Chapter Text
Optimus Prime
I felt a white-hot rage building up inside me, possessing me as I was tackled to the ground. All of my emotions I had been holding at bay over the past few days, maybe the past few millennia, were unleashed in a torrent. All my fear, anger, frustration, hurt, grief, and worry flooded my systems and spurred me on as never before.
Leaping back to my pedes, I grabbed a fallen tree trunk, slamming it into Megatron. ''WEAK!'' I growled the taunt after I knocked him off balance. Casting the tree aside, I deflected his right hook with my right forearm before landing a solid punch in the middle of his back. ''PUNY!" I yelled at him and he grunted as my fists connected - metal crunching brutally against metal. Megatron turned back to hit me and I ducked easily before brining my right arm around to connect with his face. ''WASTE OF METAL!'' The power of my blow sent him flying backwards.
I unsheathed my energon blade from my right arm and stepped up to slice at Megatron as he rolled back to his pedes. ''JUNK YARD SCRAP!'' As I brought my blade down several times round his helm and chest before backhanding him hard with my right servo, sending energon flying. I spun around before him, grabbed his helm with my left servo and threw him to the ground with a growl.
At my frenzied and savage attack, I could sense the smallest amount of fear emanating from Megatron as he yelled for his minions to join the attack. ''DECEPTICONS!'' I was aware of Grindor landing off to my right and Starscream had arrived too, slamming into some trees. /AUTOBOTS! WHERE ARE YOU?/ The urgent thought tore at me. Though I was a Prime and my skill on the battlefield had been finely honed after millennia of fighting, the odds were suddenly tipped well out of my favour.
Furrowing my brow in determination, I continued to fight Megatron until I noticed Starscream run towards something. /SAM!/. Noticing the fleeing form of the boy, Megatron had also tried to disengage me and follow after Sam. Once again I was consumed by rage and bloody minded determination as I chased him. After tackling him to the ground, I quickly sprung up, deflecting a blow and grabbing a leg he kicked out at me. I brought my energon blade down on his leg joint with enough force to severely bend it out of shape and almost snap it. I took some small measure of delight in the growl of pain and anger that was torn from his dermas. Bringing my left knee up to slam into his helm, I sent him backwards onto his aft.
I had lost sight of Sam which hopefully meant he was safe somewhere. At this point Starscream made his presence known as he ran at me firing. I turned around and gave him a solid right uppercut to his helm at the same time bringing my left arm down and punching him in the back of the helm with my left servo. I pivoted around with my momentum as he lurched to the ground and then grabbed him in a helm lock as he began firing.
My body was starting to fatigue even as the sound of Bumblebee's and Ironhide's engines roared loudly in the distance as they raced to my position. /HURRY/.
''THERE IS ANOTHER SOURCE OF ENERGON ON THIS PLANET. THE BOY COULD LEAD US TO IT!'' The guttural voice barked at me. I swung back at Megatron and sent him stumbling backwards again before Starscream caught me off guard and punched me from behind. As I struggled to regain my footing, Grindor grabbed me by my helm and lifted me off the ground, running his blades against my side. I slashed back at him with my energon blade and he dropped me for a moment before Starscream took over again.
I tried to defend myself, but I was surrounded and could feel my energon reserves depleting rapidly, my battle-damaged CPU began to issue different codes and malfunctions at me. I stumbled slightly and then I felt Megatron slam into me, hitting me across my back before grabbing me by my helm and sending me flying backwards. I narrowly missed impaling myself on a jagged tree trunk.
I rolled to my pedes as quickly as possible, but I was too late to defend myself against the roundhouse kick Megatron delivered. I groaned out loud as his pede slammed into my faceplates, shattering my face, ripping one of the metal visors from above my windscreen off and sending energon flying. I fell heavily to the ground as I heard Sam scream in terror, ''OPTIMUS!''
Pain tore through my body. Having been severely jolted, I shakily began to get to my pedes only to be greeted by a blast to my chest and several rapid fire machine gun blasts Starscream sent in my direction which sent me stumbling backwards past Megatron. A feral grin spread across his dermas as he savagely backhanded me and fired his canon point blank at me.
Flames and heat tore through me. The force of the impact sent me soaring backwards and I landed heavily on the ground before a fleeing Sam. Rolling gingerly to my side, my body was on fire, it ached and bled. I could feel the dents and gouges, the severed lines, the torn and jagged metal. I spat broken bits of metal plating from inside my dermas, along with bits of dirt and grass I had ingested as I landed on the ground. /Primus, give me strength!/.
