Chapter 6:

1;

Beautiful. The prosperity of an entire world under the control of but one singular mind. The power to see it end in fire or ice, or to live forever due in part to war or peace was entirely within his control. And what might his decision be in that regard? A question for another day perhaps.

Shockwave stood within the highest level of Darkmount, the Decepticon capital of a new and glorious empire. Behind him was a throne bedded into the wall, never before sat upon, instead only awaiting the arrival of its true owner. Shockwave thought of him often, looking forward to the day when he would inevitably return to Cybertron and claim that very throne which Shockwave had worked so hard in the last sixteen years to build. One day. One day.

For the time being, however….

Acid Storm and Ion Storm entered the room, an Autobot who in Shockwave's mind may as well be nameless between them, the two Seekers grasping her arms and throwing her at Shockwave's feet. The two Seekers promptly left the room, the door shutting behind them. Shockwave surprised her, greeting her not with a foot smashing into her jaw, but instead by lifting out a hand to help her to her feet. She took it after a moment of hesitation, likely realizing there was nothing bad that might come of it.

"Please," Shockwave said, actually gesturing with his arm cannon towards a table with a pair of seats beside him, "take a seat."

After another moment of hesitation, she did this as well. Shockwave was glad, knowing that those who did as they were told were more likely to answer the questions that he asked when the time came.

"It's Greenlight, is it not?" Shockwave asked, knowing full well what her name was, and not caring in the slightest.

"...Yeah…" she said quietly. She was afraid of him, Shockwave realized.

"I am Shockwave," he replied. "I understand that you're a member of the Autobot resistance, and that you've associated yourself with Elita-1 in particular. Correct?"

"...Yes…."

"Greenlight, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I-"

"No, I think that you should listen to me very carefully," she interrupted him, standing to her feet with palms hitting against the surface between them. "You're not getting slag out of me, so I'd recommend you go do something a bit more productive with your time, you murderous shit."

Shockwave slowly raised himself to his feet as well, in doing so actually making her take a step back, her arms and legs now shaking.

"Greenlight, I was going to tell you that I've actually decided to try and make a treaty with Elita-1," Shockwave said calmly, seemingly unoffended by his prisoner's mannerisms. "You see, Optimus Prime and Megatron have been confirmed as deceased just a few hours ago, as have their crews, and numerous reports indicate that Ultra Magnus is as well."

The look on her face was exactly what Shockwave had expected, one of shock and horror at the idea that her precious Prime was dead. For all Shockwave knew, he really was, and would be glad to hear that his old friend had finally left the land of the living, but the look of one of his troops at the very idea of his passing… how satisfying.

"I want this war to end, Greenlight," Shockwave continued in a voice just as reassuring as before. "I want to see all of this fighting finally come to an end. I care not for the Decepticon cause, but for Cybertron and its people as a whole. We cannot survive much longer if we keep fighting like this. All I need is the location of your primary headquarters, and perhaps all of this can finally be resolved."

Greenlight turned away from the cyclops, her hand moving over her mouth as she did. She was afraid, was in grief, and fighting was the last thing she had any intention of doing at that moment. Was he really telling her the truth? Could Prime and Megatron really be gone? Prowl, Jazz, Ironhide, Starscream, Soundwave, and Magnus all gone with them? Could it really be true that Elita-1 and Shockwave were the highest ranking officers in either faction?

She thought of Tyger Pax all those years ago, ripped to sunders by Shockwave's legions, enslaving every neutral in the city and putting them to work on Primus knows what. He had instituted the labor camps across the planet what was now centuries ago, and which still remained in certain examples. He had been responsible for killing thousands, if not millions of Cybertronian lives and countless foreign lifeforms. There were many Cybertronians now that were born during the war that couldn't tell you about the Golden Age, about the pristine cities, the xeno relations, and all the other glorious aspects. She did though, and even though the Senate was horribly corrupt and the world was unfair, that didn't mean that what happened was necessary. But was Shockwave simply acting under the orders of Megatron? How many calls did he really make on his own?

"I'm not telling you where the base is," Greenlight finally said, not being willing to take the chance of possibly finishing off the Autobots forever. "You can go to hell, Shockwave."

"I see," Shockwave said, actually walking a few steps away from her, and turning his back away. All warmth was suddenly lost from his voice, instead now leaving a cold and emotionless monolgue. "I'm a Point One Percenter you know, one of the single physically strongest Cybertronians ever forged. I was originally assigned by the Senate as military, a member of an elite death squad called the Devastators. I went out on eight different assignments, and racked up a kill count of about 800,000 through various different means before I was reassigned to intellectual class and therefore was alt-mode exempt. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with the concept of warfare. I began to pursue political sciences, I even became a Senator for a while. I hoped that I might be able to fix what was wrong with the world…."

