Chapter 2-Cause and Effect
Orion stood before his assembled team, his lucky face plate in place as he briefed them on the situation.
"Our target is Soundwave, a high ranking member of Megatron's inner circle. He's on the run and carrying classified intel. Our job is to make sure he never delivers it." He explained.
"With Iacon's air defenses, there's no way he can call for extraction. If he's on foot, I'll find him!" Hound said.
"Then we put the hurt on him!" Ironhide growled. "I'm tired of these Decepticreeps making us look like chumps."
"You'll get your shot soon, Ironhide." Orion said. "Autobots, roll out!"
Orion ordered all available Autobot teams to cover the access routes in and out of the city. There was a high chance of Soundwave taking the shortest route to Kaon through supply lines that ran through Praxus near the Badlands' borders. Orion, Elita-1 and Prowl monitored the most direct route to Altihex.
"Any intel on our mech, Pax?" Prowl asked.
"Soundwave is very high in the Decepticon hierarchy, he's a master spy and he was Nightshade's partner throughout their private war against the Functionists." Orion explained. "Chances are he was responsible for massacring the old senate in Kaon with the aid of Megatron and some unknown accomplices. Nobody who witnessed the killings lived so we don't know what to expect."
"And on a more personal note?" Prowl inquired further. Orion was silent a bit before answering.
"Soundwave has lived his entire life fighting and running with Nightshade. He knows how to evade the authorities and he's well versed in combat too. I suggest taking care to watch your back to make sure he doesn't show any surprises."
Locating Soundwave was harder than they thought. The Autobots were spread thin into teams of two hunting one bot in a city as large Iacon. Zeta put the entire city on lockdown, but it was going to take time to reroute mag-trains set to travel out of the city. But thankfully Silverbolt found their target after almost an hour of searching.
"Hound, Chromedome, I'm over your position and got a visual on the target!" He reported. "He's heading east through the factory district!"
"Roger that 'Bolt. We have him in sight and moving to intercept." Hound said.
On the ground, Soundwave was running through the crowded streets, pushing people aside as he headed toward the railways that crisscrossed the city skyline. Chromedome transformed and leapt up, throwing an EMP grenade at Soundwave. It missed him, but detonated close enough to catch Soundwave's right leg in an EMP wave. It's effects were immediate and Soundwave stumbled, turning on his heel and firing two rockets at Chromedome, who jumped to the side. When Hound appeared on the scene, Soundwave knew he had to act fast.
"Ravage, eject!" Soundwave deployed his black feline proxy from his chest, who transformed from his data disk form and lunged at the two Autobots. Ravage leapt onto Chromedome, digging his claws into his side just under his left arm. Chromedome grunted and threw him off, only for Ravage to land on Hound's hood and start ripping and tearing at him as well. Hound instinctively transformed to get him off and Ravage leapt off him to run back to Soundwave, his job done.
From his position above them, Silverbolt saw it all. "Chromedome and Hound are down!" He said. "Target is heading towards the aerospace bridge!"
Prowl and Ironhide were zeroing in on that area, moving to intercept Soundwave from both sides. "This is Prowl, we're moving in on the target. Don't lose sight of him, Silverbolt!"
Soundwave saw their pincer maneuver and knew that without proper weapons, they'll subdue him in minutes. But the best defense was a devastating offense. "Rumble, eject!"
The small mech ejected from his chest cavity and hardened his already large arms into their pile driver forms, slamming them into the ground. He channeled powerful vibrations from his inner core through his arms into the ground, generating intense quakes that rattled the area around him. The vibrations grew stronger the more they traveled out, and they were absolutely devastating to the bridge above them. The supports weren't built to handle the localized quake and began to shake and groan, the tensile metal bracings beginning to groan from the strain of holding the bridge up.
"Prowl, hit the brakes!" Ironhide yelled. "The whole place is falling apart!"
"Eat this Autobots!" Rumble increased his vibrations to the point where even Soundwave found it hard to remain upright. It was too much for the bridge to handle and the support columns began to crumble.
Prowl and Ironhide watched horrified as they saw the bridge break apart and collapse, taking with it the hundreds of transformed bots driving along the highway atop it. A large section of the bridge crashed to the street below, sending debris falling on top of Ironhide and Prowl, who were barely able to avoid being crushed underneath by the bulk of the debris that killed dozens of civilians. Even still, they were caught under the rocks and immobilized. Once Rumble was done, Soundwave picked him up and ran from the disaster zone.