Megatron slowly stalked towards me, unsheathing his own blade. ''Is the future of our race not worth a single human life?'' he taunted me as he snipped his claw like ''servo'' together in wicked triumph.
I could hear Sam, who was cowering behind the root of the fallen tree calling out to me. ''Come on, up… get up!''
I knelt there momentarily, venting heavily to try and stop my rapidly malfunctioning systems from over-heating, my right blade drawn, my left arm supporting my weight. /THIS IS IT/. I ex-vented heavily as I prepared for my final assault. /ALL OR NOTHING!/.
A renewed sense of righteous anger and purpose surged through me as I cried out, ''YOU'LL NEVER STOP AT ONE!'' Unsheathing my other energon blade from my left hand, I spun around challenging, ''I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!'' I slammed my energon blade into Starscream and sent him flying backwards to Megatron before I rounded on Grindor and severed his arm with the rotor blades as well as some of his helicopter blades, sending them careening towards Megatron and Starscream, who narrowly avoided being sliced.
I spun around slashing in turn at Starscream and Grindor before rolling across Starscream's back and forcing him to shoot at Grindor. I sent Starscream sprawling before I stabbed my left blade deep into Megatron's damaged leg, almost severing it. I punched at his side before bringing my blade back down to stab into his chest. I rained blows down upon him, eventually sending him flying again. /Keep. Fighting. Don't. Stop/. The words were almost all I had left to give.
Starscream had since returned and I easily grabbed his right arm as he took a swing at me. I brought my left blade down hard, severing his right arm and then using it as a club to beat him with. I was possessed. I heard Starscream scream out in pain and horror at my bloodlust. After I gave a mighty swing and sent him flying backwards, I leapt at Grindor who had tried to silently creep up on me, transforming my blades to hooks, and sinking them into his chest, I scaled up his larger torso as though he were nothing but a mighty, metal mountain.
Once I had positioned myself atop his shoulders, I sunk a hook into either side of his face and pulled it apart. Grindor's scream of pain combined with my yell of fury echoed throughout the woods. As I leapt down from his shoulders towards the ground again, I sunk one of my hooks into his back struts to topple him to the ground as though he were a metal tree that had just been felled. ''PIECE OF TIN!'' I cursed as he crashed lifelessly to the ground.
Badly damaged systems screamed at me for urgent repairs, I stumbled almost blindly as I clutched at my chest. My body felt broken and pushed to its limits, but I had to keep going. ''SAM! WHERE ARE YOU?'' I cried out as I fell to the ground. It was in that moment a sharp talon like digit seized my left shoulder and a blade pierce my chest plates from behind, narrowly missing my spark chamber.
I cried out in agony, clutching at my chest to try and remove the offending weapon. I screamed out in pain as I was lifted bodily from the ground, Megatron's blade impaling me. His triumphant growl deafening and mocking in my audial, ''YOU'RE SO WEAK!''
''UNH.. NO!'' I cried, wildly flailing my arms about trying to grab purchase of Megatron and fight with my last ''breaths''. I heard the click of his blaster.
Time slowed for a moment as the end drew near.
/NO! SAM. MY AUTOBOTS. ORIANNA..../. The sound of his cannon blasting through my chest and tearing me apart, ripped the very thoughts from my processor as excruciating pain coursed through my body and my chest was blown apart.
For a moment he held me aloft - his prize – after millions of years of fighting.
Megatron simultaneously released his claw like grip on my arm and withdraw the blade from my chest, I slid down to my pedes, teetering upright for a moment, in disbelief and shock. I felt my systems crash one by one, the immense pain that had ripped through me, began to fade as my spark slowed, my life force draining from me rapidly. I collapsed to the ground slowly, unable to break my fall, but I didn't feel anything, save for the crushing knowledge I had failed.
I had nothing left to give.
I was spent.
Smoke billowed from my chest cavity and my optics began to dim. I rolled slowly onto my back, my right servo laying limply across my body. I turned my helm around slowly to face Sam who stood there amidst the smoke, a look of utter disbelief, shock and sorrow etched into his face. There was nothing I could do to help him except try to warn him. With the remaining strength I had, I used my dying breath to issue a warning, ''Sam….. Run.. Ru…!'' It was up to him to heed my warning.
I was vaguely aware of the sound of my Autobots firing. /I'm sorry..../.
Darkness began to claim me, my optics shone brightly for a moment as my last thoughts flashed to ''my light''. My Orianna. An image of her face smiling up at me as I rested my digit under her chin flashed through my processor. / I DIDN'T GET TO TELL YOU…/.
It was the last image and the last thought I had before all went dark and my spark beat its last.