Chapter Text
The battle between the Decepticons and Autobots rages on in space between the Autobot transport the Ark and the Decepticon Warship the Nemesis. The Autobot vessel quickly engages, unleashing a barrage of fire from a multitude of large ballistic rotary cannons that begin hammering into the Nemesis’s dense outer armor layers. The initial Decepticon assault starts off with several tow cables being ejected and latched onto the side of the Autobot ship to deliver their Decepticon forces straight into the Ark’s hull.
One of the Decepticons along for the ride happens to be the communications officer and third in command to Megatron himself, Soundwave. The devout Decepticon was given the order of disabling the Ark’s primary defenses by Megatron himself. Quickly disintegrating the unprepared Autobot soldiers utilizing his electricity-spewing E.D.K Techvolt while finding his goal blocked off with the alarms triggered no longer allowed an ordinary method accessing into the deeper recesses of the Aubot hauler while shielded entryways left inaccessible on both sides in lengthy hallways. Following Soundwave’s unexpected obstruction, the Decepticon summons a companion of his own.
“Laserbeak, eject. Carve an entrance.” Soundwave hummed coldly. The companion quickly ejected from his torso as an elegant mechanical bird wielding a high-powered laser cutter that began slowly carving a path to Soudwave’s objective.
“Soundwave, Autobots signatures coming from both sides are converging on your position!” Megatron bellowed through Decepticon communications. Engrossing himself in the information, Soundwave chooses to employ another one of his smaller companions.
“Rumble, eject.” Soundwave released yet another ally that sprouted from Soundwave's chest cavity. Similar in stature to his bird counterpart, Rumble was humanoid like Soundwave himself but wielding two disproportionately large piledrivers.
“Your orders, boss?” Rumble asked, eagerly awaiting the battle that was falling upon them.
“Operation, Destruction.” Soundwave swiftly replied, quickly moving into a defensive position as Laserbeak whittled away at the door close by.
Rumble’s smile slowly grew as the Autobots began pouring out of the doorways close by but found their passage quickly disrupted by Soundwave’s electrified wake. Autobots in the rear watched as their allies got overcharged through every circuit in their frames in long-lasting agony before crying out in anguish as they explode into fiery shambles as their internal energon ignites in a blue blaze. Meanwhile, Rumble was exercising his piledrivers with excellent efficiency as he gleefully disrupted any Autobot advances that got past Soundwave’s blasts. They were quickly knocked off their feet and left helpless as Rumble rushed in to mercilessly crush the chest cavities of any Autobot who dared get close. Wave after wave of Autobots try desperately to stop Laserbeak from carving any further, but any attempts are always thwarted by the duo of Soundwave and Rumble. With Laserbeak noticeably finishing up, Rumble swaggers as he approaches his flying associate.
“Could you work any slooower? I’m already itchin’ for another fight and all the Autobots here are piles of scrap and it seems it like you’ve done next to nothin’ at all.” Rumble whined, trying to get a rise out of the flying minicon.
This unsurprisingly works as Laserbeak quickly shifts from perfectly cutting a square to quickly finishing the last corner in a sloppy line of molten metal. This left Laserbeak the opportunity to quickly snap back around to Rumble and swiftly tackle the minicon to the ground, unleashing a barrage of aggressive pecks straight to Rumble’s head.
“Hey! Hey! Watch the optics. I just got these repaired, you fraggin’ glitch!” Rumble cried, half in amusement and half in worry about potential damage to his own neural processors.
The sound of increasingly louder footsteps approached the two tussling colleagues as Soundwave crouched down to offer Laserbeak an arm to perch on. Quickly seeing his progenitor offer him a comforting spot to rest, Laserbeak shifts his attention from trying to cave Rumble’s face in to elegantly landing on the communication’s officers forearm, not before squawking indignantly at the fellow miniature Decepticon sprawled out on the floor followed by holding his beak up high in a pompous display.
“Rumble, behave.” Soundwave replied neutrally, not displaying amusement nor exasperation at his minicons’ antics while beginning to walk through the newly formed entrance Laserbeak formed. Rumble scowled at the bird, grumbling something incoherently before catching up to his leader for this mission. As the trio of Decepticons traversed through the Autobot vessel, Rumble was left wondering what their objective was. He chose to blurt his thoughts out.
“So boss, what’re we doing here anyway?” Rumble inquired, hopeful another fight would be upon them sooner than later.
“Disabling the Ark’s primary cannons.” Soundwave replied but quickly stopped as they reached their destination. What lay before the trio was a large room of golden metal pipework and three large silos sitting evenly spaced apart, feeding rounds of ammunition the size of Soundwave directly into the Ark’s guns. However, the route to said ammunition feeders was guarded by several squads of Autobot forces, much to Soundwave’s dismay and Rumble’s excitement.
The battle swiftly began as both sides quickly took cover. Laserbeak took off skyward as he reached the ceiling to disrupt Autobot cohesion and oust them from their cover. Realizing this opportunity, Rumble rushed in, slamming his piledrivers into the ground, disrupting the Autobot's chances of firing back and leaving them open to Soundwave’s wrath. Utilizing this tactic of distraction, disruption, and destruction, the trio was able to reach the first energon line. This featured heavy set armor plating and a lever close by to open if the feeder was malfunctioning. Slowly pulling with great effort, Soundwave opened the energon line, revealing a belt of ammunition rising upward. Quickly dispatching the live ammo by spewing some electricity, causing a chain reaction of an explosion destroying all excess ammunition with fragments of rounds spewing outwards in any and every direction.
The three Decepticons quickly moved on, but they soon stopped due to the introduction of Autobot wall crawlers, swarms of small Cybertronians that flew in and perched with several legs on various vertical surfaces before aligning laser sights in the direction of the Decepticon third in command. The Decepticons hastily avoided shots before ducking into cover behind a spare set of storage containers. Noticing Soundwave’s precarious situation, Laserbeak started providing a live feed for Soundwave to observe, employing the communications officer to locate and precisely pick off each and every wallcrawler. Soundwave makes use of his shoulder-mounted guided missile launcher. Meanwhile, Rumble scowls as none of the wall crawlers would ever get low enough to reach his stature. This leaves the minicon brooding to himself next to his larger accomplice. Soundwave finishes off the last of the wall crawlers before walking to pull the next lever, revealing the exposed line of ammunition open to be shot by Soundwave. One fragment-filled explosion later and the trio moves on to the next energon line before Rumble shouts.
