Transformers: Classics

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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby Skids » Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:39 pm

Out in space, Magnus, with Getaway, Nightbeat, Grimlock and Cliffjumper in tow, orders the Autobots to move the Energon asteroid into place between the Con ship (That it is closer to) and theirs. This will have the twofold effect of the residual radiation scrambling the Cons' sensors, and the rock blocking their ability to fire on the Bot ship. Leozack, being radiation-immune, takes point, activating his repulsors (The shoulder units formed from the wings) and boosting the crystal mass forward, while the rest of the team advances in its wake (Leo can soak up the rads directly in front of himself, so behind him should be fairly safe. He's essentially sucking up the spare Energon left in the rock and then converting it to extra propulsive force)

The Bots make ready to follow his lead. The plan is to stay close to the spacerock as long as possible, then peel off and land on the Con ship.
Cliffjumper unpacks his jetpack, and Getaway deploys his Cyber Key activated wings; Grimlock takes off with his boot jets. Magnus converts his gun into a jetpack and takes point after Leo. What about Nightbeat? Only guy without flight ability. Nightbeat (Having another of his brief moments of brown study that have been hitting him lately) seems frozen while his companions take off. Behind him, Big Daddy finishes transforming to flying car mode, then takes off, muttering something incomprehensible while ramming Nightbeat in the backside, sending him soaring into space on Big Daddy's hood.

Leozack's enthusiasm is WAY too much, as is the raw power he's putting out, and he ends up outpacing the group by far. As they pass the Con craft and land on its hull, he goes hurtling off into space.

Unfortunately, Leozack's powering up and projecting the asteroid allows Cindersaur with Skyquake and Slicer, to definitively lock onto his "scent"; as he whizzes by, Skyquake and Cindersaur arrive, to get the drop on the gang, only missing Leozack by seconds. Cindersaur hasn't been fed for awhile, and Skyquake is high on his self-inflicted upgrades, all too eager to boastfully toast a few Autobots before catching up to his errant experimental subject, Leozack. He and his Dino buddy proceed to mop the floor with the Magnus crew, who are unprepared for the powerful Energon sword and cannon attacks, and Energon warhead missiles, as well as the Energon-salivating monster.

Slicer is the only con to fall quickly, and brutally, as he gloats over the fallen Cliffjumper, and Cliff happens to notice his symbol (Slaggin' traitor!) and does unpleasant things to him.

Meanwhile, as hostilities escalate, tensions simmer on the Autobot ship, where Clench and Prowl, and their respective troops, await word from one of the drones that is still missing, and Hot Rod tries to hold Ironhide and Sunstreaker back from bursting out of the room they're in and hunting the ship for Cons. (They were waiting down by the airlock; Clench beamed straight onto the bridge; so they're in different areas of the ship, but Hot Rod's been monitoring the bridge situation thanks to Blaster.) Smolder, clearly the loose cannon of Clench's party, is getting restless waiting for the last drone to return. He taunts Bombshock, threatening to off him and take all his drones ("Turnaround's fair play," he mocks, "I know how you got those things yerself..." then menaces Fireflight when the Autobot happens to make eye contact with him (Smolder throwing his weight around with his ax, basically, and not buying that Fireflight isn't his mysterious, ghostly doppelganger, Skyfall, who's been floating 'round the ship.). Blaster quietly but evenly tells Smolder to cool out (Never tell Smolder what to do)...and a confrontation seems to be brewing, when Clench roughly reigns him in. Before the Con commander and PCC can come to blows....

....suddenly, they hear back from Bombshock's jeep drone! It's sniffed something out on the engineering decks! We cut away to find that our ghostly friend has been cornered by the vehicle, which has trapped him between it, and the generators, which are interfering with his ability to phase. He's keeping it at bay with Energon lighting, but it's still putting out an unholy shriek.

All the troops on the bridge know is that it's found something, but nobody knows what, for sure. Bombshock is assigned to go investigate it, and Clench, ever the diplomat, suggests that one of Prowl's men escort him, too. Bumblebee is lumped with the unenviable task ("All the dirty jobs"...) (Prowl "That's why we keep you around."). The two enter the elevator and descend to the lower deck. The drones are in tow. Smolder yells after him "Break a leg!"

At the same time, Sunstreaker finally elbows Hot Rod out of the way, "Sorry, Mr. Prime, sir!" and storms out of the room he and Ironhide are in. Ironhide, one-armed, is himself eager to whip those cons, but still apologizes to Hot Rod for "the kid"; it's just bein' cooped up like this an' all, an' Primus knows what's happenin' to our buddies back on Earth.

"Here comes trouble," Hot Rod tells Blaster. Blaster, following everyone's locations, says "More than you think--catch him, Hot Rod, or we're about to have a major incident on our--"

Meantime, Bumblebee and Bombshock turn a corner and discover Skyfall, trapped and scared, enervated from his recent journey and past ordeals, cornered by the drone. Bombshock whistles to the drone to draw it to him; at the same time, as Blaster fears, Sunstreaker happens through a nearby door; his reaction is instantaneous: he whips out his gun (stolen from "Starscrem") and blows a huge hole in Bombshock.

There is a moment of stunned silence on the bridge, then everything goes to pot!
Clench growls "You shouldn't oughta done that" and blasts Prowl and Hound at point blank range! Prowl slams back into the wall, his torso a smoking mess. A gunfight erupts on the tiny bridge, with Longrack not helping by knocking people aside with his arm as he cries out, "My ship, my beautiful ship! I love her like a wife...and a daughter!" as his ship is shredded. Strafe, panicking, opens fire with his MASSIVE hand beam, blowing a huge hole in the hull, venting vacuum everywhere, and sending bot and con alike flying. Doublespy chooses this moment to make himself scarce.

On his way down the corridors, he's grabbed by Dinobot, who tells him that he must warn Leo Prime that the Decepticons have taken---just then, Clench bellows for Counterpunch over the comm, and the Double Agent breaks away, whether by Con instinct or fear of breaking his cover. Dinobot comments that it seems he must handle this situation himself.

Across the void, on the Con ship's hull, Magnus and friends are putting up a valiant fight, but being roundly whupped by Skyquake; Nightbeat and Getaway, not expert warriors, have been taking the worst of it, despite some valiant alt mode combat, including Nightbeat being knocked aside with Energon bolts, then transforming in mid-fall and firing his missiles. Grimlock and his dino rival have been going at it fiercely, with the result being Grimlock's leg being chewed off (again!). Magnus, taking blow after blow from Skyquake, is starting to lose what remains of his cool. Magnus, though, seeing his men hurting, pulls himself together, and rallies the team, in alt and robot modes, to form a defensive circle around Grimlock. Magnus tightly orders Grim to get his act together (reattach his leg). They circle, waiting for the worst from Skyquake, who seems ready to form his giant sword. "

Just then, the hull of the Bot ship explodes, Skyquake realizes their time is running short, and that they'd better "bag the lad"; Cindersaur is reluctant to give up his fierce rivalry with Grimlock, but gives chase after Leozack.
Magnus orders Cliffjumper, Big Daddy (as a crewman) and Grimlock back to the ship, to handle whatever's going on there (Which seems like deep slag), and, short-handed, but realizing that they were REALLY after Leozack, and his team was just a dalliance for the arrogant Con scientist and his pet, sends Nightbeat and Getaway to find Leozack and warn him that he's in serious danger. As for Magnus? Prime-like, losing his cool, "I'm going in."

Coldly furious with his recently brewing anger ready to boil over, stoked by being used as a punching bag by the taunting Skyquake, Magnus takes out his cannon and blasts a huge hole into the Con hull, dropping a few levels into a corridor of the craft, which is terribly undermanned (Dead End is manning the bridge, alone).

As a very angry Ultra Magnus stalks through the corridors, Dead End, panicking (He thinks Magnus can see him on the security cameras that Magnus keeps shooting...his paranoia is coming to the surface) calls Clench to beam back to the ship. "Boss, it's Magnus, he's onboard! Gotta--"

Clench is occupied with a standoff against Blaster, the sole Bot still standing in the ruins of the bridge. Before Blaster can strike him with an EMP burst, he beams back to the bridge of his ship.

"Boss! Like I was saying, it's--"

Clench: "That Autobot? Ultra Primus or whatever? He's runnin' loose on the ship?! Haven't you found him YET?"
"Sorry, sir, he keeps taking out the security cameras and moving on before I can activate the autoguns! I think he's---"

Clench watches as Magnus emerges from an elevator onto the command level (Down the hall from the bridge).

Clench: "--cuttin' it a little close for comfort, wouldn't you say?"
Ultra Magnus: "Knock knock!!!!!"
Cons are all silent, frozen with shock. (Magnus is yelling so loud they can actually hear him nearby)
Clench: "B--Blast doors!" Row after row of heavy doors slam into place, impeding Magnus's progress.
Magnus hefts his huge gun.
Magnus: "Who's there?"
WHOOM!!!! Blast doors topple one after another, and Magnus emerges from the rubble, just outside the bridge. Magnus: "ME."

Clench: "Now!"

Guns pop out of every wall, ceiling, and the floor, as well as laser nets. Magnus is riddled with gunfire and holes, falls down, and stirs no more.

