Author's Notes: I think this is the longest chapter I have ever written… But a whole heck of a lot happens so I guess I am justified! I also apologize for the many spelling and grammar problems I will just assume are there despite my attempts to find them all. I had to edit this bad boy in chunks, so my eyes didn't glaze over. Even after all that I still didn't have time to put it through my editing program. So, if you spot a mistake, just point at it and laugh at me and my failings.
In this ridiculously long chapter, it is the beginning of the end… Soundwave must face the worst Decepticon to ever exist. He must stay strong for his army in the face of certain doom, but how will he react when a horrible truth is finally revealed to him? Is there someone able to help him in his darkest hour? Please comment to tell me what you think, and of course enjoy!
Soundwave
"I guess I won't be getting my rematch after all." Arachnid said with a wistful, twitching shrug. Her melancholy expression lightened up into a grin. "When I called into the void for support, the D.J.D wasn't exactly who I thought would respond. But life is full of little surprises that way, isn't it Soundwave?"
Soundwave was hardly paying her any more attention. He was far too focused on the looming bot that dwarfed her by comparison. Tarn's burning red optics glared down past his mask at Soundwave, servos still crossed stiffly over his torso.
"Things," Soundwave murmured to the Autobots behind him, not daring to break optic contact with the monster in the stands. "Have just become dangerously complicated."
"This is the one all the Con's are scared of?" Bumblebee asked to confirm.
To answer, Clobber, who had been assigned to the back of their unit, spoke up despite her trembling voice box. "We're all going to die…"
"S-she has completely lost her processor!" Decimus whimpered in the tense stillness of the standoff. "No matter how desperate, HOW could she drag Tarn into this? She's doomed us all!"
Even radiating fear, Thunderblast released a scoff. "Well, you did make a deal with someone who used to be a Decepticon sweety. That's on you."
"Soundwave." Tarn said, and everyone fell silent once more. "Enough of this nonsense. Where is our Lord Megatron?"
There was the question Soundwave had been dreading. But it had been inevitable. He tried to stand straighter, just now realizing he had been crouched back like cornered pray.
"Megatron, has relieved himself of command. He bestowed the Decepticons to me."
Rumbling a chuckle devoid of any humor, Tarn only shook his helm. "Yes, I've heard that lie on the airwaves many times. It is the main reason I have delt with this one's insanity for so long." He motioned with a stiff jerk of his helm Arachnid's direction. "But I know better. I assumed this was a secret mission between you and our Lord. Some dark plot to take back Cybertron from our enemies… but now I see the Autobots at your side. Why have the Autobots not been terminated?"
"The Autobots are needed to reclaim Cybertron from Arachnid's plague." Soundwave informed him sharply.
"There is no reason great enough to ally our righteous cause with their kind." Tarn corrected, tone just as harsh. By some Primus appointed miracle, he hadn't unleashed his voice controlled sonic abilities again. At any moment, he could burst their Sparks with a few spoken words. Tarn must have been legitimately curious to find out what was going on.
"I deemed it necessary this time." Soundwave said. "To save Cybertron."
"Then Cybertron is better off destroyed." Tarn said. "Our world, our people and the whole of existence is better off in the pits if it means bringing ourselves low like them."
"Is this clown for real?" Smokescreen snapped. Soundwave winced the moment the young bot spoke, and then continued to babble. "Who would say that? This isn't about winning or losing anymore, and that's coming from ME. Seriously, why is every Con here leaking transmission fluid? We can take this one loser!"
"Smoke." Bumblebee said, his tone even and careful. At least he seemed to sense the gravity of their situation, finally. "I get the feeling, we're missing a lot of context here."
"I've seen this kind of treachery before from our side." Tarn vented with the same disappointment Megatron would utilize when chastising Starscream in simpler times. "When Decepticons have decided to value their lives over their pride and align with the enemy. And I have purged these traitors each time their names graced my List of those to be delt with."
Soundwave felt every Con recoil at the word 'traitors.' "I'll ask only one more time, Third in Command. Where, is, Megatron?"
He knew his army was looking to him, wanting him to do something. At this moment, he wished he was just as ignorant to the danger as the Autobots were behind him. But he didn't have that luxury. He had to say something, no doubt lighting the powder keg that would end very badly for them all. If he said nothing, the same fate would befall them anyway. In a way, Tarn was right. It was better to go down fighting. He hoped Rhea would forgive him for breaking his promise, but he had a feeling he would not be coming home to her after all.
"I am the leader of the Decepticons, Tarn." Soundwave stated, as powerfully as he could manage. "As ruler, I learned things needed to change if we were to survive. There is no lost pride in it. There are no traitors here, even among the Autobots."
Tarn uncrossed his servos. He started down the empty arena seats towards Soundwave at a determined pace that promised death when he reached his goal. "How is it, you have lost your mask, yet you see no clearer? I see traitors. Everyone here brings dishonor to our Lord with each intake. I will remedy that soon."
"Megatron deserted the cause." Soundwave informed him. It was the only thing that had any sort of effect on Tarn. He stopped his approach to study Soundwave very carefully. Soundwave took the opportunity to continue. "He left the Decepticons, which you yourself have deemed the greatest act of treason. But like it or not, I am leader, and I hereby dissolve the Decepticon Justice Division. Your whole campaign is done! I have already deemed all traitors pardoned."
Tarn laughed. It was a bellowing, tank deep cackle that bounced off the far architecture and into the opened ceiling of the night sky. "Of all the bots I never expected to betray us… Soundwave, you have actually managed to surprise me. Well done."
Soundwave glared at him. "So, do I have the honor of being on your little 'list?'"
Soundwave could almost sense the smile Tarn gave him behind that Decepticon shaped mask. "That depends, 'leader.' After you saved those traitors from death row at the servos of the New Council flunkies," he broke their optic contact for a brief moment to glance Decimus. The Ex-Senator in turn pushed back further into the Insecticon holding him. "You then hid them away somewhere."
Tarn wanted the Refugees on Earth. Jetfire and all the hundreds of others who had made their home on the North Carolina Coast, enduring themselves to Rhea and the other humans. Even Rivet's small apprentice Wedge was marked for death.
"I pardoned them."
"Well I didn't." Tarn specified. "So, we can consider this all a big misunderstanding, if you hand over those traitor's names, and the place they are cowering. You have those names, don't you?"
"I do." Soundwave confirmed.
"And will you surrender them?" Tarn asked, almost politely.
"I will not."
Tarn vented deep, shaking his helm with renewed disappointment. "Have it your way. Seems we do have a deal, little lady." He said back to Arachnid.
Said 'lady' had been watching the whole exchange with great amusement. "Splendid!" Arachnid cheered. "I promised this would be a fun game, didn't I?" She looked to her looming Insecticon pawn and motioned to Tarn. They hissed down at Decimus, who recoiled right away. They then tossed the older council bot across the stands before Decimus could yelp. Tarn snatched him from the air by the helm and waved him about. "No problem, Soundwave! I'm sure I can get the names of the traitors from this tankless coward easily enough."
Decimus struggled in Tarn's unyielding grasp, throwing desperate pleading looks to the Autobots. "P-please don't terminate me! I'll do anything!"
Soundwave's frown deepened, the old fool's words instantly proving Tarn's point. He either needed to find a miracle and terminate Tarn, or more than likely snipe Decimus from a far to keep him from talking. Though Soundwave did note as Decimus squirmed, his energy field belt was still around his midsection, broken, but not beyond repair. He decided he may be able to utilize that tool.
