CHAPTER SEVEN
The Mothership, Mars
Megatron stood in what had been the command center to the Mothership, former flagship of the now-defunct Secret Order. While other Decepticons moved about the room, downloading data from the computers and retrieving anything useful they found, he focused his attention on the red and black bot laying at his feet, their colors having already begun to fade.
“Her name was Plasma,” said the “clone” known as Megastorm, standing beside Megatron.
“And you killed her,” the Decepticon leader said.
“As soon as we received word of Onyx Prime’s death, I realized there was not much point in continuing to follow her,” Megastorm explained. “Rather then try to reason with her, I decided to simply remove her from the picture instead.”
“Spoken like a true ‘clone’ of Megatron,” remarked Starscream, glancing at the Decepticon leader. “You must be so proud.”
“Shut up, Starscream,” Megatron growled. Turning back to Megastorm, he said, “Who were you before the Secret Order captured you and made you into… this?”
“I was merely a Decepticon soldier,” Megastorm replied. “As were my fellow ‘clones’ Archforce and Megaplex.”
“And where are they?”
“Megaplex was sent off to Liege Maximo, wherever he is now. As for Archforce….”
When Megastorm did not finish his statement, Megatron stepped closer to him, glowering furiously. “Well?”
“Plasma carried him off to experiment on him. I don’t know what she did to him or where he is now.”
“Is he no longer aboard the Mothership?”
“You can check the cameras but I don’t think he is.”
Growling with impatience, Megatron turned to the other Decepticons. “Barricade! Access this ship’s footage and find a Decepticon by the designation ‘Archforce.’”
“He should look like me except purple,” Megastorm supplanted.
“Right,” Barricade muttered. He quickly got to work in accessing the Mothership’s cameras and going through all of the available footage. After a moment, he called back to Megatron. “I believe I’ve found him, my liege.”
Megatron stormed up to him. “Where is he?”
“Well, he’s not here anymore,” Barricade said and Megatron suddenly realized how uneasy he sounded. “And I don’t think he’s going by Archforce anymore.”
Megatron frowned. “Bring up a visual.”
Barricade did so and all of the Decepticons in the room turned to a viewscreen as it began displaying footage from the Mothership’s cameras. Laying on some sort of examination table was whom Megatron could only assume was Archforce… even though he no longer bore any resemblance to the Decepticon leader as Megastorm did. If anything, from the purple armor and flayed crown-like helm, he looked much more like a certain other tyrannical despot that Megatron was familiar with….
“Is that… Galvatron?” whispered Thundercracker.
Megatron said nothing as he continued to watch the footage. Archforce proceeded to get up from the examination table and speak to someone just out of view (most likely Plasma). The footage then showed the reborn Galvatron walk down the Mothership’s corridors towards the space bridge. A portal materialized itself for him and Galvatron stepped through it, vanishing from view.
As the video came to an end, Shatter spoke up and said, “I can access the space bridge’s terminal and find out where he’s gone if you would like, my liege.”
“Do that,” Megatron ordered. “We must find out where he is and what he is up to, immediately.”
“Is this going to affect anything?” asked Starscream. “Such as our plans to attack Earth?”
Megatron thought for a moment, weighing all of his options. While he could very well proceed with his planned invasion without facing much if any trouble posed by this reborn Galvatron… at the same time, there were now too many unknown quantities at play. On top of Galvatron, there was also the Destructons, who could strike at any moment. He had been hoping to destroy Earth before then, preventing the Destructons from bringing back Unicron. But knowing that the Autobots would do all that they could to defend that pathetic dirtball of a planet, regardless of any Chaos Bringer, such a prospect was now looking more implausible with every passing minute.
Now that he thought about it… perhaps it would be better to let the Destructons proceed with their plans. That way, the Autobots could make their futile attempt to preserve their precious Earth only to be wiped out in the process. With them out of the way, the Decepticons could then focus all of their might on Unicron himself, while also using the Autobots’ deaths as a point to rally any stragglers left behind to their cause. Without any Prime to turn to, all Cybertronians would have no choice but to put their faith in Megatron and his forces as they defended their home planet from an even greater evil.
