A/N: This segment rated PG-13 for swearing and mild yaoi content (bet you're wondering how I managed that with a bunch of asexual robots, huh? ^_^) This episode also introduces the only 'new' character I can stand.....WHEELIE!!!! Well, I think he's kinda cute. (Just give the poor kid a chance, c'mon, huh?)
Optimus Prime lay on the examination table of Ratchet's half annihilated repair bay. Kup and Springer stood over him, trying to curb the flow of some of the more serious energy leaks. But their lack of medical expertise plus lack of equipment made it more difficult than it already would have been.
Blurr dashed about the room in a panic, attempting to help but in reality doing nothing but driving the others mad. Arcee had been busy trying to find some Autobots with even a spark of life left in them, but in the end the only functional Autobots she had managed to bring back were Swoop and Blaster. Now Blaster lay asleep on a cot as she bandaged Swoop's tattered wing and tried to lessen both his physical pain and the pain of having lost his entire team that morning.
Hot Rod sat in a dark corner of the room, knees pulled up to his chest. He knew he should at least be trying to help the others, but somehow he couldn't bear to face them. He had killed Optimus Prime. He had killed Daniel. He was a horrible, stupid failure! His logic circuits told him that Starscream killed Daniel and Optimus wasn't even dead yet, but he still felt that had it not been for his interference, they would both still be all right.
"Hot Rod?" It was Arcee. Hot Rod looked down, ashamed to meet her eyes.
"Hot Rod, can you PLEASE come here and help me?" Arcee called to him again, a bit of annoyance slipping into her voice. Whether the kid blamed himself for Optimus' injuries or not was his problem. But he had no right at all to be sitting there idly while there was so much work to be done!
In a lethargic daze, Hot Rod got up and held Swoop's wing for Arcee as she tried to fuse the wires back together. She glanced at the forlorn expression on his face and felt a small pang of guilt for being so harsh with him. But it couldn't be helped. She'd talk to him about what happened later, when lives didn't hang in the balance.
Optimus' optics flickered open. At first he didn't recognize the two figures standing above him. Then he remembered. Springer and Kup. Both very new members (though Kup was rather old), stationed in the city. He was unable to move, but he tried to look around as much as he could anyway. He could see he was in Ratchet's repair bay...but then where was Ratchet?
Then the realization hit him. Ratchet had been on that first shuttle into Autobot City yesterday. He was gone. At this thought, uncalled for memories of charred and broken bodies flooded his mind. The Dinobots. Windcharger. Hound. Mirage. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Wheeljack. He had seen their bodies, half buried in rubble as he drove through the battlefield in search of Megatron. He had been able to put them out of his mind then. But now all he could think of was their broken forms and of Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn, and Ironhide, killed on the shuttle.
/And here I am, still alive while they are dead./ he thought. /What kind of leader am I, not to be dead with them?/ Mental strength crumbling under his heavy thoughts, he let out a low moan.
"Optimus?!" Springer exclaimed. "You're awake?"
"You just hang in there." Kup said. "We'll fix you....somehow." he added the last word under his breath.
"N-no...I-I'll be...fine.. Attend to the others first..." Optimus managed weakly.
The other two paused and exchanged a pained glance. Then they looked down, unable to meet Optimus' questioning gaze.
"Wh--where are the others?" Their leader stammered, sure of the answer but afraid to ask. Springer and Kup didn't answer, but their expressions said enough. Optimus collapsed mentally, emotional wounds now far worse than physical ones. They were gone...all of them. And here he was, surrounded by strangers...and apparently not going to die.
As if to confirm the last thought, Kup spoke up. "You should be okay. You'll be weak for a while, but we patched up the big holes...just take it easy for a few weeks."
/Just let me die.../ Optimus thought. But he nodded weakly in spite of himself. In a few minutes, he was asleep.
***
In the vast space between Earth and Cybertron, Astrotrain's spaceship mode trembled with his huge burden.
"Jettison some weight or I'll never make it to Cybertron!" he crackled over the speakers to no one in particular.
"Fellow Decepticons!" Starscream shouted, standing at the head of the vessel, "Astrotrain has requested that we lighten our burden!"
Starscream's shrill yell woke Soundwave up. He glanced up drowsily from the spot in the hull where he and Rumble had fallen asleep.
"In that case I say it is survival of the fittest!" Hook declared.
"Do I hear a second on that?" Starscream asked the general assembly, smirking.
"What's goin' on?" Rumble murmured beside Soundwave.
"Starscream's being an ass." Soundwave muttered. What was that treacherous jet planning? And why was putting ANYTHING to a vote? As second-in-command, he was honorary leader until Megatron woke up. Speaking of which...
"AYE!!!" shouted any Decepticon who wasn't badly injured.
"And against?" Starscream continued.
"Nay..." the injured Decepticons cried weakly.
"The aye's have it!" Starscream declared, and in one horrible second Soundwave realized what was happening.
"Starscream, what are you doing?!" Soundwave yelled, but he was pushed to the ground by the Constructicons. The indigo communicator could only watch helplessly as Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the Insecticons were thrown off the ship through a side hatch.
"Oh, stars..." Soundwave shook his head in disbelief. He had never believed Megatron's second as bad as this!
Oh great gods. MEGATRON!
On the other side of the ship, Starscream lifted Megatron up and carried him to the hatch. With a defiant smirk on his face, he held his crippled leader outwards.
"Oh, how it pains me to do this!" he didn't even bother to hide his grin.
"W-wait...I still function..." Megatron rasped.
"Starscream!" Soundwave's voice shouted from behind them.
/Stupidly loyal to the last./ Starscream thought contemptuously.
"Oh, well, I suppose we could throw Frenzy and Ravage out instead!" Starscream shouted the names of the two cassettes within his view. Soundwave fell silent. /Heh. Knew that would work./ Emotional attachments were ever so much fun to exploit.
"Starscream, you fucking bastard!" Rumble shouted in the background. Frenzy and Ravage scrambled back to Soundwave under a sea of legs. They didn't want to be caught.
"When he's right...he's right..." Megatron agreed, putting as much hatred as he could manage into his voice.
"It's the last time you two gang up on ME!" Starscream snarled, throwing Megatron out into space.
"Starscreeeeeeam!" Megatron's voice faded away.
All six of Soundwave's cassettes jumped back into his chest hatch. He couldn't risk them again. Once they were safe inside, Soundwave collapsed backwards, not caring at all about the battle for leadership Starscream had started. Stupid bastard really knew which buttons to push. To try to make Soundwave decide between Megatron and the cassettes... His best friend or his children? Who could make that choice? He tried to remain calm. He'd seen Megatron in worse scrapes than this. Once they landed on Cybertron, he could take a ship out, collect Megatron and the others...then they could all consult as to what was to be done about Starscream.
As always, a part of him tried to understand the Seeker's mentality. Megatron's absence would give him a chance to look good. And threatening the cassettes was the ideal way to get Soundwave out of the way. And since Megatron and Soundwave were the ones who always made Starscream look bad...his actions were, from an objective point, understandable.
But even so, that Decepticon should be either in prison or in therapy!
***
Megatron floated limply in space. He figured he might as well just take a long nap. He wasn't going to die from lack of pressure or oxygen, being a robot, and there were no planets, stars, or anythings in the area to exert gravity...and since he was too damaged and exhausted to move himself, he could count on not going anywhere for a while.
He didn't blame Soundwave in the slightest for not helping. Megatron hardly expected him to allow his cassettes to be thrown out into space like this. Damn Starscream. He just added that one to his ever-growing list of things to kill that stupid jet for.
Looking around him, he could see Thundercracker and Skywarp floating nearby. The Insecticons were above him, but tired as he was, he couldn't turn himself to see them. He was about to try to contact the two jets and see if they could somehow combine their energy to get out of here when he realized he was moving.
Wait...moving?
Yes, he was definitely moving. As if pulled by gravity. But that made no sense! They were no where near a star or a planet or...
"AAAGH!!" Megatron screamed involuntarily. What in the blue fuck was that?!
Apparently, 'that' was the thing exerting gravitational force. It looked like an orange version of the planet Uranus...only it was moving quite quickly and by its own volition. If Megatron had had the energy, he would have used it to blast himself out of there. But as it was he had no choice but to allow it to suck him in. And just to make things even more unnerving, he stopped dead when he was only a few hundred feet from the thing.
"Welcome, Megatron." a huge voice said.
"Wh--who said that?" Megatron groaned, though he had a sick feeling he knew who had said that.
"I am Unicron."
/Maybe it's some sort of ship.../ Megatron considered. Playing on that theory, he called, "Show yourself!" His voice was less than commanding and intimidating, but that was the least of his concerns.
"I have summoned you here for a purpose." Unicron declared, ignoring the request.
Now that rubbed Megatron's pride the wrong way. "Nobody summons Megatron!" he rasped, raising his fist to enforce the point.
"Then it pleases me to be the first."
Conceited bastard. "State your business!" Megatron tried to sound authoritative and failed miserably.
"This is my command. I will supply you with a new body and new troops to command. And you will destroy the Autobots."
"What?" Megatron was confused. Why was this thing ordering him to destroy the Autobots? Hadn't he always tried to destroy the Autobots?
"Destroy the Autobots. With the power I will give you, you will not fail as you have in the past."
"Fail?!" Megatron cried indignantly. He HAD failed, but that was beside the point.
"You are a fool. But under my orders you will be put to good use." Unicron paused. "You belong to me now."
Now THAT was the last straw. "I BELONG TO NOBODY!!!" Megatron screamed in outrage. So what if this monster planet could annihilate him? He wasn't going to be its slave, not for all the new troops and new bodies in the universe! Besides, he liked his current body just fine...well, at least when it was functional.
"Perhaps I misjudged you."
"Perhaps you did! Now let me GO!" Megatron snapped.
A sudden blast of energy, seeming to emit from the chasm before Megatron, sent the Decepticon reeling through space at several hundred miles an hour. Unicron passed through the remaining Decepticons with extraordinary speed, not paying attention to any of them.
"Well..." Thundercracker muttered as the large planet moved away. "That was thoroughly weird."
