No Greater Evil, Part III

Shadows chased him.

Cliffjumper hastily ducked in between a set of pipes and landed in an abandoned trench buried under hundreds of thousands of years of construction. Unknown fluids leaked from the pipes he'd just navigated through, only retreating when he flicked his headlights on and charged forwards. He didn't care if he drew attention. If anything, he relished in every activity that wasn't related to Rosanna or that didn't remind him of her. Up there, in her presence, he was the Autobot that failed to see two double agents masquerading right before him. Down here, he was the freshly appointed commander of Cybertron Intelligence, and he had a job to do.

He transformed and whisked away into the service streets, florescent streetlights shuddering with every quake gently rocking the Metroplex. Bars of frail light flickered overhead, giving away to the buildings constructing the labyrinth. He was lost. So very lost, underneath the stars and impossible recesses fixating into every corner of Cybertron. How could he have not known about these streets, when countless files and maps had passed underneath his watchful optics for countless stellar cycles?

At last, he saw the Autobots he was searching for. After rounding the next corner, he nearly drove right by Wheeljack and Perceptor. They stood helplessly at the side of the service road. Wheeljack was digging his way deep into the recesses Cliffjumper shied away from, while Perceptor scanning the area with a blank expression of fruitless determination.

Cliffjumper transformed, skidded, and then hurried back to join them. As he did so, he noticed of the fresh corpses of two Decepticons littering the street. He deliberately stepped on one's face on his way to meet the scientists.

'What's the situation?' Cliffjumper asked.

'We're fine, thanks,' Wheeljack retaliated. 'Just had to shoot our way through a few stragglers. No big deal.'

'Will it work? Are the bombs in tact?'

Cliffjumper looked curiously at Wheeljack's wide-eyed, static expression.

'What's with you?' Cliffjumper demanded.

'The bombs aren't here.'

He felt the floor sinking out underneath him. It took all of Cliffjumper's willpower to remain standing, followed by a surge of frustration.

'What do you mean "they're not here?!"' Cliffjumper exclaimed. 'Bombs don't just get up and walk away!'

'I'm not suggesting they did!' exclaimed Wheeljack. 'They're just not here!'

'They have to be! Didn't you even put monitoring devices on them? You know, in case someone moved them?'

'We did,' Perceptor confirmed. 'But we did not receive notification about the explosives being removed.'

'These weren't your run-of-the-mill bombs!' Wheeljack continued. 'These are highly advanced, untested explosives encrypted with rigid security measures! You don't just press a button and arm them! You have to be an expert to get them working.'

Cliffjumper struggled to regain control over his chaotic thoughts, switching from one worst-case scenario to another. They all involved a deafening explosion that toppled him head-over-heels and loosing all sense of reality.

'Let's think about this calmly for a nanoclick,' he said, forcing himself to sound reasonable. Maybe if he tried to sound calm, he would become calm as a consequence. 'How many bombs were under the Nexus?'

'Just two,' said Wheeljack. 'We already checked where we left the other one and she's not here. The second is supposed to be attached to the valve over here.'

Wheeljack indicated a mechanism attached to the pipe. The best Cliffjumper could figure it out, it controlled pressure for whatever substance flowed through them.

'What do they look like?' asked Cliffjumper.

'They are – they were disguised to look like a natural part of the pipelines,' said Wheeljack. 'Sneaked them in when they were rebuilding this part of the city right after the Great War. No one knew the difference. They fit around the pipe, you see. Looked like these things.'

Wheeljack pointed to monitoring devices that encircled other pipelines, a natural, indistinguishable part of the environment.

'Can't remove those things without risking a loss in pressure,' Wheeljack explained. 'Loss in pressure means a big detonation somewhere else, unless you got real quick servos. Seemed the best way to dissuade anyone from tampering with it.'

'You don't think a maintenance worker could have taken it off without knowing?' Cliffjumper asked.

'We had monitoring devices,' Wheeljack asserted. 'We would have known!'

All at once, static shouted out in Cliffjumper's communications link. He instinctively jerked, as if that would help alleviate the growing sound of buzzing. But it faded quickly, and from the static came a crisp, calm voice he was all too familiar with.

'I knew you would try to locate those explosives,' said Shockwave.

'Dammit, it's him!' Cliffjumper exclaimed. 'Shockwave's on my comm link.'

