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Storage Room

Drag Strip smiled slightly as he watched Motormaster smash both Breakdown and Dead End together like human rag dolls for not standing up to Wildrider. For the briefest of moments, the yellow Stunticon thought he would be spared the ire of his commander, but that was not the case, of course. Drag’s smirk disappeared quickly once Motormaster began accusing him of being a whiner that was afraid of losing to the terrorist. The former racer did not agree with this assessment, but he was in no position to argue with his belligerent leader.

Things then became violent for Drag Strip, as well, with Motormaster turning towards him and kicking the front hover cart directly at him. Drag let go of the rear cart he was pulling and attempted to brace himself against the forward one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to dull the blow any as the cart slammed into him and pinned his back up against the wall. The yellow mech was then forced to listen to the latest threat from Motormaster that none of them would ever escape him. They were his forever or until they off-lined, whichever came first.

We’ll see about that, Drag Strip thought, knowing better than to ever utter words such as that aloud. The idea of leaving the Stunticons had crossed the former racer’s processor more than once as he had long since forgotten the reason he originally agreed to join this motley crew. Was it fame or fortune, who knew at this point? All Drag could say was that he now felt trapped with comrades that he considered to be lesser mechs than himself and a violent commander that would never let him leave in one piece. It was truly a no way out scenario. Some day....maybe.

Once Motormaster had ordered them all to get back to work and moved down the corridor towards the hangar, Drag Strip pushed the cart out and away from his aching frame. At least he could take comfort in knowing that Wildrider would get what’s coming to him and probably a lot worse than the rest of them had received. This thankfully had been one of the lesser punishments from the Stunticon Commander considering that none of them ended up in stasis. It was a very small victory, but the former champion would take it.

Moving the two hover carts into the storage room, Drag Strip regarded both Breakdown and Dead End with an unsympathetic look before continuing onward towards the back of the chamber. There he began unloading the energon cubes, piling them up neatly near the other stacks that were still protected by a force shield. At one point, Drag turned to look back at his two comrades who were still loitering about nearby. “I warned you guys that Wildrider would get us in trouble, and I was right. Maybe next time you’ll listen to me.”

Repair Bay

Divebomb said nothing, allowing Nightraven to have her little temper tantrum like a newly created protoform. He considered responding to her questions, but what good would it do? No answer he gave would calm her and would likely only make things worse. However, the femme did actually make a good point regarding the seekers. It was quite possible that not all of them would simply fall in line under Razorclaw’s rule even if Starscream ultimately agreed to support him. It was something to keep in mind, but the eagle-former was certain that the Predacon lord had already considered this possibility and would take the appropriate action if necessary.

Divebomb’s faceplate remained expressionless as Nightraven’s anger-filled tirade eventually subsided before she turned her attention to Skywarp and then to the CR chamber that contained Starscream. Her physical contact with the teleporter, as brief as it was, was quite telling. There were certain feelings between these two, feelings that could possibly be exploited down the line. The Predacon flier would have to be sure to alert Razorclaw of the potential regarding these two seekers. For now, however, he would simply wait until the Air Commander’s repair cycle was completed.
_________

Skywarp’s anger had not gone away any more than Nightraven’s. He understood her position completely, but he expressed it more internally than outwardly as she had just done. His attention was quickly drawn away from Divebomb as Nighty ran her hand down his arm and touched his own before moving on to Starscream’s chamber. He watched as she let out a defeated sigh, a feeling that he couldn’t help but share. However, instead of letting that feeling get to him, the prankster simply glared back over at Divebomb, a disgusted looked clearly etched across his faceplate.

“Your lord thinks he’s going to unite the Decepticons, but he’s mistaken. He’s only going to divide us further,” the teleporter warned before turning away from the eagle-former and moving alongside Nightraven. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. It was a dark time for the seekers and they needed to support each other more now than ever before. “Don’t worry, Nighty, we’ll all be fine. When Starscream finally awakens he’ll know what to do. We just need to trust in him to make the right decision.”

