Chapter 3-The Day Terra Stood Still part 3
It was a small moon, or at least something as close to it as possible. A giant spheroid hovering a thousand kilometers off the ground composed of a mixture of ivory and onyx in a zebra-stripe pattern. It had to be a forth of Luna's size, but still large enough to cast a large shadow across the Anean landscape below. And it was moving very slowly.
Even Soundwave found it hard to conceal his surprise. Where had this thing come from? Why are they now just discovering it? They had only just now come across this massive object following a trail provided by Gandiva, which began emitting an energy signature similar to the one in Ginza. For him and Nightshade, who've had the most experience with the dolems, this was only mildly surprising, but for everyone else, they were completely dumbstruck.
"How is this possible?" Dreadwing gaped. "There is no force on this world, human or esper, capable of such feats of magnificent power."
"Welcome to the weird world of the dolems." Leader-1 sighed. "This is what we've had to deal with for a year."
"I'm beginning to hate this planet more and more." Thundercracker said. "Is Megatron really in that thing?"
"That's what we're going t find out." Nightshade said with a grim expression. She wasn't looking forward to fighting another Cardinal. "Soundwave?"
"I cannot detect Megatron's presence in the object. Something powerful is blocking my senses from penetrating the exterior, even with my enhanced sensory apparatus." Soundwave said. He was hooked up to a machine that increased his outlier abilities and widened his range of field, but it didn't do him any good against dolem sorcery. "We will have to go on instincts in order to deduce if Megatron is there."
"Oh boy." Skywarp groaned. "That's the last of us any of us want to hear from you."
"Nightshade?" Ravage looked up at the lieutenant. "It's your call."
Nightshade glared at the image of the striped orb that was moving at a snail's pace over the savanna. The structure was probably large enough to hold over a thousand dolems and would no doubt be heavily defended. As strong as their aerial firepower was, that thing probably had at least a hundred ways to shoot them down. But Megatron was there, she knew it, and they had to take the risk.
"Soundwave, have Darkshadow's team break off from the Autobots and return to the Nemesis." She ordered. "We're attacking that stupid globe and getting our leader back."
XXXXXX
The Autobots, at least those that weren't still fighting the dolems across the country, stared at the images on the screen in the Ark's command center. It didn't take long for the separate teams to hone in on the Radiances' weak point. Once they were finished, they immediately retreated back to their ship to deal with the latest crisis to plague the world in twenty four hours.
"Just when you think you couldn't hate them anymore, they pull this scrap." Bulkhead grumbled.
"What the hell?" Rodimus said. "Where did that thing come from? Was is just hovering there this whole time?"
"Probably, and we were just seeing it because they want us to see it." Prowl said. "That sphere must be where they're operating from."
"How did you guys find it?" Hound asked.
"You can thank the children and Minicons for that." Wheeljack said. "They used the energy samples I got from Ginza and used it to follow the trail around the world to their base. That thing popped up just seconds after they located its position."
"Nice work." Sideswipe grinned. Sunstreaker merely scowled at the mention of the children.
"So far, no alarms or flags were raised thanks to its invisible footprint. It's nowhere near any human settlements, so aside from us and a few government officials from Osea and South Anea, the public is blissfully ignorant for now." Barnett said.
"Good. We don't want another panic on our hands." Prowl nodded. "And now that we know where the dolems are hiding, we need to work on a rescue plan. It's not just our Autobots in there, but Nipponese citizens as well."
"Couldn't we just bust in from the bottom and have our flyboys do a quick search to see where they are?" Rodimus suggested.
"That's…an actually sound idea, Rodimus." Tomahawk smiled.
"Why do you sound surprised?" He pouted.
"Yes, that seems possible. A grid search of the object could help expedite our search." Prow agreed.
"But we'll need to be quick. I get the feeling that as soon as we break into that sphere, the Cardinal's going to know we're there and raise the alarm." Arcee said.
"Our window is small, but we still have the initiative. Let me plan out our attack strategy before we mobilize." Prowl told his team. "We have to retrieve our comrades and those people, if we fail, humanity will have more than the Decepticons on their plate."
XXXXXX
The energy sphere pulsed in a heartbeat rhythm; now flashing sapphire blue, now crimson, now back to blue again. The strobing light reflected off Jazz's armored body, washing him in color, leading him once more through the dark corridors that tunneled through the dolem's world.
The corridor's rocky, ore-ridden walls were a miner's wet dream, with pieces of various ores and precious metals growing from the ground and walls like weeds in great abundance. Jazz felt as if he were passing through the bowels of the earth instead of the lair of some eldritch horror.
