Chapter Thirty Five- Rising Armadas
Grimlock was walking in the middle of nowhere, very upset.
"I wish I still have my alt mode to go faster. And I miss hunting." Grimlock groaned before he located what he was looking for. "At last, just as I left it: the Harbinger. Things are finally looking up."
He entered the ship, but its inside was totally a mess. The Dinobot started looking through the wreckage, but he found nothing useful, so he hit some wreckage in fury.
"Raagh! Really?! Not a single scrap of energon!" He roared before he noticed something on the floor. "Wait. These footprints are recent. Someone was here, or still here." He said putting out his sword.
He started searching the ship in case of possible survivors, Autobots or Decepticons. Next to a corner he heard something, so he hid next to the corner and waited for something to come. A couple of minutes later, he heard some footsteps coming towards him, so he waited when the sound was near enough to attack. Then he charged to the corner and tackles another big green bot and smashed him to the ground.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Grimlock demanded as grabbed the bot by his neck and aimed his sword.
"Give it all you got, Con!" The other bot responded.
"I'll not ask you again! Who are you!?" Grimlock asked again.
The other bot didn't answer, but after a couple of seconds struggling he became silence when he saw Grimlock's face. "Grimlock?"
"Did I know you?" Grimlock asked interested.
"Grimlock, don't you recognize me? It's me!" The bot argued.
Grimlock thought of that until he recognized his voice.
"Swoop? It's that you?" Grimlock asked in surprised as the bot nodded. "Ha, it's good to see you make out of Cybertron! What are you doing here?" Grimlock asked as he helped out Swoop.
"After the mess we made on Cybertron we manage to grab a ship and land here, looking for a safe spot. And fortunately I'm not alone." Swoop said pointing at one hall where other giant bots appeared.
"Boss! It good to see you!" The white and red bot said.
"Me too, Slag." Grimlock greeted.
"I told you no one could kill him, Snarl." The purple and green bot remarked.
"I never said that, Sludge." The grey and purple bot argued.
"We miss you so much, boss." The red bot said, named Slash.
"It's good to see that all Dinobots made it. But why are you looking a little weird?" Grimlock asked, not recognizing the other Dinobots' appearance.
"Oh this, well, let say is some kind of improvement." Sludge said looking his body.
"When we arrive here, we discovered an ancient cybertronian ship buried under the Harbinger. When we explored it, we found some kind of armor and ancient weaponry. Must be the ship of ancient cybertronian knights, so we decided to improve ourselves and our alt modes (Dinobots' appearances of Age of Extinction.). And this improvement has bonded us together." Slash explained before he transformed into a cybertronian Velociraptor with metal feathers.
Swoop turned into a cybertronian Pteranodon; Slag turned into a cybertronian Triceratops, Snarl changed into a cybertronian Stegosaurus and Sludge alt mode was a cybertronian Apatosaurus.
"Impressive." Grimlock said.
"Now with these improvements we can truly achieve total victory for the Autobots." Slag remarked.
"Not so fast, Slag. We are not in the mood anymore." Grimlock objected.
"What? What do you mean, Grimlock?" Snarl asked.
Grimlock explained them all what happened to him during his presence on Earth.
"So Optimus has expelled us from the Autobots?!" Slag roared furiously.
"And now he considered us traitors. So that means we cannot trust anyone who was before our ally." Slash observed.
"No one tried to kill a Dinobot and live to tell it!" Swoop cheered. "So what are we going to do?"
"We are going to kill Optimus Prime for this humiliation, reclaim what is ours and defeat all the Decepticons so we can rule over this world." Grimlock said sinisterly.
"We are with you in this, Grimlock." Sludge said.
"And now that we are stronger than before nobody can stop us." Snarl said.
"When you upgraded yourself too, Optimus will need a lot of backup to stand against you." Slag added.
"That could be a problem." Grimlock objected.
"What?" Slash asked.
"I can't change form. Those treacherous Star Seekers stole my T-Cog, leaving me without all my power." Grimlock explained.
"Then those traitors will pay too." Slag cursed.
"Don't worry boss. The Harbinger has a lot of medical and scientific instrumental, so we can use it to make you hole again." Slash pointed.
