Victory

Shockwave received a communication from Soundwave; the instant Megatron strode off to face Prime. Having sent back all that were in need of repair, Shockwave flew from the citadel to Trypticon. Landing near the giant transformed battle station, he called to it.

“Trypticon. It is our orders to cut off the Autobots escape means.”

Trypticon obeyed, he had been slightly reprogrammed by Shockwave under Megatron’s orders. Shockwave entered Trypticon and flew toward Iacon, avoiding the battleground. Aboard Trypticon was a large army of sentinel robots that had endured the Autobot occupation. Many were run down, but nonetheless useful as guards.

They landed out side the main facility of Iacon, being seen by one of the only flying Autobots left. Sky Lynx was on his way to rejoin Prime when the monstrous Dino landed. Shockwave took control of Trypticon’s vast array of weapons and fired blast after blast right on target. It sent the Autobot crashing and on fire in to Iacon’s capital building. The Autobot didn’t move, but the crash and the resounding noise brought out many of the Autobots that had been left to guard the facility. Shockwave trained Trypticon’s weapons on them.

“You will not resist, or I shall terminate you now.” The purple Decepticon demanded. The Autobots looked up at the giant and then one another; there were only ten of them, a bold attack on Iacon was not something that the Autobots predicted. The few others that were still inside were badly in need of repairs. The only one to take a step forward was Wreck-gar; he had been put in charge of the base.

"Surrender? I don't know the meaning of the word. Now hit the road Jack or else I will have to call a penalty, lay the smack down on you and send you flying, BANG, ZOOM to the moon. Offer expires while you wait." Wreck-gar told Shockwave.

Shockwave cocked his head at the Junkion, trying to compute the response he had just got. Nothing computed to his logic circuits, and he had not the time to wait any longer.

“I repeat do not resist, or I shall terminate you all.” Shockwave announced.

Wreck-gar shook his head in a negative manner.

"Damn your Vulcan logic, we will continue to provide quality programming for years to come, and that's the bottom line because Wreck-gar said so. I pity the poor fool that messes with me, you dig?"

Just as the red and gray Autobot had finished his answer Perceptor came out looking to see what was taking so long, he had needed help on Ultra Magnus’ repairs. Hearing Wreck-gar speak, and instantly translating the meaning Perceptor saw Trypticon.

“I have no time to deal with your annoying fleshling speak.” Shockwave said back. The door on Trypticon’s chest started to lower.

“What my associate’s aphorism is we will not capitulate.” Perceptor answered.

Finally finding an answer he could understand Shockwave commanded the sentinels to attack via Trypticon’s radio. Down the front ramp of the great Dino came the sentinels, as instructed they hovered on both sides of the Autobot group.

“Trypticon destroy them!” Shockwave then insisted. The giant took a step forward as the Autobots open fired on him. Near the same time the sentinels fired back keeping the Autobots pinned down. With a massive shudder half of the Autobots where pulverized in to oblivion, under the great beast.

“Wreck-gar we are required to safeguard Iacon!” Perceptor shouted.

“Well that’s just Prime, there is no escape, away go his troubles down the drain!” Wreck-gar said back, as Trypticon’s other foot fell and the Autobot’s defense of Iacon was literally crushed. The sentinels stood down after scanning the remains of the ex-Autobots. Shockwave emerged from Trypticon and walked boldly right in to Iacon a squad of sentinels following.

As the three Decepticon leaders walked a pile of rubble shifted and a green Autobot stood up. He prepared his blade and jumped in to the air taking aim at the leader. Sixshot moved quickly in to the way of the blade as Springer came down on him. The blade pierced Sixshot’s armor at the shoulder and stuck there tightly. Sixshot jolted right and Springer was left unarmed. Megatron looked at the interference, but paid no mind as he continued to search for the Autobot leader. Springer stepped back and grabbed his other blade and took a fighting stance in front of the six changer.

“You wan to duel do you?” Sixshot asked comically.

“Come on you Decepticon scum.” Springer growled.

