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“WHERE IS HE!” Quintus Prime roared. “You said if we used our combined powers we could bring his spark back to us!”
Amalgamous maintained his composure, but shifted his plating into aggressive spikes. “I said we might be able to separate his spark from the Matrix.”
“So what happened?” Quintus asked, but he already knew. “He’s been reborn again, hasn’t he.”
Alpha Trion shook his helm. “No, not yet, but in the future, and not in a form he has worn before.”
Alchemist cleaned an unseen glass. “So what now? The darkness is still coming, which we still don’t know exactly what that means other than it appearing on Earth. And now Thirteen is gone again. Who else is left that fits the bill, Alpha?”
“You know the specifics are never clear Alche- sorry, Maccadam, but the darkness is once again on Earth, supposedly a danger to both Primus and Unicron, and that a ‘Prime renewed’ will stop it with the assistance of the ‘scout given new life’ and his allies.” Alpha Trion recited from his memory of the Covenant of Primus.
Amalgamous’ single optic rotated in thought. “At present, the only living members of the Thirteen Primes are Al- Maccadam, Nexus, and Prima. Of the dead there is myself, Alpha, Quintus, Micronus, Solus, and Onyx. Thirteen, Vector, and Maximo are inaccessible for various reasons. The newer Primes such as Sentinel and Nova returned to the All Spark similar to Optimus, and are therefore also not options.”
Onyx stretched his hind limbs. “I have seen the dreams of Prima and Nexus’ components. Nexus will not leave his task of keeping the Cyber Caliber components separated, and Prima has reduced himself to a hermit, avoiding conflicts larger than petty squabbles in the colony he settled near.”
Maccadam saw the other looking at him, “Hey, I may still be on Cybertron, but I’m in the same shuttle as Prima, I’ve lost my taste for battle, at least until the solarcycle I join you seven.”
Micronus tsked, “We’ll just have to revive one of us then. Out of the six of us, Onyx is the strongest.”
“But my frame still functions as part of the All Spark.” Onyx’s frame was one of their few ties to the physical world. “If I or Solus are revived, it may harm the All Spark. Same goes for you brother.”
Amalgamous shifted into a floating sphere. “The revival will not work now anyway. I proposed Thirteen to be the one to be revived because his spark still had the closest connection to the physical world and as such required less energy to revive. To revive one of us would take more energy than our sparks hold.”
Quintus sighed, “So that’s it? We let Optimus slip from our grasp and now both Cybertron and Earth are doomed? What about Smokescreen? He was almost a Prime, surely we can do something with that?”
Alpha Trion just shook his helm slowly.
Solus, who had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke. “There is still another living Prime…”
Everyone looked at her in shock. Micronus crossed his arms, “No, nuh-uh, no way, nope, no. Not him. He killed you! For all we know he is the darkness Alpha read about.”
“He isn’t!” Solus shouted but froze, “I- I’m sorry… But… I don’t think he’s the darkness. Despite all he’s done… he never did it maliciously…”
Maccadam nodded and tapped the lenses over his optics. “She’s right, the only time I’ve seen malice in his spark was when we confronted Maximo. But I’ve also seen how easy it is to manipulate him. Unicron did it, Maximo did it, and to an extent, we did too.”
Quintus considered their options. “He is the strongest of us, but how would we even reach him? He’s cut himself off just as thoroughly as Vector has.”
“Please, we have to try…” Solus begged. “I know in my spark that if we ask, he will answer, he cares about Cybertron just as much as us… I think it’s part of why he left… he wanted to keep it safe from himself…”
Onyx stood beside Solus, clawed servo on her shoulder. “I don’t care what the others decide, I will lend you my power.”
Micronus put a servo on Solus’ leg. “If Onyx is with you, then so am I.”
Slowly, the other Primes joined. A small smile crept onto Alpha Trion’s face, “Perhaps we were mistakenly attributing renewed to mean revived rather than redeemed.”
------
The planetoid was barren.
Nothing but red dust covered it, blown around by the occasional wind.