He quickly gestured to Perceptor. Perceptor nodded. If Perceptor could trace the signal, it would be a matter of congregating on the Decepticon's position. All Cliffjumper had to do was keep the traitor talking for long enough while Perceptor attempted to trace the link.

'What do you want, Shockwave?' demanded Cliffjumper.

'Cliffjumper, your ability to interfere in every matter that does not involve you never ceases to amaze me,' mused Shockwave. 'You managed to be as predictable as you've always been and went directly to the bombs planted here eons ago.'

'Why are you contacting me?' Cliffjumper asked.

'Because despite myself, I believe in a fair fight, and I understand that my ability to successfully escape from this doomed attack is by providing a distraction that will lead you away from me.'

'...What did you do with the bombs, Shockwave?'

'What any sensible Decepticon would do. I placed them under the Metroplex and armed them.'

His eyes wandered. His vocal processor jammed. Somewhere, far away, he could imagine Shockwave glaring with a penetrating, solid eye, not flinching. Never flinching. How Cliffjumper wished he never flinched like Shockwave; how he wished that, in that moment, he had a word that would embody every hatred he felt towards this Decepticon. Now, he realized that he hadn't spoken for a long time, and Wheeljack and Perceptor had their optics carefully trained on him.

'You have sixty cycles,' Shockwave finished. Then he cut communications.

Still unable to speak, he looked hopefully to Perceptor.

'Shockwave scrambled his signal,' Perceptor reported. 'An intelligent move, and a predictable one.'

Cliffjumper grumbled. He could be patient – sometimes. Like when it came to Shockwave. A slow death for Shockwave seemed suitable, a slow, torturous death in which the Decepticon feared his coming, retreating from the world in a maddened frenzy.

Cliffjumper exhaled unsteadily. He briefly looked upwards, towards the Metroplex towering somewhere over them.

'He knew about the bombs,' Cliffjumper explained. 'He's put them under the Metroplex and armed them. We have sixty cycles to come up with a plan.'

'Slaggit, I was afraid of this!' Wheeljack exclaimed. 'We need to warn Kup and tell him to get everyone out of the Metroplex.'

'That would be inefficient,' Perceptor pointed out. 'The devices are easily powerful enough to collapse the Metroplex, the Space Bridge Nexus, and the surrounding city blocks, causing widespread devastation. Sixty cycles is not enough time to evacuate the explosives' radius.'

'Then we got one choice,' concluded Cliffjumper. 'Can you – can you somehow trace the bombs? Track them down?'

'It is possible,' answered Perceptor. 'When armed, the explosives emit a minor subsonic pulse every twenty nanoclicks. Theoretically, we could use this to trace their origins.'

'Get on it,' Cliffjumper ordered. 'I'm going after Shockwave.'

'Cliffjumper – we need you here!' Wheeljack pleaded.

'And I need to take care of Shockwave! He's just using this as a distraction so he can slip away unnoticed! Well, I'm not letting him get away with it! Never!'

He transformed and floored it, travelling back in the direction he had come from.

'You don't even know where he is!' Wheeljack shouted after him.

'There is a certain logic to your actions, Cliffjumper,' Perceptor coolly called. 'Should Shockwave elude the Autobots, then he will commit countless crimes in his escape. It is worth the high probability of collateral casualties to ensure that future ones are prevented.'

His tires screamed as they came to a halt.

Cliffjumper transformed and walked the length he'd just travelled to face Perceptor. Perceptor's frustratingly unchanging expression was the same as always. Back right when they had first met, Cliffjumper had entertained fantasies about breaking it.

'What are you saying?' Cliffjumper demanded.

'I did not say anything,' Perceptor replied. 'I implied that you are the only currently available Autobot willing to make the difficult decision to disregard the lives of the Autobots in the Metroplex to pursue a known Decepticon terrorist. Clearly Shockwave must be stopped. Your decision is sound.'

'Is this your attempt to guilt trip me into lending a hand?'

'You have your duty, Cliffjumper, as Wheeljack and I have ours. Our path is clear, but you have the luxury of selecting a decisive action that will determine whether or not an infiltrator is caught or killed, at the cost of many lives.'

Cliffjumper glared firmly at both the Autobots standing before him. His fists involuntarily clenched.

'You know what?' Cliffjumper barked. 'Fine. You got me cornered.'

'Well, don't bother helping if you don't want to!' Wheeljack snapped. 'What's gotten into you, Cliffjumper?'

