CHAPTER ELEVEN
“All right,” Sari said, standing at the mercy of Tarantulas. “You’ve got me. What do you want from me?”
The spider Predacon tittered in response. “Ah, compliance. Such a rare experience for me. Although, what assurance do I have that you will do as I ask once I explain things to you?”
“Seeing as how you’ve somehow gotten the ability to freeze time, there’s not really anything I can do besides whatever you’ve got in mind,” Sari replied, folding her arms. “So go ahead. Out with it.”
Again, that horrible cackle. “Oh, this is just too much for me. You are everything I could have hoped for and yet so much more.”
Sari raised an eyebrow behind her mask. “What do you mean?”
“Your independent mind,” Tarantulas replied. “Your free will. If I hadn’t known better, I never would have suspected you to be a lab-born experiment.”
“How do you know I’m a ‘lab-born experiment?’ Were you… were you involved in my creation?”
“Not to a great extent,” Tarantulas said. “I was secretly in touch with Scorponok — something which I hid from my ‘friends’ in the Secret Order — and he summoned me to Earth to provide some input on his operations. I provided him with some samples of the Obtenteum I had created from Shockwave’s Regenesis ore here on this planet which allowed him to craft the material needed to create the perfect techno-organic. I am pleased to see that such material has held up in the past nineteen years.”
“Yeah, so am I,” Sari muttered. “So, besides gushing over me, what exactly is it that you want me to do?”
“It’s rather simple, really,” Tarantulas cackled. “I want you to help me break reality.”
“Break reality… I’m sorry, what the hell does that even mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like it means. For some time now, I have been studying this Autobot we captured back in Verenya and I have since discovered that he was sent through time by the artifact we know as the Talisman. His mere existence has become a temporal anomaly. This — combined with all of the transwarp experiments that Decepticon and Autobot alike have dabbled in — has led me to believe that the very fabric of time and space of our universe has become threadbare and on the brink of collapse. The recent event of Unicron’s spirit being freed from the Dead Universe via the Grand Architect’s weapon has only further solidified my hypothesis.”
“Right,” Sari said carefully. “You lost me after the words ‘temporal anomaly.’ Can you just tell me how I’m supposed to factor into all this?”
Tarantulas growled in annoyance. “Perhaps if you weren’t so impatient and would let me finish,” he said. “I have come to the realization that my thoughts are perceived as nonsense by others, thus leaving me alone to be aware of this situation. Because of this, rather than try to fix the issue on my own, I have decided it would be better to compound the issue. That way, people will have no choice but to acknowledge the issue and do something to fix it… if they even have time to do so.”
Sari frowned. “So… you want to collapse the universe just so you can spite people you don’t like? Is that what you’re trying to get at?”
“More or less. That is where you come in, of course.”
Sari folded her arms. “How so?”
“The Predacon ship in the sky — they call it the Darksyde — carries a transwarp drive,” Tarantulas said, pointing at the clawed spacecraft in question. “I want you to sneak on board and use it to travel to a specified point in time. Once there, you will make a drastic change to history that will sufficiently disrupt the universe.”
“You can’t give me any more details?” Sari asked. “Like, which specific point in time are we talking about? What change am I making?”
“I will tell you once you are on board the ship,” Tarantulas replied. “I wouldn’t want you running off and blabbing about my plans to the Autobots, now would I?”
Sari sighed as she looked up at the Darksyde, frozen in place as everything else was. She already knew that she was not going to carry out Tarantulas’ plans; it was simply a matter of pretending to go along with him for long enough so that she could get the full details of his plan without actually executing it. How exactly she was going to go about that, she was not quite sure yet.
“All right,” she finally said after a moment. “I’ll do it.”
She cringed as Tarantulas erupted in another fit of maniacal laughter. “Excellent! Trust me, little one, you will be doing the universe a great favor by trusting me.”
In more ways than you know, eight eyes, Sari thought to herself.
