Lifesource.
Chapter 18.
A chill ran down Sam's spine at Skywarp's words. Megatron was back after all this time?
When they had first come to Cybertron to see if they could revive the Planet -Sam all unknowing at the time -Starscream had pointed out to Sam that Megatron was still alive somewhere, and might wish to come back to exact revenge on either Sam, or the planet Earth, or both, for his two humiliating defeats. Time had gone by, and there had been no sign of him, and Sam had allowed himself to believe that Megatron had found somewhere else to attack, or had run into another band of Autobots, or a natural catastrophe, and perished. It seemed his assumptions had all been wrong, and now Megatron was back.
"Guardians, fall into position to protect AllSpark-Sam, but some of you need to get those femmes and sparklings out, or at least to a place of safety!" This instruction came from Barricade, who was dismantling his instrument as he stood.
"He knew Megatron, do as he says!" Sam said, although the reinforced command was not necessary, as most people were already scrambling to obey Barricade's command.
As the Guardians moved to circle Sam, ceremonial but functional staffs raised, facing out with Sam seeing only their backs, Sam hoped Megatron wouldn't be after him for revenge. He saw Bumblebee, Skywarp, and another Guardian he did not know leading the civilian femmes and sparklings to one of the Guardian rooms around the edge. If the civilian mechs didn't intervene, they had a chance of being left alone, but Megatron's disdain of sparklings and hatred of femmes immediately put them in a vulnerable position.
At that moment, another explosion cracked part of the roof, including that with an oval entrance closed by a sliding door that had been installed to make it easier for Seekers to enter and exit the Dome.
"Drat, we just got that fixed and sorted out all the bugs, that's a slagging nuisance," Skywarp replied as he slid shut the door to the Guardian room they'd put all the femmes and sparklings in, and locked it, before rushing back to join the circle of Guardians surrounding Sam. There was a further concussive blast that brought part of the roof tumbling in, and as the Guardians moved back, taking Sam with them, as they used their arms to shelter both themselves and their charge from the falling debris, the silhouette of an almost-familiar Cybertronian Jet became visible, hovering just outside.
It did a loop-the-loop which brought it inside the Dome through the hole it's oversized gun had inflicted, and unfolded into Megatron's current, damaged form. He was now a triplechanger, as the tank treads on his feet showed, which was why his Cybertronian Jet had not been as sleek or as recognisable as usual.
Half of his face and chest were hidden by a ragged, filthy-looking hessian cloth, making Sam wonder just how badly he had been damaged in Egypt. His one visible optic, deep-socketed and burning blood-red, scanned the assembled mechs and Guardians, lighting first on Barricade, who had packed his instrument away and was in a combat-ready pose, and then Skywarp, who was already hovering, ready to move wherever was either prudent or necessary.
"I wondered why there was no sign of either of you on Earth," Megatron said, his voice as rough and gravelly as Sam recalled. "Now I know why." His visible optic once again travelled over the assembled group.
"I see Guardians, I heard a musician, and there were people heading for the Dome, as they used to before the war," Megatron said. His optics swept over the Guardians, and he stepped closer so he could see within the protective circle which, Sam noticed for the first time, contained a couple of femmes.
"What is that insect doing on the dais?" Megatron asked. "He once showed signs of having energy from the AllSpark remaining within him. Is this still the case, and is it still functional in some way that it used to be?" Megatron fixed his optic on Skywarp, whom to his credit, did not recoil from the glare.
"He does, which is why the Guardians are willing to defend him," Barricade answered. "He has enSparked sparklings and healed wounds, although at a much reduced rate than the cube used to, which is likely to be due to his organic structure being less resilient than the metal Cube."
"Perhaps a structure such as our own may be more resilient, the doctor seemed to think the Energy would transfer itself to me if I destroyed him," Megatron said, and the shudder that ran down Sam's spine was not, he felt, only from him, and he thought that the Essence might beg to differ from the little doctor that had suggested having Sam's "brain on the table" when he had seen him last.
Megatron suddenly lunged for Sam, a move that almost took the Guardians by surprise, but as Sam scrambled back they united and crossed their staffs, managing to use them to push the silver mech back from Sam. Megatron roared, and let loose with his arms, both the heavy but sharp club that had once killed Optimus, and the thin but lethally clawed limb that had once held Sam pinned down.
One Guardian went down, dropped by the brute force of the club, and Sam heard metal screech as the other clawed limb dealt deep gouges in the armour of the Guardian who had stepped up to block him, a red femme a few feet taller, but more slender, than Bumblebee. The metallic screech was accompanied by a Cybertronian scream of pain, and he saw the red femme fall to the ground inside the Guardian's cordon, the deep scratches flowing with an alarming amount of energon. The others closed the gap, drawing together to protect them both, and Sam scrambled over to the downed femme, where he grabbed hold of a place where the corrosive energon had not splashed or flowed, and concentrated on pushing healing energy to the Guardian. It was a barely-conscious decision he made, and he saw the AllSpark energy first fill and then close up the deep gouges Megatron's claws had inflicted.
