The Decepticon Rookie

The Diversion

The Decepticon rookie thought to himself deeply on the words Barricade told him before. All of his career under Starscream's training has led him to believe that Megatron abandoned the Decepticons from his hatred of Optimus Prime.

It seemed that someone was obviously lying. Whether it'd be Barricade or Starscream. Possibly even both. However, the rookie's loyalties still lied with Starscream, despite the seed of doubt placed by the Decepticon enforcer, Barricade.

The rookie had taken a drive to clear his mind when Barricade called him through the comms. "I got a job for you, rookie. Are ya up for it, or are you still raw about me hitting you?"

"Decepticons don't fear pain, Barricade. What do you want?" The rookie responded flatly.

"That's what I like to hear! I tracked an Autobot to this human town of 'Tranquility', and I'm sure he has info we need. But like a typical auto-byte, he's hiding. We need to find him." Barricade informed as he transformed. "Follow me."

The rookie transformed in suit and followed Barricade to the specified location in both of their radars. It was a desolate mall that still had a few cars in the parking lot. The rookie transformed into bipedal mode, followed by Barricade. "What do you want me to do?" He asked the veteran Decepticon.

"You've got options, rookie. If you scan the cars, you can maintain cover and get the job done easier. Also, the forms you scan can be stored in your memory database for later use. Of course if you wanna be a tough guy, you could destroy all of them." Barricade before turning away and scanning cars on his own.

The rookie started the scanning process on a couple of cars. A small red sedan, a blue pickup, and a dark blue coupe. Nothing. Not even a simple Autobot foot soldier.

"There's nothing here. Let's look somewhere else." Barricade ordered as he transformed into his vehicle mode and started driving to the next destination he had in mind. The rookie transformed and followed suit.

Their next destination was a small baseball field in the middle of the town, next to a police station. Barricade transformed and nodded to the rookie before going over to the left side of the field to scan for more information. The rookie transformed and snuck over to the far side of the stadium to scan some of the newer vehicles.

However, as the rookie was scanning the last car of the parking lot, a human gasped and screamed, running away. Barricade gave the rookie an intimidating glare before transforming and driving away. Hearing the police sirens from the other block. The rookie immediately transformed and followed Barricade before they could be detected by anymore humans.

The two arrived at the far side of town in an abandoned parking lot. Barricade grumbled before he transformed. "This time, scan for anything that moves. That includes humans." He ordered. The rookie did as he was told and waited a moment, scanning the parking lot before he transformed.

"It's clear." The rookie said as he scanned around the parking lot further. He noticed a lone red muscle car sat on the end of the parking lot while Barricade was looking towards the other side.

He scanned the car, his energon detectors blaring in his HUD. The red car transformed and pointed it's cannons at the rookie. "Scrap!" The rookie exclaimed as he dove out of the way from the blasts.

Barricade stood to the side as he watched the rookie and the Autobot fight to the death, not interfering. The Autobot was weaker than the rookie was expecting, but that didn't stop him from trying his hardest to fight the Decepticon rookie with all of his might.

His efforts proven fruitless however, when he tried charging his cannons for another blast only to have the wiring short out. The rookie took advantage of this and used his blade to snuff out the autobot's spark. Quick and painless.