Tarn threw Decimus into a seat, then dropped a large section of the old ceiling on top of him. It was a very effective means of keeping him from escaping.
"Well, I see you have everything sorted here." Arachnid almost sang, handing to the Insecticon the vessel containing Unicron. "But, my destiny awaits, so I'll bid you all goodbye. My swarm should almost be to Iacon by now… I'm sure we can find our way to the Space Bridge terminals from there." She leapt into the air and transformed, spinning rotors taking her up through the open ceiling with her Insecticon close behind.
"Earth is lost if they make it to those Space Bridge portals!" Arcee gasped an intake.
Soundwave took in Tarn, fiddling with a vile of nuke, his drug of choice. It seemed he still liked to intake some before a slaughter. Their communications were down, thanks to Tarn's lackies somewhere out of blast range no doubt. He had to handle Tarn without succumbing to his Spark exploding voice trick and retrieve/terminate Decimus before he could spill what he knew. He had a plan that may even the odds, but he couldn't chase Arachnid.
He opened a portal before the Autobots. "Take Arachnid down. But watch for Tarn's ship, his other forces will be watching from the skies to defend her no doubt. When communications are back online, tell me where that ship is, and I will bridge you there."
Arcee didn't need any further encouragement. She jumped through the portal before any of their fellow teammates could even think to protest. The others followed suit, But Bumblebee hesitated. "How will you get Coms back on?"
"Soundwave smiled. "I have my best hacker on it. Now go."
Bumblebee finally nodded. "Good luck. We'll see you after all this is done." Bumblebee said, a promise for him to survive hidden somewhere in that statement. The portal closed behind him, and Soundwave addressed his terrified army, some hidden in the shadows still. "Stay out of a 1 klik radius of his voice frequency, distance fire only!"
"That won't take him down." Thunderblast informed him.
"I know. But you will be covering me. I'll take him up close." Without further explanation, he deactivated his and Laserbeak's auditories. Then he charged. Laserbeak deployed, circling just out of range, feeding him arial visuals to fill in for his deafness.
Giving up one of his senses in a fight would normally be out of the question, but it was their only defense against Tarn's deadly voice.
He was halfway to Tarn. The arena silent from his perspective. Tarn only shook his helm again. Then he jumped down from the stands to meet him the rest of the way.
The ground shook when he landed. Tarn rose from the small crater he created on impact. Laser fire bombarded his armored chassis from all directions in uneven intervals. Soundwave's forces attacked from a safe distance, just as he ordered.
Soundwave felt Tarn's audio attack, even without his hearing. The low frequency burned in his Spark. This time he maintained his balance and his focus. His assumed deafness had worked to protect his Spark from out right exploding under Tarn's vocal attack.
Even from a safer distance, the laser fire sputtered when his other Decepticons were hit with the deadly pitch. No one's life signal snuffed out, but some dropped to their knee joints, others could no longer aim their weapons reliably.
Soundwave ducked into Tarn's looming shadow, transformed his blaster into being and fired into his midsection. There were few places Tarn wasn't armored, but his blast's placement did manage to make the larger bot stumble.
'He's tracing your left flank, Master!' Laserbeak reported, firing a barrage of his small blasts into Tarn's face mask to slow the incoming attack. With Laserbeak's distraction and warning Soundwave managed to skid out of the way before Tarn's right servo caught him in the helm. The power of the swing cut through the air, reverberating in Soundwave's chest. If it had hit, he would have lost his helm. He didn't pause to consider the close call. He continued to evade. It was his best chance of staying alive. He only blocked with his servos if absolutely necessary. A single block from Tarn's fist sent a shockwave of pain up into Soundwave's shoulder joint. He didn't need his sensors to know something important just broke.
His Spark pulsed in pain again. Tarn was snarling something at him with that weaponized voice. Soundwave wasn't privy to whatever he said. He ignored the protesting pulse in his chest and took the moment to shoot the same spot he had hit in the beginning of the fight.
Tarn grasped his midsection this time. Finally. Soundwave had managed to do some damage. He swung behind him, blasting the back of his knee joint. Unlike other larger opponents, Tarn didn't go down. He was still too well grounded with his bulky tank treaded peds. For Soundwave to bring him down, those had to go. Luckily for him, Soundwave had an intimate knowledge of this battlefield. The Pits of Kaon had hidden traps he could exploit against Tarn to bring him down, if the mechanisms in the arena still functioned after so long.
He decided to give it a try. He was losing ground; Tarn having recovered from the hit into his mid-section. Soundwave backed out of his long sweeping grasp with Laserbeak's insightful help. He continued to retreat, never turning his back on his opponent. Tarn's shoulders shook. He may have been laughing at Soundwave's retreat. The assumption worked in Soundwave's favor. Tarn stepped where he needed him to be. Soundwave fired a blast, grazing Tarn's helm. His foe didn't flinch. He waved his arms in a mocking way. Soundwave assumed his aim was the focal point of Tarn's taunt. But Soundwave hadn't been aiming at him.
The blast hit into the curved end of the arena, bursting a panel open and throwing sparks into the air. Tarn spun around, no doubt investigating the sounds of electricity. Even better. He wasn't paying attention to where he was standing.
Soundwave's Spark sank when nothing happened. The trap door must have been rusted shut. He aimed this time at Tarn's peds and opened fire. Dust and metal flew into the air, and finally the trapdoor gave way.
Rusted spikes and jagged plating rushed up through the open portion of ground. It sliced through Tarn's left heel strut, another piercing the same ped through to hold him in place.
Soundwave took his chance and dove back into range, unleashing another round of fire into Tarn.
Tarn thrashed out, somehow from the awkward knelt angle. The pain didn't register until Soundwave hit into the other side of the arena. His broken shoulder took the brunt of the impact. He forced himself up, helm ringing and the same shoulder now refusing to lift his winged servo all the way up.
But Tarn had been pinned? How had he moved so fast?
Soundwave got his answer when he saw Tarn, now ripped free from the spikes and pulling a jagged panel from his own ped. He had torn through his own plating to free himself, getting that hit on Soundwave. And Tarn was still standing. Burning optics found Soundwave across the arena. His glare was interrupted by skyward laser fire. Laserbeak unleashed another onslaught. It managed to ignite Tarn's own Energon and the figure burst into blue flames in the center of the arena.
'Master, status report?' Laserbeak asked worriedly.
'Still online.' Soundwave managed to retort. 'It was foolish of me to get so close. It won't happen again. I-'
A portion of the jagged trap door was hurled from the flames into the sky at Laserbeak like a spinning saw. Laserbeak managed to dodge before Soundwave could gasp an intake.
Tarn came out of the flames. His fists were clenched, not even limping despite the spear blooming from his ped. More Decepticon fire came to his defense. Tarn swatted the bullets away like pests, his burning focus still firmly locked on Soundwave. It wasn't as hopeless as it looked. The trap had ripped a large portion of plating from Tarn's ped. Soundwave just had to aim for that section.
'I see Tarn's ship, Master.' Laserbeak reported from the air. 'Many are coming… but three bots have disembarked first and are coming for the Pit's of Kaon ahead of the others. The ship is chasing Arachnid's swarm… and the Autobots.'
The Autobots could handle themselves, but there was no way Soundwave could handle three more of Tarn's goons in addition to him, let alone a small army. He had to finish this quickly.
