AN: Welcome to the beginning of the end of this story. I caution you now, when you read this chapter, you will find action, romance, tragedy, betrayal, and all around epicness that could only be experience if one were to truly combine Transformers and Gundam in a way that I hope I have managed to do. Before we go on, I have some reviews I'd like to address.
First off from "Seeker213": A very good question my friend, but I'm afraid that I cannot give an answer to without going into the full answer and essentially giving away a great deal of a plot point in the sequel.
Next is from "DDD": I am fully aware that there are traditionally six Constructicons, but I had my reasons for not including Bonecrusher. One of those reasons will be revealed later on in this chapter.
Finally a Guest review: No Omega Supreme will NOT be making an appearance. If you would look back at every time Optimus mentions the reasoning behind naming the Omega II, you will find he says that the ship is named for a fallen Autobot warrior. That alone should be a big clue as to the current status of Omega Supreme. Now whether or not I include in him in a flashback later on or not, well that really depends on whether or not I can incorporate it into the story but at the moment I'm afraid that Omege Supreme is not planned to make an appearance. Now with that out of the way, onto the show.
I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter 27: The Final Nightmare Begins
After they had left the battle that had taken place at the Mendel Colony, the Dominion and the Armageddon had returned to the Earth Forces Lunar Base so that Azrael and Starscream could formally report their findings. After handing the data over to some of the Earth Forces technicians and the data on the Energon Reactor Core technology had been looked at, everyone was more than simply impressed with the possibilities it presented, they were ecstatic. Though it was quite clear that not everyone had the same ideas for this technology as others.
"I agree obtaining data on the Energon Reactor Cores was impressive Azrael; however, we're not too sure about your idea about weaponizing it for an all-out attack," One of the administrators of the Earth Forces commented to the blonde in the meeting that was taking place regarding the plans Azrael had proposed.
"Given that the energy crisis here on Earth has reached critical proportions, we think it would be better to focus on that," another one of his colleagues then pointed out. At this though, a very large fist slammed into the wall drawing everyone's attention towards Starscream himself, who had been allowed into the meeting as the "foremost expert" on all things energon.
"You people are all fools you do realize this correct," Starscream asked rhetorically. "Your energy crisis is a problem yes, but your enemies of the PLANTs are the ones who caused it to begin with, am I wrong?" At everyone's silence in response, Starscream took that to mean he was not. "This small energy crisis is nothing compared to that of Cybertron's, or need I remind you that my entire home world is now but a barren, lifeless wasteland? It is quite simple, if you eliminate the ones who caused the initial crisis, then there is no need to fear another one happening."
"Thank you Commander Starscream. Those are all excellent points," Azrael smiled, just missing Starscream's smirk as he turned to address the rest of those assembled. "As the commander just stated, we're not going to win this war unless we attack. Our enemies are the Coordinators, so we must wipe them out completely. Besides it's not like we haven't used something as powerful if not more powerful than nuclear weapons in the past, so what reason is there to hold back now?"
"But…that was all your doing," one of the ministers pointed out, getting a glare from Azrael in response.
"You don't collect powerful weapons just for the fun of it," Azrael continued to argue. "These Energon Reactor Core weapons are by far the most powerful weapons that human history has seen to date, and we have to use them. I mean we spent good money building them just for that purpose right? So let's hurry and fire them, and finally we will put an end to this war once and for all."
At that point, Azrael's case had been made strong enough to get everyone to agree with it, and orders were sent out to the sixth and seventh Orbital Fleet that they were to launch an attack on Boaz and the PLANT homeland at twelve hundred hours. With the meeting adjourned, Starscream left to prepare his ship and forces for action while Azrael returned to the Dominion to ensure that Commander Badgiruel understood her role in this. Something about the female captain of the second Archangel Class ship was bothering him, and Azrael needed to make absolute certain that it would not be a problem.
What Azrael did not know was that he would soon have a problem with someone other than Natarle Badgiruel, and this fact was reinforced as soon as Starscream had arrived in his quarters aboard the Armageddon and opened a coded communication line to an unknown person or persons. Once the connection was established, Starscream reported, "The Earth Forces are ready and preparing to attack the PLANTs as you had hoped that they would sir."
"Excellent Starscream," replied the person through a voice synthesizer that was being used in case someone was listening in. "When they begin their assault on the PLANTs themselves, be sure that your troops understand their roles."
"Of course sir," Starscream replied as the communication ended. With the line cut, Starscream could only chuckle with glee at what was about to happen, how that fool Azrael was about to make it so easy to happen, and at the thought of Azrael's face when he finally discovers the truth of the purpose behind their alliance.
It was a few hours after this meeting that had taken place between Azrael, Starscream, and the rest of Earth Forces command, that the Orbital Fleets that had been given orders to attack had begun their assault on Boaz, and Z.A.F.T. had responded in kind with Decepticon drones alongside them. If one were in the midst of the battle itself, they would find Z.A.F.T. GuAIZs facing off with Strike Daggers, and Vehicons fighting against Insecticon swarms, and amidst this chaos were the Calamity, Raider, and Forbidden along with the Combaticons and three Insecticon leaders who had deployed as soon as their ships had arrived in the area.
From the PLANT capital, Patrick Zala, Le Creuset, Ezalia Joule, and the rest of what was left of the chairman's people were meeting in Zala's office observing the battle. From where he stood, Rau Le Creuset could only smirk in anticipation at what was to come before finally commenting aloud, "I wonder…"
Everyone instantly turned to face the masked man as Zala asked him to go on with what he was thinking. "Getting past Boaz is no easy task, and I'm sure the Earth Forces are well aware of that. I can't imagine them attacking it if they knew it was utterly hopeless, yet they're suddenly making their move. I can't help wondering why," Le Creuset stated.
"I wouldn't worry. They're probably attacking with regular mobile suits and a few new models. They're fooling themselves if they think those forces will defeat us," Ezalia Joule argued confidently.
"I would be careful of such thoughts if I were you Councilwoman," a deep, cold voice then warned. Everyone turned to see Megatron himself walk into the room from an already closing Ground Bridge portal.
"Lord Megatron, this is a surprise," Chairman Zala commented, truly meaning what he had said. "I had thought you would be overseeing the final adjustments to GENESIS and ensuring your troops were ready for anything."
"Rest assured Chairman Zala, my forces are always ready for combat, and all that is left to deal with on GENESIS is being taken care of by your people and the efforts of our guest," Megatron replied.
"What did you mean earlier if you don't mind my asking Lord Megatron," Joule asked.
Megatron's face then turned as somber as possible for him as he simply said, "I have seen far too many soldiers of both Autobot and Decepticon lose their battle or simply perish in the war for Cybertron due to having far too much confidence in their strengths Councilwoman. I am simply cautioning you on making a similar mistake."
"Please Lord Megatron, Le Creuset. Whatever point you are both trying to make you had better make now. Tell me," Zala cut in.
Le Creuset took this as he cue to continue with what he was saying earlier. "I'm not quite sure what we're dealing with here, but as you're all aware there are a number of wild cards that are in play right now. Wild cards like the Freedom, the Justice, and Lacus Clyne."
"And of course we cannot forget the wild cards that are the Autobots and Optimus Prime," Megatron added, just to ensure that they did not forget just how many enemies they had at the moment.
"Are you two serious," Zala demanded. "You're both saying that our enemies have somehow managed to regain their nuclear capabilities?"
"No sir not at all," Le Creuset assured Zala. "I was actually suggesting something else. Though it is as nearly impossible as it is that the enemy has regained nuclear capabilities, but what I am suggesting that our enemy may have gotten their hands on the Energon Reactor Core technology."
Before anyone could attempt to protest this, a bright light from the screen drew everyone's attention back to it. "Chairman Zala sir," one of the advisors reported. "We have the last transmission from Boaz just before the defense satellite was destroyed. The enemy had not fired nukes at them, they shot at them with energon weapons. Sir the readouts indicate that they used the Energon Reactor Core technology."
