Epoch:
Caged
By: Joshin Yasha

PG-13 VL

Beast Wars and all related belong to Hasbro. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

Disclaimer: No money, no rights, no life. I own all original characters unless otherwise specified.

Dedications: Like usual, the story is dedicated to the writers for their excellent work. It's also dedicated to all the voice actors, especially David Sobolov and Campbell Lane, for bringing these wonderful characters (especially my favorites) to life. As well as the writers of Beast Wars, it's also for the people I love in hopes that this will show that one day I can do something better.

Author's notes: *clears throat* Um, yeah, this is the final chapter to Epoch Ascension. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Some PG-13 warning for violence and language. Nothing too bad, me hopes. Just... anyone with a weak stomach for Rampage fics may want to aim for the door.

Their celebration was not uncalled for. Not only had the century fought back the rebellion, but they had slaughtered the Autobots who had defended their strongest point. Warmonger had led his flanks with superior maneuverability that had left the Autobots scattered and defenseless. That was when he picked up the pikes and pierced the walls and took the Autobot retreat. Carefully hidden, his third flank was able to steer the surviving Autobots back into their camp where his first and second flanks were waiting. The triumph was indeed one that Megatron had been waiting for.

Now Warmonger could only smile with pride as his Decepticon flanks rummaged through the energon resources of the Autobots. Only one Autobot remained alive in his care, and that was the one staked in the center of the celebration. His lieutenant general, Steamroller, torture master extraordinaire, was currently drilling the Autobot for information--literally. "He's not speaking," Steamroller declared, taking a seat next to his commanding officer.

Warmonger broadened his smile and shook his head, "He'll speak eventually--you've already managed to break all his digits off and drill into his backside. He'll give once Misery arrives. I hear that Misery has a penchant for getting inside of a bot's head."

"Have you actually seen this Misery? I hear he's a total nut job," Steamroller cackled, revving his drill and then dropping it on the ground.

Before the two stood two wingmate Decepticons roughly the same height and a third shorter wingmate. The red and black Decepticon tilted his head and glared at the other two. "She, actually, Misery is a she." Taciturn corrected, holstering his gun at his side and stepping forward. He picked up a block of energon and began to drain it, "Don't look so dumbfounded, it's a common mistake. Misery is captain of our squadron and that is my wingmate Stricture by the way." He pointed to the gold and blue Decepticon who was still standing at attention next to the female Decepticon.

Warmonger blinked a few times to regain his thought and recomposed himself. "I see you can teleport," he said to Misery.

Stricture smirked and pointed to himself, "That would be me. Able to teleport five kilometer radius but suck on pinpointing an exact location outside of one kilometer. Had to keep teleporting a half kilometer at a time to be sure I didn't over shoot you."

"Why won't you speak?" Steamroller inquired towards Misery, "no voice box?"

Misery turned her head slowly, contemplating her thoughts. "I am worried as to why you allowed this Autobot to survive this long." She narrowed her optics and contemplated another thought. "Xyston is prowling. He will be here soon."

"Thee Xyston? The Autobot killer? I thought he was just a myth spread out among the helpless Autobots," Warmonger cackled. Despite himself, Warmonger's optics grew larger as he spoke. "Just a tale to give them hope. Just a story . . ."

"Your fear shows. Even now I am able to see it. Xyston enjoys your fear and he will feed from it if you do not control yourself or your men," she informed, taking the cube of energon that Stricture offered. She turned towards the captive Autobot and spoke again to Warmonger. "This is the one you wish me to make speak. Not worth the effort if I may have my own opinion."

"This Autobot has important information that Lord Megatron requires. It will prove useful to all of us . . ." he paused and examined her as she stepped beneath the hanging Autobot's form. The Autobot's mouth parted and he breathed in the fumes of the far away flames. He watched Misery as she glared up at him. "Planning on going to work so soon?" Warmonger shouted to her, "Don't like us that much? Going to leave so soon?"

Taciturn grimaced and turned to face the general. "You no longer have need for that ignorant Autobot. Xyston is among us," he snarled, reading over his scanners. "Captain! Xyston has come!" he shouted to Misery.

She turned slowly and barked orders to Stricture, "Keep as many of Warmonger's flanks away from Xyston as you can." She turned her head to Taciturn, "Keep your gun armed and ready should Xyston care to quarrel. We shall need a moment to depart if he does."

Warmonger stood and issued his own set of orders. He approached Misery and the hanging Autobot and gazed down at her. "Xyston is real."

"Yes," she replied, resisting the urge to prepare her weapon. "He has come no doubt to retrieve this Autobot." Misery snarled and opened her mouth but did not move her lips as she spoke to the prisoner, "You may very well be free of us soon."

"What do you need my flanks to do?" the general inquired, bending closer to Misery so that the Autobot would not hear them.

"Keep them calm and without fear. The slightest hint and Xyston will rip into them and you will lose a good portion of your troops," she whispered and rolled her cranium back and to the side so that their faces were dangerously close. "Whatever happens do not draw weapons." Warmonger nodded and opened comm. channels with his flanks, relaying the orders. Several moments passed and the troops parted as a behemoth of a bot strolled between them all only to stop ten meters outside of striking distance of the two Decepticons. Misery nodded to the Autobot, "Xyston."

The red and gold Autobot cocked his head from side to side, attention not on those in front of him. "Quite the company, my pride, that you keep these days," Xyston tilted his head back, gazing at the star lit sky that reflected the orange hues of the flames, and sniffed the air. He snarled, "Quite the company indeed."

Misery opened her arms signaling she meant no harm. She almost fidgeted when Warmonger stepped closer to her, using her as a shield no doubt should he want to draw his weapon out of sight of Xyston. "What brings the Autobot killer amongst my ilk?"

Xyston glared in the direction of the pike strewn Autobot prisoner. The prisoner was more than excited to see the saviour of his well being and was gladly showing it by death threats to the nearest Decepticons. Xyston, on the other hand, was none too pleased with the captive Autobot's change in attitude as he observed. He kept his cranium ever rotating around his shoulders, not holding it still for any length of time. "You know why . . ."

She caught herself before she shivered. It was not fear, but it was the chill his voice could send across a bot that made her almost--and most other Decepticons in the group--quiver. Warmonger was behind her, closer now, pressed into the line of her body so that he could whisper to her. "He is alone. What harm could one Autobot do against six flanks?"

"All the harm in the universe," Xyston answered cheerfully, his tone changing from solemn to joyful. "While your flanks would take a moment to organize themselves to draw weapons and attack, I would have already taken out two flanks and be halfway through the third by the time they would finish drawing. Once I would finish with the third flank, they would be in fear, and I would have them," he clenched his fist and Warmonger stared in amazement. "Then I would have power over them and their fear would be . . . insatiable."

"Do you well to keep your silence," Misery commanded, stepping away from her Decepticon ilk and towards the Autobot killer. "Xyston, you have come all this way for this impudent Autobot. What would he mean to you?"

He stepped forward, putting everyone on their guard, and took one of Misery's hands in his. "My pride, you have no use for that Autobot. Why keep him? Give him to me." What he really was saying was 'Give him to me to kill," and Misery was capable of interpreting it as such. She pivoted on her heels and with a swift motion cut the Autobot down from his many pikes. He fell to his knees and made to go to his feet. Warmonger protested but was cut short by the hand that ripped through the backside of the Autobot. The Decepticons gawked as Xyston severed vital wires inside the nameless Autobot's body and severed his life.

Misery smiled after the Decepticon flanks had drawn their weapons to point at Xyston. But in the time it took them to blink, he had disappeared from his spot next to the fallen body and appeared millimeters from Misery. "What will it take to get through to you, precious," Xyston sneered, displeased with the lack of control the flanks had upon themselves after being given a direct order. It was then that he knelt before Misery offering a bow and a hand gesture reserved only for those higher in rank. "I have completed my mission, Misery."

"It is but one mission, Xyston," she continued her smile and swung her hand back and forth like a conductor. "But as my mentor once said: Like every beat in a song, it is but a part to the complete masterpiece."

