CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Furman University, Earth
A burst of energy blasted Alice out of the liberty and onto the campus grounds outside. The students reacted in surprise and started to run for safety as Alice pulled herself back up, her “skin” pulling apart further to expose her mechanical self underneath.
Sari emerged from the hole she had blasted through the library’s doors, clad in her full armor. Kicker was close behind her, carrying his energy saber. Both of them braced themselves for whatever Alice was about to do next.
Her once-human eyes glowing like blue robotic ones, Alice raised her hand to generate another orb of energy, though this one seemed to lack the intensity of the previous ones she had thrown. She hurled it at Sari, who caught it with her own hand before throwing it back, albeit not before charging it up with her own energy. The ensuing explosion sent Alice flying off her feet and she landed two meters from where she had once stood.
The defeated Alice struggled to get back up only to collapse back onto the ground, sparks spitting out from her exposed mechanical parts. She regarded Sari and Kicker with baleful eyes as they approached her, weapons still drawn.
“Go ahead,” she hissed at them. “Finish it.”
Kicker moved to raise his blade but Sari stopped him, grabbing him roughly by the shoulder.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked in alarm.
Kicker looked back at her as if she had lost her mind. “She’s too dangerous to be left alive. She would have blown up the whole school.”
“But she didn’t,” Sari retorted. “We stopped her. Now we just hold her here until the Autobots arrive.”
Kicker shook his head. “You don’t understand. She’s wild and unpredictable. There’s no taming something like her.”
Sari looked back down at Alice, who simply glared back at her. She then noticed that several of the students were staring at the three of them, recording them on their phones and taking pictures.
“We should get out of here,” she said quietly. “Too much unwanted attention.”
“And just how are we going to take her with us?” Kicker asked pointedly, gesturing at Alice.
Before Sari could answer him, a beam of light struck the ground in front of them, causing the crowd around them to scatter once more. As the beam retracted, two large robots stood in its place, one red and the other yellow. The yellow one immediately collapsed to his knees, staring down at his slightly scorched armor.
“My finish….” Sunstreaker muttered. “I just… I just finished buffing my plating!”
“I’ll admit, orbital bounces aren’t my favorite method of travel,” grunted Sideswipe. “Now I know why Jazz hates them so much.” He then looked down at Sari, Kicker, and Alice, disregarding the other panicked humans. “You’re Sari, right? Nice duds.”
“Huh? Oh, thanks.” Sari patted her masked face. “I’m, uh, surprised you guys came so quickly.”
“Yeah, Prime’s got us using orbital jumps to get around, at least until Wheeljack gets a GroundBridge up and running.” Sideswipe directed his attention to Alice, laying on the ground between him and the two armored techno-organics. “Who’s this?”
“Someone dangerous,” Kicker replied. “I don’t suppose you have any device to contain her in?”
Sideswipe thought for a moment. “No, but I’m sure Wheeljack has something back at base. If we move quick, we can get her in something before she gets loose. Who even is she?”
“She’s like me,” Sari said quietly. “A techno-organic.”
“We are nothing alike,” Alice snarled. “Don’t pretend you know anything about me!”
“Oooo-kay,” Sideswipe muttered. He looked to Sari and raised an optic ridge. “You have quite the story to tell, I take it?”
Sari sighed. “You have no idea….”
Decepticon camp, Earth
Killmaster stood alone in the chamber containing the Talisman, having brought it out of his dimension and returned it to its original place. Scorponok and Leo Prime had both vanished upon interacting with the device, leaving nary a trace of them having ever existed. Unfazed and indifferent, the Warrior Elite turned away from the alien device and proceeded to walk out of the chamber.
Had he lingered for a moment more, he would have seen the Talisman flash with energy again as it deposited a large, purple-armored figure into the chamber. The being dropped to a knee, fatigued from the efforts they had taken in getting here.
Not so long ago in this world, he had gone by the name of “Gnashteeth.” It was a name that had been derided by many and one that he himself had never been proud of. Still, it was a name he had been forced to go by until he found one that was more fitting… or until one found him.
But after the journey he had been on, he had finally found his true self; the name that was rightfully his. The name that, soon, all would learn to fear.
But first, he had to rid himself of the one who already carried that name and make it his.
A pearly white grin crossed Megatron’s face as he transformed into his dinosaur form and stalked out of the chamber.
Elsewhere
Leo Prime groaned as he rolled onto his back, staring at the metal ceiling above him.
