5. AN ARMY DIVIDED
--Six months ago--
A swift kick sent a piece of rubble flying through the sky. A blast from the kicker's gun vaporized the debris before it could even touch the ground. The kicker then did the same to another chunk of ruble. Then another. Then another.
"What's the matter, Blitz'? This place not desolate enough for you?"
Blitzwing whirled around to face Barricade, who was accompanied by Thundercracker and Skywarp. Scowling, the Triple Changer said, "It doesn't make sense! All of the other cities were made shiny and brand new! Why does Kaon get the short end?"
"Kaon has never been a glittering jewel of a city like Iacon or Rodion," Thundercracker pointed out. "It's always been Cybertron's exhaust port."
"That's no excuse for looking like scrap," Skywarp muttered. "I still say Vector Sigma was biased towards the Autobots."
"It's a frikkin' computer!" Thundercracker snapped. "It's been asleep for eons! It doesn't even know what an Autobot or Decepticon is!"
"A break. I need one. Give it to me."
Thundercracker rolled his eyes but said nothing. As he and the other two watched Blitzwing kick and obliterate more debris, Barricade said, "Say, where's Lugnut? Aren't the two of you always together or something?"
Blitzwing switched his face to his "Icy" persona. "I have not seen him since Cybertron's restoration. My guess is that he's clinging onto the futile belief that Megatron is still alive and has left in search of him."
"What an idiot," Skywarp scoffed. "Not that that should come as a surprise."
Thundercracker muttered something under his breath about a pot and a kettle, but his brother Seeker did not hear him. Barricade found a slab of metal to sit on and made himself comfortable.
"So," he said, "I guess Starscream's back in charge again."
Blitzwing returned to his default "Angry" persona and chucked a rock in the air, letting it crash in the distance. "I can't believe we let that slagger back in control! Have we all forgotten how poorly he ran things before Megatron returned?!"
"Oh, I'm sure we haven't forgotten," Barricade said. "But at this point, with us having lost the war and Megatron being dead, we could have a petro-rabbit leading us now and it wouldn't make a jot of difference. The war is over and we lost. Let Starscream do what he wants; I'm done."
Skywarp stared at him, aghast. "You're giving up?"
"What's there to give up on? What part of 'we lost the war' did you not get?"
"Just because the Autobots say it's over doesn't mean we still can't fight! We are still Decepticons to the core and we shall not give up!"
"Fine," Barricade said flippantly. "Do what you will, but count me out of it."
Skywarp stormed up to him and jabbed a finger at the Decepticon logo on Barricade's chest. "Are you one of us or not? If you're not gonna fight for our cause, then you might as well be an Autobot."
Barricade glared at him. "I'd sooner go without a badge than take up theirs."
In response, Skywarp swiped at Barricade's chest and scratched away most of his insignia. As Barricade gave him a withering glare, the Seeker sneered back at him.
"If that's the case," the black jet said darkly, "feel free to get lost."
Wordlessly, Barricade got up to his feet and, after giving Skywarp one last nasty look, converted to his alt mode and drove off. Once he was gone, Thundercracker stormed up to his brother and grabbed him by the shoulder.
"What was that all about?" he bellowed. "He hadn't done anything to deserve that!"
"He questioned the Decepticon cause!" Skywarp snapped. "He didn't deserve to wear that badge anymore!"
"You're starting to sound like Lugnut," Thundercracker muttered. "He had a point, you know. There's nothing left to fight for anymore. There's no need for pointless violence."
"Not you too. I could handle Knock Out leaving, 'cause who gives a frag about him. But you and Barricade have been true Decepticon from the start. Now you're just gonna let the Autobots have their way?"
"Four thousand years, Skywarp. For four thousand years have we been fighting for control. And we lost each and every time. Call me superstitious, but I see that as some sort of sign."
"I see it as incentive to keep fighting," Skywarp bit back. "The Autobots can't maintain a society made of different factions forever. It's time we showed them why that is."
Thundercracker shook his head. "Whatever. Like Barricade said: Do all the slag you want, but don't expect me to join in."
Skywarp blinked. "Wait... you're leaving too?"
"I don't want to be around when the riots start. I've had enough of the violence."
"But... but we're Seekers! Brothers! We always stick together!"
"Where are the others then? I don't see Starscream or Slipstream or Ramjet. Do you expect them to be part of your little movement?"
Skywarp's mouth was open, but no words came from it. Not expecting a reply of any sort, Thundercracker turned on his heel and morphed to his jet mode. His fellow Seeker did not even try to stop him.
As the blue jet slowly became a barely visible dot in the sky, Skywarp looked at Blitzwing, who was still throwing and blasting rubble.
"A fat load of help you were."
Blitzwing looked back at him with his "Random" face and simply cackled.
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