The End Of An Era
A fanfic by Bill T. Taylor
a.k.a. RedStreak
The Karicon Nebula, a radiant cloud of red and orange…a celestial tiara from afar, began to darken strangely. A tiny speck of pure blackness became visible, growing larger and broader. The mass of darkness was not distinct; rather it appeared to be a cloud with twisting tendrils, a menacing counterpart to the nebula itself that it blotted out.
It swept by fast and in a distinct direction. The Autobot carrier, observing distantly as the black nebulosity continued onward seemed to hover in place amid the diamond-like stars. Behind thick windows and scarred, gold-plated armor its commander watched tentatively through sensor screens.
“Can you confirm what it is Silverbolt?” Optimus Prime asked.
Silverbolt hovered over his station, optics fixed solely on it. Typing, analyzing, and pondering, a melancholy expression appeared on his faceplate. “No. Our sensors are having trouble making sense of it at all!”
Ultra Magnus, he and Sandstorm stepping up from behind Prime, asked, “Could it be some form of dark matter?”
Silverbolt stared at his console, replying, “I don’t know…possibly, but even dark matter can be detected by our systems. We’re lucky our sensors can manage to track it at all.”
Prime glanced up at the main screen, watching as the darkness, visible only as it momentarily eclipsed the stars like an invisible phantom, continued on toward the stellar distance. Focused purely on this flying enigma, Optimus Prime asked, “Where is it headed?”
It streaked across the heavens faster than light, an ever-moving black, warped shadow. The darkness passed through star clusters and dust clouds, rainbow-colored nebulae and black asteroids…until it came upon one random star system little different than the others.
Circling a burning white sun was a modest planet that was a stunning shade of green, a literal emerald among the stars. Nearly its entire surface was covered with lush vegetation, great forests covering tracks of land rivaling the size of whole continents. Not a desert, not a wasteland, not one barren patch anywhere. The trees were succulent with thick green leaves and alien fruits, the plants all over this world caught in a state of perpetual spring with beautiful blue skies above.
Scattered throughout this world were a race of strange, reptilian beings. Like humans they were bipedal, self-aware, and intelligent in their own way. Strangely, they dwelled not in concrete, dead structures…but great green domes that resembled the flesh of their own skin and bodies and both the plant life that abounded. Indeed, all their homes, their cities were not built…but grown. A symbiosis between the reptilians, their cities, the forests, and their world existed in perfect harmony with unimaginable biological complexity.
But it was a paradise under siege….
In one of the largest forest-nest-cities, a reptilian pressed his hand to the side of a giant green dome. Instinctively, the organic, fleshy matter parted, an open portal forming to the darkened innards within. The creature took a step forward, but then made a soft, garbled grunt. It turned about and looked to the sky. Another reptilian came to his side, growling in the same language.
“Garrba gorna nisa macca?”
The first pointed a clawed finger upward, muttering “Gaza urana accenta! Urana nemissara morka!”
A black cloud hung in the vibrant afternoon sky. Minute by minute, it swelled with outstretched tendrils, swallowing the sky from horizon to horizon, stealing the color, the clouds, and the sunlight from them.
From space, the darkness spread and rapidly enveloped the green planet. As the Autobot’s carrier caught up, the darkness seemingly swallowed up the planet like some morphing amoeba about a hapless germ, leeching off the planet and what dwelled upon it.
“What in sweet Alpha Trion’s name?” gasped Ultra Magnus.
“It looks like it’s eating the planet…” muttered Sandstorm.
“By the Matrix,” uttered Prime himself as he beheld the site of the dark planet. Suddenly fire flowed through his circuits in a flash. “AGGGGGH!” He bent down, hands to the side of his head with optics flickering in agony.
The next instant, Prime found himself engulfed in a blue ethereal light. Sparks, hundreds of thousands of sparks shining like stars, hovered in the distance. Streams of light encircled him, entrapping Optimus Prime within a tunnel, the sparks themselves swirling sporadically about.
Creatures, reptilians, started to rush by him. Cast in the same ominous blue light as himself, they appeared like ghosts caught in grotesque poses of agony to Prime. Hundreds...no thousands…hundreds of thousands…perhaps even millions, passed Prime from all sides. As he stared, gazing this way and that, the Autobot sensed something, saw brief glimpses of green cities of plant and stone, forests and rivers, all in brief flashes.
“The darkness,” he spoke, “has consumed them all…taken and merged their essence and forms with itself.” Beside Optimus Prime appeared his old sage and creator, vague and enveloped in a glowing aura…truly a ghost of his former self.
“Alpha Trion,” Prime said, gazing upon him. As the strange aliens whooshed by in countless numbers, he looked to Alpha Trion in bewilderment. “What are these? What…exactly, has consumed them?”
Alpha Trion gazed with strange eyes. “You know the answer already, Prime. Twice you have seen this dark power, and now twice has its power been unleashed to ravage the cosmos.”
“The…the dark Matrix?” Prime dared to speak.
Alpha Trion enigmatically replied, “Yes…and no.”
“What do you mean?”
Alpha Trion turned away, gazing at the countless images of the tortured reptilians. “The darkness is but a fragment of the Matrix. Tormented, unguided, lost…just like its victims. Now…it is simply a force of darkness…unfathomable and unstoppable…and yet it yearns to return to the Matrix from whence it came…and it will destroy all life to do so.”
Glancing briefly at the fading alien victims, Prime asked one more question to his creator. “You called this force…unstoppable. Are you saying there’s no way to prevent it from killing everything in the universe?”
Alpha Trion continued to stand with his back to Prime. “Only one chance, one place that the darkness can be averted.” In the distance, in the tunnel of light a blue and white planet, an all-too familiar sphere to Prime’s own blue eyes, appeared. “Here…on this place…this one world…can it be done.”
Finally the ancient Autobot turned about, looking straight at his progeny. “You must turn darkness to light, Optimus Prime. You have what you need.” Slowly, Alpha Trion began to fade. “Be warned! The darkness already is approaching…the hour drawing nearer! You have what you need.”