* * *
“So,” Bulkhead said, “does anyone want to ask who invited him?”
Bumblebee grimaced as he and his fellow Autobots, along with their Maximal allies, all stared up at Onyx Prime, standing forebodingly at the top of Sumdac Tower. Even the Predacons had stopped fighting and were exchanging equal looks of confusion.
“What do we do?” he heard the Fuzor known as Quickstrike whisper. “He didn’t warn us about this.”
“Don’t do anything until we hear back from Megatron,” Dinobot growled back.
Bumblebee did not know what the Predacons were doing following Megatron all of a sudden, though he supposed he should not have been too surprised. Deciding not to dwell on it, he looked over to Primal Major.
“What should we do?” he asked. “Should we wait for him to make the first move?”
“Are ya’ kidding?” snapped Rattrap. “He’d annihilate us without so much as lifting a servo! I say we start shooting at him.”
“Wait,” Rhinox said, raising an emerald hand. “He’s starting to move.”
Indeed, Onyx Prime had started to crouch down and looked as if he was about to take flight. Without warning, Rattrap let out a cry and started shooting at the ancient Prime, though his blaster left little damage on Onyx’s ancient black armor plating. Just as Primal moved to disarm Rattrap and reprimand him, Onyx Prime jumped down from his perch and landed on the ground before them, tucking in his great orange wings.
“Lay down your weapons,” Onyx Prime growled softly. “I mean you no harm.”
“Like hell you don’t!” Rattrap cried, trying to wrestle his tiny arms out of Primal’s firm grasp. “What are you gonna do, brainwash us again! Over my cold, offline chassis!”
“I am not going to brainwash you. I just want to talk.”
“Go ahead, start talking,” said Cheetor, raising his own gun. “Just don’t say anything that will scratch my itchy trigger finger.”
“Stand down, all of you!” Primal barked. He then turned his attention to Onyx, his optical sensors narrowed. “What do you want, Onyx?”
“What I want has just been taken away from me,” the ancient Prime replied. “The Underbase has just been destroyed, ruining my plan to use it to end the dynasty I once considered myself to be a part of. Even if I do go through with executing Optimus or Rodimus or anyone else who still calls themselves a Prime, I will still be met with resistance and a new Prime will simply rise to take their place. It would ultimately be counterproductive.”
“What exactly changed your mind?” Primal asked. “Just a year ago, when we defeated Thunderwing and the Fallen, you seemed more than happy to allow Rodimus to carry the Matrix of Leadership and serve as Prime.”
“It was because of our conflict with Thunderwing and the Fallen that led me to change my mind,” Onyx Prime said. “During our pursuit of Liege Maximo, I realized just how dangerous the title of Prime was; how it fed into our egos and made us power-hungry. That much was demonstrated by Thunderwing, by the Fallen and Quintus, even by myself and Nexus initially. It was because of this realization that I withdrew myself from the pursuit and left Nexus and Convoy to their fates; as much as it pained me to do so, I knew their deaths would be better for the universe in the long run.”
“Is that why you are back in your original body and not in the gestalt created by the original five Predacons?” asked Rhinox. “Not to say you aren’t imposing as it is, but you are noticeably a lot… smaller than you were the last time you were on Earth.”
Onyx Prime nodded. “My body — this body — is ancient, and I knew it would not be sufficient for the conquest of Cybertron that Nexus and I had originally planned. With his help, I transferred my spark into a Prime Master which was then carried around by the Predacon leader Razorclaw without his knowledge. Once the Enigma of Combination was retrieved and Predaking was formed, I promptly took over their combined state.”
“Where is Predaking now, then?” asked Arcee.
Onyx Prime shrugged. “I left him to Liege Maximo’s mercy along with Nexus and Convoy. Primus knows what he has decided to do with him.”
“Speaking of which,” Primal said, “do you have anything to do with the bot running around calling himself ‘Primus?’ He also goes by the Grand Architect, if that rings any bells.”
