"We now return to The Transformers"

"You're up, Blitz." Skyquake said, gesturing over Blitzwing. The members of the Oddball-trine had been on the road to recovery, but it was turning out to be a slow one. Lugnut and Slipstream still lagged behind sometimes, reflexis sluggish when they were once sharp and lethal.

Jumping into the makeshift ring that was set up in the training room, pulling out his sword Blitzwing took a stance against his commander.

"Ready?"

"Ja, let's do this."

Skyquake lunged in first with his claymore, to which his student promptly blocked. Shifting to the side to bring down their own strike, Blitzwing just missed his target, Skyquake effortlessly swatting his blade away with his own.

"You're improving. Much less sluggish than yesterday." Skyquake commented, as they leapt into a quick bout of back-and-forth, blades clashing and sparking as steel crossed with steel, but neither still obtaining the upper hand. The back and forth began to heat up, as Blitzwing finally found his groove, and swung his blade with the same fervor he would in battle, feeling as his body slowly adapted back to the intense routine.

Without warning, Bltizwing felt an intense heat build up inside, a swelling of energy that drove him even further, finding it in himself to go beyond what standard sparring called for. And a faint voice that sounded as old as time, as if on the edge of his audials…

...an Icy facade, with a fire in his spark...

Jet-boosting up and doing a flip over Skyquake, he felt alive, but the heat didn't subside yet, his energon veins feeling as though they were set aflame. Desperate for an outlet, for any modicum of release, he did what felt natural; his two cannons loweder from his back, leveling as they sat on his shoulders, and before he could register that he had even readied his cannons, great jets of fire burst forth from them. Skyquake managed to duck to the side, as the flames scorched the floor and far wall, a trail of smoke and ash in its wake.

Blitzwing, still in a state of shock from both what had just happened, and the searing pain of fire burning right past him, stumbled weekly onto the ground, optics fixated on where, despite the walls being made of metal, there was still a powerful blaze shining bright. How could he have caused this?

Dread filled him again, as the same confusing sensation as before building up inside, and before he could do anything to try and subside what was to come, a streak of cold overtook him, as an icy flurry erupted forth this time, dampening the flames that were left behind.

Ever since Springer and the Wreckers had arrived, Megatron had been mulling over his ever dwindling options. There wasn't much time left he imagined, until they demanded his surrender once more, undoubtedly with much more violent and destructive means of luring him out if he chose not to. Yes, plenty of plans had thought up to take out Springer and his gang, or at the very least incapacitate them to the point where they would have to retreat, but the Autobots using their own creations against them was not something that had been planned for, the fact of the matter simply being that a Phase-Sixer wasn't meant to be killed.

He was pulled from his thoughts, and he was silently grateful for the distraction, when he got a notification on his comm, a short and hasty message from Knockout;

/ Blitzwing's been affected by LightEn, mutations in full force. Random bursts of fire and ice. Condition stable, but hes in shock./

Well, it wasn't too much of a surprise that this had happened, but the mutations he had developed certainly were intriguing, however he did hope that Lugnut and Slipstream's seemingly inevitable mutations wouldn't be as volatile.

Unless…

It was a risky thought, and usually entertaining such ideas would only get you so far in terms of dire circumstances.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

. . . . .

For the second time, Megatron found himself wandering into the depths of his own mind, searching for a tether that hadn't been tied off…

There it was.

Grabbing hold, his mind slipped, and he found himself back where he wanted, floating in the dark void where they first met. Rising from the darkness below, the form of the Great Unmaker manifested before him, even in this plain between waking and dreams, Unicron loomed at impossible size.

"Ah, Megatron, I had thought I sensed your presence reaching out. How might I be of assistance to you?" Unicron asked.

"I come in an hour of desperation, seeking your aid against a frighteningly powerful adversary."

"Hmm, yes. The agent of the Prime, correct? The one who has come to take you to your doom?"

"Yes, the Autobot Springer. He has been remade into what is known as a Phase-Sixer, a nigh-indestructible form that we have no chance of defeating alone."

Unicron remained silent for a time, pondering in his vast knowledge.

"You give your adversary more credit than he is due, young Megatron. I can sense his presence still, upon my moon. He may lay claim to the title of 'phase-sixer' as you so say, but he is nowhere near as powerful as what you imagine him to be. But something tells me you already knew of this, did you not?"