'What's gotten into me?!' Cliffjumper roared. 'What's gotten into me?! Longarm is Shockwave – a Decepticon who spread terror throughout the Great WAr! I would sacrifice this whole city if it meant Shockwave behind bars, and all you two can do is try to con me into aiding in a job you can clearly do yourself?! Can't you see Shockwave is dangerous?! He needs to be destroyed before he gets farther away than he already is!'

'From my standpoint, Shockwave isn't the dangerous one here,' said Wheeljack.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'It means you must have some serious malfunction to think that letting thousands of Autobots die is worth capturing one criminal!'

'If Shockwave escapes, it won't be thousands, it will be tens of thousands, maybe millions!' Cliffjumper defended. 'If Shockwave escapes, then Megatron will have his best scientist back, and he'll have the power to develop weapons that will make whatever you two come up with look tame!'

He made no further discussion of it. Cliffjumper transformed and hurtled down the road. Swallowed up by the underground, he armed himself with only a sweltering heat best classified as the fires of the Pits, rising up in a feeble attempt to strike down his prey. To Cliffjumper, there was no one else in the Metroplex, only him and the traitor, and he would never let Shockwave see the light of day again.

Cliffjumper took the maintenance road until there wasn't any road left, forcing him to travel by foot down a number of long-abandoned staircases twisting into paths only frequented by the occasional maintenance drone. In truth, despite being involved in a department where secrecy was a way of life, he rarely found reason to study Cybertron's intricate underground. The planet carried a long and detailed past, and the underground was not just a place of mystery, but a place that encompassed some of their greatest history. Supposedly it was from these depths that Cybertronians were first conceived, while countless rebellions happened right underneath the watchful eyes of their oppressors.

Appropriately enough, it was here that Shockwave had fled. As Cliffjumper journeyed deeper into unexplored parts of the Metroplex, he saw signs that the Decepticon was hurrying through, from broken security scanners to doors ripped open with unbelievable force. At one point, he even crossed paths with two Autobots hiding from the action above. The only relevant information they provided was that they'd seen Decepticons lurking around. Cliffjumper promptly ordered them to return to their stations or be charged with desertion. They left without question.

Now, he didn't know where he was. The maps he'd briefly studied only took him so far before landmarks started becoming more alien to him. Cliffjumper found himself in a tight corridor blanketed by warning signs to stay out, and piping hot conduits running along the ceiling. He walked in between doors that led into long-abandoned rooms and security stations, where there were nothing but ghosts.

Cliffjumper imagined that he was in the old Metroplex. Long before their building had been constructed, there was another Metroplex, and when it became out-of-date, the Autobots simply built on top of it. It was how most construction projects went on Cybertron. Organic planets could be reformed to their needs, and, on Cybertron, they went about it in a similar fashion, re-purposing every stagnant building to create something new.

Cliffjumper passed by a sign reading "Authorized Personnel Only," repeated it to himself, and paused. From the ceiling, an ancient scanning mechanism lowered and focused a bright blue light on him, confirming his identity. The security gate – old, solid steel bars – were snapped like twigs, and thus the security scan was rendered moot. Some trespasser had swarmed through here.

It wasn't like Shockwave to rush. Cliffjumper had studied every available psychological profile of Shockwave during his time at Intel. Hell, he used to obsessively daydream about how a battle with him would ensue. During the war, hardly everyone had ever seen Shockwave, for he lingered behind a computer screen creating statistics on behalf of Megatron, and then pointing deliberately towards the Decepticon's next target. Usually it was a notable Autobot governor, though occasionally there were whispers of a colony falling, or loyal Autobots unexpectedly defecting to the other side. If Cliffjumper knew one thing, it was that the longevity of the Cybertronians was both their greatest advantage and greatest weakness, for if anything, Shockwave weaved together plans centuries ahead of time.

He'd been planning this for years, but he would never leave behind such blatant signs of his movements. Something was pushing him deeper into the bowels, and as of that moment, as Cliffjumper scurried through the halls, that he knew that he was the one triggering disruptions in Shockwave's carefully laid plans. Cliffjumper smiled grimly as he imagined Shockwave's eye narrowing in subtle annoyance.

Beyond the security gate, he rounded down a flight of stairs and into a maintenance corridor. Pipes bordering either side of the hall screamed as steam rapidly pumped through them.

