Chapter 15
Disaster
Songbird quietly left Knockouts room and began searching the Nemesis's halls for her daughters…
And after a few minutes of looking she ended up running into Predaking and Megatron who had been conversing about something or other, probably concerning when it would be the best time to start cloning other Predacons from some of the other fossils that were still in storage or something else along those lines... Of course both mechs immediately took notice of Songs approach and stopped talking about whatever it was… clearly it must not have been a very important issue. "Have either of you seen Moonrise or Freefall?" Songbird asked them. "They're not in our room and I can't seem to find them anywhere." Song was not overly nervous, it was a big warship after all and her girls certainly enjoyed wandering around. Especially when Orb Weaver was with them.
"No…" Predaking responded somewhat surprised. "Although I did see the two with Weaver a little over an hour ago. But if you would like, I could help you look for them?" Although he, like Songbird, suspected that the girls were more than likely fine he would never pass the chance of spending a little extra time with the gryphonformer.
"I'd appreciate that very much." She said with a small smile…
It was a true shame that they were both oblivious to the growing affection that they were beginning to feel for one another…
Megatron could see it clearly and quite frankly he found how oblivious these two beasts were to be borderline pathetic…
"I'd ask Soundwave, he's grown rather fond of those little monstrosities of yours." The warlord grumbled coldly before turning around and beginning to walk away, but he never got very far…
Because at that instant, the severely damaged frame of Orb Weaver rounded the corner and collapsed in front of all three of them…
"Weaver?! What happened to you?!" Songbird demanded worriedly as she immediately rushed over to the injured teenager side, placing the claw on her back and beginning to heal the nasty wound that now adorned her chassis. But Orb Weaver wasn't focusing on that and she kept shaking her head over and over again before she suddenly stood up, though the wound was not completely healed but mostly so that it was no longer as grave… And with all her apparent might she chucked the data pad she still held in her servo at Megatron's head! Naturally the warlord caught it before it hit him and crushed it into a million pieces; but before he could say anything threatening to the young techno-organic she all but exploded!
"He's going to betray you! He wants you and Predaking dead!" She screamed frantically.
"Weaver what are you talking about?! Calm down your hysterical!" Predaking said, his optics widening at the accusation that Weaver just thrown at Lord Megatron. Could she possibly say such a thing? He failed to notice the tyrants' optics becoming narrower as the young femme continued to screech.
"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! Shockwave just threw Moony and Freefall through the groundbridge to Primus only knows where and then he tried to kill me! HOW IN THE FRAGGING PIT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN?!"
"What?! What happened to my daughters?!" Songbird suddenly screamed in absolute horror as a terrible fear began to well within her spark. Please Yue above, let her have heard that wrong! But Weaver looked at her tears streaming from her large optics.
"I'm so sorry! I tried to save them! I tried-" Weaver never got to finish her statement as Songbird abruptly transformed into her gryphon beast mode and no sooner had she done this, Megatron wordlessly began to open fire on her! Several blasts colliding with her shoulder and torso; not that they did much damage or that Songbird paid them any mind, all of her focus was now on the fact that her daughters were in danger and she turned away, although her long bladed tail however did cut a deep slash over Megatron's chassis as she ran as fast as she could down the hall loosing a hellish roar in her wake!
"It is… true?" Predaking whispered just as the grim reality began to dawn upon him as he realized that Weaver was not lying. His thoughts began to race through his processor at a dizzying speed as little things that had seemed so minor to him before began to paint a horrifying picture of deceit and lies that had always been right in front of him for all of these years! By Primus how had he not seen it sooner!
"Yes, and the only regret I have is that I didn't see the extermination through!" Megatron growled at the dragonformer as he unsheathed his blade. Although in the depths of his spark he felt a slight pang of regret, it appeared that he would be unable to let Soundwave pay his debt to the gryphon femme. Still there was nothing that could be done, he would have to deal with that issue later… "A situation I shall now rectify! And once I am finished with you I will deal with your Songbird and her human brats as well!" Poor word choice on Megatron's part... for the second that he threatened Song and her family an instinct deep within Predaking flared to life and all at once a rage coursed through his body like the roaring black fires of the Pit!
