Looking around at the control room of the Nemesis Skyfall watched the drones typing away at their station in almost frantic haste. Their lives depended on their cooperation. Megatron did not hesitate to spill energon.
The planetary alignment the prophecy spoke of is nearly upon them.
The fight between Optimus and Megatron was being shown on the main screens, many watched eagerly to see who will come out victorious their excitement and awe vibrating the air around them. Yet Skyfall stood like a sentry watching the two warriors with an unreadable expression, her stance militaristic and guarded. The tension between her wings the only sign Soundwave found that showed her true emotions towards the battle. A bright flash from the screen took Soundwave's attention from the seeker femme, an Autobot had bridged into the fight knocking Megatron back from what would have been a fatal blow to Prime.
Tilting his helm he turned to fully face the screen watching as Megatron was pushed back allowing for two of the femmes to jump out tailed by their CMO. Ratchet. Soundwave felt the urge to tear apart the orange mechs wiring by servo and gift his spark to Skyfall. Yes, that would do. Lazerbeak preened at the thought, and Soundwave looked back at Skyfall. She had yet to move from her position, the clench of her servos and the rise in her biolights glow showed undeniable rage but her ability to hold in her EM field from such strong emotions was beyond surprising to Soundwave. Her control was unrivaled even to his own.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Dawnbreaker and Bulkhead helped to carry Optimus through the swirl of the bridge Arcee keeping watch on their six while Ratchet scanned and cataloged their leader's condition. The slick of dark energon on the Primes plating was nauseating and it made her servos itch something fierce.
"Easy Optimus, from the looks of things you've been exposed to a massive amount of dark energon."
Optimus paused his dragging steps cerulean optics falling on the recovering young Raph who was under the care of June Darby. "I am not the only one."
Dawn felt her spark clench she knew Optimus blamed himself for Raphs condition. Hell so did she. The heavy thud of Primes massive form falling onto the medical birth made Dawnbreaker startle back into reality. And she watched as their leader shared a small smile with Team Primes youngest member.
The weak but optimistic "Hey" was enough to bring a smile to Dawn's face.
June frowned and glared at the Prime, "He's lucky to be alive." They all felt the bite of her words. They knew they have failed their human friends.
"So, Megatron found more of the dark stuff?" Jack asked breaking some of the tension that had filled the base.
"A whole volcano full."
" The question is 'How' ?"
"No," Ratchet faced them all, "the question is 'what'. As in what in the world is the blood of Unicron doing on Earth?"
Dawnbreaker felt as if the floor had fallen out from beneath her, this was something she knew. Staggering back she leaned against the wall of the base the rest of her team unaware of the existential crisis going on in there fellow Autobot. "Fucking Bay." Dawn hissed out clenching her fist. She looked up her optics focusing on the group as they talked yet their words were mumbled in her current state. All she knew was that June was moving Raph to her car, Jack and Miko, holding their stances by the Autobots. Taking a deep intake Dawn stood on her own and moved closer to the group, the tension between mother and son was painful.
"I'm staying. I'm sorry." Jack looked away from the glare of his mother as she turned and stomped to her car taking the infirm Raph with her.
"Prime, do you copy?" Agent Fowler yelled over the call screen his jarring voice breaking everyone out of their stupor.
"I hear you, Agent Fowler."
"Been watching the news? Mother natures got a twitch in her britches."
"We know about the volcano."
"And the quakes? Seven major tumblers of the exact same magnitude at the exact same time as a volcanic eruption all over the globe on different tectonic plates, in theory, unrelate, if they hadn't happened…"
"…At the exact same time."
"Check it out. More good news." Miko called to everyone's attention the tiny television screen in the corner. They all watched the national news broadcast of all the freak storms happening all across the planet.
"Don't tell my your cons' have built a weather machine."
Scoffing Ratchet waved his servos in dismissal, "One that powerful? Highly unlikely."
"I do not believe that the appearance of Dark Energon at this point in time to be purely coincidental."
As they talked Dawnbreaker kept her optics on the tv watching as live footage showed the storm raging in Jasper. She felt her spark drop, tornadoes and lighting ravaged the badlands. June and Raph won't make it to town! Turning she sprinted to the tunnel, "Bee the storms!" Transforming she didn't wait for the scout as she raced out of the base.
