Earth:

Swoop couldn’t see, he thought it was because his eyes were missing. His pump raced, he’d had nightmares about this, finding himself devoid of vision, robbed of a vital tool in flying. And of course, Slag would make fun of him.
His head hurt, blotches of his memory felt scattered, as if someone shuffled his recollections like cards and shoved them back in his head.
“Graaaaw!” he croaked, hearing his own metal clank and squeak as his wings rose. He realized he was still in his pteradon form, on his back, and his neck hurt. Why was that? If he still had his eyes he could look and see what had happened when-
His memory cleared, the fight with the stupid GoBot returned in a burst. He was under attack!
“GRAwwwwk!” he was on his feet and realized his eyes weren’t missing at all, the night sky stretched above him, black and starless. He snorted and shook his head, wincing at the pain and looking around. The Super-GoBot body Leader-1 combined with was gone despite having its head ripped off. Swoop looked around and saw no sign of the gray GoBot he fought with Optimus, he must hav-
“Optimus!”
He tried to transform and stopped when a searing pain erupted from his back. He gasped, halted, then waddled awkwardly forward, searching the rocky terrain. Now he was really glad Slag wasn’t here, he’d have a field day. A flicker caught his eye, and he moved towards a shape that became more visible against the shadowed piled of stone.
“Optimus?”
Red smoke crawled from a jagged break in his upper beak, and Swoop lost consciousness.

****************
Cybertron:

“We tried to pursue, but he shot at us!” one of the Sweeps landed beside Cyclonus, one of his wings still smoking. “He hasn’t done that for years!”
“So we don’t know where great Galvatron has gone.” Cyclonus folded his arms and looked up at the sky. “I should go myself.”
“Like slag you are.” Scourge limped to his side, a thin rod attached to a makeshift foot replaced the lower half of the leg he lost to Cop-Tor. He grimaced and looked around. DarkOre Central looked like someone dropped a hammer on it, and the central tower was now a giant pile of rubble. Cyclonus took in the damage, his anger growing with every new detail he noticed. Not only had the Insecticons polluted one of their energon pools, they had fallen under the Renegade Vamp’s influence and contributed to the defeat of a guardian robot. Trypticon’s battle with the Thruster transports had leveled almost a third of the buildings in the city alone. He hadn’t seen the far side of the metropolis, but reports were flooding in, confirming Devastator’s involvement in a few major destructions while fighting the rampaging Zods.
Cyclonus walked down the street leading towards what used to be DarkOre Tower. He passed the Combaticons and saw Vortex and Swindle were still unconscious, Onslaught’s chest was a mess of torn metal and wires. A crackling transmission told him someone found Thrust-without his head. Many, living or dead, were still unaccounted for. He caught sight of Shockwave, he stood at the highest point of the former tower’s debris, his single eye bright against the dark sky. Soundwave stood beside him, a cluster of Decepticons gathered at the foot of the rubble. Cyclonus neared the pile, scaled it, and stood opposite Shockwave.
“What’s our current situation?”
Shockwave pointed towards the gathering Decepticons. “Under normal circumstances, the post-battle rush would have faded and been replaced by weariness and possible fear by now. We have no time for either. I’ve sent a priority request for any and all Decepticons able to fight to gather here for further orders.”
“I see.” Cyclonus looked at Soundwave, then back to Shockwave, “Galvatron does not seem to want to return.”
Shockwave swiveled his head towards Cyclonus, “That is unfortunate, he would have been the most effective leader for the assault.”
“Assault?”
Shockwave indicated a large Decepticon vessel landing, black and purple, armed to the teeth. It reminded Cyclonus of the battleships he had seen the humans use, only, this one could fly. “The Renegades cannot be allowed to return to Gobotron. Safe arrival on their homeworld will mark a very possible end of ours. I had hoped to use Trypticon to pursue, but unfortunately he has been… uncooperative. He is still itching to fight anyone, which unfortunately includes our technicians. Repairs to his flight systems will not be completed in sufficient time.”
“The Stunitcons, they-”
“Turned on the Combaticons.”
“You don’t sound concerned.”
“They were not unforeseen defectors. The Renegades reminded them of themselves. When forced to choose between them and the Combaticons, a group they have a well-known, and well documented hatred for since their first encounter...” he almost shrugged, “The situation all but demanded they abdicate their allegiance.”
“You’re kidding.”
“It makes perfect, logical sense. Like attracts like.” His eye flashed, “However, they will, of course, be dealt with accordingly.”
“Who do you propose lead this assault? Why not yourself?”
“The preservation of Cybertron is first and foremost. I am needed most here, in case Unicron does indeed come for our world. However, I was told during the battle that another of our ranks was found on the edge of the city. Repairs had to be rushed and… improvised, but have gone better than expected.”
“Who else besides Galvatron and yourself is capable of leading the Decepticons?”
“As if you have to ask!”
Cyclonus whipped his head skyward and felt his jaw drop. Starscream hovered above them, his thrusters cutting their stream and he dropped, landing next to Cyclonus with a sour look on his face. Cyclonus looked the Decepticon over, the repairs couldn’t hide the substantial scarring across his body. He realized the color of Starscream’s forearms were different, closer to black than blue, his wings now had an inverted color scheme, mostly red with white highlights. Shockwave said the repairs had been improvised, and now he took his meaning. Parts of Seeker soldiers lost in battle had been harvested and used as replacement parts. Starscream’s helmet, particularly the forehead region, was missing pieces of metal, various nicks and cuts lashed across the surface. A crudely filled hole marred the center of his forehead.
“You!” Cyclonus barked.
“Yes, me!” Starscream’s eyes narrowed, the edges thick with a black lining caused from excess energy searing his eye sockets.
“This is nonsense, you abandoned us on Earth!”
“I was captured you fool!” he jabbed a finger on Cyclonus’ chest, “And not one of you thought to come looking for me!” He balled his hands into fists, “Do you have any idea what I went through?! What they DID to me?!” His eyes grew large, “They did this!” He poked the filled hole in his forehead, “Then they strapped me to a generator and turned me into a battery!”
“So it’s your fault the tower was disabled so early in their attack.”
“That isn’t the point!”
“As you can see,” Shockwave cut in, “Starscream is functional, and more than willing to spearhead this mission.”
“He’s not capable, he’s just mad at the Renegades!”
Shockwave almost shrugged again. “That will be sufficient motivation for the time being.” He stretched a hand towards the gathered Decepticons. “Fellow Decepticons, today we have felt the brute force of the Renegades. It is time to show them the true might of the Decepticons. With Galvatron currently… deposed, your seek and destroy mission will be led by Starscream.”
“Stop wasting time!” Starscream stepped in front of Shockwave, pointing towards the war vessel. “Anyone who can walk and fire a gun, get on the ship! We’re going Renegade hunting!” He transformed and flew towards the vessel, visibly veering to avoid the Predacons and Terrorcons as they boarded. The Constructicons followed, joined by the Sweeps. Shockwave tilted his head towards Soundwave. “The illusion of power is sometimes the best motivator. Keep me informed of every action he takes. If he does anything to jeopardize the mission…”
“Understood.” Soundwave raised a hand and locked his shoulder cannon in place. It spun once, reloading. Shockwave turned his eye towards Cyclonus.
“Satisfactory?”
Cyclonus holstered his own gun, “Very.”
He transformed with a grimace, then flew aboard the battleship.

