Chapter 8

After the team of Decepticons led by Megatron exited the Central Tower, Soundwave received the signal to secure the perimeter. He moved quickly, his shoulder cannon at the ready and concussion blaster in hand. He had deployed both Rumble and Frenzy to assist him in the task. The six construction Decepticons accompanied them, as they all took their positions progressively along the outer wall, moving ever forwards in preparation for any challenge that might arise.

The first team of Destrons they encountered were a group of six land vehicle robots, who had transformed into their car modes before driving straight for the group of Decepticons.

The largest of them, and the one who appeared to be their leader, challenged Soundwave's team. "Well, well, look what we've got here," he said, attempting to run Soundwave over in his large freighter mode. "Intruders!"

Soundwave moved out of harm's way, firing his blaster at the Destron. Within seconds, a battle erupted as each side opened fire upon the other. However, whilst the Decepticons outnumbered them, the Liege's soldiers had the advantage as they sped towards their opponents, threatening them with head-on collisions.

The Destron team leader was relentless towards Soundwave, who was left to defend himself as his team of Decepticons were forced to confront the other Destrons. Scrapper had narrowly avoided a clash with a black and red car, while his team mates struggled to avoid becoming just another of the Liege's trophies as the wild team's careless antics took them all by surprise. Only Demolishor, who battled a white and blue car, appeared to have the advantage over his enemy, as he used his strength against the oncoming Destron car, successfully overturning the vehicle and smashing it into the perimeter wall. The construction Decepticon then moved to assist his team mates, but was confronted by the large truck and had to leap out of the way to avoid becoming flattened underneath the giant wheels. Hook, Mixmaster and Scavenger were being fired upon by two speeding Destrons and were steadily losing ground, whilst Long Haul was not faring much better against another two, though Rumble and Frenzy had come to his aid.

"Give up now and surrender," the large truck bellowed, as he charged towards Soundwave once again, but the guardian of the mini-cassettes ignored his threats. He fired a pulse from his cannon, which hit the truck's front wheel and forced him to veer off course.

But this had only made the truck angry and, transforming into robot mode, he picked himself up and ran towards the blue Decepticon in an effort to overpower him. The Destron was much larger and stronger than Soundwave; however, the Decepticon was quicker, and moved out of his way before he could be tackled to the ground.

The two groups continued firing at one another and for several minutes it seemed as though the Decepticons would never be able to turn the tide in their favour, until help arrived. Sunstorm and his seekers approached their location from the sky, firing shots towards the Destrons as they got closer. They had managed to bring back another three seekers with them.

The seven newcomers landed, all in their robot modes, and immediately opened fire upon the Destron cars. This helped tip the balance of power; the Destrons were now no match for the Decepticons, and the battle was soon over.

The cars reverted to their robot modes, as they were gathered together against the perimeter wall by the construction Decepticons, who had since recovered from the skirmish.

"Not so tough now, huh?" Rumble jeered at the Destron team leader, who stood with his arms crossed and a scowl upon his face.

Soundwave recognized the large Transformer; they had fought a number of times in the past, when Straxus had stood in direct opposition to the Liege's plans.

Frenzy challenged the Destrons, speaking for Soundwave. "Us Decepticons are now in charge," he said, indicating towards his immediate companions, as well as the seekers and the construction robots. "So, you can come to your senses and help us knock the Liege off his perch, or you can all eat our dust."

The Destron leader growled. "Or, why don't I turn you all over to him just so I can enjoy watching the Liege mould you all into slag cake?"

"Why don't you put your metal where your mouth is, Motorbreath," Rumble retorted, defending his companions, as Soundwave and his team redirected all their weapons towards the Destron leader. Since Motormaster had made it clear where his loyalties lay, the Decepticons would now have to deactivate him and his subordinates.

But just as they were about to be sent into oblivion one of the car robots stepped forwards and spoke up. "Hold on just a second – Motormaster doesn't speak for me. Not any more." Soundwave held his position, but allowed the car to speak.

The Destron leader turned to look down at the black robot in surprised anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Blackjack?" his voice boomed.

Blackjack ignored him, but instead turned towards his team mates. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of taking orders from him." He indicated towards Motormaster and then, ignoring his better judgement, walked right past his former leader, averting his optics, and stepped towards the group of Decepticons. "I'll help, if you'll have me," he said to them.

Rumble and Frenzy celebrated with a gesture that looked like some sort of hand shake, obviously very pleased with themselves. "How about the rest of you?" Frenzy asked the car robots behind Motormaster.

The Destrons glanced at their leader, who returned them a look that said he would promise to kill them if they even so much as considered betraying him. For a long moment, they appeared to be frozen to the spot, defeated by their obvious fear of the large Transformer.

Then, the yellow robot slowly stepped forwards past Motormaster. "I'm here to win," he said simply, taking his place beside Blackjack. Motormaster attempted to step forwards and grab him by the neck, but Soundwave reminded him of what would happen if he attempted to assert control.

"I'm with Drag Strip and Blackjack," said another of the car robots; he was the one that had almost run into Scrapper earlier. He pushed his way past Motormaster to join the Decepticon team.

Blackjack looked at his team mate in disbelief. "Didn't think you'd side with us, Wildrider," he said.

Wildrider shrugged. "Eh, what the hell. Besides, you're right about Motormaster; he's just as demented as Maximus," he stated.

That left two car Destrons who hadn't yet moved or spoken a word. Blackjack looked over at the blue and white car, who had been propelled into the wall by Demolishor earlier. "Breakdown, get your exhaust over here," he demanded. He knew that Breakdown needed a little encouragement, as he was generally terrified of crossing Motormaster but at the same time resented him and wouldn't hesitate to turn against his leadership if he felt that he could get away with it.

