“Seal the doors, now!”

 “You heard Rhinox, guys! Seal ‘em!” K-9 reiterated. With much grunting and heaving, many of the larger Maximals pushed the entry doors to the Ark shut, and not a moment too soon—no more than a few seconds passed before they heard some pounding and scraping sounds on the other side.

 “Alright, that’ll buy us SOME time,” K-9 said. “Not much though. Why did you want us to fall back here, Rhinox? What’s going-- holy SLAG!”

 “I know,” Rhinox said, “It’s an Autobot shuttle—it’s been right under our noses this whole time. Taran ‘found’ it for us. Listen, Maximals, this has been a very tough decision for me to make, but… we can only fit sixteen Transformers in this shuttle without surpassing its weight limit.”

 Taran smirked from behind Rhinox as he patted the side of the Autobot shuttle.

 “Then… that means…” Cybershark started.

 “The rest of us will die,” Rhinox said sadly.

The other Maximals’ expressions immediately turned from one of hope to one of bitterness and despair.

“Now, we don’t have much time until the Vexorans break through,” Rhinox continued, “And it’s been very tough for me to make this decision, but I’ve decided which sixteen of you will go, based solely on how well I think you can help our race defend Cybertron from the impending invasion. I want you all to know I am NOT basing this on favoritism or anything of the sort.”

“Rhinox, we know you well enough to know you wouldn’t do something like that,” Blackarachnia stated softly, walking over and putting her hand on Rhinox’s shoulder.

“Wait, hold on,” K-9 said. “Which sixteen ‘of US’ will go? Rhinox, you’re not….?”

“No,” Rhinox said sadly, shaking his head—or rather, the image of it on his neck-mounted monitor. “Look at me, I’d only be a hindrance in a battle… I’d be useless on Cybertron. It’s… it’s time I joined the rest of the original Axalon crew...”

“But—“ K-9 started.

“Listen, we don’t have time to argue!” Rhinox said, his tone quickly switching from despair to anger as the scratching on the other side of the Ark blast doors grew louder. “I’m going to list who’s going NOW, and I want no arguments! Understand!?”

“Oh, I understand perfectly,” said a voice from behind Rhinox. Startled, all the Maximals turned their attention to the source of the voice—Injector, who had his gun pointed at the Maximals as he, Spittor, and Sandstorm backed up into the Autobot shuttle entryway. “And now we have a new understanding—WE are going to be three of those sixteen, or Sandstorm and Spittor will blow this shuttle up right now.”

“Why, you opportunistic—“ Dinobot growled, drawing his sword and spinning shield.

“Stop!” Rhinox said angrily, raising a hand as the other Maximals raised their guns. “Fire, and you might damage the shuttle! They… they can get what they want….”

The other Maximals glared daggers at the grinning Predacons as they backed into the shuttle and out of sight.

“Well, then who else is going?” Prowl asked.

“Prowl, you, Ironhide, and Silverbolt are going, first of all,” Rhinox stated. “You three can form Magnaboss, and a gestalt will definitely be helpful during the impending invasion.”

“I am only going if Blackarachnia is coming as well,” Silverbolt said, putting his arm around Blackarachnia.

“Silverbolt, just go! Blackarachnia is primarily a melee fighter, she would not be effective against the Vexorans! You, on the other hand—“

“I do not care. My place is by my lady’s side in a time of danger!” Silverbolt stubbornly insisted.

“Bonebrain, will you just shut up and listen to Rhinox?” Blackarachnia yelled at Silverbolt, leaving his embrace. “You know he doesn’t like it anymore than you do, but even you have to admit it makes sense!”

Silverbolt sighed and put his hand on Blackarachnia’s shoulder. “If you will not allow me to stay, my love… then I will do as you wish…”

“Don’t worry, Bowser,” Blackarachnia said sadly, placing the side of her head on Silverbolt’s chest. “I… will always be with you…”

Silverbolt started to hug Blackarachnia firmly, but the spider pushed him away.

“Just… just go,” Blackarachnia said, turning away as her voice wavered. “Before everyone dies waiting for us to say our goodbyes.” She smiled sadly as she finished speaking.

Silverbolt, his shoulders sagging, made his way up into the shuttle behind Prowl and Ironhide. Taking one last look at Blackarachnia, he blew a kiss to her before entering the shuttle.

