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--Lone Wulf--

In a dense jungle, on a remote planet, a Sweep was hunting.  Mist hung along the ground thickly, making direct line-of-sight tracking difficult or downright impossible.  Dark clouds were barely visible through the canopy that was formed by the immense trees.  The Sweep did not need to see, however.  He was tracking his prey by scent and energy signature.

A small Autobot picked his way through the forest, having to stop and hack at vines or bushes with a medium-sized energy blade.  He seemed blissfully unaware of the fierce predator that was stalking him.  In fact, the Sweep was only yards away.

Bloodwulf had dropped to all fours to better conceal himself among the plant life that grew on the forest floor.  Silently he padded forward, focused entirely on the tiny Autobot in front of him.  His target still showed no indication that he even knew Bloodwulf was there.  Finally the Sweep felt that he was close enough to charge in for an attack.  He bolted from cover and pounced, claws outstretched and ready to tear into armor.  Just as his fangs were ready to pierce the Autobot’s cranial armor, a hail of laser fire suddenly struck him from both sides.  Bloodwulf yelped, and he ended up missing the Autobot, who quickly scooted out of the way of the Sweep’s grasp at the last possible second.  The Sweep growled savagely.  “Who DARES interrupt my hunt?” he demanded.  He was answered with another pair of blasts, which he tried to duck out of the way from.  Several blasts hit him in the back and wings, eliciting another howl of pain.

“Keep it up, we’ve got him!” Springer shouted.

“This is one Sweep that isn’t going to hunt another Autobot!” Sideswipe announced.

Bloodwulf tried once again to reach his prey, but the little orange Autobot ran, and when he tried to follow, he bounced off an energy barrier.  Momentarily dazed, he was hit with a missile before he could recover.  But even then, he pawed at the barrier, still trying to get at his target.

“Persistent, aren’t you?” Springer shouted at the Sweep, while blasting him at the same time.  Bloodwulf growled menacingly, trying not to let on how much damage the Autobots’ attacks had already done.

“Wheelie, are you okay?” Sideswipe called out.

“Autobots rule, and Sweeps drool!” the little orange Autobot replied.  He pulled out his own weapon and started firing at the Sweep.

Bloodwulf tried his best to dodge the attacks, but some still managed to hit their marks.  One of his engine pods was now damaged, and he was in deep trouble here.  He tried to transform and found that he couldn’t.  And now, his sensors were detecting at least three more Autobots moving in.

High above the trees, two Sweepcraft skimmed overhead, scanning the area.  “He’s got to be here somewhere,” Dredclaw fumed, “I hate it when he goes off by himself.  Not knowing where the Pit he is, or what he’s gotten himself into…”

Scourge groaned.  “I think I’ve picked up his signal.  It’s not a strong one.  And I’m reading six Autobot energy signatures in his general location.”

“Slag.  He’s in trouble again,” Dredclaw rumbled, then revved his engines to full throttle.  Streaking in like a bird of prey, the Sweep Executive Officer dove towards his packmate, quickly transforming and grabbing Bloodwulf before the Autobots could react.  He was back in the air again with Bloodwulf in mere seconds.  Springer and Sideswipe fired in vain after the Sweeps, but they were soon out of range.  Dredclaw transformed, putting his damaged brother in his cargo hold.  He then rejoined Scourge and they both headed back to Earth.

“By Unicron, how many times must I pull your aft out of the fire?” Dredclaw growled, as he helped Bloodwulf into the Medical Bay.  His wingsib uttered a low rumble, deep in his vocalizer as he was placed on a medtable.

Revenant came and brought out his medical scanner, checking Bloodwulf’s damage.  “Not again,” was all he said, before starting work.

“Will you have to sedate him this time?” Dredclaw asked Revenant.  The Medic-Sweep shook his head.  Bloodwulf was completely relaxed and didn’t appear to be resisting.

*****

Scourge paced in his office.  This was the third time this month that Bloodwulf had gone off on his own, only to wind up being ambushed by the Autobots.  Something had to be done.  He continued pacing until the door to his office slid open and the Sweep XO stepped inside.  “Ahhh, Dredclaw, right on time,” Scourge said, “You know that we need to resolve this problem we’ve been having with Bloodwulf.”

“I agree,” Dredclaw stated, “This has been happening with increasing regularity.  It’s as if the Autobots know of his tendencies and set traps for Bloodwulf deliberately.”

“And I think I have the perfect solution,” Scourge stated, then activated his communicator.  “Sunder, report to my office at once.”

A few minutes later, the doors to Scourge’s office opened again, to reveal another Sweep.  His wings were flared back, and his optics shone with vibrant curiosity, although he carried himself in a somewhat aloof manner.

“I am here, as ordered,” Sunder stated, saluting Scourge respectfully.

“Sunder, I have a job for you,” Scourge began, “As you know, your brother Bloodwulf has been having, shall we say, difficulty, in recognizing Autobot ambushes, due to his tunnel vision during a Hunt.  They deliberately lure him into traps whenever he’s alone.  Well, I intend to make certain that they never catch him by himself ever again.  You, Sunder, are going to be Bloodwulf’s shadow.  You will stay with him whenever he leaves the Sanctum.  You will always be a few steps behind him, out of sight, so that the Autobots do not see or detect you when they are plotting their traps.  And if they do attempt to take him while he’s hunting, you will stop them, or radio for backup if there are too many for you to deal with.  Is that clear?”

“Crystal clear,” Sunder said, with a hint of enthusiasm creeping into his voice.  Of all the Sweeps, Sunder was the one who was most suited to keeping watch over others.  He did this as a matter of course, to satisfy his own burning curiosity—and to keep Scourge informed on what everybody was doing.  And for Scourge to be assigning him officially to watching over one of his brothers pleased him greatly.

“Excellent.  Bloodwulf is currently in the Medical Bay, but I have a feeling Revenant will release him soon,” Scourge said, “You are dismissed.”

Sunder nodded and turned to leave.  Dredclaw put a hand on his shoulder.  “I’m counting on you to keep Bloodwulf out of trouble,” he said.

“I will do my best,” Sunder said, before exiting.

After Sunder had gone, Dredclaw turned towards Scourge.  “I must say, this is an excellent plan.  Although, don’t you think that Sunder’s constant presence will annoy Bloodwulf after awhile?”

“I have every confidence in Sunder’s abilities,” Scourge replied, “In some ways he is almost as stubborn as Bloodwulf is.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Dredclaw said with a sigh.

*****

Once Bloodwulf was repaired and cleared to leave the Med bay, he returned to the Sanctum in a particularly foul humor.  Geist and Brigand quickly got out of his way, but Singe stood where he was, which just happened to be in front of Bloodwulf’s bunk.  He growled at Singe, narrowing his optics and baring his fangs.  Singe still didn’t move, but the faintest hint of an anticipatory smile was creeping onto his bearded face.  Suddenly Bloodwulf’s talons lashed out, striking Singe on the shoulder, tearing in deeply.  But instead of uttering a scream of pain, Singe grinned all the more widely.  “Why, thank you,” Singe almost purred, before standing aside.  Bloodwulf rumbled something nonverbally and climbed into his bunk.

“Why does he keep falling for that?” Brigand asked Dredclaw casually.

“It gives him an outlet for his anger that won’t get him thrown in the brig,” Dredclaw stated, “Not to mention it’s made Singe his best friend for life.”

The next few days passed without incident.  Sunder made sure he was within scanning range of Bloodwulf at all times—although not necessarily in visual contact.  However, he was watching when Bloodwulf suddenly rose up into the air and transformed, streaking off towards space.  Sunder wasted no time transforming and following.  He hung back, just far enough to keep his wingsib in scanning range.  He decreased the distance between when Bloodwulf had reached a planet that he frequently hunted on.

Bloodwulf was hungry.  Every so often, although he had access to plenty of energon, a different sort of hunger would grip him—the kind that compelled him to go hunting for a meal.  He had a bad habit of going off without Scourge giving him leave first, which is why he often found himself ambushed.  He landed, transforming and quickly scenting the air for any trace of his favorite prey.  There were no Autobots here, but there was a robotic feral creature that made an adequate substitute.  He located one and assumed a hunting stance, ducking down under cover of the local vegetation and silently approaching.

The Sweep’s prey resembled a Terran wild boar, with tough metal plates running all along the back of the beast.  Firing on the creature would do minimal damage; the only viable option was to pounce and wrestle and claw it to exhaustion before attacking the softer underbelly.  It possessed diamond-hard tusks, which could injure an inexperienced predator—Bloodwulf himself had been gouged by an enraged Terrabore’s tusks at least twice in the past—and was surprisingly intelligent for a beast.  But what Bloodwulf relished, even above the sweet fuel he could obtain from it, was the often difficult battle involved in bringing a Terrabore down.  In some ways it was as challenging as trying to bring down an Autobot.  However, only the adults were a real challenge—the young would invariably turn tail and run when confronted by a predator.  In fact, if Bloodwulf wanted to insult his foes, he often commented that they put up less fight than a Terrabore shoat.

The Terrabore the Sweep was stalking was a prime Boar, and about 3/4 as big as Bloodwulf.  Despite the size difference, the Sweep knew better than to underestimate the creature based on size alone.  The creature grunted and dug for crystal grubs in the dirt near some trees with its snout and tusks, completely oblivious to its stalker.  A thread of drool dripped down the hunter’s beard, and he clicked his jaws together in anticipation before breaking cover and charging at the beast.  Lashing out with one set of claws, Bloodwulf attempted to sweep the animal off its hind feet, in order to delay it from wheeling and countering with a charge of its own.  The boar went down sideways with a squeal.

Sunder was watching with fascination, hidden now in the same cover that Bloodwulf had just vacated.  However, he did not focus his attention entirely on the Hunt, but also scanned for Autobot presence.  He detected none, so he relaxed and continued to watch.