"I will tear you apart!" He snarled just as he lunged at the mech who was responsible for so much pain and grief…
All while praying that Song would find her children and they would all be alright…
Soundwave had been walking down one of the halls when he noticed large globs of freshly spilt energon painting the floor just outside of Shockwave's lab. No sooner had he begun to investigate what this was all about did the scientist stumble out of said lab, having finally managed to get the last bits of the sticky webbing off of his optic. He then acknowledged Soundwave, who was now staring at him coldly… or he at least assumed that it was a cold stare anyway…
"Soundwave, Orb Weaver has discovered that Megatron has ordered the destruction of the Predacons and the gryphon femmes humans. I require your assistance in dealing with her, I have already disposed of the humans via a groundbridge to the planets arctic region." Immediately the spy tensed up and from behind his mask his optics narrowed dangerously.
"Shockwave: Is forbidden to kill the humans and the Predacons. Soundwave: Has already made plans to deal with them in another manner. Order: Retrieve the humans at once!"
"Dealing with the Predacons in other ways rather than extermination is illogical…" Shockwave stated flatly. "I had thought better of you Soundwave."
"Order: Retrieve the human girls!" The normally silent mech repeated, his voice raising with growing anger. "Consequences: Will be dire if-" Shockwave didn't give him the opportunity to finish his sentence before raising his arm cannon and firing it at the Decepticon spy. Fortunately his accuracy was a bit off and the blast was not fatal and it merely collided with portions of Soundwave's right shoulder; which unfortunately for Shockwave meant that he'd just succeeded in further pissing off a former gladiator. Immediately realizing the situation Soundwave lashed out with his tentacles striking several well-placed blows on the broader mechs torso! Shockwave recoiled from the forces of these hits, but when Soundwave went to strike him again he managed to grab a hold of one of those said tentacles and pulled hard, yanking Soundwave forward and he proceeded to slam his cannon arm into Soundwave's chassis forcing all the air out of his opponent's vents. He then released his grip on the tentacle, in favor of getting a grip on Soundwave's neck and then proceeding to slam him hard into the wall over and over again!
Severe pain tore through the Third in Command's body as Shockwave proceeded to beat him down and his mask suddenly shattering just as he was thrown across the room and collided with the wall; a sick cracking echoed through the air as he felt part of his spinal struts fracture… he slid down, somehow managing to retain his consciousness in spite of the force of the blow. He managed to look up just in time to see Shockwave charging his blaster and pointing it straight at his face. Soundwave didn't flinch, having already stared death in the face many times before… still he braced himself for oblivion, mentally picturing all of his beloved children. If he was going to die he wanted his final thoughts to be of them... But the finishing blow never came…for just then a roar split through the air and within an instant Ravage had leapt onto Shockwave from behind. The young mech had been looking for his Carrier when he stumbled upon this ongoing fight. Even though he didn't know what exactly was going on, he saw that his Carrier was in danger… and that alone was the only reason he needed to get involved. The mech techno-organic's razor-sharp claws immediately began ripping through Shockwaves thick armor and even managing to cut deep into his underlying protoform in some places! But with a loud growl of frustration Shockwave seized Ravage by the back of his neck and through him into Soundwave who had just begun to stand up. Suddenly seeing that he was at a disadvantage, the cycloptic scientist suddenly slammed his fist onto one of the buttons on his computer terminal and a groundbridge roared to life and before either Ravage or Soundwave could do anything he raced through the portal and it closed immediately afterwards… Ravage snarled at where Shockwave had been only mere seconds ago, before he quickly transformed and began helping his injured Carrier to his pedes. Just as a raging and horrific screech echoed throughout the halls and Songbird suddenly barreled her way into the room!
"Where are they? Where are my children?! Tell me!" Her booming voice seemed to make the entire room shake and Ravage could not help but cower slightly at the obvious desperation and ferocity in the femme Predacon's voice. Songbird could be downright terrifying whenever she wanted to be and right now she was going to put the fear of Unicron in everyone until she found Moonrise and Freefall.
But seemingly unafraid of the raging Predacon before him, Soundwave had begun to get a pretty good idea of what had transpired prior to his altercation with the one eyed mech and he stood up and immediately went right over to the terminal Shockwave had just used and began to hack into it; casting Songbird a brief look as he did this. "Soundwave: Will help Songbird. Fact: Shockwave sent the two through a groundbridge. Currently: Locating the most likely coordinates." Although after several moments he began to realize that all the data contained within this computer was beginning to erase itself, no doubt so that Shockwave would not be followed to wherever he had just escaped to. But still Soundwave managed to retrieve one set of coordinates that had apparently been the second to last used by this particular terminal, it was a long shot but the Third in Command hastily extracted this along with any other information he could salvage before activating a groundbridge. Once the swirling green portal had opened Song didn't think twice before running through it, not paying any attention in the slightest as it closed behind her.
