Chapter 32
Nemesis
It has been a month since they fought to defend Wakanda. Tensions were extremely high they all knew who Trypticon Was referring to, Megatron was on his way but that wasn't the most concerning thing it was what he said after. Who was the Mad Titan. But that wasn't the main concern of Arcee right now; her main concern was figuring out why Optimus had called her out to the middle of nowhere In the middle of night. Why was he here? He was supposed to be in Antarctica with The Avengers investigating a strange energy source.
Arcee arrived and transformed back into her robot form. She looked around and didn't see Optimus anywhere so she called out, "Optimus are you there?"
"Yes Arcee, I'm here." Optimus's voice cut through the darkness but something was off she couldn't tell but it didn't sound right.
She spun around but was unable to even see Optimus, "Where are you?"
Instead of answering, Optimus responded with another question, "Did you come alone?"
Arcee already knew something wasn't right But she answered truthfully, It was Optimus after all. "Just like you asked Optimus."
"Good." Optimus said. Arcee felt a hand on her shoulder that forcefully spun her around and was met with a fist To the face then another to the Abdomen And then she was grabbed by the neck and slammed into the ground. Her head was picked up and she stared into the crimson red Optics of Optimus.
Arcee was Kicked away. Arcee Struggled to her feet as Optimus came into the Moonlight revealing him. As the moonlight shone down upon him, it reflected off bright teal parts of his body. Most of his body was black, with two Red tinted windshields at his chest. His upper legs and arms, like most of his body, were black while his lower legs and arms were teal. His crimson red optics appeared to stare unsettling deeply into her spark.
Arcee attempted to punch but Optimus caught it with his hand and delivered a devastating uppercut to Arcee stuning her. Optimus then picked her up above his head and slamed her to the ground not Moving. Optimus kicked her over to reveal Arcee with her arm blade activated and swung them at Optimus Before she could even get the chance Optimus stomped on her arm pinning it down. Optimus put more weight onto his foot and a loud crunch Was Heard from under his foot Arcee screamed in pain as Optimus removed his foot To reveal Arcee's arm was almost flat.
Arcee Looked up at Optimus who stared down at her with a cold look As He transformed his arm into a blaster.But Arcee just barely was able to reach over to her nearly crushed arm and send out a distress signal which was received by the Autobots almost immediately. Next to them a ground Bridge opened up Optimus quickly punched Arcee in the face knocking her out and vanished into the darkness.
Ironhide Bumblebee and Updraft quickly rushed out weapons drawn ready for a fight instead they found a badly injured Arcee. They quickly grabbed Arcee and ran back through the ground Bridge.
Ratchet waited for them as they Ran back to the ground Bridge carrying in our seat whose arm was basically flat. Ratchet quickly Jumped into action and did his best to fix Arcee up. luckily although the damage appeared to be severe it really wasn't much. After a quick repair Arcee was as good as new.Now all they had to do was wait for Arcee to wake up And tell them what the hell happened. They wouldn't have to wait long.
Arcee shot Awake. In a panic she threw a punch at Ironhide who quickly caught it And said "Easy you're safe."
Arcee Quickly calmed it down upon not seeing Optimus anywhere and recognizing she was back at base She relaxed and began telling them what happened, " Optimus told me To meet him and then he gave me a set of coordinates he told me to come alone I drove there And then he attacked me he was about to kill me to you showed up."
Everyone stood shocked Optimus would never do that would he. But one thing was for certain they had to stop him and if Optimus had done that to Arcee it was obvious that he did it to The Avengers, And succeeded explaining why they didn't report this. So as a team Ratchet opened the ground bridge to where they found Arcee and they all walked out to face down Optimus Prime.
"Why, Optimus, why did you do it?" Bumblebee shouted out anger filled his voice believing that Optimus had killed their teammates, their friends.
Instead of answering Optimus pulled out his ion blaster And began firing into the Autobots forcing them to scatter. Ironhide charged Optimus who merely used his free hand and grabbed Ironhide by the face. Bumblebee shot at Optimus attempting to free Ironhide but Optimus used Ironhide to block the shots He then Tossed Ironhide at Bumblebee Sending them both to the ground. Updraft transformed and performed a strafing run on Optimus who simply raised his arm to block the shots he then began firing at updraft but Arcee managed to interrupt him ByKicking him in the back of the knees. Of course brought Optimus to his knees but he quickly swung his arm behind him and whacked her across the face sending her back.
Ironhide got to his feet and helped bumblebee up who asked, "You good?"
Ironhide laughed in response and he brushed off Smoke from where he was shot, "It'll take a lot more than that to keep me down."
