Decepticon Rhapsody

by Lynx Traveller

My submission to Waywards Mary Sue contest. please R&R while I gouge out my eyes (revised edn.).

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Hasbro still does.

Well, this is the final version of this fic; I've revised most of the parts that I was unhappy about, and I'm pretty happy with it now.

For all those who didn't know about it, this will be my submittal piece to Wayward Insecticons Mary Sue contest.

I'm still not too sure on how she's running this contest; I think that the fics are to be put on display on her site and are open to the general public to read and vote for the best one. Her site is www.insecticons.com

Anyway, I wish everyone that enters good luck.

One last thing, Tempest is MALE. I've had a few people think that he's female. I think that this was mostly due to my generalising the term 'Mary Sue'. In effect, he's a 'Gary Stu'.

On with the fic.

………

"Ok, we're all done here, lets close the ports and get off this rock."

I shot a look over at Stalemate; he never did like this planet.

I couldn't really blame him, but I knew that I'd miss the place.

Not that where we were headed next was going to be any better.

There were four of us on this mission; Stalemate, Stormcloud, Venom, and myself.

Technically, we were Decepticons, but we'd been away from Cybertron so long that I don't know if I'll ever adjust.

Of course, that's where we're headed now that our mission is finally over.

"So, what'cha gonna do when we get home Tempest?"
Stormcloud ruffled the back of my 'hair'; he was like a big brother to me.

"Dunno, what about you?"

"First thing I'm gonna do is take a long oil bath; I've got so much grit in my joints that I can barely transform."

I knew the big lug was exaggerating, but I still knew what he meant.

We'd been ordered out to this planet nearly a thousand astrals ago for geological research and to see if it was viable to set up a base here for long-term energy production.

It wasn't. Although the ground was stable enough to support a facility, and the orbit of this world meant that there was only a temperature variation of about 40°c, the nature of the place would soon get to anyone stationed here.

For instance, there was very little metal; only in a few open fissures and below the soil. It wouldn't be viable to strip mine the place to get to it. The only other source of materials was titanium; it was found in great quantities in the sand along the shoreline, assuming that sufficient filters could be set up to harvest it.

Of course, nothing could stop the base from actually being built; it had been decided before we even left Cybertron that nothing we found could stop it, our mission was simply to get an idea of what to expect.

Thwack, "Hey kid, snap out of it, didn't you hear what I said?"
I rubbed the back of my head painfully, Venom was a real control freak and the only female on our mission; if you weren't already doing what she wanted before she gave the order then she'd get slap-happy.

"Sorry Ven', I was thinking about home."

The femme's facial features softened, "It's ok kid, so was I."

Of the four of us I was the youngest; barely a million years old when I was chosen for this mission.

"But that's still no excuse. Go check the boosters."

"I thought Stalemate already checked them half a mega ago."

"He did, but I want you to check them again."

I got up to head rearwards; Stormcloud got up to help out.

"What'cha think we're gonna find when we get home?"
"What do you mean?"

"I mean the Autobots; remember that big protest they had when we left. You think they've forgotten it by now?"

I know I had. I hadn't met many Autobots in my lifetime, but from what I'd heard they were a bit trigger-happy. Tension had been mounting between both sides for a while, and although no one had been hurt by the time that we left, it was getting very close.

"What was their problem anyway?"

"You know them; their archaic beliefs that we should stay on Cybertron and look after it, rather than expanding the empire."

I nodded; Stormcloud was far more knowledgeable about such things than I was; most of my knowledge came from datatracks and such.

"Anyway, we'd better get to work."

………

I looked out the viewport and sighed; this place had been home for so long, and now I'd never see it again.

That was of course assuming that everything worked; our ship had been converted to a land base semi-permanently on arrival. Whilst theoretically all our changes had been reverted, the fact that so many components hadn't been used in so long meant that they probably weren't up to standards; Venom had spent the last three days reprogramming the comms computer so that it could handle more than just rudimentary land communication again. The engines had been set up as a fusion furnace, it had taken the four of use a little over three months to undo the changes and even then half of the mods had to be left in place just to keep it running.

Of course, originally we were supposed to be retrieved; it was only a fluke insight by Stalemate that we didn't strip the ship for parts on arrival.

"Strap yourselves in boys, this rides about to begin."
There was a distant rumbling deep in the belly of the ship as the engines spluttered to life.

986 astrals of dust and grit slid off the outer hull as the vibrations through the hull picked up.

"Systems nominal. Manifold pressure at eighty six percent and climbing."

"Booster temperature is well within limits."

I tapped the screen in front of me until it flickered and stayed on, the static quickly clearing.

"Hull integrity is withstanding, at least we haven't shaken ourself apart yet."

"Don't count your troops before they're built kid."

The boost pressure was slowly increased, all four of us keeping our optics trained on the screen in front of us, lasercores in our throats in case we picked up any anomalies.

Suddenly there was a sickening lurch as my station reported several large stress fractures appearing in the hull. There was a distant booming sound, and the screech of tearing metal.

I undid my harness and ran back towards the turbolift to the engine room.

The ship listed suddenly to one side, throwing me off my feet. I stared out the nearest viewport in horror as the blue ocean rushed up to meet us.

………

I tried to activate my optics, but my systems were still trying to clean the last of the static out of themselves.

I managed to get one operational and looked out through cracked optic glass.

"Where am I?"

There was a shuffling sound off to one side, I couldn't yet get my optic to track, so I couldn't see anything more than a ceiling that looked way too high.

"State your name and function."

Function? What was my function?
I finally managed to turn my head ever so slightly to see who was addressing me.

The bot was blue all over and looked rather chunky; all my crewmates were seekers and thus were fairly sleek looking.

"Name and function."

"Tempest. Military geologist."

The bot didn't even nod. I couldn't read his expression behind his facemask, but I gathered by his monotone voice that it would be impassive even without the mask.

My other optic chose that moment to come online. I glanced around at my surroundings.

There were several bots standing around that I didn't recognise; there were three seekers, but they appeared to be of a later model than we were.

There were several bots that I couldn't guess their transforms; the blue bot had four smaller bots with him, and there appeared to be six greenish bots standing by Monitors that I realised I was hooked up to.

I tried to sit, but one of the green bots quickly pushed be back down, "There'll be plenty of time for that later."

Just then the door opened, admitting a silver bot that although I'd never met him, I knew exactly who he was.

"Soundwave, you reported that the patient was back online?"

"Yes mighty Megatron."

I took a long look at the bot named Megatron. When I'd left Cybertron, this particular mech was just becoming known. It was rumoured that he was a strong and capable leader, and he had a lot of backing from the elders. If war were to break out with the Autobots, then this bot would have been the one with the most backing to lead.

"Where am I?"

"This is the Underbase. Decepticon headquarters here on earth."

"Earth?"

The bot didn't seem like he was going to elaborate.

"Why are you here?"

I put a hand to my head, it hurt to try and remember.

"Megatron, go away, the patient needs rest. You can come back here later."

Megatron shot the green bot an angry look, but headed out the door anyway.

"You two Soundwave. Both of you will get a chance to interrogate him later. Until he's no longer my patient however, you will follow the rules of my medbay."

The blue bot rounded on his heels and motioned for the four smaller bots to follow him out, the blue and red ones turned at the door and pulled faces before ducking out.

The green mech shot a look over at the other seekers as if contemplating sending them out as well, but they weren't paying any attention to me, rather sitting quietly in the corner.

"What did Megatron mean by Decepticon headquarters on Earth?"

The bot that had kicked everyone out had gone over to check the equipment, but another one was closer at hand and answered my question. He looked odd, with what looked like a tail behind him.

"Um, I don't think I should be telling you anything without Megatron being here, but we found a crashed ship buried under the ocean off Fiji. You were inside in stasis lock. We've just spent the last two weeks trying to get you functional again."

"Fiji? Wait, what year is this?"

The green mech told me, if I hadn't been lying down, I would have fallen off the table.
I'd been in stasis for almost eight million years.

………

It was a few days later before they'd let me leave the infirmary. Megatron was keen to find out what I was doing here and what I knew, which wasn't much.

Basically, although I was military personnel, I was more in the exploration and geo-surveying area; I could still fight, but I wasn't necessarily a warrior.

Starscream stopped up ahead, before launching into another rant and kicking the wall until it dented. Megatron had handed me over to the seekers to deal with, which was something that the Air Commander wasn't too happy with.

"Stupid Megatron. I'm a warrior, why should I have to look after a tech."

"You were a scientist once Screamer."
Starscream rounded on the black jet, "I told you never to mention that. I'm a warrior now, I have no interest in science anymore."

The black and the blue jets shot each other a look, but the four of us continued on our way.

Although my original alt. mode was an earlier-model 1-C class seeker, with broader, rounded edges, unlike the later 2-B and 2-C seekers which were more angular, it was felt that I'd fit in more if I had an alt. mode that suited this planets denser atmosphere better.

As yet I hadn't had a chance to fly, which was where the four of us were headed now.

"Stupid Megatron."

The elevator broke the surface of the water, before the external hatch opened.

I shielded my optics from the glare before slowly lowering my hand.

The sky looked almost exactly as I remembered it, if maybe a little less blue, and a little more hazy.

The other three transformed into identical aircraft, none of which were nearly as sleek as even my older frame.

I shot one look back at the elevator before transforming.

I'd been told that my new alt. mode was based off a human YF-12A, which was the progenitor to the SR-71. Unlike the later, larger recon aircraft however, the YF-12A was designed as a mach 4 interceptor, and was easily capable of mach 3.36. Still not a scratch on the Cybertronian seekers, but it was the fastest human vehicle which still had combat value.

In robot mode, I was mostly all black, with a slight amount of silver on my chest, and red lines tracing across the jet's panel lines. Where the almond-shaped cockpit was was the only spot of gold; the original aircraft having a gold layer to channel any radar waves off the cockpit to the absorptive paint and thus adding to the almost perfect radar invisibility.

I still retained the chest-length synthetic strands which resembled organic hair. Most of the other Decepticons around the base had said that they made me look too human for their liking, and several had offered to get rid of them.

I usually kept them tied back in a long ponytail down my back.

My optics were still the burning azure colour that they'd always been, and set off my organic-looking face just perfectly.

I still had my seeker strakes on either side of my head, but they were smaller and more rounded than the later models. Technically my new alt. mode didn't need them, but they were a major part of seeker aesthetics; to remove them would remove the very essence of being a seeker.

Most of the transform was kept on my back as a sort of backpack, only non-removable. The jet wings still curved up from my back in true Cybertronian fashion, but were a lot more rounded, almost circular at the tips.

