(Idaho, Underground Base, Skyquake and Motorhead)

 

"I can't believe you almost got caught by humans," Skyquake wasn't happy with his subordinate, who backed into a concrete corner out of fear. Motorhead trembled in his boots, fixating his glance downward. 

 

"Sorry, boss," the yellow bot apologized. "I didn't know he was there, honest."

 

"Oh! Sure, just like you didn't know Optimus was here. Don't fragging lie to me!"

 

"I'm not, I swear!" Motorhead raised his arms defensively. "I really didn't think-!"

 

"You don't think at all, dumbfrag! Your mind's practically empty inside, hollower than the average Vehicon," Skyquake criticized his underling. "You don't think, you don't imagine, you don't do anything AT ALL! Not once have you ever tried to gain merchandise from anywhere we've been to!" 

 

"I-I.....I'm sorry."

 

"DON'T say that again," Skyquake pointed a finger at him, touching his faceplate. "Apologies won't keep you alive."

 

"Boss, please-!"

 

"Neither would false promises." The predator lowered his arm. 

 

"Then what do you want me to do!? I've been trying my best, but nothing satisfies you! What is it that I'm missing?" Motorhead asked desperately. 

 

"Results," Skyquake answered bluntly. "Results bring you spoils, spoils mean rewards, and rewards mean merit. You have earned no ounce of merit in our entire time together."

 

"T-That's not true! I-I-I have stolen some merchandise before!"

 

"Under Archforce, which you miss dearly," Skyquake pointed out. "With me, nothing's come from you, almost like you don't want to steal anymore. What gives?" 

 

"I'm rusty, that's all."

 

"Oh, so you're rusty, eh?" The predator raised both arms, grabbing Motorhead's neck. "I'll show you rusty." 

 

"Boss, please! Have mercy-!" Motorhead's pleas failed to register, witnessing his vision blurred as Skyquake bashed him into the metal wall, denting it deeply. Then, he slid the yellow bot across its metallic surface, producing scratch marks on his head, and nearly tore his right horn off. Motorhead was subsequently thrown onto concrete ground, landing face-first. 

 

Skyquake wasn't done, however, activating his arm blasters. One shot hit Motorhead's back, another striking his right knee joint. Consequently, the yellow bot howled in pain, which Skyquake took great joy in.

 

The predator leader soon after grabbed Motorhead’s arms, tugging them rearward while putting a foot on his back, causing the yellow bot to arch up. He yanked at them hard, feeling a slight looseness rising in the shoulder joints. Until, with enough force to rival a bison, he removed both arms off their sockets, hearing Motorhead cry in horrifying pain.

 

Skyquake bore a wide sadistic grin behind the mask. 

 

“Who’s rusty now, buddy?” The predator leader said mockingly.

 

“Aaaaaaaaaaah! My arms! My fragging arms!” Motorhead shouted in agony. “Why!? WHY!? I don’t understand WHY!”

 

“I told you why,” Skyquake replied, removing his foot off him. He next proceeded to kick Motörhead’s body, turning him over onto his back. 

 

“But that doesn’t mean-!”

 

“I told you why, Motorhead. I told you exactly why you’re a failure, why you deserve this. And now, I’m gonna show you what happens to cowards who fail,” Skyquake aimed his arm blasters, firing another shot at Motörhead’s loosening right knee, now completely severing it.

 

“OW!” Motorhead exclaimed. “Please, boss. I’m sorry that I-“

 

“Shut. Up.” Skyquake took his amputated knee, adjusting it in his hand as a club. Motorhead felt an immense blow stuck to his face, his mouthplate flying off fast, hitting the wall hard.

 

“Shut up.”

 

Another hit to the face.

 

“Shut up.”

 

And another.

 

“SHUT UP.”

 

Another.

 

“SHUT UP!”

 

Another.

 

“SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! SHUT THE FRAG UP!”

 

And one more for good measure, as he tossed away the severed leg.

 

“I have been stuck on this dust bowl for MILLIONS of years. Can you imagine how utterly miserable I felt during that time?”

 

Skyquake grasped the purple chest plate, digging into its metal surface. 

 

“No one, not even my own team, came for me. I followed Megatron here in hopes of winning a promotion. That I’d become general of an army chosen by me! Instead?”

 

With all his might, he tore off Motorhead’s front piece, exposing the power core inside.

