Oh, Starscream. How the mighty have fallen.

 

How could you manage to make me both laugh and get depressed with one chapter? How?

I hope Skywarp gets back in the game sooner or later...

 

.............well this chapter took me for a loop

 

Episode 4

Optimus laid on his side, curled into a fetal position on top of his recharge-slab; awaiting the solar-system's chronological definition of daybreak. Even with his optics dimmed, he couldn’t bring himself to sleep. He slowly tightened his grip around the edge of the silver slab as a deep, familiar voice whispered into his audio receptor.

‘I am alive, Optimus. You may think I’m dead-- everyone may think I’m dead-- but you have no idea. I am well alive, Optimus, and I am coming for you.'

He twisted himself over and onto his back, facing the featureless, gold ceiling. He was alone. Optimus sat up, taking in the moment to stretch his metal joints before swiveling his body sideways and sliding off his slab onto his feet. Massaging the indent beneath his chin, Optimus lumbered his way into the main hall and out towards the observation deck at the highest point of the ship. Magna clamps activated as he walked onto the deck and exposed himself to the space surrounding the ship. There he found Ironhide, doing a series of push ups with one arm folded behind his back. The black and red Autobot tilted his head slightly at the sounds of Prime's footsteps reverberating against the metal floor.

‘You’re up early.’

‘I didn’t sleep,’ Optimus replied, leaning against the Ark.

Ironhide let out a grunt as he exercised. ‘Again? You feeling alright?’

He sighed, secretly grateful that Ironhide was looking the other way. ‘I suppose “alright” would be the proper descriptor.’

Ironhide swapped arms as he continued his work-out routine. ‘Then I’d say that’s “alright.”’

Optimus moved away from the Ark, ‘Say, is Blackarachnia still—‘

‘Sleeping in like the lazy freeloader she is?’ He spat. ‘She is, yeah. And I'll bet she'll sleep in for another seven hours 'less someone does something about it. Same as yesterday, and the day before that.' He shook his head with disgust. 'We ought to do something about her, you know.’

Optimus’s pressed a balled hand into his palm. ‘Right. You're saying I should start waking her up at an earlier hour, then.'

‘I was implying something a little more... permanent, but sure. For once in her life someone really ought to straighten her out. I doubt Cons like her know the first thing about discipline or manners.’

Optimus grinned. ‘I never thought I’d hear talk about manners from the same guy who'd threaten to unleash his fiery wrath on whoever'd cut him off in traffic back on Earth.’

Ironhide flipped himself over and onto his back, so he could glare at Optimus. ‘Those humans were out of their minds! They didn’t know the first thing about driving and—and they could have been... possessed! Possessed by Decepticons!’

Optimus chuckled. ‘Yeah, Decepticons trying to thwart your calm driving experience.’

The weapons specialist turned his head away, ‘You never know... Shut up.’

‘Whatever you say.’ Optimus said, returning into the Ark. ‘Most of the humans are gone now, so it's not like you'll have to worry about that kind of thing any longer.’

-----

Optimus found Blackarachnia in what was once the advanced Kimia-produced cell block; now a makeshift room for the Ex-Decepticon. She was laying on her back in the center cell, limbs splayed out lazily and her helmet discarded to the side. Her mouth was hung wide-open as she snored, revealing a set of jagged teeth that aligned her jaw. She was covered by a surplus of empty fuel cans, Energon packets and melted grease from an unidentifiable cannister that Optimus had hoped remained unidentifiable.

‘Gross…’ He cupped his servos around his mouth and took in a deep breath. ‘BLACKARACHNIA!’

The spider awoke with a jolt, kicking at the ground and crawling up against the back wall of her cell. Her four optics darted in different directions as some instinctive method of finding the source of her discomfort. ‘WHAT?! What—.’ She took note of the Prime standing in the doorway, his hands folded neatly behind his back. ‘Oh it’s you.’ She scowled, approaching Optimus and brandishing an accusatory claw. ‘What’s the big idea pal? You want to get killed? Or do you just take pleasure in ruining my day? The last thing I need is someone marching into my cell, yelling their mouth off like Ruckus on psyche, and-- ’ She stopped, and started eyeing around the room anxiously. ‘Wait, we’re not under attack, are we?’

‘We’re not under attack,' Optimus confirmed. 'But we could have been.’

Blackarachnia stared momentarily before rolling her optics and turning to face the other way. ‘Oh hell. A drill? Seriously? Aren't we a little too old for this?’

‘This isn’t a drill either, but if it was, you would have failed. From now on you are to wake up at this approximate hour. No later, and no exceptions. Call it an... extension of the "community service"' I've employed you with.'

‘But this is…’ she threw her arms behind her head, spinning around on the balls of her feet, ‘stupid! Is this because I used to be a Decepticon or because I killed a few people you didn't even know—? Just tell me what your deal is, man!’

Optimus furrowed his brow. ‘Ironhide and I have been getting up this early since forever. If you don’t like it, I can easily drop you off at the nearest Decepticon - or Autobot - outpost whenever I please.’

She upraised her hands as if by instinct. ‘No, I'm fine, I’m up. I was only angry because a couple old guys thought that since they could bring themselves to get up at--' She paused to check her internal clock. ‘6:00 AM, that everyone should. Besides, it’s not like there’s anything better to do around here.’ She tapped at the side of her head. ‘This mind needs action... stimulus! Sitting on my aft all day on a barren asteroid in the middle of nowhere makes me... irritable. At least Ironhide gets to play target practice with his guns.’

He merely shrugged. ‘Yeah well, the early bird gets the-- wait.' He pointed a finger at her in disbelief. ‘Did you just call me a… I'm not old!’

She gazed back at him in confusion. ‘What are you talking about? Dude, you are so old.’

‘But - I - no!’

She blinked, as if the thought were obvious to everyone but him. ‘Uh, yeah.’

Optimus wasn’t sure if he was to feel offended or saddened by the comment. ‘How do you even determine if someone is "old" or not? By what standards? Is it the voice? Because I’ve always had that.’

Blackarachnia massaged her top-right optic in annoyance. ‘Alright, fine, prove me wrong-- how old are you, exactly?’

‘Four-thousand, two-hundred and ten. You?’

‘Two-thousand, five-hundred.’

Optimus clapped his hands together. ‘See? Not so far apart now, are we? Chances are only a few civilizations rose and crumbled between the times of our births.’

She shrugged, ‘That still doesn’t change the fact that you’re middle-aged at best.’

Optimus hesitated before indulging in the conversation a little. ‘Yeah? You think so?' He leaned in for a whisper. 'Then tell it to Ironhide, he’ll be five-thousand in a couple of mega-cycles.’

Blackarachnia snorted attempting to hold in a laugh. ‘You’re kidding me... And the two of you went to boot camp together?’

The Prime grinned. ‘He wasn’t the best student in the Academy. Granted neither was I, but… they had to hold him back a few hundred years.’

The two shared a laugh that lasted for what felt like half a second.

‘But seriously,’ he said, voice sobering in a whiplash change of tone. ‘If you get bored, you can always clean up this mess in your spare time. I won’t tolerate you turning my ship into a dump.’ Content with how he finished, Optimus promptly turned around and made his way out of the room, the door sealing behind him automatically.

Blackarachnia sighed, picking up her helmet and placing it firmly back over her head. ‘Whatever you say, old man…’

-----

Hours later, Optimus had set up a platform atop of the Ark’s observational deck which, upon any actual observation, was really just the roof. Blackarachnia arrived first, jogging over to the podium and cursing herself for not having an alt-mode with wheels. Ironhide arrived next. Driving up in truck mode before transforming into his bulky robot form.

Blackarachnia smirked. ‘Wow you’re slow. Like, put aside the fact that I beat you here by walking, I could feel myself withering with age just by watching you putter along.’

Ironhide pumped his cannons antagonistically. ‘Bah! You try keeping pace with a pair of a billion pound cannons strapped to your wrists.’

‘Then why don’t you just drop the cannons?’

Ironhide recoiled, holding his cannons away from Blackarachnia as if suspecting her of wanting them for herself. ‘Never…’

Her voice raised a note as her eyes wandered faux-innocently. ‘Then clearly the real issue here is your age.’

Ironhide dropped his servos to either side of him and let them dangle against his sides. ‘What? You saying I'm old?’

Blackarachnia craned her head towards Optimus and grinned.

Refusing to support the argument, Optimus carried on with what he had already planned. He cupped his hands over and under one another, greeting his crew of two with a professional air. ‘ANYWAY. Thank you both for coming. I see that my message of invitation has safely reached the two of you after all.’

‘Message?’ Blackarachnia glanced unimpressed at the Prime. ‘Running through the corridors screaming: “GROUP MEETING OUTSIDE. COME NOW OR DIE!” repeatedly is your definition of a message? It was more of an open threat than an invitation if you ask me.’

Ironhide nodded firmly. 'With all due respect, Prime, two Autobots and a Decepticon isn't what I'd call a "group".’

‘Ex-Decepticon.’ Blackarachnia corrected.

‘Whatever.’

Optimus cleared his throat once again, only this time it there was a noticeably harsher tone to it. ‘‘You can’t blame me for trying to keep things professional. Now down to business. I’m no theoretician, but theoretically we should be able to jump another asteroid by the end of the week, given the amount of Energon we borrowed from passing trade ships.’

‘Stole.’

He shook his head. ‘No Blackarachnia, borrowed, we borrowed the Energon. They just don’t know.’

She shot him a skeptical look. ‘How are we borrowing it? It’s Energon, we’re not giving it back. If we’re robbing people under their noses we might as well be straightforward with it among ourselves.’

Ironhide snorted. ‘You see what I’m talking about Optimus? She doesn’t even know the difference between stealing, borrowing, and borrowing.’

Optimus shook his head a second time. ‘That is so sad.’

Blackarachnia huffed, sitting cross legged against the Ark’s metal plating and muttering to herself. ‘Alright! Borrowing it is! ... Typical Autobots...’

Optimus began to speak, stopped, frowned, and brought a finger to his chin. ‘Wait… I forgot what I was going to say...' He snapped his fingers. 'Oh yeah! You remember when I said we can probably jump another asteroid with our current Energon by the end of the week? Well I lied, we can only make the jump if we add our ration supply into the pot.’

He was matched with blank stares from both Ironhide and Blackarachnia.

‘Meaning we’ll have to go without eating for the rest of the week.’

Blackarachnia jumped back to her feet as Ironhide let out a low-pitched groan.

‘You can’t be serious!’ Blackarachnia extended a begging servo to the Prime. ‘Literally. There is nothing to do on this asteroid! I’ve only been able to pass the time by eating, sleeping and loading large wads of sticky tack into Ironhide’s gun collection when he isn’t looking!’

Ironhide blinked. ‘You what?’

‘You’ve already taken away my love for killing and sleeping—eating is all I have left!’

Optimus placed his hands on his hips. ‘Yeah… I’d prefer it if you guys stopped interrupting me… But don’t get me wrong, I understand why you’re upset.’ He raised a dramatic servo. ‘But we are better than that.’

Ironhide’s let out a gruff sigh. ‘Here we go again.’

‘What we love damages us. But, we can move past that. We can fight hunger, and tiredness, and boredom. For in order for us to achieve progress, we must always be willing to sacrifice. To give away something from ourselves in order to gain something in return…’

‘FRAG THAT!’ Blackarachnia belted, bringing either of her claws to the sides of her helm and massaging her temples aggressively. ‘Screw self-sacrifice and—and heroism. This is torture! It’s like the safest place in the galaxy for me also happens to be my worst nightmare!’

‘A nightmare? This?!’ Ironhide fumed. ‘Don’t think I haven’t noticed those empty goody packets around your prison cell!’

‘It’s a room, not a prison! And like you’re one to talk!’

Ironhide squinted his dark optics. ‘What are you trying to say?’

The corners of Blackarachnia’s mouth rose. ‘I’m saying that not only are you old, but you’re fat too. Tubby.’

‘Why you selfish little—‘

‘RAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!’ Optimus dashed at them, clothes-lining them both with two outstretched arms and wrestling them to the ground; restraining them with a pair of headlocks. ‘The two of you just don’t know how to keep yourselves from interrupting your commander, do you?’

Ironhide sat limp, unmoved by Prime's headlock. 'Prime, your arms are too noodle-y for this. You're making yourself look ridiculous.’

Blackarachnia wheezed, ‘You know this—koff, koff. This is a very “bad guy” thing to do to your subordinates.’

‘Yeah, well you should have… have…' Optimus looked up. 'What the hell is that?’

A single, circle of white, light hovered above the trio. It seemed to grow, not that it was literally growing in intensity (though it happened to do that to a lesser extent as well), but it grew in the sense that it was coming closer. Optimus let go of Ironhide and Blackarachnia, pulling himself back on to his feet. The light was coming from a ship, one that was at least the same general size of the Ark from Prime’s examination. Two more lights activated, illuminating the Ark’s golden plating as the ship hovered over them. The space between the rings of light located on its belly parted, revealing a large, orange-tinted tractor beam.

‘Ah… crap. Guys?’ Optimus turned to Ironhide and Blackarachnia as his feet left the ground. ‘I think we’re being abducted.’

 

ALIENS~!

Oh wait, this is space.

 

Alien abductions happen in space? Perish the thought!

 

Well I didn't see that coming

 

Yeah, but all things considering, isn't anything alive technically an alien beyond their native atmosphere?

 

Optimus was the first to enter the ship via tractor beam. He felt disjointed and confused, as a common side effect of getting beamed into a ship. His body materialized into a wide open, hexagonal room. It was painted a clear white with a bluish tint reflecting off each canvas from the six cobalt lamps that aligned the room. There were several coloured picture frames across the walls, placed with no apparent thought for symmetry or pattern. The exit to the room was located at the top of a long double-sided return staircase that led to a small balcony completed with railing and all. Ironhide and Blackarachnia materialized at the same time after him, landing violently on their knees. Optimus gave them three seconds each to collect their bearings and raised a pair of digits, signaling them for battle.

‘On your feet, Autobots.’

‘What are we dealing with?’ Ironhide boomed, cannons twirling into place. ‘Autobots? Decepticons? Aliens? Other?’

‘That’s irrelevant. Just prepare for combat,’ Optimus signaled to the weapons specialist. ‘Ironhide, take center and watch over me,’ he unfolded his axe and checked over Blackarachnia as she took a fighting stance. ‘Blackarachnia-- is their anything in your system you can use to fight with?’

She nodded, flexing her spine. A set of legs unfurled from the small of her back, bending forward and arranging themselves like the front-line of a knight’s squadron as multiple long-swords aligned themselves over her head. ‘No worries,’ she grinned. ‘I am always ready for a good slaughter.' Noticing their stares, she shook her head and reiterated. 'I mean... brawl. I am always ready for a suitable... brawl.’

Optimus nodded. ‘Alright, chase the right flank. I’ll take them head-on.’

The sound of heavy, metal footsteps echoed from the doorway on the balcony.

‘You ready, Optimus?’ Ironhide prompted from behind.

‘Hold on.’ Optimus clicked his head to the side and a faceplate enclosed around his mouth, a sudden rush of adrenaline flowed through him. ‘Now I’m ready.’

As the footsteps grew closer, Optimus began to recognize the pictures plastered across the walls. They all appeared to depict the same thing. It was a red and yellow robot, smiling and posing in a variety of ways.

‘Ironhide, look at those pictures.’

Ironhide did just that, gazing up upon the framed visages. ‘That's not...?’

Optimus’s optics dilated. ‘It is. I know who we’re dealing with!'

The door was kicked open as a streamlined, red and yellow robot came busting out. He had his arms around two similarly coloured femmes who strolled alongside him coolly. A pair of black, rimless sunglasses covering his optics, and, for whatever reason, rock music played from his internal speakers. He shouted as he rolled in. ‘YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH!’

