They might have been falling for breems, or just a few nanoklicks. All Optimus knew was that one klick he was tumbling through solid metal and ore, the next he was thrown across a cavern floor like he was a turbofox's chew toy.
He rolled to a painful stop, covered in dents with digits aching from holding on so tightly. He flexed them slowly, groaning as he tried to pull himself upright. One servo braced itself on solid ground, but the other only found empty air. When it eventually did find something to hold, it was the very edge of a chasm that dropped so far into Cybertron's core Optimus thought he could see the faintest glint of the Allspark's husk at the very bottom. Around them stretched an endless cavern, swollen with musty daylight from somewhere leagues above, letting everyone know just how small they really were within the planet's depths.
This far down, none of his sensors worked as they should, and even his comm link was just a hiss of scrambled static. The Matrix itself shivered as the bottom of Optimus' spark chamber collapsed, and as he pulled away very slowly from the edge. Falling back with blessed solid ground on each side of him, he let his helm limp sideways as the other Autobots tried to regain their bearings.
Smokescreen managed to avoid being slung over the cliff, instead crashing against a smooth wall of metal and landing on his shoulders with his legs in the air. He blinked slowly, checking the Phase Shifter as it sparked on his wrist, before breaking out a grin that could have lit up the entire cave. "Holy slag, it actually worked!"
Wheeljack was the first who managed to get himself vertical, gingerly holding a servo as a thin stream of energon leaked past his digits. "Y'know you could have just held my hand!" he cursed, trying to stem the bleeding from the bite marks on his arm.
Behind him, crumpled against another wall with the rest of his Dinobots, Grimlock tried to shake the guilt off himself. "Grimlock get hungry when scared!"
Closer to Optimus, his soldiers lay on the uneven ground like scattered corpses. Only their groaning gears showed they were alive before they stirred.
"How far down are we?" Bumblebee asked, still bolted to Arcee's hand as he helped her upright.
"Gravity would have started pulling us across the planet instead of down it after a few miles," Dreadwing said, pulling Knockout onto his peds before he could start bemoaning any scuffs on his armour.
"I'd like a word with gravity then, it owes me a new backplate…." Bulkhead rubbed at his spinal strut, still tender from his Tox-En experience, as he hobbled against a wall. He didn't lean against it very long, pulling away swiftly when he felt tremors ringing deep under his hand. Wherever Trypticon was above them, they could still feel his peds as if he was right on top of them.
Arcee seemed the most alert bot among them all, eyeing the cavern and the ceiling thrust up high above them, rivulets of dust trickling down as the cave shook. "Looks like we're on one of the mining layers." She looked further out over the cliff, to where other caves were carved along the sheer walls, then to the cave that stretched out further behind them all. "We used to use these tunnels for scouting during the war. They always lead out to the surface eventually."
"You sure?" Smokescreen had managed to roll back onto his peds with his helm upright on his shoulders where it was supposed to be. " Cause wherever we are, the Phase Shifter can just take us somewhere-" Just as he was getting smug again, the Shifter gave one last crackle of sparks before its light died away, now nothing more than a useless wristband. Smokescreen had never looked so devastated, and Arcee almost rolled her optics out of her helm as he let out a cry of grief.
"There's light coming from somewhere, so there must be a path out," she said, pointing to the fact that they weren't all stumbling over each other in the dark. "We just need to find the source, and make sure no one's waiting for us outside."
"Swoop find way out!" The winged Dinobot hopped on his claws, literally jumping at the chance to be helpful. "Swoop fly fast! Swoop best Dinobot!" He took off before his friends could argue with him, careening over the cliff and soaring upwards in the mighty cavern around them, small as a speck and only visible by the glint of mystery light on his wings and beak- before he disappeared into the metal heavens. It was unclear if he'd ever come back.
Smokescreen, now recovered from the loss of his relic, drew everyone's focus away from Swoop with a clap of his hands. "Good to know we're not trapped forever, so let's address the giant dinosaur stomping around like he owns the place." He jabbed a digit upwards, like he could spear through the cave with just a fist. "Just what the Pit was that thing?!"
