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Chapter Text

Prologue

On the planet Cybertron the civil-war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, the two robotic races native on the planet, had raged for over nine million years.

In the Earth year 2005 this conflict had temporally been overshadowed by a threat from the outside. Many Autobots, one of them their leader Optimus Prime, died in the battle for Autobot City.

Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, was badly wounded in a duel with Prime during the same conflict and how so often before betrayed by his second in command Starscream who abandoned him damaged in space to die.

A short time later Unicron appeared, a monstrous being with unknown heritage and hostile intentions. Unicron rebuilt Megatron and his troops, who were abandoned along with him and gave them new lives. They became Galvatron, the "new" Decepticon leader, his second in command Cyclonus and Scourge and the Sweeps. But he also enslaved them and used them to his own agenda.

Unicrons final attack nearly caused the destruction of Cybertron and shattered the Decepticons on the Planet.

The Autobot Hotrod was able to use the mysterious Matrix of leadership to destroy Unicron. As a result of the battle the Decepticons lost Cybertron and the Autobots used the Chance to take over the planet. Galvatron was missing in space again. Both sides of the war were decimated but the Autobots used their chance to rebuild. For the Decepticons the loss of Cybertron caused a chain reaction that made them temporally loose the entire war. Their best troops were scattered in space after the hasty retreat. Without their leader and Cybertron as center, the remaining strongholds were disorganized and could easily be conquered by the Autobots.

But one year later a alien race named the Quintessons provided the Decepticons with new energon and allied themselves with them for a attack on Cybertron. Even earlier Galvatron´s new Second in Command Cyclonus had organized an rescue mission and found the Decepticon leader. But Galvatron was driven insane through Unicron´s manipulations and through his fall into a sea of molten plasma after the last battle.

Despite that the Decepticons and their allies were able to destroy the defense-system of the Autobots on Cybertron and the ark, one of their main bases on earth. But the Quintessons betrayed the Decepticons and tried to destroy all Transformers.

The war was continuing for another year, now with two fronts.

Galvatron´s insanity decreased over time, but was still there and posed a potential thread for everyone. In another attempt the Quintessons were rebuilding Optimus Prime, originally as a mindless zombie, to let the Autobots into a trap. But his personality re-emerged and he and Rodimus were able to save their troops from destruction.

A short time later a terrible plaque appeared that drove it´s victims insane and spread over the entire galaxy. To stop this threat the Quintessons were forced to restore Optimus Prime completely. He was able to wipe out the so called "Hate Plaque", by opening the Matrix a second time. It´s knowledge and power however was seemingly lost in the process.

As a side effect, the Matrix also cured Galvatron´s insert insanity and returned him completely to the being he was in the beginning of his existence.

Given the damage given to both sides by the hate plaque and the fact that they had worked together to save the galaxy, Galvatron called out a truce between the Autobots and the Decepticons. It gave all a short period of peace and security and to rebuild, but it gave the Decepticons also time to plan and prepare.

Finally that truce came to an end.

xxxxxxx

The year 2012, planet Cybertron, under Autobot control

Ultra Magnus and Hotrod were standing in the middle of Cybertron´s main defense center. Both were high ranked Autobots and were here to discuss the subject of the latest Decepticon activities with the security officer.

Ultra Magnus was the official second in command of the army. Hotrod had led the Autobots for two years as Rodimus Prime, for two years despite being very young for the position and it was known that since his return from the dead Optimus Prime was building him up to be his permanent successor.

Around them several Autobots were constantly watching the space around Cybertron for signs of enemy activities. That would mean either the Decepticons or Quintessons. This had even been the case during the time of the truce.

Of course that turned out to be a somehow mute task in the afterwards. No attack happened during that time and the Bots stationed here were only getting bored.

But the time of the truce was over now. A few months ago the war had started again. So far it had only been a number of smaller attacks from the Decepticons.

The Autobots Goldbug, Chase and Freeway were currently working on the monitors. Kup, the security officer of the planet was standing behind them and oversaw their work.

"Don´t you think you are a little over-doing it Kup?" Ultra Magnus asked the security chief who had just looked over the shoulder of an Autobot who was checking the sensor data of his console.

"No, Magnus, I think not. We have slacked down here and you know that as good as me."

While he was by far not as paranoid as his predecessor Red Alert, Kup was someone who took his duty seriously and he had to admit in the long time without a real attack the security had been slowing down. And he was the one going to do something about it.

"I know Kup. You had been right, our security was lacking a few months ago, but we have already brought it back to top standard and beyond it", Ultra Magnus explained to him. "I have personally approved every single improvement you have suggested in the last months. Our defense-system is as good as it is technically possible and you know that as good as me. All that you can reach with your constantly close-watching everybody is making everybody nervous and then they will make mistakes."

Kup this discussion already a few times the last months, with him, Hotrod and even Optimus Prime. By now, Cybertron was surrounded by a dozen defense satellites, highly sensitive sensors were scanning the entire area of space for threats, shuttles were scouting the sector of space were Cybertron was currently located. Every Decepticon or Quintesson ship would be detected in the moment it entered cybertronian space and would be under attack in a matter of seconds.

The only problem was the security chief was still not satisfied. He was since the war had restarted always holding a close eye on everybody involved and regularly coming up with new suggestions what could be changed.

And that made the security as a whole less effective as it could have been.

"I guess you are right", Kup admitted. "I have personally build up our entire defense-system. Even I have not really a idea what we could make better.

They would need to teleport their entire army directly behind our defenses to even come close to the planet."

"Maybe, but that is still no reason to feel save", Hotrod reminded him. "In one point you are right. Sooner or later they will attack, but that is no reason to drive everybody insane before it even happens." He grinned at Kup.

In that moment the alarms are going on.

"What is going on?" Goldbug asked.

Chase stared motionless at the monitor for a few seconds, before he finally answered.

"A ship has suddenly appeared in close orbit, by the readings it is a Decepticon model."

xxx

A few miles over Cybertron a small Decepticon ship had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The air-locks opened and over a dozen robots streamed out and opened fire.

Behind them a blue energy sphere appeared and out came a second ship of the same type. Like before, Decepticons emerged and began to attack.

Ten of the robots separated from the rest. It were the two sub-groups named the Combaticons and the Terrorcons. The two team leaders gave the order,

"merge" and they transformed and combined into the two combiner robots Bruticus and Abominus.

The other Decepticons transformed into jets and started to shoot downwards at the surface of the planet.

xxx

"And now a second ship has appeared, a third", Chase called out. "They are behind our defense lines. I can´t target them."

"Our satellite weapons are directed at the space, we can not turn them around fast enough", Goldbug exclaimed.

"How in the world could that happened?" Kup yelled.

"You know Kup, my guess is that they had somehow teleported an entire army directly behind our defenses", Hotrod said sarcastically.

"Oh yes? I wouldn´t have thought", the old veteran replied.

"The Decepticons are attacking targets on the surface, the ships are shooting our satellites down, our defenses are breaching", Goldbug told them.

"Good, all of you, charge your weapons and get out", Ultra Magnus ordered. "We are under attack."

xxxxxxx

On the command bridge of the Decepticon flagship "Revenge"

Galvatron and Cyclonus were watching the tactical situation on the display.

"Our troops had jumped directly behind the defense systems", Cyclonus announced. "The position of our assault ships differ only 0,2 percent from where we predicted."

Galvatron, sitting in his command chair, smiled.

"Very good Cyclonus. Our new transwarp engine seems to work as well as we have concluded."

"Yes Galvatron our attack goes completely according to plan", the second in command remarked.

"Good, give me a connection to Skorponok", Galvatron ordered.

The face of lord Zarak. A human like alien and ally of the Decepticons appeared on a monitor before them. Zarak had once been a dictator from the planet Nebulus, before he had been exiled. He and his soldiers had connected themselves to a group of Decepticons led by Skorponok that had landed on their planet years ago, through a process named binary bonding. This connects a organic being, in the most cases a nebulon, physically and mentally to a Transformer. With the help of a transformable exo-suit and mechanical implants in the body, the organic literally takes the place of a body part of the Transformer.

The new, bonded Transformer had far greater reflexes like before, was faster, could concentrate at two things at once and had in the most cases a better energy efficiency. In short words it was a very great improvement.

Zarak and his followers were headmasters, the most common form of binary bondings. The nebulon takes the place of the head of the robot.

"Galvatron", Zarak greeted him, "as I see is everything going as planned, good. My troops are ready to attack. In case you need us." He smiled.

"Ah Zarak", Galvatron answered him, "as we had discussed, it would be better for your troops to hold back right now. The Autobots don´t know about our alliance yet, so it would be good to have your headmasters in reserve. You will be our ace should something unforeseen happens."

"Oh, of course Galvatron. It would be a honor for me to save you in case your plan goes wrong", the small alien said mockingly. The challenge was easily to hear out under his words.

"Thank you Zarak or should I call you Skorponok", Galvatron said smiling, "but I think we won´t need you when we conquer Cybertron."

Zarak had not been happy that his personal warriors would not been part of the actual battle. He of course realized the wisdom of letting the troops that the enemy didn´t knew about yet out of sight. But he still didn´t like the fact that he would only sit around while Galvatron was fighting. So he constantly reminded him about the great potential of his troops and himself. For now this had to do.

From the beginning, Galvatron disliked the idea of bonding organic beings to the Decepticons, especially mentally. But he couldn´t deny their uses, so he went along with it, at least for not. The most wary was he of Skorponok, the leader of the headmasters.

Zarak and Skorponok had their completely own ambitions. He was a very ambitious nebulon and a very ambitious Decepticon, combined. For his aims he needed to win the respect of the Decepticons. Secretly he had even thought once or twice about taking leadership for himself. Maybe, he wasn´t sure by now if supreme leadership was the right course of action for him. He would have to wait and see the situation.

Zarak shut the monitor off.

"Cyclonus, activate the engines", Galvatron ordered. "We will fly right into the heart of the Autobot sectors."

"Yes Galvatron."

xxx

On the surface of Cybertron several groups of Autobots and Decepticons were already fighting each other while the ships were wiping out the rests of the defense system.

The Decepticon gestalts Predaking and Abominus were fighting Computron and Superion, the combined forms of the Techno- and Aerialbots.

Devastator and Bruticus were teaming up against Omega Supreme and bringing the giant Autobot easily in the defensive.

Until the Dinobots arrived and backed him up. They transformed into their dinosaur modes and began a combined attack on Bruticus with brute force. The gestalt was holding himself against them, but was not longer able to help his partner against Omega.

Many Autobots had assembled in small groups and were trying to fight the attackers off.

One of the Decepticon jets transformed into a very large, silver and green robot. He was Sixshot, a six changer, an experimental Transformer with six different transformation modes and one of the most dangerous warriors the Decepticons had. In the moment he landed, he killed one of the defending Autobots with a shot through the head. He was constantly transforming and changing his form and so confused his opponents. For his enemies, he was literally not to touch.

The Autobot shuttle Skylinx was together with Cosmos and Skyfire involved in a fight with the Decepticon jets.

On the ground, a large number of Autobots were trying to defend Autobot headquarters. Optimus Prime was leading a group consisting of Getaway, Slapdash and Joyride.

Ultra Magnus fired one of the missiles that were mounted on his shoulders and killed a Decepticon jet in mid-flight.

In the Sky over them the Decepticon flagship appeared right over the cybertronian sector of Iacon, the capital of the Autobots. Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge exited, followed by dozens of Decepticon warriors.

xxxxxxx

Autobot city Earth

Jazz was currently in control of the Autobot forces on Earth.

Together with Warpath, Beachcomber and Perceptor, he was standing before a monitor and watching the latest Decepticon "activities" on the planet.

In other words, they were seeing the Stunticons driving and rampaging through the city of San Diego California.

"What by the Matrix are they thinking?" Perceptor asked.

"That are the Stunticons", Tracks replied, "I would be surprised if they had been thinking at all."

xxx

The five Decepticons were racing through the town and creating a chaos on the streets where ever they went. Wildrider and Breakdown rammed several vehicles, Dead End was overrunning traffic signs and Motormaster forced another truck off the road. The police was not able to stop them. As they tried, the robots simply transformed, demolished the cars and scared the cops away. They had so far managed to derail the traffic of the half city.

This continued until the Protectobots appeared. They came in, driving in their vehicle forms.

"Finally they are here", Dead End announced.

"Yes, the fun is over", Wildrider remarked.

"Okay, Stunticons merge", Motormaster ordered.

They transformed into their combined form as Menasor. As answer the Protectobots merged themselves into Defensor. The two gestalt stood in opposite of each other in the middle of the town.

Above them, on top of one of the larger buildings, stood a group of five Sweeps. The Decepticons, all identical clones of Scourge, were waiting and watching what happened.

"Do you think they will be fighting?" One of them asked.

"That doesn´t matter. All we have to do is keep the Autobots on Earth distracted", another one answered. This particular Sweep had taken for himself the name Skyhound and was part of a sort of unofficial elite under the Sweeps. The most most skilled and most experienced clones.

Below them, four other Autobots in sports car form came in. They recognized them as Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Mirage and Tracks. The four Autobots transformed and draw their weapons.

"Good, remember we are only here to keep them busy", Skyhound told his fellow Sweeps."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

Cyclonus was leading a squad of three other Decepticon jets. He, his partner Scourge, Slugslinger, Triggerhappy and Misfire. This five were not alone, every of them had a nebulon sitting in his cockpit.

They were a new form of binary bonded Transformers called Targetmasters. The idea for them came from Cyclonus himself. Their nebulon partners transformed into their guns. That gave them a far greater reaction speed and was typical for every form of binary bonding, greater firepower and the nebulon had far lesser influence on the mind of the Transformer he was bounded to. The last part was a very good thing in the opinion of the Decepticon leadership.

Cyclonus fired a salve of his missiles that hit the Autobot Cosmos in his space ship form. The unfortunate Bot completely exploded into shrapnel.

Cyclonus, Scourge and the others transformed and attacked the Autobots on the ground. They easily outmatched their enemies in speed and reflexes.

Scourge shot a one of them in the shoulder before he even had a chance to react. Slugslinger and Triggerhappy were forcing the Defenders backwards with ease.

Cyclonus was confronted by his rival Ultra Magnus.

"That is far enough Cyclonus. I am here to stop you."

"Ultra Magnus, it seems we fight again. You will be a good test for my new abilities."

They were normally evenly matched. The two warriors had already several fight with each other, never with a real winner. This time however it was different. Cyclonus reacted simply faster than Ultra Magnus, who couldn´t hold up. He landed blow after blow while Magnus was only defending. Suddenly Cyclonus blaster transformed into a small "robot" and shot him in the side. At the same time, Cyclonus attacked from the front and punched the Autobot down. Then his nebulon partner Nightstick transformed back into a gun and flew in his hands.

"Very good Cyclonus. Your idea with the Targetmasters seems to really work out", Galvatron commended him, looking at the carnage around them.

It was good to feel the rage of a battle again after this five years.

The two Decepticon jets Darkwing and Dreadwind were in a fire fight with Getaway and Joyride.

"Galvatron", someone called out. He saw that it was Optimus Prime.

The Autobot leader was standing in front of a small group who was trying to defend their headquarters.

"Optimus Prime", the Decepticon leader greeted him, "how interesting to fight you again or should I say the first time. After all I had not been Galvatron back then."

"If I remember right, Megatron had to be carried from the battlefield and only managed to "kill" me trough a cheap trick."

"A trick that you all too easily fell for. Don´t blame me for your stupidity. You won against Megatron once and that only by a small margin and with luck. I am Galvatron, what can you hope to do against me?" He didn´t wait for an answer.

The Decepticon leader charged forward and punched Optimus in the gut, who staggered backwards a few steps but caught himself.

"We will stop you Galvatron."

"Don´t delude yourself Prime, this battle was over before it even started."

xxx

Hotrod and Kup were fighting back on back against several Decepticons.

"Like in old times what Kup?" Hotrod commented.

"You say it lad."

xxx

Galvatron fired his weapon at Optimus, who managed to dodge the shot.

"It is time to stop playing around", the Decepticon leader exclaimed.

"Optimus", Ultra Magnus informed him, "we are detecting another object coming in, a very large one."

"What is it?" Optimus asked.

"Trypticon", Magnus answered.

"The greatest weakness of your army", Galvatron informed him casually. "Your city Transformer is easily stronger then mine, but Metroplex can not fly and is bound to earth while Trypticon can attack where ever I want and you have nothing left to hold against him."

Optimus realized that Galvatron was right.

The large dinosaur form of the Decepticon city robot appeared at the sky. Trypticon activated his mouth cannons and leveled several buildings on the ground with a few shots.

The Autobots watched horrified what happened. Galvatron used the chance that the Autobots were distracted. He transformed into his artillery gun mode and took aim at Omega Supreme, who was fighting close to them.

A shot with Galvatron´s full fire power threw even the super robot down.

"Optimus", Ultra Magnus shouted, "we are being overwhelmed. Our defense system is destroyed, we had no time to organize any resistance and now with Trypticon on top of it..." He let the words hanging in the air.

He knew that Ultra Magnus was right. Somehow the Decepticons had found a way to bring their troops directly behind their planetary defenses. They had been caught completely by surprise. The Decepticon assault came so suddenly that many Autobots didn´t even had time to fight back. This battle had been hopeless from the beginning. If they tried to stay they would only needlessly waste the life's of their troops. Even he had to see that. So he gave the order.

"Autobots retreat", he said. "Give up the planet."

As much as he hated to admit it, they had lost Cybertron. They had lost it again.

xxxxxxx

All over the planet, Autobots were fleeing. A planet wide chaos had broken out long before Optimus gave the order to evacuate. In first line the civilians under the Autobots were leaving Cybertron in masses. Everybody could see what was happening. Somehow the Decepticons had appeared right over the planet and were overrunning their forces. Any attempt to fight back was hopeless.

Optimus order had only been the last straw. Shuttles and space ships were leaving the planet, others fled over the dozens of space bridges everywhere on the planet.

The attempted coordinated retreat soon turned into a chaotic mass flight.

Some Autobot troops were still fighting, but only to cover the retreat of their comrades. A few fleeing Autobots were gunned down under the fire of Decepticon forces, others left the planet completely unnoticed by their enemies.

Some Autobots went into the underground of the planet and built up small resistance groups, like the last time the planet was under Decepticon control.

xxx

Under the refugees were also the robots from the former Autobot colony Paradron, who had settled on Cybertron and members of several alien races, who had currently been on the planet for various reasons.

Spike Witwicky, the ambassador of earth and his family were standing on board of one of the fleeing ships. They watched back at the battle behind them.

"Spike?" His wife Carly asked.

"I thought Cybertron was safe, I though after years without a serious attack, I could let you stay there for some time without danger. Yes, a nice thought", he said sarcastically.

"This is not your fault. Nobody could have known this."

"Really?" He asked cryptic. "Did we really think it was simply over?"

xxx

Behind them the Decepticon war-ships and a large number of seekers were flying over the planet. Every real resistance of the Autobots was now broken. What was left were only a few fleeing reminders.

"We have a target lock on them Cyclonus. Should we shot them down?" Slugslinger asked his commander, who was flying next to him, referring to the retreating ships.

The Targetmaster group was now back in jet form, taking the last enemies out.

Cyclonus looked at the ships, he scanned them. A few military ships, but mostly unarmed shuttles, civilian cruisers, transport ships, tankers, diplomatic vessels.

"No, let them go", he ordered.

xxxxxxx

On the surface of Cybertron

Decepticon patrols were everywhere, scouting the entire area. He had to be careful.

The small Autobot was used to such things. A great part of his life had he spend in similar situations. As he had crash landed on the planet Quintessa, years ago, his life consisted of running and hiding.

Wheely was good at it. While a loud mouth in public and very careless when he had back up to help, he know when a situation was hopeless and when it was better to keep quite.

This was such a situation. By what he had seen the Decepticons had attacked in great force and invaded the planet.

Like so many others he had fled in a panic as he had seen just how outmatched they were.

The most Autobots were gone now.

He had been fleeing through long abandoned buildings in the outer sectors and were even running to the sewers to escape them.

And it had worked. He hadn´t seen a Decepticon for over two breem.

Wheelie had not survived for years under the Sharkticons for nothing.

To get him, they would have to be better, he thought.

Then suddenly, without warning, something appeared before him. It looked like a large, blue glowing sphere of energy that was coming out of thin air.

For a moment, he was too surprised and confused to move.

For a split second he was curious about the strange object. Then he remembered something in the back of his mind.

He had seen it on the monitors in the city. Exactly such energy spheres had also appeared in space, right before the Decepticon ships somehow jumped into their system. Some Autobots speculated that it where some kind of transwarp bubbles, part of a new teleportation system.

But it was too late too move.

In the next moment, the sphere disappeared and instead, three Decepticons were standing before him, three he had never seen before.

The one in the middle was large, very large, like Ultra Magnus. His entire armor was colored in a camouflaged green. His alt-mode was obviously a earth stile tank, the tracks were visible on his legs and several parts of his body resembled parts of a tank vehicle. His helmet, in opposite to the rest of his body, was completely white. On his shoulder was something mounted what looked like a large fusion gun.

His two companions were seekers, both of the same design as Starscream, the former air commander, before Cyclonus and Galvatron. One of them was mostly black, with some purple parts, the other was in a deep blue.

"I thought this area should be free of Autobots Skywarp?" The one in the middle, obviously the leader asked.

"It should be Megatron, but obviously we jumped at the time of a major battle. There are Autobots and Decepticons fighting all over the planet."

"Now good", the one called "Megatron" said. Without another word and before Wheelie had a chance to react, he aimed his fusion gun at the small Autobot and blew him apart.

"One good thing Megatron. According to the readings, we have actually arrived in the world we had attempted too. That the planet would be under attack, is something we couldn´t have known."

"Good, It may even be better this way, so we can enter this world unnoticed", he said. "Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ravage." With his words a small cassette glided out of a hidden component in his body and transformed into a metallic panther.

"We have arrived at our destination."

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Hundreds of seekers were now patrolling the sky over Cybertron, securing the planet for the Decepticons.

In some places a few remaining groups of Autobots were still holding up some isolated cases of resistance, senseless resistance for a great part.

Some just didn´t know when to stop, some however were trying to buy time for others.

So was the small group that was still defending the headquarter of the Autobot forces in Iacon. The base was under attack by a large number of Decepticons, that including Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and two of his Sweeps, Soundwave, Sixshot and the three seekers Ramjet, Dirge and Thrust.

These Decepticons were standing in a half circle in front of the base´s gates and exchanging fire with a handful Autobots and the automatic defense guns of the Autobots HQ.

A well placed shot from one of the Sweeps killed one of the guards, who was blocking the door. Cyclonus and Scourge took the automatic defenses out with their improved precision. It was over very quickly.

The Decepticons were now entering the most important Autobot base on Cybertron.

xxx

Inside the building the last Autobots present prepared their "departure". The base had direct access to the underground sewers of Cybertron. Twelve robots were standing at the entrance tube to the tunnels which the Autobots now used to go into the "underground", in the truest sense of the word.

"Are you ready to go Inferno?"

"Yes, from here we are able to reach an practically unknown part of the planet. The Decepticons won´t find us there for the longest time."

"Good, then go now."

The team of three robots was separating from the rest of the Autobots.

"What are you doing?", Inferno asked incredulous.

"We will cover your retreat", one of the three said to the shocked group.

"That is madness", Inferno shouted at them, "you will all get killed."

"You know as good as me that we can´t all escape. The Decepticons would follow us and wipe us all out or take us as prisoners. We have decided to stay on Cybertron to build a resistance movement, but that won´t happen if we don´t escape now."

"Camshaft…", one of the others tried to convince the determined Autobot.

"You know that as good as me and if we wait any longer we all will die anyway."

"I see, you have made your decision", Inferno finally gave in. "Come", he said to the rest.

As the other nine Autobots had escaped into the tunnels, the three took cover behind walls, consoles and machinery and waited for the Decepticons to come.

Their group had never been quite important. The most people don´t even seemed to remember them. But now the Omnibots would buy the rest of their comrades their escape.

xxx

Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and Sixshot were now walking into the heart of what had once been Autobot headquarters in the sector Iacon.

After less than a minute, as they had reached the control center, the first laser blasts were fired at them.

Galvatron didn´t bother in taking cover somewhere. The shots just glanced off his armor harmlessly without even leaving a mark.

He saw that is were three Autobots trying to make a stand against them. Hopeless, but he had to respect them for trying.

As far as he could tell, their alt-modes were earth sports cars, typical Autobot ground forces.

He aimed his particle cannon and shot straight through one of the monitoring-consoles, hitting the Autobot who was covering behind it. The robot was blown backwards, damaged.

Scourge had drawn his gun.

"Good, let us see what we can do together Fracas", he said to his transformed nebulon partner.

"You will see Scourge", the nebulon replied.

Both minds of the targetmaster worked together, the Transformer and the humanoid. That allowed them to aim and shoot faster than any regular Transformer could have.

The blast hit one of the Autobots, a silvery white robot, directly in the spark chamber and killed him in an instant. Cyclonus and Sixshot were taking the last of the group under heavy fire. He went down under the combined shots of the two Decepticons.

The robot Galvatron had shot, a grey and blue robot, was standing up again.

"I am truly impressed Autobot, it really takes something to stand against me and my elite like that", Galvatron commended him, "but of course you never had a chance."

He lifted his cannon and fired. The shot ripped completely through the Bot´s chest and he sank down, destroyed. He felt a grim satisfaction about killing the last Autobot and the triumph of victory.

As the robot fell, it was over.

They had won. After seven years they had retaken Cybertron.

"Cyclonus", Galvatron addressed his second in command, who was standing next to him, "we have finally made it", he announced, "Cybertron is ours."

xxxxxxx

Three months later

Two ships were meeting somewhere in deep space. Somewhere in unclaimed territories aside from earth and Cybertron, a place nobody was paying attention to.

One was the flagship of the Autobot forces, the other was an old dated long range transporter. They docked on each other and a group of Transformers were entering the second ship,

Optimus Prime, Hotrod, Kup and a number of others. With them was the human Spike as representative of his planet.

They were awaited by a group of robots they had never met before. The leader was a Autobot even larger than Optimus.

He was heavily armed and was looking extremely dangerous. The ones who were informed why this group had originally left Cybertron knew how ironical that was.

This robot, Fortress Maximus and his followers had fled their home-planet years ago in an attempt to escape the war and find peace.

They had landed on Nebulos, a to this time peaceful planet and tried to settle down there. But a number of Decepticons under the leadership of the sector commander Skorponok had followed their group

and the war came with them.

They attacked the Autobots also on this new world. Their conflict had spread over to Nebulos. The entire planet was thrown into war and chaos.

It had not only been the Transformers who had been fighting against each other. Different factions of the nebulon natives themselves, who had different ideas how to deal with the Transformers and the threat they represented and with their technology, were turning against each other.

The society and the people of Nebulos were breaking apart.

Behind Fortress Maximus stood a line of smaller Autobots, Highbrow, Brainstorm, Hardhead, Chromedome, Nightbeat, Hosehead and Siren.

Like the Decepticon group under Skorponok they had binary bonded themselves to the people of Nebulos. They were the Autobot headmasters.

"Optimus Prime", their leader greeted the newcomers, "I am Fortress Maximus. I am honored to meet you."

"So I am Fortress", the Autobot leader answered. "We have received your message and your offer for a meeting. As you told us you were one of the groups of Transformers that had left Cybertron during the war."

"We were probably the last of this groups. By the information you gave us, we started only a few years before you were reactivated on the planet called earth. At the time you had been missing for millions of years. We only knew about you and the ark crew from old stories. As you can imagine we were intrigued to hear that you had indeed survived.

For the blink of an eye, Optimus expression became hard. He thought about all the Autobots they had lost. He himself had once been dead and he had to thank his return to some of their worst enemies.

"Yes, we came back, but not all of us had made it to this point."

"I know Optimus. That was the reason we had left our world in the first place. We had hoped to leave the war behind us, but our problems had followed us. And so we have also created a completely new threat."

"What do you mean?" Optimus asked.

"Nebulons show yourself", Fortress Maximus ordered.

His group of followers transformed into vehicle form, while their heads separated in front of the shocked other Autobots and revealed humanoids who were wearing highly developed exo suits.

"Optimus Prime", Fortress Maximus said loud, "I want to officially request our return to the Autobot army. We have important information for you. You have a new enemy."

xxxxxxx

Galvatron was sitting on his throne in the command center of his new base on Cybertron. Next to him stood Cyclonus, Scourge, Skorponok and Soundwave.

Cyclonus and Scourge´s nebulon partners Nightstick and Fracas were standing a few meters aside from the Decepticons in their full exo suits.

Right now he was receiving reports from several officers about raids by isolated Autobot defense groups in a few of the less secured sectors of the planet. Only stings with a needle ultimately, but still worth dealing with it.

The regarding officers were standing in a long line before him. A seeker captain had just finished his report as the last one of them stepped for. This one was a dark blue Decepticon who transformed into a car.

Galvatron had chosen one of the former Autobot fortresses as their new headquarters. Like many others in their ranks, he would have rather resumed their old capital in the sector Polyhex, but their old headquarter there had been completely leveled during Unicron´s attack. Something else he owned the Chaos Bringer for.

During the time after Optimus Prime return, since he was freed from the insanity that had been influencing him after Unicron´s fall, the Decepticons had not been inactive.

They had developed new technologies, explored new regions of space, built up new colonies and outposts and planed and prepared.

The Decepticon empire was now far more powerful than it had ever been before.

"As I have told you Galvatron, we have so far not been able to detect any Autobot hide-outs in our sector, despite our efforts. Given the fact, we can only come to the conclusion that the Autobots are not operating from my territory."

"Interesting, so you suggest that we stop searching your sector and concentrate on the others?" Galvatron asked.

"It would be an waste of resources sir", the Decepticon answered. He looked convinced by his statement, at least at the outside.

"Yes, I guess you are right. You have after all already scouted the area several times", Galvatron told him with a side look at Soundwave. "Thank you for your good work Counterpunch. You can go now, all of you and find me the Autobots."

"We are making good progress Soundwave", he said as the line of Decepticons was gone.

"Indeed Galvatron."

xxxxxxx

Optimus Prime and Spike had been talking to both, Fortress Maximus and Galen, the nebulon leader who was bounded to him. They had been informed about the history of the planet Nebulos and the role the Transformers had played in it in the last years.

"I understand", Optimus finally said, "so that is the source of the Decepticon´s upgrades."

"Yes, we have found a way to literally merge a Transformer with a organic being. The problem is that the Decepticons had gone through the same process", Fortress Maximus told them. "You have to understand, on Nebulos we were separated from the rest of our kind. We had wanted to start new. Both us and the Decepticon group had somehow severed our ties to Cybertron. Our sub-groups became independent. We became dictators in our own right, if we wanted or not", he said cryptically.

"The binary bonding had we developed at first in an attempt of better understanding with the nebulons, an act of trust. When some people had recognized the potential for warfare it was already too late."

"Zarak had been the leader of a political group that saw a threat in all Transformers and wanted their technology to use for themselves. He and I were rivals in the government", Galen informed them. "He actually went as far to binary bond himself to Skorponok to get access to it and also for some illusion of control over the situation. The outcome was only that he got more and more corrupted. Zarak and Skorponok are now merely two halves of the same being."

"Like all of us are", Fortress Maximus said.

"Wars broke out", Galen continued, "first between the headmasters of both sides, then between Zarak´s faction of nebulons and the rest. Millions had died. Until we had decided to remove the cause of the conflict. We and the Decepticons had abandoned Nebulos."

"And now Zarak´s, Skorponok´s troops had rejoined Galvatron", Fortress Maximus pointed out.

"And this so called targetmasters we have seen?" Kup wanted to know.

"Obviously a variation of the same process. Instead of the head the nebulon takes te place of the gun."

"Can we replicate it?" Hotrod asked.

"Maybe, if you have data on the targetmasters. There are probably also other possible combinations", Fortress Maximus said. "We will try."

"Optimus?" Hotrod adressed the Autobot leader.

Optimus heard Hotrod´s voice. But there was also something else. In the moment the words of the younger Autobot reached him.

He thought he heard a voice, deep in his subconsciousness. A whisper in his mind.

"Core of Cybertron. Chosen one."

"Optimus", Hotrod said again.

The Autobot leader saw the expression of the younger robot. He knew.

"I have heard it too", he told him.

"Yes Hotrod, I know. We will find out about it."

xxxxxxx

Earth defense base on Mars

Through their contact with the Autobots, humanity had technically evolved far quicker than it normally would have been the case.

Humans, at least the ones of this universe, had already access to space-travel and relations to several alien species.

The force mostly responsible for the security of the human home world was the Earth Defense Command or short EDC. It was an international military organization, authorized with the defense of the planet and mostly active in space. The EDC had facilities all over the solar system.

One of their main bases of the EDC was the one on the planet Mars. From there they were monitoring the area of space for any sign of a potential threat.

"Sir, I think he have something here", one of the soldiers said.

"What is it?" Captain Green, the current commander of the base asked.

"Three objects, coming in very fast." The soldier put it on the monitor.

What appeared before them seemed like a anachronism. On the screen were a few old F-15 jets that for some reason flew in space. Everybody knew what that meant.

"Decepticons", Captain Green said.

The jet in front was mostly blue, the one behind him a mix of silver, red and other colors. In the background another one seemed to be black.

Green had been in charge of this base for two years. He had not much to do with the Transformers so far. He had however studied their history on earth. The picture before him reminded him of something.

"Impossible", he whispered.

"Start the jets. Contact Earth", he ordered loud.

In that moment they felt the ground under them shake and the lights went out.

xxx

The "objects" were the three elite seekers Skywarp, Starscream and Thundercracker, not seen together for many years.

As they approached the area of the base, they were met by six space capable jets and an armed shuttle. They were part of the forces of the EDC, highly developed fighting machines. Against three of the best Decepticon jets their chances were still not good.

Starscream avoided two shots and blasted the jet who had been targeting him apart. Thundercracker engaged a second one, shot one of his wings off and the jet spiraled down and exploded somewhere on the surface. Skywarp teleported directly behind two others and destroyed them before they had the chance to react. Then he fired one of his heat seeking missiles at the shuttle, that was already under fire from his two partners. The impact was too much for the already weakened hull of the ship and it exploded. It´s burning remains were falling down to the planet.

The last two jets broke formation and were trying to flee. But before they came far, they were destroyed by laser fire, coming from space.

A ship had entered the atmosphere and was helping the three seekers. It was descending upon the base. A half dozen robots with Decepticon emblem exited. They transformed and combined into a gestalt robot.

The giant landed directly on top of the base. He smashed easily through the roof, broke the walls apart and leveled the entire building in less than a minute.

Megatron had watched the "battle" from some distance. Not that it really deserved to be called this. It was more an one sided slaughter.

He was approached by the purple robot who was watching the fight with him.

"My men had scouted the entire area. No signs of Autobot activities or of other humans."

"Have your people jammed all possible transmissions?"

"Of course Megatron."

"Good, we can not risk some of them getting through or escaping and warning the others. Your men have proved to be quite effective. Good work Sideways."

xxx

The three seekers transformed and landed next to Megatron.

"Now, I hope you like our small demonstration Megatron", Starscream addressed him.

This wasn´t his Starscream, this was the one native in this universe, Megatron reminded himself. Not that he was much of an improvement.

"Killing of weaker enemies is nothing that particular impress me Starscream", he replied.

"Oh, I think I will find further chances to prove myself", the former Air Commander answered with a smile.

"My Starscream had betrayed me. I am here, he is not. You should remember that", Megatron pointed out.

"Megatron, you shouldn´t mistrust me because of my counterpart. As I told you, I took over after you were lost in battle and I wanted to continue the Decepticons in your sense. But then Galvatron took over and killed me.

However, like through a miracle, my spark somehow survived."

Megatron gripped the seeker by the throat.

"Oh yes? I was told that you were the one who threw my counterpart into space and that this was the reason he was changed into Galvatron in the first place. And I was also told that you were bargaining with Unicron, putting the whole planet Cybertron at risk for your own gain. Only to get your useless body back that Galvatron had originally easily destroyed."

"Megatron, you had been misinformed", Starscream choked out.

"Oh I think not. And now go and scout the area for some humans or Autobots left in this place."

He let go of the seeker.

"I thought Sideway´s troops had already scouted the area?" Thundercracker asked then Starscream was out of sight."

"What you not say?" Megatron said sarcastically. "I am sure he will find a way to spend his time."

"So what do you think of our new troops? he asked his two advisers.

"They are fishes", Skywarp pointed out.

Megatron looked at him.

"The Seacons were a special unit built for underwater use."

"They are still fish", Skywarp replied.

"It was an ideal alt-form for the work under the ocean. Of course our home planet and many others we work on doesn´t even have a ocean in the first place." Megatron smiled admitting.

"I guess that is the reason that guys never got that famous at all", Skywarp remarked.

"It doesn´t matter. They have a quite powerful combiner form. Only that is important. Our new ally had promised to provide us with new troops and he did."

"Yes, the Seacons, one combiner team of", he interrupted himself, "well of fishes. Then that small bunch of mercenary rogues and Starscream, an outcast and traitor to everyone", Skywarp continued.

"He has betrayed the Decepticons and threw your counterpart into space, he teamed up with the Autobots against Galvatron and then turned against them, he allied himself with Unicron and by his own admission, betrayed him too. Our Starscream was already untrustworthy, but this guy gives the Earth term snake in the grass a completely new meaning."

"I know, but it couldn´t be helped. We needed troops and we couldn´t be choosers. Starscream had to do, at least for now.

You know that the Decepticons of this world had just succeeded in retaking Cybertron. Our position is thinkable bad so.

In the times Galvatron had been completely insane I could have possibly just marched in and taken over, but now it is far more difficult. When I show up now, I will just be a stranger who happens to resemble their old leader. Aside from this, they have no reason to believe that I actually am who I seem to be. Don´t forget I am not their Megatron. In fact, I don´t even look like the Megatron they remember anymore."

"Neither does Galvatron", Skywarp pointed out.

"Yes, but he has at last all memories of the old Megatron. I don´t have any of his memories up to 25 years ago. Knowledge that he can use to prove his, our identity that I lack. Right now, next to him, I would look like a simple impostor who had just reconfigured himself to look like Megatron.

I need to prove myself. Something more than just to slaughter a few humans."

He looked at Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"What I need is a military victory, a overwhelming one. Then I can challenge Galvatron." He balled his fist.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Autobot city-robot Metroplex (secret location)

A collection of several Autobots, humans and nebulons were sitting in a conference room inside of Metroplex. The large hall was equipped with chairs and tables in both human and in transformer size.

On a monitor before them a confrontation between the two gestalts Menasor and Defensor was displayed.

xxx

The giants were standing in the middle of a human town. In the background behind them two groups of Transformers, Autobots and Sweeps, pointing their guns at each other.

Then suddenly someone started shooting. It was not even possible anymore to say who. The recon satellite had missed that little detail. They didn´t even knew if it was a Decepticon or an Autobot who had started the firefight.

Maybe it was even good so. They really didn´t need blaming the guild on anyone right now.

The monitor showed what then happened. Both the Autobots and the Sweeps started shooting at each other. Missed shots hit the town´s buildings and send several houses into fire. The humans who had not already left the area since the moment the Transformers had appeared, were now fleeing in panic.

Menasor raised his energon sword to attack Defensor, but he only hit one of the multi-storied building and ripped it´s walls down.

xxx

The display stopped at this moment and Ultra Magnus stepped before the monitor.

"What you have seen here is a recording of a events that had happened three months ago. As it had become clear later, this fight had obviously only been an diversion from the invasion of Cybertron at the same time. The Stunticons and Sweeps had only been sent to occupy the Autobots on Earth and keep them from assisting our troops on our home-planet.

But as you can see the situation in Los Angeles had escalated and ended in a direct fight. The final estimation was that 23 people had been killed and 14 injured", Magnus said, looking at Spike and a group of human army officers.

"It was a tragedy that even more humans had to die in the crossfire of our war", he told them.

The monitor switched and showed images of Decepticon ships over the cybertronian sky.

"For the attack on Cybertron they used a new form of star-ship engine that made it possible for them to jump directly behind our planetary defenses", Magnus explained. "Our intelligence department had found out that this new development is called the transwarp engine. As we know now, this device makes it possible to transport matter from one point in space-time to the other in an instant, a far higher developed and more efficient method than simple teleportation like we know it for example from the Decepticon Skywarp.

And as we believe, the time is a variable in this system. With other words, the transwarp engine makes time-travel of entire star-ships, entire fleets, possible", Ultra Magnus told the shocked audience. "To our luck not even Galvatron seemed to dare to manipulate history in that matter", he remarked.

"It is even possible that there are also other uses possible that neither we or the Decepticons have found out yet. Our scientists are right now trying to find out all we can about this new form of transport system.

As you all know", he continued, "we have moved Metroplex to a secret location. We have chosen him as our base for the preparations for the coming war. One of the main reason for this decision is this.

The monitor switched again, now showing the dinosaur form of the Decepticon city Trypticon.

"Trypticon had been part of the force that took over the planet. Actually he was, beside the transwarp engine, one of the two reasons we have lost Cybertron so easily. Ironically it had been Galvatron himself who brought this to our attention. As a Decepticon construction Trypticon is able to move through air and space, while Metroplex is permanently stuck on Earth. If the Decepticons decide to use Trypticon on another planet or in space we have no single robot who could fight evenly with him. We would need a large force to take only on this single fighter."

"Moment", someone, Shureshot, he recognized, interrupted him, "are you telling me that the Decepticons had the whole time such an absolute advantage over us? If that was the case why have they not used it against us years earlier?"

"The answer to that is quite simple", Magnus replied. "The city robots are some of the most powerful known Transformers, but they are also the most energy consuming. Neither we or the Decepticons had ever enough energon available to keep one active over a longer time. If the Decepticons had ever managed to gather enough to include Trypticon into a major attack, they would have overrun Cybertron a long time ago."

"It is obvious that the Decepticons must have found new sources of energon during the time of the armistice", Optimus stated.

"And completely new technologies", Ultra Magnus added. "Shortly after the fall of Cybertron we moved Metroplex to a secret location. From here we are preparing a strike to take back Cybertron. We are currently analyzing the new technologies of the Decepticons and are finding ways to counter them." That was the end of his résumé.

"Optimus, Fortress", he invited the two.

Ultra Magnus had just given the audience a summary of the situation and now the Autobot- and the Headmaster leader would now explain the new developments they had made. Or in other words, he had told them the problem and they the solution.

Both Prime and Fortress Maximus stepped for.

"what we can tell you so far is that we have succeeded in copying the Decepticon´s targetmaster process", Optimus told them.

The Autobots Hotrod, Kup, Blurr, Pointblack, Shureshot and Crosshairs, accompanied by six nebulons in exo-suits, entered the room.

"As you can see, we have created our own targetmasters", Fortress Maximus announced. "Our twelve volunteers, Autobots and nebulons have successful undergone the process. Nebulons transform", he called out.

At his order, the six mechanized humanoids transformed and became the weapons of the six Autobots.

"Beside that", Optimus Prime announced, "had Metroplex volunteered to undergo some upgrades on his body, so that he will be a help for our campaign."

"Does that mean Metroplex will be able to fly?" Spike asked.

"Let us say Spike, I will be able to go to another planet if I have to", a voice said that came from everywhere around them.

"Metroplex, I see you are listening too", Optimus replied.

"I am Optimus and I hope I will be a help."

"There is something else you should know about", Fortress Maximus said.

Behind him appeared again something else on the screen. It were blue prints. The ones who had some knowledge on the matter recognized them. It were the plans for a new city robot, one they had never seen before.

"Even as we had still been on Nebulos", Fortress Maximus announced, "Zarak and Skorponok had in secret developed plans to rebuild themselves into a new form. He had made plans to use the headmaster technology to merge himself with his own base. To become a super headmaster in the size of a city. We have found out about his plans and also to this we have developed counter-measures."

"What counter-measures?" A human general named Black asked them.

"I will become our own version of this new form of headmaster", Fortress Maximus answered.

xxx

The conference was over. While they were walking out of the room, the nebulon leader Galen was in a conversation with the human ambassador Spike and his wife Carly.

"That was an interesting meeting", Spike said. "With your help the Autobots could probably find a way to push the Decepticos back again."

"Let us hope so", Galen replied.

"I find it interesting that your people had agreed to bond yourselves to machines like that", Carly remarked. "You know the Autobots are some of our best friends. But connecting my mind directly to one of them. I don´t know if I could do that."

He looked at her with sad eyes.

"Carly, it is not as if we had much of a choice. You should know, the same war that your world had become involved with had completely escalated on mine. Our society was breaking apart.

The reason that so many of us are willing to bond themselves to a Transformer is to get some sort of control back. Nebulos is what Earth could have become if thing there had went a little different."

xxx

Optimus Prime and Hotrod were standing in the Autobot leaders quarters. Now that the official meeting was over, they still had to talk about something in private.

"I find it interesting that you had volunteered to become a targetmaster Hotrod", Optimus said to him.

"It seemed like a good idea. Something told me that the process could be important in the future."

"I understand."

"Optimus, may I introduce you to Firebolt. He is my new partner."

His weapon transformed back into his humanoid form.

"Optimus Prime. It is a honor to meet you."

"That goes for both of us Firebolt", the Autobot leader replied.

"Hotrod, the reason I wanted to talk to you…"

"...Is the core of Cybertron right?" The younger Autobot asked him.

"Yes", Optimus answered, "since a week now we both are hearing this voice and sometimes then I recharge, I have visions. The message is always the same", he said.

"Bring the chosen one to the core of Cybertron."

"The chosen one", Hotrod murmured.

"That was you by the last stand, the Autobot who unlocked the Matrix and used it to stop Unicron. But the term could also be used for every other Matrix bearer who is able to use it´s power. I for example have used it to cure the hate plaque."

"But it´s power had emptied", Hotrod said.

At his words, Optimus opened his chest compartment, the place where the Matrix was being held.

"Not anymore", he said. "I think this is the source of the voice we are hearing."

Inside the empty shell was a small glow visible, a little blue blue spark that has returned.

"It has started to regrow."

"Yes", Optimus replied, "since the moment I took it back into my chest."

"So the Matrix is returning", Hotrod said, "it is knowledge and wisdom and power and it regrows then it is connected to a living being."

"You are right, but maybe it is not regrowing fast enough. I have been thinking. If that voice is a warning about something that is coming, the Matrix will not be ready."

"So you think?"

"I think we should send an expedition to the core of Cybertron", Optimus said, "and I think one of us should lead it."

"The only problem here is that the attack on the Decepticons will begin soon and we will need every man."

"I know, but the Matrix would not contact us for no reason. There has to be a something, something very important. If another threat is in the waiting, something like the hate plaque, we have to act. I think we have to send someone."

"You want to tell Kup and Ultra Magnus that you are starting a mission because the two of us are hearing voices? Good luck, you will never live that down."

"I know, but I have to." Optimus was smiling behind his battle mask. "In a few days, we will send a forward mission to Cybertron, to make contact with the Autobot resistance and prepare the main attack. During that mission you will have the chance to separate from us with one or two others and reach Vector Sigma. From there you will have access to the core."

"That could mean that you will have to begin the main attack without us", Hotrod said.

"I know, but I am confident that you will be back in time. For now, you have your mission and I have mine."

xxxxxxx

The former Decepticon Air Commander Starscream was swimming in a large glass tube and was under the supervision of several other Decepticons. They were scanning and examining him and doing scientific research on his special condition, the fact that he wasn´t dead despite that he had been burned to ashes by Galvatron.

Next to him, outside of the tube stood stood Megatron, beside him the purple robot named Sideways and the seekers Thundercracker and Skywarp.

They were on board of the ship that belonged to Megatron´s small faction of Decepticons.

The tube finally opened, water splashed out and Starscream stepped outside.

"And have you finally found out what is so interesting about me Megatron?"

Megatron looked at Thundercracker, who was standing at the console.

"According to this data. Starscream´s spark was somehow changed, mutated. For the lack of better words, it was somehow fixed in his current state. It was made more stable, so that it stays intact even if his body is destroyed."

"Oh how good to know. I would have never guessed", Starscream said sarcastically.

"Shut up Starscream", Megatron replied. "Do we know how something like this could have happened?" He asked.

This time it was Sideways who answered as he checked the data.

"We don´t know how, but I think with some more time, we could replicate the process. Imagine Megatron, a army of immortal warriors. If one of us dies, all we would need is to rebuild the body."

"An intriguing prospect, you are right, but I need warriors now and not soon. Have you found more fighters we could use?"

"I have", the robot replied, "but I am not sure if you will like it."

"And why?"

Outside the room stood the ones they already had recruited. Aside from, Starscream and the last Decepticons from his world, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Ravage.

The Seacons, a combiner team with fish alt-mode and a small band of mercenary Decepticons under Sideways command. Doomsday, a large Decepticon who transformed into a tank, Eraser, a grey robot with a gun mode, a seeker named Flashlight and a sports car named Tracer.

"Come with me outside", Sideways said. Megatron followed him.

Outside the building stood a group of robots who were all wearing the Decepticon insignia, waiting. They all looked identical. Large wings and metallic beards.

Their armor was in a deep black instead of the usual blue, but Megatron recognized them easily.

"Sweeps", he said full of disdain.

"I have told you", Sideways said.

"This creatures have destroyed my entire world", Megatron told him angrily.

"They are not what you think they are Megatron. They are mindless drones, cannon fodder that you can use in battle. And except for their leader, none of them has a mind of it´s own or is even truly alive. They are under no control of Galvatron and are not loyal to him", Sideways assured him. "They are loyal to everyone we want them to follow." He grinned

One of the Sweeps stepped for, the leader Megatron assumed.

"Why should I trust him?" He asked Sideways.

"Carnage her, like we call him now, had originally been created as one of Galvatron´s Sweeps, that much is true. But his leader had left him behind to die at one of the battlefields. Believe me, he had no love or loyalty left for Galvatron. Why don´t you tell him yourself", he addressed the Sweep.

"It had been six years ago", he said...

xxx

Cyclonus and the Sweeps had finally found Galvatron, lying in a see of molten plasma, on the planet Thrull, a volcanic piece of stone at the edge of known space. The Decepticon leader had been missing since Unicron´s attack on Cybertron. For nearly a year, he must have flown through space and finally landed here.

But as they had dragged him out of the glowing liquid, he was not longer the same. He hit Cyclonus in the face only moments later, as his second in command had told him that they were searching for him. Then he started shooting at the Sweeps until they finally managed to calm him down. As they were leaving, Galvatron turned around, transformed into his cannon mode and fired at the core of the planet. Under Galvatron´s full fire-power, Thrull´s core destabilized and the entire planet exploded. That was the beginning of Galvatron´s reign as a madman.

Only hours later Galvatron started a attack at one of the earth defense platforms, an armed space station in orbit of the human home-world. From the planet Thrull, they had flown directly to earth, without even bother to check on the other Decepticons. At the moment they were in reach, they opened fire on the human construct. Galvatron, Cyclonus and the Sweeps were taking the station apart, piece by piece. Destroying the defense guns, ripping holes into the hull, causing entire sections to explode, until the entire space station went up in flames, killing nearly the entire crew.

But that was not enough for Galvatron. Two Autobots, Blurr and Wheelie had been on board. They managed to escape with a small shuttle and Galvatron was determined to hunt them through the entire star system.

He blew their shuttle up with a single shot, but they had survived.

The Decepticons had finally chased the two bots into the orbit of the planet Jupiter. Through a lucky shot, one of them hit the navigation system of one of the Sweeps and the unlucky clone was falling into the deadly atmosphere of the gas giant.

"Galvatron help me", he screamed from the distance.

But the Decepticon leader was not able to care about anything but the battle.

"Please meet you end with dignity", he called out and something that the falling Sweep could not longer understand.

Then he turned around and continued firing at the Autobots...

xxx

"But I had luck", the Sweep ended his explanation. "I had landed on a small meteoroid, circling the planet. That was the place Sideways and his group had found me. Galvatron had left me behind. I am glad about a chance to get back at him."

"We have repaired him and changed him into this appearance", Sideways stated.

"He was willing to create for us a group of drone warriors. As you possible know, the Sweeps had originally been created from Insecticons. Their ability to copy themselves had been overtaken into their new forms and even improved.

The Insecticons had worked for years to create actually sentient clones of themselves.

But for the Sweeps it is completely normal. All of their copies are intelligent. They were an unlimited army of replicating clones. But despite this their basic ability to create mindless drones is still intact", Sideways explained. "The Sweeps simply don´t bother to use it. But now, Carnage here can do it for us and you know, we have good use for it."

"Now good", Megatron replied, "I will accept them, at least for now."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron, under Decepticon control

Skorponok was standing a the side of a large working ground. Here was the place where his now body was created. Under the oversight of the Constructicons, several dozen Decepticons were here working to reconstruct Zarak´s flagship to his specifications.

A space jet landed next to him and transformed.

"Ah Cyclonus", he greeted the newcomer. "As you see, Galvatron had agreed to my new plan. Soon, I will be a completely new form of being."

"I see Skorponok and as long as it is for the best of the Decepticons I agree too. Scrapper, Hook", he addressed the two foremen of the construction side. "How long will it take until Skorponok´s new form is ready?"

"We will be finished in circa six days", Scrapper answered.

"The last systems we have integrated are also ready", Hook told him.

"I understand", Cyclonus replied. He nodded to both of them. It was all going according to plan.

"You hear it, soon we will end this war once and for all", Skorponok announced.

"Yes", Cyclonus answered.

xxxxxxx

In another part of the galaxy. On the planet known as New Quintessa.

The planet was not the original home-world of the Quinteson race, neither had actually been the planet that was called Quintessa, that they themselves had blown up once simply to keep the Autobots from taking it over.

and for a chance to get rid of the Autobot leadership and the creation Matrix.

A species that was willing to destroy their own home-world to get rid of their enemies, so they had calculated, would be feared everywhere in the galaxy.

But in truth it had not been their true home-world in the first place. Quintessa, like New Quintessa were simply planets the Quintessons were currently occupying.

The true home-world of their race had been lost for so long that none of the other species knew were they actually came from anymore. Even the most of their own people didn´t knew their exact heritage.

They were a half organic species, a race of cyborgs. Grotesque looking, tentacled beings with oval bodies and over-sized, robotic faces on them.

Beside the Quintessons themselves, their worlds were occupied by large armies of robotic slaves, primitive Transformers who had been subjugated to the Quintesson´s will for countless millennia.

The leading cast were the so called judges. This sub-group had five faces that were placed in a line around their bodies.

In the large court hall, the place where the judges sentenced their prisoners, that meant where they put them on trial and executed them no matter the outcome, four of them were discussing the developments of their latest plans.

"As our ally had requested, we have send a few of our new created fighters to Megatron", one of them said.

"We could have used the units here ourselves", another remarked.

"We had no choice. It was part of the plan."

"That way or another", a third judge said, "our new army will be ready in time."

He activated a monitor that showed the place outside the building. It was filled with long line of hundreds over hundreds of black Sweeps.

xxxxxxx

A small ship was flying somewhere between the star systems of Chaar, the old Decepticon base-world and Cybertron. On board was a single, very large mechanoid, the pilot and owner of the ship.

He was neither a Transformer, nor could he definitely be identified as belonging to any known race.

His stature was humanoid, two arms and two legs, his face, that was silvery white, was dominated by his two large eyes, red with black irises and his over-sized jaw that ended in two large spikes at either side of his head, that looked like fangs from the distance. Beside that, he had red horns at the sides of his skull.

Over his metal body, he was wearing a green vest and a red cape. He was carrying a large arsenal of weapons. His right hand was removable and could be replaced with a weapon of his choice. All in all, he was one of the most eccentric robot designs ever known, but also one of the most effective ones.

"So you expect me to get between an Autobot attack on Cybertron, that the Decepticons currently control, locate the target during the battle, finish it without any of the two sides interfering and get away undetected?" He asked. "No problem. That means if you pay right of course."

"You will see that the halve of the amount we offered is already transferred. The other will follow as soon as the task is done."

"I see, Death Head will take care of your little problem, yes."

Death Head, as he called himself, was one of the most feared and dangerous mercenaries and bounty hunters of the galaxy.

He however didn´t like this terms very much and called himself a freelancer, someone who took every job in his compartment for the right sum of money.

And just now he had gotten an interesting offer.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Skylinx was flying over a group of islands of the pacific ocean. On board were three Autobots, Optimus Prime, the newly upgraded targetmasters Hotrod and Kup and their new nebulon partners.

Skylinx was slowly lowering his flight and finally landed on one of the islands.

"You want to talk to him alone Prime?" Kup asked

"Yes, I have to", the Autobot leader answered.

"Good, as you want. We will stay with the other Dinobots while you talk", Kup told him.

The three Bots left Skylinx behind on the beach. He would wait here till they were back.

"I will pick you up later", he said to them, while they were about to enter the jungle that was covering this island. The Dinobots, they knew, would be further inside the countryside.

After the fall of Cybertron they had separated from the other Autobots and retreated to this place. Hotrod and Kup had come with him, but with their leader Grimlock, he would talk alone.