While he was glad to see that he was no longer in Killmaster’s void of a pocket dimension, that still left the question of where he was now. After giving his processor a moment to readjust himself, he slowly sat up to survey his surroundings… and cursed to himself.
“Well, well,” said the blue wolf-like robot sitting in front of him. “Fancy seeing you around here.”
“Steel Jaw,” Leo Prime growled, glaring at his former co-conspirator. “What are you doing here? Where even are we?”
“Funny, I was going to ask you the same things.” Steel Jaw turned to the cell door, through which Leo Prime could see other cells containing bots that he recognized from his Mayhem movement. “It seems as though we are in familiar company.”
Before Leo Prime could ask any one of the thousand questions running through his mind, a door opened at the end of the hallway and the shadowed figure of a strange creature with tentacles appeared, with two larger figures flanking it. When the alien spoke, it spoke in the Cybertronian language yet with a voice that was most definitely not.
“Your waiting has finally reached its end.”
Two large gray and purple robots — featuring designs that Leo Prime recognized to be neither Cybertronian nor Eukarian — stormed into the hallway and opened one of the cell doors, dragging out its two occupants.
“Save any prayers you may have for your god Primus,” the alien creature went on. “Because you are about to meet him.”
Leo Prime stormed up to the door of his cell, pushing Steel Jaw aside. “Where are we, creature?” he demanded. “What do you plan on doing to us?”
“You are home, Cybertronian,” the alien replied. “And it is what you will be doing for us that is the question.”
Before Leo Prime could question the creature further, the two guards departed with the prisoners and the door slammed shut.
“You know,” Steel Jaw said as he sat against the wall, folding his arms behind his head. “I never did want to live forever.”
The Lost Light
“Don’t tell me you called us up here just to watch us get captured.”
Star Saber ignored Nickel’s remark as he stared out the viewport, watching as the strange spacecrafts with tendrils pulled the immobile Lost Light in the same direction as the Vis Vitalis. They were nearing the end of the Muta-Gaath Nebula and all of the gathered bots on the ship’s bridge were dreading what awaited them on the other side.
Stormshot stood to the back of the room, debating whether or not she should say something about the “ghost” in the engine rooms. Would telling Star Saber about it help them get out of this situation, or would it only add another burden onto the already beleaguered captain’s shoulders? She was surprised Red Alert hadn’t said anything yet, but he was too busy gawking in awe and murmuring with the others on the present situation.
She started to inch towards the door, intending to dash back to the engine rooms and confront the ghost again. However, she was worried that doing so would simply arise suspicion. Her ex-Decepticon status already made her feel like she was not trusted by the Autobots on the ship, though she wasn’t sure if that was just baseless paranoia on her part. Then again, if she told them why she was leaving, they would probably lock her up on the account of having lost her processor.
Deciding to take her chances, Stormshot slipped out of the room and quickly made her way back to the engine rooms. To make sure she got there before they got out of the nebula, she transformed into her jet mode and blasted down the corridors, which were empty thanks to most of the crew being on the bridge.
Upon returning to the engine room, she found the ghost exactly where she had left him, floating in front of the hyper-drive. He flashed her a grin as she stormed up to him.
“Back so soon?” the apparition asked.
“What is going on here?” Stormshot demanded, weapons drawn. “Are you behind this?”
“I take it something terrible is going on outside?”
“Don’t act coy, wise aft! I can tell that you know more than you’re letting on! Who even are you?”
The “ghost” smiled as he shrugged, splaying his hands. “I suppose my acting skills aren’t what they used to be. My name is Doubledealer.”
“Doubledealer,” Stormshot repeated the moniker with bitterness. “Very trustworthy name.”
“I always thought so. I played double agent for both factions during the war, though I was never really loyal to either one cause; just my own, which was to make money.”
“How did you end up on this ship?” Stormshot asked.
“I was being paid by the Autobot Secret Service to infiltrate the Secret Order, back when they were around. When things got compromised, I escaped one of their bases on a stolen ship and got picked up by your friends here. Only problem was, said stolen ship had a bunch of clones who thought they were the new Megatron. Needless to say, they didn’t take too kindly to that.”
“So, what? They killed you?”
“The twitchy one did; Red Alert, I believe his name is.” Doubledealer smirked. “Only he didn’t kill me. Not for long, in any case.”
Stormshot frowned. “Explain.”
