Since I updated Primus Promise, I figured I'd update here too. This will take place through the season 2 finale and into the start of season 3. Thanks for all the favs and reviews!
I don't own Transformers Prime as the show is owned by Hasbro.
Ch. 23: The Grand Prize
"Starscream I regret to inform you that you will not spread your wings every again." Dreadwing announced as he readied his cannon. With a shout he fired on Starscream, sending him and Knockout scrambeling for cover.
"Knockout help me!" Starscream shouted, but he ran down the hallway leaving Starscream alone. Dreadwing tossed aside his gun and drew his sword while Starscream help up a small drill. "Dreadwing what has gotten into you?" He asked shaking. Dreadwing replied by swiping his blade and broke the drill in two instantly. "No wait this is about Skyquake isn't, I thought we put that behind us." Starscream said weakly.
"So had I." Dreadwing snapped before swinging the blade making Starscream duck.
"Causalities are an unfortunate consequence of war, but assure you your twin met his end with great honor." Starscream said quickly.
"Which you disgraced by raising him from the dead!" Dreadwing shouted.
"Oh you know about that." Starscream muttered. "There must be something I can do, some form of repatriation I can offer to alleviate your anguish." Starscream pleaded.
"Your spark will service." Dreadwing shouted raising the blade high.
"Dreadwing!" Both seekers look to see Megatron standing in the doorway with Elisa behind him. "Stand down." He snapped.
"This desicrator must pay for his actions." Dreadwing said pointing right at Starscream.
"You call this loyalty master?!" Starscream shouted in a high-pitch that would have made Elisa laugh under better circumstances.
"I said stand down. That is an order."
"One which I cannot follow."
Dreadwing shouted in anger as he raised the blade high and before Elisa could react Megatron grabbed the discarded gun and fired right at Dreadwing, forming a burn hole where his spark should have been. Elisa's eyes were wide as Dreadwing fell to his knees than collapsed never to rise again.
"I'm ok. I'm ok! Lord Megatron you have my eternal thanks." Starscream said with joy.
"Do not ever make me regret which one of you I spared." Megatron growled at him. When Megatron turned to leave he saw that Elisa was already gone, but he could hear the faintest steps of her hurried limp.
Xxxxxx
"Of course, keys are usless without something to unlock. Target the space bridge for Cybertron." Megatron ordered.
Soundwave did as he was told.
Xxxxxxx
Elisa stayed in the bridge as Megatron took flight with a squadron. On the other hand on the deck Phoenix was none too pleased that Megatron gave Starscream back his post without a second thought.
Xxxxxxxxx
He didn't care how they did it. All Megatron cared about was shattered Optimus Prime's dreams just like he would shatter the Star Saber again.
"I bested your little blade once and I shall do it again."
It felt like the battle in Egypt all over again as they blocked each other blow for blow until Megatron saw that the autobots got the keys back. Optimus pushed him back with his blade and then sent him literally flying onto a rooftop with and energy wave.
"I will have those keys or I will have your sparks!" Megatron shouted at the troops.
"I can help with the last part." Smokescreen said happily raising a relic in the air.
"The spark extractor."
With the help of the phase-shifter Smokescreen dove under the ground as the relic went off, releasing a dangerous energy that stopped any spark within reach. Megatron gritted his denta before he shouted and threw his dark energon blade and destroyed the relic instantly. Megatron landed gracefully on the ground and grabbed his saber as he contacted the Nemesis.
"Starscream the autobots have ceased the Omega keys. Send reinforcements immediately." He ordered.
"Actually Lord Megatron. Soundwave has been briefing me on recent developments and we may have a more effective solution." Starscream announced.
"Really? Like what?" Phoenix snapped.
"Humans." Starscream chuckled.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
"And why would we do that?" Smokescreen shouted.
Megatron had the biggest grin as the others came out holding the autobots human allies in their servos. The two boys and one girl were placed in small glass jars while Knockout, Soundwave, and Starscream held them. Phoenix and Elisa settled by their Carrier's side.
"So that I may hand over the humans."
"And if we refuse?" Optimus asked.
"Then I will have no choice but to open the pods, exposing your pets to Cyebrtron's toxic atmosphere and then we can all watch them instantly perish together." Megatron said happily.
"Starscream." Megatron ordered when none of the autobots reacted.
"Jack it's time to come out and play." Starscream teased as he scratched at the class making a horrible screech.
"Go ahead. The autobots were prepared to sacrifice themselves for my planet. I'll do the same for theirs." Jack snapped back.
"Me too creepy." Miko said.