He grit his denta, took his broken shoulder joint in his other servo's grasp, and forced it back into socket. The flush of pain brought him somewhat back to his senses. He moved forward, despite his limp. If he allowed himself to get trapped at the edge of the arena, Tarn would rip him apart.
Tarn stopped in his tracks. He turned to the sky, appearing distracted for the first time since the fight started.
Though risky, Soundwave activated his auditories at half efficiency to glean what was going on.
"What do you mean there's interference?" Tarn's muffled tone snarled into the air, addressing someone through his own commlink. There was a pause as he waited for whatever explanation would come through. Even with fully functional auditories Soundwave wouldn't be savvy to whatever the other party was saying. Also, as Tarn listened, he seemed unconcerned for Soundwave to take the opportunity to strike. Under normal circumstances, Soundwave would have taken that disregard as an insult. But right now, he did need the information…and a moment to recover.
Tarn's optics became slits behind his mask, his whole chassis scowling. "And why is it you can't just knock them off the airwaves, Nickel?" he demanded. "Don't let them reestablish Soundwave and the Autobot's communication channels."
Another pause, which some of Soundwave's soldiers took the opportunity to volley Tarn with gunfire. Tarn didn't flinch, only holding a servo up to protect his face. Otherwise he remained stoic and focused on his call.
"Back track to whoever's trying to hack into our systems and eliminate them. I will have the Decepticons back in our command for Megatron's return before you find them."
'It must be Rhea.' Laserbeak assumed hopefully.
As if speaking her name resonated across Cybertron, the only communication channel that still worked came to life in Soundwave's auditories.
'We figured out a way to get the system back up.' Rhea's voice came through, like a shining beacon of hope when he needed it most. 'Raf had the idea to use Laserbeak's compressed language to bypass the block. On top of that, I think I may be able to crash the other system's communications in retaliation.'
'Truly genius!' Laserbeak praised, adding a squawk in the mentioned language for emphasis.
Soundwave smiled as he took in Tarn's obvious frustration. 'Good work, Rhea. I have their leader distracted. Inform me when coms are back online. I will need to start moving my troops to the Autobot's location to cut off Arachnid.'
'Can do.' She said, though she paused. Their private channel was still open, but Rhea didn't add anything else right away. Worry penetrated Soundwave's Spark at the silence, then amplified by Tarn's renewed attention on him. 'You guys got this. Stay safe… And excuse the awkward human saying, but I love you two.'
She cut the feed, but Soundwave could still read her fast pulse rate through the device. 'We will have to better educate ourselves on human customs once this is over.' Laserbeak suggested as he hailed gunfire down on Tarn to buy Soundwave more time. 'But I believe that admission holds the same significance for humans as it does for Cybertronians.'
'I agree.' Soundwave said. He straightened his back strut, shut off his auditories yet again and rushed forward. 'If we survive this, I will return the same sentiment to her.'
Location: Tarn's ship, the Peaceful Tyranny
Decepticon Justice Division member: Nickel
Another slew of curses graced Nickel's lip plates as she worked, digits flying over the console keys.
"How haven't you scorched their systems yet?" Tesarus demanded. He was leaned over the minicon's cobbled together raised seat as she worked. Usually, this was their Communications officer Kaon's station, but he had gone to support Tarn. Now she had to improvise with stacked crates and a few data pads so she could see the screen.
Nickel glared up at Tesarus, who of course was making no move to offer a servo to help. "All intents and purposes their whole system should have been fried by our anti hacking software!" she complained as loudly as she thought she needed to so not to blow a gasket. "But it's like I'm trying to hack into something that's older than the fragging original thirteen Primes! Whoever is getting through is using a system so technologically archaic I don't even know where they could have gotten it! Bah!" she cursed again when the ancient tech slipped past another fire wall. "I don't recognize… wait, are they using an old compression language? Frag my chassis plateless! How random can they get? Where is Vos when I need the mostly silent linguist?" She already knew, of course. He was busy poking holes in the prisoners below deck.
"Tarn'll be angry if they cut our communication and reestablish Soundwave's." Tesarus informed her coolly.
Nickel turned fully away from the screen to fix Tesarus with a glare. "How about you make yourself useful and grab me a translation pad for the compression code!"
Tesarus shrugged. He wandered to the other side of their joint space to fetch what she asked for. Still working as fast as she could, Nickel added, "And thanks, like I needed to be reminded how angry Tarn will be!"
"I just can't wrap my processor around what's goin' on down there." Tesarus said as he sorted through their stack of data pads. Nickel growled at his failure to rush. "I mean, out of all the Con's to turn on us, the last I would have guessed would have been Soundwave… I wonder what Lord Megatron would think."
"Tarn's worried Soundwave killed him." Nickel grumbled. "For Soundwave's sake, he better still be alive, or I'll kill the traitor myself. Tarn would be crushed if Megatron were gone. I just got my boy to start weaning off the Nuke. It breaks my Spark seeing him relapse so hard when this all started."
"Last bot you should worry about is the boss." Tesarus snickered. "Somehow, I think he'll pull through. As long as he gets the names of all of them traitors, strings up Soundwave, and double crosses Arachnid, in that order, he'll be fine."
Nickel vented. None of these boys ever did take anything seriously for their own good. She decided she could save that talk for later when she wasn't staving off a cyber-attack.
Tesarus approached the console again, data pad held out for her. The screen pinged before she could take it. She glanced up to see a single line of text in place of the previous digital battle.
I got in, Bitch. :)
"What's that mean?" Tesarus wondered.
Nickel pursed her lip plates. "Whoever's hacked us is in."
"I caught that, but I mean, the last word, and the symbol after it."
"Couldn't guess… wait." Nickel turned her helm to the side. Then it clicked, and she snarled. "It's a pit scavenging smiley face! Fragger is mocking me."
'I'm also insulting you.' Came a voice through the consol. Nickel froze, Tesarus doing the same behind her. 'But hey, I get it, a one-word insult may be to far over your head.' The voice offered, almost apologetically.
"Who is this?" Nickel snapped.
'Your conscience. I know, we don't talk a lot.' The voice answered.
'HA! Good one.' A different voice said over the other.
There was more than one hacker, or at least more bots present. Nickel growled. Her insides ran hot from the embarrassment of letting such a mistake slip through. "Laugh it up, scrap eaters! Once I track your location the ship's energy guns will fix you."
This time, a flashing picture downloaded onto the screen. Much like the first message, it took Nickel a moment to try and decipher it's meaning. But this time she didn't have the same luck as before. It was a looping image of a…some sort of non Cybertronian creature. Whatever it was, it had two pointed auditory receptors on the top of its helm, sort of like their cyberfox pet they had trudging somewhere on the ship. It had a colorful rectangular frame and four servos that ran along a low-definition representation of space, a trail of rainbow following it as the clip looped an irritating nyanyanyanyanyanya sound.
"Two questions. What is that abomination on screen, and how are they getting past the ship's defenses?" Tesarus growled. It appeared he was finally ready to take this seriously.
"Like I said, they are using tech so old we don't have a defense against it. I need to build code just to try and keep them out. But AGAIN, that is far from my normal job! I'm a repair unit, not a fragging programmer!"
She fumbled in her subspace compartment; patience already shot to the Pits as the stupid singing creature on the screen continued to prance through space in the background. Building code to keep the hackers out was too much of a processor ache for her tastes. She retrieved the small device she seldom used unless she absolutely had to. A gift from Tarn just in case she needed backup. This hacker had successfully gotten under her plating enough to convince her to use it.