Onyx Prime stiffened at this. “I… am aware of such an individual.”
“Not what I asked. We already know that Liege Maximo is working with him, and it’s pretty convenient that you abandoned your fellow Primes to Liege Maximo as soon as you got to Planet X where Primus was building his ‘God Gun’ or whatever it is called.”
“Enough!” Onyx Prime snarled before rolling his claws into fists. “Yes, I did inadvertently work with Liege Maximo and the Grand Architect. In fact, it was Maximo who helped solidify my decision to change my course of action. He reached out to me through a private connection, knowing that I was not as noble as Nexus or Convoy, and told me of the Grand Architect and his plans. He told me that Primus was planning on retaking control of Cybertron and abolishing the succession of leadership that was the Prime title. This already aligned with my shifting views and I agreed to help facilitate their endeavors.”
Primal frowned in confusion. “The Titan Masters told us they knew nothing about the Grand Architect and were simply following your will.”
“Of course they told you that. Seeing as how my schemes and Primus’ were more adjacent rather than interconnected, I saw no need to inform them of the higher power I was working with, although I’m sure Sovereign at the very least suspected a connection as events developed.”
“Well, I’m glad we cleared that up,” Rattrap said dryly. “So now that your precious Underbase is gone, what are you gonna do now? Run crying to Primus?”
Onyx Prime glared at the rodent Maximal and Primal opened his mouth to give Rattrap another reprimand when Cheetor tapped him on the shoulder.
“Big Bot! We’ve got company.”
Bumblebee joined Primal and the others in looking up towards the sky. Having joined the Darksyde was a blocky orange transport which was more in line with Autobot ship design than it was with Decepticon or Predacon design. The Darksyde itself made no move to stop the transport as it quickly made its descent. At the same time, the ship lowered its landing ramp to reveal a herd of beast-formers, all bearing the green Maximal insignia. At their forefront was a white and gold mech with a red chestplate and a helmet that bore an uncanny resemblance to that of Optimus Prime.
“Leo Prime?!” Primal exclaimed. “What in the AllSpark’s name is he doing here?”
“Well, you did call for backup,” Cheetor pointed out.
“Don’t just stand around!” Dinobot snarled to his Predacons, who were still gawking in silence at both Onyx Prime and the new arrivals. “Shoot them down!”
As the Predacons started to open fire, Leo Prime and the Maximals began pouring out of the ship. While several of them returned fire with the Predacons, Leo Prime seemed to be ignoring both them and the astonished stares from Primal and his crew. In fact, as the former Maximal leader transformed into his lion form and let out a thunderous roar as he made his lunge, Bumblebee quickly realized exactly who his target was mere seconds before Leo Prime collided with Onyx Prime.
* * *
“Ah, and here we have the pretender,” Onyx Prime rumbled as he threw the attacking white lion off of him. “Here for another desperate play for power?”
“Shut up!” Leo Prime snarled, transforming back to his robot mode. “This has nothing to do with power or titles! This is for all of your lies and deceptions! For what you did to my people on this very planet!”
“’Your people?’ They’re not ‘your people,’ Cybertronian. They never were. They only followed you because of what you pretended to be, not for what you actually were.”
“Enough!” Leo Prime drew a large golden sword. “It doesn’t matter what you or anyone else thinks. I don’t even care how history remembers me as a person; so long as they remember me for what I did.”
“For constantly failing?” Onyx Prime chuckled. “I suppose they will.”
Leo Prime roared as he charged towards the ancient Prime, swinging his sword. Onyx crossed his arms to block the first wave of strikes, allowing the former Maximal leader to push him back a few steps. When Leo paused, Onyx chose then to lash out with his claws, delivering a series of slashes across the Maximal’s chest. He then grabbed the golden sword by the blade and wrenched it out of Leo Prime’s grasp, tossing it to the side.
“Pathetic,” the ancient Prime opined.