"Rumble just brought down a bridge. Multiple causalities listed. I've got eyes on our boys, but I lost sight of Soundwave."
"Silverbolt, call Ultra Magnus and have him send emergency teams to the aerospace bridge. If Soundwave stays on course, then chances are that he's heading for the marketplace." Orion said as he and Elita-1 drove down the street on Soundwave's trail.
The Iaconian marketplace was where bots from the artisan and manual castes would gather to sell their wares. Slowly, the pair drove through the thick of the crowd, searching for signs of the dark blue mech. Silverbolt's assistance made it easier when Orion spotted Soundwave's familiar frame amongst the crowed and he sped forward to lunge at him. Orion changed forms and crashed into Soundwave, knocking him onto the sidewalk. Soundwave kicked Orion off and jumped to his feet, deploying another proxy from his chest.
"Frenzy, eject. Initiate mass hysteria!" He commanded.
"Let's make some noise!" Frenzy's arms shifted into radar dishes and released powerful sonic waves into the crowd around them. These sonic waves were high pitched and painful to the audio sensors, but their main effect was to increase the aggressive tendencies within a bot's processer and turn them into enraged lunatics. Frenzy had no problem inducing madness in an already paranoid and stressed populace with two Autobots in their midst.
"What the hell?" Orion yelled as the people around him began swarming them, throwing punches and kicks and shouting insults at his face.
"The officers don't care who gets hurt in their war!"
"Get out of here!"
"You can't protect us!"
"Have you people gone insane?" Orion hissed, pushed to his knees by the growing pile on him. "Stop this! I don't want to hurt you!"
"I don't think they care about that, Orion." Elita-1 said, forming a tk shield around them to keep the mob from swarming them.
Soundwave turned his attention from the mob to the Aerialbot circling above him. He wordlessly deployed Laserbeak and had him fly up at the Autobot. Without any command from Soundwave, Laserbeak fired his laser cannons into Silverbolt's underside, taking out his fuselage and thrusters.
"Where did you come from?" Silverbolt grunted. He tried shooting down Laserbeak, but the bird bot avoided his pulse blasts and fired another blast into his wing, causing him to drop like a rock. "Guys, I'm going down!"
Silverbolt crashed through a neon sign before hitting the ground and skidding through the sheet metal of the street. He reverted to robot mode and landed on his back, severely damaged and unconscious. Soundwave heard a loud bang and saw that Elita-1 had used her force shield to blast the rabid mob off her and Orion. He took back Frenzy and transformed to his smaller alt mode, allowing Laserbeak to grab him in the air and fly him over to a cargo train passing overhead.
"You're not going anywhere!" Elita-1 growled and fired her grappling hook onto the train, allowing it to pull her along.
"Wait, Elita, don't go alone!" Orion shouted after her. He cursed and switched forms to drive after the train.
On top of the train, Soundwave was in his robot mode kneeling on the high speed train that was no doubt heading outside the city. He hoped to at least reach the outskirts of Iacon and go the rest of the way on foot via the secret tunnels and passageways he had mapped out years ago. He went to look oer the side to make sure he lost the Autobots, but stopped when he felt a mental tug on his mind before leaping to the side to avoid a metal spike that was thrown at him from behind.
Elita-1 had jumped over the side and landed on the train, shooting pieces of sharp metal filaments at Soundwave. The spymaster took out a laser staff and skillfully deflected the fragments with expert movements akin to a master martial artist, and rushed Elita-1. She flipped over his head and tore up a large piece of the train's hull, throwing it at Soundwave. He kicked it away, but she fired a force blast into his chest that almost knocked him off the train. At this height and moving at this speed, falling off was the last thing he wanted to happen.
Glancing at Elita-1, he flexed his right arm and brought out a long, sharp blade from his wrist and charged at her. He slashed at her face and chest, but she dodged his attacks and took out a short sword of her own, moving to stab him in the chest. He grabbed her arm and tried to throw her off, but she telekinetically moved herself to come flying back at him, burying her feet into his chest in a hard kick. Soundwave fell onto his back but rolled to his feet, watching Elita-1 leap at him with her sword in hand. Expecting him to attack her, she was surprised when he simply sidestepped and allowed her to fly right past him.
"Frag!" She cursed as she crashed head first through a window and into a little energon shop, crashing into a table and landing on her face.
