"Like it or not! We're allies now against a common foe!"
Hot Rod hated to admit he was damn near cowering at this point.
After everything that had happened, being inside Unicron himself and stood at the feet of the new Decepticon leader was trickling extra laces of panic through his spark.
It felt like every bad thing known to the Universe was just piling up faster and faster.
He barely registered what had been spoken, but he knew everything would only get worse if he didn't act.
"As if I'd ally myself with the likes of you! Give that back!" Others were counting on him, to live, to do the right thing and if that meant being as stupid and hot-headed as ever, he would gladly do it!
Galvatron… flinched?
The entirety of Unicron shuddered as a massive explosion rocked his body, the disgruntled groan of pain and annoyance that followed rumbled through his entire body, making the two of them brace themselves against the lurching motions.
Hot Rod collected himself first, looking back at Galvatron; the Decepticon seemed almost confused, hands near his head as if he were expecting something to happen but the absence of whatever it was had given him pause for thought.
"He got distracted…" Galvatron uttered almost as if reading and vocalising Hot Rod's thoughts.
Not giving him the time to stop being distracted Hot Rod had begun closing the distance between the two of them, the uneven ground gave him a footing to push from and Hot Rod leapt up to Galvatron's level swinging his servos out for the only important thing as far as he was concerned.
The flash of orange and red was enough for Galvatron to collect himself and Hot Rod's digits only just grazed the surface of the Matrix dangling from the Decepticons' neck as he stood back from the leaping Autobot.
Purple hands quickly and easily snapped out and grabbed the youngsters wrists and Hot Rod yelped as Galvatron threw him back down to the step below.
"Hahaha!" He took great amusement at the sprawled out Autobot's failure "You're either brave or stupid, probably both. Are you really rejecting the best help you could ever get!? Hmph, I like the moxie though… You'd be a good Decepticon"
Hot Rod twitched and tensed on the ground, inexperienced thoughts buzzed through his processor as he desperately tried to grasp onto the best course of action for a situation where he was absolutely in over his head.
"You offer a partnership then give me insults? Pah! I'd never be a Decepticon!"
"HAH!" The sharp laugh echoed around the chamber as did the thud of Galvatron jumping down to be next to the wary Autobot "I hadn't actually offered you a place among us… yet!" Hot Rod wasn't sure what to do as his systems tensed involuntarily as Galvatron yanked him off the ground "But you are ignoring the ACTUAL offer I made, or have you forgotten we're inside something that's destroying Cybertron!" At that Hot Rod was shoved back down to the ground.
"You failed to do anything against Unicron obviously! So why would teaming up with YOU do anything worthwhile? Not that anything worthwhile comes from you Decepti-creeps anyway!" Hot Rod scooched back a little trying to keep some distance between the two.
"Oh, your old recycled words cut deep child!" Galvatron mocked, sneering as he made no effort to come closer to Hot Rod "It's not like your lot are doing much better are they? But I… I can lead you to the core! I know where the heart of Unicron lies! I can sense it! You want to damage him then I can show you the only place to do it! Think about it child, you want to be a hero, no? The one who helped take down Unicron?"
"And what's to stop you from just killing me immediately after and taking the glory for your slimy self!?" Hot Rod spat.
"Nothing. But at least Unicron would be dead and your friends safe" Galvatron crossed his arms with the smugness of someone who thought they had won.
And he had.
Hot Rods processor raced with images of his friends, all also stuck inside Unicron, he had no idea what was happening to them.
Were they alright?
Were they still functioning?
Daniel… He shouldn't have to be in here, in this mess.
"I'm watching you!" He hissed as he stood up, and held his chin up to keep optical contact with the Decepticon.
"Good, you may learn something!" He smirked in return.
"And you'll be giving the Matrix back when we're done" Hot Rod tried to puff up his chest, feeling more confident with thoughts of his friends in his processor.
"Hm hm" The low chuckle he received in return was almost playful "Perhaps"
Unicron lurched again and Galvatron tensed, shoulder struts twisted as if an unregistered jolt of energy had run through him.
"Ah! Aaaah!" he gasped involuntarily "It won't last!"
Without another word Galvatron leapt forward, darting out of the room in three system-straining bounds.
"Get back here!" Hot Rod yelled pitifully as he lost sight of the purple plates.
Peppering the airwaves with disgruntled grunts Hot Rod transformed and sped down the slightly-too-flesh-like tube Galvatron had darted down, the strange new shapes of the reformatted Decepticon leader were visible near the end of the tunnel, the purple terror having put on a bizarre burst of speed.
