Two weeks had passed, and the alliance terms had been fully established. One Autobot and one Decepticon would switch places and work in the other faction’s main base. Right now, Galvatron had swapped with Jazz and was walking down the corridor to Optimus’ office. He rang the door chime. “Enter,” came Optimus’ voice. Galvatron stepped in. “Ah, Galvatron. What can I do for you?”
“I need your help,” answered Galvatron.
“What’s up?”
“…I tried to explain the situation to Ultra Magnus.”
“And?”
“…He’s considering a double fratricide with both me and Megatron as the victims.” Optimus growled.
“Did Megatron say anything recently to him? Maybe I should talk with him.”
“Absolutely not!” gulped Galvatron. “His current attitude is to cover up the fact that you intimidate him!”
“…Me?” Galvatron then realized his mistake.
“Don’t tell Megatron I told you.” Optimus couldn’t help but laugh.
“I intimidate Megatron, huh?!” The Prime couldn’t stop laughing for a bit.
“You find it funny that I was scared of you, huh?” remarked Galvatron. Optimus cleared his throat, forcing himself to stop laughing.
“Of course not!” He couldn’t help a grin. Galvatron gave a knowing grin in response.
“Come on, I worked under you in my timeline. I know how you work.” Optimus then regained control of his composure.
“Look, we’re not talking about me and Megatron, we’re talking about you and Ultra Magnus. I sympathize with him slightly, but as far as I’m concerned, you being here is totally acceptable.”
“…You got Blaster here, right?” Optimus’ optics flickered at the sudden change in topic.
“…Yeah, why?”
“Just wanted to know.” Optimus then fully blinked, something most Cybertronians don’t do.
“O…kaaaayy.”
Windblade and Yoketron were practicing with their swords. Yoketron’s husband, Stormfront, observed the sparring session and sensed, with remarkable accuracy, that Windblade’s head wasn’t in the game. Yoketron’s verbal instruction confirmed it. “Windblade, you’re becoming predictable. A Cyber-ninja MUST use the unorthodox.”
“You say that, Sensei, but you’re not controlling my central line,” remarked Windblade.
“Allow me to fix that.” Yoketron swept his leg under hers and tripped her up. Windblade activated the propellers on her wings to keep her from hitting the ground and giving her the chance to block the downswing, then shoving him backwards, giving some distance. “Very good, you adapt well. However, running your mouth like that, not gonna lie, felt like Optimus during his first few days under my tutelage.”
“Got it from someone, I guess.” Windblade charged and swung wildly. Yoketron blocked and dodged the blows.
“You’re holding your sword too tightly!” Yoketron then slammed a fist into Windblade’s face, forcing her to hold the sword with one hand. That gave Yoketron the opportunity to knock his opponent’s weapon out of her hands. “Now, too lightly.”
“Yame!” called Stormfront as he got up. Yoketron then got out a first-aid kit to help Windblade’s face as it leaked Energon. “Something’s on your mind, Windblade,” remarked Stormfront as he approached the two.
“…It’s Ultra Magnus,” answered Windblade. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s getting a little…intense with our Decepticon visitors.”
“He’s got raging Deceptiphobia,” summed up Yoketron.
“That’s the phrase.”
“Has he always had it?”
“Not on this scale! And if he finds out about my husband’s origins, who knows what’s gonna happen!”
“…I don’t believe I know Arcanus’ story,” said Stormfront.
“Well, you see…”
“Any Autobots, please, someone help Bumblebee! He’s making his way towards Ultra Magnus’ position!” called Teletraan.
“Is Ultra Magnus alone?” asked Windblade.
“Nope! He’s about to kill Megatron by the look of things!”
Ultra Magnus was just wailing on the unarmed Megatron. The inhibitor chips in the Decepticon’s body meant that he couldn’t access any offense-based systems. After slamming his fists into Megatron for a good minute, Ultra Magnus stopped. “Come on,” panted Megatron, “we’re just getting started!”
“What is the purpose of your surrender?” asked Ultra Magnus. Megatron snarled, getting angry that the same question was being repeated.
“I already told you, Unicron’s a greater threat!” Ultra Magnus then resumed ragdolling Megatron. He then stopped after another minute. By now, Megatron’s wires were exposed, his armor had dents and tears, and he was leaking Energon.
“What is the purpose of your surrender?”
