Axiom app for TFA Shockwave!
I'm apping under the name redeyedreindeer at Axiom Nexus and thought I'd post his app here just because XD Feedback is welcome and loved. Tell me what you think!
Character Information
Character Name: Shockwave (Alias: Longarm Prime)
Fandom: Transformers: Animated
Character History: Shockwave’s beginnings are a mystery to many. In living memory, he has always been at Megatron’s side - and if not right at his side, then somewhere else under his orders. He was thought to have perished during the Great War, along with Megatron and the rest of the Decepticon high command, and even when Megatron himself reemerged, Shockwave did not, furthering this belief.
The truth, however, was that Shockwave had been thriving and prospering - disguised as the Autobot Longarm. He entered Boot Camp at the same time as the Autobots Bumblebee and Bulkhead, under the guise of a mild, kind bot whose special talent was the extension of his limbs and whose goal was the Intelligence division. Unfortunately, during Boot Camp one of Shockwave’s secret transmissions to Megatron was overheard by Bumblebee. Realizing his misstep, Longarm befriended the unpopular mech, defending him against the bullies Wasp and Ironhide. Shockwave used Bumblebee’s preexisting dislike of Wasp to plant the suspicion that Wasp was the spy. With a slyly planted communication device in the green mech’s locker, this suspicion was confirmed. Wasp was carted off to the Stockades, and Longarm carried on his way.
Bumblebee was the only one who could identify Shockwave, as he had heard his voice, but shortly after Wasp’s arrest Bumblebee removed himself from the equation, banished to spacebridge duty by Sentinel Minor for siding with his friend, Bulkhead. Shockwave was safe to carry on with his deception.
In no time at all, he worked himself up to the high tiers of the Intelligence division of the Elite Guard. For a while he worked under Highbrow, the Head of Intelligence, but that was not enough. There was still too much information too classified for Longarm’s optics.
He called Highbrow to the remote Manganese Mountains, supposedly needing to discuss some highly sensitive information one of his spies had brought him. Highbrow, trusting the mech who had been his right hand for vorns, went without a thought, and was never seen again. Longarm, returning from a long-term mission shortly afterwards, was shocked and bereaved by the disappearance of his mentor, and took up the mantle of Head of Intelligence with reluctance, recognizing that he was the only mech Highbrow would have trusted it to.
Safe in his new position as Head of Cybertron Intelligence, Shockwave had complete access to and control of any and all information coming in from his Autobot agents around the galaxy. This meant he was the first to know about any Decepticon stirrings, the first to hear any news of Megatron, and was in the perfect position from which to pick off or misdirect those who might begin to suspect a double agent somewhere in their midst.
Fortunately first suspicions never fell on Longarm, but when Intelligence Agent Blurr began making lists of possible candidates who could be the sleeper agent he was calling “Flip Sides,” Longarm put him on the mission to Earth, far away from any sensitive information he might accidently stumble upon in his search. It was not the first trouble Shockwave was to have with Blurr being too insightful for his own good.
Shockwave went without contact with Megatron for over fifty stellar cycles while his Lord was in stasis on Earth, but he never once strayed from his mission. When news came to Cybertron of his reappearance on Earth, Shockwave wasted no time in updating him on all that had passed in that time. However, he was unaware that fragments of his conversation were overheard by his bootcamp classmates, Bulkhead and Bumblebee, who were also on Earth at this time.
Following Megatron’s plans to use spacebridge technology to transport his troops into the heart of Cybertron, Shockwave helped his Lord locate the leading spacebridge technician on Cybertron. Luckily enough, this was Bulkhead, conveniently already on Earth. But as their plan was about to come together, he revealed his cover identity to his old “pal” Bumblebee, unable to resist a moment of gloating. This was later a problem, as it meant that Optimus Prime and his team were now able to unmask Longarm Prime as the true double agent.
