By Tony"Thunder"Klepack
 

    "Impossible!" Shockwave exclaimed. Though he was badly injured and his single optic sensor periodically cut out, he knew a Transformer who appeared to be Megatron stood only a few feet away from Galvatron and himself.
    Although this Megatron was physically different than his former adversary. The Transformer in front of them had green armor with purple camoflage and appeared to change into some sort of ground-based vehicle.
    "You cannot be Megatron. He was totally destroyed by Galvatron! There was not enough of him left to either survive or be repaired."
    "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten what you both did to me," Megatron finally spoke, a look of satisfaction and revenge on his face.
    "You see, I am the one whom played both of you against one another...I sabotaged your take-over plan Shockwave, and arranged it so you would be blamed by Galvatron. I was going to let him kill you, however, call it my own imperfections, but I wanted you to know who it was that defeated you."
    Shockwave tried to rise from the ground but one of Megatron's warriors trained his gun at Shockwave's head and discouraged the act.
    "Thank you, Terradive." Megatron spoke to the warrior and then continued: "It was hard enough to let myself stand by and watch Galvatron destroy Optimus Prime on Earth. But you, Shockwave--I will see you die by my own hand!"
    "How did you survive?" Galvatron asked. It was clear to Shockwave that he was deftly afraid of their adversary. He cursed himself for not having thought of using Megatron's memory to drive Galvatron insane and destroy him. Clearly someone else had, though.
    "Perhaps, I am Megatron's ghost back from the dead." Megatron grinned, obviously picking up on Galvatron's underlying fear. "And I am here to destroy you!"
    "NO!" Galvatron yelped, recoiling in fear.
    "Fool!" Shockwave snapped. "This is not truly Megatron! Someone, perhaps Lightning, has built a likeness of him in this new form to drive you insane." Of course, why that person had bothered giving this double a new design wasn't entirely clear to him. "Notice how he cannot even devise a convincing story to explain his return from the dead? He is only a clone--a cheap copy!"
    Megatron smiled. "Good deduction, Shockwave. Though, it is wrong. You see, revealing the precise circumstances of my reactivation might tempt you to try and duplicate them yourself. Thus, it would be illogical for me to divulge more details. Don't you agree?"
    Shockwave remained silent. Megatron had just repeated him, almost word for word, from when Shockwave had re-appeared in 1984 and usurped Megatron's command. No one else had overheard that conversation...only Megatron--the real Megatron--could know it. "It is you," Shockwave gasped.
    "Indeed." Megatron's grin took on a sinister edge. "Now, you may die!" His shoulder-cannon lowered itself and aimed at Shockwave.
    "Wait! You need me!" Shockwave yelled in panic.
    "It really is simple logic. You and Galvatron are my enemies. If I let you live, it will only give you time to devise a plan of revenge which shall be used against me. Contrary to belief, I am no fool."
    "No! Don't--" Shockwave started to yell, but was cut off as Megatron's proto-fusion cannon released a beam that tore through Shockwave's head module. His battered body collapsed to the deck decapitated.
    Megatron turned to look at Galvatron who now looked visibly afraid of him. "Now, it's your turn!" He growled, his optics flashing a bright crimson.
                                                *                                                     *                                                         *
    "See anything?" Silverbolt asked as he hoisted a metal beam out of the wreckage he was checking.
    "Nothing," Dogfight said nearby, as he emerged from the remains of what was once a room in the Ark. He retracted his twin rifles and said: "I think it was probably just some metal settling."
    "I think you're right," Jackpot agreed as he joined the duo. "There's nothing here anymore...nothing alive anyway."
    Silverbolt let the beam fall and collide with the twisted wreckage before him. "We're all in agreement, it seems. Let's go find Hosehead and the others."
    Nearby, Hot Rod, Red Alert, and Erector searched their own section of the dead vessel.
    "This is pointless!" Erector exclaimed. "This ship was so big it would take days to check everything over. I doubt there's anyone alive anyway! We could--"
    He stopped in mid-sentence as a Transformer darted out of the debris Hot Rod was searching near and rushed outside.