Zala glanced at Megatron to see if what they had just seen could be confirmed, and Megatron simply nodded in response. "Damn those Natural scum," Zala shouted in anger. Zala then quickly composed himself as he turned to everyone else in the room and ordered, "Hurry and set up a defense line. Le Creuset, Megatron, we're going to Jachin Due. We'll strike back with GENESIS, assuming its ready."
Megatron simply smirked with glee as he replied, "As I said, all preparations for GENESIS and its completion are nearly finished, including the matters of the cyber matter formula."
"Well then I suppose that there's no reason to keep our Autobot guest around for much longer now is there," Zala asked.
"No there is not," Megatron agreed with a devilish smirk that was matched only by Rau Le Creuset. What none of them knew was that a certain medical specialist had been listening in on this conversation and was already making plans of his own.
During this time, the Four Ships Alliance had found a place to temporarily dock and resupply in the midst of an asteroid field, where they had received intelligence that the Earth Forces were planning to launch an attack on Boaz. Lacus was speaking with Murrue and Optimus on what they should do about the situation when they suddenly received word that it was too late to do anything. As soon as they had, they immediately sounded the alarm and alerted everyone that they were preparing to roll out.
Having heard the alert themselves, Kira and Athrun had hurried to the Eternal's bridge to find out what was going on. When they asked if the assault on Boaz had started, Lacus was sad to say that things had gone far beyond that in the worst possible way. Waltfeld had gone on to say that Boaz had already been destroyed and that it was taken out with weapons that were equipped with Energon Reactor Cores. Everyone was shocked at this revelation, and were all wondering how it was possible that they could even possess the Energon Reactor Core technology, let alone a weaponized version of it.
Everyone but Mu La Flaga that is, as the former mobile armor pilot stated that nothing surprised him anymore after JOSH-A, and that he was sure that Le Creuset and Megatron were somehow behind this. This sentiment was shared with Optimus Prime and everyone else as they all thought back to the previous battle. "So this is what they meant," Optimus growled.
"Seems that way, and I guarantee you that the PLANTs won't take this lying down," Aisha told everyone.
"She's right, and the PLANTs already have the Energon Reactor Core technology," Waltfeld added.
"Do you think the PLANTs will use Energon Reactor weapons," Kira asked as he prepped the Freedom for launch.
"Normally I'd say no if my father were himself, but right now I'm not sure," Athrun stated sadly.
Dreadwing then added his own two cents as he stated, "If Chairman Zala really has fallen as far into Megatron's darkness as it seems he has then there is no doubt that Megatron will find some way to convince him to use something that may be far worse than that."
That did nothing to make Kira feel any better as he wondered aloud, "Why do things like that exist in the first place? Energon weapons, or nuclear weapons, or even more so why are there even mobile suits and guns?!"
It was a question that none of them really knew the answer to, because it was a question that many people would have asked for years. Why is it that weapons of any kind exist really? It was hard to really say, but it did not matter at this point, because right now, they had a job to do. Soon enough they saw the early signs of fighting that indicated that the Lunar Fleet had begun their attack on the PLANTs as they approached the battlefield.
Before they began their own attack, Lacus had a quick speech to give to everyone. "Everyone please, we can't let even one energon reactor missile hit the PLANTs. If the blade of light strikes down on those who are innocent it can only lead to never-ending tears and hatred." She then paused for a moment before commenting silently, "I'm worried it may already be too late to stop them. The choice we're making may be one of evil as well, for we call for peace but with weapons in our hands. Nevertheless, allow us to break this chain of endless conflict. Give us strength."
Having said her piece, the mobile suit forces of the Four Ships Alliance immediately launched to head into battle, with the Eternal deploying the METEOR support machines for the Freedom and the Justice, and the Omega II sending out Dreadwing and the Aerialbots so that they could move ahead with the mobile suit forces.
Once the flying members of the Omega II had launched, Optimus then ordered, "Jazz, take command of the Autobot forces in the field. Elita One and I shall remain aboard the Omega II to provide support."
Jazz turned to give Optimus a questioning glance, wondering why Optimus would not want to lead their team in the field himself, but one look in Optimus's optics told Jazz that the last Prime knew that now was not the time for him to be in the field just yet so he simply nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him to the ship's armory in order to load up with extra weapons before heading out.
The battle to defend the PLANTs was not going well, as Yzak could easily see that they were being beaten back by the combined strengths of the Calamity, the Raider, and the Forbidden, and it did not help matters that the Combaticons were in play as well, having already combined into Bruticus. The silver haired boy was extremely glad that the Constructicons were there to provide some assistance as Devastator, something that made him think back to when he had asked Slipstream about the one missing member of the Constructicons after he saw that the logs on theNemesis indicated that there were supposed to be six. The acting leader of the Seeker siblings had simply stated that all she could say was that there were some Decepticons that had a different way of doing things than what Megatron wanted and that the missing member, Bonecrusher, was one of these few.
Yzak was brought out of his temporary state of distraction when he saw that the ships that would be firing the energon reactor missiles were nearly in firing range of the PLANTs, and he then immediately ordered his team to intercept them. This was not easily accomplished, if it was accomplished at all, because the three enemy mobile suits and their Decepticon allies were intercepting the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces before any of them could even get close. Just when it seemed hopeless, a large barrage of blasts came from out of nowhere and destroyed the missiles before they could get close enough to do any damage.
As Yzak looked to the source he saw that it was the Freedom, the Justice, the Aerialbots, and Dreadwing who had stopped the missiles as they all blasted onto the battlefield and into action just as the four ships that made up the Autobots and their allies arrived. "Soldiers of the Earth Forces please cease your attack at once," Lacus's voice called out. "Are you truly aware of the consequences of what you are about to do, or are you even aware that you are doing exactly as the Decepticons wish for you to do?"
The pink princess's pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears, as the Earth Forces simply switched to target both the PLANTs and the four ships that were fighting to stop both sides that were allied with the evil beings of Cybertron. The Perfect Strike, Buster, and Blitz were all quick to respond and shoot down the offending weapons before they could get even close to their ships, as Jazz readied his own weapons as he told his fellow Autobots, "Only shoot down the missiles or disable the human's fighters. As for the 'Cons, Optimus has given us orders that we are to shoot to kill."
The Autobots all nodded in understanding at this and immediately opened fire on the approaching Decepticon forces of both sides. It seemed that the battlefield would erupt into chaos once more until the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces started to pull back while Starscream's Decepticons seemed to be scrambling to get away from something as well. That was when the Omega II received a transmission from someone they did not expect to hear from, "Omega II do you read me…this is Ratchet! You must…now! Megatron and Z.A.F.T. are firing GENESIS and the beam will seriously harm…laced with cyber matter…retreat now!"
All the Autobots were all shocked to hear Ratchet's voice, but they were even more shocked at what he had just said. "Elita, can you do anything to clear up that transmission," Optimus quickly asked.
Elita tried to do so but eventually just shook her head no as she replied, "It's too late we've already lost the signal."
"Get out of there! Freedom, Justice, and Dreadwing you all need to move," Yzak's voice then called out. "They're gonna fire GENESIS and it'll destroy even Cybertronians if they get caught in the blast!"
That was persuasion enough for everyone to start moving away from the same blast radius that the Z.A.F.T-Decepticon forces had, or at least everyone who had received the warning. Barely seconds later, a large object had appeared on everyone's sensors and the object then fired a massive, red, blue, and green colored ray that seemed to plow through the battlefield and eradicate anything that was caught in its path or on its edge. The mere sight of this destruction was horrifying enough to make everyone but the Decepticons, Chairman Zala, and Le Creuset stare and tremble in fear of this terrible machine and the devastation that it had caused.
The Earth Forces fleet had taken the worst of it and it led Natarle to order a signal to retreat to be sent to all the surviving ships. It was not long after this that the Four Ships Alliance also began to fall back as well in order to regroup themselves, and they did so as quickly as possible so that the enemy would not try and take them down as they began their retreat. Kira and Athrun did remain for a moment to stop Z.A.F.T. from destroying the retreating Earth Forces-Decepticons, but they still moved as quickly as they could to retreat with their allies. As they all did retreat though, they could all hear the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticons cheering in victory.
