The Energon Pub

Outside Decepticon HQ - Forest

Hound was pleasantly surprised when Skywarp didn't move. Mildly shocked, in fact. He recovered and drew back his fist for a punch, but the Seeker was faster, headbutting the autobot. Stunned for a vital astrosecond, Hounds punch went through air as the Seeker dissappeared.

He can teleport even when he's grabbed?!? Why did no-one tell me!?!?! Turning around, Hound recoiled as the seeker opened up on his, catching a laser bolt on his upper arm. He silently curses himself for his massive underestimation of his opponent...

Then Smokescreen appeared, distracting the Seeker, as Mirage's message came through. Relief and hope filled the scouts Spark. As Smokescreen distracted Skywarp, Hound shouted his acknowledgement of the Distraction Specialists advice, transformed (somewhat painfully), and changed his hologram settings, covering both he and the other Autobot in an illusory dustcloud. With Starscream and Skywarp both on their tails, they still couldn't relax.

>>Hex!! Get into the cloud, we're getting out of here!<<

Outside Decepticon HQ - Forest; Blitzwing

Blitzwing was starting to get really angry. Once again the Autobot had managed slip out of his way just in time. And not only that, Smokescreen had lived up to his name by enfulging Blitzwing with his thrice damned magnetized smoke, effectively making his optical sensors useless and hampering the effectiveness of his long range scanners. But oh no, this was far from over. Not by a longshot.

"Coward! I'll slagging crack open your cranium and pour acid waste on your lasercore!"

Transforming back into his tank mode, Blitzwing switched on his thermal tracking sensors and sped off after Smokescreen. As far as he could keep the Autobot within the range of his thermal sensors, the smoke would merely distort his infrared vision. And on this terrain, Blitzwing could move at least as fast as the sportscar. And were the trail wider he'd have been even faster. Now he was forced to drive over an occasional tree which slowed him down some but not enough for Smokescreen getting too much ahead of him.

Too bad that driving as fast as he had to, made aiming extremely tricky. The first real opportunity to take a clear shot came when Smokescreen reached Skywarp's and Hound's position. Unfortunately he had time only for a one shot at Smokescreen before Skywarp disappeared and the Autobots were again on a move. Undazed by Hound's hologram that did not even register to him as he was not relying on his optics, Blitzwing fired a salvo from his machinegun at Hound while launching a blast towards Smokescreen from his main turret, once again hoping for a direct hit or at least the explosion sending the 'bot down so he could move in for a kill.

"Lock and load."
_______________________________________________________

Outside Decepticon HQ - Forest; Thundercracker

Thundercracker sighed as Starscream run past him and tried to get up, only to tumble forwards and falling on his knees. Snarling, he turned to look at Nightraven.

"Go after him. I'll manage. He'll consider me a failure for a while but I have an excuse. You don't." He spoke, wincing. "You don't want to get on Screamer's bad side. He'll make your life a living hell. Trust me."

Outside Decepticon Headquarters - Forest

Hex continued on his course as Hellion transformed and shot off after him. In the process she fired off one of her missiles and then transformed back to her robot mode. Hex’s sensors picked up on the projectile; in response he accelerated, but it wasn’t enough. Luckily he cut it close to a nearby boulder where the missile struck sending chunks of rock and dirt through the air, unfortunately the explosion also sent Hex flying through the air end over end.

“WHOA!”

Hex transformed to robot mode in mid air. He landed awkwardly on his feet, but quickly recovered and took off running once more. Once he was on smoother ground he transformed back to vehicle mode and sped towards the end of the forest. He could hear Hound calling for him, but he was already on his way out of the forest and onto the dirt road.

He swiftly navigated onto the nearby highway nearly taking off the front end of another car before he slowed down to blend in with the traffic.

“Damned glitch! She’s got a few loose bolts nockin around in her cranium.”

After a few minutes on the highway, Hex exited and made his way to the rendezvous point. He raced up the hill they materialized on and opened a link with Mirage.

>>“Mirage! The interrogator, who was he? What did he look like?”<<

****

Nightraven watched as Thundercracker tried to get back to a full upright position. She quickly rushed to him as he fell to his knees. She reluctantly nodded in agreement to his order while she tried to help him back up against the tree.

“Alright, but you need to stay put.”

The black Seeker femme took off after Starscream into the forest. She didn’t want to disappoint Thundercraker; so she would do as he wished.