The red and yellow robot waved enthusiastically as the femmes dodged out of the way. ‘Well, well, well! Who'd have thought we’d ever bump into THE Optimus Prime?’

Optimus raised an urgent servo to the sleek Autobot. ‘Rodimus, please, there's no need for any theatrics, you don’t—.’

Rodimus swiped off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of cyan optics. ‘"You don't-- You don't" Psshaw, Optimus! Just wait down there!’ He climbed onto the railing, balancing on the slim platform with his arms stretched out to either side. ‘I’ll be down in a sec!’

Worried, Optimus called out to the Autobot once more. ‘Wait, Rodimus, that's like a two story jump! Stay where you are, we’ll come up to—‘

‘Too late!’ The Autobot kicked back, launching him forward as he did a swan dive over the side of the railing. He winked momentarily at Optimus before somersaulting his way to the ground.

‘Wow.’ Blackarachnia marveled. ‘He’s so…’

With a loud clang, Rodimus’s body slammed face-down against the floor. Small cracks rippled through the floor's metal plating beneath the weight of the broad-shouldered robot.

‘Stupid.’

Rodimus shivered as he peeled himself painfully from the floor. ‘Ow.’

The two identical red and orange femmes darted over to his side, helping him to his feet.

‘I literally just said he shouldn’t have tried anything flashy,' the one on his left stressed.

‘I didn’t say I disagreed with you I just-- I didn’t think he’d actually jump a story for the sake of showing off.’ the other said, exhausted.

Rodimus waved them away. ‘Really-- Firestar, Flareup, guys, I’m fine.’

‘Oh.’ Firestar looked to Flareup and nodded. ‘Okay.’

The two let go, carelessly dropping Rodimus’s upper body. His head clanged back against the cold, metal floor. ‘Ow.’

Long after the twins darted away and Rodimus had moaned in pain for what felt like another five minutes, the crimson Autobot finally put it upon himself to stand up, brush off the rubble from his frame, and addressed his guests. ‘Hey Optimus, Ironhide. Finally deciding to crash the party ship?’ He jabbed Ironhide lightly in the chest. 'Nah I'm just kidding. We stopped calling it that a week ago. So what brings you guys to the ship of Team Rodimus, anyhow?'

Optimus motioned to Blackarachnia to lower her guard, as he lowered his faceplate. ‘Well, you were the ones who abducted us, so I think if anyone here is to ask any questions-- OH MY GOD YOUR LEG!’

‘Huh?’ Rodimus glanced at his left leg.

‘THE OTHER ONE!’

Rodimus glanced at his right leg. It was bent backwards, twisted and gnarled whereas chunks of exoskeleton pierced through his naturally armored plating. ‘Oh. Yeah. Hum. That's a problem. The fall must’ve hurt me more than I thought. No worries though. It's cool. I can still—.’

‘There is literally Energon gushing from your ankle!’

‘Yeahyeahyeah, but it’s not that bad, is it? Just watch, I’ll take one step and...’ Rodimus doubled back cursing in pain.

With a loud crash, a white and red Cybertronian car and a blue and red striped Cybertronian van came accelerating off the side of the balcony, crashing through the railing and transforming into their robot modes midair. The white and red speedster was a thin and angular robot with sharply edged shoulders and a pair of thickly built thighs. The van was about the same build as Optimus and had no real distinctive features other than the multitude of concealed weaponry that flipped out from his shoulders and wrists.

‘Rodimus!’ the white robot brandished a pair of long swords, aiming them directly at Optimus, he glanced at the captain’s leg. ‘You’re hurt! Were these the ones that did this to you? I told you something was afoot. I could feel it! Why wasn't I notified about this?’

The blue robot cracked his knuckles unenthusiastically. ‘Alright fellas, weapons down. Let's not resort to anything stupid.’

Rodimus outstretched an urgent servo towards the two robots. ‘Drift, Skids, wait! It's not what you think, really.’

It was Ironhide who stepped forward, bringing his hand to his chest. ‘Drift! It’s me, Ironhide, I gave you guys an assist three months ago, remember? We fought the Rocklords together! I dragged Rodimus out of THE Rock-Lord's maw! You remember, don't you?’

Drift blinked, then slowly lowered his blades, motioning for Skids to do the same.

‘Okay, what the hell's going on?’

-----

After everyone had been settled, Optimus and the others were escorted to the main bridge, passing through the pink coloured hallways. It was evident from the dispositions of the crew that they were not used to more than one Prime walking the halls. They entered the main bridge to find Rodimus sitting in his command chair, his leg in a cast of sorts as a purple and yellow femme wearing a hard-light visor worked on it. The bridge was rightfully large and had a tanned colour scheme that popped against the large black windows, giving the crew an open view into space. Standing around the bridge was a rainbow of different coloured robots including the twins: Firestar and Flareup, Skids (minus the guns), Drift (minus the swords), and a blue and yellow robot with flame-painted decals that caught Optimus’s optic instantly.

‘Nightbeat. I didn’t know you were one of Rodimus' mechs.'

He shrugged. ‘What can I say, I’m a detective, and since Rodimus happens be a magnet for mysteries-- and to a greater extent, trouble-- I’ve been coming by every so often to see what sort of monster of the week he has on his hands this time. I've got the official title of "analyst" in Team Rodimus, anyway.’

‘Please,’ Rodimus motioned towards the empty chairs behind them. ‘Take a seat.’

‘I’ll stand.’ Optimus said.

‘Okay.’ Blackarachnia brought her index fingers to either side of her head as she lowered herself into the chair. ‘Now as much as I enjoy not having any friends, would someone please explain to me who the hell any of you people are?’

Optimus snapped his fingers, directing her attention to Rodimus. ‘Absolutely, this is Rodimus Prime. He was in the same squadron as us back on Earth before the Surge. After I disbanded the team, High Command did a double take to find that he was capable of becoming a Prime himself, and-- well, I'm sure he can tell you the rest.’

‘I had my name changed from Hot Rod to Rodimus in tribute of my old unit commander.’ The flame coloured Autobot beamed at Optimus, while jabbing a thumb to his chest. 'It's pretty selfless of me, y'know? But that's just what I am. A selfless kind of guy. And how couldn't I be? Ops here practically saved my life. If there was any other way to show we were still buds I'd have taken it.’

Optimus ducked his head from the other Prime, muttering to himself. ‘Really Rodimus, you shouldn't have...’

Blackarachnia leaned towards Optimus, whispering into his audio receptor. ‘I didn’t know you had fans.’

‘But here! Let me introduce you to Team Rodimus!’ Rodimus extended a finger to each of the surrounding robots. ‘From left to right: Drift, Nightbeat, Skids, Firestar and Flareup. Rung should be hiding around someplace. It's easy to lose track of that guy. Team Rodimus used to have a few more members, but—heh—they’re not here anymore.’

‘Dead?’ Ironhide asked.

‘No… NO! Nobody ever dies here. Like, never. They just kind of... left. But enough of that, what brings you to this corner of the Galaxy?'

Optimus leaned forward, rubbing his hands together. ‘I’m glad you asked, you see, our Ark is fresh out of Energon, and we've since been looking for ways to refuel...’

As Optimus explained, Drift leaned towards Ironhide quizzically, eyeing the enthused Blackarachnia carefully. ‘Hey, that bot that’s with you…’

‘Blackarachnia?’

‘Yeah. I sense something… dark about her. What is her story?’

Ironhide made a gravelly huff. ‘You've got some good senses. She’s a Decepticon, believe it or not.’

Drift raised a brow. ‘Oh?’

‘Well—a neutral ever since Starscream put her on his death-list. We’ve been harboring her for the past week.’

‘Really? Because that sounds—’

‘Disgusting, I know. They don't deserve our amnesty. If they did, the war would have ended a long time ago. If it were up to me, I would have put her down on the spot. But what Optimus says goes, y'know? You understand where I'm coming from, right Drift?’

‘Oh.’ He reared his head from Ironhide in order to eavesdrop on the conversation between Rodimus and Optimus. ‘Yes, definitely.’

Nautica tapped her wrench against Rodimus’s wounded leg. ‘That should do it. I mean, I’m an engineer, not a medic -- not sure why people keep mixing that up --, so most of the patch-up job is just me improvising. But that should do it.’

Rodimus pulled himself out of his chair and tested his stance, tapping his foot lightly against the floor. ‘Yeah, not bad, not quite Ratchet-level of good, but not bad. Thanks Nautica.’ He turned his attention back to Optimus as the purple engineer wandered off. ‘If it’s Energon you need, Firestar's detected a strong Energon reading from an unidentifiable source not far from here. If you want, we can tow the Ark to the source and drop you guys off to refuel and restock. I don't think we'll be able to tow you much farther than that, though since, heh, we've got our own problems with energon if you know what I'm saying.’ He motioned the action of drinking from a shot-glass, to the understanding of no one.

‘Perfect!’ Optimus stood to shake the other Prime’s hand. ‘If it will get us some Energon, then that’s what we’ll do.’

There was a brief silence across the bridge as the two captains stood staring at each other. Soon someone proposed the idea of a tour, and soon Ironhide, Blackarachnia, and the rest flooded out of the bridge, leaving Optimus and Rodimus standing alone, awkwardly.

‘So... Rodimus, what... have you been up to...?’ Optimus immediately regretted trying to force a conversation.

Rodimus blinked. ‘Oh! Yeah, of course. Prowl assigned me to this ship--the Lost Light we’re calling it--and we’re sort of… appropriately... lost. We cut ourselves from High Command and, well, we’ve sort of just been chasing event to event. Trying to find a place for us to do some good. We fought some bad-guys, picked up Drift, Skids, and Nightbeat along the way, we countered some Decepticon resistance as well, but for the most part we’ve been having a good time, surfing asteroids, breaking rules that only Prowl and Magnus care about-- the usual tomfoolery.’

‘Sounds fantastic,' Optimus said, quickly eliminating the discussion. 'We can discuss this on the way to the site, does your pilot know where to set course?’

‘Well, actually.’ Rodimus massaged the back of his head feebly. ‘You know how with pirates? Like, captains of ships--? How they’re always taking the helm? Well uh… that’s kind of how it is with us. I mean, it doesn’t have to be but I kind of—yeah, I kind of pilot the ship as well as captain it, so... it's a captain thing. You might not understand.' He scratched the back of his helm, looking away as he did. 'You don’t have to stay, if you’d rather chat with the others, then by all means…’

‘That’s alright.’ Optimus pulled a chair next to Rodimus’s captain’s seat. ‘I’ll stay. I’ll listen.’

-----

A half hour later, Optimus, Ironhide, Blackarachnia, Rodimus and Nightbeat stood in the main hanger: watching as the energy source grew closer.

‘Well, that’s unnatural.’ Rodimus remarked, pointing at the large object as it came into view. It was a massive grey cylinder, at least twice the size of the Ark and perfectly symmetrical. It was perpetually still against the void and could have easily been missed due to the lack of any vivid colours or décor.

‘Spooky.’ Rodimus noted. ‘I guess that’s your Energy source.’

‘Fascinating. And I thought I was the detective here,’ Nightbeat replied.

Optimus inspected Nightbeat. He appeared perplexed by the large object. ‘Hey, a floating object in space, bigger than a spaceship, a perfect cylinder—I’d say that’s a mystery in itself eh Nightbeat? You thinking about checking it out with us?’

Nightbeat took his time to examine the object, his optics darting from side to side. ‘No.’ he answered, clasping his hands together. ‘That object is an abandoned science facility left during the war’s more visceral moments. The shape is the same model as the third generation Kimian backups that were wiped out during the second act of the Surge, and if you look closely, there are several small darkened areas peppering its surface. Those are entrances. Me, I’ve already encountered several of these broken facilities across the galaxy. Even if they were utterly and mysteriously destroyed afterwards, I've already concluded the case as being an Autobot conspiracy to cover its trails of misdeeds. Besides, there isn't anything for me in one that is still intact. If you find anything of note, be sure to tell me, otherwise…’ He turned himself around to leave the hangar. ‘I’m afraid I’ve already got my hands full.’

The detective’s tailcoats flapped as he left the others, taking a moment to wish them luck before disappearing into the ship.

‘That guy’s weird, yo,’ Blackarachnia mumbled to no one in particular.

The Lost Light hovered over the facility, its tractor beam relieving the Ark as Skids worked on manually connecting its built-in tow-cables to the cylinder. Rodimus pulled a lever and the hangar doors shifted, guzzled and groaned before folding upwards and creaking open above the closest entrance to the backup-facility. The Autobot’s bodies lurched before sticking back into place thanks to the magna-clamps.

‘Optimus.’ Rodimus was looking troubled. ‘Hey, I’ve been thinking. Why don’t you stay here with us? Like, permanently. You can take full command and everything, it could be like old times!’

‘I’m not so sure.’ Blackarachnia said. ‘I mean, he did strangle us for being “incompetent fools” right before you beamed us up.’

‘That was taken out of context…’ Optimus said flippantly.

Rodimus blinked in surprise. ‘Yeah, but you’re not denying it, dude.’

Ironhide placed a heavy hand on Optimus’s shoulder. ‘Maybe it would be best to stay away from the facility, stick with Rodimus until we find a legitimate source of Energon.’

Blackarachnia grinned at him, ‘What’s wrong? Is THE Ironhide afraid of some glorified science fair?’ She jabbed Ironhide lightly in the gut before making a running leap out the side of the hangar and landing briskly inside the massive cylinder. Optimus grinned at Rodimus before activating his headlights and leaping out of the ship after her.

Landing rigidly on his pedes. Optimus twisted around to see Ironhide land behind him and wave a goodbye to the departing Lost Light as the panels built into the hangar-bay’s door closed over Rodimus’s face.

‘Alright Autobots, I’d say let’s spread out and search for the Energon on our own, but seeing how that went last time...' he glared at Blackarachnia, 'I say we stick together and hope for the best.’

‘Yeah…’ Ironhide activated his headlights, illuminating the way before him. ‘I remember that night well…’

As did Blackarachnia.

The three robots walked at an average-slow pace. Checking through each of the darkened rooms to find nothing but three walls and a ceiling in each. Particles of dust came into view as Optimus shone his lights into the rooms.

‘Empty.’

‘Think it was a raid?’ Ironhide asked.

‘Perhaps.’ Optimus looked through the following rooms passively, as if he were bidding his time. ‘Either that or the scientists that used to live here packed up long ago.’

Ironhide grunted, peering into the rooms opposite to him.

‘So that Nightbeat, he’s a bit of a weirdo eh?’ Blackarachnia said, trying to force a conversation out of it.

‘Takes one to know one,’ Ironhide groused.

Optimus continued his search, deciding to entertain Blackarachnia while they worked. ‘I knew Nightbeat from my times as a Prime. As a proper Prime, back on Earth. High Command would order me on several off-world assignments, some of which had me partnered with Nightbeat and some other guys. Actually… I never really got to know him past that. Guess he's as much of a mystery as the next guy.’

‘Oh.’ Blackarachnia yawned. ‘Then what about Rodimus? I wouldn’t have thought you to be the role-model type. Didn’t you once say you never properly led in your life?’

Optimus remained surveying the corridor as he spoke. ‘During the Surge, as Earth fell. Prowl and a few others had succeeded in evacuating the planet alongside the humans. Unfortunately that left a few dozen others behind. Myself included. We were hunted down and torn apart by the Decepticon raiders, and out of the twenty-five of us that were left, I was only able to save Rodimus and myself. I literally had to carry him through a firing range to the shuttle when backup arrived. I guess he’s looked up to me ever since. Not that it makes much sense considering it was my own poor leadership that led to Earth's downfall.’

Blackarachnia’s faceplate wrinkled. ‘Well—huh, that sucks.’

Ironhide jabbed his elbow at Blackarachnia’s rib, getting her back from before. ‘Stop prying.’

