CHAPTER EIGHT
--The Lost Light--
"I can't believe that worked." Elita sat back in her command chair, utter shock and relied plastered on her faceplate. "I seriously cannot believe that actually worked."
"Best not try it again," Riptide muttered from the controls, recovering from his own anxiety. "We've taken quite a bit of damage and several systems are down. We'll probably need a new hyper-drive, too."
"Message from the Steelhaven," Hubcap said. "We're all going down to Cybertron for the last push."
Elita nodded curtly. "Understood. Take us down, Riptide."
As the Hydrobot maneuvered the ship's controls, Ultra Magnus and the rest of his team entered the bridge. As they walked in, Elita noticed a particular absence.
"Where's Strongarm?" she asked, already dreading the answer.
Ultra Magnus bowed his head solemnly. "The Terrorcons took her."
Elita sighed. "Slag."
A mournful silence rested over the crew for a moment. Then, carefully changing the subject, Magnus said, "Did you release Lockdown and the other prisoners?"
"Yes, and they were quick to bail out on us. I hope you weren't expecting them to actually help out."
"I was," Magnus admitted, "but it's a moot point now." He paused for a minute, a grave look descending upon his face. "Was Pharma among them?"
"I'm not sure. It was hard to make anyone out with all of the Terrorcons there." Elita frowned as she met Magnus' gaze. "You don't think...?"
She didn't bother finishing her sentence, instead simply jumping out of her seat and rushing for the medibay, with Magnus and the others close behind.
--Dead Universe--
"It is useless to resist," Nova Prime hissed as he pressed his hand harder onto Nightbeat's chest, black energy crackling through. "You cannot refuse your destiny."
"Would you shut up and get your filthy servo off me?!" Nightbeat exclaimed as he tried-- in vain-- to wrestle off the fallen Prime's arm. "What are you even doing?"
"Trying to open the Dead Universe portal dormant within you," Nova Prime said. "With it, I can at last leave this condemned realm and take revenge on those who have wronged me."
"Not on my watch, you're not," Nightbeat grunted as he reached for his gun with his free hand. He aimed it at the space between Nova Prime's optics and squeezed off a shot. The ancient Prime did not even flinch.
"Pathetic," he growled as he pressed down even harder. "At this point, you should just give up."
"Don't count on it."
Having just entered the temple under the Prime's notice, Hardhead-- the real one-- grabbed Nova Prime from under the arms and pulled with all of his might. While he failed to wrench Nova's hand off of Nightbeat's chest, he did succeed in tearing off the fallen Prime's arm from its socket. As Nova howled in agony, Hardhead brought out his gun and pressed it against the Prime's head.
"Bedtime."
He pulled the trigger and Nova Prime's body seized up, its optics flaring with fire. Fully possessed by the Fallen now, he turned around to strike Hardhead but a second shot to the head-- this time right between the eyes-- saw to his end. As the ancient Prime's lifeless shell fell to the ground, the black energy faded away from the severed arm on Nightbeat's chest and the detective was finally able to remove it.
As he got back to his feet, Nightbeat smirked at his partner. "Gun, head, done."
"Darn right," Hardhead grunted. "So, have you found what you've been looking for?"
"Not yet," Nightbeat said with a huff. "I'm starting to think it's not even something tangible, something easy to use or destroy."
"Well, you know what I always say: When you don't know what to shoot at, shoto at everything."
Nightbeat's faceplate suddenly lit up. "You know what... I think you're on to something. Do you have any explosive charges handy?"
"When do I not?" Hardhead said. "Yeah, I've got some. Why?"
"If you will pardon the Earthism I've picked up from Skids-- we're gonna light this baby up."
--The Lost Light--
"How are you feeling, Tailgate?"
The small Autobot broke out into a violent coughing fit. First Aid tilted his head in sadness for the dying mech. He hated it when he had situations like these; when a patient had an ailment that was out of his control. All he could do was sit down and be there for them when the time came.
He was interrupted from his solemn musings by the sound of footsteps. And laughter.
Familiar laughter.
"Well, well, I wonder how my favorite two medics are doing."
Ambulon was already out the door and had his gun aimed at the unseen newcomer. "Pharma! How did you get free?"
First Aid heard the former Autobot cackle. "Why, your crewmates decided to give me a second chance, it seems. After all, they haven't come down to stop me yet."
"Wrong."
Upon hearing Ultra Magnus' voice, First Aid dared to poke his head out into the corridor. Standing behind Pharma, with all of their weapons aimed at the mad doctor, was a good ninety percent of the crew, with Elita-One and Ultra Magnus at the forefront.
"Pharma," the former said coldly. "I suggest that you do the wise thing and surrender."
Pharma turned around and flashed her a wicked grin. "I would be delighted to, captain. However, don't you all have places to be?"
The ship suddenly trembled violently. Seconds later, it made a similarly violent landing. Outside, the sound of blaster fire and the clashing of blades could be heard.
"Like, say, a battle?"
--Space--
Optimus winced as he slammed into the side of Unicron. As if being pinned against the Chaos Bringer himself wasn't bad or strange enough, the sight of a raving Galvatron shooting towards him did not comfort him in the least.
Prime moved away in time just as Galvatron swung his blade to dispatch him. Deploying his battle axe (he had lost track of how many of these he had gone through), Optimus then lunged forward and clashed blades with the mech he had once known as Sentinel Prime.
"You realize that you are only stalling the inevitable," Galvatron growled. "You cannot stop the Reunification any more than you can stop the sun from shining."
"Perhaps," Optimus said. "But we can stop you from talking."
As Optimus broke away from the blade-lock, Megatron took his cue and fired his fusion cannon at Galvatron, sending the ancient warrior tumbling back. With their enemy momentarily out of the way, the two leaders then flew towards Unicron in the hopes of finding an opening on the celestial body.
They were quickly given reason to regret that move.
Both Optimus and Megatron cried out in pain, clutching their heads as the voice of the Chaos Bringer assaulted their minds.
If you think it will be that easy, then you are mistaken.
The pain lasted for several minutes, and at one point, Optimus thought it was never going to end. When it finally lessened enough for him to open his eyes, was surprised to find himself no longer in space but in a strange chamber made of sundry tendrils and wires.
Looking around, he found that Megatron and Galvatron were with him as well, both looking as equally confused as he was. And standing before them all in the center of the chamber was an orange and grey mech that bore the horned helmet of Unicron as described in the ancient myths.
"However," the Avatar of Unicron said in the same eldritch voice as his master, "since you've gone through the trouble of coming all this way, I shall spare your lives long enough to reward your blind heroism."
The wickedest of grinds crossed the Avatar's visage. "You have been given front row seats of Cybertron's retribution."
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