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The Tower – Nerve Center

If Brawl's initial reaction to the news of Megatron being dead was denial, what followed was clearly that of rage. As Blast-Off tried to soothe the tankformer, Brawl's optics flashed to life and without giving it any thought he shoved the space warrior away from him violently and stood up.

"Get the slag out of my way Blast-Off!" Brawl roared and cocked his head from side to side while scowling under his mask. "Whoever it was! I am gonna find it out! I am gonna hunt him down! And then I am gonna make him suffer before I kill him!"

With a low growl emitting from his vocal processor, Brawl stormed out of the Nerve Center, heading out for the Obliteration. Given his current mood, others were likely smart enough to stay away from him.

The Tower--Nerve Center

When Shockwave had ordered them to continue as they had previously, just as if nothing had occurred and they had not stared in to the bowels of the Pit itself, Onslaught had nodded absently, his mind still elsewhere. He was consciously trying to take in everything that would surround their new reality, if the truth was as accurate as Shockwave claimed. It had to be close. No Decepticon would report suspicion of Megatron's demise without substantial justification for doing so.

Before he could leave the room entirely, he witnessed Brawl's momentary mental breakdown. Others may not have expected this of Brawl, but Onslaught did. He did not expect it to happen publicly, but he knew that there would quickly come a time when Brawl's circuits would overload on this news. Though Megatron was a standard bearer for all of them in some sense, he knew that it was even more than that for Brawl. Megatron represented everything...absolutely everything...that Brawl hoped to be. If he had fallen, what then for the rest of them?

Swindle and Blast-off had quickly moved to get their teammate back on his feet--both figuratively and literally--as Onslaught walked past them, confidant that there was no critical breakdown of his unit occurring that he would have to wait and repair. His destination was the Obliteration and he would have much to consider on the trek between Cybertron and this muddy little "Earth" planet.

The Tower – Nerve Center

Thunderwing nodded at Blackwind, a hint of a smile on his face. “Of course Blackwind. I appreciate both your assistance and foresight.” He had noticed her surprise at his actions during the stand off, and the fact that she kept out of it. It was quite possibly a better course of action then the one he had taken. He had let his own ego and anger control his actions a bit, although he still felt fully justified in what he had done. He would have to play things a bit more carefully in the future. The scientist offered a brief nod to Shockwave before leaving the room, following Blackwind to gather his materials.

Corridors

Once they were alone and adequately far away from the Nerve Center Thunderwing spoke. “You are startled at the actions I took. It was, perhaps, a bit impetuous. I felt insulted. They had hinted to me earlier that they suspected Shockwave of something like what they accused, but I preached patience. My advice was seemingly ignored and things deteriorated to the scene you witnessed there. I’m afraid I took things a little personally. A show of force was needed to remind everyone of the power I yield, and, frankly, to discourage such accusations as what they presented there. Perhaps if they had come to me with proof beforehand it might have gone differently, but if Decepticons are allowed to overthrow their leaders like that without proof we will very quickly descend into chaos.”

Thunderwing let out a sigh, “Although that might be inevitable now that Megatron has apparently expired, if Shockwave is to be believed. Either way we will know for certain once we arrive on Earth. Then it seems we may have to choose between Starscream or Shockwave.” His face twisted in mild disgust. “If the accusations are true then that puts us in a very difficult position.” He reached over and gently squeezed Blackwind’s shoulder, “How are you doing? What do you think of the current situation?”

The Tower—Nerve Center

With the wheels of progress once again in motion, Shockwave approached one of the access terminals on an exterior wall of the nerve center. Patching himself directly in to the tower for what would be the last time for the foreseeable future, the Military Operations Commander began the steady process of shutting down all of the tower’s systems. He would then engage the lockdown procedures and they would depart from their home world once more.
___

Rampage had not moved from Razorclaw’s side. Razorclaw was much more patient than he was, but the Predacon Commander’s training had saved the day in this instance. It had taken a substantial majority of whatever limited self-control Rampage already had to pass up the option of sinking his teeth and claws in to something big and worthy of their talents, even if it had been a Decepticon Commander in this case.