Of all the Autobots, this two were possible the closest to the Dinobots.

Grimlock and his team always liked the old veteran and the young warrior, while their relationship with Optimus and his ark team was for the most part strained. Something that, like Optimus had to admit, he had to a great part himself to thank for.

As they had crash landed on the planet Quintessa some years back, before the destruction of the planet, they had been working closely together for some time and the Dinobots had saved Hotrod´s and Kup´s life´s.

Later, under Rodimus Prime the Dinobots had been respected warriors, even if nobody would have put them in any responsible position or trusted them with an complicated task.

Under Optimus leadership on the other hand the Dinobots had been mostly separated from the other Autobots.

By the time they were first activated on earth they were immense strong fighters, but had barely any control over their abilities.

The Dinobots were one of the most powerful Autobot teams in existence. They alone could hold themselves against an entire Decepticon strike force, could take them head on and even win. Power, direct brute force, that was the way of the Dinobots.

There was no way to deny it, Optimus thought. The other Autobots in the ark had feared them secretly. Unconsciously, without even wanting, but deep down they did.

The Dinobots were warriors by design, like the Decepticons and many Autobots couldn´t help but instinctively distrusting them.

It didn´t help that they just happened to accidentally destroy machines and equipment at random while moving through headquarters.

All that led to the fact that the Dinobots were kept in their own quarters in the ark for the most time. The Dinobots were seen as immense powerful, but unstable, unpredictable and potentially dangerous. They were only used in battle then it was necessary and had very few contact with the other Autobots outside of their missions.

That of course made them often feel as if they were only tools for him, to be used and discarded. He had to admit they had a point here. If it was on purpose or not, for too long they had truly been treated that way. Once Megatron had even succeeded in turning them fully against him. He could fix that by saving Grimlock´s life back then. But in the long run nothing about the situation changed and there staid a gap between them and the other Autobots.

Until Rodimus Prime. For some reason the newer arrived Autobots on earth didn´t seemed to have the same reservations with them like his original ark crew. Maybe they were more used to the presence of unusual units.

Needless to say that the Dinobots were under the few Autobots who weren´t all to happy about his return to leadership.

He knew Grimlock blamed him in part for the loss of their home planet and Optimus wasn´t sure if he was completely wrong here. He was often thinking what he could have done differently, but he didn´t find something.

They saw the Dinobots were sparring at a large clearing in the forest. Slag and Snarl were just involved in a mock fight with each other while the rest of their team was watching.

"Autobots", Sludge noticed them and announced the newcomers.

"Optimus Prime, Kup and Rodimus, I see", Grimlock greeted them. Like some Autobots, he still used Hotrod´s prime title.

"We have to talk", Optimus said to him.

"That's right", Grimlock replied.

He led Optimus away, while Hotrod, Kup and their partners were waiting with the other Dinobots.

"And", Hotrod asked them, "how are you guys?"

"Very good since we came here", Snarl replied.

xxxxxxx

Autobot-city, Earth

Metroplex had returned to the Autobot main base on Earth. He was now standing in robot form next to the city.

Soon they would start to their mission to Cybertron.

A large number of troops had already arrived and were about to enter either his transformed body or the shuttles that were ready to depart. Their attempted retake of their home-world was close by, but first they would send a smaller group in to made contact with the Autobot resistance still on Cybertron and organize an coordinated attack.

Their main force however would wait in space during that first strike and wait for the signal to get active.

Metroplex now transformed into his city mode, that was now able to fly and the different Autobot groups were boarding him.

A few miles from them, on the hills at the edge of a forest, someone was watching. Ravage was observing the Autobots progress. The metallic panther was hiding out of side and taking records for his superiors.

As he had finally collected enough data, he retreated back into safe territory and there he was waiting. It was nearly at the agreed time.

After a few minutes Skywarp appeared. He approached in his jet form, transformed and landed next to him.

"Do you have the information Ravage?" The seeker asked.

At this question Ravage growled as a signal of conformation. He transformed into his cassette mode and placed himself in Skywarp´s cockpit.

With Ravage on board, he transformed to a jet again and flew upwards into the sky.

xxxxxxx

"You say you and the Autobots go to retake Cybertron", Grimlock stated, "and want us Dinobots to come with you."

"Yes, I know Grimlock, you and your team wanted to be for yourself, but we need every bot", Optimus told him.

"Me know, we Dinobots go, fight for you, risk lives and when all is over everybody says, you Optimus Prime, you great leader, led us to victory."

"Grimlock…", Optimus started, but he didn´t came to say something.

"No, you listen to me now. It´s always like this. Dinobots go, fight for you. When over, everybody say you are so great, but nobody thanks us.

We fight for you Autobots, we achieve victory, then you take credit. While we are send to our quarters when fight is over. Had been so years ago, is so now."

"You are right Grimlock. We, I have never thanked you properly for all the things you have done for us", Optimus explained to him. Grimlock´s words hurt, especially since he knew were was a lot of truth in them.

"But we are just fighting for our home-world", Optimus told Grimlock, "maybe about the course of the entire war. We could lose everything. There is no time or point to discuss this now."

"There never was. That's problem", he replied.

"I know, I promise we will discuss this later."

"You promise. With Rodimus, it had not been like that. Dinobots were treated like all other Autobots, were part of team. All Autobots say, Optimus is so great, is good to have him back. But for us Dinobots, Rodimus is better leader.

Everybody says you Optimus Prime are greatest leader Autobots ever had, but me Grimlock knows better. You were only winning on earth because we Dinobots saved you again and again. Autobots were always with back to wall until we Dinobots came and saved your butt and then everybody acts as if you won battle", the Dinobot leader threw at him.

"Truth is you were great because others did fighting for you.

Everybody says you are better leader than Rodimus, older, wiser, greater. If that so, why under Rodimus leadership we are winning and under you we are losing?"

Optimus was taken aback for a moment. He didn´t knew that Grimlock´s dissatisfaction went so deep. But again, he couldn´t say that the Dinobot was wrong.

Too many things under his leadership were simply been credited to him while it were in fact others who achieved them. The Dinobots, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Mirage, Prowl, Skyfire, Hound and even humans like Spike and Chip Chase won battles, came up with ideas and plans and did many important things for the Autobots, often more than he did.

Their successes on earth had been a team effort. But somehow all the stories were making it in the retrospective look as if he had been doing it all alone.

"We couldn´t have known that the Decepticons would improve like that in the last years." That was a sad truth. Nobody could have predicted this. They had tried to keep an eye on them during the time of the truce. But nobody could have even guessed that they would come up with developments like that."

"We will help you", Grimlock told him, "to retake Cybertron. Will do our work like before. But from then on, Dinobots will be on themselves, not longer under your command. Dinobots are their own now", he said.

He would lose a team, Optimus realized, he couldn´t change it. The Autobots were free individuals. What was holding them together was not force, but the believe in their cause. If someone honestly made the decision to leave the army he had no right to stop them. They wouldn´t be the first Autobots to go. Others had made this choice before, to escape the war. Fortress Maximus and his followers were only one of this groups.

But this time it was ultimately nothing then his leadership that caused them to leave. This hurt, he admitted to himself.

But despite this their group leader had still agreed to fight for him, one last time.

"Thank you Grimlock", Optimus said.

xxxxxxx

The Decepticons Megatron, Starscream and Sideways were standing on the surface of the moon. Their ship had landed a short distance behind them.

They were waiting.

After a few minutes they saw Skywarp approaching, flying back from earth were he was receiving Ravage. He landed right before them. The panther swept out of his cockpit, still in his cassette mode and into Megatron´s hand.

"Ah, you are back", their leader greeted the two.

They were entering the ship.

xxxxxxx

Outlands of Cybertron

A group of several Autobots had gathered in one of the long forgotten underground chambers of the sector.

They were the core unit of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron. Some of them were veterans who had already served directly under Optimus or Rodimus Prime, others were just reserve troops and had never met either Autobot leader in person.

But all of them had the same aim, preparing to strike back against the Decepticons.

The nominated leaders of the group were the triple changer Springer, Inferno and Smokescreen. They were discussing the details of the coming attacks and the planned contact with the Autobot forces from earth.

"Someone is coming", Smokescreen informed the others, "the sensors have detected a object approaching."

Five Autobots pointed their weapons at the entrance.

A few moments later a figure stepped inside. As they recognized him, the Autobots dropped their weapons.

"I see it is you", Springer stated.

"Who else did you expect?" Counterpunch asked him with light sarcasm.

"A Decepticon strike force maybe?", the green triple changer replied.

"No, it is only me." He transformed and changed his form to a similar looking, orange colored robot with Autobot insignia.

"Welcome back Punch", Springer greeted him.

Punch or Counterpunch as he was called was actually a deep cover agent of the Autobots who had been planted into the Decepticon lines vorns ago. Now he was working as a spy for their resistance group.

"So everything is working according to plan?" Inferno wanted to know.

"It is", Punch replied, "I have brought them off your trail and send them to search in another sector. And by what I know, the Autobots on earth are ready."

"They are", Springer told him, "our attack will start soon."

Outside, the robot bird Laserbeak was waiting and recording. What nobody had realized, he had been following Counterpunch for some time now. He had been monitoring him, leaving his post, going to this supposedly empty sector and entering the underground tunnels.

It was enough for him. He flew off and returned to his master.

Several miles away, he landed on the arms of the Decepticon officer Soundwave who was accompanied by three Sweeps and Ravage, who was standing to his feet.

It was the Ravage native to this world, not the one who came with the other Megatron.

"Laserbeak, report", Soundwave said in his monotone voice.

At his command the bird transformed and slided into Soundwave´s cassette port. He played the recording and absorbed the data Laserbeak had collected.

Nobody notice the small spy drone, that was flying a few hundred meters over them and was now returning to the one who had send it.

"Nice, the Decepticons should better look out who is watching them, while they are watching others", the bounty hunter Death head said quietly to himself.

"Soon my target will come to me."

xxxxxxx

Earth-moon, Decepticon ship

The picture of Metroplex and the mobilizing Autobot forces appeared on the monitor before them.

"And you want to attack that?" Starscream commented. "I wish you good luck."

"You are a fool Starscream, in this world like in the other", Megatron replied. "The main force of the Autobots will soon leave and then start their planned campaign against the Decepticons on Cybertron. That will be our chance. The most Autobots will be involved in their struggle with Galvatron´s forces and we will be ready to make our move.

Autobot city", he said. "Irony that the place of the final battle of the other Megatron will be the beginning of my victory."

"You plan to attack Autobot city?" Skywarp asked him.

"Yes, it is the perfect location. Whatever the Autobots are doing on Cybertron, they will be getting their resources from there. By destroying their supply base on earth we can dry their offensive out."

"It had been exactly the same battle in which the other Megatron had met his final fate", Sideways reminded him, "and then someone decided that it was a good idea to throw him into space", he said with a side-glance to Starscream. "He had probably the same thoughts as you before he started the attack."

"In opposite to the other Megatron, I have made precautions", he replied.

He looked to the group of Sweep drones that were standing next to them. Their number had grown to eight by now, replicated from scratch. Mindless puppets, all except one of them.

xxx

Megatron remembered back in his world.

His troops and the Unicronians were fighting. They were firing at each other at a short distance, finding cover behind rubble. He was still in his old form, silvery white with a gun alt-mode. They were standing against five Sweeps. He was heavily damaged.

Next to him Ramjet´s head exploded after a direct hit and what was left was only a burning lump of metal.

Megatron aimed his fusion gun and fired at one of the Sweeps. The shot ripped through his upper body and destroyed him.

But three others were now concentrating their fire on him. He felt it as his arms and legs and his body were hit and destroyed piece by piece, until he fell down.

xxx

Back in the present.

"It is ideal", he told the others, "if we destroy Autobot city, the Autobots will have nothing to return to on Earth.

If Galvatron´s troops defeat the Autobots on Cybertron, the Decepticons hold on the planet will be more safe when ever before. Without their earth resources the Autobots can not hope to reconquer Cybertron and that will be thanks to us.

The half victory will go to us and I can face Galvatron evenly.

Should his forces lose, we will at least keep the Autobots from taking over the planet completely. Galvatron will have lost and I will be the one who had saved Cybertron.

That way or the other, I will win in either case", Megatron announced.

xxxxxxx

Finally Metroplex was starting. During his recent upgrades, his city-mode had been equipped with space flight engines that made it possible for him to travel to other planets.

Now he was slowly lifting up the ground. Next to him Skylinx, Omega Supreme and three other shuttles were starting.

Soon the would met with their new city robot who was being build at another secret construction place out side of earth.

Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus were standing inside of Metroplex control center.

"Our troops have started Prime", Magnus informed him. "It begins."

"Yes it does", Optimus said.

xxxxxxx

The `Decepticon´ Counterpunch had returned to the sector base he was commanding, a small side post in an relative unimportant sector.

As always when he returned to the Decepticons, the same feelings overcame him. He couldn´t help it. It was as if something in his thinking changed, parts of his mind shifted. His feelings, his behavior his outside personality. It just overcame him to match the place he was in.

After typing in the access code, he entered the building through the front gate.

The room before him was dark and he couldn´t see anyone. He wondered what was going on.

As he had made a few steps inside he was grabbed from behind and held by several hands.

"Welcome back "Counterpunch", someone said to him.

He recognized the voice, it was Galvatron.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

"Are you sure?" Galvatron asked incredulous.

"Affirmative", Soundwave answered in his for him typical manner, as he scanned the Autobot spy who was tied before him on a metallic cot. "I sense two different personality programs in this robot. One Autobot and one Decepticon in heritage."

He explained this to the audience, consisting of Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, Skorponok and Mindwipe, one of his headmasters.

A few hours ago, they had captured the Autobot plant Counterpunch, who was now lying in stasis mode before them, being examined.

"What purpose does this serves?" Skorponok/Zarak asked curious.

He had actually other matters to attend to. His new super body was as good as finished. But the capture of this spy was a key factor in the coming battle and as one of the Decepticon´s force commanders he should be here.

"Depth infiltration", Soundwave answered, "the secondary personality can be used as a camouflage, as a mental disguise. The Autobot plant can live under Decepticons for years without raising suspicion. Even telepaths can be misled", he stated.

"I understand", Zarak said uneasy. He was all too much reminded of his own secret plans that he hoped would not be found out.

Mindwipe began to scan the robot. Like Soundwave, he was a very skilled telepath. Unlike him however he saw and treated his gift more like a mystic power instead of a scientific instrument.

"I see into his mind", Mindwipe announced, "I see two beings, one is continuously in control."

His mental systems were manipulated in a way that the Autobot is always able to control the Decepticon and using him for his purpose", Soundwave clarified.

"Who of the Autobots would do something like that?" Cyclonus asked.

"Neither Optimus or Rodimus, but I have known a few Autobot sector commanders, who were willing to do things that none of the Primes would ever have approved of", Galvatron said.

"I see", Cyclonus replied grimly.

Mental manipulation was something that was often used in the Great War, but never to this extend, as far as they remembered about.

The reprogramming of warriors on both sides was something that had happened several times. But in comparison to this, the process had been civilized and merciful.

The old personality had been erased and a new one installed, not much different from killing an enemy.

Of course after the first few centuries of war, both sides abandoned very quickly every last restrains they might have left. Even the usually peaceful natured Autobots did many things they were not exactly proud of.

But this was an abomination, even by Decepticon standards, one sentient mind chained and enslaved to another and both even sharing the same spark, being two parts of the same being.

Whoever invented this was either a sick genius or didn´t knew exactly what he was doing.

"Suggestion, it should be possible to change the pattern of the mental manipulation, reverse the effect to put the Decepticon in control", Soundwave offered.

They listened to his explanations. It was obvious where his line of thinking was leading to. A trap, change the infiltration programming and turn the infiltrator against his own side.

"You suggest that we use this spy to lead the Autobots into an ambush?" Cyclonus stated. It was clear by his tone that he didn´t like the idea the slightest bit.

"Possible alternative, erase of the Autobot personality", Soundwave added. "Risk of destroying both personalities."

Galvatron had to admit to himself, that even he felt actually very uneasy about this, even more than the others. It reminded him all to much at his time under Unicron. At the outside of course he showed no emotion.

He remembered that Megatron in some cases had reprogrammed warriors, when they had military value. In his current incarnation however, he never even considered this method, even if it had brought an advantage.

Back when he was insane he remembered that he even shot an officer once who had suggested a plan to capture Autobots and reprogram them as cannon fodder.

The very idea of reprogramming warriors was a sore spot of all the Unicron created Decepticons. He looked at Cyclonus, then at Scourge and even the three other Sweeps, he knew that they were thinking exactly the same thing.

However, he was the Decepticon leader, he was making the decisions that would get them to win the war, no matter any moral questions, the few he had anyway after millions of years of fighting. He usually never hesitated, so why did he have such a aversion for this?

He had no problems eradicating entire armies, depopulating entire worlds if he had to, he planned to crush his enemies and wipe them out. So why did this leave such a bad taste? It was foolish.

"I personally truly despise the idea of using a system like this", Cyclonus pointed out. "There are some things that just should be banned. But as I see it this is too good of a chance for us."

And after that what Unicron did to us, I would really hate it to use similar methods. That was the sentence he wasn´t speaking out loud.

Ah Cyclonus, Galvatron thought always mentioning things that are not going right, always speaking out what others around were thinking. The things that Galvatron as the leader could not do. That was part of Cyclonus job. Right now he was speaking for the unicronians in the room.

Soundwave´s plan however seemed to be promising. Not matter what he personally thought of it.

And here was the problem, why did he had so many doubts about it anyway? Normally he wouldn´t hesitate about doing what was right for the Decepticon cause.

He knew, Megatron wouldn´t have thought twice about going through with what Soundwave suggested.

But that was the point, he told himself. He was no longer Megatron, but also not really someone else.

Galvatron knew, the great distaste he felt for this plan came from his unicronian heritage. Being manipulated and forced into service, the loss of his old identity, becoming someone else in body and mind. He remembered Unicron´s mental torture, the voice in his head giving him orders. Being told that his existence didn´t belong to himself anymore.

It was ironic, he didn´t have a problem with slaughtering thousands of enemies, devastating cities, even causing global destruction, but mental manipulation, no.

Had he not been an unicronian himself, he would have probably already blessed Soundwave´s idea and only laughed at the doubts Cyclonus and the others had. But so he could only understand him all too well.

However, Soundwave´s plan was good. He would not miss this opportunity just because he allowed his experience with Unicron to somehow get to him.

The decision was obvious from the beginning.

"To be honest, I hate the idea of using methods like that as much as you Cyclonus", Galvatron said to him, "but you oversee one important detail. It was not us who had changed this robot into a living puppet and for the work of some renegade Autobot we are not responsible."

He turned to Soundwave.

"Do it", Galvatron told him.

xxxxxxx

The fleet of Autobots was just leaving the Earth star system. They were about to meet with Fortress Maximus group in space. Like Skorponok´s, their battleship had been rebuilt into a new, city sized robot body.

This had been a direct response to Zarak´s plan that the Autobots had found out about. They didn´t even knew for sure if he had succeeded yet.

If he had, this could be the only way to fight the Decepticons evenly now, if not it may be the key to victory.

"We are coming in reach to the Autobot fleet", the Headmaster Brainstorm, who was connected with the nebulon Arcana, was reporting to Fortress Maximus.

"Good, give me a connection to Optimus Prime."

The face of the Autobot leader appeared on a screen at the console before him.

"Fortress", Prime greeted him, "I see that your team is ready."

"Yes Optimus, our rebuilding´s on the ship are finished. We are joining you in the battle for Cybertron."

The new ship took formation with the rest of the fleet and together they continued their course for the Transformers home-world.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

Zarak and Galvatron were in triumph.

They two were standing before a large city-base where the Constructicons were just finishing the last workings. Their new super robot was finished, in combination with Trypticon, it was the ultimate advantage against the Autobots.

Skorponok´s body was in his scorpion mode, with Zarak´s small, humanoid form standing on top of it.

Behind them, assembled in a half circle, were Cyclonus, Scourge, four of the Sweeps and three of Skorponok´s headmasters, Mindwipe and the so called Horrorcons Apeface and Snapdragon, two triple changers with a dragon and a jet alt-mode.

The Constructicons had just finished the last part of their work and were now standing in line before their leader.

"We are ready", Scrapper reported.

"Good", Galvatron announced. "It seems that your new self is ready Zarak", he said to the small nebulon standing next to him.

"Yes Galvatron, I have been waiting a long time."

With this words Zarak, in his exo suit, transformed and became the head of the Decepticon Skorponok.

He on the other side, now in his robot mode, transformed again. Parallel to this, the entire city before the changed and remodeled itself, became the form of an even larger robot.

Skorponok formed the head of this new robot mode and finally merged with it through the headmaster process. After a few moments a new super robot was towering over them, rivaling Trypticon and Metroplex in size.

It was still Skorponok, in a far larger and unlimitedly more powerful version of himself.

The new super robot looked down at the Decepticons beneath him.

"Are your systems working properly Skorponok?" Galvatron asked him.

"Yes Galvatron", the super robot answered. In his new form, his voice was slightly deeper and far more menacing.

"Now I am ready to claim Nebulos once again and rebuild it to the new rule I had planned." Zarak spoke out of the robot´s body.

"And to join it with the Decepticon empire I hope?" Galvatron pointed out.

The Decepticon Skorponok and the nebulon leader were one in mind. Over the last years their aims and ambitions had merged.

"Yes indeed. We will be one empire, under one rule, under one leader", he said with a gleam in his eyes.

The city robot raised his arm, ready to strike out, at Galvatron.

Cyclonus and the Sweeps realized that Zarak´s troops had suddenly drawn their guns at them.

The nebulons had always anticipated that it would come to this, Skorponok against Galvatron. There was only one question, which side to take. For Zarak´s headmaster troops the answer was clear. Their Decepticons were loyal to their group leader Skorponok before the Decepticon leader and the nebulons belonged to Zarak´s closest followers.

With the other nebulons it was different. Nightstick and Fracas had never been fanatically loyal to Zarak´s ideology. They had simply been soldiers who had been recruited into his troops to fight in the nebulon civil war and later they had volunteered for the targetmaster process. To that came that they were connected to Galvatron´s lieutenants and their loyalty to their leader had began to affect them.

"Nightstick?"

"Fracas?" The two nebulons looked at each other and said only this two words.

After a short moment of hesitation both transformed into their gun modes and flew into the hands of Cyclonus and Scourge. They had made their decision.

Despite being taken by surprise Galvatron´s followers went into a defensive stance in an instant. But it was clear that they didn´t have a real chance with the super robot against them.

"Farewell Galvatron", Skorponok said.

He was aiming his weapons at the Decepticon leader and was at the same time ready to strike out at him.

But in the moment his hand lashed out his movement suddenly stopped in it´s tracks. Skorponok´s super form stood frozen in place.

"What?" Skorponok called out, full of surprise.

"Ah, as I see all your systems are working properly", Galvatron informed him. The Decepticon leader was smiling.

"What have you done to me? I can not move", Skorponok, who was still stuck in his posture, exclaimed.

"Have you really thought I would let you control this city robot without some, let us say, security measures?" Galvatron asked him. "As they had built your new super form my Constructicons placed some sub-routines into your core systems. And just in case you should decide to try to attack me, Cyclonus or Scourge, they will command your systems to completely shut down", Galvatron told him mockingly.

"But I thought, you said", Skorponok stammered.

"Oh you mean what I said about messing with the minds of other warriors? You see the programmings the Constructicons have placed only effect your new city form. Hardware that we have built", Galvatron pointed out. "Your own body and your mind are still yours, but your extended body belongs to the Decepticons. You have only to separate and transform and you will be free again.

By the way, have you not just tried to kill me with the new body that we have built for you? You are hardly in any position to complain."

Skorponok transformed back into his smaller form and landed before Galvatron.

"Galvatron…", he was trying to say something.

Before he could bring out another word, Galvatron was pointing his weapon at him.

"What were you saying Skorponok that you were trying to kill me the first chance you got? Yes, I have realized that."

Cyclonus and the Sweeps had now reacted and had drawn their guns at the headmasters, who were without the city robot on their side hopelessly outnumbered and chance-less.

"In fact, I would have been surprised if you hadn´t tried this sooner or later", the Decepticon leader told him and then he lowered his gun.

"We have now to prepare for the arrival of the Autobots. They should be here in a short time. By the way Zarak, should you think about trying to remove the programing. The Constructicons have made sure that this is impossible without completely disabling your new body. And believe me, they know what they are doing.

Now let us wait for our Autobot guests", Galvatron announced, now that this small take-over attempt was over, he thought.

xxxxxxx

The Autobot ships were appearing over Cybertron´s sky.

For now, the ships were not much more than a diversion. Before the actual invasion a smaller group of Bots would land and create a contact with the resistance forces on the planet.

The main purpose of the fleet was here to keep the defense forces of the Decepticons distracted.

Meanwhile, Skylinx, with a number of Autobots on board, was trying to land undetected at a remote sector of the planet.

xxx

In space over the planet, several Decepticon ships were about to engage the Autobots.

Hundreds of larger and smaller objects were filling the sky over Cybertron, battle ships, shuttles and seekers. So many that it was nearly impossible to keep track of all of them, exactly as they had planned.

Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps were flying next to Galvatron´s flagship. They knew of course that this battle was only a distraction.

"We are going Scourge", Cyclonus said to him. "Remember, only a few short fights. There is no reason to waste energy. The real battle is happening down on Cybertron."

"I know Cyclonus", he answered.

xxx

The Autobot shuttle Skylinx had landed on the surface of the planet.

As it looked, they had managed to make it down without being noticed by anybody. On board were the Autobots Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, the targetmasters Hotrod, Kup, Blurr and Pointblank, Goldbug, Arcee and Hound.

"Good Prime, we have made it here", Kup pointed out. "Where now is our contact?"

"He should be here soon", Optimus replied.

"Optimus, one vehicle is coming here very fast. This should be our man", Hotrod informed him.

A half minute later, a earth style car arrived before them and transformed into a blue robot with Decepticon insignia.

Some of the Autobots had their guns drawn at him, only to be sure.

"Are you our secret agent?" Optimus asked him.

"Yes, my name is Punch. Currently I am called Counterpunch, that is my Decepticon identity."

"I understand. By my information, you have volunteered for a deep cover infiltration mission."

"That is correct Prime. I have a permanent Decepticon form as alt-mode, I am practically one of them", Counterpunch told them.

"Come, I will bring you now to the others", he said with a gleam in his eyes.

xxxxxxx

In a few miles distance, on a higher level of the sector, Soundwave was standing in front of a large group of Decepticons.

They all were waiting for the right moment to get active.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

The strike group of Autobots was on their way to meet with the resistance forces on Cybertron.

While in orbit above them a space battle was going on, a battle that had only the sense to secure their safe landing.

Now they were following the "double agent" Counterpunch, who was playing an important role in the planned retake of the planet, to the arranged meeting point.

The former Autobot leader Hotrod, Rodimus Prime was walking next to Optimus, followed closely by Ultra Magnus.

"So Optimus, when do we start to our special mission?" Hotrod asked.

"Soon, but I don´t want to start this before we have at least met up with the resistance forces."

"You are right, we should not divide our forces before we have seen the others. But we should still do it as fast as possible. I would like to be back when the main battle starts."

"Your team can go as soon as we have found them", the Autobot leader told Hotrod.

"Can you really miss two leading officers for now Optimus?" Ultra Magnus asked Optimus.

"With the resistance leaders here and Fortress Maximus in charge of the fleet it will work and as you said, with some luck you will be back before the real battle starts", he answered.

They had reached the resistance base, actually a forgotten line of buildings in a similar forgotten sector of Cybertron. The greatest part of the complex was underground and ideal for a hideout.

As they came closer, the Autobots who had been taken cover inside the buildings and behind broken walls and rubble that was filling the area, were recognizing them and coming out.

"Springer", Hotrod greeted the green triple changer as he saw him coming out, "it is good to see you."

"Hotrod, Optimus, Ultra Magnus welcome in our base, if you actually want to call it that", he replied humorously.

"I see you have not changed Springer", Optimus Prime commented. "Inferno", he greeted the other leader of the resistance group. "Can we talk somewhere in private? We have much to discuss."

xxxxxxx

In orbit over the planet

The Autobot ships had drawn the defense fleet of the Decepticons into a few short shoot-outs, without any real damage on either side. It had only been an diversion, but for the purposes of the Autobots this had already been enough.

Their forces were now starting to leave the star system. In a few days they would be back for the real attack.

Cyclonus, who was flying as a interstellar jet over the battlefield was contacting his leader.

"The Autobots are retreating mighty Galvatron", he informed him.

"Yes they did, exactly as they had planned right? Too bet for them we knew about their plans from the beginning. Let us hope that Soundwave have success with his mission", Galvatron replied.

xxxxxxx

The Decepticon force led by Soundwave was getting in position. By now they had surrounded the enemy base and were ready to attack.

The Autobots double agent, now their double agent had led them directly to their stronghold.

Soundwave had seen with satisfaction that not only Optimus Prime was here, but also Ultra Magnus, Hotrod and even Kup. Nearly the entire leadership of the Autobots was in this sector, ready to be wiped out. His plan had worked better when he could have imagined.

He was just sending a message to inform Galvatron.

Their strike force consisted of ground troops, seekers and triple changers and they had the Terrorcons with them, one of the most powerful combiner teams. They were strong enough to destroy every Autobot down there.

But when Galvatron heard who was here, he would possibly want to lead the attack himself. So they waited a bit longer.

Soon the Autobots would be completely encircled and then it would be too late for them even if they did notice their presence.

xxx

Death Head was watching both the Autobot forces that had assembled in their base and the Decepticon forces that had surrounded them.

Following the Decepticons had been quite easy. If everything would be working right and he would make sure that it did, he would soon be able to catch his target by itself.

Now he was overseeing the area from a relatively secure position.

Death Head was a warrior in his own right and one of the best in the galaxy. In opposite to the Autobots and the Decepticons however he didn´t believe in a ideological cause.

What he believed in was money, a material reward for what he was doing.

But that didn´t mean that he wasn´t enjoying a challenge when he got one, like so many other warriors.

And this mission definitely was one, picking out a single target in the middle of a battlefield and eliminating it and then getting away.

Yes, the challenge was definitely one of the reasons that he had agreed to this mission, next to the money of course.

But somehow the Decepticons didn´t seem to attack right now. He didn´t knew what they were waiting for.

Whatever it was, it wasn´t in his favor.

With every second he spend here the risk to be detected became greater.

And even for him reaching his target in this situation was impossible. Down there were two entire armies. What he needed was the chaos of a battle.

"Yes, I guess I need to speed things up a bit", Death Head murmured.

He took out a hand-sized missile launcher, aimed at a place close to the Autobot base and fired.

xxx

The shot hit a few meters from one of the most offside standing Autobots. They reacted instantly and draw their guns.

"We are under attack", a red Bot called out.

A number of more Autobots run out of the buildings and getting ready to fight.

xxx

For a moment, Soundwave couldn´t believe what he was seeing.

Who in the world had fired that shot? This was too early to strike and now the Autobots were warned.

It had all become much more difficult now, but they didn´t have a choice.

"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzaw, Ratbat, eject", Soundwave ordered his cassettes.

The smaller robots flew out of his chest compartment and transformed into their animal or robot modes.

"Look at this", Rumble said to his twin Frenzy, pointing at the Autobots who were preparing to fight.

Next to them stood two triple changers named Talon and Ripper. Both could transform into four legged dragons, looking like something from human legends. While Talon was mostly red and grey colored and had a jet as his second alt-mode, Ripper was grey and black was transforming into a sports car beside his dragon mode.

Another Decepticon with them was Fang, a large green, brutish robot. He was actually not much more than a thug, recruited into the army. Soundwave had met him a few times in the past.

To that came a few squads of seekers and dozens of ground troops whose names he didn´t recognized. It should be enough troops to beat the Autobots, even if they were not all in position yet.

"Decepticons attack", Soundwave gave the command.

Like the Autobots, the Decepticons came out of their hiding places and both sides started firing at each other.

xxx

From his own hiding place, the bounty hunter was still watching the battle.

"Ah, I see they are bringing it on now", Death Head said to himself.

xxxxxxx

Autobot city earth

After the fleet had left, the number of the forces around Autobot city was drastically reduced. Only the original garrison of the base had remained.

That however, combined with the defense weapons, should have been more than enough to fight off an Decepticon attack.

Under normal circumstances. But that was this time not the case.

To activate the defense weapons, the city needed to transform into fortress mode first and that only worked if they saw the enemies coming. What of course nobody thought of was the possibility of attackers appearing right before the city gates.

Like the times before, a transwarp sphere was appearing out of nowhere, this time right next to the walls of Autobot city. As the energy globe had vanished, twenty Decepticons were standing directly before the base.

Megatron the Decepticon leader from a alternate reality and his three elite seekers, Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp, the mysterious renegade leader Sideways, who had been providing Megatron with information´s and warriors since his arrival in this universe, his followers Doomsday, Flashlight and Eraser, the Seacons and a half dozen black Sweeps.

The group of Decepticons had materialized only a short distance in front of the city, without the slightest chance for the Autobots to prepare their defenses.

Within seconds they were ready to attack.

"Fire", Megatron yelled. At his order, they began their assault.

A blast from his fusion cannon ripped a large part out of the outer walls. The fire of the other Decepticons also caused a great damage in only a few moments.

"Attack", Megatron called out in the direction of the seekers.

Skywarp, Thundercracker and Flashlight transformed into jets and attacked their enemies from above.

Snap Trap, the leader of the Seacons, gave the order "merge" and the combiner team formed the super robot Piranhacon. Like Devastator seven years before, the gestalt was tearing into the city and causing destruction and chaos.

Some of the Autobots were too shocked to even react at first. From the beginning they were in the defensive against the sudden onslaught from the Decepticons.

xxx

Starscream was still standing beside Megatron.

"I have to say, I am somewhat impressed "Megatron", we have actually arrived in one piece", he said, as always mockingly.

Starscream spoke out his name with a wrong pronouncing, as if to point out that he was not really the old Decepticon leader, not the one from this world anyway. Megatron realized this, but decided to ignore it. Starscream, no matter which version, making side comments was so natural as water on a organic planet.

"I have told you that our transwarp engine will bring us safe before the city", Megatron reminded him in a patient tone. "We may not be able to transport entire battle ships like Galvatron does it, but it is enough for place to place transports. And it was enough to reach your universe", he added.

"If you want to call this piece of junk a transwarp engine", Starscream replied even more sarcastically.

At that comment, Megatron was about to lose his patience. But before he had the chance to say anything else, the seeker was transforming into his jet mode and joined the attack.

Starscream couldn´t help but be reminded of his last battle over Autobot city. It was the same situation all over again. Decepticon jets in the sky, attacking ground forces, the Autobots defending their base.

The time of his final betrayal of Megatron. But it was also the prelude to his, Starscream´s, downfall. He had abandoned Megatron in space, sure that he would die from his wounds and lack of fuel. But he reemerged as Galvatron and he himself was the one to die. Galvatron killed him, burned his body down to ashes. He could still remember the moments of pain.

It was only because of the mysterious anomaly that allowed him somehow to continue to exist. Somehow, as a phantom, a ghost.

He had found out that he was able to possess and take over other Decepticons in that state and he tried to use this to his advantage and failed once again. Finally he made the decision to get his body back, at any cost. He reactivated Unicron, whose blown off head was still floating in space close to Cybertron at that time, unconscious and inactive.

Starscream made an alliance with the chaos bringer. In exchange for restoring Starscream´s body, he would help Unicron take over the planet Cybertron, which Unicron would reform into a new vessel for himself. The chaos bringer held up his part of the deal, while Starscream betrayed and turned his back on him in the moment Unicron had brought him back to life.

He remembered the alliance with Unicron and the terrible price he had to pay for it. Starscream was a outcast, a traitor to both sides. He had betrayed everyone, the Decepticons, the Autobots, the humans, the galaxy, even Unicron. Nobody in this universe would be willing to trust him anymore. Ironically his new partners were not from this universe.

Under him the battle continued. Robots and human personal were running all over the place. Seven years ago there were no human forces in Autobot city. This was one of the differences to Megatron´s last attack, Starscream noticed somehow in the back of his mind.

He saw three of the human security guards running beneath him, two men and a woman.

Yes, he noticed every difference from the last battle, no matter how small, Starscream said to himself. Maybe it would this time not end like the last.

He took aim and gunned the three people down.

xxx

Jazz, the current commander of Autobot city and the Autobots Blaster and Beachcomber were starring at a monitor in the command center of the base.

Somehow a group of Decepticons had suddenly appeared right next to the city and were now attacking it mercilessly.

The three Bots didn´t know how their enemies had done this. They had heard of course about the new transport system that the Decepticons had used to take over Cybertron. Maybe this had something to do with it.

But that wasn´t what truly unsettled them.

They could only stare at they screen before them. It showed the place outside of the city and the leader of the current attack.

"Megatron", Jazz said with a flat voice.

"That is impossible", Blaster called out. "Megatron is gone. He was reformed into Galvatron years ago."

"And Skywarp and Thundercracker, both are under the attackers", Beachcomber said.

"Or just seekers who look like them, at this distance we have no way to identify them for sure. At least Starscream is somewhat explainable, we already knew that old Screamer was back", Blaster replied, using the nickname Skywarp had once given to Starscream.

"This could be a fake a impostor", Beachcomber said.

They looked at the large green figure, very different from the Megatron they remembered.

"A impostor would try to look exactly like the old Megatron, not like a remoduled version", Jazz commented.

"We can not be sure."

"No we can not. But whoever, whatever this is, Optimus needs to be informed, now."

"You are joking right? Optimus Prime should be on Cybertron right now, deep in Decepticon territory. There is no way that we could reach him over our channels", Blaster stated.

Jazz spend a few seconds thinking about the situation.

"Then send it over the open channel", he decided.

"What? But then the Decepticons will hear it too."

"That doesn´t matter. If they are behind this we wouldn´t tell them something new and if this is a new threat from the outside I don´t see what harm it could make if they are informed about it."

"If you think so."

"Yes, send the signal directly to Cybertron and tell Prime that we need reinforcements."

Blaster transformed into his tape recorder mode, connected himself with the computer console and started to send out the distress signal together with the information who was leading this attack.

Déjà vu, he thought as he was trying to reach Optimus.

xxxxxxx

Orbit over Cybertron

Galvatron was sitting inside of Cyclonus space jet form. Both were on their way back to Cybertron to lead the fight against the Autobot troops on the planet.

To say that Galvatron was disappointed would be an understatement.

Soundwave had just informed them that someone, who exactly was unknown had opened fire and started the battle too early, before they were ready and now the Autobots there had a good chance of escaping.

All three, Optimus, Hotrod, Rodimus and Ultra Magnus were with them, even the security officer Kup were there. With taking out this four, they could practically end the war. But exactly this officers would also have the best chance to lead the Autobots out of there. He could practically feel the victory slipping out of his fingers.

"Galvatron, I am receiving a signal. It is not decoded", Cyclonus told him. "By this information, it seems to come from Autobot city, earth.

That is impossible", he suddenly called out, "Galvatron this data it…", he stammered.

It was a, for him, completely uncharacteristic behaviour.

"Show me", Galvatron asked his second calmly.

On a small screen inside Cyclonus cockpit appeared a picture, the same as the Autobots had seen a short time earlier.

Galvatron felt as if the reality around him began to blurr, as if he was looking into a distorted mirror.

"Megatron", he finally said the name.

xxx

On the planet, the Autobots had broken into several smaller groups and tried to escape separately. They knew that they had been found and were for the moment outnumbered.

Optimus Prime was leading a small group of Bots out of the ambush, as he received the message.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

Canion-city on the planet Scarvix

The planet Scarvix had once been the home-world of an organic species that had an civilization in the early industrial age. Over the time of the last centuries however, it turned into a galactic trading center for the members of a large number of worlds.

Space travelers of various races had found the natural resources of the planet and settled on it. By now it had become a harbor for traders, settlers, refugees and criminals from all over the known galaxy.

And while the native species had still a large number and was wide spread in known space, they were outnumbered by the newcomers on their home-world.

Even the planet itself had changed. Some parts were still the natural landscape of this world, others had been completely reformed by the alien settlers. Giant towns were spanning over the surface. Some areas were completely covered by metal and glass, more like a metal planet as Cybertron than an originally completely organic world.

The appearance of this world reflected like nothing else the diversity of it´s inhabitants.

Scarvix had one of the largest and well known space harbors in the galaxy.

It had the greatest concentration of different species living together in the known universe and also one of the highest criminal rates in the galaxy. It was for example the adopted home-world of the bounty hunter named Death Head.

And it was also the place of the most renowned mental asylum in the galaxy.

Originally it had only been the second most renowned after the one on the planet Torculon. That institution had a 100% healing rate. But, like it later came out, this "great" successes only came because the natives were feeding the living core of their planet with the minds of the patients they didn´t manage to cure. The core of Torculon was in fact a dangerous live form that was living from the mental energies of it´s victims. And the natives who were running the sanatorium found this a convenient way to dispose of the patients where they had failed. The planet was actually a giant death trap. You got only out of it either healed or without a mind at all.

That was until a ill faded attempt by Cyclonus and the Sweeps to cure the Decepticon leader Galvatron from his insanity. As none of their treatments had helped, the therapists had tried to let the planet consume his mind. That attempt backfired. Then the insane Decepticon got freed, he killed the planet´s core and devastated the greatest part of the surface. Torculon was for all aspects dead. Not that anybody felt bad about this after the truth about this world became known.

Since the destruction of the planet the asylum in Scarvix city was the absolute top facility of that kind in known space. Ironically this events actually helped it´s reputation in some twisted way.

Before Torculon, a asylum was in the eyes of the universe a simple clinic for mentally sick lifeforms. But afterwards it was a sinister place where dangerous creatures were lurking in the dark and where mad scientists would feed you to monsters.

Torculon had been the last planet that had been destroyed during the Autobot-Decepticon war, right after Paradron that the Autobots had blown up to keep their enemies from using it´s energon resources.

And it was a planet nobody was missing, at least after the truth came out.

There was actually a large number of creatures in the galaxy who thought that the crazed Decepticon leader and his second in command were in fact "really cool" or whatever else their native cultures would call it, for destroying that place.

Torculon was seen as a example how ruthless manipulators were using the trust of unknowing creatures to lure them in and get them killed.

And Galvatron, who had single handily devastated one of the most devious death traps in the universe, was seen as a symbol of rebellion and individualism and he and Cyclonus became popular heroes on some worlds. How far this ideas were justified was of course another question.

A large interstellar business company named Ha´bros had actually started to produce articles with the Decepticon symbol or Galvatron´s conterfile. Very popular under humanoid species were t-shirts with the Decepticon or Autobot logo.

Fan-clubs of Galvatron, Cyclonus and later even more of the Autobot leaders Optimus and Rodimus Prime, after the cure of the galaxy wide "hate plaque", had been spreading on several worlds. There was even an underground fan movement of the former Decepticon air commander Starscream.

Many Transformers of both sides were seen by the galaxy as heroes, even if their ongoing civil war filled the people more with uneasiness.

The planet Scarvix was a assembling place for everything, tourists, settlers, interstellar mercenaries like Death Head and criminals. Despite or maybe even because it´s dubious reputation, it was one of the cultural centers of known space.

xxx

Now a fleet of ten Quintesson space cruisers was entering the star system. They were flying a direct attack, something that was unusual for their forces. Normally they would prefer to manipulate other species into waging war against each other so that they could profit from it or to subjugate primitive lifeforms to exploit them. They were the perfect example of this "ruthless manipulators" the galaxy hated so much.

This time however they attacked directly, this time they had a special target.

As the Quintesson ships were closing up to the planet, their air locks opened and hundreds of black Sweeps were swarming out, ready to destroy everything in their way.

A defense fleet consisting of a several space ships of different size and form and a large number of fighter jets was started from the surface to engage the attackers. It were five battle-cruisers of the regular military of the planet, assisted by sixty space jets, two ships of two different mercenary groups who had been stationed on the planet and two others who belonged to private owners who were trying to defend their world. The defending forces of Scarvix were as diverted as the planet itself. But none of them had a chance against the Quintessons, a race even older than the Transformers and an army of Sweep clones. They were quickly overwhelmed. The native forces were both technically inferior and by far outnumbered.

Despite being mindless drones this variant of the Sweeps had the same strength and powers as Galvatron´s Decepticon warriors. They were easily shooting the jets down while their enemies could barely manage to damage them. Fifteen of them were destroyed alone in the first half minute of the battle. Two Quintesson cruisers concentrated their fire on one of the Scarvix ships that exploded after one salve. Then they concentrated on the next, that was as easily destroyed.

A third ship fired it´s main guns at two Sweeps in their spacecraft modes, who exploded in a burst of shrapnel, but a dozen more of them transformed into robot mode and attacked it from all sides. The blasts burned quickly through the outer shell of the ship and the crew, organic beings, were exposed to the vacuum. A few moments later the attack of the Sweeps had crippled the systems of the ship that was now hanging dead in space.

Many of the Sweeps had already gotten behind the defense line and were attacking the surface. The citizens were fleeing in panic as the drone warriors descended down on their cities and destroyed everything in their wake.

xxx

In one of the many bars on the planet Scarvix, a large number of customers of different races, organics and mechanoids, were spending their time.

Two of them were the reptilian alien Slizardo and his current partner, a skuxxoid bounty hunter. Both were sitting at a table in the background of the bar and discussing some of their last business deals.

Slizardo talked to his friend in his, for humans not understandable, language.

"Yes, I you say it", the skuxxoid answered, "Galvatron may be a chronically dissatisfied maniac, but at least he pays well and he actually holds his promises. What was again the name of this other Cybertronian you used to work with?" He asked.

As answer Slizardo gave him a line of high pitched noises.

"Oh yes, Devcon", he replied. "Have heard he had just let you behind somewhere in space, abandoned you after the job was over."

This was followed by another rubble of noises by the his partner.

"Yes, it is no wonder that the Autobots didn´t wanted anything to do with him anymore."

In that moment another creature came running in, a cyborg creature with a large number of mechanical implants on his body.

"The Quintessons, the Quintessons are attacking", he screamed.

The sound of explosions and blaster fire was to hear outside.

"Quintessons", someone else called out

"Why in the world should they attack here?"

"I don´t know", the first man yelled, "but they are attacking the town and they have an entire army of Transformers with them."

A few of the guests were running out to see what was going on for themselves.

What the found was the sight of Quintesson ships in the sky over the planet that were fighting with the last of the native forces that were left and squads of Sweeps, attacking the town.

They saw how two of the Quintesson cruisers were targeting another of the defending ships, that exploded in a ball of fire.

The Sweeps were firing at the building that were going up in flames, people were fleeing in panic over the streets.

Seeing this, Slizardo shouted another few lines of high pitched sounds.

"You say it", the skuxxoid answered him.

xxx

From one of the Quintesson ships, a small glider with one judge and two Sharkticons on board flew down to the planet, followed by a group of four black Sweeps.

They landed in Canion-city, directly in front of the infamous asylum.

"Go inside, find our target and bring it in", the judge ordered.

A group of guards, mostly organics and a few robots tried to fight them off. They were killed in a matter of seconds.

xxxxxxx

Orbit over the planet

The defense fleet was mostly destroyed. Only a few of them were left and were now fleeing. The most were ashamed to simply leave their home-planet to the invaders, but they knew it was their only chance of survival.

xxx

The glider was returning from the surface, with the judge and his two Sharkticon guards on board and that what they came for, safely secured in a large box. They landed on board of the flagship where a second judge greeted them.

"Do you have what we were looking for?" he asked.

"Of course we have", the first one answered.

"Good", the second said, "order all Black Sweeps to return from the planet."

They waited a minute to leave their drone troops enough time to retreat from the surface.

"We can not leave any trails. Nobody must be allowed to know what we have done", the second judge said.

"I agree", the first one replied.

"To all ships, get ready to fire, target Canion-city", the second judge ordered.

A few moments later all ten Quintesson ships activated their main guns and shot at a single point at the planet. The capital of Scarvix ended in a giant fire storm. Buildings, streets and entire districts were disintegrated, the space port was directly hit and replaced with a large glowing crater, millions of inhabitants were destroyed in only a few moments.

"Our mission was a success", one of the judges exclaimed. "We are finished here."

The attack-fleet retreated out of the system. What they left behind was a disaster area in the size of an entire planet.

Nobody knew at this time that this would only be the first battle of a much larger war.

xxxxxxx

Planet Cybertron, at the same time

A small group of Autobots was hiding in a vast corridor between the abandoned buildings of the sector. At the sudden Decepticon attack, their troops had separated into several smaller groups and were now trying to get into save locations and reorganize their forces.

The group around Optimus consisted of himself, Springer, Smokescreen, Skyfire, the scout Outback and the double-agent Counterpunch.

Their entire plan to retake Cybertron from the Decepticons was greatly endangered.

Not only had the Decepticon strike force attacked them to the worst possible moment, it had also turned out that another group of Cons was attacking Autobot city while the most of their warriors were here on Cybertron.

And there was something else, something that was nearly unbelievable, the identity of the leader of the attack on earth.

Optimus was right now watching a recording of a old enemy, standing in the middle of Autobot city and shooting at Autobot troops, the same Decepticon who was essentially gone for seven years.

"Megatron", Optimus murmured.

"We know that Megatron is Galvatron, recreated by Unicron", Springer said.

"Are we sure?" Smokescreen asked everyone. "Have we ever been really sure?"

Smokescreen´s statement was planting doubt in a few of them, but the truth was,

,"it doesn´t matter", Optimus said. "Whoever this is, they are attacking Autobot city and by Blasters report they have completely surprised them and our troops are loosing."

It only took a few micro-seconds for the others to let this sink in.

"We could loose Autobot city", Springer realized.

"And without our resources from earth, we would have no chance to retake Cybertron", Smokescreen concluded.

"Autobots", Optimus announced, "our people on earth are in grave danger and we are in threat of losing our supply base. All our plans are in question now. We have no choice, we must delay our offensive here and return to earth. We have to safe our fellow Autobots and our base or everything will be lost."

The others looked at him in shock for a few moments.

"You are right", Springer admitted.

"Skyfire", Optimus addressed him, "can you bring me back to the fleet? I know it will be difficult to get through the Decepticon lines and be a great risk, but we have to do it."

"I will try Optimus", the large shuttle Transformers answered.

He was a scientist, who had only reluctantly joined the fighting. Before the war, he had been one of the best friends of Starscream. Like Skyfire, the former air commander had once been a scientist and explorer.

Millions of years ago, as the two were together on a journey to scout new areas of space, Skyfire had been lost and only rediscovered a relatively short time ago.

He had suddenly been confronted with the war and was thrown in an era that was not his own. Back then he had been confused an insecure. As he had realized in that terrible way his old friend Starscream had changed, he finally decided to join the Autobots.

As Galvatron had called out the truce, he had been happy that he could leave the army and go back to his old profession. As the invasion on Cybertron happened however, he was one of the Autobots trapped on-planet and joined the resistance. Like before he didn´t like to fight but did it because he thought it was the right thing.

"If you want to go, you will have to leave quickly", Springer told them. "The Decepticons were close behind us and they will find us soon."

"Correction", they heard Soundwave´s voice, "the Decepticons are already there."

The Autobots looked upwards. They saw that on the buildings above them stood a large number of robots.

The communication officer and his followers opened fire.

xxx

Another group of Autobots was driving in car form over one of the roads of the sector. Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Goldbug and the triple changer Sandstorm, one of the Autobots from the former colony on the planet Paradron. The paradronians had been pacifists who had left Cybertron millions of years ago to escape the war, much like Fortress Maximus group later. Sandstorm was one of the few of them who had volunteered to join the military.

They were on the way to Vector Sigma and from there they wanted to reach the way to Cybertron´s core. The special mission given to him directly from the Matrix.

It was not exactly the group Hotrod had in mind. He himself, Ultra Magnus and Kup, three commanding officers who would be missing for the battle if they should not be back in time.

But they didn´t have exactly a choice when they had separated under the Decepticon assault.

They had reached one of the tunnels that led into Cybertron´s underground and transformed back into robot mode.

"That is it?" Hotrod asked.

"Yes, the way to Vector Sigma", Kup replied, "the only access from this sector."

"Excuse me?" Sandstorm asked. "What do we want here anyway and why are we trying to reach Vector Sigma?"

The triple changer was not meant to be part of their group and since he wasn´t a commander, was of course not informed about their plans.

"It is a special mission", Ultra Magnus told him. "We are trying to reach the core of Cybertron."

"The core of Cybertron?" Sandstorm asked incredulous. "That was one of the legends we have told on Paradron. But why do we go there now, why in the middle of a campaign against the Decepticons?"

"There you should better ask our Prime here", Kup replied, pointing to Hotrod. "Something like, the Matrix itself had told them."

The core of the planet was one of the old cybertronian legends, like the Chaos Bringer, the darkest hour and the thirteen original Primes. But the other legends had turned out to be true, maybe this one would too.

"Believe me", Hotrod said, "the Matrix had told it both, me and Optimus and it is important. We know it somehow."

"Like you knew that the Matrix could stop Unicron?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"Yes."

Suddenly laser fire shot through the air. It was an ambush, they realized.

Several blasts caught Sandstorm in the back, ripped through his armor and hit his spark chamber. The paradronian fell dead to the ground. Ultra Magnus was hit in the shoulder. All that happened before the Autobots had even a chance to react.

"Sandstorm", he called out, but saw that it was too late for the triple changer.

They were under attack, they made out a few Decepticons hiding behind the closest buildings.

Goldbug recognized two of them.

"Wingspan and Pounce", he said, "two of Galvatron´s scouts. I don´t know that other one."

"This guy is called Fang", Kup identified the large green Decepticon, "really nasty piece of work."

The three attackers continued to shoot at them. Since they had far better cover, it was hard for the Autobots to fight back.

"We need to chase them out", Hotrod said. "I will try to get to the other side."

He transformed into a sports car and raced off with full speed. Kup followed him in a short distance. The two Autobot cars were driving directly through the Decepticon´s line of fire. It was a idiotic risk, both of them knew this, but far less idiotic than just standing still and being easily shot down.

They managed to evade several near hits and actually got through. Kup had been hit by a shot in the side and was damaged, but they had gotten around the ambush and were now behind the Decepticons.

Now under attack from two sides, their enemies were forced to leave their hiding place and come out in the open.

Ultra Magnus took aim at Wingspan and fired. The head of the Decepticon exploded and his burning remains fell downward.

His two comrades tried to break out and attacked Hotrod and the wounded Kup. They concentrated their fire at the former Autobot leader. Kup was hit again and Hotrod saw how his friend went down.

Hotrod shot back and hit pounce three times in the chest. The shots destroyed the Decepticon´s fuel pump and killed him in an instant.

But before Hotrod could react, he was hit himself and fell to his knees. He tried to reach to his gun, but another blast hit him square and was smashed to the ground.

The Decepticon laughed.

"Who had thought that I of all people would kill Rodimus Prime", Fang said. "Galvatron will reward me."

Hotrod heard a shot, then another one, then the sound of metal hitting the floor.

"And you talk too much." He heard someone saying.

As he stood up again he saw Kup, badly damaged, standing over the smoking remains of the Decepticon.

They saw Ultra Magnus and Goldbug in some distance, coming to them.

"We have to get away from here", Magnus told them.

"Yes", Hotrod replied, "let us continue before more of them show up."

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Autobot city earth

Seekers and Sweep drones were flying over the place and shooting lasers and missiles at the defending Autobots.

Piranhacon was ripping another wall down and shot several blasts into the structures of the city as another combiner team finally got active. The Protectobots merged into Defensor and confronted the enemy gestalt. While the two super robots struggled with each other, several other fights were taking place.

The Decepticon Doomsday had transformed into his tank form and was shooting at a group of Autobots who were hiding behind a few large pieces of rubble. His partners Eraser and Tracer were standing beside him, backing him up. One of his shots broke through their cover and two of the robots behind it were slammed to the ground.

"This Autobots have not the slightest chance", Doomsday commented as he changed back into robot mode.

"Yes, they don´t know it yet but their days are numbered", Eraser said.

xxx

Jazz and Blaster behind him were running out of the command building to help fighting off the attacking Decepticons.

"Have you send the message?" Jazz asked him.

"Yes, but I don´t know if it got through", the other Autobot answered.

"Then let us just hope that it did", he replied.

As they arrived outside they saw that the entire city had already been turned into a battlefield. They exchanged a few shots with a few Decepticons who were getting close to the building and managed to drive them back.

"Jazz", Blaster shouted to him and pointed in a certain direction.

He knew instantly why Blaster had warned him. In some distance he saw the large green form of Megatron or whoever he really was, walking to them.

xxx

Thundercracker and Skywarp were flying as F15 jets over the embattled city. They were under fire from the three Autobots Trailbreaker, Tracks and Grapple on the ground beneath them, but the two seekers avoided their shots without greater problem.

Skywarp transformed into robot mode, teleported at the other side of the Autobots and he and Thundercracker attacked them from two sides.

