Chapter 26: Scourge meets the Grimm

"Where is she?" Galvatron demanded as he got into Dreadwing's faceplates. His Spark was racing at the thought of Nightshade being alone with that brute had very little regards towards Femmes. He was sure that Nightshade could take care of herself in tight situations, but he did preferred to deal with Scourge himself. Nightshade would no doubt try again to get Scourge to speak to her this time. If he didn't, he feared what Scourge would face. In the short time that he had been working with Nightshade he had seen that she had many allies that could do damage to a Mechs reputation.

"I pushed her through the Ground Bridge back to the Nemesis and I was right behind her!" Dreadwing said as he watched Galvatron prowled about the bridge of the Nemesis like a caged tiger. "There was no way that she could have slipped not only past me but also Soundwave and Barricade!" Dreadwing shouted back at Galvatron who suddenly stopped in his pacing around the bridge of his flagship during the war.

Galvatron's red optics widened suddenly when a thought came to him. "Nightshade is Undead! She can turn into a shadow without any of us knowing where she has gone!" he said looking back at Dreadwing. "Prepare the Armada! We attack Animatron in two hours! That will give Soundwave time to locate Nightshade and to bring her back here!" he ordered. He did not allow the Mechs who had gone to Animatron a chance to speak as he walked out of the bridge and towards his cabin.

Walking through the dark corridors of the Nemesis he did not notice all the Mechs and Femmes who nodded their helms towards him. He was too focused on dealing with the feeling in his Spark. He had heard of this from Optimus and knew that this was the formation of a Spark Bond. He felt determination come through the link along with something else deep down in the link. He could not place the emotion that it was tied to but he could tell that it was wanting to get this mission done and then what he could not tell. He could tell that it had something to do with Nightshade wanting to get back to her dimension to help the other Avengers to track down Seth. After Seth had attacked the Black Archives in London he had simple gone. Nightshade had thought that he was looking for something that could help him get more power but with a sarcophagus being found in Egypt unlike any other that was either a bad or a good sign in Nightshade's books. Galvatron could not blame her for wanting to get back on the hunt to find Seth. He was sure that once they had done this Nightshade would return back to her dimension as quickly as possible. He was sure that he would go with her. He could not allow her to fight in a war alone with a growing Sparkbond between them.

000ooo000oo

Night had come quickly to Animatron. The market place was already quite when a black one optic tiger prowled through the empty street. The machine guns clicked as they rotated. They were ready to fire at any given moment when someone jumped out at them. The one optic jumped from one location to the next very quickly as it scanned for any one who would be out in the middle of the night. No one was out at this time of night. Scourge had made sure of it. He had a curfew in place and his guards punished anyone who was out at night.

Many of the people had not dared to sneak out at night when reports of the Grimm began to circle around the market. The Grimm in all worlds around the universe was the omen of death. Many Mechs and Femmes had began to whisper that Scourge was about to meet Primus. The guards had been quick to silence those whispers that was until they saw the Grimm just sitting behind them as if it was seen everyday. Now all of the city was on high alert. The Grimm was something that was not to be laughed at, and even Scourge was being wary. The massive dragonformer had locked himself in his palace with all of his favourite slaves along with all of his guards until the rumours of the Grimm had faded away and was forgotten about.

The Grimm stopped in mid step. Its optic wide as its ears pricked up as it searched for the source of the noise. A noise that came about when someone was sneaking about. The Grimm dropped down to the ground before it began to sneak closer to the ground. Its tail that ended in a massive blade twitched ever so silent as it focused on a side street of the market.

The skeletal black tiger came to a sudden stop and its one red optic narrowed at what it was seeing. Undermine in his Spinosaurus alt. mode was making his rounds around the city. The red optics of his beast mode jumped from one side of the narrow street to the next as he made sure that no one was out and about. The mace at the tip of his tail kept missing hitting the walls of the building as he approached the Grimm that was hiding within the shadows. The Grimm had dimmed its bright optic so it would not be standing out in the shadows especially as it transformed into something else.

Undermine kept silent. His Spark was in his mouth. Scourge had demanded all of his guards who had failed him in one way or another to go out in the street in the dead of night. Undermine had not dared to argue with his leader. His leader had him repaired by the medics and then sent him out. He had been embarrassed as Nightshade had hurt him without doing anything to him. Scourge had also told that if he ever found Nightshade again he was to bring her back to him. He had been looking for someone to be his Sparkmate with a fire that would rival his own. Undermine had a felling that Nightshade would not like that and would kill him on sight.

He came to a junction in the side street that would lead him back to the main street in the market. His red optics were well adjusted to the dim light of the street that was only lit by the moon, but that did not help him see the massive white monster that was hiding in the shadows right in his blind spot.

