EPILOGUE
"I don't see how this is supposed to--"
"Quiet!" Brainstorm paused the movie again and pointed to the frozen screen. "Okay, now see, we get a better look at Doctor Brown's contraption. So he's got the cables--"
"Brainstorm, I've seen this film a thousand times!" Dion said. "Don't get me wrong, it's a great movie, but I don't think--"
"So when the lightning strikes...."
"Oh, forget it." Dion sighed as he slumped back down in his seat. Cop-Tur at least seemed to be fully enraptured in Brainstorm's lecture, eating from his bucket of energon goodies.
He wasn't sure when he and Cop-Tur were going to get back to the future, if at all, but at least the Lost Light was a welcoming enough home in the meantime. Technically he had all the time in the world; for WALL-E, EVE, Tyrone and the others, it might as well have been two minutes.
Before he knew it, Dion found himself reaching for some energon goodies.
* * *
"I hope you're not waiting for an apology."
"No, I'm just waiting for your people to fix my ship," Rodimus said, his arms folded as he stood next to Elitus on the balcony of Paradise Tower. "Besides, considering I found my ship and you just lost yours, I consider us even."
Elitus sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I... we only wanted what was right for our people. We had a mission and you were in the way. We had to do something."
"Hey, I understand," Rodimus said. "Believe me, I do. I mean, sure I was peeved over the marooning thing when it happened, but... that was Ultra Trion's doing anyway. Say, where is he?"
"On Eukaris," Elitus murmured. "Magmatron was going to go back for him, but...."
"Oh. I see. And Sentinel?"
"He went missing, along with Obsidian and Strika." Elitus leaned forward on the railing, staring at the stars. "I guess the Covenant can be considered finished. It was fun while it lasted."
"Why did you join the Covenant anyway?" Rodimus asked.
"I had lost faith in Optimus Prime. With Simanzi, he nearly lost Cybertron to the Decepticons. After the massacres, I left Cybertron and eventually came across Carcer. When I told Magmatron how I felt, he not only made me a member of the Covenant but named me First One, putting me in command of Carcer."
"Do you think you'd ever come to the Autobots?"
Elitus shook her head. "Not in a million years."
"I see," Rodimus muttered. "So now what? Are you and your people staying on Paradron?"
"Do we have a choice at this point?" Elitus remarked. "Luckily, the Paradronians have accepted us and are even considering naming me leader... if only because Landshark's dead and Sandstorm is in prison."
"Well, I wish you luck in your ventures," Rodimus said as he began to leave.
"One last thing, Rodimus," Elitus said.
He looked over his shoulder at her. "Yeah?"
"If you ever run into Carcer again, be sure to give him hell."
Rodimus smiled uneasily. "I'll, uh, do my best."
* * *
"I'll have a... I'm sorry, what's that called?"
Swerve looked over at what Stormshot was pointing to on the menu. "Oh, that's the Sparkcrusher Special. A mix of high-grade engex and Visco with a pinch of Old Corroder."
"Great. We'll take two."
As Swerve got to work, Evac beamed at his friend. "I'm glad to see you being more outgoing."
"So am I," Stormshot said, smiling back. "I didn't even know we had a bar."
"Did you make sure to schedule a session with Rung?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'll get around to that. But right now...." She eagerly grabbed her drink as Swerve slid it across the counter. "I'm saying goodbye to my F.I.M. chip."
"I'll drink to that." Evac raised his glass to toast with Stormshot but she was already downing her drink in one go. With a shrug, Evac did the same.
* * *
"So much for that plan."
"Meh. Didn't really think it would work anyway."
"How did you know Stormshot had a death wish?"
"I got it out of Evac. I didn't know when she was planning to call them, so I did a rushed job with shutting down the engines."
"Think they'll ever find out?"
"Doubt it. I think the Carcer thing's got everyone distracted. Besides, they've already replaced the 'drive, so any prints we left would be gone by now."
"So what now?"
"I don't know." Getaway came to a stop before his hab suite. "I need some time to think. But I'll definitely call you once I've come up with something."
"All right." Atomizer raised a fist. "Bomp?"
Getaway nudged the other bot's fist with his own. "Bomp."
EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE: CONCLUDED
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