EIGHT: VIOLENT ERUPTION
Metascan Alpha
“This is it. This is where it all began.”
Flanked by his small group of Decepticons, Megatron stood before the twin spires that loomed over the rocky terrain of the world known only as Metascan Alpha. After so many centuries, the once-metallic sheen of the spires had faded and become corroded with rust and dirt. By all appearances, they were rather simplistic in terms of design and did not at all look like the sophisticated pieces of technology that they actually were. Which had likely been the intent of the Logicons that had created them, in the hopes it would dissuade any passerby from taking an interest in them and unwittingly releasing the four demons it had contained.
Evidently, that had not quite worked as intended.
But this time, he would make sure it would.
Folding his arms, Starscream made a dismissive scoff. “And just what exactly makes you think the Destructons are just going to show up, after all the time we’ve spent hunting them?”
“I know them better than you do, Starscream,” Megatron said coldly. “I know how Lord Imperious operates. He is cunning, yes, and can be strategic when he needs to be. He is also an arrogant narcissist who will never pass up the opportunity to prove himself superior to all others. He knows I’m after him and that I want to settle the score. He will know that I am here, waiting for him, and he will be more than happy to oblige.”
“But why here, of all places?”
Megatron smirked. “Because Lord Imperious is also a fan of poetic irony.”
Skywarp frowned as he looked around the deserted terrain surrounding them, not a single living thing in sight. “Well, we might be waiting here for a while. Would the Destructons even think to check here for us?”
“They will once I’ve broadcast our position,” Megatron said.
“And when will that be?”
“Now. I did it as soon as we made planetfall.”
“What?!” Starscream exclaimed. “You’re deliberately drawing them out? What kind of a suicidal fool have you become?”
Lugnut stomped forward, his massive shadow eclipsing Starscream’s form. “Do not speak in such a manner to Lord Megatron! You will remain silent until our glorious leader commands otherwise!”
“Leave him be, Lugnut,” Megatron said. “His misgivings are justified. It would indeed be suicidal for us alone to go against the Destructons, even with Trypticon at our disposal.”
Starscream scowled. “So, what then? You’re just going to have them all kill us?”
Megatron said nothing to this. Instead, he raised a finger to his lips, as if to silence both Starscream and the others. Then, a slight smirk crossed his face as his red optics gleamed.
“I believe our guests have arrived.”
The five other Decepticons exchanged looks before, one by one, casting their gaze up to a sky as a low hum slowly filled the air. There, descending from the sky above, was a large white and blue vessel with gold accents, brimming with all sorts of artillery and armaments.
“Wait a nanoklik,” Skywarp said. “I recognize that ship. It’s the Vis Vitalis, isn’t it? Thunderclash’s ship?”
“It was,” said Nickel. “But the Destructons took it, I believe. Krok and I saw it at Planet X when we were with the Lost Light crew.”
Lugnut eagerly bounced on his haunches, clenching his fists. “Allow me to destroy them with one fell swoop, my liege! I have destroyed plenty of Autobot ships of its caliber single-handedly!”
Megatron seemed to consider this before shrugging. “Very well. See what you can accomplish, Lugnut.”
“As you command, Megatron!” Powering on his back thrusters, Lugnut launched himself up into the air, at the same time reeling back his right arm as he prepared one of his explosive punches. As he came face-to-face with the bow of the ship, he thrust his arm forward and it collided with the Vis Vitalis’ hull. Down below, the other Decepticons shielded their optics as a bright, fiery explosion resulted from the punch, before quickly taking cover as the former Autobot ship began to plummet to the ground.
Megatron remained where he stood in front of the twin spires, watching impassively as the wreckage of the ship settled just a few yards away from him. Lugnut then came down from the sky and landed between the wrecked ship and his leader, his armor plating charred from the explosion.
“It is done, Lord Megatron!” Lugnut proudly declared. “The threat of the Destructons has been elim—”
Before he could finish, a large shape leaped out of the wreckage of the Vis Vitalis. Its shadow briefly blotted out the sun before coming down towards the ground, a spiked club in its hands. Before Lugnut had a chance to react, Bruton brought his club down as he landed, knocking the large Decepticon to the ground.
As Bruton planted his foot on Lugnut’s back to keep him pinned there, three other shapes emerged from the flaming ruins of the ship. First was Medusa, who slithered out with her arm blades drawn. Next was the centaur-like Psychokhan, who drew a long sword and a sharp spear. Finally, hovering over the ground with his wings fully unfurled and all six of his arms extended, was the vainglorious leader of the Destructons himself. Violet eyes blazing bright with righteous indignation, Lord Imperious Delirious cast his gaze down to Megatron, regarding the Decepticon leader as if he were an insignificant pest.