    "Who the hell was that?" He gasped. "It didn't look like Megatron--"
    "No," Hot Rod yelled, running toward the door. "But it could've been a Decepticon spy!"
    The strange red and blue Transformer ran toward the nearby forest cover as fast as it could. Fortunately, Hot Rod easily caught up to it in his car mode. He transformed and sprung into the air, tackling the robot at the waist, bringing them both crashing to the ground.
    They both began recovering from the collision, but Hot Rod moved faster than his quarry and slammed it back to the ground. He materialized his gun out of it's interdimensional dwelling and aimed it right at the robot's orange optic band.
    "Who are you?!" he growled. Behind him, he heard approaching footsteps and realized Red Alert and Erector had finally caught up to them.
    "Hot Rod! Back off!" He heard Hosehead's voice say instead and felt his grip on his shoulder.
    The youthful Autobot begrudingly complied, but kept his rifle trained on the unknown Transformer. He glanced up briefly and saw Silverbolt, Jackpot, Pipes, Erector, Dogfight and Red Alert arriving. Omega Supreme watched--and listened, probably--the area from the river bank nearby--they hadn't thought it safe for him to come out here, considering his size and weight, he easily could've broken through the ice.
    "I guess the gang's all here, huh?" he said. "How did you--"
    "We were on our way to find your team when we saw you," Hosehead responded. He looked at their unknown guest. "Who are you?"
    "You are Autobot: Hosehead," the Transformer replied in recognition as he stood up. "Forgive my rash action--I believed you to be faction: Decepticons."
    "Are you an Autobot?" Erector asked.
    "That is a difficult query to answer. As to Autobot: Hosehead's query, I have no designation. For purposes of identification however, you may refer to me as...Mainframe."
    "Okay, Mainframe it is." Hot Rod said. "Now, what are you doing up here?! Are you one of Galvatron's spies sent up here to wait for survivors?!?"
    "Negative, Autobot: Hot Rod. My explanation may seem incredible for you to believe, however, it is the truth. until seven-point-three Earth rotations ago, I existed as the central processing unit of Teletran series 878-A-T-1000X."
    "You were Teletran-1?" Hosehead looked at him strangely. "How is that possible?"
    "I am not entirely positive. However, I hypothesize that several rotations ago, a large portion of specimen 7X9-102L-ATB7, codename: Nucleon, spilled into Teletran-1's internal systems. Slowly, over three point two one rotations, I became awoken and began experiencing sensations unlike I ever previously had experienced...I became sentient."
    "Amazing!" Erector exclaimed, echoing some of the others' thoughts. "Simply incredible!"
    "I don't believe it!" Hot Rod snapped. He leaned in closer to Mainframe. "How do we know you aren't a Decepticon spy with an incredible cover story?!"
    "Not to dispute your story," Hosehead chimed in, "but why didn't you ever come down to Autobot City and let us see you?"
    "It is quite simple, Autobot: Hosehead. Although I gained sentient, I had no body to utilize originally. When it eventually occured to me that I would need to explore my surroundings I fashioned one for myself."
    "How--" Hosehead began.
    "I can change machinery--under the right circumstances--on a molecular level to suit my needs."
    "That's..." Hosehead began.
    "--Incredible!" Pipes finished.
    "To say the least," Silverbolt added.
    "As to base: Autobot City, I learned of it's existence from a remote link to Earth's satellites that I designed. However, I decided to remain here and assimilate data from the Earth archives. I knew one of the faction: Autobots would return eventually."
    "Did you know Autobot City was destroyed?" Silverbolt asked.
    "Affirmative. The Earth networks were bristling with information regarding that event. In fact, the faction: Decepticons are moving quickly to dociate the inhabitants." Mainframe paused. "That is why I am re-constructing a shuttlecraft--I was worried the faction: Decepticons would return here and discover me. The Earth news networks made no mention of faction: Autobot survivors."
    "Good. That means Soundwave or one of his cronies won't find out we're up here right away. It buys us time to finish work on that shuttle. Which way is it?"
