Chapter Text
Attic could barely feel her own body once Windblade helped her up. Once they were both on their feet, there was silence as the two locked eyes. They stared at each other, both with looks of contemplation, then they both looked away.
“You- you came for me.” Attic spoke, softly.
“Don’t make me regret this.” Windblade replied in a tone that corresponded.
Slowly, Attic moved Windblade’s arm from her. “I’ll follow.” She said, smiling, something she never thought she’d do to the one standing in front of her.
Windblade nodded before returning to the hatch.
Cyclonus continued to stare at the ships that drifted away. Windblade’s ship had now gotten into formation with both her troops’ ships and the cargo ship.
The Crusadercon leader however, seemed to lower his tone. At this point, Cyclonus’ face had gone from enraged to a much calmer look. It was then his hand moved to the relic on his belt. He pressed onto a concealed button at the side and suddenly, the light turned green.
Attic looked around herself. Cyclonus was out of sight. She felt calm once more as she followed her reacquainted friend. Windblade had now gone through the hatch and was no longer visible. Attic swayed her arm, grabbing the lid. It opened.
*BANG*
A rang-shaped explosion enlarged from the bottom of the ship, forcing her to drop down. Around her, she saw Windblade’s whole fleet shatter in two.
Attic felt the floor spin. She held on tight as the ship dropped out of the sky. Around her, pieces of metal flew across her face. Attic screamed. She didn’t understand, she never saw Cyclonus drop any explosive. What had happened?
Then, it all went black.
Attic awoke. She didn’t know how long it had been, but there was no longer any ship in the sky.
Once she managed to get back on her feet, she started to limp across the field of debris. Her mind had two emotions: confusion and fear.
“Windblade!” she cried out. “Windblade?!”
It was then she saw it, before her. She dropped to her knees in horror as she saw the Autobot who had rescued her. She was hanging, impaled on a large spike. Energon was dripping everywhere.
Attic tried to run, but her body could not. She stumbled forward, leaning on a huge fuel canister. She looked down at Windblade. The Autobot’s eyes were wide, but no life was there.
Attic fell a few more steps. Gently, she moved her hand across, closing the eyes shut.
She stood, motionless. The traitor looked at her once friend for what felt like eternity. All she could hear was wind, blowing against her.
But then, she heard the sound of a conversion behind her, then the click of a gun.
Attic turned to see that the canister had transformed into none other than Tailgate who now had a large pistol pointing directly at her. He continued his aim as he climbed on top of a sizeable chunk of debris, allowing his head to be level with hers.
“Shame.” He whispered in a sardonic-like tone. “I assume she meant something to you?”
Attic was lost for words. It took a few moments to realise who was standing in front of her. Attic’s mouth gaped. She then blurted. “What? How?! You’re dead?! You- I killed you!”
“One shot to the back won’t do much.” He shrugged.
“So… what, have you been hiding on Windblade’s ship this whole time?!”
Tailgate laughed scornfully, making her uneased, for this was not how she’d remembered him.
“You fell right into it. It was brilliant! Oh, can I tell? Please, let me tell!”
Attic stared at him, now silent. She was trying to make sense of this, but she could not. “It doesn’t matter.” She smirked. “Cyclonus and all the rest… to them you’re a traitor.”
Tailgate continued. “Oh, don’t lie to yourself. How stupid do you think we are? Before you shot me in the back, Black Shadow placed a tracker on me, as he did to everyone. His bitterness saved my life!”
Attic’s sneer faded instantly, now she showed clear anger. A memory came back into her mind. Cyclonus screaming about trusting a traitor. He was never referring to Tailgate, he was talking about her.
“But- why didn’t just kill me there and then? Why did he let me lead?”
“Lead what? Oh, that. You mean the battle you waged against my drones?”
Attic’s eyes widened. “What?!” she yelled in disbelief. “That’s impossible!”
“Why do you think it took so long for the mission to start?” Tailgate replied. “Fracture and I were busy building an army, both Autobot and Decepticon puppets… and trying to replicate Windblade’s ship from memory.”
“But- Fracture was-”
“Switching places with Nightstick? Think, Attic. Nightstick had completed that assignment ages ago, he was on leave! He offered to come back early to give Fracture a good cover story. She was helping me build my drones. Didn’t you ever wonder why you’d never seen those models of troops before?”
“But.” Attic stuttered, refusing to take it all in. “Classic!”
“She’s fine.” Tailgate replied, casually. “We thought having you cause a casualty as high as her would make you want to run quicker. The whole thing went better than we predicted. Don’t you get it? After you ruined Black Shadow’s mission, it gave some of our crew an idea on the person you were. Cyclonus found me not long after the battle where you blamed me for your own damage. We crafted the plan out together. Cyclonus knew you’d request to command the next mission if he kept you waiting, it would have looked too obvious if he just gave it to you. One by one, we let each Crusadercon know bits of the plan, but never the full story.”
Attic took in the last sentence before shaking her head. “No. This doesn’t make sense. This is wrong. I fooled them, I won! You hear me?! What’s the point of having me lead a pointless battle?!”
