NOVACAINE 2

Space was possibly one of the last places he felt at ease in; the wide vastness and quiet doing wonders for his circuitry that was frayed with tension. It wasn't a surprise to him that Megatron had no other plan than the usual 'seek and destroy' tactic for their stand in the human dwelling "Mission City" against the Autobots. Though they had done good damage to opposing and Human alike, even managing to kill the Autobot Lieutenant and blast off their youngest soldier's legs. He himself had disabled the medic and weapons specialist with his null rays. He had to admit, though, that Megatron had nearly been able to beat Optimus Prime this time and had almost claimed the AllSpark for the Decepticons faction. How close they had come to winning this foolish war! They could have triumphed and taken over Cybertron- revitalizing it and leading it back to glory through domination of others. But the past couldn't be changed, simply corrected.
The scientist inside of him calculated how much longer Cybertron could last without a sufficient energy supply; the results not being as good as he might have hoped. Slag it all; without an army to lead, he didn't stand a chance against the Autobots.
He cursed to himself when he remembered the battle he had just endured. He had been the last Decepticon in the city after Megatron had been destroyed by that annoying Terrestrial flesh-creature- although being tracked by other 'F-22 Raptors' as they were called on Earth. He had easily disposed of one while they others tried to figure out his position when he disappeared behind some buildings and disguised himself as the dead fighter- from there he had witnessed the demise of his leader and the opposing Autobots converge on their leader. What caught his optic was when Optimus picked up something from his brother's chest. He had zoomed in on the sight and was in awe to find a small shard of the once powerful Cybertronian artifact in the digits of the Autobot chief.
It was at that point when he thought it best to return to Cybertron and bring reinforcements. As far as he knew, Scorponok and Barricade were the only two remaining on that primitive trash heap of a planet; how fortunate, since he would no doubt need them for reconnaissance when his invasion began.
Suddenly his Positioning device chirped loudly, signaling to him that after a few weeks in space, he had finally arrived at his destination.
His Home-world of Cybertron.
His Spark lurched at the thought of being home; away from the organic insects of Earth, at least for a short while. He quickly opened his communication link to the Decepticons Headquarters to announce his arrival.
"Starscream to Cybertron." Was his abrupt call. If nothing had changed here on his home, then either Soundwave or Shockwave would be in the control room. He hoped for all sakes that it was Shockwave; he really was not looking forward to telling Soundwave that one of his creations had offed himself with his own shuriken.
A tired sounding, but luckily not monotone, vocal hailed him over the link. "Cybertron to Starscream, welcome back. What news do you bring?" Though the question was imminent, Shockwave hardly sounded interested.
He sighed as he felt the familiar weight of the Cybertronian gravity as he entered the atmosphere of the metal planet. How good it was to be back home! The gravitational field was too light on Earth, he felt as if he had been floating- like he would drift off the dirtball planet at any one moment. But now that he was back, he would lead an assault against the now Earth-dwelling Autobots and their miserable insect friends; then he could watch over both Cybertron and Earth from the comfort of his throne.
He landed at the docking station of the base and promptly transformed back to his bi-pedal form. "I'll meet you in the control room, Shockwave. I will relay all that has happened on Earth."

"Megatron is dead along with the rest of our forces?" Shockwave asked, a little surprised that 5 Autobots and a bunch of puny Terrestrials had destroyed 8 capable Decepticons, most of them being the toughest and deadliest in the galaxy. He looked through his one optic to looks at Starscream; leaning back against the wall, looking bored and tired of the subject.
"That's what I said. Only Barricade and the bug are alive, as far as I know…" the seeker yawned. "And if I know Barricade; he'll be stupid enough to go after the Autobots and as for Scorponok- he was already half-dead when I left, I doubt he'll make it before we return." He shrugged as if it mattered not.


