--*I've pledged my life to this madness.*--

	Thundercracker is a very troubled Decepticon.  The more he thinks
about the way he's been living his life, the more it seems to be completely
senseless.

	--*Everything just seems wrong.  What am I fighting for?  What has
all the killing I've done in the name of the Decepticons really gotten me?
Am I destined to die at the hands of my own leader?  This is such insanity!
Does a life pledged to this madness have any true purpose at all?*--


	Thundercracker's hands reach for his head as the questions that he
has often dealt with relatively easily now refuse to be dismissed without
answers.  It has been hours since the assembly, and nothing else has been
on his mind.  Finally, he lets out a yell and slams his fist into the wall
with a loud clang.

	"What the hell did you go and do that for, Cracker?"

	Startled, Thundercracker spins around and sees Razorclaw sitting
casually on a bench behind him.  Suddenly, he realizes that he's been
wandering the headquarters for quite a while now, with no particular
destination in mind.  Looking about, he notices that he's in the Rest
Station, a lounge of sorts for Decepticon warriors off duty.  All of the
Predacons are present, along with Vortex, Octane and Skywarp, all of whom
are looking quizzically at him.

"Uh... well... I was just, uh... letting off some steam," he says, finally.

	"Well, that sort of crap is a big waste of energy.  Don't drain our
resources with your little... heh heh... tantrums," the Predacon commander
says slyly.

	Tantrum sits silently for a moment, and then slowly begins to
comprehend a possible reference to himself.

	"Hey!" he shouts, leaping into Razorclaw's face.  "Are you saying
something about me, Lion-o?  Don't make me rip your fu--"

	"SIT DOWN!" booms Razorclaw, snapping his head up to meet Tantrum's
glare, without budging any of the rest of his body.   Tantrum fumes for a
moment, waving his arms and repeatedly starting to say something, and
finally sits down and grumbles to himself.  Razorclaw slowly moves his head
back and resumes his eerily motionless monitoring of the room.

	Thundercracker suddenly notices music coming from the far end of
the room, and sees Rampage sitting three inches from a huge television
screen, with the phrase "girls, girls, girls" emanating repeatedly from it.
The same word runs through his mind to describe the entranced Predacon.
"Moron."

	"Anyway, as I was saying," says Octane, looking snidely at
Thundercracker, "the little coward was on his knees, whimpering and whining
like a friggin' Earth kid.  Ha ha ha!"

	"Yeah," chimes in Skywarp. "You shoulda seen the look on his face
just before Octane here capped him!  It was great!"  The both of them laugh
hysterically, eliciting mild laughter from their listeners.

	"Aw hell, remind me never to ask you for anything, Octane," Vortex
says as he guffaws at his own humor.

	"And then THIS guy," Octane continues, indicating Thundercracker,
"HE starts comin' down on me, talkin' about how 'cruel' it was and how we
'needed' him.  What a friggin' wimp!"

	Thundercracker's ire, slowly simmering while listening to this
conversation, suddenly increased tenfold in intensity.

	"Yeah, like ANY of us EVER needed a namby-pamby coward like
Thrust!" Skywarp gloats.  At that, Thundercracker lunges for his flying
partner, picks him up, and slams him up against the wall he had dented with
his earlier punch.

	"Listen, you pompous, snickering little shit!" Thundercracker
shouts into Skywarp's face.  "What would've happened if YOU were the
whimpering sap low on fuel, and Octane shoved a gun down YOUR throat and
blew your CPU out the back of your head?  HUH?  Wouldn't be all that funny
anymore, would it?  Are you any more worthy of life just because your TANK
was full?! "

	Suddenly, Thundercracker is screaming at a flash of light instead
of the black Decepticon.  Immediately, he swings around behind him and
slams his fist straight into Skywarp's just-materialized face, sending him
careening over benches and onto the floor with a series of crashes.

	"And you're SO PREDICTABLE!!!" Thundercracker screams again,
bounding to where Skywarp landed.  "ALWAYS right behind the guy!  Get some
imagination, you simpering dolt!"

	"Yeah, ice him, Cracker!!  Smear his circuits all over the room!!"
Rampage shouts, his concentration on Motley Crue broken by the commotion.

	Thundercracker stops, and looks at the Decepticons eagerly watching
him pummel his ally, especially the Moron Rampage.  He looks down at
Skywarp, knocked cold by the unexpected accuracy of Thundercracker's
prediction, and realizes that he was ready to dismember his victim.