Before the Terrabore could recover, the full weight of the Sweep was upon him, tearing at his side mercilessly.  It struggled and kicked, denting Bloodwulf’s armor in a few places, although the Sweep managed to avoid the razor-sharp tusks.  The beast managed to get to its feet, lunging to get the Sweep to let go.  However, it only succeeded in getting Bloodwulf’s claws dug in even deeper than they already were.  It was desperate to tear away, but the Sweep stubbornly held on.  Suddenly it kicked again, with both sets of hind hooves, managing to hit the Sweep in the head.  Momentarily dazed, Bloodwulf relaxed his grip, but recovered in time to keep the boar from turning around.  The Sweep lunged forward, baring his fangs, in order to hamstring the prey.  A careful, almost surgical strike of snapping jaws managed to sever a key part of one of the Terrabore’s hind legs.  A squeal of rage—nearly a shriek—erupted from the Boar as its left leg was now useless.  Now it would not be able to charge, no matter what it did.  Nor would it be able to flee.  A few more minutes into the struggle, Bloodwulf did the same with the right leg.  Growling savagely, he tasted the creature’s fuel and was spurred into a killing frenzy.  Now he was trying to flip the beast onto its back.  It took nearly half an hour to finally do so, since even though the boar’s hind legs did not work, it could still use its tusks and front hooves.  Eventually it was too exhausted to resist, and it went over with a grunt.  The Sweep immediately sought the creature’s throat and his jaws automatically closed on it, puncturing fuel lines and vital systems.  His talons sliced through the thin armor of the underside of the boar, efficiently gutting it.  Soon the boar stopped moving, and the triumphant hunter began to feed.

*****

Bloodwulf was about halfway through devouring the carcass when the tunnel vision lifted.  He uttered a low growl as his sensors picked up a familiar signature.  “I know you’re there, Sunder.”

The other Sweep gingerly emerged from cover, glancing upwards briefly to make sure no ambush was imminent.  His optics settled on his wingsib.  Bloodwulf was absolutely covered in dirt and vital fluids from his prey, and he was glowering at Sunder, uttering a warning growl, as if he thought that his brother was about to steal his hard-won meal out from under his nose.  Sunder backed off, well knowing that it was unwise to even appear to come between Bloodwulf and his prey.  “Of course, I have no intention of stealing…that…whatever that is,” Sunder stated.

Bloodwulf huffed as the other Sweep backed down, and then returned to his meal.  When he’d had his fill, he went to a nearby stream to clean himself off.  Sunder sat there, his mind racing with questions.  Why was Bloodwulf hunting dumb beasts, when there was plenty of energon to be had back at base?  What appeal did the fuel of the creature hold?  And how did it taste?  There was at least a quarter of the carcass remaining, and the smell of spilled fuel was extremely tantalizing.  Out of sheer insatiable curiosity, Sunder approached the remains and lapped at a pool of spilled energon.  The moment the liquid hit his taste receptors, he understood why Bloodwulf was doing this.  He consumed as much as he could before Bloodwulf returned.

The Hunter’s optics narrowed when he saw Sunder near his kill.  An almost visceral reaction arose, but inexplicably he stifled it.  “So you tasted it?” he asked.

Sunder froze.  He wasn’t sure whether he’d incurred Bloodwulf’s wrath.  He tensed up, preparing himself to defend against an attack.

“I’ve had my fill.  The carcass will just go to waste anyway,” Bloodwulf said dismissively, “But now you understand?”

“Indeed,” Sunder replied, not letting the relief that he felt slide into his voice, “That is much tastier than our standard rations.”  It finally registered in his processor that Bloodwulf was willing to let him finish off the carcass, and he dug in eagerly.

“And it tastes infinitely sweeter after having gone to the effort of bringing that creature down myself,” Bloodwulf added, “You would do well to learn this.  I may have been generous this time, since this is your first taste of Terrabore, but do not expect me to be so in the future.”

Sunder nodded, then continued to feed.  When he had finished, Bloodwulf cocked an optic brow at him.

“Why were you following me?” Bloodwulf asked.

“Scourge’s orders.  I’m not to let you out of my sight.  Someone has to make sure you don’t fall into another Autobot trap,” Sunder replied.

“I should have guessed,” Bloodwulf said, “I prefer to hunt alone, but it appears that I am stuck with you, since it is Scourge’s order and I must cooperate.  Very well.  It appears that fate has made us Hunting partners.”

Although Sunder didn’t get nearly as messy as Bloodwulf had while feasting on the Terrabore, it still would not do for him to return to base looking like he’d just done bloody murder.  He got himself cleaned off in the stream, shook himself dry, and returned to the site of the kill to find that his wingsib was transforming and preparing to depart.  He did likewise, and both Sweeps headed back.  Sunder found himself eager to hunt again.

Although both Sweeps had removed all visible traces of their Hunt, their brothers could still smell Terrabore on them.  “Good hunting?” Dredclaw asked, as the pair entered the Sanctum.

“Indeed,” Bloodwulf rumbled.

As Sunder passed him, Dredclaw took another whiff--as if he didn’t believe what he was smelling.  “Sunder?  You too?” he asked in amazement.

“It was quite…enlightening,” Sunder spoke up, his optics glowing brightly.  The Sweep looked quite self-satisfied, but sleepy, so he crawled into his bunk and let sweet recharge claim him.

“I’m surprised Bloodwulf shared,” Geist muttered.

Bloodwulf glowered briefly at Geist, but said nothing further.  He got into his bunk and quickly entered his own recharge cycle.

*****

The next day found Bloodwulf and Sunder set to various tasks by Scourge—together, of course.  At first, Bloodwulf was mildly irritated by Sunder’s constant presence, even if he wasn’t in immediate line-of-sight, but slowly he was becoming accustomed to it.  It even got to the point where Bloodwulf couldn’t envision Sunder not being there.

The two Sweeps took several unscheduled hunting trips, all of which passed without incident.  Sunder even took prey of his own on occasion, if he felt the desire.  But on one occasion, when they’d landed on a world completely unfamiliar to Sunder, Bloodwulf turned and beckoned him to approach as they hid in a thicket.  Cocking an optic brow, Sunder did so.  “What is it?” the Nosey Sweep wondered.

“I cannot hunt this prey alone,” Bloodwulf stated, pointing to a herd of large creatures that were vaguely bovine in appearance.  “I tried once, and nearly lost my life in the attempt.”

“So you are requesting my assistance?” Sunder asked.

“Yes.  I will share the prey with you—there should be plenty for both of us.  I barely managed a taste, but I assure you it will be well worth the risk.  These creatures convert ordinary organic foliage into some of the sweetest energon in the galaxy,” Bloodwulf replied, “I must warn you, the risk is considerable.  But if we do this right, we will be treating ourselves to a feast we know we have earned.”

Sunder studied the herd of beasts as they moved about on the plain, just outside the dense thicket.  They were heavily built, powerful animals, and armored in much the same way as the Terrabores.  A pair of long, curved, cruel horns grew out of their heads.  Such horns could be used to toss and gore a predator such as a Sweep without much difficulty.  “We require a strategy,” Sunder realized, “How did you attack the beasts, the first time you attacked them?”

“From the front,” Bloodwulf replied, “I tried to go for the throat but was tossed by their horns.  The herd then nearly trampled me to scrap.”

Sunder stroked his beard.  He was obviously deep in thought, formulating a plan.  His optics caught sight of a prime bull, just a short distance from the main herd.  This bull appeared to be a rival to the main herd boss, and had just been chased away by the dominant bull.  “There’s our target,” he decided, “The herd has no interest in protecting that one.  He will be ours for the taking without interference.”  He pauses, further refining his strategy.  “We must attack the creature from behind, to avoid the deadly horns,” he adds, “However, one of us may have to act as a distraction, to give the other the chance to strike.”  Sunder had seen predators such as Terran Lions take down Cape Buffalo, and somehow this situation reminded him of that.

“Sounds like an excellent plan,” Bloodwulf agreed, “Very well, I shall provide the distraction.  You move in and hold it down from the hindquarters.  This may take some time—much longer than pulling down a Terrabore.”  He then dropped to all fours, moving through the tall grass—his wings held as low as possible.  He circled around, positioning himself so that when Sunder attacked, the bull’s back would be to him.

The rogue bull snorted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.  He knew something was wrong, but didn’t know until Bloodwulf was snarling at him from a few yards away.  The Sweep darted away as the beast lunged and pursued.  <> Bloodwulf shortranged.

Immediately Sunder darted out of the thicket.  He pounced, digging his claws into the back end of the bull.  It responded by uttering a sound that sounded like a mix of roar and moo.  The rest of the herd seemed unconcerned; it appeared that Sunder had surmised correctly about their reaction.  The beast struggled, but its actions only succeeded in automatically forcing Sunder’s talons into his hide even more deeply.  A slight barb, pointing backwards on the Sweep’s first knuckle where pink met gray, prevented the Sweep’s claws from coming unhooked from the beast without causing even more damage.

Once the bull was caught firmly in Sunder’s talons, Bloodwulf moved to take up position beside Sunder, also digging into the animal.  The creature tried to turn to face them, but the two Sweeps held fast.  Sunder leaned forward and clamped his jaws on the spine, near the base of the tail.  He gnawed, to try to penetrate the protective armor and thus sever the relays that allowed the bull the use of his hind limbs.

The struggle between predators and prey was long and drawn out.  It was also very exhausting.  Bloodwulf’s brute strength was all that was keeping them in the game right now—Sunder was nearly at his limit.  But it became apparent that their prey was wearing down as well.  His fangs finally found their way through the armor, sliding right between two vertebrae.  With a click and snap of the Sweep’s jaws, the bull’s back legs were paralyzed.  No longer able to stand, the hind limbs buckled and the front end of the bull was now higher than the back end.  Quickly Bloodwulf disengaged from the anchor position and darted for the bull’s neck.  In a swift motion, the Sweep had the throat in his jaws and tore it out.  The prey slumped to the ground immediately.

Sunder sighed in relief before joining his brother in ripping open the bull’s side.  They fed greedily, lapping up the energon that spilled before gorging themselves on the technorganic meat.  Bloodwulf insisted on eating the heart, although he gave Sunder a piece of it in recognition of the part he’d played in bringing the beast down.

“You were right,” Sunder said, as he continued to feed, “This is the tastiest energon I have ever had.  Why, it makes our standard rations taste rather bland by comparison.”

Bloodwulf grinned, energon dripping down his beard.  “Well worth the risk, wasn’t it?” he commented.

*****

Scourge and the others had become used to Bloodwulf coming home smelling of strange things for quite awhile, but it took some time before the other Sweeps got accustomed to detecting it on Sunder.  Some of them would rib the Nosey One for his seemingly wholehearted embrace of Bloodwulf’s proclivities.

“Sunder eating organic prey.  Next thing you know, he’ll be purring like Singe next time someone hurts him,” Geist snickered.

“Or stealing things right out from under our noses,” Deadfall added.