***
Soundwave loaded the last bag of repair parts into the shuttle. He was sure that some of the others would need immediate attention after having been left alone in space for so long. Starscream had ultimately won the power brawl that had taken place inside Astrotrain, and now the sound from the trumpets being played at his coronation could be heard even from the space port.
"Shouldn't we be there?" Laserbeak asked fretfully, looking in the direction of the ceremony.
"We have more important things to do at the moment." Soundwave told him. "I need your assistance. All of you. Besides, I doubt Starscream will be our leader for long."
"Good. I don't like him." Frenzy grumbled, shifting from foot to foot restlessly. "He was gonna throw me and Ravage out of the ship!" The black feline growled in agreement.
"Now you know I wouldn't have let that happen." Soundwave assured his youngest cassette. "Now get inside, everyone. We don't have any more time to waste."
***
"Fellow Decepticons!" Starscream bellowed.. "As your new leader, I command that we will return to Earth and finish the job Megatron left unfinished! The complete and total extermination of the Autobots!"
This proposal was met by cheers and shouts from the multitude below him. There were many more Decepticons on Cybertron now than there had been in past years. Conquering the planet had earned them a lot of converts. And now it was time to put this manpower to use.
Starscream was in a state of euphoria as the ships were prepared for lift off. They were fueling those ships by HIS command. Those weapons were being charged because HE told them to. They were going to Earth under HIS command and they would destroy the Autobots by HIS leadership and everyone would praise and adore HIM. It was all Starscream had ever wanted. To win a major victory and have everyone know it and honor him for it. He was finally getting his chance.
The Decepticon fleet took off a few moments later, no one particularly noticing the absence of Soundwave and his cassettes. Nor did they notice the huge orange orb descending onto their planet from directly above.
***
Soundwave hadn't noticed that orb either. After all, it had only appeared once on the radar screen and had showed up as being way out of their way; high above them. And Soundwave had other things on his mind.
They were approaching the site where Starscream had decided to turn Darwinist. Soundwave could see Thundercracker and Skywarp in his path, and Shrapnel, Kickback, and Bombshell drifting a few yards above them. He slowed the ship and sidled up beside Thundercracker's limp form.
"Ratbat, open the hatch." Soundwave stood up. "Ravage, take the controls." Even with paws instead of hands, the feline could easily pilot the ship for small distances.
Laserbeak, Ratbat, and Buzzsaw flew out of the ship and grabbed onto Thudercracker, pulling him inside. Soundwave got a hold of him as soon as he was close enough and set him down gently on one of the mats he had situated inside the hold of the ship.
"Soundwave?" Thudercracker gasped weakly. "What're you doing here?"
"Bringing you home." Soundwave answered simply, examining the Seeker for any extremely serious damage. Luckily, Thundercracker had been in better shape that the others. Just not good enough to keep himself from being thrown out of the ship.
Thudercracker lay down in stunned silence. He had genuinely expected to drift out there until his fuel supply ran out. But now here was Soundwave, patching up the hole in his leg...this on top of that weird planet thing's appearance was making this one of the most interesting days of Thundercracker's life.
Ravage maneuvered the ship, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat retrieved their comrades, Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy performed first aid on the most serious wounds, and after about an hour all the floating Decepticons were lying in the hold of the shuttle, relatively stable.
All except one.
Soundwave watched the blank radar screen with growing desperation. Where was Megatron? He had been jettisoned only a few moments after the others, and he certainly hadn't had the strength to move himself anywhere. So where WAS he?
"Hey, where's Megatron?" Rumble voiced his master's concern.
That produced a small stir among the injured Decepticons.
"You won't find him around here!" Shrapnel smirked.
"He's long gone!" Bombshell assented.
"What happened?" Soundwave asked with all the calm he could muster.
"You're not gonna believe this..." Thundercracker began.
"But the weirdest thing happened after you guys left..." Skywarp picked up.
Continuing like that for the next several minutes, the Seekers and the Insecticons related the story of Unicron's appearance and Megatron's disappearance.
When they were finished, Soundwave sat down heavily in the cockpit chair, thoroughly stunned. Megatron...vanished into space?
"Well, we're just going to have to find him, then." Soundwave said.
"Hey! What about the rest of us?!" Kickback shouted.
Soundwave's head jerked up. He hadn't meant to say that aloud. "Oh, of course I'm going to take all of you back to Cybertron first." he amended quickly.
"Well, good." Kickback muttered, settling back onto his mat.
Soundwave took the controls from Ravage and proceeded to do just that. But he silently swore to return. He had promised Megatron he would never let him down. Now was the time to keep that promise.
***
Jazz snored loudly. Life on Moonbase One was extremely boring, especially since he and Cliffjumper were the only ones there. And all the Decepticons were doing down there was coronating Starscream. Big whoop. Oh well, at least it meant Megatron was dead. Unfortunately, Jazz' three hour nap at the monitoring station had sadly caused him to miss Starscream's final speech and the Decepticon fleet taking off for Earth. It might have helped the other Autobots to know about that. But as it was, Jazz didn't wake up until Cliffjumper came up onto the deck and kicked his chair out from under him.
"What are you doing, falling asleep on duty?!" Cilffjumper exclaimed indignantly, as if that wasn't obvious.
"Hey! leave me alone! It's not like there's anything to be watching!" Jazz wailed from the floor
"Oh yeah? Then where'd all the Decepticon ships go, huh?!" Cliffjumper pointed angrily at the left monitor.
"Huh?! Aw, shit..."
"Aw shit indeed! You better radio Earth right now and-" Cliffjumper broke off as a bigger than average blip appeared on the radar screen. "What's that?"
But Jazz wasn't looking at the screen. He had a good view of the sky from his position on the floor. And therefore was in a good position to see the planet like object descending upon them. "Where'd THAT come from?!" he cried in shock, scrambling to his feet.
Cliffjumper looked up at the orange orb. And saw it coming closer. "Who cares, I'm more worried about where its going!" he gasped in answer to Jazz's inquiry.
As if by unspoken agreement, the two Autobots ran for the escape ship on the roof of the control tower as equipment and pieces of metal flew up into the monster's jaws.
The ship's engines roared to life as Unicron's incisors cut into the moon's surface and began pulling it in. But no matter how much power the two injected into their craft, they couldn't so much as get it off the ground.
"Jazz! We're not getting away!" Cliffjumper stated the obvious for the final time as their ship, as well as Moonbase One itself, was swallowed into the depths of Unicron.
***
From Moonbase Two, Bumblebee watched in horror as the other moon vanished into the orange planet's jaws.
"Spike! Open a transmission to Earth! Oh, this is SO not good!"
Spike obediently started the message recorder. "This is Spike and Bumblebee, up here on Moonbase Two!"
"Some...THING, some monster planet, just ripped the first moon to shreds!" Bumblebee began.
"And it's heading this way!" Spike added, as much for their own benefit as for those on Earth.
"We'll try and slow it down!" Bumblebee put in, again, more for their own benefit.
"But you'd better get here fast 'cause we're not gonna-" Spike cut himself off as Unicron's gravitational pull interrupted their transmitting signal.
"Do you think they got it?" Bumblebee asked.
"I hope so..." Spike muttered. "Now what're we gonna do?"
"Self-destruct." Bumblebee said simply.
"What?!"
"Oh, we're leaving first! Come on, we set the self-destruct device on a timer, get the hell offa here, then when he's eating it like he did Moonbase One, it'll explode in his mouth!" Bumblebee doubled over, panting for breath.
"Oh, I get it!" Spike smiled. "Great plan, Bumblebee."
Bumblebee smiled back. "Come on, let's do it!"
They worked quickly as Unicron closed in, wiring the base to a timed self-destruct. Finally, they set the timer for ten seconds, activated the self-destruct, and ran like hell for their ship.
They shot off the moon just as the first quarter of it began to disappear into Unicron's mouth. They continued to travel away as fast as possible as the timer clicked down.
Finally the digits hit zero and the force of the explosion sent Bumblebee and Spike's shuttle reeling. Bumblebee crashed to the floor and Spike was slammed against the back of his chair. Both clamored back up and looked anxiously at the cloud of dust behind them.
"We got him!" Bumblebee exclaimed.
But then the dust cleared. "It isn't even dented!" Spike gasped. "Oh SHIT, what're we gonna do now?!
An undamaged but enraged Unicron sent out his gravity field at maximum energy. NOBODY did that to his meals!
"We-we're being sucked into it!" Bumblebee screamed. The ship, indeed, lurched forward and began to plummet into Unicron's jaws.
"Bumblebee?" Spike whispered.
"Y-yeah, Spike?"
"I-I love you."
Bumblebee managed a smile at the sound of those words. "I know." he whispered back. "I love you too."
The shuttle and the remains of Moonbase Two were devoured by the great orange planet.
***
Megatron woke up. Where he woke up, he had no clue, but he was relatively sure he had woken up. And, strangely enough, he seemed to be fully repaired. But that was pretty far down there on his list of things to be confused about at the moment. He was in the middle of what looked like a Cybertronian version of an Earth swamp. But Cybertron had no swamps. Megatron sat up. How did he get here, anyway? Oh, yeah. That big orange planet that wanted to enslave him. Well, at least he wasn't floating in space anymore. No, this was even better. On some strange planet with metal swamps, completely alo-
"Friend find, look behind!"
"AAAAAGH!" Megatron jumped about fifty feet into the air. He spun around, fumbling for his gun, which had actually gone back to Cybertron with Rumble. And he found himself face to face with an eight foot tall Transformer. (and for a Transformer, that is extremely small.)
"Who...what..?" Megatron stammered. "Did you..." his voice trailed off.
"White bot in ditch." the little robot stated cheerfully, pointing to a large hole a few feet away from them. "But Wheelie fix!" he smiled happily.
Megatron just stared for a moment. Why was this child speaking in rhyme...? Then it hit him. Child. Of course. He remembered Soundwave's cassettes talking in silly rhymes like that when they were very young. It was how children figured out how to use their speech modules or something like that. He was no developmental psychologist. The point was, this was a very small child. And where there were small children, there had to be adult creators.