The Ex-Decepticon blew air out over her upper lip. ‘Look pal, I wasn’t trying to offend anybody or prompt any “tragic flashbacks”. I was just asking questions, because as of right now, those are all I've got.’

Ironhide’s tone grew harsh. ‘Well you should quit it. Best only speak when spoken to.’

Deciding he had enough, Optimus slowed his pace, turned around, and began walking backwards as to face his team-mates. His brow was angled in concern. ‘Listen, both of you. What happened, happened, and I can’t change that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all up for brooding about the past. Brooding and being mopey—Genuinely, I’ve been doing that for so long now, it's boring. But you see, crap happens in war. It has gone on long before I was born, and it's all any of us have known for our entire lives. So when I bring up my experiences from the war—as we all have shared—I can’t put it any simpler than this: “That’s just life”. For now, let’s just try and act like normal people, put aside the troubles of the past and focus on a more positive present.’ He desisted as to direct himself around a corner before continuing. ‘It’ll be best to keep it from hindering our focus on the mission.’ He rotated himself around once again to face the other way.

Ironhide and Blackarachnia glanced at each other, and for the first time, both bots felt as though they were on the same level.

‘Hold on…’ Ironhide raised a hand to signal his speaking. ‘If you would pardon my asking... What is our objective, exactly? Not this search for Energon, I'm talking about the real mission. What happens once the Ark is back up and running, what do we do then?’

‘Then?’ Optimus didn’t bother to make eye-contact. ‘Then we work on fixing the war. I was thinking of stopping by planet to planet to help those in need. Clean up the messes the war has wrought. You know, community service on hard mode.’

Ironhide and Blackarachnia shared another glance before the latter spoke. ‘With all due respect Optimus, I’ve spent my entire life around a faction called the “Decepticons”, I know when I’m being deceived.’

‘I’ve got to agree with the deceiver, Prime.’ Ironhide said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘It isn't difficult to figure out that you haven’t been telling us everything.’

Optimus stopped. For the moments it took for him to think of his response, Blackarachnia and Ironhide could have sworn they wouldn’t get an answer. ‘The mission is to do good, period. But don’t think I am without an intended flight path. There’s someone… someone I am looking for. My mission is to find this person. Before you ask, no, I’m not going to tell you who it is, and I don’t have to. Be it by choice or not, you two are sticking this path with me, if you don’t like it, then don’t worry, because once we find him, you’ll never hear from me ever again.’

There was silence.

‘What?!’

Optimus swiveled in place to face both robots. ‘I said you’ll never have to hear from me again once I—.’ The Prime stopped, his optics widening. ‘Ironhide. We didn’t check the doors down that hallway behind you, did we?’

Ironhide craned his head to follow Prime’s line of sight. ‘No, I… oh.’

The three robots eyed corridor in front of them. It went on for approximately thirty meters but had no rooms along its adjacent walls. Only one. At the very end of the hallway was a single door, one that was shut. What made it stand out from the rest were the cracks of light that escaped through the door’s outline.

The lights were on.

 

...................I can't help but hope for a bot or con to be in that room that joins Primes crew  

 

Optimus pressed his audio-receptor against the door's cold steel, frowning.

‘Hear anything?’ Ironhide asked.

He pulled back, the palms of his hands still pressed against the door. ‘Nothing.' He looked back at Ironhide. 'If there's anything in there at all, we’ll need to identify it with our own eyes.’ He directed his gaze to Blackarachnia. ‘Alright BA, take a look inside and tell me what you see.’

Blackarachnia tapped her fingers together anxiously. ‘Okay, but here's the thing; why do I have to be the one to do this?’

Ironhide was unfazed. ‘Because if you don’t I’ll shoot you, that’s why.’

'Yeah, but safety-wise-- or, savvy-wise, something behind this door will probably jump out at me, or stab me, or eat me, or flay me, or grab me by the skull and drag me in kicking and screaming, should I open this door.'

Ironhide started cracking his knuckles. 'Funny, I'll be doing all of those things to you should you not open this door.'

Optimus shrugged. ‘Just do it, Blackarachnia.’

She sighed, edging towards the lightened door and wrapping her fingers around the handle. ‘Here goes nothing, I guess…’ Blackarachnia pulled on the handle, opening the door a crack before peering inside.

She shut the door.

Optimus leaned towards her intrusively. ‘What did you see?’

Blackarachnia stared, her brow lowering. She opened the door and peered into it once again before shutting it just as quickly. She faced Optimus, frowning.

Ironhide folded his arms, tapping on his elbow impatiently. ‘Well, you heard the mech, what did you see?’

Blackarachnia’s mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. ‘I’m sorry, I... don’t know how to explain it, when I opened the door and looked inside, I- hold on.’ She repeated the action, opening the door, peering in, and closing it again. ‘Okay… this is getting weird.’

‘For Primus sake, just tell us what you saw!’

‘I know Ironhide! I know-- I just can’t remember.’

'You're kidding.' Optimus wore a concerned look, pressing his thumb underneath his chin in thought. ‘You're telling me you checked the room three times and still can't remember what's inside?’

Blackarachnia tried to articulate the scene with her hands, but realizing she couldn’t manage that, she dropped her servos to either side of her waist and sighed. ‘Look, whenever I look away from the room, I instantly forget whatever it was I saw inside. I don’t know how else to explain it.’

‘So it’s like you saw a Silence.’

Both Autobots stared blankly at the Prime.

‘A Silence, you look at them once and when you look away you-- sorry… it’s just—something from a show I used to watch on Earth...'

Ironhide grunted angrily and shoved Blackarachnia to the side. ‘Here, allow me.’ The large Autobot swung open the door and stared into the brightly lit room.

He shut the door.

‘Okay.’ He swung his head to face Blackarachnia. ‘I can relate... What about you Optimus?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What do you mean, what do I mean? Did you see anything when I opened the door?’

Before Optimus could answer, the corridor quaked. A loud rumbling echoed through the facility followed by the soft hum of a quantum engine. The loud vibrations shook the corridor long after the three robots had bolted ahead.

‘Autobots, roll out!’ Optimus ordered, transforming into his truck form next to Ironhide.

‘Wait!’ Blackarachnia jumped onto the roof of Ironhide cab causing him to skid violently.

‘Blackarachnia! What in the pit do you think you're--!’

‘I don’t transform, remember! I turn into a giant robot spider and pass out when I change back. I can’t “roll out” like the rest of you show offs! Duh-doy!’

‘So your solution is to hitch a ride, is it?’

‘Quit bickering, both of you!’ Optimus snapped. ‘I swear I am beginning to feel like less of a Prime and more like a marriage councilor with each passing day. Now focus! There’s a staircase up ahead that should lead us to the facility's rooftop; we should be able to sight the source of the vibrations from there.’

‘I know the sound of a quantum engine when I hear one.’ Ironhide hesitated. ‘You think Rodimus came back to check on us?’

‘Somehow Ironhide…’

The two vehicles rolled up the jagged stairs leading them onto the roof where their automatic magna-clamps activated, keeping them from floating off of the massive circular platform. Hooked on to the facility next to the Ark was a hazel, semi-circle shaped spaceship, completed with a row of silver thrusters along its rim and pointed bow. Plastered on its side in large, violet ink, was a Decepticon sigil.

‘...I highly doubt that.’

-----

Nightbeat cruised through the Lost Light’s pink halls in robot mode, his soft-metal tailcoat writhing behind him and between his legs. He was no stranger to the Lost Light, and for the most part he could recite the names of at least half of the two-hundred inhabiting Autobots singlehandedly. Though even after Rodimus had recruited him as an honorary member of Team Rodimus, Nightbeat knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be staying for much longer. It wasn’t that he disliked Rodimus, in fact he found Rodimus’s eager attitude refreshing compared to his less than enthusiastic past associates. It was that someone such as himself simply couldn’t remain on a ship without a goal of its own. It is the same reason he couldn’t stay with Optimus, and why he left before the Prime had the chance to ask. While they were without goals, Nightbeat had too many. Luckily, living on the Lost Light was a bot that could help him accomplish one of said goals. He stopped outside the office and knocked three times.

‘Come in!’ A small voice called from within.

Nightbeat peeped his head into the room and grinned. ‘Hello, Rung.’

The office was roomy enough, though from the looks of Rung’s thin stature, the room could very well have been bigger in sheer contrast. There was a desk and shelf piled with multiple pages of reports and brain patterns, though the majority of the shelf was fitted with multiple model spaceships ranging from Arks to Axalons. Rung himself had a thin spindly waist and arms that could very well have been nothing but unarmoured exoskeleton, where he did have armour however, it was a bright orange and popped against his silver frame. His face was narrow, with a pointed nose and a pair of green glassed goggles that covered his optics.

‘Welcome, Nightbeat.’ Rung was sitting at his desk with one leg draped over the other, he had been reading out of a now folded notebook as to focus on Nightbeat. He clasped his now-free hands and leaned forward, gesturing with his head to the empty slab next to him. ‘Please, have a seat.’ He gestured to a nearby recharge slab with a spindly servo.

Nightbeat shook his head. ‘I’m not here for an appointment doc, but thanks anyway.’

Rung beamed meekly, placing his servos beneath his chin. ‘What can I help you with?’

‘You’re the Psychotherapist, Rung, can’t you figure that out yourself?’

‘You’re the detective, Nightbeat, can't you discern that my knowledge has bounds?’

Nightbeat half-smiled. ‘Really? Mine doesn’t. Anyhow I’m looking for some information regarding a couple of Autobots--’

Rung raised a palm to him, shaking his head. ‘Patient – Doctor Confidentiality I’m afraid, dear Nightbeat. I can’t reveal anything regarding my patients’ psychological, nor personal information.’

‘That’s not what I’m looking for, Rung.’ Nightbeat lowered himself to the slab and sat against its edge, smoothing his coat-tails under and over him. ‘Team Rodimus used to have a few other members on board, some scientists. Do you have any answers as to why they left, or where they went?’

Rung was taken aback, though his expression remained perplexed. ‘I think I know who you are talking about, and I can only give you a word, a name rather.’

‘And whose name might that be?’

‘Not “who”, Nightbeat.’ Rung shook his head in an almost dazed manner. ‘Kimia.’

-----

Optimus swung his axe as he approached the ship, Ironhide and Blackarachnia at either side of him. From the ship came four Decepticons, the largest stood in the center, acting as the leader of the group. He wore a faceplate, much like Optimus, though his eyes were crimson, and his helmet was a pitch black. He had a large amount of back-kibble, though it seemed to armor him more than it hindered him. His turquoise and magenta plated armor covered his limbs and torso, colour-coding him with the other three Decepticons that followed. Alongside him was a stout and bulky Decepticon and a taller, skinnier Decepticon, both sharing the same turquoise and magenta colour-scheme. The fourth was the only one to stand out, not just because she was the only female, but because of her white and bronze paint-job that made her pop alongside the others. With a wave of the leader’s hand, all four Decepticons aimed their guns at the Autobots.

The Autobots reacted in turn, Optimus raised his axe like a shield as Ironhide charged his cannons. Blackarachnia expunged her blades, aiming them at the targets with four pragmatic optics, calculating the easiest form of prey of the bunch.

Neither side moved. Both stared at the opposite faction, waiting for the other to make the first strike.

‘Snaptrap!’ a voice came from the Autobot’s left flank. It was a large, lobster-like creature, crawling over the rim of the facility’s roof. The metallic crustacean had apparently scaled the length of the cylindrical station on its own as its claws were marked with bruises. It transformed, changing into a fifth, turquoise and magenta Decepticon, jogging over to his commander. ‘I just checked out their ship. Absolutely no value whatsoever, all their machinery is dead, and they don’t have a single legitimate possession on board. The ship itself is about fifty years old, too young to be considered a collector’s item and too old to sell to the market. We could barely sell it for a quart let alone a—.’ The Decepticon stopped, only then recognizing the situation. ‘Oh is this—is this a standoff? Did I enter in the middle of an epic showdown?’

The commander, “Snaptrap’s”, optics blazed. ‘Yes, Nautilator, it is. You did. Where’s Seawing?’

‘Here.’ A large, robotic manta ray hovered above the group. It carried a net filled with dozens of Energon cubes. The manta transformed, landing next to Snaptrap and catching the netted Energon in his arms. ‘I scouted about half of the complex. There was some leftover Energon distilled. Otherwise, barren.’

Snaptrap lowered his blade. ‘Dammit Seawing. Our Energon stock is already full! We need machinery-- puzzle pieces... parts! I have no use for any of this!’

‘Then maybe I do.’

Snaptrap turned his attention to Prime as he dropped his axe.

Ironhide shuffled over to him. 'Prime! What are you doing?!'

But Optimus ignored him. ‘Be honest with me, you’re pirates, right? If that’s so then you’re out for credits. I’ll buy those Energon cubes from you for three-thousand.’

'You think that's going to work?' The stout one laughed. 'We're pirates, dude. We take things from people.'

But you can't take credits when they're digitally processed. Optimus thought, praying that Snaptrap thought the same. Being outnumbered two-to-one were not odds he wanted to deal with.

Snaptrap raised a brow. Studying the Autobot. perhaps judging whether his credits were worth more than his individual "parts". ‘Make it four-thousand.’

‘Deal.’

'What?!' The stout pirate gaped.

Optimus tapped at his wrist, forwarding the credits to Snaptrap who responded by tossing the netted cubes over to him. Optimus wasted no time in picking up his axe and Energon.

Snaptrap motioned his crew to drop their weapons. ‘It’s alright, they’re cool.’

‘They’re Autobots!’ The skinny one argued.

‘And we’re pirates, Jawbreaker!’ The captain retorted. ‘Megatron made it clear that as long as we don’t assault other Decepticons, then we can do what we want. And you know what I don’t want? To get in another scuffle.’ He eyed the three Autobots as they relinquished their weapons. ‘Absolute waste of ammo… So what about you lot? Do you want to fight or will you step aside as we check out the rest of this hunk of metal for treasure?’

For a second, Ironhide could catch a glimmer in Prime’s optic, his faceplate parted revealing a cracking smile. ‘Treasure?’

Ironhide sighed. ‘And thus the child-like youth of Optimus Prime has resurfaced....’

-----

‘I kind of have a thing for pirates.’ Optimus said as he strolled next to Snaptrap. ‘Mostly from movies but… you know.’

Optimus Prime accompanied Snaptrap through the corridors of the facility. Having come to an agreement, Optimus and Snaptrap decided to explore for treasure themselves. They decided on a first come-first serve principal, if either disagreed with the loot distribution, then a firefight would have to settle it. Ironhide, as well as well as the bronze and white femme Scylla and Seawing accompanied them from behind while Blackarachnia stayed at the Ark to refill its fuel-tank alongside the bulky Archerbot, the skinny Jawbreaker, and the stupid Nautilator. While Seawing seemed distant, Scylla was… touchy.

‘So… where are you from?’ Scylla’s alternate mode was evidently that of a squid-creature as a thin tentacle wrapped itself around Ironhide’s waist.

‘Um… Where I was born? Well, I was born on Cybertron, but…’

‘Cybertron? How fascinating, you must be old to have been around while Cybertron was still habitable.’

‘…Yeah.’

Scylla edged closer to Ironhide, her tentacles feeling him up and down. ‘I guess that makes you all the more… experienced.’

Ironhide let out a nervous laugh. ‘Optimus!’

But the commanders were too busy talking among themselves to take notice.

‘Yeah, believe it or not, pirate movies are part of why I took the gig.’

‘No kidding?’

-----

Blackarachnia finished loading the Energon into the Ark’s fuel chamber. Using it to jumpstart the quantum engines and activate the electricity momentarily before shutting it back down for the sake of conservation. To celebrate her ability to refuel a spaceship, Blackarachnia lied on her back atop of the Ark, her arms rested behind her head and her legs folded one over the other.