"But of course," he smirked, stood, and stared down at her. "I take my leave; do keep yourself fit for our next encounter." And in another blink, the Autobot killer was gone.

Warmonger grabbed at her wrist and turned her attention to him, weapon pointed at her head. "Whatever games you have going with that Autobot you had better stop playing. We Decepticons may be the tricksters, but it is the Autobots that are the stratagems."

Taciturn and Stricture aimed their weapons point blank to Warmonger's face and chest. "You presume to order me," Misery said, turning her hand over and showing off the data disk within her hands, "but yet I have retrieved everything I set out to do. The information about the Autobot movements are yours." She handed him the disk, "Courtesy of the dead Autobot at our feet. Xyston is many things, but he is loyal to me alone. He has sowed to his own so that we may reap the benefits." She stepped closer to him and placed a finger along his jaw line. "Next time you decide to point a gun at my head I will not hesitate to remove yours."

The space about them was cold and lonely, empty and opaque in areas, lit only by the stars around them. The ship had seen better days with its paint peeling away and the name barely readable: Cenotaph. Ancient were the ship and half the crew, surviving the era of the Great War and then the silent Predacon rebellion.

Taciturn spread his fingers against the controls as he pressed his palms against them. His eyes widened and dots of white light flashed against his red eyes. Cables crawled from his arms into the master board and he redirected the Cenotaph's course. So long as Misery gave the order he would follow. "Course correction by three degrees right, sixty degrees down," Taciturn read aloud, holding his lips together as the speaker spoke for him.

"Nice!" Stricture clapped his wingmate on the shoulder, joyful for no other reason than to be on a mission again. He turned and gave a questionable look while Ultimatum struggled to keep his optics clenched tightly and hold on to the arms of the chair. The blue and gold Decepticon made his way through the door and down the hallway to the captain's quarters. By pressing his hand to the lock and going through the finger keys he was able to unlock the door and enter.

She sat slouched in her chair, arms bent inward at her elbows with her fingertips barely resting against her tassets. Misery was watching something behind her optics that only she could see, something, Stricture reasoned, that was from memories. "The course correction has been made, Captain," he stepped forward and drew closer to her, sitting down by her chair and leaning across. His hands touched lightly against her left hand, feeling the texture of her gauntlet. "Been a long time since we've seen one another, Captain. I think it's best that you start telling Taciturn and I what your plans are."

Misery straightened her head, then tilted her chin towards him as if cracking her neck, and then held her chin firm as she rolled the rest of her helm towards him, gazing out of the corner of her optics to look at Stricture. She moved her left hand and held his face still by his bevor. As she spoke he closed his optics and listened, "Even in the days of old you would never let me have a secret thought. So I shall tell you now and let you tell Taciturn: revenge. Revenge first against those that killed my precious Xyston, and then revenge against the Maximal High Council for making him so defenseless."

She pressed her other hand against his face and cradled his helm within her hands. "Once my wrath has been quelled with their deaths I shall compose a new fury and begin picking away at the bottom of the Maximal society. Begin with the ants then the lizard--" her optics widened with every word "--then the snake then the bird until finally all that are left are the lions. The higher beasts without the feast of the lower will quickly starve." Misery tilted her head back, red optics as wide as can be. "Then we, the tricksters, shall be left to rule. We will rule the world."

"And then the universe," Stricture's maniacal look matched hers just as equally. "By Primus, Misery, you haven't chilled me so since we took out those imprisoned Autobots on the shooting range. Calm as steel and cold as ice. Truly the ice queen that I remember." He was almost surprised when she ran her hands behind his helm and pulled his face closer. A moment's hesitation passed between them before he blinked and curled his lips into a smile. "So Sampson groap'd the Temples Posts in spite / The World o'rewhelming to revenge his sight. / Yet as I read, soon growing less severe, / I lik'd his project, the success did fear; / Through that wide Field how he his way should find / O're which lame Faith leads Understanding blind."

And then Misery continued, mouth open but no moving lips, "Lest he perplex'd the things he would explain, / And what was easy he should render vain." Her own smile curled into a snarl, "As much as we love our own culture we do have an influx of another's." Stricture climbed to his feet and carried Misery up with him, wrapping her within his arms. "They may have taken Xyston from me," she began, "but they shall never take that which is closest to my side."

"But of course," he rolled her around until his arm was under hers and around her waist. He took her other hand in his and led her around the room in a dance. Stricture gave her several spins, much to her disagreement, and then gave her one last one so that she landed firmly in her chair. He planted his hands on either side of her on the arm rests. "You still hate to dance I see."

"And you still enjoy tormenting me with it," she grinned, "but I shall forgive you. For now we must prepare for our arrival."

"So," Stricture plopped down on her lap and startled her by throwing his arms around her neck as if he were cuddling. "How did you find out where we needed to go?"

"We recovered the body of one of their men. Zeppelin explored his mind, ripped the knowledge from his head, and gave it to me." Her head jerked as he uncomfortably rotated around in her lap. "Stop doing that," she commanded.

Misery stalked down the empty corridor of the Cenotaph, treading lightly to keep the silence about her. She stopped by the door at the far end and pressed her hand to the lock, keyed in the sequence, and stepped inside once the lock gave way. "You were not at my brief."

The Maximal cocked his head to the side and glared at her without a sound. "You didn't send a lackey. I'm surprised. To what do I owe the honour?" Nainsook smiled, no longer radiating all the hatred he had for her.

"I do not send my men to do a minute task that would bother them. I came to inquire as to if you need the instructions repeated," she gave an iced smile, "or if you heard everything from the doorway." Nainsook gave her a look from his cot, asking the question for him. "You are too heavy to be secretive. Too much weight against the flooring sends vibrations through the rest of the rooms."

Their communicators buzzed with a signal before Nainsook could say anything further. "What is it, Taciturn?" Misery inquired into her comm.

~"Stricture, actually. Taciturn's busy at the moment." He took a physical breath and let out a sigh. "We've company."~ It was all he needed to say and Misery knew immediately who said company was.

Moments later, she and Nainsook were standing in the bridge of the Cenotaph, listening to an argument between Taciturn and a Karnasian captain. Stricture caught sight of them after they entered the doorway and whispered, "He's got a real sore against us."

Misery blinked and tilted her head, "You mean that is Harmlin?"

He shrugged in response, "Or offspring thereof. Apparently this is Harmlin's fifth generation sire."

She mentally rolled her golden red optics. If Harmlin had passed on his mercenary tales of the encounters he had with Decepticons and Autobots then it meant that they were going to experience a quarrel before getting out of the Karnac system. Misery stepped forward, now, and silenced Taciturn. "To what do we owe your complaints, sire of Harmlin?"

The Karnasian on screen fell back into his seat. "Are you the captain of this vessel?" Misery nodded her helm to him. "Then you are in Karnasian space. We require fees for every passenger aboard your ship in homage to Harmlin. Pay or perish."

Misery watched the screen for a moment and then tilted her head with a maniacal smile. "Did Harmlin not tell you of what we do to those who attempt to enforce a fee upon Decepticons?"

"So, you are Decepticons," the Karnasian growled, baring three rows of teeth. "I am Harmine, heir of Harmlin. Turn away from our space now, before I destroy you." With that, he cut the transmission and ended the argument.

Misery turned towards her pilot. "Get ready."

Taciturn nodded, turning back to the scanners and shutting the blast shields. He held his hands up, pushing them together and forced the bridge window shields closed. "Their ships are going to combat mode. Shall I respond with more force or play with them?" he inquired, optics wide and mouth sealed, speaking through the computer.

Misery contemplated a moment but decided against it; the Maximal and Autobot stared at her while she thought, Stricture taking to another monitor. "Destroy them."

The Cenotaph veered upwards, the underside of the ship snapping loose in places and flexing outward, two cannons taking aim towards the ships. Taciturn slammed his hands downward, hitting switches quickly and forcefully. The others could feel the ship's movements around them as the Cenotaph darted past the other ships, turned, and took aim. Taciturn glared at the ships, firing the cannons. "Only the strongest will survive!"

