Top Of The List

by dudenotactive

Phantom Of The Moon

"I'm sorry, okay!"

Dash boomed to the top of her lungs, she had apologized several times already, but it would seem her friends won't let her mistake be forgotten so easily.

Our heroes were already back in the city after they were dropped off by Smokescreen and the new guy, Steve. First impressions, Steve was a silent kind of vehicon, as if he had no personality of any kind. But from what they understood, he was a simple drone made to be foot soldiers for the Decepticons to substitute lack of manpower, or as a way to defeat Autobots through sheer numbers.

So that was it, he was a drone like the one Twilight got from Swindle, but much more complex.

Speaking of drones, it was truly a strange sight to see a giant machine hovering just behind the girls as they head home. Twilight's progress was on the right track, but she was far from finish.

"Sorry isn't enough," Sunset said. "You went behind my back and confronted Starscream, then you risked your life for him! What were you thinking!?"

"They needed help! I just couldn't stand there and do nothing!"

Rarity scoffed. "As admirable your selflessness is, you shouldn't have put yourself in harm's way, especially for someone like Starscream, who you hated if you have forgotten."

"Yes, I hate the guy, but aren't we heroes?"

"We are..." Fluttershy muttered.

"That's true," Applejack agreed. "But that doesn't mean we should just go and fight robots the size of two barns!"

"Three of them no less," Rarity huffed.

"I took down Brawl like it was nothing!"

"Brawl was there!?" Pinkie popped into Dash's view. She presented a card of Brawl's likeness to the athlete. "You think he'd sign my card!?"

"Probably?" She took a step away from the cheerful girl. "I don't know, but from what I can tell, most of the Decepticons aren't really the kind you should feel buddy-buddy with."

"That's true, Star and the Shock fella don't really like us, can't even hide their prejudice around us." Applejack said.

"But Steve is cool!" Pinkie reasoned to them.

"He seems like the strong and silent type," Rarity commented.

"Are we forgetting what Dash did?" Sunset reminded the others.

"I said I was sorry!"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow after school, but..." Sunset paused for a second. "Do you girls still want to go back?"

"Still need to buy more cards from Swindle, I got too many Starscreams for my own good." Dash made a plan to dispose of all the unwanted cards when gets home.

Sunset turned towards Dash. "Who's Swindle?"

"Wait, what cards?" Twilight wondered.

Pinkie bounced ahead of them with a joyful spring. "Yeah, Swindle is this cool intergalactic arms dealer who also sells cool nick-nacks that sold us these cool trading cards about the Transformers!"

"Transformers?" Everyone parroted.

"It fits, right!? They all transform and junk, all robotic and stuff also!"

"Y-yeah," Fluttershy managed to say out loud. "Like um... a Gundam that can transform into flight mode."

"Like Starscream?" Dash arched a brow.

With that said, Fluttershy brought out a smile bright enough to blind. "You're right! He does look like a Gundam, and Shockwave also reminds me of the Zaku!"

With that, their conversation switched from the Cybertronians to Earth-based interest on what show they preferred these days. Somehow they forgot about Dash's dangerous stunt back at the airfield and focused more on the new subject.

As time went on, the girls started to probe into Sunset's personal life and asked for details about her recent encounter with Flash Sentry. As much as she tried to play it off, Sunset was forced to spill to her friends her experience. Wasn't much to talk about, they rode through the streets and Sunset drove like the greatest driver ever existed, or so Flash believed. It was all done by Arcee who knew the streets better than most.

Slowly, the girls would give their farewell to each other as they returned home one by one, first it was Sunset who was closer to her house than the others, then Twilight with Rarity after her. Fluttershy left the remaining three since her house was on the same road that led to the rest.

Pinkie hugged her two friends before she rushed home, but only after she gave Dash and Applejack each a card of someone named Bumblebee.

"Well here's mah stop, sugarcube!"

At the final intersection, Dash waved Applejack goodbye as she walked down to the end of the street where her home was located, with that, it was finally just Rainbow Dash. She would've gone through a boring walk home, but she had the speed, so once they were on their separate ways, Dash ran home at blinding speed.

