Everyone will learn just what Soundwave is capable of… that and so much more.
Enjoy ;)
Seeing the tyrant, Soundwave felt a tickle in the back of her processors. It was a strange tickle, as if something was on the edge of her thought and she couldn't quite grasp it. It was slightly distracting, so she gave it little thought.
"Megatron:" Soundwave's voice droned. She would fulfill her promises. "Found." Yes, she was here for him, but she was also here for Shockwave. Her unseen optics flicked to the ex-commander of Kaon, who stood off to the side, unmoving, then back to Megatron.
"Not like I was hard to find," Megatron grinned. "I've been waiting for you."
"It is time…"
"Finally, you've come to my cause after I won. Tell me you've got the Decepticons under my order, Soundwave," Megatron said, his smile increasing as he looked up to the rest of the Decepticons who hadn't moved from behind Soundwave, as if awaiting orders. "Decepticons! You belong to me! Bow before your rightful leader!" he ordered.
They all looked at each other, but none of them moved.
Megatron hesitated in confusion. In all his long years, that's how contests worked. He watched as only the telepath approached. Soundwave's unwavering loyalty was one thing he knew he could count on. He imagined he had done everything to fool Starscream and those around him.
"Megatron: will not have the Decepticons ever again. Starscream: rightful commander," Soundwave told him, a harsh growl emanating with her voice. "Soundwave: saw to it."
"One of Soundwave's many secrets," a voice chimed, "is blocking leader protocols." The owner of the voice came up beside Soundwave. It was Rumble, followed by his brothers. They already knew they were going to give her secrets this time.
He shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible! You lie!"
"Soundwave: let Megatron live… until Megatron broke Starscream." Again, that sensation tickled her processors. Part of her wished she could place the feeling.
"What?" Megatron never thought in all his life that Soundwave would turn on him. He was confident that he was stronger than the telepath. He considered for a moment, wondering if Soundwave truly thought he could win against him. "You've come to challenge me? You're a fool if you think you can win, Soundwave. You can't kill me." Megatron gave Soundwave a smug grin, "And Starscream can't lead if he's dead. Actually, I don't know how he's still alive, honestly." Accessing internal comms, he told Starscream's brother, "Sunstorm, kill him! Do it now!"
She heard the transmission between Megatron and Sunstorm as clearly as one speaking. It caught her off guard for a split second. Acting on Megatron's command, she ordered, "Sunstorm will be going inside. Grab him."
As she ordered that, the tickle suddenly seemed to burst open with a sharp pain as if someone had stuck a needle in her mind. With that stab of pain, it was as if her telepathic abilities had been fuzzy and in darkness all her life and became clear. Incredibly clear. Before, she had to be in contact to hear what she heard now. She could suddenly read every synapse and every electro-neuron that fired, she knew who was who, where they were and what they were thinking.
Sunstorm suddenly turned for the building from where he stood with Megatron with a wicked laugh. Just before he got into the building, however, he collided with another who had taken off as Soundwave made that order. He was grabbed by his wing and yanked off his feet. "Don't move a servo." Thrust commanded.
Soundwave looked from where Thrust held Sunstorm to Megatron. "Commander Starscream: Safe,"
"What'd they do to you, Youngling?" Skywarp asked, staring at his leader. Seriously, what had they done? In all the years he'd known Starscream, he'd never known Megatron to do this to him. Instead of on the floor where he expected him to be, Starscream was hung on the wall. It was despicable.
Skywarp had to stare to make sure it was really him and not some weird mockup they'd done. Deep down, he'd hoped he was dead, for the suffering he had been through and the suffering he was probably living had to be worse than death. No one should have to live through this. No one. Touching him lightly, Starscream moved ever so slightly from him. Sure enough, it was his Starscream – and he was alive. He frowned deeply, a pang of regret stabbing his Spark that they had been unable to get to him sooner.
Skywarp studied Starscream for a moment to see how he was suspended. Horror shook his Spark as he saw how he was held up against the wall in what appeared to be an uncomfortable way by spikes through each shoulder. The spikes were placed specifically to make it so that the Seeker felt more pain than necessary every time he moved. He also noticed they made sure to cut connections in his wings so if he woke and moved abruptly, he would fall, ripping him apart basically from his wings.
Metal lay strewn about him, obviously his own where he'd had no medical repair. Fluids were all over the floor below him, some still fresh from the trails going down his body, showing that his trine-mate was slowly bleeding to death. The fluid was of particular interest, as it wasn't normal blue or yellows. It was purple and yellow.
"Pits of Unicron…"
He analyzed how to get him off and there was no other way but to yank him. May his friend forgive him for this. He grabbed the torn-up Seeker, screwed his optics shut, and pulled hard. The sickening sound of metal scraping and tearing became louder until he pulled the young mech free. He fumbled as Starscream's body fell limp off the wall and in his arms.
He reappeared outside, out of sight, and then shot off with his leader to where he could safely teleport again. "Primus, Primus, Primus!" he cried as he reappeared, scared. "Don't die, don't die, don't die…"
Ramjet was waiting for them with Wheeljack and First Aid right next to him at the end of the runway. They all looked up to see Skywarp rushing much faster than he should be. Seeing he was aiming for the building, they ran to keep up.
