A rather calm Megatron strode onto the command deck behind his Communications Officer. "Has the final relic location been decoded, Soundwave?"
The lean mech simply nodded once.
"You perform your job as admirably as always." The leader smirked darkly, looking up on the screen to look upon the relic coordinates. He frowned as he looks to the silent decoder. "Yet as with the failure of the previous scouts for the relics, save your success," he looks to the coordinates, before assessing them. "I will be the one to retrieve this relic myself."
Soundwave stared long, leaving a slight concern in his stance.
Megatron turned to face his loyal follower. "Optimus cannot have the chance to steal this opportunity from our grasp once again." He growled. "No longer will I fail as I did in my… 'past' assignments I had in the mines long past. As you can assume, I am not the fool I was then."
The CO simply nodded again.
Megatron huffed with a slight glare. "Keep the ship in line, and await my command." Without another word, the tyrant left the room and eventually the ship via ground bridge.
With this relic not yet decoded by Autobot hands, the retrieval and use of its power against the enemy was certain.
-X-
Jack sat quietly in his seat, the class silent in the midst of an exam. Tapping his pencil slightly on the edge of his desk, he looked about nervously.
"Dude, would you quit the tapping, please?" came an annoyed, female voice.
He flicked his head behind him in surprise, and blinked seeing a familiar yet unfamiliar face.
"Sorry, nervous."
"I can tell." Mumbled a teen with short gold and brown hair, rolling her hazel eyes. "Just keep it down, concentrating." With a small smirk to him, she gestured at her paper, seeing hundreds of well-made doodles of various creatures of many fantasies and fiction.
Jack chuckled small. "Not bad."
"You don't want to see the ones I make when I'm stuck alone."
The teacher looked up over his newspaper. "Jack, Erin. Don't make me come over there."
"Sorry, chief." Erin mumbled sarcastically, giving a half-mocking salute. The teacher simply rolled his eyes back to his reading.
A paper wad hit Erin in the back of the head, and she whirled her gaze back in a glare. Both her and Jack frowned at the sight of Vince's uncanny smirk.
"How's Cherry moped and Dump-off doing today?" Vince grinned, hands folding behind his head as he leaned down in his seat.
"Can it, Vinny." The girl sneered, turning forward again.
"Whoa, look who's got a smart mouth. Say Darby, why don't you knock her off her feet on your little moped and door dump her outside town? Maybe she can see her parents there."
"I said can it, Vince." She growled over her shoulder.
"Or what? Gonna cry like you do everyday behind the school?"
"I will hit you, Vince. Shut up."
Jack looked to her sternly. "Just ignore him, he's not worth it."
"Nah, Darby, let her figure it out. To figure out that she's never gonna come out from below me. Hell, that's probably why her parents left her anyway. Pathetic waste of—"
She had gotten up too fast for him, her fist meeting his jaw. As he tumbled out of his seat, the whole class turned to stare in shock. Erin stood over him with a dark glare, her still-closed fist stinging from the hit she gave.
Jack took her quickly by the arm. "Erin, y—"
"Erin Cooliage." The teacher came beside her, pulling her away. "You come with me, now."
As Vince pulled himself up, Erin looked hurt and apologetically at Jack before she was lead out the door.
-X-
After convincing Arcee to stay another hour longer after school, Jack sat atop the side of the school steps in silence.
"Why did you wait?" Erin mumbled as she came out the door with one backpack strap on her shoulder.
Jack hopped down to come up to her. "Friend thing, I guess."
Erin cocked a brow. "Wow, friends in under two minutes? You go fast, don't you?"
Jack blinked, shocked and embarrassed. "Well, no no, I just I…"
The teen laughed a bit. "Just playing with ya." She smirked as they walk down the steps. "Guess we're friends on one agreement." Jack gave a questioning look. "We both have some level of hatred at Vince."
"Who doesn't?"
"True said." She shrugged. "Look, sorry I didn't take your advice back there to just ignore him. Things like that just…get to me."
"To be honest, who really cares what people like him say about you?" Jack sighed once as she paused, as he saw Acree move impatiently against the curb. "Hey, I better get going. See you next week I guess."
