CHAPTER ELEVEN
--Caminus--
"Is this everyone?"
Shockfleet shook her head as she closed the cell door on the unconscious Rodimus, Drift, and Rapid Run. "No, sir. The psychiatrists are still unaccounted for, as is the other medic. Windrazor and Eagle Eye are searching the Citadel for them."
Afterburner grunted, hands behinds his back. "They'd better make it quick. We've only got ten minutes. Has the rest of the Citadel been evacuated?"
"Yes, every Camien -- save for those in the Grand Hall -- have been vacated."
"Very good. That just leaves the Autobot ship in orbit."
"Skyscorch told me he would deal with them. I don't know what he meant by that, though...."
"Doesn't matter. I trust him to handle the situation succinctly." Afterburner started to turn towards the doorway. "I'll go get the ship prepared. Wait here for Eagle Eye and Windrazor to--"
"How could you?"
The general stopped dead in his tracks. Standing in the doorway was a white and blue mech, his fists clenched.
"Overcast," Afterburner said coolly. "You're still here? I thought you left with everyone else."
"How could you?" Overcast repeated, stepping into the room. "How could you side with those monsters?"
"The Decepticons are hardly any more monstrous than the Autobots," Afterburner replied. "Our friend Pharma is proof enough of that."
"He is the exception, not the rule. And even then, how do you justify killing your own kind?"
"If there was an easier way to be rid of these Autobots, I would have done that. As it stands, the ends justify the means. If killing a handful of our fellow Camiens is the only way to take out these Autobots, then so be it."
"But why?" Overcast asked. "Why are you killing them to begin with?"
"They are an impediment to the plan. In fact, they've already foiled a part of that plan. I couldn't risk having them do more damage."
"What plan? What are you going on about?"
"I'm sorry, Overcast, but I've already told you too much." Afterburner then deployed a gun from his hand and aimed it at Overcast's head. "You just can't learn to keep out of matters that don't concern you."
"Please," Overcast said quietly, backing away. "Don't do this."
"Believe me, I don't want to. But I have my orders."
Afterburner then pulled the trigger of the gun and shot the other Camien straight through the head. The bullet made contact with Overcast's brain module and the mech fell to the floor.
After putting his gun away, Afterburner checked his chronometer. "Well, that took up a good few minutes. Have Windrazor or Eagle Eye reported yet?"
Shockfleet checked. "No, sir."
Afterburner was silent for a moment, contemplating. Then, he said, "Tell them to break off the search."
"Are you sure?"
"The Citadel is in full lockdown, so they couldn't have gotten out. I'm sure they'll join their comrades in death when we bring it down. Yes, call them in."
The female Camien did as told before following her fellow Decepticon out the door. "How did you know the Autobots needed to be killed?"
"Pharma told me they had foiled Gigatron's operation at Garrus-16 when he brought me Fortress Maximus. I passed this along to Tarantulas, and he gave me the order to eliminate them."
"Ah." Shockfleet looked over her shoulder back at the cells. "A shame though, that Rapid Run must join them."
Afterburner sighed. "Yes, but like Overcast, she was a witness. As with Velocity and Roadmaster, I am simply not comfortable in keeping her alive with the knowledge she now has."
"I understand. So how long before detonation?"
"After we leave? A minute and thirteen seconds."
--T-minus seventy seconds--
"Okay, they're gone. Let's go."
Rung frowned as he followed Froid down the hallway. "I don't think that's going to be enough time..."
"The Grand Hall isn't far from here. We should be fine."
"Yes, but... look at us. We aren't exactly load-bearers. How are we going to carry bots as big as Roadmaster in that short amount of time?"
"When they get back, Ratchet and Sunder will help us with that."
"Speaking of which," Rung muttered as he and Froid reached the prison room. "You gave Sunder your Primal Beads when you left him to deal with those Decepticons. How exactly are they--"
"Clock is ticking, Rung," Froid said as he opened the cell holding Skids, Windblade, and Minimus Ambus. "We can talk about it later. I'll take Windblade and the little one. You take Skids."
--T-minus sixty seconds--
"Sunder? Are you quite done yet?" The Autobot trapped in Pharma's body turned around the corner to see Sunder crouched over something. "We've only got a minute left. We should go help Froid and Rung."
Sunder turned around and met the medic's gaze with empty black sockets.
"Um... can you get by okay without your optics?"
The larger mech nodded.
"Okay, good. Let's go."
Ratchet then turned and walked back down the hall with Sunder close behind, unaware of the two strange spheres the Tetrahex Ripper had been looking at.
--T-minus fifty seconds--
Nightbeat would never say he was elated when the door opened and saw Rung with Skids, but he was certainly a bit ecstatic. However, that feeling left when he realized Skids was unconscious.
"Rung! What's going on?" he called over to the therapist as he handed Skids to Chromedome. "Where have you--"
"Can't talk now," Rung replied, already turning to leave just as Froid arrived with Windblade and Minimus Ambus. "Just stay exactly where you are. Do not leave this room."
"Or else what?" Whirl asked.
"Or else you'll die," Froid said bluntly.
--T-minus forty seconds--
"Ah. I almost forgot."
Shockfleet looked at Afterburner as their shuttle left the Citadel's hangar. "Forgot what?"
"We never did hold a proper ceremony for Thunderclash. In fact, his body's still there in the morgue."
Shockfleet scoffed. "What does it matter? He's just an Autobot."
"Yes, but he was one of their best. I never did like him much, but even I think he deserves a proper remembrance." Looking out the viewport at the retreating Citadel, Afterburner started his impromptu speech. "Here lies Thunderclash, the greatest Autobot who ever died...."
--T-minus thirty seconds--
Rung and Froid had been leaving with Rodimus, Drift, and Rapid Run when Ratchet and Sunder finally rejoined them.
"All that's left are Velocity, Roadmaster, and the gray femme," Froid told them. "That should be everyone."
"What about Skyfall?" Rung asked.
"You tell me if you want to bring a Decepticon along," Froid retorted before leaving with Drift and Rapid Run.
Rung glanced at Rathcet, who said, "We might as well bring him along. I'm willing to bet there's more to him than--"
"Meets the eye," Rung finished. "Yes. I suppose that goes for a lot of us."
--T-minus twenty seconds--
In his slumber, Fortress Maximus dreamt of Garrus-9.
He dreamt of all the screaming, of all the dying, of all the despair. At Garrus-9, there was no such thing as hope. It was the same at Garrus-16, as it was at...
Shimanzi.
In his slumber, Cerebros dreamt of Shimanzi.
--T-minus ten seconds--
"And... that's everyone," Ratchet said, dropping Skyfall to the floor as the door closed behind him. He then looked up to see many faces he recognized all glaring death at him. That's when he remembered whose body he was stuck in.
"Oh. Sla--"
--T-minus zero--
Afterburner took no pleasure from watching the Citadel of Flame collapse. It had been his home for many millennia and he hated to leave it to its doom.
But he knew better things awaited him. The Citadel would be rebuilt, along with the rest of Caminus, as well as Cybertron, Velocitron, Eukaris....
The Transformer race was destined for great things. That, Afterburner had been assured of ever since he joined Tarantulas' operations. It was going to be remade into something new, something better. The Golden Age as it was now was simply a white lie fabricated by Optimus Prime. This -- along everything else Tarantulas was doing -- would make that lie a truth.
But as with everything, in order to rebuild something, you had to break it down.
Like the Citadel, the Transformers had to fall.
TO BE CONTINUED
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