Tesarus winced at the sight of it and instinctively covered his auditories. Nickel just rolled her optics as she plugged the device that held the recording of Tarn's deadly voice on it. "We won't hear it. It will go directly to our little annoying friends and fry their circuits wherever they are."
Tesarus dropped his servos from his helm and smiled. Nickel matched his grin and address the screen. "This was fun but consider this a formal dismissal to the All Spark from the D.J.D." she activated the recording, sending its deadly frequency through the airwaves to hit back the against hackers. In the silence that followed, she vented in relief, unplugging the recording device and packing it away. "You should check on Tarn to make sure we still have open communication after this whole frequency fight…"
'What the hell was that?'
Nickel jolted in her borrowed seat. She glanced back to see Tesarus in a similar state of disbelief. There was no way…
'Seriously, it was like nails on a chalkboard, if the nails were made of forks and broken glass.' A third voice intoned.
Nickel pounded the console with her fists. "How in the Pits are you still online?! You should be unconscious on the floor with your circuits fried!"
'No circuits here, dumbass.' The second voice explained.
Nickel continued to whisper curses to herself as she pounded on the keys. She may not have been able to keep them out, but now she was curious. Finally, she managed to vanquish the stupid singing rainbow creature from the screen and open their channels into a visual feed. The hackers would be able to see her, but that didn't matter. She needed to understand what was going on and maybe a glimpse at those responsible for her growing rage would be a good start. Maybe visualize the equipment they were using.
The screen opened. Both parties instantly froze as they observed the other. Nickel blinked her optics a few times, not understanding the four short alien creatures staring back at her. Then it clicked, and she was somehow even more furious. "Organics?! Organics are hacking our systems?" she felt a dark need for violence take over as she observed the ugly pests. "Organics are on a ship somewhere on Cybertron hacking my stuff? I'm going to find that ship and blow it up."
The slim organic with two fur like tufts colored black and pink on either side of their helm recovered from the shock first. Unfazed by Nickel's threat, they smiled and offered some sort of hand gesture with both their middle most digits raised at the camera. 'Hey dude. We're here to break everything.'
Location: Bridge of the Renegade
Rhea
She managed to shut down the two-way feed, but not before she got a good look at the Cybertronians she was fighting for control. And the same Cybertronians got a good look at them in return.
From behind the dark screen, a slew of Cybertronian curses assaulted them. It was so loud it almost blew out the speakers. It was worse than whatever audio assault they had tried on them before that would have fried their circuits, if they had any.
'WHY ARE THERE ORGANICS MESSING WITH OUR SYSTEM!?' The voice of Nickel screamed, back in a language she understood. Rhea managed to catch the designation of the blue minicon's name from the much larger bot by her side.
Rhea and Raf were seated on a large console on the Bridge with Jack and Miko leaned over them. Miko, who had done little to contribute other then add snide remarks, snickered and pointed at Raf's screen, still hardwired into the Cybertronian tech. "Hey, send them Nyan Cat again." She suggested with a devious grin.
'Carbon filth!' Nickel snarled through the crackling speakers. 'How did you even get here? How hasn't somebot smashed you under their fragging peds yet?!'
"I get a lot of hostility from this one." Jack offered, a calm in the storm of English and Cybertronian curses. "Is there any way we can cut the audio feed?"
'Oh no!' Nickel snapped. 'I know you're there now! And once this is all over, you'll all be under MY peds #*$^#^ &$.'
Rhea didn't catch that, but Miko apparently did. She laughed, and almost sat in Raf's lap to get to his keyboard. "Hey, can I send them something?"
Raf gave her a suspicious look. "We're kind of busy, Miko."
"It'll only take a second, I promise." She assured, snatching his laptop, and typing out a series of letters after a few pondering moments to find the right keys. It occurred to Rhea this was the first time she ever saw Miko use something other than her phone to text.
Soon enough, she thrust the laptop back into Raf's possession. "Can you translate that into Cybertronian text?" she pleaded.
Raf studied it, a thin brow raised. He glanced at Jack, who only shrugged. Raf mirrored the gesture, then typed in the command. Then he sent it to the Peaceful Tyranny for Nickle and Tesarus to read on their screen.
There was a prolonged silence from the other side, only interrupted by Miko's barely subdued snickering.
Then Nickel screamed. 'HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT WORD?!'
Miko almost hit the floor, doubled over with laughter. "I got me a cursing Con friend who gave me a crash course in Cybertronian insults and curses. Why? Want some pointers?"
'I was about to say… the organic knows more lashing words then you do, Nickel.' The other bot offered. 'And I never thought I'd see the cycle.'
"Your friend gets it Nickel." Miko laughed into the speaker.
'Where are you filth from, so I can blow up your carbon stinking world right after I'm done with you!' Nickel demanded.
Rhea glanced Raf and the others. "Arrakis." She offered finally. "Where he who controls the spice controls the universe."
This time Raf laughed, but Jack and Miko only stared.
"Was that funny?" Miko asked.
"It was a nerd joke." Rhea offered simply.
"Ah." Miko said.
'Never heard of it, but when I find it it's gonna be stardust!' Nickel promised.
"Fair enough." Rhea said with a shrug. "It's just down the next space highway after you take a right at Ponyville."
"Just watch out for sand worms." Raf added with a snicker.
'I'm getting the feeling they are messing with you.' Tesarus said.
As Nickel carried on, spewing vitriol and cyber assaults back at them, the door to the Bridge behind them flung open. Rhea risked a quick glance before jumping back into her work. It was Knock Out with Soundwave's head Engineer, Rivet in tow.
"Coms are dead." Knock Out complained, dramatic as ever. "I'm waiting for patients, but Soundwave hasn't sent any. I have a hard time believing they are doing that well in the fight. Not one bot even scraped their knee joint? Is there no bot to complain to about the dead coms? I had to walk up here from Medical because I couldn't call a Bridge."
"Oh the horror." Rivet snapped while shoving past Knock Out. "I once had to walk from the center of Cybertron's underground to the peeks of the Titan Mountain range. I was dodging Autobot capture from the start, and it was acid raining the whole time. I didn't have no fragging Groundbridge, and I did less complaining then you are." He stood hunched over the console next to the kids, fumbling around in the control panel.
"They're working on getting the Coms back up." Jack shot back in Rhea and Raf's defense.
Knock Out crossed his servos. "Have you tried reconfiguring the primary power coupling?"
Rhea paused, then looked up from her screen to glare at him. "Did you just seriously ask if we tried turning it on and off again?"
"Tarn's team knocked out the system and they almost have it back." Jack said, finishing his original train of thought before Knock Out had interrupted him.
"And we're going to mess up their communication network to pay them back for it." Rhea assured them.
Both Knock Out and Rivet snapped to attention after that clarification, all banter long gone.
"Did you just say… Tarn?" Knock Out asked to clarify.
"I did." Rhea said.
"He's here?" Knock Out specified, his remaining red optic widening.
Rivet suddenly started to chuckle. "We are going to die I see. Good to know."
"Does he know where we are?" Knock Out all but yelped. He looked to be considering pressing his back into the far wall to try and blend in with their surroundings.
Miko scoffed at him. "Sure, we made sure to tell them our exact location… of course not, dude! Really, Knocks, you are gonna have to trust us more than that."
The tension in Knock Out's body started to ease away. "So, they haven't pinpointed our location yet… good."
