CHAPTER 18
"Of course," Megatron said satisfied with the holographic image of Cybertron before him. "Keys are useless without something to unlock."
After having spent several cycles of complaining about Knock Out's slow progress in deciphering the Omega Keys, Starscream had tried to fix the problem himself…by beating the Omega Key against the table, earning a mocking comment from Knock Out himself. The Seeker had responded to the insult by slicing the key across the doctor's finish, thus enraging him. He had then grabbed a key himself and they clashed their keys, which resulted in them locking together.
More interested in their discovery than their fight, the two mechs had then joined the two other keys with the locked ones, and thus appeared an image of Cybertron with a red signal on the northern hemisphere. That had to be the place to insert the keys and thus restore Cybertron.
Megatron looked over his shoulder, gaze fixed at Soundwave and the delighted Starscream and Knock Out.
"Target the space bridge for Cybertron," he ordered Soundwave, who obediently went off right away.
About twenty cycles or so later, Megatron was on the deck with a platoon of Vehicon fliers ready for his command, four of them holding each of the Omega Keys. Soundwave stood by, opening the space bridge, which was just above them – the Nemesis had exited the Earth's atmosphere for now to shorten the distance to the space bridge. Megatron glanced at Starscream standing next to the intelligence officer, equally ready for the warlord's orders.
"Starscream, you are in command while I'm gone."
It was an understatement to say that the Seeker was surprised, but nonetheless happy that Megatron had decided to make him his second-in-command after having only just returned to the Decepticons and indirectly caused Dreadwing's death a few mega-cycles ago.
"Oh, thank you, master!" he said ecstatically. "I will not fail you!"
Without another word, Megatron and the Vehicons transformed and flew towards the space bridge, heading for Cybertron.
Starscream stood by the monitor in the command center, along with Soundwave who had continued his work on their usual objective: Trying to locate the Autobots' base. It had taken them several months, but it seemed as if Soundwave was nearing a breakthrough. Starscream never really understood what was going on in the mind of that silent mech; he was always so secretive, never chatty, but he was a good listener. Still, it was impossible to do anything private with Soundwave around. He was the 'eyes and ears of the Decepticons', like Knock Out had once called him.
None of the other Decepticons were as blindly loyal to Megatron as Soundwave, not even Dreadwing. And Knock Out had seen for himself that although Soundwave was usually a pacifist, he could be quite scary in combat. Watch out for the quiet ones, he had said.
But despite his mysterious and creepy character, Soundwave was quite useful, even to Starscream who wasn't a too great fan, due to the mech constantly keeping an eye on him since he returned to the Nemesis. Because during his work of locating the Autobot base, Soundwave had found something interesting, something that would definitely come in handy.
He had located the Autobots' three pet humans. And they were alone. This was too good an opportunity to let alone.
"This will be fun," Starscream cackled, looking at the picture in Soundwave's visor which he had taken of the kids many months ago. "Please, Soundwave, go fetch our guests. And, um, tell Knock Out to come in here with a cube. I need to talk to him about something."
Soundwave didn't ask any questions, as usual, but simply nodded and left the command center. Starscream didn't know if Soundwave actually knew about his secret, but in case he didn't, he wanted to make sure it stayed a secret. No one had to know about what he was carrying. It wasn't their business, not even Megatron's.
Being alone, Starscream turned back to the screen, looking at the picture of the kids. He smirked. It would be an easy task for Soundwave and his pet Laserbeak to capture the children and use them as hostages against the Autobots. Not that he doubted Megatron's abilities to restore Cybertron, but it was always good to have a plan B.
"Phase two: Unexpected acceptance, complete."
Starscream almost had a spark attack; the voice had come out of the blue, but it was far too familiar. He turned around with a servo on his chest and snarled as he saw Creop Trivem stand behind him, in the same sort of trance as last time they had met, but looking more solid than he had done in the ocean.
