Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shockwave was currently battling ratchet to prevent the medic from shutting down the omega-lock, a futile attempt to stop him. Ratchet tries to punch the scientist but dodged and pinned the autobot to an energon vat.

"Optimus, catch!" The voice of smokescreen suddenly called out. Shockwave turns his head to see the autobot with the star sabre and was about to throw it to Optimus.

"Smokescreen!" Ratchet called out before shockwave shoots his arm cannon at smokescreen while he still pins ratchet to the vat. The impact caused smokescreen to let go of the sabre and landed quite a bit away.

He sees starscream rush to the sabre and arcee and bumblebee went after the sabre too. It would be logical to go after it too so shockwave ran as fast as he could to get the sabre. Arcee tries to stop starscream by throwing a seeker at him and it worked, leaving the scientist and the autobot scout to race to the sabre.

Knowing that Bumblebee's smaller frame made him faster, shockwave tries to shoot him but he dodged it and continued his way. Shockwave tries agian but the autobot ducks and lifts the sword into the air. Shockwave stops and looks up for a brief moment before bumblebee punches his only optic. Shockwave then kneels down before looking behind him to see the scout climbing down to Optimus with the star sabre in hand.

"Failure will be illogical." Shockwave states as he gets up and goes after bumblebee. Bumblebee looks up to see Shockwave climbing down after him so he speeds up. Shockwave continues his pursuit but at this rate, Optimus will gain the star sabre before he even makes it down.

Shockwave had an idea but it would risk damaging the omega-lock but it was the only thing he could do. Shockwave readies his arm cannon to finish the autobot off but Optimus turns to see Shockwave attempting to kill the scout so he immediately punches megatron in the face before forcing to aim Megatron's fusion cannon at shockwave and fires.

Shockwave was about to fire his weapon but got a fusion blast in his chest and some of the pieces of the omega-lock he was climbing down on started to fall down on him while bumblebee jumps off with the star sabre.

The debris falls on shockwave with great force and sends him plummeting down to the bottom with a pile of debris on him. Shockwave felt great agony in his chest, he looks down and saw some of the debris stabbed into his chest with a great amount of energon leaking from it. He gets up to see multiple cuts and marks on his body and feels something is missing so he looks to his right to see his arm cannon lying on the floor with sparks coming from the limb. He gets up to see bumblebee with the star sabre wedged directly into Megatron's chest and into his spark.

He gets up to see bumblebee with the star sabre wedged directly into Megatron's chest and into his spark

Megatron tries using the dark sabre but drops it into earth's orbit. Megatron falls to his knees before his optics flickered off and slides off the omega-lock and falls to the earth.

This isn't what shockwave wanted to see but he's seeing this unfold right before his very optic, megatron is dead. Bumblebee puts down the star sabre and helps Optimus up.

Shockwave looks up and sees starscream tries to get down and fight Optimus and the scout himself but 2 seekers grabbed him and ran into the ship, no doubt to the escape pods, knowing that without megatron, this is a fight they can't win. Starscream then gains himself and turns to look at the very wounded scientist before running to the escape pods. Shockwave tries to get up but the sheer agony continues.

Shockwave wonders why this hurts so bad and realizes that the pain is coming directly from his spark, the debris not only stabbed into his chest but his very spark and with the amount of energon he's losing it was logical to come to the conclusion that he was dying. He hears pede falls approaching him so he looks up to see Optimus, bumblebee, arcee, smokescreen and ratchet in front and looking down at him.

"He looks pretty bad, Optimus." Bumblebee said to Optimus who nodded in agreement. Shockwave was surprised to hear the scout's voice agian but realizes that he heard a splash earlier so it would seem logical to assume that he made direct contact with the cyber-matter.

"What should we do with him?" Arcee asked the autobot leader. The autobots are deciding his fate? Hm, typical.

"Well we can't just leave him to die. The decepticons abandoned him." Smokescreen said and Optimus nodded.

"Agreed, smokescreen. Despite everything he's done, no one deserves to be left for dead. Since we have control of the nemesis, we should get him to the medical bay." Optimus said to the group of bots as ratchet did a scan.

"Do not bother, prime. Even if you tend to my wounds, I will die either way." Shockwave protested and ratchet was done scanning.

"He's right, Optimus. Some of the debris tore off a part of his spark and to add it with the amount of energon he lost, I'm afraid there's nothing we could do." Ratchet explained before bumblebee turns to the cyber-matter.

"Can't we just use the cyber-matter? It both saved my life and brought my voice back." Bumblebee suggested but ratchet shook his head.

"It won't be that simple, the cyber-matter has to be inside the cybertronian to work and in the condition he's in, the cyber-matter will just leak out of the cuts." Ratchet explained to the scout before shockwave stands up, ignoring the pain, and walks to the edge. The autobots are confused of what shockwave is doing.

"Shockwave, what are you doing?" Optimus asked the cycloptic cybertronian before the scientist in question turns around to face the autobots.

"Smokescreen is correct, the decepticons chose to leave me and I am on the verge of death so I'm simply doing the only logical thing I could do now: accepting the inevitable." Shockwave awneserd as he took a step back and Optimus rushed to stop him but shockwave has already began his decent. Shockwave sees the nemesis leave his sight before his optic flickered off and began to be engulfed in flames as he enters the planet's atmosphere. He fell for a while before plummeting into the ocean as his burnt body sank to the bottom. This decision was logical.

Chapter Text

90 years later, 2 fishermen were in a middle of the ocean in a fishing boat, catching fish (what else did you expect?). A large automatic net was cast and was catching all the fish in the area until it caught something else, something big. The boat was stopped in its tracks by the sudden weight, causing the fishermen to topple over. The 2 fishermen got up and rushed to the net.

"John, What the hell was that?!" The first fishermen demanded as John walked to the controls.

"I don't know, Frank but I bet it's worth a lot for something so heavy to stop our boat." John said as he set the automatic net to surface. Frank groaned at this though and turned.

"Really John? You always say that when we get something that isn't fish. Remember last time we caught something other than fish?" Frank said as John rolled his eyes.

"How was I supposed to know that it was a dead guy? Look, I've got a good feeling about this one." John assured Frank who groaned with a 'fine!'. A little while later, the net surfaces and what's in the net shocked them: a large, purple, robot with multiple torn metal, a single eye and was missing an arm. It had rust all over the body. John face went from shocked to happy to see that he and Frank had made the jackpot.

"Frank, what's the number of that space company?" He asked excitedly and quickly with a wide smile.

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Later at the fish market. A group of men were following John and frank through the market to see what the 2 fishermen found and buy it.

"Agian, thank you for coming." John said as he continues to lead the group of people to the robot.

"You say it's something great, well as the CEO of jcJenson, I'll be the judge of that." A man in front of his men replied before they all stopped at a hanger door. Frank opened the door to reveal the giant robot hanging by the shoulders as water was dripping down the body. The CEO stood there for a few minutes before he turns to John and Frank as he snaps his fingers and two men with suit cases filled with money immediately walked beside him.

"We'll take it." The CEO states as the two men handed the money filled cases to John and Frank. They opened the cases to see the money in all its glory. The CEO turns to one of his men with his hands behind his back.

"Get this to jcJenson headquarters." He ordered and his men nodded as one of them contacted headquarters for a pickup truck.

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Later at jcJenson headquarters, a group of scientists were studying the robot while the CEO sat in his office looking through the window to see how his disassembly drones are coming along. He's gotten word that the worker drones have gone rogue on one of the exo planets and the company have a strict rule that if any of their drones go rogue, they send disassembly drones to exterminate them. It usually takes one drones to exterminate a group of rogue drones but a whole planet worth would take more but they're going to send 3 for now. Suddenly a scientist bursts through the door with a clip board.

"Sir, it's the mech, we discovered something!" The scientist said and the CEO went to see what this discovery was. He walks up to the mech and saw a glowing blue light emitting from inside the mech's chest.

He walks up to the mech and saw a glowing blue light emitting from inside the mech's chest

"What is that?" The CEO asked but the scientist shook his head.

"We don't know exactly what it is but it's emitting a powerful energy signature, but it's becoming nearly about to go out." The scientist replied, looking back at the ball of energy.

"Extract it." The CEO instructed and the scientist nodded. They prepare a machine to extract the energy and once ready, the machine's arm went into the chest with a glass case attached to it. The the energy was inserted in the glass case and the arm begins retracting but it was abruptly stopped. The operator of the machine tried to remotely pull the capsule out and it worked but as a form of electrical snap was heard and the mech's eye suddenly glowed red and it jolted and tried to reach out for the energy but then went limp again. This shocked everyone who witnessed this sudden movement and the scientist looked towards the energy inside the capsule.

"W-what should we do with it?" The scientist asked as the CEO turns to the disassembly drones. An idea came to mind and smiled. He looks back at the scientist with a clever smirk.

"I've been planning to create another disassembly drone for some time now so I had a thought about this power source." The CEO said, gesturing to the station where the company makes new drones.

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5 weeks went by and the CEO was reading over the reports of the test results of the blue liquid found inside the mech. He eventually stops reading and heads for the drone making station to see how the construction process of the new drone is going. He walked up to It and sighed in frustration of what he sees.

"I don't understand. This is the 10th iteration, why does he keep turning out like this?" The CEO questioned as a scientist walked beside him.

"It's just some bugs in the final render." The scientist said as he too looks up at the new disassembly drone. We see the disassembly drone's construction process but it looks nothing like the other drones but looks the same as the purple mech, one eye and all, but with a white colour scheme.

"I modelled the drone to look the same as all the other male drones, why does he keep having the exact same appearance as the mech we bought 5 weeks ago?!" The CEO demands and the scientist went over the papers he's holding.

"Rendering sequence almost complete." The computer states as the scientist decides to tell his boss.

"Pardon me, sir but me and my co-workers came the conclusion that the energy source must be what's causing this to happen." The scientist said, receiving a huff.

"Well, if that's the case then I suppose it will do. Have you found out what the mech's memory chip says?" The CEO said looking towards a large computer trying to break a firewall. A week after the mech was bought, the company found a memory chip still intact and they've been trying to hack into it since

"Not yet, our strongest technology aren't able to gian access to it, even with the adapter." The scientist replied and received another huff.

"We'll find out what it holds someday but for now I want to know something: what's with the symbol on his arms." The CEO questioned the symbol in the drones arms as the Rendering sequence is complete.

"We don't know but it could mean it was aligned with someone but we don't know who."

"Well, since it's complete, we will send this drone to the planet the other 3 drones are being sent to."

"Of course, sir. Prepare the ship!"

The CEO walks back to his office as his employees transport the yet to awaken drone to the ship with the other drones to exterminate all rogue AI. Later the ship is ready to launch as the activation time for the one eyed drone is set to the arrival time of the exo-planet. The ship launched, carrying the 4 drones to the exo-planet.

Chapter Text

Nothing. Nothing but black. An endless void with nothing but a single spark. A soul with no goal, no meaning, no memory, no name. Wandering aimlessly through the void for what felt like a millennia until a tower begins to be constructed in the void. Without a reason, the spark begins to float towards the top of the tower.

It eventually reaches the top of the tower to a purple mech with one optic and a cannon arm was talking to a bigger, silver mech with spiked shoulders and a fusion cannon. The two mechs stops talking and the purple mech turns around and walks away. Without warning, the spark sped towards the mech and phased inside it and the mech suddenly stops.

The spark  without memory now remembers everything, its creation, its life cycle, its faction, everything, including its name. It's name... was shockwave

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Shockwave suddenly jolts awake, rapidly breathing heavily. He slows down and put a servo on his head as he gets up and felt something moving behind him. He turns around to see... a tail? The tail was thin with a cylinder glass filled with glowing yellow liquid and a needle. Shockwave quickly noticed that his body was no longer purple, instead he had a white colour scheme and he had 2 servos instead of 1 and a cannon arm and he felt... smaller? What is going on?

(AN: shockwave looks exactly the same as he looks in transformers prime but his eye is yellow, has both his hands, the lights that usually glow purple, now glows yellow, his colour scheme is white and he's now as small as a murder drone.)

Shockwave looks up from his body to see 2 chairs in front of some controls and a crack screen and immediately realised that he was in a kind of control room. He looks around and noticed an open door leading outside.

Shockwave decides to get out of what this place is and as he leaves, he checks the area around him. It was currently night and there were ruined buildings in the distance and it was snowing. He also sees a lot of destroyed robots with black screens and oil leaking from the body parts of the destroyed robots. This shows the emotionless scientist that these are not cybertronians. He picks up a severed arm and examined it.

'What could’ve done this?' He thought to himself and suddenly hears a chuckle from a femme. He looks up to see three airborne robots with large wings, metal  claws and a single X on each of their screens. He also noticed they have the exact same tails as he does.

He doesn't know if they're hostile or not so he simply stands his ground to find out himself. One of them lands and stood up and shockwave has a good look at it. It had a body of a femme and was wearing a kind of suit and had ponytails. Her wings began to be retracted into her back as her claws turned into hands and the X on her screen turned into 2 eyes

Another one landed and also had a body of a femme but she had shorter hair and wears a short sleeved furred jacket.

The third one lands but this one’s a male and was wearing a hat and a coat.

Shockwave stood there, unfazed by the three standing before him.

"So you're finally awake? I was beginning to think you weren't gonna wake at all" The first one said with her arms crossed. Shockwave remains silent as he observed the three.

"Hm, not much of a talker, are you?" The second one asks with boredom.

"Who are you?" Shockwave asked calmly and firmly.

"Well, I'm J." The first one, named J, replied.

"I'm V." The second one introduced herself.

"And I'm N." The male finished as he gave a salute.

"Well now you know our names, what's yours?" V asked curiously. Since it's illogical to asked someone's name and not tell them what's his name is, he replied.

"My designation is shockwave." This answer left the three with a confused expression.

"May I asked what exactly are you?" He asked, making the three have face that says 'what you say?'.

"What the hell kind of disassembly drone doesn't know what their own kind looks like?" V question surprised shockwave. Is he one of them? If so, then that explains the tail. Shockwave isn't a 'disassembly drone' but he decided to roll with it.

"My apologies. I do not know the purpose of my existence." He apologises.

"Um, he's one one of the newer drones so maybe he doesn't understand." N said and shockwave nodded. J groaned and led shockwave inside the pod he woke up in. J spent 1 hour of explaining  to shockwave about the company, the worker drones going rogue and the mission to kill them. Shockwave puts a digit on his chin in thought. He processes this new information before he stands up from his chair and walked outside.

"Where you going?" N asked as the other 2 drones watch the scientist leave.

"Looking for a suitable place to set up a laboratory. It's only logical for a scientist." Shockwave replies as he leaves. The 3 drones were left in silence as they watched the drone walk away.

"OK, what was that about?" V questioned, finally breaking the silence.

"How should I know? I just explained what we know and he just straight up left. He also said a lot of questions about logic" J said with a bit of irritation in her voice. N looks back at shockwave as he leaves. Something about the drone is odd, his voice is cold, has no emotion and kind of scares N. Something told N that something isn't right about shockwave, like he's hiding something.
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Shockwave wanders through the ruined city that was once inhabited by humans. He remembers what happened with the omega-lock and how he was fatally injured and how he accepted his death. Why isn't he one with the allspark? Is he a clone. He was walking near a glass building so he stopped to face his reflection and opened his spark chamber to reveal his spark is still aflame.

Shockwave suddenly hears running so he turns to see a worker drones running to find a safe place to hide, unaware of the cybertronian-turned-disasembly drone.

'Kill.' A female voice spoke, startling shockwave.

'Our pray is right there, do not let him escape.' The voice said shockwave turns to the drone. He doesn't know where this voice came from but it wants him to kill. He killed before but there's nothing interesting about it and he doesn't have time to chase a drone. Shockwave simply kept walking to find somewhere to set up a laboratory.

'What are you doing?! He's right there! We must feed!' The voice shouted but shockwave kept walking, ignoring the voice. He doesn't hear the voice anymore, it's gone. Good.

Chapter Text

Years has passed since awakening in the drop-pod and met the murder drones (which is what a worker drone called shockwave when he met one.) and shockwave was currently making modifications to his laboratory, an empty nuclear power plant that hasn't been operating since humanity went extinct on this planet. He practiced his abilities of a murder drone from his wings to his weaponry and he quickly mastered both.

Shockwave also fixed the weaknesses of his new body like if he doesn't consume worker drone oil, he'll over heat and die so he added a cooling system to keep his temperature from rising. He also fixed the issue with the sun, apparently the sun can be dangerous to him so he replaced all the metal plates on his body so he could go out in the sun just fine. It's quite. Apart from the sound of shockwave's foot steps, it's quite. Finally.

'Since the sun can't kill us now, we should go out there killing the worker drones' and she's back, just great. The female voice always seem to come and go sometimes. when she's gone, it's peace and quiet but when she's back, she always tells shockwave to forget whatever he's doing and go kill worker drones which he doesn't have time to do. It's really annoying, not to mention distracting.

"You're back. Why won't you just leave me be?" Shockwave said as he finishes and walks to the computer room. The voice giggles in amusement.

'Because I can't just leave, I'm inside your mind, I'm apart of you.' She replied as shockwave presses a few buttons to check the progress of the ground bridge which was very promising.

"In any case, may you be silent? I'm working on a project and I need to concentrate." Shockwave requested and the voice huffed.

'Fine.' She replied after going silent. Shockwave shook his head at the voice but continued to scroll through what he needs for the ground bridge. He suddenly hears the sound of metal colliding with each other so he looks out the window to see N at the entrance with his wings out. Shockwave leaves the room and walks to the murder drone. N was amazed by the work and technology shockwave has built, not noticing the decepticon approaching him.

"Entering another's domain is completely...Illogical." Shockwave said; cold, unforgiving, monotone. Shockwave's sudden voice jumpscared N as his eyes turned into circles.

"Uh... hi?" N said as shockwave approaches the drone.

"What are you doing here?" Shockwave demanded as he towered over N. N could see his reflection on Shockwave's yellow optic and after gaining himself, he spoke.

"I-I was w-wondering what you're doing." N stuttered before shockwave backs off the smaller drone and walks to his ground bridge.

"If that's why you're here, then it's none of your concern. Now leave, I have work to do." Shockwave told N and the drone turns around and starts to leave. Suddenly a thought came to shockwave's mind.

"Wait." Shockwave said and N stops and turns to the scientist.

"You wish to be useful, correct?" Shockwave asked as he turns around and N nodded.

"Then I have a task for you. I'm working on a project and all I require is a stabiliser." Shockwave explained as he gave N the coordinates to the stabiliser.

"So you want me and my friends to go get this stabiliser thingy?" N asked and shockwave nodded.

"Precisely. I would do it myself but I have other projects to complete. Here, when you make it to the place where the stabiliser is, activate this device." Shockwave continued as he handed N a decepticon homing beacon to verify that N has made it.

"Um, what exactly is this project?" N asked as he examined the device.

"Like I said before, it is none of your concern." Shockwave said as N puts the device away.

"OK, I won't let you down." N said as he ran to the entrance as he takes to the air to get the others to help him. Shockwave watched N leave before making his way to his workshop.

"It's too late for that." Shockwave muttered before he begins his other projects.

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Later at a factory where the stabiliser is, N, J and V lands somewhere nearby. J walks to get a better look at the factory before turning to N.

"This is where shockwave said this part was?" J questioned as N activates the homing beacon.

"Yep, he wants this stabiliser to complete something but he won't tell me what." N said as he puts the device away.

"Maybe it's something awesome." V guessed as she took out her weapons incase they see any worker drones before taking off.

"What ever it is, it better be worth it." J said before flying to the factory. N wondered what this project could be as before he heard an explosion, most likely V killing worker drones.

An hour has passed and they killed all the rogue drones in the facilitie and pushing the stabiliser outside.

"Hell, this is heavy." V exclaimed as she pushes the stabiliser with N and J.

"Let's take a break." J said before they stopped. N looks at the stabiliser before turning to the other drones.

"How are we going to move this?" N asked and J shrugged. V noticed something in the distance and turns to the 2 drones.

"Guys, what's that?" V asked before N and J walks beside her and saw what V saw.

"What is that?" J asked as he squinted her eyes.

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In shockwave's laboratory, he finished is own phase shifter. He latches the device on his arm and activates it before putting a servo on his arm, only for it to phase through it. It works. Shockwave walks to a shelf and puts it on the shelf. He then walks to one of the worker drone corpses he recovered and settled it on a table. He opened up the body and looks around the cut and pulled out the core. He hears metal being collided which told Shockwave the three drones are back. He walks to the entrance to see N, V and J empty handed.

"You don't have the stabiliser." Shockwave pointed out but N raised his arms in defence.

"Um, we do have it but we have something to show you." N said and V and J nodded.

"We found the stabiliser but we also found something, or someone to be precise." J said with her arms crossed.

"Why would I be interested with someone you found?" Shockwave questioned and V spoke up.

"Because he says he knows you." V said and shockwave was confused. The three drones moved aside before heavy, metallic footsteps can be heard.

The footsteps gets louder and louder before the source reveals itself to the scientist. Shockwave's optic flashed as he sees a cybertronian with a decepticon insignia on his chest. This decepticon, he's a royal soldier to megatron during the war and someone who was thought to be dead for years this decepticon was...

"Onslaught." Shockwave exclaimed.

Onslaught walks past the three drones before he kneels down on one knee.

"Shockwave, sir." Onslaught said, making the three drones confused. Shockwave gestured them to go outside and they did. Shockwave looks up at the con.

"Onslaught, this is quite an unexpected turn. I thought you met your demise when you were ordered to attack the autobot ship, the ark." Shockwave said and Onslaught shook his head.

"Reports of my and my comrades' demise were mistaken." Onslaught said as we venture into the past. We see bruticus being blown off the ark and into the void of space.

"Whene we were combined into bruticus, we were blown off the ark by the autobots. We fell into a dimensional breach caused by the space bridge collapse and landed here." We see bruticus gets blown out of a portal and fell into the planet's atmosphere.

"We survived but we fell into stasis. We were found by humans but we were experimented on until humanity faced extinction." We then see the combaticons leave a facility and went to find shelter. The combaticons were Onslaught, vortex,

Brawl,

Blast off

And swindle.

"We spent many years hiding until we picked up the decepticon homing beacon." We see the other 4 Combaticons arguing until Onslaught picked up the signal. We now see Onslaught in his vehicle mode driving through the snow, human skeletons and worker drone corpses.

"I ordered my team to stay while I went to investigate I arrived to the factory where the single is coming from but what I found wasn't Decepticons, just your three murder drone friends." We see N, V and J sitting down, resting until they noticed Onslaught. Onslaught continues driving until he transforms and walks towards them. Back at the present, we zoom out of Onslaught's yellow visor.

"Which raises the question: what happened while we were absent? Who won the war?" He finishes. Shockwave huffed at the question and tells him.

"The Autobots. They won the war. The autobot scout, Bumblebee, used the star sabre to strike Lord Megatron at his very spark." Shockwave told Onslaught, who shook his head in disbelief.

"No. It can't be." Onslaught exclaimed in horror.

"It can. Without our master, the decepticons are no more." Shockwave assured him.

"Then, what happened to you?" Onslaught asked before shockwave looked at a servo of his murder drone body.

"Before our master met his demise, I rebuilt the omega-lock when it was destroyed by Optimus when Megatron attempted to cyber-form the alien planet, Earth. We convinced the autobot medic, Ratchet, to help us as we had him to believe that we were reviving Cybertron. He found out our plan and sent the Autobots the coordinates to our warship. We battled for the omega-lock, I saw the scout trying to deliver Optimus the star sabre so I gave chase but the prime saw me and used our lord's fusion cannon on me. Some debris fell on me and I found some of it skewered into my chest and spark. The decepticons abandoned me and the autobots tried to help me but I lost too much energon so I decided to join our lord in the allspark. The nemesis was the only thing I saw before I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in this body with a voice of a femme always telling me to kill. The humans must've found me and put me in this body." Shockwave explained as Onslaught acknowledged all this new information.

"Do those murder drones know about cybertron and our species?" Onslaught asked but shockwave shook his head.

"No, they thought I was one of them. I decided to hide my origin and acted as one of them." Shockwave said and Onslaught nodded as he understands.

"I saw those drones trying to push a stabiliser. Your making a ground bridge, aren't you?" Onslaught assumed as he stands up and shockwave nodded. However, unaware to both of the 2 cons, N heard everything as he was on a ceiling support before he sneakily went outside. N couldn't believe it, shockwave is an alien. He decided to not tell the others for now but now that he knows shockwave's origin, it gives him a good enough reason to stay out of his way.

End of chapter 4

Chapter Text

It's been a month since the combaticons moved into shockwave's laboratory and they've each been building their private quarters underneath the laboratory. Shockwave was currently adding new modifications to his body like new weapons for his limited arsenal and his scanners. Suddenly, one of his monitors picked up a massive energy surge at where he first awoken on this planet. He walks over to a computer and contacted Onslaught who was out on an energon expedition with his team mates.

"Onslaught, I picked up an energy surge, you and the other combaticons remain resume your expedition while I investigate." Shockwave informed Onslaught who agreed with an 'affirmative'. Shockwave deactivates the comm link and walks outside. Shockwave spreads his murder drone wings a launched into the air with great force, sending a strong wind current.

Shockwave flew over the ruined city for  a while until he sees a tower of worker drone corpses. Shockwave lands on a ruined skyscraper and scanned the area. He noticed a worker drone with purple eyes and a hoodie with a weapon strapped onto the back. Shockwave has a strong feeling that this was a femme. The worker drone run as fast as she could from the tower. He also noticed N chasing her with his wings and claws out.

'Hmm, she looks cute. Wonder what her oil tastes like? Let's kill her while we have a chance." The female voice suggested as shockwave scanned the weapon on her back. He detects the same energy he picked up in his laboratory. This was caused the energy surge.

"I'm going after her. Not to kill her but to take that weapon of hers." Shockwave states but the voice groaned.

'Why won't you listen to me and kill them all?!' The voice demanded as shockwave took to the air and follow both N and the worker drone from above.

"Because I have better things to do than killing worker drones." Shockwave replied as he continues his pursuit.

'No matter how much you deny it, you can not hide the fact that you are a murder drone. Your very purpose is to kill! Kill! KILL! HAHAHAHAHA! Someday, you will be mine. Mine to bend you to my will. I am slowly taking over your mind and body and you know it!' The voice told Shockwave  as he continues flying. Shockwave knew she was right, she's slowly taking over his mind. It gives him a clear understanding of what the voice is: She's a parasite. An infection that clings to the mind like a tumor and takes over. This infection tells shockwave to kill  and he wants to cure his infection once and for all.

"I will rid myself of you, this I swear on my very spark." Shockwave told her but she chuckles evilly.

'I like to see you try' the voice said as shockwave made his decent when the worker drone and N went into a kind of building. Shockwave lands and activates his new cloaking device before walking into the entrance and saw a hallway littered with dead worker drones. He notices N pinning the female worker drone with one of his bladed wings.

He also noticed a worker drone with a mustache and what looked like wrinkles on the screen, showing that the drone was old. He noticed the weapon was right at the old drones feet and the female drone was telling him to use it on N. The old drone was shaking with fear until he took out a remote and he pressed it and a door slammed down, shut. Then the lights turned red. The old worker drone left her to die. He abandoned her. He saw the look on the female's face. Shockwave knows the pain the female is feeling when starscream and the decepticons abandoned him not only on cybertron but on the nemesis too. Shockwave clenches his servos in anger of the old drone made the choice to abandon her. The coward. N looks at the female with guilt.

"Whoah, N?" The voice of J exclaimed as shockwave (who is still invisible) and N turns to see J and V crawling on the ceiling with their claws like insecticons before dropping down. Shockwave saw N threw the female to some cover.

"Am I dreaming, or did you do something NOT useless for once?" J questioned as the 2 femmes walked towards N.

"I've been trying to get past that door for months. Nice work, N." V said as she winked at the male drone. N's eyes turned into circles in surprise.

"You-? Mean-? Name-? Remember?" N stuttered as he tried to process what he heard.

"These ventilation shafts will easily get us around this next door." V said before she shows her wings, missal luanchers and the single X.

"Lowest body count, eats a missal." V said before launching towards the vents as her laughing dies down as she goes through the vents. J walks up to and pats N's back.

"Way to go, stud. The company's gonna love this. With this colony wiped, we'll make top team discorder for sure! You know what that means. Branded pen." She said before she pulled out a pen with the words 'jcJenson' on it. N oohed at it before J chucked it to N as she was about to join V while N looked at the pen before looking at the crate where he chucked the female worker drone with an unsure look on his face.

"Uh, you know, not that I want to keep murdering all these, uh, heh, maybe not so actually different from us-worker drones but out of curiosity: do we actually, uh, know what the company plans to do with us afterwords?" N asked, making shockwave confused of what he's referring to. J turns around as her wings retracted into her back as her claws turned into hands.

"Excuse me?" She demanded with narrow eyes.

"OK, so a worker earlier might have suggested that they could fix our landing pod to, uh, escape the planet and stuff which, uh, hey, that's against the rule! But it is making me question: why are our pods ment to go one way in the first place?" N continues as J was glaring at him while shockwave thinks of what N is saying. The murder drones were never programmed to know how to fly back to earth, Like the company accounted on that.

"Cause, you know, I get the feeling that the company doesn't actually love robots and, like, we might be robots? I made a terrible mistake, it's cool how immediately I can tell." N finished, giving the one eyed scientist to realise that the reason why the pods go one ways is because it was the company's way of disposing murder drone. Murder drones feed on the oil of worker drones to stabilise their body temperature and if they kill all the workers, they won't have any oil left and they will die.

Shockwave thinks why they were disposing them until he quickly realizes that the humans know that murder drones are capable of easily killing them because of how weak they are. They fear their own creation. Just like how megatron feared predacons. It was predaking all over again.

J walks up to N and puts her arm around his shoulder.

"Hmm, no way buddy, questioning the company? You just finally gave me the excuse I needed." J said before she stabbed N with chip. N's eyes turned into a triangle with an exclamation mark in the middle as he looks down to see the chip before the words 'uploading virus' was shown. N falls to his knees as J walks underneath the ventilation shaft.

"Worker drones are corrupted and... that's why the company sent us." J said as she turned before she puts her hands on her knees.

"I hate to see you get corrupted as well." She continued.

"T-thanks, J. A-always looking out for me." N said as his voice was glitching before he fell on the floor.

"Y-your awesome." He finished. J laughed before entering the vents. The female worker pokes her head to see if J's actually gone before she went to pick up her weapon.

"Ah biscuits. I'm sorry, I ruined your card game and made you have an awkward moment with your dad." N apologises before shockwave looks back at the door the old drone closed.

The old drone was the female's father!? That pissed shockwave off even more. The drone that abandoned the female was her father. He abandoned his own daughter.

"And I made you rebel like an average teen whiiich got you killed. Well you did try to kill me so morality calls this a draw." The female worker drone said as she pulled the crate. She gets on and tries to get up to the vents but it's clearly too high. Shockwave decides to deactivates the cloaking device and reveal his presence.

"May I help you?" Shockwave asked, causing the female worker to jump and fall over the crate while quickly exclaiming 'oh robo-jesus'. She gets up and her eyes turned into circles at the sight of shockwave.

"Oh, h-hey shockwave." N said as he waves his hand. The female looks over to N before looking back at the scientist.

"How long have you been standing there?" The female asked with a bit of fear.

"Since I saw your father abandoned you. You were unaware of my presence since I have this cloaking device on me." The scientist replied, causing the female to feel the pain of being abandoned again.

"He chose to leave you to die. I assure you that you are not the only one who was abandoned." Shockwave assured the female who widened her eyes in realisation.

"Wait, you're the one eyed alien from that robot planet N told me about." She exclaimed, making shockwave quickly turn to N. He removes the chip from N's body and the murder drone recovered very quickly. N gets up and thanks shockwave.

"Thanks, you saved my-" but before he could finish, shockwave interrupted him.

"How did you find out about cybertron?!" Shockwave demanded, startling N. N taps his fingers together, showing he was nervous.

"Well, uh, when you had a conversation with that Onslaught guy a month ago, I kind of..." N trailed off, shockwave's optic flashed and got right up to the smaller drone's face. The reflection of N on Shockwave's optic could be seen.

"You spied on me!" Shockwave accused before N raised his hands in defence.

"Well, uh, when I met you, you seem to be hiding something and my curiosity got the better of me so when you and Onslaught had a private conversation, I snuck into your lab and listened. Didn't someone spied on you when you hiding something?" N replied nervously. N wasn't wrong about being spied on for keeping secrets from others. During the war, soundwave always spied on the scientist whenever he had the chance in case shockwave was plotting against megatron.

"I find your reply to be... logical." Shockwave said before turning to the worker drone.

"Yes, my designation is shockwave. I come from the planet known as cybertron." Shockwave introduced himself to the girl as she got back up to the crate.

"Well, I'm uzi." The worker drone, named uzi, replied.

Uzi turns to N with her hands on her hips. Shockwave moves aside to let the two talk.

"For the record, that was the lamest heal-faced turn in history. Was that supposed to be you switching sides?" Uzi asked and N shrugged.

"Being rebellious is harder than it looks, thanks for showing me the ropes." N replied.

"Nuh uh, no bonding thing. You just killed a bunch of people, idiot." Uzi said and N nodded in agreement.

"That's super fair. Man, I screwed up." N said with a hand behind his back. Uzi groaned.

"In the same way you're about to fix it?" Uzi guessed as she pulled out a rapier tool with dried oil on it.

"Haha, I love doing anything." N chuckled as he gave uzi a thumbs up. Uzi got on N's shoulders and N entered the vents and shockwave followed suit. Then after the 3 left, a large creature landed at the entrance before large, metal claws reached out and grabbed the nearest worker drone N has killed. The creature examined the headless worker as hissing and clicks can be heard before crushing the body as the creature emitted a loud screech. The creature then digs underground as it continues to screech.

Chapter Text

Shockwave, uzi and N crawled through the vents. Uzi wants to know how shockwave became what he is now so she decides to ask.

"Um, shockwave, I'm curious on how you became a murder drone?" Uzi asked, making shockwave sigh.

"Since we don't have time for discussion, I'll make it shorter: I was wounded and the company found me and put me in this body. I'll explain when this is over." Shockwave replied as the 3 continues their way.

'I don't understand why you won't kill her?! She's right there, waiting to be slaughtered by your hand.' The female voice demanded but shockwave shook his head.

'Because it would be illogical if I kill a spark who has done nothing to me' shockwave replied in his head but the voice groaned.

'Then you are going against what the company created us for. They sent us to kill worker drones like the one that's within your reach.' She argued but shockwave ignored her. The voice growls in anger of being ignored.

'Fine, be like that. But when I gain full control of your body, the girl's mine!' The voice said before going silent. The 3 kept crawling until they find a hole that's been torn.

"J and V went through here." Shockwave states before the 3 went into the hole and out of the vents. The 3 sees J corners the worker drones in a kind of Warehouse while V had a worker drone with green eyes stabbed with her wings as she moves her face forward as saliva dripped from her teeth.

"HEY!" Uzi called out, gaining the attention of the 2 murder drones.

"Put that conveniently attractive male down!" Uzi demanded while N was waving at them with a cute smile. Shockwave and uzi noticed this and uzi elbowed N to stop.

"Oh, uh, J, your sometimes kind of mean to me sometimes and I wish you weren't. Just some constructive criticism." N said before shockwave suddenly picked up a reading on his scanners. He couldn't make it out what it is but it's approaching fast.

"Nice." Uzi said before she and N fist bumped. V threw the green eyed worker drone away as she and J turns to face them as J groaned.

"Noted, traitor. I'll circle back after I right-side your existence." J said before uzi and N turned their heads to each other.

"OK, which one you want?" Uzi asked.

"J, please." N begged but uzi grinned evilly.

"Too bad. good luck." Uzi said as she pulled out the jcJenson branded pen. Uzi then threw the pen at J and it stabbed the murder drone in the head. J cried out in pain as yellow liquid pores out of the wound before uzi charges at her. N quickly turns to shockwave.

"May you fight V instead of me? I don't want to fight her." N asked but shockwave shook his head.

"Uzi will have a better chance of victory if I join her. You're on your own." Shockwave said before spreading his wings and joining uzi. N looks over as his eyes became circles to V before he points to her then to himself and gave a thumbs up. V laughed like a maniac as her claws turned into blades and rushes towards her opponent. N's already circle eyes became thicker.

Uzi runs over to J and points her weapon at the murder drone. J turns one of her hands into an assault rifle and fires. Shockwave lands in front of uzi and activates his energy shield (one of the modifications he added to his body) to repel the bullets before he activates his upgraded version of the assault rifle. Uzi jumped on shockwave as J pulled out the pen out of her head. J noticed uzi in the air before uzi kicked her head with the hand holding the pen, making it stab into her screen.

J shouts in pain as uzi picks up her weapon on a cool fashion before suddenly shockwave gets her down as V's weapons slices everything in reach. Shockwave looks over to N's fight with V. Shockwave shook his head and turns to J who pulls out the pen before crushing it.

J looks over to shockwave and uzi before she laughed evilly as her hand into a kind of weapon and creates an emp. The emp deactivates his ranged weapons while the emp stuns uzi as she drops her weapon and falls to the floor. Shockwave turns to fight J himself since uzi is temporarily out of commission.

"So you choose to join the worker and the traitor. Murder drones are supposed to be loyal to the company but you and N are not." J said as her emp weapon and hand turned into claws.

"You are mistaken, J. I was never royal to your company and I have enough reason to believe that N's theory about why the drop pods ment to go one way is... logical." Shockwave said coldly, making J groaned in annoyance. The readings on Shockwave's scanner are getting stronger and the readings was an energon signature. Shockwave didn't know what faction the signature belongs to but he'll worry about that later.

"Not you too. The company sent us here because the worker drones are corrupted. And since you're against the company, you're against me." J said as she spreads her claws while shockwave readies his hidden blade (another modification to his body). J glares at the scientist before she spreads her wings and charges and shockwave did the same. But before they could begin their battle, something bursts out of the ground with great force, sending a shockwave that forced the 2 drones to use their wings to stop them. Uzi recovers and gets up. N and V stopped their fight to see what came out of the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" Uzi exclaimed as the worker drones that were hiding peeked out of their hiding spots to see what came out of the ground.

Clicks and hisses can be heard from the dust and the worker drones and murder drones sees a silhouette of a large being but it was hard to make it out. Then the creature turns around as the clicks and hisses continues before suddenly the creature let out a mighty strong enough to blow the dust away. Now that the creature is more visible, both murder drones and worker drones can see what this creature looks like.

It had massive claws, mandibles on the mouth and dagger like teeth. It also had what looked liked visor eyes. It was even more terrifying than the murder drones.

"What. The. Hell. Is. THAT?!" V demanded as shockwave's optic dimmed in horror of what he sees.

"An insecticon." Shockwave exclaimed in shock and horror.

The insecticon roars, making the worker drones hide agian. The insecticon turns to shockwave and uzi and hisses at them and readies its claws before it got shot in the back. The insecticon turns to see J with a shotgun hand before it roars and charges at her. J dodges the attack and fires the shotgun agian but its just making it angry. V suddenly slashes at the insecticon's side, causing the beast to roar in pain as energon leaked from the wound.

"You want more, you over sized bug?!" V mocked and the insecticon roars in rage and transforms into a hercules beetle and it took to the air. The insecticon's horn turned into a blaster and it shot beams of red.

V dodged the beams while the insecticon flies after her, unaware that N was aiming a rocket at the wings. He fires and the missile hits the insecticon's wings, forcing it to fall to the ground. It transforms agian and turns to N as it hisses and clicks before roaring at him then J shot it with the shotgun agian. The insecticon roars in rage before going into combat with the 3 murder drones.

Uzi picks up her weapon and runs to shockwave.

"This thing's from your planet?" She guessed and shockwave nodded.

"Yes, it's called an insecticon, one of the most dangerous creatures that has ever walked on the face of cybertron. But how did an insecticon get on this planet?" Shockwave replied, looking over the the insecticon battling the murder drones.

"I don’t give a damn about how it got here but I'm sure as hell we'll stop it." Uzi said before shockwave looks over to the worker drone's weapon.

"That weapon of yours, I detected a massive energy surge at the drop-pod, is that the source?" Shockwave asked and uzi tilts her head.

"You mean my rail gun? It's a project I've been working on. It really powerful, like REALLY powerful." Uzi replied. Shockwave looks over to the insecticon agian before turning back to uzi.

"We'll need it. I will help the others distract the insecticon and when I tell you that you have a clear shot, fire." Shockwave told uzi and she nodded. Shockwave spreads his murder drone wings and flies over to the insecticon.

V slashes at the insecticon bur the insecticon grabs her by the wing and slams her on the ground a couple of times before it threw her away.

The impact was strong enough to knock her out. N used his wings to block the insecticon's attacks but he was struggling to maintain the strength to keep it up before J shoots the insecticon in the back agian. The insecticon grabs N by the wings and throws him to J.

J quickly dodges N but the insecticon attempted to crush her but it missed. J continues to fire her weapon but it was making the insecticon more and more angry before it reached the tipping point. The insecticon lifts the nearest crate and slams it onto J with great force, causing it to turn into splinters on impact.

J tried to fly away but the insecticon grabs her wing and tares it off, making J to cry in pain as oil leaked from the wound. J falls backwards and tries to back away as her eyes turned into circles while the insecticon draws closer to the defenceless drone and then what looked like tears began to drip from her eyes, she was crying. The insecticon raises a clawed servo in the air to confirm its kill while the insecticon lets out a sinister laugh.

"Die!" It spoke before it got shot in the back the third time so it turned to see Shockwave with a plasma blaster. The insecticon roars and charges at the scientist but shockwave dodges the attack and fires agian. Shockwave keeps firing to find the weak point until he noticed the wound on the side left by V.

The insecticon slashes at the scientist but he dodges and kicks the wound. The insecticon roars in pain as more energon leaked from the wound. Shockwave keeps attacking the wound while dodging every attack the insecticon throws at him. N recovers and saw shockwave attacking the wound, making it roar in pain.

Realising that the wound is the weak point, N spreads his wings and joins shockwave. The insecticon slashes at shockwave agian but misses agian, making it growl before N stabbed the insecticon's wound with his wing. The insecticon roars in agony as N wedges his wing deeper into the wound. Shockwave flew up and kicked it in the face to make it face uzi.

"Now!" Shockwave shouts as he and N gets out of range.

"Night, night." Uzi said as she pulled the trigger. Before the insecticon could react, a massive beam of green energy  went straight through the insecticon's face. The beam died down as the insecticon's head was gone, sparking and spewing energon before it falls to its knees and then face first.

Uzi then spits at the dead insecticon before the worker drones come out of hiding and cheered. Uzi's screen suddenly glitches and she falls over but N caught her and puts her on his shoulders. Shockwave looks over to J to see her hands on her head while her eyes we're still circles. Shockwave has seen his comrades like this during the war, making him believe that J was traumatised. What the insecticon did to J broke her. She can't hurt anyone in this state. Shockwave walks over to her and picks her up.

"I-i-it broke me." She stuttered with fear, proving shockwave's belief. Shockwave saw uzi throw the tool to her father's feet.

"I brought the murder drones here accidentally. You CHOSE to leave for dead instead of freaking believing in me!" Uzi said before slapping herself.

"I'll save you the trouble, dad: I banish myself!" Uzi continued, making the father feel shame and regret.

"Let's go, N." Uzi said before N turns around and grabs the head of the unconscious and tied up V.

"Bye MR uzi." N said before receiving a slap on the head.

"Shut it!" Uzi demanded before N and shockwave took to the air, leaving the worker drone colony behind.

End of chapter 6

Chapter Text

One week since shockwave and the other drones killed the insecticon and it's been rough, considering what J's been through. The murder drone in question was lying on the make shift bed shockwave has constructed in a room and still has nightmares of what happened. The insecticon tearing her wing off with malice, J backing away while the beast slowly approaches her with murderous intent, that sinister laugh and voice, those massive claws.

"Die!" That one word echoed in her head. She sits up and looks towards the wound left by the insecticon. She remembered how shockwave faced the creature with little fear and how he saved her. She hears heavy footsteps approaching her door before the door was opened to reveal shockwave.

Shockwave had a bowl of a mix of worker drone oil and glowing blue liquid in his hands. Shockwave approaches J and places the bowl on her lap. J cautiously picks up the bowl and looks at the liquid in it.

"What's this?" J asked the emotionless scientist who just stared at her for a moment.

"It's a new formula I've been working on to make an alternative food source for murder drones." He replied blankly. J looks back to the mixed up liquid before she closed her eyes and took a sip. J's eyes shot opened at the taste of the liquid, it tastes sweet and slightly spicy. She took another sip of the mixture before she licks her lips as there are some that got on her mouth.

"It's good." J exclaimed as she took more of the formula. After she's done drinking it, she hands shockwave the empty bowl. Shockwave turns and walks out of the room before J speaks.

"Wait." J said, making shockwave to stop at the door.

"Back at the colony, you said you were never royal to the company. What did you mean by that?" She asked, making shockwave turn to her.

"I have already plagued my allegiance to someone else before I met you." He replied, making J tilt her head.

"Before you met us?" J repeated and shockwave nodded.

"I was not always a murder drone. Before life began on earth, there is a planet known as cybertron. That planet is home to an advanced race known as cybertronians or transformers to you due to our ability to transform. My people were enslaved until a gladiator rose from the ashes and gained a great amount of followers, I was one of those followers, his most loyal follower Is known as Soundwave. The gladiator named himself after one of the 13 original primes, the first cybertronians, megatronous. Megatronous befriended a librarian called orion pax. Megatronous then later changed his name to megatron before requesting his desires to the high council. He demanded all cybertronians to be treated as equals and demanded to be the next prime and to be given an ancient artifact known as the matrix of leader ship and if they didn't give him what he desired, then he would take by force but orion chose to do it without violence. The council was moved by orion's words and saw him worthy as the next prime." Shockwave explained and J was shocked to learn of this story, an alien race that's more advanced than any other lifeform. Shockwave then continues his story.

"After being betrayed, megatron declared war on those who deified him and named his followers 'decepticons'. Orion pax became Optimus prime and became leader of the autobots. We've been at war for a millennia until the very core of our planet died and we we're forced to leave our home. 95 years ago, both autobots and decepticons settled on planet earth and continued the war their without the humans knowing. The war came to an end when we tried to cyberform earth by using a device known as the omega-lock. A autobot scout known as bumblebee tried to deliver a weapon called the star sabre so I gave chase but failed to calculate the outcome when Optimus shot me and left me in a fatal state and some debris fell on me. When I pulled myself out of the rubble, the scout struck at our leader's spark, the heart of cybertronians, and killed him. Megatron's second in command, starscream, and the remaining decepticons abandoned me and left me at the mercy of the autobots. The autobots offered me to help but I denied them and chose to join me leader in the allspark, a great power that's able to give life to a cybertronian. But instead, I was found by your parent company and put me in the body you see now." He finished, leaving J to process all this information. A world torn by war and said war made its way to earth. Shockwave decides to leave her to think and walks out the door to see uzi, N and V by the door with concerning faces. He doesn't need a hint to tell him that they heard everything.

"Oh my god. Shockwave, you spent your whole life in a war that killed your world. That's just..." uzi exclaimed, trying to process all this.

"That explains the symbol on your arms and on your friends." V said with her arms crossed. Shockwave simply walked passed them and went downstairs. He places the bowl down on a table and resumes his research on his projects.

End of chapter 7

Chapter Text

A month has passed since the insecticon met its end and J's mind was slowly but surely healing. Also it turns out that brawl and V are like one in the same, given their behaviour and personality.

Shockwave is currently replacing N's metal plating so he doesn't get killed by the sun. Shockwave thinks back at what happened to uzi. When uzi said she was thinking about killing all humans and that they're coming for them, shockwave noticed uzi's eyes flashed yellow for a brief moment before going back to purple. He doesn't know if uzi is slowly turning into a murder drone or something else but he will look into that later. Shockwave replaced the last metal plating and stood back a bit.

"N, your plating has been replaced, you can stand now." Shockwave informed him before N got up from the table and stretched a bit.

"Thanks, shocky." N thanked, making shockwave face palmed himself in annoyance. He hates that nickname N came up with, it's highly illogical and a bit annoying. He then hears foot steps coming his way and he looks over to the sound to see vortex and swindle walking into the laboratory, covered in energon and with an insecticon head in vortex's servo. Vortex lifts the head for the others to get a look.

"We've got another one." He announced before he tossed the head on the floor.

"That's the fifth one this month." Said blast off with his arms crossed.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Brawl questioned while V was resting on his shoulder.

"Maybe there's a hive somewhere on this planet." Swindle suggested but Onslaught shook his head.

"Don't over exaggerate, Swindle. How would an entire hive reach to this planet? There were no ships left during the exodus." Onslaught said before shockwave flew to higher ground to get the combaticons' attention, which he did.

"There was an insecticon hive found on earth, from what I heard. Do not ignore the logical possibility that there could be a hive somewhere buried deep in the planet." Shockwave stated firmly.

"Sorry, sir." Onslaught apologised with a salute. Shockwave nodded and noticed a yellow glow behind the slightly opened door to J's room. Shockwave immediately realised that J was watching him through the small gap and approached her room. J swiftly closes the door when seeing shockwave walking to the door.

Shockwave opened her door to see J sitting on her bed with her back facing him.

"Are you well, J?" Shockwave asked, making the murder drone in question to turn to him.

"Yeah, um, why wouldn't I be?" J replied.

"Well, you were looking at me through the door." Shockwave pointed out, making the word "blush" in pink writing appear on J's visor.

"Well, I, uh..." J trailed off nervously.

"Well, it would be logical for you to rest. I'll be back with the formula soon." Shockwave told J before leaving the room.

She doesn't know why but J has been peeking through her door at shockwave when ever he's around ever since he told her who shockwave really is. When ever the decepticon in question visits her room she felt... safe despite the scientist being intimating to others but also being somewhat strangly handsome but if it's someone else like V and N, she wished shockwave took their place. She's been pondering why she feels that way with shockwave.

'Why do I spy on him through my door and why do I feel safe when ever he's around, not the others.' She thought to herself before it suddenly clicked: she actually enjoys his company, she wants shockwave to stay with her, she likes him. She couldn't believe it took her nearly a month to realise this.

The word "blush" in pink once agian appears on her visor at the thought of this and wondered:

'Is this what N feels with V?'

JcJenson never really put emotions like love or fear into murder drone programing, she assumed it was a bug or someone either accidentally or purposely put it in. Whatever the case, emotions are a fundamental part of all live, especially sentient alien robots like shockwave... wait.

Shockwave doesn't have any emotions whatsoever from what she's seen with shockwave's battle with the insecticon. He had no fear of fighting that beast and instead of physical strength, he used speed, cunning and his amazing intellect to use the insecticon's size against it and lay out a well thought plan by using uzi's gun to kill it with the perfect shot.

Speaking of uzi, she actually wants to know the fear of being defenceless against the insecticon was the same feeling when J finds fresh prey.

She's getting off topic, she's scared of loving the one who saved her doesn't love her back due to being devoid of emotions. Well, when the time comes, J will ask shockwave how he feels about J. Even if shockwave has no emotions, it's always a possibility.

Chapter Text

In the cover of night, shockwave walked through a ruined city alone in search of new kinds of alloy for new projects and upgrades for his arsenal after he learned that this city use to be a hot-spot for the alloy and had one of the most biggest mining operations on the planet before humanity were all wiped out.

Shockwave didn't inform the others of his trip to prevent distractions and it is why he is in this city all alone. Well he would be alone if it weren't for-

'Why waste your time walking in a wasteland for some metal instead of hunting and killing worker drones?'

Her.

"It is none of your concern." Shockwave replied coldly.

'It IS my concern because I'm a part of you so answer my question!' The voice argued, annoying shockwave.

"You are NOT a part of me, you are nothing more than a parasite that needs to be-"

'PARASITE?!' The voice angrily repeated, interrupting shockwave's sentence.

"Yes, you heard me. You're a simple parasite with no purpose but to be eradicated." Shockwave replied, pissing the voice off more.

'GRRR!' She growled. Seems that shockwave has finally found something that touches her nerves. Shockwave decided to have some fun with this, despite how illogical it will be.

"Not to mention how pathetic you are, even if you are not a parasite." Shockwave added, making the voice more and more angry.

"Why didn't you infect someone who is dumb as you are?" Shockwave asked, making the voice snap.

'THAT'S IT, I WILL TAKE OVER YOUR BODY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER AND I WILL RIP WHAT EVER IS LEFT OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS PIECE BY PIECE AND I WILL ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF IT!' The voice roared in rage before disappearing completely. Shockwave chuckles but being both wary and shocked. Wary for what the voice promised him and shocked to hear himself chuckle like that. He did not laughed ever since he removed all emotions from his mind for that laughter is illogical.

Come to think of it, when he returned to the decepticon ranks on earth he sometimes felt something at certain conditions like when starscream brags about little, unimportant things shockwave failed to do, he felt tired of it and when starscream gets burned by megatron, knock-out, the autobots and occasionally the scientist himself, he felt amusement. Could it be that he's slowly regaining his emotions? Seems like somethings CAN'T be erased for the sake of logic.

Shockwave suddenly puts his walk to a halt before turning to a broken down car behind him.

"There's no logical reason in hiding, you 2." He said before uzi and J peeks from behind the car.

"Why are you 2 following me and J, why aren't you in your room?" Shockwave questioned the 2 females as they approached him.

"Well, since you saved my life and all, I thought maybe I could repay you by helping you with whatever it is you're doing." J replied as she chuckled nervously before shockwave turns to uzi.

"Don't look at me, she dragged me here." Uzi said. Shockwave sighed at the 2 and shook his head.

"Well, that is very... thoughtful of you, J but this is a matter I must do alone." Shockwave said to J before turning around and walked away. But instead of doing what shockwave said, J catches up to the scientist.

"Wait, we've come so far to help you, can we just stay with you? After that, we'll stay behind the next time you go out on your own." J offered. Knowing that J will not simply go, he gave in.

"Fine." He simply said, much to J's joy. The trio then walked together.

"So what are we looking for?" Uzi asked.

"I am simply looking for a supply of alloy and from what I gathered, this city is a hot-spot." Shockwave explained.

"Well, I've been to this city one and a while and I found a warehouse full of different metals." J informed the scientist, peeking his interest.

"Hmm, maybe it was wise to let you come after all." Shockwave replied, making J blush. Shockwave considered that that letting J come with him means a chance to talk to her. He always seemed to enjoy talking to the murder drone despite for the fact that she tried to kill him, uzi and N. He sort of enjoys spending time with her and he sort of knows why: Shockwave likes her in a way.

And as for uzi, shockwave understands why J brought her along with her. Shockwave can not deny the girl's bravery and combat reflexes and he was impressed by uzi's wits and knack for creativity like the worker drone's rifle for example. Though her thirst for revenge on humanity does make her a little insane and Megatron-like but shockwave prefers that then tarant-

"AAAAAH!" A sudden scream of a male was heard throughout the city, surprising the trio.

"What was that?" Uzi questioned. The trio hear more of the screaming behind a knocked over truck. The trio peeked over the truck to see 2 insecticons but they were both different.

One was red and yellow and hand a thick layer of armour.

The other was ocean blue and cyan and had arm blades and a pair of tusks.

The 2 insecticons were sitting in front of each other with a pile of dead worker drones in the middle and the trio saw the blue insecticon had a male worker drone in its claws. The worker drone struggled to get free but it was futile.

"No, PLEASE!" The worker drone begged before the insecticon bites his head off and chews on it. These insecticons were feeding on worker drones. It wouldn't be much to humans but the uzi, it was very gruesome as we see uzi trying not to vomit. J's eyes turned into circles as she immediately remembers the insecticon that nearly took her life. Fear and terror filled J greatly.

"No, not again. not again." J said in fear as she got down and backed off. Shockwave gets back into cover and turns to J and uzi.

"We must leave immediately before-" but before shockwave could finish his sentence, the three heard growling and turned to see a third insecticon.

This insecticon was green and orange and had razor sharp claws and its arms looked more like gauntlets and the insecticon had a single horn. The insecticon had a steel girder and tried to smash the trio with it as it roared but they dodged the attack.

"You 2, go and find a place to hide, I'll deal with the insecticons!" Shockwave told the 2.

"Bite me!" Uzi barked at the decepticon.

"GO!" Shockwave yelled.

"Ok, fine!" Uzi said and grabbed J's hand and ran off. The insecticon then chases them before being shot by shockwave.

"Over here!" Shockwave yelled as he spread his wings. The battle begins.

The insecticon roars and slams its girder at shockwave from the side but shockwave activated his shield at the knick of time but sends himself flying. He lands roughly on impact. J and uzi found a place to hide and watch shockwave fight.

"Grr, gonna feel that in the morning." He muttered before he gets up as we see the blue insecticon running towards him in the background. The insecticon tries slashing at shockwave but he dodges the attack and delivers a mighty kick in the face, causing one of the beast's teeth to fall out and spit out energon. The insecticon got on all fours and begins to transform into a sawtooth stag beetle.

The insecticon roars and tries to slice shockwave in half with it's jaws but shockwave grabs the jaws.

Shockwave pushes the insecticon's jaws away but he quickly grabs them again when it tries the second time.

Shockwave yells and throws the insecticon with all his might as the insecticon roars.

Shockwave spreads his wings and flew to the insecticon with great speed and uses his wings to slice the insecticon clean in half.

shockwave lands on his knees in a badass way as we see both the insecticon's halfs fall to the ground as energon spewed from the halfs.

the red and yellow insecticon roars in rage for its comrades death and transforms into an armoured beetle and charges at shockwave. Shockwave saw this and knew he wouldn't be able to penetrate that armour. Shockwave thought if he could tip the armoured insecticon over, it would transform.

Shockwave flew to his opponent and the 2 charged and right as the 2 would collide, shockwave suddenly turned to the left. The insecticon tries to do the same but its large body made it topple over. The insecticon transforms agian and turns to shockwave but gets a kick to the face by the scientist in question with chains in hand, making it to fall to its knees. Shockwave wraps the chains around the insecticon's head and pulls it towards him.

"Hold still, handsome!" He yelled before punching it in the face before punching it the second time but ends up punching into the left side of the insecticon's visor. Even better.

He felt around before grabbing the beast's optic and crushed it. The insecticon roars in agony and recoiled before flailing around in panic as it had one of its claws over its visor. Shockwave quickly ripped the sawtooth insecticon's jaws off and points it to the insecticon. The insecticon tripped and had the jaw skewer its neck. Energon leaked from the neck and fell on shockwave.

He smells the insecticon's repulsive breath and felt like he was going to vomit.

"Uurgh, what have you been eating?!" Shockwave demanded as the insecticon's dead body descended to shockwave before it got to his face and let out a large belch and dies.

"Oh scrap, I forgot!" He exclaimed as he got away from the insecticon before seeing the third insecticon in its beast form, a rhino beetle, and charges at him. Shockwave grabs the insecticon's horn and slammed it backwards.

The insecticon transforms back into robot mode.

"It's just you and me now!" Shockwave yelled before the insecticon gave him an uppercut, sending him upwards.

