Chương 31: LOG-029.

I idly poured some energon down my intake port as the husk strapped to my table continued to... well, do nothing. I'd deactivated it's motor functions after all. It had been three days since I'd gotten my latest test subject. Things had been... quiet. Mostly. We'd found out what had happened to the squad of vehicons our former comrade had stumbled upon. Zombified. And wandering towards other patrols. Which meant that whatever this new effect was, it was contagious. Lovely.

The zombies were even less dangerous than Skyquake, fortunately, and had been isolated and contained on a planetside facility until I could get down there to take a look at them. Patrols had also been increased, because if Unicron could bring Skyquake back from the dead, the Destroyer could likely do the same to others as well. It was best to expect an enemy army to pop up seemingly overnight and be pleasantly surprised rather than be unprepared for such an event, after all. It wasn't all bad news, at least.

Optimus had called, along with Soundwave. With a bit of help from the American government (it was very much in their best interests to assist in Unicron's defeat), they'd found a decent enough breach point we could use, which meant the Nemesis would soon be making it's way there to assist in establishing a digging operation. It was Florida, by the way. The breach point was in fucking Florida.

Part of me was still convinced the Americans were just more willing to have weird shit happen there than anywhere else, but whatever. Staching the energon cube back into my subspace, I spared Skyquake one last look, before reaching over and tapping a button. The undead cybertronian began to shake violently, despite his immobilisation, as the cage of plasma drills I'd built around him began to spin to life. I needed unfettered access to his weird anti-spark and processor if I was going to somehow resurrect his aft.

The rest of his frame was, quite frankly, not worth repairing, so... off it went! Leaving the machine to do it's work, I made my way out of my lab and into the hallway, heading towards the hangar. Today was special, after all. The rest of Indomina's siblings were due to emerge.

The laboratory was largely silent, save for the clacking sound of my lone servo's digits impacting against the main control console's keyboard. I did my best to ignore the sensation of Indomina hovering over my shoulder as she watched me input the final commands for the growth pods with rapt attention.

"... Are you done yet?" Venting air at her seventh repetition of that particular question, I nodded.

"Yes. All systems are displaying optimal results. They're about as ready as they can get, considering they didn't have the more traditional developmental period that you did." Hitting the equivalent of an enter key, I stepped away from the console as one of the vats began to hiss, it's containment glass beginning to slide open even as it emptied itself of the fluid keeping the predacon within it aloft. Indomina was quick to frantically rush over to the tank.

I elected to follow at a more sedate pace, flanked by Zero and a vehicon Seeker still undergoing his Zaku-based upgrades. He kind of just looked like a chunkier, green vehicon. In all honesty. Backbite didn't seem to care, considering he was still recharging in a far away corner of the lab. Lazy thing. Better than backstabby ambition though.

"This will be the first one out." I spoke even as my first creation did her best to make herself look presentable in front of her first true sibling, scraping off imaginary dirt and dust.

"We'll be going through them one by one, for the sake of avoiding any confusion." My words were punctuated by a deep clunk as the predacon inside the tank finally dropped to the bottom, even as the glass keeping it confined slid out of the way. The beast's optics came online with a blink, the robotic griffin slowly standing up. Those piercing golden triangles immediately snapped to me as I stepped forward, managing to tower over the bestial construct.

I was just barely taller than it, since it was mostly horizontal.

"Hello. I am Shockwave." The griffin tilted it's head, letting out a confused sounding warble. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I decided that rolling over any confusion was likely the best policy.

"The femme behind me is Indomina, your progenitor, of sorts. She's already figured most things out, so I've elected to download, copy and paste several data-modules directly from her processor and into yours. Please look them over." At her mention, Indomina gave a proud smile, bowing her helm.

"It is good to meet you, kin." A moment passed in silence, Indomina shifting from one pede to the other as the griffin stared at us, utterly motionless. The moment was shattered by the lovely sound of transformation, as the predacon began to shift, parts sliding in and out of subspace before suddenly, there was another femme standing before me, looking incredibly confused. I tilted my helm, before giving out a satisfied nod.

"Well, we know the data-modules work, at least." Indomina's faceplate was positively beaming.

"A sister!" I paused at that particular bit of terminology, before shrugging it off and focusing on the femme in front of me.

"How do you feel? Anything wrong?" Those yellow optics stared into my own crimson mono-eye for a moment before she let out a single breath.

"I am... me?" I nodded.

"Yes." Another pause, a clawed servo slowly rising up to point a single digit at me.

"You are... Shockwave." Inclining my helm, I lifted my own digit to point right back at her.

"And you are..." I looked over her mostly silver and dark purple frame.

"We'll go with Umbra, yes. You are my creation." She tilted her helm for a moment, before nodding.

"Ok." Well, she was quick to accept things it seemed. Stepping back, I waved at Indomina.

"Speak with her, I'm going to prepare the next predacon for release."

"Hello. I am Shockwave." The second predacon had been a wyvern-esque creature. She had also been a femme. I'd shrugged it off as coincidence, going through the same process of welcoming her to life and dumping her off with the gaggle of bots slowly building around Indomina, before moving on to the next tank. Which had also contained a femme. A large eagle. I'd taken a certain bemused pleasure in naming her Airazor. Maybe she'd get famous in the future, and inspire our descendents? That'd be neat.