It was not long after the Dominion and their allies had retreated that Azrael had already started going on a mad rant to whoever he could about why this had happened, clearly showing that he could not care less about the people who needed help right then and there. This fact was proven more true when Natarle said that they would be over to assist an allied ship that was requesting assistance and he demanded, "Stop being such an idiot woman! Does this ship have to take care of everything?!"
"Director Azrael, we have to," Natarle tried to reason, but she was quickly, and rudely interrupted.
"No we do not," Starscream snarled from over the comm. device. "If anything we should be preparing the surviving ships for battle at once, wouldn't you agree Azrael?"
"I don't you to tell me how to do my job alien," Azrael snarled, getting an annoyed huff in response. "All surviving ships are to launch another attack immediately. Concentrate on maintenance and resupply for now!"
"That's absurd! Our forces have sustained far too much damage to launch a successful attack! Even the two of you should be able to see that," Natarle snapped in argument, finally feeling like she was reaching her boiling point with these two.
"Reinforcements and supplies from Lunar Headquarters are going to be here any moment now, but your attitude is disturbing. You're the one who doesn't understand the situation here," Azrael snarled as he then pointed at GENESIS. "You see that?! We can't afford to leave that just sitting out there! What do they mean the Naturals' barbaric nuclear weapons when they can destroy the Earth from here with that thing. That monstrous device of theirs is by far the most barbaric weapon of them all. We have no idea when they'll point that thing at Earth and make it their next target."
Natarle hated to admit it, but Azrael did have a point, but just barely. Whatever that thing was, it also destroyed a large amount of the Insecticon swarm along with their own forces, and if it was capable of doing that to Cybertronians then who knew what it would do to the Earth. "If we wait for them to fire it before we do anything it'll be too late, and it's all because people like you in the military gave them the time to build that thing," Azrael continued to rant on. "Maybe it's absurd, be we have to destroy it. That machine and the PLANTs too, before they destroy Earth!"
"I couldn't agree more," Starscream stated. "So do what you can to ready anyone who is able to go on Captain Badgiruel, that is unless you want to hand in a resignation now."
Natarle softly growled at this as she clenched her fists but finally stated as calmly as she could, "No sir. I'll have the message sent out. If you'll both excuse me for a moment, I need a moment to deal with what just happened. I'll be in my quarters if you need me."
Azrael was able to calm down enough to see that what had transpired had indeed had some effect on the normally tough as nails commander and allowed this. As soon as Natarle had reached her quarters she came to a decision that she felt she should have made a long time ago. With that in mind, she pulled out her old Autobot comm. link headset and keyed a coded frequency that she was sure that the Autobots would be able to receive without Starscream or Azrael noticing.
Everyone in the Four Ships Alliance was scrambling to prepare themselves for the next confrontation and also to figure out what had just happened and what GENESIS was. The fact that Ratchet had contacted them to warn them it was firing was worrying enough as it is, but then there was also the matter on what the weapon itself was. This was something that Erica Simmons had a few ideas on and was quick to share. "They fired some kind of modified gamma-ray beam," Erica explained in the meeting that had immediately begun aboard the Omega II as soon as they all had retreated to a safe area. "The rays were generated by what I'm assuming was an energon explosion and then immediately focused to produce a heated wave of energy. Think of it as a giant energon powered gamma-ray laser. If that thing were shot at Earth, the extreme radiation would sear the entire surface to a crisp, wiping out all forms of life."
"Do you think they'll do it? Fire on Earth," Murrue then asked the impending question. Though none of them wanted it to be asked it still had to be asked even if it did have everyone worried.
"Essentially the role of any long range weapon of mass destruction is to serve as a deterrent, but that doesn't matter at this point anymore because both have been used at this point. Energon reactor missiles, and that thing," Waltfeld then explained.
"It seems neither side will hesitate to use them again," Aisha then added solemnly. This was not something any of them wanted to think about, but even so that did not make it any less true. Everyone stood there in worried silence for a moment before Hound felt he should say something.
"The first time in the war for Cybertron that I actually had to shoot someone that I had once considered a good mech before they joined Megatron, it made me sick. I was told that I would get used to it in time, and after a while that's what happened for all of us," the old Wrecker proclaimed softly.
"Are you saying it's the same with energon missiles and that weapon," Murrue asked.
"Isn't it the same thing," Hound asked rhetorically. "People of any world can get used to anything, even fighting, and killing each other. To be honest, there are days when I wonder what us Autobots will do with ourselves when our war with the Decepticons is finally over, because we have been fighting as soldiers for so long."
"Is it weapons that are the cause of all this fighting, or does the real cause lie within the human heart," Lacus wondered aloud. That made everyone pause in contemplation for a moment before Kira raised his head to make a declaration of his own.
"Whether its energon weapons or that light we can't let them use those things on each other," the supposedly ultimate Coordinator declared getting everyone's attention. "If that happens again, it'll be too late for anything."
Everyone readily agreed with Kira on that with proud and determined smiles and they all found that their will to carry on their battle had now been reignited in full. With that in mind, Elita felt that now was as good a time as any to bring up something else about GENESIS. "Everyone, as you all know Ratchet had tried to contact us to warn us about the GENESIS weapon being fired, but what we did not know was why Ratchet himself knew this. At least not until now," Elita announced.
"What do you mean by that Elita," Ironhide asked as everyone's attention turned to the Autobots currently sole medical officer.
"I had the Omega II's sensors analyze the beam that GENESIS fired, and Chief Erica was right in saying that energon was involved in making it work, but what she did not know was what kind of energon it was." Elita then paused to take a moment before she made the announcement. "The Omega II's sensors indicated that the beam was composed of a unique mixture of what I can only assume was synthetic energon."
"But that's impossible," Jazz protested. "You and Bee destroyed the only piece of the synth-en that could be found in that cave."
"And we also recorded the data on that slab and gave it to Ratchet," Elita pointed out. "If the 'Cons did find the other half, and I'd say it's very likely they did, then how could they complete the formula?"
"By taking the Doc prisoner and forcing him to give it to them," Wheeljack answered.
"Exactly, but that's not all. Whatever kind of mixture of synthetic energon they used, when it was used in conjunction with that beam as it was, it did not just fire a powerful laser. It was firing a laser that was infused with cyber matter."
"Cyber matter? What's that," Athrun asked.
"The one thing that could be the key to restoring Cybertron," Dreadwing answered.
"Are you saying that thing is shooting out stuff that could be used to bring your planet back to life," Cagalli asked in quiet shock.
"Yes he is," Arcee replied. "And not only that, but if that is the case, then if it is fired at Earth, then not only will all existing life on the planet be wiped out, but Megatron will have been able to effectively transformed your world into a new Cybertron."
"Which is all the more reason why Megatron would want the device fired on your world and would do anything in his power to ensure that it is," Optimus finished grimly. That was enough to rattle everyone in the room. The idea that Earth could be destroyed by the very thing that could restore the Autobots home planet was not something that anyone liked thinking about, because now that meant that if they destroyed GENESIS, then they would doom Cybertron as well.
"With all of this in mind, it is all the more reason why we must destroy the device," Optimus then declared, further shocking everyone.
"Whoa Prime. Weren't you listening? We could use that thing to bring back Cybertron if we can capture it," Ironhide immediately argued.
"And how would we accomplish this Ironhide," Optimus asked. "We have no way of transporting the device to our home world anymore than we have a way to get ourselves there, and even if we were to leave it intact until we could find a way, we would only risk the device being recaptured again to be used against our new friends and their world. Can we truly ask humanity to risk so much just so that we may have a way to restore Cybertron?"