Sunder and Bloodwulf shot both Sweeps a withering glance.

“At least if I’m stuck on some Unicron-forsaken world without any rations, I won’t starve to death,” Sunder countered.

“Hunting prey for consumption is something we’d all do if we were desperate,” Geist pointed out, “But this isn’t exactly desperation we’re talking about now, is it?”

Sunder huffed crossly.  “You’ll never understand unless you have the experience yourself,” he retorted.

“Brothers, brothers, please.  We all have our quirks,” Singe piped up, “If Sunder has one more added to him, then I say more power to him.  Surely he has gained some form of enlightenment from this.  And who knows, perhaps he will take the journey that I offer.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Sunder muttered.

Bloodwulf crawled out of his bunk and yawned.  Singe approached him eagerly.  “My brother, I have a terrible itch right about here…”—and here he pointed to his shoulder—“Would you mind…?”

Bloodwulf rumbled softly and lashed out with his claws at the spot indicated by Singe’s pointing talon.  A soft sigh escaped from Singe, and a grin was soon plastered all over his face.  The talons dug in more deeply, and Bloodwulf gave a bit of a twist.  The joy apparent on Singe’s face plates was mirrored on Bloodwulf’s—for the latter enjoyed inflicting pain as much as the former enjoyed receiving it.

“See, what would I need in on your games for?” Sunder muttered, “You’ve already recruited Bloodwulf.”

Bloodwulf turned towards Sunder.  “You won’t understand until you’ve tried it yourself,” he said with a purr.

“Touché,” Sunder conceded.

*****

“Get up, you lazy sons of Unicron,” Dredclaw rumbled.  He had been out of his own bunk at least an hour before the other Sweeps, with the exception of Scourge, who had been up even earlier and was currently consulting with Cyclonus in the command center, and Revenant.  First he poked Singe, who awoke with a start.

“Ahhh, good cycle to you,” Singe purred, a grin spreading across his face.  He stayed in his bunk, however.

“If you don’t get out of there, I won’t hurt you,” Dredclaw growled.

Singe looked disappointed.  “Fine,” he murmured, and got up, heading for the Kaff dispenser.

The next Sweep to be awakened was Geist.  “BOO!” Dredclaw shouted, right in Geist’s audio receptors.  The startled Sweep nearly jumped out of his bunk.  “Very funny,” Geist grumbled, “Turning my own tactics against me.”  He too crawled out of his bunk.

When Dredclaw got to Bloodwulf’s bunk, he was met with quite a bit more resistance.

“Come on, get up,” Dredclaw growled.  A low warning growl answered him.  The Sweep XO grabbed hold of one of Bloodwulf’s wrists and physically pulled him out of the bunk.

Bloodwulf resisted, pulling backwards.  “I want to rest a bit longer,” he insisted.

“No.  You’re getting up right now.  That’s an order, Bloodwulf,” Dredclaw countered.  After a bit more tug-of-war and Battle of the Wills™, Bloodwulf reluctantly exited his recharge bunk and went to get his breakfast ration.

Sunder was more amiable to being awakened, and did not complain much when Dredclaw placed a taloned hand on his shoulder and gave him a rough shake.  Brigand got up without being asked, after being awakened by the scuffle between Bloodwulf and the Sweep XO.  Deadfall pretended to be asleep and had to be physically dragged out of his bunk, where he feigned recharge even on the floor.  Dredclaw gave him a kick to the side and he groaned.

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” Deadfall moaned.  He didn’t get up quickly enough, as evidenced by Dredclaw bending down, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him to his feet.

Bloodwulf glared at Deadfall, uttering a growl.  “May I punish him, if he continues this foolishness?” he asked Dredclaw.  He flexed his talons eagerly.

“Certainly,” the Sweep XO replied.

Deadfall quickly scrambled towards the energon dispenser, trying to pretend that he was fully awake.  The last thing he wanted or needed was the Stubborn One’s claws in his back.

“So what are we doing today?” Geist wondered, sipping at his breakfast ration.

“Our orders are to scout various locations, to determine suitability for resource extraction and defense fortifications,” Dredclaw replied.  “We are to go out in small teams.  Here are your assignments.”  The Sweep XO pushed a few buttons so that the teams and their patrol areas showed up on the screen.

Sunder regarded the matchups with interest.  It seemed that he was to be teamed with Bloodwulf, Singe, and Dredclaw.  Revenant, Geist, Brigand, Deadfall, and Scourge made the second team.

“Hey, these teams are uneven,” Deadfall complained.

“Trust me, you’d rather be on our Pack-Leader’s team than on mine,” Dredclaw said firmly, “Getting you to do any work at all is like pulling Bloodwulf’s fangs.”  The Sweep XO sighed, knowing that the lopsided matchup was to make up for the lack of effort that Deadfall would put in.

Deadfall sighed and nodded.  He’d rather have just Scourge get after him for his laziness, rather than both Dredclaw and Bloodwulf.  For some reason, the latter took an exceptionally keen interest in dealing out punishment to the Lazy One.

*****

Dredclaw led his team to a planet that had numerous mountain ranges with narrow canyons, and small valleys.  The mountains themselves were mostly devoid of vegetation, although there was life there.  Sunder scanned for any valuable elements, such as fuel or minerals that could be used in alloys or chemical reactions.  He pointed out an area that seemed to harbor something of worth, and the Sweeps began cutting away at the rock with their lasers.

“If we hollowed this mountain out, we could fit a base in here,” Singe commented.

“Indeed,” Dredclaw stated.

After a few hours of cutting—and Bloodwulf using his claws to dig after he started to get bored with using his weapon—a thick vein of ore was exposed.  It was of a metal of high quality, which, once smelted and processed, would reinforce any construct.

“We must keep this from the Autobots at all costs,” Dredclaw said, as he inspected the ore approvingly, “Excellent work, my brothers.”

There was still more work to be done, but the binary stars that served as the planet’s suns were now very low on the horizon.  Soon it would be too dark to do much, and Dredclaw didn’t want any lights shining in the dark where they could attract unwanted attention.  This planet had indigenous sentient life forms, but they were scattered and few, and came out mostly at night, when the heat of the suns did not beat down upon them.  The Sweeps could tolerate the heat, which was part of the reason they were working in broad daylight.  It would matter less to be discovered if the inhabitants weren’t in the habit of befriending Autobots.  And they had sufficient technology to contact them, should the need arise.  Thus, the Sweep XO didn’t want to take any chances.  The newly-formed cave that they’d spent the entire day hollowing out had just enough room for all four Sweeps to curl up and drift into recharge.  Dredclaw affixed a camouflage curtain over the entrance, to conceal its presence and so nobody would see the dim glow of Sweep optics in the night.

Bloodwulf found Singe deliberately curling up next to him.  The Stubborn One lunged at Singe, his jaws agape.  When they snapped shut, his fangs were buried in Singe’s upper arm.  Bloodwulf growled and shook the arm a little, eliciting a high-pitched whimper from Singe.

“Time enough for that later,” Dredclaw rumbled, “Go to sleep, both of you. We have a long day ahead of us.  Besides, we need to stay quiet—it would not do for anyone to discover us because Singe was howling.”

Singe and Bloodwulf both uttered a groan of disappointment.  Sunder was already halfway into recharge, so only barely heard the exchange in his subconscious.

Halfway through the night, Sunder found himself being nudged awake.  Bloodwulf was stepping over him to get to the outside.  “Where are you going?” Sunder hissed.

“Hunting,” Bloodwulf rumbled, “I’m starving.”

“Wait!” Sunder stage-whispered back, “What if you’re discovered?

Bloodwulf growled stubbornly, and exited the den.

Sunder glanced back at his sleeping compatriots and sighed.  The others would need their sleep, so he took off after Bloodwulf alone.

Bloodwulf soon realized that prey of any worthwhile sort was mainly to be found in the valleys.  Anything at this current level was the equivalent of mice to a lion, or even smaller.  He also soon discovered that the vegetation was rather stunted even in the valleys, so he stuck out like a sore thumb even in the darkness.  The dark demonic shape would surely attract suspicion.  He found himself forced to creep on all fours, approaching a group of sleeping reptilian creatures.  While they were not the most appetizing things that the Sweep had ever stalked, they would do.  He focused on one animal and slowly crept towards it, oblivious to all else.  Suddenly he felt something yank one of his wings and pull backwards hard.  Bloodwulf turned and growled to see a panicky Sunder, pulling backwards with all his might.  The look on the Stubborn One’s face plates would have melted lead.

“Forgive me,” Sunder whispered, “But there is something you did not consider.  Look.”  He pointed off in the distance, and Bloodwulf focused, picking out a bipedal humanoid shape.  The Sweeps’ night vision was excellent, and it was soon apparent that the creature was some sort of shepherd, and the beasts were its “flock”.  Bloodwulf’s look of pure fury changed to one of relief.  Sunder had prevented him from making a potentially fatal mistake.  The “shepherd” carried a photon rifle capable of damaging a Transformer quite badly.  “I’d hate to see the predators that they have to deal with usually,” Sunder hissed, “Come on, let’s go.”  The Sweeps returned to camp unnoticed.

*****

When daylight broke and filtered through the camouflage sheet, the Sweeps within stirred.  Dredclaw distributed rations and they all drank eagerly.  Bloodwulf particularly devoured his ration with great relish, due to the failed hunt the night before.

While Singe and Bloodwulf continued to dig, Dredclaw and Sunder began assembling some crates to carry the ore back in.  These crates would fit into their cargo holds in Sweepcraft mode.  When they were complete, the Sweeps began filling them.

“There, I think that’s the last of it,” Singe said a few hours later, dumping a load of ore from his talons to top off the last crate.  It was getting dark very quickly, and it became apparent that they were going to have to spend another night.  They couldn’t risk being spotted.

The cave had been hollowed out much more, so there was room for the boxes—stacked one on top of the other—and the sleepy Sweeps.  Dredclaw settled himself and rumbled softly.  His sensitive audios picked up a “whooshing” sound.  “Something’s not right,” he murmured.

The other Sweeps perked up, listening nervously.  Whatever was making the noise seemed to be coming closer.  Then an unearthly shriek pierced their audios, and suddenly their protective curtain was torn away.  Dredclaw watched in dismay as the camouflage sheet was lifted—actually, very nearly ripped—away from the entrance of the cave and the stars were visible.  Then an amorphous shadow suddenly appeared from above.