Outside Decepticon Headquarters – Forest

Hellion let out an angry scream as Hex seemingly survived her missile attack. The Autobot was a scrappy one, which would make his death all the better. Caught up in her berserker rage, Hellion took off running after the Autobot, smashing and slicing through trees and anything else that came in her way.

*

Mirage grunted as he and Blurr raced down and away from the mountain. Neither of them were exactly built with off-roading in mind. Mirage’s injuries made the drive all that much worse. He was definitely going to take an oil bath after this mission. He’d certainly earned it this time.

The spy let out a quick sigh as he received the message from Hex. He was going to have to have a long talk with this kid when they got back to base, but after he was fixed and had his oil bath. >>”Kind of busy right now Hex. Wait until after the mission is over to get the debriefing, ok?”<<

The two Autobots roared out of the forest and quickly drove onto the interstate. Mirage activated his electro-disruptor to disguise himself as a generic sedan while Blurr simply weaved in and out of traffic so fast that he doubted anyone got a good look at him.

Blurr was slowly starting to relax. It probably wasn’t a good idea, what with them still being on a mission, but he couldn’t help it. Now they were on a little more familiar territory to him, racing down a highway. It felt good to have some sort of road beneath him, even if it was such a primitive one. He easily darted between the various cars as he raced towards the rendezvous point.

*

Starscream snarled as some sort of dust cloud sprung into existence in the forest. He wasn’t going to be denied by another Autobot ploy. The seeker plunged into the cloud, spraying the area with fire from his null rays. Hopefully even a stray hit would slow down one of the Autobots long enough for him to reach them. Truly, how could such Autobots have gotten his close to their base? He was going to make sure that Soundwave took the fall for this, and maybe make Megatron look the fool as well.

Outside Decepticon Headquarters – Forest

Smokescreen continued onward through the woods as Hound surrounded them in a fake dust cloud which would hopefully obscure the Decepticons’ visual sensors. However, that didn’t seem to be the case as a blast from Blitzwing’s turret came out of nowhere and struck the ground next to the fleeing race car. The resulting explosion propelled Smokey sideways and out of Hound’s hologram, causing the diversion expert to flip over onto his roof before sliding a considerable distance into a tree.

Quickly transforming to robot mode, a scorched and battered Smokescreen struggled to a standing position. His body ached all over, but he knew that he had no time to rest if he wanted to escape with his spark intact. Looking around, Smokey located and targeted the approaching triplechanger with his shoulder-mounted launchers. He then fired two rockets at Blitzwing, or at least in the Decepticon’s general direction, given that the diversion expert’s sensors were a bit rattled.

Smokescreen then turned to look for Hound but could not find him through all of the airborne dust, real or illusionary. He remembered seeing Starscream not far behind them before the triplechanger’s explosion literally knocked him for a loop. The red and blue Autobot opened a comm line to his elusive green friend:

>>“Hound, where are you? I can’t see you or Starscream. I’m pretty banged up and my sensors are in disarray. I have no choice but to head for the bounce point! I’ll meet you there! Be careful, buddy!”<<

Smokescreen wanted to find and help Hound, but he was unable to clearly see where the scout was, not to mention his injuries were too extensive for him to continue fighting, especially with both Starscream and Blitzwing nearby. Smokey's only option was to get to safety and pray to Primus that Hound made it out okay.

Without further delay, Smokescreen took off on foot through the woods and soon emerged onto a paved roadway. He then forced his dented frame back into car mode and sped off towards the interstate. Hopefully, his battle-damaged exterior wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention from local law enforcement. The last thing Smokey needed right now was to get pulled over.

*********

Skywarp reappeared somewhere in the forest, still surrounded by the remnants of the magnetic smoke cloud. It hung onto his metal form, following him as he attempted to walk forward. Unable to see where he was going, ‘Warp walked right into a tree, banging his face plate directly on the rough bark. “Ow! That slaggin’ hurt!” Skywarp then moved away from the tree as he continued talking to himself. “I’m going to kill that fraggin’ Autobot for this if it’s the last thing I....aaaaahhh!”

Skywarp then promptly stumbled over something blue and metallic, falling face first to the ground with a loud thud. “Slaggit!” The teleporter cursed as he sat up and looked over at what he had just fallen over. As the smoke began to finally clear, 'Warp could make out Thundercracker kneeling on the ground still in a discombobulated state. “Cracker!? Is that you, ol’ buddy? What are you still doing on the ground? I’d thought you’d be up and busting Autobot craniums by now,” Skywarp said as he swatted away the last bit of smoke. “You know, I say we team up and take out Smokescreen the next time we see him. He needs to pay for what he did to us. Pay with his very spark!”

