EDITED 11/6/2017 Changed/fixed the dating of the Battle of Animatron.
CHAPTER FOUR
"We have to rescue Swoop."
The moment Grimlock had said this, Primal Major snorted. "Commit suicide, you mean. The Predacons' fortress is heavily guarded and they outnumber us greatly. Face it, pal; your friend is as good as dead."
Grimlock snarled as he stormed up to him. "Swoop is fellow Autobot, I'll have you know. Just like you and me."
Primal shook his head. "No, not like me. I severed my ties with the Autobots when we crashed here over eighty years ago and no help was sent to find us."
"Probably because no one knew you crashed. Or they thought you died."
Primal shrugged. "Probably just as well. I was starting to lose faith in Optimus Prime anyway."
Grimlock grunted. "Least we can agree on one thing."
"Either way, Primal's right," Leo Prime said. "It would be suicide for you to storm the Predacons' fortress, even with our help. And by the time you'd get there, it would be too late to save your friend."
"How so?"
"Anyone who is captured by the Predacons is altered to be loyal to them," Primal said. "I'm afraid Swoop is now one of them."
"All the more reason to save him then," Grimlock said. Turning to the other Dynobots- or Dinobots, rather, given their new beast forms- he growled, "Come on, let's go."
"Are you out of your mind?" Leo Prime exclaimed. "You'll get incinerated before you're within ten feet of the fortress!"
Grimlock grinned behind his mouthplate. "Not unless we pretend to be Predacons."
* * *
"You have better made some progress."
"Why of course, Lord Divebomb," Ripclaw said as she led the Predacon councilor and one of his guards to her lab. "Have I not proven my capabilities with the other two subjects?"
"I seem to recall them being unconscious when I last saw them," Divebomb muttered.
Ripclaw glared at him from the corner of her eye. "Well, this one should still be awake."
Sure enough, as the three Predacons entered the room, they found the Dinobot Swoop laying in his cage, weak but still conscious. He lifted his gaze up to his visitors and reeled back when he saw Divebomb.
"You," he growled.
Divebomb smirked. "Me. It's been a while, hasn't it, Swoop?"
"Not long enough."
The Predacon Councilor chuckled. "To some one of your caliber, it probably isn't."
Ripclaw glanced between them. "This some sort of a reunion?"
Divebomb waved a dismissive hand. "I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say Swoop and I used to be comrades until a little... spat."
"And then you took my name as your own," Swoop muttered.
"Again, details, details." Divebomb then grinned wickedly. "Anyway, how are you enjoying your stay so far?"
Swoop growled as he clutched the bars of his cage with his wing-like arms, rattling them. "When I get out of here, I'm gonna tear your spark out!"
Divebomb chuckled. "My, that's not very Autobot-like at all. Ripclaw, I believe one last jolt will do the trick."
Ripclaw grinned savagely as she brought out a sparking baton and prodded Swoop with it, knocking the Dinobot out unconscious.
"He should be awake in half a mega-cycle," Ripclaw then said. "In the meantime, I shall try to get the other two to wake up."
"See to it that you do," Divebomb said as he and his guard turned to leave the lab. "The others are not as forgiving of mistakes as I am."
* * *
"You realize that they're walking to their deaths."
Leo Prime sighed. "I'm sure they're just as aware of that as we are, Backstop," he said to the Maximal elder. "However, we cannot control them any more than we can control the setting sun. It is not for us to decide their fates."
"The least we could do is help them," Knockdown muttered.
"And get killed in the fray as well?" Leo snapped at the younger Maximal. "I didn't spend all these centuries building a rebellion just to throw it away now."
"We're not much of a rebellion though, are we?" Primal said. "We sit around in a cave while the Predacons terrorize the villages. If the Autobots had used a similar strategy during either Great War, the Decepticons would be in control of Cybertron."
"Thankfully, we're not the Autobots," Leo Prime retorted. "And this is not Cybertron. This is our home, and we will fight for it."
Primal shook his head. "You can't call this fighting. More like sitting on our afterburners, waiting for Matrix Day."
Leo Prime glared at him. "Just a few minutes ago, you were telling Grimlock that his rescue mission was suicide."
"And maybe it is. But perhaps it doesn't necessarily mean it's unreasonable."
The Maximal leader snorted. "Spoken like a true Autobot. You haven't abandoned your roots like you claim, Primal Major."
"Perhaps that's for the best," Primal muttered. "Because I don't think we'll get anywhere with your mindset."
Leo Prime stepped forward, his emerald eyes blazing. "You're insinuating something, aren't you? You're suggesting a change in leadership."
"Not at the moment," Primal said. "But it may become necessary eventually."
Leo's eyes bore into Primal's. After a moment, the Maximal leader said, "We shall see," before turning on his heels and striding away, heading deeper into the cave.
Primal stood in silence with Backstop and Knockdown until the elder said, "You know, the last thing we need is a division between ourselves."
Primal sighed. "I know."
"Arguing with the Prime won't-"
"I know," Primal snapped. "It's just that... when I told Grimlock that I wasn't fond of Optimus Prime's leadership, I was also thinking of the ones before him: Zeta, Sentinel, Guardian...."
"And?"
"...And I feel like Leo combines the worst attributes of all of them."
Backstop tilted his head. "Even so, he is the one who formed this rebellion and thus the one to lead it."
"That may have been true a millennia ago," Primal muttered. "But now... now, I'm not so sure."
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