Artifact; Retrieved
The Bridge, The Nemesis
Soundwave was at the terminal, the Titan staying quiet for now as she continued to go and patch in the coordinates, “Dispatching multiple squadrons will enable us to pursue all four coordinates simultaneously.” he told her as Knock Out entered the room, “Lord Megatron, I have assembled the mining detail you requested for the first set of coordinates.” he said, approaching with a team of miners.
“Breakdown and I enjoyed previous success retrieving Iacon relics.” he said, Depression. Sadness. Coming from the Velocitronian, “In memory of my fallen comrade, I intend to do the same again.” he said with a smile and neither Megatron or her were satisfied as Megatron approached him, “This is a mission, not one of your racing excursions.” he snarled, towering over Knock Out.
He pointed at his face plate, making him flinch, “Stop your preening! Move quickly and operate with a surgeon's skill! Do you understand me, Knockout?!” he said, Fear. leaking off of he bot as he gave a nervous chuckle, “Explicitly, Lord Megatron.” he said, backing away as Megaron calmed down, “Now, since the unfortunate loss of Breakdown has left you rather vulnerable, you will require appropriate support.”
An Insecticon that she had summoned had went and approached him from behind, he turned in fear at that, taking a step back before turning to them, “How very Repellant.” he said as Soundwave spoke, “Succeed for The Hive.” She said, “Yes, Queen.” He said as they went to leave, making her glad as she had went to send the next team to the South Pole.
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Soundwave was looking at the coordinates as Megatron spoke to his next team leader, “The coordinates indicate that the second of these four Iacon relics lies at the very bottom of this world.” Megatron told Dreadwing, “I will journey to the ends of this or any world to serve your will, Lord Megatron.” he told their leader, as loyal as ever as Megatron responded.
“Then return with my prize, Dreadwing, and prove you are more worthy of being my second-in-command than those who have preceded you.” he had said, making Soundwave nostalgic of Airachnid… Starscream she’d let get smelted, but she was still wondering what had happened to the Eukarian as Dreadwing had went ahead and bowed before he went to do as much.
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Soundwave had seen that they were arriving at the third Relic location, as she had went and seen it, Soundwave turned towards their leader, “Soundwave, I am in need of your skills.” he had told her and she gave him a nod, “Send a signal when you are ready to return with your prize.” he had told her so she had given him a nod before walking away to do as much.
“Do you wish us to accompany you?” The Insecticon Hardshell had asked of her, “No, obey Megatron and move to acquire the fourth Artifact.” She commanded, “You ready to get the artifact?” Laserbeak had asked, “Should be easy enough, I wonder what it is.” She thought before going to transform and fly towards the location that had been given.
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Woods, USA
Wheeljack was tossing a grenade, bored and waiting for his partner as the Ground–Bridge opened, Trochia was called in by Prowl for a full report to Autobot Command so it was just him and Ratchet, “The boss thought you needed a backup, huh?” Wheeljack asked Ratchet, “If you must know Optimus feels strongly that YOU require supervision.” Ratchet said, poking his chassis.
As he had walked past, Wheeljack decided to poke further, “I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, Doc.” he said, giving him a nickname, “Please, don't call me ‘Doc’.” Ratchet said, “Whatever you say sunshine.” making Ratchet groan as they got into his ride and went to ride off into the sky, making Wheeljack curious on what was really going on right about now with these relics.
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The Jackhammer, USA
As they had flown to the coordinates, Wheeljack spoke up to make small talk and to learn more, “So, all of Team Prime's busy chasing down for Iacon relics?” Wheeljack asked, “The four which are currently in play.” Ratchet told him, “There’s more?” Wheeljack asked, “Megatron maintains possession of the entire Iacon database.” he said which is quite concerning.
“We have yet to learn how many more relics or the Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains.” he said and Wheeljack wasn’t too worried, “No worries, Doc. I've got your back.” he had told Ratchet making him angrier, “My name is not ‘Doc’! And I do not require anyone watching my back! I proved my metal during the war for Cybertron.” he said like Wheeljack hadn’t.
