CHAPTER SEVEN
--Outpost Two--
The whole station shook beneath his feet. Gunfire rang outside the room and bolts of plasma zipped past the viewport. All around him, things were falling apart.
He thought about calling for help, to ask for reinforcements but he quickly thought better of it. Even if one of the other Directors did send support, he would never hear the end of it. He would be mocked for his failure for all eternity, a fate he saw as worse than death.
No, he would stay. He would stay here and burn with all his failures. It would only be fitting.
The Wreckers were just outside his door. He could tell by the intense screaming and the twisting of metal. Any minute now they would be here, and he had to do everything under his power to make sure they didn't get their hands on what he had spent so long making.
After making sure all of the charges were primed and ready for detonation, Magnificus then turned to the door and waited.
* * *
"P-please! D-don't kill me!"
Guzzle glanced down at the black-colored Decepticon at his mercy. Their legs had been blown away by his trusted gun and a good portion of their faceplate was missing, revealing a petrified expression.
"Please," the Decepticon repeated. "You're an Autobot. You don't--"
"It's Loudpedal, right?" Guzzle asked, keeping his gun trained on the 'Con. "You're that music artist from Monoplex."
"Wh-what? No. I'm not--"
"I mean, I'm not one to judge, but I never would've pinned one of you 'Cons as the creative type, y'know?"
"I mean, I'm not one to judge, but I never would've pinned one of you 'Cons as the creative type, y'know?"
"I'm not Loudpedal!" the Decepticon shrieked. "I'm Vivisector! The Butcher of Pyrox! The 'Con of a Thousand Faces! I am one of the greatest minds in the Decepticon Empire! I--"
"--Need to work on your marketing pitch," Guzzle interjected before pulling the trigger of his gun and blowing the Decepticon's head to pieces. Moving away from Vivisector's remains, Guzzle looked upon his handiwork. Dozens of bodies littered the floor, with only a few still twitching with life. None of them were in any condition to fight, so he did not waste the firepower on them.
Hearing the sound of engines, Guzzle turned to see Kup and Ironfist driving up to him, followed closely by a yellow and purple truck. As they transformed to robot mode, Guzzle instantly got a whiff of a very terrible smell.
"Good grief, what did you guys drag out of the trash disposal?" he exclaimed.
"This is Toxitron," Kup said, gesturing at the burly mech. "He's an Autobot."
"He smells like a Junkion took a bath in the Acid Wastes."
"Me am very defended by that!" Toxitron snapped angrily. "You am not very mean!"
"And he talks like a Dinobot. Wonderful." Guzzle sighed. "Well, I'm finished here. What's next?"
After surveying the damage Guzzle had wrought with a small look of disapproval, Kup then said, "Springer just radioed me. He and the others have made their way to the control room. We're to meet them there and help 'em take down Magnificus."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Guzzle said, changing into his tank mode. "Let's wreck."
--The Lost Light--
The robot who looked like Megatron stood there on the edge of the landing ramp, aiming his fusion cannon at the Autobots. In return, they simply stared at him in shock, too stunned to move, and waited for him to unleash his wrath.
Minutes passed by. No such attack came. The apprehensive Autobots exchanged uncertain looks, unsure of what was going on. Eventually, it dawned on the Megatron copy that nothing was happening and he lowered his cannon in confusion.
"What is--"
"Now, Strafe!" Red Alert cried.
The Technobot let out a yell as he fired at the double. As Megatron staggered back, Powerflash unleashed a stun bolt from his gun, which sent the Decepticon's systems into shutdown and brought him down to the floor. While Aquafend and Deftwing rushed over to restrain Megatron, Red Alert strode over to Dealer and slammed the butt of his gun into the other mech's face, knocking him down.
"You have ten seconds to give me a good reason not to flush you out the airlock."
"I had no idea!" Dealer said. "There were six capsules on the ship when I stole it from the 'Cons and I didn't know what was in them! And I don't know how he got out. I swear on my life."
Red Alert did not look at all convinced. In fact, he looked even more dubious than he did before. However, just as he raised his gun to strike Dealer again, he heard Aquafend call out to him.
"Red! His head's getting away!"
Confused, Red Alert turned to see a tiny robot running out of the hangar, leaving behind a headless Megatron. His optics nearly shorting out from seeing this unexpected development, he quickly raised the rest of the ship's security detail on his comm.
"All units, dispatch! We have an intruder on board! Repeat: intruder on board!" Once the message had been broadcasted, he then turned to Powerflash. "I want you to take Dealer to the brig. The others and I will track down whatever that thing was."
