( harbinger )

Dreadwing was observing the training of the soldiers he created from his cna and the late Starscream's.

Ever since their creation, he educated them on Cybertron's History, the War and Megatron's treachery. The five clones submitted to his commands and were given names to honor Dreadwing's old comrades in the seeker armada.

The purple/black clone was named Skywarp and could teleport.

The blue and white one was named Thundercracker and could create Sonic booms.

The yellow and white robot with an helmet on his head was named Sunstorm and could emit fire.

The pure white bot with a cone-shaped helmet on his head was named Ramjet and was the pysically strongest of the clones.

And the red one was named Nightscream, who could take off his wings to use them as swords, had blasters on his wrists, and could discharge powerful energy blasts from cannons on his shoulders.

Suddenly the computer of the harbinger picked up a decepticon signal. Dreadwing looked into this and saw it came from the Nemesis.

" Soldiers, our time has come. The Nemesis has stopped to harvest energon. Now is our best chance to attack Megatron. " Dreadwing ordered them

" Commander, there are only six of us. Shouldn't it be wiser to ask help from the autobots ? " Nightscream asked

" I am sure Durerus Prime and his soldiers will come, regardless if we call for them or not. " Dreadwing answered " Now, transform and rise up. "

" Finally some action. " Thundercracker said, transforming into jet mode alongside his brothers and commander.

( elsewhere )

Airachnid detected the Nemesis at the same time.

" Insecticons, your queen call upon you. Megatron is open to an attack from us. We must go to destroy him, now. " She ordered them

The brutes responded with their War cry before changing into Beetle modes and took flight, with Airachnid jumping on the back of the lead insecticon.

( with Megatron)

Megatron was overseeing his troops with Flamewar at his side.

" At this rate, my Lord, we will have enough energon to last us for years. " Flamewar stated

" Indeed Flamewar. " Megatron agreed

Suddenly, a jet's roar was heard until it flew above them. The jet transformed back into Dreadwing.

" Dreadwing, you dare return to me after betraying me ? " Megatron demanded

" Do not speak to me of betrayal, Megatron. Durerus Prime told me you allowed Starscream into your ranks after what he did to Skyquake. " Dreadwing responded

" So he did tell you. So what ? Have you come to destroy me ? Unfortunately for you, your timing is pitiful. " Megatron taunted

Blackout, Barricade, Slipstream and Brawl got out of the shadows and placed themselves at Megatron's side.

" What makes you think I came alone ? " Dreadwing asked

Then the five clones of Starscream arrived and landed alongside their commander.

" Now, Megatron, you will receive the very same fate I inflicted on Starscream : Death. " Dreadwing stated

Then they charged the decepticons.

Skywarp attacked Flamewar with an axe but she avoided it and tried to kick him in the face but he caught her leg and threw her into a wall before teleporting near her. He seized her, slammed her against the wall and ran, dragging her against it.

Ramjet was fighting against Blackout, throwing everything at him, but the Big Cybertronian was not even bothered by the seeker's sword slashes and retaliated by using his rotors as circular saws.

Thundercracker was fighting against Barricade using a buzzsaw while the ex-gladiator was using a mace.

Sunstorm was fighting Brawl by using a Flaming flail while the weapons expert was foolishly shooting at him with all his arsenal.

Nightscream was fighting against Slipstream, ripping off his own wings to use them as swords while she used short swords to counter him.

And Dreadwing was fighting against Megatron, the two being equal in fighting skills.

But a familiar war cry was heard and everyone turned to see a sight of horror. It was Airachnid and the seemingly endless wave of Insecticons flying out of the sky charging right at them.

"Kill them my minions! Rip the Sparks out of all Decepticons. Show no mercy!" commanded Airachnid, as she leaped into the air, and began her attack against several nearby Vehicons.

"You heard your Queen! Go through them! RUN OVER THEM!" yelled an insecticon with the war cry of his brethren echoing through the air with some of them diving down after transforming to smash their enemies to pieces through brute force.

"Run!" exclaimed one Vehicon trying to get away, but was grabbed by one, and ripped in half at the waist with the energon spilling over the Cybertronian insect's body.

( autobots base, earlier )

Everyone was assembled in the main room when Ratchet's computer began to detect something.

" By the Allspark. " Ratchet said

" What is it Ratchet ? " Durerus asked

" There is a huge number of Cybertronian signatures who just came up. " Ratchet answered

" Decepticons ? " Prowl asked

" Not exactly, but it seems to be... " Ratchet stated before widening his optics in horror. " Insecticons. "

" Airachnid. " Arcee snarled

" Where are they going, old friend ? " Optimus asked

" The Nemesis just popped up on the radar. " Ratchet answered

" That may be an opportunity for us. Ratchet, bridge us there. " Jack asked him

" Jack, you're not suggesting we go to help Megatron ? " Windblade asked

" Of course not. There are only eleven of us in the field and a huge swarm of insecticons. I am realist, there is no way we could defeat them. No, While they are busy killing each other, we are going to infiltrate the Nemesis, steal energon and the forge of Solus Prime and sabotage the ship. That even could be our only chance to upload the Iacon database. " Durerus explained

The others were stunned at his idea.