"By the AllSpark, can't you knock?!" the Seeker exclaimed angrily, but the large mech ignored him, spouting the same lines as last time:
"The fallen star shall leave a scar.
The dragon's roar shall be heard.
And then the Dark Lord shall return."
Creop began glowing, as he usually did when he was about to disappear.
"Wait, no, don't go!" Starscream said and swiped at the mech in an attempt to grab him, but he merely went through the mech as he disappeared with a plop!
The door to the command center opened up, and in came Knock Out with a large energon cube in his right servo and a scanner in his left servo. As he saw the Seeker swiping through the air he blinked puzzled.
"Oh...kay, what did I miss?" he said as the door automatically closed behind him.
Starscream finally noticed the doctor and straightened up, clearing his throat. "Nothing, it was nothing."
Knock Out shrugged and walked over to the Seeker. "Here's your cube."
"Oh, thank you," Starscream said and swiped the cube from the doctor's servos, flipped the cube on the side and guzzled its full content within ten nano-cycles. Knock Out stared at him in wonder.
"Wow, you must be really hungry," he said.
"Mmmm, you think?" the Seeker said as he emptied the cube and sighed, wiping stains off his faceplate. "Alright, get on with it while we're alone. Soundwave will not take too long fetching the Autobots' pets."
Knock Out sighed. "Coming right up."
Knock Out ran the scanner across Starscream's chest. Although it had only been a few mega-cycles since they learned of Starscream's carrying, such alone moments were rare aboard this ship, and the Seeker wanted to know how much had changed since they last checked. After all, he didn't know how fast protoforms grew inside a host.
"Well?" he asked impatiently, as Knock Out pulled the scanner away.
"Everything is the same as last time. We really don't have to do this every time we're alone, Starscream. Every second day would probably suffice, but every second hour…"
"It's Commander Starscream to you now, doctor," the Seeker corrected. "And I will be scanned when I want to be scanned. After all, I'm the one carrying these things, not you!"
"Fine, fine, whenever you like. Still, you won't be able to hide this from Lord Megatron forever. Some day, it's going to come out."
"And when would that be, exactly?"
"Well, let's see…when THEY come out!"
Starscream became thoughtful for a moment. He hadn't thought of that fact. He could hide his carrying for as long as he could from Megatron and the others, but once the sparklings arrived, there was no way he could keep that secret any longer.
"Well, it won't be that much of a problem once Cybertron has been restored. I will just find a nice, quiet place to have them, and afterwards you can take care of them when I'm out…"
"Me? Why do I have to look after them?"
"Well, you're a medic! Surely you know more about sparklings than I do."
"Nobody knows anything about sparklings, they haven't existed for eons! And I'm not going to be your nursebot, just so you know."
"I can't look after six sparklings all by myself!"
"Well, they're your problem, not mine!"
"They became your problem the moment we—"
The door opened, forcing Starscream and Knock Out to stop their argument and straighten up, looking casually and innocently at the two Vehicons entering the room.
"Commander Starscream," one of them announced. "Soundwave has returned."
"Ah, excellent," Starscream replied pleased. "Send him in."
After Soundwave had arrived with the kids, Knock Out had put them in canisters so they couldn't escape. It was just then that Megatron called the ship on the monitor.
"Starscream!" the warlord's angry voice sounded through the comm. "The Autobots have seized the Omega Keys! Send reinforcements immediately!"
"Actually, Lord Megatron," Starscream said, "Soundwave has been briefing me on recent developments, and we may have a more effective solution."
He then explained the capture of the humans, and Megatron chuckled, sounding much more pleased through the comm. now.
"Excellent. Starscream, take Soundwave and Knock Out with you to Cybertron. Bring the children. I am looking forward to Prime's reaction when he learns that I have won the war."
The comm. ended, and Starscream turned and looked at the Vehicons.