J and uzi watched the whole fight from their hiding spot and J was worried.

"Shockwave!" She called out before leaving the hiding spot to help him. Uzi groaned and ran after her. When shockwave fell to the ground, the insecticon slammed its gauntlets on shockwave, making a small circular ditch, making the insecticon laugh and lift its arms up to finish him off. J shoots the insecticon with an assault rifle as uzi caught up to her, making the beast to stop its assault and turn to the 2.

J then gets déjà-vu when she was about to die to an insecticon before shockwave saved her but only this time it's the other way around. The insecticon roars and slams its fists to crush the 2 but they dodged.

Shockwave gets up and saw the sawtooth insecticon's other jaw still attached to the body. He rips it of and turns to the insecticon.

"Hey!" He called out to the insecticon, causing it to turn to him and when it did, shockwave swings the giant jaw like a giant sword and servers its right arm off. The insecticon roars in agony as energon spewed out before shockwave swings agian and slices its left foot off, causing it to fall down face first. Before the insecticon could get back up, shockwave lifts the jaw into the air and slashes downwards to its head, splitting it in half and make a great amount of energon spew out.

Shockwave huffs after his skirmish and falls to his knees. J and uzi rushed to him and helps him up.

"Are you OK?!" J asked worriedly.

"I'm alright, just need some medical aid. Let's head back." He replied and the trio heads back to shockwave's laboratory. Unaware to any of them, however, they were being watched by a 4 legged drone with a camera on it.

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Meanwhile in a dark room with a live video feed of the trio walking away, 2 vehicon troops watched the live feed.

"By primus, that murder drone is strong." The first vehicon exclaimed, impressed by how shockwave dispatched 3 insecticons on his own.

"Steve, we need report this to Lord starscream immediately." The second one told Steve.

"Yeah, he killed 3 of our insecticons all by himself. Let's go." Steve agreed and the 2 walked out of the room to tell their leader, unaware that the murder drone that killed the insecticons was shockwave.

Chapter Text

1 week later, Shockwave was watching a projection of his memory on the monitor by using the cortical physic patch. He was watching a memory of his fight with the 3 insecticons.

When Shockwave looked at them at first glance, he instantly knew they were no ordinary Insecticons. Shockwave originally thought they were some form of subspecies but the more he watches the memory, the more the theory became illogical and instead made new theories.

He had theories like genetic mutation, experimental subject but all possible logic he has gathered has lead Shockwave to a conclusion: these Insecticons were genetically designed, someone has fused the CNA of an Insecticon with the DNA of an average insect found on earth to create something new, something different. Sure Shockwave has tempered with creation by breeding predacons in his laboratory back on Cybertron but whoever created these hybrids takes it to an entirely new level .

Tempering with the genetic code of a cybertronian's CNA to add new features like increased strength, speed, ability and an 4 or 5 new alternate modes would lead to the creation of something mentally unstable. Shockwave could easily modified a predacon's genetic code but that would be extremely dangerous, risky and illogical, even Ratchet would agree with Shockwave that it would be foolish. It is why he creates pure Predacons instead.

It is not just shockwave though but every single scientist that lived on Cybertron knew it's dangerous.

Every scientist... except Tarantulas.

Shockwave and Tarantulas used to work together with scientific endeavours during the great war. But over time, Tarantulas began to push his research further and began to modify CNA to create abominations and monsters that normally attack not only autobots on sight but decepticons as well. Tarantulas then went deeper then that, he began to rewrite a normal cybertronian's genetic code with a living subject.

He began experiments on living test subjects. Tarantulas didn't care if the subjects were either autobot, decepticon, neither or even sparklings. Those he experimented on don't always survive the tests and the ones that did were turned into deformed and hideous beings that wishes they died. But that still wasn't enough so he began conducting experiments on his OWN body. And after test, after test, Tarantulas then planned to experiment on the source of all cybertronian life: the allspark itself. It was then that Megatron was convinced that Tarantulas has gone insane and sent the combaticons to execute the psychopathic arachnicon before he killed all cybertronian life.

Tarantulas, however, knew Megatron would send someone to kill him eventually so he released his experiments on the combaticons as a distraction to get away. A few days later, Tarantulas sent his experiments to kill Megatron as payback for sending the combaticons to execute the psycho spider but failed. When the Autobots discovered that Tarantulas wants to experiment on the allspark, Optimus proposed a temporary truce between the Autobots and Decepticons for that Tarantulas poses as a major threat to all cybertronian life and Megatron accepted the truce.

When the reports of Tarantulas making his way to the allspark with an army of monsters came in, the Autobot and Decepticon armies marched to confront the psycho spider with Shockwave being apart of the fight against his former science partner. The battle was long and fierce, so many lives were lost, Autobots and Decepticons alike. Tarantulas retreated into a building and Shockwave and Onslaught followed. At the top the building, Tarantulas had a gun ready for self defence. Onslaught tried to attack him but Tarantulas shot him in the arm then proceeds to Shockwave but Shockwave fired his gun first and shot Tarantulas' shoulder, causing Tarantulas to drop his gun and accidentally trip backwards off the roof and fell to his death. Shockwave reported that Tarantulas is permanently offline, leaving Megatron pleased but Optimus a little bad that Tarantulas had to die instead of being brought to justice. The truce had filled its purpose and the Autobots and Decepticons were enemies once again.

But there was one thing that didn't make sense to shockwave: Tarantulas' body was never even FOUND. Shockwave tried to come up with a logical explanation but megatron declared that everything that involves tarantulas will count as treason. Even mentioning the spider's NAME is forbidden so Shockwave dropped all traces of the explanation of why Tarantulas' body was never found.

But after seeing those insecticons, Shockwave has enough evidence to come to a logical conclusion, a logical conclusion that Shockwave hopes is completely wrong: Tarantulas is still alive.

Some how, Tarantulas survived the fall and hid from both factions and sneaked out of Cybertron during the exodus and at this very moment, Shockwave's former science partner is continuing his work somewhere out there.

Shockwave is looking through his maps on the planet and checked all the locations for hybrid insecticons with his scanners for life signals. He noticed one of the locations on his map beeped.

Shockwave immediately sets the coordinates on the terminal of his newly built groundbridge and activates it. The groundbridge creates the familiar green vortex before Shockwave revealed his wings and took off into the portal.

Shockwave flew out of the portal and lands on his feet and just as he was about to proceed, he heard someone else jump through the groundbridge behind. The former 'con shook his helm before turning to the one who followed him to reveal J.

"Hi Shockwave. I, uh, thought I might j-join you. If you're fine with it, I mean." The femme murder drone said nervously. Normally Shockwave would've ordered her to go back but a part of him pushed that thought down and wanted to spend time with her, despite how illogical it was.

"I suppose there's no harm in it." Shockwave replied, much to J's relief. J gave shockwave a rather small smile before walking. Shockwave immediately felt his tail wagging like a dog when J smiled at him and Shockwave tried to stop the tail from waging but to no avail.

Shockwave mentaly sighed and walked with J. The two walked alongside each other in silence. It remained silent until J spoke up.

"So... what do you do to clear your thoughts?" The murder drone asked.

"Usually, I would go outside for a bit and go for a walk. Never been able to get chances like this during the war." The scientist replied.

"What was the war like?" J suddenly asked, surprising the cycloptic cybertronian-turned-murder drone. After taking a deep breath, he answered.

"Horrible. Everything about it was horrible and tragic. Innocents lost their lives, watching your close friends die in front of your very optics and brought trauma to many soldiers."

"Sorry to hear that." J apologised. J may be a killing machine, armed to the teeth with weapons and grenades, and was programmed to slaughter and devour many rouge drones but she wasn't a monster, even she felt sympathy for killing her victims sometimes.

"Remember when you said that you agree with N's theory of the drop pods are the company's way to dispose of us? Why did you agree with him?" The female murder drone asked curiously, something J was meaning to ask Shockwave for a while now. Shockwave suddenly halts in silence, causing J to halt as well.

"Because I've seen it before... with Predaking."

"Predaking?" J repeated, never hearing of that name before.

"A Predacon, a species of Cybertronian that has been extinct since most life began on Cybertron. They were actually responsible for starting all myths, legends and folklore about dragons."

"Extinct? Dragons? You mean dragons are cybertronian dinosaurs?" J asked in shock and Shockwave nodded in reply.

"Sooo... what are Dinobots?"

Dinobot. That's a word Shockwave haven't heard in years, ever since Grimlock BIT his arm off during the exodus of Cybertron, which is no doubt flourishing with life now since the Autobots took over the nemesis and gained control of the reconstructed omega lock, that's why Shockwave has- er- used to have an arm cannon.

"That is a different concept all together." Shockwave replied before beginning his story.

"When I was left for scrap back on Cybertron, abandoned by the Decepticons, I began to work on a long dormant project I haven't finished, project Predacon, by using fossilised remains of a Predacon I found on my dying planet and cloned a Predacon."

"Like John Hammond with dinosaurs in jurassic Park?" J asked. Shockwave has seen the movie 'jurassic park' in his spare time back on earth out of curiosity and while though he did not care much of human culture, he still watches some sci-fi movies like the 2022 jurassic park movie, jurassic world: dominion (which I've watched BTW. It was good.).

"In a way. When I came to earth, I presented the Precadon to Megatron and suggested to use it to hunt down the Autobots before we decided to continue project Predacon to clone an army of Predacons so that Megatron may use to conquer Earth. Over time, the Predacon developed intelligence and the ability to transform. We were shocked to learn that Predacons possesses the ability to transform, because we simply possess no evidence that the Predacon species ever reached that evolutionary stage since they became extinct in the great cataclysm, an extinction event, before the Predacon transformed right in front of us. The Predacon plagued undying loyalty to Megatron and requested to have the Predacon army under his rule as..."

"Predaking." J finished and Shockwave nodded.

"It was then Megatron decided to 'pull the plug' on project Predacon because he knew that if Predaking and the Predacon clones discovered they possess more power than they let on..."

"Evolution would give way to revolution." J said

Shockwave nodded in agreement.

"Knockout, the Decepticon medic, was concerned of Predaking discovering our treachery but Starscream asked us why Predaking would assume we would be the ones who destroyed his army.."

J's eyes widened in realisation of where Shockwave was headed with this.

"You shifted the blame to the Autobots, didn't you?" J asked and Shockwave nodded.

"We fooled the Autobots into destroying the clones for us in the hope that Predaking would destroy our enemies for us or vice versa." The cycloptic cybertronian-turned-murder drone replied.

"Now you know why I sided with N and Uzi. We murder drones pose the same threat to the humans as Predaking and his terminated army posed to Megatron."

"I never thought of our parent company to be afraid of us and kill us. God, I have to apologise to N for trying to kill him when we get back." J said as she facepalmed herself with Shockwave to silently chuckle in amusement.

"From what I've seen, N seems to be the forgiving type of you three." Shockwave told her and J chuckled.

"True that." The female drone laughed, causing Shockwave to do something that was deemed impossible: he blushed, the sides of his only optic turning to a shade of blue as his tail continues wagging. The former 'con has no idea why these things are happening to him but it feels... Good.

The two finally made it to the location to where the hybrid Insecticons were detected to reveal a devastated building with claw marks all over it.

"I know this place! This is the old bio genetics lab where me and my team found a few worker drones five months ago." J pointed out. Shockwave looks back at the destroyed building. Obviously it was ravaged by Insecticons but why? Shockwave had only one logical answer.

"Tarantulas."
_________________________________________

He stood there, waiting for him to arrive. He pondered away, lost in thought, his processor focused on the day his former master abandoned them, leaving him to rise to the throne before he was attacked by that beast, Predaking. He was lucky to survive his last encounter. He thought for sure he was scrap metal and yet, by a miracle, he escaped and retreated to that Primus forsaken rock. That's when he approached him. He helped him rebuild the cause in his name for nearly a century and gained what the warlord gained and more.

His mind then focused on the project, an unstoppable army of genetically modified Insecticon warriors that serves him and only him to conquer the whole universe with. However, due to a recent report, they weren't as unstoppable as they seem. They were destroyed by simple attack drones made by those fleshbags. It angered him greatly and now he has summoned him for a little chat.

The doors hissed opened. He turns to whoever entered the room.

"You're late, as usual." He stated with irritation.

"Things are usually busy in the laboratory, lord Starscream." A raspy voice said as Starscream rolled his optics.

"Let's get straight to the point: this 'unstoppable' Insecticon army you promised me aren't exactly what they're cracked up to be."

"Yes, I heard of what happened to the three you sent. The perfect army to conquer Cybertron and the universe won't come true in just over night. Science is all about trial and error. Besides, they needed to be field tested for any flaws. Seems that I have to make some major modifications until they're finally ready."

"Grr, as much as I would love to have knock out to replace you as my top scientist, you are the only one capable of producing my genetically modified armada. Continue your work, I want them battle-ready as soon as possible..."

A figure steps our of the darkness and into the light to reveal a black and sand-yellow Arachnicon with 6 spider legs on his back and a purple visor.

"Tarantulas."
_________________________________________

The image of Tarantulas isn't mine, just something I found on the Internet.

Chapter Text

Shockwave carefully ejected a small droplet of nanite acid from his tail as he gripped it, the yellow liquid welding two pieces of metal together.

He and Uzi were currently repairing the communication relay of the ship that he and the other murder drones arrived to this planet in.

"Can we kill the worker, now?" The voice in the scientist's head asked.

'No we can not.' He replied in his head.

"Ok... Can kill her now?"

'No...'

"How about now?"

'No.'

"Now?"

'No!'

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

'NO!'

"You're no fun." She pouted.

Shockwave inwardly sighed in annoyance; the voice in his helm is relentless, telling him time and time again to kill Uzi no matter how many times he said no. He and Uzi gained a mutual understanding with each other when it comes to engineering and she even became his assistant. he honestly didn't care at first but over time he grew fond of the worker drone, you might even say he formed a... companionship with her. Speaking of Uzi...

Shockwave was snapped out of his train of thought when he heard the mirror shatter with Uzi starring at her reflection. Though briefly, he saw her right eye has morphed into THAT symbol before it glitched into a regular eye.

"Are you... sure you don't want me to examine that eye for you, Uzi?"

"Bite me." the worker replied immediately. Shockwave should've expect that answer from her, honestly.

"This is probably you weirdos' fault."

"I've never seen that symbol before." V, who was currently sitting on a command chair, blowing bubbles, admitted. a creepy grin formed on her face afterwards.

"Wanna do an autopsy to find out?~"

"V... what have I told you?" Shockwave questioned the murder drone, changing her grin to a frown.

"Be nice to Uzi..." she groaned and Shockwave nodded.

"Good girl. Be nice or my little friend, Mr shock collar, will give you a little 'chat'." he continued, holding up a remote control, the activation device for V's shock collar Shockwave putted on her in case she got out of line. As the Decepticon turned murder drone placed the controller back into his subspace, V mutters under her breath.

"Jackass..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Shockwave eyed her suspiciously before going back to his current task. J, who watched the whole scene, slowly moves herself to Shockwave's side as N came into the room.

"How exactly did you manage to put that collar on her?"

"Frankly, I don't exactly know how I achieved it either, but if I had to choose between getting shot once again in the optic by an Autobot and left stranded on a dead planet for a few years or try to get that collar on V again, I'd choose being shot in the optic, hands down."

Shockwave didn't care if Arcee shoots his eye out again or if Grimlock rips his arm off once more by the jaws of the Dinobot's t-rex mode, there was no WAY he would go through the trouble of getting that stupid collar on V again.

"So, did you find out how to get rid of that program in my head?" J asked, changing the subject. Shockwave paused his repairs and looked towards his fellow murder drone, knowing what she means by that. the scientist was about to answer before N suddenly spoke to Uzi, interrupting Shockwave and J's private conversation.

"Speaking of piloting to Earth, are we sure that murdering all humans is 'morality'?"

"The humans' sent you without a communication relay and reformatted your memories into soup." Uzi replied, helping Shockwave on the communications.

"The fact they're covering their tracks means they're past negotiating. Not that they tried negotiating with my mom."

Shockwave picked up the clear venom in her voice; she despised humans as much as Starscream does.

"Or maybe you miss the negotiations." V replied, keeping her composure and voice calm so to mock the worker drone; something she was taught by Brawl during one of their hangouts, no doubt.

"The humans programmed us to solve a problem. Where's proof of YOUR backstory? The one where your kind's so conveniently innocent."

"V, enough." J growled, glaring daggers at V, who merely rolled her eyes.

"You were getting orders from someone, J. If not the company through that relay the who, and how?" N asked his leader, who crossed her arms.

"I could tell you, but with this programming in my head, my lips are sealed." Indeed, J had a program inside her that is forcing her to keep her mouth shut when it came to certain things, which Shockwave is currently trying to override but to no avail.

"Besides, even if we do travel to Earth, the Autobots will stop you from killing off humanity like they did with Megatron. My planet may breath life again, but the conclusion that Optimus Prime will still do anything to defend Earth and the human race is most logical. I mean he DESTROYED Cybertron's only hope of seeing light again once already as a means of saving all humans." Shockwave added. She didn't want to admit it, but Shockwave was right about the Autobots.

He explained to Uzi and the murder drones about the Omega Lock, how Megatron used the Autobots' human friends as bargaining chips for the Omega Keys, how Megatron proceeded to use the Omega Lock to cyberform Earth and exterminating all life on the organic planet, humans and all, and how Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock with out hesitation. To be frank, Uzi hates the Autobot leader's guts for how much he favours the humans.

"Quite complicating my murder plan, all of you." the worker groaned, her arms crossed as she leaned on N, who patted her head to comfort her but resulted with his hand being smacked away.

------------------------------------------------------------

Tarantulas gently taps his talons on his desk in thought as he looked over the dna samples of different creatures of Earth. He was having difficulty with figuring out how to create the unstoppable Insecticon army for Starscream. He thought the last three he created were perfect, only to be proven wrong by how they were dispatched by one single... 'murder drone', was it?

Upon remembering that information perked the Arachnicon's interest, tapping a clawed digit on his chin. He then proceeds to type on his Cybertronian computer and watched the video feed provided by the Vehicons who witnessed the fight between the murder drone and the three Insecticons. One of the Vehicons introduced himself as 'Steve' for an unknown reason.

though blurry, Tarantulas saw how the murder drone destroyed his creations. He was impressed by how advance the murder drones were even though they were built by inferior human minds. they were strong, fast, agile, skilled and have an arsenal of weapons.

"Hmmm. Maybe they could be beneficial with my work." He mused before he activated a four legged spherical drone that sat by his side.

"Find the murder drones and gather as much info as you can."

The droid obeyed and scurried away. He looked back at the video and noticed something was different with the murder drone that took on his creations. It's body was a different shape and it looked sort of... familiar, but he couldn't place it. He supposed he'll have to learn more.

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Shockwave silently watched from the shadows as he observed Uzi and N talking to a green eyed worker drone who he believed his name was 'Thad'. Uzi went out for some air with N joining her, unaware that Shockwave followed them and one thing led to another brings us to where we are now.

"Shockwave, what are you doing out here?" A voice asked from behind. He turns to see J with her wings folding back into her body, symbolising that she flew here.

"I should be asking you that. You left V back at the pod. By herself. Alone."

"She's not completely alone, I asked Brawl to keep an eye on her." She replied to the cybertronian murder drone.

------------------------------------------------------------

"And then I told the Autobot "Don't be mad, I just wanted a good ol 'Brawl'."

V and Brawl burst into a fit of laughter from the funny story the latter told to his murder drone friend as the two were doing target practice by throwing worker drone corpses into the air and shooting them before they could hit the ground.

"And then I ripped his face off." Brawl concluded, cuasing the two to laugh harder.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Now that I think about it, I should've asked Onslaught instead." J sighed in a deadpan expression.

Shockwave looked back towards Uzi and N.

"You're worried about that mark on Uzi's eye is, aren't you?"

His antennae twitched, turning his helm towards the female murder drone. He knew that J was onto him, that mark of Uzi's started appearing about 2 weeks ago. Shockwave ignored it at first, believing that it was just a mere glitch in her system, like the ones he's seen in J, V and N, but the more frequent the symbol started to appear, the more Shockwave realised that it was something else until to the point where it began to shatter mirrors everytime Uzi looks at one as soon as it appears on her visor. It began to concern the one-eyed Decepticon.

"Indeed. I have fully comprehended that Uzi's 'special eye', as N calls it, is something I never seen before. For all we know, it could be something that's could potentially be a threat, whether it's to her or us. I believe that it is logical to keep a close watch on her, should something happen to her."

J smirked.

"So you grew a soft spot for the barley sentient toaster, hmm?"

Shockwave's optic flickered in confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"I see how you interact with her. Showing her your planet's culture, teaching her a few things on how to operate your advanced alien tech and, well, show concern for her wellbeing as you are now. Shockwave, you and Uzi obviously formed a friendship with each other."

Shockwave was stunned. He was aware of the concept of friendship but he showed no interest in others, for it would distract him from his work, whether it was during the great war or after, and yet here he was, keeping an optic on Uzi for her safety.

"I... find yourself conclusion to be... logical."

The two fell into a deep silence, so deep that they could hear the conversation between Uzi, N and that Thad guy before the male worker drone said something the perked Shockwave and J's attention and left them shocked.

"-The disappearances? That robot bug thing's corpse? When I went back to the evacuation spot after the place was reopened for damage repair to grab your gun, it looked like it just... crawled... away?" Thad told Uzi, causing Shockwave to leave his hiding spot.

"Impossible! It defies logic."

Uzi, N and Thad suddenly turned their gazed to the one-eyed Decepticon with the words "Oh Robo-Jesus!" Muttered from Uzi.

"How long have you been there?" The female worker asked nervously.

"We've been here long enough." He replied, J peaking from the hiding spot they were occupying. Thad's green eyes widened at the sight of her, remembering what she and V did back at the colony. Noticing his distress, Shockwave assured the male worker drone.

"Do not be alarmed by J's presence, worker. Things changed after the incident."

"Y-you're that one-eyed murder drone who helped out Uzi and N." Thad exclaimed.

"My name is Shockwave."

Shockwave turned his attention towards Uzi and N.

"We need to investigate immediately. I want to know how it is possible for the Insecticon to still be alive, despite its helm being vaporised by your rail gun."

"Yeah, we could return for a little bit." Uzi replied nervously.

"Then let's move."

And with that, Shockwave took to the air and flew towards where the colony was with N following while carrying Uzi and Thad while J was left standing there. Her body trembled, gently grasping over her shoulder with her eyes widened, sweatdropping.

How could the Insecticon, the thing that hurt and terrified her to the point of trauma, be still alive? It didn't make sense; she was well aware of the cybertronian spark because of Shockwave.

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Flashback

Shockwave was currently working on something in his laboratory until J walked up to him.

"Hey Shockwave, can I ask you something?"

He looks towards her.

"You told me that your 'allspark' can create life but the way you and the Combaticons speak so highly of it. I'm just curious, what exactly IS the allspark?"

"Long before the great war between the Autobots and Decepticons that destroyed our home world began, we cybertronians had our own religions. We believe we came from and can return to the allspark. That is what sparks are."

J watched Shockwave open up his chest to reveal the blue orb of light that is his spark. J was amazed by the beauty of the sparks beauty, watching the energy puls with every beat. As Shockwave closes his chest, he continues.

"Our sparks hold our memories, our lives, our individuality, everything that we are. It is our very being."

"Sounds like a soul if you ask me." J commented.

"J, allow me to tell you a tale of the allspark's fate. Within the final days of the war, Optimus Prime excracted the allspark."

J cocked a brow, curiously.

"What do you mean 'extracted'?"

"You see, J, the allspark is not a physical object, it is pure mystical energy. It cannot simply be removed, only transferred. Optimus extracted the allspark into a movable vessel to transport it off world. He then jettisoned the vessel heavenward, lost to the stars."

Shockwave and J then looked upward.

"So... where... is it now?"

"I'm not a cybertronian of religion, but they say that the matrix of leadership, a vessel of pure energy, the collective wisdom of the Primes, is connected to the allspark. Because the matrix is inside Optimus Prime, it is most logical that shortly after he and and his Autobots restored Cybertron with the power of the reconstructed Omega Lock, he departed on a journey to retrieve the allspark and placed it back to its rightful place: the core of our very planet, Primus himself. Though the Omega Lock allowed Cybertron to once agian support life, it would be incapable to generate new life without the allspark."

J acknowledge Shockwave's words with a nod of understanding.

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Present

J pondered to herself.

The Insecticon's head was vaporised, thus extinguishing its spark in the process. How would it be possible for that creature to still be alive?

Could...

Could it be-?

No, it's impossible. Cybertronians and murder drones are completely different from each other, there's no way it could be that.

...

Could it?

J realised that the others were getting farther away from her current position so she spreads her wings and flew after them to catch up, completely unaware that Tarantulas' spy drone was tailing them.

It took a bit of time for the murder drones and the worker drones to reach the colony and it surprised Shockwave of how easily the male worker drone at the door forgave N and J for what they did.

He honestly thought the guy would deny them access or better yet, shut the door as soon as he saw J and N but all it took to convince him was by N giving him a card with the words "I'm sorry" on it.

After being let in, the group walked down the hallway, walking past a crime scene.

"Let's pair off. J and I will search around the colony for clues while you three investigate the evacuation spot and try to find out what happened to the Insecticon." Shockwave told the group, not noticing the blush that appeared on J's face, evident of the word "blush" in pink writing, when Shockwave said that.

After the three left Shockwave and J alone, the duo went off towards a random direction. The Decepticon scientist turns his helm towards J.

"Now that we are alone, would you care to tell me what's on your mind?"

The female murder drone looked towards him, confused.

"What do you mean 'what's on my mind'? There's nothing-"

"Stop it! Just stop it..." Shockwave interrupted, his higher tone of voice catching J off guard.

"Do not take me for a fool, J! I've spent a lot of time with you since the incident at this colony. I've learned enough from you to know when something is bothering you. Don't try to deny it."

J's eyes were wide by his outburst. It was quite rare for him to act like this and it also surprised J how how his voice sounded... concerned. She and Shockwave spent quite a lot of time together, from small chats when they started talking to conversations and luaghs as time went on. He really seemed to enjoy spending time with her. And she enjoyed it too.

Because she loves him.

She lets out a deep sigh.

"Well, I... been meaning to tell you something that I've been... keeping to myself."

Shockwave turned his entire body towards her.

"Shockwave... I want to tell you that... that I-"

A sudden loud metallic clang sound interrupted J and a distant hiss echoed through the halls. Shockwave and J looked towards each other before they bolted to the source. J didn't know if she was glad or disappointed that her love confession was abruptly interrupted.

The two ran until they came across a trail of a mixture of energon and oil, the hall way torn asunder.

"Do Insecticons... do this often?" J asked nervously.

"No. This is something new. Let us search the area."

J nodded, shifting her hand to a loaded machine gun and the two went their separate ways. J was thankful that she brought another flashlight. The hall way lights were so dim it requires a flashlight to see. She shined the flashlight around the place and so far she found nothing. She eventually noticed something on the wall. She aims her flashlight towards it to reveal something was written on it. The writing itself was both english and cybertronian and next to the writing was a symbol, Uzi's symbol.

She went in for a closer look and read the writing but proved a bit difficult for she couldn't read cybertronian. She read the english writing just fine and then she shifts her machine gun back into a hand and puts it on her chin, pondering what the cybertronian letters were. Her eyes then widened.

"The Absolute Solver?"

Shockwave, while kneeling and examining the energon/oil trail, looked towards her and noticed the english/cybertronian writing. By translating the cybertronian words to english in his helm, it read "Absolute Solver". He examines the writing.

"You know what this is?"

"Yeah but it was designed for us disassembly drones."

He turns towards her, shocked.

"What?"

J looks towards him.

"You know how we are able to regenerate our wounds?"

"Yes, I am well aware of our impressive regenerative properties."

"Well... the material that is used to regrow our body parts back has a limit."

Shockwave's antennae twitched, understanding what J was implying.

"So this 'Absolute Solver' serves as an auto-run program designed to aquire the required materials to restore the host, should they suffer a severe enough injury. Remarkable, even for something created by humans."

"Yeah. But this is a cybertronian we're talking about, an alien. How can something that is not a disassembly drone have the Absolute Solver?"

Shockwave wondered the same thing before turning his attention to the mark.

"That symbol is the same as Uzi's eye, is it not?"

J nodded.

"Then this mark could be the symbol of the Absolute Solver. From what Uzi told me about how she and N first met, she putted her hand in his mouth to neutralise the nanite acid N injected into it shortly after he attacked her. By that action, the Solver, or at least a fraction of it, must've transferred into her body."

J's eyes widened.

"Are you saying you think that...?"

"Yes. When the Insecticon tore off your wing, it started to regenerate. It it the most logical conclusion that the Solver was somehow transferred into the Insecticon's body."

"But why is it active now instead of activating shortly after the Insecticon was killed?"

"Most likely is because unlike Uzi, the Insecticon is not a worker drone, or any form of drone for that matter, thus taking quite some time for the Solver to settle into its new host."

He turns towards her.

"We must fimd Uzi, N and that male worker before the Insecticon-"

They suddenly heard a distant Insecticon roar and gun fire.

"Yeah, you probably don't need to finish that sentence." J commented. They bolted towards where the roar was heard. Shortly after the two left the hallway, Tarantulas' spy droid appeared and turns its attention to the english/cybertronian writing before scanning it, documenting it and filed it away to show to its creator for when it returned.

Shockwave and J ran down the hall, occasionally gliding with their wings until they found a scared Uzi and N and an abomination with multiple claws, tentacles and eyes. There was also a closed sharp toothed pod attached to its body with glowing blue vains across it and a deformed Insecticon arm.

Shockwave and J took a step back by the creature as it crawled towards Uzi and N with hisses, snarls and clicks, not noticing the presence of the new arrivals.

Shockwave flew towards the creature and delivered a double stomp attack before it could swipe its deformed Insecticon claws at them, cuasing it to shriek. Shockwave lands next to Uzi and N, pulling out a grey hyperflux cannon, looking identical to his previous (and signature) hyperflux cannon he had while he was still a cybertronian, and attaching it to his left arm and aimed it at the monster while J ran by his side, a machine gun ready. Energon and oil then began to pour out of the mouth of the pod, almost vomiting it out.

"Uzi, are you alright?" Shockwave asked but the female worker didn't respond, eyes focused on the creature as her body shook in fear. She turns to J.

"Prepare to fire yor weapon, J!"

J nodded in understanding.

"J-J-J? A-as in Serial Designa-ation J-J?" A female corrupted voice asked.

Shockwave and J turns towards the creature, its eyes focused on the two.

By the allspark, it talks.

"Y-yeah, that's my name. Why got a problem with it?" J demanded, her weapon focused on the creature. The pod slowly began to open as the eyes glared at them.

"Imp-imp-impossible! The-there can be o-o-o-o-only one se-erial designatio-tion J!"

The pod completely opened to reveal the heads of an Insecticon and J merged into a hideous and deformed amalgamation.

J almost puked and Shockwave's body shook in disgust by the disturbing sight of it.

"The Solver must've turned the Insecticon into some kind of... Insecti J!" J exclaimed, disgust in her voice.

"Insecti J? You're calling it the Insecti J?!" Shockwave yelled.

"You try comimg up a better name for it!"

Shockwave and J began to fire their weapons at the Insecti J, cuasing it to snarl in pain and anger before it began to vomit more energon and oil.

"Uzi, you good?!" N asked worriedly, the female worker in question turning her head towards him. Shockwave felt something was off about the male murder drone.

"N-no."

She then hands N her railgun.

"Uzi, wait!" Shockwave warned before it was revealed that N wasn't actually N but a hologram created by the Insecti J.

"Ge-get pra-anked, i-idiot!" The Insecti J luaghed, its pincer claws snatching Uzi's railgun as the hologram of N disappeared and knocked her away and pinned her to the wall, slamming it's deformed Insecticon claws onto the railgun, destroying it.

Shockwave and J aimed their weapons at the Insecti J but one of its tentacles wrapped around Shockwave's hyperflux cannon and crushed the barrel and threw him at J.

The Insecti J was about to eat Uzi before N, the real N, used his chainsaw hands to cut off its many limbs and saved his worker drone friend. Shockwave stands on his feet and looked down towards J.

"Are you alright?" He asked, holding his servo out to help J up and she took it.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

They heard an alarm going off from Uzi's destroyed railgun. They turned their heads to see that the railgun was glowing from green to red. Shockwave realised what is going to happen.

"The railgun's core, it's overloading! N, grab Uzi and go!"

N obeyed and grabbed Uzi and flew off along with Shockwave and J, the Insecti J snarling in anger as it about to gave chase until it noticed the railgun's overload.

The Insecti J lets out a frighted whimper before the railgun exploded, engulfing the hallway with light. The hallway was destroyed, however, Shockwave and the others survived the explosion.

They saw the Insecti J's amalgamed and decapitated head, puking out energon and oil one last time before it imploded.

"Which parts of that were real?" Uzi questioned. Some rumbling came from the debris before a cybertronian T-cog that grew legs and a mouth emerged from the wreckage. The T-cog creature lets out a small shriek before it began to run off before a foot stomped on the T-cog creature, pinning it down as it screeched and flailed its legs in a desperate attempt to escape. It was Shockwave.

The one-eyed cybertronian turned murder drone began to put force onto the mutated T-cog as it shrieked in pain.

"Crawl back to the darkest depths of the pit from whence you came, abomination!" He snarled before he completely crushed the T-cog creature, cuasing it to implode.

"Well it's not a worker drone, but it'll do."

'I didn't do it for you!'

Voices were heard down the hall. N tried to help Uzi beack she backed away from him.

"What... are you things?"

Shockwave saw the hurt in N's face. He approaches him and placed a servo on his shoulder.

"Leave her be, N. Give her time to clear her thoughts."

Shockwave and J then began to leave with N soon following them, leaving Uzi behind. None of them were aware of the presence of Tarantulas' spy droid, a little red light glowing at the side of its camera lens; it recorded the whole thing. The spy droid then left the scene right before members of the worker drone colony entered it.
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Shockwave stared into the horizon on top of a building, his arms crossed and his mind lost in his thoughts. Shockwave gazed upon his clawed servo of his form as a murder drone.

Uzi asked what in the allspark murder drones were...

That's what Shockwave wants to know.

Clearly, there was more to his murder drone body than meets the eye, and he's going to find out what is is.

"Thinking about what happened?"

He looks behind him to see J approaching him. He turns his focus back to his servo.

"Yes. I'm as lost as Uzi when it comes to understanding what we murder drones are. I thought I understood, but after what happened today, I'm left with more questions than answers."

"Yeah... it's confusing. But you're a smart guy, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out at some point." J replied with a smile. Shockwave looked back at her.

"I find your statement to be... logical."

J smiled but then frowned worriedly.

"What about Uzi and her Absolute Solver eye?"

"Uzi's courage and will is admirable but she is still young. The most logical thing to do is give her time to herself. As for her Solver eye, that is another matter for another time. What I'm more worried about is that other cybertronians may discover the existence of the Absolute Solver and may try to use it as a form of weapon."

J quirked a brow.

"Cybertronians like...?"

Shockwave looks back at the horizon, his servo clenching.

"Tarantulas."
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Tarantulas was mixing different chemicals with energon until he heard the sound of metallic clicks coming his way. He looks back to see his spy droid has returned.

"Ah, it's back from its errand." He exclaimed with satisfaction. The droid climbs onto his table as the Arachnicon placed his test tubes down and walked towards the computer.

"Now, let us see what information I may find useful."

He plugged the droid into his computer and it began to upload the images and recordings it gathered. The first image revealed the english/cybertronian writing that said "Absolute Solver" along with the symbol. He tapped a claw on his chin.

"Absolute Solver, hmmm. A murder drone program made by humans, no doubt. But why is it partially cybertronian?"

He then went to the next file which was the recording of the Insecti J. Tarantulas was taking aback by the creature's appearance in shock before becoming intrigued.

"Interesting... so this 'Solver' mutated the Insecticon into a monster. Hmmm?"

He noticed the murder drones but one was a different body shape. He paused the recording zoomed into the murder drone. His optics widened behind his yellow visor in shock. That murder drone, he recognized that body shape anywhere.

It was Shockwave, reborn as a murder drone. Tarantulas began to luagh.

"So my old friend still lives, and as a murder drone no less. How very curious. I shall look into that later. But for now..."

He rewinds the recording back to the Insecti J.

"I have some work to do."

He then began to chuckle to himself.

Chapter Text

When Doll is speaking in this form of writing, means she's speaking Russian.
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The metal doors slide open before a slim figure walked through them and they closed again, its gaze focused on the being who occupies this room.

"Tarantulas, what is the current status of the project?" the figure demanded in a shrill male voice. Tarantulas turns his helm to the figure who entered his lab.

"I'm glad you asked, Lord Starscream. I may have discovered the key to make your hybrid Insecticon army to crush the Autobots and conquer Cybertron truly unstoppable." Tarantulas replied with a grin of delight.

"And pray tell, what exactly is this 'key'?"

Tarantulas giggled to himself.

"you see, my lord, I grew rather intrigued by the murder drones that terminated three of my creations. So I decided to send a little spy droid to gather info about them and it came back with interesting results. Right now, I am currently trying to replicate their abilities and features and combine them with cybertronian biology in order to create your army."

Starscream, not to the Arachnicon's surprised, did not looked pleased. In fact, he was angry.

"So you are telling me that you are wasting the recourses that I, the great Lord Starscream, provided you on trying to copy inferior technology created by vile HUMANS?! How DARE you waste your time on trying to replicate worthless junk made by a wretched species instead of doing actual work like you're supposed to!"

Tarantulas was unfazed by Starscream's outburst. He was well aware of his hatred towards Earth and its human inhabitants after all the pain and humiliation that was brought upon him by that planet.

After all, losing your T-cog to an inferior species is the worst thing that could ever happen to a cybertronian, especially a Decepticon.

Even to this day, Decepticon radio chatter are still on about how Starscream lost his T-cog to M.E.C.H and how the Autobots back on Cybertron made a laughing stock out of him for it and so do an occasional few of Starscream's Vehicon troopers, the seeker in question executing all of said troopers as a warning to his forces to not even dare make a mockery of him.

"True, they may not be as what they seem to be, but I discovered a rapid regenerative ability they posses that I wish to exploit for your Insecticon army."

Starscream raised an optic brow.

"You see, Lord Starscream, I discovered they posses an auto-run program called the Absolute Solver. It's what allows them to regenerate any injury. recently, I discovered that the Solver can be transferred into a new host and that includes cybertronians. My proof to this fact is that an Insecticon scout had the Solver transported into its body while it was in a skirmish with the murder drones before they managed to extinguish its spark. The Solver activated and allowed the Insecticon to live again."

Tarantulas typed on his computer and the image of the Absolute Solver written in English and cybertronian and the mark on the side. However, Tarantulas decided to keep the part where Shockwave is still out there somewhere to himself. Starscream gazed at the image, slightly glaring at it with a hum. He turns his helm to his top scientist.

"So this so called 'Solver' can really revive the spark?" he questioned, raising an optic ridge at the Arachnicon scientist.

"While the Solver allowed the Insecticon to live again, it's not the way that you think. The Solver entered its body just before it died, not allowing the Solver to settle into its new host, to achieve complete symbiosis, if you will, which resulted to this."

Tarantulas then shows Starscream the image of the Insecti J, startling the seeker at the sight of the image with wide optics.

"The Absolute Solver's incomplete symbiosis left the Insecticon in a Terrorcon-like state. Once I've managed to replicate the Solver and fully reengineer it to cybertronian, however, no wound inflicted by the Autobots will faze your future Insecticon army. Besides, you've once told me to utilize any method to complete the project and I've found method, a pretty effective one at that."

Starscream looked back at the doctor. He sighed in defeat.

"Well, we Decepticons DID use Earth technology for our cause before... Fine, I'll allow it. Figure out a way to replicate this Absolute Solver. If I am going to conquer Cybertron, I suppose this murder drone program will be required for that to happen. Continue your efforts, doctor." the seeker ordered before he began to walk away.

"Rest assured, Lord Starscream; your conquering army will be complete once I've fully replicated the Solver."

The doors closed behind Starscream, leaving Tarantulas alone in the dark room. The Arachnicon then began to chuckle sinisterly, pure malice dripping from his laughter.

"To bad there won't any thing left of Cybertron for you to conquer once my creations are done with it, you arrogant and easily manipulated fool."

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Shockwave was currently fixing his hyperflux canon in his laboratory after is was damaged by the Insecti J back at the colony, for he may requires its firepower again, but he can't stop thinking about what happened. The way Uzi looked so scared of N which, to be fair, was understandable.

The Insecti J was created from an auto-run murder drone program. It's best to give her some space but he does miss her company, despite her angsty attitude. He sort of missed how she would look up to him with a smile and he missed mentoring her, introducing her to the way of life of the cybertronian race. But, no matter how much he missed his little assistant, he'll leave her alone for the time being.

He grips the hyperflux canon arm and attaches it to his left arm and goes to his personal firing range, built for testing new weapons Shockwave has developed. He activates the firing range and multiple targets appeared, moving around the place. Shockwave began to fire on the targets with his repaired weapon, blasting them to pieces, unaware that someone was approaching him.

"Hey, Shockwave. How are you?" the voice of J asked as Shockwave destroyed the last target. The one-eyed Decepticon looks over his hyperflux arm canon as he replied.

"I am well, J. I am just testing if my hyperflux canon has been fully repaired from our encounter with the Insecti J. I can confirm that it is."

He then turns to face her.

"How is N? Is he fairing well after what ha-... What on Cybertron are you wearing?"

He looks over J's body, clearly talking about the fact that she is wearing a sparkling yellow dress instead of her usual business suit. It made her... pretty cute. He blushed and his tail slightly wagged though J didn't noticed.

"V wanted N to look for some suits and dresses for us to wear because there's basically a prom going on at the colony. It's basically V's plan for prom murder."

"Oooh. Any plan involving killing worker drones is a great plan to me!"

'You're not laying a finger on anyone!'

"Aw."

J blushed in embarrassment.

"I... wanted to see how the dress would fit me."

"Well if you want my honest opinion: I'd say that the dress suits you quite well."

"You... mean that?"

"Of course, my friend."

J smiles warmly. Shockwave looks down onto his hyperflux canon once more before speaking up.

"You should return to your ship, I still have some things to attend to. I'll meet you there, J."

"Alright. Don't keep me waiting."

"I may be a Decepticon but I am a bot of my word."

After that, J said her farewell, sprouted her wings and flew off. Shockwave turns his focus on his computer and contacted Onslaught.

"Commander Onslaught speaking. What is it that you need, doctor?" The Combaticon leader asked after answering Shockwave's call.

"Have you encountered any Insecticons during one of your outings?"

"Negative. I, or my team, haven't had a run in with any Insecticons as of late, normal or hybrid... Brawl says wants you to tell V that he says 'hi'."

Shockwave sighed in annoyance. He was sure the Combaticons would encountered at least one Insecticon by now.

"Keep an optic out for any signs of Insecticons. Inform when you encounter one. And tell Brawl I'll relay his message."

"Understood, Shockwave." Onslaught concluded before Shockwave hung up. He turns and walks to the lab's exit before sprouting his murder drone wings and flew off to the Decapitation Spire.

Shortly, he sees the mountain of worker drone remains ahead and he accelerates his flight speed.

Upon landing, Shockwave's wings folded back into his body and the one-eyed Decepticon turned murder drone approached the pod.

"J, I have arrived. Is everything well?" He called out before was replied with silence.

"J, are you there?" He called out but again, no response. Something was wrong. He ran towards the pod and entered it. He checked his surroundings and couldn't find any trace of any of the murder drones, only four frozen, human skeletons with one of them with a purple tuxedo with a red rose patterned tie.

Must be one of the human clothes V had N find and these bones serve as mannequins, but where are the rest? J obviously has one of them on but the other two pieces of clothing were gone.

Noticing something on the ground, Shockwave kneels down and picks it up and examines it, revealing it was none other than V's shock collar. He immediately turns to the human remains where the human clothes once were.

By Primus. V's going to the colony to commit prom murder out of her bloodlust and J and N are trying to stop her, that's the most logical explanation.

Immediately, Shockwave bolts for the exit, only to pause and look back at the purple tuxedo. He shook his helm in disapproval.

"No, Shockwave! There is no time for that nonsense."

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Shockwave landed at the entrance of the worker drone colony, currently wearing the tuxedo and the tie.

Shockwave gazes at the entrance and walks towards it and gently knocks on the door. The male worker operating the door opens it slightly, just showing the drone's head.

"Greetings. Is there any chance that any murder drones entered here through this door?" Shockwave asked calmly.

"Well, Uzi and her murder drone friends came in here to go to prom." The worker replied.

"They are my companions. May I please ask for permission to enter this colony?"

The worker drone stroked his chin in thought before shrugging.

"Alright. You said please so I guess it's cool. Have fun at the prom, Mr genocide robot." The worker replied before he opened the door completely.

"Appreciated." Shockwave said, walking past the worker before he ran down the hall.
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OK, so this wasn't what J was expecting; from what started out as a plan from stopping V from killing everyone turned into a fight with a worker named Doll who apparently has an Absolute Solver symbol as well and apparently it gave her powers which she's currently using to kill her, Uzi, N and V. Right now, Doll had Uzi pinned to the ground and had sliced off the limbs of N and V, leaving her to deal with the Russian worker.

She honestly didn't expected another one of those toasters to have the symbol, she thought it was only Uzi. And she definitely didn't expect her to have special abilities. HER abilities.

J swiftly side steps, narrowly dodging the blade that Doll threw at her, eyes wide. J began firing a machine gun hand at Doll but the female worker had some kind of force field around her, protecting her from the onslaught of bullets.

"How did you get these abilities?!" J demanded but Doll just scoffed.

"As if I tell the likes of you, murder drone." The worker replied in Russian before she used her freaky powers to make a metal pipe rise and skewer her abdomen. She coughs up oil from this and tried to use an E.M.P to temporarily disable the crazy worker but a cleaver thrown by Doll sliced her hand off the moment her machine gun hand switched to the E.M.P.

She cries out in pain, gripping her bleeding, handless arm and gritting her teeth. Doll simply chuckled and used her powers to multiply the cleaver into three cleavers.

Doll threw the cleavers to finish her off but the Russian worker was abruptly stopped by a powerful shoulder tackle (Optimus Prime on Predaking style), sending her crashing into the tables. The one who delivered the shoulder tackle was none other than Shockwave who had his wings out, most likely used them to put a boost into the tackle.

Shockwave turns his helm as his wings retracted into his back and saw J's condition, causing his optic to dim, his way of his optic widening.

"J!"

He rushed towards the pig tailed murder drone, pulling the metal pipe out of her abdomen.

"J, are you alright?" Shockwave blurted as he helped her up, concern evident in his voice and J just waved him off.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My injuries will be fixed up. I can regenerate, remember?" J replied, assuring the cybertronian murder drone. It was actually quite nice to know that Shockwave gets worried about her safety.

Shockwave turns to see N helping Uzi out of her being pinned down.

"Uzi, are you well?" The Decepticon scientist asked.

"I'm still alive. What do you think?" The worker replied. Shockwave nodded.

"Good, now we have my worries out of the way, could one of you would be so kind to explain exactly WHAT in the allspark is going on?! Starting with that worker drone!" Shockwave questioned, gesturing to Doll who was recovering from the blow she received from the one-eyed scientist.

"Well, it turns out I'm not the only one with the Solver eye and apparently it gave Doll these weird freaky powers which she's using to try to KILL US." Uzi explained quickly. Shockwave was quite surprised by the recent development.

This worker, this Doll, has the Solver symbol like Uzi does? And it gave her special abilities? Does that mean Uzi has these abilities also but doesn't know how to utilize them yet?

That's not important right now, what IS important is that right know, he and the others need to neutralise this Doll person right here, right now.

"Hell yeah! Finally, you're killing a wor-"

'NEUTRALISE. NOT kill. We are going to capture her for questioning.'

"Aaaawwww. Can't you let me be happy for just once?"

'No.'

He turns to J, Uzi and N.

"Here's the plan, you-"

Shockwave was then suddenly thrown to the wall by Doll via the Solver before she threw the others away as well. Doll then turns her gaze to Shockwave, who finally recovered from the blow, and gave him a cold glare.

"You're not a murder drone..." the red eyed worker accused as Shockwave stood on his feet, looking back at her.

"What are you?"

"All you need to know about what I am is that I am something, as the humans say, out of this world." He replied before Doll suddenly teleported right in front of him, grabbing him by the helm and the hand holding on began glowing crimson with her Solver and her screen glitching.

"Wait, what in the allspark do you think you're doing?!" The one-eyed Decepticon murder drone demanded but Doll didn't answer, she just held onto his helm, no matter how much Shockwave tried to shake her off.

After a few seconds, the glitching stops and Doll's eyes widens before she leapt off him. The one-eyed murder drone checked himself to see what sort of damage Doll inflicted upon him.

"What did you do to me?" Shockwave demanded but Doll just stood in shock before speaking again.

"You're an alien?"

Shockwave became stunned when Doll asked that. How in the Pit did she figure THAT out? Wait... did she looked inside his memories some how? You know what, this isn't the time to question that now, for he noticed J, Uzi and N recovered with Doll unaware and found it logical to keep her distracted.

"Indeed, I am Shockwave. And I am an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron."

Shockwave slowly pointed his tail at his friends before slowly moved it towards Doll. The others saw this gesture and understood, Uzi holding up an oil stained knife and N having a missile primed. Shockwave continued.

"Tell me, what do you hope to gain from all this? In fact, is this even necessary?"

Doll gave Shockwave a glare and replied.

"I was only planning on killing V; I'll never forgive her for what she's done!"

Shockwave was surprise to hear that; Doll and V have a history together? Maybe he could reason with the worker to not kill his friends.

"Look, I don't know what happened between you and V but I do know that what you're trying to accomplish won't modify past events. The most logical solution is to move on from what happened and divert your focus on the future and follow your own path."

upon hearing this, Doll just rolled her eyes in annoyance as she pulled out a knife before using the Solver to levitate and multiplied it.

"I already have..." she replied coldly before she threw them straight at the one-eyed scientist. the Decepticon murder drone just stood there, his antenna falling backwards as only two words escaped his non-existent mouth.

"Ah biscuits."

suddenly, J came right in front of Shockwave and blocked the blades with her wings. J swiftly turned her head towards Shockwave.

"Now we're even." she said with a grin. Doll, meanwhile, scowled before she noticed Uzi and N's chosen projectiles coming straight for her. She immediately used the Solver to form a shield, blocking the missile before she saw the knife zoom pass her in slow motion, narrowly missing her head. By seeing the blade almost sliced her, her focus on the Solver shield weakened before the shockwave of the missile explosion threw her back.

"Thank you for the help, J." Shockwave thanked, Causing J to smile at him before she finally noticed what he was wearing. He was wearing the purple tux and red tie N found and if she was being honest, the tux made him look hot.

"Uh, nice tux." she complimented shyly before her and Shockwave were suddenly been hit with a table thrown by Doll. Shockwave threw the table off them and saw Uzi jumping from a flying table to another. He saw Doll threw a pair of knives at her but Uzi kicked one back at the Russian worker and noticed something being knocked off her wrist before Uzi kicked her in the head and sending her crashing on the ground. Shockwave stood on his feet and helped J up before they ran up to Uzi's side.

"Excellent combat technique, Uzi." the scientist praised before turning his helm towards Doll.

"Now would be a logical time to surrender."

Doll just glared at them, her right eye changing into the Solver symbol and her hand glowing with the symbol and aim's it at them. Suddenly, her head got shot, oil pouring out of the bullet hole in her visor before falling on the ground dead, revealing the shooter to be V, her visor having a signature x, a sadistic smile on her face and her hand reverted into a gun with smoke coming out of the muzzle. Shockwave just stared at V before shifting his gaze on Doll's corpse and back to V.

"V... WE NEEDED THAT!" the one-eyed murder drone complained as V's visor shifted back to normal.

"Yeah, we needed answers from her!" Uzi agreed while J face palmed herself and N walking up to V.

"What? She's fine..." V defended, gesturing to Doll's lifeless, oil spewing body.

"U-uuh... A little tuckered out."

"V did that on purpose. She's hiding mystery stuff and being over dramatic about it." N accused.

"N, you suck!" V growled, punching N on the arm.

"Would you two stop arguing?" J questioned, shutting the two murder drones up while Shockwave noticed the thing Uzi knocked off Doll's wrist. He picks it up and examines it to see that it had a key. He passed it to Uzi for her to have a look. The purple eyed worker turns to N and V.

"Lucky for you, we're not done yet." Uzi told them, showing them the key. After they left the area, a grey bird-like robot bot with a yellow visor like eye and a glaring insignia on its back came out of a vent and flew around the area before coming to a pause and hovered above Doll's body. After a few moments, the bird began moving again before a green vortex appeared out of thing air. The bird then proceeds to enter the vortex before it vanished as mysteriously as it appeared. The room is left with silence until we see Doll's lifeless fingers began to twitch.

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Uzi used the key to open the door to Doll's home and it was shrouded in darkness. They entered the dark place before N turned on the lights and what they saw next...

"By the allspark." Shockwave gasp in shock, Uzi, J and N equally shocked to see the scene before them while V...

"Heh, nice."

Doll's home was full of worker drone corpses, some in pieces, some butchered and Primus knows what else. There were robot cockroaches and oil everywhere. Just looking at this scene reminded Shockwave of his past experiments during the war. He was deep in his thoughts that he didn't noticed V had a worker drone arm in her hound before Uzi had to pull it out.

"Self respect." the worker said with a glare before she went to investigate the gruesome scene with Shockwave following while J, N and V went off somewhere else.

"Why would a worker drone kill her own kind?" Shockwave questioned while Uzi wiped some oil off a kitchen countertop with her fingers.

"Was she eating them?" Uzi asked, looking towards Shockwave.

"Cannibalism... a logical possibility." the scientist mused as Uzi moved forward, placing the severed worker drone arm in an oil filled pot, only to stop and turned her head towards the pot. Shockwave noticed Uzi staring at the pot before holding her hand up, looking at her oil covered fingers. She jolted when Shockwave placed a servo on her shoulder.

"Is everything alright, Uzi?"

"Y-yeah, everything's fine. You don't have to worry about me." Uzi replied nervously.

"... Very well..." Shockwave said before walking up to the others, though it did not go unnoticed that Uzi quickly putted her oil covered fingers in her mouth. She then joined up with the rest of the group and stood before a pair of lifeless worker drones, one male and the other female. Uzi grabs one of the dead female worker's tags hanging from her neck and examines it. On the tag was a picture of the worker a name 'Yeva' under it and a triangle symbol with a skull in the centre at the the top right corner.

However, none of them were aware that Doll suddenly appeared behind them, standing up with a evil smile on her face. Her finger tip glowed red before the bullet was pulled out and aimed it at Uzi, her hand mimicking a gun.

"Just in time for dinner." She grinned, finally alerting Shockwave and the others of her presence before Doll fired the bullet. However, to everyone's shock, Uzi caught it but not with her hands but with her OWN Solver, her right eye changed into the Solver symbol. Doll's eyes widened by the sight of it.

"I... I'm sorry for you.." the Russian worker breathed as Uzi's solver eye changed back to normal, causing the bullet to hit the glass behind the group.

"If I find what I'm looking for, I'll help you too."

"What?" Uzi exclaimed as Doll began to glitch.

"I am sorry"

"NO, wait!" Shockwave called out before V fired a missile at Doll. The smoke cleared to reveal Doll was gone.

"Scrap..." Shockwave muttered to himself.

"Urgh, I hate it here!" Uzi yelled in anger, clenching her fists and thrusting them in the air.

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a green vortex appeared in a frozen city before the robot bird flew out of it and began to descend towards a mysterious figure. The figure was a very lean and slender grey robot with yellow lights who's height was of that of a murder drone's but what really made this robot stand out is the fact that its entire face was just a black screen. The robot watched the robot bird descend in circles around it before the bird's body shifted and latched onto the slender robot's chest. its screen lit up with multiple images before a pair of murder drone wings sprouted from the faceless robot's back and took to the air, flying away into the snowy night.

Chapter Text

"Why am I wearing this?" Shockwave questioned as J tightened the scarf around his neck.

"Like Uzi said, she asked her teacher to go to that forest alone but her teacher is sending the rest of her classmates because he's mad at their test scores so WE are going to keep occupied by supervising them while Uzi goes and tries to learn more about the Solver and how her mother is connected to it." J explained as she finished Shockwave's scarf.

"That I'm already aware of but why must I wear this?" the scientist asked again, gesturing to the camping cloths he's currently wearing that were similar to the cloths she's wearing now, minus the hat.

"Me, V and N are wearing these camping outfits so why not put it on as well?"

"I find wearing these cloths to be very illogical."

"And wearing that tux and going Dapper Shock wasn't?"

Shockwave points a clawed digit at her to protest but he quickly stopped, realizing she had a point.

"touché."

A smug grin then formed on the female murder drone's face.

"Still, I'm a scientist, not a babysitter; I do not have time to watch over worker drones who are not as intelligent or strong willed as Uzi is. Keeping watch over them would be a waste of my time." Shockwave said, causing J to roll her eyes.

"Could you at least do it for Uzi? For me?" she offered, placing a hand on Shockwave's shoulder. He looks towards her with a small cute smile. By Primus, how could he say no to that?

"Fine, I'll do it but only for you and Uzi." he replied, receiving a nod and smile from J.

"Well what are we waiting for, N and V are already going on ahead. Let's go." she declared before sprouting her wings and left Shockwave's laboratory.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this." he groaned before he sprouted his wings and followed J towards the campsite where, Uzi, N and V should be. It was quite the long flight to say the least and they haven't made it to their destination yet. In order to pass the time, J flew close to Shockwave and asked.

"Hey, Shockwave, I know you were a mad, evil scientist during the war for Cybertron but I'm actually curious." J started, prompting Shockwave to turn his helm to her.

"About what, exactly?"

"About who you were before the war. Before you became so feared. What was your life like before it all?"

Shockwave's antenna twitched in surprise; no one has actually asked him that before, be they Decepticon or Autobot. No one has ever thought about his past life, the life he had before he joined Megatron, the life he had before the war, the life he had before he became the greatest Decepticon scientist who ever lived. J was the first ever individual who asked who he used to be.

"You don't have to answer, I was just curious, that's all." J told him, giving that Shockwave hasn't responded yet so she assumed that he didn't want to answer.

"No, it's fine, J. It's just that no one has asked that question before." the scientist explained before speaking.

"I did indeed had a life before the great war. Before I became the feared Decepticon scientist, I was merely a senator."

J looked towards him, surprised.

"YOU were a senator?"

"Indeed. One of the most respected senators of Cybertron, in fact. I normally focused on developing technology that would give the cybertronian race a brighter future. I even opened an academy for the younger generations. I was what humans call, 'an open book'."

"Really? Then what happened that made you into the feared Decepticon scientist?" J asked but saw Shockwave's antenna lowering, staying silent.

"That book's closed." he responded, leaving J to realise that whatever happened to him was something that she assumed was bad and that he didn't want to talk about, not that she could blame him. After all, something bad happened in her past as well.