Nothing upon its surface.
Nothing but The Fallen.
He sat upon one of the few rocks on the planet, his entire frame coated in a thick layer of the dust that covered the planet.
On his arm, the Requiem Blaster, long since broken by overheating.
He had sat there for more solarcycles than he cared to count. Inside a battle occurred.
A battle that has been fought many times before. A battle between his desire to let his energy slowly trickle down to nothing, and his want to live.
His hunger had always won so far. Every time his energon had gotten to the last percent, he relented and used his star harvester to refuel.
And then, he would either return to his seat, or find a new one in another solar system.
He would then start the battle again, thinking upon his actions and crimes while he waited.
This cycle had been repeating for tens, if not hundreds, of millions of stellarcycles.
The cycle had been broken many times. Fits of anger, sorrow, insanely laughing until his vocals broke, staring into the infinite nothingness within a black hole, spending vorns replaying Solus’ final words to him.
His mind had broken many times, but it had slowly pieced itself back together just as many.
He avoided planets with life. It was better if he was never near something that could be harmed again.
“My love.”
A voice.
Feminine and soft.
Barely a whisper, but the loudest thing his audials had heard in solarcycles.
His optics snapped open, and he looked in the direction the noise came from. Dust raining down from his frame as he moved.
There, shades of purple and accents of yellow, Solus Prime stood before him.
His mask opened from his shock, grinding against the dust in the actuators.
She was gone.
He let out a long sigh. “Not this again…”
Her voice again, “Close your mask.”
He complied, and there she was again. “I truly have broken my processor this time.”
“No you haven’t.” She walked up to him, and put a servo on the side of his face. Her smile grew. “You’re still wearing the armour I made.”
He could feel her touch, but when he reached for her, his servo merely passed through air. “How?... How are you here?”
“The others, they’re sharing their power so that we may talk.” Her smile slowly faded. “We need your help, Cybertron needs-”
The Fallen stood, and despite the pain it caused him, he turned away from his love. “No. Alpha Trion had been sending the developments on Cybertron to my comm for eons, thinking it might convince me back. I know about the war, I know about the one who tainted that already ruined name. I am not going to be a pawn in another war.”
“My love!” Solus pleaded, trying to grab his servo. “That war is over, Thirteen- Optimus won, but there’s a new darkness looming, one that puts both Primus and Unicron in danger.”
“Then let ‘Optimus’ be the one to handle it.” The Fallen continued to walk away, spark torn with each step.
Solus yelled, “THIRTEEN IS GONE! He went back into the All Spark! We don’t have the power to revive one of us in the Realm of Primes, and everyone else still alive refuses to fight! Please… my love… Megatronus… please… why do you refuse to help…”
Her plea broke him.
He fell to his knees, gripping the dust in his servos.
“Because all I do is destroy.” Lubricant hit the inside of his mask. “Because every time I try to do the right thing, I get tricked, mess it up, or kill someone I care about. I nearly ruined our chance at defeating Unicron because I let my rage distract me. Unicron tricked me into trying to kill Prima. Maximo made me think you and Onyx were lovers behind my back, and then… then… he tricked me into arguing with you… and… and I killed you… and you… you said you loved me, even as your spark fizzled out. Why?”
Solus put a servo on The Fallen’s back, “Because I knew you didn’t mean to. That for as much as your anger had consumed you, mine had as well. If you had not shot me, I probably would have stabbed you.”
“But I would have survived, you did not.” He despised the weight of the cannon on his arm.
Solus let out a small laugh. “Doubting my weapons’ abilities again just because you’re the big and tough Megatronus?”
“I’m not Megatronus.” The Fallen said flatly. “I never will be again.”
Her servo lifted his head, or, he lifted it as she motioned to lift it.
She slapped him.
Her servo had traveled through his face, and it stung all the way across. Lubricant leaked from her optics. “You idiot! You will always be Megatronus, you will always be the bot I love. Seeing what you’re doing to yourself hurts a thousand times more than your cannon ever could.”
