Idk if anyone will still care at this point, but here it is: the sequel to my surprisingly well-received fan edit of Transformers: The Last Knight.

Several years after the defeat of Quintessa, the Autobots will find their loyalties tested as they uncover Unicron’s Herald of Darkness, and face the Decepticons who are out for Cybertron’s conquest.

 

Prologue
Egypt, 17000 BC
“If the energy signatures we have detected are accurate, then we should have arrived at the planet the knights have fled to.” Nexus Prime announced to his fellow Primes inside their ship.
He then scorned one of the Primes present. “IF it were accurate. I’m not quite sure on how accurate these are considering Megatronus tracked them down here.”
The scorned Prime could not accept the contempt. “You were not there!” Megatronus Prime sneered. “You cannot say such things! I saw, with my own optics that they landed here!”
“Please take your scrap out of this planet please.” Vector Prime interrupted. “We’re here for one purpose, bring the knights back to Cybertron to face justice before Quintessa.” He stopped all of a sudden as he looked out the ship’s bridge. “Haven’t we been here?”
“We have.” Nexus answered. “I do not know why Megatronus brought us back here. This planet is a bad omen. Why would the knights hide here? I am sure they would not want to die.”
“Perhaps they have got into contact with him?” Quintus Prime suggested. “The possibility is always open. Even Megatronus.”
“I assure you, brethren.” Megatronus Prime insisted. “The knights indeed ended up on this planet. If we start now, we can find them quickly, and leave this cursed planet. If it were up to me, I would kill him now.”
“Killing him now, is suicide.” Quintus shot down the idea. “He will win without us ever making a move. Primus is the only one who can defeat him for good.”
“Enough!” Nexus commanded as he stood up. “We’ll find the knights, and get off this planet. Clear?”
The Primes grew silent, and followed their commander outside of their ship.

The Dynasty of Primes, consisting of Nexus Prime, Vector Prime, Megatronus Prime, and Quintus Prime arrived on Earth from Cybertron for the second time under the orders of their fellow Prime and Creator, Solus Prime; or otherwise known as Quintessa. Landing in the inhabited mountains of Egypt, they were separated by a large plain from the nearest civilization. The four Primes exited their vessel and surveyed the mountains.
“This planet looks different than it was.” Vector commented.
“Aye. The devil’s horns were obvious back then.” Quintus agreed. “I am amazed at how he was able to hide it.”
“He does not fool us one bit.” Nexus snapped. “Whatever these things are, they are all a product of evil.”
Then Vector noticed their ship’s Energon tank. It was running low. “We might not make it back to Cybertron if we do not refuel now. At this amount, we will be drifitng before we even leave this galaxy.”
“Very well.” Nexus agreed after he surveyed the fuel tank. “Activate the Star Harvester.”
Quintus and Vector re-entered the vessel, and flipped a switch. With the switch activated, the vessel opened up, with its hull reorganizing itself into a pyramid-like structure. From its center rose a large beam accelerator that was pointed directly at the Sun. The force of the vessel shifting itself caused the mountain it was nearest to, to topple down and pulverize as it came into the contact of the metal.
“This is going to take a while.” Quintus told Nexus. “Our tank’s almost empty. We are going to need to consume almost the entire star to fill it up. We cannot use the Energon we have gathered during our voyage. Cybertron needs it.”
“Scrap.” Nexus sighed. “Do whatever you can, please.”
As Quintus and Vector went to set up the Harvester, Nexus turned his attention to Megatronus.
“As for you, make yourself useful and look for some clues for our fugitives.”
“Gladly.” Megatronus replied dryly as he leapt into the air, and changed into a spindly Cybertronian spacecraft. He blasted off across the vast plain.
“Blasted Megatronus.” Nexus said as his fellow Prime distanced.