A hug jaw clamped down on the Animation's guard. Undermine tried to cry out to the other guards but whatever was attacking him did not allow him to make any noise before it flung him to the ground. He onlined his optic and got a look at what had attacked him. The creature was bigger than him and he was bigger than a Femme who transformed into a T-Red. This thing was covered in thick white plating that were covered in strange dark blue symbols. Its tail was huge and ended in a massive spike that from what he had been told had a strong resemblance to the blade that the tail spike that the Grimm had.

The tail was not something that Undermine should be focusing on. No one of the dangers of this creature was its long arms that ended with fingers that had huge black claws that clicked against each other as the creature fought the urge to finish him. Undermine looked up at the large white dinosaur that had attacked him. Its red optics glowed in the dark of the night as it bared its teeth towards him. It shifted on its huge feet before it shifted down into the Grimm. The one eyed optic tiger took a step closer to him and Undermine found himself shuffling away from the Grimm.

The Grimm stopped a few feet away from him before it sat down like a massive kitty cat. Its one red optic was locked onto his own optics and with the twisting of its plating it transformed into a familiar shape. A shape that still haunted his processor when he closed his optics.

Nightshade towered above Undermine as he leaked Energon from the wounds that Nightshade had caused. Nightshade's green optics locked down onto Undermine. "Well Undermine it looks like we meet again! Not so strong now that you are bleeding at my claws once again?" she asked tilting her horned to the side as she mocked him.

Undermine tried to get back to his feet but the damage that Nightshade had caused to him. Again she had hardly done anything to do him. He gave up trying to get to his feet and glared right up at Nightshade. "What do you want, Outsider?" he demanded her. He was still in his alt. mode and even that was not enough against Nightshade and her beast forms.

"I want you to scream as loudly as you can! I want Scourge to hear the end of his reign! I want him to know that he has declared war on me and that is worse than making a deal with a demon!" Nightshade said in a too calm a voice.

A snort was Undermine's response to Nightshade. That was a bad move that he could have made. Black lightning zapped against his exposed wires. The roar and scream of pain that escaped his vocal processor was enough to haunt the night. The lightning stopped as quickly as it suddenly appeared and Undermine's helm was grabbed in Nightshade's clawed paws. "There that was not so hard now was it? I have a feeling that the Guards will be heading here!" she whispered into his Audios.

Nightshade's claws tightened around his helm and the deadly tips piercing his helm with such force. Energon began to leak out of the wounds as Undermine let out another scream of pain along with fear as Nightshade showed him images that no living Mech or Femme should ever have to face.

"The screams are coming from over here, Scourge!" Nightshade heard a raspy voice shout from down a side street. Forcing Undermine to look at her, Nightshade disappeared as a thick black shadow that shot up to the roof of one of the houses in the market place.

A Mech who had the parts of a wolf ran into the main street followed by Scourge. The leader of Animatron had heard the screaming from his old friend and there was also Snarl who had forced him to take action before the Rebels used the Grimm as a symbol of their revolution. That had been enough to get Scourge out of his palace and into the street. He did not want Undermine's brother to gain more support in using the Grimm against him.

"This can not be happening! The Grimm had only arrived after you had decided not to listen to Nightshade! This is the end of our planet, Scourge! Look at Undermine!" the wolf-former snapped looking from Undermine who was in so much pain that he was staring at something between him and Scourge.

"This is just a Mech who has been readying too many scary stories that the Decepticons have brought from Cybertron, Snarl!" Scourge snapped back towards Snarl.

A small weak voice then spoke up from the ground, "Behind you! The Grimm!"

Both Scourge and Snarl followed where the voice was telling them to look. Snarl took a step back and muttered a prayer to Primus while Scourge only just stared at the being who stood with its one optic locked on him. The Grimm stood so still that it would have been hard to see if not for the bright red optic that burnt brightly in the dark of night along with two bright lights that were mounted on the rocket launcher that was on the Grimm's back.

The Grimm and Scourge stared for a few more moments. None of them dared to make a move in case the other attacked. Snarl had dropped down to his knees and had began to mutter a prayer to be protected from the monster that only meant death to whoever saw it. To whoever looked into its one eye was to meet a fate worse than death. Then without warning the Grimm turned around and walked into the shadows of the night. The lights that were on the mounted rocket launchers on its shoulders turned off allowing the black cat to vanish in the shadows of the night.

"The Grimm has marked you to die next!" Snarl said. His green optics never left the spot where the Grimm had been only a moment ago. He didn't want it to return and focus its optic on him. Undermine had gone grey from the wounds that the Grimm had done to him.

"Enough Snarl!" Scourge snapped back to the wolf-former. He had placed on a hard face but right now his Spark was beating fast within his chassis. He could not show fear. He needed to be a leader that could rival Megatron and Optimus Prime. A leader who needed to crush all resistance on his planet. He did not have time for Mechs who believed in things that went bump in the night.