Transformers: The Requiem

by JDPrime22


Chapter 47-You Had One Job

He drove his fist right into the computer’s screen, creating a shower of sparks to dance across the table and floor underneath it.

Ripping his only fist out of the dying piece of Cybertronian technology, Shockwave reared back and slammed whatever frustration he had left into the wall, a loud bang echoing throughout the warship. The sound continued to rebound across the dark hallways and chained walls of the Nemesis, leaving nothing but silence in the warship above the city.

Others heard the sound as well.

“Ugh,” Starscream groaned, turning his head over to the Decepticon on his left, “don’t even bother with Shockwave now, Soundwave. He’s clearly struggling over his panic attacks…again.”

Soundwave responded as best as he could, with silence. The two Decepticons watched as the door in front of them split apart. Behind it revealed the bridge of the Nemesis, the Dark Spark seen floating on its stand in the middle of the bridge. That wasn’t news to either Decepticon, in fact, they’ve been staring at the relic for so long that it’s not even interesting anymore. Their attention was captured by the current leader of the Decepticons.

His back was facing the two, his head low. The Decepticon Seeker sighed heavily, completely uninterested. He showed his enthusiasm by leaning back on the nearest dark wall, crossing his arms as he did so. Soundwave, on the other hand, approached the Decepticon leader with news. Good news, fantastic news, even amazing news that even Shockwave would want to hear!

“You’re a fool.”

Soundwave stopped dead in his tracks, slightly past the Dark Spark and about ten feet behind Shockwave. The Communications Officer didn’t move or speak. He just listened…and watched.

Shockwave continued to tear himself apart, his right fist clenching and relaxing with every passing second.

“You’re nothing but a mindless fool who can’t even complete the simplest of tasks handed to you on a silver platter. We have the Dark Spark, which is good. We have the Matrix, just as better. Now, we have the Crystal Heart. Two components are complete. This is good, are plan is coming together in perfect timing…”

Shockwave spun around, pointing his cannon forward.

“If it wasn’t for my stupidity!”

He stopped himself right as he was about to shoot Soundwave in the face.

Lowering his cannon, Shockwave kept his lone eye locked on with the chilling soldier standing silently in front of him. Shockwave walked right by him, asking, “Just what is it that you need?” He stopped and looked over into the shadows. “That both of you need?”

What sounded like a sneer emanating from the darkness, Shockwave was simply “thrilled” to see Starscream’s appearance be known as he exited the shadows. The Decepticon Seeker approached the current leader, his smug grin never faltering.

“Stupidity, eh Shockwave?” Starscream began, already losing the cyclops’ interests. “I had no idea that word remained in your personal vocabulary. Have you used it often? Perhaps for yourself?”

Shockwave turned to face the Seeker, pointing his deadly finger right at Starscream’s chest.

“Do not test me, Starscream. This grave new awakening will shake your circuits just as it has mine, so don’t try and act as confident as you do now…it will surely backfire,” Shockwave warned, his tone colder than normal.

The Seeker scoffed, lifting both of his hands into the air. “Of course my confidence will backfire, just like all the plans we’ve had to take this world have backfired! Nothing’s working, don’t you see?! With my leadership,” he rested his hand softly onto his bulky chest, “we’ll be able to take Canterlot within the next hour!”

For seconds on end, all Shockwave could do was stare in disbelief at the Decepticon. All that could be heard was the distant beeping of computer screens. Even Soundwave stood back, more silent than the dying wind.

And then he struck.

Shockwave lunged forward and knocked Starscream right into a wall of computers. The Seeker grunted in pain as he felt electric currents flow throughout his circuits. He looked up, only to fall right back down when Shockwave jabbed the end of his cannon right into Starscream’s face.

“You truly have no intellect at all, Starscream,” Shockwave told the grunting waste of a Decepticon. Starscream reached forward and tried to push the cannon away. Shockwave jammed it further down his throat.

Shockwave’s purple eye came into view for the Seeker to perfectly examine. He sneered at every word Shockwave muttered.