“What is that?” Singe wondered.  Suddenly a long sinuous neck, with a semi-serpentine, semi-avian head, lashed out into the cave, striking at the Sweeps.  Sunder had to jump aside to avoid the needle-like teeth that were set in the quasi-beaklike jaws.  In the dim light they could see that the beast was actually light-colored.  It glared at them when its strike failed, and prepared to attack again.

“I’ve heard of a beast such as this,” Dredclaw growled, “It is called a Zuu.  It’s got very good night vision, and it’s highly dangerous.”  The Sweep XO was not exaggerating; the beast was about as big as two Dinobots put together.  It struck out again, this time trying to get its teeth into Bloodwulf.  The Stubborn One lashed out with talons, drawing blood.  The creature shrieked in rage and lashed out with talons, nearly skewering Dredclaw.  The scratch was obviously not enough to disable it, so the Sweeps pulled out their weapons and began firing.  But the creature’s hide was tough, and it shrugged off most of their attacks, while continuing its own assault.  One of its talons pierced Singe’s leg—not that he minded.

Sunder realized that the photon rifle carried by the shepherd that he and Bloodwulf had seen the night before would be ideal to drive the creature off due to the light produced by the weapon.  That creature could be temporarily blinded by a bright flash.  Now it just remained to find a way to mimic the effect.  He elbowed Singe and handed him one of his rocket-propelled grenades.  “You need to rig up a magnesium charge on one of my grenades, now!”

“Of course!” Singe exclaimed, “The bright flash should blind it!  I’ll get right on it!”

“We’ll have to keep that thing busy,” Dredclaw stated, as he dodged the creature’s claws, “I had hoped not to be noticed, but it cannot be helped.  This creature’s shrieks have no doubt attracted attention.”  His plasma bursters popped out of his wrist, and he fired a steady stream at the Zuu.  The plasma wasn’t bright enough to blind the creature, but the heat seemed to drive it back a bit.

Bloodwulf danced in and out around the creature’s feet, lashing out with his own talons whenever he could.  He didn’t do much damage, but managed to pull off a good number of feathers from the creature’s tail.

Finally Singe cried out, “It’s done!”  He handed the grenade back to Sunder, who loaded it into the secondary firing chamber of his disruptor rifle.  “Cover your optic sensors!” Sunder warned, then fired the grenade at the beast.  At the last second he dropped his rifle and covered his face with his arm.

There was a sudden flash of white light as the grenade detonated, right in the Zuu’s face.  It shrieked again, backing out of the entrance to the cave rapidly.  As the brightness faded, the Sweeps cautiously peeked.  The creature was retreating.  It still could not see, as evidenced by it floundering on the ground and crying out.

“Let’s kill it,” Bloodwulf growled.

“We don’t have time,” Dredclaw replied, “We must leave now.  Each of you grab a crate, transform, and follow me.”

*****

Bloodwulf was about to argue the point, but Dredclaw uttered such an energon-curdling growl—and the other Sweeps looked ready to back up the Sweep XO’s threat—that the Stubborn One just sighed and grudgingly obeyed.  It was then that it struck him why the shepherd had not spotted him the night before—they’d been too busy scanning the skies for a marauding Zuu.  Just as the last crate had been loaded, another shriek was heard.  Dredclaw growled savagely.  “Its mate,” he said warily, inclining his head towards the still-floundering blinded bird.  “Quickly, we must go, before our would-be predator recovers.  A Zuu can deliver a devastating kamikaze attack if it is enraged and it catches us.  One we might survive, but not two.”

By then it was clear why Dredclaw wanted to depart so quickly, so the others wasted no time.  They transformed, forming on their XO’s wing.  FTL drives were activated once they cleared the atmosphere.

*****

Geist sat with Scourge’s team, in a circle around a glowing stack of energon cubes.  He held an LED penlight just below his chin, shining the light straight up to give his bearded visage a more spooky appearance.  It was dark, and they were about to retire for the night.
“Then the operator said, ‘the call is coming from INSIDE the house!  Get out of there!’  But it was already too—hey wait, where’s everyone going?  I thought it was scary!”

*****

Scourge nodded in approval at the load of ore that Dredclaw’s team had recovered.  “Excellent work.  And I trust Bloodwulf stayed out of trouble?”

“For the most part,” Dredclaw replied.

The Constructicons came to get the ore, while the Sweeps took the energon to storage.

“Oh, this is the best grade ore I’ve seen in a long time,” Scavenger commented, as he helped to load Long Haul’s truck bed, “I’ll say one thing for the Sweeps, they can sniff out some good quality stuff.”

“Eh, whatever,” Long Haul muttered, “Now I have to lug all the stuff they brought back to the lab.  Great.”

“Shall we retire to the Sanctum?” Scourge said presently, “I believe the Pack has some well-deserved Rest and Relaxation coming, for missions well done.”

“I wish I got invited into their little clubhouse,” Long Haul grumbled as he drove away.

*****

Scourge raised a cube of energon in a toast.  “To our successful missions,” he said, and drank deeply.  The other Sweeps each followed suit.

“This is excellent energon,” Sunder commented, “I dare say this isn’t standard rations.”

“Indeed not,” Revenant rumbled.

“It is but a small sample of the energon we were able to collect,” Scourge stated, “If nobody interferes, we shall have more—much more.”

Scourge allowed each of his minions to indulge in at least two cubes of the energon.  It was enough to give them an artificial sense of well-being, but not enough to make them pass out.  Eventually it made them drowsy, however, and in a few hours, they were all in their recharge bunks, sleeping it off.

*****

A sudden noise awakened Sunder in the middle of the night.  He was just in time to see Bloodwulf slip out of the doors to the Sanctum.

“Slag,” Sunder hissed softly, and scrambled out of his bunk.  He dashed out the door.

*****

Bloodwulf’s hunger was now at its peak.  While he’d had more than enough energon that evening, the desire to hunt and rend prey had not been sated.  So he left the Sanctum and transformed, blasting off and heading for a familiar hunting ground.  Sunder was not far behind.

*****

“Do you have that net set up?” Kup asked Arcee.

“It’s all ready,” she replied.

“Good.  Cosmos just indicated that a single Sweep has entered the area.  It’s all up to Blurr, now,” Kup stated.

*****

Bloodwulf scanned feverishly, trying to pick up the signature of any suitable prey.  His targeting scanners locked on to an enemy energy signature.  “You’re mine, Autobot,” the Stubborn One rumbled to himself, before descending.

*****

Blurr did not initially see the Sweep that suddenly leaped out of the Shadows at him.  Bloodwulf’s fangs were bared, his talons outstretched, and a low growl erupted from his vocalizer.  “Oh, no-no-no-no-no!” Blurr cried out.  He had just enough time to transform and flee.  The Sweep’s claws ended up striking the ground instead.

“There is nowhere to hide,” Bloodwulf hissed, “You might as well give up.  Who knows, I may choose to kill you more quickly if you do.”

The Autobot didn’t stick around, so Bloodwulf transformed again, speeding after the little blue car.  He had nearly caught up to Blurr when suddenly an energy net was dropped onto him.  The Stubborn One roared in fury.  A charge passed through the net, momentarily stunning him.

“We’ve got him!” Arcee announced.

“Great.  Now let’s get him back to Autobot City and terminate him,” Kup stated.

“Yeah, let’s-do-it, that’s-one-less-Sweep-we’ll-have-to-worry-about!  Personally-I’d-rather-have-to-worry-about-none-of-them, but-one-is-better-than-nothing,” Blurr babbled.

A dark shape lunged out from the surrounding cover, landing with full force on Kup.  The old timer yelled as something bit into his shoulder.

“KUP!” Arcee shouted.  She tried to get a bead on Kup’s attacker, but wasn’t sure she could fire without hitting her comrade.  She shone a bright light at Kup, and she now clearly saw a Sweep gnawing on the old Autobot.  Suddenly the Sweep spat and hissed, and began wiping his mouth off, as if to remove an exceedingly foul taste from it.

“Oh no-oh no, there’s-another-one!” Blurr exclaimed.

The Sweep clawed Kup, tossing him aside.  He then fired his headcannon at Arcee, forcing her to jump out of the way.  Then he got a small dagger out of subspace and used it to free Bloodwulf from the energy net.  “Rise, my brother!  Let us take them!” the Sweep growled.  The Stubborn One groaned and stirred momentarily, then got up.

“Sunder,” Bloodwulf said.

Sunder purred. “Shall we have some fun with our prey?”

“Indeed,” Bloodwulf snarled, and then pounced on Kup, tearing savagely with his talons.  Sunder went after Blurr, forcing the small blue Autobot to back up.  A sudden laser blast from Arcee reminded him that she was still there, so he lobbed a grenade in her direction.  She ducked, but the grenade fell directly on her, causing massive damage.

Sunder managed to catch Blurr, and batted at him like a cat with a mouse.  The little Autobot screamed in pain as the constant blows from the Sweep’s talons dug progressively deeper punctures into his armor.  But suddenly, a blast of electricity hit the Sweep, driving him back from his prey.

“Leave him alone!” Bluestreak shouted, aiming his rifle at Sunder.

“The Autobots have reinforcements,” Bloodwulf growled.

“And so do we!” Sunder exclaimed, “LOOK!”

Streaking out of the sky came five Sweepcraft, firing constant laser blasts at the Autobots below.  Kup had managed to tear free of Bloodwulf’s grasp, and was now forced to flee as one of Dredclaw’s proton missiles exploded only a few feet away.

“Retreat!  There’s too many of them!” Kup shouted.  Bluestreak helped Arcee up and helped her back to base.  Blurr and Kup waited until the other two were clear, before departing as well.

“We should go after them,” Bloodwulf snarled.

“Not tonight, brother,” Dredclaw grated, “If it weren’t for Sunder, you would be scrap by now.  We will hunt those Autobots another day.”

Scourge nodded at Sunder.  “Excellent work,” he said to his favored minion, “You will be well rewarded.  Now let’s get out of here, before the Dinobots decide to show up.”

Sunder responded with a purr.  If Sweeps could blush, he’d be beet-red.  As he prepared to rise into the air to transform and follow Scourge, he felt a taloned hand on his shoulder.  He turned to see Bloodwulf gazing into his optics.  “I owe you…a debt,” the Stubborn One rumbled.

A grin spread across Sunder’s bearded visage.  A pending reward from Scourge, and Bloodwulf owed him for saving his life.  He could not be more pleased.

The End!