"I don't think so anyway. Let me check." Miko said and turned to the black screen. "Hey, Nickel! You know where we are?"
'NO! But when I find out your filthy organic self will wish you were never hatched, or however it was you slithered into existence!' Nickel hissed.
Miko grinned. "Always a pleasure to talk to ya, Nickel."
Knock Out blinked, slowly processing that info. The terror returned to his features in an instant. "Y-you have an open com with them right now? Why would you do that?!"
Rivet could only laugh, tired face grim but still managing a defeated smile. "You fleshies are insane. I can see why Unicron parked his oversized aft inside your planet. No other being other than the chaos bringer would have the bearings to." He knelt before the kids and held up his tools. "What do ya need? I can rig anything to help you hack them back."
"You'll get caught working against the D.J.D?" Knock Out whispered, now afraid to talk to loud, lest Nickel hear him and hunt him down from voice print alone.
Rivet nodded to him. "Those lunatics have always been a blight on the Decepticon cause! Least I can do is get in their way."
"We can use all the help we can get." Raf agreed, then he looked to Rhea with worry. "But even if we can get our communications back and running, I don't think I can cut off the Peaceful Tyranny's coms." Raf whispered while Miko and Nickel exchanged insults.
Miko did take that moment to add, "By the way, are we going to talk about the name of their freaking ship? It wasn't you to name it, was it Nickel?"
'Rot in the Pits!' Nickel replied.
Ignoring Miko's comment, Rhea pursed her lips. Her fingers demanded to be distracting as they crackled with excess energy. She shook her wrists out as she thought. "I can't cut it off either. We can use Laserbeak's compression language to communicate with Soundwave's forces… but if Tarn's gang knows what we're doing, they may be able to stop it."
"So, we'll need a distraction on the Peaceful Tyranny's own com frequency? More so then Miko arguing with one bot." Jack pointed out.
Rhea bobbed her knee, wracking her brain for anything that could help with a distraction. They couldn't shut down the frequency, but it was clear they could talk on it now, Miko and Nickel's cursing match proof of that. But they were just four teens, and Cybertronian voices could be louder…"
"Wait." Jack suddenly jolted, pulling even Miko's focus onto him. In turn, he looked at her, eyes glistening with recollection. "We need something loud and distracting Cybertronians have never heard before."
"And?" Miko said.
'What are you filth talking about?' Nickel snapped.
Jack ignored the voice from the speaker and elaborated. "Remember the first day we met the bots, and you tried getting us to start a band? Why not start it now?" he offered.
Miko staired, then her eyes widened with realization. "Oh my God… It's my freaking destiny." She spun around to the speaker and promised, "Hold that thought Nickel. Fate is calling me." She ran to the edge of the console and slid down a large wire to the ground. Knock Out and Rivet gave Rhea and the others a confused look. Rhea could only mirror their confusion. Jack seemed to know what Miko was up to at least. She was gone from the Bridge for only a few minutes before she barreled back in, an electric guitar and small amp in her clutches.
"Can you nerds hook this up to the Peaceful Tyranny's com system?"
"What is that Earth junk?" Rivet asked, though helped her back onto the console with the others.
Knock Out took in the scene, and for the first time since he arrived, he let out a single laugh. That's right, he had been on Earth for a time, in vehicle mode with a radio. "It's what the humans wanted. Something alien, loud and distracting." He explained to Rivet.
There was no guarantee it would work, but to help buy time and get Soundwave and the Autobot's Com's working again, they had to try anything. Rhea helped Raf hook up Miko's guitar to the system. Miko stood, taking a deep, clearing breath as she faced the blank screen, her humming instrument in hand. She kissed her fingers and her guitar pic before holding them to the sky. "This one goes out to you, Bulk… Wherever you are, I know you're kicking tail pipe."
"I doubled power to your systems." Rivet told them both. It was the boost they desperately needed to get through. It would also make whatever noise they sent through the Peaceful Tyranny's coms even louder.
"Done! We're past Nickel's defense. We are live across Tarn's whole communications network. We can overlay anything over whatever he says." Raf said after a final wave of joined cyber-attacks between him and Rhea.
'What are you waste of gasses up to?' Nickel snarled.
Miko smiled. It was a wide eyed, truly horrifying expression as she came back to the present. "What am I doing, Nickel? Fulfilling my destiny!" She slammed her hand down onto the strings and sent a screeching, reverberating chord into the system. Before Nickel, or anyone on that frequency could react Miko was gone, lost in a wild death metal tune that rattled the amp at her feet and made the speakers screech in protest. It was loud, but it would be triple that volume through the Peaceful Tyranny's com system. Rhea almost heard voices, but Miko started singing in a screaming Japanese balled that overtook whoever was trying to convey a protest. Raf fought for control to keep Miko live on the frequency. Going by her keystrokes, Nickel was panicked, trying to pull back control and silence the music so their army could function.
With Nickel distracted, Rhea was free to restore Soundwave's own com systems. She pulled the suppressing code from the enemy ship's files and translated it through Laserbeak's compressed language. She sent it to Laserbeak so he could translate it back and reconnect through Soundwave's master control.
The system pinged triumphantly. It worked. Soundwave had regained communication and control of his army.
Location: The Pits of Kaon
Soundwave
'She did it. I have the new system codes!' Laserbeak cheered, just as Soundwave managed to dodge another attack from Tarn's too fast for his size servos. Tarn stumbled, forgetting Soundwave for a moment to fiddle with the com in his auditory. Something besides Rhea's tampering was going on.
In a wave of sudden audio static, Soundwave was assaulted with over one hundred voices in his mind.
'Communication is back! Took long enough!' Demolisher could be heard saying first. 'We can't get any closer to Tarn… even from a safe distance his voice knocked half of our troops into stasis!'
'The organics got the coms working.' Rivet intoned in his usual gruff way. 'They are also returning the favor to the Peaceful Tyranny. They are jamming Tarn's coms… But that may not last long. They are trying to pinpoint the Renegade's location.'
'My Lord! Ve cannot vitstand the bug svarm for much longer!' Blitzwing reported separately from some other location.
'Wait, did someone say Tarn?!' Slipstream interrupted. 'That was a scrap joke, right? Or code for something?'
'Nope, the joke's on all of us.' Thunderblast responded. 'Lord Soundwave is trying to fight him; we are giving him cover… it's going about as well as you'd expect a fight with Tarn to go.'
Soundwave pulled back, staying out of Tarn's range as he struggled to process all the information. He had command of his forces again, but now Tarn's army was trying to find his ship… Rhea was on that ship. Before his spinning processer could focus on one problem first, a voice out shouted them all. It was Sharpshot. 'We're with the Dinobots my Lord!' They reported. 'Arachnid's swarm is headed for The Autobot Capital Iacon. We intend to cut them off. We also spotted the Peaceful Tyranny. It is headed for the Kaon Capital; we assume they are going to attack the Renegade.'
It was the most informed update he had received yet. But Soundwave didn't have time to answer. Tarn turned from him; his red stair focused on the shadows of the far north entrance. Two bots stormed in. Helex and Kaon. Tarn's loyal men, here to overwhelm Soundwave. They bowed to Tarn. Then they followed their leader's example and focused their glares onto Soundwave across the arena. The silence from Thunderblast and Demolisher in the stands was deafening.
He didn't have much more time.