‘Hey!’

Her four optics fluttered open, staring upward to find an equal number of eyes staring down at her from the roof of the facility. It was Nautilator and Jawbreaker.

‘I said hey!’ Nautilator repeated. ‘You’re a beast-former right?’

She sat up, eyeing the self-designated “Seacon-Pirates”. ‘What’s it to ya?’

‘I mean...’ Nautilator scratched the back of his head before sliding down the rim of the facility and landing on the Ark with Jawbreaker in tow. ‘You don’t have any wheels or wings so either you’re a mono-former or you turn into a beast of some kind. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m only asking because we’re all beast-formers. I turn into a lobster, Jawbreaker here turns into a shark and Snaptrap’s a big-ol’ turtle.’

‘Yeah? I turn into a giant spider. It’s not great, there’s a lot of mass-displacement involved and the energy consumption is literally life-threatening.’

‘Ah…’ Nautilator had his back to her as he peered down the space between the Ark and the Kimian backup. ‘Well that sucks.’

Jawbreaker let out a grunt. ‘Say, I’ve been wondering.’

Blackarachnia shut her optics. Laying on her back once again. ‘Wonder away.'

‘I get that you’re on the Decepticon’s death-list and all, but why are you working with Autobots?’

Blackarachnia sighed. ‘Why aren’t you fighting him?’

Jawbreaker shrugged. ‘Touché, I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re as apathetic towards the war as they are. I mean, I'm not. Have it my way and you'd all be dead, but ever since he became the official captain the boss has been... well, whatever, isn’t it a little awkward to work with the same bots that were trying to kill you?’

‘I have to admit…’ She sat up groggily. ‘It doesn’t seem like it’s worth bunking with a couple of stuck-up Autobots, but you know, when you have no friends, and no one else will take you in, you have to weigh your options carefully. Especially when the entire universe is out to kill you.’

-----

‘So…’ Optimus peeped in the doors at a slower rate due to the fear of finding something Snaptrap may have actually wanted for himself. ‘The “Butcher of the Bogs”.’

Snaptrap failed to properly react. ‘So?’

‘That’s what they called you right? You’re Decepticon Navy Commander: Snaptrap-- a sadist who is notorious for taking great pleasure in butchering and, uh… bogs.’

Snaptrap sighed. ‘Yep, that’s me. You can relax though. I've cooled off ever since I went pirate. Turns out the more I try to avoid trouble, the less I come to desire it. Had you met me a month ago, I'd have been gnawing on your brain right now.’

‘That’s reassuring.’ He lied.

‘So.’ Snaptrap’s monotonous voice raised a pitch. ‘What’s your story? What are you looking for?’

‘What am I looking for?’ Optimus echoed in thought, staring at the ceiling. The sounds of Scylla’s flirtations towards Ironhide was all that could be heard behind them. ‘Peace. Or that’s what I would say, but that’s a little unfair isn’t it? Who doesn't look for personal peace, right? I suppose I’m looking for someone... someone who can help me.’

‘And who is this someone?’

Optimus locked eyes with Snaptrap and tapped the side of his nose mockingly.

Snaptrap tilted his head to the side and nodded. ‘Fair enough… why do you want to find this “someone”?’

‘I think this person can— let’s say help me get over a few things. You see, I kind of… killed someone.’

‘... We are in a war, so—’

Optimus waved a hand crossly. ‘I know, this wasn’t the first time I killed, mind you, it’s just... this one was different. He was crippled, couldn’t hurt a fly, but—he kind of left a mark on me. We had a history, see? And when it came to that last moment, when he begged for me to kill him, I snapped. I shot him dead.’

‘You executed him.’

‘Yeah, but that’s not what bothers me. What bothers me is that he's stuck with me. Everywhere I look, I can see him. Sense him. As much as I want to believe it, part of me feels like he will never truly be dead. Hell, even your buddy Nautilator sounds just like him.’

Snaptrap raised a skeptical brow. ‘Really? That's funny because a lot of people say Nautilator sounds just like Megatron.’

Prime’s spark raced. ‘Sorry—really?’

‘Yeah, I can’t say it’s the most fitting voice for him, but Megatron keeps giving him promotions and such so I guess he must have some talent hidden in that thick skull of his.’

Prime exhaled his worries. ‘Huh, odd.’

Snaptrap narrowed his optics, obviously discontent over the state of command. ‘It is. But you know, I actually do have an idea of what you’re going through.’

‘I highly doubt that.’

Snaptrap raised his eyebrows in an almost child-like manner. ‘I do!’ His faceplate shifted as he began to explain. ‘I was demoted a while back, placed under the command of a Decepticon named Cannonball. It was his idea to work as a pirate mercenary, or whatever. Since he was a piece of crap commander and got all his old troops killed, Megatron decided to send me and my team under his command as part of my demotion, and…' he sighed, 'it really sucked. Cannonball was the worst, he killed for pleasure (not that I wasn’t guilty of that as well), looted from chumps and the innocent, (not that I didn’t do that either), and ogled the breast-plate of any femme that came by him, (I preferred looking at the mech-plates myself). But he always took it to the next degree and, at one point, when I caught him assaulting Nautilator I realized: you know what? This guy is better off dead.’

Their walk continued, their paces slowing.

‘And?’

‘And then I killed him.’

‘Oh.’

Snaptrap’s chest expanded as he inhaled. ‘Yeah, I strapped a bomb to him and kicked him off the side of the ship.’

‘Ahh…’

‘And that was after I stabbed him a bunch of times.’

‘Wow.’

‘And since I accidentally set the bomb for thirty minutes longer than intended. I decided to ram the ship into him for a few laughs.’

‘Oh my God.’

‘Yeah, then I used the windshield wipers to pry his splattered frame off.’

‘Jeez... so then the bomb killed him?’

‘Nah, after the bomb went off I did a search and found his charred body. I stabbed him a bit more after that.’

‘Huh!’

‘Yeah… if he was a bog…’ Snaptrap reared his head to the Autobot, glaring at him through his crimson optics. ‘…He would be so butchered.’

Optimus felt his agitation develop further. ‘So uh… you killed your boss and... sorry, how am I supposed to relate to this again?'

‘I see him.’

‘You what?’

Snaptrap nodded, his optics remained drooped and uncaring. ‘You see… his name wasn’t actually “Cannonball”. It was a title, a pirate title owned by his previous commander and the one before that. I was meant to adopt that title, but I couldn’t. He was such a—he was terrible, worse than I ever was. I couldn’t take the name that had corroded our unity and our effectiveness over so many years. I needed to be something different, something right. But the more I think about it, the more it feels like that name, and that person, are both still out there somewhere, because really, he could be anywhere. Maybe not my Cannonball, but a Cannonball nonetheless. It's why I'm trying to pull myself back-- trying to stop killing-- so I don't become another one of him.’

Optimus squeezed his elbow into his chest. ‘Well, to be completely and truly honest with you Snaptrap, your logic sounds—.’

‘Absolutely stupid, I know, but you know what else is stupid? Believing in ghosts.’

‘Then I suppose that makes us both stupid.’

‘Agreed.’

It wasn’t until Optimus had reached the end of the corridor did he realize that Snaptrap had stopped following him. He tilted his head to face the Decepticon. ‘Hey, did you find anything?’

Snaptrap shook his head. ‘No. And I think that’s exactly the point. There doesn’t appear to be anything of value here after all.’ He waved a hand to the following Seawing and Scylla to halt. ‘We’ll be heading back to our ship to pack up, you coming?’

Optimus turned his back to him. ‘This facility works in one big circle, we’ll finish the loop and do the same.’

The Seacon nodded, waving to his co-harts to follow him. Escaping from Scylla’s grip, Ironhide bounded towards Optimus awkwardly.

‘Having fun?’ Optimus smirked.

He growled. ‘Slag off.’

-----

‘What do you see in that guy?’ Seawing interrogated on the way to the ship.

‘You mean the Autobot?’ A thin smile stretched across Scylla’s lips. ‘I have a thing for big robots. Why, you jealous Seawing?’

‘Hilarious.’

Snaptrap waved a frustrated servo at them as he held his communicator to his audio receptor. ‘Would both of you shut up?! I’m trying to reach Nautilator, he says he has an urgent message from High Command.’

Seawing frowned as he folded his arms. ‘Why would they call now? Either Nautilator wants to brag about another promotion or they finally found out that we’re not killing Autobots. Speaking of, we should probably not mention the Prime and his buddies...’

Snaptrap shrugged in subtle agreement. ‘Very well. Seriously though, shut up or I'll rip your eyes out from the back of your heads.’

From the other end of the line, Nautilator’s voice crackled, prompting Scylla and Seawing to gather inward so they could listen for themselves. ‘Snaptrap? Oh my God—can you hear me?!’

Snaptrap straightened his posture upon the sudden sound of urgency in Nautilator’s voice. ‘Nautilator! I read you, what’s wrong?’

‘I just received a message from Soundwave, it’s—we were late in receiving it, either I missed it or we flew through a dark zone.’

‘Get to the point, what did the message say?’

Snaptrap could hear Nautilator audibly gulp on the other end of the line. ‘Megatron. He was killed in action over a week ago.’

Snaptrap made no reaction to move, his mind was swirling with dead-end thoughts and inconsistencies that told him otherwise. And yet, there was something that told him that he was hearing was the truth. ‘What— NO! I—that’s impossible, he called us just yesterday, ‘told us that he wanted to give you another raise in salary.’

‘Um… yeah, about that. You know how people say my voice sounds kind of like Megatron’s?’

‘Yeah....’ Suddenly, everything began to click into place as Snaptrap shifted his face-plate. ‘You spawn of a glitch! Do not tell me all those calls regarding your promotions were really you posing as our leader over the phone!’

‘Er… yeah.’

‘I am going to butcher you when I get ba—‘

‘Hold on Snaptrap!’ Scylla spouted, wrapping a calming tentacle around his lower arm. ‘Maybe we should focus on the big picture here, like how our Leader is dead.’

The Decepticon nodded, shooing the squid-transformer away and wrapping his hands over the back of his neck. ‘Who’s in command? Starscream? Shockwave?’

‘Soundwave is playing regent at the moment, but here’s the funny part. Whoever kills Megatron’s murderer will be granted the ability to name Megatron's successor! And you know what’s better? His killer’s name is Optimus Prime!’

Snaptrap let his arms go limp. His optics shut themselves on instinct as if every past mistake had rushed into him at once.

‘Snaptrap? I said the—‘

‘I heard what you said, Nautilator. Now listen carefully, I want you to gather Jawbreaker and Archerbot, and kill that spider. After that, take the left-most route and trap them from the other side.’ He jabbed a digit in the direction from which they came. ‘Scylla, Seawing, we’re taking on the Prime and his lackey from behind.’ He unsheathed his blade. ‘Now or never, we are going to claim our prize.’

 

After the fourteenth minute, Optimus had decided that he was sick of small, dark hallways. He had spent the week before running from a giant spider through small, dark hallways, he was forced to live in a ship comprised of small, dark hallways, and now he was collaborating with Decepticons. In a small dark hallway. While Snaptrap and his gang had since gone the opposite direction, Optimus still felt a sense of unease around the Decepticon pirates. He was willing to place a degree of trust in them, but Prime was no idiot; he knew the Decepticons better than any one Autobot. Ironhide struggled beside him, his posture slackened and his head hung low.

‘I don’t mean to sully life choices or nothing,’ the black Autobot grumbled callously, ‘but Decepticon sympathizing does not suit you in the slightest.’

‘I’m only trying to stay unbiased, Ironhide. We made a deal and reached an agreement without a drop of Energon. I call that progress.’

Ironhide bobbed his head and let out a huff. ‘That’s not going to work with every group of Decepticons that come our way. You know that, right?’

‘I know that. But it’s still an available option, and just now, that option worked.’ He exhaled, staring at the ceiling as he walked. ‘We’re too far gone, Ironhide. I think everyone knows it to an extent. It just comes down to how they deal with that knowledge that separates us. There are those who realize this about themselves, and keep going forward and farther down the path, there are those that think they can go back to the way things are, only to fight the current, and remain swimming in place, and then there are those that go neither forward nor backward, and manage to stay afloat.’ He glanced at Ironhide. ‘Do you get what I’m saying?’

Ironhide blinked. ‘I get that you need to work harder on your speech-writing, if that's what you're saying.’

Optimus sighed. ‘It’s a metaphor. I’m trying to say that we’re not all so different.’

‘I’d beg to differ.’ Came a third voice.

Optimus and Ironhide discontinued their advance as the source of the voice came into view. Ahead of them was Blackarachnia. She had been scuttling through the dark halls in her spider form, carrying the stasis-locked bodies of Archerbot and Jawbreaker on her back. The spider transformed, shifting and folding into the smaller, more humanoid being before dropping the two battered bodies at her feet. ‘Heh, “different”, “differ”. You see what I—‘

Optimus was fuming. He brandished his index finger towards the spider. ‘What did you do, Blackarachnia, what the hell did you do?!’

‘Easy, easy. I know how this looks.’ Blackarachnia pushed her servos against open air as she retreated backwards from the advancing Prime. ‘These two attacked me first. Nautilator too, but it didn’t take much to scare him back into a corner. I was only protecting myself.’

Optimus stopped and stared at the spider. ‘Did you do anything that might have possibly caused them to act this way?’

She shook her head. ‘Not at all. One moment I was lying down, about to doze off, and the next I find these two chewing on my legs.’

Ironhide wrinkled a brow in Prime’s direction. ‘Shocking…’

Blackarachnia stammered, lurched forward, and coughed up a chunk of oil and energon before catching her balance. She leaned back, wiping her mouth with a trembling servo. ‘And there goes the feeling in my throat…’

Optimus raised a gentle servo towards her. ‘Are you alright?’

‘I used up all of my energy transforming. I’m gonna be honest… I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stand up to any more pirates for a wh—’ She hacked into her arm once again. ’

Optimus nodded. ‘We’ll handle it. If you need to recharge, then you can stay behind us until you're better. Now then.' He turned back to Ironhide. 'If Snaptrap ordered these two to attack her, then there's a high chance he’s on his way back here to finish us off.’

‘Right you are.’

Three sets of optics flashed to the other end of the corridor, locking on to Snaptrap, Seawing and Scylla. Snaptrap had his sword drawn. Its flames a bright pink hue.

‘You are a wanted mech, Optimus. Some might say the bounty on your head is the highest in Cybertronian history.’

That was not what Optimus wanted to hear.

Shocked, Ironhide stared at Optimus through widened optics. ‘Optimus, what is he saying?’

Snaptrap spread his arms out to either side as he explained. ‘You didn’t bother to tell your own teammates?' He clicked his glossa, shaking his head mockingly. 'Optimus Prime, that is not a way to treat your men. I know your secret. You killed the most powerful Transformer in the galaxy. You killed Megatron.' Silence fell upon the station. Nobody moved an inch. Nobody let out so much as a gasp. 'Now don’t tell me you weren’t expecting any sort of consequences for your actions?’

Ironhide and Blackarachnia remained speechless, their optics locked on Prime’s image.

‘The Conclave has issued a reward for your death. He who kills you is granted Decepticon Leadership, or more favorably, the power to name the next Decepticon Leader. It can be anyone. Anyone at all.’ Snaptrap’s fingers writhed as the possibilities journeyed through his mind. ‘Imagine it… the Decepticons are built on ego and machismo alone, just think of all the scoundrels who would pay me millions to affirm their place in power. I could end my career and retire for the rest of my life! In a measly hour I could accomplish a thousand times what Cannonball couldn’t in a single lifetime.’

Optimus unfolded his axe and spun it in his grasp. ‘So, you’d sell your bounty to whoever pays the most? You don’t care what kind of maniac might pick up where Megatron left off?’

