"Nope, never seen anything like this before."
-Kup, Primax Cluster
To quote the infinitely charismatic Predacon Megatron of the Primax cluster: "YES."
There was just no way. There was no way in hell it would end like this. Raf looked up at the skylight, the full moon shining brightly over the base. There was no way, after all they'd been through, that this was how it ended. Silas was going to kill them all, based on a vision. Unicron had lied. He had manipulated Raf into orchestrating humanity's destruction, and Raf had gone along every step of the way.
Do you feel it, Rafael? Do you feel the power?
That was the worst part. Raf could feel it. It felt like a blanket fresh out of the dryer enveloping him on a cold day. It was the fruit punch after a bike ride. The first breath of air after you dove into a swimming pool. It was a warm hand to hold and the hot wind in his face. He would kill for it, because in that moment it was as though he would never be sad again.
And only a little part of his mind hated it like he knew he should have.
Seven stood back from the chair and stared up at the screen. "He's gone insane," he muttered, "The Scientist… The Dark Energon..."
Raf felt the Earth shake, and the onset of a headache, though Seven didn't react. At the same time, there was a significant increase in radio chatter throughout the base, alarms blared, and cars could be heard transforming. Were they going to evacuate the base? To where? There was no safe zone. The planet was about to be… what had Optimus said? Cyberformed? Turned into… Turned into a giant robot.
Larger than life.
"Attention, Silas and MECH." Abdul Fakkadi announced from a corner screen. He was sitting in his office, in an ever so slightly more modest uniform than before, MECH's insignia front and center on his peaked cap, flanked by troopers in uniforms that had been modified to suit Carbombya's desert climate, less resembling bikers and more resembling desert nomads of some sort, still staring at the screen behind those inexpressive goggles under their tattered face wrappings. "We are having something of an international crisis in Carbombya. I humbly request that you stop the imperialist United States from invading my country! As the Commander in Chief, King of Kings, and Pres-"
An explosion on his end, and the feed cut.
"Rafael!" the Scientist shouted from a corner screen. He was running around his office, pushing documents from his desk into piles, tucking blueprints under his arm, typing away one-handed at computer terminals. "You and Seven need to stay where you are, do you understand? No matter what happens, the only way you should exit should be a Ground Bridge!"
"A Ground Bridge to where?!" Seven demanded. "Silas is about to send the planet up space-creek without a thruster! Did we construct a flying fortress while I wasn't paying attention?" He paused and turned to the screen. "Actually, wait, did we construct a flying fortress?"
"No, but I wish we did, now." The Scientist said, scratching his chin and dropping slips of paper. "And watch your tone agent. What are you talking about?"
"That huge energy pulse our scanners just registered?" Seven gestured out, "That was Silas' masterstroke that he conveniently didn't tell us about. He's about to turn our planet into Roboworld!"
Robot Hell!
"Not so, agent." The Scientist said as MECH TECHs began shutting down computers and gathering equipment, aided by the robotic arms of… of Airachnid. "I've just enacted Operation Orpheus. The base is being completely evacuated in preparation for the Endesieg."
"The what?" Seven said, looking at the vault door to the chamber they were in while Raf looked back at the screen.
"Such raw power!" Silas marveled. "What shall I call my new domain? New Tartarus? Or perhaps… Greater Carbombya?" he laughed as he locked eyes with Optimus and Megatron.
The other Autobots groaned weakly, the concentrated dose of Tox-En still taking a toll on their systems.
"No!" Optimus shouted, drawing his Star Saber at the same time that Megatron drew his Dark Saber. The two leaders readied their blades, preparing to charge straight for Silas. Faster than the Cylas' cameras could pick up, Sideways dashed towards them, blades flashing, and as the two prepared to slash at them both, Sideways was behind them, and elbowed them both in the back, knocking them to the ground, though both recovered, somersaulting away, blades back up. "Such speed!"
"I'll hold them off!" Sideways shouted. "Keep an eye on the beam and ensure that protocol is followed! Sweeps, don't worry about me, but if Silas or the lock are threatened…" He pointed at the four Autobots and drew a thumb across his neck.
Silas nodded. And the fight began.
Raf looked down at the Scourge controls as the ground shook again. He could hear it pounding in his ears. He could end this. He could send Scourge down, and destroy the Omega Lock. Earth would be saved.
And Cybertron would be doomed.
Optimus would understand. He'd do the same if he didn't have a choice.
He would not. When Primus' life hangs in the balance, the Prime will always choose his creator before another.
No. Unicron was lying. Optimus Prime wasn't like that.
And what would you tell Ratchet? That you destroyed the only device in this or any universe capable of restoring his world?
This was ridiculous. Unicron was stalling, to stop him from saving his planet.
Oh, ye of little faith.
The sound of the mobilization of forces outside the base reached a level almost approaching that of the Carbombyan invasion. The tremors were rising and falling in a consistent pattern. He'd almost gotten used to them, but they were getting louder. And the sky was beginning to take on a bluish-purple tint, even the moon seemed wrong, its shadows almost resembling a face contorted in agony.
"Scourge!" Raf shouted into the comm. "Scourge, listen, you have to stop Silas. He's going to destroy us all!"