" That is actually a good idea, Durerus " Jetfire responded

" Jack, a direct assault on the Decepticons would only provoke retaliation and lead to incalculable losses. I will not endanger innocent human lives. " Optimus argued

" Optimus, who wanted to unleash an army of undead cybertronian on Earth ? " Jack asked

" Megatron. " Optimus responded

" Who wanted to melt the ice of the Arctic to harvest energon ? " Jack asked

" Starscream. " Optimus answered

" Who admitted he wanted to conquer Earth ? " Jack asked

" It was Megatron, we all know that. What is your point Jack ? " Bulkhead asked

" My point is that the decepticons would endanger innocent lives regardless of our actions. So maybe we should act instead of simply reacting. " Jack responded

The autobots couldn't deny Durerus had a point. The decepticons didn't care about casualties if it meant achieving their goals.

" We will follow you, Jack. " Optimus finally said

Every autobots prepared for the mission while Arcee and Jack had a moment together.

" Arcee, can I trust you to do not do anything stupid, like last time ? " Jack asked his partner

Arcee knew very well what he was talking about : her foolishness of going after Airachnid only to be beaten by a trap that only a blind person couldn't have see coming. And the well-deserved scolding Jack gave her.

" Yes, Jack. You can trust me. " Arcee responded

" Good. " Jack said with a smile

Everyone returned and Ratchet opened the groundbridge.

" Autobots, transform and Roll out. " Durerus said

" He does remember that we are flying ? Jetfire said to Windblade

They arrived above the cave where the fighting was taking place and saw the slaughter of the decepticons soldiers and the new lieutenants who were holding their own against the insectoid brutes. But also Dreadwing and the clones of Starscream.

" Dreadwing is here too and he found new Friends. " Bulkhead commented, seeing the clones protecting their commander

" Flamewar. " Arcee snarled, seeing her look-alike.

" I recognize Blackout, Brawl, Barricade and Slipstream. " Prowl stated

" Let's go. " Jack said before they went towards the warship, without noticing Arcee staying there.

( with the decepticons)

Airachnid had joined the duel between Megatron and Dreadwing, using her speed and agility to keep up with the others strenght.

" Two traitors head for the price of one. I swear I will destroy you two before those insecticons and upgrades of Starscream swear their loyalties for me. " Megatron boasted

" You can't, Megatron. " Airachnid responded before another wave of insecticons was heard

Nightscream was seeing everything happening around him and couldn't let this second wave arrive. So he pushed back Slipstream and threw his swords at her, impaling her on the wall by her arms.

" It's time to finish this once and for all ! Activate Proton Cannons ! " He yelled, deploying his shoulder cannons and charging them. " You're all mine, filthy beasts ! "

( With Arcee )

Arcee was still being tempted to go after Airachnid and Flamewar but she noticed what was happening with Nightscream and knew what he was about to do. She ran towards her teammates.

" EVERYONE TAKE COVER ! " She yelled at them

Everyone trusted her and dove to the side as Nightscream's cannons opened fire. Two huge beams were sent towards the wave of insecticons who were annihilated before the beams collided with the warship. Several explosions were seen and heard before the Nemesis crashed on the ground.

Everyone was shocked by Nightscream's firepower.

" What do we do now, Sir ? I don't think energon and the terminals could survive that. " Prowl asked

" Screw this, we're taking the Forge back. " Durerus said before they entered the ship by one of the holes caused by the explosions.

Inside the warship, they searched everywhere to find the room where Megatron stocked his trophies and after several minutes of search, they arrived in the trophy room. And they saw the huge hammer.

" There it is. " Optimus said before taking it

" Ratchet, we have what we came for, bridge us back. " Durerus called

" Understood, Jack. " Ratchet responded before the green vortex appeared and they all entered it.

( with the decepticons)

Nightscream was exhausted after what he did. Skywarp took him in his arms and teleported away from the fighting.

" Commander, Nightscream may be injured. We must retreat ! " Sunstorm yelled

" You won't go anywhere ! " Brawl yelled before changing his hand into an appendage with a Big red button on it.

" Brawl, No !!! " Slipstream yelled

But the combaticon was already punching the ground and a huge shockwave was emitted from it taking down the mine with them.

Dreadwing and his seekers flew away in time and Airachnid drilled underground but the rest had to take cover.

When the dust cleared, Barricade was berating Brawl.

" I told you once, I told you a thousand times: GIVE SOME WARNING BEFORE YOU USE THE PUNCH!" The ex-gladiator yelled

Megatron looked around and saw the state of everything that happened. He then transformed into jet mode and saw the state of his ship and flew towards the trophy room. He then saw the Forge of Solus Prime was gone and he was enraged.

( Autobots base )

The team returned to base with Ratchet looking if anyone had injuries.

" Well, the mission was a semi-success. We don't have more energon or the Iacon database, only the Forge. " Jack explained

" It's still better than nothing, Jack. We now have a mean of creating what we need. " Optimus comforted him

Jack smiled at him before turning towards Arcee.

" I'm proud of you Arcee. You didn't charge blindly for vengeance. " Jack said, making Arcee smile.

( Nemesis)

Unberstknown to everyone, when Nightscream made the warship explode, he also made explode dark energon, and the remains of it infiltrated the Nemesis systems.

Not only did the ship was now remembering his old life as the strongest decepticon alive but someone far more powerful than him has returned.

Next Time : Old enemies returned, New dangers arise