Deus Machina
Disclaimer: Welcome one and all to my newest Transformers creation. I have been inspired to write this after watching the older Planet of the Apes films as well as Dark of the Moon. I often wondered what would happen if the Decepticons had suceeded in bringing Cybertron to Earth and enslaved the entire human race. My BF pressed me to write this, so here you are. LOL. This is an AU fic; I own nothing Hasbro or Bay related.
I do hope you read and review.
"Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find ''tomorrow'' on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, ''If I had my life to live over again. ''Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."
-Og Mandino
"When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy it implies, then the "division" of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form."
-Simone de Beauvoir
By: VampireQueenAkasha
"Optimus... all I ever wanted was the survival of our race ... "
- Sentinel Prime, DoTM
Part Six
Iacon City
Fate did lend a hand to Sam that morning.
He was fortunate to deliver drums of oil with the help of Carly to Simfur to Obsidian, one of Megatron's most lethal Generals- and a Decepticon triple-changer-who oversaw construction there. When Sam had arrived and delivered the oil successfully, he returned to Iacon and discovered his parents carrying bags of cement. Judy was stunned when she saw her son for so long in so many years. She dropped the bag and rushed up to Sam.
"Oh my God, it's my boy!" she cried.
Ron gasped and staggered toward his wife. "Judy, are you nuts?" he hissed, "They'll shoot us down if we stop working!"
Sure enough, Starscream was passing and spotted the sight. He laughed cruelly and walked up. That was when Ron grimaced and elbowed Judy, who wouldn't remove her arms from Sam. "How delightful," Starscream sneered, "The human finally sees his spawn parents again!"
Judy studied Sam's face and her eyes widened. "Your eye-WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE?" she exclaimed.
"Mom, not a good time!" Sam whispered fiercely, looking up warily at Starscream.
Ron whispered sidelong to Judy. "Judy, do you want us shot?"
Starscream gestured with his foot, a threat to kick them if they did not move. "Get back to work!" he commanded.
Judy shook her head fiercely, pointing up at him. "No, I want to know what happened to my son's eye!" she shouted, drawing attention from the other workers. "What the hell did you do to him, you son of a bitch?"
Starscream's optics flashed. "What?" he snarled.
Ron laughed nervously, dropping his bag and holding up two hands to Starscream. "Lord Starscream, don't listen to her!" he pleaded, "She's...uh..." He grabbed Judy's wrists and gestured to his own head. "She might have taken a rock to the head." Ron tugged for her to follow him, despite her resistance. "Or I think I could contribute this act of insanity from all the day's work-not that we don't like it, I mean, we really enjoy doing it. But she's a little confused." He glared at his wife and hissed warningly through his teeth. "And doesn't know who's she's talking to."
Starscream scowled as they immediately gathered their bags of cement. Judy looked back at Sam with a desperate look before Ron pulled her away through the crowd of construction workers. Sam wanted to go to them after so long of worry, but Starscream gestured with a brief snort.
"Come on, I have more work for you!" he commanded.
Of course you do... Sam thought, still disgusted by what had just happened. He couldn't help but try to find his family through the crowd of workers, but they had already disappeared. He had hoped that maybe he could have had at least one more chance to speak to them. Just one.
Right, like the asshole would ever give me a chance at that...Might as well get the idea out of your head now because it's never going to happen.
And for the past several days, it didn't happen.
O
"Attention scum of Cybertron!"
The voice came from a very obnoxious mech known by all as Swindle. He was a brown and violet Cybertronian with violet optics and a plated smile almost the same as Barricade's, save for the jagged fangs. He was accompanied by another Cybertronian who stood taller than he was; he also had a thin, jagged body with spikes protruding from his neck, chin and arms. It appeared that he transformed into a type of car, but the only notable difference was instead of two hands, one of his hands ended in a long, dangerous hook.
"I have traveled stellar cycles to planets afar and have brought with me treasures of every shape and size!" Swindle announced, "My associate Lockdown will be so kind enough to show them to you, won't you?"
