CHAPTER TWELVE
--Metroplex--
“I’ve got the Lost Light and the Vis Vitalis in sight,” reported Jetfire. “What are your orders, Elita?”
Elita-One regarded the two ships from afar, noting that the Lost Light was looking particularly beat-up as well as immobile. The Vis Vitalis was also not moving, leaving her to wonder if anyone was still on-board. Nevertheless, she had already made up her mind.
“See if you can lock a tractor beam on the Lost Light,” she said. “Springer, keep an optic on the other ship and be ready to fire on my command.”
“Understood,” the Wrecker replied.
As the two Autobots got to work, Primal Major turned in his seat to face Elita with a grim look. “I’ve got an incoming message from Strongarm.”
Elita frowned. “I thought I told Bumblebee to message me.”
“It sounds pretty urgent,” Primal said. “Shall I put her on?”
“Yes, quickly.”
The Maximal leader complied and the viewscreen lit up to show the distressed face of Strongarm. “Elita, we’ve got a problem down here,” the white and blue officer said. “We were ambushed by Scorponok and he captured Sari. Both Bumblebee and Grimlock are in critical condition.”
“What?!” Elita moved with a start. “Scorponok’s alive? I thought we had seen the last of him!”
Strongarm shook her head. “I don’t know what to tell you. Point is, he has Sari and we’re losing Bumblebee fast.”
Elita cursed under her breath. She wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take in one day.
“Hang in there, Strongarm,” she eventually said. “Do what you can for both of them. We’ll be back as soon as we’re done up here.”
Strongarm did not seem to be reassured much but she nonetheless gave a curt nod before ending the call. As soon as the viewscreen had gone dark, Jetfire spoke up from his station.
“I’ve got a lock on the Lost Light.”
With a heavy sigh, Elita gave the word. “Bring them in.”
--The Lost Light--
The Dire Wraith-controlled Thunderclash silently seethed as he watched the Titan trap the ship they were on into a tractor beam, slowly but surely pulling the Lost Light in its direction. When he had first alerted the Destructon’s to the Titan’s presence, he had simply been ordered to deal with the bridge crew. But now that said Titan was pulling them in, he couldn’t help but be more than a little distracted. However, all further attempts to contact his superiors had so far been met with only silence.
Since when did they even get their hands on a Titan? he asked himself.
“Vexus,” one of the other Dire Wraiths spoke up – specifically one controlling the Autobot once known as Countdown. “What are we going to do?”
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing for the past several minutes, Degron,” Vexus-Thunderclash snarled back. “I’m starting to question why we even agreed to this alliance in the first place.”
At this, Star Saber lifted his head to look up at the hybrid, still restrained on the deck. “Not too long ago you were praising the Grand Architect and his ‘grand scheme.’”
“Oh, I still stand by the tenets of the Grand Architect’s agenda,” Vexus replied. “But there have been times where I wished he simply allowed us to handle things instead of relying on these other operatives of his, including the Destructons.”
“We could have just turned down his offer and went on with our own plans,” muttered the Dire Wraith-controlled Devcon.
“Yes, but when one has an entire fleet of Worldsweepers at their command, they can be rather persuasive,” Vexus muttered. “And like I said, his plan to access the Higher Realms sounds very pleasing to me.”
“What’s stopping us from ditching these losers?” asked another Dire Wraith. “Our ship is right there—”
“I’m not suicidal, Gurnash,” Vexus growled. “Trust me, if we abandoned them now, the Destructons would track us down and deliver us a fate worse than anything that exists in the Dark Nebula. We’re stuck with them, whether we like it or not.”
Degron shifted impatiently. “But what are we going to do? That Titan is drawing us in, and there’s sure to be more Autobots on it than we have Dire Wraiths. Are we just going to sit around and hope the Destructons pull through for us?”
Before Vexus could answer, there was a bang at the door. The Dire Wraiths and their Autobot captives all looked in its direction as it was followed by a second bang, then a third. Narrowing his eyes, Vexus glanced at the one called Gurnash and gave an imperceptible nod. Drawing a gun, the large possessed Autobot moved towards the door as it continued to be hammered from the other side. After making sure his gun was in the right position to fire at whoever was waiting for him, Gurnash slammed a hand onto the control panel.
