CHAPTER THREE
Thirteen blue orbs illuminated the room as the holographic display rotated around the gathered members of the High Council. Shockwave walked through the projection, gesturing to each world as he passed by.
"Elonia... Devisiun... Tsiehshi... I will confess that I am not certain of some of the ores' properties. I was forced to abandon my studies when the Heralds of Unicron took over Cybertron." Shockwave came to a stop before his fellow Councilors. "There you have it. These are all thirteen locations of the Regenesis ores."
"Some of these worlds will be difficult getting access to," Elita-One said. "Elonia is Solstar territory and we've never been on good terms with them."
"Something also isn't adding up," Rodimus Prime said. "You've mentioned Velocitron, Caminus, and Eukaris... but what about Combatron? I thought I had heard that was the Fallen's world."
"Combatron was the name Nova Prime applied to Tsiehshi during the Expansion," Shockwave explained. "After Nova vanished, Combatron and its natives were forgotten... thus, when Ore-8 was discovered, the Combatrons had no one to turn to when the energon's destructive properties began tearing their world apart."
"I wonder why we'd never made the connection," Elita mused to herself. "Most of us remember the Atlas War that took place on Combatron... and we never detected any traces of energon."
"Tsiehshi is also already on a separate file," Rodimus noted. "Kup crash-landed there around Cycle 9389. I know that because I remember him telling that story a lot...."
"I am aware of the discrepancy," Shockwave replied. "After the Atlas War, I relocated the Ore to a neighboring planet -- Tsiehshi Two -- to prevent it from being discovered again. I would presume it was that world your fellow Autobot had ended up on."
"So how are we going to go about this?" asked Dai Atlas. "We don't have the resources to tackle all thirteen worlds at once."
"I suggest we handle the ones we have the closest relations to first," Windblade proposed. "Caminus, Eukaris, Velocitron, Devisiun... all worlds that are currently represented on the Council."
"I concur," said Obsidian. "Plus, we're already sending a team to Earth. So that's five colonies we can safely address."
Rodimus nodded. "I like it. We can send the Lost Light to Caminus, since my crew has had... experience with that world."
"The Maximals can go to Eukaris," Airazor said. "We would just need to assemble teams for Velocitron and Devisiun."
"I'm so glad you Autobots can come to a decision so quickly," Starscream said wryly. "I was worried we'd be here all day."
"If we are decided, than I suggest we start acting immediately," Shockwave said. "With the Destructons and other mysterious parties at work, I feel that we should get these ores out of their hands as soon as possible."
"For once, Shockwave," Rodimus said, "we are in agreement."
* * *
Scoop stepped into Maccadam's Old Oil House. It was the most surreal feeling in the world.
He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it seemed like no one so much as did a double take when he walked in. He hadn't been expecting them to roll out the red carpet for him or anything, but surely someone would have noticed that he wasn't dead anymore. Fistfight had informed him that the two factions had since made peace, so he wasn't startled by the sight of Autobots and Decepticons drinking together. He even managed to force a smile as Octane served him his drink.
Scanning the room, Scoop eventually saw two bots he was familiar with: Whirl and Roadbuster. He made his way over to his fellow Wreckers and took a seat at their table.
"Hey," he said carefully.
"Hey," Whirl replied. Roadbuster did not so much as look up from the datapad he was reading.
An awkward silence followed as Scoop looked between the two. Whirl then looked back at him and said, "Hey, didn't you die?"
"Didn't you have a face?" Scoop shot back.
"Touche." Whirl raised his drink to him. "Glad to have you back, man."
Scoop frowned. "Uh... aren't you the least bit curious as to why I'm back?"
Whirl shrugged. "Not really. You're, like, the fifth one to show up so far, and the Jumpstarters already gave us the gist of it. But, hey, it's still great to see you again."
"Uh, right. Thanks." Scoop looked down at his can of engex for a moment, allowing another moment of silence to pass. "So," he finally said, "what have I missed, in terms of Wrecker history?"
Whirl tapped his chin. "Let's see: Sandstorm's in jail; Impactor got out of jail and is now dead; Springer brought in a bunch of new guys and now only one of them's alive; Impactor also got his own gang but they've kinda gone their own way now. Oh, and Roadbuster's now a bookworm."
"Is he?" Scoop asked, looking over to the larger Wrecker.
"He's been reading that thing for an hour now. I don't think he's even changed the page."
"Roadbuster?" Scoop reached over to the orange and green bot, tapping his shoulder. "You okay?"
Roadbuster did not stir, keeping his head down as he stared at the datapad. Scoop leaned forward to get a glimpse of what his comrade was reading... and immediately recoiled in horror.
"Trion's Beard...."
"What?" Whirl said excitedly. "Is he lookin' at nudes?"
"No, he's...." Scoop looked around the bar before leaning in to whisper to Whirl. "He's reading Mortilusian scripture?"
"Morti-what, now? Oh, wait." Whirl snapped his claws. "Isn't that the Death God or something? I've heard Cyclonus tell a story involving him."
"Yes." Scoop grimaced. "I personally don't believe in the Guiding Hand -- I'm strictly a Primian -- but I know that even those who do believe in them see Mortilus as a figure not worthy of worship."
"Well," Whirl murmured, "Roadbuster has been known to have... issues in the past."
"The Roadbuster affair."
"Yeah. I thought he had gotten over it, but...." Whirl shot a concerned glance to his comrade, something Scoop had rarely seen from him. Slowly, he leaned forward and carefully grabbed the edge of the datapad with his claw. Without warning, Roadbuster snatched it away from him and crushed it in his hand.
"Whoa, hey!" Whirl cried out. "I was just--"
Without a word, Roadbuster shot up from his seat, knocking over the table in the process. Whirl moved to restrain him while Scoop looked around the bar for security.
Instead, he saw a purple and gold bot standing in the entrance.
"Uh, Whirl?" Scoop started to say.
"Kinda busy here!" Whirl snapped.
"I thought you said Impactor was dead."
Everything went silent as all heads turned to the violet-plated newcomer. Taking advantage of Whirl's distraction, Roadbuster pushed past him and charged towards Impactor, all of his guns deployed and primed....
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