"I had my reservations about Skyquake's report, as I knew full well there was no way for the Autobots to have recreated a true Phase-Sixer program, even if they did crack into Overlord like he said they were attempting to do."

"I can sense you withheld this information from your allies. Why is that?"

"Airing on the side of caution, nothing more. However, I regret setting them into a state of fear."

Unicron seemingly nodded in understanding, but at his size it was difficult to tell for sure. "A leader does what they can to protect their own, but it takes an even braver one to admit they are wrong, especially in such trying times. I know you came here for answers, direct assistance from me, even, but I know what you are capable of, Megatron. Even if you do not know it yet, my powers are yours, just as they are with Skywarp and now Blitzwing. However, do not be surprised if your abilities have a bit more of a kick, per say, to them."

"I understand, perhaps I needed this more than anything else. You have my thanks yet again." Megatron said, as the void around him collapsed, and he woke up back at his desk within his quarters.

Pushing himself up out of his seat, he attached his fusion cannon and spare battle plating for safe measure. Just before leaving, he stepped back to above the headboard of his berth, grabbing the shield he had seldom used since his days in the Pit, and he strode out of his room and towards the command centre. Now, at least, he felt as though there was a fighting chance. The supposed date of the Wrecker's next attack was upon them soon, and there wasn't much time to get ready.

. . . . .

There was no sense of doubt about the attack the night it happened, as agent Fowler called out from his desk that a NATO weapons depot had been hit hard by a small band of Autobots, the Decepticons knew it was gotime. In the little time leading up to now, Megatron had run though what would go down with all who were involved. Giving a go-ahead to Soundwave, a ground bridge opened, and he soldiered on through.

It was do or die.

Wind swept across the bombed-out tarmac of the base, bodies of the ones who couldn't run away fast enough dotted about, the Wreckers having used this place as a canvas for their destructive arts, they probably would have broadcasted it had they wanted all the world to know of them. Disturbed but not deterred, he kept walking through the carnage around him, having to do nothing more than follow the sounds of destruction as he got closer to where he knew the Wreckers would be.

Ducking under a low walkway, he found who he had come for, or more specifically, who had been waiting for him. Springer sat alone amongst the wreckage, lounged on a makeshift seat from twisted and broken panels and scaffolding. A quick look-back, and he saw the rest of the Wreckers at the perimeter of this open area, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Seaspray off to one side, whilst Ironfist and a particularly beaten up Whirl kept watch from the tops of the buildings behind him.

"Well well well, old buckethead did show up after all." Springer said, amused. "I'm a little bit surprised you didn't just come right at me."

"I would imagine you are more so disappointed than surprised, no doubt." Megatron said, still standing cautiously at the perimeter. "After all, you have had run-ins with Sixshot and Overlord, surely you would know that going in guns blazing on a Phase-Sixer is an excellent way to end up in a healing tank for a month or two."

"Heh, glad you caught on. I must say, credit where credit is due, you and old Shocky really went all-out with this stuff. I'm no scientist, I barely understood half the explanations Perceptor gave me as to how the procedure works, but damned if this ain't the best feeling you can get without high-grade or circuit boosters."

"I would not have thought to compare the feeling of being a one-mech army to that of being inebriated, but to each their own. Then again, it would be no surprise to hear that the Wreckers were drinking on the job." Megatron jabbed, doing his best to hide a slight grin.

Springer just set down the barrel of indistinguishable liquid, and heaved out a hearty laugh. "You, Megatron, may be my enemy, but you're at least a respectable mech, I learned well enough of that from Impactor. And if that old crankshaft was able to put up with you in life, then so can I."

"I do not believe I ever extended my condolences on the loss of our mutual friend," Megatron said, stepping closer, allowing himself to be surrounded.

What mood there was at that point fell, Springer looking a little downcast, "Sure came as a shock to us all, isn't that right boys?" he said solemnly, as the assembled Wreckers murmured in agreement.

"Even throughout the war, there wasn't a better friend to have, especially when they knew of the best neutral settlements to have a few drinks with and forget about the fighting for a while," Megatron mused.

