Last
Hope
Chapter 1 - Escape to Darkness
by Nurannoniel The Insane Mutant Elf
Megatron
had been released not even a mega-cycle before the gathering, and was still
pondering as to WHY they had actually let him out of prison. He now stood with
the growing crowd of Predacons in his home town. He caught a few ‘bots
whispering off to his left, and focused on what they were saying. He was bored
enough to listen to even these fools.
“I
heard this is about the ‘bot who stole that disk,” Said one femme.
“Naa,
it’s about energon. Isn’t it always?” the mech joked.
Frowning, the femme replied, “But they never wanted all the Predacons to be
together before. Every one of us on Cybertron is going to be here!”
The mech thought about this for a moment. “Maybe this isn’t going to be so
great after all.”
Megatron
shook his head and turned back towards what he thought was the front of the
growing mayhem. He was turned around. What he saw next made him decide agreeing
with the mech wasn’t such a bad idea. Several Maximal guards were carrying
very, VERY large guns. They were pushing the last of the arriving Predacons into
the fenced off area. Lastly, they closed the gate Megatron hadn’t quite
noticed on his way in. This is not good,
noooo... Megatron thought darkly.
He
forced his way through the crowd, yelling and pushing everyone who got in his
way. He finally made it to the gate.
“This
is gonna be one big bang!”
The
Predacons hadn’t been brought together to be lectured about peace or energon.
Megatron now knew it was much worse than that. If they didn’t get out...
“What was that annoying thing the rat always said? Ah, yes, ‘we’re all
gonna die.’”
The
bomb went off without warning. In a panic, any Predacon that wasn’t vaporized
or injured by the bomb and not too busy dodging the rain of bullets from the
Maximals ran towards the gate. Unexpectedly, the flimsy, poorly constructed gate
collapsed from the bomb’s shockwave. Megatron took the opportunity to run.
“UNCLE!”
He heard the girl’s shout before he saw her. It was a voice he had been all
too familiar with long before the Beast Wars. Standing in the pathway of the
stampede of Predacons, was his brother’s daughter, Duel. He ran faster.
She
didn’t move. She couldn’t. The sight of her people being killed by the
thousands was too much for her to understand. Megatron tried to coax her into
running before the Maximal guards started shooting at them, but she refused to
budge. Finally he picked her up and darted off onto the next street, where he
soon realized there were even more guards with guns waiting. Duel whimpered.
Determined to at least help his niece survive, he turned into an alley where he
dropped Duel. She just sat there, looking ready to cry if she could have.
“Duel,
listen to me!” He shook her in an attempt to bring her out of her daze.
Finally, she looked up at him.
“U...
Uncle, why? Why are they killing everyone?”
He
sighed. “I don’t know. Listen to me Duel, you must not surrender. Even if
one Predacon rises out of this inferno, it will be our victory, yesss. Duel, you
must be that Predacon. Take that manhole—“
“I
won’t let you die!” She grasped his arm in a futile attempt not to lose him
again. He shook her off easily.
“Go
down into the sewers, they will not find you if you go deep enough. My fight is
over, but yours is just beginning.” It took everything Megatron had to admit
he couldn’t win this time. Knowing the Maximals were going to find them there
within cycles, he shoved her towards the manhole cover and lifted it off.
“But
Uncle Meg—“
“GO!”
He threw her in and replaced the metal cover just as the Maximal guards turned
the corner and opened fire...
***
Duel
could hear Megatron fighting back against the guards. She lay frozen in place,
even after the sounds of the ferocious battle had long since ended. Mech fluid
was now dripping down into the sewers from above, making a soft “plunk”
sound as it joined the gutter full of waste.
Duel
snapped out of her daze. Megatron had fought and... and died
for her survival, why was she just laying there waiting to be found? As quietly
as possible, she stood up and listened. Gun shots were becoming fewer and fewer
above ground. It wouldn’t be long before the Maximals started checking the
buildings and sewers for survivors, Duel knew they weren’t dumb enough not to
check. Stealing one last look at the daylight leaking through the manhole cover,
Duel started searching for a way deeper into Cybertron.
Megacycles
passed as she retreated further and further into darkness. Light was now scarce,
the few service lamps being all that stopped her from using infra-red vision. It
was because of the lack of light that Duel didn’t see the hole in front of
her. She stepped forward and lost her balance, tumbling down the opening.
When
Duel awoke, the first thing she noticed was the light. “Oh wait, that’s just
because of my headache...” She sat up and rubbed her head, causing her
“ears” to shake in pain. Slowly she powered up her optics, blinking back the
receding “light” when she needed to. When she could see clearly again, she
discovered that there was light this
deep in the tunnels. The walls and ceiling were actually glowing
a beautiful blue. Duel didn’t know what caused the glow, but she knew she’d
found her new home.
***
To
be continued...