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Chapter 418: The Striving Decepticons
It took the Kryptonians a month to finally reach Earth. Wary of Kamar-Taj, they did not launch a forceful invasion, instead opting for one-sided communication in a relatively gentle manner.
Although they wore magic-resistant armor, Earth was home to the formidable Sorcerer Supreme. There was no need to burn bridges unless absolutely necessary.
A month was barely enough time for the people of Earth, who had just experienced the crisis in Atlantis, to restore stable order. There were still too many things that needed to be sorted out.
But the Kryptonians had no such patience. They descended directly upon Earth and seized control of all communication devices on the planet, including mobile phones and computers, announcing their arrival in the most direct way possible.
"One of our people is hiding among you."
"We have traveled across distant galaxies for him. I hope you, the people of Earth, will return my kinsman to me."
General Zod's intermittent voice echoed from every communication device on Earth.
Oh, describing it as "every device" wasn't quite right, because the Kryptonians were surprised to find there were some devices they couldn't hack into, no matter how hard they tried.
...
"Hmph, Kryptonians?"
Starscream stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the screen with an expression of contempt and disdain.
In front of him, Soundwave was rapidly typing on a keyboard with his two arms and two long cables.
At the same time, a little Transformer was muttering to himself, hopping around on another keyboard as if dancing. The extremely fast rhythm and rather unpleasant, unknown melody were getting on Starscream's nerves.
"Shut your mouth, you little thing! Soundwave, control your subordinate. If you don't, then I, as second-in-command, will!" Starscream yelled, poking the little bot and sending him tumbling.
Soundwave stopped his fingers and gave Starscream a "blank" look over his shoulder before resuming his work.
As for why Starscream saw "blankness" on Soundwave's display screen face... he was just guessing.
Because this guy, Soundwave, was always blank—impassive and chillingly aloof. He would never say an extra word if he could keep his mouth shut, as if he didn't even exist.
Only the electrocardiogram-like line constantly changing on his display screen face let you know the guy was still alive, silently listening to you speak.
The little bot muttered for a moment, then stood up, patted his smooth head, and said, "Lord Starscream, please don't poke my face next time. My handsomeness is all in the face."
[Name: Frenzy (Favored by the Singularity)]
[Affiliation: Decepticons · Cassetticons]
[Chassis Type: Type II (Good)]
[Height: 24 cm]
[Energy: 1000/1000 (Abundant)]
[Spark: Active (Good)]
...
"You, shut up! One more word of nonsense and I'll rip your wheels off!" Starscream raged.
Soundwave once again gave him a "blank" look over his shoulder, then turned back to his work.
Starscream was choked with anger.
This little thing talked way too much; he was completely unsuited for intelligence work. Starscream had no idea what Soundwave saw in him.
Speaking of which, the Cassetticons were all a bunch of weirdos—either silent as the grave or absolute chatterboxes, with hardly a normal one among them. The only one Starscream found relatively tolerable, and who seemed more normal, was Blaster—Optimus Prime's dedicated intelligence officer who had formed his own cassette unit and gone to Mars.
The massive doors boomed open, and the towering figure of Megatron strode in, followed by two Transformers, one tall and one short.
"Ah, Lord Megatron! I just felt an overwhelming aura of dominance, and it turns out you have awakened! Is your upgrade complete? Have you ascended to a Type V Chassis?" Starscream hurried to greet him, starting off with a round of flattery.
Megatron looked down at Starscream with a cold expression, his mood worsening.
The scientist Shockwave and the medic Knock Out had worked together on his augmentation, but no matter what they tried, they could only enhance his Type IV Chassis; they couldn't achieve an ascension to Type V.
At this moment, all the stats of Megatron's chassis had been enhanced by over fifty percent, pushing it to the absolute limit for its type.
But it was still far from the level Megatron had in mind.
As the medic, Knock Out was one of the few Decepticons with a car vehicle form. His body was entirely red, and he spoke in a mildly suppressed, gentle tone that gave off a sinister feeling.
[Name: Knock Out (Favored by the Singularity)]
[Affiliation: Decepticons (Medic)]
[Chassis Type: Type III (Good)]
[Height: 7.6 meters]
[Energy: 50000/50000 (Abundant)]
[Spark: Active (Good)]
...
