When We Seared The Sky

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Growing

Barricade’s face twisted into a mildly horrified expression when he heard the news. “That’s… marvellous,” he managed stiffly, folding his arms and attempting to remove the look of utter disgust from his face. “My congratulations to you, Lord Thrust.” Upon Thrust’s pointed glare, he bowed briefly before standing up and taking a step back, mentally screaming.

Lord Thrust. Primus, the Decepticons were doomed.

How dare Megatron even think of crowning Thrust as the new Decepticon commander? The small jet was quite insane, constantly manic and as jittery as Frenzy on caffeine, as well as the fact that his head was shaped like a cone and Barricade often found himself staring at it unintentionally. He remembered the days when he and Starscream had jeered at him, calling him ‘squidhead’... what he wouldn't give to reclaim those days sometimes.

He felt an unfamiliar stab in his spark at the thought of Frenzy and Starscream. He did miss that irritating little creature sometimes; he and Blackout had been specially selected to have miniature spy partners, and he had hated it initially, but Frenzy’s company had slowly become a blessing in disguise for a lonely Decepticon. As for Starscream, Barricade had enjoyed his company at times, and found that they often thought on the same wavelength regarding battle – not to mention Megatron and Thrust. The mutual hatred for the two of them had forged a rather unusual friendship in the end.

Thrust put a hand over his spark casing. “It is such a tragic loss,” he sorrowed, “But I hope that I will live up to our great leader’s reputation.”

Barricade almost growled out loud. Live up to Megatron? How dare he even suggest such a thing?

“Hmm,” he muttered instead, inclining his head to Skywarp, who was standing just behind him. “What happened when you crashed?”

“You were right about the humans,” Thrust snapped at once, looking enraged. “Disgusting creatures. I crushed eight of them in one go. I never realised that they were organic – you made them sound like they were weakling machines, but now I see that they are mere pests.” He tightened one fist angrily, narrowing his eyes. “Now, we must devise a plan. Has Sideways infiltrated the Autobots?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Barricade demanded, before Thrust glared at him. “My Lord,” he added after a moment, cringing internally. The shame…

Skywarp became utterly still for a few moments before he opened his red optics and nodded. “Optimus Prime has accepted Sideways as an Autobot,” he laughed, and Thrust’s eyes glittered maliciously. “The fool. His overdeveloped sense of honour is amusing… it will be his downfall.”

“Exactly,” Thrust grinned, exposing sharp, pointed teeth. “Sideways will take care of Prime whilst we take care of the humans. We will find Scorponok – his signal is coming from a place called Qatar – and he can infiltrate the human Pentagon. I am aware that Frenzy already tried this,” he snapped at Barricade when he tried to protest, “But we have a new virus now, a far more powerful one that I created whilst in space.”

Barricade blinked. In space? Whilst he had been floating in space he had barely been conscious, let alone able to inventsomething.

Suddenly, Skywarp began to snigger. “What could possibly be funny?” Barricade asked darkly.

“Sideways reports that Starscream is living amongst the Autobots too,” the jet reported. “And has been enrolled as guardian to a human femme named Alexis Paxton. Apparently he even let her ride in his cockpit.” Thrust and Barricade stared at him as he continued. “He has not had a chance to speak with him as of yet, but he suspects that he may simply be taking refuge, as he could not contact any of us.”