“I respect the fact that you have grown as impatient for this as I have,” Lord Imperious said. “Now then, let us end this once and for all.”
“Yes,” Megatron replied as he readied his fusion cannon. “Let’s.”
* * *
“He’s officially lost it, hasn’t he?”
Starscream’s remark went unanswered as he and the other Decepticons scrambled for cover to avoid the fight that was now unfolding between Megatron and the Destructons. Skywarp looked torn on whether or not to aid his leader, having seen what Bruton had just done to Lugnut. When Medusa laid eyes on him, the black and purple Seeker made his mind up and teleported away; to where, Starscream had no idea.
That only left him, Krok, and Nickel, and he already knew the other two would be no good in a fight against any of the Destructons. Pushing past them, he converted to his jet mode and flew towards Trypticon, the sound of his thrusters drowning out their protests as their voices quickly faded into the distance.
While he knew there would be no time for him to figure out how to get Trypticon’s weapons or flight systems online (maybe he should have picked up Nickel at least), he knew that, as a Titan, Trypticon would at least have a space bridge that he could then use to travel to another Titan. His options were limited, as the Titans he knew to be “safe” were all Autobot affiliated, and he doubt they would take his presence there kindly. Still, any fate they had in store for him would be better than whatever the Destructons had planned for him.
Or, perhaps he could find some Titan that was on some remote planet and from there signal for Astrotrain and the others to retrieve him. That at least would allow him to avoid the Autobots as well. He just prayed that there would be such a Titan accessible by Trypticon’s space bridge….
Just as he reached Trypticon’s head, he felt a sharp pain run through his nerve circuits as a pointed object pierced through his left wing. Letting out an anguished cry, Starscream lost control of his flight systems and began to spiral back towards the ground. He tried to transform but the spear only dug deeper into his armor plating, entering through his shoulder. Before he knew it, he had crashed onto the ground, still stuck in mid-transformation as he desperately unfurled his other arm to pull out the spear.
As he struggled with the weapon, the centaurian form of Psychokhan began to approach, holding his long sword at his side. Eyes widening in fear, Starscream took aim with his null ray and fired only for Psychokhan to deflect it with his blade. Undeterred, Starscream continued to fire with Psychokhan blocking each and every shot. The centaur-like Destructon then brought his front hooves down onto the Seeker’s chest as he brought the sword to his neck.
“I don’t think you realize,” Psychokhan said coolly, “just how little of a threat you are. Do you have any idea how many creatures of the Dark Domain I bested before Lord Imperious freed me from my masters? You are but an insect compared to them. And to think you Cybertronians have lived so many years of war against each other. I truly cannot fathom how your race has lived for as long as it has.”
Psychokhan then raised his blade above his head, poised to cleave it straight through Starscream’s neck.
“It almost saddens me that I will have to sully my blade with your worthless fuel. I would have preferred the blood of a real challenge.”
Just as he was about to bring the sword down, there was a purple flash of light as Skywarp materialized next to the Destructon. He caught the sword mid-swing and wrenched it out of Psychokhan’s hands. He then teleported away before Psychokhan could react in time, only to appear again in front of the Destructon, standing over Starscream.
“Here’s your ‘real challenge.’” Skywarp then drove the sword straight into Psychokhan’s chest before pulling it upward, cleaving it through the centaur’s torso. The bisected remains of the Destructon fell to the ground along with the rest of his equine body.
Stepping away from Starscream and the pieces of his would-be killer, Skywarp tossed the sword aside before pulling the spear out of his brother’s shoulder. Starscream winced in pain and moved to clamp the energon that began to spill out from the open wound. After finishing the transformation of his legs, he moved to stand up only for Skywarp to point the tip of the spear at his face.
“Don’t make me regret saving you,” Skywarp growled.
Starscream grunted as he pulled himself up. “I suppose I am in your debt now. But if you think we can take on the rest of them just because you took out one, then—”
“Please, I’m not that delusional.” He poked Starscream’s chestplate with a purple servo. “But I’m also not abandoning Megatron, like you were just about to do.”
“I wasn’t—” Starscream started to say before stopping himself, realizing it would be futile to argue. “Look, I didn’t really have a plan besides ‘get away from the Destructons.’ But now that you’ve killed one of them, we might have bought ourselves enough time to get Trypticon’s weapons up and running. We’ll need to pick up that Mini-Con doctor, though.”
“Way ahead of you,” Skywarp said. “Do you still have a communication link to the Nemesis? Or at least to Astrotrain and your fellow traitors?”
Ignoring the snide jab, Starscream nodded. “I do, actually. Better yet, we can both call Thundercracker and convince him to bring the Nemesis to our location. If it was just me, I doubt he would listen. But if it was both of us….”
