Hi everyone, welcome back to Code Prime!

Before we begin however, I want to take a moment and acknowledge the unfortunate passing of Takahiro Kimura, the director and designer of Code Geass. He helped to create one of the best anime out there, and I'm forever thankful he made such a masterpiece that inspired me to write this story. Rest in Peace, Takahiro Kimura, for you are now one with the Allspark.

Now, we are getting closer to the end of this story as we kick off one of the biggest battles written so far, but things won't go quite how you expect them to. This arc is gonna be one hell of a ride before we get to the final arc that centers around Neo Ragnarök.

So, fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen.

Damocles Rises

Sometime after returning from the Geass Order, after sharing an emotional reunion with his wife, Shirley had taken her father to her own personal room to meet someone who was equally special in her heart. But the person in question was somebody that he never expected to see, one of the people that he and the rest of Code R had conducted experiments on, and now that same young man was sitting next to his daughter and holding her hand.

Rai and Shirley had told Joseph everything that had happened to him, how he was an illegitimate prince of Britannia and later a contractor to V.V., as well as what happened to his home and being sealed away in the Thought Elevator, his bout of amnesia and being discovered by the Ashford Student Council and both his and Shirley's joining of the Black Knights. Needless to say, it was quite a few overwhelming hours for the man, but Shirley felt he had to know everything.

"Dad…" Shirley got his attention. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah… it's just… it's just a lot to take in sweetie." Joseph replied.

"I don't blame you." Shirley said to him.

"I…" He looked to the young man who gazed at him with curiosity, when Joseph had expected him to look at in hatred. "Rai… is it…? I… what you went through…. All of it… at V.V.'s hands and… mine… I…. I'm sorry."

"Why did you do it?" Rai asked. "Why work for Code R?"

Joseph sighed before explaining. "I was scouted out by General Bartley for my work… and that's how I met Prince Clovis who told me of all this…. Geass stuff."

"Did you know what you'd be doing?" Shirley asked.

"Not at first…" Joseph confessed, looking down in shame. "But if I did… I would have rejected it. I thought… it be a good way to make some extra money if the Viceroy of Area 11 was in charge… I'd… better provide for my family…. But… once I saw what we were doing… I felt I couldn't get out of it. They'd… they didn't say anything but… I feared that if I tried to leave… they would come after you and your mother, Shirley. I'm sorry."

Shirley sighed before speaking to her father seriously. "It's in the past, Dad. We can't change it, no matter how much we want. But we can learn from it and use it to make ourselves stronger and to be better people. That's one of the things I've learned since joining the Black Knights and helping the Autobots. Everything we've been through together… good and bad… it's made us stronger. And I wouldn't change it for anything."

Joseph looked at his daughter, and although her face was the same, her eyes were very different. In them carried a strong fire that he'd never expect to see from his own daughter. Here, he didn't see a schoolgirl, he saw a warrior. He knew he couldn't stop her from being part of this revolution, so he wouldn't try.

A sad smile formed on his face. "You've grown up so much…" That caused Shirley to smile as tears formed in her eyes before moving forward to hug him and he didn't hesitate to return it.

"Do you remember what you said to me when I was a little girl?" Shirley asked. "When I said I wanted to marry you, and that one day I'd find someone I'd really love? Well… I found him."

"I remember…" Joseph said as he let go of her before looking towards Rai. "I know I said this before, but I'm so sorry for what I did to you…"

"I get it. You already explained it." Rai replied. "Don't worry, there are quite a few I hold a grudge to, but you're not one of them."

"Thank you… and thank you for… for being the man to reach my daughter's heart." Joseph put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I can see in your eyes how much you care for her… and I wish you both nothing but happiness."

Rai smiled. "Thanks."

Shirley's smile only brightened as she saw her father and boyfriend reach out to each other like this. But she still had something to say. "Dad… there's someone else you owe an apology to. Cera has amnesia right now, but when she does remember… I don't think she'll hold anything against you but…"

"I understand and I'll talk to her." Joseph responded with a nod and assuring smile. "When you feel she's ready, of course."

Present Day

Shirley continued to sit on the couch in Lelouch's personal room, looking over the amnesiac Cera as she played with Arthur and Eliza. It was honestly one of the most adorable things she's seen in her life. She'd hoped that when this war was over, they could have more moments just like this.

"Uh oh, I can see that deep-in-thought, look." Milly teased, leaning over the couch and directly in front of Shirley's face. "It must be hard, knowing the love of your life is about to go to war…"

"And as usual, you're being overly dramatic for the sake of drama itself, Milly." Shirley interrupted.

"Ouch, now that's pretty savage." Milly replied. "Kinda a bit like Arcee and Kallen mixed in."

"What do you expect when we always hang out with them?" Shirley replied with a smirk.

Rivalz gave an audible groan as he sat down next to them. "It just kinda sucks that we don't at least get to see them do what they do best and wipe Con ass."

"I'm sure… but I will admit, I'm a bit worried." Milly admitted, drawing her friends' attention. "We thought Megatron was gone… but we saw him come back. Plus, he still has that knock off Star Saber and…" She sat down with a look of uncertainty. "It just feels like… after we've done or been through together, we're now at a point where it can go either way. Whether it all leads to a victory… or it was all for nothing."

Shirley then spoke. "I'm nervous too. But… I also have faith. I have faith in not only Rai, but in Optimus Prime, in Zero, in Bumblebee, in Kallen, in Arcee, in Suzaku, in all of them. I have faith that no matter what darkness they face… they'll find a way to break through and reach the light at the end of this twisted tunnel we've been going through. We'll make it through this. I know it."

Rivalz smirked. "Damn Shirley, you kinda sounded like Optimus there…. All inspiring and everything…"

"What can I say? He's a great role model." Shirley smiled.

"Well then, let's wish them all the best of luck." Milly declared as she grasped Shirley's right hand, while Shirley used her left to grasp Rivalz's. "Hey Cera, come over here for a second."

The amnesiac women slowly approached them. "Um… yes?"

Milly reached out with her free hand. "Come and join us. Let's wish all our friends the best of luck."

Cera wasn't quite sure what this gesture meant, but seeing their smiling faces seemed enough to convince her do so. She slowly reached out to grasp Milly's hand and sat down with them. They were soon joined by Arthur and Eliza as the cats curled up in Cera's and Shirley's laps respectively.

"Megatron lives…." Schneizel commented as he and Starscream spoke privately with each other within the Energon vault.

"I tried to tell you." The head of the Seekers said. "More than likely it was that blasted Soundwave, and Shockwave probably had a hand in it as well. Those two follow him, as you humans say, like lovesick puppies."

"Their loyalty though is commendable." Schneizel admitted. "Still, perhaps we need not change the plan. In fact, we may be able to eliminate him entirely along with Prime and Lelouch in one fell swoop. After all, with the Autobots and Black Knights solely focused on Megatron, that'll prompt many of his most loyal followers to come to his side and fight beside him. They'll be in one place, and we'll sever the head of both beasts."

Starscream chuckled. "A most inglorious and ceremonial end for so many thorns in our side. Contact Mixmaster. Tell him it's time for Damocles to launch."

Within the area of New Kaon, specifically the perimeter of Darkmount, the Constructicons had gathered near a large metallic plate that was built into the ground. The six Decepticons watched as the plate open up, prompting them to take a few steps back as a large device slowly began to rise from the ground.

The more it ascended, the more it was revealed. It appeared to be a massive floating station made entirely out of black metal. It had many alien features about it, but what stood out the most about it was the appearance of a black Victorian castle at the very top of it, as well as the four massive energy cannons mounted at the very bottom.

This was Damocles. And the Constructicons watched with pride as their ultimate creation reached toward the sky.

"…And that's what's happening here." Steeljaw informed Knock Out as the two were in the latter's laboratory aboard the Nemesis.

"Hmm, I can't say I'm surprised." Knock Out said "Starscream's practically addicted to backstabbing. I can think of no other way to properly diagnosis the reason for his repeating failures, other than bluntly stating that he's insane."

"To do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result each time. The literal definition of insanity." Steeljaw replied. "Yes, that would certainly apply here."

"But why come to me about this?" Knock Out questioned. "Why not inform Megatron?"

"Because I'm sure that Lord Megatron is already aware." Steeljaw answered. "He's had Starscream by his side for so long that I'm sure he knows exactly how he operates. As for why I'm coming to you, it's because you're a survivalist, my dear doctor. You understand when its best to jump ship or which side would have the better chance at winning, or at least guaranteeing your safety. Megatron and Starscream will undoubtedly come to blows, so I suspect there will come a time where Decepticons must choose which leader to follow. So, brother, which one do you think we should choose?"

"And how do I know you won't just stab me in the back like how Screamy would?" Knock Out questioned. "Like you say, I'm a survivalist, so I'm a little cautious about who I should trust."

"Fair point." Steeljaw granted. "In that case, how about a temporary alliance, brother?" Steeljaw offered his clawed hand to the red-clad Decepticon. "At least until this matter is settled, then the two of us can go our separate ways if you desire."

Knock Out thought for a moment. Steeljaw was no doubt conniving and deceitful, yet at the same time, it wouldn't hurt to have someone like that close in order to best keep an eye on. And he wasn't wrong either, Decepticons would have to choose which leader to follow very soon and Knock Out had to decide which team had the best chance at winning.

"Alright Steeljaw… you got yourself a deal." Knock Out said as he accepted and shook his fellow Decepticon's hand.

