Here's part two… The real action starts here!
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They had just passed the California state line when they received a frantic transmission from Bumblebee. They were too late… Sam had already been taken. The little yellow Autobot had tracked his abductors to an abandoned factory in what had fairly recently become a forest preserve. Opening a communication channel among all of them, Optimus issued his orders. "I'm going to go in and distract the absolute heck out of the lot of them. Bumblebee, be ready to grab Sam while they're distracted. Everyone else, form a perimeter around the area in case any more try to get in. Deactivate your communications systems. We're running silent on this one, so they'll have a harder time figuring out how many of us there are." Megatron voiced an objection. "You're going in alone? That's insane! We don't know how many there are!" The tone in his brother's voice silenced him even faster than the words he spoke in response. "They don't either, Megatron. That's why I think a quick sneak attack with just Bumblebee and myself will work best." The former Decepticon quieted down, uncertain. "I… ah… Oh, all right. Just… be careful down there, brother." The reply that he would indeed be careful brought no comfort. Switching off his communications system as ordered, he spoke to his passenger. "Sarah, I need you to be ready with your power. I have a very bad feeling about this fight…" She nodded as the two circled high above, watching as Optimus and Bumblebee prepared to enter the abandoned factory and face whatever Decepticons waited for them inside…
His bad feeling was proved horrifyingly correct when he got an astonished transmission from Bumblebee to anyone listening, breaking Optimus's orders to stay silent without so much as a seeming care. "Megatron, it's you! Somehow or other, the Decepticons are taking commands from another you!" None of them had any time to react to this, however, as a wall came tumbling down due to what they could all immediately recognize as a shot from Optimus's cannon, at which point Bumblebee came tearing out and immediately shifted into car form with Sam safely tucked away inside him, peeling out at top speed and heading into the forest. Behind him, Optimus made his exit from the building, locked in mortal combat against a Seeker who somewhat resembled the late Starscream, another Decepticon with a military helicopter for a vehicle mode, and a twisted replica of Megatron, a lopsided monstrosity whose vehicle mode was obviously a tank. The Seeker and the helicopter dropped back to let the dull gray duplicate battle his enemy, content to take the others on and keep them all well away from the fight.
Coming down for a quick landing, the fastest landing he had ever attempted much less succeeded at, the real Megatron pretty much kicked Sarah out before swooping back up to soar toward the battle. Down on the ground, not daring to transform lest the faker detect both her presence and her power, she ran toward the battle just as fast as her enhanced not-quite-human legs could take her. Thrusting branches aside, she came into the clearing just in time to see the one thing she had prayed never to have to witness… Even as she watched, the imposter landed a punch so powerful that it spun poor Optimus around to face the opposite direction, faceplates well and truly dented, only for his enemy's free hand to morph into a wickedly curved blade, which was then thrust into the Autobot leader's back. Time seemed to freeze as the tip erupted from the center of his chest in a thick veil of blue sparks. A moment later it was torn free and Optimus collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, his new wound spitting an ebbing stream of sparks even as the brilliant blue of his eyes swiftly faded to a dull, dead black. Sarah didn't need her power to tell her what this meant; the limpness of his body said it all. Optimus was dead.
