Redemption Part 0: Exile
Yep, time for a redo of this story! If you haven't heard yet, this is a reboot in a sense of a much older story I did a while ago that I kind of stopped updating for various reasons. But, I've come back to redo this story, make it less confusing, and just make it better overall. If you're wondering, the core part of the story remians the same, but there are many changes. For example:
-Brand new plot
-Completely different characters that feel less random in a sense I guess?
-Better writing (hopefully)
So yeah, that's it I think. Anyways, enjoy the story!
Disclaimer for whole thing: I don't own anything except the story and any possible made up characters I happen to make later on.
"Megatron, you have been accused of crimes against the species. These crimes include mass genocide, illegal production of banned weapons, approval of unethical experiments, violent torture, creation of a terrorist organization, starting a war that is responsible for the deaths of over 4 billion Cybertronians and countless other beings, and many other atrocities, all of which can be directly attributed to you. How do you plead?" an Autobot soldier asked, listing off all the crimes the Decepticon leader was accused of. He couldn't remember the Autobot's name, but he knew it started with a P. The trial was taking place in a gladiatorial arena in the city of Kaon, bringing back memories and flashbacks to Megatron. He easily recognized it as the arena where his first fight took place.
"Guilty." Megatron said in a monotone voice. Surrounding him was an audience, all of them Autobots or other Cybertronians that had returned home. The Great War was over, and now Cybertronians from every stretch of the galaxy had flown back home, ready to start anew and rebuild their planet, one broken piece at a time. In front of him stood the judge who would be ruling over the court, the same person who was his main rival in the War: Optimus Prime.
"Megatron, you do realize the consequences of your actions, am I not correct? With what you did during this long War, the sentences you could be given are tremendous."
"I'm aware of my current situation, yes. And I'm prepared for the worse, whatever it would be." Megatron responded. Prime stared him down sternly, to which Megatron assumed was supposed to make him uncomfortable. He couldn't blame them, here, the whole audience was made of his former enemies, and people who still hold grudges and have hatred towards him. He killed their friends, people they loved and cared about. Why should he blame them for having those feelings? It appeared Optimus had his verdict.
"Megatron, under Cybertronian law, I sentence you to death via slow spark combustion. Your execution will be private, but your body will be shown to the public as proof of your death. Your execution starts tomorrow." Optimus announced, and upon hearing his death sentence, Megatron remained silent and silently obeyed as Optimus ordered him to be taken away to a prison, where he will be housed until then. A death sentence wasn't anything unexpected, especially for someone like Megatron. The once powerful and unstoppable leader of the ferocious Decepticons, now about to be put to sleep forever silently, as if he just gave up on life…
Megatron was being escorted to his death chamber. The walk there felt long and grueling, and the Decepticon leader just wanted it to pass more quickly than it was right now. His two guards, Jazz and Cliffjumper, were heavily armed and occasionally pushed him if he was distracted. Finally, they reached the room where Optimus and a few Autobots waited.
"Megatron, I'm to ask you what your final wishes, if you have any, would be." Optimus told him. It was an easy answer for Megatron, and he didn't even take time to think.
"No final wishes. Just do what you must."
"Very well. Perceptor, activate the chamber." Optimus told the Autobot scientist, who began typing away at a keyboard. Indicator lights on the machine were starting to glow green, showing signs of being in working condition. The guards nudged Megatron forward, and he obeyed, stepping into the chamber. The door closed behind him, and he turned around to look Optimus in the eye through the small glass window on the door. Perceptor pulled a lever, and Megatron could see liquid pouring into the chamber. The whole thing felt claustrophobic, with the chamber being tight and small compared to his rather tall body structure. Finally, the liquid completely flooded the inside, and Perceptor pulled another lever, and soon Megatron could see flashes of light and energy coursing from within. It all shot into his body, and he could feel himself slipping away slowly from life. He could feel his spark begin to contract, flickering and fading. He had a strange feeling in him, not pain, not relaxation, but something he just couldn't recognize. Soon, his thoughts started to randomly drift, from his past, to the start of the Great War, to the many people he killed...his thoughts all drifted around in his head until they became foggy, and soon enough, Megatron closed his eyes, his sight fading to black…
The crowd roared as they watched Megatron's body, which had been laid on top of a simple slab of metal torn from the wrecks of damaged buildings from the War, be paraded through the streets of Iacon. Many of them were Autobots and neutral Cybertronians, both who hated Megatron and despised the effects of the War he had helped to cause in a big way. A few members of the crowd were Decepticons, many of whom were angry at Megatron's defection and surrender, causing the War to end. Although they didn't admit it, all of them were happy the Great War was over. Many of them had actually become friends with the Autobots, trying to mend their relationship to unify Cybertron. Megatron's execution was the first step in a plan for unification. The crowd mocked Megatron, spitting insults and mockery. No one had come to pay their respects, as they have all come to watch the procession of embarrassment go on it's course. Finally, the four Autobots carrying the slab reached their final destination, a small shuttle. The doors closed behind them, and they dropped the heavy slab. They picked up Megatron's body, two holding him by his shoulders and two holding him by his legs, and they walked over to a small room. The room was quite empty barring some computer consoles and machines hooked up to a large stasis pod. They quickly dumped him inside before shutting the glass door, relieved they didn't need to carry such a heavy load anymore.