“There’s no way the Slagmaker of Tarn fell to that glorified librarian.”
___

The Obliteration—Bridge

The trek between the tower and the Combaticons’ personal vessel had been as short and uneventful as Onslaught could have hoped for right now. With the situation being what it was, he simply wanted to get himself and his unit back with the 1st Fleet as soon as possible. There was so much he wanted to know, and so many answers that were simply not going to come to him while he was here.

Walking with purpose along the empty corridors, Onslaught quickly found himself on the bridge and took his normal place in the captain’s chair. He would allow the others to go about their normal functions in bringing the ship online. Onslaught honestly just wanted a few quiet moments to think about everything that had transpired.

What he wouldn't give for another fresh barrel of Maccadam's right about now.

The Thanatos – Bridge

Razorclaw entered the bridge with Divebomb close behind him. The two had been silent since their earlier discussion regarding the Iacon recordings, but the flying Predacon needed no more direction to know what had to be done. As his leader took a seat in the captain's chair, Divebomb sat down at a nearby station and placed the recorder next to the monitor. He quickly extended a cord from the side and attached it to the side of the computer. Within astroseconds the upload began, copying everything into the ship’s mainframe. Once complete, Divebomb punched a few keys and then disconnected the device, placing it away underneath his station. He then turned to address the Predacon Commander.

“Sir, what we discussed has been done. A copy is saved within an encrypted file in the ship’s mainframe. Only you have authorization to access and relocate the data as you see fit,” Divebomb said as he transferred the necessary codes over to the console next to the captain's chair.

“Excellent, Divebomb,” Razorclaw responded as he studied the access codes for a moment before discarding them. His memorization skills were finely tuned and therefore he would not need to look at them again. He then turned his attention to the rest of his team whom had begun to meander onto the bridge. “Predacons, report to your stations immediately. Power up the Thanatos and ready her for imminent departure.”

The Tower – Nerve Center

Blast-Off was a bit taken aback by Brawl’s sudden resurgence into his old violent self, shoving the space warrior out of his way and storming out of the Nerve Center determined to make the one responsible for Megatron’s demise suffer before ending their spark forever. “Now that’s the Brawl I know and love,” Blast-Off commented quietly as to not draw any more of the tank-former’s ire. He was relieved that his comrade was somewhat back to his old self, but at the same time he had now seen a side of Brawl that few even knew existed. It was an enlightening revelation to say the least and hopefully one that would not rear its ugly head again, especially while on the battlefield.

An sorrowful Brawl is not what we need while fighting Autobots, Blast-Off thought as he followed everyone into the corridors and descended through the tower towards the Obliteration.

The Obliteration – Bridge

Just over a breem later, the space warrior entered the bridge and found that Onslaught was already there deep in thought. Deciding not to disrupt his commander from his intense concentration, Blast-Off assumed his position at the navigator’s station and punched up the star charts in order to find the most direct route back to the mudball called Earth. The ship’s fuel cells were fully powered so there was no concern of running out before reaching their destination. Still, he wanted to conserve what energon they had just in case there was a limited supply once they arrived in the Sol System. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck on Earth for longer than was absolutely necessary.

Once the course was plotted into the computer, Blast-Off began re-routing power into the Obliteration’s primary engines, bringing them fully online. A quick diagnostic once again confirmed that they were operating at top efficiency. The space warrior then turned his chair so he was facing towards Onslaught. “Commander, I’m sorry to disturb you. I have set a return course back to Earth and transferred power to the main engines. I’m all set here, sir.”

