It was eerie, Starscream was forced to admit-if only to himself. Grimwing had left shortly after Shockwave explained his duties as an assistant, and the attentiveness with which the beast listened to him was strange. And it sounded an awfully lot like what Starscream did, only having to unfortunately associate with the scientist more. Is he trying to replace me with this thing? It didn't make any sense though, but the thought was kept to the back of his mind just in case.
Starscream jumped as one of the last tubes shook, the form inside shaking. The seeker scowled as Shockwave barely gave the chamber a glance. "Was it really necessary to have them incubate so close together? What could you possible need seven Predacons for? They can't all be for Ripclaw."
"No, they're not." Shockwave said calmly. "Until Skystalker succeeds or perishes he will be the only one assigned that task. The rest were modified with varying skills and intelligence. Darksteel and Skylynx are labourers, no great intelligence needed. Circuit is the leader, and must be cunning to keep the others under heel and prevent mutiny. Grimwing is meant to work with me in the lab, therefore I require intelligent conversation-"
Starscream scowled; that was surely a dig at him, and he cut him off just as rudely. "So you've got smart and stupid, what more is there?"
Shockwave infuriating continued as though Starscream hadn't spoken. The seeker was spiteful enough to dare say the scientist merely wanted to stroke his own ego. That seemed unlikely, but Starscream would hold onto it until proven otherwise; he already imagined Shockwave made Skystalker because he couldn't frag Ripclaw himself, so why not?
"This is Lazerback." Shockwave gestured to the Predacon who worryingly begun to shake so hard the glass rattled. It settled back down slowly, averting some rather unnerving flashbacks to Predaking and Ripclaw's feral states.
The Predacon was big, nearly taking up the entirety of its tube, but it was surprising because the last one was the same size and yet it didn't move at all. Starscream warily stepped back as the former shifted, its colors not having come in but he noticed the two pronged missile launcher on its back. Yet another ridiculous modification. It had a thick body, long legs curled up to its chest, and a round head that ended in a sharp beak.
"I take it the name came from it's missile launcher?" Starscream asked dryly.
Shockwave didn't comment on it as he kept talking. "Should Skystalker fail, he would be the replacement, though for now he is as sterile as the rest. He is nearly Predaking's equal in all but form-I lacked the proper endomatter to create a replica."
"Ah, so its only second best then." The seeker sneered. "What about the last one? Is it your table scraps?"
"Cindersaur is merely meant to be strong, and she is to defer to Circuit and provide backup should one of the other Predacons try for leadership." Shockwave explained. "It does not take much intelligence to follow someone."
"Table scraps it is then," Starscream drawled, smirking nastily, "I don't know why I was surprised to find even you have favorites." He flinched when Lazerback shook again. "W-why such a fixation on Ripclaw then? You have all these Predacons-make one of them capable of carrying-disgusting as it may be, I'm fairly certain they'd have been grown with the equipment in place."
"You fail to see the greater scope of my experiment; Ripclaw is not a clone, as I have told you before, and had I merely wanted a Predacon capable of carrying I would have done that already." Shockwave explained. "The result would not be as durable, due to the already weak CNA of the endomatter. The offspring of a true Predacon would negate that, and by unlocking the fusion of Ripclaw's CNA with a modern Cybertronian will allow untold scientific breakthroughs, possibly even splicing unrelated CNA with a Cybertronian, mass producing such creatures...all the possibilities..." his voice trailed off.
Starscream's optics widened incredulously. Shockwave's shoulders slouched, his optic being almost half-lidded as his helm tilted at a slight angle, and his attenae twitched. Is...is he actually...daydreaming? Starscream blinked rapidly, just because he couldn't be sure if this was a hallucination or not. But no, Shockwave was still in that bizarre tableau.
It made the seeker's plating crawl, and not just with the possibility that Shockwave might come after him if he gets Ripclaw's CNA fused with the donor sample, thus proving his 'theory'. What kind of mad scientist did you allow into our cause, Megatron?