She gave her parents a quick greeting before she ran all the way to her room for a well-deserved rest. With her things tossed one floor along with her shoes, Dash dived into her bed and nearly broke it with her speed. As she laid to rest after a long stressful day, a thought ran through her mind.

It was about Slipstream, she recalled how her eyes sparkled to life when they both met as if Dash lifted the weight of guilt from Slipstream's shoulders. From that short moment, somehow, Dash felt as if she had saved a life.

A single card was fished out of her pocket, she stared at it with an unsure feeling.

The card which she received from Swindle showed a seeker, an Autobot. It was Rainbow Dash, the one Starscream had killed off. But... Slipstream had her doubts.

This Autobot looked like a standard seeker, small and femme in build, Dash disliked that she was small, it reminded her too much of... her? The resemblance was a surprise to say, a rainbow-colored tail fin acted as a mohawk, the color schemes were identical. Even had a few lightning symbols to make her stand out from an ordinary seeker. Two on both shoulders, two on the lower parts of her legs.

This was the Rainbow Dash Slipstream knew, and Dash could not help but feel a sense of guilt of her own.

She wondered how this seeker lived, why she betrayed Starscream. Many questions filled her mind and she felt a burden upon her so heavy that it was suffocating.

---

"So... you got me."

Starscream glared with a furious fire. "I suppose so,"

"What are you gonna do next, Air Commander?"

"I will rip out your spark," He claimed. "Then I will make you watch as I crush it in my hand."

"I ain't scared!"

"You should be, I hope you said goodbye to that failure of a seeker."

"You don't talk about my friends like that." She hissed.

"Be happy that it was me who caught you and not the DJD, sometimes death is a mercy... Till all are one..."

Starscream awoke with a haunting scream as he shot up from his bed. His null rays were armed and aimed at the door.

"It was a dream..." He muttered in his dark room. "It was just a dream..."

---

"Look who's awake!" Thunderblast chimed. "It's Lord Starscream!"

"Ugh, not now Thunderblast, I had a rude awakening and would be better without hearing your voice."

"But I have something to show you, I got myself an Earth-based alt mode just like you asked!" She said excitedly.

Starscream arched a brow as he looked over to Steve for confirmation, the drone only nodded at him. "Ugh, fine, show it to me."

"Okay!"

Now that he saw her, Thunderblast was bigger than before, not by height, but with larger wings along with extra pieces that would form her second alt mode. Steve even handed her a large missile battery launcher.

She took a few steps back to create enough space for her to change, with one single flip, her transformation activated. Starscream watched as Thunderblast shifted her limbs around to take on the form of her second mode. Her T-cog screeched its familiar tone.

Then it was done, and Starscream was static, with a face comparable to a statue.

"I knew you'd be speechless!" Thunderblast squealed.

"Thunderblast..."

"I'm awesome, I know! But please, tell me more about how you love it!"

"Thunderblast... YOU IDIOT!"

"What's going on?" Arcee entered the scene.

She came across Starscream and Steve who stood over what seemed to be... a boat with a missile battery?

"Is that Thunderblast?" She hazarded a guess.

"Oh, hi." There was poison laced in Thunderblast's voice. It was clear that she did not like the other femme, perhaps for a few certain aspects, such as the fact that she is unable to bend Arcee to Thunderblast's will with her charm.

Or maybe she saw her as a threat to what power she could hold.

Starscream growled. "Thunderblast, when I said I wanted you to have an Earth-based vehicle mode, I mean that you take on a four-wheeler vehicle!"

"Ew," The triple-changer returned to her bot mode. "Are you hearing yourself, my Lord? One thing to be a ground-pounder, with offense-"

Arcee frowned. "Noted."

"-But when you ask me to take on that kind of disguise, then you'd be out of your mind!"

"That is hardly a good reason!" He snapped at her. "When Shockwave gave you that triple-changer T-cog eons ago, it was to make you useful, and you didn't even get yourself a second vehicle mode after all this time!"

"Why would I? I can fly anywhere I want, plus, I really like boats. They are, like, totally cool."

