The Terra Abyss

[Axios]

Starscream was in a sour mood. He was always in a sour mood. There was never a moment when the Seeker wasn’t burdened with completing his Highness’s orders the second it left his voice module. Walking down a Nemesis hallway in long, powerful strides he made his way to Docking Bay where a new Decepticon was waiting. The new con arrived earlier that day, while Starscream was overseeing the flight deck. Not really caring about it, except this was just another soldier in their ranks to command, he went about ordering the Eradicons. That is, until, Megatron summoned him and ordered him like a common Vehicon to go inspect the new soldier. It peeved Starscream off to no end. HE was second in command! HE was not some lowly canon fodder to be treated like a sparkling! HE was far too busy to deal with inducting riff raff that happened to blow in their direction! Turning the corner and through the doors with his chin held high and narrowed optics, he entered the docking bay. Some Vehicons were still shuffling about, loading and unloading cargo, tallying supplies, or simply wasting time. Uttering a low growl of disapproval at the slacking drones, and folding his servos behind his arm he slowly approached them. As he got near, he unfolded his servos, and inspecting one hand nonchalantly.

“Funny…I seem to remember ordering you lot to go tally our energon supplies? Was I mistaken?” He asked coolly, still inspecting his talons. The Vehicons scrambled to their pedes, babbling as they tried to find an excuse.

“N-no Commander Starscream, of-of course not!” A Vehicon finally stammered. Glaring up from his hand Starscream’s face twisted to anger

“Well then if you didn’t forget and it’s not too much trouble, maybe you should GET BACK TO WORK, YOU PILE OF USELESS SCRAP!” The Vehicons ran from his sight as he raised his talons threateningly as if he were about to cut them into ribbons. Venting his frustration heavily, he shook his head. Turning to finish his walk, he noticed the newcomer. And his trail of organic filth. The mech was covered in the offending substance, sticking out between every plate and clinging to his mesh. His face contorted with obvious disgust, he sniffed haughtily at the newcomer.

“Well…I see you’ve become acquainted with the planet’s natural flora. And you’ve managed to get most of it jammed into you. Congratulations.” He sarcastically remarked.

“As you can see, I run a tight ship here and that won’t do, not on my ship. And Knock Out won’t even have you within a hundred feet of him unless you thoroughly wash that…filth…off.” He intoned slowly, as if he were talking to a sparkling.

“Who did you say you were again?”

[Terrashock]

Terrashock finally decided to return, after so long, the veteran Combaticon had no time to get rid of the mud or those branches, especially because he wanted to give the reports of his mission. Even if he took so long to return, without sending one single message to the Decepticons about his progress, it was a full success, him and his small group of Vehicons managed to find Energon on that place. The only thing he could not understand yet was why the Vehicons of the ship were looking so...disgusted about the ones who joined him on the mission. Of course they were also covered on mud.. but so what? Somebot had to deal the dirty work!

That was one of the curious facts about him, he was not afraid of getting his servos dirty.. nor his whole chassis, which was the case, but it is not like somebot could managed to look "pretty" in a place like that, mud, branches, bugs, a list of random materials, some of them he could not even remember what they were after colliding against his platings. He was a killing machine, the only thing that he REALLY cared about were his weapons and his loyality to Megatron. The rest... was the rest. His six optics focused on the noisy seeker already expecting him to say something ridiculous in a attempt of annoying him. The Combaticon gave a shrug and crossed his arms, not really caring about his attempts and just waited for him finishing talking.

"Oh, dhank you, Starscream.. when you are working hard, you always end up getting a bit dirty, you know. And Primus, your memory is really short, isn't it? I am not a newbie, kiddo.. but coming from you, I am not surprised you would remember dhe name of a Decepticon who disapproves your behavior, right?"

He looked down at his chassis for a moment, before looking back to Starscream and took a servo to his chin, thinking for a moment while his shoulder rocket pods slowly pointed to the seeker.


"Ohh..don't worry.. "Screamy", I will get rid of dhis mud as soon as possible, also are you already dhe "Leader of dhe Decepticons?" after all... when I left you were talking about dhat to everybot when Megatron was not around. And I passed SO MANY humans years away.. so I expect you to be dhe new leader."