Breakdown looked towards Motormaster, but then quickly averted his optics as he built up enough courage to join his other team mates, who had just become Decepticons. Before he did so, he grabbed hold of the red car robot beside him. "Come on, Dead End," he said, as he took the lead, guiding them towards their other team mates and rushing past Motormaster as quickly as he could, too afraid to turn back.

"Looks like the party's over, Motorbrains," Frenzy said to the remaining Destron, self-satisfied.

Soundwave contemplated what they should do with Motormaster, and then shrugged as he discharged a continuous round of cannon pulses. The Destron truck dropped heavily to the ground, as his control circuitry was temporarily disrupted. He would get over it, eventually.

When Megatron and the Decepticons who accompanied him approached Jhiaxus and his party, the second in command was already in a rank mood, having just realized that the attack party from Polyhex had been nothing but a ruse. All he could think about was how he would take out his revenge upon the former Destron Air Commander, whom he strongly suspected had played a part in the subterfuge. He found it difficult to keep his rage under control, particularly when he felt that he had been made to look like a fool.

"Starscream," he threatened, his voice filled with malice, "you should not have returned to Kaon."

Starscream was about to say something in response, but Megatron spoke first. The Decepticon leader stepped forwards, showing no sign of fear of Jhiaxus or regard for the missile launcher which he now brandished. "You should have chosen your enemies more wisely," he returned.

Jhiaxus slowly focused his attention upon the Decepticon leader. "Get out of my way, before you and your pathetic band of followers end up as spare parts for the Liege." Then, he looked towards the Air Commander. "Starscream is mine!" he threatened, and activated his missile launcher.

The energy-blast left a trail of electrical discharge through the air, narrowly missing Megatron. "Destroy them!" Jhiaxus gave the order, his battle cry amidst return fire as the Decepticons retaliated in a full assault upon his party of seven.

Immediately, both sides sustained several direct hits, but it seemed that they were evenly matched; the Decepticons were going to need additional firepower if they were to defeat Jhiaxus and his team.

"Megatron!" The Air Commander looked towards their leader in sudden realization. "If you transform, you might be able to provide additional power to that fusion cannon. You could take down Jhiaxus with one shot!"

The Decepticon leader hesitated. "It might not work correctly with my transformation mode." He and Shockwave were the only two Cybertronians known to have been created with a weapon-type alternate mode. Megatron had not used his for many years, as he had not had any reason to, until now, and the recent modifications that Shockwave had made to his configuration had not yet been put to the test.

"What better time to try it out than now?" Starscream responded.

If his transformation circuits weren't properly calibrated, a power surge from the cannon could backfire into his main circuitry, causing extensive damage. Furthermore, if Megatron withdrew his attention away from Jhiaxus even for a second, the moving target would be unhindered and would not hesitate to annihilate them all with his energy-blast missiles.

On the other hand, Jhiaxus was proving to be a very skilled and efficient warrior. His manoeuvres were highly unpredictable, as he avoided most of their firepower only to veer towards them for an instant, bombarding them with a volley of missiles. The Decepticons continued to hold him off with their own assortment of weapons; however, if the situation didn't change soon, they would run out of energy well before Jhiaxus' team did.

Megatron could see that their chances of winning were currently not in their favour, and so he transformed into his alternate mode before he could find a reason to change his mind. Before the seeker's optics, the Decepticon leader's size and form altered into that of a sleek silver and black hand gun. The fusion cannon had also modified its structure, integrating to fit as a scope, though it also served to enhance the capabilities of his original alternate mode weapon. Starscream caught the transformed gun-former neatly in his hands, and aimed it towards the enemy target.

Jhiaxus had moved in and was firing his missiles at the rest of the Decepticon team in an attempt to sequester the Air Commander from his companions, and did not expect what was about to occur, giving the Decepticons a much needed advantage.

"Well, here goes nothing," the Air Commander said to his mentor, as he held the gun with both hands and squeezed the trigger.

For a moment he thought that nothing would happen, but then he felt a sudden surge of power that almost knocked him off his feet. His trine mates watched on in astonishment as they saw the enemy jet take a direct hit from the energy pulse that had just been released from their leader's alternate mode weapon. It was spectacular, and extremely powerful, knocking Jhiaxus right out of the sky in an explosion of sparks.

"Son of a firecracker," Thundercracker muttered in amazement.

"I didn't know he could do that," Skywarp said, looking over at Starscream, who still held Megatron in his hands.

"Neither did I," the Air Commander replied, pleasantly surprised.

A short while later, Megatron's team of Decepticons had regrouped with Soundwave's party back near the Central Tower. Megatron had made contact with Shockwave; he and the Insecticons had completed closing off all underground exits, and were on their way back to join the rest of the team.

"We did not encounter the Liege," Shockwave reported, as soon as they'd returned.

"Perhaps he's taken his remaining party of losers to Praxus," Rumble spoke up, casually.

"Yeah, or to Polyhex," his twin, Frenzy, added.

Starscream looked about them, and then up towards the sky. "Most of his forces have been defeated… or have turned against him," he said, indicating the new Decepticon recruits around them, both seekers and land vehicle robots. "I don't think we'll be seeing him again any time soon." There was celebration, as cheers and shouts rose up from the gathered Decepticons; with Jhiaxus defeated, the Liege would no longer be much of a threat to them, at least for the time being.

Still, Starscream couldn't help but feel that the Liege was not going to give up so easily; the war lord would bide his time, and then seek revenge upon them when they least expected it.