Galvatron
"What are you?" Optimus demanded, furious and confused. He fired a blast of pure Will at Galvatron, before adding, "What is that Spark?"
"This is not a 'Spark'," the other machine answered, brushing aside the attack, "This is me. Though I must admit, Megatron's Spark Chamber is unusually comfortable, and affords me better control of this body than I have ever experienced. However, I find his processors and the remnants of his memories influence me more than I would have expected, which is why I have given myself a separate name while in this form."
"What are you?" Abin asked more evenly. Optimus saw his friend forming a complex construct behind his back, and so unleashed another emerald beam to keep Galvatron's focus on himself instead of the organic Lantern.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" the Decepticon taunted them, this time overwhelming Prime's strike with a broader column of yellow, one the Autobot barely avoided.
"Within this shell now resides Fear itself, the embodiment of Yellow," Galvatron claimed grandiosely, "I am Parallax."
Both Green Lanterns only stared at him blankly, and Galvatron began to laugh.
"Of course, the Guardians did not tell you about me. And why would they, after trying so hard to capture me, only to always fail."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Abin announced as he completed his work. The mass of green lines and angles unfolded, surrounding the Lantern in a suit of forest green armor almost as large as Prime. Only after it was locking into place did Optimus realize Sur's construct looked just like Bumblebee. Any thought that it might be a coincidence vanished when he saw the Autobot logo on the chestplate of the willpower suit.
"But we are not going to let you have that ship," the Lantern for sector 2814 concluded, 'diving' to the side and firing his pistols at Galvatron. The darker 'bot crafted a hexagonal shield to block the stinger bolts. Galvatron pointed his cannon at Abin, and a blast of scarlet plasma hit the GL square in the torso. Prime winced, remembering the feel of that weapon burning through his leg. Abin's armor held, but the impact of the semi-liquid material spun him away from Galvatron. Beads of sweat appeared on the Ungaran's temples, though Optimus was not sure if it was from the heat or the pressure of maintaining the green construct.
In the quarter of a second that exchange took, Optimus generated his preferred melee weapons, the double-bladed green axe and Autobot emblem shield. As Abin tried to right himself, the Cybertronian closed the distance between himself and Megatron's body. He directed his momentum into the hatchet. Galvatron stopped the strike with his shield, but the blade cut a small notch in the yellow construct.
"I can see now why you are favored," the Fear avatar said, "Your connection to Will is stronger than I would have thought, all things considered. But it will not be enough."
Galvatron constructed a yellow scimitar in his right hand, and swung at Prime's midsection. Optimus brought up his shield to block, and thought the Fear weapon cleaved deeply into the Will guard, it was stopped before it reached the Autobot's body.
Abin positioned himself behind Galvatron, preparing to fire again with his copied guns. His action did not go unnoticed, and glob of golden energy detached from the Decepticon's back and resolved itself into another Cybertronian form.
"Starscream," Optimus recalled, even while he poured his focus into both of his constructs. Though his ring continued to silently countdown its decreasing reserves, the first Green Lantern was able to make his axe strong enough to resist Galvatron's blade.
The stingers did not seem to have any impact on the yellow construct, so Sur let them fade a way and crafted a heavier weapon. He retained his armor however, and dodged the amber lasers Galvatron's second fired from the slender tubes on each of its forearms. At roughly the same time Starscream's volley ended, the last piece over Abin's triple-sized FIM 92C Stringer clicked into place. The GL pulled the trigger and the emerald rocket streaked through the vacuum. It struck the Fear construct center mass, and exploded brilliantly. However, when the green smoke cleared, Starscream was not destroyed. His left wingtip was broken off, and cracks suffused the yellow energy that created him. But Parallax's creation was still functional and swung its arms back into place to fire another barrage at the Will wielder.
Even as Galvatron slowly pushed him back, Optimus took note of the fight between his comrade and the seemingly independent construct. Specifically that 'Starscream' was not acting like the original. It had no sense of self-preservation, and favored rapid fire while the original jet Decepticon had preferred single, precise shots.
"You don't know how Starscream fought," Optimus told his opponent, sliding around a downward cut intended to take his left arm.
"I told you that Megatron's memories are incomplete," the darker bot shrugged, "That's the entire reason for this. I killed the little monkey so that you would lead me to the Nemesis."
"You didn't retain enough of Megatron to determine where it might have ended up," Prime realized they had been tricked. He swung his axe horizontally at Galvatron's neck, but the Fear avatar caught that desperate stroke easily, chuckling.
"Nor do I have the numbers your little Corps could devote to the search."
Optimus caught the subtle implication in Parallax's under-voice, and glanced down at the ship. A dozen small humanoids were swarming over the surface of the ship. Prime calculated that they were about the same height as the Guardians, but their pressure suits gave the impression that they were more spindly than the Green Lanterns' leaders. They were attaching a variety of devices to the outside of the Nemesis, and while Optimus could not spare the energy or focus to scan the machines, their purpose was clear enough.
"You murdered B'Shi just so we would lead you to the Nemesis?" the first GL demanded sharply.
"Of course not," Galvatron sounded insulted, "the Nemesis is less important than its cargo."