“Nighteye,” Rhinox continued, “Obviously, your knowledge of the Vexorans is invaluable. You’re going too.”

“Understood, Rhinox,” Nighteye said. “It’s… been a pleasure getting to know you so well these past months.”

“Likewise,” Rhinox replied sadly. “Obsidian, Strika, Atlas—It’s become obvious over the short time you’ve been here that you have been outstanding commanders of your respective teams. Your tactical knowledge is also needed on Cybertron, as our friends there will no doubt have their work cut out for them.”

“Thank you for the kind words in spite of our differing allegiances, Rhinox,” Obsidian bowed his head slightly. “I am sorry I was misled by my leader against you. Perhaps, if things we different... we could have been comrades.”

“We’ll do our best,” Atlas nodded before the three entered the shuttle.

“Mirage, go with them,” Rhinox said. “Your nearly-instantaneous teleporting will also be quite useful.”

“Affirmative,” Mirage droned before teleporting into the shuttle.

A loud explosion sound from the other side of the blast doors, accompanied by a rumble that echoed throughout the Ark, caused Rhinox to talk faster as he quickly read off the names of the rest of the Transformers he had selected.

“Cybershark, Ramulus, Bulkhead, Sigma Prime, Waspinator, you’re coming too—“ Rhinox started.

“Wazzpinator… going?” Waspinator interrupted, confused.

“Yes,” Rhinox said, impatient as another blast rocked the Ark, this one louder than the last. “Listen, Waspinator, I saw you during that fight with Terrorsaur when Scourge attacked the Ark. When you really concentrate, you’re stronger than you think you are! Your laser blasters and fast maneuvering will be very useful versus the Vexorans, and we really don’t have any other energy-weapon-based flyers here that are as fast as you are!”

Another loud blast rocked the Ark, and the blast doors finally started to cave in.

“But—“ Waspinator protested.

“Just GO, all of you!” Rhinox commanded. “I believe in you, Waspinator—the question is, do you believe in yourself!?”

Waspinator thought for a moment before straightening out his back and standing tall. “Wazzpinator will do it for rhino-bot.”

“Vexorans ‘re comin’ in!” Bonecrusher roared, as he and the Dinobots charged towards the doors and started to pound ineffectually at the black forms as they oozed through the widening cracks in the blast doors.

“Yo, comic relief!” Cybershark yelled to Waspinator form the shuttle’s entryway, “C’mon, the rest of us are already in the shuttle! Get your big stripey butt up here!”

“Wazzpinator coming!” Waspinator yelped before flying towards the shuttle.

“Now, listen, I’m only going to say this once,” Taran said hurriedly to Cybershark at the shuttle entryway as Waspinator buzzed by them. “I installed a cloaking system in this shuttle that will not only render you invisible to the naked optic, but also cloak you from the Vexoran’s sensors. Type in A-45 to activate it. Got that?”

“Yeah,” Cybershark nodded.

“Good,” Taran said quickly. “Then I’m out of here.”

With that, the Vexoran inhabiting Cheetor’s shell pressed a button on his wrist and fizzled out from view.

Rhinox turned his attention from the Transformers entering the Autobot shuttle to the Ark’s blast doors, which now had a steady stream—literally—of Vexorans coming through them. They were starting to overwhelm Bonecrusher and the Dinobots.

“Maximals!” Rhinox commanded, “Attack! We must keep the Vexorans from reaching the shuttle, or all hope is lost!”

 “Everyone strapped down?” Sigma Prime asked as he clicked on the startup engines.

 “As much as is possible,” Bulkhead admitted. “Geez, our ancestors sure were huge… I feel so tiny in these big seats…”

 “Alright then, ‘bots… say goodbye to Earth….” Sigma Prime said sadly as the shuttle bay started to crank the shuttle up to a near-vertical position for takeoff.

 “Hey, wait!” Cybershark said from his seat near the back of the ship. “You need to enter a code before takeoff!”

 “A code?” Sigma asked. “For what?”

 “Some kind of cloaking field so the Vexoran ships can’t see us escape. Taran built it in to the shuttle before he left.”

 “Woah, hold on,” Ramulus interjected. “You’re TRUSTING Taran, Fishboy? As the resident expert on deception, I think I should mention that this guy’s screwed us over HOW many times now?!”