The Decepticon threw his head back, laughing, enjoying the deaths that he had caused. Harmlin's line had ended in his optics, and he would savour this easy victory. "Nothing stands against Decepticons," Stricture cackled, approaching his wingmate and taking his hands in his own, rubbing his face back and forth against them. "Excellent, Taciturn, excellent, you blew them away so easily."

The red and black Decepticon watched his wingmate, nodding his head slowly. "We shall continue the journey, now." He turned to face his captain, inquiring what he and his wingmate were both wondering. "Misery, where do you wish us to go now?"

She turned back to them, nodded to Taciturn, and barked her order, "Change path for the tri-cluster asteroids." He acknowledge, changed the course, and continued on their journey.

"So what will you do now?" Nainsook crossed his arms, staring out the window behind Misery. Her hands were at her sides, gaze focused on the tri-cluster asteroids. The formation was incredible to the naked eyes: three rocks slammed into one another for all eternity, stuck in a triangular formation. Closer inspection, however, would reveal that underneath the camouflage was a structure unlike any other. A building within a formation of fake rock and plaster. A research facility at best.

Misery knew its real name: TRUNDLE. It had floated around under the watchful view of the Decepticons even though it was Maximal owned and operated. A thorn more than anything, and the Tripredacus Council had mentioned on more than one occasion that it should be destroyed. "Zeppelin told me where to go from the knowledge we gained from the body in my flat. Also, in my head I saw an acid pit. Only one Maximal research facility has the capacity to hold acid in that large of amounts and not be noticed through records."

Nainsook tilted his head, coming to the window beside her and inspecting the formation in the distance. "My optics say nothing is there, but my scanners say that there is a large heap of metal below the surface."

She nodded her helm, tapping her fingers against her left cuisse to an inaudible beat. "Xyston lies within there. I shall retrieve his body and crucify those whom took him from me."

The Maximal faced her now, examining her placid face. "You love him, don't ya? More than ya do me?"

Silence was her only response for several moments, contemplation her only motif. "I said before to Ultimatum that Xyston was only my friend. That still stands, Maximal." He grabbed her then, pulled her close, and wrapped her body in his strong arms, keeping her still. Misery saw the look on his face, wanting his second answer from her. "I have not known you long enough to decide that difference, Maximal."

"But just now, with that statement, you tell me that ya love him more than me," Nainsook grabbed gently at her gorget, angling her face upwards.

"Just be silent, Nainsook, and do what you are craving," she ordered, leaning upwards to meet him as his lips embraced hers, sharing in a scandal of a moment. In that moment, the world did not exist around them, but the barriers between Decepticon and Maximal standards still stood, and it was that ideal that drew them apart. The two of them were silent for minutes on end, not even caring to look one another in the optics.

"Ya gonna kill them all?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes."

"Good. I'm gonna help ya."

"Should I inquire as to the motive of your actions?"

"Take it for granted, chickypoo, just take it for granted . . ."

His optics were widened, frozen on horror, his arms twisted and broken at odd angles behind him. His legs were severed, torn from his body from the joint and one was ripped, crunched, and twisted at mid-thigh. The voice box in his throat no longer functioned; it had given out after the first eleven hours of his torture.

Footsteps echoed as his torturer returned, stalking around him until the scientist could look up into his face. Emerald optics beamed, sparkling with sadistic desires. Moving faster than the scientist could follow, his attacker leaned down, groped for his still attached arms and pulled them from his body. The broken body strained and jerked, trying to keep itself in tact with its last remaining appendages. "Scream," the behemoth laughed, drawing the Maximal scientist close, planting his face into the floor and placing his foot atop the helm of his victim, "that's what you wanted me to do, you pathetic sadist."

He turned his helm, staring at the canister in his hand. "You decided to torture me to see how far I could go before I break." He smiled maniacally, taking in the sight of the tri-point symbol before tearing the lid off and aiming it above the scientist's back. "But you see, I cannot bend nor can I break. I am perfect." The behemoth began to move his hand in circles, dripping an occasional droplet of acid down the other's back, boring a perfect circle of melted metal as the stubs of the victim's legs wiggled from the pain. "You, on the other hand, are my next meal. You see, I am a god in the mightiest of senses."

The behemoth tipped his hand upward, preventing the last bits of acid from dripping out. He lowered himself down, squatting and placing a hand between his legs so that he could stabilize himself. "Your pain is invigorating," the behemoth slid the canister upwards, holding it just above the scientist's shoulders. "I. Am. Pain." he said, flipping the container over, shoving the seal against the Maximal's neck, letting the acid bubble and dissolve the metal holding the helm to the torso.

The expression of fear was frozen upon the face of the scientist, optics impossibly wide before the lights behind them faded as the acid finished boring through the neck of metal and wires. "Too bad you could no longer scream, but without the use of a voice I'm afraid you have no use for a head. Well, at least now I may devour your spark and be rid of the last of your kind for good." He snarled, baring fangs as his fingers interlaced with the circle he had created. The behemoth gave a quick jerk and tore the metal off, exposing the weak pulsing spark.

He fished inside the torso, moving the last bits of wires and metal before removing the spark, holding it firmly in his grasp. He raised it to his face, its weak light casting shadows over his helm, showing off his grey and red armour. His emerald optics narrowed, mouth widening and taking hold of the side of the spark. The orb of blue and white light shimmered, contracting as if it were ready to enter a new body. It was about to, in reality, as the behemoth licked along the shinning orb, taking it into his mouth, feeling the power and life it possessed. It was then that he bit down, shattering the energy container and feeling the power course down his throat and into the pit of his body.

His hands felt along his stomach, watching the light spread through his body, giving him an impossibly powerful tingle from head to taloned foot. He tilted his helm back, feeling the light finish throughout his body. Closing his optics and then opening them again, looking at his reflection in the ceiling panel, memorizing the lines of his face and body. "How long has it been, precious, since I've seen the look in these optics? How long has it been since I have quaked this ground and raped the land of its sweetness? Hmm . . . it does not matter, I shall forever be myself now. I shall forever be," he narrowed his optics, looking downward and gazing down the hallway, motioning with his hands in a revealing gesture.

Before he continued with his thought, his optics narrowed, searching the room, feeling a new presence. Sniffing the air, his tongue drew outward, tasting some unsmelled and untasted sweetness. He closed his mouth around his appendage, licking over his upper lip before turning again, unfocused on anything. "Someone else is here . . . Not someone I missed, no, someone who has just arrived . . ."

His helm snapped to the left quickly, optics wide and search, his reaction like a cornered beast. "Power, power . . ." He snapped back to the right, still searching, trying to feel out the source of power. "Those living for death will die by their own hands . . ." Again, he turned, this time his helm angling upwards. "Pretty sparks coming to be eaten . . . This I shall . . ." optics closing he took a deep breath, "enjoy . . ."

Her breath became rapid, lips parted, drawing in as much air as she could to fill her tanks. "Xyston, I can taste you in there . . ." she drew her hand across the window, leaving small crack lines from her sharp dactyl tips. "Are you still alive, ma modestie, are you still thriving in there? Could it be that you survived somehow and that I imagined your fate only in my mind's eye?" Misery drew her arms around herself, unnervingly chilled for several moments. "You chill me, Xyston, as you did long ago. Could you be returning to your glory?"

Then her mind remembered. The times the two had spent together, she never feared him, but he always chilled her, freezing her body cold. He had once given her the name Ice Queen as what some would call an "affectionate" name. Well, "affectionate" only described what one would see if they were viewing the two from galaxies away. Xyston and Misery had never been, in the sense of the word, "affectionate."

Her optics widened psychotically, pinpricks of light forming behind her red optics, keeping the outskirts of them darkened to black while only a single ruby dot with golden hue about it stared into the distance of the tri-cluster of asteroids. "Xyston." Misery licked at her lips, optics still entranced. "Xyston is alive. I can feel it. I can feel him inside of me . . ."

His optics searched the room. "Misery. I can feel it. I can feel it, she's not dead . . ."