When they saw the body lying across Skywarp's arms, limp, immediately they feared Starscream had been killed. The slight life signs they picked up quickly nullified that idea. He was a mess of parts and armor that was almost completely covered in blood.
"Please take him! He's gonna die!" the teleporter cried as he landed, attempting to be as soft as he could.
Thundercracker was with the medics in an instant. Her Spark skipped a beat when she saw the condition of her trine-mate. She knew he would be in bad condition, but this… what she saw… it broke her Spark. "Skywarp!" she cried.
"What did they do to him?" Ramjet asked lowly, trying to temper the anger that creeped on him seeing his leader. He had to remain calm, no matter how he felt when he saw Starscream. Hysteria would be no good for anyone.
First Aid had automatically begun reading Starscream's vitals as soon as he could detect them when Skywarp had first arrived. Compiling priorities of what his scans told him, he'd already discerned what Starscream needed immediately and that was a whole lot of luck. "Bring him inside and be careful. Jostling him around too much could do more damage," he said gently.
"Can I help somehow?" Thundercracker asked, desperate to do something.
"I think only the medics have a hope of helping him, 'Cracker," Skywarp said, looking down at Starscream. He walked with some purpose, some trying to understand why anyone would hurt a Youngling – their Youngling so badly. He entered the building with Thundercracker on his heels, headed right for Ratchet's med bay. He waited until Ramjet had a hold of Starscream's legs and slowly moved to the side so Wheeljack could hold Starscream's other shoulder. They laid Starscream down very gently, moving him as little as possible.
At the doors, Mikaela and Miles arrived, but didn't enter. They were scared, watching the medics as they worked. Both of them remembered Starscream having the crap beat out of him by Sunstorm, but this was much, much worse. At least he wasn't falling apart then, but now, pieces of him fell as they moved him. They both remained silent, so as not to interrupt the medics as they worked.
"Ratchet had supplies ready," Ramjet trailed off, leaning in to get a closer look at Starscream's left arm, running his claw down a curious lesion, considering it nothing, he moved onto the gaping hole in his left shoulder, a small growl coming from him, "but I don't think it's enough. First Aid, hook him up to everything. Start getting readings and I'll start looking at his internal damage. Wheeljack, while we are doing that, get us more supplies. More specifically, cloth." The assessment was going to be tedious, and saving his life, even more so.
Quickly, First Aid started fishing around external ports that he could find and hooked up wires to them as he came across them. He cursed to himself as he came across ones that were too damaged, which could pose a problem. Each time a successful connection was made, his optics went to a monitor that came to life with more readings of Starscream's vitals. His frown deepened with each screen.
None of the readings had any good news. Taking his attention from all of the bad information, he continued by hooking up hoses and feeds, preparing to pump his system with everything it needed. He readied the system, but didn't start them until they got his bleeding under control. The pressure could blow lines or cause more internal bleeding. The Spark-pulse wave slammer caught his attention from the corner of his optic, he considered it, then reached for it. It would be close by in case.
Again, his optics went to the screens as they pulled more information. Another screen showed loss and gains of Energon and other vital fluids. Doing a double take, he saw his Energon reading was strangely at zero. "What the…?" First Aid furrowed his optic ridges at the reading, double checking everything was hooked up properly. Verifying quickly that all was hooked up as they should be, he decided to make a note of that before moving on. As expected, most were low, some below the levels for survivability.
His optics went to the computers as they beeped warnings about the Seeker's vitals. Everything was low, sensors offline, Spark warnings, everything that could be wrong, was. This was going to be a lot of work. They needed Ratchet and Hook as soon as possible or Starscream was done for.
While First Aid was doing that, Ramjet began where all of them were worried. Starscream's Spark chamber. They all knew they needed to see it, needed to assess the damage, but all of them were afraid of what they would see.
Going for the Decepticon leader's Spark chamber, Ramjet was at first going to have his chest part with the releases, seeing as they were still there, but he thought better of it. His hesitation caught Skywarp, "What? What's wrong?"
Ignoring the black Seeker, he furrowed an optic ridge as he took his hands away and thought about what he was doing. The extent of damage that was on the outside meant there was likely more damage on the inside and the movement of his plates could cause far worse damage. He proceeded slowly, bypassing both automatic and manual releases and he began to actually pull the layers away, one by one. It made opening his core much slower, but safer, as he could stop it at any given second if another part of the Seeker threatened to stab or cut at his internals more.
As his Spark was slowly revealed, strange flashes and movement from Starscream's chest caught his trine's attention. They looked to where the lighting was coming from, seeing the source. It wasn't supposed to flash like that. Thundercracker got closer as Ramjet peeled more of the leader's torso away, fully revealing his Spark.
No one wanted to believe it until it stared them in the face. The purple Spark. "So, it's true," Thundercracker whispered.
All of them stopped to stare at the mess in Starscream's chest. His entire Spark chamber had been shattered. His Spark's core had been exposed to the elements. Corrosion had already started to set in. That was bad. Really bad.
