#39 - The Aftermath
All optics were glued to the view screens as the pod was sucked into the center of the beam and into the center of the alien weapon. Everyone held their breath, waiting for their leader to eject. Starfeather's optics widened with the realization that at this point, Optimus wasn't going to eject. It was too late. The alien weapon exploded in a giant wave of energy and debris. Everyone gasped.
"He... he's okay, right?" Snowbelle asked, her voice small and shaky. She was in beast form and staring desperately at Airazor. "Daddy's okay, right?"
Airazor didn't know how to answer. Everyone felt a pang of sympathy for the youngling as she turned her gaze to everyone, looking for someone to answer her. Finally, Tigatron spoke.
"Optimus will be fine, little one," he answered. "We just will not be able to see him anymore."
"Why not? He's supposed to come back," she said with determination, more to assure herself than anything. She didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"He's... not coming back, Snow," Starfeather managed to say, on the verge of tears. The little fox stared up at her, understanding dawning on her face. She didn't want to believe it.
"No... no!" she screamed and transformed into robot mode and stamped her foot. "He said he'd come back! He promised! He never breaks... his... promise..." She buried her face in her hands and wailed for her father. Airazor knelt and took the youngling in her arms, supporting her where she stood. Starfeather let her tears fall and a sob to escape. Waspinator slunk to her side and clung to her around her waist. She rubbed his helm as soothingly as she could and glanced at Cheetor, who had collapsed into a console chair.
"I should have been flying that ship," he said in selfdeprecation. Tigatron placed a hand on the younger mech's shoulder.
"Optimus did what he thought was best and saved us and the entire planet doing it," the tiger comforted.
"But why Optimuzz not leave ship? We had planz. What went wrong?" Waspinator lamented.
-x-
However, the Predacons were laughing in triumph over this victory. Well, most of them. Terrorsaur, Moonscope and G-Force remained silent.
G-Force felt like Megatron had needlessly murdered the Maximal leader in the most cowardly way possible. He eyed the Predacon leader with growing contempt. Moonscope had never found death amusing. As a medic, she was accustomed to it, but it was not something that carried humor. Terrorsaur didn't know why but he felt something like genuine loss. Optimus had, even though he wouldn't admit it, been a little something more than just a leader. Terrorsaur had a respect for him that he never gave Megatron. Megatron didn't deserve it. But Primal...
"You've done it Megatron!" Scorponok's outburst shattered the red mech's train of thought. The Second's praise was literally pushed aside.
"Yes, I am good, aren't I?" Megatron boasted to himself, then became more serious. "But we can discuss my brilliance later. Now, there is work to be done."
"What kind of work?" Deltasurge asked.
"The Predacon kind," their leader answered. "We must destroy the remaining Maximals while they mourn their tragically departed leader. Moonscope, what do things look like outside?"
"The surface temperature is nearing its normal levels, sir," the owl reported, keeping her voice level. Then, the sensors picked up something else.
"Wait..." she breathed as she read the results and her optics winded. "There's a quantum surge heading straight for us!" Megatron turned to his other troops.
"To your stations, quickly!" he barked. They did so, but the base soon started to tremble and quake.
"Exterior shields at maximum!" G-Force informed.
"There are power fluctuations all over the board! They'll never hold!" Deltasurge exclaimed.
"Then make them hold!" Megatron growled. "I didn't destroy Optimus Primal just to be destroyed myself!"
"Of course, sir. We wouldn't want to lose a selfish, aft-head excuse for a leader," Terrorsaur grumbled under his breath as he tried to hold on to something to keep his balance and keep the shields stable. He was nearly knocked off the platform as the base began to shake even more violently.
That's when things turned up-side down. Lights like tiny shooting stars shot all around them. Moonscope observed that the specks shot right through herself and Deltasurge and G-Force. However, their leader had begun to glow. The quaking became so violent that Megatron fell to the floor of the base. Terrorsaur's and Scorponok's hover pads malfunctioned, causing them to collide into one another. Deltasurge turned just in time to watch them fall and scream.
"Scorponok!" she cried, but she was powerless to stop the scene.
Megatron managed to stand up, but fell back to his knees as the aurora around him shone brighter.
"What is happening to me?!" he roared, pain prominent in his voice. He collapsed and moved no more.
-x-
Snapped wires sparked all around. Loosened beams groaned against the weight of gravity upon them. There were no signs of life, even from the four still figures on the floor below the control chair, until from the CR tank, one hauled himself up to fill his air pumps with oxygen.
"Hey... I'm alive!" he said to himself, laughing childishly. Suddenly, he was shoved out of the tank and onto the floor and a second mech gasped for breath. Scorponok glared back at Terrorsaur. "What was that for?"