Soundwave and Ravage silently watched her go, before they went to go find Megatron and inform him of Shockwave's now obvious betrayal…
Songbird now stood in the midst of a freezing Arctic storm…
"Moonrise! Freefall! Where are you?!" She screamed into the roaring winds, she couldn't see more than five feet in front of her face. The sheer cold tore through her body as she was pelted by the snow and ice that was being whipped around by the wind. She couldn't smell, hear or see anything that could help her determine which way her children might have gone or where they were. Her spark pounded furiously in her chassis as she fought her way through the storm. "Freefall! Moonrise!" She called their names again and again but she received no response… nothing at all. But then Songbird suddenly felt her talons brush up against something that didn't feel like ice or snow and she looked down…
Only to discover the frozen bodies of her beloved daughters…
"No… NONONONONONONO!" She screeched as she quickly transformed and picked the two girls up and turned her back to the wind, doing her best to shield them from the cold, but it was to late... the two were silent and unmoving; Freefall had Moony wrapped in her arms and had been attempting to keep her warm with her own body… but it had simply not been enough, the two were completely frozen and most of their small bodies were tinted with a disturbing light blue color and it was obvious that Freefall's fingers and portions of her hands had even turned black from lack of circulation. Moony had frozen tears still streaking her small young face… Seeing this made something inside of Songbird snap…
"Freefall! Freefall wake up! Moony! No please no!" The gryphon wailed as she tried everything she could to wake them even though it was of no use. In a moment of absolute despair Songbird looked to the heavens and screamed so loud that surpassed the volume of the raging winds and all of the surrounding tundra echoed with her mournful cry! "Yue!" She screamed desperately as she looked up at the moon shining down through a small break in the clouds. "Yue I beg you! Help me! Save my daughters! Save them please! Yue!" But there was no response… none whatsoever. The moon just hung there silently in the sky and within a few moments the clouds shifted and concealed it from view once more. Tears of coolant streaked down Songs face as she pressed the cold bodies closer to her chassis, right over her grieving spark.
…wait…
…her spark…
That's it!
Admittedly the grief that clouded Songbirds processor had all to obviously fogged her ability to think straight, for what she was planning to do was nothing short of extremely dangerous... Her chest plating began to shift around until the glowing blue light of her spark became visible as her very spark itself was exposed to the harsh elements. Not even thinking twice about what she was doing, Song brought her two children up to her warm pulsing spark and pushed them into it!
Pain like nothing she had ever experienced immediately surged through Songbirds body! It was agony, complete and utter agony! Sparks were very fragile things even for Predacon's, if anything were so much as touch a spark, aside from the obvious exception of another Cybertronians spark, it would inflict nearly immeasurable pain! Songbird had not only just brought her children into contact with her very soul but she had just pushed them into it! The only logic driving her actions was the thought that the warmth of her spark might somehow manage to revitalize Moonrise and Freefall… but this was nothing more than the logic of a desperate parent and as the emotional as well as physical pain Songbird felt grew worse with each passing second... it finally reached its peak when she had only managed to partway close her chest plates before she blacked out and collapsed into the snow.
Her last thoughts were filled with nothing but the grief-driven hope that somehow her children would survive…
Even if the sacrifice required would be her own life…
Knockout had no intention of staying on the Nemesis one moment longer…
The only reason he had even stayed with the Decepticons in the first place was because he had believed that there was nowhere left for him to go... and he had also foolishly clung to the nearly nonexistent chance for revenge against Shockwave someday… But now that he was reunited with his daughter and he was now aware of the location of his son, he knew where he was going to go… He was going to defect to the Autobots, even if the only thing they did was take him prisoner. It didn't matter anyway... he was through with the Decepticons, the only thing that mattered to him now was being reunited with both of his offspring. Currently he was stealthily slipping through the halls of the Nemesis while carefully carrying Paradox in his arms. Although he knew that she was perfectly capable of following him on her own and he knew that he was being completely ridiculous… but there was some part of him that was afraid that if he put her down he would never see her again…
"Where are we going?" The little femme whispered as she clung to him just as tightly as she clung to her.
