Predatory

Follow the Leader

Shocked gasps erupted from the crowd. Several of the faceplates glanced briefly to Tarn, no doubt wondering what his reaction would be. He was, after all, the leader of a division designed for the specific purpose of hunting down, torturing and killing traitors. Tarn said nothing, and he didn't move at all, not that this was uncommon. One thing I had learned about Tarn thus far, was that he wasn't the most expressive of bots. 

"As such, precautions must be taken to ensure that this traitorous mongrel is found and severely punished. Which shall require the full cooperation of all of you." Megatron continued, his voice radiating with power and authority over the entire unruly assembly. No wonder everyone had flocked to him at the start of the war, his mere presence commanded respect and attention of everyone within hearing distance.

The next two hours were tense, as Megatron explained the current events, and what steps would be taken. I typed down every point he made frantically into the datapad Tarn had given me earlier.

 Apparently, we knew that they had taken a vial of some experiment in one of the labs, so all of our information was safe. And for the time being, so where we. The mech who had stolen the vial, and had taken off, was apprehended, and was awaiting questioning at the servos of the DJD. Which would no doubt be a bucket of laughs. 

The scraplets had been contained, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Constructicons and Combaticons. The basement was currently being de-flooded and the spark-eaters were being taken out as we were in this meeting. 

There was absolutely no cause for panic, after all, "We're the fragging Decepticon army!" As Megatron so eloquently put it. He closed by raising his right arm (upon which his fusion cannon was mounted) in salute, and shouted proudly,

"PEACE THROUGH TYRANNY!!" 

"PEACE THROUGH TYRANNY!!!" We screeched at the top of their voice capacitors, raising our fists in support.

After most of the Assembly had disbanded and begun talking and drinking together again, Tarn began to approach Megatron, and of course I followed. Proudly clutching onto my completed datapad full of notes with my sore digits. 

"Ah, Tarn, right on cue, as usual," Megatron said with a wicked smile as we neared him. Starscream muttered something angrily under his breath as he rolled his optics. Megatron's face darkened. "If you wouldn't mind getting to the room sooner than expected. Something's come up." His voice suddenly dropped into a low hush.   

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The first thing to know about Tarn, is that when Megatron tells him to do soemthing slightly faster than usual. It's already done before he finishes the sentence. So I was whisked out of the busy gathering room, and taken through a labyrinth of dark twisting tunnels, deep into the basement, until we reached the correct door.

 I found myself in a new room. This one even smaller than the war room, and suspiciously deep under ground. There was nothing in the room, except for a table in the very middle. The only light came from the glowing blue floor, which cast an eerie glare on everything in the room.

Shockwave was already waiting in the room, he didn't greet us when we entered. In fact, he didn't cast us a glance at all, he was too busy reading a datapad. 

"So, what did you find suspicious about the crowd during Megatron's speech?" Tarn said suddenly. Making me jump.

"The crowd?" I glanced up at him, confused.

"I told you to pay close attention to the meeting, didn't I?"

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"You told me to pay attention to everything Megatron said! I typed up his every word!" I was flabbergasted.