“Alright, you fraggers. Whoever’s next, come out and fight me! I’ve been itching for a good fight and I’ll take you all on as I crush your frame into scrap, so come out and face me!”
Rumble’s challenge was answered as the platform on the ground in front of the final energon line opens as a new Autobot enters the battle. Roughly three times the size of Soundwave, the enormous Autobot wields a large dual-barreled rotating gun assembly while deploying two drones to heal himself. Rumble is left in awe and fear as the imposing Autobot shifts to fit in the compact room, charging its weapon to fire upon Soundwave and Rumble’s position. With quick thinking on the Decepticon’s end, Soundwave and Rumble split off to different-sized cover positions as the titan focuses on the communications on the larger of the two cons. This leaves Laserbeak the chance to pick off one of the medical drones supporting the oversized mech.
The titan detects the change in energy from his now missing drone and promptly swats at Laserbeak, missing the bird by mere millimeters as he evasively flies around for another chance at hitting the one remaining drone. Deciding to act on this distraction, Soundwave unleashes a barrage of missiles in the titan’s direction, leaving him momentarily stunned. Not a second was wasted as Laserbeak quickly swooped in and crushed the last drone between his talons, causing the once impervious field around the titan to quickly dissipate.
“Hey, Boss! Throw me straight at his face!” Rumble calls out quickly, causing Soundwave to do a double-take at his colleagues' words before witnessing the maniacal grin on Rumble's face.
Soundwave reluctantly picks up his companion before abruptly launching Rumble straight at the Autobot’s head while said Autobot was distracted by Laserbeak. The titan, whose face is now covered by Rumble, rapidly tries to grab the minicon but is too late as Rumble slams both piledrivers straight into the titan's head, leaving a malformed array of neural circuitry and leaking energon. The Autobot titan twitches, biolights flickering in a colorful display before offlining completely and falling over with Rumble along for the ride as the corpse fell with a resounding thud. Rumble steps onto the fallen Autobot’s torso, grinning triumphantly with his head held high as his most recent kill. Shifting back to their objective, Soundwave disposes of the last energon line connecting to the Ark’s defenses in one more explosion of ammunition.
“Lord Megatron, the Ark’s defenses are now eliminated.” Soundwave privately communicates to the Decepticon leader.
“Excellent, Soundwave. Now regroup with the next wave of tow cables.” Megatron happily replied.
“Affirmative” Soundwave acknowledged, his objective was complete without issue.
With the Ark’s primary defenses now offline, the secondary wave of tow cables appears, the three boarding devices latching on without issue compared to the success of the initial wave.
“Calling all fliers and Aerialbots to launch bays! Sever those tow cables! We’re being overrun!” Optimus Prime urgently commed across all Autobot channels.
“Jetfire, Silverbolt, Air Raid of Aerialbot squadron one three one deploying from launch tube niner en route.” Jetfire, a bulky cybertronian flyer with a red and white color scheme with modifications to fly in zero gravity, announced as one of many squadrons deploying to fend off the Decepticon attack.
“Wanna bet some high grade on who gets the most kills?” Air Raid, another Aerialbot of similar appearance to Jetfire with red-grey colors and yellow highlights spread throughout but modified with large thrusters built into his shoulders.
“Now’s not the time for petty squabbles. The entire Autobot cause is at risk! Betting should be the last thing on our processors right now!” Silverbolt, another flyer with a similar likeness as the other two but with a full monochromatic silver coloration, chastised Air Raid for not realizing the seriousness of the situation that was laid upon them.
“Oh c'mon, you’re just worried that I’d get more kills than you.” Air Raid remarked before speeding off past the rest of his squadron straight into the fray of the battle.
And what a battle it was! Autobot and Decepticon flyers alike were intimately weaving in and out of each other's crosshairs, seeing who would slip up first as they continued a vigorous and deadly display of power and maneuverability in the area between the two vessels.
Joining the conflict, Jetfire and Silverbolt stuck together as any seekers that got close were quickly intercepted with several missiles that hit their mark before they had the chance to evade. Air Raid was busy speeding across the battlefield, thrusters ablaze in various red hues with complete disregard for the battles around him and any damage he may receive while heading straight for the cables. Air Raid unleashed a wave of plasma bolts that pepper at the tow cable’s outer plating, shaving off pieces bit by bit to expose the shiny metallic sheen of the cable itself. There was a part of the cable with a surprisingly unique appearance of warped metal that seemed brittle, practically stretched to its utmost limit. Seeing this chink in the armor, Air Raid blasted the weak spot with missiles, all of them hitting right on the mark, leading to a chain reaction of explosions across the cable that left the boarding device as nothing more than a field of scrap metal.
“Woo! That's what I’m talking about!” Air Raid gleefully boasted, transforming into his root mode to get a better look at the destruction he caused with his own optics. Jetfire and Silverbolt finally caught up to the speedy Aerialbot with both transforming into their humanoid forms.
“What were you thinking!? You could’ve gotten yourself offlined by the time it took us to reach you! You’re lucky that all your damage is merely surface level!” Jetfire scanned as he was scolding the younger Autobot checking all vitals as fortunately functional.
“Hey, cool your jets. One tow cable is already down because of me! What’s your problem anyway?” Air Raid countered. After all, he did help the Autobots in furthering their objective, and did it without excess harm to himself or fellow allies, so what was the issue?
“That’s not the point, Air Raid. You can’t just fly by everyone else and expect to be okay. You may be fast, but you’re not invincible, so stop acting like you are! We’re together in this squadron for our skills and abilities, and if we don’t cover each other’s flanks, then we’ll all be shot down.” Silverbolt remarked, leaving Air Raid brooding to himself, oblivious to the world around him.