One of Skywarp´s blasts hit Grapple into the shoulder who sank to his knees, holding his wound.

Tracks transformed into his "flying car" mode and engaged in an air fight with Thundercracker. Despite that the seeker had by far the technological advantage against him, Tracks had much experience in the air and had already won fights with Decepticon fliers.

Trailbreaker had activated his force field that, as long as it worked, made him nearly impregnable to damage. To that came the powerful laser-gun that was in place of his left underarm. But he was also also one of the slowest Autobots and was completely outmatched by Skywarp´s teleport-ability, who easily evaded all his counterattacks.

xxx

Megatron was involved in a fight with the Autobots Jazz, Blaster and Warpath. The three had encircled him and were shooting at the Decepticon leader from a save distance.

"This is really a interesting new configuration", Jazz shouted over to him, hoping to get some information out of his enemy. "Are you Galvatron in a new body or some sort of well made fake?"

"Neither the one or the other Jazz. I am the only real Megatron and I have finally returned to remove the impostor and take back my position as Decepticon leader", he lied.

"We will see about that", Jazz replied as he fired at him.

xxx

The sweep called Carnage was leading his group of drones over the southern part of the city.

On the ground several human guards were fleeing in panic from them, a few were already lying motionless on the floor, killed by the fire of his followers.

He saw two nameless Autobots shooting at them, obviously trying to give the humans cover to flee. Carnage transformed into robot mode and aimed his blaster at the two. A well placed shot hit one of the robots in the right arm and a second blast into the left side of his stomach. The damaged robot had to be dragged away by his comrade to bring him out of the line of fire.

Carnage smiled. The new Sweep leader took great pleasure in fighting the Autobots and humans under them and cutting them down.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

The group of mechs around Optimus was in a heavy fire-fight with the Decepticons who had trapped them. As soon as they had realized that Soundwave´s troops had surrounded them, they had tried to break out and were now mostly fighting one to one battles against the attackers.

Optimus, Springer and Punch were standing literally with the back to a wall and were trying to fight a number of opponents off.

Springer was caught in a duel with the triple changer Talon and was drawn more and more away from the others, exactly as Soundwave had planned.

Optimus and Punch were now facing a group consisting of Soundwave himself, his cassette Rumble, a little robot with arms that could transform into pale-drivers, a seeker of the same type as Skywarp and Thundercracker whose name none of them knew and another Decepticon with a car alt mode. Four against two, not a bad chance when one of the two was Optimus and one of the four a small cassette.

The only problem was that Optimus couldn´t trust his last ally. But that was something he didn´t know yet. In fact the tactic of the Decepticons had it been from the beginning to scatter the Autobots even further, so that Counterpunch who had orders to stay close to the Autobot leader would in the end be the only one left with Optimus.

And their tactic worked perfectly. In the moment Springer and everyone else was driven far enough away from them Optimus was looking directly into the gun of his supposed partner. He saw that for some reason Punch had transformed back into his Decepticon mode.

xxxxxxx

Autobot city earth

Thundercracker had hit his enemy with a shot in the wing and the flying car was side slipping.

Trailbreaker hadn´t been significantly damaged by Skywarp´s attacks, but the Autobot had been constantly losing ground and his energy reserves that he needed to keep his force field active were growing out.

Skywarp and Thundercracker saw that two of the black sweeps had come and were backing them up. Trailbreaker was seeing that too and was now falling back, taking the injured Grapple with him.

The two seekers realized that the area below them was now cleared of enemy forces. They transformed back into robot mode and were levitating over the place in mid air.

"Like in old time, right Thundercracker?, Skywarp said to him. "When we were still fighting the Autobots and not world destroying monsters."

"Yes, like in old times", Thundercracker replied dryly, "before everything went to hell in our world."

Thundercracker hadn´t said it loud, but he had great doubts about this entire plan from the beginning. He could only hope that the wouldn´t make things worse than they already were. They were basically trying to take the place of their counterparts who had been turned into unicronians. He could only hope that this wouldn´t backfire.

xxx

In some distance to them one of the black Sweeps was flying an attack on the Autobots Bluestreak and Cliffjumper. The Sweep was fast, even if it was not able of independent thinking and was so able to avoid the shots of the it´s opponents for some time. Until a load of Cliffjumper´s freezing gas hit him in the side and covered a part of his armor with ice.

Then a shot of the missile launchers Bluestreak had on his shoulders hit him and the Sweep crashed into one of the storage buildings of the city, that then completely blew up.

"Yes, we have taken one of the bastards out", Cliffjumper yelled.

"Don´t be too happy", Bluestreak replied. "I have watched this guys. Except the leader, none of them had so far said a single word or showed any emotion. And by the way they fight I would say they are all mindless drones."

"That's not uncommon for Decepticons, right?" Cliffjumper stated sarcastically.

Bluestreak only wanted to role his eyes at his partner´s overconfidence. Before he could say anything else to that matter however, Starscream attacked.

"Destroying drones is one thing Autobots", the seeker yelled, "we will see if you can also hold yourself against me."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

"Punch what?", These words were all Optimus was able to bring out.

Through his mind however went a dozen possibilities. Their double agent could have turned traitor, he could be mind controlled or been reprogrammed or he could have been replaced with a double. He thought about all this in a few seconds. But it changed nothing in the end. He was now alone against five enemies.

"Optimus Prime surrender", Soundwave´s voice told him.

"What have you done with Punch?" The Autobot leader asked them deficient.

"The question should better be what have your people done with him", Rumble replied.

"My people?" Optimus asked and looked at Punch.

"You see, we have found out that a few of your men had planted two personalities into this poor fellow and manipulated his mind to control him", Rumble told him. "We have just reversed the process."

Optimus was now looking at Punch or rather Counterpunch in shock and sorrow.

"Punch, listen to me, whatever you have been told, you are an Autobot. You are one of us", he said.

"My name is Counterpunch, I am a Decepticon", the robot replied. His voice sounded hollow and emotionless."

"I am not your enemy, I want to help you."

"It is senseless", Soundwave said. "Your own treacherous followers had done a far too good work with him."

Optimus could nearly swear that there was actually something like sympathy in the monotone voice.

"Surrender now", Soundwave told him a second time.

He was surrounded, Optimus knew. Their weapons were all aimed directly at him and ready to shoot. He had barely a chance.

Suddenly a shot struck the seeker under Soundwave´s followers in the back. It was a particle blast that ripped right through the body of the robot, came out of his chest and hit the wall before them.

Before anybody of them had a chance to react, a very large mechanoid jumped out of his hiding place. Optimus saw that the newcomer for some reason seemed to be wearing a green vest, he had replaced his right hand with a cannon and his face resembled the skull of some sort of humanoid lifeform and he was attacking the Decepticons.

He landed right in front of the others. In the moment he landed, he shot the car robot in the head before he could even draw his gun at him and with another movement kicked Soundwave in the chest, shattering the glass shield of his cassette compartment and sending him into the wall. Rumble saw that he was hopelessly outmatched and took cover.

The mechanoid was now standing before them. Optimus saw alarmed that the attacker was now aiming at the double agent. He placed himself between Counterpunch and the stranger.

"Ah, Optimus Prime right?" The mechanoid said. "It is a honor to finally meet such a famous robot. My name is Death Head, heard of me?"

"The known bounty hunter?"

"I prefer the term freelancing agent", Death Head stated casually, "don´t like the word bounty hunter."

"Why are you here?" Optimus asked. "Do you want me."

"I never talk about a contract in public, is bad for business. A far better question by the way, since when is the Autobot leader protecting a Decepticon?"

"He is not really a Decepticon, he was mentally manipulated to work for them." Optimus didn´t mention that it were possibly rogues of his own side who did the manipulating in the first place, but that was too much detail here.

"A really tragic story, yes", Death Head replied, "but whatever he is, right now, he is in my way."

Death Head raised his weapon and pointed it at Optimus. The Autobot leader dodged quickly, slapped Death Head´s weapon aside so that the shot went miss and then tackled the bounty hunter. For a few minutes they were caught in hand to hand combat. His enemy was strong Optimus realized, very strong, possible more than Megatron ever was.

Then Death Head managed to land a punch at his opponent and threw him back for a few seconds. He used that time to remove the blaster from his right hand and replace it with a battle axe. Optimus caught the first swing of the new weapon with his hands and stopped it. Then he threw himself at the bounty hunter and slammed him in the ground. In the few moments his enemy was down, he activated a function which he hadn´t used since years and transformed his own right hand into a similar weapon as Heath Head was using it.

"Oh, I see", the bounty hunter simply commented before they clashed their weapons together. Optimus had to admit he didn´t know if he could win this fight. His enemy was strong, incredible strong and skilled.

A few meters from them Counterpunch was unsure what to do. A part of him wanted to help the Autobot leader, another wanted to destroy him. The two were working against each other. A third, still rational part refused to be any ones marionette. It was clear to him by now that something was obviously wrong with himself and that not only since Soundwave.

Finally he had made his decision.

Soundwave had by now come back up again. He was watching the fight between Optimus Prime and the stranger. Death Head, he recognized him, one of the most infamous bounty hunters in the galaxy. His two enemies were tearing into each other. The only question was, who should he help? If he should help one at all. Maybe he should just stand by and watch how the two were destroying each other. The matter was simple. What were the consequences for him?

He knew that Optimus would give him the chance to surrender. Death Head on the other hand had already killed two of his men and had attacked them without provocation. He had made his intentions pretty clear. Soundwave activated his sonic weapons to the highest level and directed them at the bounty hunter.

Optimus saw that his enemy had suddenly stopped fighting, he realized that Death Head was under a heavy assault of sonic waves, Soundwave.

At the same time Death Head was struck by a hit in the shoulder. Counterpunch had come to assist him too now, Optimus saw. The only question was did he do that because he wanted to help him or was he following Soundwave?

Rumble came out of his hiding place and was attacking Death Head from the other side. The bounty hunter saw that he was now far at the disadvantage. All four Transformers were aiming their weapons at him. Even he was outmatched here.

He was searching for a way how he could still do his job.

They heard someone coming. The question was who. Had the Decepticons won or had the Autobots driven them off for now.

Whatever it was, Death Head saw that he would not have a real chance anymore if he had all of them against him.

It were Springer and Skyfire who came around the corner. Their side had made it, at least for now.

"I understand", Death Head said, "I fear we have to delay our fight for another time Optimus Prime", he told him.

The bounty hunter was drawing back, with his gun aimed at the Autobots.

"Let him go", Optimus said. "We have other problems and we can not risk another fight right now."

As he had reached a safe distance, Death Head slipped into one of the corridors between the building and was gone.

"Are you back to yourself Punch?" Optimus asked the Autobot double agent.

"I admit I am not right sure. But I have my own will right now and at least for the moment you can count on me."

The Autobot leader pointed his weapon at the communication officer and Springer his at Rumble.

"As you had said it a short time back Soundwave, surrender", he said.

"I surrender", the Decepticon replied.

"We have to get to earth", Optimus told them.

xxx

Galvatron and Cyclonus had landed on Cybertron´s surface. As they had gotten in contact with their forces, they found a number of scattered and to a great part damaged troops who had been chasing after the Autobots.

"What had happened here?" Galvatron asked a seeker who seemed to be the nominal leader of the group he was facing right now.

"We were encircling the Autobots like planned, but some idiot opened fire too early and they managed to break out. They had separated in several smaller groups and we were trying to follow them, but the most of them escaped", the seeker informed him. "We seemed to have lost a greater number of troops and we have lost contact to Soundwave", he finished his report."

"I understand", Galvatron said. "It seemed the entire plan had failed", he stated to Cyclonus.

"Yes mighty Galvatron, that much is obvious", his second replied.

"We have to find out how bad the situation is at this place and we have to find out what is happening on earth."

"I will start gather the troops here and find Soundwave", Cyclonus told him.

"Do that", he said.

xxxxxxx

Autobot city earth

Bluestreak was still involved in a fight with Starscream.

Cliffjumper saw now a large purple Decepticon standing in some distance. He readied his weapon and prepared to attack.

"Wait", someone was holding him back. He saw that it was Capback, another Autobot.

Capback was a Minibot like himself, from the stature similar to Brawn and Outback.

"Don´t do that", he told him, "you have no chance against him, believe me."

"No chance, are you kidding? Come we will show this Con that we can do", Cliffjumper replied and stormed off into the fight.

"Okay", Capback said, "if you truly want to die."

He saw Sideways in the eyes for a moment and then lowered his glance. That fool Cliffjumper had no idea what he was getting himself into, he thought.

"He Decepticon", Cliffjumper yelled and opened fire.

"Ah I remember you worm", Sideways said, "You have managed to escape me the last time. This time you won´t have as much luck." He smiled at him.

"What the hell are you talking about? I have never met you before and don´t call me that", Cliffjumper shouted and shot him several times at the arm.

To his satisfaction, he saw that his blasts had ripped a deep wound. But then, to his shock, the damage was suddenly repairing itself in just a matter of seconds. The wound was being closed after a few moments.

"What? How have you done that? What in the world are you?" he screamed.

"It seems you have seen too much little worm", Sideways now had a feral smile on his face, "too bad for you.

He grabbed Cliffjumper by the throat and threw him on the ground, he aimed his gun directly at the Autobot´s face and fired. The body of the Autobot sank lifelessly down.

"Cliffjumper, no", Bluestreak, who had seen what happened, screamed. He ran over to his fallen comrade.

Starscream, who was now not longer occupied, landed beside Sideways.

"It seems the little maggot had found out too much", he commented with a smile.

xxxxxxx

New York city

EDC commander Marissa Fairbourne had arrived at the place of the incident.

"Had something happened so far?" She asked one of the police officers who were guarding the area.

"No, he had simply landed and is now just standing there", the man told her.

It was ca. 10 minutes ago, Marissa thought, that a Sweep had landed on top of one of the skyscrapers in New York city. The Decepticon had not attacked or showed any other hostile move, actually he had made no move at all. He had simply landed and was standing motionless on top of the building since then.

"We are getting a new report commander", a lieutenant, who was standing behind Marissa informed her. "It seems the exactly same thing had happened in Los Angeles a few minutes ago."

"What in the world could be the meaning of this?" Marissa asked.

xxxxxxx

Autobot City Earth

The greatest part of the city was already lying in ruins, exactly like the last time.

But like the last time, reinforcements were arriving for the Autobots. The rocket form of Omega Supreme was descending from space.

On board were Optimus Prime, Springer and the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. As they heard that Autobot city was under attack, they had volunteered to come with Optimus, just like the last time.

As the giant rocket had landed in the middle of the city, the air locks opened and the four Autobots drove out. A second later, Omega Supreme transformed into robot mode and went to help Defensor.

The gestalts were still fighting against each other. Alone in the fight between this two opponents, nearly a quarter of what had once been the city had been leveled.

But now, against two super robots, Piranhacon had no longer the slightest chance. After Omega joined the fight and landed a number of shots at the weaker point of the combiner, the gestalt was falling apart into the individual Seacons.

Sideways and Megatron saw what was happening and smiled. It was all going according to plan.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Autobot City, Earth

Optimus, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were driving in their car modes towards the center of the city. Above them Springer was flying as a helicopter.

Omega Supreme had already succeeded in taking out the gestalt robot of the Decepticons. Now they were going after the leader of the attack.

Megatron had transformed into his tank mode and was attacking the command center of the city. Both of his weapons were tearing the outer walls of the building to shreds. His fusion cannon was now mounted on the side of his turret in addition to the main gun of his tank form. Next to him were standing Skywarp and Thundercracker who were backing him up.

As Optimus and his partners arrived, he changed back into his robot mode, closely followed by the Autobot leader. In some sense Megatron was actually excited to see his old adversary for the first time in many years. The Optimus Prime of his world had been one of the first to fall to the unicronians.

Now he, another one, was standing before him once again.

"Megatron", he said, quiet unsure about the others identity, but he didn´t let it show.

"Yes Optimus, I am actually glad to see you again after this years."

"Who and what exactly are you?" the Autobot leader asked him.

"Optimus you hurt me, have you really forgotten me so quickly?" Megatron or the Megatron lookalike said full of sarcasm. "Do you really not know who I am?"

"I know who you seem to be", he answered.

"And that is the truth. I know that you have heard that I had been rebuilt into that robot named Galvatron, but that is not the truth. Galvatron was actually an creation of Unicron, designed to take my place. I had been lost in space for the last years, until I had finally been rescued."

"Why don´t I really believe your story?" Optimus asked him.

"You will see, what I say is true. But I think we have talked enough", he said and fired his fusion cannon at his enemies.

Optimus was able to dodge the shot and lifted his gun to fire back.

The damage from his fight with Death Head had been mostly repaired and his energy reserves had been refilled. But despite that he had to admit that he was still not back to his best form. Fighting this Megatron one to one was not a good idea in his condition, he knew this. Especially since he had now idea about the strength and abilities of this new body.

But in the end, he didn´t need to. With the Decepticon gestalt defeated, the Autobots had practically already won the battle. Despite that he didn´t exactly like it to hold himself back while others were still fighting for their lives.

Optimus stood in one line with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and Megatron with Skywarp and Thundercracker.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

"To say it short, it went wrong", Cyclonus said to Galvatron.

"There you are telling me nothing new. What exactly happened?"

"We have examined the battle grounds. So far we have at least five dead warriors against only one confirmed Autobot causality. The rest of them had either reached other hiding places or had managed to leave the planet. And what is even worse…"

"What is it?" Galvatron asked sharply.

"We have found evidence that Soundwave and probably Rumble had been taken prisoner."

"Soundwave", Galvatron repeated quietly, "this is bad."

"He is one of our most important officers", Cyclonus stated.

"That is an understatement. He knows practically everything about our army", Galvatron replied darkly.

"It could be far worse", Cyclonus reminded him. "True, this may be a backslash, but we have still the upper hand in this war. We are still controlling Cybertron, Chaar and have a stronghold on a number of other worlds. The current attack of the Autobots against us has crumbled. We have the transwarp engine, the binary bonded Transformers and the improved Skorponok. Two City robots are under our control, while the Autobots have only one.

By all rights, we have won. You have led us to victory Galvatron", he pointed out, "like I always said you would."

Cyclonus had always been the Decepticon most loyal to Galvatron and the one who had trusted him the most. Even in the time where he had been insane. Despite knowing better about Galvatron´s state than anybody else, Cyclonus made the decision to continue to support him.

He had actually actively tried to cure Galvatron a few times Instead to turn against him like the most others would have done, even if it seemed to be like the best for the empire for some time, he had never lost the trust that his leader would be able to recover to his former self. It was a decision that he never regretted and one that was paying off now every single day.

"But our victory was not complete and now things are going out of hand. To that comes this mysterious attack on Autobot city, led by someone who looks like Megatron. This bothers me too."

The insane Galvatron, Cyclonus knew, would have already shot someone at this point and screaming that all this was some sort of conspiracy against him. Ironically, that was probably actually the case.

"We will deal with this situation next Galvatron", Cyclonus told him. He wondered himself what was the meaning behind this strange doppelganger.

xxxxxxx

Autobot city, earth

Omega Supreme and Defensor were towering over the ruined city. By all rights the Autobots had already won the battle. The only other robot comparable to them the Decepticons had present had already been taken out.

Two of the black Sweeps started to fly an attack on Omega Supreme. It was a actually completely useless action. But the drone warriors didn´t knew either fear or sense. Both were hit by Omega´s main weapons and blown apart in a matter of moments.

The two groups around Optimus Prime and Megatron had been in a short firefight that everybody knew, was completely meaningless. The Decepticons didn´t have a chance anymore since the moment Optimus Prime and Omega Supreme had joined the battle.

"It is over Megatron, give up", Optimus declared.

The leader of the attacking Decepticons glared at him angrily. "Never Autobot."

"Your only combiner team had been defeated. We outnumber you. Your troops are already falling back. You have lost."

"Do you really think so?" A voice behind him asked.

He looked around and saw a large purple Decepticon, around the size of Megatron and himself. The robot, by his design, seemed to transform into some sort of ground vehicle. Optimus felt it deep in his spark that something was definitely not usual about this guy. He saw that Starscream was standing behind this Decepticon, with a grin on his face. That alone promised nothing good.

"Who are you?" He asked the unknown robot.

"My name is Sideways. I am happy to finally meet you in person Optimus Prime." The purple robot smiled sickeningly.

"You work for Megatron?", Optimus stated.

"Let us say we came to an alliance to our mutual agreement, but technically you are right yes, I am working for him."

"You must see that you have no chance to win this battle anymore", Optimus told him.

"Under normal circumstances I would agree with you, but the circumstances are not normal."

"What do you mean by that?" Optimus asked him.

"You have seen our black Sweeps. They are drones that we have built for Megatron´s new army. Exact replicas of the Sweeps you are familiar with, with one exception, that they have no mind of their own. They are only lifeless robots that we use for our plans. And about a half hour ago, I have send two of them to a couple of Earth towns. They are called by the natives, oh yes, New York and Los Angeles and both of the Sweeps have a matter-antimatter detonator in them."

"What?" Several Autobots called out in shock.

"Optimus", Jazz, who had just arrived next to them told him, "the human news programs confirm what he had said. The Sweeps have already arrived and are now standing in the center of the towns. And they are ready to detonate the bombs whenever they get the order."

Sideways smile deepened.

"No", Optimus whispered now in absolute horror.

"By my estimation, there will be over 20 millions of your precious humans in the range of the explosions."

All the Autobots around were now like frozen.

"You bastard", Sideswipe yelled.

"You see Prime, you are the one who has lost. Whatever you do, you loose", Sideways told them.

He was right, Optimus realized. Retreating meant loosing the city, staying meant condemning millions to death.

Megatron stood now beside his new ally. "You see Optimus, this time I won´t lose", he said.

Optimus came the thought that all that could simply be a giant bluff. Megatron, he knew, would not have gone that far to threat to level entire cities only to blackmail an enemy. But this wasn´t the Megatron he knew and this Sideways, he saw his cold eyes and felt a terrible feeling inside himself. No, Optimus knew this being wasn´t bluffing.

"Don´t do it", Optimus said quietly, "we will do whatever you say."

"Very good Prime", Megatron replied. "You will draw back all your troops out of the area of Autobot city and will make no further move to stop us. When we are retreating from this planet and are outside of the atmosphere, then we will call the Sweeps back. Have you understand this?"

"Yes Megatron", Optimus said grimly.

"But Prime, we can not simply", Sunstreaker fell in.

"Don´t say it Sunstreaker, don´t even say it", the Autobot leader told him.

"We will meet again", he said angrily to Sideways.

"Oh, about that I am sure", the purple robot replied.

"Autobots retreat", Optimus called out.

He transformed into his truck mode, his warriors quickly followed his example and slowly drove out of the city.

After Megatron had seen the Autobots retreating for a few moments he addressed his troops.

"Level this place", he told them as they saw the last one leaving, "and when you are finished, make a recording of what we have done and send it out to the stars. Everybody shall see what we have done.

And then", he said to Sideways, "order the Sweeps to leave this planet."

"Are you sure Megatron? We could destroy Autobot city and then still wipe out the human towns, no matter what we have told them."

"No, there is no need to that", Megatron replied. "Destroy everything here, then we will leave this place."

"As you wish Megatron", Sideways said.

"You are just going to accept this master?" Starscream asked him quietly as Megatron was out of reach.

"The right time had not come yet", Sideways answered him. "Don´t worry Starscream, this pathetic little world will burn soon enough."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug had entered the underground of Cybertron. They were now standing before a part of Vector Sigma. It was one of the side-terminals of the planet wide operating super computer that was located in this sector. They were standing in a underground hall, a smaller one by cybertronian standards. The side-terminal was quite different from the main incarnation of Vector Sigma in Iacon, that basically was a large round hall with a glowing ball of energy in it´s center. This looked more like a usual computer, a monitor that was built in the wall at the end of the room, lines of buttons, access interfaces, displays.

"Vector Sigma had been inactive since the ancient Autobot Alpha Trion had sacrificed himself and the old access-key had been destroyed", Goldbug said to them. He remembered this particular fight nearly 30 earth years ago.

"We would only need the key if we wanted to build new Transformers", Ultra Magnus replied. "All we want is some information."

"By the way, how do we activate this terminal?" Hotrod asked.

"For a Autobot leader it is strange that you don´t even know how to access Vector Sigma", Kup asked him with with some irony in his voice.

"As you know perfectly Kup Vector Sigma had been shut down the entire time I had been in charge", Hotrod replied sharply.

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding", the old Autobot replied.

"Yes? I would have never thought. And how do we get access now?"

"I think you should try this", Ultra Magnus told him as he opened his chest and took the dimly glowing form of the Matrix out. It was still only a shadow of it´s former self, a small spark of light in opposite to the glowing jewel it had been before it had been used to cure the hate plaque.

"The Matrix", Hotrod said. He was aware that Optimus had given it to them, but even he didn´t knew that it could be used to connect to Vector Sigma.

"It is said that the Matrix and Vector Sigma have similar origins", Kup reminded them. "The one is where our life begins, the other is where it ends."

"I think this is your job Prime", Ultra Magnus said to Hotrod and handed the Matrix to him.

As he had taken the it in his hand, Hotrod approached the super computer. Suddenly the glowing inside the outburned Matrix became much more intensive. It was still not even close to what it had once been, but at least twice as bright as before. A moment later a stream of light went out of the Matrix to Vector Sigma. The super computer before them came to life.

"Hear me Vector Sigma", Hotrod called out.

"I hear you young Prime", the computer answered him. The voice they were hearing, they realized was the one of Alpha Trion. Optimus Prime´s creator had merged himself with Vector Sigma 27 years ago to keep Megatron from using it for his plans.

"What is it what you want from me?" It asked the group.

"Vector Sigma", Hotrod said, "We need to reach the core of the planet Cybertron. But as you know, the deeper levels of our world are a endless labyrinth of tunnels. We need you to tell us the way."

"Yes, I know. I have known that you would eventually come some day for a long time."

"How?" Hotrod and Ultra Magnus called out at the same time.

"There is no time to discuss this now Autobots. You will find out soon. He will tell you everything, even more than I know."

"He, who?" Kup asked.

"No questions now Autobots. I will give you your route. Now continue on your way."

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug looked at the super computer in bewilderment.

xxxxxxx

Death Head was again sitting in his private space ship. The bounty hunter was lying back in his chair in the cockpit. He was currently communicating with his latest employer.

"Like I heard the job didn´t went completely as planned?", The voice coming from the monitor before him asked the bounty hunter.

"I admit it didn´t went exactly as I thought it would. Things had happened that I couldn´t have anticipated, yes", Death Head replied. "But maybe it is actually even better in this way."

"Even better? Explain this", his client asked him.

"The Autobots should be convinced now that my target had been Optimus Prime. I did after all do everything to give them that impression. Even went into a fight with Prime and I have to say he didn´t disappoint, no."

"I understand, so the Autobots believe now that you had been after their leader all along and you said they have taken Soundwave prisoner."

"My job was to take Soundwave out. That was what you told me, Soundwave needs to be taken out of the way, no matter how. Well, he certainly is out of the way now. Let the Autobots do the work for us. Nobody would even guess, that it was an assault against him now."

"Yes, indeed you are right Death Head. In fact you have done good work, I have decided to consider our contract as fulfilled. I will transfer the rest of the money to your account."

"Thank you Sideways. It was a pleasure to do business with you", Death Head told him.

"The pleasure is all mine Death Head", Megatron´s new right hand replied. "You have succeeded to get him out of my way and nobody would know that I had something to do with it."

"You will get your money soon. If I will have again need for your work, I will contact you." The robot grinned. Then he ended the connection.

Despite everything that went wrong, Death Head thought, this mission still managed to end up with some success.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

The ship was entering the atmosphere.

After their victory on earth, Megatron and his followers had decided to go to Cybertron and finally meet their rivals in person.

They were landing now at the space port in the sector polyhex.

Megatron, Starscream, Sideways, Skywarp and Thundercracker were leaving the ship. Greeting them was a large crowd of Decepticons.

Galvatron and Cyclonus were standing in the center of the place, flanked by Scourge and a Decepticon Megatron recognized as the rogue leader Skorponok. Very interesting he thought, seeing that detail, Galvatron and Skorponok, working together.

"This is impossible", a few of them heard Scourge murmur as he saw them. His look was fixed on Thundercracker and on Skywarp.

Cyclonus held himself in check far better, he was practically unreadable, Skywarp realized. He felt a strange sense of pride here. By the information they had, it was probably that this robot was himself in a unicronian form.

"Welcome strangers", Galvatron greeted them with the pronouncing on the last word. "It is a honor to meet the group of Decepticons who had destroyed Autobot city."

"And it was a honor to me to help the Decepticon empire", Megatron replied, "especially since it was our attack that stopped the Autobot´s approach at Cybertron."

Many of the Decepticons in the crowd behind them were looking at each other.

"Oh, I assure you the Autobots had never been a real threat. If they had actually made it to Cybertron, we were ready to deal with them accordingly", Galvatron pointed out.

"Oh, I am sure of that", Megatron replied.

Galvatron smiled at him. Megatron returned the smile, with and identical one, mirror images.

"It is good to be back after this years", Magatron said.

"That leads us to an interesting question, who exactly are you?" Galvatron asked him

"Of course, I am Megatron, the former Decepticon leader. And after I had been abandoned in space, seven years ago, I have finally made it back to Cybertron", he said loud.

"That is a interesting story", Galvatron pointed out. "I am curious how many will be going to believe you that."

"It is the truth", Megatron replied. "I know that a creature named Unicron had programmed you to think you were me and then send you to take over the Decepticons and I have to admit, you did a remarkable job in my absence."

"That is enough", Galvatron replied. "You should know that I don´t believe a single word of that slag. I accept you here because you and your people, whoever you truly are have destroyed Autobot city and helped the Decepticon cause. But don´t go too far. Slugslinger and Triggerhappy will show you the way to your quarters."

"As you wish Galvatron", Megatron answered him.

He could feel it, Megatron thought inside, the rule of Unicron´s creations in this universe would be over soon.

"You were right", Cyclonus said to Galvatron after the newcomers were gone, "it is a conspiracy."

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

It had been one week ago that the group of new Decepticons had joined their ranks. Despite Galvatron´s warning, that nobody really had expected him to follow, Megatron had started from the beginning to try to undermine Galvatron´s leadership and sway troops to his side.

His attempts had however been very subtle and his success limited so far. Despite that, the effect was obvious, over short or long the Decepticon army was being divided into two factions.

xxx

Cybertron, the sector polyhex was the capital of the Decepticons.

If there had ever been a part of the planet that was a typical representation of their culture culture, then it was this sector. Polyhex was and would probably ever be of the Decepticons. Even in the years the Autobots had been in complete control of the planet, they had never much of presence established. In fact the sector had been to a great part abandoned during that time. But now, the Decepticons were back and polyhex was once again a thriving metropolis.

In one of the many energon bars in polyhex city, a few Combaticons and Stunticons, sitting around a table were sitting together and discussing the latest developments.

"Hey, what do you think about all this?" Breakdown asked the Combaticons.

"As far as it comes to me, Galvatron has proofed himself", Blast Off told them. "Don´t misunderstand me, a few years ago he had been completely nuts, but now he had truly made it."

"Galvatron had reconquered Cybertron and he had helped the Autobots to cure this damned hate plaque", Onslaught pointed out. "Why should we try to replace him with somebody who is probably only an impostor?"

"Galvatron was also the one who had lost Cybertron in the first place", a seeker on the neighboring table, who had heard their conversation, claimed.

"Yes, against Unicron", Wildrider replied. "I would like to see what you would do if you were facing that monster. Oh wait, we couldn´t because back then you had been running away faster as a laser bolt."

"What do you say?" The seeker yelled and stood up angrily.

"He is right you know", Motormaster interrupted him, "during the Unicron battle you simply run away. So sit down and shut up unless you want to cross me."

For a moment the seeker stared at the dangerous Stunticon leader before he finally backed down and turned back to his comrades on their table who threw a few smart comments at him for his retreat from the much more powerful Stunticon.

"But this newcomers, they had said that Galvatron was the impostor", Breakdown said insecure.

"Yes and that primate Primacron had said that he had created Unicron", Vortex commented sarcastically, "long time before I believe it."

"I say we should put both of them in the arena and let the fight it out", Brawl claimed.

"Yes, that would be fun", Vortex replied. "There would we all have something from it.."

"Yeah that would be great." Swindle laughed.

"What do you think about this Dead End?" Wildrider asked his fellow Stunticon, who had so far not said anything to this topic.

"We should just wait how it will turn out", he answered, "we will not be able to do something about it anyway."

"Typical", Motormaster murmured.

xxxxxxx

Autobot flagship, in space somewhere between Cybertron and earth

Optimus Prime was waiting at the command bridge of the flagship of the Autobot fleet. He had just returned from earth with Omega Supreme and one thing was clear, the situation was bad.

Autobot city was gone. It was a major loss. The damage to the Autobot army was immense. And Optimus knew they had a new dangerous enemy.

He was meeting with his officers Fortress Maximus, Springer and Jazz and with the humans Spike Witwicky, who had been working with the headmasters for the last weeks and Marissa Fairbourne, who had just arrived from earth. They were just entering the room.

Optimus looked at the three Autobots and the two human beings. He and them had now to discuse the situation, as much as he disliked it. The last battle had one of the most crushing defeats of his life. He had been practically beaten without his enemy firing a single shot at him, alone through threats.

"Optimus", Spike greeted him.

"Hallo Spike", Optimus replied in a flat tone. Then he addressed all of them. "I think you all know the reason of this meeting", he said to them.

"Hotrod, Ultra Magnus and the others are still on their special mission?" Spike asked him.

"They are", Optimus confirmed. "I wish they were here. We could need their advice. As you all know, the Autobot army has taken a great blow, the second one after the loss of Cybertron. I admit, I am not sure if we will ever recover."

"You did the right thing Optimus", Marissa told him.

"I know, it may however have cost us the war. But I couldn´t simply let millions die."

"Marissa is right", Springer said, "Nobody would have expected anything different from you."

"Thank you, but that doesn´t change the consequences. We have lost Autobot city, our most important base. It was also our main supply of energon and material. We need improvements and we need them fast", Optimus stated. "Right now I am really open for suggestions", he stated with a hint of irony.

Fortress Maximus and Spike looked at each other.

"I think there is something you should see", Fortress told Optimus. "We have been working on something recently. It is not much, but maybe it will be a beginning.

"And what is it?"

"We have been working on a new form of binary bonding, we call it the powermasters."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

"He is lying", Galvatron said. "I don´t care what he claims, this so called Megatron is nothing but an impostor."

"Oh, I am sure of that", Skorponok replied casually. "I have learned a long time ago not to simply trust what somebody tells me or who he seems to be."

"Good Skorponok, I hope you keep remembering who your true allies are", Galvatron stated.

"Of course, my leader", Skorponok and Zarak replied with one voice.

He could feel Galvatron´s glance at him as he and Mindwipe walked out of the room.

"What do you think we should do now Zarak?" Mindwipe or rather Zarak´s ally Vorath out of his body, asked him after they had left the building.

Skorponok smiled. "As you know, we have already made a bid for power and failed."

"Yes", Mindwiped said sourly.

"But the only reason why it failed was the base programming that placed Galvatron into my super form to keep me from killing him. I think with Megatron we won´t have the same problem"

"I understand." Mindwipe was smiling now too.

"Yes, I think we should pay a visit to this "Megatron" and hear what he has to say."

"And if Galvatron is right about him, what if he is truly only a dangerous impostor?"

"If he turns out to be a threat, we can easily get rid of him anyway with the power we have under our control." Skorponok laughed.

xxxxxxx

Cyclonus and Scourge were on a patrol flight over the night side of Cybertron. Such high ranked Decepticons normally didn´t have to go on patrols, but it was a good oppunity to talk undisturbed.

"It is like in old time right Scourge?" Cyclonus asked.

"Yes Cyclonus, like in old times", Scourge replied far less enthusiastic. The old time, when they were someone else, had different names, like the Decepticons who had showed up a short time ago.

"We need to get prepared Scourge", Cyclonus said.

"I understand", his friend replied.

"Despite what he said, this Megatron impersonator is already trying to bring troops to his side, exactly as everyone expected him to. We need to make sure that the Decepticons stay loyal to Galvatron and we have to prepare for the confrontation."

"Yes Cyclonus, I understand", Scourge replied again, even more frustrated than before. He couldn´t help it, but the meeting with his old self had set him off.

"Do you have to repeat that the entire time?"

"Sorry, I think I am a bit distracted."

Cyclonus frowned.

"What is with you Nightstick?" He asked his nebulon partner. "Would you turn against your leader if he decides to side with the usurpers?"

"Zarak may be my leader, but I have originally decided to work for Zarak against money. And", he hesitated for a moment, "he had already made an takeover attempt against Galvatron. I have to say, since he is bonded to Skorponok, he is not longer the same. The old Zarak would have never broken his word like this."

"I understand", Cyclonus replied.

xxxxxxx

The five seekers had met in an abandoned hangar at one of the space ports in the Kaon sector. They all shared the same base design, the typical, first pyramid flier and now F15 form. Two of them however were elite warriors, while the others were only regular troops.

Thundercracker and Skywarp were in a conversation with the three other jets.

Skywing, Counterstrike and phantom were one of the many seeker trines who had been ranked behind Starscream´s former aerial elite, like they were now ranked after Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps. In their skill however, they were not far behind the elites. Their trine leader Skywing had actually once been considered one of the best air warriors on Cybertron. Megatron knew this. If this three were anything like their versions from their world they were more than worth to bring them to their side.

"You have to see that your abilities are not being appreciated", Skywarp said to them.

"Our abilities have never been appreciated, never under Megatron and not now", Skywing replied.

"You are right and Megatron knows that he had never recognized your group as you deserved. But now he offers you a important role if he would become leader again, as part of his now elite."

For a few moments, the three other seekers were visible taken aback. Then Skywing grinned.

"And why Skywarp, if you are really who you claim to be, is your leader then not here and tells us that himself? Let me guess, he is right now busy to talk with some more important group right?"

The two elites were now starring at him with open mouths.

xxxxxxx

In another part of the sector

"Astrotrain, Blitzwing and Octane, my old comrades, I remember the time we have fought together", the robot who seemed to be Megatron greeted them. "How Soundwave and Thundercracker have reactivated you after we had finally found the wreck of the nemesis, how we had discovered the island of…"

"You are not the only one who knows this old stories Megatron", Astrotrain cut him off. "Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge know all that too. So don´t try that to convince us, it won´t work."

"I see", he replied.

"What do you have to tell us?" Blitzwing asked him.

Megatron and Sideways were standing before Blitzwing, Astrotrain and Octane. The triple changers had agreed to a secret meeting with them, to at least hear what they had to say.

"I will tell it to you in short words, I plan to take back command of the Decepticon army. Galvatron can not be allowed to stay in charge", Megatron said.

"And why exactly?" Octane asked him. "Because that would mean that you would be not in charge?"

"Because Galvatron is a creation of Unicron, they can not be trusted", Megatron stated.

"And how do you know this? I thought you had been lost in space for the last seven years", Astrotrain asked him.

"As they had found us in space, Sideways here and his followers had informed us about everything what had happened in our absence. But that wasn´t even necessary", he pointed out. You know that I am right.

Remember how he had treated you from the beginning. Blitzwing, he had banished you from the Decepticons because you had teamed up with the Autobots to safe the planet and only accepted you back after an humiliating apology."

"To be honest Galvatron banished him because he was stupid enough to point a gun at him and force him to call a retreat and that after the entire problem was solved", Octane said mockingly.

"And you Octane, he put a bounty on your head and let his troops chase you through the entire sector."

"Oh, in my case it was something completely different, but let us not talk about me." he smiled.

Blitzwing glared at the other triple changer for a moment, then he answered Megatron.

"Galvatron was insane back then. Through his fall in a plasma sea, he received mental damage, but he had improved by far."

"And how do you know that he will stay like this?" Megatron asked all three of them. "How do you know if his mind won´t break and all this will start all over again? Are you even sure that it was an accident that caused Galvatron´s insanity or was it maybe a byproduct of his creation.

Are there any witnesses for his fall into a plasma sea?, only the other Unicron-designs. Don´t fool yourself, Galvatron had been corrupted by Unicron, he is unstable, dangerous."

Megatron saw that his words began to getting to them. Their conviction had visibly weakened.

"And why should we side with you instead?" Octane asked him. "Aside that two thirds of the army are thinking that you are a fake? What have you to offer to us?"

Sideways stepped for. They all looked at Megatron´s mysterious new right hand.

"I will show you what we have to offer", he said to them.

xxxxxxx

Autobot flagship

"This are our volunteers Optimus", Galen, the nebulon partner of Fortress Maximus, told him. "The Autobots Getaway, Joyride and Slapdash and three of our nebulon soldiers. They go by the code-names Rev, Hotwire and Lube."

While his nebulon partner had separated, Fortress Maximus headless body was waiting at the side of the room, a more than unsettling sight, even by the headmaster´s standards.

"And this is Hi Q, our head scientist. Galen introduced him to a bald, middle aged nebulon.

"Optimus Prime, it is an honor to meet you", the man greeted him.

"The honor is on my side Hi Q", Optimus answered the scientist. "And now tell me more about this new powermaster process you have developed."

"It is complicated", he replied", but to put it simple, in the new version of the binary bonding the humanoid partner replaces the engine of the Transformer. Aside from the usual benefits of the bonding, the greatest advantage is that the robot can function for a longer time without the need for energon."

"So warriors who can operate without a direct energy supply for some time. That would be indeed very useful, especially in our situation", Optimus pointed out.

"You are right Prime and like like the other forms of "masters", the reflexes and speed will be greatly improved."

"Optimus", Spike said now, "there is also something else we have to show you."

"And what is it?"

"We want you to become a powermaster Optimus", Hi Q told him, "and I am volunteering to become your partner."

xxxxxxx

The planet Scarvix

The shuttle with a handful of robots on board had just reached the star system. After the Quintesson attack on this world, the Autobots decided to send a small group to investigate and to offer help in the name of their leadership and the human government, as far as this was possible with the current critical situation in the war.

That was also the reason the group was very small. They were only four. But had Autobot city however already been lost when they had started, even this number would have probably been too great.

The Sparkler Minibots Fizzle, Sizzle and Guzzle had been send to do whatever they could with their limited possibilities and to try to find out about the background of this attack. Their "shuttle" was in fact one of their comrades, the fourth Autobot. Freeway was a triple changer who transformed into a black colored truck and into a space shuttle.

What they didn´t knew was that they weren´t the only ones. The Decepticons had also sent a team.

A group consisting of the Sweep Skyhound, the Battlechargers Runabout and Runamuck and the Duocons Flywheels and Battletrap had already landed on the surface.

"The Autobots are landing on this planet Galvatron", Skyhound reported to his leader per communicator.

"It was clear that they would also be curious. Such a attack is simply not typical for the Quintessons."

"Shall we destroy them mighty Galvatron?"

"No, we have problems to deal with right now. Find out everything you can and then come back as quick as possible."

xxxxxxx

New Quintessa

The judge, flanked by an two lines of guard robots, was approaching their new ally to discuss with him the last parts of their plan.

Several months back, he remembered, the Quintesson race had agreed to a partnership that was promising them not only the destruction of the Transformers and the control over Cybertron, but also a dominant position in the entire known universe.

Despite the new power they had achieved through the alliance and far more that it promised, he was filled with fear when coming close to that being.

"Ah, judge Quandriata", a deep voice greeted him, "you come to inform me about the success of our attack on Cavion city." It wasn´t an question.

"Yes, you already knew ?" the Quintesson asked.

"I do", the voice answered him, "and I can tell you that also the other factors are developing as planned."

"That is good to hear Unicron", Quandriata replied.

The Quintesson was looking right into the face of the chaos bringer. He was standing on a ramp, on top of a kilometers high framework. Unicron´s head was connected to the planet New Quintessa itself. It´s presence overshadowed the entire hemisphere.

"Soon I will be whole once more", Unicron said. "I will rise again and all our enemies, everybody, will be destroyed."

Chapter Text

"What do you have to tell me Cyclonus?" Galvatron asked his second in command.

"First, you have of course the absolute loyalty of myself and the Sweeps", Cyclonus stated.

"Of course", Galvatron repeated impatiently, "You didn´t have to tell me that, but it is still good to hear," he admitted, "continue."

"As far as I could find out, Sixshot, Trypticon, the targetmasters, the Combaticons, the Predacons, the Constructicons and a large number of the seekers are on your side."

Galvatron had to admit, some names on that list actually surprised him.

"The Constructicons don´t trust the newcomers the slightest bit and are convinced that they are all impostors", Cyclonus explained.

Galvatron heard that statement with satisfaction. "I always said that they are some of our more intelligent troops", he pointed out.

"The most nebulon partners of the target masters have also decided to choose you over Zarak", Cyclonus continued. "On Nebulos the most of them had only been enlisted citizens or hired mercenaries anyway and not true loyalists of him. To that comes that many of them are losing trust in Zarak since he had started the takeover attempt against you. They think that he is not longer the same man since he had connected himself to Skorponok. With other words, his attempt to overthrow you is backfiring badly on himself. He is losing the trust of his men and now even nebulonian troops are siding with us." Cyclonus smiled predatory.

"I understand", Galvatron replied and returned Cyclonus expression in the same manner.

"The most of the seekers are either basically loyal to you or undecided. Actually, Skywing came to me today and told me that the two of Megatron´s followers who claim to be Skywarp and Thundercracker had met his group earlier and gave them a dubious offer. And he had told me that they had threw them out. He assured me that we can count on him and his trine and pledged himself to you."

"Yes, it seems as if you need more than the face of a Decepticon leader after all to actually be one", Galvatron stated. He had actually to supress a chuckle.

"On the other side however", Cyclonus said, "they have managed to bring the to their side."

Galvatron knew that this was a serious success for the impostors. But he had to say it didn´t surprise him.

"There had been problems with this group from the beginning", he said. "Even as I had still been Megatron they had shown mutinous behavior."

"And", Cyclonus continued, laying a deeper pronouncing on what he was saying now, "What is far worse, there are rumors that Skorponok has allied himself with the impostors."

Galvatron was now actually jumping out of his seat.

"Skorponok, and I had hoped to play the two against each other. That is bad."

"In opposite to the Targetmasters, the Headmasters are Skorponok´s own troops and their Nebulon partners are Zarak´s most fanatical followers. There is no chance that we could sway any of them", Cyclonus pointed out.

"Yes I know", Galvatron replied stoically. "What about the others?"

"Soundwave´s remaining cassettes don´t really show much interest in the situation. All they truly care about are their lost comrades. After Soundwave and Rumble had been captured they, how shall I say?, have lost their drive."

"I understand."

"The Stunticons have decided to stay mostly neutral. Motormaster for his part is still completely loyal to Megatron, only that he is not quite sure at the moment who of you is the true Megatron. That is the same that can be said about most of the other troops, they are confused and don´t know what to think."

"Now, we will proof it to them very soon", Galvatron stated.

"Skorponok´s city form, the Headmasters, the triple changers and the troops this fake Megatron had already under his command, enough force to break the Decepticons in two."

And to all that came the loss of Soundwave, he thought. Galvatron cursed this damn bounty hunter who was the cause of this.

"That means the confrontation with our rivals will come sooner than we thought", he said to Cyclonus.

xxxxxxx

Autobot base Metroplex, in space between the star systems

The procedure was over, the modifications on Autobot and nebulon were finished.

Optimus Prime was standing in the hangar bay of Metroplex, on the outside looking exactly like before. But he had changed.

He was now binary bonded to a nebulon, the chief scientist Hi Q. On the edge of his own mind, he could feel the one of the humanoid who was his partner now.

Hi Q was a noble creature in his own right, intelligent, compassionate, courageous. Optimus knew that, he could sense this feelings as if it were his own.

In the final phase of the bonding they would basically become two halves of the same being, like Fortress Maximus and Skorponok already were.

"We are ready Optimus", Spike said to them. "Hi Q, you can transform."

The nebulon, who was wearing the typical exo-suit and had a number of mechanical parts implanted in his body, also a typical part of the binary bonding, was transforming and became the Autobot leader´s new engine.

Optimus felt a small power boost as the nebulon merged with him, he felt how his senses were extended, his reflexes were upgraded.

"Now you are independent from energon supplies", Galen told him, "your reflexes are faster than the most not bonded Transformers and your mental abilities are combined with the ones of your partner."

"I feel different, strange", Prime replied, "but my sensors register the upgrades you speak of."

"That is not everything", Spike pointed out. "If you check your systems, you will find another transformation sequence that we have added."

"Yes," the Autobot leader stated. "I have found it in my files."

"Good, now to finish the test run, activate the second transformation phase."

Optimus Prime transformed. In opposite to the usual way, his trailer was not transferred into subspace and vanished, it merged with him like a gestalt. One moment later his new, second robot form was standing in the middle of the room. He was now nearly two heads taller, much more massive and had two large cannons mounted on his shoulders.

Had his strength been raised a bit the last time, now his readings were breaking the scales. He realized that his raw power had increased drastically from what it had been before the Power Master process.

Spike looked at the upgraded, now even more impressive looking Optimus Prime. He remembered how he had met the Autobots the first time, back when he was only a teenager, he had been in complete awe of them.

Aliens, even more, robots from space, that was stuff only known from stories. Giant, intelligent machines that can chance their shape, that was completely unimaginable in that time.

And he and his father had been the first humans they had actually made contact with. Back then, Spike had been stunned beyond any belief. But he had found out very fast that this robots were as sentient as any human was. From their minds and their personalities they had never been that different, even if practically everything else about them was and this aliens became his friends in exactly the same way as a human being would have.

"This is fantastic", Prime whispered quietly.

"Optimus", Galen had transformed back into Fortress Maximus head and the Autobot was now addressing him somewhat reluctantly, "you should know, we have reevaluated some of your last battles and we have come to the conclusion…"

"You don´t have to tell me. I had no chance against Galvatron. The only reason that I have not been defeated is that our fight never came to an end. I could barely hold myself against that bounty hunter Death Head and about this new Megatron, I can´t say how it would have ended if we ever fought one against one. So you have decided that I simply need more power. And of course you didn´t wanted to tell me this directly"

"In short words, yes", Spike replied.

"I understand Spike, thank you, all of you", he addressed Fortress Maximus and with him Galen.

"Our main reason was of course to make the Autobots stronger as a whole" Fortress Maximus told him, "but we also wanted you to actually be a match for Galvatron."

"Yes", Optimus said, "I think now, I actually am a match for him."

xxx

In another part of Metroplex, two Decepticons were sitting in a brick cell, the large, dark blue form of Soundwave and the much smaller, human sized Rumble.

xxxxxxx

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug were still on their way through the tunnels of the underworld of Cybertron. Vector Sigma had granted their request and supplied them with information. It Has given them a basic route that they had to follow if they wanted to reach the planet´s core regions.

The blue light of the Matrix, that Hotrod was still carrying in his hands, had increased since their meeting with the super computer. That was unsettling him however was that at the same time the energy of Vector Sigma himself seemed to be dismishing. He remembered how lights on the displays were going out, monitors were getting dark, even the volume of the voice seemed to have drooped as the computer had finally send them on their way.

Hotrod had the feeling that Vector Sigma had transferred the greatest part of his energy to the Matrix and only kept an emergency resource for himself. The only question was why?

He could only think of one explanation. Vector Sigma thought that the Matrix was needed, very hurriedly needed. It had already been recovering by itself, achieving new wisdom and new power by Optimus and by himself and from every Autobot who came close to it. If Vector Sigma found it necessary to sacrifice his own strentgh only to revitalize it faster than it was already the case, it could only mean that there was a threat out there, one that was going far beyond the Decepticons.

No, the Decepticons were a part of their own people. The warrior line of the old Cybertron, disagreeing with them and going out to fulfilling their own aims by attacking and conquering others. But still a part of their species and the responsibility of the Autobots and them alone to stop them.

He remembered a conversation he, Optimus and Ultra Magnus had back then, a short time after Optimus came back to life and they were explaining him everything that had occurred in the time he was gone. One of the many things that were brought up was Magnus failed attempt to use the Matrix to fight the Decepticons off.

No, the Matrix was meant for another purpose. But that was something that barely anybody knew or understood back then, nobody except maybe the carriers of it.

They had by now reached the deeper regions of the tunnel system inside their home-world.

"So, that is it", Kup said to the others, "From this point on we have gone further than anybody has ever before into Cybertron´s underground."

"Yes", Hotrod replied, "I am aware." He turned around and looked at the other members of his group. "I don´t know what we will find down here", he said, "but I know it will be important. Believe me."

"The Matrix had told you this, right?" Ultra Magnus asked him.

"Yes and did we ever had reason not to trust the Matrix?"

"Let us go on", Magnus answered after a few seconds and they continued their way into the unknown parts of Cybertron.

xxxxxxx

The planet Chaar, Decepticon major base

The Decepticons were assembled on the planet Chaar, the members of the two factions were standing on both sides of a volcanic canyon. Hundreds of meters beneath them, in the giant rift in the ground, was flowing a stream of molten lava.

On the one side of this physical border stood the warriors who were loyal to Galvatron, on the other Megatron´s followers.

Beside Cybertron, Chaar was still the major stronghold of the Decepticons. The planet was a burned out husk, but so had Cybertron nearly been for a long time. It had no valuable resources, no energy sources by it´s own.

But being devoid of any resources didn´t keep a planet from having a strong garrison or being plastered with weapon staring bunkers and bases.

So Chaar, that had been built up into a single giant fortress in the time the Decepticons had lived here, was still one of their main worlds.

Galvatron and Megatron themselves were standing at the point where the canyon ended and the two sides met. Both were flanked by their lieutenants.

Cyclonus and Scourge stood next to Galvatron,

Starscream and Sideways with Megatron.

"I see you have not listened to my advice to keep a low profile", Galvatron addressed his rival.

"Of course not, the Decepticons are rightfully mine, I am Megatron after all."

"You are nothing but a megalomaniac impostor who had rebuild himself to look like my old self, with a few improvements", his opponent replied.

"Oh yes? By now some of your warriors seems to getting doubts about that", he said with a side glance to Blitzwing, Astrotrain and Octane and to Talon and Ripper who had joined their fellow triple changers on his side.

"That a few opportunists have sided with you won´t help you in the end", Galvatron told him.

"Really? No matter what your origins are, it won´t change something in the end. You have spend a third of your leadership either under Unicron´s control or completely insane and nobody can guaranty that you won´t return to that state anytime, you are a walking time bomb and can not be allowed to lead the Decepticons."

"I was the one who had conquered Cybertron in only seven years. I and Cyclonus had rebuild the Decepticons from rubble after Unicron. I have done more than you can even dream of.

Now, I have been thinking. A week ago, Soundwave had been captured by the Autobots after the attack of a infamous bounty hunter named Death Head. Originally we have all thought that Optimus Prime had been his target and Soundwave had been caught by accident, but what if it had been him all along? I was thinking about his mind reading abilities, I say you have hired the bounty hunter to get Soundwave out of the way because he could find out that you are a fake in a matter of seconds."

Megatron looked now a bit insecure, at least for a short moment and he saw Starscream smirking sardonically next to him. That told Galvatron enough, he had dealt with his former second´s behavior himself often enough.

"I think it is time we begin with the challenge", Megatron said then a second later, with far more self control and determination.

"Yes, you are right, it is about time."

Both of them knew that words wouldn´t solve this conflict, only a fight, a struggle for the leadership could.

Megatron and Galvatron were now getting in position, about fifty earth meters from each other, they were closely followed by Sideways and Scourge. Starscream however waited for a moment.

"I see we meet again Cyclonus", he addressed Galvatron´s second in command. "It is a pleasure to finally meet my successor in person. As I remember, the last time we met I had only been a disembodied spirit who had taken over your body", Starscream smiled at him with false friendliness, as if there was nothing bad about it.

"Correction Starscream, the last time we met you were floating helpless and damaged through space, exactly as you did it to us before. I guess that is what the humans would call poetic justice right?"

To his surprise, Starscream´s smile deepened.

"Oh yes Cyclonus, that is exactly what happened, you are completely right."

Cyclonus remembered the situation for a moment, five and a half years ago, Starscream´s alliance with Unicron to get himself restored, the Chaos Bringer´s attempt to take over Cybertron as his new body. He and Galvatron had been leading a group of Decepticons to stop them, but they came to late to make a difference anymore. The Autobots had already taken care of the situation. As he heard later, Ultra Magnus and the Protectobots had blown Unicron back into space and Starscream had been caught in the explosion too. That was the last time anybody had seen him, until he reappeared with this Megatron wannabe.

Cyclonus suddenly realized that Starscream had practically admitted to him that they were the real Skywarp and Thundercracker. He asked himself what was the meaning of all that before he and Starcream followed their leaders.

xxxxxxx

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug had by what they could tell now reached the deepest regions of Cybertron´s underworld. It was of course hard to tell since the place they were in was completely unknown.

The small tunnels they had been walking in earlier were now replaced with a bride corridor.