The power that was his core was much dimmer than it should be, showing his life force was slowly waning away. It was striking strangely, barely hitting the nodes necessary to power his body correctly. It roiled or turned or sunk in on itself in an unnatural way. Hints of red were along where it was striking where it shouldn't be. There were miniscule explosions where the Spark energy was missing its mark, each one damaging the chamber where it hit. It was making erratic movements, striking strangely and, well, he couldn't explain it other than being … off. He'd never seen a Spark so out of unity. Struts and parts of his frame were inside of his Spark, likely causing some of the erraticism they were seeing.
"What's wrong with his Spark?" Skywarp asked. "I've never seen a Spark like that, 'Jet."
"I don't think anyone has," Ramjet said contemplatively, "Hot Rod said something about it, though. This was to be expected." He glanced up at First Aid, asking, "Are you getting readings on his Spark through the Electrowavergrav yet?"
"It's reading about as well as his Spark looks. It's all over the place."
"Not good," Ramjet said as he took a moment to hold up a second Spark scanner, getting different readings on it than what the EWG was getting. So much was wrong with it. So many things were out of cohesion. As he read what came back, a small gasp escaped him. The readings, from what he could gather summed up one word. Broken.
Removing the larger pieces of shattered membrane, Ramjet worried more and more that it was irreparable. The only thing keeping his Spark from killing the rest of his systems was – funnily enough – a strut that had jammed its way across his chamber becoming a conduit. The Spark was striking it more than any other part of his body. That strut was literally saving his life.
"Wheeljack?" he called. The engineer was at his side in an instant. He looked sorrowfully over to him and then back at the chamber. "I've – I've never seen a chamber this badly damaged and someone still be functional," he said as he continued to pull out broken pieces, "Can you repair this?"
The Spark chamber, membrane and Spark were finicky things. While the rest of their bodies could mend on their own, the Spark chamber and Spark did not. It was often a one-time deal. Often injuries were fatal because of a shattered membrane alone. It could repair over a created membrane like Blacklight, but it couldn't start the process, and there was never a guarantee that it would succeed.
The engineer took a moment to consider Starscream's problem after setting down the cloth next to Ramjet. Taking in all of the information on the screens and then looking at how badly damaged Starscream's chamber was, he said, "I should be able to, but I don't know if it will ever be the same. Let me see what I can do."
Ramjet turned to him as he started to walk out, "Wheeljack, he needs to be able to Spark merge," his optics floated to the offline femme, "and Spark-Mate."
Wheeljack's optics followed. He understood what Ramjet was saying. A second Spark chamber repair in such short time… It was incredibly rare that he'd needed to repair Spark Chambers, and not every Engineer had the know-how to do it properly. "I'll see what I can do," he repeated solemnly as he continued out, his mind going a mile a minute as he thought about it.
While Ramjet worked on his Spark, First Aid turned for the holes left in Starscream's wings, hands deep inside of the young leader, quickly moving damaged parts out of the way trying to find where he could start repairs and get the Energon lines closed up. He debrided as he went along. He decided that the already singed and naturally cauterized sensors and receptors would help to stop the leader's pain and as he came across more, he decided they would need rebuilt and continued to cauterize what had been exposed still.
There was absolutely no sign of any recent healing, which meant his self-repair was either shut down or powered down, likely the latter. "His healing system is completely offline," he informed, his optics glancing at all the life blood he was now covered in. He finally had a moment to notice the different color. "I guess that's a blessing and a curse," he murmured as he worked.
The jargon going between the medics was lost on Skywarp and Thundercracker who hadn't left the med bay. They were afraid to leave. Afraid he'd die without them there. They would glance down to the humans still standing there, but said nothing.
Briefly catching Ramjet's attention, he glanced up at the trine, asking, "Any signals from the bond?"
"It's weird," Thundercracker answered, her optics going from the two humans to the pseudo-medic.
"Specifics,"
"We are barely receiving from him, and it's like it's not really him, but it has to be. And it's not the regular sytrinsic signals. Its… almost like it's changed to a photaric signal."
The difference between the two meant Starscream was receiving but he wasn't hearing, as if he was putting up blocks, but blocks normally couldn't be put in place while the processors were offline. Ramjet paused slightly to consider what Skywarp said. "Photaric? That's odd."
"Like I said, weird."
"Give me a minute," Ramjet said, pulling his hands out and reaching for a cloth as his hands were becoming slippery. He dropped it next to the pile on the floor for a moment, then really looked at it. Picking it back up and staring at it in thought, he said, "I wonder if it had anything to do with this?"
"But what does all that mean?" Skywarp asked, reasonably concerned.
Now with clean hands, Ramjet brought his attention back to Starscream's internals, he continued to root around, fixing what quickly could be fixed and moving other damaged components out of the way. "I'm not so sure. I can only go off of what Hot Rod said. I've never seen it myself." Ramjet flipped more of his lights into Starscream's chest so he could see as much of the damage as possible and where his blood was pooling still. He looked him over more carefully, sticking a smaller cloth in to soak up more. As he got a better look at his leader, he said the only thing that came to mind, "I got what I could without damaging him more. We will have to do this slowly. We really need Hook and Ratchet for that strut across his Spark."
First Aid asked, "Does Hook have the same Spark system as Ratchet?"
"Not exactly," Ramjet replied, "He created a substitution and incorporated it into his systems. It's not natural by any means, but if he needs to support a Spark, he can for a short time."
First Aid then stopped to look up at Ramjet, "He may not survive the transfer, you know."
