Interlude

XxX----XxX----XxX

Official Supporters:

Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin

Adeptus Militaris, Wilger

Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork

If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : https://discord.gg/2UZncAm

Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i)scord(.)gg(slash)kfhkfUb

I have a kofi account now, too, under this name for those interested.

Beta(s) :

XxX----XxX----XxX

Requested By : Gib

XxX----XxX----XxX

The inlet was approximately eighteen kilometers south-east of Mistral's walls, past the mountain range but below the great desert that took up most of the space there. The short stretch of ocean water kept the area too moist for the desert proper, allowing mangrove trees to sprouts in the shallows along the white, sandy beaches and, past them, tall palms dotted by coconuts. They were of a different species, though, with golden veins running through red leaves, and violet insides to their fruit rather than the customary white. Very little milk as well, instead favoring large seeds encased in a thin film which themselves enclosed purified water.

"Likely storage to increase likelihood seeds survive dissemination." He noted, kneeling in the sand and carefully manipulating the micro-tools on a long dissection table that curved around him, little towers sprouting up with hand-units, scanners, manipulators, and all manner of sample cutters. "Analysis reads as edible - potentially useful for terraforming operations if Mistral elects to reclaim parts of the-"

He was cut off by security alarms chiming in his monitoring system - a mechanized unit was approaching from the West, broadcasting an IFF from Menagerie.

And a very annoyed message…

Sighing, he designated the target as 'permitted' so his sentries would not continue alerting him and returned to his work. It was mere minutes before his personal sensors registered the same mechanized unit, and his own personal scanning systems attenuated to it. Its armor package, internal systems and weapons package - thankfully, cool this time - were all as expected. So he resigned himself to whatever was coming and waited, content to work on his plants until she reached him.

"How did I know you'd be cataloging?"

"Because I am a scientist."

"An a warrior, and an engineer-"

"Engineering is a science." Shockwave cut her off, "As, in a way, is warfare."

"-and a philosopher, apparently." Sienna chuckled as her mech joined him in the shallows and knelt beside him.

After a moment, the cockpit hatch opened and she clambered out, dressed in the form-fitted black bodysuit all pilots wore, and sat on its shoulder. He paused to wait for her to speak but, when she didn't, resumed his work. And, for a while, they sat like that. In silence, while he worked on his samples of the trees.

Finally, he turned and said, "These could be ideal for the wasteland in Menagerie."

"Yeah?"

"We would need to excavate channels to allow sea-water through." He explained, formulating the theoretical equations as he went, "Then we would need to translate the mangrove-analogue trees and the palm-analogues over, along with some local herbivores and carnivores."

"Why bother?"

"Arable land." He answered, turning and explaining, "Salt-water will make up the foundation, yes, but with strategically placed purifiers we will be able to gather fresh water. Which can then be used in secondary and tertiary irrigation channels, feed farms. The salt is itself an obviously useful resource. In total, given the success of the venture, we will increase our food production by approximately ninety two percent."

"Do we need to?" Sienna asked and, when he turned to her more fully, she had an eyebrow raised and her head cocked in curiosity.

"Not presently." He answered simply, turning back to his work and humming. "However, the population of Menagerie has itself increased from a growth rate of zero point five percent yearly to nearly three percent. Without proper precautions, over-fishing and over-farming of already established areas could destabilize our-"

"Our." Sienna cut in, quietly but loudly enough for him to hear and take pause. Turning to her, his spines flicking curiously, he cocked his head in question and she chuckled. "You keep saying it. 'Our'. Already settled back in, I take it?"

"I…" He turned away, spines flattening across his head and shoulders. "I did not mean offense."

"I'm not offended."

"Then why do you sound angry?"

"You are the… Dumbest smart person I have ever met, Shockwave."

"I'm…" His spines flicked and he turned back to her again, "I am sorry, but that statement is most… Illogical."

"Yeah?" Sienna asked, raising her eyebrows and nodding sarcastically, "You think so?"