Suddenly they realized something. The ground beneath their feet had changed. It was softer, not longer metallic.

"What is that?" Hotrod asked.

Goldbug bowed down and felt the ground. He lifted a bit of it up and took it in his hand.

"Earth, soil", he told them.

"Here on Cybertron", Kup replied, "that is completely impossible."

"Call it like you want", Goldbug answered, "this is the ground of a organic planet."

"What you see here my children is the remains of life that existed once on Cybertron." A voice haled suddenly through the room. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. A voice that Hotrod all too well recognized.

"You", he called out, "I remember you. It was you who told me once that the Quintessons were the once who had created the Transformers, at the time when my mind had traveled into the Matrix."

"A particular truth, but not the entire one. It really were the Quintessons who had build the Transformers of today, but that doesn´t mean that there didn´t exist any before", the voice answered, "back then however, you had not been ready for the entire truth."

"It was also your voice that told me and Optimus to come to this place. You were talking to us through the Matrix."

"The Matrix and me are one", the voice replied.

"You are Primus", Hotrod said. It wasn´t a question, he knew it.

"The ancient god of Cybertron?" Kup asked him confused.

"I am", the voice simply confirmed.

Primus was a legend, exactly like the Chaos Bringer and the thirteen Primes. He knew that the other ones were real. It wasn´t hard to realize that Primus would exist too and it wasn´t much of a stretch that they would find him down here.

Even without the Matrix backing him up, he could have figured that out.

"I have called for you because you are now ready to know the entire truth, I knew either you or Optimus would come. And now you need to know everything."

"Then tell us", Hotrod said to him.

"Follow this corridor to it´s end, then we will talk."

After about three earth minutes more of walking they reached a hall, it was one of the largest they had ever seen, even on Cybertron, dozens of miles wide. They saw to their astonishment that plants of different kinds they had never seen before were growing on the ground and at the walls.

In the middle of this hall was a road, made of the metal that was normally usual for Cybertron. A few miles from them, at the end of this pathway, they saw a unknown machinery standing. The four Autobots transformed and drove towards it.

xxx

As they had reached the device, they saw that it had to be some ancient form of a holo projector.

In the empty room before them, appeared suddenly a giant face, a face that, apart from the colors, had a striking resemblance to Hotrod´s own.

"Welcome Chosen One", Primus greeted him again.

Hotrod transformed. "You said you wanted to tell me everything", he said to him, "then tell me."

The others changed into robot mode too and joined him, ready to listen.

"Yes Primus, we all are ready to listen to what you want to tell us", Kup agreed.

"Very well my child. I will tell you the story of Cybertron´s origin and of your race and of your relatives." That part of his statement confused the Autobots a bit, but Primus or whoever this being was had already continued to talk. Anyway, they were sure that he would explain to them who this "relatives" were.

"As many of you knew from the legend there had once been two beings, myself and the Chaos Bringer, who later became Unicron like you know him today. We were beings, not made from metal or flesh but from pure energy. Many referred to us as gods."

The hologram changed and Primus face was now replaced with a picture of two giant glowing beings. One of them was obviously Primus, while they were able to recognize the winged form of the other one as Unicron.

"But we were in our nature the exact opposite from each other", Primus continued, "Unicron was from the beginning possessed by something that, in your words, can only be described as a hunger, a greed to destroy all beings in existence but himself. He tried to destroy the universe and I fought to stop him, I tried to protect the first life forms. That was our nature.

In our first battle, we fought in our original forms. But I wasn´t able to defeat him in combat, he was too destructive, too violent, everything I tried to protect was threatened to be destroyed by our fight. So I tricked him. I pretended to flee, but then I turned around and attacked him mentally. I separated our minds from our bodies and trapped both of us in two meteoroids. Our original forms were destroyed in the process, only our minds, our essence had survived.

I was imprisoned by my own decision, but at least Unicron was gone too."

"All that tells us the legend", Hotrod replied. "I also told us that you reshaped your meteoroid into the planet of Cybertron that we live on now. All this", he gestured with his arm in a circle, "is you."

"That is true. Both, me and Unicron have the ability to reform matter on a molecular level. Over the eons, I formed Cybertron and Unicron reformed his prison into a giant world destroying machine like you have seen it. Cybertron is my new body, but it is only my shell, my soul, my spark, is somewhere else."

"The Matrix", Hotrod said.

"Yes, the Matrix and Vector Sigma. To defeat Unicron the next time, I gave up my physical existence completely, I became a legend, a myth. First I reshaped my meteoroid prison not into a new body, but a inhabitable planet. I created the Matrix as a weapon against Unicron and placed the greatest part of my life energy into it. The rest flew into Vector Sigma, a intelligent computer that is able to create living machines.

I forged the Matrix as a energy collector for the life energy of the robots that Vector Sigma or myself produced, so that their sparks wouldn´t be lost even if they died but always returned to me."

The Autobots starred in amazement of the picture of the creator of their world.

"But I didn´t stop there. In the beginning, I didn´t create only robots, I also gave life to organic beings and to a mixture of both of them, cyborgs or transorganics you would call them today. I tried out many variations."

"What happened to this life forms?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"I will come to that part of the story now. You should know, at first I created only 13 beings, all robots, the first Transformers. All of them were what you call Prime´s. They were what was later be called my 13 original creations.

As I began to create more life, they became the leaders of all of them. To solve the energy need of my new children, this 13 created under my guidance a device that was called the plasma energy chamber, that could be used to destroy the suns of lifeless star systems and collect the energy of the super novae. The energy was used to creature even more new life or sampled for our coming battle."

At this statement, Hotrod and the others looked more than shocked. A device that could blow stars up.

"But I knew all that time that Unicron had given himself a new form by then. And that it was only a question of time until he would attack. But as his attack finally came, something happened that I had not foreseen." Primus voice now sounded obviously sad and haunted, as if he was remembering something very painful from his past.

The hologram changed again and showed now the form of a large robot, a Prime, flying in space before the giant form of Unicron´s robot mode. Hotrod knew who he was as well.

"Unicron, Unicron hear me", the robot said loudly.

Despite that the words were spoken in an ancient language, the four Autobots could somehow understand them.

"State your business child of Primus", Unicron replied. "Why have you contacted me? Why should I even talk to a creation of my ancient enemy?"

Unicron knew exactly why the robot came to him, he could see it on his mind, but that wasn´t enough. He should say it out loud, he should actually say the words.

"Unicron, in the years of my existence, I have watched the universe around us, the one that our creator Primus wants us to protect with our lives. I have observed it and the creatures that inhabited it for a long time and I came to one realization. This universe and the life in it is flawed, it is weak, limited and inferior. It is unworthy of our protection or to even exist in the first place. This universe should be completely eradicated and rebuild in a better image.

I have seen now that your way is the only right one. Please Unicron", he waited for a moment before he said the word full of conviction, "master, accept me as your servant and your ally."

After a few moments Unicron replied.

"I hear your offer and I accept it with pleasure."

"One of my creations sided with Unicron against me", Primus said in the present, many millions of years later.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Planet Scarvix

The Sparkler Minibots and their single comrade had landed in the middle of the destroyed ruins of what had once been a city. They were standing in the devastated area next to one of the large craters of the blast and missile impacts.

"There is really nothing left", Fizzle stated.

"The Quints destroyed the entire town, they hit other parts of the planet too, but here they had completely eradicated everything", Freeway explained.

"We have to search the areas that are still halfway intact", Sizzle offered.

They transformed, two sports-cars, a tank and Freeway´s truck mode and they began to drive to the outer parts of the city, the regions that were less destroyed. With the goal to find survivors or at least a sign that suggested what was the cause of the attack.

Since shortly after their landing, they had been monitored by the Decepticon group.

"We could easily take them out", Runabout told them. "Their outnumbered and they don´t know we are here."

"We have direct instructions from Galvatron not to try anything like that", the Sweep Skyhound replied. "For now at least we shall leave the Autobots alone."

"Why not?" Flywheels asked. "We practically have them cornered."

"Galvatron wants us avoiding fighting the Autobots for now. He didn´t tell me much, but it seems there is some other problem back home, something serious and he wants to finish this first before to deal with them again."

"What kind of problem? What is happening?"

"I don´t know, he didn´t want to tell me any more. However, he did give us the authority to make a temporally truce with this group of Autobots, at least far as we investigate here."

"So that instead of blowing them away", Battletrap commented.

"At least until we find out what has happened on this planet", the Sweep replied. "We will make contact with the Autobots and get along with them until we leave this world again. I will call them now, any objections?" Nobody said anything.

"Back on Cybertron is obviously something going on", Flywheels said to his partners, "something important."

xxxxxxx

Chaar, Decepticon Fortress World

The opponents stood against each other at the fighting place of the two rivaling groups on Chaar. Like many times before in Decepticon history it was a fight for the leadership. Their culture had many forms of this kind of power struggles. Direct Duals between two rivals, a all out fight between a larger group of possible candidates or even battles of entire armies.

In this case the two parties who were now standing a few kilometers from each other had decided that the fight should be between the two leaders and their closest lieutenants. It was a variation where the combat was not only decided by the leaders alone, but also by their best warriors.

This meant Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge against Megatron, Starscream and Sideways.

Assembled to both sides of the fighting place where the Sweeps, the targetmasters, the Combaticons, Sixshot, the Constructicons, a dozen seekers and the Predacons on the one side. They were the Decepticons loyal to Galvatron

And Skywarp, Thundercracker, the triple changers, the Seacons and Sideways mercenary team on the other.

Zarak and his headmaster troops had decided to stay formally neutral and wait in a greater distance from the battlefield. No wonder, Galvatron thought, the programs the Constructicons had placed into Skorponok´s new body kept him from challenging him directly.

The Stunticons, who hadn´t clearly chosen one side, were send to earth for now, until this confrontation would have been decided, as were Soundwave´s remaining cassettes. And of course the Duocons and the Battlecharger were still on their out-worldly mission on Scarvix.

The Terrorcons who were also without a clear alliance on the other hand were standing next to the other Decepticons, beside the members of the two parties. They simply claimed that they would follow the victor. Everybody knew that the only reason they were even here was to watch the fight and hopefully to see some destruction.

Under Megatron´s followers were also a group of robots who nobody would have expected to ever side against their current leader, Sweeps. A half dozen robots from the same model as Galvatron´s own guard. The only visible difference was that the armor of this Sweeps was black instead of the usual blue. It was a shock for everybody as they had seen this group for the first time. The Sweeps were both created and indoctrinated for absolute loyalty towards Galvatron. But it seemed even that had it´s limits.

It was known now that all of this Sweeps except one were only mindless drones, all except the leader. But that one of their so called "absolutely loyal" soldiers turned against them in such a way was already bad enough for the Sweeps, a serious blow to their moral.

Galvatron remembered, six years ago, a short time after he had been reactivated after Unicron´s defeat. He, Cyclonus and the Sweeps had been hunting two Autobots who had escaped from an earth defense platform that they had destroyed. Driven insane by Unicron´s influence and the time lying in the molten plasma, he had cared about nothing anymore but destruction. He had been in a mad rage and left one of the Sweeps behind for certain death as he attacked the Autobots.

Only that this Sweep obviously didn´t die. It was a old mistake, coming back to him.

But he had to concentrate on the here and now. Back then he had been insane, now he was not, back then he didn´t knew what he was doing, now he did.

xxx

At the same time Megatron had similar thoughts as his counterpart. He saw this universe versions of Ramjet, Dirge and Thrust under the opposing group, the Constructicons and the Combaticons. There were warriors he had met only once or twice on Cybertron and also faces that he had never seen before.

He could not believe how many of his old comrades had chosen Galvatron, a Unicron creation, over him.

But he had to remember this were not his old comrades. It were identical quantum doubles of them, their selves in this reality. Here was everything different, none of them had experiences the same things that he, Skywarp and Thundercracker had.

None of them had even a reason to believe that he was who he claimed to be.

And Galvatron? As much as he hated to admit it, was a version of himself, his memories, his experiences and abilities. He could still barely grasp the thought that Unicron in this reality had used his body and his spark to create an unicronian.

He knew Unicron, he remembered how his creations attacked Decepticon and Autobot alike, how he had destroyed his home-world, his Cybertron, how he had reprogrammed and brainwashed Transformers into his obedient slaves and used them to hunt down and destroy the survivors.

Megatron looked in Galvatron´s eyes, who stood a few meters before him. He didn´t want to think what Unicron might have done with this version of his own mind.

That was the reason this robot couldn´t be allowed to continue to lead the Decepticons. He didn´t do this only for his own power, not completely at least, he did it for the best of everybody. They would win this day, he knew it. He had made preparations to make sure that they would step from this place as the winners.

Hungrr stepped forward. As a member of a neutral party the Terrorcon leader had been chosen to give the signal for the beginning of the fight. He raised his gun into the air and fired a single shot.

In the same moment the signal was given both Megatron and Galvatron, thinking very alike, raised their weapons up and fired. Both evaded the blasts without greater problems, Galvatron´s hit the ground a few hundred meters from them and Megatron´s went up to the air.

Cyclonus, Scourge and Starscream transformed into their jet modes and flew up into the sky.

Sideways activated his combat systems and searched for his first target.

xxxxxxx

Autobot base Metroplex

Metroplex had returned to earth by now, close to the place where the burned down remains of Autobot city were standing. The Autobots had decided to use both their city robots as mobile bases for their troops that can be placed where ever it was necessary for the war effort. Similar like the Decepticons did it after they had lost Cybertron.

Inside the prisoner complex Soundwave and Rumble were sitting at different sides of their cell. The Autobot Jazz who had been asking them questions for hours now, stood in the middle between them. Both had been interrogated several times by now, without any mentionable outcome.

Soundwave had literally not said a single word since he was here, in a matter how only he it could and while Rumble actually was speaking from time to time, there was absolutely nothing useful under it.

Optimus Prime in his new powermaster form was standing outside the cell, flanked by Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, watching the progress of the interrogation of the two prisoners or rather the lack of it.

"Look", Rumble said, "whatever is going on on Cybertron, we know nothing about it. It must have started after we got trapped here." Soundwave as always staid silent.

Jazz finally left the room. Behind him the forcefield that locked the cell was activated again. He and Optimus were walking back to the other areas of the base.

"What Rumble says is obviously true Jazz", the Autobot leader stated. "The other group of Decepticons was only getting active after they had already been captured. There is no reason that they would know something about them."

"I think you are right and since this new Megatron, whoever he truly is, is challenging Galvatron now all the plans they had are now probably in question. That means the entire information we could get from them is out of date."

"You have realized the situation", Optimus replied.

"But when the two groups are competing with each other right now, it would be the perfect moment to strike."

"I wish I could agree with you Jazz, but as distracted as the Decepticons are right now, we are in a far worse situation. We have lost both Cybertron and Autobot city in only a few months, a large number of our warriors have died and our supply ways have to be completely rebuild. No, we are in no condition to strike and we need this break from the hostilities probably more than the Decepticons do. In that way this power struggle is in fact a luck for us."

Jazz didn´t reply. He wished it were different, but he could not see anything wrong with Optimus analyses. Right now they were lucky if they could actually defend the places the are currently holding, not even talking about attacking.

"To that comes that we are still waiting to hear from Hotrod, Ultra Magnus and the others. If everything is going as planned, we should in the next days."

"Is it possible that something had happened to them?" Jazz asked.

"If it was something serious we would know", Optimus replied.

"How?"

"Trust me. Come with me. I will show you something."

They were walking for a few minutes trough the halls of Metroplex before they arrived in the main lounge. Under several Autobots and humans who were sitting at different sized tables and chairs were also sitting two nebulons who Optimus was addressing right now.

Hotrod and Kup had been two of the Autobots who had volunteered for the targetmaster process. For their current mission however they had left their partners behind for practical reasons. Even binary bonded humanoids were not independent from water and food. And carrying supply around while traveling through the interior of a metal planet was simply too much of a back-hold, so the nebulons had decided to wait here.

And here in Metroplex their presence actually fulfilled a purpose. From the free variants of binary bonding, the targetmasters were the loosest. The partners were the most independent from each other and could basically function apart as easily as together. While the headmasters were the closest variant and the candidates became basically two halves of the same being.

But even for the targetmasters there was still a mental connection and if one partner was killed or at least seriously hurt, the other would recognize this. For this reason were the nebulons who called themselves Firebolt and Recoil were stationed here. Should something happen to Hotrod´s expedition, Optimus would instantly hear of it. The two nebulons were sitting at one of the humanoid sized tables and turned their gaze to the Autobot leader and Jazz as they saw them coming.

"Firebolt", Optimus greeted him. "Is there something new about the expedition?"

The nebulon was silent for a moment.

"As far as I can tell Optimus at least Hotrod is completely alright", the man told him.

"I understand", he replied.

"I see", Jazz stated. "Then we will probably hear from them soon."

"Yes and at least for so long we should wait. If Hotrod and me are right and there is another threat out there we will surely need what they will find."

"You think you know what they will find down there right?"

"Yes Jazz, I think I have a good idea."

xxxxxxx

Cyclonus and Starscream were caught in a short air fight.

Galvatron´s second had strength and firepower that rivaled that of a Prime. Starscream hoped however that his speed and agility would give him a fighting chance against his opponent. But he found out very quick that Cyclonus speed was not far from his own. He could easily hold up to him in their air.

During his time as the Air Commander Starscream was the fastest air warrior on Cybertron. But this, like so many other things, was a generation ago.

Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps were designed mainly for space combat, with a far greater speed as any regular seeker.

Maybe, maybe Starscream was still a bit faster than his enemy, but maybe, as much as he hated to admit it, it may also be the other way around.

In any way, it didn´t even made a difference in this fight. If all factors were put together, Starscream was simply outmatched. After the short match in jet form was over and both Decepticons had transformed back into robot mode, he tried to get around the other robot and attack him from behind, but his opponent managed to grab him in the air and threw him to the ground.

One moment later Cyclonus had his gun pointed at him. But before he had the chance to fire, a blast struck him in the side. Starscream realized that Sideways had gotten involved and was now taking over his fight.

So far the other robot had only exchanged a few shots from a long distance with Scourge.

"Cyclonus", Sideways addressed the Decepticon second. "maybe you should fight me?"

"Sideways", Cyclonus said.

"Yes, I have heart much of you. You are said to be an example of loyalty and competence", Sideways said mockingly. "You should even have supported your leader in his own rebellion against his master Unicron."

"Unicron was never our master", Cyclonus replied. "He was only a creature that took advantage of our temporally weakness."

"Oh really? Now we will see how weak you are after this fight." Sideways fired his weapon at him and barely missed.

Starscream looked angrily at the two fighting robots. Sideways had taken his place in the battle without even bothering to ask him. Once again he was treated as nothing but a lackey, a slave.

He turned around to Scourge and then to Galvatron. Then he fired a few shots in Scourge´s direction. All of them missed, missed on purpose.

For a moment he considered switching sides, now.

He thought about everything. Then he remembered all that happened. He had been the one behind the plot to have Megatron, his Megatron, Skywarp, Thundercracker and the others thrown out of Astrotrain, he had controlled Cyclonus and tried to use him to assassinate Galvatron and he had allied himself with Unicron to overtake Cybertron. True, he had betrayed him in the end, but beside him and Unicron himself nobody knew that.

Galvatron had killed him, actually killed him, reduced his body to ash. Without the mysterious mutation of his spark he would be gone. Since then, he had tried to kill him all over again whenever they met. And to that came all that was before Galvatron´s reformation by Unicron.

No, Galvatron and Cyclonus would never accept him back, simply too much had already happened between them. It would be better to get the unicronians out of the way and then hope that later would come a better chance.

His time would come. He took aim and fired at Scourge again and this time he was aiming to hit.

xxx

Galvatron and Megatron were stuck in hand to hand combat. They exchanged blows and for the moment, tried to test their opponent. It was a match, not only between two very similar fighters, but between identical ones.

"It seems I have underestimated you", Galvatron stated. He began to have a very bad feeling about this enemy. It was his fighting style, his moves, some of them he had invented himself. As much as he refused to admit it, this was not a simple impostor. Somehow this was Megatron.

"I could say the same for you", the other Decepticon replied.

Both had the same fighting style, a similar way to think and nearly the same experiences. But there was still one difference. As much as Megatron´s new body was an upgrade to the old one, in raw strength Galvatron was still stronger than him and he decided to show it.

He grabbed one of Megatron´s arms and pressed it with all his force. The metal was actually denting under his grip. He lifted his rival up into the air and held him over his head.

"Do you see now who you are dealing with?" Galvatron shouted and then he simply threw him hundreds of meters through the air. He landed hard on the surface of Chaar.

"Yes, I see who I am dealing with", he replied and transformed into his tank mode.

Through the damage it hurt to transform but he did it anyway. He fired several shots at Galvatron from the distance, who evaded the blasts by flying and returned the fire.

xxx

Cyclonus and Sideways were at the same time dealing heated strikes to each other. This two had been fighting in the air while Megatron and Galvatron were of the ground. They were circling each other and waited for the next move of their enemy.

Finally Cyclonus activated his EM-blasts, an electromagnetic weapon that Unicron had provided him with, hoping to take his enemy by surprise.

These he had used years ago to drag the Autobot Ultra Magnus back into a ship after he had been blown out into space, back then when they had both been kidnapped by the Quintessons.

Now he activated it´s full power against Sideways and as he saw, he hit him directly in the chest. This direct hit would short circuit his systems, damage his machinery. It would not kill him completely but damage him severely, leave him weak and disoriented. He had landed a direct hit and

nothing. Sideways was flying directly before him as if nothing happened, the EM-blast had no effect on him. From surprise Cyclonus was frozen for a moment and in that time a blast from Sideways had struck him into the shoulder.

"No Cyclonus", Sideways murmured, "it is not that easy. I know your designs all too well."

xxx

Galvatron charged downwards at Megatron. He had evaded the shots of his opponent and was now counter-attacking.

Megatron had transformed back into robot mode and was awaiting him.

Galvatron landed directly next to him and attacked.

Megatron tried to get into an ankle where he could aim his fusion cannon at his foe and at the same time tried to shoot him with his hand blaster, but Galvatron did everything to prevent that and held his arm in an iron grip.

xxx

Cyclonus fell to the ground, his damaged shoulder was burning and his opponent landed directly beside him.

"Nightstick", he shouted to his nebulon partner. The humanoid who was before hiding in his cockpit area was flying into the air, transforming into his gun and landed automatically in his hands.

Sideways tried to react but Cyclonus was far faster than a usual Decepticon. Before he had a chance, he had aimed his gun and shot him into the stomach. The next two blasts hit him straight into the chest and were burning a smoking hole through his body.

Sideways destroyed form fell to the ground.

xxx

One of Starscream´s shots had hit Scourge and caused light damage to him, but not enough to slow him down significantly. The Sweep transformed and flew up in the air, winning a greater distance from his enemy, before turning around and attacking him from above.

After the disastrous fight with Cyclonus Starscream had hoped that he could deal with this opponent better. His hopes however were quickly dismantled. In the air Scourge was just as fast as Cyclonus, he transformed back into robot mode and began shooting at the old Air Commander in return.

To Starscream´s horror Scourge had drawn his gun faster than he had ever thought it possible. A shot hit him in the wing and caused nearly unbearable pain. He could barely believe it. The targetmaster process, he remembered, the reflexes were greatly improved. How much of a difference did this process made? He thought.

As long as he had been a warrior, Starscream had always taken pride in one fact, Megatron may have been the best ground warrior, other may have more firepower, be bigger and stronger, but he was the fastest, he was the best air warrior on Cybertron, maybe in the galaxy. Like Megatron was the champion on the ground, he was in the sky.

And now he felt how this pride was shattered to dust. Outdated, that was all what he was, he tried not to admit it to himself. But even a spineless lackey like Scourge could easily match him in the air now, in his home-ground.

He had already lost his position, his freedom, temporary his life and now he had to realize that his abilities no longer had meaning anymore.

xxx

Cyclonus walked away from the dead body of his opponent. He was now watching the fights of his comrades. Galvatron had his enemy clearly in the defensive and Starscream was in an disadvantage against Scourge, especially as a targetmaster.

"We are winning", he said to Nightstick.

"Yes Cyclonus", the nebulon replied, "it looks good."

Suddenly they heard a sound behind them and turned around. There they saw that Sideways corpse was somehow standing up again. The obviously dead robot was somehow moving by itself. Then the darkened eyes came back to life.

Cyclonus saw that the wounds on his body were somehow repairing themselves in a impossible speed. For a moment, both he and his nebulon were frozen in shock.

"That is impossible", he called out, the same words were mirrored by Nightstick.

In this time, Sideways had already aimed his weapon and fired. Two blasts hit Cyclonus directly in the center of his body. He staggered back before he went to his knees. He realized that he was close to the lave river that separated this area into two, he couldn´t draw back and that he couldn´t fly anymore.

"You have actually won Cyclonus, congratulation", Sideways stated, "but it doesn´t mean anything."

With another strike send his opponent down into the lave. Cyclonus was falling. In the last moments he realized that they had completely misjudged this enemy. But who could have anticipated something like that?

xxx

Galvatron had also seen what happened and like everyone else in the audience he was shocked. Megatron used the chance to rip his arm free and shoot him from a short distance with his hand-blaster. That brought the other´s mind back to his enemy and he answered by punching him hard in the face.

xxx

The Black Sweep Carnage had been watching the fight from the sidelines. He had to admit it would be a great pleasure for him to see Galvatron go down. Six years ago of course it was different. He had been as completely loyal as any other Sweep, before he had left him to die.

It were Sideways and his followers who had found him and gave him his new form. Since then he had been serving his new master. With the help of the Quintessons they had created their new army of mindless drones and put it under his command. For now they were supposedly serving Megatron, but always ready to strike at the order of their true master.

Right now however it was going against Galvatron. Two small groups were standing very close to the fighters, on the one side the five Sweeps present, the normal Sweeps and on the other, himself, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Doomsday and Snap Trap. Five supporters for every side. It was one of the unwritten laws for this fight.

Should one of the sides break the rules, this ten warriors had the right to interfere. And as it looked, the Sweeps considered undead fighters on the battlefield a breaking of the rules. A few seconds after they had seen what happened, after they had recovered from their shock, they transformed into their hovercraft modes and were now charging at the battlefield.

And like Cyclonus they didn´t knew what they were dealing with. But their attack gave the other group the right to interfere too.

Sideways saw the five Sweeps coming, flying in to them in precise formation. His face turned into a wicked smile. Before they were even in firing position, something happened.

A terrible pain ripped through all their systems, their vision was replaced by red light. Pain receptors, place into them in the moment of their recreation by Unicron were suddenly activated. They couldn´t think, they couldn´t feel anything beside the piercing pain.

Some of their systems were already shutting down through the shock. They all were losing control and were starting to go down. Some were falling into the lave, others were crashing in the area in some distance away.

Galvatron saw that was happening and he had only one thought in his mind, no.

xxx

Carnage had now joined the attack. He took aim at Scourge, who was currently fighting with Starscream and shot him in the back. The Sweep leader fell down, but the former Air Commander only turned around and gave him an angry glance. He obviously didn´t like it that he was interrupting his fight.

Then however he decided to turn around and take care of Scourge instead, pushing him to Cyclonus into the lava.

xxx

"You are losing", Megatron said to the Decepticon leader, who was now surrounded by enemies.

"You idiot", Galvatron called out, "do you even know what is happening here? Do you know who…"

Before he could say another word, one of Megatron´s followers had already fired at him. He was falling back and getting greater distance between himself and his enemies.

Sideways shot him directly into the chest and Galvatron fell. The damage was too much even for him.

"My "leader", Sideways said to Megatron, "may I have the honor?"

"You were the one who brought him down", he answered, secretly slightly ashamed that he didn´t manage to defeat his enemy by himself, "you can finish him off."

What does it matter? Megatron thought. This needed to be done, but he was not the one who had really defeated him, so he had no right to do this anyway.

Sideways bowed down before the damaged Decepticon and talked quietly to him.

"You see Galvatron", he said, "it is all going to my plan." But it wasn´t in his usual voice.

This one was deeper and far more menacing, a voice Galvatron would recognize everywhere.

Nobody beside themselves was able to hear their conversation.

"You", he yelled.

"Yes."

"I will never leave the Decepticons to you, I will find a way to stop you", he said.

"No, you have already lost", Sideways replied, "you and everybody else here. They only doesn´t know it yet."

He picked Galvatron up over his head and carried him for several meters.

"I will allow you for now to continue existing, so that you can see how everything perish."

With this words he threw him down into the lave sea.

In the seconds the Decepticon leader was falling, he realized that he had indeed lost.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

Metroplex, earth

One Autobot was sitting at the end of an large conference table inside of one of Metroplex interrogation rooms and was telling three others, who were placed in opposite to him, the story about the last years of his life.

"It was the day Unicron attacked earth. Our home-world Cybertron had at that time already perished before at his hands", he was explaining to them.

"It had only been one shot, only a single impulse from both of Unicron´s eye lasers. Two particle blasts with far more firepower than anything we had or anything we could build.

One of them hit the American west-coast. It eradicated not only Autobot city and the over 90 robots inside, but everything in nearly 100 kilometers around it. All of the state Oregon was turned into a giant glowing crater. The impact that had happened in a already geologically unstable area and was followed by a line of earthquakes that caused devastation all over the planet.

Parallel to that the other blast went down somewhere in the pacific and caused tsunamis that hit the coasts of the American continent and east Asia. Nearly 200 million humans died on a single day. And that was only the first day of the attack", the robot sitting at the end of the table before them described his memories. He explained it to them as if it was common knowledge that everybody should be informed about and where he came from it was.

The three who were listening to his story were Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader, his temporary second in command Jazz and the Autobot Mirage. They were all hearing the scenario that their new guest was explaining to them. It was nothing that they would even want to imagine. What he was telling them was nothing else than a nightmare.

In the history he was describing to them Unicron had won. He had successfully destroyed Cybertron and built up an army of his creations, programmed and brainwashed into his willing pawns. Earth and several other planets had been overrun, the Transformers reduced to a few fleeing survivors, the human race to more than a half wiped out.

Optimus Prime and Hotrod, Rodimus Prime were in this world long dead.

Only a few days ago this new Autobot had been found by one of the patrol groups in the area close to Metroplex. He had suddenly appeared on their scanners, seemingly out of nowhere. The Bots who had found him brought him to the base.

Then he had started to explain who he was and where he came from. As he had told them he had just arrived on this planet recently, or more precisely in their universe.

Actually this robot was at the first look not a stranger at all. The newcomer was in fact an exact copy of their old friend Prowl. They all tried hard not to stare at him.

Even Optimus Prime felt a bit insecure in his presence.

The famous Autobot tactician, one of his own old lieutenants from the Ark crew, had died in the first battle of Autobot city, over seven years ago. They had found his corpse, they had buried him.

As if he was the one to talk, Optimus thought. He had after all himself been dead for two years.

But there was a difference. While his body had been resurrected by the Quintessons, his mind had returned from the Matrix after it had been reconnected to him. This on the other hand was a dead robot, a friend who had suddenly returned without an explanation.

But he had given an explanation, Optimus remembered and it explained really a lot. The other Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker, sudden appearance, how they and Galvatron can exist at the same time and why he was here, his motivations.

He and his men came from a parallel universe, one that had been very similar to their own, until a few years ago. Then things have taken a turn to the worse there, really to the worse. They were refugees.

"You Optimus Prime", the double of Prowl told them now, "are in my world long dead." He looked quite insecure as he said this. Normally this was completely untypical for the Prowl they remembered. "A long time before Unicron ever attacked us directly, before we even knew anything about his existence, he had send out agents to prepare for his coming. Years ago our Optimus Prime was one of the first to fall in their earliest attacks."

Optimus showed no visible reaction as he heard the story about his counterpart´s fate, but at the inside he felt more than a bit unsettled.

"Not only you but also the Matrix had been lost", Prowl continued. "Our best and probably only way to stop him was gone, but we didn't even knew this at that point. Unicron began to capture Transformers and change them into his own creations. Over the time the reformed robots were brainwashed and reprogrammed to absolute loyalty to him", Prowl continued. "He used for example Insecticons as the base for the group he called the Sweeps.

In the earth year 2006 Unicron attacked Cybertron. First he devoured the moons before he turned to the planet directly. He destroyed the Decepticon army, their fleet and the Autobot resistance forces at the same time. And not only them, the technicians and civilians of both sides, the empties and neutrals, the entire population. He ripped our home-world to pieces and consumed the remains.

Then, only a few weeks later, followed the assault on earth I have told you about. With a single strike he won and sent the planet into a global disaster.

A short time later Unicron´s creations invaded earth. The planet was still in chaos at that point. The most Autobots were already dead and the human forces had been decimated by the destruction caused by the earthquakes and the floods. There was only little resistance at all. The unicronians as we called them now first attacked the remaining major cities, the one that were not completely destroyed yet and burned them down."

"You had allied yourself with the surviving Decepticons", Optimus pointed out.

"Of course we did. What other choice did we have in this situation anyway? But it the end it didn´t make a difference. There were so few of us left.

To that came that the Sweeps possessed a similar replicating ability as their Insecticon "ancestors", in fact even an improved version of it. In the beginning there had only been a few of them, but then they started to clone a nearly unlimited number of themselves. They leveled entire towns to use them as raw materials for new copies.

We tried to fight back, we allied ourselves with Megatron and his last warriors, but we had no chance. For the last five years we had to see how the last of us and the human race were hunted down and systematically destroyed, how Unicron continued his way through our galaxy and consumed other planets, one after the other, how his creatures took over neighboring worlds and raided them like the did with earth to strengthen their own forces. The Decepticons were actually cooperating with us, but it was simply not enough. Our people were dieing while the enemy was constantly growing in strength. "

The Prowl they remembered barely showed his emotions. His actions had always been dictated by logic and strategy. This version of their old friend however showed openly his grieve about what had happened in his world. And that alone told everybody who had really known this Autobot that the situation he was talking about had been serious.

"And so it continued. We were losing the war. Step by step we and our human allies were being exterminated.

Then a few months ago Megatron and a group of his closest allies suddenly vanished. For years he had been working with us, but at that time something had changed. Our few remaining Decepticon allies were gone. Megatron had obviously given up the alliance, but we didn´t knew why. We investigated and tried to find out what happened.

What we found out was this, Megatron came to this universe. He had somehow discovered a new form of technology that allowed him to travel to parallel dimensions, like this one. By the information we have it seems that he had been in contact with someone from your world for some time and that they were planning something."

`In contact with someone from your world and that they were planning something´, alone this words were enough to give the Autobots a bad feeling.

"That are some interesting news Prowl and not very comforting", Optimus said to him. "Megatron had made himself known to us a few weeks ago. He and his followers destroyed the Earth base on Mars and our version of Autobot city. As far as we know he is right now on Cybertron and involved in some coup attempt against Galvatron. He is pretending to be the Megatron from our world who has returned to take leadership."

"Galvatron?"

"You remember that we have told you that the unicronians in our world have resisted Unicron´s control and have managed to free themselves from him. They are now still part of the Decepticons in this universe."

"Yes but, their leader, Megatron himself?"

"Megatron, now Galvatron, was one of the Decepticons Unicron had recreated", Jazz confirmed to him.

"That would explain a lot", Prowl admitted, "in first line why he would be part of such an questionable take-over attempt. As you can imagine nobody in our universe trusts Unicron´s creations or likes them in any way. There is no way that Megatron would accept a unicronian as the Decepticon leader, even if this unicronian was himself."

"And how do you think about this matter?" Optimus asked him.

"Optimus, I generally trust your judgement and as you know I have just arrived in this world a few days ago, so I am not exactly fit to build an opinion here. If you say this unicronians are normal, at least normal for Decepticons, I will trust you in this."

That sounded very much like the Prowl they knew, Optimus thought, always a logical mind who didn´t let his emotion get in the way of his decisions. There was a reason that the group that interrogated him consisted of Prowl´s old comrades from the Ark. They hoped to see it if this person was really who he claimed to be.

Yes, counted in the terrible experiences of this version of their old friend, he actually seemed to be the same person. The story he had given them was of course very fantastic. They were aware of parallel universes. Once some of them had even landed in one of them per accident. But that randomly people were appearing from another dimension was hard to accept, even for them.

Prowl however had shown them examples of the technology that had send him here and demonstated how it worked. As far as they could tell it was a variation of Galvatron´s new transwarp engine.

"I understand Prowl", Optimus answered. "I believe the information you have given us is very important. Now we will see how we can make the best out of it."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

Megatron the new and in some sense the old leader of the Decepticons was having a conference with his new officers. Many of them, to say it lightly, were not exactly reacting well to some of the latest events.

Skorponok was currently standing in the middle of the throne-room and was loudly stating his concerns.

That was to some degree the admittedly questionable victory that Megatron and his followers had gained in the leadership struggle. The fight had not really been decided by the competitors but their troops had become involved, the situation had gone out of hand. In short words, it wasn´t sure which of the leadership candidates was really the stronger one.

But in first line it was something else, the way how they had won and why the Sweeps had interfered in the first place.

During the fight Sideways, Megatron´s new right hand, had received a wound that by all rights should have killed him. But somehow the wounds healed themselves in a matter of seconds and he stood up again, completely undamaged. Sideways practically returned himself from the dead. This had caught Cyclonus, who had actually already won the fight at this point, by surprise.

The Sweeps saw that quite understandable as a reason to to interrupt the fight and attack. And then Sideways managed in a strange way to stop them all. It was as if he had activated a unknown weapon that took them all out.

Megatron´s faction had won the fight, but the way they did it was more than questionable, even by their standards. Nobody was even really sure how they won. Had Sideways a few special abilities nobody knew about, had they used some sort of secret weapon?

There were many who were convinced that their group had simply been cheating. Of course "cheating" only meant that you had won in some creative way that nobody had figured out.

Of course the only alternative would have been to follow Galvatron, who had already lost the contest. There was nobody who actually doubted that he and the others had survived the fall into the lave sea, but they would be in a terrible condition now and nobody wanted to stand at the losing side.

Still nobody was even halfway comfortable with the idea of a zombie as new second in command.

"And you simply expect me to accept this?" Skorponok asked loud. "I have seen the records of the fight Megatron. Sideways was dead. He got a laser blast right through his spark chamber and then he just stood up as if nothing happened and blasted Cyclonus, who was too shocked to even move, not that I don´t understand why.

You told me that you have no idea how you have done this, you told me that you didn´t knew that he had such abilities at all. This guy just stood up after a deadly wound and now you want me to just accept him as your second in command?
Tell me Megatron, what else do you not know about your so called second?"

"Ah, I see it is not really my leadership but my choice in allies that you have a problem with Skorponok?" he replied, leaving it unsaid that Skorponok himself had also been such an ally.

"I have problems with supposed allies who have completely unexplainable powers that they refuse to explain or even mention, as you should."

"And I guess you will advice me now to take a new right hand." Megatron smiled, "someone more trustworthy, someone like you."

"Maybe", Skorponok replied.

"Perceptive and ambitious like ever. Despite that I hope our alliance is still standing despite our small disagreements."

"Yes Megatron, despite my doubts about Sideways I accept your authority as Decepticon leader."

"And I will hold up my part of the agreement." Megatron raised the volume of his voice now, so that everybody in the hall could hear him.

"Our next aim of conquest is the planet Nebulos and I will give you the absolute authority over it Zarak."

"Thank you Megatron", the nebulon inside Skorponok´s body smiled as he replied, "that was all I wanted to hear."

Beside Skorponok, were Thunderwing, Onslaught, Hungrr, Razorclaw, Astrotrain, newly promoted leader of the triple changers and Starscream, who had taken back his position as leader of the air-force and several others who Megatron didn´t recognize assembled in the hall.

They all were group leaders and sector commanders who came, more or less willingly, to swear alliance to the new leader.

Skywarp and Thundercracker stood to both sides of the throne.

"All hail Megatron", Skorponok began to shout, Astrotrain was the first who fell in, then followed Hungrr and Starscream, then Thunderwing, Razorclaw and the others. The room haled from their declarations of loyalty.

Of course Megatron knew that at least the half of them were nothing but pure opportunism.

xxxxxxx

Planet Scarvix

The two groups of Transformers were now together searching the ruins of the destroyed city.

The meeting between them had played out like someone would imagine a meeting between Autobots and Decepticons to be. At first they were pointing their guns at each other, waiting for the other to attack.

As the Decepticons announced that they were willing to a temporally truce to get their work done, the Autobots were understandable sceptical.

Finally they had agreed to work together, for now. It was after all better then to shoot at each other and then still having to continue with the search.

They had now spread into three smaller groups to cover a greater territory.

The Duocons had separated, Battletrap was walking with Sizzle and Freeway and Flywheels with the other two Sparklerbots.

Skyhound was with the battlechargers, forming a team consisting only of Decepticons. He and his two partners were now checking one of the larger buildings that had not been completely leveled.

None of them had seen the shadow moving on top of the house or how the being was jumping off the roof, landing directly behind them.

Skyhound didn´t see the attack coming as he was suddenly slammed down from the back. Runabout and Runamuck instinctively draw their guns before they could even make out the attacker.

xxx

As the other two teams had heard the screams and the laser fire their first thought was that the other side had betrayed them. It took them however only a few moments to realize that the team that had been attacked was the one consisting only of Decepticons.

They transformed and drove as fast as possible in the direction where they have heard the noise.

As they arrived at the place a few minutes later, they saw the three lying disarmed on the ground. Runamuck looked as if he had been shot.

Over them stood a large figure who was pointing a laser cannon that had replaced his right hand on all three of the downed robots. The other recognized the figure as the bounty hunter Death Head by the descriptions they had heard.

"Greetings Autobots, Decepticons", he addressed them. "I just came back and found out that my home is destroyed, together with the entire town I lived in. Can be lucky that I didn´t come back earlier or I would be dead too", the bounty hunter told them.

The six remaining Transformers had pointed their guns at him.

"It seems that I had mistaken your friend here for one of the attackers", Death Head claimed, pointing at the Sweep. "Looks exactly like them. No hard feelings, yes?" He said and demonstratively aimed his own weapon at heads of the three he had just defeated.

"Okay we believe you", Flywheels told him. "We have no intention to fight you, just put the gun down.

They all had heard from the reports how dangerous this robot before them was and they had really no intention to fight him. None of them had any sympathy for the bounty hunter, he both attacked Optimus Prime and killed a Decepticon the last time. But if it was anyway possible, they wanted to avoid a life and death fight with him.

Sure all of them together could probably take him, the only question was how many of them would survive.

Death head lowered his weapon. It seemed he also had no intention to fight.

xxx

"So you say that the attackers had been Sweeps?" Fizzle asked him a few minutes later as the bounty hunter had told them the things he knew about what happened here.

"A Quintesson armada", Death Head said, "together with an army of Sweeps. They were all looking exactly like your friend here, only black instead of blue."

"Black?" Freeway repeated surprised. "A new design?" He asked the Sweep.

"If it is one then not from us", Skyhound answered. "Maybe the Quints have stolen our technology."

"I am surprised that you of all people are helping us Death Head?" Fizzle pointed out. "The last time you attacked our people."

"That was a job, nothing more, nothing personal", the bounty hunter replied. "By the way, I would also like to know why the Quintessons destroyed my home-town."

I guess you can not tell us who gave you that task?" The Autobot asked.

"One in my business never talks about a contract", the bounty hunter replied.

"It could turn out to be important", Fizzle explained to him.

"Do I look as if I care Autobot? You should be glad that I even told you something useful at all without payment. Guess I really want to get back at the Quintessons."

The bounty hunter turned around and was going to leave them behind.

"You", Fizzle growled angrily.

"Forget that", Freeway told him. "At least we know something now."

"Whatever, if the Quintessons have a new robot army we should try to find out everything about it what we can", Sizzle suggested. "I think we should make a visit to New Quintessa."

"I agree with the Autobot in this", Flywheels said. "Let us find out whatever we can."

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

Skorponok was leaving the throne-room, followed closely by the others. They would be starting to prepare the next great campaign. By what they knew, Nebulos would actually be a valuable target for their next attack, a organic planet full with natural resource to convert to energon, with raw materials and in a acceptable strategically position.

Not nearly as resourceful as Earth of course, but it would do.

And it could possibly secure Skorponok´s loyalty to him, at least for a time. Till then Megatron would have figured out a way to keep him under control.

As the last of the officers had left the room, he saw that Thundercracker and Skywarp were looking at him.

"So my loyal seekers", he asked them, completely knowing what kind of reaction was to await, "are you also worried about some problems you want to share with me?"

"Problems?" Skywarp repeated his question, "you mean aside from the fact that your new second in command is an abomination and the most of the army is more scared of him than of the Autobots? Where should there be a problem?"

"I appreciate your sense of humor as always Skywarp." The seeker had always a strike for sarcasm and jokes, but here, Megatron had to admit, in a sense he brought the situation to a point.

"Maybe Skorponok is right about Sideways", Thundercracker suggested. "What do we really know about him anyway? Nobody can tell how he could simply stand up after he had been shot. However you put it Megatron, he is keeping information from you."

"You are right", the Decepticon leader admitted. "But he was also the one who had helped us to reach this universe in the first place. We were in a situation where we had already lost and he had helped us out of it. Through him we were able to gather new troops after we had arrived in this universe."

"Yes, but do we know why he did all this? Why had he helped us at every stage? Maybe he only wanted power for himself the entire time?" Thundercracker told him.

"Maybe you are right. But at least for now, Sideways is too important for me. Don´t forget, Doomsday and his mercenary group are loyal only to him and for the invasion of Nebulos we will need every man.

But when I will have secured my power base, after we have conquered Nebulos and dealt with eventual dissidents, I think then I will not longer need Sideways.

My friends", Megatron addressed them as he lay back in his throne. "I think you are getting far to insecure about such unimportant drawbacks.

Yes, Sideways is keeping the secret of his abilities from me and it is no wonder. With such a unique power I wouldn´t act differently in his place. But sooner or later I will get out of him how his regeneration works and then I will find a way to use it for my other troops. In the end I will find a way to make it work for me.

Remember, only a half year ago we were lost, only a few scrapped survivors, hunted down by Unicron´s spawn. I think the years on the ground have made you two far too paranoid and insecure. So don´t let your baseless fears dim your view at the bigger picture.

After years of suffering, destruction and defeat, we are back in power. Finally we have won. It had only been a few months and I am standing at the brink of total victory.

Cybertron is mine, the Decepticon empire is mine, the Autobots decimated and in scatters, tomorrow Nebulos will be mine

and soon Earth will be too."

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

The planet Nebulos was a organic world, at the first look quite similar to earth, that had been colonized around 10.000 years ago by a race of humanoids, from their appearance practically identical with the people from Earth.

In their history and their way of life however, the people of Nebulos were quite different. On their planet there had been peace and a relatively stable society for the greatest part of their history.

This was probably mostly through the fact that their civilization was spawned by a single, small group of people who were already completely united in their culture and their beliefs. As long as someone could think back, Nebulos had always one state, one religion and a central government in form of a council.

To that came a very mild climate at all the populated continents and a stable environment. That meant no shortage of resources to fight over.

On Nebulos there was simply no reason, no indicator, for wars. As long as anybody could remember back nothing had really changed in their world and aside from some minor uprisings and some disputes, centuries ago there had been no greater conflicts.

In the end, Nebulos was a peaceful and civilized world, but also stagnating and complacent in their status, barely able to adapt to new and changed situations.

For generations the people of Nebulos looked back with pride at their 10.000 years history of peace, maybe with too much pride.

More critical voices, in first line people from neighboring star systems of course, claimed that this just due to a favorable set of circumstances and not because of the `civilized´ state of the nebulon society.

This may actually be close to the truth. The founders of Nebulos had from the beginning been a relatively high developed and centralized nation. It was not really the native home-world of this people. Their ancestors had simply settled there.

Nobody knew anything about their history before that.

xxx

In the years after the invention of the transwarp engine some people would build up the theory that the Nebulons were actually descendants of a ship from Earth that was started at some point in the future and for some reason was stranded 10.000 years in the past.

It was an interesting theory given the technical knowledge at that time.

Others thought that the early nebulons were a completely different species to Earth humans and the great resemblance was only a great coincidence. Nobody knew for sure.

xxx

The truth was that the main reason why there had never been war at Nebulos had been that it´s people had never been given a reason to start one.

Until circa 25 earth years ago, when the two groups of Transformers led by Fortress Maximus and Skorponok first arrived on Nebulos.

Not only were the fights between the Autobots and the Decepticons causing wide spread destruction, the leaders of Nebulos themselves were broken into two factions.

Lord Zarak and his followers wanted to use the technology of the alien robots for themselves, while their adversaries and their leader Galen had the aim to preserve Nebulos and it´s people as they were and wanted to stop the Decepticons.

As finally a civil war broke out between the two sides, it cost till it´s end even more lives and caused greater destruction than the fighting Transformers.

The ruling council that both, Galen and Zarak were serving and that had been divided between their positions, was removed from power shortly after the beginning of the war. From that point on there were only Zarak and Galen, who were fighting as war lords over the planet.

Zarak even went as far to bound himself and his closest allies forever to the Decepticons and became headmasters, a move that the other side was a short time later forced to copy.

Originally he had been a member of the central council who wanted change and progress that he believed to be necessary. But all his good intentions were forgotten very quick and all what he still wanted was control over Nebulos. Under the influence of Skorponok he had developed into a power hungry dictator.

When Galen and his opponent Zarak finally both realized what their fighting was doing to their home-planet they decided to leave Nebulos and to continue their fight somewhere in the deep of space.

They thought at this point that their absence could eventually end the war.

But even with them gone it continued for another two years.

While the greatest threat to the planet was removed with the Transformers and the worst destruction was over, that didn´t meant an end of the fighting. At this point all pretense of order or civility on Nebulos were long gone.

After their departure there was nothing like a government or a central authority anymore on the planet. Several self proclaimed leaders and political splitter groups were now fighting for power. Remnants of Zarak´s army were still around and terrorizing the people. Without orders or clear objectives, they just turned to attacking cities and raiding villages.

After Zarak and Galen had left, chaos was ruling Nebulos. It took over two years for the people to bring their world back to peace.

But now 20 years later, the Decepticons returned.

xxxxxxx

The planet Nebulos today

A large battleship, Skorponok in his giant space ship mode, had appeared in space over the planet. He was leading the first wave of the attack.

He and his headmasters were the ones who had been fighting on Nebulos before, they had tried to conquer this world and they were binary bonded to natives, so of course they were the ones spearheading the invasion.

Nebulos had been a part of the deal Zarak had made with Megatron. In exchange for his, although in truth only temporally, loyalty Nebulos would be the first planet to be conquered by their newly reformed Decepticon army.

Once again Zarak would be the ruler of his home-world and this time unopposed.

Beside the headmasters the strike force that would take over Nebulos consisted in first line of Decepticons who had declared their alliance to either Megatron or Zarak.

In Skorponok´s hangar bay, the seekers Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker, Darkwing and Dreadwind, the triple-changer Blitzwing, the two headmasters Apeface and Snapdragon and several others were waiting for their order to start.

xxx

Skywarp and Thundercracker were right now busy briefing the other fliers for the attack and trying to become acquainted to their new comrades, especially the ones whose counterparts they didn´t know from their world.

Under them were also the remaining three targetmasters, Slugslinger, Triggerhappy and a third one, Skywarp didn´t recognize. While they had actually sided against Megatron originally, they and a few others had been brought along for this battle because of their unique abilities alone.

The three Decepticons were standing in a line before them, their nebulon partners next to them.

"And what is your name?" Skywarp asked the red seeker he haven´t met before. He remembered that he had met the version of Slugslinger and Triggerhappy of his own world, but this robot was completely unknown to him.

"Misfire", the red jet answered.

"What?" Skywarp asked him surprised.

"Misfire", the Decepticon repeated.

"Misfire, that is truly your name?" Skywarp asked flabbergasted. "How in the world did you end up with that?"

"Well…", the jet started, he was obviously quite embarrassed.

"At the war academy he was barely able to hit a target", Slugslinger told him, "so they gave him that name there and it stuck."

"Yes", the Decepticon unfortunately named Misfire admitted.

"If that is so, why in the world was he chosen as a targetmaster?" Skywarp asked Slugslinger angrily.

"That question should be, why is he even in the army?", Triggerhappy fell in. "He had failed the academy several times."

The red robot looked now even more embarrassed than before. The other two targetmasters and their nebulons on the other side were looking slightly amused.

"The only reason he finally made it was we were short on people, oh and the Autobots had blown the academy up", Triggerhappy continued happily to drag his comrade in the ground.

Skywarp starred at them with an open mouth.

"Heh, are you kidding me?" he finally snapped at them. "I am telling you one thing, I am the one who is making the jokes here."

Thundercracker, the two targetmasters and their nebulon partners smiled now, barely holding themselves from bursting out laughing.

"No, we are telling the truth", Slugslinger assured him, "and we three were chosen as targetmasters because we had been partners for a long time."

"And it doesn´t matter anyway, his partner is nearly as useless as he is", Sluglinger´s nebulon partner told Skywarp."

"Why? who is his partner?" The seeker asked him.

"His is called Aimless", Slugslinger said.

"I warned you not to try to mess with me", Skywarp yelled at them half serious, half not.

Thundercracker and the targetmasters fell now into screaming laughter.

xxx

It were as a whole 15 Decepticons with jet modes, ready to engage and destroy every sort of aerial defense that Nebulos might have.

In the next move, Skorponok and a large number of ground forces would land, shortly followed by Megatron and the second wave.

It was a simple but effective plan. The main concern of it was not however the nebulon military. There was no way that this world could even hold up a significant defense. Technologically Nebulos was not much farther than earth had been when the Transformers had first arrived.

No, the real matter were the Autobots. There was no way that they would oversee such a large movement of troops. When they attacked Nebulos, a large battle with the Autobots would be the result soon.

Everybody knew this and in fact that was exactly what they wanted, another chance for a victory against their enemies, the first one under Megatron´s new leadership. Under normal circumstances the Autobots would have a good chance to win against them.

But this time, there was a number of factors that would make sure that they would have no chance. For one their forces had already been severely weakened during the last months. They were only a shadow of what they once were. To that came that they would hardly expect that the power struggle between the Decepticons would be over that fast and wouldn´t have time to prepare their troops. So they could probably only send the fighters who were currently available and not a really fitting defense force.

Beside that Megatron and Sideways had another advantage nobody knew about. It was already prepared to take the Autobots completely by surprise.

They would win the coming battle. Every resistance would be crushed and Nebulos would become a part of the Decepticon empire, with Zarak as ruling overlord.

And so everyone of them would have what they wanted, everybody except maybe one.

xxx

The one Decepticon who was more than dissatisfied with the situation however was saying nothing.

Had he really come down to this? Starscream was asking himself. Once he had been second in command of the entire empire. He had been the right hand of the Supreme Commander, not Sideways, not Cyclonus and not Skorponok, him. As much as he and Megatron had disliked each other, he still gave him power and rank second only to his own.

But that was the old Megatron.

And now? Sideways and Skorponok were involved in the planning of the entire campaign, while he was standing around and waited for orders, as if he was only another lackey.

Under the old Megatron he would have been the one giving this orders.

Starscream had a grim feeling inside him and if only for a few moments, a bit of regret. At some level in his mind, even if he would never admit it to himself, he understood one thing. Ultimately it was all his own fault.

It were his countless betrayals that caused the old Megatron to turn against him and reject him as a Decepticon.

Starscream was the one who had abandoned him in space, that was the last straw for Galvatron to destroy him.

It was his alliance with Unicron, the attempt to take over Cybertron, that made him a outcast from all of the Transformers, not only the Decepticons. The deal he had made with the Chaos Bringer had brought him his body back, but it also made him to one of the most hated beings in the galaxy and it brought him into the situation he was in now, Starscream thought. He should have really known better than to team up with Unicron.

Now he was under Sideways heel and left with no allies.

For everybody Autobot, Decepticon, human, Junkion, he was now simply the one who had brought Unicron back to life and helped him to threaten yet another world.

He had been one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy, now he was one of the most scorned ones and just for a short moment, Starscream understood, at least deep down, that nobody was as much to blame for it as himself.

But only for a moment.

Then however he reacted like he always did and pushed the thought aside. This sort of self criticism and insight was never like him.

No, he thought, all that ever mattered to him was himself and his ambitions and he would never regret anything.

The ones responsible for his situation were his enemies, the ones who always stood in his way and wrecked his ideas, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and all the others. It was their fault, he told himself.

As always he placed the blame for everything on someone else. He acted like he always did, but that was something he didn´t realize.

Starscream thought about how he would get his position and his power back. He would get rid of Sideways and retake his rightful place under the Decepticons, soon.

He heard how the order for the start was given. The hangar docks opened and one by one, the Decepticons transformed and flew off.

xxxxxxx

Fortress Maximus, on the way to Nebulos

As they had predicted, the invasion of Nebulos had not been unnoticed by the Autobots and as they also had predicted, the line of troops that they had managed to send was rather an improvisation.

Autobot scouts had detected that a massive force of Decepticons was on the way to the planet and they would be trying to stop them.