He pulled back. “I must atone for what I’ve done. And even if it refuses to function, I must keep the Requiem Blaster out of evil’s servos.”
“W- it's broken?” Solus looked at the cannon on The Fallen’s arm. “No- that’s not important. Megatronus, my love, you’ve suffered enough, you’ve more than atoned. Please… I don’t want to spend the rest of eternity knowing you’re punishing yourself like this…
“If… If you really want to atone, then you will help us, help Cybertron… help me, please.” Her pleas tore at his spark.
He had killed her, and yet, she still loved him, even after all this time. And… she still trusted him enough to ask him for help.
He felt her dermas gently press against his helm. “Please Megatronus, if for nothing else, do this for me.”
His fists tightened until the dust he held compressed into stone. He stood, his spark now burning with purpose. “For you, my love, I would do anything.”
“Thank you my love, it is good to see the fire in your optics again.” She wiped away her tears. “The darkness will appear on Unicron’s corpse, the planet known as Earth.”
He looked to the stars, sensing the Chaos Bringer. “The journey will be long, but a mere blink in comparison to what I have endured.”
His armour’s thrusters ignited, but a voice cut them off, “My love, wait!”
The Fallen looked to Solus. “We have spent a long time trying to reach you, there is not enough time for you to fly, please, hold my servos.”
Her servos felt warm in his. Her form started to glow, and energy flowed into his frame. “With the power we intended to use to revive Optimus, we will bring you to where you are needed.”
“Will I see you again?” Megatronus asked, lubricant leaking from behind his mask.
“I can only hope.” Her form flickered as the energy intensified. “Be safe my love.”
------
Denny, Russell, and Fixit hid behind the diner’s counter. Fracture and his mini-cons were searching for them.
They had armed themselves with a laser scalpel, frying pan, and electric mixer.
There was a loud crash and flash.
Denny counted down, “Three, two, one!”
The trio ran outside, expecting to fight Fracture.
Instead they saw the three cons, knocked out, and under the pede of a colossal figure.
Fixit saw the symbol on the grey, black, and purple bot’s chest. His stutter was caused by fear rather than a glitch, “M-M-M-MEGATRONUS!”
The imposing figure folded his swordstaff and leaned down. “You must be one of Micronus’.”
Fixit fainted. Denny stepped in front of Russell. “W-we don’t mean you any harm. Y-your not a Decepticon right?”
Megatronus stood. “No, I wish to have nothing to do with the faction created by the one who further tarnished my already ruined name. I am Megatronus, one of the original thirteen Primes. I have come to this world to fight a great darkness. I assume these three are mere servants to a greater power?”
Russell lit up, “Then you’re the Prime from Solus’ message to Strongarm!”
“Solus spoke to someone here? Where is this ‘Strongarm’? I must speak to them at once.” Megatronus looked around the scrapyard but saw no other bots.
“She was taken by Steeljaw and his pack, Bee and the rest of the team went to save her and Sideswipe.” Russell hurriedly explained.
Fixit pulled out a scanner, “I will pinpoint his location. If… If I may ask, what made you end your exile?”
A small smile crept onto Megatronus’ face. “Love. Solus spoke to me and convinced me to fight this darkness, that I could atone for my sins by doing so, and that I was the only Prime left able to fight.”
“Ah ha.” Fixit turned his scanner around. “Bumblebee is near Crown City by the river.”
“Then there I shall go.” Megatronus turned to walk out of the scrapyard.
Russell ran after him. “Wait! You should take my Dad and I with you. Other humans can’t know you’re an alien robot and with the rest of the team fighting you’ll need us to cover and evacuate people.”
Megatronus paused. “Very well.”
He transformed, becoming a tank with drills mounted to the front of his hull. The Requiem Blaster formed his cannon, with his built in blasters flanking it like coaxial guns. A hatch on his turret opened.
Denny and Russell climbed up and into the hatch.
