Chapter 775: Battle for the Black Market (Part 2)

After receiving the task from Megatron to deal with Frenzy, Starscream left the Nemesis.

He knew Megatron too well; his own existence would absolutely make this commander of the Decepticon Legion heighten his vigilance even while resting.

If not for the suspicion that Megatron likely had some hidden tricks up his sleeve, even if he destroyed his head now, he would be unable to completely eradicate Megatron.

Otherwise, given Starscream's hatred for him, he would have already made a move against him.

The Decepticon Base located on the dark side of the Moon was built with the Nemesis as its center.

After over a hundred years of management by Starscream, he had built hundreds of sentry bunkers, mines, and factories just here on the dark side of the Moon.

After leaving the Nemesis, without bringing anyone along, Starscream flew southwest alone and stopped in front of an inconspicuous sentry bunker one hundred kilometers away.

This was a very inconspicuous sentry bunker; when photographed from outer space, one could only see something that looked like a protruding rock.

The vanguards previously sent by Shockwave had either been dealt with by Starscream through Frenzy's hands, or had been dismissed by him to the Asteroid Belt to collect rare metal ores for Megatron's new body.

Therefore, Starscream was not worried about being followed!

The scanner on the alloy door of the sentry bunker scanned his body up and down the moment Starscream landed.

Immediately, the alloy door opened automatically, revealing a passage slanting downward.

A curve formed at the corner of his mouth, and red light flickered in Starscream's eyes.

He walked dozens of meters down the slanting passage and arrived in a spacious hall.

In the hall, a tall mechanical warrior with a body comparable to Megatron in his prime was already waiting there.

Seeing Starscream, the mechanical warrior exchanged a look with him.

"I would be very happy if you came here this time to tell me that you've brought new toys for me, Starscream!"

Starscream smiled, which, combined with his creepy, thin voice, gave one the feeling that this guy was up to no good.

And as soon as he spoke, it indeed made the tall mechanical warrior, who was already wary of him, retract the smile on his face.

"Megatron ordered me to send troops to wipe out Frenzy. Do you need to use this opportunity to clear up the relationship between you and him? Onslaught!"

The tall mechanical warrior was none other than Onslaught, that high-ranking Decepticon commander whom Sun Cheng had been using as a shield for nearly two years, and who had indeed provided him with quite a bit of shelter and convenience.

"Are you testing me, Starscream?"

Onslaught retracted his smile, looked at him expressionlessly, and his tone gradually turned cold.

Starscream maintained that same fawning smile he wore in front of Megatron, "Oh, oh, oh, respected Commander, you know I come with good intentions. Otherwise, I wouldn't have sent Bumblebee and Prowl to you before!"

However, Onslaught knew him too well and didn't buy it: "That was just part of the deal; neither of us lost out! So there's no need to put on this act of a benefactor here. Tell me, what exactly did you come here for?"

Being questioned so bluntly, Starscream also put away the fawning smile on his face.

The red light in his eyes flickered for a moment before he asked unhurriedly: "You know why I came. How much longer until the new Combaticons are formed? I need you all to test my new technology!"

Meeting Onslaught was something that had only happened recently!

Starscream also quite admired this perfectionist in front of him who advocated for intellectual competition and tactical planning. About two years ago, because of an idea, he had attempted to forcibly subdue Onslaught.

Consequently, a brief skirmish broke out between the two Decepticon veterans, during which Starscream suffered a not-insignificant loss.

He did not know that Onslaught had once come into close contact with the AllSpark in Sector 7 and used it as a catalyst to allow his own body, which had already reached the critical point of evolution, to obtain a qualitative improvement.

The battle ended quickly; Starscream couldn't beat Onslaught, but Onslaught was alone and also worried that being entangled by Starscream would attract more Decepticons, so he chose to withdraw.

Afterward, no matter how he investigated, he could no longer find any trace of Onslaught.

It was as if he had truly hidden behind the scenes, pushing Frenzy to the forefront as a pawn to fight for benefits for himself.

For this reason, for a long time, Starscream felt exceptionally constrained when facing Frenzy.

Because he understood one thing: after experiencing the baptism of the AllSpark, Onslaught was very likely to become the third Leader-class Warrior in the Decepticon Legion before him.

It wasn't until about half a month ago that the Autobots launched a surprise attack on the Moon. A battle raged on the dark side of the Moon, and the explosions woke Onslaught, who was sleeping somewhere on the dark side of the Moon.

Unfortunately, the electromagnetic spectrum emitted when Onslaught woke up was keenly captured by Starscream.

Thus came the subsequent meeting and cooperation, and their meeting once again now.

Onslaught and Starscream locked eyes for a moment before slowly speaking: "The materials you gave me are still lacking. Currently, I have only just used Jazz's core to wake up Blast Off. Bumblebee and Prowl's self-awareness is too strong; I can't use their cores directly. Manufacturing new cores takes some time!"