Description
--Lone Wulf--

In a dense jungle, on a remote planet, a Sweep was hunting.  Mist hung along the ground thickly, making direct line-of-sight tracking difficult or downright impossible.  Dark clouds were barely visible through the canopy that was formed by the immense trees.  The Sweep did not need to see, however.  He was tracking his prey by scent and energy signature.

A small Autobot picked his way through the forest, having to stop and hack at vines or bushes with a medium-sized energy blade.  He seemed blissfully unaware of the fierce predator that was stalking him.  In fact, the Sweep was only yards away.

Bloodwulf had dropped to all fours to better conceal himself among the plant life that grew on the forest floor.  Silently he padded forward, focused entirely on the tiny Autobot in front of him.  His target still showed no indication that he even knew Bloodwulf was there.  Finally the Sweep felt that he was close enough to charge in for an attack.  He bolted from cover and pounced, claws outstretched and ready to tear into armor.  Just as his fangs were ready to pierce the Autobot’s cranial armor, a hail of laser fire suddenly struck him from both sides.  Bloodwulf yelped, and he ended up missing the Autobot, who quickly scooted out of the way of the Sweep’s grasp at the last possible second.  The Sweep growled savagely.  “Who DARES interrupt my hunt?” he demanded.  He was answered with another pair of blasts, which he tried to duck out of the way from.  Several blasts hit him in the back and wings, eliciting another howl of pain.

“Keep it up, we’ve got him!” Springer shouted.

“This is one Sweep that isn’t going to hunt another Autobot!” Sideswipe announced.

Bloodwulf tried once again to reach his prey, but the little orange Autobot ran, and when he tried to follow, he bounced off an energy barrier.  Momentarily dazed, he was hit with a missile before he could recover.  But even then, he pawed at the barrier, still trying to get at his target.

“Persistent, aren’t you?” Springer shouted at the Sweep, while blasting him at the same time.  Bloodwulf growled menacingly, trying not to let on how much damage the Autobots’ attacks had already done.

“Wheelie, are you okay?” Sideswipe called out.

“Autobots rule, and Sweeps drool!” the little orange Autobot replied.  He pulled out his own weapon and started firing at the Sweep.

Bloodwulf tried his best to dodge the attacks, but some still managed to hit their marks.  One of his engine pods was now damaged, and he was in deep trouble here.  He tried to transform and found that he couldn’t.  And now, his sensors were detecting at least three more Autobots moving in.

High above the trees, two Sweepcraft skimmed overhead, scanning the area.  “He’s got to be here somewhere,” Dredclaw fumed, “I hate it when he goes off by himself.  Not knowing where the Pit he is, or what he’s gotten himself into…”

Scourge groaned.  “I think I’ve picked up his signal.  It’s not a strong one.  And I’m reading six Autobot energy signatures in his general location.”

“Slag.  He’s in trouble again,” Dredclaw rumbled, then revved his engines to full throttle.  Streaking in like a bird of prey, the Sweep Executive Officer dove towards his packmate, quickly transforming and grabbing Bloodwulf before the Autobots could react.  He was back in the air again with Bloodwulf in mere seconds.  Springer and Sideswipe fired in vain after the Sweeps, but they were soon out of range.  Dredclaw transformed, putting his damaged brother in his cargo hold.  He then rejoined Scourge and they both headed back to Earth.

“By Unicron, how many times must I pull your aft out of the fire?” Dredclaw growled, as he helped Bloodwulf into the Medical Bay.  His wingsib uttered a low rumble, deep in his vocalizer as he was placed on a medtable.

Revenant came and brought out his medical scanner, checking Bloodwulf’s damage.  “Not again,” was all he said, before starting work.

“Will you have to sedate him this time?” Dredclaw asked Revenant.  The Medic-Sweep shook his head.  Bloodwulf was completely relaxed and didn’t appear to be resisting.

*****

Scourge paced in his office.  This was the third time this month that Bloodwulf had gone off on his own, only to wind up being ambushed by the Autobots.  Something had to be done.  He continued pacing until the door to his office slid open and the Sweep XO stepped inside.  “Ahhh, Dredclaw, right on time,” Scourge said, “You know that we need to resolve this problem we’ve been having with Bloodwulf.”

“I agree,” Dredclaw stated, “This has been happening with increasing regularity.  It’s as if the Autobots know of his tendencies and set traps for Bloodwulf deliberately.”

“And I think I have the perfect solution,” Scourge stated, then activated his communicator.  “Sunder, report to my office at once.”

A few minutes later, the doors to Scourge’s office opened again, to reveal another Sweep.  His wings were flared back, and his optics shone with vibrant curiosity, although he carried himself in a somewhat aloof manner.

“I am here, as ordered,” Sunder stated, saluting Scourge respectfully.

“Sunder, I have a job for you,” Scourge began, “As you know, your brother Bloodwulf has been having, shall we say, difficulty, in recognizing Autobot ambushes, due to his tunnel vision during a Hunt.  They deliberately lure him into traps whenever he’s alone.  Well, I intend to make certain that they never catch him by himself ever again.  You, Sunder, are going to be Bloodwulf’s shadow.  You will stay with him whenever he leaves the Sanctum.  You will always be a few steps behind him, out of sight, so that the Autobots do not see or detect you when they are plotting their traps.  And if they do attempt to take him while he’s hunting, you will stop them, or radio for backup if there are too many for you to deal with.  Is that clear?”

“Crystal clear,” Sunder said, with a hint of enthusiasm creeping into his voice.  Of all the Sweeps, Sunder was the one who was most suited to keeping watch over others.  He did this as a matter of course, to satisfy his own burning curiosity—and to keep Scourge informed on what everybody was doing.  And for Scourge to be assigning him officially to watching over one of his brothers pleased him greatly.

“Excellent.  Bloodwulf is currently in the Medical Bay, but I have a feeling Revenant will release him soon,” Scourge said, “You are dismissed.”

Sunder nodded and turned to leave.  Dredclaw put a hand on his shoulder.  “I’m counting on you to keep Bloodwulf out of trouble,” he said.

“I will do my best,” Sunder said, before exiting.

After Sunder had gone, Dredclaw turned towards Scourge.  “I must say, this is an excellent plan.  Although, don’t you think that Sunder’s constant presence will annoy Bloodwulf after awhile?”

“I have every confidence in Sunder’s abilities,” Scourge replied, “In some ways he is almost as stubborn as Bloodwulf is.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Dredclaw said with a sigh.

*****

Once Bloodwulf was repaired and cleared to leave the Med bay, he returned to the Sanctum in a particularly foul humor.  Geist and Brigand quickly got out of his way, but Singe stood where he was, which just happened to be in front of Bloodwulf’s bunk.  He growled at Singe, narrowing his optics and baring his fangs.  Singe still didn’t move, but the faintest hint of an anticipatory smile was creeping onto his bearded face.  Suddenly Bloodwulf’s talons lashed out, striking Singe on the shoulder, tearing in deeply.  But instead of uttering a scream of pain, Singe grinned all the more widely.  “Why, thank you,” Singe almost purred, before standing aside.  Bloodwulf rumbled something nonverbally and climbed into his bunk.

“Why does he keep falling for that?” Brigand asked Dredclaw casually.

“It gives him an outlet for his anger that won’t get him thrown in the brig,” Dredclaw stated, “Not to mention it’s made Singe his best friend for life.”

The next few days passed without incident.  Sunder made sure he was within scanning range of Bloodwulf at all times—although not necessarily in visual contact.  However, he was watching when Bloodwulf suddenly rose up into the air and transformed, streaking off towards space.  Sunder wasted no time transforming and following.  He hung back, just far enough to keep his wingsib in scanning range.  He decreased the distance between when Bloodwulf had reached a planet that he frequently hunted on.

Bloodwulf was hungry.  Every so often, although he had access to plenty of energon, a different sort of hunger would grip him—the kind that compelled him to go hunting for a meal.  He had a bad habit of going off without Scourge giving him leave first, which is why he often found himself ambushed.  He landed, transforming and quickly scenting the air for any trace of his favorite prey.  There were no Autobots here, but there was a robotic feral creature that made an adequate substitute.  He located one and assumed a hunting stance, ducking down under cover of the local vegetation and silently approaching.

The Sweep’s prey resembled a Terran wild boar, with tough metal plates running all along the back of the beast.  Firing on the creature would do minimal damage; the only viable option was to pounce and wrestle and claw it to exhaustion before attacking the softer underbelly.  It possessed diamond-hard tusks, which could injure an inexperienced predator—Bloodwulf himself had been gouged by an enraged Terrabore’s tusks at least twice in the past—and was surprisingly intelligent for a beast.  But what Bloodwulf relished, even above the sweet fuel he could obtain from it, was the often difficult battle involved in bringing a Terrabore down.  In some ways it was as challenging as trying to bring down an Autobot.  However, only the adults were a real challenge—the young would invariably turn tail and run when confronted by a predator.  In fact, if Bloodwulf wanted to insult his foes, he often commented that they put up less fight than a Terrabore shoat.

The Terrabore the Sweep was stalking was a prime Boar, and about 3/4 as big as Bloodwulf.  Despite the size difference, the Sweep knew better than to underestimate the creature based on size alone.  The creature grunted and dug for crystal grubs in the dirt near some trees with its snout and tusks, completely oblivious to its stalker.  A thread of drool dripped down the hunter’s beard, and he clicked his jaws together in anticipation before breaking cover and charging at the beast.  Lashing out with one set of claws, Bloodwulf attempted to sweep the animal off its hind feet, in order to delay it from wheeling and countering with a charge of its own.  The boar went down sideways with a squeal.

Sunder was watching with fascination, hidden now in the same cover that Bloodwulf had just vacated.  However, he did not focus his attention entirely on the Hunt, but also scanned for Autobot presence.  He detected none, so he relaxed and continued to watch.

