Chapter 45

A/N: alright, next chapter in this story! Sorry about the long wait, to tell the truth I lost track of time and got distracted with a few other story ideas.

Once again, I own nothing—except Solarflare who has been mentioned, but never fully introduced.

/comm/

Telepathy

'Bee/Soundwave speech

Nemesis, January 4

"Optimus Prime!" Starscream gasped aiming his missiles right at him.

Orion backed up in shock, didn't Megatron say Starscream was dead? "Please, I mean no harm."

"Oh! Then…what are you doing here?!" the greasy-haired man asked raising a confused eyebrow.

"Research, for Lord Megatron."

Starscream stared at him. "Is this a joke?"

"I do not understand," Orion replied, completely confused. Starscream lowered his weapons and stared at him dumbfounded. "And why did you call me Optimus Prime?"

"Uh…why wouldn't I?"

"Because my name is Orion Pax, I am far from being a Prime."

Starscream looked and saw the Decepticon shield where the Autobot one used to be. "I…uh…you reminded me of someone I once knew…that's all."

"You are Starscream?"

"…Yes?"

"Lord Megatron told me you had been killed," Orion stated raising an eyebrow.

Starscream chuckled. "Lord Megatron says many things, only some of which are true."

Orion looked at him surprised. "You do not suggest that our leader would speak falsehoods?" he questioned.

Starscream burst out laughing, clutching his sides, he managed to wipe a tear away. "You truly are being kept in the dark, aren't you?" he smiled.

Orion just looked more confused. "You speak in many riddles Starscream," he said approaching him, "please, tell me what it is that you know."

"And in return?" he asked.

The door opened and several soldiers stood with their weapons armed. "Starscream surrender!"

Crying out, he dove behind Prime's larger form. "Hold your fire!"

Jumping up, he activated his jetpack and shot down the hall.

"Remain in the lab."

"But—"

"Lord Megatron's orders," the soldier said as he and another took off, leaving the other two to guard the door.

Flying down the hall, the soldier flew over several of his fallen comrades, grabbing Starscream's leg, the man cried out before turning on him with a glare, slashing his face, the man cried out as the claws dug though the armor into his skin. Starscream then clawed at the jetpack, before tossing him into his fellow soldier. Flying towards the hangar, he used a missile to shoot the doors down before landing and racing towards his jet.

More men began to appear on the flight deck as a burst of wind hit, looking up they saw the old SIC's jet flying away from the ship. Taking fire, Starscream jolted in his ship as one hit home, noticing the flashing lights, he braced himself for impact.

-.-

January 5, Autobot Base

"Is the test subject ready?" Ratchet asked and Robin tested to controls on one of his remote-control vehicles.

"We're good to go," he said giving a thumbs-up.

"I have doubts my recalibrations have successfully extended groundbridge range, but there's only one way to find out," he sighed.

The bridge activated and they all watched as the small toy car drove through. "C'mon," Wally said biting his nail.

Just when it seemed it was going to make it the small car exploded and the bridge deactivated.

"Hey, it was just the first try," Conner smiled.

"No, it was pure folly, a misguided act of desperation," Ratchet sighed. "It takes eons to master spacebridge engineering, and no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons."

Aqualad nudged the others out, seeing the medic wanted to be alone.

-.-

Nemesis

Megatron walked past the guards into Orion's workstation. "Orion, I am so sorry for the recent commotion," he apologized as the archivist turned to look at him. "You weren't in any way harmed were you?"

"No Lord Megatron," he replied. "But why did you tell me Starscream was dead?"

"Because he is dead to our cause," Megatron replied. "Starscream was my most trusted leutenient—until he turned traitor and joined the Autobots. Never before had I witnessed such a profound act of deception…He did not do or say anything to trouble you?"

"…No."

Megatron smiled. "Good, best to forget the entire incident and return to your project," he said.

"As you wish, My Lord."

Leaving, Megatron snarled and walked over to Soundwave. "Orion was never very good in the art of deception. I made a mistake not killing that worm when I had the opportunity—a mistake I do not intend to make again!"