Repair Bay

Nightraven kept her back toward Divebomb as she studied the unconscious form of Starscream suspended in his CR chamber. There was some apprehension in that once the Aerospace Commander was back on his feet he’d collapse under the pressure of Razorclaw and his subordinates…all of them whoever they may be.

The femme let out a heavy sigh as she wrapped her arms around her waist. Her optics remained glued to the CR chamber even when she felt that Skywarp laid his hand on her shoulder. The gesture was an attempt to comfort and it seemed to help.

Nightraven nodded in agreement to Skywarp’s comment.

“I hope so, Skywarp.”

After a long moment of silence Nightraven leaned her head to the right and gently placed it on the teleporter’s shoulder. The gesture he provided previously was reassuring, but to be slightly closer meant even more.

“How much longer on his repair cycle?”

Repair Bay

Skywarp could sense the apprehension in Nightraven's vocalizer as she responded to him before she gently placed her head onto his shoulder plating. He looked over at her and smiled even though her optics remained fixated on Starscream's CR chamber. Seeing an opportunity to further comfort the distraught seeker femme, 'Warp slowly and carefully placed his entire arm around her back and held Nighty close to him. He could almost feel the sadness and despair radiate through her frame as he rubbed her opposite arm. She then asked him how much longer the Air Commander's repair cycle would last.

Without letting go of her, Skywarp leaned towards the control console just enough to see the current readings. "Doesn't look like it will be much longer. A cycle at most, maybe less." The teleporter returned his gaze to Nightraven as he then whispered to her so that no one else in the room could hear him, especially the Predacon flier who was sill mulling about nearby. "You know, Nighty, even if Screamer agrees to work with Razorclaw that doesn't mean he's given up or that it will even last. I'm sure he'll have a plan to regain control, maybe not right away, but at some point once Shockwave is taken care of Starscream will make his move and reclaim the throne. Then the seekers will be on top again. You'll see."

Skywarp hoped he was right in his assumptions. Starscream was notorious for being ruthless and cunning, but underneath he was always a true patriot to the Decepticon cause. Some considered him to be a coward, but that was just a facade to make others underestimate his real abilities. The Seeker Commander sought the same ideals that Megatron had stood for even if the endless war had made many forget why they had originally joined the Decepticons to begin with. Starscream ascending to the throne made the most sense to Skywarp, but he was also biased in that belief. The prankster didn’t believe that Screamer would immediately challenge Razorclaw to a rematch, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be one some day when the time was just right. Until then, ‘Warp would remain loyal to the Air Commander and trust that he would one day reclaim the leadership of the Decepticon Empire from those who were not worthy of the title.

Repair Bay

Nightraven let out a low sigh once her head was resting comfortably on Skywarp’s shoulder. She kept her vigil even as the teleporter gently placed his arm around her back and held her closer to him. It was a welcome sensation, especially after all that had happened. It had seemed that the past few orns were set against the Seekers as a whole, and now their own Commander had felt the blow, literally.

She leaned in closer when the black and purple Seeker gave her arm a gentle rub in an attempt to further comfort her. It was working. Skywarp didn’t hesitate answering her question concerning Starscream’s repair cycle. He leaned slightly to look at the controls without letting his hold on her falter. At his response Nightraven simply sighed. Nodding would have meant she’d have to lift her head off of his shoulder, and right now the closeness was the only thing keeping her placated.

Her optics finally moved from the form of the Seeker Commander suspended in the nurturing nanite rich fluid and up to Skywarp when the other Seeker whispered to her. His words rang true. Starscream was always ready for anything. Even if nothing went right, Starscream was still capable of pulling his aft out of the fire. Skywarp was a staunch believer in his abilities, and it seemed she was as well.

The femme Seeker offered up a forced smile but quickly turned her attention back on the chamber.

“He is rather resourceful. He always has been. Of course you know him much better than any of us on board. The three of you, Thundercracker included, have been together for hundreds, possibly thousands of vorns.”