"You...fixed me? All by yourself?" he asked the smiling boy. Wheelie nodded in assent. "Okay...your name is Wheelie? Well, Wheelie, where are your creators, your home?"
Wheelie stared at him blankly for a moment. "Everywhere is home, Wheelie's all alone!"
Megatron's eyes widened. This child was alone here? He didn't bother asking if others had been killed; the boy probably wouldn't understand. Imagine....a child so small he still speaks in rhymes and talks about himself in the third person out here surviving on his own. Was it possible?
"You're really alone out here? No family or friends?" Megatron asked incredulously.
Wheelie smiled up at him again (or still). "Wheelie say find friend today!"
The Decepticon smiled in spite of himself. That rhyming was probably going to start trying his nerves after a while, but still...this kid was actually rather cute. And besides, he could be useful. To have lived this long, Wheelie must know his way around this rock, wherever it was. And he was too small to be a spy or an informer. Megatron knew from dealing with Soundwave's cassettes how old a child had to be to understand the concept of lying on command. Not to mention the pang of conscience that was telling him just because the boy survived this long didn't mean he would survive much longer out here all alone.
Megatron surprised himself at this last thought. He wasn't aware that he'd had a conscience.
"Well, Wheelie, what do you say we find some sign of civilization, if there is any to be found?
***
While Megatron was getting his bearings and joining forces with a two-year-old, the Earth-bound Autobots stopped their work repairing Autobot City to listen to Bumblebee and Spike's message over Blaster's radio mode.
"All right, everyone, you heard them." Springer said as the message cut off and Blaster transformed back. "Whatever this thing is, we have to stop it." he glanced at Optimus Prime, who was seated on a fallen pillar a couple feet away. It just didn't feel right, a new recruit like him giving orders while their long time leader sat there in silence. But it was now unspoken law around here that nobody could so much as imply that Optimus Prime was currently in no condition to lead anyone, but to make decisions themselves and give the appearance of deferring to him.
"But how, Springer?" Kup spoke up at last. "That thing just chomped one or both of Cybertron's moons. What do we have that can stop something like that?" Unable to answer, the group fell into silent contemplation.
Optimus winced slightly at Kup's statement about moon-chomping. Four more of his old friends...gone. And here was their so-called leader, miles away from anything even resembling danger. He felt, as he had felt for days, that he should have been there. Where 'there' referred to was ever changing, but there was always that feeling of worthlessness for not being wherever 'there' happened to be. He should have been there in the shuttle to Earth, he should have been there in time to save Autobot City, and now he should have been there on Moonbase One with Jazz and Cliffjumper.
"Optimus? Are you alright?" Hot Rod leaned over his shoulder, concerned.
"Hm? Oh, um, yes, Hot Rod, I'm fine, thank you." Optimus murmured absently. The young Autobot had been shadowing Optimus for days now. The Autobot commander understood that Hot Rod blamed himself for Optimus' injuries, even though he shouldn't, and now apparently was trying to make it up to his leader by taking meticulous care of him.
"Still, I think we should go for it!" Blaster was saying. "If nothing else, we might be able to save some of the others. And we can't know anything by just sitting around."
"Oh, so we're going to go out there with no plan and nothing logical to fight it with?" Arcee argued. "What will that do, except get us all killed?"
Blurr said something so fast nobody caught the particulars of it, but he was apparently in favor of going.
Kup nodded. "I'm with blue boy. We oughta give it a go. I've seen worse odds and worse enemies. Why, I remember the time..."
"Um, right." Hot Rod said abruptly, cutting off Kup's reminiscence. "I mean, even if there's a small chance, that's still a chance, right?"
"Am I the only one around here with any common sense?" Arcee muttered under her breath. "Wait, of course I am. I'm the only femme!"
Everyone glanced expectantly at Optimus. This was usually a time for him to make a little speech about fighting against the odds and giving your all for Cybertron, and then everyone would cheer and they'd all set off for their destination, inspired and excited.
Optimus realized that all eyes were on him. Normally, that would be his cue to say something somewhat pointless, yet profound and inspiring. But he didn't feel very inspired. "Well, what can I say?" he began, standing up. "The majority is clearly in favor. The odds are against us, but as Kup says, we have all faced such battles before..."
"Me Swoop no want to fight!" a growling voice interrupted.
Attention swerved off Optimus and onto the Dinobot. Swoop had been unnaturally quiet in the past two days, but then so had Optimus and Hot Rod and pretty much everybody. They had all suffered greatly, but none of them more than Swoop. The Dinobots had been a team, almost a unit, always together, always agreeing on everything. But now Swoop was the only Dinobot left. Even his creator, Wheeljack, was gone.
"Me Swoop no want to fight. Won't be same. No want to." Swoop rasped out before turning away from the others again.
/He's right,/ Optimus thought. /It won't be the same. It will never be the same again./
The Autobots fell into an uncomfortable silence. Swoop had, in his childish way, reminded them of the one thing they had all been trying to keep thier minds off of: The loss of their comrades.
"Come on, everyone..." Springer began quietly. "You know the others would have wanted...Ironhide and everyone else... they would've MADE us go after this thing. They'd have done anything-everything-for Cybertron. If we give up now...all their deaths will've been in vain. For them...we have to try."
Everyone digested this for a few moments. Optimus turned to Springer. "Do we have any functional spacecrafts left?"
"Um...two, I think. They're not the best, but they'll make it." the green helicopter answered.
"Then..." Optimus began. And then, in a stronger voice than anything anyone had heard from him since the battle, "Autobots, to Cybertron!"
The assembled Autobots gave various small cheers and happy sounds of agreement. Those three words were the most inspiring speech their commander had ever given.
***
Soundwave headed towards the only real spaceship left in the Decepticon port, his cassettes running/flying ahead of him. So, Starscream was going to wipe out the Autobots, was he? That had been the first bit of information Shockwave had released when the communicator had brought the injured Decepticons back to the base. That dumb jet was really overdoing it, especially considering the fact that he had only been the leader of the Decepticons for a few hours. And, as Megatron had once said, Starscream couldn't lead ants to a picnic. A part of Soundwave would have been interested in going along, if only for seeing just HOW badly Starscream would screw up. But since the inevitable screw up was likely to cost at least a few Decepticons their lives, Soundwave was perfectly content to keep himself and his cassettes out of it.
"Where are we going, anyways?" Frenzy called from the door of the shuttle.
"We're gonna find Megatron's energy signature and follow it!" Rumble answered for him. "Soundwave just told us that a few minutes ago, dummy!"
"I'm not dumb!" Frenzy wailed.
"Enough!" Soundwave groaned. "Into the shuttle, both of you. We've wasted enough time."
"Soundwave!"
Soundwave turned around at the sound of his name. "Thundercracker?! Skywarp?! What in the universe..."
The two Seekers grinned almost simultaneously. "We're coming with you!" Skywarp announced.
"Since we were actually there, we have a better idea of which way Megatron flew off in..." Thundercracker explained.
"And you wouldn't have much luck following his energy, seeing as how he wasn't really expending any..." Skywarp continued.
"We're gonna show you the way."
Soundwave finally found his voice. "NO!" he managed. "No. Absolutely not. You two are going back to the sick bay..."
"Soundwave! We're fine! Sheesh, don't you think we're built better than that?" Thundercracker sounded mildly insulted. "We just needed a few parts replaced, that's all."
"Besides," Skywarp added. "The alternatives are staying here and listening to the Insecticons complain or trying to chase after Starscream's *ahem* army."
"Well, when you put it that way..." Soundwave smiled behind his facemask. "All right, but take it easy, both of you. We probably won't have occasion to fight, but if we do, stay out of it."
"Somehow, I don't think the Autobots are THAT interested in stalking us." Thundercracker rolled his optics.
"Alright, hurry up everyone!" Skywarp started for the ship. "At the rate he was going, he'll be flying forever. We'd better catch up."
"Sure, unless there was a nicely placed planet in his flight path." Thundercracker said, half-joking.
The Decepticons boarded the ship and set off for the site of the their last encounter with the large orange planet/monster.
***
While the few loyal Decepticons set out in search of their leader, Starscream and his legion of new recruits descended on the battered Metroplex.
There was still a general air of happiness among the yet unsuspecting Autobots as they finished loading the shuttle. Even Optimus and Hot Rod had taken a break from being depressed. Swoop was still moping around and insisting that fighting would never be the same, but even that failed to dampen his comrades' spirits.
There had actually been two space shuttles left semi-functional after the slaughter of the previous day, but neither of them had exactly been in perfect shape. Of course, they would both fly, but it made more sense to just take some of the supplies or parts or whatever was necessary out of one and use those to repair the other. And that was exactly what they were doing.
Arcee, Blurr, Springer, and Kup were working inside the larger ship (the one they all planned to use) when the Decepticons struck. Kup had managed to get the radar on the ship working a few minutes before, so perhaps if they had had that on, things would have worked out differently. As it was, though, attack was the last thing from the Autobots' minds (after all, they had seen the Decepticons retreat before, hadn't they?) and the sound of blowtorches and welding guns drowned out, as far as their ears were concerned, any noise made when Starscream's band entered Earth's atmosphere.
On the smaller ship, the one further down in the docking bay, Optimus and Blaster were trying to disconnect the ship's radio without damaging anything TOO vital. It wasn't going very well.
"Heyheyhey!!" Blaster screamed at his leader. "Don't touch that! Don't touch that! Don't even look at that!"
Optimus stepped backwards in fear, not even totally sure what 'that' was. "Blaster, you said to disconnect the…"
"That doesn't mean you can touch that! You don't need to touch that to do that!"
Optimus shook his head, thoroughly confused.
"Why do we even NEED the radio, anyway?" Hot Rod piped up from below the deck. "We're all going to be on the same ship, aren't we? Who would we need to radio?"
"We need it to contact Cybertron, Hot Rod." Optimus called back. "It may be that our forces there have not been completely wiped out, and if that is the case, we will need to communicate with them."
After a long pause, Hot Rod responded with a sheepish "…….oh."
"Me Swoop think radio is ugly!" Swoop squawked from the corner.
