Flame turns Blue

Alaska:

Gaskunk wiped the frost from his view screen and the Arctic winds gnawed at his numb fingers; the planet Earth was not happy with the Predacons. Three years ago, Megatron had built the Megabolt Station on top of the Chiginagak volcano. It was a colossal energy-harvesting unit resembling his own head (did his arrogance know no bounds?), with far-reaching probes that penetrated deep into the Earth’s crust, ready to collect the energy unleashed by the Globequake. Things hadn’t gone as planned, thanks to Fire Convoy. But still, Megatron had successfully activated four volcanoes and now it was time for him to take stock of the situation and figure out how much energy he had. “Not that we know it’s enough,” said Gaskunk, slamming his frostbitten fist into the outer wall of the Megabolt Station. “We still don’t know what he’s got planned.”

Despite the howling winds, Gaskunk could still hear Megatron berating Sky-byte. It was Bruticus that was responsible for the destruction of the Axalon, but somehow Sky-byte ended up being the scapeshark. Megatron had ordered his Predacon lackey to salvage what he could from the debris and find what happened to the spark of the original Megatron. The Autobots couldn’t have found it, as they’d have been off-planet by now. Megatron’s scanners picked up the Aktirak moving in a zigzag pattern over Africa, heading this way, but stalling, presumably because they had a lock on the spark. His old Transmetal 2 body was also missing, which could mean only one thing, that the spark had somehow come back to life. A shiver danced over Megatron’s body, he thrilled at the prospect of meeting the real Megatron. But first he needed to think ahead. He needed a way to get off the planet and back to Cybertron. The Autobots had the Aktirak, and Megatron decided that he would kill them all and take it. He considered the sparkfusion inside himself, and the power it gave him. He needed more.

“Bruticus,” Megatron said after flapping his fingers at Sky-byte, gesturing for him to make himself busy, “Come with me, my dear dog, away from the others.”

The Predacon dog obediently walked by Megatron’s side, around to the other side of the Megabolt Station, away from the others. His right head bit at the falling snowflakes.

“Robot mode,” Megatron commanded, “now.”

Bruticus unfurled into robot mode. Megatron awaited the wrenching sensation of the sparkfusion, hungry for another spark. It didn’t come. Megatron moved closer to Bruticus. Still nothing.

Megatron growled. “I can’t do this without the Transmetal driver.”

Bruticus looked at his leader, not intelligent enough to comprehend that Megatron was about to kill him.

Atlantic Ocean:

An alien dragon fuelled by human emotions soared over the waves and towards the shores of England. Within the spherical chest cavity of Cryotek, the spark of the original Megatron argued silently with David Siddons. A million nanomachines swarmed around the human as he thought back to Jennifer Butler’s words and the hatred she felt for those that murdered his father. She was right, the hatred was contagious. And now, with the power of Cryotek at his disposal he had the means to mete out justice and do God’s work.

But Megatron, the founder of the Decepticons, was above the affairs of organic creatures. David wanted to kill Don Lavelle, but Megatron wanted to see for himself the pretender to his throne, the imposter that dared to take his name.

Cryotek changed course and headed for Alaska.

Aktirak:

Pitstop stood in the entrance of the med-bay, blocking Fire Convoy’s access. “He’s making good recovery,” said the medic to his leader. “But he’s got some way to go and is still weak.”

“I just want to talk to him.”

“Just go easy on him, okay?”

Pitstop left the med-bay, closing the door behind him, leaving Fire Convoy alone with Ultra Magnus. The air was palpable and Fire Convoy searched for a good opening.

“Good to see you alive and well,” Ultra Magnus said, standing by his med-slab and beating Fire Convoy to it.

“So, Pitstop managed to patch you up then?” really, it was as caring as Fire Convoy got.

“Pretty much,” Magnus replied, sliding his palm over the scar on his abdomen.

“Good. Because I need your help,” Fire Convoy said. “It’s still my mission to retrieve Megatron’s spark.”

“I know,” said Ultra Magnus.

“Think of it this way, I helped you ‘save the world’ so now it’s your turn to help me ‘defeat the monster’.”