****************
Metroplex:

“I’m going after him.” Elita made for the nearest exit and found Jazz blocking her way.
“Move.” She growled.
“Not happening Elita.”
“He said he would come back to Metroplex if things got out of hand! Something’s wrong, we should be looking for him!”
“What do you think we’ve been doing?” Jazz cast a finger towards Blaster. He sat at Metroplex’s control panel, a large map of the immediate area displayed on his screen. A dozen squares danced over various locations, zooming in, scanning, abandoning the search if it revealed nothing, then moved on to another section of the map.
“He’s out there, and we’ll find him, but we ain’t scattering in the middle of the night. Not when we don’t know if all the Guardians are gone.” He looked over the map, “I’m still not sure I should have sent Hound and Mirage out there, heck I ain’t even sure I should have let Skylynx search.” Jazz tapped a finger against his chin, he hated the thought of any of the Autobots having to encounter one of those Command Centers. Elita still stared at him, he sighed.
“We’re all worried about Prime, Elita.”
“Don’t handle me Jazz.” She left the room, storming past Grimlock and Roadbuster. Jazz groaned, steeling himself for the inevitable
“Where Swoop?”
“With Prime, we hope.” He checked the map again. Less than an hour ago they had been in high spirits, congratulating each other on a job well done. The fact that the GoBots had purposely left, coupled with them nuking their own headquarters, cast a bitter pill into their moods, but a battle won was a step in the right direction. It wasn’t until they reached Metroplex that things fell apart; Optimus Prime had not returned. There was speculation, none of it positive. No one could deny the possibility of this whole thing being a plan to take Prime out completely, leaving them without a leader or direction. Considering none of them knew what the GoBots could be planning, they couldn’t dismiss the possibility.
Cosmos was no help, he remained on the topmost section of Metroplex’s tower staring into space. When they called to him, he either didn’t hear them, or simply refused to answer. Jazz was fairly certain it was the latter, as he had been the most vocal against feeding Pathfinder false information, and became even more withdraw than usual after the decision had been made. Jazz knew the bot had developed some kind of relationship with the Guardian, but now he was beginning to worry about him.
“If Swoop with Prime, then where Prime?!”
“We’re flyin blind right now Grimlock, we don’t know where-”
“Skylynx returns.” Metroplex announced.
Jazz and Grimlock immediately brought their eyes to the monitor, watching Skylynx soar toward Metroplex, his feline legs deployed. He was grasping something in each.