"You Swoop is just trying to be difficult." Optimus groaned.
Blaster, however, did not react so calmly. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?! I'll have you know that this baby is a state-of -the-art…" he then descended into a tirade of techno gibberish that would have brought Bill Gates to his knees.
Optimus looked at the ranting Blaster. Then he looked up at the half-dismantled radio. 'Should I try to do this by myself?' he thought. 'Better not. I might touch whatever 'that' was again.'
That decided, he went below deck to where Hot Rod was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to haul several power cels out from under a large broken piece of piping.
"Need some help?"
"No…..I…got…it…." Hot Rod grunted.
"Don't strain yourself." Optimus warned.
"I'm…fiiiiiiiEEEEEEE!!!!!!" the cord Hot Rod had been pulling on snapped and sent the young Autobot careening backwards into Optimus' midsection.
"Aaaugh!" Optimus screamed in pain as the half-healed laceration Megatron had put there was traumatized again.
"Oh!" Hot Rod scrambled to his feet. "Are you okay?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…"
"It-It's okay, Hot Rod." Optimus managed. "I'm all right. Did you hurt yourself?"
But before Hot Rod could answer, something jarred the whole ship and knocked them both flat.
"What in the universe was that?!" Hot Rod yelped as he attempted to scramble to his feet.
"I...I..." Optimus stammered, alternately trying to think and trying to ignore the pain from now open scars.
Another shockwave rattled the hull of the ship and both Autobots could hear the sound of lasers outside. This time, Optimus found himself able to completely ignore the pain in his side.
"Hot Rod, stay here!" Optimus yelled over his shoulder as he jumped up and ran out onto the deck. His warning to Hot Rod had been pure reflex; he knew perfectly well the younger Bot was going to follow him. And there was really no point in pressing the issue. Hot Rod never had the sense God gave a table lamp.
From the deck, Optimus could see the entire docking bay. His efficient, unemotional processor noted three things: one, the Decepticons were attacking them. Two, Blaster, Swoop, Springer, Arcee and Blurr were already outside trying to fight. Three, the Decepticons had cleverly placed themselves right in between the two ships, making it impossible even for Swoop and Blaster to get to the other ship.
The more emotional part of his system panicked. There were exactly eight Autobots. And clearly several dozen Decepticons at LEAST. In the immortal words of Huffer: THEY WERE DOOMED!!!!!
Optimus charged out of the ship, Hot Rod right behind him.
"Where's our guns?!" Hot Rod shouted over the screaming missiles.
"GET BACK IN THE SHIP!!!!" Optimus screamed futily.
Hot Rod picked a ship and started firing on it, using the small cannon attached to his arm. It did little more than dent the hull of his target. Vaguely, he heard Optimus screaming at him to go back inside. But how could he do that? There weren't enough troops as it was. He narrowly dodged a laser through the head, but kept fighting nonetheless.
Optimus could have screamed just in sheer frustration. That kid was going to get himself and everyone around him KILLED! But he couldn't worry about that for the moment.
"SPRINGER!" He shouted over the chaos. "Get back in the ship! We can't fight them! Get in the ship and GO!"
"But what about you?!" The green helicopter shouted back.
"Don't worry! We'll be fine! Just GO! That's an ORDER!"
"Y-yessir..." Springer said, but not loud enough for Optimus to hear. "Arcee, Blurr! Come on!! Retreat!"
***
"Hahahahahaaaa!!!" Starscream shrieked in that annoying high pitched laugh of his. "This is wonderful! Like shooting fish in a barrel!" There were less than a dozen Autobots down there! This was the easiest mission he had ever carried out! In a way, he would have liked it to be more difficult, if only to make his victory more glorious. But that was no matter. Half of these weaklings he was fighting with had never seen combat before in their lives and couldn't tell the difference between a gloriously won war and a card game. So he'd just tell them it was much harder than it actually was and who was there to call him on it?
All in all, he was having a good time. The very few Autobots left were horrible shots and...wait...could it be..?
"Optimus Prime?!" Starscream said aloud to no one in particular. "It can't be! I saw him fall!" Then the deja vu sensation hit him. Optimus never died when you thought he did. Gods, what was that bot made of?!
The new Decepticon commander swooped in for a closer look. Well, well. Maybe Optimus wasn't built so well after all! The Autobot looked like hell on wheels. Dented, scarred, and obviously nowhere near recovered from his brawl with Megatron.
Starscream smiled to himself. This fight could turn out to bring real glory to him after all!
***
"RETREAT!!!" Optimus shouted for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Blaster! Swoop! GET IN THE SHUTTLE!!"
Well, at least he could see Springer and the others retreating into their ship. If only he and the ones around him could get there! Sure, the shuttle could have flown easily...BEFORE the Autobots had transferred half its parts to the other ship! Once again, he had failed to plan for every possible scenario, failed to foresee the obvious. Of COURSE the Decepticons would attack again!
A laser blast whizzing past his face reminded him that he would have to mentally beat himself up later. Luckily, Blaster and Swoop were already halfway up the ramp into the shuttle. Hot Rod, on the other hand...
"Damn it, Hot Rod!!!!" Optimus cried in an uncharacteristic burst of pure rage. He lunged forward, grabbed the younger Autobot's arm, pushed it down where it could do no further damage and began to escort the screaming teenager to the ship.
Suddenly, a sharp pain in his leg sent him and Hot Rod both sprawling. Unable to get up, Optimus jerked his neck around to look above him.
Up until now, all the Decepticons he had seen had been basically new recruits. Many of the 'old' Decepticons had been badly injured the other day, so that was not surprising. Unfortunately, the Decepticon swooping down on him was all too familiar.
"Starscream!" he hissed in dismay.
"Ahahahaha!!!" The jet cackled. "I will annihilate you, Optimus Prime!!!"
'Oh, ye gods, why me?' Optimus moaned inwardly. He tried to shield Hot Rod from Starscream's onslaught, but he found himself completely unable to move his left leg. And that was going to be a problem, since the shuttle was still about a hundred yards away.
"Hot Rod!" Optimus yelled with all the strength he could muster. "Go! Get on the shuttle and tell Blaster to take off!"
"I'm not leaving you!" Hot Rod cried even as laser shots rained around them.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you how to take an order?!" his leader groaned.
"I was sick that day." Hot Rod smiled grimly. "Come on." He slipped an arm around Optimus' waist and began to drag the larger Autobot towards the shuttle.
"You will DIE! You will die slowly and painfully at the hand of Starscream the Mighty!!!" The shrill voice echoed above them.
"Don't you ever SHUT UP?!" Hot Rod shouted.
But this was not going well. There was no way Hot Rod could drag the weakening Optimus all the way to the ship and survive, no matter how bad Starscream's aim was. But just then, a miracle happened.
Actually, what happened was that Springer and the other group had gotten their ship started, booted up the weapons systems, and immediately had begun firing on the Decepticons. Specifically, on Starscream. Hey, the guy was a good target.
But when you have a hysterical, homicidal Decepticon about to slaughter you and your injured friend with badly aimed but certainly abundant laser blasts, suddenly having him shot out of the sky sure as hell seems like a miracle.
Hot Rod hauled his leader up the ramp of the ship (with some help from Blaster as soon as they were close enough), deposited Optimus on a fairly comfortable looking box, and bolted to the co-pilot's seat. Normally, Blaster would have been co-pilot, with Optimus in charge. But, well, Optimus was unconscious.
"How do I do this?!" Hot Rod screamed hysterically. To many buttons, too many blinking lights, too many confusing little thingys!
"Oh, just don't touch anything!" Blaster shouted at him, starting up the booster rockets. "I just hope this piece of junk'll still fly."
"But what if it doesn't?"
"Then we are royally screwed." the communicator said calmly.
But it did fly. Or at least, it took off. Sure, the other ship had taken off several minutes ago and was now quite far away, but things were relatively okay. Or as okay as things can be when you've got two dozen enemy warships on your tail, you're flying in a busted up wreck that probably would have been fine except for the fact that you took it half apart this afternoon, and the guy who really knows how to fly the damn thing is out cold.
"Forget what I said." Blaster commented as the Decepticons began to close in on them. "We're royally screwed no matter what!!"
"Call the other ship!" Hot Rod suggested brilliantly. "Tell them to come help us!"
"Well, honeypeaches, that would be just fine except that....THE GODDAMN RADIO IS HALF DISASSEMBLED!!!!!!"
Blaster screamed. "And I don't have time to transform because you don't know how to fly this thing and besides, we're only going to be on ONE SHIP, so what do we need a radio for, RIGHT?!"
Hot Rod tried to make himself very very small.
The next twenty minutes passed in a series of narrow misses, hysterical screaming/ranting, and a whole lot of being thrown around. Nothing seemed to wake Optimus up, though.
"Where are we?!" Hot Rod yelled, the first coherent scream.
"Like I know! We took the mapping device out and put it in the OTHER ship!!" Blaster screamed. He didn't deal with pressure very well.
Hot Rod was about to respond when...
*SLAM*
A huge hole suddenly appeared in the back of the ship.
"AAAAUGH!!" Blaster screamed. "They can't hit us! They never hit us! They're terrible shots!"
"Well it looks like they've been practicing!!" Hot Rod screeched in a voice he didn't recognize.
The small shuttle spiraled in space for a few minutes before being caught in an atmosphere and hurled to the surface of a small planet.
***
"Optimus!" Blurr shouted as he watched the other ship spiral downwards.
"I don't believe it. I understood him." Arcee commented dryly.
"Oh my stars..." Springer muttered. "They'll kill us all!"
"Not if this is the model I think it is!" Kup crowed triumphantly from the hull.
"What are you yelling about?!" Springer shouted. "Get up here and take the second weapons station!"
"No, no!" the old Autobot called back. "I've got an idea! We may get out of this after all!"
***
Starscream fired his ship's guns again, eyes wild. He had shot down Optimus Prime's ship! And now he was going to eliminate the last of the Autobots and become supreme ruler of the universe! Who needed Megatron?!
The battle computer locked on its target. With a squeal/shriek/scream of victory, Starscream fired the cannons.