The Ark

Lelouch, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Fixit, and Elita-One had gathered on the bridge of the Ark as they accessed the communications channel to all ships and docking bays, addressing all their forces that would participate in the coming battle.

"Listen up everyone, here is the plan." Lelouch began. "The moment we enter the borders of the Decepticon-occupied continent, all heavy artillery on their defensive wall will be concentrated on the Ark. The vessel's shields should be able to sustain enemy fire, but only for a short time. That said, we'll have two teams deployed to neutralize the cannons and the wall itself."

"Drift and the majority of the Wreckers will consist of one unit as they are deployed onto the top of the wall." Optimus explained. "Their goal will be to destroy the cannons however they can."

"At the same time, Grimlock and the Irregular Unit will be deployed directly underneath the wall." Ratchet took over. "Based on the data supplied by Starscream while he was under the effect of a Geass, we have learned that at the bottom of the structure lies a power generator that serves as a means to power at least that portion of the wall. Once it's destroyed, it should power down and create a breach in the defenses of the entire continent, which we will later use to allow the UFN's conjoined military to invade."

"We can also expect a possible aerial attack on the Ark, or a means to try and enter the vessel from above." Elita spoke up. "So, the Black Wyvern unit, along with Sideswipe, Grindcore, and Strongarm will act as the guard to prevent any breaches from happening."

"From there, we will conduct two major offensive surges, one in the air and the other on the ground." Lelouch continued. "The air assault will be led by the Ikaruga and Grandberry MK II aerial carriers and will be escorted by Wizard, the Aerialbots, and the Black Dragon unit. The ground assault will be led by myself and Optimus commanding the Zero Squad with the Elite Guard and Crimson Knights taking part in the attack."

"But before the assault commences, Smokescreen will deliver the Spark Extractor with assistance from the Phase Shifter device to neutralize a majority of the enemy army." Optimus went on. "Though we can't expect it to destroy all the enemy force. We can expect heavy resistance on all fronts, more than likely led by Megatron. Should we face him on the battlefield, do not engage him. Contact the Zero Squad and allow us to handle him."

"If we complete this mission, we'll start a domino effect that'll lead the expulsion of the Decepticons from our world. Be sure to give them hell." Lelouch finished. "Good luck to all of you. Zero out."

Once signed off, Lelouch turned to face the Autobots on the bridge. "All units are on standby and the Ark is nearing our destination. We should arrive at the Decepticon continent within the hour." Fixit reported.

"I have the coordinates set for the Irregulars and Wreckers to be deployed via Groundbridge." T-AI added as she appeared before everyone. "I also have an evacuation planned in the event the operation fails."

"Good." Lelouch nodded. "We know that Schneizel and Starscream are plotting to betray Megatron, with his return likely pushing them to enact their plan sooner. This would be the ideal time to use it."

"We've covered all possible bases, and this is the best plan we can come up with." Ratchet said. "All we can do now is hope that it's enough."

"It must be." Optimus vowed. "Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost."

Elita looked towards him for a moment before speaking. "Optimus, may I have a word?"

"Of course." Optimus nodded as he and Elita walked out of the bridge and spoke more privately outside. "Is something the matter?"

"No, nothing at all." Elita said before smiling. "I just wanted to say, I'm really proud of how much of an impact you've had on him."

"Lelouch." Optimus understood.

"I may not have met him when you first did, but I can tell how much he's grown because you were there for him." Elita continued. "I see a lot of him in you, not all of you of course, but that's not a bad thing. I know things haven't worked out for us and I understand why, I've already come to terms with it, but despite becoming that leader that Cybertron needed, you also became something that boy needed. Even if it was for a single individual, you've changed his life for the better. You may be Optimus Prime now, but when you are with him..." A smile formed on her face. "I still see a bit of Orion Pax in those optics of yours."

A smile formed on his face too. "Thank you, Elita. For your words, and for everything else. I am sorry that it didn't work out between us either, but I am still thankful that you are here."

Elita offered her hand to her former lover. "Now, let's build that ideal future you talked about, one where Lelouch and all his friends don't have to fight anymore."

Without another word, Optimus clasped Elita's hand with his own.

Odysseus looked around the corner and checked to make sure it was all clear. All he saw was Thundercracker who gave a single nod, and that was all he needed. "Come on." He waved his hand, prompting Laila and Carine to follow him as they walked onto a small landing platform near the base of Darkmount.

"Where is it…?" Carine urged. "If we're spotted…"

"Give it a minute." Thundercracker told her. A few seconds later, a small ship appeared and made its way toward the platform. The side opened up, revealing it only consisted of a single cockpit with a Vehicon at the controls.

"That Damocles ship has left New Kaon's perimeter, we're in the clear." The Vehicon told them. And this wasn't just any Vehicon. This was the same one that had encountered Zero in the Fuji mines at the time of the Black Knights and Autobot's return. The one that Zero had used his Geass on to go back and rethink his choices.

"Then it's time to go." Odysseus said as he led his two younger half-siblings on board before turning to the blue Seeker. "Thank you, Thundercracker." The Decepticon simply nodded.

"Anticlea and Schneizel are both crazy!" Carine exclaimed. "They want to use me as a way to breed more Britannians! There's like, only a dozen people on that station! No way we can restart humanity!"

"Hopefully we can find asylum with the Black Knights and the Autobots." Odysseus commented. "At the very least, they should treat us a bit more fairly."

Laila turned toward Thundercracker. "You could come with us."

"I can't. I have some things I need to look into here, find out what Megatron's end goal is." Thundercracker replied.

"And what do you plan to do when you do find out?" Laila asked.

"I don't know, but I'd prefer to know what's going on as opposed to being kept in the dark." The blue Seeker said. "Now get out of here before somebody notices."

"Thank you." Laila smiled as the door to the ship closed, the Vehicon at the controls flying it away with the three former royals on board. Once he saw that they were in the clear, Thundercracker transformed and flew away to try and regroup with the rest of his forces.

The massive metallic wall that surrounded the border of the Decepticon-occupied continent soon had a massive shadow looming over it as the Ark quickly descended from the skies and made its approach toward it. Two of its fortress-grade cannons had become active and turned upward towards the approaching Ark before opening fire with a pair of energy spheres that shot straight towards the vessel. However, the spheres struck a massive shield that seemed to cover the entire Ark, creating an explosion around the Autobot ship that left it undamaged for the most part.

As the Ark made its way closer towards the boarder, multiple Decepticon dropships had ascended past the wall and were flanked by an armada of flying Vehicons be it jet or helicopter formation, all led by the silver Seeker variety with Starscream, Thundercracker, Slipstream, and Sky-Byte at the helm in their respective vehicle modes (or shark-mode in Sky-Byte's case).

"Attack, my armada!" Starscream commanded as his forces flew forward.

A large Groundbridge portal had opened up, allowing the Grandberry MK II and Ikarauga to enter the skies as an assortment of flying Knightmares formed a defensive perimeter around their aircraft. The ones leading this charge were Tohdoh in his Zangetsu, Wizard in the Agravain, Silverbolt, Jetfire, Windblade, Xingke in the Shen Hu, Chiba, and Asahina in their Aktasukis.

"All units form up! Defend the carriers!" Silverbolt ordered as explosions soon erupted in the sky, the enemy forces opening fire and engaging in close combat.

Back at the wall, the two active cannons continued their bombardment at the Ark, but the vessel's shields were able to hold for the time being. In-between the two cannons, a Groundbridge portal had appeared on the top of the massive wall, revealing the team consisting of Ironhide, Drift, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Hot Shot, Warpath, Chromia, Nonette in her Galeschin, and Tamaki in his Wrecker Akatsuki.

"Alright, we split up and take down each cannon." Ironhide ordered. "Bulkhead, Chromia, Wheeljack and Nonette, are with me! Drift, you take Hot Shot, Warpath, and Tamaki!"

"Understood." Drift acknowledged before all the Autobots transformed and drove off in their respective directions with the Knightmares flying or rolling alongside them.

Ironhide and his team were approaching the westward cannon when a series of explosions erupted in front of them, prompting them to stop and transform in order to confront the threat.

"Fools! None shall pass!" Lugnut declared as he and Blitzwing hovered in the air with the cannon being guarded by two heavy Decepticon soldiers wielding Ion Displacers.

Likewise, Drift and his group found their way barred as the eastward cannon was being protected by Barricade, Demolishor, and two more heavy Decepticon soldiers.

"This is the end of the line for you, Autobots." Barricade told them.

"We shall see." Drift said as he deployed Safeguard and Jetstorm while the rest of his team readied for battle.

Meanwhile, above the Ark, a Groundbridge, one under Decepticon control, had appeared as the ones exiting from that and dropping aboard the vessel included Steeljaw, Knock Out, Thunderhoof, Fracture, Underbite, and last but not least, the Thanatos. However, they didn't get very far as there was already a group of Autobots and Knightmares waiting for them.

"Well, well, looks like Lelouch was right on the money as usual." Gino commented.

"He wouldn't be Zero if he weren't." Grindcore pounded his fist into his palm.

"Steeljaw." Leila's eyes narrowed at the wolf-like Decepticon. "Today you will face justice for your crimes!" As she made that vow, her eyes lit with her blue Geass, the Enigma of Combination attached to the chest of her Alexander glowed in unison, as did the blue rings that lit in the eyes of Akito, Yukiya, Ryo, and Ayano.