Not even taking a moment to acknowledge victory, the imposter left his victim behind, transforming into an intimidating-looking tank and peeling out at a speed no normal tank could come anywhere near. None of this mattered to any of them, but the one most horrified was the real Megatron. After eons of fighting, he and his brother had finally reconciled and gone back to just being brothers. To lose him now, after just eight short little years of trying to make up for eons as enemies… Primus, it was too much to bear! Transforming in midair and dropping out of the sky in his haste to reach the ground, he was on his knees beside the lifeless body in an instant. "No, brother, no…" Desperate for a response, he shook him, hard, only to recoil in horror and disgust at how limp he was. Bowing his head, fighting to keep his rage in check, he took up a new cry. "Sarah! Sarah, where are you?" She came charging up beside him in an instant. "Sarah, help him! Help him like you helped Jazz!" Kneeling beside him, she summoned up her power… only to recoil in shock. "Megatron, I… I can't!" He snapped to look down at her. "What?! That's impossible. You saved me. You brought Jazz back to life. You healed an entire planet. Saving my brother should be well within your power. I said help him, Sarah!" Unfazed by his anger, she snapped right back. "And I said I can't! His spark's gone… and by 'gone' I mean it didn't come to me!" Megatron drooped upon hearing this… At least until the anger set in. "I'll kill them for this! I'll hunt them down and I'll kill them!" He lunged to his feet, preparing to transform and take to the sky… at least until Ratchet jumped him. "Ironhide! Help me with this!" An instant later Ironhide was helping Ratchet restrain Megatron, at least long enough for the medic to ready a sedative. "Just a minute… There!" The two caught Megatron's limp body as he fell, out cold under heavy sedation, and eased him to the ground. Making sure he would be comfortable upon awakening, Ratchet called out to Sarah. "I'm going to need you to transform before he wakes up. Something tells me you're probably the only one who can really keep him calm."
Day faded into night as the group sat together. Sam and Bumblebee, with Sarah's aid, had worked together to made a smallish bonfire, and they all huddled around it, more for comfort's sake than warmth or light. Sam blamed himself for Optimus's death, having been careless and stupid enough to get caught in the first place, and Bumblebee was trying his darnedest to convince him otherwise with Sarah backing him up. Ratchet busied himself with fixing what could be fixed, so Optimus could be taken home to be laid to rest with all the honors due one of his stature. Ironhide stood guard over the whole scene. Megatron remained where he had fallen, sleeping off the sedatives Ratchet had used on him. A soft murmur escaped him as he shifted slightly. Slight as the movement was, Sarah caught it. "Excuse me," she said to the rest as she stood up and stepped away from the bonfire. Taking a moment to transform, she sat down next to the slowly awakening former Decepticon and pulled his limp body into her arms, letting him lay his head against her chest. Giving a soft murmur, he instinctively snuggled up a little bit closer to the warmth of her body and the two spent a long moment just like that. "Mmm, wha…?" His eyes slowly opened as he raised his head and looked up at her. "Zephyr? Zephyr, where's…" The memory hit him like several tons of bricks. "Optimus!" he yelped, jerking violently at the remembered horror of what he had witnessed. Now wide awake, he looked at the rest before pulling free of his mate's embrace and standing up, still a little bit dizzy, before walking away from the bonfire, into the dark. Zephyr took a short moment to look toward where the rest still sat before turning to follow him out.
He sat alone in the dark, legs drawn up against his chest with his arms wrapped round his knees, staring down at the ground… at least until Zephyr sat down beside him. "I'm all right," he said softly, not liking the uncertain quaver in his voice. She shook her head. "No, Megatron. You're not." There was a long pause. "He wouldn't want you to keep your emotions bottled up like this. You're pulling away from us again… Wasn't that how it started before?" The realization startled him. This was indeed how it had begun; the slow process of alienation that had led to him turning against the rest. "But I… Zephyr, I can't…" Draping her arm over his shoulders, she pulled him just a little bit closer. "We're not Decepticons, Megatron. We aren't going to turn on you at the slightest hint of weakness or anything. After all, you're just feeling the exact same thing as the rest of us." She was right, and he knew it. In her presence it was safe to let go of the rage he'd been using to mask his true feelings. "…I can't believe he's gone," he whispered, sounding thoroughly lost as he wrapped his arms around her as if fearing he would lose her too. His composure faded little by little as he buried his face against her chest. Releasing his control over his emotions was hard for him, but Zephyr knew it was something he needed to do. "It's all right," she murmured to him, so softly he alone could hear, gently rubbing his back, right between his wing panels. She continued to hold him close, stroking his back and comforting him as best she could, as he finally let go and wept in her arms.
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Another Megatron… How can this be? The answer will come later… much later! But the answer WILL come. Trust me, it'll be explained later on!
Read and review, please.