“Then I'm lucky you're along for the ride, champ.” Wheeljack said as his sensors picked up a Decepticon, “Cause we have a bogey on our tail.” he had said to him as the Decpeticon had followed them, “Soundwave!” Ratchet said in shock, “Megatron’s communications chief?” Wheeljack asked, surprised that the spymaster himself would come himself, “He must be tracking the same coordinates.” Ratchet explained.
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Soundwave was pursuing the two of them, firing upon The Jackhammer, no mercy like Banzai–Tron wanted as they dived before doing a loop, getting behind her, Wheeljack fired upon her but a simple dive in his processor had allowed her to avoid their fire as she bobbed and weaved, going into a cloud bank which they followed, so she went upwards before diving.
The Wrecker continued to fire, “Launch me!” Laserbeak had said so she went and and released him, making The Casseticon launch out like a cannon which they avoided as Laserbeak had went online and approached, firing upon them as they tried to avoid but were getting hit by her right servo bot, “Move! I’ll keep them busy.” Laserbeak said as she veered off to head to the destination.
Laserbeak had kept on the fire until Wheeljack looped and got behind, firing upon Laserbeak with no mercy when he lost The Casseticon, the firing stopped and they got ready to head off against Soundwave when Laserbeak had shot past their bow, getting them disoriented and off–kilter before pursuing again as he flew to avoid them, going through the clouds and avoiding the clifface.
But from the screams Laserbeak heard, they didn’t realize where he was bringing them and barely avoided crashing to their doom as they chased after him while Laserbeak turned and charging, the two of them playing chicken as they had fired upon each other as Laserbeak gave a little spin before he had went and shot past the top of the Jackhammer with ease.
He was satisfied and went to head back which was when he had heard The Jackhammer’s barrage before hitting him, hitting one of his wings and downing him, Laserbeak had fired a few shots as he spun and was satisfied as he had hit The Jackhammer, making him spin and making Laserbeak glad that maybe his last was the death of two Autobots as he saw the ground meet his frame.
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“Yaagh, Right thruster’s fried.” Wheeljack said from the same location that Laserbeak was down, “If you had pursued Soundwave as I instructed–” “His little birdie was still a bit pecking our tailpipes.” Wheeljack told him, making him fluster while Laserbeak, if he wasn’t in pain, would have laughed at his current state, “Well, we need to resume our search for the relic immediately.” Ratchet instructed.
“Soundwave may already have reached it.” he said in worry while Laserbeak stewed in the black, “Jackhammer’s not going anywhere.” Wheeljack told him as The Casseticon heard him approach, “If you wanna catch that Con, we need to roll.” he said before stopping, he must have noticed him, cautious and curious as he had went to go and watch the bot.
“Make up your mind. Are we walking or are we driving?” he asked before he had unsheathed his blades, he tried to fire to get Soundwave’s attention, but his weapons were disabled from the crash, he was blind and helpless and it terrified him, “Wheeljack, keep your distance. Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave.” Ratchet said as Wheeljack went and flipped him over with his blade, “Not anymore, it isn’t.”
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Soundwave had approached the plateau that the coordinates were, transforming as she had landed on her pedes, Soundwave looked around for a matching Cybertronian radiation before her sensors had found it, seeing that, she went and approached the location, getting ready to dig and hoping that her packmate would be able to take those bots down.
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“Operating system appears functional but offline. However the crash clearly damaged its optic and audio receptors.” Ratchet said, he was deaf and blind before them, “Guess someone’s gonna need a new snitch.” Wheeljack said, happy at the win, “A minor victory and not the one we're here to achieve.” he said, walking away while Wheeljack had a plan in mind.
“Hang on there, Doc.” Wheeljack told him, irritating him as he turned to Wheeljack tossing a grenade up and down, “Situation's right for an old Wrecker trick.” He told The CMO, confusing him, “I’m… not sure I follow?” he said, confused, “Sooner or later Soundwave's gonna come looking for his pet.” Wheeljack had told him, “We let them reunite and return to base packing a live grenade.” he told Ratchet.
“The first time 'Wave reaches inside, it trips the pin and kaboom!” he said, liking the idea of blowing a hole in Soundwave and The Warship which was when Ratchet came up with another idea, “Why plant a mere incendiary device? When we could plant a more devastating bomb.” he said, going to get to work while Wheeljack’s interest was piqued by the statement.