Ramjet looked down at his dying leader, "I know. That's why I think Ratchet should be the one to do it."
Wheeljack returned with more cloth. His optics immediately went over Starscream's external armor and everywhere it had been damaged. He looked at the two holes, one much more damaged than the other, "What happened here?"
"They… hung him on the wall by his wings," Skywarp told him in disgust.
"Hung him?" Wheeljack asked, a grimace in his voice. He looked him over, seeing if he could do anything while he contemplated the silver Seeker's Spark chamber. The burns and scorches over his body were immeasurable. A lot of his armor had been ripped at and was dangling off of him, almost completely exposing his proto-form in some places. His proto-form itself had been cut into, revealing wires and other damage. Other parts of his armor were cracked and dented, in fact there wasn't a part of him that wasn't damaged in some way. His tattoos were scraped up beyond recognition. "They made sure to leave none of him untouched. How ruthless."
At the Decepticon base, where things were about to heat up, Ramjet's voice broke over Soundwave's comms, interrupting her. "Listen, I know you're busy but… You need to know some things about Starscream."
Soundwave turned her head slightly to listen to what Ramjet had to say. Her optics were constantly on Megatron and Shockwave, however. "I'm listening."
"Starscream is… he's in real bad shape. He is secure here at the Autobot base, so do what you have to do. Soundwave, I don't know what they did to him… They've broken his Spark's will."
"Fix him,"
"We are working on it, but pit, we need Ratchet and Hook, or he isn't going to make it. From preliminary scans, he's been drugged, beaten, torn at… and… his Spark is purple."
"I will have Ratchet sent."
"Soundwave… I don't ask much of you. But… make them pay for what they've done to him. Make them pay severely."
Soundwave was known for utmost control over her emotions. Until that comm. Perhaps it was the tone of his voice. Upon those words, the femme's head turned back for Megatron. She didn't think she could feel more hatred for him. Maybe it was the fact he asked her to enact retribution, but something within her snapped. Something terrifying.
"Optimus, send Ratchet to your base. Starscream needs him. We need Hook here." Soundwave sent to the still unseen Autobot leader.
Optimus turned for his medic, "Go to our base. Help Ramjet and First Aid."
Ratchet wasted no time in turning and transforming and heading back as quickly as his tires could carry him.
Everything they had done to him, to Barricade, to the Sparklings crashed down upon the telepath and Soundwave's fury hit an uncontrolled state and she unraveled.
It brought out from her something she didn't know she even had. It seemed to boil from her Spark, as if a black hole was beginning from it and going to her mind and her awareness seemed to become even stronger, able to reach out further than ever before. She almost let out a cry from the pain that went from the small stab, to completely cover her processors as if it were millions of needles. For a nanoklik, it was hard to think, but then just as her telepathic abilities cleared up, something else cleared up. A sudden outburst from her mind caused an EM field to build and surround her. It began spreading out around her frame as tendrils of energy reached out in every direction for every mind it could find and latch onto.
A terrifying feeling suddenly engulfed everyone around her, and it kept reaching for more, searching for the minds of everyone around it, feeling every one of them. As she concentrated on it, she realized everyone's electrical field was broadcasting and she could read them as if they were a data pad.
Those affected felt as if a god had descended upon them all. Everyone who started to feel that field began to back up as it became more oppressive, pressing in on their processors as if trying to take control of them. Sparks cowered at the feeling. Mechs froze, afraid to move. All optics searched around for the source of the intrusion.
The source of her anger stood before her, but it was latching onto every processor around her. She didn't understand this anger except that she wanted to kill with an anger she'd never felt. To maim. She wanted Megatron to understand her hate and how much she was going to make him suffer.
Him and then Shockwave.
Back at the still unseen Autobot line, others began to feel uneasy and anxious and the feeling that came at them. Everyone could feel the field Soundwave had made. They didn't know what it was, but something was building just at the edge of their sensors. Their awareness of it built from that small sensation until it became an obvious and powerful intrusion.
Hatred. Anger. Devastation.
"What… what is that?" Jazz asked, looking around for a source of unease. Her Spark seemed to thrum a little faster, as if anticipating something.
Others began questioning the feeling that came over them, making them hesitate.
"Who's doing that?" Sunstreaker asked.
Hound then asked, "Where is it coming from?"
Next to Soundwave, Rumble asked, "What's happening?" He looked up at her, wishing to get away from whatever Soundwave was doing. She either didn't know what she was doing, or she couldn't control it. Him, and then his brothers started moving away from her, getting beyond that field.
This was her. Her true being.
She was dominating every mind within her vicinity unlike anything anyone had ever experienced, and she needed to back it off. Standing in silence, and dealing with the pain in her processors, Soundwave began taking control of the field that was spread out around her, pulling it closer, keeping it away from those she would rather not hurt, but she was having difficulties with it.
With the expansion of the field and her telepathic ability opening up like a floodgate, there was much more information coming at her. The information she was gleaning from it was helping her better understand what it was she was doing. The new abilities incorporated into her being. She had never experienced them before, but it was as if her mind knew how to handle the overload of information, as if she had always had the ability.