To say the planned spacebridge assault went badly is an understatement. Megatron was pulled through the spacebridge and sent to some random, unknown coordinates in deep space; the Earth spacebridge was nearly completely destroyed by Omega Supreme; Ultra Magnus shut down the entire Spacebridge Nexus; and, to top it all off, the long-lost Agent Blurr ran across space to deliver the news that he knew that Shockwave was the double agent.
Unfortunately for Blurr, he didn’t know that Shockwave’s secret identity was none other than Longarm Prime, his immediate superior and the first mech to whom he reported this knowledge. A few short breems later, Longarm Prime handed his assistant Cliffjumper a light-blue cube of crushed metal with the instructions to dispose of it down the incinerator chute.
Now, however, Shockwave was off his game. Even though Megatron had since contacted him, knowing that the Earth team knew his true identity was a very pressing and immediate issue. When Wasp somehow escaped the Stockades and somehow, impossibly, made it to Earth - with, of course, Sentinel’s team of Elite Guardsmechs hot on his trail - things got even worse. Even though Longarm had ordered that all contact with Earth be filtered through him, to stop the news of his true identity from leaking to Cybertron, Ultra Magnus had not told him that an Elite Guard team was being sent to Earth until they were already there.
Frantic, knowing that his time was running out, Shockwave decided to make a preemptive strike before Optimus Prime’s misfit group of repairbots got the news out. After his attempts to contact Megatron and alert him of the situation failed, Shockwave left him a message informing him of the situation and the risk to his cover, and that he would be taking matters into his own servos.
By the time Sentinel’s team discovered the truth about Wasp and Longarm both and managed to get a transmission through to Cybertron, it was too late. Guardsmechs searching for Longarm to arrest him found only Ultra Magnus’ mangled, nearly-offline chassis left crumpled in the main Council room. Longarm, and the Magnus Hammer, were nowhere to be found.
Shockwave took refuge in the maze of abandoned tunnels underneath Cybertron’s surface, waiting for Megatron to contact him. And contact him Megatron did. Shockwave had new orders now - obtain the access codes for Omega Supreme. How fortunate Shockwave was so close to where Arcee, the comatose carrier of said codes, was being kept!
A small, unforeseen scuffle with Ratchet and the organic Fanzone arose when Shockwave attempted to abscond with Arcee, however. Ratchet was old, but he was still an opponent to be reckoned with, especially when he got his servos on the Magnus Hammer Shockwave still had with him. He thwarted Shockwave’s second assassination attempt on Ultra Magnus, and might even have defeated him had Sentinel not unwittingly come to the double agent’s rescue. His misinformed interference distracted Ratchet long enough for Shockwave to grab Arcee and escape to where Megatron had Omega Supreme hovering over Cybertron.
There, Shockwave assumed his true colors and his position at his Lord’s side for the first time in vorns, and worked happily on extracting the access codes from Arcee’s processor as Omega Supreme flew on towards Earth.
They docked on the Moon, near the ruins of their old ship. When Shockwave was not hacking Arcee, he assisted in the dismantling of the wrecked Nemesis for Megatron’s next grand project. Brawling and trading insults with Lugnut slowed his work, but in no time at all, with some help from the protoforms Starscream had been hoarding on the Nemesis, they had three ready to go Omege Supreme clones left.
There was, however, a drawback. Shockwave was not able to extract the full access codes from Arcee. She was apparently missing a crucial security patch that would allow Megatron to control the clones remotely. Furthermore, due to a brawl between Starscream and Megatron, the codes ended up being transferred to Lugnut instead of Megatron, as intended. Megatron was not pleased by this development, but Shockwave did not seem at all upset that his “rival” was now suffering their Lord’s wrath.
As Megatron went to Earth with the Lugnut Supremes, Shockwave stayed behind on the moon with Arcee, so that he could try to extract the final string code needed to give Megatron direct command of the clones, as Arcee was missing the key security upgrade patch that made direct control possible. He was in the midst of doing just this when he was plucked out of his timestream and landed in Axiom Nexus.