And watched with glee as the orange ship before him was blown to atoms.
"I DID IT!! I DID IT!!! I HAVE DESTROYED THE AUTOBOTS!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
to be continued....
Optimus Prime lay on the examination table of Ratchet's half annihilated repair bay. Kup and Springer stood over him, trying to curb the flow of some of the more serious energy leaks. But their lack of medical expertise plus lack of equipment made it more difficult than it already would have been.
Blurr dashed about the room in a panic, attempting to help but in reality doing nothing but driving the others mad. Arcee had been busy trying to find some Autobots with even a spark of life left in them, but in the end the only functional Autobots she had managed to bring back were Swoop and Blaster. Now Blaster lay asleep on a cot as she bandaged Swoop's tattered wing and tried to lessen both his physical pain and the pain of having lost his entire team that morning.
Hot Rod sat in a dark corner of the room, knees pulled up to his chest. He knew he should at least be trying to help the others, but somehow he couldn't bear to face them. He had killed Optimus Prime. He had killed Daniel. He was a horrible, stupid failure! His logic circuits told him that Starscream killed Daniel and Optimus wasn't even dead yet, but he still felt that had it not been for his interference, they would both still be all right.
"Hot Rod?" It was Arcee. Hot Rod looked down, ashamed to meet her eyes.
"Hot Rod, can you PLEASE come here and help me?" Arcee called to him again, a bit of annoyance slipping into her voice. Whether the kid blamed himself for Optimus' injuries or not was his problem. But he had no right at all to be sitting there idly while there was so much work to be done!
In a lethargic daze, Hot Rod got up and held Swoop's wing for Arcee as she tried to fuse the wires back together. She glanced at the forlorn expression on his face and felt a small pang of guilt for being so harsh with him. But it couldn't be helped. She'd talk to him about what happened later, when lives didn't hang in the balance.
Optimus' optics flickered open. At first he didn't recognize the two figures standing above him. Then he remembered. Springer and Kup. Both very new members (though Kup was rather old), stationed in the city. He was unable to move, but he tried to look around as much as he could anyway. He could see he was in Ratchet's repair bay...but then where was Ratchet?
Then the realization hit him. Ratchet had been on that first shuttle into Autobot City yesterday. He was gone. At this thought, uncalled for memories of charred and broken bodies flooded his mind. The Dinobots. Windcharger. Hound. Mirage. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Wheeljack. He had seen their bodies, half buried in rubble as he drove through the battlefield in search of Megatron. He had been able to put them out of his mind then. But now all he could think of was their broken forms and of Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn, and Ironhide, killed on the shuttle.
/And here I am, still alive while they are dead./ he thought. /What kind of leader am I, not to be dead with them?/ Mental strength crumbling under his heavy thoughts, he let out a low moan.
"Optimus?!" Springer exclaimed. "You're awake?"
"You just hang in there." Kup said. "We'll fix you....somehow." he added the last word under his breath.
"N-no...I-I'll be...fine.. Attend to the others first..." Optimus managed weakly.
The other two paused and exchanged a pained glance. Then they looked down, unable to meet Optimus' questioning gaze.
"Wh--where are the others?" Their leader stammered, sure of the answer but afraid to ask. Springer and Kup didn't answer, but their expressions said enough. Optimus collapsed mentally, emotional wounds now far worse than physical ones. They were gone...all of them. And here he was, surrounded by strangers...and apparently not going to die.
As if to confirm the last thought, Kup spoke up. "You should be okay. You'll be weak for a while, but we patched up the big holes...just take it easy for a few weeks."
/Just let me die.../ Optimus thought. But he nodded weakly in spite of himself. In a few minutes, he was asleep.
***
In the vast space between Earth and Cybertron, Astrotrain's spaceship mode trembled with his huge burden.
"Jettison some weight or I'll never make it to Cybertron!" he crackled over the speakers to no one in particular.
"Fellow Decepticons!" Starscream shouted, standing at the head of the vessel, "Astrotrain has requested that we lighten our burden!"
Starscream's shrill yell woke Soundwave up. He glanced up drowsily from the spot in the hull where he and Rumble had fallen asleep.
"In that case I say it is survival of the fittest!" Hook declared.
"Do I hear a second on that?" Starscream asked the general assembly, smirking.
"What's goin' on?" Rumble murmured beside Soundwave.
"Starscream's being an ass." Soundwave muttered. What was that treacherous jet planning? And why was putting ANYTHING to a vote? As second-in-command, he was honorary leader until Megatron woke up. Speaking of which...
"AYE!!!" shouted any Decepticon who wasn't badly injured.
"And against?" Starscream continued.
"Nay..." the injured Decepticons cried weakly.
"The aye's have it!" Starscream declared, and in one horrible second Soundwave realized what was happening.
"Starscream, what are you doing?!" Soundwave yelled, but he was pushed to the ground by the Constructicons. The indigo communicator could only watch helplessly as Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the Insecticons were thrown off the ship through a side hatch.
"Oh, stars..." Soundwave shook his head in disbelief. He had never believed Megatron's second as bad as this!
Oh great gods. MEGATRON!
On the other side of the ship, Starscream lifted Megatron up and carried him to the hatch. With a defiant smirk on his face, he held his crippled leader outwards.
"Oh, how it pains me to do this!" he didn't even bother to hide his grin.
"W-wait...I still function..." Megatron rasped.
"Starscream!" Soundwave's voice shouted from behind them.
/Stupidly loyal to the last./ Starscream thought contemptuously.
"Oh, well, I suppose we could throw Frenzy and Ravage out instead!" Starscream shouted the names of the two cassettes within his view. Soundwave fell silent. /Heh. Knew that would work./ Emotional attachments were ever so much fun to exploit.
"Starscream, you fucking bastard!" Rumble shouted in the background. Frenzy and Ravage scrambled back to Soundwave under a sea of legs. They didn't want to be caught.
"When he's right...he's right..." Megatron agreed, putting as much hatred as he could manage into his voice.
"It's the last time you two gang up on ME!" Starscream snarled, throwing Megatron out into space.
"Starscreeeeeeam!" Megatron's voice faded away.
All six of Soundwave's cassettes jumped back into his chest hatch. He couldn't risk them again. Once they were safe inside, Soundwave collapsed backwards, not caring at all about the battle for leadership Starscream had started. Stupid bastard really knew which buttons to push. To try to make Soundwave decide between Megatron and the cassettes... His best friend or his children? Who could make that choice? He tried to remain calm. He'd seen Megatron in worse scrapes than this. Once they landed on Cybertron, he could take a ship out, collect Megatron and the others...then they could all consult as to what was to be done about Starscream.
As always, a part of him tried to understand the Seeker's mentality. Megatron's absence would give him a chance to look good. And threatening the cassettes was the ideal way to get Soundwave out of the way. And since Megatron and Soundwave were the ones who always made Starscream look bad...his actions were, from an objective point, understandable.
But even so, that Decepticon should be either in prison or in therapy!
***
Megatron floated limply in space. He figured he might as well just take a long nap. He wasn't going to die from lack of pressure or oxygen, being a robot, and there were no planets, stars, or anythings in the area to exert gravity...and since he was too damaged and exhausted to move himself, he could count on not going anywhere for a while.
He didn't blame Soundwave in the slightest for not helping. Megatron hardly expected him to allow his cassettes to be thrown out into space like this. Damn Starscream. He just added that one to his ever-growing list of things to kill that stupid jet for.
Looking around him, he could see Thundercracker and Skywarp floating nearby. The Insecticons were above him, but tired as he was, he couldn't turn himself to see them. He was about to try to contact the two jets and see if they could somehow combine their energy to get out of here when he realized he was moving.
Wait...moving?
Yes, he was definitely moving. As if pulled by gravity. But that made no sense! They were no where near a star or a planet or...
"AAAGH!!" Megatron screamed involuntarily. What in the blue fuck was that?!
Apparently, 'that' was the thing exerting gravitational force. It looked like an orange version of the planet Uranus...only it was moving quite quickly and by its own volition. If Megatron had had the energy, he would have used it to blast himself out of there. But as it was he had no choice but to allow it to suck him in. And just to make things even more unnerving, he stopped dead when he was only a few hundred feet from the thing.
"Welcome, Megatron." a huge voice said.
"Wh--who said that?" Megatron groaned, though he had a sick feeling he knew who had said that.
"I am Unicron."
/Maybe it's some sort of ship.../ Megatron considered. Playing on that theory, he called, "Show yourself!" His voice was less than commanding and intimidating, but that was the least of his concerns.
"I have summoned you here for a purpose." Unicron declared, ignoring the request.
Now that rubbed Megatron's pride the wrong way. "Nobody summons Megatron!" he rasped, raising his fist to enforce the point.
"Then it pleases me to be the first."
Conceited bastard. "State your business!" Megatron tried to sound authoritative and failed miserably.
"This is my command. I will supply you with a new body and new troops to command. And you will destroy the Autobots."
"What?" Megatron was confused. Why was this thing ordering him to destroy the Autobots? Hadn't he always tried to destroy the Autobots?
"Destroy the Autobots. With the power I will give you, you will not fail as you have in the past."
"Fail?!" Megatron cried indignantly. He HAD failed, but that was beside the point.
"You are a fool. But under my orders you will be put to good use." Unicron paused. "You belong to me now."
Now THAT was the last straw. "I BELONG TO NOBODY!!!" Megatron screamed in outrage. So what if this monster planet could annihilate him? He wasn't going to be its slave, not for all the new troops and new bodies in the universe! Besides, he liked his current body just fine...well, at least when it was functional.
"Perhaps I misjudged you."
"Perhaps you did! Now let me GO!" Megatron snapped.
A sudden blast of energy, seeming to emit from the chasm before Megatron, sent the Decepticon reeling through space at several hundred miles an hour. Unicron passed through the remaining Decepticons with extraordinary speed, not paying attention to any of them.
"Well..." Thundercracker muttered as the large planet moved away. "That was thoroughly weird."
***
Soundwave loaded the last bag of repair parts into the shuttle. He was sure that some of the others would need immediate attention after having been left alone in space for so long. Starscream had ultimately won the power brawl that had taken place inside Astrotrain, and now the sound from the trumpets being played at his coronation could be heard even from the space port.