The nose of the craft formed my chest as it was supposed to.

I transformed, taking great pleasure in a feeling I hadn't felt in over eight million years.

I fell forward as I shifted, my feet retracting and thinning out to become the rear fuselage. My wings rotated 180° and flattened out so that they matched up with my feet. My backpack swung down to form the upper rear fuselage and also the massive engine nacelles. My chest swung out to where my head was to become the jet nose as my arms folded over my back to take up the space left by the nose, and also to form the front gussets for the wings.

Finally, the weapons bays that were on my robot forearms aligned themselves along my underbelly, with two each side, four in total.

"You ready?"
I grinned, but no one could see it. I ignited my engines, noting with satisfaction the low growl as they idled.

Starscream was already in the air as the three of us lined up side by side.

Thundercracker took off first followed by Skywarp. I was last.

I powered up the massive engines, noting that they were at least four times larger than my seeker engines. I could tell that I wouldn't get much fuel time with them.

"Hey speedball, slow down eh?"

"Sorry."
I checked my speed, allowing the other three to catch up.

"Remember rookie, we're not on a joy flight here; we're on recon over one of the human power stations for an attack planned later this afternoon."

I felt a pang of sadness at that; I hadn't been briefed on any mission, simply waved over by Starscream when we headed for the lift. I would have loved to spend a few hours playing after being cramped up in the base for so long.

I checked my scanners, noting that the air seemed slightly denser than when I'd last flown on my own wings. Particle scans revealed that there was a lot more dust in the air.

"This planet had any geothermal activity lately?"

Starscream snorted and the other two remained silent.

I soon got the answer to my question however.

Up ahead I could see four vertical plumes of black smoke. I thought at first that they were from a geothermal vent, but as I neared I realised their true origin.

The four smokestacks were pumping out tons of straight carbon, as well as carbon monoxide, dioxide, and several other harmful gasses.

"There's the target."

I looked in shock at the building ahead of us; if the humans polluted this much just to make power, then it certainly explained the atmosphere. I was also willing to bet that there was a fair amount of ozone depletion to go with it.

The four of us transformed mid air, I free-fell for perhaps a hundred meters before my backpack ignited, keeping me at a hover.

Skywarp teleported inside while the rest of us waited outside. Just to amuse myself, I did a sensor sweep of the facility.

Skywarp was clearly visible inside, but he was currently in an area unoccupied by the humans.

I switched to Infrared and scanned the base, picking up several heat signatures from the humans.

They were about two meters tall, and like all other organisms on this planet were organic.

"Fleshlings."

I shot a glance at my commanding officer, noting the distain in his voice.

I turned my attention back to the power station just as Skywarp phased back out and took up formation as we headed back to base.

On the way I manoeuvred closer to Thundercracker. He seemed like the nicest one of the lot.

"Thundercracker, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure kid."
"When I was found, were. Were there any others?"

I got the impression that the jet was studying me closely.

"Nope, it was just you. Why?"

"No reason."
Later that afternoon the Decepticons hit the power station hard. The humans fled before they could sustain many casualties, and fortunately there were no deaths.

………

It was a few weeks later and work had finally slackened off.

I'd learned that there were Autobots on this planet and that we were currently at war with them.

I hadn't actually seen any yet; most of our raids were designed to be hit and fade attacks; hit them fast, gather as much energon as possible in a set time limit, and get out before the Autobots could arrive, despite the fact that we might need another raid later to get a full load.

Even so, Megatron had finally given me some time off, and rather than waste it hanging around the base, I decided to head out flying.

I'd noticed with disappointment when I'd pulled a map up of the planet that the island known as Fiji was roughly a quarter of the planet away; even at my top speed it would still take several hours.

Which is why I had Frenzy covering for me.

I flew lower as I approached the vicinity of the islands, dumping speed to stop from over-heating in the lower, denser atmosphere.

The ocean was a pale blue colour, and from this height I could see quite deeply into the clear water.

Even still, it took the better part on an hour to finally locate the ship.

I transformed before landing on the shore. Nothing looked like it had when I'd last been here, but the Nemesis II's computer had told me that these were the coordinates that my ship had been found at.

The ship was about a click out, about a hundred meters below the surface.

Even though it wasn't that deep, it still meant that I'd have to go swimming.

I groaned at the prospect; although we were built to withstand more than a bit of water, the salt had a bad tendency to cake up when it dried off. Not a nice feeling to try and transform with caked salt through the hinge lines.

I decided to get it over with and waded out.

The coordinates were more or less accurate, and once in the area I had no trouble finding the wreckage.

There were pieces of it everywhere, spread over about a hectare; apparently I'd been found washed up closer to shore, away from the wreckage.

Still, the others were strapped in when we hit, so they should have still been with the rest of the wreckage.

I found them about an hour later. Or at least, what was left of them.

Venom's command station was collapsed in on itself, the seat mangled in amongst the wreckage.

Stalemate was crushed beyond recognition, the only reason I knew it was him was because it was his command chair.

Stormcloud was nowhere to be found, after another hour of searching all I could find was a torn off wing and a piece of carapace.

………

"How'd it go?"

I sighed and shook my head, the small red bot looked saddened for a nano, before brightening.

"Megatron was looking for you."
"What'd you tell him?"

"I told him to go find Screamer."

"So?"
"Screamer was in Meg's command chair at the time 'practicing'."

I smiled, although I hadn't really gotten to know that many bots yet, I'd learned pretty quickly how everything worked.

"Where's Starscreech now?"

"The Constructicons are still patching him up."
"Thanks Frenzy."

"No prob. You owe me remember."

I sighed, everything had a price.

………

"I was looking for you Tempest."

I looked up from where I was working, "I was out flying."
Megatron gave me an odd look that told that he knew better.

"Most of the bots in this base operate their own agenda. The only reason that I don't worry about most of them is that few of them are really a threat. It would be wise for you not to follow the trend."
"Yes Megatron."

The leader turned and left, I grumbled at the thought of being reprimanded; Megs hadn't even bothered to find out what I'd been doing, and yet he'd just openly branded me a usurper.

"Don't let it bother you."
I glanced behind me in surprise at where the black seeker was standing.

"How long have you been there?"
"Long enough."

"Megatron send you to keep an eye on me?"
Thundercracker laughed, "No, nothing like that. Actually I was bored and I thought I'd come bug you for a while."

"Thanks."

"Hey, don't worry about it; at least if Megs thinks you're plotting against him, than that makes you one of the seekers."

"Thanks, I think. Why does Megatron keep so many bots around that plan against him?"

"Megs believes that he should keep his enemies close, and his 'friends' closer."
"The only difference between an enemy and a friend is that the friend will stab you in the front."
"Something like that. The other reason is that he'd have no troops left if he went around vaping everyone that looked at him sideways."

"I see."

"Hey, lighten up will ya? Life isn't supposed to be so formal. Anyway, 'Warps probably looking for me, I'll catch you later."

"Or'xiw-tza."
TC paused at the door, but didn't turn around. Finally he shrugged and left.

I grinned after him; I guess it'd been a long time since he'd heard formal Cybertronian.

Then again, it'd been even longer since I'd heard it either.

………

"And then there's Windcharger, he's a real hot-head and loves to boast about beating us 'cons, but in truth the braggart can't even shoot straight."

I'd asked Blitzwing about the Autobots about eight hours ago, now I wish I hadn't. He'd gone through each one in detail, even down to the insults that worked best against each one. That part was kinda fun, but the rest was almost as boring as one of Venoms lectures.

I'd had good reason to ask at the time; The Autobots were beginning to reduce their response time to our little raids; several 'con's had been fired on as they'd retreated, and they were getting quicker and quicker.

The real reason for the sudden interest was that Starscream had thrown his energon cubes at the Autobots in a fleeting gesture yesterday, and as a result all available hands had to be ready for a large strike this afternoon; we wouldn't be leaving until we'd made up the loss, which almost assured that we'd run into the Autobots.

"Windcharger is immediately enthusiastic about anything, but loses interest very quickly. If you want to annoy him, rub his nose in it."

I nodded absently, staring at the door, willing someone to walk through it and interrupt us.

"Hey Tempest, us seekers are going on recon, you coming?"

I blinked and stared at Skywarp as he stood in the doorway, taking a few seconds to realise that my mind wasn't playing tricks.

"Uh, yeah. Blitzwing, I'll catch you later."

The commando grumbled something before heading out the opposite door to do his own things.

………

I was assigned guard duty while the other Decepticons raided the power plant.

Frenzy kicked at a stone, almost hitting Rumble.

"Hey, watch it."

"Sorry."

Frenzy grinned at his brother's back when he turned back around; obviously he'd done it on purpose.

"Why'd we get stuck with guard duty?"

I shot the cassette a grin, "because you're too small and would get underfoot otherwise."

Both cassettes rounded on me, "Yeah, and what about you?"
"I'm here to stop you two from fighting and letting your guard down."

"Why you."
Both cassettes flew at me, tackling me to the ground.

I sat up laughing, as did the twins. Decepticons didn't play as much as they used to; it was one of the things that I missed most.

"Tell us what Cybertron was like?"
I opened my mouth to answer, just as I caught sight of a rapidly approaching dust cloud.

"Heads up guys."
Several of the Decepticons inside flew out through the hole they'd made, leaving others inside to finish collecting energon.

The Constructicons cheered and merged, as did the Combaticons and the Stunticons.

With three Gestalten on our side, it was felt that we'd have the firepower to hold the Autobots off for at least long enough. I had to worry about the Gestalten though; even if they were painfully stupid, the latter two would be just as happy stomping Decepticons as Autobots.

The fighting was as intense on the ground as it was in the air; Starscream had stayed inside to help with the energon, which left three seekers against five Aerialbots and Powerglide.

Powerglide was easily taken out; one of my missiles nailed him in the midsection, causing him to plummet before he even got within range.

The rest of the Aerialbots weren't as easy; I could tell that they'd rather be down fighting Menasor, and that anticipation made them want to dispatch us all the more quickly.

Silverbolt dropped down on my tail, his nose gun firing away.

I opened the throttle, trying to leave him behind.

Mach 3.5.

Mach 4.

Mach 4.3.

"C'mon, he's got to have a limit." Telling myself that didn't help anyway as I began to overheat in the lower atmosphere.

"Got to decelerate."

I powered down, forcing the Aerialbot leader to overshoot. A shot from my black-beam gun nailed him in the tailcone.

"Decepticons, we've got what we came for. Retreat."

