When they enter the bridge, they see only Ravage in it, the vessel already airborne, no sign of Megatron—but for the closing floor hatch.
"He let him fly away!" Dinobot hisses, but Starscream just straightens, looking suddenly…
More powerful, more commanding.
Nothing like the ghost the Predacon has become used to deal with, or the treacherous mech that possessed Waspinator.
"What are you—"
"I need you to be still. And as quiet as you can." The Seeker orders, and stunned by the seriousness in voice and gaze, the Raptor simply nods.
Why should he—
Oh. Oh.
The only times the Flier staid completely still was when Dinobot was hunting, and there was that time, when the Predacon found Silverbolt…
"Ravage."
At the Decepticon's call, to the younger ghost's disbelief, the black and silver mech turns around—
And his optics widen as his mouth falls open, gaze fixed on the white and red and blue Seeker.
"Starscream?" The Covert Agent whispers, and Dinobot finally realizes what is going on.
The energy saved by him standing still is being used so that the Flier can be seen and heard.
An old friend to talk to, indeed.
Wait. Starscream said friend?
"Maximal signatures detected." The computer drones, but despite the pilot snapping out of his surprise to snarl at the ghosts—ghost, because he doesn't know Dinobot is there—, he doesn't move.
"Target all Maximal signatures, strategy shoot and move, Maximal shield has priority one." The active Decepticon orders, and there's some clicking as the new directives are acknowledged and implemented.
"Ravage, stop this!"
"You dare give me orders? To protect the Maximals?" The black and silver mech growls, and the Flier takes a step closer with his own snarl.
"Of course not! Destroy all Maximals if you wish, but you've got to break free of this fake Megatron's commands!"
"What are you—" Dinobot hisses, but a sharp gesture of one blue servo cuts him.
Right, stay quiet.
"He's going to destroy us all!"
Ravage laughs at the deactivated mech's words, a dark and almost hysterical sound that makes the Predacon take a step back.
"Destroy us? You can't be destroyed, so why would you care? Why would you care about any of us? You left us!" The Grounder hisses, dactyls curling into claws.
"I left? I didn't ask to be deactivated!" Starscream shrieks, though his ire is quickly dissipated. "Ravage, listen to me, I'm trying to help, to keep all of us functioning!"
"Maximal shields destroyed." The computer interrupts, and the Covert Agent turns to slam a servo on the controls next to a small screen.
"Tarantulas, all power to weapons!" He orders as soon as the Spider appears on it, cutting the connection almost immediately after that.
"Stop this!"
"No! This is our chance to change the course of the war, for the Decepticons to rise as victors!" The black and silver mech roars, ears back and fangs glistening dangerously.
"This will destroy us all!"
"You destroyed us! Your empty promises were what allowed Galvatron to be, what deactivated my brothers! Soundwave trusted you and you deactivated him!"
And Starscream recoils, the pain and guilt far more intense than ever before and not even trying to be hidden.
"How could I know Unicron would get to Megatron and the others before we did?! How was I supposed to do anything when my frame was vaporized?! I tried, Ravage! I managed to pull myself together, I confronted Galvatron, antagonized him as much as I could, I found you easy to access resources! Or do you think those Sweeps could've ever found them hadn't I taken one of them? I even defied Unicron himself to get a new frame!"
"Then where were you when Frenzy and Rumble were deactivated, when Ratbat was lost to Cosmic Rust, when Overkill and Slugfest were destroyed in Charr's obliteration? Where were you when Laserbeak, Buzzsaw and I were captured? Where were you when Soundwave was deactivated?! Where were you?!" The black and silver mech shouts, faceplate twisting in agony and rage.
The lights dim, and one concrete set of buttons lights up.
"You know what? I don't care. Get lost." The active mech hisses, turning to the controls, and Dinobot finally realizes the Axalon is their target.
Without shields.
With all power redirected to weapons.
"You have to stop him! Possess him!" The Predacon shouts, despair clear in his voice.