"Your aft was in my face," the red mech growled.
"No, your face was in my aft."
A thud caused them both to look up. There was a dark figure with glowing red eyes standing over them and it looked sort of like their leader.
"M-Megatron?" the scorpion wondered. "Um, what happened?"
"I've had a change for the better, yes," the reformatted Predacon leader answered. His form now was more robust and dark. He no longer had his Tyrannosaurus head for a hand. A minor loss, he thought as he looked himself over once again.
"The surge seems to have altered my superstructure," he said, more or less to announce himself. "I wonder why your forms were not changed…" he added as an afterthought. He then looked back down at his side and saw near the edge of the floor, Deltasurge had fallen. Close by were Moonscope and G-Force. The green mech sat up first. He caught sight of Megatron and stared at him as if he didn't recognize him, which he didn't for a moment, then frowned.
Terrorsaur looked at himself, slightly wishing that he had an upgrade too. He wondered if Starfeather had gotten an upgrade and if so, he wondered how she looked. She must be... Come to think of it, he couldn't feel her presence anymore. He would have panicked if Megatron had not ordered them to prepare for an attack on the Maximal base.
When Deltasurge woke up, once she saw Scorponok, she leaped to her feet and caught the Second in Command around the neck.
"I thought you were a goner," she exclaimed.
"I'm fine, Delta," he urged as he soaked in her affection.
However, Terrorsaur wasn't paying attention. He was worried, almost literally sick, that Starfeather hadn't made it through the surge. Was she really dead? Was she just in stasis lock? What was going on at the Maximal base right now?
-x-
Tigatron and Airazor were the first up. They checked themselves for damage then turned to help their comrades only to find that most of them had gone through some sort of transformation. Rattrap, Cheetor, and Waspinator awoke to find themselves shiny and covered in chrome. They had slightly different color schemes than before and some new attributes. Rattrap had wheels like a go-car in beast mode, Cheetor had jet thrusters in beast mode, and Waspinator had become a triple changer, now possessing a third jet-like alt. mode. The wasp only had one complaint.
"Why Wazzpinator have to be pink?" he sighed as he looked at himself in the reflection on the CR chamber. He was now a dark magenta color. "Wazpinator have enough zzzelf ezzteem issuez."
Snowbelle's attention was turned from the new looks of her friends to one that was still unconscious. The fox was still in robot mode and kneeled down beside the black and silver femme.
"Starfeather, wake up," she pleaded as she shook the unmoving form. Her coaxing earned the attention of the others. A surge of concern swept over Cheetor, causing him to also kneel beside Starfeather. He checked for a spark pulse then stared at her dark optics in disbelief.
"She's..." He had to force himself to go on. "She's dead."
Mourning for their lost teammates didn't last long. They realized that Blackarachnia had disappeared and they needed to check on the ones in CR chambers. Rhinox, Dinobot, and Bluesprite all came out unaltered and uninjured. Bluesprite was very saddened at hearing Starfeather hadn't made it. While Tigatron, Airazor, Cheetor, and Rattrap searched for the Blackarachnia and Rhinox and Dinobot began working to get the ship's defense systems back online, Bluesprite and Waspinator took the raven's body from the control room and moved it to her quarters for the time being until they could hold a cremation service.
"Screechy is going to be so upset... I kinda hope they didn't bond yet, you know?" The hummingbird sighed. Waspinator said nothing. He was afraid to talk because he might break down crying. He wanted to be strong for his lost friend. He simply nodded in reply.
They reached her room and gently laid her on her bed. That's when the metallic wasp noticed the gold ring on Starfeather's finger. He made a sad razzing noise and pointed to her hand. Bluesprite looked and her shoulders drooped.
"They must have done something..." she said and decided to take the ring and give it to Terrorsaur the next time she saw him... Where was he anyway? She had not yet heard that he had gone back to the Predacons.
-x-
Terrorsaur paid little attention to all else going on around him. He was so worried that something had happened to his mate that he wanted to get to the Maximal base as soon as he could. He refused to give up trying to reach out for her even though he felt nothing back. He pressed as far as he could on the journey, but still she gave no sign of coming back to him.
Moonscope sensed that her wing mate was extremely distressed about something. She flew nearer to him and, making sure Megatron wasn't paying them any mind, asked the pteranodon what was wrong. Terrorsaur was unsure if he should tell the owl. Why should he? He might not be able to trust her.
"I... can't sense my mate," he finally said quietly, feeling like he had to at least tell someone. Moonscope felt a pang of sympathy for him.
"I am sorry. Who hoo was your mate?"
He paused for a long moment and watched the ground flow beneath them.
"Starfeather..."
