A Stirring of the Heart (2/29)

Onslaught did not immediately take the core from Starscream's hand.

Swindle had once been one of his Combaticons, though that guy had been born with an infuriating personality.

However, this subordinate of his had been thoroughly screwed over by Starscream back then.

Starscream had talked Swindle into joining the faction resisting Megatron. He rebelled against Megatron twice; the first time, Megatron ordered the rebellion suppressed, and after his arrest, Swindle was thrown into Skull Fortress Prison and brutally tortured.

Later, Starscream rescued Swindle and had him participate in the second mutiny against Megatron that he had instigated.

When it failed, Starscream received some punishment as well, but compared to Swindle's, it barely counted as punishment at all.

For rebelling against Megatron a second time, Swindle was later sentenced, during the ensuing purge, by the enraged tyrant to the ultimate punishment created by the Elder Council—the Shadow Play and the Five Punishments.

The Shadow Play and the Five Punishments meant cutting off his arms, legs, and head, then using various drugs and torture to cruelly twist Swindle's personality.

Shockwave had once been a victim of this torture. A scholar and great scientist devoted to justice and fairness had been tortured by the nobles into what he was now. That alone showed just how terrifying the Shadow Play and the Five Punishments were.

As Onslaught understood it, Swindle had not only been subjected to the ultimate punishment, but had also been sent to Starscream and turned into a Replica Soldier that would fight to the death for the Decepticon Corps. It was nothing but tragic.

Yet Swindle's miserable fate only made Onslaught more wary of Starscream. He did not feel even the slightest sympathy for Swindle.

Because it was Swindle's rebellion back then that had implicated the entire Combaticons, leading to all