"Black Wyverns, form Hercules!" Akito commanded as the five Alexanders leapt into the air and begun their dramatic transformation sequence. Akito and Ryo's units had transformed into the arms as Yukiya and Ayano's Knightmares converted into the legs, all linking up to Leila's Alexander, thus forming the Combiner model known as the Hercules.

"Oh, I never get tired of seeing that." Sideswipe commented with a grin as he drew his sword. "Now let's go kick some Con ass!"

The Hercules, Sideswipe, Grindcore, Strongarm, and the Tristian all then charged forward to engage with Steeljaw and his team.

"All forces are engaged!" Toto reported from the bridge of the Grandberry MK II with several operators, including Lloyd, Cecile, Claus, Diethard, and Nina monitoring very aspects of the battlefield. "Aerial units appear to be holding their own, but the Wreckers have encountered resistance at the cannons!"

"Let's hope they manage to pull off their namesake, or this fight won't last long." Lloyd commented.

"There is an attempt to board the Ark!" One of the operators of the Ikaruga reported as Rakshata, Nunnally, Sayoko, Euphemia, Kaguya, and Misty were onboard. "But the Black Wyverns and the assigned Autobots have the enemy engaged!"

"What about the Irregulars and Grimlock?" Euphemia asked.

"I just received word that they've entered the underground!" Misty responded, sitting at one of the controls of the ship.

A massive explosion blew away the rocks as Grimlock entered a massive chamber of stone and metal. Behind him were the units of the Irregulars, consisting of the Pegasus, Ryujin, Scorpio, and Tungsten. All five of them appeared to have found their target.

It was a massive Energon power generator that hung in the center of the cavern, all via metallic tubes that connected it to the metallic ceiling just above, which was the base of the wall itself.

"We've reached the base of the wall." Alice reported. "We found the generator."

"If we take this down, this entire section of the wall will either deactivate or fall apart." Sancia said.

"I'm hoping it's the latter." Lucretia commented with a hard look.

"Wait." Grimlock raised his hand to keep them from going any further. "We have company."

True to his word, the entire cavern shook as multiple Insecticons broke from the ground below and around them, all with their respective insect roars and calls. Before they knew it, the group was surrounded by at least twenty Insecticons total, among which, the ones that crawled on the ceiling near the power generator in their insect forms appeared to be Scorponok and Saberhorn.

"Well, well, look what we have here." Saberhorn commented as he transformed into his robot mode and landed in the middle of his horde, drawing his blade and pointing it towards the enemy unit of five. "Shall we begin?"

"Eviscerate them!" Scorponok ordered, prompting the Insecticons to roar before charging at their enemy, who opened fire upon all of them just as Grimlock transformed into his T-Rex mode and unleashed his plasma breath in response.

Meanwhile, on the ground, a massive Groundbridge portal had opened, allowing the vehicle modes of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, Elita-One, Ultra Magnus, Jazz and Prowl to exit, with the Shinkiro, Lancelot, Guren, and Raiden flying just above them. Behind that line were the Knightmares that belonged to Ohgi, Cornelia, Guilford, Chigusa, Monica, Anya, Orpheus, Marrybell, Oldrin, and Ashley, with an entire army of Black Knight Knightmares behind them.

This army soon found themselves charging directly at the army of ground-Vehicon troopers of various types as they opened fire at one another. The Vehicon army was more than three times the size of that of the forces the Autobots and Black Knights led, but that didn't stop the Knightmares above the line of Autobots retaliating with long-distance firing to take down the front most Vehicons.

'That's right, stay focused on us.' Lelouch thought with a grin. 'Unaware of the real threat that lies within your midst.'

Within the middle of the Vehicon army, with all their attention solely focused on the approaching enemy force, they failed to notice a certain Autobot phasing directly up from the ground, courtesy of the Phase Shifter attached to his wrist.

"Hey, what's up?" Smokescreen said to a random Vehicon, much to his shock.

"What the…? Autobot!" He alerted a few of the Decepticon soldiers around him, just as Smokescreen threw up the Spark Extractor and dove back into the ground via the Phase Shifter. The second the device touched the ground, it activated.

A massive surge of electrical energy exploded out from the Spark Extractor. Any Decepticon unfortunately to get caught up in the surge immediately had their sparks extinguished, their lifeless forms falling to the ground, and the surge only continued to grow. In a matter of seconds, almost half of the Vehicon army was wiped out with more following with each passing moment.

The heroes could see the growing surge as the Autobots all transformed. Just as planned, Optimus drew the Sky-Boom Shield and activated it, a bright blue energy barrier shield out from the shield and expanded to create a wall-like shield that would protect him and all his friends and allies behind him.

However, there wouldn't be any further need for it as a single Groundbridge portal opened directly above the surge of energy and something was shot straight down. It was the Dark Star Saber, thrown like a javelin at a straight angle, surging like a missile, right before it pierced the Spark Extractor and destroyed it, causing the surge to vanish.

Lelouch and Optimus' eyes both narrowed as they saw not only all that energy disappear, but the dark purple sword that was now embedded in the ground and new what was coming next.

Flying out of the Groundbridge portal that closed right behind it was a certain Cybertronian jet before it transformed in mid-air to reveal the Decepticon leader, who fell and landed dramatically on his feet and one hand next to his own sword. All eyes and optics in the invading army set their sights on him as he slowly stood up, whether they were lined with fear or anger, all they could do was stare at the monster as he gripped the Dark Star Saber and pried it from his ruined device and pointed it towards the army.

"Well don't stop on my account." Megatron encouraged with a grin.

"This is it." Zero ordered his forces. "Ohgi, Magnus, Marrybell, go around and lead the rest of our forces and push back what's left of the enemy. The rest of us will deal with Megatron."

"Understood." Ohgi responded.

"Acknowledged." Ultra Magnus nodded.

"Be careful." Marrybell said before their army split in two separate directions to move around their allies and the enemy leader.

This left only Zero, Optimus, Suzaku, Bumblebee, Kallen, Arcee, Rai, Elita, and Anya (and Marianne) to face against the Decepticon leader.

"Nine against one? That hardly seems fair." Megatron mused, snapping the fingers in his free hand, signaling five additional Decepticons to approach from multiple directions.

The vehicle modes of Onslaught, Brawl, and Swindle came in from the side before transforming together, Brawl and Swindle taking the forms of giant legs as Onslaught leapt and transformed into the chest unit, with Blast Off and Vortex flying in to link up and form the arms just as the head of Bruticus appeared, his blood red optics shining to life as he stood alongside his leader.

"Bruticus." Optimus had drawn the Star Saber with the Sky-Boom Shield. "Fortunately, we had anticipated this… Jeremiah!"

"Yes, Optimus sir!"

Appearing from another Groundbridge above Bruticus was a rather large Knightmare. It strongly resembled the humanoid mode of the Dark Siegfried, only it was far more heavily armored, it had a pair of jet-boosters in its back and shoulder-mounted hadron cannons, but it was primarily painted orange with the Autobot-Black Knight Emblem on its chest. This was the Siegfried-Loyal.

"Take this! The storm of my loyalty!" Jeremiah, who now bore a black and orange uniform, declared inside his unit as he fired a Hadron blast at Bruticus, those cannons were powerful enough to push back against the Decepticon Combiner.

"Kallen, Rai, Arcee, Elita, Anya, you help Jeremiah!" Zero ordered. "Bumblebee, Suzaku, we'll help Optimus deal with Megatron!"

The assigned group departed to engage the Combaticon Combiner as Optimus was the first to charge and engage Megatron, both clashing their respective Star Sabers against one another. Just like before, when the two blades clashed, it created a surge of blue and purple energy that seemed to keep everything else back. With a roar, Megatron slashed at Optimus, who blocked the Dark Star Saber with the Sky-Boom Shield but pushed forward to knock Megatron back as Optimus swung the Star Saber, which Megatron blocked with his twisted and unholy blade. He kicked Optimus in the leg to knock him down and tried to swing downward, prompting Optimus to roll out of the way and avoid not only the slice but also the resulting vertical dark energy wave.

Just then, Megatron was attacked from behind as Bumblebee leapt up, wrapped his arms around Megatron's throat.

"Hey, guess who's back." Bumblebee spoke, surprising Megatron and leaving him open for Bumblebee to flip over, grab around Megatron's arm that held the Dark Star Saber and kick both his feet into his face.

"You can speak…" Megatron said in a low growl.

"You took my voice, but I took it back." Bumblebee glared.

"And we'll make sure that you never rob anyone of anything ever again!" Suzaku vowed as the Lancelot and Shinkiro flew towards Megatron, who swung the Dark Star Saber to send a horizontal energy wave at the pair of Knightmares, both flew around it as they came back together and did something truly unexpected.

"Suzaku, link up! Form the Silver King!" Zero stated.

"You got it." Suzaku said.

The Shinkiro and Lancelot then underwent a transformation. The black Knightmare's head folded down into the chest as the arms were withdrawn and merged with the legs, creating a pair of heavily armored legs attached to a lower body. The white Knightmare's own legs were folded inward and then outward towards the sides to merge with the arms, the central chest-unit then linked up with that of the black Knightmare as both the Lancelot and Shinkiro combined. They linked up and their paintjob faded from the initial black and white of the separate two units to turn almost completely silver in color, aside from the bright red emblem of the Autobot-Black Knight alliance that shined on its chest as well as the glowing blue optics, as well as the shining blue energy wings that appeared from its back.

As for the pilots themselves, their own separate cockpits became one with Suzaku sitting below up front and Lelouch in the back just above him, not too dissimilar from the original Gawain's two-pilot cockpit.

