Predatory

The Art of Making Chaos Work For You

I felt an intake choke inside of my throat as I heard the counting continue. Sure, I didn't like Helex, but that was no reason for me to want him dead.

Tarn had to do something, right? He wasn't just going to let one of his teammates take a shot to the head over a datapad, would he? 

Then again, that was a very important datapad, and if what we were starting to suspect was right, the very Decepticon cause itself could depend on who held possession of it. Not to mention, Tarn wasn't exactly known for putting anything, even his team over the cause.

 Looks like we're going to have to find a new smelter. 

I wished I could see inside his head right now, I wasn't sure whether or not to even attempt an attack. I quietly dipped my head through the hole in the vents I was perched on top of, and did a quick headcount. 

Nineteen.

Nineteen soldiers in perfect formation. I noticed that the door in the back of the van was open, So that's where they came from. I narrowed my optics, just because this batch came from the van didn't mean there weren't more in the surrounding area. And someone had to have found out Helex's location so they could have dragged him down here. I decided I had to do something, so I picked the safest option. I commed Tarn.

:Orders, Sir?:

At first, nothing, but then after a few seconds,

:I told you not to call me that:

:Fair enough, but you didn't answer my question:

:Just be ready: came the response.

:Ready for what?:

To that, I didn't get an answer.

"Twelve, Eleven, Ten-" the countdown was interrupted by the mech holding Turbofox down.

"Well, well, well, so the D.J.D. isn't going to save one of their own? I must say, I'm shocked. You're reputation of treating each other like family precedes you, I suppose that must all be pantomime and pageantry then." He grinned maliciously.

"Five, four, three-"

"It would seem our reputation is correct," came that familiar, wondrous voice. Tarn slipped out from behind the column, datapad in hand. Even when he was outnumbered, held at gunpoint, and in defeat he still managed to do it in a way that made everyone else feel under-dressed.

The black mech laughed lowly, "Oh, so you are going to save your friend, how... disappointing. And here I was impressed that you might actually be a lot stronger than I gave you credit for. Never matter, hand it over." He threw Turbofox to the ground and approached Tarn.

I scowled, I didn't want Helex dead, but I also wasn't sure if he was really worth giving up for the datapad. Surely we could find another smelter who wasn't so standoffish?

The mech reached for the datapad greedily, but Tarn swatted his servo away, "Ah, ah ah, Helex first."

The mech scowled, "You aren't in a position to be bargaining."

Tarn sighed, "Actually, I am. I can break this datapad right now-" Tarn made a motion to break the datapad over his knee. The mech yelped and tried to grab it before Tarn held it high out of reach. "-I will only repeat this nicely one more time. Helex. First." The reverb of his voice hummed through the empty halls and crept into the chassis of everyone listening. I felt my spark thrum a little bit myself, and I was even protected by the audio barrier in my audial receptors that everyone in the D.J.D was issued as a safety precaution. 

A couple of the soldiers keeled over and began throwing up, the others still standing staggered a little bit. I wrinkled my olfactory sensor in disgust, I could smell the sour odor from all the way up here.

The black mech in front of Tarn shifted his weight uneasily, he glanced at his team, then at Helex, then at the datapad, then settled on Tarn. "Do what he says," He ordered, not taking his eyes off of the powerful Point-One-Percenter.

A funny thing about Tarn, he usually isn't the type to glare, but when he does, it's absolutely terrifying.

The giant triple-changer removed the gun from Helex's head, and shoved him forward. Helex stumbled a little at first, then dusted himself off and stalked over to Tarn. 

Tarn waited patiently until Helex got behind him, then he reluctantly handed the datapad to the black mech in front of him. 

The mech grinned, revealing a gap-toothed smile, "Pleasure doin' business with ya." Then he turned and marched back towards his team. He kicked Turbofox's head as he passed him, then he made a motion for his team to disassemble. They filed into the transport vehicle, and they were gone a few minutes later. Turbofox lay defeated face down in the floor.

I jumped down from the vents, then waited for Vos to crawl out. I caught him as he jumped out and set him on the ground.

We quickly ran over to where Tarn was helping Turbofox up. Helex was leaning against a column mumbling to himself, and Tesarus was making his way over as well. 

Turbofox brushed himself off, then glared at Tarn, "I cannot believe that you just handed that to him. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get that? Do you even have any idea what that guy is going to do with that?"

"Not much I imagine," Tarn replied quite cooly.

"What makes you say that?" Turbofox snarled.

"Because, if our ignorant new friend would have thought to remember how many of us were standing in the hallway-" Tarn explained as Kaon slipped out from behind the column.

 "He would have realized that there was plenty of time for me to download all of the information on that datapad to an external hard-drive, and replace it with Knockout's morning hygiene routine for the smoothest face plate. Courtesy of a certain femme magazine containing extremely badly photo-shopped Decepticons stark naked." Kaon finished. "I may or may not have also included a few of the scarier pictures I found, just for effect."

Everyone, Turbofox included, broke out into fits of laughter. 

"You have a copy of The Femme Edit?" I asked, breathless between laughs, raising an optical ridge at Kaon. 

"Well someone has to make sure that they don't include compromising information, and it had better be the only person who doesn't have eyes." He defended, a little too quickly. I scowled at him and decided I was going to have a little chat with Kaon later.

"If you think they ain't going to come back, you're wrong." Turbofox said lowly after the moment of humor had lapsed.

"I know," Tarn replied, crossing his arms and staring absently into the distance. "But I figure we bought ourselves enough time to get out of the city."

"That's awful optimistic of ya," Turbofox muttered.

"Yeah well, I always hope for the best but prepare for the worst. You learn to do that in a job like mine," Tarn countered.

"Maybe, I hope you're-" Turbofox's head shot up, his larger than normal audial receptor fins flicking wildly. "Tarn, I do believe you aren't going to make it out of the station, let alone the city."

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So....You know how I normally post, eh, once a week? I decided, why not twice! So uh here's a complimentary chapter a la carte for ya'll. My treat. xD 

Keep it Classy! Make Good Choices! God Bless!

~swordsandroses

P.S. If you guys want sketches of Dawnstar, Flame Charge, The Madam, and Turbofox leave a comment. :)