Chapter 1
Three months prior to present day, Detroit, Michigan.
"You have interfered with me for the last time, Optimus Prime!"
The fire from Megatron's cannon came as a volley, plasma rounds streaking across the sky like stars. The first had hit the intended target, connecting with Optimus's chest plate, sending him careening back. The other shots, made in desperation, were less lucky, striking the freeway, creating deep holes in the asphalt. Rachet didn't hesitate, his magnets activating with barely a thought. In an instant his beams were wrapped around the Magnus Hammer and launching it to the fallen Prime. It flew gracefully into his awaiting servo and, righting himself, Optimus took to the air, propelling purposefully toward the Decepticon commander above. Megatron fired his cannon, but the smaller Autobot dodged, coming about like a born flier. In an instant the young Prime rose up, raising the Hammer, before swinging down hard on Megatron's armored helm. Caught off balance, the Decepticon found himself plummeting, crashing into the freeway below. Sliding to a halt, Megatron watched his foe land nearby.
Optimus rushed forward, Magnus Hammer at the ready. Peds struck the ground heavily, desired target lying on the ground before him. Megatron was going to pay for this, pay for all the damage he caused, the pain he's inflicted. The lives he took away. The Decepticon had it coming, it was no less than he deserved. Scum of the universe, it filled the cruel one's spark and flowed through his lines. So why, as he rose the Magnus Hammer above his head, ready to strike like the Magnus he was not, did he feel the urge to stop emanating from his spark?
Megatron watched from where he lay, watched the hesitation that had not been there mere moments ago cross the Autobot's blue optics.
"What are you waiting for, Autobot?" he managed, optics glaring at the one that would certainly spell his end. It figured, the one Autobot he came across stellarcycles after the war would be his downfall. The Decepticon would have laughed if he found any humor in it. "Finish me."
Optimus stood, an harbinger of Doom, a servant of Judgement. He felt the urge for Justice course through his frame, race through his meta. The Magnus Hammer charged, feeling his need for vengeance and desire for peace. What this bot wanted, the Hammer was more than willing to give.
With the energy of a Magnus crackling around him, Optimus felt his arms move and the gavel of judgement begin to fall. The Magnus Hammer rushed forward, bent on fulfilling the Prime's wish.
But his spark spoke a different request.
The impact turn the sky white and for a moment the Autobots felt their optics go blind. When it cleared, their processors reeling in disbelief.
The Magnus Hammer lay imbedded in the road, a hairs breath stray of the Decepticon's helm. Purple energy crackled over its blue head, sparks landing on the still living mech's faceplates. Red optics stared at the Autobot before them, confusion clearing written in their depths. Grunting, Optimus Prime pulled the Hammer out, swinging it to his side as he straightened before the warlord.
"That would be the easy way out, Megatron," the Prime huffed, air straining through his vents. The Magnus Hammer fell to the ground, the weapon of war discarded in favor for the stasis cuffs he removed from subspace. The clamps fell heavily on the Decepticon's wrists, snapping shut with near deafening certainty.
"You don't deserve it."
Three months prior to present day, Mid- Atlantic Ridge.
In the peaceful darkness of the ocean floor, a deep sea vent rumbled. Rising high above the deserted muddy bottom, a black smoker trembled to life, spewing mineral and ash blacked super heated water up into the chilled ocean. Sensing the new heat, a blind albino crab wanders towards the black behemoth, its small legs skittering quickly across the barren ground. Too long in the cold and the crab would die. Too close to the vent, the crab would be equally as dead. Life on the Ridge was cruel that way.
As the blind crab scurries across the muddied bottom, it fails to notice the small hill it so quickly clambers up. Nor the strange metal the disturbed mud uncovers. How could it, after all, being merely a crab?
~Unknown Cybertronian energy signatures, detected~
A light flashes. It's quick, pale blue beams go unnoticed by the blind audience climbing the smoking vents nearby.
~Resuscitation Program, Activated~
The light's flashing increases, a frenzy of patterns erupt into the dark ocean above. A humbalt squid slowly approaches, drawn by the flashing lights into the cold waters. Perplexed, he watches. A low keening sound vibrates through the water, the foreign ripple of noise catching the attention of the shrimps swarming the vents' walls. Their simple minds do not comprehend what is taking place. The shrimp know that the sound is strange and it makes the water shift in an unfamiliar pattern. But they don't know where it's coming from, or why. And their not prepared for the pulse of energy that pulses out from the sound's origin, and they flee before the second pulse reaches the black smoker's mouth.
The silt bottom erupts as a third pulse of energy bursts from the metal. This time, something in its structure flinches. A fourth pulse and the metal curls in upon itself, wrapped about itself in a fetal cradle. The fifth pulse brings with it the sounds of liquid being forced through tubing as energon that had long been stilled starts flowing once again. With the sixth pulse, fans whirl to life and systems that have been offline begin to restart. There's the clicking noise of something heavy turning over with a steady rumble and the groan of a processor slowly waking up.
~Removal of Stasis Lock, Approved~
The frame lurches in the mud, spasming like something choking. A final pulse, a flash of blinding white light, and everything falls still. The squid floats on near by, confused.
~Resuscitation Program, Completed~
In the darkness of the Mid Atlantic Ridge, optics online and a frame begins to slowly rise from the muck. Servos flex after years of neglect, a long since stilled engine rumbles softly beneath chassis armor. A visor slides softly into place as a femme takes her first look into the darkness.
"Well, Caliber. Let's see what we can find, shall we?"
Yeah, a little short, but this is just the first chapter so meh.