"Well, since you're clearly in the mood for reminiscing, how about a little game of sorts…"

"What exactly do you GHA-"Megatron cried out, as Springer took him by surprise, grabbing him on his shoulder, and squeezing down, nearly puncturing his armor plates. Hefting him up, and slamming him back down onto the cold pavement.

"C'mon, buckethead. Show me what the undefeated champion of the Kaon Pits can do." he practically snarled, as he paced back and forth, unsheathing his sword. He quickly lunged back again, Megatron bringing up his shield to deflect it away, and his own blade came out from under his fusion cannon, as he struck upwards at his attacker, the sharp edge skidding across the Wrecker's shoulder. He quickly ducked back, putting as much distance between himself and Springer as he could, but by now, the rest of the surrounding Wreckers had come closer, now standing at the edge of this hastily prepared arena.

"Old Prime wanted you alive, never said anything about damaged goods." He swung at Megatron again, throwing his whole strength into bashing into him, the shield taking the brunt of the force however.

'Cocky young fool, it's like he wanted to play into my plans' Megatron thought to himself, but making sure not to give away his true intentions, his poker-face staring down Springer as the two went into a series of back-and-forth hits and bashes on eachother.

Flipping a switch of sorts, Springer's sword began to spark and glow, the serrated blade turning almost molten as the hot energon blade came to life. He slashed again at Megatron, his shield taking the first hit, but he managed to slice into his upper-arm when he wasn't looking. Had the wound not been instantly cauterized, the Decepticon leader would be bleeding fast at this point.

'They should be in position by now,' Megatron hoped, as he set his plan into action. Raising up his arm, he feigned a shot from his cannon at Springer, the round going wide and flying practically vertical. In the moment of distraction, he transformed away his blade and arm, a glowing energon mace spilling down, hanging off its chain. Spinning up a hit, he crashed the molten ball of spikes square into Springer's chest, and bashed him on the head on the downstroke.

"Heh, you still got some tricks in ya, but that doesn't change that you missed that shot." Springer taunted with a cruel grin.

"And tell me, who are you to be so confident to determine if I hit my mark or not?" The smugness in those cobalt optics of his never more present.

All the Wreckers present started looking around, as in the distance they heard screeching tearing through the skies. But before they even readied themselves for a fight, the entire compound came under immediate artillery barrage, booming shells landing down all around them.

. . . . .

Hidden up on the ridgeline above the compound that the Wreckers had attacked, a number of tank and artillery-former Decepticons began reloading and recharging their shots. Sammy, the red tank femme at the head of the small company of troops, was spotting down at the base from her bi-nocs.

"Keep that spread wide, make sure the 'Bots are on the tips of their pedes, and adjust trajectories a few yards east, these winds are pushing you off course. If anyone spots their shuttle, don't bother asking and just blow it to smithereens." she reached down to her side, and unclipped her comm link.

"Blitzwing, we roughed them up for you, but Megatron can't hold them off forever. How far out are you?"

/Three-point-five kilometers and clozing, no more zan just a moment more/ Blitzwing responded over comms.

. . . . .

Megatron ducked and rolled for cover as the next wave of artillery fire came down, the assembled Wreckers doing their best to recover themselves. Springer, having taken multiple shells and shrugging them off, grabbed Megatron by both shoulders, and ran him against a wall, and continued to bash him with all his enhanced strength.

"And to think, I thought you a mech of your word when you agreed to come alone."

"In my defense, I never did say for how long I would be alone fo-" Megatron took another punch to the face, and was tossed back onto the ground. Springer went to work with his energon blade, carving off pieces of Megatron's armor at a time. His shoulder guards, he took off entirely, and after multiple tries, cut through his shield, the old artifact of the Pit cracked in two, kicking it aside. Stabbing his blade into Megatron's forearm, pinning him to the ground, he reached down and undid the latches of his helmet, and lifted it from his helpless form, his head panels folding out.

"The helmet of the Mighty Megatron, a fitting trophy for my home. Get to the ship, we are leaving!" Springer called out, as the Wreckers began hurting towards their shuttle, Springer throwing the limp body of Megatron over his shoulder, carrying the now unconscious mech to his doom.

Out of the skies, a flurry of rockets came crashing down, all detonating at the hangar in Wheeljack did a poor parking job of concealing the ship, the whole place going up in fire and smoke, as a fighter jet streaked past, and began to turn back around for another run.