Finding the little tan Crown Vic was easy as her sensors picked up their readings not but click in time as a tornado approached lifting the small car of its tires. Launching forwards Dawn transformed and grabbed the hood hearing tires screech behind her and the second set of servos latch on as well. The pull of the wind was getting stronger but with two heavy Transformers, they managed to dig their pedes into the hard dirt and pull the small car towards them.
Both of their headlights illuminating the small car as Dawn yelled over the wind, "Climb out we've got you!" Bee's encouraging thrill nearly lost to the roar of the tornado. With both June and Raph on the hood Bee grabbed the boy and Dawn grabbed Jack's mom just as the car ripped away from the hood, transforming with the two humans they raced back to base the tornado in their rear views.
Dawn lifted her dihedral door for June when they rolled back into base much to the team's relief both woman and child were unharmed. Dawnbreaker tuned to look at the screens with worry, she hopped her hunch was wrong…she really did.
"What have you learned, Prime? And you better not blow smoke up my…oven." Agent Fowler paused his rant when he saw June Darby, chuckling shyly he nodded to her, "Ms. Darby. What a nice surprise."
"Special Agent Fowler."
"We have learned this as with the so-called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated far beneath the Earth's crust. From the very center of the Earth's core, in fact." Ratchet brought up the visuals on the screen.
Dawn moved closer to the screen, "Fuck…"
Ratchet stopped talking and looked at the femme with curiosity, she would never stand so close to him. Her optics were wide and panicked, her frame warm as her EM field assaulted his senses with her dread. Although her fear is warranted in the circumstances, yet Ratchet felt like there was more that she knew…placing his servo to her shoulder armor he brushed his field against hers. "Dawnbreaker what do you know?"
She turned her scared optics to him, "I-I can't believe he was right…"
"Who?"
Brushing off his servo Dawn took a step back, "Fuck!" She clutched her helm, "…Michael Bay." Throwing up her servos in exasperation she faced the humans with an expectant look.
Ratchet looked at the humans and fellow Cybertronians around him, they all looked just as confused. Agent Fowler shrugged and Ratchet sighed. "Who is that?"
Dawnbreakers optics widened for a moment and she looked at Optimus, "That doesn't matter, but I know because of him that planet Earth is Unicron. O-or like we live on top of all the space rock shit that encrusted over his body yada yada yada. I think it was explained but I really don't remember it all that well."
The base was stunned to silence.
Ratchet turned to the screen again enhancing the audio files, the sound of a cybertronian heartbeat thumped in the silence of the base. Dawnbreaker closed her optics and cursed. "By the Allspark she's right."
"Ok so hold on…so something is living down there inside our planet?"
"Precisely!" Dawn motioned with her servos, "And this prophecy, the rising darkness is the rise of Unicron."
"So, how do we stop this thing from rising?" Agent Fowler looked to Optimus in hope.
Not meeting his eyes Optimus looked to the base floor, "That, I'm afraid, was not foretold."
June looked shaken, "How can something be in our Earth's core and be alive?"
"Such a thing is not unprecedented. Before the beginning, there was Primus, and there was Unicron. One the incarnation of creation…and the other of destruction. For eons, Primus and Unicron battled the balance of power shifting between them more times than could be counted. Only by creating the 13, original primes who preceded me was Primus finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out. Primus became one with the very core of our planet, creating life through the Well of the Allspark, while Unicron was never to be heard of again. Until now."
"SO how in Sam Hill is he awake?"
"The magnetic pull of the planetary alignment!" Arcee piped up, "That's what awoke him."
"Ok, well, what happened now when Unicron wakes up from his billion-year nap?"
"Yeah does he stretch and kapow! Earth poofs to dust?"
They all quieted down and looked to Dawnbreaker. Stepping back she raised her servos in alarm, "Woah, hey all I know is he is the planet, but the finer details are all up for speculation. Unicron probably transcended physical form, so the nap theory is unlikely at best but at worst yes Earth goes poof."
Resting his large servo on the smaller femmes shoulder Optimus nodded in agreement. "Never the less we must find a way to make sure that this force of nature never fully awakens. The fate of your planet depends upon it."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
The mining operation was going well and surprisingly quick, taking into account the debilitating energy the crystals gave off. The drones were working hard trying to fill the hull with as much of the tainted energon as they could haul at a time. Skyfall looked over from her point on a high rock, her link to the ship with constant reports. The Dark Energon was vile, even from her distance it made her processor ache and her protoform itch. Her antennae picked up each vibration of the volcano as it continued to expel lava and Dark Energon.