"Shouldn't we be there?" Laserbeak asked fretfully, looking in the direction of the ceremony.
"We have more important things to do at the moment." Soundwave told him. "I need your assistance. All of you. Besides, I doubt Starscream will be our leader for long."
"Good. I don't like him." Frenzy grumbled, shifting from foot to foot restlessly. "He was gonna throw me and Ravage out of the ship!" The black feline growled in agreement.
"Now you know I wouldn't have let that happen." Soundwave assured his youngest cassette. "Now get inside, everyone. We don't have any more time to waste."
***
"Fellow Decepticons!" Starscream bellowed.. "As your new leader, I command that we will return to Earth and finish the job Megatron left unfinished! The complete and total extermination of the Autobots!"
This proposal was met by cheers and shouts from the multitude below him. There were many more Decepticons on Cybertron now than there had been in past years. Conquering the planet had earned them a lot of converts. And now it was time to put this manpower to use.
Starscream was in a state of euphoria as the ships were prepared for lift off. They were fueling those ships by HIS command. Those weapons were being charged because HE told them to. They were going to Earth under HIS command and they would destroy the Autobots by HIS leadership and everyone would praise and adore HIM. It was all Starscream had ever wanted. To win a major victory and have everyone know it and honor him for it. He was finally getting his chance.
The Decepticon fleet took off a few moments later, no one particularly noticing the absence of Soundwave and his cassettes. Nor did they notice the huge orange orb descending onto their planet from directly above.
***
Soundwave hadn't noticed that orb either. After all, it had only appeared once on the radar screen and had showed up as being way out of their way; high above them. And Soundwave had other things on his mind.
They were approaching the site where Starscream had decided to turn Darwinist. Soundwave could see Thundercracker and Skywarp in his path, and Shrapnel, Kickback, and Bombshell drifting a few yards above them. He slowed the ship and sidled up beside Thundercracker's limp form.
"Ratbat, open the hatch." Soundwave stood up. "Ravage, take the controls." Even with paws instead of hands, the feline could easily pilot the ship for small distances.
Laserbeak, Ratbat, and Buzzsaw flew out of the ship and grabbed onto Thudercracker, pulling him inside. Soundwave got a hold of him as soon as he was close enough and set him down gently on one of the mats he had situated inside the hold of the ship.
"Soundwave?" Thudercracker gasped weakly. "What're you doing here?"
"Bringing you home." Soundwave answered simply, examining the Seeker for any extremely serious damage. Luckily, Thundercracker had been in better shape that the others. Just not good enough to keep himself from being thrown out of the ship.
Thudercracker lay down in stunned silence. He had genuinely expected to drift out there until his fuel supply ran out. But now here was Soundwave, patching up the hole in his leg...this on top of that weird planet thing's appearance was making this one of the most interesting days of Thundercracker's life.
Ravage maneuvered the ship, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat retrieved their comrades, Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy performed first aid on the most serious wounds, and after about an hour all the floating Decepticons were lying in the hold of the shuttle, relatively stable.
All except one.
Soundwave watched the blank radar screen with growing desperation. Where was Megatron? He had been jettisoned only a few moments after the others, and he certainly hadn't had the strength to move himself anywhere. So where WAS he?
"Hey, where's Megatron?" Rumble voiced his master's concern.
That produced a small stir among the injured Decepticons.
"You won't find him around here!" Shrapnel smirked.
"He's long gone!" Bombshell assented.
"What happened?" Soundwave asked with all the calm he could muster.
"You're not gonna believe this..." Thundercracker began.
"But the weirdest thing happened after you guys left..." Skywarp picked up.
Continuing like that for the next several minutes, the Seekers and the Insecticons related the story of Unicron's appearance and Megatron's disappearance.
When they were finished, Soundwave sat down heavily in the cockpit chair, thoroughly stunned. Megatron...vanished into space?
"Well, we're just going to have to find him, then." Soundwave said.
"Hey! What about the rest of us?!" Kickback shouted.
Soundwave's head jerked up. He hadn't meant to say that aloud. "Oh, of course I'm going to take all of you back to Cybertron first." he amended quickly.
"Well, good." Kickback muttered, settling back onto his mat.
Soundwave took the controls from Ravage and proceeded to do just that. But he silently swore to return. He had promised Megatron he would never let him down. Now was the time to keep that promise.
***
Jazz snored loudly. Life on Moonbase One was extremely boring, especially since he and Cliffjumper were the only ones there. And all the Decepticons were doing down there was coronating Starscream. Big whoop. Oh well, at least it meant Megatron was dead. Unfortunately, Jazz' three hour nap at the monitoring station had sadly caused him to miss Starscream's final speech and the Decepticon fleet taking off for Earth. It might have helped the other Autobots to know about that. But as it was, Jazz didn't wake up until Cliffjumper came up onto the deck and kicked his chair out from under him.
"What are you doing, falling asleep on duty?!" Cilffjumper exclaimed indignantly, as if that wasn't obvious.
"Hey! leave me alone! It's not like there's anything to be watching!" Jazz wailed from the floor
"Oh yeah? Then where'd all the Decepticon ships go, huh?!" Cliffjumper pointed angrily at the left monitor.
"Huh?! Aw, shit..."
"Aw shit indeed! You better radio Earth right now and-" Cliffjumper broke off as a bigger than average blip appeared on the radar screen. "What's that?"
But Jazz wasn't looking at the screen. He had a good view of the sky from his position on the floor. And therefore was in a good position to see the planet like object descending upon them. "Where'd THAT come from?!" he cried in shock, scrambling to his feet.
Cliffjumper looked up at the orange orb. And saw it coming closer. "Who cares, I'm more worried about where its going!" he gasped in answer to Jazz's inquiry.
As if by unspoken agreement, the two Autobots ran for the escape ship on the roof of the control tower as equipment and pieces of metal flew up into the monster's jaws.
The ship's engines roared to life as Unicron's incisors cut into the moon's surface and began pulling it in. But no matter how much power the two injected into their craft, they couldn't so much as get it off the ground.
"Jazz! We're not getting away!" Cliffjumper stated the obvious for the final time as their ship, as well as Moonbase One itself, was swallowed into the depths of Unicron.
***
From Moonbase Two, Bumblebee watched in horror as the other moon vanished into the orange planet's jaws.
"Spike! Open a transmission to Earth! Oh, this is SO not good!"
Spike obediently started the message recorder. "This is Spike and Bumblebee, up here on Moonbase Two!"
"Some...THING, some monster planet, just ripped the first moon to shreds!" Bumblebee began.
"And it's heading this way!" Spike added, as much for their own benefit as for those on Earth.
"We'll try and slow it down!" Bumblebee put in, again, more for their own benefit.
"But you'd better get here fast 'cause we're not gonna-" Spike cut himself off as Unicron's gravitational pull interrupted their transmitting signal.
"Do you think they got it?" Bumblebee asked.
"I hope so..." Spike muttered. "Now what're we gonna do?"
"Self-destruct." Bumblebee said simply.
"What?!"
"Oh, we're leaving first! Come on, we set the self-destruct device on a timer, get the hell offa here, then when he's eating it like he did Moonbase One, it'll explode in his mouth!" Bumblebee doubled over, panting for breath.
"Oh, I get it!" Spike smiled. "Great plan, Bumblebee."
Bumblebee smiled back. "Come on, let's do it!"
They worked quickly as Unicron closed in, wiring the base to a timed self-destruct. Finally, they set the timer for ten seconds, activated the self-destruct, and ran like hell for their ship.
They shot off the moon just as the first quarter of it began to disappear into Unicron's mouth. They continued to travel away as fast as possible as the timer clicked down.
Finally the digits hit zero and the force of the explosion sent Bumblebee and Spike's shuttle reeling. Bumblebee crashed to the floor and Spike was slammed against the back of his chair. Both clamored back up and looked anxiously at the cloud of dust behind them.
"We got him!" Bumblebee exclaimed.
But then the dust cleared. "It isn't even dented!" Spike gasped. "Oh SHIT, what're we gonna do now?!
An undamaged but enraged Unicron sent out his gravity field at maximum energy. NOBODY did that to his meals!
"We-we're being sucked into it!" Bumblebee screamed. The ship, indeed, lurched forward and began to plummet into Unicron's jaws.
"Bumblebee?" Spike whispered.
"Y-yeah, Spike?"
"I-I love you."
Bumblebee managed a smile at the sound of those words. "I know." he whispered back. "I love you too."
The shuttle and the remains of Moonbase Two were devoured by the great orange planet.
***
Megatron woke up. Where he woke up, he had no clue, but he was relatively sure he had woken up. And, strangely enough, he seemed to be fully repaired. But that was pretty far down there on his list of things to be confused about at the moment. He was in the middle of what looked like a Cybertronian version of an Earth swamp. But Cybertron had no swamps. Megatron sat up. How did he get here, anyway? Oh, yeah. That big orange planet that wanted to enslave him. Well, at least he wasn't floating in space anymore. No, this was even better. On some strange planet with metal swamps, completely alo-
"Friend find, look behind!"
"AAAAAGH!" Megatron jumped about fifty feet into the air. He spun around, fumbling for his gun, which had actually gone back to Cybertron with Rumble. And he found himself face to face with an eight foot tall Transformer. (and for a Transformer, that is extremely small.)
"Who...what..?" Megatron stammered. "Did you..." his voice trailed off.
"White bot in ditch." the little robot stated cheerfully, pointing to a large hole a few feet away from them. "But Wheelie fix!" he smiled happily.
Megatron just stared for a moment. Why was this child speaking in rhyme...? Then it hit him. Child. Of course. He remembered Soundwave's cassettes talking in silly rhymes like that when they were very young. It was how children figured out how to use their speech modules or something like that. He was no developmental psychologist. The point was, this was a very small child. And where there were small children, there had to be adult creators.
"You...fixed me? All by yourself?" he asked the smiling boy. Wheelie nodded in assent. "Okay...your name is Wheelie? Well, Wheelie, where are your creators, your home?"
