AN: Nothing much to say here except that if it wasn´t for OPIv2 here and Rowena_Bensel on AO3 I wouldn´t have had the drive to keep the story going.
The groundbridge opened at the bottom of a canyon and Mayhem had to reel in excitement not to shove aide the two mechs just to exit the portal first. She could do it, she could be responsible and follow any orders she was given with no problem whatsoever… Well, at least she´d try very hard to do so. For her Carrier.
Bumblebee beeped with confusion. There were no Decepticons in sight. They´d expected there to be a new mine being dug out but machinery of that caliber made a lot of noise and the site was quiet.
"No Bumblebee, it does not. Hold your positions and await my command." Optimus commanded while he went ahead alone, leaving the younger bots behind as backup.
"That´s it?" Mayhem complained. She wanted action but had gotten stuck on guard duty. Still, she´d obey, no matter how much her processor was telling her to go with Optimus.
The scout beeped with a frown and gestured to where the groundbridge had opened. If she didn´t like it she was welcome to leave least there was an incident caused by her impulsiveness.
"Yeah, yeah, I´m not going anywhere." The femme held her servo up. "Promise."
Soundwave finished pulling the large black metal container from the rocky wall all by himself, the new Decepticon Lord was above such menial labor, after all. It had taken a week to locate it but, if everything went according to plan, their new addition to the ranks would bolster morale and finish off the Autobot pests once and for all.
Starscream stared at the stasis pod that contained one of the mightiest Decepticon warriors to ever join their ranks. When he´d addressed the Vehicon troops he was not met with the praise and glory he deserved, rather distrust and doubt of his leadership skills. He didn´t have Megatron´s heavy-duty frame, nor his commanding attitude, but he was the rightful heir to the former warlord´s empire. He needed troops to inflict terror and chaos onto his enemies´ sparks and none under his command were up to the task. Except for one.
"Soundwave, the cube." Ordered Starscream. He took the glowing blue energon from Soundwave´s servos and inserted it in the square indent of the stasis pod, causing it to rumble and open with a bright blue light. "Awaken warrior, and serve your master!" He´d be unstoppable once the mech was under his rule and the Decepticons would rise to glory once more!
The long-dormant warrior awoke and took a step outside, banging his closed servos in a display of brute force. He leaned down to the (almost) cowering Starscream with a snarl. His master was the epitome of ruthlessness, cunningness and absolute power, all things the sniveling seeker before him was not. "Skyquake serves only one master."
Not understanding the situation at hand Starscream straightened up smugly. His proud warrior would strike fear into the Autobot´s sparks just like he´d done eons ago. "Excellent. Your loyalty and devotion will set a fine example to the troops. No need to be timid, Skyquake, you may bow."
"You failed to grasp my meaning. I am here on a mission assigned to me by my one master. Megatron."
"Yes. Him." Even in death his predecessor managed to hold him back. The seeker rubbed his thumb and index digits together, debating how to let the warrior know of the hierarchy change. "Sadly, Megatron is… no longer with us."
"Impossible."
"Why is it so difficult for everyone to accept?! Skyquake, I located you, I awakened you, thus I, Lord Starscream, am now your master." He pointed threateningly at the green mech but the taller seeker leaned down and snarled again at him, that time with a promise of a very painful beating. Starscream took a few steps back. Once again his pride had overwhelmed his common sense and he would pay the price. Scrap.
"It has been a while, Skyquake." Optimus cut in, knowingly saving Starscream´s aft from getting a few well-deserved dents.
The cowering seeker let out a sigh of relief but soon enough was roughly shoved aside by the newly-awakened Decepticon who´d forgotten about the self-proclaimed Lord to direct his attention at the Autobot.
"Optimus Prime, I haven´t seen you since the battle of Technahar." Skyquake narrowed his optics. "Megatron ordered me to annihilate you."
"That was a long time ago."
"That may be Prime, but my orders still stand."
Bumblebee and Mayhem watched from behind some rocks as the Prime approached the hostile Decepticon with no hesitation. From the look of things they weren´t on the friendliest of terms and to see the Autobot leader walk right up to the green seeker made their sparks race.
"Is this ancient war still worth fighting? When so many comrades have been lost and worlds destroyed? If you want to be a true leader, Starscream, then stray from Megatron´s path and lead the Decepticons towards peace."
