JMJ

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Plans Change

This was the plan according to how Skywarp understood it.

Ravage, Ratbat, Buzzsaw, and Laserbeak would begin destruction of the reconstruction area of the Autobots along with a few of the other salvaged beasts. They would be the diversion more than anything as an extra precaution. Shockwave still possessed the energy cloaking device and would use it for his own mission. This mission was to find the Predaking. Soundwave doubted he was dead. Truly he doubted Megatron was dead, but both would be too weak from their fight to resist.

As for the other two Predacons, in case neither of them were badly injured, a noise machine had been created by Soundwave that made a sound only picked up by the ancient Predacons— at least according to Shockwave's findings— but not by other Cybertronians without extra enhancement. This noise would be horrendous for the Predacons, but Skywarp and Shockwave would be unaffected. They would thus have time to locate the Predaking. Whether the Predaking would be able to fight the noise was debatable but he was injured. They would then use another device that would put the Predaking into a temporary stasis and allow Shockwave to work with a modified mind-bending device created by Shockwave.

The mind control idea, Skywarp knew, had to have been taken from Starscream and his MECH findings. Starscream had not shut up about it before the attack on the Autobot base. It also took no genius to figure out that Starscream had gone to Earth to steal the device, but it posed little threat to anyone as it could be overcome if it worked at all. From Starscream's MECH finding left carelessly on the Black Hole's database, Shockwave created a new one far superior to anything humans could have created.

Would it tame the Predaking to the will of the user? Well, it seemed so according to the tests on some of the more savage of the salvaged creatures.

While Shockwave installed this "taming" device, Skywarp would remain with him on guard.

Soundwave would be aboard the Black Hole with a newly re-mastered cloak using the advancements found aboard the Knight. Here, he would oversee all and interfere if need be as a backup. Down in-person, he promised. One thing that he had always found fault with in Megatron was that he did not interfere in-person enough when his plans were not going as planned.

Honestly, Skywarp did not see the reason for having the monsters attack civilization when they could do everything sneakily without anyone knowing. It seemed a waste if nothing else, but Skywarp did not question it. Things were weird enough without questioning it.

Just do, he told himself, just do.

Yet his thoughts continued.

Skywarp could not be the only one to feel how awkward it was to fight for the Cause without its leader even distantly— or even in his memory. Even if they succeeded flawlessly, who would lead them? Soundwave his betrayer?

Skywarp may have been recruited by Soundwave, but Megatron was the only true lord of the Decepticons. He had been the spark of the Cause— its passion and drive. Soundwave may have been the invitation to see the Ex-gladiator as anything to take seriously, but Megatron's zeal had convinced him fully. Society had gone far enough that no words would fix it. Only total upheaval of the old rule to reinstate the new would suffice. Megatron had exhumed the power and influence to command the sparks of generations after him to follow in his footsteps long after his long Cybertronian lifespan had ended…

What did Soundwave have? A cold, serious, dry disposition, two lieutenants and a league of monsters. Mad science, darkness, just plain crabbiness… Would any young spark of the New Generation be convinced of the Cause?

Skywarp was not so sure. Cybertron was so full of fresh life and vigor…

Is there any reason to continue at all?

Skywarp blinked back to where he stood awaiting Soundwave's signal. With arms wrapped behind his back and a lazy expression marred only briefly by surprise at his own thoughts, he resumed his lowered optical lids.

To not continue and still be able to live outside of exile would mean surrender.

No.

No, Skywarp felt his spark flicker with the thought of going before Bumblebee and paying him respect, of humbling himself before the Autobots, or of admitted his wrong. Starscream may have been able to grovel before anyone if convenience called for it. In fact, if Starscream survived the Predacons and had been found by the Autobots, he could be groveling right now.

Skywarp shook his head.

Well, maybe for a time he could out of necessity do such a thing, but he knew that his own thoughts had betrayed him for that second.

He had been asking himself to mean it for real. To join the Autobots and allow himself to be under their charge in some prison or community service… like that coward Knock Out. Thundercracker would have called it the grounded weakness of one who could not rise above and oversee the big picture, but Skywarp had lived long enough to know that despite most of the flights taking up the Decepticon Cause and most of the grounds following the Prime, it had little bearing on one's spark. Even Megatron had believed that, but whether ground or flight Knock Out had been shanghaied. Of course it had been as easy for him to leave the Decepticons as it had been for Shockwave to join them— a place where his endeavors were not questioned for their ethicalness.

As for Skywarp, he could no more surrender than Shockwave or Soundwave could or even Starscream could keep up for long.

It was too late for any of that.

He had no choice but to continue as he was. It was just a simple matter of fact, and at last he buried the questions burning in his neural net.

"What is the protocol should Galvatron be online and fit enough to contend with us, despite the improbability of such a possibility?" asked Shockwave suddenly of Soundwave.

There was a pause. Skywarp had a feeling Shockwave was having the same problems as himself in his own way. Ill ease. Uncertainty. Regret.

It was a good question, though, and far more immediate.

Skywarp turned his head to Soundwave expectantly.