    "Follow me." Mainframe turned and motioned for them to follow after him as he walked into the nearby forest. One by one, they did, as the thought of seeing Cybertron once again came to their minds.
                                      *                                                             *                                                             *
    "NO! I won't let you destroy me!" Galvatron howled in panic. He fired a particle beam at his former self.
    Megatron twisted into the air, flipping to his right and avoiding the shot entirely. The energy tore through the wall and obliterated much of the adjoining room that Megatron and his landing party had entered. It was strange, Galvatron had never remembered being that acrobatic as Megatron.
    "You should be dead!" Galvatron yelled, charging forward and pumelling his fist into Megatron's face. He crashed to the floor but avoided Galvatron's foot which tried to crush the life out of his head module.
    Megatron swung his feet upward, catching the other's lower back and sending Galvatron toppling to the floor just behind him.         Before his future-self could recover, Megatron leapt back up to his feet.
    Galvatron recovered a half-second later, and watched as his adversary searched for an opening through his guard. He noticed Megatron's entourage stood near the wrecked wall they had entered through. He guessed they probably had orders to stay out of the fight no matter what--he knew it, because it was something he would've ordered himself.
    He turned his attention back to his opponent. He no longer felt paralyzed with fear at the sight of his former self. He had hit solid steel a moment ago, so he knew this was no spectre. He went over the possibilities but could not see any way this Transformer could truly be Megatron--he was dead. There was no way he could have survived his last death. And yet, somehow this robot had convinced Shockwave of his authenticity.
    "I know what you are thinking," Megatron grinned. He circled Galvatron looking for an opening but Galvatron made sure not to provide one. "You're wondering how I can still be functional."
    "The thought had crossed my mind," Galvatron replied.
    "You should know by now, I cannot die!" Megatron hissed and simultaneously released a proto-fusion blast from his shoulder cannon.
    Galvatron took the blast full force, he had not expected the attack right then. He crashed against the wall behind him.
    "You claim to have been me once, but I was never the fool you are!" Megatron said, advancing. "Behold the true next phase of Megatron!" He slammed his right fist into Galvatron's face."You are a false prophet and I am here to silence your lies!"
    He lashed out again and grabbed Galvatron's shoulder, throwing him into a pile of crates on his left. "The Decepticon legacy is mine. And I will not allow a pretender to the throne like you to stand in my way."
    "Shut up!" Galvatron exclaimed, sitting up. He felt a serious pain his chest and looked down to see a gaping hole there. Megatron's beam had wounded him and exposed vital circuitry! No one other than Fortress Maximus had ever succeeded in doing that before. Whomever was behind this clone of Megatron had obviously found a weapon capable of destroying him.
    "You know my power now." Megatron's voice seemed satisfied. "Now, you shall know--"
    He never finished the sentence as Galvatron charged into him and the force took them through the nearby wall into yet another chamber.
    "Just SHUT UP!" Galvatron screamed, slamming his fists into Megatron before he could recover.
    Megatron caught Galvatron with a left hook and leapt back to his feet. He couldn't afford to loose this battle, otherwise he would die and Galvatron would lead the Decepticons onward--to their eventual destruction!
                                     *                                                             *                                                     *
    "Light...recover...in his own time." Reality focused back into existence for the Decepticon scientist named Lightning.
    "According to his lifesigns he's already coming around," Stalker said, looking at a screen above him. A few inches away, a Decepticon Lightning could not identify, welded a new panel onto Lightning's wounded leg.
    "Good. I was worried he might not make it when I found him," Darkwing said to Stalker as he came into Lightning's field of view.
    "How do you feel?" A deep voice spoke on Lightning's opposing side. It was Skyquake.
    "What...where am I?"
    "Moonbase," the other replied. "It seems Darkwing found you after you killed Ultra Magnus**."
    "I...remember now."
    "I don't mean to be rude, but I could work a lot faster if the three of you weren't hanging over my shoulder," the black-armored medic said.
    "Right. We do have other duties to attend," Skyquake replied.