---------------------

Silverbolt and the Aerialbots continued circling Metroplex, their scanners crawling over the immediate area. Jazz requested they stay close, fearing possible retaliation from the GoBots or UNECOM. Silverbolt saw Skylynx approaching quietly, which he found odd considering how much the high-ranking Autotbot loved to announce his arrival to anyone who would listen. Instead he drifted forward, silent. Silverbolt transformed and dropped onto Metroplex’s landing pad, motioning for the others to do the same. He looked up as Skylynx descended, landing carefully on his hind legs, then slowly, with great control, lowered his front legs to the ground and placed two forms gently on the ground.
Swoop was still in his pteradon form, a crumpled, concave dent pushing into the upper half of his back. His beak was cracked, a red, continuous cloud of smoke spurted from the damaged area and drifted towards them.
“ Primus.” Silverbolt whispered. He looked closer and noticed Skylynx hadn’t fully removed his claw from around Optimus. He looked at the Aerialbots and lowered his head closer than they were used to. It made them uncomfortable.
“I want to you to steel yourselves for this.”
He unfurled his claw, allowing Prime to slide to the ground and onto his back. The chorus of gasps was expected. Optimus looked like he had been put through the ringer, his face mask was dented, his body covered in energy burns. But his chest… What remained of the front panels hung on drooping angles, small glass teeth jutted from the frames, exposing a wide display of Prime’s inner workings.
The matrix was missing.
The Aerialbots just stared, unable to move.
“Stop gawking and get them inside!” Skylnx snapped, already pacing from foot to foot as First Aid and Perceptor rushed from Metroplex and neared the fallen bots.
First Aid leaned close to Prime to perform a quick diagnostic and gasped, bringing a hand to the mask over his mouth.
“This is bad, this is real bad.”
He reached for Prime’s chest and almost screamed when Optimus’ hands suddenly shot up and grabbed him by the wrists. Prime’s eyes flashed violently, First Aid felt the much larger bot’s fingers digging into his metal.
“Optimus,” he tried to pull away and couldn’t, “it’s me, First Aid!”
The words didn’t register, Prime’s eyes narrowed, the damage in his chest spat a wave of sparks onto First Aid’s arms. He glared at First Aid, then halted and let go. His eyes dimmed, he brought his hands to his head and gripped his helmet with a harsh, pained sound as he tried to stand.
“Optimus!” Silverbolt ran to his side and saw Jazz, Elita, and Grimlock exiting Metroplex. Perceptor looked up from Swoop, “That’s incredible, he shouldn’t be able to stand, much less-”
“Where’s Swoop? How long… have I been…out?” Prime managed, trying to pull free of Silverbolt and stand on his own. His legs shuddered and he almost collapsed, Jazz scooted under him and wrapped Prime’s arm around his shoulder.
“Easy Optimus, I gotcha… kinda…” They stood still, Prime was silent, eyes barely glowing in the darkness. Elita came close, taking in the damage.
“Optimus, what happened?”
“No time for that right now, we have to get him inside and repaired.” First Aid tried his best to do a quick scan of Optimus as he stood between Jazz and Silverbolt. More Autobots were filing onto the landing deck, soon a crowd gathered around Optimus exchanging gasps and hushed chatter.
“No.” Optimus eased his arms from around his comrades and managed to keep his balance. He closed his chest panels, squeezing the center line enough to secure them shut. He looked up and saw a majority of the Autobots almost filling the landing pad. “Autobots, we are officially out of time.” He paused, then, “Leader-1… has the matrix.”
Gasps and angry whispers grew into shouts.
Grimlock and the Dinobots growled beside Swoop. “Me Grimlock bash GoBot brains!” he roared and stomped his foot, causing the Autobots near him to lose their balance. Prime held up a hand.
“Skylynx, prepare to follow. It’s time we took the fight to them for a change.”
“Optimus, wait,” Mirage stepped forward, “You’re not seriously saying we go after them, to Gobotron?”
“He has the matrix.” Prime leaned close, his voice dropping a notch, “He has… the matrix.” He stood and cast a glance about the ranks.
“They’ve taken the matrix, they’ve taken away the peace we’ve fought so hard to achieve. We’ve lost control of this conflict.”
They were silent.
“I say we take it back.”
The Autobots shouted their approval.
“We’re leaving-now.” He gestured towards Skylynx, “Everyone aboard Skylynx.” He saw a large figure standing beside Metroplex, silhouetted in the moonlight. “Omega Supreme, transform! We’re going to Gobotron.”

