To say that Shockwave was put off by the Autobots appearing in the middle instead of in the trees as logic dictated would be correct. The portal opened right in the middle of the clearing and threw Shockwave for a loop. She let the main gun go back on her back (hee hee, pun) and strode towards the team. “Explain the logic behind this attack and your entrance location,” she demanded.
“I think you know the reason behind this attack very well,” growled Ironhide. Shockwave held the surprise for a few seconds, then let it drop.
“Returning to this planet seems…illogical as well, Corporal Ironhide,” she remarked.
“That’s Master Sergeant to you!” snarled Ironhide.
“Promoted, I see,” observed Shockwave. “It would be logical, considering your tenacity.”
“You’re under arrest for war crimes, Shockwave,” called Optimus. Shockwave transformed back into tank mode.
“Halting my progress at this stage is highly unwise, young Optimus,” she remarked as her holo-form strode towards them. “Much of my ‘war crimes’ resulted in a large number of scientific advances. My work on Space Bridges resulted in the smaller version you’ve used to get here.”
“I’m going to assume someone told you about us,” muttered Bumblebee.
“Probably Egghead,” guessed Sonic.
“If you are referring to the fat fool that calls himself a doctor, then yes, Sonic the Hedgehog,” confirmed Shockwave.
“At least we gained enough knowledge to know that the Space Bridge you have there is dangerously unstable!” snapped Ratchet.
“Which is why you should let me continue construction unimpeded,” replied Shockwave. “How about a deal, if you help me return to Cybertron, I will surrender all of my research to the Autobots.”
“You are going back to Cybertron, Shockwave,” hissed Optimus. He then got into a fighting stance, “In a stasis cell!”
“Optimus, wait,” called the Specter, “maybe we should reason with her. One Cybertronian can’t do but so much damage.”
“You don’t know the kind of damage she can do,” countered Ironhide. “She may keep her promises, but only as long as needed.”
“Besides,” supplied Optimus, “I’m not in the habit of making deals with war criminals.” He turned to Shockwave. “You’re coming with us, whether you like it or not!”
“Clearly you Autobots still lack a sense of logic,” remarked Shockwave. “You’ve heard of my reputation as a powerful fighter as well as a brilliant scientist with only one loss to my name, and yet you still wish to fight me with the odds stacked against you? How illogical.” She transformed and charged at the team. Everyone got out of the way except Optimus, whose vehicle mode and holo-form were knocked aside. The Autobots transformed with Optimus’ optics still spinning until he shook his head.
“Ironhide, you weren’t kidding when you said she was powerful!” he gasped. He jumped to his feet. “Open fire!” he ordered. The Autobots brought down the laser fire and the Scarlet Specter cast red magic bolt after red magic bolt. Shockwave was not one to let herself get hit, so she got out of the way and managed to knock Ironhide into the ground. She then used an afterimage technique to throw off those that weren’t Cyber-ninjas. She didn’t count on Optimus and Jazz being skilled in Cybertronian martial arts as well. The afterimage is created when a bot goes at speeds that are considered impossible to create an image of itself that seems solid but can’t be struck down. The path can be predicted; it just takes some time. Optimus and Jazz took a few seconds and managed to both give Shockwave an uppercut. Shockwave spun a few times in the air before landing on her hands and getting her feet back on terra firma. “Bet you can’t limit your afterimage to limbs!” taunted Optimus. …That was a mistake. Shockwave ran up to Optimus and made an afterimage with her fist, but it struck Optimus in five different places almost instantaneously.