Scourge cocked his head. "Sorry, Rafael, but this is what I was made to do." He shrugged as he monitored the beam, an arm resting on the bomb that would kill them all if things went south.
"No, Scourge!" Raf said. "Forget that. You're not just a robot, or a labor saving device. You're alive. Your decisions, your purpose, they belong to you!"
"But remember." Scourge said, "I belong to him."
Down on the ground, Megatron and Optimus Prime were unleashing a flurry of blows on the smaller Sideways, who was holding them both off with ease, only devoting one side of his body to each one of them.
Optimus attempted to swing the Star Saber at him, and Sideways ducked underneath it, giving the two Cybertronians enough time to spin around to be behind him, preparing to strike his exposed back, only for Sideways to jump up and slam his feet back, catching both of them in the chest.
The two leaders were as one, springing back to catch him in the back again, only for Sideways to jump straight up without even looking at them, point his arms down, and launch both of his missiles.
Prime jumped out of the way, Megatron did not. Both explosions rocked the view, and Optimus stood up first, looking up to where Sideways used to be, but not where he was, which was directly behind Optimus.
"Behind you." He grinned, and jumped to kick Optimus in the back of the head, launching him forward onto his stomach, away from the Omega Lock. "Just stay down, and accept defeat."
"You don't…" Megatron wheezed as he stood back up, clutching his shoulder as energon dripped. "You don't know Optimus Prime at all."
"Megatron." Optimus Prime's eyes widened as he returned to his feet and regarded his greatest enemy. "You…"
Megatron was missing his right arm, and the Dark Star Saber lie shattered into pieces next to the mangled wreckage of the hand of…
Liege Maximo.
Liege Maximo. Thanks, Unicron.
Any time.
"Heh." Megatron smiled as only he could. "Quite an inconvenience, having to fight with one arm."
"You always were ever the trooper, Megatron." Sideways mocked. "It's no wonder that your ego almost destroyed the universe, once."
"Optimus, I find myself at a bit of a disadvantage." Megatron held out his hand. "If you wish for me to contribute to this battle in any meaningful way…"
"Time is of the essence, Megatron." Optimus said, handing him the Star Saber. "You know what must be done."
Megatron nodded, and grasped the Star Saber. The moment he did, it glowed blue, just as it had for Optimus the first time that he held it, and Megatron gazed at it, transfixed. Optimus didn't notice this, and charged forward, to face Sideways alone.
It wasn't going well.
Outside, the sounds of machinery stopped, but the pulsing didn't. He couldn't ignore it at all, yet Seven didn't react to it. What was going on?
A large hum. Lights dimmed. Engines roared. Raf could swear he heard rock music. The moonlight was a thick purple now, bathing the whole area, like the atmosphere itself was greying.
"Damn." Seven said. Actually, he said a lot of words worse than that, in combinations Raf would probably use later. "Think, Seven, think." He paced. "I've got no weapons in here, and it's probably mayhem out there..." He looked at the single elevator still on ground level, for the helicopter lost in the initial Carbombyan invasion, marked Icarus. "Rafael. We can take that elevator. Leave out the back. My car. It has gas, and weapons. We can escape."
"You heard the scientist," Raf said, "Don't leave unless there's a Ground Bridge."
"And where's the Scientist, Raf?" Seven snapped, pointing to the screen. Indeed, the Scientist's lab was dark, without anybody in it, nor the glow of Airachnid's dead, purple eyes. "He's not coming to rescue us! MECH doesn't do rescues, and our science staff is just as MECH as the agents."
"So what, then?" Raf said. "Leave with you? Jump off a roof, and drive until the world ends?"
"Jasper." Seven said. "We drive to Jasper. We find the Autobot base. We use their space bridge."
"To what? Stop Silas ourselves?"
"We're the only ones who can or will." Seven insisted.
"You have one M-Con. The Cylas literally has more firepower than you in its pinky finger, and that's assuming that you incapacitate Ratchet." Raf rubbed his temples. He was getting agitated, it was making it hard to think, especially with this incessant pounding against his bones. They were practically drowning out his voice. He needed to calm down, to…
No, no, by all means, get mad.
"Go." Raf said, staring back up at the screen. "Run away, try your plan. I don't care. I'm going to stay and see… See if I can think of something that'll work."
"Well I care." Seven said. "You're a major asset."
Raf sarcastically mouthed the words 'major asset' as he swiveled his seat around, facing the screen. Optimus was still getting his fender handed to him.
"You're not just an asset." Seven sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're a good kid. You can't go out like this. Whatever Silas is planning, he was right about one thing: MECH is humanity's future, and you're one of us."
"Yeah, well, unless Optimus can stop Silas," Raf said, turning back to the screen as Seven took the elevator up, "humanity doesn't have a future."
After a particularly long flurry of punches, Sideways finished his combo by jump kicking Optimus in the chin, sending him flying into the air. Optimus twirled and swapped out his hands for blasters, firing down at Sideways, who dodged the blast, only to find himself in the path of another plasma bolt. Unable to move out of the way in time, he raised a hand to it and caught it, the explosion filling the views with smoke and dust. When it cleared, Sideways was still standing, his swords tucked back in. "Try this!" he shouted as he swapped out his hands for blasters, returning fire at the still airborne Optimus, hitting him dead center in the chest as he fell to the ground. Optimus landed on his back, and Sideways jumped onto him, kneeing him in the stomach before standing over his waist, raising a hand for his finishing blow. "Die!"
