CHAPTER EIGHT
Waiting was not a practice Starscream enjoyed. He was the type of commander who required results immediately and not just "in a few hours." And yet that was what this simple task was taking.
While Skywarp, Thundercracker, and others had succeeded in recovering Megatron's body, they had found it without a head. And now Lugnut and Blitzwing's search for what they thought was an AllSpark shard had changed to a search for their leader's head.
Starscream cursed silently to himself. The only reason he was spending this much time to find and restore Megatron, after having left him for dead over a hundred years ago, was because the Decepticon Empire was slowly falling apart under his own rule. He needed Megatron to keep it from crumbling any further while he tried to figure out a better way to control the Decepticons.
Interrupting the pro tempore Decepticon leader's thoughts, Soundwave said, "Thundercracker and the others have returned to the Nemesis, with Lord Megatron's body."
"Wonderful," Starscream said dryly. "Now to wait for Blitzwing and Lugnut to return with the rest of him."
Leaning idly against a wall, Knock Out said, "Makes you wonder how he lost his head in the first place."
Starscream glared at the red-armored medic. "Perhaps it would. But that can wait for another time... just like how I'm waiting here."
Knock Out smirked. "You could go down there yourself and make things go faster."
"Yes, I could." Starscream pivoted to fully face the red sports car. "And in the meantime, you could run things from here, spending most of the time admiring yourself in the mirror while directing the Vehicons to redecorate this ship top to bottom, bow to stern, to your liking instead of making yourself useful by assisting me in 'making things go faster.'"
Knock Out beamed. "Yes, I could." He then blinked, his face falling. "Oh. You were being sarcastic."
Starscream expressed his irritation with a facepalm. "Yes. I was."
Turning to Barricade, who was also acting idle by furling and unfurling his buzzsaw-mace, the Seeker said, "Watch over thing from here while Knock Out and I go down to ground. And the ship had better be how I left it when I get back."
Barricade smirked. "Aye aye, captain."
* * *
"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate this guy?" Ironhide muttered as he fired his arm cannons at Lugnut.
The massive Decepticon was practically absorbing the hits the Autobots threw at him and returning them with stronger attacks, mostly courtesy of his large mace.
"You think you hate him?" Sunstreaker snapped, crouched behind a toppled-over delivery truck. "His blasted mace scratched my finish! He's gonna pay for that!"
"Stop focusing on yourself and focus on the 'Con, 'Streaker!" Jazz said sharply, scoring a shot on Lugnut's right shoulder (through it didn't do much good). "And keep an eye out for collateral damage! We're risking enough as it is by showing ourselves!"
Sunstreaker scoffed. "As if I care about what the humans--"
The yellow Autobot was cut off when a missile launched from Lugnut's back impacted into the delivery truck. The resulting explosion sent him flying several meter, landing hard on his back with a bent leg.
"Isn't that what the humans call karma?" Sideswipe said with a smirk. "Or is that irony?"
Sunstreaker glared at him. "Shut up and get me to safety."
"Pathetic fools!" Lugnut bellowed, raising his mace to the sky. "You cannot hope to defeat me! With the blessing of the glorious Lord Megatron on my spark, I--"
"Ooh, speak of the devil! Look who I have here!"
His largest optic dilating, Lugnut looked up to see Blitzwing hovering over him. Raised high over the Triple Changer's head was a large piece of concrete with a metal case attached to it. Danging from that on a mess of wires was Megatron's head.
All four Autobots stared in shock. "What the spark...?" Ironhide murmured in disbelief.
The Random persona of Blitzwing cackled. "What do you think, Lugnut? Will it make a decent decoration?"
Lugnut looked as if he was about to answer but seemed to decide that he wouldn't dignify his partner's rambling. Instead, he turned back to the Autobots and converted his arm into its atomic punch position.
"It appears we have what we came here for," the large Decepticon said. "Farewell."
Out of alarm, Blitzwing switched to his Angry persona. "Wait, Lugnut! I'm not out of the--!"
Ignoring his partner, Lugnut brought his fist down.
* * *
The sight of a massive explosion reflected off of the canopy shield of the gray F-15 Eagle now approaching the city of Detroit.
Note to self, Starscream thought, never-- ever-- send Lugnut on important or covert missions.
Driving on the ground below him, Knock Out said, "Think there's anything left to salvage from this operation?"
"Hopefully enough to bring back our 'glorious' leader," Starscream said bitterly. "Drive by and see what's going on."
Revving his engine, the red sports car sped into the city while the gray jet lingered behind. Driving past frightened civilians-- who were too panicked to notice the driverless automobile-- Knock Out eventually reached a large crater. At the bottom of the pit was Lugnut, as well as four, seemingly unconscious, Autobots.
Knock Out revved his engine again to get the Decepticon brute's attention. "Any progress? Or have you just been destroying things?"
Lugnut glared at him. "We have recovered Lord Megatron's head."
"Oh? I don't see it anywhere."
"It's with Blitzwing, wherever that lunatic landed." Lugnut then jumped out of the crater and transformed into his bomber plane form. "Come. Let us find him and see to our glorious leader's restoration."
"Right," Knock Out murmured as he drove after the bomber.
* * *
Captain Fanzone stood on the edge of the large crater, Phil at his side, watching as the four robots slowly returned online and began to get back to their feet.
Watching in amazement, Phil said, "Well? Sumdac tech gone rogue or what?"
"Don't know, don't care," Fanzone said. "We need to immobilize them or something before they destroy another quarter of the city."
"That won't be necessary."
Both cops turned to see a tall, blond-haired man in a dark suit arriving at the scene, flanked by similarly-dressed men. His stone-hard face matched the cold gaze he put on Fanzone.
"Who the devil are you?" the police captain demanded.
"None of your business," the man said curtly. "You may address me as Mr. Red and nothing more."
He gestured at the fallen robots. "These mechanical beings are a matter of national security. I shall attend to them while you attend to your citizens, captain."
Fanzone regard Mr. Red skeptically. "And what about the damage done to the city? You expect me to wave a magic wand to fix it?"
"We shall cover the costs of repairs. Just let us do your job while you do yours."
Fanzone snorted. "Whatever you say, Mister whatever."
In short order, a group of rescue helicopters came to extract the four robots from the crater before loading them onto a transport plane. They then took off towards the west while Mr. Red drove away in a fancy black SUV. Fanzone watched them leave before turning back to the damaged city.
"This is why I hate machines."
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