“Air Raid move!” Jetfire shouted, detecting multiple missiles incoming on his position. Air Raid barely had any time to react as the projectiles bounded toward him and caused a massive explosion.
Although he was disoriented, Air Raid did a rudimentary scan and found himself mostly unharmed? How did this happen? He would’ve surely had severe damage to his own systems right? Air Raid’s questions as he looked for the rest of his squadron he found Jetfire alive and well but Silverbolt, to his shock, was left in a horrible state. Silverbolt’s wings were now almost entirely gone, with the cracked remains still attached left heavily charred and splintering with dents all over. Silverbolt must have shielded Air Raid with his back as the metallic coloring was almost entirely gone with partially molten metal and exposed wiring, energon floating freely into space amongst the debris of the battlefield. Air Raid was confused, he was just getting berated by SIlverbolt for his troublesome actions again and now he was gone. Air Raid’s neural processors were overloaded with the information, leaving him in a haze of bewilderment for primus knows how long.
He was abruptly brought back to reality with a sharp slap across his face plates, jogging his neural components back to stable levels. The slap in question was delivered by none other than Jetfire. Air Raid was about to talk back at his sudden assault on him when their ally was dead right in front of him when Jetfire beat him to the punch.
“Silverbolt is still alive, but he won’t be for long. Get him out of here. I’ll deal with the rest of the tow cables.” Jetfire coldly remarked.
“Bu-”
“That’s an order, soldier!” Jetfire commanded.
Not expecting such aggression from the more caring member of the squadron, Air Raid transformed and swiftly wrapped cables around Silverbolt’s limp frame before flying as fast as possible back to the surface of the Ark without harming the fragile cargo in transport.
Following Air Raid’s departure from the battlefield, Jetfire disengaged all medical protocols and focused purely on combat, destroying any Decepticon seeker that got in his way to the next tow cable. The Autobot laid a bombardment of missiles across the next tow cable, decimating the outer plating and conveniently hitting a chink in the armor at the same time. This left the tow cable to explode in a single strike. Jetfire’s path of destruction was halted when a Decepticon dropship appeared, unleashing several blasts from heavy plasma cannons that would destroy any average Cybertronian that’d be on the receiving end of it. Hastily taking note of the dangers this opponent offered, Jetfire dodged a few of the plasma shots before rapidly descending and transforming into root mode to plant himself on the underside of the Decepticon ship. The Aerialbot planted an explosive device before rapidly flying away to avoid the blast radius. The device in question detonated, opening a small black hole that sucked in the entire dropship and the crew inside, leaving nothing but fragments of the ship and the Decepticons that once crewed the vessel. With nothing significant now in his way, Jetfire easily disposed of the final tow cable with ease as the Deceptions now lacked easy boarding options for their grounder frames aboard The Nemesis.
“Jetfire to Optimus, all the cables are now disabled. We needn’t worry bout’ anymore Decepticons barging in- WOAH!” Jetfire was caught off-guard during his comm as an enormous being that made Autobot titans look small and shot past him at an absurd speed toward the stern of The Ark.
“Jetfire, what’s your status?” Optimus replied, hoping one of his best was not suddenly offlined.
“I’m okay, Optimus, but we’ve got a new problem on our hands now,” Jetfire replied before flying off to deal with other seekers nearby.
The aforementioned problem landed, shifting the polarities in his feet to magnetize them to the surface but due to the momentum he still slid across the ground, using this extra speed to take out a few unsuspecting Autobots with the rotary blades built into his left arm. As the enormous Decepticon came to a halt, his designation was made clear. The limbs are made out of various military Cybertronian alt modes with one grounder, tank, shuttle, and rotary all interconnected by a grounder torso featuring two large twin-mounted cannons on the back that reached far above the Decepticon’s own head. This was the Combaticon combiner Bruticus aboard the Ark, and he would show no mercy.
All Autobots stared on in fear as the biolights of the combiner shined brightly, leaving a towering purple pillar contrasting with the golden hues of the Ark itself.
“Bruticus, get to the propulsion deck and gut their engines! The Autobots must not reach that space portal!” Megatron commed to the gestalt, ensuring the giant’s focus wasn’t solely on the destruction of the Autobots around it.
“With pleasure, Lord Megatron!” Bruticus bellowed as he stepped on another group of terrified Autobots.
The path to the propulsion deck had several structures, differing from an entire encased bridge assembly to easily traverse to the engines, entrances to the outside of the Ark for when there were external issues, and sensory towers used for detecting foreign objects getting closer to the ship powered by energon batteries. These preexisting structures were now as heavily armed as possible with ranks of Autobots launching a seemingly devastating attack of ballistic and plasma weapons along with a swarm of missiles.
Bruticus hastily raised his rotary left arm and activated the rotors to spin at an intense speed, creating a shield that dispelled almost all of the shots. Any that got past were merely shrugged off by the combiner. In retaliation, Bruticus switched from shielding to charging his left arm with immense amounts of energy before raising it up and slamming it down in a destructive sonic wave, carving a path of destruction through the once well-built bridge now left in shambles along with any Autobots unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast. The remaining survivors were now left to deal with Bruticus as he unleashed a flamethrower on any Autobots still in the higher sections of what was left of the bridge and leaving everyone else underfoot.
“I love the sound of Autobugs crushing under my feet!” Bruticus heartily exclaimed as another victim was reduced to a flat piece of scrap underneath the overwhelming weight of the combiner.
The behemoth trudged on as he encountered two anti-air emplacements right between him and the propulsion deck. While primarily used for disabling missiles and enemy aircraft, these weapons could easily be used to drain the energy levels of Brutcius till he’d be left in stasis. Bruticus quickly went for the closest source of large quantities of energon which he found in the sensory tower. Turning towards the tower and crushing a few more Autobots who did not expect the gestalt’s sudden change in direction, Bruticus simply tore out the battery the size of an average Cybertronian from its clear outer casing before quickly recharging his own power levels to maximum capacity before discarding the now empty battery. Bruticus used his reenergized form to unleash two sonic waves on each of the anti-air turrets, demolishing them both in but a single strike as the chain of purple shockwaves smashed through even more Autobots along the way. At last, Bruticus reached the Ark’s primary fuel tank, a large cylindrical container that had a red pulsing color before it was swiftly destroyed by Bruticus in a few punches.
