CHAPTER SIX
--Autobot City--
"Anything yet?"
"No," Windblade hissed, adjusting her connection to Metrotitan's brain module. "I told you I would let you know once I found anything. Now just let me work...."
Brainstorm sighed, moving his shoulders dramatically -- which prompted an irritated grunt from Doomshot, who sat on his left shoulder. The Autobot genius then turned to Sentinel Major, who patiently stood by watching Windblade work.
"Can you still hear him?" Brainstorm asked.
"Yes, but nothing substantial," Sentinel replied. "Just words. Names. The same ones Doomshot's mentioned hearing."
"Do they mean anything to you?" Doomshot asked. "You remember more about your past than I do."
Sentinel was silent for a moment; a moment during which Brainstorm wondered if Sentinel had ever fully let on how much of his past he remembered. When the would-be Prime finally spoke, he did not meet either bots' eyes.
"A majority of the names you've dropped belong to members of my race," Sentinel said. "When I was just Infinitus, I was what was known as a Titan Master: servants of the Primes that helped them crew their Titans. After the war, we became known as Cyberdroids, or confused with Mini-Cons. Some, such as myself, disguised our true nature by commandeering full-sized bodies. With the rise of functionism, it was the only way to get anywhere in the world...."
"Cyberdroids, eh?" Brainstorm rubbed his chin. "Those are the bots who colonized Rebirth, I believe. Or Master. Whatever it's called now."
"So you were a Titan Master?" Doomshot asked. "Does that make me one as well?"
"Possibly," Sentinel murmured. "I don't recall ever meeting you on the Titan I served on."
"And what Titan would that be?"
Before Sentinel could answer, Windblade spoke up. "Okay, I've finally gotten him to talk. Just give me a moment while I let him open up."
Brainstorm glanced between her and Sentinel, raising an expectant optic ridge. The former Titan Master did not meet his gaze nor did he follow up on Doomshot's query, instead waiting patiently for Windblade to continue her work.
After a minute, the Cityspeaker said, "Okay. He's saying there's another Titan here on Earth."
"Yeah, Fortress Maximus," Brainstorm said. "Doomshot managed to catch that bit."
"There's more. He says there's a Prime here. One of the first Thirteen. They've found something called... a Void Scepter."
"No," Sentinel whispered, a look of horror starting to cross his face. "That's a device of the Fallen's."
"The Fallen?" Brainstorm asked. "I thought Nightbeat and Hardhead took care of--"
Suddenly, Windblade let out a yell as she was sent flying across the room by an electrical blast. As she hit the wall, all of the lights went out.
"What happened?!" Sentinel exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Windblade replied, shakily rising to her feet. "All of a sudden I was forced out of the connection, like I was ripped away."
"Did Metrotitan say anything before you got cut off?" Brainstorm asked.
"Just one word," Windblade muttered. "Primacy."
--England--
Until now, Crosswise had not realized that he had a fear of heights.
The giant dragonfly tightened its hold on him as it took him higher and higher. The rest of the Autobots and Insecticons looked like actual bugs from here. He could almost see the entire cityscape.
"It's a long way down," the dragonfly chuckled. "Any bets on how many pieces you'll break into once hitting the ground?"
"I still haven't decided which part of you I'm going to blast off," Crosswise quipped. He only hoped it sounded as brave out loud as it did in his head.
The dragonfly laughed again. "Oh, you won't have to worry about that. Save yourself the headache."
With that, the bug released him. As he fell, Crosswise failed to even think to scream and instead simply stared straight at the ground as it rapidly got closer and closer.
Above him, the dragonfly was reduced to an explosion of shrapnel just as a tow-hook dangled in front of Crosswise's face. He quickly grabbed onto it and allowed Evac to safely fly him down to the ground, where the others were still caught fighting the rest of the swarm.
"There," the helicopter said once it had dropped Crosswise down. "We're even."
"Thanks," Crosswise grunted. Recovering the gun he had dropped, he rushed to rejoin the fight.
* * *
"Where is it?! Tell me, fleshling!"
Stormshot watched the dragon as it tore Folgan Castle apart. Joining Gigatron in his rampage were several Insecticons, although they seemed to be far more interested in feeding on the old Autobots that Sir Edmund kept around.
A well-aimed shot blasted the Shrapnel unit off of the one called Bulldog, but it did little good. The veteran Autobot was nothing more than an exoskeleton now, his armor and vital parts long since devoured. Charging ahead, Stormshot took down two Kickback models before setting her sights on Gigatron.
The Decepticon dragon had all but reduced the castle's outer walls to rubble and was now making his way inside. From the way he was picking up cabinets and shaking them, it looked like he was searching for something. But what, Stormshot could not imagine.
Raising her guns, she fired off two shots at the dragon. Gigatron snarled as he whirled around, eyes blazing with anger.
"Did you really think," he rumbled, "that that would do anything?"
"It got your attention," Stormshot replied.
"Indeed. It has also ensured your death." With a roar, Gigatron lunged forward, both mouths open as fire spewed from his twin maws. Stormshot dove for cover, allowing the dragon to fly over her, before turning around and firing again.
Enraged, Gigatron converted to his robot mode and draw a double-bladed sword. Twirling it in his hand, the warlord changed course and charged towards Stormshot, rage glowing in his optics.
Before Gigatron could make his attack, Jetfire burst through the swarm and fired upon him. Distracted by the sudden assault, Gigatron had not time to defend himself as Stormshot did the same.
"No!" Gigatron bellowed as he weathered the onslaught. "I shall not be thwarted by upstarts! I razed Rivets Field and tore the Pious Pools asunder! My destiny awaits me!"
"As far as I'm concerned, your destiny is a scrapheap," Jetfire said, lowering his shoulder cannons. As he began to charge them up, he motioned Stormshot to move out of the way. Gigatron noticed this as Stormshot quickly scrambled for cover and he craned his head to look at Jetfire.
The warlord sniffed. "You're a fool if you believe I can be vanquished so easily."
"Tell you what," Jetfire replied. "If you survive this, I'll buy you a drink."
With that, he unleashed two beams of energy and Gigatron was sent flying out of the castle.
* * *
"I am sorry, sire. I have failed you."
The late Sir Edmund Burton said nothing as soot and dust continued to fall on his ashen face. Cogman knelt beside his deceased master, head bowed in mourning.
"Of all my masters, you were always the cruelest. Even Sir Alistair at least allowed me to decide which form of punishment he should give me. You never gave me such freedom."
Over him, another crack began to form in the ceiling. Cogman paid it no heed as he lifted his head to the space bridge that Folgan Castle had been built over many centuries ago. Part of the ceiling had already caved in on it, rendering it inoperable.
"There will be no escape this time," he murmured to himself. "Onyx has come for Nexus' gift."
Rising to his feet, he held up the device that was the cause of all this. The Enigma of Combination glowed in his hands, its parts constantly shifting and reconnecting.
Looking around, Cogman counted the number of sheltered bots that still remained in the dungeon. Three of them -- an orange truck, a red motorcycle, and a blue bomber -- were the most recent arrivals from the space bridge and in the best condition. The other two -- both rusted steam engines -- had been received sometime during the 19th century. God knew how operative they were.
Still, it was a start.
Holding up the Enigma to the five chosen candidates, Cogman pulled its sides apart just as the ceiling above him exploded into a storm of debris....
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