****************
???????????:

Zeemon dangled from Unicron’s titanic claw, only blackness and the blood red metal of the dark god’s body visible.
“You understand now, do you not? I am personally responsible for uniting both Guardian and Renegade. ”
Zeemon let go, fell a short distance before hitting what felt like the ground. Wincing, he managed to stand.
“That’s impossible.”
“I have done what all your councils and wars could not. Global unification. ”
“LIAR!!”
“Do I?”
Zeemon saw it, saw the destruction of Iacon, the fall of DarkOre Tower reflected in Unicron’s black, empty face. He felt sick, sinking to his knees.
“You see? They work together. ”
“But not side by side.”
“That is irrelevant. Blane has vanquished the most powerful city on Cybertron, and as we speak, Leader-1 holds the matrix. Something I no longer need concern myself with as long as it remains in his possession. Two leaders, both serve my wishes, seek my betterment. And soon, little Zeemon, so shall you. ”

*************
Skylynx:

Prime collapsed in his chair, it creaked under his weight. It felt good to sit down, every ounce of his body ached and protested movement. His mind clicked off the preparations made on Earth. Bumblebee and Spike remained behind, much to their chagrin, to investigate the strange actions of the FBI during their battle at UNECOM. Ultra Magnus was ordered to stay despite his objections. Beachcomber had been contacted and charged with the task of finding a way to handle Magnus’ poisoning. If there was an Earth based anti-venom, he would certainly find it. The wounded were left within Metroplex, tended to by various repair bots. Prime knew they would be upset, particularly Ironhide, that he went without them, but he refused to chance losing any more troops in this conflict.
He felt Elita’s fingers wrap around his hand, as well as Perceptor checking the connections in his neck. The repairs to his body were nearing completion, staggered by his refusal to sit still long enough for neither Perceptor or First Aid to make any consistent headway. But he couldn’t, there was so much to do. The Aerialbots, Technobots, and the now active Protectobots had their orders for when they reached planetside. Grimlock and the Dinobots insisted on leading a pre-emptive strike-and he agreed. When they touched down on Gobotron, the Dinobots would be the first to meet the natives.
The plan was simple-root Leader-1 out by any means. With the matrix now in his possession, there was nothing that could stop what Unicron had in mind for their world. He wanted to believe Leader-1 still had the moral fiber he sensed in him when they first met, but after all the lies, all the pain, it was clear where he stood. Prime lowered his head.
“I should have known, the matrix warned me!”
“Optimus, it’s not like you handed it over to Leader-1.” Hot Rod looked at the remaining wounds marring Prime’s frame, “That’s pretty obvious to all of us.”
“How is Swoop?”
“Grouchy.”
“Good, he’ll need to be itching for a fight when we reach Gobotron.”
“Optimus, what exactly is our plan? I mean, they’ve got to be expecting us to follow.”
“The plan…” Optimus shifted his shoulders, the gear ground a moment, popping loudly before settling into place, “We kick up enough of Gobotron to force Leader-1 to come to us. We re-acquire the matrix, then put an end to this madness.” He sighed. “I admit, I expect it to be much more difficult than it sounds, but at this point, that is our only option.”
“ Prime…” Elita placed a hand on his arm and felt him tense, “Optimus, I want another crack at them too, but… maybe this has gotten too personal.”
He glanced at her.
“You’re not at a hundred percent, and I think…” she hesitated, “I think Leader-1’s gotten to you.”
“He did get to me Elita, because I was foolish enough to let him. And now Iacon has been destroyed, Autobots have been killed, and the matrix is in their possession.”
He stood abruptly. “It’s past time to put things right.”
He took a few steps and stood in the doorway, gripping the frame. “The last time I was without the matrix was when I was dead. If Leader-1 wants to keep it, he’s going to have to kill me.”