“Lord Megatron, I’ve destroyed the Ark’s primary energon tank.” Bruticus commed rather plainly, looking for his next chance at combat.
“Amazing, Bruticus! Now disable the rest of the fuel reserves on the propulsion deck.” Megatron gleefully replied. Bruticus began walking toward the inner workings of the propulsion deck, but he was interrupted by a familiar red and white Jet that bombarded the combiner before flying off to other parts of the battlefield before Bruticus could retaliate.
“Autobots! Bruticus is targeting our fuel tanks! Anyone available needs to get to the propulsion deck ASAP!” Jetfire announced across Autobot communications as he watched Bruticus picking off the last of the functioning Autobot soldiers one by one as they tried distracting him as long as possible.
“Copy, Jetfire. Jazz and Cliffjumper are now in play,” replied a grounder with a sleek white and light blue racing frame alongside another speedy grounder that was crimson in color with a more stout and rounded appearance.
The two Cybertronians rapidly made their way through the carnage of Bruticus as the wounded Autobot soldiers were indiscriminately strewn alive and others clearly missing limbs or their entire heads as pools of leaking energon became a common sight. As the grounder approached their destination, they stopped and transformed in front of the Aerialbot that announced the combiner’s rampage while he was tending to some of the wounded soldiers nearby. Jazz was mostly white with faded blue accents along with a bright blue visor but had exposed face plating, while Cliffjumper shared a similar appearance to his alt mode with large rounded chunks for his forearms, and lower leg regions, and torso with two red horns atop his head.
“Hey Jetfire, where’s the rest of your squadron?” Jazz inquired with concern.
“Silverbolt is in critical condition, but he got to the medical bay just in time due to Air Raid’s great speed. But all will be lost if we don’t take down that monster.” Jetfire replied, still patching the injuries of another of the many injured Autobots.
“How in the name of Primus are supposed to take that thing down, Jazz? We both saw what that thing did on his way here, and we’d need a starship just to slow 'em down,” Cliffjumper asked his commanding officer, distraught with how to tackle the seemingly impossible task.
“Don’t worry, Cliff. I got a plan. I just need to know that you’ve got my back.” Jazz replied smoothly as if this didn’t mean the difference between life and death.
“As long as my spark still shines, I’ve always got your back.” Cliffjumper confidently responded, Jazz’s courage seeming infectious as Cliffjumper now seemed psyched for anything.
“Great! I’ve got a plan, but I need you to get something for me, Jetfire, for this to even work.” Jazz sent Jetfire a data packet with the information he was looking for.
“It’ll take me some time to get this. Can you two hold out that long against Bruticus?” Jetfire said, voice laden with concern.
“Oh, c'mon. Do you know who you’re talking to? We’ll come out with our sparks shining brighter than they have in megacycles by the time that big mech is gone,” Jazz assuredly replied before ushering the flyer to move.
Jetfire transformed and flew off to retrieve Jazz’s order. The grounders smirked and nodded to each other before Driving off and catching up to the scene of the giant Decepticon.
The two Autobots came upon a brutal scene in the impromptu arena made of the partially destroyed propulsion deck. Bruticus was holding the last surviving Autobot in his hand before promptly using his thumb to flatten the soldier's head like a hydraulic press before discarding him like a broken toy near an open pipe of energon that was pooling on the ground close by. Jazz and Cliffjumper were disgusted by the gory display, but they split off and went in separate directions while shooting.
“Hey, you big lug, you can’t even hit someone standing right in front of you!” Cliffjumper taunted as the combiner shifted his attention toward the red Cybertronian.
“I’ll crush you just like the rest!” Bruticus announced as he slammed another seismic shockwave into the ground. Cliffjumper dashed off to the side as Bruticus encroached on the tiny Autobot. Meanwhile, Jazz was utilizing his energy grapple to yank himself across platforms built into the propulsion deck to a spot above the large puddle of energon that was getting larger by the second. Cliffjumper was doing his best to survive, narrowly avoiding each fatal swipe, step, and spinning rotors before promptly transforming into his alt mode and driving straight between his legs.
“Now, Jazz!” Cilffjumper signaled over their comm channel.
Jazz launched his grapple as it magnetically attached to the back of Bruticus's head right between the twin cannons. With the grapple properly attached, Jazz anchored himself to the platform and heaved with all of his strength. Bruticus groaned in agony as his head was forcefully pulled backward, forcing himself to step back lest he lose his own head in the process. Every attempt to get his arms closer was quickly dissuaded by another rough yank on his head. Jazz was able to wrench the combiner back enough for Bruticus to stumble right into the wall with pooled energon right at his feet as his back was against the leaking pipe. Jazz promptly leaped off his vantage point and returned to Cliffjumper’s side and the two Autobots fired upon the glowing energon surrounding the gigantic Decepticon.
The glowing blue substance ignited in a fiery ball that engulfed Bruticus, seemingly burning him to nothing. But Bruticus does not go down so easily. The gestalt walked through the fire like it was nothing, covered in charred black spots along his back with there being some significant damage.
“That actually hurt! That‘s it, no more games!” Bruticus took a knee as he launched several artillery shells from back cannons. Jazz and Cliffjumper were swift as they weaved in and out of various different blasts that were fired seemingly at random.
“Jetfire, have you got the thing we need to take this thing down?! I hate to break it to you, but we can’t last forever!” As the two Autobots dodged another stomp from Bruticus but his movements were slower and more sluggish as the effects of the energon explosion were beginning to take its toll. But that didn’t stop Cliffjumper from receiving the tail end of a seismic wave, sending him flying off into a stray wall near the propulsion deck.
