Decades after the war between the Autobots and Decepticons has ended, with political tensions between both factions at an all time high an ancient evil returns from the dark corners of Cybertron's past to disrupt what little balance has been achieved. Now Rodimus Prime must join forces with his old foes the Decepticons to stop this threat from unleashing Cybertron's darkest hour.

Major Characters

Rodimus Prime

Arcee

Star Saber

Sideswipe

Goldbug

Soundwave

Deathsaurus

Tarn

Starscream

Thundercracker

Blaster

Perceptor

and

The Fallen

Planet Cybertron

57 years after the Great Civil War of Cybertron

Rodimus sat quietly in his seat at the round table, leaned over with his face resting on the inner palm of his left servo. He tapped the digit humans would call the index finger on the face of his face and gazed into the abyss.

It's not that this meeting bored him, well, it did truth be told. But, he was always bored of these, and still paid attention ninety-nine percent of the time. But this time, something was different.

The Matrix of Leadership within his breast pulsated, but strangely did not send him any kind of premonition or guidance. An uneasy feeling crawled through the young Prime's circuits, making him shaky and elusive.

From across the room Arcee took notice, she assigned herself to be bodyguard to Rodimus and the other Autobot leaders for this meeting with the Decepticons.

She did this without Rodimus's approval.

As she does most things, sometimes she still feels as if he's just Hot Rod in the middle of the war zone again and that he needs to be watched at all times to make sure nothing goes awry.

Her company was appreciated, but certainly not her thinking of the new Supreme Commander as a child.

"Rodimus Prime?" A voice from the other end of the table echoed, "Am I boring you?"

Rodimus jolted himself awake and shook his head no.

"My apologies," Rodimus said.

"Right, anyways," Soundwave continued, "I think that is has been long enough, we must settle who the Praxis territory belongs to."

"It was Autobot territory before the war," Star Saber replied.

"We claimed it in battle," Deathsaurus rebutted.

"If that's the case we Autobots should have claim to Hydrax," Star Saber said, "You surrendered the city to me yourself."

"The Galactic Council decreed that Hydrax is too far south to be Autobot territory," Soundwave protested, "Even if we wanted to give it to you, it would be too remote of a city for your republic to properly govern."

"In that case you should give us Frendrix as well, since it is the only territory blocking Hydrax from the rest of our land," Star Saber suggested.

"Non-negotiable, no battle was done there, no Autobot claimed it, it has always been Decepticon territory," Soundwave answered.

"Well, since you won't give us what we claimed on the battlefield, we won't give you what you claimed." Star Saber said, "All is fair."

"The Galactic Cou-" Deathsaurus spat.

"The Galactic Council said that Praxis, Tarn, and Helix won't be habitable for another 6,000 years, I see no need to rush granting the territory to either governing body," Star Saber said calmly, "We can reopen this discussion then."

"Star Saber, Praxis is in the middle of Decepticon territory," Deathsaurus said, "It's practically ours so let's make it legally so."

"Why, it's not like you'll even be able to build or live there," Star Saber responded, "Again, when the territory is habitable then we should have this conversation."

"Rodimus Prime, surely you're not going to allow your advisor to make all of your decisions," Deathsaurus said, drawing his attention to Rodimus.

"The Galactic Council said the territory is inhospitable, it's land that cannot be used by either side for political or military gain, we can wait," Rodimus answered.

Deathsaurus gave the young Prime a harsh glare. All four of his optics like daggers in Rodimus's chest.

"Very well," Soundwave said, "We will wait,"

The Decepticons then left. Star Saber stood up from his seat and approached Arcee, the pair began a discussion about the proceedings.

Rodimus stayed sat down, he closed his optics in an attempt to curb the pounding feeling on his helm. He could feel the Matrix pulsating, but still no guidance came to him.

He then stood up and walked out of the room briskly.

"Rodimus," Arcee shouted.

Star Saber waved his hand at her to remain where she was, he then opened his armor and stepped out of it. Now, much shorter and faster he ran after Rodimus.

He caught up to the young leader at the statue of Optimus Prime. He found Rodimus peering over the railing in front of him into the fountain below, staring at his own reflection.

"The Matrix?" Saber asked.

Rodimus nodded.

"It keeps sending this eerie feeling throughout my circuits, but unusually enough not sending any kind of premonition to me," Rodimus said, "No visions, no words of guidance from Primes past, not even a glimmer of an idea."