He saw none of this, for there were corpses blocking the hall.

Never lowering his weapon, Cliffjumper edged forwards to where the bodies were located. Three in total. All some unfortunate Autobots in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were decorated in scorch marks, and the smoke rising from their bodies was still warm.

A shadow flickered in the corner of his eye.

'Shockwave!' Cliffjumper shouted. 'I know you're down here!'

His voice reverberated back to him. Stepping over the bodies, he moved steadily through a pool of various fluids rising at his ankles, not looking down to see what the cause was. But in the shadows, he could smell Shockwave lurking just out of sight, and feel his pointed claws reaching out to snatch from behind. Every sensor was on fire.

Steam rushed before Cliffjumper's path, creating a cloud that parted as he charged forwards to where he'd imagined the Decepticon's shadow. But it was already gone. Cliffjumper directed his gun down the length of the hall, knowing better than to shoot in such a treacherous environment. Should the contents of the pipes be flammable, one misfire could potentially ignite the hall. It was not the preferable outcome, but that was where it stood, and when the steam cleared, he saw that it was vacant of life.

'Shockwave!' Cliffjumper shouted. 'We got some things we need to talk about!'

This statement was met with a drawn pause.

Shockwave bled out of the shadows, his stance erect and casual, his claws dripping with freshly drawn energon. A weight tugged at Cliffjumper's knees. These hallways weren't entirely abandoned – engineers were sent down to these depths to perform regular maintenance that could not be done by automatons, and thus far he had seen none of them. There could be little doubt about where they had vanished to, and that there were more bodies hidden out of sight.

Surprisingly, though, after staring for an indeterminate amount of time, Shockwave turned his back and walked casually in the other direction.

'Hey!' Cliffjumper shouted. 'Where do you think you're going?'

'I have more pressing matters to attend to than your feeble need for revenge,' stated Shockwave.

'You think this is about revenge?'

'Well, it certainly isn't about your sense of duty.'

Cliffjumper glared down the barrel of his rifle. He grunted in frustration and charged forwards.

'I'm not done with you!' Cliffjumper declared.

'Oh, but you are,' said Shockwave. 'If one shot from your weapons damages these pipes, this entire complex will be destroyed. I know you wish to kill me, but I doubt you are determined enough to kill Autobots who are hiding down here...and there are a number of them.'

Shockwave quickly went through an open doorway. Cliffjumper chased him and nearly balked as the corridor opened up into a dome stretching far over his head, capturing the sound of the throbbing pipes. It was remarkable to think that this place was so fragile, that one shot would mean the end of it all, when construction such as this loomed before him.

He wasn't sure where they were, but he could hear the distant pummel of gunfire rocketing through the facility. Vertical pipes descended from the ceiling to travel deeper and deeper into an abyss centred in the middle of the colossal dome. There was no safety railing. Cliffjumper cautiously moved to the edge to peer down, and saw the labyrinth of pipes and ancient equipment descending even further into Cybertron. He'd heard stories about the intricate inner network of Cybertron, and though he had spent many a year glimpsing blueprints, he had never seen such a raw display of it.

If Shockwave vanished down there, he would be gone for good.

Cliffjumper didn't let his gun falter as he chased Shockwave down the length of the ramp. His patience receding, he squeezed the trigger.

Before he could fire, Shockwave let out a drawn sigh and drew out his own weapon. Cliffjumper staggered to a halt. Shockwave quickly glanced at his surroundings, and, with deliberate steps, he moved towards the wall, where a cluster of pipes effectively blocked Cliffjumper's view. He almost fired, but Shockwave merely reached in. A shrill scream resounded through the dome.

Shockwave drew out his hand to drag out an Autobot who had clearly been hiding among the pipes, so familiar with their networks that he thought he was able to deceive the Decepticon. He struggled feebly against Shockwave's grasp as he moved back to the edge of the pit, holding the worker in front of him as a living shield.

'At this point in time, you would be a benefit to the Decepticon cause if you continued living,' announced Shockwave. 'Don't force my hand.'

Cliffjumper glanced at the worker, then past him to Shockwave. 'You'd be smarter to kill me. Besides, I can't imagine any possible reason why you'd want me to live.'

'If you live, you are the likely candidate to become the next Prime of Cybertron Intelligence,' Shockwave asserted. 'It is better to know who your enemy is and wait for the opportune moment to eliminate them as a threat. As of this moment, this is not the opportune moment for your death. That will happen eventually, but not today.'