The Cons breath a hearty sigh of relief...

Meanwhile, back on the Bot ship, Blaster looks around, breathes his own sigh of relief, then startles, realizing "Hey, wasn't there one more of them?"

Down below, Smolder stalks the corridors, scraping his ax along the wall, heading down for Bee and Streaker. He's clearly enjoying the fear that he must be generating among them, with the terrifying metal-shredding sound of his blade, and the steps that echo throughout the halls. As he advances, he finds Bombshock's drones, deactivated and smoking from the gunfire of Sunstreaker. (Without their master/mindlink offline, they were caught by surprise...worse, Bombshock was "seeing" through them at the time, so they contain engrams of his personality, increasingly their scrambled state.) Delighted, Smolder emits bizarre energies, fusing a drone each to his body, creating huge arms that he uses to pound the halls, heightening the terror he seeks to instill in his future victims.

As Sunstreaker and Ironhide unleash fire on what they are sure must be a massive con (From his booming calls and thundering blows), Hot Rod and Bee attempt to communicate with the clearly traumatized Skyfall. But when Hot Rod gets near him, he gets a strange jolt (the sensation he felt earlier), and says that he hasn't felt something like that since they used to call him Prime. Felt like Matrix energy. Bumblebee: "Well, you did seem to get taller for a second there." But they don't have much time to discuss it, as Smolder has rounded the corner, using his large arms to soak up the gunfire. Raising one arm, he unleashes the launcher drone's huge missiles, which whiz by Streak and Hide, and penetrate the wall behind Skyfall ("THERE you are! And here you go!"), striking the engine in the wall behind him and sending the flaming hyperdrive core through the ship and out the hull.

This was just about when Cliffjumper was complaining about missing all the fun...just about when one of the ship's engines erupted through one side of the craft!
Grimlock tears off toward the explosion, entering through the blast hole.

And what of Leozack? Quite a distance away, across space, he observes the explosions erupt from the craft as well (What originally got him to alter his course; he'd become too absorbed in his task of asteroid-pushing.)

"My honorable warriors comrades are in troubleI I must--wait! I sense DANGER. And nearby! My old nemesis is---"
"Closer than ye think, lad! In fact, I'd say striking distance!"
Skyquake and Cindersaur strike from around the side of the asteroid, with energy breath and sword blows.
Leozack is knocked for a loop by the hail of energy, then buffeted, turns to face them, but finds, curiously, that his weapons systems are not responding.

"That'd be me, my boy. What's been done, can be undone."
Calmly, reveling in his power, Skyquake shuts down Leozack's abilities, one by one. There is an awkward moment punctuated only by the dinosaur's snarling.
"Then at last..." Leozack bites out..."You will discover my TRUE abilities."
Skyquake responds,
"Oh really? Do tell?"
And forces Leozack to his knees!
"I made ye, lad, and I can unmake ye just as easily. Or have ye not forgetten where ye came from? Time to return there, laddie. Back to your roots."
Leozack, grimacing, seems to remember, having horrible flashbacks of being disassembled, and witnessing other horrors. Superimposed over it all is Skyquake, master of the torment, and above him, another, and yet another, shadowy figures alike...
Leozack, oddly resigned, says, as if the flashback has restored his sanity, "Then I will go quietly...and face my judgement with honor, and dignity, as befits a true Decepticon nobleman."
Skyquake hefts his short blade; "Nothin' too dignified about what's in store for ye, laddie, if ye ask me. Nothin' worth gettin' all stoic over. But suit yerself. Me, I'd rather you go down screaming for your motherboard."
Leozack's eyes become huge with shock, "Then you are not--"
"I said ye were going home, lad. In pieces."

Leozack squeezes his eyes shut as the blade descends...when, from nowhere, Getaway soars in, in vehicle mode, knocking Leo aside and taking the brunt of the sword blow, which shears his roof and windshield clear off. Cindersaur, unable to contain himself further, pounces, and begins chewing and ripping at the incapacitated Autobot, tearing open his hood and drenching him in fluid, while Leozack struggles to his feet.
"Sorry, lad...but ye've been got."

As the carnage ensues, Nightbeat rolls up, only to freeze in terror at the gory spectacle.

"Y'see, laddie," Skyquake continues, turning to Leozack and clearing his throat..."I got what I needed from ye already and it's back to the scrap heap." He taps his own chest; his body is identical to Leozack's. "But don't worry. Ye'll be gone, but not forgotten. Ye gave me good data, at that, you and the other lab rats. Let me iron out the kinks and all. Ye served your purpose, and now it's done and dusted. Me, I'm the Next Generation. You, you're last year's model."

At that moment, Cindersaur goes flying past, struck by multiple laser blasts.
"You're a MONSTER" pronounces Nightbeat, standing over his dying friend, gun smoking.
Skyquake doesn't bother to acknowledge Nightbeat.
"And what does that make ye, frozen with fright as ye watched your friend bein' devoured. A coward, lad."

Nightbeat quickly responds that maybe he is, at that. Maybe he's not suited for combat, should have stuck to that desk job after...but he never could resist a mystery, and that was what The Fallen was. (A flash of recognition from Skyquake). "So ye've met--" Nightbeat, losing it, cuts him off. Continuing to mutter, cradling his friend...
He's seen a lot of strange things in his time, he says..."but you...with all that blood on your hands for no reason but to satisfy your curiosity, sadism in the guise of are the real mystery. The mystery being how you can live with yourself after all you've done."
Skyquake responds, "And you, sir, are dead." His sword stabs across space, suddenly huge, cleaving Nightbeat from crotch to chest in one upward motion.

Behind him, Leozack, having seen more than enough carnage, rises to his feet with forcible effort (Taking advantage of Skyquake's power consumption from using his super sword, which broke his concentration); in an instant, the huge Energon asteroid is sucked, warping and twisting, into Leozack's Spark chamber, then erupts back as a massive beam of light, swallowing up a very stunned Skyquake and Cindersaur.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Decepticon ship: "Skyquake! SKYQUAKE! Get back here!" Doublespy responds, "I've got him with the transmat, sir, he's--" Just then, the ENORMOUS energy beam "--gone." (Skyquake and 'Saur were struck in mid-retrieval.) "Where?!" "Nowhere, sir."

Clench isn't too moved.
"Never liked that smarmy hanger-on anyway. Never believed in the cause. Saddlin' me with one freak after the next. Though we'll have to answer to what'is'name over this....hate that guy."

Back on the Bot ship...
In the flaming ruins, Hot Rod and Bumblebee are very surprised to find themselves alive, behind a crystalline shield erected by Skyfall! Just then, the jeep drone goes whizzing by, down the hall, and joined by the fourth drone (Which has been following Smolder and laying down extra fire), fuses to the Decepticon, who undergoes a monstrous metamorphosis. The giant, scraping the ceiling, delights in his newfound powers, using his might to knock Sunstreaker out cold. Ironhide puts up a valiant struggle, throwing himself at the beast, but is battered back to his compatriots. Just then, Dinobot enters from a side door, at the opportune time, and grabs Hot Rod and Skyfall. (Whose radiation seems to faze the others; Dino is fine with his organic coating, though, and forcibly seizes the weakened jet under his arm.) Seeming to know more than he's letting on, he advises that they must get Skyfall out of there right away, or there will be grave consequences. "He is far more important than you know. We feared this might transpire after what happened to The Last One...". Bumblebee volunteers bravely and resignedly ("I've already died once...or twice") to stick behind as last man standing while Dino, Hot Rod and Skyfall get to the shuttle bay. Ironhide objects stridently, but can barely stand; Hot Rod attempts to drag him to safety while Smolder looms over them.

Bee charges in, gun (very small gun) blazing, but is cold-cocked, and then takes a royal pounding, the Smolder creature seeming to sadistically enjoy laying on the punishment on the helpless small yellow body...then turns his attention to them.

Skyfall, regaining his composure in this moment of crisis, grits his teeth, and his chest Star begins to glow...Smolder chuckles, "You're not getting away like that THIS time!" Nevertheless, a crystal orb grows from Skyfall's star, to enclose Hot Rod, Sunstreaker, himself, Dinobot and Ironhide.

But....before Smolder can finish them off, Grimlock barrels through the blast hole made by Smolder's missiles, and slams him back down the hall with his tail whip, striking heavy blows on its body until it collapses in a shambles. Grim finishes the savage job by chewing the fallen combiner's head apart with his feet. He only has moments to glory in his victory, though, before a very bright flash of light catches his attention; he runs back down the hall, into the room where Skyfall and the others were, only to be engulfed in the light...and vanish!

On the Con ship...

Clench sees the streak of light, too.
"Aw, dang, fly boy done got away again! Bonsai Tree is gonna have my head for this!"
"Uh, sir, that's Banzai-Tro--"
Dead End is shaken from his correction by a massive blast, very near by.
"What the Sam Hill?!"
"I...I don't know how to tell you this, sir, but it's Magnus, he--"

Ultra Magnus, falling to pieces, has risen to his feet (I like this sentence :smile2: ), his body pulsating with the crimson energies of the Scrapmetal plague that has been brewing inside him since he left Earth!