Despite being a tank, Megatronus was still fast. The thrusters in Solus’ armour boosted his speed as he roared down the road.
Was a rocket propelled tank subtle? No. But so was a regular tank. Or a flying bot. Luckily the road they took was mostly empty.
As they neared the river, Megatronus pulled into the forest, clipping a few trees. He cringed at the damage he was already doing to this world.
Denny and Russell climbed out of his turret, and ran towards a bridge, it was packed with vehicles.
Megatronus looked across the river, right at a massive statue. There were bots fighting around its base. A vortex was forming overhead.
A yellow bot was pinned under a blue one with large horns. An orange bot was knocked down by a four legged purple one, one of Onyx’s presumably. A green one, another of Onyx’s, struggled against a clamp clawed red one.
Three more bots were tied to the statue, and a steel blue one, with the same symbol as the purple one he knocked out after arriving to this world, stood at an open portal.
Megatronus could feel the darkness on the other side of it even from across the river.
His tracks tore into the ground as he charged and transformed, using his armour’s thrusters to fly across the river. Just as he was about to reach the island, he noticed his energy levels had been refilled, presumably when he had been transported.
Solus always made sure he was recharging enough.
His pedes slammed to the ground, cracking the pavement.
The steel blue bot- Steeljaw was peering into the portal, and a figure approached from the other side.
Megatronus pulled out his swordstaff. “I will end this threat before it begins! RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
He charged up the steps, every bot looking at him with shock from his sudden appearance and warcry.
The blade met the portal’s frame, and the portal’s energy exploded, sending Megatronus flying back to where he had originally landed. All the other bots were also thrown to the ground.
Megatronus used his staff to help bring him back to his pedes.
Smoke cleared, and standing in the ruins of the portal frame, was a deep green figure. His frame was covered in large curved spikes, and a pair of curved horns on his helm.
The figure spread his arm, “At long last, Liege Maximo stands triumphant!”
Liege Maximo.
The Prime who twisted their farm of beasts into a weapon and trained the beasts to attack his fellow Primes. The one who saw petty squabbles and turned them into conflicts. The one who tricked him into arguing with Solus, hoping it would result in her death. The one who gave her that pet, but only as a way to slip a camera into her home.
“Heh, ha, ha ha Ha Ha Ha AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Megatronus laughed. Not one of amusement, but one full of insanity. Through his mask it sounded like metal rattling.
Maximo took a step back, completely taken off guard by the continuing laughter, broken only by Megatronus’ vocals glitching from the strain. “M- Megatronus?”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Megatronus’ whole body arched backwards, and his mask opened, his optics wide and pouring lubricant tears. A smile so wide, his helm’s side plates hid the corners of it. Never had any of the surrounding bots heard such a terrifyingly insane and insanely terrifying laugh.
The laughter stopped.
It didn’t fade away.
It didn’t slow.
It just stopped.
Megatronus snapped back to his full height. His optics were locked in a tight scowl, but his intake was still in a much too wide grin. “Father really has forgiven me if you are the one I must kill.”
Drift helped Bumblebee to his pedes, “Fixit, bots called Megatronus and Liege Maximo have appeared, are they truly the Primes of old?”
Fixit nearly fainted again, “LIEGE MAXIMO?! He must be the darkness Megatronus was sent to fight. Maximo was responsible for many conflicts in the Age of Primes, and his actions resulted in Megatronus killing Solus Prime. But I thought he was killed by Megatronus?”
Megatronus looked at the pair of Autobots. “Yellow one, rescue your teammates, Maximo is mine.”
The Fallen charged at the Great Deceiver. Maximo took a step back, a worried look quickly changed into a sly grin. He rolled to the side and threw three of his Liegian Darts.
They struck Megatronus’ side, and they burned like acid made of ice. He fell to his knees. Maximo kicked him, forcing him to the ground. “It would seem even the mighty Megatronus can’t handle even half the dose I gave Unicron. I wonder how these would affect a regular bot.”
He pulled out a pair of darts, aiming for Bee and Drift.
