PROLOGUE
--Outpost Two--
"Please tell me that's the last one."
"You tell me," Oil Slick snapped as he secured the protoform capsule onto the ship. "This was your brain child, not mine. How many protoforms did you have on this station?"
Magnificus said nothing, instead letting out an irritated sigh. If there was one thing in life he hated more than anything else was being reminded of failure. And Outpost Two -- or what was left of it -- was nothing but one huge reminder.
Of course, that was the whole point, wasn't it? That was why Tarantulas had sent him back after freeing him from the Wreckers rather than keep him around at Outpost One. This was the spider's idea of a joke; his way of proving that he was the better scientist.
And, loathe Magnificus was to admit it, maybe he was right. After all, Tarantulas wasn't the one with a base in shambles.
"Did you at least clear out the room these are from?" Magnificus finally asked, gesturing to the protoforms already on the ship.
Oil Slick huffed. "Yes, it's all clear. I haven't checked Vivisector's lab though."
"I thought he had already taken out the clones when the Troobians attacked?"
"Well, all the finished clones, yeah. I don't know if he had any other spare protoforms though."
Magnificus sniffed. "Forget it. We're already full as it is. We can always come back later."
Oil Slick shuddered. "I don't ever want to come back to this place. Maybe it's because of the dead bodies everywhere, but I just get bad vibes from this hellhole."
"Just get the ship ready for take off," Magnificus said, heading down the ramp.
"Where are you going?" Oil Slick asked.
"I'm just going to check on a few things. Stay here."
Converting to his alt mode -- a black and silver half-track -- he drove out of the hangar and navigated the corpse-littered halls to the control room. Once there, he reverted back to robot mode and stepped over to the main control panel.
When the Wreckers had stormed the room, he had panicked (yet another reason for him to delete certain subroutines) and had activated something that, in other circumstances, would have been very stupid to activated. But it had been his last resort.
Of course, he had been knocked out by the Wreckers as soon as he had begun the initiation and then he had awoken at their base, the timer disabled. He just had to make sure everything was in its proper place. Once the protoforms had been delivered, he would return here and....
His mind trailed off as the CCTV footage came up. It took a few seconds for his processor to register what his optics were seeing.
The capsule was empty.
He shook his head. No, that wasn't right. Perhaps he was looking at the wrong screen; Oil Slick had mentioned the clone Vivisector had escaping. It must have been that capsule he was seeing.
...Except that clone had been in Oil Slick's lab. The cameras were showing his own quarters. He even double, triple-checked. The capsule was still empty.
He must be gone by now then, Magnificus thought. He would've taken one of the ships in the hanger and left with everyone else. What reason would he have to stay here? The only thing on the station that would have been of any worthy to him would have to be...
Before he knew it, Magnificus was back in his alt mode, racing back to the ship. In spite of himself -- in spite of everything he stood for -- he started praying to Primus that Oil Slick had gotten the ship ready.
When he got back to the hangar, the ship's thrusters were already on. Speeding up the ramp, Magnificus transformed and closed it behind him before dashing to the cockpit.
"Oil Slick! Get us out of here! Get us--"
But Oil Slick was not the one sitting in the pilot seat. Instead, a hulking red mech with purple accents sat crosslegged in the chair, tossing Oil Slick's severed head in his hands. As Magnificus stepped in, Protoform X turned his green optics to the Decepticon scientist and bared his hideous maw of razors.
"I believe you're going... my way?"
Magnificus could only scream as the ship departed from the hangar.
THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Part 2: To Please the Fools
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