"Shouldn't we investigate his ship as well?" Powerflash asked. "In case there are other Megatrons?"
"There's no time to worry about that," Red Alert, already converting to his car mode. "Just get him into a cell before he causes any more trouble."
With that, the security director drove off, followed closely by Strafe, Aquafend, and Deftwing. Powerflash watched them vacate the hangar before directing his attention to Dealer. After staring down at the other mech for a moment, he then offered him his hand.
"Come on, pal. You're more use outside a cell than in one."
Dealer looked up at him in surprise. "What?"
"Red Alert might not trust you, but I'm the kind of bot who's willing to give second chances." Taking Dealer's hand, Powerflash helped the bot up to his feet. "Now, you said there were six capsules on your ship?"
"Yes. Some Decepticon scientist put them on board. I'm pretty sure that..." he nodded to the headless Megatron, "...came from one of them, since I found a capsule with a broken canopy."
"Then we'd better make sure the others are sealed tight," Powerflash said as he headed for the ship. "The last thing we need are six Megatrons running around."
"Right," Dealer murmured as he followed the yellow and red mech. "To think that would ever be a genuine concern...."
--Outpost Two--
"About time you guys got here!" Rotorstorm said as Kup, Ironfist, Guzzle, and Toxitron drove up to join the other three Wreckers at the door to the control room. "Did the old rustbucket hold you guys up?"
"Shove it, kid," Kup snapped, transforming to robot mode. "I've killed for less than that." Brushing past a debased Rotorstorm, the veteran stepped up to the Wrecker leader Springer, his green and yellow armor scratched up from some sort of scuffle. Pyro was standing nearby working the door's control panel to open it.
"You're sure Magnificus is in here?" Kup asked.
"Positive," Springer said. "From what I've gathered from Agent C-308's reports, Magnificus is a control freak and thus never leaves this room, where he can see and control everything on this station."
"Doesn't that mean he can see us?" Ironfist asked, looking around for cameras."
"Probably. But frankly, so what? I don't think there's anything he can throw at us that he hasn't already--which has been a bit lackluster thus far."
"Who's to say he doesn't have something cooked up for us past those doors?" Kup pointed out.
The six Wreckers all fell silent, mulling over the veteran's words. Toxitron, on the other hand, simply strode over to the door and pushed Pyro aside.
"So smart," he muttered. "Leave it to I to ruin the day."
He then proceeded to put his hand to the door. Inexplicably, a corrosive substance exuded from his servos, slowly burning into the metal and causing it to disintegrate. Beyond the melted door was a very frightened black and silver mech, who looked completely astonished by the appearance of Toxitron and his accomplishment.
"No... how did you... no...."
Frantically, Magnificus opened a compartment in his chest and reached inside. Before he could get whatever he was reaching for, Toxitron lunged forward and slammed his fist into the Decepticon's face. The blow was enough to short out Magnificus' systems and the scientist collapsed to the floor, his chest still open.
Pleased with himself, Toxitron turned to the Wreckers and stood proudly with his arms akimbo.
"I are worst Autobot ever!" he proclaimed.
Springer glanced at Kup, who simply shrugged.
As the Wreckers entered the room, Springer said, "Pyro, Ironfist, cuff him and get him out of here. Rotorstorm, start going through the logs and download anything of note. Kup and I will stay on the lookout for anymore 'Cons."
"What about I?" Toxitron asked.
Springer turned to the garishly colored clone of Optimus Prime, looking him up and down. "You... can stay here with Rotorstorm. Keep him company."
"Thanks for thinking of me," Rotorstorm replied sardonically. "Remain me to return the favor someday."
With that, the Wreckers got to work. As Ironfist and Pyro put restraints on Magnificus, the former noticed the Decepticon's chest compartment was still open. He moved to close it... only to see what was within.
"What is it?" Pyro asked, seeing him staring at his discovery.
"There's... there's a timer in his chest," Ironfist murmured, stepping back.
"What?!" Springer rushed over to see for himself. Indeed, ticking down with bold red numbers, was a timer with only a minute and thirteen seconds left to go. With no indicator on what it was counting down to, Springer decided to take no chances and drew his sword, raising it over Magnificus' chest.
"Stand back," he ordered the other two.
"What are you doing?" Ironfist asked.
"I said stand back!" With that, the Wrecker leader drove his blade into the Decepticon's chest and the entire room erupted with a blinding light.
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