-.-

Autobot Base

"No sign of energon spikes," Bulkhead sighed driving back in. Hopping out he looked to find the others still gone. "Arcee or 'Bee find anything?"

"They haven't reported back yet," Ratchet sighed.

"Yo Doc, you alright?" Bulkhead asked.

"Hmm? Yes," he replied once he got the question. "Let's just get you to the next quadrant."

The monitor began beeping and the Team ran out of the rec room to join them. "What is it?!" Emerald asked.

"It's a high-frequency signal, with an embedded message," Robin replied typing away and pulling up the message. "It' for you Doc."

"Optimus?"

"Ugh…Starscream," Erica winced. "Let's see what he had to say."

"Already on it, babe," Robin cackled making the red-headed girl sputter. "I have obtained information reguarding your leader. Bring medical kit. Come alone."

-.-

Unknown Loctaion

Starscream leaned up against the rocks, his jet sitting not far away. He was pressing his hands against the wound that darn soldier landed on him before he got in his jet and carefully monitoring a piece of shrapnel embedded in his side. A bridge opened and he looked up to see the Autobot medic…as well as Bulkhead, Miss Martian, Superboy, and Emerald Lantern.

"I-I told you to come alone!" he snapped.

"And since when do we listen to you Mr. I-Scheme-Every-Ten-Minutes?" Conner stated.

"Where's Optimus?" Ratchet questioned.

"Patch me up and perhaps I'll tell you."

Emerald flew over him in her Red Lantern uniform. "Or you can leave here with more injuries than you had before!"

Starscream whimpered. "ok."

"Has he been harmed in any way?" she asked.

"He's fine, can't you see that I'm the one that's been harmed!"

"Where is he!" Superboy snarled.

"Where do you think?! He's on the Nemesis!"

"Which is located where?" Ratchet asked.

"I don't know, it's a ship, it moves," he scoffed. "It took me months to track, only to get fired upon."

"You wouldn't go through the trouble of calling me here unless you had information to trade—real information," Ratchet stated.

"I'd advise you talk soon," Emerald cackled cracking her knuckles with a manical grin.

He gulped. "I think your beloved leader may've lost his senses. He goes by the name Orion Pax now and believes he's a Decepticon."

"Tell us something we don't know," Bulkhead said.

Starscream gaped that them. "How could you possibly know that?!"

"We're waisting our time," Ratchet said and they all turned to leave.

"That's all I have! Really! You can't just leave me like this!"

"Unless you know where Megatron's hiding his spacebridge, you can stay here and rust," Bulkhead growled.

Starscream gasped. "Spacebridge…You mean to tell me they finished it without my supervision?!"

They all looked at each other, and Starscream grinned before laughing. "It hurts most right here, doctor."

-.-

Autobot Base

The Autobots, Team, and League stood in front of the monitor. "The Decepticon spacebridge is located here, deep within an energon mine," Ratchet informed.

"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply," Flash said, "clever."

"What's our intel?" Batman asked.

"A reliable source!" Erica said.

"So, do we have a consensus?"

"Can non-Cybertronians breathe your atmosphere?" Superman asked.

"Our world has oxygen, but the amount is far less than here on Earth, and a good portion of the atmosphere in certain areas is highly toxic to those not of our world," Ratchet informed. "The masks you normally use for space battle will be perfect for them to use."

"Should we really be sending the children alone?" Icon asked.

"I'll be with them the whole time," Arcee reassured. "Too many could draw unwanted attention."

"Attention of what?"

"Let's just say not all the Cons left during the exodus."

-.-

Nemesis

Orion looked down at the monitor unsure of what to do. On one hand, he knew he should ask his wife because something told him she would have the answers to his questions; but on the other, he was afraid of what she might say or do for that matter.

Taking a breath, he began typing, pulling up an image that looked a lot like his brother. "Ok, Optimus Prime…leader of the Autobots…How could I remind Starscream of him? And…Megatron said Ratchet was the Autobot leader. Someone is not telling the truth."