Corridors

Blackwind had kept a few steps ahead of Thunderwing as the two left the Nerve Center of the tower. She remained silent as they traversed the corridors as well. Her mind was on Megatron and how his loss would affect the Empire. She certainly would not allow Starscream to take over as Megatron’s heir, he was simply not worthy. Shockwave too was not capable of holding the Empire together. Not only was he known for his lack of emotions, but Megatron had always been wary of his Military Operations Commander; it was the reason why she was assigned to his team.

The femme was roused from her musings when Thunderwing broke the silence that had grown between them. The scientist remained behind her as they finally arrived at the level his laboratory was located on. After he has said his peace they came to the door where she stopped. She hadn’t even spared him a glance the entire trek, and when he placed his hand and squeezed it, she simply shrugged him off and entered the lab.

Thunderwing's Laboratory

Thunderwing followed closely behind and once inside the door slid shut. Blackwind stopped and waited a moment before she finally turned around to face him. Her features were neutral, but anger boiled deep within her spark. Everything, everything she knew was now in limbo. She was a mixed bag of emotions, but she would not break down.

When finally did address Thunderwing her voice was even and calm.

“What do I think of the situation? I think we all have much to do and standing around talking about our feelings will not help.”

Turned back around and moved to one of the terminals where she sat down. From her wrist she produced a small data slug and inserted it into one of the ports on the terminal. She them began to download the files that had not been encrypted or secure; Thunderwing would have to retrieve those himself.

While the computer was working Blackwind rose from her chair and looked to the scientist. She met his crimson optics with her own amethyst ones and let out a heavy sigh. After a moment she looked away from his gaze and moved to the shelves littered with tools and parts. She began to pick up a few of the items, but she did not actually look at them. Instead she was trying to look busy while she spoke.

“Thunderwing, the loss of Megatron…it will be difficult to ease the unrest within the Empire. Neither Starscream or Shockwave is charismatic enough to reassure the whole of the Decepticon army that they can fill Megatron’s shoes.”

Blackwind placed one of the parts she was holding back down on the shelf before she turned and faced the larger Decepticon.

“Someone who has had the interest of the entire Cybertronian race would be a more fitting replacement.”

The femme’s expression softened as she moved to stand in front of the scientist. Blackwind raised a clawed hand and placed it against Thudnerwing’s cheek.

“Think about that.”

Blackwind flashed him a small smile before she removed her hand and went back to the terminal and removed the data slug. After storing it she began to go through the shelves picking out what she believed would be useful back on Earth.

The Obliteration

Swindle retreated into the Combaticons ship as he heard Brawl snap back into his usual self behind him. Well that was predictable. Probably swearing to dismantle the guy who did it piece by piece, like every other fanmech who followed Megatron out of the fighting pits. Hurm, it'd suck to lose my favorite meatshield on something as pointless as revenge...Hopefully one of the other block-head troopers will get lucky and get the Bot who did it. Its hard to get distractions as good as Brawl in this war.

The Munitions Specialist gravitated towards the weapons console of the Obliteration, much as he had on the Thanatos. Other mechs might have been better shots or quicker to notice things on the sensors, but Swindle had the undeniable advantage of knowing how all of these systems, both weapons and defenses, worked, and how to deploy them in a battle. Battleships were so much more than an array of energy cannons....though it never hurt to have a few of those as well.

"Running a check on offensive and defensive systems, sir. All seems to be in order, we won't be taken by surprise, and we can go from total cooldown to full battle readiness in 47 kliks if needed." A little slower than the Thanatos, but still well ahead of most ships. Unless half the Autobot fleet is waiting for us, we should be able to come out of any fight intact.

Thunderwing's Laboratory

Thunderwing was a bit surprised and impressed by how Blackwind was responding to the whole situation. While he knew the news of Megatron’s death had to have shaken her to her core she was not allowing it to show. It was the Decepticon way of doing things. Showing weakness would only invite a challenge, especially to someone with rank. While an Autobot might claim it wasn’t emotionally healthy to keep it all bottled in, but it was physically much more dangerous as a Decepticon to show them.