Everyone was thinking the same question, everyone except the three mechs who could give the answer.
"Trypticon was a Metrotitan," Optimus explained slowly, confirming every fear that now sank deep into every faceplate he saw. "Originally he was located near Kaon, and loyal to Megatron from the day he was activated. But all this time… I thought he had been destroyed." Once again, everything Optimus thought he knew came crashing down around his shoulders. Trypticon's revival changed everything, negated every single advantage the Autobots might have had.
And every 'Bot there knew it, giving each other solemn looks in the grim dusk. Arcee in particular turned to Knockout, backed into a corner with Dreadwing as they frowned over their own part played in the war that brought them all here.
"That's what you were trying to warn us about?" she asked. "The Nemesis being Trypticon?"
Knockout looked at her, nodding once with an old sigh that rattled past his vocaliser, a rusted sound that didn't fit at all with the luster of his frame. Beside him, Dreadwing pushed himself into the light, still frowning under hooded optics. He seemed to fight against a scowl, already once a victim of Dark Energon resurrection.
"Just before the Exodus, there was a final battle between Trypticon and Metroplex," the Seeker said slowly. "As you know, Prime, by the end of it, Trypticon was heavily damaged by your Aerialbots." His wings twitched once, a fin swatting Knockout forwards into the array of cold and tired optics staring at him. The medic coughed and habitually wiped at his armour.
"Rather than leave Trypticon behind to rust," the medic explained, "Megatron ordered that he be reformatted into a warship. The Nemesis Protocol. Something capable of keeping up with the Ark."
Optimus listened with narrow optics and a bright flash of overdue realisation, as he remembered when he first caught sight of Megatron's ship on the Ark's radar. He'd never asked where it came from, never wondered much about it. Both sides tended to keep their technology secret until the very last nanoklick, when they had to debut them to level the war field.
"Go on," Optimus said, wondering if Megatron would have ever managed to chase after them without the Nemesis, without Trypticon's corpse left on his doorstep.
Knockout continued without meeting anyone's optics. "Well, his T Cog was removed during the procedure, to ensure that even if he did wake up, he wouldn't wander off… but with Dark Energon, anything can be repaired. Or replaced with something worse..." He trailed off with optics flitting and settling only for a nanoklick, like a pair of impatient flies trying to find somewhere to rest.
Smokescreen scratched at his helm, for all the world looking like he'd just swallowed some sour energon. "I'd heard about Trypticon, but… I always thought they were just sparkling tales."
"I remember watching that last fight against him," Wheeljack muttered, leaning against one of the walls as his shoulders sagged. "Too dangerous for even us Wreckers to take part in. I always did want a chance to go up against him… but not like this."
While hunched near Optimus, Bumblebee gave out a defeated buzz. "We can't hit him with relics, we can't hit him with explosives… what are we supposed to do?"
Apart from some solemn grunts from the remaining Dinobots, no one tried to answer. The silence in that cavern was so total, so engulfing and telling of the state of every spark clustered together there, that when something did scrape against the pitted metal surrounding them, everyone turned towards it with guns first and faces second.
"Swoop's back already?" Wheeljack asked, still holding his blaster steady regardless of who was approaching. The other Dinobots gave skeptical growls as they hefted out ancient swords and blades, placing themselves on the very front line of the barricade of bots. By the time Knockout decided to chip in with his buzzsaw brandished before him, the medic already knew that he wouldn't need it against the mech emerging from the shadows, as if he was a part of them all along.
"Soundwave…" Dreadwing said the Decepticon's name warily, not with the scorn he usually reserved for Megatron's other blind followers. Still, he kept his thermal cannon aimed straight ahead.
Despite the barricade of blasters and blades waiting for him at the dead end of the tunnel, Soundwave paused only once before continuing his slow approach. Optimus watched every step he took, first allowing him to close the distance before he saw a servo going behind his back, the Prime's shotgun humming with the power of a loader plasma shell in that same instant-
"Wait, Prime!"
