And here is where events take a turn rather more divergent to the normal TFP Season 2/Season 3 canon, and lean slightly more towards events of the 2008 Shattered Glass stories.
Warning, this is a rather long chapter.
Shattered Glass: Turn sourest by their deeds
Starscream would be the first to admit that the Decepticons had not had many instances of victory lately. Far more numerous were the times that victory was snatched cruelly from their grasp. In the past, it proved to their advantage that the usurper Prime was such a generally single-minded mech. He was prone to attempting the same plans over and again, improving them a little more each time. As such, it mostly fell to the Decepticons to simply remain one step ahead. But on occasion, Optimus changed up the routine, often with devastating consequences. Two weeks after the battle at the Omega Lock, the Autobots had located the Nemesis and Optimus Prime had stormed the bridge.
He'd corrupted one of their own.
The Seeker pushed himself up on one hand, stubbornly ignoring the long, ragged gash across the second fold of his wings. From his position, he could just barely see Airachnid and June, guarding the armory door and holding their ground against a series of Scrounge drones - a step up from the usual Autotrooper fare, but nonetheless as mortal and susceptible to blaster fire as any other Cybertronian. From the sound of the commotion down the corridor and in the junction to the left, he guessed that Wildrider and Breakdown were having a grand old time exploding things, but he knew they were not tireless.
Soundwave, frankly, was probably the only reason they were all still alive at this point. The young spy had barricaded the children and Frenzy in the relic room - and oh wasn't Pax Minor furious about that, but there was nothing to be done about it - and was slipping from vantage point to vantage point in the Nemesis like a ghost, teleporting their enemies directly to the ocean below.
Whatever ill had come of the decision to use a cortical psychic patch the year before with Prime's comatose body, it had at least left Soundwave with the knowledge of how Goldbug operated so many portals, and the ability to recreate the ability himself. Except without having an eternal warp point the size of a grapefruit affixed in his internals. Starscream shuddered briefly at knowledge that could not be forgotten.
The Nemesis rocked to one side, and Starscream determined that some struggle must have upset the controls on the bridge. In fact, that was precisely what had happened. A series of calculating circles and shifting footwork had led Optimus Prime and Megatron in a surprisingly graceful clash from the forward screens to the lines of control stations along the catwalk. Evenly matched in size and ferocity, neither intended to give any quarter, and the longer they dueled the more violent they became.
"Now we see the gladiator slave of Kaon," Optimus taunted, stepping just far enough to the left to avoid a blow that would've taken off his head, "Galling, is it not, to discover a Judas among your loyal gutter-scraps?"
Megatron did not dignify this with an answer. He did not know what piece of leverage or bribery the Autobots held over Dreadwing's head, what could have motivated the heavy Seeker to send Optimus their coordinates, but he would deal with it later. After he'd driven the Autobots from his ship.
Megatron ducked smoothly under a punch and abruptly shifted tactics, taking one of Starscream's preferred methods. He turned slightly to the right and balanced, a classic setup for a flawless Pelehex Hookstrike, common to gladiators. As expected, Optimus leaned his weight onto the backs of his pedes, ready to counter with a duck and an arm trap. Megatron feinted the Hookstrike, then dropped to seize Prime's ankle. With a circular motion borrowed from Ba Gua Zhang fighting styles, he twisted up and around, flipping Prime forward and onto the deck.
At the last moment, Optimus twisted his hips sharply to one side and planted one foot. He reached back and caught hold of Megatron's elbow joint, and used his momentum to throw the Decepticon over the edge of the catwalk. Megatron landed hard in the control center below. Dazed, he spent a costly two seconds to clear the error messages and impact alerts from his processor. There was a splintering crack, and the sensation of heavy pressure being exerted on his left arm, but the pain didn't come for a few nanoseconds more.
Optimus Prime stamped down on the joint again, further warping the plating. But Megatron was strong, had been born strong and built strong: it would take heavier blows than that to render the hinge immobile. Megatron grunted and rolled to the left to try and throw his enemy off. Optimus swung back his leg and kicked, feeling the flat of his pede connect with Megatron's faceplates with a satisfying thunk.
"You disappoint me, Megatron. I'd have thought you would have put up more of a fight," he hissed.