    "Wait a sec...did you-know-who's plan work?" Lightning asked.
    "I think so," Skyquake replied, mindful of their company. "We're about to go check." He turned and lead Stalker and Darkwing out into the silent corridor.
    "What was Lightning talking about?" Darkwing asked. "Who's plan?"
    "It's classified!" Skyquake snapped. "That's all you need to know."
    Knowing what happened to Decepticons who asked too much about "classified" subjects, Darkwing decided not to inquire further.
    "Okay, whatever," he said, trying to remain uninterested. "I'll, uh, go to the surface and see if any of the others are back from Cybertron yet."
    "Very well," Skyquake replied, a tone of impatience in his voice. He and Stalker waited until Darkwing disappeared down the corridor.
    "Those Powermasters are real idiots." Stalker finally broke the silence. "Obviously the fleshlings they bonded to hamper their intelligence."
    "I am inclined to agree," Skyquake replied. He activated the com-link on his arm and spoke into it. "Dark Glory, this is Beta Team. Are you up there?"
    "Affirmative, Beta Team," replied the communications officer who was currently on duty. Skyquake knew him as Manta Ray. "What do you require?"
    "Let me speak to the command officer," Skyquake requested.
    A new voice was heard: a sharp, grating rasp. "Midnight here. What do you want Skyquake?" The new voice stretched the `S' in "Skyquake" into a vicious hiss.
    "Is the `Commander' on Moonbase yet?"
    "Yes--Megatron has beamed down--nearly thirty-five time units ago. The Cyberjets went with him. Anything else?"
    Skyquake thought one answer, but said instead: "What were the coordinates?"
    "Wait--there. Transmitting now. Confirmed?"
    Skyquake checked. "Yes--excellent. We shall attempt to locate them."
    "So glad to be of service! Dark Glory out." And the comm-channel closed.
    "I don't know who irritates me more--Lightning or Midnight!" Skyquake said to his team mate.
    Stalker nodded. "Perhaps after Megatron is finished with Galvatron, he'll let us dispose of Lightning. I'd like that!"
    "As would I," Skyquake replied, his jade optics flashed brillantly. He had been near-certain that Lightning had done something to him earlier. He did not trust their unstable scientific advisor and sincerely hoped Stalker's wish came true.
                                        *                                                     *                                                         *
    G.B. Blackrock sat at his desk in his downtown Seattle office going over papers for his latest endeavour when his secretary alerted him to the fact Buster Witwickity was here to see him.
    He sighed.
    "Send him in," he said, knowing he had quite a time coming. Buster would not be in the greatest of moods after he'd been passed over for Matthew to lead Project: Excalibur instead.
    Blackrock's vice president of Research and Development marched in abruptly and closed the door to the office a little too quickly.
    "Buster, it's good to see--"
    "Shut up! I want to know why in the hell you picked that moron Kirkby over me! He hasn't got half the experience or ingenuity I do and you know it!"
    "I understand your anger, I do," Blackrock replied. "But the fact is, I anticipated the Government's refusal to having you in charge of this project. You're a long-time Autobot sympathisizer and they know it."
    "So are you!" Buster snapped. "After all, I'm not the one who called in some favors and got the Canadians to agree to giving the Autobots Vancouver Island!"
    "True. But I convinced the UN Council it was a good move from an economic and trade point of view," Blackrock replied. "They were only too happy to give Canada permission. My true motives weren't common knowledge." Blackrock stopped and coughed a few times before continuing onward. "Look, if it had been entirely up to me you would have been in charge of this project--after all, it was your idea."
    Buster sat down at a chair in front of Blackrock's desk. He let out a sigh and Blackrock noticed he looked somewhat tired.
    "As it was, the Government didn't want you in on this project," Blackrock continued. "And rather than argue for the next two and a half years--while the Decepticons got a strong foothold on Earth--I decided to put Matthew in charge."