 “The shuttle is nearly in a takeoff position,” Tigerhawk pointed out to Blackarachnia and Dinobot. “We just need to hold out a little longer…”

 “Well, I’m taking as many of these pus bags down with me,” Blackarachnia said, dodging a black arm that had just morphed into a sawblade.

 Tigerhawk was about to reply, but Landmine suddenly came up from behind and whacked him across the head so hard it shattered Tigerhawk’s optics and visor. The Transmetal II fuzor fell to the ground, unconscious.

 “Wonderful, the Vexorans are already starting to infest the Transformers they’ve destroyed,” Blackarachnia said. “Besides you and me, we’ve got, what, five Maximals left?”

 “Remember when I taught you about how to control your Predacon programming?” Dinobot asked as he backed a few steps away from Landmine while another Vexoran seeped into Tigerhawk’s structure and the fuzor started to get back up again.

 “Yeah,” Blackarachnia said, slashing at an advancing Bonecrusher.

 “Forget it. All of it,” Dinobot growled.

 “Let’s show ‘em how much of a nuisance an ‘inferior’ race can be,” Blackarachnia smirked.

 With a final battle cry, the two former Predacons launched themselves at their opponents, slashing and hacking away at their former comrades.

 “Look, Taran got us this far, didn’t he?” Cybershark argued. “What would be the point in showing us the shuttle if he didn’t intend for us to use it?”

 “Yeah, just like we thought he was helping us when he built that satellite transmitter,” Ramulus retorted. “How do we know this code won’t blow up the shuttle or something?”

 “Enough!” Sigma interrupted. “Look, we don’t have time to argue right now, this is the only chance we’ve got at getting out of here undetected! Cybershark, what’s the code?”

 “A… 45,” Cybershark replied.

 “Alright then,” Sigma Prime said, typing in the aforementioned code on the pilot’s console and placing his hand over the enter button, “Here goes nothing…”

 His treads ripped apart and his body tipped onto its back, Rhinox painfully looked up at the shuttle above him as a roof hatch at the top of the room creaked open and, with a huge plume of fire from its engines, the shuttle started to take off… and then abruptly disappeared, even though Rhinox could still feel the heat coming from the shuttle’s engines.

 “Yes…” Rhinox whispered, right before Grimlock’s sword came down on his torso and stabbed him right through the spark.

 “Look at that!” Strika breathed, looking out one of the shuttle’s side windows.

 “Even I wasn’t aware the Vexoran armada had grown to such numbers…” Nighteye said softly.

 Luckily for the small group of surviving Transformers, Taran had been telling the truth; the cloaking shield had worked, and the shuttle had left Earth behind with the Vexorans unaware of its presence. Now, as Sigma Prime prepped the shuttle to enter transwarp space, the other crew members looked out the shuttle at the massive fleet surrounding the Earth.

 The mothership that had filled the sky where the Predacons and Maximals had battled was indeed not the only one of its kind there; two more of the massive ships hovered a little further from Earth’s orbit, presumably only to be used during the impending invasion of Cybertron. Even one mothership put any Cybertronian vessel to shame; it was the size of a small moon, with an immeasurable amount of small ships moving to and fro between the three massive structures.

 “What was it Rattrap used to say? Oh, yeah… ‘We’re all gonna die,’” Ramulus muttered.

 “Buckle yourselves back down, ‘bots,” Sigma Prime said, “We’re about to enter transwarp space.”

 “The shuttle has indeed left,” Airraptor stated to the other infested Transformers—and the few Vexorans remaining in the shuttle bay that had not infested a robot of their own—as he flew back down through the Ark’s roof hatch and landed on the orange metal floor. “It appears they activated some kind of cloaking field before takeoff.”

 “It does not matter,” Dinobot said. “Those foolish Transformers may have thought they could give us the slip by rendering their ship invisible to our eyes, but nothing can escape our sensors. Our orbital fleet surely has destroyed them by now, if the Transformers even made it that far.”

 “What should we do with these shells?” Gryphtron asked.

 “Destroy them, they are of no further use to us,” Dinobot commanded. “It was wonderful irony to see the Transformers essentially destroy themselves, but being in this body for even this minute amount of time is starting to disgust me. Let us head back to the mothership and get ready for the true battle that lies ahead.”

