Mind over Matter

Cybertron

Deep in the hollow halls of the Decepticon fortress, thousands upon thousands of Decepticons roamed around Kaon, doing the tasks they were ordered to by their lord, Megatron. From calculations to actual construction, each and every Decepticon was at work.

However, due to the recent news of Shockwave’s space bridge finding a planet that has pure energon for their planet, the Decepticon army were preparing for the great invasion as they were arming themselves with their greatest weapons and war machines, guaranteeing total annihilation.

Meanwhile in the living quarter section of Koan, The Combaticons were arming themselves as well as they were also discussing their battle plan. Brawl, the muscles and brute force of the operations. Despite being the best man for offensive attacks, his anger is explosive as well as his twin barrel cannons.

“I say we blow up everything!” Brawl said with cheerful tone as it automatically annoyed Swindle.

“Yeah because that worked so well when we blew up the bridge on the outskirts of Kaon.” Swindle stated sarcastically which was able to tick off Brawl.

“Ok first off, that explosion worked out perfectly to my design Swindle.” Brawl stated as Swindle was about to intervene but could see that Brawl was not done “Second off that whole operation was controlled by Starscream, it was bound to go down that way.”

“When in doubt, blame Starscream!” Swindle yelled out in joy.

“Now that is something that I can agree with you.” Both Combaticons looked up in the air to see Blast Off grabbing the higher up weapons. Blast Off is The Combaticons high flyer and aerial tactician. Despite his appearance, his mach speed flying makes him cocky as well as impatient when he’s with his Combaticons brothers. “But just don't forget it was my flying that helped us.”

“What are you talking about Blast Off, the only thing you did was distract the Autobots anti-air guns!” Brawl retorted as Blast Off slowly descended down with the weapons he got from the upper shelf.

“True, but if it weren't for me your back would have been covered with bullet holes.”

“Hey if it wasn’t for me, you two would’ve wasted your time at the bridge. I disabled the wheels and took on an army of Autobots.” Swindle retorted with a smile on his face.

Onslaught watched in the background with a hand on his face. “I can’t believe I combine with these idiots…”

“Oh yeah, if it wasn't for ME you wouldn't have gotten two inches to it!”

“YOU? Ha, you didn’t even do much except fly and complain and half the time you just complain!” Brawl yelled out.

“Say that again, my audio receptors were clogged up.” Blast Off asked while bumping his hand against his head. “It almost sounded like you said I complained the whole time, meanwhile you were sitting on your tailpipe while I was doing the real work.”

“Well you do. You complained when we were out of energon, you complained when Megatron died, and you complained during our mission to take over the cargo hauler. You even complained on the way here!”

“ENOUGH!!” All three Combaticons turned their heads to Onslaught who looked like he was going to explode. “If I hear one more argument, all three of you are going in the smelting pit!”

The rest of The Combaticons looked at Onslaught with nervous expressions as he sighed tiredly. “We are about to invade a planet for its resources, this is not a time to argue.”

“Yes sir.” The three Combaticons mumbled in unison.

“Good, now with that out of the way we can-” Onslaught stopped to realize something “-Wait, where's Vortex?”

Unknowingly to the rest of the Combaticons, Blast Off knew very well where his brother was “I have a pretty good idea where he is.”

“Well where is he?” Onslaught asked.

“I’ll go and get him, hang tight!” Blast Off dropped his weapons and ran out the room before the others could ask him again.

Atop of one of the towers of Kaon was the last of The Combaticons, Vortex. Known for his abilities to calculate maneuvers and time attacks, he was a Decepticon of perfection. He was the perfect killer, showing no remorse to any of the Autobots he either kills or tortured as he would gladly do it some more to show his devotion to the Decepticon cause.

Vortex paid no mind to the noises below him as he read his favorite book. He flipped through the pages, reading each one in minutes and not stopping whenever loud noises happened. One thing Vortex was not known for was his secrets, most Decepticons considered him unable to have secrets. But unknowingly to them, Vortex kept secrets and one of his most sacred ones was his love for reading books. Whenever he was off duty or free from his annoying brothers he would unusually go to his room, if not that then he would take his favourite book and go to the top of one of the tallest towers in Kaon.