“Not only would an attack on the Equestrian capital as of now be completely foolish, but it’ll leave us wide open for a retaliation. We want this world to know we’re dominant when we have reached the peak of our total control, which I’m afraid is much farther away than I have previously calculated.”

Starscream hissed in pain as the cannon was shoved deeper into the side of his head. He looked up, his red optics narrowing hatefully at his “leader.”

“Then tell me why we haven’t reached the peak of our strength! Tell me why we can’t attack!” Starscream shouted as much as he could under the Decepticon’s weight atop of him.

The same silence returned, but this time it wouldn’t last as long. Shockwave backed off the Seeker, immediately watching him squirm to grip his throat for breath. He shook his head, clearly disappointed.

“The only reason I reawakened you was of your effectiveness on the battlefield, every other characteristic you hold will pester me to no end,” Shockwave muttered, turning his back from the Decepticon lying at his feet. He faced Soundwave, whose visor was latched onto the Seeker struggling to get back to his feet.

Starscream got back up, gripping his throat to show how much pain he was in. Shockwave knew he was just playing it up, but his question before was true. He deserved to know. Soundwave deserved to know.

The room fell twenty degrees below zero.

“My brothers,” Shockwave began, earning both Decepticons’ attention, “we have been given a second chance at life, a second chance to save our world. If we fail this time again…our very race will cease to exist. The Transformers will be nothing but a legend, and that too will fade away.”

He sighed heavily and turned around, facing away from Soundwave and Starscream.

“We might as well fade away now…for I have failed you all.”

Starscream growled, his optics narrowing. “What are you pestering on about now?” he asked.

Shockwave did not respond quickly. He took his time to observe the Dark Spark floating on its stand, the purple mist continuously fading away into the darkness, just like they would soon.

He responded, “During my current research, we have the basic utilities needed to plan an attack and take this country: soldiers, a base of operations, the Crystal Heart, the Matrix, the Dark Spark, all of which are fully functional and ready at our will…

“However…”

It was that word that made Starscream groan. Soundwave just stood there silently.

Shockwave continued, his right hand gently caressing the Dark Spark. “…I seem to have forgotten one of the most important components needed to ensure our victory, to give us the signal for the attack. Without it, we won’t be able to use the Dark Spark’s true strength to our advantage. Yes, we have the Matrix, stolen from Prime all those years ago before I shipped him away. We do have the Crystal Heart, which will aid us immensely in our cause to using the Dark Spark’s powers. But without the last component…it won’t be fully functional…”

"He won’t be fully functional,” Starscream corrected, his arms crossed and a look of hatred etched into his metal face.

Shockwave nodded, his gaze backing off from the Dark Spark floating menacingly in front of him. “The component I am referring to is of course a T-cog, but not just any T-cog. We need a T-cog that can fit his mechanism without interruptions, without stalls, without failures or glitches. None of the Decepticon soldiers we have revived contain the correct T-cog for his bio-mechanism.”

That was it. Their plan to take Equestria and save Cybertron was ruined. Shockwave stood there staring at the Dark Spark, a weapon of pure death so close to his reach, but pointless for his lusts. Starscream could hardly care. He didn’t need the Dark Spark’s true powers to be unleashed, he just needed it to be powerful enough to kill the princesses and take the country under his rule. Apparently, that plan wouldn’t work according to Shockwave, which was absolute scrap.

He might as well take the Dark Spark for himself…

“Not all is lost.”

It’s been a while since they’ve heard his voice, his chilling, robotic, lifeless voice.

Both Decepticons turned their heads towards Soundwave. He approached Shockwave, ignoring the Dark Spark’s mist attaching to his chest and wanting inside. Instead, he placed his forearm outwards, a miniature hologram erupting from his wrist right in Shockwave’s view.

He said, “Laserbeak has acquired valuable recordings from his recent scouting missions, all of which are centered on the Autobots.”

Shockwave and Starscream both knew of the Autobots in Ponyville. They weren’t of any trouble thanks to Shockwave’s operations back on Cybertron that erased their memories, but they would still be eliminated once the attack would happen…if it would happen.