This was something Megatron did not expect. His stunned silence was what left him vulnerable for the Silver King to draw both its MVS blades, which shined red and attacked with the combined-Knightmare to fly directly at Megatron and bring both its blades down on him, who instinctively used the Dark Star Saber to block. But then the Silver King fired its central chest cannon, scoring a direct hit on Megatron and blasting him away, sending him up in an explosion.

"Looks like we're really fighting together now, thanks to the power of the Forge." Suzaku said. "I just wish we had a chance to properly test this."

"Circumstances aside, it is a nice feeling… to be fighting together like this." Lelouch smiled to his oldest friend, who smiled back at him.

The Silver King regrouped alongside Optimus and Bumblebee as they all saw Megatron step out of the smoke and flames from the explosion, the Dark Star Saber in his hand as he glared at all of them.

"Looks like you might have been right, Optimus." Bumblebee commented. "The reason we found V.V. dead…"

"…Was because Megatron stole his Code." Optimus glared.

"So, he is immortal now." The idea of Megatron being unable to die really made Suzaku's blood boil.

"But he's not invincible." Lelouch said as his Zero mask activated. "We'll capture him and subject him to a Cortical Psychic Patch. We'll learn how he escaped and everything he knows about Neo Ragnarök. He is not getting away this time."

"I agree." Optimus vowed, wielding both the Star Saber and Sky-Boom Shield. He then led the charge, Bumblebee and the Silver King right behind him as they engaged their conjoined enemy.

The Siegfried-Loyal flew all around Bruticus as the Combaticon Combiner tried to swing his massive arms at him but was unable to land a single hit. Jeremiah piloted his Knightmare up some distance and fired his Hadron cannons again, which Bruticus blocked with the helicopter blades on his arm serving as a shield before he retaliated with his flame-thrower. But Anya flew her newly upgraded Mordred and retaliated with her own hadron blasts to collide with Bruticus' flame-thrower and create an explosion between them.

Anya's new Mordred was essentially the same build as the Dark Mordred, just without the built-in explosive failsafe as well as the dark paint job. Now it was a bright magenta color with hints of black.

Bruticus glared before swinging his rotating helicopter blades at the pair, both flying backwards to avoid the deadly blades. Arcee and Elita both ran around the giant and fired their respective Energon blasts at him, but this only seemed to irritate Bruticus who moved to try and stomp on them. But when both female Autobots moved out of the way, Bruticus raised his arm to deliver a seismic strike to try and obliterate them, only to feel multiple explosions across his back and turned to face the Guren and Raiden that hovered together.

"You wanna piece of me, human garbage?!" Bruticus exclaimed.

"Yeah, but maybe you should pick on someone your own size!" Kallen stated. "Rai, time for Firestorm!"

"With pleasure!" Rai grinned as the Raiden and Guren flew together and underwent a transformation all their own as well.

The Guren's legs folded and merged together to create a larger leg unit while its chest folded in on itself, making something a bit bulkier and larger while the left arm combined with the Surger attached to the right arm for the same effect. The Raiden mirrored its transformation with it's legs merging together, the chest and body reconfiguring into something larger as its own right arm combined with its own Surger attached to the left arm. Both units combined together, like two separate halves. Unlike the Silver King however, this combined unit's paintjob didn't change as the right half remained red with the left half was still blue. The head units combined as a pair of energy wings shined to life, both the wings and eyes of this combined unit turned purple. Just like with Lelouch and Suzaku, their cockpit had merged together with Kallen up front and Rai in the back. This was the Firestorm.

"What…?!" Bruticus exclaimed.

"Looks like we got a special trick up our sleeves to." Rai grinned.

"Wanna see what this bad ass mother can do?" Kallen also grinned.

The right Surger claw activated and shined with a bright red energy surge, as the left Surger claw did the same with a cluster of electricity. Both claws came together, transforming and configuring to form a single cannon-like weapon that unleashed a massive beam that combined red energy and electricity together. Even when Bruticus attempted to block the blast with his rotary shield, the resulting explosion of energy and electricity was powerful enough to blast and push him down to the ground.

"Impressive, well done you two." Elita nodded.

"That's my girl." Arcee smirked with approval.

"Well done." Anya was impressed, as was the spirit inside her.

'Lelouch has found himself quite the woman.' Marianne thought.

"Ready to break in our new toys, Orange-boy?" Rai asked Jeremiah.

"Orange you say?" Jeremiah chuckled. "That is the name of my loyalty. And I plan to engrave it into the memory of any Decepticon who dares to challenge our righteous cause!"

"I'll take that as a yes." Kallen commented as they all saw Bruticus stand back up.

"I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL!" Bruticus shouted before charging forward.

More explosions continued to light up the skies as the aerial forces shot one another down. Knightmares gunned down Vehicon in their flying alt-modes, said Vehicons returned fire and obliterated many Knightmares and their pilots inside, one of which happened to be Hong Gu as he was shot down by Slipstream in her jet-mode before transforming to watch his burning Knightmare fall.

"So, amusing to think that insects can fly." Slipstream smirked, only to screech in pain as she was sliced in the back by a katana from the Akatsuki piloted by Chiba.

"Even insects carry a nasty bite to them." Chiba glared as she flew to engage Slipstream in close combat.

The Shen Hu and Agravain combined their respective heavy weapons and concentrated their firepower on the face of an incoming dropship just as Silverbolt flew down and released a series of bombs, to finish it off, resulting in the Decepticon vessel losing its position in the air and begin its flaming descent.

"We have incoming!" Wizard warned as they saw Thundercracker lead a squadron of Seeker Vehicons in their direction, which opened fire on the group as they did their best to avoid the resulting Energon fire.

The Shen Hu however got nicked in the shoulder and was almost knocked down, shaking up Xingke inside. "These damn Cons…"

"Xingke!" Zhou and Asahina flew in with their respective to cover him. "Retreat closer to the vessels for cover, we'll handle things out here!"

"Thank you." Xingke accepted as he retreated in the Shen Hu closer towards the Grandberry MK II.

Windblade had transformed and crossed her blades to block the bite of the incoming Sky-Byte. But his thrusters were able to push her towards the side of the Ikaruga, slamming her back into him. She grunted as she tried to push back as hard as she could, but Sky-Byte's shark-mode was much stronger than it appeared.

"Was never really into seafood." She attempted to crack as she turned her turbines onto the Sharkticon and let loose a whirlwind to try and push him back. This was enough for him to loosen is grip slightly and give her an opening to deliver a kick to Sky-Byte's underbelly to knock him off. This gave Windblade enough room to transform and fly straight up, with Sky-Byte flying after her in pursuit.

Tohdoh had diced one Vehicon in half with his Zangetsu's katana but looked in shock to see Starscream's jet-mode heading towards the Ikaruga rear.

"Starscream is heading for the Ikaruga!" Tohdoh reported as he flew his Knightmare to try and intercept him. "I won't make it in time!"

The head Seeker chuckled as he readied his missiles, aiming them for the airship's engines. "Time to show these humans who the true master of the sky is!" However, right as he opened fire, the missiles were quickly shot by rapid Energon fire from his right side, forcing Starscream to fly up and avoid the resulting explosion. He transformed and hovered in the air to face the jet-mode of the Aerialbot who stopped him, he too transformed to face his enemy.

"You're not the only 'master of the sky' here, Starscream." Jetfire told him.

The Seeker growled. "If you had shown this kind of backbone, maybe we could have pushed Megatron back during the war, and he wouldn't have gained access to the Dark Enegron!"

"You sided with him to save your own skid plate." Jetfire pointed at him. "When all is said and done, you're only in this for yourself. That emblem on your chest is nothing more than a convenience for you."

"Let this be my final word of advice to you, my former friend." Starscream aimed his missile-wrists at him. "Look out for yourself, because the only one you can truly trust, is yourself."

"Spoken like a true coward!" Tohdoh's Zangetsu came straight toward him from above, bringing his katana downward with a slice, which Starscream barely avoided with a slice before transforming and flying away, with the Aerialbot and black Knightmare flying in pursuit.

"We have a clear shot on one of the enemy drop ships!" Cecile reported from the Grandberry.

"Then let's take it! Fire the main cannon!" Toto ordered.

The Grandberry's central mounted cannon began to light up before it unleashed a powerful energy blast, one that pierced right through a Decepticon drop ship, which quickly exploded. Two dropships were quick to retaliate by firing a series of homing missiles at the Grandberry, though the Blaze Luminous shield was able to protect it for the most part, the impact shook up the ship and the occupants inside.

"Well, that rocked our world…" Claus commented as he held onto the nearest console for support.

"Shields have dropped to sixty-five percent!" Nina exclaimed. "We can't afford to advance too much!"

"So, we remain on the defensive and let the others try and take down as much as they can." Lloyd commented. "Must be hard with all those flying Cons around."

"They know what will happen if they lose this battle." Diethard stated. "That's why they're throwing everything they have at us."

"Yeah, figured it wouldn't be a walk in the park." Claus said.

Meanwhile, on the top deck of the Ark, even as the wall cannons continued to pound at its underbelly, the Black Wyverns and their Autobot companions appeared to be holding their own against Steeljaw and his pack.