“Are you deaf or just being stupid?! Unicron is bigger than any petty grudge you may have with me!” Ultra Magnus raised his hand…
“CYBER KEY POWER!” shouted Bumblebee’s voice. The yellow Autobot’s Cyber-stingers then slammed into Ultra Magnus’ back and shocked him hard. A red jet with large propeller fans in the wings then slammed into Ultra Magnus and propelled him into the mountainside.
“WINDBLADE, TRANSFORM!” The jet’s fuselage and cockpit folded onto the top as arms and legs unfolded from the bottom and the head popped out between the arms. Windblade then drew her sword and leveled it at her eldest son. Bumblebee kept one of his stingers trained on Ultra Magnus while he called for Ratchet. “Dion Pax, what in Primus’ name are you DOING?!” demanded Windblade.
“Getting information out of Megatron,” replied Ultra Magnus.
“What you were doing,” hissed Bumblebee, “was breaking protocol left, right, and center!” Ratchet finally arrived and began tending to Megatron so he could be moved.
“He stays here!” called Ultra Magnus.
“Belay that!” called Bumblebee. “Ultra Magnus isn’t right in the head!” Ratchet obeyed Bumblebee and continued his work.
“Sergeant Bumblebee, you’re out of line!” Bumblebee refused to let himself be cowed.
“Ultra Magnus, I can’t follow your orders if you’re acting this way.”
“You cannot be serious!”
“Megatron surrendered himself to us as our prisoner! He’s entitled to certain rights, one of them being that he’s free from being tortured!”
“You are actually spouting protocol at me right now!”
“In the stories I’ve heard from bots your mother’s age, we NEVER inflicted harm on others unless all other options were exhausted!”
“You heard right,” supplied Windblade. “We do NOT resort to torture unless there’s no other choice! It’s what separates us from the Decepticons.”
“Is this REALLY the time for one of your lectures?!” Ultra Magnus got up and towered over her. “You didn’t see Megatron throw Optimus to the sand during our first encounter, did you?! Well I did! Did you ever receive reports that Megatron turned an inhabitant of this planet against his will to use as a weapon of conquest?! I did! As far as I’m concerned, that walking corpse is a monster using Megatronus’ image!”
“You need to calm it down!” Windblade kept her face stoic against her out-of-control eldest son.
“Calm is the last thing we need! Calm is what cost us all a normal childhood! Megatron admitted to conquering this world once Unicron was dealt with! You really think he’ll honor it for that long?! We’re squandering our time trying to unite with people who are totally different from us and have no concept of peace! We need to take this opportunity to strike the Decepticons hard and NOW! Precisely where it hurts!”
“That’s gonna provoke retaliation!” argued Bumblebee. “And, on top of that, it’ll make Unicron’s job of hunting Optimus easier! I’m not willing to go that far!”
“You went that far when your mother died! I seem to recall that Cliffjumper’s an Eradicon now! After your mother died, you two tried desperately to bring her back using Energon Alchemy!”
“And it backfired. Remember that bit of the story? You said so yourself, Cliffjumper’s an Eradicon and I have Crystal Mail right now.” Bumblebee took off the armor surrounding his arm and showed off an arm made of blue-white crystal. Megatron, having heard the whole thing, arched an eyebrow.
“…Your brother’s an Eradicon?” he asked. “Then that makes him a liability.”
“…I’m aware,” muttered Bumblebee. “Which is why he’s been doing all sorts of meditative techniques to keep himself from falling into Unicron’s thrall.”
“You had the courage to do what’s right once!” snarled Ultra Magnus. “It looks like Mobius made you soft! You never pounded the Decepticons to scrap when you had the chance, and you’ve had numerous chances!”
“Because I believe myself to be better than that. Ultra Magnus, I didn’t want to do this, but I have no choice. I had to ask most of the Autobots while Prime didn’t know, but I had to have their support in case you went too far. You are too unstable to be in command a second longer. By the authority vested in me by my fellow Autobots, I hereby invoke the Crisis Act and relieve you of command!”
“MUTINY!” roared Ultra Magnus. “Mother, arrest him!” Windblade then brought out stasis cuffs…and slapped them onto Ultra Magnus’ wrists. “WHA…?!”
“I’m sorry, son, but you’re too dangerous to be in any command position right now. Teletraan, Ground Bridge right to the brig.”
“Prowl’s waiting by a cell,” reported Teletraan. “He’s got the whole story.” A Ground Bridge then opened for everyone.
“…You know, I never thought I’d see the Crisis Act invoked in my lifetime, much less against my older brother,” smirked Megatron.