“What do you think is the basis for Five Servos of Doom?” remarked Shockwave as Optimus dropped to the ground in pain. She picked up the Prime and tossed him aside like a rag-doll. Tails informed Ratchet that Optimus’ life signs were dwindling, so Ratchet rushed to deliver first aid. His progress was interrupted by a flying Ironhide heading towards him. They were both knocked into each other and then they landed near Optimus. Shockwave picked up Jazz by the leg and used him as a club to knock Bumblebee and Cliffjumper into the growing pile of Autobots. Jazz was dizzy, but not down. He got out a set of blue, glowing, metal nunchaku and whacked Shockwave in the face with it. Shockwave let Jazz go as her hand instinctively went to her face. She was a little dizzy, which allowed Jazz to get another nunchaku. Shockwave shook her head to clear it and focus on her target. She stared at Jazz for a few seconds until she spoke. “You bring a pair of clubs on wires to a fight,” she observed as she crossed her arms in front of herself. “An error.” Long blades extended from her wrists. She started swinging her blades and delivered a blow to Jazz that cut into his legs. Jazz dropped to the ground and clutched his knees. Shockwave then tossed him into the rest of the Autobots. She had assumed that the natives of Mobius couldn’t fight back, her error. Sonic spin-dashed the back of her head and gave her a bit of a processor ache. The Scarlet Specter then used her magic to lift rocks out of the ground and toss them towards her face. Shockwave dodged the majority of the rocks, caught a few, and tossed them at the Specter. Shockwave then transformed, charged at the Specter, and managed to knock the wind out of her. Sonic charged at Shockwave who simply backhanded him into the ground. “Your futile attempts at heroism are noted,” mused Shockwave, “but ultimately useless. I have created a large number of weapons and upgrades in my day. All Autobots fell at my hands. I shall continue building my Space Bridge,” she transformed and leveled her gun arm at the heroes, “after I take care of eight robo-gnats.”
“Shockwave, wait!” called a voice. It almost sounded like a metallic bass voice. Everyone turned to see something dressed in the robes of her followers. It moved towards the group with mechanical sounds every time the thing took a step.
“It…can’t be…,” groaned Sonic.
“Oh, but it is, my loathsome copy,” replied the creature. It pulled back its hood to reveal a robot’s head built like Sonic’s. The robot appeared battered, showing bits of its insides. It originally had five fingers on each hand, but it lost its left hand and had a severely damaged right hand. Its optics were red against a black background. “Greetings, Sonic and Company,” bid the robot. “Long time, no see.”
“Metal Sonic!” hissed Sonic.
“One of Eggman’s robots?” asked Jazz. Metal Sonic heard that.
“Why do people say that?! Do I look like of Eggman’s puppets to you?!” he roared.
“But didn’t he…?” quizzed Sonic before Metal Sonic’s rant interrupted him.
“I just don’t understand! Don’t compare me to that fat fool!” continued Metal Sonic.
“Why did you stop me?” asked Shockwave.
“You believed that the Autobots came here via a Space Bridge themselves,” guessed Metal Sonic, “and so wanted to terminate them so you could steal the last bit for your Space Bridge without any problems.”
“Correct,” confirmed Shockwave, finding the conversation refreshing as she was talking to someone who also use logic on a frequent basis.
“I’m afraid you were misled,” countered Metal Sonic. “The Autobots came here via some sort of stasis pod. I had the footage taken from G.U.N. when they arrived. I still can’t figure out the reason why.”
“Stasis pods?” quizzed Shockwave.
“Some jack-hole was digging up the resting places of the soldiers that fought in the war,” explained Jazz. “I came here to investigate.”
“It wasn’t through official channels,” supplied Optimus, “but Jazz already tried that and bureaucracy got in the way. When the Council threatened to give him a court martial, I took a team of Autobots to get an explanation from him. He gave it willingly, without guns, and the Council allowed us to give the fallen warriors proper rites. The portal you saw was the opening for a Ground Bridge instead of a Space Bridge.”
“You have quite a bit of ground to cover if you want to properly bury the dead,” remarked Shockwave. “No matter. You will have enough time to do so. Instead of killing you here and now, I shall strand you on this planet. You will be restrained so you don’t interfere in my completion of the Space Bridge.” She turned to Metal Sonic. “However, there is one bit of unexplained logic. Why tell me this? What do you want in exchange?”
“I want to get off this organic infested mud ball!” snarled Metal Sonic. Shockwave was puzzled.
“Why?” she asked. “Weren’t you built by an organic?”
“And I hate it!” he snapped. “Eggman thinks his chaotic acts will achieve victory. His strategies are the worst possible ones. They’re inefficient, unreliable, and above all, time wasting! I want peace, harmony, efficiency, and the immortality that comes with being a machine. If something breaks, a machine will replace it with ease. Constant change, constant upgrades, constant programs, all of these are the future of this planet, but it can only happen with your people’s technology, not Eggman’s.” Shockwave considered his words.