Magnus: "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG"ing, bursts through the wall onto the bridge, hurls himself at Clench, and digs his hands into the startled commander's torso.
Before Clench can react, Magnus has already ripped Clench's chest off, and hurled him from the command deck a couple of stories down to the floor, where he dies on impact.

Breakdown: "Slag, we gotta get outta here!" Breakdown leaps to the only safe haven, as Magnus comes for him...the Autobot ship. "Self-destruct, self-destruct..." He arms the self-destruct (Finding Clench and sticking his arm into the scanner to verify captain ID), and then transmats himself. Doublespy freezes for a moment, torn in his loyalties. Magnus takes that moment to, a mindless creature, smash him full across the chest, knocking him INTO the activated transmat, and into the Autobot bridge.

Magnus seems ready to give chase, then freezes as the voice of Megatron echoes throughout the ship. "Self destruct sequence armed. You have failed. 3...2...1..." Magnus growls in defiance, throwing back his head...

And just like that the ship explodes.
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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby Transypoo » Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:13 pm

Somewhere other...

Cyclonus, drenched in suffocating, cloying darkness, eyes burning pinpricks of light, stands waiting. Suddenly, a wreath of fire spreads outward from his feet, to surround him in a massive circle of perfectly flat flame, with Cyclonus at its dead center. Upon the canvass of this circle is painted a bitter, windswept Earthen landscape, dotted with trudging, tired figures on the march. At the edge of the "screen" can be seen a twisted, gnarled forest. It's obvious from the path of carnage cut through the woods, and the direction of the figures, that they've just carved their way through this imposing thicket, only to find an equally depressing future ahead of them in the vast expanse ahead, dotted with a few buttes and hills, a few clusters of shattered, burned-out remnants of cities, but otherwise devoid of obvious life. As the resolution of the tableau increases, we and Cyclonus see that the figures are Megatron and his troops. Megatron is ruthlessly driving his men across the landscape, tossing glances over his shoulder every now and then. What is that in his eyes? There are the menacing glares he directs at his troops, who can't seem to help bickering and snarling at one another, even more so than usual, but as well, the glances he shoots back at the forest behind him, which is filled with a chorus of unnatural hoots and howls. But he's not really looking at the forest. He's gazing at some unseen force that is dogging them What it is, and where they're going, because he's obviously driving them in a specific direction (Or is it just "anywhere but there," there being behind them) is his own secret to keep. Every time they slow down, they start to snap and growl at one another, and each time, Megatron fires his cannon in the air, calling an end to their disagreements and jabbing them forward. The angriest and most animalistic among them seem the worst; the Seacons, snapping over who gets to carry the trident, with Seawing, with his predilection for snatching things and taking to the air, grabbing it and diving away. As he passes over Megatron, Megatron snatches the trident from his talons, considers it for a moment, then waves it menacingly at his men.

But despite his threats, they're tired and worn-down, as much from turning on each other as the rigors of the trek, and Megatron, though not stopping, has a flash of compassion and slows his pace. Just a tiny bit. Not that anyone would know it. Megatron is not in the business of relenting.

"He senses something," Cyclonus cannot help but say aloud. "I was right to trust him," he thinks. "He never needed me, only his warrior's instincts, to see the end was coming, and what needed to be done. This is not a retreat, but a redoubt. He will rise again."

"And so it begins. Or rather, so begins the beginning of the end."

The growl almost startles Cyclonus. From the inky blackness, Galvatron makes his presence known. He shoots a dismissive glance at the scene laid out at their feet, then chuckles.

"Megatron should never have trusted The Fallen," he bites; "that he lends a helping hand means nothing. The petty conflicts of the Transformers are beneath him; helping Megatron, or helping Prime" (He means Rodimus)," or...Magnus...means nothing in terms of suggesting his loyalty or allegiance. All beings are simply means to an end for him. He stokes their war as fodder for his own life fires. In the end, nothing is of any true consequence to him but to feed him in accomplishing his mission. And so, he is the true model of a ruler: alone, and above all others, focused on that one, singular, ultimate goal-- "

"You know him well, do you, or think you do," interrupts Cyclonus. Galvatron takes umbrage at Cyclonus's dryly sarcastic tone. "Of course," Galvatron says! "I have been shown 'The Truth'!"

"And exactly what truth would that be," Cyclonus asks? "You yourself just said that he tells people whatever they want to hear, after all, whatever it takes to get them to do his bidding."

"The truth that this universe, and all beings in it...especially all Transformers...will BURN. That when he is done, nothing will be left in his wake. This cosmic abomination will be wiped from the face of reality."
"YOU will burn," too, he adds. "He will rule over an empire of ash."

"The end for those poor souls stranded on Earth, in the heat of the plague, will simply come sooner." "I know you warned them," growls Galvatron, "because the compassion you deny in your Spark will always be YOUR downfall...or perhaps, not compassion, but a foolish clinging to life, denial of the beautiful, inevitable nullification. But no matter. The plague of the Skarappi has spread from its humble origins with the Autobots on Earth, to infect more and more of the planet...surrounding space...the very stuff of reality itself. It will take root in that universe, and then drive it mad with bloodlust until it destroys itself. Such is the master's design. Megatron was a fool to trust The Fallen to deal with the Autobots, without expecting some sort of backlash, an idiot to give the Fallen remit to unleash this cosmological warfare"

"And from the look in Megatron's optics," Galvatron says, "he's beginning to suspect his mistake. His end will come soonest of all. His and his men. Even now, see how the rage hounds them, bites at their heels, even as, across space, it has just spelled the downfall of that accursed Magnus. In the end, I didn't even have to crush his Spark with my own hands...he was the master of his OWN undoing. All the more delicious for one's enemies to destroy themselves."

Cyclonus seems surprised at this revelation (Information he was not privileged to know), but hides it.

"And you as well," Cyclonus asks? "What do you think will become of you when this universe is consumed? You will not be spared."
"Perhaps nothing? How can I be driven to insanity, when I know full well I'm already mad," Galvatron responds. "How can I lose myself when I don't even know who I am anymore?"

"In any event, old friend, The answer to your question should be clear," continues Galvatron. "I will be consumed as well! And I welcome it. I embrace oblivion with all my Spark. Nothingness will be a sweet delight compared to the gnawing torment of insanity that HE has put me through. Not The Fallen, not Magnus or Prime, but..."


The thundering voice of Unicron resounds through the darkness, and the world seems to shatter into perfect triangles of blinding light, arrayed from horizon to heavens, as Unicron opens his enormous fist, and the void they were ensconced within is revealed to merely be his titanic palm.
"And now," Galvatron concludes, turning to Cyclonus and gesturing to whatever Cybertron is laid below them, unsuspecting and undefended, "to work. The work of our own undoing. Isn't it exciting? Doesn't the thought of oblivion get your fuel pumping? I know it does mine. But in the meantime, while I wait for death's sweet embrace, I do intend to enjoy myself. You could do the same for once. Live a little!"

Galvatron charges away, runs up one of the titanic spires of Unicron's fingers, reaches its pointed apex, and leaps into open space...into nothingness, then plunges to the world below them like a howling wind.

Cyclonus can only shake his head. "We all serve the same master, but he shows a different face to each of us. Which, if any, is the real one?"

Cyclonus's memory slips back to before he and Galvatron were sent forth on this odyssey by The Fallen. In a cave, surrounded by flames that snapped and crackled, but did not burn, the Master spoke to him. The true master, not Unicron, but The Fallen. The event happened shortly after the plague had been unleashed....Cyclonus was still nursing his wounds, and his stark shock and terror, from meeting the Uncreation, Dark Scorponok, when The Fallen came to him. Spoke to him, told him that Megatron invited doom by accepting The Fallen's assistance, was brash to agree to place the fate of the Autobots in The Fallen's hands, "Pit them against each other, until they fall at your feet, defeated, masters of their own destruction".

"What had been set in motion on Earth was terrible, potentially unstoppable," said The Fallen. "The blood of the Great Enemy himself would drench the landscape, and mingle with the mech fluid of the fallen, seep down into the very roots of the cosmos and set about assuring its undoing...taking Megatron, and all still on that planet, with it...unless one being of conscience stood up against this terrible power.

"But to save the vast universe itself, that being must burn one tiny world from Earth, in an infinite array of them. Perhaps, one Megaton of legions. Whether one being SHOULD make such a moral calculation is irrelevant. What matters is not what SHOULD be done, but what MUST be done.

"To stem the blood tide from spreading," The Fallen continues, "the Uncreation will be unleashed, and will lay waste to that broken toy of a planet...will char, scour the infection from the stone and soil, from the fabric of spacetime, and draw what remains into himself, for it is his very sustenance, that which assures his agonizing, eternal existence....and so, sated, recede into the void from whence it came.

"Whether or not 'your old friend, and... mine' remained to witness this disaster, or escaped armageddon...he finishes, ...time would tell."

Leaving Cyclonus with that cryptic warning, or invitation, or both, the Fallen was gone, the cave an empty, sucking void.