"Someone's joke. Funny," she mused to herself, calm and cynical, general apathy leaking back into her mind.

"Some sort of joke. I'm laughing . . ." he snarled, emerald optics turning towards the reflective ceiling.

"They did not mean to kill you, ma modestie; they meant to kill me. They thought they killed me . . ." she chuckled, tossing her head back.

He laughed, tossing his head back further, drawing in sharp breaths while continuing his laughter.

They laughed together, separated by space, but they laughed together, feeling the presence of the other, before they finally spoke, mimicking the other's words. "They thought they won, my precious, they thought they would kill us . . ." The behemoth and Ice Queen stopped smiling, faces serious. "They were wrong."

Taciturn and Stricture clutched their bodies, feeling the cold, cruel laughter. "What is that?" Nainsook inquired, trying to fight off the freezing breeze on the ship that seemed to ice the flow of his mechfluid.

"Misery," Taciturn and Stricture chorused together, fighting to remain calm. "It's her special ability, she's able to lower the temperature in the area to make her opponents slower."

"That's not comforting," Nainsook snarled. "Makes me think she's going to come in here and kill us . . ." He turned then, feeling the cold air rush into the bridge and found her standing in the doorway, guns ready at her sides. She was ready for a fight. "Misery . . ."

She looked to Taciturn then to Stricture, saying as much with her optics that she could that made them understand immediately. "We shall land now, and we shall hunt."

"Misery . . ." Nainsook turned his body, following her as she walked into the mists of the group of warriors and one flight-fearing Autobot. "Misery . . ." she finally looked at him, the psychotic pinprick of her optics still there, staring him down.

"Prepare yourselves for battle," Misery ordered, turning on her heels and facing the pilot. "Land the ship. We have a hunt to partake in."

It had taken them only minutes to bore through the asteroid layer protecting the facility, and only once the way was clear did the Cenotaph land. The bay doors opened, a slow flow of steam flowing out from the heat of the facility mixing with the coldness around Misery. After the five had disembarked from the ship, Taciturn signaled remotely for the Cenotaph to retract from the tri-cluster, to hover just out of floating range.

"How long do we plan on being here?" Ultimatum asked, looking around the empty hallway.

It was Taciturn who replied, "As long as it takes."

Misery inquired, then, "Do you still have the ability to keep your connection to the ship from outside?"

"Negative," he answered, stepping up next to her so only she could hear his next words. He sneered when he said, "The Tripredacus Council said I did not deserve such a talent."

"Believe me when I tell you this, ma lance-flammes, that we are going to destroy all of Cybertron after this. Then we shall be restored to our proper glory."

Taciturn closed his mouth, optics wide, unnerved at the calm in her voice. "Are you insane?" he paused, then came to a realization. "You are, aren't you? You wouldn't have called me the old name if you weren't . . ."

Misery flicked him a quick smirk. "Immortality was not Starscream's only gift."

He swallowed hard, looking back to his blue and gold wingmate, then back to Misery, swallowing difficult again. "He awoke you from your dormancy . . ."

She shrugged then, a smooth roll of shoulders and readjusting of her back to a better posture. "Xyston is here, ma lance-flammes, be on your guard."

"What of the Autobot and Maximal?" he conferred with her.

Misery flicked a quick glance to Nainsook and Ultimatum, then looked back to her red and black pilot. "An offering of lambs."

"I hate to disrupt your private conversation," Stricture stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the look on Misery's face. His optics went wide, looking between his wingmate and his captain, then focusing on his wingmate. "She's back, isn't she?" The red and black male and the blue and black female Decepticons nodded their heads in agreement. "Damn, that's what I was afraid of . . ."

Stricture was silent one moment longer before blinking, going back to a cheerful attitude. "So, yeah, I've checked the security systems. Everything's down, dead, or dying. Not very comforting to my person, but, eh, life's a bitch like that."

"Why do you insist in speaking in that vulgar Terran language when I do not understand a word of it?" Misery inquired, tilting her head to the side, drawing her weapons out, not liking the idea of a dead building.

Stricture shrugged his shoulders in similar fashion that Misery had done, changing his posture to a straighter one. "Just like you and your use of the Terran/French language. You find it suitable to your use in appropriate times. I felt that now I needed to swear because of our situation."

"This is true, Misery, he could have sworn in Eeryyn language. And we know how painful their tongue sounds to us." She nodded in agreement to Taciturn, remembering the encounter they once had with an Eeryyn, and how it had knocked out all their computers with its voice alone.

Nainsook stepped between the three, his optics searching around the corridor and glaring at the three Decepticons equally. "I'm picking up free flowing mech . . . liters upon liters of it . . ."

"What does that mean?" Taciturn inquired, blinking his red optics, hand reaching to his backside to draw at his flamethrower. Paranoia dictates.

"He means dead bodies . . . lots of them," Misery's optics were wide as she looked around the hallway. "I can . . . almost smell them . . . all of them . . ."

"Misery," Stricture paused, watching the immortal female as she began to stalk back and forth in a ten meter radius.

"There must be . . . at least thirty, no, forty bodies . . . they are dead. All of them. Something has happened that we did not expect." She hesitated a moment, then she looked back to the four males, optics wide and mouth closed as she spoke next. "I feel power."

The five of them turned as one, each holding their optics towards the furthest light panel. One by one, the light panels began to flicker and dim until finally darkening. Each power cell died in a domino effect, gaining rapid speed down the corridor until it passed over the group and continued its course.

Ultimatum jerked his head towards Nainsook when the Maximal turned a red flare light on, holding it above them. "I take it this wasn't meant to happen?" Ultimatum asked, containing his fears long enough to raise his weapon and point it down the hall. "Anyone know what we're supposed to be looking for?"

"Most likely," Taciturn raised his hands, setting them aglow with fire from various pores covering his palms and fingertips, "some sort of imposing being capable of ripping our heads off."

"Why do you have to go and say something like that, Tass?" Stricture swallowed hard, turning to face his wingmate.

"Because, such a being is standing less than fifty meters away at the end of the hallway staring us down right now."

It was one of those moments where you know there is a monster behind you, you feel compelled to look, but you know that if you do look fear will overtake you and you cannot flee. Nainsook, Stricture, and Misery, however, were the only three who dared to turn to look; Ultimatum was content just to keep perfectly still and pretend to be invisible.

The behemoth in the darkness must have stood at least five and a half meters to Nainsook's five meters. Darkness consumed his body as his helm oscillated back and forth, half lidded emerald optics barely visible. When he looked at them, they shuddered, and when he spoke, they listened. "Added grace Invincible."

Misery, Taciturn, and Stricture drew breaths, the latter two grabbing hold of the Maximal and ex-Autobot, turning and running from the behemoth. The four of them shouted unprecedentedly for Misery to move. She swallowed hard, mouth opening and closing before finally she was able to form the words to complete the line. "Abasht the Devil stood . . . And felt how awful goodness is . . ."

The beast in the darkness took a step forward, then another, and another, arms stretching outward in a welcoming gesture. "And saw / Virtue in her shape how lovely, saw, and pin'd / His loss . . ." he whispered to her, his voice alone filling her audios until she could no longer hear the others calling to her. "But chiefly to find here observed / His lustre visibly impair'd . . ."

"Misery!" Nainsook yelled, pulling desperately at Stricture's hold on his arms. "Misery! Don't listen to him!"

"Yet seemed . . ." she breathed, Nainsook's voice filling her and drawing her attention. The emerald coloured optics of the behemoth glittered, trying to pull her attention back to him. But she would not allow herself to be taken so easily. "Undaunted!"

She turned and ran as fast as she could, trailing behind the four males. She knew he would not run to catch her. He would take his time, allowing her to hide, but there was no hiding from him. Xyston would find her no matter where she fled.

Misery could hear the echoes of her steps pounding like a spark beat off the walls, and before she could blink she was running just short of side by side with the trailing Ultimatum. Taciturn, having released his grip long ago on the ex-Autobot, was leading the pack towards some far away room, hoping to find one that they could hide in. He turned to look behind when he found that Misery had now joined the group. "Is he coming?" he asked, worry in his voice.