It was lonely, but Vortex didn't care as much as he liked the peace and quiet that he needed away from the other Decepticons “Humph...I wish I had more times like this. I’ve been backed up on reading again and it’s thanks to the same old missions as usual. No matter, this gives me the chance to get back to my favorite novel ‘Mystery of the Primes.’ ” Vortex thought as he read the cover of the book. He was about to flip to another page as he heard footsteps coming from behind.

“Sup bro.” Vortex turned his head to see Blast Off, standing there with his arms crossed.

“Oh hey Blast Off. What’s going on?” Vortex closed his book and stood up to meet his brother face to face.

“What’s going on is that Onslaught needs us all prepared for the invasion and you’re up here reading a book.”

“How did you know that I would be up here?” Vortex asked.

“You’re not that hard to figure out and I’ve seen you up here before reading that silly book of yours.”

“Shut up, its a good book.” Vortex said as he held his book in his hands as Blast Off sighed.

“I still don't understand why you're keeping this a secret.”

“Because I don’t need the others joking about my favorite hobby, You know Swindle can be childish and Brawl would complain that reading is for the weak. I can’t even imagine on what Megatron would think.”

“Good point but Soundwave reads and so does Shockwave.”

“They’re suppose to. Shockwave is a scientist and Soundwave is chief of surveillance. He’s got to read coordinates and numbers remember?”

“You know what I mean Blast Off!” Vortex shouted at his brother “I’ll just be made fun of.”

“And we make fun of Brawl’s stupidity but it doesn’t effect him… that much.” Blast Off stated.

“I still don’t care to tell the others of my favorite pastime. I don’t need them insulting me and I don’t need them annoying me.”

“Well if that's the case then you should probably hid that little book collection you got under your bed.” Blast Off said with a smirk and a hint of enjoyment as he could see Vortex’s optic widened.

But no matter how much he teased Vortex, he didn't have it in him to bring him down as he walked up to the surprised Decepticon and put his hand over his shoulder “Look, I think its good that you have a hobby and personally I think more of the other Decepticons should also have one….Some more then others.”

“Yeah, I agree that some of the others need a hobby or two or ten.” Vortex managed to chuckle out. “Alright let’s go. Onslaught will get ticked if we don’t show up.”

“You sure, because by all means you can just stay here and read the Mystery of the goodie goodie primes.” Blast Off snicked as Vortex punched him in the shoulder, playfully.

“Shut up, Mystery of the Primes is a unique read. You might like it if you actually took the time to read anything.”

“Well I would, if I wasn't allergic to anything that's boring.”

“Sure you are and I’m allergic to trigger happy bots. Why you think I’m so high up here.” Vortex said while managing a chuckle.

Blast Off transformed into his vehicle mode, a cybertronian rocket. “Well I’m bored now so you coming or what?”

Vortex looked back down to the book that he held in his hand. He placed the book in a hidden compartment and transformed into his vehicle mode, a cybertronian helicopter. “Alright brother, keep your tailpipes on.”

“Race ya!” Blast Off fired his engines and flew off into the sky.

“Ugh… he never changes.” Vortex flew after Blast Off at his own pace.

Back inside the weapons room, the rest of the Combaticons were still loading up their arsenals, buying their time until Megatron called upon them. Onslaught moved most of the rounds and bullets onto the table. They spent half the time filling their weapons until they couldn’t anymore.

“Well I think that's everything Onslaught.” Swindle said as he put away the last of the weaponry.

“Good, when Lord Megatron gets here we’ll be ready.”

“Speaking of getting here, where is Blast Off and Vortex?” Brawl asked in a disgruntle tone.

“They should be getting back by now.” Onslaught stated.

“Humph...They better. I spent this whole time lifting boxes and weapons, my servos are killing me.” Swindle whined.

Brawl grabbed a box and mockingly lifts it up and down. “Didn’t you weaker bots even had servos.”

“Yeah and we also have brains, unlike some other bots.” Swindle retorted back.

“I heard that Swindle! Want me to make that brain of your malfunction?”

