WARNING: Rated T for non-detailed scenes of torture.
Chapter 1: Already Too Late PART I
Date: 3rd October 2012.
Place: Egypt, Earth
Sheer power was tossed around as the two polar opposite blades collided, repeatedly. It was correct to call the two swords polar opposites, seeing as they were the opposite end of the spectrum: the Star Saber, yielded by a noble Autobot, a primeval weapon of Primus that harnessed the power of the Creator; the Dark Star Saber, held by the ruthless Deception, a brand recent blade crafted from the essence of Unicron empowered by his destructive might. Yet, unlike opposite poles of a magnet, the sword tried to repel one another.
"We finally take our rightful places, Optimus. As gods, yielding the very power of the cosmo!"
"I am but a soldier. And you are a prisoner of your own twisted delusions!"
Optimus brought the Star Saber down on his foe and Megatron replied in kind. For the umpteenth time, the sabers rattled, only with much more force than before. The blades tried to repel one another but their masters forced them together.
That did it!
Energy, blue and purple, burst from the point of contact. The Prime and the warlord cried out as the light blinded and overwhelmed them in an explosion that made the earth tremble. When the light died out and the dust settled, all that was left were the two great swords.
Seconds later, Smokescreen would emerge, alive, armed with the phase-shifter and the Omega Key. He had just witnessed the last moments of the battle and the two combatants being consumed by the light.
"Epic." he uttered, stunned.
Date: Unknown.
Place: Egypt, Earth(?)
The two enemies were propelled in opposite directions by the collision of energies. Optimus was the first to come to, noticing he was bereft of the Star Saber. The second thing he noticed was that Megatron was just beginning to stir and he also was missing his mighty weapon. The Prime had to act quickly! In a flurry of movement, he pulled out his regular swords and sprinted towards Megatron. One quick strike in a vital area, and this war would end.
But fate wouldn't have it because Megatron awoke just enough to sense the imminent danger and used his own blade to block the deadly blow. He kicked Optimus away and stood back on his feet. "Taking advantage of an incapacitated enemy, Optimus? If I didn't know any better, I would think you were Starscream." even after a near-death experience, Megatron couldn't resist taunting him.
Optimus' reply was a shot from his gun, which only grazed Megatron. The old gladiator had had the foresight of installing his old sword in the arm he acquired from deceased Zeta Prime. The lack of a fusion cannon put him at a great disadvantage. But, he was still a gladiator at spark and a conqueror; he had won in spite of disadvantages, before. He had to keep the fight at very close-range, so that Optimus wouldn't risk firing in fear the blast would ricochet on him.
It wasn't long before the sound of jet aircraft invaded their hearing. The sound was easily recognizable as cybertronian jet engines; Decepticon flier troops were on their way.
"It would appear my unnecessary backup is arriving." Megatron jeered.
Indeed, Vehicon-styled jets approached, transformed mid-air and landed, surrounding the two. Megatron opened his mouth to speak, but one of the drones, the apparent leader, beat him to it.
"Surrender now, Decepticons, or we'll use deadly force!" all drones trained their weapons on Optimus…and Megatron?!
The momentarily shock and confusion passed over the warlord to be replaced by fury. "You incompetent, waste of metal! I am your master, Lord Megatron! Stan…"
"Megatron!?" the drones were collectively shaken by that revelation. The apparent leader was the first to collect himself. "Open fire! Shoot to kill!"
The Vehicons fired and, surprisingly, some of their shots actually hit initially. But they were up against two veteran war leaders. Megatron raced towards the nearest drone and impaled him through the spark. He proceeded to use the dead drone as a club and pounded another drone into scrap with it.
"Shit, he took out Donnelly and Buggs!" another Vehicon shouted, starting to panic.
"Concentrate your fire on his ugly mug!" the leader shouted and the others efficiently obeyed.
Megatron, furious, was forced to back away to avoid damage. It was beyond infuriating that these malfunctioning drones were attacking him. And even more so that they were fighting more competently than any other time he could recollect.
