JMJ

TWENTY-ONE: WAR GODS

There are valuable commodities aboard the Knight, Soundwave replayed Shockwave saying. Enough to defeat the…others if we utilize these commodities to our advantage—

This was no news to Megatron. Shockwave had already spoken those words in his lord's presence. Megatron had already given Shockwave leave to scour the ship for anything useful. Her energon supply alone proved valuable, but there were far more proactive and offensive goods aboard the Knight. With Lockdown offline, the whole ship was theirs for the taking after it was fixed up a little and some of the escaped creatures were utilized or disposed of properly. At that very moment Shockwave had Starscream and Skywarp, much to their displeasure, reduced to errand boys like fledglings, to help him.

But Soundwave had been patient for some time with Megatron sometime, and he wanted answers.

He was well aware that the others questioned his sanity. He knew what they murmured behind Megatron's back when they thought no one heard them: that their master had gone through too much trauma to the mental processors—used himself as a test subject for greater power—one too many times, and that his judgment had become impaired. No uncertainty emerged in Soundwave's mind that Megatron knew they said these things too, or at least thought them to themselves. Soundwave also assumed that Megatron shared with him that same strong suspicion that Starscream had yet again given up his loyal streak and that at any moment he may go AWAL on them. Skywarp's motivation was lacking more than it ever had in the past however, and Shockwave seemed to be running on automatic more than it was probably logical.

Still Soundwave had been patient with Megatron.

Megatron had always been one to think differently from other Cybertronians, and, admittedly, he did go through slumps and genius blocks and mood swings. The mood swings, especially used to throw Soundwave off, but he had been ever Megatron's most trusted servant. He had also always been his closest. No one knew Megatron better than he did. He was silent enough to observe Megatron, and he had known him fairly well even before the War. No living Decepticon could claim that any longer. Not even the X-commander Starscream in his better days could ever claim to know Megatron as well as Soundwave, and Soundwave knew that whether partly mad now or not, Megatron had always been "partly mad", if one wanted to call it that. Others had always said that of the great thinkers of the universe, but there was always a method to his madness.

At his spark, behind his crude warlord exterior, Megatron had ever been the philosopher, and this was no emotional musings of Soundwave's part. It was just a fact. Soundwave may not have been quite as literal about it as Shockwave and he certainly had his passionate moments, but Soundwave was a realist more than a romantic. He was nothing like Megatron who was romanticism incarnate and all the flood of emotion that went with it. Before he and Soundwave had become gods of war Megatron had been a thinker, a reader, and a dreamer; and his dreams were ever towering.

As Soundwave stared at Megatron in his usual uncomplaining silence, Megatron raised a brow as he studied Soundwave for a moment or two in return. In conversation Megatron always studied his opponent well before he retaliated as he slowly digested what had just been said to him. A philosopher, some may have been, but he was always a slow philosopher. Either way Soundwave was confident he was making himself clear in his query without words of his own or an expression to match visible outside his visor.

Although not nearly as testy as this, they had carried conversations in this manner for over a thousand years. Megatron had to know even now exactly what Soundwave was asking Megatron about this warship, the Knight, the legendary Ship of Primes now at their disposal. If they could fix the Knight, which so far seemed to be quite severely damaged, it would easily wipe out the new settlement of the Autobots in one swift attack with no resistance able to withstand them on their part if they moved quickly.

But from his side of the visor through which he could see everything better than other Cybertronians, Soundwave had to admit that he could not see the same gleam in Megatron's optics as in times past. A true dullness, not a false one due to his slowness or tiredness seemed to overshadow them. An almost vacancy veiled them. Was he far away, not truly in the present but in some passion that he had yet to understand himself, or was it truly vacancy of mind? Was there nothing there to find aside from a dull grief, which ever persisted since Soundwave's return, and perhaps it was the grief of Megatron's own knowledge that his mind was not the same, but as his mind was not the same he could not figure out what to do about it.

