CHAPTER SEVEN
"What do you mean the Mausoleum's not on the scanners?"
"You can have a look for yourself, if you'd like," the spaceport technician said to an incredulous Scoop. "I've already alerted High Command of the incident. Looks like it's been ravaged by Insecticons or something."
Scoop ran a hand over his faceplate, turning back to Whirl and the transport carrying Roadbuster's remains. "Great. Just great. All of that for nothing. I knew it was too good to be true."
Whirl scratched his head, glancing between Scoop and the transport. "No offense, but... I never thought you cared for someone like Roadbuster."
"I don't." Scoop slumped against the transport. "I was just trying to prove Impactor wrong."
"Ah. Well, can't blame you there." Whirl fell silent as he watched a number of Autobots pass them as they entered the spaceport and boarded the ships being prepped to go to the colony worlds. He spotted the Lost Light nearby and saw Cyclonus, Tailgate, and other familiar faces boarding the ship.
Turning back to Scoop, Whirl said, "You know, you don't have to rejoin the Wreckers or anything. I mean, you already died which is one of the Three Ds, so unless Springer officializes you or whatever, you're still technically an ex-Wrecker. Like me."
Scoop glanced up at him. "What are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting you come with me on the Lost Light. You believe in the Knights of Cybertron, right?"
"Somewhat," Scoop said tentatively.
"Then you'll fit right in!" Whirl threw an arm around his shoulder. "Just imagine: Whirl and Scoop, ex-Wreckers in crime!"
"Don't you mean 'partners in crime?'"
"Yeah, but 'ex-Wreckers' sounds way cooler."
Scoop frowned as he looked back at the transport. "What about Roadbuster?"
"Well, I don't think Star Saber will want a corpse on-board," Whirl said. "Tell you what: We'll leave him here, hide him somewhere safe, and then maybe we can find more of that ore or some mystical artifact that can bring people back from the dead."
Scoop raised an optic ridge. "You really think there's something out there?"
Whirl shrugged. "Beats me. But anything's possible, right? I mean, just look at us."
Scoop considered this for a moment. Despite himself, he found himself warming up to the concept of embarking on a futile quest with a bunch of loony bins like Whirl. Before he knew it, he was smiling and taking Whirl's claw as his comrade helped him to his feet.
* * *
"Please tell me that's everything."
Bulkhead scratched his head as he stared at the storage closet he had been barely able to close. "Uh, I think so. Unless we've got more 'bots waiting."
Wheeljack sighed as he turned to Jetfire, who was still doing a headcount of the Earthforce crew so far. "Explain to me why we can't just take Fortress Maximus to Earth."
"Fowler doesn't want another Titan on Earth after what happened last year," Jetfire replied. "Besides, Sector Seven's already got a base up and running for us in case we needed to return."
"At least they're looking out for us," Bulkhead said. "So is that everyone?"
"Hang on, we've got one more incoming," said Sideswipe, standing at the ship's ramp as a white and blue SUV drove up. It came to a halt and transformed into a hefty bot, who threw a quick salute to her blue helm.
"Officer Strongarm, requesting permission to come aboard."
"Granted," Jetfire said. "And just in time, too. We were just about to take off. Go ahead and close us up, Sideswipe."
As Sideswipe raised the ramp, Wheeljack turned to give Strongarm a wary look.
"You don't have anything that needs to be stored away, do you?"
Strongarm blinked. "Uh, no."
Wheeljack sighed in relief. "Thank Primus. I was afraid we were gonna need a bigger ship."
As the engineer walked off, Strongarm glanced at Jetfire with a slight frown on her face.
"I really hope I chose the right ship to be on."
Jetfire chuckled. "Honestly? I'm not sure there's a 'right' one to begin with."
* * *
"Do you think anyone's gonna pick us up?"
Depth Charge said nothing as he and Fistfight floated in space, the wreckage of the Autobot Mausoleum passing them by. Fistfight couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy; he wasn't sure if it was Depth Charge or Protoform X who was in control of the body in front of him... and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.