Soundwave continued, the hologram zooming in on Optimus Prime and bringing up several scientific calculations and numbers stretched across the screen.

“From Laserbeak’s findings, I have been able to calculate the bio-mechanism of Optimus Prime. Most of his inner workings have appeared broken, his weapon system remains offline, and his T-cog has remained dormant for over a year on this world. While it might appear faulty and unusable, we can still repair the T-cog and use it for our plan.”

“You want us to steal Optimus Prime’s T-cog?! Are you mad?!” Starscream interrupted, causing Soundwave’s head to slowly turn towards him.

“Optimus Prime’s T-cog is the only available component on this planet that we need. No other conversion cog can match the specific qualities that are needed for the T-cog we acquire,” Soundwave retorted, increasing the Seeker’s anger.

Starscream approached Soundwave’s solid stare, his fingers jabbed directly into the Communication Officer’s chest. “Do you also wish to stop functioning, Soundwave? Prime will tear us apart!” he shouted.

“On the contrary,” Shockwave spoke, catching Starscream’s anger by the tail, “Optimus Prime has lost his memories as the other Autobots have. This means he has lost all the skills and fighting capabilities he has acquired as the leader of the Autobots.”

Starscream turned to face Shockwave, his arms slowly crossing over one another.

“What are you saying?” the Seeker asked.

Shockwave’s eye flashed bright red for a split second. “Optimus Prime is powerless against our strength.”

He was at a loss of words for a moment. Then his smile started to grow like a grapevine that was well-nourished for years on end. His red optics flashed bright red, just as Shockwave’s had done when the realization had occurred to his mind.

Optimus Prime was powerless.

They had a T-cog that was functional on this planet.

He didn’t need to put two and two together.

Starscream dared to laugh. He laughed a wicked laughter that he hadn’t unleashed in years. The psychotic, evil, strength of Starscream’s laugh filled the empty bridge of the Nemesis with rejuvenation and light, just the kind Shockwave needed.

“Excellent spying, Soundwave. Your dedication to the Decepticon cause will not go unforgotten,” Shockwave congratulated, walking right past Soundwave with a slight pat on his shoulder.

“Affirmative,” he responded.

Once Starscream’s laughter had died down, Shockwave approached the control station for the Nemesis, which was pretty much a cluster of computers and levers. Soundwave was already by his side, his red visor scanning Shockwave’s work with death-filled silence.

Shockwave reached forward and tapped away at the nearest computer screen, muttering, “Nemesis cloak is powering up. Perfect. We’ll need it. Now then…thrusters at full power…directing all energy from Dark Spark to reserve tanks. Excellent. We are prepared for the journey ahead…which shall be…”

“Ponyville,” Soundwave answered, the hologram on his wrist displaying a live video of Optimus Prime and the Autobots residing by a group of equines, all of them laughing and talking amongst themselves.

“Now hold on just one nano-second,” Starscream announced loudly, bringing the heads of both Shockwave and Soundwave to look down at him from their podium.

Starscream started to walk forward towards the two, his hand twisting in the air.

“Just what would our pony partners think of your alternative plan, Shockwave?” he asked with a hint of venom dripping from his lips. Shockwave’s head backed away a few inches, Starscream continuing, “They’ll be absolutely heartbroken once they discover your betrayal…or rather our betrayal.”

Shockwave didn’t answer right away. He hesitated at the screen, his pointing finger bending and relaxing at the ignition switch. It was just a mission, a quick mission to acquire Prime’s T-cog. They wouldn’t be subtle and quiet by any means. This mission will be an attack. Unlike the attacks in Fillydelphia and Vanhoover, Equestria will respond to this one. For how could they not?

How would Noctune respond to this? How would he respond to Shockwave’s true intentions?

“What they don’t know won’t harm them…for now,” Shockwave answered, eliciting a vicious smile from Starscream.

With nothing left to say, nothing left to lose, Shockwave activated the Nemesis’ cloak and headed straight for Ponyville.