The scientist moved to the modified CR chamber that he used for the carapace process. As Blackwind gathered data from his computers he began disconnecting the various hoses and cables that led to the chamber. At the very least he would need the chamber itself to continue his work in a timely manner. Reconstructing the chamber would be a large expenditure of time and materials that he would like to avoid. A nearby hovercart would prove useful in relocating it to the ship.

“There is no question that Megatron will be difficult to replace. The Decepticons were founded by him and molded into what he desired,” he replied to her. “You are correct that Starscream nor Shockwave possess the charisma of Lord Megatron. I cannot think of any Decepticon that possessed his combination of charisma, intellect and raw power needed to rule as he did.”

As she spoke to him again he gazed at her with interest. She was not too subtlety suggesting himself as a candidate for leadership. While such an idea had crossed his mind, he had not taken it under serious consideration. He had been too long out of touch with the main Decepticon forces to be a true candidate. Then again, he might present a middle ground to the near opposites of Shockwave and Starscream. It could present an opportunity for him, and his outsider status could be an asset. It was something to consider and explore, but very carefully.

With the chamber fully disconnected Thunderwing carefully lifted it up and placed it on the hovercart. He gathered a few more items and additional back ups of his data before turning to Blackwind. “You have given me much to think about. Hopefully the journey to Earth will be adequate time to consider my options.” He gestured for her to lead the way out of the lab and to the craft that would take them from Cybertron.

Thunderwing’s Laboratory

Blackwind had taken note that with her suggestion that he think on what she had said, Thunderwing seemed to be quite intrigued. While he spoke she proceeded to gather tools and other materials to take back to Earth. After a few moments she turned and watched him place the CR Chamber on the hovercart. She then stepped up and placed the items that were cradled in her arms down on the cart. Blackwind took one last look at the lab to make sure there wasn‘t anything left of importance. When she was satisfied that the remains of the lab were unnecessary, the femme nodded and left the lab followed closely by Thunderwing and the hovercart.

The Thanatos – Cargo Hold

Not long after Blackwind and Thunderwing had left the lab the two Decepticons had arrived at the silo and boarded the Thanatos. The femme then helped secure the CR Chamber and the other items. Once finished Blackwind turned to the scientist; a coy smile on her face.

“The journey to the Sol System will be lengthy.”

The Seeker femme sauntered up to the stately Decepticon and gestured for him to follow her out of the cargo hold.

“Since there will be an ample amount of time to talk, I suggest we locate a quiet location and 'discuss’ your options. I would also like to ‘discuss’ how I will play in to your options as well.”

The Thanatos–Bridge

Rampage's actuators moved over the various ship’s operating systems, bringing those that he was responsible for online, even as he kept a close optic on the ship's monitoring systems and the various Decepticon signals that were registering as being aboard.

"Thanatos online," Rampage said, his optics scanning the various diagnostic readouts in front of him. He had spent a good deal of idle time watching old, underground combats because everything with the ship had looked smooth before. If something was out of place now, Rampage knew that it would be his aft.

"All systems, good to go," he said, exhaling an unnecessary sigh.
___

Approaching the Thanatos

As Shockwave exited the tower, the massive structure was engaged in the final phases of its lockdown procedures, after which it would power down and become effectively inert until such time as he returned to reactivate the structure directly.

>>"Darkwing, Dreadwind--imperative--report to Thanatos repair bay for follow up analysis of systems functioning."<<

The work with Ore-13, in particular its effects on those two Decepticons, had occupied much of the strategist's early efforts on Cybertron. Indeed, it was likely to shape many of their efforts in the orns to come. Though much had been accomplished, Shockwave had no intention of spending the time between Cybertron and the Sol system in idle contemplation. Stepping aboard the familiar vessel, even as he could feel it powering up, Shockwave walked immediately in the direction of the ship's repair facilities.