CHAPTER SIX
--The Peaceful Tyranny--
"Tarn?" Kaon dared to take a step into Tarn's quarters, which had been blasted open during the latter's breakdown. "Is it... safe to enter?"
Standing over what now remained of his desk, Tarn growled in response. "This had better be worth my time."
"I've... I've found him, sir. Deathsaurus. I've found him."
Tarn turned to face him, optics flaring behind his mask. "Where?"
"In the Vextor system. If we leave now, we should be able to catch him in time."
Tarn was silent at first. Then, his body seemed to lose the tension it had before and his hidden face lit up. "Then let us make haste. This meeting is one I've been looking forward to for a long time."
"Yes," Kaon said with a sadistic smirk. "He's had his punishment coming for a long time."
"Oh, I'm not speaking of that. After much contemplation, I've decided that our ventures from here on out shall take a different course." Tarn briefly glanced over at the ruins of his rampage, among them the statue of Megatron. "A very different course."
--The Lost Light--
"So what's this I've been hearing about?" Getaway said to Skids as the two of them headed for the hangar. "We have a shuttle called the Rodpod?"
"Oh, right, you haven't seen it yet," Skids said. "It is truly the most horrendous display of egotism I have ever seen. Even Megatron was more subdued with things like that."
"And this guy is our captain? Why did Prime even put him in charge?"
Skids shrugged. "Search me. But hey, unless he starts decorating the entire ship in flame decals, I wouldn't worry too much about it."
The two Autobots eventually reached the hangar bay and, upon entering, Skids immediately stopped dead in his tracks and who he found waiting by the Rodpod. Standing with Rodimus, Whirl, Windblade, Nautica, Ratchet, and, surprisingly, Brainstorm, was a spindly mech baring a visor-screen for a face and thin blades for arms.
"Viral?!" Skids exclaimed. "What in Primus' holy name are you doing here?"
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you," Getaway said sheepishly. "This is, uh, who we found in that coffin. So, er, surprise?"
Skids scowled as he glared at the Decepticon. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot that face of yours again."
"I don't think your captain would appreciate it much," Viral replied coolly. "Your crewmates require my optics be in functional order if I am to guide you through Garrus-16."
'Sorry, Skids, but we do," Rodimus said. "As I've already told the others, Garrus-16 has been taken over by Decepticons and only Viral here knows what sort of... changes have been made to it."
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Getaway asked.
"No. In fact, I'm ninety-percent sure we can't," Rodimus said. "But I'd rather go into this with a bad pair of optics then none at all."
"Personally, I'd beg to differ," Windblade muttered.
"Right. So, any questions before we take off?"
"Just one, and you'd better have a good answer." Nautica jerked a thumb at Brainstorm. "Why are we bringing him along?"
"Because his knowledge on exotic weapons and tech like the Decepticons tend to use has no equal," Rodimus said. "Besides, that fake Decepticon badge could come in handy. Primus knows it's served him well these past few centuries."
"Um, right," Brainstorm muttered, avoiding any eye contact with the others.
"Great. Now then, if that's all, let's go."
--Somewhere in the Vextor system--
"The Warworld has finished refueling, my liege."
Crimson optics lit up beneath the rim of a blue helmet. The Decepticon warlord who owned them raised them to the azure mech standing before him.
"Excellent," he said quietly. "Prepare the hyper-drive for--"
"Er, there's more, my liege," Blue Bacchus said. "We've received a transmission from another Decepticon ship. The Peaceful Tyranny."
The warlord straightened himself in his throne. "The Justice Division?" he said, a smirk playing on his face. "How unexpected. Bring them up on the viewscreen."
"Yes, my liege." With a bow, Blue Bacchus left to prepare the gigantic viewscreen which filled the wall directly across from the warlord. In less than a minute, a visage resembling the Decepticon insignia filled the screen.
"Hail, Lord Deathsaurus, greatest and wisest of the First Warlords."
"Don't waste my time with your veiled attempts at flattery, Tarn. Do you think I don't know why you're calling?"
"I doubt you do."
Deathsaurus sneered. "Don't take me for a fool. I know that I'm on the List and I know that you're coming for me. It's an encounter I've been looking forward to for centuries."
Tarn simply held Deathsaurus' gaze for a moment before saying, "We shall be exiting hyperspace soon. Will you accept us as your guests?"
The warlord's scowl was suddenly replaced by a mirthless grin. "Why, of course. My humble abode is always open to fellow Decepticons. All you have to do is knock."
"Then expect us shortly."
With that, Tarn's visage vanished from the viewscreen. From behind Deathsaurus' throne appeared a white and teal mech, a feline-shaped helmet adorning his head.
"My liege, are you sure this is wise?" Leozack asked. "I have heard accounts on the D.J.D. and they are said to be among the strongest Decepticons of the empire. They may be only five, but they have the strength of hundreds."
Deathsaurus scoffed. "Fear has the tendency to stretch the truth. Legends such as the Necrobot or the Sparkeater only gain such prevalence because people fear them -- or rather, the idea of them. And so the tall tales told around fires are taken as fact and false accounts are believed to be genuine."
"But the D.J.D. are real," Leozack said.
"That they are. But seeing is believing, so until I see all five hundred of my soldiers laying dead at my feet and hear Tarn's voice speaking softly into my audio sensor as my spark's pulse slows to a stop... only then will I believe the tales."
"I see," Leozack murmured, though Deathsaurus doubt he actually did. "Shall I have the others take up position?"
"Yes, do that," the warlord said with a small smile. "After all, I did promise a warm welcome."
--Talrus--
The trip down to Talrus was, to Rodimus' relief, uneventful. Shortly before he had gathered the crew, Viral had suggested that a cloaking device by installed into the Rodpod to avoid detection. And so far, that piece of advice had yet to get them all turned into scrap. As such, Rodimus felt it safe to approach the Decepticon for more.
"We'll be touching down soon," he said to Viral. "Anything you can tell us before we step off the ship?"
"There won't be any defenses outside the facility, I can tell you that. The Decepticons inside want to have visitors or Autobots attempting to rescue their kin. It gives them more things to play with."
"So what if we were to send in an entire fleet of Autobots?" Windblade asked. "How would they be able to defend themselves?"
"What you must realize, Autobot, is that Garrus-16 is more than just a prison facility," Viral said. "I'm not sure how many if anyone in your highest ranks know the truth about it, but we Decepticons have discovered it."
"What is Garrus-16 then, if it's not just a prison facility?" Skids asked.
Viral looked away and for once, he seemed to be disturbed by what he knew. "It's a house... a house of horrors."
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