"We're getting out of here." Knockout explained quietly. "And once we're as far away from here as we can possibly get I am going to see about getting in contact with the Autobots… I'll join them if they will have me." At these words Paradox's golden optics seemed to glow even brighter. Hearing that her Carrier was going to come back to the base with her filled her small spark with joy! Tripwire would get to meet him after all! But before she could reply, suddenly her train of happy thoughts was interrupted by extremely loud audio-splitting sounds that were apparently a mix of fighting and roaring! Knockout had only just managed to turn down one of the halls when he happened upon the scene of Megatron and Predaking attempting to tear one another other apart! The sight was so incredible and horrible at the same time that that the defecting medic could not help but pause in his escape and stare for a moment…
But that moment would prove to be one moment far too long…
For in the struggle between the two titans Predaking was viciously slashing deep wounds into the silver warlord, but at the same time he was struggling to keep Megatron's arm cannon pointed away from him. Not an easy feat considering that even to the raging dragonformer Megatron was far from a weakling… And even though the fight was tipping in Predaking's favor, Megatron was still scoring decent blows against his considerably larger opponent. He began charging a blast just as the enraged dragon continued to savagely tear into him, but as Predaking brought his arm back Megatron saw an opportunity and he swiftly ducked underneath the oncoming blow and he turned around and pointed his cannon straight at his mighty assailant but just before he could fire, Predaking brought his other arm up and manage to deflect a large portion of the blast, in doing so he only took the minimal amount of damage…
And two cries of surprise and pain rang through both their audios…
Unintentionally by deflecting the blast Predaking essentially sent it on a collision course with Knockout and the small sparkling when he was holding! The energy blast made contact with Knockout right in the center of his chassis, the only reason that it didn't tear right through him was due to the fact that Predaking took a portion of the damage before deflecting it… just enough to save Knockout from death... and the remainder of the said blast had contacted with Paradox! What normally would've been considered a small amount of damage to an adult Cybertronian was in reality a great deal of damage to a youngling, as their plating was so much thinner and weaker… Paradox had just taken enough damage to successfully tear a hole right through part of her small body mere millimeters above her spark chamber! Her optics had gone wide as her small body immediately went into shock as she fell out of Knockout's grasp just as he proceeded to scream bloody murder! Predaking's own optics widened with terror as he realized what had just happened… but the horror of this sight distracted him long enough for Megatron to seize this opportunity and stab his blade deep into Predaking's abdomen and twisted it right before he kicked him full force in his chest, sending the Predacon flying backwards into one of the closed airlock openings…
"Know this beast…" Megatron hissed as a cruel grin began to appear on his features. "I was a champion of the Pits of Kaon not only due to my savage might, but also my cunning!" And with that he hit a button on a nearby terminal which immediately caused the airlock to open and Predaking never got the chance to brace himself as he was promptly sucked out of the warship… and less than a second later, Orb Weaver who had been watching the fight from nearby, was also sucked out into the rushing winds…
Megatron smirked triumphantly as he looked over at where his opponent had just been and pressed another button on the terminal which immediately closed it. Well, now that the situation had been handled he could focus on another issue… namely why in the Pit Knockout had a youngling with all things! Of course when he turned around Knockout was gone although there were splatters of energon all down the halls… splatters that were hastily being cleaned up by two of his Vehicon soldiers.
"Which way did Knockout go?" The silver warlord demanded. But the nearest Vehicon to him, the one named Mark only shrugged.
"We're not sure Lord Megatron…" He answered respectfully, his voice filled with noticeable fear of his master. "We didn't see him." With a growl directed at his useless soldiers Megatron stormed past the pair, intent on finding the medic and getting an explanation. But once he was gone, the two Vehicons cast each other a knowing glance.
Oh the Vehicons knew where Knockout had gone all right…
And they knew that Megatron wouldn't be finding him…
Right after the two were hit by the blast Knockout had grabbed up his daughter and fled the scene as fast as he could, successfully running into several of the other Vehicons. Seeing that the medic was not only physically injured and in trouble, but carrying a wounded sparkling, the low ranking grunt soldiers of the Nemesis immediately sprang into action and got him and the youngling he was carrying to follow them to a safe location… Well as best they could anyway, for while the little one was still alive she had slipped into unconsciousness and Knockout was unsurprisingly frantic! Which only succeeded in aggravating that nasty tear on his chassis all the more... But still he managed to keep himself mentally together while the Vehicons pulled him over to one of the terminals that operated one of the lesser used groundbridges and activated it. Setting the coordinates to a secluded and isolated region of the earth where they would be safe… for the moment at least.
"Why are you doing this for me?" The dumbfounded medic could not help but ask, surely he had never done anything to deserve their help... hell, he'd probably treated them worse than anyone else over the long years since Breakdown had been killed! But Steve, the Vehicon who had just fired up the groundbridge, turned to look at him and Knockout swore that if he was capable of it, he'd be smiling a small sad smile at him and his injured youngling.
"He watched out for us…" He explained calmly. "And we never got a chance to thank him for all the kindness he showed."
