CHAPTER EIGHT
--Necroworld--
"So. What's your count?"
Crankcase glanced at Misfire, sitting next to him in the shadow of the latter's statue. "What?"
"Come on, don't be coy." Misfire smirked. "I saw you counting over there. How many flowers does Crankcase of Scowlex have?"
The Triggercon sneered. "I wasn't counting--"
"Can I guess? I wanna guess. Is it in the double digits? Triple?"
"Shut up--"
"198. That's my guess," Misfire said. "Am I warm? Cold?"
Crankcase huffed as he crossed his arms. "396."
"Whoa, nice!" Misfire grinned proudly. "I've got over a thousand."
"Shove it up your aft."
"I'm not sure that would be--"
"Hey, guys!" Fulcrum waved to them from where he stood on an empty plinth. "We've got more company!"
"Oh joy!" Misfire exclaimed, looking up to see a large white ship fly towards the fortress. "I wonder if they're here to kill us too!"
"Doubt it," Crankcase grunted. "Looks like an Autobot ship."
"How can you tell?" Fulcrum asked.
"No obvious guns. Boring colors. It just screams Autobot."
"Hey, Fulcrum, you posing for your statue?" Misfire called over to his fellow Scavenger. "If you are, make sure Spinister has his chisel. Last time he lost it and had to use his finger. Poor guy had to buy a new middle finger."
"Nah, I already found mine," Fulcrum said, jumping off the plinth. "Besides, this one's already got a name on it."
"Oh, yeah? What's it say?"
Fulcrum scratched his head as he read the plaque. "Huh. That is one unwieldy name. I've never even heard of Celestica Tetracornacapria."
* * *
"Will he be all right?"
"He'll live," Ratchet said, studying his scanner. "The Matrix still has some juice left in it; so long as it's still glowing, so will he."
"And Cyclonus?"
"Velocity has him in stasis lock. No way of telling if Galvatron will emerge from him again or if the Matrix erased that part from him."
Optimus Prime sighed as he lay on his repair berth. "I'm still not sure what happened. When I came to, all of Galvatronus' components had disconnected and Megatron was in critical condition. I'm not sure if what he did 'killed' Galvatronus or simply disconnected him."
Ratchet shrugged. "I'm no expert on that subject. You're the Prime, not me."
"He's the one with the Matrix...."
"There's no way in the Pit am I considering him my Prime."
Optimus exvented as he rolled his head to the ceiling. The Necrobot certainly had an interesting taste in architecture; the blue sky was as vivid through the glass ceiling as outside.
"You said the Titan vanished?" he then asked the medic.
"Yup," Ratchet replied, adjusting Megatron's life support systems. "One minute it was crashing towards the planet, the next...."
"The next...?"
"I refuse to use the 'word' Rodimus used to describe the phenomenon. It's not even a word, just... an onomatopoeia."
"Was it plif?"
Ratchet stared at Optimus in bemusement. "How did you--"
"I used to say it in my academy days," Optimus said. "Kup once made me do a hundred transformations for it. Never said it since."
Ratchet shook his head. "You know, it honestly scares me how much you two are alike sometimes."
"You mean me and Rodimus?" Optimus asked.
"Yeah." Ratchet glanced at Megatron. "That too."
* * *
"Anything?"
"No sign of him, general," reported the Decepticon Seeker -- formerly aligned to the Secret Order -- as she landed before the awaiting Strika, Obsidian, and Ultra Magnus. "We'll keep searching, but I doubt we'll find him."
"Her," Magnus corrected. "Delta Magnus is... not quite who she seems."
"Indeed," Obsidian muttered. "I remember serving with a Powerdrive at the Battle of Iacon. She had been in my division of the Primal Vanguard but resigned shortly after the First Great War."
"It's very possible that she's no longer on Necroworld," Ultra Magnus went on. "If her armor's anything like mine, it will have a recall trigger that can take her back to whoever holds the source signal. Tyrest had mine... Primus knows where her's is."
"Regardless, continue your search, Tempest," Strika said to the Seeker. "We can not risk allowing him -- her -- to strike again with our guard down."
"Tarantulas is also missing," Obsidian said while Tempest took off. "Have you seen him since landing here, Strika?"
"His ship did not rejoin us after the Labyrinth was dismantled," his consort replied. "Darkstar thinks he's gone to Animatron. He had been adamant about choosing that planet as our new location rather than Necroworld, but Quickswitch and Delta overruled him."
"So that's three masterminds unaccounted for," Magnus muttered. "Shockwave, Delta, Tarantulas... one can only wonder what they're planning next."
"That still leaves us," Obsidian said, glancing pointedly at the Autobot. "How are we going to proceed from here? Do we go back to Cybertron and warn them about Shockwave?"
"We should wait until Prime and Megatron recover. I'm not comfortable in making decisions without their counsel."
"Even Megatron's?" Strika asked.
Ultra Magnus did not answer her.
* * *
"...So that's how your friends at Carcer are doing. No idea about Ultra Trion, but... yeah."
Sentinel Major continued to stare at the sky as he and Rodimus stood on top of the Lost Light, looking over the crowd of Autobots, Decepticons, and whatnot mingling about. Seeing Galvatron still had him shaken... and learning of Magmatron's current status certainly did not help.
"And one of your crew is still being held captive?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah." Rodimus rubbed his neck. "I want to rescue him -- of course I do -- but Carcer could be anywhere in the galaxy and--"
"That's not his name."
Rodimus glanced at him. "Eh?"
"Carcer... that's just an alias. Short for incarceration. His real name is Vigilem."
"Oh."
"He's the Titan of Liege Maximo."
"Oh." Rodimus blinked as he processed this. "...Wait, what?!"
"It's a long story -- and Magmatron doesn't know that I know." Sentinel let out a sigh. "I realize I have a lot to explain... but I want to save it until I can see Optimus Prime."
Rodimus slowly nodded as he stared at the would-be Prime. "Yeah... that's probably for the best. I will admit, this past month... it's been a doozie."
"A what?"
"Never mind." Rodimus waved a dismissive hand. He then looked up to see a turquoise jet flying towards them. "Brainstorm?"
A very nervous-looking Brainstorm transformed and landed next to his captain. "You're going to be mad at me."
Rodimus frowned. "What--?"
"Look, I meant well, okay? I honestly did. It's just that... when you're in the heat of the moment, you do things you regret later. Like kissing that bot you think looks cute. Or opening a box that says very plainly 'Do Not Op-'"
"Brainstorm," Rodimus interjected curtly. "What did you do?"
His question was answered by the sudden appearance of a massive ship in the sky. The large silver vessel bore a winged emblem on its side as well as its very name: Axiom. As the Axiom descended towards the ground, a loud voice emitted from it via speaker.
"Megatron of Tarn, in the name of the Galactic Alliance, under Section 20, subsection 8 of the New Earth Accords, you are under arrest."
Between this and the vulgarities Rodimus was shouting at Brainstorm, Sentinel really wished that, just for once, he understood what was going on.
TO BE CONTINUED
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