All of the Autobots and Dreadwing hung their heads in sadness knowing the answer already. While they all wanted to bring back Cybertron, the risk of leaving that thing as it was without having a way back to the metal world put too much at risk, and none of them were willing to place Earth in danger like that. Kira and Athrun exchanged a sad look at their friends' predicament before Athrun stated, "We could still try to keep it as intact as possible. Maybe if we secured the formula for the cyber matter or even the necessary devices that the machine needs…"
"I truly appreciate what you are trying to do for us Athrun, but even so I cannot allow you to take such risks just because we want our home world to be able to live again," Optimus replied with a sad smile, grateful for the gesture.
Kira wanted to say something as well, but instead he simply nodded in understanding as he told his Cybertronian friends, "No matter what happens, we'll help you find a way to get your world back, no matter the cost."
All the Autobots and Dreadwing gave Kira a grateful smile for this, knowing that he meant what he said, and judging by the looks on the faces of everyone else present, the feeling was more than mutual. With that now out of the way, Erica decided to bring up the one thing they had in their advantage. "The only thing we have in our favor is that they can't fire consecutive shots," Erica explained. "My guess is they need to change the mirror every time they fire it."
"But the main section is made of Phase Shift, Cybertronian armor, and we have to get past Jachin Due and all of the defensive lines they placed around it first," Waltfeld pointed out.
"The Earth Forces will be coming with a full scale attack, but it'll still be hard to get past those defenses," Aisha finished.
Before anyone could begin to wonder where the next target would be, the alert came through that the battle was about to begin. It was time to get underway. Everyone who was not a part of theOmega II's crew began to head for the Ground Bridge so that they could return to their ships until Lacus called out to Kira getting him to pause for a moment. Kira then turned to Athrun, silently telling him and the others to go on ahead, which Athrun replied with a silent nod.
As soon as the others had left, Lacus held out a ring to Kira and said, "Take this."
Kira slowly accepted the ring and stared before he realized what Lacus's meaning behind giving it to him was. He then smiled and told her, "This means a lot."
"Please come back, okay? Come back to me," Lacus then requested, pleading Kira with her every word and her eyes that he would.
Kira smiled and then simply nodded before he turned to go. As he did though, he paused for a moment before he turned to Lacus once again and placed a small kiss on her cheek. "You be careful too Lacus," Kira then requested, and then headed off so that he could get to the Freedom.
Lacus watched him go before Optimus walked over to her and declared, "I swear to you by the matrix Lacus Clyne that I will do everything in my power to ensure that Kira Yamato survives the battle that is to come."
Lacus gave Optimus a grateful smile and then gave the Autobot leader's leg a tight hug in thanks before she too raced off to return to the Eternal. As he watched her go, Optimus gave a silent prayer of his own to Primus saying, "Please Primus, protect them and all the others that fight with them and us this day so that they may all have a future together and see the day when all are one."
During that time, Athrun and Cagalli were waiting for the Ground Bridge to be freed up so that they could use it for their own travels when Athrun noticed that Cagalli was staring at him. "What's up," Athrun asked.
"Nothing. It's just that this time I can go to," Cagalli revealed. "We had all the parts for the Strike Rouge in storage and Miss Erica was able to finally finish assembling it with a few extra touches courtesy of Ironhide." The blonde then saw that the Ground Bridge was now keyed up for the Kusanagi and prepared to leave. "See you later."
"Cagalli wait," Athrun called out as he grabbed Cagalli's arm to pull her to a stop. "You're going? In this Strike Rouge?"
"What's the matter," Cagalli demanded, getting a bit angry at Athrun for what she felt was him acting like it was too dangerous for her to be out in a mobile suit. "I've had more than enough mobile suit training, and I'm a lot better than the Astray pilots."
"Well yeah but…I mean," Athrun stuttered, but Cagalli was quick to cut him off.
"What we want to do, what we can do, and what we've got to do. It's the same for everyone. For you, for Kira, for Lacus, and for me too. Sure sometimes it seems pointless to go out and fight, but with everything that's going on now we have to." Athrun just gave Cagalli a sad, sympathetic look, still obviously worried for the blonde, and that was getting Cagalli a bit riled up. "Don't look at me like that. You take a lot more chances out there than I ever would! I'm not gonna let you die."
Now Athrun was getting convinced, and felt that maybe Cagalli was right in wanting to go out, but he was more shocked at how determined she was. "I'll be watching over that guy who might be my little brother too," Cagalli then added softly.
"Little brother," Athrun asked in a slightly teasing tone. "Couldn't he be your big brother?"
"No way! He's definitely younger," Cagalli protested.
Athrun just chuckled as he replied, "Yeah I guess you're right." He then pulled Cagalli close to him for a hug before adding one other thing. "I'm pretty lucky to have met you."
Cagalli could only blush in shock at this declaration before the two pulled apart for a bit as Athrun then stated, "You and I can protect each other." Cagalli only nodded in response and then found herself leaning towards Athrun as he did the same to her until finally their lips met. Neither one of them knew that a certain pair of Autobots and a former Decepticon were watching this the whole time with smiles on their faces.
If it were any other time, and if it were not for the fact that Dreadwing was sending them a warning glare just in case, Arcee and Bumblebee probably would have gone over and teased the now official couple, but right now they had more pressing concerns to deal with. With that in mind, and with a few teasing remarks for Athrun and Cagalli ready for later, Arcee and Bumblebee headed for the Omega II's armory with Dreadwing trailing behind after a moment later.
Once they had reached the armory, the two Autobots were the only ones to get any actual extra weapons while Dreadwing picked up his favorite type of explosives to use. As Bumblebee was loading his Energon Pistol, he saw Arcee once again pick up a Plasma Cannon and finally decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for some time now. "Uh Arcee, why do you always seem to go out with a Plasma Cannon," the scout asked after he walked over to her.
Arcee froze for a moment, but figured that it was long overdue that she come out with the truth to the scout and simply told him, "Because it makes me think of you. Of how we used to always pal around with Tailgate, Cliff, and the others, of how you always kept fighting, and of how I know that you would never let me give up no matter what happens."
Bumblebee just stood there in shock for a minute, not sure what to say to that. He had no idea that Arcee really felt that strongly about this or him, and for once in his life he did not know what to say at all. Seeing this Arcee simply smiled and asked him, "Promise me something Bee? Promise that no matter what happens out there that…that you'll come back alive? That you'll come back…to me?"
Bumblebee could see how serious Arcee was about this and just simply wrapped her in a tight hug as he replied, "I promise Cee. Don't worry, you'll never get rid of me that easily."
Arcee nodded with a tearful smile as she returned the hug, and then the two parted and immediately headed up to their posts as they felt the ship get underway.
"So they want us to stop both GENESIS and the energon missiles while fighting at the same time," Dearka ranted as they approached the battlefield, clearly irritated by how their mission was set.
"Then why don't you give up," Miriallia retorted, having heard enough of the blonde's complaining.
"H-hey I didn't mean," Dearka tried to protest before Miriallia cut him off.
"Just kidding. Sorry," Miriallia assured him. She then made a small request of her own as she asked, "Be careful out there okay Dearka?"
Dearka stared at the girl for a moment before he smiled at her and said, "Thank you Miriallia, and don't worry. I'll do my best to make it back. Oh and after this is over do you…want to go to dinner with me?"
Miriallia smiled a bit at Dearka before stating, "It's a date, so you better not die."
Dearka just nodded while Nicol looked on from the Blitz's cockpit with a knowing smirk while he watched Mu and Murrue having a tender moment of their own as the blonde assured theArchangel's captain that he would come back with victory in hand. A tender moment that made him immediately look away from to avoid feeling awkward, and a bit lonely as well.
Shortly after Murrue had returned to the bridge and everyone saw that the battle had already begun, they detected the presence of the Dominion, the Armageddon, and even the massive Decepticon warship the Nemesis. "Megatron is not holding anything back if he has brought his mother ship out into battle," Optimus declared from the launch bay on the Omega II.
"All vessels, deploy mobile suits now," Waltfeld ordered. In no time at all, the mobile suit forces, Dreadwing, and the Autobots had all deployed with Elita being the only one to remain on the ship at Optimus's insistence since she was the Autobots' only medical specialist with Ratchet still missing. With this, the final battle had truly begun.