Helex and Kaon were speaking to Tarn, so Soundwave tuned in to listen. Tarn was less likely to unleash his deadly voice with two of his most loyal followers in range. That was his hope, anyway.
"I had to shut off my com, boss." Helex vented. "Whatever that noise is over the chatter channel was like an energy pick through my brain pan."
"It's why we were so late getting here, honest." Kaon added. "We couldn't lock onto your coordinates. But I see you didn't exactly need us. No surprise there. I'm just shocked the old Communication's officer is still standing." He added with a snicker.
Tarn glanced Soundwave's direction. "I guess I should have known you'd have some tricks left. I assumed you wouldn't be able to hack our systems if I kept you busy here. I stand corrected. Good job."
"Before we lost contact, Nickel said it wasn't him." Kaon informed Tarn. "Soundwave has a bunch of organics in his employ. Their tech is so different from ours it allowed for the problem to slip through. Nickel and Tesarus are tracking the Renegade now."
"Organics?" Tarn's optics flashed at Soundwave curiously, but even behind his mask he couldn't hide his disgust. "Nickel will take care of the problem. If our Communications are being tampered with by organic pests, then one good blast to the Renegade's hull should be more than enough to expose the creatures to Cybertron's toxic air. Then our little organic problem will be solved. It is only a shame we won't get to see it."
That was all Soundwave needed to hear.
'Rivet,' Soundwave began. 'Take control of the Renegade and prepare for evasive maneuvers. Also warn Predaking of the approaching danger. The Predacons should hold the Kaon capital against the Peaceful Tyranny well enough to protect those behind its walls.
'Blitzwing, Slipstream. Take your forces and give Sharpshot and the Dinobots back up at the boarder of Iacon. They are headered for Iacon's Spacebridge terminals. Under no circumstances can they be allowed to get it. If you fail to hold the line, destroy the Spacebridge Terminals.
'As for those forces still able to fight here in the Pits of Kaon-'
'We got your back Boss!' Thunderblast exclaimed to loudly over the com system. 'We'll keep blasting, no matter how many new terrifying bots come to old Tarn's defense.'
'That is not what I was about to order.' Soundwave corrected. For emphasis, he turned to the location in the stands where she was hidden. He caught her peak out from behind her blaster. 'All forces no longer able to fight are to be evacuated back to the Kaon Capital. Those who are still conscious, are to break off and give the Autobots back up against Arachnid.'
'But… Master you can't fight all three of them by yourself.' She felt the need to remind him.
'That is not your concern.' Soundwave snapped back. He tuned the coms system so only those left listening was Thunderblast and the bots left in the arena. 'Your orders are to stop Arachnid at whatever cost. She must not be allowed to unleash Unicron on the Universe again. And Thunderblast. As my second in command, be prepared to take command of the Decepticon army if it is required.'
Total silence answered him. Thunderblast, Demolisher or even Clobber failed to respond.
Tarn was speaking to his men, motioning to the sky and the sides of his helm. They were no doubt still talking about their Com system trouble, courtesy of Rhea and the other humans. He had to keep them distracted long enough to let the Renegade escape, and his army to execute their orders.
'Do you understand?' Soundwave demanded.
In the quiet of their chatter channel, Thunderblast did respond. 'Understood, my Lord.'
Soundwave nodded, opening a Groundbridge in the stands for them and the others to escape.
Tarn and his two followers glanced up at the distant vortex but didn't move to stop them. Thunderblast spoke again, her voice somber. 'All wounded have been moved. The rest are off to execute your orders.'
Soundwave nodded to himself. He glanced Laserbeak, still circling just out of reach of Tarn and the two newcomers. 'When I fall, you are to go to Rhea and protect her.'
'I cannot follow that order, Master.' Laserbeak informed him. Stubborn as ever.
'This is no time for debating.' Soundwave snarled. 'I will try with whatever I have left to take Tarn down with me, but I will be too concerned to focus if Rhea's fate is a mystery to me.'
'Tarn will fall, and you and I will Bridge back to the Renegade to protect her together.' Laserbeak insisted. Then he trilled a snicker. 'You may be mad at me, Master. But I am not the only one this cycle to disobey your command.'
Soundwave didn't have time to chastise Laserbeak for the games. This was hardly the time for it. But then three blurs rushed onto the area from every angle. Soundwave wasn't the only one caught off guard.
Demolisher's tank form smashed into Helex on Tarn's left side. A moment later Thunderblast transformed from the sky and tackled Kaon on Tarn's right.
Laserbeak swooped down, unleashing his fire into Tarn's protected faceplate. But even protected as it was, it was long enough to blind him. Clobber shook the arena with every step as she charged right for Tarn.
Tarn swatted Laserbeak away but couldn't react fast enough to unleash his voice. Clobber stifled his auditory attack with both hands grasped around his neck.
Tarn recovered his focus, grasped Clobber by the helm and yanked her whole chassis down. He smashed her helm into his awaiting armored knee. Clobber released her grip, seeming to have momentarily lost consciousness from the strike. Tarn whirled back to drive his fist through her. Thunderblast transformed again, crashing into Clobber with the nose of her jet form to shove her out of range. The two of them crashed, tumbling over each other next to Soundwave, who remained stunned in his wounded corner of the arena.
Demolisher's tank treads whirled uselessly as Helex's four servos got a good grip on him. He yelled out as he lifted the tank and hurled Demolisher towards the same dust pile Thunderblast and Clobber had created.
Both D.J.D bots rushed to Tarn. He was knelt in the Energon stained dirt, grasping his neck. Soundwave dared to activate his auditory.
"Boss, you ok?" Kaon inquired as Helex helped him up.
Tarn glared across the arena, a servo still on his sparking neck. "That one opticed traitor… damaged my voice box." He managed to choke out with scratchy vocals.
A miracle had occurred. Clobber had managed to somewhat even the playing field with that risky move. Tarn's ability to kill them all with his voice was now questionable.
Soundwave took Tarn's moment of weakness, not to attack, but to limp over to his three soldiers.
Clobber's optic flickered, cracked from the heavy strike to Tarn's knee joint. Thunderblast was unstable on her peds but was trying to help Clobber up. Demolisher pulled himself out of his transformation, one of his servos sparking and hanging uselessly at his side.
"I thought I told you three to go." Soundwave said. Despite their direct disobeying of his orders, his tone wasn't angry. In a way, he was happy to see them, even beaten as they were.
Thunderblast managed a pained chuckle. "We are Cons after all. I joined the cause to break the rules."
"Am I… One with the All Spark?" Clobber asked, massive body still unstable and struggling to see.
"No, but that insane move you made to cripple Tarn's death voice will earn you a nice spot by Primus I figure!" Thunderblast laughed, tagging her on the back and almost knocking Clobber forward.
"It was suicidal, but I can't complain." Demolisher huffed. He turned to Soundwave and attempted a shrug, wincing as the move made his shoulder spark more. "Sorry for the mutiny. But I had to do something. If you were terminated, then Thunderblast would get the Decepticons, and I couldn't let that happen. I figure whatever horrific death Tarn has in store is better than whatever Thunderblast could come up with as Decepticon 'lord.'"
Thunderblast laughed, her gaze far away as she watched Tarn and his men quickly recover. "Yeah… there would have been so many organic pets. Demolisher, you would have hated it."