"Beachcomber would gouge his eyes out in this place." He said, his words bouncing flatly off the walls, dying down on the sculpted floor. "Swerve would set up a studio in a place like this."
And that maniacal barbarian king Galvatron would have saluted the dolems for their ultimate coliseum.
The energy sphere dipped and turned, followed a series of paths, until the corridor finally fed into a much larger version of itself. Jazz stepped into the new corridor to see two energy spheres hovering side by side, pulsing out of synch, one speeding up to match the other.
"Jazz! Man, is it good to see you!"
Armorhide waited in the corridor, his shoulder-mounted ion-charged dispenser cannon retracted onto his back, hands clenching and unclenching in nervous repetition. His red and blue armor changed to different hues as the energy spheres continued to race through their color shifts.
"Armorhide! Optimus and I wondered where they kept you."
The cadet recoiled from the question. "In a cage. A tower cage. I…woke up in Rodion, or at least I thought I was Rodion, and then I watched it die again. Megatron was there, and he led the charge while I was forced to watch. I was reliving the whole experience, Jazz."
Blue. Red. Blue. The two energy spheres pulsed in concert and merged, becoming a single sphere of no greater intensity or speed. Simply a beacon, and now only one was necessary to show the Autobots the way forward. It moved along, and Jazz and Armorhide followed.
"It's alright, kid. The dolems…they have a way of getting into your head and sing your insecurities against you. Something about us makes them go into a rage and hunt us down with little regard for their own safety."
"I saw Megatron." Armorhide repeated. "He was enjoying the fun while I was forced to watch. I want to tear that smirk off his face so badly…"
"You'll get that chance, Armorhide, but later, dude. Later." Jazz placed a supportive hand on his friend's shoulder. "If this is like before, one of us will be forced to fight, while the other is forced to watch. Optimus already had his battle and he won, with me seeing the whole thing. That's how things go around here. We'll have no choice." That wasn't entirely true. They had a choice, didn't they? "The Cardinal will put people in danger-kill them-if we choose not to participate."
And people could like die during the contest as well. Learning when to sacrifice the few for the many was the kind of decision Optimus had to make all the time. It was a skill Jazz might have to utilize as well. Soon. Whether he wanted to or not.
Armorhide perked up. "Optimus Prime. Is he alright? When we were taken, he looked like hell. Megatron nailed him pretty good."
"Boss bot recovered quickly," Jazz assured the other mech. "With the dolem's assistance."
Jazz didn't realize it until now, but for some reason, so many of their internal functions seemed to work better in the dolem's presence, in fact. Jazz felt stronger, faster…wiser? He hoped son.
"People." Armorhide picked up on Jazz's earlier statement. "So these dolems, they took the humans as well. Then maybe Megatron is here and I wasn't looking at some illusion. Maybe we'll get the chance to face him."
Jazz hoped not. Not until Armorhide had a chance to calm down, to collect himself. "We will be finding out soon, I think." Noting that the energy sphere had finally led them up to the massive doors which opened onto the battledome. Both mechs waited, staring at the polished steel. Then the energy sphere pulsed once more, bright crimson, and then winked out of existence just as the door's seam split down the middle and let in a shaft of normal light.
The light fell across Jazz's face, opened wider to cover his entire chest and Armorhide's face which looked over his right shoulder. With a dull grinding sound, the doors rolled all the way back until light poured into the dark corridor, reflecting off silvered servos and gears, warming painted armor. With combat instincts on high, Jazz and Armorhide stepped forward through the opening.
The battledome stretched out before them.
XXXXXX
Prowl's plan was about as basic as they can make it in a situation like this. An aerial team consisting of Skyfire, Tomahawk, and the children (who insisted on joining the mission), would attack the sphere from above to gain entry. A ground team consisting of Ironhide, Bulkhead, Hound, Wheeljack and Rodimus would attack the sphere from below to gain entry while most of the heat would be on the aerial team. Prowl will run things from the Ark with the other Autobots in reserve.
"This isn't a first strike on the dolems. This is a rescue mission. Our first and only priority is getting Prime, Jazz, Armorhide and the humans out of there first. Getting them out of the line of fire is paramount." Prowl said during the mission briefing. "Once the targets are clear, then we work on taking out the dolems and the Cardinal afterwards."
"What about Megatron?" Ironhide asked. "Don't tell me we gotta save him too."