Megatronus made his way across the civilization. It was filled with multiple organism that were smaller than the Cybertronians, and were not made of metal. They looked soft and organic.
“What are these things?” He wondered. “His evil knows no bounds.”
He approached a cave, and changed back into slender, and spindly robot form. He pulled out a staff, and pierced the ground. He then raised his arms, and pulled the cave’s rocks apart. As he continued to pull the rocks apart, it eventually unveiled a large bubbling pool of some kind of purple liquid. In a few minutes, two more Cybertronians arrived. From Cybertronian fighter jets, the two changed into organisms of the same race as the Prime, but less spindly. They landed behind the Prime, and bowed. One of them was blocky, with a visored face, while the other one was a little slender, with two large flamethrowers affixed to his arms.
“What took you two?” Megatronus questioned.
“Forgive us, master.” The visored one, whose name was Thundershock, spoke. “We were caught up with Velociblaze.”
“What do you mean, ‘caught up’?”
“We were surveying the demon’s spark, when he suddenly dropped dead. Probably from the high concentrations of the dark substance.” The slender one, whose name was Scorchmark answered. “We were going to leave him already, when he suddenly rose, and cryptically yelled.”
At that point, Thundershock flashed a hologram of Velociblaze, complete with audio clips. In the hologram, which is representative of Thundershock’s memory core, Velociblaze yelled, “He sleeps, you disturb. Yet you have awakened him, and he shall rule over all.”
Before Megatronus could process the statement, a Cybertronian aircraft swooped in from nowhere. It charged at Scorchmark, and threw him airborne. Thundershock was alerted, and deployed his blaster to counterattack, but the aircraft changed forms, and kicked him down.
“Velociblaze!” Megatronus called out. “Stand down!”
“He is mine now.” Velociblaze responded in a deep voice. “This being before you, has been repurposed to be part of a greater future: serving me.”
“Never!” Megatronus said as he deployed his staff and charged at his former follower. “This desecration of the deceased will cease now!”
The former Velociblaze could produce toxic and potent flames as he increased in speed, either through charging or attacking. The undead Velociblaze could now produce more powerful flames everytime he moved. Velociblaze blasted a wave of fire at Megatronus, who in turn used his telekinetic abilities to repel them. As the flames were out of his range, Megatronus tossed his staff into Velociblaze’s spark, hoping to stop the undead warrior. Unfortunately, this did little to no effect, as Velociblaze pushed Megatronus back, but not without the latter retrieving his staff.
“Futile actions, Prime.” Velociblaze spoke as he stood up. “Even in this state, I still have enough power to decimate you Primes. Speaking of the Primes.”
Before Velociblaze could unleash a large wave, Scorchmark intervened by repelling the flames with his twin flamethrowers.
“Master, warn the other Primes!” Scorchmark called out as he pushed towards Velociblaze.
“We’ll cover you!” Thundershock said as he activated a function on his blaster.
Megatronus acknowledged the two, changed forms, and hurried back to his fellow Primes. Thundershock and Scorchmark were left to deal with their undead comrade.
“How much longer?” Scorchmark called out as he forced his flamethrowers to maximum levels.
“Almost!” Thundershock assured as he affixed an engine on his blaster. He then successfully configured it. “Got it!”
Before Thundershock could help, Velociblaze deployed another wave of fire, singeing and corroding a part of Scorchmark’s face, causing the latter to drop to the ground in pain. Velociblaze saw the opportunity to change forms, and chase after Megatronus. Thundershock, had other ideas.
“I do not think so!” Thundershock yelled as he charged up his blaster, and unleashed a massive ball of purple energy.
Firing at almost supersonic speeds, Velociblaze was unable to evade, and took the entire blast. Their undead comrade exploded with a bright purple flame, before consuming itself, and disappearing. All was left of Velociblaze were small metal parts scattered around the terrain.
“By the Allspark.” Scorchmark said in awe, almost forgetting the pain he was feeling. “Never will get tired of seeing that spectacular explosion.
“Too bad it’s a one-off.” Thundershock said dryly as he discharged the charred and flickering engine affixed. “Let’s follow the master.”