"Those are very good news." Grimlock said.
"And that's not the only thing we discovered." Swoop said slamming the wall.
That made a door open, revealing a secret room.
"A laboratory." Grimlock said as he and the other Dinobots entered.
"And it's functional. But that it's not the best." Slash said pressing a button on the computer.
Then a light flashed on one body.
"A protoform." Snarl said.
"Hum, that gave me an idea." Grimlock smiled.
Meanwhile, very far from there, Breakdown was driving down the road in a common patrol. Suddenly, his terminal detected something.
"Breakdown to base, I picked up a strong reading. Better going check it out." He said as he changed his route.
Meanwhile, inside the Harbinger…
"You think you can do it?" Grimlock asked.
"Let's see. Transference of binary bonding, submolecular infusion. The formula seems straight forward enough. Looks like it's ripe for the molding." Slash reported.
"Let's give cloning a whirl, shall we?" Grimlock said looking to the other Dinobots.
Breakdown reached to a crater in the ground as he turned back to his robot form.
"Well, no sign of activity." Breakdown said as he started to climb down the hole.
At the same time, in the Harbinger's lab, Slash extracted some of Grimlock's energon and inserted it in the fusion chamber. The machine scanned his CNA and sparks began to glow around the room while Grimlock laughed maniacally.
"Give us life!" Swoop shouted pulling a lever.
Then the protoform began to change, until it transformed into another Grimlock.
"It looks perfectly equal as you, Grimlock. Like a twin." Slag observed.
"Exactly." Grimlock smirked.
Breakdown continued climbing down until he saw the bottom, with a pile of energon cubes.
"Energon. Boxed and ready for pick up." He said.
But then a shadow covered the hole. Breakdown looked up to see that was the Autobot warship, getting down to claim the energon.
"Scrap." Breakdown cursed.
He tried to climb faster to the bottom, but he took a wrong step and fell, landing on the energon. He fall unconscious as the Ark used it's elevator to pick up the energon and getting it inside. Meanwhile, Grimlock decided to approach his clone and talk.
"Esteemed members of my order. You now stand upon the very presences of glory. To show all who are the best warriors ever existed. And meet the destiny which I am truly worthy." Grimlock told in front of everyone raising his sword.
"Dynamic leadership of the Autobots." The clone finished.
"What did you said?" Grimlock asked confused. "Slash, what is the meaning of this?!"
"I don't know. It is assumed that this clone is a true resemblance of you."
"Yeah, but why it speaks just like Grimlock?" Sludge asked.
"Because, dear Dinobots, your highness and I are as one. I share his memories, his very feelings, even his sensational quest for power." The clone explained sinisterly.
"Hpm." Grimlock said, suspecting of the clone.
Moments later, all the Dinobots, including Grimlock's clone were walking outside the ship.
"Fortunately, I managed to connect the Harbinger's tracking system to the Autobot network, so now its sync to Optimus's warship." Slash explained.
"But we still need a way to reaching the ship." Snarl added.
"We'll set a trap. We will ask for a ground bridge as an answer for a distress call that will allow you and my double to reach the Ark. And once you're inside, you must find and snuff Optimus cursed spark and anyone who stand in your way." Grimlock ordered.
"We will make the call in a perfect area. I will scout ahead to find the proper place for the ambush." Swoop suggested as he transformed and flew away.
"We will accomplish your mission, Grimlock." Sludge remarked.
"Dinobots, transform and roar!" Grimlock ordered as all the Dinobots changed to their dinosaur forms and went to the same direction Swoop departed.
On the Autobot warship, the Autobot soldiers detected a distress signal requesting a ground bridge. Even when they summoned one, a group of commandos aimed their weapons in case there was an enemy. One of them entered to see who asked for help, but after a couple of seconds, it came through the vortex, dead. That put the others on guard when a metal arrow came through the vortex and killed one of the commandos. Then all the Dinobots crossed the vortex and started killing them. Grimlock's clone used his sword, Swoop used a sword and his crossbow, Slag used two swords, Snarl used axes, Sludge used a big hammer and Slash used two retractable blades. They managed to kill all the Autobots in a few seconds.