"He's definitely not on the list, and I imagine the Cons already have plans to rescue him as we speak." Prowl looked to Barnett. "Barnett, we're counting on you and the Anean military to be on standby to provide support and keep the media from finding this out. The last we need is a panic about more aliens attacking Terra."
"I already have the ARA contacting the Anean military for possible combat and hostage retrieval. Medical teams are standing by in case any of the humans need medical assistance." Barnett said. "But that also goes for you guys. Watch yourselves. I mean it."
Prowl gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, Barnett. We do stuff like this literally every day. You should be praying for the other side."
When the operation began, Skyfire and Tomahawk grouped up with Darren, Annie and Gina in their talos. They flew in formation from the north, descending upon the sphere that hung over the Savanna like a miniature moon. As they got closer, they could feel the energized atmosphere lick at their armor and bodies.
"Wow," Annie said as they passed over the sphere. "Looks bigger in person."
"Focus up, guys, we have a job to do." Tomahawk said.
"On my mark!" Skyfire said, and the five flyers took aim at the sphere. "Fire!"
They shot at the sphere with a barrage of missiles and beams, all of which hit the top of the sphere directly. Obviously they couldn't miss a target that big, but what they weren't expecting was for their attacks to just…disappear into the surface of the sphere. It was as if they were swallowed by water with little more than a ripple, and no explosions could be seen inside or outside.
"That's…not supposed to happen, right?" Darren asked hesitantly.
"Um, guys, we've run into a little problem here." Skyfire said.
Down on the ground, Ironhide answered Skyfire's call, looking more and more agitated every second. "Does it involve our attacks being swallowed up by the stupid thing?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"How do you think?"
The ground team attacked the sphere with everything they had, but their attacks weren't doing any damage. Missiles, bullets, laser blasts, they were all completely useless!
"This isn't doing us any good." Rodimus said. "Prowl, the sphere is completely unaffected by our attacks. I don't know how they're doing it, but-"
Rodimus grunted as Bulkhead grabbed his arm and pulled him back as a light spear shot up from the ground and nearly impaled him. The Autobots backed away as the sphere's massive shadow expanded, growing almost twice the size of the sphere itself. From the shadow, multiple Affinities, Braves, and Inspireds rose from the ground like plants and started attacking the Autobots.
"Enemies sighted!
Ironhide shouted, firing his cannons at the Affinities that began to swarm them. Two dozen Braves charged at them in a mad stampede with their massive axes. The bird-like Affinities and the serpentine Inspireds flew after the aerial team, attacking them with thin but power beams of light. The two Autobot flyers and the three humans broke apart and began fighting back, zipping through the air to avoid being separated and attacked all at once.
"Damn it, why can't everything just go the way we want it to!" Skyfire whined.
"Because you're Autobots. If you're still whining about that, then find another job!" Annie shouted.
XXXXXX
Armorhide had some idea of what to expect after Jazz's description. Like Optimus, they were escorted into a massive arena that was dome-shaped, a smooth shell of pale ivory that was no doubt thick and very hard. The battlefield door was the same, smooth and unbroken, looking like it was paved with the ones of a thousand dead. A million dead.
A semi-visible force field protected the audience who sat in tiers that rose in a delicate whirl around the inside of the mile-high dome. The cheers of the man dolems in attendance assaulted Armorhide like one loud continuous shout of anger, wrapping his mind in a dark veil he could not dislodge. It sent strength surging through his systems, raw and powerful, and yearned to move and fight and break…who?
His answer came in the form of a massive creature standing at least thirty feel tall. It was purple and black with a serpentine body tipped with an arrow-shaped head with two beady eyes on the sides of said head. Long purple tentacles cracked like whips against the ground, leaving faint scorch marks on the stone. This was another one of the dolems' abnormal pet monsters.
"Now, as someone who has been around the galactic rim a few times, I'm inclined to accept all manner of appearances." Jazz said, taking out his photon rifle. "But you…you're just butt ugly all around."
"Jazz." Armorhide sighed.
"Autobots, you opponent will be out second warrior of light, Shamshel." Lustitia said. "You will be granted access to your weapons in this match. Do not hold back."
'What's it trying to do here?' Jazz wondered. 'Dragging us into these pointless battles. What's it trying to learn about us?'
"And to ensure that you are cooperative this time…"
A sphere of bright crimson energy appeared over the captured humans. Four more appeared at strategic placements around the arena, spinning whorls of energy that hovered only fifteen feet above the floor.
"Begin."