Prime’s eyes turned bright blue once more. “GAH!” he choked loudly. A green, disembodied head hovered over him, looking coldly at him.
The hologram of Perceptor2 stated to the Autobots in the repair bay, “Subject: Optimus Prime, is online once again. All functions nominal.”
As the holographic “doctor” switched off, Ultra Magnus helped Prime sit upright. “Good to have you back Prime! For a while….”
“The darkness!” Prime suddenly blared, “Where is it?”
Minutes later, Prime’s optics were looking into space. The former gem-planet was still half-cloaked in darkness…but already the force that had previously enveloped it whole was departing from it.
“We’re entering orbit now Prime,” Silverbolt said, still at his post.
Looking to the Aerialbot commander, Prime ordered, “Status report on the planet. What’s happening to it?”
A visual of the remote sector of the planet materialized onscreen. The wave of darkness still rippled over the limb, but was retreating rapidly. In its wake was nothing, or next to nothing. A gray, tortured landscape of valleys and barren plateaus abounded where luscious forests moments ago thrived…all rendered asunder and stripped.
Silverbolt’s eyes widened a little in disbelief. “Life signs fading rapidly from the planet. Worse still…no geothermal activity, no magnetic field or storm activity…it’s like the entire planet’s been drained of energy!”
“More precisely,” stated Optimus Prime, “drained…of all life.”
A beep went off on Silverbolt’s console. “Sir! The…err…darkness has left the planet. Tracking indicates its on course for….”
“Earth,” Prime spoke in a whisper.
Ultra Magnus and Silverbolt glanced at each other, then at Prime. “Actually, it’s en route to Cyber….” Silverbolt began to correct his leader.
“NO!” Prime shouted, “IT’S GOING TO STRIP THE EARTH NEXT!” Swiftly turning to his second-in-command, Optimus Prime ordered, “Ultra Magnus, open a link to Cybertron stat! Contact Cerebros and Spike and have them assemble all forces to Earth!”
Ultra Magnus protested, grabbing Prime by the shoulders. “Prime, are you insane? Silverbolt just said it’s heading for our home, not Earth! We have to protect Cybertron!”
“I GAVE YOU AN ORDER MAGNUS!” Prime shouted to him.
“AND I’M TELLING YOU WE NEED TO PROTECT CYBERTRON! WHY ARE YOU CERTAIN IT WILL ATTACK EARTH NEXT?!” Ultra Magnus shouted back.
“TELL THAT TO ALPHA TRION THEN!”
Minutes later, at central Iacon amid the sprawl of Fortress Maximus, Cerebros and Arcee were running up the central ramp toward Maximus’ entrance. “What’s happening Cerebros?” Arcee asked the Headmaster, “Is it Decepticons again?”
“No…something bigger still,” Cerebros commented, “Prime’s readying a transmission as we speak….”
The pair in their rush abruptly paused at the top of the ramp, looking out to the golden city itself. On a large skyscraper, a giant screen attached to one side switched on, the face of Optimus Prime himself pictured on it. Dozens of other buildings also displayed such images, the face of the legendary Autobot commander visible to all the city’s inhabitants.
“Attention Autobots,” Optimus Prime’s voice rang throughout Cybertron, booming for all to hear, “The Decepticons on Char have been defeated…Galvatron and his forces have been taken offline for good…”
Inside Cerebros’ head, Spike openly commented, “Well I can’t see how that’s a bad thing.”
“However,” Prime’s voice thundered from the countless monitors throughout the cityscape, “an even more dire threat has arisen…one that can only be stopped at the planet Earth. I…I…what I’m about to ask for is hard to say…and it comes at great risk to our own world….”
Across Iacon, Autobots stood in surprise, eagerly taking in each phrase and moment Prime took. Some already began forming doubts, others hesitant while others still were uncertain what the faultless Optimus Prime was asking of them.
“Autobots…all forces are to leave Cybertron and reassemble on Earth. I repeat…all forces are to leave Cybertron and reassemble on Earth.”
Highbrow, his fellow Headmasters, Kup and the Targetmasters, and the Technobots were gathered beside on monitor on Cybertronic Way, standing there and watching it. “Earth? Why for all the gold and silicon in Pyronicon should we assemble there of all places?”
Strafe of the Technobots looked to Highbrow with an equally perplexed expression. “I agree. Shouldn’t we fortify Cybertron’s defenses first?”
“Hey!” old Kup spoke up, Recoil at his side, “Prime’s never lead us astray before! I was with him in battles long before any of your high-tech circuits were processed!”
Highbrow folded his arms over his chest, looking haughtily at the war veteran-turned-Targetmaster. “Hmmph! I do say!” he snootily said, “Well this is one matter I promptly and copiously differ with in regards to our prestigious and all-knowing leader.”
Hot Rod blinked. “What was that again Highbrow?” he asked with a blank face.
Kup immediately grabbed Hot Rod by the shoulder. “Come on! We ain’t got time to wait with these gear-heads! When Prime gives an order, WE follow it!” As Kup and Hot Rod strode off, the remaining Targetmasters remained with Highbrow’s group to further debate the issue.
As dawn broke the twilight over the Mohave Desert, a bright red meteor flew down from the sky. A coyote howled and proceeded to chase down a little yellow squirrel, taking no notice of the flashing red light in the sky. Then, just as its paws caught its squirming, yellow prey, a booming crash and a splash of sand was thrown up into the air. Startled, the coyote released it’s prey, which ran off with a “squeeee!” Curiously, the canine approached a long trench in the ground, ears cocked high.
“Ugh…man!” a loud voice moaned from the sandy trench. A giant monster of sand seemed to rise out of the ground, big and frightening. The coyote yipped, backing away…but then pausing as the sand spilled away, revealing a strange man of metal staggering about.
RedStreak cast a glare at the coyote. “What are you lookn’ at?” he muttered. The coyote simply stared for a minute and then turned about, trotting off casually in search of its next meal.
