Author Note: Let's sing the Dramatic Song while you read this chapter! *Clears throat* A perfect translation does not exist. Well, at least, not in your language. But if you must know, well, picture this. 50 billion rainbows and the sun is setting. And the moon is setting also, and you're there in a gazebo. And then God descends from heaven. And he gives you a million dollars.
Slipstream skidded down to a small outcrop covered by trees on the volcano's side to see Unicron standing only yards away from her. She quickly noticed Soundwave and the Starscream clones standing right at the bottom of the volcano. She poked her head slightly out of the trees to yell at Soundwave, but Knockout quickly pulled her back into the shadows.
"It's too dangerous!" Knockout hissed into Slipstream's audio sensors with her servos in his hands.
"But," Slipstream growled to the red Decepticon, "I have to see Soundwave! The dark energon that has been in my body has been clouding my processors. All I have done was cause grief to him." She looked down at the ground with sorrow showing in her optics.
"But what about Lazerbeak?" Knockout asked, even though that question could easily make her depressed even more.
Like what Knockout predicted, Slipstream's head lowered as she sighed to herself. She took out something metal from behind her back. She held it in front of Knockout as she looked at the broken pieces of metal in her hands. "This is what happened to Lazerbeak." she sighed, turning her head away from the broken mini-con.
Knockout quietly gasped as he looked at Lazerbeak, which looked more like a pile of scrap metal than a robot with a spark. "Soundwave's a genius, Slipstream. I'm sure he can fix Lazerbeak up when this is all over." he assured to her with a confident smile on his face.
"If it is ever over." Slipstream muttered into Knockout's audio sensors. She slowly walked closer to the red Decepticon for a hug. Knockout accepted the hug and spread his arms around her, calming her down a little.
Their little moment of silence was immediately disrupted when the broken wing of Lazerbeak began to weakly flap in one of Slipstream's hands. She quickly pulled herself away from Knockout to look at the mini-con. "It's still functional? But how is that possible?" Slipstream gasped in astonishment.
A coordinates grid popped up on Soundwave's visor. There was a weak blinking dot yards away from where he was standing. Lazerbeak was also at the corner of the grid. An S.O.S. signal…From Lazerbeak? Soundwave thought in surprise. The first thought that popped into his head was that Lazerbeak was dead. Then, he began thinking if Lazerbeak somehow survived. If that was true, then the mini-con must be awfully weak because of its energy signature's weakness. He looked to the direction of Lazerbeak's energy signature and stared in curiosity to a group of trees on a small outcrop. He looked back to the Starscream clones and stepped to the very back of the group.
Sunstorm stepped to the front and stared into Unicron's optics with a smirk on his face.
Unicron walked towards him with a scowl on his face. Now that the Chaos Bringer was close to the Starscream clones, he looked much taller than anyone thought he would look like. "Is there something you have to say to me?" he hissed into Sunstorm's audio sensors.
Sunstorm gave Unicron a weak smile. "Well," he replied, "How's your day?"
Unicron rolled his optics and shoved the orange Seeker to the ground. "You all are foolish. I can't believe Primus let you survive!" he growled to the other Starscream clones.
Soundwave managed to sneak off to the place where Lazerbeak's energy signature was. He poked his head from behind a tree to see Slipstream and Knockout hiding in the shadows.
Slipstream immediately looked towards him as she noticed a faint glint from his visor. "S-Soundwave?" she gasped in astonishment. She got up from beside Knockout and scurried to the Spymaster. She rubbed the side of her servo with her hand, "Uh…Hi…"
Soundwave stared at her in silence. Deep inside, he was content to see her once again, but what made him fall back to his angered state was seeing the pile of scrap metal on the ground. He recognized a piece of metal to be one of Lazerbeak's wings. He glowered into Slipstream's optics, his visor darkening in frustration.
Slipstream turned her head to look at the remains of Lazerbeak. "I…I didn't mean to destroy him. I couldn't control myself…" she tried to explain to the Spymaster while her voice was weak.
Knockout quickly stepped in with a smile on his face. "Come on now, Soundwave. Give her a break." he sighed to him, slightly rolling his optics in the process.
Soundwave extended a tentacle towards the red Decepticon, grabbing his neck firmly. He easily lifted Knockout into the air, making the said Decepticon gasp in astonishment.
"Hey! Soundwave, we can all be friends here, right?" Knockout squeaked, widening his worried optics.
Soundwave stared at Knockout with an angered glower. He had several doubts that he would ever be friends with Knockout again; not when the sheer memory of being abandoned by the Decepticons was still floating through his processors. He squeezed the red Decepticon's neck, willing to murder him right on the spot.
Knockout flinched as pain shot through his neck. The words that managed to slip off his glossa sounded vaguely like a plea for help. He tried to pry the tentacle off him, but he wasn't strong enough. He could feel the metal alloy surrounding his neck beginning to obtain a severe dent.