“Unlike Eggman,” she replied, “you use facts to successfully sway me. One condition, once you’ve conquered the planet, I want a quiet place on this world for me to conduct my experiments.”
“With your technology,” offered Metal Sonic, “I will bring test subjects from across the universe for you. I know of a good place for scientific achievements.”
“Then we have a deal,” affirmed Shockwave. They were about to shake hands when a strange whirring noise reached their audio receptors. They turned to see the Space Bridge activating. “No, not now!” wailed Shockwave.
“I didn’t even touch anything!” yelped Metal Sonic.
“No, but I did,” said a raspy, growling voice. “Team Dark, attack!” Team Dark then jumped from behind the Space Bridge controls and charged at Shockwave and Metal Sonic. Shockwave got out of the way and Metal Sonic jumped over them.
“You intellectual dwarves!” shouted Shockwave. “Do you realize what you’ve just done?!”
“Removed the power source while turning it on,” remarked Shadow as he managed to fish out the purple Chaos Emerald. “The energy should destroy the apparatus.”
“Shadow,” gulped Optimus, “I have to agree with Shockwave here.”
“What? Why?” quizzed Shadow. He got his answer as the Space Bridge started making its portal. It turned green for a few seconds, then its color turned purple and black.
“BLACK HOLE!” yelped the Autobots, Sonic, and the Specter.
“Thanks to you,” roared Shockwave over the noise, “we’ll all die by its intense gravity well!”
“I would not be too quick in calling the thing a black hole!” shouted Metal Sonic.
“Elaborate!” demanded Shockwave.
“I’m detecting energy coming out as well as being sucked in!” answered Metal Sonic. “To my knowledge, black holes only suck things and energy in!”
“Something’s not right here!” realized Shockwave. Metal Sonic turned to Omega and immediately grabbed his shoulder.
“Why don’t you test this thing out for us, defect!” he snarled. He started pushing Omega towards the Space Bridge vortex. Omega turned and started pushing back.
“All you’re doing,” assured Shockwave, “is testing out whether this is a black hole or an unstable wormhole! Science will salute your sacrifice!”
“I think Omega wants his sacrifice to be saluted by actual life instead of applied mathematics!” called Ratchet.
“AUTOBOTS! FIRE!” ordered Optimus. The Autobots started emptying their weapons of ammo. Optimus’ gun surprised Shockwave.
“I don’t understand!” she protested. “That thing is the Cybertronian equivalent of a flintlock! It only has a charge for twenty shots! You must explain how you can fire forty!”
“It’s magic! I don’t have to explain it!” called Optimus.
“What you call magic,” shouted Shockwave, “I call unexplained science!” She started firing on the Autobots. Meanwhile, Omega and Metal Sonic were still grappling with each other.
“Why call me defective?” asked Omega. “I have no wounds on my shell, unlike you!”
“And yet, you let organics be your master!” snarled Metal Sonic. “You blindly follow a meat sack’s orders! How’s that working out for you in the long run?”
“Pretty good, actually!” Omega argued. He gave Metal Sonic an uppercut that made him go up off the ground and start flying to the Space Bridge. Shockwave caught him.
“I said we would have a joint empire,” she promised, “and I mean what I say!” She was holding onto the controls of the Space Bridge. Optimus saw that opportunity and fired at Shockwave’s hand. Her feet weren’t on solid ground, so she was sucked into the portal with Metal Sonic. The threat of Shockwave and Metal Sonic was over, but there was still the matter of an unstable Space Bridge.
“Ratchet,” Optimus shouted over the noise, “how do we close this thing?
“We need to make an explosion in the portal that’s greater than the portal’s energy itself!” answered Ratchet.
“Would the generator make a big enough explosion?” asked Ironhide.
“It should!” called Ratchet. “We just need to time its detonation right!” He then got an idea. “Optimus! Jazz! Ironhide! Get to the generator! Bumblebee! Cliffjumper! Ready your weapons and aim at the portal! Sonic! Miss Specter! Team Dark! Get behind me!” The people got into position. “Optimus, Ironhide, and Jazz, when I say ‘toss’, throw the generator into the portal! Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, when I say ‘shoot’, shoot the generator! Everyone got it?” The Autobots confirmed. “All right, toss!” The Autobots at the generator ripped it out of the ground and threw it at the portal. “Shoot!” Bumblebee and Cliffjumper fired. The generator’s explosion tore into the Space Bridge apparatus enough for all the pieces to fly into the portal. All that was left was a small teal orb of light. “HIT THE DECK!” shouted Ratchet. Everyone went as flat as they could on the ground. The orb exploded and gave off a lot of force. It lasted for 10 seconds until the force had died down. Everyone picked themselves up to examine the area. The damage was a ring of flattened trees, battered Autobots, and frazzled Mobians.