Skywarp smirked. “Seeker trines always stick out for each other… for better or for worse.”
“Yes,” Starscream muttered, still wincing from his shoulder wound. “I suppose so.”
Winged Moon
“Termagax, we are experiencing a difficulty.”
Termagax shifted on her platform as she cast her gaze to the Seeker that had just spoken. “What do you mean?”
“Something is affecting our transwarp drive,” the Seeker went on. “We are being pulled back into realspace.”
Termagax frowned as she turned to her set of monitors, looking as if she were searching for the cause of the problem. Standing to the side (and feeling more than a bit helpless, which she wasn’t a fan of), Spacewarp looked down at her Mini-Con companions, who were still looking around at everything with a look of wonder.
“Sound like something you guys can fix? I mean, transwarp is pretty much all in your name.”
“Well, without performing a full prognosis, it sounds to me like a failure in the drive itself,” said Foldspace. “Could be faulty wiring work or something along those lines.”
“It’s not,” Termagax said firmly. “Every system in the Winged Moon is optimized to the utmost perfection. There is nothing ‘faulty’ in it.”
“How would you know if you haven’t moved from the same spot in centuries?” Spacewarp asked.
Termagax answered her only with a glare.
Without prompting, and before anyone could stop her, Boom Tube climbed up onto the work station of the Seeker that had reported the problem, oblivious to the dirty look he was giving her. She rubbed her chin as she studied the station’s monitor, her three optical sensors whirring and blinking in concentration.
After a moment, the red and blue Mini-Con spoke up. “Actually, it doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the transwarp drive itself. I think something is pulling us out of hyperspace.”
Termagax turned from her spot, regarding the Mini-Con with a perplexed look. “How is that possible? I have heard of no such tech capable of doing such a thing.”
“Well, I have,” Boom Tube replied. “’Course, it’s not actually Cybertronian tech but rather Quintesson tech. Those guys are pretty big with that kind of thing.”
At the word ‘Quintesson,’ Spacewarp felt her spark sink in her chest. Nothing good ever happened when Quintessons were involved.
“They are?” Jump Drive questioned.
“Oh, yeah. In fact, I’ve heard that they’ve got this huge thing called a… window or something? Time window? Anyway, they say it can give anyone who uses it a glimpse into the past or future. And, if you’re daring enough, travel through it.”
“Rubbish!” exclaimed Starburst. “How do you know anything about this stuff?”
Boom Tube crossed her arms. “Because unlike some people, I actually read and learn. And I pay attention to what Foldspace teaches us!”
“Foldspace teaches us?” Jump Drive asked.
Foldspace rubbed his head. “Wait, do I?”
“Enough,” Termagax snapped. “Is there anyway you can reverse it?”
Boom Tube shrugged. “Hard to say. Because it looks as if whatever’s pulling us out… just did.”
The Seeker at the station turned in his seat. “She is correct. We have returned to realspace. I will need some time to pinpoint our exact location.”
Another Seeker spoke up from their station. “Unidentified object in our proximity. Appears to be a space vessel of some kind.”
“Deploy all defense units,” Termagax ordered. “Hold them off until we can escape.”
The first Seeker frowned as he looked back at his monitor. “That… might not be possible.”
Termagax’s eyes flared. “What?”
“Whatever pulled us out has also temporarily disabled the transwarp drive. It could take hours to bring it back online.”
“We don’t have hours! Get us back into hyperspace before—”
Termagax’s words were drowned out by a distant yet thundering sound. To Spacewarp’s audio receptors, it sounded as if something large was hitting the exterior surface of the Winged Moon. It was quickly followed by another sound, then another. Each one sounded progressively louder—and closer—than the first.
All of the Seekers in the room slowly rose from their stations, priming their null rays. Spacewarp drew her own blaster as her Mini-Con companions regrouped and gathered around her. All eyes were on the door through which Spacewarp had been brought inside… which was the exact direction the sounds were coming from.
There was one last thundering sound—this one louder than all of the previous ones—as something hit the door. Five seconds ticked by, although they might as well have been five minutes. Then, with a thunderous blast, the door to the access tube burst open and a swarm of robotic bugs flooded into the chamber.
“Insecticons!” Spacewarp exclaimed as she and the Seekers all opened fire. While each individual Insecticon was weak enough to be downed in one shot, the sheer number of them made it easy for any army—no matter how large—to be overwhelmed. Indeed, it did not take long for some Insecticons to latch onto one of the Seekers and begin draining their energon or chipping away at their armor plating.
