The Nemesis…

"My liege, surely you are not going to allow the Autobots to remain operational?" asked Starscream.

Megatron paused as he processed the enquiry, even though it was not actually necessary to. "Of course not." He replied as if matter-of-fact, waving his hand behind him. "Assemble your armada, Starscream. And decimate their base, once again."

Leaving a grinning seeker in the corridor Megatron and Soundwave returned to the bridge where they assumed their usual positions. The Decepticon leader at the helm with his communications officer at his terminal. Both were silent.

Eventually Megatron spoke. "During your time in captivity, were you able to make eyes on the specimen?"

Soundwave looked up from his monitors, responding with a mere shake of the head.

"Hmmph." Growled Megatron as he turned back to face the front. "Though he may claim to no longer possess future knowledge, it will be reassuring for him to be caught in Starscream's line of fire."

To that last remark he received no reply. Soundwave was already halfway through his task of rerouting groundbridge portal input coordinates to the center of the warships engine room.

His mind went back to the words spoken during the confrontation between him and Alex. Soundwave now knew two definite things about the teenager, that he was driven, and that he had a partial death wish. The latter being something which could have worked heavily against him in the given situation. Soundwave could have easily killed Alex then and there in the Autobot base, but the repercussions of such that the boy had warned him about had prevented him, for he knew them to be true. A human death would have certainly given Optimus Prime something to think about.

But there was something else. Soundwave could not explain it, but having been giving the immediate opportunity to kill the human, he would not have taken it. And that fact wasn't because of the potential backlash of such an action. There was more to it. In truth, Alex had garnered Soundwave's fascination.

The mech was good at what he did. He knew it and so did everyone else. But over the years the number of those wanting to pose a challenge to him had dwindled. While his priorities may have always laden with his Decepticon brethren, he yearned for days gone by when he was presented with a puzzle or a confident hacker. Simply put, Soundwave was bored. And boredom, as he had always believed, was the true enemy of the exceptional.

Alex may not have not challenged him on a technological basis, but he had presented the mech with a puzzle, and had subsequently taken the upper hand in it. And for that, like the younger Autobot human ally, Soundwave respected him, but not enough to care for his wellbeing.

He could do it. He could kill Alex. No one would be any the wiser, certainly not before the season finale. And whatever would happen after was of no concern to Soundwave. One would have marveled at the sight of the surveillance chief being so calm while faced with the prospect of being trapped in the dimension that the human children dubbed the 'shadowzone,' but Soundwave was confident that Shockwave and Starscream would eventually find a means to retrieve him from it. After all, in Megatron's absence, who would be more vital if the resurrection of the Decepticon cause was ever to be accomplished?

Time seemed to slow down while he thought of the possibility of eliminating the human. The coding on the monitor in front of him remained stationary, as if hovering, waiting to be told which direction to take.

Suddenly Soundwave felt a tickle at the back of his mind. A second later it was gone.

And in the second after that, Soundwave made a decision.

Hangar D…

Alex was wasting no time in getting ready. Nurse Darby had been kind enough to clean his original clothes for him, and it was vital that he appear back in Cape Town exactly the way he was.

He spared a glance at his sword lying on the table, unsure of whether to take it with him. If all went according to plan tonight he would be deposited right in the middle of a busy waterfront, and the risk of having a weapon on him in broad view was somewhat questionable.

Suddenly he heard a sound behind him. Turning round he saw nothing, other than the slightly open hangar doors leading out into the dark night. He paused as he listened out for anything else.

Slowly he turned back round and looked again at the sword. Realizing that he was about to go aboard a ship full of dangerous robots, he decided that it was worth the attention. Attaching the sheath to his belt, slinging his black jacket on and checking his pocket for his phone, he stood up straight and turned round.

He was silent for a moment as he stared at what lay ahead of him.

Eventually he spoke, "Stand aside Arcee."

The femme was in the doorway, blocking his exit route. "Or what?" she asked, cocking her head.

Alex didn't flinch. "Nothing." He explained. "I'll just wait until you move by yourself."

"You certain that's going to happen?"

"Yes."

That final word was layered with evident solidarity. Even though it caused her to raise an eyebrow, Arcee found herself not surprised.

"So," she began. "You were lying to us, after all?"

"C'mon Arcee, you should be used to it by now." Alex snarled.

"And the chat with Soundwave?" she asked.