Chip sat at his console within RedStreak’s cranium, flipping switches and double-checking system status reports feeding in on numerous screens. “Not much of a landing,” Chip stated with a little groan, “but we’re both in one piece…so to speak. I’d ease off your thrusters for a while though, judging from your internal gauges.” Chip, also taking notice of the readings from RedStreak’s radio sensors, further added, “Looks like a lot of transmissions coming in…directed mostly to Autobot City, on emergency frequencies too! We’d better get there, Red!”
RedStreak groaned, still feeling sand in his gears as he stood fully upright. “Terrific. I have to walk to Autobot City. Man…how ironic that I wish I was a car again,” grumbled the Autobot.
To the North, past deserts and mountains in a region dubbed “Oregon” by humans lay the shimmering metal sight of Autobot City. Autobots previously stationed all over the planet were arriving en masse…flying, driving, even swimming in. Above, a few shuttles were descending and landing.
Prime’s carrier had arrived just millicycles ago, accompanied by the Aerialbots, Ultra Magnus, and Sandstorm…the last survivors of the proud Autobot fleet. Optimus Prime stood with Magnus and Silverbolt as a new shuttle landed, rolling to a stop near the main complex of the great city. Airlock doors slid open, a large ramp unfolding and extending down as a trio of transformer cars drove down it. One red and yellow, the second pink and white, and the last dull green. Optimus’ attention turned to them as each respectively transformed.
“Hot Rod, Arcee, Kup? I…I was hoping…more would be coming with you,” stated the Autobot commander in a bit of surprise.
Arcee spoke to Prime first, saying, “It’s Highbrow and…and the Masters. They’re…they’re….”
“They’re full of themselves is what I say,” openly interrupted Kup, “Them and the Technobots are insistn’ on staying. Protectn’ Cybertron and all, and that’s making everyone else on the planet ponder too.”
Hot Rod approached both Kup and Prime from behind, speaking up as well. “But doesn’t it make sense to leave someone behind to…watch over things? Highbrow may actually have a point….”
Kup turned a set of stern optics to Hot Rod, pointing a finger to him. “Now don’t YOU start too!”
“Easy Kup, both Highbrow and Hot Rod have their point…but I am certain about this,” Prime spoke aloud, “Where’s Cerebros though?”
Arcee, yanked gently on Prime’s arm. “I left him with Fortress Maximus on Cybertron. He’s trying to convince the other Headmasters to return to Earth with the rest of us.”
Kup huffed a little. “About the only Headmaster with his head screwed on…apart from you,” he smirked toward Arcee. Glancing back at Optimus, Kup asked, “So…what is it we’re about to face?”
Silverbolt stepped forward from Prime’s side. “Some kind of space…dark matter monster. We watched it consume the surface of an entire planet in minutes!”
“No,” Prime interrupted Silverbolt, looking skyward for a moment, “something bigger and more sinister than you can imagine.”
At the heart of Iacon, Highbrow was briskly walking up the ramp leading inside Fortress Maximus. Cerebros, struggling to remain at his side, tried to talk to him. “Highbrow, it is necessary for us to follow Optimus Prime’s orders! Highbrow!”
Highbrow, his attention focused ahead, largely ignored Cerebros. Upon reaching the entrance, he started to type in the entry code. The door swinging open, Highbrow briefly said to his Autobot counterpart, “Will you please quit badgering me? Me and the other Autobots have made our decision!” Quickly he entered, Cerebros still pursuing him inside. Turning a corner, the Headmaster came across a console manned by Brainstorm and Chromedome. “Brainstorm, Chromedome, what condition are the city shielding and planetary defense systems in? I hope the Technobots and Targetmasters managed to reinstate and activate our primary focus of protection,” elaborated Highbrow.
Brainstorm turned about towards Cerebros and Highbrow in his seat, reporting back, “Oh you mean is everything fixed and working? Scattershot and Crosshairs reported back just a millicycle ago and everything’s at one hundred percent.”
“Brilliant Brainstorm,” Highbrow replied with controlled enthusiasm, “I am going to check up on Hardhead in the armory. Think you can attend to the wearisome needs of our inexorable companion and his homo sapien Headmaster unit?”
As Cerebros’ optics followed Highbrow, Spike muttered to the others, “I don’t understand you Brainstorm. Why are you following Highbrow’s haughty commands over Optimus’?”
Brainstorm seemed hesitant to reply, but from within Arcana readily stated, “It is not that we prefer nor dislike either Highbrow or Prime…but that Highbrow’s analysis and focus on the defense of the Autobots’ home planet seems more…logical.”
“Cybertron needs us, now more than ever,” Brainstrom stated his opinion.
“Brainstorm, I understand that more than anyone,” Cerebros himself agreed, “but blatantly ignoring Prime’s commands, logical or illogical, is wrong! Besides, Prime has never been one to give into rash decisions or to….”
An alarm began to boom loudly. “Attention,” Fortress Maximus boomed his bass voice, “Unidentifiable mass fast approaching Cybertron detected by my sensors. Fortress Maximus recommends preparation of defenses.”
“What on Cybertron?” both Spike and Cerebros uttered.
Highbrow appeared immediately behind Cerebros, hands on his hips with a face as stolid as ever. “Rash decisions, eh? Like leaving Cybertron vulnerable to an unforeseen menace that could destroy us? I’ll speak no further on the subject.”
Maximus’ voice boomed once again, “My sensors indicate unidentifiable mass now penetrating Cybertronian space. Preparation of defenses again recommended.”
Highbrow looked to Cerebros. “Well Cerebros, Spike? Are you still going to pester us with petty, invalid regulations or assist in disentangling our eminent and critical predicament?”
Inside Cerebros, Spike let out a stressful sigh. “Fine Highbrow. Cerebros, you and Maximus do your thing.”
“Right Spike,” replied Cerebros. Glancing to the ceiling, Cerebros spoke aloud, “Fortress Maximus, commence transformation to Fortress mode. Arm all weapons and keep a lock on the approaching mass your sensors detect.”