Updraft transformed and flew to the air performing a strafing run on Optimus, who rolled out of the way and fired several well-placed shots into updraft that would have taken him down but thanks to his new vibranium body all it did was send him out of control for a minute before he got it back.
Jazz shot his grapple Into the ground right behind Optimus And as he got pulled to the point he grappled when he passed Optimus he punched him in the face. He then did the same thing punching Optimus in the face again, Then he swung his leg around trying to kick Optimus Who simply caught his leg and slammed him into the ground. Optimus then threw Jazz At Arcee knocking her down.
And it was then that updraft came back and fired two missiles at Optimus Shot one down and then grabbed the other one before it could impact him and tossed it right back at updraft who tried to avoid it but couldn't, knocking him out of the air and into Arcee and Jazz. Ironhide and Bumblebee ran over to help their comrades up.
"We can't beat him." Arcee said as Ironhide helped her to her feet.
"Not alone but maybe if we all charge him together we could have a chance,"Jazz said. It was a false hope they all knew it even together they had no hope of beating Optimus but they had no choice. "Updraft we need a smoke Screen."
"On it." Updraft said as he fired two missiles in front of Optimus sending up a smoke cloud blinding Optimus.
While in the smoke Optimus stood ready for whatever the Autobots could throw at him He felt something slash at his back He let out a cry of pain but he stayed on his feet,Before he could react he could see ironhide's fist coming through the smoke and straight for his face He stumbled back holding his face plate. If he couldn't see the autobots he would hear them. There was a noise to the left, quiet, but it was there he swung his fist and made contact with something Sending whatever it was back, noise behind him, heavy, loud. He quickly kicked behind him and made contact with something and sent it flying He however was not quick enough to react to Jazz who has transformed and rammed into his chest sending him back and out of the smoke. In front of him stood the entire Autobot team ready for a fight. So he stood a fully upright and made a single gesture That said bring it.
All the Autobots rushed Optimus at once. Optimus ducked under ironhide's punch and punched jazz before he spun around and elbowed Updraft in the Faceplate. he swung his leg around making contact with Arcee. Ironhide managed to grab a hold of his leg and pulled on it off centering Optimus's balance and making him fall On his back. But that didn't stop him from kicking his leg free and sweeping Ironhide's feet out from under him Optimus also kicked him as he fell. Optimus jumped to right back up And instantly head-butted Bumblebee Stunning him before slamming both of his fists down onto his back. Optimist kicked Bumblebee and Arcee jumped onto his back Attracting him allowing Ironhide to get two Punches in before Optimus managed to grab onto Arcee And use her to bat Ironhide away He then threw Arcee right after Ironhide.
Jazz snuck up on Optimus from behind And attempted to surprise attack Optimus who quickly spun around And grabbed Jazz by The Doors picked him up and slammed into the ground And yelled out, "I AM NEMESIS PRIME! YOU ARE NOTHING!" And with those words Nemesis tore out Jazz's doors.
Jazz screamed in pain as he felt his body parts Get torn off he had been shot before but this was worse this was the worst pain he had ever felt. Began to desperately crawl away from nemesis in constant pain but it was no use the rest of the Autobots were beginning to get up but they could only watch as Nemesis raised his foot prepared to crush Jazz. Jazz looked up at Nemesis's foot and thought that this was how he would die when A massive blast shot Nemesis away everyone looked to see where the blast came from and saw a ground Bridge had opened with the Avengers coming out lead by Optimus Prime. "Take care of the others. The clone is mine." Optimus ordered and the Avengers went to make sure everyone was okay And Optimus ran straight towards Nemesis.
Optimus threw a punch but Nemesis quickly blocked it and went in for a punch of his own Just quickly countered by Optimus kicking him back. Went in for a strike with the star saber Nemesis just ducked under and twisted Optimus's arm Causing his grip on the star saber to loosen and easily allowing Nemesis to quickly disarm him And toss the star saber away.
Optimus in return delivered two quick punches and then a kick to the abdomen sending Nemesis back. As Nemesis tried to regain his footing Optimus tossed the cosmic Shield at Nemesis knocking him even more off balance. The cosmic Shield bounce right back into Optimus's hands (Something Steve taught him) and delivered a quick hit with the Cosmic Shield He then backhanded Nemesis with the cosmic Shield causing him to fly back Optimus rushed Nemesis who struggled back to his feet Optimus tried to slam the cosmic shield into nemesis who caught it and they began wrestling for control of the cosmic Shield eventually nemesis won and he jumped back tossing the shield as hard as he could at Optimus Who was forced to dodge it as it was going to fast to be able to catch.