"You heard him! Give Knock Out the message. Soundwave and I will be waiting for him on the deck. Oh, one more thing…"
"Let us go, you creeps!" Miko exclaimed while kicking the glass on her canister.
"The Autobots will find us, and then you'll be in big trouble," Rafael said.
"Oh, but we want to find them, little boy," Starscream snickered as he took the canister carrying Jack. "We show you to the Autobots, and they will have to give up their keys."
"And what if they don't?" Jack asked and beat once on his glass.
"Oh, they will," Knock Out said and handed Rafael over to Soundwave, while holding Miko himself. "But if they don't, well...you better write a testimony then."
Soundwave opened a portal to the space bridge. As they went through, Starscream was horrified to feel one of the well-known cramps from the protoforms inside his chest. He didn't crouch and tried not to wrench his face up. He couldn't stop a groan from leaving his throat though. Unfortunately, Knock Out noticed it and almost forgot about subtlety.
"Is something the matter, Commander Starscream?" His comment made Miko and Jack look at the Seeker – not Raf, because Soundwave was in the front and out of hearing range, as they exited the GroundBridge and appeared in front of the space bridge. Starscream shook his head as the pain subsided, just before they went through the space bridge.
"No, nothing," he replied bitterly. "I'm simply looking forward to seeing the Autobots' faces when we arrive with their pets in our possession!"
"Oh! Yeah, me too."
After a few nano-cycles, the three mechs and humans exited the space bridge and arrived on the barren, devastated planet of Cybertron, in something that looked like the former Kaon. Starscream's spark did a somersault; it was good to be back home, but at the same time it was sad to see their world this way: Destroyed, lifeless, empty. Megatron would soon change that, and they could all return to Cybertron again, perhaps even live in peace.
"Soundwave," Starscream said, renewed with determination to restore their home, "lock onto Lord Megatron's coordinates."
Soundwave opened a portal in front of them.
"Prepare yourselves, humans," Knock Out said as they walked through the portal, "it's showtime!"
The Autobots' reactions to the captive humans were everything the Decepticons had expected; they were enraged, but at the same time terrified. Terrified that the Decepticons were going to kill the kids. In the end, Optimus predictably ordered the others to stand down, while they gave up their weapons: The Gauntlet, the Immobilizer, the Apex Armor (Starscream sighed of nostalgia) and the Phase Shifter. Optimus himself stuck his Star Saber into the ground and stepped back to the others.
"You first, big boy," Knock Out said, holding Miko's canister forth.
Bulkhead and Optimus shared gazes for a moment before the former went over, holding an Omega Key and gave it to Knock Out, in exchange for the girl. Afterwards, Bumblebee went over with his Omega Key to Soundwave, who stood by silently with Raf's canister in his long servo. The scout handed the key over and whirred threateningly as he retrieved Raf and went back to the others.
There were still two keys left, but only one kid. This was no problem for Megatron though.
"If this human was important enough to entrust with the Matrix of Leadership, he's worth two Omega Keys," he said. Starscream smirked, holding a firm grip on the canister containing Jack.
Arcee and Smokescreen, who were both partners with Jack, went over to Starscream, each holding an Omega Key. The Seeker put down the canister.
"No tricks," he said and pointed his missiles at them. "The keys, if you please." He turned his servos upside down and held them forth. The Autobots approached him and handed over the keys in his servos. He stepped back to Soundwave and Knock Out, giving a key to Megatron.
A portal appeared, and over a dozen Vehicon troopers exited from it, surrounding the Autobots. The 'Bots seemed wary but not surprised. This was just the kind of dirty trick Megatron would have up his sleeve. Starscream had prepared reinforcements after all, just before the three mechs had left for Cybertron.
"Now, bear witness as a new era dawns on Cybertron," Megatron said and inserted the first key into the Omega Lock. Starscream inserted the second, Soundwave the third and Knock Out the last one.