Soundwave stood majestically a moment and then said in his own voice, "Unless he turned to join the Autobots, he won't be well enough to contend with us. He's mad. What I've done will have driven him madder."

The sound of his true voice capacitator after all his time of silence was enough to make one's back-strut prickle, but Skywarp only showed this by a simple lazy blink of his optics; Shockwave's display was staring with his expressionless optic briefly into nothingness.

"What about Starscream?" Skywarp decided to add as long as they were on the topic of surviving, and he gave a leisurely shrug. "He might've escaped. He wouldn't have fought. He may have helped Galvatron if he found him injured afterwards."

Soundwave did not answer, which meant he wanted them to answer their own questions.

"It is logical to assume," said Shockwave after a moment, "that if they live they will not be near the Predacons' territory. Even if neither of them is in a logical state of mind, if they did choose to remain they will have likely been killed by now and if not would have had no means of easily obtaining energon without leaving this immediate proximity."

Again Skywarp shrugged but very minimally, and said simply, "We're on edge."

Soundwave silently threw out his long-clawed hand. Laserbeak flew forward from his chest as it transformed into its drone-shape. It sailed through Soundwave's portal to lead the charge on Cybertron. With screeching and growling, the red light of optics glowed now behind them.

Skywarp glanced briefly over his shoulder as the monsters took flight to follow Laserbeak. A look of disgust betrayed him for only a few seconds. Then he looked ahead grimly as he watched them disappear through the portal.

The time was now. There was no time for thought. There was only action. Thoughts distracted. That was what had been the downfall of Megatron and Starscream alike.

Skywarp glanced at Shockwave as Soundwave opened a new portal and closed the old one. Shockwave did not look at Skywarp, but Skywarp sensed his tenseness. They went through without another word.

#

Flare Up's anticipation could not be contained. It was past her time in which she should have been welcomed outside the nursery and out into the wide world of Cybertron as a full-grown Cybertronian. Her time was now to live out the long cycles on a peaceful world.

But she knew that the world was not peaceful far more than her brothers and sisters did. Adults were few, a war still lingered though sickly, and so much was going on that her day of coming of age had to wait until a few more could be shown their vehicle modes on the same day. The regret of Arcee especially made Flare Up sorrier for them than for herself.

A world between war and peace, between hope and despair, between happiness and sorrow. It was the turmoil of indecision—that volatility in which she began her life had made her accept it. At least she thought it did as the bright light of the Nursery window met her upon her entrance.

The Nursery had a grand view overlooking the reconstruction of Cybertron from a broad window. Since most of the Autobots' return from Earth, the window now often adorned the scene of Bulkhead working with Vehibots along with Wheeljack and sometimes Bumblebee and Smokescreen as they continued making the capital region more and more homelike and less like a construction zone.

Often the hatchlings would look out this window longing for the day when they would join them just as often as herself, but she knew that the adult feared for their children. Feared that they may make them grow up too fast before they were truly ready for the war between Autobot and Decepticon.

"Why are they stopping?" asked one very small hatchling sitting comfortably on the windowsill to another somewhat older one standing beside him.

He spoke so casual and so comfortable. Flare Up smiled a sort of Arcee-like sad smile at his innocence.

This companion of his was too large to sit on the sill but could stand on it with hands on the pane as they both looked intently into the world they were preparing for.

"Maybe they're on break," said the other.

One little hatchling looked a tad woozily up at Flare Up by the door. She put her hands on her hips in the manner she had also often seen Arcee do. This time it was a deliberate action, however rather than one picked up by accident.

"Did you forget to refuel again?" she scolded.

Looking sheepish, the hatchling said, "Uh…"

They needed refueling constantly until their second week.

Flare Up sighed in a most grown-up sort of manner and helped the silly hatchling to the refueling station, but her audio receptors still picked up the conversation at the window meanwhile. Her own curiosity was peaked and a little inner fear that something serious may be going on out there if schedules were being interrupted.

"…No," a third was saying, "they don't look like that when they're on break." This one was older than them both and could see out the window without getting onto the sill.

"I think someone's called them," said a fourth about the same age as the second and sitting on the shoulders of another older one. "They looked startled."

"Hey look! They're going to Capital Hall," said the second.

"Feel better?" asked Flare Up of the little one with her, and she grinned wryly.

But the young hatchling too now was curious about the window.

Everyone was. Without further speaking, Flare Up hurried after him to the window herself.

Smokescreen was supposed to be out with the workers now. Knock Out was in the medical center with a hatchling. Arcee should be bringing her or him back any moment, so for now Flare Up was by herself. She felt it her duty to understand the situation. Well, and to satiate her need to know.

It did look like something was wrong, she saw quickly enough. She opened her communications line to contact Arcee about it, but she stopped suddenly when the littlest one sitting on the sill bolted upright in alarm and thrust his little stubby finger against the window towards the sky.

"Look!" he cried in his tiny but strong voice capacitator. "What's that!?"

Everyone at the window looked. Many of them had to wrestle for it like little crowded cubs.

Flare Up followed the little hatchling's digit to a vicious four-legged creature, which although was not exceedingly large, looked quite capable and threatening as it leapt from a nearly completed building and onto the road. It was perhaps the most gruesome thing Flare Up had ever seen as it lunged for the first person it laid eyes upon, which happened to be a Vehibot.