****************
Decepticon Warship:

Starscream stood at the bridge of the Decepticon battleship. His fists rested on his hips, he looked over the Decepticons gathered at their control panels, some clustered and discussing the Stunticons’ betrayal. Others remained in their respective groups, waiting.
It was strange being able to have uninhibited thoughts. Since his encounter with the Renegade scientist, Starscream’s memories had been sketchy at best, but the recollection of being devoured by the Terrorcons and Predacons seemed like a distant, fading dream beyond his reach. He soon forgot it altogether, remembering only that he hated being under Galvatron’s heel. But right now, revenge was at the forefront of his mind.
“Starscream,” Blitzwing called, “It’s Prime.”
“Optimus Prime?” Starscream spat the name, “What does he want?”
“Ask him yourself.”
Starscream saw Prime’s face broadcast on the large central screen of the bridge.
“I need to speak to Galvatron.”
“Galvatron?!” Starscream’s voice sounded more wounded than he intended.
Prime said nothing, his eyes piercing.
Starscream made a distasteful click in the back of his throat, “Not only did that good for nothing, excuse for a Decepticon fail to stop DarkOre from getting hammered, he flew off and left us! As far as you’re concerned, you’re talking to the leader of the Decepticons! Anything you have to say to him, you can say to me.”
Prime stared at him, his gaze flat and unreadable. Starscream maintained eye contact, then felt his lips twitch, and finally cast his eyes away, then towards something in front of his feet. “I said he’s not here!” he grumbled, looking just over Prime’s shoulder. “I’m in charge, and we’re going after those wretched Renegades.” He clenched his hands into tight, shaking fists, “No one does what they did to me-I mean, us, Decepticons, and lives to brag about it!”
“Where is he?”
“I told you we don’t know, nor do we care!” he ignored the sideways glares drawn from some of his crew. Despite their confusion over his sudden departure, none aboard the ship questioned who truly led the Decepticons. “But while he’s gone, we are going to find those GoBots and show them what it means to mess with a Transformer!”

****************
Thruster:

“Trans-what?!” Blane laughed heartily, a large crowd of Renegades spread out before him. He stood at the bridge of Thruster, elevated high enough to look into the faces of his people. They shouted their approval and laughter, even those damaged in the strike on Cybertron mingled with the crowd, a subdued celebration that carried over to Smasher via satellite.
“I said, Decepti-what?!” Blane shouted. Crasher, Cop-Tor, and Fitor stood at his sides, their laughter joining his despite their injuries.
“The fight’s on! We proved what I always say-where there’s chaos, there’ll be opportunity, and where there’s opportunity, there’ll be RENEGADES!!”
The Renegades roared again, drinking in Blane’s words.
“Ain’t nobody ever done to them what WE done! We took their best, we beat their best! Ha, and their VERY best…” he grinned, “Galvatron?! He’s like this.” Blane swiped the wheel on his shoulder as if brushing away a speck of dust. “Who beat ‘im like a tin drum?!” He spread his arms and cocked his head to the side, the Renegades erupted with cheers as a sly grin came across his face. His hands came alive with crackling, yellow energy.
“I walked in his house and spat in his face! Know what he did?” he laughed, “Nothin’! Better question, know what I did to him?”
The Renegades laughed and applauded, waving their fists and screaming RIP ROAR RAGE! RIP ROAR RAGE!
Blane’s eyes were wide, wild with dancing light. He lowered his hands.
“We lost some good Renegades t’day. I’m talkin’ best’ve the best. But we didn’t walk away empty handed, did we?” He pointed down to the Stunticons, Motormaster and his crew stood amongst the Renegades, a wicked smile on his face as the Renegades nodded approvingly. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but ain’t no Renegade clamorin’ to be a Decepticon!”
A sweeping grumble of disapproval, resentment at the mere mention.
“We’re the biggest threat they ever faced! And this right here, this’s just the beginning! We are, and’ve ALWAYS been, destined for GREATNESS!”
He was raving now, light blazing from his eyes as he screamed, raising his fists in the air, twin flaring spheres of light.
“An’ no Decepticon, no Autobot, no transformer, is gonna deny us OUR DESTINY!!”
The were in a frenzy now, shouting Blane’s name, the sea of them becoming a violent, thrashing mosh pit.
“DEATH to Cybertron!” Blane screamed.
RIP ROAR RAGE! RIP ROAR RAGE!
“DEATH to the Transformers!”
RIP ROAR RAGE! RIP ROAR RAGE! RIP ROAR RAGE! RIP ROAR RAGE!
Blane threw his head back and laughed.
“Attention.” Thruster’s voice rattled across the walls, “Decepticon vessel approaching. ”
Crasher chuckled. “Is that right? How quaint!” She tilted her eyes at Blane, “Somebody’s got a deathwish they need granted.”
Blane smiled, “One ship. Really? I’m insulted, ain’t I worth a battalion?” He crossed his arms. “Gonna make us late getting’ back to Gobotron…” he threw up his hands in mock-exasperation, “But what the hell eh? Nothin like bein’ fashionably late fer the grand finale! Thruster, Smasher, listen close.”