Lockdown looked briefly at Swindle with a gruff snort. "I'd better get payment for this..." His voice was dry and rough, practically ancient.
Behind them rested various crates filled with whatever Swindle spoke of. Megatron certainly seemed interested and Sentinel expressed vague interest. Shockwave was somewhat intrigued because Swindle had always brought forth interesting objects in the past. The others were there to witness what he had brought for them as well.
"Since everyone's been holding hands lately, business has been slow," Swindle murmured, "So I've had to resort to finding other ways of raking in a decent income."
"Really?" Sentinel questioned.
Swindle smiled at him and nodded. "For you, humble Autobot leader, I offer this container of what I like to call; Forever Burn!" he said, holding out a clear jar filled with golden fluid, "Place it onto anything and it'll burn for several days!"
Sentinel took the jar with a small smile. "Sounds promising," he mused, "I'll accept."
Once he offered Swindle fragments of the glittering red stone that Thundercracker had presented Megatron with, he walked away. Swindle turned his optics to the others and gestured with both arms. "Come on! Do I hear any more takers?" He gestured to Shockwave. "How about you, my ever favorite masochist? Is there anything you find yourself needing?" He quickly scrambled to a container and offered a case. "I have the finest tools for a lover of torture such as yourself."
Shockwave clicked his mandibles with displeasure. "I don't need any more tools."
"But what if yours break?" Swindle offered, with a smile, "Come on. You can never have too many working utensils!"
Shockwave pondered this and felt that it would be beneficial to have as many working tools at his disposal should something go wrong. With limited supplies already bearing down on him, perhaps it would be useful.
"What is your offer?" Shockwave asked.
Swindle smiled. "For you, how about five pieces?"
"Four." Shockwave snapped.
"Five."
"Four."
"I'm trying to make a living here and you're not helping me!"
Shockwave's optic flashed. "Four. Take it or I'll take it myself."
Swindle smiled nervously. "Okay, four it is." he said, offering the case to Shockwave.
Once the exchange was made, Shockwave walked away. Swindle shuddered and pursed his mouth plates with disdain and a bit of unease. "Whew, charming that one, isn't he?" he muttered, glancing sidelong to Lockdown.
O
Sentinel smiled, observing the construction.
"Behold, my friends," he said, gesturing to it, "The city that we had once known; once lived in before the war had destroyed it is nearing completion!"
Soundwave chuckled softly. "What do we do with the worms?" he asked him.
Sentinel shrugged his shoulders. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Soundwave," he told the Communications Officer, "Right now, inform them that their workload will be doubled. There will be no breaks, not when we're so close."
Soundwave nodded his head. "Of course."
Alpha Trion walked solemnly through the construction district of Iacon, making his way toward Sentinel; he began watching the beaten, sweat-covered organic slaves. Some of them pushed carts, carried bags of cement and others pulled on ropes. There was a loud crackling sound and Alpha Trion paused briefly to see its source; a Decepticon overseer prodded a slow working human with an electrical rod. The human barely grunted and started pushing his cart faster.
Alpha Trion gasped quietly, stepping out of the way as he narrowly missed crushing a few humans with his feet. One of the humans looked up at him with a miserable look before disappearing through the sea of workers.
"It's wrong..." he mumbled to himself, "It's all wrong."
The humans were not too sure what Alpha Trio was doing; he seemed lost to them. It went by noticed for a few who dared to pause in their work and stare at him with bizarre expressions on their faces. Lennox had paused in welding briefly to see as well.
"Humans, hear my voice!" he announced to them, "You are a strong, proud people. You do not deserve to live like this. One day, you will be free, I can promise you that..."
As he continued, several Decepticon overseers just laughed at the display, pointing and sneering in fragments of English and Cybertronian; it seemed to be more of a joke to them than a threat and they made no attempt to shut up the Autobot elder making a fool of himself. Epps was carving Cybertronian symbols in the metal before he paused and elbowed Lennox. The man frowned down at him and then looked back up at Alpha Trion.