Even Megatron took a slight step back. Soundwave watched him, feeling his fear that he was doing his best not to project, but no matter how hard he tried to hide it from her, she could still feel it. "Megatron: Afraid." And he should be. She was beginning to scare herself a little with this power. Where had it come from?
…And what could she do with it?
Hate-filled optics pinned behind the telepath's visor. That hate began radiating into the field she had created, spiking at the edges. The hate was a dark hate, one she was having difficulty controlling as it bled into the field. The field burst out again, attempting another domination. She pushed down harder still, the field fueled by her rage.
"Of you?" Megatron growled back and then shockingly, laughed, as a show of power. "You're out of your mind, Soundwave!"
He had no idea how right he was. Soundwave did something she'd never done with Megatron. Her mask shifted away, and she smiled at the tyrant. The secret she'd kept from Megatron for the entire time she served under him revealed itself.
Megatron at first recoiled, but then realized what he was looking at. Shock made him stare at what he saw. "You – You're a femme!" he yelled, angry at being betrayed by her.
The mask shifted back to where it belonged. "I am," Soundwave droned, the amusement in her voice evident.
Somehow, Soundwave using first person speech unnerved him. "What's going on? What else have you hidden from me!" Megatron growled.
"Everything." Her visor grew darker until it was the color of human blood, and then it turned black, something no one had ever seen.
"Sounders, stop," Sixshot suddenly sent to her, temporarily distracting her. "You need to stop." He didn't know what she was doing, but she was destroying morale without even realizing it. Sixshot was also suppressed, but for some reason, it didn't affect him as it was affecting everyone else. "Do something. They're scared to move!"
Soundwave took a moment to analyze the minds around her. Realizing Sixshot was right, she took a few seconds to reel in the field. She needed to focus it to better control it.
The fear that had engrossed all behind her seemed to vanish. "What's goin' on Optimus?" Jazz asked, turning to her leader, uncertainty racing through her mind.
"I don't know," Optimus admitted. Doubt and anxiety began to fill the place the fear had been. His optics settled on the telepath, wondering what it was he could feel from her. Wondering how.
Megatron could feel the anger radiating off of the telepath. He didn't dare back up, however. There was no way he would show fear to this femme. She could hate him all she wanted. It didn't matter to him. The Decepticons – including her – belonged to him now. "Don't think you can out-master me, Soundwave."
"I already have."
"You can't beat me!"
"I will."
"You aren't powerful enough!" he tried to argue. Trying to distract himself from the overwhelming feeling that something was wrong, he wanted to redirect her. Attempting to goad her to distraction, he then said, "You should have been there to see that traitorous Starscream when Sunstorm broke his link to Barricade. I've made sure he will no longer pose a problem to my cause. He's so close to death it wouldn't take much to push him over the edge."
That was quite possibly the stupidest thing he could have said to her. Proving her power stronger, the field slammed at him, and Megatron actually stumbled back slightly from it. It seemed to whirl around her, snapping at him, yet didn't push him again. She could feel his discomfort and his growing anxiety, as much as he tried to hide it. "Megatron: Failure." she droned evenly.
The field she had created suddenly came back and closed in on herself and then seemed to slither over her form. She kept it tight as she considered how to use it. So far, it could mentally affect and physically affect.
Temporarily forgetting the field that Soundwave was emitting, far more interested in the fact he seemed to be pushed by nothing, Megatron hesitated. In all the time he'd known Soundwave, this was never one of her abilities. Refusing to allow this development to concern him – although he was rightfully concerned, he became indignant at Soundwave's words, saying, "The 'Cons are mine – you are all mine!"
"Incorrect. Again." The field bristled with the last word, putting emphasis on it.
She pushed the field at him, and it said one thing. Murder. There was a finality in Soundwave's voice that made Megatron skip a beat. He knew now this wasn't going to be won by power of will. Something had Soundwave's will unbreakable.
"Then you will be destroyed!" Shockwave suddenly said, hearing Soundwave. He knew her attention was on Megatron. Turning, taking control of some of the fight while Megatron was locked in a battle of wills with Soundwave, he called loudly, "Seacons! Combaticons! Combine! Destroy them all!"
The ones behind Soundwave heard the call and immediately went after the Combaticons and the Seacons to prevent their formation. Although they had tried, they couldn't stop them. They were too fast and too close to one another to catch them in time.
Bruticus was first to become coherent enough to begin an attack, charging at any Decepticon he could get to. He ran past Soundwave, its targets, the Decepticons that were winding around to attack Piranacon, which wasn't coherent yet.
Barreling into them, the Decepticons scattered to regroup. Weapons began firing as the fight started for real. But this time, Megatron wouldn't win. This wouldn't be a fight for leadership. It wasn't even going to be a fight of attrition. This was simply going to be destroying Megatron and his lackeys with overpowering numbers.
Having most all of Soundwave's forces on Bruticus, the other combiner finally coherent enough to move as one, saw Soundwave with Megatron and quickly headed for her, turning its massive body and raising a leg high, it went to stomp directly down on the telepath.
Sixshot, having been on the ground, firing at Bruticus, saw the danger to Soundwave, "Oh no you don't." The assassin leapt over other Decepticons, colliding with Piranacon just as his foot started to come down. The collision caused him to go off balance and he teetered before going down sideways.