Shockwave retraced his weapon, relying solely on the hostage to prevent Cliffjumper from shooting. One move, and Shockwave would disappear into the abyss to never be seen again. He had to keep him talking while he tried to concoct a plan.

'I want to talk to you,' Cliffjumper decided.

'Talk?' Shockwave replied. 'You have never wanted to talk, not for a moment in your existence.'

'I didn't say I wasn't gonna shoot you after. I got questions, you got answers.'

'We both work for Intelligence networks, albeit on opposing sides. You, out of all Autobots, can understand that I cannot give you the answers you are looking for.'

Cliffjumper raised his gun once again. 'I could just skip straight to the shooting.'

'If you didn't kill this Autobot, you would miss, if not due to my great skill, on account of your poor judgement of when to walk away.'

He clenched the gun. Then, his grip slackened, and he lowered it, if only slightly.

'Was it all a ruse?' he asked.

'Every moment of it,' Shockwave confirmed.

'If it was a ruse, why didn't you let them drag me off to the Stockades? You know me! You know I kept checks on practically every Autobot in the Metroplex!'

'I saved your career and possibly your life because we had established a professional relationship that I could not afford to loose,' said Shockwave. 'Because you, out of every Autobot on Cybertron, knew not to believe the illusion of peace. You, out of everyone in the Metroplex, believed wholeheartedly in the return of the Decepticons, and never did you waver. If I kept you close, I could monitor your information networks and search for any cracks in Decepticon networks that could be plugged. You aided us more than you will ever know, Cliffjumper.'

'And Rosanna?'

'An acceptable loss. Together, we managed to keep Decepticon activities under the radar and beneath the notice of Autobots thanks to information gained from our close relationships with you. This attack is of your own making.'

'This is not my fault. This is thanks to your sneaky, underhanded tricks. '

'This particular incident may not be your fault, Cliffjumper, but the Autobots brought this upon themselves.'

'Why did you do it?' Cliffjumper asked. 'Just – just tell me that. Why?'

'You dare ask me that?' Shockwave asked, his voice barely wavering. 'It was my duty. I am a Decepticon. I was a Decepticon long before you were even imagined. I was never an Autobot as you seem to believe; this is what I always was and shall be until I can no longer serve Megatron. And my loyalty to the Decepticon cause is more genuine than any Autobot's loyalty to our leaders or to each other. Autobots can be bought. Why do you think we rebelled? It's because the Autobots represent every level of corruption that we hate, and you – Cliffjumper – it is the very same hatred that you have loathed for your entire existence! For these reasons, we fight. It is our civic duty, not because we are paid to do it, but because we want our home world returned to the empire that it rightfully belongs to, not these pretenders lingering in the council seats like corpses.'

Shockwave straightened. Although his voice had been perfectly even throughout his speech, there was a biting edge to his every word. Here, he seemed to recompose whatever malignant anger festered underneath his cold exterior, and focused on Cliffjumper with a new sense of purpose and dissatisfaction.

'Over the last few centuries, I have spared your life on sixty-eight separate occasions where I should have killed you for interference,' said Shockwave. 'If you wish to repay those staggering debts, then you will leave.'

'No chance,' Cliffjumper replied.

'Your persistence is beginning to become irritating,' Shockwave clenched down on the Autobot's head. He squealed and went limp, obviously unconscious. 'Have you heard nothing of what I said about the futility of the Autobot cause?'

'Politics aren't going to get you out of this, Shockwave! You got a lot to pay for, starting with those bombs you planted under the Metroplex!'

'And that is a threat you left behind to chase me, isn't it?' Shockwave countered. 'How many will die because of your gamble? I estimate 7061. What are your chances of misfiring that weapon and detonating an explosion that could potentially devastate this planet? Eight-nine percent. The odds are in my favour, Cliffjumper. Your gamble is an impossible and senseless risk – one that may not result in your death, but thousands dying by your hand. How do you expect to save them – to kill me?'

Cliffjumper sneered. 'I specialize in the impossible.'

He pulled the trigger.