****************
Decepticon Warship:

“Just follow my lead Prime,” Starscream felt his confidence returning, smiling to himself internally. It must be killing Prime to have to work with him, “We Decepticons will-”
“Starscream!” Astrotrain called from his station, his face look puzzled, “We detected a spacial anomaly, but then it just… vanished.”
Starscrean cast an angry glance in his direction, “Meaning?”
“Well, it’s hard to say, I thin-”
“Then it’s nothing! Until you figure it out, don’t waste my time! You see I’m explaining my strategy to Prime!” He turned back to the screen, forcing a smile, “Good help is so hard to find. Now, it seems we’re not that far apart, but we won’t need you or the Autobots until-”

The ship suddenly shuddered, shaking uncontrollably and spilling Decepticons from their stations. Starscream stumbled and grabbed the railing to steady himself. Cyclonus staggered into the control room, eyes wide, and yelled “Onscreen visuals, now!”
A series of screen lit up along the walls, and Starscream’s mouth dropped. Thruster’s hand was wrapped firmly around the front of the ship, her finger digging into the hull and crushing it inward. Metal planks and ceiling panels began to burst free of their holdings and rained down on the Decepticons. They abandoned their posts with angry shouts and kept looking to Starscream. Bonecrusher punched a falling beam away and shouted “Hey leader, what’s your plan now?!”
Starscream gritted his teeth, trying to keep his balance as red lights and alarm horns began to blare. He snapped his head back towards the communication image of Prime, which grew heavy with static and winked out. He fell to the ground, then pushed himself up in time to see the ceiling caving in.
“Fire all weapons! He screamed, “Get that thing off of us!”
Immediately the battleship lit up, various cannons lining its sides rotated in their holdings and targeted the Renegade transport. They fired as one, their plasma bursts slamming into Thruster’s hand, heating up the green plated metal gripping the front. She did not relinquish her hold, instead smashed her free hand against the opposite side of the battleship, leaving a sizable indentation behind. Despite its incredible size, the Decepticon warship was barely the size of Thruster’s arm. Its barrage continued and Thruster held fast, her own weaponry coming online and firing into the ship she held at arm’s length.

****************
Skylynx:

“Starscream?” Prime caught a glimpse of the ceiling above the Decepticon crumbling before the communication was lost. He tapped a few keys and received no response.
“Optimus,” Skylynx brought up a screen of planets close to Cybertron. A large, purple sphere spun into view. “I’ve located Galvatron’s signal. It’s very faint, but it’s definitely him.”
“Good work Skylynx. Blaster, I’ll need you to help patch me through to him.”
“On it,” Blaster changed into his radio form and connected to Skylynx, “Sending out a special request to the bot we love to hate…”

----------------

Galvatron sank deeper in the glowing, red pool of molten rock. His cannon had melted a deep chasm of the planet’s purple rocky landscape, granting him a familiar bath to rest in. He slid down until the bubbling lava reached his chin, staring forward without focusing on anything scuttling across the desolate landscape. The Decepticons hadn’t followed him here, not after he sent a volley of blasts towards anyone who dared to attempt. He just needed time, time to-

Galvatron.

For a moment he thought he was going crazy. His eyes darted about the area.

Galvatron!

There. Again. It took a moment to realize it was his internal communicator, a direct line he shared with Optimus in case extreme emergencies. The idea of a direct line seemed ludicrous to Galvatron, but a necessary part of their treaty in case there were ever situations that needed to be addressed immediately-leader to leader before they blew up into something much, much worse.
He supposed the eminent death or inhabitation of Cybertron by Unicron qualified as such an emergency.

Galvatron, are you there?

Prime. It always came down to Prime. Galvatron considered just turning the damn link off.
“State your business Prime.”

You left the Decepticons?!

“Yes.”
A pause. No doubt Prime was calming himself down in fear of saying what was really in his head. Autobots, always so wretchedly diplomatic.

Listen, I don’t know what happened on Cybertron, or what could possibly have made you leave them, but now is not the time. Galvatron, your people need you, and so do we.

There it was. Fatherly Prime, reasonable Prime. Always touting that amazing gift to make you fear not pleasing him or making him proud. No wonder his ranks were full of dysfunctional protoforms seeking a father unit’s approval.

We’ve never had to deal with something like this, not on this scale. Right now your own people are under attack by the Renegades! Galvatron, Unicron is going to destroy us all unless we pull together and fight! I need-

“Don’t patronize me with what you need Prime!” Galvatron rose his arms into the air, slinging lava in sizzling puddles. “You are the reason I cannot lead my Decepticons as they NEED to be led! YOU did this to me! You hear me Prime, YOU DID THIS!”
He seethed, hissing sprays of steam from his mouth, his fists shaking and marred from the energon spikes.
“YOU LOCKED AWAY THE CORE OF WHAT I WAS!! ” He was screaming, roaring at the top of his lungs into the empty night. He slammed his fists on the rocks beside him, shattering them and ignoring the pain rippling down his arms. “I’m NOTHING now, LESS than nothing!!”
His eyes bulged, his teeth clacked together in a grating grimace. His fingers dug into the ground beside him. He shut his optics and focused on the hate he felt pulsating within, tried to bring it forward… and there was nothing.