    Indeed, Blackrock knew time was of the essence in getting Project: Excalibur off the ground. The Decepticons had so far only destroyed a few select cities to scare the Humans into submission--and done an excellent job at that. He couldn't give them the time to get a proper grip on Earth. He'd hoped since the attack and even now, that the Autobots had reinforcements coming to Earth--but he couldn't count on that. Who knew what the Decepticons had done on Cybertron while this mess was occuring here. For all he knew, there weren't any Autobots left to come to Earth's rescue. No, if Humankind was to get out of this mess, it was going to have to depend on itself, not others, to get the job done.
    "I just hope we can trust Kirkby." Buster shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "After all, what do we really know about him?"
    "Don't worry," Blackrock smiled. "I'm an excellent judge of character and Kirkby's definitely the man for our job."

    A few blocks away, the new director of Project: Excalibur stood in a phone booth. He was dressed in a grey trench coat, and wore a pair of sun glasses--which seemed oddly out of place since it was drizzling rain.
    "Let me talk to Stone," he said to the man on the vid-screen.
    The screen switched to an image of a man sitting in a darkened room.
    "Always the man of mystery, eh?" Matt remarked. His employer had a tedious sense of drama--he would remain in the darkness whenever Matt called and always went to ridiculous lengths to maintain his security.
    "What do you have to report Kirkby?" Stone asked dryly. "This had better be worthwhile--I haven't heard from you in three and a half months!"
    "Been busy," Matt replied flippantly. "But what if I told you I could get you some Transformers tech? I'm not talking stolen anti-grav units, I mean something really big--your own personalized army to control!"
    Stone seemed to straighten up in his chair at that. "Tell me more, Mister Kirkby," he said. "Tell me more..."
                                 *                                                             *                                                     *
    Skyquake hoisted a piece of the ceiling that had pinned Stalker off of him.
    "Thanks," Stalker said as Skyquake helped him to his feet. "What do you think that was? An attack?"
    "Possibly," Skyquake replied. "I wonder if the Autobots figured out where we launched our attack on Cybertron from and sent up a commando team?" Of course, it didn't seem too likely but there were no other possible explanations that made any sense.
    The two Predators had been searching for Megatron's coordinates when suddenly, without warning, the base had rocked violently and pieces of everything had started erupting around them. Either they were under attack or something really huge had exploded.
    --Skyquake hoped it hadn't been the Dark Glory.
    BWEEP, BWEEP, BWEEP
    Skyquake activated his com-link. "This is Skyquake, what's going on?"
    "Sir: be advised that a fleet of unidentified warships has materialized in the Cybertron sector and begun an unprovoked offensive upon the area, your location included. You are ordered to return to the ship immediately."
    "What? Let me speak to--"
    Midnight's voice shrieked over the com-link: "Are your audio sensors malfunctioning, Skyquake, or do you enjoy disobeying orders?"
    "Has the Commander been informed of this attack?" Skyquake demanded. Of course, unless he was really preoccupied, how could he have missed it?
    "Megatron is not responding to his com-link. We are attempting to locate him."
    "Has the Dark Glory been discovered?"
    "Of course not! The cloaking device is functioning. Now stand by for teleportation..."
    "Wait!" cried Skyquake, "I respectfully request that you locate the rest of the Predators and beam them up--and, uh, Lightning as well. I will find the Commander and brief him on this...development."
    "If you can find him! Oh all right, Skyquake. But be quick--I have my own problems to deal with up here. Is Stalker with you?"
    "Yes."
    "Stalker--stand by for teleportation. Be quick, Skyquake! Dark Glory out."
    Stalker looked at him strangely. "A fleet of warships? Just what is going on?"
    "I don't know," Skyquake replied. "But maybe Megatron will."
    "One other thing," Stalker asked him, "why did you tell them to beam up Lightning too? This would be the perfect time to get rid of him!"
    "I am not entirely certain Megatron is finished with him yet," Skyquake replied. "And I would rather suffer Lightning, than Megatron's wrath!"
    Stalker nodded agreement. Just then, a bright energy aura enveloped him and he shimmered out of existence.

    Nearby, Galvatron released a particle blast at Megatron. The beam caught him in the left shoulder, destroying armor and circuitry. Megatron did not cry out in pain, but instead kept charging at Galvatron. He crashed into the Decepticon leader, throwing the two of them to the floor.