Knockout had dived in front, shoving the barrel upwards before Optimus could let off a shot. The Prime was too surprised to be angry, but he still glared down at him as his weapon let go its built-up charge. Knockout gulped, unhanding the gun and backing away from the suspicious optics now drawn on him.
"He isn't here to fight," he said.
"How do you know that?" Bulkhead asked, one blaster on Soundwave and the other now angling towards Knockout. The medic looked more offended at the threat than scared of it.
"Because I'm the one who let him loose when Megatron wanted him terminated," he informed the Wrecker, making sure everyone else heard as well. "And I doubt even his most so-called loyal soldier would still be working for him after that little incident." He planted his hands on his hips, showing off his confidence that he wasn't in any danger.
It was true that Soundwave had been mysteriously out of commission until now, but Optimus found it hard to believe that even he would turn against his liege. He was helping Airachnid, not the Autobots. He might have only came here to see if she was among them. But if he did come to help them somehow…
Still watching Soundwave approach with something held behind his back, he kept his blaster aimed upwards as he retracted his battlemask. "Why are you here, Soundwave?"
Now that he was addressed directly, the Comm. Officer stopped in his tracks. He seemed to wait, perhaps hesitating behind his blank mask, before pulling his hidden servo out towards Optimus. When his digits fanned out, they were shown to be holding the last two Omega Keys.
Though Optimus wasn't quite sure he was even seeing them until he heard the hitched intakes all around him.
"The last two we need…"
"They might be a trap or… some kind of decoy-"
"No." Optimus silenced everyone with his certainty as he studied them, the intricate glyphs across their golden surface and jagged handles to be held only by a Prime's chosen. "These are the Omega Keys. They could not be anything else."
"So Megatron didn't destroy them after all!" Bumblebee chirped, thoroughly confusing those who arrived too late to hear about their supposed destruction. For everyone else, it was a blessed confirmation that they still had a chance to win.
"Unicron must not be completely controlling him, at least," Arcee said, allowing a cautious smile to spread as she watched Soundwave wordlessly hand over the Keys. Optimus weighed them in his hand, wondering how such powerful relics could feel like nothing more than normal metal in his digits.
He wanted to ask Soundwave where he found them, and how he found themselves hidden here. He wanted to ask if this meant Megatron had truly lost everyone, every soldier who might have willingly followed him into the Pit. Most of all, he wanted to ask why he helped Airachnid, why he cared about her, more so than any Decepticon should have.
But he didn't. Perhaps because he wasn't ready for the answer yet. He managed only one question before Soundwave turned to make his departure.
"After all these years... why are you helping us?" Optimus reached out towards Soundwave, not reaching him but summoning his attention regardless. It wasn't clear where Soundwave was looking, but he inclined his helm towards the Omega Keys hanging by the Prime's side, then to Optimus' face. His mask was etched with a straight line, one that reached to either side of his hidden faceplate and which wavered with a voice that almost made Optimus buckle to the floor.
"Don't try and feel sorry for me, Prime." Airachnid's demand from so long ago, so long before Optimus would know how necessary it was for her to say, was still clear through the grain and static of Soundwave's recording chip. Its waveforms cleared his face quickly, but the sound still hung heavy in the air as Soundwave left it behind, melting back into the cradle of shadows ahead. Even though Optimus didn't take his optics off the mech, he couldn't tell where his frame ended and where the darkness began, nor how Soundwave got a hold of that voice, and he could have spent breems trying to figure it all out if not for Smokescreen barging into his back.
"Alright, we've got all four now!" Before Optimus could focus on him he had jumped off to somewhere else, practically dancing with excitement that he seemed hoping to spread to everyone else. "All that's left is to take care of the big fragger and waltz up to the Omega…"
He trailed off when he noticed no one else was joining in, and that Optimus was shaking his helm at him.