Fight it! Leader-1 has the matrix, I can't undo it *for* you. I need you to fight! Take control of yourself and become what you once were, we don't need the Galvatron who signs peace treaties! I hate to say this, but we need the old Galvatron, the one we called a monster, the one who stood in the face of Unicron and commanded him to do his bidding! I need you to lead the Decepticons into war! I need you to do this Galvatron! Cybertron needs you!

Galvatron felt like he was deflating. He slid his arms back into the lava bath, sinking down to his original position. He barely heard Prime trying to talk to him, to reason with him. He was hardly aware of his voice at all anymore.

Dammit Galvatron answer me!

Galvatron stared ahead.

Galvatron!

Galvatron sank beneath the lava’s surface.
~click~

-----------------

“Galvatron?” Optimus heard the line crackle with static, then nothing. And that was that, he was gone.
Prime brought a hand to his forehead and sighed, his free hand absently reached for his chest and rested on the restored pane of glass. He felt empty.

****************
Guardian:

Leader-1 knelt, head bowed, eyes wide behind his visor. The matrix rested in his hands, illuminating the dark with a warm, blue glow that washed over him. He was alone, the door to the room sealed behind him. His people were awestruck by the strange artifact in his hands when he boarded Guardian, and he had no answers for the questions they peppered him with. The matrix defied his understanding. But it had come to him, he’d seen it shift during his fight with Prime. Now it felt like it was talking to him, a dim murmur in the back of his mind. It was nothing like the stabbing, agonizing pain that accompanied Unicron’s calling. The thought brought a sudden cold lump in his throat. It dawned on him that he hadn’t heard Unicron, nor felt his crushing presence within since acquiring the matrix. It was so much easier to think, he no longer felt the need to cloud his thoughts. He could still feel a hint of Unicron on the edges of his consciousness, but he felt… hesitant to fully enter Leader-1s’ mind, content to remain on the fringe.
Leader-1 continued to gaze into the matrix’s glittering center, he felt lost within its power, felt his mind drifting.

****************
Skylynx:

Blurr sat with his head in his hands, “What are we going to do without the matrix? It was the last hope we had, what if we can’t get it back? Unicron will take their world and ours!”
“That bull!” Grimlock roared, slamming his fist into a wall.
“Restrain yourself, that’s me you’re hitting!!” Skylynx shouted, and Grimlock ignored him. “We not take this crap no more!”
The Autobots halted, frozen by the fury in Grimlock’s voice.
“GoBots want war? We BRING them war!”
“Give it a rest Grimlock.” Red Alert sat beside Inferno, ignoring the surprised look on his friend’s face when he spoke up. “This is Unicron we’re talking about!”
“So what?” Scattershot sat with the rest of the Technobots, a sour look on his face while running a rag over his gun, “He’s no different from every other tinplated buckethead we’ve thrown down with!”
“I’m just saying, he’s a big enough threat by himself, and now he’s got a whole planet doing his bidding. Do you get that? A whole planet!”
“Who care?!” Slag growled, “Last time, we Dinobots kick Unicron butt!”
Fizzle slumped against the wall, arms crossed, “Yeah, great plan that was, it went over real well. We’ve got no real course of action! We’re going to track them back to Gobotron… and what? Invade? You all saw what those transports can do, and we don’t have Fort Max to counter them anymore!”
“All sparkle and no action, why you waste time coming with us?!” Grimlock’s eyes were blazing, “You worse than Magnus, at least he take his beatings like Autobot!”
“What’s that have to do with anything? We’re going off half-cocked into a fight with bots we still don’t really know anything about!”
Grimlock grabbed Fizzle’s shoulder and lifted him into the air, pressing him against the wall. His mask came within inches of the Sparkabot’s face.
“You want go home to hide?” he pointed towards the hatch, “There the door.”
Everyone looked on, afraid to move, not certain what was going through Grimlock’s head. When Fizzle said nothing, he dropped him to the floor and cast his glare across the room. “There no shame going to fight and getting tail kicked! But there no honor not fighting at all!”
“Autobots…” a low, husky voice crawled from the dark. Kup wheeled himself from a blackened corner of the room, his blue eyes no longer faded. They swept the gathered bots with an awareness they hadn’t seen in years. “That’s what we are, Autobots. Now it’s time we remember why we prevail against all odds. I’ve seen a lot of dark things in my life and let me tell you, it doesn’t get much darker than this.” His eyes swept the room, taking in the despair etched in some of the faces.
“We’ve been blitzed, we’ve been betrayed and hammered for our troubles... Now it’s time…”
He placed his hands to the sides of his chair, his grip firm, eyes no longer cloudy. The gathered Autobots stared wide-eyed as Kup’s brow furrowed, and he pushed himself up. “…to stand up, and fight!” He stood before them, his chair thrown back and toppled onto its side. They stood in unison, Grimlock raised a fist in the air, “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! ”
He was joined by the other Dinobots, Slag enthusiastically echoing his leader’s sentiments. It spread to the rest of the Autobots, Roadbuster, Whirl, and Springer pumped their fists in the air, spreading the chant to the others. Soon it echoed through Skylynx, their resolve strengthening with each shout.
Optimus watched his soldiers, Hot Rod stood beside him.
“This is it, isn’t it? It’s all or nothing.”
Prime nodded.