The wolf-like Decepticon himself had transformed into his vehicle mode to avoid the slash harkens of the Tristan Divider that shot towards him, but as they recoiled, Steeljaw gunned for Gino's Knightmare and transformed with a leap, using the gathered momentum to close the distance, grapple onto the Tristan's shoulders and slam it back down onto the ground. Steeljaw proceeded to slice at it, but Gino slammed his Knightmare's arm into the face of Steeljaw to push him back, allowing him to quickly draw one of the Tristan's swords and slice at Steeljaw, who caught the blade with his claws and grabbed Gino's unit by the shoulder and throw him away.

Grindcore and Underbite charged at each other and grappled against one another, but Underbite appeared to have the advantage as he used his massive jaw to flip Grindcore over himself and send him crashing to the ground. Underbite then proceeded to bite down onto the metallic floor beneath him and swallow it to fuel himself.

"You ready to get stomped, Autobot!?" Underbite challenged.

As Grindcore tried to pick himself up, he glanced upwards to see the Hercules and Thanatos in the air, both duking it out when an idea came to him.

"Hey, Yukiya. Get ready for a little kickball, Con style." Grindcore contacted him as he positioned himself just right with Underbite charging him at full speed. Right as the Chompazoid got to him, Grimlock had ducked under the bite and picked up Underbite by his jaw and used his own momentum against him to flip him over and send him flying into the air.

Yukiya, who had picked up Grindcore signal, saw Underbite get tossed and realized what was going on. "Guys, we need to move down! Now!"

Through their shared connection, the rest of the Hercules pilots knew what Yukiya was thinking and followed along. The Hercules disengaged battle with the Thanatos and quickly flew down towards the flying Underbite, prompting Yukiya to pull at the controls, causing the left leg to stick out in the form of a powerful kick to the side of Underbite's jaw, causing it to cave in slightly and send Underbite in a certain direction that caused him to bounce and slide off the side of the Ark before falling off the vessel completely and to his death on the ground.

"Nice kick." Ayano grinned.

"Thanks." Yukiya smirked as he glanced down to Grindcore, who gave a thumbs up and a grin.

"Heads up, here comes Shin!" Ryo warned as they saw the Thanatos re-engage them with a series of blasts from its shoulder cannons, which the Hercules avoided as it pulled back to the side before flying upwards to clash its sword against the primary weapon of Shin's Knightmare.

"Yes, good Akito." Shin grinned like a madman from inside. "Let's keep this dance going until one of us gives out!"

"Thought you'd never ask." Akito replied before Ryo pulled back on the Hercules' free arm and dealt a punch on the Thanatos that knocked it against the deck of the Ark, but it regained its flight and flew back upwards with the Hercules chasing after it.

Fracture had unleashed both his Mini-Cons in the form of missiles, all of whom struck Strongarm and knocked her down. Airazor and Divebomb both transformed and pinned Strongarm by her shoulders as Knock Out loomed over her with his buzz saw.

"While I do admire your lustrous finish, I have a job to do. Nothing personal." Knock Out commented and was ready to bring his saw down on her, only to have it blocked by Sideswipe's sword before he kicked him back. He then swiped his blade to knock off the two wicked Mini-Cons as he helped Strongarm back up to her feet.

"Thanks Sideswipe." She smiled.

"You looked like you could use some help." He smiled back as the two came back-to-back to face the recovering Knock Out as well as Fracture. Thunderhoof tried to get in on this as well as he tried to charge both Autobots from the side and ram them with his antlers, only to get tackled by Grindcore and pushed down to the ground.

"Nice antlers." Grindcore said as he grabbed the aforementioned attachments to Thunderhoof's head and pinned him down with his foot before ripping them off, causing him to yell in pain. He didn't give much of a response because Grindcore jammed one of the broken antlers into Thunderhoof's chest and the other into his face. The Decepticon was dead in a matter of seconds after that.

The Ark itself shook even further, much to the concern of the Autobots on it and their Black Knight allies.

"Somebody's gotta take care of those cannons…" Gino muttered before focusing on Steeljaw again.

Down below, as the cannons continued to pound away at the Ark, Bulkhead gave a yell as he pounded in the face of Lugnut with his mace, who retaliated with a strike form his axe to knock him back.

"Fool! Nobody challenges the will of Megatron!" Lugnut delivered a kick to Bulkhead to knock him down to his front and jumped to land on top of his back and pin him down as he raised his axe executioner's style. "In the name of the glorious Decepticon race, I…!"

Suddenly, he was sniped in the eye by Chromia with her rifle, who had hung back slightly. This caused Lugnut to cry in pain and forced him to drop his own axe to Bulkhead's side. The green Autobot noticed this as the blind Lugnut backed off him, prompting the green Autobot to reach and grab the axe before giving a loud yell as he slammed it right into Lugnut's face, obliterating his head and killing him right then and there.

"You talk too much." Bulkhead spat out some Energon before looking towards his fellow Wrecker. "Thanks, Chromia."

"No problem." She nodded in response.

The two heavy Decepticon soldiers fired their Ion Displacers at Ironhide and Wheeljack, keeping them from advancing closer to the cannon as they tried to return fire with their respective blasters, but there was a reason this class of Decepticon was referred to as a 'heavy soldier', because their heavy armor was hard to crack through, even with Ironhide's cannons.

At the same time, Blitzwing hovered in the air near the cannon and continued to fire his shoulder-canons at the flying Galeschin. "Coward! Come down here and face your inevitable fate!" Blitzwing called out in his hotheaded persona.

"Why don't you come up here and make me, three-face!?" Nonette challenged.

"I will crush you, meat-piece by meat-piece!" Blitzwing transformed into his flying alt-mode and flew directly at the Galeschin as Nonette had hoped. She drew her Knightmare's MVS and was quick enough to slice off Blitzwing's blasters, but not quick enough to avoid being grabbed as he transformed and pushed her down to the side of the cannon, close to the lip of the cannon just as he switched to his logical persona. "I've enjoyed our repeated bouts, Black Knight. But I believe we have reached the end."

Nonette glanced towards her side and saw that the cannon was ready to fire its next shot onto the Ark and that's where she smirked. "Yes, we have." Pulling on her triggers, the Galeschin fired its slash harkens at Blitzwing, forcing him off right as the Galeschin gave a kick to knock Blitzwing right into the path of the cannon just as it fired.

"Now that's going out with a bang!" Blitzwing laughed in his maniac persona right before he was obliterated by the blast.

The Galeschin then flew directly in front of the cannon and fired her VARIS repeatedly down its hole until multiple explosions erupted from the inside. "Cannon's down! Clear out now!" She called out to her teammates.

"You heard her, fall back!" Ironhide ordered as he, Wheeljack, Chromia, and Bulkhead transformed and drove away from the exploding cannon just before it went up and took out the two heavy Decepticon soldiers with it.

At the base of the eastward cannon, Warpath grappled with Demolishor as they tried to press their strength against one another, but Warpath was able to deliver a headbutt to push back Demolishor and fired a point-blank shot from his chest-cannon to blast a hole through the Deception. But Warpath soon found himself shot at by the two heavy Decepticon soldiers, forcing him to fall back as he was gunned in the side, feeling the Energon already leaking.

"Eat hot lead, Con!" Tamaki exclaimed as he fired a volley of missiles from his Wrecker Akatsuki towards Barricade, who had transformed and drove past the resulting explosion and closed the distance to strike down his Knightmare upon transforming back. Only for Barricade to quickly find himself on the defensive from the sword slashes of Drift as he sliced toward him, which Barricade avoided before slugging Drift in the face.

Hot Shot moved in with his vehicle mode, hoping to close the distance between himself and the cannon, but the two heavy soldiers directed their Ion Displacers at him and opened fire.

"Alright, I got their attention! Now it's your guys' turn!" Hot Shot transformed and leapt into the air, revealing the disk-modes of Safeguard and Jetstorm attached to his arms before they deployed from him and launched themselves at the heavy soldiers. Safeguard had drawn his naginata and used it to impale through the face of the heavy soldier he was launched at, while Jetstorm flailed his nunchucks all over the face of the second, though it didn't kill that one, it did distract him as he was forced to let go of his Ion Displacer, which Hot Shot was quick to grab and turn it on its previous owner, firing and killing him.

With both soldiers down, Hot Shot turned his newly acquired weapon towards the only remaining Decepticon and fired upon Barricade. He grunted and yelled in pain as he was gunned down from behind, allowing Drift to finish him off with a decapitation slice.

"All enemy forces are down. Destroy the cannon! Aim at the base!" Drift ordered.

"With pleasure." Tamaki grinned as he fired his Wrecker Akatsuki's missiles at the base of the cannon, Warpath doing the same in his tank-mode, and Hot Shot adding fuel to the fire with his Ion Displacer. After several seconds of sustained fire, explosions and flames erupted from the base of the cannon before it ceased operations and was shut down.

"Kablam." Warpath said with a nod.

Not long after that, Ironhide and his team were quick to join up with them. "I see you guys are all wrapped up here." Wheeljack noted. "Now let's join the main party."

"Got that right." Ironhide accessed his comms. "T-AI, the wall-cannons are down, we need Groundbridge so we can help Optimus and the others."

"Perfect timing. Grimlock and the Irregulars are finishing up things below, so you really don't want to stay on that wall for too much longer." T-AI responded just as a portal opened up in front of them, in which they wasted no time in entering the vortex just before it closed.

Insecticons hollered as they attacked the Irregulars, but they seemed to be more than holding their own against the bulky insect-like Decepticons. Two of which attempted to leap towards Lucretia's Tungsten, but she was quick to fire her double-gatling Energon guns to mow them down quickly enough. A third tried to grapple and bite at her from the side, but she brought up her right gun to block its bite before aiming her left gun at its throat to fire and tear the head clean off.