Both, Optimus Prime and Fortress Maximus had simply taken every Autobot who was currently at their bases and was able to fight.

They had never thought that the infighting under the Decepticons would be over so quick, they hadn´t thought that they would target another planet so fast, they didn´t even knew which of the two "leaders" had won. That meant they didn´t even knew who they would be fighting now.

Fortress and the headmasters had just come directly from the planet where they were stationed as they heard the news. Optimus taken Skylinx and came from Earth to join them on the way.

They looked at their "army".

Besides themselves and the headmasters, they had the Dinobots, the Technobots, Skylinx and the new powermasters Getaway, Joyride and Slapdash with them.

But what they also had were Skyfire, a scientist who had joined the Autobots only reluctantly and had actually left the army until the Decepticons reconquered Cybertron four months ago,

Punch, a former double agent whose mind had been manipulated by a group of fanatics on their own side, they were still trying to find out who was responsible and if some of them were still around,

Capback, Bulkhead and Strangecase, three new recruits who had volunteered for this mission, but had together less fighting experience than Hotrod had as he first came to earth,

and Prowl, not the one that they have known, but his counterpart from another universe where apparently also the new Megatron and his group came from. With other words, he was someone they had just met and knew nothing about.

All in all it were the last persons you would take with you to such a important mission. But it wasn´t as if they had a choice than to take everybody who was currently at hand.

XXXXCCC

The manipulations this rogues had performed on Punch may have caused long termed mental damage. It was something impossible to tell right now. They would simply have to wait. Because of that on the other side, he wasn´t really fit to be on the battlefield.

Before the war Skyfire had been a good friend and mentor of the Decepticon Starscream. Back in this times Starscream was still a explorer and scientist instead of a mass murderer and opportunist. Skyfire was one of them who had joined the Autobot cause because they thought that they had to, not because they were warriors. He was another one who wouldn´t even be fighting if things would be going right.

"How long till we arrive?" Optimus asked Fortress Maximus, who he knew was standing directly behind him.

"By our estimation around 11,5 breem Prime", Fortress answered him.

11,5 breem, Optimus thought, that meant one hour and 35, 45 earth minutes. By now he had to admit, he was nearly more acquainted with the earth- than with the cybertronian time units.

He thought about what kind of damage could happen in that length of time.

"We have to get there as fast as possible" Optimus said.

xxxxxxx

The Decepticon seekers were as they entered the atmosphere confronted with a large number of hundreds of native jet fighters.

Before the war, Nebulos did not even possess a standing military to speak of. That was one of the many "improvements" through the last decades.

The fighters that were engaging the Decepticons were not capable of space flight. They were more comparable to the Earth jets from the 20th century, like the nebulon military as a whole had a similar level in technology.

Of course they were completely outmatched.

Starscream destroyed two of them in less than three seconds.

Thundercracker shot another one who blew up into a fireball.

Skywarp used his teleportation to vanish and reappear at the other side of the enemy group. The nebulon pilots were completely taken off guard by that move and chaos broke out under them.

Snapdragon, Apeface and Blitzwing used this advantage and shot down another half dozen fighters, while in the whole time the nebulons weren´t able to land a hit on their foes.

It wasn´t as much a battle as it was slaughter. The Decepticons were faster, more advanced and had far more fire-power than their enemies. Dozens of nebulonian fighters were destroyed only in the first minute.

xxxxxxx

A large group of armored vehicles, closely resembling earth tanks were waiting for the invaders outside of the nebulonian capital.

A few minutes later ten large robots landed before them. It were the Combaticons and the Terrorcons, two of the combiner-teams.

This two groups had always been among the most aggressive and battle hungry of the Decepticons and they were happy about this chance to exercise.

"Isn´t it nice to have a little bit fun?", the Combaticon Brawl said to his comrades.

He aimed his weapon and shot a burning whole in one of the tanks.

"Yes", Vortex replied, "I may not like our new leaders very much, but at least they let us have a good time", he said as he crushed another one of the vehicles.

The Terrorcons on the other hand transformed into their animal modes, double headed dragons and monsters and started to tear the ground vehicles to pieces.

xxxxxxx

The defending jets had drawn backwards more and more. Over the half of them had already been lost, destroyed or forced into landing. The battle took now place right over the main city.

One of the jets was hit in the side by a shot from the Decepticon Darkwing. The crippled machine went out of control and crashed in the middle of the city, completely destroying the building it hit and causing huge damage to the neighboring ones.

For the nebulons it was a battle they were fighting out of pure desperation. All of them remembered what this robots were capable of from 20 years ago.

They knew they had no chance, but they also knew what kind of damage the robots could cause.

Nobody knew what the Decepticons were planning now that they had returned.

Would they just continue where they had stopped 20 years ago or would they destroy all of Nebulos this time? This fear alone was it what kept them fighting on, even if it was hopeless.

xxxxxxx

The space-ship form of Skorponok sunk slowly down from the sky and onto on the surface of the planet. A short distance over the ground, he transformed into his city mode.

Inside the base Zarak, sitting in the command chair, was communicating with Megatron.

"The invasion is going exactly as planned", Zarak informed his momentary leader.

"Good", Megatron replied, "I will arrive with the rest of the troops every moment and when we will await the Autobots."

xxxxxxx

The planet Chaar

On the ground of a large canyon, nearly a mile under the surface of the planet flew a river of molten lava. Down there a small group of Decepticons were lying either inside or close to the burning liquid.

One of them, a large purple robot with a spiked helmet and a orange cannon mounted on his arm, was trying to lift one of the others out of the lave.

"Cyclonus", he spoke to him, "can you hear me?"

The other robot started to move, his red eyes returning to glow.

"Galvatron", he said after a few moments. "What had happened?"

"We have been betrayed", his leader answered him. "It is all far worse than I have thought.

"Scourge." Cyclonus saw his partner lying unconscious on a formation of rocks, right outside the lava, in a short distance from him another identical looking robot, one of the Sweeps.

"They have left us here behind", Galvatron said.

"You mean this impostor is now leading the Decepticons?" Cyclonus asked him.

"I fear he is far more than an impostor", Galvatron replied. "Here is something going on Cyclonus, something far worse than we have expected. It is Unicron."

Cyclonus felt now like his systems were turning to ice hearing that name here.

The other two began to wake up.

"Scourge", Galvatron called to the leader of the Sweeps.

"Yes", he replied weakly.

"Gather your Sweeps", Galvatron ordered.

Scourge sent out a signal.

The four other Sweeps had crashed outside of the canyon and were now spread over the area. It should take some time for them to return.

"They should be here in a few minutes", Scourge informed them.

"Good, we must return to Cybertron as fast as possible" Galvatron said, "and bring down the new `leader´of the Decepticons."

"Galvatron." They suddenly heard a voice calling out to him.

He saw that the others were now starring at some point behind him.

They realized that they were all suddenly caught in some sort of energy field.

One moment later, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps had vanished.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15

Following a message from the Matrix, the four Autobots Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug had traveled into the deepest underground levels of Cybertron.

Here, at the core of their home-planet, they found something that was nearly unbelievable.

They were confronted with a mysterious being that, as it seemed, existed down here at the core of the planet and maybe had been here since the beginning of this world.

This being, that only appeared to them through holographic displays and it´s voice, claimed to be nothing else when the creator of Cybertron, the ancient creature named Primus.

They were standing in a large, kilometers wide hall, surrounded by the remains of organic life that might once have existed on this planet. The voice that was talking to them seemed to come from everywhere, filling the room around them.

They were still watching the holographic displays and listening to the story that the being who claimed to be their creator was telling them.

Primus, that name was for them known only out of legends. It was a god from their earliest history and before, so old that nobody actually knew where it originated. He was said to be the creator of Cybertron itself and of the earliest forms of mechanical lifeforms like the them.

For millions of years many cybertronians worshiped him as a deity. Primus was considered to be the god of their world and the Transformers race, even now after all this years of war. He was the base of the most forms of cybertronian religion. Many cults existed and did still exist that referred to him as the highest god of the Transformers races, right after the creator of the universe. That meant if they happened to belief in such an entity.

Others thought of Primus as only a myth and dismissed his existence.

But he did exist, that much was clear to them, they were standing directly before him.

Even if he wasn´t really a god, it was obvious that he at least existed as some kind of super intelligence deep in the core regions of Cybertron.

That was the reason they came here. Hotrod admitted to himself he wasn´t really that surprised, not as much as he should be. The Matrix had called out to him and to Optimus and led their group here. He had actually anticipated to find something like this.

Many people in his situation would obviously think of this as some kind of sham, as a trick.

Nobody would simply accept that he went to a exploration mission and found the god of his people in the process.

But Hotrod was a Matrix bearer, a Prime and it had been the Matrix that led him and the others here. He knew to trust what it was telling him.

Some of the others like Kup of course would be more skeptical.

Despite that, there was something else.

Religion never played such a big role in the society on Cybertron as it had been on other planets. Some people thought this was because the Transformers were machines and therefore they were more rational and less prone to faith than the organics. But that wasn´t true.

It was simply that religion, like many other aspects of civilian life, was on Cybertron always pushed back behind the wars and political crisis.

The believers under the cybertronians were as convinced and as determined as other species and the ones who believed thought of Primus as the creator of the Transformers.

There was only one problem, six years ago the Matrix itself had revealed to Rodimus Prime that it had been the Quintessons who had created them.

That revelation six years ago had caused great distress for many Autobots. Nobody felt comfortable with the thought that their creators were supposed to be a race of enslaving half-organics. Some of the more religious downright refused to believe it or some of them claimed that this couldn´t have been the whole truth and as it looked now they had been right.

The voice that had been talking to Hotrod this six years ago, it was the same they were hearing now, the voice of Primus, as he himself claimed. Something was definitely not right here.

"Primus", Hotrod addressed the entity. His voice was loud and demanding, not exactly the way you would talk to a god, but it didn´t matter, he wanted an explanation.

"I have one question."

"Of course Rodimus Prime", Primus replied. "You can ask me what you want. That was the reason I contacted you, to answer your questions."

Yes and you are the reason I need to answer this question in the first place, Hotrod thought.

"When my mind had traveled inside the Matrix six years ago, you have told me that the Quintessons are the creators of the Transformers. Now you have called us here and are telling us that you are the creator of Cybertron and that means ultimately of us. How does that work out?"

"You are asking a good question Hotrod", the voice of Primus replied. "Indeed I have told you that the Transformers, the Transformers as you know them today, had been created by the Quintessons and that is essentially true. You have only forgotten to ask one question."

"And what is that?"

"Where did the Quintessons came from in the first place", Primus answered him.

"What do you mean with that?"

"Look."

The holographic pictures before them began to change. The face of the ancient being vanished and instead it showed now the sight of a planet from orbit. They easily recognized it as their home-world, but it looked still quite different. Beside the metallic structures that they were used to they saw areas that resembled a organic world, plant life, grass, seas and rivers and even small forests.

"As you should know my children", Primus informed them, "Unicron had found and attacked Cybertron once before a long time ago. That happened over a million years before your history even began. This world had been much different at that time as you know it today."

The hologram began to quickly move closer to the planet. They were watching in amazement a detailed recording of an pre-historical Cybertron. The different sectors of the planet became visible, large cities, the skylines of their planet, giant skyscraper were to see.

Finally the movement stopped. It was now so close that they could get a clear look at the beings who had been living on this ancient version of their world.

At the one side, they saw robots, Transformers, pretty much like themselves, but beside them also organic creatures of different forms and at some points beings who looked like they were a mixture of both. They were a form of Cyborgs, part organic, part mechanical life-form.

Trans-organics, Hotrod remembered the creatures that had been spawned by the experiments of the Quintessons, monstrosities, hidden in the underground chambers of Cybertron.

But this beings were different. The Quintesson experiments looked twisted, like abominations, a crude mix of organic and technological parts, looking as if they had been randomly fused together.

This ones however seemed more like natural life-forms instead of abnormal nightmares.

The most of the creatures they saw had a roughly humanoid shape, walking on two legs, two arms and so forth. But there were also some in the form of birds or other animals. There were many different variants.

As far as they could tell, around two thirds of the people they saw were Transformers. They could also see at least three different variants of obviously intelligent transorganics.

The most full organic creatures seemed to be animals, but in between they could also make out a few members of some humanoid species.

"What you see here is Cybertron as it had originally been created in this universe", Primus told them. "As you can see, it had a far greater diversity of life and allowed also organic existences. That was until it had all been destroyed."

"What had happened?" Hotrod asked.

"What was always meant to happen", Primus replied, "but not in the way I wanted. Unicron found us, like I had always known he would sooner or later. The next battle between us was unavoidable. At that time I was confident that I and my creations would be able to fight him. But something happened what I hadn´t anticipated.

One of the thirteen Primes who I had chosen to lead and guide my children in the battle had betrayed us."

They all knew who he was talking about, the one of the thirteen legendary original Transformers who had sided with the Chaos Bringer and tried to help him to destroy the universe.

"He had allied himself with Unicron and his forces and he was persuading others of my creations to join him.

The name of this Prime was erased from the history of Cybertron. From that time on, he was only known to everyone as "The Fallen". In our time the only ones who even remember his true name in this universe may be only me and Unicron himself.

Ironically even he called himself that. In some twisted way he was probably proud of the name he had been given. He stroke while we were still preparing for Unicron´s arrival", Primus continued. "His first action was to take control of the plasma energy chamber."

The four Autobots were looking now at the image of another large room somewhere at the inside of Cybertron. At the center of it was a ancient looking device that none of them could recognize.

"This is the machine that as you say can blows up stars?" Kup asked him critically.

"Yes, in the older times it had been used by the Primes to first cover the needs of Cybertron for energy and second to built up storage's for the coming battle. It was only to be used on not inhabited and lifeless star systems. I thought back then when I could trust anybody it would be my own creations."

"A mistake that many lifeforms had made."

"Indeed", Primus admitted.

xxx

The hologram changed again. This time it showed them the picture of a planetary system. It was a world none of them had ever seen before, a organic planet from the appearance. There were only few similarities to Earth or Nebulos, the home-worlds of the humanoid species that were their allies today.

The sky was green, an result from a different build up atmosphere than the one on Earth or Cybertron. It was a planet with two moons.

Then they saw horrified how a shock-wave raced through the star system and hit this world, devastating the surface.

The sun had become a super nova, they realized. A few seconds later the explosion reached the planet, the wave of fire burned the atmosphere away and ripped it apart.

xxx

"The Fallen used the plasma energy chamber to destroy an inhabited star system", Primus said. "Every living being on that world died on that day, over 5 billion sentient lives killed in a matter of moments." Primus voice sounded sad now and with a visible hint of regret.

"And it all only happened because I created this machine in the first place."

"It wasn´t your fault. You couldn´t have known that he would do something like that", Ultra Magnus assured him.

The Autobots were still shocked from the things they had seen. But they had started to believe them.

"I designed and built a weapon that could destroy entire star systems and I was arrogant enough to think nobody would ever misuse it. Others paid for my arrogance with their lives.

After this had happened, the Primes who were still loyal to me attacked The Fallen and his troops. A battle over Cybertron started and this before Unicron had even reached us."

xxx

The display showed now a a battle between a large group of robots. Hotrod could make out four under them who were Primes, he somehow recognized them.

The scene concentrated now on a group of five fighters.

One of them, The Fallen, they all realized, was facing two of the other Primes and was backed up by two other heavily armed robots.

"We will stop you here and now", one of the two Primes told them.

Both were large robots around Optimus stature. One of them was colored mostly in a dark blue and the other was grey with parts of yellow.

"You can try it", The Fallen replied as he and his opponents charged at each other.

While the other two Primes and his own followers were carrying heavy blasters, The Fallen was also wielding an ancient looking staff weapon, in addition to the cannon that was attached to his right arm and reminded the watching Autobots a bit of Megatron.

They watched a short struggle between the five warriors.

The grey Prime was in a firefight with The Fallen´s two soldiers. He shot one of the Unicron minions into the head that exploded into shrapnel.

His partner was fighting the renegade Prime himself. He had materialized a sword from subspace that he was now crossing with The Fallen´s staff weapon.

"Why, tell me, why did you do this?" the blue Prime asked him.

"That brother, is something you will never understand", The Fallen replied.

He raised his cannon and shot the Prime who had been talking to him. The robot fell down with a burning whole in his front. Then The Fallen brought his battle staff down and rammed it through the damaged robot´s chest.

"Good bye, my brother", he said as the other lay dead to his feet.

"What have you done?" The grey Prime asked him in shock.

"What needed to be done. It seems from now on there are only eleven anymore, at least for now", he said, pointing his weapon at his other opponent.

xxx

The picture changed again. This time it showed them the same machine they had seen before, but this time it was obviously deactivated, all lights were out and it showed no sign of activity and it was surrounded by corpses.

"My loyal creations where able to shut the plasma energy chamber down and made sure that it would no longer be used to cause harm", Primus told them.

"But as Unicron himself then attacked, we were already not longer at full strength. He and Unicron fought side by side against us.

The Fallen believed that all life as it was, was not worthy to exist. He wanted to destroy everything and then recreate the universe by his own designs. For that reason he had sworn loyalty to Unicron. Both of them had in a sense the same goal, absolute destruction."

They saw now the battle on the outside. The sky over Cybertron was literally in flames. Robots, organics and transorganics were all over the planet´s surface, fighting, fleeing for their life´s or being already dead.

They saw Unicron´s giant shape over the planet, barely different from how he had been millions of years later. Another thing that didn´t completely ad up.

A mad scientist calling himself Primacron had claimed to have build Unicron. They knew of course that this couldn´t be correct, at least not completely. No rogue scientist, no matter how ingenious, would have the resources to build something like this. They would ask Primus, later.

"The battle continued for days, the same life that I had created and wanted to protect was wiped out by it." They could hear the sadness in his voice.

"The Matrix was created by me as a source of guidance for the Transformers, but also as a weapon. It contains nothing else than my own spark as you would call it.

Cybertron is my body, recreated in form of a planet, but in some sense the Matrix is far more my true self.

It is also a collector. Everyone of my creations is made in that way that it´s life energy, it´s spark will join with the Matrix, with me, if it physically dies."

Hotrod and Kup looked at each other. Primus had just confirmed an old belief of the cybertronians. It had often been thought that the sparks of all Transformers or at least of all Autobots became one with the Matrix, but only for the Matrix bearers there was proof.

"All this energy, the sum of all we are, can be released and directed against our enemy. Ironically, even if it was the last thing that I wanted, as Unicron destroyed the life on Cybertron, he only made the Matrix stronger."

They saw one of the Primes, a robot in orange and blue, open the well known object."

"And like in our first battle", Primus told them, "I managed to trick him."

Unicron was thrown backwards as the light of the Matrix hit him. This was, it seemed, partly a reflex reaction to draw back from a force that could destroy him and partly a panicked but willing retreat.

Then they saw what Primus meant when he said that he had tricked him. The battle took place relatively close to a black hole. During the fight the Transformers had managed to maneuver Unicron into a good position, in the heat of the fight he didn´t seemed to have realized this and as the Matrix was opened, it forced him beyond the event horizon.

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug saw from over 12 million years later, how Unicron´s physical form was crushed under the gravitational forces. What was left of the Chaos Bringer was swallowed by the black hole in minutes.

xxx

"Unicron´s body was destroyed, but his mind, his essence wasn´t, couldn´t be vanquished", Primus said to them. "He was however gone from this universe and thrown into another.

You know, his servant The Fallen met later a very similar fate.*

After the battle Cybertron was left alone, a devastated, burned out ruin of a world. From the billions of beings that I had created only five of my thirteen original creations were left, five out of billions. The seven other Primes had died in the war.

This five however were also forced to leave to fulfill other important duties.

Cybertron was left alone, a lifeless world. Unicron was defeated but everything I had created was gone. I had won but I still lost.

And so it staid that way for hundred thousands of years until someone finally returned to me. It were however not the Primes.

During the battle with Unicron a few groups of the creations you would call transorganics had managed to escape from Cybertron, they fled out into space, to other worlds.

They had changed drastically but I still recognized them. It were the descendants of one of this groups of survivors. Over time and generations they had mutated and degenerated. They had experimented on themselves and changed their own genetics. All this to a point there they had barely any resemblance to what I had created anymore.

They were now a hostile, corrupt and xenophobic species, calling themselves the Quintessons. Like I found out later, they held other sentient beings as slaves and abused and destroyed other species for their own gain.

This degenerated descendants of my creations returned to their old home-world and took control of the planet. My consciousness was still active in the planet and at first I thought it was a good thing. I did not saw how far my former creations had fallen. They found and reactivated Vector Sigma, a machine that was capable of creating new sparks, they rebuilt Cybertron, now as a purely mechanical world.

But I soon realized that they rebuild it into nothing but a giant slave camp."

The four Autobots saw now pictures from that time, pictures that Hotrod had already seen six years ago.

"The Quintessons started to use Vector Sigma to build a new race of robots, nearly identical with my first one, your direct ancestors. But they intended them to be nothing then a race of slaves.

For the Quintessons their robotic relatives were nothing but workers, drone-soldiers and toys anymore. But they couldn´t wipe out their souls, their free will.

The robots were as alive as them, in many senses even more.

You know what happened, after nearly one million years a rebellion rose and the Quintessons had to flee from Cybertron.

Unintentionally however, they had brought up a completely new generation of my children for me. Your ancestors took over Cybertron, a planet that was always yours.

Two lines of robots, one of workers and scientists becoming the Autobots and one that was intended to be warriors, the ancestors of the Decepticons."

Hotrod and the others were stunned by this particular revelation. They knew that either the Quintessons or Primus were said to be their creators. This was however a very interesting variant.

"So this means the Quintessons are more our cousins then our creators", Ultra Magnus remarked.

"Whatever else they are, they are despicable scum", Goldbug pointed out.

"Yes that too", Magnus admitted a bit sardonically.

xxx

"As you know very good, that wasn´t the end", Primus said. "The disagreements and frictions between the two groups of Transformers led to the conflicts between Autobots and Decepticons and finally to the great war as you call it.

But what fewer beings know, this wasn´t the only threat at this time", he continued.

"When his master was defeated The Fallen vanished. Millions of years later however he returned to Cybertron and found the new civilization of robots.

Like before he had tried to gather and corrupt some of my creations and win them as his followers and he succeeded. He founded a movement, a religious cult that worshiped Unicron. You know this sect as the brotherhood of chaos."

They had all known of this cult, even met them, they were known to sacrifice other Transformers in bizarre rituals, a dangerous group of fanatics, ready to kill or die for the Chaos Bringer and undermine the society of Cybertron.

"This cult still exists"; Primus said to them, "but also here I am telling you nothing new."

He was right. For millions of years it was believed that the sect had been extinct. But that had turned out as wrong as members of the cult had been seen, surviving and active, only a few years ago.

"Why are you telling us all this?" Hotrod asked, "why now?"

"I will tell you. But there are two other things you have to know.

Unicron´s body was destroyed, his essence banished from this reality. But millions of years later he came back to this universe as a disembodied entity, a energy being without form.

Here he started to take influence of different lifeforms in that region of the universe. He mentally manipulated entire species into recreating his body. It was a work that took decades.

The creature who was overseeing this operation was a brilliant but mentally unstable and power-hungry scientist, a member of a species of small primates. Like Galvatron millions of years later, Unicron tried to keep him under mental control and like Galvatron he went insane. This being called himself Primacron after the Chaos Bringer and myself."

xxx

Before them appeared a image of the mad scientist who the Dinobots had captured over five years ago.

xxx

"He thought that he could control Unicron and use him for his own plans. With the time, he began to think that he had been the master all along and Unicron his slave. As the new body was finished it turned out of course that his "control" over him had never been more than an illusion.

Unicron continued his war against the universe and the scientists home-world was one of the first targets."

"I understand", Hotrod said, "and that was until we stopped him."

"Yes, seven of your years ago, he found Cybertron again and attacked it. You have defeated him and with that you have more than proven yourself, all of you.

The truth was Unicron had underestimated you from the beginning. He thought your generation was only a shadow of my original creation and that it was only the Matrix alone that was a threat to his plans.

Unicron rebuilt the Decepticon leader Megatron into Galvatron and tried to control him. He wanted to force him into the role as his harbinger that The Fallen had once served and destroy the Matrix for him.

But Galvatron resisted him and didn´t destroy it but attempted to stop him with it. He failed, but was able to protect the Matrix long enough for you to get it.

And as he finally broke down and succumbed to Unicron´s influence, you defeated him and stopped the Chaos Bringer. Yes, he misjudged all of you badly and that turned out to be his doom.

But again it was only temporally. The Decepticon named Starscream had reactivated his remains a few years ago and he tried to take a new body, mine, Cybertron itself.

That last attempt had failed, but now and that is the second thing I needed to tell you, it seems that he had succeeded. Unicron had found a new body and is about to return."

"That is terrible", Ultra Magnus worried, "are you sure?"

"Since our earliest fights, there is a mental link between him and me. I can feel his presence and he mine. Sometime we can even see what the other is thinking.

That was also the reason I staid in stasis for a great part of your history, to hide us from him.

But now he is mentally blocking me. I can not see his thoughts or what he is doing.

But his presence itself had grown stronger and that can only mean that he has found a new body. There is no doubt, Unicron has returned."

"We were forced to use the Matrix two times in the last years", Hotrod said, "first against him and then to cure the hate plaque. It´s energy is depleted."

"I know and this is the reason he is returning now. He is attacking you when you are at your weakest."

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

The Autobot fleet had arrived at the planet Nebulos. Fortress Maximus in his space-ship mode, Skylinx and two armed shuttles were preparing to land.

In the orbit however, they were met by a large space-ship that was intercepting their way.

"I think that is the `Conqueror´, the Decepticon´s new flagship", Sideswipe informed Optimus Prime and Fortress Maximus."

"They are trying to block our way", Grimlock pointed out.

"You are right", Optimus said. He activated the comm. "Prime to Skylinx and shuttles Explorer 1 and 2, engage them and give us the time we need to land", he ordered.

Skylinx went into his dragon like transformation mode and he along with the two shuttles separated from the rest of the force and flew towards the Decepticon ship.

xxxxxxx

On the planet, Skorponok in city mode

"They have arrived", Mindwipe reported to Megatron.

"Good, let them land. It is all going according to plan", he replied.

"Fortress Maximus is heading directly to our position", Zarak stated.

Both, the Decepticon and the nebulon leader were sitting on Skorponok´s command bridge.

"Of course, they obviously long know about your new form and created Fortress new super mode especially to counter it. Have you really thought you could keep it a secret for long? It seems they have already located us."

"Well, it looks as if we are going to have a confrontation", Zarak said.

"Don´t worry Zarak. With the preparations we have made, our victory is practically safe", Megatron assured him.

xxxxxxx

The Autobot ship Fortress Maximus was flying over the forests areas of Nebulos main continent.

"Skorponok, he had transformed into his base mode and is now stationed on the ground", Optimus pointed out.

"Yes, he is waiting for me", Fortress Maximus said.

"It seems so. They have probably been watching us since we entered the atmosphere. This will be the first test for your new form Fortress. We will leave you now. Good luck."

"I know. Thank you Optimus."

"Autobots", their leader announced, "the battle begins, transform."

The Aerialbots and the other flight capable Autobots were leaving the ship from the hangars as it was still in the air. When Fortress Maximus had landed, the rest of their group was driving out in car form over the ramps.

Optimus in his truck mode was leading the convoy into battle.

"The Decepticons have scattered into smaller groups. We separate and confront them. Try to lead them away from populated areas", he told his warriors. "Remember, our victory is in first line depending on Fortress Maximus and his success, so don´t take any unnecessary risks."

xxxxxxx

The seekers Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp were standing in the middle of a field full of the burning wrecks of nebulonian tanks and jet-fighters. Now that the defending forces of this planet, for them a mere nuisance, were out of the way, they were waiting for their real enemies.

"They are here", Thundercracker informed his two partners.

"As expected", Skywarp pointed out, "they are coming right to us. Megatron said that he had a great surprise for them."

"I wouldn´t be so sure here Skywarp", Starscream told him smugly. "There are a lot of things that could go wrong."

"You are just like the Starscream I remember, always trying to find flaws."

"And you are just like the Skywarp I have known, always blindly trusting in Megatron´s judgement."

"Oh yes, had that version of me not taken over your place?" the dark jet replied.

"Yes", Starscream grinned, "after being dumped in space and being changed into a unicronian."

For a second, the other seeker looked at him uneasily, than he returned to his previous relaxed behavior. But Starscream saw that he had broken through to Skywarp, at least for a moment.

Yes, he thought, it was time to bring the pieces into position.

xxxxxxx

Darkwing and Dreadwing were flying on patrol over the border regions of Nebulon city.

Like their three colleagues they were right now overseeing some of the wrecks of the nebulonian military. The first half of the battle was over. Yet the nebulons had never been even close to being real adversaries for them. They had been removed quickly.

It was when the Autobots would arrive when the real fight would be starting.

They didn´t have to wait for long.

Two objects were coming in to them very fast. They quickly recognized the two headmasters Brainstorm and Highbrow in their jet and helicopter modes. Both Autobots opened fire on them on sight.

The real battle had begun.

xxxxxxx

As the last of the other Autobots had left Fortress Maximus began his Transformation. The space ship around him changed form and his former self became the head of a robot who rivaled Metroplex in size.

Still, Fortress new giant incarnation looked very similar to his normal robot form, only many times larger and more powerful. He showed however many outer signs of his two other transformation modes, the space-ship and the city-base, that his smaller form lacked.

The city robot began to walk in the direction of his opponent, who was also transforming into robot mode. For the first time the two rivals were standing before each other in their new forms.

"Fortress", Skorponok/Zarak greeted him as both giants were standing before each other, "as I see you have found out about my last plan to improve myself and made preparations."

"Yes, I have actually copied your idea and created my own version. We will see now who of us had done it better."

"Yes we will", Skorponok replied. He fired at Fortress Maximus with the laser blasters that were placed between the claw like hands.

The shot hit the Autobot and caused smaller damage, but it was nothing actually serious that would threaten or even slow him down.

Fortress countered a few moments later by striking his enemy across the face. The giant Decepticon stumbled back before he caught himself and attacked again.

xxxxxxx

Close to the center of the city the five Combaticons were still fighting with a few remnants of the nebulon army. As they were about to destroy this last fighters, they were however attacked themselves.

A Autobot triple changer who transformed from a space jet to a large artillary-cannon mode was firing at them. He was followed by another jet, a motorcycle, a sports-car and a mobile drilling machine, the Technobots.

The shots forced the Combaticons to draw back from the nebulon soldiers and they had to turn their attention to the five attackers.

xxx

At another part of the city area, the three Decepticon targetmasters were already occupied fighting with their Autobot counterparts.

Both groups were in robot form, with their Nebulon partners transformed into guns and they were right now exchanging fire from a greater distance. Their shoot-out was taking place directly at the border between the town and the forests outside of it.

Both groups were taking cover behind rubble, trees or wrecked ground vehicles and at the same time trying to take aim at their foes. It was a stalemate in every sense of the word.

xxx

The group of Autobots led by Optimus Prime was still driving through the partly destroyed city. At the side of the streets were lying at some places the wrecks of destroyed tanks and air-planes and in between the dead bodies of fallen soldiers. A few of the jet-fighters had crashed into buildings and set them up into flames.

Panicked citizens were running around and crowding the places in some parts of the city, while others were already abandoned.

xxx

Grimlock and his Dinobots watched over the south eastern part of the town, close to the harbor area, where another group of Decepticons had been attacking.

A few hours earlier the fleet of battle-ships lying in the bay of Nebulos city was getting alerted about the invasion. The Transformers were back.

They had expected an assault from the land side or even from the air, but what happened was something completely different from what they had thought of. The first ship was sunk without anybody even realizing what had done it. Somehow it´s body had been ripped apart from the ground of the sea.

Then the soldiers finally saw it, giant monsters were coming out of the sea, with over-sized jaws and tentacles they were crunching or ripping the metal of the ships apart.

It were the Seacons, a team of Decepticons especially designed for missions under water. They all even had the alt-forms of fishes or other sea life. Because of that their use everywhere else was of course somewhat limited and they were often mocked by other Decepticons for that.

But they had one advantage clearly speaking for them, they were one of the Decepticon´s combiner groups. As they had finished demolishing the assembled military ships they merged into their gestalt mode Piranhacon and the super robot waited for the Autobots.

Now the waiting was coming to an end.

Grimlock and his group were flying in robot mode over the district, overlooking the area. They had made out the Decepticon gestalt and were heading in attack formation for him.

"Dinobots", Grimlock called out, "transform and attack."

The five Dinobots were transforming in their dinosaur modes and throwing themselves at their enemy.

Piranhacon tried everything to fight the attacking Autobots off. He stroke with his sword at them and slammed Snarl crashing in the ground. Swoop however fired his missiles, hitting him square in the chest and moments later Grimlock bite him in the arm, trying to hold him into place while the other Dinobots were targeting him.

xxxxxxx

At the core of Cybertron

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug were once again standing before the display of Primus face.

The entity had just informed them about a number of facts from the pre-historical time of Cybertron and he gave them a warning.

Unicron had returned. After the destruction of his body and his failed attempt to take over their planet, he had found a way to restore himself. To that came that the power of the Matrix was depleted now.

It may have started to return in the last weeks, but it was still not enough, not nearly.

Primus was the one who had called them here, they could only hope that he also had an idea for a solution.

"Hotrod, no Rodimus Prime", the voice of Primus said to him. "I have a request to you."

That was not exactly what they had awaited. What they actually expected right now was an offering of a way to help. But maybe this request was exactly that.

"What do you want from me?" Hotrod asked.

xxxxxxx

Nebulos

Fortress Maximus and Skorponok were struggling with each other. Both of them knew their fight would probably be deciding for the entire battle.

If one of them could take the other out, the army in question would barely have any chance anymore. A city robot was very hard to come by.

It would take nearly the entire rest of their forces to even match one of them. But a decision between them was so far not to see.

"You won´t win this Skorponok", Fortress Maximus told him.

"We will see", the Decepticon answered.

xxxxxxx

The Terrorcons were rampaging through the town, wrecking havoc in their dragon and monster modes.

This team didn´t have it´s name for nothing. The Terrorcons were one of the most nasty and aggressive sub-groups of the Decepticons and they were proofing it.

While the most other Cons had so far mostly only been attacking military targets, they and a few others were, only for the fun of it, tearing buildings down, killing people and leaving a path of destruction all through the city.

xxx

Capback, Bulkhead, Punch, Skyfire and Strangecase were fighting with a group of black Sweeps. The drone fighters had surrounded the five Autobots and were trying to take shots on them from different directions.

Despite not being experienced warriors, they were holding themselves quite good against the drones.

Carnage, the leader of the black Sweeps and the only one with a mind of his own, was overseeing the fight. The robot named Punch had destroyed one of his Sweeps and three others were now attacking them from two sides. He decided that it was time to get involved personally and joined his followers.

Carnage took aim and shot one of the Autobots. It didn´t matter to him which one as long as he caused damage. The target fell down to his knees. Very good, he thought.

"Bulkhead had been hit", Capback called out.

"Is he still functional?" Skyfire asked him.

"He is, but his damage is serious, he needs to the repair bay now."

Skyfire shot another of the Sweeps down.

"We have to bring him out of here", he said to the others.

"I will bring him back him back to Fortress Maximus", Capback offered. "Can you handle the rest of them alone?"

"We will have to", Skyfire answered. "Go and take care of him."

While the wounded Bot was dragged away, the others were holding the Sweeps back. Above them Carnage grinned.

xxx

Optimus and his group, consisting of the powermasters and the three Autobots Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Prowl, had arrived to confront the groups of Decepticons who were terrorizing the people.

He transformed into robot form and from there directly into his new, improved robot mode. Instead of sending his trailer into sub-space, like he would usually do, he merged with it and became taller, stronger and more heavily armed.

"So, let us see how good we work together", Optimus said loud to his new nebulon partner. Silently he received the confirmation from the nebulon through their mental link.

It was a strange feeling, he thought, sharing senses and experiences with somebody else. But the outcome, he had to admit, was worth it.

He felt as if he could move twice as fast as before, that he could perceive his environment now far better, of course he knew that was because his processor was now working with the information it was getting from both his and Hi Q´s mind.

And he felt stronger, far stronger, thanks to his upgrades. He knew, without the advanced reflexes of the powermaster process, this new form, a merging of his normal body and his trailer, wouldn´t have worked.

Before them, they saw a few Decepticons attacking natives. A oversized, metallic crocodile, in fact the headmaster Skullcruncher was shooting a group of Nebulons who were trying to flee from him and disintigrated them with one laser blast.

Despite being connected to a nebulon himself, he had obviously no problem to hunt them down and kill them for sport.

Seeing this, Optimus and the other powermasters went into attack. As Skullcruncher saw them coming he reunited with his nebulon partner and transformed back into a robot. He took aim at the Autobot leader, attempting to shoot him, but Optimus was faster. He aimed a blast at the chest and one at the head of the attacking headmaster, hitting the Decepticon and his nebulon partner at the same time. With a third shot at short distance that ripped through the spark chamber, he killed the robot instantly.

Behind him the other powermasters and the rest of his group were now struggling with the other rampaging Cons. Optimus recognized the two so called Horrorcons Snapdragon and Apeface, three of the Terrorcons and one of Sideways followers.

xxx

In the sky over them Megatron, Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker were levitating over the battlefield and watching the ongoing fight.

"It seems Optimus Prime had upgraded himself", Megatron commented.

"Have you seen Prowl with them?" Skywarp asked him. "We know he is dead here. This has to be the one from our world."

"This means the Autobots probably know who we are", Thundercracker said.

"That doesn´t matter anymore", their leader replied. "When we have won this battle nobody will ask anymore where we came from. Now let us go down there and finish this Autobots."

"Now you are talking like the Megatron I remember", Starscream told him.

xxx

"Prime", Megatron greeted Optimus as he and the three seekers landed close to him, "how good it is to see you again."

"Megatron", he said, "it looks as if your take-over attempt had actually been successful right?"

"Indeed it was, before you stands the new leader of the Decepticons."

"We will see. By the way, the charade is over. We know now exactly what and who you are."

"I understand", he replied. "Prowl", he addressed the Autobot from his home dimension, "as I see you are still alive and you have actually made it to this universe too. I guess you are the one who gave them his new information."

"Yes I did."

"Now it doesn´t make a difference anymore. Nobody will doubt my authority after I have destroyed you."

He aimed his fusion cannon at the Autobots and fired.

Optimus and his men could barely dodge the shot. He felt as fire and burning splitters of stone were thrown on him from the explosion. Then they fired back.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

"Do I understand you right Primus? You want me to let you take over my body?"

Hotrod and the others had been listening astonished to what the ancient being was proposing.

"I would rather say that I want to transfer part of my essence over to you, but technically you could call it what you have said", he explained.

"Yes, what´s the difference?" Kup asked incredulous.

"I am not going to subdue Rodimus mind or in some way trying to control him", he assured them.

He again addressed Hotrod.

"Your thoughts and everything what you are would still be your own. You could actually say that you will have mine in addition to it.

What I need is a way to channel my power and concentrate it on the outside world, when we can do what is necessary to fight Unicron."

"Can you not simply re-empower the Matrix?" Ultra Magnus asked him.

"The Matrix is more than just my energy. It is the sum of the lives and experiences of all cybertronians. To answer your question, yes I could re-energize the Matrix, but it would not nearly be what it had been before, not even close. It would simply not be enough.

"I…I understand", Magnus replied.

He had never claimed to be an expert about the Matrix and the mystical elements surrounding it. That was also one of the reasons that he had never felt comfortable back then in the role as Autobot leader. But in his time with both Optimus and Rodimus he had still learned some things about it.

"I will do it", Hotrod said loud.

"You will what?" Kup asked him incredulous. "Moment, you actually want to agree to that?"

"We have not much of a choice right and besides, he is the creator of Cybertron. We can trust him."

"And you know all that how?"

"Because the Matrix told me."

"Oh, the Matrix had told you that", Kup commented sarcastically.

"Yes and if we can not longer trust it then what?" Hotrod looked at his comrades one by one.

"Primus", he said then, "do it."

"As you wish."

In the next moment a powerful stream of energy left his holographic representation and flew to Hotrod. As it hit the body of the Autobot it began to glow around him, as they all recognised, exactly in the same color as the light of the Matrix.

It was exactly as seven years ago when he first opened the legendary artifact. The energy, the light surrounded him, flew through him. Hotrod´s form was now shining as bright as a star.

He felt how his body was changing, became larger, his stature subtilely different, his transformation mode was changing and he became far more powerful. Before the eyes of the others he changed back into Rodimus Prime.

Then the energy was absorbed into his body. Their friend was standing before them, nearly the same as before.

"Rodimus?" Ultra Magnus asked him.

"Yes and no", he answered. As he spoke his voice sounded different, distorted, nearly as if it was a mix of the voices of Primus and Hotrod and his eyes were shining with the same energy that was around him a moment before.

"Don´t worry", he told them, "I will do what is to do."

With this words Rodimus began to levitate from the ground, without any outside help and teleported away.

xxxxxxx

He could feel the presence of the other Transformers in the distance. His senses were now going far beyond his physical form. He could feel their life energy, their sparks, their minds.

Rodimus could feel Optimus, far away on another planet and with a thought, he teleported.

He was on a organic world, on the first look a bit similar to earth. Nebulos, he recognized the planet.

And there was a battle going on, on the planet and in space over them. He himself was still out of their sight.

Then he saw Optimus in hand to hand combat with someone who was looking like Megatron. Impossible, the Hotrod part of his being thought.

This was the Megatron from another universe, Primus gave him the information, refugee from that world and somehow part of a greater scheme. Primus had felt his arrival in this dimension months ago. What scheme, he thought? Even they didn´t know.

Optimus and the new Megatron were exchanging heavy blows right now, both were taking at least serious superficial damage.

Around them he could see other Autobots and Decepticons in similar fights. He could make out for example Getaway, Sunstreaker, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Prowl?

Other visitors from the other universe, he suddenly knew.

He couldn´t help them, he realized and he couldn´t take Optimus at this moment, he was needed here right now.

Optimus had to wait.

But he could feel others, Galvatron, he recognized him and teleported.

xxx

He appeared right over the damaged group of Decepticons consisting of Galvatron, Cyclonus and the Sweeps, the real Sweeps, left behind after the challenge with Megatron and his followers.

For Rodimus Prime they had been enemies for a long time, but for Primus they were allies and so they were for them both now.

"Galvatron", he called out the name.

The Decepticons starred at him. He saw that some of same were grabbing for their guns.

"You", Galvatron said astonished.

But before they could do anything, Rodimus/Primus had transported them away.

xxxxxxx

Optimus had the Decepticon leader in the defensive right now. His powermaster form was as it looked even stronger than Megatron´s upgraded body.

A blast from him hit his opponent´s shoulder and ripped parts of metal out.

"Give up Megatron", he told him.

"The Optimus I knew had always said the same thing", he said mockingly, "and always he didn´t understood that I had still a trump left. You have already lost Prime, you just doesn´t know it yet." He laughed.

xxxxxxx

Fortress Maximus shot a salve of missiles at Skorponok that hit the Decepticon frontal and he fell to his knees.

With a strike of his hand Fortress send his opponent down and the damage forced him to transform back into city mode.

"It is over Skorponok. I have won", he said and pointed his main weapon at his downed foe.

xxx

"Fortress", he heard someone calling out a short time later.

He saw two Autobots on the ground, one was obviously injured and the other was carrying him.

"He is damaged", the other, Capback, he remembered him, shouted.

"Good, bring him inside", Fortress Maximus said and opened an airlock.

xxxxxxx

In space over them the fight between the small Autobot fleet and the Conqueror was still going on. They had reached somewhat of a stand-off situation as something unexpected happened.

The two Bots who were piloting one of the shuttles registered something on their scanners. Hundreds of objects had suddenly arrived in the system.

"Damn", one of them cursed, "can you see what they are?"

"Yes", the other answered in a more than worried tone. They are Sweeps, the same black variant that had been seen over Autobot city, hundreds of them.

xxx

On board of the Conqueror, one of the Decepticons on duty had also noticed the new fleet.

"What is that?" he asked the Sweep standing next to him. "Reinforcements we have not been informed about?"

"Yes", the drone answered him in it´s monotone voice.

xxxxxxx

On the ground Fortress Maximus was still watching the defeated Skorponok at gun point.

In the command station inside his head the nebulon leader Galen was sitting, connected to the systems of the super robot.

He heard that someone had entered the room behind him.

"Capback", he greeted the newcomer, "how is Bulkhead and by the way what are you doing here?"

He suddenly registered disturbed that the Autobot was still dragging the damaged form of his comrade over the metal floor with him at one arm. Why had he not brought him to the med bay?

Before he could say something to this, before he had even the chance to somehow react, his visitor had already drawn his gun and fired at him.

Despite his exo-suit, the nearly helpless nebulon was completely vaporized and the machinery around him heavily damaged.

Then Capback looked down at his wounded comrade and with a smile shot him in the head.

xxx

The Autobot super robot fell to the ground, like a marionette whose strings had been cut and like Skorponok, he automatically transformed back.

"So Fortress, it seems that your victory was kind of short whiled", Zarak said in his own command center and laughed.

"Lord Zarak", he heard a call coming in. It was Doomsday, one of Sideways mercenaries. "the plan had worked. We were sent by Megatron to report to you and inspect the damage."

"Yes, I will let you on board", he replied.

xxxxxxx

Megatron was receiving a signal on his communicator.

"Sir", one of the Decepticons on the flag ship called him, "our troops on the ground report that Fortress Maximus has been taken care of."

"Yes Optimus", Megatron informed him, "it looks as if your friend Fortress is dead."

"No", Optimus said.

"Our plan had perfectly worked out", Megatron told him cheerfully.

"Megatron, there is something else. A few moments ago a force of several hundred black Sweeps had suddenly arrived in the system."

"What", Megatron called out. That was a surprise even for him. Had Sideways modified the plan without his knowledge? Another safe guard he hadn´t informed him about and how had he been able to create so many drones?

He and his ally would have a lot to talk about when this was over. But in the end it didn´t matter now, they had won, he thought in triumph.

"Megatron, there is something wrong", the Decepticon contacted him again, this time obviously in distress. "The Sweeps, they are attacking us too."

"So it seems your victory wasn´t truly yours after all Megatron", Optimus told him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

Of all the possible outcomes of their battle, no matter who would have been the winner, they would have never thought of this ending.

The Autobot leader Optimus Prime, along with his nebulon partner Hi Q and the the three Autobots Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Skyfire were sitting in a holding cell of the, now former, Decepticon flagship.

With them were of all people Megatron, the "new" Decepticon leader, who was in fact a refugee from another reality, his former lieutenant Thundercracker, who came from the same universe as his leader and the headmaster commander Skorponok.

All of them were now locked up together in the same cell.

Yes, of all the possible outcomes, this was the single one they would never have considered.

At the beginning of the battle, Skywarp, Prowl, the powermasters and a few others had also been with them. But during the fight they had lost contact with their comrades. They could only hope that the others had made it out alive.

Optimus remembered how it could have come to this.

xxxxxxx

Planet Nebulos, 2 hours earlier

"What, that is impossible", the Decepticon leader yelled into his communicator as he had heard that the newly arrived Sweep-Drones were not only attacking the Autobots but also their own troops.

Whatever was happening here, it was obviously a trap, not only for them but also for Megatron.

Optimus worst fears were confirmed as they had tried to contact Fortress Maximus a moment later and weren´t answered. Had Skorponok just defeated his opponent or was this also part of this set up? Where did this new Sweeps came from anyway?

The Decepticons had seemed to be confident to use them as expendable troops and as cannon fodder, but where had he got them from? Who had created them? Prime asked himself silently.

Sweeps were actually a design from Unicron, that alone was enough for him to leave a bad feeling.

He remembered briefly Prowl´s comments that somebody from this world was obviously helping Megatron. Had his mysterious ally turned on him?

Maybe, this would be a good explanation for what was going on right now.

A few minutes after they had received the warning communication the sky was filled with hundreds of Black Sweeps.

xxxxxxx

Skorponok, city mode

To say that Zarak was surprised by what was happening would be an understatement. Shock could barely describe what he was feeling.

Doomsday and his team had just entered his transformed super-body, as they said to report to him and to bring him Megatron´s new orders, orders he didn´t intent to follow much longer. But for now he would comply.

All the more he was surprised as Doomsday and his companions suddenly started to fire as they had entered the main areas of the base.

He couldn´t believe it. Had Megatron somehow found out about his plans against him or was he simply trying to get rid of him to avoid any risks? Or was it something completely different? It didn´t really matter right now.

In a open battle Skorponok was nearly invincible, but this was coming from the inside and on top of that an surprise attack. Before Zarak had even the chance to react, the three Decepticons had already hit and damaged critical systems of the city robot and left him practically helpless against their continued assault.

Against his will, he began to panic, the three were quickly coming closer to him. He didn´t knew what they wanted, he didn´t knew if they would kill him or not, but they would reach him very soon.

xxx

Both sides were trying to defend themselves against the new attackers, but they had already spend the most of their energy fighting each other. Many were damaged and had already been out of the fight when the Sweep armada arrived. What was left of them was hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered.

With both city robots taken out of the battle, they had no chance. For a short time the Autobot and the Decepticon troops were able to hold themselves, but ultimately the outcome was unavoidable. They were losing.

Optimus, Megatron and their group were now surrounded by dozens of enemies. They wouldn´t make it, they realized. It were simply too many. There was no way they could get out of there, but there were others who could.

"Autobots, this is Optimus Prime", he activated his communicator. "Bring yourself to safety. We have lost this battle", he told them. "Contact Rodimus Prime when he returns." With the use of Hotrod´s title he also acknowledged that he probably wouldn´t be with them. "Go and live to fight another day. Prime over."

He had just ordered the retreat for the Autobots and with that the damn broke. As they started to follow Prime´s order, they were closely followed by the Decepticons who didn´t even needed to be told to flee. The fighters of both sides had long realized at this point that their situation was hopeless, but so far they had been holding out, until now.

What had been a battle a short time ago, even if a losing one, was now turning into a partly chaotic, partly organized retreat. All over Nebulos the Transformers were now desperately trying to leave the planet. The sky was full of seekers and other air units who were fighting their way out.

A few Autobots and Decepticons in air-craft modes were getting into fire fights with the Sweeps. One of the Autobot jets was hit by several shots and exploded already in mid air. A Decepticon seeker met a similar fate as he was caught by blaster fire, fell burning from the sky and crashed many miles further down into the ground.

The Autobots had with some difficulty been able to reactivate the now crippled star-ship form of Fortress Maximus and finally succeeded to bring him off planet after several troops had boarded him.

For the most part the retreat was going on successfully. It was only the small number around Optimus Prime and Megatron who had been unable to get a way out. They were still trying to fight the drone-warriors off. From one moment to the other they had been going from facing each other to fighting side by side.

The group consisting of Optimus, Megatron, the Lamborghini twins and Thundercracker was now surrounded by the crippled remains of nearly a dozen Sweeps. But their enemies were still coming. They knew it was only a question of time till they would be overpowered.

xxxxxxx

In the present

Now they were sitting together in the cell, friends and enemies alike. It was really not what any of them had planned.

The one responsible for their current state was as they had found out the being known as Sideways. He, as the four captured Autobots knew so far, was the one who had done both, provided Megatron with the new version of Sweeps and was also the one who had betrayed him now.

They saw that their captor was entering the room, closely followed by the robot called Doomsday and Starscream, who had an grim expression of coming anguish on his face.

"What do you want?" Megatron asked angrily.

"You will see very soon", Sideways answered him with a cold smile, "but first let me show you a little demonstration."

xxxxxxx

Through the mind of Primus, Rodimus Prime was still watching out into the depths of space.

He was looking for other Transformers, trying to point out the light of their sparks over the great distance.

Like he did with Galvatron and his group, he would bring them to him, to Cybertron´s core.

Now his conscious was reaching out to the planet Earth. Here he felt the presence of many of "his" Autobot comrades.

Some of them he could make out by name, Jazz, who was currently commanding the troops on earth, Hotrod´s old friend Springer, Blurr and Perceptor, Blaster and his cassettes and several others.

And he recognized Soundwave and Rumble, who were still held as prisoners inside of Metroplex.

With not much more than a thought, accompanied by a gesture, he brought all of them to his resting place deep inside of Cybertron.

xxx

In greater distance, close to the Quintesson territory, he sensed another group, consisting of both Autobots and Decepticons. He didn´t knew what they were doing out there. Then he realized another presence following them, a group of Quintessons. Their ship, Primus recognized it as a small shuttle, not really able to defend itself in this situation, was being hunted by two cruisers and six Sharkticon gliders.

The entity consisting of Primus and Hotrod realized that this group was in grave danger and would probably not make it out on their own.

The Quintessons fired several salves of missiles at them. Moments before the small ship was hit, he transferred the passengers like he had done it with the other ones. Then the missiles found their target and the shuttle exploded into a giant ball of fire.

From their point of view the Quintessons saw the destruction of the ship and thought they had eliminated their enemies, so they stopped their pursuit, at least for the moment.

"We have succeeded", the judge on board of the head cruiser declared.

"Shall we return to the base?", a robot guard who was sitting at the controls asked him.

"No, it should be impossible that they had survived this explosion, but our ally wants us to make to hundred percent sure", the judge answered.

xxxxxxx

The underground of Cybertron

They were all assembled in the large underground hall, all the cybertronians that Primus had collected. By now dozens of robots from both groups were standing in the room.

The Transformers of both factions were standing in two crowds at different ends of the room. All the Autobots who had been transferred here were now meeting up with Ultra Magnus, Kup and Goldbug who were filling them in about their recent discoveries.

The Decepticons had collected themselves around Galvatron who seemed to have once again taken the role of their leader.

In the place between them stood Hotrod, now once again in the form of Rodimus Prime. He was still connected to the spirit of Primus, his body glowing from the energy of the "god".

He wasn´t possessed in the regular sense, since the being connected to his body wasn´t trying to control him. His thoughts and mind were still his own. More correctly was that the Autobot had allowed the entity to share his body with him for a short time, to do what was necessary.

Robots of both sides were looking at this being in awe and in question.

He had introduced himself to them as Primus, an ancient creature and known as the god of Cybertron, currently merged with the body of the Autobot leader Rodimus Prime.

They all were more than just surprised by their sudden situation. All of them had been on their posts, on missions, in their free time or in two cases even in a prison, but now they were all here.

Being displaced without warning and then confronted with a being who was claiming to be their creator was certainly a shock, but the most of them seemed to take it quite well after some explanations from him or one of the three Autobots who had already been there.

Galvatron and Cyclonus however showed also mistrust and demanding. Like it was in their nature, Primus thought, good.

"What do you want from us? Why have you brought us here?" the Decepticon leader asked him.

"Where are we here anyway?" his second in command wanted to know. "This is Cybertron", he observed, "but I don´t remember ever seeing a place like this."

Both of them knew who they were dealing with, but none of them seemed to be particular intimidated. They didn´t even seemed to be too surprised to see him. Had Unicron informed his creations about Primus existence?

In either way, he certainly hadn´t expected any blind loyalty from this two and on some level he was glad that he wasn´t been disappointed. He hadn´t created his children to be mindless followers.

He knew however that to fight Unicron he needed both sides.

While the Autobot Hotrod, who he was connected to, was used to seeing the Decepticons as his enemies, Primus knew that for his purposes it shouldn´t make a difference, even if he didn´t agree with the their aggressive aims.

But ultimately this was one more reason more to talk with them.

He knew his chances to actually reach something in that manner were more than slim after them being stuck in this way for 10 million years.

And he had no intention to try to force change upon their kind. That wouldn´t solve the problems anyway but only delay them.

Right now he needed them to stop Unicron and prevent the worst, all of them, even if he didn´t share their opinions.

As the last of the assembled robots seemed to have calmed down, Primus began to talk to the two groups. All in all he repeated the same story he had already told his four original visitors and was explaining the situation they were facing now.

xxxxxxx

Decepticon flagship above Nebulos

The robot was screaming out in agony.

Optimus, Megatron and the others were watching in disturbed and shocked curiosity how his form was constantly assaulted by flashes of high level energy that were sent through his body and by mental assaults, what the watchers however couldn´t actually see.

Then Starscream´s tortured body fall hard onto the deck.

For the last few minutes they had all been watching the torture of the seeker before them.

The Autobot Skyfire had been the first who had protested as he saw what was happening to his old friend.

"Stop this", he shouted at Sideways. The purple robot however didn´t even honored him with an answer.

Before the war the two had been the best friends and colleagues. They had been scientists and explorers. Originally Skyfire had started out as Starscream´s mentor. The young robot had been looking up to him for a long time. Later they became partners in their exploration flights.

Until one day Skyfire went missing on a long rage mission. After searching for a long time without success, Starscream was forced to return to Cybertron alone. There he had to find out that the war had broken out in his absence and the home he wanted to return to didn´t exist anymore.