"Someone will die this day." Megatron said from behind him. Sideways turned around just in time to see Megatron swinging the Star Saber straight for his head, his eyes a burning shade of blue to match the glow of the blade. As the blade passed through where Sideways was, Sideways was two meters to the left, his eyes narrow in frustration as a chunk of his shoulder armor fell to the ground and blew away like dust, the exposed section of his body showing a bubbling silver liquid.
"Quite a blade you've got there." Sideways said, pointing to the part of his arm that was refusing to heal. "Imagine if you were actually fast enough to hit me with it? That'd be the end of good old Sideways, wouldn't it?" He shook his head and looked up at the still firing Omega Beam. "OK, I think we're almost done, so it's time to finish this." He readied a blaster at Megatron. "So long, Megatron. It's been… a blast."
Megatron's pale blue eyes widened in fear and anger, his hand dropping the Star Saber and guarding for a blast to the face that never came.
"Wh-whoah!" Sideways shouted.
"You got careless." Optimus Prime said, panting and for probably the first time ever, taunting an opponent. Both of his hands were wrapped firmly around Sideways' antlers.
"The antlers?!" Sideways grumbled, flailing away uselessly. "Why does everybody go for the antlers?!"
"Well done, Optimus!" Megatron shouted, diving for the Star Saber and fumbling to grab it with his single hand. "You would have made a fine gladiator!"
"No more, Optimus Prime!" Sideways shouted as Megatron managed to gain a grip on the hilt, the blade glowing once more as he raised it overhead. "Grant me mercy, I beg of you!"
"You, who are without mercy, now plead for it?" Optimus coughed. "Megatron is made of sterner stuff."
"Hold him still." Megatron let out a weak laugh as he struggled to lift the Star Saber over his head. "Let's make this a clean cut, shall we?"
"No, Optimus Prime!" Sideways shouted. "Earth! Earth can be saved, with Cybertron!"
Sideways' words made Megatron hesitate. And apparently Optimus relaxed his grip too, because sideways dropped to the ground immediately, before jumping with a spin to Elbow Optimus in the face, knocking him back, flying. Sideways immediately leapt from his position, away from Megatron, to plant his foot on Optimus Prime's chest.
"Optimus!" Megatron shouted, limping towards them as fast as he could. Silas and the Sweeps, still spectating, laughed, as the Autobots turned away from the sight of Megatron so dejected. "You fool!"
"It's just like I said earlier!" Sideways laughed. "One of the most incompetent examples of a Prime I've ever met!" He drew one of his katanas, pointing it at Optimus' neck as he began to grind his heel into the Prime's chest. "And like countless Optimus Primes before you, it's time for you to die."
"No!" a voice shouted from off to the side. Everybody turned to see Miko, her eyes red and wet with tears, shaking with rage in the Apex Armor.
"The girl!" Megatron rasped with a smile. "I'd almost forgotten."
"Leave my planet alone!" She shouted, breaking into a dead sprint towards Sideways. His visor seemed to widen in shock as Miko took a flying leap, headbutting Sideways in the chest, sending him flying into a support pillar, splattering him to dust on impact.
"Miko?" Optimus panted. "Miko. You need to get out of here. Ratchet. He…"
The silver dust swirled in between the two of them, solidifying into Sideways, his featureless face somehow still conveying pure rage. "No. More. Primes." He said, and drew his fist across Miko's armored face, sending her flying past the outer bounds of the Omega Lock. He turned to face her as she stumbled back to her feet, nauseous from the tumble.
"Wait." Optimus said, weakly reaching for Sideways' ankle. "She's just…"
"A child?" Sideways snapped, turning around. "A human? You're joking! She can wreck with the best of you!" He turned back. "If she likes Autobots so much, maybe Primus'll let her join you… in the Allspark!"
"Never!" Optimus shouted, pushing himself back up, and grasping Sideways in a full nelson, grabbing his antlers again and pulling him close and tight. "Megatron, now!"
"I would have waited an eternity for this." Megatron said, finally upon them, weakly lifting the Star Saber, his optics leaking translucent blue energon, like tears. "It's over, Prime."
"No!" Sideways shouted, as Megatron pulled back the blade. "Wait!"
Megatron did not listen, and in one thrust, impaled them both.
"No!" Miko cried out, stumbling back to her feet.
"Oh no…" Raf muttered.
"No!" Smokescreen shouted in the distance, surprisingly not getting smacked across the head again.
Yes. Yes! YES!
Sideways looked down at the blade that was shoved through his chest, nearly wide enough to split him in half. Putting his weight behind it, Megatron stumbled forward, impaling the two of them into the ground. Sideways's body bubbled and dripped liquid metal at the edges of the wound, and he reached down to scoop some up, rubbing his fingers together and flicking it to the wind.
"Don't tell me this didn't work." Megatron coughed, looking Sideways in the eyes.
"Huh, no, uh…" Sideways tentatively touched the blade, and retracted his fingers immediately, as it burned his steel on contact. "Jeez, no, you got me pretty good. What is this?"