The force from the shot ricocheted down the length of his arm. The sound radiated like the unholy voice of Primus himself, while the orb of energy rocketed forwards to gleefully slam through the chest of the Autobot. Pieces of metal and parts retreated as the shot travelled through him, and then hit Shockwave. There was a flicker of surprise – however brief that flicker was, like a light about to loose power – before the Decepticon started to fall backwards. His solid, red eye smeared into the darkness, as did his body when he crumpled backwards into the abyss. And down he went, down into the Pits, down in the shadows like he deserved, and Cliffjumper felt that he was plummeting with him in some mesmerizing dream that he couldn't wake from.

Frozen on the spot, Cliffjumper heard a loud clattering noise and belatedly realized that he'd dropped his gun. He moved to the edge of the pit, his servo raising to cover his mouth. For a moment, he thought he saw Shockwave's eye signalling like a beacon on a tower, but as always it was in his imagination.

At that point, he became aware of a frail, blinking light hovering at the edge of his peripheral vision. He hesitantly turned, wondering if he was about to look upon another life taken by Shockwave, and instead saw a cylindrical object that looked as though it had been hastily tucked away in the corner.

Cliffjumper moved forwards at a deliberately slow pace until he was only a few feet away from the object, staring at it. The object was tucked in a spot where it was easily accessible to several volatile pipes that controlled pressure in the likes, the very veins that held the Metroplex together. Something about this scene before him awoke him from the encounter with Shockwave, and he wasn't sure how, but he knew it didn't belong.

He opened a communications channel. 'Cliffjumper to Wheeljack.'

'What do you want, Cliffjumper?' demanded Wheeljack.

'Status report on the bombs.'

'Oh, so now you care about it.'

'Status report.'

'We found and disabled one, but the other one is still unaccounted for. I'd hate to think what Shockwave did with the damn thing.'

'What would this bomb look like?'

'I've already told you! Its round and looks like it would fit over a pipe. Doesn't look like anything special, actually.'

Cliffjumper looked at the misplaced object sitting in front of him.

'I think I found your missing bomb,' announced Cliffjumper in a perfectly even voice that would have made Shockwave envious. 'And from where it's sitting right now, I would say that if it detonates, it could cause a fireball that makes the whole Great War look tame.'

The other end of the communications line went silent.

His throat tight, Cliffjumper collapsed beside the bomb, his hands hovering just above it, fearful of triggering the firing mechanism. Over the communications line, he could hear Wheeljack's heavy, shocked breathing, but little else. Against his better judgement, he feverishly leaned further over the explosive. If he hadn't been consciously on the lookout for it, he wouldn't have even known the difference between this and any other pile of wreckage lying about.

'Is it armed?' Wheeljack finally asked.

'How can I tell if it's armed?' Cliffjumper countered.

'Is it emitting a subsonic pulse?'

Cliffjumper scanned for one. Sure enough, the display on his scanner detected the faint pulse barely felt in the air, like a ripple in a pool of water.

'Confirmed,' said Cliffjumper. 'Intervals are at every 2.23 nanokliks.'

'Dammit!' Wheeljack exclaimed. 'We don't have a lot of time until that thing goes off.'

'Then tell me how to disarm it!'

'It is way too complicated for you to understand...'

'Try me!'

'I'm not too far from your position. I might be able to get there in – !'

'Slaggit, Wheeljack, I'm not arguing about this with you! Tell me how to disarm this thing!'

A force grabbed Cliffjumper from behind. He rocketed away from the bomb and flew back to where he had entered from. He slammed into the wall, crumpled down, and an audible crack graced him as he tried to regain his senses. For a split second, he believed that the explosive had detonated, and his vision spun wildly as various scenarios passed through his mind. Before he could coherently come up with an answer, something or someone grabbed his ankle and unceremoniously lifted him off the ground.

Dangling helplessly, Cliffjumper realized who the culprit was. But there was no possible way...and yet, his optics did not deceive him, and standing before him, a massive hole in his chest spurting energon and oil, stood Shockwave.

'What...Shockwave?!' Cliffjumper spluttered. 'But you – dammit! When someone shoots you you're supposed to die!'

'Cliffjumper?' Wheeljack called into the comm link. 'Cliffjumper! Did you just say "Shockwave?" What's going on?!'

'You pathetic fool,' Shockwave said coolly. 'Did you think I had not prepared for this moment?'

In no conceivable way could Cliffjumper bring himself to resist as Shockwave easily carried him to the abyss. Cliffjumper looked down into the darkness, trying to see some ledge that Shockwave must have used to climb back up to their position.