Starscream wanted to explode, just end it then and there. The frustration he felt was so suffocating that he'd rather accept death than continue his suffering.

"Why are you so insistent on the grounder thing?" Arcee inquired.

"Do you remember what we did back on Unicron?" Starscream asked her a redundant question. "Back then, we hunted your human friends down so we could use them against you, and that was one of your weaknesses."

"Get on with it, Scream."

He sighed. "You and the other Autobot aligned yourselves with seven humans, Slipstream along with Brawl and Dropkick knows about Rainbow Dash. They will employ to capture her to use against you."

"And you need people to watch over them?" Arcee finished for him. "I would say you care, but it's obvious you're scared that Smokescreen and I would turn against you."

"Of course I'm scared, we are outnumbered and alone on this planet with no escape!"

"Well if we rescue Flamewar and the Autobots, I'm sure we can fight back," Thunderblast suggested. "Oh right, we still need to find Blitzwing, he's out there somewhere."

"Hold on a second, Autobots?" Arcee questioned further.

"Yeah, they helped us steal the Nemesis from the museum, it was that guy named Wheeljack and a very stupid one called Warpath."

"Wait, that just adds more questions." Arcee said as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea of Wheeljack helping Decepticons, but then having the wild card in this solar system would benefit Arcee, so there was no problem on her side.

Starscream arched a brow. "You also said Blitzwing is somewhere on this planet?"

"From what Steve told me, our shuttle got shot as it entered the planet's atmosphere, which made a hole big enough for Blitzwing to get thrown out."

"Ha!" Starscream laughed enthusiastically. "That's it, Blitzwing is the key!"

"How?" Both femmes wondered.

"You'll see, but first I must speak with Shockwave this instant!"

Starscream rushed out of the room to seek out the scientist, both Thunderblast and Arcee were left alone as they heard Starscream's footsteps receding down the hall.

"Just an FYI, mechs don't like brutish kinds of femmes."

"One more word out of you Thunderblast, and you'll be back on the medical bed soon enough."

---

"What happened to him, boss?" Wheeljack asked with deep curiosity as he stood behind an energy field.

Located in the private medical room in the Storm Slicer was Knockout, with him were the prisoners kept in a cell made from one of the many vacant rooms where the patient would rest.

"Silence is all I ask for, old friend, so please keep quiet." Knockout glared.

Wheeljack chuckled as he pointed a thumb at Warpath. "You're just asking too much with the big guy around."

As if on cue, Warpath slammed against the energy field that separated Knockout and the prisoners. "LET ME OUTTA HERE YOU VARMINT! OR ELSE AH'LL GIVE YOU A GOOD SLAM BAM!"

"Honestly, I feel myself going deaf around him!" Knockout complained.

"Speak for yourself, chief," Wheeljack chuckled. "Warpath is just as deaf as a rock."

"Must be that cannon in his chest, it certainly wouldn't surprise me. As for Dropkick?" All eyes landed on the injured Decepticon, battered and broken. It was a terrible sight for the squeamish. "He met Shockwave on the field, as you can see it did not end well. Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you two here with Blitzwing?"

A smirk found itself on the Autobot. "Looking for Arcee." He had nothing to hide, everyone knew about Starscream's small alliance with Arcee and Smokescreen. So there was no point in lying.

"I see... You know anything about this... void gun?"

"Only Blitz knows," He answered. "Listen, as much as I am glad you took us away from Shatter, I don't have any information that's useful to you Decepticreeps, so let's just talk about something else."

"I see..."

"And Doc?"

Knockout faced Wheeljack with a blank look.

"All hail Starscream."

"What?"

"Guess you don't know how to take a joke," Wheeljack laughed.

"Forgive me if Autobot humor isn't part of my programming." Knockout sneered.

"He's sayin' y'all got a bird brain for a leader!" Warpath explained the joke.

"Doubt Tarn would make a better leader," Flamewar hissed. "Heck, even Blitzwing thinks someone else could do things better."

"That's what I'm curious about, Blitzwing hates Tarn, so please explain."

