Scorcher woke up in the back of a transport, laying down on the metal seat. His optic receptors flickered a few times, adjusting to the light.
"Ah, you're finally awake." A feminine voice to his left stated. Scorcher sat up, looking to the owner of the voice. The voice belonged to a Con known as Flamewar, a Spec Ops soldier for the Decepticons. Scorcher rubbed his head, thinking that he had heard those specific words from somewhere before, but shrugged it off.
"Specialist Flamewar, a pleasure to see you. I assume Celina, A.M.Y. and Trouble are with us as well?" Scorcher inquired, shifting himself to sit normally. He looked to his left and saw the three Cybertronians, A.M.Y. and Trouble leaning on one another as they rested. Celina looked at Scorcher, a faint smile spread on her metal lips. Scorcher then looked back to the specialist. "So, I assume you didn't just run into the city by yourself. I mean the city was considered neutral territory, since most of the non combatants fled there, but Autobots and Decepticons that are deemed too dangerous are forbidden to enter." Which made Scorcher wonder why the guards even allowed Blade to enter, but the crazy bot was gone now, so he shrugged it off.
"I did not enter. I hired two mercs to help me transport you and your team back to Ankmor." She replied, looking to the head of whatever they were riding. Before them were two Cybertronians, one with a white main body with red and yellow accents, similar to an Autobot. The other, who was holding the controls to whatever mechanical beast pulled this thing, was a black bot with splashes of green and purple, more akin to a Decepticon. The two looked back, and Scorcher could at least tell who one of the mercs were.
"Lockdown?" Scorcher was slightly shocked to see the Con. Lockdown grunted and looked away, focusing back on the road. "Wait a minute, you're supposed to be dead!"
"I was dead! That psycho Blade made sure of that. But a neutral somehow brought me back. Once the Decepticons thought I was dead, and..." He looked to the side, presumably back at Dyxion, "I found my sparkmate there. Someone to protect. She means more to me than what I used to believe." The ex-Con then focused back on the road ahead. Scorcher didn't know what to say, only turning to Celina for a moment. He watched her study her data pad, going through different files. She was probably trying to figure out what was pulling the vehicle, whether it was the alt form of some Cybertronian or an actual beast. Scorcher smiled and turned back to the front, looking at the Autobot looking Merc.
"I'm not sure who you are. You appear to be an Autobot, but I know some Cybertronians just have similar color schemes. Who might you be?" Scorcher asked. The second merc looked back, a grin on his face.
"The name's Deadlock. I actually don't know a whole lot about my past, but I'm interested in joining your cause. That's actually the only reason Lockdown is here. If I wasn't, We wouldn't have gotten this far. I bought this cart off of him, and He's gonna ditch us about half way and head back." The merc explained. Scorcher nodded, looking back to Flamewar.
"So, what are you paying them?" Scorcher asked the special ops Con.
"Aside from half their normal fees, Lockdown get's to keep his secret and Deadlock get an Interview with Megatron himself." She grins manically, looking to the soon to be Decepticon. "That initiation should be fun to watch." Scorcher shuddered at how sadistic the specialist was looking at the "new recruit" He let the thought pass, and turned his attention to Trouble, who was already almost killed on his first day, as well as putting A.M.Y., one of Scorhcer's most trusted allies, in danger. He got up from his seat and approached the troublesome recruit, grabbing him by the shoulders and tossing him off the cart. Both Celina and Flamewar stood up, looking at Scorcher in confusion. Trouble had been shaken awake when his boss grabbed him, and yelled as he flew off the cart and onto the metal trail they left behind. A.M.Y. woke up when the shoulder she was sleeping on vanished and she hit the seat.
Trouble got up and looked around, dazed and slightly confused as to what was happening. He then looked to Scorcher, who had pulled out one of his revolvers and spun the cylinder. "I have no use for whelps that get in danger on their first day. I'm surprised you're the one that survived the training." He took aim at his recruit, firing. The recruit quickly dodged it, jumping to the side, the blast hitting the ground behind him, scorching the metal. "If you can reach the cart without dying, you can stay. If not, well, then the sharkticons can feed off your remains." Scorcher fired once more, and Trouble wasted no time dodging the projectile. The recruit began running towards the cart, making sure to not run straight at it and become an easy target. Scorcher grinned, and watched as he almost reached the cart. Trouble reached out to the cart and Scorcher took aim for it, shooting Trouble in the hand. The recruit flinched, but tapped the cart anyway, a hole in his metallic hand now, fluids dripping out.
Scorcher grinned at the recruit and holstered his weapon. "Well, one thing is for sure." Trouble looked at Scorcher "You're stubborn." He then jumped off the cart himself, transforming into a light form and drove ahead.