63- Evolution.

Anaxes

It was a stormy night when the Nemesis arrived to a certain location. Megatron descended to a cave's entrance alongside Starscream escorted by two Umbaran starfighters piloted by droids, and both changed to robot form.

"Another abandoned mine?" Starscream asked nervous.

"Come, Starscream." Megatron said as he entered.

The two Decepticons entered the cave and arrived to a huge chamber.

"My liege, who could have foreseen that my alternative super soldier experiment would encounter…technical difficulties?"

"Resulting in the loss of the Insecticon hive and an important part of our forces!" Megatron ended in a mad tone.

Starting to fear the worst, Starscream fell to his knees. "Forgive me master, my intentions were true. Please, please reconsider my termination."

That made Megatron groan for that exaggeration as he continued entering the chamber.

"Lord Megatron, commander Starscream, welcome. I will let commander Shockwave know you're here." A droid who stood in front of them both saluted before he headed to the chamber.

Starscream looked aside Megatron and saw that the chamber was full with cybertronian tech and scientist instrumental.

"Oh, Shockwave's off-site laboratory. Most impressive." He observed.

Megatron and Starscream walked between two large lines of cybertronian stasis chambers, each one with a Predacon inside. Once they reached half the way, Shockwave received them.

"The Predacon clones have almost fully evolved and will be combat ready within three solar cycles."

"Well done, Shockwave." Megatron congratulated, next he called through his com-link. "Knock Out, Thundercracker, I'm waiting."

"On our way, Lord Megatron." Knock Out answered.

Knock Out and Thundercracker were descending through the Nemesis's elevator packing some cubes with green energon. The Predacon saw that from one of the ship's sides, being observed by someone else. The elevator took both Decepticons inside the chamber.

"Synthetic energon." Knock Out said transporting a couple of cubes.

"Troops will be delivering our remaining supply to you." Thundercracker added as he and some heavy droids carried more boxes.

"I will determine its value after Lord Megatron's Predacon army is ready for deployment." Shockwave said.

Then everyone heard advancing loud footsteps and shrieks, and saw the Predacon walking inside the chamber. Then it stopped and roared. At the same time, Skywarp arrived in vehicle form, changed form and stood in front of the Predacon.

"Unruly beast. You dare to room freely without permission?" He said hitting the Predacon with a metal bar two times, but that made the Predacon roared at him, making him to fall back a few steps and falling back.

The creature continued advancing at him, so Skywarp covered himself for any kind of injury, but then, the Predacon simply rose and transformed, adopting a less beastly robot form. Unlike the Autobots and Decepticons, its eyes remained yellow. That left everyone surprised and without words.

"What?" Skywarp asked surprised.

"Strike me again and I will bury that rod in your spark." The Predacon surprisingly said.

"I…I did not realize that the beast was capable of transformation." One of the droids said.

"Nor did I." Megatron added looking at Shockwave.

"I am no beast." The Predacon cleared to the droid before he approached to one of the stasis tubes.

"The ability to transform is a fundamental part of cybertronian biology. We simply possessed no evidence that the Predacon species ever reached that evolutionary stage, since they became extinct in the great cataclysm." Shockwave explained.

"And now we know." Starscream added as he groaned.

"So, the rumors are true. I will no longer be alone." The Predacon said observing the Predacon inside the tube.

"And I see you've been keeping secrets."

"It was not my intention to deceive you, Lord Megatron. I only recently became aware of my abilities. All I remember of my beginning is hunting…and battle…and the wounding of my pride. Thus I began to burn with questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? The warship's databanks provided historical fact, but still I possessed no memory of my own past. So I began to reconsider my place in the present, and wondered, could I be like the others? And now I know."

"Yet you are unique, miracle of science. Cloned by Shockwave from cyber-nucleic acid, recovered from the remains of your mighty ancestors." Megatron explained as they both continued looking one of the sleeping Predacons.

Meanwhile, in the Autobot base, Ratchet was working on something on the computer.

"Doctor, what is the current status of your synthetic energon experiments?" Ultra Magnus asked him.

