CHAPTER ONE
--Cybertron--
"I'm telling you, man, this whole Knights thing... it's a total bust."
The Decepticon's name was Octane. An apt moniker, given the empty cans of fuel in front of him. He had to at least be on his tenth can by now; the spindly blue bartender didn't seem to mind, so long as his tab was paid for.
"I don't even know why I signed up in the first place," Octane went on, sounding slightly buzzed. "I mean, I do know; it's 'cos I was stupid enough to think that maybe, just maybe, there was something out there for me. I dunno what, just, y'know, something more than this."
"Still, you were willing to put up with a ship full of Autobots?" The blue-green jet, named Slugslinger, wore an impressed look on his face. "That's, wow, I'm not sure I'd last longer than five seconds."
"Eh, it wasn't that bad," Octane muttered, spinning one of the empty cans with his finger. "I mean, I wasn't alone or anything. Blitzwing was there. And Megatron, of course."
"All hail Megatron!" The cry came from a wasted gray helicopter sitting in the corner of the room. Blackout looked around to see if anyone would join in his cheer. When all he received were blank looks, he bowed his head and fell silent.
Grunting, Octane dismissed the interruption and quickly downed his can. "Anyway... where was I?"
"You were saying the Knights of Cybertron were a complete bust," said a blue and black Seeker. Octane believed his name was Dirge or something depressing like that.
"Oh. Right." Octane stared at the counter for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. "Well, I mean... we didn't really get anywhere. Least not while I was on board. Closest thing was Necroworld, and even then--"
"What about that Megatron clone?" interjected a 'Con who smelt worse than the Toxic Sludge Swamps. Had to be Horri-Bull. "I heard Blitzwing talkin' about that. What ever happened to him?"
"Oh, you mean Archforce?" Octane shrugged. "No clue. Haven't seen him since that whole ordeal on Necroworld. Maybe the Autobots took him in, who knows."
"Frankly, I find all of this hard to believe." The doubting Decepticon was not one Octane recognized, but she looked to be a Constructicon reject, if the cement barrel that made up her right arm was any indication. "I mean, clones? Combiners? Time-traveling Primes? Next you're gonna say your head is a tiny robot or something."
"Hey, why do you think I dropped out? I mean, Cybertron is no paradise, but at least it's normal. Somewhat normal. I mean, if you look past the shifting landscape that kills people... but hey, at least there's no freaky scrap to worry about, right?"
The other Decepticons raised their cans in agreement and drank to that.
* * *
"This is some freaky scrap, kid."
Springer stared into the hidden room the Wreckers had discovered in the J.A.A.T. -- one of many that they had uncovered recently. This one was by far the largest and contained various equipment. Lifeless bodies laid on operating tables; indecipherable schematics ran on large computer screens; mysterious shapes floated in vats.... It was all very evocative of Tarantulas' labs on Outpost One. Almost as if it was an earlier iteration.
"This must be where the Secret Order originally operated," Springer said quietly, stepping into the room. "Before they moved on to outposts."
"Would explain a lot," grunted Kup. He stopped in front of a monitor that displayed a schematic of Ariel. "Doesn't explain her though...."
"Rung shared her case notes with me," Springer said. "He said she was built in Sistex three centuries before the war."
"Sistex? I remember that being a conservative city back in the day. Councilor Levitacus especially was against the practice of cold construction."
Springer nodded. "Rung pointed out that inconsistency to me as well. He also pointed out that Ariel has 'outlier' abilities, which generally only forged bots have."
"Eh, I've known a few constructed cold outliers in my day," Kup said. "Most of them cropped up after Cycle 8314 when some parties of the High Council tried to get back at the Functionists by trying to induce outlier powers on newborn sparks."
Springer frowned in thought. "Was Shockwave a member of any of these parties?"
"Shockwave? Yeah, he might've." Kup glanced at Springer, catching a gleam in the Wrecker's Matrix-blue optics. "Why? You got an idea on how this all fits together?"
"Somewhat. Let's extract what info we can and take it to headquarters. Maybe Mainframe or someone can decipher--"
He was cut off by an energon-curdling scream coming from outside. Before either Wrecker could respond to it, the ceiling above them was suddenly torn asunder by a pair of giant orange hands. As the roof was torn open, Springer was greeted with the sight of a massive Decepticon with large shoulders and a feral gleam in his optics.
Upon seeing the two Wreckers, Ragnarok's face broke into a wicked grin. "More of you? No matter; I could always use the extra fuel."
* * *
Ironfist writhed on the ground, his head hurting like hell.
The last thing he remembered seeing was Rotorstorm's head being blasted off. That was when he blacked out, although he could still hear Roadbuster's faint yelling as he fired at the giant Decepticon that had appeared out of nowhere.
As he swam in darkness, his mind went back to the day he had been asked to join the Wreckers. It had been a few weeks after Unicron's destruction; he was still stationed at Kimia when he got the call from Springer. With the war over, he hadn't believed there was still a need for the Wreckers. But High Command had one last mission for them.
Three weeks prior, the Autobot prison facility Garrus-9 had been taken by the Decepticons. With forces spread thin, the Autobots had been unable to organize an operation to take back Garrus-9 until now. What made the mission even more urgent was the fact that Garrus-9 housed the supercomputer Aequitas, which contained countless records of Autobot war crimes. With the war over, taking back Garrus-9 was now of the utmost importance.
In short time, Springer's new team of Wreckers were gathered and ready to take action. That was when word came from Prowl's spies:
Overlord was in charge.
Upon hearing this news, Optimus Prime had immediately called off the mission, despite Prowl and Springer's objections. Prime was unwilling to send novices like Ironfist and Pyro to face Overlord; the same Overlord who slaughtered the Autobots of Caldoon 4; the same Overlord who prevented the Malus Empire from expanding its reach. A confrontation with him would most certainly promise death.
The mission was postponed indefinitely and the Wreckers were officially disbanded. Of course, that didn't stop them to continue operating under Prowl's covert eye....
Over the past several months however, Ironfist's 'condition' continued to worsen. What had been diagnosed as a mortal wound nine months ago was slowly but surely finishing its job. The bullet did not have long before it found his brain module.
For a brief moment, Ironfist's vision returned to him. In that short span of time, he saw Ragnarok standing amid the wreckage of the J.A.A.T., grabbing onto something as data rapidly scrolled by on his visor. At his feet laid the battered forms of Roadbuster, Kup, and Springer. Near Rotorstorm's headless corpse, Ironfist spied Guzzle's legs. Where the rest of him was, who could say?
He blacked out again. This was it, he realized. The bullet was making its final stop. It wouldn't be long now.
His vision returned one last time. Ragnarok was gone, as were Ariel and Rampage. None of the others were moving.
In the span of 0.8 seconds, Fisitron of Polyhex compiled and published one last datalog of Wreckers: Declassified. Unlike the previous 331 entries, this one didn't have as much substance. In fact, it only contained three words and a set of coordinates.
Ironfist had never expected to live forever. Fortunately, the bullet hadn't planned on letting him, and was rather prompt with its short, sharp lesson....
HELLO CRUEL WORLD
Part 2: Mostly Harmless
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