Megatron spat out a trickle of energon and bared his denta in a bitter parody of a grin. "Get used to disappointment."
If he'd been waiting for Prime to kick at him again so that he could unbalance him and throw him down, he was to be disappointed. Optimus deployed a compression cannon from his right arm and aimed for the spark. At some 40,000 p.s.i of force, it would cause severe, near irreparable damage to the spark chamber regardless of the quality of Megatron's armor. The Decepticon dove out of the way, but not quite fast enough, and the force of the blast caught his shoulder.
Megatron could not stop himself from emitting a pained hiss as the highly pressurized air mangled his pauldron. Still, he hauled himself back to his feet and looked his opponent in the optic. Then, just to unsettle what little of Orion was left inside that corrupted frame, he flung one of their old friend Ariel's favored quotes at him.
"Well? What are you waiting for? I could do this all day!"
It had the desired effect. Optimus's hand faltered just as he had been preparing to fire again. Neither of them had seen Ariel since the early days of the rebellion, and while Optimus occasionally voiced a confident opinion that she was serving the Autobot cause somewhere, he could not stop a tiny doubt that said she would have contacted him by now if she still lived. Likewise, Megatron often liked to imagine that she was leading rebellion somewhere with the seven or eight femmes who tended to rally behind her, but he could not help the morose suspicion that Alpha Trion had simply had her "vanish" to keep Orion from resurfacing through the Prime programming.
Optimus was only distracted for a fraction of an instant, but it was enough. Megatron closed the distance between them and slammed a palm up under Prime's chin, knocking the cannon aside with the other hand. He only had about 80% mobility in his left arm, but otherwise he hadn't slowed any.
He couldn't afford to.
If the Autobots took the Nemesis, they'd have access to the three ion cannons in the hull. Weapons of that magnitude would be used to a devastating effect on the planet Earth, and Megatron could not allow that.
Cliffjumper had certainly had better days.
The engine rooms shouldn't have been that hard to seize, but the Decepticons seemed all the fiercer for their paltry forces. At the moment, he was fighting with the scrappy femme youngling that wore the Cybertron Guard badge. For a femme that barely came to his shoulder, she was certainly giving him a run for his money! But for the moment, the Autobot SIC was simply grateful that he didn't have to face the Predacon, which seemed more concerned with the Autotroopers trying to shut down access to the weapons grid.
Cliffjumper fended off a wild punch and flung the femme at the wall. Like a bullet, she ricocheted back and pivoted sharply on one heel. With a mighty swing, she caught Cliffjumper across the midsection with her Stanix pistol-sword which, while not heavy enough to knock him down, sent him back several steps.
On the upper level of the engine room, Predaking bashed the helms of two Autotroopers together and frowned, looking from one to the other. Then, he leaned over the railing until he could see Flamewar, who was dancing out of reach every time Cliffjumper got close enough to punch. She needed distance for her primary weapon to be the most effective.
"Flamewar," the dragon called plaintively, "What do I do with these once they're incapacitated?" While used to combat as training due to his upbringing with Shockwave and the Insecticons, Predaking was still as unused to war as Miko and Sierra.
"Well what do you usually do?"
"I give my opponents to Father," the Predacon answered, "Then he tells me if I need to better restrain my strength or not."
Flamewar bit back a groan. "You're not sparring this time, Predaking! Take 'em out!" she yelled up as she managed to get enough space between her and Cliffjumper to squeeze off a shot that sent the blue mech tumbling head over heels across the floor.
"Oh. Can I eat them?" Predaking asked in a thoughtful sort of voice.
"What? No! Predaking, that's cannibalism!" Flamewar sounded horrified. Of course, she decided it was more likely than anything that Predaking was making use of assumptions about Predacons to frighten his remaining opponents, but he always sounded so unsettlingly sincere!
"But what if they're annoying me and I just really want to eat them to make them stop?" he asked innocently.
"Still cannibalism."
Predaking huffed. "Very well, I shall restrain myself."
With that, he hurled the two he had been holding over the railing and dove for the ever-more-skittish remaining four. More poured in through the door on the lower level, and the battle continued.