"Doing the best I can, commander, given the lack of functional equipment at my disposal."

"You do realize that an alternative energy source may be essential to our survival?"

Ratchet groaned. "Believe me, Ultra Magnus, no one is more acutely aware of the stakes than I am."

Ultra Magnus saw that he may irritated him a little. "Of course." He left him continue with his work.

"Magnus, if I were you, I would not try to bother Ratchet with his issues. He knows his role inside the team better than anyone, there is no need for that kind of conversation with him. At least not without discuss it with Optimus first, after all they are old friends." Elita advised him.

"Confirmed, commander." He said before turning at the other Autobots, who were working with another terminal. "Beast Hunters, may I ask why you are not currently scouting grid 305 for Predacon bones?"

"Because we just returned from surveying grids 301 to 304?" Cliffjumper explained.

"Ahem, to log our field reports, per your protocol, commander Magnus, sir." Bulkhead added, so Magnus nodded.

In that moment, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from the hangar's entrance, it was Wheeljack, with some kind of green liquid all around his chassis.

"Soldier, I don't recall giving you permission to leave the base."

"Because you didn't, sir." Wheeljack simply answered.

"Why are your hands smeared with coolant?"

"I…recalibrated your ship's engines. You can expect a 10% increase in vectored thrust." Wheeljack explained, leaving Ultra Magnus without words.

Right then, Optimus arrived. Everyone went to receive their leader with enthusiasm.

"What news do you have, dear?" Elita asked.

"Decepticon activity is at a lull. I fear that Megatron may have collected the specimens he requires to…" Optimus stopped as he noticed Ultra Magnus alone looking at how everyone received him. "Clone his army."

Aboard the Nemesis, everyone was still surprised about the Predacon's new ability and intelligence. Right now, the Predacon was walking inside the warship alongside Megatron, followed by the other main Decepticons.

"It is with deepest gratitude for my creation that I pledge undying obedience to you, my one true master. But with more of my species soon to stride among us, I beg your permission, to in return, lead them…as Predaking." The Predacon said, giving himself a new identity.

"Your vision…is boundless." Megatron simply said.

Moments later, Megatron and the other main Decepticons met inside the energon store vault, in a clandestine meeting.

"Our former beast may fully believe himself to be a loyal servant today. But trust me, the moment our loyal highness realizes that his army possesses greater might than all that of the Decepticons…"

"Evolution will give way to revolution." Slipstream finished.

"I am left with no choice…but to eradicate the Predacon clones, before they are provided the opportunity to eradicate us."

"Lord Megatron, you're not saying you intend to pull the plug on Shockwave's beloved Project Predacon?" Knock Out asked.

"Your conclusion is most logical, my liege." Shockwave supported.

"Finally we all agree that those beasts bring nothing more than trouble, and that they must be exterminated." Skywarp expressed happy. "So how is going to be? An ambush by renegaded droids hacked by the Republic? A very improvised accident?"

"Whoa, calm down, Skywarp. This is a very serious operation that must look the most convincing and real as possible to not leave any evidence about our involvement." Thundercracker clarified.

"But what happens if that fire-breathing brute discovers our treachery?" Knock Out pointed.

"Ahem. Why assume that we will be the ones to perform the deed? After all, if the Predaking were to discover that, say, the Autobots, were responsible for wiping out his comrades, our resident beast might, in turn, destroy our hated enemies for us. Or…they…him." Starscream suggested, making Megatron smirk.

At the same time, Ultra Magnus was seeing the pilots of the Royal Security Forces' normal routine outside the base.

"Ultra Magnus." Optimus called as he and Elita One approached him. "Something has been troubling you."

"I fear that my command style may be having a negative effect on unit morale." He explained.

"Your service is most welcome, Magnus. But this is not the Elite Guard." Elita reminded.

"Things have changed since the War for Cybertron."

"And we must adapt to that change. The members of Team Prime are not cogs in a machine. They have grown into something greater than an army. They have become…"

But before Optimus could finish his line, the alarm sounded.