“How about a dinobot!” Grimlock bit onto Maximo’s arm, causing him to drop the darts.
The victory was short lived however. Maximo swung his arm and threw Grimlock into Drift.
Jetstorm and Slipstream ejected from their master, and landed between Maximo and the weird staff Steeljaw had planted in the ground. Slipstream stood as tall as he could. “Come no closer, we will defend our master and this planet with our very sparks. Isn’t that right, Jetstorm?... Jetstorm!”
Jetstorm snapped out of his fear and nodded.
Megatronus pulled the darts from his side and stood. Whatever toxin was inside them was already losing its bite against his burning energon. The two minicons saw the Prime stand and looked at each other. “Perhaps this would now be a good time to attend to master Drift? Slipstream?”
The two minicons ran as Megatronus charged Maximo. His swordstaff clashed against the Deceiver’s arm blades. He wouldn’t give Maximo time to pull out more darts. Maximo was forced to block with both arms, and Megatronus pushed into the block, growling, “You have no hope of matching my power, and your plans will never reach fruition!”
“I have been granted additional power, from a source even greater than Primus!” A dart materialised in Maximo’s intake, and he spat it right into Megatronus’ neck.
The grey Prime staggered back as pain screamed through his systems. It felt as if his very being was being torn into nothing.
Maximo smirked. “A little gift from the Dead Universe. Normally it destroys everything it touches, but I managed to slow it, but upped the pain it caused, every atom now feels like a limb chopped off.” He threw three more darts into Megatronus, just to make sure he’d stay down.
The green Prime walked towards the staff.
Windblade whirred her engines, struggling against the cables keeping her trapped to the statue. Sideswipe saw the cables starting to fray, “Windblade wait, you can’t just fly off to save the day without me.”
She continued pushing against the cables, “Sorry Slick, if big green nasty wants that staff, keeping it away is job number one.”
The cables snapped and Windblade shot forward, transforming into jet mode and opening fire on Maximo.
The Prime dodged the hail of bullets and started throwing his darts at Windblade. The two were unable to land a clean shot on each other.
Bee climbed the base of the statue, reaching Strongarm and Sideswipe. He quickly cut their bindings. Strongarm looked at The Fallen, “Sir, is that really Megatronus? The first Decepticon?”
Bee shook his helm, “No- Well, yes it is Megatronus, but he isn’t a Decepticon, cons and bots didn’t exist back then. He’s the Prime Solus said was coming to help.”
Strongarm thought back to the visions of the first femme she had been having, “But, Megatronus is evil, he killed Solus.”
“Tch, yeah only because Maximo tricked them.” Sideswipe’s addition made Bee and Strongarm look at him with bewilderment. “Hey, read about history… sometimes…”
One of Maximo’s darts finally clipped Windblade’s wing, and the effect was immediate, her gyro spun out of control, and she twisted out of the sky, crashing to the ground in bot mode.
Bee and Strongarm opened fire on the green Prime. Maximo pulled out a blaster of his own and fired larger versions of his darts at them.
Where the darts struck, a glowing liquid was injected, causing cracks to form, with bright light emanating from them.
“Get down!” Bee yelled as they leapt off the statue’s base.
The cracked areas detonated.
Just as the Autobots landed, Underbite and Thunderhoof slammed into them, leaving them stunned on the ground. Thunderhoof chuckled, “Consider those Autobots parked.”
Maximo finally retrieved the staff. “Well done.”
Steeljaw bowed, “Along with the machines that brought you here, it was the least we could do. Now, shall we discuss exactly when I will take possession of this world? As you promised.”
Maximo smirked, “You have earned your reward, but I can’t imagine why you’d want a pile of dust.”
“Dust?” Steeljaw asked, slowly realising what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a silver glossa.
Holding up the staff, Maximo explained. “This staff will first extract what is left of Unicron’s anti-spark. Then it will bring the All Spark to me, and combine the two.”
Steeljaw’s optics widened, “But combining both sparks will blow the two planets apart.”
