After a gruelling hour of dragging Onslaught's body to Darkmount's laboratory Starscream was ready for a well-earned rest. But as usual, he could never have what he wanted.
Suddenly Darkmount's power was restored, lights flickering on around the lab, illuminating the otherwise dim interior of the fortress. Starscream sat down on a work bench and groaned at the ceiling. "Shockwave, you don't waste any time do you?" He muttered to himself.
Before long the Decepticon scientist himself strode into the lab. "I have successfully restored Darkmount's power but it may be some time before all systems are brought back online." He explained to Starscream.
"Wonderful Shockwave, very logical of you." Came the sarcastic, half-hearted reply.
Shockwave ignored the Seeker's tone. "Indeed. I should now be able to revive Onslaught."
"Ughhh Great."
The Decepticon cyclops moved to activate a computer console near where Onslaught lay, and continued on to re-initiate the lab's main systems in preparation for the operation. The console's screen lit up purple, bearing the Decepticon insignia as it booted up. Shockwave continued to work as Starscream stood, nervously tapping his fingers on one of the work benches.
Eventually, Shockwave broke the silence. "Starscream, I will require your assistance in moving Onslaught to the operating table." Starscream reluctantly complied and they both managed to move the unconscious Decepticon onto a plain, grey berth with a resounding clunk.
The scientist pulled a dangling cable from the ceiling and connected it to Onslaught's chest, directly above his spark chamber. After tapping a few commands into the nearby console, the cable lit up blue and Shockwave prepared to pull a lever to his right.
"Wait!" Shockwave stopped and looked over to Starscream, who had interrupted him. "Err... Have you performed this procedure before? I mean, what if it doesn't work?" Starscream inquired, trying to put off the operation at the last minute.
Shockwave simply turned back to the console. "I find your concerns to be most...illogical." He responded before pulling down on the lever.
Electricity coursed throughout the lab, preparing the equipment for the operation as a now familiar computerised voice sounded. "Commencing Energon infusion in 3, 2, 1." Energon flowed through the cable from the ceiling and into Onslaught's body, causing him to convulse slightly. Starscream stepped back in fear as the room became bathed in the blue glow of energon while Shockwave simply watched, with a scientific interest.
Colour began returning to the Decepticon's body, the once faded hues revealing themselves as blues and greens. His insignia on his chassis began to glow slightly as his spark came out of hibernation before his visor lit up yellow as his optics opened from behind it.
Onslaught roared as he awoke, bolting upright and tearing the energon tube from his torso, causing it to leak over the lab. Starscream shrunk back further into the room as the large Decepticon leaped from the berth and readied his fists, looking for a fight.
"Prepare to die Auto- what?!" He bellowed before realizing that his foe was nowhere to be seen. Onslaught lowered his fists to his sides and noticed Shockwave standing next to him. "Shockwave?! What happened?! Where am I?!" He asked in confusion. His voice was low and gruff, typical of a military commander but had an edge to it that made the listener wonder if he was suddenly going to explode in a fit of rage.
Shockwave gestured to the room around him. "You are in one of Darkmount's laboratories in Kaon. We found you in stasis-lock on the upper levels. Do you recall how you came to find your self there?"
Onslaught stood there, still slightly confused. "No. I- Wait. We?" He raised an invisible eyebrow.
Starscream moved out of the shadows, chuckling nervously. "That would be me and Shockwave." He said, avoiding contact with Onslaught's glare.
"Starscream!" He growled. "It's about time I finished you off!" Onslaught began marching towards the Seeker, who was once again prepared to run for his life.
"Enough!" Shockwave ordered, placing a hand in front of Onslaught, halting his charge. "It has been some time since you were last online Onslaught and there have been many developments over that time. Starscream has been granted amnesty for his crimes."
"On who's authority?" Onslaught shot back.
"Megatron himself issued the pardon."
Onslaught stood there for a moment, still staring at Starscream as the information sunk in. "Very well." He begrudgingly replied, still wishing to wring the Seeker's neck who stood far away wringing his hands.
"Now what do you recollect?" Shockwave asked again.
Onslaught closed his optics for a moment, delving into the past.
Many stellar cycles before the Autobots and Decepticons found their way to Earth, a fierce battle waged above Cybertron between the flagships of either side: the Ark and the Nemesis. Artillery from both ships shattered the silence of space as the two of them drew along side each other.
A silver and red Autobot jet flew between the two ships, destroying the cables that the Decepticons were using to bridge the gap to the Ark. After the last one was destroyed, the flier transformed and spoke into his comlink. "Optimus this is Jetfire. All boarding cables have been destroyed but- whoa!" He was suddenly interrupted as a leviathan of a Decepticon shot past him and towards the Autobot ship.