She let her words linger for a moment before she settled in even closer to Skywarp, her right hand coming to rest on the side of his chest.

“Skywarp? Thank you. You know, for being here.”

Quarters

Hellion patiently sat and listened to Nightraven’s rantings about their current situation. At least she looked like she was listening. Her thoughts were elsewhere, trying to put together the fragments of the battle she had just been repaired from. She was used to the memory problems after a fight, but they were always a bit frustrating. How was she supposed to improve as a warrior if she couldn’t remember what had gone wrong? Of course her berserker state didn’t help matters in that case. She was never one for complicated tactics or anything. Still, it would be nice to know just so she could maybe not fall for the same trick twice.

She shook her head once her sister came stomping over to her. Apparently the ‘boyfriend’ remark had touched a live wire. She struggled to prevent a triumphant smirk from forming on her face. The warrior let her sister blow off some steam until she was finally ready to go visit Starscream and, of course, Skywarp. She left with a smack to the back of her head. “Barely felt that…” Hellion said over her shoulder as Nightraven left the room.

*

Corridors

Slipstream scowled as she got the reply from Ramjet. It looked like she was going to have to dump this dolt sooner then she thought. Apparently his head was just solid metal like everyone joked it was. No cerebral circuitry up there, just one solid head to ram into things.

>>”No, its you who misunderstand Ramjet. I cannot teleport blindly. I need to know exact coordinates or to see or know exactly where I’m going before I teleport. If I don’t have exact information I could teleport literally inside of a wall or something. I’m not about to blindly teleport out of a ship that’s who knows where, spending all sorts of energy, and end up merged with a wall.”<<

Hangar Bay

"Slaghead."

Motormaster's reference to Wildrider's own words probably went for deaf audio receptor's - for immediately after greeting the terrorist the massive Stunticon began to pour his frustrations on his psychotic underling.

The first hit was a backhand slap that sent Wildrider flying over his energon cart before crashing on the hangar floor. Before the terrorist had a chance to get up, Motormaster had already thrown the energon cart out of his way. This of course had resulted in Wildrider's work going to waste with the energon cubes falling off the cart. The psychotic Stunticon however had little time to worry about it. As Wildrider finally staggered on his feet, Motormaster was already standing next to him. The Stunticon commander's powerful digits quickly grabbed hold of the terrorist's neck and only astroseconds later Wildrider could feel being yanked off the ground and lifted high in the air by just one of Motormaster's powerful arms.

"I hear you have been busy." Motormaster growled and brought Wildrider's face closer to his own scowling visage while his actuators dug deeper into the terrorist's metal skin. "Busy sabotaging the task I gave to you and your worthless brothers!"

"Who the slag you think are?!" Motormaster's deep baritone boomed just before the notorious Decepticon ended up tossing Wildrider into his own toppled over hover cart, "I'll tell you what you are! You are nothing but pathetic little glitch who has forgotten his place! I own you! You and your fragged up brothers! And you will never be free of me."

With his optics burning malevolently, Motormaster nodded towards the mess that had sometime earlier been a pile of energon on Wildrider's hover cart. "Pick them up again. And be quick about it! We have much to do and you're going to do the most of it!"

Priority-1 Transmission from Onslaught to Razorclaw

>>"Understood. And affirmative--the Obliteration is still under my direct command. I have avoided having Blast-Off take any overt action with it, in the hopes that it escapes the attention of the Thanatos. Thus far, it's worked. But it's ready to do whatever needs done. I think.....never mind. Thunderwing's here. Now."<<

Ten Forward

Waspinator rubbed his chin and twitched his mandibles in delight at the proposition Skyjack had spoken to him about. It was interesting. If this could be official, then he could very well be an elite among the Decepticons! He would have better armor, more backup, people would actually care!

"Ehhh... Wazzpinator acczzept!" Waspinator said with a flutter of his wings.

Waspinator felt a smile come across his crooked and "Unique" face. He had much to write to his fellows about.