	--*This is Decepticon ideology at work.  This is what they want us
all to do.  Remove anyone in your way by any means necessary, preferably
violence.  This is what is drummed into our heads from creation.  Is this
how I want to live?  Is THIS what I was meant to do?  Hate, kill, and
serve?  If I kill Skywarp, how it will be different from killing Thrust?
How will it avenge him?  What benefit will it do anyone?*--


Thundercracker lowers his arms and walks away from his victim.

	"What the hell ya doin', Cracker?" Headstrong asks.  "He's on the
ropes!  Go for the kill!"

	"Yeah!" Divebomb adds.  "I wanna see his frazzled optics dangling
by some nearly snapped wires off of his face and--!"

	"Save all that for the Autobots," Razorclaw snaps, having not moved
at all during the fracas.

	"Yeah," spits Octane.  "Next time we fight 'em, this softie'll
probably be fighting for 'em!"

	Thundercracker turns to meet Octane's condescending glare.  He
feels the incredible urge to tear his head off and feed it to Rampage, and
it takes every restraint he can muster to walk out of the room.

	After he leaves, his mind goes to work again.


	--*This is all crazy.  I don't know what to think anymore.  All
these years, all these battles, all this war, all this death, everything
I've lived for and through.  It all seems so useless.  And now I'm thinking
the unthinkable.  I can't believe I'm considering it, especially since HE
said it, but...  no.  Not yet.  I have to talk to somebody.  There has to
be somebody I can talk to around here somewhere...*--



	The faint sound of revving motors in the distance echoes through
the hallway, getting progressively louder and bringing Thundercracker out
of his cloud of disillusionment for the moment.  The motor sound is
suddenly accompanied by high-pitched cackling.

	"YEEEEEEEHAAAAWWW!!!" screams Wildrider as he spins out at the far
end of the corridor Thundercracker is currently wandering through and
smashes into the wall, bounces off, and rumbles down the hall.  "Get outta
my way or yer outta luck, Cracker!  Hahahahahahahaahaha!  Yaaahoooo!!!"

	"Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee heeh  hee hee hee!"
cackles Runamuck as he follows closely behind.  "Yer not gettin' ahead o'
me that easily, Wildrider!   They ain't built the fucker that can beat me!
I'm-a gonna slam into Cracker and STILL beat yer ass!"

	Thundercracker sees the maniacal twosome barreling towards him,
driving up the walls and decorating them with skidmarks, and he reacts by
flying up and laying flat against the ceiling, hoping the duo is not crazy
enough to try to hit him there.

	"Awww shoot, Cracker!" Wildrider yells, driving under him.  "I was
lookin' forwerd to a big, loud crash!"

	"Hee Hee Hee!  I'm more'n happy to oblige!" Runamuck shouts, and
speeds up and rams Wildrider into the corner with the big, loud crash he
asked for and passes him, giggling all the way.

	"Ya dirty little bastard!" Wildrider shouts after Runamuck.  "Come
back here 'n' get a face full o'fender!"  The two of them zoom off around
the corner, and Thundercracker floats back down to the ground.  After a few
more steps, he is dismayed to hear another cackling voice approaching him,
this time accompanied by the clang of footsteps.

	"Wait up, you nimrods!" Mixmaster shouts, turning the corner on
foot.  "Try and slam into me!  I'm a friggin' TRUCK!!  Hee hee hee hee heh
heh heh."

	Thundercracker moves aside as Mixmaster approaches.  But the
Constructicon stops in front of him, stands still for a moment, and
suddenly swivels to face him.

	"C'mere, monkey,"  Mixmaster mutters, gesturing for Thundercracker.
Hesitantly, he leans over to Mixmaster, who leans to whisper into his
audio sensor.  "You seen my mofandlemama?"

	"What?"

	"You seen my mofandlemama?"

	"What the hell are you--"

	"GOOD!  You ain't heard of it.  Keep it that way!" Mixmaster
shouts, knocking the top of Thundercracker's head three times.  "BOOGA
BOOGA!!  HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"  Transforming into his truck mode, he
drives off after his cackling comrades to go and do things nobody else
wants to know about.

	"Everybody's nuts."  Thundercracker mutters to himself, chuckling a
bit at what just happened.  But even that display of mirth doesn't distract
him from his troubles for long.  Needing to talk to someone, he starts off
down the corridor to find a confidant somewhere among the ranks of the
Decepticon Empire.

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