CHAPTER FIVE
--Autobot Mausoleum--
"Did I stutter? I said take me to Shockwave."
"Uh, right," Fistfight muttered, not directly looking at Viral. "It's just... there's one tiny problem with that request."
Viral tightened his grip on the drone's head. "And what would that be?"
"See, the whole time you've been threatening me, there's been a swarm of Insecticons charging towards the station."
Viral took pause at this and turned around just as a massive Insecticon came crashing through the window. The vacuum of space seized Viral and Fistfight, violently pulling them out of the mausoleum while the rest of the Insecticons swarmed in.
"The ore!" Fistfight cried over his comm. "They must be after the ore!"
Willing his built-in Transwarp device to activate, Viral teleported himself back into the mausoleum and magnetized his feet to the floor to prevent himself from being pulled out again. Depth Charge had somehow come back online and was bracing himself against the wall, having a tight grip on a support beam.
All around them, the Insecticons were tearing the base apart, devouring anything that wasn't what they were after. One of them, a scarlet ladybug, noticed Viral and transformed in front of him, brandishing a pair of yellow blades.
"You," she snarled. "Where is the ore?"
"I honestly don't know," Viral replied. "It could be anywhere on this station. I'm sure you'll find it eventually."
The Insecticon stormed towards him and crossed her blades at his neck. "I don't have patience for this. Tell me where it is before I end you."
"It is unwise to threaten Death."
This reply gave the Insecticon pause, providing Viral the opening he needed. He threw his arms up and bashed the Insecticon away. One of her swords slipped from her hand and he quickly seized it, raising it to defend himself as she brought her other blade down on him.
"Leave the sword fighting to me, Glowstrike!"
A purple beetle broke off from the rest of the swarm and charged towards Viral. Before he could reach them however, Depth Charge fired a gun at the beetle and clipped his wing. Saberhorn then went crashing into Glowstrike and both Insecticons were thrown into the vacuum of space.
This did nothing to deter the rest of the swarm. In fact, Viral was pretty sure they had already found what they were after in the intervening time.
"Found it!" declared a green grasshopper-bot, holding a capsule of energon over his head. "I found the--"
A blast from Depth Charge's gun silenced Kick Back for good. The capsule fell from the dead Insecticon's hands and flew into Viral's. This naturally directed the rest of the swarm's attention to him.
Viral was very grateful when his Transwarp drive kicked in again just as a hundred Insecticons bore down on him....
* * *
The silence in the room was impregnable. Not a single spark spoke as Strongarm, Livewire, and Spiral all sat around a table, all trying to find something to look at rather than each other.
Livewire kept her face buried in her hands. Here she was sitting next to someone she had just been about to propose to, while the bot she had originally loved all her life sat across from her, after having been dead for two years.
She simply did not know how to process this. How was she going to go through life now? Would Spiral stay with her? Would she have to choose between her and Strongarm? It was so rare for Cybertronians to find love more than once in life; she couldn't think of any sort of precedence for this kind of dilemma.
She felt Spiral's hands fall on her's just as Strongarm got up from her chair.
"Well, it's been nice catching up," she said quietly. "I still need to file in an incident report, so... I guess I'll see you around?"
Livewire couldn't bring herself to respond. At that moment, the door opened and Groove awkwardly stepped in.
"Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt," the Protectobot said, "but, ah, Prime is organizing teams to send to the colony worlds. Were any of you thinking of coming along?"
"Is Velocitron one of them?" Spiral asked quietly.
"Yeah, I think so," Groove said.
Spiral glanced at Livewire. "Can we--"
"Sure." Livewire abruptly stood up, still not meeting Strongarm's optic. "Let's go."
Strongarm frowned slightly as Groove looked to her expectantly. "I'll, uh, see what's available."
Groove nodded. "All right, cool. I'm thinking about going to Caminus with the Lost Light. First Aid's going, and I'm pretty sure I heard Streetwise say that he was--"
"Hold that thought." Strongarm raised a hand to her helm. "I'm getting an alert."
"Huh." Groove mimicked her. "So am I."
The two only needed to exchange a look before transforming and speeding down the hall.
* * *
"Viral." Shockwave regarded his former student coolly as the new Necrobot stood in his office. Lights bathed the room in red as alarms rang throughout the Pavilion. "This is an unexpected visit."
"You seem threatened by my presence," Viral said dryly. "That's a first."
"Who says I feel threatened?"
"You've raised the alarms."
"You are an intruder. It is standard security protocol to alert everyone of such a threat."
"Or maybe because you don't want to handle me yourself," Viral said. "You don't want to admit that, for once, I have exceeded your expectations."
Shockwave's single optic flashed. "Is that what this is all about?"
Viral held up the capsule he had been carrying. "You've always underestimated me; even when you chose me for Windtrail's mission, you thought of me as a mere pawn. But the truth is, Shockwave, I've known more about your scheme than I've let on.
"As we studied the Earth ore with each trip into the future we took, I realized just what it was you were creating, and I knew it had to be stopped. So when I took control of those Earth ships, it was with the intention of destroying you and your ores. But then the Autobots threw a spanner into that.
"After that, I thought it was hopeless; that no one would be able to stop you. I nearly gave up on life... until I discovered the Necrobot's world and the technology he had left behind. I saw a second chance to do what I had originally set out to do and seized it."
"And?" Shockwave prompted. "What progress have you made?"
"None," Viral said bitterly. "None until today. Despite all my efforts, a year's worth of research, I was unable to locate any of the ore worlds, outside of Earth." He turned the capsule around in his hands. "Until I found this. Now I finally have proof of the wider scope of your scheme, beyond just the 'Ultra-Energon' you had seeded Earth with."
"I'm afraid your efforts have been in vain, Viral," Shockwave said. "I have already informed the Autobots of my project. They already know the details of Regenesis."
Viral stiffened, his entire frame growing tense. "What...?"
"You have succeeded only in further proving your uselessness." Outside, the pattering footsteps of security bots grew louder as they drew closer to Shockwave's office. "I do hope you spend your time in prison reflecting on your mistakes."
"Freeze!" A cadre of Autotroopers came barging into the room, pointing their guns at Viral. "Don't move!"
Remaining where he stood, Viral started to activate his Transwarp drive. Shockwave foresaw this action and fired his arm cannon into his former pupil's chest. Viral screamed as reality warped around him and he was engulfed by a bright blue light....
No comments:
Post a Comment