"I don't believe we've had the chance to get aquatinted, Commander Skyfall."
"Arachnid." Skyfall turned from her position to face the multi-legged femme.
Rubbing her chin Arachnid slowly walked around Skyfall her optics narrowing, "I find it interesting that I have never once heard your designation during the war. Only to come back to the Nemesis and find our esteemed lord had named a new Commander above that of Starscream…" The shifty con hummed to herself, "Who are you? An Autobot spy?"
Skyfall flicked her battle mask on and with frightening fast reflexes she grabbed Arachnid by the neck lifting the smaller femme till her limbs flicked uselessly against the air her purple optics starring down at the seeker with contempt, "I am your commanding officer." Skyfall saw the extra limbs fly out at her core she sent a high-level shock through her talons into Arachnids protoform making the femme go limp with a scream, throwing the spider down into the main mining field she watched as her body bounced and rolled to a stop. "Your accusations are paltry and your insubordination easier to predict than Starscreams."
Arachnid began to pull herself up with a snarl shooting one blast at the rock that Skyfall stood on. The rock teetered and crumbled down Skyfall tumbling into the dirt below falling onto a shard of Dark Energon its edges pricing into her plating and injecting her with its foul poison. Gasping Skyfall stood on shaky pedes ripping out the long shard with a snarl, "You arrogant bitch, I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart." The mining drones scattered to the rim on the mining grounds watching as the two femmes battled it out. Sky grabbed the spider and threw her against the gravlift, where she crumpled and collapsed down making it easier for Skyfall to grab her by the neck and drag her to the lift. Pausing she turned to her crew, "Finish here."
Leaking energon and dragging the spider bitch through the halls of the Nemesis Skyfall was nearing the command room when she felt her energon pulse and her spark seize, gasping she collapsed down onto the hall floors with a thud the last thing she saw was the bright blue of her energon tinged with a swirl of purple.
"Skyfall wakey wakey."
She felt herself being shaken awake, jolting in surprise her servo moved to the open hole in her abdomen. Only to find it welded shut, the armor polished and free of marks.
"Thank the Allspark, you know I'm going to have to become your primary medical physician at this point." Knockout purred as he continued to type away at his datapad. "Soundwave was none too pleased to find you oozing energon in the middle of the halls with dark energon crystals embedded in your armor."
"Arachnid?" Skyfall hissed out.
Knockout looked shocked for a moment, "She was on the scene right after Soundwave…she went to speak with Lord Megatron when you couldn't answer the summons." The bright red mech hesitated for a moment.
Skyfall glared at the doctor, "What?"
"She's been named Second in Command till you've gained your health back."
Grinding her denta Skyfall punched Knockout, "Over my dead body." Getting up off the berth Skyfall made for the door but was stopped by Soundwave who stood on the other side. "MOVE I have a spider to kill."
"Soundwave: Denied, you are in no shape to fight."
"I will not allow that bitch to sneak her way into the command of this ship." Skyfall snarled.
"Soundwave: You were critically low on energon and sick with dark energon poisoning."
"I feel fine enough to rip her apart." Skyfall fumed, "She dared to challenge me in front of the Drones to insult my status and now steal my job?! Soundwave I cannot stand back and watch her undermine my rank in this army."
"Soundwave: No, you must stay and heal."
"Sou—" Soundwave placed both his servos on either side of her faceplates pressing their helms together enveloping her in his EM field. Skyfall froze her wings drooping low, the rage in her bubbling down and bringing forth the deep ache in her joints and the heavy feeling in her struts.
"Soundwave: Heal." The slender mech pulled back just enough to look at Knockout. "The transfusion was completed?"
Knockout rubbed his dented plating with a frown, "Yes yes she's clean of all that foul energon, she just needs rest. Take her, she's an awful patient, you know how fellow doctors are."He waved them off with a huff, "I need to fix this dent."
Soundwave nodded and lead her through the halls his EM field doing it's best to ease her pain. The silent mech could feel how she shuddered with each step and watched how her optics became more and more unfocused. Stopping at a door it swooshed open quickly as Soundwave ushered the Seeker into the room easing her weakened form on to the plush ladened berth facing the panels of windows. Running his servos along the edges of her faceplate he watched her for a moment while she lay in deep recharge, finding her so near to her end was not a feeling Soundwave wished to relive.
Yet the image of her body in a puddle of her energon would not leave his processor.