Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Tides Saga ❯ Observation ( Chapter 2 )

Dark Tides Saga

Chapter 2

Within the chambers of the new Prime's current headquarters, Arsenal stood. He had been told by the council to wait for his new leader's orders and, despite his wariness of their decision to elect Optimus as leader in the first place, had been compelled to comply.

Looking at the massive war machine, Optimus Prime glared at him with a mixture of fear and disdain. Until his new status as leader he, like most Autobots, did not know of Arsenal's existence. The creature was a well-kept secret known amongst only the highest ranking Autobots. Arsenal was dangerous, too dangerous to be kept alive in his opinion. Yet, his destruction would cause too much trouble and involve more politics than Optimus wished to involve himself with at the moment.

"In a few days, I am going to have a conference at Terikon," Optimus began. "That is where-"

"Where the NAAW's greatest labs are located," Arsenal growled, his tone indicating boredom. His massive jaw, its main purpose being only for fighting, moved little when he spoke. "I understand all of that nonsense, Prime."

There was a long pause. Finally, the Autobot leader sighed. "There I will try to convince them to join our side. Unfortunately, I think they will not be overly cooperative. That is where you come in."

Arsenal's crimson eyes blazed. His voice was tinged with sadistic pleasure. "I demolish the entire base and all of its inhabitants…"

Optimus shook his head vigorously. "Not entirely. Some of those scientists are the best Cybertron has ever seen, we don't want them dead. We want them with us. Destroy the base, yes. But once I meet with the scientists, I will give you a list of who to capture. Remember, I want them captured, not destroyed."

"You take the fun out of it, Prime," the massive monstrosity stated with a sigh of disappointment. "but I will comply. Just give me the word."

"Excellent. You are dismissed."

Twilight sighed with aggravation, her experiments were going nowhere. What made matters worse was the ongoing headache that continued to plague her. She had run multiple system scans but found nothing amiss. This, of course, did little to help her studies.

During the past few weeks although she worked right alongside them, the femme had little social contact with Ratchet, and none with Soundwave. Yet, despite Soundwave's rude behavior, the pearl robot found him fascinating. He was always there when she entered in the mornings, and always when she left at night. Always concentrating, always working so intensely, did he ever rest? In a weird way, it was always a comfort to see him. The war rapidly changed the world around her, and everyday he was always the same.

She shook her head violently to clear her thoughts. Thinking of the stoic, navy blue robot was not going to help her studies, either.

Finally, she pushed herself away from the lab equipment and decided to go outside for a walk. Although it was never confirmed that stress was capable of causing physical discomfort in non-organics, Twilight was willing to try anything to rid herself of the persistent pain.

Walking outside, she gazed up into the midnight sky. There was no breeze or rain, as most weather conditions were unheard of in Cybertron. In fact, the planet was virtually uninhabitable for living organisms. It was fortunate that Transformers only needed energon to sustain themselves, and this planet was full of it.

Or was it?

As the war progressed, Twilight had noticed that both factions were beginning to have energy problems. The fighting, the weapons, everything required much more energon than what was normally consumed. What began as a mere thought became a frightening theory.

A theory that the war was, literally, killing the entire planet.

But how could she prove it? She wasn't even sure where, or how, to start.

Her hand trailed to her temple. This walk apparently wasn't helping anything, as her headache had only worsened. With that in mind, the femme turned around and walked back to the lab.

Might as well get back to work, she mused, This headache doesn't feel like it's going to go away anytime soon-

As Twilight opened the door to the lab, she found herself, literally, face to face with Soundwave.

She froze in surprise. If he too was startled by the situation, he didn't show it. "Oh-uh-s-sorry, didn't re-realize you were-"

Suddenly, Soundwave drew closer. So close, in fact, that his face almost touched hers. The femme stood paralyzed, flustered by his odd behavior. Finally, the navy blue robot stepped back and raised one hand, his index finger resting gently between her optics.

"Your cranium suffers from insufficient energy transfer. Internal wires either disconnected or improperly connected. Such a small configuration error that it is undetectable through average testing. Suggest a simple surgical procedure to correct the error." Soundwave said monotonously. Once that was said, he lowered his hand and walked past her and out the door.

Twilight stared at him in shock as he announced the diagnosis. That was the most he had ever said to her. Also, if he had ignored her up to this point, how would he know about her headache to begin with? "How… did you know?"

He stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. "Observation."

Author's Notes: Finally, the long awaited (<cough>yeah right<cough>) second chapter to Dark Tides Saga is finally complete! I hope you like it, and that it's decent even if it is a Mary Sue. Heck, it's not only a Mary Sue, but it's a Mary Sue/Wesley story! (Twilight/Arsenal) Double the danger! Double the fun! Anyway, it may take me awhile to put up the next chapter because I am simultaneously working on my Kane/RVD WWE fic "Slow Chemical" as well as brainstorming a few others -and- working to boot. However, this story will be updated as soon as possible. I hate having incomplete stories.