"The Star Saber…" Optimus coughed from underneath him, his hands slipping free from Sideways' antlers. "Forged by Solus Prime… The Matrix…"
"Well…" Sideways said, craning his neck to look at Silas and the MECH troopers. "It's been fun Cyclonus, old pal, but this is it for Sidesey. You can take it from here. Safe travels! See you in the next cluster!"
"What?" Silas asked, but Sideways vanished. Literally, one instant he was there, the next he wasn't. And with him, the pulsations of the Earth ceased. At the same time, the Space Bridge vanished, and Silas lifted his hand from the Omega Lock panel in surprise. "No… No!"
There was a crash. Silas and Scourge turned to see that Bumblebee had reached up, grabbed the M-Con behind him by the head, and flipped it over before using it as a club to bash the one next to him holding Bulkhead hostage. Arcee immediately seized the opportunity, drawing her elbow into her captor's chest cavity before sweeping its legs and sending it stumbling to the ground. MECH-1 turned around immediately and opened fire, only for Smokescreen to quickly react and grab his captor by the chest, flipping around to use it as a human shield. The M-Con raised its arms in time to block the shot, losing a hand in the process as MECH-1 immediately stopped firing.
"Stop. Stop!" Silas shouted, rubbing his robotic temples. "Let them go. We need them."
The four Autobots didn't register Silas's words and barreled past him towards Optimus, who was laying pinned to the ground, one hand in Megatron's grasp. Arcee shouted something into her comm, and Bulkhead and Smokescreen actually took the time to swap out their melee weapons and bash Silas in the chest as they passed, knocking him to the ground. The M-Cons rushed forward, lifting him up to his feet and readying their blasters at the Space Bridge that opened up behind them.
None of them were prepared for the whirlwind of blades and kicks that was Ratchet as he sprinted through the Space Bridge portal, slicing MECH-1's blaster clean off as he passed before he could even get a shot off as he ran to the rest of them. A moment later, he stood up, not looking at Megatron.
"I'm afraid the wounds are…" he sighed. "Fatal."
Silas took a few cautionary steps back as the tension jacked up several levels, but Scourge leaned over from his perch, apparently having been forgotten, to observe the scene.
"Prime, you can't die!" Smokescreen shouted.
"Do not grieve…" Optimus rasped. "Soon, I will be one with the Allspark."
"Optimus…" Megatron muttered, shaking his head. "Forgive me."
If he heard Megatron's words, he didn't react. Optimus stared upwards, past all of them. To something distant, something ethereal.
"It is to you, old friend," he said, "I shall pass the Matrix of Leadership… As it was passed to me."
"But… Optimus." Ratchet said, shaking his head. "I'm just a medic. I'm… I'm not worthy."
"Nor was I…" Optimus shook his head, coughing, struggling to get the words out. "But I did not mean you…" He rolled his head to the side, making a painful screeching sound as energon spurted out of his wound. "Megatronus…"
What.
"Optimus?!" Ratchet sputtered. "You can't be serious!"
"He's lost his memory again!" Bulkhead shouted to the rest, eyeing the exhausted Megatron and swapping out a blaster.
"Orion!" Ratchet said, nodding in agreement. "Orion, listen. The one you call Megatronus, he-"
"I know…" Optimus said, clearly rushing. "Something… evil… watches over us. The sky above… Nothing we can do..."
"Oh, right, Scourge!" Arcee said, directing her attention to the hunter again.
"No." Optimus groaned. "Unicron… I had believed that… one day…" He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts. "An Autobot would rise from our ranks… and use the power of the Matrix… to light… our darkest hour. But… Unicron's revival… I failed."
"No, Optimus." Megatron said, shaking his head furiously and squeezing Optimus' hand more tightly. "Then it was not our darkest hour! There will be worse times to come, and… And our race. I was wrong. Cybertron needs Optimus Prime and Megatron!"
"Megatronus Prime," Optimus continued. "Only you… have the will to defeat the Chaos Bringer. You must prepare… to strike. Fight on, Megatronus." He pulled his hand free from the Decepticon leader's grip and pried his chest cavity open, exposing the golden talisman that could only have been the Matrix of Leadership. "Until that day…" he said, pulling it out of his chest and lifting it towards Megatron. "Til all are one." And Optimus Prime lost his grip, letting the Matrix slip from his hands, past Ratchet's reflexive grab and Megatron's weak swipe…
Only to be yanked away a second before it hit the ground, into the waiting hand of Swindle, brandishing the Polarity Gauntlet in the other. The other Combaticons stood beside him, in what could only be called mint condition, grins wide, weapons ready, bearing the Iacon relics dropped in the fight. Vortex held the Immobilizer, Onslaught the Phase Shifter, Blast-Off the Resonance Blaster, and Brawl clutched the Spark Extractor.
"No..." Optimus breathed, before his optics went out for the last time.
"I just love it when a plan comes together, don't you, Megatron?" a familiar voice attached to an unfamiliar body asked.
The Combaticons parted, and out from behind them stepped a positively massive robot that, when Raf thought about it, must have been crouching for dramatic effect. Taller than Megatron by a meter was a monstrosity of metal, with an inverted triangular torso, digitigrade legs, long, clawed fingers, and a head lacking in any recognizable humanoid features save for two glowing red eyes. Swindle handed it the Matrix as it walked in front of them, and it held it up to ponder its light before returning its gaze to Megatron and the Autobots. And in that moment, there was no mistaking it. The voice, the movements, the body language.