With his confidence returning, the former SIC could not help but to bait the Autobot. "I would be willing to consider a truce… if you would be willing to bow before me, Optimus Prime."
"Again?!" Skyquake was enraged. Starscream was not his Lord! "Bow to this!" He punched the seeker into the rock wall with pure brute force, prompting him to hastily get up and fly away, leaving the two enemies to finish each other off.
"Skyquake, this is a new era on another world. Side with the Autobots and help me end this conflict forever." Pleaded Optimus. He´d already extinguished a spark and did not want a repeat so soon.
"I will never side with a Prime!" The Decepticon lunged at the Autobot with a war cry, wanting to end his mission once and for all. He would return victorious to his one and true master once his enemy´s pitiful existence was erased for good.
Starscream landed up above besides Soundwave, disappointed at the lack of loyalty he was faced with. He´d offered Skyquake the opportunity to once again serve the Decepticon cause and what had he gotten in return? Dented armor and (not that he´d ever admit it) a wounded pride. To the Pit with them all, he´d do everything himself and get all the praise, all the glory when the war was won for his name. Of course, if Skyquake came out of the battle still online he wouldn´t say no to an extra officer in his ranks.
"What need have I for peace when I have Skyquake? With some discipline he will learn to respect his new master. And once it becomes knowns that Skyquake has destroyed Optimus Prime under my command Decepticons will gratefully bow to me. Do not miss a single moment, Soundwave. We shall need visual documentation of Optimus Prime´s demise. For the historical record."
Optimus shot Skyquake but couldn´t deal any damage to the Decepticon´s armor who then pulled out a machine gun-looking weapon and shot the Prime with it. The Autobot leader was pushed back by the strength of the bullets but bared though the pain. He remembered when they´d fought in the past and if he showed any weaknesses Skyquake would not hesitate to exploit them and snuff out his spark.
Bumblebee couldn´t hold himself any longer after seeing his commander losing ground and went running to help him. He may have had lost his voice but hadn't lost his courage.
"Bumblebee, no!" Optimus had expected Mayhem to have been the one to jump into the fight but it seemed even the scout had limits when it came to waiting while action was taking place right in front of him.
Bumblebee shot Skyquake from behind while making use of his agility to bounce off the rock walls in order to make targeting him more difficult but when he got too close the Decepticon grabbed him and threw him to the ground easily. The scout suffered some damage but was fast in getting back up on his pedes, knowing if he stood still for long it would spell his doom.
The two Autobots ganged up on Skyquake but were still at disadvantage with the Decepticon´s raw force in play. Strength in numbers was not working so they would have to retreat and make use of the time they´d buy themselves to devise a new course of action.
"Skyquake has not yet acquired a vehicle mode." Whispered Optimus. When the Decepticon charged with his gun he saw their chance to flee. "Fall back!"
The Autobots turned to their alt-modes, and kicked up a cloud of dust, hoping to mask their escape and obscure the Decepticon´s view. Unfortunately that only served to make him angrier and keep on shooting blindly in their direction while in pursuit.
"So, time has made you a coward, Prime?!" Skyquake would not let himself be deterred by cheap tricks, not when he´d fought in Technahar and not now either.
Mayhem watched the seeker go after the two mechs but held her position and kept her distance, hidden away behind the rocks. She wanted to go in badly but knew she had the surprise factor on her side but when looking above to the Decepticons looking bellow on the fight a thought occurred to her. She mentally apologized for, very likely, breaking her Carrier´s spark once more but she needed to know. A question had remained in her processor unanswered far too long: Why?
If Optimus needed her he´d comm for sure because there were some questions that needed a proper answer to.
Starscream had been thoroughly enjoying the sight of Prime finally being put in his place when the Autobots retreated and he lost them from view. "We´ve lost sight of them. Soundwave, why aren´t you tracking them?" A ping with a location displayed on the silent Decepticon´s visor as an answer. "What? What is it?" More information showed up, that time pointing to the outside the Earth atmosphere. "A second Decepticon life signal? But Skyquake is the only sleeper buried in this area. But if it´s on the site of our destroyed spacebridge… you´re not telling me that life signal belongs… to Megatron." The seeker began stuttering with shock. "But he was microns from the detonation point! Noting could have survived that blast! Your sensors must be faulty. Ignore the contact and delete the coordinates!"
