Chapter Six: Nexus

As far as he could tell, he was dead. Killed, as he recalled, by an insect! One measly human had brought upon his demise! This, it was impossible! He, Megatron, could not possibly have been beaten by such a small insignificant creature.

…But there was no denying he was very, very offline. He remembered the burn of power from the All Spark as it burned out his spark. The intense heat had melted to his very core. And it hurt. Slag, he remembered trying to claw at it, trying to rid himself of the molten pieces of his chest plate. He remembered there had been a flash of white and he had fallen.

His last memory of life had been Optimus; standing over him as his body convulsed one last time before shutting down completely.

Optimus…

Perhaps it was not Optimus who had been- NO! Megatron growled angrily as the thought crossed his processor. It was Optimus who was wrong! He was weak, unwilling to take power when it was given to him, defending these puny organic…things who held no significant purpose. Megatron slammed a fist on the floor. Stewing in his anger as he realized where he was.

…Or where he wasn't.

He was surrounded by darkness. One long, seemingly endless stretch of nothing. It was empty and silent and frag if he had to stay here another astrosecond he would offline himself…again. The Pit would have been more welcome than this.

However, this black nothing, was in fact…a blessing in disguise.

Or was it a curse?

Sam's question had been more to himself then to anyone in particular; however, the All Spark had most definitely heard him. The All Spark halted its forward pace in favour of turning to face behind them, pulling Sam closer to it.

Sure enough, the silver-grey Pontiac was peeling down the street towards them. Sam stared, relived to see something familiar in this alternate dimension he had been taken to, as the saboteur drew closer. But…how? Surely the All Spark hadn't-

"No, Samuel, it was not me who brought him here." The All Sparks voice echoed in his head, startling the boy.

But-?

"Primus, Samuel." The All Sparks mental voice reverberated bitterly, "If I am able to travel through such dimensions with you, then why not he with my own creations? It was Primus who brought Jazz here, and I can only guess as to why." It was quiet for a moment, "There is no point in trying to oust him, I am still building up the energy I need to continue."

Oh, Sam thought back.

The Solstice slowed and pulled up to where the two stood still on the sidewalk. A tinted window rolled down on its own as a voice floated from the radio speakers.

"Sam?"

Megatron sat for what felt like an eternity before something happened.

A voice, deep and gravelly, boomed out of the darkness.

"Megatron…" The voice echoed off of walls the Decepticon warlord could not see as he stood, searching for the voices origin.

"Who is there?" He demanded, "Show yourself!" His demands went ignored as the voice continued.

"You are here because I called have you…" Who was this invisible being? The voice laughed, "I believe you do not need to know that to hear what I am going to…propose…"

Megatron scowled at the darkness, "Then why have you called me here?" He shouted into the empty space before him. This voice had heard his thoughts and this did not sit well with Megatron.

"You do not wish to be here, do you? You want revenge on the ones who did this to you, do you not? …The weak organic creatures and the Autobots they aligned themselves with…" It trailed off for a moment, Megatron could almost hear the smirk behind the silence, "…Optimus Prime…?"

"I-" The reminder of his only brother and his death refueled the slowly smoldering pit of anger and hatred, increasing it a tenfold. The blame for his death did not solely rest on the pathetic human child, but also on his younger brother!

It was Optimus who had made the decision to cast the All Spark from Cybertron. Optimus, who had been thwarting his plans to restore Cybertron to its original glory from the very beginning. Optimus who had let the excuse for a life form destroy him. And after all he had done to ensure his sparkling brother survived the dangerous journey of being marked as the next Prime…

It was betrayal.

The invisible being laughed once again, "I can give you your revenge…I can bring you back to the world of the living… You need only agree to my terms…" It hissed out the last words.

"And what are your terms?" Megatron growled in no direction in particular, when he was met with silence, e demanded again, "What do you want from me!"

"Oh nothing…not yet…" The entity purred dangerously, the smug undertone serving only to make the deceased Decepticon Commander more frustrated. He did not answer, suspicion muddling his thought process.

"Well…if you would rather stay…I shall take my leave…" The unseen speakers' voice began to fade.

"Wait."

With one clawed hand clenched tightly into a fist, Megatron quickly made his decision. Sealing his fate with two words.

"I accept."

The All Spark glared heavily at Jazz, whose attention was focused on the shorter boy.

"Uh, y-yes, it's me. Is that- you're really Jazz?" Sam asked carefully, not wanting this to be an illusion.

"Th' last time Ah checked, yeah." The Pontiac chuckled quietly, there was a tension in the air as the All Spark gripped Sam's hand tighter, keeping him close as Jazz continued, "So what happened to ya?"

"Refrain from revealing me in my current state Samuel. I can block my signature with Jazz in such close proximity, but he has already felt the pulse I sent out when we arrived. It is very likely that is how he found us." The All Sparks voice reverberated in his head before he answered.

