Chapter 10

"I have an incoming communication from Shockwave," Megatron informed his small team of Decepticons.

"Ah, good. Let's hear what he has to say," Starscream replied, hoping that the Decepticon astrophysicist would be able to provide them with a way of defeating the Nemesis Army.

Shockwave's voice came through on Megatron's personal com, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Megatron, I have completed my analysis of the specimen."

"What have you learned?" the Decepticon leader asked him.

"To put it simply, the drones possess a very basic level of sentience. They are only capable of assimilating and carrying out basic instructions, which they are receiving remotely." There was a pause, and then Shockwave continued speaking. "The only way to stop them is to find the mech that is controlling them. Once he has been neutralized, the drones can then be easily destroyed."

"Hm. Just as we thought," Starscream responded. "What are the odds that our mech is Deluge?"

"That is a highly likely presumption, Starscream," Shockwave answered him.

The distant sounds of battle had now ceased, and there was silence as the gathered Autobots and Decepticons listened for further activity. There was none.

"I can send a team into Polyhex in search of Deluge," Shockwave offered, but Megatron stopped him from saying anything further.

"That won't be necessary. Deluge is most likely in Iacon as we speak," the Decepticon leader informed him. "Shockwave, I want you to send all available Decepticons immediately to Iacon. Straxus is here, and the time has come to put an end to his tyranny."

There was a slight pause on the other end of the communication, but then Shockwave confirmed the orders. "Understood, Megatron. We will join you in less than five hundred astro-seconds," he said, before the link was cut.

Megatron looked at his fellow Decepticons, and spoke loudly enough for all the Autobots to hear him as well. "It is time for us to gather our combined forces and wage war against Straxus."

Many of the Autobots present took heed of his words, and their weary faces began to fill with a sliver of hope.

Prowl nodded his approval, glad for the chance to be able to fight back. "We have nothing left to lose," he said.

Straxus watched with satisfaction as the latest group of captured Autobots were herded together with the survivors from the command post. Amongst the newly captured were Optronix, Ricochet, Kup, Guzzle, Skids, Pipes, and Sureshot. The rest of their group, including the cadets, were still safe in the bunker with Alpha Trion, who had opted to keep watch over Sentinel Prime as the Autobot leader recovered from his injuries.

The captured crew had set out for Iacon, intending to help with the relocation of Autobots from the compromised command post in response to Hot Rod's call for assistance, and had not expected to find Straxus there. They had put up a fight as best they could, but had been easily overpowered by his army.

"We've got to warn Alpha Trion and the others, somehow," Kup whispered to Guzzle and Ricochet, making sure that Straxus wouldn't overhear him.

The war lord continued to keep an optic on his prisoners, as he waited for Seizer and his team to return with more helpless victims. He would not stop until the entire Autobot army had been captured. Once this had been accomplished, the rest of the population would bow down at his feet with minimal resistance.

"Deluge!" he called out suddenly.

His chief scientist answered him immediately, having returned to his leader's side after the brief battle against the Autobot warriors. "Yes, my Lord?"

"Where is Sentinel Prime?" Straxus demanded. "Is he here?"

"I do not believe so," Deluge replied, looking over the captured Autobots. "He is yet to be found."

Straxus grunted, and began pacing. The Autobot prisoners had fallen quiet upon the mention of Sentinel Prime, and their full attention was now on the Destron war lord, who turned back to face Deluge. "He must be found and smelted down."

"Yes, my Lord," the scientist acknowledged, but Straxus had not finished speaking.

"Do you have the Autobot Matrix of Leadership?"

"Yes, my Lord. I have it right here," Deluge said, and retrieved the precious object that he had been carrying from inside a compartment beneath his chest panel.

"Excellent." Straxus paused as murmurings of surprise and confusion rose up among the prisoners. "You shall select a new leader for my Nemesis Army…" he began, as Deluge looked at his leader quizzically. Straxus swept an arm over the captured Autobots in front of them. "From among these prisoners."

Deluge nodded in approval. "It shall be my pleasure," he said, and studied the unwilling candidates with a careful optic, looking each one over. He would require a strong, able-bodied mechanoid to replace Sentinel Prime's role. After a minute of deliberation, Deluge finally settled upon his new leader of choice. "He'll do," he said, pointing to a blue, robust looking Autobot.

As the guards moved to grab him and bring him to Deluge, Hot Rod, still distraught by the cruel execution of his friend Magnus, placed himself in front of Pipes. "Leave him alone!"

But the guards only sneered at the brash cadet, and grabbed him instead. "I think this one's volunteering," one of them said.

Soon, the clamor of protest arose from the other Autobots, and Straxus swung his battle axe around threateningly.

"Silence!" he bellowed. Then he looked at the Autobots as a hunter would his prey. "If any of you wishes to step forward willingly and bow before me, then I shall spare the lives of these two," he said, indicating towards Pipes and Hot Rod, who had been forced to their knees before the war lord. When not a single Autobot spoke up, he raised his glaive, intent on executing the two prisoners.