As Spacewarp blasted away at the hordes, she saw Termagax press a command at her own station, which caused a bubble-like shield to wrap around the platform she was on. However, the shield was only large enough to protect Termagax and her station, which left Spacewarp and her companions still exposed to the swarm.
“Great. You’ve sure been a wonderful host!” Rolling her optics, Spacewarp beckoned for Boom Tube and her brothers to link up and form the Transwarp Blaster. As the large weapon landed in her hands, she took aim at the Insecticons and began firing, teleporting them away one by one. She didn’t know where they were being sent too nor did she care; as long as “there” wasn’t “here.”
It wasn’t long before the Insecticons forgot all about the Seekers and focused entirely on her. Firing both of her blasters at once, she backed herself up against the shield, hoping that Termagax would have a change of heart and let her in. But the gray femme watched everything unfold with an impassive look, as if she was just waiting for the storm to tide over with little regard for who survived.
As Spacewarp fired in every direction she could, one Insecticon latched onto her left arm—the one carrying the Transwarp Blaster—and it released a corrosive acid that coated her plating. She yelped in pain and the Transwarp Blaster fell out of her grip. Another Insecticon then swooped in and picked up the Mini-Con weapon, carrying it back towards the exit. Spacewarp cried out in alarm and fired her other blaster after it, desperately hoping to shoot it down. All of her shots missed and the Insecticon made it back to the opening.
There, she saw, stood a tall mech in black and silver armor plating, with red-tinted windows adorning his chest and equally red optics glowing beneath his ebony helm. With a silver mouthplate and grill on his abdomen, he bore a striking resemblance to Optimus Prime. The black mech extended an arm and the Insecticon dropped the Transwarp Blaster into his hand.
Behind her, Spacewarp heard Termagax gasp as the older femme stepped up to the shield, her yellow optics wide in awe.
“It cannot be….” Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. “Is that you… Optimus?”
Clutching her decaying arm, Spacewarp shot a look at Termagax. “Sorry, lady, but that ain’t no Optimus. I’ve never seen that guy in anything but red and blue.”
“She is correct,” the black Prime lookalike said, his attention focused on the Transwarp Blaster as he studied it. “Optimus could never hope to be as great as me. I have gone by a variety of names… some which I have never gotten to stick.”
He lifted his crimson optics to the two femmes as the rest of the Insecticons ceased their assault, retreating back through the corridor from whence they came. “When Megatron created me, he dubbed me ‘Scourge’ after the famed huntsman of Nova Prime. It was a fitting name, one which I have even continued to use up until recently. But it never really felt right. It belonged to another, after all, and was something of a ‘hand-me-down.’ For so long I have wanted a name that belonged to me. That felt truly mine.”
He began walking towards the center of the chamber, to where Spacewarp and Termagax were. The former kept her standard blaster trained on him while the latter continued to regard him with a look of almost reverence.
“And I actually did find that name, and even used it for a time. But it was taken from me, and I once again became a mere virus to be used by others. A scourge to be unleashed upon Cybertron. But those days are behind me now. Today, I have decided to choose my destiny.
“Today, I am Nemesis Prime.”
Spacewarp scoffed. “Nice speech. You sound just like Daddy Optimus. Now give me back my companions or I’ll blast you to pieces.”
Nemesis Prime turned his scarlet gaze to her, his optics narrowing. “I did not track down your ‘companions’ halfway across the galaxy just to give them back to you. No, I believe they will be staying with me for the foreseeable future.”
“Like hell they will, you fragger,” Spacewarp snapped. “How the blazes were you even able to find me—and here, of all places?”
“Oh, you can thank this one for that.” Nemesis Prime shrugged his shoulder and the small tan head of a Mini-Con poked out from behind it. “From what I gather, he was one of the ones you’ve rescued in your exploits. Because he still had your transponder code, I was able to have the Mercenaries trace it to your exact position. It was a mild inconvenience for this… moon to try and teleport away, but that’s nothing a little Quintesson tech from my… benefactor couldn’t fix.”
“Well, hell.” Spacewarp felt her good arm sag in defeat. “I guess my goodwill ended up biting me in the aft.”
“That it did. And now, you have fulfilled your purpose.” Nemesis Prime raised the Transwarp Blaster and pointed it at Spacewarp’s chest. “Take solace in the fact that I have decided to extend my last few shreds of mercy towards you.”
He pulled the trigger and Spacewarp fell back as the blast hit her square in the chest. The entire world warped around her as she fell, and when she landed, the metal floor of the chamber had become soft sand, and the wide expansive walls had vanished, replaced with a sky full of stars.
All Spacewarp was to clutch her corroding arm in pain as she squeezed her optics shut, cursing her lot in life, as the cold silence of the night fell upon her.