“I’ll show you pathetic,” Leo Prime retorted as he brandished a set of claws from his servos before pouncing onto Onyx. He proceeded to claw at Onyx’s face, wrestling against his foe whenever the older Prime attempted to grab his arms or push him off. Upon seeing an opening in Onyx’s neck, Leo seized on the opportunity and plunged his claws into the space beneath Onyx’s head, eliciting a pained cry from the dragon. Leo Prime savored the sound as he pushed his claws deeper.
“How does it feel?” the former Maximal leader whispered into his audio sensor. “To be knocked down several pegs from your high-and-mighty pedestal?”
“You tell me,” Onyx growled back. He then grabbed onto Leo by the back and used all of his might to lift him up, extracting the claws from his neck in the process. This brought back another wave of pain to the ancient Prime, causing him to lose his grip on Leo as he started to cough and sputter energon.
As Leo Prime got back to his feet and prepared to make another strike, he heard a familiar voice call out his name. He looked over to see Primal Major standing there, weapons drawn but none of them aimed at him.
“I know I’m not the first face you want to see right now,” Leo Prime muttered, looking away from his successor. “I promise you that I’m not here to usurp command from you or anything like that.”
“Actually, I was going to lend you a hand,” Primal replied. “Any grievances I have towards you can wait; defeating Onyx Prime and the Predacons takes priority.”
Leo Prime smiled slightly beneath his mouthplate. “You’re a better leader than I could ever be, Primal,” he said quietly. “Perhaps you’re even more worthy of the name Prime than I am.”
“Neither of you are worthy of anything,” Onyx Prime rumbled as he rose back up, energon still leaking from the gash in his neck. “Least of all the title of Prime.”
“Fine by me,” said Primal, brandishing a pair of swords. “Handing your aft to you will be satisfaction enough.”
Onyx narrowed his eyes at the two Maximal leaders, now standing side-by-side and ready for battle. “Such insolence.”
He then transformed into his dragon mode — a process which sounded painful in and of itself — before charging towards the pair. Unable to breathe fire any longer, the dragon instead settled for lashing out its head with its long neck and snapping at Primal. The primate Maximal managed to roll out of the way in time as he swept his swords in a smooth motion, cleanly severing Onyx’s right wing at the hinge. As the dragon howled in pain, Leo Prime retrieved his own sword and moved to cut off the left one only to be knocked aside by the one-winged beast’s tail.
“I cannot end like this!” Onyx Prime bellowed. “I refuse to fall before a pretender Prime and his accomplice!”
“Fine,” Leo Prime grunted as he got back to his feet once more. “You don’t want to be humiliated? Then look at things this way: You are not fighting Leo Prime, leader of the Maximals. Nor are you fighting Leo Prime, self-proclaimed Beast King of Eukaris.”
He gripped his sword with both hands, his optics blazing like a pair of blue suns.
“You are fighting Lio Convoy, the first resistor.”
The dragon’s eyes went wide as Lio Convoy charged towards it and brought his sword down not onto its last remaining wing but onto its neck. Its encounter with the late Kicker Jones had left the armor plating connecting the dragon’s head to the rest of its body weak and vulnerable, making it easier for the golden blade to cut through it and severe the beast’s head.
An agonized scream reverberated from deep within the dragon as it changed shape one last time into Onyx Prime’s robot form. While far from fatal, the loss of his beast mode head had left the ancient Prime disoriented and in intense pain, unable to get a grip on his surroundings. Lio Convoy quickly took advantage of this opportunity and drove his sword straight into Onyx Prime’s chest, piercing straight into his spark chamber.
Onyx’s optic flashed for a second before dimming. Lio Convoy held onto the sword handle as the ancient Prime collapsed onto his knees, energon beginning to seep from his wound.
“Convoy…” Onyx Prime coughed, splattering purple fluids on the Maximal’s chestplate. “Should have… figured….”
