I don't own Transformers or the Riodanverse; they belong to their owners.
Chapter 30: Decepticons Among the Ruins.
"So this is the great Atlantis?" Starscream said as he and the other Decepticons looked over the massive, hollow, and wrecked underwater city.
"It looks like a bunch of scrap and junk," Skytread muttered.
"Well, it probably didn't look like this before.' Barricade pointed out.
"I guess it must not have been so great if they let this happen to it…" Starscream murmured.
"Indeed," Megatron mused. "Everyone get to work!" he ordered. "Find something!"
As the Decepticons headed into the city, Skywarp and Quake broke off into their own team.
"Gah! This water is making my innards rust." Quake muttered as the two cons looked among some of the rubble.
Skywarp was quiet.
"Hey, Warp you okay?" asked Quake. "You've been really quiet since Spinister found this dump."
"I just wish Thundercracker was here…" Skywarp muttered.
"You're still whining about that?" Quake asked in disbelief.
"It's not fair!" Skywarp pointed out. "Thundercracker would have loved getting to see something like this."
"Look at it this way," Quake said. "He let himself get beat by a stupid human; far as I'm concerned, missing out on this is punishment." To accentuate his point, Quake slammed his fist at a nearby wall.
"It's not his fault!" Skywarp protested. 'The human took him by surprise."
"Doesn't matter," Quake said. "A real Decepticon wouldn't have let himself be owned like that."
"Thundercracker is a real Decepticon," insisted Skywarp. "He's one of the best there is!"
"Skywarp, ever since we got here, he's been spending more and more time in his room," Quake pointed out. "Do you even know what he's doing in there?"
"Research?" Skywarp said meekly.
"He's watching those dumb human programs." Quake explained. "I was passing by his room the other day, and I'm pretty sure I heard some idiot singing about being Under the Sea playing on his device."
"So what if he's got a few weird quirks?" Skywarp asked defensively. "Does it matter? He gets the job done, right?"
"He's a loser and weirdo." Quake responded.
Skywarp did it before he even really thought about it. He punched Quake in the face, knocking the berserker backward and toward the wall of one of the ruins. He slammed into it with a crash.
Skywarp ran up and grabbed Quake by the throat with his right arm, pinning him to the wall. "Take that back!" he ordered with his left hand outstretched, ready to punch.
Quake grinned sadistically. "Loser and weirdo," he repeated.
Skywarp punched Quake with his left fist.
Skytread heard the sound over from where he was and ran over to see it; when he saw the ensuing sight, he grinned.
"Hey!" yelled Skytread. "Get off of him!" he ran up and tackled Skywarp, knocking him off Quake.
"Yeah! Go Skytread!" cheered Quake as Skytread began to pummel on Skywarp.
Quake picked himself up and laughed. "Yeah! Get 'em, Skytread!"
"I'm not gonna forget this!" Skywarp screamed.
"Bill me." Skytread laughed.
"What is going on here?" asked Soundwave, walking up.
"Skywarp can't handle the fact Thundercracker is a big loser!" Quake laughed.
Skywarp growled, and Soundwave glared.
"Get back to the job," he ordered threateningly.
"Yes sir!" The three Decepticons responded and proceeded to get back to that.
Barricade, meanwhile, was quiet as he looked through the ruins. He wasn't really sure what to think of this place or what they would find there.
The only thing he was sure of was the fact he was tired of walking in water. Everything was so much slower and weightless like this.
As he was grumbling to himself about this, he saw something that made him jump and hide behind a rock wall.
It was Optimus Prime, just a few meters away, currently staring at the ground as he looked around the ruins himself.
Barricade calmly and carefully turned on his comm. "Megatron? Soundwave? Starscream?" he whispered.
"What is Barricade?" asked Megatron incredulously.
"We got Autobots," Barricade answered. "Optimus Prime is a few feet away from me."
"Has he spotted you?"
"No."
"Then follow close behind him," Megatron said. "If the Autobots find something here, report it to me right away!" Megatron ordered.
"Understood…" Barricade said ominously.
Starscream had an easier time moving through the water than most of his fellow Decepticons. As a flier, he was already very accustomed to moving in a weightless environment. The water still tugged and pushed at him and slowed him down, so that was an annoyance he did share with the others.
Still, he was doing a much better job covering more ground as he floated around the city, using his jets to keep himself hovering above most of the buildings.
"I bet Megatron wishes he could be as skillful as me when it comes to surveying in the water." Starscream chuckled to himself.
As he looked around, something caught his optic. He turned to get a closer look and saw what it was—a broken and wrecked robot around the size of a medium-weight Cybertronian.
Starscream landed to inspect the robot more hands-on. Its appearance was a bit unusual for a typical Cybertronian, with pincers for hands and a tail on his back. Its color scheme seemed to be faded orange and purple.
Starscream deployed a mini-scanner from his wrist and began to look it over.
It was faint, but this robot's spark was still lit; his processor wasn't completely fried.
This bot still had life in him.
Starscream gave a sadistic grin; this robot could be quite useful to him. It could have information on the Allspark—information he could have all for himself!
And there was no need to share that information with Megatron...
Starscream moved to take the robot's processor when he got the distinct feeling he was being watched.
He looked behind him and saw Spinister staring at him with a look of disapproval.
"Oh..hello Spinister." Starscream said awkwardly.
Spinster glared.
"I was totally going to share this discovery with Megatron! Honest!"
Spinister once again said nothing; he just motioned at Starscream's wrist comm.
Starscream frowned and turned on his comm. "Spoilsport," he muttered.
"Oh? So what did I do now? "Mighty Starscream"?" Megatron asked with a mocking tone over the comm.
