Cybertron's Outcasts; The Crash Landing

Chapter Twenty Three- Report

    "We're dead."
    "We are not dead."
    "Might as well be. We failed the mission again!"
    The two seekers stood anxiously in the medbay, the decepticon flitting around the damaged one.
    "What exactly did you get yourself into?" Knockout asked as he welded the crack in Shatterblade's helm.
    "The autobot wrecker practically bashed my helm in," Shatterblade hissed, attempting to brush the bright red medic away.
"You're lucky," Knockout said, examining the wound further, "If he had applied any more pressure, you could have damaged your processor."
"Can't be worse compared to what Megatron could do."
   As she said that she saw Breakdown shake his head at her, but she ignored the wrecker.
    "Bulkhead is a major pain in the aft." Breakdown mumbled.
    As he finished saying that last sentence, the two seekers' audials perked up. They could hear heavy pedesteps coming toward the medbay, they both knew who they belonged to. Megatron.
    While Starscream cowered slightly, Shatterblade shrugged Knockout off once more and stood at her full height. She didn't even flinch as the silver warlord stepped through the door into the medical bay. She didn't fear him. Not yet.
    The black seeker bowed her head slightly to Megatron. He didn't say or do anything, which was to be expected.
    "Lord Megatron," Shatterblade started, "I take full responsibility for the failure of this mission."
    Starscream looked at the other seeker in shock. When anyone failed a mission with him tagging along, they blamed him and never took responsibility. Maybe, just maybe, he could actually get along with Shatterblade; that was, if Megatron didn't dismember them.
    "My mistake was inexcusable." Shatterblade continued, "I let my guard down which cost us the mission."
    "I admire your ability to take responsibility." The warlord said simply, "Unlike some of my subordinates."
    Starscream chuckled nervously, taking a step back before the warlord spoke again.
    "However, you did not completely fail." He stated.
    Both seekers raised their optic ridges. They doubted that, maybe this was a trick? A test?
    "You may have let the autobots escape on this occasion." Megatron said, folding his arms behind his back, "But you have revealed the autobots' target. Though it is unclear, their path on this planet's terrain is unmistakable and easy to follow."
    "What are we going to do about this, Lord Megatron?" Shatterblade questioned, knowing that the answer to this question was obvious.
    "We are going to follow the autobots," The warlord said simply, "Whatever they are chasing, it must be important, they keep going back to it. I will be accompanying you this time, for you have failed in the past and you have reported that the prime was accompanying them."
    Shatterblade nodded, slightly ashamed by her constant failure. Megatron left soon after the conversation ended, telling them that they had time to prepare for the upcoming battle. Shatterblade left the medbay and made for her quarters, where she had hidden her personal weapons. But she didn't make it without being stopped.
    "Shatterblade." Starscream called after her, though she didn't turn, she acknowledged his existence.
    "What do you want, Starscream?" Shatterblade asked as the silver seeker caught up.
    "You took responsibility for the failure of the mission," Starscream stated, "Why?"
    Shatterblade shrugged.
    "It was my fault that the autobots got away," Shatterblade replied simply, "As I said, I let my guard down and got attacked. Happens more frequently than one would think."
    Starscream huffed.
    "Yes, I'm aware," Starscream seethed, "I just wanted to know why."
    Shatterblade raised her optic ridges slightly.
    "Why do you want to know?" Shatterblade asked, pushing Starscream's questions aside, "Are you really so used to bots blaming you that you don't know how to react?"
    Starscream stumbled over his word, attempting to come up with a reasonable and professional excuse. Shatterblade chuckled.
    "You need better friends, Screamy."
                                                            -!=!-
Shatterblade flew alongside Megatron and Starscream as they soared over the desert once more.
After this, the black seeker would be sure to steer clear of the sand ridden place, she didn't like it anymore. The three flight frames had started their journey farther away from their destination in order to maintain the element of surprise. Being undetectable was one of the many plus sides to being a stealth and flight frame.
It took a little while to find the path that the autobots had left, no more than an hour maybe. When they reached the cave, they flew closer to the ground, shifting back to their root modes and slamming against the earth; they sent sand flying everywhere.
Shatterblade stepped into the cave behind the two mechs. It was much colder and mustier than it was outside in the cave. The first thing that caught her eye was the long, crevice-like crash path that had been left on the floor of the cave and the rocks that had been misplaced when it had been created.
"Primus," Starscream said, "Who crashed."
"Perhaps this is what the autobots were searching for." Megatron said, stepping forward into the cave, "Follow the crash path."
The three decepticons followed the path, which Shatterblade could tell had been travelled recently. There were tire tracks and scorch marks alongside the rocky trail, which confirmed one thing, the autobots were in fact here, or had been here.
As they got closer to what they assumed was the source of the path, they heard sounds. Voices maybe? They couldn't quite discern them.
"Autobots?" Shatterblade questioned Starscream as she caught up to him.
"More than likely." Starscream said.
Before they could say anything else, Megatron held his hand up, signaling for them to stop moving. The two seekers stopped, straining their audials for sound.
"You said you saw decepticons?" A voice questioned from further down the path, none of them recognized it, not even Megatron.
"Yeah," Another said, "I've never encountered them before, but Primus they're scary!"
"I've never encountered them either. Hawthorn says that we should avoid them. What are they like?"
Wait, Hawthorn? Shatterblade knew that designation, though she would never tell Megatron or Starscream that.
"They will know what we decepticons are like soon enough," Starscream said, pointing his arm forward, "Permission to fire?"
Megatron thought for a moment, then nodded. The silver seeker smirked as he jerked his servo upward slightly, launching one of the missions attached to his wrist into the chasm in front of them. They heard shouting as the missile blew, they could feel the ground shake as it struck the ceiling.
The three decepticons entered the little room while who they assumed were the autobots were distracted. They were busy pulling each other off the floor and dodging rubble. They needed to take in their surroundings quickly before the autobots noticed their existence. The autobots, or at least a few of them, had camped out in this little room.
There were a few bits that Megatron didn't recognize, which either meant they were captives or they were more autobots. On the far side of the room, there was what looked to be a rotting drop ship of unknown origin.
"Megatron!" One of the autobots, Ratchet, yelled.
The autobots turned their helms.
::Why are you here?:: Bumblebee seethed, raising his weapons.
"Now that is the question, isn't it, autobot." Megatron questioned, "Why are you here? You have been chasing whatever is here for a while now and have been damaging my decepticons to protect it."
Shatterblade could tell that they were outnumbered, which could easily be fixed. While Megatron was conversing with the autobots, keeping them distracted, she called Soundwave for reinforcements. As Shatterblade finished the message, the autobots all looked ready to shoot at them.
"Prepare to meet your doom, autobots." Megatron seethed as a groundbridge opened behind them, a squadron of erradicons stepping through.
Shatterblade thought she heard the unrecognized bots mumble something about not being actual autobots before the cave erupted in a full on fire fight. This was going to be an interesting battle.

(Hey everybody! We're very close to the end now!
A brawl is about to take place, putting Optimus, Hawthorn and Beelzebub in danger of falling into the water and losing the ship as well as their lives!
I hope you liked the new chapter!
Love y'all!
-Smoothie)