"Just continue moving!" she ordered, flanking next to Stricture who was following behind the more quick Nainsook.

"Should we take to flying, Captain?" Stricture rushed with her, trying to keep pace with his further ahead wingmate.

"The Autobot cannot fly," she returned, casting a glance to him as she jumped a fallen pipe. "Despite the original plan, that was not one in the right frame of mind just to extend an offering of friendship to." She copied Taciturn, Nainsook, and Stricture's movements, ducking beneath a loose beam of metal that was hanging two meters lower than it should have been.

"Is he still back there?" Ultimatum called ahead, too frightened to look behind.

Nainsook risked a glance, staring down the long hallway. Despite the fact that they had turned several corners, the behemoth stood at the mouth of the corridor, emerald optics still gazing towards them. "Yup! He's still back there!" he said, quickening his pace.

Taciturn shouted, "No time for that! Follow close!" He turned another corner, ordering the computer at the end of the short corridor to open. The four piled in close behind him, Taciturn taking a moment to seal it shut with his fire, melting the frame and the doorway together. "This should buy us . . . fifty nanoclicks if we're lucky."

Ultimatum gaped, optics wide and fixated on the red and black Decepticon. "Fifty nanoclicks! That's too short!"

"Well, then," Nainsook smiled insipidly, "if ya value your life . . ." he looked at the door, hearing the footsteps of the approaching behemoth. "Run like a bitch!"

They listened intently as the noises stopped, backing themselves slowly up the nearest stairwell. "I hear something," Taciturn narrowed his optics. "It sounds like Arakacian . . . Stricture, you know Arakacian, right? Can you translate it?"

The gold and blue Decepticon nodded, stepping slightly closer to the doorway, listening intently, optics widening when he looked back to Misery. "He, uh . . . he, uh, said that, um . . ."

"What did he say, ma paresse?" she raised her brow, looking at him suspiciously.

Stricture swallowed hard, "Xyston says: Misery, sweet Misery / The night beckons us from the day / A sweeping hand, a mighty hand, a relentless guardian / I call to you, Misery, dear Misery / I need you here this day / By dying spirit, by holy beckoned hand / It is my will you must obey."

They heard footsteps again, this time leading away from the door, Misery's face showing surprise. Once she was sure he was gone and his footsteps could no longer be heard, she collapsed backwards, into Stricture's quick and steady grip. Her breath was rapid, jerky, and a cacophony of different tones. Misery turned her helm, facing the Maximal, Autobot, and red and black Decepticon. Taciturn was worried, Ultimatum was afraid, and Nainsook was angry. So angry in fact that he launched forward, grabbing Misery by the collar and holding her high out of Stricture's grip.

Stricture wrapped his arms around the Maximal's, trying to pull him off of his captain, fighting hard but to no avail. "So, Xyston was dead, was he?" he snapped, throwing Stricture off of him, and, having joined his wingmate in the attempt, Taciturn soon after. "You lied to me!"

"I . . ." she choked on her words, unsure of what to tell him. "I thought --!"

"Ergh!" Nainsook threw her down on the ground, her body bouncing against it once before landing hard again at his feet. "You told me he was dead! You told me he meant nothing! Yet here you are," he grabbed at her collar, dragging her up to his eye level and shaking her forcefully. "You thought you could play me for a fool."

Misery looked him in the optics, really looked, forcing her reasoning upon and into him. "I thought Xyston was dead," she choked, hands grabbing at his wrist to help hold herself into the air. "I never asked for your help, Nainsook, you gave it to me willingly."

"Treacherous bitch!" he spat.

"Leave her alone!" Taciturn grabbed the Maximal's arm, drawing it behind him and forcing him into an almost arm-breaking hold. He rode Nainsook to the ground like that, pinning his form while Misery backed away. "This is no time to fight amongst ourselves, damnit! Xyston could jump on us at any moment."

"I'd welcome him to get away from her," Nainsook's voice was deadly, optics fixated on her as he accented every word.

"You would not," Misery's voice was calm, smoother than her normal placid tone. "Xyston would torture you until there is nothing left but a shell and an empty spark cavity. He would consume your very life, Nainsook. I would not wish that upon anyone I cared for."

Nainsook breathed hard, a forceful exhort of his will and reason to quell his anger. So she cares, he thought, attention falling on Taciturn as he slowly released the Maximal, deeming him no longer an immediate threat. Nainsook carefully climbed to his feet, attention focused only on Misery, throwing his anger at her still.

She climbed to her feet, resting limply against the railing. "We must get out of here . . ." she trailed her dactyls against the metal, finding where her grip had crushed the solid steel. "If I can do this," she pointed, "think of what Xyston could do to you." Nainsook blinked, then, realizing she was right. "Nainsook," she began again, "you may think I have lied, but I only said what I thought was true. You must understand that to leave this place intact we must continue to work together."

"Fine, whatever." He turned away from her then, again knowing she was right. He hated being proved wrong, worse yet by the enemy of his faction.

"We need to find a way to the Cenotaph that would not lead us past Xyston," Stricture chimed in, making sure to put himself between the Maximal and his captain. If another fight between them broke out, he wanted to at least buffer the assault.

Misery nodded her head, taking charge of the two that remained of her squadron from long ago. Taciturn, her right hand who had been the tactician who had gotten them out of more than one tight spot, and Stricture, her left hand who had always been the front man on the battlefield. "Taciturn, can you plug in here and find a hanger where the Cenotaph can dock long enough?"

"I'll try, Captain, but I can't guarantee anything . . ." he stalked to the nearest computer linkup, plugged his arm in, and began searching the schematic layout. It took him almost twelve minutes, but he finally turned back to them. "There's a hanger on level 2, fourteen hallways over and down, but it's nowhere near big enough for the Cenotaph. It looks like there's one shuttle craft left that we could take."

"Then we head for that, then," Stricture shrugged, flicking a glance to Nainsook to make sure he was still cooperating.

"There is a problem," Misery suggested only what Taciturn's mind and face betrayed. "How many does it hold?"

"That's the problem." He swallowed hard. "Only room for one of us."

Misery nodded, "Not such a difficult choice, then. You will go to the Cenotaph and pilot it around to the hanger and retrieve us with the boarding bay."

"Screw that, why does he get to go?" Nainsook clasped his hand to his chest, over his spark, his expression a mix of anger and surprise. Misery, Taciturn, Stricture, and Ultimatum stared at him, surprise across their faces. Misery had not expected this from him so soon seeing as how she knew that he understood that Taciturn was the better pilot of the group. Stricture only continued to glare suspiciously, his optics focusing on the Maximal's face. He tilted his helm back, staring at the ceiling, hand still clutched to his chest. "Sh . . .--" his voice faded as he fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. His vision blurred. He couldn't see. His mech fluid stopped. He couldn't move. His chest tightened, hole evident. His spark gave out.

"Only room for one," Ultimatum repeated, pointing his weapon towards Stricture and firing. Stricture, though still in shock, was fast enough to move, but the concussion blast still managed to catch him in side, severing vitals. "Then, goodbye!" the ex-Autobot yelled, running as fast as his feet could carry him through the upper entrance to the room, disappearing as Misery's weapon fire echoed off the walls.

"Damnit!" Taciturn snarled, running to his wingmate and placing his hand over the wound, mechfluid dripping out between his fingers. "Stricture, look at me and focus."

The gold and blue Decepticon used his hand to grab hold of his wing mate's shoulder, pulling him close. "Severed my leg control wires . . . I can't . . . I can't get up and walk . . ."

"Yeah, well, you're going to lose all functions and go into stasis lock if we can't stop the mech flow. And trust me, we need you awake and shooting right now with Xyston on the loose," Taciturn turned to Misery, swallowing hard. "Get me a piece of metal big enough to cover his wound."

She nodded, complying fast enough by ripping her dactyls into the wall and jerking a panel off. "Reinforced, so it will also give some protection." The Decepticon female began tearing it to a small enough piece to overlap his wound and not have an excess hanging off. She brought it to Taciturn, putting it in his hands. Stricture watched them both, letting Misery take his wrists and pin him to the ground. He knew it was going to hurt, and so he allowed her to hold him.

