Haha, I totally spent Monday thinking it was Sunday! Sorry, my bad! Have a song: youtube "miki see the sky" and hit up the first vid. ohbaby. Love you guys!
After the cowardly seeker had run down the hall, Shockwave turned his attention to the cube. "You are quite the survivor. Your luck has managed to pull you away from even the incinerator... A crueler fate is it, to burn alive, or to live like this? I wonder if you can hear me in there." He tapped the cube. "Even if you could, it would be impossible for you to respond..." As tempted as he was to deal with this now, however, he would not shirk his duties and obligations to Megatron. "I will deal with you later." Shockwave turned back into his room, and set the cube on the table in his bedroom, then left.
Blitzwing's first impression after Soundwave invited him in was that the place was impeccably clean. It was one giant room, with a makeshift wall blocking the other end of the underground tunnel. Soundwave had obviously had a lot of free time, here. There was a seat made of wood, Soundwave-sized, with a few smaller chairs here and there, and perches hanging from the ceiling. A corner was neatly littered with pillows (with a large feline mech on them) and a TV, while another was stacked with barrels of oil and gas. Emergency reserves, Blitzwing guessed, since they had mentioned looking for fuel before. A workbench was set up on one side, and the tools and machinery on it were well organized and everything was in its place. Two stepladders were folded up under the bench, and it was lit up by a few clip-on lamps. All in all, very impressive. Blitzwing pressed his fingers together, clearing his vocal unit.
"As you are aware, as you are Megatron's creation, you are also decepticon. He has pulled forces back from earth, and my instructions from him are to retrieve all remaining forces here, and bring them back to New Kaon, our base and home planet. This includes you."
"New Kaon: More information required. Insufficient data on situation." Soundwave knew he was Megatron's creation, and also that he was decepticon. What...puzzled him, was this other planet.
"New Kaon is the decepticon base. It is a planet full of decepticon bots like yourselves and I. You will be safe. Megatron is also there." ...Well. Relatively safe, considering, but Blitzwing figured no one needed to know that just yet.
Soundwave looked back at the room. Leaving earth meant also leaving all he had built here behind. He had few possessions anyways, and he would not have any problem going. Rumble and Frenzy, however, he...did not know. He looked to them, and found them looking back at him.
"You are prepared to leave earth behind." An odd combination of both a statement and a question. None of them needed earth, obviously. The twins still had their odd attachment to the culture, though... Soundwave didn't think it was an option, with the way Blitzwing talked about it with such finality.
Blitzwing watched their interactions with interest. Soundwave said little, and the twins even less, yet there seemed to be far more communication between them than words could say. Soundwave also placed importance on what -they- wanted, and very much did not want to force them into feeling like they had to do something.
"I promise you, you will enjoy it. I will be your personal guide, also. My ship is large enough to transport us all. Any possessions you have, you may bring with you."
"Our music?" Frenzy piped up.
"That, also. Rumble, I believe, owes me a few.. 'tunes'."
"Hahaha! Yeah! I sure do! Okay! Let's get offa this planet! I never been in space before anyways!"
Rumble and Frenzy's confirmation was all Soundwave needed. "Affirmative. We will accompany you. Rumble and Frenzy: Will hurry."
Soundwave raided his bench, and stowed away any tools he would need for repairs, and a few small pieces of machinery he had been working on.
Frenzy and Rumble shuffled around the room. A cardboard box was filled with various items and closed up, and Frenzy lifted it, carrying it over.
"We're ready, boss!" Rumble saluted.
Soundwave pressed a button on his shoulder, and the large cab on his back hinged open. "Excellent. Ravage. Laserbeak. Buzzsaw. Return." The mechanical cat laying on the pillows, and the birds, who popped out of nowhere Blitzwing could see, all climbed into the cab, and it closed.
"Preparation complete."
"Good. We have one more stop to make. There is one more decepticon we must find." Blitzwing exited the door, and Soundwave followed, with the twins trailing after them.
"B-but, he was tall! So tall! THIS TALL!" Skywarp lifted his hand up to show just how tall the scary bot who took the cube was. He stretched to the tip of his feet, and his hand was up as far as it could go. Which was actually taller than Shockwave really was.
"Oh, please. You're exaggerating. And he said he knew who the cube was?" Thundercracker was tapping his foot. Skywarp had relayed the entire five minute story about how he'd lost the cube to him, and he was mildly irritated. If you wanted something done, you just had to do it yourself, apparently.
"Yes..."
"Well. Whatever then. We wouldn't have had any use for a cubed bot anyways. Who could survive -that-? ...I mean. I know I could, because I'm great like that." Thundercracker preened for a moment, picking at the tip of one of his fingers. "But yeah. We know where ol' Screamer's hiding out now. Let's go find him."
Skywarp nodded enthusiastically, and slunk after TC. So he HAD been the lesser of two evils! Skywarp never wanted to see that tall scary bot again. One eye had been creepy enough... but no face? He shuddered, and followed Thundercracker more quickly.
On the top floor of the hotel in the largest room, Megatron stood at the window, looking out at the view over the city. It had been so, so very long since he'd stepped foot here, he'd almost forgotten what it was like. He needed to be here, now. To connect with his people. Without someone to lead them, someone who let them know that they were there, they would fall apart. And then, what would he be left with? He'd realized this yesterday after the meeting, when a few decepticons had stayed behind to speak to him. They had all been genuinely happy to see him back, and let him know this.
One in particular stood out. Sky-Byte was somewhat of an oddity among decepticons. He was large. Intimidating. When he smiled, he was all teeth, quite literally, and even when he wasn't smiling, well... he was still all teeth. He was the kind of mech little autobot sparklings probably had nightmares about. Sky-Byte's appearance, however, was probably the only thing truly decepticon about him. The large shark-toothed bot was a poet at spark, and by no means a fighter, despite the damage he could likely do with his gaping maw. He was one of the few other than Lugnut and Shockwave that Megatron could trust, and despite having a softer spark than most decepticons, Megatron knew he was not a traitor.
Sky-Byte, something of an unofficial morale officer, kept Megatron updated on matters of the people. New Kaon was in a joyous uproar about Megatron's return. A majority of the citizens were civilian, and the news had left Megatron vexed.
A lot didn't care about the war. Didn't. Care. Megatron had almost lost his temper at that, and gone into his speech spiel at Sky-Bite, until the toothy bot spoke.
"The longer it is, the more people just won't care. Look at New Kaon. Despite our problems, we are an enduring people. Some are wondering if it should just end. Many want to rebuild. Carry on. Divert resources to making this our new, permanent home. Reports from Shockwave confirm that returning to Cybertron would be a vast change from what everyone is used to here."
And so, Megatron was left to decide what to do. On one hand, the injustice that his people had suffered for this to happen in the first place... Someone had to pay for it. On the other hand, the people wanted a leader now, someone who would organize their new mess of a planet, and lead it to prosperity.
He was the leader. He could easily stay the leader. Perhaps it was time to stop, for once, and listen to his people...