Pax Minor was restless and agitated. He paced in front of the relic room door, hands alternately tightening and loosening on the rifle he carried more often than not these days. On a cognitive level, he knew he didn't stand much chance alone against the Autobot boarding party, and that he was needed here to protect his friends, but on a deeper level he could not deny the feeling that he needed to be out there fighting alongside his family. He listened to the sounds of combat beyond the door and recognized one voice from the lot. Pax's face tightened into a soundless snarl.
"Dreadwing fooled all of us, Jack," Sierra cut into his thoughts with a firm voice. "It wasn't your fault."
"No?" the boy gritted his teeth and made as if to check the ammunition in his rifle. "I felt like something was off about him when we picked him up in the canyon, but I didn't say anything. We were too busy for discussions and accusations. I should have said something anyway."
And then what? Force his hand early so he he ends up killing us humans, that's what, Miko signed with a stubborn look. Don't go Stunticon again, Jack.
He knew what she meant by go Stunticon. She was talking about when he'd used the Skyclaw's cannons to obliterate the Dinobot Sludge, saving Wildrider. There'd been something in Jack's eyes that day that had worried Miko, something that didn't entirely go away when Breakdown recovered. The little girl sometimes found herself wondering how long it would be before something provoked her friend enough to do something reckless again.
Jack frowned at the thirteen year old girl, who crossed her thin arms and frowned right back. Frenzy stood at her shoulder, pale blue arms folded calmly. The young deployer had received some upgrades over the past year, enough that he could have joined the battle alongside Soundwave, Ravage, and Laserbeak. But even with reinforced armor and internal weapons systems, Soundwave had still insisted that Frenzy remain behind to protect Miko.
"Pax, we no can be distracted right now," he said firmly. He still had difficulty processing English, preferring his native Cybertronian or sign language. "Got to protect who's here now. Can worry about others when they're safe."
Sierra nodded, though none of them were looking at her to tell. She climbed up one of the consoles and booted it up to life. "Hey, boys, which one of you is in the relic room more often?"
Jack raised a sheepish hand.
"Good. Show me how to reroute the hold manifest console so that it connects to grid security. I don't like the idea of not knowing what Starscream is facing out there." Sierra gestured to the screens with a determined look.
Jack took a deep breath, then nodded. The efforts of five minutes soon proved worthwhile, and found the three humans and one deployer with access to footage of the main decks of the Nemesis. An extra six minutes' hacking allowed them to tap into the Decepticons' group comms on an encrypted channel the Autobots wouldn't be able to pick up.
"Knock Out, ST3V3, you've got Bulkhead incoming," Sierra shouted into her headset, "Starboard side, ninth junction between you and living quarters. He's got six Autotroopers with him."
"Roger that, Sierra. Stay put, we'll sort it." the medic replied, and on the screens they could see his battered frame readying himself for another round of fighting.
Cursory examination of the other decks revealed that while the Autobots' numbers were, at present, borderline overwhelming, there was a pattern to their attacks. Jack observed for a moment, then took the headset from Sierra.
"Mom, Rani," he said, "They're rushing you three at a time in hopes of tiring you out. There's seventeen more waiting in the hallway intersection around the corner, but they've all crowded into one spot. They've pretty much bottle-necked themselves in there waiting for the next three to go. Think you can do anything about that?"
"It's worth a try, Pax," June mused. She sounded tired. "Thanks for the intel, baby. Keep it up."
Airachnid waved to the recovering Starscream, who now stood upright on unsteady pedes until his wings had stopped spasming. Once she had the Seeker's attention, the Decepticon femme signed, around that corner: more Scrounges.
Starscream held closed fists facing upwards at waist-level, then opened the servos and brought them up. How many?
Seventeen. Slingshot explosion?
Perfect.
Starscream moved as quietly as he could to the wall, barely peering around and pulling back just in time to avoid a shot. Yes, there were Scrounges waiting alright. He nodded sharply to Airachnid, and then fired a rocket directly at her. Airachnid waited until the missile was within four feet of her before catching it in a strand of webbing and whipping it about like a sling. When she let go, it whirled around the edge of the corner and detonated with a thunderous report. With five Scrounges down and two more injured, that left ten to deal with.
"We can take the ten," June shouted, "Get to the bridge!"