“Cliff!” Jazz cried before having to dodge another stomp from the combiner.
“Roger that, Jazz. the EMP mine is deployed! Lure him on to it and end this!” Jetfire swooped in and deposited a spiked ball the size of Jazz’s head straight on the ground behind the combiner before flying off once again to presumably deal with any remaining seekers. Jazz grabbed the combiner’s attention by aiming his machine gun toward the gestalt’s bright red visor, prompting Bruticus to put up his shield once again.
“This is the end for you, Autobug!” Bruticus shifted to follow Jazz with attention solely focused on watching the Autobot and not the EMP mine right in front of him. The unsuspecting combiner took one more step before receiving a powerful pulse that destabilized the polarity in Bruticus’ feet, leaving his stability and grip on the surface of the Ark unstable. Jazz then sent a high-priority ping to Jetfire for a missile barrage. Luckily, Jetfire just finished off another seeker and then sped off to Jazz’s position before doing a pass that sent numerous rockets straight into Bruticus. While not doing much damage to his armor or internals, the force from rockets was enough to knock the disoriented combiner off his feet and launch him off the Ark, taking a large tailfin of the Autobot spaceship with him as Bruticus was sent careening back to his dying home.
Notes:
Thank you vsphelix for beta-reading this chapter so go check out his works as well.
Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Rediscovery
Notes:
I've got a few things to talk about at the end but I'll just let you read first after waiting for 5 months.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Purple light fixtures hummed in the metallic corridor, lighting the way as a Cybertronian of unique disposition made his way through the metal hallways. The mech in question had a primarily yellow torso, bright purple shimmering on the mech’s forearms and calves, followed by thighs donned in a silver-grey color and Decepticon insignia emblazoned on right in the center of the mech. Despite the mishmash of colors, the most peculiar thing was the protrusions from the Decepticon’s back. Long sharp pincers pointed upward in a jagged design. Sparks of electricity flickered up and down the back-mounted jaws as the crimson visor donned on the mech’s head glowed brightly. Open faceplates twisted into a jagged smile as the mech reached the end of the hallway, passing through a doorway that opened and then quickly closed.
The room inside was incredible, to say the least. Purple hues adorned the area in a glow as vats of various sizes lined the back side of the room, each with some form of Cybertronian life ranging from massive insectoids to smaller Autobots. There were even a few Decepticons sprinkled in amid the menagerie of beings in the lab. Following the preserved Cybertronian lifeforms were several examination tables, each with something strapped on from the aforementioned vats. Those creatures were unrecognizable due to the severity of how much each was dismembered. Mounted lights, buzzsaws, and laser cutters were strewn about. Some of the examinees’ energon pooled on the surgical benches, flowing with slow drips onto the cool metal floors. In the center of the unquestionably immoral display, was a massive array of screens, data packets depicting scientific logs, and even some footage of past experiments. One video feed was paused precisely at the moment when a Cybertronian was offlined. This video was marked as ‘failure #3105.’ Off to the side of the lab was a large rectangular window with a bulky purple mech observing beyond the window, datapad in hand, seemingly taking notes while monitoring a new test subject.
The mech held a singular dark purple sheen while holding a bulky frame that was synonymous with grounder tank frames of the time. Despite his bulk, the mech had smaller purple wings that were seemingly vestigial in nature. However, none of these features stood out as much as the disproportionately large gun attached to the mech’s left arm. Completely gone was any semblance of a hand to signify a built-in weapon that could sprout at will or transform into a dexterous manipulator. Rather, this was a singular cannon that only served purely as a tool of destruction. The gun was connected to a power pack via a cable that slithered all the way around the mech’s body to power the immense weapon. This cable disappeared as the mech turned around to face the one who entered his lab, revealing one large red optic that glowed a bright crimson hue.
“What is it that you needed to see me in person, unannounced? Shrapnel, this better be worth the interruption.” The mech spoke with a calm baritone, sending small trills through the promptly named Shrapnel.
“Well, leader Shockwave, the Ark and the Nemesis are gone, but their debris has fallen back to Cybertron. I was wondering If I could claim any and all debris for myself, leader leader?” Shrapnel replied, voice gravely with every syllable that came from his faceplates.
“Almost all Cybertronians would be left molten from reentry except for a small few, leaving very little in value for anything but building materials. Nor does it benefit my experiments. Your proposition is illogical. What are your true intentions for this venture Shrapnel?” Shockwave’s red optic glowed, instantly discerning Shrapnel’s deception with ease. Even so, he was still intrigued by the Insecticon’s unique proposition.
“But there is one thing, leader Shockwave, that you will find most appealing, I assure you,” Shrapnel replied, hoping to please him for his own sake.
Shrapnel provided a datapad from subspace. It had a partially cracked screen, but the rest remained pristine with a shiny metallic frame all around. It featured a video feed taken from what was presumably an observation drone used primarily as a way to detect enemy signatures in case of stealth attacks.
Shockwave played the video, showing the aforementioned debris striking the ground at high speeds with varying golds of the Ark, to the blacks of the Nemesis. The hellish shower continued with Cybertronians of all shapes and sizes falling in an array of colors before the video feed was abruptly cut off, likely due to the drone being struck by a stray piece of high-speed metal destroying it in a single strike.
Shockwave was perplexed, tilting his head back up to beam his gaze to Shpranel for an explanation.
Quickly realizing the purple mech’s optic was turned back to him, Shrapnel swiftly snatched the data pad from Shockwave’s hand before shifting the device to a holo display.
“The observation drone was able to catch the signature of an incredibly distinct being—one of your most successful experiments, leader Shockwave.” Shrapnel quickly provided a log of the energy signatures the drone had found. Then, he displayed a similar list of energy signatures from the Decepticon database alongside the drone’s log and holo display. It contained the designations of Autobots and Decepticons alike, ranging from higher commanding officers to basic grunts. The last one detected by the drone was quite surprising, simply designated as ‘Unity’ with no further background information besides visual data in the form of classified video feeds and a few corrupted image files. Shrapnel changed the Holodisplay to get his point across, showing the combined form of a certain group of Decepticons.