 

“Instead, I woke up chasing after a dead-end Autobot signal, murdered, then woken up to serve some lousy excuse for a boss. And don’t bother with your loyal lackey shtick, scraphead, cause I know you didn’t like him.”

 

“Even,” Motorhead coughed up energon, a trial of blue liquid coming his mouth. “Even if that were true, you’re……’cough cough’.”

 

“Yeah? Go on, I won’t get mad.”

 

“You’re…..worse than him, Skyquake.”

 

“I am?” Skyquake was amused, yet very surprised.

 

“You take the prize…..of being the most violent bastard alive. Not even Archforce humiliated me like this,” Motorhead coughed up more blood, some of the blue droplets landing on his master. “You’re pure evil incarnate.”

 

“Heh. Hehahahahaha,” the predator leader laughed at his insult, his right hand gently seizing the power core. “Good. Glad to have a fan.”

 

“Wait, no! What are you doing!? I was kidding! I was only joking, I swear! PLEASE-!”

 

“Too bad, buddy,” Skyquake interrupted him for the last time, ripping out his power-source. “I’m just. That. Bad.”

 

Motorhead’s optics slowly turned off, all internal systems shutting down at once. Energon leaked from his body, forming an aqua puddle beneath him. Skyquake crushed the core in his hands, throwing it aside with a bloody hand. His rage now certainly quenched, Skyquake turned to a new objective: killing Optimus Prime. 

 

"Wherever you are," He muttered, twin green optics glowing furiously while clenching his fists. "Nothing will escape my sight, Optimus. I swear this by Megatron's honor," He shook his head. "No, by MY honor. And once your head's in my collection.....once I slaughter all that you loved in life....every Autobot falls under MY servitude." 

 

(Oregon, Highway, Optimus Prime)

 

A grave dilemma awaited the Autobot leader, driving on the highway at leisure speeds. Though his mind is at ease, his soul races continuously. He worries how much damage Skyquake caused during these seven days of absence. Worse, who know how many innocents fell to him, human or otherwise. 

 

Whatever the case, all of it ends now. 

 

Optimus changed to the right lanes, passing an SUV carrying four people. Things were going smoothly, no trouble in sight for miles, possibly kilometers. Until smoke was seen in the air, coming from where he drove. Rows of traffic flooded all four lanes, Prime decelerating to a complete stop. No fire trucks had yet arrived, only two police cars with four officers surrounding the source. It was a burning wreck derived from a gray sedan, its occupants long since deceased with their charred corpses nearing the point of becoming ashes.  

 

"By the stars," Optimus commented in a whisper, his symbol on the steering wheel flashing. "Who could've done this?"

 

Just then, a faint whistling sound could be heard above, loudening as it neared the ground. Amidst the confusion, a humongous explosion took place, destroying both police vehicles and its owners blown to dust. Tragedy struck fast, now more fiery denotations occurring at random times. Except, it wasn't random. 

 

Optimus soon realized that bombs were dropped from somewhere, presumably high in the clouds. Was it an invasion by foreign powers? A terrorist attack committed by crazed militias? An act of violence against society using means of destruction?

 

No, it was none of those things. Rather, something far worse had arrived.

 

"There you are," Skyquake exclaimed to his enemy, landing on an occupied SUV, killing all four inside. He rose up on his feet, stepping into a newly formed puddle of blood. 

 

"Skyquake," Optimus converted into robot mode, careful not to step on any frightened humans running away. "I should've known."

 

"Nice to know you still care," the predator leader complimented his greatest foe. "Did you miss me?"

 

"Only the chance to put you down permanently."

 

 "A thought I share towards you, Prime. You've been the biggest thorn in my side for centuries, ever since I met you during the first siege of Kaon. Oh, how I'll never forget ripping that lousy Windcharger to pieces. And your reaction? Pure glory."

 

"Glory you won't ever repeat again," Optimus unveiled his arm blades. "Stand down, Skyquake. The war's over, peace has finally settled in. Don't let the past dictate your future."

 

"My future, Optimus, is seeing you shredded like a Predacon's toy. Oh yes, that's been my dream for these past eons. It's why I followed Megatron to these spherical nightmare, and why I killed my team before doing so," Skyquake just realized he lied to Motorhead while killing him. Oh well, it didn't matter anymore. "Alas, such is my nature."