Outside Decepticon HQ - Forest

Hound begins to veer around wildly as null rays and machine gun rounds fly around him. Apparently the holographic cloud wasn't quite the daunting obstacle he'd imagined it to be: The Decepticons were just responding with greater volume of fire.

An explosion burst out of the ground to Hounds left, sending Smokescreen flying, but there was little the scout could do: He had enough problems dodging null rays. Heavy-caliber rounds and shrapnel were embedding themselves in his hide: This wasn't going so well.

Desperately, Hound fired off the last of his anti-aircraft missiles at the Seeker Commander, then drove down the hillside away from the enemy fire. He bumped off more than one tree on his way to the bottom of the cliff, but the fire seemed to be lessening. Was it possible he could actually get away?

Hound killed the hologram for now: In a pursuit it was more a giveaway than a hiding place. He gunned his engine and went full-tilt for the bounce-point, where he hoped his would be waiting for him: He didn't want to leave anyone else behind, after all this trouble.


Blitzwing

Hex

Starscream

Smokes

Outside Decepticon Headquarters - Forest

As Nightraven made her way after Starscream she saw him stop and fire on one of the Autobots. Without stopping herself she made her way deeper into the forest where she had a better chance of finding her own target. She finally spotted the form of a Transformer ahead of her and picked up her pace. As she closed the distance the Cybertronian’s form became more detailed until she finally recognized her target as Hellion.

her optics widened as she took note of the end of the tree line ahead of her sister. If Hellion didn’t stop she’d be in full view of any humans just outside of the forest area.

“Oh no.”

Nightraven ignited her thrusters and took off after Hellion. She pulled ahead of her sister and landed. As Hellion approached Nightraven noticed the angered look on her face. The black femme knew her sister was in full berserker mode and the only way to stop her was to get her full attention.

“HELLY! STOP!”

With her final word Hellion was close enough for Nightraven to land a hard slap across the berserker’s face.

“HELLY! It’s me, Nightraven.”

Outside Decepticon HQ - Forest

Starscream continued to unleash the furry of his weapons as he descended through the cloud of holographic dust. Although he was well aware that the cloud was fake it still caused the same visual problems as a real one. The Seeker Commander was determined to find the Autobot he was currently tracking, and once he found him he was looking forward to venting his frustration on his worthless hide. However, he suddenly spotted something rapidly approaching him and at the last minute Starscream arched his back and flipped backwards as Hound's anti-aircraft missile flew past him.

Once the Seeker managed to regain his position the dust cloud faded and the Autobot was no where to be seen. Starscream landed, weapons raised as he swept the area, moving from tree to tree, trying to keep himself covered. However, Hound was no where to be seen. His frustration mounted as he began to realize that his prey had eluded him and with a grunt of anger he slammed his fist into the trunk of the tree he was currently using for cover, splintering it.

He was angered that such a horrendous breach of security had been allowed to happen. Megatron's pet, Soundwave had clearly failed drastically, only confirming Starscream's mistrust. By all accounts four Autobot's had infiltrated the base, rescued the prisoner and the escaped, with their Decepticon intruders floundering like malfunctioning protoforms.

No, this would not do at all. The Autobot's had to learn that the Decepticon's were not to be trifled with, and that this world was theirs to command. A wicked smile, one hinting at dark intentions at work with in the Seeker Commanders processors, spread across his face plate as a plan began to formulate in his mind. He would show this world, and the Autobot's what the Decepticon's could do, and that they were indeed unstoppable.

However, there were more pressing concerns at the moment. These Autobot upstarts were still in the vicinity and they had to be terminated. Starscream noticed a set of tire tracks leading over a hillside, and the seeker carefully approached, hoping he had picked up his prey once more.

Outside Decepticon HQ - Forest

He had him now. In a smug certainty Blitzwing transformed into his robot mode and drew his electron scimitar. His blast had thrown Smokescreen away so forcefully that the 'bot had to be banged up and disoriented and ready to be finished off for good. This time the diversion expert would not get away. His only regret was that the impact point had been off few meters. Otherwise the mere impact wave would have knocked the Autobot into a statislock.

"It's over Autobot! Prepare to meet your maker!"

