NINE: DUST OF ALL CREATION
The Nemesis
“I still don’t like this,” Astrotrain groused.
“You’ve said that already,” Thundercracker retorted.
“I know, and I’m gonna keep on saying it ‘cos I feel like the only sane one here.”
The assembled Decepticons that had just hours ago attempted to mutiny against Megatron now stood on the bridge and waited as the Nemesis traveled through hyperspace, on their way to assist the very leader they had just turned against. When Starscream and Skywarp had reached out to their brother with their call for aid, only a few had objected, with most being in favor to leave for Metascan Alpha.
To Thundercracker, it really did prove just how dependent they were on Megatron. In the short amount of time that had passed since Megatron had escaped and Starscream had gone missing, no one had been able to decide who would call the shots. Astrotrain had put himself forward, but hardly anyone seemed eager to follow him. In terms of rank, someone like Skyquake or Onslaught might have fit, but there were enough on board who disliked them enough to pull off another mutiny.
Truly, that left Megatron has the only viable option for leadership. He knew how to keep the disparate groups of Decepticons in line; only the silver tongue of Starscream had been able to blind them from the fear that would have otherwise stopped them from even thinking about rising against him.
Thundercracker wasn’t sure how he felt about that fact. Was it a good thing for someone like that to wield so much power and to command so much fear? To the point where their absence left everyone else like a chicken-bot without its head?
The Autobots seemed to have managed just fine with a new Prime in charge, even if the old one was still around. Why couldn’t the Decepticons do the same?
Thundercracker sighed to himself. There was no time to think about that now. All he could do now to assuage his doubts was to tell himself that he was doing this for his Seeker brethren. The same brethren that had rejected him three years ago when Megatron had first fallen. When their empire first fell apart.
He honestly wasn’t sure if that made him feel any better.
Metascan Alpha
“So, this is the all mighty Megatron.”
Megatron grunted as he was slammed against one of the twin metal spires. Lord Imperious drew himself close to the Decepticon leader, the seams in his faceplate slowly beginning to split apart.
“I can’t say I’m impressed.”
With his right arm, Megatron grabbed the limb Lord Imperious was using to pin him against the spire and steadied his arm-mounted fusion cannon. He charged up and fired a blast of violet energy, which was enough to push the Destructon leader back but barely left a scratch on him.
“You might think you are stronger than you were all those years ago,” Lord Imperious continued. “But your power means nothing in the face of my superior intelligence. I have become far smarter and more cunning than I was on that fateful day. I will not be making the same mistakes I made back then.”
“Funny,” Megatron growled. “Because neither will I.”
Pulling up a battle mask over his face, Megatron deployed a set of triple-barreled rocket launchers on each of his shoulders. His fusion cannon split open down the middle, revealing a wider outlet for the destructive power it contained. Releasing a guttural cry that echoed throughout the deserted wasteland, Megatron charged towards Lord Imperious as he released his full armament of weapons.
The leader of the Destructons curled his wings around his body to create a shield in front of himself, but even this was not enough. The multiple rockets, missiles, and blasts of energy easily shredded through the metal of his wings, leaving only a skeletal frame behind. As Lord Imperious pulled back what remained of his wings, Megatron lunged forward and threw a fist into his enemy’s face, causing Lord Imperious to stagger and take a step away from the Decepticon leader.
But Megatron did not let up. He threw another punch. Then another. Each one was harder than the first; so forceful were they that they even tore away at the plating on his fists, causing energon to leak from them. When still Imperious did not fall, Megatron seized the Destructon by the neck with one hand and pulled him in as he reeled back the other.
“I am going to kill you,” he said in a low tone. “Do you hear me? I’m going to tear you apart, bit by bit, until you are in a million pieces. Then, I will throw whatever is left into the prison that will forever be your home, as there will be nothing worth recovering.” He shook Imperious with all of his might. “Do you hear me?!”
“Oh. I hear you.” Lord Imperious slowly turned his head back towards Megatron, his face fully splayed open. “Do you hear me?”