“A virus.” he said, kneeling before the Cassetticon as he transformed his servo and got to work, “Engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave.” he said, opening up his chassis with all of his internals, “Then directly into the Decepticon warship's mainframe, where it will transmit the content of the entire Iacon database to us.” he said, excited while Wheeljack had some thoughts.
“Sounds complicated.” he told the CMO, “Thought we were in a hurry.” he asked, “Optimus would agree.” Ratchet said, knowing that this was the best course of action, “Risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest is worthwhile gamble.” he said, making Wheeljack curious, “You really have the chops to pull off that kind of programming?” he asked him in curiosity.
“No, not alone. I will require backup.” he said, opening the comms to the base, “Raphael. We have a situation.” “If you could write a source code for the virus, my scanner will translate it to Cybertronian script as it uploads.” he said, making Wheeljack grin as he had an idea of how they were going to get a edge over the Cons, but also how they were going to trick Soundwave himself.
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Soundwave found the exact spot where the artifact was located and had started to spin her tendrils, turning them into drills as they had dug into the ground, opening up the area and making it easier for her to go and get the artifact in question, she just hoped that it wasn’t another transwarp pad again as she had dug deeper and deeper into the ground to collect it.
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“I can do it, but if you wanna keep the virus in from the 'Cons, you'll need a decoy, you know, like a second virus.” The Human said, making Ratchet look towards the source of the idea in the first place, “Or something less complicated.” he said with a smile, looking at the grenade, Wheeljack smiled at that, “A decoy as in we wanted them to find it but doesn't blow?” he asked.
“Correct.” Ratchet told him, “A decoy as in we wanted them to find it but doesn't blow?” he said, tossing it to the CMO, who in turn pulled out the blasting rod which would cause the explosion, and carefully placed it inside, “Wait a minute, a grenade inside of Laserbeak inside of Soundwave. Like a turducken.” Raf said, confusing the two bots, “I’m sorry?” Ratchet asked.
“It's a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with– nevermind.” Raf said as Ratchet noticed Wheeljack was leaving, “And where are you off to?” he asked The Wrecker, “To buy you some time, and who knows, maybe to pick up a relic.” he said before transforming to go and face off against The Decepticons CCO and maybe get an idea what Trochia is too if he’s lucky.
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Soundwave had finally reached the artifact, her tendril made contact so she had went and started to dig the item up to reveal–she was in shock, it was her old Resonance Blaster, the one that had been taken from her when she was taken to The Institute, it made her nostalgic, so much so she barely heard the sound of The Engine as Wheeljack leapt off the higher ledge towards her.
He transformed, swords drawn and roaring as he spun with a downward slash, no mercy as Soundwave had leapt backwards and away from him, Wheeljack giving his blade a little spin as he stared her down, “You dropped something.” he told her, making the CCO look to see her right tendril was empty, her blaster having fallen to the ground below, Aggression. Made her look back to The Wrecker.
The two of them were ready to face off against each other, no mercy granted to either one was he agreement as they stared each other down, Soundwave took a step forward, digits ready, “This should be fun.” and he was right, for her, which was when he had charged her, his movements already in her processor as she dodged left, blocked right, spun on her heel and lunged at his back.
He barely reacted and time and slashed, Soundwave moving her face screen just out of the way, he barely scratched it as he h=turned and went to attack her with a barrage of slashed, but Soundwave avoided them with ease, block, left, block right, before she caught one blade between her chassis and servo, knocking his servo to let it go and hitting him with her tendril to knock him away, teetering on the edge.
Soundwave brandished his blade, examining it as he glared, charging towards her with renewed vigor as she had went and thrown the blade at him, making the Wrecker knock it aside and then leaping upwards, which was when her tendril had shot out and grabbed his helm, shaking him a bit as Soundwave went and threw him onto the ground, making the area they were on shake.
She then went and tossed him aside, Wheeljack teetering on the edge, he couldn’t beat her when she was Screecher, and he still couldn’t beat her in this frame as The femme had walked forward, tendril flipping him over before planting itself onto his chassis, bringing him back to his senses as he gripped it to get her off while her other tendril started to drill, “For Makeshift.” She thought.