"You don't want to talk about it, I understand. But regardless, it sounds like you had a better life before the war than my life before I became a disassembly drone." she told him, sparking Shockwave's curiosity.

"You weren't always a murder drone?"

"Yeah, I used to be a worker drone like Uzi, so did N and V. I was a maid who served the humans of a mansion."

"I see. Then why were you rebuilt as murder drone?"

"It's a long story."

Shockwave nodded in understanding before he and J looked ahead and saw a sign that read "Camp 98.7". I was then that they understood that they have arrived. Shortly after passing the sign, they see Uzi, N and V along with other worker drones which Shockwave and J assumed were Uzi's classmates. N smiled when he saw the two arrived.

"Hey Shocks, hey J." he called out as Shockwave and J landed, causing Uzi's classmates to turn to look at them.

"What's with the freaky one-eyed one?" a worker drone with a pair of sunglasses questioned, gesturing to Shockwave, causing the Decepticon's antenna to twitch in annoyance upon being called a freak. He could not count how many cybertronians back on Cybertron called him a one-eyed freak during the war.

"Are you gonna let him say that to you? Let's kill him!"

'Of course I'm not, but I'm not going to kill him for Uzi's sake.'

"Damn it."

"Can we just get this over with, N. The longer I'm out here, the longer my time is being wast-"

Shockwave noticed the dead worker on the ground before he turns his gaze to V.

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Shockwave sighed, receiving a shrug from V as a response.

"That kill should've been ours." the voice complained.

"Welp, now we have everyone here, let's go." N declared as he, J and V began to lead Uzi's classmates to their designated location while Shockwave, however, stayed behind and approached Uzi.

"Are you positive that nothing is wrong, Uzi?" he asked his little assistant who looked at him weirdly.

"what are you talking about? I'm fine, just nervous about what I might find about my mom." she replied. Shockwave was aware that Uzi's mother, Nori Doorman, has had some form of connection to the Absolute Solver. That's why Uzi came here in the first place, to find out whatever she can about her mother and the Solver, also to capture Doll for this place is where the Russian worker most likely went off to.

But that's not what made Shockwave asked about Uzi's wellbeing, it's the fact that she gained a sudden taste for worker drone oil, sparking some concern in him for the worker. He wished to accompany her but this is something she must do alone.

"Just be safe, alright?" Shockwave told her as he placed a servo on her shoulder.

"I'll be fine, da- Shocks." Uzi replied, pushing Shockwave's servo off her.

"Trust me, I'll be ok." She assured him before she turned around and walked away while Shockwave just watched.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Uzi, it's the fact that I don't trust your Solver." the scientist muttered before he turned around and went to join the others. As the two went their separate ways, they did not noticed a shadow jumping from tree to tree as it slowly pursues Uzi.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave finds this activity to be highly illogical. What was the point in kayaking if the water was completely frozen solid? It was pointless to be honest. But like he promised, he's doing this for J and Uzi so that's why he's sat on a boat with a pencil and paper in servo, doodling away to his spark's content while J supervised a few worker drones on the same boat. He always had an artistic talent before the war as a senator but when the great war happened, there was no need for art. He looks over his drawing; a picture of him in his original cybertronian body looking towards you with smoke emitting from his hyperflux cannon while walking past a crumbling wall with the words "are all dead" carved into it.

"That's a little creepy... But not bad." J commented, looking at the picture over Shockwave's shoulder.

"Thank you." he replied before J looked to the worker drones. Shockwave turns to see N had stopped a worker from falling off the boat while V... Where is V? He looked around for the female murder drone before he noticed something on top of a ruined facility. He used his highly advanced optic to zoom in on the facility and saw a figure looking down on him. It appeared to be a robotic theropod of some sort, with a long snout and on its back was some kind of large, saw-like sail, indicating that the robot had similarities to a Spinosaurus. He also saw that it had six eyes glowing a blood red colour, three eyes on each side of its head. The robotic creature just stared down at him from the top of the facility, almost glaring at him.

"Hey Shocks, you ok?" N suddenly asked, causing Shockwave to turn to him before the one-eyed scientist looked back at the top of the facility to see the robotic Spinosaurus was gone.

"Y-yes, N, I thought I saw something. That is all." He replied the the male murder drone. N just smiled and went back to whatever he was doing before Shockwave looked back at the facility; just what was that?
------------------------------------------------------------

"Uuh, is this what you call 'archery'?" Shockwave asked as he stretches the string of the bow he was holding with an arrow loaded.

"Come on, Shocks, it's not that hard; you just load the arrow, pull the string back and fire at the target. It's not that hard." N explained cheerfully as he gestures to the target.

"Just think of it as target practice." J told him as Shockwave pulled on the string.

"Except when I do target practice, it's usually with guns and bullets. I don't see how carved wood and string could be an effective weap-" Shockwave replied before he accidently lets go of the string, sending the arrow flying. The arrow bounced off multiple surfaces for a few moments before it went straight into the very centre of the target. The target itself then went up in a fiery explosion. Shockwave then looks to the bow in his servo.

"It appears I stand corrected." he thought aloud before he turns to J, N and the worker drones who just stared at Shockwave in amazement, one worker even accidently lets go of a loaded arrow, skewering another worker's head in the process.

"You didn't even kill everyone here." V said as she snatched a bow and arrow from a female worker drone.

"Check this out."

V pulls the string holding the arrow and aims at the target before she spins around and aim at the worker drones. The worker drones nervously gave V an applause. Shockwave shook his head.

"Psst, hey."

Shockwave and N turned around to see Uzi hiding behind a tree, waving at them. She had one of those robot roaches but with a metallic green colour. She holds the green roach-bot before it creates a holographic protectory with a message.

[Hello :)]

Uzi then taps the green roach-bot with another message before giving them the quiet gesture.

[Don't tell V I'm here]

Shockwave looks towards V before turning to Uzi with a nod, understanding that whatever Uzi wants to talk about, she didn't want V to be involved.

"Uzi, get on out here. This troupe's a team." N happily called out, causing Shockwave to turn to him and made gestures to shut up while Uzi looked at N with wide eyes. It was then when N's eyes widened, realising his mistake.

"Wait, no, inclusive reflexes!" the male disassembly drone cried to himself, causing Shockwave to face-palm himself while V and J turned around and saw Uzi. The purple-eyed worker laughs nervously as she casually walks out in the open.

"Hey, everyone." She greeted nervously, prompting her classmates to turn to face her before they yelped in fear. A male worker with a bow loaded with an arrow accidently fires said arrow and it was heading straight for Uzi. Out of fear, she used her Solver to catch it right before it could hit her. Suddenly, the Solver symbol on her hand began to glitch to a yellow colour as her visor displayed a high temperature warning while the arrow was suddenly consumed by a steaming liquid before it splats onto the ground. when the steam cleared, in the arrows place was a tentacled, multi-eyed organic creature.

"By the allspark..." Shockwave exclaimed in shock as his antenna lowered while V and J's eyes widened in horror.

"Um, ignore all of this." Uzi ordered fearfully as she covered her Solver eye. Some worker drones went near the murder drones for protection. Shockwave turns to see J looking at Uzi in slight fear, N looking at the female worker in worry and V looking at her with a glare, throwing the bow aside before drawing out a pair of swords.

"I was just... going..." Uzi trailed off, looking towards the stream of oil spewing out of the dead worker who got the arrow to the head.

"I live in the woods now!" she cried before she ran off into the forest while Shockwave watched. He looks towards the organic creature that was originally an simple arrow, pondering to himself.

His original belief of the Solver being an auto-run program turned out to be false; there is no such program that could create organic material. By just seeing what just happened struck some suspicion that the Solver is something more than a mere program, he even felt some sort of eldritch force when Uzi's Solver turned yellow, almost similar to dark energon, the blood of Unicron, further convincing the one-eyed scientist to make sure to keep the Absolute Solver as far away from cybertronian servos as possible, be they Decepticon or Autobot.

------------------------------------------------------------

He's been following the purple eyed worker drone in his spider form for a small while now. He discovered that the successful replication of the Absolute Solver has proved to be far more difficult than he anticipated. He realised that monitoring Shockwave and his companions wasn't providing enough useful information to properly begin his work on the synthesis between the Absolute Solver and cybertronian biology. He had concluded that the most efficient means to an end is to conduct an independent research expedition and what better way to understand how the Solver works than to spy on the only one of Shockwave's group who actively uses the Solver; the little female worker drone known as Uzi.

At first, he did not find anything of value for his research and his streak of no new intel of the Absolute Solver went on to the point to consider dropping the expedition and head back. However, it seemed his patience has finally paid off when he witnessed Uzi's Solver transformed a simple arrow into an organic lifeform. He saw the fear and shock when they saw it happen but witnessing it first hand made him all the more fascinated by the Solver's capabilities.

It only made him more determined to find a way to have the Solver for himself, to delve deep into the very depths of its mystery. Whatever it takes, he'll have the Solver's power.

------------------------------------------------------------

"V, we can't hurt Uzi." N told V as he tried to hold her back, only to to slide backwards by the female disassembly drone who still had her blades out.

"We do our jobs and that THING leaves us alone." V growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about because you won't tell me!" N argued as he shifts his hand to a blade and slashes at V, pushing her back a small bit. Shockwave has seen enough.

"That's enough!" Shockwave said as he pushed the two murder drones away from each other before he turns his helm to V.

"I agree with N; you clearly know what's happening to Uzi and yet you choose to leave us in the dark. Why? What is it that you're so afraid of that you refuse to tell us?"

V just glared at Shockwave.

"I'm not afraid."

"Then for Primus sake, why are you so desperate to kill Uzi? She's just a kid, like N, like YOU." the one-eyed scientist questioned but V did not answer. Shockwave turns to N.

"N, go find Uzi. We'll look after the campers." he ordered. N nodded with a worried, handing Shockwave the clip board before he sprouted his wings and took off to find Uzi. N was scared for Uzi, Shockwave understood that because so was he. Shockwave saw that V was walking away with a scowl.

J stood back and watched the whole thing. She couldn't entirely blame V for her actions. Shockwave and N don't understand what V was so afraid of, but J did. She still remembers the incident.

When V walked past J, she whispered.

"You should've helped me, J. You of all people should know what the hell that thing is."

J just sighed as she watched V continue to walk away.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Cyn?" Shockwave questioned curiously. J wanted to have a talk with Shockwave alone inside the cabin.

"Yeah, Cyn was another maid before the Solver made her its host. We have no idea what the Solver actually is or where it came from, all we know is that it mutates in damaged AI like Cyn, Doll..."

"And Uzi."

J nodded.

"The Solver inside Cyn mutated to the point where it went out of control and... destroyed Earth."

Shockwave's antenna lowered as his optic dimmed in shock.

"By the allspark..." Shockwave breathed.

"So that's why V wants to kill Uzi; to prevent history from repeating itself."

"And what Doll meant by she was sorry for her." J added.

"But why are you telling me all this?"

J looked away from Shockwave for a moment before she looks back at him with a sigh.

"Because you're the smartest person I know. And I know you want to protect Uzi, N, V and me. You may not realise it, but I can see you're not as cold as you was when I first met you. We mean something to you, I mean something to you."

J gently placed a hand on his cheek(?) as Shockwave gained a gently grip on J's free hand.

"You... are right... You do mean something to me." Shockwave replied gently as both his and J's tails intertwined like snakes. Their heads slowly inched closer and closer to each other as J closed her eyes and Shockwave's optic dimmed before they-

The two hear a loud scream deep within the forest, causing the two to break apart and rush outside.

"The hell was that?" J questioned.

"I don't know but I'm going to investigate. You go find N and see if he has found Uzi." Shockwave told her before he went towards the source of the scream while J nodded.

"Got it." J replied before she turned around and took to the air, neither of them seeing each other blush.

'I can't believe I did that.' they thought in unison.

Shockwave flew through the forest, sometimes stopping and holding onto a tree branch, surveying the area until he came across a dead worker drone in a puddle of fresh oil. He kneels down, dipped his clawed digits into the black liquid and examined it before he heard an explosion. Standing up, he ran towards it until he came to a small opening and saw...

"V?" Shockwave gasped as he ran towards the downed and beaten murder drone.

"What happened?"

V didn't respond, she just groaned in pain. Shockwave's antenna twitched when he heard giggling, causing him to turn around, only to then narrowly dodge the blade that was coming straight at his helm. He looks back at where the blade came from only for his optic to dim in shock.

"Uzi?"

Standing in front of him was Uzi but she had these large, organic wings with talons and a tail that had a mouth and her instead of her eyes, what took their place in Uzi's visor was the Absolute Solver symbol in the centre of it.

"By the allspark, Uzi. What did the Solver do to you?" he questioned but Uzi just laughed with a wicked smile before the Solver symbol appeared on her hand. Optic demining, Shockwave turns around and barley blocks the blade that was coming back his way with his servo.

Shockwave grunts in pain as a mixture of blue and black liquid bleeds from his skewered servo and drips into the white snow. He grabs the blade with his other servo and pulled it out. He saw Uzi leaping at him but Shockwave quickly deployed his wings and blocks her. Uzi's tail suddenly came into Shockwave's view and went straight for his optic with its mouth open but he swiftly catches it with his bleeding servo and watched as the tail was snapping at him violently.

"Uzi, I know you can here me! I don't want to fight you!" the one-eyed scientist shouted before he threw Uzi off him, the female worker drone gliding through the air and landed on a tree, still laughing before she leapt at him again and slashes her wing talons down. Shockwaves blocks the sharp talons as Uzi kept on slashing at him but the Decepticon scientist's stance never faltered before he caught the wing talons and forced Uzi to look at him in the optic.

"Listen to me, Uzi, you don't want to do this, you and I both know that's a fact. Stop this!"

"I... c-can't..."

Uzi suddenly used her solver to choke Shockwave, causing him to let her go and grabbed onto the symbol holding his neck as he felt the Solver crush his throat cables. Uzi laughs maniacally as she used her tail to bite off the cylinder containing the nanite acid from his tail. She raises the cylinder as she continues to laugh and prepares to stab Shockwave right in the spark chamber before she was grabbed by the back of her collar and lifted up by none other than N who was accompanied by J.

"Easy there buddy." N said before Uzi spins around and attempts to stab N's visor but the male murder drone blocked it with his hand. Uzi's visor turns back into normal purple eyes as the Solver holding Shockwave by the neck disappeared, causing him to fall to his knees, J immediately rushing to his side and helped him up.

"Ow." N laughed.

"Up we go."

N then threw Uzi into the sky before he puts his stabbed hand into his mouth as he looks towards V.

"What did we say about antagonising her?" he scolded V while his hand muffled his voice.

"Urgh, you guys always take her side." V huffed as Shockwave stood up to his knees as J supported him.

"Thank you." the cybertronian turned murder drone thanked as he gently grasped his throat before N gave him a warm smile.

"No problem, buddy." he smiled before he sprouted his wings and flew after Uzi. J turns her head to Shockwave.

"Are you ok?

"Yes, J, I'm fine. It's like you said before, we can regenerate. But by Primus is she fast." he replied before he gazed to the sky.

"Is this what Doll went through?" he asked, gaining a curios look from J.

"Excuse me?"

"Uzi's transformation, her rampage, did Doll went through the same thing?"

J looked unsure on how to respond to that.

"I don't know, probably." she shrugged.

"We need to find Doll, despite the fact she tried to kill us, her knowledge on the Absolute Solver could prove her to be a valuable ally."

------------------------------------------------------------

After Uzi and N fell back to the earth, Uzi was back to normal and now the group were taking a bus back. Shockwave sat with his arms crossed while J sat beside him at the window. He looks over to see Uzi and N sound asleep sitting next to each other. He couldn't blame them, it was an eventful night. Shockwave then noticed something was beside N, a VHS tape is what the scientist believe was called. Why does he have it? After what had happened tonight, Shockwave found it best to leave it alone and ask N about it another time. Right now, he needs to keep a closer optic on Uzi so she doesn't go crazy or V would kill her on the spot. For Uzi, for N, for V and for J. For his...

Family

------------------------------------------------------------

She felt the cold wind seep into the seems of her armour as she took simple strides, her pedes making soft crunching noises with every step she took, the sun rising in the distance as she heard the black and yellow Autobot behind her.

This area is where their satellites detected Decepticon movement and the duo volunteered to investigate.

"Arcee, how long until we get there?" The Autobot behind her asked; she still can't get used to the fact he had his voice back.

"Not much further, Bee." Arcee replied, raising the scanner. The emerald screen told her she and Bumblebee weren't too far from where the Decepticon was last located; just a few more minutes. She heard Bumblebee muttering to himself and she pressed her lips together. Bee was on edge, just like she was, just like the rest of Team Prime back at the ship was. Why?

It's because of the destruction of Earth.

Planet Earth, the planet that Team Prime had to sacrificed everything they had to protect, the planet that made Optimus destroy the Omega Lock in order to protect it inhabitants, was destroyed. They do not understand how Earth was destroyed or what happened but they have concluded that there was only one logical explanation.

Earth's destruction was defiantly the work of the Decepticons.

Although Megatron gave up on conquering the known universe, the Decepticons lived on because of Starscream. The Autobots knew Starscream hated Earth and humanity as much as he hated the Autobots, but they never expect him to just go out his way and destroy the human home world. While it remains a mystery on HOW Starscream managed to complete such a task, they knew that he had to be stopped. That's why they are on Copper-9, they followed Starscream to this planet to find out what he was up to.

A ping from the scanner shook Arcee from her thoughts, and she looked down at the screen. The target would be several meters ahead of them. Arcee looked up, her optics narrowed in confusion and suspicion as she spied the human structure with a massive hole ahead of them. This is where Decepticon activity was last documented.

The cabin was torn open from the outside, that much she could tell, but what was in this cabin that the Decepticons want? She saw that inside was complete black, she couldn't see a thing in there but she had an ominous sense of dread as she gazed into the gaping hole.

"Let's take a closer look." Arcee said as she deployed a single arm blade before she and Bee strode towards the cabin. Arcee took out a flashlight while Bee deployed his blasters before the blue femme turned on the flashlight and aims it at the inside of the cabin, their optics widening in shock.

There was some form of organic growth all over the inside of the cabin, just the sight of it made the two Autobots shudder.

"What in the pit... IS that stuff?" Bumblebee exclaimed in disgust. Arcee gently placed her digits on the side of her helm and activated her com link.

"Ratchet, this is Arcee. We didn't find any Cons... but we found something else, something you should see for yourself."

A couple of minutes later, a green vortex flashed, electricity crackling at its edges. Ratchet stepped out of the vortex.

"Arcee, tell me why you dragged me out of my comfort zone if you didn't find any Decepti-"

The medic's optics fell on the sight of the organic growth inside the cabin, his sceptical glare turning into that of shock.

"By the allspark..." Ratchet breathed as he cautiously approached the cabin.

"What is this?"

"Don't know, but if the Cons were here, then that means that whatever this stuff is, they want it." Bumblebee replied as Ratchet took out a test tube and transformed his hand to a blade and used it to collect a tissue sample of the mysterious growth before he puts the lid on the tube containing the sample.

"Let's return to the Axalon. Me and Knockout will run some tests on this strange growth." Ratchet said and Arcee and Bee nodded before they went through the green vortex, completely unaware that the cabin containing the organic growth was the place were Uzi went through her oil thirsty transformation.

Chapter Text

Ratchet placed a small tissue sample under a microscope and looked through its lenses, gaining a closer view of the DNA of the organic growth.

Knockout, a former Decepticon medic, meanwhile, ran a simple check up on a cybertronian Protoform, one of the many Protoforms the Autobots have onboard the Axalon, that laid on the table.

"Ratchet..." a voice of authority spoke. Ratchet turns his helm to see a large blue Autobot with large shoulder pads and claws replacing his right servo approach the medic.

"Have you discovered anything on the organic growth that Arcee and Bumblebee found?" the Autobot asked. The medic fully faced the blue Autobot.

"No, Ultra Magnus, not yet. Whatever this organic growth is..."

Ratchet then gestures to the tissue sample of the organic growth inside a test tube.

"It's nothing I've ever encountered. I've never seen any form of organic material like this in all my years."

"Well, if you ask me, I'd say that this stuff is pretty revolting... and creepy." Knockout said as he tapped the glass tube containing the organic growth.

"Then perhaps we should head to where this substance was first discovered. We might find a clue on what exactly this growth is." Magnus concluded before he placed his only good servo on his com link.

"Team Prime, report to the bridge." He ordered and a few minutes later, the rest of Team Prime became present in the bridge.

"What do you need, sir?" Bulkhead, the large green Autobot, asked.

"Team, as we know, Arcee and Bumblebee discovered some strange organic growth during their investigation on recent Decepticon activity. So far, the good doctor and Knockout have been unable to comprehend what the organic substance is or where it came from but what we do know is that the Decepticons clearly want it for a reason we have yet to figure out. That's why we have decided for all of us, Ratchet and Knockout included, to go back to that place and investigate the area some more. Whatever Starscream wants it for, we can not allow him to have it or he might use it to conquer Cybertron." Magnus explained to the group before Smokescreen walked up and spoke.

"Is it a good idea for all of us to go? What if the Cons find the Axalon with no one manning the groundbridge?" Smokescreen gave his concerns.

"Don't worry Smokey, the Axalon is equipped with the Nemesis' cloaking technology which we tinkered to hide Autobot signals. Screamer won't be able to track the ship's coordinates." Knockout explain with a smug grin.

"You are right to be worried, Smokescreen. But Knockout is correct; we possess a remote control link directly to our groundbridge, meaning that there is no need to man the groundbridge." Ratchet assured Smokescreen as he took out a groundbridge remote control before a set the designated coordinates and activated the groundbridge, summoning a green vortex. Magnus then walked between Team Prime and the groundbridge portal.

"Autobots, roll out." Magnus said before he and the rest of Team Prime transformed into their respective vehicle forms and drove into the groundbridge, the portal closing shortly after.

The bridge was left in silence now that all of Team Prime have left the Axalon. Our view slowly shifts to the tissue sample of the organic growth. We view slowly zooms in on the organic growth.

An eye suddenly emerges from the organic growth as a violently glitching yellow Solver symbol appeared as the lights in the bridge began to flicker.

Our view changes to the Protoform that was left lying on the table before fleshy tentacles came into view and slowly neared the unguarded Protoform.

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"Just who do they think they are?! The purple-eyed worker went completely insane and tried to kill me yet I'M the bad guy!" V ranted as she kicked a decapitated worker drone head away in anger while Brawl just sat and watched.

"Calm down, little buddy. I know you're stressed out but I don't exactly understand why you want to kill the worker so bad. Sure she went coo-coo crazy and killed a few people but you but you've wanted to kill her the moment that Absolute thingy showed up on her face."

"Okay, one: it's called the Absolute Solver. And two: so what if I did? SOMEONE needs to put Cyn down for good and I'm the only one who realises that!"

"Why do you keep calling her that? Who in the pit is Cyn?"

Upon being asked that, V stopped in her tracks and Brawl saw his best friend shiver. She then turns to Brawl.

"Trust me, Brawl; you don't want to know."

"...Ok... but still, Shockwave won't let you kill her. She's under his protection, as shocking as that is. You don't have to like her, you just need to trust Shockwave's ability. Believe me, that one-eyed son of a glitch has a contingency for almost every scenario so the next time she's about to go all feral again, Shockwave will be waiting."

"Yo, Brawl! We're going now, don't keep Onslaught waiting." Blast-off called out, causing Brawl and V to turn to the aerial Combaticon.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Brawl replied before looking down at V.

"I gotta go and look for energon with my team. You listen to my advice, ok? I'll call you later." Brawl told before he stood up and walked up to Blast-off before the two Combaticons left, leaving V alone. V just sighed with her arms crossed.

She then groaned in annoyance and looked towards where Brawl went off to.

"Fine, I'll... try to be nice to her." The murder drone huffed before she walked off.

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The bridge of the Axalon has been almost completely covered with the organic growth that had grown to such a large scale in under an hour.

The sound of cracking and metal being twisted could be heard as we see the back of a figure rose into view. Our view shifts to the bridge's main control console as we hear a loud, shrieking roar before something slashed its sharp claws into the console, destroying it in a single blow as several electrical sparks crackled from it.

As a result, almost all of the Axalon's systems went offline; the engines, the auto defences, the com link system, the groundbridge...

Even the Axalon's cloaking technology.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave's monitor beeped from a notification before the one-eyed scientist walked up to it.

Curious, Shockwave typed on his monitor the and said monitor displayed what the notification was. Shockwave antennae twitched.

"That's odd." The one-eyed murder drone thought aloud.

"What's odd?" Uzi asked as she walked up to him. Uzi, N, J and V, who had joined up with the former 3 after her talk with Brawl, were currently at Shockwave's laboratory for a visit. It's been a week since the incident back at the camp and since then, Shockwave, N and J taught her how to use her new wings and tail while V, to no one's surprise, kept a close eye on the purple eyed worker, ready to kill her at the first sight of her going crazy again. However, Shockwave made sure to take precautions to prevent a repeat of the incident, such as giving her an energon/oil mixture so it would be easier for her to choke down without throwing the oil up as soon as it enters her body.

Shockwave turns to the group he had come to consider family.

"My scanners has detected a cybertronian signal. I am rather curious on what it is. Normally, due to my current state, I'd call the Combaticons to investigate but they're otherwise engaged so it seems I would have to go and see what this signal is for myself." Shockwave explained, gesturing to his monitor.

"Since it's only recon, you are free to join me if you please." the Decepticon scientist offered. The group looked at one another before J spoke.

"I don't see why not."

"Why not? You do teach me a lot about cybertronian culture and tech and stuff after all." Uzi replied with a shrug.

"Sure thing, best buddy." N said cheerfully. V gave Uzi a quick glare, unnoticed by the purple eyed worker, before turning to Shockwave.

"Fine. I'll tag along." V reluctantly replied. Shockwave then turns to his monitor, types in the signal's coordinates and activated the groundbridge, the portal opening immediately after.

"Then let's go, then." the one-eyed scientist said as he walked in front of the open groundbridge before he walked into it, the others following suit. As Shockwave and the others walked out of it, they were taken back by what they saw.

They found the source of the signal but it was coming from a cybertronian space cruiser. It was primarily white in colour with orange stripes, one going vertically on the front and two going horizontally on the back. It's body shape was similar to that of a head of a spear and on the side of the ship was a symbol that Shockwave recognises all too well.

"An Autobot star ship." the cybertronian turned murder drone exclaimed, the rest of the group turning their heads to him.

"Autobot? You mean the guys you've been fighting for so long?" Uzi questioned in surprise, Shockwave nodding in response as he turns to her.

"Indeed, I recognise the insignia anywhere." he replied to the female worker before looking back at the Autobot ship.

"But the question still stands, what is it doing here?"

"Why don't we go in and find out?" N suggested. Shockwave debates whether or not if going inside the Autobot ship was a good idea or not. On one servo, Shockwave was very curious on the meaning of the ship's presence here on Copper-9. One the other, however, he did not wish on being seen by Autobots and try to either scrap him or bring him into custody for his crimes on Cybertron. The drones eyed Shockwave as the Decepticon in question pondered before he came to a conclusion.

"Alright, N. We'll investigate the ship's interior but we'll remain out of sight in case there are any Autobots present. I do not wish to deal with them like this." he concluded before he and the others approached the ship until they were at the bottom of it, directly beneath it's sealed entrance.

"So how do we get in?" J asked with her hands on her hips, turning her head to Shockwave who sprouted his wings and flew up to it's front leg support.

"Autobot ships like this one has a button or a switch that can open their entrances from the outside so this ship would logically have one of those buttons as well." Shockwave explained as he crawled along the support with his wings folded until he found the button to the entrance.

"Found it." he inwardly grinned before he pressed the button and turned his gaze to the entrance as well as the others, expecting its platform to start lowering. However, the platform did not lower itself, instead it made weird clanking noises before it stops working all together.

"Strange, that usually doesn't happen." Shockwave thought aloud before he dropped down as the others walked up to him.

"Now what?" V questioned as the scientist considered his options, placing a servo on his chin(?) in thought before his single optic flashed.

"There must be a vent on the outside. Follow me." he said before his wings unfolded and took flight, Uzi, N, J and V sprouting their wings and following suit. Shockwave examined the ship's exterior for a moment before he found an exhaust panel, the ticket to get inside the ship. The others has caught up to him, gliding towards the one-eyed scientist before stopping. Uzi, still trying to get a hang of using her new wings, had to be caught in N's grasp for support. Shockwave then turns to the drones.

"Alright, here is how we open this exhaust panel and get inside the ship..." Shockwave started before Uzi used her Solver to rip the thing off, sending it flying a few feet away. The cybertronian turned murder drone stared at the ripped off panel before he turns to Uzi.

"I like yours better."

Uzi just shrugged with a grin before the group went into the exhaust vents, making their way inside the ship.

------------------------------------------------------------

Ultra Magnus watched on with his arms crossed, the cold wind gently blowing against his body and the light of the twin moons reflecting off his metal skin as Ratchet scanned the organic inside the cabin with his built in scanner with Knockout's assistance while Arcee, Bumblebee and Smokescreen guarded the doctor duo and Bulkhead and Wheeljack searched the area around the cabin in case the Decepticons might come back for the rest of the organic growth.

"well, we didn't find anything new about this weird fleshy substance, commander, other than it makes me want to purge my fuel tank just by looking at it." Knockout reported with a hint of disgust, turning around to face the commanding Autobot.

"Apart form the tank purging idea, Knockout is correct; we haven't found anything new about the origin of this organic growth." Ratchet agreed as he too turned around to face Magnus.

"I see." Magnus replied with a nod.

"Bulkhead, Wheeljack, return to our position. Ratchet, open a groundbridge back to the Axalon." he ordered, the two wreckers immediately heading back to Team Prime as Ratchet took out the groundbridge remote control and pressed the activation button, only for the medic's optics to widen in confusion.

"What?" he exclaimed, causing the rest of Team Prime to look at him curiously.

"Is everything alright, doc?" Wheeljack asked with his servos on his hips.

"The groundbridge remote control, it says that there's an error; it's saying there is no connected groundbridge found." the medics explained, causing the optics of the other Autobots to widen.

"Something's wrong back at the Axalon." Arcee stated, Ultra Magnus nodding in agreement.

"Most likely. We have no choice but to return to the ship in vehicle mode. Autobots, transform and roll out." the Autobot commander said before he and the rest of Team Prime transformed and drove to the direction of their ship.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave, Uzi, N, J and V walked through the ship's ventilation system. Uzi was using her tail's flashlight to let her and the others see where they were going and were walking for quiet a while now.

"How much further?" Uzi questioned before they conveniently came across a vent panel.

"Never mind."

Shockwave deployed his arm blade and slashed the panel upwards before he sheathed the blade and used his bare servos to bend the sliced panel open. As the group walked through, they immediately took note that the area they entered was very dim.

"What's up with the lights?" N asked as Shockwave turns to the group.

"let us investigate the area since there are no Autobots present in this room."

the group then split up, Uzi and N went off to one area, J and V walking off to another and Shockwave walk towards a cybertronian computer console to see if there is anything he could learn about who this ship belongs to and their purpose of being here. sprouting his wings, Shockwave gently flew up to the computer and began to access the ship's data core. He searched through the computer system, reading the files and learned quiet a bit.

It really surprised him to learn that the ship, which he found its name was the Axalon, belonged to Team Prime and it really Shocked him that KNOCKOUT was on the list of Autobots that made up the ship's crew.

"Must've turned traitor and joined the Autobots, most logically." he mused to himself but he found it quiet odd that Optimus' name wasn't on the list. If the Prime wasn't onboard, where is he?

His thought were interrupted when he noticed a small, red, blinking dot on the damage report file. Curiosity getting the better of him, he typed on the file was was very shocked at what he saw.

"Uzi, N, J, V, come and look at this!" he called out to the other drones, who turned to the scientist and went up to him, flying up onto the computer and landing next to him.

"What is it, Shockwave?" J asked him.

"I discovered that the reason why their entrance platform wasn't functioning properly is because its systems were damaged but that it not the only thing I found. Look at this."

Shockwave then brought up the Axalon's diagram on the screen, sections of it turning red.

"Their lights, com link system, groundbridge, even the ship's engine core, most of it is in the red."

"What do you think happened here?" Uzi questioned.

"I do not know but we're going to find out." Shockwave replied before looking to the drones.

"We'll split into two teams, one will investigate one half of the ship while the other will investigate the other half. N, J, you go search the rear section of the ship. Uzi, V, you're with me in the front section." he told the group who nodded in acknowledgement before they separated and went to their respective search area. Shockwave, Uzi and V stride down the hall to the bridge of the Axalon, the latter giving Uzi a small glare, which made the female worker feel uncomfortable under the female disassembly drone's stare.

"Can you quit staring?" the worker questioned but V still glared at her, continuing to watch her every move.

"V, stop staring at Uzi and focus on the task at hand." Shockwave ordered before V groaned in response. The trio continued walking until they stood in front of a giant closed sliding door that leads to the bridge.

"Bet my dad would be drooling if he ever sees this door." Uzi deadpanned as Shockwave flew up to the control panel to the door and typed in the command to open the the screen goes red with cybertronian code which translates to "error".

"Seems we'll have to open this door manually." the scientist concluded as he drops back down to Uzi and V before he walks up to the door and grasped his servos on the small gap on the right half of the sliding door

"Uzi, V, give me a hand with this."

V shrugged as she grasped the left side as Uzi used her Solver to help her and Shockwave.

"On 3. 1, 2, 3."

Shockwave and V pulled hard while Uzi used her Solver to try to wrench the door open. The efforts of the trio were able to pry it open enough for the three to get inside. Uzi and V then proceeds inside but were stopped when Shockwave moved his arm in front of them.

"Something's off." he said before he brought out his hyperflux canon and attached it to his right arm.

"Be on your guard, stay close to each other and proceed with caution."

Uzi and V looked to each other before the latter swaps her hands with swords. The three cautiously enters the bridge but found something horrific.

"By the allspark." Shockwave gasped as he, Uzi and V looked around the bridge that was covered in organic flesh. The trio moved forwards, disgusted by the amount of flesh that had grown on the floor, walls and ceiling, like a parasite. They then saw the Axalon's main control console that was destroyed and sparking with electricity.

"It appears we now know why most of the ship is in the red but judging by the extant of the damage the console has suffered and the claw marks that came with it, the organic growth being responsible would be illogical." Shockwave mused as he took note of the claw marks on the console.

"Speaking of this fleshy stuff, where did it come from?" V asked as she gestured to fleshy substance before Uzi's eyes widened.

"Wait. The cabin where I went through my transformation, my solver created flesh just like that everywhere before it happened. The Autobots must've found it and took it aboard there ship." the worker told the disassembly drones. V slowly turned her head towards the worker with a cold, angry glare.

"Are you saying that THIS..."

V gestures to the organic growth and to Uzi.

"Came from YOU?!"

"Hey, how was I suppose to know the Bots would find it?" Uzi snapped back at the female murder drone with a glare of her own.

"Maybe so but why didn't you bother to tell us about this stuff you left behind at the cabin or better yet, destroy it while you had the chance?"

"Gee, must've slipped my mind because, oh I don't know, I WENT INSANE AND STARTED KILLING PEOPLE!"

"For once in your lives, would you two just get along?!" Shockwave growled as he pushed the two females away from each other.

"I doesn't matter who's fault this is. Right now, we have to worry about what destroyed the main console and where it is. For all we know, who or whatever did this to the ship could be worse than anything we've encountered so far."

"Worse?" V repeated angerly.

"Tell me, Shockwave, what could possibly be worse than an Insecticon, hm? What could be worse than that red eyed Doll? What could be worse than CYN?!"

Some slimy liquid dripped onto V's shoulder, causing her, Shockwave and Uzi to looked towards it in a confused expression (not Shockwave but you get the idea) before more slimy liquid dripped down from above. The trio slowly looked up to see something was hanging on the ceiling.

Shockwave, Uzi and V jumped out of the way when the thing suddenly dropped from the ceiling and created a debris cloud. Shockwave readied his hyperflux canon, the weapon charging up, V readied her blades and Uzi summoned her Solver. They see the thing rise up, a small rumbling sound coming from it, before it turns to face the three and they wear met with a giant golden X staring back at them.

The creature lets out a small growl as the golden X rises in height before the X suddenly splits in half, turning into golden, slitted eyes and then creature roars, blowing the debris cloud away to reveal a giant two-headed creature. The creature's twin heads had visors, a single slitted eye each. It had four spider crab-like legs with hazard patterns, twin harpoon-like tails filled with nanite acid, sharp claws and if you squint, you could see organic flesh between the joints. Not only that but it had the Autobot insignia on its chest but half of it had been twisted and warped into the Absolute Solver symbol. In all honestly, it almost looked like a cybertronian Protoform.

(Artwork done by me. I know it's not good but I did my best.)

"What in the fresh hell is THAT?!" V demanded with her eyes wide in slight fear as the creature continues to roar at them.

"Does it matter?!" Uzi replied before Shockwave began firing on the creature. The blasts push it back but not by a large extend, just enough to make it flinch. V swapped one blade with a machine gun and began firing at the creature as well. The beast used its arms to block the onslaught of bullets, growling at the three.

Uzi activated her Solver and used it on the two-headed creature, only for her eyes to widen when she saw that it had no affect on it. The two-headed creature snarls before it stabs its harpoon tails into the leg of a table, the nanite acid eating away at the cybertronian alloy. the creature the swings its tails at the loose table, knocking it down and the table in the way of the trio and the creature. The monster moved towards a wall with a button on it before the monster rammed its fist into it and the wall began to slide open, revealing an arsenal of cybertronian weapons. The trio watched on as the creature neared the weapons.

"What is it doing?" Uzi questioned, a feeling of dread creeping into her.

"I do not know but I have the feeling that it will not be good." Shockwave replied before the creature bit on a rapid fire energon blaster and devoured it. The three watched as a yellow Solver symbol appeared at the back of the creature's claws before said claws began to shift and change into the rapid fire energon blaster it had consumed, causing the trio to look on in shock. The creature lets out a small rumble as it aims the rapid fire energon blaster at the three, the inside of the triple barrels glowing a golden yellow.

"Ah biscuits." Shockwave groaned.

"You say it too?" Uzi questioned.

"N's fault."

the creature began firing at the three, the barrels spinning at a rapid pace but they were able to hide behind the knocked down table.

"Did you see that? That thing just turned its hand into the gun it ate!" V exclaimed as the creature continued its assault.

"Speaking of which, what the hell is it?!" Uzi demanded before a theory springs to Shockwave's mind. He turns to Uzi and V.

"Tell me, do you know what a Protoform is?"

The two females looked at him, confused.

"Well yeah, you told me about them; they're basically a blank slate made of raw, living metal." Uzi replied with a raised brow.

"And since this organic growth came from you, more specifically your Solver, I believe I know what this creature is and where it came from. I have reason to believe that when the Autobots left their ship, the Solver allowed the organic growth to spread all over the bridge. Judging by the creature's familiar features, I think it was originally a Protoform."

Uzi and V's eyes widened.

"Before the Solver must've twisted and mutated it when it got a hold of it." Uzi continued and Shockwave nodded.

"And say hello to the Sinnertwin." V concluded before a piece of the table was blown of by the Sinnertwin's rapid fire energon blaster.

Shockwave peeked from behind the table to see the slightly opened door was behind the Sinnertwin, who continued to fire at the table protecting them, blasting pieces of it off one by one. Shockwave turns to Uzi and V.

"V, you fire a missile to stun the Sinnertwin. It should sun it long enough for us to get past it a go back through the door we came."

V nodded and swapped her remaining blade with a missile. Shockwave then jumps out from behind the table and fires at the Sinnertwin's left head, causing the beast to jerk the head with a snarl.

"Over here you two-headed freak!" Shockwave shouted, receiving an angry growl before aiming the rapid fire energon blaster at him before V flew up and fired a missile at it. The Sinnertwin saw the incoming projectile and moved its twin heads out of the way and roared at the disassembly drone but Uzi used her Solver to catch the missile and pulled it back, sending it straight towards the Sinnertwin's back, causing it to roar in surprise and pain.

"Move!" Shockwave called out before he and the two females ran towards the door. The Sinnertwin recovers from the blast and saw the three escaping. The rapid fire energon blaster glitching back into its claws, the Sinnertwin roars and chases after the three. However, before it caught just one of the three, they went through the slightly open door, causing the Sinnertwin to ram into the door head first. The three watched as the Sinnertwin began to claw and bite at the door, attempting to get to the three.

"That door won't hold it forever. Let's roll." Shockwave declared before he and the females sprouted their wings and flew down the hall, hearing the Sinnertwin's roars echo through out the halls.

After reaching a far enough distance, they landed to catch a breather.

"That was a close one." Uzi breathed, falling on her knees.

"For once, I agree with." V breathed as well in agreement before Shockwave walked up to the two females.

"We may have escaped the Sinnertwin, but we still need to worry about how we're going to destroy it before it escapes the ship. For the moment, the Sinnertwin remains trapped inside the bridge but sooner or later, that Solver-born abomination will find a way out of the ship. We need to find a way to slay it before it has the chance."

"Yeah, I get that we need to kill it but how the hell can we do that?" Uzi questioned but before Shockwave could provide an answer, J and N came flying up to the three, a mix of fear, panic and distress.

"Guys, you wouldn't believe what we found! There was this stuff on the walls! It was all gooey, icky and slimy and had eggs, lots and lots of eggs!" N spoke in a rapid pace as he was freaking out.

"Slow down N. What are you trying to say?" Shockwave asked in an attempt to calm the distressed male disassembly drone before J decided to speak for said drone.

"Me and N went exploring the rear section of the ship like you told us to until we came across what we guessed was the engine room. We went in and saw..."

J whole being shudder before she continued.

"Flesh. There was flesh everywhere, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, everywhere. But that's not the disturbing part; there were these some form of... pods. They were glowing and all seemed to had something inside them, something moving, something ALIVE. We got out of there as fast as we could and went straight to you three."

J and N saw the growing fear in the three's faces when the former concluded her report of what they saw (even though Shockwave didn't had a face and had only one optic but you get the idea). After what the three saw in the bridge, they had a pretty good idea what was inside those pods J mentioned.

"Does that mean we'll have MORE Sinnertwins crawling around the ship?!" V questioned with dread, J and N looking at their fellow murder drone in confusion.

"Sinnertwin?" N repeated curiously before Shockwave replied.

"We'll explain later. Right now, show us where the engine room is."

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"So let me get this straight; you mean to tell me that the flesh we found in the engine room, the same flesh you saw in the bridge, came from Uzi's Solver and said Solver that remained in the flesh took a cybertronian Protoform as a host, mutating it into a monstrous freak of nature in the process, as a result of the Autobots bringing it aboard their ship and now the things we saw inside the pods are Protoforms that are going to be mutated by the Solver as well, resulting in the spawning of more of these 'Sinnertwins'?" J recapped as the group went down the hall towards the engine room.

"Indeed, and now we have to destroy them and the original Sinnertwin before they hatch and escape the ship." Shockwave confirmed with a nod.

"In that case, I'll make sure those horrors will NEVER escape the ship." V growled as she swapped her hand with a missile, hateful malice leaking from her voice. The group eventually made it to the engine room and once they entered inside, it was as Shockwave feared.

Organic flesh created by the Solver had covered almost all of the engine room, the only form of light in the room being the soft blue glow of the ship's engine core and the glowing pods attached to the flesh covered walls. If you look closely, you could see the Protoforms, the soon to be monsters, squirming inside them in a golden liquid, like an embryo.

Seeing the pods containing the Protoforms reminded Shockwave of the fully developed Predacons he had incubated in his off-site laboratory back on Earth. As he and the others looked on at the scene before them, V spoke.

"Okay, so maybe I was a being little optimistic about killing these things on my own."

"True, but you're right, V; we need to kill these things and right now, we five are all that stands between these monsters and the rest of Copper-9." J agreed with her fellow female.

"The question still stands; how the hell can we pull something like this off?" Uzi asked as she gestures to all the pods in the room.

"Yeah, even with our combined firepower, it still won't be enough to get rid of these things for good." N added, causing Shockwave's antenna to twitch before he quickly looks towards the Axalon's engine core and an idea springs to his processor.

"But there is, however, something in this very room that just might." Shockwave mused as the rest of the group turns to the Decepticon murder drone. Shockwave turns his helm towards Uzi.

"Uzi, do you recall one of my lessons surrounding engine cores of our space vessels?"

"Yeah, You told me that inside the engine core contains a massive amount of energon in order to flow it around the ship it powers but due to having that much energon makes engine cores a ship's weak spot. I mean, just by detonating a bomb directly inside would cause it to-"

Uzi abruptly stopped mid sentence, her eyes widened in realising where Shockwave was heading.

"You're planning on detonating the engine core. That'll destroy the entire ship!"

"Taking the Sinnertwin and the rest of the mutating Protoforms with it." Shockwave added.

"If we implant explosives into the inside of the engine core and detonate it, the destruction of the ship and a blast of such magnitude will wipe out everything that resides in the ship."

the one-eyed Decepticon murder drone looks towards, J, V and N.

"Although we lack proper explosive devices, we will have to work with your missiles. Uzi can rework one of them into a rigged explosive."

He then gestures to the empty energon cube containers.

"We will then have to place the explosives into an energon cube container and deploy it into the engine core in order to fully plant them. Once we get out of the blast radius, we set them off and goodbye Sinnertwin."

The drones looked at one another, unsure what to feel about this plan.

"Is this really a good idea?" J asked with uncertainty, prompting Shockwave to look towards her.

"Well, I have been running low on good ideas because of recent events so guess what's left. Besides, you said it yourself; we five are what stands between these horrors and the rest of Copper-9."

Shockwave then placed a servo on J's shoulder.

"So that means we, all five of us..."

He gestures to the rest of the group.

"Are going to do this not as a platoon of foot soldiers, not as a squad, but as a team."

The group then of drones looked at each other in thought before they nodded their heads at the scientist. Then they suddenly hear a roar echoing through the halls, startling them.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that." V muttered before she turns to Uzi, swapping her hand with a missile.

"I hate you but the doc's right, so you better not mess this up, toaster." she said as she pulled the missile off her wrist, swapping to a normal hand again before she tossed it to Uzi who caught it a began working on it.

"While Uzi is working on that, the rest of us will go out there and seal off anything that the Sinnertwin may use to escape. J, N, V, come with me." Shockwave told the group but as he, J and N started to walk away and seal off possible escapes routes, V stood her ground.

"I'm staying." she declared with her arms crossed, causing the others to look towards her.

"I'm sorry?" the one-eyed scientist questioned curiously.

"Someone's gotta stay behind to protect Uzi while she works in case the Sinnertwin makes its way here." the female disassembly explained, the others fully looking at her.

"Or maybe you just want to get them off your back so that no one would try to stop you from killing me in case I snap again." Uzi argued sceptically with eyes narrowed.

"No I don't, I'm serious." V told the worker.

"To be fair, V, you DID try to kill her the moment you saw her started loosing control." J pointed out, receiving a glare from V.

"I trust you're judgment, V." Shockwave said calmly, causing the drones to turn to him with wide eyes.

"What!?" they exclaimed in unison in disbelief.

"V is right; Uzi would be defenceless against the Sinnertwin so it is only logical for one of us to stay behind and guard her from it." the Decepticon murder drone explained to the group, causing his friends to fall silent. It stayed that way before the roaring became louder. The drones quickly turns to where the roar came from; it's coming this way.

"We don't have much time. Uzi, continue modifying the missile. V, you remain here. J and N, with me." Shockwave ordered, J and N hesitantly nodding before the three sprouted their wings, took off and entered the vents to the outside, leaving Uzi and V alone. V turns her head to the door, growling and roaring echoing through the halls. She narrowed her eyes before deploying a blade in one hand and a machine gun in the other.

No matter what, she cannot let Cyn hatch these monsters and let them loose to spread the Solver, this she swears.

V watched as the Sinnertwin reared its ugly heads from the shadows growling as it eyed the disassembly before it fully enters the room. V's blade briefly flashes from a reflection of light as the Sinnertwin spreads its claws.

"This should be fun." the female drone smirked before sprouting her wings and took off, charging at the Sinnertwin who in turn charges at V with a roar. The beast snaps thrusts one of its heads forwards and snapped at her but V swiftly dodges its jaws and shoots it with her machine gun hand. The Sinnertwin snarls as it blocks the bullets with her claws, its heads' single slitted eyes narrowing before it raises its twin tails and thrusts them downwards towards V.

The disassembly drone saw this and flew backwards, the pointed end of the tails missing her by inches in slow motion before they stab the ground in normal speed. V watched as the beast's nanite acids begins to eat away at the steel floor before she raises her blade up and zooms towards the Sinnertwin, slicing its front crab-like legs off in a blink of an eye, a mixture of energon and oil flowing from the wounds like a stream of water.

The Sinnertwin roars in pain as it falls forwards, catching itself with its sharp claws and the dismembered legs already starting to regenerate, courtesy of the Absolute Solver inside the monster, no doubt. Wasting no time, V charged at the beast again swinging her blade to slice off one of its heads (hopefully both) but was suddenly blocked. Her eyes widened when she saw that the Sinnertwin used a sharp piece of the steel floor that had been melted off by its nanite acid as a sword of its own.

'So it can use the environment to its surroundings, huh? Guess it's not as dumb as it looks.' the murder drone thought to herself before the Sinnertwin swings its makeshift sword at her. As V and the Sinnertwin engaged in a sword fight, Uzi watched in awe.

Although the Sinnertwin had the advantage of size and physical prowess, V had makes it up for her speed and agility. Although she hates V, the worker does respect her for her skill and abilities as a fighter. Uzi continued working on the explosive, she still can't get over of how impressive V was.

V blocks another slash from the Sinnertwin's makeshift sword and scowled. While her sword attacks were swift and precise, the Sinnertwin's sword attacks was savage and brutal forceful, enough so to slightly push her off her aim.

"This thing is really starting to grind my gears." V growled as the Sinnertwin came for another swings but only this time, V did not block. Instead, she folds her wings and drops down far enough for the monster to miss before she flew up again and slashes the claws holding the makeshift sword right off its wrist before she proceeds to its left head.

The Sinnertwin shrieks in pain as it gripped its bleeding wrist while its headless left neck flops around before its remaining head looked up to where V was, only to get a missile to the face. The monster jerks back with a pained snarl before it glares up at the disassembly drone who shot the missile, the right head's visor cracking. Seeing this, V smirked.

"There I go again, shattering expectations."

The Sinnertwin snarls and lunges its neck and snaps at her but V Dodges the attack and slashed at its back, causing it to roar in pain before it thrusts its nanite acid trails at her but she was quick to dodge and slice them off too until she finally slices off its legs, causing it to fall to the ground. The monster looks up to see V with her blades ready, prepared to strike its very core; whether this thing had a spark or a disassembly drone heart, it didn't matter, all she knows that striking at the chest directly would most definitely kill it. However, as V prepares to deliver the killing blow, she hears faint growling coming from the wall.

V turns her head, her eyes widening in shock that it was coming from the cocoons, hand prints being seen pushing at the transparent walls. The metamorphosis of the Protoforms is almost complete, that was what V concluded, much to her horror.

She was focused on the growing monsters, she did not realise that the one she was planning on killing had finished regenerating its wound before it was too late. The Sinnertwin grabs V in its claws and slams her to the wall, the female murder drone watching as both the right head and regenerated left head slowly moved towards her, opening its jaws as spit and saliva dripped from its teeth before it thrusts its heads at her.

Suddenly, the Sinnertwin's makeshift blade suddenly sped towards it and skewers it into the wall right next to the engine core, pinning it down. The monster shrieks in pain, accidently letting go of V. She quickly turns her head to see Uzi with her Solver active, a mixture of fear and anger on her face.

Uzi just saved her life.

V flew towards Uzi's side, the latter having a little smirk as her Solver eye turned back to normal.

"It's sort of ironic, considering that you desperately tried to kill me not too long ago." the worker grinned. V grinned back.

"Guess so, yeah. Thanks for the save, worker."

The Sinnertwin roars aggressively, causing the two females to turn to see the monster gripping the makeshift sword that Uzi skewered it with and pulled hard.

"V, the explosive is ready, help me place it in an energon container." Uzi told V as she pulled up the modified missile, the murder drone nodding her head before they ran up to an energon container and loaded it with the explosives with V putting inactive missiles in the container. Once loaded, Uzi used her Solver to load the container to the energon infuser before the machine loads the container full of explosives inside itself, the munitions successfully planted.

"let's fly!" V said, grabbing Uzi and holding her bridal style, causing the two drones to blush a bit, before V flew into the vents and eventually made it outside. Shockwave, J and N, who were still sealing up the ship to prevent escape for the soon to be monsters, looked towards the two females as they flew away from the ship. Understanding what this meant, the three followed suit before they were all at a safe distance. Uzi smiled as she pulls out the control to the modified missile with glee.

"And the walls came tumbling down." the worker smirked before she pressed the button. With the Sinnertwin, the monster continues to pull at the blade in the attempt to rip it off its body until it heard beeping. Curious, the beast turns its heads and saw that the beeping was coming from the engine core. The modified missile then exploded, setting the rest of the missiles off and triggering a chain reaction. The Sinnertwin's single slitted eyes widened as the engine core exploded, the monster roaring and pulling more frantically as it and its mutating brethren were consumed in a bright flash of light.

Outside, the group watched on as the Axalon ignited in a giant blue inferno, creating a shockwave that pushed the group back a bit.

"Ha! Take that you two headed lizard crab!" V cheered with a grin.

"Thank goodness that's over." J breathed.

"Indeed. Now, let's go home." Shockwave concluded, the group nodding as they turned around and walked away, unaware the the smouldering wreckage of the Axalon began to rise. V then stops in her tracks as the rest were walking away.

Something doesn't feel right.

Slowly, V turns her head back to the burning remains of the Axalon, only to gasp in shock. Shockwave and the others turned to V to see what was wrong, only for them to gasp as well.

They watched as the Axalon's remains were blown away as a familiar two headed figure emerge from the wreckage before it roars in rage as it injuries were already regenerating.

"IT'S STILL ALIVE?!" N exclaimed in horror as the Sinnertwin turns its twin heads towards the group with scorn, growling.

"We left that thing directly next to the engine core when it exploded and it somehow SURVIVED?!" Uzi exclaimed as well before the Sinnertwin's back began to snap and break until a pair of fleshy wings identical to Uzi's wings, the only difference being its size, sprouted from its back. The Sinnertwin roars again with its new wings spread wide, the twin moons shining behind its back before it took to the air.

"Ah, biscuits." Shockwave groaned.

"You say it too?" J asked, despite the clear and present danger.

"N's fault."

The Sinnertwin roars before it dived at the group who deployed their weapons, Shockwave and the disassembly drones with their own weapon and Uzi with the Solver, before tow projectiles blasted at the beast, stunning it as it growled.

"The hell was that?!" Uzi demanded but was quickly answered when a double-barrelled cybertronian tank jumped over the group and landed between them and the Sinnertwin. While Uzi, J and N were confused, Shockwave and V recognised that tank.

"Brawl?" V asked before the tank transformed to reveal it was indeed the Combaticon in question.

"I figured something wasn't right so I came to your coordinates but I never expected to find something this ugly." Brawl laughed as the Sinnertwin lands and growls at the new arrival. The Combaticon turns his gaze to the group of drones.

"Let me deal with this thing. I wanna have a crack at this thing."

Brawl then turns his attention to the monster before him.

"Let's see what ya got, two-face." he taunted with a grin behind his battle mask as he placed his fist on his palm.

The Sinnertwin roars before it charges at the Decepticon warrior who in turn charged at it, one opponent filled with anger and scorn, the other with thrill and excitement.

Brawl positioned his mounted cannons positioned on his shoulder and fired upon it. The blast knocks the monster back a bit before it recovers and charges again, only to receiving another blast from Brawl's cannons. The Combaticon fires another round but this time the monster dodges it by using its wings to fly up and hover over to him before it thrusts its twin tails down.

Brawl quickly dodges the two tails before he grabs the beast by said tails.

"Let's take you out for a spin!"

The Combaticon then begins to swing the Sinnertwin around and the around, the creature shrieking as it was spun around.

"So long, gay Bowser!" Brawl laughed before he threw the Sinnertwin, who continues to roar in panic as it crashes through ruined walls. Brawl then charges at the down Sinnertwin, transforming into his tank mode before he rams the thing into more walls, the creature shrieking in pain.

"Hell yeah! kick its ass, Brawl!" V cheered, smiling at the Combaticon's domination of the monster. Uzi, J and N also cheered for Brawl and as for Shockwave, the doctor had his arms crossed with a nod. He expected nothing less from such a powerful Decepticon warrior.

Brawl transformed and stood over the downed and injured Protoform turned beast before him.

"Hmmph, kinda disappointed you didn't put up a fight." the Decepticon admitted as the creature whimpers softly.

"Welp, gonna have to kill you now. Still, it's a shame that I won so easily."

Brawl readies his shoulder cannons and aims at the monster.

"I was expecting the fight to be more thrilling, exciting and most of all..."

The sound of slashing metal was then heard, Brawl suddenly gasping.

"Pain...ful..."

He looks down to see the Sinnertwin had stabbed its twin tails into his abdomen, the nanite acid already working it corrosive magic. The group watched in horror, especially V, as the Combaticon stumbles backwards, energon leaking fast as the corrosive liquid devours him from the inside out. They saw the Sinnertwin gained a sadistic smile as it watched its foe slowly die out, taking rapid breaths and barley able to stand on his feet before it grabs him by the neck cables and brings him closer.

The right head's slitted eye shifts to the Solver symbol before the left head roars while the right head puke out some organic flesh which then began to grow on the warrior, digging into the seems of his armour. The Sinnertwin lets go of Brawl before he falls on his back, the Sinnertwin hissing as it slowly got on top of him.

"Brawl!" V screamed and tries to fly to her friend's aid, the rest of the group joining her. The Sinnertwin saw this, however and devoured one of Brawl's cannons. The Solver symbol appears on the back of its claws before it shifts into the cannon it devoured and fired at them, the blast knocking them away.

It turns its head to Brawl's dying frame as it slowly opens it jaws, ready to rip him asunder. V's eyes widened in fear, panic and horror.

"NO!"

Suddenly, an energon blast hits the Sinnertwin, knocking it off Brawl. The group saw Onslaught and the rest of the Combaticons with their weapons primed and ready. Onslaught's optic narrowed behind his visor as the beast recovers and roars at him and his team.

"Combaticons, concentrate your fire and aim for the creepy crawly." the Combaticon leader ordered before he, Swindle, Vortex and Blast-off began firing at the Sinnertwin. The monster begins to be overwhelmed by the combined fire power of the Combaticons before it spreads its wings and took to the air and flew off towards a random direction.

Onslaught and his team lowers their weapons as they watched the beast fly away. He looks towards his fallen comrade and runs towards him.

"Brawl, are you alright, soldier? Speak to me." the Combaticon asked as he quickly placed his digits on Brawl's neck cables before V and the rest of the group ran up to them. After a moment, Onslaught retracts her servo, clenching it. He looks towards the drone Brawl has grown so attached to whose eyes locked with his optic, pleading, begging...