The patrons who were just enjoying their day looked at her in shock, especially the two femmes who were just having a calm day out just seconds ago. Elita-1 got to her knees and gave them a sheepish little smile.
"Um…my bad?"
XXXXXX
The journey to the border between Mytharc and Kalis was shortened thanks to Soundwave's knowledge of the terrain and his use of the natural tunnels that cut straight through the areas he knew was on high alert for his presence. It was night now and he was limping to Mytharc's territory still sporting his wounds from Elita-1's earlier assault.
'I must initiate auto-repairs.' Soundwave thought. 'They must hold until I can reach Nightsha-'
Something slammed hard into his back and sent him to the ground. It was Orion Pax. Soundwave tried to deploy Laserbeak, but a hard punch to his chest dented his cavity and jammed his launching mechanism.
"That's enough of that." Orion growled.
"Don't be overconfident!" Soundwave grabbed Orion's rifle and smacked him in the face with it. Orion stumbled back and the spymaster rushed him, throwing both of them into a crevice near them.
Orion got to his feet and was almost impaled by Soundwave's wrist blade. The Con slashed at his face and chest, and Orion deftly avoided his attacks. Pax grabbed his sword arm and stabbed it into the rock wall, kneeing Soundwave in the torso and punching him in the face repeatedly. Soundwave deflected his fists and punched his jaw, only for Orion to spin around and bury the blade of his energon axe into his shoulder. The red hot blade melted into the metal of his shoulder joint and the pain momentarily blinded Soundwave, allowing Orion to elbow him in the face hard enough to crack his visor and knock him out.
"And stay down." Orion panted, pulling his axe out of Soundwave's shoulder.
"Orion!" Hound called out as he and the others ran to join him. "Thank Primus, I knew we'd find you! I followed your trail from the service depot."
"Sorry we missed the party," Chromedome said, pressing a hand to his bleeding side. Elita-1 was already welding his wounds with a little heat torch to stem the bleeding.
"Wow," Ironhide whistled, looking at the battered forms of Orion and Soundwave. "Looks like he put up one hell of a fight."
"Nothing I couldn't handle." Orion said dryly. "Ironhide, change into your carrier mode. Let's get this slagheap up and head back to-"
"Not so fast, Pax."
Orion felt a gun pressed to the back of his head. He glanced back and saw Nightshade standing behind him with a squad of Seekers, their weapons pointed at all of them.
"Soundwave's one of us. You ain't taking him anywhere." Skywarp said.
"You're interfering with a sanctioned manhunt." Orion said.
"You Autobots are pretty far from home. This ain't your jurisdiction no more." Ramjet smirked.
Orion made to draw his axe, but Nightshade stopped him with a sharp bonk to his head. "Easy now. We're here for a reason other than Soundwave. Its Megatron…he wants to have a quick word with you. It's just a little sit-down. Then you can go."
"Yeah right." Orion growled.
"You might be able to escape this tussle." She pointed her pulse rifle at the wounded Chromedome and Elita-1. "But if you try, I'm under orders to execute your friends. It's your choice."
"Don't do it, Pax!" Ironhide yelled. "She's spoutin' slag! We all know it's a trap!"
"Let the smart ones talk, old man." Thundercracker hissed.
Nightshade turned Orion around and stared into his bright blue eyes, little more than a hair's breath away from each other. "Well, Orion-what's it going to be?"
XXXXXX
The place where Megatron wanted to "chat" was at a drinking hole in Mytharc called the Jump Point. It was a place where workers who slaved away at the forgeries and smelting pools would gather to drink away their exhaustion and sorrows, though despite its dingy appearance, the place sold some high quality drinks. Today, it was closed to the public, guarded by three Decepticon bruisers on Megatron's orders so that he didn't have any interruptions.
Orion Pax didn't know what to think or do as he sat across the cleanly polished table from Megatron. The last time they had traded words with each other was two years ago, over Elmeth's still body hours after Tarn's destruction at the hands of the Kadesh. His last words to for him to leave and never return and Orion did just that. It would forever haunt him till his dying day. Tarn still hadn't fully recovered from that attack and it would probably be years before the city could be close to repaired. The citizens had long since relocated to Kaon under Megatron's leadership, rallying under his banner from the tragedy. They now knew who sent the beast to their city, and they wanted blood.