My attention wavered for a second as I glanced over to the power station. Unfortunately it was a second too long as one of Fireflights shots caught me under the wing. I remained conscious for a millisecond after impact before going into stasis lock.

…

"The Decepticreeps waking up."

I opened my optics and immediately shot up, only to be dragged back down by the restraints on my arms and legs.

My first thought was to deactivate myself rather than be caught, but reason won through.

I glance up at the imposing blue face of Optimus Prime.

Prime read something in my optics, "You don't hate me, do you."

I shook my head, "I have no fight with you."
I only knew of this bot from what the others had told me; he'd been chosen by the Autobot high council to lead the counter strike against the Decepticons. He was also one of the Primes, and thus was a Matrix-bearer.

"Our scouts reported seeing a new seeker with the Decepticons. Where did you come from?"
"Our ship crashed here approximately eight million years ago."

"Our? Are there more of you?"

I shook my head sadly.

Prime seemed to be thinking things over in his head.

"Eight million years. That would have been before the final falling out with the Decepticons."

I nodded, "When we left Cybertron, tension was still rising. Prima was still the Matrix-bearer."

Prime nodded, "Maximo killed Prima and tried to take the Matrix from him. If it's been that long since you've seen Cybertron then you would have still had a free choice of allegiance?"

I contemplated that; whilst it was true that I was a Decepticon out of choice, I still felt some allegiance to them and that was why I stayed.

"I suppose."

Prime nodded, but didn't say any more.

………

Although I was still their prisoner, the Autobots finally let me out of the brig. I still had a guard of course, who stayed with me 24/7 to prevent me from escaping.

Prime had made sure that I was shown a lot of Autobot propaganda; I knew what he was trying to achieve, but I also knew just how deceitful the Autobots could be. Still, I had to admit that they had a few good points; some of the atrocities that the Decepticons had committed over the years were just inexcusable.

Not that the Autobots were saints themselves.

Finally I managed to escape; the Decepticons had attacked a civilian target, prompting all but a skeleton crew to leave. I easily slipped out and flew off at max speed; none of the cars could catch me.

One thing that had been troubling me the whole time was why Megatron hadn't tried to rescue me; I knew better than to sit around waiting to be rescued, but even still I would have felt that Decepticon camaraderie meant at least something these days.

As I approached the battle zone, I could tell the fighting was intense. I transformed and readied my weapons, but instead just watched, unsure which to side with.

On one hand the Autobots had a point; the Decepticons weren't as loyal to each other as they had once been, and they had committed many, many atrocities. On the other hand, the Autobots weren't as innocent as they told everyone they were. They'd had their fair share of carnage; whole sectors of Decepticon civilians wiped out by militant Autobots. Even some of the neutral sections had been attacked in case they sided with the Decepticons.

Another down-point for the Autobots was the way they clung to their old beliefs almost fanatically; the machines left behind by the creators was a perfect example; they idolised Vector-sigma, and they were still heavily against all space exploration; believing all efforts should be put into protecting Cybertron.

Finally Megatron called the retreat. Even though I'd only watched the battle, I still followed.

………

"You didn't participate in today's battle Tempest. I know you were there."

Megatron's directness caught me off guard and as a result I rounded on him before I got a chance to catch myself.

"I also notice that in the months that I was imprisoned that you made no effort to rescue me. What ever happened to the Decepticon meaning?"
"Tread very carefully Tempest."

"I get it, you're afraid that I'll defect and so you're gonna threaten me so that I stay with the Decepticons."

Megatrons right hook sent me into the wall. He took a battle stance, waiting for me to challenge him, but didn't level his fusion cannon.

"That wasn't necessary. I'm still loyal to the Decepticon cause, even if you aren't."

Megatron looked stunned. Whether it was because he was expecting a physical retaliation instead of a verbal one, or whether I simply caught him off guard it was hard to tell.

"What are you implying?"
"I'm not implying anything, I'm merely stating that the Decepticon ideals seem to have been rewritten in the last eight million years."

Megatron regained his composure and sneered, "You think you could do a better job of leading? Come take it."

"I'm not going to fight you. We both know you're physically stronger than I am, so the only thing your beating me up would prove would be to set an example for the others and to make more work for the Constructicons."

Again Megatron looked startled that I wouldn't accept his challenge.

I glanced around; most of the rest of the fleet had gathered to watch. Whether they wanted to see a fight or were just there to see how far I'd go was anyone's guess.

Megatron also glanced at his troops, knowing that he was quickly losing face.

"I'm calling you out Tempest. If your Decepticon honour still means anything you will know you can't back down from a formal challenge without the consequences of being disavowed and discredited."

Several of the other Decepticons nodded to each other, knowing Megatron had me there; if I backed out I would be stripped of everything; title, allegiance, rank. My seeker strakes would be cut off and I'd be turned out. Everything that symbolised 'Decepticon' would be taken from me if I refused. I'd also be branded a coward, which would be the worst insult.

On the other hand, if I fought and lost, the result would be the same; I'd be at Megatrons mercy. At least, he'd exile me, at most he had the right to kill me where I stood.

Starscream was grinning, eagerly anticipating my next move. He would love to see Megatron discredited, even though everyone in the room knew I didn't stand a chance. The question was therefore what I would do; either way I would be disreputed and Megatron would again hold strutting rights.

There was still one option left however.

"Very well Megatron, I accept your challenge. However I will not fight you."

Megatron grinned triumphantly, "What are you going to do? Just stand there and take it?"

I nodded.

Megatron flew at me, again knocking me to the ground. He proceeded to pummel me from all sides.

The crowd was cheering us on, a quick glance at them showed that my plan was working.

Megatron also noticed this.

"Fight back."

I grinned up at him through cracked optics. I'd accepted his challenge, but by refusing to fight back it just showed him up as a bully who liked picking on bots weaker than himself. He would accomplish nothing beating a defenceless bot.

"FIGHT BACK!"
I didn't even try to defend myself, just taking every hit as it came.

I lifted my chin with pride, knowing that even if I terminated I would never succumb and dishonour the Decepticon ideals.

Megatron started beating me around the head. Frustrated that every hit that I didn't move to stop simply worsened his standing with the troops, yet he continued to vent that frustration on me until long after I'd gone offline.

………

I know this scene…

I was again in the repair bay, but this time I was alone with the Constructicons.

"Hold still slag it."

I complied with Hooks request, knowing that I'd be heavily berated if I made him make a mistake.

Finally he finished the final repairs and let me up.

"How long was I out?"

"Three days. No one wanted to interrupt Megatron when he was in a blind rage, but then Screamer tripped over his own feet, breaking Megatron's concentration."

I nodded, "I wouldn't have expected anyone to interfere with a formal challenge, but I'm grateful to Screamer."

"So are we, he saved us a lot of work. Mixmaster no!"

The chemist looked up sheepishly from where he was standing, about to pour oil all over the Monitors.

"I wanted wanted wanted wanted to see what would hap hap hap happen."
"You'd make more work for the rest of us is what would happen. Get away from there."
I excused myself and walked out, leaving the Constructicons to their own business.

As the door closed I heard the sound of electrical equipment shorting and Hook yelling.

As I walked down the hallway to my quarters I noticed something.

All the bots were nodding in my direction and giving me confident looks, as if I'd single-handedly won the war.

Starscream was at my door, and gave a low bow as I walked past.

………

Whilst it was well within Megatrons rights to exile me, no one had seen anything of him since after the fight; he'd apparently locked himself in his quarters and refused to come out.

My plan had worked better than expected; not only had I saved face, but I'd earned the respect of the rest of the fleet. There wasn't anything Megatron could do about it, or to me without compounding the problem.

As a result, no one had made any attempt to stop me when I decided to get away from the base for a bit.

I flew for about an hour, trying to get as much distance from the Underbase as I could.

Finally I spotted a tranquil lake up in the mountains and transformed, landing near the water.

I gazed at my reflection, the almost human-looking face gazing back, optics sparkling in the light.

"Looking for us us?"

I quickly spun around to where the Insecticons were busily eating not more than ten meters from where I'd landed.

"Not really." In truth I must've landed nearly on top of them, yet I didn't even notice.

I'd never actually met them, but I'd been told enough about them by the others to know that they were annoying pests that thought with their stomachs. Even now they were busily devouring a large tree that must've been hundreds of years old.

Bombshell took another bite, "So, we're supposed to believe that with all the places in the world that we could be, you have to land almost on top of us when you're not looking for us?"

"Think what you want, I know what I'm here for."

Kickback spoke up, "Someone doesn't sound too happy."
I sighed, I didn't really want to talk to the Insecticons, but they 'were' still Decepticons after all, and I had a lot on my mind that I needed to share.

"I guess that I've been questioning my allegiance lately."

"Don't want to be a Decepticon anymore?"
"No, that's just the point. I'm still a Decepticon, but the rest of them have changed so much that I'm not sure if I want to be a part of them anymore."

"You sound like us us."
"Hmm." I didn't really know if I liked being likened to these pests.

"Pity you don't have an insect mode, then you could become an Insecticon. Ask the Constructicons to build you one."

"Uh, thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Kickback took another bite, before talking with his mouth full, " Hmm, so, what are you looking for in the Decepticons then?"
I'd heard that Kickback was a master of wheedling things out of people, but I didn't mind too much; there was no one that he could use anything against me with anyway.

"To me, being a Decepticon means something; camaraderie, friendship, trust. It seems like that's all been forgotten."

"Hmm. A Decepticon with Autobot sensibilities, how satirical."

"Yeah, thanks."
"Anyone ever tell you you look like a human?"
"I really hadn't noticed."

The weevil laughed deep in his throat, spraying wood chips everywhere.

The three insects spread their wings and flew off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

After about an hour, I heard a noise, glancing up I noticed a blue Autobot sitting about a hundred meters away dipping his fingers in the water.

Slag, what is it with quiet tranquil spots where you can be alone with your thoughts and other bots in the same place?

I sighed and got up, walking over.

"Hey Beachcomber."

The Autobot looked shocked and tried to back away, fumbling with his weapon.

"Relax. This is a nice spot isn't it?"

"Uh yeah."

I sat down near the spot that he'd gotten up from. After he realised that I wasn't going to try anything he sat back down.

"It really is a beautiful spot isn't it?"

I nodded.

"See how the sunlight just hits the crest of the water, making it sparkle?"

I again nodded.

"This planet really is beautiful. Why must you Decepticons be so insistent on destroying it?"

"That's a bit harsh. We're not all like Megatron. I was a geologist too you know."

"I didn't. You're not like the other Decepticons, you know that?"

"Why must everyone remind me?"

"You're much more like an."