From his open visage, he released a beam of energy that struck Megatron directly in the optics. The Decepticon leader cried out in agony as the world melted all around him. The skies turned violet as the ground became soft and pliant, causing him to lose his footing as he found it impossible to regain his balance.
“I’ve let you had your fun,” Lord Imperious said as he raised all six of his arms. “Now it’s time for me to have mine.”
* * *
“Okay, I’ve got Trypticon’s weapons back up and running,” Nickel said. “Just give me a target.”
Starscream, Skywarp, and Krok stood with her in the command center of the dormant Trypticon. The Titan’s systems had been brought back online just enough for them to view the battlefield below. From what Starscream could see, Megatron was still taking his anger out on Lord Imperious while Lugnut was tangling with both Bruton and Medusa.
As loathe he was to give Lugnut any credit, the brutish Decepticon had managed to do a good amount of damage to Bruton; his explosive punches had apparently blown a large chunk of the massive Destructon’s armor plating away. But between Bruton’s confusion-inducing club and Medusa’s wily tactics, Lugnut was far from becoming victorious.
Perhaps it was time to give him a hand.
“Target their position,” Starscream said, indicating the three combatants on the view screen. “Give them everything you’ve got.”
Krok glanced at him. “Won’t Lugnut be caught in the crossfire?”
As if I care, Starscream thought to himself. Aloud, he said, “He’s survived worse. Do it now!”
With a hesitant glance towards Krok, Nickel pressed the controls connected to Trypticon’s weapon systems. Outside, a cluster of plasma bombs launched towards Lugnut and his opponents’ position, followed shortly by photon beams from the Titan’s shoulder cannons.
The ground exploded beneath their feet, sending all three of them flying in opposite directions. Starscream did not pay attention to where Lugnut ended up, keeping his focus solely on the two Destructons.
“Keep tracking them,” he ordered. “And don’t stop firing.”
Nickel continued to fire photon beams at the two Destructons. While Bruton was held back by the barrage, Medusa managed to slither just out of range as she headed towards the Titan, her arm blades deployed as she prepared to climb up Trypticon’s body.
“Frag it,” Starscream cursed to himself. “Skywarp, get out there and distract her. Don’t let her get inside!”
Skywarp glared at him. “Way to throw me to the cyber-wolves.”
“You’ve already killed one Destructon. I’m sure you can take on another!”
The black and purple Seeker looked doubtful at that but nonetheless teleported out of the chamber. He rematerialized outside in his jet mode as he began to perform a strafe run against Medusa, winking in and out of existence to evade her strikes.
As Starscream watched everything unfold, unable to tear his gaze away from the action, he felt Krok tap him on the shoulder.
“Um, Starscream? Our leader appears to be having some problems.”
Starscream spared a brief glance to where Megatron and Lord Imperious were. The Decepticon leader was on his knees, clutching his head in pain as Lord Imperious stood over him, all six arms raised towards the sky as if in triumph.
He was almost sad to admit that he wasn’t surprised that their so-called glorious leader had folded so quickly. Almost.
“We’ll deal with them shortly,” Starscream muttered, returning his gaze to Bruton and Medusa. “One thing at a time.”
* * *
“Knowledge is power, Megatron. That is the one and only fact of the universe.”
Megatron could barely hear Lord Imperious over the sounds of his own screams. The terrain of Metascan Alpha had completely transformed into a hellish landscape. The sky was filled with undecipherable shapes, with some resembling distorted faces or nightmarish creatures. The ground moved like the waves of the sea, and he could have sworn he saw eyes and mouths opening up from beneath what should have been dirt, casting ravenous looks in his direction as if awaiting to devour him whole.
Lord Imperious moved around him, unaffected by the delirious world he had created. “No one understood this better than my creators; they who would come to comprise my very existence. In order to survive extinction, they uploaded their consciousness into a single database, in the hopes that their knowledge and customs would be able to withstand the inevitable fate of death.