"Did you sense what was coming, Megatron," thinks Cyclonus, "this coming storm," as he rips Transformer after Transformers limb from limb, wades through seas of corpses, alongside Galvatron. "In the end, Galvatron is wrong. I could have rushed to your side, warned you, but instead, I have left you to fight your own battles, because I know you would bridle at my interference. This is the measure of my respect for you, my understanding that you wish to fight your own battles. I have known you too long to know otherwise.

"But the master seemed to be giving me a choice? In forcing you to shape your survival by your own fuel and mechanisms, did I do my master's bidding, or not? Did he WANT me to warn you? Or does such loyalty, to you, or even him, even matter? Does he care, even one whit, what choice I make?

"Perhaps it is The Fallen's wish that instead of molding our destinies, we break out, shape our own lives, rather than remain the toys of some higher power, some frozen templates doomed to repeat the same actions over and over merely because it gives our master comfort to see us betray or friends, or to let old ties of sentiment and loyalty bind us to them as they fall." As he extinguishes yet another life, Cyclonus considers Galvatron, who, from his words earlier, must be oblivious to The Fallen's message to Cyclonus. One thing is for certain, thinks Cyclonus...The Fallen is different things to different beings.

As if on cue, Cyclonus hears a voice in his Spark. The voice of The Fallen. The time has come for The Uncreation to be unleashed. The Fallen wants HIM to do it. What he does after that terrible deed is up to him.


Somewhere on the planet Beast a small, robotic, Triceratops gets the strange sensation that someone, somewhere, is talking about him... it's a most odd sensation indeed, he thinks.

Cybertron. Leo Prime, surrounded by the glowing holograms of those bots he trusts the most not to screw up his carefully laid plans (Elita One, Rapido), gives one of his usually self-gratifying speeches about the victories he's accomplished in his relatively short time as Head of the Council of Primes. Elita One rolls her optics every time Leo says "I think/believe that-". Suddenly a small "beep" is heard; Elita One flips up a panel on her wrist. Breaking into the speech, she informs Leo Prime that he has an Alpha-Three-Level communication (Encrypted, of course), that the comm boys have relayed up to her. Leo Prime says "No offense, but I'll take this alone" and then instantly makes her disappear. The crackling, hazy, and broken form of Punch appears. Leo Prime immediately berates him for breaking cover, ordering that he reveal why he has abandoned his undercover mission to get close to "whoever's moving and shaking things in the Decepticon ranks now. I wanted this Darkmount found before Operation Knockou--Knockdown, understand?" Punch reveals that his mission took him into the depths of the remnants of the Decepticon Empire, where he has been serving as second in command to Clench. ("Never heard of him," says Leo Prime.) "Colossus?" asks Punch. "Still not ringing any bells." Punch informs him that in any case, it doesn't matter, Captain Clench is dead--Magnus took him down, and an Imperial Warship. "Well, well," remarks Leo Prime, "I guess he had some Prime in him after all--tragic, but highly convenient. You've done well, soldier--you've done well so far. The intel you fed us has tipped us off to ALL the best Con nests here on Cybertron. As we speak, troops are preparing to cut the many heads from the Decepticon Hydra, and it's all thanks to you." Punch asks when he will be able to come home--he's been undercover for months, and it's starting to "Not quite yet--continue the mission, and, as always, you KNOW what will happen if you speak a word of this to any bot. When you're cover's broken, break yourself," Leo cuts him off. Punch is about to say something else (About Magnus having been with Prowl), but Leo Prime makes him go away.

Leo Prime slams the large double doors to his chamber, and strides down a cavernous hall. At either side, holograms of Elita One and Rapido appear. Leo barks to Rapido that the time has come for him and his crew to get into position. "You will play a vital role in this operation, understand?" he says to the Foreign Legionnaire. Leo then says, "Don't look so miffed--don't think of yourself as the cleanup man, think of yourself as damage control. Now are you in position near Earth?" Rapido responds in the affirmative--if the others fail, he and his men will take action. "Get out of here," Leo says, and cuts him off. "Elita One," he says as he turns to his other aide, "ready our forces on Cybertron to strike at the Decepticon menace--"

"We still haven't been able to confirm with Captain Breacher that his men are in position. He's being very...cagey, sir."
"...perfect. This has to go off without a hitch, you understand? Find him, or it's your badge on my desk. And what about the Wreckers?"
"In their case, sir, you'd better give them something to shoot at before they explode. Especially that new guy they picked up--Flak. He may present a problem unless he's presented post-haste with a Decepticon to drill. But honestly, I'm more concerned with Roadbus--"
"Well, he just got his wish." Leo cuts her off, not seeming to hear the last few words. "Just hope that green band of recruits Springer dragged together can perform. Having the last team get slagged so recently threw a wrench into the works."
"And Elita?"
"Oh, yes sir?"
"This is my big night. Don't you DARE make me look bad."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it, sir."
Elita One hesitates a moment, with a knowing look, before switching off.
Leo Prime, turns and enters a concealed elevator. He descends miles into the workings of Cybertron before exiting into an insular circular room with a raised, round dais, surrounded by a moat. The room is shrouded in darkness, but as Leo enters, holograms of troopers at control panels appear in the moat. "Gentlemen, Operation Knockdown is a Go." The gears of war grind to a start. Beneath his faceplate, Leo Prime grins like a mad man.

Earth, the post-apocalyptic ruins of downtown Detroit, a back alley. Dirtboss makes a grand speech to the Mob (of two) he's collected around him. His bodyguard, Hailstorm, looms next to him (He's actually rather short, but Dirt Boss is smaller!), watching carefully for any signs of aggression. The single red Decpticon listening in seems to really enjoy what's being said. They've been biding their time for years, gathering resources (One guy, presumably), living in fear and humiliation of the Autobots (And the humans, but he doesn't mention that--these guys are pretty weak). But at last, Optimus Prime has fallen (He makes it sound like he's taking credit for this "fall"), Megatron is on his knees like the filthy beggars they used to be, and so the time has come to rise up and claim what is rightfully theirs! They will sweep across this city like a wave of crime, smashing all in their path! (All of this misses the point that the city is already in ruins thanks to...well, you'll see.)

Dirtboss, concluding his remarks, orders the crime wave unleashed! Hailstorm launches his missiles and blows up part of a building, while Dart shoots one random human wandering around dazed, and Dirt Boss himself knocks over a trash can and then fires his chest beam and sets a mailbox on fire. Out of the air Starscream slides to a stop in the street with Acid Storm in tow. He starts to speak, then pulls back, saying "...what the slag are you supposed to be?! You're hideous!"

Dirtboss says, "Not hideous, glorious!" They've been updated with cutting-edge Baynium Technology (acquired through perfectly legitimate channels, of course) and so through its regenerative properties ("What's regen--gen--gen...what, boss?" cuts in Hailstorm.) ("Quiet, I'm being menacing," responds Dirt Boss)...they never die!

Starscream finally says, "...Dirt Boss? Hailstorm? What the slag did you do to yourselves?! And even worse, why should I remember your names...? There was once a day...." Anyway, he clears his throat, and tells Dirtboss that the Decepticons are moving out and that Megatron is gathering the flock before returning home to do..."something, vague as usual, you know how he can be...." Starscream starts muttering to himself at this point.

Dirtboss refuses citing that they're going to take over the Earth, and that "Megatron is just a cheap punk. We don't answer to no cheap punks! We answer to NOBODY!"
"What about me, boss?" asks Hailstorm.
"You answer to me." Dirt Boss replies. "You say what I tell you to, when I tell you to. You do--"
"It's okay to answer."
"Sure, boss!"

Starscream looks around with dry amusement. "And do tell, how is all that going?" "Well," says Hailstorm, "we managed to destroy this one block. But hey, we got plenty'a time. After all, We NEVER DIE!"

Acid Storm, impatient, reaches out and melts Dart's head. Starscream then shoots the defenseless Renegade-turned-Decepticon for good measure.
Starscream: "Again, do tell. Care to reconsider your stance in light of recent events?"
Dirtboss then warmly agrees to join the Cons, but, he's very old and needs a ride; Starscream, begrudgingly, agrees to cary him.
"What about me, boss?" asks Hailstorm.
"You walk...and spread our name, the name of us, everywhere you go!"
"What name is that, boss?"
"...I'm still thinkin' of it."

Acid Storm offers to cary him, but Hailstorm, looking from Dart's smoking corpse to the guy dripping acid onto the street to the smoking corpse and back (WAY too long a time to decide) opts to hoof it.
"Don't be a stranger, now," Starscream tells Hailstorm. "We leave....uh, whenever."
"Transform, you idiot.....roll over 'em...." yells Dirt Boss as he flies off.

"Oh right, boss!"

Later, on an abandoned air field at the end of a plateaux, Mexico. Thrust, Storm Cloud and Crankstart sit in vehicle mode, trying, very hard not to be seen. But Crankstart can't help but fire shots off into the sea. He's antsy staying in alt mode all day, and keeps claiming that he hit (or even saw) something. (Cruise ships, seagulls, etc. He especially hopes to hit an Autobot, but so far, he's only hit dolphins (or so he claims.)) He's clearly very angry at the world, seething, promising that one day, he'll rise up, and inflict pain on all of his enemies who laid him low.