Sixshot then turned for Bruticus. He knew that combiner was more dangerous, as he wasn't as clumsy as the other. He climbed up the mech's body and proceeded to attack the nervous system while the combiner was busy trying to fend off the other Decepticons that were taking pock shots at him. He ripped into the mech, grabbing and pulling at armor with his powerful jaws, attempting to get to the main nervous and Spark systems to tear it apart.
Bruticus cried out and reached to get Sixshot off. His claws scraped across Sixshot's armor several times, trying to pry him free. All the while, he was still trying to shield himself from all of the guns that were firing at him.
The Stunticons got around Bruticus' feet and managed to trip him while he was distracted by the others. Sixshot was nearly thrown by the force of the combiner's fall. It was then he felt something grab him and pull him off. It was Piranacon. He felt himself thrown through the air with great force and he landed some distance away.
In the meantime, Bruticus could no longer stay as one and broke apart, the Combaticons, scattering. The Stunticons and Race Track gave chase to the ones on the ground. Onslaught, on the other hand, had taken off for the sky, only to be slammed back to earth by Dirge, who had turned and headed for him as soon as he saw him. Onslaught hit the ground with such force, he left a deep rut in the ground. As he tried to get up, Thrust and Dirge were both on him, ripping at him until he no longer moved.
Soundwave had considered trying to use the field to subdue the gestalts but then no one else would have anything to do. She'd leave them to have their fun. Megatron and Shockwave's company were done for, this she already knew.
She smirked at Megatron's hesitation and took the advantage, flaring her field out again and this time it was aimed to wear him down and get into his mind. The edges became sharp, antagonizing the mech before her, attempting to confuse him.
Megatron, quickly realizing that his forces were being defeated, looked over to where the Constructicons were coming over the hill. Even though he was losing control of his mind, he was still sound enough in mind to call, "Constructicons! Form Devastator and take down those Decepticons!" He paused when they didn't respond, "follow my order!"
Bonecrusher was not far off and put her hands on her hips as she made the top of the hill first. "You will never control Devastator or the Constructicons again, Megatron. Devastator belongs to Starscream."
Megatron could hear what sounded like pride come from the Constructicon, "How dare you!" he lifted his arm much slower than he wanted to and tried to form his fusion cannon, but for some reason, it only partly formed, and then went unstable and disappeared. Megatron began to feel real fear when he looked down to see what was wrong. He assumed it was Soundwave, but how?
The field Soundwave had quickly learned to use flared out again, this time encompassed them both. She used it to hold him still. He went to move, and she pointed at him, "Don't… You will listen to me."
"You think you're enough to stop me?" Megatron rasped, his vocal processor seemingly suddenly on the fritz. He gave a quick flick to his neck where his vocal processors were, but that didn't stop the errors coming over his HUD. What was this? Why were so many errors popping up?
"Be sure of it," the telepath growled. And she would show him how easy it was. "I am to mete out Commander Starscream's revenge." Soundwave was done. She opened the field so quickly, he barely had time to react.
Skywarp had lightly reached over and touched Starscream's wing. It was the only thing he could do, seeing as he wanted to do something.
First Aid's optics went wide as one of the monitors started showing signs of processor activity, the kind that indicated wakefulness. "He's waking up!" he cried.
His systems were starting up in a strange sequence. Pain was the first thing that registered as he came online. So much was offline. So many errors. So, so much pain. Optics slowly started to come online. Lights surrounded him, blinding him, confusing him. He found himself no longer on the wall. He was on his back. Why had they moved him? Sensors registered that someone was touching him. Panic laced his Spark; afraid they had come to hurt him again. In shock, he wasn't seeing, wasn't comprehending anything. He began flailing, ripping cables and lines that had just been put in place. Alarms began blaring as he disconnected lines.
Ramjet and First Aid panicked when he started moving, "Stop him! Hold him down!"
Starscream heard voices. He couldn't make out who they were, only that they were speaking. They were pinning him. Likely to inject him with something else or hurt him. His movements became less and less until he stopped moving at all, partly because he couldn't move. His weakened body couldn't hope to get free of his restraints, he realized it quickly. Why did he even try? He wasn't getting away. They were going to make his life as miserable as possible for as long as possible. Why wouldn't they just kill him and get it over with?
He could not hear outside of his mind. He could not see outside of his mind. All he could hear were the words Megatron tormented him with and all he could see was them coming at him again to hurt him.
"Failure!"
"Megaaatro- *Skkkt, no… No!" His voice crackled, full of static making it near impossible to understand his words. He moved feebly, his body uncoordinated and flopping around as broken parts and metal flung aimlessly.
"Start strapping him down! He's going to tear everything out!" Ramjet called, working to hold Starscream's shoulders down so he wouldn't harm his Spark any further.
"You do not deserve to die! You deserve to suffer!"
"*Skreee* Not agai-!" His words made little sense, showing his cognitive ability was severely lacking as well. He couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't like he was accomplishing much since his wrecked body did not respond well to him.
"Every day you will wish for death!"
First Aid called, beginning to strap Starscream's legs, "Thundercracker! Skywarp, pin his mid-section!"
"P-please… No more! I – I can't take it!" His optics went through those they looked at, as if he was not seeing with them.