“The Harvester’s ready!” Quintus called out.
“Activation chamber is ready.” Vector announced as well.
This prompted Nexus to retrieve a device from a sealed chamber inside the bridge. As the chamber opened, the device levitated, with its glowing blue core illuminating the bridge. The device was the Matrix of Leadership. A symbol of the power of the Dynasty of Primes and an extension of the Allspark, it can breathe life into anything. Unlike the Allspark, it can cleanse anything of malevolence, but it comes at the price which is its depletion and eventual destruction.
Nexus made his way to the activation chamber, with the Matrix in one hand, levitating. Before he could enter, a black Cybertronian spacecraft flew in, and changed forms. He was slightly taller than than Nexus, and had a face guard that he flipped up. He was a seeker, a type of Cybertronian that worked as reconaissance and espionage officers for the Primes due to their flight capabilities and speed. He was tasked on studying the nearby populace of humans.
“Ah, Jetfire.” Nexus acknowledged. “No other seeker could compete to your competence. What did you find out about the civilization across?”
“Thank Primus I caught you before you activated the machine.” Jetfire explained. “Those organisms, those terrible spinal cord-based organisms, depend on the Sun for life.”
“What do you mean?” The question attracted the other Primes to converge on their position.
“If we destroy this star, their Sun, they will all die. Everything you see here, all gone.”
This made the Primes grow silent, and began reflecting.
“But we don’t have fuel!” Quintus suddenly insisted. “We won’t make it back to Cybertron.”
“This looks like our chance!” Vector realized. “Should we destroy the star, we disconnect the demon from a constant energy source.”
“SILENCE.” Nexus called out. “We made a vow: ‘never destroy a planet with life’. Simple as that. We don’t have a choice. We cannot destroy the star.” He then proceeded to shut the machine down.
“What about Cybertron?” Vector inquired. “What about us?”
“Cybertron can live without us. The Allspark is with them. So is Quintessa.” Nexus explained. “When we embarked on this voyage, we all made a risk. A risk wherein there was this chance that we may never go back home. The plan has just changed.”
“Changed?” Quintus spluttered. “We’re staying here with the demon?!”
“Looks to be it.” Nexus said grimly. “If we destroy the demon, it will take the flourishing life with it. Our best method is to supress the threat here. If we stay here, and as long as the Matrix is with us, the demon can never fully rise.”
With that line mentioned by Nexus, the Matrix suddenly levitated away from his hand. As they looked behind, Megatronus had returned, with Thundershock and Scorchmark. The Matrix was in his hand.
“Megatronus!” Nexus called out. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Some brothers you all are!” Megatronus said scornly. “You will allow the demon to live just to protect these inferior species!”
“Watch your tone, brother.” Vector reminded. “Remember our vow!”
“That vow can burn in the Pit with the demon!” Megatronus said angrily. “Here were are faced with a chance to destroy the destroyer of worlds! Are we going to allow him to destroy more worlds? What difference does the sacrifice of one world make to save many others, including ours?”
“It does.” Nexus replied sternly. “It’s not easy, but so is doing the right thing.”
“So be it.” Megatronus sneered. “Thundershock, Scorchmark, dispose of them! Activate the Harvester!”
Scorchmark unleashed a flame wall that pushed the Primes and Jetfire back.
“Why did you have to deceive these young bots to your philosophy?” Quintus asked Megatronus.
“If deceiving means fighting for the life we fought to protect from this demon, then might as well.” Megatronus agreed. “Decepticons, attack!”
This prompted Jetfire to deploy his axe, and slammed it down on the ground to dispel the flames, and allowed the Primes to counterattack. Vector tackled Thundershock, while Quintus battled against Scorchmark. Nexus and Megatronus were left to duel. As Megatronus ferociously swung his staff at Nexus, the latter responded by deflecting the strikes using his spindly panels.
“Fight back!” Megatronus sneered. “One of the demon. May you rot in the Pit with UNICRON!”
Nexus responded by grabbing Megatronus’ staff, and flipped over his brother, slamming him down to the ground. Scorchmark witnessed the move, overpowered Quintus by blasting him with a wave of flame. The follower aimed his two flamethrowers at Nexus, turned up to maximum output, and prepared to fire. Quintus recovered, and called out to Nexus to move. His brother acknowledged, and narrowly missed the potent flame blast. The blast hit Megatronus instead, singeing his face, and damaging his cranial unit. Quintus came up behind, and punched Scorchmark in the back, damaging the fuel tank that he was also carrying. As the fuel leaked, it instantly exploded, destroying Scorchmark, as well as Quintus’ arm.
Megatronus was not about to give up. He lunged at Nexus, but Jetfire blasted the Prime back, with Nexus tossing his brother’s staff straight into his abdomen, injuring Megatronus gravely. At that moment, Thundershock wanted to join in the attack, but Vector swiftly kicked him in the back, breaking his spinal unit, which made him unable to stand.
Nexus retrieved the Matrix from Megatronus, who was groveling in pain.
“Your ego knows no bounds, Megatronus.” Nexus scolded his brother. “It is not all just good and evil. There are things in between.”
Nexus then turned to Jetfire. “I am now tasking you to watch over our brother. Serve him if you will, but make sure none of his plans come into fruition.”
“And I thought I could get rid of him already.” Jetfire complained.
Vector then surrendered Thundershock to Jetfire as well. “Decide what seems fit for this vermin.”
The three Primes, carrying the Matrix, left the Harvester be, and ventured out into the desert.
“Where shall we hide this device?” Nexus asked his brothers. “In order for no one to retrieve it, and remain here to supress the demon.”
“I never imagined it would end this way.” Vector reckoned.
“What do you mean?” Quintus inquired.
“If my brief studies of the this planet’s terrain are sufficient, then the mountains should be able to hide it for the ages to come. It should be undetectable.”
“What of us?” Quintus asked. “We can’t co-exist in this planet.”
“We shall hide it ourselves.” Vector announced. “We shall hide it with our bodies. Our elemental metals will harden after we perish, so hiding it using our own bodies will protect it. The mountains shall also compliment us.”
“Sound.” Nexus agreed. “We are fulfilling our purpose as well. As Quintessa said, ‘From the Earth were you formed, to the Earth shall you return.’ ”
The three made their way to the mountains of Petra, made a large chamber into the rocks, which allowed them to surround the entire chamber. They placed the Matrix in the middle. The Primes were in a ring formation, surrounding the Matrix, symbolizing that they are the guardians of the Matrix even after their sparks are just left.
“Till all are one.” The Primes chanted.
As they chanted, they overloaded their energon core, increasing their own bodily temperature, as their metallic bodies curled. They shut their optics for the final time, and with a quick explosion, the rocks covered the bodies of the Primes, never to be found again.