Maximo’s smirk deepened, “You’re right, and that is what the Dead Universe wants, not only would the two planets be added to it, but they would grant it the power to expand into our own universe.
“Except,” His smirk shifted into an evil grin, “I had another idea. Bringing the two sparks together directly is destructive, but if there was something to mediate their connection, say, a third or fourth spark, imagine the power one could wield.”
He slammed the staff into the ground, drawing up the anti-spark, and firing a beam into the sky, towards Cybertron.
Steeljaw roared, “You lied to us, TO ME!” And charged.
Maximo flicked a digit and Steeljaw collapsed, a dart had pierced his shoulder.
Steeljaw fought through the pain, growling to his fellow Decepticons. “Don’t just stand there.”
Clampdown, Underbite, and Thunderhoof all looked at Maximo, and ran away. Only to crash into the Autobots, recovered and ready to fight.
Maximo ignored them, and moved over to Megatronus, who had just started to recover. Six more darts ensured he was back on the ground.
“You know dear brother, I do doubt my plan will work with only my dark spark to mediate Primus and Unicron’s, so you’ll be glad to know one of our siblings will be joining me.” Even if Megatronus couldn’t look up, he could hear the size of Maximo’s smirk. “But who to bring back from the Realm of Primes? Quintus is much too much of a perfectionist, Amalgamous is too unpredictable, Onyx too honorable, Micronus’ spark is too strong, Alpha is… too boring, ah, that just leaves Her.
“Our dear sister, your beloved. After all these eons, her spark will finally belong to me.” Maximo patted the back of Megatronus’ helm. “It’s quite funny, all that time you were worried about Onyx stealing her away from you, you never noticed how often I went to her for more darts. Don’t worry though, I will take such great care of her that she’ll never want to leave my spark.”
Megatronus’ rage boiled over into his lines, his energon burning whatever the toxin from the Dead Universe was, and melting the darts lodged in him.
He slammed the barrel of the Requiem Blaster into Maximo’s face. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER SPARK!”
Fire poured from his seams, and he swung his swordstaff in rage.
Maximo recovered quickly, dodging and laughing, “There he is, that’s the brother I remember, always letting your anger out against everything and everyone around you. It was so easy to get you to kill Solus.”
Megatronus roared, but Maximo slammed the anti-spark of Unicron into the grey Prime’s chest, causing him to lock up from the dark energy surging through his frame. Maximo boasted, “Fool, even with just Unicron’s decayed anti-spark I still possess more power than you.”
He pressed the anti-spark into Megatronus’ chest harder, causing Solus’ armour to crack.
VrrroooomCRASH
A white and blue truck crashed into Maximo, knocking him away. Megatronus’ frame slumped, his rage couldn’t replace the energy lost from enduring the Dead Universe’s toxins. The truck transformed and Strongarm helped Megatronus back to his pedes. “Megatronus Prime, sir, are you ok?”
Behind his mask, a small smile formed, “You are definitely one of Solus’.”
Strongarm smiled proudly, only for a dart to narrowly avoid her optic. Instead it hit one of Megatronus’ digits. Maximo held his staff high, and the blue glow of the All Spark came down from the vortex in the sky.
Megatronus threw his swordstaff, cutting the anti-spark end of the staff off. Maximo looked at it and roared, “NOOOOOO!”
The anti-spark burned a hole into the Earth, and the All Spark shot back into the sky.
But a speck of blue broke off the All Spark, and was drawn into the staff, moving to the handle of it. Maximo’s anger lessened, “I suppose one out of three isn’t the worst outcome.”
Strongarm looked confused, “What did he get? The All Spark and anti-spark are back where they belong.”
Megatronus’ optics widened. His voice was filled with horror, “Solus.”
Bee looked at his team, they took down the cons, but Maximo was still up, “Team, we need to help Megatronus.”
Maximo saw them charging towards him, as well as Megatronus and Strongarm’s approach, and he grinned. “Nine against one? That hardly seems fair. Dear sister, why don’t you help even the odds a little.”