Shockwave simply shook his head; half surprised and half annoyed. "Barricade is too intelligent and clever to go blindly after Optimus Prime and his men. Though no doubt, they are still recovering. You did say Megatron managed to kill the lieutenant, correct?"
A nod was the only reply. Fantastic, all that work, gone to waste.
He should have known Megatron would have been foolish enough to chase after the AllSpark through space, regardless of the fact that the Autobots would form a group and go after him and the cube. And the Decepticons were left to scrape a group together and move as well, leaving Cybertron to die until it's life-giving item returned. Unfortunately, it never would.
He sighed, "Do you know what befell the others?"
"They're dead."
"Yes, I know, are you sure they are dead? Did you see all their deaths?"
"Everyone's except Frenzy's."
There was a pause, and Starscream looked to the doorway. He waited for another moment, and Shockwave was contemplating if the seeker was pouting or being stubborn again. He was about to repeat the question when Starscream spoke.
"You can come in now, Soundwave."
Ah, so the communications officer had been eavesdropping on their conversation; not that it surprised Shockwave in the least bit.
The door slid open to reveal a large and darkly plated mech with a red visor and face mask. He stood rigid and upright and walked inside briskly. He stopped before reaching either of them.
"Starscream, what befell Frenzy?" the mech asked in a dead-sounding monotone that would run a chill down a bot's spinal cord the first time they met Soundwave
The seeker against the wall snickered, "What's this Soundwave, you getting maternal over your inventions?" he teased him, which would have been a fatal mistake if Starscream was not so high in rank.
Soundwave glowered dangerously at the other Decepticon. "What happened to Frenzy?" he asked again, this time bluntly and seriously menacing.
It didn't phase the 2IC as he just grinned wickedly. "From what I heard- he killed himself; he was trying to exterminate some of those annoying Humans and one of his disks ricocheted and cut his head off." He said it like it was a joke.
Soundwave gave no other reaction other than his hands balling up into fists.
Starscream laughed at getting a reaction out of the normally reserved mech, just tuning on his heel and stalking out. "I'm going to go find Skywarp and Thundercracker. Both of you needn't worry- with the right amount of firepower- those Autobots will fall right alongside of their little friends and we will reign victorious." He called back. "Tomorrow we will assemble all able to prepare for an attack on Earth."
Shockwave sighed in frustration before turning to the communications officer, still stiff and rigid. "Soundwave, what do you have to report?"
The dark mech turned his head to look at the speaker, silently regarding him before answering.
"Autobot activity reports a change in numbers."
"They're on the move?"
"Their forces are stretching in locations; those whose designations are well-known have vanished from our traces. We suspect they might be preparing to bring another wave of soldiers to Earth."
"Ah, so they have given up hope here on Cybertron. They are evacuating then…" Shockwave hummed to himself. So the Autobots would leave their home-world for an organically infested planet? With all the recent events, he so badly wanted to rub his temples, as humans do, unfortunately- he had no temples.
"Soundwave, do you know who these disappearing mechs are?"
Soundwave nodded and walked over to the main computer in the room; Shockwave right behind him. The Communications Officer stabbed one of his fingers into a port on the computer and immediately started the uplink. Shockwave watched as a number of images of Autobots flashed over the screen. The one-eyed mech took a step forward and clicked on the first image- a very well known mech in the Autobot faction and one of the few Shockwave had bothered to memorize. He clicked the image and the rest of the Autobots departed from the screen and the one remaining had his profile logged into.
Shockwave scowled- he hated this mech; all his best laid plans had gone wrong because of this one.
"Name: Autobot Prowl, Function: Third-In-Command, Military Analyst and Tactician. Optimus left Prowl 

in charge of Autobot forces here on Cybertron. It has been shown that he has been re-arranging a lot of squadron locations and numbers." Soundwave chimed.
Shockwave just snorted. "Of course, he's trying to even things out and make everything automatic for when he leaves."
Soundwave looked at him. "He's preparing to depart to Earth?"
The other mech just nodded. "No doubt. Optimus will need him if his Second-In-Command is deceased. If he plans well, the Autobots will all evacuate successfully before we know it. And those Autobots on Earth have obviously colonized there and will start to bring more of their forces there. They might be expecting us to retaliate." He paused. "And if that is the case, by the time that Starscream launches his attack- there will be more Autobots that he can handle on his own."
Soundwave nodded, but something glimmered in his optics behind his visor. "I understand that Autobot Prowl will be leaving, but I do not believe it is only for the reason you believe." He spoke like he had a dirty little secret.
Shockwave decided to humor him.
"What reason is that then?" he mused.
Shockwave was no doubt grinning behind his visor, "Optimus Prime's Second and Third are bonded." He smiled.
Shockwave was surprised to say the least. He had known that the two worked together as partners, and as Autobots- were friends. But bondmates? That was definitely information for later.
Shockwave chuckled, thinking of the despair that Prowl's face would hold when he saw his darling Jazz lying in two pieces, dead on a medical berth. He would love to hear his screams of agony when he realized he would never see his bonded alive again.
He snickered darkly, but calmed himself. "Enough gossip, we should continue planning."
"Sir, orders?" Soundwave asked, mildly eager. He pulled his finger from the port and dropped his hand to his side.
Shockwave turned to him, a little confused. "Wouldn't you like to ask Starscream that?"
The mech shook his head. "Negative, Starscream is too arrogant and foolhardy to be a leader. What should we do about Megatron?" he asked.
It never ceased to amaze the one-eyed mech just how loyal Soundwave was to Megatron.
"He's dead, Soundwave. There is nothing we can do." He said to the visored mech, hoping to reach his CPU which was probably fogged by recent events.
Soundwave remained silent for a moment, and to Shockwave's discomfort- stared at him blankly.
Suddenly Soundwave turned and headed towards the doorway. Shockwave called after him. "Where are you going?"
Soundwave stopped and looked back at the other mech. "To retrieve Lord Megatron."
"But his spark is extinguished; Soundwave- there is nothing we can do for him." Shockwave tried to explain, feeling as if he was talking to a sparkling throwing a tantrum.
Soundwave just turned his head back around. "Maybe there is." He said quietly after a moment.
He walked out the door, calling back to the confused mech inside the control room.
"I will return shortly, Lord Shockwave, and I will bring Megatron with me."
Shockwave shook his head, figuring that regardless of what he said, Soundwave wouldn't budge. The mech was either incredibly stubborn or incredibly tenacious. Either way- it was pointless to try and argue. If Soundwave was captured, he would tell nothing. He would most likely get killed. In any case, It was his mission; he could deal with it anyway he wanted to. Dead or alive, it mattered not to him.
"His body is at the bottom of the second lowest point of Earth- they call it 'The Laurentian Abyss'. But you realize that if you are in need of assistance, no one will come right?" he hailed over his link.
A long pause ensued afterward, before a quiet and determined response followed.
"There will be no trouble, I assure you." And with that, Soundwave left for the docking bay to prepare for his journey to Earth.