“Command…recognized,” uttered the city-giant-Autobot. Outside, the sprawl of Fortress Maximus began to physically change. Ramps retracted as the tall command tower extended upwards. The numerous guns mounted throughout the emerging superstructure began to swivel upward toward a remote point in the sky, entire racks of missiles appearing and clicking into position. “Transformation completed. Fortress form established and weapons online,” muttered the transformed giant.
Back at Autobot City, Prime, Arcee with Daniel, Kup, Blur, and Hot Rod were once more gathered, this time inside Metroplex’s command center. Arcee stood at the main console, noting an alert on its screen. “There’s an incoming report from Cybertron!” she exclaimed, “That…That thing is heading straight toward the planet!”
Daniel, bonded and housed within Arcee’s head, wearily replied, “Oh no! Is it going to do to Cybertron what it did…did to that other….”
“Oh no!” Kup admitted with a shocked moan, “Highbrow was right!” Looking to Optimus, the normally level-minded Kup frantically blared, “We’ve gotta get back there pronto! They may be able to hold off that thing by themselves with Maximus, but we’ve got to….”
“RightRightRight!” Blur seconded the notion, “GottoGottogetbacktoCybertron! I’llgoandpreptheshuttlesforimmediatelaunchlaunchlaunch!”
“Wait Blur,” Prime halted them all, “We can not act.”
One word echoed throughout the room. “WHAT?!”
Brainstorm stared hard at his console monitor. “Range forty clicks and closing.”
Within the command tower of Fortress Maximus, Cerebros stood with Highbrow at his side, both gazing at a similar read-out that Brainstorm’s console was picking up at his separate post in a deeper section of the posed fortress. Spike, interpreting the data in turn through Cerebros’ optics and processors, said, “We read you Brainstorm. Fortress Maximus, focus grids at coordinates I.L.S.3H. Fire on approaching mass when it crosses that sector.”
Outside the turrets, guns, and missiles arced slightly further up, a black ink spot plainly visible against the faint glow of the Cybertronian atmosphere. Its width was growing larger, tendrils wiggling and reforming constantly.
Highbrow, staring at the same screen as Cerebros, stiffly uttered, “I knew something like this would happen. See? My intellect and clairvoyance proves highly advantageous in strenuous situations such as….”
Cerebros, turning his head toward Highbrow, uttered “Highbrow will you please minimize your vocal circuits speech patterns? This is not the time….”
An alarm went off, drowning out any thoughts and words from either Autobot. “Cybertronian space breeched! Firing on targeted entity now!” Fortress Maximus rumbled. The mighty city-bot’s full arsenal was fired into space. The cityscape of all Iacon was illuminated in gold and fiery light, the sound of guns booming and rockets launching shaking the city from the tips of the skyscrapers to the depths of the buried under-city below.
The darkness crossed over the face of Cybertron, casting a large misshapen shadow over the planet. From a single point streams of light seemed to blast out from the planet itself, striking the encroaching darkness with unseen might. The lasers, blasts, and missiles selfless flew at the darkness...and…..
“Nothing?” Gort blared from within Highbrow’s head, “We’re shooting that black goo with every missile this city’s got and nothing!”
Highbrow braced his hands on the console, watching in disbelief. “How can this be? With the sheer firepower concentrated upon it, there should be some reaction, chemical, electromagnetic….ugh…something!” Highbrow said.
“Maybe this thing isn’t vulnerable to conventional weapons,” Spike offered one suggestion.
“Wait,” Cerebros gave pause, still fixed on the screen, “Something is happening….”
Effortlessly, and regardless of the fire from the planet surface, the darkness continued to move onward, either ignoring the Autobots’ efforts or completely oblivious to them at all. It swept closer and closer, the individual lights of cities and the tallest spires becoming visibly larger before it. Then, as it seemed posed to repeat its ravenous actions at the forest planet…it continued to move on at an oblique angle, back into the limitless void beyond.
The blip on the screen rapidly fading, Cerebros stated. “It’s exiting the system entirely! Whatever it is…it’s heading back into space…and I know where it’s headed.”
As Cerebros began entering commands into the console, Highbrow asked him, “What is it? Where is its heading?”
“You should already know, Mr. Clairvoyant,” bluntly stated Spike as Cerebros reset Fortress Maximus’ systems, “Prime already guessed it before you!”
“Let us hope there is still time!” Cerebros further said, “Maximus, prepare for immediate departure. Setting destination in your navigational banks….”
“Finally,” RedStreak huffed, ascending to the hilly ridge overlooking Autobot City, “We’ve…made it Chip. Autobot City.”
With the sun beaming in the late evening sky, the city seemed to shimmer in perfect glory. The best of Autobot engineering and architecture, created to protect and serve the humans as part of the Autobots’ continued vigilance on their world.
“Magnificent,” Chip began to say, “What the heck?”
A quake started to rumble. Before them, the core of the city and its array of buildings started to retract, transforming. Twin towers spun about towards the rear, turning into long-range blasters as giant tires nearly three stories high emerged from beneath, a broad carrier-like deck forming on top. With a mighty rumble that echoed for miles, the city, now a mobile battle station, rolled out.
“Metroplex has converted to battle mode! Aw slag!” RedStreak cursed. He quickly began running like never before, the servos in his knees and ankles killing him. “I…hate…running…like this!” RedStreak yelled, desperately trying to catch the station before it picked up speed.
Already Metroplex’s speed was beyond human sprinting abilities, and soon it would be beyond RedStreak’s as well. Gasping desperately, RedStreak reached Metroplex’s side, spying a maintenance ladder built into it. The massive tires rolled, crushing boulders in their path as RedStreak rushed between them, the ladder extending down right between one pair. He bolted, doomed to either grab or be squashed. His hands slipped, missing several bars…but caught the last ring of the ladder, his feet awkwardly tripping on the ground. “Phew,” gasped the Autobot.