"Optimus, our scanners have detected exposed energon. On Anaxes." Ratchet reported.

"With our reserves at a critical low, we cannot afford not to investigate." He proclaimed activating his battle mask.

A lot of Decepticon troops and tank droids were taking out from a cave a lot of magnetic trolleys full with energon.

"Decepticons, step away from the energon and surrender!" Optimus advised from the edge of a cliff above them.

The droids and Cons' answer were simply, shot them. As response, Optimus and the Wreckers charged against them. They fired their weapons, taking down the tanks and heavy soldiers and some of the droids. Wheeljack even launched one of his swords at them, hitting one. Once he landed, he used his lighting whip to grab the nearest Con and pulled him close, before Magnus smashed him with his hammer. The remaining Decepticons and droids tried to fall back, but some of them received shots from behind, and saw the rest of the Autobots coming at them, leaded by Elita One. Suddenly, a Protodeka appeared out of nowhere and started firing at them, so Elita changed to vehicle form and flew at it, firing her alt mode's weapons, lasers and proton torpedoes. The giant droid even launched a storm of missiles at her, but she simply led the missiles to follow her and she flew back toward the droid, and in the last moment she returned to robot form and slipped under the droid while the missiles destroyed it. Cliffjumper eliminated the last droids with the Resonance Blaster, Arcee used her laser handgun to cut three Decepticons; Bumblebee used his portable shield and neutron assault rifle and Smokescreen used his phase shifter to tackle one of the Decepticon guardians and left him stuck in a rock. The last Decepticon was shot down by Optimus. Next, the Autobots examined the secured energon.

"Look at all that sweet fuel." Cliffjumper said grabbing a small energon crystal.

"Stealth team, transport our cargo back to base. Wreckers, reconnoiter the mine." Optimus instructed.

"I've always wanted to roll with the Wreckers." Smokey offered very excited, but calmed down at seeing Ultra Magnus's and Optimus's faces become serious. "Uh, sir."

Fortunately for him, Optimus allowed Smokescreen to accompany the Wreckers inside the caves.

"No energon signals." Bulkhead reported seeing his scanner device.

"And no additional security. Something doesn't smell right." Wheeljack said.

They continued until they saw that the cave path divided into two tunnels.

"Pair off." Ultra Magnus ordered.

Bulkhead and Smokescreen took the left path while Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus went for the right. It seemed for Wheeljack and Magnus that they came across with something when they spotted a strong light inside a huge chamber. They looked around to see a lot of stasis tubes with cybertronian dragon like creatures inside.

"Well, this is one whole lot of ugly." Wheeljack said looking at one of the creatures.

"Megatron's cloning operation seems further along than we anticipated." Ultra Magnus deduced.

Magnus inspected the area, seeing not only the Predacons but also the synthetic energon cubes, and even Shockwave at the lab's control panel, with only four A-DSD advanced dwarf spider droids as only escort. But he saw the Autobots very quick, so he fired his shock cannon at them, forcing the two Wreckers to find some cover before responding to his shots. They managed to take down the droids immediately.

"Starscream, the Autobots have arrived. You did not inform me that your plan was already in motion." Shockwave reported by com-link.

"Only so the whole affair would appear less…staged." He answered, but Slipstream was also present.

"I have yet to purge my lab of sensitive materials."

"Then do not let me keep you, Shockwave. Over and out." Starscream said before he hung up.

"You scrapped him on purpose, didn't you?" His sister asked, making him smirk.

Shockwave knew that he could not hold against the Autobots too long.

"Soundwave, I require an immediate ground bridge." He requested through the com-link.

Shockwave pressed a button that sent waves of electricity to all the stasis pods. As the Autobots saw that, he gained enough time to reach the ground bridge and disappear. Ultra Magnus saw the stasis pods releasing all the yellow liquid inside, which started to spread all over the floor. As part of the plan, Thundercracker went to inform Megatron, who was still walking alongside Predaking.

"Lord Megatron, it seems Project Predacon has fallen into Autobot hands." The blue seeker reported.

