CHAPTER FIVE
--Deathsaurus' Warworld--
"Dauros isn't responding," Jallguar reported from his station. "Neither is Blood."
Deathsaurus frowned as he continued pacing on the bridge. "What about the rest of their units?" he asked. "Can you get in touch with Dreadwind or Blue Bacchus?"
Jallguar shook his head. "No luck with with either of them."
The Decepticon warlord growled to himself. "What about those Monstercons the Fallen brought on board? Anything from them?"
"Last report I got from Steel Jaw was that he and his Pack had spotted a gathering of what appeared to be Cybertronian animals near the Scottish Highlands. Nothing since then."
As Deathsaurus grunted in frustration, Guyhawk turned around with an uncertain look on his face. "Uh, boss? Nitro Zeus' unit has returned."
Running a hand down his face, Deathsaurus glanced at the magenta bot. "Who?"
"Nitro Zeus. Big bot with wings and guns. One eye. Drillhorn and Killbison were talking about him earlier."
Deathsaurus still had no idea who he was referring to but he waved a flippant hand. "Whatever. Have they brought anything with them?"
"Um, yes." Guyhawk shuddered slightly before saying. "They've brought... a human."
Several on the bridge reacted in disgust. Deathsaurus maintained his composure as he said, "Are they in the hangar bay?"
"Yes, sir."
"Tell the Fallen to meet me there," Deathsaurus said, already turning to leave the bridge.
* * *
Nitro was beginning to wonder if he had done the right thing.
The mask which the Fallen wore made it difficult to tell if the Prime was staring at him or Gemma. He also couldn't tell if the Fallen was even satisfied with the explanation he had given him. Of course, if the Fallen was anything like Nitro's past bosses, the answer was probably "unlikely".
After a long bout of tense silence, the Fallen inclined his head in Gemma's direction. The human, seated on Nitro's shoulder, did not so much as flinch.
"If you are not the heir of Merlin," the ancient Prime said darkly, "what use have I for you?"
"Because without me, you'd be wasting the rest of your life," Gemma said with a grin to match her patronizing tone. "After all, you're working under the erroneous assumption that you need an heir of Merlin to use the staff."
"Are you saying any human can use it?" the Fallen asked skeptically.
"No," Gemma said, her smile bright and wide. "Only those encoded to Quintessa's signature."
This brought a reaction out of the Fallen. He shifted closer to Gemma -- and by extension, Nitro, making the Decepticon feel even more uncomfortable.
"Did you say Quintessa?" the Fallen growled.
"You might know her better as Quintus Prime," Gemma went on. "As I understand it, she took your little trinket way back when in the olden days."
By now the Fallen was shaking in anger. Nitro wanted to step away but figured it would be wiser to remain put. Still, he couldn't help but feel uneasy as the Fallen raised a finger at Gemma.
"You are just a human," he rumbled. "How could you possibly know about any of that?"
"My master told me everything before sending me here," Gemma said. "She tasked me with locating the staff and gave me this human form encoded with her signature to bypass the locks she had already put in place. Unfortunately, she didn't know where her knights hid it, so I've wasted an entire month searching for what you found in a day."
"You mean this staff?" The Fallen produced the wooden stick that was the subject of conversation. "Quintus sent you to retrieve this? Why?"
"Well, I mean, it is her's--"
"The Void Scepter belongs to me!" the Fallen roared, startling Nitro. "I alone crafted it in the pits of Trypticon so that I may control the Titan! Quintus has no right in claiming it as her own!"
Gemma smirked. "Well, it's taken you this long to reclaim it. I mean, how long ago was that? Eight thousand years?"
Without warning, the Fallen snatched Gemma from Nitro's shoulder and held her in his massive hand. To Nitro's surprise, the human did not explode into a pulp within the Prime's grip.
"What is Quintus planning?" the Fallen demanded. "Tell me or I shall reduce you to a pile of blood and bone!"
"Well, right now, her plan doesn't go much further than 'get out of the Dead Universe,'" Gemma muttered. "I was hoping to get her out with a space bridge the Heralds of Unicron helped me built, but... a certain namesake of yours put a cap on that plan."
The Fallen tightened his grip. "My patience is waning. How does my Scepter come into play?"
"There is... another space bridge... said to be tied to the Dead Universe." Gemma winced as the Fallen's hold on her strengthened. "Trypticon's."
"Trypticon is gone," the Fallen snarled. "Replaced by a shell of a replica by my so-called namesake."
"Oh, please." Gemma chuckled. "You really think the Decepticons built their Trypticon from scratch?"
At this, the Fallen lessened his grip. "You mean...?"
"Of course, they never knew about the space bridge. Even if they had, they couldn't use it without the Void Scepter." Gemma tilted her head. "Who knows; it might still work on him."
The Fallen was silent for a moment. Then, returning her to Nitro's shoulder, he said, "Fine. Here's the deal: Return the Void Scepter to its original state, and I shall help you free Quintus. Once I do so however, both of you will be indebted to my service. You will help me in my conquest until or unless I no longer need you, in which case both of you will be destroyed."
In Nitro's mind, that didn't sound like much of a good deal. Regardless, Gemma wasted no time in accepting. "Deal," she said.
With a content grunt, the Fallen handed Gemma the stick. Upon entering her grip, it instantly morphed into a long metal beam, terminating with a glowing clawed tip. The Fallen quickly took the Void Scepter back and held it up high, almost as if he was admiring it.
"Deathsaurus," he spoke to the Decepticon warlord, who had been observing everything from afar. "Recall your forces. We have what we came for."
* * *
"Deathsaurus just called again. We're leaving."
Dauros shook his head, hunched over his work. "We can't leave now. We still have work to do."
"They're going to come looking for us," Blood muttered. "Or, if not us, then Dreadwind and the others."
"They'll find them," Dauros growled. "They won't remember us doing anything to them."
"And the others? I mean, Deathsaurus' army numbers in the hundreds. We are only three."
"Stop being a worryspark," Gilmer said, sneering. "We have Ragnarok. They won't be of any concern."
Blood blinked. "You mean he's here? Ragnarok?"
"Yes. He is in the process of retrieving the prime source," Dauros said. "Right now, let's focus on bringing the others here."
"Right." Blood took a step back and looked up at the transmitter Dauros was operating on. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."
"Of course I do," Dauros grunted. "After all, failure is not an option."
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