Before the Terrabore could recover, the full weight of the Sweep was upon him, tearing at his side mercilessly.  It struggled and kicked, denting Bloodwulf’s armor in a few places, although the Sweep managed to avoid the razor-sharp tusks.  The beast managed to get to its feet, lunging to get the Sweep to let go.  However, it only succeeded in getting Bloodwulf’s claws dug in even deeper than they already were.  It was desperate to tear away, but the Sweep stubbornly held on.  Suddenly it kicked again, with both sets of hind hooves, managing to hit the Sweep in the head.  Momentarily dazed, Bloodwulf relaxed his grip, but recovered in time to keep the boar from turning around.  The Sweep lunged forward, baring his fangs, in order to hamstring the prey.  A careful, almost surgical strike of snapping jaws managed to sever a key part of one of the Terrabore’s hind legs.  A squeal of rage—nearly a shriek—erupted from the Boar as its left leg was now useless.  Now it would not be able to charge, no matter what it did.  Nor would it be able to flee.  A few more minutes into the struggle, Bloodwulf did the same with the right leg.  Growling savagely, he tasted the creature’s fuel and was spurred into a killing frenzy.  Now he was trying to flip the beast onto its back.  It took nearly half an hour to finally do so, since even though the boar’s hind legs did not work, it could still use its tusks and front hooves.  Eventually it was too exhausted to resist, and it went over with a grunt.  The Sweep immediately sought the creature’s throat and his jaws automatically closed on it, puncturing fuel lines and vital systems.  His talons sliced through the thin armor of the underside of the boar, efficiently gutting it.  Soon the boar stopped moving, and the triumphant hunter began to feed.

*****

Bloodwulf was about halfway through devouring the carcass when the tunnel vision lifted.  He uttered a low growl as his sensors picked up a familiar signature.  “I know you’re there, Sunder.”

The other Sweep gingerly emerged from cover, glancing upwards briefly to make sure no ambush was imminent.  His optics settled on his wingsib.  Bloodwulf was absolutely covered in dirt and vital fluids from his prey, and he was glowering at Sunder, uttering a warning growl, as if he thought that his brother was about to steal his hard-won meal out from under his nose.  Sunder backed off, well knowing that it was unwise to even appear to come between Bloodwulf and his prey.  “Of course, I have no intention of stealing…that…whatever that is,” Sunder stated.

Bloodwulf huffed as the other Sweep backed down, and then returned to his meal.  When he’d had his fill, he went to a nearby stream to clean himself off.  Sunder sat there, his mind racing with questions.  Why was Bloodwulf hunting dumb beasts, when there was plenty of energon to be had back at base?  What appeal did the fuel of the creature hold?  And how did it taste?  There was at least a quarter of the carcass remaining, and the smell of spilled fuel was extremely tantalizing.  Out of sheer insatiable curiosity, Sunder approached the remains and lapped at a pool of spilled energon.  The moment the liquid hit his taste receptors, he understood why Bloodwulf was doing this.  He consumed as much as he could before Bloodwulf returned.

The Hunter’s optics narrowed when he saw Sunder near his kill.  An almost visceral reaction arose, but inexplicably he stifled it.  “So you tasted it?” he asked.

Sunder froze.  He wasn’t sure whether he’d incurred Bloodwulf’s wrath.  He tensed up, preparing himself to defend against an attack.

“I’ve had my fill.  The carcass will just go to waste anyway,” Bloodwulf said dismissively, “But now you understand?”

“Indeed,” Sunder replied, not letting the relief that he felt slide into his voice, “That is much tastier than our standard rations.”  It finally registered in his processor that Bloodwulf was willing to let him finish off the carcass, and he dug in eagerly.

“And it tastes infinitely sweeter after having gone to the effort of bringing that creature down myself,” Bloodwulf added, “You would do well to learn this.  I may have been generous this time, since this is your first taste of Terrabore, but do not expect me to be so in the future.”

Sunder nodded, then continued to feed.  When he had finished, Bloodwulf cocked an optic brow at him.

“Why were you following me?” Bloodwulf asked.

“Scourge’s orders.  I’m not to let you out of my sight.  Someone has to make sure you don’t fall into another Autobot trap,” Sunder replied.

“I should have guessed,” Bloodwulf said, “I prefer to hunt alone, but it appears that I am stuck with you, since it is Scourge’s order and I must cooperate.  Very well.  It appears that fate has made us Hunting partners.”

Although Sunder didn’t get nearly as messy as Bloodwulf had while feasting on the Terrabore, it still would not do for him to return to base looking like he’d just done bloody murder.  He got himself cleaned off in the stream, shook himself dry, and returned to the site of the kill to find that his wingsib was transforming and preparing to depart.  He did likewise, and both Sweeps headed back.  Sunder found himself eager to hunt again.

Although both Sweeps had removed all visible traces of their Hunt, their brothers could still smell Terrabore on them.  “Good hunting?” Dredclaw asked, as the pair entered the Sanctum.

“Indeed,” Bloodwulf rumbled.

As Sunder passed him, Dredclaw took another whiff--as if he didn’t believe what he was smelling.  “Sunder?  You too?” he asked in amazement.

“It was quite…enlightening,” Sunder spoke up, his optics glowing brightly.  The Sweep looked quite self-satisfied, but sleepy, so he crawled into his bunk and let sweet recharge claim him.

“I’m surprised Bloodwulf shared,” Geist muttered.

Bloodwulf glowered briefly at Geist, but said nothing further.  He got into his bunk and quickly entered his own recharge cycle.

*****

The next day found Bloodwulf and Sunder set to various tasks by Scourge—together, of course.  At first, Bloodwulf was mildly irritated by Sunder’s constant presence, even if he wasn’t in immediate line-of-sight, but slowly he was becoming accustomed to it.  It even got to the point where Bloodwulf couldn’t envision Sunder not being there.

The two Sweeps took several unscheduled hunting trips, all of which passed without incident.  Sunder even took prey of his own on occasion, if he felt the desire.  But on one occasion, when they’d landed on a world completely unfamiliar to Sunder, Bloodwulf turned and beckoned him to approach as they hid in a thicket.  Cocking an optic brow, Sunder did so.  “What is it?” the Nosey Sweep wondered.

“I cannot hunt this prey alone,” Bloodwulf stated, pointing to a herd of large creatures that were vaguely bovine in appearance.  “I tried once, and nearly lost my life in the attempt.”

“So you are requesting my assistance?” Sunder asked.

“Yes.  I will share the prey with you—there should be plenty for both of us.  I barely managed a taste, but I assure you it will be well worth the risk.  These creatures convert ordinary organic foliage into some of the sweetest energon in the galaxy,” Bloodwulf replied, “I must warn you, the risk is considerable.  But if we do this right, we will be treating ourselves to a feast we know we have earned.”

Sunder studied the herd of beasts as they moved about on the plain, just outside the dense thicket.  They were heavily built, powerful animals, and armored in much the same way as the Terrabores.  A pair of long, curved, cruel horns grew out of their heads.  Such horns could be used to toss and gore a predator such as a Sweep without much difficulty.  “We require a strategy,” Sunder realized, “How did you attack the beasts, the first time you attacked them?”

“From the front,” Bloodwulf replied, “I tried to go for the throat but was tossed by their horns.  The herd then nearly trampled me to scrap.”

Sunder stroked his beard.  He was obviously deep in thought, formulating a plan.  His optics caught sight of a prime bull, just a short distance from the main herd.  This bull appeared to be a rival to the main herd boss, and had just been chased away by the dominant bull.  “There’s our target,” he decided, “The herd has no interest in protecting that one.  He will be ours for the taking without interference.”  He pauses, further refining his strategy.  “We must attack the creature from behind, to avoid the deadly horns,” he adds, “However, one of us may have to act as a distraction, to give the other the chance to strike.”  Sunder had seen predators such as Terran Lions take down Cape Buffalo, and somehow this situation reminded him of that.

“Sounds like an excellent plan,” Bloodwulf agreed, “Very well, I shall provide the distraction.  You move in and hold it down from the hindquarters.  This may take some time—much longer than pulling down a Terrabore.”  He then dropped to all fours, moving through the tall grass—his wings held as low as possible.  He circled around, positioning himself so that when Sunder attacked, the bull’s back would be to him.

The rogue bull snorted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.  He knew something was wrong, but didn’t know until Bloodwulf was snarling at him from a few yards away.  The Sweep darted away as the beast lunged and pursued.  <> Bloodwulf shortranged.

Immediately Sunder darted out of the thicket.  He pounced, digging his claws into the back end of the bull.  It responded by uttering a sound that sounded like a mix of roar and moo.  The rest of the herd seemed unconcerned; it appeared that Sunder had surmised correctly about their reaction.  The beast struggled, but its actions only succeeded in automatically forcing Sunder’s talons into his hide even more deeply.  A slight barb, pointing backwards on the Sweep’s first knuckle where pink met gray, prevented the Sweep’s claws from coming unhooked from the beast without causing even more damage.

Once the bull was caught firmly in Sunder’s talons, Bloodwulf moved to take up position beside Sunder, also digging into the animal.  The creature tried to turn to face them, but the two Sweeps held fast.  Sunder leaned forward and clamped his jaws on the spine, near the base of the tail.  He gnawed, to try to penetrate the protective armor and thus sever the relays that allowed the bull the use of his hind limbs.

The struggle between predators and prey was long and drawn out.  It was also very exhausting.  Bloodwulf’s brute strength was all that was keeping them in the game right now—Sunder was nearly at his limit.  But it became apparent that their prey was wearing down as well.  His fangs finally found their way through the armor, sliding right between two vertebrae.  With a click and snap of the Sweep’s jaws, the bull’s back legs were paralyzed.  No longer able to stand, the hind limbs buckled and the front end of the bull was now higher than the back end.  Quickly Bloodwulf disengaged from the anchor position and darted for the bull’s neck.  In a swift motion, the Sweep had the throat in his jaws and tore it out.  The prey slumped to the ground immediately.

Sunder sighed in relief before joining his brother in ripping open the bull’s side.  They fed greedily, lapping up the energon that spilled before gorging themselves on the technorganic meat.  Bloodwulf insisted on eating the heart, although he gave Sunder a piece of it in recognition of the part he’d played in bringing the beast down.

“You were right,” Sunder said, as he continued to feed, “This is the tastiest energon I have ever had.  Why, it makes our standard rations taste rather bland by comparison.”

Bloodwulf grinned, energon dripping down his beard.  “Well worth the risk, wasn’t it?” he commented.

*****

Scourge and the others had become used to Bloodwulf coming home smelling of strange things for quite awhile, but it took some time before the other Sweeps got accustomed to detecting it on Sunder.  Some of them would rib the Nosey One for his seemingly wholehearted embrace of Bloodwulf’s proclivities.

“Sunder eating organic prey.  Next thing you know, he’ll be purring like Singe next time someone hurts him,” Geist snickered.

“Or stealing things right out from under our noses,” Deadfall added.

