CHAPTER SEVEN
--Cybertron--
"This had better not be a trap, Starscream."
"Of course it isn't!" the gray and red jet flying ahead of Sideways said. "Haven't I already said it isn't?"
"I hear... fighting up ahead," Sideways murmured. "Where are you taking me?"
"Kaon," the Seeker replied. "Trannis kept some of the first Dark Energon he had discovered hidden away... fittingly near the mines where he had found it."
"Well, if what I'm hearing is any indication, we're going to have some difficulty in getting to it."
Starscream said nothing as the two jets advanced forward.
* * *
Crashing through the facade of an abandoned building, Megatron quickly picked himself up as Galvatron came running, energon blade bared.
"Enlighten me, Megatron!" the ancient warrior shouted. "How exactly is that Ultra-Energon supposed to help you? It may make you stronger, but it doesn't make me weaker!"
Gripping his mace, Megatron lunged at the running Galvatron and swung it into his enemy's face. The blow sent Galvatron sprawling, with half of his face scratched away. Approaching his fallen opponent, Megatron primed his fusion cannon.
"Some of us would beg to differ."
Before he could fire his weapon, Galvatron raised his own arm cannon and fired it straight into the Decepticon leader's chest, causing him to stagger back. Regaining his footing, Galvatron readied his blade and attacked again.
--Gigantion--
"So... you're Ultra Magnus."
"Correct," Minimus Ambus said to Bumblebee. The white and green mech rested his head against the wall of the cell he and the others had been thrown into. "Though it does not seem I am any longer."
"And just how long, exactly, have you been Ultra Magnus?" asked a skeptical Brainstorm.
"For two hundred years, though others have carried the name before me," Minimus said. "Suture was the first, after Tyrest conceived the Magnus Armor when the original Ultra Magnus fell on Zull. Several others donned the armor after him-- Datum, Ramp, Blockus, and myself. And it would seem I am the last."
Windblade turned to Optimus Prime. "And you knew all this time?"
He nodded. 'Like I said, it was never something I wished to divulge to anyone-- even the bot under the armor himself."
Minimus sighed, casting his gaze to the floor. "It was my dream, you know. For years I had long been under my brother's shadow. When Tyrest approached me, he had promised to give me everything I had ever wanted. And now he's taken it from me."
"Why did he do that?" Glyph asked.
"I disappointed him. I had become less of a law enforcer over time and more of a 'deputy Prime.' I had stopped giving him reports, stopped carrying out his laws...." Minimus idly raised his hand to the distinctive facial insignia that rested over his lip. "I used my emergency recall trigger after failing to suppress the Decepticons' assault on Cybertron to return to him, hoping he would provide some sort of assistance. Instead, he revoked me of my duty and went as far enough as to abolish the role of 'Ultra Magnus.' Now he has a new enforcer, called Star Saber."
"Star Saber? As in Prima's legendary sword?" Drift asked.
"Yes, and rightfully so."
All of the cell's occupants turned to see a tall, imposing mech in red, white, and blue armor outside, wings on his shoulders indicating an aerial alt mode.
"It was Prima's blade that banished the Great Devourer to the Void whence it came," Star Saber went on. "And so it shall be mine that will banish any evil that threatens the forthcoming Golden Age."
"Great," Bumblebee muttered. "And I thought Tyrest was enough of a loon."
Optimus craned his head to look past Star Saber, noticing two figures behind him. "Who do you have with you?"
"Your new cellmates. One's someone from your crew and the other is his former partner-in-crime, who's been spending a couple of months in the variable voltage harness."
The energy bars of the cell temporarily parted while Star Saber tossed in the two new prisoners: Skids and an Autobot in white and blue. Without another word, Star Saber left while the two Autobots got to their feet.
"I don't know where he's gotten 'partners-in-crime,'" Skids said gruffly. "I've never seen this 'bot in my life."
"C'mon, Skids, it's me!" the white and blue mech said, spreading out his arms. "Getaway. World-class escape artist. Member of the Secret Service." He tilted his head. "Do I have to hit you?"
"None of those titles ring a bell. And why would you hit me?"
Getaway walked up to Skids, raised a fist, and gently nudged him under the chin. "Bomp. That's what I do whenever you say something stupid or funny or bomp. And you hate it, which is why I keep doing it."
Skids stared at him blankly. "I still haven't a slaggin' clue who you are, or why you keep saying bomp."
"Whatever. I'm sure it'll come to you." Getaway turned away from him to face his other cellmates. "Ah, Optimus Prime! I'm surprised you of all 'bots would get himself stuck in a cell."
"There's a first time for everything," Optimus said. "What are you doing here on Gigantion?"
"Long story. To make it a short one, I did something to get on Tyrest's bad side and got strapped into the VVH for it." Getaway visible shuddered in a slightly exaggerated manner. "I don't know what was worst: the VVH or being forced to listen to Tyrest's rants."
"What do you mean?"
"What do I mean?" Getaway shook his head. "How do I put this.... Prime, your Chief Justice is complete bonkers."
* * *
"The ship's been taken and the crew's been imprisoned." Pharma clasped his hands together as he stepped into Tyrest's main chamber. "All in a good day's work, if I do say so myself."
"Wonderful," Tyrest said, his back turned to the rogue Autobot as he stared out his window. "The time is drawing near, Pharma. All we need to wait for is the signal from Galvatron, and then all shall become one."
"Yes, quite splendid. I was wondering though... what's in it all for me?"
Tyrest glanced at him. "You?"
"Yes. I mean, you've made Star Saber your trusted enforcer, and you've promised Lockdown a great amount of credits... but there doesn't seem to be anything put aside for me."
"If it weren't for your allegiance to me, you'd be a rusted heap lying in the snow on Messatine," Tyrest said darkly.
"Yes, and I'm forever grateful for that, don't get me wrong. But don't you think I deserve something... more?"
"Is the coming Reunification not enough for you?" said Star Saber, striding into the room from behind Pharma. "Or do you dare place yourself on a higher pedestal than the gods?"
Pharma rolled his optics. "Ever the fanatic, aren't you, Star Saber? The whole 'Reunification' thing is all well and good, but what after that? Where will I be in the 'New Age?'"
"You shall be where Primus decrees you to be," Star Saber snarled. "All of our lives shall be ordained by him, as it is for the better."
"Sorry, not my glass of energon," Pharma said flippantly. "I like my life as dictated by me, not some so-called deity."
The last word had barely left his mouth when a blade was suddenly at the medic's throat.
"I should behead you where you stand," Star Saber growled.
"Stand down, both of you," Tyrest snapped, whirling around to face them. "This is no time for fighting, especially when we are so close to victory."
He looked back towards the window, through which he could see Gigantion's setting sun. It would be the last sunset the planet would see for eons to come.
"Prepare to bring the prisoners to the Hall of Justice," he then said to Star Saber. "It will soon be time for them to be judged."
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