The femme Guardian groaned, looked at the healed damage, and said "Thank you." Then she got up and rejoined the living blockade around him, raising her staff to deflect the claws that flashed at her again, and Sam heard Megatron roar in rage at being outmanoeuvred. His limbs flashed out again, this time not to kill or maim, but to bludgeon those in his way out of it, and Sam saw some of the Guardians being flung aside like broken dolls by an enraged toddler. With that, Megatron was able to reach the dais, the remaining Guardians belatedly reforming the protective ring about Sam, snapping their staffs up before swinging them out to try and either force him back, or swung lower down a few seconds later in an attempt to trip Megatron.
Several detached from the ring, which shrunk but stayed around Sam, as the others rushed Megatron, but Megatron acted like one possessed, his strength seeming not to wane at all as he bludgeoned them to the ground or cast them from him contemptuously. The red femme stepped between Megatron and the cordon around him, which moved backwards,and as it did, Sam tripped and fell. As he fell forwards he put out his hands to block his fall, and they connected with a solid slap as he hit the dais-
And he was abruptly transported to a different environment : the water/air environment of the Planet's consciousness.
*Why do you fight?* it asked. *There was an agreement that the two sides would war no more on my surface.*
*The one we battle did not ask or give assurance, did not even communicate with us, but came in fighting* Sam said.*It is our hope that ones like him are very few and far between, but this one has a history of choosing conflict over coexistence.*
*I see it in your mind and recall him from the beginning of the last conflict,* the Planet said. *The AllSpark knows this one too, dreads it, and promises to help, but you must trust the AllSpark. Hurry!*
And just like that, Sam was back in his own body.
He was in time to see the red Guardian thrown forcefully off the dais, looking badly beaten up. For a moment, Sam was looking straight at the ruin of Megatron's face, and then he felt a push at his mind by the AllSpark. This was no gentle, suggestive 'nudge', but an insistent shove. At first Sam resisted, but as Megatron reached over the heads of his Guardians in an attempt to grab the human, Sam remembered the Planet telling him to trust the AllSpark. As Sam cowered, and the AllSpark shoved at his mental barriers again, Sam shut his eyes and let it in.
Sam suddenly became haloed in blue-white light, and opened his eyes just as in apparent defiance of gravity, he shot up into the air and swerved left to avoid Megatron's grasping digits. Megatron roared in anger and frustration, and took another swipe, and as Sam dodged to one side instinctively, the AllSpark moved him that way, the tyrant's sharp fingers once again closing on nothing but thin air. As Megatron and everyone else around him suddenly seemed to slow down, Sam blinked in surprise. Everyone else seemed to be moving at one quarter speed, so it was easy for Sam to avoid Megatron's suddenly seemingly clumsy attempts to snatch him from the air.
Information about Megatron suddenly filled his brain, his strengths and weaknesses, his current ammunition and energy levels, and something the AllSpark drew his attention to: extensive processor damage, some inflicted by his opponents when he'd fought against them in the arena in Kaon, but much inflicted from feedback from the interface device he'd had built into him to attempt to interface with the AllSpark forcefully, due to lack of inSparked talent to contact it that some others possessed.
The AllSpark was primarily a healer, and Sam realised it wanted to heal that damage that had been inflicted, all of it, no matter the cause, but getting close enough to do so before Megatron could seize and destroy him, even with the strange slowness of everyone else around him, could well be a problem. Sam's mind was in rapport with the consciousness of the AllSpark, and he became aware of two things : nobody else was slower, it was Sam whose reflexes, movement, and senses which had speeded up, and the AllSpark hoped to wear Megatron out to allow Sam to get close enough to let the Essence carry out it's task. Sam just hoped he wouldn't be worn out first!
It seemed that the AllSpark had some concern about this as well, and as an opportunity presented itself, it reacted. The AllSpark Guardians were still trying to stop Megatron, and one of them, in desperation, threw himself in front of Megatron's feet, wrapping himself around them and tripping Megatron up. As the damaged tyrant landed face down with a roar of anger, Sam was suddenly dropped onto Megatron's back, and as he crouched, his hands began glowing a brighter blue, and Sam felt them being drawn towards Megatron's plating. As Sam realised what the Essence wanted, he threw himself forwards, his hands making contact with the silver overlord's armour, and gripping tight against any violent reaction.
As his hands made contact, it was like closing an electrical switch. Sam felt his hands touch the hide of the Decepticon, and he felt AllSpark Energy pour into Megatron's form, so strong it was almost painful. The force of the contact ripped a cry of surprise and stress from Sam's throat, and his back reverse-arched as he lit up like magnesium in a flame. As he did so, Megatron roared, his cry joining Sam's, but it quickly rose to a high-pitched shriek.
It felt to Sam like it was going on forever, as if the energy was being pulled out of him almost faster than the Essence could produce it, and he feared the outpouring of energy could kill him. He almost recoiled, but could not, and then he recalled again the Planet telling him to trust the AllSpark Essence, and he hoped that his trust was not misplaced.
Then the energy transfer stopped, and with it, Sam's strength deserted him. As he slumped forwards on Megatron's shiny knobbled back, he heard his name being called, but he was unable to vocalise or even raise a hand in response as he finally blacked out.