****************
???????????:

“I do not understand this resistance, Zeemon. ” Unicron sounded amused, as if he enjoyed stalking Zeemon through his own mind, “We are so very alike, you and I. ”
Zeemon’s head was racing, he placed a hand to his temple. “You and I are NOTHING alike! You’re a demonic beast, a taker of lives! You’re-”
“A destroyer of worlds?” Unicron finished, the amusement growing thicker in his words. “Tell me Zeemon, do the Guardians know what really happened on New Earth?”
Zeemon felt sick in the pit of his being. Of course, they were in his mind, Unicron had access to everything he did. All his memories, good times and bad; all his secrets. Zeemon cursed himself, filing through his past was probably the first thing Unicron did when he took over his body.
“Let us share in its sweet destruction. ”
Unicron laughed, and Zeemon was flung through a blurring corridor of his own thoughts, forced to stop above New Earth, its surface blazing and contorted by the horrible battle ravaging its fragile land masses. Leader-1 was locked in a deathgrip with Cy-Kill, volcanoes rose from the ground and sprayed lava into the air like fountains, fissures split the ground, revealing a blinding energy the Last Engineer had been tapping to fuel the planet. It was so clean, so raw and pure, Zeemon couldn’t imagine what would have happened if it fell into the Renegades’ hands. So he made sure it fell into his instead. Zeemon couldn’t pull his eyes away from the perverse memory, knowing Unicron loomed behind him, enjoying the experience with a dark pleasure. Zeemon watched himself stalk through the battlefield, heedless of the unstable ground. A Renegade whose name escaped him ran towards him, and without breaking his stride Zeemon raised a hand towards the oncoming nuisance and blew off the Renegade’s torso. He didn’t have time to scream, only fell in a melting clatter. Zeemon watched himself stand at the precipice, the planet crumbling around him, the energy so inviting, a swirling white and yellow mass of purity jus waiting for him. He recognized it, an energy they had only seen in any substantial amount in the tail of Haley’s Comet: Quantumite. It was the most powerful form of energy that had only been a theory until its discovery in an actual, physical form. And here it was, nestled within New Earth’s core. No wonder the Renegades were willing to cause this much destruction to get their hands on it. But if they did… Zeemon shuddered at the thought, there was only one thing left to do. He spread his arms, and fell into the chasm.
Zeemon couldn’t pull his eyes off the memory incarnation of himself. He watched him fall, plunge into the center of the planet and splash into the collected sphere of quantumite energy as the Guardians attempted to escape. New Earth split like a rotten melon, exposing the rich prize of the battle, one that he had claimed for himself-for the good of Gobotron, of course. And then…
Zeemon remembered the horrifying rush of power lashing across his body, and his body in turn accepting it into himself. He remembered why he was the first, why the Last Engineer had altered the evolutionary upgrades for his people. No one GoBot should have the power he felt from that planet’s core and not be killed from it. And yet he accepted it, he lived, and he added its power to his own vast supply. Zeemon remembered the quantumite coursing through his body, surging into his systems and pushing them to the limit. In that moment of blinding power, he remembered thinking that all things were beneath him, that he was capable of anything, consequences be damned. All he needed to do was…
New Earth exploded.
Unicron’s laughter filled Zeemon’s ears, he wheeled and pointed a finger at the beast.
“What do you want from me?!” he bellowed, his rage blinding him to their size difference. “To admit I destroyed that world?!”
The memory continued, the energy core seeping into Zeemon’s body as he drifted in space, pretending to be unconscious while waiting for the Guardians to pull him aboard. He told them his lack of damage came from being hurled free of the blast, concentrating the vast pools of newly acquired energy within himself. He would keep it in check just like the rest of his reserves. No one had to know, he would fragment the memory of where he hid it, hide it within himself so he would never be tempted to-
The pieces of his memory came together like a binary puzzle, locking together and revealing his thoughts in that slice of time. He still had that well of power within, selected the storage area within himself, then locked it and destroyed the memory.
But it had just been visible to himself, and now Unicron had seen it too.
“No…” he spun and found himself alone. Unicron was gone, vanished the second Zeemon’s memory played out.
“NO!” Zeemon screamed, lifting off his feet and flying into the darkness.