"Tired of carrying that spawn of a glitch, especially throughout the whole city." One Autobot said, chuckling a little. He was green, and the tire kibble on his body suggested he had a ground alt mode, most likely a car.
"Damn, I agree. Glad we're done!" Another Autobot agreed, and they both high fived each other. He was yellow, with several wing kibble showing that he transformed into a jet. The other two Autobots there were both blue, and their kibble suggested motorcycle and car alt modes.
"Come on guys, we're about to take off soon." Another Autobot walked in. He was bigger, more well built. The big tires made him look strong, and he had a gruff, war hardened face.
"Yes sir." All four acknowledged. They all got into their seats and readied the ship's engines, which began to purr lightly and have a faint orange glow. Soon enough, more Autobots began to board the ship, and their small crew was ready to take off.
"How are the ship's engines?" The Captain asked the yellow Autobot from before.
"Great. They're at a hundred percent fuel and are in perfect condition."
"Excellent. And the shields and weapon systems?"
"All ready to go. I think we can leave, sir. We just need your word."
"Alright, then let's take off." The Captain ordered, and the crew began to take their stations for preparation for take off. The shuttle began to hover in the air, slowly rising into the sky. Once it was high enough in the sky, flames blasted out of the thrusters as they activated to full speed, and the shuttle disappeared into space.
Later…
"Captain, everything's going smooth. We're heading to our destination at top speed."
"Excellent. If all goes well, we should arrive smoothly." the captain nodded in delight. He sat back down on his chair, located in the middle of the bridge, having a perfect view of the large window in front of the ship. The window was quite thick, so most bullets couldn't penetrate it. Better yet, it gave a fantastic view of space, and the captain watched as their shuttle passed the millions of bright, shining stars that dotted the galaxy. He could occasionally see other planets, and the quietness of space felt very relaxing compared to the loud, rambunctious battles he used to hear back on Cybertron. In his mind, the captain wondered which of the planets he passed had survived their terrible War. Did they hate the Cybertronians who destroyed their homes and wreak havoc on their land? How much did they miss the families lost, all adding to the large casualty count? It was just too much to bear for many of the other species he had encountered during the War. He had witnessed so much tragedy, so much lives lost on the other planets that the Great War had spread to.
"I'm glad the War is over. Perhaps we could start a fresh, clean slate, rebuild and reunite for a new era of peace." the captain thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard a beeping noise from beside him, and one of his Autobot soldiers started to talk to him in an alarmed voice.
"Sir, there's an unauthorized ship headed for us."
"Decepticons…" the Captain muttered. He quickly turned to the soldiers in charge of the shuttle's weapon's systems.
"Make sure the shields are on a hundred percent! Get the weapon systems online, and target that ship!" the Captain ordered, and troops scrambled to their positions. They began to press buttons, enter commands and relay messages to him. Soon, the shuttle started to rumble and shake. They could feel the powerful blasts from the enemy ship hit their shuttle. Outside, the turrets emerging from areas of the Autobot shuttle started to retaliate, firing back at the enemy ship. The enemy ship's cannons rotated and aimed for other spots, and began to fire once more. Explosions shook the shuttle, and they could hear the loud bangs they made.
"Sir, the shield generator has been hit! Shields are at sixty percent, but we're losing power fast."
"Then siphon some power from our reactor to the shields. We need to shake these guys off."
"Sir, turrets two and three have been destroyed. We're trying to do repairs now!"
"Don't bother! Just focus on getting us out of here!" the Captain ordered. Several Autobots ran to the shield generator room, and with them they had several tools. They attempted to fix the shield generator, which was now leaking sparks and was showing signs of damage. Suddenly, the enemy ship flew beside their shuttle, and a long tube extended from the side and connected to the Autobot shuttle.
"Sir, we're being boarded!" the blue motorcycle Autobot from before warned. The captain slammed his fists on his chair and stood up, turning to face the Autobots in the bridge.