So much for waiting for him, what happened to allies? Hot Rod thought.
His engine made an audible pop as he forced it to ramp up his speed faster than usual, zooming down the pathway before leaving dark skid marks in the dank metal as he was forced to attempt a ninety-degree turn with less than an astrosecond of warning.
Failing at such a rapid turn Hot Rod slammed into the opposing wall of the new cavernous tube they entered.
"Don't you know how to flaming well be quiet!?" Galvatron seemed to have finally remembered him and was managing some kind of backwards run in order to face him.
"It'd help if you didn't RUN OFF!" Hot Rod snapped angrily.
"Some of us don't have the luxury of time!" Galvatron snarled back, voice laced with venom.
"Buh!" Hot Rod managed as an angry word of response failed him during his transformation "Look around you moron! Do any of us have the 'luxury' of time!?" He threw his hands in the air before putting them down again to run when he realised the Decepticon had not actually stopped to let him catch up.
Grumbling to himself, Hot Rod didn't understand how Optimus managed to handle temporary alliances with the Decepticons when the situation forced it.
Then again this wasn't Megatron.
And he most definitely wasn't Optimus…
It took a large part of Hot Rod's processing power to keep himself focused on his speed and direction, desperately following in the speedy footsteps of the one holding onto the Matrix.
Screw whatever else, at the very least he needed to get that back.
"Oi oi! Teamie!" Hot Rod wheezed "What's the big idea, you said you knew where his core is! But what in the flaming pits are we meant to do when we get there!?"
Instead of replying Galvatron held his claws out, and not an astrosecond later was sailing through the air as he leapt over a gap and stuck to the opposing wall.
Hot Rod barely held back a panicked yelp as once again he was left with little reaction time and had to mimic the jump-and-grab he just witnessed with as much coordination as he could muster.
Which wasn't much.
It didn't help this part of Unicron seemed to be slimy and had veins throbbing through it like one of the cheesy 'b movies' Spike had shown him with a laugh once when he was on Earth and Daniel had gone to sleep.
Hot Rod's face was scrunched up as he desperately 'splatted' his way up the wall, lacking claws his smooth, rounded digit-tips didn't have the same grip as sharp battle-made claws.
It was disgusting and Hot Rod could vehemently feel the thin layer of he-doesn't-know-what on his front.
"Hey! What's the fragging plan!?" Hot Rod yelled as he squirmed onto the new platform full of hanging tubes and wires.
Galvatron didn't respond instead he looked like he was bracing for something, head snapping from side to side with enough force to send the Matrix swinging about his neck, like a tantalising prize beyond Hot Rods reach.
He pondered whether or not he should have just tried his luck at wrestling the thing away from him anyway.
Quickly Galvatron darted down a different pathway
"Some ally you are!" Hot Rod shouted.
The new pathway was a tunnel full of pitch black holes leading to Primus-knows-where in the walls and a ceiling bristling with pulsating spikes following some unknown flow coming from the place above.
"Is this is? Is this where we can hurt Unicron?" Hot Rod found it easier to catch up to Galvatron now, the Decepticon leaders footsteps had slowed down but he still put out a spontaneous scuttle of speed every few moments "Will you answer me!?" he eventually yelled.
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Galvatron suddenly doubled over, hands hovering around his helm as he spat loud angry words at the youngster "Are you forgetting WHERE we ARE!? You stupid Autobot!"
"Yeah! We're inside the thing that made YOU! To destroy THAT!" Hot Rod made a lunge towards object dangling around Galvatrons neck. Galvatron easily sidestepped the move and lunged out himself grabbing Hot Rod by the shoulder struts as his misguided motion sent him essentially, swapping places with Galvatron.
Hot Rod could only struggle as Galvatron lifted him up by the shoulders, one hand surely strong enough to do so but Galvatron felt the need to to have both hands clamped tightly and painfully around the youngster's body.
"Yes! The thing that MADE me!" He spat making sure his sharp words stung the Autobot "Do you not know what he does, what he HAS DONE when he senses so much as the slightest bit of failure! Bit of betrayal! What do you think would happen when he figures out I'm trying to DESTROY HIM!" Galvatron howled but it became a muffled grunt as Hot Rod kicked out, getting him in the knee pad and prompting him to get dropped. "Even if I did run across the most useless scrap of help imaginable in here!"