It couldn´t be happening! Not to him! He was so close to achieving his long-held dream of becoming The Decepticon Lord and when it looked like life had finally smiled down upon him after eons of hard work and aft-kissing reality came crashing down and the impossible was possible. He couldn´t allow any obstacles in his path when the end of the line was near.
Just when he was about to hammer down his order to disregard the information both seekers spotted a white and purple jet flying up to them. As far as he knew no active Decepticon sported white armor, especially not one present on the Nemesis´ forces.
"What the…? Who is that? Soundwave?" Starscream turned to the communications officer but got no response beyond a few pictures of a femme wandering around the hallways of their ship. So, whoever was coming had also broken it to rescue the human.
Mayhem transformed to her bipedal mode and landed on the clifftop both Decepticons stood but not far from the edge of the, just in case a quick escape was needed. "So, you must be the guy that took ol´ Megs place. I´ve got to say, you´re kind of underwhelming." She almost wanted to facepalm at her introduction. Leave it to her to get so nervous she´d defaulted into her cockiness to mask the hesitation.
"And you must be one of the new recruits for team Prime." The Decepticon took a look at her symbol. "I must say, I never thought I´d ever see a Maker in person. Why side with them? Why not fight alongside your seeker brethren and put an end to the Autobot tyranny? Your kind did side in the past with us."
"And instate a Decepticon version? No thank you and the past is the past. I´m here because I need you to answer me something." Mayhem took a deep breath before continuing. "What made you follow him?"
Was the femme serious? She´d confronted him just to know about his past? "You want me to believe you´re here merely to ask questions? One look at your frame type and one knows interrogation is not your area."
The heavy-duty seeker shook her helm and chuckled at her stupidity. She wouldn´t be getting any answers from him and had already given him a line to follow if he was smart enough to do so. "Mom was right, Vosians really are arrogant bot fragging sons of Cessna." It was then that she took a better look at Soundwave. "Wait a minute, you´re the guy who Rad talked about!" Mayhem took out her hammer and pointed it at the silent bot. "Get your tentacles near me, I dare you!"
"Soundwave, what is she talking about? Who is this Rad?" The silent officer showed the security camera pictures of Radical from when the sparkling had interfered with the satellites. "A sparkling?! There´s a seekerlet on this miserable wretch of a planet and you did not let me know immediately?!" He turned to Mayhem, his spark racing at hyperdrive speed. "Is he yours? No matter, you will bow to my will and bring me to the-" A location ping interrupted his sentence and the seeker turned to Soundwave seething in outrage "I am in the middle of something!"
Mayhem snorted at the thought of a smaller version of her running around. "I may have done a lot of stupid things but if he was mine mom would wave killed me. Seriously, how old do you think I am? Now I was about to-"
"Mayhem!" Optimus came through the comm. "We require assistance, Skyquake has managed to acquire a vehicle mode. Where are you?"
With a last look at the two Decepticons the seeker took her leave with a sigh. "I´m on my way." She disconnected the call and once again pointed with her hammer to the mech in front of her while slowly walking backwards to the edge of the clifftop. "You even as much as look at Radical and I will personally destroy you. Not joking. Seriously." She jumped off, transforming in her fall and flying away to help her teammates and hope they wouldn´t ask too many questions. She´d went against her Carrier´s request to leave her past alone, had gotten nothing out of it and for sure it wouldn´t be her last moronic action. The older seeker was right, she didn´t know when to curb her impulsiveness and to evaluate the consequences.
"I do not have time for this. If there really is a seekerlet with them I need to-" Another ping from the visor. "Fine! I shall be going in to investigate. If Lord Megatron is up there I shall bring him home. I suppose my matters must take second place to those concerning our master. Remain here and monitor the outcome, when Skyquake snuff Prime´s spark, I must bear witness." Starscream jumped off the clifftop, much like Mayhem, turned to his alt-mode and took off up to inspect the remains of their spacebridge. He hoped the most he would find was faulty equipment and not anything more… relevant.
Soundwave followed Starscream with his gaze. "Must bear witness." He replayed the audio of the order given to him and, not trusting the self-proclaimed Lord to keep his word, deployed Laserbeak to follow the seeker. Technically he wasn´t disobeying but had the feeling the long-time SIC was about to remain just that. Second on the hierarchy once more.