast Off pointed to his ally's servo, which now had a thin metal trip wire wrapped around it.
"Ah. Oops." Vortex rubbed the back of his neck, a little sheepishly.
Blast Off just let out a mechanical huff. "Let's go get this over with. This place is starting to grind my gears."
"You said it." Vortex yanked the wire off from around his ankle and followed his comrade deeper into the fortress, this time stepping more carefully.
Onslaught looked to the arrow in his hand, snapping it in two with the clenching of his fist and moved to accompany his two team members. Just as he was about to step forward the entire fortress shook. A low rumbling sound filled the corridor as parts of the ceiling began to collapse.
After a solid minute of waiting anxiously the shaking subsided. "That's why you don't fire a weapon in a confined space, Vortex." Onslaught's bright yellow visor glared at him. "Let's get moving. This whole place could collapse for all we know." No further argument was made as the trio headed further into the darkness of Fort Scyk.
...
When they got deeper inside the fortress most of the rooms the group came across were either empty or full of rust and acid pools, most likely having burned its way through the unmaintained building from the nearby acid wastes. After having checked about a dozen rooms Blast Off began to get impatient. "This is hopeless! We'll never find him in here."
Onslaught raised a hand for silence, to which Blast Off quickly complied. The Combaticon leader stood still in the middle of the labyrinth of hallways, optics closed. Concentrating, searching for the faint sign of a life signature. When the Combaticons combined they did more than just fuse bodies, their minds were connected as well, if loosely. Despite their missing comrade more than likely being in stasis lock, Onslaught could still sense their location through the bond they all shared, provided that they were within his vicinity that is.
He could feel Vortex and Blast Off's signatures right next to him, burning bright due them being online. He ignored the two healthy life signals of his companions and searched deeper for something more subtle.
There. He could feel another familiar presence here, faint but still noticeable. Onslaught followed the dim life signature religiously, like a turbofox to a scent. He walked past another dozen or so empty rooms, his companions trailing behind in silence before coming to the one that peaked his interest.
The door was old and rusted shut, though thankfully it looked as if it had been weakened due to the years of weathering it had been subjected to. "Here." Onslaught told the other two Combaticons, who looked relieved that they were finally getting somewhere.
Onslaught took a step back from the door, before charging one of his large shoulders into the rusty opening. The metal buckled and crumpled under the force, the aged material unable to withstand the onslaught from the Combaticon leader. It was soon ripped from its hinges, falling into the room and sliding across the floor with an unpleasant scraping sound.
"Nice." Vortex admired his commander's handiwork before following him inside along with Blast Off.
The room was a little larger than the ones they'd come across previously, no bigger than Shockwave's lab back at Darkmount. Like the rest of the fortress, rusted and discarded equipment lay on the floor, mixing grey hues with orange. What probably stood out most about the room however, was the fact that the majority of the floorspace was covered in a green liquid, save a small strip by the doorway that was just big enough for the three Combaticons to stand on. However, lying on its back on an island of debris right in the middle of the room, hand hanging dangerously close to the pool of acid was the body of a Decepticon.
Blast Off noticed the body among the rubble first. "Is that Swindle?"
"It must be, looks too small to be Brawl." Onslaught confirmed. "Though the body appears to have slid very close to the acid quite recently." He glared at Vortex, chastising him for causing the earlier quakes. "Blast Off, fly over there and get him before he falls in. I hope I can rely on you not to drop him."
"Sure thing Onslaught!" Blast Off activated the jets on his feet and hovered over to the dangling body. With a closer look he could definitely identify it as Swindle now. The Decepticon's armour was beige with hints of purple and a set of large Cybertronian tyres on his shoulders and legs. Blast Off looked into his unconscious companion's dim purple visor and laughed. "You owe me ten Shanix Vortex!"
Vortex laughed back, arms folded. "Jokes on you. I don't have any money."
"Fine. But you're buying me some engex when we take over Cybertron you spawn of a glitch." Blast Off heard Vortex grunt as he scooped up Swindle's body. He was lighter than he expected, though that was probably due to the fact that the Combaticon had less energon inside him due to stasis - his body slowly using up his supply to keep only minimal life functions online.
Blast Off had nearly made it to the other Combaticons when he suddenly felt a strong current jolt through his spine. Momentarily short circuited by this unexpected power surge, Blast Off dropped his teammate and began to fall.
Fortunately he was close enough for Onslaught to catch Swindle before he fell into the acid. Blast Off did not have such a smooth landing. He crashed into the ground at Vortex's feet, much to the other's amusement.
"Uh... What was that?" The downed Decepticon groaned.
Onslaught laid Swindle on the ground before looking up at where his ally had fallen from. "There." He pointed to an exposed cable in the ceiling. "Looks like there's still some power left in this fortress."