"If you say 'Autobot' I'll shoot you myself."

"Ah, alright."

We both gazed out over the water for a while.

"I guess you're not really like the other Autobots either eh?"
"Not really. I'd much prefer to be somewhere peaceful alone."

I thought I caught slight hint to his tone, but it was gone before I was sure.

"I was actually here before you."
"Ah well, I guess that it's too nicer spot to think that you'd be alone here anyway."
Just then Beachcombers radio chimed.

The Autobot looked exasperated, "I came all this way for some peace and quiet, and I still can't get away."

I nodded as he answered it.

"I gotta go."

"I'll come with you if you like."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Don't worry. I think Primes actually expecting me to show up at some stage, 'when' being the only question."

"Alright then"

We decided to walk back; we weren't really that far away, and there was no way that I could slow down enough in jet mode to keep pace with the smaller Autobot, which would have meant I'd have arrived back at the Ark first.

While I walked I pondered how I'd managed to get so close to the Ark when I was just flying around aimlessly.

As soon as the Autobots caught site of me I was surrounded and taken to Prime, I didn't try to resist.

Prime motioned for the others to let me go.

"I thought you'd come back."

"Yeah well, I'm not here to defect."

Prime looked slightly taken aback.

"You're not?"

"No, but the Decepticon meaning as I know it has no value anymore. Megatron is only interested in his own agenda. I'm prepared to side with the Autobots, but I want to make it quite clear that I am, and will always be a Decepticon. If that isn't to your liking, then I ask you to let me leave peacefully."
"Whilst I'd rather it if you actually defected, I understand what you mean by being a Decepticon. I'm prepared however to trust you, and I therefore respect your wishes."

I nodded in thanks.

"Anyway, since you're here, you can help out with something."

I followed the Autobot commander to where the mighty Teletran 1 was situated.

"During the time that we were in stasis, we received word that a huge head had entered orbit around Cybertron. Both sides attempted to make contact with it, but it was apparently heavily shielded; any bot that got too close was overloaded and knocked into stasis."

"However, we have just received a report that the shield has been lowered. The resistance is putting up enough of a fight on Cybertron that the Decepticons have yet to notice it."

"So you want me to go take a look?"

"I'm not finished yet. Almost at the same instant that the shield was dropped we picked up an enormous energy force in deep space. It seems to be heading towards Cybertron. We have confirmation that the energy signatures of the shield and this new entity are a very close match. We were thinking of sneaking aboard the spacebridge and checking it out, but with your help it would be a lot easier."

"You're putting a lot of trust on me when I've yet to prove myself to you."

"I still haven't finished. We received reports a short while ago that the Decepticon forces have captured a few of the female Autobots, including Elita-1. She's scheduled for interrogation and then termination; Shockwave can't risk her getting loose again. Cybertron is closer to the anomaly than we are, so if you could help us with Elita-1, then hopefully the resistance could help us find out what the energy signature is."

I sighed, life was never easy. Although tempted, I managed to restrain myself from asking if there was anything else. Just in case there was.

………

Originally I was thinking of pulling a favour with Astrotrain to get me a ride, but it turned out that he was guarding the spacebridge when I went to ask him, so I wound up simply taking the spacebridge.

The metallic doors swung open after probably the weirdest ride I'd ever had.

Thundercracker had told me all about the rusty old Monitor who took care of the spacebridge and was also the one responsible for Cybertron in Megatron's absence.

Technically I didn't have clearance to be here; no matter what had happened three days ago, I would have been blasted down to my boots if I'd had the gall to ask Megatron for clearance to use the spacebridge.

As a result, I knew I'd have to do some fast-talking to avoid suspicion from the Monitor.

Shockwave looked up from his workplace as I stepped out of the spacebridge. I didn't give him a chance to check my clearance.

"Out of my way Monitor, I haven't got time to deal with you."
"Hold it right there you."

"No, you hold it. My business is too important to waste time explaining it to you. You want an explanation, contact my commander. I'm sure he'll be all too happy to give his favourite lackey the reprimanding that I would if I had time, now stand aside, or I'll mount your Cyclops head on my wall and use your stupid optic as a nightlight."

The Monitor blinked his optic in annoyance, before turning back to his work.

As I marched out the door, I heard him clearly make some derogatory comment about seeker arrogance. I didn't hang around long enough to retaliate.

Finding the holding cell wasn't as hard as I thought it would be; almost all of Cybertron was powered down, much to my disgust. When I'd left it, the place was beautiful; lights everywhere, awe-inspiring crystal cities that friends of mine had helped to design.

Now even the metallic buildings looked worn down. There was no rain as humans knew it on Cybertron; the acid rain actually helped to cleanse the buildings. Even still, they looked worse for wear.

As a result, the only place that had even the remotest appearance of being a prison was the Monitors tower itself.

The few sentinels that were guarding the door were easy to deal with; even though they were too stupid to be fooled like Shockwave, it was easy enough to produce official-looking documents that I knew I'd need before I left Earth and thus had made up in preparation.

In annoyance, I found that the actual prison complex was wired through the Monitors tower; I'd need clearance from the eyeball just to open the necessary doors.

I found a communicator and tried the same trick again.

"Shockwave you rotting Cyclops, take your monocle out and open this slagging door. Megatron wants the prisoner delivered to Earth without fuss."
This time the purple bot just shrugged off the insult and went straight to the communicator.

My lasercore leapt to my throat as I saw Megatron's face appear in the viewscreen that was visible through the communicator camera.

"What do you want Satan. I mean Shockwave?"

Shockwave let out a long suffering sigh before answering in his all-too upper class voice.

"One of your seekers is up here throwing his weight around and trying to tell me that you ordered the prisoner to be delivered to you."

Megatrons optics narrowed, "One of my Seekers, which one? It better not be Starscream again."
"I don't know this one. He looks like an earlier model with a large engine pack on his back."
Megatrons optics were so narrow they were almost closed.

"That would be Tempest."

"I see."

"Shockwave."

Megatrons voice seethed with anger and was lowered so much that I could barely hear it. The monitor leaned closer to hear better.

"NEVER QUESTION MY ORDERS AGAIN. I WANT THAT PRISONER AND I WANT HER NOW!!! DO WHAT TEMPEST WANTS OR I'LL LEAVE HIM UP THERE WITH YOU PERMANENTLY AS YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER."

Shockwave reeled back. Even from my end my audios were burning.

"Yes Megatron."

The communication ended and I relaxed so much my knees nearly buckled.

I would 'really' owe Frenzy big time when I got home.

Even though the Monitor had been yelled at he still had his pride, and thus kept me waiting just enough to inconvenience me before opening the door.

Although Elita-1 had been there long enough for the interrogation to begin, when she dragged her head up with an effort to regard me I could still read the defiance in her optics.

"So, Shockwave tired of doing his own dirty work? I must say, a scrawny bot like you wouldn't have been my choice to continue an interrogation."

I was slightly irritated, but it was to be expected, "My names Tempest, Prime sent me."

The effect was immediate; I would never have guessed that the bot on the floor of the cell could gather up enough strength to move that quickly.

"Optimus? Where is he?"
"Back on Earth, but he sent me to get you out."
"A Decepticon?" I could sense the disappointment in her voice that Prime wasn't here.

"It's a long story. Now hurry, I gotta get you out before Shockwave wakes up that it was Frenzy on the line."

"Frenzy? Soundwaves punk? I must've really missed something here. Lead the way."
As we walked, I explained the significance of my visit. Elita-1 was slightly annoyed that I wasn't taking her to Earth, but she understood.

Even still I was forced to power down my optics whilst we were taken to the resistance' base; it wouldn't have been the first time that Shockwave had let a prisoner escape just to track them.

Finally our transport stopped and I felt a tracking scanner pass over me before we continued for another 5 cycles.

At last the optical suppressor was removed and I got my first glimpse of the Autobot resistance.

Most of them were youngish females; they'd all seen their fair share of battle, and many wore wounds that had never been attended to with pride; the battle-scars were almost trophies.

There were a few males around the place, but what got me in was their facilities, or lack thereof.

Most of the equipment looked like they'd made it themselves; in many cases they had. I could see innumerable gutted sentinels and other menials lying around the place, their cores hooked up to the systems to provide power.

I shook my head sadly; to think that this was what my homeworld was reduced to.

I'd idly wondered what reception I'd get when I arrived; I was still a Decepticon, and these were still Autobots.

Not to disappoint, a red and yellow bot got up and waved a blaster under my nose.

"What've we got here then?"
"Firestar, put the blaster down. This is Tempest, Prime sent him to get me out."

"I had help."

"Riiight. I'd rather not know any more about the way you Decepticreeps live if it's all the same to you."
"Anyway, enough of the chat, I'm actually here for a reason. Prime want's to know if we can use your long-range facilities."

"For Prime, anything. For you, not a chance."
I sighed; this was going to be a long night.

Finally we managed to contact prime and get everything sorted out. The resistance had been more worried about getting Elita-1 back than they were about the anomaly, but once Prime brought attention to it, there was a flurry of activity.

The anomaly seemed to be accelerating; it would be here in a little less than six months.

A full analysis of the energy field revealed that it was indeed very similar to the power source of the floating head, and to a lesser degree, it even shared similarities with the Matrix and Vector-sigma.

Then the big breakthrough happened; we managed to gain control of one of the Decepticon observation satellites and turn it in the direction of the anomalies origin.

What we found were traces of fifty or more similar signatures, all deceased. The Anomaly was definitely heading towards Cybertron. It didn't take a genius to realise that it was coming here for a purpose.

………

I gazed out at the starry night where the head was just beginning to rise over the Horizon. Elita-1 was with me; we'd been spending a lot of time together. We enjoyed each other's company, and if circumstances had been different, probably could have even been bondmates.

I shot a look up at the head as it rotated lazily so that it's blank optics were facing us, giving the impression that it was gazing condescendingly down on us.

It was a cold night, Elita moved closer. I didn't mind.

Something had been troubling me; there was a puzzle here that I just couldn't figure out.

When I'd been active before the war, there were many religions. Most of them got wiped out during the wars, but there was one sect that preached the coming of the Chaos bringer. I'd looked into the Cybertronian archives for the Chaos bringer and had found what I'd thought to be a myth.

It was apparently the manuscript of the dawning of time; at the time I thought that it was just something that some bot had written whilst over-energised.

Parts of it did make sense though; it said that Primus was the one that had given us sentience and helped us rebel against the creators. It also said that Primus was one of many lasercores; only he and another weren't war-like.

