Disclaimer: Transformers belong to Hasbro and Takara. Void, Voyager, Nightfury and Centauritron belong to me.
Other notes: I have to admit my heart was not with the chapter, I did not enjoy writing this chapter so it's not my best work. I thought it would be best to warn everyone but I'm happier with how the other chapters are turning out so they should be better.
Divide and Conquer!
666akatsuki
"Get the guns on-line! Don't let that thing come any closer to Cybertron!", Cliffjumper commanded as he raced through the primary command base to spread his orders to the other Autobots. Rodimus Prime rushed into the building and caught Cliffjumper as the red mech sped through the corridors. "What's going on?", he gasped, energon still staining his orange armour from the previous war against Galvatron. Cliffjumper shook his head frantically and let a few clicks escape him. "I just don't know... that THING just showed up out of nowhere. I think it's from that alternate Universe but I really can't be certain. I sent probes but they were destroyed before they even got close. Get Sentinel Magnus in here immediately, he needs to issue orders otherwise we're all sitting cyber-ducks!" Cliffjumper pushed past the young Prime and continued to cry out instructions. Rodimus stood in awe but he freed himself from the trance and rushed out the building to find the missing Magnus to rely what Cliffjumper had told him.
Jetfire and Jetstorm gazed upwards, dumbfounded by the creature in the sky that steadily made its way towards Cybertron. "What's that brother?" Jetstorm questioned but his brother offered no reply, then again he had no answer to give. Prowl carried Bumblebee but eventually paused to look at the giant planet that approached them. Blurr nudged Prowl to keep him moving towards the medical bay, there was no time to waste in saving Bumblebee. Rodimus Prime sprinted towards the Autobots as they came off of Tele-tran-1 and he rushed onboard to fetch Sentinel. "Sentinel Magnus, Cliffjumper told me that this thing arrived not too long after we left for Earth. It's very dangerous; all probes sent to investigate were destroyed. It's origins are unknown." Sentinel nodded and glanced at Optimus before turning to look at Rodimus. "Get the guns on-line and prepare for war." Rodimus was stunned at first but he saluted the Magnus and dashed out the ship to tell Cliffjumper the orders given.
Void and Drift gazed up at the ominous planet that drew ever closer to Cybertron. Drift was trembling with utter fear as his sensors picked up the amount of evil that was emitted into the air around them. "Void... how much juice do you have left in your weapons?" The large Transformer turned its large optic to stare at the young cyber-samurai. "I don't have much power left, just enough for one shot. What are you planning?" Drift rolled his shoulders and offered a smug grin. "I'm planning on dealing a big enough wound that the thing turns tail and flees. We need your brothers for this, surely a combined blast from all your weaponry would be able to deal damage to that thing?" Void hated the idea of working with his brothers but he could not override his logic sensors from agreeing to the plan. "Voyager, Nightfury! This is Void, converge on my location immediately. Drift has a plan to counter that thing in the sky. Please hurry!" Void shifted into battle-mode and began to charge his cannon knowing that in his weakened state he would need all the charge time he could get.
Voyager and Nightfury arrived not long after the transmission from their youngest sibling and stood in front of him. Voyager gave Void a judging stare but Void remained strong in the face of his eldest and snorted a chuckle. Drift climbed up Void's frame until he was perched upon the titan's helm. "I need all three of you to charge up your biggest weapons. The plan is to use a combined blast to hurt the creature just enough where it'll turn and run." Nightfury rolled his optics and leaned in close to examine the smaller Autobot. "If you haven't noticed, dear Drift, I lack long ranged weaponry." Drift scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Oops... I forgot about that. How about you link up with your brothers and offer them your energy to increase... their... um... blasting force?" Nightfury narrowed his optics before shrugging his shoulders. "Sounds good enough for me. I can see both my brothers are low on energy." Void nodded in agreement and stood next to Voyager with Nightfury behind them. The three of them hooked up to each other and allowed their sparks to share their power. The three titans powered up the cannons and locked onto the grand monster that continued to come closer. "FIRE!" Drift commanded and the barrage of fire was unleashed. "A direct hit!" Nightfury cheered but the victory dance was interrupted when the planet let out an almighty groan. The planet began to split and slowly turned into a huge Transformer bigger than any on record. "Aw slag!" Voyager stumbled backwards over his own feet before landing with a deafening thud. Void fell to his knees and vented vast amounts of vapour from his internal systems. "What's happening?" Drift gazed straight into Void's primary optic. "Out... of... energy. Shutting down..." Void's armour turned a dark grey as he powered down into stasis lock. Nightfury heaved pained breaths and sank to the ground and also shut down like his other two brothers. "No... Get up!" Drift begged as he tried to wake Void up by tapping on the optics of the mighty titan but the Autobot did not respond.