At last, though not any longer than it usually took for Megatron to consider someone's well placed words thoroughly, he blinked at Soundwave and said, "I have already told you, Soundwave. There will be no conflict. No more war."

Times have indeed changed Soundwave replied now using Starscream's past phrasing, But will they trade? He then added in Megatron's own voice: Willingly?

Now a look of dull anger covered Megatron's face. "I will not use the Knight to force them into submission, and I know what you are considering mocking me with in return, Soundwave. That I have already broken my own word in allowing Starscream to go on his annihilation spree. That I allowed him to kill those that were not necessary to kill. They were not a threat. Or perhaps you would mock me with Bumblebee's bounty. Perhaps you would say how I've failed you all that remain. My faithful followers." He snorted. "My faithful followers have only grown further in their hatred for over a thousand years, and that hatred has made you all monsters hardly worth being called Cybertronian any longer, mutated metal beyond repair!"

Soundwave rolled his optics; though naturally, Megatron could not see this.

Melodramatic much?

Lighting up the screen on his visor he flashed a digital white flag with a very bold white question mark next to it. He meant it sarcastically to snap Megatron out of his flight of zeal as Soundwave's own anger and impatience began to rise.

"I have told Starscream and I will tell you," hissed Megatron very dangerously now, for he was not in the least bit amused but Soundwave was not threatened by him; though he had become a great deal more threatening in his weapons and bulk of late. "I will never surrender; though I die for my cause, but I am the next ruler of Cybertron. The fates will guide us to victory now that I've seen the error of my ways, but maybe I've made one more mistake in hoping that the monsters I've created would understand anymore than the Predaking still follows his maker or his master."

Now it was Soundwave who paused and studied his opponent.

Was this some new philosophy?

No.

Megatron was constantly contradicting his own bold statements. He did not know what he believed, because he was not purposely being a hypocrite. Soundwave knew that much. Even mad, Megatron would not abide hypocrisy and had never shown hypocrisy unless allowing his followers to be hypocritical meant so, which it probably did. Well, besides that he had treated everyone under his command equally unless they had angered him too much, but he would usually forgive them in the end if they survived his anger. Not even physical weakness was not to be treated with disdain or taken advantage of. Never had Megatron gone against these principles however rampant it was among his followers, but then, it only occurred to Soundwave now, that he had allowed most of his followers to get away with not following this "code of honor" so to speak, especially Starscream, whom he had always seemed to pity somehow from the early days before the War when Starscream was a friendless, passionate, aimless (if not incredibly confusing and obnoxious) young seeker, who was sent away by the council just to get rid of him and his annoyances…

They had sent Starscream to the farthest reaches of mining in the universe at the time while lying to him, as Megatron saw it, that it was his skill that had made them decide to make him leader of the most number of mining vehicons on Cybertron. Proud but incredibly lost, Starscream was to Megatron the epitome of what comes from a society with the problems he saw it had, and the terrible slope it was still descending into when he discovered him. He saw so much potential in Starscream's quick wit, his agility as a flight, and especially in that unused passion and rage if it was given purpose. He took him under his wing. Even Orion Pax, then Megatron's friend, saw a danger in giving the zealous Starscream something to fight for before he understood, but when Orion Pax had, as Megatron felt, betrayed him that only made Megatron's resolve to keep his word to Starscream more firmly.

When the initial slaughters that began the War commenced, Soundwave only foresaw Starscream's inclusion so high in their ranks as to make him second in command as leading to failure. He counseled against it. Admittedly, resentment also played a part in it, but either way Megatron was not easily counseled once his mind was made up. No doubt it was not only a desire to give a potential strength to the Cause something to boost him that made Megatron help Starscream as he had at the beginning, but no doubt pity had something to do with stopping him from killing Starscream when his plans for him did not work out.

Of course, there was just the fact that Megatron could never admit that he was wrong about anything, not even about Starscream…

Is that it then? Soundwave thought. The root of Megatron's present state. The impasse in his mind between thinking he was wrong all this time about the Cause and his lust for what he always believed is his only right and position in the universe to be Prime of Cybertron. And the added trauma to his mental processors must make it all the worse for him to handle.