Personality:
Shockwave is ruthless, loyal, intelligent, and possesses a strong determination to survive. He carries out the orders given to him by Megatron with brutal efficiency, and is not hesitant to dispatch those who pose a threat to his mission, as shown in the unfortunate case of Blurr.
Shockwave would not have been so successful in his long, deep-cover mission if he was not patient, intelligent, and determined to see his mission out to the end. To survive as a double agent for vorns as he did, he had to be quick thinking and able to improvise and adapt to any situation. Shockwave’s determination to survive led him to be quick to spot and eradicate anybot unfortunate enough to stumble upon information that could compromise his cover. When the problem cannot be removed so easily, however, Shockwave reacts with his fight or flight instincts. The most extreme example of this instinctive reaction was when he learned that Sentinel’s team had, without his knowledge, been sent to Earth to capture Wasp, the bot onto whom he had heaped all suspicions of a double agent. Realizing that when Wasp was caught it would become quickly apparent he was not the spy, Shockwave fled - but not before almost killing Ultra Magnus and absconding with his Hammer.
This demonstrated another key trait of Shockwave’s: he refuses to go quietly into the night. If there is no escape from a situation, he will fight with everything he has, up to and including dirty tricks, to try and deal as much harm to his enemy as he can before he himself is struck down. “Honorable” fights are not something Shockwave involves himself in; survival is the goal, victory is preferable, and he will do everything he can to see a situation through to the end.
Shockwave’s loyalty to his Lord and the Decepticon cause binds all these traits together to make him one of Megatron’s most lethal soldiers. If you’re in the way of his mission for Megatron, you’d better get out of there as fast as you can, because he will not hesitate to dispose of you and then toss you down an incinerator chute.
Powers:
Shockwave has many skills, but by far his most valuable ability is to mimic the appearance of another mech. He can change both his alt and root modes, alter his energy signature, fabricate an intricate background and identity that can withstand Elite Guard-level scrutiny, and act his new part convincingly and consistently over long periods of time. That he attained and held the rank of Prime in Elite Guard headquarters itself for so long without rousing suspicion is testament to this skill.
Being a spy requires a variety of talents - patience, observation, intelligence, the ability to keep calm under pressure, and the ability to crack security codes - but the what is most impressive about Shockwave is his ability to perfectly mime facial expressions and match them to the proper emotions.
In his natural form, Shockwave has no face, and in any case is not given to outbursts of emotion (when not around Lugnut, that is.) Learning to mimic facial expressions as quickly and naturally as he does as Longarm speaks greatly of the patience, practice and observation needed to learn those expressions. Shockwave also had to learn to function in Autobot society, engage in Autobot pleasantries and parrot Autobot propaganda with seemingly whole-sparked enthusiasm, and be friendly and kind enough to avoid suspicion while still avoiding close relationships that could compromise his cover.
Should that cover be compromised, however, Shockwave is still entirely capable of defending himself. His extendable limbs are very useful for grabbing and restraining others, and propelling and pulling himself to safety in the case his thrusters malfunction. In his natural form he has a formidable cannon mounted on his arm, much like Megatron, that is capable of firing on any frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum. When he transforms into his tank-mode, this cannon is set on the top of his turret and can fire in three hundred and sixty degrees. He is not afraid to use this cannon, either, - or his hands in the cannon is not readily available to him in the heat of the moment - if it comes down to deactivating another mech to preserve his identity. This readiness to kill for the sake of his mission is undeniably one of Shockwave’s strengths…from a Decepticon point of view.
As a Decepticon, Shockwave is also able to fly through the use of thrusters hidden in his pedes. This ability, however, also feeds into one of Shockwave’s most notable weaknesses - his fight or flight reflex. If the reaction is fight, he will fight and kill anyone who poses a threat to him (i.e., Blurr.) He’s not afraid to get his claws dirty. If the reaction is flight, however, he doesn’t waste time in removing himself from the dangerous situation. While not his very first reaction, he falls back on this in some cases quickly enough that he might flee too soon or panic, dispose sloppily of a mech, and only raise suspicion against him.