After all, he had already succeeded in defeating Unicron once. That in and of itself was a remarkable reputation that even Optimus himself could not deny. And once Unicron was defeated once and for all, Cybertron would at last recognized Megatron as its rightful leader; just as he was always meant to be. And with Trannis gone—and soon Optimus Prime and Galvatron as well—no one would be left to challenge him.
The more he thought about it, the more appealing the prospect sounded, and a grin soon found its way onto Megatron’s face.
“A change of plans may be wise,” he finally said. “Our discoveries here has given me much to think about.”
Starscream cocked his head. “You seem pretty happy about it….”
Megatron chuckled. “Let’s just say a better opportunity has presented itself… and I intend to seize on it.”
Metroplex
“It’s good to have you back with us, Cerebros.”
“It’s good to be back,” Cerebros replied, his image displayed on the viewscreen in front of Elita. “I’m preparing to dock Fort Max with Metroplex. I’m gonna have some Titan Masters for you to round up and put in the brig.”
“Have they been giving you trouble?” Elita-One asked.
“They have but they’re being cooperative at the moment. I’d still keep an eye on them.”
“Noted. I look forward to hearing what you’ve been up to lately.”
Cerebros nodded and snapped off a quick salute before signing off. Once his image had dissipated, Elita turned around to face the two other commanders with her in the command center: Star Saber and Primal Major.
“Optimus has informed me that Earth’s leaders have approved of the Orbital Command Hub being relocated here,” Elita said to them. “We’ll need to start gathering resources to allocate there once it’s in position. Things might get hectic here.”
“Don’t they always,” Star Saber remarked. “Hopefully our enemies don’t choose to strike when we’re in the middle of all that.”
“When they do, we’ll be prepared either way,” Elita said. “Especially now that we have two Titans.”
“Well, one Titan and a dead one,” Primal muttered.
Elita shot him a look but decided to let the comment slide. “Anyway, I believe Optimus is currently speaking with Rodimus at the moment. I have no idea what they could be discussing.”
“Have you told them about my proposal?” Primal asked.
Elita huffed. “No, I have not. And I won’t because you and I both know it’s going to be shut down. Brainstorm and Perceptor have already told us that—”
“This has nothing to do with the current situation. It has to do with the Predacons.”
“Going by Sari’s report, it sounds like they died when they went through the Warren,” said Star Saber.
Primal shook his head. “I refuse to believe that. That Sari girl is still alive, isn’t she? And she’s a human! If she can survive the Warren, then Gnashteeth and his crew most certainly did.”
“Even so,” Elita said, “they are not a priority at the moment. We must focus our resources on the Decepticons and the Destructons.”
“And how do you know the Predacons aren’t still involved? For all we know, Gnashteeth could be pulling the strings this whole time! If we don’t do anything about them and they strike when we’re not prepared—”
“I think you’re giving them too much credit,” Star Saber said.
Primal glared at him. “And you’re not giving them enough. If you Autobots won’t do anything about them, then I will have to take matters into my own hands.”
With that, he turned and stormed out of the command center. Once he was gone, Star Saber looked over to Elita.
“Are you just going to let him go?”
“I can’t really do anything to stop him,” Elita sighed.
“You can lock him out of his ship—”
“That will only make matters worse. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, he does have a point. For all we know, the Predacons could still be scheming and getting involved in all of this. Seeing as how the Maximals have been at war with them for the past millennium… maybe it is best to let them handle this matter while we handle ours.”
Star Saber raised an optic ridge. “And if they end up making things worse for us?”
Elita stared grimly after the door Primal had just went through. “Then Matrix save us all.”
* * *
“Are you still going through with it?”