He rapidly fired his larger darts into the ground, and struck the staff down. Solus’ spark flared, and Strongarm felt a scream reverberate through her frame.
Where each of the darts struck, a twisted mass of concrete emerged and formed a bot-like shape. Maximo chuckled, “Learned that one from Unicron.”
Numerous stone copies of Maximo attacked the bots.
Megatronus tore one in half and yelled to the Autobots, “Go for the darts.”
Sideswipe jumped off of Grimlock’s tail and slashed the head off of a stone clone.
Bee knocked the dart off a leg and the clone returned to mere rubble.
Windblade cut three down to size.
Drift launched his Minicons, who got the darts from two clones’ backs.
Grimlock did what he did best and smashed stone into gravel.
Strongarm was picking off the darts with her blaster.
Megatronus charged towards Maximo. “Release her SPARK!”
Several large darts stuck his chest, but his rage was stronger than the different toxins.
Maximo was on the back pede, he tried to summon more clones, but Megatronus destroyed them before they could fully form.
He fired at the grey Prime’s face, which was easily dodged. Megatronus taunted him, “Missed.”
Maximo smiled, “Are you sure?”
The dart had hit the arm of the stature, and glowing cracks were spreading from it.
Strongarm was right below it, fighting the stone clones.
The elbow of the arm exploded, and the massive torch fell.
Megatronus ran, he flew, he shoved Strongarm out of the way.
The arm landed on him.
The Autobots saw it, and charged Maximo.
“I’ve grown tired of you pests.” Maximo flung more darts, and each caused the Autobot it hit to fall to the ground. “There, now I can-”
He looked at Strongarm, who fought the toxin and stood. “My my, still alive? I have to say, your frame definitely reminds me of everything I like about Solus’. Maybe once I’ve made her spark mine she can use your frame.”
“You can go to the pits.” Strongarm started to raise her blaster, but it was slapped away.
“Tsk, seems you also share the parts of her personality I despise.” He grabbed her by the throat and threw her back to the ground. He looked at the spark in the staff. “Soon my love, we will be together, and now you have to say yes.”
Strongarm still fought to stand. “That isn’t love you creep.”
Maximo laughed, “Of course it isn’t, but once I’m done, she’ll only know my love. Her spark will sit right beside mine until I can fix the spark fuser, and claim my power. I’ll reshape her to love only me, to never think of Megatronus again. And once that’s done, I’ll see about replacing your spark with hers. Maybe I’ll even make it so that she likes having the pet I gave her spy on her.”
The fallen arm rumbled.
It shook.
It lifted.
Fire flared from every seam, crack, and port on Megatronus’ frame.
He had heard everything.
Drift launched Jetstorm and Slipstream, who Maximo forgot to dart. The former collided with Maximo’s helm, and the latter with the staff, knocking it out of the Prime’s grasp.
Maximo tried to grab it, but the two minicons ducked between his legs and ran away.
He was about to chase but a deep growl stopped him. “Liege Maximo.”
Megatronus slowly raised the Requiem Blaster, its inner mechanisms groaning to life, purple energy building up in it.
Long had it been dormant, refusing to work after overheating as a ship’s spinal gun. But it had been forged by Solus Prime, built to withstand not only its own power, but all the punishment Megatronus would inevitably put it through. Using it as a club, cooldowns ignored, overcharging, being lost to the void of space, letting it double in weight from dust accumulation, and now, pumping all his rage into it, forcing it to function one more time.
Maximo tried to flee, but just as his T-Cog was whirring to life, Windblade threw the darts Maximo had hit her team with.
For once, the Deceiver felt the sting of his own venoms.
He crashed back to the ground, and tried to drag himself away from Megatronus.
Megatronus loomed over him, but after a moment lower his blaster. “I cannot kill you-”
“Yes! You see reason, we are both closer to Unicron, we can team up and conqu-” Maximo’s desperate attempt at trickery was cut off by Megatronus grabbing him by the neck.