Cliffjumper swung his weight forwards, struggling against his grip, before swinging up his free leg to hook around Shockwave's arm. The Decepticon instinctively released. He plummeted downwards, unable to control his descent, and reached out to find something to grab. His hand came into contact with metal and he clenched, not carrying what he held, only that it stopped him from joining thousands of corpses haunting Cybertron's deep underground.

His descent suddenly halted, Cliffjumper realized that he'd grabbed onto one of the many pipes lining the walls of the abyss. Thousands of them curled around like snakes, and for a moment he entertained the illusion that they moved. But that was only the result of his spark pounding furiously in his chassis, as he peered up to come face-to-face with Shockwave, just raising his foot to try and kick him off.

Cliffjumper managed to avoid the first strike, climb up, and peer over the edge. Reaching out, he clawed the ground, his fingers screaming against the floor. He wasn't dying like this, and he clenched his teeth to stop himself from giving Shockwave the satisfaction of a cry of terror.

Shockwave prepared to try to push him off again, but a brilliant shot of gunfire slammed into his shoulder. He grunted, his body balking to try to regain his balance. Not questioning his impossible luck, Cliffjumper climbed up and scurried as far away from the Decepticon as possible, trying to remember where he had deposited his gun.

He didn't get far before he saw Kup, the fearsome Autobot marred by years of constant battle, standing in the doorway they had entered from. His gun was raised in preparation, while the familiar faces of Wheeljack and Perceptor lingered at his shoulder.

Kup led the way into the room. Wheeljack and Perceptor immediately flocked to the explosive, while Kup fired once more, just as Shockwave was steadying his stance. Metal and parts flew out of Shockwave's shoulder as the gunfire hit the exact spot that Kup hit the first time. The third time Kup fired, Shockwave vaguely raised a miniscule device in his hand. At once, a perfect aura of pale blue energy flickered into existence, distorting his figure as the shield absorbed the energy. Yet another situation Shockwave had been prepared for.

'Kup!' Cliffjumper exclaimed. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

'Apparently I'm your back-up,' said Kup. 'Shockwave, I'm giving you one chance to surrender, and I don't do it willingly!'

'Are you crazy? Just shoot him already!'

'He could move and I could hit one of these pipes!'

'Then don't miss!'

'I'm not taking the risk, Cliffjumper.'

Cliffjumper snatched Kup's gun out of his hand. Ignoring Kup's stunned expression, he imagined Shockwave's eye as a target, and pulled the trigger. Several successive shots of energy hurtled forwards. The shots easily absorbed into the field surrounding Shockwave.

Not relenting, Cliffjumper readjusted his aim towards a nearby pipe. He didn't care. He didn't care how risky it was, or how many Autobots died as a result, only that Shockwave died along with them. He grazed the edge of the pipe with the first shot. A surge of dark red highlighted by vibrant orange enveloped Shockwave, though the fire died just as quickly. Shockwave stumbled, the shield momentarily swallowed by an intense wave of heat that slammed onto Cliffjumper's faceplate. Cliffjumper stormed forwards, continuously shooting towards the Decepticon's blurred figure.

He fully expected to hear Kup screaming at him to stop, citing regulations and nonsense he knew nothing about. But as Cliffjumper maintained fire, a continuous beam of static energy shot forwards like the hand of Primus, hit Shockwave's shield, and shoved the Decepticon closer and closer to the edge of the abyss. Kup stood at the opposite end, holding the gun Cliffjumper had discarded before Shockwave had attacked.

'Set your gun to fire continuously!' Kup ordered.

'Won't that cause it to overload?' Cliffjumper asked.

'Yup!'

Cliffjumper huffed and did as he was told. The gun stolen from Kup also projected a solid beam of light that caused radiating heat. A distinct hum started to chime through the air.

'Perceptor, Wheeljack!' Kup called over his shoulder. 'We need your help here!'

At once, Perceptor and Wheeljack joined the fray, brandishing their own weapons. Four extended beams of light penetrated Shockwave's shield, blinding Cliffjumper.

Ever since he first became aware of the Decepticon conflict, he'd been accustomed to calling himself an Autobot, thinking that somehow that made him powerful. Thinking that somehow, someway, an Autobot's purpose was simply to combat any threat that crawled out of the abyss, forming itself into a twisted reflection of who they were. He thought of Rosanna, a traitor, though not by choice. He thought of Shockwave – his friend – a traitor of his own free will. And then he thought of the missing agents, and Blurr, and whatever Autobots were now lying dead in the far colonies, and the dead Autobots at the Nexus. They were the heralds of death, itself, and up until now they had been perfect strangers.