 

Chapter 1
Cybertron
Megacycles have passed since Optimus Prime and the Autobots successfully fended off Quintessa from destroying the Earth, or in the eyes of the Cybertronians, their ancient enemy Unicron. It was a matter of morality for the Autobots to choose whether to bring back their home, or let Unicron live. Ultimately, the Autobots and the humans involved: Cade Yeager and Vivian Wembley; settled for a compromise to allow a part of Cybertron to be rebuilt, while keeping the Earth intact and Unicron dormant. Since then, the Autobots have been busy rebuilding their home, while Optimus Prime has gone into a self-imposed exile.
Optimus Prime settled in Cybertron’s ruins of the Acid Wastes. The seclusion and the scenery allowed him to truly reflect on what has transpired before him the past few megacycles. He needed time to set his morals straight, and clear his head of the malevolent implants. Despite the exile, he has not alienated himself from Cybertronian matters. Thanks to his officer-in-charge Bumblebee, he has been receiving transmissions giving updates on the progress.
“Crystal City has been fully rebuilt.” Bumblebee explained as Optimus watched one of his latest transmissions. “We plan on using it as our main base of operations to welcome back our brethren.”
The transmission ended, and Optimus was impressed.
“Bumblebee has truly grown.” Optimus muttered as he shut off his receiver and proceeded to his routine.
His daily routine while on exile include sword training, target practice, continuous study of the Matrix and meditation. This cycle, Optimus decided to devote his time meditating. With a clear mind, he will able to lead the Autobots once again, once he deems he is ready to return. His mental tolerances were also in need of reinforcing, as this was the weakness exploited by Quintessa. This allowed her to place Optimus under control, and almost destroy Earth.
When Optimus begins his meditation, he enters into a semi-stasis mode, meaning that he is half-deactivated to focus on his mental training, and half-activated to ward off anyone who dares threaten him. His usual meditation routine usually involves reflecting on the events stored in his memory core. He would usually comment and evaluate the decisions and actions he made in that specific event. As he scoured the event surrounding his battle with Lockdown, he noticed a persistent cloud swirling around. He set his memory aside, and approached the cloud: his inner spark or what humans might call as the conscience. As he approached it, the cloud turned into a humanoid figure that resembled Optimus himself. It was like looking at a mirror image.
“Still looking through your memories?” The inner spark asked.
“I could not help but get bothered at the recent events that transpired.” Optimus replied. “I nearly destroyed Earth, something which I had just renewed my vow to protect. It doesn’t help that Unicron is also the Earth.”
“I assure you did the right thing.” The inner spark insisted. “Life is the most important thing in this universe. Saving them both was the right thing to do.”
“But Unicron. I can feel the guilt, and the same time the surprise that I have been protecting Unicron all these megacycles.”
“It is not your right to decide who lives and who dies. I would say just leave it to the ones who really can.”
“I cannot do anything but agree.” Optimus acknowledged. “It is just the thought that my spark was in the right place bothers me the most.”