Clobber forced her way to her peds, Thunderblast helping her remain upright. Soundwave took in the three bots, standing broken but steadfast by him. Whatever convoluted reasons they gave for staying, he couldn't help but realize the irony of it all. Their outgunned group, defiant until death, standing in the Pits of Kaon. It was how their cause had started. Before corruption twisted them. He was proud to see it as it used to be, at least one last time. "It's not too late to go." Soundwave encouraged. "Now we are all injured. Our chances for survival are almost nonexistent, even with Tarn unable to use his voice attack."
"I'm here to stay." Thunderblast said. A somber smile creased her split lip plates as she glanced the arena around them. "Ever since I first heard Megatron speak here, I had a near obsession with the Pits of Kaon. To tell the truth, I always had a sick fantasy about fighting here myself. I'm only a little shocked that dream came true. I'm happy, as long as no other blindsiding surprises grace me before I die."
Clobber went rigid. Still clung to Thunderblast for support, and possibly due to her helm injury, she suddenly blurted, "Thunderblast I have feelings for you!"
Thunderblast did a double, then triple take up at Clobber. "Well scrap." She finally settled on saying, but otherwise seemed unsure what else to add.
Clobber fumbled, regretting her words instantly. "Sorry! I just had to admit it before we died, or I was going to explode. You're just so confident, and forward… and I always admired that. I had no idea how to say any of that, until right now, oddly enough."
Thunderblast remained locked, looking up at her. Her own shoulders slumped a bit. "You're giving me way too much credit. I'm not that confident. I only flirt with bots who I know for sure won't answer to my advances. That way it never goes anywhere, which is the whole point because intimacy scares the scrap out of me… Wow that was way too much information, wasn't it?"
Despite the pain it caused him, Demolisher laughed. "Hell yeah it was."
"I am glad none of you traitors will meet your end with regrets." Tarn expressed, tearing the sentiment of the moment to shreds. Though his voice was quiet and forced thanks to Clobber's attack, he maintained his usual intimidating venom.
With a casual digit pointed forward, Tarn's men charged. Soundwave forced himself back into a fighting stance. He felt the others square up despite their injuries. Kaon laughed maniacally, his body crackling with deadly voltage that would fry any bot he touched. Helex was less theatric, his oversized blasters buzzing to life, one on each of his four servos and two on both shoulders. Then Tarn advanced behind them, his double fusion canon charged and ready to annihilate.
Soundwave blasted at them with his working servo, Thunderblast's rifle shooting at their peds. It slowed them down but didn't stop them.
"Point me where they are!" Clobber shouted. Despite her near blindness she snatched a massive panel from the arena wall and held it over her.
"Two degrees to your left, less than half a klik away!" Thunderblast reported.
Clobber adjusted accordingly and hurled the chunk of wall. Kaon yelped, dodging out of the way before it could crush him. It did manage to clip Helex, and Demolisher focused his blast on him when he tripped. Clobber went to snatch another piece of wall to try again. Tarn's cannon fired.
Thunderblast managed to shove Clobber out of the way before Tarn's shot it took her helm off. The blast carried on into the wall and covered them all in sharp pieces of rubble. Soundwave held his fire, the plume of dust destroying all visual clues. The canon fire assaulted them through the dust. Soundwave managed to dodge the first wave. The second caught Demolisher due to his slower movements and he hit the ground hard. Clobber curled in around Thunderblast, using her much larger frame to shield the smaller bot.
Soundwave fired blind into the dust cloud, using outdated calculations of their last location to try and score a lucky hit.
'Arial advance! Master, fall back!' Laserbeak shrieked.
Soundwave couldn't see what Laserbeak did, but he trusted him. He stopped his attack and dove backwards towards his incapacitated soldiers. "Cover!" was all he managed to say before the laser fire came raining down onto the arena.
"Ours or theirs?" Thunderblast shouted over the fray. Laserbeak hadn't offered that information. But pressed against the arena wall the bulk of the gun fire remained far off.
'Laserbeak, report!' Soundwave said, nervous from the Minicon's sudden silence.
Thankfully, he was quick to answer, assuring Soundwave he was still fine. 'Two Seekers, Master. They are focusing fire on Tarn and his goons.'
So, it was Soundwave's forces after all. He wondered who else decided to disobey his direct command. Sharpshot would have been his best guess, but they had reported to be near Iacon with the Dinobots.
Soon enough the engines of the Seekers scattered the dust from the arena, just as their aerial assault had sent Tarn's troops diving for cover in one of the nearest archways. Tarn was alone in the middle of the arena, knelt down and servos up to protect himself. He looked stunned, but still very much online.
Both jets twisted in the air with Laserbeak trailing them in their formation. They transformed, landing before Soundwave and the others. Soundwave was actually taken by surprise. He knew them both well yet could not have guessed they would have been the first to come to his rescue. Least of all the Seeker who shoved an accusing digit in Soundwave's face.
"There!" Starscream hissed at him with enough venom to poison the Well of All Sparks all over again. "Now NOBOT can say I never did anything for the Decepticon cause!"
From under Clobber, Thunderblast managed a pained snickered. "But I see it took someone much more noble to talk you into it." She said, focused on the other Seeker at Starscream's side. It was Jetfire, the Decepticon turned Autobot who was supposed to be on Earth with the other refugees. Beyond Thunderblast's insult, she was right. Aside from Autoclave, Jetfire would be one of the few still online to talk Starscream into doing anything.
Jetfire turned to Soundwave, Laserbeak still buzzing him. "Your organic allies enlisted my help to find Starscream. I've also brought others with me who were willing to fight. They have gone to defend Iacon from Arachnid's swarm."
Starscream rolled his optics and crossed his servos. "Which I would think would be your focus, 'my Lord.' But here you are lollygagging with your sad Second in Command behind your army. Who exactly is it giving the great Soundwave so much grief?"
"The blessings from Lord Megatron just keep coming." Tarn intoned. They all spun around, Starscream being the fastest. Tarn stood from his defensive stance slow, optics still burning as clearly as when they started. "The famous traitor, Jetfire. You have delivered yourself here for execution. And of course, our Lord Megatron's treacherous Second in Command. Arachnid told me of every plot against him you had, Starscream. Even driven mad by Dark Energon, Arachnid was most informative."
Starscream's wings sank as a pitiful whimper escaped his voice box. "Y-you're fighting Tarn!? Why are you fighting him?" he demanded, the bravado he once wielded having fluttered off through the open ceiling.
"I knew I recognized that ship…" Jetfire vented. "There is way more coming. One hundred bots disembarked from the Peaceful Tyranny and are headed this way. They seem disorganized due to what the humans did. But because they can't communicate with Tarn, I assume they are coming here to determine if he needs back up. We are going to be in serious trouble if we don't move."
Soundwave considered that news. Even more of Tarn's army was coming. He had wanted to dispose of Tarn here, and not have to deal with the fall out of leaving him alive for later. But it could no longer be helped. They had to retreat.
He gave the sky a glance. The once dark storm clouds were brightening. It would be sunrise soon. If his calculations were correct, Arachnid would soon reach Iacon with her swarm. He had to beat her there. But he couldn't let Tarn leave the arena with Decimus. He would lead Tarn right to Earth to find the refugees. He looked to the old bot and scowled. Decimus had not managed to free himself from the chunk of rubble Tarn placed over him even after all this time. They would have to snatch him from the stands.
"Starscream, Jetfire. Continue to provide cover alongside Laserbeak." Soundwave ordered. "We need to retrieve that bot in the stands. Then we can Groundbridge away."