It was Starscream.
"You see, it takes patience to make a plan." Starscream said to the stunned observers. "The patience to watch and wait. To-"
"Monologuing!" Onslaught said.
"Gah. Right." Starscream muttered, tossing the Matrix back into the hands of Swindle, who dropped it into the portal in his chest compartment before readying his weapons again. "Let's not make this difficult, Autobots. If you could step away from Megatron? Or should I say… Megatronus Prime?"
Ratchet and Arcee stood up first, each grabbing one side of the Star Saber's hilt, and struggled to pull it free of Optimus' torso. The Prime's color was fading by the second. Bulkhead looked around, drooped his shoulders, and with a grunt and a heave, pulled the Star Saber up, dropping it to the ground beside Optimus. He grabbed Optimus by the legs to assist Ratchet and Arcee with the lift, carrying him a ways further back, closer to the still open space bridge, and Silas' retinue.
"I will not ask a second time." Starscream hissed. "Bumblebee and other Autobot. Step away from Megatron or be destroyed."
"Optimus…" Smokescreen said, closing his eyes and resting his head in his hand. "He said…"
"You Autobots are so dogmatic!" Starscream shouted. "You would follow the whims of a Prime even if it meant the collective suicide of our people! Optimus Prime could have annihilated the Omega Lock in front of you, and you would still defend him, wouldn't you?"
"No!" Smokescreen shook his head. "Optimus wouldn't do that. He… He knows best. That's why he's the Prime."
"Was the Prime." Starscream laughed. His face panels slid into something vaguely resembling a smile. "Now he's a lifeless husk. Just as this world will remain unless I am obeyed. Now… Step. Away. From. Megatron."
Bumblebee shook his head, grabbing Smokescreen by the shoulder, leading the rookie away from Megatron to tend to Optimus Prime's now gunmetal grey body.
"Good." Starscream smiled, clapping his hands. "Vortex, if you would?"
"Yes, sir!" Vortex shouted enthusiastically, stepping forward and firing the immobilizer at the clustered Autobots.
"No!" Miko gasped and stepped back from her paralyzed friends. "Why?!"
"Because I have plans." Starscream explained, dipping his head in a condescending bow. "And the Autobots are just a tad too… emotionally invested in stopping them."
"I don't understand." Megatron closed his eyes in frustration as he stood alone, clutching his stump, looking down at the Star Saber and shaking his head. "Starscream, is that you?"
"Here's a hint!" Starscream laughed, approaching Megatron. Megatron was too exhausted to lift up an arm in his defense, and Starscream plunged a clawed hand into the Decepticon leader's chest. Megatron retched, covering Starscream's face with energon as his eyes flickered and dimmed. "How do you feel, oh mighty Megatron?" And with a yell, Starscream lifted his leg, planted it on Megatronus' stomach, and pushed it forward, forcing him onto his back… minus the shard of Dark Energon that Starscream still held in his hands.
"You know what Starscream?" Megatron craned his neck to look down at his hollowed out chest cavity, and a smile crept up his lips as he coughed out thick globules of Purple Energon. "Of all of the ways to become one with the Allspark, being eviscerated by you mere moments after Optimus Prime acknowledged my leadership abilities in his dying breaths may well be the most… poetic way to go. I'm not happy about it, no, but…" He wheezed and looked up at the glow of the Omega Lock. "But it was so artistically done."
"Oh, how it pains me to-" Starscream began to sneer.
"I mean was this the best you could do, Starscream?" Megatron continued, staring up at him, smiling. "And to think you actually believe you could take over as leader of the Decepticons… You couldn't lead a parade."
The Combaticons stood at attention. Miko looked down and tried to suppress a smile. Scourge shook his head, closing his eyes. Silas muted his microphone and was very obviously laughing in his suit.
Starscream looked around, daring somebody to comment aloud, before standing up to his full height and holding out the Dark Energon shard over Megatron, letting it drip into his chest, each drop making the dying warlord's flicker with life.
"Actually, Lord Megatron," Starscream said curtly, "You will find soon enough that joining the Allspark is something of an… impossibility for you. The Dark Energon that flowed through your veins… our veins, not only prevented us from joining Primus prematurely, but prevents us from joining our creator at all. No, there is no sweet embrace of our collective overmind for us, Lord Megatron. Out lust for power has ensured that neither of us will find eternal peace. Truly, I don't think we would enjoy it. Deep inside we're kindred spirits, you and I." Starscream paused. "Literally, you're going to be a spirit. But I think you'll have a harder time finding protoforms to occupy than I did." He patted at his chest. "The humans really did a bang-up job with this one, too."
"Disappointing, and yet…" Megatron muttered as he looked down at the hole in his chest and smiled, shaking his head. "Even in death, there is no command but mine."
"Whatever." Starscream dropped the Dark Energon to the ground, next to Megatron's stump. "With enough effort, I'm sure I can fill your shoes." And with that, he kicked Megatron in the sides as hard as he could before turning around and flicking the residual Dark Energon off of his fingers. "Now, next on the agenda?" He looked to Onslaught.