"I can't—"
"Of course you can, you did it to Waspinator, you have to—"
"And what do you think keeps the sparks of the mechs I possess alight? I can't sustain both of you at the same time!" The Seeker shrieks, rounding on the other ghost.
"If Megatron wins, we all lose! Save him!"
"Ugh! Stop being so Maximal!"
"Maximal?" Another voice rumbles, and, startled, both deactivated mechs whirl to where Ravage is standing in front of the controls, not a single command input yet.
The Decepticon is glaring at the Flier, and Dinobot feels cold.
Starscream is still visible, still audible, and while the younger mech isn't, it is obvious there's a second ghost.
And, judging by the heated glare, the black and silver mechs thinks it's a Maximal's ghost.
"Ravage—"
An explosion, and they all turn to see the corridor being engulfed in flames as the ship blows up.
"Decepticons forever!" The Covert Agent roars, standing tall and proud, ready for his deactivation.
Dinobot grabs Starscream's arm and shoves him to the black and silver mech—
"Get him out of here—!"
And the fire is on them, burning despite the lack of frame—
Something vanishes in Dinobot's spark and he is no more.
Until, slowly, the darkness becomes spotted, stars twinkling over him as he feels without feeling the wind rushing by.
A blink, and his optics finally identify the large shadow with the two bright red lights.
Starscream.
Starscream is carrying him in his arms, flying faster than Dinobot could ever hope to achieve.
And looking so determined and angry that the pain and sadness and guilt are almost overseen.
Almost.
"Ravage?" The Predacon asks softly, because the Seeker said he could only keep one more as a ghost, and he was sure he hadn't been the one picked.
At least, it hadn't felt like that when everything, including himself, disappeared.
"I couldn't hold on." The Decepticon answers, tone almost emotionless but obviously crying.
There are no tears on his faceplate, not in the sense of liquid dripping from the optics, nor could there be on any Cybertronian, but Starscream is crying.
Dinobot knows, because he can feel the Seeker's spark, his being, closer than ever so that his recovery from almost extinguishing can go faster. He can feel how the Flier's spark keeps reaching, even though there's nothing to grab on, nothing that can answer.
It isn't that Starscream couldn't hold on.
It is that Ravage let go.
"Where are we going?" The Raptor asks after a moment, knowing anything else he tries will be ignored.
"You wanted us to be more involved in this conflict? Well, we are going to be." The Decepticon answers with a snarl, rage and the need for revenge overwhelming the sadness. "We're going to the Ark."
Easy as such a thing is to say, and despite Starscream's speed, it still takes them too long to get there.
So long that, judging by the fact the Maximals are shooting at a shield-covered gigantic orange vessel and being fired at in kind, Megatron is already inside.
"Concentrate your fire on that fusion cannon!" Optimus orders as the ghosts land, Dinobot finally allowed to stand on his pedes. "If we can force a backlash—" A shot cuts him, but no more is needed for the rest to know what he means.
"They can't, not with those puny weapons. But I… Sparkblade, are you ready for some pain?" The Seeker asks, optics alight with calculations.
"For the last time, don't call me that, Screamer! And you know that pain is an acceptable price for victory!" The Predacon shouts back, tensing in preparation.
"Then, put a servo in lava and be ready to deal with a lot of it." The Decepticon orders, taking flight as Rattrap aims—
Without a second thought, Dinobot does as told, and shrieks.
This isn't pain, it's pure agony!
And, worst of all, it's not just his servo, but his whole being that is aflame, the heat consuming him, destroying him—
Going away as he feels it being drained through some kind of bond, as if he was a conduit for it to somewhere else—
He turns just in time to see Starscream stab a clawed servo through the cannon, shield and all—
And it explodes, the defensive barrier falling soon after that as the Predacon quickly takes his servo out of the magma to avoid more pain.
