"So you're telling me that we've had Tarn's own little abominations on board this whole time?! Who'd want to have kids with him? I feel bad for the poor soul that had 'em!" Whirl yelled at the top of his lungs, waving his arms around as he ran around the room. Like everyone else in the room, aside from Ratchet and a few others, he was freaking the hell out. "We're all scrapped! Gone! Dead!"

Cyclonus growled at the mech, obviously annoyed with his freak-out. When Whirl came back around, he snatched him by the arm and yanked him down into a seat. "Would you quit losing your goddamn mind and actually contribute to the conversation?" He snarled. "I understand that controlling your precious feelings must be hard for you, but causing everyone else to panic isn't going to help!"

"Cyclonus is right."

"WHAT?!"

Ultra Magnus shot a nasty glare at Whirl before continuing, holding up one hand to quiet the room so he could speak. "Like I said, Cyclonus is right. Panicking isn't going to do us any good right now. We need to calm down, get our heads together, and figure out a solution to our problem. Rodimus, you're the Captain. What do you think we should do?" He asked, turning to face the fiery mech with a skeptical look on his face. He wasn't really expecting Rodimus to come up with anything good, but he chose to let him make the decision because he was the one in charge.

Rodimus chuckled nervously as all optics were immediately on him, shuffling his pedes. He cleared his throat and stood up, slapping a quick smile on his face. "Well... why don't we just leave the planet?" He suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"Wow, how long did it take you to come up with that one?" Ratchet muttered sarcastically, rolling his optics and crossing his arms across his chassis. "What do you think is going to happen if we take the sparklings with us, huh? Or did you not think that far ahead?"

Rodimus opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut when he couldn't think of anything to say. Yeah... he didn't really think this through. Then again, how was he supposed to know that the sparklings belonged to Tarn? "If we take them with us, they'll be safe but Tarn will still be after us. If we give them back, they'll be safe but Tarn will still be after us. Are you getting what I'm saying? I think we should use this to our advantage and get something out of it!"

"So basically, Tarn's going to be coming after us no matter what."

"Yes."

"And you want to try and bribe him for the safe return of his sparklings and possibly get him off our tailpipes?"

"Uh huh."

The room fell silent for a moment, as if everyone had come to a silent agreement. Rodimus had a point. Why didn't they take advantage of the situation and potentially get something out of it? Although it was a bit far-fetched, they could possibly get Tarn off their tailpipes for good!

———

The DJD trio had walked for what seemed like hours. The only thing they had going for them was the energon that The Pet had picked up a few miles back. Now the trail had gone cold and the moral of the three mechs was dropping like a stone. None of them wanted to give up, though, especially when the safety of Tarn's sparklings was on the line.

Tarn was getting more and more frustrated as time passed on. They should've found the Autobots by now! Who knows what they could've already done to his sparklings! "They can't be far now..." He growled, a murderous glint in his optics as he scanned the horizon. Finally, he spotted something in the distance. He held up one hand to signal Kaon and Vos to stop and crept forwards onto a rock outcropping to get a better look. "Vos." He murmured, gesturing to the space next to him.

Vos nodded and walked up to Tarn, taking one look at the figures in the distance before transforming into a sniper rifle and landing in the DJD leader's hands.

Tarn grinned under his mask and slowly laid down on the rock outcropping so he would be less visible. He brought the scope of the sniper rifle up to his optic, focusing on the distant figures. Autobots, just like he though. His grin grew and he thought about taking a shot, but knew it would be better to keep stealth on their side. He let Vos go and shuffled back down to where Kaon was waiting with The Pet, curling his fingers into fists. "There are two scouts down there, which means their ship can't be far away. We have stealth on our side, don't lose it. If they so much as laid a finger on Chaos or Tyranny, I'll slaughter them all.." He growled softly, motioning Kaon and Vos to move out.

He was finally going to get his revenge...