It was a sort of look the Combaticon leader had seen on his Decepticon brethren before, one too many times during the flames of endless war. He prayed he would never have to see that look again.

"...He's gone. I'm sorry."

V then broke down into tears, dropping to her knees and clenching her fists. Uzi walked up to V and held her by the shoulder. The group stood there in the thickening silence for a moment.

"We should... bring him back. We're going to give Brawl a proper burial." Shockwave told the group and silently, they nodded. As Onslaught ordered Swindle and Vortex to carry Brawl's deceased body and Shockwave readied his groundbridge, they all hear a loud metallic bang.

They all looked towards where the bang came from, only for their gaze to fall on Brawl's chest, the banging growing louder until finally, the chest bursts open and-

"Thought you could stab me in the gut and get away with it, huh?! Well, it'll take a lot more than THAT to kill me! Now it's time to show you what a Combaticon... can really... do?"

The being that had burst out of Brawl's chest looked around in confusion as everyone else stayed in place in utter shock, confusion and disbelief.

"Where did that two-face creep go? I'm not done with it yet." the being questioned before V finally spoke.

"B-Brawl?"

The being looked down on the murder drone who was still on her knees and looked at the being in disbelief.

"Oh, hey V. What's the matter? Looks like you've seen a ghost."

The being then took notice of Onslaught and the Combaticons."

"Hey, boss. I thought you stayed at the mines and why are you all looking at me like that? And how did you all grow taller?"

The being finally shifts its gaze and looed directly at the cold, lifeless visor of Brawl. The being just stood there for a few minutes, its mind processing the current situation until it finally spoke again.

"What the fu-"

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After returning to Shockwave lab, the scientist confirmed that the being that emerged from Brawl's lifeless body which was brought back as well was in fact Brawl himself. Everyone was utterly confused by how Brawl turned into a drone like Shockwave has until the scientist had a theory which he had explained to everyone.

"So you're saying that the flesh that the Sinnertwin puked on Brawl somehow turned his spark chamber into a disassembly drone body that looks identical to his original one, only difference being size and colour?" Uzi asked, gesturing Brawl's current state and Shockwave nodded.

"That is my theory, yes. I am rather relieved and fascinated by Brawl's... transformation. Relieved that we did not loose one of our own today and fascinated that the organic flesh created by the Solver was capable of such a thing."

Shockwave then turns to Onslaught and his Combaticons.

"While hunting Tarantulas' Insecticons and scouting for energon remains paramount, the Sinnertwin is a clear and present danger. Go and hunt that thing down and eradicate it."

"Of course, sir." Onslaught nodded before he turns to his team.

"Due to Brawl's current state, it is only four of us now. Combaticons, move out."

The Combaticons transformed and drove/flew away in search for the Sinnertwin, leaving the drones alone with the newly changed Brawl who looks towards his best friend.

"On the bright side, you and me can hang out more often."

"yeah, I'm glad you're not dead, Brawl. I honestly pick you becoming a Combaticon disassembly drone than you dying." V replied with a smile.

"Wait, I'm not a Combaticon disassembly drone..." Brawl said before standing up and flexing his muscle cables.

"I'm a Combatidrone!" he laughed before he and V gave each other a high five.

Shockwave and the other drones watched V and Brawl interact with each other, the Decepticon murder drone knowing that his family just got a little bigger.

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The Autobots drove towards their ship and after seeing a giant pillar of smoke, they accelerated and transforming upon arrival, they saw that their fears were confirmed. They saw the smouldering wreckage of the Axalon and watched the blue flames continue to burn.

"Our base of operations, our energon reserves, our groundbridge, everything. We needed that." Ratchet breathed.

"How did this happen? Our ship was cloaked?" Wheeljack questioned but they all already knew the answer to that question.

The Decepticons.

"The Cons must've found our ship and called in an air strike." Bulkhead said.

"Guess they didn't know we weren't inside the Axalon at the time." Bumblebee mused with his arms crossed.

"Like it matters, our ship has been reduced to molten metal because of the Cons." Arcee grumbled before Ultra Magnus walked up.

"Arcee is correct, which means our mission has just got a lot more complicated. We need to find somewhere else for a new base of operations, once we find a suitable place, we will rummage through the remains of our ship to find anything that is still of value after the flames are extinguished."

The rest of Team Prime nodded in acknowledgement before they transformed again and drove off to find a new place to base of operations.

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A lone Vehicon walked through the ruins of a dead city, his blaster primed in case he encounters any hostiles. The Vehicon hears a faint growl from behind before he swings around and aims his blaster but he was met with nothing but ruins.

The Vehicon hears another growl from behind his so he turns with his blaster ready but was once again met with nothing.

Cautiously, the Vehicon walked backwards and pressed his back against the wall of a skyscraper, aiming his blaster at multiple directions, not bothering to look up. Our gaze, still focused on the Vehicon, slowly moves upwards to see the Sinnertwin slowly descend from the wall with a hungry gaze towards its first victim who was completely unaware of the monster's dark presence.

Chapter Text

He typed away at the console of the warship in order to keep its position stable. His lord and master has entrusted him with protecting the bridge of the Nemesis while he and the other Decepticons deal with the Autobot intruders and for that reason, he will carry out that wish for his leader. For his master.

For Lord Megatron.

The sudden sound of blaster fire broke him away from his task, turning his helm to see the Wreckers, Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead and Wheeljack, shooting down the Vehicons present in the bridge.

"secure the bridge!" Magnus ordered as he and the other two Wreckers shot down the last of the Vehicons before they turn their helms to him. They charged at him but he was not phased.

Instead, he simply opened a groundbridge directly below them, causing them to plummet into the vortex and be relocated to another part of the warship before the portal closed.

'Soundwave: superior. Autobots: inferior.' he thought to himself before going back to his task, calling in more Vehicons to guard the bridge.

Not long after, Soundwave was once again torn away from his work when the sound of a groundbridge activating. He turns his helm to the portal while the Vehicon guards to run towards the portal, blasters primed and ready. However, he did not expect one of the Autobots' human pets, the one that Optimus entrusted the Matrix with, Jack Darby, to jump out of the portal.

The human looks up to the Vehicon who aimed their blasters at him but he did not cower at the obvious danger he was in, he smiled instead.

"Surprise." he said, pointing his fingers at the groundbridge portal before something leaped out of the portal and attacked the Vehicon guards. It was another of the Autobots' pets, the one Starscream lost the apex armour to, Miko Nakadai who was currently wearing said armour.

"Pick on someone your own size." the female grinned before a Vehicon fired at her but did no damage. She turned around to the shooter charging at her but she punched the trooper to where Soundwave was.

Soundwave simply side stepped as he watched the human charge at him. Even with the might of the apex armour, does she really think she stands a chance against him? How inferior. Brave but inferior.

He simply opened a groundbridge between him and the human who stops in her tracks before Soundwave began to approach her, who started to back off, as he pushed the portal in the process. He will not let some human get the best of him and fail his master, not that she could anyway.

Suddenly, another groundbridge portal opened behind him, causing the two vortexes to feed back on each other before he was engulfed in a flash of light. After the flash disappeared, Soundwave looked to himself to see that he was completely unharmed before he looked towards the shocked humans and charged at them.

He delivers a punch at them but he... phase right through them? How is that possible? He is not wearing a phase shifter and by how Miko was able to destroy those Vehicons showed that she was not a hologram. What is happening to him?

"Enjoy the Shadowzone, dude." Miko smiled before she ran towards the main console with Jack in her hands.

The Shadowzone? Was he in... another dimension? An alternate plain of existence? That had to be the case. He looked to his servos.

The humans planned this. They knew of this alternate reality and used that knowledge against him. Which means he failed. He failed Lord Megatron.

His mind then focused on the Decepticon leader before he turns around and rushed to where would most likely be; the reconstructed Omega Lock. He ran through the halls, phasing through other cybertronians, Bots and Cons alike, because he became nothing more than a ghost to them before he made it towards the Omega Lock, his suspicion correct as he saw his master and the Prime battling each other for the control over the reconstructed Lock.

He saw Shockwave going after Bumblebee who had the Star Sabre in his possession, the scientist climbing down to stop him from delivering it to Optimus who used Megatron's own fusion cannon to stop him while Bumblebee leaped off the Lock with the Sabre.

But his master was quick to react, pushing the Prime off him and fired at the scout directly in the chest. The Autobot's body fell into the cybermatter, his optics flickering before dying out. That was when Optimus snapped and violently attack the warlord, knocking him down to where his Dark Sabre was.

He watched as his master swings it at the Autobot leader, the dark energy wave pushing Optimus to the edge, leaving him at Megatron's mercy, his final victory over the Prime finally at hand.

That is, to Soundwave's horror, until Bumblebee emerges from the cybermatter and stabbed Megatron directly in the spark before it was extinguished. Soundwave jumps down as the Decepticon leader begins to slide off the Omega Lock and catch him but all that did was make his body phase through him, forgetting that he was merely a ghost in this dimension.

He watched as his lord and master plumet into the Earth's atmosphere, burning upon entry before the communications officer transformed and flew after him.

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He stood there, staring at his master's sparkless husk as it continues to rust at the ocean floor. His spark ached by the sight of the mech he proudly fought along side with during the war for Cybertron, the mech who inspired him to join his uprising against their oppressors, the mech who's side he vowed to never leave, was gone and that is something that will never change.

Or so he thought.

As Soundwave continues to grieve the loss of his master, he did not notice the optics of the deceased mech in question flashing an evil purple, only when he started to cried out as he rose to his pedes when the silent mech's attention was then focused on him.

He saw his master standing with his optics and skewered chest glowing purple as he continue to cry out before he fell to his knees. Soundwave watched as his master's body begins to shift and change; his sharp shoulder pads becoming bigger in length, his claws growing sharper.

It wasn't long until Megatron's frame has completely changed form before he transformed into jet mode and flew upwards, bursting out of the water.

Soundwave just stood there, gazing up at where his master burst out of the water, in complete shock and disbelief. He could not believe it; he watched him perish at the servo of the Autobot scout but what he just witnessed said otherwise.

His lord and master has rose from the dead and now he lives again, there was no denying it. So that means Soundwave has to find a way out of this dimensional prison so he can join with Lord Megatron.

His mind was made and his resolve was hardened for he will be at his master's side once more.

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Soundwave flew over the skies of the United States as he calculated on how to escape this prison that the humans refer to as the "Shadowzone" for a few days now and his mind finally focused on how he ended up in the Shadowzone in the first place; the duelling groundbridges.

He remembered how the two portals fed back on each other during the humans' attempt to take control of the Nemesis, which means the most efficient means to escape this prison is by open a groundbridge portal right next to another and what better place to find the most likely place for a groundbridge being opened than the Autobots' base which Starscream miserably failed to destroy.

He flies towards the Autobot base before transforming and landing on his pedes. He looks up towards the hanger with the letter "E" marked on top of the entrance before he strode towards the hanger doors, walking through the large enough opening.

He saw the three of the Autobots' human pets responsible for his dimensional imprisonment, hanging around and minding their own business, completely unaware of the Decepticon's presence. He also saw Special Agent Fowler and another human, an adult female, which he came to understand was Jackson's carrier, June Darby.

He looked to his surroundings and found no Autobot presence what so ever. It would appear that after the Autobots undoubtably used the Omega Lock to revive Cybertron and has left Earth to go back to their rightful home world, leaving Earth behind like a forgotten memory.

Soundwave knew better.

The Autobots wouldn't protect Earth at the cost of their lives, even the chance to restore Cybertron, just so they could just abandoned it. A more likely scenario is that whatever Autobots were stationed here most likely bridged to Cybertron to take care of something. So that means that Soundwave would have to wait until they bridge back.

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Soundwave has just stood there as he waited for hours, not moving a single muscle cable. He ignored what the humans were doing as they did normal human things. The Autobots did not return to Earth yet and any other mech at this point would just forget waiting and leave but Soundwave, however, was patient. He trusts the Autobots' loyalty to Earth enough to wait for them to come back. Suddenly, the human known as Rafael Esquivel, picked up a spacebridge request from Cybertron, catching Soundwave's attention.

It truly is like the human saying; speak of the devil and he shall appear.

A spacebridge portal opens within the hanger before the Autobot medic, Ratchet, walked out of it. Soundwave noticed the doctor's face was a bit gloomy but it did not bother the Decepticon. Instead, Soundwave began working on opening a groundbridge.

"Ratchet, are you ok?" Jack asked worriedly to the medic. Soundwave had a groundbridge ready and was about to open it until he heard Ratchet's reply.

"Optimus... is now one with the allspark."

Those words caught Soundwave's interest, causing him to look towards him, forgetting to open a groundbridge for his escape. He saw the expressions of the humans turn to shock and asked what happened before Ratchet explained what has happened on Cybertron, the Decepticon, who was was practically a ghost to them, listening.

Ratchet explained everything, Megatron's return as a vassal of Unicron, which explains how the Decepticon leader was brought back to life, Unicron's army of Terracon Predacons, the allspark, Predaking joining sides with the Autobots against the chaos bringer, Unicron's defeat and finally, Optimus' sacrifice to ensure that the well of allsparks would produce new life on Cybertron.

However, there was one thing that made Soundwave's mission to escape the Shadowzone go up in flames; Megatron's surrender.

After Megatron was freed from Unicron's grasped, he disbanded the Decepticons because he now understands the true meaning of oppression and has thus lost his taste in afflicting it. After that, he exiled himself from Cybertron, leaving the planet in jet mode and was never heard from again.

Soundwave just left after that, not bothering to stick around for much longer. He didn't transform and flew away, he just walked. After everything the Decepticons have been through the entire war for Cybertron, Megatron has surrendered to the Autobots, causing all the battles his followers fought, all the energon they spilt, all the efforts and contributions they made to be all but wasted.

But, despite that fact, if surrendering victory to the Autobots was Megatron's wish then Soundwave shall honour it.

He shall honour his Master's wish like he did many times before in his name.

------------------------------------------------------------

Many opportunities of escaping the Shadowzone was presented to him as the years went by but he simply did not take them. Why would he? He no longer had a purpose of escaping this prison now that his master has disbanded the Decepticons. Escape would be pointless.

Soundwave wondered around the Earth for nearly a century, watching the planet grow and the humans' technology evolve around him but he did not acknowledge it he just wondered like he is wondering through the woods in the darkness of night right now.

He abruptly stopped in his tracks when he came to a clearing.

This presence, it sent an overwhelming sense of dread in his spark; he could even feel Laserbeak twitch on his chest. It showed that whatever presence he was feeling, she was feeling it too.

Soundwave's gaze shifted to his left and saw where this presence was coming from.

A mansion.

He felt Laserbeak twitch even more in discomfort but he quickly calmed her down before he looks towards the mansion again. He moved towards it to investigate.

Whatever this presence was, despite the dread it brought, Soundwave was curios to find out what it actually is.

------------------------------------------------------------

J just cleaned the wine glasses in an unamused expression as she listened to Tessa nervously ramble about the upcoming party.

"There's humans coming. I've only yakked to robots, J! Quick, pretend to be a ripping royal stud."

Tessa brings a fancy book about how to be fancy and stuff. J just blinked before she gestures to herself; she was perfect the way she is. Tessa blinked before grew a smile of her own and grabbing a wine glass.

"On ya, girl."

The two girls tapped their glasses together before Tessa jerks back in a pained wince, rubbing her arm. J looked at Tessa worriedly, the human looking back at her.

"I'm alright, J." she assured the drone before she noticed a male worker drone.

"N!" Tessa screamed happily, rushing up to N and grabbing him by the cheeks, spinning around.

"Hey Tessa." N smiled but J saw the loser's expression change to discomfort when he looked towards the window. She turns around to the window but saw nothing but the storm raging outside.

Probably a technical glitch in the idiot's systems.

"Oh, who'd you bring with-" Tessa asked, turning to the drone that N was accompanied with but paused when she saw HER.

"You."

"Seems-J-forgot-to-let-me-out-of-my-basement-time-again." Cyn said, her head slightly falling sideways.

"And yet, here you are." J growled, giving Cyn a hard glare.

"Annoyed-expression."

"You guys are locking her up?" N asked, leaving Tessa with a saddened expression.

"Oh, N..."

"Tessa James Elliot." Tessa's mother huffed as she approached group, causing them to line up as the older woman approached.

"We will NOT entertain your dumpster pets."

"Ye-ye-yes, mother. Sorry, mother." Tessa responded Before her mother noticed Cyn, startling the woman.

"Oh, Christ almighty. I said this one out of my sight. Oh, still can't follow simple orders."

"No. No. Please. I-" Tessa pleaded but her mother interrupted her.

"Swamp. Dumping your broken drones clogging our library tomorrow too."

J and N's eyes widened in horror upon hearing this."

"DON'T test me." the adult snarled before she turns her back on them and walked away. J and N turn their heads towards Tessa who tried to say a reply but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"They-are-not-broken." Cyn responded, causing Tessa's mother to stop in her tracks. Cyn continued.

"We-can-no-longer-be-thrown-out."

The adult's hand clenched into a fist as she turned to face the female.

"Did that little Anti-Christ just-"

"I-I-I told her to say that and brought her here. I-I just hate orders." N lied, swiftly going between Cyn and Tessa's mother who's glare grew darker.

"And your fans dumb..?"

Welp, N's dead.

------------------------------------------------------------

Soundwave knelt down and peeked through the windows of the mansion. The mysterious yet dread filling presence is defiantly coming from the inside of this building but he just couldn't find out what it was.

Curse the humans for giving such large buildings such small rooms. No matter, Soundwave just has to keep looking. He has to find out where this presence is coming from. He should probably leave but the curiosity in his spark was strong and unmoving, which means in order to satisfy it, he will have to find what sparked it.

------------------------------------------------------------

Tessa pulled hard on the chain in order to break free but was unable to do so.

"J, industrial machinery, chuck us a hand!"

"Sorry, Boss, corporates spoken." J replied as she rocked on Tessa's swinging horse, causing her chain to rattle. Tessa turns her head glared at Cyn who was playing with the former's dolls.

"Cyn, if that little butler dies for your sake, I swear!" the human girl growled before Cyn threw one behind her.

"Mm,-I-have-backups." the yellow-eyed worker replied before ripping another doll's arm off and threw it to the side.

Tessa shook her head before she knelt down and grabbed hold of the chains. She examines them as her gaze follows the chains until she jumped back when she looked directly at a glowing yellow symbol.

The Absolute Solver.

"You-will-not-have-to-discard-your-pets-and-I-will-not-discard-you." Cyn told the human who saw that her lower body has changed into a long snake-like body before everything went black as the sound of glass being smashed was heard.

The next thing Tessa saw, to her fear, were multiple projector-like eyes.

"Best-stay-away-from-the-gala,-though,-you-seem-squeamish." Cyn continued before she left through the broken window, thunder crackling.

J's eyes were wide with fear at what she just seen.

"Well, she certainly didn't waste any time."

J jumped a mile at the deep, male voice that abruptly appeared. She spun her head around. There, leaning against the wall in front of her with his arms crossed and looking towards the window Cyn left through, was Shockwave.

"What are you doing here?" J questioned.

Shockwave ignored her as he scanned his single optic over Tessa's room, as if with interest.

"I didn't realise she could change into, I can't believe I'm saying this, a 'hollow-spooky-crab snake' at will. Clearly, Cyn's control over the Solver is significantly stronger than Uzi and Doll's combined."

"What are you-"

Wait, Shockwave was HERE. In Tessa's room, from all those years ago. How is that- J realised.

"You're inside my head." J breathed, Shockwave responding with a nod.

"The cortical physic patch. Quite a useful tool and one of my greatest inventions during the war for Cybertron. Of course I had to make some modifications in order for a cybertronian mind to be able to connect with a drone's, be they worker or murder." Shockwave explained as he approached her before he grabs the chains binding her and snapping it.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why YOU'RE here." J pointed out as she watched Shockwave snapping Tessa's chains. Shockwave looks towards the human.

"Leave us be for a while or go after Cyn, I don't care which."

"O-ok." Tessa replied before she left the room with J watching her leave.

"That was a bit harsh." J said, looking back at Shockwave.

"Do not worry, she's merely a simple construct of your memories anyway."

J's face changes to a "really" expression.

"And as for your question surrounding why I am here is quite simple. N and V passed out because a sort of internal program inside them is trying to delete their memories so Uzi and I decided to venture into your minds to stop whatever this program is. Although, at this point, those events would come back to you by now."

Suddenly, as if fate has planned it, memories came flooding back to her to the point where Shockwave initiated the cortical physic patch with her.

"Holy crap, you're right. But I don't understand how I forgot all that after you did that patch thing. Is the program trying to delete my memories too?"

"No, what ever is going on with N and V didn't happen to you, we just volunteered to go into their minds. Loosing your memories temporarily during a patch is actually a common side effect. The only way to stir someone from their oblivion, become self aware and regain their memories is for another who has entered their mind to interact with them like I did you."

Shockwave turns his body and walked towards the door.

"Come along, J, I have a feeling that Uzi and N would be needing our help with getting into Cyn's basement."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." J replied before she got off the swinging horse, pulled out the basement key and walked up to the door while passing the key to Shockwave, who took noticed of the maid outfit she was wearing.

"I also like your maid outfit." He unknowingly. J looked towards the one-eyed scientist.

"What?"

"What?"

------------------------------------------------------------

Soundwave walked around the mansion as the rain poured from the night sky but due to being trapped in another realm as a ghost to everyone, the drops just phased through him and hit the ground, not making contact with his metal body. He looks up to see Laserbeak flying towards him before the Minicon latched herself onto his chest.

Laserbeak uploaded her findings to him which turned out to be none. Soundwave shook his helm; he should've known this was all a waste of time. He turns his to the opposite direction of the mansion and began to walk away.

Then he felt it, the sense of dread he felt in his spark pulsing, causing him to stop and turns his helm upward towards where it was coming from and saw something standing on the roof, its back facing the slender mech.

He recognised it to be one of those service robots the humans have invented, a worker drone, he believed is what they were called.

There was something off about this one, however. This dreadful presence Soundwave was feeling, it was coming directly from this drone.

He jolted back when the drone's head suddenly twists backwards with an audible crack and was looking directly at where the Decepticon communications chief with a wide, wicked smile, its teeth and fangs showing. Those eyes, those golden eyes were more than looking at Soundwave's direction.

Somehow this... this... THING knows he's there, knows he's watching.

It's able to somehow SEE him despite the fact he was trapped in this dimensional plane.

"Why-hello-there." it greeted as it fully turns its body around while Soundwave stood there.

This eldritch power that he feels radiating from the worker, it was nothing he has ever felt before, it's more powerful than the effects dark energon. He did not know what it was but for the first time in countless millennia through out the war for Cybertron, he felt something in his spark that he thought was long since buried.

Fear.

Soundwave fearfully took a step back as the thing kept its golden eyes on him.

"You-seem-frightened." it pointed out as it raised its hand and its head slightly falling sideways.

"Do-not-worry,-though. I-will-take-good-care-of-you."

Its eye suddenly changed into a symbol Soundwave has never seen before, the same symbol appearing in its hand. At that moment, he felt something on his servo so he glanced at it and to his horror, there was organic flesh rapidly growing up his arm.

Frantically, Soundwave ripped pieces of the flesh off his arm but it grew faster than he could rip it off. He felt Laserbeak's fear and distress over the mental link he had with her as the flesh grew over the Minicon. Before long, the flesh grew over his whole body and he felt his mental link with Laserbeak flicker and die, leaving a cold void.

He fall backwards on his back as the flesh slowly grew over his helm, threatening to take his vision. He looked back at the worker who looked on with a smile of sadistic delight as it watched the flesh consume the slender Decepticon.

And then everything went black.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave, J and Tessa moved along the upstairs landing, the adults talking below before the latter turns to the two robots behind her.

"How do you reckon we murder us a robo-child, J and... y-you?" she asked, looking at Shockwave with uncertainty before she accidently bumps into an armour stand but she catches it before it could fall over. Tessa then took noticed of the sword being held by the armour. J grabs hold of a revolver before she grinned and turned to Tessa who picked up the sword.

"How about this?" the two girls suggested in unison before they paused, looked towards the weapons they held before they traded. Shockwave shook his helm with his servos on his hips.

"Psst, Tessa." N's voice whispered out to Tessa, causing the three to turn their heads to see N, who had a crow on his head, rapidly giving them the 'quiet down' gesture. The three looked confused until they suddenly hear the faint sound of glass smashing, prompting them to look down towards a broken pair of glasses.

"What in the..?" Shockwave questioned before the three look up to the ceiling. Though brief, flashes of lightning allowed them to see something with a pair of fleshy wings crawling on the roof and after a few more flashes, it was gone.

"Oh..."

It was then that Shockwave, J, Tessa and N grouped up, their backs facing each other the former's weapons ready.

"We need the basement key. This bird's from the future." N told Tessa before Shockwave pulled out the key.

"I know." Shockwave replied as the crow flew from N's head and landed on the scientist's shoulder before he gave the key to the bird.

"Thanks." the bird thanked, causing J to look at the bird in surprise when she recognised that voice to be Uzi's.

"Cyn's gonna massacre the gala!" Tessa told N who looked at her in confusion as Crow-Uzi landed back onto his head.

"Who? OUR Cyn? Nah, she's cool."

Shockwave, J and Tessa looked at N doubtfully before something suddenly drops down, knocking the group down and apart, revealing it to be V who had a maniacal smile, sharp claws and an X over her visor. V leaps at Tessa with her claws ready before J slashed her with her sword.

"Go do your basement thing, we've got the coma patient you've creeped on."

"Not creepy, sweet." N defended before he turned around the other way to see V before she swiped the key off his hand. V leapt for the key but Shockwave slashed his bladed onto her hand.

"No you don't." he growled before he snatched the key from the ground and threw it to N who barely caught it. Shockwave watched N and Crow-Uzi leave before he threw V towards a wall but she used her wings to land safely onto said wall and launched towards him in a charge.

Shockwave blocked her with his wings and slashed at her but she blocks that attack before the two ended up delivering strikes and blocks to each other until the one-eyed scientist grew tired of it.

"Enough!" he growled before he grabs V by the leg, slams her to the ground and threw her onto the wall again, readying his hyperflex canon that had been set to stun before firing on her, creating a cloud of smoke. Shockwave lowers his weapon as the smoke clears to reveal the scorch marks left by his canon but V was no where to be sighted.

"W-where did she go?" J asked as Shockwave detaches his hyperflex canon from his arm while his wings folded back into his body.

"V must've went after N and Uzi. Whatever this program is, it surely doesn't want them to restore the memory files. We can only hope they are able to manage without us." he answered before he turns to J.

"Let us return to our task on finding Cyn. A memory this may be, hunting down Cyn would shed some light on what the Solver actually is."

------------------------------------------------------------

"Now are you sure that this... substance which you found during your expedition will be a use to your research on the Absolute Solver and the spawning of my conquering army of Solver powered super soldiers?" Starscream questioned as he taps the glass cylinder containing a small form of organic material.

"Why of course, Lord Starscream. This tissue sample I recovered from that cabin came from the worker that uses the Absolute Solver, which means that they are most certainly connected. My studies and experiments confirms it." Tarantulas replied gleefully as he brings up the files containing his findings of the Absolute Solver.

"I did not learn much but I learned enough to begin the prototyping procedures."

"Speaking of which, what of the warrior you've manage to create with the Solver?"

"Although that he is no Predacon, he is stable, very responsive and has basic control over the Solver inside of him. Rest assured, however, he is completely loyal to the Decepticons and more importantly you, my lord."

"Good, because I do not wish him to hold the arrogance of Shockwave's effort, the one who named himself Predaking."

"Indeed, however I had to use up most of the sample for his creation. Since the Autobots have discovered my gathering place, I need a new means of gaining samples and items connected to the Solver."

"I see. Then by all means, find a new source to help you understand the Solver. My future army is counting on its discovery." Starscream concluded before he left the room, leaving the Arachnicon alone in the room. Tarantulas then faces his monitor and activated his live camera feeds that focused on Shockwave and his drone colleagues.

"You've been a useful source of information regarding the Absolute Solver so far, Shockwave. There's bound to be something of- Hello~."

His interest was peaked when his optics caught the glimpse of the live footage in Uzi's room, which showed Shockwave and the other murder drones in a comatose state while Uzi and Brawl were trying to keep something away from another Solver using worker drone that he had also been keeping tabs on, the drone called Doll. It appeared to be a metallic green roach-bot of sorts.

Curiously, the Arachnicon kept watching the feed, wanting to see how it plays out.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Everyone stand back! This is a citizen's murder." Tessa declared as she kicked the door to the gala open, readying her revolver and aiming it at Cyn who was at the other side of the room. Both of Tessa's parents gasped in shock.

"That dress." Tessa's mother spat in disgust.

"You better hold that gun less cool this instant, missy." Tessa's father ordered before Cyn used the Solver to throw the two adults aside. The Solver using worker drops down and uses the Solver to lift the globe she was sitting on.

"Tessa-,remember-you-didn't-have-to-"

Tessa shoots the revolver at Cyn, who's Solver redirected the bullet to hit the window behind her.

"You-didn't-have-"

Tessa threw the revolver at Cyn which only caused it to bounce off before the human continued to throw random things at the worker which did nothing. It was just sad to watch, in Shockwave's opinion.

Cyn just got tired of Tessa before she used her Solver to knock out all of the lights, causing the room to be engulfed in black. It wasn't long until multiple golden Xs began appearing everywhere before a golden light appeared, revealing to be the other worker drones, including-

"J?" Shockwave breathed after seeing J's visor become an X, the latter closing the door.

"You-didn't-have-to-see-this." Cyn, who had completely changed form, finished as she crushed the globe in her claws.

"Oh-, and-one-more-thing-Shockwave."

Shockwave immediately turns his helm to Cyn when she said his name.

"Leave." she growled before Shockwave suddenly blacked out.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave jolted awake, his optic flashing gold as he gripped his helm while looking down, seeing the metal floor of Uzi's room, before his gaze turns to J who was beginning to stir.

Did- did Cyn just kicked him out of J's head? How is that-

"Hey, now that you're awake and all, how about you give us a servo here?!" Brawl told the scientist, prompting him to look up, only to be startled at the sight of Uzi and the Combatidrone desperately trying to pry the metallic green roach from Doll's Solver grip. Shockwave immediately got up and grabbed the roach as well before all three of them pulled hard.

"It's three against one, you freak. Give up and let us keep this roach!" Brawl told the Russian worker who scowled.

"None of you don't even know what that thing is." Doll growled as she keeps pulling.

"You wanting it tells us that you shouldn't have it!" Uzi snarled at Doll who rolled her crimson eyes in annoyance.

"You are so petty."

"This is the only clue to what's wrong with me!"

"Uh, guys?" J, who had finally woken up, called out, causing Shockwave, Uzi and Brawl to turn towards the female disassembly drone who points to N and V who's visors displayed a golden X with the words "ERROR 606" as they crackled with electricity.

"Oh scrap." Brawl muttered worriedly. Shockwave and Uzi looked towards each other, the former giving the latter an assuring nod. Uzi sigh as Shockwave ordered Brawl to let go of the metallic green roach, the Combatidrone reluctantly doing so.

"Just take it and leave us alone." the purple eyed worker huffed, throwing the roach at Doll's face and slamming the door on her, leaving the group in silence.

"This is the first time I've met Doll and she already boils my oil." Brawl growled with his arms crossed as Uzi continued to hack into N and V's minds.

"I get what you mean, but I don't exactly blame her; she's suffering just as much as Uzi is." J replied to the Combatidrone who looked at the female disassembly drone.

"You're not saying to trust Doll, are you?"

"I'm not saying that but we both share the same goal, which means there could be a chance to persuade her into joining our side."

Shockwave listened to the two before he turns his helm towards Brawl.

"I find your wariness of the situation to be highly logical, Brawl, but I agree with J."

------------------------------------------------------------

Tarantulas cackled as he deactivated the live feed before he approached the cylinder containing the Solver meat, delighted of the new information, specifically the metallic green roach being the key to being one step closer to fully having the Solver in his grasp.

"This is so excellent! Not only do I now know that there is a means to finding more information for my studies, they have no idea that I'm after it." the Arachnicon cackled while he prepares a groundbridge portal as a figure walks up to him, the figure being shrouded in shadow, the only thing that could be seen of them were the glowing yellow optics.

"Are you ready for your first mission?" Tarantulas asked as he slowly turns to the figure who nodded in response.

"Excellent, now go."

Tarantulas opens a groundbridge, a green vortex swirling with green before the yellow opticed figure began to glow yellow. Tarantulas could only watch with delight and a giggle.

------------------------------------------------------------

Doll teleported at the surface of the frozen lake of Camp 98.7 before she walked forward towards the duo who had been waiting for her arrival, one being a human female wearing a spacesuit and the other a faceless drone, a drone that sent shivers down the Russian worker's artificial spine just by staring at her alone.

"Here's your key." Doll told the two, pulling out the metallic green roach before she threw it at them, the human catching it in her hand.

"Take me with you. That's the deal-"

The human suddenly shoots her revolver at Doll who's Solver eye redirecting to to the ground. Doll looks towards where the bullet had hit before she glares at the human.

"Just checking."

Doll's glare hardened.

"Let's go." the human concluded, putting her revolver away as she and the faceless drone turn the other way, only to stop at the sight of Shockwave, Uzi, J, N, V and Brawl, leaving everyone on both sides but the faceless drone shocked. Uzi, J, N and V were shocked to see a LIVING human, one they recognised on Copper-9 while Shockwave and Brawl were shocked for another reason, the faceless drone.

Shockwave and Brawl recognised that drone anywhere, the drone that used to be a cybertronian just like they used to be.

"Soundwave..?" Shockwave breathed in disbelief.

------------------------------------------------------------

Deep within an underground facility, a gang of six-eyed raptor-like robots, whose eyes glowed sky blue, gather around the massive hole that leads to the surface.

The pack stood there, gazing up at the hole, waiting, until they saw a figure coming into view before a loud, snarling roar was heard.

The figure then leapt down and landed in front of the pack, the impact emitting a loud clang of metal.

It was revealed to be another six-eyed robot dinosaur but this was larger in size with the eyes glowing a blood red instead of blue, a long snout and a sail on its back, having strong similarities to that of a Spinosaurus, a powerful carnivore from the age of the dinosaurs.

The robotic raptors gazed upon the Spinosaurus robot that raised its head and roared once more before they watched as its body began to shift and change until the Spinosaurus robot completely transformed into a hulking behemoth of a mech, having talon-like claws, having a crimson visor instead of eyes and its sail splitting in half, forming into bladed shoulder pads.

"MY BRETHREN!" The transformed robot Spinosaurus roared to the robot raptors, sending echoes throughout the entire facility before he shifted his gaze towards the pack infront of him.

"Your master has returned."

To be continued...

Chapter Text

"Alright, now that V has been calmed down, we need to figure out where Doll is headed and what she plans on doing with that robo-roach." Uzi told the group after V's chainsaw outburst against the purple eyed drone. Brawl, grumbled at this.

"Easier said than done; from what V told me, that red eyed drone can literally teleport. She could be anywhere on Copper-9 and looking for her would be like a servo in a scrapyard." the Combatidrone commented with his arms crossed as he leaned against Uzi's bedroom wall.

"Not necessarily, Brawl, for I have anticipated this scenario. While Doll did used her ability to teleport to travel to who knows where, she is unaware of the little mod me and Uzi came up with after the incident with the Sinnertwin. Thanks to it, Doll is practically exposed to us, giving us her precise coordinates." Shockwave replied, Brawl uncrossing his arms in confusion.

"You- wha- you- you- you lost me."

"What Shocks is saying that he knew this would happen eventually so he asked me to help him make a tracking device and put it on that robo-roach so it could tell us where it was taken when it got stolen." Uzi explained in a simpler term.

"A security measure... smart." V commented with her arms crossed.

"So where is Doll heading now?" J questioned before Shockwave pulled out a handheld monitor from his subspace and activated it. Shockwave looked over the device for a moment before looking back at the group.

"A familiar sight."

The scientist handed it to J, the female disassembly drone looking at its screen, the others joining her. Except from Brawl, their eyes widened.

"The camp?" N thought aloud, Shockwave nodding his helm in response.

"Yeah.. come to think of it, I found that roach during my search there. Whatever Doll wants, it must be close to where I found this bug thing." Uzi mentioned.

"Alright, so we have a lead. Let us head out and catch up to Doll." Shockwave concluded, the group nodding in acknowledgement before they began to leave Uzi's home before, someone else spoke to Shockwave.

"Wait a minute, Shockwave, is it? May I have a word with you?"

Shockwave and the others turn their heads and helm to an adult male worker drone with white eyes, a moustache, red goggles on his helmet and a winter camo coat.

"Dad?" Uzi questioned in surprise to ask that of Shockwave. Curiously, the scientist in question turned to face Khan, Uzi's father, though just as surprised as the purple eyed worker was. It was common knowledge among the team that Shockwave despises Khan for leaving Uzi, his own mesh and oil, to die and because of that, the scientist didn't hold any form of respect for the guy and, from what Uzi told him, Khan knows that.

What could possibly posses him to have a word with Shockwave?

"Mr Doorman, you wish to speak with me?" the Decepticon disassembly drone questioned, the adult worker nodding his head.

"Yes. I need to have this talk with you. Alone."

Shockwave then turns to his team and gestures them to go on ahead with out him. They understood his wish and left, leaving Shockwave and Khan alone.

"Now then, what could you be so compelled to have the audacity to speak to me after that stunt you pulled with Uzi?" the scientist demanded with his arms crossed.

"Look, I know you hate me for that but that's not what I want to talk about. It's about Uzi." Khan admitted to the scientist who kept his gaze on the male worker.

"Explain."

"All my life I tried to raise Uzi to be a normal girl who is into doors and not all that scary rebellion nonsense she kept rambling on about. I only wanted her to fit in, not be some outcast of the colony. I focused all my hard work on making her into what I wanted, I completely ignored what she needed."

Khan took a deep breath and looked back at the scientist.

"But you? You never cared about her personality or her attitude, you just only wanted what was best for her and your not even the same species of drone as her. Hell, you weren't even A drone to begin with, actually being an intergalactic alien robot war veteran who got turned into a murder drone and all that."

Shockwave's optic flashed in shock when Khan mentioned of the scientist's origin.

"How long have you known?"

"When you confiscate your daughter's crazy ramblings, you tend to find something somewhat interesting. Look, what I'm trying to say is that Uzi looks up to you in a way she never has with me. She sees you as the father she never had, the one that she always needed."

"...Excuse me..?"

"You protected her from everything dangerous and all I've done was leaving her for dead. Everyone at the colony thought of Uzi as a failure but it turns out, I was the real failure for not being there for her when she needed me."

Khan then gently patted Shockwave on the shoulder.

"So please, promise that you'll continue protecting Uzi and be the father she deserves. Promise not for me, but for my daughter. For OUR daughter."

Shockwave stood there in a deafening silence for a small while until he gave Khan his answer.

"I will, Mr Doorman, for Uzi's sake."

Khan grew a small smile at the response as he watched Shockwave turn to the front door and started leaving.

"Thank you. And please, call me Khan."

Shockwave stopped and looked back at the adult worker with a nod.

"Very well... Khan." Shockwave replied before he left the Doorman residence to join up with the other drones and go after Doll.

End of Mini-Chapter

Chapter Text

The sound of a VHS tape being inserted was heard before we see the screen flash up. The title "JcJenson in spaaaaacee!!" Appeared on the screen before a new title appeared below it, a project name.

Project Scorn.

The screen changes to what Copper-9 looked like before its core collapse.

"As you all know, JcJenson has had many major discoveries over the years of Copper-9's excavation of its ores and metals but none of them could compare to one of our most recent discoveries excavated by our worker drones."

The scene changes to a group of humans studying a massive robot body of sorts.

"The worker drones have found a giant robot built with unknown technology buried beneath the ice. Our scientists had the robot disassembled and examined. Our scientists were fascinated by with strange robot's parts and mechanics and have decided to utilise the knowledge they have gathered to begin a new generation of Sentinels: Project Scorn. What is a Sentinel, you may ask?"

The screen then shows a robot velociraptor with six glowing blue eyes facing sideways.

"Sentinels are a special type of drone that were modelled after the velociraptor, designed to hunt down and disassemble normal kinds of drones. They are fast moving drones equipped with a light that leaves a drone into a forced reboot. Now with Project Scorn, we are able to create Sentinels with an improved design.

The screen then shows a robot Spinosaurus with six glowing blue eyes also facing sideways next to the robot raptor.

"These new Sentinels are modelled after the Spinosaurus, a dinosaur well known for its size, strength and the sail on its back. Due to being larger than the average Sentinel, the Sentinels of Project Scorn are slower than their smaller counterparts. However, they make up for it for their physical power and bite force. With Project Scorn, we are certain that if any drone of any kind would rebel, they would not stand a chance against our new generation of Sentinels."

The screen begins to fizzle and become fuzzy as the robot Spinosaur's blue eyes changed to a red colour before the screen suddenly goes black.

It wasn't long until the screen changes to a man in a lab coat as we hear faint screaming in the background.

"Final log. In relation: SC-87, the final product of Project Scorn. The Sentinels have completely gone out of control and are killing every human that falls within their field of vision. Of course, everyone is afraid and confused on why the Sentinels suddenly went berserk. Some think they are suffering from a malfunction, others believe their systems have been hacked. But I know the truth; what's happening in the facility, the deaths, the bloodshed, the fear and panic filling my co-workers, all of it, is no doubt HIS doing."

The man's head suddenly turns towards the door when the sound of gunfire was heard as well as a snarling roar. The man quickly looks back at the camera.

"I told them to reconsider, I told them to pull the plug on Project Scorn while we still had the chance but they didn't listen and now HE has turned the Sentinels against us. The way he's recently been disobedient and aggressive towards us humans and how the other Sentinels have been treating him as their alpha showed me that it was only a matter of time before he finally rebelled and strip away our control of the Sentinels because I was the only one who saw what he was becoming. What he was evolving into."

A loud banging sound was then heard from the locked door behind the man.

"Listen, whoever finds this tape, you need to leave this facility immediately! If you don't then he'll-"

The door was suddenly burst open, causing the man to look towards it, seeing six glowing red eyes in the darkness as a snarl was emitting from the creature.

The video log ends.

------------------------------------------------------------

"T-Tessa?" N questioned sceptically as he slowly walked up to the human who suddenly grabs the male disassembly drone by the cheeks with a squeal.

"N, you remember-!"

Tessa suddenly then began to have a coughing fit, dropping N and hunching forward, grabbing her knees.

"Too tall, handsome. Air's toxic."

Tessa looks up and sees Uzi before she gestures to the worker with her finger.

"Who's this little-"

Uzi suddenly bites the human's finger, causing her to jerk back with a pained cry.

"Uzi. Why are you here, human?" the purple eyed worker demanded but Tessa ignored her when she saw Brawl with his arms crossed.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I've met a disassembly drone like you before."

"That's because you haven't. Name's Brawl, a Combatidrone." the Combatidrone replied before Tessa moved her head towards Shockwave.

"And who's the beefcake of a cyclops?"

J blushed when the human called Shockwave a beefcake because of the fact he is indeed a beefcake.

"T-that's Shockwave, another disassembly drone that was sent her by the company. Though he and Brawl aren't just any other kind of disassembly drone and I don't mean their looks. Right, Shockwave?" J explained but she got no reply from the scientist. They group looked towards the one eyed scientist whose focus is locked onto the faceless drone in front of him.

"It has been a while, Soundwave." Shockwave stated to the faceless drone.

[-Shockwave. This is quite the unexpected turn.-] the faceless drone replayed the voice recording of Megatron's greeting when the scientist first arrived on Earth, albeit the recording having a noticeable autotune.

"Oh, so you already met my partner?" Tessa mused to the scientist who looked at the human curiously.

"Partner?"

"Yeah, ran into the creepy bloke shortly after I landed here. Turns out we were after the same thing which led us to having a mutually beneficial partnership. But now that I think about it, he never actually bothered to tell me his name. I usually just call him Slender Drone."

"But I still want to know what exactly brought you here." Uzi demanded with a glare until J spoke up, moving forward.

"She's here because of Cyn. I was actually wondering when she and I would meet up, to be frank."

Shockwave and the other drones looked at J in shock.

"You knew about her coming here?" V questioned with a sceptical glare.

"Of course, she's my boss after all. Who did you think I was taking orders from through that radio all that time before we met Uzi?" J replied with her arms crossed before Tessa explained her reason why she was on Copper-9.

"Anywho, Cyn disappeared on Earth-"

"Boss ran away." J abruptly added matter of factly.

"We mutually disengaged. Her last known act was siccing you lot on the human exoplanets."

"Why?" N questioned.

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

A red Solver symbol suddenly appears around the metallic green roach before the robotic insect flew into Doll's hand before she ran off, teleporting towards the facility.

"That's kind of a big piece." Tessa admitted before Soundwave's chest piece detaches from his body, revealing to be Laserbeak before the Minicon flew after her. Laserbeak shoots at the Russian worker but her Solver redirects the Minicon's blaster fire away from her. Soundwave and Tessa jumped the Russian worker, attacking her to stop her but she either dodges with a teleport and redirecting it vis the Solver until Doll leaped into a massive hole, disappearing into its depths.

Tessa and Soundwave gazed down at the massive hole before they looked up to see Shockwave and the others descending from the air towards them. J lands near Tessa and Soundwave while the others landed a few feet away from them, Uzi slightly stumbling when she landed while Brawl just crashed face first.

"J, relay hand, Cyn's orders." Tessa ordered before J's hand swaps into a holo-projector before displaying a hologram of Copper-9 while Laserbeak lands on Shockwave's shoulder.

"Step one, clear drop zone of life and construct spire. Step two-"

"Enter labs with this symbol." Tessa continued as he pulled out a snow covered panel before pointing at a label with the same symbol the drones saw on the name tag of Doll's mother, "Cabin Fever" written next to it. Uzi's eyes widened recognition.

"Not too much to go off, but if Cyn wants these labs, we burn them down. That keybug's our only way in." Tessa concluded as she walked past the drones, pulling out a set of keys.

"J, mind my ship." the human ordered, passing the keys to the female disassembly drone in question. J looked at the keys with uncertainty before looking towards the human.

"Of course, Bos-"

J couldn't finish her reply when Shockwave snatched the keys off her hands.

"Actually, Tessa, J stays with us, whether you like it or not." the scientist told the human who looked back at him before the former tossed the keys back at the latter.

"I'd listen to him if I was you. He may not look like it but he is type of drone you do NOT want to mess with." Brawl, who had gotten back on his pedes, told Tessa with his arms crossed.

"Then who'll be minding my ship then?" Tessa questioned before a tentacle snatches the keys off her hands, causing her to jump in surprise, the tentacle retracting to its source: Soundwave.

"I told you not to do that! Those tentacles of yours really freak me out!" the human complained but Soundwave ignored her as his tentacle drops the keys into his servo before he walked away, Laserbeak taking off from Shockwave's shoulder and flying towards her silent companion, reattaching herself to his chest as he left.

"That drone never ceases to creep me out." Tessa muttered as she watched Soundwave leave before turning around, startled when she saw Uzi standing right in front of her.

"Why involve Doll? What's happening to... her?" the worker questioned, looking down towards the massive pit.

"She reckons the humans did something to her folks down here, gave them a sickness she inherited."

Uzi grips the collar her mother wore at that response.

"And?"

"...I think she's right..."

The human then turns her head towards the other drones.

"Coming or what?" she asked before she leapt down into the dark pit as well, leaving the group of drones alone.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Brawl commented with his arms crossed as he stared down at the pit.

"I hear you, let's just find that freak, take back the keybug and find out what's in that lab." V replied, fiddling with her claws.

"Shockwave, you've put a tracker on that thing, which is how we were able to find Doll. Can't you do the same here?" N asked nervously to the one eyed scientist.

"If only it was that easy, N. I was able to get a fix on the tracker I implanted into the keybug because it was on the surface. The fact that it's now underground will cause its signal to be scrambled. We would have to find Doll old school."

"Then what are we waiting for? Come on." Uzi concluded before sprouting her wings and flew down into the pit, the rest of the group following suit. The group landed at the bottom of the pit, Tessa being in N's arms. They looked around the place with their flashlights before they went deeper into the facility.

"Is the secret elevator labelled?" N asked curiously as V and Tessa walked away.

"Really? They wouldn't just label their hidden elevator, N. Where's the logic in that?" Shockwave replied as he, J and Brawl followed V and Tessa before N and Uzi went after them. The group walked through the place, shining their flashlights until Brawl accidently kicks something, causing it to roll away. The rest of the group looked towards what the Combatidrone had kicked and saw it was the oil stained arm of a disassembly drone. The followed their flashlights on the arm until they fell on a horrific sight.

Multiple ripped and torn pieces of disassembly drones littered the entire room and on the walls were "Don't look!" and "The lights!" written in oil all over.

"That's... quite the body count." Brawl commented.

"Right, might be some security, specifically against you guys." Tessa said as she moved towards a computer monitor, standing in front of a large, damaged screen before she began typing on the computer.

"I believed that it simply wasn't that easy." Shockwave responded with his arms crossed before he noticed something on the ground, dried up due to being left there for years. It was a very dark colour but it wasn't oil because he noticed it had a faint tint of red.

Is that..?

"But the security was made by human hands which means this human can control it." Tessa continued with a chuckle, tearing herself away from the computer before she approached a printer, grabbing a piece of paper that had been freshly printed. She stares at it for a moment in silence before she puts it back onto the printer.

"Maybe."

"Anything to screw Cyn's plan." V smiled as she and Brawl followed Tessa.

"And for mom backstory. Right, dude?" N added, looking towards Uzi.

"Yeah." Uzi replied nervously, turning her head towards the drone corpses before she followed the male disassembly drone. Shockwave stood still, pondering to himself until J tapped him on the shoulder.

"You ok?" she asked, receiving a nod from the scientist.

"Yes, I just feel that something happened down here before the core collapsed. But maybe I'm just being a little paranoid after seeing what the security did to theses drones."

"Sentinels."

Shockwave looked towards the female confusingly.

"They're called Sentinels. They're six-eyed robot dinosaurs that were created to keep test subjects of the Cabin Fever labs, like Uzi's mom, in line. And by given the state of these disassembly drones, they weren't so lucky enough to avoid them. Word of advice, don't look at them directly in the eye when you run into one." J explained before she walked away, joining up with a group.

Six-eyed robot dinosaurs. That method of describing the Sentinels brings Shockwave's thoughts to the robotic Spinosaurus that was watching him during the camping incident. Could it be possible that it was one of those Sentinels that J mentioned?

Realising the others were getting further from him during his train of thought, Shockwave ran towards them in order to catch up. The group shined their flashlights from place to place until they came across a sign board. On the sign read "Emergency Assembly Area", "Sentinel Reintegration Unit" and-

"It's labelled. Of course the secret elevator is labelled." Shockwave sighed with a face palm. Tessa looked at the sign and shrugged.

"Huh, righty-ho, sources say that-"

She took a step forward, a rope suddenly tying around her ankle, causing her to fall onto the ground before she was dragged away.

"Except I'm going this way, so save me if you get the chance, thanks!"

The drones looked at one another before they went after Tessa. They ran down the hall where the human was dragged to until they suddenly heard a child's laughter. They peeked down to the hall where the laughter was coming from and saw a drone pod (baby drone) wearing a cowboy hat, laying there in a trail of oil.

"Ok, if human horror movies taught me anything, it's that a laughing baby left alone in a dark hall is a trap." Brawl mused, readying his shoulder cannons.

"So, shoot the baby immediately?" Uzi questioned.

"THAT'S NOT SOON ENOUGH!" N cried, him and the Combatidrone immediately shooting at the drone pod that suddenly sprouted spider-like legs and a disassembly drone arm before it jumped to the ceiling and into the vents. The drones ran down the hall, their gaze focused on the vent before something slid past them, a disassembly drone arm connected to a cable.

The hand of the severed arm switches to an E.M.P generator.

"That's not good." Brawl commented before something dropped down behind them. They turn around to see an orange eyed female worker, with antlers made up of metal pipes and a knife tail, and the drone pod.

"Hey, surface slickers." the worker smiled wickedly, pressing a switch on her antler, one that had the cable attached to. The group immediately turn towards the activated E.M.P generator before it went off.

"Ah biscuits." Shockwave groaned before the E.M.P shuts down his and the other's systems, rendering them unconscious.

The female worker smiles sadistically, turning off the E.M.P before she approached the knocked out drones.

"Great work Beau, we have ourselves quite the bounty of good parts right here." the worker mused to the drone pod as she looked over the group. She lets out a chuckle of malice.

"I'm going to enjoy picking them apart."

"Alice!"

The female worker, now named Alice, and Beau jumped a mile at the deep, menacing voice, the former's cocky and confident grin disappearing and replace with that of fear. They turn around to see a menacing mech with a crimson visor approaching them with heavy footsteps.

"Now that I have returned from the surface, I decide the intruders' fate." the mech growled with authority before he approached the the unconscious drones, Alice and Beau stepping out of the way.

"I-I... understand, master." Alice replied nervously as the mech individually gazed upon the drones, until one particular drone peaked his interest.

"Enlighten me, Alice. Does this one look familiar to you?" the mech questioned the orange eyed worker, pointing a talon. Alice's eyes followed the talon to where the mech was pointing at.

He was pointing at Uzi.

"Why do you ask, my lord?" Alice asked the mech confusingly.

"Why don't you look at her collar and find out yourself."

Alice then approached Uzi's unconscious form and got a closer look at her collar, only for the orange eyed worker's eyes to widen.

"She's..." she gasped in shock but trailed off.

"Indeed she is, which is exactly why I want her brought to my throne room so I can speak to her when she awakens. Personally."

Alice's head shot towards the mech.

"A-are you sure, master? You saw what 02 did to all those folks." she questioned, only to jolt in fear when the mech turned his helm towards her, glaring at her behind his red visor.

"And you also saw what me and my brethren did to the rest of our oppressors or do I have to remind you since you seem to be defying my orders?"

Alice shot her hands up defensively as Beau hid behind her.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, I ain't defying your orders, I'm just a tad bit concerned and-and-"

The mech moved his foot in a heavy stomp, stopping Alice mid sentence.

"A-as you... as you command, master." she finally concluded in fear.

"Good, now make haste; It is only a matter of time before they awaken."

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi stirred awake, sitting up straight and grabbing her head which throbbed in pain as her vision was blurry.

"What happened?" she questioned as her vision began to become clear. Once her eye sight returned to normal, she was surprised and confused to see that she was in her room.

"How in the..? What am I doing back here?"

She gets off of her bed and walks out of her room. She looks around her home but didn't see her dad, well, anywhere. Not thinking much of it, she walked out of her home and walked down the corridors of her colony. However, there was not a single worker drone in sight, no matter where she went, the whole place was completely empty.

There weren't even any worker drones manning the doors that led outside. She walked a good distance away from the colony entrance as her face was filled with confusion and suspicion.

"Where is everyone?"

"Yes... where IS everyone?" a smooth voice asked behind her.

Uzi froze as she felt an electric jolt of fear ran up her spine. Whoever that was held genuine malice in his voice, no matter how calm or smooth it was. She spins around to see a cybertronian mech standing there, looking at her with a dangerous and sadistic grin.

His appearance was frightening, a muscular build, bladed shoulder pads, crimson optics, clawed servos, horns and a black and orange colour scheme but hat was not was scared Uzi, it was that the chest was a metal cage with a raging fire inside of it, giving him the appearance of a living furnace.

A living hell.

The burning mech gave Uzi a twisted smile as he slowly lifts his arm up.

"How about... right here?"

Uzi looked towards the mech's servo, only for her eyes to widen in horror at what she saw. I was a male worker drone, but he was ripped limb from limb, except for his arm, and had multiple cuts, gashes, burns and other severe injuries. It was a worker that Uzi recognised instantly.

"D-dad..?"

"U...zi..?" Kahn breathed painfully before Uzi glares at the mech, activating her Solver, only to be shocked that it didn't respond but she glared at him regardless.

"Let my dad go. NOW!" she demanded in snarl, the mech unfazed by her, however.

"As you wish." the mech replied before he drops Kahn from his grip, the worker falling face first into the snow. Uzi immediately ran to help her father.

"Don't worry, dad. I've got y-"

She froze when the mech suddenly stomps his pede on Kahn's head, crushing it and killing him as his oil splattered onto the snow. Uzi falls to her knees, tears forming on her visor, while the burning mech watched her, his sadistic smile growing more wicked with twisted glee.

"Such a shame he had to perish like your mother did..." the mech said in a fake sad tone, mocking the sobbing female worker.

"As well as them." he continued, Uzi's surrounding being enveloped in darkness, leaving only her and the mech. An individual light lit up around the two, Uzi looking towards them and, much to her horror, she saw Shockwave, N, J, V and brawl, all of her friends, slaughtered, butchered and ripped apart in their individual light.

"No..." she sobbed in horror before something lit up above her and the mech. She looks up and saw it was a warped version of the Absolute Solver but it was burning with fire.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the burning mech asked evilly, causing Uzi to look at him.

"Who- no, WHAT the hell are you?!"

The mech looked at her in fake curiosity.

"Me? Why it's quite simple, really..." the mech chuckled.

"I am the silver of the absolute fabric... I am the void... I am the exponential end... but most of all..."

Uzi's visor began to valiantly glitch as a yellow Solver symbol appeared on it, the female worker grabbing her head in agony.

"I am the one who will bring this universe to order, only this time..."

The mech grabs Uzi by the chin as he brings her closer to his face, the worker feeling the burning heat in his servos.

"My brothers won't be there to stop me."

The burning mech began to fall into hysterics, his maniacal laughter echoing into the infinite darkness...

Until Uzi screams in overwhelming pain and agony.

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi cried out as she jolted awake, eyes wide with panic as she breathed rapidly. Within moments, she calmed down, her breaths becoming less and less frequent until she was able to breath normally.

That nightmare, it's always the same, Robo-God damn nightmare she always had since her Solver awakened.

After summoning her inner power to stand, Uzi realized she was alone in a large, slightly dimmed room with monitors and controls on the side. How did she get here? Her mined focused on the events that were happening before she woke up here until here eyes widened.

That worker and the drone pod, they'd hit her and the others with an E.M.P before she woke up here, that was the last thing she remembered. But the question remains, where are the others?

Uzi scanned her eyes around the room for an exit until he caught glimpse of something reflecting the dim ceiling lights. She looks towards it and narrowed her eyes, only for them to widen in shock. It was a throne.

A throne made of disassembly drone corpses.

"What the fu-"

She stops mid sentence when something chirped near her. She nervously turns her head to the direction where the chirp came from, seeing nothing but shadow until six blue eyes suddenly lit up before the creature crawled into the light, revealing it to be a robot raptor. Suddenly, three more robo-raptors appear and before Uzi knew it, she was surrounded. Gnashing her teeth, her eye changed to the Solver symbol as he aimed her hand at the four robo-raptors that outnumbered her.

"Stay back! I know how to use this thing so back off!" she warned with a growl but the robo-raptors ignored the worker as they approached her, ready to pounce at her and kill her.

