Robotech VS Transformers: Revenge Road
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cybertron
Shockwave's arm canon smoked gently as the rebel Deathsaurus fell to the ground, his chest plate blown open and his head blasted entirely away. The two Transformers that had existed in a strange combination with him, Tigerbeast and Eaglebeast, were also dead, blasted into smoldering wreckage.
Shockwave himself had taken a serious beating. Part of his head was crumpled, his chest plate was burnt and he was visibly limping. Despite that, he reached down with his lone hand and hoisted the shattered wreck of Deathsaurus up.
"Why...?" Shockwave muttered grimly. Deathsaurus was one of Megatron's most trusted generals. He had lead the cyberforming of hundreds of worlds and commanded thousands of Decepticon soldiers. What could possibly have convinced him to turn?
"Shockwave? You live?" the familiar voice declared.
Shockwave spun around, actually surprised for once. "Overlord?"
"How does the human saying go? If you want something done right you have to do it yourself," Overlord noted, raising his oversized blaster and opening fire.
"AWK!" Shockwave cried out as his hand was blown off, releasing Deathsaurus. The next blast gouged a huge hole in his side, staggering him.
"I'm going to enjoy this," Overlord noted as he advanced, firing.
Dodging another shot Shockwave swiftly assessed the situation. He was hurt and energy depleted, while Overlord was fresh. Worse, even at his best Overlord was his physical equal. Facing him would be not logical.
Decision made, raising his still intact gun arm Shockwave fired at the wall, blowing out a opening. Staggering a bit he threw himself out the hole, then pushing as much power as he could into flight soared off into the Cybertronian skies.
"NO!" Overlord growled furiously, firing at the fleeing figure. He braced himself to take off, then stopped. There were too many loyalists to Shockwave, he'd have troops trying to shook him down while chasing him. Besides... a fled Shockwave was nearly as good as a dead one.
The announcement went out not long after...
Overlord appeared on every screen, looking grave but determined. "My fellow Cybertronians, we have been betrayed. Shockwave, along with the monsterous Deathsaurus, plotted against Megatron and attempted to usurp him. Hearing of this I and my allies stopped them, but not before Shockwave escaped us."
Shaking his head mournfully Overlord continued, "The coward has refused to face justice, and had fled into the bowels of the planet. If you encounter him, notify the authorities. We WILL stop this traitorous scum."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into," Pharma noted cheerily as the doctor welded a replacement section of armor over Shockwave's gut wound.
"Must you joke and work at the same time?" Shockwave asked flatly.
"Yes I do, actually," Pharma said with a smile.
Shockwave tried not to let his annoyance show as he lay on the flat medical bay, hidden deep in the ruins of 'old' Cybertron.
The 'Hospital' he was being treated in was a illegal operation, run by a former Autobot. Pharma had once been considered a great medic, until it was discovered he was experimenting on his patients. Ejected from the Autobots he retreated to the underground, where he provided medical services in exchange for energon.
Why had Shockwave allowed him to keep operating? Because some citizens did not want to go to a Decepticon run hospital, and it was Shockwave's responsibility to watch over all Cybertronians. All of them that weren't Autobots, anyway. And as today demonstrated, it was useful to know a doctor not connected to the authorities.
"I thought Deathsaurus was his ally. Why claim he was partnered with you?" Pharma asked curiously as he finished a complex bit of wiring.
"Transformers with beast modes are discriminated against by Decepticons," Shockwave said flatly. "Declaring Deathsaurus my ally works in Overlord's favor."
Pharma grunted as he finished repairing Shockwave's guts. "They are also circulating the rumor you wanted to forcibly beast form all Cybertronians," he noted, "supposedly to save energon."
"Lies," Shockwave said, adding, "we did a study on that. The energon savings would be minimal."
'I don't think that argument helps you much,' Pharma thought wryly. "That should do it," he said, "and now the hand."
Shockwave extended his stump, even as he looked at the mismatched armor plate bolted to his waist. "Do you think you could get it to match?" he asked mildly.
Pharma just laughed.