And not knowing what else to do, Armorhide ran for the far side of the dome, disperser rifle laying down cover fire while he sought to put some distance between himself and Shamshel. Two bursts of the rifle's blue lightning leapt wide from Shamshel, pulled toward one of the crimson energy spheres. It ricocheted the shots, like a perfectly reflect surface might return a laser, bouncing the first one toward the caged humans. The force field protected them hissed and spat, but held. This time.
The second bolt of lightning bounced off the sphere at a different angle, throwing it straight back at him!
Nowhere else to go, Armorhide spread himself full length over the arena floor, scraping along and then rolling off his left shoulder up into a ready crouch. The energy stream blasted against Armorhide's right side, his tough armor taking the brunt of the blast, sheering a chunk of his metal skin, knocking him off his feet and away from the creature. He landed hard and only a few hundred feet from where a lone human woman ran a wide berth around the arena hazard, trying to gain the relative safety of one of the tight knots of people.
Armorhide was staring right at her when a large fragment of his armor fell from the sky, landing right in front of her. The fragment bounced and spun, catching the woman in the head and shoulders. She felt ten feet through the air and landed in a crumpled, lifeless pile.
Armorhide did not know who to blame. The dolems. Fate. Himself. The hapless victim died for no reason.
Jazz took no notice of this, running forward and dodging the whipping tentacles of Shamshel and firing a burst of light from his photon rifle. It hit Shamshel's chest and it recoiled back in pain, slashing at Jazz, who jumped over its tentacles, but fired a purple laser from its third eye atop its skull. Jazz avoided the beam just barely, but it hit one of the crimson spheres, violently hitting and dispersing the energy. The humans inside recoiled as the walls of their cage crackled like a tesla coil. The field crackled and shimmered, and nearly collapsed. People shrank away from the walls. Pit held, though dimmed and obviously weakened. It might be able to take another blast, it might not. The caged humans rallied and shouted their curses on Armorhide and on Jazz, disparaging both and at the same time encouraging one or the other victory over the creature.
For all his study on human culture, Jazz doubted that he would ever truly understand humans.
Hoping to catch Shamshel's attention, Jazz transformed into his alt mod, a white sports car with blue and red markings. Using his 180 d8 stereo speakers, and his front grill beacon, he created a light and sound show that disoriented Shamshel for only a moment-Armorhide rushed in and started peppering the creature's tough hide with electrostatic bursts, staying clear of its failing tentacles. Jazz kept his up until he saw the effect his "special effects extravaganza" was having on the humans and desisted, quickly changing back to robot mode.
The second he did, Shamshel rushed forward, ignoring Armorhide and firing its beams at Jazz. The white Autobot ran a slanted path away from the human bystanders trying to draw attention away from them. It kept attacking until Jazz paused to fire his rifle, where it also chose to fire its beam. The attack caught Jazz high in the left arm, spinning him around and throwing him roughly to the ground. A tentacle wrapped around his leg and pulled him into the air, slamming him into the hard ground a couple of times before throwing him at Armorhide. Both mechs collided and were thrown farther back into the dome.
Shamshel immediately turned its attention to the humans, slithering towards them and slamming its tentacles into the ground, leaving scorch marks behind where it struck. The humans panicked and screamed, calling for the Autobots to save them. Shamshel ignored their cries as it slashed the cage with its whips repeatedly, slowly whittling away at the energy field that was already weakened. Shamshel's focus was so intent on the imprisoned humans that it didn't notice the axe flying at it until the blade buried itself in its back.
"Don't forget about me, you freak!" Armorhide charged at Shamshel, firing his disperser. Two blasts caught Shamshel in the head before the monster spun around and cracked its tentacle at Armorhide's legs. His left leg got a deep cut and he staggered, allowing for the other tentacle to ensnare him around the neck and drag him in.
"That's right," Armorhide grinned. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"
Shamshel stared into Armorhide's face with dead eyes as it prepared to fire its beam at point blank range into the Autobot. As it charged its energy up, Jazz leap on its back and stabbed his combat knife into its skull. Shamshel reared back with a shriek, its beam missing and tearing a hole into Armorhide's shoulder instead. Dropping the Autobot, it thrashed around trying to dislodge Jazz, but the mech dug his blade deeper until he knew it was buried deep into its brain. Shamshel spasmed for a moment and fell forward, falling to the ground and flinging Jazz off.
"And stay down." Jazz breathed and fell onto his back. He looked up at Armorhide, who limped over to him. "You okay, Hide?"
