Hidden in the Dark

Chapter 6

"Any sign of Soundwave?" Megatron asked, pacing around in his control room. The Decepticons have loss 50% of it's efficiency after Soundwave left. Nobot could replace the TIC's place or job. He was the only one who could manage the communications, rations, shifts, and the divisions of the vehicons. Without him, everything began to collapse.

"No, my lord," Knock Out said, typing furiously on the keyboard, "We haven't been able to locate his signature or contact him via comm link," Starscream let out an exasperated sigh.

"Why can't we just appoint another bot as TIC!" he complained. Megatron turned around and gave him the evil glare. Starscream backed down immediately.

"I-I mean yes," he stuttered before regaining his composure, "We need to find him immediately!" he turned around and walked briskly to his station and typed away. Megatron growled softly and shook his head. Starscream was a coward and a traitor but he has the processors. A vehicon walked into control room.

"My lord," it started to say, "We had a breach in one of our energon mines," Megatron looked at it thoughtfully.

"Show me," the vehicon pulled up a picture of 2 offline vehicons laying on their backs with a gaping hole in their spark and throat. They lay in their own pool of energon, wires broken and sticking out of their spark chamber and throat. Metal debris lay broken on the ground in the gaping holes. Basically, the site was terrifying, but not to Megatron. He found it interesting.

"Who did this?" he asked in a dangerously soft voice. The vehicon took a step backward and ran out of the room. Megatron looked around the remaining vehicons in the room. They all shuddered and left hurriedly, tripping over themselves, trying to scramble out quickly. The only ones left are Knock Out and Starscream. They looked at each other nervously. RIght about then, Breakdown entered, bringing 2 energon cubes with him.

"Uhh," he said nervously when everybot was looking at him, "Is there a problem?" Megatron clasped his hands behind his back and walked slowly towards Breakdown.

"Actually there is," Megatron said with an edge, "There has been a breach in one of our energon mines," he pulled the picture of the dead vehicons. Breakdown studied the picture carefully and looked at Megatron.

"I want you to lead a squadron of vehicons to investigate the sight," Megatron ordered, looking at him menacingly. Breakdown nodded, threw one cube to Knock Out and walked out briskly. Megatron glanced at Starscream and Knock Out and the two of them turned around to their stations and worked, or pretended to work. Megatron smirked evilly. Whoever did that was going to pay the price and he is going to be the one to charge it.

Autobot Base

"I can't believe we didn't put energon cuffs on the bird!" Wheeljack ranted, pacing up and down the base, "So stupid!" Miko groaned.

"Dude!" she stood up and screamed, "Stop the pacing! You're giving me a headache!" Wheeljack grumbled and sat down. Everyone had been in a bad mode since the ex-Cons escaped. Even Optimus Prime was moody.

Beep Beep Beep

"Incoming call," Ratchet said, "From the Nemesis," Everyone stood up and crowded around the computer, leaving space for Optimus Prime to stand in front of the camera. The camera buzzed to life as Megatron appeared on the screen. Wheeljack growled but was shushed by a whack on the back from Bulkhead.

"Why hello Optimus," Megatron said arrogantly, "Long time no see,"

"What do you want Megatron?" Optimus queried. Megatron chuckled and looked at Optimus Prime menacingly.

"I want my TIC back!" he roared. He took a deep sigh and regained his composure, "I want my TIC back," Wheeljack groaned and pushed his way into the view of the camera.

"Your TIC escaped 2 days ago!" he said exasperatedly. Megatron raised an eyebrow, if he had any.

"Is that so?" he asked, "Then why hasn't he returned to me!"

"Actually-

"Actually," Ratchet said glaring at Wheeljack, "HE made quite a mess of our base!" Megatron growled and ended the call. Everyone turned and glared at Wheeljack.

"What!"

"Wheeljack," Optimus Prime said sternly, "Almost letting the Decepticons know of Soundwave's true gender was a drastic mistake" Wheeljack grumbled.

"She's a Con!" he protested

"She may be a Con but she's a youngling," Ratchet said harshly, "Laserbeak is a sparkling and you know what the Cons do to younglings and sparklings," Wheeljack grumbled. Ratchet whipped out a wrench and struck him on the head.

"And more," Ratchet continued, "She's a femme!" The whole base went dead quiet after Ratchet's outburst.

"What do the Cons do to kids and teens?" Miko asked innocently. Optimus Prime vented softly. He looked at Raf.

"Do you want to know?" he asked softly. Raf nodded slowly, gulping and he took a seat. Everyone took a seat.

After the war broke out, Megatron realised that the Autobot were rescuing sparklings and younglings, raising them to become future Autobots. He couldn't, wouldn't allow that to happen so he set on a killing rampage. He started to bomb all youth centers, orphanages, hospitals, even individual houses to stop that from happening.

Everytime the Autobots got to an orphanage, youth center, or a hospital, they would see mangled broken bodies of the deceased caretakers and the sparklings and younglings. It was a devastating sight.

Not only that, Megatron also went after femmes. It didn't matter if they were Autobots or not. He killed them all. If he didn't kill them, he would take them back to his base and keep them prisoner, using them for other purposes. Not long after, femmes, sparklings, and younglings became a scarcity. Finding one was like mining for gold, a rare and lucky find quickly put in protection.

Megatron despises femmes in his ranks, with the exception of Arachnid as she was a deformed bot. She didn't even count as a cybertronian to him. She was also a smart, sly, and cunning individual that would greatly contribute to his evil reign.

"That's so bad!" Miko said teary eyes, she sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. Raf was also sniffling. Jack was trying to stay strong for his friends but the sorrow showed in his eyes. Wheeljack was taking deep breathes. All the mechs were taking deep breathes. Arcee just sat there.

"Why would anyone do that to kids?!" Miko said sadly.

"The world isn't always a pretty place," Smokescreen said, also looking gloomy. Everyone was so sad, they forgot all about Soundwave or what was going on on the Decepticon warship.

On the Nemesis

"Soundwave is not with the Autobot?" Starscream asked Megatron after he ended the cal abruptly.

"No he is not," he growled, "Where is he now!?" Starscream shrunk back and gulped.

"W-would you like me to s-send out a s-search s-squadron, my L-lord?" Starscream shakily suggested. Megatron offlined his optics, and turned them back on. His crimson optics seemed more red than ever and he was fuming in anger.

"I want you to personally lead that squadron!" Megatron whipped around and looked at Starscream sternly, "Can I trust that you will not fail me?"

"Of course, my lord!" Starscream straightened his composure, putting on a serious face, "You could count on me!" Megatron nodded and Starscream turned around and briskly left the control center. Once he was out of audioshot, he smirked evilly.

"Time to hunt down that useless noface Con!"