Only if it were as easy as Blitzwing had hoped. Again, Smokescreen demonstrated infuriating ability to gather his senses by standing up and almost instantly firing his last two rockets towards Blitzwing. One rocketed harmlessly past him but the other hit him directly to chest, the following explosion knocking the triplechanger over and enfulging his infrared sensors with the heat released by the explosion. While it didn't take long for Blitzwing to gather his senses, he was now covered in both aluminum foil and the magnetic smoke. And worst of all, his target was nowhere within the range of his sensors.

Frustrated and enraged, Blitzwing swung his scimitar in a wide arch, cutting down few large trees and roared out his disappointment. "Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! I will get you yet Smokescreen! Mark my words! You are living on borrowed time!"
___________________________________________________

Thundercracker had just been about to stand up when Skywarp, still enfulged in the smoke cloud tumbled over and knocked them both into the ground. Again.

"Uuuuh. Dead on hit from a circuit disruptor." Thundercracker sighed and stood up, his balance finally regained. "You know how hard it can hit you."

With a grim look on his face, Thundercracker turned to look at the direction where he could still sense weapon fire. "He will pay."

Outside Decepticon Headquarters – Forest

Hellion smirked as she approached the edge of the forest. Without the cover of the trees the little Autobot would be easy to catch. She was ready to charge out of the forest after him when some other Transformer jumped out in front of her. This one was yelling something but she wasn’t really paying any attention to her. All of her thoughts were consumed by crushing that annoying little Autobot.

The seeker did come to a stop when the other Decepticon slapped her on the face. The blow didn’t hurt her, but it was enough for her to refocus her attention and rage on her. She glared at the other femme and reared a fist back to smash her head in. At the last minute though there was a flash of familiarity. She redirected her fist at the last second. Instead of punching Nightraven her fist struck a tree right behind her, snapping it in half.

The red haze slowly began to lift from her vision as she looked at her sister. She was still coming down from the rage but she still managed to growl out at Nightraven, “Why did you stop me?”

*

The Rendezvous Point

Blurr screeched to a halt at the top of the hill that was their designated rendezvous point. He was a bit surprised but happy to see Hex there already. It wasn’t often that anyone got somewhere ahead of him. Of course, the other Autobot did have quite a head start on him. Blurr transformed and smiled at the other Autobot. “Good to see you made it back ok. Hopefully the hard part is over, now we just have to get back to base in one piece.”

“Hard part is over my aft,” Mirage muttered as he pulled up next to the other Autobots. He transformed to robot mode with some grinding of gears and metal. Yeah, he was definitely going to need some body work and an oil bath once they got back to base.

The Autobot spy glanced around, a glare forming on his face. “Where the slag are Hound and Smokescreen? I was hoping they would be here already.” He quickly opened a line to the other two Autobots. >>”Hound, Smokescreen, report! Everyone else is at the rendezvous point, where are you? Do you need back up to make it over here?”<<

Nearing the Rendezvous Point

Smokescreen raced down the interstate, weaving in and around other vehicles on the road as he made his way to the rendezvous point. Even in his battered condition, Smokey was still faster then the other human driven cars on the road. He wasn't concerned about following the speed limit, either. The diversion expert figured the quicker he got to his destination, the less likely someone would notice his battle-damaged exterior and call local authorities.

As Smokescreen made his way off the interstate and up the hillside towards the bounce point, he received a communique from Mirage. Smokey didn't feel the need to respond since he was only astroseconds away from seeing the Autobot spy in person. He would simply give his response then.

Finally reaching the top of the hill, Smokescreen pulled up to where Mirage, Blurr and Hex stood waiting for him. Smokey slowly transformed, forcing his beaten body to realign. Once he was back in robot mode, the red and blue mech acknowledged his comrades. "Sorry I'm late, guys. We were under heavy fire, and I almost got blown up by Blitzwing back there. I was forced to retreat after I lost sight of Hound during all the confusion. I'm sure he made it out okay using his holograms, but I'm not certain when he'll get here."

Rendevous Point

"No need to worry Smokes!" Hound comes rattling up the hillside, out of a copse of trees. His frame is splattered in mud, which does a fair job of covering up the various dents and bullet holes. "Had to take a slight detour to get here quickly, but at least the scenery was worth the trip. Now, if we're all ok, can we get home to check on Bumblebee?"