Afterwards, however, it had been another femme. Along with the next. And the next. It was after four more decidedly feminine Predacons had been released from their tanks and joined ranks with Indomina that I was beginning to feel the slightest shade of irritation. Surely not? The odds that I'd somehow accidentally made all of them femmes were stupendously low, to say the least. Sure, it wasn't a problem per say, but it was a rather large variable I'd somehow missed, and that annoyed me. Somewhat.

I'd had high hopes for the hydra, resting in it's significantly larger tank. Almost on par with Indomina's old gestation vat. The ground had shook when it stepped out of it's enclosure, staring down at me with three separate, vaguely reptilian helms.

"Hello. I am Shockwave. Your creator. Installed in your processor should be a few data-packets copied from your progenitor, Indomina. She's the one standing slightly behind me with all the other femmes. Please transform immediately." So my introduction was a bit quicker than normal. Sue me. To it's credit, the hydra gave out three simultaneous chuffs before promptly following my brusk command.

"Like this, creator?"... Fucking-! Before I could respond to her question, the very tall and very well armoured femme's vaguely knight shaped helm spun. A slightly different, more sternly expressioned faceplate stared back at me.

"Yes, I would like to know too!" Another spin.

"Oh! And me!" The third face stared down at me with a cheerful smile, compared to the second's demanding tone and the first's dutiful one. Don't do it Shockwave. There was already a renowned Decepticon with that name. Blitzwing would not take kindly to someone else bearing his name. No matter how much that particular feature seemed an exact copy from the animated series from my human side's memories. Slumping slightly, I nodded, to the tri-femme's(?) obvious glee. An interesting specimen to be sure.

If one ignored the fuckery regarding her very being. This was a sign. Clearly, Primus was fucking with me for all my past crimes against cybertronians everywhere. Or something. Or Unicron was doing it. That would make more sense. I pointed a digit at the hydra, nodding in a hopefully serious looking manner.

"I... will name you later. Indomina, she's yours." Turning away from the large femme, I allowed her to be absorbed by the gaggle of predacon girls. Still had a good few more vats to go through, after all.

As the mid-sized (relative to Indomina) dragon transformed, I resisted the urge to let out a pleased hum. A shadow of satisfaction was bumping against the shadowplay protocols. Heh. This predacon was a mech! Ha! I hadn't fucked up while coding in patches for the missing cybernucleic acid sections!

"Like this, creator-?" He stilled as my servo clapped over his shoulderplate." Exactly like that, my creation. Excellent work. Also, I'm naming you... Adam. Yes, that works." My first mech gave a proud, if unsure smile. Then he promptly yelped as I pulled and shoved him into the gang of femmes waiting behind me.

"Get acquainted with your sisters! I have to see to the rest of the predacons!"

The unnamed one stared at the creator as he strode away, before turning to glance down at the visibly nervous 'Adam', who was busy flicking his attention to and fro as he was slowly surrounded. Her faceplate twisted, allowing her more jovial side to take over as she rushed at the smaller predacon, picking him up in a tight embrace.

"Brother!" Indomina had been quick to teach them of that term. The mech-equivalent of 'sister'. Another twist, her more demanding side taking prominence.

"How come he gave you a clap on the shoulder but not me!?" Airazor idly tapped at her left leg, the eagle stepping back slightly.

"I think you're crushing him." Another twist of the unamed one's expression. Her calm face, now.

"Oh. Sorry." Dropping the gasping mech, she crossed her arms as she turned to face her sister.

"But our creator does seem to have preferences. He seemed very pleased while naming you. Meanwhile, I got nothing!" Before any of the other predacons could pipe up, Indomina stepped forward, her large stature and regal bearing silencing most of them. Even the unnamed one bowed her tri-faced helm in her presence. Indomina was 'big sister', after all. Well, according to her, anyway. The draconic big sister raised a servo and dashed it to the side, as if swiping away the issue.

"It is irrelevant. You will get a name. Shockwave is likely just searching his processor for something suitable for you." At that, she gestured to Airazor, the large eagle-bot tilting her beak covered helm.

"I've been around long enough to know that most of the names our creator give to things are either meaningful in some way or references to... something. I'm not sure what, since he never cares to explain it. But that is his perogative as creator, obviously." The group all nodded, making vaguely affirmative noises. That made sense. As creator, Shockwave could name things whatever he wanted, as was his right. Airazor crossed her arms, mimicking the unnamed one and frowning.

"I get that you've been around longer, so you'd know him best, but how do you know about all the other stuff?" At that, Indomina grinned.

"The internet! Here, let me send you all some files."

My satisfaction at yet another predacon proving to be a mech was interrupted by an odd chill down my spinal strut. I shrugged it off as a temporary glitch and resumed explaining things to the newly emerged bot. With luck, we'd be finished getting everyone adjusted before anything unexpected happened. Hopefully. Murphy was a motherfucker, after all.