Taciturn straddled his wingmate, using his body to help hold him more. "This is going to hurt something awful, lovely." The red and black Decepticon pressed the metal to Stricture's wound, then positioned his hands on either side. He swallowed hard once more, lighting up his hands with an intense heat. It was like liquid, pouring out and along the sides of the metal swathe. The fire rolled over it, boiling it until it melted and fused with Stricture's body, bubbling with the white flames under Taciturn's careful, steady hands.

The gold and blue Decepticon tried to remain silent, breathing increasing rapidly until the heat finally got to him. "GYAH!" he cried out, his screams echoing as far as his voice would travel until Misery muffled his screams with one hand as she continued to hold his wrists with her other.

He stopped suddenly from his dead run, hearing the screams of Stricture. "Great, that thing's back there tearing them up!" He smiled, "Well, at least that means that I can get away scot-free!" He began running again, two hallways away from where Taciturn said the hanger would be. If I can make it there before he finishes with them, then I'm home free--and with a new ship, he thought. It was too bad I had to kill Nainsook, but he had gotten too close with them . . .

He turned the final corner, kicking the door open and staring into the wide hanger. Picking up his pace, he made it to the center of the long room where the shuttle was located. He sighed happily, punching in a sequence on the shuttle. It would be a tight fit, he imagined, but whatever would get him away would tickle his fancy. "I am out of here!" he cheered, pressing the switch to open the small shuttle doors.

Swallowing hard, he attempted to turn his head to look, but he found he could not. Large, red hands held his shoulders and prevented him from moving. A chill ran through his body as his optics widened in fear. "Time to feed the monster . . ." Xyston whispered in his audios, and that was the last thing that he heard before his piercing screams filled the hanger.

Stricture growled out in pain as Taciturn finished sealing the wound with more heat until no mech was able to flee the gold and blue Decepticon's body. Misery had long since released her grip on him, ensuring, though, that he did not attempt to lash out at the other. "Are you stable enough to wield a weapon in defense?" she asked, raising him to a sitting position.

"I . . . I think so . . ." he retrieved his railgun from his backside, holding it firm and steady in his grasp. "Yeah, I can shoot still . . ."

"Good," Misery said. "Stricture, you will ride on Taciturn's back. When we make it to the hanger Taciturn will take the shuttle to the Cenotaph."

"And what if old fool has left with our way out?" Stricture snarled.

"Have you ever known Xyston to miss a meal?"

The two males were silent. Then they replied, "Nope."

Xyston raised up, exhaling slowly, mouth, hands, and upper body covered in mechfluid. Trickles of the pink-silverish fluid dripped down his chin and throat, some even missing his body and falling on the ruins of what used to be a thing. It would be impossible to think of the tangled mess as ever being a transformer, but to those who knew the colouration, the shapes of the form, and the hauntingly frozen blue optics would reveal the corpse to be Ultimatum.

The behemoth smirked, licking his lips slowly before drawing the weakly pulsing spark to his mouth and consuming it. Each taste, every flicker, every pulse, every surge of energy became his, lighting his body even more. Xyston licked his lips and hands clean of the mechfluid once he finished. "I'm so hungry. I must have more, I need more," he bellowed with laughter, throwing his head back and splaying what remaining mechfluid on his body around the hanger. "Oh, Misery, you will be mine once more!"

Taciturn made sure that Stricture was secured to his back before raising up. He glared down at Misery, "We should hurry. If Xyston has already killed Ultimatum then we no longer have a distraction."

"I know," she turned her head to face the two. "I want you beside me at all times. Xyston will not separate us through traps. Stand to my side so that Stricture's strong side is on the opposite. We shall keep our flank until the shuttle." The black and blue Decepticon female approached the railing, looking down below. "Ultimatum took the long way, but we shall go down the flights here and then make for the hanger."

"Understood," the two males nodded, walking for the stairwell, passing the fallen body of Nainsook. As Misery passed she glared down at him. For a second time in her life, she felt remorse and loss, which she should have not felt for a Maximal. But no matter how hard she tried, prying her gaze from his body felt like dying herself. If Xyston had not killed Ultimatum then she would have, and slowly at that. "Remember, we need to stay together," she reiterated, catching up with the two and walking next to them. Within minutes, they were gone.

The echoes of a low growl began filtering slowly into the room, the massive form of Xyston crouching low to the ground like some sort of predatory beast. He tilted his head back, taking in the scent of the room. "So slow to begin, Misery. Hardly like you, ma fierté." He crept silently towards Nainsook's fallen body, straddling the Maximal and glaring down at him with hunger in his emerald optics. "She left you, I see. Left you like a corpse." He placed his palm against the hole in the Maximal's chest. "Hmm, still alive, I see."

"Wake up!" he ordered, shoving his hand into the wound and electrifying Nainsook's spark cavity. The Maximal's blue optics were forced open and his mouth parted in a silent scream. "There," Xyston derided, hand withdrawing from Nainsook's wound as the electricity dissipated, "all better. Now, tell Xyston who you are." The black and orange robot felt weak, his chest in a mess from the wound that only began to drip more mechfluid now. He whispered his name slowly, optics constantly searching. "Good. Now, Nainsook," Xyston spat the Maximal's name like a sour taste in his mouth, "Why would Misery dispatch only one to the shuttle. She should have known better than that."

"She . . . she didn't . . . Ultimatum . . . he shot me . . . he betrayed me," Nainsook's voice was growing weaker by the minute, showing how injured he was.

"I see," Xyston tilted his head to the side, guise never changing as he held the Maximal's optics with his own. "Anger, betrayal, hatred, ohh, you are a unique Maximal, I see. But there's no fear in you, yet!"

Nainsook shook his head, it almost seemed like a conversation between old friends. If, of course, Nainsook wasn't dying, and, of course, Xyston wasn't a sociopathic murderer. "I don't . . . fear anyone."

Xyston smirked then, fingers tracing a perfect circle around Nainsook's wound, prodding it delicately, as if testing the waters. "Oh, but you soon will," he chuckled, forcing his hand deep into the torn hole. Nainsook refused to scream, his optics clutched shut tightly, a barely audible groan coming from him. Then, the behemoth began pulling at the freshly ravaged metal, ripping it from Nainsook's body until the Maximal arched his back in pain. "Where is your fear boy? I want to enjoy this."

"What's . . . the point . . . if you're just going . . . to kill me anyway?" he inquired, his body going numb from the pain.

The behemoth jerked him up then, snarling in the Maximal's face. "You will fear me or I will make sure your pain is extended indefinitely!" Nainsook barely cared, his helm laid back as he stared at the immortal through half lidded optics. The Maximal no longer cared what happened to him since he was dying, so he would not fear Xyston. Not now, not ever would he give in to the insane immortal's desires. He hoped, at least.

"Just kill me, then," Nainsook pleaded, tired already of Xyston's game.

"Oh, but there's fear in your voice, Maximal. I can taste it, I can see it. It's coming from deep inside you," he lifted the weakened Maximal off the ground, holding his limp form high into the air. "Why, I must ponder now, did Misery associate herself with you?"

"Don't know . . . don't care . . ." he wheezed, feeling further systems shut down.

"Oh, but you do know, and you do care, boy. There's something inside of you . . . something like . . . love?" Xyston tipped his head almost upside-down to glare at Nainsook. "You love Misery? BWHAHA!" he drew off in fits of laughter, not loud enough to echo through the science building, but enough to fill the room. "You! In love with her! Oh, that is rich!"

Nainsook did his best to glare down at sociopath, which was an insipid expression do to his pain and weariness. "You make fun of another . . . and their de--" he swallowed hard, "and their desire to love another?"