'It's nothing personal, Optimus. We're all trying to get by in our own ways. Your existence just happens to conflict with my paycheck.'

Ironhide tugged at Optimus’s arm gently. ‘Optimus you—he’s joking right? Why are you playing along with it? It's not like you. Why aren’t you saying any…’ But when Optimus refused to give a response, Ironhide came to terms with the sinking realization that he had been lied to.

‘We’ll talk about this later. First…’ His faceplate shifted into place over his mouth. ‘We have some swashbuckling to do.’ Optimus charged forward, dragging his axe against the metal floor and leaving a trail of sparks behind him. Snaptrap did the same, raising his blade above his head before smashing it into the ground and sending a pulse of pink flames rippling towards the Prime. His paint peeling and his armor crinkling, Optimus bit down, and shook off the fluorescent flames to deliver a swift blow to Snaptrap’s shoulder with the hilt of his axe.

Seawing and Scylla followed their commander and transformed. In his flying manta-form, Seawing soared past the clashing leaders and towards Blackarachnia, shifting into his robot mode and delivering a hefty punch to her cranium.

The former-Decepticon doubled back and somersaulted onto her feet. She activated her stalks and twisted her body, swinging all six of them at Seawing like the turbine blade of a massive fan. The blades sliced through Seawing’s mid-section, creating a large scar running from one pectoral to the other, and leaving a burning orange-lava-like liquid leaking from where they left off. Recoiling for only a moment, Seawing swung another fist into Blackarachnia’s helm and in the same movement delivered a roundhouse kick to her stomach. Falling to her knees, Seawing elbowed Blackarachnia in the back of the head, knocking her helmet off before drop kicking her in the gut once again, forcing her to cough up another wad as she fell backwards onto her knees. The Seacon then activated a pair of proton blasters from his wrists, spinning around and firing two shots into her shoulder that sent chunks of metal ricocheting outward. He fired his second blaster, missing her torso, but landing into the wall behind her, blowing it apart and burying his foe into the falling rubble. She wouldn't be getting back up any time soon.

Ironhide fired a charged shot at Scylla which the squid managed to evade with little effort. She then formed back into robot mode and wrapped her large tentacles around Ironhide’s torso, constricting his body and popping his seems; causing Energon to leak from his burly frame.

‘Oh? You don’t seem fazed.’ Scylla remarked through a thin-lipped grin. ‘I wasn’t aware you were into this sort of thing.’

‘For the record, lady?’ Ironhide lunged forward, smashing his skull into Scylla’s before activating his cannons, blowing off Scylla’s tentacles and relieving himself from her grasp. ‘You disturb the slag out of me.’

Recovering from the blast, Scylla rose to her feet and cracked her neck into place. ‘Well, no offense but even if you have the firepower, your recharge time is much too slow…’

Ironhide tapped at his waist, unfolding a panel and revealing a hidden pistol. Wrapping his beefy fingers around the gun, Ironhide aimed it at Scylla’s head and grinned. ‘I wouldn’t be considered one of the top Autobot weapons specialists from the Academy if I didn’t carry more than two guns with me.’ Ironhide pulled the trigger, though instead of a shell, the gun croaked, and a blob of torched, gummy blue material shot out instead. Sticking to Scylla before dropping to the floor with a plop. It was sticky-tack.

Ironhide blinked before throwing the pistol to the ground and cursing. ‘DAMN IT BLACKARACHNIA!'

But before he could finish, he was met with a large, thick, tentacle, slamming into his chest and pinning him against the wall. ‘Sorry hun.’ Scylla spoke faux apathetically. ‘But it looks like Seawing’s already dealt with your itchy spider friend. My, that didn’t take long at all, did it?’

Ironhide’s belt shifted again, only this time a large, bladed battle-knife ejected from it. Ironhide grabbed it with his free hand and sliced it clean through Scylla’s tentacle, freeing himself once again. As the squid recoiled, Ironhide grabbed hold of the severed tentacle and swung it into Scylla’s body like a club. The force of which sent her tumbling to the ground. Darting around to check on Blackarachnia, Ironhide found himself faced with Seawing as he glided towards him in manta-form. Ironhide tossed his knife in the air and caught it with his other servo. As soon as the metal met with his palm, he threw the blade at the manta, nailing him in his right optic. The Decepticon screamed as liquid oozed from the caved-in socket, flapping its wings violently before crashing into the floor and skidding to a halt. As Scylla regained her footing, Ironhide managed to grab Seawing by his tail, using it as leverage to swing the Decepticon’s large body into Scylla’s, slamming them both into the corridor’s metal walls.

Scylla’s expression morphed into an icy glare as she shot her remaining tentacle at Ironhide. Prepared this time, Ironhide grabbed the slithering tentacle with his left servo and tugged backwards. Pulling her into range, Ironhide thrusted his right arm forward and smashed his fist into her face, caving it in and dashing her teeth out of her skull. Spasms coursed through Scylla’s body as the force distribution flipped her upside down and onto her back. As the two damaged Decepticons drunkenly stumbled back onto their feet, Ironhide clicked his cannons into place and fired two shots in either direction, blowing apart Scylla and Seawing’s chests in a spray of fire and energy; forcing them into stasis.

Content with the fight, Ironhide blew the smoke from his cannon’s and retrieved his knife from Seawing’s body. ‘You didn’t last much longer.’ Suddenly, his legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees, spit and oil dribbling from his mouth. He never knew how to hold back. It was one of his greatest weaknesses. His spark felt as though it was about to go supernova in his chest as steam exhausted from his vents. He had suffered more damage than he realized. 'Just a little more...' he told himself, as he slowly rose to his feet. 'Just a little longer.'

Flames and sparks fizzled and popped as Prime’s axe clashed with Snaptrap’s blade. Both parties doubled back from the force of the clashing metal. With his opponent taken off-guard, Optimus took the chance and kicked off the ground, round-house kicking Snaptrap in the rib before upper-cutting him in the chin in the same motion. As Snaptrap kept his balance, Optimus leapt upward, spinning horizontally thought the air and slicing his axe through the Decepticon’s back kibble. As he prepared a punch, a pair of large arc-cannons erupted from Snaptrap’s back, aiming over his shoulders and at Optimus. The cannons fired large cylindrical rounds that deflected off of Optimus’s axe but not without sending him tumbling back a few feet. As Snaptrap readied a second shot, Ironhide’s battle-knife tore into the back of the Seacon’s hand, forcing him to drop his sword.

On his feet, Optimus charged the Seacon with clenched fists. ‘Ironhide! Artillery mode!’

As ordered, Ironhide leaped into the air, changing and shifting before landing smack down as his tank-like vehicle form, topped with his amalgamated cannons. The cannon extended as it focused on its target before firing a pitch-white blast into Snaptrap’s back, setting it ablaze. The pirate captain lurched forward, grasping at empty air. His hands clasped together, Optimus swung his servos at Snaptrap’s face, cracking his head backwards and sending him rolling onto the floor.

Optimus brought the bright orange blade of his axe to Snaptrap’s neck. ‘You brought this upon yourself Snaptrap, say the word and we'll take you in as our prisoner.’

Snaptrap coughed into the ground. ‘Like you did Megatron?’

Optimus hesitated, granting Snaptrap just the right amount of time to transform. Astonished by the whirl of changing metal, Prime was forced onto his aft as Snaptrap took the form of a massive, robotic snapping turtle. His cannons merged on his back like a giant, rotating turret, outclassing Ironhide in length and energy discharge.

Prime waved an urgent servo at Ironhide. ‘Dammit, get down!’

Snaptrap’s turret rotated in place, firing a barrage of laser fire in an wide, circular arc, and forcing Ironhide and Optimus onto their stomachs. Snaptrap changed form once again, lifting himself to his feet as the towering robot he was. ‘You think that’s all I’ve got? Do you really think that someone with my reputation would fall just because the odds happen to be in your favor? Did you not even guess, that after travelling the galaxy I wouldn’t have picked up at least a few tricks?’ Snapping his fingers, a thin tentacle emerged from Snaptrap’s wrist. ‘Seacons! Pull yourselves together, activate protocol 010!’

Optimus and Ironhide readied their stances, as did the four other Seacons. Drowsy and beaten, Scylla, Seawing, Archerbot and Jawbreaker vibrated as a set of tentacles emerged from each of their pores. Before Optimus could react, a pair of long, metallic tendrils, slithered forward from either of Snaptrap’s wrists. The tentacles skimmed past Optimus’s face and linked with Seawing and Jawbreaker. Connecting with a click, the tentacles retracted, pulling the two Seacons into Snaptrap’s body. The second pair of tendrils emerged from Snaptrap’s ankles, shooting forward and connecting with Scylla and Archerbot. On his back, the bodies of the four other Seacons reeled towards Snaptrap, each’s panels shifting and transforming over one another until what replaced them was an ever-changing mass of writhing metal.

‘Wait…’ Ironhide waggled an anxious finger at the changing mass. ‘That’s… I know this, I’ve seen studies on this technology.’

Optimus raised a brow. ‘Technology? This looks like one of those things you’d expect to find in Rodimus’s browser history… But seriously, what are they doing?’

‘It’s called the Gestalt project: when three or more Transformers use their very bodies as a near-indestructible armor for another.’

Optimus whirled his head to face the metallic mass as it began to take shape. ‘So this is—‘

‘Oh yes…’ Snaptrap’s voice echoed. Taking a humanoid shape, the large mass clicked into place, forming a robot at least four to five times the size of Snaptrap. ‘The Piranacon Armor is what they call it, and like this…’ Snaptrap’s sword unsheathed from his wrist, reaching a size in scale to the larger robot. ‘…like this I am more than either of you will ever be able to handle.’

Rotating his sword to face downward, Piranacon thrusted it into the floor sending a pulse rippling through the air. Pink and magenta cracks etched into the hallway’s metal plating before erupting into a flurry of pink flames that danced throughout the corridor. The hallway broke apart and the two Autobots fell through the broken flooring. Optimus wasn’t sure how far he fell, but when he hit the ground, pain seared up his spinal-strut and throughout his entire body.

Lifting himself from the shattered floor, Optimus surveyed his surroundings before hearing a loud crash. ‘Ironhide?’ He caught a glimpse of Ironhide’s unconscious body, trapped under a pile of rubble as Piranacon approached.

‘I’m afraid you’re all alone this time.’ Piranacon spoke, admiring his newly enlarged servos. ‘I gotta say, dropping by Kimia was one of the most scarring moments of my life. But snagging this Gestalt tech? That made the trip beyond worth it. The possibilities...’

Upon advancing towards the Prime, Piranacon’s towering height became all too evident. While the floor had since given way beneath them, Piranacon’s head still reached the ceiling of the story above. The remnants of the lower floor’s ceiling came up to Piranacon’s waist, creating a cramped environment for the armored Decepticon.

Optimus kicked the ground, turning the opposite direction and sprinting away from the Gestalt.

‘Oh come on!’ Piranacon reached forward, swinging his arms and smashing them through the facilities walls as if they were made of cardboard. ‘Why run? You can’t escape; even if you could, if I don’t kill you, someone else will. You are literally delaying the inevitable!’

Piranacon slammed his fist through the two stories, breaking apart the ground behind the fleeing Optimus. While Piranacon was massive, he was stereotypically slow, and the narrow walls around him only hindered him more. Tearing through the facility around him, Piranacon gained on Optimus. ‘This would be so much easier if Nautilator was around to form the gun…’ the Gestalt grumbled.

This would be so much easier if I had a gun, period. Turning a left, Optimus transformed into his Cybertronian truck form and boosted his thrusters, racing up a large ramp. He could hear the sound of Piranacon tackling through a wall as his massive footsteps gained on him. Boosting up the ramp, Optimus found himself back on top of the facility, his magna-clamps activating as he transformed back into his robot-mode.

Spying the Ark in the distance, Optimus made a beeline, only for Piranacon’s massive servo crashing through the cylinder’s roof, reaching for the sky. The giant tore a large hole into the cylinder with both hands before wrapping his large fingers around its corners and pulling himself up.

‘Dammit!’ Optimus cursed, his goal still in sight.

‘I’ve found you!’ Piranacon laughed as he crashed his fist into the floor under Optimus. Thrown aside from the force of the shifting mass, Optimus somersaulted backwards and landed slickly on his pedes. Readying his footing, Optimus sprinted forward and up the armored warriors arm. Taking him by surprise, Optimus jumped on to Piranacon’s head, brandishing his axe and digging it into the giants face.

‘DAMMIT!’ recoiling from the attack, Piranacon clenched his fist and thrusted it towards his attacker, only for Optimus to dodge, resulting in the gestalt punching himself in the face. Piranacon stumbled backwards, losing his footing from the newly formed hole in the facility and nearly falling back into the wrecked cylinder, saving himself last minute with his elbows against the cavity’s rim.

‘Why are you hitting yourself?’ Optimus teased as he punched the larger robot in the face, leaving indents and bruises across his cheeks. ‘Ever read David and Goliath Snaptrap? The bigger they are the harder they fall!’

Wracking his brains with ideas, Piranacon shifted his body, rolling over and pulling himself back on to the cylinder’s circumference. ‘Nautilator!’ His roaring voice was like metal. ‘Get out here!’

Dashing out from the pirate’s ship came the worried looking cyan and magenta coloured Decepticon: Nautilator. ‘Snaptrap! Wait, I think we might need to—’

‘Gun mode. NOW!’

Doing as his commanding officer ordered, Nautilator leaped upwards, transforming into a massive laser pistol that fit snug into the giant’s grasp. ‘I swear to Primus, Nautilator, if you shoot me in the head… Optimus! I hate to break it to you, but there’s a better saying. It’s called “I’m a giant robot with a gun. That means I win.”’ Piranacon raised the gun to his face and fired two shots into Prime’s back. Exploding chunks of red metal broke off into different directions as Optimus lost his grip on Piranacon’s helm. The Prime fell to the ground and onto his stomach, a black crater smoking rapidly from his back. Piranacon aimed the pistol at Optimus and fired another shot into the Prime’s back, causing him to spasm as energy surged through his being. His body laid smoking and broken, the battle was evidently over. As Piranacon attempted to fire a fourth time, the gun jammed.

‘What is it now, Nautilator?! One more shot through the midsection and he’s dead.’

‘That’s the point, Snaptrap!’ Escaping the giant’s grasp, Nautilator transformed, bumbling onto his knees sheepishly. ‘The call... the contract. Soundwave needs proof of the Prime’s death! We can’t kill him until it is witnessed by a Conclave representative!’

Piranacon’s faceplate shifted into a grimace, slamming his fist into the ground in a fit of rage. The giant began to break down into its smaller components. Unfurling, disconnecting and reconnecting as he retook the form of the five separate robots.

‘Very well,’ Snaptrap said, warps and dents marked across his frame from the fight. ‘Grab the other two. We’ll shove them into the brig until further notice. In the meantime, call Soundwave. He’s not the only one I want to see this…’

 

I thought you said you hated combiners. Nevertheless, you did an excellent job portraying Piranacon as a threat. Kudos!

 

Naturally I do, but it's difficult to use the Seacons in a fight without making them combine at least once. Feels like a waste not to use Piranacon otherwise.

 

Wait, why does Coffee dislike combiners? I mean, the way he uses it in this fanfic is nothing more then genius.

 

It's not so much I hate them as I'm just sick of them. Combiners have been a threat in tf fiction since the beginning of time and I feel like the shock in seeing a giant(er) robot has been lost over the years. They pose a threat for the protagonists to overcome but that's as far as it goes, they (mostly) don't have any such personality themselves so they're not so much antagonists as they are super-powerful gimmicks. I know it's kind of hypocritical for me to say this just after writing one, but in this case, since I chose to use the Seacons to play the roles of the pirates, I figured I might as well have them combine in order to overcome our heroes instead of just having Snaptrap and Scylla kick Prime and Ironhide's asses nonchalantly. Besides, as much as Piranacon is the main threat, this arc is by far intended to be a character driven one rather than an "eliminate the threat" sort of story.