Slowly and carefully, Lio Convoy pulled the sword out of Onyx Prime’s chest. The ancient Prime moved to clutch his wound but was too weak to so much as shift a piston. Instead, he used the last of his energy to lift his head up to look into his slayer’s optics one last time.
“Savor your feeling… of triumph. I am not… the greater threat… that you have to—”
Whatever else Onyx Prime had to say was to cut off short as all life fled from his optical sensors and he collapsed onto the ground. The ground shuddered slightly from the impact, then went still.
As Lio Convoy stood over the body of the fallen dragon, Primal came up to stand beside him. Sheathing his swords, the leader of the Maximals placed a hand on his predecessor’s shoulder and allowed himself a small smile.
“Credit where it’s due,” he said. “That was impressive.”
“Does this absolve me in your eyes?” Lio Convoy asked.
“We’ll see,” Primal replied. “Come on. We’ve still got work to do.”
* * *
It was done. Onyx Prime was dead.
Beast Megatron had watched the action unfold from the safety of the Darksyde. His plan had worked and events had developed exactly as he had foreseen them. While there was still much more to be done, he was comforted by the fact that things were proceeding smoothly so far. Now it was time for the next step.
“Predacons,” he spoke into his comm unit. “Return to the Darksyde at once.”
“What?!” Dinobot responded. “But the Maximals are still here! They’ve just killed Onyx Prime!”
“Yes, and they will be dealt with in due time. But first, we must proceed to the next item on the agenda.”
“What about Tarantulas? You said he would be here.”
Beast Megatron smiled to himself. “Indeed I did. I did not say we were done yet, Dinobot. Please exercise some patience for once.”
He heard the saurian Predacon snarl but nonetheless acquiesce to the command before ending the call. Down below, the Predacons started to transform, with those capable of flight picking up those who were not. Some of the Maximals moved to stop them but were stalled by their leader. No doubt Primal was trying to display mercy after having just helped in killing the once and former ruler of the beasts.
Beast Megatron sneered in disgust. Typical heroic nonsense.
Once the Predacons were all aboard, Beast Megatron punched in a few commands and the Darksyde shot off for its next destination.
* * *
“Man, and just when I was starting to get warmed up!” groused the Maximal known as B'Boom as the Predacon ship took off. “Talk about anti-climatic.”
“We should probably follow them,” suggested Arcee. “I doubt they’re up to anything good; their presence here may very well have been a ruse.”
“Hey, at least we got something accomplished,” Rattrap said, kicking Onyx Prime’s lifeless corpse. “Not for nothing, but I’d say slaying one of the first Primes is a pretty impressive feat.”
“It’s been done before,” Rhinox reminded him. “Besides, the Thirteen were never demigods or any of the sort; just ordinary mechs like you or me.”
“Eh… ‘ordinary’ is a weird way of putting it.”
“There’s no time for this,” Primal said. “We should head back to the Axalon and chase after them.”
“Wait!” Bumblebee said. “We need to find Sari and Kicker! They were in the tower when it… when Onyx Prime showed up….”
A winged Maximal Fuzor promptly stepped up and picked up the yellow Autobot, flying him up to the opening in the top of the tower where Onyx Prime had made his appearance. As Silverbolt set Bumblebee down, the latter immediately spotted a young human woman with dark hair, who was looking around in distress and confusion.
“Verity?” Bumblebee asked. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s a long story,” Verity muttered. “I met up with Sari and her boyfriend or whatever and they just… he just sacrificed himself or something and Sari—”
“Where is she?” Bumblebee cut her off. “What happened?”
“I don’t know! She was right here a minute ago and then… then poof! She was gone! I have no idea where she is!”
Bumblebee grimaced. He looked around the ruins of the room they were in, but he knew there was no point to doing so. Wherever Sari was, it was certainly not here.
This, he decided, was starting to become an annoying habit of hers.
No comments:
Post a Comment