CHAPTER SIX
--Clemency--
"You are being deceived."
Standing on the threshold of the Peaceful Tyranny, Tarn looked out towards the Decepticon sigil-shaped ship that stood in the distance, its violet hull looming over the graveyard of Clemency.
"How well Trannis' famous rallying cry comes to mind. But honestly, the prospect that anyone thinks they can stand against us is amusing. Since Switchblade was such a disappointment, I'm in the mood for some fun."
He then converted into his tank mode to cross the short distance between the D.J.D. and the symbol ship.
"Shall we make our entrance?"
* * *
"The D.J.D. are fast approaching," Crankcase called from his looking place-- the "eye" of the symbol ship. "It's now or never."
"Okay," Krok said. "Spinister, when I give the word, you handle the weapons, and Flywheels, you hit the rear thrusters."
"I still think we should check to make sure the thrusters are actually working," Fulcrum muttered.
"Look outside, Fulcrum," Crankcase snapped. "You think the D.J.D. are going to wait for us to make sure the thrusters are working? If they don't work, then we're dead. If they do, then we just might live. Simple as that."
"So, uh, what do we do with Sleeping Beauty here?" Misfire asked, nodding towards the mech in the command chair.
"We wake him up." Krok walked over to the unconscious captain and started shaking him violently. The mech's optics came to life and bashed Krok aside.
"We're under attack!" the awakened captain bellowed. "Revers thrusters! Fire all weapons!"
The other Scavengers took this as their cue and followed orders.
* * *
Tarn let out a surprised grunt as the Worldsweeper suddenly began to lift off. He had assumed, by the ship's derelict appearance, that it was no longer in working order. Clearly he had been wrong.
Morphing back to robot mode, he fired his double-barreled fusion cannon at the ship, blowing a small hole in the hull. In retaliation, the Worldsweeper returned fire with all of its armaments, plasma bolts from turbolasers pounding the ground.
"Prepare the Peaceful Tyranny!" Tarn ordered the others, already returning to the ship in tank form. "If it's a ship fight they want, its what they're going to get."
--Delphi--
Windblade awoke to the sound of laughter. She was not sure how long she had been out, but since she and the others were still laying on the floor of the cell block, it must not have been that long.
Standing over her and the other Autobots were two Decepticons, both generic in appearance and having a unified color scheme of black, purple, gray, and blue. One of them, with a red visor, was the first to speak.
"That was almost as fun as the last time, Sonic," the Genericon chuckled. "Too bad they aren't crying to death this time. That was the funniest part."
"Doesn't matter," the one called Sonic said, readying his gun. "They're gonna have the same fate regardless."
"Dude, that line is so cliche."
"Shut up, Boom," Sonic grunted as he aimed his gun at Windblade. That quickly turned out to be a mistake.
In an instant, Windblade was back on her feet and, with a quick slash of her blade, Sonic's weapon arm was on the floor in a pool of energon. As Sonic retreated, crying out in agony, Skids lunged at Boom, knocking his gun out of his hands before tackling him to the floor. The two wrestled for a moment until Boom finally gave up upon seeing six gun barrels aimed at his face.
Once the Autobots had thrown the pair into a cell, Windblade turned to face Ambulon. "Any idea what two Decepticons are doing here?"
Ambulon sighed. "About a week ago they came to us seeking refuge from the D.J.D. We took them in seeing as they were unarmed, traumatized, and apparently monoformers. Apparently we were wrong on all three counts."
"They must have been the cause for the virus," First Aid said. "That sonic-boom was just like the one that started the virus, except, well, without the virus."
Skids suddenly laughed out loud. "Oh, I get it! Sonic and Boom. Sonic-boom. Nice one, fellas."
"So where did Pharma get to?" Glyph asked. "Did the 'Cons get to him?"
"I don't think so," Nightbeat murmured, looking down the corridor. "I think the 'Cons gave him what he wanted."
"And what would that be?" Windblade asked.
"A diversion."
--Clemency--
"Deadheat, status report!"
The Scavengers responded with awkward silence. Originally their "captain" had been issuing generic commands that were easy to follow, but at no point had he mentioned a crew member by name. They had no idea who this Deadheat was or what role he or she had on the ship.
"Deadheat, I'm talking to you!" The captain got out of his chair and stormed towards where Flywheels sat, shaking the Duocon. "Deadheat!"
Flywheels looked at him, startled. "M-my name's not Deadheat, sir."
"Well, of course it--" The captain suddenly froze, as if slowly emerging from whatever false reality he had been in. "Wait... that's right. You can't be. Deadheat's dead...."
He stumbled back towards his chair, slumping himself into it. "My entire crew is dead. They all died in the crash."
"And we're gonna join them if we don't act fast!" Misfire cried in alarm as the D.J.D.'s sleek ship advanced towards them.
Breaking out of his stupor, the captain narrowed his optics in concentration. Finally, he gave the order no one wanted to hear: "Abandon ship."
"Say what now?!" Fulcrum exclaimed.
"You heard me," he snarled. "Get off my ship!"
Left with no other option, the Scavengers scrambled; the fliers Krok and Spinister grabbed Fulcrum and Crankcase respectively and transformed to their alt modes along with Misfire and Flywheels. They then bolted for the hole Tarn had made in the ship.
Left alone on the bridge, the captain looked towards the viewport before deactivating for good....
* * *
"I'm detecting six energy signatures abandoning the ship," Kaon informed Tarn from his station on the bridge. "The seventh one has not however."
"No doubt the captain of the ship," Tarn coolly replied. "After all, no ship must go down without its captain. A bit of poetic justice; I admire that in--"
Before he could finish, the Worldsweeper began to move, but not in the way a ship normally would. Parts began to shift and move, rotating into different positions. In short time, the ship's resemblance to the Decepticon insignia was lost as a new shape emerged from it, one which all five of the D.J.D. recognized.
For the first in a long time, Tarn was surprised. Gleefully surprised.
"My friends," he murmured, "I do believe we've hit the jackpot."
Upon his command, the Peaceful Tyranny advanced even further, straight towards the massive form of Trypticon.
Next Chapter Preview
"With all that buildup, I was expecting something big to happen."
No comments:
Post a Comment