Starscream stepped back, his optics flickering to the entrance. Perhaps he could still make a break for it- a winged form dropped in front of the entrance, Skystalker transforming as he rushed in. Starscream snarled, his chance gone along with Shockwave's lapse in character. Wretched beasts keep ruining everything!
Skystalker glanced at him, but then focused on a once more composed Shockwave. His wings hunched behind him, head bowed and optics downcast. "Sir, I have something important to report."
Shockwave stared at him, optic glancing at his console before looking back at Skystalker. "Where is Ripclaw?" The Predacon knelt down on one knee. "Why have you returned empty-handed?" Skystalker's other knee hit the ground, his form hunkering into itself to appear smaller. "Why did you return at all?"
Skystalker's cold expression was fearful, contrite, but Starscream was irritated to find even beneath that there seemed to be calculative edge. It would explain his overly formal display of pleading for forgiveness. "Sir," he said softly, optics turned to the ground, "Ripclaw is not on planet."
"You returned simply because finding him proved too difficult?" Shockwave questioned, and only he could make such a blantly critical question neutral.
Skystalker shook his head. "No, I concluded on my own that Ripclaw is on earth, as per one of your speculations in my informational package." he explained. "I have returned because Predaking is still alive."
Starscream jumped, the revelation hitting him hard. "What? You must be mistaken. I saw Predaking go out the airlock myself!" Skystalker glared at him-clearly his display was not meant for him.
Shockwave inclined his head briefly. "And you are certain?" Skystalker nodded briskly, and the scientist walked over to the console.
Starscream was in disbelief as Shockwave pulled up a file containing Predaking. "You can't possibly want to return Predaking to the fold after what he did! He's clearly not on our side, what purpose would he have here? You said so yourself-Circuit's the leader now."
"It is best to keep all assets under one command. Predaking was the prototype, and it should not take much to re-educate him about where his true loyalties should lie." Shockwave said. He turned off the console, and made his way towards the hall. "Skystalker, Starscream, come-we must make preparations for Predaking's return."
Starscream scowled, but with Skystalker lurking behind him, he had little choice but to follow. "And if he resists?"
Shockwave didn't pause. "Then he serves as little more than a liability."
Skystalker smiled slightly. "So this means I'll still get to be the only one for Ripclaw?"
"Yes." Shockwave said, and Starscream just barely kept his snort back.
As their steps grew fainter and the voices became quieter, the central command station was left silent.
A silence soon broken by the sound of claws scraping along the hyper-evolution chamber. Shifting his massive form, Lazerback's purple optics opened in a glare. The sharp tips of his claws poked through the glass, and gentle cracks ran along the bottom. His paw retracted and the fluid gushed out of the opening.
Lazerback's optics glowed brighter, impatient and furious. Second best? Second best?! His paws shot through the glass in front of him, lips curling back into a snarl. The glass broke under the weight and the rest of the liquid rushed out, his form sliding along with it and he broke into a run the moment he touched the floor.
He'd heard everything those fools said. I am no one's second best, nor a pale imitation; Shockwave will pay for denying me my right! The ground crunched under his weight, the rush of wind freezing the fluid still on his frame, but he ignored it.
Predaking is going to pay for giving me this lot in life-they will all pay.
Lazerback was subservient to no one-Shockwave, Circuit, Predaking. And if Ripclaw was so important to those plans, well, as his 'creator' would say- it's only logical to take away that variable.
Earth, I must find a way to earth.
A/N: Interesting fact, but in Shockwave's WFC wiki page-which is also his Prime page- his...ambition was tempered by Megatron's more practical side. So this Shockwave is reverting back to his old ideas since there's no Megatron to keep him reined in. And we all know Starscream ain't no Megatron.
Also another 'interesting' thing I found out from his page was that Shockwave actually wanted to rule Cybertron. Make of that what you will.
