- CAIN AND ABEL -

 

‘NOOOOO!’ Prime roared his protest as Megatron’s Nova Generators charged at full power. He lunged and smashed into Megatron, and the Decepticon leader toppled, his Nova Generators firing outwards past Earth. The two beams streaked past the blue and green orb. As Prime scrambled up and punched Megatron in the face, the Novas exploded and the neighbouring red planet the humans called Mars exploded, sending the meteors into a disrupted orbit.
Forcing his injured body up, Prime hatefully backfisted Megatron’s sneering face, sending him reeling back. ‘All this time I have lived on Earth, this planet of fleshlings, I have tried my best to remain hidden, remain their guardian, trying not to break anything. Trying not to break someone. Because if I ever even lose vigilance for one moment, someone could DIE!’ he kicked Megatron in the chest, and the Allspark within him fizzled. Megatron tried to swipe at him, but Prime blocked his claw and sent an uppercut into Megatron’s stomach. ‘You threatened to kill the fleshling girl, the only one who has ever understood me.’ Prime grabbed his brother’s neck and slammed him into the ground. Megatron scrambled up and tried to swing his chain whip, but Prime merely grabbed it and yanked, pulling Megatron downwards. His optics wide in astonishment, Megatron felt his metal jaw shatter as Prime’s knee shot upwards, sending him flying vertically, before Prime’s fist sent him flying back. ‘Michiko is the most fragile, beautiful little friend I know. You tried to kill her, and the other innocents in our base. And now you dare to try again?’ Prime swung wildly, sending Megatron toppling back again. ‘I could never harm a hair on her head. She is so weak, so helpless in the face of us Cybertronians. She shouldn’t even be here; it’s far too dangerous.
‘But you can take the violence, can’t you, brother? Good. You’ll do nicely. See, I feel like I live in a world made out of organic flesh…’ Prime smiled bitterly. ‘Oh wait. I already do. But what we have here is a magnificent opportunity for me to cut loose…’ he withdrew Rhisling 2 and clenched his fists. ‘And show you how powerful I am when I do not hold back.’ He lunged, and swung a wild haymaker at the Decepticon leader. Megatron’s shocked sneer was crushed by metal as he flew upwards, spinning and twisting from the force of Prime’s punch. Prime activated his jetpack, and he shot up, bringing his hands together and slamming the floating Megatron downwards.
Suddenly the moon had a new crater.
Looking at the pathetic form of his enemy, Prime hovered down. ‘Had enough?’
Within the hole, Megatron groaned. ‘Not… quite… yet.’ He got up. His body showed no signs of damage, but the light in his eyes was flickering. ‘Surrender, Prime! I will give you one last chance. If you bow before me, I will let you live. There is a small part of me that might grant you mercy.’
‘You who know no mercy, now offer it?’ Optimus blasted his railgun at him, before firing Rhisling 2. ‘Or are you begging for it, because you know you’re going to lose?’ Megatron blocked the blast from the lasers and transformed into his jet mode, hurtling above Prime. Prime grabbed hold of Megatron and they soared above the blasted ground, screaming. Megatron landed, smashing Prime along the craters. Prime was forced to release him, and Megatron immediately transformed into robot mode, somersaulting and firing Dominion at Prime. Prime was hurled away from the force of the fusion blast and landed painfully. Megatron charged at Prime and bowled him over, but Prime grabbed hold of Megatron’s foot and yanked, smashing him down also. Megatron roared and fired Dominion again, blasting Prime point-blank. Boom. Convulsing in pain, Prime hurtled back, skidding along the dusty ground before crashing against a crater.
As Megatron unformed his hands and unleashed Slaughter, Prime suddenly felt the moon go still. The Earth seemed to observe him attentively, and the stars flickered. The remaining Autobots turned to him. Metroplex and Omega Supreme had toppled Megatron’s flagship and last of the aerial Decepticon fleet, and the explosions seemed uncannily quiet. Override, from a distance, screamed his name. Bumblebee and Jazz were sprinting towards Prime, their hands outstretched in horror. His own brother stood over him, preparing to smash his whip into his head.
Great Cybertron…
Michiko’s smiling face flashed in Prime’s mind. His momentary emotion of warmth and love was replaced by an unshakable determination to defeat Megatron, so that Michiko would be safe. So that humanity and Earth would be safe.
So that the freedom of the universe might be preserved.
Prime rolled away as the whip crashed into the rock. He scrambled up and put his fists up. ‘Have at you, Megatron!’
‘Come taste death, Prime!’ screamed Megatron as he lunged. Prime did likewise, and at a mutual accord, one raised his fist, and the other raised his claw –