He looked around with a servo over his optics, making a sarcastic gesture, like if he was looking around.


"Hmmm I guess you aren't.. I still see Megatron's name around.. and some posters related to him, such a shame for you.. and as you can't remember my name.. I will tell you again. It is Terrashock, I am a veteran Combaticon, I was sent into a mission to look for Energon at Amazon, dhe good news are dhat dhe idea was a full success, we have dhe Energon, dhe vehicons will be bringing he containers really soon."

He moved his servo away from his chin and patted the jet's shoulder before whispering.

"It is good to be back.. oh mighty leader of dhe Decepticons."

[Kickback]

"Is there energon here? I smell energon."

Where there's food (and when it sometimes intersects with filth), there's a tendancy to draw bugs. Today would be no exception - seemingly out of nowhere, the large, lean black figure of an Insecticon was striding into the docking bay from the doors leading into the rest of the facility. Standing as tall as Megatron, he tucked down the blade-like wings rising over his shoulders in order to clear the frame of the doorway. His antennae were twitching in the direction of the newly acquired energon and the hunger pangs that its immediate presence brought.

Unfortunately for Kickback, the Decepticons here did not seem to understand that just because he could eat just about anything, it didn't mean he had no need for energon! Shockwave understood this, but Shockwave was not in command in New Kaon. Kickback was having to content himself to being the facility's garbage disposal. Out of courtesy he tried not to eat the corpses of fallen Eradicons in public, but rumors did abound, and it never set well with the living.

"Oh, hey Air Commander. Boss gotcha lookin' out after the new guys, I see." Kickback's greeting to Starscream was anything but formal, but he was exceptionally long-waved and easygoing, and that went a long way towards his ability to seamlessly integrate himself into the Decepticon army stationed on Earth. He continued towards Terrashock and the dirty Vehicons. "Probably oughta shift down about stuff like that. Since the Boss slagged the Bot's base, the action's probably gonna die down for awhile. I don't imagine the natives are gonna put up much of a fight after their best bomb failed. Life is gonna get pretty boring."

Kickback seemed to sniff at the dirt on Terrashock, getting close, walking around the Combaticon, noting all the debris he was encrusted with. "Oooh, mineral-rich. No wonder you found energon there," he commented, before reaching out to pick a strand of mossy vine out from between Terrashock's back plates.

"You gonna eat this?" he asked with a friendly smile.

[Axios]

“You forget yourself, mech. I am second in command. Megatron has tasked me with inspecting you and determine you worthy for our ship,” Starscream hissed. He hated it when Decepticons mocked him of his failed coup. Though he had been reprimanded and given an ultimatum of total loyalty, he would think twice about rebelling in the future. Though it was not out of the question. For now, at least.

“Your insubordinate and churlish behavior will get you nowhere except the brig. We have zero tolerance for this.” He said darkly as he looked the Combaticon up and down. He would be sure to include this in his report. Megatron stated he needed nothing but the best and most loyal, now that their plan was near fruition. The humans had attempted to destroy the impregnable fortress of New Kaon, and had failed miserably even with their most advanced bombs. Nothing stood in there way of conquering Earth now. The Autobots were scattered and the humans were panicking as they scrambled to find a weakness in New Kaon. They would find none, and soon Megatron would have assembled enough troops to take to the streets, so to speak. All the stress of compiling battalions, regulating troops, checking supplies, and now dealing with rebellious and lazy mechs was too much for Starscream. Glaring at Terrashock, he vented deeply

“I am a very busy individual if you haven’t noticed. I have far too much to keep track of as it is, and no time to remember everyone’s name,” Glancing at the canons aimed at him, he sneered.

“I do not care for your opinions, I simply care that you do your job. And you did, exactly as Lord Megatron commanded. Would you like a gummy or a medal?” He remarked sarcastically.

“You are to do what you are commanded to. The only reward you’ll get is living another day for not failing his Lordship.” Stepping closer with optics burning with anger

“And if you don’t start behaving and lower those canons, I will feed you to the Insecticons myself!” At the moment he spoke those words, Kickback waltzed into the room questioning about energon. Stepping back from Terrashock and relaxing his plates as he vented. He turned to face the large Insecticon.