"Lord Megatron's CNA is still missing something. Forcing a more powerful chassis would only place a massive burden on the CNA, and could even lead to the collapse of the CNA gene chain," said Knock Out.
Megatron's blood-red optics swept over Knock Out as he said icily, "Knock Out, you talk too much."
Knock Out shuddered and quickly retreated.
Starscream's optics darted, taking a long look at the humbly retreating Knock Out, and he filed the information away in his mind.
"Soundwave, closely monitor the Kryptonian spaceships. If necessary, seize them! Also, I want a few Kryptonian bodies for our data archives. Frenzy, you were responsible for the Atlantean gene map; you'll handle the Kryptonian one as well!"
Megatron's face was grim as he spoke.
Soundwave turned around. The EKG line on his face suddenly jumped erratically, and a pre-recorded dialogue played out.
"Shut your mouth, you little thing! Soundwave, control your subordinate. If you don't, then I, as second-in-command, will!"
...
A bit of lubricant started to bead on Starscream's forehead.
That familiar voice, that familiar way of speaking.
As expected, that bastard Soundwave had recorded everything he said.
Megatron's face was dark. He gave Starscream a cold look but said nothing.
This, however, was a dangerous sign. Megatron was already displeased with him.
Shockwave stood behind Megatron, remaining silent, his mind calculating something. He had likely just added a new entry to his psychological model of Starscream: "Takes excessive pride in his status as second-in-command."
Starscream cautiously glanced at Megatron, then at the other Transformers, feeling a headache coming on. He suddenly felt exhausted; none of his colleagues were normal, and he had to manage everything himself.
A signal was sent out by Soundwave. Every Transformer base on Earth received the message and mobilized in unison.
At that moment, Megatron, Starscream, and the others were on an island in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. A.R.G.U.S. had purchased it at great expense and then transferred it to the Decepticons to serve as their main base.
On Earth, the Decepticons alone controlled forty-one bases, and that wasn't even counting the bases of the Insecticons and Predacons...
Alright, the Predacons could be ignored. That "legion" consisted of a single individual, Predaking, who was currently having a grand time hunting Atlanteans at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with a bunch of other Transformer models.
(end of chapter)
It took the Kryptonians a month to finally reach Earth. Wary of Kamar-Taj, they did not launch a forceful invasion, instead opting for one-sided communication in a relatively gentle manner.
Although they wore magic-resistant armor, Earth was home to the formidable Sorcerer Supreme. There was no need to burn bridges unless absolutely necessary.
A month was barely enough time for the people of Earth, who had just experienced the crisis in Atlantis, to restore stable order. There were still too many things that needed to be sorted out.
But the Kryptonians had no such patience. They descended directly upon Earth and seized control of all communication devices on the planet, including mobile phones and computers, announcing their arrival in the most direct way possible.
"One of our people is hiding among you."
"We have traveled across distant galaxies for him. I hope you, the people of Earth, will return my kinsman to me."
General Zod's intermittent voice echoed from every communication device on Earth.
Oh, describing it as "every device" wasn't quite right, because the Kryptonians were surprised to find there were some devices they couldn't hack into, no matter how hard they tried.
...
"Hmph, Kryptonians?"
Starscream stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the screen with an expression of contempt and disdain.
In front of him, Soundwave was rapidly typing on a keyboard with his two arms and two long cables.
At the same time, a little Transformer was muttering to himself, hopping around on another keyboard as if dancing. The extremely fast rhythm and rather unpleasant, unknown melody were getting on Starscream's nerves.
"Shut your mouth, you little thing! Soundwave, control your subordinate. If you don't, then I, as second-in-command, will!" Starscream yelled, poking the little bot and sending him tumbling.
Soundwave stopped his fingers and gave Starscream a "blank" look over his shoulder before resuming his work.
As for why Starscream saw "blankness" on Soundwave's display screen face... he was just guessing.
Because this guy, Soundwave, was always blank—impassive and chillingly aloof. He would never say an extra word if he could keep his mouth shut, as if he didn't even exist.
Only the electrocardiogram-like line constantly changing on his display screen face let you know the guy was still alive, silently listening to you speak.
The little bot muttered for a moment, then stood up, patted his smooth head, and said, "Lord Starscream, please don't poke my face next time. My handsomeness is all in the face."