And so the disillusioned and bitter Starscream had joined the Decepticons. From there on began a dark development into a vicious killer. He became the Air Commander of the Decepticons and for a long time Megatron´s second in command, a mass murderer and war criminal, then finally a murderous outcast and traitor to both sides,

a development that had ended up now with him lying on the ground before them.

When Skyfire had been recovered millions of years later Megatron had tried to turn recruit the him for the Decepticons. Not knowing the situation, he had joined them at first until Starscream had ordered him to kill a group of defenseless prisoners. As he refused the enraged seeker shot him instead and this was officially the end of their old friendship.

Skyfire joined the Autobots shortly afterwards and since then they were fighting on different sides.

That however didn´t mean that both, he and sometimes even Starscream didn´t wish from time to time that this would had never happened.

Except him, none of the other robots present particular cared about the former Air Commander, not even the other Decepticons. For the Autobots he was a bloodthirsty enemy whose atrocities they had seen for millions of years and for his own faction an untrustworthy renegade who they had only kept along because of his skills and their own need for troops.

But still none of them knew what he had done to, in Sideways eyes, deserve this kind of treatment.

They all watched by now in silence and in some parts concealed horror the purple robot torturing one of his own men.

As Megatron and Thundercracker were aware, this Starscream was one of the first members recruited by Sideways for their group. For them he was just the counterpart of the one from their home universe. It hadn´t been a surprise for them in the slightest that he was banished from the Decepticons in this world. Like him their Starscream had been a traitorous back stabber until Megatron had been finally forced to execute him.

When Sideways had brought this new version to them, they had been very distrustful at first, but their ally kept assuring them that he was useful and that he could keep him under control.

Well, so much for trusting Sideways anyway. What however motivated him to put the seeker through this ordeal now, they didn´t knew either. One thing was clear, this was meant to intimidate them, as he had pointed out, a demonstration, a cruel one.

Right after both of them had entered the room, Sideways had activated some mysterious torturing device that seemed to be placed inside of Starscream´s body.

The former Air Commander had so far been enduring the punishment without an protest or complaint. That was something completely untypical for him as everybody knew. It was nearly as if he had been expecting something like this all along or, even more terrifying, as if he was used to such a treatment.

"No, please stop it", he finally begged after wordlessly enduring the torture for several minutes, my master", he ended the sentence, sounding defeated and full of pain.

Sideways smiled at him.

"Good Starscream, you played your role very well."

"Thank you my master", the seeker gasped in a defeated voice.

But as soon as his tormentor wasn´t looking at him anymore, Starscream starred in grim anger. This was typical for him.

"Why are you doing this?" Optimus asked Sideways horrified.

"Ah Optimus Prime", he replied, "always caring, always trying to prevent suffering, even for your worst enemies, like him", he gestured to the seeker, "always trying to be the hero, to be noble. I have already heard of this trade of you and I never understood it."

"I doubt that someone like you would ever understand, someone who tortures others for his personal amusement." The Autobot leader looked at Starscream.

"Oh, that is just the price he had to pay for trying to betray me once and by that he can also be useful in showing you all what happens with the ones who are daring to stand in my way", he told them.

"And for your so called heroism Optimus, fact is you had failed to stop the Decepticons for over 9 million years, you have lost Cybertron to them twice. As I have heard, you could have easily killed Megatron during your so called battle of Autobot city, but you instead let him talk you into hesitating and that led to your own death and to the creation of Galvatron. You have only the Quintessons and the Matrix to thank for the fact that you are even alive right now. And finally like Megatron here, you walked completely clueless into my trap", Sideways said.

"Face it, your Autobot ideals are doomed to failure, exactly like the ones of your creator Primus. Seven years ago you had just luck, but this time I will win."

"What are you saying?" Optimus asked him, for a moment confused, then with a very uneasy feeling.

Sideways didn´t answer, but turned to the robot lying before him on the ground.

"It is good that you had learned your lesson from betraying me by now Starscream", Sideways told him mockingly. "Never forget one thing, you belong to me."

"Yes master Unicron", the seeker responded. He spoke this words with a hidden smirk, despite his own pain and public humiliation.

The entire room seemed to be like frozen as he had said this. They all spend a short moment not really believing what they had just heard.

Megatron and Thundercracker starred at the robot before them in shock. For a second, their minds didn´t even registered it, didn´t accept what they were just witnessing.

"Yes", Sideways continued to talk. His voice had suddenly changed into the deep bass of Unicron, a voice that only a few of them knew.

One of these was Optimus, even if in his case only from Matrix induced visions.

"It is me. You see, this body before you is merely a drone, a vessel that I placed a part of my consciousness into", Unicron told them, "and Optimus Prime, as I had said before, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

"No, no, no that can not be", Megatron stuttered. When he had thought he was in shock before, now that he heard this voice coming from the purple robot it was a hundred times worse.

He, once the mightiest of the Decepticons, was now shivering in fear and blank terror and that in front of his enemies. But still, his mind nearly collapsed, refused to comprehend the true identity of the robot before him.

"What however is disappointing is that you don´t have the Matrix with you", Unicron told Optimus.

"The power of the Matrix had extinguished", the Autobot leader answered him. He only hoped that the monster would believe his bluff.

"Optimus, I know that it´s energy has already started to refill itself and even in it´s current low power it would be good to destroy it. But I take you have given it to Rodimus right?"

He said nothing.

"So Primus has already reacted", Unicron answered in his place. "Well he will be too late", he said with visible self confidence.

"Ah and you Megatron, my good friend", he addressed the former Decepticon leader. "I remember how I found you. I have been searching a number of parallel universes to find fitting candidates for my plan, someone who was either desperate or naive enough and you certainly did fit. All I needed to was to show you a way out of your doomed dimension and the chance to once lead the Decepticons again and you would get along with all my `suggestions´.

"...to play us against each other", Optimus remarked.

"Yes exactly, you see Optimus, after the Matrix had destroyed my body, I was not quite as helpless as you might have thought. I possess followers under the cybertronians, you call them the `Brotherhood of Chaos´. They had helped me to repair my true self so far and to realize the beginnings of this plan. Even one of your Autobots is on my side Optimus", he informed them. "He had taken out Fortress Maximus for me.

You see", he said, now looking to his three Decepticon prisoners, "the most of my mercenaries, that I have recruited for you are actually members of my loyal cult, Doomsday here and the others", he explained to them.

In Optimus mind the points started to connect, Megatron and his group, Sideways followers, in fact Unicron minions, the new black Sweeps, a design from Unicron, right.

"Thanks to you Megatron, I was able to infiltrate the Decepticons. It is ironic, all I needed to tell you was that one of my creations was leading them in this world and you were more than willing to bring him down and like you called it, `save´ your empire from Unicron´s influence.

But like you have surely recognized by now Megatron, it was not Galvatron who was my pawn in all this, but you", he smiled at him, "and now you have served your purpose."

"No", he still stuttered.

With this words he raised his arm and shot the shackled and already injured Decepticon.

Megatron fell to his knees, even more damaged than before. A similar blast hit Thundercracker one moment later.

"Starscream, my loyal minion", he said this to the seeker in a ironic tone that made clear that it was meant to be insulting.

"Yes master", he answered.

"As you have probably known", Sideways/Unicron explained to them, "it was Starscream here who had reactivated me 6 of your years ago, in exchange for a new body he promised to help me in my failed attempt to take over Cybertron. But in the end he wanted to betray me."

This statement surprised nobody.

"As you remember my plan failed anyway because a group of Autobots stopped me from connecting my head to the planet. Starscream had only overseen one thing. I was the one who had created his new body and like Galvatron was, he is now under my control."

"Yes trough torture", Optimus remarked.

"It doesn´t matter how, he belongs to me", Unicron replied without much care. "Like I said before, I doesn´t need my `Decepticon leader´ anymore and I have decided now how to deal with him. You see, seven years ago I have picked something from the cosmos, his version from this reality and recreated him into Galvatron. It is time that I give something back to the universe."

Optimus heard his words and it took him a few moments to realize what the robot meant. Then he understood.

"Starscream, Doomsday, come and bring Megatron and Thundercracker to the air lock", Sideways told them.

"You can not do this", Optimus Prime tried to protest.

"Like I said, always trying to help your enemies. That is the reason you will loose in the end", Sideways replied.

He has gone mad, the Autobot leader realized one reason for the sadistic behavior of the robot who was in fact the entity Unicron. The last seven years he had been not much more than a bodiless head, floating in space, a god-like being reduced to a shadow of his former self, defeated and humiliated by beings he hadn´t even considered worthy enemies.

And now he was taking cruel revenge on anybody he could get. He was still torturing Starscream for his betrayal 6 years ago and maybe for the simple reason that he is available. A insane god, Optimus thought, for a moment he asked himself how dangerous this being really was.

The seeker stood at the air lock, the damaged body of Megatron in his hands.

"Starscream", the wounded robot said weakly. The former Air Commander overcame a horrible sense of deja vu. This was exactly like the point where his own downfall had started. He had once betrayed Megatron, exactly like this, but he came back as Galvatron and took revenge.

All this started a chain of events that ended with his own enslavement by Unicron and now he stood here as a puppet of someone else and was forced to do the same thing all over again for his sick amusement.

Starscream couldn´t act differently, the sarcastic part of him that was still active in him just had to do it.

As he let Megatron fall out into space, he said the words in cruel irony on himself,

"Oh how it pains me to do this."

He remembered that he had said exactly the same words when he had abandoned Megatron like this once before.

This time however he meant them.

xxxxxxx

Underground of Cybertron

"So if I have understand you right Primus, you want my help?" Galvatron asked.

The Transformer god had just finished telling all of them about the situation and about the history he wanted them to know about.

"Yes Galvatron, as you know our common enemy has returned and we have to work together to stop him."

The Decepticon leader and Cyclonus looked at each other, then at Scourge and the others.

"What do you think?" A Sweep asked his group commander quietly.

"What he says is true, but can we trust him? Scourge replied.

"You are right that Unicron is behind all of this. I have met this robot Sideways myself and I have seen what he truly is. There is only one problem with all of what you said."

"And what is that?" Primus asked him.

"Why exactly should I help you?" Galvatron asked him with obvious bitterness.

"One moment", the Autobot Kup called out, "what do you think…?"

"This is enough Kup", Primus/Rodimus interrupted him. "Let Galvatron speak."

"You claim that our common enemy has returned, that we all are in danger, that we should work together. All that was true seven years ago too", the Decepticon said.

"I remember that I stood before Unicron with the Matrix in my hands, hoping that it would help me. But it didn´t work. The Matrix failed me on that day and the Matrix and you, as you admitted yourself, are one and the same. You have failed me.

Seven years ago we controlled Cybertron, we conquered it in a long war. You claim to be neutral in our conflict, but your `sacred weapon´ didn´t do anything to help us until the Autobots took over the fight", he accused him.

"Where have you been when hundreds of our troops had been slaughtered?" Cyclonus asked him in anger now too. "You had done nothing to help till our defenses had been destroyed, our troops were decimated and our cities lay in ruins and nearly all the Autobots still needed to do was to just march in and take over.

You were on their side all along and now you want to use us in the same way as before. We fight for you and the Autobots and when it is over we are too weak to defend ourselves", he claimed bitterly.

"I promise you", Primus answered, "what you think is not the case."

"Yes? Why should we believe you?" Galvatron asked now again. "You have deserted us before. You have made it pretty clear which group of your `children´ you prefer."

xxxxxxx

Somewhere in space, a few hours later

Skywarp was flying through the emptiness. He was still following the signal.

As Starscream had told him about this the first time he didn´t believe him, no wonder considering who was talking.

Still this was too important to just ignore it.

However from the moment the Sweep drones were starting to turn on their own troops, he had to admit that he was starting to believe what he said.

Starscream had warned him and Thundercracker during the battle that Sideways was planning a coup. It was not really an unlikely thought, but coming from their former superior officer, no matter what version, everything was suspicious.

Despite that they had agreed to an emergency plan he had proposed. Right now he was following the signal from one of the tracers Starscream had given to them. To his surprise however it didn´t came from somewhere on board the captured Decepticon ships, but from some point in space.

A few minutes later he began to see the damaged forms of Megatron and Thundercracker floating before him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18

It was dark all around him. He could barely see anything. His energy levels were dangerously low so that many of his systems were working only at a minimum.

He felt his body floating through the emptiness, he felt the pain from his injuries.

At the inside however he was filled with rage and despair. How could it have come to this?

Megatron remembered how he had been thrown into space by Starscream, exactly like his counterpart had been seven years before.

Sideways, he remembered, his ally.

Yes, ally he thought sarcastically.

From the beginning the robot had been nothing but a vessel for Unicron. His worst enemy had been using and manipulating him the whole time.

A part of the Decepticon leader really wanted to shoot himself. How could he have been so naive?

The answer was actually very easy, desperation. In his universe they had lost. Their last survivors were being hunted down and exterminated.

At the point where Sideways had contacted him, he would have agreed to anything as long as it promised the slightest bit of hope.

And as he offered him a chance to escape his world and to become again what he once was, the leader of the Decepticon empire, he had accepted all too readily.

And now he was paying the price. How could he have been so blind?

Was this the end? He thought. Would he die out here, slowly and pathetic?

Exactly like the other Megatron nearly did, the one who became Galvatron.

The anger he felt went beyond any limits.

No, it couldn´t end like this. He swore to himself, should he somehow survive this he would get his revenge.

He would find a way to destroy this creature and everybody who had helped it.

But despite that he felt the last of his energy slowly running out and his conscious beginning to slip away. Deep down a part of him knew and feared that there was no hope.

As his optics were starting to shut down he thought he saw an object in the distance. Somehow it seemed to getting closer, just before everything became dark.

xxxxxxx

The underground of Cybertron

At the deepest levels of the planet the Decepticon leader Galvatron was still involved in a confrontation with the cybertronian god Primus.

"Let me tell you this Primus, last time when we and the Autobots had been fighting under your so called guidance for the supposed best of the universe, well it didn´t played out for us very well. You", he pointed his finger at Primus mortal vessel Hotrod, "had just used us and then discarded us.

My troops fought and died against your enemy and then we were thrown off our own world, were forced into exile and had to start again with barely anything."

"Moment, this was not how it happened", Ultra Magnus interrupted him, "at the time the Autobots took control of Cybertron, the most Decepticons were already off-planet."

"Or they were dead", Cyclonus cut him off, "or they were on board of the flagship when Unicron smashed it and it drifted into space."

"Or that", Ultra Magnus admitted. "It is true that some Decepticons fought side by side with us against Unicron, but others were attacking us on sight and were then fighting us till the bitter end. We had not truly been allies."

"Does that surprise you. The chaos had broken out on Cybertron at that time. Every order or command structure had been lost. We would have agreed to an alliance, we just had not gotten the chance", Cyclonus explained.

"Exactly that is the point", Galvatron told them. "I was standing with the Matrix directly before Unicron. Had you allowed me to open it we would have won without my troops and half of our planet destroyed."

"You tried to force Unicron under your control", Primus reminded him.

"Of course I did. We are fighting a war and with Unicron as my weapon I could have won it in a single day."

Kup and Goldbug looked at each other, silently shaking their heads over the Decepticon´s "logic".

"But as it didn´t work I tried to destroy him but you didn´t let me."

"I am sorry Galvatron, it was not possible."

"The Autobot Hotrod, the one in those body you are right now told me that the Matrix wouldn´t work in the hands of a Decepticon", Galvatron stated.

"He was wrong. You couldn´t be allowed to use the Matrix because Unicron was influencing your mind. Letting you connect with it would have meant giving Unicron access to it."

This argument made Galvatron only more angry.

"With other words you were afraid", he accused him.

"Yes, I was afraid", Primus admitted. "I was afraid to risk all of Cybertron, including the Decepticons and afterwards the whole universe."

"Unicron tried to take me over and to turn me into his pawn. He tortured me, forced me to attack Rodimus Prime, the one who then really used the Matrix and stopped him and you did nothing to prevent this."

"I am sorry my child", Primus replied. "You are right, I had failed you. It was not possible, for the best of the universe."

"Yes and who says it won´t end exactly the same way this time? That `for the best of the universe´ you have to let me down in the end.

Like things are standing right now, I rather risk fighting Unicron alone than follow you and relying on your help." Galvatron turned around.

"Come Cyclonus, we are going", he told his second in command."

"Yes, mighty Galvatron", he answered with obvious conviction. Both of them started to walk away.

The dozens of Decepticons in the room moved to go with them. They all had heard the exchange and none of them hesitated to follow the command."

"Wait." They heard Primus voice behind them.

"What is it?" Galvatron wanted to know.

"You are right that you have no reason to trust me. It is my duty to look out for all my children and I failed in this.

You should know however that I don´t expect any faith from you, not even respect. I am not asking for your services, I am offering you mine. I am yours to command my master."

"What did you say?" Galvatron asked him.

xxxxxxx

Nebulos, the moon Ceras

A number of Decepticons who had escaped from the battle had begun to regroup on one of Nebulos moons. They were right now repairing their damage and trying to reorganize themselves.

Ironically a few Autobots who had shared the same fate had settled only a few miles away from them. At the end of the fight both sides had only been left to flee for their lives.

Lying on the ground were the damaged forms of Megatron and Thundercracker. A group led by Skywarp had just brought them in.

The seeker had been very surprised to find the two floating in space instead of in a brick cell of board the Conqueror. That was at least one point where Starscream had been wrong.

The techs had done a good work. Skywarp saw that the two damaged Decepticons were coming close to be reactivating.

xxxxxxx

Former Decepticon flagship, in orbit over the planet Nebulos

Optimus Prime, Skyfire, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Skorponok were still held captive on board of the former Decepticon ship.

The five prisoners were placed at the end of the command bridge and watching down on the continents of the planet below them. They were flanked by Doomsday, Tracer and Flashlight, who where guarding them with raised weapons.

Sideways was before them in the center of the room. Behind them, close to the consoles, was Starscream standing. He, even more than the prisoners, was looking as if he didn´t want to be here at all.

"Optimus, Skorponok", he addressed them, "you surely ask yourself why you are still alive. Why didn´t I just kill you?

The answer is simple. You are just not important enough, not even you Optimus, the so called greatest leader of the Autobots. Were you able to stop me or to even make a difference in the greater scheme of things? No."

A number of screens were activated in front of them. They showed what had once been the nebulonian capital. Now it was a devastated wasteland, crowded by Sweep drones. The robots were collecting parts of trash and rubble.

"As you see my soldiers have taken control of the planet. My new Sweeps are currently assembling raw materials for their cloning process, to produce more versions of themselves."

One of the screens showed a Sweep picking up a particular large piece of metal.

"They will grow even larger in number and soon you won´t be able to stop them anymore. The Quintessons did a good work in constructing the first of them for me."

"The Quintessons?" Optimus said.

"That too is not longer important to you", he addressed the Prime. "I am not interested in your death, in fact I am not interested in you at all.

All what I want from you is to know one thing. Where is the Matrix?"

"I won´t tell you anything."

"You won´t. Yes, I actually expected this reaction from you.

Starscream", he addressed the seeker who was now enslaved to his will. "After my last demonstration I think you would be glad for a chance to prove your loyalty to me."

The former Air Commander looked at him but didn´t say a word.

"Doomsday, show us the cities on Nebulos that had so far been spared by the war."

"Yes master", the Decepticon, who was in fact one of Unicron´s worshipers answered dutifully.

The screens changed and showed now aerial pictures of several larger cities.

"What you see here is Ambya, the largest town at the south continent", Sideways pointed at one of the showings. "It has slightly over five million inhabitants."

"No", Optimus called out. He realized what their enemy was planning.

"I will give you a choice", Sideways said to the seeker. "You have two possibilities to show your devotion to me."

He looked at Skyfire.

"As I understand, you know this Autobot quite well. You are old friends right?" In the background, they heard one of Unicron´s followers chuckle.

"Doomsday", Sideways said and the Decepticon and his two partners were drawing their guns at Skyfire.

"So I leave the choice to you. You can either fire the antimatter missiles or watch your friend here die. It is your decision, it doesn´t matter to me which you take."

"You are joking right?" Starscream exclaimed. "I have tried to kill him myself once. This Autobot means nothing to me."

"Then the decision won´t be hard for you right?"

The seeker looked at Skyfire for a few moments. This bot had been his mentor, his friend, his role model, once a long time ago.

"Starscream", he said, "let them kill me."

Starscream´s face showed no visible emotion. His gaze wandered to Skyfire, then at Sideways and back.

"Please, don´t even think about doing this", the Autobot jet begged him.

"Now, what is it?" Sideways wanted to know.

The seeker moved a few steps backwards.

"Starscream?" Skyfire asked him unsure.

He pushed the bottom on the console before him.

"No", Skorponok shouted.

They watched as the missiles were descending downwards, for a few moments.

Then one of the screens was filled with a flash of light. They saw the explosions on the surface.

Skyfire was looking downwards, starring at the ground.

"And Optimus?" Sideways asked.

The Autobot leader staid silent. He knew if he told this creature what he wanted to know everything would get only worse.

"No? Here you see Sebios, three and a half million citizens and Cirya, one million." He pointed at two other screens.

"Starscream", he ordered. The seeker fired again. A few seconds later they saw two other towns going up in flames.

"Enough", Prime shouted. "The Matrix is on Cybertron, at the planet´s core", he told him.

"With Primus", Sideways realized. "Thank you Optimus, that was all I wanted to know."

"He will bring us the Matrix back and then Hotrod will use it to stop you."

Sideways was laughing.

"Primus can not recharge the Matrix. He did it once and it cost him nearly all his strength. Now he is only a shadow of his old self. No Optimus, I fear there is no hope for you and now that I know I can make sure that there will never be again.

Bring them away."

xxxxxxx

Somewhere in space

Fortress Maximus, the wrecked form of his space-ship mode, was flying somewhere between Nebulos and Earth.

The Autobots had found the command station destroyed, Galen, Fortress nebulon partner, dead.

Fortress Maximus higher functions were off-line, they were barely able to fly the ship.

Out there they had been meeting a shuttle from Earth that was helping them repairing the damage.

"Do you think you can be doing anything? How is he?" Spike asked Perceptor.

He and Marissa Fairbourne had been accompanying the Autobot shuttle crew that was currently inspecting the damaged super-robot.

"I don´t know", the Autobot scientist answered him. "If we can repair the systems the machine itself will probably work again. But Fortress Maximus, his personality. I don´t know. Galen was practically a part of him and that part is now gone. I don´t know if he will ever completely recover from this."

"And it is unlikely that his super-form will ever work again, unless he got another humanoid partner", one of the other robots pointed out.

"Hardhead", someone hissed at him over the headmaster´s insensitive behavior.

"Hey I only say what is true", he defended himself. "We are in the middle of a war you know?"

"You mean we need someone to replace Galen", Marissa said and looked at the burned out room where the nebulon leader would have been.

xxxxxxx

Nebulonian moon Ceras

Megatron was restored. The leader of, what was now merely a small remnant faction of the Decepticons, was standing before his very reluctant followers.

After the disaster of the last battle the trust they had in him was more than shaken, the little the most of them had in him from the beginning.

The simple and ultimate truth was, he wasn´t their leader and had never been. He wasn´t the Megatron from their past.

True, he had usurped leadership by cunning and trickery, not even entirely his own, as he hated to admit, but his first real chance to prove himself once again had turned in a total loss.

And now the truth was out.

The group before him consisted of 14 Decepticons, his two seeker lieutenants, the six Seacons, the two fliers Darkwing and Dreadwind, both had never been really loyal to him and only followed him by default, two triple changers named Ripper and Talon, the headmaster called Mindwipe and a mechanic named Bolt who he had never met before. The last two played a great role in repairing him and Thundercracker. To that came a small group of nebulon followers of Zarak.

Beside them there were also 5 Autobots, the three powermasters Getaway, Joyride and Slapdash, a robot called Punch and Prowl, the Autobot from his world who had by now informed all of them about his true identity and his heritage.

To make it short, some of them were not happy.

Despite his own doubts Megatron addressed the group.

"Decepticons", he said, conveniently ignoring that over a quarter of the robots present weren´t even ones, "we have lost the last battle because we have been betrayed by an ally. But we are regrouping. Now is our chance to strike back, now is our chance for revenge."

From the robots before him he could hear less than enthusiastic remarks.

"And why should we follow you after you were the one who brought us into this entire mess in the first place?" Darkwing asked him.

The two jets had just been repaired and had bonded themselves with two of the nebulons. For this they copied the technology of the present Autobots and became Decepticon powermasters. It was the quickest and most easy way to replace some of their damaged systems.

"Yes, it was you who has brought us here", Dreadwind fell in.

Normally Megatron would not tolerate anybody talking to him like this, but here he knew it was all too justified.

"It is true that I let Sideways or should I call him Unicron? trick me", he admitted. "But believe me, right now I would like nothing more than to destroy this creature with my own hands."

"You have lied to us about your identity, about Galvatron", Snap Trap accused him. He knew that his team was right now distrusted by many simply because Sideways was the one who had recruited them and he blamed Megatron for it.

"And when had a Decepticon leader ever made it on top by honesty alone?" the same Megatron asked him sarcastically.

"Listen to me, Unicron, our all worst enemy is on Nebulos. He is in a simple, regular robot body. Maybe this is the first time he had ever been vulnerable, maybe this is our one chance to destroy him and free ourselves from him once and for all. I am not the Megatron you know and remember., but right now I am your best chance of success.

If anybody is here who thinks that he can lead us better against Sideways than me, he shall step for."

As he had predicted nobody moved.

"You may not trust me, but right now I am the best leader you have. If you still not trust me after this battle you can replace me if you want. But right now I am your commander. Who will follow me?"

As he had predicted everybody fell in and gave his agreement.

"And you?" He asked the five Autobots. "Will you come with us too?" He addressed Prowl, the nominate leader of the group.

The robot in question remembered how he had come to this world in the first place.

XXX

"Do you really think this will work Wheeljack?" He asked.

"This is the same technology that Megatron had used", the Autobot scientist reminded him.

"Correction, this is a recreated version of the technology that you have built based on what we know about it."

"Yes and I guaranty you I have done my best."

"I know you did, but if there was something missing in our information you couldn´t do a thing about it."

"See it from that point of view, it is not as if your life expectancy would be any longer if you staid. Yesterday we lost Blaster and Hoist. Our southern outpost had been destroyed last week. We are dieing."

"I know", Prowl replied.

"Your mission to locate Megatron and to find out what he is doing is possible the very reason you will stay alive."

xxx

The next day

"Are you ready?" Ultra Magnus asked him.

"Yes."

"You will have to go alone. We can not afford to send anybody with you."

"I knew that."

"When you have arrived try to made contact with the locals. Warn them about Megatron. Then try to reestablish contact with us."

"And if I can not?"

"When we are lost."

"I understand." Prowl stepped into the machine.

"Good luck", Magnus told him.

xxx

And now he was here, in another world, between other Autobots and Decepticons, fighting the same enemy.

"We will come with you", he answered Megatron.

xxxxxxx

Former Decepticon flagship Conqueror

After the last terrible events the prisoners had been brought back into their cell. They all felt even more lost than before.

Skorponok was the worst of. He was completely silent, starring at the walls.

The nebulon in him had just watched how his home-world had been burned down. Optimus had seen similar states in others who had gone through terrible experiences.

He wanted to say something. But what should he? Had he not waited so long to give Sideways the information he wanted, would things have been different?

After about an half hour of waiting the door opened.

Starscream stepped inside.

"You", Skorponok hissed at him now.

"Hello all of you", the seeker greeted them.

"What do you want Screamer?" Sideswipe asked him, using Skywarp´s old nickname for him.

"What would you say if I told you that I came to release all of you?"

"Why should we trust you after all you have done?" Skyfire wanted to know.

"Oh please old friend, as if Sideways would have not destroyed this towns anyway if I had simply refused to push this button. You would have died for nothing and he would have still bombed them."

"You don´t know that."

"You know Skyfire, even after all this years in the war you can still be quite naive. Sometimes it is hard to believe that we had been the best friends."

"Yes, it is hard to believe", the Autobot said in a somewhat softer tone.

"Why do you want to help us?" Optimus asked him.

"Is that so hard to understand? I want to stop Sideways."

"To free yourself from him and to get revenge", the Autobot leader remarked.

"Yes", Starscream replied sharply. "I have contact with forces outside and I have a plan."

"We can not trust this snake Optimus", Sunstreaker said.

"I know."

"But you have no choice", the seeker told him, "or the entire galaxy will share the fate of Nebulos."

"We will work with you", Prime agreed.

"Very good", Starscream said and deactivated the energy supply for their chains.

In the moment they were free, Skorponok tackled him. The much larger robot smashed him against the wall and held him in place.

"Skorponok", Optimus said, "I can imagine how you feel."

"Yes? Then you will understand when I kill him."

"I understand you, better than you know. But he is right in one point, if he is not stopped, Sideways will continue to destroy Nebulos and then he will go to other planets. He needs to be stopped and for that, we need Starscream."

"Good", the Decepticon reluctantly agreed.

"This is not over", he told the seeker before he finally released him.

"Well", Starscream smiled with mock modesty, "let me tell you the plan."

xxxxxxx

The group of Autobots and Decepticons was once again nearing the planet Nebulos.

"Starscream had warned us about the coup shortly before it happened", Skywarp informed Megatron. "Of course we didn´t believe a word. By what he had told us Sideways and his crew would turn on us during the fight."

"What he had forgot to mention were the hundreds of Sweeps or that Sideways is actually Unicron", Thundercracker remarked, "or he didn´t knew it himself."

"Starscream planned to break us all out from the Conqueror´s brig and strike directly against them. He gave Thundercracker a tracer right before the battle to find out our direct location. Instead Sideways decided to dump you two into space.

I followed the signal to find you, real luck after all."

"Yes", Megatron replied darkly, "we were truly lucky, but now it is Sideways who will need luck."

xxxxxxx

The group around Starscream and Optimus was walking through the corridors of the Conqueror, aiming to catch their enemies off guard.

They were trying to reach the command bridge, where they suspected their enemy would be. Their chance to get any far undetected were very small, they were aware of that. But it didn´t hurt trying.

It came as it had to. After a few meters more, Eraser and Tracer, two of Sideways warriors came around the corner.

For a moment the Autobot-Decepticon group and the two Unicron cultists were only looking at each other.

"Blast them", Eraser then suddenly yelled and the two opened fire.

xxxxxxx

At the same time at the command bridge

"Have you followed my orders?" Sideways asked the Sweep leader Carnage, who was standing behind him.

"Yes, I have ordered the greatest part of the Sweep army to Cybertron."

"Very good, they shall raid the planet, destroy everything in their way."

"Excuse me master, but won´t that leave us vulnerable here?"

"Yes it will Carnage. Believe me, it is all going according to plan."

xxx

At this moment the ship was shaken by an attack from the outside.

Megatron´s group had arrived.

The Seacons had merged into Piranhacon and were spear-heading the attack, the super robot was slamming the ship with his bare hands.

The rest of them were firing from a larger distance or struggling with the Sweep-drones.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19

The combined Autobot-Decepticon group was standing at the entrance of a long corridor, exchanging fire with two of Sideways followers.

While they were shooting each other, another group was attacking the ship from the outside.

The Conqueror was shaking under the feet of the fighting robots. Some of them had problems to hold their aim through the floor trembling under their feet.

Because of this a few laser blasts went astray and slammed into the walls of the room.

xxx

At the same time on the outside, the ship was charged by the gestalt robot Piranhacon, who was flanked by Megatron and the seekers.

As the Transformers at the inside were still struggling with each other the hull of the ship was pounded by the super robot.

It was all too easy, Megatron thought to himself as his fusion gun blew up a drone warrior. He had thought that Sideways and his followers would not expect a counterattack so soon, but this was going even better than anticipated.

"Very good Piranhacon", he said loud as the gestalt was beginning to tear the metal of the ship apart.

The Seacons had been all too eager to prove that they were not on Sideways side, even if he had been the one who recruited them and they showed it.

xxx

While the attackers from the outside were about to break through the defenses, the shoot-out at the inside continued.

As everybody had their balance back Sideways two warriors fired another salve of blasts at their opponents.

Optimus group had mostly taken cover behind the hallway´s corner.

The Autobot Skyfire however was hit by several shots and broke down, heavily damaged.

xxx

From the command bridge, Sideways was watching the battle outside and he had also heard about the fighting in the ship.

His few remaining troops here were outnumbered and outgunned.

It looked as if they would kill him very soon, very good.

It was all going as planned.

xxx

Meanwhile Piranhacon had managed to rip the shell of the ship open and created a way inside for the attacking Transformers.

"Yes, very good", Megatron commended the Seacon gestalt. "Skywarp, Thundercracker, Getaway, Joyride", he then ordered the Decepticons and Autobots, "get on board.

Darkwing, Dreadwind", he addressed the two powermasters, who were currently merged into their combined jet mode, "and you Piranhacon, you stay outside and look for any Sweeps that might still be outside. We go and get Sideways", he said then grimly.

xxx

The three Autobots saw one of them fall, like so many times before.

Skyfire had been with them since they had crash-landed on Earth, not millions of years like others, but it had been enough to save their lives multiple times.

They all saw on the first look that the the damage was fatal. Vital systems were hit, the spark chamber and fuel system damaged.

Starscream was starring at the form of his dying former friend.

This robot had been his oldest confident back on Cybertron, his mentor, his partner and fellow explorer.

But by now he was also an Autobot and he was the last link to a past Starscream didn´t want to remember anymore. That however was now gone forever.

Some of the others noticed the look on the seekers face.

"Good bye old friend", Starscream said quietly as Skyfire´s optics darkened.

Then his expression turned suddenly into one of anger. He turned around and began to fire his guns off at the two Unicron cultists.

His vigorous shots hit the robot known as Eraser several times into the chest, pierced through his fuel pump and slammed his smoking chassis back into the next wall.

At the same time Optimus took aim at their other opponent and shot second Unicron worshiper through the spark chamber.

"Skyfire?" Optimus asked, turning around to Sideswipe.

The Autobot who was kneeling next to their fallen comrade only shook his head.

"Let us continue", Starscream said in a toneless and hollow voice. "We need to get Sideways."

xxx

From the command bridge, the robot in question was watching the battle outside and he had also heard about the fighting in the ship.

His few remaining troops here were outnumbered and outgunned.

It looked as if they would kill him very soon, very good.

It was all going as planned.

xxx

Optimus and Skorponok draw their weapons. They heard voices coming closer to them and the sound of heavy footsteps on metal.

One moment later they saw the large form of Megatron appearing before them, followed closely by Thundercracker and Skywarp.

They had just been on the way to the bridge. But none of them was completely sure if the otherworldly Decepticon leader was right now ally or enemy.

"Wait Optimus", they heard someone call out. Then they recognized the Autobot Getaway.

"Megatron is on our side right, currently. He had been over-crossed by Sideways just like us."

"You can say this Autobot", the Decepticon commented, "and I really wish to get my hands on that monster, believe me Prime."

"I see", Optimus replied.

"Given the situation, we have decided to agree to an temporally alliance with the Decepticons", Getaway stated.

"As you see we have come to the same conclusion", the Autobot leader told them with a side-look at Starscream and Skorponok.

"Good, then let us do this", Megatron said, firing his fusion gun at the door to the command bridge.

"Welcome", a voice greeted them as they stepped through the large hole, the explosion had created. "Optimus, Megatron, Skorponok, how good it is to see you."

"Spare us that Sideways or should I rather say Unicron?", Megatron replied.

"We are here to stop you", Prime told him, "and we will do everything we have to."

"Really?" Sideways asked.

Beside him, Capback, who had been sitting at the consoles, stood up and draw his gun. But before he could fire a shot from Megatron´s fusion cannon cut the Autobot traitor´s head clean off before hitting the controls behind him.

"I see your precision and lethality have not changed at all", Sideways said smugly, not caring in the slightest about the death of his subordinate. "I guess that is the reason that I have chosen your other self as my messenger."

"Shut up", the Decepticon snarled.

"You fools", Sideways told them, "you can not win. Do you really think this little confrontation has any meaning. "You have already lost."

"We will see", Optimus replied before both he and Megatron opened fire, shortly followed by Skorponok and Starscream.

The others just watched, partly horrified, partly fascinated.

Like before in the fight with Cyclonus, Sideways body regenerated itself. But not even his mysterious regeneration ability could overcome the dozens of blasts that were hitting him. A few seconds later his body fell to the ground, now only a burned out husk.

"You have won nothing." That were the last words he said before breaking down completely.

"Well, that was easy", Sunstreaker pointed out.

They looked around. The ship was a wreck, Unicron´s followers were either dead or long gone. It seemed most of the black Sweeps had not even been there.

The only question was, why?

"Did we do it?" Getaway asked Optimus.

"I really wish I could think that", he answered.

"As you all see my plan had worked perfectly", Starscream announced, "and now that we have got rid of Sideways I hope…"

"You are a fool Starscream", Megatron interrupted him, saying the words he had so often heard from the other version of the Decepticon leader.

"What is it?" the seeker asked irritated.

"The Sweep army is not here", Optimus told him, "and it had not for a long time. Sideways may be dead, but he was from the beginning only a puppet, not much more than a drone that Unicron transferred his memories into.

He had ordered the most of his troops away before we even came and where ever he had send them, it can not be good."

xxxxxxx

Underground of Cybertron

The air around them was filled with the blue light. It was surrounding and compassing them.

The dozens of Transformers were standing, still forming two separate groups, in the center of the seemingly endless hall.

"As you know now, the Matrix was originally created from my life force and my being", the voice of Primus told them, "but by now it is far more than that.

The sparks of every cybertronian in existence, the sum of all their thoughts and all they had ever been, become one with the Matrix when their lives end", the voice said. "Some even join with it before their life ends", he added, obviously referring to the Primes.

"That is the reason I am unable to re-empower the Matrix by myself. It had simply outgrown me a long time ago."

The light that was filling the room became brighter and brighter, involving the group consisting of

Hotrod, Ultra Magnus, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, Kup, Goldbug, Soundwave, Scourge, the Sweeps, Springer, Astrotrain, Blaster, Blurr, Arcee, Sixshot, the targetmasters, the "coneheads", the Protectobots, Constructicons, Sparklerbots, Duocons, Technobots, Combaticons, Stunticons and others

even further. Then suddenly it stopped.

The light around the assembled Transformers had gone dark. It was over.

But this light was not gone. Now the Matrix was glowing twice as bright as before.

The strange ritual that Primus had performed and that everybody had agreed to take part in came to an end.

"Thank you", Rodimus said, holding the Matrix in his hands, now again with his own voice.

Now that their work was done Primus had separated from Hotrod´s body and they both were once again for themselves.

The face of the ancient being was back to see on the holographic machine.

There was only one visible difference from how things had been before.

The young Autobot leader was back in the form of Rodimus Prime and by what Primus had let him know he would stay like this permanently, independent from the presence of the Matrix.

In the beginning, Rodimus Prime had just been a upgrade, given by it´s power. But it was also what he could be and was meant to be, his destiny so to speak. At the inside he had always been Rodimus and now now it was for everybody to see.

"Did we succeed?" he asked, looking at the object he was holding.

"Yes we did", Primus answered him. "You are now connected to the Matrix, all of you, like usually only very few would be. All of you have given a small part of your essence and have been given something in exchange. Like back then when it had been used to cure the hate plaque, only to a far deeper level.

Your minds are now bonded to it, your experiences, your energy, your hope, it is all now filling it, you and it are one."

"Does that mean we all are, well, Primes?" Ultra Magnus asked in amazement. He watched the dozens of Autobots and Decepticons around.

"In a sense. It is not exactly identically as what the Autobot leaders experience, but essentially it is the same.

"Oh great, we are all Primes now", Swindle commented sarcastically.

"Be quiet", Onslaught ordered him.

"So we have done it", Rodimus concluded.

"Yes, the Matrix is nearly as strong now as it had been when you first opened it", Primus said.

"Nearly?"

"It will be enough."

"Good, now we have to return to the surface, as fast as possible."

"It has taken us days to get down here", Kup pointed out.

"When we didn´t know the way and had to over-think every move. I think we should be able to made it back in a few hours", Rodimus replied.

"Can Primus not simply teleport us again?" Springer wanted to know.

"I have already spent too much energy doing it the first time", the entity himself answered the question, "and we will need it against Unicron."

"Okay I only wanted to ask."

"There is however one last thing to do", Primus told them.

"Galvatron", he addressed the Decepticon leader, "tell me, what will you do now?"

"I have agreed to work with the Autobots for now to stop Unicron. Don´t worry, I will hold up this alliance that you have proposed."

"And what then?" Primus asked him. "When, if you find a way to stop Unicron, what will happen afterwards?"

"When things will continue as they always had", Galvatron said.

"Do you really think it had to be like that?"

"I know what you are trying to do Primus", the Decepticon told him. "This is my empire. I have struggled and fought for it for millions of years. I and my Decepticons have conquered Cybertron. I won´t give it up now, especially not for an `understanding´ with the Autobots who would only try to dictate us what is right and what not. I have seen all this before."

"Yes, I know and I remember, back in what the Autobots call the golden age", Primus told him.

"More like a short period between two wars when the Autobots were ruling just because through some luck they had won", Galvatron replied with a side-glance at the Bots present.

"And now you are ruling because you have won?" Primus asked him.

"At least I am honest about it and not hiding behind false ideals."

The others present, Autobots and Decepticons, were following the exchange.

"Maybe. Tell me Galvatron, Megatron, have others fought and struggled less than you? Have Optimus Prime, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus?"

"No, they have not", Galvatron replied.

"So you respect them?"

"They are my enemies and I will destroy them to reach my aims."

"And then? If you truly defeat them forever, what will you do then? Will you continue on the next world and the next? Destroying everybody who stands in your way, who disagrees with you. When shall that end?"

"When we Decepticons have an empire that spans the galaxy."

"No", Primus replied, "even if you would succeed in this, it would not be the end, not if you use this methods. Worlds that you have conquered would constantly revolt, enemies from inside and out would target you, usurpers from your own lines would appear. The war that you have started Galvatron can never end. It will always continue in an endless circle. The only question is, do you really want that?"

"It is the way of the Decepticons."

"Why?"

Galvatron was himself surprised to realize that he didn´t knew an answer.

"I know", Primus told him. "I know how it all started and I know who is responsible."

"What do you mean?"

"Your creator, back when you were still Megatron, the one who had been called the Liege."

Galvatron´s expression turned into one of anger.

"What do you know of that?"

"The Liege was one of my earliest creations and one of my greatest disappointments.

I know that he ordered the construction bots to build you and only minutes later let you fight for your life by ordering a few of his warriors to kill you.

I know that he used and manipulated you, like Unicron tried millions of years later.

I know that he created you as a weapon against the Autobots, to fight a war for him and even now, you are still following that schematic."

"No, I freed myself from him a long time ago, I overthrew and defeated him and forced him to flee."

"Only to become like him?"

"I am not like him", Galvatron shouted.

"No? The liege wanted you to fight the Autobots, you are doing it.

He wanted you to take over Cybertron, you did.

He wanted you to target other worlds, you are already planning and doing this. How are you not following his instructions?"

"I am doing all that for my own reasons."

"Maybe, but you are still working by his rules, by his dogma and with his methods, by his ideas of violence.

I have seen all this. But I have also seen more. I know by now how far his manipulation really went.

He used the powers that I gave him to take over Cybertron´s warrior line from the background and used them as his pawns, for his agenda, his personal dreams of universal domination.

Then he started the first Autobot-Decepticon war that left your people broken and defeated, a war that he didn´t even wanted you to win. It was all a distraction that he could secretly take over parts of Cybertron and prepare for the true war, the one were he wanted to use you as his personal warlord.

I have seen how he played the Autobots and Decepticons against each other. You should know that many of the grievances you originally rebelled against were his doing in the first place.

Now we are here. You have defeated him and forced him into exile. The Decepticons are still fighting the Autobots and you are now trying to conquer your own empire, the only question is, was all that your idea or was it his?"

Galvatron looked downwards, again he didn´t have an answer.

"Galvatron, five years when the Matrix had been opened the last time, I was the one who healed you from the insanity that was forced over you. After I couldn´t allow you to stop Unicron in time to save your troops, that was the least thing I could do for you.

I also cut off his mental influence over you, Cyclonus and Scourge and now I did the same for the Sweeps.

What will happen now will be your choice. I won´t and can not made them for you. As I told you, I can not and will not force you to do anything. You are the one´s in charge here, you are making the decisions."

"We understand your message Primus." This time it was Rodimus who answered.

"Yes", Galvatron simply said quietly.

"One last thing. Have you been thinking about what I had suggested?" Primus addressed the Decepticon leader again.

"Indeed", he answered. His face showed many motions, anger, determination, worry. "If we do what you propose we could loose Cybertron."

"You could", Primus admitted, "and so would the Autobots. But if you don´t you could loose the entire universe. You are the ones fighting this war and it is your choice."

"Yes Primus, it is ours", Galvatron replied.

"I will do now the last thing that is to do and transfer the rest of my essence into the Matrix. Then it will have it´s full power again. I will be with you when you fight, completely. Goodbye my children. We will see again soon." With that Primus face on the display vanished and was replaced with a blue ball of light, identical in color with the one that filled the room earlier.

This sphere moved in Rodimus direction and finally merged with the Matrix. The machine in front of them however was now quiet and dead.

For a few seconds, Galvatron was in thought, what should he do?

Cyclonus stepped beside him.

"And Galvatron, should we do it?" he asked his leader.

For a few moments he thought about the situation and how to continue from here on and about Primus last idea.

"Yes Cyclonus", he replied, "we will."

xxx

In a little distance Rodimus and Ultra Magnus were standing before the group consisting of the Sparklerbots and a triple changer they didn´t recognize, as on the Decepticon side, of the Duocons, the Battlecharger and one Sweep.

"So you have something to tell us?" Rodimus addressed them.

"We wanted to tell you the entire time, but you all seemed to be somewhat preoccupied", Fizzle apologized.

"It is okay, we really were", the young Autobot leader remarked.

"Our two groups were sent to research the attack on the planet Scarvix", this time it was the Decepticon Flywheels who was talking.

"What have you found out?" Ultra Magnus asked them.

"We just came from the New Quintessa system, you won´t believe us what is going on out there."

xxxxxxx

The star system of New Quintessa

It was ready, the great project they had been working on for over a year was finished now, achieved by the work of Sharkticons, Alicons and other robotic slaves and drones.

The Quintesson fleet was lying in space over the planet, waiting and anticipating to see the results of their plan.

By now the planet of New Quintessa was mostly evacuated, the population removed to a neighboring world.

On the surface of the planet, hovering over the now abandoned cities, was the head of Unicron.

The connection was now going in the last phase.

Over a year ago his minions had for the first time made contact with the Quintessons and the alliance between the two groups was forged.

This was only a short time after Unicron had first copied his personality and a part of his essence into a smaller body and became Sideways.

The Quintessons had agreed to two things,

first to build for him an army of drone warriors in the design of his old Sweeps, a few hundred prototypes that from that point would be able to replicate themselves independently into even greater numbers

and second, to give him a new body, in form of the planet New Quintessa.

Like he had tried it years ago with the planet Cybertron, his severed head was now connected to this world.

It wasn´t the old body of Primus and he wouldn´t have the pleasure of taking the former mortal form of his old enemy against himself, but this one would do.

A metal world like Cybertron, actually reforged in the image of it by it´s current residents or more likely former residents, since he was by now in control.

Still New Quintessa wasn´t Cybertron and not at it´s standard. Overtaking the planet that was shaped to be Primus body would have been easy.

It was already designed to be the physical shell of a god, ripe for the taking.

This world however was different. Unlike Cybertron, it wasn´t created to be a living machine.

A few weeks ago the Quintesson fleet and their new army of black Sweeps had attacked the planet Scarvix.

They completely destroyed the largest city on it and killed millions of inhabitants.

But in fact they had only one objective, the retrievement of a single being, one of the patients of the mental asylum that had once been at that world, a very special patient.

The rest of the destruction, the complete annihilation of the town where the installation was located in from orbit, was only serving as a diversion.

And exactly this former inmate was now deep inside the control center, giving commands to the various Sharkticon workers and construction machines.

Six years ago a group of Autobots and Decepticons had encountered a insane scientist calling himself Primacron. Physical a rather small organic being, primate like in appearance, was he still very dangerous because his skill as an inventor.

Claiming to be responsible for the creation of Unicron himself, this madman had then unleashed another being, a monster made by his own design, a energy vampire called Tornatron. With much luck the Transformers had been able to stop Primacron and his new creation.

Rodimus Prime had then decided to hand over the mad scientist to the authorities of the asylum on the planet Scarvix, who had then incarcerated him there, hopefully for the rest of his existence, until the Quintessons had freed him on Unicron´s wish.

All that was of course only the half truth. The scientist had actually designed Unicron´s body once, but only to be inhabited by a already existing presence.

And so he did now.

"Ah, you see my creation", the scientist said while he was working on the systems, "it was a good decision to come back to me."

"Indeed master. My near destruction at the hands of the Autobots did teach me humility", the Chaos Bringer claimed, saying what the small creature wanted to hear.

Unicron thought about the situation. He knew the marionette Sideways was destroyed. The part of his being that he had transferred into the robot, along with all it´s memories just having been returned back to him. It has all been going nearly as planned. Except of course for Megatron´s survival. But that was only a unimportant detail.

And he knew a short time ago the Quintessons had detected some intruders in their star system, as it seemed a cybertronian shuttle and they had sent a few ships after them.

It didn´t matter. Even if they would manage to escape, they were far too late to warn anybody.

Primacron smiled.

"Don´t worry. Soon you will be complete again. As you see my new servants have nearly finished their work", he said.

With his `servants´, he was referring to the Quintessons.

"And then we will together conquer the universe. We will completely destroy this galaxy and then we will completely rebuild it, stronger and better than before. Don´t you look forward to this?"

"Of course I do", Unicron replied, telling the truth now. Only who exactly would be the conqueror was a question they would clear later.

"You have always been my greatest creation Unicron. Did you know that?"

"Thank you, my master."

xxx

In another part of the system, another group was following their own business.

A group of Sharkticons and Alicon guard-robots was on board of a transport ship and on a route out of the sector of space.

The Sharkticon named Gnaw was sitting at the controls.

For as long as he could remember he and his kind had been slaves to the Quintessons, doing their work, fighting their battles, attacking other species, dying for them, sometimes helping to ruin whole worlds.

They were the ones who were the backbone of the Quintesson empire. But despite that their masters didn´t treat them much better than lifeless machines.

For the longest time he wished nothing more than to end it.

Several years back, after the events with the Autobots, in first line the group known as the Dinobots, the Sharkticons started a rebellion.

Back then Gnaw was one of the first to turn on their masters, one of the first to storm their palace. But their revolt had been pushed down.

One of the main reasons for it´s failure were the Alicon guards who staid loyal to the Quintessons. Now however a few of them were at their side. Some who had broken their programming and wanted the same thing they did.

Back then however they had still been bound to it and were forced to defend their masters.

This time he had only a small group around him. Eleven Sharkticons like himself and eight Alicons. All of them had broken their programming, developed beyond their mental limitations and developed sentience and all of them wanted to be free.

As their masters were occupied with their new ally they had used the chance to take over a transport ship and would use the distraction to escape from this sector.

They were aware that their relationship with this "ally" could only end up in a disaster and when a Sharkticon could realize this, every halfway intelligent being should be able to. But for some reason the Quintessons seemed to be blind for that fact.

He worried about the rest of his kind that they had to leave behind. While the most Sharkticons were little more than drones for the Quintessons, they had at least the potential for sentience.

However, by the time anything would happen, if something happened, they themselves would probably already be at the edge of the star system.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

They had arrived at the surface, like Rodimus had thought far quicker as the descent had been.

"We are back", he said.

"And not too early", Ultra Magnus pointed out.

"We are a few miles off-side from the place where our last battle with the Autobots took place", Cyclonus informed Galvatron.

"Nobody moves", they suddenly heard somebody yell.

Then they saw around them dozens of Decepticon coming out of their hiding places, pointing their guns at them.

"They had been waiting for us here", Kup murmured.

"Let us just hope that Galvatron keeps his word", Rodimus replied.

"Galvatron." They heard the leader of the group greeting his commander in surprise as he recognized him.

"Spinister", he addressed the robot, "you don´t have to explain anything to me, I am informed about the situation. I know that Megatron´s attack on Nebulos had failed, that the troops are scattered and he himself is missing."

"Yes, that is exactly the situation."

"Try to reach all of the troops that you can, inform them that I am back in charge. They are ordered to assemble at the border of the Earth star system. Then you will made contact with Optimus Prime. Tell him that we have an alliance."

xxxxxxx

New Quintessa

Everything was ready, he could feel it. His new body awaited him.

Flashes of energy went through the planet from one pole to the other.

For months now New Quintessa was in a state of molecular transformation. It was Unicron´s presence itself that changed it for his needs, together with the physical work of the Sharkticon slaves and Primacron.

Now the process exploded in it´s speed. The work was finished.

Unicron transformed.

His connected head was now fused to the planet, out of the surface formed arms, legs.

He was whole again.

His mind run a scan on his new form. It was only a pale shadow of his old body, but with the help of his new Sweep army it would be more than enough.

The Matrix was exhausted after all.

He felt that someone was contacting him, his "partners", he realized.

A Quintesson ship that was floating close to him was sending out a call.

"Unicron", he heard one of the judges speaking to him. A picture was transferred directly into his processor.

The judge was flanked by two others and a group of guards on board of the command bridge of the ship.

"As you see we have kept our word", the Quintesson told him.

"Indeed you did", Unicron replied.

"Now regarding our end of the bargain, our fleet is ready for the flight for Cybertron to take it over, as your new messengers of course."

"Yes, actually you could do a great service for me", he said.

In the next moment his hand ripped through the ship and crushed it down to a wreck. Then he fired blasts from his eyes that caused two other cruisers to explode.

Next he turned to the neighboring planet that most of the Quintessons had settled on.

Yes, it was really courteous of them to prepare him such a nice meal, he thought, as he began to rip the planet apart.

Chapter Text

Chapter 20

New Quintessa sector

The ship had reached the border of the solar system.

From the distance, the last thing Gnaw could see was how the planet was breaking apart. He had thought that this alliance might end in a disaster.

But even he was surprised and shocked how literally it happened.

Thinking, that alone was something he should not even be capable of when it came to their former masters. He was designed and intended to be nothing more than a mindless drone. But a few of his kind had developed above that, without knowledge and against the will of their masters.

And that was ultimately the reason they were still alive right now. Otherwise they too would have been on the planet the Quintessons had decided to occupy after offering Unicron their world as a body.

The Sharkticons had rebelled twice by now. One time inspired by the Dinobots and the second under the influence of the hate plaque.

But the second time it had not been as much a rebellion than a senseless spree of destruction. One that left the Quintesson race military and economically broken. On the cosmic scale, the Quintesson empire was no longer a threat, vulnerable to their enemies from the outside.

And they had made many enemies. For millions of years they had abused their power and their technology to abuse and exploit others.

That was it what despite everything drove them to trust Unicron, sheer desperation, fear of possible invaders, fear of the cybertronians, fear of their own slaves. They were so afraid of all this, that they didn´t saw the threat right before their own eyes.

Unicron promised to give them their power and their position back, but in the end he betrayed them.

Gnaw understood that all, he understood all too much.

Behind him was standing the group of eleven Sharkticons and nine guard robots that he was leading. Now they were among the last of their species.

There might still be others on outposts somewhere in space. But the most of them had been in this system, like the most of the Quintessons.

Their masters were gone now, he realized. It was time for them to start anew by themselves.

On the screen he saw how Unicron´s giant form swallowed some of the last remains of the planet.

Their group had done everything they could. He could only hope that somebody would be able to stop the world devourer now.

Gnaw activate the hyper-drive.

xxx

"What are you doing?" Still standing inside the control center, the scientist Primacron asked.

"Silence", Unicron ordered him, "their usefulness came to an end. Yours on the other hand can still be very great to me."

"I didn´t order you to do this", the small organic yelled in desperation.

"No, you have not and as you should realize by now, you have never been the master."

"No, I have created you", Primacron claimed.

Before he had finished his words, a onslaught of pain hit through his body. He stumbling in agony.

"Silence", Unicron said to him. "What you have created was a body, a shell for me to inhabit, never more.

As you see you have never been in control. You, as so many before and afterwards, you belong to me. But I will allow you to continue your experiments. I am actually very impressed by your latest results. You will raise for me an army of creatures of destruction and as you have suggested we together will purge the universe, only that I will be in charge."

"Yes master", Primacron finally submitted.

"Very good", Unicron replied, right before he began to transform.

For the first time he took the shape of his new planet-mode, still having much in appearance of the former metal world New Quintessa, but it had also a great resemblance with his old "planet eater" form.

He was starting to move to the borders of the sector, on the way to his destination.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

The Autobot-shuttle had arrived in the orbit of the planet. Despite everything it was carefully approaching the Decepticon controlled world.

They were holding course directly to the central space harbor of the sector Polihex.

On board were the Autobots Optimus Prime, who was standing in his large powermaster mode, the other powermasters Getaway, Joyride and Slapdash, the targetmasters and Prowl, a Autobot refugee from an alternate world.