“You suggest that Bruticus is among the piles of scrap and leftover ship parts? Improbable. Observation drones were originally used for offensive capabilities, distracting enemies, and providing suppression fire for any who needed it. Their repurposed use as sentries has yielded less than stellar results, causing more cases of friendly fire and large amounts of general confusion among patrols.Loyal decepticons now struggle to determine whether they have taken out an Autobot spy or a comrade that they just conversed with in the mess hall prior. The personnel identification algorithms on those drones are unreliable at best. One video clip does not justify the energon expenditure for a salvage expedition. This undertaking shall not be conceived under any circumstances Shrapnel,” Shockwave countered, seemingly confident that Shrpanel’s claim was less stable than the Sea of Rust.
“Oh, please, leader Shockwave? I’ll provide all my resources and troops for this salvage operation and report all of my findings to you as soon as possible, leader Shockwave!” Shrapnel begged, legs bent down in an awkward stance that would’ve been on his knees if he went any lower in his groveling to the Decepticon Head Scientist.
Shockwave silently stared, his single expressionless optic not betraying any hint of what was going on inside his head. He seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of the offer provided.
“Very well, Shrapnel. I will allow this endeavor of yours to be exclusive to your command.”
Shrapnel returned back from his pseudo kneeling/groveling and was practically overjoyed, the pincers at his back twitching open and close with sparks of electricity as his excitement grew.
“Thank you, leader Shockwave. You won't regret this! I’ll be on my way-”
“However,” Shockwave cut him off, stopping Shrapnel in his tracks before he could make his escape from the unfeeling Decepticon.
“If you do not retrieve Bruticus or other salvage of significant value, then consider yourself demoted. This is a test, Shrapnel. An experiment, if you will. Provide promising results. Prove that rebuilding you wasn’t a waste of time.”
Shockwave returned to his work, completely ignoring Shrapnel to now focus on a new test subject, an Autobot spy with missing limbs that was being splayed out in numerous parts across the table, electricity coursing between wiring connecting each limb as they twitched indiscriminately as if being puppeteered with no end in sight.
Taking that as his cue to leave before Shockwave got any new sadistic ideas for experiments involving himself, Shrapnel stiffly moved back to the door and slid out. The door closed behind him in a resounding clang. This was followed by an exhale from his vents that Shrapnel hadn’t realized he was holding in.
For as long as he had been around Shockwave, the Insecticon still felt tinges of fear, a fight or flight instinct gnawing at him to be wary of the practically emotionless Decepticon, despite how much he’d vehemently deny it if his colleagues inquired such a question.
Pushing his primal fears aside, Shrapnel had a field to scavenge and a combiner to find. A jagged smile returned to his face plates once more as his pincers twitched in anticipation of the new discoveries.
“So why do you think we’ve been sent on this adventure today, E?” asked a typical four-wheeled grounder soldier emblazoned with the Decepticon insignia and a faded yellow paint job. Chips and dents were sprinkled around his entire frame.
“If you’re going to talk with me, at least use my full designation, R-2102,” a smaller, two-wheeled Decepticon replied in exasperation, her maroon hues reflecting dully off the scrap they’d just overturned.
“And if you think this scavenging job is an ‘adventure,’ then why don’t you clean up the scrap from warp cannons. I’m sure you’ll be entertained for decacycles making sure you haven’t got any of that filth in your systems after picking apart its remains,” the two-wheeler continued cynically as she scanned another piece of golden scrap, hoping for some sort of value from its composition.
“Well, I just wanted to lighten the mood a little bit, E-4891. You still didn’t answer my question about our interesting endeavor.” R-2102 persisted. The yellow con ripped out an oddly colored chunk of metal, which turned out to be a disembodied servo with digits in all still attached. He swiftly tossed it away in a mixture of disgust and surprise like it was made of scraplets begging to rip his faceplates off.
E-4891 sighed in contempt at his antics and words as she gave in, knowing that despite his ineptitude at almost everything, R-2102’s stubbornness was unfortunately the only thing left in that head of his. “Well, considering that the great battle above ended a few megacycles ago, it means we’re probably looking for anything of value beyond the obvious scrap metal. That could range from intact internal components, weapons, or even surviving Cybertronians if they were lucky enough to be built for atmospheric entry and survive it.”
“And what if we do find someone still online?” R-2102 questioned, fear lacing his voice before being quickly masked with an almost brave look on his faceplates.
“Well, if it’s another con, we help them out. If it’s an Autobot, well, try to capture or kill them depending on their status and rank.” replied E-4891 matter-of-factly while uprooting a partially melted missile launcher that was still dripping molten metal.
“Then how about we see if we can find some new buddies from a higher vantage point?” The yellow grounder gestured at an enormous mound of misshapen scrap that appeared past the rest of the Cybertronian ruins.
“How does a race sound, E? The first to win gets first-time access to the recharging pod when we get back,” R-2102 offered, rearing for a chance to take some fun out of the situation.
Realizing her pride as well as a chance of getting first dibs was on the line, E-4891 couldn’t refuse the enticing proposal. “Alright I’ll play your little game, and I will win.” E-4891 bit back with a smirk at the prospect of victory.
Both turned into their vehicle modes.E-4891 had her faded red colors and purple biolights in an angular design built for speed, hovering alongside R-2102’s four-wheeled grounder form that floated with purple thrusters spewing from the bottom of his wheels to keep him steady.
As the chronometer ticked down with each astro second, engines hummed in anticipation before the timer flashed to zero with a signifying ping. Each racer practically blasted off down the impromptu racing strip.
R-2102 held the lead initially, with greater acceleration speeding off ahead before his colleague could build up more speed, but this was quickly cut short as piles of colorful scrap forced the yellow Cybertronian car to slow down. He wove in and out of the obstacles while still maintaining a steady speed despite his setbacks.
E-4891 had no such issue, piercing straight through to the enormous mound. Lacking the size of her counterpart gave her quite the advantage, allowing her to pretty much finish when he was still halfway through.