"I'm tellin' you, they're OUT there...watchin' us!," says Crankstart. "Too AFRAID to start something with me, though! FIGHT LIKE A CON!" he screams and fires off some more rounds, until his chamber is empty. "Slag, outta ammo. Gotta wait until I grow some more..." (He is one of the Baynium-modified TFs.)

Thrust meanwhile says "Good riddance!" and that they ARE out there, watching, and just waiting for the Cons to let their guards down. Crankstart isn't helping any with his attitude. Crankstart retorts that he's staying in alt mode, so what more does Thrust expect. Thrust respects that you can't just look like the have to "BE THE VEHICLE." Very openly, he worries, as much as Crankstart hopes, with goading, that the shots will attract the Autobots, and so yells at Crankstart to knock it off. Storm Cloud retorts that at least Crankstart is doing something, and not just sitting around like a coward! Thrust then reminds Storm Cloud that Optimus Prime is on Earth, and that he was doing PERFECTLY fine all by his lonesome here, until Storm Cloud had to come limping in. "Some Elite Air Warrior," Thrust responds. "You'd think you were still a Micromaster. Of course, you'd also think you were Primus's Chosen himself, the way you were always full of so much hot exhaust!"

Storm Cloud is about to respond angrily, but then thinks for a moment--the specter of Prime is enough that Storm Cloud then stays quiet, his memory suitably refreshed, and pretends to be a plane. "FINALLY!" says Crankstart, and fires off some new shells that he's just grown. "THIS ought to wake someone up out there!"

Suddenly one of Crankstart's shots digs metal. "Huh? Hey! I think I actually HIT somethin'!" The three Cons watch the horizon intently. For a while nothing happens. Thrust begins to comment that it was probably a human vessel, when suddenly the air fills with a low hum. "What's that sound?" Then out of the mist, roaring across the water, comes Drift riding atop Seaspray. Drift, twin swords at the ready, leaps into the air. Storm Cloud transforms and take to the air to shoot down the Autobot, but finds himself with a sword in his chest, and being used as a platform to change direction, as Drift leaps into the fray. Next thing he knows, he finds himself bleeding on the ground. Crankstart enthusiastically opens fire on Drift, while Thrust transforms, squealing like a little girl, and takes off on foot. (Too scared or stupid or both to remember to FLY away!)

"Oy! We got a runner!" Drift calls, as Seaspray flows on shore, only to be caught in the grip of Storm Cloud, who, no longer caught by surprise, is very large and very ticked.

Thrust takes off down a narrow path bordered on either side by boulders, only to find himself facing Moonracer. "Going somewhere, Con?" asks Moonracer, aiming her bow at him. "If I am, I'm taking you with me!" Thrust cries, only to be struck from behind (across the back) by Fallback, with his mighty axe. They pile onto him, only for him to knock them away with the wind from his turbines, and push past Fallback, heading back for the sounds of fire on the shore.

Meanwhile, on said shore, Crankstart is easily taken down by Drift, with a stroke of his swords across the torso, while Seaspray continues to grapple with Storm Cloud. (Somehow, Drift focusing on the little guy doesn't reflect too well on him.) Drift is busy posing after his victory, when Thrust bursts back into the clearing and leaps at him, only for Backfire, Drift's student, to take him out with a kick from above! "I am sorry to be late, Sensei!" "That's all right," Drift responds. "Got the situation well in hand."

With that, Storm Cloud pounds Seaspray into the sand, and looms over the ignorant Drift. Just before Drift spins to face him, Moonracer hits Storm Cloud in the head with a missile, causing him to reel, stunned, the instant Drift turns on him.
"Seapsray!" she calls--"you're not little anymore--take him down!"

"Oh...right!" says Seaspray, and picks himself up, tackling Storm Cloud.

Just then, the battle draws the attentions of the Seekers. Starscream, Acid Storm, and now, Ramjet, swoop in to help their fellow flyers. The battle rages, with Drift making wise cracks, and Ramjet plowing into Seaspray, stunning the larger Transformer. Starscream fires off a missile, taking down Moonracer, whose bow explodes in her hands (stunning her.) Acid Storm leaps onto Seaspray, only to find the bot curiously resistant to corrosives. Still, the sizzling distracts Seaspray long enough for Storm Cloud to lay one on him. The combined might of four Seekers, plus the size of Storm Cloud, is too much for the rag-tag Autobots. (Although, Drift did slice one of Acid Storm's missiles right out of the air. "I'm just that good" he says, but, like most everything he does, it was a total fluke.) Drift is the last to be knocked out. The last standing Autobot, Backfire, Drift's apprentice asks that the Cons leave with honor, instead of striking down a defenseless warrior.

Starscream sees no point in blasting him, commenting that "Megatron should be getting antsy by now" and so the Cons fly off victorious to rejoin the Decepticons gathered in Monument Valley. Backfire then attempts to rouse his 'Sensai,' and when Drift fails to respond, he mentions that the Decepticons are gone. Drift instantly gets up and bounces around on the balls of his feet. (I get the feeling that Drift is the Zaphod Beeblebrox of this series.) The other Autobots eventually rise to their feet. As they are dusting themselves off, Leo Prime suddenly appears in the clearing in Trimensional form, asking "So how was our victory?"

He looks around, surveying a few pieces of Con armor, and a dead Crankstart, amid the craters and rubble.

Awkward Silence...

Seaspray mutters, "Our 'victory' was a fail--" but Leo Prime drowns him out. ""So...nothing left of 'em to speak of, soldiers? That's the way I like it. Total annihilation."

Leo then abruptly hangs up, saying "At least I'll PRETEND that's what happened here. Fight on!" Seaspray bites out 'Idiot.' before turning to his troops.

Moonracer, still sizzling with ambient radiation, says, "Running off on our own, getting our skidplates kicked, and shamed in front of the high commander. Three for three. Commander Breacher is NOT going to be pleased."
"So who's gonna be the one to tell 'im?" asks Fallback.
"Whoever was responsible," says Moonracer, glaring at Drift.
Drift: "So, who's thirsty?"

Ratchet is reattaching Onslaught's left cannon and lecturing him on how the connection point is too small, and how he needs to be more careful. Onslaught thanks the Autobot doctor by looming over him. "Your work is acceptable." "Well, it's been called a lot worse in my time." Megatron joins Ratchet and comments on how he would have made an excellent Decepticon had things gone differently. (This feeling is not exactly a fact, but more a lingering effect of having been fused as is their camaraderie.) Finally the Seekers return with their new quarry, Storm Cloud. Megatron snaps a comment about how many of their potential troops 'Screamer, and 'Storm are killing. "Hey, two out of three ain't bad!"

"Two?" asks Megatron, raising a brow. Starscream looks over, sees the battered Storm Cloud. "Sure, Storm Cloud and--and--slag! Now where did he--?"

As if on cue, we hear the low rumbling of jet engines fill the air, and a voice screaming, "DECEPTICONS! THRUST has returned!" Decepticons scatter in all directions (except for Megatron and Starscream) as THRUST arrives on the scene, swooping directly toward Megatron, veering off at the VERY last minute (without Megatron flinching), and then sweeping around and transforming to land in front of him in grandiose fashion.

Megatron: "....are you satisfied?"
THRUST: "Yes, actually."
Megatron: "Then begone."

Not being able to hold Megatron's gaze any longer, Thrust scampers off to join the rest of the mob. Crasher amuses herself by causing an earthquake that trips him up, causing him to land flat on his face.
As the other Cons laugh at Thrust, Megatron turns to Starscream.
Megatron: "Congratulations, Starscream. You've just been relegated as #2 Whipping Bot. Thoughts?"
Starscream: "How is it you manage to make even THIS sound like a put-down? To think I used to stand by your side..." (He mutters)
Megatron: "In case you haven't still do."
Starscream: "I just isn't the same."
Megatron: "Is it the humiliation?"
Starscream: "No, no, that hasn't changed. But at least I took-TAKE it like a Decepticon! With a stab in the back in return and a smirk for good measure! Not with a smile and a nod like certain dull as ditchwater yes-men you've had as second in command lately. What's happened to us lately!?"
Megatron: "I'll ask you never to speak of Crasher in such a manner again."
"Uhh....kay....? I was talking about the bullet train...but I guess it was worth it after all, since I learned something new today"

Starscream degenerates into muttering. Megatron ignores this, as he overlooks his new troops, his old troops, his POWs. Just as he is about to open his mouth to announce the plan,
"You can ignore me if you like," Starscream continues, "but it doesn't change the bigger issue--none of us, least of all you, have any idea what we're doing."