The holographic image of Cybertron appeared above the Lock, followed by an energy stream beginning to flow through the floor and pillars to the circle which withheld the large, light greenish-blue energy 'lake' above them. It was such a strange thing, that it was uncertain what it really was or what to call it. 'Lake' was probably the best way to describe it.
"Behold!" Megatron shouted for all to hear. "The age of the Decepticons!"
After the Omega Lock had restored a completely destroyed building to good-as-new quality, Megatron had proceeded to order Soundwave to position the space bridge to target Earth, in order to use the Lock to cyberform the planet. Megatron had greedily announced that one world to rule over was not enough for him, as another one was just within his reach and free for conquest.
The Lock activated and sent its beam into the space bridge, thus at Earth. The Decepticons laughed merrily while the humans' planet was being cyberformed for Megatron to rule. Starscream was mostly happy that Cybertron would finally be restored so he could find a place to have and care for his sparklings when they arrived.
Optimus watched the frightened and enraged humans beating against the glass of their canisters and shouting at the 'Cons. He couldn't just let Earth die, not for anything. But there was only one way to stop the Omega Lock from destroying all of Earth's life.
Having made his decision, Optimus changed his servo to sword mode and sliced the nearest Vehicon, then went for the Star Saber. The other Vehicons were too surprised to fire at him, but then they snapped out of it and ran towards him. He grabbed the Star Saber and sent three incoming Vehicons flying with a swipe. Megatron pulled out his Dark Star Saber, let out a battle cry and ran towards Optimus.
The two swords clashed in a bright purple and blue light. In the next nano-cycle, Optimus used the recoil to his advantage and sliced off Megatron's Prime arm, which was holding the Dark Star Saber. Megatron let out a pained groan as he lost his arm.
Optimus continued to run towards the Omega Lock. Soundwave and Knock Out both began firing upon the Autobot, but Starscream hesitated. They didn't seriously think they were going to stop Optimus Prime while he was holding the Star Saber, did they? His hesitation only lasted for two nano-cycles though, followed by him firing a missile at Prime, not wanting to look like he wasn't trying to stop him.
Unfortunately, Prime managed to dodge the missile in time, then he stepped on the Seeker's head and struck the Star Saber into the Omega Lock. The explosion was massive. Autobots and Decepticons were flung in every direction as the mile-long explosion destroyed everything in the area. Starscream was buried underneath the rubble and felt the chest pain beating on the inside, making him completely unable to move.
When he finally got himself dug out of the rubble, he gasped for air and whimpered by the pain in his chest which finally subsided. What he saw afterwards filled him with horror and made his spark skip a beat.
The Omega Lock was gone. The entire area was destroyed, black from the explosion and burning several places. The sight reminded him horrifyingly of the explosion in the waterfall cove: The cliffs shattering, the trees vaporizing…but most of all, the death of Metalhawk, his pet eagle. The sight of the cove destroyed had filled him with such sadness that he had never known of before. This sight, it was much worse, because it was his home planet. The future and hope of Cybertron restored – now gone. Forever.
"I guess we should cancel the welcome-home party-" Knock Out said, but was interrupted by Starscream punching him hard in the face, as this was the absolute worst time for making jokes.
"Attend to our master," Starscream snarled, "he requires medical attention!"
Not wanting to test the Air Commander's fury again, Knock Out ran over to the kneeling Megatron and attended to his wounds.
Starscream looked over his shoulder and saw a portal close. He hadn't even noticed the Autobots getting up and escape. His rage rose by the memory of Optimus Prime stepping on his face and then destroying the Omega Lock, the only thing capable of restoring Cybertron, thus ridding Starscream of any chance to have his sparklings in peace without Megatron ever learning about them!
"PRIME!" he bellowed. "He will pay for dooming Cybertron to remain a lifeless husk!" He growled inwardly, but looked surprised to his left as he heard Megatron…laugh?