Another of Shockwave’s weaknesses is his willingness to fall into gloating when around either Lugnut or an Autobot with whom he has personal history (read: Bumblebee.) When around Lugnut, his usually cool and unflappable front shatters; he becomes quickly agitated and enjoys taunting the other purple mech, and is distracted from whatever task he is supposed to be performing at the time. In front of old Autobot “friends”, he is prone to gloating, which has obvious repercussions, as he is a double agent. He was too quick to reveal his true identity to Bumblebee, to revel in the guilt it would cause his old “friend” to realize he had sent an innocent bot to the Stockades, but then he was left with the problem that he’d revealed his secret identity to an entire group of Autobots.
Overall, however, Shockwave is a force to be reckoned with. Ruthless in the pursuit of any and all goals set to him by Megatron, he is not afraid to kill those who hinder his pursuit of said goals. He is intelligent, observant, and convincing enough to fool Ultra Magnus himself with a false identity, and cane take on the appearance of any mech and blend in anywhere, able to hide in plain sight. A very scary mech by all accounts.
Samples
First Person:
I despise Lugnut. I despise him because of his trumpeted claims of absolute loyalty to Lord Megatron. Loyalty is not bumbling about, bellowing praises, tripping over your own pedes in your eagerness to serve and just getting in the way. That is not true loyalty.
True loyalty, true devotion is not that. It is being surrounded by your enemy day in and day out, for vorns upon vorns, and calling him friend. It is the smile on Longarm’s false mouth, the friendly shine in his empty optics. It is putting up with Sentinel’s constant bragging, whining, and bullying. It is saluting Ultra Magnus every day, and greeting him with a cheerful “Good morning, sir, how are you?”, when you wish for nothing more than to level your cannon at his chest and let it fire, stand over his gutted chassis and watch his spark extinguish.
That is true loyalty. Not Lugnut’s groveling approximation of it. When one is the most loyal, one is the most useful. Lugnut does not understand that, and so he will always be second to me. Always.
Of course, that is not to say Lugnut doesn’t have his high points. Misplaced as his attempts at being most loyal and overall useful are, he is still loyal, and does have limited usefulness in certain situations. He is always a vast improvement over Starscream.
Starscream.
I am loyal to my Lord unto death, will always follow his orders, always believe in his vision of what Cybertron can be, but I will never understand his behavior regarding Starscream. That Seeker is a sly, cowardly, jealous, ambitions upstart. And yet, after vorns upon vorns of this behavior, Megatron has yet to kill him. I understand - grudgingly perhaps, but I understand - why Starscream was brought along on the endless expedition into space to look for the Allspark. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
But Starscream is not here now. Now, when I finally kneel before my Lord once again. It is a relief to wear my true colors once more, but not as much of a relief as it is to be here, among my faction mates for the first time in decavorns, with not an Autobot in sight save for the broken shell of one I brought with me. She is the offering I have brought to my Lord, an apology for my failure to kill the Magnus himself.
But none of that matters now. I am here, before Megatron, my offering around me, wearing my true colors and form, as it should be.
“Rise, Shockwave,” The sound of Megatron’s voice, in person, after so long hearing it only distorted by the static of secret communicators, relaxes me and fills me with a sense of relief. I am where I truly belong once more.
“My most loyal servant.” The affirmation of that title sends thrills through me, followed by smug pride, amusement, and contentment. The smugness, I am not shamed to report, came fully from the sound of Lugnut’s frustrated, disbelieving growling and trembling in the background. Let him seethe in jealousy; Starscream may be the traitorous right hand (now only a head - the source of my amusement), Lugnut may have been selected for Megatron’s top team, but it is I, Shockwave, who has lived so long among our enemies as one of them, risking my spark every cycle to glean what information I could for our cause, who is most loyal.