"Look at that fool; what the hell does he think he's doing?" he muttered.
Lennox sighed, rolling his eyes. "Talking, it seems. But what does he think that's going to do? Everyone's scared shitless out here."
"Listen to me!" Alpha Trion continued, "Don't lose hope! We've been waiting for a long time for this, but wait a little longer. Wait and you will see-"
Suddenly, a loud, resounding blast pierced the air, like the intense booming of a thunderclap; it was enough to nearly shatter the eardrums of every human in the construction zone. At first, no one knew what it could have been, but then they saw it.
Alpha Trion was standing there, his optics wide and his mouth plates slightly parted in an expression of shock and clear pain. He stared down and noticed that an enormous, smoking hole had replaced where his chest once was. Searing hot blue sparks gushed like lava from his shattered spark and spilled at his feet. Humans stepped back, stunned and needless to say, so did the Decepticon overseers. The entire construction district had fallen silent in shock.
"I-I..." Alpha Trion gasped, fluid gushing from his mouth plates.
Finally, his body crumbled to the ground and was still. After a few moments, his optics flickered and went black. Groups of humans and Decepticons slowly looked toward the source of Alpha Trion's death.
Shockwave.
He was standing a few yards away, his right arm a smoking cannon. He slowly lowered it and his next words were barely audible except to Mearing who stood beside him, eyes wide in horror at the sight before her.
"Were you waiting for that, Autobot?" he said, softly, "Because it's all that you deserve."
Mearing shivered, standing there with her jaw hanging open. "You...killed him." she gasped.
The crowds looked down at the dead Alpha Trion and through them, Sentinel began to angrily push his way through. "Out of my way, out of my way!" he snapped, "Move! Let me through!" He gave a Decepticon overseer a final glare before bending down at the lifeless mass of his friend. His optics trembled briefly with pain before they hardened and he turned, glaring at the watchers with fury blazing in them. His words came out rigid and barely a whisper. "Who did this?" When he received no immediate response, he shouted it now. "WHO?"
Immediately, every hand around him pointed at Shockwave, murmuring "it was him" and "he did".
Sentinel's optics landed on Shockwave and he rose, approaching the Decepticon scientist. Those standing around Shockwave immediately parted, sensing that no good could come from this. Sentinel sized up the larger hulk, clearly not intimidated like the others.
"You shot him," he said, his voice rigid. "It could have been any human here and I wouldn't have thought twice, but you shot an Autobot Elder." His voice hardened now. "What harm had he done to deserve the death that you felt you had the right to bring down upon him?"
Shockwave tilted his head. His single optic nearly blazed. "He had attempted to create a riot among the human slaves, he got what he deserved."
"No one would be foolish enough to riot against us!"
Shockwave made a sound that almost sounded like a human snort. "Then by your own processed thoughts, it appears that I have killed the wrong fool," he said, calmly.
There were a collection of gasps around them as Shockwave pointed his cannon arm directly at Sentinel. The Autobot leader stared calmly down at the weapon before looking up at Shockwave. For the longest time, they stared each other down, seeing who would falter. It was clear that neither one of them would.
"Are you going to shoot me, Shockwave?" Sentinel asked, smiling with contempt, "After everything I've done and worked hard to give you?"
Shockwave proved his point that he had every intention of shooting the Primus-forsaken Prime by pushing back the lock of his cannon, loading it once more before aiming it at Sentinel's chest where his spark pulsed life.
"We'll manage without you as we have before," Shockwave said, "After all, it is only necessary to eliminate weak links for a society to regrow, is it not?"
Sentinel snarled, obviously infuriated beyond compare at the dismissal of his authority. "Weak link?" he spat, "I have exterminated the very thing that separated us and you wish to drive a bigger wedge in between our sides? By what? Killing me? Do you honestly believe that shooting me would make everything better?"
"Yes." Shockwave said, simply.