Ultra Magnus regarded Fire Convoy somewhat cynically. “Was that the only reason you went into that volcano?”

“Yes, in a way,” said Fire Convoy, tilting his head. “I’m no hero. I was only in the right place at the right time because I wanted to beat up on Megatron.”

Ultra Magnus laughed falsely. It was clear that the two of them, no matter how hard they tried, were too different and too uncomfortable around each other. “I guess I should really give up on trying to make you see things from my point of view.”

“Sometimes people are just too different to really get along.”

“Yes, of course,” said Ultra Magnus, a little saddened. “I will help you retrieve the spark. And then you can get back to Cybertron and have the Vok do whatever they promised to do to Star Saber.”

“He deserves what’s coming to him,” said Fire Convoy, tensing his jaw. “Believe me.”

“I just hope Bumblebee and Optimus are okay.”

“If what he’s done to me is anything to go by, they won’t be.”

Ultra Magnus watched as Fire Convoy sat on the med-slab previously occupied by Sideburn and unintentionally open up: “It was awful in the the beginning. He would send me to the furnace to test the limits of my endurance. When I was first created he wanted to kill me, smelt me down. But I was too strong, too resilient.”

Ultra Magnus didn’t know how to respond. Fire Convoy shrugged his shoulders. “Well on the outside, leastways,” Fire Convoy continued. “Maybe not so resilient up here,” he said, tapping his head.

“I’m sorry for what he did to you.”

Fire Convoy recomposed himself and stood up. “You’ll be more sorry for what he’s done to you,” he said, pointing at Ultra Magnus’s body.

Alaska:

Megatron could make out a shape in the blizzard. It was a robot walking towards him, too small to be an Autobot, but larger than any of his Predacons. It was Cryotek.

Sky-byte, Wartoad, Darkscream, Bruticus, and Gaskunk stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the standoff.

Megatron thought of the irony as Cryotek stood in front of him. So many times he had fantasised about being in the body of the original Megatron, unleashing the power of his legendary black-hole capabilities and crushing all those that stood in his way. And now he inhabited his old body. It was almost erotic, and Megatron didn’t know whether to kneel or not.

Cryotek stood, legs slightly apart. Though smaller than Megatron, his presence was still domineering. Even the snow seemed to shy away from him. “You took my name, and you took my spark,” he said to Megatron. “And for that I shall take your life.”

Megatron half-ignored him, focusing on the Transmetal driver that span inside his chest. “I have spread fear and oppression across the galaxy in your name, yes. And this is how you repay me?”

“I owe you nothing.”

“Look behind me,” Megatron said, gesturing to his Megabolt Station. “This is but a small example of the scope of my plans and the lengths I will go to, to succeed.”

“The fact remains, you are an imposter, a pretender.”

“Did you not expect this from he that would have found and decoded the message you left on the golden disc? I followed your instructions to the letter.”

“And yet, you still failed.”

“Yes, following your orders. But, now I have my own plan, yes. And it’s going so well,” Megatron sang. “You see, I am no mere imposter. I am the better leader of the two of us. Your plans to use the resources of this planet were useless. In these last few months, I have collected more energy than you ever had. The planet Earth was a gift and you failed to use it to its full potential.”

“There’s more to being a leader than a thirst for power. It’s what you do with it that matters.”

“Oh, I quite agree,” Megatron said, noticing the human unconsciously trying to claw his way through the spark. “What’s with the fleshling?”

“I needed him to repower my spark and remove myself from the stasis lock that you put me in.”

“How resourceful, yes.”

“And that’s another thing I don’t like,” said Cryotek. “Stop agreeing with yourself all the time.”

Megatron grunted and the two Megatrons stood motionless, just staring at each other. Both were notorious for losing their temper and lashing out. The wind howled and time became as frozen as the ground. Someone had to crack.

“Darkscream, to me,” Megatron said, snapping his fingers and breaking the deadlock.

Cryotek tensed, unsure of what was going to happen next.

“Just a secret weapon of mine,” Megatron paused, about to say, “yes,” but deciding not to.