"Something's coming?" Saber inquired, "Do you think it's the Decepticons?"

"I have no idea, it seems like Deathsaurus would like to go back to war, if only to prove something," Rodimus said, "But I cannot know."

"Optimus would often meditate on the Matrix when these sorts of things would happen," Saber said.

"That might be a good idea." Rodimus said.

Planet Elba

Gaurus 11 Maximum Security Prison

Silence was the word of the evening, not a sound was heard around the perimeter of the Super Max. Trees didn't rustle in the wind, no groans of an inmate could be heard.

It was eerie.

Suddenly, the East Hanger door was blown open, and out of the smoke ran two escaped inmates. Exhaust and Loudpedal. The pair of Decepticon cars ran out of the hangar onto the air field.

Loudpedal dropped down behind a storage container just as a barrage of blaster bolts came his way, striking the container instead.

Exhaust fired the rocket on his shoulder at their pursuers. He then too ducked behind cover.

"Where the slag is Overcharge?" Loudpedal shouted, he peered out from his hiding spot and fired off a few rounds from the pistol he had managed to steal from one of the guards.

"Probably already slagged," Exhaust replied.

The roar of an engine echoed as a yellow and black sports car came racing their way. Overcharge spun around and transformed into robot mode and ducked behind cover with Loudpedal.

"Sorry mates," Overcharge chuckled, "Had to give the Autobots a going away present."

He then grabbed a small device from his gauntlet and chucked it at the Autobots.

It exploded and froze the guards in their tracks.

"An immobilizer grenade?" Exhaust inquired, "Did you get anymore."

"Hopefully you won't have to find out." Loudpedal said transforming into vehicle mode and racing off to the first ship he could find.

The other two Decepticon grunts followed suit. The three reached a small landing vessel, Not designed for long distance travel, but if piloted right, could get them out of the system… none of them were pilots.

Just three run of the mill Decepticon grunts were drafted early in the war. None of them with any real goals aside from being on the winning team, they believed fully that that was Megatron, then Galvatron, then Megatron again.

So when Megatron refused to surrender and just went into exile, they too refused to surrender, they did not reach exile. They were arrested by their fellow Decepticons for trying to start the war with the Autobots again.

Busted out of jail in Kaon.

Got caught in Tiger Pax then sent to Garus 11.

Now they are here, with no plan, no goal. Just wanting to be out of jail.

They broke into the ship and Overcharge took the helm, with his electro-magnetism power he was easily able to kickstart the ship without the access key.

The ship rose in the air as the Autobots regained their motor functions. Sideswipe was the first, he blinked his optics and growled.

"Fired on that ship!" The black and red Autobot shouted, he and the others aimed their weapons at the small vessel. Sideswipe then crouched down and fired his shoulder rocket at the engine.

Direct hit!

"Alright, they aren't getting far, Rapido, Road Rocket, with me!" Sideswipe shouted as he ran back inside to get to the control room, Rapido and Road Rocket followed suit.

The Axolon Space Belt

"He hit us from the ground," Loudpedal shouted, "From the fracking ground!"

Loudpedal stayed at the back of the ship trying to contain the small fire that erupted inside when Sideswipe nearly blasted them out of the sky. The rocket he fired went right through the starboard engine into the ship itself and detonated inside.

Exhaust was able to repair the blast hole but the fire that had already been put out reignited when some scalding hot energon dripped from the fuel line onto a fuse that was not properly disposed of from the rocket.

"I have to land, there's no way we can get out of the system with only one engine," Overcharge said.

The ship shook as it hovered over an abnormally large asteroid. One so large it seemed as if it had its own gravitational pull. The small craft landed with the creaking of metal below.

Exhaust exited first, he waved his blaster around in front of him and signaled to the other two to follow him. He stepped onto the surface below, it was not rocky.

It was solid metal he felt beneath his feet. He crouched down and waved his hand at the ground and the seemingly rocky surface dissipated where his hand was. Showing a black metal plate below.

"Looks like we landed on a disguised ship," Exhaust said, he walked forwards and the other behind him.

Loudpedal circled to the back of their ship to inspect its engines and Overcharge followed Exhaust to a large rock formation. The yellow Decepticon placed his hand on it and the hologram dissipated revealing that they had found a door to the inside of the larger ship.

"Loudpedal come on," Overcharge shouted as he pried the door open with his outlier powers.