“As you wish Autobot.” Sixshot answered then pulled Springer’s blade from his shoulder, and took and offensive stance. “There is nothing I like better then a good fight.” He told the green triple changer. Springer crouched slightly then jumped again, Sixshot held the blade out and blocked as both were showered with sparks when the to blades clashed. Sixshot thrust his new blade up throwing Springer back; he then swung one handed at the Autobot. Springer blocked quickly, but Sixshot’s power was astonishing, it nearly blew the blade from his hands. Sixshot pressed again swinging down on Springer, who twisted the blade and moved one hand out on to the blade to block. Springer had not expected such power from Sixshot as the force pushed him down on to a knee. Sixshot cracked a half smile.

“This isn’t a challenge, I thought that you might have some spirit. Apparently I was wrong.”

The other two commanding Decepticons paid no more attention to the slight squabble as they walked through mounting debris. Megatron fired his cannon clearing some rubble to make a path. The combiners had tore the entire area up and there was nothing left of what would have been called streets. The blast went through a wall of a near by building, and after the smoke and dust cleared Optimus Prime stepped out.

“I will not let you take Cybertron, Megatron.” The Autobot leader walked forward holding his own blaster.

“It is too late. I have already won.” Megatron stood there arrogant as usual.

“You do not have Unicron to save you this time.” Prime’s anger was showing through.

“Save me? Bah! That existence was a torment, but this, this shall be my triumph!” Megatron aimed his cannon at Prime; there would be no mistakes this time. He powered the cannon and fired its fuchsia bolt on target. Prime took the hit, which resulted in a slight burn, and then fired back with his own rifle.

In the shadow of the crack Blaster heard the conversation between the two leaders. He assumed that Soundwave was with him as he could feel the jamming signal coming from him. He transformed quietly and hid in the debris to get a look at what the scene was. Sure enough Soundwave had stepped behind a partial wall to gain cover from Prime’s rifle. He kept low and tried to remain as quiet as possible.

Soundwave had his sensors on full, listening for the slightest noise that could be a threat. He stood near a wall watching for the moment, he had a plan. There would be no mistakes this time, he would be sure of that. A piece of debris shifted but his audios picked it up as an abnormality. He focused his attention to the area of the shift, relaying silent orders to his cassettes. Silently the door on his chest opened and his two condors flew out, transforming and climbing in to the air, their sensors reporting to Soundwave as if they were his own. They circled and widened the area with each pass, scanning every detail as much as possible. Blaster tried to reflect the sensors by repeating the echo pattern, but it failed. The instant that Buzzsaw’s scanner found the Autobot, Soundwave knew.

Shockwave walked through Iacon uninterrupted; he followed the memory file that held an old map the entire structure. He gained details as to where things were located. He walked right in to the repair bay and to the monitors that relayed Ultra Magnus’ condition. He scanned the Autobot himself; there were many wounds a few potentially fatal. Cyclonus had indeed got the better of him. He looked at the monitors again. The one at his left was sustaining the Autobot, he grabbed the cords as yanked them from Magnus’ chassis. The other monitors started to go crazy, as Magnus’ malfunctioning systems couldn’t compensate for the lack of the machine. Sparks began to fly as gears tried to restart the failing systems. Shockwave stood there as fire started in the Autobot, and then it quickly died. Magnus systems were no longer running, slowly Magnus’ signs on the far monitor faded, and started to flat line. The purple Decepticon stood there a moment longer, over seeing the demise of the once proud military leader. His orders where to clear Iacon and dispose of any threats, he left the repair bay to head for the command center.

Megatron swiftly moved and dodged Prime’s shot.

“Come now Prime I thought they had rebuilt you better than that.” Megatron started to close the distance between them. “I am taking Cybertron as my first step to conquest of the universe, and I shall destroy you in the process.” Megatron open fired again, this time burning a hole in Prime’s shoulder.

Optimus clutched his shoulder, a little surprised. “ I can not allow that Megatron.” He answered back. He fired his rifle again hitting his target, but it had no effect.

Megatron continued to close the distance between then as his cannon charged again. He aimed to fire again, as his foe looked for cover. Prime ducked behind a pile of rubble that rested against an old wall. Megatron did not fire, he had decided that it was too much fun to see his arch nemesis hide from him. Slowly he came to the corner of the wall where Prime had hid, the Autobot was gone, his sensors not reading a signature. He turned the corner and faced the red and blue robot. Megatron stretched out with his left hand grabbing the Autobot’s hand and twisting around throwing Prime across the newly created path and in to a heap of wreckage. The impact did more damage to the ruins than to Prime; he rose slowly shaken by the toss. Megatron wasted no time as he took aim and fired at Prime again. The Autobot leaped just out of the way, as the heap exploded behind him. He had just enough time to gather his strength and near in on the Decepticon leader, he launched a left fist at his foe. Megatron blocked the blow easily, as he countered with his own. His right fist connected with Prime’s chin, leaving the famous faceplate cracked and missing apiece. Thus far Megatron and been undamaged save for a dent in the cannon.