The warlord rose up in a hysterical laughter, making Knock Out take a few steps back in confusion. How could Megatron laugh right now? Had he not seen what just happened to the Omega Lock and the area around them? Starscream was beginning to rethink Megatron's sanity when the warlord spoke:
"They can run, but they can never again run home."
As Megatron, Starscream, Knock Out and Soundwave returned to the Nemesis – still above Earth's atmosphere – the warlord explained to Starscream and Knock Out that Soundwave had found the location of the Autobot base, after having tracked their human companions' homes. Right now, as he spoke, a large fortress had begun planting itself on the ground next to the Autobots' no longer secret base.
Starscream and Knock Out laughed as the warlord finished his explanation. "Oh, I can't wait to rip those Autobots to pieces for what they have done to Cybertron."
"Ah, I almost forgot," Megatron said and gestured his servo. "Starscream, come with me, please."
The Seeker looked briefly at Knock Out before following Megatron out of the command center, down the hallway. What could Megatron want with him right now? He wasn't being suspicious of him, was he? Had he somehow figured out about his secret? Had he made a mistake which would get him punished somehow? The Seeker was both nervous, but at the same time curious.
"Eh, what is it, master?" he asked cautiously. "Is something the matter?"
Megatron was silent for a moment before he spoke. "We are beginning to run low on troops. Currently there are less than a hundred fliers left, and only a dozen ground troopers and a score of miners. You know as well as I do that the Vehicons are not my…most powerful assets. Therefore, I have kept a...special stash in store for a while now, reserved for a time like this."
Starscream perked his audio receptors in interest. "Special stash?"
They arrived at a door which had always been locked and overlooked – Starscream had never really noticed it before nor had he ever wondered what could be inside. Megatron placed his servo on a pad next to the door. It blinked green and the door opened. The room behind the door was dark and seemed empty at first. When Megatron and Starscream then entered the room, however, the entire room was bathed in bright light.
Before them stood rows and rows of Vehicons Starscream had never seen before in his life; they were fliers, but instead of being dark purple, they had shiny silver and black armor, and instead of the usual purple insignia – which was usually elusive on the already dark Vehicons – these guys had red insignias. Red like…Starscream. These Vehicons looked very similar to Starscream, actually.
"Master?" Starscream said and looked hopeful up at Megatron, who simply looked at the Vehicons reactivating from stasis, their red visors and insignias glowing brightly. The warlord then glanced down at his second-in-command.
"Consider it a welcome-home gift," Megatron said and gave him a toothy smile.
"Can you believe it?" Starscream said to Knock Out for the fifth time, as the Nemesis was descending to Earth. "Megatron gave me my own armada! My very own armada! Oh, how I've longed for this day to arrive!"
"Yes, yes, you're such a lucky guy," Knock Out replied irritated, getting pretty tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. "But you should thank me too, you know."
Starscream squinted at him. "You? Why?"
"I helped build them," he replied. "I used the parts of those clones of yours. You know, the ones you sent to assassinate Lord Megatron some time ago? A little mix together with some Vehicon parts and some leftover protoforms, and voilá! Extreme makeover! Vehicon 2.0!"
"Yes, yes, I get it," Starscream said irritated and went for the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an Autobot base to destroy!"
As the Nemesis had descended to Earth and hovered beside their new fortress, Darkmount, Megatron stood on the front with Soundwave at his right and Knock Out at his left, looking out at the cliff housing the Autobots. On the deck, Starscream stood in front of his army of Ace Vehicons – or as he liked to call them, Seekers – and listened to Megatron's speech.
"Our opportunity to revive Cybertron has been lost, due to the treachery of Optimus Prime. But from our fortress of New Kaon, we will instead seize control of this world!"
Megatron turned and looked at the army on the deck. He raised his left arm and roared his next words:
"Decepticons! Transform and RISE UP!"