The small turquoise Predacon transformed silently to beast mode and inhaled. Before Cryotek could react, Darkscream opened his mouth, and looked as though he were screaming at the top of his voice. But there was no sound. In fact, it was the opposite of sound.

Cryotek felt wobbly on his feet and looked down at his hands to see them begin to crumble. Darkscream continued his muted attack and Cryotek’s molecular structure came apart at the seams and he crumbled into nothing.

Aktirak:

Ultra Magnus held the datapad in his hand, thumbing its surface. It contained a brief report by Pitstop and Wildride about his new body. He looked at Fire Convoy, standing there without his trailer armour, looking so very much like Optimus Prime.

“With Megatron being powered by that sparkfusion, we’re going to need everything at our disposal—”

Fire Convoy raised a finger.

“—except the option of activating Brave Maximus’ robot mode, the collateral damage would be too high.”

Ultra Magnus handed Fire Convoy the datapad. “I don’t need to spell it out. Pitstop has his theory about my new body, and, well, with you without armour, it would be the logical—“

“No.”

“No?”

“Sorry, Magnus, I just can’t do it. It’s not you, I just don’t want to combine with anyone.”

“Ah,” said Ultra Magnus, “still the brooding loner? Well it won’t be forever, and once it’s done I will be out of your way. Probably for quite some time.”

“How so?”

“At first I thought this Megatron we’ve been dealing with was just from the far future. But he’s a Neogen. And where did Star Saber ship off all the Neogens?”

“The cyberformed Earth?”

”Exactly. The Neogens have somehow become a functioning society on a planet they believe to be Cybertron.”

“And what’s that got to do with you?”

“Well, nothing yet. But I want to check it out. Maybe I can help them out somehow.”

“That’s your call, Magnus. Do whatever you want.”

“What will you do after all this is over?”

“I don’t know. Probably back to my old existence of ‘defending’ Cybertron. Back to my life of solitude.”

“You know you don’t have to do it on your own. All those times you took the Aktirak to personally destroy any spacecraft encroaching on Cybertronian orbitspace… you always had people on standby ready to help you.”

“Ultra Magnus,” Fire Convoy said. “If there’s one thing you’ve taught me these last few months, it’s the value of friendship and teamwork. I was a fool to think I could do all this on my own.”

“You’re not now.”

Alaska:

Megatron sprinted forward towards Cryotek’s remains. He sifted through the snow and the unusual metallic resin left behind from demolecularisation. He quickly grabbed the Transmetal driver and the spark of the original Megatron, inserting them into his chest cavity. He looked at the flaccid body of David, lying with his face down in the snow. Megatron turned to his fellow Predacons.

“Robot mode, all of you,” he commanded. “I expect a strike from the Autobots at any moment.” He tapped his chest, “but they won’t get this without a fight.”

“What’s going to happen, Megatron?” Sky-byte asked, worried.

“Think for a moment. What have my namesake, Thunderwing, Starscream, and every other would-be Decepticon or Predacon hero got in common? They’ve all had dreams of possessing the Matrix.

“What is the Matrix but a collection of sparks? So I put it to you, instead of trying to capture the Matrix or indeed creating a new one, why not simply become one yourself?”

Megatron opened up his chest and arched backwards. Tendrils of light wound their way out of his internal sparkfusion, via the Transmetal driver and into the cold air. Snowflakes evaporated as they fell onto the ethereal arms. They crackled and snaked in the air, twitching violently and pulling the sparks from Megatron’s Predacons towards them.

Sky-byte, Bruticus, Wartoad, Darkscream, and Gaskunk groaned helplessly as their bodies prostrated themselves and gave up their sparks. The five Predacons ceased from being and fell to the ground.

The light dissipated and Megatron’s chest closed. He had grown again in power and size. The Predacon’s optics flared with potency and he clenched his fist. It was just the beginning. He would defeat the Autobots and return to both Cybertron’s and assimilate the entire Transformers race. He would become a new Matrix, powerful enough to take on even Unicron himself.

“No force can stop me now,” Megatron said.