Just like the three Decepticons Megatron, Thundercracker and Skywarp, who were also with them, as was the former Air Commander and now renegade Starscream.

Also on board were the human officer Marissa Fairborn and Hotrod´s and Kup´s nebulon partners Firebolt and Recoil.

"So we are landing right in the center of the Decepticon empire because Galvatron has invited us", Prowl resumed with a level of sarcasm.

"Just like in old times what?" Sunstreaker said.

"Hotrod had contacted me and confirmed that Galvatron is offering us an alliance", Optimus told them, "and that they have found Primus", he said a bit quieter.

"That still doesn´t guaranty that we aren´t walking into a trap", Prowl reminded him. "Hotrod could have been lied to or Galvatron could have changed his mind."

"I don´t know why you are so worried Autobot", Thundercracker remarked. "If anybody had anything to fear from him right now, it would be us not you."

"I trust Hotrod´s judgment", Optimus declared, as the shuttle began to land. The Decepticon´s defenses had let them pass

Megatron staid quiet. He didn´t comment his subordinate´s words.

They had made fools of themselves, he thought bitterly. The whole time they had been thinking they were saving the Decepticon race while they were in fact manipulated into pawns by the exactly same menace they wanted to protect them from.

They had played Sideways game and lost, he knew this. Even if Unicron was stopped for good in this world, there was no way that the Decepticons would ever trust him as leader again after this.

He was pretty sure by now that Galvatron was not under Unicron´s influence, despite his unicronian form. If he was, why should Sideways have used them to dethrone him?

No, that problem was only something that had Sideways planted into their heads from the beginning.

He thought in shame about how easily he had let this creature use his own prejudices to fool him. Never again, he thought.

Still, it wasn´t that bad, he realized. After all they still had the transwarp-technology that Sideways had provided them with and without him and his manipulations, he was sure this time they would succeed. They could restart again in another universe, like they did before.

Maybe Galvatron would even be glad to get rid of them like that, he thought.

Their ship had landed. It was time to face them.

The hatch opened and both groups of robots stepped outside. There awaited them the sight of Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, standing next to Hotrod, again in the form of Rodimus Prime, Optimus recognized, Ultra Magnus and

Soundwave? Had the communication officer somehow escaped? It didn´t matter now. They had other things to worry about.

"Megatron and his group are with them", Scourge whispered to Cyclonus who was standing next to him.

"That changes nothing", the second in command replied.

"They are us", Scourge pointed out.

"That is still no reason to trust them", Cyclonus said.

"It is good to see you again partners", Recoil said right before he and Firebolt transformed into blasters and glided into the hands of Kup and Rodimus Prime.

"I see that the same way", Kup answered.

"Optimus", Galvatron greeted him as the visitors came closer, "as I see you have gotten my message. Megatron", he then addressed his alternate from another universe.

"Starscream", he finally said with a colder and more grim voice, reminding everybody of the deep feud between this two Decepticons.

"And as I see you were saying the truth when you said you wanted an alliance", Optimus replied.

"Yes Prime, for now we must set our differences aside and work together. Unicron has returned."

"We have already encountered him", Optimus told them. "The planet Nebulos is lying in ruins. Their cities are destroyed, tens of millions are dead."

The Autobots who had spend the last week in the underground, were shocked by this news.

"You have encountered Sideways", Rodimus replied finally, "but as terrible as this is, that form of him is by now the least of our worries.

The scouts we had sent out have returned and what they reported is more than serious. Unicron has been rebuild. As it looks he had allied himself with the Quintessons. He had taken the planet New Quintessa as his new body."

All the newcomers looked up at this news, some in barely hidden shock. This was worse than they had expected, far worse.

"The good news is that with Primus help we were able to recharge the Matrix", Ultra Magnus told them.

"At least one positive thing", Optimus said.

"The Matrix is working again", the targetmaster Crosshairs asked nervously, "so we can stop him right?"

"Stop him? Maybe, if we are lucky", Megatron pointed out. This was the first time he said something. "Stop him and his Sweep-army and this before they devastate our worlds? Honestly I don´t see a way here", he admitted grimly. "I have seen what this things can do." His voice showed a gloomy attitude that was completely untypical for the Decepticon leader, no matter which version of him. It was obviously for everybody who knew him, that he had just been defeated, not only physically but also mentally.

"What are these guys doing here anyway?" Scourge asked, gesturing at the extra-dimensional visitors.

"Hey, we are here to help", Skywarp replied.

"You mean when you are not infiltrating our universe, spreading lies and distrust, undermining the Decepticons leadership and are throwing the entire empire into chaos?" Cyclonus asked him.

"Well, we made a few mistakes", the black seeker answered.

"Enough", Megatron said. "We have been manipulated by Sideways. I am willing to admit that. But now we want to help repair the damage we have helped to cause and stop Unicron. In fact, we are eager for a chance to get revenge on that creature."

"I can imagine", Galvatron commented.

"We may have a way", Rodimus, a bit reluctantly, explained

"If Primus information is correct", Cyclonus pointed out. "He may be wrong in this regard."

"Primus thinks that Unicron will attack our people on Earth first, while the Sweep army is invading Cybertron."

"Why should he do that?" Getaway asked.

"Maybe he had gotten careful after he got trashed here the last time", Kup replied.

"Enough", Galvatron said, mirroring Megatron´s words from a few moments earlier. "I am in charge of Cybertron and I say we are making this decision, but only after we have checked the situation for ourselves.

It is true that Primus had proposed a possible way for us to get rid of at least one enemy. But that could also mean that we could loose Cybertron, we all."

"What do you mean?" Optimus asked him.

"You will see", he answered.

"And you three", he turned to Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker, "I am willing to accept your help for now. But when this is over I want you all out of our universe."

"If you say so", Megatron replied. "That won´t actually be a problem with me. I have already figured out that my chances to win in this world are very slim and I can always start again in another one."

Some of the Autobots present shrugged at this statement. Him starting again somewhere else was actually one of the last things they wanted.

"And as I see my place here is already taken", Megatron said.

"A good point", Galvatron answered. He lifted his particle cannon and aimed it directly at his counterpart. "But I warn you, don´t try anything behind my back. We may to a degree be the same person, but my patience with you is running thin."

"Of course Galvatron. You will see that I won´t disappoint you", Megatron told him, half sarcastically, half in earnest.

"This is working better than I was thinking", Prowl said to Optimus quietly.

"At least for now Prowl", the Autobot leader reminded him. "Let us see how this continues."

Optimus had to admit it was strange having this Autobot around. It was nearly as if his old comrade from the Ark was back. But the Prowl he had known was dead.

Galvatron looked to some of the other Transformers present, till his gaze left on Starscream.

Hesitating, the former Air Commander stepped for.

"Mighty Galvatron, I would be glad over a chance to rejoin the Decepticons and serve under you once again." A part of Starscream couldn´t quite believe that he had actually just said this words.

He could literally feel the eyes of everybody on him. To say it short, he felt ridiculous.

And it certainly didn´t help that Scourge actually broke out in laughter. Next to him, despite that he managed to keep his stoic posture, Cyclonus was in fact looking as if he could barely restrain himself from doing the same thing.

"Starscream", Scourge asked him, "how many times have we heard something like that from you in the past?"

"Scourge has a point", Galvatron said. "You have already sworn loyalty a thousand times and then betrayed everybody anytime."

The Decepticon leader pointed his cannon at him now. Starscream felt cold inside. He remembered how the same weapon had claimed his life and burned his body to ashes once.

"Even if I am willing to work with you", Galvatron gestured to Optimus and Megatron, "nobody in my army will ever trust this traitor again."

The renegade who had once been Air Commander looked from him to Cyclonus and Scourge, his wing-men in another life, old memories and broken trust between them.

"I may have respected you once, Starscream", Cyclonus told him, "before I became what I am now. We may have even been friends once. But that was a long time ago."

"No, I have helped them against Unicron, I have freed you from Sideways. Tell them", he asked in the direction where Optimus and the others were standing.

"And the last time you helped Unicron to try to take over Cybertron", Ultra Magnus reminded him.

"It wasn´t like that", Starscream called out. "I have only told him that I would connect his head to the planet then he would recreate my body and then I had it I stabbed him in the back, I betrayed him…"

He broke off his own speech as he realized what exactly he was saying.

"Yes Screamer", Skywarp commented, "that makes you sound very trustworthy."

Starscream looked from one group to the other and he realized that he was alone.

Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge would never trust him or willingly work with him again. This was not really a surprise, but he knew he at least had to try.

The most Autobots thought about him pretty much in the same way, at least since he had allied himself with Unicron and he knew somewhere in the back of his mind, because he had murdered millions of nebulons with the push on a button.

But it was Sideways, Unicron who had ordered this, he thought. It was foolish of the Autobots to care about the fate of a few insignificant organics anyway, especially if the entire universe was at stake.

At least with his help against Sideways he had probably made his stand with them a bit better, not that it mattered much. He was a Decepticon after all. It was their support that he needed and wanted. But slowly the realization hit him that he would never get it.

Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker were simply not the ones he had known. They were strangers with familiar faces and what truly was important, they had no longer real power in this world anyway. Then he originally joined them, even if it was under order from Sideways, he had hoped to use them to get his old rank back or at least something close to it. Now it was clear that this would not work out either.

What else could he do? Join the Autobots? Even if they would accept him, never.

They would not give him the position he deserved anyway. Despite everything he was still one of the best air warriors in the galaxy and he should be in a position of power.

He had nothing left. All what he once had was gone.

Skyfire had been the last bit of his past that had been left, he came to realize that. And now he was dead.

He was sure that was the reason he felt such sadness over the death of the Autobot.

Maybe it was time to start again for himself, Starscream thought. He could recruit a few robots for his own.

And maybe he had already a few possible candidates in his mind, a few he had seen under the troops who had been on Nebulos under Megatron.

He heard Galvatron saying something more to the two Primes and Megatron.

"As I have told you, we have a possible plan. But this plan can not be executed alone by Transformers and for that reason I have asked Optimus to bring you too commander Fairborn."

They were all surprised as he addressed Marissa, in fact they were somewhat surprised that the Decepticon leader even knew her name.

"Me?" She asked confused.

xxxxxxx

Planet Nebulos

The four remaining Decepticon headmasters, the unit who had repaired Megatron and Thundercracker after Sideways had dumped them in space and a couple of triple changers were just working on the damaged husk of Skorponok´s city mode.

Sideways followers had caused heavy damage to the super-robot when they had ambushed him. But because of the danger to be caught by retreating Decepticons, they had not bothered to completely disable him.

They had probably known that the machine was useless without Skorponok and Zarak to control it anyway and would have never thought that they would escape their master alive.

Now the nebulon leader Zarak was watching the repairs going on impatiently.

In the background behind him were the burning ruins of one of the cities of his home-planet.

"Mindwipe, how long will it take till my body is functional again?" He asked his adjutant.

"Less than five breems my lord", the headmaster answered, giving the cybertronian time-units that were around forty Earth minutes.

"Good", Zarak told him", by what I have heard, the situation is getting dangerous and I can not wait to meet this `Unicron´ and teach him a lesson."

xxxxxxx

In space somewhere between Nebulos and Cybertron

The armada of black Sweeps would soon be entering the sector of their intended target. Having just raided the planet Nebulos, they were now heading for Cybertron.

Like the Insecticons they had originally been created from, Sweeps were able to clone new exemplars of themselves. However in opposite to their predecessors this ones were being mindless automatons, so they could be created much easier and therefor replicate themselves several times faster.

Instead of a few days it cost them only a few hours to create a completely functional new version of themselves, one that was able to create others by itself.

Having consumed the raw materials of the cities on Nebulos for their replication process, their number had multiplied and was now going in the thousands.

Somewhere in the heart of the endless crowd flew a small shuttle. On board were two Transformers, two living ones indeed, the only two out of this army of countless of drones.

The seeker Flashlight was sitting at the controls and the Sweep named Carnage, the leader of the drone army, was leaning into the command seat.

"Time to Cybertron?" the Sweep leader asked.

"Four breems sir", the seeker answered.

So this was it, the time when everything was coming full circle.

He remembered the time when he was just a regular Sweep. At that point he had been loyal to both, Galvatron and the Decepticons, like all Sweeps were.

It was partly their free decision, that they had made for themselves, but it was also their programming by Unicron, mixed with their Insecticon heritage.

Insecticons were freelancers, only truly loyal to their own sub-group, to their hive. Despite all their treachery and self-serving actions, they were loyal, to each other.

And that was the main reason the Sweeps as a group were loyal to Galvatron, like the Insecticons were never to Megatron. He was created as one of them, he, Cyclonus and Scourge.

Of course this was also a decision that every single Sweep had to made for himself. But for the most of them this decision was not particular difficult.

He himself had not been created directly from an Insecticon clone, but he was one of the first to be replicated directly afterwards.

Things had been different then, he had been different. Before Galvatron had left him for dead.

It was only a lucky shot from one of the Autobots, destroying his guidance system.

It wouldn´t have been that bad had they not just been floating over the gas planet Jupiter.

Before anybody knew that was happening he had already been falling, to his sure death.

He remembered screaming to Galvatron for help, to sent someone to his rescue and he remembered Galvatron´s response.

"Please meet your end with dignity. I despise whiners."

His right hand was clamping into the arm of his chair in anger as he remembered.

This should have been his end. But then something happened that saved his life.

A explosion run through the gas of the atmosphere, obviously caused by the fighting above him, threw him off of his fall to his doom.

He landed on a small meteoroid that was circling the planet, a bit of pure luck.

And there he staid for some time, just laying on the ground and waiting for his end in some form, for over a week, until Doomsday and his group had found him. That was the point were he had lost all his faith, in the Decepticons, in Galvatron, in everything.

They saved his life, they repaired him and gave him a new identity and power. Not to help him, not out of compassion, they made this clear from the beginning, but so he could be useful to them.

He was not longer just a simper soldier, he was the leader of a vast army. But for that he had to once again swear loyalty to their creator and old master.

He was recreated and allowed himself to be reformed in Unicron´s image under his rule. By now he had given up every belief in anything in existence, except for two, power and destruction.

Ironically in that way be became a perfect and "faithful" member of the Brotherhood of Chaos, a instrument for Unicron just like their creator had envisioned.

Once he had been left behind by Galvatron and by the Decepticons and now he would be coming back to rain death and destruction down on them. The thought brought a smile on his metallic face.

He saw the future before his eyes. His new Sweep army would ravage Cybertron, as they had already done it with Nebulos.

Then, in the name of Unicron, they would continue to do it with other worlds. Piece by piece they would destroy the entire galaxy.

xxxxxxx

Transwarp ship in orbit over Cybertron

In the commander´s chambers of one of the Decepticon´s new transwarp-drive combat-ships, Galvatron and his second in command were standing alone in a private conversation and recapitulating the latest events.

"And Cyclonus, what do you think of our creator?" The Decepticon leader asked.

"He was, well, interesting", Cyclonus answered, "especially", he stated carefully, "the way he tried to subtly manipulate you."

"Yes, it seems our ancestor truly want us to change our ways and I have to admit, bringing up my past as Megatron was a good idea to that point.

And if it is true what he said about the Liege, then I am more glad than ever that I disposed of that double-crosser by the time.

The only real question is, do you trust Primus?"

"No", Cyclonus answered, "at least not completely. I want confirmation before I agree to anything and I am not willing to just believe this being just because he claims to have created our ancestors ages ago."

"As am I Cyclonus. Despite that, I think that our creator might actually have a point."

"He wants us to give up our war with the Autobots", his second reminded him.

"And tell me, how many times have even you secretly thought that this war had become senseless a long time ago?"

Cyclonus could barely believe that he was hearing his leader talking like that. Out of the mouth of everybody else this words would border to treason.

"Mighty Galvatron…", he said.

"Nine million Cyclonus, it has taken us nine million years to take control of Cybertron, after a long and out-draining war and then we had finally secured the planet for ourselves, then we had established outposts on other worlds and had the sector under our control", he paused for a moment in his speech,

"all that was snatched from us on a single day, by the interference of a single creature."

The second in command listened to his leader´s talking without saying anything for now.

"It has taken us seven years to come back where we had stood before Unicron´s attack, one year just to bring me back from the insanity that his and Rodimus actions had left me in."

Cyclonus showed no visible sign of emotion as Galvatron mentioned this. They both knew he would never talk to anybody about this time except him, with the possible exception of Soundwave.

"And now that we finally had everything back that was ours before."

"Actually a little bit more than we had before", Cyclonus remarked with a barely visible smile, referring to the planet Chaar that the Decepticons possessed and the outposts they were holding, a greater force than ever.

"Yes", Galvatron said, "our empire has never been as large as at this point and never been as powerful. Only for that it is all crashing down on us once again and that because of the very same being and now tell me you don´t think sometimes that it is all senseless?"

"We have not lost Cybertron yet", Cyclonus replied with false confidence he didn´t feel. He knew the facts as good as his leader.

"But we will", Galvatron told him, "you know as good as me what a fight against Unicron means. To that comes his new drone army. One force will attack Cybertron while the other strikes somewhere else, probably Earth and we don´t have the strength to deal with them both. We have no choice but to accept Primus plan, you know that."

Cyclonus thought for a moment before he answered.

"You are right my lord."

"I know, but I don´t like this anymore than you do."

"But we don´t know all the facts yet", Cyclonus made clear. "I believe that Primus indeed has positive intentions, but like I said, I won´t take just everything that he had told us at face value just because he believes it."

"Let us find out the facts", Galvatron said. "Soundwave", he activated his communicator to talk to the communication officer, "have you located the black Sweep army by now?"

A few moments later the Decepticon´s monotone voice answered.

"Sweep army located in the neighboring sector, having course to Cybertron."

"So they are coming here?"

"Positive."

"How many are they?" Galvatron asked.

"Approximately 3.200 units.

"And how many troops do we have on Cybertron?"

"712 Decepticons and around 92 Autobots", Soundwave informed him.

"And the rest of our troops are still scattered after the failed battle on Nebulos?" the Decepticon leader asked.

"Yes Galvatron."

"So that makes things clear", Cyclonus commented.

"Indeed", Galvatron replied, "and Unicron?" he wanted to know.

"Unknown", Soundwave told him. "Our scouts and the Autobots have reported that the planet New Quintessa and the neighboring one are gone."

"Both planets? so it sounds that Unicron´s new body already had his first feast."

"It seems", Cyclonus repeated. "That means we have no choice."

"Soundwave", Galvatron ordered, "made contact to Spinister. Tell him to begin with the evacuation of the planet." Then he ended the communication.

"To win this time we have to loose everything", his second in command recited. It were words originally from an old religious text of Cybertron, ironically the `Covenant of Primus´.

"Tell me Cyclonus, why did we ever wanted Cybertron in the first place?"

"It is our home-world", the Decepticon said surprised.

"Exactly, it is our home-world and that is the only reason.

It is military especially important?

No.

Does it has great resources we couldn´t find anywhere else?

No, Cybertron´s had actually been running out for millions of years now, before we even started our journey to Earth.

There are actually other planets out where that have more useful resources and are far better located. But we are here, fighting since millions of years ago over a single world, one that is military and economically useless."

"Still Cybertron is our home and many Decepticons are very attached to it, even if I am not necessary one of them", Cyclonus replied.

"Attached to it?" Galvatron asked sarcastically. "It was the war that we and the Autobots waged that had been running it into the ground in the first place and now some want to continue it and cause even more damage because they have some sentimental attachment to it you say?"

"Well, I never said it was a particular good reason."

"It is something that I have seen for a long time, even as I was still Megatron. We could already control hundreds of worlds if we had just given up on Cybertron a long time ago. But neither Megatron or Optimus Prime had actually the guts to leave it behind, mainly because they feared the other would revitalize it and use it for his purposes.

Primus want us to end the war. What he had offered us was not only a sacrifice but also a chance."

"We are Decepticons, we live for battle. It is the sense of our existence", Cyclonus pointed out, "but it don´t necessarily has to be this battle", he admitted.

"You have understand Cyclonus. We go now and leave Cybertron to our descendants, with the Autobots just as unable to claim it as us. The planet will prosper in our absence and we will have our empire."

"The Autobots will not just stand by and let us conquer other worlds", his second reminded him.

"We will deal with this problem when the time comes", Galvatron replied. "Anyway, when we settle in a large enough distance away from here, we could probably take over an entire sector before the Autobots even find out about it. Then they would not longer be able do anything to stop us."

"The Quintessons", Cyclonus realized, "and other threats like them. There has to be other menaces like them out there, xenophobic aliens, tyrants, space pirates, mass murderers. They would be a far greater threat to our empire than peaceful pacifist species anyway and the Autobots could hardly protest if we take out some galactic aggressors."

Galvatron thought about it for a moment.

"Yes, yes, an ingenious thought Cyclonus. The Autobots would act against their own moral code if they even tried to stop us and some of the weaker species would probably join us willingly. After all `freedom´ often only means to be an easy target for any attacker. We don´t need to conquer them, they will come to us willingly."

"But I still fear that some of our warriors will not get along with this", Cyclonus told him.

"We will take everybody who stays loyal to us. The most Decepticons will see reason and if a few fools want to throw themselves away in some senseless gesture, they can have their will.

But now my friend, let us deal with the problems we have at hand."

xxxxxxx

In another part of the ship the two Primes and a number of other Autobots were sitting in guest quarters.

Galvatron had offered them safe and in first line fast passage to Earth, since according to Primus information it was the next place where Unicron would attack.

"As I see you are Rodimus Prime again?" Optimus asked.

"Yes, Primus had brought me into this form once again. He said that I was ready. It seems being Rodimus is my fate or something."

"Really? I have thought that for a long time", the other Prime replied.

"We will loose our home planet", Rodimus said, "this time possibly once and for all."

"I know. But by what you have told me, at least Cybertron will have a chance to be at peace."

xxxxxxx

Earth system, ED space-station

A human officer was monitoring the system for possible intruders, next to him were some of his colleagues who had similar tasks.

Behind them was standing an Autobot who had been transferred to the station recently and was for now acting as a contact officer.

The most humans on board thought that they didn´t actually need him, the EDC was working nearly completely independent. He was mostly here to symbolize the alliance between humans and Autobots and so the single robot felt often quite useless.

"Sir", the soldier reported to the commander as he detected the incoming, "we have an object entering the system."

"Can you tell me more about it?" the officer asked

The man was starring at the display, in disbelieve about the data he was reading.

"Juergens", the commander was calling the name of the man.

"Sorry sir", the man said, still in shock, "but this says that the object has the size of…"

"A planet", the Autobot said, who was now watching over the man´s shoulder.

xxx

Unicron had arrived at his target.

He had learned from his last encounter with Primus creations and would not attack them directly. By his information he knew that this was probably the place where Rodimus Prime and the now emptied Matrix were. The black Sweeps would deal with Cybertron. Who knew if Primus had not left something else behind there to use against him.

His old opponent was someone else he had fatally underestimated in the past.

As he was closing up to Earth he began his transformation sequence.

On board of the space station the humans and one Autobot could only stare in awe and in fright at the display they were seeing before them.

Today he would destroy all of Primus children and one of the races they were allied with. This will be a pleasure, Unicron thought as he crashed the space-station beneath his hand.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

A small group of humanoids was now walking through the tunnels of the metal world.

Marissa Fairborn, commander in the Earth Defense Command, Rodimus targetmaster partner Firebolt and the partners of Cyclonus and Kup, who were calling themselves Nightstick and Recoil.

"What are we looking for again?" Recoil asked the others.

"An ancient cybertronian device called the plasma-energy-chamber", Marissa told him.

"And why have we to be the ones looking for it again?"

"Because it´s effect is devastating for everybody who is not either organic or a prehistoric cybertronian", Nightstick answered him this time. "By what Primus had told us, we could use the device to wipe out Unicron´s drone army."

"And it would most likely made the planet inhabitable for both Autobots and Decepticons", Firebolt added.

"Yeah, that too."

xxxxxxx

The armada of black Sweeps had reached Cybertron.

They saw a large number of ships leaving the atmosphere, obviously retreating.

"Show me the planet", Carnage ordered.

"The most Transformers seem to be fleeing", Flashlight reported.

"As expected."

"But a small group is actually be heading for us", the seeker informed him.

"What? on the monitor."

The picture appeared before him

"Galvatron", Carnage whispered as he recognized the image.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

In orbit over Earth, nine hours earlier

Like Skorponok on Nebulos, Fortress Maximus was lying down, floating in space ship mode over the planet and undergoing repairs. The headmasters Brainstorm, Highbrow and Hardhead were busy working on the deactivated form.

Here however, they also faced a completely different problem.

Unlike with Skorponok, his nebulon partner Galen, who was as a headmaster now a part of his own self, was dead, a fact that had left the Autobot partner of the bond in a state as good as lobotomized.

Besides his own team there were also two humans on board, Spike Witwicky and his wife Carly. This two however were there in first line for a special reason.

The physically damage could be repaired. Without the humanoid partner however the entire machine was useless.

Fortress Maximus himself, in his real normally sized body, was still suffering greatly from the effects.

This meant one thing, they would need a replacement, no matter how dangerous it might be. Only that this, replacing one partner in a binary-bond, especially after the one had died a violent and with no doubt traumatizing death, had never been tried before.

The Autobot was lying motionless on a cot a few meters from the two humans. Since they had left Nebulos he had not said a word or moved.

"Are you really willing to try to do that?" Carly asked her husband. Her voice was loud, half yelling. It was clear that she was worried beyond belief.

"Maybe I have no other choice", Spike replied with a side-look at Fortress.

"That is the point Spike, who said that you won´t end up exactly like him? Think about our family, about Daniel."

"I know, I guess that is the reason I have hesitated so long. But you know what kind of threat is out there right now."

"I remember", she replied, "Unicron."

"Yes and by what Rodimus has told us, has a new body."

It was only a short time ago that they have gotten Rodimus Prime´s message that the greatest enemy of all cybertronians had returned.

Despite everything that she had lived through since knowing the Transformers, Carly had never actually seen Unicron, only heard of it from others. But the things that she had heard was already more than enough for her.

She could barely believe that her son had been around when the Autobots had confronted this monster the last time. That had of course only been the outcome of a long line of very unlucky coincidences, but it had been enough to nearly make her go mad at that time.

"It is sure that he will come here?" She asked her husband.

"Rodimus thought so", Spike answered, "and even if he is not coming himself, then it is an army of thousands of drone-robots, that is barely any better.

They will destroy our world if they are not stopped. The Autobots need Fortress Maximus and as much as I dislike it, I am the best choice right now."

A part of her wanted to scream at him to let it be, to just go home and let the Autobots deal with the problem. But she also knew that running away was not a solution and if they were right, her home may not exist anymore soon.

"I understand", Carly told him. "Then do it. I hope you will be alright." She kissed him.

xxx

Now

Carly was the first who saw the metallic planet arriving into the star system and she and Spike were now watching in shock as it began it´s transformation sequence.

They saw in horror Unicron crushing the space station just before being engaged by a number of Autobot and human shuttles and fighters.

"My god", Carly whispered.

"He is here", Spike said. "We have to hurry up."

xxxxxxx

Decepticon transwarp-ship over Cybertron

The Autobots around Optimus and Rodimus Prime were standing in opposite to Megatron and his group. Both sides were clearly not completely trusting each other or their hosts.

They had all boarded the transwarp-ship to get to earth as fast as possible. However the temporally alliance between the now three factions was still very shaky and of trust could of course not even been spoken.

Galvatron´s lieutenants Soundwave and Scourge, supported by the targetmaster Decepticons and Sixshot, were now keeping an eye on the two groups of "guests" who were assembled in the hangar hall of the transwarp-shuttle.

Megatron´s Decepticons on the other hand watched Galvatron´s followers and the Autobots in barely concealed distrust while the Autobots were watching both groups of Decepticons.

After a few minutes Scourge had, out of curiosity and because he had nothing better to do, started a conversation with his counterpart Thundercracker.

"So our histories were identical up to a certain point?" he asked.

"Yes, to a point", Thundercracker told him.

"Do you know when things started to become different?"

"I am not sure", the seeker replied.

"Do you remember when Starscream freed this unit of renegades from mind prison and rebuilt them into the Combaticons to fight Megatron for him?" Scourge asked.

"Yes. We barely managed to stop them that time. If the Stunticons hadn´t been..."

"Do you remember that time when Megatron send the Insecticons to devour a human town?"

"Oh yeah, that was around the same time Starscream had threatened to use the space bridge to let Earth, along with all of us, be thrown into the sun", Thundercracker remarked with a side glance to the former Air Commander. "How could we ever forget about this funny little incident?"

"Yes, how could we ever forget?" Scourge repeated, also starring at his old comrade. "Our `friend´ had truly more than proofed his `trustworthiness´ back then."

Starscream saw the glares of the "two" Decepticons, but didn´t say anything. He had already been drastically demonstrated that he had long lost the trust of everyone here. Soon he would do something about this.

Meanwhile Scourge and Thundercracker were continuing their conversation.

"What about that time where Megatron had hired this unit of interstellar bounty hunters to take out Optimus Prime?" Thundercracker asked him this time.

"I don´t think that ever happened", Scourge answered in surprise. "I mean I don´t think this happened in our universe, in our time-line", he corrected himself.

"So it was around that time that things began to change. What about…?" Thundercracker wanted to ask something before he was cut off.

"Scourge", Soundwave addressed him or rather both of them, "stop this senseless monolog.", he said with pronouncing on the last word.

He had been listening to the absurd discussion for some time now, both of them mentioning different incidents from the past and had so gotten enough of it. Then after a few minutes of seeing Scourge literally debating with himself, even his patience came to an end.

He had to admit it was mostly the fact that both participants were technically the same person that irked him. The thought about it made his logic circuits hurt.

"Ahm, yes, okay Soundwave", Scourge surprisingly gave in quickly, perplexed for the moment about the communicators reaction.

Skywarp however, after seeing this exchange, just started to laugh loudly.

"Hey Thundercracker", he commented, "don´t let yourself grow a beard." A obvious snide at Scourge´s appearance.

In the next moment the alarms set off.

"They have arrived", Rodimus said.

"You think he had sent the Sweeps?" Optimus asked him. The question was however purely rhetorical. They all knew that the younger Prime thought that.

"Either that or he will come himself and sent the Sweeps to Earth and after what happened to him here the last time I bet he will send the drones first."

"Attention, Decepticons and Autobots", Cyclonus voice haled through the room, "the black Sweep army is closing in on Cybertron. Prepare for battle."

"I was right", Rodimus pointed out.

xxxxxxx

Earth

After Unicron had crushed the space-station he wanted to turn to the planet itself but was attacked by the Autobot forces. He saw a number of shuttles and even a few Transformers in jet form. His enemies however were like insects.

It reminded him much of the last battle over Cybertron. Yes, things were once again how they were meant to be.

He was a god, they were nothing, like it should be. And he kept on destroying them with a wave of his hand.

He saw more Autobots, reinforcements coming from the surface of the planet. More insects, Unicron thought.

xxx

The fleet of Autobots ascended from Earth, preparing to engage the enemy, but knowing that against this foe they barely had a chance to even survive. Metroplex in his new star-ship mode, Skylinx, Omega Supreme and over a dozen more shuttles and jets were going to defend the planet.

Inside the rocket mode of Omega Supreme the Dinobots were waiting to eject for the fight. Next to them stood the robot Outback.

"Me Grimlock said, we are not fighting for Autobots", the Dinobot leader exclaimed.

"And yet you are here", Outback remarked.

"We Dinobots are fighting for ourselves and for the planet we are standing on", Grimlock replied.

"If you say so."

The air-lock opened and the five Dinobots prepared to join the battle and face the planet-destroyer once again.

"Me Sludge thinks this reminds me of something", the brontosaurus said.

"Your right", Grimlock answered. "This reminds you because we did just this before."

"Yes, right, this just like last time", Snarl sneered.

"Well, let´s make sure that it ends like last time", Grimlock replied before he jumped out of the lock.

Exactly like seven years ago, the Dinobots were throwing themselves at the giant. They attacked wildly, but were only able to cause minimal damage.

And only seconds later they had to scatter to evade one of Unicron´s eye lasers.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

The armada of black Sweep drones had come out of the hyper-space and was now flying with under-light speed.

While the most of Cybertron was being evacuated, the crew of the transwarp-ship was awaiting them.

Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge were already flying outside in space, ready to face them personally.

Behind them were Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker, as well as the Autobots Optimus, Rodimus and Ultra Magnus, who had volunteered for this mission, in case of the three inter-dimensional Decepticons in first line to proof their own trustworthiness.

Their presence had only one special purpose in mind, holding the enemy occupied long enough for the plan.

Despite that and they didn´t made any effort to hide it, the Decepticons under their group were thirsty for battle.

The idea was quite simple. Having the most important Decepticons and Autobots practically assembled here, it was more than likely that whoever commanded the drones would target them first.

They were right but for a different reason than they thought.

xxx

"Galvatron", Carnage whispered as he watched the image of the Decepticon leader while sitting in his command chair. What overcame him when he saw the pictures, was the lust for revenge.

xxx

"Everything is ready", Cyclonus reported to Galvatron.

"Good."

"Their number is greater than I thought", Ultra Magnus said.

"And it will continue to grow", Megatron told them. "Remember, the Sweeps are self-replicating clones and this version can multiply twenty times faster than the old one."

"If they can devour Cybertron if would be an absolute disaster", Optimus pointed out. "Nothing could stop them anymore. We better hope that the plan will work", he said to the others.

"So do I", Rodimus answered.

The first wave of the drones had arrived and opened fire. But the allied team of Autobots and Decepticons easily countered them.

Galvatron transformed into his cannon mode and fired at the incoming group of black Sweeps. His shot decapitated one of the drone robots, literally blew his upper half off, damaged two others and effectively broke their formation.

Optimus Prime and the alternate Megatron each shot one of the stumbling Sweeps. Megatron´s fusion gun completely obliterated one drone while Optimus took out the second.

For Galvatron, it felt like pure bliss as he was ripping Unicron´s drones apart left and right. In fact, every fight since the war had restarted did. It was like in old times, the battle, the destruction, the challenge for his powers, the lust for fighting, but without the always lingering madness that had plagued him in this years back.

And ironically Optimus and Rodimus Prime were fighting at his side now. With a look at his counterpart, he knew that Megatron completely shared his sentiment.

Skywarp and Thundercracker were challenging the drones in jet form. While their enemies were technically superior, their experience and Skywarp´s teleport-ability, not to mention simple independent thinking, were giving them a good fighting chance.

Cyclonus who was carrying an replacement gun now instead of Nightstick was opening fire, flanked by Ultra Magnus. It was not the first time this two were in a situation where they had to work together. A few years back when a Quintesson had captured them, Marissa Fairbourne and the Junkion leader Wreck Gar, they had to team up to save themselves.

"Well, it looks like we are fighting together once again instead of each other Cyclonus", Magnus commented. He was just firing one of his shoulder missiles at a drone robot.

"You see, this is what we Decepticons were created for", Cyclonus replied as he was blasting a Sweep away. "If at your side or against you, we live for battle, better never forget this."

"Believe me", he answered, "I won´t",

xxx

While the fight was going on, the planet Cybertron was beginning to be evacuated. The first shuttles were started from the surface and the Decepticon city Trypticon transformed into his space-ship mode to lift off.

To that came that the planet itself was starting to move on a course to the border of the solar system, bringing more distance between it, the sun, the attacking fleet and the rock planets and planetoids at the system´s core.

The main reason for the battle taking place was on one side to buy time for the evacuation and for the secret plan to come into motion.

xxx

After only one minute the first group of Sweep drones had been completely destroyed. But ultimately it made no difference.

The rest of the drone armada was slowly approaching them. From the shuttle in the center of the formation that seemed to serve as command ship, another black Sweep was just exiting and taking over the position on top of the fleet.

Then the newcomer transformed into robot mode.

"Galvatron", he greeted the Decepticon leader with a snarl.

"Well, interesting, I didn´t know that your kind can talk." Galvatron said sarcastically and smiled.

"You", the Sweep growled for a moment before he caught himself. "I have not always been like this, you should know. In opposite to the others here, I am not a drone.

You don´t recognize me right? My former leader. Maybe you remember the battle at the Earth Defense Platform and the fight over the Jupiter atmosphere?"

Galvatron´s face became unreadable for a few moments.

"You have left me to die Galvatron", the Sweep accused him. "It was only light damage, only a lucky shot of that Autobot. I could have easily been repaired. But you decided instead to let me fall to my doom. It was only through pure luck that I even survived. I landed on a small meteoroid. For over a week I was lying there before somebody found me."

The Decepticon leader said nothing at first. Now his features actually showed a number of emotions, if only for a second, anger, hate, disgust and regret? He remembered this incident all too well.

"You were falling into the atmosphere of a gas-giant", he finally answered. "Trying to save you would have only sent others into danger."

"Nonsense", the Sweep yelled, denying Galvatron´s thin justification, "You were just too insane and too possessed by your fight that you couldn´t care or even think about anything else."

This accusation was followed by another short period of silence.

Everything that the Sweep claimed was correct, Galvatron knew this. He had failed back then, he had been insane and completely out of control.

Only a minute ago he had felt like nothing could stop him. He had been back in charge. His leadership was restored. He had felt like he could conquer the universe. Despite the latest setbacks things were going well again and his revenge against Unicron was in reach.

And now something came to throw the failures of his past in his face like this. Suddenly all the drive from one minute ago and all the battle-lust was gone.

This was one of the many incidents he hated to remember. And now he had to deal with one formerly completely loyal soldier who had switched sides, ultimately as an result of his own madness. To say it in human terms, he felt like shit.

"And what about you", Galvatron finally responded. "You are leading an foreign army against the Decepticons, you have sided with Unicron. How is what you are doing any better?"

"I never claimed it was." The Sweep smiled. "You can see it in this way, once I had been abandoned to death and now all of Cybertron will share my suffering. I had been the victim, now I come back as the destroyer."

"You are insane", Galvatron replied.

"As if you are the one to talk. All I did was joining Unicron´s forces, like our kind should have done it in the first place. It was your own ill fated rebellion that led to your madness and our defeat."

"I refused to bow down and become a slave", Galvatron claimed, "like you obviously did. You would have been better of if you really died six years ago."

With a scream the Sweep raised his weapon and began to fire at him.

"Well, it seems as if we have no interest in talking anymore", the Decepticon leader said to himself.

xxxxxxx

Earth

Spike´s was sitting in the center of Fortress Maximus control room. His body and mind were about to be bonded to the systems of the Autobot. He was more than aware of the risk he was taking. The robot´s consciousness had been damaged by the violent loss of his partner.

In the last hours he had undergone the necessary modifications to become a headmaster. Computer interfaces and mechanical components had been implanted into his body.

But by now connecting himself to him it was possible that he would instead of healing the damage to Fortress mind destroying his own. Despite that, he would do it, because he simply did not have another choice.

Spike felt the mental connection being built up. The confusion, shock and pain of the Autobot began to fill him.

"Fortress", he began to call out in his mind. "Fortress we need you."

"Can not", he heard the mental voice of the Autobot answering a few moments later. "I have been destroyed, damaged…

…I am dead", the voice said.

"No, you are not", Spike told him.

"I have been ripped apart. Something is missing, incomplete."

"It is your Nebulon partner Galen. He is dead."

"Dead? He was a part of me."

"I am here to take his place."

"No, that is not as it meant to be", the voice said confused. "Partners, two halves of a whole. Death. Can not be repaired. Lost"

The Autobot clearly was disoriented as much as emotionally damaged and clearly in shock. Galen´s sudden death truly had an horrible effect. To that came that it hadn´t been a combat situation, where you would anticipate something like this. It was an assassination, done by a traitor from their own lines.

The truth was nobody even knew for sure what consequences the death of one partner in a binary bonding would have, because it had never happened before.

"I know this is…unusual", Spike said a bit insecure, "but we have no other choice. We need you. Look what is happening."

He concentrated on the consoles before him and so transferred the images he was seeing directly into Fortress mind.

The screens just showed Unicron crushing one of the Autobot-shuttles that were trying to defend the planet.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron underground

"You are really sure about this translation Nightstick?" Marissa Fairbourne asked the nebulon.

"Yes, this creature named Primus had showed Cyclonus and me where this machine is and how to control it."

"And you are absolutely sure that you don´t have made any mistakes?"

"I am" Cyclonus partner answered, now somewhat annoyed.

"Okay, I only wanted to be sure. Remember, the fate of the universe is depending on that this here works."

"You don´t have to tell me how important this is, I know", the nebulon answered as they started to activate the machine.

xxxxxxx

On the surface the battle was continuing. Squadrons of Sweep-drones were now flying over the sectors and cities of the planet.

Some of them were already starting to destroy buildings and began with the systematic destruction of the landscape. Lasers and missiles were shot into the city structures and now abandoned military facilities.

Others were still following the retreating cybertronian fleet. A few lagged behind Decepticons and Autobots were caught by them and fired upon.

One Decepticon seeker exploded under the missiles of at least a half dozen drone-warriors.

A Autobot helicopter, flying in a close distance to him, returned fire and managed to shoot two of the black Sweeps down. But after a short time he was also destroyed under the onslaught.

xxx

The forms of Galvatron, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Scourge, Skywarp and Thundercracker were now floating between the mangled bodies of dozens of unicronian drones.

But by now they were slowly being overwhelmed by the numbers and their energy reserves were growing to their limits.

"We are beginning to run out of energy", Optimus reminded the others.

"Good, then we return to the shuttle", Galvatron replied.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp, we are turning back", Megatron ordered.

"As you wish", Skywarp said as he teleported closer to the ship while still blasting Sweeps.

xxx

"Get them", the black Sweep leader Carnage shouted to his troops as he saw the beginning retreat. But the allied Autobots and Decepticons were already entering the transwarp-shuttle.

xxx

"Soundwave, now", Cyclonus ordered per com as soon as everybody was on board.

And before the eyes of Carnage and his drone warriors eyes, the ship vanished.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

Cybertron underground

"We have done it, the machine is ready", Nightstick told her.

Despite that the ancient device they were working on had clearly been built for far larger people than them, the three humanoids were somehow able to get it to work.

"Good", she said. "Then let us do it."

With this words Marissa connected the wires that would start the countdown.

xxxxxxx

In space

The transwarp-ship rematerialized at the border of the star system Cybertron was currently located in.

For millions of years the planet had been moving aimlessly through space, for the most part with only minimal effort to even coordinate it´s course through space.

It had only been a few decades back that the Transformers actually began to take control of the movements of their planet, in particular Megatron´s infamous attempt to transport Cybertron into Earth´s orbit.

One of the first things Galvatron had done after the Decepticons had once again taken the planet four months ago was to order the construction of a set of global engines that made possible to fly Cybertron similar to a space ship.

They had moved the planet into an empty star system to secure it for themselves and to made it harder for a Autobot counter strike. In a distance of several parsec there was no other life besides themselves.

It was a decision that was now paying itself.

The engines were used to bring the entire planet slowly outside of the star system, while at the same time Unicron´s drones were waging a world wide attack.

They were bombing districts, destroying bases, space ports and other important installations, blasting through buildings and tearing parts of Cybertron´s surface apart to use it later as raw material for their replication.

Some cities were already standing in flames.

This was how this new version of the Sweeps was like. They only existed for the purpose of destroying and replicating. By Unicron´s instructions, they targeted everyone he wanted, attacking their planets, consuming everything in their path and only becoming larger and larger in number.

This robots, the Transformes and especially Primus were aware of, had the potential to become a new plaque to the galaxy destroying one world after the other and only leaving the empty void that Unicron rejoiced in.

They needed to be stopped here and now.

xxx

The transwarp-ship with the leaders of the new Autobot-Decepticon alliance on board had just rematerialized itself at the edge of the system. They were now in a safe distance for what was going to happen.

"How is it going?" Optimus asked Soundwave who was sitting at the controls.

"Evacuation of Cybertron complete. Waiting for signal from plasma-energy-chamber", the Decepticon answered.

"Then let us hope that they succeed", the Autobot leader replied.

The plan had been simple enough, at least in theorie. Set a distraction for the black Sweeps, evacuate Cybertron and send someone to activate the plasma-energy-chamber, a job only a organic could do. The timing was however that all was depending on.

"Signal received", Soundwave reported a few moments later.

"They did it", Rodimus said.

"There is one last thing I have to do", Galvatron pointed out. "Soundwave, send out an hail to the drone armada."

"What?", the communications officer asked now. His mechanical voice was showing obvious surprise in that moment that was completely uncharacteristically for him.

xxxxxxx

Earth System - on board of Fortress Maximus

"You must help us Fortress", Spike´s mental voice told him once again.

The human and the super-headmaster were still watching the other Autobots and humans hopelessly fighting Unicron.

"Replacing a bond is impossible", Fortress mind said.

"We don´t know that, we actually know far too little. At least we have to try."

"Try?"

"We have too", Spike repeated, "our people are being slaughtered out there."

He concentrated again on the massacre outside.

Unicron had been slowly crushing the first Autobot shuttle, completely destroying the inside and everybody on it.

"You know how, make the mental connection to me, now", Spike said as they were seeing the obliterating of the ship.

Now Fortress was finally reacting. He gave the mental commands to establish the new bond.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron

The Sweep leader named Carnage had just returned to his ship. His anger had begun to boil down.

Galvatron had escaped him, at least for now. But then he realized that it didn´t really matter.

As soon as Cybertron will be consumed his army would be invincible.

Galvatron would be hunted down and destroyed. And maybe it was even better this way.

Carnage would let him watch when his empire was getting ripped apart piece by piece and when he would find him.

Galvatron would suffer and when…

Then his line of thought was suddenly broken off.

"We are receiving a call", Flashlight, who was still controlling the ship, told him.

"What?" the black Sweep leader said surprised. "Put it on the screen."

The face of the Decepticon leader appeared.

"Galvatron", Carnage said.

"Sweep number four", his former commander greeted him.

"Not anymore, you can call me Carnage now."

"Carnage? Yes, a fitting name for you", he replied.

"What do you want? You know that your attempt to move Cybertron out of this star system is pointless right? My troops have already taken the planet. You are only delaying the unavoidable. You and your Decepticons will not escape."

"Escape? Cybertron is just leaving this system, that is the entire point."

"Why?"

Galvatron didn´t answer. In fact he did the last thing the Sweep would have expected, he smiled. And strangely not even a malicious smiling, it seemed actually benevolent, at least at the outside.

"I have to apologize to you", the Decepticon leader said to the completely dumbfounded Sweep.

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I could have probably saved you, under only a minor risk. But I didn´t. I didn´t even try. It is true that I wasn´t in my right mind at that time, but that doesn´t change the fact. I was wrong, I admit that."

"Do you really know what you are talking about here?" The Sweep asked incredulous.

"Yes I do. I am truly sorry for leaving you behind this last time", he said, "Back then I was insane, I made mistakes." He let his words hanging in the air for a few moments.

"But I am not sorry for leaving you behind this time", he said now sharply.

"What?"

Goodbye Carnage. I admit my failures, but I won´t take the blame for yours.

You have made the decision to follow Unicron, you are attacking Cybertron, killing our troops, trying to destroy our planet. This was your choice."

The communication broke off. For a moment the two Unicron followers stared at the screen, confused by Galvatron´s words and actions.

Then something happened, quick and without warning. It felt like a shock. A terrible pain cut through then as every relay in their bodies was overloaded. They barely managed to scream from the sudden agony they felt. Around them the systems of the ship ceased functioning, some of the consoles short circuit.

This was milliseconds before their limbs failed and they fell to the ground, unable to move. It was a effect that was not limited to them.

All over the planet Cybertron and the space around it, the same thing was happening.

xxxxxxx

At the same time in orbit, the black Sweeps were now hanging motionless in space. Unlike their two leaders, who were actually alive, they staid silent. They didn´t know pain, suffering or any kind of feelings at all.

Despite their appearance they were only unthinking machines and now that their systems were not longer working, they were essentially shut down.

xxxxxxx

The plasma-energy-chamber was active. Right now it was sending out a form of energy emission that was effecting every machine or mechanical life-form in the system, all beside the planet itself. The process was building up in light-speed and had already spread over a great part of the system.

In ancient times, like Primus told them, the chamber served as an energy source for all of Cybertron. It was used to overload the core of stars, to create artificial novae and collect the released energy of the sun explosions.

As a side effect it also caused similar overloading in the systems of every sort of regular machines, inadvertently "lobotomizing" them and rendering them useless. Over a longer time, it would destroy them.

The ancient cybertronians were immune to the effect, thanks to Primus design, the newer generations build by the Quintessons however were not and neither were Unicron´s drone robots.

It was to a great part all a question of timing, to evacuate Cybertron before the enemy had taken it over.

At this point, the chamber was beginning to influence the local sun. Occasional solar-storms and fluctuations were already starting to predict it´s final fate.

xxxxxxx

Cybertron Underground

The device was working. Like they had feared beforehand, they didn´t knew what kind of effect the plasma-energy-chamber would have on the binary bounded nebulons.

It wasn´t really a surprise as the shock went through their bodies. Like the Transformers, the mechanical implants in them were effected by the workings of the device. Both of them were now partly cybernetic and so assaulted by the emissions like the Transformers.

It was by far not as intense as it was with the full machines, but still enough to send the two humanoids to their knees. The pain for them was horrible.

Marissa Fairborne however was unaffected.

"This is it", Firebolt said.

They had anticipated something like this. That was one of the main reasons she was even here, Marissa knew.

The point was that they didn´t knew how bad the nebulons would be hit. All in all it actually turned out better as they had feared. The two were still able to stand, even if barely.

That was the reason the Transformers had especially asked for an unmodified human for this mission, to have someone to shut the chamber down again after it had done it´s job.

xxxxxxx

All over the planet´s orbit and the neighboring area the drones now were drifting through space.

In this moment the effect of the plasma-energy-chamber had reached it´s critical point.

The star exploded.

On board the flagship-shuttle Carnage and his seeker lieutenant were still lying on the floor in pain, struggling desperately, trying to even stand up.

xxx

The first radiation that the exploding star was sending out had reached the drone fleet. It was already enough to destroy most of the electronics of the damaged and overloaded drones.

xxx

"Flashlight", the Sweep leader called out. "What has happened?"

"I don´t know", the seeker answered, "some sort of overloading."

Under great pain Carnage was able to get back on his legs. He could still barely stand. For a few moments he was fighting disorientation.

He looked around. The computers on the ship were off-line he realized, probably destroyed by the shock.

It had been a trap, some sort of secret weapon. They had just evacuated the planet and then activated it. And he had walked right into this.

He would need to get out of here and take all the drones that were still functional with him. This was a set back, sure. But they would just consume new raw materials to regrown their forces.

As soon as they had destroyed Cybertron this losses would be meaningless. Their numbers would be even higher than before.

In that moment he looked out of the windows and saw what was happening outside. The sun had become unstable. It was exploding.

Alone in the second he saw it he knew there was no escape. The flashes of the overloading were still driving through his body and he could barely move.

In the following minutes he could only watch and wait until the supernova was reaching the shuttle.

He could see the seemingly never-ending wall of fire closing up on him.

Carnage could only think of one thing, during all this all his thoughts circled down on one word.

"Galvatron!" he screamed out the name before the arriving nova explosion consumed him and the ship around him.

xxxxxxx

The planet Cybertron had passed the borders of the star system, with a high speed moving away from the sun. Despite that the first radiation of the nova had reached it´s orbit and was beginning to be absorbed into the mechanics of the ancient device.

The plasma-energy-chamber was doing it´s purpose, at the same time absorbing the unleashed energy and protecting Cybertron´s surface from the fallout of the nova.

Soon the "harder" rays began to hit the planet and energy storage and resources that had been empty for millions of years were automatically refilled and more.

Cybertron, despite empty of life now, was glowing from energy like not more since the golden age.

"That is it, the energy storage is filled", Marissa told the nebulons.

"One moment", Firebolt said under great pain. He checked the outside sensors. "The radiation levels have fallen under a non lethal level", he reported, "stop it, now."

At this words Marissa cut the connection that kept the device under power.

A few seconds later the pain the two nebulons felt stopped. The plasma-energy-chamber was shut down.

"Did we do it?" Marissa asked now, still a bit under shock.

"We did it", Firebolt answered. "We have just blown up a sun... and wiped out Unicron´s army."

After a short moment of comprehension what had just happened the human and the two enemy nebulons looked at each other relieved. Then they first began to smile.. and then broke out into spontaneous laughter together.

It was not every day that you blew up a star system and saved the universe at the same time.

xxxxxxx

Decepticon transwarp ship

Galvatron had just ended the communication.

"I have to say I am impressed", Megatron said, smirking at Galvatron´s behavior.

"Cybertron confirms, plasma-energy-chamber shut down, planet intact", Soundwave reported.

"And the drone armada?" Optimus asked.

"Unconfirmed, last seen in local sector."

"So in the same place as a supernova", Prowl pointed out.

"Yes - we have surely seen the last of them", Rodimus said.

"I had never thought that this absurd plan would work in the first place", Prowl commented.

"We didn´t have much of a choice, but ultimately it worked out", Optimus told them.

"That was the first half", Rodimus reminded them.

"Yes, the first", Ultra Magnus said, "but this wasn´t even our true enemy."

"We will defeat Unicron and finish him off once and for all", Cyclonus replied. For all his loyalty and often stoic exterior, it was known under the ones who knew him that his hate for their former `Master´ was barely smaller than Galvatron´s own.

"If you think so", Magnus said, not sounding as convinced as he had liked to be.

"Soundwave - we are jumping to Earth, now", Galvatron ordered.

xxxxxxx

Unicron was surrounded by a a large number of both Autobot- and human shuttles, a group of five Autobot jets and the three super robots Metroplex, Skylinx and Omega Supreme.

All of them knew trying to fight a enemy like Unicron was suicide, but they had no other choice if they didn´t want the planet Earth being destroyed.

While Metroplex, in his new space-ship mode, was firing his main guns at him from a long distance, the Autobot "seekers" were flying run ups at their planet sized enemy and attacking at short range. This attacks however were completely ineffective.

Omega Supreme, in his robot mode, was flying a charge at Unicron with blazing cannons. But even the giant guardian robot was barely able to scorch the "skin" of the planet destroyer.

Still it caused damage and that was actually more than it would be able to do against Unicron´s "real" body seven years back.

His new form, forged from what had once been the planet New Quintessa, was truly of inferior material. To defeat this weak opponents however, it was still more than enough.

He fired his eye lasers to decimate the enemy fleet.

One of the beams hit Omega Supreme, while the one from the other eye vanished harmlessly in space. Despite his advanced armor the super robot had no chance. The blast tore through him, destroyed machinery and circuitry and ripped his body apart, killing the super robot and letting the crippled remains drifting through the void.

Another shot went straight through the squad of Autobot jets. While the most of them were able to evade getting hit, one was caught by it. The giant beam burned the flyer to ashes without even losing any of it´s power.

xxxxxxx

In space, between Earth and Mars

A small ship was lying in waiting. On board was a larger group of Decepticons assembled.

They were the most of the ones who got scattered in space after the disastrous battle of Nebulos. This meant the rest of the group who had reformed after the disastrous battle under Megatron´s command

and others who had joined them by now.

When their, at least temporally, leader Megatron and his lieutenants had left for Cybertron to negotiate their alliance with Galvatron and the Autobots, they had been sent to Earth sector to wait and hold for further orders.

Under them were the powermasters Darkwing and Dreadwind, the triple changers Blitzwing, Talon and Ripper, the Predacons, the Seacons and a number of others.

"The Autobots are getting annihilated", one of the Decepticons announced.

"Is that such a bad thing?" another asked.

A few minutes back they had gotten Galvatron´s order to back up their old enemies and join the fight against Unicron, a order that, to say it lightly, was not received happily.

"Seven years ago we got slaughtered in masses. When the Autobots just came, marched in and took over our planet", Darkwing said. "Now it is their turn to get massacred."

"It was Galvatron´s order to help them", Dreadwind reminded the others casually.

"Why should we?" Jawbreaker asked.

"We don´t even know for sure if Galvatron is back in charge", someone pointed out.

"We got the confirmation that he is", another replied.

"Could have been fake."

"I say we wait till the Autobots are destroyed and then we take over Earth", Jawbreaker said.

"Earth will not longer exist if we do that you idiot", Skalor answered.

"Is that my problem?"

"Galvatron had possibly gone insane again", Ripper suggested.

A few of them registered that Blitzwing, Snap-Trap and Dreadwind were walking in the direction of the exit.

"What are you doing?"

"What we are ordered to do", Blitwing answered. "We help the Autobots."

"Against that, do you have some kind of death wish?" Talon asked them.

"See it from this point", it was Snap-Trap who answered. "If we don´t stop Unicron now, he will once again destroy one planet after the other and sooner or later we will have to fight him anyway. I don´t know about you, but I would rather do this as long as we still have a few allies left."

The remaining Decepticons looked at each other for a seconds, deciding what to do.

xxxxxxx

Unicron destroyed another shuttle, this one with a purely human crew as far as he could make out, not that it mattered to him.