Sunder and Bloodwulf shot both Sweeps a withering glance.

“At least if I’m stuck on some Unicron-forsaken world without any rations, I won’t starve to death,” Sunder countered.

“Hunting prey for consumption is something we’d all do if we were desperate,” Geist pointed out, “But this isn’t exactly desperation we’re talking about now, is it?”

Sunder huffed crossly.  “You’ll never understand unless you have the experience yourself,” he retorted.

“Brothers, brothers, please.  We all have our quirks,” Singe piped up, “If Sunder has one more added to him, then I say more power to him.  Surely he has gained some form of enlightenment from this.  And who knows, perhaps he will take the journey that I offer.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Sunder muttered.

Bloodwulf crawled out of his bunk and yawned.  Singe approached him eagerly.  “My brother, I have a terrible itch right about here…”—and here he pointed to his shoulder—“Would you mind…?”

Bloodwulf rumbled softly and lashed out with his claws at the spot indicated by Singe’s pointing talon.  A soft sigh escaped from Singe, and a grin was soon plastered all over his face.  The talons dug in more deeply, and Bloodwulf gave a bit of a twist.  The joy apparent on Singe’s face plates was mirrored on Bloodwulf’s—for the latter enjoyed inflicting pain as much as the former enjoyed receiving it.

“See, what would I need in on your games for?” Sunder muttered, “You’ve already recruited Bloodwulf.”

Bloodwulf turned towards Sunder.  “You won’t understand until you’ve tried it yourself,” he said with a purr.

“Touché,” Sunder conceded.

*****

“Get up, you lazy sons of Unicron,” Dredclaw rumbled.  He had been out of his own bunk at least an hour before the other Sweeps, with the exception of Scourge, who had been up even earlier and was currently consulting with Cyclonus in the command center, and Revenant.  First he poked Singe, who awoke with a start.

“Ahhh, good cycle to you,” Singe purred, a grin spreading across his face.  He stayed in his bunk, however.

“If you don’t get out of there, I won’t hurt you,” Dredclaw growled.

Singe looked disappointed.  “Fine,” he murmured, and got up, heading for the Kaff dispenser.

The next Sweep to be awakened was Geist.  “BOO!” Dredclaw shouted, right in Geist’s audio receptors.  The startled Sweep nearly jumped out of his bunk.  “Very funny,” Geist grumbled, “Turning my own tactics against me.”  He too crawled out of his bunk.

When Dredclaw got to Bloodwulf’s bunk, he was met with quite a bit more resistance.

“Come on, get up,” Dredclaw growled.  A low warning growl answered him.  The Sweep XO grabbed hold of one of Bloodwulf’s wrists and physically pulled him out of the bunk.

Bloodwulf resisted, pulling backwards.  “I want to rest a bit longer,” he insisted.

“No.  You’re getting up right now.  That’s an order, Bloodwulf,” Dredclaw countered.  After a bit more tug-of-war and Battle of the Wills™, Bloodwulf reluctantly exited his recharge bunk and went to get his breakfast ration.

Sunder was more amiable to being awakened, and did not complain much when Dredclaw placed a taloned hand on his shoulder and gave him a rough shake.  Brigand got up without being asked, after being awakened by the scuffle between Bloodwulf and the Sweep XO.  Deadfall pretended to be asleep and had to be physically dragged out of his bunk, where he feigned recharge even on the floor.  Dredclaw gave him a kick to the side and he groaned.

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” Deadfall moaned.  He didn’t get up quickly enough, as evidenced by Dredclaw bending down, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him to his feet.

Bloodwulf glared at Deadfall, uttering a growl.  “May I punish him, if he continues this foolishness?” he asked Dredclaw.  He flexed his talons eagerly.

“Certainly,” the Sweep XO replied.

Deadfall quickly scrambled towards the energon dispenser, trying to pretend that he was fully awake.  The last thing he wanted or needed was the Stubborn One’s claws in his back.

“So what are we doing today?” Geist wondered, sipping at his breakfast ration.

“Our orders are to scout various locations, to determine suitability for resource extraction and defense fortifications,” Dredclaw replied.  “We are to go out in small teams.  Here are your assignments.”  The Sweep XO pushed a few buttons so that the teams and their patrol areas showed up on the screen.

Sunder regarded the matchups with interest.  It seemed that he was to be teamed with Bloodwulf, Singe, and Dredclaw.  Revenant, Geist, Brigand, Deadfall, and Scourge made the second team.

“Hey, these teams are uneven,” Deadfall complained.

“Trust me, you’d rather be on our Pack-Leader’s team than on mine,” Dredclaw said firmly, “Getting you to do any work at all is like pulling Bloodwulf’s fangs.”  The Sweep XO sighed, knowing that the lopsided matchup was to make up for the lack of effort that Deadfall would put in.

Deadfall sighed and nodded.  He’d rather have just Scourge get after him for his laziness, rather than both Dredclaw and Bloodwulf.  For some reason, the latter took an exceptionally keen interest in dealing out punishment to the Lazy One.

*****

Dredclaw led his team to a planet that had numerous mountain ranges with narrow canyons, and small valleys.  The mountains themselves were mostly devoid of vegetation, although there was life there.  Sunder scanned for any valuable elements, such as fuel or minerals that could be used in alloys or chemical reactions.  He pointed out an area that seemed to harbor something of worth, and the Sweeps began cutting away at the rock with their lasers.

“If we hollowed this mountain out, we could fit a base in here,” Singe commented.

“Indeed,” Dredclaw stated.

After a few hours of cutting—and Bloodwulf using his claws to dig after he started to get bored with using his weapon—a thick vein of ore was exposed.  It was of a metal of high quality, which, once smelted and processed, would reinforce any construct.

“We must keep this from the Autobots at all costs,” Dredclaw said, as he inspected the ore approvingly, “Excellent work, my brothers.”

There was still more work to be done, but the binary stars that served as the planet’s suns were now very low on the horizon.  Soon it would be too dark to do much, and Dredclaw didn’t want any lights shining in the dark where they could attract unwanted attention.  This planet had indigenous sentient life forms, but they were scattered and few, and came out mostly at night, when the heat of the suns did not beat down upon them.  The Sweeps could tolerate the heat, which was part of the reason they were working in broad daylight.  It would matter less to be discovered if the inhabitants weren’t in the habit of befriending Autobots.  And they had sufficient technology to contact them, should the need arise.  Thus, the Sweep XO didn’t want to take any chances.  The newly-formed cave that they’d spent the entire day hollowing out had just enough room for all four Sweeps to curl up and drift into recharge.  Dredclaw affixed a camouflage curtain over the entrance, to conceal its presence and so nobody would see the dim glow of Sweep optics in the night.

Bloodwulf found Singe deliberately curling up next to him.  The Stubborn One lunged at Singe, his jaws agape.  When they snapped shut, his fangs were buried in Singe’s upper arm.  Bloodwulf growled and shook the arm a little, eliciting a high-pitched whimper from Singe.

“Time enough for that later,” Dredclaw rumbled, “Go to sleep, both of you. We have a long day ahead of us.  Besides, we need to stay quiet—it would not do for anyone to discover us because Singe was howling.”

Singe and Bloodwulf both uttered a groan of disappointment.  Sunder was already halfway into recharge, so only barely heard the exchange in his subconscious.

Halfway through the night, Sunder found himself being nudged awake.  Bloodwulf was stepping over him to get to the outside.  “Where are you going?” Sunder hissed.

“Hunting,” Bloodwulf rumbled, “I’m starving.”

“Wait!” Sunder stage-whispered back, “What if you’re discovered?

Bloodwulf growled stubbornly, and exited the den.

Sunder glanced back at his sleeping compatriots and sighed.  The others would need their sleep, so he took off after Bloodwulf alone.

Bloodwulf soon realized that prey of any worthwhile sort was mainly to be found in the valleys.  Anything at this current level was the equivalent of mice to a lion, or even smaller.  He also soon discovered that the vegetation was rather stunted even in the valleys, so he stuck out like a sore thumb even in the darkness.  The dark demonic shape would surely attract suspicion.  He found himself forced to creep on all fours, approaching a group of sleeping reptilian creatures.  While they were not the most appetizing things that the Sweep had ever stalked, they would do.  He focused on one animal and slowly crept towards it, oblivious to all else.  Suddenly he felt something yank one of his wings and pull backwards hard.  Bloodwulf turned and growled to see a panicky Sunder, pulling backwards with all his might.  The look on the Stubborn One’s face plates would have melted lead.

“Forgive me,” Sunder whispered, “But there is something you did not consider.  Look.”  He pointed off in the distance, and Bloodwulf focused, picking out a bipedal humanoid shape.  The Sweeps’ night vision was excellent, and it was soon apparent that the creature was some sort of shepherd, and the beasts were its “flock”.  Bloodwulf’s look of pure fury changed to one of relief.  Sunder had prevented him from making a potentially fatal mistake.  The “shepherd” carried a photon rifle capable of damaging a Transformer quite badly.  “I’d hate to see the predators that they have to deal with usually,” Sunder hissed, “Come on, let’s go.”  The Sweeps returned to camp unnoticed.

*****

When daylight broke and filtered through the camouflage sheet, the Sweeps within stirred.  Dredclaw distributed rations and they all drank eagerly.  Bloodwulf particularly devoured his ration with great relish, due to the failed hunt the night before.

While Singe and Bloodwulf continued to dig, Dredclaw and Sunder began assembling some crates to carry the ore back in.  These crates would fit into their cargo holds in Sweepcraft mode.  When they were complete, the Sweeps began filling them.

“There, I think that’s the last of it,” Singe said a few hours later, dumping a load of ore from his talons to top off the last crate.  It was getting dark very quickly, and it became apparent that they were going to have to spend another night.  They couldn’t risk being spotted.

The cave had been hollowed out much more, so there was room for the boxes—stacked one on top of the other—and the sleepy Sweeps.  Dredclaw settled himself and rumbled softly.  His sensitive audios picked up a “whooshing” sound.  “Something’s not right,” he murmured.

The other Sweeps perked up, listening nervously.  Whatever was making the noise seemed to be coming closer.  Then an unearthly shriek pierced their audios, and suddenly their protective curtain was torn away.  Dredclaw watched in dismay as the camouflage sheet was lifted—actually, very nearly ripped—away from the entrance of the cave and the stars were visible.  Then an amorphous shadow suddenly appeared from above.