“And withstand it, they did. More than they could have ever dreamed. Everything they knew of their world—every memory, every thought, every dream, every philosophy, every trade and discipline, every intellect—all came together to create a single entity. An entity that held no equal, as he would forever hold the capacity to learn new things; to create new memories; to have new dreams.”
He knelt before Megatron and grabbed the Decepticon leader’s head, forcing him to look into his eyes.
“That is what I am, Megatron. That is why I am. I am the final stage of evolution; the ultimate culmination of the universe. From the day I was gifted independent thought, I made it my lifelong mission to learn everything about the cosmos. Every species I encountered, I assimilated their knowledge, expanding my databanks and skill set, before wiping them from existence. Because what purpose would they serve when everything that makes them a people lives within me? Everything about them is all in one place: my mind.
“That is why I formed the Destructons. The only path to universal peace is through complete annihilation. Those I have brought to my cause were all exemplary samples of what they represented; not their people’s culture, which I assimilated for myself, but the abstract natures that I myself, even for all my greatness, could not demonstrate. Bruton, for example, represents the strength and invulnerability of a true warrior; Medusa embodies the beauty and lust that fuels the creation of organic life itself; and Psychokhan carries the cunning deceit of a hunter.
“Knowledge. Strength. Beauty. Cunning. That is all you need, Megatron. That is all the universe needs. What purpose do entire civilizations serve when you can embody the essentials within four unique individuals? The universe can be allowed to thrive without sacrificing its resources to sustain those who would only waste it.”
Lord Imperious then released Megatron’s head as he stood up and turned sharply on his heel, folding his arms behind his back as he paced away.
“It was a foolproof plan… until I discovered you. Or rather, your species. You Cybertronians were unlike anything I had encountered before. I had encountered other mechanical races, yes, but their evolution was rooted in organic origin, making it easy to consume their knowledge. But not you. Your kind are an abomination; a crude amalgamation of machine and energy. Everything about you is artificial; your customs, your trades, your skills, everything. You were created by a race of aliens for the sole purpose of seeing if they could play god… and perhaps make a profit while doing so.
“Even if it had been possible for me to assimilate you, you were unworthy of it. You were an affront to the very nature of the universe and stood against everything we four were to embody. And thus, you had to be destroyed.”
Lord Imperious paused before looking over his shoulder at Megatron, his violet eyes narrowed.
“But, ashamed as I am to admit it, I had underestimated you. You proved to be far more cunning and capable than I had imagined. Of course, you wouldn’t have been able to contain us without the aid of the Logicons. But the fact that you were able to lure us into your little trap in the first place… that took some creativity, I will grant you that.
“And so it was that, when we were freed from our prison, I took it upon myself to find an alternative approach to your race’s extinction. You see, in my endless search for knowledge, I had come across a region of space known as the Warren; a rift in the very fabric of the universe that allowed one to look forward and back in time. To say I was more than a bit overwhelmed by all that it showed me would be an understatement; like a glutton at a buffet, I was at a loss on where to even begin.
“And then… the Warren spoke to me.”
If Megatron was surprised by the words, he did not show it. He had stopped screaming but still clutched his head, shielding his optics to avoid witnessing the nightmares surrounding him. Lord Imperious turned back around fully and began to slowly walk back towards him.
“It spoke to me, Megatron. The Warren was alive. Eons ago, when the universe was young and time was a new concept, it had been an entity known as a Vok—what your kind call the Omega Guardians. More than that, they were the people that had created me. In uploading their consciousness, they had been able to transcend to the Higher Realms from which they had been able to guide me, for I am them and they are me. I had become their emissary. But before then, before my creation, one of them—it who would become the Warren—had become impatient with this process and sought to exploit a rift in the Benzene Cluster. It was torn apart by this endeavor and morphed into the labyrinth of interdimensional tunnels that it has since become.
“Because of this, the Warren was something an oracle to me; it knew far more about the universe than I had learned so far, and well more beyond that. I know not why it chose me in particular to share its knowledge, although I suspect it was because our goals aligned quite fittingly. Because it showed me the ideal future I so hungrily sought after; a universe devoid of all life but for that which was necessary. The four essentials.