Hot Rod spun around on the spot doing his best to take up Galvatrons field of view coming face to face with Galvatron and his blazing angry optics burning a metaphorical hole through his cranial chamber; Every time Galvatron tried to move and continue the journey through the tunnel Hot Rod stepped in front of him, earning him more furious snarls "I'm leading you to his weak point so there's a better chance of KILLING HIM! Or do you take me for a complete fool! I want my freedom from him!"
Hot Rod wondered if Galvatron understood the irony of a Decepticon warlord wanting freedom.
The thought didn't have too long to sit in his processor as Galvatrons angry face did a complete 180 to a new vividly different expression.
Without a word Galvatron flung him to the wall, cracking Hot Rods back plates against the porous surface with the force of the throw but that was quickly drowned out by the loud bang and optic jamming flash that immediately filled the room.
Taking a few minutes to readjust his optics and stifle the pings and alerts of pain and damage notifications Hot Rod's optics almost reset at the site before him, not helped by another bright flash greeting them in quick succession to the first one.
From one of the many holes in the wall but further along the direction they were running a thin cable ending in a bulbous, ridged egg-shaped lump had snaked it's way out, the smaller end smoking from the blast of energy it released, however before it could charge up another shot it was destroyed by a blast from Galvatrons own cannon.
"DON'T YOU TAKE NOTICE OF YOUR OWN SURROUNDINGS!?" Galvatron howled as Hot Rod looked at him, seeing the howl to clearly be a mix of pain and fury "STUPID AUTOBOT! IF ONLY YOU MOVED!"
The front of Galvatrons body was a mess of wires and oozing purple Energon, thick arcs of blue electricity bubbled from one split wire to the next before strands of static danced around the burnt, melted edges of the wound where the blast tore through his armour.
He cycled another breath of air through his systems and Hot Rod saw something pop inside the wound prompting Galvatron to hiss and double over, digits curling into his own wound as if trying to pull out his own damaged parts.
"W... Wh... Wha? Did you?" Hot Rod stumbled to his feet barely able to take stock of the situation that just unfolded.
"TAKE IT! You flaming moron!" Galvatron hissed, an Energon stained hand ripping the Matrix from his neck before lobbing at the Autobot "It's what he fears! The ONLY thing he fears!" More blasters snaked their way out of the holes in the walls and before Hot Rod could react Galvatron stood up, "They're here for me, they haven't noticed you yet" He hissed "Moron! MOVE!"
Hot Rod fumbled with the Matrix, his sensors not registering it in his confusion and panic, he felt like he was holding onto it yet holding nothing at all as cupped the thing to his chest.
"MOVE DAMNIT" Flashes of energy suddenly whizzed past him and that was all Hot Rod needed, transforming and placing the Matrix in his driver's seat the Autobot sped down the pathway, noticing that after a mile the firing seemed to stop and a piercing shriek filled the air.
He didn't want to think that…
Was it Galvatron screaming?
Did he really get pushed out of the way of an energy blast… By a Decepticon?
Panic dotted his faceplates and optics with worried heat as he internally begged to whoever was listening that this glowing rock of a Matrix really was the answer and he was told the truth about it; If Unicron feared it then by the primes he hoped this would work.
The walls seemed to pulse and suddenly the tendrils were back on him.
Even if the Matrix was gradually beginning to feel like a comforting presence this most certainly wasn't and Hot Rod spun and swerved to avoid their blasts.
Several bunched up blasters went down as Galvatron shot them, but like a vicious hydra, they regrouped in bigger numbers.
A shot grazed the back of his leg and Galvatron involuntarily found himself buckling from the force of the blast, pain notifications almost blinding him as he tried to stagger back to his pede's; but to his disappointment a majority of the tendrils in front of him had changed direction, chasing after the Autobot.
Blasted child.
Somewhere he'd hoped it would work if some stupid naive Autobot prattled about with the thing, there had to be some reason why it was touted as the Autobot Matrix of leadership.
Alas, he ran into what must've been the runt of proverbial Autobot litter and he didn't feel much hope for his future freedom.
"How… Hmph, I'd say pitiful… But you're a few rungs below that now aren't you?" Galvatron gasped and clamped his hands to his helm, collapsing to his knees once more as Unicron's heavy voice rumbled around his cranial chamber like a localised storm.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" He howled at the surrounding walls.
"Enough? No… You've not nearly had enough! Your agony shall echo through the pages of time as I will teach you the price of crossing ME!" Unicron's voice throbbed once more before cutting out like a popped light.