"Mmmhhhmmm." Raf said with a gulp. Phoenix snickered as Elisa stood puzzled at their actions.
"Perhaps we should obliged them." Megatron said.
That made Optimus instantly yield as he and the others tossed down their weapons, but held onto the keys. The exchange went one at time until Jack came up and they had to give up the other two keys for him.
"Now." Phoenix ordered through her com link. More troops came through a bridge and instantly surrounded the autobots. Phoenix, Elisa, Megatron, and Starscream held the fours keys as they turned to the Omega lock.
"Now bear witness as a new era dawns on Cybertron."
"BEHOLD THE AGE OF THE DECEPTICONS."
Megatron activated to lock and hit one of the broken buildings which instantly repaired itself and looked brand new again. Everyone gasped including Elisa and Phoenix.
"Shiny." Knockout said gleefully.
"You have what you want Megatron. This conflict is between autobots and decepticons, allow me to return the humans to earth." Optimus stated.
"Oh I wouldn't recommend it." Megatron said darkly. "They'll be far safer here. Is the space bridge locked on target?" Megatron asked Starscream.
"Per your instructions Lord Megatron." Starscream answered.
"Excellent. Why only rule one world when I could rule two."
Phoenix had to frown at the idea. There he goes again thinking about power. She had to roll her eyes, but made sure Elisa didn't see.
"Such raw power. What should I call my new domain New Kaon or perhaps gilded earth?" Megatron teased. The humans pleaded for Megatron to stop but all the decepticons were soon howling with laughter, but didn't see Optimus knock away one of the troops before it was too late. Prime ran towards the Star Saber and easily swiped away the troops that went after him. With a battle cry Megatron charged at his opponent. When the two power blades collided Megatron stumbled back and Optimus cut off his foreign arm with one swipe. The arm was sent flying and the blade impaled the ground with the dead limp still attached. Megatron cried out in pain as sparks flew from his arm.
"Carrier!" Elisa shouted. She paid Prime no mind as she ran to him. Phoenix charged at him and she shouted in pain when Optimus punched her away. The other decepticons fired at Prime but he literally leaped over them and slammed the star saber into the Omega lock station. With his remaining arm, Megatron grabbed Elisa and buried her into his chest as an explosion rang out. The fire was gone as quickly as it came and Elisa was coughing hard from the smoke. Starscream gasped as he saw the Omega lock had been destroyed for good.
"I guess we should cancel the welcome home party." Knockout said casually earning a harsh slap from the seeker.
"Attend to our master. He requires medical attention." Starscream snapped before he saw the bridge close behind him. "Prime! He will pay for dooming Cybertron to remain a lifeless husk." Everyone blinked in surprise when they heard Megatron laughing loudly.
"They can run, but they can never again run home."
Xxxxxxxxx
"Carrier what is that?" Phoenix gasped as they stepped out onto the deck.
"That Phoenix is the starting point of our victory." Megatron stated. All Elisa could do was stare at the large black citadel. It looked absolutely menacing as it stood there tall and proud. She looked up at her Carrier unsure of what to say. At least he let Knockout treat his arm and it wasn't shooting sparks anymore.
"Our opportunity to revive Cybertron has been lost due to the treachery of Optimus Prime! But from our fortress of New Kaon we will instead cease control of this world! DECEPTICONS TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!"
Elisa looked at the new Armada of seekers that had been made just for Starscream. She saw the seeker smile in glee.
"I'd thought he'd never ask." Starscream said before leaping up into the air and transforming again. He would never take the ability to transform for granted again. "Come my Armada…attack attack ATTACK!" Everyone watched as the armada started firing at the autobot base with the insecticons not far behind.
"Better watch it. This isn't a sight for the squeamish." Phoenix teased. Elisa paid Phoenix no mind and continued to watch as the ship started to get closer and the autobots retreated inside the base. "What the?" Phoenix said confused as a small ship started firing at them.
"Wheeljack." Megatron muttered.
"Starscream has him." Elisa said pointing to the air fight underway. Phoenix had to laugh when he was shot out of the sky not long after and they were above the autobot base. Phoenix kept grinning as the ship readied it's main weapon and Elisa saw the red glow beneath them. She looked and saw Megatron right on the end of the main point on the ship as he kept watching in silence. The flash was too bright for Elisa as she turned her head away as the autobot base exploded beneath their feet. She saw smoke rising above the ship as she looked over the edge and saw nothing but burning rubble. She heard Megatron transform and watched him land right in the middle of the burning wreckage next to Starscream.
"This is the place alright." Starscream said.
"This was the place."
"United we stand divided they fall."