"The materials I gave you are enough for you to resurrect the entire Combaticons!"

Starscream didn't buy it; when it came to cultivating Decepticons, he and Shockwave were the most proficient within the entire Decepticon Legion.

When he had previously reached an agreement with Onslaught, the materials he provided were enough for Onslaught to resurrect all of their former team members with some to spare. And this was according to the technical standards he had provided.

Onslaught going back on his word now was clearly an attempt to use this opportunity to squeeze another batch of resources out of him.

No one wants to be a sucker; it had always been Starscream scamming others, and if others wanted to scam him, they had to see if Starscream himself was willing.

The gazes of the two Decepticons collided aggressively. After a long while, Starscream finally made a concession.

"Fine, you win. I will send the last two portions of materials within five Earth days."

Onslaught gave a light snort, though there was not a shred of the joy of victory in his heart.

He knew very well what Starscream was after: a brand-new Giant Combiner technology derived from the Giant Combiner—Devastator.

About a year ago, having experienced the baptism of the AllSpark on Earth and then fought a battle with Starscream, Onslaught urgently needed a secret place to have a good sleep to completely complete his evolution.

Advocating for intelligence and tactics, he undoubtedly chose a very secret and safe place for his seclusion—the dark side of the Moon.

Yes, Onslaught knew very well that the dark side of the Moon had been managed by Starscream for over a hundred years, but that was precisely why it was easier to hide himself.

And so, after throwing all his junk to Frenzy in exchange for half of the corpse of Jazz, one of Optimus Prime's lieutenants, he quietly came to the Moon and established an underground cave in a desolate place without any resources, hundreds of kilometers away from Starscream's Moon Base, and entered into sleep.

The final result proved that his choice was not wrong; after losing that battle with him, Starscream still hadn't given up on his designs.

He was searching for him all over Earth, but he never considered the Moon, let alone thought that he was sleeping right under his nose.

Until that day's explosion woke Onslaught up.

At the thought of this, a ball of anger couldn't help but rise in Onslaught's heart.

The natural evolution of a Decepticon requires a massive amount of time.

He was a Decepticon veteran who was born during the era of the Council of Ancients. Even though the Combaticons he led had been gradually marginalized within the Decepticon Legion following the rise of Shockwave and Starscream, he himself remained a powerful warrior and was also a high-ranking commander extremely skilled in tactical layout.

Therefore, over millions of years, Onslaught had accumulated too much experience in combat and body enhancement.

What he lacked were resources and a fortuitous encounter to help him break through to become a true Leader-class Warrior.

And that fortuitous encounter, which had held him back for countless years, was finally found by Onslaught on Earth.

More than a year ago, with the help of the AllSpark, the energy accumulated within Onslaught's body began to purify, some wondrous information appeared in his Core, and his chassis also began to slowly transform toward an unknown state.

According to his calculations, he only needed about five Earth years to completely finish his metamorphosis and leap to become a powerful Leader-class Warrior within the Decepticon Legion, second only to Megatron and perhaps even surpassing Shockwave in combat power.

Yet, the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on the Moon awakened Onslaught from his slumbering metamorphosis; the electromagnetic spectrum he inadvertently emitted was keenly captured by Starscream, who eventually found him.

Thus, Onslaught, who had not yet completed his thorough metamorphosis, had no choice but to reluctantly sit down with this old rival and negotiate a deal.

"Bruticus?"

The image of the brand-new Giant Combiner technology that Starscream had designed, using him and the Combaticons he once commanded as prototypes, could not help but emerge in Onslaught's mind, and his mood was somewhat subtle.

More than a year ago, the reason he had fought a battle with Starscream was that Starscream wanted him to submit completely, and then accept his chassis modification so that after Starscream cultivated the other four members of the Combaticons, they could combine into a Giant Combiner.

Clearly, Starscream's ambition was very great.

He had long been dissatisfied with the outdated Devastator and wanted to use the brand-new Giant Combiner he designed and named "Bruticus" to compete with the Menasor created by Shockwave, as well as the Superion in the Autobot faction.

Using him, an old-school Elite Warrior, to serve as the torso of Bruticus was enough for Onslaught to recognize Starscream's ambition.

And Starscream's methods made Onslaught even more vigilant than his ambition did.

After Starscream realized it was impossible to force him to serve, he decisively changed his original plan and proposed a new cooperation scheme that Onslaught could not refuse.

"I will provide the resources for you to completely finish your metamorphosis, as well as the materials to awaken the remaining four members of the Combaticons... I will modify your chassis so that you and the Combaticons possess the ability to combine into Bruticus... Please rest assured, the Combaticons will always only accept your command... What I need is to verify my technology in order to develop more perfect combination technology..."

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