Soundwave stood still watching the two leaders battle, his sensors trained on his Autobot rival. He enjoyed knowing that the Autobot had no information to his knowledge of his presence. His two condors circled the area in shifts each one sending back new information, at each pass. He laughed slightly to himself knowing there was no way for Blaster to pick up the telepathic link. The Autobot was tracked moving gradually up from behind him, Soundwave was ready.

Blaster noticed the flying cassettes, but they had a set search pattern that he thought he had avoided. He had been able to sneak through a few places that had hid him totally, as he neared his objective. He found a spot where he was again hidden entirely, and as quietly as possible ejected the four Autobots with in him. He had relayed the information of his plans to them via internal link, before they had been called upon. They now took spots at the wall nearest to the Decepticon in question. Their orders were simple; do not engage Soundwave, only the cassettes. Blaster neared the entrance where he came into the structure and watched as the condors circled. He timed his exit as they had been flying away; he walked his back against the building as the Decepticon communicator came in to view.

Springer rolled to his left and jumped up to confront the larger Decepticon again. Sixshot strode over, lingering over Springer. He raised the blade over his head, and quickly came down. In a bright flash of white hot sparks and brilliant colored energon, the blade broke through Springer's defense and down through his chassis nearly half way. Sparks and flames erupted from the Autobot as it fell forward at the feet of the bulky Decepticon. He looked at the mess, and scoffed loudly.

“It was hardly a challenge.” He said as he walked in the direction, which his commander left. He took only a few steps, and his communicator crackled.

“Sixshot. This is Cyclonus, return to the front line.”

“Understood.” The six-changer growled. He did another sensor sweep to clear the area, then transformed and flew out.

Megatron approached Prime as the Autobot made an attempt to get up. He kicked Prime forcing the Autobot to turn over and shattering the glass of his chest. Energon began to flow from tubing that had been cut. He raised his foot to issue another kick, this time though, Prime blocked it, using the momentum to help him get to his feet.

“This has to stop Megatron.”

“Oh I assure you it will, but you shall not be there to see it.” Megatron swung his fist-hitting Prime on the battle mask again. The mask fell to the ground, and energon trickled from Prime’s lip. The Autobot leader took a step back, and wiped his face.

“While there is an Autobot functioning we will stop you.”

“I see it is time for the hero speech. Not today.”

Megatron powered the cannon again blasting Optimus in the thigh. With a great crash Prime fell to the ground unable to stand. Megatron closed the distance slowly.

Shockwave entered the command center; he took note of all the consoles, and their various operations. Once at the communications station he announced the task complete, radioing his citadel, as well as Dark Mount. He then set about reprogramming the weapons console to recognize Deceptions as allies.

Blaster waited for the circling condors to be heading away then rushed out of the shadows to challenge the other communications expert. At the hint of movement the two flying cassettes aimed themselves at the offending Autobot, and unleashed their most powerful weapons. Two of the shots hit Blaster on the back before Rewind and Eject could cover him. The two Autobot cassettes came from their hiding place and met their opposition in the air. Soundwave turned to face his attacker, and ejected Rumble, Frenzy, as well as the now conscious Ravage. Blaster stumbled, from the impact on his back but gained his balance just out of reach of Soundwave’s small army. Steeljaw and Ramhorn came to his side, ready to take on the Decepticon cassettes.

The weight of the Autobots forced the condors out of the air. The attempt to dislodge their attackers was futile, nearing the ground at a high velocity they transformed in to the smaller cassette form displacing the Autobots, and letting them fall further to the ground. Once free the cassette birds transformed again, they forced their thrusters hard to correct the fall. Laserbeak pulled out and flew off in the air heading to Soundwave. Buzzsaw’s powered his thrusters until they were at full throttle, but the time was too short, and a large up thrusted piece of debris blocked his assent. He crashed and fell to the metallic ground below. Inside Soundwave flinched; on the outside no emotion was displayed at all. The Autobot cassettes hit the ground and lightening played across their chassis’ with the impending Stasis lock.