From the GENESIS control room, Zala had just received the report that the weapon was nearly ready to fire on its next target and he was more than happy to have Le Creuset head out to join the battle as well in the new machine, the Providence. As the masked man was leaving, Zala give him one simple warning. "I'm only going to say this once Le Creuset. No more blunders. To make up for not destroying the Eternal the least you can do is prevent them from attacking the PLANTs with it."
"Even if that means killing Athrun your Excellency," Le Creuset asked, needing to hear the man actually say it.
"Of course," Chairman Zala replied with almost no hesitation as he turned to face the monitors again.
"Very well then sir," Le Creuset saluted before he left. Megatron watched all of this from the Nemesis as he prepared to head out himself with a smirk, knowing that he had finally done it and secured victory at least over the Coordinator fool. The war lord was so caught up in all of this he barely registered Knockout running around with a few vehicon drones like chickens who had their heads cut off.
"Hurry up and find him," Knockout half shouted as they ran about. "We can't let Lord Megatron know that we allowed that Autobot to escape and then attempt to warn his allies of the true power of GENESIS."
From where he was hiding, Ratchet thought to himself how if he were Jazz he would have commented that he would be none too happy if they did, but opted not to say anything in favor of keeping quiet. Seeing that the coast was clear, Ratchet then began to make a beeline for the exit so that he could finally escape. As soon as he had confirmed that the synthetic energon formula and the mixture for making the cyber matter formula were correctly completed, Ratchet had used a welding tool he secretly picked up to create a distraction and try to escape while Knockout and his little drone assistants were kept busy worrying about the fire suppressants that he had set off. Ever since, he had been avoiding the 'Cons and only managed to contact the Autobots that one time when he secretly high jacked a communication station before his comm. line was discovered.
Now Ratchet knew that the final battle had begun and he was not going to just hide out on the Decepticon warship waiting to be rescued when he knew he could do something to help. "Hang on Autobots. I'll be there as soon as I can," Ratchet whispered as he continued to run for the exit.
Just as he rounded the corner, a group of drones that were searching for him spotted him and opened fire as one shouted out, "Take him down quickly!"
Now Ratchet may be an old 'Bot, but he is never kidding when he said that he could still scrap with the best of them. This point was proven true as he avoided the lasers and quickly dispatched his attackers with his blades until only one was left standing. "Please don't hurt me," the drone begged pathetically.
"Don't worry, I'm an emergency vehicle," Ratchet replied as menacingly as he could before he plunged his sword right through the drone's spark chamber. Ratchet then looked around at his fallen opponents as he smirked to himself, "Still got it, just like I'm always telling them."
A faint glow from outside a nearby window caused Ratchet to turn his head and be greeted with the sight of GENESIS's beam being fired once again. The Autobot medic then quickened his pace as he ran silently saying, "By the AllSpark. Please tell me they're not firing at the Earth."
As the beam passed by them, Optimus felt he had to know where it was heading before they recommenced their full attack. "Omega II, what's GENESIS's projected target," he asked.
He got his answer only a moment later. "They fired on the Earth Forces Lunar Headquarters, and the reinforcements that the Earth Forces-Decepticons were expected to receive were caught in the line of fire. They're all gone," Elita One reported from the bridge. That was all that any of them needed to hear, and instantly, the forces of the Four Ships Alliance were on the attack once again. Their target: GENESIS.
The battle that came after was simply chaos in its truest form, as the Four Ships Alliance forces did everything they could to get through to GENESIS while also dealing with the Strike Daggers and other Earth Forces machines that were quick to come after them. Needless to say it was beyond simply irritating to Nicol and Dearka, and the two were quick to move in to dispatch the offending forces that could not see that they were trying to stop the Z.A.F.T. weapon as well. "This is nuts," Dearka growled.
"Here's something even crazier for you," Nicol commented as he blasted apart a pair of GuAIZs. "It's like the two Decepticon groups are more interested in us than each other."
A quick look from all those who sided with the Autobots saw that Nicol was correct. While occasionally Starscream's and Megatron's two forces would clash, it seemed that they tended to focus more on them than they did each other. This was especially true for Starscream's forces as they did not even seem like they were even trying to save the Earth Forces machines, and instead opted for fighting their own battles. "What's with those guys," Mu asked as the Perfect Strike blasted apart some Z.A.F.T. units and Strike Daggers with its Agni gun.
"I am not certain, but it would seem that we are seeing the beginning of Starscream revealing his true colors to the Earth Forces. Whatever the case, we cannot allow this madness to carry on any longer," Optimus proclaimed. The last Prime then raised the Star Saber high and unleashed a powerful energy burst from the blade that took out numerous Decepticon and Insecticon drones, and immediately led the charge to save both sides from themselves with Kira right beside him.
While all this was going on, Azrael was putting a call through to the Doolittle, which was answered by none other than Captain Sutherland. "Ah Mister Azrael," Sutherland began, but that was as far as he got before the blonde began shouting.
"Send out the energon reactor attack force! Their targets are the PLANTs! Destroy every last one of them! Smash those hourglasses into dust, and have those guys come back and clear you a path," Azrael ordered, immediately shocking everyone, and getting a rise out of Natarle.
"But that won't eliminate the threat to Earth. We have to stop that weapon" Natarle argued as Sutherland simply agreed and cut the line.
"Oh that's it. I've had just about enough of your nagging woman," Azrael shouted as he then pulled a gun on Natarle, shocking the entire crew with the sight of Azrael threatening the captain, and basically taking the ship hostage.
"What exactly are you planning on doing with that thing? Are you trying to take control of this ship," Natarle demanded.
"Taking control? I've been in charge of this ship from the beginning," Azrael stated heatedly. "Remember the only job you had was to follow my every command, yet you keep questioning every single order I give!"
"Message from the Doolittle," the CIC operator reported. "The peacemaker force reports that it is ready for takeoff ma'am."
"Then have them takeoff. Alert Raider, Forbidden, and Calamity," Azrael cut in. He then returned his attention to Natarle to continue his rant. "That thing will no longer be a threat after we destroy the PLANTs and finish this war! It's simple, even a single Coordinator is a threat to the Earth's survival and the reason we're here is to get rid of them all!"
As Azrael's words echoed in her head, Flay thought back to Kira, Le Creuset, and even Yzak, all of whom were Coordinators and yet she still considered them her friends. The irony of how she started out hating Coordinators only to have so many of them become friends to her was not lost on Flay, but all the same she could not believe that she could ever have been as horrible as Azrael was right now.
"Inflict maximum damage on the enemy, with minimum casualties to your own forces. That's how a war's supposed to be fought," Azrael finished with a sinister smile that sent shivers up Flay's spine while getting Natarle's already furious glare to become even angrier by the second. Just then, it was reported that the Archangel and Omega II were closing in. "Well now that we understand each other it's time you to get to work, because I want that ship of traitors and that ship of rebels destroyed and today's the day we do it!"
Seeing that she had no other choice, Natarle simply resumed her seat and began giving out orders for her crew to carry out as they prepared to battle the Archangel and the Omega II once more, actions she had a feeling that the Armageddon was not going to be following. As she did, Natarle silently thought, I'm counting on you Murrue and Omega II. "Fire!"
With that one word, the two Archangel class ships had unleashed their attacks on each other and the Omega II had commenced its attack on the Armageddon which was immediately destroyed in one blow from all the Autobot ship's weapons.
"Starscream what happened," Azrael demanded.
"Apologies Azrael," Starscream's voice answered over the comm. "But it would seem that we were mistaken in thinking that the ship would be able to function properly with simple Insecticon drones manning it despite the damage it took in the previous battle."
Azrael simply shrugged and told Starscream to carry on as he was, which the sky commander stated that he was more than happy to do before ending the communication. "Oh well. I guess Starscream's big bad ship wasn't as tough as he thought," Azrael mocked aloud. What he did not know was how badly he would pay for these words.
