CHAPTER NINE
--The Lost Light--
"This is not going to work."
"Pipe down," Red Alert hissed at Huffer as he and his group of twenty-odd Autobots inched towards the bridge, their reprogrammed Legislator lumbering ahead of them. "Besides, this was your--"
"No." Huffer raised a finger at him. "No, this was not my idea. I just did what you asked of me. I was not the one who said, 'Hey guys! Let's use this dumb big robot to take on Megatron!' No, that was all you. Paraphrasing, of course."
"I'm pretty sure they can hear us, mates," Hoist murmured. "So much for a sneak attack...."
"Doesn't matter," Red Alert grunted as they reached the door to the bridge. "Show time."
He slammed his fist on the control panel and the door flew open. The Autobots and their Legislator charged in and raised their guns at....
No one.
The bridge was empty, with no Decepticon in sight.
Bluestreak swore softly. "And here I was actually looking forward to a climatic showdown."
"This can't be right," Red Alert murmured, cautiously stepping onto the bridge and looking for any sign of the Decepticons. "They must be some sort of trick. They're hiding somewhere, aren't they?"
"Or," Hoist said, raising a finger to the viewport, "they're out there."
Red Alert and the others all looked out to see Megatron and four other Decepticons flying towards another ship. None of them seemed to be paying any heed to the Lost Light.
"Looks like they got bored waiting for us," said Sunstreaker. "We should probably leave now before they change their minds."
"Hold up," Huffer said, narrowing his optics at the viewport. "I only count five 'Cons. Weren't there six?"
Almost on cue, a gunshot sounded from down the hall. Without a word needing to be spoken, the Autobots rushed back out the door....
* * *
Dealer slowly raised his hands up as he stared at the Decepticon clone standing before him, trying hard to ignore the gun they were pointing at his face.
"Wait," he said evenly, trying not to sound fearful. "Let's... let's not get ahead of ourselves here. You don't need to shoot me."
"You're right," Archforce said. "I was actually ordered to bring you in alive. So I'm going to ask you to come quietly."
"Er, I'm afraid I can't do that. See, I've got work to--"
"Are you stupid or something?" the clone snarled. "I'm here to stop your work. That's why I have a gun on you. Obviously."
"Right, right. Of course. But are you sure you want me to stop my work? You don't even know what my work is."
"I don't need to. It doesn't change the fact that you need to come with me right now."
A smirk slowly crossed Dealer's face. "Okay. But if you don't mind, I think I'll drive."
Archforce cocked his head. "Eh?"
Without warning, Dealer morphed to his tank mode and aimed his turret at the Decepticon. Before the clone had a chance to react, he was blasted several meters away, enough to send him out of the room. Returning to his robot mode, Dealer turned back to look at Que, who was still knocked out.
"Right then," he huffed. "Time to improvise."
--The Mayhem--
"There we go," Carnivac said as he secured the last restraint onto the stasis-locked Ragnarok. "One crazy spawn of a glitch in the bag."
Standing before the tethered giant were Megatron, Shockwave, and Gigatron. The latter wore a permanent scowl on his face as he regarded Ragnarok with contempt.
"I am finding it difficult to feel triumphant over this victory," the warlord growled. "This abomination was far more trouble than he is worth. I fail to even see the point in keeping him alive."
"He is far more use to use alive than dead," Shockwave said. "Although he will require some... alterations in order to prevent further incidents."
Gigatron snorted. "That is a major understatement. So are we all set to leave?"
"We're missing a member of our party," Megatron murmured.
Shockwave glanced at him. "Who?"
"Archforce. Apparently he did not answer Soundblaster's summons with Megaplex and Megastorm."
"Then he is either dead or disobedient. Irregardless, we no longer need him for further operations."
Megatron frowned at this. "Shouldn't we go back and check? He could be injured."
Shockwave's single optic carefully regarded him as he responded. "No. There is no need to waste precious time for an insignificant soldier. Wouldn't you agree?"
Megatron opened his mouth to protest but caught himself, realizing Gigatron and Carnivac were staring at him. Carefully selecting his words, he instead said, "Yes, of course. Agreed fully."
Gigatron looked between the two strangely before turning to Carnivac. "Take us away," he ordered the Chimeracon wolf.
--The Lost Light--
Archforce groaned as he came back online. He felt a stinging pain in his chestplate which only got worse as he tried to move.
He heard voices coming from... somewhere. Shapes danced in his bleary vision, slowly assuming the form of figures. Autobots, most likely. No doubt coming to his target's aid.
He reached for his gun. Still having difficulty in seeing, he could only hope that he would hit something as he pulled the trigger....
* * *
Dealer looked up at the sound of the gunshot and subsequent cry of alarm. He looked over to see Archforce back online, propped up on his elbow, with his gun pointed at a group of Autobots, led by Red Alert.
While two bots attended to the one Archforce had shot down, Red Alert strode over to the Decepticon and slammed the butt of his gun into the clone's face, knocking him back down. He then looked back up at Dealer... and froze.
"What in Primus' name are you doing?!"
Dealer was confused at first by what the Autobot meant... until he remembered his present position: hunched over Que's unmoving body, fiddling with the extended monitor from the scientist's exposed chest. Definitely not a sight one would be used to seeing.
"It's not what it looks like," he said carefully. "Trust me."
Red Alert's optics flashed in anger. "That's it. I've just about had it with your lies, Decepti-scum. Since you've arrived, it's been one situation after another. I'm just about fed up with it."
"Believe me, I am to. But I had no idea those clones would break free, or that they were Megatron and Shockwave, or that--" He froze mid-sentence when he saw Red Alert draw his gun. His optics went wide. "N-no. You wouldn't."
"I would," Red Alert grunted. "And I will."
"Red...." one of the other Autobots called to him. "Calm down. There's no need for--"
"Don't give me that scrap, Hoist," Red Alert snapped. "You're always too trusting of bots, even when they've got a purple badge. Besides, this guy's been nothing but trouble for us; I don't see any reason why we shouldn't just offline him now."
Dealer opened his mouth, ready to protest, when he caught movement just over the white and red mech's shoulder. Archforce was stirring. The other Autobots did not seem to notice. The Decepticon clone slowly raised the gun he was still holding and leveled it at Red Alert's head. His finger started to squeeze the trigger....
"No!" Dealer cried out, launching to his feet. This action startled Red Alert and the twitchy security director fired his own gun. The blast went straight through Dealer's chest and he was instantly enveloped in blackness.
* * *
Archforce froze mid-squeeze.
He wasn't sure if he was comprehending things correctly. Did that one Autobot just shoot that other Autobot -- the one he had been sent to track down? Was he not actually an Autobot? Did the other one even mean to shoot him?
And then where did that leave him? The bot he was supposed to bring back to Megatron was dead now. What was he going to tell his leader? That an Autobot did his job for him?
Archforce sighed as he dropped his gun, already feeling useless. He didn't even care that the other Autobots were now putting restraining devices on his back and around his wrists. "Life sucks," he lamented.
"That it does, mate," said a green Autobot, pushing him away from the scene. "That it does."
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