Rattrap celebrates loudly, but the Raptor just gives them a quick glance to make sure they're alright before crossing the distance to the Ark's entrance, the Maximals following.
The Seeker is sprawled on the ground looking confused, as Dinobot leans over him.
"Are you alright?" He asks, and, after a moment, red optics focus on him with a grimace.
"Been better. Are you alright?" The Flier returns, getting up with help from the other ghost, who snorts.
"Back at you. What now?"
"We have to get inside!" Optimus shouts, and the deactivated mech's attention turns to where Rattrap is trying to rewire the door to open it.
"It's jammed!" The Rodent shouts, letting the cables fall. "The power surge must've—"
A roar, and before an annoyed Starscream can fly over there, Rhinox destroys the lock with his machineguns.
"What are you idiots doing?!" The Decepticon shrieks, though he goes unheard, as he rushes to the sparking mechanism and thrusts half an arm into it.
And the door opens—just a sliver.
"Imbeciles! Look what you did!" The Seeker shrieks, but Dinobot is already rushing forward, jumping over the Rhinoceros and, as impossible as such a thing would have while he was active, he gets inside through the narrow opening without any trouble at all. "Bunch of idiots, they are going to be the cause of their own deactivation." The Flier keeps grumbling, phasing through the wall without trouble.
"Where to now?!" The Predacon asks, but, instead of answering, the Decepticon rushes away, and the Raptor finds himself straining his concentration to fly fast enough to not lose him from sight.
"—leash the sword of vengeance! Farewell."
Too late.
Megatron shoots right at Optimus Prime's helm, Starscream swooping into it and—
A surge, a powerful burn more painful than anything ever before, and Dinobot finds himself crying out in pain again.
Megatron laughs.
And talks, boasting about having doomed them all, and the Raptor focuses on it, feels the same energy burning him fueling his anger, and stands up.
"And you… You no longer—"
A jump, and he's face to face with his former leader, whose triumphant grin is wiped out by disbelief and perhaps a bit of fear—
"—exist?"
And Dinobot punches him right in the faceplate with a satisfying crack that is not all from his dactyls.
When Megatron falls, he doesn't get up again.
"Starscream! Any way to stop this?!" He shouts from where he's standing on the armrest, turning to the damaged head of the Autobot leader—
And finding an enormous shape at his back, blue servos next to almost destroyed metal, flickering in and out of sight.
But obviously Starscream.
Well, even knowing it, his real size is still impressive.
"Use that energy you're channeling into Teletraan I, we need to activate life support!"
And the Predacon does just that, digging his servos into the first interface he finds.
"We're almost—Dinobot?!" A voice shouts and, startled at his name being said out loud the Raptor turns his head to find Starscream's nowhere to be seen, and that Silverbolt is flying Blackarachnia towards the control console.
"What are you waiting for?! Get life support on!"
They do, with the codes Blackarachnia somehow has managed to get, and as soon as the time storm stops, the Fuzor turns to where the brown-stripped warrior is getting his non-existential servos out of the consol—and frowns.
"Dinobot?" He asks softly, optics looking over the Raptor without seeing him.
"He was a result of the time storm." Blackarachnia explains, and the Maximal quickly forgets all about the supposed hallucination to focus on the matter of the fluctuating time-stream.
Fine by him, for the Predacon still has something to do.
Feeling tired in a way that shouldn't be, Dinobot bounces back to the armrest, staring up at Prime's destroyed helm.
"Starscream? Are you… around? What do we do now?"
"They need to get the repair systems going." A disembodied voice answers, sounding as tired as the Predacon himself is feeling. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this spark stable."
"They can't see me anymore, how do I—"
And the door opens again, letting the rest of Maximals inside.
Their discussion is… not good.
"Old Relic?"
"Slagging Autobots and Maximals with their self-sacrificing tendencies… I could stabilize Prime's spark in an undamaged frame, but having to keep Primal's spark intact too will be…"
"Don't tell me, you can't keep me alight at the same time." Dinobot finishes, apprehension growing as the Gorilla flies to be level with the larger mech's chest.