Outside Decepticon Headquarters - Forest

Nightraven never flinched as Hellion’s fist shot past her and struck the tree she was standing in front of. She could here the crunch of the wood as the top half of the foliage was snapped off by the force of her sister’s strike. She could tell Hellion was still enraged, but she held her ground, and when the berserker growled out at her she responded in a calm tone.

“If you kept going and left the forest you ran the risk of being spotted by the humans. If that happened our entire infiltration on this planet would have been compromised.”

She let out a heavy sigh before she continued.

“And if that happened Megatron would rip you apart himself.”

The black Seeker femme gestured back into the forest as she began to move past her sister.

“Now come on, I’m sure there are other Bots we can take care of.”

****

The Rendezvous Point

Hex watched as Blurr drove up onto the hilltop and screeched to a halt and then finally transformed. He paid no attention to what the courier was saying; instead he pushed past him in order to get to Mirage, who had just arrived. He quickly stepped in front of the spy taking in the damage he had received. A look of surprise crossed Hex’s features as he finally saw Mirage’s damaged optic and cranium.

The young mech stepped in closer to the team commander, this time a quizzical look formed on his face.

“The interrogator, he was dark purple with black accents wasn’t he? He was covered in mech fluid and smelled like death. And when you looked into his optics they seemed dead. Am I right?”

>>“Mirage. This is Optimus. What is your team’s current situation?”<<

Rendezvous Point

It seemed like the instant Mirage sent out the message both Smokescreen and Hound pulled up beside him. He looked at them in mild surprise. “Well that was prompt. I like that.” He then received the message from Optimus Prime. He waved his hand at Hex’s question. “Shush, later, when I’m not busy trying to get us back to base and away from imminent death.”

>>”Optimus, this is Mirage. Mission successful with zero casualties, but we do have some wounded. We require immediate evac back to base.”<<

A confirmation signal came back and Mirage finally smiled. “Alright everyone, get in to your robot modes and get ready to head home.” A shaft of light came out of the sky, striking all of them. It quickly began to retract back into the sky, the gathered Autobots disappearing along with it.

*

Outside Decepticon Headquarters – Forest

Hellion glanced around the forest, seeing only smoke and other Decepticons. She let out another growl. “I’m not seeing any other Autobots around,” she replied to Nightraven. With her rage still slowly fading the seeker turned around and uprooted a tree from the ground, breaking it over her knee. “They got away! Stupid, slagging, scrapping, scum-sucking…” The string of profanities continued as she stomped her way back to the base, kicking and smashing through the foliage as she went.

Outside Decepticon Headquarters - Forest

Starscream had stopped short of the forests edge as he followed the tracks left by Hound, however he found they lead to the near by human road network. His frustration flared up, but the Seeker Commander restrained himself, knowing full well that the Autobots were beyond his reach now, without risking revealing the Decepticon's presence to the humans. He turned and stalked his way back to where the rest of the 'Cons were assembled.

>>"Decepticon's, this is Starscream. We have failed to prevent the Autobot's escape. Return to base to rearm and repair."<<

After ordering the Decepticon forces outside the base back inside Starscream himself picked his way through the surrounding foliage.

Decepticon HQ

The door to the command center of the Decepticon headquarters hissed open as the grim faced Starscream entered. He stopped a few feet away from Megatron, leaving his gaze to meet that of the Decepticon leaders. For a few icy moments the Seeker locked eyes with his "master".

"They escape." Starscream said bluntly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Though I am left wondering how they were even allowed to enter our headquarters so easily. I would have figured with an individual with such skills as our vaunted Soundwave such a feat should have been near impossible." In truth even as Starscream spoke he was certain he was about to receive a dented faceplate from one of Megatron's fists. "I begin to wonder just how badly compromised our operation here is."

Outside Decepticon Headquarters – Forest

Skywarp picked himself up and began brushing off the dirt and grime that covered his elite seeker frame. The disgusting muck was hard to avoid as it seemed to permeate across this mudball of a world. “Yeah, I know how hard it can hit you,” Warp responded to Thundercracker as he continued to wipe the crud off himself. “Not as hard as I’ll hit Smokescreen the next time I see him, though. I can promise you that!”

The teleporter then received Starscream’s communication regarding the escaped Autobots. Skywarp could only shake his head in disbelief. “Well, that slaggin’ sucks! Megatron’s not gonna like this, not one bit. Screamer better wear extra armor plating when he reports back to him. Otherwise, we may be down one seeker commander.”

Skywarp moved past Thundercracker before turning his head and looking back at his long time friend. “I guess we should head in and recharge. I’ve still got a prank to play, after all.” The black and purple seeker then made his way back towards the mountain, stepping through slimy green foliage as he went.