[Name: Frenzy (Favored by the Singularity)]
[Affiliation: Decepticons · Cassetticons]
[Chassis Type: Type II (Good)]
[Height: 24 cm]
[Energy: 1000/1000 (Abundant)]
[Spark: Active (Good)]
...
"You, shut up! One more word of nonsense and I'll rip your wheels off!" Starscream raged.
Soundwave once again gave him a "blank" look over his shoulder, then turned back to his work.
Starscream was choked with anger.
This little thing talked way too much; he was completely unsuited for intelligence work. Starscream had no idea what Soundwave saw in him.
Speaking of which, the Cassetticons were all a bunch of weirdos—either silent as the grave or absolute chatterboxes, with hardly a normal one among them. The only one Starscream found relatively tolerable, and who seemed more normal, was Blaster—Optimus Prime's dedicated intelligence officer who had formed his own cassette unit and gone to Mars.
The massive doors boomed open, and the towering figure of Megatron strode in, followed by two Transformers, one tall and one short.
"Ah, Lord Megatron! I just felt an overwhelming aura of dominance, and it turns out you have awakened! Is your upgrade complete? Have you ascended to a Type V Chassis?" Starscream hurried to greet him, starting off with a round of flattery.
Megatron looked down at Starscream with a cold expression, his mood worsening.
The scientist Shockwave and the medic Knock Out had worked together on his augmentation, but no matter what they tried, they could only enhance his Type IV Chassis; they couldn't achieve an ascension to Type V.
At this moment, all the stats of Megatron's chassis had been enhanced by over fifty percent, pushing it to the absolute limit for its type.
But it was still far from the level Megatron had in mind.
As the medic, Knock Out was one of the few Decepticons with a car vehicle form. His body was entirely red, and he spoke in a mildly suppressed, gentle tone that gave off a sinister feeling.
[Name: Knock Out (Favored by the Singularity)]
[Affiliation: Decepticons (Medic)]
[Chassis Type: Type III (Good)]
[Height: 7.6 meters]
[Energy: 50000/50000 (Abundant)]
[Spark: Active (Good)]
...
"Lord Megatron's CNA is still missing something. Forcing a more powerful chassis would only place a massive burden on the CNA, and could even lead to the collapse of the CNA gene chain," said Knock Out.
Megatron's blood-red optics swept over Knock Out as he said icily, "Knock Out, you talk too much."
Knock Out shuddered and quickly retreated.
Starscream's optics darted, taking a long look at the humbly retreating Knock Out, and he filed the information away in his mind.
"Soundwave, closely monitor the Kryptonian spaceships. If necessary, seize them! Also, I want a few Kryptonian bodies for our data archives. Frenzy, you were responsible for the Atlantean gene map; you'll handle the Kryptonian one as well!"
Megatron's face was grim as he spoke.
Soundwave turned around. The EKG line on his face suddenly jumped erratically, and a pre-recorded dialogue played out.
"Shut your mouth, you little thing! Soundwave, control your subordinate. If you don't, then I, as second-in-command, will!"
...
A bit of lubricant started to bead on Starscream's forehead.
That familiar voice, that familiar way of speaking.
As expected, that bastard Soundwave had recorded everything he said.
Megatron's face was dark. He gave Starscream a cold look but said nothing.
This, however, was a dangerous sign. Megatron was already displeased with him.
Shockwave stood behind Megatron, remaining silent, his mind calculating something. He had likely just added a new entry to his psychological model of Starscream: "Takes excessive pride in his status as second-in-command."
Starscream cautiously glanced at Megatron, then at the other Transformers, feeling a headache coming on. He suddenly felt exhausted; none of his colleagues were normal, and he had to manage everything himself.
A signal was sent out by Soundwave. Every Transformer base on Earth received the message and mobilized in unison.
At that moment, Megatron, Starscream, and the others were on an island in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. A.R.G.U.S. had purchased it at great expense and then transferred it to the Decepticons to serve as their main base.
On Earth, the Decepticons alone controlled forty-one bases, and that wasn't even counting the bases of the Insecticons and Predacons...
Alright, the Predacons could be ignored. That "legion" consisted of a single individual, Predaking, who was currently having a grand time hunting Atlanteans at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with a bunch of other Transformer models.
(end of chapter)