Ravage pounced first jumping at Steeljaw. Ramhorn however was not having that as the black cat stretched out in the air he ran in and thrusted his horn in to the midsection of the small Decepticon. Ravage hung in the air a moment, and then with the release of Ramhorn he fell to the ground, a large hole and energon leaking.

Rumble took the distraction to do what he did best; he transformed his arms in to the pile drivers and began to shake everything. The two larger robots were less affected, but the Autobot cassettes could not compensate. Frenzy countered Rumble with his own vibrations and slowly neared the Autobots. With every step he increased the frequency to further make it impossible for the Autobots to move.

Blaster had a hard time trying to counter the alternating vibrations; his own vibro-emitter was the only thing keeping him from meeting the ground. He took a deliberate step forward noticing that he was not the center of the enemy cassettes attention. He quickly looked around and Soundwave had disappeared, he knew with all the noise there was no way to track the devious communications officer. Then he had an idea, he raised his hand, and then with a great swing sent Frenzy flying in to a wall. Under that he found Ramhorn nothing more than a cold shell. Blaster set his sights on Rumble. It was not as hard to counter the one vibration now as it had been two, allowing Blaster to close in on Rumble quicker. Steeljaw growled loudly making Blaster turn to see why. Soundwave had returned and he worn an odd look (for him) on his face. With out an audio contact Rumble stopped, and Soundwave said nothing, there was no need to speak. Blaster knew what Soundwave had done the instant that he saw him again.

“No.. “ Blaster whispered. Soundwave moved his right navy hand to his waste where the buttons for his cassette deck lay. “No stop don’t!” Blaster pleaded. Soundwave didn’t bother to listen, he pressed the record button. A high-pitched squeal only muffled from Soundwave’s armor rang out forcing Blaster to flinch and Rumble to grab his audios. Blaster stumbled forward, Soundwave countered by increasing the pain to Eject, as a result the scream coming from the communications officer also increased. Behind him Rumble fell to his knees clutching his head. The Autobot stopped, he was puzzled, he knew many things about Soundwave but this little trick was new.

“What do you want?” The red and gray Autobot managed to get over the noise.

Soundwave lowered his volume. “Your termination.” He answered.

“Why? Dude what is the point?“

Soundwave let a moment pass before answering. “We endure by not leaving inaccuracies behind.” Rumble took his cue and jumped onto Blaster injecting him with a vile of brown liquid. Blaster’s face contorted in to a misshapen look, then fell to the ground as his optics darkened. Steeljaw looked at the Decepticons that now out numbered him, then bounded off and away. Once the Autobot was done Rumble immediately ran to Frenzy and assessed his damage. He couldn’t really find much, so he removed a piece of his brother’s armor and restarted his twins systems. Frenzy jolted, and then his optics came on brightly.

“What happened?”

“You got hit again, go figure.”

Frenzy looked around. “I missed the whole thing.”

“Yeah, but there wasn’t much to it. Come on we gotta find Buzzsaw.” With out another word the two set off in the direction the condor had crashed.

Soundwave stood there staring at what looked like a lifeless Autobot, he knew as did Rumble that it was a suspended animation. He opened his chest door and removed the foreign cassette; the torture had been too much for the Autobot and it had gone in to stasis lock.

“Soundwave I have secured Iacon. Inform Megatron I await new orders.” Shockwave sent the communication directly to him.

“Understood.” Soundwave answered. He then switched frequencies.

“Cyclonus. Commence capture of Iacon.”

“Yes Soundwave.” Cyclonus answered.

Megatron received a tight beam communication from Soundwave as a report; the attack had gone better than planned.

“This is the last time Optimus Prime. Cybertron is now mine.” He took aim and fired, completely obliterating Prime’s left shoulder. The Autobot leader took the advantage and grabbed the end of the cannon, pulling himself up and Megatron down in the process.

“I will not let you claim a free planet.”

“So there is still fight within you.”

“It will take more than you to take over, Megatron.”