The tendril went for his helm and he went to grab that one instead, the drill closing in, ready to make a new hole in his face plate when he redirected it and made it hit her other tendril, hurting her and making The Decepticon back away in pain, giving Wheeljack the chance to leap forward and helmbutt her in the face plate, making her back away but keeping her balance, really wishing she had an injection.
But ever since Trypticon took up residence, he’d been making her body react violently to the concoction, so now she had to rely on prior experience to dull the pain as Soundwave glared at The Autobot, her Face Screen cracking further, “There I go again, shattering expectations.” he told her smugly while she had just felt more resolved to show no mercy to him now.
Wheeljack, taking advantage of his hit, went and charged, firing a barrage towards her, hitting her twice and making the CCO back to the edge, her only viable ranged weapon right now down below as Wheeljack had leapt up and kneed her in the chassis, flinging herself and him off of the ledge and making the two of them plummet, falling, Soundwave had crashed on her back, needing a moment to recover.
She turned her helm and saw her blaster down beside her when she had heard the weapon of Wheeljack armed and aimed at her, snapping Soundwave’s attention to see the bot standing above her, “I don’t know why Trochia hates you, but I know you’re involved with Screecher’s death.” He thought, angry towards her, “Any last words?” he asked, “Confess, speak up to try and save yourself.” The Wrecker thought.
But she wasn’t a coward and she wasn’t out of it yet, “Right, silent type.” he said as he tendril which she had snaking toward the Resonance blaster came up and aimed it towards him, firing soundwaves at him, making Wheeljack groan in pain as she had continued to fire until he was eventually disabled, falling down, barely able to do anything else while she had went and stood up.
Soundwave approached him, her tendril attaching the resonance blaster to her left servo as if it never left, ready as she looked him in the optics, remembering when they were young and friends, but she promised Banzai–Tron, as Soundwave had went to fire upon the Autobot, the enemy, she received a message from Laserbeak, “Soundwave! I’m hurt! I need backup!” He sent.
“Forget him! Prove yourself a warrior! Slay your foe!” Vigilem said, but she didn’t care, Makeshift, a friend, was dead, she was not going to lose a member of her family as well, so Soundwave let him live with the knowledge that when she felt like it, she could kill him whenever she wanted as The Decepticon had went and flew away as far as she could as Soundwave transformed.
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Soundwave was flying as fast as she could towards the location of her packmate, ready to peel apart Ratchet if he did anything to hurt her brother as she saw the clearing where Ratchet and Laserbeak were, The medic on top of the struggling Beast–Type as he rushed to hide behind a boulder which was when she saw her comrade leave the boulder, flopping around before landing on his back.
Soundwave didn’t even wait to land as she had went and transformed, falling to the ground, landing on her pedes in a crouching position before she rose up, Soundwave could feel Ratchet watching her, but she didn’t care, armed and ready, she walked forward, looking at the Jackhammer, planning on how she would sabotage or track it when there was a noise, making her turn and aim the weapon to Ratchet.
But instead of the Autobot, she instead saw Laserbeak there, alive, relieving her when Soundwave saw he was damaged, wounded, Soundwave approached him, "Are you okay?” She asked, “Soundwave?! You’re there?” He asked her, “I’m here.” She said, lifting him up gently with her servos, him transforming into his alt–mode, “Let’s go home.” She told him, relieved.
Reattaching him, she went and walked away, “Wait…” Laserbeak said, making her pause at that before turning, ready to kill Ratchet if needed, “A piece of my wing was clipped off.” He told her, too tired to kill Ratchet, understanding, she went and searched before seeing it, popping her tendrils out, making them slither across the ground with each, splitting at the boulder Ratchet was hiding from.
Fear. came from Ratchet, The CMO terrified, unaware she could see through them as he flinched, scared that they were there for him when she saw the bit of his wing, still hopping around, Soundwave went and grabbed it, she had the artifact, she had Laserbeak, there was nothing more that she needed to do at the moment as she stored it away and flew off to show her prize to their Lord.