"It really isn't much and nowhere near enough… but it's our way of trying to repay him." Another Vehicon chimed in and it was right then that Knockout realized the reason why they were helping him…
They were doing it for Breakdown…
"I..." He began, but was cut short by another one of the Vehicons running up to him and beginning to push through into the swirling green vortex.
"No time for thank you's; go while you still have the chance!" He asked but paused when he actually went through the groundbridge with Knockout. "Although could you do us a favor?"
"What do you want?" The medic asked, now that he was off the Nemesis he wanted to focus entirely on his injured sparkling but the Vehicons were risking their lives to help him.
"If you run into Songbird... please tell her that she has our loyalty. From all of us…"
"I try to pass on this information…" He said with a brief nod. "Thank you… and try to take care of yourselves."
This Vehicon said nothing to this but he quietly went back through the portal…
Where he and the others all proceeded to play dumb for their ill-tempered warlord…
All while eagerly awaiting the day they no longer had to take his abuse...
It shouldn't surprise anyone that after the initial shock of being blown out of an air lock wore off, Predaking had managed to regain himself just in time to transform and catch Orb Weaver as she fell…
Still, he had still received a brutal injury to his abdomen courtesy of Megatron's blade. It was messy, deep and extremely painful but not necessarily fatal… Still it had forced the mighty dragonformer to land immediately after he caught the young femme. Fortunately, some of Weavers random skill set proved to be of use… she did after all have some knowledge of medicine and she began doing her very best to weld the wound closed to the best of her abilities. The patch was crude and overall not very good, but it would hold for the moment. That was good enough in Predaking's opinion, since the only thing he could think of was finding Songbird, Freefall and Moonrise and making sure that they were all right.
"They can't still be on the Nemesis can they?" Predaking growled, more thinking to himself out loud that it he was talking to Weaver.
"Moony and Freefall aren't on the Nemesis that's for damn sure… I saw them get thrown through a groundbridge remember?" She answered while putting some of the tools she had with her back in the satchel Songbird had given her before putting everything in her subspace… The poor young femme's servos were visibly shaking as she spoke, the events of the day having really taken a toll on her overall physical and mental well-being. Predaking growled hatefully, not at Orb Weaver, but at the entirety of the situation… at just how blind he had been. Unsurprisingly at this point he was blaming himself for whatever had befallen Songs children, he had been the one who had trusted Shockwave so completely after all! He was responsible! Angrily he stood getting a slight 'eep!' From Weaver who had been startled by his sudden movements. "You need to be careful! Y-You'll only hurt yourself more!"
"Nevermind me, we need to find out where Shockwave sent the children. Songbird will undoubtedly be heading in that direction as well." He flinched slightly as searing pain continued to radiate from his injury.
"…Predaking…"
The Predacon stopped when he heard a soft feminine voice say his name, a voice that clearly did not belong to Orb Weaver. Turning around he was greeted with the sight of Weaver staring up at something with wide optics and her mouth hanging open in total shock. Predaking followed her gaze…
Only to stare up at a large floating sphere…
It was quite a sight to behold, the sphere being roughly the same size as Predaking's head! It shown brightly with a pale silver glow that was only comparable to the light that was emitted by a full moon. The mighty dragonformer blinked once his mind drawing a complete blank until something suddenly clicked in his processor.
"Yue?" The sphere gave a faint pulse as a response, that answer was seemingly a yes. Immediately Predaking's optics flashed as he realized he was speaking to Songbird's friend who you first story held any truth to it was a powerful deity… But before he could even begin to translate his thoughts into words the Spheres light flickered and within it an image began to appear…
The image of Songbirds body being steadily buried by snow…
Horror like nothing he had ever dared to believe was possible in his worst nightmare suddenly flooded through Predaking's entire being! No! Not his Songbird! Not his beautiful, loving Songbird! He refused to allow this to happen! As though sensing his fear and determination to this madness to come to pass, the sphere suddenly seemed to dissolve into a fine mist which flowed into the great dragon's optics and for a split second they turned white as information was being uploaded straight into his processor. Once this was done Predaking immediately whirled around and grabbed up Orb Weaver and through her into the air just as he transformed and rocketed upwards into the heavens! Weaver landed on his back and held on for dear life, not quite sure what the frag had just happened…
What the young femme didn't know was that Yue had just given Predaking a vision of where he needed to go…
Now he only needed to be strong enough to get there in time…
And that is it for now! I am sorry about the slight delay with this chapter but things have been extremely hectic around here, the next chapter will be up much faster I promise. As usual please remember to Read and Review! ^_^