Anxiety: Chapter 4, a Transformers fic

Anxiety, Chapter 4. In which Scourge goes off to find Cyclonus.

Back on Chaar, lava swirled and tempers were high as one of the Sweeps gave his earth-hourly report on Cyclonus's whereabouts. Or rather, his unknown whereabouts.

Galvatron's scowl grew heavier as the Sweep stuttered. “Th-there's still no trace of C-Cyclonus. P-perhaps it might be better for the troops to, uh, um... attempt a scouting mission of that planet? The planet that he landed on, I mean. We should do that and rescue him when h-he's located.”

Without even stopping to administer a brutal beating (although the Sweep was pushed roughly out of the way so that he could make eye contact with Scourge), Galvatron barked, “Gather up your Sweeps and find the Combaticons! I want him back before the stellar cycle is over!”

Once they had saluted and were out of earshot, the Sweep who had reported their supposed 'failure' muttered: “Why is Cyclonus so important, anyway? Even if anything happens to him, can't Galvatron just replace him with you?”

It wasn't really something Scourge had thought about. He couldn't imagine being what Cyclonus was – a diplomatic Decepticon who could stay loyal to his leader while appealing to the remainder of the troops. It was something Scourge admired him for, really. Moreover, he had never imagined a life without Cyclonus, without their little jokes and disagreements. They were more than fellow soldiers fighting for a greater cause; they were friends. Besides, if Cyclonus was gone, wouldn't that mean double the beatings for him?

“Well... it's probably not nearly so simple,” He finally answered. “It's like this. Galvatron can't lose Cyclonus, because Cyclonus is a born supporter. He has the enthusiasm. I have significantly less than he does. And he's like a mouthpiece for everything Lord Galvatron wishes to communicate to us, without all the unnecessary violence. I suppose Galvatron needs Cyclonus to keep us in check.”

“... Hmm.” The Sweep looked like he was deep in thought. “That's all?”

“It's more important than that. I guess Cyclonus's devotion is something we'll never understand either.”

As though the Sweep had a brainwave, his optics lit up. “And it's not like Galvatron is a bad-looking 'Con either.”

Scourge slapped the Sweep over the head. “We will not rumour-monger any further. Assemble the remainder of the Sweeps and I'll find the Combaticons.”

*

A few moments later, a party made of Scourge, the Sweeps, and the Combaticons hovered at a safe distance away from Enk, which they stared at cautiously. Scourge recalled that there had been a strange green mist covering the planet the last time they were here, the same mist that had turned into a twister and sucked Cyclonus down. He had since developed a theory that the mist was in fact, a sort of gaseous shield to protect the citizens of Enk from enemy troops and forces, which led Scourge to wonder if Cyclonus had been captured or whether he had been terminated.

He certainly hoped that it was not the latter.

“Come on, let's go.”

“Shouldn't we shut down their defense systems first?” Onslaught asked with warning in his voice, holding the other Combaticons back.

“Oh, trust me... I think it's already been done.” Without another word, Scourge swooped downwards, the Sweeps following. With a sigh and a mumble of: “Don't blame me if you get turned to scrap,” from Onslaught, so did the Combaticons.

There was little they could do to prevent a sighting by any of the world's inhabitants, but it wasn't as though subtlety was their strong point anyway. Strange-looking beings in the square below were staring at them, some pointing, some looking slightly fearful. Landing in what seemed to be the capital, judging by the number of people that kept their distance from them, Scourge spoke.

“I am looking for one of our kind. Surely one of you must have seen him? He looks nothing like any of you.”

Silence, and as Scourge bent down to take a closer look at the beings, he realised none of them were capable of lying.

“Then tell me, what do you do with your intruders? Do you jail them? Terminate them? Because if you terminate them...” He trailed off, drawing his blaster, accentuating the point he was trying to make. But of course, these beings were smart. One of them was pushed out of the crowd in front of the Decepticon party, clearly frightened in the presence of alien beings that were prepared to use lethal force to get their answers.