Galvatron recovered first and wrapped his steel vise-grip around Megatron's neck. "You are the past!" he roared, hoisting the other into the air. "I am the present!"
    Megatron said nothing, instead trying to pry Galvatron's hands loose, but having little success. "Try to break free all you want," Galvatron growled. "First, I killed Optimus Prime...and now, you!"
    Megatron's hands slipped from Galvatron's as he tightened his grip.
    "Perhaps Shockwave was correct about Lightning," Galvatron chuckled, seeing Megatron was now limp in his hands, his optics glowing dimmer. "At any rate, whomever created you to spook me, they ultimately ended up producing the opposite effect. I feel rejuevenated like never before!"
    He shifted Megatron's limp form to his left hand, training the particle cannon on his right arm at the other's head. "I have to hand it to your creators, they did an excellent job. They successfully replicated every one of Megatron's mannerisms. And they even succeeded in making an opponent worthy of me...almost worthy of me!"
    At light speed, Megatron's fists slammed against Galvatron's temples. He cried out, releasing Megatron in reflex action. He wasted no time as he hit the floor, firing his shoulder cannon at Galvatron above him. His future-self took the blast in the chest and crumpled backward to the floor.
    Megatron rose and leapt atop him. He placed his hand against his enemy's face. "You are the present," he sneered, activating his ion-chanelling ability and flooding his opponent's cerebral circuitry with positively-charged atoms. Galvatron shrieked an unholy cry and his head module exploded, tearing apart quite messily. "But I am the future!"
    Megatron rose and smiled. Now, all his enemies lay dead at his feet and no one opposed his claim as leader of the Decepticons.
    His destiny was complete.
    "Commander?" Skyquake asked, entering through the broken wall the two leadership rivals had crashed through earlier.
    "Yes, Skyquake?"
    The base shuddered violently and the two Decepticons almost lost their balance.
    "There's a fleet of warships in Cybertron's orbit. We should get back to the ship immediately. The other Predators--and the Cyberjets--have already transported upward."
    "Very well," Megatron replied. "Shockwave and Galvatron are dead--a fate long coming to them both."
    "Uh, I sent Lightning up to the ship as well. I hope that was the correct decision," Skyquake added, rather sheepishly.
    "I trust your judgement," Megatron replied. "He has outlived his usefulness to me--his unstableness makes him a liability to our future conquests. However, for the time being he will be allowed to continue to function. It would undermine my troops trust in me if I were to execute him seemingly for no reason."
    Yes, for now Lightning would live. But not too long. He had learned only too well what happened when one allowed his opposition to survive--both Starscream and Shockwave's actions in the past had driven home that point.
    "I guess," Skyquake agreed. "The Dark Glory tried to contact you earlier about the fleet."
    "I was otherwise detained," Megatron said, looking downward at what was left of Galvatron's head. He looked over at his suboordinate. "Why did they not contact the Cyberjets if they could not contact me?"
    "I'd wondered about that, myself," Skyquake replied. "It turns out that these two rooms--" he indicated the room they stood in, and the adjoining one where Shockwave had perished, "are near some kind of power conduits and that the background radiation was disrupting comm signals from getting in here. Since the Cyberjets and you were in both of them..."
    Megatron nodded, seeing his point. "Very well. No one is to blame, then." He picked up what remained of Galvatron's body. "We will return to the ship. But first, get Shockwave's body. I intend to take my two dead enemies bodies up to the ship and dump them into the reactor core. I do not intend for either of my enemies to make any miraculous recoveries."
                                      *                                                         *                                                                 *
EPILOGUE:

    On a deserted road in a beautiful valley in British Columbia several men hoisted the wreckages of the Air Strike Patrol onto flatbed trucks.
    "We haven't even gotten to Autobot City's ruins yet and we've already found some!" One of the men said to another. "At least, I hope these are what we're after."
    The other smiled. "Oh yes...these will do quite nicely."
 

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