“All I need is right here.” Megatron jumped from the ground and tackled Prime to the floor, his cannon becoming dislodged. Prime kicked out sending Megatron off into a pile of rubble. Near him on the ground was the cannon, he slid himself to it and picked it up. Megatron had already got to his feet and was coming back to rejoin the battle. Prime fired the cannon at its owner. Megatron was struck in the midsection, but it didn’t faze him, as he continued to close the distance. Prime fired again, this time it was too late, Megatron kicked the aim of the weapon and it fired in to the sky, as it flew out of Prime’s hands. He then kicked the Autobot who rolled from the force. Prime’s movements began to slow as his energy level started to drop below fifty percent. Energon was leaking from various places and new leaks were starting to appear. Megatron kicked him again, this time aiming for a more hurtful area, Prime’s shattered chest. The Autobot was thrown in to a semi sitting position on a pile of rubble. He coughed, and energon forced its way out of his mouth and on to the ground. Megatron recovered his cannon and approached Prime.

“No more talk, this ends now.” He held the cannon level with Prime’s chest, charging it to its fullest. He could feel his own power being pulled to the weapon, and as he weakened he knew he had finally won. The tip of the cannon began to buzz with arcs of fuchsia energy and the area in front of it began to glow. He released the bolt and as the scorching power exploded out a tail came from the rear of the cannon as well. Prime did not move, there was nothing to do, the shot hit him and everything went white. The plasma ate in to what was left of his chest armor then in to the fine-tuned mechanics that enabled Prime to function. The heat melted everything and scorched Megatron where he stood. He raised his hand to only see a bright white light and a crater where his foe had been. In an instant the light was gone and a mammoth fireball took its place. Megatron was blown back and off his feet, he forced himself up to see what had taken place. As he looked the crater had got larger and heat the emitted from the area was near unbearable. His own systems taxed from the blast as well as the fueling of the cannon, he slowly pressed on. Prime was gone, but as he looked he found pieces of him lying around, blue here and even some red there. At the bottom of the pit there was a small gold and silver object, Megatron inspected it, and a memory belonging to Galvatron surfaced. The Matrix was an Autobot emblem of wisdom and leadership. He chuckled for an instant; this heirloom was the only thing left of the great Optimus Prime. He left the crater and headed to where he had last saw Soundwave.

Starscream circled again, after seeing the white light and then the fireball. He had commanded Skywarp to carry Thundercracker to the citadel, but the others remained with him.

“Starscream to Cyclonus what is the status?”

“Soundwave has ordered the army on to Iacon.” The transmission was crystal clear.

“Excellent. I will converge on your position and take command from there.”

“Yes Commander Starscream.”

Starscream then contacted Soundwave. “Soundwave what is Megatron’s status?”

There was a long pause before the communications officer answered. “Functional.”

A bit of relief came over Starscream as he neared Cyclonus. “We will join you shortly.”

“Affirmative.” Soundwave answered.

“Scourge. Return to the main fleet. I believe the battle has been won.” Cyclonus told the hovercraft.

“Good, then we can get back to collecting energon.” Scourge cut off the communications and transformed, those with him just followed by example.

Starscream transformed and landed just to the left of Cyclonus. “We will need to repair those who have been damaged.” Cyclonus spoke first.

“Yes however our orders are to take Iacon. So we shall take then with us. Start with the combiners, if anything comes up we will need them.” Starscream turned to the giant that stood motionless in the battlefield. “Bruticus!” the combiner turned to see him. “Forward! today we retake Cybertron!” Bruticus lifted his large leg and took the first step.

Soundwave closed the top of Blaster’s head his work was done, as his cassettes rounded up their brethren. Megatron stopped just short of him.

“What is this?”

“An ally.” Soundwave responded.

Megatron stood silently thinking, then held the Autobot relic up. Soundwave looked at the tarnished item then stood. “Iacon has been taken.”

“Good. How many Autobots remain?”

“Unknown.”

“Very well, what were the.” Megatron’s question was interrupted by Bruticus lumbering pass them on direct course for Iacon.

“Starscream approaches.” Soundwave informed. A few clicks later Starscream follow by Cyclonus and the rest of the army marched their way to where Megatron and Soundwave stood.

There was an eerie silence as they waited for Megatron to speak.

“Decepticons, the war is over, we have triumphed!” he held the matrix high for all of them to see. A great cheer came from those around, and then it quieted quickly. “Our next task will be to rebuild Cybertron.”

The Retun of Megatron!