The assembled Wreckers began to try and shoot down their assailant, but to no avail. Whirl had taken to the air by now, in a vain attempt to catch up to the much faster Decepticon.

"Ugh, incompetents!" Springer yelled out, as he dropped Megatron to the ground, and buried him under some rubble, and transformed and took flight, his jet-boosted helicopter doing much better at keeping up with Blitzwing.

With the two fliers on his tail, Blitzwing transformed into his tank mode, turning around and firing off both barrels. Unfortunately, they missed his target, and instead of Springer the rounds hit Whirl, knocking the helicopter out of the sky entirely. Transforming back to jet mode, he began his descent back towards the now ruinous base.

"Ah, scrap," was all Wheeljack could get out, as Blitzwing flew low over them, transforming out of alt-mode, and landing with a slide on the ground, turned around and started blasting away at the Autobots.

As the Wreckers began to take cover in and around the ruins of their main shuttle, Blitzwing leaped behind a crumbling building, the concrete and plaster turning to dust from all the fire he was taking. Checking his surroundings, he saw that a pallet of fuel drums was halfway buried in the rubble. Dashing over, he grabbed one in each hand and began to toss them over his cover, and firing off a few shots, finding his mark and detonating them overhead of the Autobots' position.

"Now is ze time, Sammy," he had to shout into his comm to be heard over the messy battle. The troops stationed up on the hill for the surprise artillery barrage began to race down the hill in their alt-modes, crashing through the ruined landscape and base.

Unfortunately for Whirl, who had just come to from being knocked out by his fall, looked up just in time to see a wave of Decepticons that were about to trample over him. After they had passed, he thought it best to lay there, and wonder if getting up that day had been worth it.

. . . . .

Pushing through the pain, Megatron forced his optics online, slowly rising from the piles of rubble he had been buried under. Making sure his cannon still strapped to his arm, he did his best to maneuver around the piles of rubble.

Just as he was, a squad of heavy-duty tankformers came crashing on past him, roughly nine or ten as he had planned there to be. One of them took notice as they drove on past, stopping and transforming back to her bipedal mode.

"Megatron, sir, you look like hell. You need me to call in a medic?" Sammy said, fumbling around for a comm.

"I appreciate your concern, Sammantha, but I will wait to be treated until after the battle is over-" he stopped mid sentence, as he watched a battered and paint-chipped helicopter touchdown over near Blitzwing, completely unaware as he and the rest of the Decepticons were engaged with the gathered Wreckers.

Raising his cannon to fire, Megatron didn't have time to charge it as powerful as He would have liked, but let off a few shots at Springer as he leaped at Blitzwing with his sword drawn, the impact of the blasts knocking him back some. Blitzwing turned around, drawing his own sword, blocking Springer's next assault, as the two began to hack and slash at each other with a great fury. Megatron ran up to them, his own blade extended, blocking a strike that would have badly wounded Blitzwing, as the two of them began to get him on the ropes. Megatron discreetly pinged a message to Soundwave, letting him know to enact the final phase of his plan.

Close by to the main area of battle, a ground bridge opened up, and Megatron heaved one final strike at Springer, sending the mech stumbling back, before himself and Blitzwing made a mad dash for the portal. Slightly dazed, he shook his helm and looked up to see the two making what he assumed to be an escape. Without any more delay, he transformed into his armored car mode, his tyres burning out as he raced after them.

He was right on the two Decepticons' tails as they reached the ground bridge portal, and saw how close Springer was getting, Megatron and Blitzwing gave each other a silent, knowing nod. Springer revved up his engines as he raced towards them, transforming and leaping up, both his swords drawn.

In an instant, the two faked-out, stepping aside to let Springer fall flat halfway into the portal. Blitzwing fired off a powerful blast of icy cold, freezing his lower half to the ground.

. . . . .

Half in and half out of the ground bridge, Springer could feel the stinging cold of his lower body trapped in a block of ice. Now looking around, he saw he was seemingly in a desert somewhere, surrounded by high rock walls, and a Cybertronian warship was settled close by.

The last thing he saw was Soundwave looming over him, giving the Wrecker a peace sign with his digits, as the portal cut out.