All the others were fiercely territorial and immensely violent. Primus and his brother were found by a being named Primacron, who took them in. Primus apparently was able to spark new life, and thus was valued by Primacron. His brother however was unable and grew jealous, eventually to the point where they became mortal enemies; he stole a prototype planetoid that could fuel itself off space debris that Primacron and Primus had been working on, before laying waste to the facility and destroying all Primus' offspring. This fallen god was apparently the Chaos bringer.

I'd gotten the Autobot slicers onto it and they'd pulled all they could from Shockwaves computers, and had even gone on a raid to several other archives to see if anything could be retrieved. All in all we'd found a lot of stuff, but it only compounded the mystery.

Suddenly something clicked. Everything fell into place.

I sat up with a start, Elita falling heavily over from leaning on me too much.

"Sorry."

"Hmm, what's on your mind?"
"I've just figured it out."
"Figured what?"
"We've been going about this all wrong. I automatically assumed that this entity that's approaching Cybertron was the Chaos bringer. What if he's not?"

"What do you mean? Who else could be?"

"That's just it. Until now we've regarded the head as nothing; it hasn't entered into the equation. What if he's the Chaos bringer?"
"If he was, wouldn't he have tried to destroy Cybertron by now?"
"Not necessarily. What if he's waiting for something?"
"Ok, assuming you're right, then what's the entity then?"
"There were many other sparks; the warlike territorial ones. We assumed that they wiped each other out. But what if one survived? If that one was victorious over all it's siblings, then that would make it extremely powerful."

"I hope you're not saying what I think you are."
"Something's disturbed it, and now it's headed this way to finish the job by killing Primus."
I took a long gaze up at the head as it orbited above us, before coming to a decision.

"I gotta go."
………

Initially part of my mission whilst I was up here was to investigate the head, but I'd been so wrapped up in trying to figure out what it all meant that I hadn't gotten a chance.

The shield was still down fortunately, but there were several scattered sentinel carcasses just inside the hallway, meaning that Shockwave 'had' tried to figure it out.

I carefully avoided the traps that had caught the sentinels; they were easy to spot, simply designed to take out anything non-sentient.

"WELCOME."
The massive voice nearly shook me off my feet.

"I. AM UNICRON."
I picked myself up off the floor. My legs were beginning to get tired from the vibrations of the voice so I activated my backpack, hovering a few feet off the ground.

I made my way forward down the corridor until I entered a vast room with a glowing shaft in the middle. I guessed it must have been the heads brain.

"What do you want, child of Primus."

The voice wasn't as strong here, but it still commanded authority.

"I've come here for a purpose."
"I gathered as much. What do you want?"
"Partially to know what 'you' are doing here?"

The voice was silent for a long while, making me think that he was ignoring me.

Finally he spoke again, "Do you know who I am?"
"I know that you're the one they call the Chaos bringer."

"That I am."

"I also know that you're here to destroy Cybertron."

"Correct."

"We will resist you you know."
"How very noble of you. But you don't have to worry; it will be a long time before our final battle."
"Then what are you doing here?"

"Fifteen years from now, in a different timeline I arrived to destroy my brother Primus. That time I underestimated the resourcefulness of Primus' children. One of them was able to access the Matrix and destroy me. I used my last bit of power to travel back in time to warn myself that the attack was premature. I put myself in stasis until it was time. I will finish what I began, for it is my destiny. However, if there's one thing I know its patience."

Well that explained a lot.

"You do know that your sibling is on his way here?"
I gazed out the massive cracked optic at the view of Cybertron as the head rotated slowly in it's natural orbit until it appeared to be gazing in the direction of the anomaly.

"No. It cannot be."
I sensed something akin to panic in the behemoths voice.

"I'm assuming you were unaware?"
"Foolish creature. It was one of your people who awakened him."
"How?"
"Three hundred years from now a robot from Cybertron will attempt to alter time by destroying the current Matrix bearer. He will fail, but the resulting time vortex was what awoke me from my slumber. It is also what awoke Him."
I still sensed a tinge of fear in his voice.

"Who is He?"
"In the beginning of time, there was one lasercore. That one split into many offspring. Primus and myself were two of them."

"I know all that."

"You know nothing. The others were fierce fighters, it was primal rage. But there was one who had actual intelligence. Whilst the others fought he hung back, finally stepping in and destroying the weakened victor. Once all the other lasercores were extinguished he put himself into a deep slumber in a region of space that even I never dared to enter. Now he's awake and has sensed our presence. He is on his way here to finish what he begun."

"Who is he?"

"He calls himself Moloch."

"Is there any way to stop him?"
"You think that a head and a shrivelled up planet will be defence against Him?"
"Then give me the power to resist him."

"Very well. I will do this, but only because it is beneficial to me to do so. Don't think though that it will be easy; alone you don't stand a chance."

I felt a strange tingling, which quickly became a burning pain.

It was as if I was viewing myself from outside my body. The inside of the head faded to black and then was overlayed with a purple grid pattern that seemed to be on infinite planes all at once.

I watched in horror as my armour was simply melted from my body, leaving my understructure unprotected.

The grid seemed to extend over my own form, warping it, morphing it into a completely different form.

My body grew taller and broader. More sleeker than any seeker had ever been. The only thing that remained the same was my face. If anything, my optics grew a deeper hue.

Finally the armour was returned, wrapping around the swift, nimble form.

Finally the spark casing on the chest opened and I flew back in.

"Behold. Tempest Maximo. Bearer of the Decepticon Matrix. Jewel of the warrior class."
I could sense immense power in this form. Not even the Autobot Matrix could stop me now.

I let out a powerful laugh, simply exulting in the feeling of being alive.

The pillar in the middle of the room seemed to split, the top and bottom halves screwing into the floor and ceiling slightly to create a small cavity.

I'd never seen a Matrix before, yet I knew what it was instantly.

The object that flew out looked like an obsidian sphere with a pair of golden handles on it. It's oily surface seemed far too reflective in the dim light.

But that wasn't the most of it. Inside the casing was just visible the true power; a deep amethyst crystal, glowing with it's own energy.

Even from this distance I could feel it's immense power; this power stemmed from Unicrons very essence. It truly was the most precious thing that any Avatar of Unicron had been given.

"Go now. Warn your friends."

Without looking back I transformed.

My new form resembled the human F-19 Stealer, an advanced stealth aircraft whose very existence was debatable.

There were no sharp corners anywhere on this new form; everything was curved. Even the wings arced gracefully down at the tips.

I ignited the engines and blasted out of there. As I left, I thought I could hear laughter.

………

Elita was still sitting where I'd left here, dangling her legs over the edge of the building we were on top of.

I transformed silently and walked up behind her. She didn't hear me coming.

"I'm back."
Elita turned around at my slightly deeper voice before regarding me in shock.

"Tempest?"

"I'm a Maximo now."
"Maximo?"
Whilst it was true that there was only one 'real' Maximo, and he was still alive, that one had also been a Decepticon able to access Primus' Matrix. Unicron tainted him and made him evil, so that he killed Prima and tried to take the Matrix for himself.

"Unicron has given me the power to defend Cybertron. I now carry his Matrix."
Elita looked a little unsure of herself as I sat down beside her again.

"Who's Unicron?"
I didn't answer, instead pointing upwards.

Life at the base was no different from usual, except that most of the bots acted slightly different around me than they used to. Whether it was awe or fear I couldn't tell.

A few months went past and nothing had happened; Megatron had reappeared after my disappearance and was causing trouble as usual.

Megatron. How I'd like to rip his head from his spine.

I caught myself at the thought; it had been happening a lot lately. Firstly I'd just thought that it was because of my increased power, but I'd managed to keep that under control; I hadn't misused it even once.

I glanced around the base, noting all the Autobots hard at work.

My master would be happy to have slaves like these.

………

Whilst recharging the night before, I'd dreamt about destroying Vector Sigma. It had happened almost every night for a week.

Currently I was out fighting Shockwaves sentinels alone. I knew that it was foolish, but it was either that or do something drastic to my colleagues.

I knew that Shockwave could probably see me through the sentinels, but I didn't care; it just made it more fun to see the expressions on their mechanical faces as I ripped them apart. Besides, I looked completely different from my old form, how could the Monitor possibly tell who I was?

I couldn't explain why, but whenever Elita made her report to Prime I caught glimpses of myself standing over his lifeless body, crushed Matrix in my hand.

I stopped mid battle, allowing the remaining sentinels to swarm me. I didn't pay any attention to them

Instead my attention was focused on the orbiting head above me.

I knew what I had to do. With one last sweep that took out several of the swarming sentinels I transformed, jetting up towards the head.

"Welcome Tempest."

"What have you done to me?"
"I gave you want you wanted."

"I didn't want this."

"Everything has a price. You will destroy Moloch. And then you will destroy the Autobot Matrix."
"No."
"You don't have a choice. I failed with Maximo because I gave him too much of my essence, causing him to rebel. I failed with Galvatron because I tried to control him physically whilst letting him keep his own mind. I won't make those mistakes again."
"Refuse."

"You can't. I reprogrammed your core to obey me. You have no choice; to alter the program would kill you."

………

Elita gazed at me in shock as I told her this. I'd half expected Unicron to have a price, but I actually believed him when he told me that it was in his interests to give me the power.

I took the Decepticon Matrix out and studied it.

If I'd been back on Earth I'd probably have thrown it in a lake, but I knew that wouldn't help; I still needed it, and it wasn't what was causing my problems.

"Is there some way to rewrite it?"
"Unicron said that any attempts to alter my programming would be fatal."

"Is there any way to fight it?"

"You don't think I've been trying?? Sorry, I'm a little bit snappy at the moment."

Elita nodded, fully understanding.

"Just maybe…"

I pulled my pistol from subspace, before putting it to my temple and firing.

………

The blackness faded, I appeared to be again standing on the purple grid.

"That was pretty foolish."

I rounded on the voice that I knew all too well.

Unicorn was standing there, for once I could see his full form, he was impressive, to say the least.

The God took a step towards me; he was only slightly taller than I was here.

"What were you thinking? Did you honestly think that you could defeat me?"
"I will."
Unicron laughed, "I guess I failed again; I really must find a way to remove the rebellious streak from my avatars."

The god raised his hand, pinching his fingers together in mid air.

I fell to the ground, pain sweeping through mind and body.

"We have two choices here. Either I destroy what's left of your mind, Moloch comes and we all perish, or you obey me and take out both my brothers for me."

"Never."
"Very well. You've made your decision."
The dark god crushed his hand into a tight fist. I could feel my life force draining.

Elita…

Suddenly the pain ceased. I heard a startled cry and glanced up.