The maroon two-wheeler returned to her humanoid form, all but savoring every step in elegance to reach the section right before the scrap summit made almost entirely from chunks of the Ark before turning at the sound of a roaring engine.
Despite R-2102 trying to make up for lost time with his dangerous increase in speed, the stunt only got him to swerve at the last moment, transforming into root mode in a panic that left him tumbling across the ground all the way to the foot of the metal hill in a faceplant.
After recovering from what in hindsight was a good decision—with noticeably more scratches than before and his frame now a slightly greyish color—R-2102 scaled upwards, inevitably reaching his maroon companion. A small smirk was embedded onto her faceplates.
This didn’t last long as E-4891 returned to her usual contemptuous expression. She initiated a rudimentary scan over her associate’s frame in a surprising show of concern, looking for any potentially dangerous health problems beyond his reckless feat of questionable intelligence a moment earlier.
Satisfied after scanning her companion and moving on, R-2102 moved alongside the fem but sped along to the top of the veritable golden-bronze heap at the top, courtesy of the now absent Ark.
What beheld the optics of the low-ranking Decepticons was a bewildering sight. A long, charcoal-colored, metallic serpent stretched and coiled endlessly in random directions, its maw-fitted drill head and several teeth-like protrusions, but now chipped with most of the drill already melding with the ground of Cybertron itself.
The sight of the tow cable sent shivers throughout the frames of the Decepticon pair. E-4891 silently sympathized with the poor grunts that probably got sucked out before they could finish their boarding procedures. At the same time, R-2102 looked in a mixture of awe and fear at the destruction displayed haphazardly in front of them.
“Well, we better have won that battle above if it cost us so many lives. Maybe some of our mechs survived in there, right?” The yellow Decepticon asked the question more for himself than the maroon fem beside him.
Whether or not the question was directed at her, E-4891 made no comment. She trudged back down the misshapen hill. R-2102 followed along steadily with his chin up, his faceplates betraying his feelings on the situation.
The pair took their time, the once light-hearted feeling of adventure now drained with every step toward what was likely the tomb of many. The tow cable encompassed more and more of their vision before finally reaching an opening that was the grey metal underneath the black shell, but warped and torn apart, likely from a mixture of the battle it endured and the fall back to Cybteron.
The two scavengers were about to continue, E-4891 taking the lead, but R-2102 stopped in his tracks behind her, likely pausing in contemplation before starting up a conversation again.
“I knew a few mechs going aboard the Nemesis, close comrades to me, friends even.” When it seemed like he was going to continue, he slipped back into silence after his out-of-character statement and followed E-4891 inside the internals of the massive boarding device while concentrating his biolights into a beam akin to a flashlight.
E-4891 was a bit surprised at her colleague’s words, left in wonder at how a seemingly optimistic and almost cheery Decepticon had more to hide than she may have originally thought compared to her initial not-so-positive views of him, but she decided to not push the potentially sensitive topic and moved on.
The derelict hull was seemingly empty, with only the steps of the two grunt Decepticons breaking the silence within the lifeless structure. The outer walls showed signs of damage with metal blooming inward in a definite explosion. No bodies were found within close proximity, but that quickly changed as the first of many corpses appeared.
This discovery was unfortunately made by R-2102. While following along in the narrow corridor formed by the partially crumpled tube that was once the internals of the tow cable, a drop of silver liquid dribbled down with a slight sizzle from above, prompting the scuffed-up yellow grounder to look up. The sight was horrendous, a body unrecognizable with the only assumption that it could be Decepticon from its location. The body was fused with the ceiling, its face half in agony and half melted to the weaving tow cable.
E-4891 stopped, realizing that R-2102’s sound of his footsteps was absent. That, alongside the gasp that she heard, prompted her to look back. Seeing the yellow grounder’s shocked face gazing above, she followed the direction and saw the poor soul. Surprise caked on her faceplates before vanishing to a stoic look.
“We’ll report them for later identification to give them a better memorial,” the maroon fem reassured, despite knowing that most of the time any remains were stripped of any functioning parts and energon and melted down for building materials.
R-2102 took a deep intake, exhaling while dulling some of his neural protocols temporarily to suppress any further guilt. He looked back down to the two-wheeler, nodding in affirmation to her words while she turned back around and continued through the compressed corridors.
The tow cable began veering downward, forcing the two of them to descend ever further as the tow cable got increasingly vertical until the pair practically climbed down at more of a snail's pace.
At the bottom, the tube was unpleasant, to say the least. Due to gravity making the now vertical section of the tow cable a pseudo funnel, the duo found more bodies. Some donned the more common shades of purple of the Decepticon cause, engraved with the notorious badge into their frames.
This was the only thing distracting R-2102 and E-4891 as they looked on in horror. With their initial sighting of bodies being practically welded to the ground, this was the worst-case scenario. A menagerie of bodies merged together in a chimera of metallic horror, each body crying out in voices now silenced as servos were attached to one another at random, making it impossible to discern where one body began and ended or simply mixed into that of another beyond the color of their misshapen frames, forming a being that could have only been spawned from the pits of Unicron himself.
Fortunately, the duo’s journey did not end there, as another path existed beyond the Cybertronian chimera. Unfortunately, that path was blocked by the metallic monstrosity, meaning they had to maneuver directly on top of the bodies themselves to get to the other side.
As much as R-2102 wanted to just leave and report their insignificant findings back to their commanding officer, the thought was already nullified as E-4891 began her ascent up the misshapen assortment of limbs, being as respectful as someone could be when climbing over someone’s corpse as she could.
No words were said the entire time navigating this obstacle. Every other step would creak and groan as the once sturdy frames of Decepticon soldiers practically deflated under the steps of the still-living grounders.
By the time they were completely back on the proper ground of the tow cable, R-2102 and E-4891 had mirrored expressions, ones of such abhorrent disgust that the two wanted to vomit the still processing energon left in their systems from their rations earlier but steeled themselves after taking a short time to process that experience.