Steeling his resolve to get to the bottom of this, he moved the image onto another monitor to investigate later and he typed up the next name that had been on his mind. "Bee…"

-.-

Autobot Base

"We will bridge directly into the energon mine and make our way to the spacebridge chamber, neutralizing any Decepticon forces we encounter," Batman said. "Once we've secured the bridge, we send for the Cybertron Team. Stealth is an absolute priority on this mission, as usual against the Decepticons we may be outnumbered, and if any manage to transmit an alert…"

"We go from a squadron to an entire army," Wonder Woman said.

"Scrambling communications upon entry will provide us with an edge in this reguard," Ratchet smirked.

"Taking the bridge is the easy part," Batman continued. "We'll need to hold it long enough for our Team to get to and back from Cybertron without alerting the Decepticons."

-.-

Energon Mine

The bridge opened in a small corner of the mine, allowing the members of the Justice League to come through.

"Clear," Batman said motioning everyone forwards.

Stopping at a bend, they saw a drill with two soldiers standing beside it. Motioning to Superman, Wonder Woman, and Manhunter the two flew over. Manhunter density-shifted through the drill grabbing one and Superman punched his lights out. The second guy turned on for a rope to wrap around him and he was tossed into the side of the cave, where his limp form fell to the ground.

"Command this is spacebridge control," one guy tried as he turned the corner only for Green Lantern to knock him into his buddy with a golf club.

"Tie them up," Canary said and Arcee hog tied them.

"Let's move," the Autobot woman whispered.

Running onto the elevator it went down to the bottom floor where one man stood on guard.

"Goin' down," Bulkhead said slamming his wrecking balls together on the man's head.

Running over the body into the dark tunnel, they all took cover on the roof, of behind the rocks.

"Dear God," Hawkwoman whispered as they saw the sheer size of the operation.

Six fully armed vehicons stood on the platform, while four more were on the surrounding levels above it and below it. In the back of the cave, stood a massibe bridge, twice the size of the groundbridge.

"Thank you Starscream," Flash grinned and they all looked at him. "Who else would it be?"

"True."

"He's got a point."

"Recon mission!"

"I'm up," Bulkhead smiled grabbing a drill. Lifing it onto his shoulders, he tossed it at the two soldiers closest to them, crushing them on impact.

Running in, the Green Lanterns made a shield, blocking the blind sides of their teammates as the Cons fired. Wonder Woman flew Black Canary to the second platform, releasing a cry, two of the men were sent falling off, where Icon and Superman punched them midfall, and slammed them into the ground.

Plastic Man made himself into a sling shot, Captain Marvel pulled back, releasing Batman onto the second platform. He flipped in the air tossing small-scale dentinators onto their armor. Before they could deactivate them, they exploded, knocking the men off the platform and into the high-density foam Green Arrow shot. As they tried to get out Hawkman and Hawkwoman used their maces to take them out.

"That all of them?" J'onn asked as he levitated them over to the side.

"That's it," Flash said returning.

Ratchet pulled out a metal rope. "Tie them up," he said and the Flash ran around them, hog-tying them men. Going over to the monitor, the doctor couldn't help but admire the work. "A masterpiece of engineering."

"Is it operational?"

Ratchet typed on the monitor. "Fully."

"Perimeter secure," Flash said coming back from doing a doublecheck.

"Now the scary part," Green Arrow said.

"What? Shutting down the scrambler to contact base and maintain communications throughout the mission?" Hal scoffed.

"Strike Team to Base, objective secure," Batman said.

The bridge opened and the two Autobots drove through, several other members of the Team inside 'Bee's car putting on the masks, while M'gann, Rocket, and Wally already had theirs on; Erica just laughed at them since her Lantern uniform protected her.

"Locking onto Cybertron," Ratchet said. "I'll leave the spacebridge portal open in order to eliminate any communication lag over the great distance. And make it easier for you to locate when you return."

"Wait, you aren't bridging us directly to the Big V?" Kid asked.

"The true location of Vector Sigma is shrouded in myth and rumor, it is said that the Path of the Primes leads there," 'Bee answered.

"Oh…hey since you're a Prime do you know the way?"