"We're still the bests." Swoop said proudly.
"Dinobots, spread out and keep to the shadows." Grimlock's clone ordered.
"Hey, don't forget you are not the real Grimlock." Sludge remarked.
"Any every one of us is a completely unknown aboard this warship. We should eliminate all the Autobots we found." Slag suggested.
"But if we revealed our position, we will sacrifice the element of surprise." Snarl remembered.
"Whoever manages to find Optimus first, report your position, and we'll prepare the ambush." Slash said.
Then all Dinobots separated and went by different paths. Meanwhile, in that time, Breakdown woke up surrounded by a lot of energon boxes.
"Oh my head. What the…?! The Bots's warship?" He asked in surprise before he nearly dropped by the hole nearby, when he could see that the ship was already in the sky. "Soundwave, don't ask how I got here. Long story." He said through the com-link, but he received nothing more than static. "Soundwave, you copy? Oh scrap."
Breakdown slowly walked out of the room.
"Stealthy, stealthy." He told himself nervously.
Suddenly he heard some footsteps coming from the next hall: it was a couple of Autobot soldiers. He tried to go back into the room, but the door closed in front of his face. Breakdown remained still as the Bots walked by, without looking at him. Breakdown continued walking, looking back in case they return, until he bumped into someone and turned around with his turret activated the same as the other bot.
"A Dinobot?" Breakdown asked in disbelief.
"Why is it that every time we return to our old stomping grounds we find a Decepticon roaming the halls?" Slash asked in irritation.
"Don't tell me your kind came crawling back to Prime." Breakdown growled.
"After what he did to our leader? Ha! Never. Now out of my way!" Slash snapped as he went to out of the way.
"Wait, you've gotta show me the way off this boat." Breakdown pleaded.
"Sorry, too busy." Slash said.
"Look, when your boss needed help…" Breakdown began in anger.
"As he recalled us, you bartered! So…unless you have anything of value to offer me, step aside!" Slash yelled.
"The exit, now!" Breakdown demanded in anger.
"Our boss may have giving Airachnid a free pass when they last met!" Slash said before slashing Breakdown's chest with his close combat weapons. "But I won't hesitate to skewer you as Grimlock did a certain Steve!"
Breakdown looked to the scar Slash made to him, so he ran to Slash in rage and slammed him with his hammer.
"Perish, Breakdown." Slash said when he recovered and drew out his lasers.
But Breakdown jumped on him first as he hit him with his hammer again. Meanwhile, at the Harbinger, Grimlock was waiting, now with his body changed by the upgrades (Grimlock's look of Age of Extinction)…
"I cannot wait to savor the vivid details of Optimus's demise." Grimlock said walking around, when suddenly his body jolted and felt pain. "What is happening?"
That pain was the same Slash was feeling as Breakdown continued to smashing him with his hammer.
"This is for Steve! For Stinger! For everything." Breakdown said sinisterly before he takes out Slash's life, the same time when Grimlock was on his knees screaming in pain.
"When Slash mentioned that this upgrades allowed us to be connected I never imagine that I could feel their agony! Poor Slash, they will pay, whatever killed you." Grimlock cursed.
"You had leaved me no choice." Breakdown said after finish with the Dinobot.
He quickly hid Slash's body before he looked to a terminal.
"A comm unit." He immediately began to press buttons, expecting one of them allowed him to contact base. "Breakdown to base, do you read? Do you copy?" But there was no response. "Stupid Bot tech. Is this thing even on?!"
Then the terminal began to release a screeching noise, one that even the Autobots noticed.
"What's that?" Bumblebee asked.
"One of our communication units has been manipulated. Is sending a distress signal from inside the ship." An Autobot trooper reported.
"It could be a malfunction mistake." Bulkhead suggested.
"Or a sabotage. Sent all squadrons to investigate that signal, I will meet with them." Wheeljack ordered as he went to investigate.
A lot of Autobots went to investigate the signal too. Fortunately, Breakdown pressed a button, causing the noise to stop, and he sighed in relief. But then he heard footsteps coming down the hall, so he hid.
"Everything seems too normal right now." Wheeljack said arriving with some troops.