Starscream groaned. "That wasn't—whatever. You know those robots we've been finding around this junk pile?"
"Did you find one that still has some power left?"
"Yes."
"Soundwave, get over there right away!" ordered Megatron.
Soundwave rushed over to Starscream and Spinister's position, finding them over the wrecked robot.
Soundwave brought out his scanner and looked over it. "Starscream is correct," he confirmed. "There is a bit of spark to this one."
"Can you revive him?" asked Starscream.
"Enough to make him talk at least," said Soundwave. He leaned over the robot and brought out some spare energon stored in a cylinder. Then he injected the robot with it.
For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen.
"Is it working?" Starscream asked, irritated.
"Patience Starscream," Soundwave advised.
"I've been patient!" Starscream protested. "And so far we're still–"
Just then the robot jumped up and screamed. "GAAAAAAH!" it cried.
"Calm down," ordered Sounwave.
"Where am I? What's going on!?" The orange robot said in a panic.
"In a whole lot of trouble if you don't ask our questions," Starscream said threateningly.
The orange robot got up to his feet and moved into a combat stance; his movements were sluggish.
"Gah! Why is everything so slow!?" he asked.
"We're underwater," Soundwave explained.
"What?! How?!" At this, the orange robot looked around. His eyes widened with horror as he took in the sight around him: ruins, dust, and debris.
"No..." he said. "What happened to our city?"
"We were kind of hoping you could tell us," Starscream said.
Just then Megatron arrived along with Skytread, Skywarp, and Quake. He marched forward toward the orange bot.
"Is this him?" he asked.
"Yes, this is the bot who was offline," Starscream confirmed.
Megatron nodded at Starscream before turning his piercing gaze to the orange robot. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am... Quicksand," the robot said. "One of the protectors and defenders of Atlantis."
"Can you tell us what happened here?" asked Megatron.
Quicksand grunted and glared at Megatron. "Why should I tell you anything?"
Megatron lifted his arm up and aimed his arm-mounted fusion cannon at Quicksand's face. "Because I'm the one at full strength and power, you're the one who's been rusting under the water for who knows how many years, and we're the only ones who can save you."
Quicksand shuffled nervously and gave a grunt that might have been "Okay."
Megatron lowered his fusion cannon. "Now, what happened here?"
Quicksand sat down; he looked morose as he began to speak. "I was one of the first built to guard this kingdom, the kingdom of Atlantis. Years ago, during the worst famine in history, the people of Atlantis discovered a strange cube in the middle of the ocean."
"The Allspark!" exclaimed Starscream.
"Yes," Quicksand confirmed shakily. "They used it to turn their small fishing village into a kingdom that spanned a whole island. We are—were the strongest empire in history."
"I was one of the first of their metal guardians. Made once they discovered the life-giving powers of the great cube. We protected and guarded Atlantis."
"So what happened here then?" asked Megatron.
Quicksand hesitated. "We were betrayed."
"Elaborate." Megatron insisted.
"Our leaders saw our glorious empire and wanted to expand it," Quicksand explained. "They wanted to share our power and our technology with the world, but certain traitors didn't like that."
"Sounds familiar…" Starscream muttered.
"Where is the Allspark now?" Megatron asked.
"The cube? Last I heard it was in the big central plaza building, but I've been out of it for a while." Quicksand explained. "Last thing I remember was one of the rebels stabbing me, and then I was out."
"The central plaza seems as good a place to start as any," Megatron murmured. "Decepticons, start moving there."
He turned to leave with his cons when Quicksand grabbed Megatron with one of his pincers.
"Hold it!" he said. "My turn to ask the questions. Who are you? What do you want the great cube for?"
Megatron was still, then he backhanded Quicksand, knocking him backward onto the ground.
"Do not touch me," Megatron stated darkly.
"Yes…Yes…. Sir…" Quicksand stammered.
"Now, as for your questions..." Megatron began. "I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, a member of the Cybertronian race from the planet Cybertron. That is the place your 'Great Cube' came from."
"Another planet?" asked Quicksand in disbelief. "We thought it was a gift from the gods."
"It was in a way." Megatron continued. "The Allspark is the last known living relic of our god Primus. My arch enemy Optimus Prime sent it to this planet to keep it out of our hands; in the process, he doomed our world to a slow death…"
"Sounds like he was really kèpfos," Quicksand muttered
"Kep what?" asked Skywarp.
"That is the ancient Greek word for stupid," Soundwave explained.
"Oh… Yeah, Prime's pretty dumb." Skywarp added.
"ANYWAY," growled Megatron. "My point is, Quicksand, if your story is true, then we are your ancestors, your true people as it were."
"I…this is a lot," Quicksand muttered.
"Come with us then," Megatron said calmly, putting a hand on Quicksand's shoulder. "We can better educate you and help you get reacclimated to the new world. Our goals are not too dissimilar. Like the people of Atlantis, we seek to help perfect the galaxy by conquering it."
Quicksand was silent for a bit before shrugging. "Well, not like I got anything better to do," he said.
Megatron grinned a wicked smile. "I'm glad you—"
"Megatron? You there?" asked Barricade's voice over the comms.
"Yes, Barricade I'm here." Megatron responded, "Did the Autobots find something?"
"Yeah," said Barricade. "They did. You're going to want to hear about this."
So just as a quick FYI. Quicksand is Beast Wars Sandstorm. If you're not aware, he's a repaint of BW Scorponok in orange and purple. Quicksand was his working name in the production of his character and toy, and thus, to avoid confusion with the Autobot Sandstorm, I'm using his pre-production name.
It's fun to use characters who get no attention.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!