Optimus, on his end, was taking a less violent approach. Three drones fired at him, but he quickly dodged the shots. He transformed and rammed into one, knocking him into stasis. Then proceeded to blast a hole through the third one. All too quickly, one drone remained, which Optimus managed to disarm and overpower.
"You! Why are you attacking Megatron?" he demanded.
"Fuck you! I have nothing to say to a 'Con!" the drone growled with uncharacteristic venom. That caught Optimus off-guard.
"I am no Decepticon. I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." he showed his one insignia.
"Who cares what you call yourself. You're all freaking 'Cons!"
Optimus was becoming more confused. Even more so as he examined the drone's chassis. It was mostly gray, with black and dark red accent. Instead of the Decepticon insignia, there was another symbol on its chest, one unrecognizable to the Prime. And…wait, that couldn't be! A thorough scan of the Vehicon's spark-chamber indicated his spark was cold! But he talked, so he couldn't be a Terrorcon. However, there was something else within. A heat source, alive, organic, inside the drone's chest. Just like…
Taking the opportunity, the drone threw a boulder at the distracted Prime's faceplates. Optimus stumbled back, allowing the drone to pick-up his weapon and fire. Another drone joined him and Prime was forced to go on the defensive.
"Optimus to base. I require back-up." he tried to call, but there was no response. "Optimus to base! Do you read?"
Meanwhile, Megatron was at his wits end. Something was clearly out of the ordinary, beyond a pack of malfunctioning drones attacking him. He had managed to reduce the number of his attackers in half. Unfortunately, reinforcements had arrived. And to add to his own frustration, Soundwave wasn't answering his calls.
"Enough!" he fatally injured one of the drones by ripping his arm off, yet the enemy seemed to feel no pain. But Megatron had another plan in mind. He raised the drone to cover his face and torso and immediately, the others stopped firing. Megatron smirked. "As I suspected, you care too much for your own."
"Let him go, Decepticon!" The leader ordered.
"You are no Decepticons!" Megatron snarled. He had made a quick scan of the drone in his grasp and detected another oddity: no spark but an organic heat signature in its place. Wait! He had seen this brand of abomination before!
Without warning, he violently tore open the drone chest plate. True enough, the spark chamber was empty. Empty safe for the human that was piloting the drones' body.
"Abominations!" Filled with renewed rage, Megatron crushed the terrified human inside and lunged himself back at his attackers. "You are all humans!"
Optimus, whom had observed all that, was stunned. His opponents were humans integrated with Vehicon husks! Just like Silas. Were these soldiers more of MECHs creations?
"Humans! You are human!"
"Goddamn machine!" One of them sneered, who was trapped under the Prime foot.
"Are you more of MECHs soldiers? Did Silas send you?" The last they had known of the militant human, he had been merged with Breakdowns husk and allied himself with the Deceptions. After his failure to employ the Damocles satellite, neither him nor MECH had been from again. Optimus had assumed Megatron had disposed of the corrupt human. Yet, now this potentially reincarnated MECH was attacking Megatron and himself. Yet, they mistook him for Megatron's ally.
The faceplates of the human/Vehicon commander showed no reaction, but his silence was telling. "I don't know nor care what you are talking about. Now, let him go, or we'll fill you with holes."
He pointed at the human/Vehicon trapped under Optimus. All the others had weapons aimed at Optimus. They could shoot him, but weren't willing to endanger their comrade so carelessly. Were they truly concerned for his life? That was not how MECH operated, at all.
Taking all that into account, Optimus did the only thing he could; he disarmed himself and raised his hands. "If you are human then I am not your enemy. I am an Autobot."
"We don't care what you call yourself, Con."
"This is a grave misunderstanding. I stand against Megatron and I don't wish to fight you."
The drones/humans shared a collective look. They wouldn't believe him. Optimus felt this was one of those moments he would have to take a leap of faith, as Alpha Trio would like to put it. Slowly he removed his foot from the entrapped drone, who hastily scurried back into his companions.