But then they saw Snarl in front of them in the other side of the hall. He immediately ran away.
"Hey you, hall!" Wheeljack said following him with the other Autobots while Breakdown saw them walking away, allowing him to remain hidden.
But what he made on the terminal sent a distress signal, one that was caught by a certain Autobot helicopter.
"An Autobot beacon. Finally."
It was Sandstorm, who was flying towards the cave where was hidden the Insectobot hive.
"I wish I could unleash my wrath of vengeance on the ones who made you a lot of hurt, captain. But if with this I can achieve the Autobots's demise and calm your mind, so be it." Sandstorm said walking towards the cave's entrance. "Devoted servants, the time has come for the ultimate retribution!" He said as he did some commands on his terminal.
Inside the cave, the Insectobots began to wake up. That was noticed too in the Decepticon base.
"Megatron, no word yet from Breakdown. But I am detecting some rather curious subterranean frequencies." Soundwave reported.
"Of Earthly origin?" Starscream inquired.
"We do not yet know what they are. But we do know where." Shockwave reported as he typed in a few coordinates.
"The coordinates of which we last encounter Optimus." Megatron observed.
"And Sandstorm." Airachnid snarled.
"And Sandstorm's Insectobot." Knock Out piped in angry.
The Insectobots began to wake up from their pods.
"Arise, my armada, and attack!" Sandstorm ordered.
The Insectobots screeched as they transformed into their flying forms and flew to the exit of the cave. Sandstorm smirked before watching them fly out in thousands and made their way towards the Ark. In that moment, the Decepticons came through their ground bridge and saw them.
"Whoa, what is this all about?" Knock Out asked in confusion.
"We are in all likelihood witnessing the launch of a mission to terminate Optimus Prime." Megatron observed.
"I can't think of a reason to stop that. Even if we could." Starscream admitted.
"But we can stop Sandstorm." Megatron declared as he looked sown to see him.
All the Decepticons aimed their weapons at him, but he noticed that.
"Rear guard, engage the Decepticons." Sandstorm ordered.
Multiple Insectobots flew towards the Decepticons as they attacked. Sandstorm watched happy as a cloud of smoke formed, only to see Airachnid jumping towards him. He growled as he transformed into a tank and drive as fast as he could. Airachnid followed him in spider mode while the other Decepticons engaged the Insectobots. Meanwhile, Breakdown was crawling inside a tunnel of the Ark.
"Stealthy, stealthy." Breakdown whispered as he advanced, until he heard a voice.
"Lord Optimus Prime!" Ratchet's voice sounded through the com-link.
Breakdown looked over to see Optimus and Elita close to him.
"Yes Ratchet, what is it?" Optimus asked as they walked through the hallway.
"We have an intruder!" The medic reported.
"Decepticon?" Optimus asked, making Breakdown more nervous.
"Grimlock! Wheeljack has seen him in the vicinity of the bridge!" Ratchet answered.
"Go by the other hall, I will go right here." Optimus instructed Elita, she nodded and walked away as he turned around and walked away too.
Meanwhile, Airachnid was still chasing Sandstorm. He tried to hit her with his tank cannon, but she evaded all shots. In one moment she launched two missiles in her helicopter form at Sandstorm.
"No!" He yelled before the missiles hit him and launched him to the ground.
When Airachnid turned back to her robot form, she widened how Sandstorm desperately tried to get away by making a hole in the ground.
"Underground. My specialty." She said sarcastically as she prepared her spider mode and went after him.
At the same time, aboard the Ark, Optimus found a lot of dead Autobot troopers in his way to the bridge. By the appearances of the wounds, they were killed by brutal opponents. When he came inside the bridge with his gun ready, all the Autobots were dead too, and someone was on the center waiting for him.
"Optimus Prime, it has come time to settle old scores." Grimlock's clone said with an evil smile.
That made Optimus laugh. "Really, Grimlock? All on your own?"
"Actually, not totally on my own, by totally on everyone. A king is never really alone." The clone said as the moment all the Dinobots came from their hidings and surrounded the Autobot leader.
"So you have reunited all the Dinobots. Well played, Grimlock, if you have intention to make your minions to do all the dirty work." Optimus confessed a little surprised, but with an idea in mind.
