Cybertron's Outcasts; The Crash Landing

Chapter Sixteen- Battle

"Who threw a bomb at us?!" Compton seethed over the comm line.

::No one threw a bomb at you...:: Bumblebee chirped, ::One of Screamy's missiles almost hit you, but I'm convinced it didn't::

"The decepticons have retreated," Optimus said, "We will continue to the mountain."

"Alright," Compton huffed.

This is taking too long... Compton thought as he and Bulkhead waited for the other autobots to catch up.

When Optimus and Bumblebee reached them, they continued further.

-!=!-

"What in the pit is that?"

"A signal on the map... A few of them..."

"You don't say!"

"You're the one who asked."

Leocard and Joltshot, after finding nothing on the ship, were assigned monitor duty. Leocard had been dozing off when the monitor started beeping.

"What kind of signals?" The two bots jumped when their captain stepped into the room. Toxin was in a horrible mood, the deaths of the bots and the loss of the weapon had made him more disagreeable.

"Three autobot signals, sir," Joltshot said, "And one unknown signal, its not identifiable."

"What do you think that unknown may be?" Reign questioned from across the bridge, looking away from his own console.

"I'm unsure..."  Leocard said, looking at the unknown signal, marked as a triangle, moving across the map.

"Where are they heading?" Toxin asked, looking closer at the map.

"The mountain where the Fire Light crashed..." Joltshot replied, "Why would Prime send his autobots to such a random place?

"Perhaps this unknown signal is our missing bot." Toxin said, "Didn't you report that one of them wasn't there when you searched the ship?"

"Or it could be one of Hawthorn's minicons..." Leocard said, "She had two."

"They weren't accounted for either," Reign said, "We didn't see either of them, if they actually exist. We didn't see them at the meet up point when we first met the group either..."

"Should we go check it out?" Leocard questioned.

"I will attend to the issue myself," Toxin said, a smile on his face, "If the prime is there, we may have a shot to show him that we are not a force to be messed with. And they should stay away from what we are after."

"You gonna go after them yourself?" Leocard questioned, "You won't be able to take four bots on your own..."

Toxin gave Leocard a sideways, warning glare,

"Are you doubting my abilities, Leocard?" Toxin hissed.

Leocard jumped back slightly, chuckling nervously.

"N-no of course not!" Leocard defended, "I'm just suggesting that you do not go alone! Y'know, just in case the prime is there."

Toxin shook his head slightly, he knew that Leocard only wanted to go so he could say that he went face to face with prime and lived. He wouldn't allow any more of Leocard's stupid daydreams to be reality.

"Dowel and Loki," Toxin said, "You will accompany me to make sure they do not disturb the ship before we can search it."

Loki turned from his console, surprise in his eyes. He hardly ever left the ship, and when he did it wasn't for fighting. Perhaps he was just there to replace Leocard for inadvertently insulting Toxin.