But that wasn't the case any more. Now, he was bound with a sense of unity with those dead Autobots. The fight was no longer just about righteous anger, but about justice. Now, only now, with Kup at his shoulder, and Perceptor and Wheeljack behind beyond him, united against this snake, did Cliffjumper believe that he was an Autobot.

He held his gun with both hands as it started to vibrate, and with a violent snap, the shield surrounding Shockwave broke. The Decepticon stumbled as, one-by-one, their guns died as they overloaded and started smoking from the end. Kup nodded at him.

Cliffjumper rushed forwards and slammed his fist into Shockwave's eye. The Decepticon arched violently. Then, his enemy started to fall, and it seemed as though he was sending him to the Pits personally. For a brief flicker of a second, he thought he saw Longarm's face gazing at him with a pleading stare, but then the second was gone and Shockwave was already out of arm's reach. Heaving, he collapse onto one knee as he realized the ripping pain in his ankle. But every other part of his body was numb, and he listened hollowly to the distant sound of metal crashing against metal, imagining a part of Shockwave's body breaking with each collision.

'Check the bomb,' Kup directed.

Cliffjumper didn't look up as Kup came up behind him. He slowly sank to his knees to peer deep into the pit.

'I swear, this suicidal bravery of yours is going to get you killed one of these days!' Kup snapped. 'You could've gotten a lot of Autobots killed today!'

'If you'd had it your way, Shockwave would've walked right out of here!' Cliffjumper argued. 'I wasn't about to let that happen.'

'I wasn't going to let him.'

'You shouldn't be here, anyways. What about the Space Bridge Nexus?'

'Killed off most of the Decepticons that came through,' said Kup. 'There's still a lot of resistance, but word is the Elite Guard's on its way here – with Steelhaven and Ultra Magnus at the front. Besides, if those bombs had gone off, we'd all be dead.'

'You should have stayed at the Nexus!'

'Just like you should have stayed with Wheeljack and Perceptor.'

Kup stormed away from Cliffjumper, back to where Wheeljack and Perceptor were examining the pulse. Wheeljack had a stunned expression on his faceplate.

'Status?' Kup demanded.

Wheeljack looked up. 'The pulses ended five seconds ago.'

'What?!' Cliffjumper chortled. 'You mean that thing is – ?'

'Inert. I wonder what...'

Perceptor gave Wheeljack an especially firm look. 'Did you fail to perform routine maintenance of the explosives?'

Wheeljack laughed nervously. 'I thought you were doing it.'

'I specifically instructed you to do it.'

'I don't remember agreeing to that.'

'I specifically reminded you that if we did not perform maintenance checks on the explosives every ten stellar cycles, there would be a high risk that they would become inert.' Perceptor paused. 'That said, your laziness may have saved countless lives.'

'I wasn't being lazy! I mean – I'm lazy, but not when bombs are involved! I thought you were doing maintenance!'

'That's enough,' Kup intervened. 'I want you two to get this thing back to your lab and dismantle it. No more explosives, no more secrets.'

'Who's going to tell Ultra Magnus about this?' Cliffjumper asked dejectedly.

'I will report to Ultra Magnus,' Perceptor offered.

'No, I'll do it,' said Kup. 'He won't be happy, but he'll have to deal with it, and fortunately no one got hurt who didn't deserve it.'

As Wheeljack and Perceptor began to coordinate how to move the massive piece of machinery, Kup went back over to where Cliffjumper sat. Cliffjumper didn't raise his optics to meet his gaze, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Kup's extended hand. Grumbling, he slapped his arm out of the way and got to his feet on his own power.

At the edge of the abyss, Cliffjumper peered into the spiralling darkness and thought he saw Shockwave looming just out of sight, like a perceived threat whose existence he could not prove. He knew then that under no possible circumstance would this be the last he saw of the Decepticon. Maybe he would find his body someday, or maybe he would visit him in his nightmares. But for the moment, it was over. Ultra Magnus would undoubtedly be infuriated over the unauthorized presence of explosives and the mess the Space Bridge Nexus was in. Frankly, Cliffjumper couldn't care less, only that the situation had been contained.