"Minions?! We are a team!" Slag corrected.
"Yeah, we Dinobots need to stay together!" Swoop added.
"Now Dinobots…" The clone began, as him and all the Dinobots took out their melee combat weapons. "Let's show him what happens to those who mess with us."
In that moment Elita reached to the bridge, and stayed in shock to see all the Dinobots surrounded Optimus, but he wink an eye to her, so she understood what she needed to do.
"Instead of finishing me together, why do not you show me who is the strongest dinosaur?" Optimus proposed.
"What, what do you mean?" Snarl asked confused.
"Fight between all of you, and the survivor will be rewarded as my second in command. It could be any of you." Optimus vowed.
That caused confusion in all the Dinobots.
"No! You're trying to trick us!" Swoop cried.
"Am I?"
"Is he?" Snarl mused.
"Accept my proposal and we all win. Otherwise, you will merely end up fighting each other to be the only one strong beast. It is your instinct after all." Optimus smirked.
"Don't listen to him, Dinobots!" The clone warned.
"Grimlock's right, we're not going to fall into your trap, Prime." Sludge remembered.
"Prepare to perish at our hands." Snarl sneered.
"Yes, only our combine wrath will assure Optimus's destruction." Slag proclaimed.
"Are you sure of that?" A female voice said behind them.
Elita jumped over firing at them, forcing them to cover with their shields and landing next to Optimus.
"Ha, that changes nothing. Only allow us to crush the other Autobot leader. Now this is a real challenge." Grimlock's clone proclaimed as the other Dinobots changed into their dinosaur forms and began advancing towards the two Bots.
But then, a buzzy noise sound around them.
"Hey, do you hear that?" Sludge asked.
"Yeah, but for some reason it is familiar to me." Swoop admitted.
Breakdown heard the sound too. That was because the Insectobot swarm just arrived to the Ark.
"Ignore that. Charge at my mark! One, two…"
But before Grimlock's clone could finish, the ship shake.
"What was that?" Slag asked after he collapsed.
"The sound of the table turning." Elita said over him and starting to shot at him.
That made Slag to run on stampede all over the bridge, and allowing Optimus to engage the rest of the Dinobots. First he shot at Grimlock's clone, taking him down. Next Swoop tried to grab him by his claws, but Prime evaded him and cut through his wings, making him fall. Snarl tried to hit him with his tail's spikes, but Optimus dodged it very fast and jumped over him. When he stabbed his sword on his head, the Dinobot was dead. Sludge managed to hit him with his tail, but Elita saw that and forced Slag to charge against his pall, stabbing his horns into Sludge's body, killing him. Before he could react, Elita grabbed him by the tail and threw him and Swoop, who tried to get up. At the same time, Elita shot his cannon inside Slag's mouth and Optimus broke Swoop's mouth in two. All that made the real Grimlock to jolt by receiving a lot of pain.
"What's going on up there?!" He asked in disbelief.
The Insectobot swarm began to bombard a lot of lasers at the Ark. Meanwhile, Grimlock's clone was lying on the floor in pain.
"See what you have done, Grimlock? You forced me to annihilate the most powerful Autobots that ever existed. You had this in mind? Exterminating all your Dinobots has been very stimulating, but for you, Grimlock, your punishment will be worst." Optimus proclaimed as he and Elita approached towards the clone with their weapons at him.
But another shake allowed him to escape.
"Lord Optimus Prime, we had a problem." Bumblebee said through the com-link.
"Just tell us what is making those shakes!" Elita ordered.
"Is about that. We have a very big bug problem." Ratchet explained as the main screen showed the Insectobot swarm.
"Sandstorm. A busy day for assassins." Optimus remarked.
"I'm redirecting all the troops to the deck in order to engage the enemy." Ultra Magnus reported.
"Hand in there, we'll arrive in a few seconds." Optimus proclaimed as he and his sparkmate run to the battle.
Meanwhile, Starscream managed to hit with a missile the last Insectobot and allowing Megatron to crush it with his fist.
"Well, that was entertainment." Starscream admitted.
"Wait, we are not all." Knock Out observed.