The Scorpio had decapitated one Insecticon with one of its dual blades before flying up to meet three more in their flying insect modes that charged and shot towards her. But using her own Geass ability, Sancia was able to detect the exact positions and trajectories her enemy would take and flew directly at them. Using her ability and skills as a Knightmare pilot, the Scorpio had cut off the wings of one to send plummeting to the ground, she then crossed and sliced both her blades in an x-formation to cut through the face of the second before delivering an airborne kick to the third's face and when it fell on its side, she sliced that one's head off as well.

Dalque's Ryujin thrusted its arms forward to activate a pair of flamethrowers to burn the Insecticon in front of her alive. When a second tried to rush her through the burning remains of its brethren, the Ryujin quickly moved to avoid its crushing arm before grabbing said arm and using her own Geass-enhanced strength, channeled through her Knightmare, to rip the arm off and using it to smash that very Insecticon to pieces.

Alice's Pegasus moved with such speed and grace, using a single sword to slice past two Insecticons, both falling apart the moment she moved past them. Though she was quick to react and block the sword thrust from Saberhorn who smirked at her as they locked blades.

"Ah yes. Another chance to duel." He thrusted and lunged his sword at Alice, but she quickly parried all his strikes. "Ha! Tally-ho!" With one attempted thrust, the Pegasus moved to the side to grab the arm with her Knightmare's free hand and used her own sword to completely cut off his arm, much to Saberhorn's shock and pain. He tried to swing his other sword in his remaining arm, only for the Pegasus to leap up and avoid the slice and kick him down. While he was down, Alice quickly severed Saberhorn's remaining arm and aimed her blade at his face.

"Now that wasn't sporting! Not sporting at all!" Saberhorn stated.

"I don't fight for sport. I fight to win. And to protect those I care for." Alice replied.

Though surprised by her response, Saberhorn couldn't help but smile as he conceded defeat. "Well played, warrior. Finish it."

Alice was somewhat caught off guard with her enemy accepting defeat with grace, she was still quick to act on it as she impaled her sword through his spark chamber, ending his life quickly. Even with his life ended, Saberhorn still smiled, having met his end at the hands of a true warrior.

At the same time, Grimlock had already obliterated most of the Insecticons in his T-Rex form, stomping on several, crushing others with swipes of his tail, incinerating them with his plasma breath, and of course, biting them down and ripping them apart with his jaws. Yet, Grimlock didn't seem to notice Scorponok's scorpion form digging up from the ground underneath him and leaping into his leg, quickly crawling up and around his body, lashing out with his tail and stinger, doing some damage to Grimlock's body and even drawing Energon. However, this only seemed to irritate the Dinobot as he transformed back to his robot mode with Scorponok clinging to his back, prompting Grimlock to ram his back into the wall and repeated the process until Scorponok was knocked loose.

Forced to transform back, Scorponok tried to crawl away, only for Grimlock to grab him by his tail, haul him up and grab his body with his other hand before ripping his tail out. Scorponok didn't have the time to scream in pain before Grimlock raised him up and slammed him on the ground so hard he was completely crushed.

"Ugh. I'm done with bugs." Grimlock spat as the Irregulars regrouped around him.

"Grimlock, we're all clear here." Sancia reported. "No more enemies in sight."

"Then let's make sure we have an exit." Grimlock accessed the comms. "We need a Groundbridge." A second later, a portal was opened behind them as all five of them set their sights on the Energon core that served as the power source for this section of the wall. "Light it up!"

Transforming into his T-Rex mode again, Grimlock unleashed his plasma breath as the Irregulars opened fire with their Knightmare's respective long-ranged weapons. After several seconds of constant bombardment, the Energon core began to crack before it started to light up. Seeing this as their cue, the group quickly fled into the Groundbridge just as the core went up in a devastating explosion.

*BOOM!*

A large explosion, followed by several smaller ones, erupted at the base of that one section of the wall that just had its cannons destroyed. The explosion tore through the foundation, resulting in the destruction of the wall's structural integrity, and leading to it's collapse. This created a massive opening in what was thought to be a near-impenetrable barrier surrounding the Deception occupied continent.

"They did it!" Fixit stated as he and Ratchet all looked at the screens on the Ark's bridge to see the collapse for themselves.

"Grimlock and the Irregulars were able to escape in time." T-AI reported as her holographic mode appeared before them. "They and the Wreckers have joined the battle and are helping the others to push back!"

"Then it's our turn!" Ratchet ordered. "Advance the Ark further so that we may push back all resistance in the sky! Signal Wizard and the others to help Magnus and Ohgi in wiping out the enemy ground forces!"

"Right away!" T-AI confirmed before vanishing.

The Ark began its advance towards the battlefield, its own weaponry coming online to lay down fire on all the Decepticon dropships. They didn't last very long and were quickly shot down. With the Ikaruga and Grandberry MK II closer to the main Autobot vessel, neither needed any further protection.

"The enemy is being cleared from the air!" Wizard reported. "All air-units, descend and help the ground forces clear out everyone on the ground!"

With that command, the Agravain, Aerialbots, and the Black Dragon unit all flew down to assist the Elite Guard, Crimson Knights, and the newly arrived Wreckers and Irregular unit, in attacking the Decepticon army, which had already lost more than sixty percent of its forces. With the raw power of their combined army, being led by the likes of Ironhide, Tohdoh, Ohgi, Ultra Magnus, Cornelia, Marrybell, Silverbolt, and even Grimlock, this appeared to be a truly unstoppable force.

With most of the Decepticon army being routed, Bruticus continued to do battle against the group consisting of Elita-One, Arcee, Jeremiah, Anya, as well as Kallen and Rai both co-piloting the Firestorm. The three large Knightmares flew up and around, blasting at Bruticus in every direction, keeping the massive Combiner on the defensive. When the Firestorm brought its claws together again to shoot another combined energy beam, Bruticus attempted to defend himself with his rotary-blade shield. However, this only left him vulnerable for the Siegfried-Loyal and Mordred to fire its own heavy artillery at Bruticus back, bringing him down to his knees.

"Useless bugs!" Bruticus attempted to stand, only to feel his arms being enveloped by a strong magnetic force. He looked in surprise to see Elita-One directly in front of him, with the active the Polarity Gauntlet in her hands, which she used to keep him pinned as she forced him onto his hands and knees.

"I got him! Finish him now!" Elita ordered.

Arcee moved in first in her motorcycle-mode before transforming and sliding on the ground underneath him on her back, firing two precise shots from her Energon blasters as she slid into Bruticus' eyes to blind him before transforming again and zipping past him.

"He's blind! Kallen, Rai!" Arcee stated.

"We're on it!" Rai responded as Elita lunged the Polarity Gauntlet forward, sending a repulsive force that knocked the blinded Combiner on its back. With him down, the Firestorm lunged at him and plunged both of its claws into his face, piercing through its metal.

"Think we're bugs, huh?" Kallen said to the giant. "Just remember it was these bugs that sent you to Hell."

Kallen and Rai activated their respective Surgers, sending a combined surge of radiation and electricity all throughout Bruticus' body. It was too quick for him to even begin disassembling as trails of fire and lightning went to all of the five Combaticons that made up Bruticus before he finally exploded.

*BOOM!*

What was once one of the strongest walking weapons of mass destruction in the Decepticon army was now nothing more than a pile of molten and fried steel. The Combaticons were no more.

At the same time, Megatron had clashed the Dark Star Saber against the Sky-Boom Shield wielded by Optimus, who attempted to strike with the Star Saber, but Megatron pushed forward to knock Optimus back slightly and grabbed the arm that held the glowing blue sword while attempting to bring the Dark Star Saber on him. However, the Silver King fired an energy beam from its central cannon right at Megatron pushing him back. With him disoriented, Lelouch and Suzaku flew their combined Knightmare directly at him delivering a spinning kick to his face and send him rolling back, though Megatron drove the Dark Star Saber into the ground to skid to a halt.

Lelouch smirked. "I can see why you enjoy that kick of yours, Suzaku. It's actually kinda fun."

"Toldya." Suzaku smiled back.

Megatron attempted to get back up, only to be bombarded by Energon blasts as Bumblebee ran around the side. Megatron swung the Dark Star Saber to send a wave of dark energy towards the scout, but Optimus was quicker as he swung the Star Saber to send his own bright energy wave to cancel out Megatron's attack.

"Smoke! Now!" Bumblebee exclaimed.

Suddenly, Smokescreen phased up from the ground behind Megatron via the Phase Shifter and rushed him. "Think fast!" With a leap, Smokescreen phased partially through Megatron's hand and quickly swiped the Dark Star Saber from his grip before landing on his back, holding the evil sword in his hands.

"What?!" Megatron was more than a little surprised.

"Hey, cool looking sword." Smokescreen commented with a grin as he stood up with the Dark Star Saber. "But I don't think you'll be needing it anymore."

The Lord of the Decepticons growled as he would have advanced upon the young Autobot, only to have Optimus stand in front of him and point the Star Saber directly at his face. The Silver King hovered just above the Prime and had its weapons trained on him. It didn't take long for Megatron to be completely surrounded as the Firestorm landed behind him, Arcee and Elita on its flanks as they aimed their Energon blasters. Bumblebee was on his left with his own blasters, the Mordred landed on his right with her Hadron cannons primed and ready, and the Siegfried-Loyal positioned above the Firestorm from above.