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The Bridge, The Nemesis
Soundwave presented the weapon to her master he examined it while Dreadwing stood beside her, Shame. Coming from him as their leader examined her old weapon, “Ah, the Resonance Blaster!” he said, remembering when Shockwave had given it to her before Soundwave’s capture, “Crafted by Decepticon scientist for maximum sonic devastation.” he told them.
“Soundwave, you have performed admirably unlike Dreadwing here who somehow managed to lose The Apex Armor to Starscream.” he said, knowing that he could trust her to complete any task given, while Soundwave felt worried, it was most likely the armor that the suit Sentinel Prime wore in his battle was based off of, the indestructible one, Dreadwing bowed his helm while Megatron continued.
“However, two more decrypted coordinates remain in play.” he said, looking towards the holo of the globe, “And I have every confidence Knock Out and I–” he started when the doors opened, Soundwave and Dreadwing both turning until they saw it was The Velocitronian in question, dirty and scuffed and alone as he walked past some MTO’s, Indignation. Anger. Coming from him.
“Can you believe what the Autobots did to me?!” he said, acting like they were Breakdown who would have cared, but Megatron didn’t as he had approached The CMO, “Did you retrieve the relic?” he questioned, towering over Knock Out who remembered who he was speaking to, “No, master.” he said, Anger. Coming from Megatron now as he leaned close.
“Then I suggest you convince me of your continue usefulness by examining Laserbeak, Doctor.” he said, making Soundwave a bit more grateful, “Come on.” She told him as they went to follow Knock Out, “Let’s get you patched up.” She said, grateful, “DO NOT USE THIS AS A CHANCE TO INDULGE IN YOUR WEAKNESS.” The Titan said, making her internally snarled as they went to go repair her Cassetticon.
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The Woods, USA
Wheeljack had heard the sound of a vehicle approaching before there was a sound of a transformation, “Wheeljack!” Ratchet shouted, rushing over and picking him up, “Just resting my optics.” Wheeljack said before the audial pain came back, “And my audial receptors.” he said, glad to be alive and also surprised at how it felt like one of his old sparring matches with Screecher, still wondering why he wasn’t dead.
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Medical Bay, The Nemesis
Soundwave was on the berth as Knock Out scanned Laserbeak, still attached to her, “What is it?/What is it?” Megatron/Soundwave asked/thought as Knock Out completed his scans, “An obstruction of some sort.” he told them, making Soundwave hurry and pop Laserbeak off, opening him up to reveal a blasting rod, angering her as Knock Out grew scared, “Grenade!” he shouted in fear.
The bot ducking and covering in fear as the two that saw it wasn’t cracked examined the object, “Ah, that is clever.” Megatron said while she was furious, “Knock out, prepare to properly dispose of the obstruction.” he ordered, Soundwave placing Laserbeak gently on a table as The Velocitronian, terrified, went and plucked out the blasting rod, as he did, a crack formed.
“I would suggest–” Megatron started but Knock Out was already running to get rid of it, with him and the blasting rod gone, Soundwave reattached Laserbeak onto her chassis, satisfied she wouldn’t lose two that way, “Soundwave," Megatron said, making her turn to him, “If we're to maintain any advantage over the Autobots,” He started before hearing the rod go off.
With that over, he continued, “Decoding the remainder of the Iacon database must remain your top priority.” he told her, hearing that, she nodded, walking away and towards the nearest terminal so that she could go and do as much, already working as her tendrils attached to the Iacon terminal, The Titan helping her with the decoding, Soundwave got back to typing so that they could have victory over The Autobots.
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Project Iacon Lab, The Nemesis
“Oh, believe me, Soundwave will provide the coordinates to the remaining relics.” Megatron said at the threshold to Knock Out, Pride. “I am fortunate that he had decided to join our cause.” Megatron thought, “Yes, we are fortunate to have him on our side, Lord Megatron.” Knock Out had said, Jealousy. Coming from the Velocitronian as he had said as much to their master.
“And see about repairing his cracked visor, will you?” Megatorn had questioned of him, Anger. Growing as he had glared at her, but Soundwave was barely registering it, “Congratulations on your victory, Soundwave.” The Voice, Vigilem, had said, calling him that now that she saw him facing off against Trypticon inside of her mind, “Yes, mission success–” She started when it had happened.
