Mutation
It landed gently on its feet in the soft sands of a vast desert, alone.
The creature had come to this particular world for energy. But supposedly nearly the entire planet was desert. Not exactly the best place to look for energy, right?
No. The natives here took advantage of their sun's unforgiving heat and used some very sophisticated form of solar energy. They could supposedly convert it at nearly one hundred percent efficiency! So actually, if word-of-mouth was correct, this was one of the best places for re-energizing oneself.
It looked around. As to be expected from a desert, the sun was shining. Shining brightly. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. In fact, there probably wasn't any water vapor in the air. Around it other than flat, endless expanses of desert were cliffs with natural bridges and strange-looking rock formations. In the distance, it could see some flying creatures circling over what was probably a carcass. They acted like Earth's vultures, but in reality, they were fish-like animals. In and way out to the east, it could see a storm. The sky was dark, and every now and then he'd see a tiny flicker of light, which was assumed to be lightning. So much for there not being any water vapor in the air.
How interesting! It had never been able to just sit and take in its surroundings like this before! Well, that was because if it had, the others would have taken it as a sign of weakness. But they were all gone now. There was no longer anyone around that would judge it as "weak" anymore (especially when the ones that did had proven to be "weak" themselves!). It could sit around and examine its environment all it wanted. And so it sat down in the sand and just looked around for a while.
But then it soon found out that taking in the environs was actually pretty boring. So it stood up and went on its way to find a sufficient energy source. Its long feet made strange footprints in the sand, and its thick, heavy tail made a trench between them.
Rodimus Prime headed back to the repair bay, dreading every step. He tried not to think of eerie rumors or what the Decepticon might tell him, but it was nearly impossible.
Just like last time, there was a crowd gathered outside the door of the repair bay. It was mostly the same people, too. And just like last time, they nearly mobbed him when they saw him.
"Rodimus? Rodimus!"
"Didja hear? Didja hear?"
"Sweet Primus on a pogo stick! Guess what happened?!"
"Soundwave's awake! And he wants to see you!"
"Dumbot! I wanted to tell him that!"
"I heard he wants help, or something!"
"I bet he's here to lead us into a trap! Whatever you do, don't listen to him Rodimus!"
This time, the Prime decided against yelling. Instead, he cleared his "throat" loudly. This proved to be effective, as the crowd not only quieted down, but they didn't bear the look of shock like they did when he raised his voice. Of course, they could have always quieted down this time because they were afraid of him "erupting" again. But then again, who knows?
"As many of you already know, what with the way rumors spread around here," Rodimus began, "Soundwave awoke and is requesting to speak with only me and Ultra Magnus. What exactly he wants to tell us, and only us, I'm not completely sure of-"
"I heard he's wanting us to help the Decepticons!" a mech shouted over the crowd, cutting him off.
"Er...yes, I heard he wants Autobot assistance as well," the young Prime answered. "That seems likely, but it may not be correct. We'll have to see what he actually wan-"
"I bet he's setting up a trap, the dirty slag sucker!" an agressive mech barked suddenly. "Don't trust him, Prime!"
"Well...we'll have to see what he says first to determine if anything sounds supicious," Rodimus replied again, feeling a bit irritated now by getting cut off twice in a row. "You all can be rest assured that Soundwave himself is not armed. The medics took care removing all weapons from him and deactivating the cassettes he had on him. But first we have to hear him out; then we'll decide if he appears to be leading us into-"
"Oh there you are, Rodimus!"
The red semi was actually relieved to be interrupted this time. It was Perceptor, leaning out the doorway. He had the heavy metal door opened only enough to allow himself to lean out.
"Alright, it's time," Rodimus said. "Excuse me, folks..."
He pushed past the crowd with several mechs still warning him to be careful or begging him to tell everyone the whole thing when he was done. He slipped in, and Perceptor immediately shut the door tight behind him.
Inside, Ultra Magnus was standing in a corner, looking calm and collected as usual. Soundwave was on the same repair table, only now he was repaired and lying on his back. He was also missing his shoulder gatling gun. Soundwave was lying so still, that if his optics hadn't been glowing that dull red, Rodimus would have sworn he was still offline.
He walked over to the side of the table near Magnus. "Did the crowd almost trample you, too?" the giant mech asked him, noting his slightly weary look.
"How'd you guess?" Rodimus replied, smirking.
Magnus returned a sharp snicker.
The young Prime returned to the much more serious matter and stepped up to the Decepticon on the repair table. "Alright, we're here," he said. "Now what is it you wanted to ask us?"
Soundwave did not answer. Instead, he lifted his head up and gave a cold stare at Perceptor, who was in the opposite corner of the room.
"Oh-!" the scientist almost yelped when the Decepticon spotted him. "Er, yes. Sorry. I shall remove myself immediately...!"
Perceptor started for the door into the main hallway. But then he remembered the crowd on the other side of that door and decided against it. He walked back to the side of the room he started from, and exited out a door leading into another room.
