CHAPTER TWO
--Caminus--
"I can't believe you'd ever want to come back here...."
"I didn't," Anode muttered as she slunk through the narrow streets of Parvus Oppidum, brushing her way past Camiens walking this way and that. "But I didn't exactly have a choice, did I? Once Moscardo's got his mind set on something, he never backs down on it. And he was pretty adamant about meeting on Caminus."
"Gee, sounds like someone I know...."
Anode bit back a ready retort. She was already getting strange looks from passerby for talking to her backpack. She kept silent as she continued her way through the desolate town. Parvus Oppidum was very much the polar opposite of the Camien capital, Magna Oppidum, and even some of the other frontier towns that neighbored it. Anode wasn't aware of any reason for such a disparity, but she didn't care enough to find out. The sooner they were off Caminus, the better.
She eventually reached the run-down shack that was the agreed-upon meeting place, located on the very edge of the town where virtually no residents were present. She knocked on the door once before it was opened by a short gray and yellow bot, leaning on a makeshift cane to make up for his missing left leg.
"About time," Moscardo grunted, an unpleasant scowl fixed on his gold face. "Come in."
Anode obliged, stepping into the derelict building while Moscardo closed the door behind her. Lug detached from her back and transformed, matching the Camien in height.
She pointed at Moscardo's missing limb. "What happened to your leg?"
"Don't ask," he muttered.
"Uh, I just did."
"Well, don't ask again," he snapped, brushing past her. "We're not here to make small talk."
"Then what are we here for?" Anode asked. "You wouldn't say when you contacted me."
"Because I didn't want the call to be intercepted." Moscardo gestured for the pair to follow him down the hall. "We're being watched."
"Watched by whom?" Lug asked.
Moscardo did not answer as he led the two to another room. Anode and Lug stepped in to find two others standing inside; both bots were people Anode was familiar with.
"Wipe-Out? Scammer?" she asked. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Same reason as you," said Scammer, leaning against the wall. "Moscardo summoned us here to meet with him. He didn't tell us why."
"Well, seeing as we're all here, I suppose I might as well cut to the chase," Moscardo said after shutting the door. "We are being hunted."
"Hunted?" Anode asked. "By whom? What for?"
"The Grand Architect. For being blacksmiths."
"Techy? You mean he's still in business? I haven't heard from him in... well, since Lug and I came back after having been missing for five hundred years."
"None of us have," Wipe-Out murmured, anxiously tapping his fingers together. "It's been radio silence from him for over a year now."
"It all started when I lost contact with Rocket last year," Scammer said. "He was serving on the Vis Vitalis when he and a bunch of other crewmembers started mysteriously dying. At first I didn't think much of it... until I found Fastshot dead on Hedonia. Rocket and I had worked with him during the Ibex job."
"But... how do you know it's Techy who's behind this?" Lug asked.
"Who else could it be?" Moscardo grunted. "Rocket and Fastshot were both formerly in the Architect's employ. Just like Anode. Just like Wipe-Out. Just like me."
"So why gather us all here?" Anode asked. "Why were you so adamant about meeting on Caminus?"
"Because the Grand Architect wouldn't dare try to cause trouble with the Camiens," said Moscardo. "Not unless he wished to invoke the ire of the Council of Worlds. We should be safe here."
"'Should' isn't exactly a full reassurance," Anode remarked. "Besides, why choose a town like Parvus for us to meet and not somewhere like the capital where the Torchbearers can be called in?"
Moscardo glared at her as he leaned on his cane. "I'm not exactly at my most... mobile at the time being."
"Why not get parts for a replacement leg?" Lug asked.
"Parvus isn't exactly high on resources," Moscardo grunted. "And before you suggest it... turning to the capital isn't exactly an option either."
Anode frowned. "Why not? I know Caminus has had a history of energon shortages, but now that Cybertron's been restored... shouldn't Parvus be as flourishing as the rest of the planet?"
Moscardo sighed. "You really don't know much about Caminus, do you? You think the capital is representative of the entire planet."
"Isn't it?" Anode asked.
Before Moscardo could reply, Lug held a hand to her audio receptor. "Hey... does anyone else hear people panicking?"
Everyone in the room went silent, allowing the sound of alarmed cries and screaming to be much more apparent. Anode eyed Moscardo as he tentatively opened the door and hobbled down the hall. The other blacksmiths followed him outside and joined him on the streets of Parvus Oppidum, where several Camiens were scrambling for shelter. It did not take long for them to see why.
Hovering in the sky above was a massive ship, shaped to resemble the Decepticon insignia. Such factionist vessels had long since been abandoned by the Decepticons from what Anode understood... which left only one individual whom she knew still utilized them.
"I guess you were wrong, Mos," she murmured. "He would dare."
"Impossible," Moscardo whispered. "There's no way he could have known we'd be here. Unless...."
Before he could finish the thought, there was a flash of light as over a dozen robots materialized in the middle of the street. Many of them were bots of a kind Anode didn't recognize -- certainly not Decepticons -- while their leader was an orange and red bot with a wide grin on his face.
"Well, would you look at that? Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."
Moscardo's mouth fell agape in shock. "Flame? But... I thought you were sent to Garrus-9!"
The red bot chuckled. "I was, but that place isn't exactly good at keeping prisoners these days. I must say, it was nice of you to gather so many blacksmiths in one place."
"How did you know we'd be here?" Scammer demanded. "And better yet, why are you hunting us? Why did you kill Rocket and Fastshot?"
Flame smirked. "Now, did I say I would be taking questions? No, I don't believe I did."
Scammer let out an enraged cry as he charged towards Flame and his entourage, ignoring Moscardo's protests. As the blue-plated blacksmith drew closer, an unfazed Flame motioned to his troopers and as one they opened fire. Anode and the others could only watch in horror as Scammer was gunned down, his ravaged body dropping dead to the ground.
"That's one down," Flame said as his party pointed their guns at the remaining blacksmiths. "Only three more to go...."
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