Just what I needed…He though solemnly, as the Insecticon remarked about how boring life will be after the defeat of the Autobots. Though he found Kickback vulgar in his habit of eating corpses and garbage, he had no quarrel with him. The bug was more loyal to Shockwave than Megatron, which he approved of to some degree. While he was no fan of both, he preferred it when Decepticons had loyalties elsewhere than Megatron. It brought joy to his spark at the thought of other high ranked Decepticons plotting to overthrow Megatron. Though Shockwave never actually spoke of rebellion, Starscream had spent enough cycles around the logical being to see hints of his plan. The army building, the secret experiments, gaining the loyalty of any beast he found. Starscream found it rather obvious as to what he was getting at, but he wasn’t about to inform Megatron.

“Boring? Hmph. Says the mech who spends most of his time lounging.” He said in a level tone. He was still fuming from Terrashock’s attitude, but he tried to push it off

“Perhaps you should take up hunting organics as a sport. I’ve seen the way you eye the local fauna. It would give you something more...productive to do than eat garbage all day,”

And…he thought It will keep you out of my way, and maybe I won’t have to deal with the Vehicons complaining about your “presents” scattered about. Kickback had a tendency to leave the eggs around when he wasn’t paying attention. Or he left scraps of his meal, which disturbed the Vehicons who spread ludicrous rumors that they were pieces of their fallen comrades . Sometimes clumsy drones would step on and squash the eggs, and it would cause and incident. They were always difficult to resolve, and with the low level of activity they were increasing in frequency. As Kickback sniffed the Combaticon for food to scavenge, Starscream let a smirk trail his face

“Now, now Kickback, remember, you aren’t allowed to eat the functional ones. Eat the organic smut if you wish, but refrain from nibbling on mesh,” Shifting an evil gaze to Terrashock, he smiled sadistically

“For now, at least,”

[Terrashock]

"Woa woa, easy dhere, Starscream. I would be holding my glossa, but you already came up here making fun of me on dhe first day! Lets be honest here, seeker, both of us expect to be respected, so lets make it harmless to both of us. I will follow dhe orders, like usual, and you don't offend me or do your "dhing", ok? Seriously, relax for once. If I knew you were going to get crazy like dhis I would have waited or something.

Terrashock moved his servo to rub his cheekplate in confusion at Starscream's sarcasm and pointed his rocket pods to another direction. "Ehh.. I never said I was expecting a reward? I just told you dhat dhe mission was a success, I know what is my function, and I gladly do dhat without complaining. After all, Lord Megatron helped me in dhe past, I am in debt with him. And dhe Decepticon cause is all dhat matters to me now, so you don't have to worry about me ruining your plans or anything. Send dhe orders, and I will follow dhem."

Terrashock cracked his chassis a bit in a brief bow before fixing his posture again, he looked around for a moment before opening his shoulder compartment and placed a blueprint on the jet's servos.

..."And as I knew you were going to hate my return, I already made something to make you feel a bit better. Dhat is dhe blueprint of my most recent project, dhe weapon itself is ready, I could finish it later with dhe right materials dhen you can do whatever you want with it. Just make sure you get used to it as it is a bit big. Dhe other blueprints will be sent to Megatron."

Terrashock closed his compartment and looked to the side, spotting the Insecticon quite a curious figure, probably the second one he saw in his whole life, the first one was a giant and insane scorpion named "Scorpse", even if the poor thing could not even remember his own name most of times, but he proved to be really useful during his mission on earth. But then again, that was another story, the Combaticon focused his optics on Kickback and heard his complaints quietly and tried to hold a laugh, it was good to know the Decepticons were going so well to make a mech complain about boredom. At the others' comment, he would give a shrug. " Yeah.. dhat place is a mess, I had to dig lots of holes to find dhe Energon, and I am quite sure dhe vehicons were not happy about dhat too.

Now the veteran was confused, was that Insection serious? Was he really going to eat that thing? Usually he would find that really awkward, but as he wanted to annoy Starscream, that could be used as a good option, he would not be offending the "Second in command" at all. Nobot would be forcing him to see that. Giving a nod to Kickback, he would relax his shoulders. "You can eat it, be my guest, I need to get clean anyway."