"I... awaken!" Unicron roared as he finished transforming from planetary mode into robotic form. The huge Transformer gazed down upon Cybertron and seemed unfazed by the continuous hail of blasts. "Wait, this is not the Cybertron I know of. What trickery is this?" Unicron spoke as he lingered above the surface of the planet and scrutinised every inch of it. This Cybertron seemed much larger and held different scenery from the Cybertron that he had come to know. Even the scent was different which caused Unicron to turn away in disgust. "What's going on mortals? Explain yourselves!" His voice boomed through the audio receptors of the Autobots which caused some to cry out in pain and others to fall to their knees in submission.
"Who IS this guy?" Sari snapped as she turned to face Optimus Prime who was shaking violently due to the loud noise hurting his sensitive receptors. "I... don't know Sari, I'm sorry, I just don't know." By this time Wheeljack had entered the office holding some random piece of tech that he had probably only just recently built. "I suggest we make contact with this thing, Optimus Prime, tell Sentinel Magnus to stop firing immediately." Wheeljack sounded winded but the glint in his optic showed that his passion for science and new experiences was burning brighter than ever but something else was in his bright blue optics that was unreadable. Optimus nodded but he dragged his pedes towards the door in a dissatisfied manner mainly because it meant facing Sentinel. Sentinel was located in the headquarters alongside Rodimus Prime and Cliffjumper in and main control room for the main artillery when Optimus finally found him. "Sentinel I have instructions from Wheeljack that we should stop firing. He thinks there may be a way to deal with this threat another way." Sentinel grunted loudly and jumped from his seat before storming towards Optimus Prime. "Stop firing? Are you mad? This thing will destroy us if we don't defend ourselves!" Optimus could feel utter hatred for Sentinel Magnus as he refused to listen. "Please just listen for once in your life! Your weapons have done nothing to that thing, I even witnessed the titans fail not too long ago. Clearly if it was going to destroy us it would have done so by now." Sentinel was horrified by the outburst and for once he refused to allow himself to bow to Optimus Prime out of fear that he would use this as another way to wrangle control from him. "Stand down Optimus! I don't have time to put up with your pathetic excuses now get out of here or make yourself useful!" Sentinel turned away from the enraged Prime but at a fatal cost.
Optimus couldn't contain his despise any longer and the second that Sentinel turned his back he rammed into the higher ranked Autobot. Cliffjumper and Rodimus Prime erupted from their chairs and launched themselves into the fight like a pair of blood-crazed cyberwolves. Sentinel cried out in shock and pain as the three other mechs tussled on top of his frame as the subordinates fought the outraged Optimus. Optimus had size and strength on his side and after some struggling he managed to pin both Cliffjumper and Rodimus down under his weight. He vented hot air from his mouth and snorted with rage as he tightened his grip on the young bots. "Sentinel Magnus, you're a blind fool!" Optimus growled as he got off the heap of metal bodies and stormed out of the room leaving the three Autobots to tumble about on the floor.
Optimus Prime wasted no time in rushing to the research and development centre to issue his own commands to the scientists. "Perceptor Prime, I have orders to deactivate all planetary weaponry from here." Perceptor gave Optimus a stunned expression but the sly Wheeljack nudged the Prime and nodded in agreement with Optimus' statement. "Sentinel Magnus said that he's lost control over his men and they have refused to cease fire." Perceptor raised his brow ridge but saw the logical sense in what Optimus had said and he headed over to the main control pad and hacked the weapon systems of Cybertron and shut them down. A dark grin crept on to Optimus' lips as he approached Wheeljack who was watching Perceptor and Mainframe carefully as calls came flooding in about the weapons being down. Perceptor tried his best to address the complaints and tried to explain that the orders came from Sentinel Magnus but it didn't take long for the Prime to figure out something wasn't right. Wheeljack moved in and jabbed an immobiliser into the back of his Prime before focusing on Mainframe. "I'm sorry my dear friend but I have calculated this situation so many times and I have come to the conclusion that Sentinel Magnus must fall. He is too stubborn to step down so I have decided to bring about a mutiny. Optimus, I have decided you should be our new leader. Will you help me?" Optimus Prime stepped back in shock and awe by the actions and words of Wheeljack. "I... I... I accept." Wheeljack then turned to Mainframe. "You have a choice old friend, join us or end up like Perceptor Prime?" Mainframe retreated back against the control panel and avoided optic contact with Wheeljack. Mainframe pondered over his options before lifting his head to look pitifully at his old comrade. "I'm sorry 'Jack, I just can't go against our Magnus." Mainframe spun around and slammed his fist down on the button to activate the alarm. Wheeljack shook his head before charging towards his friend and dealing with him. "We'll have to get out of here, Optimus."