Detecting motion, Fistfight rotated his head towards the wreckage. To his surprise, there were bots moving amidst the remains of the station. Adjusting his photo-receptors, he realized it was the Junkions, having somehow survived the Insecticons' assault.
"Bring out your dead!" one of them was saying as they drew within range of Fistfight's radio frequency. "Bring out your dead!"
"Here's one!" Another Junkion pointed to Depth Charge.
The first one, presumably the leader, made a face. "That boy ain't right. He's got two, two sparks, a-ha-ha."
A third Junkion deployed a claw-like device from his hand. "Let's cut 'er out then!"
Fistfight proceeded to watch as the Junkions tore open Depth Charge's chest and surgically removed the green spark within him, leaving behind his regular blue spark. Fistfight was still clueless as to how Depth Charge had been revived without the use of Ore-14... unless he had never been dead to begin with.
Depth Charge offered no resistance as the Junkions took a hold of his body. One of them looked to the leader with a quizzical look.
"Where do we go now?"
The leader tugged on his mustache-plate. His optics then lit up as he, as well as Fistfight, spotted a number of ships departing from Cybertron, with one headed straight their way.
"The wheel in the sky keeps on turning," Wreck-Gar said. "Don't know where we're going. Let's go."
* * *
Airachnid groaned as she crawled on the ground, energon leaking from where her lower legs had once been. Her spider legs had been torn out of her back and were scattered throughout the lair, with some having impaled a number of her Insecticon children.
Ratbat still stood in the center of the room, his blade coated in energon. Two other bots sharing his design had since joined him and were talking between each other as if no one else was present.
"These units can be easily recycled," said one Noisemaze as it held Saberhorn's head in its hand. "We can create drones that will be loyal to us, lack autonomy."
"The Emberstone will provide a useful lead for the other fragments," said the other, stepping over Ransack's eviscerated form. "What shall we do with the other Ultracons? The Constructicons and the Duocon?"
"Spare them for now. Unless they become a direct interference, we have no need to eliminate potential assets."
"Agreed. And the Arachnicon?"
Airachnid stiffened as the Noisemazes directed their attention to her. They were silent for a moment before one of them unsheathed their blades.
"She is too independent. An outlier."
"Agreed. There is no place for her in the agenda."
Her optics widened as the Noisemaze marched over to her. She made a futile effort to scramble away but the drone's swords were already at her neck. She used the last few seconds of her life to gaze upon the remains of her children before darkness engulfed her.
* * *
Although Viral had had plenty of experience with time travel, he had never had an experience quite like that one.
Even before his diagnostic report came in, he knew his Transwarp drive had been totaled. Wherever and whenever he had ended up, he would be stuck until he got his hands on another time machine. That is, if he ever did....
As he picked himself off the earthen ground, he spared a moment to survey his surroundings... and felt his frame lock up.
He recognized this world. From the green landscape to the sprawling city on the horizon to the massive tree in the distance... it may have been a century older, but he knew this world. It was Earth. Future Earth.
His suspicions were further confirmed when he looked down and saw a pair of robots gazing up at him in fear. One was white and egg-shaped, hovering off the ground, while the other was boxy and yellow with dirt-caked treads.
Viral twitched as his claws flexed involuntarily. "You...." he growled.
At once, EVE picked up WALL-E and flew away from the Decepticon. Viral was about to take pursuit until he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He turned around and let out a startled yell as he staggered back from the silver-plated robot standing before him.
The mech's build was reminiscent of a Vehicon's, with the wings of an Air model. Its red visor was the only color on its entire body... the same shade of red as the eyes of the flying vampire-like robots gathered behind the Vehicon.
"Excellent timing as always, Viral," the Vehicon said. "We were just about to start."
"F-Fearstorm?" Viral muttered. "Is that you?"
The Vehicon chuckled. "I know, I know. I lost my head last time you saw me. But I guess even people like me deserve second chances."
From behind Fearstorm, one of the vampiric robots flew over to Viral. It latched onto the Decepticon as it bared its red fangs.
"We'll just have to see if that same logic applies to you."
Viral could only scream as the energy vampire sunk its teeth into his neck....
TO BE CONTINUED
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