At Starscream's last statement, he just rolled his optics and crossed his arms, not really interested on the seeker's terrible jokes, or how he thought he could make him get worried. He would give some pretty rude replies to him.. but as he promised to follow the orders.. it was better to keep it back, he knew his limits. "So commander, what are dhe orders for now? Any missions to be done?"

[Kickback]

"Thanks," Kickback replied to Terrashock before munching on the vine as if it were one long strand of pasta. Chewing and making small, pleased noises - it tasted good - he devoured the vegetation with what could only be called polite haste.

"The proton count is a little higher than I expected. I guess you could say it has a positive taste," the grasshopper quipped. Yeah. Science puns. He's probably been hanging around Shockwave way, way too long.

Stepping well back from the Combaticon, Kickback's body twisted and dropped down, assuming the form of an enormous locust. "Hope your mesh isn't ticklish or this is gonna get unbearable," he commented, creeping up to Terrashock on six legs, climbing up the Combaticon's back and hanging on with hooked, magnetized feet. The Insecticon's mandibles blossomed open like a hideous mechanical flower, displaying thousands and thousands of tiny limb-like extensions ending in saws, lasers, scoops, claws, chemical sprayers and pincers. It was no wonder he could eat as quickly as he did; his mouth was dissembler array that would have made a recycling plant jealous.

Kickback set to his task in the methodical back-and-forth way caterpillars consume a leaf; the dirt and debris were being loosened, removed, scraped and sucked out and off of Terrashock without damaging armor or mesh beneath. The grasshopper was a tidy diner and wasn't missing a spec of contamination, cleansing the Combaticon thoroughly. True enough there was sensation to go along with it; it was a bit like getting a slightly scratchy sponge bath.

In public.

From a guy hanging off your back.

Awkwaaaard.

Kickback decided to talk with his mouth full. "So. Mini-Boss." Chew. "You're saying I should go out." Swallow. "And go hunt for the local organics?" Crunch on a branch. "You mean the fauna or the--" SLURRRRP. Mud. "-- 'Humans', as they call themselves?" Munch. "Because askin' me to eat a sentient being--" Gulp. "-- is pretty slagged up."

[Axios]

Finally, some compliance. All one needed to do is forcefully induce some discipline and soldiers would fall right back into line. Nothing a little threat couldn’t do. As Kickback transformed and began vacuuming the dirt off, Starscream became nauseous at the thought of eating organic material. Frowning and furrowing his brow into a disgusted look, he turned his attention back to the Combaticon. He apparently had been working on a new weapon’s project, and offered Starscream the blueprints. Snatching them from Terrashock’s servos, he turned away from the mech as he began reading the data pad. Tapping a talon against his chin, he nodded his head in approval. The designs proposed a medium sized, shoulder mounted canon that could fire missiles with explosive tips that released a burst of highly corrosive acid, derived from a weak strain of cosmic rust.

“Interesting design.” He commented, scrolling through it once more. “I suppose if we had the materials necessary to create such a weapon, it could become a useful thorn in the Autobot’s side,” He mused over the data pad once more, then turned back to face the two mechs. Kickback’s vocal eating habits were starting to annoy Starscream, if not embarrass him of the situation. He was watching a bug clean off a mech of organic contaminant, for Pit’s sake. In public. In front of other mechs. Rolling his optics at Kickback’s poor science joke, and moaning in content, he returned his attention to the bug

“Perhaps when you’re done…refueling, you can drop this off by Shockwave’s lab and tell him to create a prototype,” Cringing at Kickback’s manners, he gave a tiny shake as a chill went up his back strut. Insecticons were disgusting.