"All right, now we're alone," Rodimus said. "You can talk now."
The Decepticon radio still did not answer them, but slowly and quietly scanned the room, as if to make absolutely sure they were, indeed, alone. Rodimus felt his patience begin to wane. Finally, Soundwave turned his head toward him and Magnus.
"Requesting Autobot assistance," he said to them in his droning mechanical voice.
I had a feeling he was going to say that! Rodimus thought, feeling a pit in his central processor.
"Assistance for what?" Ultra Magnus asked simply.
The Prime almost gave himself a power surge waiting for the answer.
"Operation: Seek and destroy undetermined assailant," Soundwave replied.
It wasn't a "monster," but kind of close. "An 'assailant'?" Rodimus asked. "What did it do?"
"Appearance: Unknown," Soudwave answered. "Error caused by personal assault from behind. Assailant identity unavailable due to error. Damage caused: Extensive. Planet Charr status: Flattened."
"Flattened?" Rodimus asked again, raising an optic ridge. "But isn't Charr already in ruins?"
"Negative," the Decepticon said. "Status of building structures before forced deactivation: standing, but damaged. Status of building structures after forced deactivation: flattened or vaporized."
"Vaporized...?" Magnus said, looking a bit shocked. "Did someone bomb you?"
"Negative," Soundwave replied. "Damage to Charr similar to that of damage caused by thermonuclear bomb. However, radiation detected: none. Tragectory of blast radius infers damage was caused by a beam weapon. Type of beam weapon: unknown."
That's one Pit of a beam weapon! Rodimus thought.
"However," Soundwave continued. "Damage caused to most Decepticon caused by brute force. Almost all Decepticons known to be terminated."
The words hit the two Autobots like a ton of bricks. "Almost all Decepticons...terminated." To Ultra Magnus, it sounded highly suspicious. It also sounded a pretty suspicious to Rodimus, but the feeling that he just got punched in the mid-section was stronger.
"Did you say, 'terminated'?" The city commander asked, sounding skeptical.
"Affirmative," the Decepticon droned. "Constructicon units' status: Terminated. Reflector units' status: Terminated. Remaining Seeker units' status: Terminated. Triple-changer units' status: Terminated..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rodimus cried, cutting him off. "Let's make things easier. Is there any Decepticons you know of that weren't terminated?"
"Processing...," Soundwave's optics went black, and he let out a low hum as he checked his memory banks. A moment later, his optics reactivated. "Processing complete. Results positive. Cyclonus' status: Unknown."
"Unknown?"
"No remains found."
"I see," Magnus said, still sounding skeptical. "What about Galvatron?"
"Processing...," Soundwave checked his memory banks again. He could not remember finding any actual wreckage of Galvatron. He had only found a single purple prong from his horn-like like headgear. But perhaps that was all that was actually left? "Galvatron's status: Terminated."
"Well, what about the Predacons?" he asked. "They're pretty tough, aren't they...?"
Soundwave didn't need to process that one. He clearly remembered seeing a dull grey Predaking as he had entered an underground hangar where he found his space vehicle. He also clearly remembered seeing Predaking had been gutted in all of his components and had been hung from the hangar's ceiling by his own cable and wire innards. "Predacon units' status," he said, "Terminated."
"Uh huh," Ultra Magnus replied, not making much of an effort to hide the disbelief in his voice this time. "And what about Trypticon?"
Soundwave was very sure Trypticon hadn't survived. Before he had been knocked offline, Trypticon was in city mode, and he could actually see him on the horizon. When he had come back online after the mysterious accident, everything within miles was flat, smoking metal. With the occaisional mangled Decepticon body lying around. He figured that like the rest of the buildings on Charr, Trypticon had been flattened too. "Trypticon's status: Terminated," he said.
"I figured I should ask you this...," Rodimus began. "When the Protectobots found you, they said three of your cassettes were missing. Are they...?"
"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage," Soundwave answered, cutting the Prime off, "...Terminated..." Both Autobots thought they heard a faint sadness in the radio's droning voice.
"Well, the only thing I can think of that's strong enough to kill almost all the Decepticons at once is Unicron," Ultra Magnus said. "But his head is still floating around Cybertron's vicinity..."
"Unicron revival: Illogical," Soundwave agreed. "Unicron would have devoured Charr."
"That too," the giant Autobot replied.
"Assailant identity unknown," the Decepticon continued, sitting up, "but is extremely powerful based on damage data. Assailant is extremely dangerous and most likely destroys any life forms upon contact. Assailant must be found and terminated before it destroys any more planets. Autobot assistance required." Soundwave raised his voice this time, almost making him sound desperate.