Then he continued more darkly, "There was also the joy of watching the light flow out of her organic eyes, listening to the scream her ring transmitted to me. I had hoped to watch the trinket abandon her body to look for a new host, but I was denied that."
Optimus wrenched Galvatron's overhead chop to the side with both his axe and shield, and then kicked the rebuilt robot in the chest. Parallax's host collided with the barely functioning Starscream construct, and then both were engulfed by the green lightning from Abin's newly crafted electron projector. The yellow simulacrum finally disintegrated, but the sparks did not even touch Galvatron. Abin dropped the thrower, and quickly replaced it cyclone laser. But before he could fire, Prime shook his head and sent a silent message to the younger Lantern.
'I will keep Galvatron busy,' the Autobot's voice echoed from Sur's ring directly into his mind, 'stop his allies. Don't let them get the ship.'
The Ungaran nodded, both his real head and his Bumblebee construct's head making the motion. Then he spun away and pointed his weapon at the Nemesis. He compelled his armor to fly towards the satellite. Adding to the copied Autobot's original design, small exhaust ports opened in his feet, shoulders, and lower back.
"No, you don't," Galvatron protested in amusement. He let his melee weapons fade, and caught Prime's axe with his left wrist. The blow that had previously chipped the Fear shield was stopped without so much as a shudder from the Decepticon. Then his right arm reached out, forming a horrific, three-fingered, amber claw with serrated talons. It closed around Abin Sur before the smaller Lantern noticed it, and the bladed nails sliced through the Will armor like it was not even there. Abin released his creations and twisted free of the grasping appendage before it could cut him.
Optimus swung at Megatron's optics, hoping that even if this attack was stopped as easily as the last one, it would at least block Parallax's view. Galvatron surrounded his left limb with a tentacle of Fear. The golden appendage wrapped around the haft of Prime's axe, and snapped it. At the same time, Abin narrowly avoided the claw, and took a shallow cut on the back of his left calf. A few drops of purple blood floated away before the Green Lantern sealed the wound with a bandage of Will.
Galvatron's whip-like construct lashed out, and Optimus was able to reinforce his shield enough that it only cracked slightly instead of shattering. The Autobot was still swept aside, giving their opponent a chance to focus entirely on the organic Lantern. As the talons and tentacle shot towards him, Abin created an offensive barrier; multiple planes of spinning blade, as sharp and stern as his willpower. Though the first layer broke instantly, it slowed Galvatron's construct wrapped arms. The second layer also collapsed, but managed to make a number of small gouges in the Fear. The third set of knives finally sliced through the tentacle. The claw destroyed the remainder of that set in turn, taking only a few more shallow slices in the process.
"Power at 7%" the ring for Sector 2814 reported to its bearer, "Recommend immediate recharge."
"Galvatron!" Optimus shouted into the vacuum, having finished forming what he considered his fail-safe weapon. The Decepticon stopped just before his construct breached the final blade barrier, and turned to look at his body's rival. Prime pointed photon cannon at the darker bot, and before his opponent could react, pulled the trigger.
"You think you can hit me with that?" Galvatron regarded Omega Supreme's weapon impassively, but spoke too fast for Abin to follow, as energy built in the gun.
"Feel free to dodge," Optimus answered sternly, and just as quickly. Galvatron realized that if he did not stop the attack, it would hit the Nemesis. Parallax thrust Megatron's arms forward into the path of the cannon, his fingers splayed and dense yellow light filling his palms.
The exchange between the Cybertronians took less than one of Abin's heartbeats, and before his cardiac muscle finished contracting, the column of blue hot plasma, larger than Galvatron was tall, exiting the cannon. When it hit Galvatron's extended limbs, the beam stopped. The Fear force in his palms began to expand, like a balloon being inflated. Correspondingly, the photon wave shrunk. The sphere of captured power continued to expand, until it was one hundred meters across. Prime tried to wrench the giant gun to the side, but Parallax's construct prevented him from deviating the weapon more than a few degrees off its original target. And the orb was large enough that that level of change was not enough to end the connection. Just before the cannon's firing sequence ended, the bubble burst.
The micro-nova swept across all three combatants. Abin and Optimus both struggled to protect themselves, while Galvatron rode out the weakened wave easily. Though both Green Lanterns were able to avoid injury, as the explosion passed, Abin's ring ran out of power. Prime quickly transformed around him, catching the barely conscious organic in his pressurized cabin before he could be exposed to the vacuum. The Autobot prepared to throw all his Will into a shield against Parallax's next attack, but the converted Decepticon merely hung back, grinning smugly.
"What are you waiting for?" Optimus asked suspiciously. Galvatron pointed down at the moon's surface, and a second later, the Nemesis disappeared into hyperspace.
"I don't need to kill you, Optimus Prime," the other 'bot taunted, Megatron's voice overtaking Parallax's for a moment, "I have already won. It will serve me better to let you limp home and tell your masters what has occurred here, so you can all Fear what is to come next."
With that, the yellow power flashed around him, and Galvatron vanished as well.
"This is bad, isn't it?" Abin Sur queried wearily.
"We had better get back to Oa," Optimus specifically did not answer.