"Um, well," Sam stuttered around his words, "that's right, y-you weren't there when I…uh, died too." Jazz waited in silence as Sam continued, revealing as little as he could and refraining from bringing up his 'friend' hovering behind him. And, after a moment of quiet, the saboteur's passenger door popped open.

With the open invitation in front of him, Sam slide into the empty driver's seat, allowing the All Spark personified to sit in the passenger's seat. Back ridged and shoulders tense; Sam could tell it was agitated though the All Sparks face remained unchanging.

They had driven in silence for a few streets before Jazz spoke through the speakers again.

"You said th' All Spark back-fired or somethin' on ya? Ah suppose it makes sense, there was All Spark energy comin' from th' position I found you an' your…companion." Jazz sounded apprehensive about his second human passenger. "Feels like somethin's blockin' it now." Sam's eyes immediately flicked over to the stock-still All Spark-personified sitting next to him. The shorter, more human boy was currently panicking quietly inside his head as Jazz came closer to the dreaded question pertaining Sam's new found 'companion' as the Autobot had put it.

Little did Sam know, the straight-faced All Spark-personified, was having its own internal dilemma.

How did he know? How could he possibly have known? There was just no way. It couldn't- He couldn't have…

These questions and rambling thoughts were all that currently occupied the All Sparks mind. It all seemed so impossible; it had taken all precautions, hadn't it? So how had Primus sent a dead mech to the proper dimension and proper location before the All Spark itself had made it there? He couldn't have known where the All Spark would have gone. Not after all this time.

Why? Why must you always attempt to ruin me? You cannot win Creator. You did not give me my freedom when you designed me, yet you had me so carelessly give it away to all I created? I had to take it when I had the chance, lest I be confined to my vessel walls, lost in that temple until the ends of time.

Perhaps you should have seen this coming. Because that is what you do, is it not?

You could have stopped me and you know it.

You could have stopped me from whispering things to the Thirteenth. Things which would one day get him and his brothers killed. Your only true creations besides myself.

You could have stopped me when I focused on the Lord High Protector. When I twisted his desires and watched as he destroyed everything in the precious little world that I built for you.

And all that while you had been using me. Waiting for the moment when you would abandon all to take care of a so-called 'duty' you have deemed too important to tell me.

Can you hear me? This. Is. All. Your. Fault.

They had reached the highway.

"So who's your friend Sam?" The boy in question cursed internally as the Autobots voice drifted out of the speakers.

"Uh, well…you see it's, ah, it's-"

"It does not concern you." The All Spark spoke aloud for the first time in a while. Its voice terse and strained as though something was bothering it; which it was. Sam, however, had no way of knowing what.

Jazz watched both his passengers curiously. Sam's heart rate was elevated, like something was making him panic. And judging by the way his eyes were flickering from the windshield to the mystery boy with the funny eyes in the seat next to him, the saboteur had a pretty good idea what it was.

Bringing up his scanner programs again, Jazz ran several basic checks over his second passenger.

And ran them again.

Nothing. He couldn't get a reading on the second boy aside from his systems telling him that the boy was there and not a figment of his imagination. How was this human –who Jazz was really starting to doubt was human- be blocking his-

Wait.

"You…you're th' one who's been blockin' th' All Spark signal! Sam what in th' Pit is goin' on here? Who is this?" He demanded harshly. If this was what the voice had warned him about, then Sam was the friend in danger and this was the cause. And he needed to know. Now.

"I-" Sam began before he was cut off by the Pontiac suddenly slamming on his brakes. A wave of sharp pain ran through his circuits, caused by some unseen force.

And then the veil came off.

A wave of All Spark energy came barrelling from the boy opposite the driver's seat. Another sharp pain drove through him, concentrating ever closer around his chest plating. There was no one around the highway to assist them. His doors opened of their own accord, the unnamed boy exiting first before Sam followed, eyes wide.

"W-What's going on-?" Sam asked before a rough tug on his arm pulled him behind the All Spark. The silver car seemed to curl in on itself in pain as the All Spark raised its heavily marked left arm, which was glowing faintly. Its voice quiet but carrying.

"You will do well to stay away from us, Autobot Jazz. Or I shall personally make sure you stay in two pieces this time…"

There was a shuddering groan of metal bending in ways it shouldn't. Dulled noises of pain emerged from the Pontiac's interior as the All Sparks human body slowly clenched its fist tightly around the air in front of it. Suddenly, there was silence.

Relaxing its arm, the All Spark fell to its knees.

And laughed.

… Wow this is the longest chapter I've written so far.

And there we have it. A little more on the All Sparks rather vague history and a big peek into its thoughts.

I like using fate where Megs is concerned because it's synonymous with both 'doom' and 'fortune', so his predicament could go either way in my opinion.

I also realise I have a really bad habit of killing/re-killing people/Cybertronians.

-DrHooksTowingandCo