“But in order to achieve that dream, I needed far more than what I already had at my disposal. Even the combined strength of me and my fellow Destructons, it would have taken eons for us to eradicate all that required it, and by that point the universe itself would be in its death throes. What we needed was something far greater, far more powerful than any of us.
“What we needed was Unicron.”
At that name, Megatron’s eyes snapped open. Lord Imperious carried on, perhaps oblivious to this.
“By this point, Unicron was still trapped in the dead realm that had been made his prison, but the Warren knew how to free him. It knew all that occurred throughout the universe; it knew what energies had banished Unicron to his prison in the first place, and it knew what energies could free him. By fate or coincidence, it just happened that one of your followers had already created those very energies and seeded them on various worlds with his transwarp technology.
“Armed with the knowledge provided to me by the Warren, I set out to put things in motion. I went to the Quintessons that created you and told them of Unicron’s existence, convincing them that he was a fragment of the deity they worshiped. While they got to work with their own schemes, I sought out the one who called himself the Grand Architect, who had made his own trip through the Warren and foreseen the coming of Unicron. I told him what he would need to do to prepare for his arrival; not once did he ever suspect that he would be summoning the Beast rather than banishing it.”
Lord Imperious splayed his six arms out again, rising them towards the sky.
“Everything that has transpired in the last few millennia of your race’s history has been my doing, Megatron. I knew that the Quintessons’ initial attempts to merge Unicron with Cybertron would fail, forcing them to work with the Grand Architect and see his plan to fruition, none of them realizing that all of their ideas and plans had been planted in their heads by me. Because I know everything. I am the culmination of the universe’s knowledge. I know how everything began, and I know how it will all end. It doesn’t matter what roadblocks or setbacks are faced along the way, it will all end with the final truth: that knowledge is power… and that I am Imperious.”
He brought his arms down as he cast his gaze down at Megatron, his eyes filled with complete loathing.
“And by destroying you, I will have rid the universe of a rather frustrating headache. You represent everything I despise of your kind; not only are you a horrid abomination of metal and energy, but you are a living paradox. You exist only due to the exploits of those who have abused the powers of the universe to affect the timestream; indeed, it was only through the intervention of two interlopers from another reality that you were able to function in the first place. At least by eliminating you, your presence will no longer disturb the fabric of the universe. And once Unicron has destroyed all of your kind, it will at last know peace.”
Once Lord Imperious had finished speaking, Megatron slowly lowered his hands from his head. He lifted his gaze up to the Destructon… and he smiled.
All sense of superiority vanished from Imperious’ expression as it became replaced with confusion. “What are you smiling about?”
“You sure do love the sound of your own voice, don’t you, Imperious?”
The Destructon’s eyes flash with anger. “Do not be so dismissive, Cybertronian. While I have used deceit in the past to achieve my means, I speak only the truth to you now. There is no avoiding the inevitable; I have foreseen your death, Megatron, and it will be at my hands.”
“I know.” Megatron’s grin broadened. “So do it then.”
Lord Imperious blinked. “What?”
“Kill me.” The Decepticon leader spread his arms wide, exposing his chest. “You said it yourself. It is inevitable. So do it.”
Lord Imperious continued to stare at him, his anger quickly turning into bewilderment. “No… no, that’s not… that’s not what’s supposed to happen. I have seen your death. I have heard your final words. Those… those are not it. You are defiant until… until the very end.”
“Indeed, for I am defying your own predictions. Perhaps you have misinterpreted the future you saw.”
“No. No! The future I saw is definitive! There is no margin for error! All that I know is absolute! There is no room for… for….”
“For what?” Megatron smirked. “Creativity? Cunning, perhaps?”
Imperious continued to stammer as Megatron rose to his feet. Around them, the nightmarish landscape faded back into reality as the effects of the Destructon’s Delirious Fire wore off.
“You said it yourself. Knowledge, strength, beauty, and cunning are all that you need. And while I suppose one of those four is in the eye of the beholder…”
Megatron raised his fusion cannon, fully primed with all of the energy he had been charging for the last several minutes, and aimed straight at Lord Imperious’ chest.