Wheelie stared at him blankly for a moment. "Everywhere is home, Wheelie's all alone!"
Megatron's eyes widened. This child was alone here? He didn't bother asking if others had been killed; the boy probably wouldn't understand. Imagine....a child so small he still speaks in rhymes and talks about himself in the third person out here surviving on his own. Was it possible?
"You're really alone out here? No family or friends?" Megatron asked incredulously.
Wheelie smiled up at him again (or still). "Wheelie say find friend today!"
The Decepticon smiled in spite of himself. That rhyming was probably going to start trying his nerves after a while, but still...this kid was actually rather cute. And besides, he could be useful. To have lived this long, Wheelie must know his way around this rock, wherever it was. And he was too small to be a spy or an informer. Megatron knew from dealing with Soundwave's cassettes how old a child had to be to understand the concept of lying on command. Not to mention the pang of conscience that was telling him just because the boy survived this long didn't mean he would survive much longer out here all alone.
Megatron surprised himself at this last thought. He wasn't aware that he'd had a conscience.
"Well, Wheelie, what do you say we find some sign of civilization, if there is any to be found?
***
While Megatron was getting his bearings and joining forces with a two-year-old, the Earth-bound Autobots stopped their work repairing Autobot City to listen to Bumblebee and Spike's message over Blaster's radio mode.
"All right, everyone, you heard them." Springer said as the message cut off and Blaster transformed back. "Whatever this thing is, we have to stop it." he glanced at Optimus Prime, who was seated on a fallen pillar a couple feet away. It just didn't feel right, a new recruit like him giving orders while their long time leader sat there in silence. But it was now unspoken law around here that nobody could so much as imply that Optimus Prime was currently in no condition to lead anyone, but to make decisions themselves and give the appearance of deferring to him.
"But how, Springer?" Kup spoke up at last. "That thing just chomped one or both of Cybertron's moons. What do we have that can stop something like that?" Unable to answer, the group fell into silent contemplation.
Optimus winced slightly at Kup's statement about moon-chomping. Four more of his old friends...gone. And here was their so-called leader, miles away from anything even resembling danger. He felt, as he had felt for days, that he should have been there. Where 'there' referred to was ever changing, but there was always that feeling of worthlessness for not being wherever 'there' happened to be. He should have been there in the shuttle to Earth, he should have been there in time to save Autobot City, and now he should have been there on Moonbase One with Jazz and Cliffjumper.
"Optimus? Are you alright?" Hot Rod leaned over his shoulder, concerned.
"Hm? Oh, um, yes, Hot Rod, I'm fine, thank you." Optimus murmured absently. The young Autobot had been shadowing Optimus for days now. The Autobot commander understood that Hot Rod blamed himself for Optimus' injuries, even though he shouldn't, and now apparently was trying to make it up to his leader by taking meticulous care of him.
"Still, I think we should go for it!" Blaster was saying. "If nothing else, we might be able to save some of the others. And we can't know anything by just sitting around."
"Oh, so we're going to go out there with no plan and nothing logical to fight it with?" Arcee argued. "What will that do, except get us all killed?"
Blurr said something so fast nobody caught the particulars of it, but he was apparently in favor of going.
Kup nodded. "I'm with blue boy. We oughta give it a go. I've seen worse odds and worse enemies. Why, I remember the time..."
"Um, right." Hot Rod said abruptly, cutting off Kup's reminiscence. "I mean, even if there's a small chance, that's still a chance, right?"
"Am I the only one around here with any common sense?" Arcee muttered under her breath. "Wait, of course I am. I'm the only femme!"
Everyone glanced expectantly at Optimus. This was usually a time for him to make a little speech about fighting against the odds and giving your all for Cybertron, and then everyone would cheer and they'd all set off for their destination, inspired and excited.
Optimus realized that all eyes were on him. Normally, that would be his cue to say something somewhat pointless, yet profound and inspiring. But he didn't feel very inspired. "Well, what can I say?" he began, standing up. "The majority is clearly in favor. The odds are against us, but as Kup says, we have all faced such battles before..."
"Me Swoop no want to fight!" a growling voice interrupted.
Attention swerved off Optimus and onto the Dinobot. Swoop had been unnaturally quiet in the past two days, but then so had Optimus and Hot Rod and pretty much everybody. They had all suffered greatly, but none of them more than Swoop. The Dinobots had been a team, almost a unit, always together, always agreeing on everything. But now Swoop was the only Dinobot left. Even his creator, Wheeljack, was gone.
"Me Swoop no want to fight. Won't be same. No want to." Swoop rasped out before turning away from the others again.
/He's right,/ Optimus thought. /It won't be the same. It will never be the same again./
The Autobots fell into an uncomfortable silence. Swoop had, in his childish way, reminded them of the one thing they had all been trying to keep thier minds off of: The loss of their comrades.
"Come on, everyone..." Springer began quietly. "You know the others would have wanted...Ironhide and everyone else... they would've MADE us go after this thing. They'd have done anything-everything-for Cybertron. If we give up now...all their deaths will've been in vain. For them...we have to try."
Everyone digested this for a few moments. Optimus turned to Springer. "Do we have any functional spacecrafts left?"
"Um...two, I think. They're not the best, but they'll make it." the green helicopter answered.
"Then..." Optimus began. And then, in a stronger voice than anything anyone had heard from him since the battle, "Autobots, to Cybertron!"
The assembled Autobots gave various small cheers and happy sounds of agreement. Those three words were the most inspiring speech their commander had ever given.
***
Soundwave headed towards the only real spaceship left in the Decepticon port, his cassettes running/flying ahead of him. So, Starscream was going to wipe out the Autobots, was he? That had been the first bit of information Shockwave had released when the communicator had brought the injured Decepticons back to the base. That dumb jet was really overdoing it, especially considering the fact that he had only been the leader of the Decepticons for a few hours. And, as Megatron had once said, Starscream couldn't lead ants to a picnic. A part of Soundwave would have been interested in going along, if only for seeing just HOW badly Starscream would screw up. But since the inevitable screw up was likely to cost at least a few Decepticons their lives, Soundwave was perfectly content to keep himself and his cassettes out of it.
"Where are we going, anyways?" Frenzy called from the door of the shuttle.
"We're gonna find Megatron's energy signature and follow it!" Rumble answered for him. "Soundwave just told us that a few minutes ago, dummy!"
"I'm not dumb!" Frenzy wailed.
"Enough!" Soundwave groaned. "Into the shuttle, both of you. We've wasted enough time."
"Soundwave!"
Soundwave turned around at the sound of his name. "Thundercracker?! Skywarp?! What in the universe..."
The two Seekers grinned almost simultaneously. "We're coming with you!" Skywarp announced.
"Since we were actually there, we have a better idea of which way Megatron flew off in..." Thundercracker explained.
"And you wouldn't have much luck following his energy, seeing as how he wasn't really expending any..." Skywarp continued.
"We're gonna show you the way."
Soundwave finally found his voice. "NO!" he managed. "No. Absolutely not. You two are going back to the sick bay..."
"Soundwave! We're fine! Sheesh, don't you think we're built better than that?" Thundercracker sounded mildly insulted. "We just needed a few parts replaced, that's all."
"Besides," Skywarp added. "The alternatives are staying here and listening to the Insecticons complain or trying to chase after Starscream's *ahem* army."
"Well, when you put it that way..." Soundwave smiled behind his facemask. "All right, but take it easy, both of you. We probably won't have occasion to fight, but if we do, stay out of it."
"Somehow, I don't think the Autobots are THAT interested in stalking us." Thundercracker rolled his optics.
"Alright, hurry up everyone!" Skywarp started for the ship. "At the rate he was going, he'll be flying forever. We'd better catch up."
"Sure, unless there was a nicely placed planet in his flight path." Thundercracker said, half-joking.
The Decepticons boarded the ship and set off for the site of the their last encounter with the large orange planet/monster.
***
While the few loyal Decepticons set out in search of their leader, Starscream and his legion of new recruits descended on the battered Metroplex.
There was still a general air of happiness among the yet unsuspecting Autobots as they finished loading the shuttle. Even Optimus and Hot Rod had taken a break from being depressed. Swoop was still moping around and insisting that fighting would never be the same, but even that failed to dampen his comrades' spirits.
There had actually been two space shuttles left semi-functional after the slaughter of the previous day, but neither of them had exactly been in perfect shape. Of course, they would both fly, but it made more sense to just take some of the supplies or parts or whatever was necessary out of one and use those to repair the other. And that was exactly what they were doing.
Arcee, Blurr, Springer, and Kup were working inside the larger ship (the one they all planned to use) when the Decepticons struck. Kup had managed to get the radar on the ship working a few minutes before, so perhaps if they had had that on, things would have worked out differently. As it was, though, attack was the last thing from the Autobots' minds (after all, they had seen the Decepticons retreat before, hadn't they?) and the sound of blowtorches and welding guns drowned out, as far as their ears were concerned, any noise made when Starscream's band entered Earth's atmosphere.
On the smaller ship, the one further down in the docking bay, Optimus and Blaster were trying to disconnect the ship's radio without damaging anything TOO vital. It wasn't going very well.
"Heyheyhey!!" Blaster screamed at his leader. "Don't touch that! Don't touch that! Don't even look at that!"
Optimus stepped backwards in fear, not even totally sure what 'that' was. "Blaster, you said to disconnect the…"
"That doesn't mean you can touch that! You don't need to touch that to do that!"
Optimus shook his head, thoroughly confused.
"Why do we even NEED the radio, anyway?" Hot Rod piped up from below the deck. "We're all going to be on the same ship, aren't we? Who would we need to radio?"
"We need it to contact Cybertron, Hot Rod." Optimus called back. "It may be that our forces there have not been completely wiped out, and if that is the case, we will need to communicate with them."
After a long pause, Hot Rod responded with a sheepish "…….oh."
"Me Swoop think radio is ugly!" Swoop squawked from the corner.
"You Swoop is just trying to be difficult." Optimus groaned.
Blaster, however, did not react so calmly. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?! I'll have you know that this baby is a state-of -the-art…" he then descended into a tirade of techno gibberish that would have brought Bill Gates to his knees.