"All crew, man your weapons and prepare to be boarded! Enemy Decepticons ahead, enemy Decepticons ahead!" The Captain ordered, and the Autobots grabbed any weapon they could find, ranging from rifles, pistols, small short swords, or even a nearby pipe. Three surrounded the door, and they watched as sparks started to dance between the two parts of it, until the door flung open, both metal parts being thrown onto the floor. They aimed their rifles, and waited for some Decepticons to pour in. However, only a small object passed, rolling over to where the soldiers stood.
"Grenade!" one of them shouted and they all ran for cover. The grenade exploded, leaving the section of the hallway a wreck. The soldiers readied themselves again, but a figure leapt through the smoke, tackling one of the Autobots. The Autobot tried to fight back but was quickly incapacitated by several punches and finally the figure grabbing his head and twisting it around, snapping his neck. The figure then used a machine gun on his arm to fire several rounds, hitting the other two. One of them, hit several times in the chest, shoulder, and legs, started to kneel from his wounds, where Energon and oil started to leak. The figure quickly grabbed him, grabbing his rifle and shoving it up his torso, killing him. The second Autobot was only hit twice in the shoulder, and opened fire, but the figure pulled out a pistol he had holstered and fired three rounds, all landing on the Autobot's head and killing him swiftly. The figure walked briskly towards the bridge, but was stopped when five more Autobots blocked his path.
"Autobots, just give me what I want and we leave, no harm done."
"Not today, Decepticon. The War is over, you lost. Surrender and we'll ship you back to Cybertron, no harm done." the Autobot in front told him. The figure, now confirmed as a Decepticon, was blue and white. He had four small, circular red eyes, and the car headlights and bumper on his chest, as well as some small wheels, suggested his alt mode was a car. He wore golden knuckle dusters, both with words labeled on them. He also had a six barreled machine gun on his left arm, and a taser on his right. He was also armed with a pistol and nightstick, both holstered as of this moment.
"Sorry Autobots. I came here for a valuable mission, and I intend to end this in a success." the Decepticon said.
"Very well. Guys, open fire!" the front Autobot said, and they all started to shoot at the Decepticon. The Decepticon quickly reached for his own back and pulled out a shield, made from the car roof of his vehicle mode. The bullets simply bounced off the shield as he shot back with his machine gun. Although a few Autobots were hit, only one was fatally wounded, lying on the ground and bleeding. The Decepticon threw his shield at the Autobots and two were caught in its trajectory, getting knocked over to the ground. The Decepticon used this distraction to leap into the air and kick the front Autobot across the face. Another charged at him with a pipe, and started to hammer down with powerful strikes. The Decepticon blocked these before grabbing his own nightstick and slamming it across the Autobot's temple, quickly sending him to the floor. The Decepticon used his attacker as a launchpad, jumping up and firing several rounds from his weapon, killing the pipe Autobot and hitting another in the leg. The two soldiers knocked down by his riot shield had now gotten up, and opened fire with their rifles. The Decepticon un-holstered his pistol and fired more rounds from both his machine gun and pistol, killing one of the Autobots, while the other ducked and escaped the bullets. The Autobot then tackled the Decepticon, landing several good punches. The Decepticon, finally coming to his senses, reacted quickly and grabbed one of the Autobot's fists, twisting it around until he had twisted the soldier's arm behind his back. The Decepticon then kneed him in the groin before ramming the barrel of his pistol into his head, killing the Autobot. By now, the soldier that had spoken to him earlier about surrendering had gotten up. He held his rifle, but he was bleeding from several hits from earlier.
"Put the weapon down, or I shoot." The Autobot demanded.
"Go ahead. Take your best shot, Autobot." The Decepticon taunted, and the Autobot fired some rounds from his rifle. The Decepticon ducked, and emerged up with an uppercut to the soldier's chin. The soldier grabbed the pipe nearby him and swung it at the Decepticon, but he ducked and jumped up slightly, landing with his left elbow. The Decepticon's elbow crushed the soldier's chest, and when he got up, the Decepticon could see the word "Enslave" marked in all caps. The soldier, determined to continue fighting, reached for the Decepticon, but he simply replied with several machine gun fire to the soldier's head. The Autobot injured first, also reached over to the Decepticon to continue fighting.
"Such a shame, you barely did anything useful in the fight and yet you looked like the commanding officer of this security team. Here, let me help you." The Decepticon ended the poor Autobot's life with a quick stomp on the head, pieces of brain and eyes bouncing around the floor as the soldier's head exploded like a gusher. The Decepticon marched down the hall and into the bridge, where he discovered two shiny gold security doors had been sealed shut. Not about to let a simple security measure stop him, the Decepticon pulled out a detonator pack from his back. It was about the size of his palm, but he clicked a button to make it so that the circumference was bigger than his hand. He carefully attached the bomb right where the two doors attached and locked together, before setting it to explode. He stepped back and waited patiently, and the seconds slowly ticked by. On the other side, the Autobots and the Captain were armed and ready, anxiously waiting for their attacker to come through the door.