"Let's see…" Onslaught began muttering to himself and counting his fingers. "Optimus is down, Megatron is down. Autobots are neutralized, the Omega Lock is ready to activate…" He shrugged. "I think we just splatter the humans and we're good to go."
"Did we have to kill the humans?" Vortex asked.
"He didn't specify…" Swindle pointed out. "And all things considered, I like this one more than the other one."
Silas pointed at them and shouted something.
"What?" Brawl asked, holding a hand to his ear. "Didn't catch that, little buddy."
Silas shook his head and unmuted his microphone. "What other human?"
"It's not important." Starscream said as he walked over to the Omega Lock and inspected the glyphs as he undid Silas' firing commands to the default and activated the beam, keeping his hands on it. "He didn't give instructions either way, so I say that we just-"
"Have you forgotten, Starscream, that I'm holding your entire race hostage?" Silas asked, pointing up to Scourge, who gave a small wave.
"For what, exactly?" Starscream asked as the Omega Lock's ring began rotating and firing in different locations, clearing the surrounding rust cloud wherever it touched it. In the distance, lights could be seen flickering on. "You've no home to run to, you made sure of that. Your men are ready to collapse. Your drones are scrap. And you won't kill yourself just to get one up on me."
"How do you know?" Silas asked.
"It's like I said before." Starscream said, handwaving Silas as if he were an annoyingly inquisitive child.
Do you have experience with them?
"We have much in common." Starscream finished.
Raf narrowed his eyes, blinking and defocusing from the screen. He was still alive.
"Hey Seven." Raf said into the comm. "Have you noticed that we're still alive?"
"Huh?" Seven replied. "Yeah. I noticed. I'm approaching the Autobot Base now. I didn't see anything wrong on the way here, besides the weird sky, and nobody seems to care. News stations aren't talking about anything but US airstrikes against Carbombya. What did Silas do?"
Back on Cybertron, Silas watched helplessly as the Omega Lock rapidly fired its reparative beams around the planet.
"You think this thing'll even repair Six-Lasers Over Cybertron?" Blast-Off asked.
"It's on the other side of the planet." Vortex said. "And I doubt a relic of the ancients is going to repair a theme park."
"I can hope." Blast-Off shrugged. "You know, maybe I could just do a quick fly-over and…"
"No." Onslaught ordered flatly.
"How about this." Silas offered. "You let us leave, with the girl. We part ways and call it a draw."
"Hmm…" Starscream scratched his chin. "No. Combaticons, dispose of this trash."
"Scourge!" Silas shouted. "Do it!"
Scourge grunted and nodded in assent, standing up and hitting a series of buttons, switching the light on the bomb to red and causing a large red button to emerge, perfect for fist-slamming. He prepared to hit it, only to seize up as he was hit with the Immobilizer. His eyes squinted as he fell backwards from his perch. The bomb almost fell with him, but Swindle caught it just before it hit the ground with the polarity gauntlet. Scourge received no such care, and slammed into the ground hard.
"I've had my eye on that armor for hours." Brawl said, stepping towards Miko with Vortex at his side while Onslaught and Blast-Off moved towards Silas and the Sweeps
"Nowhere to run." Blast-Off said as they all stepped back and raised their blasters.
"Nowhere to hide." Onslaught finished.
And then Blast-Off was kicked to the side, sliding on the ground. Everybody turned to see the source, to find a single M-Con, no weapons out, poised for battle.
Seven had come through the Autobot Space Bridge.
"Not today, alien scum!" Seven shouted before his robot leapt and delivered a spin-kick to the side of Onslaught's confused face.
"What?" Starscream hissed. "Combaticons! Crush him!"
Onslaught stumbled back to his feet only to be face to face with a squared up Silas who delivered a punch to his chest that was pushed away at the last second and rewarded with a side kick to the abdomen.
"Career soldier?" Onslaught growled as he gestured for Silas to come at him again while the Sweeps moved around to engage Blast-Off and the others.
"Air Force, Special Tactics." Silas said, running forward and exchanging blows with him, only to be knocked to the ground again.
"Special is right." Onslaught taunted.
"I may be a bit rusty." Silas said, flipping onto his back and stumbling onto his feet again. "But I don't need to best you." He leapt forward, slamming his knee into the Combaticon leader, who wheezed in pain before catching the leg and flipping Silas over onto the ground. "I just need to revive my troops before I bail out."
"What?" Onslaught said, turning around to see the Sweeps swarming Brawl and Blast-Off, while Miko wrested the Immobilizer from Vortex's grip, flicked a switch, and de-immobilized Scourge and the Autobots.
The numbers were on their side and then some, now.
"Space Bridge, now!" Miko shouted to the disoriented Autobots, who looked around at the chaos and ran forward, dragging Optimus's body. Without thinking, Miko dropped the Immobilizer to assist the lift, as did Scourge.
"Combaticons!" Starscream shouted, one hand still firmly on the Omega Lock panel while the other fired missiles. "Stop them!"
"And that's my cue." Silas said, firing a fist- a fist- at Onslaught, clocking him in the jaw and adjusting course to Starscream. Starscream instantly switched his launcher back into a hand and caught the fist, crushing it effortlessly. Silas began crawling and then running towards the Space Bridge portal back to the Autobot Base, letting the others through first, before readying his other fist and firing it towards Swindle. He smiled as the fist hit the bomb's button dead center, and he hopped back through the closing Space Bridge Portal. "Ninety seconds."