Elita was standing over Unicron, who was lying flat on his back.

The Chaos Bringer made an effort to stand; Elita kicked him in the head.

"Release Tempest."

Despite his predicament, Unicron laughed.

"Fool. This is Tempests mind, I control it. You're just an apparition created by him. I can easily crush you."
"Go ahead. But you have no hold over me. If you destroy me here you'll destroy both Tempest and yourself."
She again kicked him.

Unicron rolled onto his side, regarding first me and then Elita. He was in pretty bad shape; it was evident that what Elita said was true; although this was my mind and she was only how I mentally perceived her, the fact that I had such strong ties with her was enough to give her power; with her as my mental pillar of support, the two of us could force Unicron back."

"Leave now."
The god got up on all fours, coughing up mech fluid.

"Very well, but don't think that you've won yet."

Unicron faded, followed by Elita. I was the last to go.

………

I really must avoid doing things that get me here.

I sat up in the Autobots infirmary. At least it wasn't the Constructicons med bay this time.

Elita was there, watching me wearily.

"How do you feel?"

"Better."

"What ever possessed you to try and kill yourself?"

I sat up laughing, Elita looked at me strangely.

"To die was the furthest thing from my mind. It worked. He's gone."

Elita recovered and smiled.

"What happened?"

"It was all thanks to you. I managed to beat him."

Elita grabbed me in a tight embrace; we stayed that way for several cycles.
Finally it ended, I got up off the table and headed out the door.

"Anyway, we'd probably better get ready. It'll be here in a weeks time."

Elita nodded; I didn't need to elaborate who 'It' was.

Prime and the other Autobots were contacted and we arranged for them to use the spacebridge whilst I distracted Shockwave.

The Monitor didn't seem too pleased to hear from me; I hadn't checked in after taking charge of Elita-1. I probably should have at least reported that I'd lost her en route, but I just couldn't have been bothered. I left the visual off on my communication and after a long lecture about seeker incompetence, I finally managed to get my message across.

Anyway, I told the big purple fool that I'd pinned down an Autobot patrol and required assistance. As I'd expected, Shockwave decided to head out himself and investigate.

Whilst he was gone we slipped into his tower and let the other Autobots through.

We managed to get almost the entire fleet through, only leaving a handful of troops behind to report any Decepticon activity.

"Tempest?"

I glanced over at Prime, taking no satisfaction in his confused look.

This was the first time Prime had seen me since my transformation; I'd always made sure I was off-camera when we contacted the Autobots.

"Yeah, it's me."
"What happened?"
I opened my chest and took out the object of my power, bathing the control tower in the deep purple glow.

"The Decepticon Matrix."
"You can explain it all later, we'd better get out of here before Shockwave returns."

………

"C'mon Prime, we've got something to show you."

Prime sighed and allowed himself to be dragged along by the small tech.

"Elita should be the one to show you, but she's already there, so she sent me. You too Tempest."
The two of us were lead along by the enthusiastic teenage bot.

She ran ahead and opened a door that I'd never been through; it wasn't that I didn't have access, I'd just never had enough time to ask what was behind it.

Elita met us inside before the four of us headed through another security door, before finally arriving at a massive armour-concrete gate.

Elita accessed the security panel and it slid noisily to one side.

We all shielded our optics from the light inside; the techs needed the bright flood lamps to see properly what they were doing.

As our optics adjusted to the light, we were met with an amazing site.

Standing upright in a support frame to which it was actually bolted to during construction was the largest non-guardian bot that I'd ever seen.

"This is the Godbomber project. So secret that not even Alpha Trion knows we have it."

"Where'd it come from?"

"We made it, it's taken the best part of a million years, but we've finally done it."

I walked up to the bot, running my hands lightly along the freshly applied paint.

"What's it for?"

"Originally we'd designed it to make up for the Guardians that Megatron destroyed; it was designed to be the ultimate weapon against the Decepticons; a tool which we could use to sweep the entire Decepticon Armada, uh, present company accepted."

I nodded.

"The only problem is that we have no way to spark it, so we've gone one better."

Elita walked up to a console before activating it.

The hatch on the massive bot opened, admitting a small space. A bot could fit, but it'd be a cramped fit.

"Prime, if you would."

Optimus stepped up to the access elevator, which lifted him to the small cockpit.

Once inside, the already-cramped space conformed itself even tighter around it's occupant.
"The system uses a pilot who is hard-wired into the Godbombers network. It allows seamless interface, and basically becomes an extension of the pilots own body. It also draws power from the pilot and amplifies it; Prime, with you and your Matrix it should help even the odds a bit."
Prime closed a hand, noting that the hand which could easily hold one of us closed.

The Godbomber was still bolted to the construction jig, so movement was severely limited, but it didn't detract any from the demonstration.

Prime opened the hatch and jumped to the ground.

"It still isn't fully ready; we haven't installed any of the battle protocols yet, or any of the extended weaponry, but it should be ready for use in a few days."

Prime nodded his gratitude and we walked out.

………

I was currently sitting up on top of one of the largest buildings in the district, looking out over my fractured planet.

It still hurt me to see it like this, but I knew that it would get a lot worse if we failed.

"Something on your mind?"
I glanced behind me as Elita climbed up to the tower to sit beside me.

"Just thinking."

We both glanced over at the ominous head as it rose majestically over the horizon.

"This night remind you of anything?"
Actually it did; it was uncannily similar to that night so many weeks ago.

"Prime didn't seem too happy when you told him what the Decepticon Matrix is."

It was true; my Matrix was the exact opposite of everything his stood for; where his symbolised Unity, mine spoke destruction. Where his represented life, mine was desolation.

Luckily the destructive power would be useful in the upcoming battle, but what would happen after I opened it was anyone's guess.

"You're being quiet tonight."

Hmm? Oh yeah, I guess I am."
And now that Prime was back I had no idea where I stood; I knew Elita still had feelings for him, but she still preferred my company when she could get away from her obligations.

Prime. If it were in my nature, I'd probably hate you now.

Not because I was jealous or anything shallow like that, just because. I could tell that he wanted to reprimand me, or at least voice his displeasure somehow at my becoming a Matrix-bearer.

Slag it, I 'knew' I'd made a deal with the devil in the most literal sense, but it didn't mean I needed an Autobot to point it out. Him and the rest of them probably thought 'typical Decepticon', simply taking whatever power I could get, but it wasn't like that; I wanted nothing more than to return to the way I was. I'd only taken the Matrix to save my -and their- planet after all.

But all things considered I didn't hate him; I couldn't. He cared for his Autobots, and even if the Autobots were misguided in many ways, he was still doing the best he could.

Without saying another word to Elita I transformed and flew off.

I knew that there was still one thing left for me to do before everything came to a close, but I'd left it until last.

The spacebridge opened on the familiar terrain.

I breathed in the air of the planet that I regarded as home.

I knew that what I had planned would be difficult, and I also knew that I'd achieve the greatest effect if I came in fast and hard.

I didn't want to fight Megatron, but I knew that if it came down to it I might have to; we needed all the help we could get, even if it meant Autobots and Decepticons fighting side by side.

I flew toward the Underbase at about four times the speed of my previous mode, before accessing the remote lift.

Megatron was in his control room when I thrust the door open with a loud clang.

"Who dares?"
"I do Megatron."

"Tempest. So, the traitor has returned."

"You're the only Traitor here Megatron; a traitor to yourself. I'm still a Decepticon."
"Not in my army you're not."

"Which is the very reason I'm here."

"You going to challenge me again?"

I could sense the fear in his voice, but I didn't play on it.

"I still stand by my belief that the strong beating the weak proves nothing. I will not fight you, but I will be taking leadership."

Megatron sneered, "You're not going to fight me, but you're taking my troops. And how do you plan that."

"I believe that they'll side with the right cause."

Megatron laughed, it wasn't the forced scared laughter from before, but a genuine amusement.

"My dear Tempest, do you actually believe that that will happen? Still as noble to your cause as ever I see."
By this time most of the fleet had scrambled over each other to get a better look.

I took a close look at their faces. I could see that many of them were sick of Megatron, sick of his war, but I could also see that they were still loyal to him.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

Suddenly Frenzy pushed his way to the front, before stepping in front of me protectively.

Rumble soon did the same, much to Soundwaves disapproval.

Megatron sneered and levelled his fusion cannon at the two bots.

They raised their chins defiantly, prepared to die for what they believed in true Decepticon fashion.

Megatron fired; I dove over them protectively, the blast passing clean through my wing but missing the twins.

Soundwave was outraged that Megatron would fire on his cassettes without provocation.

I could see that he wasn't the only one; many others around the base hated the tapes, but they were still the smallest Decepticons, and their last remnants of the old codes told them to protect their own.

"Decepticons, attack the traitor."

No one moved.

Megatron stood at his throne, glaring at the fleet.

"You dare defy me? I'll kill you all."

Megatron levelled his gun menacingly at the crowd, before bringing it to rest at the nearest one, who happened to be Starscream."
"Starscream, you've always stood in my way. Prepare to meet Primus."

Before he fired however Thundercracker and Blitzwing stood in front of him protectively.

"You want to die too? So be it."
Astrotrain and Soundwave also stepped in front of their comrades.

I allowed myself a brief section of satisfaction; they were beginning to behave like true Decepticons.

"You can't kill us all Megatron."

"Wanna bet?"

Skywarp and the Constructicons also joined the group.

"Maybe not, but I can still kill your leader."
The deadly weapon was again levelled at my head.

The Stunticons quickly stood in front of me, as did the others, pushing me to the back.

Megatron was still visible over the top of his troops, but he couldn't get a good shot.

Many of the bots who had acted spontaneously to protect their comrades were now looking to me to see what to do next.

I simply turned on my heels and headed out, the others following me.

"Come back, I command it."
Onslaught turned at the door, "You command nothing Megatron, you've lost our confidence. You were a poor leader from the start, Starscream was right to stand up to you."
With that we left.

The bout of camaraderie didn't last long though; halfway to the spacebridge a fight broke out near the rear.

I quickly dropped back to break it up.

"You're all Decepticons here, why fight? We have more important things to deal with at the moment."

………

The Decepticons still didn't like the Autobots, and the Autobots wouldn't let the cons near their base, but with both factions' leaders working towards a common goal we managed to work it out.

Moloch would be here in a little under 48 hours, yet the Godbomber still wasn't ready. We'd need to hold Him off for at least a short while until it was ready.

Which meant that the beginning of the battle would be the hardest.

I looked out over the troops; the seekers were showing the Autobots who had flight modes how to fly effectively, whilst the Autobots were sharing their precious stored energon with the cons.