"Still alive, sir." Armorhide helped Jazz to his feet. "And the humans are alright, too. Most of them."
Jazz looked over at the caged humans and saw them cheering for them, calling them their champions. They seemed to have already forgotten about the three people they failed to save as their bodies were surrounded by lattices of blue and crimson light, and incinerated on the spot. They were completely forgotten.
They had to be forgiven for this, Armorhide knew. They were only human after all. That was the Terran phrase, wasn't it? Or did their reactions stem from something deeper, more primal, something savage that was being brought out of them here, by the dolems themselves?
It brought a bad taste to Armorhide's mouth, but right now he couldn't do much but follow the energy sphere back to his cell with Jazz. He hoped that he had at least one chance to kill Megatron. How satisfying it would be to leave the warlord's corpse in this god forsaken hell. And once that's done…he'll work his way up to the Cardinal itself, and show the monster what happens when you mess with the Autobots!
XXXXXX
When Nightshade exited the ground bridge with the Seekers in tow, she somehow found it in herself to still be surprised. She was expecting the Autobots to have made their move at a faster time than the Cons in order to retrieve the humans, she just wasn't expecting to see that the alien sphere wasn't being effected by any attacks thrown at it. At least that was something.
"There goes my idea." She muttered.
"Lieutenant," Dreadwing said. "New orders?"
"…Help the Autobots fight off the swarm. I'm going to try to find a way to crack that stupid egg." She said. Nightshade took out Gandiva and fired an arrow that destroyed a cluster of Affinities attacking Skyfire's team.
"We got Cons!" Bulkhead yelled, bracing for an attack from behind. He was a bit confused to see the Seekers not even bothering with the Autobots as they attacked the dolems instead. "Huh? What're they doing?"
"Getting our leader back, fatty!" Skywarp said, gunning down everything in his path. "What else?"
"Don't get too comfortable with the extra hands. Once we have Megatron back, you bozos are on your own!" Thundercracker aid.
Thundercracker increased his speed and shot into the large group of dolems like an arrow, moving up to Mach 2 speeds and propelling himself with a powerful sonic boom that blasted them all away with a wave of pure force. Ironhide jumped back to dodge a Brave's big, burly fist as it tried to grab him and shot it in the face with his laser cannon.
"Prowl, we've got Cons giving us a hand here." Ironhide said.
"Keep your eyes open, but let them take the load off you guys. Just…try to wither the dolems down as much as possible."
Prowl gritted his teeth as he tried to think of why their attacks weren't working on the sphere. Barnett had noticed this too and tried to gauge a reason of his own.
"I take it that thing not taking so much as a scratch after getting hit that many times isn't normal?" He asked.
"I knew that the mission wouldn't be that easy, but the dolems still continue to surprise me. The dolems harbor powers that far outclass anything we have, and some would even call it magic. And they make good use of their abilities." Prowl frowned. "Those dolems definitely came from somewhere inside the sphere, so what am I missing here?"
XXXXXX
It was Megatron's turn to fight in the arena this time. As usual, the dome was packed, mostly by low ranking dolems, but also with a small percentage of humans seated in the lower decks, many of them clapping and hollering and cheering as if they were at sporting event. It was no secret that their survival depended on the continued cooperation of the cybertronians, so even Megatron was a hero in their eyes at the moment.
The force field shimmered as Megatron approached it. The arena lights were unusually brighter than usual. So intense was the glare that Megatron was forced to switch his optical wide-spectrum visual filters. Megatron took the time to glare up at the Cardinal floating above them all like the sun, as if they all revolved around it like some god. The arrogance of these beings would make even Starscream blush, and while Megatron would've entertained a mutually cooperation and conquest pact with the dolems in another life, right now he just wanted to kill the lot of them. And as much as he enjoyed the carnage of the arena, he hated being controlled like some puppet. Heaven help them when he got free.
He could feel the limits of the Cardinal's control on him. A certain kind of energy enveloping his form, reaching deep inside his systems, making it impossible for him call upon his fusion cannon or his energo-mace. An attempt to even the odds during the battle…or to make things more interesting, in any case.
There was a glowing glyph that materialized in front of him and from it came a large object, or creature, that rose from the ground on some invisible propulsion force. Megatron blinked as he got a good look at his opponent and wondered if the dolems had tampered with his optics as well.