He noted Elita-1 being held hostage by Astrotrain and Blitzwing for his compliance, so Orion decided to play nice now. In the meantime, he studied his former friend.
Time hadn't changed Megatron physically. He was still the same imposingly strong mech with gunmetal gray and black armor, with a bright purple Decepti-brand on his chest. A sleek black fusion cannon rested on his right forearm, a symbol of his power. His face looked slightly older and worn, and his orange red eyes burned brightly with unbridled hatred.
"So you bagged one of my officers just to tell me that Iacon's corrupt?" Orion scowled. Seeing Megatron, the mech who made his job hell everyday for two years straight, made him angrier than normal. "I knew that back when you were still getting ener-jacked in slam."
Megatron chuckled. "Beneath all the anger and cynicism, Orion, you're still an idealist. You still believe you can change the system from within."
"You don't know a damn thing about me, Megatron." He said. "And by the way, tell your mindless three form thug to go easy on Elita. She gets so much as a scratch, our little reunion gets heated."
"Of course, it'd be a shame if things turned violent." Megatron motioned for Blitzwing to remove the gun from Elita-1's head. "Now, Orion, do you remember that momentous occasion back in the Decagon? When you stood up to the senate, challenged their authority-quoting from my own manifesto? I do, I thought 'here's someone with a vision! Someone I can work with!'".
"I thought the same thing as you, until you started all that slag in Kaon. The Functionist council was dead, and we had proof of sentinel's indiscretions, and you've managed to make the sacrifices of my friends worthless in just one night." Orion huffed.
"I did what I had to for my revolution, Pax."
"You're a criminal posing as a revolutionary."
"And you're a revolutionary posing as a cop." Megatron replied. "As I said, we could accomplish great things together."
"Tell that to all those times you ignored my calls after sacking Kaon."
Orion suddenly felt a message get beamed straight into his brain. "Pax, this is Ironhide. Keep stallin' him-heavy transports' inbound."
"You know I wasn't in the mood to talk to you after what you did." Megatron said darkly. "Let me ask you this-how do you think the insurgents knew where to hit you in Nyon? They were tipped from the inside."
"Where are you going with this?"
Megatron raised his arm and Laserbeak flew onto the table. "Let me play you the data Soundwave procured. See for yourself; exhibit A: Starscream and Zeta Prime."
Laserbeak projected the council session from a small camera in his head. Orion was shown everything, from the introduction of the vamparc ribbon to its live demonstration, and when he saw Zeta's reply to Starscream's inquiry about a power source, his gaze turned colder than the glacial plains of northern Cybertron.
"I never did trust Starscream." He commented darkly.
"You'd be a fool to." Megatron agreed.
"You went through a lot of trouble to show me this." Orion said, staring directly into Megatron's eyes. "Why? Why now?"
"Because Zeta Prime possesses a radical new weapons technology…and with it, she'll kill everyone in Nyon, including us."
Orion could see that Megatron was deadly serious and forced himself not to take the despot's words at face value. "You're reaching Megatron."
"Am I? Let me connect the dots for you; Zeta set you up. She sent your team into Nyon knowing you'd be a target by insurgents. Your deaths would have been a pretext to invade. Has none of this occurred to you?"
"What the hell do you want from me?!" Orion yelled, now fed up with Megatron's word games.
"I want you to accept that the true enemy is the autocracy you serve. I want you to help me bring it all crashing down."
"That's not why I formed the Autobots. That's not why I led an assault on the Functionist Council." Orion said. "I did all that to avoid this situation!"
He got another transmission from Ironhide. "Transport's holding overhead, Pax. Just give the signal."
"There's only one thing I have to say to you, Megatron. Something I should've said after the Sundering of Tarn."
Megatron scowled. "And what's that?"
Orion gave his most honest reply. "I'm sorry."
The apology actually caught Megatron off guard. This gave Orion the chance to kick the table at Megatron and draw his barrage cannon, firing a blast at Blitzwing's chest that allowed Elita-1 to get free.
"Autobots attack!"
The roof was blasted in and Hound landed on the bar shooting down the surprised Cons. Prowl and Ironhide burst from the floor firing at Blitzwing and Astrotrain. Despite the rude interruption, Megatron couldn't help but look at Orion impressed.
"Well played, Pax. I underestimated you." He said.
"You usually do." Orion replied. "Ironhide, now!"
Ironhide punched Astrotrain in the face and grabbed hold of Elita-1. "Come on, little lady. Say goodbye to your new friends."