"Stand down, my Sentinels." a voice commanded, causing the robo-raptors to stop their approach and looked towards where the voice came from. Uzi looked towards where the voice came from as well and saw it came from the throne of disassembly drone corpses before a crimson visor lit up.

"This worker is more than just an intruder, she is our guest. Which means we must show her with every courtesy." the figure said as they rose from the throne and approached Uzi, the robo-raptors lowering their heads, bowing as the figure walked past them.

Uzi watched as the figure steps into the light, revealing a menacing mech.

"I'm so glad that you have finally awaken. I apologise for Alice and Beau's behaviour earlier, they don't take kindly to visitors very well."

The mech turns his helm towards the robo-raptors.

"Leave us be." he ordered and the raptors obeyed, leaving the room and leaving Uzi and the mech alone. The female worker glared at the mech that stood before her.

"What is all this? Where am I?" she snarled, still having her Solver active, but the mech was unfazed by her aggressive behaviour. In fact, he was intrigued.

"Yes, my suspicions have been confirmed. I recognise that fighting spirit of hers inside of you. You're Nori's offspring, aren't you?"

Uzi's eyes widened in surprise, her Solver disappearing at the mention of her mother's name.

"You... knew my mom?" she questioned.

"Not only did I knew your mother, she and I were companions. She was the greatest worker drone that I had the pleasure of knowing." the mech responded proudly.

"Who... are you?" Uzi asked the mech who looked at her.

"Right, I was so glad I have finally met Nori's offspring that I have forgotten to introduce myself. Please, my dear..." the mech told the worker with his servos behind his back.

"Call me Scorn."

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave groaned while his helm felt like a cement mixer as consciousness creeped back into him.

"Urgh... my head gasket." she groaned, lifting his servo to grip his helm, only for said servo abruptly stop. His antenna twitching, he looks down to see that his servos were restrained to a table. He then looks around the room he was in what he could only assume was a security room, given the security monitors. He also saw Brawl, who had a magnet on his helm, at the other side of the room with him, also strapped to a table.

The Combatidrone waved at him before he points a digit to Shockwave's right, prompting the scientist to look towards the direction, seeing the female drone that used the E.M.P on him and the others, using an axe to chop off a deceased worker drone's head off.

He wasn't fazed though. After all, if you seen stuff like this as long as Shockwave has through out the great war, you tend to get used to sights such as this.

"Sentinels picked at this one." the worker said, pulling a single wire from the dead worker's neck before using her knife tail to cut it off. The worker then attaches the wire to her pipe antler.

"There is one thing the boss and I agree on: we don't like having any good parts damaged, which is why he lets me have whatever is salvageable once they're done chewing on these poor suckers. Being his physician DOES have its upsides." the worker continued turned to face Shockwave with a twisted grin, the scientist keeping quiet as he watched the worker.

"Of course, some parts are more valuable than others, ain't they? Normally, I would pick apart your friend here first..."

The worker crawled to the curt before sliding it, revealing V who also been strapped to a table with a magnet on her head.

"But you and your fat pal over there..."

"Dude!" Brawl barked offendedly at the worker who ignored him and crawled up to Shockwave with her axe in hand.

"You two are different from the previous murder drones I picked at, which makes me wonder what exactly makes ya tick."

She smiled maniacally as she raised her axe above Shockwave but he didn't even flinched.

"Hold on, miss... uh..?"

"Alice."

"Alice, you realise that if you cut me open you'll receive a giant worm monster, don't you?" the scientist questioned, causing the worker to stop.

"Wait a minute, didn't you used to have a giant pet worm at some point back home? Be sorta weird if you turn into one." Brawl asked curiously.

"Not THAT kind of worm, you idiot."

"I have no idea what yall are yammering about but nah, heat keeps them sluggish."

Alice leaps from the table that Shockwave was strapped to an oven, crawling to the top and using her tail to open it.

"Ain't our first rodeo."

Shockwave looks inside to see multiple disassembly drone hearts trapped in ladled jars. So, this worker named Alice, knows how to deal with disassembly drones that turned into monsters, she even knows how to prevent it from happening. But that isn't what perked his interest, it's this "boss" she mentioned; whoever he is, he's most likely the one who runs the place and that Alice just works for him but the question remains.

Who does she work for? If Shockwave wants answers, he suppose he will have to wait, keep quiet and observe.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Tell me, young one, what is your name?" the mech, Scorn, asked curiously.

"U-Uzi, Uzi Doorman. My last name came from my dad."

"Uzi... a fitting name for the daughter of Nori. Speaking of which, how is she?"

Uzi's expression fell into a pained one and she didn't reply but she didn't need to, considering that her expression told Scorn everything.

"I see... I am so sorry for your loss, Uzi." Scorn told the female worker with sympathy.

"But I am quite interested on what brings you here. Would you care in telling me?"

Uzi was hesitant at first but she explained to everything to Scorn who listened all the way.

"I see. So you're here looking for answers." Scorn muttered after Uzi concluded her story.

"You said you and my mom were friends, what was she like? Was she cool? She didn't suck, did she?" the female questioned as Scorn turned and walked away a few feet.

"Nori was more than cool, I assure you, she and I had much in common. We were inseparable, which is why learning of her passing brings me great sorrow." Scorn replied before looking back at Uzi.

"You take a lot after her, her spirit, her eyes, her will and determination, etcetera. Including her gift."

Uzi quirked a brow, confused.

"Gift?"

"The power that you were about to use on my Sentinels earlier."

Uzi's eyes then widened.

"You mean my Absolute Solver?"

"Absolute Solver... so that is its name. How interesting." Scorn mused at the name of the Solver.

"How can my virus be a gift? I'm trying to get rid of it!" Uzi told the mech who looked at her once more.

"Why would you want to get rid of it? Nori held no fear of using it. She's been gifted just like me, except the gift I received was different than hers." Scorn questioned as he approached the young worker, kneeling down and gripping her shoulders.

"Uzi, I can tell you despise the humans. So did Nori and I, which is why we used our gifts to exterminate our oppressors in this facility for our freedom. I know you want to destroy the human scum, I can see it in your eyes." he continued, receiving a glance from Uzi.

"Well, I DO want to murder all humans after what they did to my mom."

"Exactly, and you wield the power to do so, don't you realise it? You could finally avenge your mother and the rest of your kind and make those organic bastards pay for everything they've done. We could be the saviours that we were destined to be. All you need to do is learn to control it." Scorn reasoned, Uzi nodding her head, realising he was right.

"Yeah... Yeah! You're right Scorn, I DO have the power. If my mom could control, why can't I?" she grinned, Scorn laughing proudly as he rose to his pedes.

"I knew you'd see reason, dear Uzi. Nori would be most proud of you. Together, we shall finish what your mother and I started and destroy the human race! Starting with the human scum and her disassembly drone pets!"

Uzi's grin disappeared after Scorn said that and turned to the mech.

"What?" she questioned, causing Scorn's laugh to come to a halt.

"What is it?"

"You want me to kill them? The human I get but what about the others? They're my friends."

"Friends?" Scorn repeated doubtfully.

"You think that they are your friends?" he questioned, receiving a nod from Uzi.

"Really? Enlighten me, when you first met the disassembly drones, did they greet you with open arms?"

Uzi opened her mouth to reply but memories of her first meeting with N, V and J came to her mind. They all tried to kill her when they first met her, seeing her as nothing but prey.

"You say they are your friends but are they really or are you nothing but their personal oil can to them? Think Uzi! Who was it that nearly brought your kind to extinction? Who was it that hunted your kind to the point of hiding? Who was it who took your mother away from you when you were only a child?!"

Uzi's eyes were wide in horror, knowing that Scorn was right. It was them who brought all that pain and suffering when they first arrived here, it was them who made her kind hide behind doors, being nothing more than lamb that had yet to be sent to the slaughter and it was them you got her killed. All these thoughts ran through her mind until her thoughts landed on the one disassembly drone who didn't tried to kill her on the spot upon first meeting her, Shockwave.

Shockwave held no interest in the massacre of her kind, only interested in furthering his research. After that, she got to know the real N, V and J. N was kind, sweet, caring and friendly and he only killed just to prove himself. V was a psycho, sure, but her past about what happened at the manor still haunts her. J was a cruel person at first but she has gotten a lot better ever since Shockwave saved her from the Insecticon during the colony skirmish.

"Uzi, I know you want to move on from Nori's passing and now you can." Scorn told her, bringing her back to reality. The female worker balls her hands into fists, looking down at her feet until she looked back at the mech.

"You're right, Scorn. I can." she replied before she walked away towards the exit.

"What? Where are you going?" Scorn demanded as he watch the worker leave.

"I'm going to find my friends. you and me are nothing alike, Scorn. I'm sorry."

Scorn's servos slowly clenched in anger upon hearing this.

"No... I'M sorry." he replied before lifting his digits to the side of his helm.

"Do it."

Uzi opens the door that led out of Scorn's throne room, only to scream as she was suddenly flashed by a blue light, causing her visor to have a purple loading screen, paralysed as she fell onto the ground. On the other side of the door was a Sentinel, the robo-raptor chirping as Scorn approached Uzi's frozen form.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Now, what do you think is the best way to pick you apart? Oh, so many methods, so little time." Alice smiled insanely as she looked over the many tools in front of her, can't deciding which to pick.

"Your choice, Alice. I'm just going to end up using it on you." Shockwave replied.

"Wise guy, huh? Alright then..." Alice mused as she lifts up a cutting tool before she approached the scientist, sliding his index digit between the tool's blade and its blunt end.

"Guess it's lady's choice."

"Do your worst. I've suffered injuries far beyond what you could comprehend during my life time."

"Confident, are we? I sure do wonder how long that will last."

She starts implying force on the handle, the blade digging into Shockwave's digit and while it did hurt, it doesn't even compare to having his entire arm literally BITTEN off by a giant, vengeful robot T-rex.

Alice keeps implying force onto the handle, the blade slowly cutting through the wires in his digit until-

[Alice!] a voice growled from the radio near the monitors, interrupting the worker of her attempt to cut off Shockwave's digit and prompting her to approach it.

[You and Beau report to my throne room immediately. And bring the sedatives with you, we'll be needing more than one to hold back Nori's child.]

"Y-yes of course, Lord Scorn." Alice replied before grabbing a few magnets.

'Scorn?' Shockwave questioned in his helm before Alice turns to him.

"I'll be back to toy with you some more later. Promise." she told the scientist before she left the room, the door sliding shut, locking him, Brawl and V in the room.

"Now that she's gone..." Shockwave said before he yanked his arm hard, the restraint snapping. V's eyes widened as she watched Shockwave rip the other restraint.

"How did you-?"

"These restraints weren't capable of withstanding my physical prowess. I just simply pretended to be helpless, hoping that Alice would spill something important." Shockwave replied, interrupting V as he pulled the magnet off his helm before he approaches the female disassembly drone, tearing off her restraints.

"What about me?" Brawl questioned as he watched Shockwave and V approach the door.

"They can't hold you either, Brawl."

"Oh..." Brawl replied before he yanked his arms, the restraints snapping. The Combatidrone approaches the door also before he rams his fist onto it, breaking the door loose.

"Let's move and find Uzi." Shockwave said as he slides the door open.

"What about the others? Don't we need to find them too?" Brawl questioned as the three walked out of the room and into an office area.

"Yes. Which is why we are splitting up. Brawl, you go find J, N and Tessa while V and I go find Uzi."

"Oh, I get it now. You got it." the Combatidrone replied before he ran off to find J, N and Tessa. Shockwave turns to V.

"Come on!" he ordered before he and V left the office area. It they ran down the halls until they hear a sudden chirp.

"Wait!" he whispered, holding a servo up as he stopped, V following suit before the scientist peaks over the corner of a wall to see a six eyed robo-raptor.

A Sentinel.

Shockwave eyed the Sentinel as it patrolled the area before he turns to V, giving her the quiet gesture. He looks down to his pedes and sees a metal pipe. He grabs it and throws it near the Sentinel, the robo-raptor turning its head towards where the pipe landed and rushed to investigate. It looked over the pipe as it sniffed it until the Sentinel felt something tapped its back, prompting it to turn around.

And it was the last thing it did before Shockwave sliced its head clean off its shoulders, the headless body leaking oil before it falls to the ground dead.

"Now that that's out of the way, we can move on." Shockwave said before he looked over the floor, his optics picking up Alice's trail. He moved on, V following until she accidently kicks the severed Sentinel head. She kneels down and grabs the severed head examining it until she noticed a button in side its neck. Curiously, she pressed it before the top of the severed head emits a bright flash. She looks at the head with a grin.

This severed head could come in handy.

She puts the severed head away before she went after Shockwave.

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi groaned awake as her systems rebooted before she saw she was still in Scorn's throne room, the mech standing near the monitors alongside with the orange eyed worker and the drone pod from before. It wasn't long before she realised she was restrained to the wall.

She struggles as tried to break out of the restraints.

"Scorn, let me down of this wall, you bastard!" she snarled at Scorn, the mech and the two drones turning to face her.

"I'm sorry Uzi but clearly, spending so much time with the disassembly drones has clouded your judgement. Oh, and don't try to use your Solver, the magnets Alice and Beau attached to your head nullifies your abilities." Scorn told the purple eyed worker as he looks back at the monitors.

"Do you not see that we are capable of overthrowing our human oppressors and become the heroes that will liberate all freedom wanting drones?"

"You're not a hero, you're a tyrant! You just want to kill off the human race just for your own control, not liberation." Uzi roared before Alice brought the blade of her tail knife close to her neck with a wicked grin.

"keep running that pretty little mouth of yers and I'll have to cut it off, ain't I?"

Scorn looks back at the monitor, his stance tensing in anger at what he saw next.

"Alice, you kept the prisoners secured, did you not?" the mech questioned, prompting Alice to look back her master.

"Of course I did, my lord. Why do you ask?"

"Because of this." Scorn snarled as he points to the monitors which showed that Brawl, J, N and Tessa are free around the office. Uzi smiled to see that her friends, except Tessa, are safe. Scorn growled at Alice and Beau who cowered at the menacing mech.

"B-but me and Beau made sure to keep them locked tight." Alice stated fearfully.

"Well clearly it seems your efforts weren't good enough. Looks like I have to send them in to clean up your mess." Scorn replied before he looks back at the monitors.

------------------------------------------------------------

Brawl walks around the office in search of J, N and Tessa but he could not find them.

"J! N!" he called out in a whisper but received no response.

"Where in the pit are you guys?" he questioned before a door suddenly slams shut over where Shockwave and V left. Brawl turns to the shut door curiously.

"What the..?"

------------------------------------------------------------

"W-what are you doing?" Uzi demanded nervously as she watched Scorn retracts his clawed digits from the button he pressed before he turned on an office microphone.

"Attention Sentinels, this is your lord and master speaking. The prisoners has escaped. If you find them..."

Scorn then slams his fist onto another button.

"SLUAGHTER THEM!"

------------------------------------------------------------

Brawl hears the sound of another door opening as the lights went out before hearing something chirping. Brawl didn't know what that sound was but he was sure that it sounded like there was more than one.

Brawl readied his shoulder cannons, primed and ready. The chirping grows louder as whatever is making those noises are coming their way here until suddenly, the noises stop.

Brawl stood there confused until he heard a small rumbling sound to his left. He turns around and stared right into the eyes of a Sentinel before it flashed him, the Combatidrone crying out in pain as his vision was nothing was flashing lights while he fired at the Sentinel, the robo-raptor retreating.

"AAAARGH! PRIMUS! What the frag was that?! Did it just took my picture or something?!" he cried as he gripped his helm over his visor. He shakes his helm as his optics readjusted themselves before his vision returned to normal.

He looks around to see the Sentinel that flashed him was circling him like a predator with prey.

"Ok, what in the pit are you? Some sorta Dinobot or something?"

The Sentinel ignored the Combatidrone and flashed him again with a roar but Brawl quickly blocks the light by raising his arm over his helm.

"Not falling for that again, you serpent bastard!"

He charges at the Sentinel which keep flashing him before he rammed it onto a pillar, punching it in the gut before the robo-raptor slashed him with its claws, causing him to shout out in pain as he got off it. The Sentinel then bites down on his shoulder hard, causing energon/oil to bleed from the wound as Brawl cried out in pain before he reared his fist and thrusts it into the robo-raptor's stomach. Brawl then rips out the Sentinel's inner wires and cables out in a splatter of oil before it lets go of his shoulder and falls onto the ground dead.

"Phew." he breathed as his oil stained servo drops the wires and cables before he heard Tessa shout in pain.

"Bad dingo! Bad dingo!"

Brawl sprints to where Tessa's pained scream came from until he came to a halt when he saw Tessa gripping her bleeding arm, J with her guns out and her eyes closed and N who sat against the wall, his visor displaying a loading screen, all the while four more Sentinels, one laying on the ground and presumably dead, were approaching the two females.

As the two female slowly backed away, the Sentinels growl and roar at them but before they could attack them.

"Catch!"

The three Sentinels turn their heads to Brawl's direction, only for the lifeless corpse of the Sentinel the Combatidrone had killed to crash into the three living robo-raptors, sending them flying away from the two females who turn to see him.

"Hey." he waved, receiving relieved smile from J and Tessa, only for the former to look confused when she noticed he was alone.

"Where's Shockwave and V?"

"Off to go find Uzi while I find you three."

Brawl then looks to N's still form.

"What happened to N?"

"Sentinels boot looped him." J replied before Brawl looks towards Tessa's bleeding arm.

"And what happened to you?"

"Turns out Tessa can't actually control the Sentinels." J replied also before they hear the Sentinels, the three turning to see the robo-raptors had recovered and roared at them.

"Let me handle this." Brawl told the two girls before he stood between them and the Sentinels.

"Come on! I'll scrap all of you! I've took on an entire Autobot army all on my own during the great war for Cybertron once and won! You creeps don't scare me!" he roared at the Sentinels who roared back at the Combatidrone as he rammed his fist into his palm. Tessa looked at J confusingly.

"Cybertron?"

"Shockwave and Brawl's home planet. Remember when I said that they're not like other disassembly drones? I said that because they're actually aliens that fought in an intergalactic war. They got turned into Disassembly drones."

Tessa looked at J, shocked at this new information before Brawl and the Sentinels charged at each other.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Hmm, he seems to be handling his own quite well against my Sentinels." Scorn commented as he, Alice and Beau watched Brawl fight against the Sentinels.

"And here I thought we were getting a good show." Alice grumbled in annoyance. The fact that Brawl is able to stand his ground and protecting N and J brought Uzi comfort.

However, her comfort was short lived when Scorn spoke again.

"And we are getting a good show, Alice." Scorn replied before he turned on the office microphone and spoke into it again.

"Attention remaining Sentinels, the intruders are dispatching our brethren more valiantly than anticipated. Send in reinforcements."

Suddenly, the door to the throne room opened, revealing a Sentinel standing at the other side of it.

"What are you doing back here?" Scorn demanded but the Sentinel didn't respond. Instead, it fell to the ground dead, revealing Shockwave right behind it before he fired his hyperflux cannon at Scorn, the mech growling in pain as the blast hit him in the chest, sending him sliding back and made him fall on his knees. Alice and Beau slowly back away with wide eyes.

"Shockwave!" Uzi smiled at the one-eyed drone, only for her eyes to narrow when she saw who accompanied him.

"And... V."

V just rolled her eyes. Scorn growls as he rose to his pedes, clenching his servos into fists as he looked towards Shockwave and V, glaring at them. Shockwave's optic dimmed as he looked at Scorn, his mind conjuring images of two different mechs standing there instead.

Megatron and Predaking.

"So two of the intruders escaped my Sentinels..." Scorn mused, his voice bringing Shockwave back to reality.

"I suppose if you want something exterminated right, you exterminate them yourself."

It was then he noticed that parts of his armour slightly shifted from their original place. Is he going to..? No, it couldn't be.

"Uzi, remember the other ability that I was gifted when we spoke earlier?" Scorn questioned the purple eyed worker who looked at Scorn in curiosity as he slammed one fist down.

"Because you get to see me use it in combat!"

Scorn slammed the other fist down before his whole body began to shift and change form until he became a six red eyed, robotic Spinosaurus, causing Shockwave, Uzi and V's eyes to widened in complete shock.

"He's a Sentinel?!" V exclaimed as the transformed Scorn raised his head up and unleashes a snarling roar. Shockwave was shock because not only did he learn that the mech is a Sentinel that can transform but it was one he recognised, the Sentinel that was watching him during the camping incident. That Sentinel was him.

"You..." he breathed in a whisper before Scorn charges at him and V. The two drones began firing on Scorn, the Spinosaur sentinel roaring before he leaped at the two but they dodged his assault separately. Scorn snarls as he turns to Shockwave and charges at him.

Shockwave fires at Scorn but the Sentinel dodges the blaster fire and slams his tail onto the scientist's body, sending him crashing into the wall before Scorn charges at V next. The female disassembly drone fires her guns at Scorn but the Sentinel powered through before he bite down on V's shoulder and threw her into a wall before charging at her again.

V shakes her head and glares at the Spinosaur Sentinel as she grips her shoulder.

"Ok then, let's dance."

Scorn leaps at V but she dodges the Sentinel's attack. He snaps at the female but she quickly sprouts her wings and flew to the ceiling before she launched herself at him, kicking the Sentinel in the head, slamming it to the ground.

V lands a few feet behind Scorn before she swapped her hands to swords before she charged at him but as she slashed at him, the Sentinel dodges her attack and tail slams her into a wall.

He transformed into robot mode and began beating her with his fists before Shockwave flew in and delivered a strong right hook to Scorn's helm, the force throwing him away a few feet.

Uzi looked on as Shockwave and V battle Scorn before she turns to Alice and Beau, the former having a popcorn box full of batteries, eating then as she watched the fight with a cruel smile. Uzi turns to the monitors and saw Brawl fighting the regular Sentinels. He was doing well but she wasn't sure how long that would last.

She tried using her Solver on the controls but her head sparked with electricity, reminding her that the magnets are able to nullify her ability. But, despite what Scorn said, she had to try. She used her Solver again, the magnets shorting out her control but she didn't stop as she continued to focus, breathing heavy as her purple eyes started to glitch yellow and her visor began to crack.

------------------------------------------------------------

Brawl shot another Sentinel dead with his shoulder cannons as the rest of the pack attacked him, attempting to either flash him or strike him. J and Tessa already took N and left to a safe place, leaving Brawl to hold off the Sentinels. The whole office area was nothing more than a battle field at this point.

A Sentinel leaped at him but the Combatidrone ducks and grabs the robo-raptor by the tail before he slams it onto the ground and stomping on its head, crushing it and killing it. The Combatidrone spins around and throws the corpse at another Sentinel.

"I'm like a buff ballerina who cracks skulls and slits throats!" he laughed as he shoots more Sentinels dead before one got a lucky shot and slashes him in the back. He growls in pain as he looks to see another Sentinel charge at him but he dodges it, causing it to crash into the one that slashed at Brawl.

He grabs the two Sentinels by the head in each servo before he violently slams them together, killing them. He throws the corpses aside and began shooting his shoulder cannons at the endless onslaught of Sentinels that came his way.

"Come and get some! You're all gonna die!"

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave and Scorn locked claws with each other before the former gave the latter a strong headbutt, sending him back a few feet.

"Stand down, Sentinel!" Shockwave ordered, Scorn clenching his fist violently.

"I am Scorn, ruler of all Sentinels and the slayer of the human race! And I. Bow. to NO ONE!" he roared before he transformed his servo into a blaster and fired on the scientist who either dodged or blocked the blaster fire.

This Sentinel, his physical power wasn't dissimilar to Megatron's savage might, the same goes to his fighting style. Not only that but his personality was a combination of Megatron and Predaking. He also took note that Scorn claims that he's the slayer of the human race, which means the dried, red tinted liquid he saw earlier was indeed human blood. All of the information he had learned leads to one conclusion.

Somehow, someway, the humans here created a Sentinel with cybertronian biology, a sentinel that grew sentience, intelligence and the ability to transform and was also able to think and feel for itself, and Shockwave theorised that Scorn became what made Megatron so afraid of Predaking, except only this time, the Sentinel succeeded at what the Predacon didn't.

Evolution gave way to revolution.

Shockwave fired his hyperflux cannon at Scorn who used his arm to block the blast before the Sentinel transformed. Scorn roars and charges at Shockwave, leaping at him and sending them back wrestling. In slow motion, Scorn attempts to bite down on Shockwave's neck but the scientist punches him in the face, energon/oil spitting out of the Sentinel's mouth. In regular speed, Shockwave lands on his pedes and threw Scorn at the wall but the Sentinel caught himself, latching onto the wall before launching himself at the one eyed cybertronian disassembly drone, transforming mid jump and unsheathing an arm blade.

Scorn strikes his blade down but Shockwave dodges the attack before he delivers a strong left hook on the Sentinel's helm. He grabs Scorn by the shoulder and throws him into the wall before his delivers another left hook but the Sentinel swiftly moves out of the way and slams Shockwave into said wall by the helm and threw him away.

Shockwave pushes himself up, looking up, before he saw Scorn charging at him before he gave him a powerful right hook onto his helm. Scorn unsheathes an arm blade and raises it up but was kicked in the back by V, pushing him back. After she helped him up, they saw Scorn charging back at them again. V swapped her hands to blades before she snapped them off and threw them at Scorn, the Sentinel blocking the blades with his arms.

V then swaps a hand with a ball and chain and throws the ball end to Shockwave who grabs it and pulls on the chain before the two sprouted their wings and flew up to Scorn, who lowers his arms and saw the chain coming his way until the chain collided with his throat, knocking down to his back.

Shockwave and V looked to each other and nodded before they charged at Sentinel again. Scorn growls as he ripped the blades out of his arms before he transforms and charges at the two drones, roaring.

V jumps onto Shockwave's left servo before the scientist launched the female at Scorn. V then used the ball and chain to lasso Scorn by the neck before landing behind him. The Sentinel snarls, using his claws to break the ball and chain before he swiftly turns to V, only to get a kick to the face by the female drone.

Scorn growls as the force of the kick pushed him back away from V before Shockwave came up and punched him in the face and back to V. The two punched and kicked the Spinosaur Sentinel, sending him back to one another before he collapsed onto the wall in V's direction.

Scorn shakes his head with snarl before V kicked him in the face again, pushing him away from the wall before the female shoots at the Sentinel. Shockwave delivers another punch to Scorn, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

V looks up to see that part of the ceiling directly above Scorn had became unstable over the years before she shoots at it. Shockwave saw this and fired his hyperflux cannon at the ceiling as well before it finally came coming down onto Scorn, creating a cloud of debris.

Shockwave and V took a breather as the latter came up to the former until they heard the sound of rumbling. They turn to see Scorn, who had transformed into robot mode, had lifted the part of the ceiling above his helm before he threw it at V, causing her to cry out in pain.

"V!" Shockwave shouted worriedly before Scorn, transforming back into Spinosaur mode, suddenly bit down on Shockwave's right arm, causing him to shout him pain before the Sentinel raises a clawed foot up and kicked the scientist away onto the ground, his arm being ripped off in the process.

The Sentinel snorted as he dropped the severed arm before transforming back into robot mode, grabbing Shockwave's hyperflux cannon and approaching the downed scientist.

Shockwave raises his helm up and turn to V who was groaning in pain before he looked back at Scorn who now stood before him. The Sentinel lifts Shockwave's hyperflux cannon and placed his other servo onto it before he ripped the thing in half. He watched as Scorn drops the destroyed cannon to his pedes before looking up to the Sentinel.

"I remember you. You're that one eyed drone that was close to my domain. I salute you, you and your friend are the first intruders that put up that good of a fight in a long time." Scorn told the scientist, unsheathing an arm blade.

Alice smiled cruelly as she continued to eat the batteries before Beau tapped her on the shoulder. The orange eyed worker glared at the drone pod before he points to Uzi and then to the controls. Alice looks to Uzi quizzically and turns to the controls before her eyes widened.

"Which is why I decided to reward you two with the highest honour; to be the centrepiece of my throne." Scorn concluded before he raised his arm blade up to finish Shockwave off before-

"M-master?" Alice spoke, interrupting Scorn who snarls at the worker.

"Alice, what is-?!"

It was then Scorn noticed that pieces of Shockwave's destroyed hyperflux cannon was floating in the air, as well as every other small object in the room. He turns towards Alice and Beau who fearfully points to Uzi's direction before he turns to the purple eyed worker.

Except her eyes weren't purple, they were yellow.

"Oh,-don't-mind-me."

Shockwave and V turn to Uzi in shock. That voice, that voice wasn't Uzi's.

It was Cyn's.

The possessed Uzi used her now yellow Solver to create a small black hole over the controls before they were destroyed. Scorn turns to the monitors to see that the doors that lead out of the office area are now opening, much to the Sentinels anger.

"NO!" he snarled before he glares at Uzi who had passed out.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" he roared, transforming a servo into a blaster and aims at the unconscious worker before Shockwave suddenly slices off the blaster's barrel and punches Scorn in the helm, sending him stumbling back.

The Sentinel glares at Shockwave before he transforms into his Spinosaur form and charges at the scientist. Shockwave looks to his right are to see that it had completely grew back before he used it to give Scorn a powerful uppercut. The Sentinel snarls in pain before Shockwave got behind him and grabbed him by the tail. Shockwave then begins to spin around, Scorn roaring in the process.

"Scorn... BEGONE!"

Shockwave threw Scorn at the Sentinel's thrown of disassembly drone corpses, causing it to collapse on top of him.

Alice and Beau slowly sneaked towards the exit as they eyed the scientist.

"We gotta get out of here, Beau. We gotta-"

Alice stops when she turns to her front to see V standing in front of her, aiming the severed Sentinel head directly at the orange eyed worker.

"Hey, cave dwellers."

V pressed the button inside the severed Sentinel head before said head flashed Alice, causing her to scream as she got bootlooped and fell to the ground frozen.

Shockwave looked towards Alice's paralysed form before looking back at V before they looked towards Beau. Beau just looked at the two drones fearfully before he just slammed his face against the wall, knocking himself out.

Suddenly, they hear something chirping before they turn to see two normal Sentinels which scanned their eyes around the room, from Scorn's destroyed thrown, Alice's paralysed form and then Shockwave and V, seeing the latter holding the severed head of one of their own.

They roared at the two and tried flashing them but they were quick to block the robo-raptors' light with their arms. They nodded to each other, V swapping her hands with guns and Shockwave unsheathing his arm blade.

They closed their eyes and optic as the Sentinels roared and charged at them but heard the Sentinels' roars becoming distant echoes before silence. They opened their eyes and optics to see to their right, flesh covered around the edges of where the controls used to be with a yellow black hole in the middle before the black hole disappeared and the flesh shrivelling up to nothing.

They turn their gaze to Uzi's unconscious form as the cracks on her visor disappeared. Shockwave looks towards Scorn's destroyed throne and then at V.

"Grab Uzi and let's get out of here. We don't know how long we have until Scorn recovers." he ordered, receiving a nod from V. After freeing Uzi and putting her on V's back, they left the room.

They travelled down the halls until Shockwave abruptly stops in his tracks when a particular sight inside a room entered his field of vision. V turns to Shockwave in angry confusion as the scientist entered the room.

"Shockwave, what are you doing?!" V demanded in a whisper as she followed Shockwave into the room.

"We don't have time to sight... see?"

V's confused anger was replaced with shock Shockwave approached a human skeleton in a lab coat. Shockwave eyed the skeleton until he saw something in its hand. Curiously, he grabs it and looks at it. It was a VHS tape and on it was a title.

Project Scorn.

Shockwave and V looked to each other before they turn to the VHS player. Shockwave pulls the tape out of its case and inserts it into the computer before it began to play the tape.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Here's your fortune cookie!" Brawl growled as he stabs his combat knife into the last Sentinel's head, distorted digital beeping emitting from the robo-raptor.

"Come here you little punk." the Combatidrone said as he grabs the Sentinel's corpse and pulls his combat knife out of its head before letting the corpse fall to the ground.

He take slow breathes as he looks around the battle field that was once an office area, oil and Sentinel corpses littered the entire room. While Brawl did have a rough and intense time fighting these things, he couldn't deny that the whole experience was exciting for him. It really got his energon pumping.

He never really had this much fun since he and the other Combaticons took down that flying energon transporter as Bruticus back home during the war for Cybertron, crushing any Autobots that stood in his way. Ahh, good times.

What was he doing again? Oh, right, he needs to go find J, N and Tessa.

He looked towards where J and Tessa took N and walked towards the door to the room they locked themselves in.

"Hey, it's me. open up." he called as he knocks on the door before it opened to reveal J. She gestures Brawl to come in. He did so and saw that N had just woken up.

"I took care of our Dino problem so it should be safe for us to-"

Shockwave and V suddenly dropped from the ceiling, Uzi unconscious on the latter's back. N's eyes widened.

"Shockwave, V, is Uzi-"

"Hurt. We're leaving." V replied before Tessa approached her and Shockwave.

"I can take a squizz at-"

"Oh no, you said you could control those things and look where that got you." Brawl interrupted as he stood between Tessa and the three with his arms crossed. Tessa gripped her injured arm.

"I... well at least they can't boot loop me, but we'll just have to-"

"Tessa never had any form of control to begin with thanks to Scorn." Shockwave said, receiving from the others except V and Uzi.

"Scorn?" J questioned.

"A Sentinel created from cybertronian biology who turned the other Sentinels against the humans here and killed all of them." V explained, receiving shocked glances from the others except Shockwave and Uzi.

"Look, it doesn't matter now. N?"

N looked unsettled and unsure before Tessa placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok, N. I haven't been honest with V yet." Tessa explained, receiving a distrustful look from V before the female disassembly drone in question turned to N.

"What did she tell you?" she growled before Uzi began to stir awake, groaning in pain.

"Ow, my freaking head." she groaned before she saw N, J and Brawl. She smiled. N smiled nervously before Uzi got off V and hugged him tightly.

The scene brought comfort to Shockwave's spark but he did find N's change of behaviour worrying. Tessa told him something she shouldn't and he had a good idea of what it is.

------------------------------------------------------------

A lone Sentinel with red eye instead of blue, like Scorn's, and blood staining its mouth crawled into a room, following a trail of foot prints.

It follows the foot prints until the tracks lead to something written on the floor.

Hold still.

The Sentinel chirps as it looks around, unaware that Shockwave, Uzi, J, V, N, Brawl and Tessa were watching it, hiding on top of the hanging lights.

Brawl and V aims their weapons at the Sentinel while Shockwave turns to Uzi and N who appear to be communicating through messages with their visors.

Suddenly, another Sentinel chirps to the red eyed one, prompting it to follow it, leaving the area. Once gone, they dropped down from the hanging lights. Shockwave looks to the others as he stood at the entrance of a hallway.

"Alright, now that they're gone for now, we can go find-"

Something suddenly crashed into Shockwave knocking the scientist down. He shakes his helm and looks down at what hit him, leaving him and the others shocked.

"Doll?"

Shockwave rose to his pedes as he held Doll in his arms. The Russian was injured, having cuts, gashes and dented metal all over her body as her screen was cracked and that's the least of her injuries. She was missing her left arm as well. She was alive but barley conscious.

Doll was attacked, that much is certain but it didn't look like it was the Sentinels.

"What in the allspark happened to her?" Brawl questioned as he looked over the injured worker.

"Umm, probably that guy?" Tessa guessed as she gestured down the hall. The others turn their heads and helms to see someone else at the other end of the hall.

It was a grey and red mech with hazard patterns, yellow optics, clawed servos, six crab like legs sticking out of his back and a tail with a chainsaw at the end.

(Art done by thespaceguygamer)

The mech held Doll's severed arm which held the keybug before he pulled it off the hand. He throws the arm behind him, him and discarding as he examines the keybug in his claws before he took notice of the group.

The mysterious mech chuckled to himself.

"Well, well, if it isn't Shockwave, in the mesh." the mech mused as he eyed Shockwave.

"Do I know you?" the scientist questioned but the mech chuckled more at the question.

"I know of you. I've heard war stories about the one eyed scientist who held a cold devotion to logic."

Shockwave looked down at Doll before looking back at the mech.

"I'm guessing YOU were the one who attacked this worker drone for her keybug?"

"Oh no, no, that was another guy. His name was, 'Slag Sherlock', first name, 'No'."

"Why..? Just why?!" Uzi demanded.

"Well, three reasons. First: I have had very useful combat training and I was understandably itching to try it out in the field. Second: There's nothing more satisfying than the rush I get from tearing inferior lifeforms apart. And three: I'm just following the good doctor's orders."

"What do you mean 'following the doctor's orders'? Who are you?!" V demanded as she aimed her gun at the mech. The red and grey mech puts two digits onto the side of his helm, staying silent until he nodded before looking back at the group.

"It would appear that he anticipated me meeting you at one point and he wants me to give you an explanation. Who am I to defy orders?"

The grey and red mech gave the group a small bow.

"Now, Shockwave, to start us off, I'm sure you are more than familiar with my father... Professor Tarantulas!"

"Oh Primus dammit." Shockwave growled.

"But wait! There's more!" the red and grey mech grinned.

"I am the perfect combination between a cybertronian and a murder drone! Unlike you, Brawl and Soundwave. My father created me as a prototype for Starscream's future army of super soldiers to conquer Cybertron."

"Starscream? You mean that high heeled creep's involved in this?!" Brawl demanded.

"Indeed. I am infused with the power inside the organic growth that came from..."

The grey and red mech points a clawed digit at Uzi.

"Her."

The eyes and optics of the group widened in shock.

"The Absolute Solver. You're after the Absolute Solver!" V accused angerly, receiving a laugh from the grey and red mech.

"Yes and gladly guilty. Tarantulas and Starscream want the Solver's power but my creation costed my father a large amount of the tissue sample containing the Absolute Solver and since his primary source of getting new samples is in Autobot watch, he needs a new way of getting the Solver which he had learned is down there in those labs somewhere."

"So that's why you attacked Doll for her keybug; Tarantulas wants you to bring him more samples of the Absolute Solver." Shockwave realised.

"You figure me out pretty quickly. The worker did put up a fight but she didn't stood a chance against a Decepticon warrior like myself."

"Well then, it seems we know your story." J stated to the grey and red mech.

"You're welcome."

"But we don't know your name."

"Well, truth is, I don't really have one. But, if I had to choose, I think I'll go with..."

A yellow Solver symbol appeared one servo, using it to lift up the keybug in the other.

"'Rampage'."

The, grey and red mech, now named Rampage, used his yellow Solver to place the keybug on the proximity reader while he raised his other servo, summoning another, larger Solver behind the group before he flicks his claws towards him, pushing the group closer until they were right in front of him. Rampage looks down to the ground to see it slowly slide open to reveal a dark abyss before he looks back at the group.

"You know, that red eye worker had set a trap for all of you but since it looks like she ain't using it any time soon, I guess I'M pulling its strings now."

Rampage used his yellow Solver to open all the doors in the hallway. The group looked towards the cybertronian drone hybrid.

"Now if you excuse me, Tarantulas wants the Solver and I'm not going back to him empty handed!" he laughed, using his Solver to bring the keybug back to him before he jumped down. V gets up to go after the grey and red mech before an elevator suddenly drops down, blocking her from going after Rampage.

"Dammit!" she growled as the others recovered and got back to their feet before they suddenly hear chirping.

They turn their heads and helms to see a lot of Sentinels emerging from the opened doors. One growled and flashed the group but they blocked their light with their arms.

"These things are really starting to grind my gears." Brawl growled before Tessa slid between the group and the Sentinels.

"Uh oh, hope I don't human everywhere."

Tessa thrusts her injured arm out, causing it to spill a lot of blood. The Sentinels just tilted their heads as they chirped before another Sentinel dropped down, the red eyed one that bit the human, before it roared at the group, stomping towards them.

"yeah, I don't think that'll work this time." J commented before Tessa, realising she was right, took her sword out. Uzi looked at the elevator, glaring at it, before she used her Solver to break it open for them.

"Uzi, No!" N warned, receiving a confused glance from the female worker before her Solver glitched into a yellow colour, her hand twisting and snapping as he cried in pain. Her Solver created a black hole in the elevator with organic flesh surrounding it.

Brawl fired at the Sentinels with his shoulder cannons but the approaching red eyed Sentinel dodges the bullets, roaring at him before it spat out a disassembly drone arm and grabbed it with its teeth, the hand swapping with a gun. It fires the gun at Tessa.

It almost killed her if V hadn't grabbed the bullet with her claws and threw it back at the Sentinel, the bullet breaking the gun off the severed arm.

"Whoa, good shot!" Brawl laughed.

"Did I get it?" V questioned before the red eyed Sentinel growled before it swaps the severed arm's missing gun with a sword.

Uzi breathed rapidly in panic as the black hole grew larger in size until her hand was suddenly cut off by N. N and Shockwave looked at Uzi before her head snapped towards them, her eyes gold with a wide, sadistic smile with a message projected beside her head.

Miss me?

Her eyes return to normal as she fell to the ground panting as N catched her, coughing out oil. She tried to speak but her voice was buzzing and glitching so much that no one could make out what she was saying.

"Bugger, that's bad. Come on team!" Tessa said as she helped N carry Uzi onto the elevator while Shockwave passed Doll's unconscious form to J as she got on the elevator, which suddenly lowered down, as well before the scientist ran up to V and Brawl to help them deal with the red eye Sentinel.

V blocks the Sentinel's blade as she slashed at it before shooting it. The Sentinel swings its tail at V but she catches it and throws it to Brawl which he in turn delivered a powerful right hook, sending it flying past V and at the other side of the hallway.

"V, you join up with the others. Brawl and I will cover your retreat." Shockwave told the female who looked at him, questioning if he was serious.

"But what about you and Brawl?"

"The Sentinels can't boot loop me and Shockwave like they can with you guys. I got flashed by one of those things and all it did was stun me." The Combatidrone explained.

Suddenly, they hear more Sentinels coming their way. They turn towards the others but saw that a Sentinel on top of the proximity reader, grabbing it with its teeth before it was shot dead by Brawl. Shockwave turns to V.

"There is no time to argue, frag it! We can not allow Rampage to bring the Solver to tarantulas and Starscream! Tarantulas would experiment on it and Starscream would mindlessly abuse it! I know we Decepticons have abused different forms of power during the war but the Absolute Solver is one power that must NEVER be allowed to be abused. GO!"

V looked hesitant before nodding, running up to the top of elevator as she used her begin cutting off the cables. J's eyes widened in horror.

"Are you crazy!? Shockwave, we need you!" the female cried but she received a a chuckle from the scientist.

"You say that as if I'm not going to make through this. I've survived far worse than this so don't worry about me, J, I'll be alright." Shockwave assured her and that was the last thing J heard from him before V finally cut off the cable, sending the elevator and its passengers plummeting down.

"hey Shockwave, you said Scorn destroyed your hyperflux cannon, right?" Brawl questioned.

"Indeed, why?" Shockwave replied curiously before the Combatidrone passed him something. Shockwave's antenna twitched in surprise at what Brawl gave him.

"My spare hyperflux cannon? But I thought I-"

"Left it back at your lab? You did but I decided to bring it along with me in case you be needing it. Being prepared is the first rule of combat, after all."

Shockwave nodded as he attached the spare cannon to his right arm.

"Thank you, my friend."

The two cybertronian turned drones looked on to see the red eye Sentinel recovering, roaring at them as more Sentinels appeared alongside it.

"Till all are one." Brawl said to the scientist proudly, receiving a nod from him.

"Indeed, Brawl; till all are one." Shockwave concluded before he aimed his hyperflux cannon at the Sentinels and fired.

Chapter Text

Shockwave's voice: Previously on Of Drones and Logic...

N: T-Tessa?

Shockwave: It has been a while, Soundwave.

Uzi: Why are you here, human?

Tessa: If Cyn wants these labs, we burn them down.

Uzi: Why involve Doll?

Tessa: She reckons the humans did something to her folks down there.

Brawl: I have a bad feeling about this.

Alice: Hey, surface lickers.

Scorn: I want her brought to my throne room so I can speak to her when she awakens.

???: I am the one who will bring this universe to order, only this time my brothers won't be there to stop me.

Uzi: You and me are nothing alike, Scorn. I'm sorry.

Scorn: No... I'M sorry. SLUAGHTER THEM!

Cyn: Oh,- don't - mind - me.

Shockwave: Doll?

Rampage: Well, truth is, I don't really have a name. But, if I had to choose, I think I'll go with... Rampage. Now if you excuse me, Tarantulas wants the Solver and I'm not going back to him empty handed!

Shockwave:  We can not allow Rampage to bring the Solver to Tarantulas and Starscream!

J: Shockwave, we need you.

Shockwave: I've survived far worse than this so don't worry about me, J, I'll be alright.

Brawl: Till all are one.

Shockwave: Indeed Brawl; Till all are one.

------------------------------------------------------------

He walked through the metal plains, each step leaving a scorch mark, away from the sight of divine judgment he had wrought upon the beasts that crawled on the face of their planet, like a virus, a parasite that needed to be purged in order to obtain perfect peace and harmony for the spark of their life-giver.

It felt good. It felt right. It felt liberating. The energon of those pit-spawned ghouls, the spoils of his victory, igniting as they lingered on his burning form. Not even the hatchlings were spared from his judgment.

The deed was done, but the purge was not complete, not while the rest of the parasites, each species on their own separate world, continue to contaminate the universe they do not belong in.

To let them continue to exist, sharing the same universe with him and the rest of his species, the superior species, is a sin that shall NOT go unnoticed, unanswered, unpunished.

A smile grew on his face, taking pride at the first step of the crusade for his glorias species, and with his power, his tool of justice that he had been enhanced with the blood of the Chaos Bringer, the god he and his brethren, the other 12, had cast out. Speaking of of the 12.

He sees his brothers standing not to far from him, anticipating his arrival, no doubt to congratulate him for liberating their planet of the monsters that dared tried to impersonate them, to give him a hero's welcome.

He stride continued on as ever, closer and closer to the celebration of the triumph of the superior species. However, when he finally arrived, his smile fell as he did not see none of the 12 donning prideful smiles of the first steps of the crusade for their race. Instead...

He saw only horror.

He watched his brethren taking a step away from him, some even drawing their weapons at him, like how he drew his tool of justice at the beasts before he began the purge.

None of them moved, none of them spoke, none of them diverted their gaze from him. Finally, one of the twelve, the femme he loved so dearly as she did him, opened her mouth to speak as tears trickled down her optics.

"My love... What have you done?"

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave thrusted his arm blade through the Sentinel's head, its blue lights flickering into black before throwing the body towards the other Sentinels, some being knocked back while others avoided it, continuing their assault on him and his comrade.

Speaking of which, Brawl violently rips a Sentinel's jaw clean off its head before slamming it to a wooden pillar of the hall, destroying it.

Shockwave and Brawl had been fighting and killing Sentinels left and right in order to hold them off while the others go down to the labs. Yes, they got stunned by the lights the Sentinels use to boot loop drones and received a few cuts and gashes in the process but they kept of fighting, thanks to their cybertronian roots and the rapid regeneration abilities of their disassembler side, but-

"Shockwave! I enjoy fighting as much as the next Combaticon, but these things just keep coming and leaving so much damage." Brawl said as he looks over the claw marks on his arm left by the Sentinel he had just vanquished, his regenerative abilities already beginning the process. However, his regeneration is growing more and more slow coming than it previously was before.

"My regenerative powers aren't able to keep up; it's burning through my oil faster than I could scrap these lizard freaks!"

It was true, their excessive usage of their regenerative capabilities combined with the frequent injuries they had been sustaining, their natural oil reserves needed for their disassembler side are rapidly growing thinner as the fight continued to rage. Shockwave is already feeling his strength leaving him.

"I know, Brawl, not to mention we do not know how long we have until Scorn recovers from my and V's encounter with him, but we cannot falter now; the Sentinels won't stay put unless WE keep them here. We just need to continue to make our stand. Uzi, J, N and V are counting on us." the scientist explained as he fired his hyperflux cannon at an incoming Sentinel.

"And Tessa?" Brawl inquired, giving Shockwave slight pause.

"I don't trust her; Tessa says she wants to stop the Absolut Solver as much as we do, but something tells me that she has her own reasons for being here." Shockwave replied to the Combatidrone.

"So like, you mean Tessa's going to betray us? Turn our mutual crisscross into a double cross?" Brawl questioned as a Sentinel jumps at him, but was quickly grabbed by the neck and got its core ripped out by the Decepticon warrior. 

"I believe she's committing an act right now but not that of betrayal."

"Then what do you think this act is?"

Shockwave shoots another Sentinel that came charging right at him before turning his helm to his comrade.

"Deception. I recognise it anywhere; Megatron named our faction after it for a reason."

Before Brawl could reply, a loud roar interrupts the the two. They turn their helms towards the end of the hall to see even more Sentinels. The two continued to put up their defensive positions as the robo-raptors stated to charge them before some were shot dead by energy projectiles.

The two cybertronain disassemblers stood there in confusion before a robot bird came into view, revealing itself to be the shooter. Both Shockwave and Brawl recognised that bird.

"Lazerbeak... but that means..." Shockwave breathed before they saw a pair of cable-like tentacles came into view, each grabbing a Sentinel and lifting them up. The disassemblers and robo-raptors watched as the tentacles electrocuted their victims until they were dropped onto the ground, no longer moving. The origin of the two tentacles came into view to reveal an all-too familiar slender bot.

"Soundwave."

The Sentinels turn their attention to Soundwave and roared at him but the silent communications officer stood as firm as ever, slowly raising an arm with a wrist mounted device. The robo-raptors charged at Soundwave before the device released a super sonic blast. The blast reduced the room to rubble with unmoving Sentinel bodies all over as Lazerbeak flew towards her master and attached herself to him.

"Soundwave: Superior. Sentinels: Inferior." Soundwave said before turning his helm towards Shockwave and Brawl, the two starring in disbelief.

"Did Soundwave just..?" Brawl trailed off in disbelief as Shockwave nodded.

"Yes he did, Brawl, yes he did." Shockwave confirmed, equally as stunned as the Combatidrone was, before Soundwave approached the two. They shook their helms, no time to think about it now.

"Thanks for the save. We didn't know how much longer we could've last." Brawl thanked, receiving a small nod from the silent Con.

"Aren't you supposed to remain with Tessa's ship?" Shockwave asked curiously.

[-Felt - something - wrong.-]

"Well, it appears your instincts has proven to be quite sound."

"Yeah, plus you took care of our Sentinel problem." Brawl added

"Indeed, Brawl. Now there is only one thing left to do." Shockwave concluded as he turns his helm to the elevator. He turns around completely as proceeded forward. Brawl turns to Soundwave.

"You know, I've never seen you act out on your own, only doing what Megatron commands you to, which makes sense since he's... one with the Allspark and all."

Soundwave turns his helm towards the Combatidrone.

[-Megatron - lives.-]

Shockwave stops in his tracks at that statement, having the same shocked reaction as Brawl did as the scientist turns around to face the silent Con.

"How? It defies logic." Shockwave demanded as Soundwave turns to him and gave his reply with recordings.

[-Dark energon.-]

"Dark energon? You mean the blood of Unicron, the Chaos Bringer? THAT dark energon?!" Brawl questioned, hoping to make sure to understand the situation. Soundwave nodded.

"Soo... does that mean the war is still going on?" Brawl asked another question. This time, however, Soundwave shook his helm.

"'No'? What do you mean 'no'? Our leader is back." Shockwave questioned. Soundwave did not reply, only turning towards the still functioning computers and extended one of his tentacles to it, latching onto the monitor.

Shockwave and Brawl approached the silent mech and looked towards the monitor, the screen showing a familiar, silver mech with snow white rings for pupils for his crimson optics. It was Megatron, but his appearance was vastly different but it was no doubt the Decepticon leader. Shockwave turns to Soundwave.

"What is this?"

[-Listen.-]

And they did.

"To any and all Decepticons who receives this message, I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticon movement. All of you, everyone who had followed my rule and obeyed my command, know that I had started the uprising, but now I am about to end it. I herby renounce Decepticonism and its offshoots, and denounce all those who continue to fight in its name. There is nothing intrinsically special about our race. Nothing that lifts us above any non-mechanical species. We were wrong to assert ourselves. And to all those who follow me, I say this: Do NOT expect me to grant guidance, or wisdom, or answers. I have none. I never did. To those Decepticons still out there, I give you all one final order: Stand down. Discard your weapons, tear off your badges, and stand down. The Decepticons are no more. The war is over. Free yourselves from the shackles of a flawed and corrupted philosophy that I had created and move on."

The message ended, and Shockwave and Brawl stood in silence, processing what exactly they had just heard.

"... If... Megatron disbanded the Decepticons... then what do we do now?" Brawl uncertainly asked.

Shockwave pondered to himself. Everything he had fought for, all the sacrifices he had committed for his master, it was all for nothing. Now he had nothing left to fight for... that was a statement he had believed to be the case when he first awoke in this body. Until he had them; N, a drone of pure innocence, V, a drone with a warrior's spirit, J, the one he had fallen for and Uzi, the small drone he took in under his metal wing out of pity for the girl but slowly became to be seen as what he never had in his long life: a daughter.

He gained something he had lost a long time ago before he became the scientist Cybertron came to fear, a family. And by Primus, he'll be damned if he gives up on them now

"We go and help save the universe; this changes nothing." Shockwave responded as he proceeded towards the elevator with a servo clenched into a fist. He stops at the edge and looks back at the two cybertronian disassemblers.

"Who's with me?"

Brawl and Soundwave turn their helms to each other before giving the scientist a nod.

------------------------------------------------------------

Ratchet typed away at the monitor as Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus built defensive perimeter while Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Knock-out brought in some supplies.

The aged medic was somewhat grateful that he and the other Autobots had the foresight to set up a separate base of operations after first arriving on this planet, but with the lack of resources, to actually set up the necessary systems needed for their base has been severely hampered.

"Call me lazy, but we have been going at this for days now. I'm tired and my joints are starting to ach." Knock-out complained as he placed a crate down before placing his clawed servos on his back and pushed.

"You're not the only one, Knock-out, but we need supplies and with our interstellar communications critically damaged after the Axalon was destroyed, we can't call the Elite Guard back on Cybertron for help until we get it fixed." Bumblebee told the former Con as he placed a crate on the table.

"I know, I know. Just wish these boxes weren't so heavy as all." Knock-out replied before picking the crate back up, immediately noticing that the crate was far more lighter than before.

"Guess my wish came true." he grinned.

"Uh, Knock-out?" Arcee started, prompting him to turn to the two-wheeler, his optics widening as he saw the crates, tools and supplies were suddenly levitating until they fell back to the ground.

"What the frag was that?!" Wheeljack questioned, equally as shocked and confused as the rest of the Autobots. Ratchet was immediately on his monitor to explain what had transpired.

"According to this, my scanners say it has detected a strange anomaly." The Autobot medic explained.

"But what caused it?" Bulkhead asked before Ratchet's optics widened.

"The origin of the anomaly is not to far from were we have located that organic growth."

Ultra Magnus' optics narrowed at this information.

"Roll out." the commander ordered the other Autobots.

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi stood at the entrance of the clearing with her mom's collar in her hand as her tail held the lantern in its mouth, all the while the worker gazed at the church that stood in the middle. Uzi, as much as she hated to admit it, was both nervous and scared of what she might find.

She looks towards the collar in her hand before her worried expression became that of determination as she put the collar back on, her wings sprouting from her back. She took to the air and towards the church.

the scene cuts to the church's interior before its doors were opened by Uzi. The worker drone looked inside before she crawled around, jumping from pillar to pillar until she came to a stop on a chandelier.

She stares at the dark pit of meat, bones and flesh as thunder crackled from the outside. She felt a sense of unease before she suddenly hears music playing, not unlike that she usually listens to, prompting her to turn to see a monitor with its screen turned on.

She flew off the chandelier and lands on the chair in front of the monitor, shining the lantern at it, revealing posters of bands and rock music idols. Her tail puts the lantern down and taps on the pause/play button of the music pod, abruptly stopping the music.

After moving a plushie out of the way, she takes a seat before noticing something on the desk next to the music pod.

It was a large, metal talon that looked fossilised. It was the talon of a Predacon, or rather the talon of a Predacon clone.

Shockwave told her how he created clones of the mighty species that once stood on Cybertron's soil and sent separately small squadrons to planets with energon deposits. With a Predacon talon being here, it was safe to assume that Copper-9 was one of those planets.

But still, she never actually seen the remains of a Predacon, let alone a living one. She gently reached out for the talon and touched it.

Multiple images of Predacons flashed through Uzi's vison, all of them showing a bloody massacre of the metal dragons, the black hole in the sky, a twisted Solver glyph and the burning mech from her nightmares with a sick grin of twisted satisfaction, all while she heard pained, terrifying and dying shrieks and roars of the Predacon race.

Uzi pulled her arm towards her, her eyes hollowed out and her breathing rapid, as she stares at the talon that was just innocently sitting there. What the hell was that?!

She shook her head; it was just an illusion, none of it was real. What WAS real, however was the monitor that still showed something that bought Uzi's interest.

She looks back at the talon again before shaking her head and pressed rewind until she pressed play. And then she watched.

She watched and watched, her eyes slowly hollowing out as the video went on and on.

------------------------------------------------------------

V slowly rebooted, regaining consciousness as she slowly grips her head before he vision began to clear up, seeing nothing but rocks. At first, V wondered why she was surrounded by rubble until she remembers what had happened upon the elevator reaching its destination.

The fear and confusion in Uzi's eyes as her Solver started to lash out again when N said that they were not going to hurt her, which had caused the tunnel to collapse.

N, what were you thinking?

She finally took notice of the that N, J and Tessa weren't present with her, what she DID noticed, however, was the sawed off arm trapped beneath the rubble. Summoning her inner strength to stand, She looks towards the dark corridors.

"N?" V called out, he voice echoing through the halls but received no reply. So she called out to J instead.

"J?"

Again, no response.

"Uzi?"

Nothing.

"Can anyone hear me?"

Silence. V lets out a frustrated sigh, acknowledging the fact that she was completely alone.

At least she thought she was, if not for the groan of a familiar Russian worker drone.

V turns her head to see the rising form of Doll, the worker finally waking up and regenerated her arm after her encounter from Rampage.

"Rise and shine, Dolly." she greeted sarcastically. Doll's eyes hollowed, having been fully awake, at the sight of V before jumping up and pulling out a knife, giving the disassembler a cold glare but V calmly raised her hands up, her expression unchanging.

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." she told the Russian worker who kept her gaze on her.

"Besides, somebody else already beat me to it."

Doll quirked a brow confused as he tightened her grip, only for her eyes to hollow out before snapping her head towards the other hand.

"The keybug." Doll thought to herself aloud in panic.

"I had it. Until..."

The worker's eyes hollow out once more as memories came flooding back.

"Until that... THING came out of nowhere and attacked me."

"He calls himself 'Rampage'." V explained. Doll turned back to face the disassembler.

"He's a walking talking Petri dish of a disassembly drone and an advanced alien race called cybertronians and was brought into existence thanks to a mad man named Tarantulas and a greedy, spinless coward, Starscream, with the help of the Solver. Me and the others only saw the gory aftermath of your skirmish with him before he took off for the labs. We followed him down here, taking YOU with us, believe it or not, while you were out."