If it weren't for the fact that we were facing such a dangerous force, I would have almost smiled; it looked almost as if the war was over.

I knew however that it was only because we were fighting a common foe, I doubted that it would last afterwards.

But then again, stranger things had happened.

Elita and I were sharing a final brief moment on one of the buildings. She should have been helping getting the Godbomber ready, but she was taking one last moment to enjoy herself; just in case.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Hmm?"

"The way we're united."

"Yeah."

"I wasn't taking about the troops."

She moved closer, I didn't pull away.

I still didn't know where I stood; Elita had showed nothing more than a brief interest in Prime since he'd arrived, yet I knew that there was still something there.

And as long as there was there was no space for me.

Sure I could easily take Elita away from Prime, but as much as I didn't really agree with him on too many things, it still wouldn't be very honourable to him.

The noble thing would be just to step away and let the two sort it out.

Just then both our comms beeped, calling us both away to different parts of the base.

………

We still had a few hours left, and as such we were rushing to finish final preparations.

The Godbomber would need at least twenty minutes longer than we had, which meant that we would probably lose a lot of troops before then.

Luckily we'd managed to 'persuade' Shockwave to give us his sentinels. Whilst the monitor wasn't too happy with the power changes in the Decepticon ranks, he did agree to give us any resources we needed, an offer we'd been making the most of.

"Warning. Entity will enter Cybertron space in less than eight minutes."

There was a mad rushing to the battlestations, anything not finished in time just dropped.

We managed to get a visual feed on it as it came within twenty thousand kilometres.

The thing was massive. I'd expected a ball of almost solid energy to give off as much as we'd detected, and for it to be vaguely spark-shaped.

Instead it was a massive robot, large enough to simply swallow Cybertron.

It wasn't that it was immensely powerful; merely that it was so huge.

But still, power was power, and we were about to get a much better view of it.

As Moloch drew within range, the whole outer layer peeled away as the attack ships which rode parasitically on the massive bot readied themselves for battle.

Most of the ships were at least the size of the Ark, but other than a few escort capitals the rest were landers; our ground troops would have their work cut out for them if too many of them made it through the defence screen.

All those who could transformed to intercept the incoming ships, as well as about a thousand sentinels.

I cast one last glance back at the troops taking off; although it would have been better to conserve my energy, I couldn't condemn my troops to death without being there.

My massive engines stirred the atmosphere as I jetted skyward.

Starscream was at the head of our forces as I dropped in beside him.

"How's it going?"

"Shouldn't you be back getting ready?"
"Yep, but I couldn't let you have all the glory."
The jet grinned back at me as we closed on the enemy.

As the enemy drew nearer, I flipped through my CD collection, finally selecting Linkin Park's 'In the end' and playing it across the comms to the rest of the fleet.

I let loose with a volley of stinger missiles, the spread caught one of the escorts full on, tearing it apart.

From the look of things, most of their construction was put into offensive strategy, not defensive. As a result they were fairly soft skinned; the loss of a few wouldn't be enough to worry the massive size of the whole armada's victory.

Which just meant that we had to make their losses bad enough to actually hurt them.

Starscream peeled off to the right, firing his null rays at the nearest craft. Over the past few days the seeker had matured immensely; having something to actually fight for rather than whining under Megatron had brought out his full potential.

I opened up with my blaze cannons before banking slightly and allowing the stream of depleted uranium rounds to play across multiple targets.

There were escorts exploding everywhere as our troops scored numerous hits. Unfortunately we were also taking about the same number if hits; if things kept up this way it would come down to being a numbers game; a game we just couldn't hope to compete with.

I fired off a few tac-nukes into the cloud of approaching ships, noting with satisfaction the way that they exploded behind the front line, effectively destroying several of the rear ranks and hopefully a few of the landers.

Several of our craft cheered, but their cheers were cut short as one of the ion frigates opened its energy sails and fired the red beam into our midst.

My next volley took it out.

The fighting was growing intense, but I knew my time was growing short; I needed to conserve my energy for the final battle, but I wanted nothing more than to release and let the battle take me fully.

We weren't doing too badly; not as badly as I'd thought. Most of the Sentinels and many of the other menials were destroyed, with several seekers and other craft drifting lifelessly.

Suddenly my comms beeped; I didn't need to answer it to know who it was.

I fired off my remaining nukes before heading back to where I started.

As I landed, I saw the remaining ground troops and those craft which had come back for repairs and reaming lined up waiting for their turn to hand it to the enemy; Cybertron had never seen this much battle activity. I grabbed and energon cube and eagerly drained it.

Prime stood beside me, I could tell that he wanted to be at the head of his troops, but he had to stay back to be ready for the Godbomber.

Elita ran up the stairs and almost straight into me.

"You almost ready?"

"Yes, just another two minutes, but I wanted to talk to you."
Prime moved off to give us some privacy.

I let the femme catch her breath before she continued.

"I was afraid you'd already gone."

"Not quite yet."

"I just wanted to tell you, in case we didn't make it…"

I put a finger to her lips, "I know what you mean, you don't have to say it."

"But what if we don't make it?"
"That's for Primus to decide. Elita I know what you're going to say, I feel the same way."

"You do?"

I nodded, "If circumstances had been different we might have even bonded, but I can tell you and Prime have a good future ahead of you. I can't interfere with that."

"Scrap Prime."

"I know you feel that way, and you'll probably hate me for saying it, but I know we can't be together. It isn't what destiny dictates."

"Tempest, stop being the noble Decepticon for just one minute, you don't have to be the white knight all the time. I know that relationships across factions rarely work out, Primus I'm even prepared to become a Decepticon for you."

That shook me, if she was prepared to give up her faction, the one thing that held meaning to her…

But no, it just couldn't be; too many people needed her for that.

Just then the ground shook as the massive elevator carrying the huge exo-suit emerged, I saw Prime jump into it and the construction jig crumble away as the monster robot shook itself free.

I turned back to Elita, even without tears I could tell she was crying.

"I'm sorry."

With that I shifted and began to fly off.

"Tempest?"

"Yes?"

"I don't hate you."
With that I jetted skyward, guilt and pain tearing me apart inside.

Prime fell into formation beside me, the frame of the Godbomber dwarfing my small body.

With the exo-suit Godmaster Prime and I were almost of equal power; Unicron had given me the power to destroy the bot at the core of it after all.

Even though Prime now had the power, the Godbomber would undoubtedly be slower in combat and we'd have to compensate for that.

As we drew nearer, the battle around us intensified. I fired at a cruiser immediately ahead of us, passing through its expanding debris cloud.

"Don't waste power."
I smiled to myself; Prime just had to reprimand me for something.

"One less that the others will have to deal with."

"Still, we both have a purpose here, best not to get sidetracked."

"You worry about yourself, I've got more than enough power to vape a few more escorts."
Prime had no reply to that.

One of Shockwaves seekers shot past, an engine on fire as he was dogged by a string of missiles from a nearby cruiser.

If we didn't hurry up the casualties were going to be enormous.

Moloch was still approaching Cybertron as a great rate; Prime and I flew up to meet him eye to eye.

I transformed and took up a fighting stance in front of the behemoth.

The monster spoke. It took a while to realise that the voice was in our heads.

"Tempest Maximo. Avatar of Unicron. Bearer of the Decepticon Matrix of desolation.

 Godmaster Prime. Harbinger of Primus. Bearer of the Autobot Matrix of leadership."

Prime shot me a disconcerted glance, I returned it. If this entity was omnipotent, then there was no telling the extent of its power.

Suddenly we felt a tremendous force. We realised with horror that it was sucking us towards its mouth.

………

Being swallowed was not a nice feeling, but rather than winding up in the monsters conversion tank, we wound up in an infinite black nothingness.

"Greetings."

The creature in front of us appeared to be purely made of energy; it had form and definition, but no substance. His head was bowed, he did not raise it as he spoke.

"I am the entity known as Moloch. You two are the heralds of my siblings."

Prime spoke up, "I thought that this entire entity was Moloch."

"Foolish child. This body is nothing more than the vessel. It is a solid form to deal with solid forms. I appear in front of you now in true form. This is the form we Gods take on the astral plane."

"Is this where we are now?"
The creature in front of us laughed. It was a cruel sound.

"This is just one of many planes I exist on. I am infinite. Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end. I was first amongst the siblings, and when the time comes for the end of time, I will be the one who ushers in the next generation, just as Father did for us. The cycle repeats itself, it cannot be broken."

"If not, then why must you attack Primus?"

"It is destiny. The weak give way to the strong. He and his brother should have been the first to go; they were a mutation, a cancer on our existence. I hunted them, but a being from your plane of existence hid them from me."

I gazed around at where we were; it appeared to be complete blackness, yet everything seemed to be lit from all angles.

"Like what you see?"

Moloch finally looked up.

I met his piercing gaze and found myself unable to move.

In one eye was visible the entire galaxy. In the other, was nothingness.

Where we were, wherever we were, was at least a place of existence, but in that eye was more than blackness. It was a complete lack of existence.

Moloch grinned, and for the first time since Unicron had bestowed me with his power, I began to doubt our chances.

"And now. You two will cease to exist."

From the blackness there grew a form. As it approached we could see that it was Cybertron.

Not the Cybertron we knew; this was this planes version. As a result there were no inhabitants, just whatever Primus managed to extend into this realm with him.

Moloch landed silently in front of us. He was still almost completely clear, but occasionally he flickered with something resembling solidity.

I commed Prime privately, "Prime, you have any idea about how this place works?"

"None."

"Me neither, but I'm assuming that to deal with physical beings, he will have to enter a plane where physical rules apply."

"You mean we can damage him here?"

"Possibly."

"If here, then why not back above Cybertron?" I could sense that the Autobot was anxious for his troops.

"Like I said, I haven't figured this place out fully, but I gather that the Gods exist on many planes that we can't touch. If he fought us back on Cybertron, then it's possible that our matrix power would still continue on other planes; destroying us there wouldn't remove all traces of the Matrixes power. Here he can remove us entirely. It also would give him an advantage to bring us to a place he controls."

"Go figure."

Moloch was standing patiently off to one side. I got the impression that he wasn't even bothering waiting; time meant nothing to him.

"You ready to begin?"

He again raised his 'eyes' from the ground to stare at us with those unnerving eyes, we nodded.

"I think I'll go easy on you, just so you think you have a chance before I finish you."

The bot flew at us. I managed to dodge, but Prime was too slow and was hit heavily.

The Godbomber went down on one knee, but managed to stand again. By this time Moloch had focused his attacks on me.