The leader was silent and fixated on the Prime. He was weighing his options. For a split second, he lowered his weapon. But then… "Sorry, rust bucket. We're not buying it."
Faith failed as they fired and Optimus took the shots, stumbling back. Injured, the Prime had no option but to transform and retreat.
"After him!" The human/Vehicons transformed and flew after the Prime.
As for Megatron, his rage had kept him in the fight, but the human desecrators had received reinforcements. A small army of the organic insects arrived in their tanks and other ridiculous war machines. They proceeded to shoot at Megatron with everything they had. Under other circumstances he would vaporize them all, but lacking his fusion cannon and his own troops, Megatron reluctantly took flight and retreated.
"I WILL RETURN!" he swore he would come back and crush every single one of those abominable humans.
One of the ordinary human soldiers, the commander of the task force, approach the surviving human/Vehicons, who were all battered.
"Can you give chase, Lieutenant?"
"Negative, Major. That Con gave us a good beating." The human voice speaking from the Vehicon sounded despotent. He looked to the wrecks covering the battlefield. "That bastard killed over half of my squadron. I owe him a good deal of pain."
"The air force will give it to it."
"Major, sir!" another soldier called out. "Lieutenant Lennox of Team Delta just reported in. They got the big red and blue. Hit him with a missile and put him into stasis."
The Major smirked. "Get it strapped and shipped off to Site Omega. And tell the Colonel of our catch. I'm sure she will enjoy opening this alien can."
Megatron despised retreating from his enemies. Of course, he had done it several times in the course of war. It was demeaning, but necessary. Better to lose one battle and return with enough strength to win ten others. Not that he would ever like the act itself, regardless how necessary it could be. Of course, he had only ever retreated from Autobots; turning tailpipe against his own species was, at the very least, acceptable. So, Primus forbade he was ever going to retreat from wretched humans.
After he broke the battle from those abominations, three jet planes appeared after him. At first, he thought he was being chased by more aberrations like Silas. He flew over one of his pursuers, transformed into biped mode and landed on top of the jet. He could see the panicking human in the cockpit. With sinister satisfaction, he punched a hole in, crushing the insect. He flew off, having dispatched one of his enemies.
"So not all of them are like that scraplet Silas." he mused, an idea taking shape in his mind. Two others remained on his back, so Megatron gave actrion to his plan. He dove down to a mountainous landscape where he flew close to slopes and between narrow passages.
Those humans may handle their primitive toys with some ease, but Megatron had been a flier for longer than their ephemeral civilization had existed. It was sparkling's play to lose them, which prompted them to pick up speed. Then, in a quick turn, Megatron turned around and went against his would-be pursuers. In truth, the Decepticon wasn't running away, rather, he guided his prey to a trap.
With sheer brutality, Megatron rammed one of the jets, obliterating it and the pilot inside. At last, only one remained. However, instead of ending him like he did the other two, Megatron took out one of his wings. The jet plane was going down and, as he predicted, the human inside ejected. Before the parachute could spring out, Megatron swooped in and captured the surviving pilot. Now, he had what he needed.
He landed and transformed, dropping the human crying out in panic. The organic tried to scurry away, but there was no escaping. He was alone and at the mercy of the warlord of the Decepticons.
"Now, fleshling. This will be the part in which you tell me everything I want to know."
"Eat shit!" The organic produced a handheld gun and fired frantically. Megatron barely felt any of the bullets connecting…which was strange because he shouldn't feel anything at all. Looking down at the bullet marks, he realized they were a very familiar purple, glowing substance. His spark twinkled when he touched it.
Dark energon!
Now Megatron was definitely intrigued as well as revolted. Humans wearing Vehicon husks, using weapons powered by the blood of Unicron, identifying Optimus Prime as a Deception?! And on top of that, he found himself unable to contact his troops.