He continued to stare at Megatron for a moment more.

Has he really died one too many times so that true damage has been inflicted on his brain modules themselves?

Was their leader no longer well enough to be their leader? Would they never regroup? There were so many ways Megatron could defeat that tiny remnant of Autobots, and so many ways he could take the new generation from them and reshape Cybertron to his will as a god of peace. The Knight, especially made this possible. The warship was meant to face armadas! The fight was theirs and theirs alone. And Megatron's strange words of forcing a peace upon both Autobot and Decepticon was the only drivel that came out of his mouth. One could not force peace; though in theory the Knight could possibly make some surrender.

The visor screen blinked again. This time Soundwave displayed the Decepticon symbol and the Autobot symbol side by side and multiplied this image by three. Inside each pair he put a different symbol: "Vs.", "+", and "=". Afterward he put again his question mark from before beside a well meaning "_". To emphasize himself, he put the Decepticon symbol "+" Autobot Symbol "≠" a picture of Cybertron. Decepticon symbol "+" Autobot Symbol "=" "0".

I have never questioned you once you made a decision said Soundwave.

It was in his own voice capacitator too, but it was not his voice of the present.

Part of him had been tempted to give a full articulate response to Megatron, but he would not give up his vow of silence just yet.

This was a quote from the past. Megatron had once in a slump before the full swing of the War, questioned Soundwave's loyalty, not for Soundwave's sake, but for his own, for he himself was having a rare moment of regret that those on Cybertron who fought for the status quo forced him to use such extreme measures against them. This was what Soundwave had answered.

Using this phrase in present day, however gave a very new meaning to it. How much did Soundwave have patience with him? The stars only knew as Megatron's ideas became more and more romantic (if one wanted to call ways of killing people romantic) the longer the War went on until they were not so much romantic ideas as disturbing. He risked the safety of the Decepticons, and his own sanity had been on the line.

How much Soundwave put up with! He would not allow his processors to calculate it. Now, after escaping from some vacuum of interplanetary dimensions, a plan organized by human spawns, he came back not to find Megatron at his height with newly acquired weaponry aimed at Bumblebee's head now that the Prime was out of the way, but a self-obsessed, delusional heap of scrap metal. If it had not been for the respect of a thousand years already earned by Megatron, Soundwave might have thought of terminating him already.

Soundwave was not sure whether to feel betrayed or to feel disgusted! But there was no talking to Megatron, he realized. No eloquence in the universe would bring him back to his senses. As Soundwave had come to learn, eloquence of many words rarely helped any situation, really, but if there was one thing he almost wished to say out loud it was simply this: "Megatron. Do you hear yourself? You're talking madness, stupidity even!" Anyone else who would say such a thing may have risked Megatron's wrath, but Soundwave knew that the respect Megatron had for him for over a thousand years would have stayed his wrath normally, but now…It was difficult to tell, but Soundwave was confident that he could escape it, either way. Still he kept his vow of silence. If Megatron was too lost to tell Soundwave's thoughts without him outright saying them, he did not deserve to hear them anyway.

At present, besides leering and grumbled, Megatron had nothing more to say to Soundwave, and he told him so, but he did have an order for Shockwave on the Knight, "Leave the ship for now."

There was a pause of confusion and Soundwave watched Megatron with interest.

"At once, Lord Megatron." Shockwave knew better than to question him.

That was when Megatron's madness became the clearest to Soundwave.

Once Shockwave, Starscream, and Skywarp had left the ship, Megatron flew in himself, and with his massive blaster, he destroyed its core, making the Knight a stranded craft. No one, Megatron later said, was to use the legendary ship, only salvage what was in it.

Everyone else was in a state of shock for some time, but Soundwave was not. In fact his decision had at last been made.

