OOC: Wait, so do they have him?
“Do you know a place from where I can find out if Zepar is our only Angelicon?”
Blackbeak lay on the ground nearby, still in stasis lock.
“Maybe ask Motherboard, why don’t you?” Halfrunner suggests.
Delta landed next to him. Worried, she took him and flew to the closest thing that would resemble a medbay.
“Where is she?”
Well, Forcep was right there, putting the finishing touches on Blight’s eye. But the old doctor was probably better at treating people than mechanimals. That was more Grommet’s domain.
“Last I saw her, she was flying around Salvation,” Halfrunner informs Wildsong.
She started looking for Grommet.
“Thanks.” she said, taking off and searching for her.
Zepar kept going, wanting to learn all he could.
Epsilon looks around for the trail he saw before.
Grommet and Shockwave were roaming the streets in vehicle mode, searching for the cube.
Motherboard was evidently no longer in the air. The reconnaissance drone she turned into could not be found near Salvation.
The Knight vanishes, and the figure of Solus Prime materializes on the central platform:
The Prime of Creation swung a massive, golden hammer- her Forge- down upon the dais in the center, producing a a sound like a thunderclap and sending a wave of blue energy rippling out across the chamber.
Four gigantic, cylindrical machines hanging from the ceiling shot beams of cybermatter into the object of Solus’ toiling, obscured by an aura of light. First cyan, then emerald, followed by crimson, and then violet. Nearby, Megatronus, the wielder of the Requiem Blaster, leaned against a column, with a faint smile on his face- a rare sight, if the legends were to be believed.
With one last swing of her hammer, Solus backs away from her work, walking down the bridge to set the Forge against an inert terminal. She appeared tired- perhaps she’d spent another week laboring over this mysterious project.
“I love watching you work,” Megatronus comments, his voice like the rolling of thunder. Solus seemed put off by this, and raised a metal eyebrow at him.
“…That… sounded more romantic in my head,” Megatronus says apologetically.
“It’s the growl,” Solus informs him, chuckling. “If you’d raise your voice an octave, maybe it would sound only midly unnerving.”
Now it was Megatronus’ turn to laugh, before turning to look at the device on the center platform.
“It seems to be coming along… well?,” he hesitantly observes. He wasn’t sure.
“Well enough,” Solus agrees. “Keeping the Dark Energon from corrupting the rest of the cybermatter is proving to be difficult. Even Unicron’s blood seeks to cause chaos, it seems.”
The trail had not vanished, fortunately.
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“Hey! Wait up!”
She started scouting the Salvation’s surroundings.
Zepar looked at himself, seeing the effect the Chaosbringer’s Blood had on him. He continues to watch with a reverent quiet, even respectfully stepping aside when either Prime passed him as though he was only a ghost to them, knowing all this was actually a ghost, a recording, of what was.
Epsilon helps Gatecrasher up and out of the lake, bringing them towards the shore to pick up the trail again once they’re ready.
Epsilon began to purge the unnecessary water out of his systems, allowing some of it to mix with a cooling solution that kept him from overheating. Note to self: get a fresh batch of coolant in when I get back to the ship. he thought.
“Thanks” Gatecrasher said. The nature of his alt-modes, meant that the water didn’t intrude into his systems.
“I don’t know. I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.” She determined.
Grommet and Shockwave stop and assume robot mode.
The bridge crew could be found loitering about on a nearby cliff, Motherboard included.
“Hm,” Forcep reacts as his forearm re-forms.
“That should do it,” the doctor says to Blight, getting up and taking a step back. “Let me know if you experience any sudden blindness or loss of depth perception.”
The two Primes fade away, and scene changes. Zepar was still in the same chamber as before, but it was evident that some time had passed- the crystal formations in the pit had grown larger.
The four cylinders were retracting into the walls, each one emitting a low hum as they powered down. The veil of light that had persistently surrounded the central platform fades to reveal the Omega Lock, plugged into the dais as the glyphs and designs Zepar had seen in the image earlier etched themselves into the machine’s surface.
All of the Thirteen could be seen could be seen marveling at the machine. Solus and Alchemist Prime both looked extremely fatigued as they held onto one another, presumably to keep each other standing. Both of them bore scorch marks that blackened their armor all over their bodies, and the Forge of Solus Prime could be seen strewn about on the floor, looking a little worse for wear.
“It’s… done,” Solus manages to wheeze.