“What is that?” Singe wondered.  Suddenly a long sinuous neck, with a semi-serpentine, semi-avian head, lashed out into the cave, striking at the Sweeps.  Sunder had to jump aside to avoid the needle-like teeth that were set in the quasi-beaklike jaws.  In the dim light they could see that the beast was actually light-colored.  It glared at them when its strike failed, and prepared to attack again.

“I’ve heard of a beast such as this,” Dredclaw growled, “It is called a Zuu.  It’s got very good night vision, and it’s highly dangerous.”  The Sweep XO was not exaggerating; the beast was about as big as two Dinobots put together.  It struck out again, this time trying to get its teeth into Bloodwulf.  The Stubborn One lashed out with talons, drawing blood.  The creature shrieked in rage and lashed out with talons, nearly skewering Dredclaw.  The scratch was obviously not enough to disable it, so the Sweeps pulled out their weapons and began firing.  But the creature’s hide was tough, and it shrugged off most of their attacks, while continuing its own assault.  One of its talons pierced Singe’s leg—not that he minded.

Sunder realized that the photon rifle carried by the shepherd that he and Bloodwulf had seen the night before would be ideal to drive the creature off due to the light produced by the weapon.  That creature could be temporarily blinded by a bright flash.  Now it just remained to find a way to mimic the effect.  He elbowed Singe and handed him one of his rocket-propelled grenades.  “You need to rig up a magnesium charge on one of my grenades, now!”

“Of course!” Singe exclaimed, “The bright flash should blind it!  I’ll get right on it!”

“We’ll have to keep that thing busy,” Dredclaw stated, as he dodged the creature’s claws, “I had hoped not to be noticed, but it cannot be helped.  This creature’s shrieks have no doubt attracted attention.”  His plasma bursters popped out of his wrist, and he fired a steady stream at the Zuu.  The plasma wasn’t bright enough to blind the creature, but the heat seemed to drive it back a bit.

Bloodwulf danced in and out around the creature’s feet, lashing out with his own talons whenever he could.  He didn’t do much damage, but managed to pull off a good number of feathers from the creature’s tail.

Finally Singe cried out, “It’s done!”  He handed the grenade back to Sunder, who loaded it into the secondary firing chamber of his disruptor rifle.  “Cover your optic sensors!” Sunder warned, then fired the grenade at the beast.  At the last second he dropped his rifle and covered his face with his arm.

There was a sudden flash of white light as the grenade detonated, right in the Zuu’s face.  It shrieked again, backing out of the entrance to the cave rapidly.  As the brightness faded, the Sweeps cautiously peeked.  The creature was retreating.  It still could not see, as evidenced by it floundering on the ground and crying out.

“Let’s kill it,” Bloodwulf growled.

“We don’t have time,” Dredclaw replied, “We must leave now.  Each of you grab a crate, transform, and follow me.”

*****

Bloodwulf was about to argue the point, but Dredclaw uttered such an energon-curdling growl—and the other Sweeps looked ready to back up the Sweep XO’s threat—that the Stubborn One just sighed and grudgingly obeyed.  It was then that it struck him why the shepherd had not spotted him the night before—they’d been too busy scanning the skies for a marauding Zuu.  Just as the last crate had been loaded, another shriek was heard.  Dredclaw growled savagely.  “Its mate,” he said warily, inclining his head towards the still-floundering blinded bird.  “Quickly, we must go, before our would-be predator recovers.  A Zuu can deliver a devastating kamikaze attack if it is enraged and it catches us.  One we might survive, but not two.”

By then it was clear why Dredclaw wanted to depart so quickly, so the others wasted no time.  They transformed, forming on their XO’s wing.  FTL drives were activated once they cleared the atmosphere.

*****

Geist sat with Scourge’s team, in a circle around a glowing stack of energon cubes.  He held an LED penlight just below his chin, shining the light straight up to give his bearded visage a more spooky appearance.  It was dark, and they were about to retire for the night.
“Then the operator said, ‘the call is coming from INSIDE the house!  Get out of there!’  But it was already too—hey wait, where’s everyone going?  I thought it was scary!”

*****

Scourge nodded in approval at the load of ore that Dredclaw’s team had recovered.  “Excellent work.  And I trust Bloodwulf stayed out of trouble?”

“For the most part,” Dredclaw replied.

The Constructicons came to get the ore, while the Sweeps took the energon to storage.

“Oh, this is the best grade ore I’ve seen in a long time,” Scavenger commented, as he helped to load Long Haul’s truck bed, “I’ll say one thing for the Sweeps, they can sniff out some good quality stuff.”

“Eh, whatever,” Long Haul muttered, “Now I have to lug all the stuff they brought back to the lab.  Great.”

“Shall we retire to the Sanctum?” Scourge said presently, “I believe the Pack has some well-deserved Rest and Relaxation coming, for missions well done.”

“I wish I got invited into their little clubhouse,” Long Haul grumbled as he drove away.

*****

Scourge raised a cube of energon in a toast.  “To our successful missions,” he said, and drank deeply.  The other Sweeps each followed suit.

“This is excellent energon,” Sunder commented, “I dare say this isn’t standard rations.”

“Indeed not,” Revenant rumbled.

“It is but a small sample of the energon we were able to collect,” Scourge stated, “If nobody interferes, we shall have more—much more.”

Scourge allowed each of his minions to indulge in at least two cubes of the energon.  It was enough to give them an artificial sense of well-being, but not enough to make them pass out.  Eventually it made them drowsy, however, and in a few hours, they were all in their recharge bunks, sleeping it off.

*****

A sudden noise awakened Sunder in the middle of the night.  He was just in time to see Bloodwulf slip out of the doors to the Sanctum.

“Slag,” Sunder hissed softly, and scrambled out of his bunk.  He dashed out the door.

*****

Bloodwulf’s hunger was now at its peak.  While he’d had more than enough energon that evening, the desire to hunt and rend prey had not been sated.  So he left the Sanctum and transformed, blasting off and heading for a familiar hunting ground.  Sunder was not far behind.

*****

“Do you have that net set up?” Kup asked Arcee.

“It’s all ready,” she replied.

“Good.  Cosmos just indicated that a single Sweep has entered the area.  It’s all up to Blurr, now,” Kup stated.

*****

Bloodwulf scanned feverishly, trying to pick up the signature of any suitable prey.  His targeting scanners locked on to an enemy energy signature.  “You’re mine, Autobot,” the Stubborn One rumbled to himself, before descending.

*****

Blurr did not initially see the Sweep that suddenly leaped out of the Shadows at him.  Bloodwulf’s fangs were bared, his talons outstretched, and a low growl erupted from his vocalizer.  “Oh, no-no-no-no-no!” Blurr cried out.  He had just enough time to transform and flee.  The Sweep’s claws ended up striking the ground instead.

“There is nowhere to hide,” Bloodwulf hissed, “You might as well give up.  Who knows, I may choose to kill you more quickly if you do.”

The Autobot didn’t stick around, so Bloodwulf transformed again, speeding after the little blue car.  He had nearly caught up to Blurr when suddenly an energy net was dropped onto him.  The Stubborn One roared in fury.  A charge passed through the net, momentarily stunning him.

“We’ve got him!” Arcee announced.

“Great.  Now let’s get him back to Autobot City and terminate him,” Kup stated.

“Yeah, let’s-do-it, that’s-one-less-Sweep-we’ll-have-to-worry-about!  Personally-I’d-rather-have-to-worry-about-none-of-them, but-one-is-better-than-nothing,” Blurr babbled.

A dark shape lunged out from the surrounding cover, landing with full force on Kup.  The old timer yelled as something bit into his shoulder.

“KUP!” Arcee shouted.  She tried to get a bead on Kup’s attacker, but wasn’t sure she could fire without hitting her comrade.  She shone a bright light at Kup, and she now clearly saw a Sweep gnawing on the old Autobot.  Suddenly the Sweep spat and hissed, and began wiping his mouth off, as if to remove an exceedingly foul taste from it.

“Oh no-oh no, there’s-another-one!” Blurr exclaimed.

The Sweep clawed Kup, tossing him aside.  He then fired his headcannon at Arcee, forcing her to jump out of the way.  Then he got a small dagger out of subspace and used it to free Bloodwulf from the energy net.  “Rise, my brother!  Let us take them!” the Sweep growled.  The Stubborn One groaned and stirred momentarily, then got up.

“Sunder,” Bloodwulf said.

Sunder purred. “Shall we have some fun with our prey?”

“Indeed,” Bloodwulf snarled, and then pounced on Kup, tearing savagely with his talons.  Sunder went after Blurr, forcing the small blue Autobot to back up.  A sudden laser blast from Arcee reminded him that she was still there, so he lobbed a grenade in her direction.  She ducked, but the grenade fell directly on her, causing massive damage.

Sunder managed to catch Blurr, and batted at him like a cat with a mouse.  The little Autobot screamed in pain as the constant blows from the Sweep’s talons dug progressively deeper punctures into his armor.  But suddenly, a blast of electricity hit the Sweep, driving him back from his prey.

“Leave him alone!” Bluestreak shouted, aiming his rifle at Sunder.

“The Autobots have reinforcements,” Bloodwulf growled.

“And so do we!” Sunder exclaimed, “LOOK!”

Streaking out of the sky came five Sweepcraft, firing constant laser blasts at the Autobots below.  Kup had managed to tear free of Bloodwulf’s grasp, and was now forced to flee as one of Dredclaw’s proton missiles exploded only a few feet away.

“Retreat!  There’s too many of them!” Kup shouted.  Bluestreak helped Arcee up and helped her back to base.  Blurr and Kup waited until the other two were clear, before departing as well.

“We should go after them,” Bloodwulf snarled.

“Not tonight, brother,” Dredclaw grated, “If it weren’t for Sunder, you would be scrap by now.  We will hunt those Autobots another day.”

Scourge nodded at Sunder.  “Excellent work,” he said to his favored minion, “You will be well rewarded.  Now let’s get out of here, before the Dinobots decide to show up.”

Sunder responded with a purr.  If Sweeps could blush, he’d be beet-red.  As he prepared to rise into the air to transform and follow Scourge, he felt a taloned hand on his shoulder.  He turned to see Bloodwulf gazing into his optics.  “I owe you…a debt,” the Stubborn One rumbled.

A grin spread across Sunder’s bearded visage.  A pending reward from Scourge, and Bloodwulf owed him for saving his life.  He could not be more pleased.

The End!