“I couldn’t care less of what native organisms you devour, as long as it keeps you occupied and away from the drones,” Starscream pressed a talon to his temple and made a circular motion, trying to ease the stress from his processor

“You know they are afraid to perform duties below the 3rd deck? We haven’t gone three days without you trying to rip a Vehicon in half for accidentally blundering into one of your eggs,” Starscream began walking back and forth as his anxiety starting working up again

“And to make matters worse, you have the worst table manners. Ever, of all time. Whenever you leave scraps about, the Vehicons make up the wildest of rumors that I have to waste time on trying to quell!” Turning to face the Combaticon, he calmed himself down from his hysteria to address him

“Nothing now, not while you’re still contaminated. Perhaps after your…err…treatment, you can take your new best friend down to the lower decks and bring any way ward egg or larvae back to Shockwave,”

[Terrashock]

Terrashock looked at the Insecticon, not really sure what he could say about that, he never saw anybot really eat anything besides Energon, so that was new to him, new and weird.

A grumble came out of his mouth when he heard that science pun, was that really needed? He rolled his optics and kept waiting for orders from Starscream with his arms crossed, trying to keep a serious posture, that soon was ruined
"Wait what?" He felt his back suddenly getting heavier, almost making him lose balance until he forced his metal lines on the floor to make sure he would not fall back.

The veteran Combaticon began to laugh and moved his arms a bit.
"Woa, dhat tickles dammit!", some parts of his chassis were really sensitive, especially the cables connected to his weapons and his "ears", the radars located on both sides of his helm. He tried to hold himself to not laugh at Starscream worried that he could that it wrong, but there were moments he just could not resist.
"HAHAHA I am glad you liked dhe--hHaaahaha --dhe design, and yes it will be really useful-HAHAahaha-- Oh primus! Be careful with dhose cables, Kickback.. " He gave a quiet cough and tried to fix his voice tone.
" Ehh ..dhe corrosive acid is strong enough to melt heavy armor, so you --hahaha...- will be able to make wreckers run away from you."

Terrashock seemed a tad annoyed about the "contaminated" story, he was not contaminated! It was just dirt from his mission, nothing else.. and probably Starscream would see him like that really often.. after all, most of the "heavy and big mechs" were "designed" to face the worst kind of missions, they didn't have to worry about being dirty or having their chassis damaged, some of them even loved that, so it was the perfect excuse for the others to avoid getting their servos dirty or risking their lives depending of how hard the mission was. But even so he just nodded, yet having a hard time to keep serious.

"Hahaha.. Ok dhen Starscream.. I will do dhat-hahaha- I just need to know where is going to be my berth, so when I finish dhis little-hahah- little task.. I will know where to leave my equipment.'

All those chewing on slurping noises on his back were driving him insane, they were too close to his radars so he almost could FEEL that, so it could not be considered amusing. But he was glad that the plan worked, the seeker seemed annoyed about the awkward and disgusting situation, even himself was not liking it at all, but it was really worth the effort.

[Kickback]

Kickback crawled up Terrashock's back until he was practically perched on the Combaticon's right shoulder.

He glanced over at Terra. "I got your back," he joked. "But your aft's a whole other matter. You better hit the decontamination showers for that." Mercifully, Kickback decided that there are some body parts best left for Terrashock to wash on his own.

He pointed a clawed foot at Starscream. "Hey!" he interjected. "I do NOT leave scraps. If you're finding a mess that's probably the larvae, they don't have the intelligence yet to finish their meals entirely. You just have to put up with it until they mature a little further. For that matter, you should be upset when an egg gets crushed too - that's one less soldier you have to send against the Autobots. Unless, of course, you'd rather take them all on by yourself."

[Axios]

“Don’t use that excuse on me, they are all essentially perfect copies of you,” Starscream dismissed Kickback with a weak, indignant wave.

“And if you can’t help your impeccable manners, maybe you should let Shockwave teach them some. I am sure he’d love to tinker with his pets,” A smile crept up his face. He loved to toy with other ‘cons minds. Though Kickback would be a hard target, he liked the rush of pointing out other mech’s flaws and weaknesses. It made Starscream feel powerful and above everyone else. Shockwave was the only thing keeping Kickback in check, and he had heard rumors of the horrible “experiments” that happened in his lab. Kickback was defensive of his larvae, and Starscream was sure he struck a nerve by recommending Shockwave alter their processors. But he had no time to dilly dally with an Insecticon and play mind games, he was second in commander after all. He had far too much on his claws than to idly stand by and banter. Not with how much Megatron was putting him up to.