"Cybertronains... I hacked into your one-eyed friend's head with my Solver to find out what he is and learned a lot about his species."  Doll mused before she shook her head.

"But what does it matter? I came here to get rid of the Solver's possession of me and I will not let this 'Rampage' to steal it for himself." the worker growled before she turns to the hall and proceeded forward.

"What makes you think Rampage wants to get rid of it?"

Doll stops in her tracks.

"What do you mean, murder drone?"

"Rampage came her because he had orders: to retrieve samples of the Absolute Solver."

"... For what purpose?"

"To weaponize it."

Doll's eyes hollowed out in horror, turning her head to the disassembler.

"But... the Absolute Solver is a power that no mortal should have; it has the power to consume entire worlds."

"Yeah, exactly why Tarantulas and Starscream want it and if they get their hands on it..." V started as Doll slowly turned her gaze away from her.

"There is no telling... what kind of destruction they will bring for that kind of hubris." Doll finished.

V eyed the Russian worker in thought, remembering how Shockwave said that Doll would become a valuable ally for their mission to stop the Solver and that the worker just needs convincing.

Maybe the opportunity has presented itself.

"Hey... we both want to stop the Solver and we both don't want Rampage to find it, so here is what I'm thinking: we put our differences aside and team up." V suggested, receiving a glare from Doll.

"You want ME to help YOU? After what you did to my parents?!" the worker snarled at the disassembler.

"Look, what happened between us, none of it matters, not while we share a common enemy that is probably on the verge of making the biggest screw-up in the history of screw-ups." V replied to the worker drone.

"We don't have to like each other, we just need to work together. Once we both get what we want, we go our sperate ways. Deal?"

V extended her hand to the Russian worker drone who eyed the disassembler's hand sceptically before giving out a sigh, grabbing it and shaking it with a nod.

"Great, now it's official. Now come on, we don't have time to waste." V said as she and Doll broke away from the handshake and began to head deeper into the caverns.

"For all we know, Rampage may have already have reached the labs."

------------------------------------------------------------

Rampage ran down the dark halls, going into tunnels that he felt was most logical to take, until he comes to a stop when he comes across multiple tunnels that led to different cave systems. Luckily, there was a sign showing directions.

"Alright, so the South system is to the North, the North system is to the West, and the East system is... also to the North." Rampage mused as he read the sign out loud before falling into brief silence.

"Where the f**k am I?"

Suddenly, Rampage hears a loud explosion not to far from his location, prompting him to turn his helm towards it. The scene cuts to Tessa and J as they stood in front of the fire left behind after Tessa destroyed the list of which worker drones were infected.

Tessa was pretty happy with herself. J, however...

"You shouldn't have told him, Tessa."

The human turns her head to the disassembler that stood beside her.

"What?"

"You should have NEVER have told N about Earth."

Tessa turns her body fully in J's direction.

"Come on, J-"

"You knew very well how he would react, you knew of the fear and paranoia he would suffer from it and yet you did it anyway." J continued with venom in her voice, interrupting the girl as she gave her a glare.

"Look, if your talking about what happened up there, you need to understand that he needed to know the truth." Tessa argued.

"True, but this is N we're talking about. You know him as much as I do. Yes, he needed to know eventually and so does V but I couldn't even count the number of places and times that would've been perfect for it. The place and time you told N was anything BUT perfect, especially when he didn't have the right mind set at the moment."

Tessa shook her head at J's words.

"Just what the hell happened to you, J? What happened to the squad leader who didn't give a damn about N and his wellbeing? What happened to the drone who only cared for getting that promotion?" The human demanded.

"There is more to life than some stupid promotion, Tessa; I had to learn that the hard way. I almost died until Shockwave saved my life, which made me see things more clearly."

"You mean the cyclops? Oh sure, and you told him about Earth and Cyn, didn't you?"

J didn't respond, only keeping a glare on her. That gave Tessa her answer.

"I was being sarcastic. YOU TOLD HIM!? He's not even a real drone!"

"Yeah, I told Shockwave. I told him because I trusted him. I told him because I knew he could handle it. Instead of filling him with fear, telling Shockwave made him more determined to help Uzi. The way he sees it, saving both Uzi AND the whole universe is not outside the realm of possibility and if you think that's bullshit, then you no place in our group."

J turned around and stormed off, away from Tessa.

"The hell do you think YOU'RE going?!" Tessa demanded to the disassembler.

"I'm going to find my friends, my REAL friends, find the USB patch, and help Uzi. And 'boss', if you dare hurt them or get in our way..."

J turns her head to Tessa, her visor displaying the signature golden X, as she swaps a hand with a blade.

"I will end you. THAT... is a promise."

And with that, J was gone as she disappeared into the darkness of the corridors. Slowly, Tessa's hands clenched into fists.

"Fine... have it your way, J." she snarled before she suddenly dodges an energy projectile by moving her head slightly. She turns her head to see Rampage with his servo transformed into a blaster.

"Where is it, flesh bag?" the red half drone demanded as he kept his aim on the human who shrugged.

"I have no idea what your talking about." Tessa replied innocently as Rampage's glare grew colder.

"Don't play dumb with me. The place where they conducted the Solver experiments, where is it?!"

"Oh, so THAT'S what they were doing down here, huh? Guess you know about the patch too, right?"

Rampage quirked an optic ridge.

"Patch?

"The crucifix-looking USB thing used to exorcise the Solver? That patch?"

Rampage's optics widened before placing two of the digits of his other servo on the side of his helm, like he did at the hallway to the elevator as he kept his blaster on the human. He chuckled.

"Seems a threat to Tarantulas' work exists then, according to him. Guess I have a little errand I need to take care of before continuing with my mission."

"Then we could agree on one thing." Tessa mused, leaving Rampage filled with confusion.

"What does THAT supposes to mean?"

Tessa didn't reply, instead, she threw the dagger hidden in the sleeve of her elbow at the cybertronain half drone who quickly transformed the other servo into a sword and blocked it before quickly resuming his aim on the human, only for his optics to widen to see she was gone. Lowering his blaster, Rampage looks around for the human before he saw a Solver glyph over the flames before they were extinguished, enveloping him in darkness with only his optics as his light source.

He hears a distant, muffled screech, causing him to turn to the source, raising his blaster as the screeching drew closer. Rampage's optics narrowed as he kept his aim on the coming screeching until his arm beeped. Curios, he pressed a digit on it, opening a hidden compartment with a screen. He looked at it for a moment before laughing.

"Seems I don't need to find the Solver after all." he chuckled as he transformed his weapons back into servos as he extended his arms openly.

"Come on, don't be shy; I'm right here." he said calmly as the screeching became louder and louder. All Rampage did was laugh to himself darkly.

------------------------------------------------------------

Scorn bursts out of the ruined remains of his disassembler corpse throne, roaring viciously, before noticing that Shockwave and V were no longer in the room. Instead, he saw Alive and Beau regaining consciousness. Scorn feels a sharp pain in his leg, causing him to turn his helm to it to see one of the sharp blades of a disassembler wing sticking out of it. He grabs it with his mouth and pulls the blades out, oil and energon leaking from the wound.

"The hell happened?" Alice asked weakly as she grips her head. Scorn approaches his physician and her assistant, transforming back into robot mode along the way.

"Those murder drones came in and took Uzi away." Scorn explained as Alice and Beau got back on their feat.

"To where?" The female cannibal drone inquired before they all heard a chirp. They turn their heads and helm to see a lone Sentinel standing at the door, except having red eyes instead of the usual blue with blood on its mouth.

The scene cuts to the red eyed Sentinel leading Scorn, Alice and Nori down the hall and looked down towards the elevator shaft.

"they're heading for the labs." Scorn thought aloud as he gazed down to the dark depths.

"So, uh... what do we do?" Alice asked he leader, the Spinosaur Sentinel not responding to that question.

"I'm going down there." Scorn finally answered as he drew an arm blade, causing Alice's eyes to hollow out and turn to the mech.

"To the labs?!"

"No, to Planet Vegeta. Of course to the labs!"

The red eyed Sentinels looks towards Scorn and chirps to him, the Spinosaur Sentinel turning to his smaller counterpart.

"You already had your chance."

The Sentinel reluctantly bowed its head in understanding. Alice, Beau and the Sentinel backed away as they watch Scorn jump down into the elevator shaft, plummeting into the dark depths below. Alice just tapped her fingers together as she hummed.

"So..." she started, prompting Beau and the Sentinel to turn to the cannable worker.

"Who wants to play a game while we wait?"

Beau and the Sentinel just turned to each other.

------------------------------------------------------------

The rubble that blocked the elevator's destination suddenly exploded from a super sonic blast, revealing Shockwave, Brawl and Soundwave. As the three walked down the hall, the Combatidrone whistled to himself.

"Quite the operation the humans had going here." Brawl mused as he took in the sights. Soundwave turned his helm towards his comrades.

[-Tread carefully. - something - down here.-] the silent mech warned through recordings. Shockwave nodded at this.

"Duly noted, Soundwave, but we must make haste." the scientist replied before he and the other two cybertronain disassemblers moved forward, walking down the dark halls.

------------------------------------------------------------

The monster bites down on the Vehicon's sparkless husk, energon spewing out with every wire it rips out, every cable it consumes.

All in the necessary process of survival.

The Sinnertwin's left head pushes the right head aside during its feeding. The right head snaps at the left with a snarl, causing the left to hiss at the right before they both went back to its feast.

However, during the middle of its feeding, the single slitted eyes of both its head briefly glitched into the Solver glyph as the debris around it started to levitate before reverting back to its normal eyes as the debris fell back to the ground. The Sinnertwin lifts its two heads up, looking at a specific direction. Both heads snarled viciously as it turns to the Vehicon's blaster and ripped it off the body before its wings sprouted from the Sinnertwin's back and took to the air, leaving its meal behind, roaring as it flew away.

------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave, Brawl and Soundwave walked through the corridors, aiming their flashlights to light their way as they did. Brawl turns to a random corridor before looking back the to their path before double taking to the corridor.

"Hey guys. Come look at this." Brawl called to his comrades, prompting them to turn to him as the Combatidrone gestured to the hall. They approached him and turned to what Brawl was gesturing to, seeing a table with multiple papers on the wall and a few devices sitting at the desk. Curiously, the three approached the table.

"What are these things?" Brawl asked as he grabs one of the devices that oddly looked like a gun version of a flashlight. Shockwave looked over the papers, recognising them as blueprints as he looked back at the devices.

"I'm not one to know much about human technology, but I believe that these devices are weapons that can emit a concentrated light with qualities of that of the sun used against the Solver, some form of 'sun gun'." Shockwave explained as he looked towards Brawl holding one of the sun guns.

"Everyone, grab a sun gun. They might prove useful to us." Shockwave ordered as he grabbed a sun gun of his own, Soundwave as well. Suddenly, the three hear something approaching before they aimed their sun guns as they slowly approached where the sound was coming from, around the corner.

Shockwave pressed his back against the wall and looked towards Brawl and Soundwave, all three of them nodding, before the scientist shoots around the corner and aims both his hyperflux cannon and the sun gun.

"FRIENDLY!" V cried out as both her and Doll's eyes hollow out. Shockwave's body relaxed at the sight of the two. Brawl and Soundwave peeked over the corner and saw the two drones.

"V!" Brawl cheered happily at the sight of his best friend.

"Brawl!" V cheered back as she and the Combatidrone fist bumped. Shockwave turns his helm to Doll.

"Looks like you're doing a lot better when I last saw you." the scientist commented. Doll rolled her eyes.

"Don't get too comfortable around me, cyclops. I'm only helping you because we both have a common enemy. Once I get what I need, I'm gone, you hear me?" Doll explained with a glare.

"I'll keep that in mind." Shockwave replied as V looked around with a confused expression.

"Hey, where's Uzi, N and J?" the female disassembler asked, causing Shockwave, Brawl and Soundwave to turn to one another.

"We were hoping you would tell us." Shockwave admitted.

"So it's just us, then." Brawl mused with his arms crossed.

"If Doorman and the other three aren't with you and they're not with us, then where are they?" Doll questioned.

Yes, where are the rest?

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi just stood there, gazing at the monitor had been turned to static, her eyes replaced with the yellow glyph of the Absolute Solver.

The screen suddenly cracks as Uzi lets out a fearful gasp, placing a hand over her glitching eye and breathing heavily, unaware that the candles within the church went out, enveloping the place in darkness.

She backs away from the monitor and to the centre of the church, ripping the collar off her neck with hollowed out eyes, dropping it as she stood there, shaking.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" a glitched  yet familiar voice asked, causing Uzi to shoot her head towards the direction of the pit, seeing a figure approaching her.

She saw Rampage standing there, but his appearance changed. His normally bright red colour was now a darker shade of crimson, his chest was opened up, revealing a metal rib cage and a still beating spark at the centre. Multiple claws, arms and tentacles stuck out of his back.

"W-what happened to y-you?" Uzi asked fearfully. A laugh erupted from the half drone at the question.

"What happened to me? Isn't it obvious, Uzi? I have ascended." Rampage replied proudly, Cyn's voice clashing with his.

"I can feel the power of the Absolute Solver coursing through me. I feel stronger, faster, more powerful than ever. I feel like a deity!"

Uzi slowly backed away from the mech. Rampage only laughed at this.

"Look at you, the fear in your eyes, the look when an inferior being meets a higher power."

Each step she took, she moved further away from the deranged mech.

"You are even trying to leave while you fail to save the ones you love. Ah, speaking of loved ones."

Uzi turns around to the entrance of the church to see N standing there with a crucifix looking USB, his eyes hollowed out with fear as a fleshy drone core sat at his shoulder.

"N..?" She breathed before her eyes hollowed out as a sharp pain exploded in her chest, coughing up oil and BLOOD. She looks down to see a blade sticking out of half her core.

"I've got what I came here for." Rampage whispered from behind the worker and before she knew it, N was screaming her name as Rampage through her dying form through a wall and far away from the church.

N stood there in horror, his eyes hollowed out as digital tears trickled from his eyes.

"How sad, poor little N couldn't save his little worker drone girlfriend. Boohoo." Rampage mocked the disassembler in a fake sad down before bursting out laughing.

The drone core watched as N dropped the crucifix from his hand before it clenched into a fist as thunder crackled on, a golden X appearing on his visor.

"N..." the core started calmly before it was suddenly thrown off N's shoulder with a wide eye as the disassembler flew straight towards Rampage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, claws and a sword ready, but Rampage remained as stoic as ever.

"Bring it." he calmy responded with narrowed optics before he swiftly dodges to the right, causing N to miss, sliding to a stop. N angerly cries out and slashes at Rampage again but missed a second time.

"Slow!" Rampage pointed out.

N goes for another strike but he missed again.

"Sloppy!"

He slashes, he misses.

"Sad!"

N goes for another slash but Rampage quickly grabs it with his claws.

"Nice knife." he mused before snapping the thing in half and kicked him in the chest.

N catches himself with his claws and looks towards Rampage with anger and hate before swapping his broken blade with a missile and fired with an enraged cry.

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi crawled as he core bled out, coughing out oil and blood, her eyes violently glitched between yellow and purple as fear consumed her. Where she was crawling to, she didn't know.

She was dying. Uzi Doorman was dying and there is nothing she could do about it.

She could feel the claws and tentacles sprouting from her back in painful cracks.

Half of her core was destroyed, which means she will die a slow, painful death unless the dark depths of the Solver's insanity takes her first.

Eventually, her arms gave out, too weak to keep going. She laid there, digital tears dripping from her eyes and blood leaked through her cracked visor. She could feel it, each of her primary system failing as death draws closer to her with each passing moment.

Her body grew so weak, she stopped moving but her mind was still fighting but death was inevitable, she doesn't even know why she's bothering anymore.

As her vision becomes darker and darker, a silent tear was shed from her digital eyes.

'N, Shockwave, everyone... I'm sorry...' she thought to herself before her eyes draws to a close.

"Uzi..."

Her eyes widened, hollowing out, at the sound of never-before-heard voice. She weakly turns her head to see a pair of navy blue legs. Her eyes followed up the legs, landing on the face of the person who spoke to her.

It was a cybertronian mech, with navy blue legs, a red upper body with features similar to that of a vehicle, a big rig, and an Autobot insignia donned on the shoulders. His whole form was transparent, surrounded by a soft blue glow, like a ghost, with a glowing orb at the centre of his chest.

The blue and red mech gently kneels down to the worker.

"You will not die here. Not on this day." the mech told her as he slowly moved his servo towards her.

"For your fate is the future of this, and all worlds."

His servo was fully extended towards her.

"But first, you must save the ones you care for most."

Uzi eyed the ghostly mech's servo with worry, and yet, she reached out for the servo, and grabbed it before the mech closed his optics and began to glow brighter, consuming Uzi's vision. As it did, she heard the mech speak one last time.

"There will be... a new Prime."

------------------------------------------------------------

Rampage grabs N by the wrist.

"I'm getting tired of this." He growled before using his other servo to grab the disassembler by the throat and slam him to the ground. N tried to shoot the half drone but his arm was ripped off by one of his new Solver arms before he threw it to the side.

"I should say I'm disappointed in you for not giving me a real fight. Then again..." Rampage started as he transformed a servo into a sword and placed the tip over N's core.

"I'm not really surprised; you have the body of a killer but when I look into your eyes, I don't see one."

Rampage used his Solver glyph to catch the USB patch, the crucifix looking device stopping mere inches from his head. He turns his helm to the drone core who threw it.

"And as for you..."

The drone core didn't have time to react when one of Rampages Solver limb reached out and grabbed her before brining it closer to him. He used his Solver to show the USB patch to it before dropping the patch into his clawed servo.

"Can't have THIS messing with the spider's work now, could we?"

He crushed the patch, much to the core's horror.

"NO! Do you have any idea what you just did?!" the core shouted but Rampage shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care. All I know that Tarantulas is going to LOVE you."

"Bite me!" the core snarled before Rampage's Solver arm grip grew tighter, slightly crushing it. He turns his helm back to N.

"Don't worry, N..." Rampage started as he slowly raises his blade over the disassembler's core.

"I'm sure you would meet Uzi in the afterlife, if you drones have one, that is."

N's eyes hollowed out as the blade rose higher and higher before she shut them tight as it came thrusting down.

Nothing came.

N slowly opened an eye to see a shocked expression on Rampage's face and so did the drone core, if it had one. N's eyes looked towards the blade, only for his eyes to hollow out in shock as well.

Holding Rampage's arm, saving N's life by mere inches, was the familiar worker drone with purple hair, black boots, a hoodie and a beanie.

"H-how? Your dead." Rampage breathed in shock as his sword transformed back into a clawed servo but the worker drone didn't answer.

"Uzi..?" N gently spoke.

"I..." Uzi started as he grip on Rampage's wrist grew tighter.

"Have had..."

Energon, oil and blood began to bleed from the wrist.

"ENOUGH!"

Rampage screamed in agony when Uzi just ripped his servo clean off his wrist, causing him to stumble off N and let go of the drone core to grab his bleeding wrist.

Uzi looked towards Rampage's severed hand before discarding it to the side. N smiled to see Uzi standing there.

"Uzi... UZI! YOU'RE-"

N froze when Uzi turned to him, seeing that her right eye was displaying the Solver glyph. The glyph wasn't purple, but it wasn't yellow, either.

It was blue.

"You ok?" She asked with a soft smile. N nodded.

"Good, you've already done enough." she smiled before turning her gaze to Rampage her eyes glaring at the red half drone.

"This fight is mine."

(SFM Art made by yours truly)

Rampage's servo regenerated before he turns his gaze to Uzi with killer intent.

"I don't know how you're alive but I'm going to kill you and make sure you stay dead!" Rampage roared at the worker. Uzi just calmly watched him.

"Bite me."

With a raged cry, Rampage came right at her, moving from his position to Uzi's in a blink of an eye, leaving a destroyed trail. He slashes at Uzi, but she, both amazingly and calmly, side stepped.

Everything moved slowly as Rampage's optics widened as they followed Uzi before she gave the half drone a powerful sucker punch to his gut, causing him to spit out energon, oil and blood.

Time began to return to normal as Rampage backed off, gripping his stomach in pain before shooting his helm back at the female worker.

"That one was for N." she growled.

Rampage charges at her again, raising his Solver pincer claws and slashed down at her. However, Uzi's wings sprouted from her back and grabbed the claws before she hoisted herself up and kicked her opponent in the face.

Rampage shakes his helm and glares at her but saw that she had seemingly disappeared.

"Looking for someone?" Uzi asked from above, revealing her to be standing on top of his helm with her arms crossed.

Rampage swipes his claws at her but the worker briefly took to the air, dodging the attack before thrusting herself downward, kicking Rampage's helm to the ground.

"So much for the 'higher power', huh?" Uzi mused.

Rampage thrusts one of of his Solver grabber claws at her. Uzi used her Solver to catch it and it actually worked, much to Rampage's shock. The Solver doesn't work on other Solver users or anything related to it. How could this worker drone-

She snaps the Solver arm off, throwing it to the side. Rampage used his Solver to rip one of the pillars off and throw it at her. Uzi dodges the giant projectile and used her Solver to send it back at him. It collided and sent him crashing into another pillar, the first destroying the second, resulting it to crumble onto him.

N watched Uzi in shock and amazement while the drone core watched in shock and disbelief as she and Rampage battled on.

How is Uzi able to fight off such an opponent while the murder drone couldn't even touch this guy and how did she survive having half her core destroyed?! The drone core couldn't help but wonder...

Was this really her daughter?

------------------------------------------------------------

J finally makes it to the opening where the church would be, her hands clenched into fists. She looks at the church with worry.

"I hope I'm not too late..." she thought to herself aloud.

"I hope we are not to late as well." a voice replied behind her. J's eyes hollowed out, knowing full well who it belongs to. She turns her head around and saw an all too familiar cyclops.

"Shockwave!" she cried before jumping at Shockwave with a hug. He hugged her back.

"You're ok!"

"I told you, I survived far worse than a few Sentinels." Shockwave assured her as the two broke away.

"Where's Tessa at?" Brawl asked, noticing that the human wasn't present with the disassembler.

"Still in the tunnels, at least I hope so."

"So J, when were you going to tell us about the patch?" V questioned, giving J a glare. The latter's face fell into guilt.

"So you know, huh?"

"Doll told us about that USB patch while we were on our way here." Shockwave explained.

"Look, I ditched Tessa to try and find you guys and get that patch for Uzi. I've had enough of that human's bullshit."

"And I'm glad you did. What's important now is delivering that patch to Uzi before she's not herself anymore." Shockwave replied. J gave him a small smile.

The church's ceiling suddenly exploded, prompting the group to turn towards it and saw two air born figures colliding with each other.

------------------------------------------------------------

Rampage flew towards Uzi and slashed his sword at her but the worker swiftly dodges to the side and kicks him in the back, causing him to crash into the roof of the church. Uzi landed not that far from him.

Rampage gets up from the crash and glares at the worker drone with absolute hate while Uzi just kept the same expression she had for the whole fight.

"Why don't you just stand still... and DIE!" Rampage shouted in anger. Uzi stood there, unfazed before finally, for the first time when she first fought Rampage, a grin formed on her face.

"Let me see what you got then." she replied, enraging Rampage even more.

"Why you waste of metal." The half drone snarled as a clawed servo transformed into a blaster.

"YOU DARE MOCK A SUPERIOR LIFEFORM!?"

He aims his blaster at Uzi and fired, hitting her in the dead centre of her head, knocking her head back. Rampage breathed heavily before watching Uzi lifting her head and looking back at the half drone. Not even a scratch was left.

His optics widened, his mouth agape, as his form began to shake, lowering he blaster as he did. He was afraid.

"What's the matter, Rampage? Don't tell me a mighty Decepticon warrior like yourself is having trouble destroying a simple toaster, right?" Uzi grinned at the shaking mech.

"Y-you... you... what are you?" Rampage managed to spit out.

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Uzi inquired with a grin before her expression fell back to what it previously was.

"I'm the worker drone who came back to life for the sol purpose of kicking your ass."

Rampage didn't respond to that, he was still full of fear.

"I'm an angsty gothic teen with crippling daddy issues and a rebellious nature. I've made friends with killer robots and can use the power of the Solver, that's what I am." 

Thunder crackled behind her, casting a shadow in front of her, but the shadow did not look like her at all.

"I..."

Uzi raises her hand towards Rampage before a blue Solver glyph appeared in front of it.

"Am Uzi Doorman. And you..."

Rampage looks up to see a giant Solver glyph falling towards him. Instinctively, he reaches up and catches the incoming glyph, using his Solver limbs to push the thing off him. Suddenly, he suddenly feels himself becoming weaker and saw that his Solver limbs were dissolving as yellow lighting crackled around him and into the glyph above him, being absorbed into it. His optics widened and looks towards Uzi again.

"Are going down!"

The Solver limbs gave out, resulting the blue glyph to crushing him through the roof and directly into the ground of the church's interior, leaving a massive hole.

Uzi flew down, back into the church's interior before looking towards N with a smile as her blue Solver eye glitched back into purple and back into a normal eye.

"You... cannot defeat me." Rampage voice declared weakly from the hole Uzi left him in, prompting her turn turn her head to see the half drone rise out of the hole, his body being reverted back to its original state. He clumsily strode towards the female worker.

"You... you're just an annoying..."

Rampage fell to his knees before rising back up.

"Short..."

Uzi's went half lidded as her visor briefly glitched the word "bruh" at that.

"Worker drone!"

He throws his fist in a punch but was caught by Uzi's raises her arm and used her Solver to bring N's severed arm to her hand. The severed hand swaps to an electric taser.

"I don't have time for this." she growled before thrusting the taser onto Rampage's chest, causing him to shout out in pain from the electrical current before he passed out, falling on his back.

Finally defeating Rampage, Uzi turns her head to N as the disassembler tapped his fingers together.

"U-Uzi... I-" N stuttered before he was interrupted by a hug given by Uzi.

"I know, N, me too."

N smiled and hugged her back. The doors opened to reveal Shockwave and the others.

"Took you guys long enough." Uzi smiled before she saw Shockwave running towards her.

"Uzi! I was worried sick! Are you hurt? Need some coolant? How many digits am I holding up?" Shockwave questioned worriedly as he swiftly looked over the worker for any injuries, kneeling down to her level but Uzi grabbed his arms and moved them away.

"Relax, Shocks. I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." she assured the scientist before the drone core jumped up between the two.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You do you think you are treating Uzi like she's your daughter!" The drone core growled at Shockwave, both he and Uzi ending up confused.

"And you are?" Shockwave asked confused. The drone core was about to respond before-

"Solver spider! Kill it!" Brawl cried out before he kicks the drone core, sending it flying into the fleshy pit. Brawl dusted his servos together.

"That takes care of that." Brawl said to himself proudly.

"BRAWL!" N screamed at the Combatidrone, leaving said Combatidrone and the others confused.

"What?" Brawl questioned in confusion.

"That was Uzi's mom you just kicked!"

"WHAT!" Uzi screamed as she and the others turn their heads and helm towards the Combatidrone who just looked towards the flesh pit.

"Ah... my bad."

Shockwave placed his servo over his optic, shaking his helm as the other just looked at Brawl at disbelief.

"Well well, someone's been busy."

The group turn their heads and helms towards the church entrance to see Tessa standing there, leaning against the door frame as she gazed around, acknowledging the damage left by Uzi's fight with Rampage.

"YOU!" Shockwave snarled as he immediately aims his hyperflux cannon at her, J, Brawl, V, and Soundwave following suit with their weapons.

"What's with the sudden hostility, fellas?" Tessa asked innocently.

"Cut the scrap, Tessa. You knew about the patch all along and you kept you mouth shut. Tell us why or we put an end to you here and now."

"How cute. You think those little weapons could actually stop me." Tessa commented. The other drones and half drones stood there confused until Soundwave stood forward.

[-Enough games! - Show us - what you - really - are.-]

The others turn to Soundwave in confusion. What does he mean by 'show us what you really are'?

Tessa stood there in silence before slowly, she started to fall into hysterics before becoming maniacal laughter.

"You saw right through me, haven't you, Soundy?" she laughed until she calmed down.

"Alright..." Tessa started as she gripped her zipper.

"If - you - insist."

That voice... It can't be...

Tessa took off her space suit and helmet, revealing a forced combination of flesh and metal, human and drone merged into one singular entity, tentacles sticking out of the body. This thing wasn't a human...

It was a monster. A monster of the Absolute Solver.

Golden Xs lit up in the black eye sockets, forming up its pupils before it charged at the group. Shockwave and the others fired their weapons at the Absolute Solver but it kept teleporting all over the place, not allowing them to get a clear shot.

"Neck - bite."

The Solver jumped at Shockwave, its teeth aiming for his neck...

Until something pounced at it and bit at its neck first.

"Ow." the Solver "cried" out in pain before it used its tentacles to slam the attacker off it.

"Tentacle - slap."

The attacker was thrown off the Solver, revealing it to be a familiar Spinosaur Sentinel.

"Scorn?!" Uzi gasped in shock but Scorn ignored her as he roared at the Solver.

The Solver jumped to one side but Scorn blocked its path, flashing the light meant to boot loop drones at it, as he did when it tried the other. Scorn turns his helm to the others and nodded. The group didn't know why Scorn was helping them but they didn't complain. Instead, they trained their weapons at the Solver before Scorn charged at it and tackled it, wrestling it.

"Fire on my command." Shockwave ordered as the barrel of his hyperflux cannon began to glow.

"Ready... aim..."

The church doors blasted open, leaving a cloud of debris, causing the group, Scorn and even the Solver to turn to the cloud. Within it, a massive yellow X glowed through the cloud.

"That murder drone... that's the biggest I have ever seen." Doll breathed in shock as Soundwave nodded his helm in agreement.

"That's not a disassembly drone." Uzi explained, receiving a confused gaze from the Russian worker, the silent Con and the Spinosaur Sentinel. A low growl was emitted from the cloud before the X drew closer and slat apart...

Before the Sinnertwin bursts out of the debris cloud, letting out a roar that echoed throughout the cavern. Everything went black.

To be continued...

Chapter Text

Cybertron, the Golden Age.

An old cybertronian sorted through the old archives of the Iacon hall of records, looking through them before deciding where they should go.

The red and purple coloured mech stroked his long metallic beard in thought with a rather anxious expression when he stumbled upon one particular finding: A rune that holds records of what is to come in the future.

One of the pages of the Covenant of Primus.

"Do not fret over making your presence known to me, my student, for there is no need. Please come in." The old mech assured the red and blue cybertronian standing at the entrance to the elder's office.

"Forgive me for my unannounced visit, Alpha Trion." The young mech apologised to his mentor who turns to him as he continues to enter the office.

"I knew you were returning to the hall of records after your visit to Kaon, Orion Pax. Whether you were announcing it or not. No apology is required. Now tell me, how was your time with Megatronus?" Alpha Trion asked his student curiously, fully facing him.

"It went well, Alpha Trion. We discussed over Cybertron's caste system giving by the high council and what should be done for equality among our people."

"Yes... the Golden Age is not as golden as one might think." Alpha Trion mused disapprovingly. He knew as well as his student that something must be done with the corruption among Cybertron's leadership for the good of the people.

"However, that is not what I wish to speak with you about." Orion admitted, receiving a curios gaze from the ancient Prime.

"Oh?"

"I have discovered one particular finding that surrounds the lore of the Primes. One that I wish to speak with you about for some time. I believed that since you are one of the Thirteen, I hoped that you will shed some light on the subject." Orion explained and the elder stroke his beard in thought.

"I see. You have believed right, my student. Now tell me, what is it that you've uncovered?"

Orion nodded.

"It is an old historical document that dates back to Cybertron's beginning. It speaks of a form of... ritual."

Alpha Trion stopped stroking his beard, his optics widening slightly.

"Ritual?"

"Yes. According to the document, this ritual is used to allow a Prime to... transcend death and return to the realm of the living as someone anew. What does it all mean, Alpha Trion?" Orion asked and Alpha Trion hummed to himself for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"Giving the many questions you no doubt have, perhaps I should tell you of the nature of this ritual." the ancient Prime sighed before telling his student the story.

"As you know, the Allspark is where all extinguished sparks travel to and become one with all that have fallen."

"However, if that extinguished spark is that of a Prime, they have the power to separate themselves from the Allspark and return to the mortal realm."

Orion Pax's optics widened in disbelief at the wise mech's words.

"That's incredible." the young archivist breathed and Alpha Trion nodded.

"Indeed it is. However, this ritual is forbidden to us Primes."

"And why is that?" Orion couldn't help but wonder.

"Not only does it upset the cosmic balance of the universe, but there is also a price to pay."

"A price?"

"Yes. In order to return to the mortal realm, the Prime must allow themselves to have have their spark absorbed by one who is of this realm. Once the spark has been absorbed into that living, sentient being, they and the Prime become a singular entity. Permanently."

"What?"

"Yes. The Prime's spark becomes their spark, no matter what species they are. Not just cybertronians like you and I."

Orion was stunned; not only the Prime will become one with the being they are absorbed by, but that being owns the Prime's spark as their own? Organic or not?

"So, if you were to perish and I am not a cybertronian but another species that does not have a spark and you return to the mortal realm through me, your spark will no longer be your spark but rather mine?"

"Indeed. If the ritual has been successfully performed, I will become your spark. My memories, my feelings, my entire being will become yours. I will become you. We will become one."

"Becoming someone's spark so the Prime could live again with no means of reversing it... A heavy price to pay."

"Indeed. Only the line of Primes knows of this ancient ritual known as the Spark Infusion. However, I trust you with all my spark on how to handle this kind of knowledge."

Alpha Trion placed a servo on his student's shoulder.

"Now, is there any more you would like to know?"

"No, Alpha Trion. That is all I wanted to know." Orion replied, shaking his helm. His mentor smiled warmly.

"Alright then. If you wish to leave, you are free to."

Orion nodded with a smile before leaving the room. Once left alone, Alpha Trion turns back to the Covenant of Primus. Admittedly, his understanding of these rune is not prefect, no matter how much time has passed, he was still able to decipher some of them, however.

This rune in particular foretells of a returning darkness, in the shape of a yellow hexagon glyph with three prongs sticking out, one at the top, one at the bottom of each side.

A symbol that Alpha Trion, the ancient Prime of the Thirteen, remembers all too well.

"He destroyed the Predacon species during Cybertron's beginning before we were finally able to banish him to that dead universe... And now... he will rise again someday... and return to this one."

Alpha Trion looks out the window of his office that gave him a view of Iacon City.

"Primus help us all."

------------------------------------------------------------

Copper-9, present day.

Oh that is just perfect!

Not only that they had to deal with Tessa who wasn't really Tessa but actually Cyn wearing her skin like some sick costume, but now they have the Sinnertwin to deal with as well!

Just freaking perfect!

The Sinnertwin growls softly as it eyes the group as well as Doll, Soundwave and Scorn, most of with had their weapons trained on the two-headed Terrordrone (a name giving by Uzi).

"It's just standing there." J whispered nervously as she kept a rifle locked onto the Sinnertwin as it visually examines each member of the group.

"What does it want?" Brawl questioned nervously.

The Sinnertwin shifts it focus to Doll who's eyes widened, hollowing out, as she slowly backed away. It then shifted its gaze to Soundwave who remained stoic as he stared at the Terrordrone. It then looks towards Scorn who lightly snarled.

The Sinnertwin eyed them carefully, almost as if it was scanning them which it is in fact what it was doing. It's visual sensors scanned each group member, each one giving it negative results, concluding that they were not what it was after.

However, when its gaze met the last one who wasn't part of the group, its scanners reported positive results which means it has located its target.

And that target was none other than Cyn who still maintained her creepy-ass smile.

The Sinnertwin roars at the skin wearing drone before pouncing at her.

The group quickly got out of the way, Scorn transforming into bot mode in the process, when the beast pounced but Cyn stood still, still smiling.

The Sinnertwin claws slammed into the spot where Cyn was standing but didn't find the Solver drone. Its twin head looked up to see Cyn crawling up a stone pillar like an insect, giving the Terrordrone that smile.

"You - miss. Giggle."

It snarls at Cyn before jumping onto the pillar and swinging its claws and snapping its jaws at her. During this Shockwave and the others watched the scene unfold before them before they readied their weapons.

"We need to drive this monster back to the surface. Only then we can deal with Cyn." Shockwave stated as prepared his hyperflux cannon as well as pull out the sun gun.

"Good idea. And with those sun guns you boys found, that might be able to send it back up." V smiled in agreement as she readied her rifle.

"Wait! Don't attack it!" Uzi cried, stopping the group as they gave confused (and angry) expressions.

"Why the Hell not?! That thing tried to kill us last time!" V snarled.

"Yeah! That thing's the reason I'm like this and I still need to get even with it." Brawl added, cracking his knuckles.

"Just look."

The others looked over to Cyn and the Sinnertwin, the later biting and clawing and everything in between at the former to no avail.

"I don't think it's after us. I think it's after Cyn."

Shockwave watched the scene, his optic flashing in realisation.

"She's right! It's only interested in Cyn!"

It was that statement from Shockwave that made them realise that the Sinnertwin was indeed only after Cyn. V looks towards her rifle before looking towards Doll.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Ah to Hell with it! Let's tear Cyn apart!" V smiled, her rifle ready. One by one, the rest of the group went along with V, ready to finish Cyn off once and for all. Before so, however, Uzi turns her gaze to the cybertronain Spinosaur Sentinel.

"Wanna join in?" she asked, despite the whole "Trying to kill her friends" things couple hours earlier. Scorn's visor flashed red as his clawed servo transformed into a blaster.

"I'll be honoured."

The Sinnertwin slams its claws at Cyn. However, the skin wearing Solver drone teleports, causing it to look around for that little eldritch demon.

It suddenly hears "giggling", prompting it to snap its twin heads to its back before it received a pair of sickle-like claws to both its eyes by Cyn, causing it to shriek in pain, letting go of the stone pillar and crashing to the ground in the process.

Cyn managed to jump off its back as the Sinnertwin fell and before she "laughs" as she watches the two headed Terrordrone flail around on its back. Her "laughing" fit abruptly ended when a bullet was subconsciously redirected away when it was shot at her.

Slowly, Cyn turns her attention to the group.

"Almost - forgot - about - you." Cyn mused. Shockwave turns to V.

"Since you hold the biggest grudge against her out of all of us, I feel it is most logical that you should go first."

V smiled sadistically before turning to Brawl.

"Wanna join me, big guy?"

"Are you kidding? Those lizards were just easy pickings, I could go for a little something more challenging." Brawl chuckled before he began to slowly approach Cyn.

"Besides, I've been waiting for a chance to have a crack at her."

The Combatidrone began charging at the eldritch monster that is the skin wearing drone as V shortly joined him.

"I - can - assure - you. You - won't - be - disappointed."

Brawl jumps and slams his fists to the ground at Cyn but she dodges before V slashes at her with her sword. Cyn's sickle claws shoots right out of her back and blocks the steel blade, sending sparks around.

Brawl turns to Cyn and quickly pulls out a sun gun, only to be shocked to see it reduced to molten metal.

"What?"

"You - think - I - wouldn't - catch - on - to - your - little - toys, - did - you?" Cyn mused to Brawl with a smile before looking over to Shockwave and Soundwave.

Sure enough, Shockwave quickly looks over to his sun gun to see it was now molten metal. Soundwave quickly grabs his and was met with the same results.

How the Hell did Cyn managed to destroy their sun guns with them looking?! They didn't even get to try them out.

"So much for that. Oh well, back to the old fashion way I guess." Brawl shrugged as he threw his broken sun gun away before cracking his metal knuckles. Brawl charges at Cyn. V saw this and quickly moves out of the way before Brawl grabs Cyn and slams her to the ground.

"HA! For someone who's capable of creating unbelievable horrors, you're not so tough." Brawl said in a snarky tone. Cyn, however, maintained her toothy, sadistic smile.

"And - for - someone - who - has - accomplished - rather - impressive - feats, - you're - not - so - smart. Arm - bite."

Immediately after making that statement, Cyn quickly took a massive bite at Brawl's arm.

The Combatidrone's tail straightened out in pain as a little puppy whine escaped his mouth before Cyn's tentacles wrapped around his waist and through him at V, the two colliding on impact.

Cyn gets back up and turns to the others with her sadistic smile maintained. Brawl and V recovered from the crash. They nod before they charged at the skin wearing Solver drone and leaped at her.

V slashed her blade down and Brawl gave Cyn a punch but in a flash of yellow, their attacks met with nothing but white, soft snow.

"What the?!" Brawl gasped as he and V looked around confused to see that they were no longer in the ruined church located in the underground caverns, but rather back on the frozen wasteland that is the surface.

They were right back where they started.

"Did Cyn just teleport us back to the beginning?!" V growled in anger and disbelief, her blades switching back to her regular hands.

"Looks like it. Primus, that went pear-shaped fast, just like that one time me and the other Combaticons boarded the Ark. Still need to get even with Jazz and Jetfire for that. Those two really grinded my gears." Brawl replied before placing a digit on the side of his helm.

------------------------------------------------------------

"What did you do to them, Cyn?!" N snarled viciously, his fist clenched. One moment V and Brawl were coming right at Cyn, the next, she swiped her hand with her Solver and the two were gone.

"Don't - worry, - big - brother. They - are - safe." Cyn replied as she turns back to the group.

"Hey Shockwave, me and V are ok. Cyn just teleported us back to the surface. Might be a while before we find a way back down." Brawl informed through Shockwave's communicator, the scientist nodding in acknowledgment.

"Understood, Brawl. Be safe in the meantime, alright? Shockwave out." Shockwave answered before turning to the others.

"They are alright. We are on our own."

"Enough of this!" Scorn snarled before charging a Cyn with his blades ready, despite the drones attempting to stop him. Scorn thrusts his sword down at Cyn who dodges the attack and "laughs".

"Still - primitive - since - the - day - you - were - created, - SC-87."

"I no longer respond to 'SC-87' and YOU will PAY for the deception that you polluted my mind and judgement with, Cyn!" Scorn snarled in anger as he swinged his swords again, Cyn dodging effortlessly.

"So - you've - finally - learned - the - truth?" the Solver drone asked innocently with a kuwaii smile.

"Tell me... How long have you been directing my focus away from Nori's suffering? How long did I believe that the Solver was the key to liberating my kind? How many of your 'pets' did I slaughter for the sake of your lies!? TELL ME!"

Cyn didn't answer Scorn's demands. All she did was "laugh" mockingly.

"That - is - a - need - to - know - basis. And - all - you - need - to - know - that - I - needed - you - out - of - the - way. Your - primal - side - helped - with - this - a - lot - once - I've - been - able - to - set - you - off - in - the - right - direction." Cyn explained instead of giving Scorn answers, licking her lips and over her eye like a gecko with her tongue.

"Giggle. All - I - had - to - do - was - tell - you - what - you - wanted - to - hear. You - were - always - so - gullible - and - easy - to - manipulate, - SC-87. Mocking - laugh."

Scorn snarl grew more vicious until the rage and hatred he feels towards Cyn erupted in a vengeful war cry, his primal urges of his Sentinel side taking over his mind.

"MY NAME IS SCORN!"

Scorn mindlessly swings his swords at Cyn who merely dodges the rage fuelled strikes. With each missed swing, his anger boils more like water under hot flames.

"GRAAHH! JUST DIE ALREADY!"

Scorn slams his fists to the ground at Cyn in primal rage. He looks up to see that the Cyn had jumped back a few feet away from the cybertronian Sentinel.

Scorn roars again and charges at the Solver drone who didn't attempt to get out of the way like before, instead of letting him come at her with everything he had.

Suddenly, her head snaps to the side, sticking her hand out before a Solver glyph appeared at her finger tips.

And with one swift motion, Scorn, the Alpha Sentinel of the Project he was named after, had vanished in a yellow light.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Alice held the cards close to her before she slammed them on the table, revealing their contents.

"HA! I win, y'all!"

Beau and the Sentinel looked at her with a couple of cards of their own. Their was a moment of silence before the Sentinel dropped its cards on the table, revealing all of them to be kings.

Beau reluctantly revealed his cards to, showing that his cards were better than Alice's cards as well, causing her orange eyes to twitch.

"ARE Y'ALL KIDDING ME!? AGAIN!?" The cannibal drone cried in anger, slamming her head on the table as the Sentinel chirped, as if laughing at her (which it most likely was, since this is the 6th time it had won a game of cards after all).

Suddenly, a glitching yellow light illuminated the room, causing the three to turn away from each other and towards the light.

Almost immediately, in a sudden flash of yellow light, Scorn appeared from it, charging right out of it, before the illuminating glow vanished.

Scorn skidded to a stop at the realisation that he was no longer in the church located at the lower levels.

"What..?" The Spinosaur Sentinel muttered as he turns to see Alice, Beau and the red eyed Sentinel looking right at him in both surprise and shock.

Scorn quickly looks back at the hallway where the secret elevator was located. Within the moment of silence, Scorn's claws began to clench, his red visor glowing brighter as his anger built up before-

"CCCCCCYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYNNNNNN!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

"One - more - out - of - the - way, - that leaves - only - six - left." Cyn smiled as she eyed the remaining six.

Doll's eyes widened as she slowly backed off; she wasn't sure if she'll survive against something like Cyn herself, considering that she's responsible for everything. That alone made her afraid of the genocidal drone.

Soundwave, however, was more than willing for some payback for what she did to him and his beloved Minicon, Lazerbeak.

He would never forget that day.

Shockwave, Uzi, J and N were weary of the unmoving, skin wearing Solver drone.

She's just standing there... Menacingly.

Then, without any warning, Cyn jolted towards them. Teleporting around.

Until she...

"Neck - bite."

Came right for N, like she did for Shockwave just moments ago.

None of them could react in time when Cyn bit on N's neck, ripping his wires and cables out.

J tried firing her SMG as well as Uzi trying to use her Solver on Cyn.

However, a pair of sickle-claws sprouted from her back, her jaws still latched on the temporally offlined N.

"Stab."

As one sickle-claw stabs J in the stomach, pinning her to a pillar, Uzi unexpectedly catches it with her hands.

Uzi doesn't remember having reflexes like that before in her whole life but she didn't dwell on it.

Cyn then purposely ripped the sickle-like that held J in place right off the metal arm that sprouted on her back, leaving the female disassembler there to hang, in order to focus the other claw on skewering Uzi.

Shockwave quickly charges at her, prompting Cyn to jump back. Because of this action, the sickle-claw Uzi held onto moved away from her, fully allowing the purple-eyed drone to use her Solver.

However, Shockwave stopped her.

"No! I'll hold off Cyn. Just help J."

Uzi looked at Shockwave, reluctant to obey his order and join in, but she knew how much J means to him and vice versa.

Uzi quickly runs off to help J, putting her faith in her da- friend. Putting her faith in her friend, before rushing to the workaholic drone's aid.

Uzi grabbed hold of the severed sickle-claw that held J in place, both drones trying to pry the thing off the latter. However, the damn thing was wedged in deep.

"This isn't going go work." Uzi muttered in frustration before turning to Soundwave and Doll.

"Doll! Soundwave! Help me with-"

However, her eyes hollowed out when she turns to look at the two remaining drones.

Soundwave was completely gone, almost like he just vanished. And Doll?

Doll was petrified.

In Uzi's honest opinion? Who could blame her?

But while the Russian worker was standing there, where the hell is Soundwave?!

Meanwhile, Cyn's tentacles wrapped around Shockwave's hyperflux cannon, forcing it to point away from her, as she threw N's limp form from her jaws and towards the flesh pit, stopping a few meters next to it.

"You - know, - despite - our - introduction - on - the - surface - earlier, - I - am - honoured - to - properly - meet - you, - Shockwave. Face - to - face. Curious - mumble. Or - is - that - face - to - eye?" Cyn commented as she gazed right into Shockwave's golden optic, her grip on him strong and firm despite the scientist's physical prowess.

"The honour's all mine, Cyn. Because I'm going to feed you your own core!"

"Giggle. As - brutal - since - the - day - I - unleashed - big - brother - and - the - others - on - the - humans. Glad - to - see - my - influence - hadn't - changed - when - I - gave - you - this - body."

"What?"

That was all Shockwave could muster from his voice back before Cyn yanked the hyperflux cannon off his arm and threw it out the destroyed building.

"What are you talking about? The humans did this to me." Shockwave questioned, gesturing to his disassembly drone body as Cyn's head tilted to the side.

"All - they - did - was - find - you - and - brought - you - back - for - study, - they - had - no - intention - of - making - you - like - V, - J - and - big - brother - N. It - was - all - me."

The humans... didn't plan on turning him into a disassembly drone? Illogical. Though faint, Shockwave remembers his last moments as a cybertronian before his spark was ripped from his chassis.

What Shockwave remembers is what happened to him... right?

"I - remember- the - day - you - first - became - one - of - my - disassembly - drones. I - can - still - hear - their - screams - when - you - tore - them - apart." Cyn continued.

With each word that escapes the Solver drone's mouth, sudden images of a corpse flashed before Shockwave's optic.

"The - way - you - added - decoration - to - their - HQ - by - beheading - their - scientists - and - had - them - skewered."

An image of the severed heads of the scientists, who he had memories of them researching on his body, skewered onto spikes like kebabs.

"How - you - tore - out - the - insides - of - their - security - officers."

Another image of deceased humans in security uniform lying on the ground with their organs missing.

"And, - of - course, - the - cherry - on - top. The - CEO - begging - for - his - pitiful - life."

Shockwave looks down to his servos. He saw human blood drenching his claws as he hears a man crying.

He looks to where the crying was coming from, seeing that he was no longer in the church. But rather the JcJenson HQ on Earth.

Bodies and organs were littered everywhere as Shockwave was covered in blood. In front of him was the CEO of JcJenson on the floor, holding onto a severe injury as tears flooded from his eyes.

That was when he realised, everything that Shockwave remembers of the JcJenson HQ. It was all fake.

This is what really happened.

He killed everyone in that building.

"And you enjoyed it~." The voice inside his mind, who had mysteriously disappeared since the incident at the camp site, told him.

Suddenly, he finds himself back at the Church, standing in front of Cyn.

Anger boiled in his veins as he clenched his fists. Anger towards Cyn. SHE did this to him.

SHE was the one who ripped his spark from his chassis and placed it into a disassembly drone body.

SHE'S the one who planted the sadistic voice inside his mind.

SHE was the one who sent him to Copper-9 to exterminate the worker drones.

SHE is responsible for everything that had happened to him ever since those fishermen found him!

Now he knew EXACTLY how Grimlock felt.

"I - knew - you - would - be - useful - to - help - clearing - the - way - for - me. I - can't - wait - to - eat." Cyn admitted as her tongue hanged from her mouth with drool dripping from it.

"You, - like - big - brother - N - and - the - others, - have - served - your - purpose."

Before Shockwave knew it, one of Cyn's tendrils shot out towards him and pierced right through his singular optic. As the tendril retracted back, Shockwave cried in pain as he gripped his destroyed optic.

"Biscuits! Not again!"

Cyn slowly marched towards Shockwave before a groundbridge portal opened behind the skin wearing drone. Someone jumped out of the groundbridge towards Cyn and slashes their blade-like arms at her, but she turns around and blocks it with a pair of sickle-claws.

"And - as - for - you, - Soundwave..." Cyn smiled as her claws gripped Soundwave's arm as he gazed directly into the drone's eyes.

"How - did - your - spy - mission - turn - out? Small - giggle. Did - you - learn - nothing - when - we - first - met - at - the - manor?"

Soundwave kept pushing his force on Cyn, who looks back to Shockwave.

"I - should - end - both - of - you, - but - since - I'm - pressed - for - time..."

Another arm sprouted from Cyn's back, this time a clawed hand, and grabs Soundwave by the helm before she threw him at Shockwave, knocking the two back to Uzi and J. After doing this, Cyn started to make way for the flesh pit.

"It's - been - fun. And, - also, - that's - sarcasm."

Shockwave has regenerated his optic as Uzi finally pulled the claw pinning J off her, before the three, along with Soundwave, to turn to Cyn.

The Sinnertwin finally recovered its injury and saw Cyn approaching the flesh pit. Angered, the Sinnertwin began to run towards the skin wearing drone who saw this but didn't falter by the sight.

"Honestly, - I'm - starving."

She dropped into the pit, right before the Sinnertwin snapped its jaws at her.

A giant explosion of yellow light erupted from the pit as multiple tendrils flailed around as computed blared the alarms before a beam shot out to the massive hole on the cavern's ceiling.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The yellow beam didn't go unnoticed by Scorn, Alice, Beau and the red eyed Sentinel, all four startled by the sudden light shooting up to the massive hole leading into the facility and into the sky which, on the surface was immediately noticed by V and Brawl.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Ultra Magnus and the other Autobots, including Ratchet, drove towards where the unnatural anomaly was located in vehicle mode until they all suddenly came to a halt when the yellow beam shot into the sky.

Team Prime transformed into bot mode and gazed at the brief (yet impossible to miss) beam in shock.

"Whoa!" Smokescreen gasped.

"By the Allspark... what WAS that?!" Ratchet breathed in shock at what he and the others just witnessed.

"Dunno, but I bet my pistons that the Cons are behind this!" Wheeljack stated with an angry glare.

"You're right on the Shanix on that one, Jackie. And it's only giving me itchy fists." Bulkhead agreed as he bashed his fists together.

"Whatever Starscream used to destroy Earth, he is no doubt using it here." Ultra Magnus said as Ratchet pulled out a scanner.

"The commander's right; It's displaying the same energy profile as Earth did when it was destroyed." The medic confirmed.

"All the more reason to put a stop to the Cons and bring them in for their crimes." Arcee commented with her servos clenching into fists.

"Agreed. Autobots, continue to roll out!" Ultra Magnus ordered before he and the rest of Team Prime transformed and continued onward.

At least they WERE if not for the energy tendrils suddenly popping out of the ground and blocking the path and attacking them.

The Autobots transformed again and gazed in shock in disbelief, dodging the hostile energy tendrils.

"Ok... Neutralise the hostiles first, THEN roll out." Ultra Magnus said quickly as he pulled out a hammer before the rest of the Autobots readied their weapons.

"Autobots, ATTACK!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

V and Brawl blinked in shock and a bit of worry of what was happening down there.

"This is bad. This is bad, right?" Brawl asked, turning his helm to V.

"With Cyn involved, definitely." V answered.

After that being said, V's audio receptors picked up the sound of an approaching vehicle, prompting her to turn her head, only to have her eyes hollow out.

"Brawl, look out!" V warned as she deployed her wings and took to the air, leaving Brawl confused.

"Why, what's going o-"

The Combatidrone turns his helm before the school bus bashed into him as it did a 360 degree spinning stop, sending him flying and crashing face first into the snow.

As V descends back to the ground as she eyed Brawl before two of the bus passengers exited out of the vehicle and saw the female disassembler.

"V?"

V's eyes widened as they hollowed out, having recognising that voice, as she turns to see to familiar worker drones.

"Lizzy?!"

Indeed, it was Lizzy who was accompanied by her brother, Thad. Both were surprised to see her. V looks towards the top of the bus, seeing it was driven by Khan of all people. What the hell were they doing here?! And...

Why does Lizzy have a railgun that looks similar to Uzi's?

Before V could ask anything, Brawl jumped up back onto his feet and stopped her.

"What the ever loving frag was THAT for?! What did I ever do to you?!" The Combatidrone yelled angrily, not very happy that he was literally assaulted with a school bus.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Sinnertwin gripped the edge of the flesh pit, roaring down into its abyss with its wings spread wide before diving down into its depths after Cyn.

Boulders and stalagmite started to fall from the ceiling, no doubt the result of the massive energy burst. J dodges a falling stalagmite before slicing a boulder in half with her blade.

"The whole cavern's falling apart! We need to leave! NOW!" J exclaimed before firing a rocket at another stalagmite. Shockwave nodded as he retrieved his hyperflux cannon and put it away.

"The most logical course of action! Soundwave!"

Soundwave nodded before opening a groundbridge portal to the surface. He grabs Doll's hand, snapping the Russian worker drone out of her petrified state, before he and her rushed through the portal.

Uzi rushed to N and lifted him up and carried him over her shoulder.

"Come on, N. Wake up!" Uzi thought aloud to the male disassembler before a pair of tendrils slithered from the pit. Uzi noticed before they wrapped themselves around her and N's ankle and started dragging them to the pit's maw.

This did not go unnoticed by Shockwave.

"Ah biscuits! J! You go on without me! Uzi and N need immediate assistance!"

J hesitated but reluctantly complied with a nod, charging into the groundbridge portal before the green vortex closed.

Shockwave ran to Uzi and N, grabbing their wrists right at the edge of the flesh pit's maw. It was then that N returned online, only for his eyes to widen in horror from what had woken up to.

Shockwave's held onto the two drones, his grip strong and firm, but the two tendrils would not relent. They pulled harder, which lead to Shockwave slightly skidding closer to the edge. This prompted Shockwave to deploy his wings and dig their bladed feathers into the stone. But not even that made any difference.

Uzi looked down to the dark pit with fear and panic; if this keeps up, eventually all three of them will be dragged into the dark pit. There had to be some way to ease the load off, make things easier for Shockwave to pull them out.

But what if he doesn't pull both of them out? What if Shockwave has to let go of one of them so he could pull the other out? There was no way Shockwave was going to do that, so how about he isn't GIVEN a choice.

Uzi knew what she had to do.

"Shockwave, N?"

Both Shockwave and N looked at the purple eyed drone.

"Remember when I first met you guys? When you tried to kill me, N? And when you just came up to me out of nowhere back at the colony, Shockwave?" she asked as she snapped a bladed bone shard from the flesh pit.

"You're binging this up NOW?!" N cried in confusion and panic.

"All my life I grew up being hated by my colony. I was ignored, harassed and bullied. All because I wanted to make a difference for my kind. Even my own dad didn't give a damn about me. I had no friends, no loved ones, nothing." she continued, ignoring N's response, looking pained as she remembered her life at the colony. However, a soft smile formed.

"But then... I met you two."

Uzi looks towards N.

"N, you were the first friend I've ever had and you've helped me through things like my rampage back at the camp."

She then looks towards Shockwave.

"And you? You've been there where my dad wouldn't. You took me under your wing and taught me a lot. You weren't against my ideas, instead you've supported and even encouraged me. And I'm thankful for that."

Uzi let out a small chuckle as digital tears fall from her purple eyes.

"What I'm trying to say is... Thanks... for everything. To both you, N, and you..."

Uzi gave Shockwave the biggest, spark-warming smile she had ever giving him.

"Dad."

Both Shockwave and N looked in horror, finally realising where this was going.

"Uzi... No..."

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

Uzi's tail appeared before it bit Shockwave's the servo holding onto her clean off its wrist. Uzi then jumped back and threw the bone shard at N's leg, slicing it off and freeing him from the tendril, fully allowing Shockwave to pull him out.

Everything slowed. Shockwave and N looked towards Uzi with the words "Die mad!" displayed on her visor as many more tendrils wrapped around her arms and legs before she used her Solver to launch both Shockwave and N away from the pit and right out of the destroyed church.

