NSNV: Chatper 4

Storm Gathering

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The sky was solemn and overcast, storm whipped clouds were at the moment calm but threatening in appearance, streaked with various gray hues shot with misty white. A steady breeze agitated the surface of the ocean, turning the expanse as far as the eye could see into short small choppy waves.

The cold ocean water itself reflected the unsettling hue of the clouds above. It was the kind of day that sailors dreaded and fishermen on all but the largest rigs refused to set out in. Luckily for Starscream, he was no sailor. Although he was fishing for something per say.

The silver Decepticon was currently in jet mode, slowly (for him) circling part of the Trench and a huge metal fishing barge bellow that had been 'appropriated' for his needs. Aside from taking the aerial poison to monitor the activity going on bellow, it also made jamming the satellite, sonar, and other possible outside communications and detection devices more effective.

On the barge itself a lone Decepticon stood near the left side, he was helping to guide thick metal cables down over the edge and into the water. Barricade was not a happy bot, he would rather be exacting revenge on the worthless humans that had destroyed his great leader….not 'fishing' for remains in the middle of the forsaken ocean.

But Starscream was 'leader' now, and his will was law. Unfortunately that meant like it or not Barricade was stuck shipside, and he had to keep quiet and deal with it for now.

A little ways bellow the water; about a hundred feet or so deep another familiar figure swam about clicking to himself with displeasure as he made sure the cables continued downward in the correct path without getting stuck on any ledges.

Scorpinoc was also one unhappy bot, although his displeasure stemmed from the fact that his tail still stung and had not been repaired as of yet.

His repairs were low on the priority list and the insect like Decepticon knew that! Without his partner Blackout, his usefulness was low, and therefore fixing him was not a priority. Clicking with annoyance the little Decepticon chattered questioningly downwards at the third, much deeper down Decepticon.

"Doing fine Noc. Slag but its cold down here! I can see why the little insects chose this place to toss um'. An amused voice transmitted over the decipticons tight wave communication signal. Noc clicked in what sounded like a sarcastic, and moderately insulting manner eliciting a laugh from the unseen figure walking along the bottom of the trench.

"Ah..there he is. Hey Starscream, found Brawl. Or what's left of him anyway, they did a number alright. Here is his arm…and head…wait is that his mobile processor…definitely going to have to fix that…"

"I am not interested in a fraging inventory Blitzwing. Just get them anchored and get your aft back up here." Starscream hissed irritably feeling the transformer equivalent of a headache coming on.

Blitzwing shrugged at the bottom of the trench and chuckled "Whatever you say screamer." The extremely heavy armored Decepticon sent back before hooking a cable on the ruined transformer and then continued on his search. Finding the remains of Blackout Blitzwing did a scan and smirked in satisfaction

"You were right about one thing 'boss', Brawl is only in stasis lock like you thought. We might be able to bring him back. Frenzy on the other hand is….ouch…that's just messy." He sent before addressing Scorpinoc "Ready the cable for this area."

A burst of indignant chatter came back over the comm. It didn't sound agreeable.

Blitzwing glowered and glanced upwards although he was to far down to actually see the other transformer "I don't care if you have to jump the fissure! Just do it…before I come up there and drag your little scrapheap down here. It would be fun to watch you crumple like a can don't you think?"

The chatter stopped…at least over the comm. The smaller transformer made several rude gestures before taking a running leap over the fissure with a cable clasped in one claw, smaller legs and thrusters providing propulsion over the deep seemingly bottomless fissure.Reaching the other side the disgruntled critter lowered the cable muttering the whole time, guiding it as Barricade slowly sent more down fuming at the news of how Frenzy looked.

Standing by Blackout's side Blitzwing gave the decipticon's trashed form a skeptical look "I don't know about Blackout…he might be to far gone. Should I leave him do…" Blitzwing's communication was cut short as a black arm shot upwards and the fingers locked around his neck. Glancing down again he noticed a faint glow coming from the other decepticon's optics.

"Get. Me. Out. Now." Came the strained, crackling message before the hand fell limp again.

"Nevermind…he's defiantly still active…to a point." Blitzwing snickered secretly pleased his old cohort was till active. With relative care Blitzwing attached the cables to Blackout, and added Frenzy just for the heck of it, then gave Scorpinoc the message to tell Barricade to start wrenching the Decepticon slowly upwards.

"Do you want me to send devastator up as well?" Blitzwing asked

"Yes. We can always use the spare parts." Starscream sent back after a moment.

A second jet pulled up near Starscream, it was almost identical in form with some slight coloration differences. Laughter rung out over the comm. as Thundercracker put in his own two cents on the situation "Lots of spare parts."

"Indeed." Starscream chuckled. He had never liked that over glorified gun wrack in the first place.

A third jet joined the formation slightly lower than the other two and chuckled along with the pair. Skywarp had arrived.

"Since you two are here. And it is Sooo go to see you made it intact. Go help them haul up the remains." Starscream sent to his fellow seekers.

"Sure" Thundercracker sent.

"Got it." Skywarp sighed. "Although watching him struggle is amusing don't you think?"

And the two pealed off out of formation with Starscream in separate directions, transforming into their robot modes as their dives got low enough to hover over the water. Starscream didn't respond to the rhetorical question from Skywarp but a soft amuse snort was all the other two needed to hear to know the boss was 'smiling'.

"You can head up now Blitzwing." Starscream sent watching as the bodies were pulled out of the water and moved bellow deck.

"What about Megs? You want us to bring him up as well?" Blitzwing asked pausing to glance at the former ruler's remains,

"No. Leave him." Starscream said curtly, receiving a startled look from Barricade "We don't have the resources right now to attempt a retrieval of his size, besides the more activity and the longer we stay the more likely the human government will notice something amiss. When we get a brace set up, than we can worry about full retrieval." The jet lied smoothly.

He had not intentions of bringing Megatron back, active or deactive. And the other was definitely deactive after what he had suffered, still no since in taking chances. But a certain front had to be presented to keep the more….loyal…followers of the dead Lord happy. Such as the stoic Barricade. But Starscream would have no one question the fact that he was now Lord and leader of the deceipticons.

"Alright, pull back to our temporary base; we will start on the necessary repairs." Starscream ordered, then giving the order for Thundercracker and Skywarp to help tow that stupid excuse for transportation the humans had made the Deceipticons made their way towards an isolated island some ways off.

Barricade down bellow on the ship finished tying down the remains as Blitzwing burst out of the water, and than followed the ship on his own power rather than landing on deck. Lifting the remains of Frenzy for a moment he than dropped them with a growl. He would be paying a visit to an old 'friend' while the others worked on repairs.

He could not, would not stomach the thought of that…worthless amoeba…that had destroyed Lord Megatron and reduced Frenzy to scrap…go on living in relative peace.

No…there would be pain. Barricade had never tested how long a human could survive under torture before their vocal processors ruptured…but he was looking forward to finding out.

Oh yes, Ladiesman217, he was looking forward very much to finding out how long you can scream.

--------Notes--------

Wow, thankyou SO MUCH everyone who is watching this story and everyone who reviwed. I want you to know each message keeps me going with the story and working to update even with my schedual! I thought I would let everyone know what the Decepticon's were doing. Next chapter Optimus chews out Sam! Look forward to it everyone. And I know their might be a few mistakes, but I already spellcheck, doublecheck and have a beta reader..so this is as good as it gets! Anyway...on with the show!