According to her schedule, Verdant was meant to go refuel in the mess hall before returning to her quarters for personal time and recharge; however, she decided there were more important matters to be dealt with.
Like the fact that she joined the Decepticons during an enraged and emotional mental breakdown. What in Primus's name had she been thinking!?
Sure, Ultra Magnus was still the number one mech on her hate list, but that didn't make all Autobots bad too. And it most certainly didn't make the Decepticons any better.
Verdant scoffed, pacing around her berthroom worriedly. All it took was one mech lying to her and Verdant lost her marbles. She did the single most stupid thing she had ever done and joined the Decepticons!
She joined the Decepticons.
What the frag was wrong with her!?
Now would be a wonderful time to surprise everyone and jump off the Nemesis with vital Decepticon intelligence, claiming that it was all a facade so she could infiltrate their enemies. That revelation for Soundwave? She could claim to have known it for years and was only taking advantage of the situation.
But it wasn't. None of this was a lie. And Verdant most certainly didn't want to pretend it was. Soundwave stuck out his neck to help her, to bring her into the fold, and she wouldn't betray his trust, even if he was her enemy.
She didn't know what to do, but she knew that she couldn't stay here. Despite the mess she left behind in the Autobot base, Verdant didn't doubt that they would take her back with open arms. Did she betray them? Yes. Did she work for the enemy? Yes.
Did they still want her?
Yes.
Verdant stopped pacing and pressed her helm against the wall, lubricant pooling in her optics. She slagged this whole situation.
After a moment, she pulled away and headed out the door. Perhaps this was the biggest mistake she'd ever made, but Verdant still needed to correct it. Admittedly, she could easily jump off the Nemesis and ask Ratchet for a groundbridge.
If he didn't answer, maybe she deserved to go splat.
But before any of that could happen, Verdant needed to fix the situation with Soundwave. He didn't deserve for her to just run off after revealing the truth to her and advocating for her trustworthiness.
She wasn't sure where exactly he was, but the bridge was the best place to check. Even Autobots knew Soundwave's work station. The third was just that famous.
Oddly enough, the doors to the bridge weren't guarded, but cracked open. Verdant tilted her helm curiously. Didn't these doors slide automatically? Why were they...
"–hand over all your current predacon bones," Megatron sounded smug. "And we know how many you've managed to take, so don't lose any on the trip here."
She frowned. Which Decepticon was stealing bones?
"Megatron, this is not what we agreed to." Optimus's voice was stratchy and distant, with some static. "We will not continue to gift you if you do not hold up your side of the bargain."
That's not a Decepticon.
Megatron laughed. "Don't be surprised if I never hold up my side of the bargain. Until I am satisfied, the little traitor remains my property."
"You cannot keep this up forever."
"But until that time comes, Optimus, you and your team should hand over all predacon remains. Nor should you step into another excavation."
"You wont get anything until we have proof of life," Optimus said harshly. "How can we know–"
Louder voices caught her attention and Verdant whirled around as pedesteps approached.
"Next time our break comes and V-206 and V-973 don't show up to replace us, I'm telling Soundwave," some vehicon said.
Verdant panicked and looked around. She needed to hide right fragging now. She grabbed the edge of the door and scrambled on top of it, her tenacles stretching across to hold the opposing walls.
Two vehicons stepped into the hallway and took their places at the door.
"I mean, do they think we're losers?" the other vehicon demanded. "We're not going to take this kind of behavior!"
Verdant growled. She was really appreciate it if they would shut up so she could eavesdrop on... a conversation between Megatron and Optimus... about Megatron using a hostage to force the Autobots into submission.
Wait.
Hostage?
Verdant's optics widened in alarm. Who did the 'cons kidnap!? None of them deserved to be here, except maybe Ultra Magnus, but either way, she couldn't let Megatron bully the Autobots into helping Shockwave clone an army of predacons.
She needed to save them and get them off this ship. The only problem was that there were two vehicons down here and there was no way she could take them down without them making enough noise to alert the bridge. And she most certainly wouldn't be useful to anyone if she was getting stabbed by Megatron.
If he even decided to stab her for eavesdropping and attacking vehicons. That's all she was being accused of. If she avoided attack and had an excuse for hanging above the door, she wouldn't have any crimes to be stabbed for.