“Let me finish you waste of metal. I cannot kill you, not with the planet behind you.” Megatronus reared his arm back and threw his brother.
Maximo was in the air, nothing behind him for thousands of lightyears.
Megatronus raised his blaster, which had still been charging, and aimed at the Great Deceiver.
He fired.
A thin beam of pink pierced through Maximo and stretched into the sky.
A moment later the beam exploded into a column of energy strong enough to pierce through stars.
Maximo’s frame, spark, and very being were reduced to less than nothing.
The beam flicked and died.
The Requiem Blaster smoked and its barrel had caved in on itself.
Bee brought a digit to his comm, “Fixit, any sigh of Liege Maximo? We need to be sure he’s gone.”
“Was he within the energy surge that just left Earth?” Fixit asked. “Because if he was, then he is well and truly gone.”
Megatronus scoffed, “And if he ever does return, I will ensure he regrets it.”
Russell interrupted Bee’s comms, “Bumblebee, emergency crews are coming, you need to get back to the scrapyard.”
“Got it.” Bee pointed towards the shore, “You heard him team, let's rev up and roll out!”
“Now that’s a battle cry.” Sideswipe smirked.
Grimlock grinned, “I’m feeling all inspired.”
“That’s the one sir.” Strongarm said as she transformed.
Megatronus hid a smile behind his mask, remembering Prima having trouble with battle cries too.
------
The team had returned to the scrapyard, and the cons, minus Steeljaw, were locked in stasis pods.
With the darkness they had been brought to Earth to fight defeated, the team decided to stay, there were still cons on the loose afterall.
Fixit was scanning the spark fuser staff, which still held Solus’ spark. “Hmm, this device was not meant to store a spark long term. Eventually it will break and the spark will be destroyed.”
Megatronus crouched, still looming over Fixit. He may have proven to not be the evil figure history painted him as, but he was still intimidating, but right now, his voice was soft. “How can we save her?”
“W-w-well, we cannot release her without destroying her spark, but it was designed to inject the collected sparks into a bot. Theoretically, doing so would allow her to still live, but trapped as a secondary consciousness.” Fixit resisted fainting.
Megatronus stood. “I will not allow her to be forced to live like that. We must find another way.”
Strongarm blinked, her optics turning white for a moment. She put a servo to her head and staggered for a moment. “Uh, Megatronus Prime, sir, I think… I think Solus just tried to tell me to inject her spark into yours.”
His mask snapped open, “Are you sure?”
“Her exact words were, ‘Take me to my love’.” Strongarm picked up the staff and offered it to Megatronus.
He hesitantly took the staff. “Solus… I don’t want you to be stuck in my frame, but, I trust you as you trust me.”
The handle of the staff shifted, a spike extended into Megatronus’ chest and a surge of energy ran through it.
He felt something enter his spark.
His love’s voice, “Thank you my love, I am sorry to have scared you, but you were the best conduit back to the Realm of Primes.”
Tears escaped his optics, “I am glad I got to hear your voice one last time.”
“Not the last my love, we will see each other again, either in the Realm of Primes, or in our next lives.” He felt her unseen servo stroke his face, “Try not to get here too soon, you have a new life to live. Goodbye my love.”
“Goodbye, my love.” He felt her spark leave his, gone back to the Realm of Primes, back to the rest of their siblings.
His body slumped, and the Requiem Blaster fell from his arm, further breaking as it hit the ground.
He stood, staring at the stars, even across the galaxy from Cybetron, he still knew where her favourite was.
Strongarm looked up at the Prime. “What now sir? Are you going back into exile?”
Megatronus stayed looking at the stars. “No, Solus told me to live a new life. My days of wandering the stars are done, and although she may have forgiven me, I still need to atone to myself, both for what I’ve done, and the time wasted.”
The Prime turned to Bumblebee, “I know nothing of this world or its people. Would you be willing to accept me into your team, not as a Prime, but as a fellow Cybertronian?”
Bee smiled, “I can work with that.”