Inside Decepticon Headquarters – Repair Bay

The door slid open and Skywarp entered the room. He quickly located a recharging station and took a seat. The damage he had sustained was minimal and nothing his internal systems couldn’t handle on their own. All the teleporter needed now was a quick recharge. Plugging himself in to the station, Skywarp sat back and felt the warm flow of energon enter his tired circuits.

Outside Decepticon Headquarters - Forest

Nightraven let out a heavy sigh as she watched Hellion uproot a large tree and break it over her knee. She wasn’t surprised by her sister’s behavior, she was always privileged to her angered outrages in some form or another. She did, however, have to catch up to her before she destroyed the base and possibly got into a confrontation with another Con.

The black Seeker femme took off after Hellion out of the forest and back into the base.

Inside Decepticon Headquarters

Nightraven trotted into the base after her sister; she increased her pace until she came up along side of the orange seeker.

“Look, I’m sorry they got away, but there’ll be other opportunities.”

She paused for a moment before she continued.

“I’ve never seen you this sore before. Which Bot was it that got under your armor?”

Inside Decepticon Headquarters – Repair Bay

Thundercracker followed Skywarp into the repair bay, staying silent thorough the journey and entering a CR chamber as fast as possible. This whole ordeal had left him brooding. Not only his own pride been badly hurt by Smokescreen, but it had happened in front of Starscream's optics and he had no doubt Megatron had seen it all as well. They had failed bad. The Autobots had escaped and Thundercracker still didn't know what their agenda had been for sure or if they had succeeded or just retreated. Although he was pretty sure that they had been here for Bumblebee and considering their sudden hasty retreat, they had propably succeeded. The question was however, how they had gotten into the base in the first place? Had Soundwave allowed it? Had this been somekind of a test by Megatron? No matter the reason, they had still failed and he was not looking for the aftermath.
_________________________________________________________

Inside Decepticon Headquarters – Interrogation Chamber

Had Blitzwing been furious before, he certainly was so now. After returning from the battle, the triplechanger had headed out to see if the 'bots had assaulted them only to distract them from another goal. While Blitzwing wasn't the brighest 'con around he certainly knew the Autobots well enough to expect that the main priority of the Autobots' had been to save Bumblebee. Darkride's immobilized wreck on the floor and no sign of his prisoner was as good indication as any that the Autobots had been behind this.

"Blasted slag faced scraplet, why didn't you call for reinforcements!" Letting out an angry growl, Blitzwing kicked Darkride's fallen form hard and opened his communications unit in order to contact Starscream who had led the Decepticon counterattack. >>"Blitzwing to Starscream. Bumblebee is gone and Darkride is in need of medical attention. Looks like we were played for fools. Further orders?"<<

Decepticon HQ - Command Center

Starscream was still waiting for Megatron to respond to him when he received the transmission from Blitzwing. He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

>>"Take him to the med bay and ensure that he revives. Then I am going to want answers as to how he allowed this entire mishap to occur."<<

Decepticon HQ - Interrogation Chamber

>>"I hear you, though I don't think the slagger deserves repairs. Blitzwing out."<< Blitzwing radioed Starscream back and reached down to grab hold of Darkride's right leg. Instead of lifting the interrogator up, Blitzwing just stood up and headed out of the interrogation chamber, unceremoniously dragging Darkride through the corridors of the Decepticon headquarters until he reached the med bay.

Once in, he took a moment to search out an empty CR chamber free of seekers and tossed Darkride in. A sinister grin rose on the triplechanger's face as he thought about the trouble Darkride was sure to get into once he got out of the chamber. The thought however was passing as he was pretty certain that he was going to get his share for the mission failure as well. Oh well, at least Starscream was there to take the brunt of Megatron's anger. Sighing, Blitzwing punched in the activation command for the CR chamber but not before making sure that Darkride would not be fully energized.

Inside Decepticon Headquarters

Hellion stomped down the hallways of the base. She had mostly come down from her rage, dropping down from berserker to just furious. The seeker always had a hard time calming down after a battle, but it was always much worse after a loss, and this was definitely a loss.

The femme turned and looked back at Nightraven. “I don’t know who the little slagger was. I’ve never seen him before. The little piece of scrap got away without a scratch! I didn’t even hit him once, just knocked him around. How am I supposed to walk away from a fight where my opponent gets away completely unharmed?!”