He could imagine it now, he could even get his own refurbishing in Razorclaw's new starship, people would actually pay him mind! He couldn't wait and for once, he actually understood where Shrapnel was coming from with anticipation.

*****

Quarters

Ramjet snickered at Slipstream's response. Somehow, the fiery personality of Slipstream made her all the more attractive to him.

Ramjet got up from his comfortable sofa and over to his terminal in his quarters. He sat down and plugged his pad up to it. A stream of access codes and terminal locations flooded the screen, to most this looked like gibberish, but Ramjet knew what he was looking for and he knew how to sift through the garbage.

With a bit of working, he found the access code for the terminal that controls the Bounce Platform and the past records of bounces. He sifted through the many files and pulled out the one that had the description of Scrapper's mission to the Korean Peninsula.

He then accessed the GPS system and began to run a location check. While he waited, he brought up the crew manifest and quickly downloaded Slipstream's profile onto it.

He heard a triumphant beep from his terminal: the location was finished triangulating.

He downloaded the two pieces of information and quickly sent the datapacket -- minus the profile, of course -- to Slipstream with a triumphant smirk.

He then walked to the couch again and sat down upon the cushioned surface.

Storage Room

"Yeah. You 'warned' us. A lotta good that did," Dead End scoffed, rubbing the back of his cranial unit. He struggled to get back to his feet, his sensors still glitching slightly after that unplanned beating from Motormaster. Of course, those beatings never really were planned, otherwise Dead End would certainly have made plans to be elsewhere when they happened....

He started to take a step forward as another sensor glitched, causing the Stunticon to pitch forward instead, hitting the wall and grasping one of the ledges to hold himself up.

"Slaggit...," Dead End grunted. "Damn him."

Bridge

“I’ve just received another response from Onslaught,” Razorclaw responded to Rampage’s inquiry about the status of the Combaticon Commander and his unit. “He has things well in hand there at the construction site and the Obliteration is still under his control. While not enough to disable the Thanatos, having the Combaticon vessel at our disposal is better than not having it at all. However, he did just inform me of a slight complication, but not one I haven’t already considered. Thunderwing is on planet and near the construction site. Where his loyalties lie is still unknown, but it is likely he is working for Shockwave considering whom he sided with when I attempted to arrest the cycloptic scientist back on Cybertron. Still, there is a possibility that he could be swayed to our favor.”

Opening another encrypted comm line to the Combaticon Commander, Razorclaw considered carefully what needed to be done:

>>”Understood, Commander Onslaught. Thunderwing presents a glitch in our plans but not one that can’t be overcome one way or another. Speak with him and determine where his loyalties lie. His support may still be with Shockwave or Thunderwing may have aspirations of his own. Either way, we will need to sway him to our side and make him see that the specialty teams are the future of the Decepticon Empire. If he is willing, I would like to speak with him in person. Be careful. As you know, Thunderwing’s power is great but still largely untested, especially in an underwater environment. Regardless, avoid a direct confrontation unless there is no other alternative. Provide me with an update once your meeting with him has concluded.”<<

Once his comm link was severed, Razorclaw turned to regard the abrasive Tantrum with a stoic expression. “Starscream will not do that. He knows the future of the Empire is at stake here. Unity is more important than further infighting. Besides, Divebomb is down in the repair bay as we speak and will bring the Seeker Commander here the moment he steps out of the CR chamber. Screamer won’t have time to rally his brethren to do anything against us.”

Razorclaw smiled at the thought of having Starscream under his command. It was imperative to bring the head Seeker into the fold if only to maintain a united front against Shockwave and his supporters. With Thunderwing now entering the fray, it was even more important to win the Air Commander’s support. Of course, the Predacon lord made no delusions regarding Starscream’s true aspirations. Razorclaw knew that even if Screamer agreed to join him, it would only be a temporary truce. Once Shockwave was unseated from his own position of command, Starscream would likely then turn on the lion-former and attempt to retake the throne for himself.

He can try, Razorclaw thought with a grin spread across his faceplate.