CHAPTER TWO
It just wasn't adding up.
Skyfall, Sprocket, Tracks.
If the name was on this list, it would have been right here. Between Sprocket and Tracks. But it wasn't. Perhaps he had made a mistake?
No, impossible. He never made simple errors like that. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this; perhaps Stormshot hadn't even served in Prime's unit and had been in a different one.
...Except he didn't remember ever serving with a Stormshot in his unit. And she certainly hadn't been in the Dynobots.
Why then did she have footage of Hydrus Four if she wasn't in any of the Autobots' units? Unless....
There was a knock at the door. Switching his datapad off, Minimus Ambus returned to his armor before responding. "Who is it?"
"It's me," came the voice of Megatron. "May I come in?"
Ultra Magnus frowned. "That won't be necessary."
He quickly strode over to the door and opened it. Megatron stood outside, arms folded over his chest.
"How goes your research?"
Magnus narrowed his optics. "What do you want?"
"I need someone reasonable to talk to. You're pretty much my only option on this ship."
Magnus sighed. "What did Rodimus do this time?"
"Nothing. That's the problem: he's reusing to take any action and would rather wait for Cybertron to come through for us."
"In that case, I agree with his decision for once."
Megatron frowned. "You're kidding me."
"Rodimus and I have both dealt with the Carcerians, Megatron. They are all made for combat and outnumber us by the hundreds. Taking them on would be suicide."
Megatron stared at him for a moment before stepping back. "Very well. I trust your judgment more than anyone else's here."
"Why?"
The former Decepticon leader smirked. "Well, an Autobot who's managed to thwart me nearly as much as Optimus Prime must be doing something right."
Magnus was silent for a moment as Megatron turned to leave. Then, he called out, "Wait."
Megatron stopped to look back at him. "Yes?"
The larger bot stepped aside from the doorway. "Come in. I may need your help."
* * *
Once, thousands of years ago, I, Magmatron, ruled Eukaris with an iron fist.
The title of Beast King had been bestowed upon me by the Fateweavers, who claimed to be the prophets of Onyx Prime. Whether they were or not was never my concern; the four tribes accepted their judgment, which was all I needed. My first act was to order the execution of my predecessor, who had allowed Nova Prime to colonize our world and spread the filth of Cybertron. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
For five thousand years did I rule Eukaris. Despite being a colony of Cybertron, I ensured that no Cybertronians dare touch down on Eukaris' soil. For the most part, I succeeded... until the Predacons arrived.
The Predacons had been one of Trannis' most elite units in the Decepticon Empire. Their leader Razorclaw, however, had no desire to aid Trannis in his plot for revenge and split off from the Decepticons. He and his Predacons eventually found Eukaris and somehow bypassed our anti-Cybertronian defenses.
It was with this seemingly impossible feat that Razorclaw and his Predacons were able to convince the tribes that they were heralds sent by Onyx Prime. With this claim, they were able to turn my own people against me and I was banished from Eukaris.
For decades I roamed aimlessly through space in the small, powerless ship the Predacons had allowed me. After fifty years of wandering, I eventually came across the vessel which looms over your planet today: Carcer.
I was brought aboard the Titan by its then-captain: an old, derelict mech who went by the name First One. His crew had been fewer in number then; Carcer's hot spot had long since died out. As such, he had taken to picking up stragglers such as myself, to provide shelter to those in need of it.
One of these stragglers turned out to be none other than Sentinel Prime -- the original, whose identity Galvatron had stolen millennia ago. The First One told me that he had been in stasis for nearly three thousand years and was showing no signs of awakening.
From the First One's crew, I learned what had befallen Cybertron. With Nova Prime long gone, corruption was beginning to spread, certain to tear the planet apart. The so-called Golden Age the false Sentinel Prime claimed to have brought was marred in black. Our race had fallen quite the ways.
As such, I took matters into my own hands.
After the First One had passed away, I took control of Carcer and created the Covenant. I planned to find twelve others and name them Primes, to serve as rulers of Cybertron as the Thirteen once had.
Sentinel was the first to join my ranks after I had managed to awaken him. Next was Ultra Trion, who had left the Autobots a year prior. He followed shortly by Elita-Two, who took on the name Elitus as a more "proper" Prime name.
Over the next several centuries, we received several ex-Autobots and Decepticons hoping to escape the war. None of them were quite Prime material however. Eventually, I grew tired of waiting and sped things up a bit. I returned to Eukaris and reclaimed my title as Beast King, overthrowing Razorclaw and his cronies, and taking from him something else that had once been mine....
* * *
Sandstorm stared at Magmatron, waiting for him to continue. When the Beast King did not, he asked, "And that would be...?"
Magmatron smiled as he reached behind his back and, from a subspace portal, brought out a spherical object with pronged sides.
Sandstorm's optics widened. "The Enigma of Combination?"
"The one and only. We found it on a trading world two months ago. It was taken from us and somehow ended up in the Predacons' hands. Fortunately, I was able to recover it."
"And... you plan on using it?"
"No, I plan on putting it on my mantle." Magmatron laughed. "Of course I plan on using it! It's simply a matter of finding the right test subjects."
Sandstorm did not like the sound of that. "Test subjects?"
"Don't worry, it shouldn't be fatal. Just find me some willing volunteers and you can consider us even."
Before Sandstorm could protest, Magmatron was already on his feet and heading for the door.
"Bring them to Carcer once you've gathered them. I'll be waiting."
And with that, he was gone, leaving Sandstorm alone to mull over what he had brought upon himself.
* * *
"Stormshot, you say." Megatron rubbed his chin as he stared at Ultra Magnus' screen, displaying the list of Autobots who had participated in the Battle of Hydrus Four. "That name does ring a bell or two."
"So she was a Decepticon?" Magnus asked.
"She must have been, if she wasn't one of your bots. She would have had to have been one of the M.T.O.s Shockwave had built during the battle. She certainly wasn't part of my command unit."
"Interesting." Magnus leaned back in his seat. "Well, that certainly clears things up... as well as raise even more questions." He turned back to Megatron and opened his mouth... but no words came out.
"Uh...."
Megatron glanced at him. "Yes?"
"Th-- thhh-- thank... you."
"...You're welcome." Megatron tilted his head. "Are you all right, Ultra Magnus?"
"Yes, of course. Just a bit...." Magnus trailed off for a minute before raising a hand to his comm. "Rodimus?"
"Hey, Mags, I really hate to call you, I know you're busy and all that, and you hate to be disturbed and--"
"Rodimus, are you all right? You sound... are you shaking right now?"
"Ha ha, no, I'm fine, just, you know, this day keeps getting better and better and I'm just loving it all."
"Rodimus, what's wrong? Calm down and tell me what's--"
"Is Megatron with you? Tell him his fan club just showed up."
Magnus glanced at Megatron, who was already grimacing.
"They're here," he murmured. "My five worst mistakes."
No comments:
Post a Comment