"Sir, how many cons do you think there are?" The blue motorcycle bot asked.
"Probably a small brigade, considering our security team's comms are off." Just then, the doors blasted open, creating a deep crater on their surface. The explosion rocked the bridge and launched the doors off their sliding mechanisms. Both security doors were large and dangerous projectiles now, and while most of the Autobots ducked, the green Autobot was hit in the chest. The door embedded itself into his chest and knocked him back with full force as he collided with a computer, crushing it. Translucent Energon and fresh oil leaked from his wound as he just laid there, heavily injured. The others were shocked and watched it all happen before their eyes. Suddenly, their attacker emerged slowly from the smoke.
"W-what? It's only one…" The jet bot pointed out obviously. The Captain didn't care how many Decepticons were there, they were all the same, and this one needed to be brought down like all the rest of them.
"Decepticon, I advise you stand down. It'll make this easier for the both of us this way." The Decepticon just grunted and shrugged, completely ignoring the Captain as he aimed his left arm at the Autobots and opened fire. Machine gun ammo sprayed all over the computers and cover they were using, making multitudes of tiny holes. After the burst of gunfire stopped, the Autobots retaliated, firing their firearms. The Decepticon reached for his back and part of his car roof kibble formed a riot shield that he used to block their shots, which simply bounced off the surface of the durable shield. The most damage the shield had was a few minor scratches. The Autobots continued to fire when the Decepticon took the opportunity to charge at them, using his shield as a makeshift battering ram. He tore through their cover and slammed into the motorcycle Autobot, knocking him to the ground. The Autobot swung his pistol at the Decepticon, but he swatted the weak Autobot away to the side. Another blue Autobot started to open fire with his pistol, so the Decepticon blocked the shots while he pulled out a nightstick and swiveled around towards the Autobot. The momentum allowed him to send a powerful strike across the Autobot's chest, making a dent on it before he slammed upwards to his opponent's chin, sending him tumbling backwards. The Autobot did a full roll before standing back up, charging head first at the Decepticon. He was brave, managing to grab the Decepticon's wrist and start knocking in some punches. The Autobot punched the Decepticon three times, but failed to see him reach with his right arm and use his arm mounted taser. The taser made a faint electric shock noise as it charged up, before the Decepticon slammed the shocking end onto the back of the Autobot's neck. The Autobot felt the electricity painfully course through his whole body and he shouted in pain. The Decepticon then twirled his hand so that he could grab the Autobot's wrist, and then he used his right hand to grab some parts of the Autobot's neck, ripping the metal layer off. The small sheets of metal went flying and he grabbed at the inner spine he found, before raising his arm and tearing the blue Autobot's spine out, successfully decapitating him. The yellow jet Autobot fired a few rounds of his rifle, which bounced off the Decepticon's armor. The Decepticon used the dead blue Autobot's head and spine as a whip, swinging it around and swinging it towards the jet Autobot.
"Hey, that's my dead friend you're-ack!" The Autobot exclaimed angrily before having his dead friend's face slam across his cheek, scraping some of his cheek and making some Energon bleed from the minor wound. By now, the dead Autobot's head was severely marred and disfigured from the strikes at the jet Autobot. The Captain fired a round from his shotgun, the gun's powerful blast knocking the Decepticon to the ground. His shield and the makeshift spine/head whip were thrown across the floor as he landed. The Captain fired another shot, but the Decepticon had quickly recovered and rolled out of the way. He pulled out his pistol and fired several rounds at the Captain, who took blows to the chest, leg, and shoulder, while the jet Autobot got a few shots on his forearm and wing. The Decepticon, nightstick now in hand, charged at the Autobots. The jet Autobot pulled out a small short sword and swung at the Decepticon, scratching his shoulder and a part of his chest. The headlight from his chest car kibble shattered and some parts of the grill separated. The Decepticon used the handle of his pistol as a smaller bludgeon weapon to accompany his nightstick, and he slammed the pistol across the Autobot's abdomen while taking a swing at the Captain, who used his shotgun to block the attack. The jet Autobot thrusted and stabbed at the Decepticon, who threw the nightstick and speared his enemy through the chest. The Autobot, dropping his sword and now trying to pull the nightstick out, suddenly looked down to notice a small grenade attached to the end of the nightstick in his chest.