"Hey, 'Jet…?" Skywarp asked, still holding as Ramjet and First Aid secured his leader. "What's wrong with him?"
"What *skrrrrrrt* more could you *skkkt* possibly do to me?" Starscream spat, pulling at his restraints.
"I will take everything from you!"
He couldn't… Not anymore. His strength – his will – started to leave him. His voice weakened in resignation when he realized he would not be able to cope any longer. His body began to calm, as if every one of the struts and membranes that worked to make him move began going offline.
He was done. He wanted nothing more than to cease functioning. To finally be free of the physical pain. The emotional pain. The mental pain. He wanted to be with his mate in the Well. "Just kill me… I won't fight you."
The way they showed Skywarp's death over and over. Showed Barricade dying or being defiled. His Sparklings dying one after another. Megatron killing every one of his men in the worst way possible. Rinse and repeat until he begged for death – in which they had laughed at him and continued their unbearable torture. It was all too much.
Ramjet waited until he was still before using a laser on his vocal processors, but he needed him to be still to get into his processors. They hadn't had the time to get there yet, seeing as they were still working on his body. His voice crackled as he murmured, "Please… Just let me go. Let me die… please. I've – I've already lost. My Barricade… 'Warp… 'Cracker… Typhoon… My 'Cons… They'll be okay without us."
"They're all mine!"
Ramjet, who had heard Starscream, gave a concerned look to the leader's Trine-mates at the words, saying, "Don't let him talk like that." His readings of Starscream's Spark were still on the verge of dangerous.
What was he saying? What was he talking about? "Ramjet… What's wrong with him? Why's he talking like this?" Skywarp looked sharply at Starscream, confusion lacing his optics.
"It doesn't matter. Get through to him, Skywarp!"
"He doesn't even know we are here!" Thundercracker argued, frustrated on what to do.
"It's gone… It's all gone…" Starscream whispered in defeat.
"Then try harder! His mind is affecting his Spark!" Ramjet growled back.
"That's right. You have nothing! You are worth nothing!"
Listening to her leader, Thundercracker then sucked in air through her vents, "Primus, the gaze doesn't have him too, does it?"
Ramjet hissed and then growled again. As he expected, when Starscream flailed, damaged armor that was digging into him cut into other lines, rupturing a main line below his Spark. They knew it was going to be a dangerous process. It was half expected that he would die on the berth. He quickly chased the severed line and attempted to seal it. "No. This is different. They tortured him."
"They've tortured him before, but he never acted like this!" Skywarp nearly yelled.
Ramjet didn't look up from his work, reaching for a large cloth to soak up some of the new Tardacain and Energon that was spilling inside of Starscream, his optics darting to Starscream's face while he spoke. He was becoming increasingly concerned with how he was talking. "Keep your voice down. Don't forget Typhoon is dead. He also believes you, Thundercracker and Barricade are dead. Those who meant the most to him." He pulled out the cloth, soaked. "Get me more to clean him out. I need to cauterize this before he bleeds to death and I can't find it in this mess."
Skywarp did as told, going to the cupboard that had large cloths that he was sure Ratchet procured from a hospital by the sheer amount and size. Returning and handing what he had to the other Seeker, he placed a hand on Thundercracker's wing. Both of them felt their bond with him was shaky, and they were only getting intermittent signals as it changed again in frequency. Doing the best thing he could think of, Skywarp spoke soothingly to him, trying to push through their bond. "Hey, I'm right here… 'Cracker's here… Barricade is here…"
"I've lost…" The young leader's optics cast down, a wash of sadness crossing his face like they had never seen. "Everything…" The young Seeker then grew angry, hissing darkly, "You took everything from me! Everything!"
"Youngling… Youngling! It's me! Snap out of it!" Skywarp cried, desperate to get him to look at him.
Starscream thought he heard someone yell and he flinched. That voice sounded so much like Skywarp. Was he hallucinating now? Had Megatron drugged him again to drive him insane? He flinched again and looked at where the grip the mech had on him. That even felt like his Skywarp. He stared for a moment, seeing Skywarp, but it couldn't be. Skywarp was dead. The silver Seeker put his head down in hopelessness, figuring Megatron was tricking him. "Oh, 'Warp…" he said softly, "I wish you were here," the young Seeker spoke quietly, still in that resigned voice. "Stop – don't do this to me… I… I can't –"
"'Screamer!" Skywarp interrupted.
Starscream talked as if Skywarp wasn't even there. "You – you can't… hurt me anymore. You… You've won," he said in a mere murmur. "I give up…"
"Hey," Skywarp shook Starscream.
"All that I am… my will… my everything. Broken."
"Stop it!" Thundercracker called, also trying to push through their bond. He still wasn't receiving properly, if at all.
Trying to bring his leader to his senses, Skywarp shook Starscream harder, getting right into his face, "Come on, please. I'm here… We're right here…"
The younger Seeker's optics rolled in confusion, not really seeing anything around him, then closed, and his head fell back onto the berth, lolling to the side.
His thoughts went to his mate, who he'd felt perish. He wanted to follow her, find her again. "Barricade?" he called, "BARRICADE!"
Alarms started blaring warnings from every monitor available as Starscream's Spark signals started failing.
They had been here before; they had felt this before. They were losing him.