His opponent was a dolem, but not a standard drone he encountered in the past. It was a giant blue octahedron (two pyramids connected together at the bottom) made of clear blue sapphire. It was 20 feet in height and seven feet long, hovering silent above the ground in preparation for the battle ahead. Megatron had fought his fair share of silicon lifeforms in the past, and he had a feeling his fusion cannon wasn't going to help him much here.
Suddenly the voice of Lustitia filled the arena. "Megatron of the Decepticons, your opponent shall be Ramiel of the Host. Let the contest begin."
There was the boom of a gong and Megatron felt the energy restraining his weapons recede. And just in time, as Ramiel's crystalline lattice peeled back to reveal a red orb at its center. The orb glowed and fired a powerful red beam that moved faster than Megatron could process. He had the instinct to jump aside and that saved him from the one hit kill that collided with the energy dome. Even the ground shook from the explosion. Seeing that it missed, Ramiel floated toward Megatron.
Megatron felt as if he was moving in an ocean. His servo-musculature strained a bit as he stood up and saw the dolem approaching. He could see that it was restricted by the increased gravity too, but it only needed to get him in its sights for another shot.
'Frag it all!' Megatron cursed mentally. He collapsed and transformed into tank mode, and pushed his treads to move as fast as they could. His fusion cannon swerved and fired upon Ramiel, releasing bright purple beams of plasma capable of tearing most bots in half.
And it bounced off Ramiel's surface like sunlight off a mirror.
"Damn you!" Megatron shouted.
Ramiel fired another blast, this one coming dangerously close to hitting him. Megatron shot back with one of his own, and got the same result, his fusion blast glancing off its body without so much as a scorch mark. He had to think of something else before he tired himself out, because he was pushing his engine more than he needed to at this point. His best bet was hitting the red gem in its center just as it was preparing to fire. Right…now!
Ramiel's body folded back like an alien origami piece to expose its most powerful and only weapon, charging up for another blast. Megatron waited for the core to be fully exposed before firing his fusion cannon…at the exact same moment Ramiel fired its beam.
In a very rare display even Lustitia wasn't anticipating, the two beams hit each other in the air and created an explosive discharge that blew the two combatants back. The beams seemed to wrap around each other before exploding in a bright burst of colors that forced those with organic eyes to turn away. Megatron wasn't stupid enough to actually attempt to rush in, he'd have no time, but he switched forms and fired his fusion cannon one last time before Ramiel recovered. He grinned as he saw the blast hit its mark once and a glimpse of the orb cracking.
Cracking, but not shattering. It wasn't a killing shot, but it was a mortal one, as Ramiel gave a horrifyingly loud shriek and the right side of its octahedron body morphed into jagged, uneven crystals. In its agonistic throes, Megatron ran forward as fast as his motors could allow and leapt onto Ramiel. The dolem fired its beam, grazing Megatron's side, and spun around to dislodge him. The beam tore a path along the dome, screeching along the energy lattice in a last ditch attempt to kill Megatron.
"That won't save you now!" Megatron shouted, reaching in with his left arm and grasping the jewel at its core. Shifting his arm into a long, sharp blade, Megatron thrust his arm forward and stabbed the blade into the core.
Ramiel screamed again and Megatron barely avoided getting skewered as the dolem lost control of its body and exploded into a mass of jagged crystals. He jumped back as the creature slowly dissolved into dust. Megatron turned to the now silent crowd.
"Well? Are you not entertained?" Megatron bellowed. "Is this now what you wanted? Is this not why we are here?"
Something had come across the crowd, an uneasy feeling that Megatron had missed. He frowned and looked up at Lustitia, whose cherubic face was glancing down at something behind Megatron. Glancing back, he grinned as he saw who his next opponent would be.
"Prime."
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The dolems and the Matrix were connected in some way that Optimus couldn't fathom. The creature regarded the ancient relic with equal amounts of reverence and violent fear, coveting it not for its power, but for what it symbolized-a possible clue to finding their missing "creator" that had abandoned them eons ago. And it was only by chance that Optimus, after running into Jazz and Armorhide in his cell, used the Matrix to force this quintessence ridden environment to bend to his will.
Only to learn that the arena-the entire sphere itself-was just one large dolem. It was full of quintessence and could freely manipulate its internal environment. But if it was like any other dolem, then its powers could be negated by the Matrix. He didn't explain his plan to his comrades, he couldn't risk the Cardinal knowing his plan before he was in position.