Perfect.
On the other side of the Bridge, in the Autobot base, everybody stopped to get their bearings. Miko immediately collapsed to the ground, curled into the fetal position. Seven was making his way back down the tunnel.
"Well." Silas said, catching his breath as the portal closed behind him. "That was quite the-"
And he was immediately tackled to the ground by Arcee. "You killed him." Arcee snarled as she struck at Silas's chest cavity. "You killed him. You killed him."
Silas attempted to strike back, a task made difficult by his lack of hands or any weaponry whatsoever. "Someone get this screeching harpy off of me!"
MECH-1 stepped forward and, as he had done about five times in the past hour, clubbed her in the back of the head, only to be immediately pulled back by Bulkhead and Bumblebee and thrown into the wall next to the deactivated Ground Bridge. That was all the reprieve Silas needed to flip over and straddle her waist before pressing his knee onto her throat.
"I'm sorry, are you upset because your dear leader is no more?" He laughed as he pressed his weight down further and Arcee desperately clawed at his thighs, repeating her accusations without pause. "And to think, in his last moments, he rendered your entire cause moot by turning over command to Megatron. Of course, it's not your fault. How could you have known that you were being commanded by an incompetent buffoon?"
Silas was immediately yanked back by Ratchet, who covered his face with one hand. "You talk a lot." Ratchet muttered, swapping out his other hand for a blade. "A tracheotomy should cure that. Shame about my tools, but what's surgery without its risk?" Ratchet flicked his elbow three times and tapped at the metal, causing Silas' chest plating to fall clean off, exposing his body to the open air of the base. His eyes widened in fear at the sight of the Doctor of Doom raising his blade, but Scourge grabbed Ratchet by the back of the head, lifted him by it, and began to tighten his grip.
"No." Scourge said as the Sweeps moved to restrain the Autobots. Seven lifted Silas up to his feet. "I don't think so."
Silas shielded himself with his robotic arm and wiped his robotic chin. "You know what?" Silas said, looking to the struggling Autobots. "For a time, I considered sparing your wretched excuse for a militia. But now… you can witness its dismemberment."
Silas looked at Scourge and waited for him to close his grip. But he didn't.
"No, Silas." Raf said into the mic, hand firmly on the throttle. "Not Ratchet. Not like this."
Stop this nonsense. You are delaying Cyclonus at a critical juncture.
"Rafael?" Silas asked. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not letting you kill Ratchet." Raf said. "Or any of my other friends."
Release your grip, boy!
Not a chance.
There is no time for this heroic nonsense.
The pounding returned. Loud. Raf clutched his head and groaned.
Scourge immediately opened his hand, dropping Ratchet to the ground. Silas groaned and dropped to one knee, before rising again, one optic glowing purple. "Sweeps.", the both of them boomed, gesturing ever so slightly out of sync. "Time is of the essence. We must secure Prometheus, and rendezvous in Carbombya."
"Uh… Silas?" Seven said. "That might be a problem."
Boom. It felt like Raf had slammed his forehead against a wall. He certainly wanted to
"… What happened?" Silas asked, still echoing despite his frustration.
"The doors are sealed." Seven pointed a thumb towards the tunnel. "We can't get out."
"How are you gentlemen?" General Bryce asked on the main screen.
"It's you." Silas said, his robotic eyes returning to their orange color as his tone went from one of authority to one of disgust.
"I just called in to inform the Autobots that their services were no longer required," Bryce said, "but since you're here, Leland, I should tell you that as of now almost all of your bases belong to us. MECH is on the way to destruction."
"What are you saying?" Silas demanded.
"I'm saying that you have no chance to survive, but I wanted to make sure that you made the most of your time." Bryce said as images flashed of MECH and Carbombyan forces being targeted by US airstrikes. "Really, this makes my job easier, because I thought I'd have to find your stateside base. We thought we had a lead, but the site went dark hours ago. I have one of my top boys on it."
The headache seemed to recede, and hold itself at that level for a full second before crashing again. Raf doubled over in his seat.
Be prepared.
Yeah Raf was prepared. To take a drill to his skull.
His response was an explosion that made him clench his teeth.
"Hm. Orpheus…" Silas muttered under his breath. "What job?"
"Well, in about…" Bryce checked his watch, "five minutes, that base is gonna blow sky-high with you all in it. Glad I have visual confirmation of your presence, too. No change of botching it like I did with the Esquivels."
Raf's eye twitched.
"You're a-"
"Goodbye, Leland." Bryce waved as he hung up.
"We can't trust any of you…" Ratchet coughed as he stumbled back to his feet. "You're all monsters."
"The main silo doors." Raf said immediately, making Scourge point to it. Silas nodded in assent. "Assuming those aren't sealed."
Boom. Loud.
"I can assure you, Rafael, that those doors in fact cannot be sealed from the outside." Silas informed the group, happy to share, "That would defeat the whole purpose."