*

Command Center

Megatron returned Starscream’s icy gaze. He listened as the seeker commander quickly threw the blame at Soundwave for the prisoner escape. It was all so sadly predictable from him. This wasn’t to say that Soundwave had not failed on security, but the fact that so many of his troops had been kept so occupied by so few Autobots was equally, if not more embarrassing. He would have to make sure the he was aware of that fact.

“Soundwave has already discovered the source of his failure. The Autobots possessed a jamming device specially designed to hide themselves from our sensors. He has already taken the appropriate steps to negate the device’s usefulness in the future. If the Autobots attempt to use it again we will have the element of surprise on our side. If only you were as capable of salvaging something out of your own failures as he is Starscream.”

Megatron stood up and walked down from his throne, approaching Starscream menacingly. “I expect better from my warriors, especially the self professed ‘elite’ of my army.” He then brushed past the seeker, walking towards Soundwave’s station. “Fortunately I am here to turn your miserable defeat into a victory for the Decepticons.”

He stopped next to Soundwave. “Soundwave, the device was planted successfully?”

The Communications officer looked up at the Decepticon commander. He had silently listened to Starscream’s attacks and Megatron’s reply. Once again he wondered at why Megatron allowed the seeker to continue functioning. He did have some skill as a warrior, but he was far from irreplaceable. He could only hope that some day Megatron would give him the order to dismantle the annoying seeker. “Affirmative Lord Megatron.”

“Excellent. Put the image up on the main viewscreen.”

The black screen quickly lit up with an image of the Autobot’s medical bay. “We had already gotten all of the useful information we could out of the prisoner. Now that he is back in the very heart of their Earth base we can use him to do far more damage.”

Decepticon HQ, Command Center

Starscream gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to voice the quip he had resting on the tip of his tongue, he knew better then to speak it as Megatron would just respond with his fists more then likely. The Seeker Commander wasn't surprised in the slightest that Soundwave had ensured that the damage to his personal position was minimized. The stoic mech was crafty, and dangerous. Starscream had noted long ago that if/when the opportunity presented itself he should eliminate Soundwave as quickly as possible. Of course that would have to be done without looking like it was a deliberate act. Considering his targets skill at keeping his own back covered it was highly unlikely an opportunity would ever just occur.

However, that was a plot for another time. Starscream had more immediate matters to contend with. His optics were drawn to the large screen as he watched what flickered upon it. It didn't take long for him to deduce what he was seeing as he walked up to stand by Megatron, observing the screen.

"So you installed a monitoring device inside of the Autobot captive I see. Indeed Soundwave has proven his worth once again." Starscream flashed the expressionless Soundwave a cold stare before turning back to look at the screen. "So I assume by your statement Megatron that you intend to do more then just simply watch the Autobot's go about their day. We can control this Autobot, yes?"

A cruel smile spread across Starscream's faceplate as the ramifications for such possibilities began to process in his mind.

Repair Bay

Skywarp rested in the recharging station as energon filled his aching circuits. It felt good, even though it was only an energon substitute. But it would have to do since the real thing was hard to come by, especially on a backwater world like Earth. Thundercracker had already made his way to a CR chamber, saying nothing on the walk back from the battle. ‘Warp thought it was best to leave his blue friend alone. He seemed upset about how things went down. Besides, there would be plenty of time later to talk about what had happened out there. For now it was best to let things simmer down.

Skywarp was then startled by the appearance of Blitzwing as he entered the repair bay, dragging the limp body of Darkride behind him. ‘Warp sat up in his seat and watched as the triplechanger threw the interrogator into a CR chamber next to Thundercracker’s. The teleporter couldn’t help but snicker at Darkride’s misfortune. I wonder what happened, Skywarp thought, scratching his chin. Then it occurred to him that this would be the perfect time to set up his prank! It wasn’t very often that Darkride was outside his chamber, so now was ‘Warp’s chance to finally get even.

The black and purple seeker quickly unhooked himself from the recharging station and immediately left the repair bay.

Storage Depot

Skywarp entered the storage depot and quickly found two large empty buckets that would be perfect for mixing the paints he needed for the prank. The seeker placed the pails on a nearby table and then searched the room for the brightest colored paints he could find. Neon pink, yellow and green were all good choices. Once he had found the colors he was looking for, ‘Warp brought the paints to the table and began pouring them into each of the buckets. He then added a sticky adhesive to the concoctions and finally used a metal rod to mix the ingredients together into a bright, multi-colored blend.