Loudpedal ran over to the other two and walked inside of the ship. It was dark inside, so the three of them turned on the headlights on their bodies.

The interior of the ship seemed ancient, rusted walls with Old Cybertrionian glyphs that lined them in blood crimson paint. The floor creaked beneath their feet as they made their way through the corridor.

They came up upon a room, with the door strangely open. The Decepticons walked inside and took a look around. On the wall furthest from them was a large throne. On the wall to their right were the heads of various Cybertronians and other aliens. On the wall to the left, was a coffin.

Loudpedal approached the coffin with a curious gaze. He pulled out his blaster and kept it at his side. He looked at the other two Decepticons who were too busy gazing at the trophies on the other side of the room.

He then placed his hand on the top of the coffin. For a moment it seemed as if nothing had or was going to happen, until he couldn't remove his hand from it.

"Guys!" He screamed in a panic.

The other two Decepticons ran over to him.

"Are you an idiot!" Overcharge shouted at him as he tried to pry Loudpedal off of the coffin, but the usage of his electromagnetism seemed to only work to move the lid of the coffin off of its base.

Suddenly, the lights on board the ship came on, and the sound of footsteps behind them sounded to get louder.

Exhaust peered out the door and saw Sideswipe and four other Autobots behind him.

"Scrap," He said, he then fired at the Autobots nailing one on Sideswipe's left flank, Double Clutch, right in between the optics.

"Get down," Sideswipe shouted to the others as they ducked for cover and started to return fire.

"What are you two gearheads doing," Exhaust shouted, "I need cover."

Loudpedal and Overcharge exchanged glances, and just as Overcharge was about to run and help Exhaust a hand reached out from behind, inside of the coffin, and grabbed him by the arm.

Stopped dead in his tracks he could feel the energon drain from his body and the air around him grow cold. His orange optics flickered then went black with death as his body collapsed onto the floor.

"Holy shit!" Loudpedal screeched as he tried to free his hand from the coffin and flee, the same arm that consumed Overcharge's energy then grabbed him by the face, crushing it in its palm.

The energon drained from his body as well and at last his hand was free from the coffin as his lifeless frame fell down beside his fallen comrade.

"Are you two just not gonna help," Exhaust shouted, he turned around and saw them now standing behind him in a zombified state.

"Uh guys?" He asked.

From the other end of the hallway Sideswipe signaled to his men to stop firing when he noticed that Exhaust had stopped first. He then stood up and held his rifle in front of him, his left eye peering through the scope he couldn't see the Decepticon any longer.

Then hsi circuits chilled as he heard the most blood curdling he had heard in decades. He signaled to his men to follow him as he ran to the room where the Decepticons had set up shop, he bursted through the doorway to see all three of them standing virtually lifeless next to a large black figure.

He aimed his rifle.

"Decepticons stand down," Sideswipe ordered, "You too big man, identify yourself."

The large ominous figure only glared at the Autobot, Sideswipe glared right back. He was tall, bulky just like Megatron. He had spiky shoulder pads and clawed hands and was clad in a dark charcoal color scheme with orange highlights.

He had purple optics that seemed to gaze into Sideswipe's very spark.

"So, history has forgotten of me," The dark figure said, "Tell me young one, what is your name?"

"We are the ones asking questions here," Road Rocket answered.

Before anyone noticed, the figure pulled the young fembot to him and within the blink of an eye cut her in half head to crotch.

"Open fire," Sideswipe yelled.

Sideswipe, Rapido, Blowout and Meanstreak all then drew their blasters and fired on the four figures ahead of them, the dark one waved his hand and the blaster bolts dissipated.

"Such crude technology," He mused, then the three undead Decepticons pounced at the Autobots. They passed by Sideswipe and tore the others to shreds.

Sideswipe growled, he drew his cyberteranium blades and bolted at the dark figure who did not even flinch as he grabbed both swords and pulled them from Sideswipe's hands.

"You have heart young one," He said, as he glared at the Autobot who seemed to buckle to his knees.

"You'll see what more I've got," Sideswipe grunted through the pain as he was pushed to the ground. He tried to stand back up but was stopped by a flaming blade on his shoulder.

"A worthy general," The figure sad as he ran Sideswipe through the chest and absorbed the Autobot's energon.

"Who do you," Sideswipe struggled to say, "Think you ar-"

"I am Megatronus, however I think those of your generation know me as The Fallen."