“Come on, Attic, you heard what I said, didn’t you? We knew that you’d run to Windblade the moment things went rough for you. You’re a survivalist, Attic. You have no allegiance.”
“And Megatron? What were you going to tell him?”
Tailgate chuckled. “He was never coming here. He’s still on Cybertron, but Cyclonus knew it would be the final push to get you to summon the target into our grasp. With the real information we got from Windblade’s cargo ship, we discovered their location and I smuggled myself onboard. Got to test out the ring-bomb too, you like it?”
Attic did not answer. She glared at the bot. “So, that’s it then? This whole time… you were just- using me.”
“Fair trade, don’t you think? I’m still somewhat surprised it worked. Classic tells me that Cyclonus is a terrible actor.”
Silence followed. Both looked into each other’s optics.
“So, now what?” Blurted Attic. “What’s your next assignment?”
Tailgate let out a soft sigh. “I don’t know, but for my first job, I think I did good.” The bot then huffed; his tone became quieter, less lively too. In fact, he sounded like someone holding back tears. “You were my friend, I- I thought- and you made Cyclonus think such awful things about me.”
Attic laughed, abruptly. “I did. And you know what?! I’d give anything to relive it.”
“I’m sure you would. However, this is where it ends for you. You are relieved from your post within the Crusadercon team, and you are here by dismissed.”
The was another moment of silence. Attic tilted her head. She looked at him, confused. “That’s it?”
Tailgate nodded then sighed. “In a way… I understand you. Your life’s been a tangle of wires so to speak… heh. I may not like what you did… but I pity you. Go, get out of here.”
Attic stood still, finally accepting what had been said. Without another word, she turned and began to walk away. However, before she could decide how she was going to get off the planet, she heard a blast before feeling a burn on her shoulder. Horrified, Attic turned back around, seeing the smoke emit from Tailgate’s gun.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” He spoke, coolly before he fired two more rounds into her chest.
As Attic dropped into the sand, she melted from the inside. Her mouth glowed red like she was breathing fire. Tailgate watched as the lights in her eyes went out.
Cyclonus stood, firm. His hands were behind his back as always. He heard footsteps in the sand which revealed Tailgate moving towards him.
The two stood in front of each other and then there was silence as they stared. Then Cyclonus broke it.
“Tai- hmm. Report.”
“Windblade and Attic are dead.” Tailgate replied, formally.
“Anything else?” asked Cyclonus, sounding a little more relaxed.
“No.”
Cyclonus tapped into his comms for a moment. “I’ve sent the all clear through. It’s done. Megatron should get the message soon.”
Tailgate giggled as he walked past. Cyclonus’ eyes followed him.
“What are you happy about.?” The commander asked, a smile forming on his face.
Tailgate jumped. “I did it! I helped you out. By Primus, I completed your mission for you!”
“No! You helped, you Primus damn finished it. But- let’s not act like we didn’t all have a part here.”
“Fine. I appreciate everyone’s contribution to pretending they thought I had betrayed you and was maybe dead. Now. What gets me is you. You fooled her! She really thought you were convinced. You were a better actor that I was told.”
Cyclonus smile left him. He huffed for a moment, then spoke, softly. “There was no acting. I may have been working against her as we all were. But… for that moment when the Horseman collapsed… I- did believe her.”
He sat down on the sand, resting his cheek on his knuckle. Tailgate moved to his left side and sat down.
“Every time someone mentioned you,” the commander continued, “every time I even looked at something that reminded myself of you. I just- couldn’t keep myself together.”
“Don’t hurt yourself over it.” Tailgate spoke comfortingly. “You did good, we all did. Besides, you look like you’ve just walked through a blender, I’d say you’ve earned happiness today.”
“Thank you. And- I could have easily taken them both on, just so you know.”
Soon, they both found themselves heading to the smouldering debris of the rest of the fleet. Tailgate squealed. He ran towards the scrap on the ground.
“Are you alright?” asked Cyclonus.
“Look at all this tech?!” the little one cried out.
As Cyclonus watched his companion rummage through the rubble, he felt something. He didn’t understand it completely, but he felt warm. There was something about seeing Tailgate so happy, so full of life and it hit him like a truck. Cyclonus didn’t understand what the feeling was, but he didn’t feel like getting rid of it.
“Is she dead then?” said a sudden familiar, gleeful voice. Classic appeared beside him. “Did you stab the glitch?”
“I think that answer’s obvious.” Fracture replied as she also appeared beside.
“About time.” Black Shadow muttered as he entered the frame. “What about Attic?”
“She’s not here so I think we can guess the answer.” Teal Bolt said, chuckling.
“Yes. Megatron will be pleased.” Nightstick commented in his impassive tone.
They all stood together, watching Tailgate as he continued to scavenge.
Fracture turned to Cyclonus. “You good?” she asked.
Cyclonus smiled wide as he answered. “I feel great.”
Far from the remains of the destroyed cargo ship, Warpath strolled across the sand. After he was at a distance, he looked back at the wreck he had departed.
He sighed and spoke under his breath. “Never liked her anyway.”
At that moment, the Autobot then spoke into his com-link.
“Blastwave? Blastwave! Can you give me lift?”