“Whooo!” said Optimus weakly as he twirled his arm into the air. He then collapsed onto the ground.
After Tails bridged them back, the Autobots were all in the med-bay. Optimus had a metal torso cast on him, Jazz had a relief pack on his head to relieve the processor ache, Ratchet had a metal cast on his lower arm which allowed him to still do work like putting the head patch on Ironhide, Bumblebee had a metal cast on his right leg, and Cliffjumper had a neck brace. “Well,” mused Optimus, “all in all, it could have gone worse.”
“Could have gone worse?!” protested Cliffjumper. “Shockwave nearly decapitated me while swinging Jazz around like a club! Then she went all Cyber-ninja on us! I can’t even process how we survived!”
“Don’t yell,” groaned Jazz as he rubbed his temples.
“On the plus side,” countered Bumblebee, “Shockwave couldn’t have survived the explosion, a lot less to tell the Council, and we don’t need to worry about a Sonic style Ultron.”
“I believe that’s ‘score one for the good guys’,” mused the Scarlet Specter. Shadow stepped in.
“Which I and my superiors are inclined to agree,” he rasped. “We’re just satisfied that a threat to this planet was taken care of quickly.”
“I assume G.U.N. has secured the clearing?” asked Optimus.
“And told Shockwave’s followers about what happened,” continued Shadow. “Some believed us, some didn’t, all were evacuated. We have protocols for this sort of thing.”
“The government has protocols for dealing with a Decepticon playing god to other people?” asked Ironhide.
“Of course we do,” remarked Shadow, “we’re the government. We managed to keep an eye on things for a while. We’re just doing a preliminary sweep to find that Chaos Emerald that was powering the Space Bridge. In the meantime, Team Dark is going to enjoy a nice, long debriefing.”
“Well,” chuckled Optimus, “have fun with that.”
“That reminds me,” recalled Shadow, “General Silverwing wants a full report from you guys.”
“…Really shouldn’t have run my mouth,” sighed Optimus.
“Look forward to hearing your report,” smirked Shadow. He then got out the green Chaos Emerald and was about to use Chaos Control until Tails came in looking a little terrified.
“Whoa!” yelped Sonic. “You okay, little buddy?”
“To be honest, no,” stammered Tails. “I helped G.U.N. do a sweep of the clearing.”
“We didn’t miss anything, did we?” asked Shadow.
“Well,” replied Tails, “to answer that, the Chaos Emerald went into the portal.”
“So we’re down a Chaos Emerald,” sighed Sonic. “At least it frustrates Eggman’s plans.”
“No, Sonic,” argued Tails. “It went through the portal.”
“That portal was a black hole though,” reminded Optimus. “Sonic’s right, we’re down a Chaos Emerald.”
“No, Optimus,” countered Tails, “that was no black hole.”
“What?!” yelped Optimus.
“It was an unstable wormhole, held together by the Emerald’s power,” clarified Tails.
“Then where are Shockwave and Metal Sonic?!” snarled Shadow.
“I…I’m not sure,” answered Tails. “My best guess is that they went to an area that’s hidden from our sensors.”
“Great,” moaned Optimus. “Just peachy! Now we’ve got a psycho Decepticon Femme running around the planet with a robot Sonic on top of Eggman doing some grave robbing!”
“This just gets better and better!” hissed the Scarlet Specter. “I must go. If Shockwave can cause damage to the planet, the other witches of my order must be informed.” She disappeared in red smoke.
“I have to go too,” rasped Shadow. “CHAOS CONTROL!” He disappeared in a flash of green light.
“By the Allspark,” swore Optimus, “we’re never gonna catch a break.”
“You forgot to mention that rogue Autobots are coming,” reminded Ironhide.
“Thanks for the reminder!” snapped Optimus. “Well, looks like we’re in for a Pit of a time.”