He climbed up for several long minutes. Upon reaching the last few yards, a silver hand suddenly caught his own. Hot Rod pulled up RedStreak, who was surprised to see the newest Headmaster. “Wow…surprised to meet you again Red, glad you’re back.”
“What’s happening here, Hot Rod?” RedStreak asked.
Hot Rod smirked. “Isn’t it obvious? We’ve transformed and are now rolling out!”
Metroplex rolled out at his top speed, trekking northeast across the continent until he reached the Pacific Coast. Relentless, the great transformer rolled across the beach, wadding deeper and deeper, then seemingly drifted across the ocean like a huge carrier. Crucial hours passed, the darkness rushing toward the third blue planet of a yellow sun.
At the far eastern reaches of Russia, the shores of the icy Kamchatka Peninsula laid with the Pacific at their banks. At one remote section, the waters seemed to part for a moment, the great mass of Metroplex braking wave and rolling back onto shore. The frosted ground crunched under the weight of his treaded tires, the great city-bot slowing to a halt between the sea and ice-capped mountains.
Optimus Prime stepped to the very end of Metroplex’s deck, overlooking this remote and nearly uninhabited land. “This is it Autobots,” he stated aloud, “This is where it’s all going to happen.”
RedStreak, standing amid the numerous Autobots also gathered, suddenly reached up and touched the side of his head, as if listening in to something. Chip’s voice suddenly spoke out from him urgently.
“Optimus Prime,” Chip reported, “I’m picking up global reports…satellite signals, radar, telescopic tracking…it’s here.”
High above Earth, it had at last arrived. The mysterious black mass, now little more than a few thousand miles from the planet, had come at long last. Its speed halted, hesitating for a moment. The entity of darkness stretched itself out, tendrils reaching further and further out like the branches of a tree or the fingers of some menacing hand. Slowly, it began to tighten its grip, its countless tendrils rapidly descending.
At the south pole, the first punched through the atmosphere, a boom echoing for miles. The tendril became as a swirling black twister, but on a scale far beyond any mere atmospheric phenomenon. The icy landscape cracked, the ground shaking as it dove deeper, wind swirling about it ferociously. It expanded out, engulfing the neighboring landscape. A colony of penguins, already frightened by the shaking landscape, fled to the sea instinctively. Waddling as fast as its tiny legs could carry it, a tiny baby chick was last. Its parents halted, waddling back to push the baby ahead. With a splash, the family dove to the water just as the swirling black vortex reached the end of the glacier.
Elsewhere, at Hawaii, Mexico City, London, Paris, Moscow, Taiwan, and a myriad of other regions more tendrils of darkness descended, slowly sweeping and spreading as more and more descended from above. Regions as big as thirty square miles were devoured at a time, consumed in darkness…forests, cities…plant life, animal life…human life.
Above the barren region the Autobots had assembled, the sky had become nearly pitch black. Then, like a sickle from heaven, a huge, black tendril descended straight down. With the speed of a lightning bolt, it shot down, striking offshore into the freezing depths. As the black vortex swirled, the wind roared like a pack of monsters, the waves foaming and crashing harder and harder. Worse still, unlike all the others that had fallen, this tendril grew fast, from a mere ethereal thread on the horizon to a massive and very forceful twister that shook the very planet, looming dangerously close to where the earth-bound Autobots stood.
“Unbelievable!” Kup frankly said, his voice barely audible over the winds, “It’s even worse than the binary twister I encountered when flying over Aeonus Six during a planetary maelstrom!”
Prime cupped his hand over his faceplate, yelling to his troops, “Autobots! This is the heart of this storm! We must stop it here before it ravages the rest of the Earth entirely! Autobots, transform for battle!”
Every Autobot transformed to their respective alternate forms. Prime transformed into his supped-up truck form and drove off Metroplex, landing with a loud thud. The Autobots, ranging from Hot Rod and Kup to Grimlock and the Dinobots to the Protectobots and Aerialbots flung themselves off Metroplex’s lofty deck, the giant himself beginning to transform, standing tall in his titanic form. As they stood at the shore, the black storm itself loomed over them all, enveloping the sky and now threatening to envelope the Earth itself.
“What’s the plan, Optimus?” Hot Rod immediately asked of his commander, resuming his robotic form.
Prime’s face clearly gave away a sense of uncertainty, but he was resolved nonetheless. With his rifle in his left hand, his right hand briefly went to his chest, Optimus eyeing through glass windows the ancient and empty artifact he carried within himself. Returning his gaze to the black vortex, he openly said, “Alpha Trion’s vision said we have what we need to stop this dark force, here on the planet Earth.”
“But…the Matrix…is empty,” Hot Rod hesitantly stated.
“Perhaps, but I do not doubt my creator’s words,” he soundly stated, “Autobots…open fire!”
Metroplex swung out his arms, the numerous turrets and cannons mounted to them firing in concert with the two large guns he held in his hands. Hovering in the air, Superion joined fire with his large electrostatic rifle, Defensor on the ground adding additional firepower. Grimlock and Slag opened their gaping mouths to blast out magma flames as Swoop dared to circle about the vortex to launch his wing missiles. Kup turned about, Recoil mounted in his rear firing dead at the storm. The triple-changers Sandstorm and Broadside flew in the high clouds, focusing their own weapons to the base of the storm. From the shore, Arcee, Hot Rod, RedStreak, and Prime himself added their own power to the fray.
The dark storm continued to rage. The gathering clouds erupted in lightning, and in the ground a tremor shook. A great crack raced out from the vortex’s base to the shoreline, water immediately rushing in to fill the widening crack, the shoreline retreating dangerously close to the vortex, exposing muddy seafloor in wide stretches.
Arcee, Prime, RedStreak, and Hot Rod stumbled backward as the Earth beneath them shook. “Slag, nothing’s happening!” blared Hot Rod as he gazed out at the storm. Even as the others continued firing, the vortex remained unaffected. Progressively it continued to expand out, growing bigger and stronger. The winds encircling it grew more powerful, the sky itself seemed to go mad.