The behemoth gave him a weak stare, "Love is but a word, boy," he smiled, "like a conjunction, such as 'and.' It's the actions that define the word. Just saying it means nothing. Showing it, that is the true meaning of a word." Xyston licked his lips clean. "That's why you will scream, and I will enjoy the ramifications of your pain. You feel something, a tingle, that displeases you. That's pain. Pain becomes the word to describe what you experience. Pain hurts you, but it pleases me, boy. I draw out the emotion, the feeling, the hurt, the pain, the joy, the sadness, even the love. I feel it all as I kill."

He grabbed Nainsook with his other hand as well, now, pulling him down to optic level so that the tips of the Maximal's solerets brushed the ground. "Since I've woken up I have killed forty-three people, Nainsook. And in each one I have felt what they have felt, I have lived what they have lived, I have loved what they have loved." He turned his helm to the side, closing his green optics and sniffing at the air. "One's last thought was of his mate in the next room. He thought about the pain I would inflict upon her, about the loss she would feel once she realized he was one of the first to die. He never thought about himself, he was selfless. You, boy," he looked back to the Maximal, raising him higher from the ground, "I have smelled things in you, tasted things in you that remind me of a word, and that word is 'intricate.' You have so many details inside your head, so many of them defined so well. I want to break them one by one."

Nainsook widened his optics, surprise on his face. "There! There's that retched emotion once more! What is that?" Xyston asked, slamming the black and orange bot against the wall. "What is it, what is it that you feel! I cannot define it!" The behemoth could stand it no longer; his hand ripped into the Maximal's stomach, grabbing at wires, metal, and vitals, tearing them out. Nainsook clutched his jaws together, a pained groan humming in his mouth. Xyston continued to dart his hand inside the Maximal's body, searching for the metaphysical emotion that he could not understand, wanting to find it, learn it, know it.

His hand jerked upwards, grabbing hold around the Maximal's spark and assorted wires, clenching tight enough to finally make Nainsook scream out in pain. "What is that emotion, I must know!" the behemoth snarled. "Different than the ones before, what is this?"

Xyston came to his senses as a rumble echoed through the framework of the facility. Both mighty hands clasped shut as the limp body of Nainsook fell to the floor, optics closed and emitting no light. "I have been careless," he mused to himself. "I gave them too much time in the hanger . . ." He looked down to Nainsook, emerald optics wild and flickering psychotically. "You no longer amuse me," he said bluntly, shoving his foot through the Maximal's stomach, mech splashing out and up the length of his leg. Satisfied, Xyston disappeared into the darkness, leaving the limp, sparking body alone.

Stricture's spark began to flutter in agony as slow repairs took place inside his body. Misery held him tightly around his shoulders as his body began to writhe uncontrollably. "Stay awake, Stricture. It should not take Taciturn that--" she tilted her head, searching the room, feeling the presence of the other immortal. "Yet seemed undaunted . . ." she whispered, rising to her feet slowly. "Stricture, get control of yourself, ma paresse, this is not the time to be off guard."

"I concur," came the havened voice, iterating quickly and gaining strength with each bounce of voice. "Ma fierté . . ."

She surveyed the hanger slowly, trying to pinpoint his voice and his spark. Misery knew why he was angry when she spoke next, "I only ran from you, ma modestie, because when you appeared I heard insanity in your voice. You have been awakened, Xyston, this is no time for you to try and frighten me."

"Oh?" the voice cooed, "where you frightened, precious pet? Did I finally scare you?"

She smiled then, "No, lovely monster, you have not frightened your Ice Queen yet."

Xyston stepped forward from the shadows, standing still with perfect posture, mechfluid and oil still dripping from his body. He purred to her, his voice warm with things she could only wish to taste, "To what harm could a monster do upon a monster? / To scratch one does but scratch the other / In all fair and want they shall consecrate the other / Unmarked by others, but marked monster by monster."

Misery took a step forward and away from Stricture, the Decepticon male keeping silent, not wanting to bring about any attention to himself. His captain, on the other hand, took another step closer towards the behemoth. "Such sweet words have escaped your lips before I could silence them," she returned, completing the run down memory lane.

Xyston was on her in the blink of an optic, holding her high off the ground, snarling up towards her as his hand clenched tight around her throat. "You ran from me."

Not caring to struggle in his grip, she remained still, showing no hostile motives. "I have already explained myself."

"It does not make up for the fact!" he bared a triple set of fangs as he pulled her down to his eye level. "You ran from me, you disobeyed me, you made me run after you, you made me kill to get to you, you made me hurt you," he drew her closer so that his bridge touched against hers. "Why do you make me hurt you?"

She chuckled in his grip, "We are a pair, ma modestie, you do not realize it?" He sat her down slowly until her feet touched the ground, but he did not release her. Xyston held his hold on her, keeping her from fleeing once more. "A sadist and a masochist. Quite the pair are we, that we are able to complete one another so well."

He smiled, licking at his lips, "Ma fierté, you speak such lovely words to me." Xyston pulled her close, pressing the length of their bodies together as he continued to restrain her. He flashed her a heartwarming smile, pulling her face closer to his to where their lips where a breath apart.

Misery narrowed her optics, the red light in her optics dimming to his advances, her spark thrumming with desires. "Xyston, how I have missed you," she cooed as he pulled her within millimeters of his mouth.

"What did that Maximal mean to you?" he asked flatly, denying her of the kiss she had been expecting. Her optics widened slowly, burning brightly in confusion as she searched his blank face. "That's what I thought," he snarled, throwing her across the hanger with enough force to knock her into a storage bin as even Stricture cried out in surprise.

Xyston stomped forward, footsteps echoing off the walls of the sealed hanger as he left impressions in the ground. Rolling his head around his shoulders as he stepped into the giant storage bin, he began searching the darkness. "You filthy harlot," he disparaged, emerald optics searching the darkness. The behemoth reached forward into the shadows, grabbing hold of her hiding form and pulling her from her hiding place. He scowled at her, lifting her off the ground as this time she struggled. "I have given you everything and this is how you repay me?!"

Misery grunted, kicking her legs into his stomach with enough force that should have made him drop her. Xyston, on the other hand, was stronger than expected. "I thought you were dead!" she jerked at his grip, freeing herself and falling back into the shadows. She did not hide from him, this time instead the green orbs on her body lighting up the surrounding darkness, illuminating both immortals. "Forgive me for such thoughts."

"What was done cannot be undone, harlot," he snarled, stalking closer towards her, fists clenching and unfurling at his sides.

"Do not call me that, Xyston. I have not warranted such a contemptuous name from you," she dodged away from him as he slammed his fist into the wall where her head had been just moments before. "Xyston, you are not being rational!" Misery ducked another punch as Xyston struck the wall again with force.

"I am rational!" he hurled his fist at her again, this time connecting with her collar and sending her straight through the wall of the storage container once more. Xyston kept his optics trained on her as he made his way out of the storage container and towards her, passing underneath torn wires that had once been connected before Misery had been thrown into them.

The immortal male jerked back in surprise as a powerful beam of energy shot in front of him. Despite his superior speed now he felt the energon wave crash into his left arm, embedding down to the framework and then cracking along it. With a pained snarl he threw his head back, arm jerking in front of him as it became lit with the white tinge of energon overload. His limb began to flail madly, crackling with an audible pop as the metal expanded and broke in spider web formation, light escaping through every available place.

With an audio-shattering explosion of metal, gears, and mechfluid, Xyston's arm separated from his body in shrapnel form, small and large pieces alike embedded into ceiling, wall, and floor. Turning his head, the behemoth found Stricture reloading his railgun for a second shot. "Leave her alone!" he yelped as his internals continued to hurt, barely able to move but still able to fire. "Leave her alone!" he repeated in vain, still loading his weapon.

Xyston smiled something wicked, energy from his own Galva-conductors flared to life, electricity shooting out and frying the Decepticon's body with enough power to keep him from further interfering. "I'll be after you next, be patient," Xyston sneered. He kicked his feet against the ground as he stalked closer towards the fallen female, Stricture continuing his pleas in attempt for his captain's life. Reaching down at last to grab her leg, he picked her up and spun around, flinging her once more through the air. Misery again connected with the severed wires, this time experiencing the strong sparks as she just barely touched them. "You see, Misery, I cannot easily forgive your trespasses against me. You must be taught once more your place."