Starscream would not argue. The idea of Megatron facing Prime alone did not sit well with him, even knowing they were more than a match for each other physically. He opted to simply fly over the heads of the drones, though the transformation scraped dented and jagged plating edges over the abrasions on his wings, exacerbating the injuries. Flight would have to be quick and limited.
As he made for the prow of the ship, slightly more encouraging news poured in over the comm channels.
"Lee side medical ward is clear!"
"Starboard armory is clear except for Cliffjumper, but he's only got two more troopers for backup."
"Forward armory is clear!"
Primus only knew how long it would last, but Starscream wasn't about to waste his chances. He pushed his engines to go faster than was likely wise for an indoor environment, transforming mid-air as he reached the bridge of the Nemesis. Megatron and Optimus were still locked in combat, blades crossed and neither giving an inch. Megatron's left shoulder was mangled almost beyond recognition, and there were two long gashes across his back. Energon streamed down the Decepticon leader's faceplates, pooling in cracks and dents wherever it landed, but the Autobot was not unscathed either.
"What is it you say, Megatron?" Optimus grated through a half-destroyed battle mask. His ruined face was visible now for the first time in years, and it made Starscream sick to look at it. "One shall stand, one shall fall?"
Megatron slid a half-step to the side, subtly repositioning his enemy. "A touch melodramatic for the occasion, I agree," he coughed. This would have been Starscream's opening to shoot the usurper Prime in the back, weakening his stance and allowing Megatron to deliver a fatal blow.
But Megatron was not the only player with a knight still on the field.
"Starscream, anyone, come in!" Sierra sounded frantic on the comm lines. "Does anyone have eyes on Dreadwing?"
Shockwave reported moments later that he'd seen him headed for the prow of the ship, but had been unable to stop him. Too late, Starscream caught the flicker of movement in the shadows. Something sliced through the air and attached itself to Megatron's back, where the armor was already slightly compromised by the gashes, beeping faintly.
"No…" Starscream whispered. Two bombs detonated and Starscream felt the blow as if it had been his own armor that had just been torn open.
Megatron seemed frozen for a moment, optics wide. He could hear the children calling his name - screaming it, really - over the comm lines, could hear the other Decepticons making a concerted effort to take back the bridge. He was vaguely aware that his primary fuel tank was ruptured and shrapnel was working into his internal gears, and found himself wondering if it should have hurt more. He seemed to fall in slow motion, watching Optimus Prime's expression turn from confusion to fury: he had not been the one to land the final blow, and Megatron could at least take satisfaction in knowing that Optimus had forever been cheated of the victory he wanted most.
There was a kind of system hardline cable running down the back of the console Megatron had fallen next to. Even as Optimus rushed past him to deal enraged retribution to the traitorous Dreadwing, even as Starscream fired at them both while rushing to Megatron's side, he felt around for the access port of the cable.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Starscream rolled him to his side in an attempt to keep more energon and internal fluid from leaking out. "I saw him, but I wasn't fast enough, forgive me!"
"N-not your fault," Megatron hissed. With shaking servos, he connected the cable to a port in his wrist. Starscream's optics widened as he realized what Megatron was about to do.
"Don't-"
Megatron ignored him and focused as much of his flagging energy as he could into the cable. "Trypticon, I know you can hear me."
"Megatron please don't do this, you need to conserve your energon," Starscream pleaded.
"TRYPTICON ANSWERS." a mighty voice shook the bridge. "WHAT DO YOU ASK OF ME, OLD FRIEND?"
"Take us out of the atmosphere, adjust pressure, gravity, and oxygen for the humans. Do it quickly, we have little time," Megatron gasped. By his reckoning, they had all of twenty minutes before Prime tired of beating Dreadwing, who would not surrender as easily as Cliffjumper.
The Nemesis rose steadily, and had not internal gravity been constantly adjusted, Starscream would likely have been knocked flat to the floor by the force of their ascension. Knock Out was on the bridge now, with Soundwave close behind, carrying a medical kit that Starscream knew would be useless. Too much energon had been lost, and the reserves were being absorbed by his connection to Trypticon. His dark thoughts were momentarily interrupted by a hand against his arm.
"Listen to me," Megatron began, "I need you to lead-"
"No!" Starscream interrupted, "Don't you dare give up, Megatron, don't you dare leave me alone!"