Optimus Prime sighed as he paced back and forth in Rodimus Prime’s office aboard Metroplex. “I’m honestly not sure at this point,” the older Autobot leader admitted. “Initially I was, but after our last conversation, I have begun to see the futility in it. Maybe I am naive to think that Megatron could ever change back to the way he was.”
“If you want my honest opinion,” Rodimus said solemnly, “I don’t think Megatron was ever that good of a bot to begin with.”
Optimus stopped to look at him. “How would you know? You never met him when he was Optronix, did you?”
“No, but I know quite a few bots who did—such as you. Everyone I’ve asked has had their own story to tell regarding Optronix… and you wanna know the one thing that they all had in common?”
Optimus folded his arms. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“That Optronix was a talented Autobot who did great things… and was also an aggressive, arrogant afthole who talked down to everyone and had great ambitions. Ambitions that mostly involved being the sole leader of Cybertron.”
“The High Council did always promote him to be the next Prime….”
“Yeah, and he believed it,” Rodimus said. “He let it get to his head. And you know something else? Kup once told me that, one day, Optronix went on a rant about the High Council and how his first act as Prime would be to disband the Council altogether. Now, I don’t know about you, but that statement’s got dictator-shaded red flags all over it. Like it or not, Optimus, but your brother didn’t become Megatron; he was always Megatron. The Decepticons just gave him the environment he needed to be who he truly was. No brainwashing required.”
Optimus Prime bowed his head as he took in Rodimus’s words, allowing them to sink in. “You may be right,” he finally said. “Perhaps I have simply convinced myself to think that he used to be a better bot back then, when in reality….”
He trailed off but Rodimus did not need him to finish his statement. Rising up from his seat, he stepped around his desk and walked over to Optimus, placing a hand on his predecessor’s shoulder.
“Hey, it happens. We all want to see the good in people. It’s just that, sometimes, there isn’t any good to be found.”
Optimus nodded solemnly. “Indeed.”
“So you’re not gonna space bridge your way to Trypticon?”
“No. No, I am not.”
“Good, because Elita would kill me if she found out I let you do that.” Rodimus chuckled as he slapped Optimus’s shoulder, something he most likely wouldn’t have been able to get away with were he not also a Prime. “Now that that’s out of the way, allow me to ask this: Do you want the Matrix back?”
Optimus gave him a confused look. “What?”
Rodimus opened up his chest compartment to reveal the artifact in question. “Just got it back from Primus. I know we’ve been doing the ‘co-Prime’ thing for a while now, but….”
Optimus shook his head. “No. Absolutely not. That was merely a temporary thing. You are the rightful Prime and I have no intention of taking back full command. Besides, I know that Dai Atlas and the others are not as… confident in your capabilities as a leader as they are in mine. If I take back the Matrix or share command with you, that will only cement their beliefs.”
“Fair enough,” Rodimus said, closing up his chest compartment. “In that case, I’ve got a job offer for you.”
Optimus blinked. “A job offer?”
“Convoy and I have been talking about putting a certain special unit back together, now that the Wreckers are… currently out of commission.”
“You’re referring to the Convoy Corps.”
Rodimus nodded. “We’ve got Lio back, as well as Toxitron—who Convoy tells me used to be called ‘Battle Convoy.’ He also thinks that there are still others out there and is working on reaching out to them. Like you, he’s a bit wary about being in command again, so… I was wondering if you would be up to the position.”
Optimus considered the offer. “Well,” he murmured. “I already look the part, seeing as my current armor is known as the ‘Star Convoy Armor,’ at least according to Wheeljack.”
“There you go!” Rodimus beamed. “You’ve already got your codename!”
Optimus narrowed his optics. “And if I turn down your offer? What will you have me do then?”
Rodimus tapped his chin in thought. “Well,” he said, “the hallways do need cleaning….”
Optimus Prime stared at his successor for a moment. Then, he threw his head back and laughed. It was a deep, booming laugh that echoed throughout the room, and was eventually joined by Rodimus Prime’s own laughter.
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