Bumblebee glared at him from the window of his vehicle. "I'm not a realized Prime, I'm just another descendant, so no, I do not know the way."

"Ready?" Arcee asked whom Zatanna was clinging to her waist for dear life.

"Sure."

"Don't worry, spacebridging is a lot like groundbridging," she reassured and the bridge turned on, making them have to shout as it turned on just so they could hear each other. "JUST A LITTLE MORE INTENSE!"

Emerald shot through, with the others right behind her.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I'M ACTUALLY ON CYBERTRON! I AM THE FIRST FOREIGN BEING TO BE ON THIS WORLD IN…ABOUT TWENTY-TWO MILLION YEARS!" Erica screamed on her knees with her hands in the sky.

"Uh…we're here with you," Wally said.

"YEA! BUT I WAS HERE FIRST! SO HA!" she exclaimed getting in his face.

The others got out and stared in awe, despite the destruction to the city, it was beautiful in its own right. Turning and looking past the bridge they stared, more city stretched out before them.

"This is amazing," Robin said in complete awe.

"Dude! We're actually on another planet!" Wally said high-fiving him.

"They're right this is…" Kaldur trailed off seeing the solemn looks on the two native's faces.

"This isn't how I wanted you to see my home," Arcee said. "In the fog of war it's hard to see beyond the next leg in the mission, the next punch in the fight, we did everything to save Cybertron, but in the end…there wasn't much left to save."

The team looked down, suddenly feeling guilty for their excitement.

"Looks like we're in Helex," Bumblebee frowned, it wasn't a city he was too familiar with, mostly because it was so close to the heart of the Decepticon territory during the war.

/Team, do you copy/ Batman called.

"We hear you loud and clear," Arcee said.

/Just keep the sightseeing to a minimum ok guys/ Bulkhead joked.

/Indeed, we don't know if your journey ahead is five kliks or five thousand/

"Understood," Aqualad said.

"Alright 'Bee, how exactly is that little card supposed to guide us?" Artemis asked.

"We shall see, but first, I need to see if I can get something that would make this trip a lot easier," he replied going towards the nearby cliff. Lowering his mask, he put two fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle.

"What is so—?" Wally began when Superboy froze and Arcee even looked on edge.

'Bee stopped for a moment as if he was trying to find something before he started again.

"Seriously, what is this—?!"

The loud roar sounded and a huge shadow shot up from below the cliff. The team could only stare as a massive creature that appeared to be completely made of metal, two heads with elongated beaks that that curved crests on the tops, two arrow-pointed tails, and was big enough to easily let Bumblebee's vehicle armor ride it as landed nearby.

Putting his mask back up, the scout ran over and tackled one of the heads, the other nudging his side. The first head dropped him and he hugged both. "STRAFE! Drey hi staavek zey?"

"Holy slag."

"Um…Bumblebee…what is that?" Rocket asked.

"Guys, this is Strafe, he's my pterosaur."

"YOU HAVE A DINOSAUR FOR A PET! AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!" Emerald exclaimed.

"He never came up."

"What about the conversations of awesome things you've done?!"

"I told you I did air combat. You never asked beyond that."

"I thought that meant you knew how to pilot! Not fly a freakin' dinosaur!"

"Erica, that is not a dinosaur, that is a dragon," Wally said.

"Dinosaur."

"Dragon."

"DINOSAUR!"

"DRAGON!"

"Will you two knock it off, Strafe is a Dinobot, so technically he's a dinosaur," 'Bee said separtating the pair before it turned into an all-out brawl.

"HA!" Emerald laughed. "Oh! 'Bee can I ride him?! Please, pretty, pretty please!"

"Sorry, Em, he doesn't like other people very much," 'Bee said stopping one of the heads as it attempted to bite her.

"Aw."

"Uh 'Bee, why did you call it here?" Arcee asked, looking over the massive beast, she had heard of the Dinobots, but never had actually seen one before. She didn't think they'd be this big.

"Well, for one thing, it is very cramped in my car! So, Robin will be driving, while I ride him," he explained pulling a saddle out of his subspace and climbing up onto him, starting to strap things down. "I'm surprised he was close enough to hear that, I was honestly just hoping we'd get lucky."