 

"Then it shall be my duty to stop you once and for all. Face me, optic-to-optic. Take my head as your prize, but leave planet Earth alone. Humanity's innocent from our crimes.

 

"Hmmm," Skyquake pondered on his suggestion, retracting his mouthplate. Suddenly, a devious idea came to mind.

 

He crouched down on one knee, picking up a random human from the thousands running away. The snare howled with horrifying panic, beating his fists onto Skyquake’s fingers and attempting to put himself loose.

 

“Skyquake,” Optimus says, putting on his mask. “Let the human go.”

 

“Yes, I probably should. Otherwise, it’ll die. However,” Skyquake gently wraps his mouth on the human’s head, brutally decapitating it in one fast pull. After spitting out the hairy bit, Skyquake then poured blood onto his hand, smearing across his face in four red lines. An eerie smile surfaced as he threw his victim away.

 

“Doing the opposite’s fun. Plenty of fun, maybe you should try it sometime. Why not torture a few humans just for-?” The predator leader’s glowing praise of violence was rudely interrupted with a swift punch to his face, courtesy of Optimus. 

 

“I’ve heard enough,” the autobot leader watched his opponent fall on his right side. “No more innocents die by your hands, for now I will kill YOU.” 

 

“Kill me?” Skyquake got up, rubbing his cheek. His mouthplate was deployed, striking a battle pose towards Prime. “Go ahead. Hit me with your best shot.”

 

The battle begins, Skyquake taking first place in advancing towards Optimus. He stomped through abandoned vehicles, crushing their interiors in rapid succession. With a leap forward, he pounced on the Autobot leader like a hunter attacking its prey.

 

Optimus dodged the attack, sidestepping right into a pickup truck, which flew back from his left foot unintentionally kicking it. Thankfully, no one was inside.

 

Setting aside that brief direction, he saw his opponent rising up, unveiling his arm blasters. Two shots were fired, each blocked by Prime’s swords, disintegrating into sparse particles. Although no humans lingered in their vicinity, Prime made sure no vehicles or any trees caught fire, as it'll surely cause another hassle for the fire department. It also saves lives, of course. 

 

"What's wrong, Optimus?" Skyquake asked mockingly. "Afraid of hurting the little tiny creatures? Too scared of fighting 'cons again?"

 

"Afraid? Please," Prime merely scoffed at the assertion. "I've never been afraid of sending Decepticons back where they belong. You're all just ruthless killers itching to melt me down, anyway. You and your merry band of freaks can walk the long road back to Cybertron, cause I'm sure that desolate wasteland belongs to no one BUT you." 

 

"You act as if the Decepticons purposely destroyed our world. That we wanted our home to die," Skyquake said, firing another batch of lasers, once again blocked by Optimus. "You think we're monsters."

 

"Aren't you?" Optimus raised an eyebrow. 

 

"Self-righteous scum like you never got the full picture," the predator leader charged forward, successfully pounced on Prime, rendering him immobile on his back. "None of you ever understood our struggles. Our pain, our sorrow, our HATRED!"

 

"What's there to understand?" Optimus tried to break free to little avail, sheathing his swords momentarily. "Your kind killed my friends."

 

Skyquake had both palms on the Autobot's neck, charging up his blasters. "It was a necessary sacrifice!"

 

Prime grabbed his opponent's forearms, bending the barrel on both cannons. Doing so incited an explosion from two ends, blowing off a large chunk of Skyquake's arms. It invoked cries of pain from the predator, who rolled onto the ground while witnessing his lower arms flicker from severed wiring, melted bolts, and an exposed exoskeleton. 

 

"Ow, my arms! My beautiful arms!" Skyquake howled like a wounded coward. "You've ruined the best part of me!"

 

"Good," Optimus rose onto his feet, opening a compartment on his back. He reached behind, pulling out his Ion Blaster after years of nonuse. He then held Skyquake down with one foot, pushing him into the rocky ground. "Perish in fear of me."

 

"NEVER!" The predator leader soon grasped the gun barrel, redirecting its shot towards a nearby car, destroying it completely. Then, he kicked Optimus back, giving an opportune chance to run and convert into his jet mode. He boosted into cloudy skies, disappearing completely from Prime's sight. 

 

Optimus stored his gun away, transforming into car mode as he ran unto the highway. Skyquake wouldn't be so lucky anymore. 

 

Nor will he hurt anyone or anything ever again.