"How is this possible?" Predaking asked.

"Thundercracker, scramble your Seeker armada. And instruct Starscream to mobilize the fleet and the army." Megatron ordered.

"At once, my liege." He followed as he ran for it.

"No. If my brethren are imperiled, I will confront the enemy." Predaking offered.

Wheeljack and Magnus saw when the stasis pods were almost without liquid the Predacons began to awaken, and they didn't look friendly. Both Wreckers seemed like they didn't know what to do, until Wheeljack saw the synthetic energon boxes, what gave him and idea.

"Permission to employ a grenade in a confined space, sir?" He suggested.

"If you and I are all that stand between these monsters and the natives of this galaxy, then by all means, blow these beasts back to the Rust Age." Ultra Magnus authorized.

Wheeljack activated the grenade and launched it near the energon boxes, with a timer running. Both Wreckers transformed and drove right to the exit. Once the timer was over, the grenade exploded, causing the energon boxes to explode too. Once they almost reached another huge chamber, a ground bridge appeared in front of the Wreckers, forcing them to change to robot form. Then a huge bronze and black robot, unknown for them, came through. The resulting explosion was huge that it covered the whole chamber, and consumed the Predacons before they escaped from their pods.

"Who's this guy?" Wheeljack asked.

"The very same who has previously allowed you to live, but will not today." Predaking answered.

"He's the Predacon." Ultra Magnus realized seeing the Predacon symbol in the center of his torso.

Then they saw the explosion coming behind them so they jumped out of the way. At the same time outside, the rest of the Autobots ended transporting all the energon back to base and Bulkhead and Smokescreen went outside. Then the entrance shook with great intensity.

"Whoa. What was that?" Smokescreen asked.

"Magnus and Wheeljack are still in there. Do you think they are alright?" Elita asked to her sparkmate.

Optimus knew too those shakes could not mean anything good. Back inside the cave, Predaking stood in the same place as he saw the tunnel where the Wreckers came from covered in flames.

"What have you done to my brethren?" Predaking asked in shock before he turned at the Wreckers with rage. "What have you done?!"

Enraged, Predaking roared charging at them. The Wreckers fired at him, but he jumped and tried to smash them, but they dodged. Despite that, Predaking followed Magnus, who tried to shot him, and hit him too hard that he sent him to one of the cave's pillars before going after Wheeljack. He tried to shot him, but he grabbed him and threw him to the ceiling, hitting him hard that he fell to the floor while Predaking charged against him again.

"Well then. Let's dance." He said recovering up and activating his battle mask.