At the sight of the approaching energon reactor missiles, Yzak and the Joule team was quick to move out and prepare to intercept, but they had to deal with the continuous annoyance that was the three mobile suits of the Dominion getting in their way and there was also the fact they were not quite fast enough. Just when Yzak thought it was hopeless, the Freedom and the Justice burst onto the battlefield and shot down every energon reactor missile in sight. Yzak would have moved to try and help deal with the missiles but he was hit from behind by the Raider.
Clotho thought for sure he had the Duel finished as he charged his weapon when suddenly he too was hit from behind and on the side. Yzak quickly looked towards the sources of the shots and saw the Buster and the Blitz floating there with their weapons primed at the Raider's previous position. A moment later, Yzak saw a fleet of Insecticons were moving to destroy the PLANTs as well when suddenly they too were intercepted by Optimus and the Autobots. "We will engage the Decepticons. All other forces are to deal with GENESIS and the energon reactor missiles," Optimus shouted out.
As soon as the last Prime gave this order, a cluster of the missiles were instantly destroyed by Cagalli and the Strike Rogue. Suddenly, Cagalli saw that a squadron of Strike Daggers and the Combaticons had just shot down the Astray pilots, killing her three friends, and she charged at them in anger for this action, subconsciously tapping into the power of the SEED herself as she did. In no time at all, Cagalli had shot down each of the Strike Daggers responsible for her friends' deaths and the Aerialbots had swooped in to deal with the Combaticons.
This had led to both teams of combiners once again uniting to form their massive titan warrior forms and soon enough Bruticus and Superion were facing off head to head once more. It would have stayed this way if it were not for the fact that Devastator had blasted onto the battlefield and attacked Superion as well when the combined Aerialbots' back was turned, ultimately turning the battle of combiners into a battle of two against one. Of course this was nothing that Superion could not handle and he was more than eager to meet the challenge.
Seeing that Superion seemed to be handling himself, Cagalli moved to deal with the next set of energon reactor missiles when suddenly the Forbidden opened fire on her before she could have a chance to dodge. Just when Cagalli thought she was done for, the Duel appeared from out of nowhere and blocked the shot with its shield before returning fire.
While both Cagalli and Shani were both shocked at the actions that Yzak had just taken, Dearka was able to take advantage of the Forbidden pilot's moment of distraction and used the Buster's combined rifles in Anti-Armor Shotgun mode to pepper the Forbidden. Yzak then pulled out one of the Duel's beam sabers to charge in and attack. Shani was about to fire on Yzak only to be hit from behind by a missile barrage courtesy of Nicol and the Blitz. The green haired pilot then followed up with this by joining Yzak in his attack with his own beam saber and the two both put an end to the Forbidden once and for all together.
"Nice job…Nicol," Yzak called out over his comm.
"Hey what are friends for right? After all, us Z.A.F.T. reds gotta stick together Yzak," Nicol replied. Yzak nodded and looked to see the Wreckers taking on the Decimators once more while Jazz, Arcee, and Ironhide were fighting off both the Insecticons and the Seeker siblings at the same time.
"Are they going to be okay," Yzak found himself wondering aloud. His question was then answered by the fact that Wheeljack was able to duck under a blow from Barricade's nunchaku and land a powerful double slash from his sword immediately after.
"Yeah they'll be fine," Nicol and Dearka both replied.
Hound had overheard the three even while he blasted Blackout with all of his biggest guns, and found he could not help but smirk at the two when they said that. He then heard Bulkhead shout out as he slammed his wrecking ball into Junkheap, "Hey I'm getting a transmission from somewhere near the Nemesis. It's Ratchet!"
Hound quickly tapped his comm. device and called out, "Ratchet this is Hound. Do you read me?"
"Only just Hound," Ratchet's voice replied. "I'm nearing an exit from the Nemesis and I would appreciate a little help in this escape endeavor. A Ground Bridge in particular would be ideal if it's not too much to ask."
"Roger that Doc. Send me your coordinates and I'll transmit them to the Omega II." Hound then relayed the information to Elita One and then just waited for a moment before he finally heard if the sparkmate of the last Prime had their friend aboard.
"We've got him," Elita shouted happily over the comm. a few seconds later. Before anyone could cheer in happiness at having Ratchet back where he belonged, a large explosion of blue and purple light lit up the skies of Space.
"That's where Optimus is," Bulkhead exclaimed as he locked fists with Junkheap.
"And soon enough, Lord Megatron will see to it that is where he will perish," Junkheap snarled as he hit Bulkhead hard with his claw arm in his back. Bulkhead was quick to recover from this and hoped that Optimus was okay, along with whoever was unfortunate enough to get caught in proximity to the two, never noticing a yellow blur racing off in that direction as he thought this.
What Bulkhead did not know was that Mu La Flaga was facing off against Rau Le Creuset close to where Optimus and Megatron were clashing against one and other with their two powerful blades fully charged with their respective energies. Naturally, Mu had enough sense to avoid the battle between the leaders of the two factions, but he was not going to let anything else stop him from bringing down the masked madman once and for all this time. "Why bother continuing Prime," Megatron snarled as his Dark Star Saber collided against Optimus's Star Saber. "Humans don't deserve to live."
"They deserve to live just as much as we do and they deserve to choose for themselves," Optimus retorted as he pushed Megatron's sword back and slammed a hard fist into Megatron's face.
"Then you will die with them," Megatron declared as he pushed Optimus a fair distance away before priming his Fusion Cannon. "Join them in extinction!"
Optimus quickly armed his Ion Blaster as he brought the Star Saber into a defensive position when Megatron fired. The blast ultimately knocked the mighty sword of Prima from Optimus's hand, but it was not enough to knock Optimus down for long and he instantly opened fire on Megatron with his Ion Blaster, earning several direct hits on the war lord of the Decepticons.
"Is this what you were hoping for you bastard," Mu shouted at Le Creuset as he used the Perfect Strike's shield to block the Providence's shots.
"You shouldn't blame me," Le Creuset retorted as he unleashed the DRAGOONs on Mu, destroying the Perfect Strike's rifle and damaging the Agni gun. "This is mankind's dream, mankind's desire, mankind's destiny! To be the strongest, to go the farthest, to climb the highest, to compete, to envy, to hate each other, and devour one and other!"
"You're pathetic," Mu shouted as he swung the anti-ship sword at the Providence. "I won't let your twisted logic make things worse."
"But you're too late Mu. You see I am the product of all this, and that's how I know, and that is why I will ensure that Lord Megatron's plans for humanity will succeed!" The Providence then fired its DRAGOONs once more as the masked man finished his tirade. "I know that humanity will either be swallowed by the darkness it's created, or face their end at the darkness that it has brought onto itself!"
Mu could do nothing to keep from getting hit from all directions at once and soon enough the Perfect Strike had suffered severe damage with nothing but the bare minimum of its backpack, its legs, one arm, and its shield left. With no other option, Mu had no choice but to let Le Creuset move on to his next target as he struggled to return to the Archangel.
Soon enough, the problem of the Earth Forces had been all but dealt with save for the Raider which was still flying about trying to fight a battle that was already lost. Murrue then called out to the Archangel and Omega II's forces "Resupply the machines that need it. We and the Omega II will deal with the Dominion. Your target is GENESIS!"
Athrun and Cagalli both nodded in reply at this and were soon blasting off towards GENESIS with Dreadwing right on their tails. When he noticed that Kira was not following them, Athrun called out, "Kira what're you doing?"
"I'm going to go help Optimus," Kira replied. "Le Creuset was last seen over in that direction and I want to make sure that he doesn't try to interfere in Optimus's battle."
"Okay Kira. Be careful," Athrun warned, and then the two parted ways, passing Mu as he contacted the Archangel to request for an emergency landing and a medical crew along the way. Athrun, Cagalli, and Dreadwing were about at GENESIS when they were cut off by both Bruticus and Devastator, much to their surprise.
"Little mobile suits and traitor get past Bruticus and Devastator first, and no one passes Bruticus alone," Bruticus mocked. He then prepared to fire his flame thrower, which somehow still worked in Space; Athrun figured it was because the flames were energon fueled. Just before he could fire though, both Decepticons were hit by a blast from each of Superion's arm cannons. A moment later, all the Autobots that were in the field except for Optimus and surprisingly Bumblebee were engaged in battle with all the Decepticon forces as a whole.