*

‘WAIT!’ Megatron and Prime suddenly stopped as Vector Prime hovered down, holding the severed head of Thundercracker. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ said Vector Prime. ‘I had to get something. And it is something that I would like to show you, Megatron.’
‘You would stand against me?’ Megatron shook his head slowly. ‘Insanity.’
‘Oh, I’m not here to fight you, Megatron. I have something you want – the only thing you want.’ Vector Prime held up his fist and opened it, and the Spark Singularity shone forth.
His fight suddenly forgotten, Megatron turned his back on Optimus Prime, bizarrely oblivious to his surroundings. He lumbered towards Vector Prime in awe. His chain whip dragged along the ground. ‘The Spark Singularity!’ he exclaimed, optics wide.
‘That’s right,’ said Vector Prime, smiling. ‘The greatest secret in the universe is in the palm of my hand, and you, dear friend, only need to take it from me. My gift to you.’
Megatron advanced, but all malevolence had left him. He leaned forward, his ruined body creaking, and he picked up the shining orb reverently from Vector Prime’s hand. Optimus Prime watched, astonished. He had never seen his brother so… peaceful. Even on Cybertron, he had always seemed restless. But now…
Megatron took it back within him, and with a burst of blinding light, it began to destroy his body. Even as it did, Megatron’s armour began to reflect a kaleidoscope of brilliant sapphire, gold, ruby, emerald, and white. Megatron smiled, and for once, it was radiant. ‘It’s beautiful… isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ whispered Vector Prime, as Megatron’s body began to radiate and vaporize – first his feet, then his legs. His arms disappeared, and soon his chest was gone.
‘Yes it is.’
Only his head remained. His blood-red eyes closed, and along with the Singularity, disappeared in a mist of beautiful cosmic colours.
Finally, wonderfully, suddenly, Megatron was dead, gone beyond the fabric of time and space. The slayer of billions had paid for his betrayal and cruelty with his own life. Still, it felt empty. He was once a comrade, the Lord High Protector of Cybertron, and Prime’s brother. He had been twisted by the dark side of the Allspark. Even a ruler of Cybertron could not defeat its seductive pull, not one as powerful as Megatron. He had been as much a victim of his own greed as anyone else.
Only the antithesis of the Allspark could expunge the essence of Megatron’s lifeforce.
The remaining Autobots emerged from the damaged base, dazed and shocked. Evac carried the wounded Override out beneath the rubble. Ratchet led the humans out to the ethereal space realm, holding the children in his arms.
The Earth seemed so beautiful when you observed it from the moon. It felt even better when you knew you had saved it from complete obliteration.
‘Fleet V has done its job,’ murmured Optimus Prime. ‘Never again will evil threaten Earth like it did this day.’

*

The moon was the backdrop of the greatest battle ever fought by Cybertronians on foreign ground, on a planet far away from home. The Autobots had defeated the Decepticon forces, although not without suffering horrendous casualties. The remaining Decepticons, after receiving transmission of Megatron’s sudden disappearance, had retreated hastily, their still-large armada withdrawing from the moon.
The moon base was safe once again.
The battlefield was strewn with Autobot and Decepticon deactivated skeletal structures. Mist from the explosions still remained, but it was clearing up. The surviving Autobots were reconstructing the shuttle to board and fly back to Earth. Ratchet, Jazz and Bumblebee helped, along with the orphanage children, whose Earthen expertise accelerated the mission by ten percent (according to Ratchet). Those who felt too exhausted simply made themselves a patch of ground on the rocky moon’s surface and sat, talking or mourning, or reflecting in silence. Ironhide and Arcee were among them, along with Override and her bodyguards, observing in quietude the beautiful Earth in outer space.
Optimus Prime stood alone, staring at the gap in space where Mars once wars. Megatron’s power was such that he could single-handedly destroy planets. Yet it was not the threat of Earth that drove Prime to fight with all his circuitry, all his power. It was Michiko, and the threat of her death, that made him fight.
Vector Prime hovered before him. ‘I’m sorry, old friend.’
‘You saved us all, Vector Prime.’
‘No. Megatron did. It is ironic that the only thing Megatron wanted was utter union with the Allspark. His own desire saved the universe.’ He gestured towards the stars. ‘I now return to the fabric beyond space-time, to watch over the multiverse. Will you be alright?’
Optimus Prime paused. ‘Yes. Yes, I will be.’
Clearly he wished to be left alone. ‘Farewell, comrade,’ said Vector Prime, as his physical form began to fade.
Optimus Prime’s voice was peaceful. ‘Goodbye.’
But Optimus in actuality did not want to be left alone.
He was waiting for her. She wandered out of the base onto the now quiet moon. Sitting beside him in her spacesuit, Michiko timidly asked him, ‘What will become of us now? Are we going back to Earth?’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
She tried to cheer him up. ‘You fought well, Convoy.’
‘One stood, and one fell,’ he said wearily. ‘I got lucky.
‘But I would not fail, not at such a crucial time. I had too much to lose, whereas Megatron already had what he wanted, and had everything to gain. I…’ he turned to her, looking down. ‘Although I was well aware of humanity’s capacity for courage and self-sacrifice, it was not until I met you that I truly bonded with and understood humans. I have always been slightly envious of Bumblebee, because he so quickly befriended Sam Witwicky, and I admired Jazz, who learned Earth’s culture so effortlessly. But I have always been distant. Perhaps I was too uptight. Perhaps I was too shy. But not anymore.’
Touched, Michiko put her gloved hand on Prime’s metal joint. ‘I want my Convoy to be at every milestone in my life – from my marriage to my deathbed. Stay with me. I want to be with you for all my life.’
Prime smiled. ‘I will do my best.’

*

The CELESTIAL base was safe. The Decepticons had failed in their mission.
There were only two things left to finish.
Memorial of the fallen Autobots, and a Cybertronian state funeral for Prime’s beloved brother, Lord High Protector Megatron.
And then… celebration.