 “But what about this one?” K-9 said, kicking a very badly injured Scavenger on the ground, who twitched a little from the kick. The Vehicon’s optics flickered slightly, but went back to black after a few seconds. “It has an immortal spark.”

 “Not entirely,” Dinobot answered. “Central Command informed me before we left that Unit Scavenger’s spark is vulnerable to unstable energon—if a some of it is plunged through his spark, the reaction will extinguish it. We will take care of him after we destroy the rest of these shells.”

 “Um… can I go back in the ship?” Bulkhead mumbled to Atlas.

 “Just stay here,” Atlas said, rolling his optics. “You wouldn’t have the leaders of the Maximals AND the Predacons in the same place if they didn’t already know what we’re here for.”

 Greeting the group as they exited the Autobot shuttle was an odd mix of Transformers standing on the edges of the landing pad. On one side of the landing pad stood three of the Maximal Elders—Strongarm, Skydive, and Magna Stampede, flanked by at least a dozen big, bulky bodyguards with big, bulky guns. On the other side of the pad stood Shockwave, Barricade, Slugslinger, and Dreadwing, backed up by a similar number of protectors. Given that the last he had heard of Shockwave, the old Decepticon was in prison for life because of crimes against the Autobots, it didn’t take long for Atlas to figure out that Shockwave had gained control of the Predacons. From the looks of it, Shockwave had reformatted himself as well—although Shockwave had the familiar one-eyed face that Atlas remembered, the structure of his body was different, from the huge gun that served as his left arm in robot mode to the tank treads on his back and legs. Shockwave was also only the size of a slightly-larger-than-average Predacon, instead of the huge energy-inefficient size he had been when he had been a full-fledged Decepticon.

 “Welcome back to the present, Maximals,” Shockwave said, with an unusual hint of sarcasm in his voice.

 “Hey, we’re not all Maxies!” Sandstorm said, stepping forward with Injector and Spittor. “We’re Predacons, One-eye! We made them ‘bots take us along!”

 The other Maximals in the group narrowed their eyes at the trio (and some even snarled) as the Predacons made their way over to Shockwave’s group.

 “Hmm. You showed resourcefulness under pressue,” Shockwave said, looking down at his three new Preds. “That will be advantageous in the impending conflict. Very well, you may join my army—“

 “Thanks, pardner—“

 “--so long as you cease talking,” Shockwave continued, his optic flaring briefly for emphasis.

 Sandstorm, Injector, and Spittor looked taken aback at first, but quickly nodded their heads and took their positions behind Shockwave.

 “Atlas, Bulkhead—I knew you wouldn’t perish in your assignment,” Magna Stampede, bowing his head slightly in thanks. “But… where are Cliffjumper and the others?”

 “Dead,” Atlas said, shaking his head. “The Vexoran attack took us completely by surprise—quite an accomplishment, considering the size of their ships. There were also dozens of other Transformers on Earth—we sixteen are all that is left.”

 “I see,” Magna Stampede said sadly. “Assuming we get through the impending invasion in one piece, a ceremony will be held honoring your fallen friends, I assure you.”

 “Thank you, Magna,” Atlas acknowledged. “That… would be most appreciated.”

 “So, anyone gonna tell us what’s going on, or are we just going to stand around talking until the Vexorans pound our faces into the ground?” Ramulus said impatiently.

 “Ah, Maximus—from what I’ve read about you in the crime logs, you haven’t changed a bit,” Strongarm said, smiling and shaking his head.

 “I had sent my subordinates after Atlas’ ship, to follow them and find out what they were up to, as their flight during a time of war was suspicious,” Shockwave said. “They were about to land on Earth when the Vexorans attacked the planet. They were able to escape without harm, and immediately came back to Cybertron and informed me of the situation. Realizing this threat was more powerful than the Maximals, I contacted the Maximal Elders and we quickly negotiated a truce that is in effect until sixty solar cycles after the conflict is over. Assuming we survive, of course— from what my subordinates have told me about the size of the Vexoran fleet, I estimate only a 0.7% probability of Cybertron making it through this impending invasion without being destroyed. The war amongst factions that we have been engaged in until very recently has left both of our factions with greatly reduced numbers. In addition, it has been very difficult to bring a halt to this war in such a short time—even now, our dispatches have not quite reached to the opposite side of the globe, where the war is still being fought.”

