Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers
Optimus continued to track Chip through the increasingly dangerous storm, until he caught sight of Starscream.
The seeker fired a missile at him and Optimus quickly dodged and retaliated with a shot from his gatling gun.
More shots glanced off his back and Optimus turned to find a group of Vehicons joining the aerial assault. He blasted through them with ease, taking down almost the entire squadron.
Starscream realized that Laserbeak's frequency wasn't emanating from Optimus and continued his search for the source.
:Lord Megatron. The prisoner has escaped,: Knockout commed. He had waited a good five minutes like the medic had asked.
It took the warlord a while to respond, presumably because he was busy, :What?! You let him escape?:
:He knocked me out with a large crowbar when my back was turned. I only just woke up now and commed you immediately.:
:Fine,: Megatron growled. :I am sending Shockwave over to analyze his results, that is, what he left behind. I will intercept the pesky medic myself.:
Ratchet up until now had been dodging Vehicon fire throughout the halls of the ship, speeding by them in his alt mode.
He didn't get very far before Megatron found him, and stopped him in his tracks by stomping on the ambulance.
Ratchet groaned in pain and transformed to collapse on the ground. Megatron grabbed the weakened medic by the leg and began dragging him to Primus knows where.
"Where are you taking me?!" Ratchet thrashed. "You can't kill me or you will never get the Synth En formula!"
"I assure you I have the best capable processors unraveling your little false trail right now," Megatron sneered. "I no longer have any use for you."
He threw the frightened and confused Autobot into a room and slammed the door.
Ratchet gulped as he felt hot breath on his neck. He wasn't alone in this room.
Starscream finally managed to locate Chip and cruelly destroyed the probe with a single missile.
Optimus opened fire but the tricky seeker quickly escaped through a mid air ground bridge. Optimus realized he was alone in the sky with no trail to follow, and let out a bellow of anger. Now Ratchet was truly lost; they would never be able to find the cloaked Decepticon ship. Defeated, Optimus returned to Hangar E a failure.
Megatron joined Shockwave and Knockout in the lab as Shockwave analyzed some of the CNA residue Ratchet had left behind.
After several agonizing minutes, where Megatron was pacing agitatedly, Knockout was worried they would discover the formula and all would be lost, and Shockwave was, well, Shockwave, he finally had some news.
"My lord," Shockwave turned to Megatron. "I know the completed Synth En formula."
"Excellent," Megatron said gleefully and Knockout's spark sank. "How soon will the synthesis of the cyber matter take?"
"Not long," Shockwave said in a monotone voice. "With the aid of hyper-acceleration technology, mere hours."
"Good," Megatron commed Soundwave. :Move the Omega Lock into ready position.:
In another part of the ship, Ratchet was busy dodging attacks from none other than Predaking himself. Megatron had thrown him into the tyrant's quarters, and he was eager to make the Autobot suffer for the destruction of his kind.
Predaking pounced suddenly, and Ratchet found himself pinned under the beast's enormous weight, his fanged teeth about to close over his helm.
"Please, at least don't let your vengeance end with me!" Ratchet shouted up at him, closing his optics. "Keep avenging, right up to Megatron!"
After several seconds of silence, where his helm wasn't being chewed off, Ratchet opened his optics to find Predaking staring at him warily.
"What do you mean?" he growled.
Ratchet exhaled, "He was the one who ordered the destruction of your brothers and sisters. Don't you think it's a bit too much of a coincidence that the Autobots somehow stumbled upon Shockwave's lab while looking for energon?"
"Why would my liege wish to destroy us?"
"Having just been on the receiving end of your might, one theory springs to mind," Ratchet coughed, Predaking's weight beginning to crush him. "Megatron fears you."
Predaking snarled angrily, completely forgetting about Ratchet as he stormed into the hall. Enraged, he began his torrent towards Megatron, destroying any Vehicons that got in his way. One Vehicon managed to get a comm to Megatron, alerting him to the rampage, before he was offlined.
Optimus had returned to the base with the bad news, and now everyone was just sort of sitting around, depressed. That is, until a communication screen crackled to life and Ratchet's voice sounded through it.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Ratchet!" relief flooded through Optimus as he and Team Prime gathered around the screen. "How are you, old friend?"
"There's no time for that now," Ratchet said frantically. "Megatron has built a working Omega Lock and is planning to cyberform Earth with it. I'm deactivating the ship's shielding right now so you can get a fix on my location and come put a stop to this." He paused and the sound of approaching gunfire could be heard, "Scrap! I have to go. Please hurry Optimus!"
The screen went dead, and Optimus immediately ordered the Autobots to lock onto Ratchet's coordinates and prepare to storm the Decepticon ship.
"But-you can't leave without saying goodbye!" Miko cried.
"Do not worry, little one," Optimus assured her. "We will return."
The Autobots geared up with the arsenal left over from Ultra Magnus' ship, and Raf quickly opened a ground bridge to the Nemesis.
As they started toward the ground bridge Optimus turned to them and said, "Members of Team Prime, Autobot and human, it has been my honor to lead you. On this day, the fates of two worlds hang in the balance, and the battle to come may very well be our last. But for Earth, for Cybertron, and for our comrade Ratchet, we must take the Decepticon warship."
He turned back to the ground bridge and yelled, for what may have been the last time, "Autobots, roll out!" as they all charged through the ground bridge.
"I wonder how Predaking will fare against the Dark Star Saber, my lord," Starscream sneered as he and Megatron headed to the ship's vault.
They were cut short by Predaking who tossed a deactivated Vehicon their way.
"Is it true that you ordered the annihilation of my army?" Predaking roared.
"Indeed," Megatron snarled. "And my only mistake was not seeing the extermination through!"
He attacked, landing a few hits with his blade, before Predaking overpowered him. He clubbed Megatron with the deactivated body of the Vehicon, knocking him down the length of the corridor.
Starscream momentarily distracted Predaking with a missile in the back, allowing Megatron to hurl him into the room behind them.
Megatron hit a button on a computer panel inside the room, opening a door to the outside directly behind Predaking. He tried to grip the sides of the door frame with his talons, fighting against the sudden air pressure, but a blast from Megatron's cannons sent him tumbling from the ship.
As Megatron closed the door, alarms began to sound, signaling the Autobot's attack. Megatron swore and ran to the vault, snatching up the Dark Star Saber.
"If Optimus Prime wishes to wage a battle for the fates of both Earth and Cybertron, then I shall oblige him," Megatron roared, raising the blade triumphantly. "This will be our last stand!"