Verdant calculated a plausible explanation and then jumped.
The vehicons were startled, nearly shooting her out of reflex, but Verdant turned around and plastered her most friendly smile onto her face. "Hello!"
They exchanged glances. "What are you doing?"
"My datapad wasn't working properly," Verdant took the small device from her subspace and held it out to them. "Humans say you should gain altitude if you need a signal, but I've climbed half the ship and nothing is working."
"Uh," one of the vehicons scratched their helm. "We're in a flying warship, I don't think you'll get much more altitude."
Verdant facepalmed. "Ugh, I keep forgetting. This ship flies so well and is so large, it's easy to forget."
The other vehicon nodded. "Yeah. I know how you feel. If your datapad isn't working, there is a drop-off box next to maintenance. They can fix whatever is wrong."
"Really?" Verdant grinned. "Thanks! How do you get there?"
"Uhhhhh," he scratched his helm. "It's kinda far. V-365, call V-206 and V-973. They can make up their shift now. Tell them an officer needs our help."
Verdant blinked. "I'm not an officer."
The vehicon waved her off and started leading her down the hall. "A small exaggeration, but not one that V-206 and V-973 don't deserve."
V-365 snorted. "Yeah, they're terribly unreliable and expect everyone to roll over for them. Personally, I think it's V-15's fault. They think they're so much better than everyone because they're in the double digits of vehicon rank. It's contagious in their social circle."
"Like that matters," his compatriot scoffed. "Even if V-1 hadn't been ground beneath an Autobot's pede last month, there would be no place for them as an officer."
Verdant looked around as the two vehicons gossiped. She needed locations and labels to her map so either the brig was located or the location was narrowed down a bit. Running around blindly would do her no good, especially if she had no reason to be wherever she was.
No reason... except maybe being lost. A map would certainly help with that.
"Wow," Verdant interrupted their conversation as she looked around. "This ship is huge! Do you have maps to remember where everything is?"
"Oh, yeah!" V-365 exclaimed. "Here."
The vehicon sent out a short range transmission to nearby signals, which deposited a full map into Verdant's arsenal. She pulled it up and grinned. Perfect.
She knew exactly where the brig was now.
"Thanks."
"No problem," the vehicon assured her. "It's nice to meet a natural cybertronian who doesn't think we're half-brained dolts."
"Really?" Verdant frowned. "That's how the Decepticons treat you?"
They shrugged. "Generally. If it weren't for the fact that the Autobots have killed and maimed half of us, we'd have switched sides by now."
"How terrible."
How interesting.
The three of them stopped in front of a room and Verdant dropped her datapad into a box nearby. "Well, this has been an enlightening trip. Thanks so much, but now I should get back to my job."
"Same," V-365 sighed. "See ya around."
"Bye!" the other vehicon waved as they walked off.
Verdant turned, making her way to the brig at a swift pace. Several fears flashed through her processor as she went through the map. There weren't any direct exits to the outside of the ship near the brig. This was good for security, but not so much for her.
Decepticon engineering was annoyingly sophisticated.
Surprisingly, there was no one guarding the brig. Verdant frowned as she strode through the main doors and looked around. Still no guards. That didn't make any sense.
Regardless, she jogged forward, checking each cell for prisoners. By the time she reached the end, Verdant was even more confused. Nobody was here. Where was Megatron keeping his hostage?
The sound of a groundbridge opening caught her attention and Verdant turned around, realizing with some worry that this was a dead end. Through the groundbridge, Soundwave stepped out.
"Soundwave!" Verdant released a breath of relief. "I was actually looking for you bef—"
His tentacle slammed into her chassis and pinned her against the wall.
"What are you doing?!" she gasped. "I haven't done anything wrong!"
His visor displayed a soundless recording of her eavesdropping on the bridge. On Megatron's conversation with Optimus. Then he pointed at the cells.
"I was just curious," Verdant told him. "I wanted to know who the hostage was."
Soundwave paused. Then a purple and red smiley face emoji appeared on his visor. He activated his speakers and played a recording.
"Until I am satisfied, the little traitor remains my property," Megatron's voice spoke into the room.
Verdant's optics widened. It didn't dawn on her until now.
She was the hostage.