Washington, D.C
Ever since their re-establishment, NEST, or the Non-biological Extraterrestrial Special Treaty has returned to active duty. They were decommissioned when working with the Autobots was no longer authorized by the government and was replaced by a CIA-based Black Ops division known as Cemetery Wind, who illegally began taking them out, under the guise that they were taking down Decepticons. Eventually, they were exposed by Cade Yeager, and was subsequently replaced with the more government-santioned TRF, or Transformers Reaction Force. Now NEST has risen from the disbanded TRF.
NEST is led by its field leader Colonel William Lennox, with Major Santos; formerly TRF Commander, as his second-in-command. These past several years, they found themselves cleaning up the Chicago no-go zone, recovering Cybertronian refugees from around the world; and shipping them back to Cybertron. They have also been tasked to keeping a close eyes on the possible resurgence of the Decepticons who are still at large, which are Megatron, Nitro Zeus, Barricade and Onslaught. The increased presence of Energon detectors allow for greater efforts to detect the Decepticons. The detectors are also programmed not to detect Autobots.
NEST will not be complete without the Cybertronians who are assisting them. Working directly with Cybertron’s council, NEST is accompanied by Autobots who volunteered to go to Earth and help out. The NEST team’s Autobot division consist of their field leader Whirl, tactician Rook and scout Getaway. Lennox requested to Bumblebee to send some assistance their way as they continue relief operations. The Autobot officer-in-charge agreed immediately, and NEST was sent these three.
Despite their very eager demeanor, and the fact that they are volunteers, the Autobots seem difficult to work with. This is due to their history before they recently returned to Cybertron after Optimus called them back. Whirl used to be a commander during the war, before he was captured by Decepticon forces and tortured as he let his troops escape. He ended up disfigured, losing a good portion of his arms and legs. He was rebuilt into a one-eyed Cybertronian, with spindly limbs, almost mistakened as Decepticon assassin Shockwave. Frequently being mistakened for a Decepticon drove him to turn into an Energon-thirsty warrior. At the sight of a Decepticon, he will not hesitate to destroy.
Rook used to be a Wrecker alongside Leadfoot, Roadbuster and Topspin. He was eager to go to Earth, hoping to regroup with the three Wreckers. However, he soon found out that Leadfoot has been destroyed, and Roadbuster and Topspin are MIA. This soon turned him into a demotivated soldier, constantly having to be reminded of his role in the field. He also thrives on pessimism.
Getaway was a humble messenger during the days of the war. He would constantly be used to convey important messages from distant Cybertronian cities if ever communications would be hacked, intercepted or compromised. On one of his missions, he was ambushed by the Decepticon Black-Ops team the Combaticons in their gestalt form: Bruticus. For him to continue on his mission, Bumblebee and his brother-in-arms Hot Rod had to assist. Since then, he has become quite the coward.
Lennox onced asked Bumblebee, “Aren’t there any more competent Autobots?”
“Sorry, dude.” Bumblebee answered. “It’s either they have important jobs here in rebuilding or they’re dead. Rest their sparks.”
Luckily, Lennox has some help in the form of Private Izabella “Izzy” Yeager. She was an orphan adopted by Cade while going through the Chicago no-go zone several years prior. After she completed her high school education, she went on to undergo military training to fuel her adrenaline needs, and eventually work with Cybertronians; just like she did when she was with her scrap drone Sqweeks and her now-deceased guardian Canopy. She was able to befriend the three Autobots, and motivate them to work better with the NEST soldiers.
“Piss off, meat stick.” Whirl sneered at Sergeant Bayee after one of their cleanup missions. “Your division didn’t even follow your leader’s orders, and we lost the Energon supply.”
“You try being snagged by a loose wire, and being cramped for a few hours.” Bayee answered back. “I know it was a mistake, but I this is uncalled for.”
Whirl felt challenged and pulled out his chain gun, but before he could do anything else, Izzy stepped in, calming down Whirl.
“Come on, Whirl. We all make some mistakes.” Izzy called out.
“That order was clear as Cybertron during the glory days.” Whirl insisted. “How in the name of Primus do they manage to mess that up?!”
“Hey, we don’t call you out when you allow one of our targets escape. You were in charge of those right?”
Whirl silenced.
“See.” Izzy said as she assured the soldiers. “You’re no different from them.”
“Just my trauma during the war coming back.” Whirl explained as he stood up and walked off.
Moments later, a convoy led by a white Nissan GT-R Nismo entered the base. It was followed by an SUV-based Armored Personnel Carrier, and identical armored SUV’s. The vehicles scrambled around the base and into their assigned parking spaces, with their passengers exiting. Colonel Lennox and Major Santos descended from one of the SUV’s, with their team assembling out as well. As the humans gathered around their commanding officer, the Nissan and the APC changed forms. They were Getaway and Rook respectively.
“What’s up with Whirl again?” Getaway asked. “Grumpy again?”
“Deal with it.” Rook said dryly but sternly. “The bot’s gone through a lot. Can’t blame him by acting that way.”
“Don’t start, Rook.” Izzy warned. “What did I tell you about spreading pessismism here?”
“Whatever.” Rook shrugged.
“Hey, watch it!” Izzy called out feistily. “We confined you to the base last time you did this.”
“Yep, made me sit my tailpipe down.” Getaway added. “Not usual of me.”
“Alright alright.” Rook insisted.

