Blitzwing sighed. Starscream complained. Lugnut told him to shut up. Blackarachnia made fun of them both. Who knew where Megatron was? All was normal on board the Nemesis.
Meanwhile, Lockdown had cut Perceptor loose. Before Perceptor could blink, he had the stasis cuffs snapped onto him. "Slag," he remarked, falling over, landing on the very hard ground. "I gave you a choice, and you chose the hard way," Lockdown commented, "Now stay there while I dock with Megatron's ship." "You have a very lousy sense of humor." "Don't try to flatter me, it won't work." There was a bump as the two ships connected.
The com panel blinked. He pressed the button. "Bring me the prisoners, bounty hunter." "Alright, and you bring the mods." He turned the panel off. He grabbed Perceptor and slung him over his shoulder. He put Glitch under his arm. "At least she'll be their problem now," he thought, "And I'll get a new mod plus a hefty bonus for these two. Life is good." "This is bad!" Perceptor told himself, "Here's Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, and me, little ol' Perceptor, the humble and small scientist who can't fight worth slag. I'm doomed! What about Glitch? She'll be very confused! She doesn't even know who he is!"
Two of Megatron's flunkies, Starscream and Lugnut, met him half way. Here are the parts," Lugnut stated, "Now give us the prisoners." He handed Perceptor to Lugnut and Glitch to Starscream. He picked up the parts. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, as always." Both parties walked back to their respected ships.
"Why do I have to carry the youngling?" Starscream complained, "It's not like she can't walk!" "Silence, Starscream! The scientist will help fill the glorious name of Megatron! And the youngling… will do something in the glorious name of Megatron!" "I seriously doubt it. Because I will raise her to be totally loyal to me!" "What did you say? My audio sensors didn't pick up that last part." "Oh nothing, nothing at all." Perceptor frowned, having heard the last part of Starscream's sentence.
They were met by Blitzwing. "I zee ve vinally got them," the blue faced mech commented, "It'z about time." His head rotated, turning to a red face. "I vant to crush hiz data!" he demanded, "It'z been zo long zince ve've had any prisoners!" His face changed again. "Oh, can I play with him?! Can I? Can I? Bwhaha!" "Great," Perceptor thought, "There's a lapdog, a wanna-be leader, and a bot with some serious personality issues. What's next, a spider creature?!" Blackarachnia walked by. "Why do I have to be so smart?!"
Perceptor was dropped, his face meeting the hard floor. "Stupid stasis cuffs!" he muttered, "I can't even get up! Who in their right processor invented these?!" The Decepticons fell silent. Perceptor heard heavy footsteps and lifted his head up as far as the could. A massive figure walked towards the throne, his insignia standing out in the dark. He sat down, red optics burning through Perceptor's spark. "I'm definitely dead." Lugnut started to kiss up.
"Let me see the scientist," Megatron stated, his voice carrying through the room, "And get those stasis cuffs off him." Blitzwing iced them and broke them. Perceptor got up, still reeling from his momentary paralysis. He soon found himself forced up to the massive mech. "Megatron, I presume," he stated, surprised that he could even speak, "What do you want with me?"
"You'll find out soon enough, Autobot. I have heard great things about your intelligence on Cybertron. I must say, being the top graduated of the Science Academy at such a young age is quite the accomplishment. The High Command is foolish to overlook such merit." "If you're trying to charm your way into my data banks, it won't work. I'm simply too modest to fall for that. Sweet words often hide poisonous intentions." He was whacked by Lugnut. "Infidel!" he declared, "don't you dare speak to our beloved leader that way!"
Starscream wasn't paying attention to Megatron or the Autobot scientist. He was busy planning on how he could get full responsibility of raising the youngling. He traced her face, thinking that she was kind of cute the way she was recharging. She woke up and bit one of his fingers. "Yow! Get it off! Get it off!" he exclaimed, "Help!" Blackarachnia just happened to walk in and snickered. "I know. I want to do that to him sometimes too!" She released his finger. He put her down. Nobody up front seemed to notice what had gone on in the back. She silently walked up to Perceptor and hid behind his leg. Nobody noticed, except Perceptor, who felt her squeeze his leg.