"We'll take care of these party crashers Dreadwing. You just get Athrun and Cagalli to GENESIS," Jazz called out as he blasted at both Sharpshot and Thundercracker.
"Understood Jazz," Dreadwing replied. He then transformed to his jet mode and led the Strike Rogue and the Justice to their target.
As Arcee opened fire on both Slipstream and Airachnid, she asked aloud, "Someone want to tell me when Starscream started showing whose side he was really on?"
"I think it was around the time he destroyed the Doolittle and then stopped to gloat," Ironhide replied as he and Hound opened fire on Skywarp, Breakdown, and Junkheap. Everyone had to agree with this, because really, when else would that have happened?
Azrael could only stare in utter shock as he saw all of the Earth Forces fleet become whipped out by the enemy, whether it be Z.A.F.T. and the Four Ships Alliance, or even the enemy Decepticons. Seeing this, he began to wonder why their allied Decepticon forces were not doing anything only to discover something he had never expected.
"Oh Director Azrael," Starscream called in a sing-song voice. "I feel I must thank you."
"For what," Azrael demanded.
"For making my job so easy," Starscream replied with a cackle. "We were never truly allies; I was acting as a double agent to disable your forces so that Lord Megatron would be able to decimate you all that much more easily. Oh how you played the part of the puppet who thought he was the puppeteer so brilliantly it almost makes me sad that your end must come."
Azrael was now seething with anger as Starscream's mad laugh continued to echo through the Dominion's comm. system. He tried desperately to deny this truth, but the blonde was proven wrong when he witnessed Starscream and the Combaticons destroy the Doolittle and Captain Sutherland along with it. "Damn you Starscream. Damn you to hell!" Before Azrael could continue cursing out Starscream, he noticed one of the readouts on the Archangel's status. "It stopped! Fire! Hurry and destroy that thing now! Target the Lohengrin!"
The operator could do nothing more than simply carry out the orders the now clearly insane man had given when a voice caused them all to pause. "No stop it! Archangel get out of there!"
Everyone turned to see that Flay was attempting to warn the Archangel of the impending attack. "You stupid little bitch, what's wrong with you," Azrael demanded as he grabbed Flay and hit her across her face. He then pulled out his gun and attempted to shoot Flay, but he found his shot immediately deflected when Natarle pushed his gun hand aside when she tackled him.
"What do you think you're doing," Natarle demanded, but she was cut off from ranting further as Azrael grabbed her by the throat. Natarle then decided that now was the time. "All hands abandon ship! Flay, time to begin Alpha to Omega!"
Flay nodded immediately in understanding of what Badgiruel was telling her to do and quickly led everyone off of the bridge, hearing only a gunshot that she could only assume had hit Natarle a few seconds later. A moment after, all the exits and entrances to the bridge were sealed off, but Flay took little notice of this as she led the crew to the hangar bay. Before anyone could board a shuttle, Flay called out, "No don't board the shuttles!"
Everyone stopped to look at her like she was crazy. The question of how else were they supposed to abandon ship was running through all their minds when Flay suddenly pulled out an Autobot comm. link device that Natarle had thrown to her when she had tackled Azrael. "Omega II do you read me," Flay called out. "The Dominion's crew is now all present in the hangar bay aside from Commander Badgiruel and Azrael. Open the Ground Bridge now!"
"You've got it red," Elita replied. A few seconds later, the familiar green vortex had opened up and Flay was instantly telling everyone to get through it. Once they had all run through they found themselves in the Omega II's Ground Bridge bay.
"Greetings Dominion crew and Flay Allster. Welcome aboard the Omega II," a mechanical voice then called out.
"Who's there," Flay asked, worriedly.
"I am Teletran One. An artificial intelligence aide that was recently repurposed to act as the Omega II's main computer."
Flay then turned to see Elita standing at the controls for the Ground Bridge and quickly cried out. "Hurry, Commander Badgiruel is still on the bridge and she might be hurt!"
"No not yet," Elita said.
"Alert. Dominion positron cannon is preparing to fire on the Archangel," Teletran One then announced. Everyone instantly froze in shock at what that could only mean.
The Archangel had just received word from Ratchet that the Dominion crew had all arrived on the Omega II with the exception of Natarle when the tell tale signs of the enemy ship's Lohengrin was powering up to fire came through, followed by the positron beam itself merely seconds later. "Evade," Murrue quickly shouted.
"It's too late. We can't," Newmann replied. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for everyone, including the Autobots who were just close enough to see the beam heading straight for theArchangel's bridge. Just before it hit, something stopped the beam a short ways ahead of the bridge. Upon closer inspection, everyone could see, much to Murrue's and Wheeljack's horror, that the Perfect Strike had intercepted the blast with its shield.
As his alarms sounded around him and his suit began to break apart, Mu La Flaga turned to look towards the bridge and his wingman Wheeljack as he shouted out proudly, "Didn't I tell you I could make the impossible possible?!" As soon as he said that, the Perfect Strike was completely engulfed by the blast, leaving only a few damaged parts and the remains of Mu's space suit where it previously was.
Everyone was completely shocked by what had just happened, and Wheeljack let out a feral, angered roar as he slashed his blades at Barricade with all his might, blocking every blow that the one-eyed Decimator threw at him and barely giving him any time to retaliate. Soon after, Wheeljack had sliced off one of Barricade's arms and a leg before he slammed an open palm onto the Decimator and then just floated there.
"What's the matter Wheeljack? Not mech enough to finish it," Barricade taunted.
"Wait for it," Wheeljack growled as he tapped his side where he normally kept a grenade, only to reveal that there was no grenade there. Barricade immediately looked down and saw that Wheeljack's grenade had been planted on his chest from the earlier palm strike and it was active.
"Oh scrap," Barricade stated as he then exploded into pieces, and this time there was nothing left of him to patch up. Wheeljack simply huffed and let himself remain there for another moment as he mourned the loss of his human friend and heard said friend's girlfriend cry out the pilot's name in anguish.
A few seconds later, the Archangel readied its own Lohengrin to fire on the Dominion, and it was not just to stop an enemy this time. This time it was to avenge a fallen comrade, friend, and loved one.
Azrael looked on in horrified shock at what had just happened barely able to comprehend what had just happened. He could barely even register that it was possible for him not to win, because he always won, but a tired groan indicated that someone had to point out otherwise.
"It looks like you lose," a seriously injured and bloodied Natarle groaned with a proud smirk that Azrael had been so brilliantly foiled at every turn.
Azrael was not about to let the woman mock him like this and immediately grabbed her to throw her against the captain's chair before he pulled out his gun for a killing shot. Before he could even start to squeeze the trigger though, the sound of a Ground Bridge opening was heard, followed by a shot from a different direction. Natarle looked up to see that Azrael had been shot by an energon weapon, and then immediately turned as quickly as she could to see Flay standing in front of a Ground Bridge portal with a smoking energon pistol. "That was for all the people you've murdered and all my friends that you've either killed or forced to suffer bastard," the red head shouted as she quickly grabbed Natarle and raced back through the Ground Bridge which closed a second later.
Once she was on the Omega II, Natarle could see Elita rushing to give what medical attention she could, which was a considerable deal more than what Ratchet could have been able to give since she studied more about human medical treatment than the Autobot chief medical officer. Once she knew that she just might make it, Natarle silently called out, "Now Murrue Ramius…"
"Fire," Murrue shouted, unknowingly saying so at the same time that Badgiruel had said it, and as soon as she had, the person controlling the firing controls for the Lohengrin was all too happy to do so. A moment later, the Dominion and its sole remaining passenger was destroyed, ending the monster that was Murruta Azrael.