R-2102 finally spoke up again. “Perhaps we could take another route and reach another exit? We’ve been walking for a good while now, so we’ll likely find the other end of the tow cable or at least another opening, right?” the words came along with a forced smile so obvious that even R-2102 couldn’t convince himself that it wasn’t fake.
After they completed the disturbing experience, the two Decepticons trekked on, the tunnels seemed to have been torn off at the end before leading into what was a massive crater, one unbefitting in size and shape compared to that of the cleaved tow cable segment. The hole wasfilled to the brim, all the chunks pretty much stacked on top of each with the tow cable on the bottom, the golden-bronze hues from the Ark, and the blacks and purples that’d go along with the Nemesis in a sort of disheveled layered cake.
“I’m surprised either side even made it to that wormhole thing with the amount of junk they left behind.” R-2102 sarcastically remarked, shifting back into his regular persona to lighten up the mood again after finally getting over most of the horrors for the time being.
E-4891 replied with a grunt as she focused her biolights on the wreckage for anything valuable. Meanwhile, R-2102 kicked away a hunk of scrap before beginning a small excavation. The maroon two-wheeler joined R-2102 in his digging efforts to move a large golden panel that appeared to be one of The Ark’s many wings.
Their efforts were rewarded as surprisingly a large hand was discovered underneath. The appendage was a greyish-silver color with signs of burn damage littered along each blocky finger. But the true marvel was the scale of the hand itself, practically having the potential to encompass E-4891 and R-2102 on its own showed that whoever this hand belonged to was absolutely massive.
“Wow, how could someone this big just get taken out and knocked off either ship in that battle?” R-2102 questioned rhetorically, faceplates displaying his stupefied expression as he looked on at the limb in awe.
E-4891 was quicker to recover from her stupor and give a response. “Likely got blasted by either one of the ship's main cannons. Kinda makes you wonder who this bot was,” the maroon fem retorted before gazing at her surroundings and then back to R-2102. She did a double take at R-2102 extending one of his servos to touch one of the enormous fingers. The two-wheeled Decepticon looked on in concealed fear before yanking her comrade’s servo back and giving him a stern look. “Are you an idiot?! I’m not getting my spark snuffed out over your foolish curiosity.”
R-2102 retrieved his servo from her grip before looking back at her. “Lighten up, E. I was just checking it out to see if it was still in one piece. Besides, you’d have to be blessed by Primus himself to survive a fall from the upper atmosphere.”
As if the universe was challenging his declaration, the seemingly lifeless hand twitched, earning a glare from E-4891 in R-2102’s direction. By unspoken agreement, the two promptly backed up fifteen meters back behind a nearby scrap pile in case the twitch was a sign of life and not one of last-minute neurocircuitry going off like a headless chicken.
“You just couldn’t keep your intake closed for one moment, could you.” E-4891 whisper-yelled at her comrade. She peeked back over the scrap pile in case a tactical retreat was required for reinforcements.
The hand in question extended all of its digits as far as possible, which was quite far due to its overwhelming size, before retracting them back into a clamped fist. What followed could only be considered a miniature seismic quake as the once-still mound trapping the hand began to quake and groan as metal was likely being distorted on the inside.
The two Decepticons gazed in awe at the biolights turning to flicker on, causing a veritable ensemble of purple hues to shine in between the gaps of the scrap mound. As sections of the metal hill were seemingly pushed away effortlessly, more of the bot began to reveal itself.
Unfortunately some of that debris was right on the trajectory of R-2102 and E-4891, forcing them to vacate the area towards the sloped edge of the crater lest they be crushed under the metal remains before they could witness the large Cybertronian standing before them.
Large was certainly an understatement. The towering gestalt dwarfed the height of the now nonexistent scrap hill it was once buried beneath. The sharp angular badge of the Decepticon cause was adorned in five different places across its merged body, much to the relief of the two Decepticon grunts standing within walking distance of the giant near them.
But despite the impressive size and grandeur, the Decepticon combiner definitely had his fair share of damage as well. Black burnt spots peppered his entire frame. A partially destroyed version of what was once a twin barrels system sat on one of his legs, chipped blades dangled from his left arm, and one of the incredibly large cannons on his back was bent at an awkward angle. He definitely lost some fear factor from his wounds, though he gained it right back from his sheer survivability alone.
The gestalt then began to shift, a marvel of Cybertronian engineering of the behemoth looking like something out of Cybertronian myth, before promptly spotting the tiny mech and fem off to the side with a bright crimson visor that practically beamed down at the two with incredible intensity.
One thing can be certain in that this seemingly mundane and gloomy mission became quite the adventure after all.
Notes:
First I'd like to mention that we hit over 100 hits!? I don't know if that's a lot but thanks regardless. Also, this story is not dead or anything like that, I was just going through a TON of stuff ranging from school, moving to a new house, and adjusting to the area and my new school without my old friends there but I don't plan on stopping this story altogether because of it.
But don't expect consistent updates to this story as it could be next week or next year but I'm just trying to stay in a good mood for working through it all even though my final exams are a few days from now at the time of writing this which can kinda build up some stress for me at times, but I'll be free after that so I can look forward to working more on this.
Anyway, sorry for leaving this on a cliffhanger. I personally kinda don't like them but I'll keep using them regardless. I was gonna actually gonna give the whole "losing friends who went aboard the Nemesis" to E-4891 but I changed it because she felt too much like a Decepticon version of Arcee and that just felt too similar in my opinion. There are also two easter eggs that mean a few things and I'm curious to see who can find these in this chapter.
Also, did you know that the personalities for FOC Kickback and Shrapnel are swapped when compared to their G1 counterparts? I thought it was weird when looking back at voice clips for the game and G1 but I'll stick with G1 personalities for the Insecticons.
beta'd by vsphelix, highly recommend his work if you liked reading stories akin to this one
this discord is the one I hang around in along with a few other writers from time to time so if you wanna talk about pretty much anything it's here:
https://discord.gg/JmKuRUyWTz
vsphelix on Chapter 1 Tue 14 Feb 2023 04:54AM UTC
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