“Did you really think I would risk my neck for the Autobots? I was fully aware of the things that their Secret Service often got themselves into, and that the rate of survival was far too low for my liking. Still, they were offering a very attractive sum of money, so I decided to reach out to some friends of mine to pull me out in the event that I did die. They agreed, so I did what the Autobots asked of me up until one of them shot me dead. Then, my friends gave me a second lease on life.”
“And just who are these friends of yours?” Stormshot asked.
“Have you looked outside recently?”
Stormshot opened her mouth to speak again but Doubledealer’s image was already dissipating before her optical sensors, eventually leaving her alone in the engine rooms.
A dozen things were running through her mind as she rushed back to the bridge. Upon her return, she found that the Lost Light had already exited the Muta-Gaath Nebula and was fast-approaching a coalition of five celestial bodies, arranged in a circular, ring-like formation. The Vis Vitalis was leading the captive Lost Light, still guided by the tendril-ships, towards the center of the ring.
“Those planets look like Cybertron,” Stormshot heard someone say.
“Signal Flare, can you scan for life signs?” asked Star Saber.
Signal Flare shook his head. “Scanners aren’t working, for some reason. I’ll keep trying.”
“Don’t bother,” Star Saber muttered. “I think we’re about to find out.”
In the center of the ring, a sixth planet suddenly manifested itself as the two ships drew closer to it. Like the other five, it bore a strong resemblance to Cybertron. However, it was distinguished by a pair of metal rings that enclosed the celestial body, creating an X-like shape around it.
Stormshot noticed a green and yellow bot shift uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, guys,” Cosmos said quietly. “I swear I didn’t know anything about this.”
“It’s fine, Cosmos,” Star Saber replied, letting out a heavy sigh. “Just another normal day for the Crusadercons.”
Yet somehow, Stormshot thought, it would probably be the last.
Planet X, colony world of Liege Maximo
The lightning stopped, though Rodimus Prime still felt as if he was in pain. The being who called himself Primus stood over him, regarding him with a look of pity.
“You know, when I had created the Matrix, I had hoped it would guide the people of Cybertron into an everlasting peace. Instead, all it created was chaos.”
Rodimus groaned as he rolled onto his back, glaring up at his assailant. “What are you talking about?”
“Surely I do not need to spell it out,” Primus replied dryly. “The Matrix of Leadership was only ever supposed to be carried by one, yet the thirteen who considered themselves Primes fought over it. Even during their fragile alliance was the Matrix’s true bearer contested. After that, it became a political tool, used as means to rule rather than to lead. In the span of several thousand years, it has gone from being a source of life to simply being another bauble.”
“Yeah, speaking of the Matrix, where is it?” Rodimus asked, opening his chest compartment to show the empty Matrix chamber within. “I had it with me, but it was gone when I—”
His voice trailed off as Primus held up the object in question. The Matrix of Leadership seemed to glow even more radiantly in the so-called God’s hands than Rodimus had ever seen it.
“Clearly, it had been a mistake to entrust such power in the hands of those who barely understand it,” Primus went on. “It was also a mistake for me to leave my people to begin with. Perhaps then Cybertron would be better prepared for what is to come.”
Primus then made a gesture with his hand and the room became fully illuminated. The first thing Rodimus noticed was a giant viewscreen which displayed the image of five replica Cybertrons arranged in a circle, with a sixth planet floating in its epicenter. Approaching the sixth planet were two ships; the one in the lead he recognized as the Vis Vitalis, former ship of the Autobot Thunderclash. The second, Rodimus realized with horror, was the Lost Light, being escorted by a fleet of strange black vessels with tendrils.
“It would appear we are about to have visitors,” Primus said. “If I were to wager a guess, I believe they are here to rescue me. Or rather Rung, I should say.”
“I swear to God, if you hurt them,” Rodimus started to say.
Primus laughed. “I am God, Rodimus Prime. You will swear to me.”
“No. The real Primus — if there even is one — wouldn’t side with the likes of Liege Maximo and invade innocent worlds to build some sort of weapon. I don’t know who you are, but you’re no ‘God’ of mine.”
“Then I won’t waste your time any further.” Primus made another gesture and the door behind Rodimus and Convoy opened to allow several guards in, including the one who had led the two Primes here in the first place. “Take them to one of the holding cells. They will soon be in good company.”
“We’ll stop you,” Rodimus grunted as he was pulled up and restrained by the guards. “You’re far from the first evil megalomaniac we’ve faced.”
Primus chuckled. “Then I just need to be the first one to win.”
TO BE CONTINUED
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