"Didn't think so," Shockwave said wryly as the doctor went to work.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
About the same time, Sixshot entered the new command room that Overlord was using. Instead of using the room Shockwave had used, he not only abandoned it, he had destroyed the entire building. Erasing thousands of cycles of history, in one strike.
Sixshot didn't like to think what that said about the new boss.
didn't even know if Overlord was legitamately in command or not. Sixshot didn't buy the 'Shockwave is a traitor' story, but it WAS traditional for Decepticon leaders to be removed if they failed. And bluntly, Shockwave HAD failed in defeating the Autobots on Cybertron. But Megatron would NOT be happy seeing his old ally removed from power...
Sixshot forced himself to stop thinking about it as he presented himself to Overlord. "Sir," he bowed his head slightly, "I'm pleased to report I rooted out a Autobot cell in the northern reaches, rendering six non-functional and taking two captive."
"Well done," Overlord said calmly. He leaned forward in his throne-like seat, "As I understand it, you were third in command on Cybertron."
"Yes sir," Sixshot nodded crisply.
"I need a loyal second in command," Overlord met his eyes calmly, "will you join me?"
Sixshot knew there only was one answer: refusing would mean he'd end up like Shockwave. "You can count on me, sir." he answered. He hesitated but made himself ask, "I thought you came back to Cybertron with your own troops..."
"So why not ask them to be my second," Overlord nodded. "I need someone who knows the current conditions here. I and my troops have been out of touch."
Sixshot kept is face expressionless as he wondered how someone 'out of touch' could have so easily caught on to Shockwave. But he didn't say that. "Then I would be honored to serve then," Sixshot said.
"Good," Overlord smiled grimly. He sat back, "Our biggest issue is loyalists for Shockwave. We cannot give them time to organize."
"We'll need to draw them out, sir," Sixshot noted.
Overlord nodded slightly, "Indeed. Do you have a suggestion?"
Sixshot thought quickly, "A public celebration of your return to Cybertron? The cowardly Shockwave would have to try to strike at you then, and we could sweep up him and his allies. Use the troops you brought back with you as security..."
Neither one mentioned that Overlord couldn't trust the locals, yet. It was obvious.
"I like it," Overlord agreed. "We will hold the event in a week."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Autobot base was hidden in the ruined moon of Luna 2, which circled the massive world and occassionally passed over their home city of Iacon. When it did they would sometimes pause a moment in remembrance, then carry on once more.
The sleek white and red Autobot Override wasn't concerned with THAT. The deputy leader of the Autobots was in their command center, tracing the craziness going on on Cybertron over the last week or so.
"This is completely insane," Roulette noted, also watching the mayhem as the sleek white and gold sports car stood nearby.
"Agreed," Override made a face.
The 'celebration' of Overlord's return had devolved into a massive battle between local Cybertronians and Overlord's loyal army. Shockwave returned to lead his forces, Overlord lead his and they were blowing up allies left and right.
Sixshot, the powerful multi-changer who could have turned the tide for either side, was so disgusted by the slaughter he just left. Assuming jet mode he rocketed off, heading who knows where.
"Any idea of the casualties yet?" Override addressed the command center in general.
"I would estimate a quarter of active Decepticons on Cybertron have fallen," the scholarly Hubcap noted, studying the news feed, "along with many of Overlord's forces."
"We should ATTACK!" Roulette suggested eagerly.
"That would be tactically inadvisable," Hubcap offered.
"Huh?" Roulette blinked.
Override calmly explained, "Right now they're busy killing each other. But if their common enemy the Autobots jumped in, they might put aside their differences and attack us."
"Oh," Roulette subsided a bit. "So we just wait and watch them fight?" she asked.
"For now. We want to wait until the odds get better," Override admitted, "and I'm hoping our request for reinforcements is answered. We need more numbers to seize this chance to take Cybertron and hold it."
"Understood," Roulette nodded.
To be continued...
Notes: I PROBABLY could have stretched this into two chapters, but eh. I'm grabbing back ground characters from various series, so don't expect correct continuity. Next chapter back to Earth, with Megatron, Optimus and so on...