"History just keeps repeating." Tarn vented just before Soundwave could break up his team to execute the plan. He was ready to ignore it. Tarn was just buying time for Helex and Kaon to recover, and the rest of his army to arrive. He shook his helm, glancing Decimus's way. Of course, he would guess what they were planning to do. "Aligning with Autobots yet again. When faced with termination, a true Decepticon should never stoop so low. Your little four pedded friend learned that a while back."
Soundwave froze. Decimus went forgotten as he turned back to Tarn.
"What are you talking about?" Soundwave demanded.
Tarn only tisked with disappointment. "Ravage was the Minicon's name, was it not?"
Laserbeak stalled in the air over him, the bot in the arena's center his focus now as well. Soundwave could feel the confused optics of his soldiers on his back, but they felt planets away. He remained locked on Tarn, Spark fearful and quickening as his gaze demanded more of an explanation. Of course, Tarn delivered it. "My crew and I were just flying by when we picked up the transmission from the Autobot Wrecker Base. Apparently, there was a Decepticon spy team that had infiltrated their base. They had been discovered and held up in a portion of the stronghold, keeping the Wreckers at bay. I listened, intending to come down to annihilate the Wreckers. But I only intended to do so when I heard our outnumbered troops refuse to surrender, intended to go down fighting, as a Decepticon should.
"But they didn't. They came to a stalemate. Then they started talking. Swapping deals and prisoners and even compromises. I heard your Ravage on that com channel… He proposed a deal that would allow them to leave the base alive if there were no more attempted assassinations from either party. A temporary cease fire to assure no more Energon would be spilled on either side. I had heard enough, and I ordered my ship down onto that base. That type of cowardice is not needed in our ranks. So, I purged it, along with every Autobot Wrecker in that base. I never reported what happened. I assumed there would be strife between us if it came to light. I did our cause a favor. At the time, I thought I was doing you a favor too. I would not want Megatron's third in command to have to burden a Minicon who makes deals with Autobots."
Soundwave hadn't noticed he was shaking. He couldn't move, the war around him was gone. His horrific injuries might as well have been minor mesh scrapes. All that existed was him and Tarn. "You killed him?"
Tarn vented deep again. He glanced a few of his own wounds, not bothered by the stream of Energon they produced. "I'll give your Ravage this. He stood no chance against me, but he didn't run. He faced me like a Decepticon. That at least regained him some of his honor. But it was not enough to keep me from ripping him in half."
Rage overtook every circuit in Soundwave's frame, and his vision turned red. He couldn't make out the voices screaming behind him as he charged for Tarn. He felt the pulse of anger from above as Laserbeak shrieked, diving to scratch at Tarn's optics.
Before Tarn could snatch Laserbeak from the air and hurt him too, Soundwave smashed into him. He finally took the larger bot to the ground. They collided into each other on the Arena floor, Energon slicking servos. Soundwave ripped at Tarn's plating, tearing every circuit and wire in his way. Tarn thrust his helm upward. Soundwave couldn't think to dodge, and Tarn's reinforced facemask collided into his helm. The world spun, but he kept attacking. The pain was a secondary concern compared to his rage smothered grief.
But Tarn only absorbed the damage he dealt, and he gave back double. Soundwave's mind could still fight, but his body was shutting down. Alarms were blaring. Auditories ringing and his vision going black. He continued the assault. This bot below him. This was Ravage's killer. Not some rogue Autobot just fighting to defend their own life. That would have been better. It was a war after all. No. Ravage died for nothing. For some perverted logic concocted in Tarn's mind that determined what was right as a Decepticon. The last thing Ravage saw was this masked animal. Ravage's cold chassis was on some deserted asteroid right now, ripped in two, because of Tarn.
Laserbeak latched onto Tarn with his tentacles and unleashed a torrent of electricity. It stunned him for a moment, and that was all Soundwave needed to gain the upper hand. He ripped at Tarn's chest armor, digging for his Spark Chamber, intending to rip the wretched thing free. Every time Tarn started to move, Laserbeak shocked him, and Soundwave could continue.
"Lord Soundwave!" he thought he heard Thunderblast scream. He ignored it.
The blow hit him hard in the back of the helm and everything went black.
Not much time passed as he came back online. He was on the ground, Energon in his optics. Laserbeak was trying to jolt him awake. He felt the vibration of battle, but he couldn't hear much. He was hurt. That much was obvious. He was past fighting. Was Tarn terminated?
He fell prone. His peds were useless. In slow motion, he saw Jetfire and Thunderblast trying to hold back Helex from getting any closer to him. It was Helex who must have struck him from behind. Clobber and Demolisher were still laid out, unable to fight. Starscream was keeping Kaon busy with an aerial assault.
Soundwave couldn't activate a Groundbridge. He couldn't get up. He could only watch Tarn, in defiance of Primus and all logic, stand from his own crater. Tarn shook off the attack. He was damaged, but he could still fight. That was more than could be said about Soundwave.
It was either Tarn's want for a painstaking execution or Soundwave's own damaged processor, but he approached slower than a walking pace. Laserbeak fired at him. He couldn't penetrate the remaining armor.
Tarn slammed Laserbeak out of the way with the back of his cannon. Before Soundwave could try and stand again, Tarn gripped him around the throat with one hand and lifted him from the ground. He felt Tarn squeeze off the main Energon arteries in his neck, the world threatening to go away again.
Light from the morning, or the lack of Energon in his helm flashed behind his vision. Distant movement distracted him from his own impending death, pulling his blurred gaze from Tarn. Standing on the rim of the open ceiling, overlooking the arena, a bot stood, haloed by sunlight. The first of Tarn's army? The bot vanished into the shadow of the arena as they jumped down and out of sight.
"Look at me, Soundwave." Tarn hissed. Soundwave clawed weakly at Tarns tightening servo around his neck. The world was slipping away. "You may die the same way your Ravage did. As an Autobot lover, and a traitor." Tarn told him coldly. He held his cannon in front of Soundwave's face, the light from within glowing brighter until it was near blinding.
There was a blow, and Soundwave smashed to the ground.
He was no longer being strangled. Energon rushed back to his helm and bits of clarity came to him. He was still in pain, so he was still alive. But there were no more sounds of fighting. Who had saved him?
He fumbled, glancing around. He couldn't make sense of the confounded optics around him. His own men, and Tarn's, were equally stunned. Starscream stood out of a transformation, mouth plate agape. It was still bright. The sun had risen over the rim of the Pits of Kaon. It reflected off the armor of a bot standing over him. It wasn't Tarn's coloring… The same bot he saw on the rim of the Pits. They hadn't been the first of Tarn's army, or a hallucination brought on by strangulation. This massive bot had saved him. Ravage's killer had been thrown to the side, and now staired just as frozen as the others.
Soundwave looked up and winced right away as the blinding sun outlined the bot, shadowing their faceplate. Soundwave could almost hear the crowd of the Pits of Kaon, the sun light like the bright arena spotlights.
The bot reached down with a single servo, an invitation to help Soundwave up. This was familiar. The two of them had done this before in this very same place. Before Ravage was murdered. Before the Decepticons had a name.
Soundwave knelt in defeat, but not dead, spared the finishing blow. The crowed around him jeered, but the standing bot ignored them. Soundwave gazed up at him. The gladiator, his opponent, his brother, offering a hand to help him up. Powerful inflection asking him simply, "Will you stand with me?"
In the present, Soundwave came to. He reached up and took hold of Megatron's hand.