The frozen block of the dead Wrecker's legs went limp as the ground bridge closed, taking the rest of the body with it back to Trypticon base. Megatron let out a heavy sigh of relief, and slumped down against a concrete slab next to Blitzwing, as Sammy and her forces had successfully routed the remainder of the Wreckers.

"Megatron?" Blitzwing said.

"Yes?"

"Zhat was one of ze most fragging stupid plan you ever had," the tripple changer groaned.

Megatron let out a light chuckle, "Even more so than the multiple attempted sieges on Iacon itself?"

"Ja, itz way up there on ze list."

Striding up to the two of them, Sammy tossed the cracked helmet to Megatron, catching it and examining the damage, before setting it down on his knee.

"You two also look like you could do with this," Sammy said, as she passed Megatron a generously large flask.

"Word on the Wreckers?" he asked bluntly, slamming back a few swigs before passing it on to Blitzwing.

"We managed to push them to route, they tore off the moment they saw your very creative way of nixing Springer. They had another ship hidden away they took off in, and we can only assume they all were on board, because we haven't found any trace of stragglers."

"Thank you. Rally the troops when they are ready, let's go home." Megatron replied, putting his helmet back on as he stood and surveyed the damaged area.

If this was the lengths that Optimus Prime was willing to go, he was more desperate than he had thought. Why not just have Springer kill him on the spot, instead of the hassle to bring him back to Cybertron for some sort of faux trial before an execution?

He was unsure, as Optimus was becoming more and more difficult to predict these days, the mech he once called brother truly having changed severely.

. . . . .

Crammed aboard the Jackhammer, Wheeljack had to keep swatting people out of his way as he piloted the rickety ship back up to the moon, the multitude of Autobots onboard more than the supposed two-bot capacity should allow for. Whirl had taken the worst of it, but being the scrawny one, was stuck being squeezed between Bulkhead and Seaspray, the two largest mechs onboard.

"So, what do we tell Prowl?" Ironfist asked.

"Frag if I know, or care for that matter. All I know is Ultra Magnus is gonna hold this over us for a while." he responded.

"At least until we off that fraghead, too." Whirl said.

"All in good time, for the time being, let's focus on the now."

Optimus Prime stared intently up at the large holo-screen in front of his throne as Prowl delivered his daily report on their efforts on Earth, and needless to say, he was finding it hard not to scream in rage at just how horribly everything had gone wrong.

"...as to the whereabouts of Springer's remains, we can only assume that the Decepticons and their human allies will be analyzing them in order to find out what exactly we did to alter him, and better prepare for future attacks."

"And how exactly are things onboard the Lost Light?" Optimus said, trying to divert away from the stream of bad news.

"Well, in spite of the high stress situations and constant unrest amongst the crew, Rodimus has done well in maintaining control over the situation. I could comm him to come and talk to you himself, should you so wish-"

"No. Not that I do not want to, but not now, I am sure he is busy with his own matters. Is that all, Prowl?"

"For the moment, yes. However, without Springer to effectively reign in the Wreckers, I fear that we won't have the backing to take out Ultra Magnus cleanly. He might not be the most popular mech, but he has enough supporters onboard that the probability of a mutiny is high."

"Very well, strike when you must, but keep him on a loose enough leash to think he is in charge. I shall leave you to your work, my ever loyal servant." Optimus said, as the holo-screen dissipated, the projector lowered back down into the floor.

Slumping down in his throne, face held in hand, he contemplated these events. Of course, he was relieved that Springer had actually listened to him and didn't try to kill Megatron, but in hindsight he should have been more forward about not bringing too much harm onto him either. But he knew that Perceptor would not be happy when he informed them about how a simple method killed their thought to be indestructible test subject.

Worst of all, he knew that the affront to Primus who was hiding in his head would not let him live this one down, so he made sure to steele himself for when that scolding would come.

A/N: Boy oh boy, that sure took an eternity and a half to write.

1- I don't even remember writing that bit with Unicron and Megatron talking, but I couldn't think of anything to replace it with, so it's just meant to be there, I guess?

2- This two-parter was originally just meant to be one chapter (with this kind of length? I think not) and the title of "Triple Threat" was meant for the original idea of this, where it was mainly a showdown between Springer and Blitzwing (triple-changer fight, original, I know) but I must say, this did turn out better than I had hoped.

3- Mayhaps it won't take another 5+ months to get the next chapter out.