"Airachnid." Megatron called out.
Talking about Airachnid, she was walking silently through the tunnels, heading to where the Insectobot swarm used to be, but Sandstorm was there, waiting for her in his helicopter form with his guns ready. Outside the Ark, the Autobots were holding their ground against the Insectobots, but they were losing it. Even when Optimus and Elita arrive and started taking them down, the fight was not going well for them. Meanwhile, Airachnid already arrived to the main chamber. Just before the Star Seeker began to firing missiles at her, she saw his reflection on one of the pods and got some cover. After more missed shot of her attacker, she returned fire and scored direct hits, because the rogue Autobot fell. He began to stand up when she stood before him.
"Now what? You're going to extinguish my spark and making it hurt a lot when I'm still alive?" Sandstorm teased.
"No, I'm not like Arcee." Airachnid snarled.
"Very well. Then I will do it!" Sandstorm swore as he charged at her.
Then she saw an Insectobot pod open, so an idea came to her mind. She blocked his attacks with her spider legs until she took the chance and kicked him, sending him on the pod. Then the pod activated.
"What?!"
He tried to escape, but Airachnid shot webs at him, stuck him to the pod.
"No!" He screamed before the pod closed with him inside.
He tried to get free, but he became frozen in the pod. The consequences of that duel arrived to the Ark when just when the Insectobots were ready to fight the Autobots in close combat, they suddenly stopped and transformed all into their original form, all around Optimus and his followers.
"Huh? Why have they stopped?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.
"I don't know, but it's like they don't want to keep fighting." Arcee noticed.
Then all the Insectobots vowed before them.
"This is good or is bad?" Cliffjumper asked.
"What do you think?" Ratchet remarked.
"Forgive us, great Optimus Prime, one true lord and master. The last of the Primes." All the Insectobots said in union.
"Sure that answers your question." Optimus said with a smile.
"This day has certainly seen its share of thwarted intentions." Elita remarked.
Meanwhile, Breakdown already arrived to a big room where there was a claw supplying energon to a big engine: that was the ship's main core room. Breakdown looked at it with attention.
"One way or another, I'm getting off this boat." Breakdown declared as he activated his hammer and jumped into the air before getting through the engine, causing all the ship to shake.
"Now what?!" Optimus demanded as the ship began to fall with smoke coming from its engines.
Breakdown reached to the hangar, just to meet with Grimlock next to him.
"Out of my way!" The Dinobot yelled before transforming and jumping out of the ship, leaving Breakdown confused.
Elita One arrived to the main bridge.
"My liege, our power core has been compromised." An Autobot soldier reported.
"Everyone, prepare for crash landing." She instructed.
The Ark crashed into the ground before slowing down near a ledge. As it did, Breakdown drove out in his vehicle form. At the night, the Decepticons transported Sandstorm's pod to their base.
"Stasis?!" Starscream said in surprise. "He deserves worse!"
"We all intended worse. More times than you know." Airachnid proclaimed.
"You were stronger for the choice you made." Shockwave said.
"I don't know if I could do the same against Arcee." She confessed.
"You will pass that path once it will arrive." Megatron proclaimed.
Then everyone heard a honking noise as they turned to see Breakdown driving into base before transforming.
"Guys, you are not going to believe the day I had!" Breakdown proclaimed.
"Well, you have lost our special party." Knock Out said pointing at the pod.
"You too, huh?" Breakdown asked.
Meanwhile, Grimlock's clone returned to the Harbinger. He transformed and entered the ship, a little hurt. In front of him was the real Grimlock.
"You highness, your most loyal warrior has returned, but I regret to inform you that our collective mission has failed." The clone said as he began to pull out his sword.
"Hm, yes. I got that sense. And you let the other Dinobots to die. Something to do with…a throbbing ache in my side!" Grimlock shouted as he threw a metal spear to his clone, hitting him to the center of his body.
The clone laid on the floor as Grimlock put his foot on him.
"You knew I was going to overthrow you?" The clone asked in disbelief with pain.
"Ugh, I feel your pain. Really I do." Grimlock said before he stabbed his sword on the clone, making him roar in pain. "Scrap, that hurts!"