“No thanks. Save the fighting for the invasion Brawl.”

“Humph….No need. We’re fighting organics, I wouldn't even need to use my twin cannons.”

“Maybe we can combine and just squash them. That would be fun.” Onslaught said.

“Yeah. I just wish we still had Tryp-”

“Hey guys we’re back!” Swindle and the rest of the Combaticons turned their heads to the door to see Blast Off walk in, as he was accompanied by Vortex.

“Took you guys long enough -” Onslaught grabbed a crate and sat down on it “-What kept you two. You know Lord Megatron would be calling us any moment now.”

“Don’t worry, we’re here now aren’t we?” Blast Off asked as he went back to arsenal loading.

“Where were you Vortex?”

“Oh you know, patrolling.” Vortex lied as he can tell from Onslaughts stare that his answer didn't satisfy his older brother.

“Patrolling for what and wasn’t that Starscream’s job?”

“Well yeah but Starscream has been kinda… slow lately and we don’t need Autobots sneaking in so I decided to double check to make sure.”

Onslaught glared at Vortex but simply shrugged it off. “Well I trust you better than that annoying Starscream. Just get your arsenals ready.”

“Yeah bro, I’m on it.” Vortex quickly grabbed several weapons and filled them with energon. “I might not need these with my Shockwave attack. I’ll have those little things running in fear!”

“Well you know the saying, better safe than sorry.”

“Your darn right better safe than sorry!” Onslaught on the Combaticons turned their heads to see their Lord standing in the doorway, Megatron.

“Oh, Lord Megatron! I didn’t see you there sir!” Onslaught exclaimed as he gave a salute, as well as the other Combaticons.

“At ease. I trust that my most loyal servants are ready to conquer that pathetic planet?” Megatron asked in his usual commanding voice.

“Yes sir -” Onslaught prepared one of the weapons for firing but stopped upon seeing Megatron raised his hand. “- We are prepared to make that planet a war zone if we must.”

“Excellent. Most of the Decepticons are following behind your planning. Starscream and his Seekers are collecting as much of the energon cubes from our refinery in The Sea of Rust and The Insecticons are nearly complete reconstructing the Space Bridge. With supervision of course.”

“Ummm...May I ask a question Lord Megatron?” Blast Off asked.

“What is it?”

“How’s Shockwave and Soundwave, have we made any contact with them?”

“Yes and from what Shockwave reported, he and Soundwave have gained those little animals’ trust. As far as any others, communications are still down and all energon is being conserved for the invasion.”

“I feel bad for them, it must suck down there.” Brawl commented.

“Yeah, they must be having the worst time down there.” Swindle said.

“That’s only because they have to pretend to be good. I bet once the invasion starts, those two are gonna be revved up and ready to destroy!” Brawl stated while slamming his fist together.

“Yeah, especially Soundwave. That guy is a cold, silent killer. He gives me the creeps sometimes.” Vortex said as shivers sprung from his feet to his head. “You never know when he shows up or when he’s watching.”

“Soundwave does his job perfectly and it would be wise to use Starscream as an example seeing his past failures were due to his incompetence to pick far away areas.”

“True...But what about Shockwave?” Vortex asked as everyone turned their attention to the Combaticons.

“What do you mean?” Megatron asked.

“Do you think he’ll be able to handle all of that weird stuff on that planet?” Onslaught asked, unsure of what to think.

“Shockwave has handled tougher issues in the past. This should be the easiest task to do for him.”

“True, but this is Shockwave we’re talking about here. He puts his love of logic over anything.”

“Poor guy’s circuits are gonna melt down there.” Blast Off jokingly said with a chuckle.

“He’ll handle it without issue I can assure you of that.” Megatron reassured. "Unlike my other warriors, he hasn't failed me.”

“Let’s hope so. There is a first for everything Lord Megatron.”

“Humph...Maybe. Onslaught.”

“Yes sir?”

“I want you to get the army armed and ready. Once the Space bridge is fixed and Shockwave and Soundwave's two weeks of studying are up, I want that Planet to be crushed and ready for harvest.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get right on it.” Onslaught answered with a salute.