Twist

Chapter 38: Blank

The Sea of Rust was dangerous. Constant electromagnetic storms and hyperoxidation rains plagued it and threatened to harm anyone who stepped foot within the boundaries. The environment was unstable due to experiments implemented by the Quintessons during the war. Anyone with half a helm knew not to traverse it—anyone but a seeker. Vos trained their Elite Guard there and nobody knew it better.

Despite being fully aware of their capabilities, Temptest wasn't eager to follow them into the sea. After all, she had more than half a helm, and Vos hadn't been on good terms with Kaon for a long time.

Megatron was still giving his speech with Soundwave standing at his side. She stayed hidden in the crowd, optics wide. She didn't know how to feel about the situation. Crashdrive was dead and Orion had recently been kidnapped by his mentor, so everything was complicated.

The only thing she was certain about was the dire situation facing them. Iacon planned to blow up the city and the only places they could go was into the arms of their enemies or the gaping maw of the sea. Vos promised to help them should they make it across alive, and right now, this was their only choice.

Temptest lowered her helm as the crowd moved forward. Following Megatron's speeches, there was usually a lot of cheering, but this time everyone was solemn. They were leaving their homes behind. Kaon may not have treated most mecha very well, but it was still the only city they'd made memories in. Temptest hoped Vos could give them better memories.

She pushed her way to the front of the crowd, trying to eavesdrop on Megatron and his conversation with the Vosian seeker ahead of them, but before she could get close enough, the ground beneath her cracked and fell away.

Temptest screamed and fell, barely managing to grab the edge of the hole before she could fall into darkness. She called out to Megatron, despite his strict orders not to let others know they knew each other. Soon enough, his servo grasped hers and he pulled her to her feet.

Except this time, she realized with horror, they were no longer standing between Kaon and the Sea of Rust. They were standing in the pits. The main gladiatorial ring where she'd once faced him before.

Something dark flashed in his optics. His grip on her wrist tightened before she felt herself flying through the air. He slammed her into the ground, his pede rising to crush her chassis. Temptest barely managed to catch it, and she was less likely to be able to hold it off for long.

She wanted to cry out and demand to know why he was doing it, but she knew why. She was insane. Everyone in their base knew she was crazy. Optimus drove her to the brink of insanity and now it was all coming back. If they were going to win the war, she'd need to die first.

Temptest's wrists snapped backwards with a sickening snap as his leg strength overpowered her. She screamed, but it didn't last long before his pede slammed into her chassis and straight through her body.

Temptest gasped as she woke up, her optics flying open as she sat up. A sharp pain ran up her side and Temptest hissed as she touched it, finding a jagged rip in her armour. It barely pierced protoform and the miniscule amount of energon that had spilled was already cut off by her system repairs. Her spark felt incredibly sore, as if she'd strained it far too much, and it ached a bit.

What the frag happened?

She looked around, finding herself laying in the middle of the desert. It was familiar territory. Somewhere near their old base. Gritting her denta, the femme stood up and activated her comms. Her helm was scrapped up on the same side as her wound, but not enough damage to have ripped out her entire comm unit. Temptest gaped as she realized the whole thing was gone, as well as her vitals monitor.