"Yes. I do." He nodded, confused - why would he have said it if he didn't think it? Straightening so that he could look down on her and explaining simply. "I am highly intelligent, as you have stated. Likely to such a low failing percentile as to be certainly one of the most intelligent beings on this world, currently. To be so intelligent and yet also… Dumb is an illogical contradiction in definition."

"And now he's a linguist, too!"

"I am indeed." He huffed, "Studying languages is-"

"Something that should let you pick up on turns of phrase and sarcasm." She laughed, laying back and stretching out along the gentle curve of her mech's shoulder joint. Sighing, she said, "Kali was right. You are dense."

"I am constructed out of a relatively light alloy, actually."

"That-"

"That was a joke, Sienna Khan." He huffed, standing and moving over to the trees to retrieve more coconut samples and a branch to analyze. Returning to his post, he asked, "Did you think I was incapable of humor?"

"Among other things…" She chuckled, sighed and asked, "Why are you really out here, Shockwave?"

"I already told you."

"The excuse, maybe." Sienna countered, "But why here? On Anima, instead of Menagerie?"

"I was searching for suitable samples for my research." He explained, slowly, gently slicing into the wood of the branch and humming. "Wood is soft, pliable, weak to heat - not suitable for construction. Too likely to burn if-"

"Shockwave," Sienna sighed, "you're deflecting."

"I am not deflecting."

"Yes, you are." He turned, spines flicking irritably as he started to frame his argument, and Sienna sat up sharply. "Shockwave, you have a preexisting history of emotional reactions, an inability to process them, and then avoidance of the issue. Which is textbook for a lack of emotional intelligence, which makes perfect sense given what's happened to you."

"You… Sound like you have studied the subject."

"You?" She smirked, crossing her arms proudly, "Or psychology?"

"Yes."

"Well, you'd be right." She chuckled, laying back out on the metallic shoulder and sighing contentedly. "There are… Several biographies out about you, by now. So it's not exactly hard. The psychology was a lot worse to pick up, honestly."

"I have… Biographies?"

"Mhm." She answered, watching the clouds drift by and going on almost tiredly, "You left the Records in the Foundry, and a few of the more… Uh, smart Insecticons read them. When they started to not really be Insecticons any more, one of them, Razrowing, wrote an autobiography on you. Some Humans have done it, too, but… Mostly based on his."

"Razorwing…" Even here, he could connect to the Mistral-Menagerie signal network and, using it, look up the name. The Cybertronian, now a well-known professor at Beacon Academy itself, was more than merely easy to find out detailed information about. "Interesting… The evolution of my Insecticons never ceases to amaze me. Truly, an outstanding example of excellent design and insight."

"Humble, aren't you?"

"I merely state facts." He answered, turning and reaching out to deposit a carved apart coconut on the armored shoulder beside her. Sienna sat up, confusion written into her face, and he explained as he turned back to his work. "I am incapable of establishing flavor profiles. And I do not detect food within your unit. With the distance from here to the nearest base, I surmised you are likely a bit peckish. Especially after operating your unit."

"Considerate."

"I…" He paused for less than a moment and finished, "I require the data."

"Uh huh." Sienna chuckled, "So you do care."

"Do not extrapolate my motivations with illogical ideas."

"If you didn't care," she argued, "you wouldn't have upgraded the mechs' neural networking."

"I…"

"Did you think Juryrig and I wouldn't notice?" She laughed, the sound bright and… Light, somehow, drawing his attention more than it should have. "It was good work, by the way. Juryrig did some tweaking and-"

"He did what?"

"Did some tweaking?" She repeated, snorting a laugh when Shockwave turned to her, spines flicking and twitching irritably. "What? He increased the response time, and the sensation systems, so that-"

"I had them set to safe parameters." Shockwave cut her off, an odd… Feeling pushing through him as he turned, kneeling in the water, to face her machine. "With the settings as they were, damage to the machine could result in neural feed-back. Shock. Injury. Death, potentially."