Slipstream grasped Soundwave's servo with fire in her optics. She looked into his visor with a sharp hiss, "Could you learn to forgive bots? I know he kicked you off the Nemesis, but he isn't that bad." Right after she said that, her words were beginning to sound unreasonable.
Soundwave's circuits began to fill with irritation. For almost his entire life, he was with the Decepticons. The only thing that he could remember back when Cybertron was in the Golden Age was that he was a gladiator, which is the reason why he befriended Megatron- or Megatronus back in the day. His life revolved around the Decepticons. Never a solar-cycle would pass with him not thinking of his faction. He tightened his grip, making Knockout squeal in pain.
"Soundwave, stop it!" Slipstream growled loudly. Her voice carried out to a slightly curious Chaos Bringer, grabbing his attention easily.
Unicron turned around to see who was yelling from behind him. He could vaguely see three bots hiding in the shadows. He transformed one of his servos into a handgun and fired at the group of trees, showing absolutely no mercy.
The blast easily destroyed the trees surrounding Slipstream, Knockout, and Soundwave. Everyone but Soundwave gasped in astonishment as they locked optics with Unicron. Soundwave eventually let go of Knockout, who landed on his knees, almost falling over if it wasn't for Slipstream.
Soundwave immediately extended a tentacle to Unicron with precise precision. The tentacle quickly shot through the Chaos Bringer's spark chamber, making the bot crumble to the ground, turning into a pile of rocks. Dust shrouded the area, making everyone protect their face with their servos.
Soundwave reopened his optics, trying to look through the dust. He knew that "fight" with Unicron was too easy. There must've been more to the fight than just jabbing Unicron in the spark chamber; the said bot was much stronger than that. He raised his head, having a difficult time looking around him.
Slipstream blinked her optics open and immediately turned her head to the Spymaster. "Where is Unicron?" she asked with a confused look on her face. She began to walk over to Soundwave's side, but a gigantic boulder suddenly fell between them out of nowhere. "What the frag was that?" she gasped in astonishment.
Knockout looked to Slipstream's direction. "What? Is there something wrong?" he asked with a confused look on his face.
Slipstream looked back at the red Decepticon, biting her lip in the process. "Yes! There is something wrong! There's a fragging boulder right in front of me!" she hissed at him with annoyance emanating from her optics.
Knockout rolled his optics at her. "You must be high on energon again because I don't see any boulder." he growled to the female Seeker.
It must be an illusion then, Soundwave thought as he turned to look at the two bots bickering. He remembered when he and Thrust was hearing an ear-piercing screech of metal scraping against metal, even though the other Starscream clones weren't able to hear what they were listening to. Unicron must've been tricking him, Thrust, and Slipstream. He walked towards the female Seeker, trying to tell her that Unicron is just deceiving her processors.
"H-How did you walk through that boulder?" Slipstream asked with an astonished look obviously on her face.
Soundwave was about to attempt some charades, until a crack in the ground opened between him and Slipstream. The boulder that the female Seeker was seeing immediately vanished, showing the crack next to her feet. She looked into it and saw a boiling pool of dark energon. She stepped back, widening her optics in disbelief.
Purple optics suddenly appeared only a yard away from Soundwave. Then, a beam of dark energon light shot from the direction of the purple optics towards Soundwave. The Spymaster quickly turned around, but he wasn't swift enough to get out of the line of fire. His optics widened from behind his visor as he saw the beam of dark energon come closer to him. He could already feel the heat of the energon nearing his face.
"Soundwave!"
A shrill cry shattered the intense air. Someone fell to the ground, and Soundwave quickly opened his optics. Right at his feet was the energon-covered body of Sunstorm. He immediately crouched down to look more closely to the deep gashes in the orange Seeker's metal alloy.
"I live to serve…!" Sunstorm's words were replaced with a high-pitched scream as the dark energon that seeped into his circuitry began to melt him from the inside. His energon boiled and the metal on his face melted off, showing his processors, his optics, and his skull. Soon, those three objects were melted away, as well as his body, starting with his spark chamber. All that was left of Sunstorm was his hollow body. Soundwave reached out to touch the orange Seeker's shoulder, but the metal alloy blown away, as if Sunstorm's shell was made of dust.
Soundwave touched the place where Sunstorm was lying down. He looked down to the ground in sadness, praying that the orange Seeker's sacrifice wasn't in vain. He stood up and turned towards Slipstream and Knockout. He placed a step forward so he could move closer to the female Seeker.
A ring of purple flames suddenly circled around the three bots. The wall of fire began to grow taller and taller, until it looked as if the flames were lapping at the stars above.
Unicron cackled into Soundwave, Slipstream, and Knockout's audio sensors, "Watch destruction at its very best."
A blanket of boulders appeared above the three bots' heads, and plummeted to them with rapid speed. The last thing Soundwave heard was Slipstream's plea for Unicron to spare their lives. Then, he felt boulders smashing against his metal armor and crushing him. He felt his body go numb as he stared into blackness.