"It's over, Megatron." Optimus told him. "Your army is being routed; your defenses are breached. Surrender."

"You will be coming with us. We have a lot to talk about." Lelouch said with his eyes narrowed.

Megatron looked with a scowl in all directions at first, before glancing amusingly at the Siegfried-Loyal. "Jeremiah Gottwald. You were arguably the first Britannian enemy that Zero and the Autobots made, and so thoroughly humiliated by them at that. Yet you stand with them."

"I did, yes." Jeremiah acknowledged. "But that was before I knew who he really was, and the purpose of their mission. And by serving them, I am now serving Lady Marianne!"

Megatron chuckled. "Oh, if you only you knew."

They were fortunate enough that Megatron didn't know of Marianne's true predicament, but that didn't stop Anya from casting a glance at her own reflection in the glass of her screen in her cockpit, where she saw the image of Marianne's face with a guilty expression.

"We may indeed have much to talk about, Lelouch." Megatron mused towards the young revolutionary in his combined Knightmare with Suzaku. "However,… I do not believe we have the time."

"We've received confirmation that Bruticus has been destroyed!" Misty reported. "And… it looks they've captured Megatron!"

"Really!?" Euphemia exclaimed in surprise. "They've captured Megatron?!"

"Optimus, Zero, and the others appear to have him surrounded!" The screen popped up to reveal the Decepticon leader was surrounded on all sides with no way out. "They even separated him from his weapon!"

"Now isn't that quite the sight." Rakshata mused in her typical matter with a smirk. "It must be quite humiliating for him."

"T-They did it! They did it!" Kaguya cheered as she wrapped her arms around Nunnally and Euphemia. "We've won!"

"W-we won… we really won… didn't… we…?" Nunnally couldn't help but feel emotional as she and Euphemia shared teary-eyed smiles with one another. Sayoko placed a hand on Nunnally's shoulder and looked towards her with her own smile and a nod.

'Lelouch… Optimus… Suzaku… Bumblebee… all of you… we did it.' Nunnally couldn't feel any happier.

"Wait… we're detecting a large object entering the airspace!"

That got all their attention as the monitor zoomed in to see something descending from the clouds in the sky. Something incredibly massive. The minute everyone on the Ikaruga saw it, their excitement vanished and was replaced with an ominous sense of fear.

"What… in the… Allspark….?" Ratchet stuttered as he and Fixit saw the massive object from the Ark's bridge as well.

"It… it appears to be a… space station of sorts…" Fixit observed, but he couldn't help but feel a tad bit scared.

"What the hell is that thing…?!" Claus questioned as everyone on the Grandberry MK II also saw the station.

"Scanning now…" Toto had already brought up the information they could get from a long-ranged scan as the scientists on-board were already reading it.

"Heavily armored… long ranged… fusion cannons!" Nina exclaimed.

"But… they're not like those wall cannons we just took down! These energy readings… they're stronger….!" Cecile was already terrified.

"Oh dear…" Lloyd gulped as Diethard looked in genuine fear.

The fight on the Ark's deck came to a halt as all Autobots, Black Knights, and Decepticons saw the station's approach. While most of them looked in shock with an unsettling sense of fear sweeping over them, Steeljaw smirked.

"Soundwave, we need a Groundbridge." Steeljaw requested through the comms. A portal opened up a second later, prompting Steeljaw, Knock Out and Fracture to run and enter said portal, with the Thanatos flying after them. Though Shin glanced inside towards the Hercules, specifically the part that had his younger half-brother inside.

"Goodbye Akito…" Shin said before the Thanatos also entered the portal, which quickly closed.

"That can't be a good sign." Sideswipe commented.

Akito felt his skin run cold. The way his brother talked to him, and the appearance of this station, every instinct in his body told him that death was approaching.

"Get inside the Ark! Now!"

Starscream chuckled as he disengaged from the battle. "Perfect timing." His jet-mode flew straight towards the station as all the battles below had already came to a halt upon seeing the massive object. Autobot, Black Knight, Decepticon, all of them felt a strong sense of fear the second they saw it. All except one.

Upon seeing the smirk on Megatron's face, Optimus pointed the Star Saber closer to him. "What is that Megatron?"

"Believe it or not old friend, this is not my doing." Megatron mused. "But I think we know who is responsible. Don't we… Lelouch?"

That's when it dawned on him. He honestly kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner! How could he not have seen something like this coming?! A look of anger and fear had formed on Lelouch's face as he glared up at the station.

"Schneizel…!" He desperately opened all the comms channels. "ALL FORCES FALL BACK! T-AI COMMENCE EMERGENCY RETREAT! NOW!"

From the very top of the fortress that sat atop the Damocles station, sitting within the confines of his own personal control chamber with Kanon by his side, Schneizel grinned evilly as he gazed upon the battlefield via a large monitor in front of him.

"Target locked on Optimus and Megatron, sir." Kanon reported.

"Fire."

One of the four fusion cannons aboard Damocles had lowered and aimed at the battlefield below. A massive surge of green energy was seen at the lip of said cannon before unleashing a massive green energy beam.

Multiple Groundbridges had already opened across various parts in the battlefield as the Autobots and Black Knights scattered to make for the nearest portal just as the beam itched every closer. It didn't take long for Optimus to realize just where the beam was being going to hit. His location, and that of his allies and Megatron.

"BEHIND ME! NOW!" Optimus exclaimed as he brought up the Sky-Boom Shield and activated its full power. Bumblebee, the Silver King, Elita, Arcee, the Firestorm, the Mordred, the Siegfried Loyal, and Smokescreen, who still carried the Dark Star Saber, were already behind him as the energy from the shield of the Primes formed a curved dome-like wall around them, while Megatron just simply smirked unaffected as the beam struck.

*BOOM!*

A massive green explosion erupted right as the fusion blast hit. It already begin to emit a massive energy wave that would incinerate anything it came into contact with, that included every remaining ground-based Vehicon that was still on the battlefield, the only ones that even had a single chance of escaping the neon green inferno were those that could fly, including the Seeker Vehicons as well as Thundercracker and Slipstream, and even Sky-Byte, but most weren't so lucky, those closest to the blast point were also incarnated. And that was the case for multiple unfortunate Black Knight Knightmares and Autobots as well.

Though many of them were able to escape via the emergency Groundbridges, including Ohgi, Ironhide, Ultra Magnus, Cornelia, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Jazz, Tohdoh, Jetfire, Guilford, Chigusa, Monica, Tamaki, Warpath, Nonette, Drift along with Safeguard and Jetstorm, Chiba, Xingke, Zhou, Windblade, Wizard, Marrybell, Oldrin, Orpheus, Ashley, Jean, and Sokkia. Grimlock, Alice, and the rest of the Irregulars also made it, along with at least half of their remaining forces. However, there were many that weren't so lucky.

Including countless unnamed Black Knights that were caught up in the blast, those that didn't make it included Asahina, Prowl, Hot Shot, Chromia, Silverbolt, Leonhardt, and Makira. What was most gut-wrenching was that many of their friends and comrades would see them be snuffed out. Their metallic bodies caught up and incinerated in the fusion blasts, along with any humans inside the metallic shells. They could only watch in horror as those they knew and fought alongside met their end in a matter of hellish seconds.

The Grandberry MK II and the Ikaruga were close enough to the Ark that when the main Autobot vessel expanded its shields, both flying carriers were encompassed within the protective barrier of the much larger ship. But when the fusion blast hit, even as the waves of green death washed around them, the force of the impact was enough to shake the Ark somewhat and throughout most of the vessel, rattling Ratchet, Fixit, as well as Akito, Leila, Sideswipe, Grindcore, Yukiya, Ayano, Strongarm, Ryo, and Gino, all of whom had safely made it inside the vessel before the Damocles even opened fire.

However, the smaller vessels were more than a little shaken as everyone inside the Ikaruga and Grandberry MK II were knocked down to the floor rather hard. As she attempted to pull herself up, Nunnally gazed up out the main window to see the green energy passing over. Her eyes widened like saucers as the green light reflected in her pupils. And in that instant, something in her heart told her that something terrible was happening right now.

At the epicenter of the inferno, Optimus had kept the Sky-Boom Shield up as it had protected him and everyone else from the blast. A Groundbridge portal had already been called in. The Silver King and Firestorm having split apart into their individual Knightmares as they, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, the Mordred, Siegfried Loyal, Arcee, and Elita had already run into the vortex.

But they stopped to turn around to see that Optimus wasn't with them. When they gazed back, they saw that he was still outside the portal, keeping the Sky-Boom Shield up and the deadly energy at bay.

"Wha… what are you…" Lelouch stuttered. "You have to come… Optimus…"

The last of the Primes turned around to face all those that were dear to him. A look of understanding was written all over his face. That's when each of their eyes and optics widened in shock and even terror as they realized what was about to happen. He had to keep the energy at bay in order to ensure they all made it to safety.

While Jeremiah, Smokescreen, Anya, and even Marianne, were certainly shocked… Bumblebee, Suzaku, Kallen, Rai, Arcee, Elita… and most of all… Lelouch… they could only look in horror as they knew what he was doing.

Optimus Prime didn't plan on coming with them. He was going to stay behind. He had to.

Even though looks of dread had formed on all their faces, he only smiled and said three words. "Till all are one." He had lowered the Sky-Boom Shield to throw it and the Star Saber into the vortex just as the blast encompassed him, and the Groundbridge vortex began to close.