 

Ah. That makes sense.

 

The King Poseidon was a dank and cluttered ship. When its rooms weren’t brimming with material possession and stacks of debatable treasures, they had merged functions to reserve more space much to the chagrin of others. For example, it wouldn’t be hard to understand Scylla’s repulsion to the fact that the kitchen and waste-room were one and the same, as was the dance hall and library (Snaptrap has since questioned why he bothered purchasing a ship with such functions). For once, the merging of two room functions came to be beneficial. The comms room and the (newly formatted) prison component, was built with the intention of showing off prized captures to other thieves and bounty-hunters. A computer-console was situated across from the cells. Five of the Seacons stood around the room’s tight, boxy perimeter as Nautilator worked.

Nautilator tapped in the last of the commands into the ship’s console and stepped back to admire his handy-work. ‘Okay, if I’m not wrong then that should be enough to stabilize it.’

Snaptrap nodded vaguely in approval. ‘Yeah, nice job Nautilator, it’s as if he’s really here.’

‘Took you long enough.’ Soundwave scolded, his hologram taking its place beside Snaptrap, surveying the room as if he were truly among them. ‘Now then, I believe it would be optimal for all of us if we are to proceed to business immediately.’

Seawing turned around and faced the cage located in the back of the room. It was rectangular and cramped, cracks of rust formed down the large metal bars. Inside were Optimus and Ironhide, their wrists bound behind their backs by a pair of stasis cuffs. ‘Then I suppose the boss should do the honours?’

Snaptrap’s fingers curled into a fist. ‘No. Not yet.’

Soundwave remained motionless. ‘With all due respect Captain Snaptrap, as Regent Emperor of the Decepticons, I must advise that the bounty be carried out as swiftly as possible. Even as a prisoner, the Prime proves himself a threat.’

‘I don’t care.’ Snaptrap felt obliged to jab a finger at Soundwave’s chest but stopped himself short, realizing his hand would only pass through the tangible hologram foolishly. ‘Soundwave, I want you to film and broadcast this footage to any and all Decepticon colonies or outposts. Chaar, Lucifer, everywhere.’

Soundwave rested the top of his hand beneath his chin in suspicion.

‘By doing so, there would be no question in regards to my legitimacy— the whole Galaxy can be my witness.’ He paused and turned his head aside. ‘And if Cannonball is really out there… he’ll get to see what I’ve finally accomplished.’

Soundwave’s visor glowed a bright turquoise as he took in the situation. ‘Very well.’ He raised a digit to the kneeling prisoners. ‘Keep them secure. What you propose could take a while.’ Soundwave’s hologram dissipated as Jawbreaker and Archerbot entered the room. Between them was the stasis-cuffed Blackarachnia, dragged between them by a humiliatingly short chain.

‘“As Regent Emperor” …I hate that guy.’ Snaptrap muttered to himself.

Jawbreaker cleared his voice, signalling he was going to speak. ‘Hey boss, I found the third one, the chick.’

Snaptrap nodded offhandedly and motioned towards the cell in the back of the room. ‘Throw her in with the others, and make sure she’s secure, we are not letting anyone escape from here. Not today.’

‘No slag…’ Archerbot muttered, roughly dragging her along. Seawing opened the cell door for them gently, as if he were escorting a young child to their bed. In contrast, Archerbot roughly tossed the femme into the cell and shut the door as fast as he could.

Ironhide’s optics drooped unimpressed. ‘Look who’s not dead.’

Blackarachnia raised her head and smiled scornfully at the two. ‘Hey losers, what’s up?’

Optimus sat in the far corner (and the grimiest area) of the cell, his lowered head implying that he wasn’t awake. Ironhide on the other hand was ready for another fight.

‘Me?’ Ironhide swallowed down in bafflement. ‘You’re calling me a loser? Because if I recall correctly it was you who went down before anyone else!’

Blackarachnia rolled her optics, she was grinning widely but her teeth were evidently clenched in upset. ‘Oh yes! Yes of course! Let’s all put aside the fact that I took down half of them on my own and weakened one more for you. Let’s also disregard the fact that I go anemic whenever I transform! So yeah let’s all criticize Blackarachnia and in the meantime praise the great Ironhide for his overcompensating cannons. Because that’s what makes a great. Freaking. Warrior. Innit? Bigger guns.’

That was the last straw. ‘You have no right to lecture me on what being a warrior is about! I’ve been fighting in this war long before you were even--‘

‘Built! Right, yeah. ‘Cause that means you have all the more experience. We get it. You want to prove you’re a badass. For what it’s worth, doing this longer and accomplishing less technically puts you below me.’

Ironhide shifted on his knees, his temper reaching boiling point. ‘You little punk! If I weren’t restricted by these blasted stasis-cuffs— and if Prime didn’t forbid it – I would beat you down until you were nothing more than a bloody pile of waste matter!’

‘I didn’t forbid it.’

Both robots turned to face the sullen Prime. His voice was uncharacteristically tepid.

Ironhide’s expression drooped in worry. ‘What?’

‘I never said you couldn’t fight. I just threatened to kill whoever kills the other.’ He waved an uncaring servo at the two. ‘Go on, fight; knock your teeth out… see if I care.’

Blackarachnia exchanged a bitter glance with Ironhide before speaking her thoughts. ‘Are a… are you feeling okay boss? You seem a little… tense. Kind of emo actually.’

Prime responded with an icy glare. ‘I’m not sure you know this, Blackarachnia, but I have been fighting in this war for just as long as Ironhide. Back in the academy we had a saying, boasting about your fighting prowess should only be legitimized by following action, and I intend to boast a lot if you keep riding this snark train.’

‘To be fair, Optimus…’ Ironhide’s words felt shallow. ‘…You know what, never mind.’

‘What?’

Ironhide shook his head. ‘I’m sorry Prime, but you haven’t really fought in this war as long as you say you have. You spent the past few centuries guarding Earth with no opposition, and your Prime assignments required little to no combat requirements. Post Surge you’ve done, er, nothing. I hate to say it Prime, you’re my friend and all, but you’re really just as new to this as Blackarachnia.’

Blackarachnia nodded solemnly. ‘Even then… Unlike me, you haven’t really contributed, well, anything to your respective side of the war effort.’

Optimus raised his head, his optics were glowing a bright white. ‘You’re saying I haven’t accomplished anything of note in my life?’

He didn’t get a response.

‘Read my lips.’ Optimus leaned forward, making his point clear. ‘I. killed. Megatron.’ He leaned back. ‘Don’t ever tell me that I didn’t accomplish anything in the war. Not ever. What I did—it has to have paid off, it has…’

‘That reminds me…’ Optimus continued. ‘Neither of you have said a word about what I did back on that asteroid field... As far as I can tell, neither of you want to tell me how you feel about it.’

Neither robot answered, nor did either want to. Ironhide waited for Blackarachnia to answer and vice versa.

‘I’m not one to talk about “feelings” and such but… You want to know?’ Blackarachnia shifted in place. ‘I don’t care. I met Megatron once, before the process… I didn’t particularly like him, but I didn’t hate him either. Doesn’t matter now. He’s not my boss…’ She blinked, as if coming to finally realize something. ‘And neither are you.’

She whipped her head around to face the Seacons. ‘Oi! One Decepticon to another… let me out.’

Snaptrap groaned and lazily rose from his command chair, his crimson optics reflecting the overhead light as his lids parted. ‘You’re an idiot for assuming that’s going to work.’

‘And you’re an idiot for suggesting it can’t. I’m a Decepticon. My name is drone unit ARA-003 – Self Designation: Blackarachnia. I was plastered on the DJD’s kill list for heavily wounding Air Commander Starscream in a manner of self-defence. I’ve been held prisoner by Megatron’s killer since, and have co-operated in order to ensure my own protection from Autobot and Decepticon alike.’

Snaptrap approached the cell, literally shadowing Blackarachnia from his height alone. ‘So what? How is that supposed to make me want to free you?’

Optimus’s optics widened with hatred. ‘Yes Blackarachnia… how.’

‘It means I’m on your side.’ Blackarachnia explained. ‘I may be on the DJD’s list, but half of the Decepticon army has their name scribed somewhere on there as well. Release me, and I’ll go my separate way. I’ve no reason to bunt heads with you unless you force me to.’

‘You’re abandoning us?!’ Optimus outraged.

‘These Autobots…’ Blackarachnia remained fixated on Snaptrap, motioning to the kneeling robots with her shoulder. ‘They have done nothing for me. I’ve been treated –quite fittingly actually— as a prisoner, and whenever I tried to express myself I am consistently shut-down and insulted by the black one. The only reason I didn’t leave them was because if anyone came to kill me, I’d be able to use these two as shields.’

Snaptrap remained unconvinced. ‘And what convinces you that I shouldn’t just kill you instead.’

Blackarachnia flickered a grin. ‘Because if you were planning to kill me we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’

Snarling, the Seacon captain retreated to his command chair across from the cell, slumping into it with crossed arms and an irritating foot tap.

‘Sir?’ Scylla questioned, extending a servo to her commanding officer. ‘We’re uh… gonna kill her right?’

Snaptrap bit down on the tips of his fingers, shaking his head numbly. ‘No. That’s not who we are. I’ve grown past butchering. I’m done with that, I—I’m certain that I’m done with that.’

‘You don’t think we could at least see how much she’ll sell on the market?’ Jawbreaker wondered.

‘If you do…’ Blackarachnia answered, her voice crisp with blunt honesty. ‘…then it will be the Decepticons who retrieve me, and you won’t get a dime. Why’s that? Because it is your job! And you don't get paid being a Decepticon.’

Snaptrap slammed his fist against the monitor like a spoiled child, brandishing a finger towards his cohorts. ‘Fine, do you want to do the honours Scylla? Do you Archerbot? That’s what I thought. Nobody in their right mind wants to murder one of their own. Nobody... sane.’ He snapped his fingers at Seawing. ‘Let her go… she’s not the one we need. We’ll sell the black one.’

‘And hurry it up.’ Blackarachnia snapped. ‘I’ll self-destruct and take the Prime down with me if I’m not out of here within half a minute.’

Seawing opened the cell’s doors, ushering the kneeling Blackarachnia out of the makeshift cage before locking it shut once more and unhooking the stasis-cuffs around her wrists.

Blackarachnia rose to her feet, massaging her wrists fractiously. ‘Better.’

Optimus’s glared at Blackarachnia through the cage’s bars. His optics filled with murderous intent. ‘This is the part where you break us free. Right?’

Blackarachnia scoffed. ‘You are dumber than I thought if you really expected this to have a happy ending.’ She made a brief waving gesture before exiting the room. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to take great care of your Ark while you’re dead. That said, later losers.’

Even after she was long gone, Ironhide wouldn’t quell his voice.

‘You spineless two-timing, glitch! I’m going to rip you apart and crack your skull against the floor when I’m out of here. When I’m out of here I’ll kill you!’

Ironhide’s breath was hot and violent against the cages cold metal as he pressed his forehead against it’s bars, creating creases in his helm.

‘You were right.’ Optimus admitted. ‘I shouldn’t have placed so much trust in her. Ironhide I… I’m sorry.’

Ironhide shook his head, still connected to the cages bars. ‘You wouldn’t have known. I should’ve— I don’t know. I was… unfair. Maybe.’ The black and red Autobot sighed. ‘I think I know what you meant. Maybe I always knew and just— I hate Blackarachnia, I hate her a lot, but when I ask myself why I hate her, it’s because she’s a Decepticon, and that she killed a bunch of Autobots.’ He turned himself around and slouched against the cybertanium bars. ‘But… the thing is, I’m an Autobot, and I’ve killed a bunch of Decepticons. I could have killed her best friend and I’d never know it. I don’t know what to say Optimus, Decepticons are nothing but thugs and maniacs but maybe… I don’t know.’ He crinkled his brow. ‘It’s so easy to see the universe in black and white Prime. So easy. But grey?’ He shivered, staring at his hands as if he were holding some strange, alien object. ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it.’

‘Maybe you’re right.’ Optimus leaned against the cell’s back-wall, adjacent from Ironhide and his nose to the ceiling. ‘I thought I could trust Blackarachnia, I thought I could trust Snaptrap, hell, there was a time long ago that I thought Megatron was a good guy.’ For the first time in a long time, Optimus let out a genuine laugh. ‘And I’ve been wrong at every turn… I just might be the galaxies most gullible idiot. Maybe I should have listened to Prowl.’

Ironhide didn’t make a sound, digging his face into his chest plating as he slouched further.

‘That reminds me.’ Optimus said, breaking the silence once more. ‘Blackarachnia gave me her answer, but you didn’t say a word. What do you think, Ironhide? Of me killing Megatron I mean.’

Ironhide sighed, shifting his body uncomfortably. ‘Megatron was a bastard—a tyrant who slaughtered billions. If there was one being in this entire Universe that deserved an ass-kicking, it would be him. In fact, part of me wishes that I was the one to do the deed.’ He cleared his throat. ‘That said, no, I don’t like it.’

Optimus would be lying if he said it was the response he was expecting, but an argument was the last thing he wanted. ‘Fair enough. Why?’

‘How do I put it…?’ Ironhide wondered, his faceplate shifting as he thought. ‘I did and saw a lot these past twenty years, Optimus. I’ve experienced things I’ll never share. Ever.’

‘… You sure you don’t want to talk about—‘

‘EVER. Not the point I’m trying to make, Prime. I was forced to make some big decisions these past twenty years, and whenever I had to make them, I asked myself something: What would Optimus do in this situation? It’s silly I know, but… I’ll be honest with you Prime, I’m not always right in the head…’

‘Really?’ Optimus’s optics drooped unimpressed. ‘I would have never guessed…’

‘Shut up man… Look, I am prone to violent outbursts. I’m not pretending I don’t know that… and I know I’m reckless and— and I’m not—I mean, I suck at decision making. You on the other hand with your constant bravery and stupidly overenthusiastic speeches… Even if they were empty at the time, they worked. Since then I’ve seen you as a – ah—a moral compass.’

‘You think my speeches are stupid?’

‘But what you did, Prime, it’s… I don’t know.’

‘You think my speeches are stupid?’

‘Focus. It goes against everything I know about you and yet…’ Ironhide shook his head. ‘It’s not like you, and that scares me.’ The black Autobot paused, unsure of whether he had gotten his point across or not.

‘… Do you regret it?’

‘Do I regret it?’ Optimus cracked a sorrowful grin. ‘I don’t know. I think so. Yes. I’ve felt like crap ever since I pulled the trigger. I still can’t believe what I’ve done to be honest, and yet the scene—the memory, it keeps replaying in my head like a really annoying song. Killing someone, I mean—we’re hard to kill, our race. You can be engulfed in an explosion, get decapitated, have a spaceship dropped on us, and yet there’s still a chance… there’s still a handful sized chance that you might still survive. I tell myself I’ve killed before, during my assignments with Nightbeat and Swoop… during the surge, but I don’t think I’ll ever really know whether I killed them or just messed them up badly. Besides, that was different; they shot back, you don’t have a choice in that kind of situation or environment.’

Ironhide nodded in agreement. The black Autobot was no longer slouched against the bars, his head now propped upwards as he listened with intent.

‘I had a choice with Megatron.’ He continued, optics shut. ‘He was wounded, bad. I could have carried him back to the Ark to take as prisoner, but I didn’t, I reacted and shot him down. I shot him until I was certain he was dead. I like to think what I did was right, that it could prevent future harm… but when I try to convince myself of this… I end up sounding like...’ He sighed once more, opening his optics. ‘I hate it Ironhide, I feel sick. Not just ill-sick, I mean—I feel like a sick person, like I’m all… wrong inside. I keep trying to convince myself otherwise, but when I do… I sound like Prowl.’ He placed his full attention on the dark weapons specialist and smiled. ‘And that, Ironhide, is how I became an insomniac.’