"Omega II to Archangel," Ratchet then called out over the comm. "We have the entire Dominion crew aboard save for Murruta Azrael. The only one with any serious injury was Natarle Badgiruel, but Elita One is taking care of her now."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this news, glad that the people on the dark ship were safe, especially in the case of Natarle and Flay. Any further celebration was quickly cut off for two reasons. One was the fact they were still in the middle of a battle and their forces were still fighting. Dearka and Nicol had brought Yzak and the Duel aboard so that the silver haired man could resupply his suit with some of the Strike's equipment along with the other two resupplying their own machines. The silver haired man was finally convinced by his friends that what Z.A.F.T. had been doing up until now was wrong and he was now more than ready to correct his mistake of fighting for the wrong reasons. At the same time, the Autobots were giving it everything they had to keep the entire Decepticon army from going after Dreadwing, Athrun, and Cagalli with their main focus being the Decepticon commanders.
The other fact that caused them to cut any celebrations they were planning for the safe return of Natarle, Flay, and the other members of the Dominion crew was a sudden cry of shock and anguish from Ratchet.
"Ratchet what's wrong," Miriallia asked.
Ratchet remained silent for a moment, not answering, until a certain Autobot then demanded something, fear and worry in her tone. "Ratchet did something happen to Bumblebee," Arcee asked from where she was taking cover. Ratchet still did not respond. "Ratchet I am warning you; don't you dare say what I think you're about to say."
Sadly, Ratchet could not heed that warning. "Bumblebee's signal was last pinpointed near Optimus's position until…I lost it completely."
Everyone knew what Ratchet losing Bumblebee's signal meant, but no one wanted to think about it as they all heard Arcee start to break down and cry herself just as Murrue had resumed doing on the Archangel over Mu's death. It still left everyone wondering, what had happened to the Autobot scout?
A few moments before Ratchet had lost Bumblebee's signal, Optimus was battling it out against Megatron with his Battle Axe clashing against Megatron's Dark Star Saber, since the last Prime had been thus far unable to make any move to retrieve his own sword. Needless to say, it was no real surprise that Optimus's trusted weapon was no match for Megatron's dark replica of the legendary weapon of the first Prime. Optimus's battle was not made easier when Le Creuset suddenly appeared on the battlefield and began assaulting Optimus as well with his own attacks.
Fearing that he may soon be overrun by the two, Optimus began to brace himself and switched his free hand into his arm blade in an attempt to show he was not going down without a fight. This was not entirely necessary as soon after, Le Creuset was bombarded by a missile barrage courtesy of Kira and the Freedom which was still docked with its METEOR. With Kira joining the battle in order to match Le Creuset, Optimus was now freed up to fight Megatron one on one, but it was not as much help as he had hoped, as Megatron was soon able to disarm Optimus once more by destroying the arm sword's blade and knocking Optimus's Axe away.
Megatron then had Optimus pinned right where he wanted him as he pulled out a Riot Cannon that he had brought with him, thinking that it would finish the job. Optimus merely stared down the gun's barrel and Megatron's devilish, purple eyes as he proclaimed, "Even if you destroy me Megatron, others will rise to defeat your tyranny."
"Then I'll just have to destroy you all," Megatron stated. His cannon began charging up when a buzz caught his attention. A moment later, a yellow blur had slammed into Megatron knocking him off of Optimus, but before Optimus could move to help, Megatron fired the only shot that the Riot Cannon had and hit Optimus's rescuer, sending him crashing into the last Prime.
Optimus and Kira both looked to see that Optimus's rescuer had managed to retrieve the Star Saber and was attempting to bring it to Optimus, but they both gasped in shock at the sight of said rescuer. "Bumblebee," Optimus called out in horror as he saw the brave scout lying on the ground with a large hole in his chest.
Before Optimus could reach the scout, Le Creuset had sent his DRAGOONs after the Bumblebee, which effectively knocked him into one of the discarded GENESIS mirrors that seemed to still be resonating with a pool of cyber matter. As both Kira and Optimus watched this in horror, they saw Bumblebee's eyes flicker for a moment until they finally went dark once again just as he hit the residual cyber matter. Kira was now beyond upset; he was pissed as he cried out for his best Autobot friend, "BUMBLEBEE!"
Megatron simply slammed the Riot Cannon aside as he snarled, "What a waste of energon."
"I couldn't agree more," Le Creuset stated as he moved to float alongside Megatron. "But at least we won't be seeing him again.
Hearing these words, Optimus felt his own anger growing as he raised his head and told Megatron, "Even after the battle for the Ark, I must be reminded of the truth of your words that I had once learned after eons of conflict Megatron."
"And what might that be Prime," Megatron requested as he raised the Dark Star Saber and brought it down to slash Optimus in half. Much to his shock though, Optimus was able to stop his attack by grabbing his arm as he brought the blade down.
As Optimus began to rise to his feet, he answered Megatron's question saying, "This universe, no matter how vast, will never be big enough for you and I to coexist!" With that said, Optimus slammed his right fist into Megatron in a powerful uppercut that sent his former brother flying. After Megatron had hit the ground, he was only able to avoid Optimus's follow up attack with the Star Saber by the skin of his teeth.
Le Creuset was not about to let Optimus destroy Megatron like this, and he began to move in to assist the war lord. Before he could fire though, he was immediately hit hard by the Freedom, which had just ejected from the METEOR. "Your fight's with me Le Creuset," Kira shouted.
Optimus nodded in thanks to this as he then turned his attention back to Megatron and stated, "Just as it is now Kira and Rau Le Creuset, it is you and me now Megatron."
"Oh Optimus, don't you see," Megatron replied. "It has always been you and I. It has been from the beginning and it shall be right to the end."
"The same can be said of us Kira Yamato; after all we are both the product of humanity's selfish desires," Le Creuset stated as the Providence readied its beam saber.
Optimus and Kira both nodded to each other one last time before they declared together, "At the end of this battle, one shall stand, and one shall fall."
"Then by all means Optimus Prime/Kira Yamato. Come, let us end this once and for all," the two madmen shouted together. With these simple words, the four each charged at each other, both sides determined to end this battle and their wars once and for all.
AN: Okay I know you guys all want to kill me for what I just did to Bumblebee, but I should remind you that Bee has escaped death multiple times in the Transformers series so do go thinking I won't stay true to that about his character. That being said, I know a lot of you will be mad at me for ending this chapter on a cliffhanger, but I wanted this final battle to be split into two chapters mostly because that seemed like the best way to do it. And honestly how much more epic can you get than right there, what with a repeat of Transformers history that is essentially one of the final scenes of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (Sorry for the spoiler on that for those of you who haven't played the game) and then Kira and Optimus give that epic, iconic line they gave at the exact same time at the end and...[hit hard in the head to cut off further ranting]
Cagalli: CHILL OUT YOU NUT CASE BEFORE YOU SCARE THEM WITH YOUR FAN BOY RANT! You're just doing all you can to keep yourself from telling them how-
AN: SPOILER! [hits a control that triggers an alarm] Huh? [looks at control] Uh oh.
Cagalli: What? What'd you just do?
AN: Uh I might've hit the control that unleashes every bit of spoiler prevention that this thing has on it which may cause the AN studio to basically get destroyed.
Cagalli: WHAT?!
AN: Hey don't look at me! Blame tech support they're the ones who designed this thing! Ahem, now before Cagalli and I have to run for our lives, I must say that this time the preview is not much, and since my usual saying before the end would not seem all that appropriate well...
All I can say is a paraphrase of one of Optimus's iconic quotes which I was just written. At the end of this battle, one shall stand, one shall fall, and one shall rise again. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…Chapter 28: The End of the Nightmare. End these tragedies together Gundam and Optimus!
Cagalli: If you're done we have to-[looks to see I'm already gone]
AN: Every man for himself!
Cagalli: [looks to see everything that she ever dealt with from nearly giving a spoiler away and then some heading towards her] Oh come on!
AN: Well, can we get someone from tech support in here to explain why they thought it was a good idea to essentially put in an AN Section Studio self destruct option on the Spoiler Prevention Control please? Well until next time, which I will be sure to make very soon...
Please read and review, and I'll see you when the Bloody Valentine War comes to an end!