A small compartment opened up on the inside of Greenlight's left arm, and a small razor popped out and pressed down into her hand. The problem was that she only had the one, and no idea whatsoever if she should turn it on herself, or the bot behind her.

"I was made aware of Megatron, but at the time saw him as a sort of radical, nearly as much of a threat to the common good as the Senate itself. Not long after, they kidnapped me. I was made a victim of their Empurata and Shadowplay. They thought that by taking my hands, my face, my emotions, that they could break me, kill off the threat that I posed. They were wrong. For the first time in my life, everything became clear, every thought no longer clouded, but instead beautifully pure. You see, Autobot, I realized then that a truly functional system must be based on a logical foundation, and it is logic that fuels me now. I sought out Megatron, actually became his second in command for quite some time in the early days before he found Starscream. I began to widen my understanding of the world, no longer simply being a political scientist, but taking an interest in physics, chemistry, and then biology. And it's actually biology that interests me most, you see."

Greenlight jumped as she felt the cold, terrifying hand plant itself gently on her shoulder.

"Tell me, Autobot, have you ever heard of the cortical psychic patch?"

It was that question that thrust her into action. Her entire body twisted to the side, now facing Shockwave, and she thrust the tiny razor in her hand forward towards his chest. She wasn't an inch away when Shockwave's much larger hand wrapped itself around her wrist, stopping it effortlessly. Shockwave's cannon arm smashed into her head, tossing her across the room and into the wall.

"I've turned entire worlds to nothing but ash and dust, Autobot," Shockwave said. "Your puny blade is nothing to me."

Greenlight's entire body was filled with agony, her blade having been dropped to the floor just beside Shockwave's feet. In what seemed like less than a second, Shockwave had made it across the room and was standing at her side. His foot smashed into her torso, purple fluid pooling out of her mouth and dripping to the floor in response. Shockwave's fist clenched around her neck, lifted her off the ground, and tossed her across the room again.

"I'm assuming that the answer to my question is 'yes,' in that case," Shockwave said as he kicked her a second time, having made it as quickly across the room as the first time. It was terrifying how such a large bot could move so quickly. "And you know that you can either give me the information now, or I can tear the information from your brain and then warp that very same mind to whatever I see fit."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed, standing up swiftly and trying to run, but only making it two steps before Shockwave pulled her back, slammed his knee into her chest, and then backhanded her back towards the center of the room.

She landed just beside the knife that she had lost earlier, saw it, picked it up, and jabbed it through her chest and into her spark casing a second before Shockwave was on her again. He didn't bother kicking her for the third time, instead only looking down on her body, knife jabbing through a chest now slightly caved in, energon flowing from her mouth and dripping onto the floor.

"'Till all… are one…," Greenlight said, barely audible as she struggled to get the words out.

"I am the most brilliant scientist in Cybertron's history," Shockwave said, still not so much as touching her. "I have removed a Cybertonian's brain module and shown it to them, cut one's spark in half and then managed to maintain it for weeks on end. I am more than capable of keeping you alive long enough to pry any necessary information from your husk."

Shockwave's fist slammed into her face for the last time, now harder than it ever had been before, and Greenlight fell into stasis lock.

2;

The entirety of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron was located in a set of tunnels beneath the ruins of Crystal City, the tunnels themselves miraculously surviving despite the city being purged near the war's very beginning.

Elita-1 trotted through the hallway, Chromia on her left and Lancer on her right. Whatever the hell was going on, whatever the hell they'd found, Firestar certainly made it seem like a big deal over coms. Knowing Firestar, Elita certainly hoped it was something as least relatively useful to the resistance, and not just another antique that she was excited about.

They reached the opening to the energon mines, Firestar standing there waiting for them, her hands seemingly empty.

"What've you found today, Firestar?" Elita asked, too tired from the last few hours of getting information from various different scouts and spies to be particularly polite.

"It's like I told you a minute ago," Firestar replied, a smile forming across her face as she did. "It might just be the discovery of the millenia."

"In terms of…?"

"Why, take your pick, fearless leader," Firestar's excitement was more evident than ever at this point. "Archeology, history, religion… or finding a way to finally fight back against Shockwave."

Lancer's optics bolted wide, suddenly twice as interested as before. Elita took a step forward, looking a bit skeptical still.

"Listen to me, Firestar," she said. "You need to tell me right now if what you're saying is something that you're sure is true. Have you really found something that's going to let us stand up to the Decepticons?"

"Okay, okay, so it might not actually turn the tide, but we sure as hell aren't gonna be running anymore. To put it simply, I found a way to put a point one percenter out of commission."

And that shut everyone up.

"Show me."