"You are a powerful asset to Cybertron, I will not deny that," Sentinel hissed, slowly pulling out his cannon; the very same one that he had killed Ironhide with, "But I will not stand here and allow myself to be dictated to or threatened before my subordinates!"
Then, there was a click and Sentinel felt something pressed against the back of his head. His optics widened and he glanced over his shoulder to see Megatron standing there, leveling his shotgun beneath the base of his helm. Megatron clearly looked disappointed with the display and gestured with his weapon.
"Shockwave, stand down," he ordered, "We will have none of that here. There will be no fighting amongst ourselves."
For once, Megatron sounded like the sane one and it stunned everyone there. Shockwave hesitated before he lowered his cannon somewhat, but still kept it level with Sentinel should the Prime be foolish enough to do something.
"I suggest you lower your weapon, Megatron," Sentinel warned, with venom in his voice, "Or we may have ourselves a problem."
Megatron smiled with contempt. "How delightful, Sentinel; you seem to confuse me with Prime," he said, with amusement in his voice, "He too was exceedingly arrogant and we witnessed the horrible end to that grim little tale now didn't we?"
Sentinel actually lowered his cannon with a snarl. "I am the authority here!"
"Oh?" Megatron said, the smile disappearing now, "I don't recall anyone ever casting their vote for you."
Sentinel stepped back enough to face Megatron entirely. "You forget what risk I took in ensuring the survival of our race!" he snapped, "I told you once before that I would never serve you and I will stay true to that word!"
"You have," Megatron said, nodding, "But to raise your weapon against one of my officers during this moment of silence amongst both of our sides... I don't think that Optimus would have ever been as foolish."
Just at that moment, Swindle stepped in and held out two hands. "Okay, we're all good friends here," he said, "Let's just take a deep intake cycle and relax before we end up shooting each other for a little misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Sentinel bellowed, "He's taken the life of a friend!"
Shockwave's chest seemed to swell and he took a menacing step forward. "So it is perfectly unacceptable for your fellow comrades to persish unless you're the one wielding the knife, am I right?"
Sentinel snarled, his metallic features contorting. His optics roved over the watching crowd for the longest time. He wanted to kill Shockwave so badly, he couldn't stand it and he knew that the feeling was mutual. But to strike out and make himself look like a savage before the primitive race at his feet? To fall victim to his own emotion would be a display of weakness itself. Sentinel had to show control and pride as a leader.
"I want his body disposed of properly!" he snapped, turning, "We will discuss this later."
Megatron smirked with contempt at Sentinel's display as the Autobot leader walked away. He turned to Shockwave and the Decepticon scientist nodded his head.
"You heard him, Lord Megatron," he said, "Let us give the fallen elder the burial that he so properly deserves."
O
Shockwave and Megatron stood before the bubbling smelting pots, the glow of the molten metal casting eerie shadows across their jagged faces. With a single kick of Megatron's foot, the body of Alpha Trion was cast into the pots. Standing beside them was Mearing and Carly, watching as the metallic corpse disappeared into the glowing pools.
"Sentinel would not be foolish to break the silence that has come between our kind," Megatron said.
Shockwave glanced briefly at him. "He has betrayed Optimus Prime," he pointed out, "There would be nothing stopping him from betraying you."
Megatron rumbled thoughtfully. "Yes, that much is clear," he said, "Sentinel has proven that he is willing to kill anyone, regardless of faction or creed."
"What should we do about that?" Shockwave asked.
"If Sentinel truly want to rule Cybertron, then we will see just how capable he is of doing so," Megatron said, smiling with malicious intent in his voice.
Shockwave looked at him. "What do you mean, Lord Megatron?"
Megatron cast his gaze to the smelting pit below. "Tomorrow, we will see who is fit to be the ruler of Cybertron..."
Shockwave seemed to comprehend this and nodded once. "Yes."
Finally, his master had understood what he had suspected from the beginning:
There could never be two leaders on Cybertron.