Predaking jumped and tried to hit him again, but he rolled out of the way and continued evading his hits until he jumped above him and used a rock to impulse himself and tackled the Predacon. While he was on the ground, he jumped away, landed and approached Predaking, who received his punch on the face, followed by a fast kick on the chest. He took the chance and pulled out his swords to strike him again, but Predaking dodged him and pushed him hard against the wall. Once he was lying on the floor, Predaking started punching him continuingly, but then Ultra Magnus jumped behind him and hit him hard with the forge, sending him against a rock. But before he jumped and prepared the hammer to hit him again, Predaking pushed him aside very hard. Predaking climbed a pillar to prepare another hit, but Magnus had enough time to grab the forge again and hit Predaking before he could strike. As he was still dizzy, Magnus hit him again and sent him against another wall, but Predaking recovered immediately and tried to hit him, but Magnus rolled away and hit him once again. Predaking was ready for another hit, but instead, Magnus grabbed him with the forge and pushed him against a pillar. He readied the hammer to finish his opponent, but Predaking dodged in the last moment and pushed him against the pillar before throwing him at other one. As Magnus was recovering, he saw Predaking coming at him very fast before he hit him with the forge that hit him hard. But before Predaking could finish him, Wheeljack drove toward them in vehicle mode, next he changed to robot form and launched his lighting whip at the forge, taking it from Predaking. Next, he swung the forge around and redirected it back to him, hitting him hard. Predaking recovered fast and charged at them again, so Wheeljack launched his swords at him. The swords nailed on Predaking's arm, but he didn't seem affected, but that gave Wheeljack time enough for their move: he hooked his lighting whip to Magnus's hammer, so when Predaking saw it coming it was too late. The impact was too intense that cause Predaking to fall to the ground. Both Wreckers knew that was their chance to strike him hard, so they nodded to each other before charging against their opponent. Once he stood up, Predaking removed off Wheeljack's swords from his arm and charged at them again. Magnus threw Wheeljack with the forge after he jumped on it, allowing him to grab Predaking's neck with his whip before pulling him back. Predaking managed to free himself, but Wheeljack took advantage and kicked him on the face, disorienting him. Magnus took the chance and hit him on the face too with his hammer, followed by another punch from Wheeljack, another hit from Magnus, a double kick from Wheeljack and another hit from Magnus and one more time. That sent Predaking to the wall, before Wheeljack kicked him again and fired at his back while Ultra Magnus hit him again. Wheeljack jumped over a rock and started firing at one huge stalactite of the ceiling, Magnus followed his move and pulled out one of his cannons and fired too. The stalactite ended falling over above Predaking, making them believe that they defeated him. But then, the stalactite started moving, and ended hitting the Wreckers. Wheeljack tried to stand up, but immediately he saw Predaking coming holding the stalactite above his head, using it to smash him. Magnus saw him between many rocks and the forge close to him, so he tried to reach for it. But Predaking jumped in front of him first and landed on his hand, stomping on it, causing him to scream in pain. As result, Ultra Magnus's hand was no more. Now he was lying on the floor holding his hand in pain while Predaking went to grab the forge.

"And here I was just beginning to tolerate ya." Wheeljack confessed.

"It's being an honor serving beside you, soldier." Ultra Magnus accepted.

"Prepare to perish." Predaking declared as he prepared the final strike with the forge.

But then, Optimus pushed him hard in time, causing Predaking to hit two pillars. Next, Optimus used his gatling to destroy more pillars to make fall more rocks above Predaking. But Predaking managed to set free easily, but he saw Optimus, with Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus already secured with both hands and the forge on his back, flying out of the cave.

"What? NOOOOOOOOO!" He cursed as he started chasing them.

Optimus exited the cave, followed by Predaking, who changed to his dragon form and started chasing him flying. Optimus saw him, but he saw a ground bridge opening in front of him, so he continued his way while Predaking launched a fireball at him, but it was already too late. The Autobots disappeared with the portal, making Predaking roar in fury. Ultra Magnus woke up back in the Autobot base, and saw that Ratchet was working with the injury of his hand.

"Ratchet will take good care of you." Elita reassured.

The other Autobots were present, even Wheeljack, who looked less hurt than him.

"Magnus fought like a Wrecker." He said.

"Optimus, when we spoke earlier. What could be greater than an army?" Ultra Magnus reminded.

"A native concept, one I have learned since coming to this galaxy. Family." Optimus answered, looking at all his team, who stood around Ultra Magnus.

Meanwhile, in the Nemesis's bridge…

"Do not despair, my Predaking. For I vow to you that the Autobots will pay dearly for the outrage against your kind." Megatron told him as he growled in fury.

The other Decepticons smirked in secret for what really happened.

"Shockwave, report!"

"It is true, my liege. Project Predacon has been rendered null and void. At least, I have been unable to recover any beast forms. However, there is something you must behold for yourself."

That intrigued Megatron, so he and Starscream traveled through the ground bridge to inside the caves.

"What is this?" Starscream asked.

Right in front of them there was a huge pile of metal pieces.

"Pure cybertronian cyber-matter. Not unlike that which one existed upon our primeval home world." Shockwave explained.

"Or that which engendered my citadel on Naboo. The result of the explosion?" Megatron asked.

"Indeed, yet the cyber-nucleic acid alone cannot account for these… cyberforms. All possible logic points to the presence of one unexpected variable: synthetic energon." Shockwave finished pointing at some remains of the green liquid.

Megatron smirked a little, knowing that this could lead to another chance to achieve victory.