Shockwave had been working on this new project for steller-cycles now. With expensive and risky resources, he was finally able to test his new experiment. Although even he had to admit, that some of his methods were unorthodox, to say the least, and considering he was notorious for his many unique and downright strange experiments, this project would have to top them all. Many of his materials included special metals known for their elasticity and nourishment (for it is used to form prosthetics for those unfortunate Cybertronians to lose a limb or two) and a plethora of wires, disks, and outer paint. However, his most expensive material yet was risky, to say the least, to extract for there was only one possible source that could provide such a substance. He needed an external hard-drive powerful enough to form trails of data and compute advanced codes to form useful information to the master drive. Nowhere in existence could he find such a priceless product; nowhere except another Cybetronian. But to use another sentient being as part of a project was taboo and illegal. There were laws that state no living Cybertronian can act as a test subject for medical or other scientific purposes, with or without consent. However, there is a loophole; the laws prohibited any living Cybertronnian, not once did the law mention the offline. Extracting organs from the offline was simple, but to extract a person's processor with all its components intact was a different story. Plugging them into a separate entity and forcing old wires to start glitching and screws to start turning was an unprecedented feat. Shockwave was determined to be the first.
Why do such great lengths for such an experiment? Well, it had to do with great loyalty to a certain mourning High Lord Protector who lost his bonded
...
It took many eons until finally a peace between Autobots and Decepticons to call for peace at last. After realizing that their race was headed to a slow but inevitable extinction, both faction leaders decided to place a truce before their race would meet the same fate as their homeworld. Like any newly created treaty, peace was shaky at best with several disputes nearly shredding the newborn truce before an official datapad was even signed. However, as time progressed and both factions grew to at least tolerate each other enough not to kill each other, progress was finally made when all of the Omega Keys were recovered. With the combined forces of each artifact, they were able to revive their own planet again.
Setting a newly established government was an obstacle in itself. After much debate, it was decided that there would be two leaders, one from each faction; The Prime and a Lord High Protector. Both would lead the people along with a group of advisors to assist in decision making and the creation of new laws. Never again will the abomination of a council will appear in this new era of peace, both leaders were determined to prevent such a thing from ever occurring. Many calls were sent across different galaxies, summoning any and all cybertopians that the war was over and with their world restored, it was time to come home. Almost immediately, flocks of ships returned from their long exodus to finally get a glimpse of their beloved Cybertron after what seemed an eternity. With more helping hands, their planet was slowly but surely restored to its former prestige and glory. As time progressed and the people grew united, Cybertron was well on its way to a resurrection to its former glory days.
It wasn't long when the first mixed couples started to appear on Cybertron's surface, most notably (and not so subtly) was the relationship between the two former faction's leaders. It seemed after an unexplainable incident where the matrix transformed Optimus' form to its pre-prime state not long after the war ended, did dormant embers began to burn between him and a certain warlord. Nearly the entire planet knew of the relationship that started to blossom between the two and it quickly became the top gossip of almost every private conversation. It wasn't long after that an official courting was announced which caused a spree of newsbots to stalk the couple to take a few pictures for the front covers of their magazines. Pretty soon every news report and social media had a cover page of the bonding ceremony between the two leaders that followed shortly after the courting was established.
Several steller-cycles had passed on Cybertron with all of its inhabitants living happily as can be without too many incidents. Everybot was living their lives to the fullest and not a single issue couldn't be handled with its new system of government maintaining its peace.
That was, until the epidemic.
It seemed some residual rust had mutated into an infectious virus that took the lives of thousands. Both young and old were attacked by the virus that disintegrated vital organs and polluted the very energon in their systems. It took doctors many solar-cycles before a cure was finally created, however by that time nearly a third of the population was wiped out.
A certain Prime was among the deceased.
It took cycles for the people to progress after such an ordeal but, as the saying goes, life had to move on.
Although Megatron was no stranger to loss, losing a bondmate is a new experience entirely. When one loses a bonded, a piece of the living bondmate extinguishes as well, leaving the surviving bot feeling broken and incomplete for the rest of their functioning. Such a case is what the Lord High Protector is experiencing and the results are not pretty. Despite being a master of deception, the effects of such a loss are prominent in behavior and decision making. Practically ruling with raging temper has gotten the attention of not only the advisors but of Cybertron as well. The people obviously knew the cause of such ire, but no one was willing to face the wrath of their Protector. Worry and unease quickly grew into the form of gossip, where nearly every citizen feared that their Protector would transform into an oppressive tyrant. Such gossip did not go unnoticed by the advisors.
Finding a solution to fix their leader's mood was a different story entirely. With no bot agreeing with the others in any idea made, the likelihood of finding a permanent solution seems impossible. A few private meetings had already been held with very few progress. After many heated debates and bickering, Shockwave had had enough. Taking matters into his own servos, he quickly set to work on what he did best; producing results.
After much pondering, an idea came to him one day in the form of a drone. A drones main purpose was to please and suit the needs of their creators without much thought. Some were used for superficial purposes such as cleaning, organizing, and other simple chores while others were used for simple entertainment. Megatron certainly needed a distraction every now and then from the many responsibilities that doubled after his beloved's death. But Megatron was known to reject such trivial gifts, thinking that he did not need drones for he can take care of himself without such assistance.
Shockwave needed something that would lift Megatron's spirits. Something that would not only bring satisfaction but joy back into his functioning. Something that was sentient enough to know when not to push his Lord's buttons but also to be a companion of sorts. The Prime himself, though at first glance seemed to be the complete opposite of his lord in every way imaginable, was a perfect balance that seemed keep the warlord in check. A simple drone just would not be suited for such a responsibility.
Thus, Shockwave had his work cut out for him. Simply envisioning the idea is one step to the staircase. He needed to create not just the protoform itself, but the systematics that is intact within the very being. Gathering materials shouldn't be much of a problem, but to find materials to create a processor advanced enough to perform the actions as a living mech was simply impossible. He needed advanced technology that could compute such tasks but there were none that have been created already. Unless...
Unless he could transfer the same material that existed in a real bot and transfer the needed substances into another protoform.
The idea seemed ludicrous, but it was so outlandish that it might work. All he needed was to use a mech's internal hard drive to transfer it to an existing protoform where all systems would be reconnected and charged enough to finally bring life to a sentient being. But to get such technology was going to be complex. If he were to do it right, then he needed to use the very remains of the corpse of the deceased Prime for their was no other that was more fitting for his warlord. But to obtain the remains that he needed was the really tricky part, for the Prime now lay buried inside Iacon's cemetery, which is heavily guarded by soldiers. He needed to plan his route carefully if he is to extract the materials and he needed to do so quickly.
Megatron's foul temper was growing worse with each passing solar-cycle and if he didn't react fast enough, Cybertron would be in a pit of trouble.