#

During the couple Earth cycles that followed, Starscream continued helping Shockwave with Skywarp in salvaging what they could from the smoldering Knight. Starscream was beginning to tire of the silence and the monotony, or of being Shockwave's errand boy. Yet he did not allow his time to be wasted.

He had been pondering over the possible ways of best utilizing his new toys. With the phase shifter in one hand he could easily get the mind control device into someone's head without an operating table. That had been the idea from the start, and it was perfect luck that he had managed to get a hold of both. Otherwise he might have been forced to try to drag someone else into this. As Shockwave would have been out of the question he would have had to resort to kidnapping someone from MECH, if there was anyone left now. But that exercise was pointless now, fortunately for him, and now that everyone's minds were focused on Megatron's action of destroying the Knight, no mind was turned to Starscream.

Well, except maybe Soundwave. Soundwave had been eyeing him an awful lot since the demise of Lockdown. Starscream doubted Soundwave had truly seen anything, because no matter what mood Soundwave was in he would not have allowed Starscream to have the phase shifter. He would have brought it up to Megatron. But he knew Starscream and he knew that for some time had acted simply bewildered but had suddenly become refocused. Starscream knew that he knew too.

Oh, if only he was a little better at his poker face, but every emotion was cursed to stain the casing on his arm.

But! Starscream thought. First and foremost, who shall I use it on?

The first idea that occurred to him was to use it straight up on Megatron himself. He was mad, after all. Everyone knew it. Even Starscream would make a better Megatron, Starscream felt. Then again if he was mad, would the mind control device work properly? If it failed, he would be offline before he could blink. He still would have to sneak up on Megatron, and the eyes on the back of his lordship's head AKA Soundwave would know. No question. Unless he mind controlled Soundwave.

Starscream had to chuckle there, but no one could sneak up on Soundwave.

He thought of toughing it out on his own again temporarily and mind controlling Bumblebee or possibly Jetfire, but the thought of being on his own did not bode well with him.

No. That was not good either.

He could control one of the Autobots without Megatron knowing, but Starscream was not sure exactly how the mind control device worked. Would it render the victim into a voice-commanded drone? Or would it just be an influence? The humans who designed it were going for influence, but without an actual Cybertronian mind to test it on, they were not sure how it would work either. By the data they had salvaged from the days of Silas, they knew it would do something to the will power of a Cybertronian mental processor, however, and from what Starscream had learned he believed they were right.

Maybe he should test it first, but there was not even a Vehicon around anywhere.

I wonder if it would be safe to test it on Skywarp temporarily…? He thought in frustration, but one look at Skywarp and he decided it best to simply wait.

Shockwave would be just as tricky even if less nerve wracking. He could not test it anywhere around Soundwave or Megatron, but Starscream's patience was wearing thin.

Interestingly enough it was Soundwave who broke the monotony by showing on the computer screen the location of what looked to be a large weapon located on Earth.

"According to Soundwave's findings, my lord," Shockwave said turning emotionlessly to his master, "it appears to be located in the area of Earth known as the Sahara Desert."

"How did it get there?" demanded Megatron. "What is its purpose?"

Soundwave showed the projectory aimed for the moon, and their exact location on it.

"If we had a functional base (or a great warship)," retorted Starscream, and he did not care that Megatron lifted a testy brow at him, "we could disable it from here."

"We do not," said Shockwave. "Therefore it is illogical to discuss it."

"Who is behind it?" demanded Megatron.

Soundwave shrugged.

It was a massive weapon if Soundwave was correct, but nothing else could be known for certain at present.

"A trap?" offered Skywarp. He glanced idly at Megatron.

Soundwave opened a portal and nodded towards Skywarp and Starscream as though suggesting they go and investigate.

"Yes, do so," said Megatron. "Find out what's going on, and destroy it if you can." He turned to Starscream, and Starscream shuddered. "Without casualties if it can be helped."

Starscream grinned. "Of course, Master!"

Skywarp was about to begrudgingly but obediently go in through the portal when Starscream added, "But what if Skywarp is right, and it isn't a weapon but a trap for us, and as soon as we emerge on the other side the Autobots—"

Coordinates are secure said Soundwave in an old Shockwave recording with which he meant to say that he had chosen his spot carefully.