"Shut up and listen!" Megatron snarled, and Starscream fell silent, unused to such rebukes. "Listen," Megatron said again, softer, "I need you to lead the Decepticons. For my sake. They will need you as much as you will need them, Starscream. I am uploading the access codes for my encrypted database to your personal console." He paused to reroute energy from his limbs, no longer functioning, to his vocoder and processor, desperate to keep from going silent. "Some of the things you will find - things I had to keep from you - will be unpleasant, and I am sorry for that. But I trust you to keep the Decepticons alive, Starscream. Will you do this for me?"
Starscream gritted his denta and clutched Megatron's hand. "If you command it of me," he rasped.
Megatron nodded. "Then I command it of you."
Starscream bowed his head, wings trembling. "Lord Megatron, you may depend on me."
Megatron's optics softened, and he squeezed the Seeker's hand. "I always have. Go with Primus, Starscream." Then, as his optics began to flicker, he turned his attention back to the ship.
"Trypticon!" he made his weakened voice as stern as he could. "Lock onto all Autobot life signals and transport them to my coordinates."
"Megatron, are you insane?!" Knock Out demanded.
The living ship complied, using one Ground Bridge at a time to drag as many Autobots as it could find into the bridge. The now-crowded room buzzed with confusion and activity, and Optimus Prime realized that his invasion was not going as planned. He turned, desperate to get in one last blow that might leave him able to say that it was he, and not Dreadwing, who had killed Megatron.
"Trypticon," Megatron whispered, "On my mark, open a Bridge a mile from the hull."
"THAT IS NOT A LOCATION. THAT IS OUTER SPACE." even the stoic tones of the massive being sounded troubled.
"Just do it!"
"TRYPTICON ACKNOWLEDGES."
Megatron turned his head and glared at Knock Out and Soundwave. "Get him out of here," he growled, gesturing faintly to Starscream. He disconnected the cable from his wrist and, grabbing hold of the console, slowly and painfully pulled himself upright.
Green lit the Bridge, forming into a portal larger than any they'd seen before. The void on the other end pulled greedily at the Cybertronians, sucking the unwary Autobots through one by one.
"This isn't over," Optimus snarled as he was thrown into the Bridge. "Know this, Megatron: your death changes nothing. You have saved no one."
Megatron did not answer him. He turned and lifted a shaking hand in a farewell to his Decepticons, smiling sadly.
"I love you."
Then he was gone and the Bridge vanished, leaving the bridge of the Nemesis darker than any of them could ever remember it being before.
They had been lucky, not that anyone would have said as much aloud. In the invasion, they had only lost three. Sideways and Crossways, the Vehicon twins, had been overwhelmed by Scrounges and Bulkhead shortly after clearing the medical ward. Knock Out gently arranged their limbs in funerary pods and lowered them into the sublevel crypt himself. He'd always had a bit of a soft spot for drone-class mechs who dared to defy the Autocratic Robotic Empire. Much of the Nemesis was in shambles, and damage to one of the engines kept them from staying above the atmosphere much longer, which prevented them from finding and retrieving Megatron's body to inter alongside the twins.
Most of the remaining Decepticons weren't sure they'd have been able to handle the sight even if they had found him.
No one had seen Starscream since the fateful moment when they'd all gathered on the bridge - human and Cybertronian alike - as the Seeker hissed in broken tones, "Decepticons, it is with deep sorrow that I note for the log….Megatron's spark….has been extinguished."
He'd shaken off Knock Out's grip, muttered something about retrieving Sierra, and left the bridge without another word.
It was soon discovered that Dreadwing remained onboard, though beaten into stasis lock by Optimus Prime. When Megatron had purged the ship, Trypticon had clearly not scanned Dreadwing as an Autobot, and so he had been left behind.
Breakdown was all for executing the traitor right then and there. ST3V3, Predaking and Flamewar were in agreement, citing him as a danger to everyone on board. Airachnid and Shockwave, on the other hand, felt that he should first stand trial for what he had done, though everyone knew what the outcome would already be. June agreed that, even if it was more of a formality than anything else, a trial would convey to the traitor that Decepticons were not Autobots. Knock Out cited healer's oath and refused to get involved.