"Ramjet!" Skywarp and Thundercracker both screamed.
He glared at all of the Decepticons. "So, you're leading this, Soundwave?" he growled, "You have no right! Prepare to die!" Megatron seemed to pull more coherence from somewhere and Soundwave started to lose her grasp. Realizing he could move, he lifted his right arm, the fusion cannon forming as he did so, and he readied to fire before the telepath gained control of him again.
"Stop." she commanded, her voice booming over his audial. Megatron's arm dropped. She stepped forward. She forced the field to push him off balance so she could grasp him again. She knew he wouldn't be easy to control. He was powerful. This time, it swirled around him and started pressing down on his head. It began to crush his processors, forcing the ex-leader to bend to her will. "You will pay for what you've done." Soundwave vocalized so all could hear.
"The Decepticons will fail under his rule!" Megatron hissed, grabbing for his head. He resisted, oh, did he resist, but it was as if someone had him by the head and was literally squeezing his processors. He could feel himself wanting to give, wanting to relinquish.
"Stop." Soundwave commanded more powerfully this time.
"You can't… defeat me." Megatron tried to fight the invasion into his processors, but he couldn't win against such a powerful force. Energon started to pool in his optics and began trailing down his neck.
"Kneel." It would be the most humiliating defeat for him.
Soundwave and Megatron's standoff didn't go unnoticed. It started with one or two stopping. More and more began to stop as they became curious what everyone else was looking at. Besides, there weren't many to kill anymore. The Combaticons were all dead and most of the Seacons were now dead. The fight between the rest actually paused to watch them. She might have said that she would take care of them, but not many actually believed she actually could, until they saw Megatron kneel.
What exactly was she doing to Megatron? She had barely moved. Megatron had barely moved. Shockwave moved to help Megatron and Soundwave only looked at him. When he got close, he stopped. Luckily, he was able to back away and get away from the field before he too, was immersed by it.
Unable to do anything but kneel, Megatron wanted to stop resisting her. It was futile, the telepath had won. Coherent enough to speak, and trying to understand, Megatron asked, "But… all that time…"
"Was for my purpose," the femme finished for him. Those last words were deeper and darker than Megatron had ever heard from his former Third in Command. Soundwave had never attacked him before. Now, she had him in his grasp, and she wasn't even touching him!
Soundwave no longer needed physical contact with the one who's mind she dug into. She proceeded to assault Megatron's processors, digging as deep and as fast as she could go, finding the bare function of him and began to tear him apart from the inside, using the energy field that spiked at him like a thousand knives.
Megatron couldn't move. He couldn't do anything! He wanted to stand, but something told him not to and he could not disobey the command to be still. "What are you doing?" he asked, his head going down slightly. Time seemed to slow for him as she ravaged his mind.
"Finding everything you've done to him." Soundwave rooted through every part of his processors, searching even into his deepest, most secret memories. Bypassing them, she found what she was looking for. She wanted what he had done to Starscream recently. Most of it was Shockwave's planning and Megatron agreed to it. As she accessed those events, she studied them, watching them, appalled by what she witnessed. It was enough to break her own Spark. "How could you…" The movement in her field turned to sympathy, hurt, confusion.
"He deserved what he got."
He still believed that? "He didn't deserve this." Hearing the echoes of screams of her leader, she took them and pushed them onto Megatron's audial, making him listen over and over. how terrorized Starscream felt when he'd ordered their separation – and succeeded. She made him listen to his agonized screams as they tortured him relentlessly. She dug into his memories, finding every time he had attacked Starscream.
Hatred. Anger. It boiled back up inside of her. She would turn it all against him.
Everything that Megatron had witnessed or done was turned against him. Soundwave searched further, identifying sensors and receptors and the links over his body. She showed him her intent. She was going to open them all as far as they could go, let him feel even the slightest wind like a hot javelin.
'Now you will understand.' A voice floated through the cacophony of emotions and physical pain and the pressing of the field that only seemed to compress more around him. Before her, Megatron broke. The mech squealed a sound no one had ever heard from him as she did as she intended. Those behind the two flinched at the sound.
She pushed all of her will on the ex-leader, ensuring he felt everything as she broke his mind, deciding if killing him with a blast to the Spark might be a mercy he didn't deserve. However, she knew she needed to end him quickly to deal with the real threat. Shockwave.
"You will die a death unworthy," she promised. Her wave sensor rose from her back, aimed at Megatron and the tip flared open, turning into a barrel.
For some reason, Megatron accepted. He didn't want to! He didn't want to die! But he couldn't fight back. He couldn't go against her word. He couldn't say no.
She fired, the barrel turning bright white then dark red. It wasn't a simple single shot, but a type of laser that hit Megatron square in the Spark. It didn't stop, burning into the tyrant's chest and quickly searing everything around it, burning through the chamber and shattering the connections that fed into his body. The laser type weapon fired until it hit the ground behind the mech, burning through him.
As the body dropped on the ground, she saw Shockwave approach. Her visor flashed and she looked back at Megatron's sizzling corpse, and then her head turned to Shockwave, daring him to come closer.
"You're next."
That was a nice lil wrench, wasn't it? Megatron was first... Shockwave is absolutely next...
Starscream is... hanging on by a thread, it seems.