"No, Smokescreen. We cannot defeat Trypticon, and I will not risk losing anyone in trying to." His Autobots looked up briefly, with none of them sure if they'd even agree to an assault against him. "Even if we were able to inflict damage on him, his Dark Energon supply would keep him going far longer than any regular bot. As long as the link between Trypticon and Megatron exists, there's no stopping either of them," Optimus concluded. Not even Wheeljack or Grimlock seemed suicidal enough to argue with him on his decision.
In fact, the only one who didn't seem to believe him was Smokescreen, now burning up his energy with frantic pacing. "But... there must be something we can do! We can't just lay down here and wait for Megatron to find us!"
Though Smokescreen was right, of course, Optimus was about to explain to him why they had no other options when something he could only label as Orion, endlessly positive and curious and so like the young mech before him searching desperately for an idea, slipped exactly what they needed into the Prime's processor. There was another option. One no less dangerous than waiting, but one that would see far more bots surviving to see Cybertron's future.
"The only bot that could stand a chance against Trypticon perished long ago," Optimus said slowly, only just starting to believe that it may be possible. "But with the Omega Lock… he may rise once again."
And like a ripple from a stone flung into a deep pond, realisation flitted across the uplifted faces of the Autobots. Even Knockout and Dreadwing looked up, almost daring to be hopeful.
"You mean… Metroplex?" Arcee asked, barely louder than a whisper. By contrast, Smokescreen barely calmed down.
"The Metroplex? You mean, I could see… we could actually bring him back?"
"A Titan against another Titan?" Wheeljack grinned. "I'd pay to see that."
Just at the suggestion of matching Trypticon's power, the mood covering the cavern flipped entirely. It was a cautious optimism, but growing the more everyone thought of raising the mighty Metroplex from the Allspark. Only one bot remained skeptical, one who had more than enough experience of dealing with sparks from beyond the grave.
"A bold plan if you can pull it off, Prime," Dreadwing told Optimus. "But do you even know where this Omega Lock is?"
Still gripping the two Omega Keys, Optimus pulled the remaining two from his subspace. "Indeed I do." With all four finally gathered in his hands, he spread them out carefully, with a hard grip lest they dissolve into the air, before slamming two of them together. The two ridged stalks met, then clicked together as they reconfigured themselves. Another Key joined the fused contraption, then another, until all four hovered in front of him and beamed out a projection that covered almost the entire cave. It was Cybertron, from younger and better days, with a single blip north of its equator.
"Right there. Near where Iacon once stood." Optimus let everyone see exactly where the Lock was located before deactivating the projection, allowing the Keys to shift back into their individual components. Dreadwing blinked once it disappeared, and said nothing more of whatever doubts he had. Perhaps he was planning to ask more, but Swoop's return swiftly distracted everyone as he screeched back into the cave from where it went into darkness and crashed to the floor, almost knocking Bumblebee over.
"Swoop found way out!" He flapped his wings together as he faced the back of the cave, where Soundwave had appeared and just as quickly disappeared from. "Hole leads down, come out back there!"
Optimus moved past him, turning on his headlights to investigate the darkness properly. He didn't expect any sign of Soundwave, though the tunnel was surprisingly long ahead before it started to climb upwards and out of sight. If Arcee and Swoop were right, it should eventually take them out to the surface.
"Good work, Swoop," Optimus said, helping the Dinobot onto his peds after he transformed still sprawled on the floor. "You came just in time. Now that we have a way out and a plan, I see no reason to stay here." He started off, leading the way into the tunnel as the others followed behind. It was a silent climb, though the air bristled with questions that no one was quite sure about how to ask, or perhaps that was just the tremors getting more intense the closer they came to the surface. Either way, Smokescreen was the only one willing to break the shaking silence.
"Uh, Optimus… what exactly is the plan? I know we have to get to the Omega Lock, but how are we gonna manage that with Trypticon after us?"
Optimus stopped around a corner, where fading daylight streamed in above them, from the mouth of the cave network they just traversed. It was a short climb to the surface over broken steel rungs and crumbled walls, and he decided to wait until the light was in reach before giving orders.