“Well, I’m glad you too are….acquainted, as it seems,” He clasped his talons together and put on a mock smile.

“Welcome to the Nemesis, Terrashock.” Starscream said pseudo-congratulatory.
“After decontamination, you can become familiar with the ship and crew as you like.” Starscream turned briskly and began to strut off, before quickly doing a 180

“Oh, and Kickback?” He glared a the dirt that had accumulated near Terrashock’s pedes

“Clean that up.”

[Terrashock]

Terrashock looked to the side when he heard Kickback's joke, so it seemed all the Insecticons were insane after all. Scorpse always talked about puppies, dead friends, alive friends, bad friends, and now he was dealing with a giant grasshopper on his back making some terrible jokes while EATING the organic material that was covering his platings, he was feeling like a dinner table right now.

Giving a slow nod to Kickback, he would look around, wondering if the decontamination showers were close to the area they were on. "Dhank you, I will do dhat. " His radars flicked when he heard the Insecticon's exclamation, it was loud enough to bother his, he was too close to his helm, and his radars are located on both sides of his helm, they were really sensible to touch and LOUD noises close to them. "Eh..Kickback.. if you are done cleaning my chassis, could you.. get off my back? Or at least avoid talking so loud close to my helm?"

Kickback's weight was not even a problem to him, but having a mech speaking that loud close to the helm... it could annoy him, but even so, he was a little distracted with the discussion between the Decepticons, he was doing his best to not laugh, it looked like a war of pointing fingers.

Giving a nod at Starscream, he would reply, "Dhank you, it is good to be back.. and I will make sure to get fully cleaned up before exploring. I heard dhere is a new crew, so I should find dhese new cons."

When Terrashock heard the seeker's request, he automatically looked to his pedes, for Primus, they were covered in mud and moss, especially the tires as he used them to move around even on his robot mode. It would look REALLY awkward to have a Insecticon licking his pedes. The Combaticon tried to think fast, he NEEDED to find a good excuse to avoid a situation like that.
"It is not needed.. I am going to dhe decontamination showers.. after I all, I still need to clean some parts...I am quite sure Kickback is full right now, right buddy?" He tried to make some signals with his servos to the Insecticon, hoping that he would get the message.

[Kickback]

Kickback crept forward on Terrashock's shoulders just a little more, before leaping up and off the Combaticon; it shoved the larger mech just a little from the force of the jump unintentionally.

Transforming midair and landing on his pedes with the grace of some jungle cat, Kickback cycled his vents, watching Starsceam leave.

"Seekers. They think they know everything," he muttered to no one in particular.

Turning to look over his shoulder pauldrons at Terrashock, his irritation at Starscream melted away and once more he was back to his easy-going, friendly nature. "If you wanna get cleaned up, you can do it any way you like. As for the stuff on the floor, well... orders are orders." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Such is the life of a slave."

[Terrashock]

Terrashock lost his balance for a moment, quickly shoving his pedes metal lines on the floor, locking them on it to make sure he would not fall. He would watch the seeker go before looking to the Insection, gving a shrug, he would nod in agreement.

"Yeah,..tell me about it, on these few minutes talking to Starscream, I already felt like going back to Amazon."

He tried to joke, but he was really serious about it, Starscream already managed to annoy him with those few minutes he had to deal with him. He gave a nod at Kickback and looked down again.

"It is fine, I will hit dhe showers and clean it, don't worry. And well, he should respect you, come on, dhat stupid seeker barely does anything besides whining or trying to be superior, even if he couldn't take us down.."

The Combaticon would begin to walk towards the shower, and to avoid making a mess, he would walk instead of using his tires to move. After getting rid of the rest of the mud, grass, mud he had on his chassis, he would move back to stare at Kickback, waiting for him to lead the way.

"Ok dhen, shall we?"

Terrashock waited for the Insecticon, he was probably going to be the one giving him a "tour" around Nemesis, as he had no idea where he could find the other things, and he needed to meet the rest of the crew yet, the last time he had been around, there were just the "old mechs" around, he knew there were new ones, and he probably would call them by "Rookies" like usual.