Megatronus is the first to react, letting out a joyous laugh and scooping the Prime of Creation into his arms, lifting her off the floor. Alchemist staggers back, before being caught by the clawed hand of Onyx Prime.
“I suppose congratulations are in order, then,” drawls Liege Maximo, the Prime of Lies.
“Of course,” affirms Prima, the firstborn, who turns his head to look at the the hovering form of Quintus Prime.
“Quintus, get them on the mend, why don’t you?” Prima suggests, indicating Solus and Alchemist. With a nod, the Prime of Life drifts over to the wounded, a glowing yellow gemstone floating above the palm of his upper right hand.
“I have of course made sure to record the past five hours, thirty-nine minutes and twenty-one seconds for historical documentation, before any of you ask,” Beta Maxx, the minicon companion of Alpha Trion, states in a pleasant voice with a sophisticated accent.
“‘Beta, record this; Beta, write that down,’” the minicon sardonically remarks. “What am I, your scribe? That’s his job.”
Beta Maxx points up at Alpha Trion, and the rest of the Thirteen burst into laughter.
The growling of a car engine could be heard coming from down the trail behind the party, growing steadily louder.
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Zepar couldn’t help but laugh with the Thirteen as he now saw them less as deitic but more akin to other Cybertronians; he found he had greater respect for them now that he had seen them not merely as the first children of Primus but as a family.
Epsilon gets up and readies his arm-gun, “Who’s there?” He calls out.
“Have you… two guys… seen…” she said before seeing Blackbeak.
Shelet herself fall in the middle of the group.
“Hey y’all!”
The scene continues. In the background, Nexus Prime, the tall First Combiner, touches the Forge of Solus with the tip of his sword, the Cyber Caliber.
The blade begins to work its regenerative powers upon the hammer, but it seemed to be struggling to repair the damages wrought to it. Seeing this, Optimus Prime walks over and kneels down beside Nexus, placing a hand on the Forge.
A bright light shines from within Optimus’ chest and travels down his arm, and in a moment, the Forge of Solus Prime looked as good as new.
“Every day it seems you pull a new power out of that ball, man,” Nexus remarks, shaking his head in disbelief.
Quintus Prime hovered near Solus and Alchemist, manipulating the Emberstone’s energies to heal the burns they had presumably sustained in the Omega Lock’s creation.
“A machine with the power of a god…” he misses in a soft, quiet voice. Despite it’s lack of weight, the rest of the Thirteen quiet themselves and give Quintus their attention.
“You deserve the highest praise, no doubt,” he continues, congratulating the Prime of Creation and the master of the elements. “But I must point out that, in many cultures, such a thing is considered vain, and an affront to their deities. How will we reconcile this moral dilemma?”
Quintus made his point more as if he was prompting a simple discussion, rather than levelling an accusation at any of his fellows. Still, it put the room into an uncomfortable silence. Then Optimus speaks:
“If Primus opposed our endeavors here, I would have felt it through the Matrix,” he says.
Onyx Prime nods his masked head.
“I have not felt any disapproval or anger in his thoughts,” the Lord of Beasts comments.
The rest seem relieved. Amalgamous Prime transforms himself into the visage of the Creator:
“Put that cosmic power back where it came from or so help me!” the First Transformer bellows in a powerful, rumbling voice. This didn’t elicit the laughter that Amalgamous was likely expecting; the rest of the Thirteen now looked nervous.
“…Too far?” he guesses, transforming into a smaller, hunch-backed form.
“Man,” says Nexus, smiling, “If Primus don’t lay you low for that, he is a benevolent god…”
The Thirteen fade away as the scenery begins to change again. Cracks, dents, and burns from blasterfire begin to appear on the walls, and the crystal formations around the Omega Lock- the only object in the scene to appear unchanged- crumble away.
Blackbeak was nowhere near Shockwave and Grommet.
“Yes?” Grommet asks, impatient.
Flyby and Breakswitch wave from across the cliff.
“Hey,” says Broadband.
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Zepar chuckled at Amalgamus’s joke before the scene changed. Curious, the Angelicon looks around at the space, trying to see what caused so much damage.
“Does now count?” he jested, his optic shutter closed.
OOC: Uhm… You said they had it.
IC: “Blackbeak…” she said. “You know, the bird-drone-baster thing that I got from Corona?”
“Motherboard! I need to ask you some things. Quickly!” she said, ignoring the two.