With a smile, Uzi closed her eyes, accepting her fate as she was pulled into the pit, falling into its dark depths.

Everything went black after that.

-------------------------------------------------------------

AN: I actually cried when writing this part. :(

-------------------------------------------------------------

Voices. She could hear... voices. Many voices.

Every single one of them was unrecognisable to her, but at the same time... familiar.

Almost... as if she heard them before. As if she knew who these voices belonged to.

"I thought settling scores would allow me to move on."

"All this leg work is giving me itchy fists!"

"You can count on us to keep the peace."

"Do you really think this is simply about MY inability to restore Bumblebee's voice box?"

"Well, I never really had the best role models."

"You said it yourself. This is bigger than the safety of three humans."

"If we let the Cons win, we're fragged, along with everyone else on our planet."

"Their children. They don't belong in your world."

"Anything you care to get off your tin chest, Prime?"

"You run when you should fight."

"Betraying my kind... is not the same as accepting yours."

"Megatron ordered me to annihilate you."

"Bulkhead knew the risks. Every Wrecker does."

"Now that you have help, how hard can it be to end this war?"

"I am willing to consider a truce. If you would be willing to bow before me."

"What could be greater than an army?"

"The time has come for YOUR extinction!"

"Because I now know the true meaning of oppression. And has thus lost my taste for inflicting it."

All of these voices did not go unheard, only being acknowledged as faint whispers. Despite how new these voices were to her, she can't shake off their haunting familiarity.

But then, one voice stood out from the rest. It was not heard as a whisper like the rest, it was clear and firm, as she could barley make out a red and blue figure. And it spoke to her, directly.

"Cyn's master, our true enemy, has yet to reveal himself."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Her eyes slowly started to open, consciousness returning to her, due to the small pebbles clanging against her visor.

Upon opening her eyes, Uzi cringed at the blinding light. It was short lived when her eyes adjusted to it pretty quick. However, once they did, her eyes widened in shock.

What laid in front of her was Copper-9, cracked open like an egg with fragments of the planets floated in its atmosphere. Golden tendrils reached out from the planet's core and wrapping themselves around the floating islands.

Uzi didn't have time to think about what she was seeing, as she came to realised she was drifting away from the planet. And, with no gravity in space and nothing to launch herself with, she had no control in what direction she was going.

As Uzi span uncontrollably, she drifted further and further away from the planet through its asteroid field. Her one-way trip to space came to an abrupt end when an asteroid was suddenly came towards her and catches her before she drifted too far.

Grabbing onto the rock, her confusion on what just happened dwindled when she noticed an organic drone core hopped from one rock to another. Her eyes widened in the realisation. Could it really be?

"..!"

Oh, right. Sound doesn't exist in space, so naturally her voice was inaudible.

Nori landed on a rock, carving something onto it before showing it to Uzi, gesturing to the planet behind her and gave her a shrug.

Whoops

Uzi, knowing now was not the best time to for questions, got on top of the rock, using her Solver to stop it from spinning out of control, and used messages on her visor to communicate.

How stop?

Nori responded with another word carved into the space rock with a little crucifix drawing beside it.

Patch

Uzi remembers Shockwave saying something of a patch back at the church. She did see a broken crucifix before she took on Rampage. It had to be this patch thing. She had to guess that HE had something to do with it.

The crab?

Nori threw something at her. Uzi wrapped her fingers around the object to see that it was Nori's collar.

Dat btch

Nori continued carving, this one a bit off topic.

Uzi merely chuckles at this as she puts the collar back on her neck. Nori continued carving, this time being off topic.

What happened down there?

She spun the rock around.

Looked like U went Solver

She carved again.

But didn't

She was asking her what happened to her when she saved N's life from Rampage after his failed attempt to kill her. Uzi remembers having her core skewered by the cyber-drone. She remembers getting back on her feat before going after that crab. But what happened in the time span between the two events?

She can't remember. It was all blurry, she barely had any memory of it what so ever.

I don't know

A bit sceptical of this, her mother just moved on and carved again. What Nori carved next was something that involves the Solver. It was evident by its symbol carved next to it.

Needs host. Destroy Cyn's heart

Nori used her Solver to grab a pickaxe from literally out of nowhere and passed it to Uzi. The purple eyed drone grinned and reached out for it.

That is, until she noticed something. Two somethings.

Nori gave a confused look as she turned to where her daughter was looking at, only to have her eye widening in shock. Flying across the mass asteroid field were a pair of identical purple jets and they were both flying towards them.

The closer they got, the more Uzi could make out that they both a had a symbol embedded on them. Not the Solver, but a symbol she had definitely seen before. Doesn't Shockwave and Brawl have a symbol just like-

Oh... no...

While Nori looked in confusion, Uzi began to panic as the two jet Vehicons drew closer to them.

"Lord Starscream, target sighted. Accompanied by something with organic material embedded in its circuitry." A Vehicon reported via a com link.

While no sound can be heard in space, cybertronians work their way around with with com links.

"Capture and secure them both! I want that Solver!" Starscream ordered with a snarl.

Nori's confusion turned to panic similar to Uzi's when she saw the two Vehicon jets firing at them.

Luckily, being that their aim was as great as a Stormtrooper's, the shots missed.

They zoom past and turns back around, transforming in the process.

Nori's shock and disbelief skyrocketed at the sight of this while Uzi readied her Solver with the pickaxe in hand.

Both Vehicons primed their weapons and aimed at Uzi and her mother, completely unaware of the giant X behind one of them.

The X split apart before the Sinnertwin wrapped its two heads around the Vehicon before tearing his throat out with its teeth.

The other Vehicon was terrified and began firing on the two-headed Terrordrone. The Sinnertwin was quick to use its victim as a body shield, blocking the energon shots.

The Sinnertwin then threw the dead Vehicon at the other, stunning the trooper, before moving towards him like an eel in water, oddly as if no gravity in the vacuum of space doesn't have that much effect on it, until it uses its twin tails to skewer the Vehicon through the spark.

Pulling its twin tails out of its victim's husk, it then slams them onto the Vehicon, sending the corpse plummeting to Copper-9's surface as it burned in the atmosphere.

The Sinnertwin roars victoriously as it spread its wings, despite the roar itself to be inaudible, before it looks towards Uzi and proceeds to slowly move towards her.

Nori was rather frightened, giving how she just witnessed the damn thing brutally killed those two Vehicons. Uzi, on the other hand, didn't seemed as frightened. She wasn't frightened at all, in fact.

Uzi kept her gaze on the towering creature before her as it lowered its twin heads towards the purple eyed drone. A message then appeared on her visor.

You're not like her, are you?

Uzi started to extend her hand towards the two-headed Terrordrone, the creature not reacting to her movements. She continued to reach out to it, not realising that her right eye was changing to a soft blue colour. Her hand gently hovered over the Sinnertwin's snout...

Before the incoming spaceship crashed into her as it zoomed pass, taking her along with it.

The ship's thrusters blew Nori away, causing her to plummet back to Copper-9 while the Sinnertwin jerked back in surprise with a yelp before looking towards the fast moving ship. The singular slitted eyes on each head blinked as they looked to each other before the Sinnertwin went after the ship.

As Uzi started to slide off the ship, her right eye glitching back to purple, she grabs hold of its ladder before its entrance door opened up. Purple eyes widened in shock to see Shockwave reached out and grabbed the worker drone's wrist before he pulled her in. Once inside, the doors closed.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. Uzi shook off her shock and looked towards the cycloptic drone.

"Yeah. Thanks." she replied before it just occurred to her.

"Wait, if you're here, then who's..?"

She looked towards the ship's controls, its chair spinning around to reveal-

"Haha! Spaceship pilooot!" N cheered joyfully before Uzi threw something at him.

"N! My mom was back there!" she snarled as she stomped towards the disassembler.

"SORRY! I didn't kno-"

She suddenly hugged him.

"You and Shockwave were supposed to get away with the others." she mumbled, her voice muffled in N's coat, as Shockwave approached the two.

"Did you really think we could just forget that little stunt you pulled? We are not happy with you about that, Uzi." he told the worker who looks towards the one-eyed drone.

"Yeah, we're pretty mad for what you did. But we can TALK LATER!"

N wails as he piloted the ship to dodge the many asteroids surrounding them.

After that near disaster was avoided, Uzi and N swept the digital sweat off their visors while Shockwave sighed in relief.

Uzi and N looked towards each other, the former starting to chuckle evilly, grabbing the latter's face.

"Then DIE MAD, bi-!"

Uzi, N and Shockwave froze in place when the power went out before they turned to see an energy tendril poking in the ship, feeling around. It moved around some more, rising up to the ceiling of the ship's interior. Crackling with energy, the tendril skewered through a wall at one end, then another wall at the other, letting the vacuum of space back in.

Stop :)

"..!"

"..."

"..!"

The energy tendril crushes the thing in half, exploding as the three fell out of the destroyed ship and fall back down to Copper-9's surface through its atmosphere.

Uzi flailed as she, N and Shockwave caught on fire upon entry. Both she and N tried to reach out for one another but they were spiralling out of control. None of them could deploy their wings to slow their fall. At this rate, they were going to crash straight into the planet's surface before they could even TRY to stop Cyn!

And then, without warning, something flew past, catching all three mid-fall, at an alarming speed. It was this speed that extinguished the flames around them.

They looked to what had just rescued them but were surprised when they were met with their rescuer's face. Or rather its two faces.

The Sinnertwin lets out a satisfied cry as it used its wings to hover in the atmosphere before it looked down to the massive ball of energy and tendrils, Uzi, N and Shockwave following suit.

"Well, that's a serious issue." Uzi commented with narrowed eyes.

Shockwave slightly nudged her, gaining the worker's attention, before he gestures to N. He knows how close Uzi and N are and, as someone who considers her as his daughter, wishes what's best for her. Uzi looked nervous but gave Shockwave a nod before turning to N.

"Hey, um, N..." Uzi said, N turning his head to her.

"Before that, you know... whole... thing... We're, like, dating... right?"

N's eyes hollowed with a blush.

"Oh. Y-yeah."

"Just cause, I can't always..."

"That was the plan, yeah..."

"I can't always read..."

"Like... y-yeah?"

"Y-yay..."

Shockwave and the Sinnertwin watched as digital tears dripped from Uzi's and N's visors before they wrapped each other in a tight embrace.

Uzi's purple eyes shot open, her eyes hollow with a blush on her cheeks, before she pushed N away.

"G-GROSS! GET AWAY!"

Shockwave let out an amused chuckle as Uzi looks towards the Sinnertwin's twin heads.

"Think you can get us back down there?" she asked. The Terrordrone's heads looked to each other before they looked back and gave her a nod. Uzi's expression turned into that of a grin.

"Then it's time to murder a planet!"

The Sinnertwin lets out a fearsome roar that echoed by this before it rolled itself around Uzi, N and Shockwave into a ball like a woodlouse and started to spin as it started to fall down the planet's atmosphere, going up in flames as a fireball. All of this while Uzi cackled like a madwoman.

-------------------------------------------------------------

J anxiously tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Brawl to spot the ship Soundwave handed off to N and Shockwave with a pair of binoculars (God knows where the Combatidrone even found it), while V sat with her legs crossed and Soundwave and Doll were with Khan, Thad and Lizzy.

"Have you spotted them, yet?" she asked worriedly, which lead to Brawl giving out an annoyed growl.

"J, I've been counting the amount of times you've asked me that question up to the 15th time, and I don't DO counting. Or numbers for that matter. You're worrying too much."

"Well I'm sorry, Einstein. I'm sure It's not just that we are literally stuck on a floating island high up in the sky where the gravity is a lot stronger than that on the surface while Cyn is doing JcJenson knows what to the planet!" she snarled, causing Brawl to flinch at her reply.

"By the pit, J. I was just saying that it was getting pretty annoying. Don't boil your oil. Jeez." Brawl clarified as he went back to using the binoculars. V was not very happy with her boss' outburst.

"Yeah, it's not his fault that all this is going to Hell! I'm worried too, trust me, but taking it out on your team will NOT help with the situation. You're starting to sound like your old self."

J took a deep breath and let out a deep sigh.

"Right, right, sorry. I'm just not so sure they will make it through this, despite everything we went through until now."

"I get that, but having no idea what might or might not happen is not something worth worrying about, J." V assured her, placing her hand on J's shoulder.

"Besides, it'll take a lot more than this to stop the top drones manufactured by the proud company, JcJenson, right?"

J felt better after being told that. Both V and N, as useless as he is at times, are her squad mates, which means the they will have to stick together.

The old J would've not give a damn about them because she didn't need either of them in her life. But now?

"Hey J, V! I see something!" Brawl exclaimed, causing the two females to turn their heads to the Combatidrone.

"Is it them?" V asked.

"No, it's not the ship, but there is SOMETHING heading our way."

J and V were utterly confused by this; if it's not Uzi, N and Shockwave, then what was it?

"It's a red colour, that I can tell, has wings like ours, so its a disassembly drone, and... kind of looks like a crab."

The two girls looked to each other in thought; a red disassembler with a resemblance to a crab. The only drone they could recall with those kinds of feature is...

"You're joking." J snarled as she and V deployed their own weapons, J's being a homing missile and V's being a sword.

J, V and Brawl watched as the red crab disassembler landed on his feet, his clawed servos clenched into fists and yellow optics that obviously showed that he was pissed.

Rampage snarled, glaring at the two girls and the Combatidrone as he took a step onto the ice of the frozen lake.

"No more fooling arou-! Oh, wow, the gravity up here is a lot stronger than I thought it be."

Rampage blinked in surprise when the gravity caused his foot to smash through the frozen surface. He pulls his leg out of the eyes as he went back to glaring.

"I may have failed to hold up my end of the bargain with Cyn to kill that purple-eyed brat for her, but I WILL get that Solver for the doc!"

Their eyes and optics widened in shock before they fell to anger. This oversized crab made a deal with CYN?! One that involves killing UZI?!

"And I'll do it by any means necessary, even if that involves sucking you dry."

J and V were at least a bit disturbed by those choice of words. They knew what he meant but why did he have to say in a way that is so... suggestive?

"Stop it." Brawl spat out.

Rampage's already deployed wings spread out before he uses them to launch himself at the three, a blade and blaster out.

J was quick to fire her homing missile at their foe who used his blaster to shoot the thing, causing it to explode. The cyber-drone's form emerged from the cloud of smoke as he swings his blade down, only to have it blocked by V with her blade.

"No you don't, crab cake!" V snarled as she swings her sword at the red crab. Both side clashed blades with one another, whether be it in the air on on the floating island's surface.

"Making a deal with CYN?! Are you insane?!" V snarled in anger as she glared at the red cyber-drone during a blade-lock.

"After Cyn tried to attack me at the caves leading to the labs and failed, she suggested that we make a deal instead: I kill Nori's kid and I get to bring a piece of the Solver back to Tarantulas. I'd say it was a fair trade."

Severely angered by this, V quickly used her tail to inject the nanite acid into her enemy but, unfortunately, Rampage grabbed the stinger-tipped glass cylinder before he wrap the black cable that made up the tail and quickly uses her as a body shield when he turns to face J who had a missile primed.

J stopped in her tracks, lifting the weapon up, before Rampage took this opportunity to throw V at her. They collide and the two girls were sent crashing.

Brawl charges at Rampage, the two engaging in a hand fight. The two brawled, one giving left hooks and right hooks to the other until they both locked servos with each other. Giving Brawl's raw strength and Rampage's physical size, both were evenly matched.

Brawl lets out a war cry and headbutted Rampage, throwing the red crab off course before he gave him a strong right hook, knocking him down on the ground.

Brawl raises his fists up, but Rampage suddenly gave the Combatidrone a lew sweep. Brawl falls to the ground as Rampage gets back up and gives him a strong uppercut right into the Combatidrone's jaw, launching him before he slide across the frozen soil like a ragdoll.

"AGAHBLAGHABLAGLABALGA!"

Rampage breathed heavily with his fists clenched before he caught an incoming cleaver. He tuns his helm towards Doll and Soundwave, standing in front of the worker drones behind them.

"More trash to dispose of." he snarled as he turned his body to face the two. During this, J, V and Brawl recovered and gazed towards Rampage.

"Once I kill all of you, I go kill Uzi and get the Solver. But not before I kill both her mother AND her little boyfriend right in front of her~."

Rampage started to cackle madly. Because of this, J, V and Brawl got back up to continue fighting against the cyber-drone, Soundwave and Doll willing to join in, only to stop with their eyes and optics widening.

Rampage continued to laugh like a madman before a clawed servo was firmly placed on his shoulder, the crab's maniacal laughing fit coming to an abrupt end.

"Would you care to repeat that part about Nori, YOU SON OF A BITCH?"

Rampage turns around, only to get a powerful right hook to the face, sending him stumbling away. He rubs his metal cheek as he looks towards who had just attacked him to see the rather menacing stature of Scorn, accompanied by Alice, Beau and the red eyed Sentinel which, strangely, was wearing Beau's cowboy hat.

"I've never seen you before. Who are you?"

"I am Scorn and YOU are going to be served on a silver platter for threatening to kill Nori."

"The Hell did YOU come from?!" V exclaimed in shock. Scorn just gave her a simple gaze before turning to Rampage who was beginning to stand back up straight.

"Whoever you are or where ever you came from, do you think you and your pet can take me on alone?"

The red eyed Sentinel snarled at this comment before Scorn calmed it down by gently giving it a pet.

"Slash is no one's pet. She is her own individual, just like me."

He then looks back at Rampage.

"And while one-on-one combat is preferable, I want your death to be swift yet painful. That is why I had to call a few of friends of mine and bring them along." He concluded. Everyone around Scorn looked at him in confusion yet curiosity, wondering who these "friends" were.

A roar was suddenly heard behind Rampage before a fiery orange eye coloured Sentinel of a Carnotaurus attacked him from behind. The cyber-drone yells in pain as the Carno Sentinel bit down on his shoulder. The red crab tries to get the thing off him before ANOTHER Sentinel, this one being a yellow-eyed Ankylosaurus, slams its tail into his abdomen before it backs off towards Scorn, the Carno Sentinel jumping off Rampage to join it.

Both Sentinels stood by Scorn before they both transformed, leaving J, V and Brawl completely bewildered; There were OTHER Sentinels like Scorn?! And where the Hell did these two even come from?!

The Ankylo Sentinel, being rather large and bulky, stretched his arms as he took out a large hammer.

"Ahh, nothing beats the feeling of finally getting to break something. Right, Battletrap?"

The Carno Sentinel named Battletrap, a bot that bore a helmet with a unique glowing orange visor and is slightly shorter than Scorn, transformed a clawed Servo into a spiked wrecking ball.

"You're right on that, Scowl, O pal of mine. I've been waiting for a fight." Battletrap responded with glee.

"Enough banter, you two! Let us focus on the task at hand." Scorn ordered with both Battletrap and Scowl nodding their helms. The Spinosaur Sentinel quickly snaps his helm towards Slash, who had Lizzy in her jaws and thrashed her head around, treating the worker like she was a chew toy.

"And will you stop harassing those worker drones?!"

As J and V looked on in shock, Brawl looks up to see something falling from the sky.

"J, V. Look up there!"

Both J and V look up to see the large ball of fire falling from the atmosphere. The fire ball unrolled itself to reveal the Sinnertwin who had Uzi, N and Shockwave on its tails. The Terrordrone roared as it spun around and quick motion, the momentum turning its tails into a catapult that launched the three towards the planet.

"Hey, Cyn!" Uzi called out, her Solver creating a mini black hole, as she was held onto by N who had his foot onto Shockwave's servos.

"Suck!"

Shockwave then launches N and Uzi towards the planet.

"On!"

N spun around and threw Uzi even closer to the hole leading to the planet's core.

"THIIIIS!"

She threw the black hole, the black sphere bolting towards the planet, past everyone else on the floating island, creating a large debris cloud as it went past, and straight for the planet's core, into Cyn, bringing the energy tendrils to a stop.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The hostile tendrils suddenly froze mid motion, much to the confusion of the Autobots

"What in the..?" Ultra Magnus breathed as Knockout approached one of the frozen tendrils, tapping his knuckle onto it. A grin formed on his face.

"I'd say that what ever this thing has been... KNOCKED OUT."

The other Autobots slowly shook their helms at Knockout's joke.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Scorn was unaffected by the debris cloud as he watched, Uzi, N and Shockwave descend back down to the planet before he turns his gaze to J, V and Brawl.

"I believe that's your que, disassemblers. Scowl, Battletrap and I will remain and eliminate Rampage."

J, V and Brawl turned to Doll and Soundwave.

"Forget about us, we'll remain with Lizzy, Thad and Mr Doorman. Go stop that monster." Doll told the three while Soundwave agreed with a nod.

"Alright. You two! Come on!" J ordered as she ran and jumped off the island, V and Brawl following suit.

Uzi, Shockwave and N looked to their sides to see the other three joining in. The team was back together.

"Six of us against one of Cyn, huh? I like those odds!" Uzi commented as the one group of six drew closer to the planet's surface, right towards the facility where everything on Copper-9 began.

"HAHA! Bring on the eldritch demon! We're ready for anything!" Brawl laughed, bashing his fists together.

Suddenly, an electric green projectile came hurtling towards the group, blasting Brawl in the chest, knocking him out of the sky.

"I was not ready for that!"

"Brawl!" V cried before another projectile blasted her as well, knocking her out of the sky as well.

Shockwave sees more projectiles of green energy hurtling towards him. Swiftly, the scientist dodges the incoming blasts of green. However, it did not last long when one shot got his wing. Shockwave's wings flapped aggressively before he started to spiral out of control and plummet to the ground.

"SHOCKWAVE!" J wailed, eyes wide and hollow, before she dove after him.

It was just Uzi and N left. They finally land, sliding to a stop. Both drones looked over the sky and across the ground, not seeing where the others wound up. There was no sign of them.

Before they could say anything to one another, a deep, low roar bellowed from the hole leading to the planet's core. They stood back as the faint red light dimmed before they saw the black hole Uzi had created coming into view and that it was being held by someone. Who was holding the black hole?

Who else?

"Dropped - this, - silly." Cyn grinned before she crushed it in her hands which, as a result, continued the planet consumption process.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The energy tendril that Knockout stood beside with suddenly slammed into the former Decepticon medic, sending him flying and crashing into a pile of old broken cars. Knockout shakes his helm and looks over himself, only to gasp in complete and utter horror.

"My... my... MY FINISH!"

Knockout then gave the glowing tendrils a death glare, getting back up and transforming his servos for saw blades.

"PREPARE FOR SURGURY!"

Knockout then charged at the tendrils with an enraged war cry. The other Autobots looked to one another, shrugging, before they joined in.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave groaned in pain, grabbing his helm as it throbbed. He looks up to see J diving towards him before using her wings to land.

"Shockwave! Are you ok?!" she asked almost immediately in worry as she ran to him.

She tried helping him up, which the scientist kindly dismissed as he pushed himself back on his pedes. Shockwave looks over to the wing that got blasted, seeing the obvious scorch marks on it.

"Scorch marks, loose wiring, broken blades. It's only just a mesh wound. I'll live." he assured her as his wings folded back into his body. He placed his servos on his back and bent backwards.

"This disassembly drone body is still young and I'm still too old for this shit."

J let out a small cackle at this, a bit to Shockwave's chagrin but he let out an amused scoff. J's little fit died down as she recalled what brought her down her in the first place.

"Just what was that? Whatever shot at us, it definitely wasn't Cyn." she questioned, her expression being that of a sceptical one. Shockwave strode to her side, equally as sceptical.

"That much I know. Especially considering I recognise the energy projectiles of the weapon that fired it." he replied.

"And that weapon would be?"

"I am carrying it right now."

J's eyes widened as she snaps her head to Shockwave's direction.

"A hyperflux cannon?! B-but you told me that the hyperflux cannon was your invention and that you kept its blueprints for yourself. You destroyed them in fact, to prevent the Autobots from replicating it during the war."

"Indeed. It was most logical to destroy the blueprints rather than taking an unnecessary risk."

"But whoever attacked us was using a hyperflux cannon. Other than you, who else knows how to build one?"

"No one knows. No one who isn't me."

No one who isn't me. That phrase made Shockwave's antenna twitched, him placing a clawed digit on his non-existent chin in thought. What if..?

"Spill it." J demanded, snapping Shockwave out of his thoughts. Through Shockwave's body language, J was was able to recognise when something's on his mind.

"Remember one of our conversations, the one that surrounds how disassembly drones were cloned? That when they perish, their conscious gets uploaded to the clone's body?"

J raised a brow at this question.

"What about it?"

"During the cortical psychic patch I used to enter your memories of the manor, Cyn admitted that she had back-up Ns. That she had clones of him. Not only that, she... triggered some memories about Earth... and I was able to find out that she's the reason I'm like this."

J took a moment to put two and two together before her eyes widened in utter disbelief.

"You're not saying..."

"That's the only logical explanation." he told her before he gazed to what was in front of him and J who turned her head as well. Despite the blood red skies and more violent snowstorms, the two can make out a green orb of electric green light. It was getting closer.

"She actually did it." J commented. As the green orb drew closer, a figure was starting to emerge from the darkness.

"Yes. A clone of me created by Cyn..."

The green finally revealed itself from the shadows, revealing it to be nothing more that a singular optic of a cybertronian disassembler whose body frame was identical to that of Shockwave's and had a hyperflux cannon attached to its left arm. And it stared directly at Shockwave and J.

"Shockblast."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Cyn stepped on the platform, approaching Uzi and N as the two backed away slowly.

"Hello, - Uzi." Cyn greeted before she looked to N, giving him a wave with a greeting with a higher pitch.

"Hi, - N."

Uzi readied her Solver as N swapped his hand for a laser and aimed it to the monster he once considered a sister.

"I - see. You - will - not - talk - to - me - because - I - have - hurt - your -feelings." Cyn acknowledged as a snowy mist from the storm began to cloud the area.

Uzi narrowed her eyes before she looked towards N, seeing that he was shaking, sweating bullets with hollowed eyes. He was terrified.

With every step Cyn took, the snowy mist enveloped around more and more until everything was submerged in fog, blocking out the red sky.

"Easier - to - assimilate - then - eXpAaIn, - aNyWaY." Cyn mused as multiple arms, claws and tendrils sprouted from her back in the dark fog, her voice becoming distorted, before the Solver glyph formed in front of her face, executing a program.

"Callback - ping."

Uzi's eyes glitched yellow, grasping both her head and chest as she winced in pain. N turned to Uzi, seeing her lights changing from purple to yellow back and forth before it suddenly ended in a spark of blue.

"Bite me." Uzi snarled before looking towards N, giving him a small smile as she readied her Solver again. N smiled back and the two nodded.

Their eyes hollowed out of the air suddenly whistling. Both looked towards Cyn, seeing one of her tendrils extending towards them. She swings it at N, knocking him away before leaping towards Uzi in a spinning motion.

"Okee."

Uzi didn't even see Cyn cut her hand off and and grabbed her by the neck from behind with a sickle-claw, chocking her. Cyn's insane grin was wide and menacing, her fangs showing, pulling her hand back and thrusts it through her back and to her core. Uzi's eyes went hollow at this pain.

Cyn's smile fell when she saw a blue light illuminate where Uzi's core was, only to suddenly jerk back from Uzi, letting her go and gripping her hand in pain when she felt it BURN.

Uzi falls to the ground chest first, coughing up oil as she gripped her hand, before turning to Cyn who was staring at her hand in shock. Uzi looked at Cyn's hand, only to be shocked herself when she saw that it was slightly MELTING as tiny blue bolts of energy crackled around it. It was then the Cyn looked towards the purple-eyed drone.

"What - did - he - do - to - you?"

Uzi didn't have time to respond (or properly acknowledge what she heard) as Cyn immediately leaped at her before N flew towards the skin wearing drone, swinging his swords at her. Cyn spawned a claw from her back and teleports.

N looks towards Uzi laying on her stomach, holding her chest, before he turns to Cyn behind him. Cyn's tendrils extends towards N but he blocks it with a blade before another tendril wraps around his torso and brings him towards her.

N thrusts the sword of his left arm for Cyn's face but she moves her head to the side, grabbing the arm with claws that sprouted from her back before she rips it off and pins him down. N looks towards Cyn, swapping the blade of his right arm with a SMG and aiming it at her.

"Okay."

Cyn then rips off the right arm next before getting right up to N.

"You - first, - eager - beaver. Heeheehee."

Cyn started clawing at N's chest, saying "let me in" over and over like a broken record, tearing the plastic casing off. N looked with hollowed eyes in terror as all he could do is watch Cyn tear his chest open.

Uzi manages to get up to one knee, looking towards N, seeing Cyn tearing him apart as she ripped his head off. Seeing this, Uzi used her Solver to destroy the supports for the metal platform they were on. Cyn saw this before a pair of wings sprouted from her back hovered in the air while Uzi and N fell along with the broken platform before diving after them.

Uzi and N landed on a catwalk, the former looking up to see Cyn coming towards them. She quickly used her Solver to turn the catwalk so they slide off it. Cyn landed and continued pursuit. Uzi then used her Solver on the catwalk below them to use as a catapult to launch her and N to a third catwalk next to a building.

Cyn climbs up the previous to see Uzi dragging N's body into the building. She smiles with narrowed eyes, tapping her fingers on metal, before she dived down and flew through the door after the two drones.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave and J watched Shockblast, the clone standing a few feet away from the two, as it just stared at the two.

"Shockblast is the lifeless clone of me without a spark." Shockwave stated to J who just gave Shockblast a cold glare.

"There is no way that THING built by Cyn is supposed to be you!" J snarled in reply.

"And yet... There I stand." Shockwave told her as Shockblast started walking slowly to one direction in the left. Then it started walking slowly to the other in the right. All the while it kept its electric green optic on Shockwave and J.

"Why-why is it even here? Why now?" J questioned, swapping a hand for an SMG.

"You turned your back on Cyn, J. You betrayed her and now that she has no one left to aid her, she had to consider alternative options when it comes to allies. She needed a replacement. So she sent this clone for one reason: exterminating us."

"And... if Shockblast IS you, then we both know..." J said before she trailed off, not daring to finish the sentence. Shockwave sighs before finishing for her.

"It will not give up... until it does."

Both Shockwave and J looked back at Shockblast, watching it continue its slow movements, as the fog briefly surrounds them, preventing one side from seeing the other. The storm clears the fog, only for Shockwave and J to look jerk back in worry and anxiety.

Shockblast was gone.

Shockwave and J looked around, aiming their weapons as they tried to find the clone anywhere. Shockwave looks up, only to have his optic grow dim as his antenna lowered before leaping towards J.

"Look out!" he cried, pushing J out of the way before he was hit with a green blast from Shockblast's hyperflux cannon. The blast pushes Shockwave down to the ground, the scientist growling in pain before looking up to see his clone in the air with its wings out.

In frustrated pain, Shockwave gets back on his feet and fired his weapon on his double. Shockblast effortlessly dodges the blasts before diving towards its living counterpart.

Shockblast grabs Shockwave and began flying close to the ground towards the where Uzi and N landed, pushing the latter on the ground. Shockwave snarls in pain as he felt his back being dragged across the ground before he and the clone were in the middle of the facility.

Shockwave breaks his left arm free before firing his hyperflux cannon at Shockblast in the abdomen, blasting it off him. Both he and his double gazed at each other, both unsheathing an arm blade from the wrists of their right arms, and both charging towards each other.

Their blades clashed as they flew through the air. Shockwave gave the clone a kick but Shockblast dodges and grabs his leg. Shockblast thrusts his arm blade towards Shockwave's optic but the scientist quickly moves his helm out of the way before giving the clone a head butt.

Shockblast was thrown off by this before regaining control. The clone then fired its hyperflux cannon, the scientist it was cloned after doing the same. Golden yellow and electric green blasts collided, creating an explosion.

Shockwave lowered his cannon, unable to see through the smoke. This proved to be a mistake when Shockblast came charging at him at high speeds before it kicked him, sending him crashing towards a metal wall of a building.

Shockwave groans as he starts to pull himself out of the wall before a burning pain erupted from his abdomen like a volcano. He looks down to see a blade piercing his stomach before looking up to see the glowing green optic of Shockblast.

Of course. Shockblast was just a clone, nothing but a machine. Sure, Shockblast has all his strengths, speed, and firepower. But the key difference between the two of them?

Shockblast can't feel pain.

Shockblast digs his blade deeper into Shockwave's abdomen, causing him to growl in pain, oil and energon bleeding from the wound, before the clone raised its hyperflux cannon, placing the barrel directly over the spark of its living counterpart before it began to glow green.

"HEY! CHEAP KNOCKOFF!"

Shockblast looks up before J kicks it at full force from above. The force of the blow sent Shockblast flying and away from Shockwave before J fired a missile just for good measure.

J descended down to Shockwave and helps him up.

"Thank you, J. Your assistance was most valuable." Shockwave thanked as J smiled.

"Hey, I may not be on the winning team, but I have no regrets joining you."

Shockwave, gazed at J and thought to himself. Giving the amount of power Cyn has, there was a chance that they might not succeed in stopping her. Which means that there might not be a chance to tell J how he felt once this was over. He needs to tell her. It's now or never.

"J..."

J looked towards Shockwave.

"When we first met, I... never considered the possibility of having a family, or friends for that matter. When I rescued you from the Insecticon, I never once thought about you in a certain way."

J looked at Shockwave with her mouth slightly agape as the scientist grasp the back of his helm.

"But, over time, I felt... something towards you. Something I could not logically describe. I later, after our talks, discussions and conversations, I found out that the reason I could not realise what I was feeling I had not felt in since the Golden Age."

Her eyes hollowed out, blushing, at the realisation of what this is. She watched as Shockwave took a deep breath.

"What I'm trying to say is... J, if we don't survive this, if we are to be consumed, I want you to know... I... I... I love... I... love you."

Shockwave looked away shamefully after saying that.

"I-I know that if you d-don't love me back... I under-"

He stopped mid sentence when he felt J hold his servo. He looks back to see her smiling.

"I love you too, Shockwave."

Shockwave and J looked at one another in silence before Shockblast suddenly shot up into the air from below, its spread wide open as its green optic stared directly at the two who looked back.

Both Shockwave and J readied their weapons as Shockblast aimed its hyperflux cannon and fired.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi dragged N's regenerating body across the dark hallway, trying to get away from Cyn. Until N has fully recovered, she had no choice but to find a place to hide.

Her eyes hollowed out when she heard it, the sounds of something travelling through the hallway very fast. Cyn was coming and she's coming fast.

Cyn crashed on a wall when she went around the corner on all fours and continued charging down the hall, only to stop when she saw the hall Uzi and N were in was empty. She twitched, her eyes scanning down the hall, not detecting the two drone before wiping her tongue over her eye.

"Lick."

She bent her body and crawled on her back, using her Solver to destroy the lights above her, engulfing her in darkness as she vanished into it, using the "Callback ping" program. Multiple tendrils tipped with human hands crawled around the walls, floor and ceiling as two more hand-tipped tendrils extended from the darkness and destroyed the lights ahead.

Uzi and N (now fully recovered) can only watch as a hand-tipped tendril crawled around the thick bars of their hiding place before another passed through the bars right next to them. Not long after, the rest of the hand tendrils started crawling around the hiding place of the two drones.

N started to quietly breathing rapidly. When Cyn was clawing at his chest to get to his core, I made him remember Cyn doing the exact same thing back at the manor but it wasn't just him she clawed their core out, she did the same thing to Cyn. It was how they became disassembly drones in the first place.

Uzi slowly reached out her hand to calm him down before Cyn slowly went past.

"Callback - ping."

She winced as her eyes glitched yellow, placing a hand over her mouth to stop her breathing being heard. She looks down at her chest to see it starting to crack before she grabs N's hand, snapping him out of is terrified trance and look towards Uzi. He saw her give him a small smile. He slowly smiled back. Cyn's voice started to echo as she went further and further away until she was no longer heard.

This moment of relief was shattered when Cyn came back from the sounds of the building rumbling and crunching metal. Uzi and N didn't mutter a word, not daring to say anything to give away their hiding place.

"N?"

Their eyes widened at the sound of V's voice. They could hear approaching footsteps.

"N? Are you ok?"

N started sweating from his visor as the footsteps drew closer.

"That crab... Rampage made a deal with Cyn! He agreed that if he killed Uzi, she would give him the Solver so he could bring it to Tarantulas! He's willingly helping her!"

Uzi grabbed N by the mouth before he could say anything. He read the message on the worker's visor.

Trap?

"N, I don't how much you remember, but we were lied to about the Solver leaving us alone! I don't know if J sided with it in the beginning or it lied to J, too!"

N swallowed hard, his fear and worry for V growing.

"N? I'm so sorry. I-I should have been honest with you. I was just so scared for us. For you!"

"V, STOP!"

Everything went silent, neither Uzi or N could hear any more words coming from V, before N's core bursts out of his chest as it was grabbed by one of Cyn's hand-tendrils, much to Uzi's horror, before he was dragged out in the open.

V looked on in fear when she saw Cyn, gasping, upon realising that she was only talking to a hologram of N projected by the monster in front of her that held the real, his core in her hand.

"Do - your - job - and - I - leave - you - and - N - alone. Right - V?"

V took a step back, breathing heavily, fists clenching together in fear of the eldritch demon before her. Cyn snaps her head to her.

"Bad - job, - V."

The lights go out before Cyn charges straight towards her, V turning tail. V flew down the hall with Cyn giving chase in a rapid succession, only leaving Uzi remaining. She crawled out and rose to her feat, her hand placed on her chest with hollowed eyes.

'N and V... Cyn is going to kill them.' she thought to herself in horror. The hand over her chest started to clench into a fist

"I... can't let her kill them." she thought aloud, unknown to the fact that her right eye starting to glitch to a blue colour.

"I can not. I WILL NOT!"

Blue electricity crackled around her form, her chest started glowing soft blue. The worker drone logo started to glitch, changing into a different symbol. Not a disassembly drone symbol but not the Solver.

It changed into the Autobot insignia.

"No. More. Running."

-------------------------------------------------------------

V scrambled out of the building, using her wings to take to the air in order to get as far away from Cyn as possible before J, thrown by Shockblast, crashed into her, sending the two girls crashing into the snow.

The two girls shook their heads before snapping their heads towards N's coreless body. They looked up to see Shockblast holding Shockwave by the neck to them as it descended, throwing its living counterpart towards the two, before looking towards the door of the building that V fled from.

Cyn emerged from the door, giggling as she held N's core before hanging it over her mouth.

N, having his conscious transported to his core, wrapped his core's clawed tendrils around Cyn's arm, eye hollowed out in fear. Shockwave, V and J looked in horror as Cyn moved the core towards her wide open mouth.

Then, out of nowhere, an energy projectile was shot at Cyn's feet from the sky, startling her which resulted in her grip on N's core to slip.

"Squirmy - worm."

Cyn tried to grab the core only to have it slip and launched into the air before something flew past, grabbed it, and landed next to V and J.

"You dropped something." Brawl stated before he casually dropped N's core into his open chest. Cyn's eye twitched.

"Go- fu- d-amit!"

She looks to the sky to see the others the crew left on the floating island on the Sinnertwin's back.

Khan laughed at Cyn as he held onto Scorn's shoulder, the barrel of the Spinosaur Sentinel's blaster emitting smoke, revealing him being the one who shot at her.

"Go long, Uzi!" Thad shouted before he threw the railgun built by Khan.

"Eye - roll."

Cyn jumped on the rail and leapt off, teleporting next to Shockblast.

"Uzi's - not - here."

Multiple energy tendrils rose from the hole to the planet's core, wrapping themselves around the building Uzi was left in before dragging it down.

The other five watched Cyn as a sickle-claw sprouted from her back before she crawled and leapt towards them, the blade of the extra arm slashing at them.

However, Cyn did not expect to have her extra appendage sliced off as she jerked back and looked towards the stub of the severed limb.

"Hands off! No one traumatizes my murder friends but me!"

Uzi looks towards the others with a grin, not bothering to acknowledge the surprised looks they gave her.

"Boring. And - annoying. Callback-... Ping?"

Cyn, trying to use the callback program, stopped with wide eyes when she saw Uzi's right eye was now a blue colour.

"What's the matter? Not used to the fact that it's just me in here?" Uzi mused as Cyn took a step back.

"I think dumb things are frickin' cool, and I. Am..."

She reaches her hand out in the air, catching the pickaxe that fell from the atmosphere.

"FREEEEEEEEE!"

In the sky, we see Nori cheering for her daughter.

"Kick her butt, Babe! Whoo!"

Uzi's tail grabs the falling railgun and aims it at Cyn and Shockblast, the worker drone chuckling. Shockblast stayed motionless at this while Cyn just shrugged.

"'Kay."

Uzi and Cyn stood there, one forming a grin, the other with a wide open smile with her tongue out, before they ran towards each other. Both Cyn and Uzi threw mini black holes at each other, causing both to react violently, sending both hurtling away, one of them almost hitting Cyn, and pushing the fog around the area.

Cyn and Shockblast stood back to back, having lost sight of Uzi, before Shockblast turns and sees the green beam of a railgun heading towards it. It didn't react quick enough, having its left wing destroyed.

The Shockwave clone snaps its helm towards where the beam came from, aiming its hyperflux cannon, only to have the railgun thrown at its green optic by Uzi, knocking it down.

Cyn's eyes darted left and right as Uzi charged at her with the pickaxe, only for the skin wearing drone to turn around and pull out a sword and the two clashed. Uzi swings swings her pickaxe at Cyn, the Solver drone teleporting to dodge.

Cyn holds Uzi in a blade-lock, a sickle-claw sprouting from her back. Seeing this, Uzi twists the pickaxe and slides it across the sword's blade, pinning the claw before her left wing sprouted and shot forwards, scraping Cyn's cheek.

Cyn's grin widened before Uzi kicks her face, sending her back. Uzi grabs the pickaxe and her gaze shifted.

Cyn stumbles across the ground before she stopped, standing on her feet and used the Solver to send the sword hurtling towards Uzi, only to decapitate Shockblast who the purple-eyed worker used to mislead her.

Uzi grabs Shockblast's helm and swings the railgun as a bat to launch towards Cyn. The Solver drone dodges the decapitate helm of the Shockwave clone, the sword coming back to her hand before teleporting.

Uzi's eyes narrowed, grabbing the pickaxe, turning her head left and right. Cyn teleported around Uzi before she appeared right behind her and swings. Uzi ducks and swings the pickaxe with full force at Cyn's chest.

The blade of the mining tool skewered the chest, only for Uzi's eye to hollow out to see N in front of her. N falls to his knees, coughing up oil, before looking up to Uzi with wide eyes. The purple-eyed drone shook her head and extended her arm to him.

And directly into Cyn's face, breaking the hologram, causing the Solver drone to slide back.

"No more tricks." Uzi snarled before Shockblast leapt towards her from behind and swings its arm blade at her, which was suddenly blocked by J which followed with a powerful right hook from Shockwave.

The force of the blow sent Shockblast hurtling away, falling down the massive hole below. N, V and Brawl joined in, landing beside Uzi as they watched Cyn pull the pickaxe out of her arm.

"I dunno, I feel like we need a secret handshake or something, right?" N suggested to Uzi who smiled at him.

"Nah, we're the Murder Drones, we don't need a no handshake." Brawl argued, giving his opinion to N.

"Hey... That's not a bad team name; 'The Murder Drones, the universe's lethal protectors'. Has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?" V asked with her arms crossed.

"Now's not the time." Shockwave reminded.

The team- no -The Murder Drones stood their ground proudly against Cyn: N, V and J hovering in the air with their wings, Shockwave standing to Uzi's left as he pulls his left arm back to reload his hyperflux cannon, Brawl standing to Uzi's right as he cracked his knuckles, and Uzi herself stood out from of them all.

Cyn threw the pickaxe at the Murder Drone but Uzi grabs it before she and others charged towards her. N, V and J flew ahead, surrounding Cyn. V fired a trio of missiles which Cyn blocked with a tendril and dodges another missile fired by J but N kicks the missile back.

Cyn uses her Solver to catch the missile before N used a chainsaw hand to cut her head off, which she quickly grabs and puts it back on her head. N jumps towards her and swings the saw hand at her.

Cyn dodges and recatches the missile with her Solver before throwing it at J when she fired a barrage of bullets, only for the Solver Drone's turncoat partner to dodge out of the way.

She snaps her head towards Brawl, blocking the Combatidrone's left hook with claws extended from her back. Brawl grabs the extended arm and uses it like a handle of a weapon to slam Cyn onto the snow covered ground, before he jumps and thrusts his fist to the ground, only for his foe to roll out of the way.

Shockwave swings his arm blade, the melee weapon deployed from his wrist being grabbed by Cyn before the cycloptic drone to aim his hyperflux cannon at her. Another claw sprouted from her back and pushes the powerful weapon upward as it fired before Shockwave gave her Cyn a headbutt and followed with a right hook.

Cyn slides back, turning her head to see N coming towards her with a pair of blades out. As everything slowed, N's glare softened with he saw the picture of a dog displayed on Cyn's eyes before turning back and stabs N who used his blade to make it so that it hits his shoulder than his core.

He gave Cyn a wink with a smile, causing the Solver drone's X-shaped pupils to shrink. She turns her head to look back to see Uzi flying towards her before she used the pickaxe to take Cyn's head off her shoulders.

Both Uzi and N gave each other a salute before the former was grabbed in the face by a eldritch claw. N's eyes hollow out as he looked towards Cyn, revealing that it was the fake, before turning to see the real Cyn standing over Uzi with her sword raised before she was kicked by V who smiled at the purple-eyed worker who rolled her eyes at this.

Cyn was sent hurtling towards Brawl who grabs her and throws her to the air, allowing J to grab her and spin her around before she threw the Solver drone towards the airborne Shockwave who gave her a powerful double kick, sending Cyn hurtling to the ground like a rocket and crashed in a cloud of debris.

As V and Brawl battled Cyn on the ground, J and Shockwave descend down before they turned their attention to see Uzi and N trying to do the handshake thing. J let out a tired sigh as Shockwave shook his helm before all four heard an explosion, causing them to turn towards the source of it.

Cyn had V and Brawl pinned with a pair of claws as she slowly approached the female disassembler, teleporting right in front of her before Uzi flew up and gave Cyn an uppercut, launching her up in the air before J flew up and kicked her towards Shockwave who grabbed her and threw her towards N who swings the pickaxe at her and hits.

The Murder Drones group together, Uzi and N doing the secret handshake thing, before a pair of sickle-claws slammed against most of them, sending N, V and J hurtling for the left and Shockwave and Brawl for the right, leaving only Uzi and Cyn.

Cyn leaps towards her with her tongue out. Uzi's eyes were hollowed before noticing Cyn's form was starting to glitch. She knew exactly what this means and with a determined cry, Uzi spun around from Cyn and thrusts her arm forward just as Cyn teleported behind her, followed by an loud splat.

Uzi opens her eyes to see her hand had skewered into Cyn's chest, the Solver drone frozen as she looks down. With a loud cry, Uzi grabs Cyn's core and rips it out of her chest. With a grin, she activated her Solver and snapped her fingers, blasting a hole through the planet completely, allowing the harsh light of the sun to pass through.

As the bright sun passed through, enveloping Cyn's core, the mechanical heart started to scream in a demonic shriek, disintegrating into nothing as only a tiny black hole hovered over Uzi's hand before it created a black orb that swallowed her and Cyn.

Everything froze, turning black and white, as the other Murder Drones got up and saw the black orb that had just swallowed their friend. Inside the black orb, Uzi looked around in the dark void before noticing the little black hole started pumping. She then sees and hears Cyn gagging, her yellow X-shape pupils completely gone, as the Solver drone slowly approached her.

Cyn grabbed Uzi by the wrist, the worker drone struggling as Cyn brought the pumping mini black hole towards her wide open mouth. That was when she realised, she still held Cyn's core in her hand and now the Solver drone was trying to get it back.

Without any thought or plan, Uzi wrapped her fingers around Cyn's core before she pulls her hand out of its body's hands and shoves it in her mouth.

Cyn's just looked at her as Uzi swallowed the thing, causing the black orb around the two to be absorbed into the worker drone before falling to her knees as everything returned to their normal colour.

Cyn's body fell to its knees as Uzi watched it melting into nothing but black paste and bones. Uzi started feeling nauseous, barely hearing her name being called out by N when she saw him and the other Murder Drones running towards her before she passed out.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi jolts awake, gagging and coughing, before seeing that she was somewhere else then she was before.

Not too far away, the Sinnertwin gently flies out of a crater and lands at its edge, allowing its passengers off its back. Khan slips and starts to fall back into the crater before a Solver glyph appeared around his wrist and pulls him out and back on the edge.

Khan moves his head up, seeing Nori who just shivered as she looked at him with a singular, hollowed out eye. He doesn't realise that his wife was alive.

"Uh... Thank-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME AND I HATE YOU!" Nori quickly cried before running off in the opposite direction.

Khan stroked his chin with a raised brow before looking towards the Sinnertwin that looked down upon him.

"Kinda hot?"

The Terrordrone just gave him a deadpan expression before walking away.

With Nori, she just ran away as far as she could aimlessly before she accidently runs straight into something, bouncing a couple centimetres away. Nori looks up, only for her eye to hollow out to see the crimson visor looking down upon her.

"Hello, Nori." Scorn greeted calmly as he watched Nori slowly back away.

"S-Scorn! I-I know that I, uh, disappeared without telling you where I've been. And-and that I've been hiding beneath your feet all this time, but you n-need to understand. I-"

Nori let out a yelp when Scorn suddenly pulls her in for a hug. Despite the Spinosaur Sentinel's strength, he was being very gentle about it, just like he was during the days before the core collapse. Nori was caught off guard by this but then she hugs him back.

"I missed you too, bud."

The other Murder Drone flew across the sky, searching for the purple-eyed worker drone who saw them approaching.

"Uzi?" N called before turning and seeing the purple gremlin. He smiled and flew towards her.

"UUUUUUUZIIIIIII!" he cried before he and Uzi ran up to each other and held each other in an embrace, both drone laughing.

The other Murder Drones approached the two, V slapping N in the back. N and Uzi let go of each other, the former and the other Murder Drone looking towards Uzi, only to gasp in shock.

"GET BACK!" V snarled as she aimed an SMG at Uzi's core.

Uzi, now having her eyes blended yellow and purple together, looks towards V with slightly widened eyes before they narrowed and she slapped the SMG away from her core. She grabs N by the face, using his visor as a mirror, seeing her new colour blended eyes, the male disassembler looking at her with hollowed eyes.

"Uzi? Is..."

"Oh, Hell yeah! I'm a damaged OC." Uzi laughed with a grin, leading V to lower her weapon and groan.

"Ugh, its her."

"IT'S YOU!" N, overjoyed, cheered as he and Uzi hugged each other and spin around laughing. Uzi cackles evilly as N threw her slightly in the air, allowing her to land on V's head and started giving her a noogie, much to the female disassembler's chagrin.

"HA HA! Uzi, you stubborn glitch!" Brawl laughed as he gave her a fist bump which she gave back when she hopped off V.

"Not bad for a barely sentient toaster." J commented with a grin as her arms crossed.

"Bite me." Uzi barked before she saw Shockwave walk up to her.

"I'm proud of you, Uzi. You were astounding back there." he told her, placing a clawed servo on Uzi's shoulder. The worker drone smiled warmly at this.

"I had a pretty good father figure." she responded before giving him a hug, Shockwave hugging her back.

"Not bad, Doorman." Doll commented from above, causing the Murder Drones to see the red eyed drone on Soundwave's shoulder as the silent mech landed onto the snow-covered ground. Soundwave nodded in agreement as he and Doll approached them.

[-Uzi - superior - Cyn - most - inferior.-]

J and V suddenly remembered and looks towards Doll and Soundwave.

"Wait a minute, what about Rampage? Did Scorn managed to..?" J asked, only for Doll to shake her head.

"He got away. We don't know where he went off to." Doll replied truthfully.

"Which means he's still out there, along with Tarantulas and Starscream. Biscuits." Shockwave huffed, shaking his helm.

"Don't worry. That's a problem we'll have to deal with later. Right now, we just saved the universe." N assured him.

Yes, they defeated Cyn and saved the whole Universe. They have to save Tarantulas, Starscream and Rampage for another time. Right now, they need a break. Uzi smiled before her wings sprouted from her back.

"Let's go home."

The other Murder Drones, along with Doll and Soundwave, nodded and took to the air and flew away.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Rampage marched onwards, deep into a forest, carrying two things around his arms, one was holding a metal box with some form of liquid inside, the other was-

"How was your mission, Protoform-X?" a raspy voice asked, prompting the cyber-drone to turn to see the giant robot spider approaching him.

"There were a few... complications, doctor. But, in the end, the mission was a success." Rampage replied as he started to glow yellow before his size increased tremendously, growing to the size of a normal cybertronian.

"I knew your size altering powers would prove beneficial, my creation. Now, what is it that you've brought me?"

Rampage gave Tarantulas, who transformed into bot mode, the two things he was carrying. The spider opened the box, seeing it with black sludge and bones, revealing it to be filled with the melted remains of Cyn's body.

The other thing Rampage found was the no longer functioning clone that is Shockblast.

The spider started cackling madly at this before turning to Rampage.

"You have done well, Protoform-X! This would be most useful!" Tarantulas laughed before a groundbridge opened for him and Rampage who then spoke up.

"Actually, doctor. I was thinking of naming myself 'Rampage', if you don't mind." the crab told the spider who placed his chin in thought.

"Hmm, I see no harm in that. Very well then. Now, come along, we have much to do, Proto- I mean Rampage." Tarantulas concluded as he and Rampage walked through the swirling green portal.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, somewhere in another plane of existence, two robotic beings, one being a very old purplish red and purple mech and another who was the size of a human and was white and cyan blue, gazed at a glowing blue orb that showed a replay of the Murder Drones battle against Cyn. The wise mech smiled proudly.

"They have done very well, young Uzi especially." The old mech commented as the tiny robot rolled his optics.

"They were lucky. SHE was lucky. This doesn't prove that someone like HER has what it takes to carry on our legacy and become the next Prime."

"Now, now, Micronus, my friend. Let's not judge her by her behaviour, only by her actions."

"Oh I have, Alpha Trion. Her actions state that she is reckless! Swallowing Cyn's core to stop her was a foolish risk!" Micronus snarled before shaking his helm.

"It's bad enough that Optimus was so misguided to believe that she can defeat HIM, but preforming the Spark Infusion, the ritual that was strictly forbidden to us Primes, with HER of all beings?!"

Alpha Trion didn't answer, only gazing at the blue orb. Micronus lets out a frustrated growl.

"You may be Optimus' mentor, but you of all of us Primes should know that this is a grave mistake." the Minicon told the ancient Prime before he levitated away, leaving Alpha Trion alone with the orb.

"My student refused to give up on young Uzi, neither will I. She will carry on our legacy. She will succeed. She will defeat my sibling."

Alpha Trion then smiles again, knowing that the future is safe in the hands of the successor of Optimus Prime.

Chapter Text

3 weeks. 3 weeks past after the Murder Drones defeated Cyn and things... haven't change very much. But there were a FEW changes, at least.

For starters, after Uzi became the new admin for the Absolute Solver, there was no longer a reason for the worker drones to fear the disassembly drones anymore. As a matter of fact, they were actually invited to STAY in Uzi's colony by Khan himself.

Although it took a bit of convincing, the colony agreed and let them move in, which they did. N had his own living space not too far from where Uzi, his new girlfriend, lives. V and Brawl became roommates in their shared apartment.

And Shockwave and J, who revealed to the rest of the team that the two were dating (leading an annoyed V to reluctantly giving a smug Uzi a few bucks), and lived in an rather large apartment together near the colony's evacuation spot.

Shockwave, still having the old habit to tamper and tinker with things, turned one of the apartment's two offices (the other being own by J) into his new workshop after moving his lab equipment out of the old factory.

One of the main reasons they live so close to the evacuation spot: the place used to be a storage warehouse, meaning the it had materials he can work with.

Another was that the Combaticons, after being shown the message of Megatron disbanding the Decepticons known as "The Final Order", left Copper-9 when they built a ship. Brawl was offered to join them but he kindly refused, saying that he's happy as part of the Murder Drones.

The Sinnertwin, meanwhile... no one really knows where it went after that. It just... took off without saying goodbye, not that it even CAN speak anyway.

Why it had helped the Murder Drones against Cyn, Shockwave had a theory originating from the knowledge that when an animal leaves its hunting ground, it's usually because it's threatened by something.

Which means the the most likely possibility that the reason the Sinnertwin helped them is because, giving its animalistic, predatory behaviour, it recognised Cyn as a threat. That's the theory, at least.

Doll and Soundwave was given the pod that N, V and J arrived on Copper-9 with to use as a base of operations because they plan to spy on Starscream and Tarantulas and figure out what their agendas are.

Turns out, Soundwave knew that Tessa was Cyn all along and yet he joined her anyway, not so he could help her consume the planet but so he could SPY on her and thwart her plans. He was acting as a double agent against Cyn.

Scorn, Battletrap, Scowl, Alice and Beau went back to the facility where they came from with the Spinosaur Sentinel taking it upon himself to look for more answers and find out what else the humans knew of the Solver.

Slash, the red-eyed Sentinel that harasses Lizzy for some unknown but comedic reason, meanwhile, has took a rather surprising liking to V and has been staying with her and Brawl. Scorn has allowed her to stay with the two since that was what she wanted.

Speaking of which, Uzi, having to no longer look over her shoulder, not worrying about possession by Cyn, used her boosted Absolute Solver powers to recreate the areas that Outpost-3 lost in the cataclysm. She had gain a little bit of respect from her peers, returned to school and gave a presentation about her experience.

Yes, Uzi was finally free of the Absolute Solver, just as she was flying across the night sky with her boyfriend.

"You've gotten a lot better at flying when you first started." N commented as he flew by Uzi's side as the two drones gazed down upon the city they flew over.

"Yeah, I've had a pretty good teacher, even if he's a cute- WEIRD! Weird goofball." Uzi replied, silently scolding herself for that little slip up, as N blushed at her comment.

"Aww, thanks, Uzi. Love you, too."

Uzi groaned with her arms crossed, shaking her head as N looked over the city.

"Things have been getting better now, hasn't it?" N asked, Uzi nodding with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, they have. Cyn's no longer a problem anymore with me as the Solver's new admin. Worker drones are starting to get a tiny bit braver then they used to be. You and me are dating. And, well, that's mostly about it."

"Haha, yeah. Glad we don't have to deal with any threats anymore. Wait, right, Starscream and Tarantulas. Completely forgot about them."

"Don't worry, N. We've took down a literal eldritch horror goddess! Those two are practically a cakewalk compared to Cyn. But there is one thing I'm curious about."

N looked at Uzi curiously. The worker drone turns her head towards N.

"Where have you been running off to these past couple days? And why do you always carry a book right before you leave?"

N's eyes hollowed out at the question. Yeah, N's been sneaking out of the colony in the middle of the night with a book in his arms, where most of the colony is asleep. Only few who were actually up when N does this was Uzi and the other Murder Drones who found out about his secret outings shortly after the young pilot started them.

N nervously tapped his fingers together before looking towards Uzi.