"Do know about operation Triple Takeover?" Dropkick groaned back to life, he regained consciousness and had managed to catch some snippets of the conversation. "Back in the war, Shockwave made a breakthrough with his research thanks to the help of Blitzwing, and with that research, they increased the population of Triple-changers by tenfold."

"Easy Dropkick, don't strain yourself." Knockout warned him.

Dropkick continued. "As time went on, Blitzwing started to change, everywhere he went he would speak with other triple-changers suspiciously, I was one of them. He talked about how we were a superior race of Cybertronians being able to take on any form we wanted without being bound by our builds. That's a red flag for Megatron, he saw through Blitzwing and his schemes. Sent a bunch of spies to watch over him."

"What exactly was he scheming?" Wheeljack was deeply curious just as Knockout.

"Triple-changer supremacy." Those words sent a chill down Knockout's spine. "Blitzwing believed that we are a superior race over others. He had such a way with words that even Autobots started to listen, triple-changers from both sides. Heck, if it wasn't for Shatter, I would have attended one of his rallies blindly."

"And Tarn was sent to disrupt it."

"Not just Tarn, I was used as a tail to find out where they host the rallies. I saw what they did... The DJD dropped onto the stage while Blitzwing was in the middle of his speech... They ripped him apart in front of everyone, like a bunch of animals starved of blood." Dropkick shuddered. "First they tossed him into the grinder, bathed him in acid, and electrocuted him... No one could even run because Megatron had all exits blocked with an army. I stood there, we all did... We watched it happen. What was left of Blitzwing was just a heap of metal, barely even alive."

Knockout stared blankly at the empty space above him, an odd sense of fear within his spark as he learned the truth, even Warpath and Flamewar were silent. Wheeljack sat down against the wall, a scowl on his face.

"Blitzwing didn't deserve that punishment... The DJD and Lord Megatron left afterward, the message sent out to all." Dropkick admitted. "When they managed to fix up whatever was left of him, he changed drastically, started to talk weirdly. I understand why he'd be against Tarn, I really do..."

"That's enough, Dropkick," Shatter entered the room with a silent stride. The gloomy mood quickly dissipated as she made her prescense known, Wheeljack even wore a smirk as their eyes met for one single second. "you need to rest."

"I know, just wanted to have a chat with lover bot here."

She scoffed at her partner, injured and unable to stand on two feet, yet he still had the strength to make a tasteless joke.

"Don't worry, Shatter, under my care your friend will be back on the field soon enough!" Knockout assured her. "I can even trim down some weight, that way he'll be faster than ever before. Ask one of my previous patients, Wheeljack. Am I right buddy?"

"Oh, yeah. Guy got magic hands for sure." Wheeljack snickered. "Thanks to the Doc, I beat my own speed record."

"As much as the offer is tempting, I will have to reject it for Dropkick's sake." She turned to leave, her cold glare went over Wheeljack who kept his mischievous grin with the intent to antagonize the triple-changer. "As soon as he is able to fight, report to me immediately, Doctor."

As soon as she was out of earshot, Knockout smiled and said. "I think she's starting to warm up on me."

Dropkick only laughed, but quickly the noise died as he recoiled in pain.

Wheeljack returned to his passive state, with no point in doing anything if he was locked in a cell. Knockout tended to the injured Decepticon with utmost care.

What some would believe a moment of peace would be deceived, for there is danger afoot, for they have dug their own grave upon the cold barren surface of the moon. The first victim would be a lone vehicon who traveled too close to the remains of the Nemesis.

First, his comms were filled with white noise. Then he felt a cold chill go through him.

His screams were drowned out by the silence of space as if his voice was stolen from him. The vehicon vanished into the Nemesis as a sinister aura flooded the ship's surroundings.

The communication did catch something just before the vehicon vanished, something that truly made other drones question, it was his final message as he succumbed to darkness.

"M-my Lord...?"

Comments

[redmar]

I wonder what is threatening the transformers on the moon. The vehicon's message implies that it might be Megatron but that might also be caused a an illuion the threat uses to disguise itself.

[Roboman3000]

Nice chapter