The giant Decepticon landed into the deck of the Ark with a tectonic bang and used a rotor blade on his arm to slice up an unlucky Autobot in his path. The being rose to his full height, which was at least six stories and activated the flamethrower on his arm. The Autobots on the deck stood terrified in front of the giant, their standard weaponry doing nothing more than anger the Decepticon. This was the combined form of the Combaticons and Decepticon supersoldier known as Bruticus.
"Bruticus smash!" He roared, stamping on and crushing several Autobot soldiers. Wading through streams of enemy fire, Bruticus did not falter as he stomped towards the Ark's engines.
After ploughing through wave after wave of Autobots, Bruticus finally reached his destination. The giant tore off the armoured plating of the engine, exposing various tanks and tubes all filled with energon. The Decepticon simply drove his fist into one of the tanks, causing the entire engine to explode in his face. Unfazed by the destruction, Bruticus continued to taunt his opponents. "Hah! This isn't even fair." He gloated while continuing to wreck havoc across the top deck of the Ark.
Just as he'd thought victory was assured, Bruticus noticed a small white Autobot with a blue visor in front of his optics approach.
"Whoa Bruticus." The white Autobot called out in a smooth African-American-like accent. "You are even uglier up close."
The giant Decepticon turned and growled at his new adversary. "How nice. The little Autobot wants to play!" He began to spin the rotor blade on his arm and continued to march towards the Autobots.
The white Autobot took a step back away from the blade. "Oh there is no way I'm breaking through that!" He spoke into his comlink. "Jetfire! We could do with a little support down here!"
A silver and red Cybertronian jet soared above the battle. "Roger that Jazz! I'll go get some more fliers, but in the meantime all I can give you is this EMP mine!" The response crackled over the Autobot's comlink as the jet overheard dropped a glowing blue orb onto Bruticus, causing the giant to groan and become disoriented.
After seeing and hearing Jetfire's response, Jazz prepared to face the titan. "Just don't keep me waiting too long flyboy." Was his reply before using a grappling hook on his arm to leap onto Bruticus' shoulder and unloading multiple rounds right into the giant's face.
The huge Decepticon roared on pain, shaking the Autobot off. With the titan still disoriented, Jazz took another opportunity to wrap his grappling hook around Bruticus' leg before pulling it with all his might. The titan roared as he lost his balance, falling into his back with a crash.
Jazz admired his handiwork for a moment before contacting Jetfire again. "Bruticus is down! I'd take him out now before the big lug gets back up if I were you."
"Ok Jazz, we'll take it from here." The flier replied, closing in on the titan with his squadron.
As Bruticus managed to recover slightly, rising to his knees, he was suddenly hit with a storm of missiles and explosive rounds from Jetfire's squadron. The titan roared as the force of the onslaught caused him to fly off the Ark and towards the planet below, taking pieces of the ship with him as he fell.
Bruticus continued to writhe and roar as Cybertron's gravity took hold, eventually proving to be too much as the giant split into his component bots upon entering the atmosphere. The five Combaticons dropped like stones as they raced towards the planet below.
Back in Darkmount's laboratory Onslaught finished his recount of the events. "We must've disconnected because I remember losing contact with the others before everything went black."
"So it would seem that the other Combaticons are somewhere here as well." Shockwave mused.
"Maybe. But we fell all the way from orbit so they could be anywhere on Cybertron."
Shockwave thought for a moment, not wanting to act too rashly. "You shared a mental link with the other Combaticons did you not?" He asked Onslaught.
"Err. Yes. When we combined, all of our minds merged to form Bruticus. But why-?"
Shockwave cut him off. "Then I will be able to locate the remainder of your team through the link you share."
"But if they're in stasis-lock then their brain modules will be in hibernation."
"Correct. However, the link should still be able to locate a subconscious mind. The process will just take...longer."
Starscream tilted his head back and groaned at the ceiling once more, earning himself a strange look from Onslaught.
"Hmm. Sounds like a plan." Onslaught agreed. "But where is Lord Megatron?"
Starscream approached with a wicked grin, placing a hand on the Combaticon's shoulder. "Oh Onslaught. There is a lot you need to catch up on..."
Author's Notes: If you have played the Cybertron games then the flashback will seem pretty familiar. If you haven't then I hope that I made it easy to understand what's going on. I'm thinking of a change of scene next chapter and as always feedback would be most appreciated! Until next time folks! ;)