His enemies were crumbling before him.

If things continued like this, this world would fall very soon. Everything was going perfectly.

Until this point.

He felt it, knew it through the mental connection he had with his most committed followers.

His troops on Cybertron had been destroyed. How? It should have been impossible. Primus children had been outnumbered.

But he would still win, he would destroy this world first and Cybertron next.

In that moment he saw another object approaching, coming from a long distance. It opened fire on him.

He recognized it, Fortress Maximus. They were able to repair him, another thing that should not have happened.

But this also didn´t matter. Nothing of this would stop him. He would destroy them all and in the end he would be the winner.

xxxxxxx

Skorponok in his space ship mode had just entered the star system.

"We are nearing Earth", Mindwipe informed Zarak.

"Good", the Headmaster Commander answered.

Chapter Text

Chapter 23

Galvatron, with Cyclonus and Scourge, followed by the six Sweeps, were flying in close formation. Thanks to Primus actions all of them were now completely free of Unicron´s influence.

The transwarp-ship had appeared, only a few thousand kilometers from the Earth´s orbit.

As the crew of the small vessel, that included the leaders of both factions, had arrived, the battle was already going on in full heat.

Galvatron transformed into his cannon mode and fired with his full power. The blast hit and burned a deep mark into Unicron´s outer armor.

Spike had finally succeeded in bringing Fortress Maximus out of his shock-stasis and was now replacing the lost bond with Galen. Both of them were currently two parts of a "new" headmaster, at least for now.

Fortress was at the moment helping Metroplex. The two city-sized Autobots had transformed into robot mode and were trying to fight their enemy together.

Even with their giant size however Unicron was still several times larger than them and they could only hold themselves by keeping their distance and trying to avoid his attacks.

Also a number of Decepticons from the scattered groups had by now followed Galvatron´s order and joined the battle at the Autobot´s side.

They knew they had to do everything to keep Unicron´s attention from Earth. Even a single shot from his eye-lasers could cause disastrous harm on the surface. But like the battle was going they soon realized that their worries were unfounded. He was clearly more interested in destroying them and the planet was for him only second importance.

Of course, they were the creations of Primus. Unicron would put their demise above nearly everything.

In some distance on the other side of the area, the Autobot Skylinx had just been flying his attack run. At this point the shuttle mode Transformer was receiving a message, one those content he found very interesting.

"Optimus", he called the Autobot leader, "I have here something you should hear."

xxxxxxx

At the same time, a large number of ships were started from the planet Earth, flying in the opposite direction to the ongoing battle.

Seeing the threat their world was under, it was being tried to bring as many people to safety as possible.

Of course it was only a small part of the billions of people of the planet that could be evacuated. So everybody´s hope was on that the invader could be stopped.

xxxxxxx

Skorponok, space ship mode

Zarak was watching the ongoing fight from his command bridge. He had to admit he was afraid, no terrified.

While he had seen images of Unicron before, watching the monster in real life, in his real form instead of his "Sideways" disguise, was something completely different.

Unicron, the Chaos Bringer, this creature was for every cybertronian the image of pure horror, was it now from personal experience or out of legends, a being that could devastate an entire universe, the direct opponent of their creator Primus, ravager of Cybertron barely seven years back.

And since the day he had been bonded with Skorponok, Zarak had heard more than enough about it to share this sentiment as he now saw the planet destroyer.

But at the same time he could barely contain his anger. Zarak remembered how his world had been destroyed, that hundreds of millions of his people had been killed. On top of that he had even been tricked into indirectly helping in this by Sideways and Megatron.

Skorponok remembered how Sideways warriors attacked him from the inside without warning, pretending to be allies. How they had been tearing him apart from within his own body. The humiliation to be tricked and used like this, the purple robot´s gloating face. He knew by now that Sideways and Unicron were one and the same being.

And the fear was slowly overshadowed by anger. Zarak and Skorponok, both of them shared the same mind and identity and they wanted revenge.

He transformed into robot mode and threw himself at his enemy who was at that moment distracted by facing Metroplex and Fortress Maximus. The attack was quick and vigorous. He bridged the distance between them in seconds and smashed his claws into Unicron´s armor.

This monster had destroyed his home-world and now it would pay.

His arms were digging into his enemies body and leaving large cuts. With a loud growl, Unicron leashed out at Skorponok and slammed the smaller robot away.

In that moment he was hit by a volley of Fortress missiles and Metroplex fired his laser cannons at him. The onslaught of the two city Autobots caused explosions all over his giant body and was cutting deep into Unicron´s chassis.

"I have never thought that I would say this one day. But, good word Skorponok", Fortress Maximus/Spike commented.

"I do my best Autobot."

After every blow they dealt, the three city robots were trying to get on distance again and staid on guard. They knew despite everything, a single shot from this enemy could obliterate them.

xxxxxxx

The Decepticon Starscream was flying over the battlefield. Between the other jets he was firing a few of his missiles at Unicron´s giant form.

Despite everything else he took great pleasure out of getting a shot at the being who had enslaved him before. But after a short time he changed his course.

While he wanted Unicron destroyed at least as much as everybody else, he didn´t found it necessary to get himself involved too much.

Should the Mega- and Galvatrons and the Primes deal with him, Starscream thought. Unicron would be destroyed, he would have his revenge and didn´t have to take the risk.

It seemed as if he wasn´t the only one with this thought, he realized. In some distance to the fight his sensors detected the presence of two Decepticons.

As he came closer he recognized them. They were triple changers. He remembered them from the time he was still second in command of the army.

When he transformed and landed before them, both pointed their guns at him. This seemed somehow to be the natural reaction to seeing him this days.

The former Air Commander smiled.

"What do you want Starscream?" one of then, the one who transformed into a dragon and a jet, asked him in an unfriendly tone. His name was Talon, Starscream remembered.

"Well, I only wanted to talk to you two. We haven´t seen each other for some time right?

"We won´t listen to anything you have to say. Everybody knows that you are lying when you open your mouth", the other, Ripper, said.

"Oh, is it that what they are now saying about me?" Starscream asked sarcastically. "I also rip the spark out of my victims and eat it and I manufacture organic children into grease oil too."

"I am willing to believe that on the spot", Ripper replied in a suppressed voice.

"It seems since Galvatron came back to his mind, I am now everyone´s bogeyman", Starscream exclaimed.

"That has probably more to do with trying to destroy us all and teaming up with Unicron", Talon pointed out.

The seeker only grinned at this comment.

"What are you doing here?" He asked the two.

"What does it look like? We are standing here and watching the battle", Ripper told him.

"Watching the battle? And I thought I heard Galvatron order to actually join the fight and help the Autobots. Well, I guess I must just have misheard this right?" Starscream had a smirk on his face now.

"Look we want to follow our orders", Talon told him, "it is only that we are not suicidal. It is against a planet sized monster and why should we help the Autobots of all people?"

"Hey, I completely understand where you are coming from. But I am not the one you need to convince. The question is what Galvatron will say when he hears about your little action here or should we call it your in-action?"

"Galvatron?" One of them asked with a hint of fear.

"Let´s see, first you two have joined the coup attempt of that Megatron impostor against him and now you are refusing direct orders. I actually don´t even want to know what Galvatron will do with you after this."

"The same can be said about you", Talon replied.

"Oh, you are already comparing yourself with me now?" Starscream began to laugh. "I hope you realize that I am a lost cause to them all for the longest time now." He became serious once more and addressed the two again.

"I see it like that. The others, who had actually followed the order and joined the battle has probably redeemed themselves in Galvatron´s eyes. You however." He let the words hanging in the air for a few moments.

"On the other hand, we lost causes should stick together or how are you seeing that?"

At this statement the two triple changers were looking at each other for a second in open confusion.

xxxxxxx

Over the planet earth

In addition to the city robots and the seekers, Unicron now had to deal with the combiners who had arrived with Optimus and Galvatron and mixed themselves under the rest of his attackers.

The Airialbots had by now ironically teamed up with the Sweeps and the two flight groups were now flying in one formation around his lower body.

While the Airialbots, Technobots and Combaticons were trying to fight him as separate beings, using mostly their air-borne or robot modes, Defensor, Menasor, Piranhacon, Devastator and Predaking had combined.

The five gestalts were attempting to attack from ankles where they would be outside the range of his lasers or hands.

Predaking and Piranhacon were firing at Unicron´s surface and were actually able to blow small parts out of his armor.

Menasor was able to come close enough to Unicron´s surface to hit him with his sword and left a long cut in the metallic "skin".

It were needle-sticks, not much, but in the long run they were causing more and more damage.

xxx

Optimus Prime had taken his form as a powermaster. He had reconnected himself to his partner HiQ and was once again merged with his trailer.

Currently he was flying somewhere between a large number of other warriors, challenging their single over-dimensionized opponent.

He realized to his relief that their attacks were actually causing damage.

"Optimus", at this point he was getting the call from Skylinx, "I have here something you should hear. Prime, do you hear me?"

"Yes Skylinx, I hear you. What is it?"

"I have just been receiving a hyper-space message. It is something you will find very interesting."

"Just tell it Skylinx. I am in the moment quite occupied", Optimus replied as he watched a group of flyers scattering from Unicron´s fire.

Another blast had been fired from Unicron´s eyes and went through the lines of the Autobots. Whoever was not fast enough to evade this shots was destroyed.

The headmaster Highbrow, the Autobot leader recognized him, was caught by the blast and vaporized. From one moment to the other the robot ceased to exist. Another one who was lost, just like so many, Optimus thought. Forcing down the wave of sadness he concentrated again on what was at hand.

"Okay Prime, you won´t believe this", Skylinx told him. "The message is from a Sharkticon named Gnaw."

"A Sharkticon has contacted us?" Optimus asked incredulous.

"Yes as it looks he and his group had just escaped from New Quintessa."

"Escaped?"

"By what they told us, the Quintessons had forced them to work on the construction of Unicron´s new body, out of the planet New Quintessa itself."

"I understand", the Autobot leader replied grimly.

"Their group has somehow managed to break free from their programing and organized an escape. That was right before Unicron turned on the Quintessons and destroyed them."

"Destroyed them, the entire race?" Optimus asked in shock.

"By the information, practically everyone in the system. That would mean most of them. There may be survivors in other sectors. It is not as if anybody would miss this particular species", Skylinx pointed out.

"It is still genocide Skylinx. Let us make sure that this will be the last species Unicron had destroyed."

"In this case you will like to hear this Optimus. The message also said that they had with the reconstruction, how should I say this, not done as good work as they could have."

"Sabotage?"

"Not a very offensive or obvious one. For that they were too closely watched by their former masters. It was in many cases it was not much more than, let us call it neglecting their work. Using shoddy materials for isolation and connection points, leaving one or two parts out, something like that. But it seems they had also knowingly sabotaged a few sub-systems of the planet´s machinery.

Just at a level that Unicron or the Quintessons wouldn´t notice. Pretty smart for Sharkticons if you ask me."

"As you said. They have obviously "grown beyond" their programing and developed into more than their masters had ever intended for them to be, like our ancestors once."

"Déjà vu", Skylinx commented.

"Exactly my friend. Who knows, maybe we will have other dealings with this group in the future."

"You mean if we survive this."

"Believe me, we will." The Prime sounded confidently.

"You think we have actually a chance?" The shuttle Autobot asked.

"I know", he answered. "Skylinx", Optimus said, "send this Gnaw a reply and tell him that we thank him for this information and that the Autobots are always open for future contacts."

"With pleasure Optimus."

xxx

Fortress Maximus was caught by one of the blasts. It was tearing into his shoulder and ripped his right arm off. Left was only a large hole at the side of the damaged super robot.

Inside his body Spike was screaming in agony. Though the connection he was feeling Fortress pain as if it was his own.

Carly had left the giant robots body on a shuttle just before the battle begun, together with the other human personnel on board, everybody who would have otherwise been unnecessary endangered. She had her doubts about this from the beginning just like he had.

There was a great chance that he would die here and even if he survived all this he could easily be left with physical or mental damage. But he had no choice. Without a replacement for Galen, Fortress Maximus would not be functioning and he was simply the best choice available.

Maybe it was actually for the best that Carly was not here to see him in this state.

Skorponok and Metroplex were attacking once again. Spike realized that their earlier attempts had already left deep wounds in their opponent´s body. Maybe they could really win this, he thought.

In that moment Unicron yelled out an loud scream. One split-second later he struck and landed a single punch on Skorponok that alone was more than enough to seriously harm the Decepticon. His fist was literally as large as his opponent.

Then the planet eater made a noise like in horrible pain and suddenly froze in his movement. It was nearly as if for a moment something in him just set out. And, without anybody knowing, this was actually pretty close to the truth.

Spike and with him Fortress Maximus took this opportunity to attack once again. He hit his opponent hard with the fist of his remaining arm and to his surprise, actually felt the material giving in, leaving a large dent in Unicron´s upper body. Seconds later, Metroplex tackled him from the side.

xxx

Skorponok had caught himself. He knew he was in a terrible state. Like Spike, Zarak was feeling every bit of the pain his super robot was in.

He saw the deep wounds he had caused and felt a sense of satisfaction. Then he realized that Unicron suddenly stopped moving and saw Fortress Maximus attack right afterwards.

Like Fortress, he found an opening and used it. He was aiming for Unicron´s right eye. Dealing just with the assault of the two city Autobots, he didn´t see it coming.

Skorponok´s claw hit and smashed the transparent material that protected the optical sensors and the circuitry behind it, leaving the Chaos Bringers body half blind.

Unicron let out a even more horrifying scream of both, pain and anger.

Skorponok, Fortress Maximus and Metroplex had already gotten back to a safer distance. But this time it didn´t help them.

Unicron aimed now directly at Skorponok with his remaining eye laser and fired. This time there was no chance to avoid the blast.

Zarak saw it coming. He knew he had no chance, he was too badly damaged to get away in time. But still he was trying.

Skorponok had known that he would probably not survive this mission right from the start.

But still he didn´t want to die. Many on his home-world would probably say that he deserved it anyway.

He himself was responsible for the loss of millions of his fellow nebulons. And as Skorponok for the loss of many cybertronians. Most of it he regretted by now. Seeing his burning world had made him over-think many things.

Despite everything he didn´t come here to lose his own life but to kill Unicron. He intended to fight till the end and hopefully survive.

But as his aching body didn´t want to move, he knew it was over. For a short moment he saw the blast coming directly to him and accepted it.

He was glad however that he could have done his part to stop this menace and hopefully would be able to take his enemy with him.

xxx

"Skorponok", Fortress Maximus shouted as he saw the demise of the Decepticon. They had been enemies for years, as Transformers just like as nebulons, but here he had been risking his life to help them.

Fortress knew there was no chance that Skorponok would survive this. His head and the upper half of his body had been completely destroyed.

"You did a good job my friend", Fortress said about his former enemy.

xxxxxxx

Rodimus and his team were trying to fight their way to their foe. With him were Ultra Magnus, Springer and the two targetmasters Kup and Blurr. They were the group that had volunteered for one of the most important and also most dangerous tasks.

The fighting with the city robots and the air units was keeping Unicron distracted and the heavy damage from it had left large holes as much in his defense as in his armor.

If they were able to get close enough or in the ideal case, get inside Unicron´s body, Rodimus would be ready to use the Matrix again. They would be the ones to end this conflict.

"And to think that I have volunteered for this. I must be crazy."

"It is not much more dangerous than being at any other place in this battle", Ultra Magnus pointed out.

"Not much", Springer commented.

"Well Kup, doesn´t this remind you of the last time we did this?" Rodimus asked.

"Now that you say it", the old Autobot answered. "But as I remember, the last time you simply crashed a space ship through his eye and we didn´t have to fight our way inside first."

xxx

At the same time a group of Decepticons was trying to do a similar thing. In some distance to the Autobots, Galvatron, Megatron and Cyclonus, closely followed by Scourge, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Sixshot, wanted to get near enough to the planet destroyer to enter through Unicron´s open wounds and destroy his body from the insides.

On their way they were literally shooting their guns off, letting a rain of fire getting down at their enemy. Galvatron transformed into his cannon mode, fired and changed back, burning down another part of Unicron´s surface.

Less than one minute later they found what they were searching for and entered the body through a large hole in his side.

"Now we are at our destination", Galvatron said as he was looking at the familiar walls and corridors. Unicron´s powers had truly began to morph New Quintessa into a replica of his old physical shell.

"Yes, you can not imagine how long I have waited for this moment", Megatron, standing next to him, said.

"Oh no, you are wrong", Galvatron replied, "I can imagine. After you my comrade", he said with a gesture forward.

"Thank you", Megatron answered. He transformed into his tank mode and opened fire. His shots burned through several walls and began to destroy small parts of the giant machinery.

Seconds later the other Decepticons draw their guns too.

xxxxxxx

Unicron found it hard to admit it to himself, but he was losing. His body was in horrible pain. Something in him seemed to be short circuiting and exploding. He felt as if he was nearly falling apart.

How could that be? He thought.

Was New Quintessa really that inferior as a body? Had the cybertronians grown so much more powerful? Or was their something missing he didn´t realize?

Losing to this inferior creatures. They didn´t even needed the Matrix to bring it this far. The Matrix, the essence of Primus, in a way Primus himself, that was something he could have accepted.

But being defeated by mere creations of his real foe. That was a shame he couldn´t take.

He knew that his drone armada had been destroyed. Somehow they had reactivated the ancient device to collect energy from exploding stars. Primus doing without a doubt. All his plans had been fallen apart, he realized.

He had lost his black Sweeps with that he had been planning to raid entire worlds and now he was about to lose his new body.

Primus and his spawn had won, once again.

But he would return and someday he would have his revenge. His essence, his true self, was indestructible.

Somewhere he would find a new body, he would recreate himself like he did before and then he would destroy them all, Autobots and Decepticons alike, even if it would take millions of years or tens of millions.

But there was one last thing he could do here, the Earth. He was probably already too weak to destroy the planet, but he knew even a single blast was enough to cause global devastation. That would do as revenge for now.

He turned his gaze around, facing the blue organic world. But before he could do anything, another terrible pain shot through him. He felt something deep in him exploding. Fire burned out of his mouth and his limbs stopped working.

He couldn´t move anymore. It was over.

xxxxxxx

The fight had come to an end.

The planet-sized figure was now slowly drifting motionless through space, away from Earth. Through the massive damage Unicron´s body was left a wreck.

But the mind that was controlling it was still intact. It would always be intact. The essence of the chaos bringer would simply find another shell and continue what it always did, like many times before.

But not this time, Rodimus thought. They would put an end to Unicron here once and for all.

He was standing inside the control center in the planet body´s head. Next to him were Optimus, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Springer, Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"Unicron", Optimus was calling out, "we know that you are still here."

They all knew the Chaos Bringer´s mind was still there somewhere in the giant machine. Probably waiting to transfer into another body or just to fled into the void of space.

"Yes I am", the deep voice answered after a few moments of silence.

"You have lost Unicron", Rodimus told him.

"Maybe for now Chosen One. All that you have destroyed is my body. I will find a new one. You will never truly defeat me.

Tell me, where is Galvatron? Is he afraid to face his master?" He mocked them.

"You are nobody´s master anymore", Megatron said angrily. "You are finished."

"We will see."

"Unicron, chaos bringer, how often have we defeated you? How often have we stopped you, derailed your plans, humiliated you?" Rodimus asked him. "The self proclaimed god, beaten by mere mortals."

A growl went to the construct around them.

"I will have my revenge Autobot. I will find a new body and someday I will return. Even if I don´t get the chance to destroy you, then it will be your descendants."

"No, not this time", the young Prime answered. He opened his chest plate and took the recharged Matrix in his hands.

"So Primus has re-empowered it", Unicron said. "But even his essence can not truly destroy mine. All you can hope for is a tie."

"There is something you should know", Rodimus continued. "The Matrix can also be used in another way. As you know it is working as a collector for the sparks of every Transformer in existence, the living and the dead. Whose bundled energy can be released and send against you."

He began to open the Matrix.

"But it also works the other way around", he said. "Instead of releasing the energy of Primus children, it will now absorb yours. The Matrix will become your prison."

The blue light began to fill the room.

And at the same time, a formless being started to separate itself from the walls around them. It looked like a dark cloud of energy that quickly took humanoid shape.

They all realized that this was possible their first glimpse of Unicron´s true nature.

The figure that formed itself still showed the typical attributes of his appearance, the horns and large wings of it´s back. Otherwise it was completely black, like a shadow, living darkness.

The light seemed to wring itself around the dark shape and hold it.

"Primus essence will keep yours trapped for all eternity", Rodimus told him.

"No", they heard the dark figure scream.

The light seemed to drag it down, rip parts of it off and draw it into the Matrix."

Another scream from Unicron´s essence filled the room. More and more of the darkness vanished into the light and then it was gone.

Everything was back to normal. All of them just starred at what had just happened before them.

"Well, that is at least something you don´t see every day", Skywarp said.

xxxxxxx

Inside another room of the planet sized construction, Sideways activated his eyes.

He had done it, he had escaped. It was already some time ago that he had created a new version of Sideways, after the first one had been destroyed. At that time it has only been a safety measure in case his new body would fail.

Now it has been his rescue.

He was able to download his conscious mind into it in the last moment, before he ended as Primus prisoner.

But the greatest part of his essence was gone, absorbed into the Matrix, like Primus chosen had said.

Primus, cursed be his name, he, Rodimus, Optimus, Galvatron, all of them.

Thanks to them he was now only a shadow of his former self, barely more than a mortal.

But it had one good thing in the end. If Primus was using his own essence to keep his imprisoned, then he could not use it for anything else. He would need all his power to keep it in check.

Primus creations thought he was gone. That gave him time and opportunity to start anew, even in this pathetic form. His power may be gone, but so was his enemy´s, bound by his own trap.

Like he had told Rodimus Prime earlier, it was a tie.

"Welcome Unicron." He heard a voice coming from the darkness.

"Galvatron", he said in shock.

The Decepticon leader, Cyclonus and Scourge came out into the open.

"It is really interesting to see you like this", Cyclonus commented, "you seem somehow smaller now."

"How have you find me?" Sideways asked.

"Primus had foreseen that you would try this", Galvatron told him. "He had put us on your trail."

This was more than true, they were carrying a small part of Primus with themselves now, that had made it possible for them to find him.

xxx

Galvatron remembered how Primus had told them about a battle against Unicron in one of the parallel universes.

In this universe the Matrix had been missing and Primus had been forced to transfer his mind into the body of one of his creation, the Autobot Xaaron.

After seeing his drone body Sideways, Primus had anticipated that Unicron would try something similar.

He remembered seeing the hologram of Primus in Xaaron´s body levitating before Unicron´s giant form, glowing with energy.

And he also remembered how Unicron easily destroyed him. Nearly all of Primus essence had been inside the Matrix at that time, only a spark was left for himself.

Primus had told him that Unicron had then actually killed the part of him that existed in that universe. Their version of the Matrix was still there, but his conscious mind was gone.

xxx

And so was it now with Unicron. As price for his escape he had lost his godly power and his immortality.

Galvatron transformed into cannon mode.

"Goodbye my `master´. As a old friend of me had once said, this is the end of the road Unicron", he said and fired with his full power.

The blast hit Sideways before he had even the chance to react. The energy burned itself into him before he was even able to scream and destroyed him from inside out.

With a grim satisfaction like even he had never felt before Galvatron watched as Sideways body, just like Starscream years ago, crumbled to dust.

xxxxxxx

Decepticon transwarp-ship in orbit over earth

The battle was over.

They were still counting their losses. By the first estimation over hundred Autobots had been killed and at least two hundred humans.

The Decepticons had reported the loss of twelve warriors, including Skorponok.

And the most tragic thing was that this body count was moderate considering what they had been facing.

Prowl was currently one of the warriors watching over the transwarp-shuttle and was standing in the back of it´s command bridge along with two Decepticon ground troopers. His presence was more or less a gesture of trust from the Decepticons and to them.

If he was honest he had never thought that he would ever see this day, the defeat of Unicron. Even if it happened in another universe. Now was the only question left what would happen to him and the three Decepticons from his home dimension. Would they stay here or maybe travel somewhere else?

Suddenly they heard a explosion and the door was blown open. A laser blast hit one of the Decepticon troops direct in the chest and he was slammed backwards into the wall. The robot sank dead to the ground.

A second shot hit the other guard.

Prowl saw a figure he knew only all too well walk through the door.

"Sorry, but we are taking over this ship now", Starscream said.

Chapter Text

Chapter 24

Decepticon transwarp-ship

While the battle with Unicron was finally over, another fight had just begun.

Starscream had entered the command bridge, followed by two other Decepticons Prowl had never seen before.

This two triple changers went along with Starscream´s plan, out of fear, fear that the old Air Commander was very good to stoke up.

They had chosen the wrong side during the last coup attempt and then they had refused to follow Galvatron´s order to join the battle against Unicron. Even with his regained sanity the Decepticon leader was not known for his patience with insubordination.

They just didn´t know if they still had a place under the Decepticons anymore and Starscream took advantage of this quite easily.

At this point the attackers had already killed one of the guards and wounded the other.

After a few moments of shock, both the Autobot Prowl from another universe and the second Con guarding the ship pulled their weapons from sub-space.

This was clearly an attempt to take control of the ship.

To what purpose was the question. What did they want to achieve?

With a transwarp engine there were many possibilities, from instant transportation to every place in known space, to other dimensions and time travel.

They were other Decepticons, trying to take over one of their own ships. That meant renegades. Starscream was one of them so this was no surprise.

Whatever he planned, it was surely the foreplay to a disaster. Another one, now when they had just gone through the last. The other two were a pair of triple changers neither of them recognized.

Prowl and the remaining guard were taking cover behind the secondary consoles while the three intruders were circling them. But, as Prowl noticed, it seemed that they were hesitant to shoot.

"Obviously they are afraid to damage something. They want the ship intact", the Autobot tactician said to his temporally partner. The Decepticon nodded before both of them stood up and returned fire.

The guard hit one of Starscream´s accomplices, the one with a car and a dragon mode, with a clean and lethal head-shot. He was however very quickly caught himself by the blasts of the other two renegades.

The entire exchange had not taken more than a few seconds.

Ripper was dead, the triple changer Talon and the former air commander both realized instantly. For Talon it was the loss of a comrade and friend, for Starscream it was merely the loss of a convenient tool. Now the seeker used the chance to take a shot at Prowl who sank to his knees with a damaged shoulder.

Irony, the Autobot thought. He remembered being told that his counterpart from this universe had seen his end in a similar situation. And as it went there was a great chance that he wouldn´t get out alive of this one either.

But, as he told himself, if he died here he would at least find a way to stop this two on his way to his grave.

Prowl jumped out of his hiding place and charged at the two Decepticons. His shots missed them quite easily and hit the wall instead, but that was only because they weren´t what he was aiming at in the first place. In fact he had been shooting a computer terminal on said wall that now exploded behind them.

The Autobot tactician knew, even if the damage would surely not made the ship useless, the computer would at least register that the ship was under attack and sent out an distress signal that would warn the others. His technical victory was however short-timed.

In the next moment the two renegade Decepticons had pointed their guns at him and fired. Prowl felt the blasts from his opponents piercing through him. He knew this was the end.

The Decepticons were now standing over his fallen body.

"Well, this wasn´t going too bad, don´t you think?", the nearly unconscious Prowl heard Starscream talking to his comrade. "Check if he is truly dead", the seeker ordered.

He realized Talon was moving closer to him, no doubt to check for life-signs. While Starscream, as a precaution, was aiming his weapons at the Autobot lying on the floor before them.

But then suddenly he turned around and shot his partner in the back instead. Talon cried out in shock and betrayal as he fell down.

Typical, Prowl thought as he watched what happened in his dazed state, the triple changer should have seen it coming.

"Why?" Talon asked confused and desperate.

"I am truly sorry my friend", Starscream said sardonically to the dieing robot, "but there might be a chance that you would not go along with all of my plan."

"You, you have not changed at all", Prowl told him.

"I guess not", Starscream replied.

"They will stop you."

"We will see", the seeker answered.

He walked behind one of the consoles and began to activate the machines.

"As it seems I have lost my place under the Decepticons", he said mockingly to the dieing Autobot. "But to be honest, even if they had accepted me back, I don´t know, maybe I would have still done this."

But for a moment his face showed a hint of regret.

"Galvatron has Cyclonus and Scourge now. That means he doesn´t need me anymore and he doesn´t want me, he made that more than clear.

Actually I do owe him a favor for this. I certainly don´t have a real interest to rejoin the Decepticons on a lower rank then I had before.

No, I am done bowing down to anybody. I will now reshape my own destiny and also that of everybody else, with this", he said and gestured to the ship they were in.

"You will lose, like you did so many times before", Prowl told him.

"Not this time." Starscream answered smugly and smiled as the Autobot´s optics darkened.

"Don´t worry", he said with barely hidden sarcasm. "All this won´t matter in a few minutes. We all will start completely anew soon. Who knows, maybe I will have to kill you all over again then." He laughed.

Starscream was still talking out loud, despite that nobody was still alive anymore to hear him.

Somehow it seemed he just wanted to hear his own voice or he already wanted to rejoice in his perceived victory or maybe he just wanted to convince himself of what he was doing.

"Soon I will have everything that should have been mine from the beginning and all the failures of the past will be erased", he said, his voice filled with twisted euphoria.

"But first a little distraction, to make sure that the others won´t interfere."

Starscream dropped a number of buttons on the controls, gave a line of commands and instructions and moments later the ship fired a volley of anti-matter missiles that were beginning to fly down to the planet Earth.

xxxxxxx

The group consisting of Optimus, Rodimus, Galvatron, Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Scourge, Kup, Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker was still assembled inside the remains of what had once been the planet New Quintessa and Unicron´s new body.

With them were now also Fortress Maximus in his regular sized form and the Autobot Perceptor.

"Fortress city body is so badly damaged that we are not sure if it can ever be repaired", Perceptor reported.

"Maybe we won´t need it anymore", Optimus said hopefully.

"Maybe", Perceptor repeated.

"Even if the war won´t come to an end here and now", Ultra Magnus said quietly, "Skorponok is also dead. So at least the odds would be even."

"Yes, who had thought that he of all people would die defending the Earth", Fortress reminded them. "Maybe there is a chance for peace."

xxx

In one of the many rooms of this burned out husk they had found a small, cowering humanoid life-form.

The scientist Primacron had survived the battle but was now seemingly in a catatonic state.

Two Sweeps had been carrying the silent and motionless creature in and were now presenting him to their leaders. The latest events and Unicron´s destruction had obviously caused even greater damage to his mind than already he had before.

Both groups of robots were looking at the small ape like being before them.

"What do you propose we should do with him now?" Ultra Magnus asked the others.

"We could always have him locked up again, send him to a new asylum on another planet", Perceptor offered.

"Since this had already worked out so well the last time?", Cyclonus questioned.

"That was only because the Quintessons freed him", Rodimus pointed out.

"And who says that nobody will do that again?" Kup asked.

While the Autobots were still debating the possibilities, Megatron suddenly draw his hand-blaster and before anybody could do something about it, killed the small creature with a single shot.

"Megatron", Optimus Prime called out as he saw what the Decepticon had done, partly in shock, partly in disgust at his actions.

"What is it Prime?" He asked annoyed. "You truly think it was a good idea to keep this creature along? He was the one who had designed Unicron´s new body and the one before, not to mention an entire line of other dangerous abominations.

Do you even know how many horrors this being had created back in my universe and by what I have heard in yours too?"

Optimus indeed remembered the reports he had red about Primacron´s activities. But killing a helpless prisoner because of things he might do was something against everything the Autobots believed in.

"I know he is looking very similar to the humans you like to protect so much", Megatron continued. "But believe me, despite his appearance he was a cosmic menace. And that is something you should know yourself perfectly."

Optimus didn´t knew what to say. On a purely technical side he knew Megatron was not wrong. No matter how harmless he seemed at the first look, Primacron was a threat. But this went still against all his principles.

This incident just reminded how large the rift between them truly were. Would there be really a true chance of peace like things were? He asked himself.

In that moment the alarms were going on all over the place.

"Emergency", they heard Soundwave´s voice, who was currently commanding the newly arrived Decepticon flagship Revenge, coming over the communicator. "Security breach. Transwarp-ship had been entered by intruders."

"What", Galvatron called out. "Soundwave, what is going on over there?"

"Attackers have broken into the transwarp-shuttle and are currently fighting the guard crew."

"How could they just get into the ship unnoticed?" Galvatron asked angrily. "Why have we not been informed about this earlier?"

"Attackers are Decepticons", the communicator replied.

"Decepticons?" An Autobot asked confused.

"Alarm", Soundwave reported, "transwarp shuttle had fired anti-matter projectiles, targets located on the planet Earth."

What?" Someone in the background shouted.

"Who would?"

For a few moments everyone was silent, comprehending what they had just heard.

"Starscream", Galvatron and Megatron exclaimed simultaneous.

xxxxxxx

Transwarp-ship

Starscream looked at the descending missiles. They were more than enough to devastate a great part of this planet.

Not that it mattered. It was not as if the planet had much worth in the first place, except it´s resources of course. It was only another world full of insects, waiting to fall before him.

And in a few minutes it would all be meaningless anyway. This entire time-line would cease to be and he would start again.

He would never settle for second place.

"Computer, when is the ship ready for jump?" He asked angrily.

"System damaged, compromised components are being over-bridged, waiting", the display wrote.

"Damn", Starscream called out, "damn you Autobot."

In his anger he raised his guns and shot another few blasts into the dead body of the Autobot tactician.

"I won´t let you ruin everything now, not when I have come so far", he growled. "I promise you when we meet the next time you will pay for this", he said angrily to the corpse.

xxxxxxx

"Visual evidence of attackers identity received", Soundwaves voice came over the com. "former Air Commander Starscream, accompanied by triple changers Talon and Ripper."

"I have warned you about trusting that traitor." Galvatron turned to Optimus Prime. "I told you to keep him around would backfire."

"You can clear this out later", Rodimus told them. "The missiles are heading for earth while we are talking here. They have enough firepower to destroy two continents."

Suddenly the situation began to sink in for everybody.

"Aerialbots, Skylinx, go and intercept this missiles before they reach the planet, quick", Optimus ordered over the intercom.

"Consider it done", Skylinx replied, confident as usual.

They all knew however that even one mistake right now could lead into a disaster.

"Cyclonus, Sweeps, Skywarp, Thundercracker, help them", Galvatron called out a few moments later.

"Yes Galvatron", Cyclonus answered as he transformed, closely followed by Scourge, the two seekers and the three Sweeps who were present and blasted off.

"Thank you", Optimus said to Galvatron as they looked at the leaving jets.

"Don´t mention it", he replied before he turned around and addressed Megatron. "Now we will take care of Starscream, hopefully once and for all."

"With pleasure", Megatron said.

It was a horrible irony, Optimus thought as he was leaving with the two Decepticon leaders, they had just won their hardest battle against the most terrible enemy and now the world that has become a second home to him was in danger to be destroyed anyway, by a single renegade megalomaniac.

xxxxxxx

Earth´s orbit

While the missiles were flying downwards to the planet earth, the flyers of both factions were in pursuit.

"A dozen projectiles. They are heading for locations on the North American and European continents", Silverbolt informed the rest of their improvised team.

Cyclonus and Skylinx fired their long range weapons and tried to get as many of them as possible before they entered the Earth´s atmosphere. A few of the missiles, the ones closest to them, were hit by their combined attack and exploded before they could do any damage.

But two thirds of them were still intact and getting even closer to their targets.

"Scatter, everyone concentrate on a missile and follow them", Cyclonus ordered the rest of their group.

Their formation broke up into several smaller units and began to enter the atmosphere.

xxxxxxx

In space

Galvatron transformed into his cannon mode, took aim at the transwarp-shuttle and fired. Once again he had the same traitor before his gun, hopefully it was the last time, he thought.

Next to him were flying Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, both of them his allies now.

The blast shot through the empty room and grazed the edge of the ship´s body. Admittedly, it wasn´t a very well placed shot, but at this distance it was as good as you could have hoped for.

xxx

The ship was shaking under Starscream´s feet as it was hit.

"Damn it", he cursed again.

He wouldn´t give up. It would be only a few seconds until the transwarp engine was working again. He had calculated something like this in.

That was the main reason he fired the missiles in the first place. He could only hope that it would buy him enough time.

xxx

The Decepticon flagship had changed course and was going straight for the captured vessel.

Megatron had just come on board along with Optimus Prime and was taking command.

Actually this should have been Galvatron doing this. He was clearly the one who had won their contest for leadership, he thought sardonically.

But since he knew he had a better chance by himself in space, he had given this task to his counterpart.

Megatron had to admit this was really a great proof of trust after all what happened. Or maybe it was just the most pragmatic thing from Galvatron´s point of view right now.

"Soundwave", he asked the communications officer, "how long till the transwarp ship is in range?"

"Estimation 32 seconds", he replied.

Megatron had orchestrated the attack and capture of him a few weeks ago. If Soundwave felt any animosity because of this, he didn´t show it. This was just typical for him.

Like he remembered the version of him from his universe.

"Good", Megatron said.

xxxxxxx

Skywarp had reached the missile he had been following. With his teleport-ability this had been at easiest for him and he destroyed it with a single shot.

xxx

Skylinx had the object in his cross-hairs. Despite his usual ego he knew this was no time to kidding around.

He fired his main guns and saw how the anti-matter weapon exploded without causing actual harm.

xxx

Many Miles above the western coast of Europe, two Aerialbots were pursuing one of the other missiles.

"Do you have it Fireflight?" one of them asked.

"Not yet Slingshot, but I am not far."

"I hope so."

"There is it", Fireflight called out.

They were already entering the atmosphere

The two jets were shooting a rain of lasers at the fast moving projectile until one of them hit and destroyed it.

xxxxxxx

Galvatron´s flagship was quickly closing up to the captured shuttle, closely followed by the rest of the surviving fleets. If Starscream would be able to activate the transwarp drive, he would be able to jump from here to any place in the universe and to every time. Maybe he could even rewrite history however he wanted. They needed to stop him.

For both sides it was a race against time.

xxx

The Sweeps who had been part of the hunt had separated. Two of them were heading for the other missile that was going down over the European continent.

The third was getting one over the Atlantic that was not a major threat but was still able to cause great damage to ships and local islands.

They really lived up to their purpose as hunter-trackers and had located their targets in record time.

The Sweep called Skyhound had it already on his display. He was moments away from getting into firing range, so was his partner.

If nobody stopped it this missile would hit the area of Barcelona in Spain and destroy the city.

"Are you having a lock?" Sweep 1, also called Tracker, asked him.

"Yes", Skyhound told him and fired his lasers. The first shot barely missed, the second however caused the missile to explode.

"We did it."

"Right", the other Sweep replied, "we just saved a city with several million humans." He nearly sounded as if he was surprised himself.

xxx

Silverbolt and Air Raid had just succeeded in stopping another two of the warheads and were now reporting it to the others.

"You got it", Silverbolt congratulated his comrade.

"If I hadn´t you would", he replied.

"No reason to celebrate", Silverbolt reminded him, "If only one of this missiles gets through, it is enough to kill millions."

"This is just like on Nebulos", Air Raid said.

"No, on Nebulos Starscream was forced to fire the shots, here he did it on his free will and beside that, there was nobody there to stop the projectiles."

xxxxxxx

Transwarp ship

"Transwarp engine active", the computer screen red.

"Finally", Starscream yelled. Now everything would turn out as he always wanted.

xxx

"Transwarp shuttle in range", Soundwave reported.

"Fire", Megatron ordered and Soundwave activated the weapons.

xxxxxxx

Over the earth

Cyclonus and his partner Scourge were directly behind one of the last missiles.

They had been following one that had been the closest to earth and so one of the most dangerous.

Both of them were two of the fastest air warriors in existence. Like Skylinx and Skywarp they had chosen one of this targets because they were the best suited for it.

The missile they had been following was on direct course for New York city.

Whoever of them would had a clear lock first would be the one to shot it down, if they would get one in time.

The projectile was only seconds away from reaching the point where the explosion would be too close and would inevitably reach the city anyway even if it was destroyed still in the air.

The objects already became visible in the sky over Manhattan.

Only moments were now deciding over life and death of millions.

Both Cyclonus and Scourge were trying to get the war-head in their line of fire. In the next second, both of them shot at the same time. Their combined blasts ripped through the missile and blew it up, literally in the last second.

xxxxxxx

The Revenge opened fire on the transwarp-shuttle. Laser-blasts and a volley of missiles were quickly closing up to the fleeing ship.

xxx

On board the shuttle, Starscream activated the transwarp drive. He had programmed the coordinates and was just giving the command to make the jump. Victory, he thought.

That was then he saw the incoming assault on the screen.

"No", he screamed as the blasts hit his ship, followed moments later by the missiles.

xxx

They saw the explosion on board of the Revenge. Where one second ago had been the transwarp ship, was now a giant fireball.

"Yes", Megatron exclaimed, balling his fist.

Optimus said nothing for a few moments. But also he was visible relieved. It was a terrifying though how easily everything they knew could have been wiped out.

"Do we know what he was planning. Where did he wanted to jump to?", he asked.

"According to this data, two million years in the past", Soundwave answered.

"While we were all lying deactivated in the arc", Optimus said.

"He could have easily destroyed everybody", Megatron realized.

"And could have rewritten the history completely in his image", Optimus continued his thought.

"But we stopped him."

"That was our luck."

xxxxxxx

Somewhere over North America

Thundercracker was chasing after the last war-head. Should he not stop it, it would go down.

He knew that the others had already succeeded in taking their targets out, he had heard the reports. A single missile, followed by a single seeker, hardly a threat to this world anymore. But it was still enough to kill a large number of humans.

Thundercracker had to admit he felt better doing this than anything he could remember in a very long time.

Even before the arrival of Unicron, back in his universe, he had often doubts about the methods of actions of the Decepticons. Never completely sure about what he was doing, but always silent, never speaking it out loud.

Now he was doing something to save many life´s and he was glad about this chance.

Finally he came into reach and fired.

xxxxxxx

"Success Cyclonus", Scourge informed him.

The two jets were still flying over New York. "The other team report that they have stopped all missiles and the flagship called in, they have destroyed the transwarp shutte before it could jump."

"Yes, we have done it Scourge, we won."

"That is also a way to put it. Have you ever guessed that this war would end with us saving Earth?" Scourge asked him.

"Not exactly", Cyclonus responded. "The Decepticons, saviors of the planet Earth. Who would have thought."

xxxxxxx

The leading members of both sides had now standing side by side in the control center of Metroplex who was still orbiting the planet in space ship mode.

"So, where do we go from here on?" Rodimus Prime asked the assembled robots, Autobots and Decepticons.

Optimus stepped for and addressed the Decepticon leader.

"Galvatron", he asked, "tell me one thing. Will the war continue?"

That was the question that had been hanging in the air the entire time.

"No", the Decepticon leader answered. "It is over, once and for all."

Chapter Text

Epilogue - Chapter 25

In the weeks after the last battle a line of important decisions were made.

The first thing was that the war came to a stop.

Negotiations had been started between the different factions, that meant the Autobots, Decepticons, the humans and the different groups of nebulons, about an end of the fighting and to discuss the future of the local part of the galaxy.

Despite the best efforts of everybody this didn´t mean complete peace.

Galvatron had declared an end to the hostilities. But as it turned out a few splinter groups of Decepticons were not willing to lay down the weapons.

This groups were still a minor but relevant threat and would probably remain to be for a long time.

Another important matter was the planet Cybertron. As Primus had warned them, the opening of the plasma energy chamber had dire consequences.

The ancient device had given Cybertron new energy, but as a cruel twist the radiation that it had produced and still was had a lethal effect on all modern cybertronians. It was by far not longer as deadly as at the time when the chamber had actually been opened, but still contaminating the systems of Autobots and Decepticons alike.

That meant the Transformers of both sides had to leave Cybertron in the near future and that the planet was lost to them.

This was a possibility that they had known then they had made the choice to open the chamber and were willing to pay that price if they had to.

Most Autobots who had survived the war had decided to settle on earth or on any of their colonies.

The Decepticons under Galvatron´s leadership as they had announced were planing to leave the local part of the universe. This was however another decision that the renegade Decepticons were not willing to accept.

Ironically Perceptor and some other Autobot and Decepticon scientists were already working of the designs of a new form of Transformer, one that might replace themselves on their home-world someday, a half-organic form that would be able to withstand the energy radiation.

As a last thing there was the transwarp technology.

After the line of disasters that were either directly or indirectly caused by it, the decision was made by the participants to outlaw it´s use in the known universe, a decision that was a short time later backed up by nearly all other known races of the galaxy.

Before that however there was one last thing to do.

xxxxxxx

May the 12th 2012, two weeks after the end of the "final battle"

On the fields before the ruins of what had once been Autobot city, two groups of Transformers and a few humans were now standing before each other.

The curious thing about this entire meeting however was the fact that a number of them were in fact the same people.

At one side stood Optimus and Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Kup, Jazz, Goldbug, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and Soundwave

and on the other side a second Ultra Magnus, Megatron, Wheeljack, Jazz, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Ravage.

Only a few days after the end of the last battle, another contact with the universe where Prowl and Megatron´s group had originated from had been established

and another group of newcomers arrived.

The few surviving Autobots from the other universe under the command of the Ultra Magnus of their world had finally gathered enough energy to follow Prowl and make the jump to this dimension, to safety.

They had arrived a few days after the battle against Unicron and spend the last week as guests inside of Metroplex.

Here they had been informed about the state of the world they were in now and also about the last actions and the death of their comrade Prowl.

Five Autobots and four Decepticons, that was all that remained of the cybertronians of their universe.

Despite this however, they had made the choice that they wouldn´t stay in this universe.

They felt that there was no real place in this world for them or to put it simple, too many roles were already taken.

xxx

Megatron knew for some time now that he had lost the leadership struggle with Galvatron. But he was also aware that alone his presence here could destabilize the Decepticons as a whole in the long run.

He wasn´t willing to put down his own command, even if it practically existed in name only at this point.

So ultimately this meant he was "supreme leader" over an army of three Decepticons. But he wouldn´t serve under anybody else, not even another version of himself.

Beside that, as long as he was here others might question Galvatron´s leadership, so in the end it was better for both of them when he just vanished from this world. And that was exactly what he was intending to do.

xxx

For the foreign Ultra Magnus and his followers it was a equally strange experience, suddenly being surrounded by people and especially old friends that they had seen dying.

The other Autobots had told them what happened to Prowl. How he had died, trying to stop Starscream and his allies, possible helping to save this universe.

It was a great loss for them, the last of an nearly endless number. Only five of them were left now.

But hopefully it was also the end for Unicron, once and for all.

Magnus had been the leader of the surviving Autobots in his world for years at this point.

But now he saw his other self, still subordinate to both Optimus and Rodimus Prime, still at the place that he had always thought was the best suited for him.

He never wanted to be the leader, but the situation had just forced it upon him.

He wasn´t Optimus Prime and never did he want to.

He didn´t want the pressure, the responsibility for the life´s of every Autobot or the eyes of everyone on him.

Even back then when they were still Orion Pax and Dion it had always been his friend who was to be in the spot light, for better or worse. For Orion, being the one in charge always came natural, but not for him.

Ultra Magnus never felt well with it. Over the years however he had grown accustomed to his new position. He was now Magnus Prime, he had accepted this.

And now he was confronted with a world where everything was exactly like it had been before. It just felt wrong.

He knew that his other self felt the same way. The two had spend hours sitting together and talking about the situation, how to integrate the two groups effectively into the existing society.

They found out that it was more than just difficult. There was one copy of the Decepticon leader, one of Magnus himself and of other high ranking members of both factions, both alive and dead.

It was nearly impossible to keep them along without making the situation even more complicated as it already was, especially now that the war was barely over and the state of the galaxy was still unstable.

Still the true reason they had to leave was Megatron. Him being in this universe was it that was causing the real trouble. Everybody of them was aware of that. His mere presence, even without Sideways influence, could break the Decepticons apart.

There was simply no place for two Decepticon leaders in this world. His existence could cause unrest and chaos under the other Cons, just like it already had in the last months.

Megatron knew he had to leave and Magnus, if he was honest, wasn´t willing to leave him and his followers out of his sight. Despite or maybe even because everything that happened to them, he wasn´t willing to trust Megatron completely. So he and his Autobots would come with them.

Both groups would travel into a new universe. As Magnus hoped, one where neither the Autobot-Decepticon war or Unicron were ever even heard of.

For this and other reasons, they had made they choice to leave.

xxx

Now they were standing on the fields before Metroplex, preparing for their departure.

It was also the last time the transwarp-technology would officially been used.

Behind them the transwarp sphere began to form out of the air.

"The system has chosen a universe as our new destination", Wheeljack announced. "By the information the probes give us, it is save for passage."

"Good", Magnus Prime replied. "Let us go.

It was good to see you again Optimus", he to the other Autobot leader.

"Like it was to meet you the first time Magnus", Optimus answered with barely concealed amusement. "Goodbye my `old friend´."

"And you thought you would never made a good Autobot leader", Rodimus commented to the Ultra Magnus from his world, who was standing right next to him.

"Well, who knows", the native Magnus said with a half-smile.

At the other end of the line, Megatron took a step forward and the tall green armored Decepticon addressed his purple counterpart.

"Galvatron", he said.

"Megatron", the other replied in the same tone-fall.

"I and my group will leave now. As the situation is you will probably have it easier without us."

"Certainly, after the crisis your presence has caused", Galvatron commented.

"You know I, we, were never the type for apologies", Megatron remarked. "So I wish you good luck. The Decepticons in this world are back in your hand, where they belong."

"I see", Galvatron answered. He knew this was as close to a true apology as he could ever hope to get from his other self. Megatron had just admitted the wrongness of his actions and recognized him as the rightful leader.

"You said the war is over?" Rodimus asked him.

"When this is over we will leave this part of the universe. The Decepticons under my command have agreed to search for new worlds to settle.

"Worlds that are already claimed by others?" Kup asked sarcastically.

"No, the days of this methods have past", Galvatron claimed, at least for now, he silently thought.

"As leader of the Decepticons I swear that we will not occupy a habituated world without the consent of the natives."

Optimus and Rodimus Prime exchanged a meaningful glance at this statement. Both of them were unsure about this and they were clearly not the only one.

Could they believe this?

But they knew they had to take this risk if their would ever be a true chance at peace.

It was not as if they would completely loose sight of the Decepticons either. Wherever their, now former, enemies would be settling in the future, they could always sent someone to search them out.

"There are however some of us who didn´t get along with our ideas", Cyclonus reminded them. "A few groups of Decepticons refuse it and separated from us."

"More renegades", Rodimus commented.

"Yes, so it won´t be as if you will be out of your job", Galvatron´s second commented to the Primes.

"Well Galvatron, Cyclonus", Optimus answered, "then let us hope for a better future."

Before them the foreign Autobots and Decepticons were stepping into the transwarp bubble.

"Goodbye", Magnus Prime said.

"Goodbye", Rodimus, who was standing closest to them, replied, "and keep an eye of them", he said in a quieter voice while shaking the other Autobot´s hand.

"Don´t worry", Magnus replied. "We will."

Then he and Megatron walked nearly at the same time into the transwarp field.

One moment later the large energy globe vanished and they were gone.

xxxxxxx

2 million years earlier

He couldn´t remember how long he had been floating through space.

The last thing he knew was the explosion, the transwarp shuttle, destroyed just as he was about to activate the drive.

In a strict physical sense he could not see anymore, hear or feel. His body was gone. But still he could, somehow.

He was aware of his surroundings, like it had been before when he had been reduced to a ghost. It wasn´t the first time for him.

Starscream knew his body was lost in the destruction of the ship. In fact he knew he died, just like he already had before.

The transwarp drive had been meant to transport him 2.000.000 years into the past. That meant he should be in a position close to earth, either in the one era or the other.

Still he didn´t recognize anything around him. He was caught in a storm. The bodiless spark was floating through wind and rain, every few seconds illuminated by lightning.

His plan had been to travel to the past and the rest would have been quite easy, find the Ark, assassinate Megatron and Optimus Prime as long as they are deactivated, reactivate the other Decepticons, take over and then correct everything that had gone wrong in the past, to make all things like they should have been, with him in charge of everything.

To erase all his defeats, his many defeats, his fall from power, to make him powerful, respected and feared again.

But once again everything had fallen apart. Even if he somehow reached the Ark, without a body he was not even able to hurt his targets. He couldn´t possess the unconscious Decepticons and neither could he influence the deactivated machinery of the Ark computer. This meant he had lost.

All he could do now was to fly through the nothingness.

But there might still be one last thing he was able to do. As he was with Megatron and his group, he had learned more of the strange mutation of his own spark, the one that allowed him to survive his own death at Galvatron´s hands

and he could copy the process.

Starscream was sure about one thing. He was not created with this ability. Someone would have noticed over the millions of years. Something had happened to him.

Whatever it was, it has to be happened after his reactivation on earth or maybe before it.

All he had to do was to merge with the spark of his past self, even if only temporally. If only he was able to find the Ark.

He would at least secure his own immortality and then, some day, he would find a way to set things right and to get his revenge.

xxx

After countless days, maybe even weeks of searching, he finally found something, not the Ark, but at least it seemed to be something of interest.

It was a crashed spaceship, not the one he was looking for but at least it seemed cybertronian in heritage, Decepticon in design in fact.

The creatures inside however to his surprise were not Decepticons as he reached out with his unnatural senses or any other Transformer that he had ever seen before.

They were small beings, not so much larger than humans, able to transform without a doubt, but they seemed to have organic part in their design.

"Pradacons", he heard them calling themselves as he was listening in to their words.

"Megatron", he heard them calling their leader. Megatron was here? No that was impossible.

It was someone else, he realized as he noticed the purple cyborg-mech in charge, someone who was calling himself by the same name.

Idolizing, he thought, glorifying the past, naive. Yes, he though as he continued to watch, maybe he could find use of this beings.

"Waspinator", he heard the purple colored leader call to one of his underlings. "Go and inspect the storm damage. Then report to me directly."

Oh, don't worry, Starscream thought, I will.

xxxxxxx

The "present time"

Somewhere in a unnamed universe

They were standing in a large underground hall on some forgotten world, nearly empty except for the large machine in the back of the room.

Two lines of aliens and robots alike, wearing strange looking, horned masks that had a visible resemblance to Unicron´s face.

In front if them on a tribune, the head-priest was holding a strange religious litany.

"Brothers", he called out, "you all have heard the horrible news." The robot let his voice hall through the room. "Our master, the great chaos bringer has been defeated, his body destroyed, his mind and essence gone from our reach. Let us all mourn this great loss." His theatrical words were answered by several cries from the audience.

"But don´t be afraid. A new leader has come to guide us. The one who had been chosen by our lord a long time ago and is now returning to us", the mech shouted.

While the bizarre ceremony was going on, the machine before them became active.

While the room was being filled with the whispering voices of the masked robots, a figure began to shape itself out of the energy globe in the center of the mechanism.

They watched as a large cybertronian mechanoid stepped out of the transwarp sphere.

The Transformer was of impressive stature, even larger than Megatron. His armor was in the color of red and black and his entire body, as he was walking before the now silent cultists, was standing in flames.

"Welcome master", the head-priest greeted him.

"I am back", the robot said, "I have returned from the void between the worlds."

"Yes, great one, we have finally located you. We need you in this time of sorrow, now that our lord is no longer in our existence."

"You say Unicron is gone?" The Fallen asked as he was standing at the podium before the brotherhood of chaos.

"Yes, lost fighting his foe Primus and his creations. His essence itself is no longer with us", the head-priest explained.

"That is actually impossible, unless Primus had somehow found a way to capture Unicron´s life-force itself", The Fallen murmured in thought.

The priest heard his words, but didn´t seem to pay it all too much attention.

"But with your return, we can continue his work. We will start where he left of", he restarted his speech. "Together we will rise the greatest armada the multiverse had ever seen, we will attack one planet after the other and eradicate the life from them. The creatures of this universe will drown in their own lifeblood.

In the name of our lord Unicron", the high-priest shouted.

"No", The Fallen said.

"What?" The robot asked confused.

"I had been loyal to Unicron as he was alive. But his methods had failed several times, he had failed.

The time of the old methods had past. We will destroy the universe, but we will do it my way."

"This is blasphemy", the head-priest screamed.

"No, that is progress, born from chaos, death and suffering, like always", The Fallen answered as he grabbed the other mech by the throat.

"Who stands in it´s way will be destroyed", he said as he ripped the struggling robot´s head off and showed it to the audience.

"Listening to me followers of chaos", he said. "The times are changing, that means we have to change too. I promise we can reform the universe in our image.

Whoever is willing to follow me to new ways is welcome. Find the ones who are still stuck in the past, who are not willing or able to improve. Purge our brotherhood from inside out and I promise the world will follow.

And whoever is against us", he let the head fall and crushed it under his foot, "will die."

The assembled cultists were frozen for a few seconds after the speech of their new leader. Then the crowd suddenly became alive, shouts and screams were heard over the place.

The Fallen stood and smiled as he saw them turning against each other.

End