"We'll...we'll have to see about this, Soundwave," Rodimus said, trying his best to sound reassuring. "For now, we've heard no reports of any mysterious creatures destroying planets or killing people. I'll have to speak with the others, and-"
He stopped when Soundwave actually reached out a hand and grabbed his arm, as if to stop him from leaving. Magnus began to reach in his subspace compartment for a weapon when he saw this, but the young Prime shook his head at the city commander. Magnus removed his hand from subspace, but watched Soundwave like a hawk.
"Voice analysis: Disbelief," the radio said.
"Well Soundwave, you did tell us that some "unknown assailant" just walked in and killed almost every Decepticon except you," the Prime retorted. "You have to admit, that is pretty hard to swallow...!"
"Suggestion," said the Decepticon. "Go to Charr. See the slain mechs for yourself. Disbelief will be dispelled."
"Err...right," Rodimus muttered, shaking off Soundwave's hand. "We'll do that. But like I said, I'll need to talk with the other Autobots about it. We can't go rushing into things, especially when no one else has reported any strange massive deaths."
"Understood," Soundwave replied as he returned his hand to the repair table, his voice sounding a bit quieter. He almost sounded disappointed. "Analysis: Autobot units do not trust me yet. However, danger is imminent. Hesitation: inadvisable." With that, he laid back down on the table. His optic visor shut off, and he was presumably recharging.
"Well, that was fun...," the Prime muttered quietly, so as not to awaken the Decepticon if he really was recharging.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Magnus replied.
The two Autobots began to leave the repair bay, but hesitated when the reached the door. After all, they didn't want to be mobbed by another crowd. Ultra Magnus opened the door a crack and peered out. Surprisingly, the coast was clear. Perhaps everyone got bored and left? Oh, well. Best not look a gift horse in the mouth.
They stepped outside, cautiously. They soon found out why the crowd was gone. Translucent walls of the security barriers were up at both ends of the hallway. In other words, the place was roped off. Maybe Perceptor got fed up with being mugged every time he walked out of a room and requested they be activated? Or perhaps Red Alert figured the crowd would start rioting? Whatever the reason, Rodimus was actually relieved to see them up. He didn't feel like fighting a crowd for the third time this week.
"So what do you think?" he asked Magnus nonchalantly.
"What do I think?" the very large Autobot grumbled. "I think it's a trap, that's what. I mean, some 'unknown' monster walks in and kills everyone but him? Impossible. And let's not forget...he told us to go to Charr. Yeah...just walk into Decepticon territory. It's a trap, alright."
"I'll say," the Prime agreed. He did admit that Soundwave's story sounded pretty far-fetched to him, too. After all, what kind of creature or creatures have enough power to kill hundreds of Decepticons, and then just conveniently vanish into thin air? And Soundwave's suggestion about visiting Charr did sound rather incriminating.
But despite it sounding ridiculous, that little voice in the back of his processor told Rodimus not all of it was untrue. He was also reminded of the "monster" rumor again by Magnus's words. Even though Soundwave had never actually said a "monster" had attacked Charr, based on his reports, the giant reptile called "Godzilla" from a Terran movie he saw once may have just as well stomped through it! Secretly, he found the whole thing disturbing.
Trying to get his mind off of it, he asked Magnus, "So...what should we do with Soundwave?"
"First we'll let Perceptor finish working on him," the city commander replied, "then we'll probably keep him in a sound-proof prison cell for awhile. I wonder if we should, though. I mean, once the Decepticons figure out that their bait isn't coming back, they might come looking for him here. I'll have to think about it..."
"What do you think attacked him?" the Prime asked idly.
"Oh, probably a Predacon, or something," Magnus replied. "Or maybe Galvatron decided not to use his cannon, for once. I'll give them points for realism this time."
"Uh...yeah..."
Their chatter was interrupted by a sudden urgent radio signal to both of them. "This is Blaster callin' Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus. Do you read me? I repeat - Prime and Magnus, do you read me?"
Rodimus reactivated his radio. "We read you loud and clear, Blaster," he replied. "What's the problem?"
"The desert planet of Sector 57 is reporting Decepticon activity!" Blaster announced, "They're sayin' a lone Decepticon is out roamin' too close for comfort by a major city. I know it ain't much to go by, but the natives don't find it fly. With the numbers, they don't care...they say they just want 'im outta their hair!"
"I see...," the Prime said, somewhat intrigued. "We're on our way."
"I gotcha, Prime. This's Blaster, over and out!" the Autobot radio thus ended his transmission.
"So much for all the Decepticons being killed by an 'unknown assailant,' huh?" Magnus mused.
"That's true," Rodimus agreed. "Although it make you wonder...why is there only one?"
"Who knows?" the city commander replied. "But it's best we take care of it as soon as possible. Wouldn't want to ruin our twenty-year record of keeping them from conquering anymore planets, now would we?"
"Of course not. But...before we do that, I need to contact Blaster at the control center again."
"How come?"
Rodimus pointed to one of the energy barriers at the end of the hall. "I need to ask him to take one of those down," he replied, blandly. "Otherwise, we can't get out..."