 “How many Transformers are left?” Sigma Prime asked, fearing the worst.

 “Roughly 65% of the population before the war,” Shockwave said. “Slightly more of that number is Predacon as opposed to Maximal.”

 “Wonderful,” Sigma grumbled.

 “There is, however, one hope—“ Skydive started, stepping forwards towards the Beast Warriors.

 “It’s silly superstition, nothing more!” Barricade interjected angrily. “She wants us to waste our time on some fool’s errand while an advanced alien race is standing on our proverbial doorstep?!”

 “Silence,” Shockwave said, backhanding Barricade. “You have not been given permission to speak, Barricade. However, my subordinate is correct—it is not logical to go searching for a legend at a time such as this. Regardless, the Maximal Elders and I have worked out a compromise—three of you will accompany Skydive on this inconsequential mission, at the Elders’ insistence. The rest of you will be needed for the real impeding conflict.”

 “What legend are you talking about, Elder?” Sigma addressed Skydive.

 “It was part of the knowledge passed down through the ages. Alpha Trion informed me of this legend before he went offline a few hundred stellar cycles ago. The verse is from the Covenant of Primus-- older than even Alpha Trion himself. It mentions that the Well of Allsparks will ‘burn away the Evil Children’.”

 “The Well of Allsparks is itself a myth, however,” Shockwave interjected. “Even assuming that it exists, which I estimate only a 8.4% probability of being correct, we have no idea where it could be, only that it would be nearer to the core of the planet than to the surface.”

 “The legend also mentions a clue to its location, though,” Skydive said. “It is cryptic—“

 “As all superstitious nonsense is…” Barricade grumbled, which prompted a punch in the stomach from Dreadwing.

 “—and I’m not even sure if these Vexorans are the ‘Evil Children’ mentioned in the legend or if it refers to some other force we have yet to face, but it is the only option I can see working,” Skydive admitted.

 “Very well,” Sigma Prime said. “Myself, Mirage, and Ramulus will accompany you, Elder.”

 “What!?” Ramulus protested. “I have to go on an Easter Egg Hunt while the rest get in some REAL fighting!? C’mon!”

 “You’re a bounty hunter, Ramulus—because of your occupation, you are far more observant and aware of your surroundings than the average Transformer,” Sigma Prime said, “And Mirage will be invaluable in helping us to search areas. You’re coming.”

 Ramulus grumbled, but walked up to Sigma Prime’s side along with Mirage.

 “The rest of you, we have little time,” Strongarm said, his voice urgent. “Do you know anything that could help us in the upcoming battle? Knowledge of the enemy, their weaknesses, anything?”

 “Well, Nighteye’ll help you out there,” Cybershark said, pointing at the Transformer he was referring to. “He’s a Vexoran.”

 The Elders and Shockwave’s crew were silent for a moment, digesting the revelation that had just been revealed to them. Finally, Shockwave spoke up.

 “Are you sure he is trustworthy?”

 “He’s saved our skidplates more than once,” Cybershark said, grinning. “The reason he looks like a Transformer is because due to some malfunction with his escape pod— which came from the first Vexoran battleship we destroyed, because—“

 “Cybershark, it doesn’t matter,” Nighteye said, motioning for the Transmetal II shark to stop talking. “It’s a story that’ll take a long time to tell, and time we don’t have. Shockwave, Elders—I will help you in any way I can.”

 “Hold that thought, mates,” Slugslinger said, putting up one hand in a motion for silence as he tapped a communicator on his ear with the other hand, apparently listening to something. “Boss, we’ve got company—the ‘bots back at base just told me that they’re detecting some transwarp abnormalities a few thousand miles out from Cybertron. The Vexorans are almost here.”

 “Slag, that didn’t take long,” Ramulus cursed.

 “Alright then, we’ve no time to lose!” Strongarm said hurriedly. “Sigma Prime, you and your team go with Skydive! Nighteye, come with Shockwave, Magna Stampede, and myself! The rest of you, get together and start formulating plans and getting together our armies—this is it, ‘bots, Cybertron itself is at stake!”

To be continued…

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