Misery rolled onto her side, breathing heavily as she watched him, strength returning slowly to her. "My place is at your side, ma modestie, or have you forgotten that . . . ?"

"I have forgotten nothing!" he howled, picking her up by her throat with his right hand, holding her high above him once more. "You were to be at my side, you were to stand with me once Cybertron was ours. You were to be mine! My queen! My everything!" He raised her further up using his one arm as his face wavered lower and held over her chest, just over her spark cavity. "I can smell it deep inside of you, Misery. You long for something that I have not yet given to you. You have never experienced what I can give you. I have become a god, ma fierté, I can give you the universe . . ."

"What good is a universe," Misery started, clenching at his grip to help support herself, fully aware of the cables hanging dangerously around both of them, "if the one you share it with does not yet recognize you as an equal?" Perhaps she could grab one and shock them both into stasis.

"Filthy little--!"

It was then that the thought was put into action. Hands grabbed hold of the broken cables, connecting them to the behemoth's pauldrons. Within moments they were thrown into incredible pain as electricity coursed them. Their world was a worsening plague of pain as the metal on their bodies began to bubble and boil. Xyston, the worse off, felt his body all the way to his core burning, burning, burning with uncontrollable agony. They cried out as metal dripped from their bodies as finally the damaged computer echoed the familiar call of stasis lock.

Xyston dropped, unconscious and in stasis, Misery landing on top of his fallen form, and the other bot falling next to her. Misery opened her red optics weakly, glancing to her side to see a burned and charred familiar face. Her mouth parted, body quivering with pain as her body began to slowly heal. "You . . ." she breathed, reaching out and touching his blackened hands. "Nainsook . . ." she whispered, voice filled with shock. "How are you still alive?"

"They keep killin' me," he wheezed, "but I keep comin' back . . ."

Pain over took him then, his body surging with power corruption as he, too, fell into stasis lock. Misery jerked forward, grabbing his body and pulling him off of the behemoth. "Nainsook . . ." she stroked his helm, running her fingers across his broken face. "You came back to save me . . ."

The hanger opened suddenly and a gust of vacuum began pulling things not bolted down. Stricture cried out as he began sliding across the floor, pain ripping through his wounded side until the vacuum stopped. The two transformers who were conscious looked towards the hole, observing the boarding tube seal shut. Taciturn's voice flooded both their comms. ~"Hurry up, we've got company coming. I'm picking up fifty Maximal ships."~ He flipped several switches with his telemetry connection as he began to power the jump cells. "Now would be good!"~

Misery nodded, picking Nainsook up with strength she did not know she had, slinging him over her back and making her way towards Stricture. Grabbing his wrist she began to pull him across the floor even as he cried out in pain. "Misery, that--gah!--hurts!"

"Pain is temporary, ma paresse, as is time. We must be swift on our feet," she grumbled, carrying the unconscious Maximal on her back while she dragged her complaining sniper up the long ramp.

"Xyston's right," he grimaced, optics clenching shut as he was once again racked with pain. "You do talk pretty . . . Say, are you going to retrieve your lover boy?"

She nodded, "As soon as you two are on board and not stuck in the boarding tunnel."

~"You better move faster, then, they're within forty knots."~

Misery nodded subconsciously, quickening herself into a limply run, almost dropping Nainsook once and then twice as she tripped over the final row of steps and into the main body of the Cenotaph. She pushed herself up only to fall once more as the tunnel began to withdrawal from TRUNDLE. "Taciturn! What are you doing?!" she snapped, raising to her feet.

~"There's no time,"~ he said, activating the warp drive and jumping into hyperspace. ~"The Maximals were too close, I could not allow them to see the Cenotaph or else they would have chased us."~ He sighed then, tracking the three bodies as they moved towards the bridge. ~"Is that Nainsook with you? He's still alive?!"~

"Alive but in stasis," Stricture wheezed when they entered bridge. "Speaking of which," he began as Misery opened the CR bed and placed him into it, "can I go into stasis now?"

"Of course," Misery smirked, abruptly pulling the temporary bandage -and more metal, in fact- from Stricture's body. The gold and blue Decepticon cried out as mech began to flow freely once more. The CR bed closed, filling up with the pinkish liquid nanites until Stricture's body was covered completely. Then, the computer shut him down and put him into stasis automatically to spare him from pain. Misery then turned back to Taciturn, the bot still en masse with ship's computers. "I never gave you an order to leave. Xyston is still back there!" she growled.

Taciturn turned towards her, mouth unmoving as he spoke from inside the control chamber, "We would not have been able to take on a fleet of Maximal ships, captain, without them contacting the High Council, and you of all would know what would happen."

She lowered her helm, upset with herself for not realizing that. "I have lost him once more . . ."

"Don't worry, my lady," Taciturn smiled cheerfully, the kind of smile that only Decepticons could perfect. "We'll get him back, then we'll rule the universe."

Misery narrowed her optics towards him, a similar smile crossing her normally placid face. "That we shall. That we shall!" she laughed.

Taciturn faced the Maximal's prone form suddenly, "And, what of him?"

She smiled, stroking his helm slowly. "We shall give him a new name and a new body."

"Hm," Taciturn focused his attention back to the controls, "What type of body?"

"Well, land, space, and submersible, I think."

"And the name?"

Misery smirked once more, optics narrowing. "Something starting with a 'D,' perhaps?"

The hanger was flooded with the elite of the Maximal task force, all crowded around the fallen body of the immortal, encircling him as an energy net was thrown over Xyston. A weary scientist took on the job of sedating the behemoth with enough viral infections to kill a normal bot. "This should keep him out until we make it to our destination."

A very prestigious looking Maximal stepped through the crowd, hands behind his back before he leaned over the prone form. The only thing he lacked was a large cigar to make him look like a boss. Yeah, that would make it perfect. "So, this is the experiment, then? Why would they give immortality to the Autobot killer? Never mind," he smirked when one of the scientists was about to answer him, "it does not matter now. He's immortal, and now it's our job to research his destructibility. Pick him up and put him in the containment unit."

"Sir, may we have the coordinates for the destination?" one of the special operatives inquired, saluting his commander.

"Coordinates are five-six-two-one." He smiled, watching as the Maximals began to move, dragging Xyston's unconscious form.

"But sir, isn't that--?"

"Colony Omicron?" if he had a cigar, he would have shifted it to complete his devilish smile. "Commerce there has no idea what's going on in the depths beneath them."

The fires burned brightly, as the Autobot encampment burned to the ground. Misery, in all her Decepticon glory stood atop the hill, observing the wake of destruction. "I see you did your job well," she mused, turning to face the approaching Autobot. Xyston smiled, optics lidded with dark desires as he stepped within reach, taking a knee before her and bowing, optics shutting completely. Misery reached out, hand stroking his face affectionately. "Still so much more destruction to beset upon our enemies."

Xyston purred, rubbing his face against her hand. "I shall do it all for you, my pride. I shall quake this life, I shall break it, I shall raise you and I high on the proverbial mountaintop. We shall rule the universe together."

"That we shall," she lowered herself to his level, the light from their optics mixing. "That we shall, my modesty."

"But remember, my pride," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her close so that her body pressed against his, her hand wavering close to his mouth, "your destiny lies with me, that you swore and that you shall uphold."

"Only, my modesty," she smirked then, finger tracing his lips as the fires licked the ruins, reaching for the sky, "once you have proven that you can do everything for me. I do not wish to waste my time carrying you otherwise."

"Of course, precious pet," he pulled her hand closer so that his lips touched the back of her hand in a chaste kiss. "I shall bring you more slices of secrets so that you and your ilk may conquer those too foolish to help themselves."

"Now who is talking pretty?" she smirked, closing the distance between them as the fire became a greater inferno around them. This world will quake and it will fall, she smiled then, pulling away so that she could watch his face. And in his emerald coloured optics she saw things that made her shiver with delight. Xyston would do everything he set out to do, and he would do it all for her.