Something sharp dropped from the ceiling and a spike pierced Galvatrons left pede pinning him to the ground lest he tear his own limb off.
Flashes of red and green buzzed around the rims of Galvatrons vision like an angry swarm of insecticons, a thunderous noise rocked and rolled through his systems building into a terrifying cacophony, heat like he'd never felt before burned through his spinal struts before focusing on his helm.
The familiar feeling of Unicron's signature punishment for failure but the pitch, the whine, the heat, the distortion! It only kept going! Galvatron wasn't even aware he'd begun screaming the signal of pain escaping his vocal unit as his limit was crossed in a split second but he wasn't falling into stasis.
No, Unicron wanted him awake to savour every drop of agony.
Fluids seeped from almost every available exit as Unicron had his way with his toy.
It was exactly what he had been told it was.
A core.
Huge and almost moon like it was supported by a series of veined cables and pulsing meshes in a gigantic cavern, pulsing to an unnatural rhythm.
The blasting tendrils had not followed Hot Rod in here, the risk of causing damage too high to engage in a firefight.
Even transformed Hot Rod stood like a speck against this pulsing sphere, meekly holding the Matrix in his hands, the crystal seemed pitiful and useless in comparison.
What WAS he meant to do with this?
What COULD he do with this?
It shook and wobbled in his hands as Hot Rod couldn't keep himself stable, just thinking about everything that lead him here.
He shouldn't be the one standing here.
Optimus should.
Optimus was the leader, he always would and always will be, even in death, his replacement will surely find no candle to hold to his legacy.
Certainly not a moron like him.
Definitely not the moron who only hastened his demise…
"Curse you!" He hissed clawing at the Matrix in his hands, strained systems begging to just smash the stupid thing and crush it with the weight of his twisted, pained emotions but Hot Rod couldn't bring himself to do it.
The underside of the Matrix had a dark smear across it, the thing had only just been out of the way of the shot that tore Galvatrons chest open.
"Curse you!" Hot Rod hissed again.
As if it wasn't bad enough thinking that he was now potentially responsible for turning the tide against this beast and saving his friends he also had been saved by a damn Decepticon who was either stupid or desperate enough to think he could help in any way possible.
"CURSE YOU FRAGGING ALL!" He howled for a third time grabbing the edges of the Matrix in both hands "I'm not worthy enough to be any sort of leader, but I'm not letting anyone else get hurt or die in here! I don't even know where my friends are! And if it takes sacrificing myself I'll do it for my friends! You better light this dark hour you stupid trinket!" He yanked at the edges of the device, pulling for all his worth.
Only to feel like he was slapped in the face.
"A good leader isn't necessarily the strongest or the most experienced, but the one willing to put others first, to fight for those they care for and for the good of others no matter their misdeeds… So, Arise, Rodimus Prime"
He'd be lying if he said the first thing that went through his processor wasn't a jolt of fear at feeling like a power plant's worth of energy was suddenly just pumped through his system while simultaneously hearing Optimus's voice talk to him from beyond the grave.
Looking at his hands the Matrix had opened it's orange shell, the glimmering crystal within arcing energy and light from him to itself and to the core of Unicron.
And just like that the light stopped and dropped a deafening silence on the place.
A tube popped out of the core as a teal explosion forced it from its place, every available surface shuddered as tubes swelled to abnormal sizes before bursting with the same bright energy, walls collapsed in on themselves and the ceiling crumpled like tissue paper.
It worked, it really worked.
Unicron was dying.
Which meant this place went from 'not the best place to be' to 'the very worst place to be'.
Rodimus felt a chill down his spinal strut as he internally referred to himself by the new name, it would take some getting used to if he survived the fallout of this.
The heart of Unicron began spurting out streams of unidentified… stuff as small explosions peppered its withering surface and the new Prime turned and left the core of the monster to extinguish itself.
Leaving through the way he came in the shaking seemed to only get worse as on the outside Unicron thrashed and tore at himself as bursts of bright energy tore through his systems and burned away at him.
It smelt awful.
Slowing down Rodimus realised it wasn't Unicron creating such a terrible odour prickling at his olfactory sensors.
Half-way down the tunnel and Rodimus encountered what was left of Galvatron, with his new body Rodimus felt almost perplexed at being the same size as the Decepticon.
Although that wasn't helped by his shrunken withered frame.
It seemed Rodimus was wrong to sneer, he had genuine reason to be more afraid of Unicron than he let on.