A bronze-colored cybertronian jet swoops down from overhead, transforming into to robot mode and dropping onto the ground a ways away from Zepar. It was Sidewinder, who looks around for a moment before setting eyes on Epsilon’s gun.
“Whoa,” he says, holding up his hands. “Easy there.”
The hum of the car engine was still approaching.
OOC: no, I said it was still with Forcep, Juliana, and Blight, where they shot it down. I apologize for the confusion.
IC: [quote=“Toa_Vladin, post:3321, topic:49995”]
“Blackbeak…” she said. “You know, the bird-drone-baster thing that I got from Corona?”
[/quote]
“No,” Grommet flatly replies. He, in fact, didn’t know.
“We are attending to an urgent matter,” Shockwave sates. “Leave us.”
“Affirmative,” acknowledges Motherboard.
“Hmph,” Forcep chuckles, a smirk spreading across his silver face.
That answer did not come- at least, it wasn’t outright stated. Solus Prime and Megatronus were once again alone together, save for a scant number of cybertronians who watched them from afar, each one bearing a weapon and the crest of the Prime of Creation on their armor.
The two lovers faced each other before the bridge leading to the Omega Lock, though there was no hint of romance between them now. Megatronus was pacing back and forth, with a scowl on his face.
“I’ve underestimated the tenacity of Onyx’s vermin,” he spits, clenching his right hand into a fist.
“Please don’t call them that,” Solus Prime says sadly, her Forge stowed across her back. “You two were friends once- we all were.”
“‘Were’,” Megatronus repeats urgently. "You cannot remain neutral in this war forever, my beloved-"
“I will,” Solus defiantly declares. "This is a mistake, Megatronus- a terrible mistake! I know it, and so does Optimus!"
“Optimus is a wise man,” Megatronus says, abruptly stopping in his pacing to look directly at Solus, “but war has never been his domain. He doesn’t know what’s at stake here, but I do.”
The Dark Warrior takes a step closer to Solus, who looks up at him sternly.
“That is why I need the Omega Lock,” he pleads. “With it, I can-”
“What?” Solus challenges him, a cold fury in her tone “You can what? Kill millions with the turn of a key? Turn cities to dust?”
Megatronus is silent as he casts his eyes downward, towards the blasted floor. There was nothing he could say. Solus, as always, knew him well.
“I built the Omega Lock so that our people thrive on new worlds, heal the sick and injured, and build wondrous new things,” she continues. "I built it to uplift our race; not destroy it.
“The Omega Lock is not a weapon, Megatronus,” she asserts firmly. “And as long as my spark burns, I will not have anyone turn it into such a thing. Not even you.”
Megatronus said nothing, for there was nothing he could say. Nothing that could change Solus’ mind or make anything she had just said untrue. Looking up at her, his expression one of sorrow and shame, he bids Solus a wordless farewell as he turns and walks away, his heavy footsteps echoing throughout the room as he leaves down a dark corridor.
Solus Prime turns away as she and her followers disappear, and the chamber takes on an even more ruined appearance. Now, columns had been smashed, sections of the catwalk had been blown away, and a thin diagonal gash had been carved into the wall, wrapping around the circumference of the spherical room. The rhythmic pounding of metal footsteps continued, though now they belonged to Optimus Prime, who was now briskly striding toward the still-pristine Omega Lock.
From seemingly out of nowhere, Optimus draws a sword with a long, slender blade and an ornate hilt.
There is a sound like the tolling of a great bell as the grey metal of the hilt blossoms into a dazzling gold, and the blade and crystal are enveloped in a spectral white aura. Gripping the sword with both hands, Optimus raises the weapon above his shoulder as he stops before the Omega Lock. He holds for a moment, shutting his blue eyes… before he swiftly brings down the sword upon the machine. The moment the blade connects, there is a terrible explosion of sound, like a thousand bursts of thunder going off at once, as a bright blue-white light engulfs the scene…
…When it fades, Zepar would find himself standing within a field of stars, before an ocean planet marbled with chains of tropical islands. From a continent in the southwest, a brilliant burst of light blooms and washes over the world. Long, jagged fissures carve themselves into the land below the sea, glowing with the same reds, blues, greens, and purples of the Omega Lock.
Rays of blue light shoot out from the Omega Key as the hologram fades away, leaving Zepar standing in the control room once more…
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She sighed, before taking of, continuing to search.
“Make me a list of all the Angelicons in the crew of the Salvation.”
OOC: Would be interesting if there were more.
Juliana giggled a little.
Gatecrasher readies his cannons.