It seemed the human had ran out of ammunition and tried to scurry away. Megatron wordlessly, raised a claw-like finger and pressed it against the left foot of the vermin with just enough force to emit a cracking sound. The human howled in agony and clutched his mangled foot.
"Now, are you in a more talkative disposition?"
"F-fuck youuu…" the human whimpered, looking up in rage. Unimpressed, Megatron saw through the false bravado; the maggot was terrified.
He applied more pressure to the foot and the screaming returned. Megatron kept it like that for a few more seconds.
"What about now?"
The human was crying in pain, by then. "Youuu…won't kill me…need me."
"Do I?" Megatron pretended to think about it. "If you do not cooperate, I suppose I could find another fleshling in hopes they are more enlightening."
"You…got lucky. Everyone…knows…who you are. The whole planet…will be…after your ass!"
"The whole planet?" He spoke as though the entire human populus was aware of Cybertronians. How could that be, though? There was no indication humanity in general even suspected their existence. Had he and Optimus somehow been in stasis for a long period and in the chaos humans discovered them?
Well, if the masquerade was broken, the no more holding back. No more disguises. No mercy. And he would start with the insect already in his grasp. He slowly increased the pressure, intent on crushing the human slowly. "If that is the case, insect, understand this: this planet belongs to Megatron."
Bones slowly cracking and organs compressing, the man painfully screamed his last words: "Our world …will never be yours again!"
Again?
Nevada, U.S.A.
Optimus came back online feeling a different kind of exhaustion. In spite of having awakened from stasis, his body and mind did not feel rejuvenated. If anything, he felt more tired, dizzy and sick.
"Ah, you're awakened. We feared that missile would have locked you into permanent stasis." a familiar voice, but sounded distant.
The first thing Optimus discovered was that despite the exhaustion, he was standing. Albeit bound by his arms and legs in an awkward standing position. He tried to pull at his restraints but couldn't find the strength for it. His sight returned and he was graced with an unexpected vision.
"Nurse Darby?"
Standing on a platform at his face level, the woman regarded him with a scowl. "That's 'Colonel' to you, machine."
Optimus would have asked where he was or what was happening, but an intense pain hit his entire frame, sudden and brutal. He growled in grand but short-lived agony, for the pain disappeared as quickly as it had manifested. His drowsy gaze fixated back on the woman.
"What you have around your wrists and ankles are pain-holders. The result of a good business relationship with the Quintessons. And very useful to keep you Decepticons docile."
"I am…no Deception." Optimus wheezed, the pain subsiding very slowly.
"Aren't you now?" It was true the reports stated this alien and the self-proclaimed Megatron were discovered fighting before turning against their forces. Still, Colonel Darby had very little interest in that particular detail. "Then do you stand against the Decepticons?"
"I do. I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. We…"
But she cut him off. "Thank you for your honesty, Optimus. My people will look into this matter. If you are not aligned to Megatron, you are not our enemy."
The Prime remained impassive. His long time fighting and dealing with Decepticons had fine-tuned his senses to spot deception. This June Darby look-alike didn't mean a word she said. Her gaze on him was cold, analytical and bizarrely uninterested, as if she wasn't talking to another sentient being.
"Don't look so glum, Optimus. I am thankful for your honesty. And you know what we humans say about the truth?"
She produced a handheld device from her pocket and pressed a button on it. Immediately, the pain assaulted the prisoner, again. Now it lasted longer and when it stopped, Optimus felt himself slipping back into stasis.
"That it hurts like hell."
Here you have it. Like 'Lost Sparks Reborn', this story has no plot defined. I will write chapters as I feel the motions going. Now, if you have worlds and scenarios you wish me to explore, go ahead and tell me. Just remember, the main rule is: they have to be TFPrime AUs. So no crossovers with other series. I'm using this story to dump plot bunnies plus my old Transformers stories that I long ago, foolishly deleted. As for this first chapter, the world Prime and Megs landed will be further revealed in the next chapter.