The doors slid open to reveal Brainstorm standing there with what looked to be a small orange battering ram (which, Star Saber noticed, had an uncannily resemblance to Rung). Behind him were several other Crusadercons, including Nautica, Anode, Swerve, Velocity, Trailbreaker, and Bluestreak... and crouched behind them all, its head scraping against the ceiling, was a giant combiner made up of the Protectobots.
While Gurnash gaped in surprise, Brainstorm blinked in recognition at the Dire Wraith’s host body. “Peritus Maximus? God, it’s been forever. I thought I heard—”
“Focus, Brainstorm!” Nautica hissed.
“Oh, right.” Before Gurnash had the chance to react, Brainstorm thrust the ram into his chest. Unexpectedly, a flash of blue light emitted from the ram and coursed through the Dire Wraith. Gurnash let out a shriek that could shatter glass as his entire body convulsed, slowly reverting to its original pre-infected form. When it was done, Gurnash’s scream died out and Peritus Maximus’ body fell to the floor, weak but alive. No traces of Dire Wraith possession remained within him.
“Whoa.” Brainstorm looked down at Rung in surprise. “I didn’t know he could do that.”
The other Dire Wraiths recoiled in horror. Degron looked to Vexus, his eyes begging for guidance. But Vexus had none to offer him. For the first time in several centuries, he was at a complete and utter loss.
Without waiting for any kind of direction, the possessed Devcon charged towards the Autobots with a raged cry. Brainstorm quickly aimed Rung at him and fired another blast of blue energy, which had the same effects on the Dire Wraith as it had on Gurnash. The scientist then proceeded to do the same to all of the other Dire Wraith Autobots before they could make a move; in quick succession he cured Photon and Rocket, followed by Vertex and Exocet. Degron was the next to go, returning Countdown to his original state.
In short time, all that remained was Vexus, staring upon his departed brethren in silence. As Brainstorm shifted his attention to him, the Dire Wraith twisted his face into a vile sneer.
“You may think you have won today. But the Grand Architect’s plan cannot be delayed forever. Soon, everything shall—”
Without waiting for him to finish, Brainstorm fired Rung one last time and Vexus joined his brothers in death.
* * *
“Ugh.” A blue hand fell over a gold faceplate as Thunderclash came back online. “What... happened? Where....”
It took a moment for his optical sensors to adjust and once they had, he found himself staring up at a tall red and blue Autobot. They were somewhat similar to Optimus Prime in terms of design – mainly in the mouthplate – but they were not someone he was familiar with. Looking past him, however, Thunderclash picked out some familiar faces from his crew, such as Nautica and Velocity. Exocet, Photon and Vertex were also there, though they appeared to be in a similar condition as he was as they were helped back to their feet.
Returning his attention to the red bot, Thunderclash asked, “Where are we? This doesn’t look like the Vis Vitalis....”
“It’s not,” the other bot replied. “This is the Lost Light. My name is Star Saber. Do... you remember anything at all?”
“Last thing I can recall is Velocity giving me the diagnostics on my condition,” Thunderclash replied. He frowned as he looked between Star Saber and Velocity herself. “How long has it been since then?”
Velocity winced slightly as she answered. “Well over a year, captain. A... a lot has happened since then.”
“Understatement of the cycle,” muttered a white and red minibot standing next to her.
Thunderclash frowned in befuddlement. “Has it really been that long? What are we even doing here?”
Star Saber sighed. “There’ll be time for explanations later. If I’m not mistaken, I believe that’s Elita and her team pulling us in.”
“We also have another pressing matter at hand,” Brainstorm said grimly as he released Rung. The therapist transformed to robot mode and stepped up to Star Saber.
“Skids has been captured,” he said quietly. “He rescued me from Tyrest’s ship, but... his device couldn’t teleport us both back. He could be in danger.”