Miko didn't have an opinion one way or another. She was still sobbing, even an hour later, curled up in Soundwave's scout chamber. Megatron had seemed like the one Decepticon who would always be there, almost as if he were a piece of the ship itself, There was something profoundly wrong with the idea that he could be injured, let alone killed.
Likewise, Jack was in a state of shock, sitting listlessly on the catwalk and staring at nothing. This didn't seem real. Megatron wasn't supposed to die! It was nearly five, when he always went to discuss his schoolwork with the huge mech. The realization that even that tiny, mundane part of his schedule was gone was what did it: Jack covered his face and his shoulders shook.
Wildrider's hands trembled when he saw Breakdown's grandsparkling trying to hide his tears, and he gripped the the hilts of his swords to still them. "Dreadwing has to pay for this," he growled. "If none of you have the guts to do it, I will."
"Enough." Starscream's voice cut over the deliberations. He stood framed in the doorway at the end of the catwalk, leaning heavily against the railing.
He looked only slightly less haggard than he had before, but now there was a fire in his optics they had not seen since the desecration of Skywarp. Starscream flicked his wings once, drawing attention to the fact that a broad, red stripe ran down the center of each wing now. They were symbols of his rank, something he'd refused to wear all the years he'd been Air Commander, despite Megatron asking him to.
"Enough," he said again. "Confine him to the brig for now, but no unnecessary force is to be used. We will rely upon MECH and COBRA to provide a less biased judge and jury when the time comes for him to face trial, but there will be no more talk of killing. We are not Autobots."
Jack's head whipped around. "You're just going to let him live?" he yelped, "After what he did? Starscream, you of all people should-"
Starscream vaulted over the rail and landed hard in front of the boy. "I of all people?" he snarled, "Do you somehow think I am not affected by this, Pax?"
Jack wiped his eyes and glared, but said nothing, fearing that opening his mouth again would let more tears escape.
"Now you listen," Starscream hissed, and his wings twitched involuntarily as he realized he was echoing Megatron. "Do you think I'm turning a blind eye to what Dreadwing did? I am not. You know what Megatron was to me. You know it is as much my duty and my right to avenge him as it was yours to avenge Breakdown. But whatever else happens, whatever punishment the final judgment turns out to be, know this: I want Dreadwing to live a long life, alone with his cowardice. If we kill him, the knowledge of what he has done will not have time to weigh on his spark."
Starscream waited until Jack seemed to at least acknowledge what he had said, then stood to face the others. "We will hold vigil for the fallen tonight," he said, "But for now we must focus on the living."
"June, Knock Out, ST3V3, make certain nothing in the medical bay was stolen or damaged. Soundwave, Frenzy, Miko, and Ravage: cycle out the data signature of the Nemesis and use whatever satellites are nearby to provide us with some cover until our shields regenerate. I don't want the Autobots able to track us. Breakdown, Pax Minor, take stock of our weapons and energon."
He moved through the crowd as he spoke, barely looking at them. "Shockwave and Wildrider, find out just how much Dreadwing told our enemies. Airachnid, you make sure they don't get carried away with the interrogation. And Predaking, I need you to fly out and check the hull for any breaches." He turned and faced them all again, optics hard. "Understood?"
There were five seconds of dead silence before Knock Out grimly answered, "Aye, Lord Starscream."
"Do not call me that," Starscream snapped as they scattered. "That title only belongs to one Decepticon."
From his shoulder, Sierra gently touched his face. "And me?" she interrupted his ire softly. "What do I do, Starscream?"
His faceplates clouded with pain. "Just...stay with me a while, that's all. So that I retain some semblance of sanity."
Sierra nodded and leaned against her guardian's helm. "This doesn't feel real," she croaked.
"If it's all the same to you, Sierra, I'd rather not talk about him," Starscream tried not to sound angry.
"Sorry."
For a while, there was silence as Starscream stood at the main navigational console, stoically entering commands and adjusting their course periodically. After fifteen or twenty minutes, Sierra found the courage to speak again.
"Starscream? What happens to us now?"
The Seeker paused and raised his helm to glower at the ocean through the viewports. "We run for a little while, hide for a little while. Wait for the Autobots to grow confident again. And then we do what we have always done." He tilted his head down to look at the girl on his shoulder.
"We fight."