He filled his vents, eyeing the bots before him as he silently assigned roles to each one. It only took three nanoklicks, since most of them would be doing the exact same job.
"Smokescreen; as you are fastest among us, I will entrust you with reaching and activating the Omega Lock." He piled the Keys into one hand and held them out towards the mech. "While you do that, the rest of us shall distract Trypticon."
Smokescreen blinked, looking from Optimus to the Keys and back in shock as a grin filled his face. But before he could take them, Knockout barged into him and took his place in front of Optimus.
"Now hang on, Prime, I am the one with speed here! And, ex-Con or not, I'm not about to put my paint on the line just to buy some nanoklicks for the rookie!"
It was typical that, even at the end of the world, Knockout would still be complaining about someone taking his job. Optimus just counted himself lucky that Starscream hadn't tried crawling his way into the Autobots, while Smokescreen elbowed Knockout back out of his spot.
"Oh come on, you really think we'd trust you with the Omega Keys?" Smokescreen jabbed the medic's chest, just avoiding having his hand swatted by a wicked pair of claws.
"Look, I think it's pretty clear that I've ditched the Decepticons at this point," Knockout told him. "Why on the Allspark would I sabotage our planet's future for that maniac marching around up there with his army of the undead!?"
Before any armour ended up dented, Optimus sternly shoved the two mechs apart. "There isn't time to argue about this. Smokescreen, take Knockout with you. He will be useful if you run into any Vehicons."
Smokescreen scowled, but he knew better than to question his orders. He threw Knockout a glare over a scathing smirk. "Try and keep up, Con." He pushed off towards the shaft of light before the medic could retort, already climbing up by the time he reached the wall.
Bulkhead stood by the Prime's side, almost hissing in a new flood of doubt as the two-mech team raced each other to the top. "Optimus, even if they both push their engines go the limit there's no way we can keep Trypticon off their tails! All we can do is slow him down!"
"That is all we need to do, Bulkhead. As long as Smokescreen and Knockout reach the Lock, we just need to hold out until then."
The Wrecker looked down, not quite believing in the reassurance. Behind him, Bumblebee emerged with his own misgivings bubbling up as unsure blips.
"What about you, Optimus? Doesn't Metroplex need someone to command him, like Trypticon needs Megatron?"
Optimus had been hoping to have found a way around that fact by now, but nothing came to him. "That is unfortunately true… I cannot fight with you today, Autobots. I must find Metroplex. Even when he is revived, he will only respond to the call of a Prime."
None of the Autobots looked resentful, but their disappointment was clear. The Dinobots might have called him a coward anywhere else, but now they stayed silent. Not even Grimlock took the chance to insult him. In fact, the lead Dinobot walked out in front of Optimus, having to kneel in the tunnel that could easily fit everyone else.
"Me go with, Prime," he said definitively. "Me carry. Grimlock faster than Prime."
There was no hesitation in the offer, no grudge or reluctance. "Thank you, Grimlock. I'll see you up there."
The Dinobot nodded to the Prime, for once treating him as an equal, before summoning his small army and taking them towards the surface. They didn't so much climb as simply shove all the obstacles out of their way, clearing a much easier path for the rest of them.
As they waited for the Dinobots to pass, Bulkhead spoke up again. "I get why you have to go, Optimus. I know you'd be right beside us if you could be. But since you won't be… shouldn't we need someone else in charge?"
Optimus hadn't considered that, but it was a very good point. With how chaotic and unpredictable this mission would be, a leader would be vital to keeping everyone alive. Grimlock could handle his own Dinobots, but as for the Autobots… none of them had shown they were capable of leading each other, not when Ratchet had always taken over the running of the base. Bumblebee and Smokescreen were too young and reckless, Arcee too impulsive, Bulkhead didn't have the right processor for tactics or logistics, and as for Wheeljack… absolutely not.
There was only one bot he could leave in charge and know he was right for the job, even if the others wouldn't want to follow him.
"Dreadwing!"