There existed few Destrons who could claim to be as cruel and calculating as Seizer. It was his cold-blooded consideration for both his enemies and allies alike that had appealed to Straxus' particular brand of cruelty and mercilessness, and which had earned him a place amongst the tyrant's top ranking officers. Even still, he was not averse to shooting Straxus in the back should the opportunity to take control present itself.

He derived much pleasure in crushing hapless victims under the heavy wheels of his drilling machine alt mode. In addition to his violent and murderous tendencies, Seizer was well known for his selfishness and hedonism, and often enjoyed watching Straxus deal with his victims at the smelting pools.

Making his way down the streets of Iacon in his heavy alt mode, he was accompanied by several Destrons both on the ground and in the air. As with Clench, he had been given a search party to track down and capture any Autobot who had fled from the Destron takeover of Iacon's Command Center.

The area looked deserted, though he sensed many civilians huddled in their homes, afraid to venture outside for fear of being torn to shreds by the Nemesis Army or shot down by Straxus' soldiers. But it wasn't the civilians that he was interested in right now; he was specifically after the surviving officers of the Autobot's military outpost. "Come out, come out, wherever you are…" he teased, rolling along the empty streets while searching for any sign of life.

He was about to turn back when he detected several life signs near an abandoned storage facility. He came to a stop and then transformed into his robot mode, listening carefully before ordering his team to join him.

"I smell a nest of turbo-rats," he told them, pointing them to the building that had indicated the life signs. "Let's flush them out," he said, a twisted sneer appearing on his face.

Then he powered up his blaster and, accompanied by his party of Destron soldiers, stormed the storage bay.

"Not one of you is brave enough to take up my generous offer? Very well, then it shall please me to offer these two pathetic fools my gift of death!"

Just as Straxus was about to swing down his blade upon the heads of the two prisoners, one of the other Autobots stepped forward. "Wait – please, do not harm them."

Hot Rod turned to look behind him, and was horrified to see who had come forward. He tried to get up, but was roughly pushed back down to his knees. "Optronix, no!"

But the sturdily built Autobot cadet ignored the sudden pleas for him to reconsider his current suicidal course of action.

"No, don't do it, lad," he heard Kup call out to him.

"Optronix!" came Blaster's voice.

But he ignored them all. In his mind, if he had to sacrifice himself in order to save the lives of his friends, then he saw no other option but to do so. "I accept your offer, Straxus, if you will promise not to harm them," he said finally, as he stood before the war lord.

Straxus nodded with approval. "Seize him!" he told his guards, and Optronix found himself being grabbed by the arms. "Deluge! Take this one."

The Destron guards forced him to stand before Deluge, who looked at his victim with a critical optic for a few moments, sizing him up. Then, satisfied, he stepped closer to Optronix. "Not my first choice, but no matter." Then, without warning, he forced open Optronix's front panel and pushed the Matrix into his chest. It fit neatly into place. "Do not be afraid, Autobot. It is your destiny to lead my great Army." Then he stepped back and informed the guards, "You may release him now."

The guards did as Deluge had directed, and at first it appeared as though nothing had changed.

"Optronix! Optronix, are you all right?" Hot Rod called out to him, and Optronix slowly turned around to face his fellow Autobots.

"I'm… I feel fine…" Optronix began, all optics now fixed upon him. But then he doubled over, holding his chest, and stumbled forwards in pain. He dropped to his knees, one hand flat on the ground to try and steady himself. "Ahhhh!" He began to cry out in agony, as he struggled against the adverse effects that suddenly overwhelmed him, brought on by the Matrix that Deluge had placed inside him.

As the helpless Autobots watched Optronix's sudden, agonizing transformation, Deluge simply looked on in utter delight, and now held a control module in his hands as he monitored his new subject. The experimental procedure seemed to be working just as he had envisioned.

There appeared a pinkish glow that had come upon Optronix's frame, which made it difficult to see his expression or his physical condition. Optronix's torture felt to him like it went on forever, but in reality it only lasted a few minutes. For many of the Autobots present, but especially his fellow class mates, it was the most difficult thing that they would ever have to witness. Not one of them dared speak or move as they stared, unable to help him, yet unable to turn away until finally, after what seemed like an eternity of torment, Optronix's struggling suddenly stopped. Then, gradually, the pink mist-like haze began to dissipate and he became visible once more.

He remained as he was, bent low to the ground, unmoving.

"Optronix?" Hot Rod called out again, though his voice was weak, uncertain.

Optronix began to slowly stand up to his full height. To everyone's surprise, he was now much larger than he was before. The colors that had adorned his outer armour were no longer the familiar red, white and blue, but had been replaced by black, purple and grey, and his frame had been modified to resemble a much stronger version of his former self. His optics, which had been a bright blue, now glowed red; he had the semblance of a typical Destron.

Deluge chuckled to himself. He stepped forwards and proclaimed with pride his latest creation, as the Autobots looked on in utter abhorrence at what the scientist had done to Optronix. "Behold, Nemesis Prime!"

* * * End of The Nemesis Army Part 2 * * *