CHAPTER THREE
"So I said to him, 'If you want peace and quiet so much, why didn't you just ask?' So you know what I did?"
"You flushed him out the airlock," Topspin said.
Whirl's single optic blinked. "Yeah. How did ya know?"
His fellow Wrecker sighed. "Because you've told that story four times now. This deca-cycle."
"Yeah, because it's worth telling four times a week!" Whirl snapped. "It's so hilariously funny that even Ultra Magnus would laugh at it! Throwing people out the airlock is funny!"
Behind his visor, Topspin rolled his eyes. Of all the people to be stuck with while guarding the Xantium when it was refueling, he had to be stuck with a faceless psychopath. Even Roadbuster would have been better company.
"Right then. Where were we?"
"In the middle of an incredibly boring game of Fullstasis," Whirl said. "Seriously, I can taste my victory without even having a mouth."
Moving faster than a turbofox, Topspin moved his last remaining piece to Whirl's end of the board. Leaning back in his seat, satisfied with his move, he declared, "Fullstasis."
Ire flared in Whirl's eye. "Not. Cool."
"Looks like you've finally found something you don't like, Whirl."
The two Wreckers turned to see four Autobots riding into the fuel station the Xantium was stationed at, converting to their robot modes as they came to a halt.
"Oh, great," Whirl muttered. "It's the tag-alongs. I was hoping we'd be able to ditch them and do this mission thing ourselves."
"Without my electronic paint jobs and jetpacks?" Wheeljack asked as he dismounted from his ride. "Yeah, good luck with that. Do all of you Wreckers have that reckless mindset?"
"Pretty much," Topspin said. "Though Whirl's the most defiant."
"Whatever," Optronix said. "Where's Impactor?"
"Waiting for you on the bridge," Topspin replied, pointing a thumb at the Xantium. "We should be ready to take off in a few cycles."
"Good," the Elite Guardsman said. "You guys all know of Prowl's plan?"
Topspin nodded. "We disguise ourselves as Decepticons, sneak into whatever we're sneaking into, get our info or whatever, and then get the Pit out of there."
"What about slaughtering Decepticons?" Whirl asked. "Or did I miss that part?"
Prowl rolled his eyes. "There won't be any slaughtering unless the mission absolutely calls for it."
Whirl crossed his spindly arms. "Then why do you need the Wreckers of all people?"
"Just in case the mission does call for a slaughter," Optronix said emphatically as he moved to board the Xantium.
* * *
Four Autobot corpses littered the Constructicons' working field, the Constructicons themselves strangely absent. There did not appear to be any sign of a struggle; in fact, the only things on the field besides the lifeless husks were a few pieces of construction equipment and the Decepticon insignia carved into the ground.
Crouching down, Switch Blade idly traced the symbol with his finger. Then, turning to his new deputy Barricade, said, "Contact Red Alert. The situation has become more dire."
"It certainly has," Barricade said in a strange tone.
Switch Blade turned to give an odd look. "Yeah? So what are you waiting for? Contact him?"
"I'm afraid I cannot, sir," Barricade said, bringing out his blaster. "It would be against my orders."
The officer pulled the trigger and Switch Blade had seen his last.
* * *
"The Xantium has taken off," Zeta said as he walked into Ultra Magnus' office, scowling. "I still don't know why you allowed them to go."
"I have faith in Optronix, commander," Ultra Magnus replied, "as well as in the Wreckers. I'm sure they'll be able to get the job done."
Zeta raised an eyebrow. "And if they don't? What if the war starts up again?"
Ultra Magnus opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the chime of his desk's intercom. Answering it, he said, "Ultra Magnus, here. What is it?"
It was Checkpoint who responded. "We, ah, seem to have a situation, sir."
"I'm pretty sure we all know-"
"It's a different one, and way worse, too," Checkpoint said, the agitation in his voice obvious. "Switch Blade is dead, as well as most of his officers. And Trypticon Prison-"
"Don't tell me," Ultra Magnus said, quickly rising from his seat. "There's been a mass breakout."
"Er, no, sir. Trypticon Prison... has completely vanished."
* * *
Nightshift awoke to the sound of voices. With a bit of effort, he sat up. From what he could tell, he was in Trypticon Prison's medbay. No doubt he had been found by his comrades after being knocked out by Flamewar.
Climbing off of the repair berth, he walked out of the medbay and moved down the corridor to speak with the prison warden. However, he instantly stopped when he noticed something incredibly wrong.
The prisoners- and their Autobot guards- were gone.
And he could still hear voices coming down the corridor....
Nightshift turned to run the way he had come but was instantly hit by a stun ray. He fell back to the floor, awake but immobile. A cackling laugh filled his audio-receptors as two large figures walked up to him.
"Looks like you got him, Nightracer."
"Like Pit I did, Skywarp."
Nightshift's spark skipped a pulse. That voice...
It skipped another when an all-too-familiar sleek figure, colored in black and blue, appeared over him.
"Hey, brother," Nightracer said. "Welcome to Kaon- oh, but not the one you know."
She lifted up his paralyzed body and tossed it out an opening in the wall- no doubt made by the escaped prisoners. As he fell to the ground outside, he could feel the heat of a nearby smelting pool.
"This is New Kaon," he heard his sister say. "This is the new home of the Decepticon Empire."
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