"Which means that it may still be operational." Vortex added.
"Yeah." Blast Off said, sitting up and rubbing his cranium. "As if that wasn't obvious from the trap we fell into earlier."
The other two decided to ignore his observation. "Let's get Swindle to his servos first, then we'll see where that cable leads." Onslaught told them. He retrieved a vial of energon from his chassis and injected it into Swindle. The con spasmed slightly as his systems came back online and colour returned to his body once more. His visor lit up purple and he slowly sat up, disoriented.
"O-Onslaught?" He looked up at the bot above him, still groggy from his centuries-long slumber. "What's happening?"
"You've been in stasis lock for some time. Can you walk?"
"Yeah, yeah I think so." The Combaticon got to his feet, noticing the other two Decepticons behind his leader. "Uh. Hey. Where's-"
"I'll explain on the way." Onslaught told him, not wanting to spend anymore time sitting and talking around the acid pools. "Follow us."
...
The group had been following the active cable for several minutes now, which was more than enough time for Onslaught to get Swindle up to speed.
"So, all we need now is Brawl? Never thought I'd see the day where we'd be actively seeking out that lugnut."
"Yeah. I don't quite believe it myself." Blast Off interjected.
They all stopped when the cabling led into a wall. Onslaught approached a set of double doors in the wall and with astounding strength, forced them open. He managed to stop himself from taking a step forward, realizing just in time that he'd opened up a lift shaft. Looking up he could see the cable snake up into the dim shaft, though looking down at the crushed box at the bottom he could clearly see that the lift was out of commission and had been for a while.
Swindle appeared beside him, looking into the shaft. "Whoa. That's a long way down, and up."
The other Combaticons also wanted to have a look. "So what's the plan Onslaught? You want me and Blast Off to go up there?" Vortex asked his leader.
"No." He replied. "You're going to give us a lift."
...
Having finally reached the top, Onslaught and Swindle hopped off their companions backs as soon as they could, having used their ability to fly to ensure they all made it up. "Uh, Swindle! I'm never giving you a lift again. Your elbow articulator was digging into my lateral flexor the entire time!"
Swindle was about to argue his case when Onslaught cut him off. "Quiet. We're here." The room ahead of them was full of old computer instrumentation, most of which was surprisingly undamaged. In the centre of the room was a large holographic table, glowing a faint blue hue. The cable they had been following was powering it. "This is the main communications centre." Onslaught approached the central table, wiping a thick layer of dust off of it.
"But I thought that the communications node was knocked offline ages ago." Vortex mused.
"The main node is offline, yes. But it looks like the comms equipment is still in one piece, and still has a small amount of power left for that matter. If we can bring the node back online then our communications reach will far exceed that of the Autobots'. We'll be able to call back more Decepticons at a much faster rate, meaning this stalemate will soon be over."
His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Shockwave cutting through his audio receptors. "Onslaught. What is your status?"
The Combaticon leader grumbled, a little irritated at the scientist's sudden outburst. He lifted a finger to the side of his cranium to respond. "Green Shockwave. We've recovered Swindle." He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it would be better to not tell Shockwave about their other discovery. Primus knows who he would summon back to Cybertron. Shockwave didn't seem to have any limits when it came to judging the sanity of his troops. Onslaught looked over to his near-complete team, knowing that it wasn't fair on them to have to scavenge around in the streets of Kaon for who knows how many years until they were powerful enough to overtake Cybertron from the Autobots, who were also growing in number by the day. He made his decision, hoping that Shockwave's Cybertron wasn't worse than their current predicament. "That's not all, there's something that I think you need to see."
There was a long pause. Too long for Onslaught's liking before Shockwave finally responded. "Very well. I will open a groundbridge to your coordinates."
...
Shockwave arrived on the scene barely a minute after he had spoken to Onslaught. The Decepticon scientist certainly didn't like to waste any time. "What is it?" He asked Onslaught in his monotonous voice. Straight to the point as always, Onslaught thought. He didn't verbally respond to the question, instead he just gestured to the instrumentation behind him. Shockwave approached the equipment, examining it. "Fort Scyk's communication grid is still online."
"If we can repair the node then we shall have unrivaled access to Cybertron's most powerful planetary communications grid." Onslaught added.
"I see." Shockwave was still looking at the technology with a strange form of apathetic interest. "I will repair the node, and leave a small portion of our forces here to guard it. In the meantime..." He turned to face the group of Combaticons. "...I have located your final member. I suggest you depart immediately to maximize our effectiveness." The group simply nodded in response. There were no congratulations or warm welcome backs when it came to Shockwave.
I'll try and get another chapter out ASAP, just keep those reviews coming! They really help me out when I get stuck as well as letting me know what people think of my story so far. ;)