CHAPTER SEVEN
--Fortress Maximus--
Tigerhawk roared as he lunged at Magmatron, tackling the Beast King to the floor. Despite the severe sword wound, the Fuzor managed to resist Magmatron's attempts to wrestle him off and even dealt a scratch on the Eukarian's face. As he grabbed Magmatron's helm, Tigerhawk leaned in closely and bore his fangs.
"How did you get here?" the Fuzor growled.
"I let myself in," Magmatron snarled before kicking Tigerhawk off of him. Before the Fuzor could reorient himself, Magmatron regained his footing and cleaved his sword through Tigerhawk's right shoulder, severing the Fuzor from his arm. As his opponent howled in agony, Magmatron kicked him down and pressed a foot down on his chest, pointing his blade at the Fuzor's face.
"Understand this," the Beast King growled. "I am not here to undo your work; I'm simply taking over."
Tigerhawk glowered at him. "You have no right to--"
"I don't?" Magmatron's optics flashed in rage. "I am a true-born Eukarian. I ruled over the planet for five thousand years. You are an aberration spawned from an exile's lab. You aren't even a millennium old! And yet you claim to be Onyx Prime's will?"
With a roar, Magmatron drove his blade into Tigerhawk's face, using it as leverage to pull the Fuzor's head clean off. He then pulled the severed head off of his sword before crushing it in his hands.
"I am Onyx Prime's will," Magmatron rumbled. "And the glory of his ascension will be mine to behold!"
--Stonehenge--
"Help... medic...."
Blackout crawled uselessly on the ground, his legs all but totaled. His purple-scaled assailant loomed over him, a vicious grin on his face.
"This is the last survivor of the Decepticon Heavy Brigade?" Gnashteeth chuckled. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
Blackout looked over where his left shoulder had once been, surprise flickering in his optics. "How... how do you...?"
"I will be honest," the Predacon went on as he pointed his tail-cannon at the Decepticon helicopter, "I was never that impressed with them to begin with."
As the barrel of the weapon glowed, Blackout shut off his optics in acceptance of his fate. "All hail Megatron," he whispered.
Energy lanced from the tail and Blackout's head exploded into shrapnel. Gnashteeth grunted to himself as he retracted his weapon.
"Hmm. Megatron. Yes...."
Turning away from the Decepticon's headless corpse, Gnashteeth shifted his attention to a small orange ship hovering over the Stonehenge monument. He had not realize it had been there earlier; it had yet to make any sort of move against either Maximal or Predacon.
Intriguing. But not intriguing enough to leave alone.
Radioing all Predacon fliers, Gnashteeth gave the order: "Shoot down that thing over the monument, now!"
* * *
"Grimlock! Don't-- It's me, Ratchet!"
The medic's cries went ignored (not that he was surprised) as Grimlock hurled him up into the air with his mouth. As the Dinobot turned around, ready to impale the doctor with his tail, Ratchet's descent was interrupted by a green ursagryph swooping in and grabbing him with its talons. Before Ratchet could even register what had just happened, the Dinobot Swoop collided into them and soon Ratchet was falling again.
One of the standing stones broke his fall (and probably broke something else of his) and he ended up landing in the center of the Stonehenge structure. Groaning in pain, Ratchet looked up to see Sentinel Major hovering overhead, completely inactive and immobile.
"Thanks for the help," Ratchet called up to him. Just as the words had left his mouth, a number of Predacon fliers flew in and attacked the would-be Prime, tearing and blasting him to shreds.
As Ratchet watched in horror as the ravaged Sentinel plummeted to the ground. The ground beneath him began to shake.
--Fortress Maximus--
Upon being teleported inside by Skywarp, Optimus Prime and Megatron were immediately met with opposition.
The reptilian Fuzor's diamond-hard shell sent Optimus crashing into the wall, knocking his systems for a loop. Meanwhile, Megatron was preoccupied with a tusk-bearing Fuzor who met him in both size and might as the two of them wrestled.
"Your efforts are useless!" Torca boomed. "The ascension cannot be stopped!"
"Oh, enough already," Megatron muttered before pulling his opponent in for a head-butt. As the disoriented Fuzor backed into a wall, Megatron blasted him in the face, knocking him into stasis. The Decepticon then turned around in time to see Optimus tear off Terragator's shield-arm and bash it into the beast's face.
"Impressive," Megatron remarked as the second Fuzor crumpled lifelessly to the floor. "You might've made for a decent fighter in the Pits."
"Enough." Optimus tossed the shield aside. "Let's just get--"
His sentence went unfinished as the Titan began to shake. Megatron scowled to himself. "This is becoming too much of a habit," he muttered.
"Over there." Optimus pointed to a tower up ahead, from which a bright light was shining. "I'm guessing the action's over there."
"As always, Prime, you are most likely right." Megatron converted into his jet mode and hovered in front of Optimus. "Need a lift?"
* * *
"What in Onyx's name?!" Magmatron shielded his optics from the blinding light that was emitting from Cerebros' visor. "What are you doing?!"
"I don't know!" Cerebros exclaimed. "I think... I think he's controlling me...."
"Who is?" Magmatron snarled. "Who's 'he?'"
Before Cerebros could answer, the wall behind him exploded and a black jet came flying in, carrying a red and blue bot. Magmatron's optics narrowed as the two landed in front of him, drawing their weapons.
"The Prime and the tyrant," the Beast King rumbled as he brandished his sword. "How I've waited for this."
"And you would be?" Megatron asked, raising an optic ridge. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."
"You shall both be cursing my name as you burn in the blazing inferno."
"Mind giving us your name so that we're prepared?"
Magmatron seethed. "You shall rue the day you crossed Magmatron, Beast King of Eukaris!"
"Thank you." Megatron glanced at Optimus. "On three?"
With a roar, Magmatron charged at the two leaders... just as Cerebros bathed the entire room with light.
--Autobot City--
"Well?"
Windblade frowned as she moved her hands over Metrotitan's brain module. "He's not answering. No, more like... he's refusing to answer."
Brainstorm sighed. "Well, so much for that then. Maybe we can ask Sky Lynx for a lift, although I don't see how much help the two of us would be."
"I don't understand it. He was cooperative before, so why is he...." Her frown deepened as the Titan finally transmitted a signal to her. "He... he says we've failed."
"Ask him to be more specific."
"He says we've doomed ourselves."
"Still too vague."
"He says we've failed the entire Cybertronian race."
"I really think we should check on Perceptor now," Brainstorm murmured.
--Stonehenge--
The standing stones that had stood for thousands of years now fell to the ground as the headless Titan emerged from the ground. Down below, bots and beasts alike scrambled to avoid the falling rocks.
Several feet above, Cerebros stood in the alcove of the Titan's neck, looking down on them all. In this moment, it finally dawned on him. After nine hundred years he finally knew what it all meant, what he was meant for. Everything fell perfectly into place.
He held up the Enigma of Combination, which had materialized in his hands. It glowed brighter than it ever had before. All he had to do was point it in the direction of the five beasts; everything else was out of his hands.
As Razorclaw and his four Predacons were lifted up from the ground, Cerebros settled into the alcove and let his t-cog do the rest of the work. As his body shifted into its new configuration, he felt his mind slowly ebb away, being overwritten by the Titan's.
He did not mind. This was how things were now.
This was his purpose.
This was his destiny.
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