Knock Out, not wanting to dilly dally or be there any longer, had went and tore her face screen off, she barely registered it when he spoke, “Screecher?” he said, seeing her faceplate, “Frag.” She thought before grabbing him by the throat, “<Keep that to yourself. That blasted Soundwave sees and hears everything.>” She said, making him know that she knew.
“Mums the word.” he said, nervous on the outside, Smug. “This should be useful.” He thought, the untouchable Soundwave had a secret that he– that she didn’t want anyone to know, it made him a little relieved as he had went to repair it, glad at least that one friend from the old days and a possible conspirator, was here as he got to work helping to hide her identity.
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The Bridge, The Nemesis
Soundwave had arrived at the Bridge as she had been commanded, looking at Knock Out who didn’t look smug at the moment as Hardshell, First of his Hive and sent by Megatron for the fourth, spoke, “Lord Megatron, the object we seek, it is Tox–En.” He had told them, good, they could get a BWP agent to weaponize it, “Exactly how much is in your possession?” Megatron asked.
“None my Lord,” Hardshell answered, “An Autobot–” “Are you not the fiercest Insecticon?” he asked, stoking his ego and pride, “We will retrieve what remains, master.” Hardshell said, addressing her in that as the three surviving Insecticons had apparently followed a trail apparently led by the Autobot that was there, making her cautious as she had observed them on their hunt.
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Blackrock’s Dreamscape
Garrison Blackrock was walking in a Desert, confused as he had seen that there were others that were walking walking to the same direction as him, the people all seemed to be of different time periods, ages, genders, but he felt as if he knew each and every one of them, “Who am I?” he started to hear as they approached the same location, “Who am I?” another said as they all started to say the same thing.
“Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?” they said in multiple languages and dialects, lisps, tones and they were maddening to Garrison as he had heard them all when they had seen that there was a statue that was before them, looking like a cross between a metal centaur and metal griffin that had made his first thought Cybertronian as he saw it.
It was his God, the god that was in his dreams, always in the back of his mind, so much so that he named his own company after his metal god, as he looked up at him and at all of the others that were there, only one question came to mind, “Who am I?” he had asked as they approached the effigy, only to see that someone was there, standing guard before his deity when he had turned towards them.
He was a Cybertronian, but not a giant like the others, but of his size, his exact same height, his golden optics had looked at him, not kindly, but more like he was looking at a lost child, “I am you, you are me, we are us.” he had said to Garrison before walking inside of him, shocking Garrison as he had looked down and saw his metal body, shocking him at the sight.
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Nikko, Japan
Garrison had woken up in shock as he saw Su Yueming looking at him, “Did you have the dream again?” She asked him, offering tissues to her boss who went and took it, wiping away the tears he now had, “Guess so.” he said, looking at the new monitoring equipment that had been installed by The EDC, “So, fill me in.” he asked her, wondering what went on while he was detained.
“Of course.” Yueming said, “We gave the excuse that you were on one of your binges to ease The investors.” she said, there was no arrest report that they could go through, “All of The Project Toymaker scientists are dead,” she said, “Apparently they had been hunted down by two separate individuals.” she said, showing one murdered by a high caliber sniper while the others were all burned to death.
“This one is the rogue unit.” he said, pointing to the burned photos, “These ones though, most likely from one of the three agents of Soundwave.” he said, remembering how they killed one but the other two were still in the game, “Keep an optic out for them.” he ordered, “What about the island and digsite alpha?” he had asked of her, making Yueming pull up the data.
“On the matter of Blackrock island, the barrier is still up so we can only observe at a distance, but it appears that the bots are non–hostile,” she said, “Digsite alpha we’re almost done with.” she told him, “Good. make sure the Decepticons know.” he said, confusing her, “I want to pay Soundwave back for my… detainment.” he said to her, Yueming gave a sigh before walking away, “Just don’t get sloppy.” she said.
Blackrock had nodded at that before going and opening up the file on The Cybertronian CNA he had collected, more importantly, Soundwave’s from when they caught the bot in Namibia, there were markers there that made him curious and cautious, as he did so, Blackrock was unaware that Shadow Striker was watching through her rifle, watching and waiting for when he vengeance would be perfect.