Ironhide huffed. ‘I see… hold on.’ Kicking off the ground, Ironhide jutted forward, landing on top of Optimus. Their heads locked over each-other’s shoulders.

‘Ah! Ironhide what the hell?! I am not into this!’

‘Quiet.’ Ironhide whispered. ‘Listen to me carefully, they’ll be finished with the feed any minute now…’

‘You have a plan?’

‘Damn right I do. The stasis cuffs make it hard, but I can sprint, and so can you. When they open the door to kill you, I’ll jump at them or tackle them, or whatever.’

‘Ironhide. No.’

‘When I do, run.’

‘They’ll kill you.’

‘I don’t care. My armors sturdier, I’ll last longer than you, besides, Prowl might find a use for your notoriety; ‘use it for good.’

‘Ironhide you’re not sacrificing yourself for me. God you’re so clingy, creepy and emotional today, what is with you?’

‘I don’t care. I’m jumping at them, and if we both die, so be it. I’m not going to abandon you today.’

The Seacons comm-screen fizzled into activation and Soundwave’s hologram rematerialized faster than it took to blink.

Optimus struggled with himself, he wanted to shout at his old friend, he wanted to hit him across the face, but he couldn’t vocalize a word.

‘Oh forget it. Do what you want Ironhide. I’ve no better ideas.’

‘Times up.’ Soundwave announced, nodding his head to the feed. ‘Get it done.’

Grinning beneath his faceplate, Snaptrap turned to face the camera. ‘Bring him here…’

Seawing opened the cell, reaching inside. ‘Come now… Prime.’ His spoke his name with sickening distaste.

‘RAAAAAAARRRRGH!’ Ironhide sprung forward, shoulders tensed and his arms flexed outward as he tackled the unsuspecting Seawing to the ground. ‘Run Prime! Run!’

Doing just that, Optimus sprinted to the end of the cell, violently elbowing Nautilator aside before ducking past Scylla’s tentacle, nearing the exit.

Soundwave’s visor glowed. ‘Everyone, shut off your audio receptors, now!’ The speakers on the monitor lit up, and a crackling screech boomed from the ship’s audio-system. The noise tore into Prime’s audio-receptors. His sight gone, the sound vibrated through him to the bone. Optical filaments caved in on themselves and retinas dilated and buzzed. Bones cracked and stiffened as his body squirmed and lashed out on the floor like a fish on land. Before he knew it, Prime was on his stomach, liquid drizzling from every port on his face and head. He pushed against the ground, darting his optics until his vision returned. When it did, his optics were set on Ironhide, a hole smoking from his back and his optics dimming to grey.

‘Run Prime… run.’

Prime felt a heavy weight press against his back, forcing his chest into the floor. ‘It’s your time now.’

Dragging the groggy Prime on to his knees, Snaptrap snapped at the others and they formed a pathway to the monitor.

A lax, young, voice echoed from the other end of the call. ‘You’re welcome.’

‘Thank you, Frenzy.’ Soundwave nodded offhandedly. ‘We’re live.’

‘Good.’ Snaptrap lifted Prime by his collar, putting him in the camera’s view. ‘I, Snaptrap of Planet Barbarossa, hereby announce that Optimus Prime, murderer of Lord High Protector Megatron, has fallen into my custody.’

-----

The message traveled off through space, snapping into visual across nearly every tele-screen of every Decepticon colony, ship and quarry. From Soundwave’s perspective, New Kaon’s city lights were drowned out by the flashing tele-screens hooked atop the tall, glistening Sky-Scrapers that flooded the city.

Millions of Decepticons stopped in their tracks, pausing on the sidewalk and breaking in their lanes as their attention drew to the flashing pictures across the plateau.

‘Megatron’s death was painful for most of us, and I am certain that he will be missed, however, his killer, Optimus Prime has fallen.’

Among the Decepticons staring at the broadcast was a dark blue and black robot with a thin red visor that stretched across his face. The Decepticon grabbed another by the shoulder, violently squeezing until he got the attention he wanted.

‘Breakdown, let me ask you something.’

The paranoid robot reacted with a yelp, remaining unhinged in the presence of the Decepticon.

‘Oh it’s… it’s you, what do you want?’

‘What do you think of this? This bounty… who do you think will be in command by the end of the cycle?’

Breakdown wrinkled his face in thought. ‘To be honest Counterpunch? When the bounty for leadership is won by a pirate, I’m pretty much stumped.’

Counterpunch’s visor gleamed. ‘Then I guess we’ll just have to wait and see now won’t we?’

-----

In a pit-stop within the Falcon Nexus, Strika and Obsidian loaded up for the brigade’s next outing as Thundercracker worked on the technology from Skywarp’s container. On the other side of the stop, Starscream sat in a fold-out chair that he had packed in case he grew tired of standing, his optics were fixated on the tele-screen, his legs curled into his chest as he chewed on the tip of his thumb.

‘Obsidian… Obsidian!’

The dark green and grey robot craned his head to Starscream’s direction. Taking a moment to instruct Thundercracker to take his place, Obsidian hovered over to Starscream’s location, his spindly fingers tangled behind his back.

‘What seems to be the problem Star… scream?’

The Decepticon jet pointed a digit at the screen.

‘With the discretion of Commander Soundwave, I have been granted the choice for future Decepticon leadership. Upon slaying the Prime of course.’

Starscream’s face was narrowed and sullen with distress, his optics bugged out as he shook his head, slouching into his fold-out chair. ‘This is not good.’

-----

In the far north corner of Decepticon space, on the planet Lucifer, a thin silver and purple Decepticon with a pair of goggle-like optics watched the main-vid screen.

‘And while I am aware many of you are ignorant to the fact, I must persist. This was no easy feat…’

The silver Decepticon’s optics traced up the tall velvet staircase and towards his leader’s throne. Sitting in his crimson and gold chair was a dark-navy blue and silver robot, lined and adorned with crimson highlights that glowed hotly from within his outer frame. The nearly obese robot was slumped in his throne, his oddly formed mouth crooked into a half-open deadpan and his retina’s directed slightly upward. Often, the silver and purple Decepticon: Tankor, wondered whether the throne-sitting Decepticon were still living or not. But when given the state of the planet, and the rate of executions personally carried by the Decepticon.

‘Lord Straxus.’ Tankor spoke. ‘What are we to make of this?’

The warlord’s optical lids lowered, his chest expanding in exhalation. His voice rasped as his mouth jagged in position. ‘Change the channel…’

-----

Snaptrap wasted no time goading his captive, pressing his face against the screen until the Prime’s cheeks started to burn. ‘You see?’ the Seacon continued. ‘This is the face of the killer! This! But not for long. Do you see me Cannonball? Do you see what I have here? I HOLD THE WORLD!’ Snaptrap’s blade escaped his wrist, fitting into his grasp like a dagger. ‘You always liked to brag, well now it’s my turn! You failed every time Cannonball! You excused it for being difficult! Well, let me show you how easy it really is to achieve power!’

Snaptrap thrusted his blade inward on Optimus, tearing through clean-metal.

His metal.

Snaptrap’s blade had stabbed through his own arm.

Optimus, -- as well as Ironhide, Scylla, Seawing, Archerbot, Jawbreaker and Nautilator – were no longer in the same place as they were before. Nearly all their bodies were slammed face-first into the far right wall of the room. The ship quaked, the force of which sent their bodies flying back.

‘No!’ ignoring the tremors crackling through his ship, Snaptrap burst forward, carelessly pulling his blade from the small fissure in his arm before violently swiping at the air in front of the Prime without any form of co-ordination in mind. ‘Get back here, Autobot! Get back here NOW!’

‘Sir!’ Nautilator tried to convey his voice, but was drowned out by the deafening rumbles of the ship. ‘Sir, we’re under attack!’ Even if he was audible, Nautilator doubted Snaptrap would listen to him as he slashed his sword at the stumbling Prime.

The pink blade nearing his face, Optimus spun around, moving his arms so that Snaptrap’s blade connected with his wrists, destroying the stasis-cuffs and peeling a chunk of skin and metal from his servos.

‘You’re mine!’ Snaptrap asserted, reaching forward with his free-hand.

‘Guess Ironhide’s not the only one who’s clingy.’ Optimus said before dealing a punch to Snaptrap’s faceplate, buffing the metal and twisting it to the point of needed repairs. Snaptrap went soaring back, the rocking ship tilting and sending him tumbling out of the room and down the hallway.

Free, Optimus jogged towards Ironhide, running a hand over the Autobots thick shoulder. ‘Come on ‘Hide, you’ve got to wake up. I need your help.’

After a moment of nothing, Ironhide let out a groan and Optimus sighed in relief. ‘Thank Primus. Now get up you big oaf.’

‘Five more minutes…’ Ironhide sighed.

‘You can sleep later, move!’

Dragging the wounded Autobot along the slanted room, Jawbreaker leaped forward, roaring as he attempted to tackle the two Autobots. As if on instinct, Ironhide pointed his cannon and fired a bolt through the shark-former’s chest. Clearing a path out of the room.

As the two Autobots escaped into the hallway, Scylla raised a tentacle and pulled the stunned Archerbot onto his feet. ‘Come now you space-dogs, it’s time to deploy our defences!’ She pushed Seawing aside and prompted the rest of her comrades to stand. ‘On your feet! Let’s head to the poop-deck, Snaptrap’s gonna need us!’

Jawbreaker giggled. ‘Heheh. Poop.’

-----

Optimus and Ironhide sprinted through the pirate ship’s halls on the tips of their feet as explosions rippled and burned throughout the ships upper decks, breaking down beams of circuitry and metal and gushing sparks from the loose electrical blockage in the upper decks.

‘What’s going on?’ Optimus wondered aloud. ‘I’m thankful for the save and all, but do you think we’re dealing with friends? Or foes?’

‘Uhh…’ Ironhide barely had time to think as he did his best to keep up with the Prime. ‘Don’t know.’

‘Wait…’ Optimus reached for his communicator and raised it to the side of his head. ‘I am opening a channel frequency… Hello? This is Optimus Prime sending an open message to—to whoever is firing upon this ship, might I ask for a name?’

The speaker fizzled and cracked as a voice came through. ‘A name? Well, they call me… Megatron.’

Optimus made a wide eyed expression towards Ironhide.

‘…Nah, I’m just messing with you. It’s me. Rodimus.’

Optimus slapped himself in the head. ‘Geez Rodimus, you have no idea how inappropriate that joke is right now, like, seriously, way to get on my nerves. I’m really mad now.’

The two Autobots jogged up a staircase, finding themselves standing outside atop the Poseidon’s top deck. Doing circles above them was the Lost Light, its cannons firing upon them wickedly.

Optimus raised the communicator back to his lips. ‘Rodimus, can you hear me? I thought you said you wouldn’t come back here for another day or so—how’d you know when to return for us?’

‘We were given an educated hint.’

From behind the Lost Light came a second, equally large spaceship. Its gold rims shining brightly against the reflective light of ricocheting laser-fire.

A second voice crackled to life through Prime’s communicator. ‘What’s up losers?’

Optimus stared at his ship as it spun around them, its weaponry ablaze in a barrage of missile and machine-gun fire. ‘The Ark! But—‘

‘We thought you abandoned us!’ Ironhide suspected, his head whirling from Prime to the Ark in bewilderment.

Blackarachnia waved at them from the pilot seat. ‘I figured it wouldn’t hurt to return with some sweet backup. Besides, it’s not every day I get to play the hero.’

Ironhide chuckled, grinning widely at Optimus. ‘“Hero”? Did she really just refer to herself as that?’

Optimus batted a hand at Ironhide as he shifted his faceplate into gear. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up for a second Ironhide. Check the perimeter for—‘

‘PRIIIIIME!’ Snaptrap grappled Optimus to the floor of the ship’s deck. Grabbing and slashing at him with his bare fingers. ‘You don’t win this, you will not live through this! Never!’

‘Yeah?’ The large wheels on Primes back began to spin, screeching against the floor before sending him rolling on his back through the space between Snaptrap’s legs. Activating his axe, Optimus span it in his wrist for momentum before jumping upward and thrusting the edge of it into Snaptrap. The Butcher of the Bogs reacted, spinning around and slamming his blade into the Axe’s hilt—a shockwave of pink flame and orange light blasting outward from the force of the connection.

Letting Optimus follow through, Snaptrap ducked from the Primes attack and retreated backwards, fingering the attacking spaceships around him and shouting at the top of his lungs. ‘MAN THE STERN-THRUSTERS! FIRE THE MASS CANNONS!’

From within the ship, Nautilator followed his commands, rotating the ship vertically until the large cylindrical cannons on the port faced the Lost Light. Within each of the nooks from which the tips of the cannons peaked from, Jawbreaker and Seawing locked their servos into them. On the main deck, Archerbot and Scylla arrived, somersaulting forward and firing their integrated weaponry at the Lost Light.

Countering the Prime’s attack, Snaptrap raised two digits above his head. ‘FIRE!’

Seawing and Jawbreaker pulled back on each of the cannons and from each shot a massive cylindrical block that crashed into the opposing ship, leaving the Lost Light riddled with massive holes. One cannon shot nailed the Lost Light’s underbelly, severing a thruster and setting it ablaze.

‘Dammit!’ Rodimus cursed from his captain’s chair. The young Prime made a moving gesture to the robots behind him and dashed forward. ‘Go! Go! Go! We’re joining this fight!’

A large panel opened on the Lost Light’s starboard and Skids, Firestar, Flareup and Drift dived out.

Rodimus waited in the Lost Light’s exit way as he gave his order. “Drift! Helicopter mode!’

Transforming midair, Drift shifted and overlapped into a sleek, white and blue Cybertronian helicopter. Rodimus leaped forward, grabbing hold of the copters railing with one hand and activating his integrated weaponry with the other. Enthralled, Rodimus began chanting a dramatic tune as he fired upon the Seacons from the air. ‘Dundundun DUN dun dundundun DUN dun dundundun DUN dun dundundundDUN!’

His shots piercing Archerbot’s armor, Ironhide took the Seacon by surprise and swung his cannon like a mallet into the unsuspecting robots face. Before he could deal another blow however, Jawbreaker and Seawing had dragged him to the ground like a pair of rugby players. Massaging his left eye-lid, Archerbot activated a bow and arrow from his wrist compartment and fired a bolt at Rodimus’s direction, the arrow clipped Rodimus’s hand, forcing the Prime to let go and somersault onto the ship.

Archerbot tapped the side of his head and spoke. ‘This is Scalor, scratch one.’

‘Scalor?!’ Scylla stopped to stare at the Seacon. ‘Who’s Scalor? Your name’s Archerbot.’

Scalor sighed. ‘I never said my name was Archerbot, you all just called me that because I use a bow and arrow.’

‘Then why have you never corrected any of us before?!’

He sighed again. ‘Because whenever I say my name is Scalor, One of you always says—‘

‘SCALOR?! MORE LIKE FAILOR!’ Nautilator laughed as he cowered behind a large metal barrel.

Before Scalor could sigh a third time, Rodimus had already jogged up to him and punched him in the face, knocking him out indefinitely before grabbing his bow and using it to fire upon Scylla and Jawbreaker. ‘Firestar! Flareup! Combine!’

The twins nodded. Leaping into the air and transforming; their backs connecting together into one as their limbs separated and pointed forward. After a moment of engine buzz, the sisters fired a massive barrage of flames that torched the ship’s deck, setting Nautilator and Seawing momentarily ablaze.

