CHAPTER THREE
Has it truly been twenty years? Perceptor wondered as he drove towards the Delta Magnus Spaceport. Perhaps the war had causing him to ignore the passage of time. He could still remember the day he last saw Azimuth, almost vividly.
She had stood before them and the other Patterners at their meeting place near Iacon, looking proud and imposing as always. "My friends and colleagues," she had said to them. "It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that we must no longer be united as one. I have read the stars, and they have told me that Death is fast approaching. I know not when it will arrive, but it will take many with it when it leaves."
"Why must we disband?" asked Reflector. "How will it affect future events?"
"I do not know," Azimuth had replied. "All I can tell you is that we must."
And disband they did. From that day forward, the only Patterner Perceptor ever saw again was Astroscope; Reflector had left to join the Decepticons while Azimuth and the others had simply vanished. Perhaps now he would be able to find out where Azimuth had been all these years and what she had been doing.
Arriving at the spaceport, Perceptor found the other four members of Azimuth's assembled team: the young archaeologist he knew as Glyph, two others he didn't recognize... and Swerve.
Perceptor came very close to asking Primus to spare his spark.
Transforming from his red truck mode, Perceptor waved in greeting to his new teammates. "Hello, Glyph, Swerve. Who are these two?"
"Their names are Jolt and Livewire," said Swerve. "They aren't really scientists, just warriors to cover our backs in case things get rough."
"What could possibly be in the 'Titan' we're exploring that could attack us?"
"Anything! Nanocons, Insecticons... just about anything that infests billion-year old corpses."
"Say, when is this Azimuth person supposed to show up?" asked the black and silver fembot Livewire. "My boredom meter is going off the scales."
"Then wait no longer."
The five Autobots turned as one to see an orange-colored, slightly bulky exploration truck driving up to their position, before stopping and converting into its robot mode. As Azimuth completed her transformation, Perceptor was surprised to see how unkind time had been to her.
Her once spotless finish was now covered in stains of rust; her joints creaked slightly as they moved, as if they hadn't done so in quite some time. Her once wide, ever-watching optics were now narrowed into slits and seemed to be losing focus. Even the mere act of walking seemed to give her strain, for she used a small staff to support herself.
Perceptor knew that Azimuth was old- older than him, even- but not like this.
Catching his gaze, a weak smile crossed Azimuth's face. "Perceptor. You don't look a day older since we last met."
Perceptor frowned. "And you look a million. What's happened to you?"
Azimuth waved off the question nonchalantly with a hand. "That's irrelevant to the mission at hand. Shall we hurry along then to this Titan? I shall brief you on what there is to know along the way."
"Heck yeah!" Swerve exclaimed, thrusting his arms into the air. "This is going to be so awesome! A real life Titan. Can you imagine it, Perceptor?"
"Barely," Perceptor replied, still casting worried glances in Azimuth's direction. "After all, seeing is believing."
* * *
"Was this all you could extract?"
"It's all there was to extract, my liege," the Constructicon Scrapper said to Megatron, gesturing at the single arm and headless upper torso of a Titan. "We could dig deeper, but I don't see how the rest of him could have fit that far into the planet."
"No matter," Megatron growled. Turning to one of the Decepticon commanders standing at his side, he said, "Shockwave, I want you to conduct an investigation of the Titan's inner workings."
Shockwave's face- or lack thereof- was emotionless as always, yet his single optic managed to betray a hint of bemusement. "You want me to desecrate the corpse of our supposed ancestors."
Megatron smirked. "It's not as if you believe in the Guiding Hand and the Knights or other, as you call it, 'nonsense.'"
"Of course not," Shockwave said coldly. "I am simply surprised that you are ordering me to do this and thus want me to perform such vandalization."
"Does it truly matter in the long run?"
Shockwave fixed his singular gaze on the Decepticon leader, as if searching his expression. Finally, he said, "I suppose not."
"Then assemble a team and get to work."
With a bow, Shockwave moved off to carry out his orders. Once he was gone, Megatron turned back to Scrapper and said, "I take it you will be able to handle things from here."
The Constructicon nodded. "Yes, my liege. I will have things under control."
"I do hope so, Scrapper," Megatron said with a menacing grin. "Would I expect anything less?"
He savored the frightened expression showing through Scrapper's visor before heading back for his ship. Along the way, he sensed the approach of Turmoil without even turning to face him.
"Lord Megatron," Turmoil said. "I-"
"If you are seeking a reward for uncovering two pieces of a Titan, then you are looking in the wrong place."
"No, my liege," Turmoil muttered. "It concerns a certain elite warrior of yours."
Megatron came to a full stop and faced the Decepticon commander. "Killmaster?"
Turmoil shook his head. "Scourge."
Megatron said nothing, instead nodding for him to continue.
"I have heard... things said about him. They say that he is clever and intelligent, yes, not to mention effective in combat... but they also say that he is more likely than any of the Warriors Elite to attempt to usurp you and, perhaps, succeed. I know you've installed fail-safes into him, but what if that's not enough?"
To Turmoil's surprise, Megatron smiled. "I am one step ahead of everyone, Turmoil. Not just the Autobots, but you, Starscream, Shockwave... and Scourge."
Turmoil tilted his head. "You have an emergency fail-safe?"
"Certainly," Megatron chuckled. "Five of them."
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