"We can't fly." Bulkhead said. "We'd just be stuck on the roof. Unless we…" Bulkhead smiled and put a finger to his ear. "Calling Wheeljack. Wheeljack, this is Bulkhead. Requesting immediate evac from the base. Now. Like… right now."
"Not to mention the ambush that's probably waiting for us." Ratchet said. "And there's no way we can all fit on the Jackhammer, not even counting them." Ratchet pointed to MECH.
Boom. Hard. Raf felt the world take on a purple tint.
"I'll take my chances." Silas said, cycling through his available armaments and finding the one weapon he'd forgotten about. "Bryce was stupid enough to tell us about the bomb. He probably thought we'd stay in here."
"We could just take the Ground Bridge." Arcee pointed out as the MECH troopers clambered onto the freight elevator.
"OK. That also works." Bulkhead said. "You four, go with Miko, get her to safety. I'm going to join up with Jackie. Take this." He rooted around in his chest cavity and pulled out what looked like a small grenade. "This is my Wrecker transponder. Once we figure out what's going on, activate the distress beacon, and we can regroup."
"You're going without me?" Miko asked. "No way!"
"Miko, we're in crisis mode right now. We don't have time to-"
"I'm not getting separated from you. And you don't have time to argue."
Bulkhead rubbed his forehead. "Fine."
Bulkhead, Miko, Silas, Scourge, and twenty Sweeps squeezed themselves onto the platform, taking them up to the roof as Ratchet punched in Ground Bridge coordinates.
When they all emerged on the roof, they found themselves surrounded by Helicopter gunships. Silas stepped onto the edge and immediately jumped back to avoid the tank shell that slammed into the side of the base.
Another pulse. An explosion. And then relief. He closed his eyes. He was seeing stars. Funny, he smiled, he could see the whole solar system.
It was the sound of footsteps behind him that tipped him off to the fact that somebody had breached the room. He held his breath as if he didn't know that he were literally in the middle of the room. His ears perked up as the footsteps approached. They sounded quick. They sounded young.
"Raf."
Raf sighed. With his eyes closed. It almost seemed like Unicron was a bad dream. He could almost pretend that he was back at the Autobot Base, with all of his friends.
"This needs to stop, Raf."
But he couldn't. Not completely. Not when he could still feel the fabric of the uniform that MECH had custom fitted for him. Not when he was sitting in Skyquake's hand. Not when he could feel the Chaos Bringer's warmth wrapping around his brain.
And he couldn't close his eyes and pretend that the reason Jack was standing behind him was for homework help. So he opened them.
"What do you know, Ratchet was right." Silas said. "So when is Wheeljack supposed to… what?"
Nobody was looking at Silas. Nobody was looking at the Military. Everybody was looking at the night sky, and the face of pure evil looking down at them.
"Silas…" Bulkhead asked, recoiling in horror from the sight of Unicron's golden, scowling visage. "Did you use the Omega Lock make a space station?"
"That's no space station." Miko said, covering her mouth as she shook her head. "That's the moon."
On the next exciting chapter of A World Forged From Chaos
-It's in the blood. It's in the will. It's in the mighty hands of steel when you're standing your ground.
-Instruments of destruction, tools of power plays. It's a violent eruption, existence stripped away.
-Dare to believe you can survive. You hold the future in your hands.
-This generation, we've got a fire in our eyes. Strong are the ties that bind us, we don't need no enemies. Nothing's gonna stand in our way.
-I'll do anything to get it and feel no regret. Time's running out, and I ain't found it yet.
-You can be a coffee achiever, you can sit around the house and watch "Leave it to Beaver." The future's up to you, so whatchu gonna do?
AN: "End of July" I said. Shouldn't take too long, I thought. You know what you want to happen.
Nope.
Next chapter should be the last one. Somehow, after condensing the contents of three (One Shall Rise) and four(T/T/T/T) episodes into a chapter each, it's all catching up with me with what should be the last two damn episodes of Season 2.
It's a shame, I'm taking so long on this that some of my earlier readers aren't reviewing anymore.
For those of you reviewing, I'd like to know. How well do my characters stay, well, in character? Particularly Unicron, Raf, and Silas, but the others as well. My goal was to write a story that could just as easily have been an alternative second season, if they brought in TFA's writers. (The later seasons of TFA were pretty dark. Blurr's death jumps to mind for example.) Certain character arcs may have reversed, or in some cases skipped entirely because the lesson could not or would not be learned, but I want somebody to look at Ratchet's misanthropy, for example, and say, "Ah, Ratchet is having his biases confirmed" and not "This is an interesting take on an AU Ratchet where he's a racist."
Looking back, I kind of jumped all over the place with Scourge. When I first wrote him, I visualized a sort of amalgamation of the Rocky antagonists. Apollo Creed's joviality and competitiveness, Clubber Lang's ambition and pride, and Ivan Drago's desire to break things and intimidate people. Not sure if I succeeded in that regard.
The character of Seven, in contrast, was based on... Actually, he was very much made up as I went along. I originally planned for him to appear in that one chapter, but decided, hey, MECH needs a human face... mask... whatever. I tried to envision the kind of person who would join a terrorist group and believe whole-heartedly in the cause without being some religious fanatic. Seven was the result.
Alright. That's enough rambling. Chapter 22 drops when it's done. I have classes. It's getting late, and the night is dark and full of terrors.