The hole in his chest let out a continual stream of smoke as did many other lacerations upon his body. Burns covered him like dark claw marks, internal Energon coated his faceplates as the pressure Unicron forced upon him caused it to bubble up and burst from places it was never meant to be, all dried up and stained on along with optical and oral fluids.
His helm coughed out more smoke from its own set of tears, all caused by Galvatron himself as the pain drove him to desperation and vain attempts to physically force Unicron from his processor.
The damage was clearly severe just by looking at him, let alone an internal scan.
Rodimus sighed and Unicron lurched once more.
Not today, Galvatron would live to see some freedom from Unicron's control; Rodimus knew Optimus would not have left him here to die.
Flinching at the arcs of crackling electricity that coated his damaged frame Rodimus found his own upgraded frame handling the extra weight well as he lifted the unresponsive Galvatron over his shoulders and took off once more to find his friends and an exit.
Just in time too, a wall of fizzling teal energy burst up behind him consuming all in its path, slowing down now would mean certain death.
Not that up ahead was any better, it was chaos as the destruction spread destroying every part of the foul monster Unicron that it touched.
"Look!" Up ahead a bunch of figures ran past, but one stopped and pointed to him.
It was Daniel he was safe, so were the others! And they found Spike, Jazz Bumblebee and more too!
Following the young humans gaze the Autobots looked at him in awe, then confusion.
"No time to explain, Autobots! Roll out!" Rodimus found Galvatrons body automatically manoeuvred as he transformed, a bigger alt mode for a bigger body including a trailer like attachment of his own where he now stored cargo.
Without a word he opened up, inviting the two humans in for a faster ride, with confusion the duo did clamber in. Rodimus was faster than their power suits anyway.
Not allowing any time for more questions and potential destruction Rodimus rumbled his engines with force, powering forwards, leading the charge out of their crumbling would-be destroyer. He could vaguely hear Kup give in and utter some remark, but there really wasn't time to listen.
Following his lead, the rest of the Autobots transformed and chased after him, in time to avoid one of Unicron's claws as it was now his turn to tear away at himself in agony.
Sensors indicated he was nearing upon a weaker, thin part of Unicron, it was as good as any as the green panel came into view. Giving his new engines another boost of power Rodimus burst through, shattering the optical lens of Unicron's other optic and sailing out into space above Cybertron.
"You cannot!... Destroy… My DesstiinnyyyyaaaUUUUGH!" Unicrons words pierced the echoes of space as he writhed in a last bout of agony before his body crumbled under the pressure and exploded out in a fantastic display of cosmic destruction, the energy waves seemed ironically harmless to the free-falling Autobots who instead rode the wave down onto Cybertron's surface only tumbling a few times before shielding themselves from the ensuing rain of mechanical parts expelled from Unicron's body.
And that was it.
Unicron was gone, Cybertron was quiet, not another being in sight.
"Hot… Rod?" Daniel was first to pipe up bringing the attention of all the Autobots to him as the cars crowded around him.
Kup was first to transform.
"As I was saying, I knew you had potential kid!" He gave a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, but I was kinda hoping you meant that in some kind of cool stunt-performer way… this is going to take some getting used to…" Rodimus gave a slight pause, opening his hood and letting the two humans out.
"Okay, that's great and all, but what the frag are you doing with HIM?!" Springer cut through the conversation and right to the point, even going as far to point almost accusingly at Rodimus's trailer.
"He helped me… Saved me even, and paid a price for it… Optimus wouldn't have lef… no, I decided it was wrong to leave him there in such a state! How about that, my second act as Rodimus Prime, after destroying Unicron and it was to help a Decepticon! At the very least I can try and barter some kind of peace treaty out of him for saving his aft in return right?... Right?"
All the Autobots and humans looked at him confused, nervous, worried and a little at a loss for words or thoughts.
Rodimus didn't really blame them, it had been a wild ride, after all, a wild ride that ended with him being their new leader too, but it would be wrong to pull rank at such a time, instead, a dirty orange shape landing in the distance provided a thankful distraction.
"Look Ultra Magnus is back with the Junkions" He shuffled on his wheels slightly feeling only slightly relieved when a few of them turned to look at the landing Junkion craft.
"It's okay kid, uh, Prime, It's just the stress making them act like that" Kup stood next to him and patted the roof of his cab "Optimus would be proud of ya' for helping others in need, regardless of who they are."
Rodimus smiled, remembering the moments of becoming Prime.
"I know he would"