Shove that up your afterburners and twist, Lugnut.
Third Person:
It was laughably easy for Shockwave to construct a false history for his new false face. The real Longarm had been dead for so long that no one remembered his name - he’d been a grunt, a nobody deactivated long before the Great War. Not that that really mattered - all Shockwave had taken was the designation. Everything else, from the form to the behavior, was his own creation.
Longarm was shy when he entered Bootcamp. He was from a colony way out on the fringes of Cybertronian space, far enough away that they were unlikely to be contacted to check. The Elite Guard had grown delightfully lazy since the War had ended. But even if they had cared to check his back story, their transmission would have been intercepted and rerouted to a program Shockwave had written to tell them exactly what they wanted to hear - Longarm was just another Autobot protoform with dreams of joining the Elite Guard.
Why anyone would want to join this farce of a military operation was beyond Shockwave. Keeping Longarm’s face neutral and slightly wary as he stared at his fellow bootcamp mates, Shockwave sneered at their so-called commander. Sentinel Minor was a blowhard fool who far overestimated his own intelligence and importance. But Shockwave would play along.
It quickly became apparent, through silent observation of his classmates, that this rising class of Elite Guards would not be anything to worry about. Ironhide’s abilities did have a lot of potential, but he himself was far too happy to follow Wasp along and do whatever the smaller bot told him to do. The two could potentially be useful somewhere down the line, if Wasp could be turned. The minibot was almost half-Decepticon already; it couldn’t be a hard task.
But now was not the time for recruiting. Now was the time for hiding and blending in.
Longarm took the extra workouts and punishments Sentinel gave them without complaint. It wasn’t hard, and it gave him a chance to practice Longarm’s transformation sequence until it was as smooth as his original one. He refueled and recharged with the others, but he did not interact with them. Why would he want to? Longarm was the only intelligence-track bot there, and he had no desire to join Wasp’s clique or fall in with the Bumbling bee or his simple-minded farm friend.
No one here was truly a threat, and so he allowed himself to get a little too lax. Laziness, it seemed, was contagious. The Elite Guard was already rubbing off on him, and that was not good. If he was to maintain his cover long term, as this mission required, laxity in determining the security of his transmissions to Megatron was absolutely unacceptable.
Nothing of true importance was said in this transmission, thankfully, but Bumblebee had overheard. Shockwave’s mission could have ended right then and there (and oh, would Megatron’s displeasure be wrathful) but, thankfully, it did not.
When Bumblebee approached Shockwave and asked him about double agents, Shockwave looked at him with calculating coldness that shone through into Longarm’s optics. If he needed to dispose of Bumblebee, he would - quickly and without guilt. No one would miss the little yellow bot; everyone would just assume he’d quit and slunk home in the middle of the night.
Luck, however, seemed to be on his side. Wasp, by constantly bullying Bumblebee, had unwittingly done Shockwave a massive favor. Bumblebee was convinced the traitor was Wasp, and Shockwave did all he could to encourage that belief. Planting the communications device in his locker was sparkling’s play. He could always make another, and removing suspicion of a double agent was more than worth its loss.
Or course, he was still left with the problem of what he was going to do with Bumblebee, who had heard his real voice and would be able to identify him by it. His “friend” was going to suffer an “accident” involving live rounds being mistakenly placed into the gun turrets in their obstacle course. It would be very tragic; there would likely be multiple causalities. If Shockwave was lucky, he might even get Sentinel Minor demoted or maybe even kicked out of the Elite Guard. He could only hope - the big-chinned mech was wearing on his nerves, and Shockwave dreaded to imagine a future in the Elite Guard that involved dealing with him. He was almost worse than Lugnut, and that was saying something.
Well, everything was in place now. There was nothing to do but wait and see how the next cycle played out. If he was lucky, Bumblebee would no longer be a problem, and, with luck, neither would Sentinel. But for now, he had a communicator to build and a report to make.