"What about the youngling? What does she have to do with anything? She's only 6 for spark's sake!" "Oh yes, the youngling. That's for me to know. Starscream, has she awoken yet?" "Indeed she has, my lord," he replied, "She bit me!" "Well, where is she?" "Why don't you ask the scientist?" Glitch disappeared completely behind Perceptor's leg. "You aren't getting your filthy servos one her!" Perceptor exclaimed, "None of you!" Glitch clung to him tighter. Cool tuned on his char. "Come on vittle one, ve von't hurt you." "No!" she cried, "Perceptor!" "Sh, it's okay," he assured her, "Just stay with me." Hot Head took over. "Move you vittle glitch or I'll…" Random came in. "Express my veelings in song! Don't vorry! Be happy!"
Lugnut, who had a short fuse to begin with, got tired of her refusal to let go of Perceptor and decided to take matters into his own servos. He clamped down on her arm, peeling her off Perceptor's leg. "No! I don't want to let go!" she yelled, "Hey, careful with that claw of yours! You're crimping my armor!" She finally came off.
"Get your slagging servos off her!" Perceptor declared, "Or so help me I will take you apart piece by piece!" He lunged forward, but then was restrained by Starscream. He struggled. "Starscream." "Yes, my liege?" "Take the Autobot to the brig. I'll deal with him later." "Yes sir!" He dragged Perceptor away, who was spewing out any insult he could think off. Unfortunately, he only knew minor ones.
Glitch gulped. "What on Cybertron is going on? Why did that Con just drag Perceptor away? Who are they? Who's the big tall one sitting down? I want to go home!" she thought, "Home to Tran, Shadestalker, and no big scary bots!" She started wailing. "Silence youngling!" Lugnut demanded, "The Master demands it!" She just wailed louder.
Blackarachnia left the room for the sake of her audio sensors. "Put her down, Lugnut. You're scaring the poor thing." "Yes Master." He put her down. She ran towards the direction that Starscream had taken Perceptor. Blitzwing iced her path, causing her to slip and fall. "Ow," she groaned, "Note to self; never run on ice." Blitzwing picked her up. "I vould suggest that you not do that again," he chided, "Ve vould not vant to bring out Hot Head." Glitch blinked, trying to figure out what was wrong with Blitzwing.
He put her down. "Come here, child," Megatron beckoned, "I won't hurt you." She shook her head, not wanting to get any where near him. "Sweet words often hide poisonous intentions," she replied, repeating Shadestalker's advice. Lugnut pushed her forward, her heels scrapping the floor. "Hey, quit it you big lug!" She stopped when Lugnut stopped pushing. "You've probably heard stories about me," eh massive mech said, "I can personally assure you that none of them are true. They're all Autobot lies." "W-who are you?" A false smile played across his face. "I am Megatron, leader of the Decpticons. And your name would be?" "Never heard of you." Blitzwing held in a chuckle.
"I'm not going to tell you." "Why not?" "First of all, you're a stranger. Second, I just decided that I don't like you." Megatron rolled his optics. What was wrong with the new generation? He got up and walked up to her. She gulped again, seeing for the first time how truly massive he was. He bent over, his huge servo looming over her. Glitch shied away, fearing the appendage that was as big if not bigger than her.
"Come now, didn't I already say that I won't hurt you?" She nodded. "B-but I still d-don't t-trust you." He sighed and reached down further. She flinched as soon as his servo touched her face. He ignored her obvious discomfort and gently stroked her face, meaning for it to be a comforting gesture. Much to his annoyance, it seemed to have the opposite effect. "Stop!" she demanded firmly, "Don't!"
Starscream sauntered into the room, back from locking Perceptor up. He observed Megatron basically petting his youngling to influence. The youngling was verbally objecting, but was smart enough to know not to cause too much trouble. "Sh, child. I'm not hurting you, see?" he asked, "Now will you tell me your name?" "No." Starscream held in a laugh. Here the "oh so mighty" Megatron couldn't even get a name from a youngling. Megatron was visibly frustrated, but everybody knew that a scared youngling would give two kinds of information, false or incoherent. This clearly wasn't working.