The two Autobots sprinted through the corridors towards the nearest exit with the thunderous sound of the Troopers not too far behind them. "We may have to fight them off." Wheeljack panted when they reached the door and burst through it in a mad panic before dashing through the streets of Iacon. "Wheeljack, how are we meant to over-throw Sentinel? Plus what's your plan with dealing with that thing in the sky?" Wheeljack straightened his posture as he continued to run past the various other Autobots. "I installed a secret program into the titans that was designed for such situations. I kept it a secret and now that I know for sure that they are functioning perfectly we can make use of it, but before I use it I want to make contact with that thing. Maybe we can talk it into leaving, otherwise talking may allow the titans to charge up just enough for me to input the code and do what they do best... save us!" Optimus nodded before chancing a glance back over his shoulder and he could see that the Troopers were still on their tails. "Where's the code?" Wheeljack chuckled in response. "In my head, where it belongs. I heard the titans were taken to warehouse 14 for repairs. We should head there first and talk to Drift and the others." Optimus nodded in agreement then ran out onto the road and transformed and sped off with Wheeljack not too far behind after the scientist also transformed.
Void groaned loudly in pain as the various engineers worked upon his body and tore into his armour to gain access to his internal circuits which were nearly all fired and required extensive repairs. Nightfury was sitting in the far corner recharging. He did not require quite as much repairs as his brothers and merely needed to rest. Drift was sat on Nightfury's shoulder looking across at Voyager and Void who were lying across the warehouse floor. "Will they be ok?" Nightfury nodded and looked at the young mech with an understanding gaze. "It'll take more than that to extinguish their sparks. My brothers are strong and will deny themselves death, not even the Well of Allsparks can drag them to their graves even if it tried." Drift lowered his head but a grateful smile was a sign that he was thankful for Nightfury's comforting words. The young Autobot laid down and prepared to enter stasis, it had been a very long time since he had last gotten the chance to rest and it was taking a toll on his body. He did not get long when the roar of engines filled his audio-receptors and stirred him from his slumber. He looked down and noticed Optimus and Wheeljack approaching Nightfury. "Nightfury, I need your abilities. We have a message to send!" Wheeljack called after he transformed to robot mode. The large mech sighed and nodded. "What's the message and to who?" Nightfury narrowed his optics in suspicion. "It's 'who are you' and to that thing in the sky." Nightfury hauled himself to his pedes whilst being careful that Drift didn't slip off his shoulder. His antennae twitched rapidly back and forth until he located the correct signal to lock on to. Nightfury was silent for quite a few minutes before he finally began to speak again. "He says his name is Unicron, he is definitely from that other Universe as he does not recognise this Cybertron." Wheeljack became excited with the news. "Tell him we come in peace and will try our best to return him home." After another few minutes of intense waiting Nightfury gave Unicron's answers. "All shall die and he will consume this Universe." Optimus' spark froze at the horrific sound of those words. "Oh Primus, what have I done?" The Prime cried out, his emotions running high as he thought about Cybertron being swallowed up by the evil yet Wheeljack seemed unusually calm. "It is time."
Wheeljack pulled out a small device, the same one he had been seen with earlier, and inputted a code. The three titans began to twitch and Voyager came online. All three stood up and brushed against each other whilst humming loudly or purring as Drift described it when he jumped down to stand next to Wheeljack. The titans then headed out of the warehouse and were confronted by Sentinel Magnus, Rodimus Prime and Perceptor Prime who had a large unit of Troopers behind them. "Why are you titans out of the warehouse?" Sentinel roared out of fury since nothing had gone his way so far that day. The titans suddenly split apart and began to change and also to combine parts with each other. Wheeljack, Optimus and Drift headed outside to witness the transformation of the titans into a far larger machine. "What are you doing? Wheeljack explain yourself!" Sentinel stormed towards the group of traitors and swung the Magnus Hammer at Drift but the attack was blocked by Optimus' axe. "If you'd just listen then you'd get an answer!" Sentinel snorted loudly and backed off before turning a harsh gaze upon Wheeljack. "It's Plan B, a special code that allows the titans to combine. It's a gestalt known as Centauritron." The transformation was slow but the final product caused the Troopers to flee in terror due to the sheer size of the gestalt. Sentinel stumbled backwards in awe as he strained his neck cables in order to see the face of the huge beast. Wheeljack was about to erupt into his evil scientist laughter but he noticed that something was wrong. "Centauritron! I think he's asleep..." Optimus Prime turned a bemused stare upon the scientist and sighed loudly but his attention was swiftly taken by a strange weightless feeling. He looked to the sky and noticed that Unicron was sucking in air which was dragging the smaller Autobots and objects into the sky towards the open maw of the beast. "We have to do something or everyone is going to be devoured!"