Snaptrap grinned beneath his faceplate as he deflected another swing from Prime’s axe. ‘Combine huh? I like the way you Autobots think.’ He rolled into the center of the ship, tendrils emerging from his pores. ‘Seacons! Form the Piranacon Armor—Now!’ Doing as he said, Scylla, Seawing, Scalor/Archerbot and Jawbreaker leaped for him, their carcasses opening outward and overlapping until reaching the precise measurements. Falling onto his hands and knees, Snaptrap felt the weight of four other bodies merge overtop him as he sensed himself growing bigger. As Piranacon, Snaptrap caught a glimpse of the sheer shock on his foes faces from above. His pillar-like legs shaking as he caught his balance. There wasn’t as much room for him to stand as when he was smaller.

Nautilator peeked from under his barrel. ‘We’re going to need a bigger boat…’

‘I’ll tear my own ship apart if it means ending you!’ Piranacon roared as he dropped his fist into his ship’s deck—tearing a hole clean through it and sending light pulses of pink light crackling and shredding from within.

Swallowing his doubts, Rodimus extended a dominant finger towards the gestalt. ‘Open fire!’

Skids, Firestar and Flareup fired all they had at the armored being. Piranacon shrugged off the laser fire before drop kicking the twins combined form and aiming for Prime.

Backing away, Optimus activated his comm unit as Ironhide covered him. ‘Blackarachnia?’

‘I’m already pressing every single button with a weapon symbol on it. And—ah!’

‘You got it?’

Barreling around for another strafe, the Ark dimmed its flames as it came to face Piranacon nose first. The Ark expanded and unfolded as rows of red-tipped missiles, and columns of massive rotating Gatling guns flipped outward, all aimed at the gestalt.

Blackarachnia grinned a sadistic grin as she pressed the “unload” button. ‘Suck it.’

The Gatling guns roared as lead shot out and dug into Piranacon’s armored plating. Ruptured specs of oil flicked off of the combiners frame as he blocked the attack with his crossed arms. Upon receiving a hit from the Ark’s missiles. Piranacon tumbled backwards, his right arm dislodging from its joint and separating from the gestalt’s main body entirely.

‘Good!’ crouching into a balancing stance, Optimus pointed the edge of his axe towards Piranacon. ‘Now fire! Fire everything you’ve got!’

‘Actually…’ A grin curled upon Blackarachnia’s lips. ‘I have a better idea.’ The spider tapped at the Autopilot controls, leaving the Ark’s command chair and running to the docking bay.

Optimus squinted as the ship glided towards the pirate juggernaut. ‘She isn’t…’

Ironhide huffed exhaustedly. ‘She is…’

A panel on the Ark’s belly spread itself open, and the small figure of Blackarachnia leaped out, landing on the Poseidon below. The Ark spiraled forward, crashing through Piranacon nose-first – the force literally tearing the brute apart limb from limb. The Ark –on autopilot—tore through the giant’s body before circling back nearly unscathed. Piranacon grasped at the newly formed hole in his chest only for his arm to crumble and detach. Fed up, the giant split apart, each piece changing back into their Individual components. Snaptrap however, finding it difficult to properly reassemble into a humanoid form, found himself rolling over the edge of his ship and plummeting into the wrecked facility below. His body disappearing into the Darkness.

Realizing he was one off, Optimus jogged to the space where Snaptrap fell.

‘Optimus!’ Rodimus grabbed his shoulder from behind. ‘Optimus, you’re wounded. You need to…’

‘I need to what, Rodimus?’

He pointed at Drift as he hovered above them in helicopter mode. ‘GET TO DA CHOPPAH.’

Optimus laughed. ‘Okay, you know I love that movie, and that reference. I’ve got to give you a high-five for that.’

The two Primes slapped their hands together, prompting an eye roll from Ironhide and Drift as they sobered their attitudes once again.

‘But seriously Optimus, you’re in no position to fight.’

‘You have other matters to worry about.’ Prime motioned to the recuperating Seacons who began to transform into their beast modes. Ahead of the others, Jawbreaker formed into a shark and utilized his back-thrusters to shoot himself at Skids, digging his jaws into the theoreticians shoulder.

‘Manage your team. Ironhide and Blackarachnia will have your back while I’m gone. As for me? Snaptrap and I have some unfinished business.’

Before Rodimus could protest, Optimus had already leaped off the side of the ship and disappeared into the darkness below.

‘Well now he’s just showing off.’ Rodimus looked away from the ship’s edge to survey the battle. ‘Looks like all that’s left for us is some—‘

Without warning, Scylla’s tentacle pierced through Rodimus’s stomach, digging clean through his body and out the other side.

-----

Landing on his knees was not Prime’s greatest idea. He could have sworn they had cracked open upon hitting the floor as pain rifled up his thighs and spine. Spitting at the ground, Optimus lifted himself to his feet and secured his faceplate. His optics slowly dragged from one side to the other as he surveyed the empty hallway. Snaptrap was nowhere in sight, but the location itself was familiar.

‘Yeah… we passed through here earlier… which means that thing should be—‘

Optimus felt a massive weight on his shoulders, though it didn’t take long for him to determine what the weight was.

‘You’re dead now, Prime!’ Snaptrap spat into his audio receptor as he strangled Prime to the floor.

Optimus struggled, scratching at his attacker’s lower arm as he squirmed. ‘Not yet.’

Prime backed his head into Snaptrap’s face, causing the Seacon warrior to snarl in pain and weaken his grip. Transforming, Optimus revved his engine and screeched down the dark passageway, the lights from the battle above guiding his way.

Unseen, Nautilator dropped down from above. Wincing as pain traveled up his legs.

‘Snaptrap, sir, I’m here to help. I—‘

The pirate captain grabbed his subordinate by the collar, lifting the confused robot off his feet and looking him dead in the optic. ‘Do not interfere. Nautilator, you can utilize the feed remotely yeah? Then use it. Film my pride.’ Tossing Nautilator aside, Snaptrap transformed into his giant metallic snapping turtle mode. An eerie growl escaped his beak. ‘Film my immortalization.’

-----

‘Keep up the fire!’ Ironhide ordered, taking shots on Scalor’s large fish mode as it threw Skids’ wounded body aside.

Transforming into robot mode, Drift dropped on top of Scalor, stabbing the mass-displaced robot in the back with a silver blade. The large creature slapped at his attacker only to receive another face full of cannon-fire, knocking him into stasis indefinitely.

From the smoke, Drift leaped off of his opponent, landing gracefully next to Ironhide on his pedes.

Ironhide wasted no time firing on Jawbreaker. ‘Three left. No time to rest.’

‘Drift…!’

Facing the direction of the cry, Drift’s optics widened to see Rodimus pinned to the ground. Scylla had dug a tentacle into his back, Energon leaking upward and spilling out.

Drift’s face morphed into a look of anguish. Flicking his blade with Energon, Drift charged the femme. Before she could react, Drift was on top of her, digging a pair of blades into her shoulders.

‘I’ll kill you!’

It did not take long for Scylla’s face to change from a maniacal grin to a look of terror. Pulling backwards, Drift’s swords cut cleanly through Scylla’s armor, severing her arms from her torso completely.

Crying out, the squid fell on her aft, backing away from the raging Autobot. ‘Please! Have Mercy!’

Holding his sword like a spear, Drift swung his arm and launched it, nailing it square into Scylla’s chest. As the Decepticon cried out, Drift pulled out his other blade and raised it high above his head, stabbing it down into Scylla’s stomach long after she fell into stasis.

Locked in mid-fight with Seawing, Blackarachnia’s attention was dragged away from the fight due to Drift’s brutality. ‘Whoa, slow down Maurice, what’s the deal with—‘

Shaking his head. Drift lifted his blade and bowed swiftly to Blackarachnia. ‘Sorry, I was—I don’t know what came over me.’ The Autobot turned away and moved on towards Rodimus hastily.

‘I know those moves… scary how violent people can be.’

‘You should pay attention more.’ Seawing noted, firing a shot into the spiders shoulder. ‘Thought you were one of us.’

Blackarachnia sneered, activating her blades and rotating them left of her body, the blades slashed into Seawing’s arm, slicing it off before digging into his waist. ‘Let me be perfectly clear Seawing… You got lucky last time. But now…’ Blackarachnia leaped upwards, volleying over Seawing’s torso and landing behind him. She thrusted forwards, her blades cleaving through the Seacons torso and out his chest. ‘I’ve put myself back together.’ Blackarachnia’s blades ripped outwards, tearing the Seacon’s torso in half. Wires and tubes reached towards each-other from inside Seawing’s chest as oil sprayed inward. His head landed in Blackarachnia’s palm, still functional.

‘Well that was easy.’ Blackarachnia looked out towards Drift as he knelt next to Rodimus. Her brow furrowed as she tossed Seawing’s severed head into the air. ‘But man… some people are just sickly violent. It’s scary.’

Drift ran a finger across the small of Rodimus’ back. ‘This was my fault… I couldn’t protect you.’

Suddenly, Rodimus pushed off of the ground, gasping for air.

Drift stammered backwards. ‘Rodimus? You’re—‘

‘Alive?’ Rodimus chuckled, rising to his feet. ‘No one ever dies on my ship Drift, and that includes me!’

‘Technically sir, we’re not on the Lost Light’

Rodimus laughed. ‘Shut up Drift! This is no time to question my Prime magic! This is the time to beat people up!’

Charging past Drift, Rodimus fired his wrist cannon at the thrashing Jawbreaker, nailing him directly in the eyes. The floating shark transformed into his gangly robot mode and landed on his feet, his optics flaring as Rodimus came within a foot of him. ‘You!’

Laughing menacingly, Rodimus jabbed a finger at the broad-shouldered Seacon. ‘Next you’re gonna say: “You have a gaping hole in your stomach, how the hell are you standing?!”’

‘You have a gaping hole in your stomach, how the hell are you standing?!’

Gasping in shock, Jawbreaker found himself backing away from the smaller Autobot only for a sharp object to tear into his lower spine. It was Blackarachnia, her blades digging deeper into the Decepticons torso. Before he could grab her, Ironhide had already tackled him from the side. Gripping on to his shoulder and firing a barrage from his cannons, sending chunks of Jawbreaker’s arms and chest erupting out from his body, a spray of black and violet viscera following it.

‘Wait! Wait…’ Jawbreaker raised his hands above his head, barely staying conscious. ‘I surrender! …I surrender.’

Rodimus lowered his guard. ‘Um, guys? I had him.’

Blackarachnia scratched the back of her head as Ironhide and Skids fitted Jawbreaker with a pair of stasis-cuffs. ‘Oh.’ The former Decepticon didn’t see amused. ‘Sorry, we had already dealt with and locked up the other three so… well, we didn’t want to stay bored.’

‘What Blackarachnia means to say,’ Ironhide stood up from Jawbreaker, nodding towards the rest of Rodimus’s crew before finished his trail of thought. ‘Is that we won.’

-----

‘You lose!’ Snaptrap’s shell tackled into Optimus’ rib, forcing the Prime onto his knees. Snaptrap uncurled from his shell, forming as a massive robotic Snapping turtle.

He was so close, mere metres away from Prime was the door. The door to the lit room. The one that’s contents had somehow wiped Ironhide and Blackarachnia’s minds of it. Optimus was far from questioning the nature of the door as at the time he had far more important things to worry about. Forced on his back, Optimus found himself faced with the scaled, jagged face of a giant robotic snapping turtle. Optimus couldn’t lay a single hit on the dominating beast, his hands too busy keeping the creature’s maw from biting off his nose.

‘Face it Prime, I am the one with the physical prowess here. I was taught the hardships of war as a mere protoform, I was trained under one of the highest Decepticon generals turned pirate legends, and I have obtained the ultimate armor enhancements and circuit boosters that had turned me into the legendary Butcher of the Bogs. You are nothing, the only reason you have succeeded in overcoming me before was due to the assistance from your lackey. Now, as the weights balance, I can properly dominate you without any such interference.’

Realizing he was without a response, Snaptrap wagged his head side to side, freeing himself of Optimus’ grip. Spying the Primes loosened fingers, Snaptrap shut his diamond shaped mouth. Clenching them around Optimus’ digits with a sickening crunch. Screaming out in agony, Optimus pulled away, his fingers tearing from their respective knuckles. The stringy remains of bone-structure and metal wiring were all that remained from the gushing sever in his hand. Prime grabbed at his wrist, yelling as he tried to piece his dangling pinky-finger back together.

‘Primus, Snaptrap!’ Optimus cursed as the turtle chewed and swallowed down three of his remaining digits. ‘I thought you were done with butchering.’

Despite his mouth formed as a beak-like apparatus Snaptrap’s turtle-head had managed to grin, ‘When I receive your bounty, when I win, who will care what people think of me? The end is always more important than the means Prime. But you know that. I’m sure you knew that when you killed Megatron.’

His faceplate hid it, but Prime’s teeth were clenched in fury.

‘When you’re dead, I’ll be recognized throughout the Galaxy as one of the Warriors Elite – My name treasured and immortalized, recognized in the same breath as the likes of Galvatron and Dreadlock. When my name is immortal, when the name of Snaptrap outlives the name of Cannonball, then I will never be forgotten again!’

Optimus’s brow wrinkled. ‘Perhaps Snaptrap, perhaps you’ll be remembered, perhaps this entire Galaxy will remember you until the end of time. But that leaves me with just one question.’

‘Alright… indulge me. Shoot.’

‘Will you remember yourself?’

Curling inward, Optimus rolled backwards, placing his feet underneath Snaptrap’s chest. Rolling further, Optimus kicked upwards, sending Snaptrap’s body over his head and behind him, his body crashing through the door of light. Snaptrap struggled and transformed into his robot mode as he grabbed at his own skull. Standing, Optimus sealed the door, trapping Snaptrap inside the brightly lit room.

He waited.

He listened.

Snaptrap pounded lightly on the door and Optimus let him out. What came out was not the powerful butcher of the bogs that had nearly killed him moments before, but that of a small, wide-eyed child. Snaptrap still retained his physique, but the look on his faceplate was far from that of a butcher.

The Seacon edged towards Optimus, crawling on his knees, his fingers intertwined and jittering. ‘Why… why am I hurting?’

Optimus did not answer.

Snaptrap’s head darted down the corridor and back. ‘Where’s mister Cannonball? He said he’d be here, he said—I—I don’t know where he is. I don’t know where I am!’

Snaptrap had lost his memories from the past one-thousand years.

Tired of dealing with the pirate leader, Optimus gazed down the corridor to spot Nautilator, gazing upon him from around the hall-corner.

‘You!’ Optimus extended his index finger as he marched towards the Seacon.

Nautilator tried to run but was too late, Prime had already lifted him above his head by the collar. ‘Please!’ Nautilator begged, saliva and oily tears dripping across his face. ‘Don’t kill me! Don’t throw me in that room, just—please!’

‘Your optics are hooked up to a feed connecting to the Decepticons outposts, yeah?’

‘I—yes!’

‘And they have audio?’

‘Yes!’

‘Then let me make my message clear. To all of you out there who don’t know me, my name, is Optimus Prime. I was born over 3,000 years ago on Planet Cybertron before the Fulcrum Bombings that tore it apart. I have since acted in a minor role in the war as the least productive Prime in history. To those who already know who I am, then you are well aware that I was the one who killed Megatron. I still question why I did what I did, and better yet, whether I regret it. Whatever may be the truth, what I did was not right or just, yet I’m still unsure if that means I shouldn’t have done it. I killed Megatron, I dealt a major blow to you and I paid the price in such with this bounty. To all of you whom have put it upon yourselves to hunt me down and kill me, I have only one thing to say to you: Come and try.’

Knocking Nautilator aside, and walking past the crying Snaptrap, Optimus activated his communicator. ‘Autobots, we’ve won.’

 

...What the hell did Optimus just do to Snaptrap?

 

SPACEFARERS PRIME IS BADASS AS ALL HELL!!!