"No, but you can hold on for as long as is needed… Get in Prime's body, the presence of a spark will help it too."
"You want me to posses Optimus Prime?!"
"Oh, quit the dramatics, it won't be possession. I just want you to nest in his empty frame, if you want to call it that. Just stay in it and don't touch anything."
The Predacon hisses in distaste, but grumbles an agreement.
Now that he's managed to get involved in the war again, he can't let himself deactivate that easily.
"Can you open Prime's—" Before he can finish the sentence, the Autobot's chest plates are parting, soon revealing the Matrix around an already open spark chamber. "What will happen to you?" He asks softly as he watches Optimus take the Relic, the spark contained in it pulsing weakly, a pale blue that's almost white.
"I'll… go dormant, in a sense. Once Prime's spark is back in his frame, you'll have to wake me up."
"Wake you—What? How?!" He asks, already moving into the open spark chamber left behind. "How could I—"
Primal's chest compartment opens, his own spark bared to the world, and, with a zap, Prime's spark rushes inside, as if pushed by an outside force, and the Maximal is thrown back by some kind of unseen impulse.
Dinobot doesn't even get to see him fall, for his world goes black again.
This time literally, because the spark chamber he's in has swirled closed as soon as it has detected him.
He doesn't mind it that much when the same something in his spark that vanished back at the Predacon ship does so once more, but, this time, the trickles of energy of the spark chamber keep him conscious.
Despite everything, though, he can't be expected to stay sitting tight all the while, now, can he?
Carefully, and only when he feels strong enough to do so, Dinobot phases through the spark chamber.
But only to his waist.
He feels weak already, but this way, he can keep Prime's body with a spark while observing at the same time.
The first thing he sees is… completely unexpected.
The mech is large, about half of the Autobots and Decepticons, and with wings on his shoulders and a cockpit on his lower torso containing a healthily pulsing pale blue spark, but the faceplate is well known.
Albeit with green optics, almost like Rampage's.
Starscream's influence, perhaps?
"In a word? Prime." What is supposed to be Optimus says, voice confirming his identity yet seemingly layered with a deeper, older, more experienced one.
And yet, the way he crosses his arms over his chest, despite the smile on his faceplate, reminds the Predacon of a certain Decepticon Flier.
But things are never so easy.
Megatron's angered voice fills the room and, despite how much twisting he does, Dinobot can't see anything that's behind Prime.
So, with an annoyed snarl, he settles for listening.
"Not here!" Optimus exclaims, stepping out of his sight and, supposedly, closer to the Predacon leader. "Do you understand? Take it outside!"
That… can either be Starscream, or Optimus. The pissed tone, he suspects, is the Seeker, but the Gorilla must be the one in control, because he hasn't heard any smashing yet.
"Rhinox, keep those repairs going." Definitely Primal, the Decepticon would have made that an order instead of a request, if only by the tone of voice.
"Ah, I see we have a new Optimal Optimus to deal with."
Dinobot grimaces, unsure if he should laugh or groan at the Tyrannosaurus' voice.
Optimal Optimus? Seriously?
"And carrying Prime's spark, as well."
"Amazing powers of deduction." The Raptor deadpans, even though he knows no one will hear him, because he needs to let his frustration out somehow.
"I said, outside!" Starscream, without doubt, for that was the equivalent of a shriek in Primal's new voice.
"You wouldn't dare fire in here! It might upset history."
"Then just kick him out!" The ghost exclaims, but, since no crashing follows, he knows his suggestion hasn't been even considered by his comrades.
"We'd have four million years to clean you off the walls, Megatron. I might risk it." Though that's a good retort, and very Primal-like, but that murderous note…
"I will protect you, Royalty!"
"Oh, the Ant is here too. And it seems the faulty coding has been corrected. Shame." Dinobot grumbles at the new voice, now more than ever wanting to be able to see.