"Shockwave-"

"I must adjust the setting." He rose, turned and reached for the machine. "Before something happens and-"

"Shockwave!" He went still at the shout and turned, hand frozen in mid-air, reaching for the head of the unit. Sienna was standing, now, leaning on a piece of armor for a bit of balance and watching him with a frown. Now she had his attention, she said, "Leave it. The increase in response is important."

"But you could-" He caught himself as a logic-error ripped through his neural systems and amended, "The pilots, I mean, could-"

"Die?" She crossed her arms, now, and smirked, "So could you."

"I am a veteran warrior of millennia." He rumbled, "Nothing on this planet could-"

"So if a Burrower shot up right now, from under you, and ambushed you you'd… Be fine?" She asked, raising both eyebrows and cocking her head. "Taken by surprise, with it right under you, you'd still have the complete advantage?"

"I would be able to-"

"What if there were three? Four? Five?" She went on, "What if a Leviathan showed up? Just how much can the great, ancient Shockwave handle all on his lonesome?"

"...Much." He answered, lowering his hand and rumbling, "I sense I have upset you somehow. Again."

"Shockwave, I don't even know where to start…" She sighed, shaking her head and pinching the bridge of her nose. Plopping down on the arm of her mech, she picked up a piece of the pseudo-coconut and took a bite out of it, humming. "Kind of bitter, but… Not bad, actually. I could see eating it pretty often."

"...Acknowledged." He rumbled, "But about your machine-"

"I am as likely to die because I lose a fight, or don't realize something is damaged because I can't feel it, as I am because of a neural overload." She argued simply, meeting his gaze with a flat look and a little shrug. "I need the edge. You might as well argue I shouldn't use Dust because it could explode if something goes wrong."

"But-"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes." The answer came quickly, more quickly than he'd expected really, but he did not second-guess it. Instead, he simply followed the logic - both internally, and that which he understood she was presenting him - and turned to once more return to his work. "Very well. It is… Your decision, ultimately. I simply-"

"Don't want to lose someone you love?" She asked, "Like Ghira."

"I… Do not know." He answered honestly, "All I know is that I cannot allow more death. Not you, nor Kali, nor my… Blake."

"Yeah?"

"I fear what would happen." He answered, continuing his odd, sudden need for honesty. "Would I be able to contain my outburst, or would I lash out again? What if it was more than just one of you? What would happen to Remnant if-"

"We all died?" He didn't answer, but the silence was enough, apparently, because Sienna sighed, "Shockwave… We're going to eventually. Even if it's just because we get old."

"...Indeed. I am aware of the fact of organic… Impermanence, Sienna Khan." He answered, considering his words for a moment before going on, "It is why I isolated myself, in part. I intended to create counter-measures. Containment systems, for the eventuality."

"Like, a prison?"

"Indeed." He nodded, "I proposed the idea to Soundwave, but he-"

"Shot you down?"

"Indeed." He rumbled again, "He said he would not, in his words, 'imprison someone he already thought lost once'."

"That sounds like a story…"

"It is."

"So…?"

"It is not a pleasant one." He rumbled quietly, "Though it is in the Records, it is… Simplified."

"Yeah?" She asked, "Tell me the long version."

"You would… Not like the details." He answered quietly, working on the wood-samples and more than aware of the woman staring into his back. After a few long, quiet moments, he asked, "You are not going to relent, are you?"

"Not a chance." She laughed, "So?"

For a while, he worked in silence. Thinking. Remembering. Processing…

"I… Was desperate, at the time, to ensure the survival of not just myself, but my dwindling, dying race." He preambled numbly, sighing as he worked. "My conclusion was based upon data about the war itself. Millions had died, with only a scant few hundred born over the centuries of warfare to replace the losses. I concluded two problems needed solving - the war, and the Energon crisis that it had created."

"And…?"