"Here you are," The Decepticon leader stood fast, looking ready to fight. "At least, it comes to this. Optimus Prime, you and I-"
Optimus surged forward, not giving his nemesis the chance to finish. With a savage cry of rage, Optimus dug one hand into Megatron's chest and closed the other around his throat. With all his power, he threw Megatron into the air then leapt up after him. Calling upon the Matrix, a shining blue light emanated from his chest, channeling energy into his body. Diving on Megatron, he slammed a fist into the warlord's chest and didn't stop until they crashed into the arena floor. Not only did the Matrix-enhanced punch momentarily stun Megatron, it also sent a surge of purified energy through him and into the ground.
Jazz and Armorhide watched with awestruck faces as blue cracks spread across the floor until it reached all corners of the arena. The dolem audience scrambled back in fear, while the humans watched in shock as the floor shattered like glass, revealing…the outside world.
Then everyone heard the immensely deafening roar of the dolem they resided in-it was in pain.
Seeing the energy spread towards the domed force field, Optimus turned to his troops. "Jazz, Armorhide, retrieve the humans and call for a ground bridge! Go!"
"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME!" Lustitia screeched.
Jazz and Armorhide quickly gathered up the surviving humans and just barely escaped the arena through the hole when Lustitia descended upon Optimus and Megatron like an angry shark.
XXXXXX
Outside, the effects of the dolem's destabilization was immediately noticed by everyone. Instead of the airborne sphere cracking apart, it was it's shadow that had blue cracks spreading across it. Ironhide only spent two seconds being shocked before he got his act together and ordered his team to get the hell out of there.
"What's going on?" Rodimus yelled.
"Don't ask me, kid. Just don't stand near it!" Ironhide said.
From her position in the air, Nightshade was the first to make the connection as she heard a dull groan coming from the shadow. "We were wrong. That shadow is the dolem, and…the giant sphere is it's shadow. All this time we've been fighting a shadow. No wonder we couldn't hit that thing."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Starscream grunted.
"Metaphysical scrap that I honestly can't be bothered to understand further." She replied.
The shadow, now riddled with glowing blue cracks, suddenly shattered like glass and the sphere hovering in the air shimmered and vanished like a mirage. From the ruptured dolem prison came Optimus and Megatron, and behind them was the monstrous form of the Cardinal Lustitia. Its cherubic face was marred by an angry scowl as three tentacles shot out of the mouths of the other faces on its body, snapping at the two leaders. Nightshade wasted no time in sending the Seekers after it.
"Open fire on that monstrosity!" Nightshade yelled.
"You heard her, torch that four faced freak!" Ironhide shouted.
The Autobots and Decepticons converged on the Cardinal and unleashed everything they had on the monster. Lustitia reeled back as missiles, plasma beams, and rockets tore into its body, ripping into it with unrelenting ferocity. Each tentacle was tipped by a gaping maw that fired condensed beams of light. Each beam tore deep gouges into the ground and incinerated everything it touched. The cybertronian factions scattered to avoid the beams before they were destroyed, still trying to attack it.
Lustitia's body was composed of stone and plant biology. Its organic parts, four pulsating hearts, were encased within thin membranes and protected by only thin layers of marble. Once the missile and laser fire did their damage on the main body, blood and other disgusting fluids leaked from the Cardinal's body, and Megatron grinned at its agony.
"No wonder you avoided fighting us. Your body is mostly organic and you lack the firepower of your brothers. So you hide behind that farce of a gladiator match to cull us one by one." Megatron laughed and glared up at Lustitia. "Pathetic."
"Even now you try to assert dominance over a victory that wasn't started by you. Outstanding, your arrogance truly knows no bounds." Lustitia replied. "She was right about you, prideful to the end."
Megatron fired his fusion cannon. The beam tore a hole in the side of it's main cherub face, and it opened it's mouth to unleash a fleshy venus-flytrap like tentacle at him. Megatron jumped back before it could snatch him up, and the tentacle was blown apart by an energy arrow shot by Nightshade.
"This is what happens when you go on a murderous alcohol fueled rampage." She said.
"Don't start with me, Nightshade." Megatron turned to address his mortal enemy. "Well, Prime, it's been fun but-where is he?"
"Where else?" Nightshade pointed to the top of Lustitia's head, where Optimus was riding like a surfboard firing is ion blaster into the Cardinal's core. The Matrix still glowed within his chest, and he used its power to grant him strength.
"You kidnap innocent people, brutally massacre them to get us to fight and all for what?" Optimus shouted. "What purpose did you have in mind, you sick, twisted creature?"
Lustitia gave a poor, agonized groan as its body started losing altitude, falling toward the ground. Only one tentacle wasn't blown off by the aerial assault, and that was being used to fend off the cybertronians.