“I feel that the other three are more than enough.”
He released the energy contained within his cannon and the force of the resulting blast sent him flying off his feet. The energy that lanced from the barrel punched straight into Lord Imperious’ chest and out through his back.
The leader of the Destructons uttered nary a sound as he fell to the ground. With each passing microsecond, the memories and knowledge of countless civilizations forgotten by time faded into oblivion, never to be remembered or thought of again.
When the dust had settled, the ultimate culmination of the universe and the final stage of evolution was nothing more than a lifeless husk on a barren wasteland.
* * *
The blast from Megatron’s had been bright enough to be seen by all on the battlefield, bringing the fighting to a near standstill.
Medusa gawked in the direction of her leader, whose remains now littered the sandy ground. Skywarp, who had been continuing his teleportation attacks to distract her from Trypticon, wasted no time in warping away to assist Megatron, who had been launched several feet away by the blast.
Medusa did not know what to think. It was incomprehensible to her that someone as great and powerful as Lord Imperious could be defeated let alone destroyed. And yet, there was no denying the sight that now laid before her. After so many years of destruction—so many years of planning and preparation for this very moment—it had all been taken away in the blink of an eye.
She was broken out of her reverie only by a violent shake of the ground as Bruton’s body landed next to her. Her fellow Destructon’s body was practically charred to a crisp, resembling a large piece of coal after having been assailed by the Titan’s weapons and Lugnut’s explosive punches. If there was any life left in him, she saw no signs of it just by looking at him.
A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Lugnut looming over her, heavily damaged but still yearning for a fight. His central red optic fell on her and he readied his arm for another punch.
“Wait!” Medusa raised her arms, desperation filling her eyes. “I surrender! Please, show me mercy and I will pledge myself to your leader!”
“You,” Lugnut intoned, “are not worthy of Megatron’s grace. The only service you shall perform for him will be to die.”
The thrusters on his elbow kicked on and he prepared to throw his punch. Before he could do so, however, Skywarp suddenly materialized behind Medusa, now carrying the sword he had taken from Psychokhan. With one deft swoop, he sliced it through Medusa’s midsection, bisecting her at the waste. The light drained from her red eyes as her severed torso fell to the ground and her now-disembodied tail writhed away uselessly.
Lugnut uttered a low growl as he reluctantly powered down his arm, glaring down at Skywarp. “That kill was mine.”
“You had one already,” Skywarp said, tossing aside the sword.
“So did you! You have no room to talk—!”
“Enough.” Both Decepticons fell silent as Megatron limped towards them, clutching his right arm as smoke exhaled from his fusion cannon. “It matters not who dealt the final blow, so long as they have been destroyed. Skywarp, see if you can get the twin spires operational.”
Skywarp cocked his head. “Why? They’re dead now, aren’t they?”
“Yes, but that hasn’t stopped some of us before. I don’t want there to be any chance for them to return. We will cast their remains into the dimensional prison and then destroy the spires so that it can never be reopened.”
Skywarp nodded before teleporting away. Standing alone now with Lugnut, Megatron cast his gaze up at Trypticon, whose shadow still loomed over the battlefield. He narrowed his optics as he glared up at the Titan’s cranium, where he knew the command center—and Starscream—to be.
If the treacherous Seeker felt at all tempted to unload Trypticon’s weaponry on the Decepticon leader here and now, when he was most vulnerable, he did not act on it. At the very least, Megatron would give him credit for that.
Another shape then appeared in the sky, just over Trypticon’s head, and Megatron adjusted his optical sensors to distinguish it. He then smiled to himself as the Nemesis came into full view and descended down towards the surface.
“It is a beautiful day, isn’t it, Lugnut?” he said quietly.
Lugnut blinked, taken aback by the question, before nodding eagerly. “That it is, all mighty Megatron.”
Megatron grinned, his eyes filled with hunger. “Let us ruin it then, shall we?”