"The war had already largely ended." He answered, "With one problem solved, I simply had to wait for my resources to return to me, and wait for enough Cybertronians to return home, to Cybertron. Decepticon, Autobot, Neutral - it was irrelevant. I simply needed enough of a population to rebuild once my plan was put into effect."

"When the numbers finally reached an adequate level, I enacted the plan." He finally said, taking a moment to collect himself and explaining, "Using the data and discoveries garnered from a number of other experiments, I devised a way to compress space-time down into a single spot. Everything outside of Cybetron, every life, every rock, every star and nebula, all compressed down into a fuel-pellet that would power my ailing world for trillions of years."

"That's…" He heard Sienna's pause, the little swallow of anxiety, but she didn't castegate him. Instead, she simply said, "That's a terrifying prospect…"

"This was centuries ago." He assured her, "You were never personally in any danger."

"That… Doesn't help?"

"Fair enough." He rumbled, "At the time, my… Condition was in fuller force."

"Shadowplay?"

"Indeed." He nodded, "Motivated solely by cold logic, I did not care for what I wrought. Even now, I am not… What I once was. Who I once was. Emotion is a cold, distant thing in me. Sparking and sputtering. A flame without enough oxygen to burn, but with just enough to struggle on, never quite sputtering out."

"Poetic…"

"I was a great writer and orator." He chuckled, "Once upon an eternity ago."

"You'll have to tell me more about that." She answered,"After you finish your story."

"It is already at its end." He answered with a shrug, "I enacted my plan, but it was foiled. Megatron and Bumblebee intervened, I killed the latter, then Megatron… Something happened, and Optimus Prime arrived, I believe. I was shot, and flung through space and time. I awoke in the distant past, where even my kind were but primitives at best."

"And…?"

"And that is the end of the story." He said frankly, "From there, I spent eons uplifting my race. Entrenching the same culture I had experiences into them and… Preparing."

"For what?"

"For a new plan." He answered, "But one I would keep to myself."

"Why?" Sienna chuckled, "Still working on it?"

"No. It failed." He answered, sighing wearily. "And I am grateful for that."

"Why's that?"

"It was a terrible idea." He answered frankly, "And that failure lead me here. To my…"

"Home?" Sienna offered quietly, "Family?"

Shockwave was unsure of how to respond, and so continued to work in silence. Sienna, though, didn't press him for an answer. For which he was grateful. Whatever her interest was, here, be it simple curiosity or something more troublesome, his time after the foiling of his time-space plan was not something he wanted broached in any more than the scant detail he had left in the Archives. Which could, surely, do little more than state he was there, and thus explain his presence here - a risk he had been forced to take to avoid that very contradiction becoming problematic.

Worse, he did not know how to answer her more… Illogically based questions.

No, he would not allow the self-deception. He did not know how to broach the more unintuitive, emotional aspects of being back on Remnant. Let alone being on Menagerie itself, which was uncomfortable enough to drive him here. Even if his research provided a convenient excuse, he had enough self-understanding to grasp what he was doing. Even if he was unsure of how to stop…

"I know you're holding stuff back." Sienna suddenly said, snapping him out of his contemplation and nearly making him… Nervous. But instead, she said, "But I won't press. When you want to talk about it, I'll be here."

"...Acknowledged."

"Until then," she sighed, "how about you snag me some fish? I'm hungry, now, and that fruit won't cut it."

"Very well." He acknowledged, standing and turning towards the sea. "I shall return with adequate sustenance. Please, wait here. And watch my tools."

"Gotcha." Sienna chuckled, "I like sea bass, by the way, if you see any."

"Acknowledged."

XxX----XxX----XxX

Sienna watched the massive mecha leave and then flopped down on the armored shoulder of her Mobile Unit. Sighing, she laid a hand over her face to shade her eyes from the too-bright sun and asked herself, "What are you doing, Khan?"

The birds circling overhead didn't answer, of course.

XxX----XxX----XxX

Lea Rosenwulf :

Whaaaat? Nothing bad happened in this chapter tho~!