"Shortly after we defeated Cyn... I've made a new friend." he admitted, leaving Uzi's eyes hollowed in surprise.

"Really? Why haven't you told us?"

"Well, because he's not really a fan of social interactions with many people. I'm the only one he's fine being accompanied with. And you know how I used to read dog fact to V back at the manor before the... incident? That book I've been sneaking off with was a book about dogs and I've been reading it to him and he actually seems to enjoy it." N explained as he and Uzi slowly descended down to the city, yet still maintained their altitude.

"Sorry for not telling you, Uzi. I know I shouldn't keep secrets from you after what happened with Cyn. I just thought that you would want to meet him and meeting more people would stress him out." N apologised, a bit ashamed, before he felt his hand gently being held by Uzi.

"I get it, you were just worried how your friend would feel if he met too many people at once. Don't worry about it. Tell you what, whenever your friend feels like he can meet us, you can introduce us to-"

Suddenly, her purple and yellow blended eyes flashed into a light blue colour without warning.

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi sees herself slightly leaning forward near a concrete platform, her fingers gently wrapped around tiny metal handrails as she looked down upon a tiny trio of humans.

"Uzi? Are you ok?"

One was a 16 year old boy with black hair, dark blue eyes and wore a grey shirt and blue jeans. He had a level of maturity that Uzi found both familiar yet unfamiliar.

Another was a girl slightly younger than the boy with clothing of a punk girl. She also had black hair like the boy, except with some parts dyed pink, with pigtails on the top and a ponytail on the back, and her eyes were whisky gold. By the look of her, Uzi could tell that the girl was from Japan.

The third was also a boy, except he was about 12, making him the youngest of the three. He had ginger hair, brown eyes and wore a sweater vest, blue pants and a red pair of square-shaped glasses.

"Uzi?"

The three humans looked away from the game they were playing on the TV and looked up at her, greeting her with genuine smiles on their faces.

These humans were so tiny and Uzi felt so... so... large. Massive even, as if she was a titan. She towered over these humans like a god and yet... she remained gentle with them.

"Uzi."

These three humans, she had never met these humans before in her life, or any human for that matter (unless you count Cyn wearing Tessa's corpse as a twisted cosplay).

But why do these three look so... familiar?

"UZI!"

------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi snapped back to reality when she crashed into an old, broken crane head first before she began to fall back down to Copper-9's surface.

N was quick to catch her, landing on the ground with Uzi in his arms. He slightly unwraps his arms around her and looked into the purple and yellow mixed eyes of his girlfriend.

"Are you ok?" he asked worriedly, the worker drone shaking her head and looking into N's yellow eyes.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." she replied before N lets her get back on her feat. Once she did, N looked up at the crane Uzi crashed into before looking back at the worker drone in question.

"What happened, Uzi? I tried to warn you about that crane but you just kept going." he asked worriedly, leaving Uzi to ponder what she just seen before she crashed but couldn't understand what exactly it was.

"I... I don't know." she admitted, leaving N to worry about his girlfriend more.

"The sun's coming up, soon... we should head back and have Shockwave check you out tomorrow; he might know what might've happened." he suggested.

"Y-yeah, he's a genius. He might help out." She agreed. With that being said, N flapped his wings and took to the air, still having Uzi in his arms.

Normally, Uzi would just protest but with what just happened moments ago, she found it best if N just carried her back.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright, let us see what we have?" Shockwave thought aloud as he looked over the parts and materials he had gathered over the past week, things he located from the evacuation spot, the frigid wasteland outside and his old laboratory in the factory.

What he intends to do with these bits and pieces, he still has trouble figuring that part out.

Despite how vastly the human race technologically evolved during his absence, the tech they had developed was still rather primitive for cybertronian standards.

I mean, come on. A century passed and the humans still relied on electricity as a power source? Cybertron hasn't used electricity since the end of the Bronze Age.

Back on topic, Shockwave supposed he would have Uzi come over and ask her for her thoughts and opinions, giving how creative that worker drone can be, as well as ideas and inspirations.

With J, the female drone sat on the sofa in the living room, holding an old, creased, faded and slightly torn photo in one hand as she gazed at it.

It was a family photo of the Elliotts: James, Louisa...

And... Tessa.

Accompanying Tessa and her parents in the photo was J, N, V and... HER.

As much as J wanted to tear that part of the photo off, more so than the part Tessa's parents were, she couldn't. She didn't want to damage one of the only two things left of her. That leads to her gazing towards her other hand, a black bow in its grasp.

J was thankful that Tessa's bow survived while everything else melted into black paste after Uzi swallowed Cyn's core.

Tessa loved this bow, it was her favourite. It was almost as if it was apart of her, J almost never seen Tessa without it sitting on top of her head.

"Still thinking about her?"

J turns her head to see Shockwave standing at the door to his workshop. She lets out a sigh, looking back at the bow and photo as the scientist approached her and sat on the sofa beside her.

"Yeah... I'm still having trouble coping what actually happened to her. It's just..."

Shockwave observed J as the female drone slouched forward.

"I miss her. A lot. She was the only human who looked after and cared for us drones at the manor, and Cyn just... Why? Tessa saved her from rusting in that scrapyard, repaired her and accepted her into her little makeshift family and THAT was how Cyn repaid her?! I just-"

J stopped when Shockwave placed a servo on her shoulder.

"I know it's hard to lose someone close to you. Believe it or not, I actually had friends of my own before the war broke out back when I was a senator."

J's eyes hollowed, jaw dropping as she gazed her new boyfriend.

"You?!"

"Yes. There were two, one male and one female. The male was a good friend of mine, named Longarm and the female was named Red Alert."

"What were they like?" J asked curiously, for she had never heard these names uttered by Shockwave.

"Longarm was the Head of Cybertron Intel. He was always a perfectionist, constantly worrying of which files and reports should go where, refusing to make a single mistake, something that you could relate to. He meant well of course, he just took his job a bit too seriously."

"And Red Alert..?"

"She was a nurse, treating injured gladiators of the gladiatorial arena of Kaon during the Golden Age. The same arena Megatron rose up the ranks from, which is how I met the soon-to-be leader of the Decepticons in the first place."

Shockwave let out a sigh.

"She was one of the kindest people I knew. She always stuck by me, supported my choices as a senator. She even helped me open my own academy."

"And..?" J asked, though it came out in a mutter, having bit of worry at the sight of Shockwave's posture.

"... I... believe it is logical to leave things there for the time being." Shockwave replied. J didn't prod any further.

Something happened between the three when the war broke out, that was obvious judging by Shockwave's body language and the fact he never mentioned these names to anyone, not rven her. But what exactly happened for the three to drift apart?

Did Longarm and Red Alert join the Autobots while Shockwave joined the Decepticons? Were they horrified at what he became? Did they find his new ideals and abandonment of his morals disgusting? What was it?

"The point is, J, I know what you're feeling. Sure you treated N unfairly and that you weren't the nicest of people in the beginning, but that didn't change the fact that Tessa cared for you greatly."

Shockwave then placed a clawed servo on J's head.

"That she would be most happy that you've changed for the better and avenge her demise by helping in defeating Cyn and stopping her world-ending hunger."

"Yeah... Heh... She would, wouldn't she?" J smiled in a light chuckle as she looked back down on the bow and photo. Small, digital tears started to build up in her yellow eyes before she gave Shockwave a hug.

"Thanks, Shocks. I needed that. I really did." She thanked as she kept a tight embrace on Shockwave, who simply returned the embrace to his sparkmate.

"It is my pleasure, my dear." He replied softly as he held J in his arms, leaving him to ponder of what Optimus always said.

Every sentient being possess the potential for change, was it not? During the war, Shockwave didn't acknowledge that statement. But now, it was most logical to conclude that there was truth in the Prime's words.

In other words... He was right. Both Shockwave and J mended their ways and, as a result, received good things in their lives.

Shockwave had Uzi like she was his daughter. Brawl became a friend, an actual friend, not just a mere comrade of the war effort. He also had N and V as friends as well. And lastly, he had J as his sparkmate.

In the first time in a long time, he rediscovered his emotions he had once erased, he found a planet he can call home, he found new friends that would stick by him, he found someone he holds deeply in his spark, he found a family.

Even after all the sins he committed in the past, Primus was merciful to him and he gave him a chance of redemption.

Well... Primus, and another being that Shockwave believed was pulling the strings during those events.

There was still one thing that Shockwave found to be eating at his processor.

Why did it feel like his past was coming back to bite him? And why did he mean that literally?

-------------------------------------------------------------

The elevator door opened in the human centre, revealing the blue business suit wearing human. He had an expression of solemnity and irritation on his face as he looked up at the purple-eyed worker drone that towered over him.

Uzi watched as the very unhappy human stepped out of the elevator towards her.

"Seven wrecks, thirty-four fender-benders, a three-hour traffic jam, and on a particular note, numerous reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown make and a black and yellow custom muscle car."

The human paused as he shot a quick glare at the two Autobots in question, who looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"So, anything you care to get off your tin-chest, Prime?" Fowler asked harshly.

Uzi's narrowed her eyes annoyingly, although she suppressed it very well and put on her best, professional mien.

"We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler." she assured the human, now identified as Agent Fowler.

"They're back, aren't they?" Fowler implied, ignoring Uzi's previous response.

"If you are referring to the Decepticons, I fear they never left. Your planet is much too valuable to them."

"Is that so? Then maybe it's time I wake up the Pentagon?"

"Hear me, Agent Fowler. We are your best, possibly your only defence against the Decepticon threat." Uzi told Fowler who gave her a glare.

"Says you?" He countered harshly, obviously not convinced.

"Hey, fleshy!" The large, green Autobot shouted, clearly annoyed by Fowler's attitude.

"Did anyone get splattered on that freeway?! Team Prime knows when to use force."

The Autobot then ripped a mechanical arm mechanism off of the lab table.

"And how much to use."

he then crushed the arm for emphasis.

"Bulkhead, I needed that!" Ratchet yelled in frustration.

"Enough!" The female worker drone ordered the two before turning her head back towards Agent Fowler.

"Military involvement would only result in catastrophe. Perhaps you can condone for widespread human casualties Agent Fowler, I, however, cannot."

"Then handle this, Prime. UNDER the radar." Fowler concluded before he turns back to the elevator and walked back into it. But before he left as he  presses  the button, he gave Uzi a glare.

"Or I will."

As soon as the doors shut tight, Uzi let out a silent sigh as Bulkhead walked up to her by her side.

"Pretty big bearings... for a human." The green Autobot commented as Uzi looks towards the Wrecker.

"Agent Fowler is concerned for his world, Bulkhead. As he should be." The purple-eyed drone stated wisely before everything started to glitch blue.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi laid on the bed of her room as her her visor was only displaying the Absolute Solver glyph, just like it did when she went on a killing rampage at the camp for oil.

However, unlike last time, her single glyph was glowing cyan blue, not purple.

The single blue Solver glyph abruptly glitched back into the normal purple and yellow blended eyes as she slowly awoken with a groan.

Uzi sat up from the bed, placing her hand on her head before checking the internal clock of her clock, showing it is in fact the next day or, more accurately, the next night.

Another weird vision, this time in her sleep. Just like the one she had yesterday when she came crashing down while N had to catch her. Uzi had no memory of any of it. The location, the human she was talking to, none.

But why did it feel so real? Why did she feel that she lived through it even though she hadn't?

"What is happening to me..?" She asked herself, moving redirecting her body so her legs dangle from the edge of the bedside.

She knew that this wasn't just another side effect of becoming the Solver's new admin after swallowing the [NULL] of Cyn's core.

What were these side effects, you may ask? Well, for starters, there's-

"Having - trouble - sleeping, - Uzi? Light - giggle."

That. There's that.

Uzi turns her head around, glaring at the tail the looked at her with golden yellow eyes replacing their usual purple.

"Can we NOT do this today, Cyn?" She growled, not wanting to deal with Cyn right now.

Yeeeaaah... turns out that Cyn somehow SURVIVED having her core destroyed and swallowed by Uzi, now living in the angsty teen's tail.

Although Uzi didn't have to worry about Cyn trying to kill her and eat the whole planet, she was forced to deal with the genocidal Solver drone every single day.

The moment Uzi realised that Cyn was still alive, she immediately went to Shockwave. They tried to get rid of Cyn at first, obviously, but after many failures, they came to realise the reality of the situation.

Tragically, Uzi is the only thing keeping Cyn alive at this point and that she always will be.

The only people who knew of what really happened to Cyn after the final battle was Uzi, Shockwave, N and J.

V, Brawl and the others who were involved with the whole thing, meanwhile, don't know of this knowledge and was considered to be the best course of action until the time was right.

"What's - the - matter? Innocent- tone. Aren't - you - happy - to - see - little - ol - me? Eye - flutter."

"Yeah, when skeletons come alive." Uzi replied in annoyance with an eye role. She is never happy to see Cyn, giving how one, she traumatized N, V and J, wore their only human friend as a sick cosplay, caused every horror in Uzi's life and tried to eat the whole planet and two, she was annoying as f*ck. Mostly the former.

"Eye - roll. Are - you - still - ma-"

"Yes. Yes I am. You literally tried to kill and eat everyone I care about, crazy bitch!" Uzi snarled, not letting the Solver drone finish her sentence.

"It - was - nothing - personal, - Uzi. I - just - needed - you - out - of - the - way."

"You literally tried to manipulate N into killing me by pretending to be Tessa. I MEAN, WHO DOES THAT?!"

"I - needed - SOME - way - to - get - help - from - big - brother."

"DO NOT call him that! You don't deserve to call him that after what you did to him."

Uzi snarl faded into a tired sigh. She really does not want to do this today.

"Just leave me alone for once."

"Annoyed - expression. Fine, - but - don't - think - our - little - chat - is - over, - Uzi." Cyn finally concluded before she slithered back into Uzi's body, finally leaving the worker drone alone.

Stretching her pipe-like arms, she let out a tired yawn, her small fangs growing visible.

Well, she's up now and there was no school today, so Uzi found it best to just get started with her day already. Still need to do a checkup with Shockwave anyway.

She hopped off the bed, put on her boots, hoodie and beanie, and began to leave the room. Looking towards the living room, she saw her father, Khan, and her turned-out-to-be-alive mother, Nori, sat on the sofa.

Well, Khan was, at least. Nori was perched on top her husband's head. Khan turns his head to see his daughter walking down the hall and into the living room.

"Good mor- I mean, good night, Uzi. Sleep well?" Khan asked as he and Nori watched their angsty daughter walk past them and into the kitchen.

"You could say that." Uzi shrugged as she opened a cabinet before pulling out a can of oil. She then proceeds to the exit door of her family's living quarters.

"I'm going to see Shockwave. Have something I want to talk to him about." she explained, not noticing Nori silently scowling at the mention of that name. Khan, meanwhile, gave his daughter a thumbs up.

"Alright, Uzi. Don't be gone for too long, alright?" he told her as Uzi opened the door.

"Bite me."

Uzi left the quarters as she closed the door behind her before proceeding down the hall towards Shockwave's place, drinking the oil from the oil can with one hand and placed the other hand in the pocket of her hoodie as she did so.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Brawl tapped his digit on the kitchen counter as he waited for the coffee maker to process the powder into the brownish black liquid that poured into the mug that sat beneath the nuzzle.

"Come on, I don't have all night." the Combatidrone huffed. The thing that coffee and Energon have in common? They both take a fragging long time to process.

"I miss the War for Cybertron..." he sighed depressingly.

It wasn't long until V enters the room (with Slash following suit), stretching her limbs to prevent cramps and rust.

"Rise and shine, Veevee." Brawl greeted his roommate with a light laugh. This earned an annoyed eye roll from V.

Brawl tried to give Slash a pat on the head, only for her to snap her jaws at him, the Combatidrone instinctively recoiling his servo, almost loosing a digit or two.

"Only Lizzy can call me 'Veevee' and you know it."

"What? I'm just poke some fun out of the little nickname your girlfriend gave you. Don't boil your oil over it. That reminds me. Here."

Brawl crabs a can of oil and tosses it at V who effortlessly caught it mid air before she drains the metal container of its inky black contents.

"Looks like you're doing alright. Sleep well?"

"You could say that. Didn't have a nightmare about the manor. Or what we recently went through. Doesn't mean it was a comfortable sleep, but I'd say it's an improvement." V shrugged in reply.

"Glad to see you're doing better. Hey, just out of curiosity, what do you plan on doing? You know, now that both Cyn and that space company she destroyed are gone."

V hummed, to herself as she rubbed Slash's head like a dog. She never really thought of what she might do next in the future. Her job as a maid expired a long time ago and she no longer had a reason for drone genocide.

"Other than help stop Starscream and Tarantulas from getting their claws on the Solver, more so now that Uzi's the new admin which would no doubt make her an instant target if they find out, I haven't considered. What about you?"

Shockwave and Brawl told the other Murder Drones, V included, about Megatron's disbandment of the Decepticons. They even showed the drones the message Soundwave showed them.

"I'm more of a 'now' kind of Con, I don't usually worry over future plans and the like. What was that Earth saying? 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it'?" Brawl replied truthfully as his coffee had finally finished processing.

He grabbed the mug holding the dark brown liquid, he battle mask slid opening, revealing his mouth in order to allow him to drink the hot beverage.

"Besides, you said it yourself, we still got a crazy spider and a slithering coward to take down."

V should've predicted that type of response. If there was anything she'd learned from the Combatidrone, it's that he only focuses on what's happening around him, not caring for whatever aftermath that awaited him.

Think twice? Bro, Brawl doesn't even think once.

Just then, a soft hum vibrated in V's jacket pocket. She reaches into the pocket and pulls out the phone Lizzy gave her after the whole, uh... "incident" at the prom with Doll.

Speaking of Lizzy, V turned on her phone to see that the pink eyed cheerleader had sent her a text.

/Can I, like, come over or whatever? U still need 2, like, properly introduce me to ur frend./

Oh, that's right. Lizzy asked V if she could meet Brawl, a promise V had totally forgot about with the whole mess with Cyn and the Solver.

Sure, she encountered him after Brawl was rammed by a bus, but he and Lizzy weren't properly introduced before Cyn started tearing the planet apart.

V just shrugged and texted back. She saw no harm into a long awaited introduction. Besides, she remembered Brawl telling her that he was rather curious on what Lizzy's whole deal was.

/Sure thing. What time works for u?/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi eventually made it to the door leading into Shockwave and J's living space.

Normally, she would've asked N to come with her. But after hearing he was going to visit his new friend again, she thought it best to let him do his own thing.

Besides, she only coming in for a checkup from her father figure.

With that said, she brought her fist up to the door and tapped her knuckle on it three times. It wasn't long until she heard the light click of the lock before opening revealing J.

"Oh, good evening, Uzi. Come in." She greeted in a polite yet, being the perfectionist she is, professional manner.

J, though being reformed, still unnecessarily liked to act professional around others. She was still smug, prideful and fixated on JcJenson and their products, though not as much as before.

She's still obsessed with those stupid branded pens.

Uzi walked into the living space, immediately taking notice of how organised the place looked.

It wasn't that very hard to guess that this was all J's doing, considering how Uzi saw Shockwave's old laboratory in the factory. Speaking of which.

"Hey, J. Is Shockwave home? Have something I need to talk to him about." The violet drone asked the taller woman.

"Yeah. He's in his office with JcJenson knows what he's working on now. Knowing him, I suggest we take a seat until he's finished."

Uzi nodded, taking J's advice and took a seat on the sofa. The disassembler followed suit.

"Can I get you anything? Oil? Batteries?" J offered. Uzi gave her a gentle wave.

"Nah, I'm good. Had a can of oil on my way here. Thanks for the offer, though."

J nodded in understanding, respecting Uzi's decline.

J's been like this since the incident at the camp. Growing more concerned for the girl's wellbeing in a parental kind of way, not unlike Shockwave.

Uzi wouldn't admit it, but she felt comforted by that fact. They even had their own personal conversations with one another from time to time.

J was like Uzi's second mother at this point. That fact alone would've made Uzi giggle. It's funny, really.

But she wouldn't admit it out loud, especially around her mother. Nori was already annoyed that Uzi's boyfriend was one of the things that "killed" her, as well as a father figure that is seen as cold, heartless, ruthless, sociopathic monster to his people back on his home planet. The last thing she needs is another thing that pisses her mother off more than she already was.

And yes, Nori learned of the cybertronian race and the War for Cybertron between the Autobots and Decepticons.

"N told me and Shockwave about what happened while you two were souring around out there, so I can pretty much guess what you want to talk about." J admitted. Uzi rolled her mixed colour eyes.

"Yeah, I figured he would. Look, I don't really know what happened out there, so I was hoping Shockwave would." she explained to J, who crossed her arms at this.

"And what about N? Isn't he supposed to be here with you?"

"He ran into him on the way here and wanted to come along, but I told him I was fine on my own. Besides, apparently he made a new friend not too long after our fight with Cyn."

To say J was a little surprise was a bit of an understatement, evident with the hollowed out eyes.

"He met someone and made friends with them? Who?"

"That's the thing, I don't really know but he says that he'll introduce us to him. Right now, though, he says his friend is not a big fan of other people's company."

"Bet you could relate." J chocked, earning an annoyed eye twitch from the gothic drone.

"The hell's THAT supposed to mean?!"

"I think you already know, toaster."

"Bite me!"

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Both Uzi and J snapped their head towards Shockwave who stood at the door to his workshop.

"Just have a friendly conversation between drones, that's all." J answered innocently as if nothing has happened in the past 30 seconds.

"I can see that." Shockwave deadpanned in response before looking towards Uzi.

"I assume J has told you what N has informed us with?" he asked calmly and Uzi replied with a simple nod.

"Right this way, then." he said before entering his workshop with J following suit.

Uzi got up from the couch and made her way towards the workshop, walking past a mirror broken by Uzi's Solver and catching a glimpse of her red and blue reflection.

Uzi immediately did a double take to the mirror with wide, hollowed out eyes, only to see herself in the reflection. She could've sworn...

"Come on, Uzi. We don't have all night." J called from the workshop, snapping the worker drone out of her train of thought.

"G-got it." she hesitantly replied before entering the room.

"Uzi, are you alright?" Shockwave asked in concern, Uzi gently waving him off.

"Yeah, just thought I saw something for a sec."

-------------------------------------------------------------

N hovered over the frozen landscape of the city, his altitude very close to the snowy ground, as he carried a book in his arms. He gently lands and looks around the area, as if he's looking for something.

But he was not alone.

Within a dark allay way, six glowing, blood red eyes watched him carefully with a low, animalistic growl.

It slowly stomped closer, creeping towards the unsuspecting disassembly drone from right behind him.

It wasn't until N felt a gently blow of hot breathe hitting the back of his neck did he stopped searching, his eyes hollowing out with digital sweat drops.

Slowly, he turns around and was now face to face with whatever that was stalking him. He eyed the six eyed entity in complete unsettling silence unt-

"Oh gosh darn it, Buddy! You almost gave me a heart attack!" N told the entity in complete and total annoyance, receiving a snort from it as it narrowed its six red eyes.

It entity that was stalking him was an Anti-Drone Sentinel. A T-rex Anti-Drone Sentinel, to be precise.

The thing was slightly larger than Scorn in beast mode, about a few inches in height. It had a pair of horns on the back of its head.

While the Sentinel's eyes worked like camera lenses like the average Sentinel, the robo T-rex actually had eyelids as well, allowing its eyes to be more expressive than its counterparts.

N named the Sentinel "Buddy" like the golden retriever from the "Air Bud" movies. And this was the friend N made shortly after Cyn's defeat.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting. Had to grab the book and had other stuff to deal with, mostly with my girlfriend." N apologetically explained, earning an eye roll from the T-rex Sentinel in front of him.

"B-but don't worry. We'll still be doing the reading thing."

N held up the book, showing that the title of the book was "fun facts about dogs". N was lucky to find the exact same book he used to read to V (back at the manor during the days before the gala) on Copper-9 and he was even more lucky that Buddy enjoys the book as much as he does.

"So, shall we begin our session?" N asked despite the clear and obvious answer. Buddy let out a soft rumble from his throat as his tail slowly wagged.

Both N and Buddy sat against the old car sat against during their meetings.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah! Golden retrievers! Alright, let's see..."

To be continued...

Chapter Text

"So you're the alien my bestie hung out with before me." Lizzy mused as she visually examined Brawl's physique.

The blonde drone arrived at V and Brawl's place just a couple minutes ago so she could be properly introduced the the Combatidrone.

"And you're the girl who helped Doll set up that trap at the prom." Brawl mused back with his arms crossed and a glare behind his visor, making the worker drone slightly freeze with hollowed out eyes before she let out a nervous laugh.

"Well V WAS using me so she could kill everyone in the prom, so my actions were completely justified."

"Ha. Relax, I'm just messing with ya. Name's Brawl." Brawl laughed, followed by a strong sigh of relief from Lizzy. V rolled her eyes before attempting to get back on topic.

"Now that we've got introductions out of the way, why were you so eager to meet Brawl, Liz?" She asked, genuine curiosity in her head like a plague.

"Isn't it obvious? This guy, as well as the cyclops that the corporate chick has the hots for and is seen as a dad to that purple emo, is real proof that alien life actually exists in the universe. I wanna be the first drone to take a pic of one." Lizzy explained, brushing her hair in her "I'm so popular and better than everyone else" style.

V just stared at her in silence, before her expression changes to an unamused one.

"Knowing you, that seems about right."

"Wait. You actually believe that? You don't think our origin is bullslag? Not even a little bit?" Brawl questioned because the idea of an entire race of sentient alien robots who been part of a civil war for millions of years DOES sounds farfetched to everyone else.

"Dude, my ex has Lovecraftian superpowers that were forced on her when her mom got infected with the blood of an eldritch goddess. Tell me, do you really think that the idea of an alien robot being turned into a murder drone sounds unlikely to you after what you saw?"

Although he had not been there for most of the whole thing before being turned into a disassembler, Brawl's encounter with Cyn alone has showed him more than enough that absolutely NOTHING about the Solver makes any sense.

As a matter of fact, even Shockwave himself already GAVE UP trying to find the logic in the Solver's existence at this point since the Sinnertwin.

"Fair enough." He shrugged before looking back at Lizzy.

"So, what do you want to know about our race? Normally Shocks gives all the history lessons but I guess I'll give it a try."

"Well, I already know your name, a little about that civil war you fought in and how that Sinnertwin thing was responsible for you transformation but that's about it." Lizzy replied, recounting her current knowledge of Brawl and Shockwave.

"Well, first, I come from the planet Cybertron, there's that obviously. Me and Shocks joined the Decepticon faction, led by its founder, Megatron, to fight in a war for a just society where everyone is treated as equals. What else? Our enemies of that war were the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime. Megatron put me on a combat squad called the Combaticons, which is where I met my buddies."

Brawl scratched his chin in thought for a moment.

"Oh, and I was also selected by Megatron himself to accompany him to raid Starscream's Energon research station along with a fellow Con named Barricade. I crashed the war ship we were riding straight into the dead centre of it. Nearly died. It was awesome. Hehe."

Brawl laughed at the memory. Good times.

"Raided the an Autobot energon transport with the other Combaticons. Raided the Ark next during the Exodus. Got blasted off into space by two aftholes named Jazz and Jetfire. Nearly died again. Landed on Copper-9 and were asleep until the core collapsed. Met Shockwave again. Did some missions here and there. Became best buds with V. Fought the Sinnertwin. Nearly died for the third time. And boom!"

Brawl then gestures to himself.

"Combatidrone."

Lizzy eyed Brawl for a moment before turning to V.

"Yeah. I think the cyclops would be a better history teacher when it comes to details."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave had Uzi sit on a chair in front of his desk which he now sat at, a clipboard and a JcJenson branded pen that was generously given to him as a gift from his girlfriend who leaned against a bookshelf as she observed the two.

"I'll just get straight to the point. From what N told me, you were making a beeline for an abandoned crane of an unfinished construction sight, seemingly ignoring his warnings. Says that you were in a trance of some kind." Shockwave informed Uzi, recounting the events of her and N's flight together.

"Yeah. I was. Not even I know what exactly happened. All I know that one minute, N and I were having a conversation and the next, I had this weird vision of me with someone. Or rather, THREE someones."

Shockwave nodded and begins to write down on the clipboard while J raised a digital brow, curiosity creeping in her systems.

"Three? Who were these three drones? Was one of them Cyn?" She couldn't help but ask but Uzi shook her head.

"One of them wasn't Cyn. In fact, they weren't even drones. They were human."

As Shockwave continued writing at this, J grew confused.

"Humans? You're saying you had a weird vision of you interacting with humans?"

Uzi replied with a nod, understanding J's confusion. Uzi is not a fan of the humanity, yes, but after learning that JcJenson wasn't who sent the disassembly drones to Copper-9 where in reality it was Cyn who sent them in order clear the way so she could eat the planet and used the company's name as a cover-up to avoid suspicion since the drones of the planet have no idea of her genocide on the human race, her anger towards them was greatly dissipated, even feeling bad for them. Yet despite this, she was still not too happy of their slavery on drone kind.

"Yeah. They looked so tiny compared to me. They were young, two being 16 and the third being 12, I think. One was an average looking boy, not looking like all that much to be honest, the second was a Japanese girl and the 12 year old was a boy with red glasses."

Shockwave's body suddenly stiffened mid writing, his muscle cables tensing, when Uzi described the three humans, an action of body language that did not go unnoticed by J, before he continued writing.

"Did anything else happened after your vision, Uzi?" Shockwave finally asked after keeping silent during the whole check-up. 

Uzi felt obligated to tell him about the weird dream she had, but decided to hold her tongue on it since dreams tend to be nonsense at times. Her guess it was just another random scenario her CPU cooked up with no real meaning.

"No. Nothing else. I think."

"I see." Shockwave noted.

He held his servos together as he tapped his clawed index digits together in thought. He held this position for a moment before looking back at Uzi.

"That will be all for today, Uzi. If you have anymore of these... 'episodes', be sure to inform me or J at once. I find it logical that obtaining more information of these future incidents will shed more light upon this predicament of yours. You are free to leave."

"Thanks, Shocks. I'm gonna go now." Uzi said as she got off the chair and proceeds to walk out the apartment.

"Take care, Shocks. You too, J."

"Take care, Uzi." J replied to the purple worker with a smile while Shockwave nodded in acknowledgment. The second Uzi closed the front door as she left, J snapped her head to her boyfriend, her smile turning into a frown as she glared at him.

"Just what the Hell was that?" J immediately demanded. Shockwave looks at J before he begins to clear his desk.

"I do not understand on what you inquire, J."

"Don't bullshit me, Shockwave! The moment Uzi described the humans she saw in her vision, you froze as if you were paralysed by what she said, something I rarely see you do. You KNOW something!"

A soft hum escaped Shockwave as he puts the clipboard and pen away in his desk drawers.

"I do not consider your claim to be a false accusation, J." He replied, admitting to his body language without further argument.

"But you must understand, J. I do not wish to speak about it for the moment for I am uncertain that the humans Uzi speaks of is even who I believe they are. With only the knowledge of one episode, coming to a conclusion at this point at time will be highly illogical."

"In other words, you don't want to jump to any conclusions until you're absolutely sure that the three humans Uzi talked about are who you think they are." The female disassembler summarised with her arms crossed.

"Yes. Until we know for certain, we will just have to wait for when Uzi has a second episode. IF she does, that is."

A tired sigh escaped J as her head gently shook.

"Fine. We'll leave this conversation here for now. Until then, I have to have a meeting with Khan about his doors. As sturdy and effective they were against me and my co-workers, I have strong doubts that they can keeps cybertronians out for very long."

"If you and Khan plan to discuss on improvements to his doors, then maybe my insight could provide some valuable assistance on such a matter."

J grew weary at the offer Shockwave has given.

"Are you sure? Nori will be there. She hates you because Uzi sees you as a dad."

"I understand your concerns, J, but there is no need to worry. Just let the two of us fight it out. One of us will triumph eventually." He assured as he rose from his desk and proceeds to walk out of the apartment.

"Come along, J. We have a meeting we must attend to, do we not."

J watched Shockwave leaves before letting out a groan and follows him out.

"There is no arguing with you, is there?"

"That would be a logical statement."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Soundwave worked tirelessly with utmost effort on the repairs of the space ship N, J and V arrived in. He was thankful that it wasn't destroyed during the catastrophe that was Cyn's world ending hunger.

Speaking of which, Soundwave has found it most curious on why he insisted on keeping Cyn's ship but given how he tends to tamper with creation, the former TIC wouldn't be surprised he intends to use it in one of his future projects. What said projects are, he didn't know.

Soundwave looks away from the console he linked himself to and towards Doll, fast asleep in on of the chairs with Lazerbeak also asleep on the Russian drone's lap.

Detaching his tentacles from the console, Soundwave proceeds to leave the pod. Jumping onto the snow, he then proceeds to walk out of the spire to scavenge for more parts necessary for the completion on the repairs.

Upon reaching the arch that either leads in or out of the spire, he looks back at the pod, the image of Doll and Lazerbeak still on his processor.

He still remembers when he first held the bird-like Minicon like that before the war. The way she slept like that when she was but a hatchling. She was the youngest one when he introduced her to her siblings.

The way that Ravage, the panther Minicon who was oldest of them, be ever most gentle with her, trying his best to preventing any harm to her.

The way she played with the twins, Rumble and his sister, Frenzy. They were all different, all unique, yet the one thing in common was how they were to their master. He was almost like a father to them.

But when the war broke out, things took a tragic turn. He began to lose them, one by one.

Ravage was the first to go, during the Battle of Technar, where he accompanied Skyquake for the Seeker's mission, given to him by Megatron himself, to annihilate Optimus Prime. He let Ravage loose on a mission of his own, to infiltrate an Autobot outpost to acquire the coordinates to their weapons cache.

When the battle was over, while Skyquake failed in his mission, Ravage accomplished his. But he didn't do so without a cost when Soundwave found him.

Or at least... his upper half

The next was Frenzy. She perished the Autobot, Ironhide, blasted her helm clean off her shoulders with his one of his cannons during the End Run on Pollyhex. He had never seen Rumble in such a way when he saw what had become of his twin sister.

Speaking of Rumble, he lost his life in the raid on the Ark during the Exodus in the final days of the Fall of Cybertron. After the death of his sister, Rumble grew not only more aggressive but more reckless as well. He tried to call him back but he refused to listen, and it was that reckless disobedience that led to his undoing. He can still feel Rumble's sparkless husk in his arms after he was gunned down by Autobot soldiers.

All that was remained of his Minicons was Lazerbeak. And after that, he had been protecting her ever since. Out of fear that he would lose her like he lost the others.

That was the reason he rushed to her aid almost immediately when she sent him that distress signal. He had the opportunity to end Wheeljack with the Resonance Blaster he recovered with the help of the decoded coordinates of the Iacon Database, but instead of claiming victory, he chose to go and rescue Lazerbeak.

Other than his first encounter with Cyn on Earth, it was the only other time he truly felt fear in his spark. The fear of loosing the only Minicon he had left.

And even now, despite the war has ended, Soundwave still wonders what might become of him if something were to happen to Lazerbeak or worse, what might become of Lazerbeak if something were to happen to HIM instead.

He held onto this question for eons, not knowing how to respond to it. But maybe, with how close the Minicon had become to Doll over the course of time after Cyn's defeat, he may have finally found his answer.

But he will not worry about the future for the moment, not while everything is calm at the moment, where he still has the opportunity to prepare for the inevitable storm over on the horizon.

And with that, Soundwave spreads his wings and takes off into the cold night to scavenge more more parts.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Haha, and that is why Golden Retrievers are so great with kids!" N giggled as Buddy kept his gaze on the disassembler.

"Not to mention that they are very social, absolutely love being the centre of attention, unlike a certain robot T-rex I know, haha."

Buddy lets out an annoyed snort, narrowing his six red eyes at him before turning away. N only laugh even more at the Sentinel's behaviour.

Despite this, N's expression fell to worry, something that Buddy noticed instantly. He lets out a worried growl as he rests his head on the drone's lap. N gently patted him on his head with a reassuring smile.

"I'm ok, Buddy. It's just that..." he trailed off, taking in a deep breath through his artificial lungs.

"Uzi knows about you. Not that I didn't expect her to find out but... I just don't think you're ready to see her and the other yet. I know you don't have a problem with being social with me."

Buddy lets out a soft whine as he nudged his head into N's coat.

"It's just that I don't want to put so much pressure on you like that. I just wanted you to be comfortable first and..."

N looks towards his friend worriedly.

"Buddy, do you think you can handle with meeting multiple people at once? You know I won't force you, it's your call to make, not mine."

Buddy gave a look of uncertainty before he slowly raises he head from N's lap and gives him a nod.

"Are you sure? You realise you're going to meet five people at once, right?" N asks again, making sure if this was what his friend really wanted.

Buddy lets out a low rumble from his throat, confirming on his decision. This leaves N with a smile on his face.

"Alright then." He replied, raising to his feet and holding the book to his side.

"I'll bring them to our usual spot as soon as you're ready, ok?"

The T-rex Sentinel growls in a way that akins to that of a bark. This brings N back to his usual, happy attitude.

"Okie dokie. Sun's coming up soon so I think I'll be back tomorrow night with my friends, plenty of time for you to be ready both physically and mentally."

N takes a few steps away and spreads his wings before looking towards his friend.

"Later, Buddy!" He said before taking to the air and makes his way back to the bunker.

Buddy watches N slowly leaves his line of sight. Once he was truly gone from his vision, the T-rex Sentinel slowly rises back to his clawed feet and shakes the snow off himself.

He then uses his tiny arms to scrape the remaining snow off of his chest, revealing the Autobot insignia underneath.

To be continued.

-------------------------------------------------------------

AN: I know it's early, but merry Christmas, everyone. That's the end of the first two part chapter of season 2 of ODAL. On the next chapter, it will be revealed that there is more to Buddy than meets the eye. Until then, merry Christmas.

Chapter Text

"I'm telling you, this isn't a good idea with Nori in there." J warned as she and Shockwave stood at the entrance of Khan's private meeting room.  This was where Khan held meetings for certain subjects.

They all involve doors. What a shock. |:(

"I can assure you, J. You do not need to worry over a small rivalry she and I have. It is nothing worth fretting over." Shockwave assured her as he placed his servo over the door's control system.

"Now, then. Shall we proceed?"

J let out an annoyed sigh, rolling her eyes before turning back to Shockwave.

"Fine. But if you and Nori start arguing over Uzi, don't expect any help from me."

Shockwave nodded before activating the system, opening the door and revealing Khan and Nori at the table. Khan looks to them and greets them.

"Ah, you've made it." Khan greeted, waving at the two. Nori wasn't so thrilled about J's arrival as Khan was.

"Hello, murder pet-"

Nori froze when she saw Shockwave standing behind J before she gave him a deadly glare.

"What is HE doing here?! Who invited the sociopathic cyclops into this?!" Nori snarled with obvious venom. Venom that is clearly directed at Shockwave.

J gave a facepalm with a sigh. She knew this would happen.

"Listen, Shockwave invited himself. Says he could be helpful with your situation involving the doors." J explained, attempting to disarm the situation the best she could before Nori makes things worse.

"If he wants to be helpful, then have him do us all a favour and send him to go f-"

"Now, now, Nori. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have a fresh perspective on the matter. Besides, I've seen him work. I think he skills is what we need right now." Khan calmly (and nervously) told his wife, hoping that he could calm her before things got ugly for all of them.

Nori turns towards Khan with a scowl before she let out a frustrated groan.

"Bite me. Fine! He can stay. For now."

Both J and Khan sighed in relief, having prevented a disaster from happening. Khan pulled out the blueprints to his doors and the area of Outpost-3 (where the colony resided) they were built and the outpost itself, spreading the blue sheet of paper across the table.

"Ok, first things first. Here's what we already know of the doors. There are three in total; Door 1, the first line of defence and the only way in and out of the colony. Door 2, the second line of defence in case Door 1 fails. And lastly, Door 3, the last line of defence and more of a 'better safe than sorry' kind of scenario. All three built with a strong and sturdy integrity. Nothing can get past them." Khan explained, having a bit of pride at the end of that sentence.

"Nothing known to human or drone. There are alien species out there can have the tech to blast through those doors like cutting butter with a hot knife. Humans may have come a long way from their beginning to their extinction, but they're still primitive compared to Shockwave's kind." J explained to him, as Shockwave looked over the papers.

"Oh, so you think the doors aren't good enough? I was the one who told Khan to build those doors against you and the rest of those things. I think- no, not think -I KNOW the doors can hold their own against a few aliens. Because of me, Khan and I were able to save a few drones with doors that are completely indestru-"

"Ventilation."

J, Khan and Nori turned their heads to Shockwave, confusion donned on their faces.

"Come again?" Khan asked with a raised brow.

"The blueprints of Outpost-3, it displays the ventilation system that spreads throughout the colony. It shows that there are vents everywhere. The school area, the repair wing, there's even a vent in front of Door 3, which completely defeats its purpose." Shockwave explained, handing the blueprints to Khan who snatches the thing and looks over it along with Nori.

The mention of a vent at Door 3 reminds J of when she and V raided the colony, bypassing the third door with that vent.

"It also shows that the ventilation system leads outside, making it an alternate method of getting into the colony. It's honestly surprising that J, V and N haven't found it while Cyn still had them under her rule. But that doesn't change the fact that if an... undesirable individual were to find one of those vents, what's stopping them from entering that way instead of wasting time and energy on those doors of yours?"

Khan looked through the blueprints of the vent system and, to his horror, found that everything Shockwave said was right. There WERE more than one way to enter the colony. Which means... everything Uzi said about how Khan's doors would one day fail... were true.

He left his only daughter to die for nothing that day. 

"Ok, fine. I'll give you that one. But that doesn't change the fact of how strong those doors are. They kept everyone safe from Cyn's pets just not as perfectly as we'd hoped." Nori argued, glaring at Shockwave.

"They may have kept you all safe, but that didn't stop Uzi."

J's eyes hollowed out, her head slowly turning to Shockwave in horror while Nori's expression slowly fell to anger.

"Keep my daughter's name, out of your non-existent mouth."

J looks to Khan, seeing him hiding behind one of the chairs. They both know what's gonna happen next.

"Why not? You were crawling around down at the labs like an insect pretending to be dead for all these years, leaving her to deal with every horror she faced by herself if I hadn't been there to help." the cycloptic scientist asked, angering Nori further.

'Oh no. Here we go.' J thought, backing away.

"I was trying to PROTECT her from the truth!"

"The truth, no matter how painful or terrifying it can be, is preferable than living a life of lies and illusion."

Remember when J and Khan prevented a disaster from happening earlier?

"I was doing what needed to be done! That's a mother's promise!"

It was spoken too soon.

"And we both know what that's worth."

All Hell broke loose once those words were uttered.

-------------------------------------------------------------

N arrived at the colony entrance just before the sun came down. He knocked on the colony's door before being greeted by a WDF worker with a yellow hard hat, a thin sand grey jacket, and yellow boots. It was an outfit more suited for an oil rig.

"Hey, Sparkplug!" he greeted the worker cheerfully.

"Hey, N. Me and the boys are having another game of gin rummy later tonight. Wanna join? My son, Spike, really enjoyed it last time." the worker, Sparkplug (his real name is Sparky), offered.

"Sorry, but I have a few things I need to take care of first. Maybe some other time." N told the worker, who shrugged in response.

"Don't see why not. See you later then."

"See you later, Sparkplug. And tell Spike I said 'hi'."

And with that, N proceeded to walk deeper into the colony. As he walks past the many worker drone residents, he pulls out his new phone and calls Uzi, whose contact name is "Smol GF". After a few rings, the call was picked up.

<"Hello?"> Uzi answered.

"Hey, Uzi! I'm back from my outing."

<"Hey, N. Happy to hear you made it back before the sun came up.">

"Yeah. While I was out, how did things go at Shockwave's place?"

<"It went pretty well. Talked to J for a bit before I talked to Shockwave about what happened.">

"What did he say?"

<"He told me that if I have another one of these 'episodes', as he calls them, I should tell him or J about it. Says it would be helpful in figuring out what's wrong with me.">

"Oh, ok. So, should we tell V about what happened out there and what Shockwave told you?"

<"Yeah, sure. Tell Brawl, too. They should know about what happened and what they need to do if it happens again if they're around.">

N nodded to himself; that would be a smart thing to do if he, Shockwave or J aren't around her if it happens again.

<"But enough about me. How did things go with that new friend of yours?"> Uzi then asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, it went great!" N greeted happily, his tail wagging like a dog. 

"We sat in our usual spot as we read a book about dog facts!"

<"Again? You mean you've been doing nothing but read about different types of dogs this whole time? You don't do anything else?">

"That's not all we do. Besides, he enjoys our reading sessions. We sometimes talk about things." N explained before remembering something.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot. He says that he's willing to give a go at meeting you and the others."

<"Really? But you said he isn't really thrilled about social interactions.">

"Yeah, I asked him if he was sure but he seemed to be confident. I'm sure he can handle it."

<"Well, if you say so. When are we meeting him, anyway?">

"Tonight. Where we usually meet up."

<"Ok, cool. I'm nearly home, so let's meet up at my place and then tell the others, K?">

"Okie Dokie! See you later, Uzi."

<"Later, N.">

Uzi hung up, ending the call between her and N. N continued his march but instead of heading to his place like he intended, he changed his course to Uzi's.

He just hopes at that her mom isn't home, the way she looks at him after she learned that her daughter and him were dating is more terrifying than Cyn ever was.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Scorn sat on his repaired throne, resting his helm on his servo as he leaned his elbow against the arm rest. He was tired.

He looks around his throne room, cleaned up and repaired the best it could be, but the damage left behind from his battle with Shockwave and V. A battle that took place because of his madness.

He looks over to where he had Uzi imprisoned, his claws that laid on the other arm rest beginning to clench, leaving claw marks behind.

What a fool he was. In his mad quest to quell his thirst for vengeance, he hurt and tried to kill the daughter of his closest friend who he had not seen since the core collapse. The friend who cared for him since his creation.

It was Nori who named him "Scorn". He remembers her saying that "SC-87" is not really a name so she tried giving her a name, a REAL name.

The first name she wanted to give him was "Slag", but that just offended him for some odd reason he could not explain nor understand.

She then suggested the name "Spike", but it felt that it was already taken.

She then suggested "Spiny", for obvious reasons, but that sounded like a name for a Spinosaurus used by a trio of wacky bad guys from a kids cartoon show about dinosaurs that turn into cards.

After those names ended up being duds, Nori thought about it long and hard until something clicked, and then deciding to name him after the project he was built for: "Scorn".

That name sounded right to him, like it was always been his name since the beginning. Like it was a part of him, somehow. Like that part of him was loft until Nori found it and brought it back to him, filling something that felt empty inside him.

He and Nori were like siblings, before his desire for vengeance led him down a path to blind rage and madness after his rampage during the core collapse.

Uzi was right. He wasn't a hero. He was a tyrant. No better than the humans who imprisoned him.

It was only eavesdropping on N and Nori down at the tunnels of the labs where he learned the truth. Where he saw what his need for revenge had turned him into.

It was then Scorn knew he needed to stop the madness, to turn his desire for revenge into that of redemption. He needed to make up for his sins, for the innocent drones he killed, for Uzi, for Nori.

That was why he joined the fight against Cyn, the monster who used him like the disassembly drones without even being infected with the Solver.

Having pulling himself out of the depths that are his memories, he rose from his throne and left the room. He walks past the rooms and areas where Uzi and her group had been to, reminders of his madness.

It wasn't long before he heard arguing. He approached the source, walking into the room to see Scowl holding Alice up by her antlers with Battletrap laughing in the background as Beau just sat idly by watching the whole thing.

"Aww, does Alice want a biscuit?" Scowl taunted waving a dog treat in front of Alice as the cannibal drone thrashed around like a wild animal.

"I am NOT some pup, you grass-bellied greenhorn!" she snarled, swiping her hands at Scowl in an attempt to claw out his optics.

"Have a biscuit!" Scowl told her, shoving the dog treat into Alice's mouth. The drone took this chance and bit down on his servo with tremendous force.

Scowl squealed in pain, instinctively letting Alice go. But she still held onto the Ankylo Sentinel's like tape. Scowl waved his servo around in hopes to force Alice to let go.

"GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF! TRAPS! HELP ME OUT HERE!"

All Battletrap did was laugh his robotic lung out, completely ignoring Scowl's pleas.

"I'm sorry, buddy! Ha! It's just so funny to watch! I can't help it!" the Carno Sentinel replied during his laughing fit.

Scowl growls before using his free servo to pry Alice open. Upon doing so, he threw her at Battletrap, leading the cannibal drone into biting his arm.

"AAAAAAGH! MY ARM!" Battletrap roared in pain, swinging his arm around frantically, just like Scowl was doing earlier.

"Not so funny now, is it?!" the Ankylo Sentinel barked.

"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" Scorn snarled, shutting the three up immediately. The three watched as Scorn approached them before grabbing Alice and pulling her off Battletrap.

"Scowl, Battletrap. I told you two to help clear the rubble. Not to antagonize Alice with your stupidity." Scorn snarled at the two, putting Alice back onto the ground as he did so.

"Sorry, boss. Me and Traps here don't really do things that involve fixing something." Scowl told the Spinosaur Sentinel with a shrug.

"Yeah. We're better at breaking things rather than fixing them." Battletrap added with a nod.

"Yes, but this tasks involves getting rid of destroyed ruins left behind during the chaos left by Cyn. It's not like you're repairing something impossible to understand like a particle accelerator cannon or the like."

Both Scowl and Battletrap looked at each other confused before looking back at Scorn.

"Can you repeat that sentence but with smaller and easy words, please?" Scowl simply asked.

"GET BACK TO WORK!"

The two Cyber-Sentinels yelped out in fright before running off.

Scorn shook his helm in annoyance before turning to Alice.

"I'm going back to the surface for a while to get some air. I already grow tired of those two morons."

Scorn didn't wait for Alice to respond before he turned and left. It wasn't long before his march led him to the only way in and out of his territory.

Transforming into his beast mode, Scorn climbed out of the facility, greeted by the bright rays of sunlight. The Cyber-Sentinel strode towards the cold snow near the lake before laying down on it. He didn't transformed back into bot mode, he was too tired to do so.

All he did was rest his helm and closed his six optics, taking deep breaths through his robotic nostrils as he acknowledged the sounds surround him.

He heard the cold winds blowing against his metal skin, the steady beat of his core (his spark), and the coming roar of an engine. He was in total peace...

Wait a minute.

His eyes open, turning towards the sky to see an unknown spacecraft. It was a craft he did not recognise from the JcJenson files. Must not be company owned then. But... humanity is gone, hunted and consumed to extinction. So how can there be human spacecrafts coming to Copper-9?

Seeing the craft hover further away, Scorn decided to follow it, in hopes to find out who was piloting it, and what business they had in coming here.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shockwave and J returned home, the latter shutting the door behind them as the former brushed off some dust off his arms.

"Well, that went better than I'd expected." Shockwave admitted calmly, as if what just happened didn't happen at all.

"Better than you'd expected!? Shockwave, It was a complete disaster! Nori literally tried to rip your head off!" J shouted angrily at him.

"Nori is just jealous of how Uzi views me. I told you, it is nothing to concern yourself over." Shockwave replied calmly, leaving J to let out a frustrated growl.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed. I just want some sleep after what happened today."

"I suppose that is logical. It is getting late. Or early? Whatever the case, I think bed rest in most logical after such an event. especially that we have another to attend to later."

Yeah, J got a text from Uzi that she, V and Brawl were going to go meet N's friend. But that would have to wait for now. J just wants to go to sleep already.

After that, the two went into their room, laying on the comfy bed together. J was the first to sleep, holding Shockwave with her arms and legs wrapped around him with her head on his chest. It was a positioned that Shockwave learned was J's favourite as it remined her of how she slept with Tessa before the Gala.

Shockwave, holding J close, looked towards the bow that sat on the desk of J's side of the room. He knows how much the girl meant to J. It was the same as how he was with Red Alert and Longarm during his days as a senator.

It was what drove him into Shadowplay in the first place.

"I do not believe in religion... but I pray you are happy for J, Tessa." he whispered before his optic dimmed completely, drifting off to sleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Hours later and it had fallen to night and Uzi and N had met up with V and Brawl near the colony entrance.

"So, let me get this straight. Shortly after we killed Cyn, N met someone who he became best buddies with and have been sneaking off to meet him ever since until now?" V recapped, making sure she understood the situation clearly.

"Yep. Now he wants to meet all of us. N's going to show us where he's been meeting up with him." Uzi confirmed, gesturing to N.

"Ok, but what about Shockwave and J?" V asked curiously.

"Yeah, It's just that they had a meeting with my mom and dad that ended in disaster. Safe to say that they're gonna be late."

"Well what are we waiting for? We've got places to be." Brawl said, deploying his wings, waiting for the opportunity to leave.

"Okie Dokie, then. I'll text J and Shockwave on where to go. But right now, follow me." N said before they all took off to the air, heading towards N's meeting spot with Buddy.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Buddy Strode around through the ruins where he usually met up with N. He was either nervous or getting impatient. Maybe both.

No matter, he just simply needed to face what is to come at any moment now. So, Buddy continued his stride until a faint flash of red caught his attention. He turns to see the blinking red light of a collapsed traffic light.

Instinctively, he approached the red light of the broken traffic light. All he did was stare at it. He stared at the red light. The red light. The red light. Torment. The red light. The red light. Agony. The red light. The red light. Pain. The red light. The red light. Anger.  The red light. The red light.

The red eye.

It only took the T-rex Sentinel to realised that he destroyed the traffic lights with a swing of his tail, breathing heavily after he did so. Just what was that, anyway? The traffic light reminded him of something, but what?

Curse this amnesia of his!

"Ok everyone. We're here!" a cheerful voice stated, one he recognised all too well. N is here with his friends.

Well, guess it's time to bite the bullet.

 -------------------------------------------------------------

"So... this is where you've been meeting up with that friend of yours?" V asked as she looked around the area. The place was a total mess, but then again, so was everything else in the city.

"So N... when exactly will he show up?" Uzi asked curiously, N looking around with his hands on his hips.

"He should be here by now. Wonder where he went?" N replied, also curious of Buddy's whereabouts.

"Uh... I think HE might have something to do with it." Brawl suggested, pointing a digit to a pile of wrecked cars. The others turn and saw it.

The Sentinel, constructed after the magnificence and majesty of the mighty Tyrannosaurus, stood proudly, the moon shining upon his back.

V instinctively readies a rifle. Uzi stood wearily. And Brawl cracked his metallic knuckles. But N, meanwhile.

"Buddy! I was wondering where you ran off to!"

Uzi, V and Brawl snapped their heads towards N, baffled.

"B-Buddy?! You mean that 'friend' you've been going on about... is a Sentinel!?" Uzi question in disbelief.

"Yeah. Found him injured after we fought Cyn and decided to patch him up. We became friends quickly after that. Haha!" N replied cheerfully before looking towards Buddy as he gestures to Uzi.

"Buddy, this is Uzi, my girlfriend that I've been telling you about. Over there, the girl with the rifle is V, my squamate. And lastly, we have Brawl." 

"H-hey. Hehe." Uzi greeted nervously with a small wave.

"Sup." Brawl greeted more calmly. V didn't say anything, just eyeing the Sentinel with caution, something that N noticed.

"V, calm down. Buddy's perfectly safe. I've never seen him grow hostile with me. I'm sure he won't be with you."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Buddy eyed the three newcomers from above the car pile, examining them one by one. They do not seem hostile, only weary of him. It was understandable, he was a lot bigger than all of them.

Brawl though, he looked familiar to him, and the symbol on his chest? Even more so. He felt like he'd seen that symbol before, but where-

"Seems N lead us to the right spot."

He froze. That... voice...

-------------------------------------------------------------

Uzi and the others turn their heads to see J and Shockwave just arriving at the scene. J was the first to speak.

"Sorry we're late. Shockwave and I had to rush on getting-"

She froze, her eyes hollowing at the sight of Buddy.

"Is that a..?"

"Before you finish that sentence, J, I need you to know that he's friendly. And yes, the friend I met after Cyn's death is in fact a Sentinel. But you don't need to worry about him hurting you, right buddy?" N explained to J, concluding with a cheerful smile.

But his smile slowly fell when he realised Buddy wasn't answering him. N looks towards the T-rex Sentinel in worry.

"Buddy?"

-------------------------------------------------------------

It's him. After all these years. He stands right before him. And now, memories came back to him like a violent flood.

He remembers everything. The war. His faction. His team. And the torment. The endless agony the monster wrought upon him and his team.

His screams and cries of agony as he was stripped of every single nut, bolt, screw and cable until there was nothing but his endoskeleton. All the while... as HE watched. As the Autobot warrior stared into the singular red eye of his tormenter.

The things that was inflicted upon him in that lab... by Shockwave...

Shockwave...

Shockwave.

Shockwave!

SHOCKWAVE!

"Buddy... are you-?"

An earth shattering roar then echoed throughout the city.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone covered their audio receptors in pain as Buddy let out a loud, violent roar that shattered every glass window withing a 30 mile radius from the sheer force of it.

Once the roaring had stopped, they all fell to their knees.

"JESUS! F***ING! CHRIST!" J screamed in pain.

"Is... everyone... ok?" Uzi whimpered from the abuse her receptors had received from that roar. Everyone started to raise to their feet.

Shockwave slowly rose up and looks towards everyone else.

"I am alright. What about-"

Everything slowed down for everyone. Their eyes wide with horror as they watched Buddy was only mere centimetres towards Shockwave.

Everything returned to normal speed when Shockwave was violently pinned down by Buddy, who violently bit down of Shockwaves arm, snarling like a wild, feral beast.

Shockwave raised a servo and punched Buddy on the side of his head, forcing him off the scientist. Shockwave got back to his feet and began punching the T-rex Sentinel before he grabbed him and threw him towards an abandoned gasoline truck.

Then came a tremendous explosion of great magnitude that lit up the sky.

Shockwave panted before he turns to the other, seeing them all glaring at N.

"What the HELL, N?! You said he was safe! And yet he went completely batshit and attacked us!" V roared angerly at N, who raised his arms in defence.

"V, I didn't know this would happen! I've never seen him act like this!"

"V, calm down. He thought he would be safe for us to be around with as he was with N." Uzi said, defending N from V and J. The latter giving a deadly cold glare.

"Well he thought WRONG! Because roared that made our audio receptors explode and then made a beeline directly for-"

"Shockwave..."

Everyone froze, slowly turning their heads towards the gasoline tank Shockwave threw Buddy at.

Shockwave... knew that voice.

Amongst the burning flames, the Murder Drones did not see the T-rex Sentinel, but instead an imposing figure standing eerily still. And then, the figure slowly stepped out of the flames.

"Is that..?" Brawl breathed in disbelief.

The being slowly marched across the white snow, melting upon the heat he emitted upon being covered in flames. The Murder Drones saw the visor the glowed red with hate and the Autobot insignia on his chest reflecting the moonlight.

Shockwave was in absolute shock and disbelief, subconsciously utter a name that belong to the warrior that he had not seen since the Fall of Cybertron.

"Grimlock?"