Shattered Ranks (A Transformers Prime Fanfiction) Discontinued : (

Lab work

You know that star wars/transformers crossover fic I talked about last chapter? Well forget I ever mentioned it because I changed my mind, I've taken it down and completely gutted the star wars aspect and started over with the chunk of distant past prologue I had, so now its one of those 'what if' storylines, namely, "what if Megatron was defeated in 'One Shall Fall' and the dark prophecy was fulfilled" I changed it really early so most of you probably don't even know what I'm talking about, hopefully, no one is upset about it.       Anyway on to the chapter

"What is your bidding Shockwave?" Darkwire spoke as she entered the cyclops' lab, Shockwave turned from his workbench holding several small devices, "You are to take Soundwave's former role of communications officer, and while it is regrettable that no one can properly replace that traitor, these devices will help you achieve a similar efficiency and quality of work."

Darkwire's vents choked in disbelief, "What? Soundwave of all mechs betrayed Lord Megatron?" Shockwave nodded as he guided Darkwire to the berth and began attaching the devices to her helm. "Soundwave revived his oldest symbiote Ravage from its preserved corpse and the Autobots human-pet called Jack, which apparently was the lost holoform and persona of Ravage. 

"Even with its memories restored, it was corrupted with the Autobots ideals, and eventually it convinced Soundwave to defect to the Autobots for the sake of his symbiotes. While his motives were admirable, his actions were entirely illogical and foolish." Darkwire fiddled with the new headset she had been given, (imagine a DBZ Scouter but sleeker)and moved the eyepiece out of the way.

"They were like sparklings to him, of course he was going to protect them." Darkwire spoke matter-of-factly, Shockwave sighed, "I do not dwell on topics such as familial attachment, the line between objective fact and subjective feeling is hazy at best and the motivations of emotionally fueled individuals can be difficult to pin down."

Darkwire stood up suddenly, snagging an overhanging cable on her horns, which she ignored, "Ugh you and your logic haven't changed one bit in the nearly thirteen thousand years since I last saw you," Shockwave stopped in his tracks 'Has it really been that long?' 

He turned and untangled the cable from the femme's helm, "Your disapproving tone is noted Darkwire, but logic has never failed me, any errors or shortcomings have always been my own. Absolute perfection is an impossibility, and mistakes are guaranteed, but so is success. That is why we fail, so that we may learn and better prepare ourselves for the future, and reap the rewards of the momentous achievements we will make." Shockwave spoke evenly with a flash of uncharacteristic wisdom for a mech that basically lived off numbers and quantitative data. 

Speaking of which, the purple con turned his nearly featureless faceplate back to the screen filled with codes Darkwire didn't even try to understand, he was so oblivious to the weight of his statement that it was almost charming and Darkwire suddenly remembered why she liked this mech so much, even if it didn't appear mutual. She said her goodbyes and gave a contented hum as she walked out into the hall, turning and heading towards the comms hub. 

Not five minutes later Bounceback entered the room with his weapon arm held close to his body, clearly fearful of something, Shockwave took notice and was curious what was troubling the small mech, if only to learn what made him tick. "What is it that you require Bounceback" the black con jumped slightly "Lord Megatron ordered that I have my weapon reverse-engineered so it could more easily be tested and evaluated, perhaps even alter its power source" 

Shockwave slouched slightly as he stared at Bounceback, trying to determine what Megatron deemed so important "Please enlighten me as to the functionality of your weapon, so that I may better understand why Lord Megatron seeks to replicate it." Bounceback quickly explained what he knew about the weapon, including how he obtained it. At the mention of Jhiaxus however, Shockwave tensed, repressed memories of his insane mentor surfacing for the first time in millennia, but he hid it well, he ignored them for the moment and returned to the task at hand. 

"I have noticed your hesitation, you fear that I will dismantle your arm, yes?" Bounceback nodded, "Well, your fears are unfounded, such blunt methods of research are ... illogical, to say the least, current permeating scanner technology is more than sufficient as a means to an end." Shockwave picked up a device that looked like a grip with a wide block stuck to it, "Please alter your servo so that the scan process may go more smoothly."

Bounceback did as he was told and activated the stasis rifle first, an orange beam shot out from Shockwave's scanner, two swipes and it was finished. Shockwave placed the scanner into a receptacle on his console and brought the data up on the screen, "As expected, this technology is quite similar to other stasis field weapons, but it is more compact more direct, its effects cannot be undone until the time limit expires. A middle ground between common enforcer grade stun weapons and the immobilizer relic, fascinating. Have you tested it recently?"

Bounceback waved his free servo in a so-so gesture, "I accidentally shot it at Starscream during one of his obnoxious tirades, Lord Megatron saw it but wasn't nearly as mad as I thought he'd be, I think I got off lightly with just having to carry Starscream to the med bay." Shockwave mentally facepalmed "Indeed, you got off practically scot-free for such a mistake, deploying a weapon and discharging it in so much as the same direction as a higher ranking officer is a capital offense. But knowing the relationship between Starscream and Lord Megatron, he likely found it more amusing than anything else.

"Now, shall we move on to the main event? The Spark-Stopper is it? A cumbersome yet accurate name if what you say is true." Shockwave watched as Bounceback altered his servo again, the flared muzzle break shortening and splitting into an apparatus with a needle at the center and two wide leaf-shaped claws, the body of the weapon also shortened, most of it concealed inside the forearm with the wrist guard flipped up as a small mostly decorative blast shield. 

Shockwave repeated the same process as before, two swipes of the scanner, place it in the receptacle, upload and read the schematics, "Hmm, red energon nearly depleted ... condenser coils, output modulators, transfer flues, heat sinks, containment field projectors, plasma harmonics generator. Intriguing, all parts handcrafted yet entirely unremarkable, are you certain that this was built by Jhiaxus? How underwhelming, it appears that this was a side project at best."

Bounceback shuddered, "If this was something he built out of boredom, I hate to imagine how twisted his passion projects were." Shockwave nodded in silent agreement, "It should be a simple matter to engineer a new power source, but for that, I will have to remove your forearm, once the work is finished I will have to wait until Lord Megatron decides what to do with such a device, in the meantime Knockout will construct a replacement arm equipped with more conventional weaponry."

Bounceback thought for a moment, then sighed, "I figured this would happen, one way or another. Alright, let's get this over with, the sooner the better." Shockwave did not reply as he began the meticulous task of removing the powerful limb.

Whoo,  850 ish reads by the time this goes up,  maybe not the most grandiose of numbers but I don't care its still a lot of people. Sorry it took so long, I've been doing a lot of writing for various stories on and off the drawing board.