“AUTOBOTS! FALL BACK!” Optimus Prime shouted. Immediately his troops rushed away from the storm, both flyers and ground troops. The vortex expanded out, its diameter increasing several more miles, consuming the ground they stood upon just moments before. Even Metroplex, in awe of this power, stepped back.
Kup transformed back to robotic form, his Targetmaster partner in his hand. “Hot Rod’s right! We’ve got no way to fight this thing!” Kup said, “I’ve been in hopeless situations before…and this is the most hopeless one yet!”
The Dinobots rumbled toward Prime, their commander looking to Prime. “Me Grimlock no like this!” Grimlock muttered as he transformed from his reptilian form, “Dinobots fire and blast, fire and blast! Big bad storm cloud should have gone…POOF by now!”
“I agree with you both,” Prime huffed a little, “This is impossible.” He clicked his rifle ready, but a weak beep emanated from it. Checking it, Optimus Prime saw its side panel, his gun’s battery entirely run dry. “Worse still, fighting this storm is running our energon dry. There has to be another way….”
“Look out!” Arcee screamed loud.
As lightning clashed above, the vortex spun out. From the great funnel more tendrils seemed to explode out, many streaking down to the Autobots. Like ants all the Autobots could do was scatter. Each plunged into the Earth, striking down hard and delving deep through tundra and rock. The great vortex seemed to be spawning more and more tendrils, each becoming a potent force unto themselves.
“It’s…it’s unstoppable!” RedStreak exclaimed.
“No….” Prime muttered, beholding the black twister and its swirling progeny, “There…there has to be another way….AGGGH!”
Sparks seemed to fly from Optimus Prime’s blue optics for a moment. With a painful groan he fell to the ground on his knees, shaking and quivering in a sudden spasm. As RedStreak and Hot Rod went to his sides, Prime, his eyes flickering constantly.
“The…the Earth itself!” Optimus Prime managed to gasp, “I…feel its pain!”
The loud rev of an engine sounded. A huge blue, red, and white transport truck drove up to Hot Rod and RedStreak as they attended the suddenly-stricken Prime. It transformed into Ultra Magnus who has taken immediate notice of Prime’s condition. “What going on? What happened to Prime?”
“I’m a flyer, not a doctor!” RedStreak promptly said.
“We don’t know Magnus!” Chip gave a more astute reply, “One moment he was online, the next he fell to the ground…muttering something.”
“Ah…one heck of a time to go into a coma he picked!” Ultra Magnus openly said with a sigh. Bending down he tried to speak to Optimus. “Prime! Prime! Are you alright?”
A shriek suddenly filled the air. The three Autobots looked in its direction, spying Arcee. One of the smaller twisters passed dangerously close to her, powerful gusts sweeping about her. The female Autobot lost her footing and was flying high in the air out of control.
“ARCEE!” Hot Rod shouted at the top of his vocal-processors, running towards her. All too quickly she was beyond not just his reach, but that of Defensor and Metroplex. Even mighty Superion couldn’t reach her, the winds near the twister too powerful for his thrusters to compensate for. “SOMEBODY HELP HER!” Hot Rod shouted out.
The roar of engines filled the air suddenly. A giant black shadow fell across the tortured land, the Autobots looking up. Ultra Magnus smiled. “It’s Fortress Maximus!”
The flying fortress followed Arcee as she circled the whirlwind. The command tower window swung open, Cerebros leaping out and diving straight at her. His arms caught her, holding tight.
“Hang on you two!” Spike’s voice said to her.
“Cerebros, Spike!” Arcee gratefully said.
Daniel happily yelped out, “Dad!” his father arriving to save him.
Still falling, Cerebros glanced at the hovering Fortress Maximus and cried out, “Headmasters, to me!”
Another portal in his side opening, from Fortress Maximus flew out four binary-bonded Autobots. Hardhead and Chromedome dove to the ground in their respective forms of tank and car, transforming and landing with feet on the ground. Brainstorm and Highrbrow flew out at top speed toward the falling Cerebros and Arcee. Highbrow flew under and caught Cerebros. Brainstorm came to Highbrow’s side in turn, Cerebros letting Arcee down and her bolting over to Brainstorm, the supersonic Headmaster returning her to the ground.
Sitting at his console within Cerebros’ head, Spike was in complete control. “Time to rain out this intergalactic storm!” he declared. Accessing several controls, he called out to the others, “Headmasters, open fire!”
In the sky above, Fortress Maximus once more launched his heavy arsenal at the dark enemy. On the ground, Chromedome fired both of his blasters in his hands into the whirling void, Hardhead beside him repeatedly firing off his shoulder-mounted cannon. Brainstrom fired his forward-mounted lasers from his nosecone along with Highbrow, Cerebros himself firing his personal gun simultaneously.
“This is not working!” Gort exclaimed from Highbrow’s cockpit, “We’ve done this before; even Maximus’ cannons don’t affect this thing!”
From Cerebros, Spike yelled back, “Well I don’t see anyone else making suggestions here!”
“Gort is correct Spike,” Cerebros advised his partner, “Our firepower is not having any affect! We’re only wasting our energy reserves.”
Spike gritted his teeth, saying sternly, “We’ve got to do something!”
On the ground, Ultra Magnus watched their efforts and realized the same conclusion. “We can’t keep this up! It’s no good.” Glancing at the downed Autobot commander, he whispered, “Prime…we need you now!”
Highbrow started wobbling more and more as he hovered in place, supporting Cerebros. “Ugh! Cerebros, Gort…I must descend to ground elevation! My power consumption is most heavily depreciating the value of my energy store….”
“Perhaps if you talked less they wouldn’t be so low!” stated Gort, “Alright, I’m bringing you down.”
As Highbrow’s propellers started to slow, Cerebros’ head glanced toward Fortress Maximus, Spike gazing at him in turn through internal monitors. “Wait Gort,” Spike told Highbrow’s partner, “Take me over to Fortress Maximus…there’s one last option….”
