Nightbird slept off her drunken state and spent the next morning mulling over what happened. As she thought, the comms activated. “Ravage to Nightbird.”
“Yes?” she grunted.
“Thunderhoof’s asking for you.” Nightbird sighed.
“Put him through.” She waited a few seconds.
“Ey yo! What’s goin on here?” demanded Thunderhoof. “Why was youse jus chattin with your target?”
“…I was making decisions.”
“Don’t tell me youse was makin decisions here! I hired ya to make sure she slept wid da piranhatrons! I don’t need ya goin soft on me!”
“We need all the soldiers we can get. Killing any of them will make our alliance dangerously unstable.”
“What’s unstable is youse if ya think I’m gonna accept dat! Tell ya what, seein as money’s always an issue, if ya do it, I’ll give youse a bonus.”
“…I’ll give that proposal all the consideration it’s due.” She ended the call.
An hour later, she and the Nemesis’ senior staff met with Megatron. Megatron cleared his throat and activated his reading glasses. “All right, we all know why we have these senior staff meetings,” he began as he pulled out a data-pad.
“In the past, yes,” replied Knock-out. “We discussed how to better kill the Autobots.”
“That point IS moot now, given the truth about our origins,” reminded Shockwave.
“…Fair point,” conceded Megatron. “This time, we’re discussing how our war against Starscream’s forces needs to go. As you may have guessed, the Council had voted to fight our Gods and Tornedron without help from Lux, Umbra, and the Vok. I’m due to meet Optimus and tell him about that option while we discuss strategies against the enemy. That should be the first point we talk about. Ravage, any news from Soundwave and Blaster?”
“Funny you should open with that,” replied Ravage. “I got a report from them about two minutes before I came in. That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier.”
“Then let’s make up for that and hear it now.”
“The enemy’s gathered around a planet near the center of the galaxy, over on the Delta Quadrant side.”
“Pretty far away,” remarked Thundercracker.
“There’s more. Before they self-destructed so they couldn’t be detected, the surveillance drones saw statues covering the planet, statues…that looked a lot like Vector Sigma.”
“Voksphere?” asked Shockwave.
“Gaia confirmed it.”
“And we’re going there? It’s gonna take a year to get there.”
“Gaia has offered to open a transwarp corridor into it. The other end will only be two hours away from Voksphere.”
“Cutting it a little close, aren’t we?” remarked Megatron.
“EY YO!” shouted a voice. Thunderhoof then kicked the door in, mad as a moose.
“…May we help you, Thunderhoof?” asked Megatron. Thunderhoof’s optics then settled on Nightbird.
“C’MERE, YA NO-GOOD LYIN BAG A BOLTS!” he shouted as he stormed up to her. Megatron got between them.
“Is there an issue?” he asked.
“Yer dame decided ta cancel da Deadlock contract after I paid good money t’ see her offlined!”
“I assure you; we can clear up this misunderstanding,” offered Nightbird. Thunderhoof tried to get around Megatron.
“YOU talked t’ Deadlock last night and she told youse about a little plan of hers where BOTH Cyber-Ninja corps managed to learn from each other! Den ya sent me a notice an hour ago sayin dat youse wasn’t gonna kill her no more! Ya call DAT a misundastandin?!”
“You WILL get your money back, believe me.”
“YOUSE betta believe I’m gonna stomp ya into scrap!”
“You will not!” shouted Megatron as he shoved Thunderhoof back. “What’s done is done. Nightbird was wise in cancelling the contract. We have other priorities than your reputation. End. Of. Discussion!” Thunderhoof glared at Megatron for a good while, then turned his head away. “Now, I will have to discuss-”
“EY YO!” Thunderhoof launched himself at Nightbird and tackled her. She drew her sai and stabbed him in the shoulder as Megatron pulled him off.
“THAT’S TREASON! THAT’S MUTINY!” roared Megatron.
“Ey yo, where’s da respect?!” Thunderhoof then slammed his foot to the floor, causing an energy wave to head straight for Nightbird. Nightbird leapt to the ceiling and fired shuriken at him. Once they embedded into his chassis, they unleashed an electric current that shocked him hard. Once they stopped, he fell to his knees, then fell forward, faceplanting on the floor.
“Knock-out, get your medical kit, then meet Thunderhoof in the brig,” ordered Megatron. “Thundercracker, Shockwave, get him into his cell.” The three Cons saluted and headed off.
Thunderhoof groaned as he got up from his berth in his cell. His optics were slow to kick in fully. “…Cybertron?” he asked himself.
“No, the Nemesis’ brig.” Thunderhoof looked to see Thundercracker and an energy field separating the two. His optics then sharpened enough to confirm what Thundercracker said. “You’re under arrest for assaulting Megatron’s wife.”
“Don’t go barkin rules n regulations at ME, Flyboy! I’m Thunderhoof, see? I run some of da biggest enterprises on Cybertron! Half yer law-boys are on my payroll!”
“You RAN some of the biggest enterprises on Cybertron and half our law-boys WERE on your payroll. Or have you forgotten that we evacuated Cybertron until we kill Primacron? Your criminal empire’s probably scattered and each part run by other bosses.”
“Dey’ll see sense when I get back!”
“I’m afraid that prospect isn’t an option. Once our war is finished and we’ve won, you’re looking at a life sentence in Kaon Prison.”
“WHAT?!”
“You’re too dangerous to be left to your own devices. Your empire will have to remain in disarray, and you will have to accept that you won’t see the world outside a prison’s walls again.” Thundercracker turned to the door and walked out.
“I’LL SNUFF MEGATRON’S SPARK WHEN I GET OUTTA DIS ONE!” shouted Thunderhoof. “NOBODY HOLDS THUNDERHOOF AND LIVES TO TELL DA TALE!” The door shut behind Thundercracker, silencing Thunderhoof.