“More Energon detectors has been set up across the city.” Lennox explained as he briefed his team. “We plan to expand these operations. We will need to split into smaller teams. Bringing in the entire team will be inefficient and conspicuous.”
“Like we aren’t conspicuous enough already.” Santos laughed.
“Seriously, guys.” Lennox contained his team’s laughter. “How about we divide the team into three, with one Autobot each.”
Collective murmurs of agreement commenced.
“For now, we plan to expand to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. I plan for Whirl to go for Los Angeles, Rook to go to Chicago and Getaway to New York.” Lennox explained. “What I need now are volunteers to go where.”
“Start calling up your families cause you’ll be gone for a few days.” Santos announced. “Colonel Lennox and I have already done so. You have ten. Move!”
The soldiers immediately stood up, and proceeded to their quarters. Izzy was among them. Before she could proceed with the other privates, Lennox called her out.
“Yes sir?” Izzy saluted.
“At ease.” Lennox chuckled. “I’ve already told Cade about this.”
“What does it matter?” Izzy assured. “I haven’t been home in months. They know that I’m in military training. They don’t have to know about this. What did he say?”
“As usual.” Lennox sad dryly. “Paranoid father. You don’t have to go though.”
“No way. I’m going.” Izzy said proudly.
“That’s what I was thinking.” Lennox laughed.
As they waited for the other soldiers to return, one of their Energon detectors went off, followed by another, and another. Lennox and Izzy rose to their feet as the sound of the blaring alarms filled the entire hangar. The technicians rushed to their stations as they scrambled to identify the source of the detection. In a no time, Santos, the NEST soldiers and the three Autobots have mobilized.
“How many?” Lennox inquired.
“One.” A technician replied. “Moving fast.”
“Getaway!” Whirl suddenly ordered. “Prepare yourself. Take the lead, while Rook and I will bring the team.”
“Keep me posted.” Getaway reminded as he immediately changed into his vehicle mode, and roared out of the hangar.
“You heard Whirl!” Santos announced. “Let’s move!”
Izzy was excited, and followed the other privates to suit up.

 

Do we know who are the Autobots and Decepticons in this one?