Nemesis jumped at Optimus who delivered a powerful uppercut causing Nemesis to do an involuntary backflip kicking Optimus in the face of course this knocked both of them down.
With the odds now even they're both got to their feet and rushed each other,Nemesis through the first punch which Optimus easily caught and then he proceeded to Elbow Nemesis's arm and then elbowed his face, In response Nemesis twisted his arm out and Kicked Optimus down before He turned his hand into a blade An attempted to stab Optimus in the face while he was down, Optimus Dodged the blade causing the blade to get stuck in the ground, Optimus used this advantage to get to his feet, He then grabbed onto Nemesis's head And slammed it into the ground I have a before Optimus could do anything else Nemesis elbowed Optimus in the face Causing Optimus to stumble back. It was then that Nemesis managed to get his blade unstuck he spun around and slashed Optimus across the chest Twice but on the third one Optimus Caught the blade and broke it. Optimus then used the blade that he broke off to stab Nemesis In the side, Nemesis stumbled back holding where he was just stabbed Optimus made a kick for the Broken Blade hoping to send it even deeper into Nemesis But instead Nemesis caught Prime is kick and pulled out the Broken Blade from his side and stabbed it back into Optimus's leg And then he slammed Prime into the ground. Nemesis stood over Optimus and prepared to kill him, Optimus caught Nemesis by surprise when he turned his hand into a blaster and shot Nemesis Sending him flying back.
Both the Avengers and Autobots looked on at this fight. They were both equally skilled and neither could get the upper hand on the other. Bumblebee began running in order to try and help Optimus but Ironhide stopped him "Don't he's on his own."
"Why wait around when we could help?" Bumblebee questioned.
"Then Nemesis Prime could use you to get the advantage on Optimus," Steve stated, "He can win this on his own. In the meantime we can only watch." Bumblebee didn't like it but he knew Steve was right so he stayed back and watched.
Optimus pulled the Broken blade out of his leg And tossed it away. Optimus got right back up and rushed Nemesis.When they clashed Optimus grabbed onto Nemesis's head and slammed it down against his knee In response Nemesis Turned his other arm into a blade And attempted to strike at Optimus who swiftly dodged And grabbed onto Nemesis's arm, flipped Nemesis over his shoulder and slammed him to the ground He then Begin to twist nemesis's arm. Which caused Nemesis to yell out in pain, Nemesis turned his other hand into a blaster and shot Optimus in the chest Forcing him back, Nemesis got to his feet And continued to fire at Optimus who raised Raised his arms in defense. beside Optimus he saw the cosmic Shield. And so Optimus made a desperate Dash for the cosmic Shield. This move Shocked Nemesis So much that he stopped firing for a split second before he continued. Optimus raised up the cosmic Shield blocking several shots from Nemesis And then Optimus saw the star saber But unfortunately so did Nemesis They both ran for the star saber Nemesis continued firing at Optimus trying to slow him down. And Nemesis made it to the star saber first.
Nemesis struggled to pick the star saber up. He could only wield it with two hands. He swung the star saber at Optimus who ducked under and tried to punch but the momentum sent it the Star Saber around a second time Forcing Optimus to raise the cosmic Shield to block it, The weight still staggered Optimus But the star saber bounced off the cosmic Shield knocking it out of Nemesis's hands They both looked at the Star saber before a Split Second before nemesis kicked Optimus away and made a dash for the star saber Optimus reacting quickly turned his arm into a blaster and fired the shot hitting directly into Nemesis's arm and blowing it off Nemesis staggered back screaming in pain as he held where his arm once was allowing Optimus to grab the star saber. As he lifted the star saber up with one hand Nemesis lunged at Optimus who quickly spun around and cleaved Nemesis in two.
They all gathered around the top half of Nemesis, Energon was leaking out of where His bottom half was, But it wasn't normal Energon, it was dark Energon. Surprisingly Pieces of metal Began to fall off nemesis's body to reveal another bot. As the metal broke apart, it unveiled an abolished bright blue bot, with only one shattered optic to bare. Attached to its shoulders were what appeared to be sharp, shredded shrapnel of what might've been wings. The bot's body was all scratched and tattered, with some parts looking like they had been mutilated. Its Decepticon insignia bore proudly on its chest, But under it was the blackened Autobots insignia.
"What happened to him?" Arcee asked.
"Dark energon," Optimus answered. He kneeled and examined the pool of dark energon, "Not only can it corrupt the mind but it can be used to create sick experiments."
Ratchet over the comms said, "I didn't know it could be used to create things."
Optimus stood up and said, "Bury the body. Ratchet open a ground Bridge." they did as they were told and Ratchet opened the ground Bridge. Optimus wordlessy walked through the swirling green Mass.
