The Monster of Kaon (Volume 2): Chapter 3

Iacon City. Cybertron.

Within the halls of the central tower, which stood right next to the well of Energon from where Energon once flowed like a river, Sentinel Prime walked through its halls with a hum while his most trusted subordinate walked behind him.

“We need this race to be a morale boost. How are the participation slots looking?”

The bot with multiple purple optics behind him answered as swiftly as the question arrived.

“Over three hundred participants and rising.”

Sentinel gave a satisfied grin at those numbers.

“That’s good. If the Iacon 5000 helps boost the miners’ output, we can finally make up for the deficit from last time.”

“Speaking of, I heard there was an incident in the mines today?”

Airachnid simply nodded at that question.

“A mining team hit an unstable vein. Fairly common occurrence.”

“I trust it was dealt with accordingly? We cannot have any kind of delay in Energon production.”

Airachnid once again nodded at that serious question.

“The bot in charge, Elita-1, was demoted to Tier-1 and transferred to waste disposal.”

Sentinel paused for half a second before he continued walking.

“I assume you already researched her thoroughly before she was assigned such a sensitive role?”

“I did. And I found out that she is someone who never contradicts orders and, best of all, has absolutely zero curiosity towards her job. All she cares about is meeting deadlines and rising in the ranks.”

Sentinel grinned at those words.

“Ah! Always the reliable lieutenant, eh? Airachnid? Good! This is very good! Let’s go!”

Sentinel Prime happily grinned and walked forward without a care in the world, not knowing that his subordinate’s optics flashed a deep crimson for a few seconds with a subtle shift in her body structure before she reformed back into her usual form.

However, her grin was anything but friendly as she stared at the back of her leader.

—————————————————————————————————————-

At the edge of Iacon City. Uninhabited sector.

I felt rage the likes of which I have not felt since before the Civil War as I watched the data on the archives that we found a few hours ago.

As someone who has lived through the Golden Age, the format and activation methods of these data drives were something that I was very much familiar with, so it did not take long for me to organize and go through all the data we managed to gather so far.

And it did not paint a good picture.

Bots forced into positions that they did not choose right from their creation. A society where discrimination runs rampant between those who can transform and those who cannot. A Tier system that determines your position in the hierarchy.

It is that blasted Caste system all over again.

But that is not all.

The deeper I dig, the more inconsistent the history of this place appears.

From the demise of the original thirteen at the hands of the Quintessons, which should be a ridiculous notion given that the Original Thirteen from my world were capable of fighting Unicron himself by Primus’s side, all the way to the so-called last surviving prime, Sentinel, which I do not buy at all.

And then there is the issue with bots born without T-Cogs, which is another ridiculous notion that I cannot even begin to comprehend.

It is a Primus damned mess across the board, and I can’t even begin to think where to start investigating and countering this shit.

“..I don’t like this, Maximus. Not one bit.”

I looked up from the data shards as Megatronus grumbled at the image of Sentinel that was plastered across the city alongside the so-called Iacon 5000 race that is to take place tomorrow.

“This feels suspiciously similar to how the Sentinel back home manipulated the people of the major cities before we created CRDF.”

“....True. Even back home, there was no denying that he had charisma capable of fooling even Primus given the chance.”

Windblade sat on top of a container with her legs swinging in excitement.

“Should we bust into that fancy palace of his and tie him up like a dumpling? Would make it very easy to investigate him.”

I did not hide my shocked look at her vocabulary.

“First of all, that’s a very risky move since we do not know his full capabilities yet. Second, where did you learn how to speak like that?”

Windblade gave me a flat look at that question.

“Seriously? Did you forget that I spent all the time we were on Earth with the humans and their entertainment medium that they call ‘the Internet’?”

“....Right. Anyways, that plan is a no-go. At least for now. We need more information before we can act with decisiveness.”

Megatronus folded his arms as he continued peering down at the city below.

“Why? Maximus. Don’t we have powerful tools at our disposal? You have the Forge of Solus Prime and the T-Cog of Amalgamous Prime. Windblade has the Lenses of Alchemist Prime and the Apex Armor. I have the Requim Blaster of Megatronus Prime. Between all these powerful relics, who can really challenge us?”

I gave Megatronus a stern look that immediately made him back down.

“Do not let the power we wield get to your head, Megatronus. We are not here to make the decision for these people in their stead.”

“Then, are you going to leave these people to their fate?”

For a second, I did entertain that idea.

These were not my people. This is not my Cybertron. I have no obligation to help them or owe them anything.

However, I then remembered how much Leviathan and Codexa would be disappointed in me should I leave things as they are.

With a sigh, I projected an image that basically showed a pyramid structure with Sentinel at the top.

“Alright, you two. A quick lesson on hierarchy and why it is important for any social structure.”

I motioned towards the chart as I explained.

“If we follow your suggestion, Megatronus, and take out Sentinel without sufficient evidence and ironclad reasoning, his death will lead to a chain reaction that will rattle the entire city.”

I removed Sentinel from the pyramid, instantly causing it to start crumbling inwards.

“Right now, from what we gathered, Sentinel is not just a figurehead or an ethereal leader that nobody cares about. He is someone who is truly beloved within the entire species. In such a case, if he mysteriously dies, then the entire societal structure will collapse on itself and there will be absolute chaos across the city.”

“And then there is the fact that we simply do not know if this Sentinel is anything like the one from our home.”

At those words, my sparklings gave me flat stares.

“Seriously? Even after every inconsistency that you pointed out yourself in their historical data?”

“Yeah! Big bro is right, Maximus. We should just jump him and be done with it!’

Megatronus gave Windblade a stupefied look as he muttered ‘Big Bro?’ to himself, as I gave Windblade a tired look.

“You need to stop hanging out with Miko. She has been a very bad influence on you so far.”

“Hey!”

I shook my head and focused back on the task.

“Regardless. We will not take action against Sentinel just yet. We need solid evidence against him, both for the people as well as for ourselves, before we act. To that end, I have a plan.”

With a thought, the hologram changed to show the Iacon 5000 banner.

My lovely sparklings caught on to my idea rather quickly and grinned with anticipation.

“We will participate in Iacon 5000. Since it is open to any bot with a T-Cog, we should use this chance to make our names known for now. Then, we will slowly make our way into Sentinel’s inner circle and find out all the secrets he is hiding.”

The anticipation and excitement from these two were enough to tell me that they liked this plan.

Looking at the banner spread across the city, I could not help my own anticipation.

It has been a long while since I truly let loose and did something simply because it was fun. Especially something as silly as a race, which I had not done ever since Leviathan died. So, I cannot wait to let loose my full potential and see how much things have changed and if I still remember how to race properly.

Not to mention that this is the best way I can think of to see if this version of Sentinel is better or worse than the one I knew.

Iacon 5000. I hope you live up to the hype.