I was lucky the first time, but it was pure luck. The God managed to beat me heavily from all sides before I could even take a defensive posture.

Whilst Prime and I were of equal power, we were far from being matched; what he lacked in manoeuvrability he more than made up in stamina.

Prime fired a particle blast at Moloch, ceasing his barrage of me.

I painfully dragged myself off the ground as the blast signalled the challenge.

I took a few seconds to recover as Godmaster Prime did his best to hold out against the attacks.

Moloch moved so fast that I couldn't see him; it looked like Prime was encased within a purple spark.

As I staggered to my feet I lunged at him, releasing a barrage of my own.

As I'd expected I had no chance of hitting him, but at least it drew his attention away from Prime; any longer and he'd be out of the fight.

Moloch proceeded to move around me in the same fashion, striking at all angles.

I finally managed to lash out with my fist. To my surprise, it connected.

Moloch ceased his onslaught and stared at me. I hadn't done him any damage, but he was clearly shocked that I'd even managed to connect.

"I may have underestimated you two."

With that he shot up into space, before growing to resemble his robotic form.

"NOW YOU WILL WITNESS OBLIVION."

The massive robot began to slowly descend on us.

It was still about sixty times the size of Cybertron, and as it approached it became quite clear that its intentions were simply to crush us against the planet's surface.

As the monster drew nearer, the taller buildings in the district began to be crushed against its surface.

As the taller buildings were reduced to rubble the one eye, which was still visible began to grow out into a swirling vortex.

I didn't need to scan the vortex to tell that beyond it was oblivion; even the Matrixes wouldn't be able to help us in there.

We both began to fire all we had on it, slowing it ever so slightly.

There was a terrible oppressive feeling, like someone had turned up the gravity.

I shot a look at Prime; he was having as much trouble as I was trying to remain standing.

"Use your Matrix!"

I opened my chest as did Prime, taking out the objects of our power.

I had no idea if it would even work here; the Matrix' power was physical, there was no telling what effect it would have.

Prime went first, taking a stance and slipping his fingers into the handle.

There was an increased glow from the blue sphere, even though he was yet to open it.

The light was soothing, almost as if it were Primus himself bathing us in his radiance.

The Vortex seemed to slow down almost to a crawl. It was still about twenty meters away.

"Now. Light our darkest hour."

Prime peeled the casing off the Matrix' core. Instead of a glowing orb however the light shot straight out as a focused beam, the other end wrapping itself around Prime.

The vortex seemed to shrink back slightly, before continuing.

I took one last glance at the object in my hand; the purple crystal at its core was glowing angrily.

I slipped my fingers into the square holes in the handle, noting instantly the increased feeling of power, even though I had yet to open it.

I shot a glance over at Prime; the blue light seemed to be encasing him now and the other end still streaming out into the vortex, as though Prime himself were powering the beam.

I grinned mischievously as I pulled on the handles.

"And now. Darken THEIR lightest hour."

Prime stared at me worriedly as I laughed, my beam extending up to join his.

The two beams focused on the same spot, before rapidly entwining into a singe multicoloured stream.

The Vortex was all but stopped. I could tell that we were having an effect, but it was as if everything were in slow motion; we'd give out long before our Matrixes made a difference.

I could feel the raw power channelling into me from Unicron himself, powering me and giving me the strength to continue.

Suddenly there was a screeching tear; I glanced over at Prime just in time to see the Godbomber's right arm disintegrate.

I realised with a shock that whilst we might have been able to withstand the power from the orbs, the Godbomber was just a power suit after all.

Which meant that very quickly we were going to be doing things the hard way.

The Godbomber finally split and Prime fell out, landing heavily but quickly recovering.

Without the power of the Godbomber Prime was back to normal; his Matrix beam faded to about half its strength.

The vortex once again began moving.

"Prime!"
I redoubled my efforts, I was beginning to feel the effects of such an intense energy drain.

Prime did the same, his comparatively pale beam growing in intensity.

If I was beginning to feel it, then Prime must be nearly exhausted.

We finally managed to halt the swirling mass again.

Just then out of the corner of my eye I saw Prime go down on one knee, his beam almost snuffing out.

"No!"

I rushed over, he was almost dead from power loss and he was still being drained.

I knew I had no chance alone, yet I still tried, breaking off a small part of my beam to help stabilise Prime, whilst still trying to fight the crushing feeling.

My vision was beginning to blur, the vortex was almost close enough to reach up and touch now.

In desperation I reached for Primes Matrix, lying on the ground where it fell.

I drew my hand back as if zapped, before forcing my hand to grip it, despite the pain it caused.

The power drain was intense; I was doing my best to stop the Vortex alone, whilst also trying to stop Prime from terminating.

The vortex was so close now that if I stood to full height my head would be in it.

I knew it was hopeless; I was nearly offline myself, yet I shifted my Matrix to one hand, gripping one in each.

I used the last of my power to access both.

The twin beams again shot out, before binding into one almost black stream.

I went down on one knee, knowing I couldn't hold out any longer.

Suddenly I heard a sound like thunder and someone screamed.

I glanced up just in time to see the vortex above be pierced by the beam, which continued upwards into the behemoth above.

The scream turned into a spark-rending wail as I joined Prime offline, both Matrixes falling from my hands.

………

Slag, not again.

I awoke to white walls, I could hear cheering outside.

I sat up on the medic's bed, just as the door burst open with several medics.

"Tempest! Welcome back to the land of moving parts."
"What happened?"

"Dunno, Cybertron was being squeezed by the monster robot, about half the planet was evacuated, then it just began to blow up. You and Prime were found drifting afterwards within the expanding explosion from the robots head.

"How long?"

"Four months."

"Where's Prime?"

"He recovered about a cycle before you did, prompting us to run in here to see how you were doing."

I sensed a hint of something akin to worship in the medic's voice.

………

The crowd outside the infirmary was deafening as Prime and I exited.

We still had no idea what happened, but apparently just before I went offline Prime had come back online.

He'd told me that he'd seen the beams from the Matrixes pierce the vortex and travel through into Moloch.

The giant robot had apparently begun to fade out of existence. Prime had quickly scooped up both Matrixes and had slung me over his shoulder, jetting upwards towards the shrinking God.

About that time he had also blacked out again, but I'd gathered enough from the medics that the giant robot had begun to blow up from the inside. We'd appeared almost at exactly the same time.

And now we had a planet of ecstatic warriors waiting to greet us.

………

The war was finally over, Cybertron was no longer gripped by war as 'Bot and 'Con threw aside their differences and unified.

I was the one attributed to the feat.

No one had seen Megatron in months; without troops he had no power, and it was only a matter of time before he was rounded up and made to face his crimes.

Cybertron and Earth were planning a long-term peace treaty; Decepticons would no longer have to steal their meals from other planets. In exchange for the energon, Cybertron was to look out for Earth and keep it safe.

I stood at the main balcony overlooking all that I'd accomplished.

People were cheering my name and holding up banners of my face.

Prime had told a slightly biased side of the events; he'd gotten the message across that I was solely responsible for the victory.

It annoyed me slightly; for one thing I didn't like people lying for me, and two, he was a much more deserving leader than I was if he could give it all up to another like that.

I again gazed out over my people; this was my coronation after all.

I could see both Autobot and Decepticon in the crowd cheering me on.

"Citizens."

The cheering grew louder, and then subsided to allow me to speak.

"I would like to thank you for electing me as Emperor, nothing pleases me more than seeing my people united."

The crowd burst out into another round of cheering.

"My first order of business as your ruler however is this; I delegate all my leadership to Optimus Prime."
I shot a glance over my shoulder as where Prime was standing in the shadows with the rest of my overseers; he looked clearly as shocked as the crowd.

Blitzwing shouted out from the crowd, demanding to know why.

"Whilst I'm flattered that you want me to be your leader Prime is much more qualified for the job than I am. I think that given time you'll easily forget about me."

With that I stepped back from the railing as Prime stepped forward.

I decided not to hang around any longer; I had things to do, and it would be better if I slipped away quietly in the confusion.

………

"Tempest, wait."

I slowed down, allowing the larger Autobot to catch up.

Prime fell into stride beside me.

"So that's it, you're leaving us?"

I nodded.

"After all you've done, you've earned anything you want, yet you give it all away to another, why?"

"I have my own destiny to follow."

Prime was silent, allowing me to continue.

I opened my chest and withdrew the Decepticon Matrix. It was still empty, but already I could see a tiny pinprick of purple glowing in the middle of it.

"This Matrix draws on His darkness, already it's filling again. Unicron is still out there somewhere; I can feel him through his Matrix. Every second of my life I'm trying to fight his influence. I have to make it stop. My destiny is not to lead; even if it's futile I must do what I can to prevent the Dark God from ever coming near Cybertron again, even if it means I have to track him to the ends of the galaxy to do so."

Prime nodded.

"I'm not a leader Prime, I never was. At heart, I'm not even a fighter; I'm still just a geo-surveyor. I just did what I had to at the time, and I'm glad I could make a difference. I hope that you can make the others see it that way."

"I'll try."
"Don't worry Optimus; I can sense that your destiny commands you to lead the Cybertronian race. You'll do fine."

Prime nodded once again, remaining silent.

I turned on my heel, staring over Primes shoulder back at the crowd.

"The war's over Prime, for now we're at peace."

"All thanks to you."

I ignored the comment. "But all those who sacrificed themselves for this victory will never return. What a waste. If Autobot and Decepticon had been able to put their differences aside in the first place, the end result would have been the same and countless bots would still be here. Life's cruel that way, isn't it?"

Prime nodded sombrely.

"It's all in your hands now Optimus, I charge you with the task of keeping the peace as long as you can, I know it's a lot to ask, but it'll take a better bot than I to pull it off."

Prime was silent.

"Anyway, I'd better leave before anyone else realises my intentions. If fate is kind enough, we may yet meet again."

With that I transformed and powered up my massive engines.

"Good luck Prime, lead my people well. May Primus watch over you all."

Prime waved a final farewell as I jetted out.

Unbeknownst to me, there was one other who watched my departure from atop a building I'd spent many a cold night on top of.

"Goodbye Tempest. I hope you find what you're looking for. Until fate sees it fit to bring you back to us, you can be assured that we'll all be missing you, especially me."

The End.

Well, what'd you think?? This is my first ever Mary Sue (Gary Sue) fic.

I hope that if you read this that you'll go to Wayward's site and have a look at the other entrants; I've had a look at some of them and most seem to be very good (or very bad, depending on how you view it ;)

Lynx.