After being silent in thought, she nodded. "Yea, cool, sure." She managed a smile. "Thanks again, Jack. Staying around for me means a lot…"
"No problem…see you around." With one small wave, he gets onto his bike, and revs away.
Erin sighed once she watched him swerve around the corner. Walking down the street with hands in her pockets, the teen kept her head low all the way to home.
Nearly halfway home, she winced as some boys drove by to throw a few balls of trash at her, while she jumped back as another hit a puddle that splashed her in filthy water.
"FUCK OFF!" She screamed out at the passing truck as its driver and passenger laughed at her drenched state. The truck stopped, then reversed back to come beside her as she glared in hate.
"We aren't fond of the idea of a lonely, expendable piece of crap you are. But here's an idea, E'." the bully replied with a cool tone. She stepped back as he flicked a quarter at her as it bounced off her arm. "There's a quarter. Go pay a conductor on the train rail to chase you out of town. Maybe the rush of steel will clean you up." With a laugh, they rev off again, splashing yet another puddle in her face.
Erin just screamed out, throwing her soaked backpack at them in a pathetic attempt to him them, as it only flopped in the middle of the street.
In the silence of the abandoned small town street, Erin just sobbed as she stood there. Why was it everyday she had to endure the constant bullying? Would it ever end for her? Everyday she was treated like dirt, ever since she was little. It wasn't her fault her parents abandoned her on a doorstep like she was something worthless. She knew she wasn't worthless, but the pain she had to face every day because of it was hard to deal with. Yet no matter how much one person would try to comfort her, they would not know her pain.
Wiping her tears, she got her backpack form the street and started walking again. If she got home, at least she could cry in peace.
-X-
The ground bridge closing shut behind him, Megatron looked about. It was a canyon just outside a small human city, the rock formations standing high above him. The scene was oddly similar to where he had risen his army of undead against Optimus and his lap dog medic, but he had no time for pleasant musings. The relic was somewhere nearby.
He strode calmly down the canyon stretch, not bothering to notice his surroundings any longer. He simply walked until he came to the expended dead end of a rock face.
Megatron sneered as he glanced over the many various rock formations around him. Overlooking his coordinates once more, he gave a rare but dark smirk at the corner of his lips as he lay his gaze on one small stone.
His claw grasped easily over the rock, and wretched it out effortlessly until it revealed a small port in the cliff wall. Tossing the stone aside, he raised his cannon with a hum. Dust and debris blasted around him with a single shot, which exposed a tank of metal and energon veins. With a smirk, he pulled open the small container and reached inside.
"Ah…the many surprises this planet holds." Megatron murmured as he brought out the relic. It was a small gold and purple orb device. The commander grinned as he admired it, knowing exactly what its purpose was.
"A self-command spark enricher." Megatron purred. "With it I can arise and create any protoform warrior or lifeform I desire." He huffed. "Imagine what it can do for my troops with minor improvement."
Exiting the canyon, Megatron glared over the small town beyond, before eyeing the relic in hand. "Hm…perhaps a cleansing is in order, as a test run."
He held the orb out before him, aimed out at the town. "Awaken for your new master." Megatron rumbled, as the orb swirled and hummed to life. "Awaken and obey my will."
He smiled small and fiendishly as the relic hummed louder, feeling its power coursing up his arm. He could only imagine what chaos it would bring upon a human hive when it was reversed of its energy.
The orb whirled wildly, then suddenly faded to silence again.
Megatron blinked with a growl. "WHAT? What are you doing? I said AWAKEN!" He shook it a few times, but nothing. He growled sharply, itching to crush it but knowing better than to destroy an ancient relic as this one.
"You WILL obey me! Awaken! I am Megatron, your new lord and ma-"
Without warning, the build-up of power surging within the orb previously burst online, but only this time it chose to release it upon its holder. As it was not thought over by Megatron, only the command of a Prime could use this relic at will.
When it was not a Prime, there were dire consequences.
Megatron howled out a roar of agony as a horrific rush of ancient power overloaded his systems via the orb relic. After a moment of seizing on the spot, Megatron dropped the orb before collapsing onto his back in an offline state.
The great Decepticon leader laid there in a prone manner, optics dark and still. The effects of the orb on him, even to a well trained medic, were unknown.