Chapter 19
Optimus Primal, SilverBolt, Air Razor, and Powerglide are escorted down a metallic hallway by a dozen Predacon guards towards the exit, and then they are forced to walk to the end of a collapsible platform that is above a deep pit with thousands of Sharkticons swimming down below.
Onboard the Maximal Flagship, Cliffjumper calls out. "Rodimus, Sir. I found Primal, SilverBolt, Air Razor and Powerglide."
"Where?" Rodimus asks as he walks over to Cliffjumper's console.
"Right here" He points to an image on his screen, which looks like a large gaping pit in the ground. "Their scans come from there. I'm also detecting thousands of older signatures matching the Sharkticon profile."
"They are being executed." He looks away, and then turns back. "I have an idea. Lock onto their signatures, but wait."
They turn to face the Judge Quintesson that is hovering on a throne on his column of energy.
The bailiff Quintesson faces the captured Maximals. "Before the Imperial Magistrate delivers his sentence, would you like to beg for your lives? It sometimes helps, but not often" he says in his scruffy mechanical voice.
Air Razor turns to Primal and attempts to whisper "I can't transform."
"Silence or you'll be held in contempt of this court!" the judge rudely states.
"I have nothing BUT contempt for this court!" SilverBolt says defiantly.
The bailiff turns around to face the Judge. "Guilty or innocent?"
The Judge says coldly. "Guilty"
The bailiff faces the Executioner Quintesson. "Feed them to the Sharkticons!" The Executioner throws the switch, and the platform collapses, causing Optimus Primal, SilverBolt, Air Razor, and Powerglide to fall towards the swarm of Sharkticon.
Rodimus nods his head a few times in slow rhythm, counting in his head. He them shouts at Cliffjumper "Now!"
Cliffjumper taps on his console quickly.
Just as Optimus Primal, SilverBolt, Air Razor, and Powerglide hit the water with a huge splash, they are teleported out of the water, and fall a few feet from the ceiling of the flagship bridge and onto the ground, along with some of the water.
"Could you have taken any longer?" SilverBolt said in protest. "We were inches away from Sharkticons!"
"You're welcome.." Cliffjumper says sarcastically.
"Remove the energon bindings." Magnus says. Two Maximals rush over and use tools to deactivate the bindings.
Wheeljack and Ratchet tap furiously at their consoles. In unison they both state "Done!" They look at one of the monitors, showing the imprisoned Maximals getting their sparks re-implanted into their bodies. Massive doors open to allow the hundreds of thousands of Maximals to rush out.
"Almost there." Perceptor says as he and Rhinox continue on their task, watching the screens while their fingers fly over the keyboards.
Onboard the Maximal flagship, Goldbug calls out "Rodimus! Magnus! Come over here, quick!."
Ultra Magnus and Rodimus run to Goldbug's station. "I'm detecting thousands upon thousands of Maximal signatures being detected coming from the surface. Even.."
"Optimus Prime.." Rodimus says as the computer displays the image of the iconic leader.
"Patch me through!" Rodimus commands as Goldbug taps on the controls.
On the surface of Cybertron, Optimus taps on his wrist as he runs.
"Optimus? This is Rodimus. Welcome back sir."
Optimus ducks an incoming blast. "Rodimus. What's going on? The last thing I remember is our own holodrones rising against us"
"The Predacons infiltrated our ranks and reprogrammed them to attack us, and successfully conquered the planet. That was a few thousand human years ago. Now they are using that same technology to create holodrones that we can't kill." Rodimus responds.
"What can we kill?" Optimus says as he fires off a few rounds from his Ion Blaster.
"There's a group of Predacon tanks near your location, which has armor that we can not penetrate with our weaponry on the ground." Rodimus says.
"I've got an idea." Optimus states as he rushes over to the massively large Dinobots. "Grimlock. We need those tanks destroyed!" He points over to the tanks in the distance.
Grimlock looks over to the other Dinobots. "Dinobots…Transform!" The Dinobots transform into their dinosaur modes and rush towards the tanks with Swoop flying above them.
Starscream sees Swoop in the air. He has a few dozen pyramid fighters dive after the flying Dinobot. He soon gets surrounded by the Predacon aerial fighters as he launches multiple missiles at the fighters. He sees Starscream come towards him in jet mode and launches another round of missiles at him, hitting Starscream.
Starscream spins out of control and crashes through one of the Citadel's windows.
The Predacon tanks fire on the ground forces of the Maximals and their allies, sending bodies and body parts in all directions.
The Dinobots rush at the tanks, with Swoop firing missiles at two of them, Grimlock using his massive mouth to bite right through one of them, Slag using his lava-breath to melt down one, Sludge uses his tail to smack one against the side of a building, and Snarl uses his size to crush his target.
As Perceptor and Rhinox type away at the consoles, all four of the Maximals receive a warning "5 Minutes left before our signature mask dissipates." Rhinox says.
"We have no time to reprogram the drones!" Wheeljack says in a panic. "If the computer detects us…"
"Nothing will happen. We just needed to get down here." Perceptor says. "Megatron wouldn't destroy this room or anything in here, because.." He points to a door with a keypad and a mech fluid extractor on it. "Through there is his spark. The door is magnetically sealed. Only Megatron, or a combination of Firewing and SilverBlade's mechfluid opens the door. The computer also detects if the spark is in danger, and teleports it to Megatron's body, which is replicated on the fly."
"So what SilverBlade told us is true." Rhinox says.
"Warning, Maximal units detected in Section 33. Warning, Maximal units detected in Section 33." The Predacon computer alerts the crew in the Predacon command center.
Frenzy looks to Soundwave. Soundwave says "Gas them!" Frenzy immediately begins typing at his console.
Wheeljack hears something as he looks up to the vents. The metallic chairs begin to dissolve. "Slag!" Rhinox says as he quickly bolts to the door just as it was about to close and he holds it open. The door constantly pushes at Rhinox's body.
"We've got to trigger the replication sequence!" Wheeljack says, as he, Perceptor and Ratchet aim their blasters at the spark chamber mentioned earlier and begin to fire a barrage of plasma rounds while walking backwards slowly towards the door as the metal on their bodies show slight signs of disintegration. Wheeljack fires his single shoulder-mounted missile at the spark chamber's door while firing his plasma blaster.
The missile hits and Rhinox yells "That's enough, time to go!"
The others continue to fire as they reach the exit, and they each go through it one at a time by going under Rhinox's arm. Once the last one exits, Rhinox rolls onto the ground. Some of the metal of the bodies of the Maximal scientists have been dissolved in various areas. Mech fluid is dripping onto the ground.
"Now, we've got to get to the surface." Rhinox says as they begin to run down the catacombs.
In Megatron's throne room, SilverBlade and Megatron are still fighting. SilverBlade slashes at Megatron's holographic form, only for Megatron to grab onto SilverBlade's arm and toss him into the wall.
"Getting tired yet, Maximal scum?" Megatron insults SilverBlade as he grabs Silver again and throws him across the room.
The lights in the throne room flash red as the computer states the alert "Explosion detected in Sector 33. Repeat, explosion detected in Sector 33. Spark in danger. Initiating replication and teleportation sequence."
"Not now!" Megatron protests, but his holographic form stands up straight. It begins to 'fade' away, from the feet first, as the physical body 'fades' in, feet first.
Once Megatron's physical body is finished forming, a flash of light streaks out of the chest, indicating the spark is now inside the new body.
"How, how?" Megatron looks at his hands, trying to make sense that he is no longer immortal.
"How does it feel, your highness?" SilverBlade says mockingly. "To know that you are not a god?"