𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 [𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏

Over the next few days, Stormrunner attended to her duties upon the ship with Atlas never leaving her side. She helped Knockout in the medbay and went on patrols with Dreadwing.

The lieutenant found that going on patrols with the SIC was actually quite relaxing. They normally don't talk as they fly, observing the ground below. Stormrunner was just fine with that. But when they did talk, they normally just talked about life back on Cybertron, before the war started.

"Where are you from?" Stormrunner asked. "From the looks of it, I'd say Vos."

"You are correct," Dreadwing replied. "I and my twin were seekers." Silence befell for a few seconds. "And you," he began, "are from the sub-surface levels."

"Indeed," Stormrunner confirmed. "How'd you know?"

"I overheard you speaking to that cyber-dog of yours. I recognized the dialect you were speaking was one of the sub-surface languages. Other than that, there's nothing about you that screams that you're from there."

Stormrunner chortled. "I try my best not to be associated with it. I learned some southern languages, such as Kaonian, to stop speaking the sub-surface dialect. But Atlas only knows commands in it, so I'm am still forced to speak it."

"Being from there is nothing to be ashamed about," Dreadwing said, causing Stormrunner to scoff. "Some of the Decepticon's greatest warriors are from there."

"Bots from the sub-surface are vicious, under controllable animals whose sole purpose in life is to cause pain and destruction."

"Are you not the same way a little inside?" Dreadwing pointed out, and she didn't try and argue with him. After all, he was right.

~

When they returned to the Nemesis, Stormrunner found her loyal cyber-dog waiting patiently for her and Dreadwing on the flight deck. A large group of vehicons assembled on it, all taking off when they landed.

Stormrunner transformed back to her bi-pedal mode. "What's going on?"

Dreadwing only shrugged.

~

Upon entering the brig, Stormrunner looked over at one of the monitors, seeing a Decepticon location beacon. 'A location beacon? Another Decepticon has arrived on here?'

She moved a little closer to see the coordinates of the beacon, considering whether or not to go. Finally, she decided against it. She had barely gotten away with sneaking off the Nemesis to watch the fight between Hardshell and Wheeljack, so she couldn't risk going off the ship again without permission.

Stormrunner instead went to the flight deck, waiting for the vehicons and the new Decepticon to turn up.

~

[Time skip: a few hours later]

Stormrunner and Atlas went to the brig, mustering courage as she approached Megatron. "Lord Megatron."

The leader of the Decepticons turned to face her. "What is it?"

"It has been quite a while, and the vehicons have not come back yet. May I go with Atlas to investigate?"

"Very well," Megatron said before turning back. Stormrunner walked back to the flight deck, jumping up and transforming, Atlas leaping up and landing on her back.

~

The first thing Stormrunner saw when she arrived at the coordinates she saw on the monitors, was a raging inferno consisting of blue flames. She cursed.'Someone ignited spilled energon...'

The Decepticon transformed, and went up onto a large rock, overlooking the blue-flamed fire. A large metallic pod laid a few yards away from it.

"Atlas, go and search around for any clues that showed where the Cybertronian inside the pod or where the vehicons went," She commanded, and the cyber-dog spirited away, searching for clues but careful to avoid the blue fire.

Stormrunner knew what happened to the vehicons almost for certain, surveying the fire from above. 'They probably got incinerated. But who lit the fire? Did one of the vehicon's blasts hit the spilled energon? They knew not to be that careless...'

Atlas came back to Stormrunner, signaling for her to follow it.

Atlas led her to a patch of the forest that was near the blue inferno. Stormrunner could see the indentations on the ground. 'Most likely pedsteps...'

"Scan it to figure out what it is," Stormrunner commanded Atlas, who did as ordered.

A few seconds after that, a holographic projection appeared on the ground in front of Atlas and Stormrunner. The Decepticon leaned a little closer to read.

Stormrunner sighed. All it read was that it was pedsteps and that it couldn't figure out who it belonged to.

'They probably belonged to the vehicons,' Stormrunner thought as she walked away from the pedsteps, her cyber-dog on her heels.

"Come on, Atlas. Let's go." 

++