“Wonderful,” Star Saber muttered. “And since it was his brilliant idea, apparently, I can’t yell at him for being so stupid.” He then turned to address the others, focusing on the Protectobots in particular. “And since when did we have a combiner on our team?”
“Since I got this from Cannonspring.” Swerve proudly presented the Enigma of Combination. “Who’s now dead,” he added quietly. “As well as... a lot of other bots.”
“I still haven’t taken a full body count,” Velocity murmured. “The Destructons... they were all over the place.”
“I know,” Star Saber said glumly. “I... I don’t even want to think abou....”
The captain trailed off and became silent, staring out the viewport at the awaiting Metroplex. The others shared concerned glances between one another. Eventually, Wing Saber stepped over and rested a hand on his brother’s shoulder though Star Saber remained still.
Thunderclash felt the urge to offer some words of encouragement for the young bot but a quick read of the room told him that they would not have done much good. Instead, he joined them in mournful silence as the Lost Light continued its slow approach towards Metroplex.
--The Vis Vitalis--
No words were spoken as Lord Imperious Delirious stepped onto the bridge of the Vis Vitalis. The other three Destructons watched him with barely-veiled apprehension, uncertain of whether or not they were going to be punished for leaving him behind on the Lost Light. However, such matters were the last thing on his mind at the moment.
Outside, Metroplex and the Lost Light continued to float in space. Lord Imperious regarded them both with a mixture of ire and temptation. The prospect of invading the Titan and taking it for themselves was a seductive one… but it would be one he would have to resist. After the day he had just had, he was not exactly in the mood for further carnage, regardless of whether or not it would end in humiliation for him. Besides, he could sense that Vexus and his Dire Wraiths had been removed from the board, leaving them at a further disadvantage.
As for Rung... well, Tyrest would just have to remedy his own mistakes.
As Lord Imperious continued to gaze out the window, Psychokhan carefully stepped up to stand beside him. “We have received a call from Scorponok,” the robot centaur said. “Shall I put him on for you?”
“I suppose there’s no use in ignoring him,” Lord Imperious sighed as he waved a hand. “Go on.”
A moment later, Scorponok’s prideful visage materialized on the viewscreen, grinning widely. “Lord Imperious! Have you succeeded in dealing with the Autobot interlopers?”
“No more than you have with yours,” Lord Imperious calmly replied. “What do you want?”
“Oh, I was just calling to inform you that I have procured the individual I have told you so much about,” Scorponok said. “The one you said you looked forward to seeing for yourself.”
At this, Lord Imperious tilted his head. “The techno-organic?”
“Indeed. I have her right here, in the flesh. Or metal, you could say. Or both.”
While Scorponok laughed, Lord Imperious rubbed his chin in intrigue. “Yes, I would very much like to see her. I’m sure the Grand Architect would be interested as well, given his similar operations.”
“Ah, speaking of which!” Scorponok’s grin broadened. “The bot himself has requested for your presence.”
“He has?” Lord Imperious asked, surprised.
“Yes, in person. I’m sending you the coordinates now.”
While Medusa slithered over to the computer to receive said coordinates, Lord Imperious kept his attention focused on Scorponok. “Did he say why he wished to see me?” the Destructon leader asked.
“Only that he wished to discuss a few major adjustments to the plan with you,” the Decepticon replied.
“I see.” Lord Imperious could feel the other Destructons staring at him but he did not dare so much as glance at them. “In that case, I shall make haste. Is there anything else you wish to tell me?”
“No,” Scorponok said, still with that scrap-eating grin of his. “That will be all.”
“Very well.” With that, Lord Imperious ended the call, returning silence to the bridge of the ship. Psychokhan shifted uneasily next to him, exchanging a glance with Medusa before directing his attention to his leader.
“Do you think he suspects?”
Lord Imperious gave a small shrug. “Who’s to say? Perhaps I have underestimated him; perhaps I had taken him for more of a fool than he actually is.”
“If he does expose us,” Bruton growled, “what do we do?”
“We do what we do best, my friend,” Lord Imperious replied, staring at the two Autobot vessels one last time. “We adapt. We adapt and we evolve.”
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