"I'll say we did," Erica deadpanned.

A loud roar sounded, and they looked across the ruined city.

"And not a moment too soon, Grimlock sounds mad…though, that might be Scorn."

"THERE'S MORE!"

"Yep, we have a whole team," Arcee sighed.

"Everyone else ready?" 'Bee asked sitting down on the saddle.

"Yea…so how exactly does that little key card lead us?" Superboy asked.

Bumblebee pulled out the card and looked at it, it began to glow and a slight sound came from it. Turning, it flashed and glew brighter.

"Guess that's how," Robin said. "Whelming."

"Let's go," Arcee said, getting back on their rides, heading in the direction the keycard was leading.

-.-

Energon Mine

"This may be awhile," Ratchet sighed.

/Spacebridge control do you read? Spacebridge control this is Breakdown/

They all looked at each other before looking at the new members of the League that accompanied them on the mission. "My time has come," Plastic Man said walking forwards.

/You have one nanocycle to respond or—/

"This is spacebridge control, situation normal," he said.

/Normal? You sure about that?/

"We were just…calibrating the subsystems and we, uh, had a surge, but it's fine now. How are you?"

The others slapped their foreheads or glared at Plastic Man for his mess up.

/Uh…never better. I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work/

"Will do, control out," he sighed hanging up.

Wonder Woman came up and smacked him upside the head. "You're a fool."

-.-

Nemesis, January 6

Orion frowned as he saw heavy layers of encryption over the files he was trying to reach. "Why is the Decepticon database so heavily encrypted?" he muttered typing faster.

Finally, after several long hours of hacking, he reached the file that the name Bee pulled up. Looking at the picture he was surprised to find it was the boy he saw when he was first awakened from stasis...Why would Solarflare mention him?

"Bumblebee Prime: Rank—Class A Autobot Scout, Class B Technopath, Optimus Prime's personal spy/assassin; Age—16…Primus, they're using a youngling!" he gasped suddenly feeling sick. Primus, how could…Ratchet, why? How could he use a youngling as a killer?! It went against everything their people valued! Shaking his head, he continued reading. "Relatives: Optimus Prime (father), Solarflare Prime (mother)…" he read, trailing to a stop.

Orion blinked in shock, stopping and rereading the file; there was only one Solarflare and that was his sparkmate, she would never…

Turning to the other file on his second monitor, he began typing, trying to decrypt and encryptions over it, the screen began to wipe away the covers as it was decoded and he took a step back in shock at the sight of the new image.

"How…how could I possibly be Optimus Prime?"

-.-

"Master, Orion has decoded the encryptions of Optimus," Soundwave said showing the image.

Megatron growled in fury, that was much faster than he anticpated. "Orion still has much to accomplish, and he will stay the course, even if I must inflict great pain to ensure the completion of Project Iacon."

-.-

Cybertron

The group made their way onto a large bridge overpassing a channel which connected two of Cybertron's seas. Those not having to focus on directions staring in awe and taking pictures.

Bumblebee gripped onto the saddle tighter as Strafe dove to fly next to the bridge, pulling out the keycard he held it ahead and it flashed in confirmation. "We'll still go straight when we cross," he called.

"That'll take us right into Kaon," Arcee said looking at the rising spires of the dark city.

"Isn't that the Con Captial?" Wally asked.

"Yep," Emerald replied.

"Fantastic," Artemis grumbled.

Driving to the edge of the city, they saw a bridge crossing over a dry riverbed into the looming city. Arcee stopped her bike and Robin stopped the car as Strafe landed in front of them. "We're on foot from here," Arcee said transforming and holding out her gun.

"'Bee aren't you going to use your exoarmor?" Robin asked as they hopped out of the scout's car.

"No, we don't know how big the passage is, Arcee's using hers because it should be small enough to fit. Better to keep it on the outskirts where it couldn't get stuck under falling debris, which is unfortunate if we have to get away from something," he said petting Strafe as the beast growled.

"Get away from what?"

Bumblebee and Arcee glanced at each other.

"Vermin."