The Seeker looked up from his silent trance, pondering things that no-one would ever know or ask about. It was unclear if he'd been listening to any of the past exchanges. "Yes, Prime?"
"I'm sure you already know this is your chance to fulfil your pledge," Optimus told him. "Can I trust you to take lead in my absence?"
Dreadwing looked at the hand offered towards him, blinking sharp red optics below eyeridges that rose ever so slightly in surprise. His wing flaps twitched, unsure of what to do with themselves. Optimus had never seen him look so uncertain, almost anxious about the offer. Whatever kind of indecision he was struggling with, he seemed to swallow it back as he took Optimus hand in a grip of firm claws.
"Understood, Prime." It was only when Dreadwing let Optimus' hand go, with the decision solidified, that the protests started.
"Optimus, are you sure? Dreadwing in charge?" Bulkhead sounded like he regretted even mentioning it to him, while Wheeljack marched over and shoved himself between the two mechs.
"Wait one Primus-damn klick, you expect me to take orders from the one who got all my buddies killed?!" Wheeljack's anger was divided equally between Optimus and Dreadwing, though he seemed most likely to pull his swords out on the latter.
"They knew the risks of being a Wrecker," Dreadwing told him, with neither malice nor compassion. He spoke like a mech who said only the truth, and who was bored of it. "If I didn't kill them, another Decepticon would have. Don't you want this chance to end the war for good, so the others don't have to die?"
Wheeljack rounded on the Seeker, his scars digging deep into his scowl- but before he could prepare a threat, Bulkhead placed a hand on his shoulder.
"…He's right, Jackie. If we don't stick together against Megatron now, they'll have died for nothing." Bulkhead only removed his hand when Wheeljack pulled his servos away from his sword sheathes, though his anger still burned bright in his optics.
"Quite frankly, Wheeljack, I don't expect you to follow orders from anyone." Optimus said, forcing the Wrecker to face him by standing between him and Dreadwing. "I do expect you to fight for your planet. No more than that."
Wheeljack glared up at him but eventually let his frown fade, only slightly as the fire in his optics died down. "…Alright, Prime," he relented, still chewing on his lip. "I can fight for that much. And I'll make it my last fight if I have to." He removed himself from the cluster of mechs, busying himself with clambering towards the daylight of the battleground waiting ahead for him. He was almost out by the time Dreadwing issued his first official order.
"Up to the surface, Autobots." He spoke with enough confidence to spur the others into trusting him, or so Optimus hoped. "Hopefully Knockout and Smokescreen will have gotten a head start by now. We should seek out Trypticon and draw him away from their route towards the Omega Lock." Dreadwing took the lead, climbing rather than flying to allow the others to catch up with him.
The remaining three Autobots looked to Optimus one last time, before agreeing they had nothing else to argue about as they followed Dreadwing out. Optimus was the last to leave, or he would have been, if Arcee hadn't let herself lag behind.
"Will this work, Optimus? Without you around?" she asked, turning around to face him over the ridge of a pitted chunk of ore. Optimus stared up at her from the bottom, hauling himself over the Dinobots' debris.
"It must work, Arcee," he said. "That is all I can say."
Arcee watched his face for a moment, trying to see if he had any other secrets hidden in the scarred metal, before nodding once. "Okay." She turned away to continue her ascent, but something else pulled her head back. "While you're out there… try and find Airachnid as well." She didn't look at Optimus as she made the request. "I'm sure she'll wanna be here to kick Megatron's aft." She shrugged her winglets, as if it didn't even matter to her before she pulled herself up over the mound with a lunge forwards, almost reaching hazy daylight now.
Optimus wasn't sure if she could still hear him, but he spoke anyway. "We have already lost Elita once, Arcee. I swear to you, we will not lost her again."
There was a slight pause in her progress that might have been her acknowledging him, but she was lost in the light before he could be sure.
xx
Soundwave's recording comes from chapter 41, when he gets Laserbeak back and finds an audio file that records a comm link between Airachnid and Optimus.
We're getting very close to the planned end now, only three chapters to go...