“I-if it's one of your kind that you're looking for... you should probably try the labs, here in the city. They've probably taken him in for, uh, testing. I don't think your friend is dead though!” He squeaked suddenly, cowering slightly as Scourge's blaster hand made a sudden movement, although it was just so he could sheathe his weapon, laughing.

“Relax. We don't have any intention of harming you. Do we?” Scourge turned to his Decepticon party. They all smirked.

“Not yet,” said Brawl.

“As long as you,” Scourge turned towards the Enkian who had answered their question. “Do as we say. Lead us to these labs.”

The Enkian cast a worried look at his peers, who nodded, some of them waving him on frantically. He also realised that although the robot that seemed to be the leader of the group had put his weapon away, the rest of them had drawn theirs. With a whimper, he did as he was told.

*

The guards had been a pushover, not to mention that they were easily (and amusingly) confused by the Decepticon's sudden transformations into their alternate modes. Not to mention the sheer size of Bruticus almost immediately made them drop their weapons and surrender. “Pathetic excuses for 'guards', wouldn't you agree?” sneered Swindle as he pushed the guard they had taken prisoner forwards, forcing him to speed up his pace.

“I doubt any of them have had formal training.” The Enkian citizen they had used to reach the labs had turned tail as soon as Scourge pulled the trigger on his blaster. Of course, they let him run: “See if anyone's brave enough to retaliate against us,” Onslaught grinned menacingly.

The guard had eventually stumbled to the room where they would apparently find Cyclonus – a testing lab on the eighth floor of the complex. Shoving him roughly out of the way, the Decepticons walked in. It must have been after-hours or a break time, as there was no-one present. No life-forms, except for one that lay on the table, completely immobilised.

Scourge shouldn't have been surprised to see Cyclonus strapped to the table, but something about the scene chilled his circuitry to the spark. Various painful-looking devices lay scattered on a tray beside him along with towers of metal discs.

“Cyclonus!” he rushed over, waving his hand to signal to the Combaticons that they should stay by the entrance of the room and keep watch. Cyclonus emitted a low buzzing noise as Scourge shook him. He noticed that there were wires plugged into him that led to a large generator of some sort. Ripping them out hastily, he deduced that whoever was 'researching' him had been overloading the Decepticon's circuitry, keeping him in a semi-conscious state. The nerve of them... I swear that by the time I'm through with them, they'll-

“S... Scourge?”

Thank Unicron, Scourge thought, nodding in affirmative. “It's me, Cyclonus. We've got you covered.” Seemingly out of nowhere, he produced a large block of energon. “I thought you'd need this.” Watching Cyclonus nod somewhat eagerly and devour the energon, Scourge felt something that seemed to be pride well up inside of him. Galvatron was right. He really is strong.

After energising himself and testing to see that the Enkians hadn't tampered with him any further, he was back to his old self again. “Lord Galvatron will not be pleased with my prolonged absence. We must return immediately!”

“Whoa, hang on.” Scourge eyed him with concern. “I know you're eager to get back to Galvatron, but what did they do to you? What happened after that tornado got you?”

“I...” Cyclonus rubbed his previously injured shoulder thoughtfully. “I crash-landed and was found by one of the denizens of this planet. His attempts at restoring me to my fully-powered state were feeble, so I ordered him to bring me here.”

“The slag! He knew this would happen to you!” Bruticus growled menacingly, slamming his fist into his open palm.

“I doubt he did. His cranial chamber seemed fairly empty.” For the first time since he had woken up, Cyclonus smirked a little and gestured for one of the Sweeps to hand him his confiscated blaster. “Before we leave... I want to pay them back.” With that, Cyclonus fired several shots into different areas of the lab, destroying several machines and pieces of equipment. Laughing and nodding at his fellow Decepticons, they left the facility, debris in a trail behind them.