"A real eye-opener."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"No."

The seconds that followed were accompanied with the sound of metal shifting as Arcee pointed her blasters down at Alex. He didn't move.

"They have Ratchet." She explained. "When they get what they want from him, they'll kill him. And if Optimus's right then the Earth will be the first thing that Megatron will point the Omega lock at."

"Makes sense." Replied Alex. "But you really think Ratchet will submit that easily?"

"You tell me."

"Not a chance."

Arcee primed one of her weapons. "Tell me or I will shoot you." She menacingly stated.

"And endure an endless lecture from Optimus?" grinned Alex.

Arcee primed her second blaster.

Alex face twisted into a sneer. "You know what, Arcee? I'm done. I'm tired of explaining myself to you and to Optimus. The simple fact is is that I can't stop seeing you the way I always have." He paused. "A cartoon character."

"Well guess what, show's over." She snarled. "Tell what we need to know or I'll no choice but to treat as an enemy of the Autobots."

Alex seemed to tense up. "I doubt your character's capable of shooting a defenseless human." He said mockingly.

It took less than a second for Alex to realize that he was mistaken. A shot of energon exited one of Arcee's barrels and he was sent sprawling as he leapt aside to avoid it. The shot hit the metal table behind with a flash of sparks and left a blackened scar.

Getting up to his hands and knees, Alex stared up at Arcee. A threatening look now etched across his face.

"You know that I don't always roll with the 'program.'" She stated, pointing her guns down at him.

"Careful, Arcee. I said I was defenseless." Replied Alex. "That doesn't mean I can't attack instead."

Arcee snorted. "With what? You and your pointy sword? You've got no training and no backup."

"You're right Arcee, I don't have much. But what I do have," Alex raised both eyebrows. "Is timing."

Suddenly the whole hangar filled with the sounds of warning sirens. Arcee turned and gazed out through the doors at the sky, where in the far-off distance, she could make out six approaching aircraft. But Arcee then heard the sound of scraping metal. Spinning back round she Alex had taken hold of his sword. Instantly she fired two shots at him, but they were too late as Alex had already charged up the weapon upon grabbing it and had taken a swing at her. The two bolts of energon disappeared in the resulting crackling wave of energy as it raced towards Arcee. She leapt sideways to avoid it, but unfortunately she wasn't quick enough as the wave sliced through the very tip of her right shoulder plate.

Pain rocketed along Arcee's frame and she cried out as she collapsed to her knees. But suddenly she realized that she was alone in her cry of agony. Looking ahead she saw that Alex had also collapsed, clutching his chest and screaming in pain.

Now at this point in time, Arcee was not supposed to be where she was. She should have been inside Hangar E with her fellow Autobots instead of confronting Alex, which is why upon not being there, the dormant void particles inside of Alex's system, sensing the change in the continuity, had become active. Upon Alex injuring Arcee, an action that could potentially alter future events, the particles had violently reacted and were releasing energy to counter it. Unfortunately, this occurred inside of Alex's body.

Alex was in a world of pain. It was as if he was being electrocuted, his heart on fire. But soon it began to subside and he was left gasping for breath. As he slowly recovered he watched as Arcee slowly got up, keeping her injured arm by her side and bringing her good one to Alex's level.

Alex rolled painstakingly to one side as she fired a shot at him. Quickly getting up he gripped his sword and raised it, getting ready to take another swipe.

Unfortunately at that point, Alex's supposed strategy of timing worked against him. Just as he raised his sword to fire, a short-range missile had detached itself from Starscream's wing, its nose aimed directly at the military base's mess hall. Taking only two seconds to reach its target, it made contact with the hangars front wall.

Both Alex and Arcee's ears were assaulted by the sound of the explosion. The floor rocked beneath feet as the windows on the left side of the hangar were lit up bright orange, some being blown inwards by the blast. Before Alex could swing his sword however he lost his footing due to the tremors. Unfortunately unknown to him, he had now been standing just in front of the table.

Falling backwards and with his head hitting the metal edge, Alex felt nothing as the world suddenly went black.

To be continued…

A/N: This was extremely difficult to write, and is by far not my best work. I'm open to constructive criticism.

A big thank you to Asher Tye for letting me use a few of his wise words. I have always wanted to use the phrase "Boredom was the enemy of the exceptional" since I started writing, and there I have it!

Cape Magician