"I wanted to see…what your power was. The power that allowed you to best my brothers, we the blessed children of Jubileus. Such blasphemy should not be possible, but even now it's proving true!" Lustitia wailed in despair. "Has my goddess forsaken me? Has the Oracle truly conspired against our glorious race?"
"Shut up!"
Optimus saw Nightshade fly up to Lustitia's face and pull back Gandiva's string. "Wait!"
She released the arrow and blew a hole straight through the Cardinal's face and into its beating heart-a fatal blow. Lustitia crashed to the earth and slid along the ground, skidding through the rock and dirt for a solid two minutes before coming to a stop. There was still life in it's eyes, which remained on Optimus-or rather, his Matrix.
"To think, my downfall would be brought about by my beloved Oracle." Lustitia's eyes dimmed as it said it's last words. "We may die, but all the universe will come down upon you in vengeance, creatures of metal. Woe unto you for your sins against the Shapings. May the Almighty Jubileus…bless you…"
The light faded from Lustitia's eyes and it finally died. Optimus felt the Matrix's glow fade as well and sagged in relief. It was over.
Skyfire landed beside him and looked up at the dead Cardinal. "That guy was a dick."
"Skyfire." Optimus admonished.
"What?"
XXXXXX
Jazz and Armorhide had barely managed to evacuate the humans into the ground bridge before the surviving dolems swarmed them. A dozen had died during the evacuation from stray laser fire from the dolems. That totally up to nearly a quarter of the 200 people that were kidnapped alongside them. The people were still asking questions, and the Autobots and world governments could only pretend to act surprised that another alien race dropped in on them. It was that or face even more scrutiny from the already terrified and angry public.
As soon as the Decepticons acquired Megatron, they left the area immediately. Everyone was too tired to continue fighting, and once the dolems vanished following Lustitia's death, all that was left was to pick up the pieces, and for the survivors to cope with the nightmare they just experienced.
"And as usual, we've got Senator Cordell talking shit about the Autobots." Annie sighed. "What a surprise."
"It's not all bad, Annie. At least that reporter lady, Isolde, is spinning the story around to make them look good. Just be glad the world isn't falling to pieces about the dolems." Darren said.
It was almost time for homeroom to start and the children were spending their last few moments of freedom talking about the public reception to the alien abduction that led to almost thirty people dying. These days, talking about the news was all they could do with their diminished role in helping the Autobots.
"How's Armorhide?" Gina asked. "He looked pretty shaken up when they brought him back."
"He's resting. Reliving his home's destruction at Megatron's hands had disturbed him, but he should be fine after some R&R." Darren said.
"That's good. At least someone came out of this mess sane. Here's to keeping Terra from being overrun by an army of the Statues of Davids." Annie joked.
Diana Masters, their homeroom teacher, entered the room and the kids quickly took their seats. "Good morning everyone! Before we start, we have a new student joining us today from Milwouk. I want you all to make her feel welcome and show her how great going to public school is."
Diana waved the new student in and all the boys, including Darren, and even Annie, sat up straighter when they saw the girl walk in. She was tall, about as tall as Gina (which was the first odd thing about her, considering Gina was a child superhuman), and she had long blonde hair with a cute round face and bright blue eyes (with oval shaped pupils). There was a pink jagged scar that ran over her left eye that might've been a birthmark, and her ears were slightly pointed. Darren noticed (not intentionally) that even through her heavy sweater and jeans that she had a toned build like Gina's, but slightly more slender.
'Actually, she looks a lot like Gina, just with longer hair.' Darren thought.
"Hi, my name's Brianna Winters." The new student gave the class a wink, though her eyes were firmly set on Darren. "I hope we can all have some fun together!"
That's it for the first three parter of Devastation. Things get really crazy next chapter. I would've gotten this out sooner, but I wanted to finish up writing chapter 28 before posting this. It was an intense chapter, let me tell you. Also, my birthday was on the 8th of this month, so I'm 23 years old now! Yay! Anyway, be sure to check out the official Transformers Titan website on Wordpress, directions to the link in my profile. I'm still working on organizing the chapters for Transformers: Mosaic, sequel to Distant Stars, so that might take a while to post. And is anyone else having trouble keeping their story thumbnails saved, because the last two stories I posted keep unsaving their pictures, and it's starting to get on my nerves. Like, the thumbnail would just default to my profile pic even though I saved it. Thanks for reading, please leave a review, and have a nice day to all of you!