The blue and white helicopter whirled towards Fortress Maximus despite the strong winds. Cerebros readied himself, preparing to jump. “Fortress Maximus,” Spike called out to the hovering battle station, “TRANSFORM!”
Cerebros flung himself into the thin air once more. The great fortress descended, its parts shifting and unfolding. Giant feet stood on the frozen ground, massive legs supporting an armored body above. Cerebros landed in the space between the bulky shoulders. Concentrating, the Autobot transformed, becoming one with Fortress Maximus.
“Spike,” Fortress Maximus’ internal speakers boomed in Spike’s console within his head, “I do not know what you have planned. Space travel to Earth…training my weapons on the dark creature…transforming…they’ve all reduced my effective strength and firepower. What is it…you wish us to do?”
Spike glanced at a monitor. He saw Arcee standing beside Ultra Magnus, looking up at him. Beside the monitor, Spike had a picture of his Daniel and Carly taped beside. Gently he pried the picture off the screen, gazing closely at it. A small tear formed in the corner of his right eye.
“We’re going to do what it takes,” Spike said, “to save my world…and my family.” Looking back up, he further said, “Even if it takes our bare hands to do it.”
The giant Fortress Maximus stomped forward, literally a mountain in motion. Ultra Magnus and Arcee, as well as all the Autobots, watched in surprise. “What in the inferno is he doing?” Ultra Magnus said, watching Maximus march out onto the muddy flats.
Arcee watched…and realized. “Oh no! Fortress Maximus is going to fight the storm itself!”
Daniel, within Arcee’s head, didn’t entirely understand. “What? No! My dad’s with him! Arcee…what’ll that thing do to them?”
Fortress Maximus outstretched his arms, the howling winds not distracting him from his set path. “For the planet Earth!” the giant declared, his voice rising above the storm itself. His hands dove into the black mass, reaching to grab anything. Mentally, he and Cerebros didn’t expect to grab anything…this was a storm, thin air! How would one fight a storm with bare hands, even ones capable of smashing city blocks?
There was something! The darkness had form, physical form! Maximus’ hands grabbed something that felt like oil-soaked fiber. The dark vortex started to twist and roil, trying to break free. Fortress Maximus didn’t release, his grip tightening. But holding it was not easy…the matter…or whatever it was made of was indeed slippery, almost fluid, constantly swirling around his wrists.
“WHAT? NO!” Spike yelled.
The vortex once more began expanding out, enveloping Fortress Maximus’ arms. The giant tried to pull away, but now it was the darkness that had him! Moment by moment the mightiest Autobot was devoured by darkness. Sparks began sputtering out, Fortress Maximus extending out an arm and yelling as he was swallowed whole.
“DANIEL!” Fortress Maximus-Cerebros-Spike bellowed.
Arcee suddenly rushed out onto the exposed sea bed, rushing toward Fortress Maximus. Ultra Magnus ran after her, trying to stop her. She transformed, her head becoming Daniel in his exo-suit, the little human boy running out with tear-filled eyes, screaming “DAD!”
Prime’s eyes widened. “Fortress Maximus…Cerebros…Spike! No…not them too….”
Optimus Prime was caught in some ghostly vision of their battlefield on Earth. He could not understand it, what was happening, but upon entering his coma he found himself here. It was like the vision from Alpha Trion, a world cast in hues of blue, white and gray...almost like the Matrix but this was definitely Earth, or at least a representation of it. Around him he saw the other Autobots, standing, looking up at the one thing that dominated the battlefield.
The vortex of darkness formed the axis of this world. A wellspring of black energy radiating upwards like a tree. Near its base, Optimus Prime watched as some ethereal form of Fortress Maximus cried out in pain. Flashes came…of Cerebros and Spike…especially Spike. The sparks of Cerebros and Fortress Maximus continued to shine like stars as their shared body became fainter, vanishing as it was absorbed…but there was also Spike’s body, also fading…yet something like a spark remained, shining. His spirit, his soul, his life force? Optimus could only ponder what….
“Dear God, no! God…save my wife, my son!”
Prime recognized the voice. “Spike?”
“Oh no! Ahhhhhh!”
Another voice, not Spike…but it was human!
“No! No! No! I’m not ready to go!” “Please someone help me!” “It’s taking me, taking me! Ahhhhhh!”
More human voices! Prime looked around him, and saw them, felt them! Human beings! He heard them vividly, crying out, full of fear and terrible fright. Like the aliens before being devoured…now it was humanity being taken! Dozens of voices, hundreds, all in many languages, all over the planet.
“What’s happening? What’s going on?” “Let me go! No!” “Mommy! Mommy! No mommy I’m slipping! Mommy!”
“NOOOOOOOO!” Optimus Prime yelled, unable to take the sheer number of voices crying out, each another human being taken in darkness. Then they stopped. Slowly, his optics came back on. He couldn’t believe what he saw next….
At the axis of darkness, a tiny seed of light was forming in it. The essence of humans…no, not just humans, creatures too…as well as that of Cerebros and Fortress Maximus and Spike too…were all converging together. Then there was something else, a more familiar force….
Prime then looked down. The ground…no…the Earth was glowing bright blue! “What…in the name of…the Matrix?” Prime slowly uttered. As far as his optics could see, the landscape itself was pulsing with energy…a force of energy he knew he had tapped before. Looking to the dark axis, he saw it and the darkness swirling, combining and yet resisting one another.
Then the Autobot felt something within him. Prime looked down, and saw a dull light shining through his chest. It pulsed just as the ground below him did…in fact the energy bonded with the Earth seemed to be growing brighter below him…drawn to him!
In a single flash, it all came to him. “I understand!”
Suddenly Optimus Prime reawakened. As the other Autobots gasped, Prime got back onto his feet, standing perfectly upright and functional as far as one could see. “I understand,” he uttered, his eyes glowing a brilliant bright blue, “what I now must do.”