The situation was hopeless; there was nothing they could do now to defend themselves against Unicron. Already the planetary weaponry had proved to have no effect on the massive Transformer and many Autobots had already been lost. Optimus regretted everything that he had done to Sentinel, he wished that he hadn't stopped the guns earlier but then again he assumed that whatever had happened that day Unicron would have still attacked the planet with unstoppable strength. He turned towards the Magnus with a look of deep regret. "Sentinel... I'm sorry." Sentinel shook his head and smiled uncharacteristically softly at his old friend. "No, I should be the one saying sorry. I guess before we end up being destroyed by that thing I should do the right thing. Optimus Prime I respectfully step down from my position and give to you the position of Magnus. Praise Optimus Magnus!" Optimus was awe struck but he bowed to Sentinel and accepted his new position with pride even if his reign would probably last less than a day at the rate that Unicron was going.
"Centauritron... ONLINE!" The gestalt suddenly sprang to life and focused immediately on Unicron. "Threat to Cybertron detected. Action: eliminate threat!" The huge Transformer dug his four sturdy pedes into the ground for stability as his chest opened up and revealed the large cannon that was concealed within. Centauritron's large wings unfolded and extended to their full length and began to absorb the surrounding light particles to charge the cannon. "Target locked on. Firing in 3... 2... 1... FIRE!" The blast shook the ground around him causing the surrounding Autobots to fall over. The beam of light shot straight up into the open maw of Unicron causing him to choke and cease his action of devouring parts of Cybertron. Unicron reeled in pain and held his wounded face in his hands but the barrage from Centauritron continued and forced Unicron to fly away out of range of Centauritron's weaponry. "Target still functions. Action: Pursue and eliminate." The gestalt flapped its huge wings and started up the rocket boosters located in the base of each of its hoof-like feet and took off into the sky after Unicron. Unicron looked back and noticed the other Transformer following him into space. "To think there is actually a challenge that this planet can actually offer me. I will destroy this show-off and take this Cybertron as my prize." Unicron extended his brittle looking wings and swooped back towards Centauritron. The gestalt held his course and the two colossal mechs collided into each other. Unicron clawed at the gestalt's faceplate and chest regions and left deep slashes in the black armour but Centauritron drew his Eternal Sword and returned the favour by cutting into Unicron's right shoulder. The fight continued with neither robot backing down but both mechs taking on heavy damage. The two suddenly pulled away from each other and faced each other with intense rage in their optics. "You fight well for a mortal!" Centauritron merely gave Unicron an expressionless stare. "Unicron leave this universe and live, stay and Unicron will be destroyed." Unicron growled in disgust at the response from Centauritron, how dare this other Transformer speak so lowly of him! Unicron shot towards the gestalt and smashed into the black frame. Centauritron cried out from the intense pain that shot through his body but he refused to give in to his enemy and swung his sword at Unicron's head and sliced off one of his horns.
Centauritron could feel his energy draining and he knew he would have to end this fight as soon as possible. He searched his data banks for potential options and found the file marking the location of the original portal that the alternate universe Transformers came in through. He struck Unicron across the faceplates with the blunt edge of his sword before pushing past him and shooting further into the darkness of space. Blind with outrage the mighty Unicron pursued the gestalt Centauritron into the emptiness of space. It took quite some time to reach the planet of Quintessa and the planet still held the bruises from the previous battle that took place on it which showed in the reaction from Quintessions as they opened fire upon both Unicron and Centauritron. The gestalt turned to check that Unicron was still following and witnessed the massive Transformer attack the alien creatures that inhabited the planet. "Unicron I am your enemy, fight me!" Centauritron yelled loudly but his voice fell upon deaf ears as Unicron continued his slaughter of the Quintessions. Centauritron huffed and turned his attention towards the stone that formed the gateway between the two universes but the gateway was closed. "Operation: Use spark energy to open gateway." Centauritron landed with a heavy thud on the platform and approached the stone and placed his hands upon it and allowed his energy to pour through into the rock. The stone erupted with light and threw Centauritron backwards into space and tendrils of light reached out and coiled around Unicron and dragged him into the wall of light that stood where the stone once was. "Noooo!"
Centauritron floated through space aimlessly, his systems struggling to remain online due to the severe damage that had been dealt to his frame and internal components.
"Is this it brothers? Is this how it all ends?"
"Action: Silence yourself."
"No you be mean! We live, me swear!"
Centauritron shifted slowly and extended his wings and made stiff flapping motions as he tried to guide his bulk in the general direction of Cybertron. It was going to be a long journey home...
