Epilogue: Nine Months Later, on another planet

"That was quite a shot, Scopey. It almost brought a tear to my eye..." Whirl said with a mocking sniffling noise from his featureless, one-eyed head, as his allies, Torch, Quickscope, along with himself, looked over the remains of a now dead black-and-purple Decepticon, while a tall, green shape approached from behind. From the desolate, grey cityscape of the planet they were on, they could clearly see a hole from a sniper shot still smoldering in his head. "Say, mind if I borrow your gun sometime?"

Quickscope only looked at Whirl with an emotionless expression from his orange optics, his sleek, black body standing there in an uncaring fashion.

"Oh, come on, old man. Stop giving us the cold shoulder when we try talking to you" Torch said in a muffled voice from behind his red-and-steel, bug-eyed mask, letting his flamethrower hang loosely from a strap around his shoulder.

"You two, stop bugging my first mate" Lockdown butted his grey head in, as he walked up, and kneeled his green, aged body over the Decepticon, bringing out a wrist-mounted device. A blue beam appeared, and started to scan over what remained of the Decepticon's body. The beam soon disappeared as a holographic projector replaced it.

"Yep. This was Barricade" Lockdown spoke as a detailed picture appeared on the hologram. "Worth twelve hundred Shanix, dead or alive. My kind of prey..."

"Split the loot!" Whirl cheered, stamping his foot on the ground. Lockdown let out a sigh of annoyance as Torch giggled, while Quickscope remained silent, hoisting his sniper rifle over his shoulder.

"Say that sentence next time we catch somebody Whirl, and I'll split your head" he grumbled. Whirl's expressionless face couldn't tell whether he cared for the threat or not, but his immediate silence indicated he did.

"Now... How about you two actually be of use right now, and bring poor old Barricade here to the pod, so we can bring him aboard the ship" he motioned to Whirl and Torch. "It would only be kind, seeing how Quickscope got him all by himself."

"Blah, blah, blah, whatever, chief" Whirl said with a sarcastic wave of his servo, walking up to the downed bot, Torch in tow. Whirl grabbed Barricade's shoulders, while Torch, flamethrower held from his sling on his exo-suit, grabbed his legs. Together, and with a small grunt of effort, the two lifted him up, and began heading in the direction of the pod, soon passing out of hearing distance of both Lockdown and Quickscope.

"That does it for all the big-tier criminals in this sector" Lockdown said again, scrolling through his device. Quickscope began to turn, and head to the pod.

"The next one on the list is... A spy named Phase-Out."

The second he said that, Quickscope stopped dead in his tracks.

"Did you say... "Phase-Out?"" He asked in a creaky voice, turning back to Lockdown with his unmoving face, lidless optics pointed at him.

"Yes... I did" he replied, closing down his device. "You know him?"

"He's an old... "Associate" of mine" he answered. "One I've been waiting to extract vengeance on for... The longest of time."

"Heh, we all have someone like that on the list" Lockdown mused. "What did this one do to deserve your hate?"

"Killed a squadmate of mine during the war" Quickscope replied. "One that I had a lot in common with."

"Makes sense, then."

"Looks like I finally have something to look forward to, for once" he said, inspecting his rifle, before turning around and facing the direction the pod was in again. "Do you think we'll find him?"

"Don't worry, old friend. Remember, Crash can find anyone" Lockdown said, thinking back to said bot, as he went up and accompanied the aged sniper.

"I hope so" Quickscope said again, a rare moment of happiness coursing through his mind as he and Lockdown began to walk together, feet crunching on the stone ground. "I do hope so."

The Lineup for the next book:

Title: The Darkness Always Wins

Genre: Romance/Action-Adventure/Sci-fi/Tragedy

Main Protagonists

Arcee, Phase-Out, Crash, Tic, Waspinator/Tailslide

Main Anti-heroes

Whirl, Black Convoy, Sideways, Vos

Side Characters

Lockdown, Rack'n'Ruin, Cyclonus, Astro-T.R.A.I.N./Astrotrain, Torch, Galvatron/The Silver Knight, Clockwork, Q, Arsenal, Jolt, Curbstomp, Razorblade Pistol-Whip, Bredbeddle/The Green Knight, Star Saber, lots of Decepticons & convicted criminals

Antagonists

Quickscope, Overlord, lots of Decepticons & convicted criminals