Flare Up gasped.

Just as the Autobots began to fire at the four-legged predator, two more creatures bolted out. These flew upward one way and another, and even through the pane the hatchlings could hear the horrible screeches they made as they fired back at the Autobots. Behind them came an assortment of other small but just as creepy little creatures from every direction.

"Are they mutated scraplets?" one escaped especially loudly.

But no one answered him.

No one in the nursery had ever seen a battle before. Immediately they began to shout in excitement— some out of fear and some out of thrill, but Flare Up for a few moments more could only watch as the older generation fought.

If she was only a little older she might have been with them now. Part of her was terrified, but part of her sincerely wanted to fight alongside them for her home.

Suddenly one of her brothers tugged at her and asked, "What should we do?"

Flare Up jumped, but she soon grew determined again. Turning from the window, she made a strong fist. Punching the air, she shouted above the rest, "Quiet!"

Everyone stopped— or most did anyway. Some admittedly were still hanging on things they should not be to see over the heads of their siblings out the window and some were still whispering, but the shouting and near pandemonium had stopped.

"Alright now!" Flare Up said. "All of you behave yourselves! Acting like screws are loose isn't going to help anything! They're Autobots! They know how to handle—!"

The door opened. Several hatchlings gasped as if expecting some new foe to appear, but it was only Arcee. Everyone was completely silent now as she entered the nursery with another sibling. She looked quite pleased and was just about to announce their new sister's name when she noticed the hatchlings staring at her wide-eyed. The passion in Flare Up's face, especially affected her. Arcee froze.

"Look, Arcee!" cried the little hatchling who had pointed out Ravage first. "Outside!"

Instantly Arcee moved with the hatchling still in her arms. She turned to Flare Up, "How long has this been going on?" The situation was easy enough to understand from the physical standpoint.

"Four and half minutes about, Arcee," said Flare Up coming close to her.

She suddenly felt quite small and immature now that Arcee was there, and she was smaller than Arcee even at full growth literally. But she tried to look brave and be prompt and adult to prove her maturity with or without a vehicular mode.

Arcee gave a sharp nod and then she opened communications in her audio receptors.

"Knock Out," she called. "I think Soundwave's made his move."

"Already?" Knock Out asked lightly. "He only has two allies now. Oh, if you don't count Laserbeak, of course."

"I think he's found new ones."

There was a short pause and then Knock Out remarked dryly, "That was fast."

"I'm going to call Ultra Magnus and see what he can tell us," said Arcee.

Ultra Magnus was supposed to be on guard, but cloaks were cloaks, Flare Up had been told, and bridges were instantaneous.

Arcee glanced out the window and noticed Bumblebee already separating himself out from the battle with the mini beasties as though suddenly getting some new information. Maybe Ultra Magnus was already on it after all. Bee was motioning Bulkhead and Wheeljack to go with him somewhere else. The beasts were already being slowly but steadily defeated. Though, Arcee could see no sign of Ravage or Laserbeak. Smokescreen was remaining with Vehibots, apparently.

"Hopefully Ultra Magnus will be able to help clear out what's left of them," said Arcee.

"What? Is there a battle going on right outside the hatchery?" Knock Out demanded.

Arcee could not help but smirk.

"Actually, yes. I'll get back to you in a minute."

Then she turned to Flare Up.

Flare Up straightened herself at attention.

"Flare Up," she said putting her hand gently on her shoulder; though her tone was very firm and her optics firmly set upon hers. "I want you to go help Knock Out. I'm going to stay here in the nursery for now."

Flare Up nodded. "Yes, Arcee."

Arcee smiled, one of those sad smiles that Flare Up knew meant that she was most unhappy that such madness was happening at such a time that should be happy and peaceful and getting to know each other as Arcee said. Flare Up smiled bravely for her in return.

"You can count on me," she said.

The deepness in Arcee's smile grew deeper still as she said, "I know."

"Me too!" claimed another hatchling.

"Me too!" chimed the tiny newly hatched one in Arcee's free arm.

They all clamoured together around her, and Arcee closed her optics, her smile lingering, her brows tightening.

"We'll fight for the nursery if we have too!" added one more at the end.

Arcee nodded. "I know you would, Scooter. I know you all would, but hopefully it won't come to that. Now, please hurry, Flare Up."

Flare Up nodded.

#

Once the other had disappeared and Soundwave was alone, Soundwave paused for a moment. Slowly he moved forward monitoring computer screens to see that all was well. The data was his more than any other of his race with his tentacles attaching to the computers themselves and information was fed directly to his neural net. Information came to him with ease. Information passed out from him into the computer with similar grace.

Then he made a portal for himself. Promptly, he stepped out of the Black Hole as through a doorway in any part of the ship. He stepped out into a clean, fresh and peaceful corridor so unlike the black gloom of a Decepticon vessel.

A pair of doors stood before him, and he turned towards the pleasant glow from their windows drawing one towards the entrance with warm invitation. Energon blue glinted on the floor beyond from sunlight filtering in through a generous skylight in the great chamber beyond.