CHAPTER TWO
--250 years ago--
This was a plan that just wasn't going to work.
He looked all around himself, feasting his optics on the horrors that surrounded him. Mechs and femmes being led into a smoking room. Metal cubes that may have once been alive being thrown into a furnace. The sounds of screaming accompanied by sickening grinding sounds....
"Name?"
Snapped back to reality, Skids looked up to see what was happening before him. A fellow Autobot captive was standing in front of him before an untidy desk. A maroon and brown Decepticon sat behind that desk, his smile very out of place with his surroundings.
"I said 'name?'" the Decepticon repeated.
The gold-plated Autobot glared at him with his cerulean blue optics, the only features on his otherwise plain faceplate. "Rev-Tone," he grumbled under his breath.
"Rev-Tone of...?"
"Rev-Tone of Upyours, Decepticreep."
"Never heard of it," the Decepticon said, still smiling his insultingly pleasant grin. He then reached behind his desk and produced a small disk-like shape.
Rev-Tone stared at the object in confusion. "What is that?"
"A mouth flower. We attach it to the roof of your mouth and sync it to your t-cog. So if you try to transform...." The Decepticon pressed a button and a long drill extended up from the disk. "It'll be the last thin you do."
"Yeah?" Rev-Tone replied. "And what if you don't have a mouth? What then?"
Another Decepticon came up behind Rev-Tone and pushed him down to the desk. The mech behind it held his grin as he brought out a drilling tool.
"We improvise."
Skids looked away as Rev-Tone screamed. Once the drilling had stopped, along with the screams, Skids risked a glance to see the Decepticon inserting the mouth-flower into the newly-made opening in Rev-Tone's faceplate.
"Welcome to Grindcore, Rev-Tone of Upyours. I hope you enjoy your stay."
While the prisoner was carried off to his cell, the Decepticon looked at Skids as the latter was pushed forward and smiled.
"Name?"
--Present--
"You sure you don't want to come with us?"
"Can't, Nightbeat," Skids said, standing in the hangar bay as he saw off the fifteen bots headed for the Necrobot's planet, following coordinates provided by an Autobot plant. "Rung wants me to stay here so he can nurse me back to proper functioning."
"That little encounter with Sunder did a number on you, did it?" Nightbeat asked.
Skids nodded, looking forlorn. "Yeah, it did. Mentally, at least. And physically, too; he was a big one, for sure."
The theoretician fell silent for a moment as he watched the others board Ultra Trion's ship. Following Chromedome, Rewind, and Swerve up the ramp was Nautica, was stopped to glance at Skids before being nudged forward by an impatient Riptide. Skids then looked back at Nightbeat, who was wearing a knowing smirk.
"What?" Skids asked, confused.
The detective shook his head. "Nothing. I hope you get well soon, Skids."
"Wait." Skids grabbed Nightbeat by the shoulder, lowering his voice to a whisper. "There's something else I wanted to tell you. Well, less tell and more show you...."
"What's up, Skids?" Nightbeat asked.
Checking to make sure no one else was watching, Skids reached behind his back and brought out a yellow briefcase. The detective nearly gasped in shock.
"Where did you...?"
"I found it on Earth -- Future Earth -- when we dropped off WALL-E. My guess is that this is what brought him to the Lost Light."
"And Rodimus doesn't...?"
"No. No one knows about this besides you and me."
Nightbeat looked at him skeptically. "So why are you giving it to me?"
Skids sighed, almost ashamedly. "Because it's been tempting me lately -- even more so now since Sunder brought my repressed memories forth. The things I can remember now... I want nothing more than to change it all. So I figure it would be better if it stayed in the hands of someone less... impulsive."
Nightbeat regarded the briefcase for a moment before taking it. "I wouldn't exactly say I wasn't impulsive... but I get your meaning. I'll see if I can get rid of it once we're there."
"Thanks. I would have done so here, but after the Sunder thing, I think these Carcerians want to keep an even more watchful eye on us."
"Can't really blame them." After putting the briefcase away, Nightbeat turned towards the ship, waving back at Skids. "So long. I hope you don't get into too much trouble while we're gone."
Skids chuckled. "Ah, you know me, Nightbeat; trouble has its way of finding me no matter what I do."
* * *
"This is a setback."
"How remarkably perceptive of you," Elitus said snidely, her feet on the conference table as she leaned back in her seat. Sentinel Major sat across from her while Magmatron stood at the window, staring at the field of stars outside.
The large beast-former sighed, his shoulders moving up and then down as he did. "Without the Enigma of Combination, we no longer have a device to fall back on in case things on Eukaris go south for us. Unless we somehow recover -- or even find a better tool -- then I am no longer confident in undertaking this endeavor."
"You seemed driven enough even before we found the Enigma," Sentinel said.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago, old friend. The treachery before my downfall was still fresh in my mind. I was being fueled purely by revenge."
"And now?"
Magmatron said nothing. Outside the window, the ship carrying Ultra Trion and fourteen others flew out of the hangar, headed for wherever the Necrobot was located. Once it had jumped to lightspeed, Elitus tutted.
"On the bright side, at least we won't have him around."
Sentinel raised an optic at her. "You've never like him, have you?"
"He's too nice for his own good. Too soft. Too... Autobot-like." She grinned slyly at him. "No offense."
Sentinel's optics narrowed. "As I understand it, you were once an Autobot yourself."
"I was, yes. But do you hear that? It's called the past tense, Sentinel, my dear. It's used for a reason."
Sentinel rolled his eyes before turning towards Magmatron who still stood in silence.
"So what do we do now? If we're no longer headed for Eukaris, then where to? We only have enough fuel for one jump...."
Magmatron slowly turned on his heel to face the other two Covenant members, a lost look in his green optics. For a moment, he said nothing, staring silently in Sentinel's direction but not directly at him. Then, without warning, he started to head out of the meeting room.
"Where are you going?" a bemused Sentinel asked.
"To my quarters," Magmatron responded curtly. "I will be back shortly. In the meantime... don't tell anyone of what's happened. If anyone asks, just tell them that Carcer is not yet ready for the jump. If they get to nosy, then have Strika or Obsidian handle them."
With that, he went out the doorway and disappeared around the corner, leaving Sentinel and Elitus alone in the room. Removing her feet from the table, Elitus got to her feet and headed out as well.
"A strange one, isn't he?"
"He's just overwhelmed by all this happening just before our next move," Sentinel said. "Anyone would be frustrated by such a setback."
"Perhaps," Elitus murmured. Stopping just at the doorway, she looked over her shoulder at the orange mech. "Although it's awfully coincidental that this all happened as soon as our 'guests' showed up."
Sentinel did not reply, not meeting her eye.
"Just food for thought," Elitus said before exiting, leaving the would-be Prime to himself.
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