He picked her up, causing her to squirm a little. This time, he stroked the top of her head. The poor thing prepared to wail again. "No more please," he stated, "You're safe, there's no need to be scared. Nothing about you've heard about me is true." "I have no clue what you're talking about." Megatron frowned, obviously a tad stung that somebody hadn't heard of him. "Didn't your guardian ever tell you storied about the Great War?" "Yeah, he did, but he didn't mention any real names. He called it propaganda, what ever that is. He says some of those things never even happened."
Banging came from the brig. "It's that Autobot," Starscream groaned, "he makes an even bigger fuss than I do!" Megatron put Glitch down; the relief was visible on her face. "I'll take care of it. Lugnut, come with me." "Oh yes, oh great, wise, and powerful Megatron, glorious leader of the Decepticons!" Megatron's optic twitched. "Just come on!" Lugnut followed him like a faithful puppy.
That left Starscream and Blitzwing with Glitch. "Now vhat?" Blitzwing asked, "Ve can't just let her vonder around. Zhe might get do zomething." "I'll watch her," Starscream volunteered, "She likes me." "Oh, so that was an affectionate bite I saw earlier," Blackarachnia responded, coming in, "I don't think so. " "Vhy don't you take her?" "Why me?" "You're a vemme. Don't you have maternal instincts?" "No, I don't. Besides, I'd probably traumatize her. She looked at Glitch, who smiled back at her. "Hi." "Fine, you mechs get on with whatever you do while I take care of her. The two mechs left. "What are you smiling at?" "I like you." "Slag."
Perceptor paused for a moment. "Why am I banging on the door again? Oh yeah, to get their attention!" He heard two Cons dome in. "Finally! Now let's see if… ulp! It's Megatron! Get a grip, Perceptor! You have to do this for Shadestalker! He left Glitch in your care and you have to keep your promise, no matter what!" "Now only if I could convince myself," he muttered, "Okay, maybe this wasn't a very good idea."
He stood back as Lugnut opened the door. The Cyclops pinned him against the wall, only using one servo. "Where is she?!" Perceptor asked, "where is the youngling?!" "She's in capable servos, hopefully," Megatron replied, "From the Cybertronian data files we hacked, it seems like you're an intelligent bot." He reached out, grabbing Perceptor's scope and pulling it. The red bot flinched. "I should only have to tell you this once. You have no friends here, no ninja "brother" to protect you. I run this ship and my word is law, so you have to right to contradict me. If you defy me…" He squeezed down on his scope. "… I can promise that very unpleasant things will happen to you. Do you comprehend, Autobot Scientist Perceptor?" "On the contrary, I must disagree. There is no necessity to raconteur all your horror stories to me. I've heard them all before. I do not need protection from you. You're nothing but an ancient ghost, one used to scare younglings into going to bed." (Oh, major burn!)
Perceptor knew what came next, him getting very damaged. Megatron let go his scope, leaving an imprint of where he squeezed. "What is your official position, Autobot?" "You know, since you hacked my file. coughLongarmcough." "What was that last part?" "Nothing important." "I'll be back later, Perceptor. I hope you're in a more cooperative mood then." "I hope you're in a better one." "Lugnut, you know what to do." The cyclops nodded. Megatron walked down the hall with a small smile on his face. It had been a while since he had done the defiant prisoner routine.
He passed by Starscream. "Hello, my liege. Do you need me to do anything?" "No, Lugnut is handling it. Where's the youngling?" "With Blackarachnia. I volunteered, but the youngling seems more… relaxed around her. And for some odd reason, Cool and Random have gone on vacation. Megatron groaned, remembering the last time Hot Head had been left alone. Swindle would never step foot on the ship again and the hole in the engine still needed repair. A crash came from Blitzwing's room, which promptly burst into flames. "Oh for spark's sake!"
AN/ Oaky, lots of stuff in this chapter. Perceptor sure does know how to insult, doesn't he? Next chap: Blackarachnia and Glitch have fun with Screamer, and Perceptor muses, a lot. New feature: Flashbacks!