"Oh." She nodded in understanding. "I don't know what to hoo say."
"Then don't say anything," Terrorsaur snapped, surprising the other, but she respected his feelings and said no more.
The rest of the trip was quiet until they reached the Maximal base. Airazor and Tigatron had Blackarachnia cornered. Megatron took them out easily and confronted the she-spider. He demanded that she give him one good reason why he should keep her alive.
"Because I'm the only real scientist you have right now," she answered. Megatron looked to Moonscope thoughtfully.
"I'm a medical officer, not a scientist, sir," she said, picking up on what he was thinking. He then glanced at Scorponok.
"I'm just a mechanic," he said. Megatron growled in irritation. He did need a scientist. That's why he had Tarantulas in the first place. He then roughly grabbed the black and gold femme by the throat and brought her to his face.
"You are a clever one," he hissed. "But betray me again and you will wish that you had never come online."
"Point taken," she choked. He promptly dropped her and barked position orders. Everyone went to their ordered locations and waited for the Maximals. Rattrap and Cheetor were the first to exit. The Predacons attacked, then Bluesprite and Waspinator came out. Shots were exchanged until Bluesprite spotted her brother.
"Hey, Terrorsaur!" she called and flew toward him. He looked her way and had half a mind to aim his blaster at her until he saw she was holding something out to him. He let her come to him and she took on a solemn expression. She took his unoccupied hand in both of hers.
"I'm so sorry..." she murmured and left a small object in his hand. Terrorsaur stared at her then looked to see what she had given him. His face contorted to a look of pure spark-break. It was the ring he had made... He almost couldn't look back up at his sister.
"She... she's really gone..." His voice was breaking. Bluesprite, with surprising tenderness, wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug.
"I am so sorry," she repeated. Even more surprisingly, Terrorsaur hugged back, clenching the ring tight in his hand. They soaked comfort from each other through their sibling ties until the sounds of battle drew them back to reality.
"After this is over, do you want to come see her?" Bluesprite asked. Terrorsaur wanted to, but he knew that he couldn't.
"I can't," he said.
"Of course you can," she retorted. "We just put her in-"
"No, you don't understand." He cut her off. "I'm with Megatron again."
"Wha-?" The blue femme stared at him in confusion.
"I can't explain it now, so just go back. But thanks for giving me this," Terrorsaur muttered, pulling back from her and holding up his gun and tucking the ring in his subspace.
"You're welcome..." Still stunned by what he just said, Bluesprite nodded anyway.
-x-
The Predacons had retreated and the Maximals were left to pick up the pieces. Megatron had a few things to say to Terrorsaur that he hadn't had time to say before. Licking his wounds, the red mech reached the door to his old room and once inside, leaned heavily against the door. He sighed loudly, almost moaning in misery. She's gone... she's gone for good. His mind kept reeling at the reality of it.
"Oh Star... my shining star..." he murmured, sliding to the floor. He wanted to cry, he wanted to cry for her loss, but he wouldn't let himself. If only tears could bring you back to me... He knew that he had to be thankful for the time he had had with her. He knew that something like this might have happened to either of them. It just happened to her, leaving him alone. With her gone, he didn't know what to do now.
He was startled out of his misery when someone knocked on his door. Terrorsaur reluctantly stood up, not at all in the mood for visitors, but allowed whoever it was to come in. He was a bit surprised to see it was G-Force. All he did was stare questioningly at the green and blue mech.
So G-Force took this as a sign to say what he had to say and get out. He reached into his subspace and held out a folded and wrinkly piece of paper. "I was too slow to return this so I deduced that I should leave you to decide what to do with it," he said.
Terrorsaur carefully took the paper from him and briefly looked it over. G-Force nodded to him and left without another word. The red mech could only wonder what this was so unfolded the paper. He saw it must be a page from Starfeather's little paper pad she called her diary. She had shown it to him before and showed him how to read a little bit. Painfully, he read. He couldn't read all of it, but what was this first part about? Where was she going? What lies and why are the Maximals mentioned? He read it again and more questions came. She was helping them? Why? Had she been planning on leaving in the first place?
Then, he studied the second paragraph and understood a little better. Starfeather must have written this before she ran out after he had shunned her that night. Guilt returned, but he remembered that they had forgiven and forgotten. Then it said "can't take" a word he couldn't read, then "day of lies". What did she mean "day of lies"? Megatron's lies? Maybe the answer was in this part. Unless she had been secretly working for the Maximals. Well, he didn't blame her if she had. Maybe he should have thought of also doing that a long time ago. That would really have helped kick Megatron so he could take command. But why didn't she tell him?
"I guess I'll never know, now..." He sighed and, folding the page back up, gently placed it in his own subspace.