Everyone raised their arms and roared in response, pumped by the warlord's speech, Starscream being the most pumped of all. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
"I thought he'd never ask!" Starscream said excitedly and transformed to jet mode, soaring into the sky for the first time in several months. The Ace Vehicons transformed behind him and followed the Air Commander's lead.
"Come, my armada!" he commanded as they descended to the Autobots standing on the cliff that made out their base. "Attack! Attack! ATTACK!"
Both Vehicons and Starscream started firing upon the Autobots, who ducked and fired back. After the Seekers' assault, the armada of Insecticons attacked the Autobots in close combat. With the Insecticons attacking the Autobots up close and the Seekers firing at them from the sky, the Autobots were both outnumbered and outgunned, even with Prime sending a magical blow from the Star Saber at the Insecticons, instantly killing a swarm of them.
The Autobots quickly realized they couldn't win this battle and retreated into their base. Instead, the human known as Agent Fowler stepped into a helicopter and ascended into the air, taking on the fight against the Decepticons. He began firing upon Starscream, but the shots missed.
"Hah! Pathetic human!" Starscream spat while dodging the shots. Most of the Seekers ignored the human and kept firing at the base platform instead.
Three Vehicons decided to chase after the human anyway. One of them managed to shoot the helicopter's door off and send it smoking. They cornered him against three Insecticons which prepared to execute him, when suddenly a white Autobot ship appeared out of nowhere and shot down the Insecticons. Starscream recognized the ship. Wheeljack, Bulkhead's fellow Wrecker friend. It had been quite a long time since he had last seen him.
The Autobot's ship, the Jackhammer, shot down the three Vehicons as well as several more Insecticons. The Autobot ship chased after two Vehicons who suddenly flew to the sides. At first he assumed they got scared off. Little did Wheeljack know that Starscream was right behind him.
"You're scrap," the Seeker said as he launched two missiles at the Autobot ship.
Wheeljack tried to shake the missiles off, but he wasn't fast enough to outrun or outsmart them, and the Jackhammer got hit and crashed into the ground.
"And that's how you wreck a Wrecker!" Starscream said and laughed viciously. This was a good day to be a Decepticon!
Meanwhile, the Nemesis began flying above the Autobot base, with Megatron standing at the edge of the front spike of the ship. A hatch opened on the belly of the ship, and a large weapon descended from its interior, charging up a red spark, aimed directly at the platform of the Autobot base. Megatron watched it charge up, and in his silent mind he said Fire!
BOOM!
The red blast completely annihilated the cliff and its content. Massive explosions caused the mountain to break apart and crumble like sand. The wrecked mountain burned with large, dark, ominous flames, roaring and hissing hungrily while consuming everything they could.
As Starscream observed the destruction of the Autobot base, he felt a strong sense of justice; Optimus Prime had now truly been punished for his destruction of the Omega Lock and the future of Cybertron. He laughed inwardly, ignoring another short cramp in his chest which quickly subsided, as he joined the transforming Megatron in flying down to the wreckage.
They transformed and landed on a bare spot, where the Autobot insignia was carved into the floor. Starscream recognized it from his inside job when stealing the Omega Keys from the Autobots.
"This is the place, alright," Starscream said, glad to have confirmed they had indeed finally found their hideout.
"This was the place," Megatron corrected him and smirked ominously. Starscream chuckled.
"United we stand, departed they fall," he said.
As they began digging for the Autobot corpses, Starscream found a surviving Wheeljack at the wreckage of his ship. Megatron ordered their guest to be taken to Darkmount. Starscream gazed upon the fortress with a new sense of pride and respect for his leader. They had actually defeated the Autobots and destroyed their base!
"This is the dawning of a new age, my liege," Starscream said excitedly. "The Reign of Megatron!"
"You do have a way with words, Starscream," Megatron said, satisfied with Starscream's words of loyalty, and ordered them to continue their work in unearthing the other Autobot corpses.
But Wheeljack was the only Autobot they found. Everyone else was gone.