Phoenix dove ahead of her and headed off towards some rocks. Elisa remained undecided as to where to go. Finally she relented and headed towards her Carrier. She was accompanied by several insecticons and troops as they started to dig through the wreckage.
"Leave no stone unturned." Megatron ordered.
"Carrier look who I found." Phoenix said gleefully. "Pulled from the wreckage of his ship, Wheeljack." She added as the autobot moaned in pain.
"So one survived. Take our…guest back to the citadel for question, back to Darkmount." Megatron said looking at the mighty fortress with pride.
"This is a dawning of a new age my liege the reign of Megatron." Starscream said excitedly.
"You do have a way with words Starscream. Make haste and unearth the auobot corpses." He shouted out.
"Suck up." Phoenix snapped at Starscream before she left with Wheeljack in tow. Elisa started looking around the rubble and nearly jumped when she thought she saw a servo sticking out. She bit her lip as she also the faintest glimpse of a gold aurora. She shook her head of the sight and turned away to a different part of the wreckage, praying to Primus that what she saw wasn't what she thought. She dug without a word to her Carrier the entire night and by sunrise the flames had died down and the troops uncovered no autobots.
"The Forge of Solous Prime. How is it that you managed to materialize that yet not the remains of a single autobot?!" Megatron snapped at the drones.
"Answer your lord and master. Where are their bodies!?" Starscream snapped as well. Not wanting to deal with the unpleasant surprise of finding Arachnid in a stasis pod, among other things Elisa flew back to the citadel and landed at the top where there was a throne in the center. She walked over to the side of the throne and rolled up into a ball and fell asleep.
Xxxxxx
She nearly jumped when one of the large fusion cannons fired on an oncoming human army. It destroyed everything including the city, Jasper. Elisa walked over to the ledge and was just in-time to see Phoenix fly off into the distance. She didn't want to deal with Phoenix right now. She didn't want to deal with anyone right now so she returned to her place by the throne and returned to sleep.
Xxxxxxxx
"I keep telling you that I will contact you." Magma snapped at Phoenix.
"Are you kidding? Have you seen the new fortress?" Phoenix said sarcastically.
"What?" Magma said confused before he leaped into the air and blinked in surprise at Darkmount. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know, he used the Omega lock." Phoenix shrugged.
"He did what?!" Magma roared.
"The Omega lock." Phoenix said confused.
"What happened?"
"Well we were on Cybertron and got the Omega keys from the autobots which activated the Lock. It would have transformed earth if Optimus Prime hadn't destroyed it." Phoenix explained. Magma's eyes went wide and he was silent for a few moments.
"Return to the citadel."
"Why?"
"Do you want to get caught?"
Xxxxxxxxxxx
"Elisa?" Megatron called out. She slowly woke up and looked up at her Carrier.
"Hi Carrier." She smiled quietly. She stood up and stretched for a moment before getting up on two legs. "Look out!" She shouted before she shoved him out of the way as a red heat ray. Megatron turned and pointed his trusty cannon at Magma, Rhodius and Rising Dawn as they landed on the platform.
"Long time no see Megatron." Magma teased with a grin.
"Not long enough." Megatron huffed.
"Nice place you got here. Know anyone that I can get a deal on a new place?" He joked again, but Megatron frowned.
"Not unless you have a new Omega lock around somewhere." Megatron said decided to play the game.
"What about the Omega lock?" Magma demanded.
"I thought you would have been old enough to have heard of it. Unfortunately for me Optimus Prime destroyed the Omega lock." Megatron stated. Magma growled before he tackled Megatron to the ground.
"You stupid human. That was supposed to save Cybertron." Magma growled with his fangs. He didn't see Elisa tackled him with her fire claws. He roared in surprise pain and anger before he grabbed her by the neck and threw her into a pillar. She grunted in pain as he back hit the metal hard. She didn't have time to recover as Rhodius grabbed her throat and pinned her.
"Get off!" She growled between breaths as he was starting to choke her.
"Elisa!" She heard Megatron shout as he started to fire his cannon, but Magma blocked the blows and swiped at Megatron with red fire claws. She looked back at Rhodius as Rising Dawn came up to her giggling.
"You're a cute little cripple." Dawn teased. Elisa narrowed her eyes in anger before she jumped and slammed both feet into Rhodius' chest sending him back and releasing her. When he tried to attack her again there was red heatray blast along with other small fire as Phoenix, Starscream a small group of seekers started to attack. Elisa was suspicious as Phoenix charged at Rhodius leaving Rising Dawn to go after Elisa. He tackled her and they flew right off the ledge and started chasing each other. She was surprised to see Starscream not too far behind.