Megatron stops for a moment, decides not to hit Starscream or correct his grammar, and calmly tells him 'you will see.'
Starscream: "Well, I'm officially scared now."
He glances at the sky...the storm that began brewing as the Decepticons left the forest is becoming more intense. The air is crackling with energy.
Megatron: "As well it should be. Fear keeps you loyal."
Starscream: ' 'Ah-ha, yes, how true. But if you want to know what I REALLY think"
"I do not"
Starscream: "YOU'RE just playing for time until your old pal Darkmount TELLS you what to do next."
Megatron: "I'll pretend I didn't hear that name. Nor will I waste time speculating on how you came upon it. Suffice to say, everything you know is wrong."
Starscream: "Oh, no, don't get me wrong--better to be getting a helping hand from our own kind (always wondered how we got our hands on a ship to come back here anyway, after you failed against Prime and got so many of us killed), someone from the old home world than that...(he gestures vaguely)...BURNING thing that comes around here now and again. Speaking of which, where are Cyclonus and Galvatron, anyway?"
Megatron meanwhile is surveying his troops...Thrust is taunting the prisoners, and others are gathering their possessions and preparing to continue the trek, under his burning gaze.
"But all that said," Starscream continues, "YOU asking for help? Well, it's not so much that it makes me lose respect for you, as much as the thought of us getting ourselves into a situation where even YOU can't pull us out safe and sound all by your lonesome? Now THAT's what really chills my oil."
Megatron: (Starting to walk away, Starscream running to catch up: "Was there a compliment buried somewhere in there?"
Starscream: "I'll never tell."

By now, the Cons have taken their hint, that Megatron simply stalking away from them means that it's time to go. The Cons mill about gathering their things. (Mostly Swindle.) Megatron says something to Laserbeak (Perpetually on Megatron's shoulder) the raptor takes to the air and swoops off over the countryside.

A group of Decepticons consisting of the four surviving Constructicons, under the supervision of Heavy Load, are building a metallic ring made of endless cross supports, wires, and conduits. It is an unfinished Space Bridge. All around the site are harsh white lights illuminating the storm-clouded darkness.

Dirge (In his Cybertronian body, indicating that these troops are from Cybertron, and not refugees on Earth), is silently supervising the operation. The other guards consist of Skyjack, off in a corner, Dropshot, Jolt, and Windzazor. Windrazor has clearly been needling Dropshot with his passive-aggressive creepiness for awhile.

Dropshot is just as clearly antsy, with the energy storm crackling across the sky. He chatters nervously. Suddenly, a bolt descends from above, striking a nearby tree and setting it aflame!
Dropshot twitches a little. "Did you see that! That was lighting!....I dunno guys, gotta say I'm gettin' a little jumpy over here...HEY, lab boys, you done yet!?"

Heavy Load chuckles without turning around.
"If you ask me again, I might just build YOU into the bridge. We'd all get back to Cybertron faster. Well...almost all of us."
Dropshot is not reassured. He continues to chatter. "I tell you guys, this whole mission is cursed. Razorclaw makes a pass over the northern hemisphere, orbital drops us down without so much as a "bon voyage" (He pronounces this "bon voyagey") from Nemesis Prime. "Next thing we hear, the ship goes up in flames and we're trapped down here! It was WEEKS until Laserbeak found us! And when he finally shows up, BOOM, first thing we hear, Scrapper's dead and THIS guy's in charge!"

Heavy Load connects two lines, and suddenly, all of the klieg lights burn out!
Dropshot: "WHAT WAS THAT?! Did you see that?! The lights went out just now!"
Heavy Load (Suddenly behind him): "Oh...nothing."
The lights snap back on.

"What's the matter, little guy," asks Windrazor, sauntering over, "Scared of things that go BUMP in the night?"
Dropshot: "I...I ain't scared of nuthin' twerp! Maybe before...back when I was a you-know-what--but I'm built BIG again now! Ain't nothin' gonna walk all over me anymore. Least of you, eh? EH?!"
Windrazor: "Oh, I wouldn't DREAM of it. Big, strapping bot like you....just look at the size of those missile pods, for instance" (Seems lost in some creepy thought as he absently strokes the other Decepticon with his missile) "--now I'd love to--."
Dropshot batters him away: "You tryin' to start somethin' over here? Hey Dirge, this guy's tryin' to start somethin'!"

Dirge shudders at the sheer thought of having to interact with another being (He's enjoying the ambiance far too much, and their blather is disrupting it), and so stalks over, blades popping from their recesses. This does the trick.
Windrazor drops Dropshot, and turns his attention to Dirge. "Say...those are some great knives you've got there, boss. I'd KILL for blades like those."
Dirge: "Not as fast as they could kill you, lest you challenge my authority. Leave the small one be--we have more pressing priorities."

"Indeed you do."
They all jump at the voice of Megatron. While they were arguing, Laserbeak descended and projected a three-dimensional image of Megatron.
"Lord Megatron," says Dirge. "I live to serve."
He drops to one knee.
"Oh, bravo!" comes Starscream's voice from off-camera.
Megatron: "Spare me the theatrics." (Unclear who this is addressed to).
Megatron: "We are almost upon you, Dirge. I trust the Space Bridge is ready."
Dirge: "Lord Megatron, I regret to inform that--"
Starscream: "Wait, Space Bridge?"
Megatron: "Shut up."
Dirge: "Sir!" (He shuts up.)
Megatron: "Not you, fool! Speak."
Starscream: "Don't mind if I--"
Megatron: "SILENCE!"
He leaves the view for a moment, and we hear "THWUMP"
He then returns, eyes glaring
Megatron: "You were saying--?"
Dirge: " in readiness, sir."
Megatron: "Excellent."
He cuts out, and Laserbeak takes off.
Dirge spins to bellow at the Constructicons.
"You heard the Con! DOUBLE TIME!"
Dropshot: "Hey, Megatron's gone!"
Dirge: "Now where is Buzzsaw with those supplies we needed?! I hope he didn't get distracted and decide to buzz another Interstate..."

Quietly, in the background, Skyjack opens a panel on his wrist and pushes a button.

Elsewhere, we find Springer and the Wreckers, consisting of Flak (Repaired from his earlier encounters with the Cons), Roadbuster, Landshark, Jet Blade and Grindcore.

The Wreckers are curiously reserved, except for Flak. Flak won't shut up about how he can't wait to ice some Cons, and how humiliated he was that he was so damaged in Ratchet's cold storage unit (Where they found him) that Megatron didn't even see fit to offline him when he and the Cons raided the Autobots' old hideout.
"Ya'll oughta be THANKFUL," says Jet Blade, cooling out in Cowboy fashion. "That and Grindcore (Being an electrical engineer) bein' here to patch you together."
"Ach. I'm normally used to fixin' bridges an' downed power lines, but puttin' Bots back together ain't much diffrent. At least I THINK I got most of yuir pieces put back in the right places, lad," Grindcore interjects.
"Gee, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside," replies Flak.
"Don't worry, lad, that'll pass."

Flak turns his attention to the brooding Roadbuster.
"And what about you, Captain Commando? Think a big time war hero like you would be chompin' at the bit to get his hands on a Con like Megatron. So why are you sittin' pretty over there?"
Roadbuster replies, "Precisely because this IS Megatron we're going up against. I've lost a lot of good buddies to that son of a glitch."
Flak: "Eh, that was a long time ago. Megatron's old news now. You, scared? You can take 'im."
Roadbuster: "Tell that my buddies at Ki-Aleta."
Flak: "...sorry, I didn't--wait, when did that go down?"
Roadbuster: "'...'bout six weeks ago, by the local reckoning. Routine dust-up, until he came out of nowhere and took us apart. Enjoyed it, too, or so it seems. Me, Springer and Whirl were the only ones got out' I wouldn't exactly call old Whirl "alive" the last time I saw him. So you think you want payback, kid..."
Turns a grave face on Flak:
"You don't KNOW Primusdamn payback."
Flak: "Six weeks, huh---guess that Megatron gets around."
(He has no more time to ponder this mystery, as Landshark blunders into the area, shadow-boxing)
Flak: "But hey, that explains a lot. I was wondering how a has-bot like this got tagged for the Wreckers. Heard he'd been bumped up, or should I say, down, to the EG. Must really be short on manpower."
Roadbuster: " do you think YOU made the cut?"
Flak smirks. He's glad that his goading has at least brought back some of Roadbuster's good humor.
Meanwhile, Landshark's backpack (His former boxing coach, made into a drone), cheers him on. "You can do it, champ!"

Springer, through all of this, stands fixed, arms folded, motionless. Landshark puts on his armor and practices his boxing moves some more, drifting farther and farther away from the group.


Ravage returns to a hole-in-the-wall cave and alerts Rocketbot and Flashback, who are within. Rocketbot peers out first. "OH my. The Decepticons have moved out have they?" Then, just as Rocketbot begins to wax poetic about their goal of defeating the Decepticons once and for all, (With two Deployers and a Targetmaster? Yeah, right.), and how they've been stranded in the wilderness all this time, the "last survivors" of a great warrior race, the "last hope" for the cosmos, Landshark come stumbling in, punching the air, and nearly crushing the tiny bots, who scatter in all directions. The rest of the Wreckers come over to investigate the situation and suddenly Flashback pipes up, alerting the Wreckers that they've been tracking the Cons for weeks, and then goes on to reveal nothing but information the Wreckers already knew, except, that Flashback outranked them. (But this was secretly a lie, were he actually of such a rank he would have had to outrank Blaster. But lucky for him, the Wreckers are not all that up to date on the ranks of their cohorts, or of themselves. If nothing else Flashback's very good at talking himself out of a bad situation.) Rocketbot is just shocked to find out that the bird can talk! "Of course, ve all can." Ravage explains. "GAH! YOU TOO!?!"