Optimus Prime started walking out. “What the? Prime…where are you going?” Ultra Magnus asked out.
Prime seemed set on the vortex, just as Fortress Maximus was. “I have what I need,” he said in a steady voice.
“STOP PRIME! DIDN’T YOU JUST SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO FORTRESS MAXI….”
Ultra Magnus reached for Optimus’ arm. “AGGGGGGH!” he yelled, suddenly struck by what felt like lightning. Around Prime a faint aura of blue formed. As he drew closer and closer to the darkness, that aura grew brighter. Soon, he was shining like a terrestrial star, his figure just barely discernable against the light. “Optimus!” Ultra Magnus called out again.
“Prime, stop! Are you trying to kill yourself!” Kup yelled.
“No Prime! Don’t do it!” Grimlock’s rumbling voice begged.
“Optimus Prime…we need you!” RedStreak pleaded.
“Prime!” one little voice cried out. Prime halted, just yards away from the perimeter of the vortex. Daniel dared to approach, but with the violent winds he could only dare to encroach within seeing range, about thirty feet away from where Prime stood. “No Prime! We…we can’t lose you again! My dad…no…not you too!” he cried.
Prime looked to Daniel, and for a second time he looked upon the child with a saddened face. “Do not grieve. I do this for your father…for your world…and for you especially, Daniel.” Optimus Prime turned about once again…and walked straight into the darkness.
“PRIME!”
Optimus Prime saw the storm for what it was…a convergence of conflicting energies. He perceived it as the Matrix itself did. Living essence, sparks, and the darkness itself a tortured part of the Matrix …all just struggling to restore themselves, only to fragment and destroy more lives in a futile effort to draw off living energy.
As he neared the center of the storm, Prime felt it trying to feed off him as well. A pain in his chest grew, his spark being drawn out by the darkness, much as a swarm of mosquitoes drawing out blood from a human. The living Matrix was with him, drawn from the Earth beneath to protect him, but even with the Matrix’s protection his time was very short.
Around him the darkness raged, full of anger, hate…negative energy in all its forms. Above him, the seed of light shining like a suspended crystal, full of life, hope, memories…essence stolen by the darkness in its madness. Below him, the Earth, and with it…interlaced somehow with its essence, the power of the Matrix. And within him…the catalyst that would restore the balance and save the Cosmos…as it had done time and time again.
Now Prime held out the Autobot Matrix of Leadership before him, gazing at its gold and silver construction in wonder. “I know not how you were forged,” Optimus Prime spoke to it, “nor what force or mind directs you…but you have never failed me or the Primes of old.” Raising up the Matrix of Leadership, its crystal heart starting to glow, Prime said to it, “Let us now join and do what must be done!”
Optimus Prime’s spark flowed upwards, into the Matrix he now held up in his arms. From beneath, from the Earth itself, the power once contained was drawn up like water from a well. The Autobot Matrix shined bright once more, and, as it opened fully, its power shined straight up in a narrow beam, striking the seed of light caught in darkness.
Ultra Magnus, Arcee, and the Autobots behind them all watched as the darkness retreated, its tendrils and great mass being pried away from the planet they tried to feed from. Amazing, all of it was sucked right into the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. No…not the Matrix of Leadership…into Prime.
The Matrix of Leadership suddenly stopped glowing, as if switched off. Optimus Prime gasped, wobbly standing there. For several seconds, that was all he did. The empty Matrix fell from his hands, into the muddy ground.
From his open chest it exploded out. Bright, fiery yellow light. It was the darkness, but turned to light! The ethereal mass in all its entirety escaped like a great flock of pigeons from their cage, fleeing back into the stars...but not to consume like the darkness that proceeded it.
“VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!” a thunder blared as the force of alien light fled from Earth.
Optimus Prime…still standing there, the Matrix of Leadership laying at his side, finally fell. His body rapidly turned dull gray-black in the mud, his spark consumed in the cosmic effort. A soft voice he managed to gasp. “Until…the day….”
The crystal plains of Cy-Mos were dully lit by the crescent of Cybertron in the sky. This beautiful, yet barren moon, had gone largely unnoticed by the Autobots for centuries…their attention focused on the war with the Decepticons elsewhere in the galaxy. Not in millennia had anyone truly lived here….
It was a perfect refuge.
A sleek, black form prowled through the spiky landscape, shadows cast on metal buildings that had long since gone into disarray. As it continued its trek in shadow, a brief flash of violet shimmered, the icon of a force now dead…or nearly so.
Behind Ravage, Razorclaw and Divebomb tromped in robotic form behind the panther.
“It’s a miracle we survived Char!” Razorclaw grumbled, “Hopefully a few of our brethren survived, if not Tantrum, Rampage, and Headstrong. Idiots…I told them to board the shuttle…but…errrr! Morons….”
Divebomb, his black wings tattered and the beak of his beast mode above his head cracked, hunkered close to his leader, he and him the last of the Predacon group. “Razorclaw, what if there are no others? We’re…we could be the last of our kind!”
Razorclaw’s sonic sword smacked Divebomb broadside. Fortunate for Divebomb, its edges were blunted. “LIES! DECEPTICONS HAVE PERSISTED FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS! DON’T YOU EVEN THINK….”
A distant voice spoke up, just as Razorclaw was preparing to rip Divebomb apart. “No…you are not the last of your kind…but soon you shall be the…first of your kind, Predacons.”
“WHAT? WHO GOES THERE?!” Razorclaw demanded an answer.
Ravage snarled, backing up as the encroacher made his appearance. Even out of the shadows, he was dark, imposing. To Razorclaw he was familiar…and unbelievable.
“YOU! But...but how could...YOU?!?” he stuttered.
“Your caution circuits are uncalled for, but your logic circuits shall soon be rectified, Razorclaw,” the Decepticon spoke, his single yellow eye flashing as he spoke, “The Decepticons are gone indeed…already a mere memory in Cybertron’s eyes. However, you Predacons…yes indeed…shall become a defining force…in its near-future.”
The End?