"I got you." He said through the com link to her.
"Thanks." She said back quickly, but shouted when Dawn tackled her again. This time he didn't let go of her and she let out a scream of pain as she hit a platform hard with Dawn on top of her. Starscream instantly fired his missiles and Dawn only dodged one. He let out an angry roar before firing at Starscream again. He had no choice but to back off make a round-about as Dawn approached Elisa chuckling. "I don't understand why he wants you. You're just a weakling." Dawn said with a bored tone. When he looked down at Elisa he let out strangled gasp of pain as he looked down and saw her blue fire claws right at his spark. "You…little…" He gargled as blood started to leak out of his mouth. Elisa let out a bitter snarl as she dug the claws in deeper making him shout in pain. Starscream finally returned and gasped at what he saw. Dawn was shaking as the fire in his spark was being extinguished. His body started to shake as his claws dragged slowly over the metal to attack her.
"I can't let you hurt my family." Elisa said bitterly before the red glow of his spark finally went out and he collapsed on the ground still. Elisa backed away from the body as a bitter roar rang through the air. Elisa looked up to see Rhodius dive for his twin's body and snatch it up before leaving with Magma not far behind, both letting out mournful roars.
"Are you alright?" Starscream said making her jump.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said quickly before flying off towards the throne.
"What happened?" Phoenix asked before she gasped at the blood on Elisa's claws.
"Are you hurt?" Megatron said quickly.
"No Carrier…I killed Dawn." She answered quietly.
"You what?!" Phoenix shouted. "He was our brother!" She shouted in Elisa's face.
"He's not my brother!" Elisa shouted back baring teeth. Phoenix stepped back in surprise before retreating back to the Nemesis. Elisa looked down at her claws and just stared at the blood dripping off for a moment.
"Elisa go get some rest and have an energon cube." Megatron said gently.
"I'll help you." Starscream volunteered. She only nodded before flying off with Starscream. Megatron let out deep breath as things finally calmed down. He couldn't believe that Elisa had done that. He never thought she was capable of killing someone, not even an autobot let alone a fellow dragon. He knew she would be in shock for a while.
He's not my brother!
He was surprised to hear that from her as well. As much as he wanted to leave the matter be he would have to talk to her about this quickly and get it over with.
Xxxxxxxx
"Do you think I'm a monster now?" Elisa said quietly as she washed the blood off.
"No Elisa I would never think that of you." Starscream said sincerely. "But why did you do it?" He asked cautiously.
"I know this won't end unless someone dies and I don't want it to be Carrier." Elisa answered.
"You mean between Magma and Megatron?" Elisa only nodded yes. When her hands were dry he handed her an energon cube. "Your favorite it's sweet." He said kindly.
"Thanks." Elisa said as she took a sip.
"Get some rest Elisa."
Xxxxxxx
"A new power dominates your world. Any further attempts to attack me will be met with even greater force. Your leaders should be advised that my fusion cannons possess enough fire power to desolate any populated area of my choosing. I would in all likelihood set sights on your nation's capital for starters." Megatron said to Agent Fowler.
"Point take now what do you want from us?" He demanded quickly.
"Nothing Agent Fowler. The decepticons mean no harm to humanity. We merely desire a place to call home."
"No offense Megatron, but I'm having a tough time swallowing all this, since you seem so bent on plastering human kind under molten steel."
"Agent Fowler, I admit that war brings out the worst in me, but the conflict with the autobots is now over and our quarrel has never been with your kind. Now that one true enemy of the decepticons is no more my only wish is to coexist on this planet with the human race…peacefully. Together Agent Fowler I believe that you and I can make that dream a reality." Megatron finished before he stood up and looked at Starscream.
"How is she?"
"Numb I think." Starscream said quietly.
"I never thought she would do something like this."
"Neither did I master." Starscream said with a chuckle. "I remember when she got angry with me when I extinguished Cliffjumper." He said bitterly. "She's very upset Megatron. She asked if I thought differently of her, which of course I do not." He added.
"I'm going to have to talk to her about this."
"She did it to protect you." Starscream stated. Megatron let out a heavy sigh and looked forward at the dark landscape.
"I don't want my decisions to mold her into a bitter creature." Megatron said sadly.
"Master, I don't think she'll have any regrets, but she thinks the only way to stop Magma is to kill him." Starscream explained.
"There may be a time when that will come, but not now, not for her." Megatron said with guilt.
"You know you too have a way with words Master. I almost believed you myself." Starscream said changing the subject and Megatron had to laugh.
"Earth is our planet now Starscream and shall finish what we started. Human kind has no idea what lies ahead of them."