Flashback goes on to outline a strategy that involves "dividing into multiple units" and "flanking the enemy." Springer listens politely, despite the fact that this is exactly what's been happening.

Just then Springer's comm beeps. "Alright boys, it's show time!"

Roadbuster: "Never did want to live forever."

He puts out a call to Signal Flare, on the Wreckers' B-Team who is acting as communications relay for the team.
"B-Team, come in. What's the word, 'Flare?"
In the background, Flashback says, "Excellent, two units. They're already heeding my advice. And so quickly! Unexpected. I'll have to put in a good word for you with Prime."
Signal Flare responds with eery placidity, "Strongarm reports, sir, that he has been tracking the Decepticons' supply 'copter. He is returning to the base camp with what is believed to be the final shipment of supplies necessary to complete the space bridge."

"Cuttin' it a little close, ain't we?" Flak interjects. Springer: "How did you think we were planning on getting out of here?" Flak: " mean there isn't..." Springer: "No, there isn't a rescue ship. Welcome to the Wreckers."
He thinks for a moment. "Still, you raise a good point." He returns to addressing Signal Flare: "''Flare? Can Strongarm nail the whirlybug from his current position?"
"Sir, Strongarm is a highly talented marksman whose guiding hand is blessed by that of Sigma Septimus himself--"
Springer: "Not answering the question. Can he nail the target, for CERTAIN."
Signal Flare: "..........."
Springer: "Flare?"
"Unfortunately, sir, he reports that the target is too far out of range. Regrettably."
Springer: "Fine. Bounce word to Air Raid."

Shortly after, Buzzsaw, Constructicon cargo chopper, whirls his way back to the Space Bridge with his cargo stored safely underneath. He buzzes a little tune to himself, pleased with his work, and how Megatron will reward him for being a part of the Constructicon team building the first Space Bridge in YEARS! Suddenly he hears a "pop" on his sophisticated sensor net, coming from below. Buzzsaw careens out of control and crashes to the ground, exploding. Air Raid radios in to Springer that they've taken out the flying Constructicon. "Sweet." replies Springer, and orders the Wreckers' B-Team to move to position two, near the Space Bridge. The main group of Wreckers are still attempting to outflank the Cons. (At Flashback's suggestion--not that this wasn't their plan to begin with.)

Megatron, leading the other Cons and POWs come across a part of Buzzsaw. He stares at it and keeps moving without saying a word.
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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby Transypoo » Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:42 am

40,000 years ago...

Young Orion Pax awakes with a headache and a vague memory of red light. As his optical processors activate and cycle the usual tests, he attempts to raise himself off the ground only to find he cannot move. Tests complete, his optics power up. Blackness. But not just blackness, a deeper blackness than any blackness that he's ever had the displeasure of ever seeing. The exact opposite of the archives. Even the vague glow of his eyes can't penetrate the blackness.

"Are you the Orion Pax?" A voice booms in his head.

"Y-yes, I am Orion Pax." He says, his voice scratchy and weak.

A harsh white light hits him in the face like a run-away-train. A mechanical arm descends from the dark and latches onto his chest. Finger-like appendages rotate out and grasp onto his breastplate. The entire contraption pulls back. Orion screams in terror and agony as his chest is ripped open. Wires, tubes, chips, processors and his very spark tumble out, still clinging to the breastplate. The arm retracts to wherever it came from and a dozen spindly arms dart out and begin shifting parts around, reattaching wires, making new connections, moving the spark down, shifting gears, moving processors back and up. Then, finally, after what felt like a matter of days, but was only fifteen seconds, the arms slipped back into the night; leaving Orion with a large cavity in his chest.

The agony of this encounter only beginning to fade from his mind, a new device lowered. At the very end was something black. It shone ominously in the spotlight. It radiated evil, is felt like torture, is was agony, it's red eye burned into Orion's very soul. The device did not hesitate for a moment it extended and thrust the Thing into Orion's empty chest, and his chest snapped shut of its own accord. Another arm came down and bolted his chest shut placing a crystal in its center and branding it with an animal's face. Orion Pax could feel something in his body shift, his limbs extend, his face sharpening. He had become a Prime. Orion Prime, he thought, is this how its done, suddenly, painfully, with out warning? It that why Sentinel Prime was so mean?

He waited for what felt like an eternity for something else to happen, for a move to be made, for the light to come on, for his time to come, he would lead the Autobots to peace, it would be him. The Decepticons would fall and he would get to- "SHHEEAAAARRRGGGG!!!!!"

Bolts of energy tear through Orion for a solid decade. The moments when the energy spikes where on the rebound were his only breaks from his pain receptors being at max. Then the bolts stopped, and a thousand tiny drones tore him apart piece by piece, then new drones put him back together. He watched his family and friends murdered, then again, and again. Why did Bluestreak have to melt from the inside? Why did Magnus, his brother, have to be ripped inside-out? Why was Dion melted in acid again and again? Why was Cybertron consumed? Then the bolts of energy came at random along with the visions and being eaten alive again and again. He woke one morning to find that he was sitting in the corner of a small room, in the other corner, there was another version of himself, consuming his own arm. Black. White. Black. Red. Red. Black. White. Black. Turquoise. A million tiny legs crawling under his skin, light dancing across his brain tapping to get out. 010100100110010101100100011100100111010101101101 A large spike slowly drove itself through his eye. Why, he thought, why wouldn't it just let me die?

Thousands of years later, when Orion Pax had forgotten all about the times when he was board at work, the times he felt warmth and joy, about a time when someone would speak his name, a time when he remembered his name, a time when he was something other than pain, his spark extinguished. His chest opened in a pre-programed attempt to pass the Matrix on to someone else, the device carefully removed the Thing and stored it away. Orion's body was dropped into nothing.


35,029 years ago...



"Yes, I am Orion Pax." He says, his voice scratchy and weak.


Two weeks ago...

Orion Pax awoke to the blinding torture he'd endured these past 5,000 years. If felt warm and good to him. The pain and suffering his friends. The visions of his former-friends and family dying were a favorite movie watched again and again, memorized. He could close his eyes and watch Dion's Spark ripped out his mouth. It made him laugh. Why did he ever think otherwise? Long ago he use to like his job, assembling computers, now it seemed pitiful and weak. The Maximal cause was laughable. The Predacons, idiots and thieves. If only everyone could experience the pain. He consumed the other, cannibalistic, version of himself a millennia ago. The light in his skull was blazing brightly, making this thoughts burn with glory. The Thing in his chest screamed pain and torment. He'd count the voices when he was falling asleep. Twenty billion. All of them Orion Pax, Optimus, Optronix, reaching as far back as Cybertron itself. The small creatures tearing him apart was like a warm and relaxing bath. Oh, yes. All the suffering was nothing but joy and light. The blackness beyond the spotlight filled with all those joyous arms that take and pull, reattach, prod, push, slice and rip. The spike in the eye was like Christmas morning (if he knew what that was, that is.) That one time when a drill made of Energon pierced his Spark. What fun! Oh, if only that would happen again!

But it all stopped suddenly that fateful morning. He fell to the floor miles below. Getting to his feet he was astonished at his ability to move.He remembered moving long ago, before the pain had started and cleared his mind.

"You," a voice boomed in his head, sounding almost impressed, "are the first to survive."

"Is that so?" Orion said. Finding his voice deep and gruff. Speaking was an interesting twist. Something new. Strange. Talking to something. Not being tortured. Very odd. Almost painful.

"You were once Orion Pax."

"Yeah? I still fraggin' am."

"No." The voice boomed calmly. "You are Nemesis Prime. You belong to me."

"Alright, what you want me to do?"

"When I say... kill everything."

"That..." Nemesis Prime said, thinking about the idea, "sounds like fun."
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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby Skids » Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:44 pm

Cybertron, Iacon. The city is in a security lockup, battened down and cast in harsh, minimal lighting, as, across Cybertron, Operation Knockout unfolds, apocalyptically, for the scattered enclaves of Decepticons.

A nest of Cons explodes into a firestorm, as various warriors, clearly unprepared for the onslaught (belying Leo Prime’s words throughout the past months) scatter desperately. The mob includes a Firecon (Sparkstalker), some Terrorcons, Treadshot, Hooligan and Roadgrabber. The team taking them apart is led by Chromia, and consists of Warpath (Movie), Skyblast (Movie) and Doublecross. As the small and weak Decepticons are blasted apart, Treadshot puts up a desperate battle with Catgut, only to be outshot by Chromia, with her crossbow, and fall to the ground, dying. “Avenge…me”…he whispers to Catgut, who swears vengeance, and then flees, even as Chromia leaps onto the hood of Roadgrabber’s battle station mode, and finishes off the relatively weak driver.
Into the hellstorm, flickers Leo Prime, alongside Thunderclash, his shrewd vice-commander, and inquires as to how their battle is proceeding. “Smells like victory to me,” he remarks, looking around.

As Chromia reports in to Leo Prime that another unit of Decepticons has fallen. She responds, “I wouldn’t call this much of a battle…definitely not a victory” (she mutters the last). As if to reinforce her words, in the background, Skyblast is spearing dying Cons, and tossing them into a pile, where Doublecross is EATING them.