"OPTIMUS!" Lelouch screamed.

However, that would not be the end.

Not wasting even a fraction of a second, Elita had drawn the Polarity Gauntlet and used to grab Optimus, pulling him in rapidly with the magnetic powers of the gauntlet set to max for attraction. The force of the pull was so great and so quick that she couldn't stop Optimus from slamming into him and everyone else and out the other side of the portal.

All six Knightmares and five Autobots were flown out of the vortex just as it closed and into one of the many hangar bays of the Ark, the Star Saber, its dark counterpart, and the Sky-Boom Shield all clattered to the ground with them.

Even with the Shinkiro flat on its back, Lelouch had already exited out of the cockpit in a frantic panic as he tried to address his fellow leader. "Optimus!" When he set foot on the ground however and saw what had become of him, he gasped in terror.

Optimus' right arm and both his legs were completely gone, most of his paint job was scorched near black, his chest was red hot with tears and blast marks scattered all over his body, and half his face appeared to be melted off. His one optic was barley functional as his breathing was shallow. He was still alive, but just barely.

Likewise, everyone else had similar reactions as the humans stepped out of their mechs. Kallen gasped and covered her mouth in shock, Smokescreen couldn't believe what he was seeing Suzaku's eyes widened like dinner plates, Arcee's metallic face became pale, Anya's mouth hung open as her eyes wavered, Rai looked like he was about to have a panic attack as the state of Optimus reminded him of how he found his mother and sister all those years ago, Jeremiah was in a state of disbelief, Bumblebee's body shook from where he stood, and Elita looked in a mixture of horror and grief.

With a shaky voice, Lelouch accessed the comms. "R-Ratchet… get… get us to Horai Island…. Return to base… now but… send us and Optimus to Preceptor's lab via Groundbridge right now…!"

"What? Why…? What's going…?"

"DO IT!" Lelouch screamed as tears flowed down his eyes and he fell to his knees. "OPTIMUS NEEDS HELP! BRIDGE US TO PERCEPTOR'S LAB IMMEDIATELY! GET EVERYONE ELSE BACK TO HORAI ISLAND NOW!"

The inferno had finally ended, and just as it had, one larger Groundbridge portal had opened to allow the Ikaruga and Grandberry MK II to enter and return to Horai Island while the Ark flew away from the desolate battlefield as fast as it could.

When it was all said and done, all that was left was a flat piece of scorched earth that had incarnated everything. Even more of the barrier had been destroyed as it too was caught in the blast. There was nothing left. Nothing but the shadow of the dreaded Damocles that hauntingly hung over ground zero.

"Although roughly fifty six percent of the Autobots and Black Knights were able to retreat, those that remained as well as any other surviving Decepticon are confirmed to be terminated." Kanon reported to Schneizel as he continued to sit in his command chair. "We can also confirm that Starscream, Thundercracker, Slipstream, Sky-Byte, and a large number of Seekers were able to escape the blast and have made it to Damocles."

"What about Zero, Optimus, and Megatron?" Schneizel asked.

Kanon had brought up a holographic screen of the epicenter of the blast right before the beam struck. "Footage shows that a Groundbridge appeared right before the fusion blast made contact. Though we are unable to get a clear visual at the moment of impact, it is highly likely that Zero and those with him were able to escape. But it is also confirmed that both Optimus Prime and Megatron were at the point of impact when the blast hit. It is highly likely that they are terminated."

"More than likely." Starscream had entered the chamber with a diabolical grin on his face. "Though they both have survived experiences that would have ended any normal Cybertronian, it is next to impossible for them to have lived through a blast of pure fusion energy, one that can atomize even Cybertronian metal!" Starscream gave a bombastic laugh. "At long last… Optimus Prime and Megatron are no more! Their Sparks are extinguished! This prolonged war of theirs is finally over!"

"Not quite yet, my friend." Schneizel said rather calmly. "We need to finish the job. We need to finish off the survivors. So long as Lelouch is still alive, the people of Earth have someone to rally behind. We need to fix that."

"Of course." Starscream accepted. "And once that is done, we can wipe what's left of this pitiful species off the face of the planet! We'll take what's left of the Decepticon army that is so willing to follow its only leaders and use Damocles to travel the galaxy, build a new empire from every planet and species that we conquer with this ultimate weapon! Let those Britannian fools try and procreate however they can, with only a few dozen humans left, their species will be doomed to fail. Let the galactic reign of Starscream begin! ALL HAIL STARSCREAM!" He praised to himself as he danced in pure joy and celebration.

Unlike his overly extravagant and flamboyant partner, Schneizel's sinister joy came in the form of an evil smile as he held a white king chess piece in his hand.

'I warned you not to underestimate the white king, Optimus.' The madman thought to himself. 'You were a worthy adversary. Thank you for the challenge. And with this… dear little brother, I call check.'

Slowly, Megatron's optics began to open as he stared up at the metallic ceiling of an unknown location. He slowly arose from a lab table, gazing around to see only one other occupant that had been by his side the whole time.

"Soundwave." Megatron acknowledged as he sat up and then stood from the table. "I trust it went according to plan?" Soundwave gave only a single nod in confirmation. "Excellent." He gazed at the palm of the hand of Liege Maximo and the glowing Geass emblem of his personal code. "True immortality is finally mine. Where is the Dark Star Saber?"

Soundwave's visor showed footage of the battle where Smokescreen had stolen it. The footage then showed Smokescreen and the others enter the Groundbridge portal.

"Hmm, unfortunate." Megatron said. "Either Lelouch destroys it in my absence or seeks to use it himself. If I'm able to reclaim it, then good. Otherwise, it won't stop Neo Ragnarök."

The silent Decepticon then opened a Spacebridge portal, revealing Steeljaw, Knock Out, and Fracture, and even the Thanatos that had Shin Hyuga Shang, as they stepped out and into the laboratory.

"More for our inner circle?" Megatron asked Soundwave, who nodded once more. "Welcome to fold, Steeljaw, Knock Out, Fracture, and Shang, is it?"

"Indeed." The Thanatos' cockpit opened as the cybernetic Shin Hyuga Shang stood up. "This is the first time we've met face-to-face, Megatron. And it is a pleasure to finally make the acquaintance of the one who will end everything." He grinned evilly with his cybernetic face.

"A pleasure it is, Lord Megatron." Steeljaw bowed. "I heard what Starscream and Schneizel were planning. While those two are certainly conniving and ruthless, I think I'd feel a bit more secure if I was on the side of the strongest."

"A smart move." Megatron nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great and all." Fracture rubbed off. "Now… where in the scrap are we?!"

"Welcome back to Cybertron. Specifically, Shockwave's personal laboratory." Megatron replied. "It is from here that we will launch our counterattack. With Starscream and Schnizel both believing me to be gone, they will be unsuspecting as we make our move to take Damocles from them and use it to strike the Autobots and Black Knights while they are weak and claim the last thing that I need to achieve our ultimate victory."

"Take that flying monstrosity…?!" Knock Out questioned. "With all due respect, Lord Megatron… US AND WHAT ARMY!?" The doctor shouted. "THOSE TWO LUNATICS HAVE ALL BUT WIPED OUT TWO THIRDS OF OUR OWN FORCES! ANY ONE LEFT IS GOING TO SIDE WITH THEM! WHAT CAN WE POSSIBLY HAVE THAT CAN SO EASILY TURN THE TABLES!?"

Rather than feel insulted or angered by the outburst, Megatron merely smirked. "Follow me." He gestured for the Decepticons and their cybernetic companion to join him as he turned around and walked through a metallic door that led to another part of the laboratory.

In this chamber was Shockwave who worked at a console that was connected to his latest experiment. At the very center of this lab was a giant glass tub filled with a yellow fluid and something within. Something massive and made out of metal. And it was alive, albeit in a state of suspended animation. It was curled up so it was hard to make out any distinctive features, but there was something about it that seemed very… beast-like.

"Is it ready?" Megatron asked.

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Shockwave confirmed. "The specimen is fully cultivated and need only activate upon my command."

"Then let us awaken our new pet." Megatron urged with a sinister grin.

Shockwave then pressed a series of commands on his console, activating the devices on the ceiling that was attached to the tank. This sent an electrical current to activate the internal systems of the specimen inside.

Just as the fluid began to drain from the tank, a pair of yellow eyes opened as the creature emitted a low growl.

Done.

Now that was one hell of a chapter, wouldn't you say? It was pretty much all battles! I apologize if I didn't cover every character here (including Jazz and Cornelia to name a few), but with so many characters all in one chapter, I tried to focus more on the battles that I felt had the most impact on what was going on and I'd let your imaginations picture the warzone between the troopers.

I hope that all makes sense to you.

And just when it seemed like the heroes were about to pull off a huge victory, Schneizel and Starscream just had to ruin it. Damocles in this story is basically a floating station like the canon Code Geass, but rather than equipped with the FLEJA, this one has built-in Fusion cannons like those in Darkmount, which are far more deadly. And there are a large number of casualties on the heroes' side, with even Optimus being gravely injured, much to everyone's horror.

But of course, Megatron had planned all of this. He'll let Starscream and Schneizel think he's dead for the time being before coming in to take Damocles for himself and use its power to get a hold of Cera to enact Neo Ragnarök. And while most of the Decepticon army was wiped out in that attack, Megatron has one more ace up his sleeve thanks to Shockwave….

The Ultimate Autobot Hunter!

How will our heroes bounce back from this? Can they?

Find out next time on Code Prime!