"Thanks for the save!" Elita-1 said before following Prowl and Hound out.
"Pax, move it!" Ironhide yelled at his commander.
"You're lucky my team comes first." Orion growled.
"Or what? You'd haul me in?" Megatron huffed. "You've been trying for two years. Besides, the entire city is under Decepticon control. How far do you think you'll get?"
"Far enough!" Orion jumped up to kick Megatron in the face before running to the hole blown into the wall. The Autobots crashed out the windows in vehicle form and drove down the street with the Decepticons shooting their guns after them.
"It's a long drive back to Iacon, Autobots! So move!" prowl said.
"We'll never make it!" Hound said. "There's Decepticons everywhere!"
Orion sent out an emergency pulse signal through their comm-channel. "Rally on me, Autobots! We're leaving!"
The Decepticons heard a loud roar and looked up to see a giant draconian creature with a body shaped like a space shuttle land on the ground and unleash a barrage of plasma and missile fire from his onboard weapons.
"Load up, boys! We're taking fire and the meter's running out!" Sky Lynx said.
"Am I glad to see you, Sky Lynx!" Elita-1 smiled.
"As you should!" The giant Autobot huffed proudly.
The Autobots loaded up into Sky Lynx's cargo bay and the hatch closed shut behind them. Ironhide gave the signal to disembark and Sky Lynx's massive body flew off the ground, reconfiguring into a space shuttle as he felt away. Nightshade hopped onto a rooftop and pointed a sniper rifle at them.
"I've got a clear shot of their shuttle, Megatron." She said.
"Let them go. Harassment fire only." He ordered, grinning. "With what he's learned, Orion will do more damage to the Autobot cause than we could in a hundred years."
XXXXXX
When Zeta Prime learned of their failure to apprehend Soundwave, she was livid. The entire Autobot team witnessed the bulk of her rage at them, but it was Orion who took the brunt of her temper. He didn't even flinch as she yelled in his face.
"You're an embarrassment to the Autobot cause, Orion." She hissed in his face. Her cold eyes glared into his masked visage and he glared right back. "I tasked you with retrieving hyper-sensitive intel, yet you return to me with nothing!"
"Oh, I gathered intel all right," He growled. "I saw for myself what you were planning, Zeta. It's madness! Our war is against the Decepticons, not our own citizens!"
"Do not presume to judge me for my methods, Orion Pax!" Zeta spat. "That's the second ambush you led your team into! Clearly you lack the subtlety and strength for true leadership!"
"Ha! Like you're a shining beacon of peace and unity!" Orion sneered. "You shouldn't talk, Zeta. Say what you want about me to make yourself look good, but at least the people of Iacon don't whisper my name in fear like I'm Unicron!"
"How dare you insult your Prime!" Zeta snarled.
"How dare you insult the mech who made you a Prime!" Orion yelled back.
"Enough of this, both of you!" Ultra Magnus yelled, standing between the two before things got physical. His Elite Guardsmen stood close, ready to interfere on his behalf.
Zeta and Orion glared at each other for a minute before stepping back from each other. Then Zeta said in a clipped tone, "I have another missing for you. Fail it, and I'll leave you to the Decepticons."
Taking Orion, Ironhide and Prowl down into the Citadel's operation center, Zeta told them of their next mission. "Your mission is to apprehend the insurgent who has been giving us trouble in Nyon. His…capture must be etched into the minds of al who threaten our order."
'Right…capture.' Orion thought scornfully. Zeta out to learn how to be more subtle with her true intentions.
"Great. This'll be like chasing a comet-trail into a black hole." Ironhide groaned.
"Easy, Ironhide." Orion told his friend. "I'm not sure I like what you're implying, Zeta."
"Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant." Zeta dismissed him "Our intel has identified this little revolutionary and while he's new to the insurgency, he's proven to be cunning and fearless. He's exactly the kind of recruit we don't want the Decepticons to have."
"Nyon's a rough neighborhood." Prowl said. "Do we have any leads on this mech?"
"Just one," Zeta brought up a holo-image of a young red and orange mech on the display. "His name is Rodimus."
Here is the second chapter of the story, where we get some one on one time between Orion and Megatron, who are both still hurting from the events of Tarn two years ago. I hope you all enjoyed it, as I'll be updating Distant Stars in the meantime before coming back to this. Please leave a review and thanks for reading.