"No, Inferno! Not this time. This is not the end of it, Optimal Optimus, no. The universe cowed once at the name of Megatron, and it shall do so again!"
"You're no one to talk, cheap copy!" The Raptor shouts, feeling like an idiot a moment later. "Slag it, I've been spending too much time with the Old Relic…"
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, Megatron."
That… is not Optimus. Or Starscream. Which leaves just one option…
Prime.
"Then they better stay out of my way!"
"Children." The ghost groans, burying his faceplate in his servos. "I swear, if I have to listen to this a nanoklik longer…"
"For booting up cold, would you just shoot him?" Rattrap exclaims, and Dinobot almost claps out loud.
"I'm trying not to resort to that." Optimus answers, and the Predacon starts to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to just stay in the chamber and take it as some sort of vacation instead of listening to this bickering.
"Then I will."
"No!" A shot, clanging, and Dinobot feels really relieved he hadn't just gone back into the spark chamber, once more straining to see what is going on—
The whole Ark trembles and, with a squeak, the Raptor finds himself back into the darkness.
The spark chamber.
He… what, tripped?
By the time he gets outside, he barely manages to catch the sound of jets going away, so, with a snarl, he lets himself fall once more into the comfortable darkness of the spark chamber he's currently occupying.
"So much for a vacation."
He tries to stay aware, to listen from inside the chamber, but either he's completely isolated or there's nothing interesting going on.
He only realizes he's entered some kind of stasis when he feels a known presence close by, and he suddenly knows.
Prime's spark is ready to return to his owner.
So, with just a thought and a half felt push against the chamber, it opens.
And there it is, Optimus' new form carefully moving the Matrix, blazing white but releasing a deep blue light, back where it belongs.
Dinobot moves away at the last second, not sure if he can safely do so otherwise, and the Relic easily connects with the systems surrounding it.
To his surprise, though, the instant it's back in place, Optimus Prime moves.
It's a small movement, straightening his head to stare at Primal's optics with his blazing ones, the same white as the spark and giving off that deep blue light—
Dinobot smirks and climbs up next to the head.
"Time to wake up, Starscream." He whispers, grabbing hold of the blue light—
And, with a tug, he finds himself supporting a dazed Decepticon Seeker in his arms while Prime's optics go back to being plain Autobot blue before turning black as stasis claims him once more.
"Never. Doing. That. Again." The Flier grumbles, too wobbly to straighten, so, this time, the Predacon is the one to carry the other ghost away as the Maximals talk.
"Agreed. Next time, I want to be the passenger of the body that actually moves."
Starscream snorts but doesn't retort, the only other sound being a content hum as Dinobot gets them outside to bask on the strengthening rays of the morning sun.
AN: Not many plot-hole fixing yet... minus that thing about Prime's frame functioning without a spark, life support or not, but you can chalk it to my headcanon, and Prime/Primal's spark not becoming a single one, or whatever. Also, the Ark's door. My apologies to Maximal weaponry and Rattrap's aim, but I never understood how they managed to get the force field down with such... tiny/backwards weapons (Primal says the Ark is a lost art, so my mind immediately chalked it to some kind of "the ancients did things that we could never hope to replicate" thing, meaning, things were better in the past). I mean, those impacts? Even in such a concentrated dosis, I don't buy it. Rhinox's ammunition are metal bullets, for booting up cold! It isn't even some kind of energy to help disrupt the flow! Oh, and talking about Rhinox, blowing up the control panel? Error 404: Logic not found. At least, he couldn't open it all the way (though denting it? Come on, strong guy or not, do you even imagine how thick those doors were? They had to be thick by Autobot standards, taking into account it was the outer hatch of a spaceship, so let's not get into Maximal standards).
However, you heard Starscream: "You wanted us to be more involved in this conflict? Well, we are going to be." And, since the major plot-holes I found were in season 3... time to rock and roll, ghost style!