CHAPTER SIX
"I must say, Quintus, that your herald has a penchant for finding things of great intrigue."
Quintus Prime grinned as she and her fellow Primes watched their army of Titans descend upon Luna 1, the fabled missing moon of legend. "Indeed, Onyx. I am so proud."
"I see that Nexus has arrived as well," said Liege Maximo, nodding to the large blue and red gestalt waiting for them down below. "And he's not alone either...."
"Ah, Vector Prime!" Onyx Prime chuckled. "Things have just gotten a lot more interesting. Wouldn't you agree, Megatronus?"
But the Fallen was not smiling, nor did he seem rejoiced at having rediscovered the lost moon. If anything, he looked more perturbed.
"Something about this doesn't feel right," he muttered. "Vector almost never involves himself in things like this. Why would he act now of all times?"
"Perhaps he wished to join us," Onyx said. "His abilities would be most useful."
Liege Maximo huffed, steam exhausting from his vents. "As I recall, it was he who ultimately defeated me all those millennia ago. I have no desire to work alongside him once more."
"The time has come to put petty grudges behind us, my friend," Onyx rumbled. "Besides, the more Primes that are united, the easier it will be to subjugate our prospects." With that, the beast Prime spread his massive wings. "Let us join them, shall we?"
* * *
Rampage grunted as he squeezed himself through the small opening. Wrenching the gap further apart with his claws, he finally had enough clearance to get through. He instantly converted to robot mode and rose to his full height to explore the room he was in.
It was a control room, by the looks of it, not unlike one found on spacecraft. Active monitors displayed images of space and navigational info, while blinking lights on the console indicated various controls. If Rampage hadn't known better, he would've thought he was on a starship, not a moon.
Unless, of course, it was meant to be both....
As he began to walk over to the controls, he heard metal creak behind him. Turning around, he saw Depth Charge squeezing out of the same gap Rampage himself had emerged from, already brandishing his trident.
"Relentless, are we?" Rampage hissed.
"I'm going to kill you, you sick piece of slag," Depth Charge growled.
Rampage cackled as he spread his arms in a taunting invitation. "Give me your best shot."
* * *
"You're Boltax?" Getaway stared at the spindly robot in utter incredulity. "No offense, but I was expecting someone... bigger."
"The truth is always more likely to kill your expectations than to meet them," Boltax replied. "As Decanus of Nova Cronum once put it, truth is an assassin to dreams."
"Oh, give me a break," muttered Ratchet.
"Did he look anything like this when you guys met him in that alternate universe?" Getaway asked the medic.
"No. But then again, he wasn't really the Boltax."
"So, what's going on here?" Elita asked, shifting herself to the front of the group. "Why do you have Decepticons under your employ? Why did you attack us? Why did you destroy Junkion?"
Boltax belted out a booming laugh, which startled the gathered Autobots. "Questions! Endless questions! Like Rokan of Iacon once said, questions are the best way of expressing one's idiocy."
"Who are these people he keeps mentioning?" Nautica whispered.
"Decanus and Rokan were philosophers from the early Silver Age," Ratchet answered. "They were part of a 'Brain Trust' along with Boltax, Jhiaxus and Tallus."
Boltax then raised his hands, steepling them beneath his chin. "Naturally, I cannot resist the temptation to pass on what I know. It is simply in my nature. What was your first question?"
Elita opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off by Lockdown. "Is this really the time?" the bounty hunter asked. "I mean, I was kinda hoping to get my payment before you launched on another of your monologues...."
"As Tallus of Polyhex once advised, patience is its own reward."
"Uh-huh. Cute." Lockdown narrowed his optics at the High Circuitmaster. "Now let me advise you that our contract is under non-disclosure and that telling these Autobots is a major breach of trust and security."
"Trust? Security?" Boltax chortled. "Since when does a bot of your caliber care about such things?"
"Wise guy, eh?" Lockdown idly tapped his arm gun. "Barrage, remind me again of the highest asking price for High Circuitmaster Boltax to be brought in."
The green and yellow Insecticon eagerly brought up a bounty listing on his wrist. "Eleven billion three hundred fifty million--"
"Right, thank you." Lockdown looked pointedly to Boltax. "Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds like a lot of money...."
Boltax said nothing, simply regarding the Decepticon with a blank expression.
"...And don't get me wrong, our payment for reeling in Metroplex filled the bank real good." A sly smirk began to creep onto Lockdown's face. "But since you like quoting mottoes so much, let me give you mine: When opportunity comes knocking...."
He deployed his gun and aimed it at Boltax.
"Answer the door."
As Elita cried out in protest, Lockdown fired his weapon. The blast struck Boltax's gold plating and instantly bounced off, redirecting it to Lockdown and consuming his head in a fiery explosion. As the now-headless bounty hunter crumpled to the floor, Boltax regarded his corpse with mild surprise.
"Hmm. That was hardly rational," the High Circuitmaster commented. "Not a good motto either."
The other Decepticons were beginning to back up, staring at their boss' corpse. The one called Barrage started to tremble in horror.
"This... this ain't in our pay," the Insecticon murmured. "We didn't agree to any of this."
"I'm gone." Venom pushed past the others, heading for the exit. "You guys can stay if you want, but I don't--"
The Insecticon didn't get far before the door slammed shut in his face. At the same time, the rest of the room began to shift. Gold walls peeled away into a dull gray; tiles parted to allow pillars to extend, entrapping all but Boltax in an impromptu cage; finally, the platform Boltax stood on began to rise, raising him above his guests.
"Oh. Is it that time already?" He shrugged indifferently. "Oh well. It was fun while it lasted."
With that, his optics shut off before he unceremoniously crumpled to the floor. Beneath him, the tiles parted and he was pulled into the floor, vanishing from view. In his place, another figure emerged; one that was most certainly not Cybertronian in any way, shape, or form.
"Oh slag," Getaway muttered.
"You have got to be kidding me," Ratchet grunted.
"Enough games," the Quintesson boomed, rotating its ovoid carapace to adorn a suspicious, gold-rimmed visage from its five available faces. "The time for judgment has come."
From all sides of the room, hidden doors opened to allow white and green Overcharge bots to march in, raising their guns at the entrapped Transformers.
"Let the trial... commence!"
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