“Soldier,” says Leo Prime, “Any battle you can walk away from is a victory”. He flickers out of view before she can respond.

We cut to a darkened central avenue is illuminated hellishly along its length with red strips of emergency light which run along either side. This street, like most in the city, is eerily silent, a curfew in effect to prevent “Decepticon retaliation”. Suddenly, the unnatural calm, which you knew couldn’t last, fractures, as a ponderous, grating groaning can be heard! Trembling, the street splits open down the middle, a maw yawning wide, revealing cavernous depths below, and what appears to be a new skyscraper (or complex of them, it is so huge in length and width) rises from the middle of the city. However, it continues rising, beyond the height of the tallest buildings, for it is no ordinary city, but a flying metropolis, the Starship Sentinel!

On the command bridge, Leo Prime looks down at the planet thousands of feet below and contemplates all the little bots he had to step on to get he—err, is sworn to protect. He is the only one on the bridge—maybe on the ship. The mammoth craft is, quite literally, flying it (or him)self.

Leo Prime is surrounded by monitors. On them, he watches footage that depicts Megatron (clad in black and silver) laying waste to outpost after outpost of Autobots. Speaking of mammoths, standing behind him (We said he was alone, but…) is a trimensional of Thunderclash. Thunderclash seems not too surprised by what he is witnessing.

“So…this is why you do what you do,” Thunderclash comments. “It all makes perfect sense now. But why didn’t you tell me—the Council--sooner? That HE was back on the warpath. We knew there was a growing threat. We’d all heard the rumblings. It would have helped you to—but then I guess it did in the end. Troops surging around Cybertron…warriors on Earth taking charge…you’re the picture of a commander“

Leo Prime replies that it would have only sown panic among those strutless fools in the council. He’s been fighting long and hard to keep this footage from leaking out, and the fact that he’s showing it to Thunderclash, when his closest aides, like Elita-1, haven’t seen it, is a testament to “just how much he trusts his Elite Guard to watch his back”. (We get the sense that he considers Thunderclash the executive trash collector, or the guy who cleans up Leo’s messes.)
Thunderclash asks when these were taken. Leo Prime responds—six months—3 months—4 weeks…two weeks ago, the Wreckers stumbled on him. Whirl is in critical condition, and only Springer and Roadbuster walked away, and barely. The rest…well, there wasn’t enough to sweep into a dustbin.

WHERE were they taken? Thunderclash asks.

Leo Prime responds that he thinks Thunderclash can figure it out. Megatron is getting closer by the day, carving a path from the outer rim to the heart of Autobot…Cybertronian space.

Last Thunderclash heard, Megatron was trapped on Earth. Leo responds that, sure, they’ve got Bots on Earth now, but when was the last time they heard from anyone before that? Prowl’s unit? The team Magnus took, AGAINST Leo’s orders? Not for months. Who can say what went on during that time. Nemesis Prime went there and never came back…so did a lot of Autobots, who had a bad habit of never being heard from again when they head for Earth, no matter how vigorously Leo Prime searched for them. (This last is a lie. He was glad to write Magnus off…and the idea of an evil Prime was bad for publicity as a bloodthirsty one.) Sure, he continues, they believe Megatron to be there now…but he has space bridge technology. He can go anywhere. Do anything!

Thunderclash asks how they can know that it’s really Megatron they’re seeing here. Last he heard, Megatron was finished, on the bottom of the heap. Leo Prime gestures to the continuing massacres being committed by the figure on screen (And says “Shut that off, it’s giving me a headache”), and says, “Does he LOOK through to you? He’s just getting started. And I don’t know about you, but that--”
Megatron blasts someone on the ground with his cannon

“Looks real enough to me. I’m not planning on getting close enough to make sure.”

And even worse than just having Megatron to deal with…the word that Megatron is back and MAD is spreading, through back channels. The Decepticons on Cybertron know SOMETHING is coming, as hard as Leo Prime tries to clamp down on the intelligence.
If the general populace were to learn that Megatron was carving a path of destruction from the outer rim straight to his old stomping grounds, they’d have global panic from the Autobot and Maximal population, and global uprising from the Decepticons “just lying in wait and licking their wounds”. “For all we know,” he continues, “Megatron’s agents are already on Cybertron. For all we know, HE’S this Darkmount everyone seems to be talking about in the Con circles! You know I sent Punch in to find him--somehow he ended up with the Empire. This whole thing is bigger than we can handle.”

There are rumblings all around, he continues. Even the Empire is rearing its head again. The Cons have the whiff of old glory. The good people are skittish. “I keep it tamped down…”

Thunderclash interrupts that he keeps it down, but not TOO down—leaving just enough of an edge on the streets to be useful to him. After all, Leo has to admit that this hasn’t been ALL bad. The council was all atwitter at the theft of that mystic artifact, and the loss of contact with Primax, a planet those matrix-dusters hold in high regard. And the two thorns in Leo’s side, Nemesis and Magnus Pri—Nemesis Prime and Ultra Magnus disappearing wasn’t too shabby, either. Leo won a big victory the day Magnus vanished. And now with the news that he’d really dead—

Leo Prime responds, “Don’t you dare speak that way of one of Cybertron’s greatest patriots. He will be missed.”
Especially on a day like this, Thunderclash responds, with everything going to the Pit. Magnus always could pull the fat out of the fire.
Leo repeats that, yes, Magnus was a great warrior…though there is now an edge to his voice, as if he’s annoyed at TC for continuing to discuss it.

“Struck a nerve, eh?” asks Thunderclash.
Leo: “You always did know how to cut to the chase…but yeah...”
Leo sighs heavily, and then slumps in his seat,

“Sure, sure—I hate to admit it…especially to HIM…and I’m not so thrilled about fessing up to you…but we are in slag. Serious, deep, deep slag. I’m putting my Spark on the line dressing this up as a final victory for the masses, sure—but I’ll level with you. This whole thing came out of nowhere. Six months ago, everything was quiet. Then bam! Overnight, the Star Saber was stolen, we lost contact with Primax, and Megatron was reborn from the ashes of defeat. Basically, I went to bed, and when I got up, the world had blown up in my face. So this…call it the last gasp of the Decepticons to the press, but it’s more a last stopgap measure to keep the tide of this war we thought was all but over from very suddenly turning, and crashing down on our heads. Slag, you know what

Megatron is like—“
Thinks for a minute
“—no, maybe you don’t. You’re part of the Second Generation.”

Thunderclash responds that he really isn't...he just came in toward the end of the first. But if Leo has been around for awhile, as he claims, it's funny, because not that many have HEARD of him.

Leo Prime responds that he was never big into parades and speeches, Thunderclash knows that. He was making it count where it counts, on the ground.

“Like these brave troops.”

Suddenly, where the scenes of Megatron were, are projected instead scenes of Decepticons fleeing in terror from overwhelmingly powerful Autobot strike teams, flushing them out of their nests on Cybertron. “We have to nip this thing in the bud.” Leo says. He continues that they have reasonably good intelligence that Megatron is on Earth right now. (A detour from the course we’d projected—we thought he was headed straight here-- but he guesses that Megatron stopped by Earth to gather the beaten troops left from Prime’s rampage. Seems like he can be anywhere anytime, after all.) But never mind that. He’ll come home to shame and humiliation. They’re winning here on the homeworld, and when Megatron returns to Cybertron, he’ll find, instead of an army waiting for him, a sea of molten slag where once stood a legion of iron. “And I’ll be waiting to pull the trigger on him,” Leo Prime adds, and gets cocky for a second: “after I enjoy the look on his face, that is.”

Then, under his breath,

“Don’t fail me, boys…I’ve got a lot riding on this.”

Thunderclash says, “And what if the Fallen interferes?”

Leo Prime grabs his head in (mock? He wants you to think that) pain—“Thought I told you never to say that name. I could deal with him…if only I could remember…slag, I can’t…you know I can’t even remember what he looks like!”

Thunderclash asks “How can we fight what we can’t even see?”

Leo Prime: “I’ll figure something out. The innovator, that’s what they always called me. The innovator.”

Thunderclash comments that Leo Prime has earned his name. After all, he’s already snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Six months ago, seems like he had to fight the council to get anything done on dealing with the Cons. And now here is, riding high.
“You keep saying that,” says Leo Prime. “Makes me sound like some sort of manipulator. But sure, sure,” Leo says, almost sweating. “I admit it. That’s exactly how I want it to seem. I always was good at that sort of thing. You know—sleight of hand.” But living up to his own hype is the real challenge. If Megatron makes it back here—alive—Leo’s through. (We get the sense he’s talking about his career.)
“We all are,” says Thunderclash quietly.
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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby ShadeC4 » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:17 am

Has this story died? O_o: Or you just haven't had time to add to it?
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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby Transypoo » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:00 pm


We're planning on staring over again now that we have more characters available and know more or less how it's going to play out.
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Re: Transformers: Classics

Postby ShadeC4 » Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:44 am

Sad but also glad at the same time. Sad that this 1's gonna end but glad that, not only will it return, but with a more clear idea on it all. ::3:
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