"In the meantime, my Lord, would it not be wise to move our own position with the Black Hole?" asked Shockwave; he was scanning over the screens and touch-screening about. "Something also does not appear to be right with our network as if someone has hacked it, and it would be logical to be on a location of the moon that could not be targeted while I see to it."

That would be logical Soundwave agreed in Shockwave's recording yet again, and he glanced at Megatron.

Megatron was occupied with Starscream.

Starscream frowned, but he made no further delay or complaint. Maybe once on Earth he would be able to utilize his new toys, anyway, if they truly did have the element of surprise. He did not like the situation. Not one little bit, but he passed Skywarp and stepped first towards Soundwave's open portal. Starscream could not help but wonder why Soundwave insisted upon using his own portals which were not quite as precise as bridging. Then again, they were not traceable either.

Skywarp went through.

Starscream felt that something was going to be discussed behind his back once he left the base, but he would let them have their secrets for now however much he resented it.

Jet-mode activated, he flew through the portal and out in a flash on the other side into open air. He was so annoyed as he flew that he did not stop to think for a few seconds that he might be spotted, but he suddenly noticed that Skywarp was not beside him.

He jolted in midflight and came to a halt. He almost forgot to hover, and not because of the lack of Skywarp. He suddenly realized that he was not on Earth! This was not necessarily because he knew what the Sahara Desert looked like but because he knew exactly where he was—the old Predacon gravesite!

"What!?" he demanded.

Skywarp was beside him now and just as in shock. Both jets quickly turned tail then and flew with all their strength back towards the still miraculously open portal in the Cybertronian sky, but just as Starscream thought he could hear the raised voices of his fellows on the other side of Soundwave's portal, he was suddenly in a shock to see a great bulk of metal coming straight at his face. Starscream, in his surprise, could not prevent the collision.

Both he and the great metal fell and tumbled on the cliff side bordering the ancient seabed. The skeletal remains of ancient Predacons had been cleared but he could still picture their vengeful claws wrenching upward as though to snatch him. What was worse is that even before they came to a stop Starscream heard the deep, chest rupturing swoop of a pair of very familiar living wings.

When at last Starscream was on his feet again, what made matters all the more disturbing was that that lump of metal that had come through with him was Megatron himself, and the portal was nowhere to be seen. Only the swelling heat of the Predaking's chest took up Starscream's vision then, and the optics in the Predaking's head that were already filled with flame.

Starscream squeezed his optics shut and cringed.

#

Skywarp's split second timing through the portal would have made Starscream envious, but as it closed behind him once he was safely on the other side he did not have long to feel triumphant. He transformed immediately as he came inside and he dropped to the floor on his feet but he staggered. This was mostly because of the sudden vice-grip around his neck—the grip of Soundwave's tentacle.

Skywarp let out a strangled cry, and swiveled his optics to the blank visor over Soundwave's face. That was when he noticed that Megatron was nowhere around.

Had that truly been Megatron that he had seen whiz past him before entering the portal? Had Soundwave really forced him in?

Was that even possible?

Perhaps, only if Megatron truly had not been prepared. And how could he have been prepared for the betrayal of his most trusted accomplice, his most trusted servant, but Skywarp knew that it was Soundwave who felt betrayed. Megatron's madness had driven Soundwave too far.

Shockwave was standing there in silence. How much he knew of what Soundwave had been about to do before he had done it was beyond Skywarp, but it seemed that Shockwave had little intention of interfering with Soundwave's mutiny. Or if he did, he found it illogical to interfere yet.

"Who do you serve, Skywarp?" demanded Soundwave, and he truly did demand it in his own voice capacitator.

Skywarp was beginning to feel lightheaded from the energon blockage to his head, and he managed to wheeze out, "All hail Soundwave."

Then Soundwave dropped him to recover himself sprawled out on the floor.