((OOC--Don't sweat it, Blades.
))
ShorelineAstrotrain couldn't help but chuckle a little at the shared memory. One of many that existed between the two mechs since the earliest days of the war. It was good knowing that there were at least a few other Decepticons who understood the depth of commitment that Astrotrain had given to the war effort. And he them.
Astrotrain looked over at the grouping of Autobots and Decepticons with some hesitation. It brought him out of a little blissful nostalgia and back in to a reality that he wasn't sure he wanted to face.
"I don't know," Astrotrain began, trying to shrug off his apprehension as he and the other triple-changer approached the group. "I heard some comm chatter earlier. They said....eh, they said something about the Fallen being back. Being
here. I'd think somebody glitched their core if it weren't for the fact that we all stopped firing at each other. Has to be something big, right?"
And, unfortunately, the only way to get some answers as to what that something was would be to join the group and find out exactly what it was they had all seen. And, if they were right, just what in the fiery slag they hoped to do about it.
___
Undersea Outpost Scrapper was pleased to see that Long Haul took to his next task with the same degree of enthusiasm with which they had originated this project in the first place. He had expected some degree of reticence in allowing their physical forms to be manipulated in the way they were, but he hadn't been sure where it was going to come from. Scavenger was always a solid guess, but even he had shown no reluctance to put himself under the knife. Once Long Haul was complete, Bonecrusher, Hook and he himself would remain, and such reluctance was unlikely to originate from any of them. Clearly they all understood the magnitude of what they were undertaking here. Even so, they had not even reached the halfway point of this process and there was much that could--and likely would--interrupt their labors.
Onslaught's words regarding cooperation and supporting Razorclaw were all well and good, but the fact remained that Megatron was gone. The Decepticons would need an unstoppable force with which to rally behind. Razorclaw or any number of others might be able to fill that role for a time, but it was Devastator would could do so permanently. Scrapper would prefer that Devastator have been an engine of destruction that Megatron could have personally led in to the battlefield. But as that option had been ripped from his grasp, Scrapper had been forced to consider other alternatives, just as they all had.
As he set to work opening up Long Haul's internal mechanisms, Scavenger's question brought another reality to light. One that arguably overshadowed even the work they were doing to bring their gestalt to life.
"It's far too early to tell," Scrapper said, having allowed several moments to pass between Scavenger's initial question and his own response. "I'm still struggling to wrap my mind around it, honestly. It doesn't mean good things for
any of us. I know that much. The best we can do is to focus on the work we were sent down here to do. Devastator will be what ensures our position in the Decepticon ranks and, perhaps, our survival."