"Oh scra-" The Autobot was interrupted by a violent explosion that tore him to pieces. Bits of yellow metal and jet parts like wings flew around the room, and his head landed near the Decepticon's feet, bouncing like a ball before coming to a stop. The Captain fired three rounds from his shotgun, managing to damage the Decepticon's arm mounted machine gun when he crossed his arms in an attempt to block as much of the pellets as he could. The Decepticon swung the pistol at him, swiping in the air. The Captain stepped back to dodge the first swipe and then stepped aside, only to be met by the Decepticon's foot to stomp on his. The Captain yelled in agony before the pistol was slammed across his temple, sending him to the ground. The Captain noticed the dead jet Autobot's short sword lying in a puddle of his fellow troop's blood, and so he grabbed the sword and stood back up. He managed to stab the Decepticon in the leg and make a shallow slice wound in his left arm. The Decepticon swung with his pistol, but the Captain, using precise timing, sliced the pistol in half and destroyed it. The Decepticon threw the pistol aside and settled with his fists, throwing several punches. The Captain dodged his fists and tried to swing the sword at him again, but the Decepticon caught his arm and twisted it back behind the Captain, turning him around so he faced the other direction. The sword dropped to the floor and the Autobot Captain winced in pain as the Decepticon pulled his arm up his back.
"Feeling the pain, Captain? Now, I'll be taking what I came here for, but first…" The Decepticon whispered, and then pulled his arm all the way up, tearing it right off the shoulder socket before shoving the dismembered limb through the Captain's midsection and gently pushing him with his foot, sending the Captain falling to the ground. The Decepticon casually walked over to a computer console, pressing a button and called the Decepticon ship he had flown with.
"Barricade, to Darkfire, do you copy? I've secured half the ship, along with the bridge." The Decepticon, now known as Barricade, said to another over a hologram message. This Decepticon was much taller and bigger, and was armed with guns on his legs and arms, and his large wings showed that he transformed into an air vehicle.
"Same, I've got the engine room and the armory, moving onto the cargo hold now. Every last Autobot is slag. Well, sort of. Still sort of killing the leftovers, if you know what I mean." Darkfire replied, and while he still stared at Barricade an injured Autobot stumbled over to him, gun in hand. However, Darkfire was aware of this and used a arm mounted machine gun to gun down the poor Autobot on the spot. Several generic Decepticon soldiers were around him, finishing off the rest.
"I've got access to the ship layout. Cargo hold is just two hallways down. Let's secure the subject and get out of here." Barricade said, typing on a keyboard and bringing up a holographic map.
"Agreed. Let's go soldiers, to the cargo hold!" Darkfire ordered, and the holographic message disappeared. Barricade typed in some more stuff and browsed the computers in the bridge, unbeknownst to him that the Autobot Captain was crawling behind him slowly, sword in hand. The Autobot Captain soon broke into a full on sprint before he jumped in the air. Everything happened so fast, with Barricade glimpsing his back to see the Autobot already running at him seconds before he jumped. Barricade spun out of the way and the Autobot landed on the computer, crushing one of the consoles and screens.
"Fool. You should have stayed on the ground, where you belong." Barricade commented on the Autobot's failure, but the Captain quickly leapt for another computer and tapped a large red button.
"The hell was that for?" Barricade asked, but the Captain just chuckled to himself.
"Good luck...heheh…'getting what you came for'." The Captain said, spitting out some Energon. Barricade just stared at the Autobot before he picked up the dropped sword and swung upwards, bisecting the Captain's head and putting him out of his misery. Suddenly, Darkfire was calling Barricade.
"Barricade, what the hell just happened up there!?"
"The Captain of the ship just pressed a big button and was laughing. Why?"
"The cargo we were after just ejected itself out the cargo hold and just zoomed out of here!" Darkfire exclaimed. He looked at the now empty cargo hold, and several Decepticon soldiers around him looked at each other with concerned looks and faces.
"Doesn't matter now, what's done is done. Besides, I already killed the poor guy. Just get back to the ship, we'll track its location and retrieve it there."
"Got it. But you better not have screwed this up, or I'm gonna kill you." Darkfire threatened.
"Try me, Darkfire. Let's see how long you'll last." Barricade fired back. He then shut off the communications system and exited the bridge, walking back to his ship, followed by more Decepticons. Once inside, they separated from the Autobot shuttle and flew off, firing several missiles at the now empty shuttle. The shuttle was torn apart by the explosions, and the only thing left of it were large chunks of metallic debris floating in space.
That's all for the first chapter, and very soon we will start to see more and more characters come up. Thanks for reading, and be sure to leave a review!