Optimus looked at the ranting Blaster. Then he looked up at the half-dismantled radio. 'Should I try to do this by myself?' he thought. 'Better not. I might touch whatever 'that' was again.'
That decided, he went below deck to where Hot Rod was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to haul several power cels out from under a large broken piece of piping.
"Need some help?"
"No…..I…got…it…." Hot Rod grunted.
"Don't strain yourself." Optimus warned.
"I'm…fiiiiiiiEEEEEEE!!!!!!" the cord Hot Rod had been pulling on snapped and sent the young Autobot careening backwards into Optimus' midsection.
"Aaaugh!" Optimus screamed in pain as the half-healed laceration Megatron had put there was traumatized again.
"Oh!" Hot Rod scrambled to his feet. "Are you okay?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…"
"It-It's okay, Hot Rod." Optimus managed. "I'm all right. Did you hurt yourself?"
But before Hot Rod could answer, something jarred the whole ship and knocked them both flat.
"What in the universe was that?!" Hot Rod yelped as he attempted to scramble to his feet.
"I...I..." Optimus stammered, alternately trying to think and trying to ignore the pain from now open scars.
Another shockwave rattled the hull of the ship and both Autobots could hear the sound of lasers outside. This time, Optimus found himself able to completely ignore the pain in his side.
"Hot Rod, stay here!" Optimus yelled over his shoulder as he jumped up and ran out onto the deck. His warning to Hot Rod had been pure reflex; he knew perfectly well the younger Bot was going to follow him. And there was really no point in pressing the issue. Hot Rod never had the sense God gave a table lamp.
From the deck, Optimus could see the entire docking bay. His efficient, unemotional processor noted three things: one, the Decepticons were attacking them. Two, Blaster, Swoop, Springer, Arcee and Blurr were already outside trying to fight. Three, the Decepticons had cleverly placed themselves right in between the two ships, making it impossible even for Swoop and Blaster to get to the other ship.
The more emotional part of his system panicked. There were exactly eight Autobots. And clearly several dozen Decepticons at LEAST. In the immortal words of Huffer: THEY WERE DOOMED!!!!!
Optimus charged out of the ship, Hot Rod right behind him.
"Where's our guns?!" Hot Rod shouted over the screaming missiles.
"GET BACK IN THE SHIP!!!!" Optimus screamed futily.
Hot Rod picked a ship and started firing on it, using the small cannon attached to his arm. It did little more than dent the hull of his target. Vaguely, he heard Optimus screaming at him to go back inside. But how could he do that? There weren't enough troops as it was. He narrowly dodged a laser through the head, but kept fighting nonetheless.
Optimus could have screamed just in sheer frustration. That kid was going to get himself and everyone around him KILLED! But he couldn't worry about that for the moment.
"SPRINGER!" He shouted over the chaos. "Get back in the ship! We can't fight them! Get in the ship and GO!"
"But what about you?!" The green helicopter shouted back.
"Don't worry! We'll be fine! Just GO! That's an ORDER!"
"Y-yessir..." Springer said, but not loud enough for Optimus to hear. "Arcee, Blurr! Come on!! Retreat!"
***
"Hahahahahaaaa!!!" Starscream shrieked in that annoying high pitched laugh of his. "This is wonderful! Like shooting fish in a barrel!" There were less than a dozen Autobots down there! This was the easiest mission he had ever carried out! In a way, he would have liked it to be more difficult, if only to make his victory more glorious. But that was no matter. Half of these weaklings he was fighting with had never seen combat before in their lives and couldn't tell the difference between a gloriously won war and a card game. So he'd just tell them it was much harder than it actually was and who was there to call him on it?
All in all, he was having a good time. The very few Autobots left were horrible shots and...wait...could it be..?
"Optimus Prime?!" Starscream said aloud to no one in particular. "It can't be! I saw him fall!" Then the deja vu sensation hit him. Optimus never died when you thought he did. Gods, what was that bot made of?!
The new Decepticon commander swooped in for a closer look. Well, well. Maybe Optimus wasn't built so well after all! The Autobot looked like hell on wheels. Dented, scarred, and obviously nowhere near recovered from his brawl with Megatron.
Starscream smiled to himself. This fight could turn out to bring real glory to him after all!
***
"RETREAT!!!" Optimus shouted for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Blaster! Swoop! GET IN THE SHUTTLE!!"
Well, at least he could see Springer and the others retreating into their ship. If only he and the ones around him could get there! Sure, the shuttle could have flown easily...BEFORE the Autobots had transferred half its parts to the other ship! Once again, he had failed to plan for every possible scenario, failed to foresee the obvious. Of COURSE the Decepticons would attack again!
A laser blast whizzing past his face reminded him that he would have to mentally beat himself up later. Luckily, Blaster and Swoop were already halfway up the ramp into the shuttle. Hot Rod, on the other hand...
"Damn it, Hot Rod!!!!" Optimus cried in an uncharacteristic burst of pure rage. He lunged forward, grabbed the younger Autobot's arm, pushed it down where it could do no further damage and began to escort the screaming teenager to the ship.
Suddenly, a sharp pain in his leg sent him and Hot Rod both sprawling. Unable to get up, Optimus jerked his neck around to look above him.
Up until now, all the Decepticons he had seen had been basically new recruits. Many of the 'old' Decepticons had been badly injured the other day, so that was not surprising. Unfortunately, the Decepticon swooping down on him was all too familiar.
"Starscream!" he hissed in dismay.
"Ahahahaha!!!" The jet cackled. "I will annihilate you, Optimus Prime!!!"
'Oh, ye gods, why me?' Optimus moaned inwardly. He tried to shield Hot Rod from Starscream's onslaught, but he found himself completely unable to move his left leg. And that was going to be a problem, since the shuttle was still about a hundred yards away.
"Hot Rod!" Optimus yelled with all the strength he could muster. "Go! Get on the shuttle and tell Blaster to take off!"
"I'm not leaving you!" Hot Rod cried even as laser shots rained around them.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you how to take an order?!" his leader groaned.
"I was sick that day." Hot Rod smiled grimly. "Come on." He slipped an arm around Optimus' waist and began to drag the larger Autobot towards the shuttle.
"You will DIE! You will die slowly and painfully at the hand of Starscream the Mighty!!!" The shrill voice echoed above them.
"Don't you ever SHUT UP?!" Hot Rod shouted.
But this was not going well. There was no way Hot Rod could drag the weakening Optimus all the way to the ship and survive, no matter how bad Starscream's aim was. But just then, a miracle happened.
Actually, what happened was that Springer and the other group had gotten their ship started, booted up the weapons systems, and immediately had begun firing on the Decepticons. Specifically, on Starscream. Hey, the guy was a good target.
But when you have a hysterical, homicidal Decepticon about to slaughter you and your injured friend with badly aimed but certainly abundant laser blasts, suddenly having him shot out of the sky sure as hell seems like a miracle.
Hot Rod hauled his leader up the ramp of the ship (with some help from Blaster as soon as they were close enough), deposited Optimus on a fairly comfortable looking box, and bolted to the co-pilot's seat. Normally, Blaster would have been co-pilot, with Optimus in charge. But, well, Optimus was unconscious.
"How do I do this?!" Hot Rod screamed hysterically. To many buttons, too many blinking lights, too many confusing little thingys!
"Oh, just don't touch anything!" Blaster shouted at him, starting up the booster rockets. "I just hope this piece of junk'll still fly."
"But what if it doesn't?"
"Then we are royally screwed." the communicator said calmly.
But it did fly. Or at least, it took off. Sure, the other ship had taken off several minutes ago and was now quite far away, but things were relatively okay. Or as okay as things can be when you've got two dozen enemy warships on your tail, you're flying in a busted up wreck that probably would have been fine except for the fact that you took it half apart this afternoon, and the guy who really knows how to fly the damn thing is out cold.
"Forget what I said." Blaster commented as the Decepticons began to close in on them. "We're royally screwed no matter what!!"
"Call the other ship!" Hot Rod suggested brilliantly. "Tell them to come help us!"
"Well, honeypeaches, that would be just fine except that....THE GODDAMN RADIO IS HALF DISASSEMBLED!!!!!!"
Blaster screamed. "And I don't have time to transform because you don't know how to fly this thing and besides, we're only going to be on ONE SHIP, so what do we need a radio for, RIGHT?!"
Hot Rod tried to make himself very very small.
The next twenty minutes passed in a series of narrow misses, hysterical screaming/ranting, and a whole lot of being thrown around. Nothing seemed to wake Optimus up, though.
"Where are we?!" Hot Rod yelled, the first coherent scream.
"Like I know! We took the mapping device out and put it in the OTHER ship!!" Blaster screamed. He didn't deal with pressure very well.
Hot Rod was about to respond when...
*SLAM*
A huge hole suddenly appeared in the back of the ship.
"AAAAUGH!!" Blaster screamed. "They can't hit us! They never hit us! They're terrible shots!"
"Well it looks like they've been practicing!!" Hot Rod screeched in a voice he didn't recognize.
The small shuttle spiraled in space for a few minutes before being caught in an atmosphere and hurled to the surface of a small planet.
***
"Optimus!" Blurr shouted as he watched the other ship spiral downwards.
"I don't believe it. I understood him." Arcee commented dryly.
"Oh my stars..." Springer muttered. "They'll kill us all!"
"Not if this is the model I think it is!" Kup crowed triumphantly from the hull.
"What are you yelling about?!" Springer shouted. "Get up here and take the second weapons station!"
"No, no!" the old Autobot called back. "I've got an idea! We may get out of this after all!"
***
Starscream fired his ship's guns again, eyes wild. He had shot down Optimus Prime's ship! And now he was going to eliminate the last of the Autobots and become supreme ruler of the universe! Who needed Megatron?!
The battle computer locked on its target. With a squeal/shriek/scream of victory, Starscream fired the cannons.
And watched with glee as the orange ship before him was blown to atoms.
"I DID IT!! I DID IT!!! I HAVE DESTROYED THE AUTOBOTS!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
to be continued....