Once he was finished, Skywarp carefully poured the two mixtures together into one larger container and then attached an electronic spray nozzle to the opening. The teleporter then grabbed a motion sensor and some wiring off another shelf before returning to the table. He lifted the container up in both arms and disappeared from the room in a flash.

Interrogation Chamber

Skywarp reappeared at the open doorway to Darkride’s chamber. The teleporter noticed that the control panel had been tampered with and the locking mechanism disabled. 'Warp stepped inside the dank and disgusting room that the interrogator called home and placed the paint-filled container down on the floor. The seeker peered around the room and saw that Bumblebee was nowhere in sight. It was all clear to him now. The battle outside had simply been a diversion so that the Autobots could rescue their precious minibot. This explained the presence of Smokescreen, their expert in diversionary tactics.

“Makes me hate that red and blue 'bot even more,” Skywarp muttered to himself as he turned back towards the doorway and looked up. There was plenty of space on the interior wall above the entrance to affix the container to. “Excellent! Well, Darkride, if you think your day has been bad so far, it’s about to get a lot worse,” Skywarp whispered to himself as he rubbed his hands together, a devilish grin spreading across his faceplate. “Let’s get started.”

Skywarp reached down and picked up the paint-filled container once again and then ignited his foot thrusters. He lifted off the ground and hovered above the doorway where he placed the container against the chamber wall with the nozzle pointing down towards the floor. He then retracted one hand, allowing a small blow torch to slide into position. Several astroseconds later, ‘Warp had securely welded the metal box above the entrance. Once that was done, he connected a wire to the electronic spray nozzle and then lowered himself back down to the ground where he quickly pulled out the small motion sensor and joined the other end of the wire to it. ‘Warp then attached the sensor to the bottom of the chamber door and activated it, being careful not to set it off prematurely.

After hiding the rest of the wire underneath the door's trim, Skywarp took a step backwards further into Darkride’s chamber and admired his masterpiece. “Not too bad if I do say so myself,” Warp smiled. All the teleporter had to do now was wait for the interrogator’s repair cycle to finish. Darkride would then return to his chamber and surely set off the motion sensor as he entered, which would in turn activate the nozzle on the underside of the container above the door. The resulting spray would drench the interrogator with a sticky, multi-colored neon paint that would hopefully adhere to him for many cycles to come.

It’s only a matter of time now, Darkride, Skywarp thought before teleporting out of the chamber.

Command Center

Megatron shook his head in answer to Starscream’s query. “We had no time to install such a device and it is likely that it would have been detected already. No, we only had time to arrange for a minor victory to compensate for the large failure that occurred.” He looked Starscream in the optics at the last bit before walking back to his throne and sitting down.

“The device has three functions. The first is what you see on the monitor screen, a simple monitoring device. The second and obvious function is as a locator signal. We have now confirmed the coordinates the prisoner gave to Darkride. We know exactly where the Autobots are.” Megatron smiled. “The third function is more sinister.”

The Decepticon leader waved a hand at Soundwave. "With a signal from Soundwave the device will explode, a blast enhanced by the fuel still inside of Bumblebee. That blast will be enough to terminate him and likely anyone in close proximity. We only need to wait until Prime places a reassuring hand on his shoulder or Prowl comes over to get a report from him or Ratchet begins to repair him and we will be able to take down two vital Autobots. Again, a minor victory, but,” he looked down at Starscream again, “a rare one for us to experience on this misbegotten mudball.”

*

Outside the Main Entrance

Hook pulled up to a stop just outside the base and transformed along with the other Constructicons, waiting for Scrapper to lead them inside. He was relieved to finally be back at base, but that relief was outweighed by an eagerness to get back to the lab. He would have to make sure that he got at least a portion of the sample he had recovered for them. With just his own personal scanners he had found some fascinating readings from it. The possible uses he could find for such an energy source were enough to almost overheat even his cerebral circuits,

Main Entrance

Scrapper drove up to the main entrance of the Decepticon base and transformed, retrieving his vital sample from his storage compartment and cradling it in his hands. He looks about as he approaches the entrance, noting wisps of smoke in the forest in the distance: A worrying sign. He keyed his comms device to the command frequency and tried to get in contact with Shockwave.

>>This is the Constructicons, returning from a successful sample retreival mission. Authorisation Code 992270473-Alpha, please open the doors and allow entrance.<<