Tales of the Intermezzo - X A Transformers Universe Story copyright 2000 by Dave Van Domelen based on properties owned by Hasbro =========================================================================== "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play." - American Heritage Dictionary If I had a mouth capable of such a feat, I would smile. Unicron has not only been soundly defeated, but his ill-fated gambit to return to a semblance of life has also been thwarted. I need not concern myself with this rival, and he has swept much of the galaxy of other opposition. Time to make my own play for supremacy. And I think I shall use a tool discarded by the fallen Chaos Lord. I reach into subspace, that reality-that-is-not where things are stored and things are abandoned, and pull out three figures. They are battered and drained, but the spark of life yet clings to them after years of drifting in the un-reality that is subspace. I need to make a few preparations, but then I can wake them.... * * * * Megatron felt himself coming online, with more than the usual sense of dislocation that accompanies reactivation. His body was not only healed of the wounds inflicted by that thrice-damned Prime, but it seemed to have been completely rebuilt. Had Unicron kept his end of the bargain? But...Megatron's last memories before oblivion had been of being pushed away, seeing a copy of himself created and then warped. He stood and looked around. All was dark, in a way that not even his active sensors could penetrate. Megatron frowned. The more superstitious Autobots, and even some of his own troops, sometimes talked of joining the Matrix upon death. Was this the Matrix? Unlikely...but if the legendary repository of Autobot essences had made the grave mistake of admitting him, Megatron would ensure they never had a chance to regret it. "You are not dead, Megatron," came a voice from the darkness. It seemed like a whisper, yet was as loud as the roar of his fusion...cannon? Megatron was briefly distracted by the strange new weapon at his arm before facing the darkness defiantly. "Who are you? Another face of Unicron?" The voice chuckled softly. "I am not the Chaos-Bringer, no. Rather, I am an enemy of his...you may call me Dark Nova." With that, the darkness faded in the direction Megatron faced, to reveal an enormous metal sphere studded with tentacles and bearing an odd, serrated mouth uncomfortably like Unicron's. At the center of the sphere was a single eye, both malevolent and...wise? Caring? It seemed to be trying to put Megatron at ease while also impressing him with its power. "I demand an explanation," Megatron snarled, refusing to be cowed *or* cozened. More soft laughter. "Very well, it amuses me to accede to your demands. Unicron lied to you. Or, to be more precise, he realized after making the bargain that it would never work to his favor. So, rather than give you a new body, he gave your memories to the new body, letting it think it was a reborn Megatron." "Why?" "Your indomitable spirit, Megatron. Oh, you agreed to act as Unicron's servant, but you and I know you only did so in order to find a way to survive and turn things to your advantage. By copying your memories but not your essence, Unicron hoped to create a better servant, one who would combine the brilliance of Megatron with the loyalty of a vassal." Dark Nova chuckled again. "Even the shadow of Megatron was enough to turn this Galvatron into a rebel for a time, a rebel who dared to threaten his creator. Of Unicron's other spawn, only the one known as Cyclonus had even the glimmering of independent will. The shades of your associates," a tentacle gestured towards the still unconscious Thundercracker and Skywarp behind Megatron, who now appeared out of the darkness, "were simply not strong enough to affect Unicron's pawns." Megatron sneered. "And you think you will find me a more biddable servant than Unicron did?" Dark Nova shook slightly, in what seemed to be the equivalent of a humanoid shaking its head. "Unicron dominates his servants. He wishes no will other than his own to exist. I prefer to convince...allies...of the wisdom of my path. Loyalty earned is always preferable to servitude." Megatron narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. "What is this path you wish...allies...for?" he asked, deliberately imitating Dark Nova's intonation. "Cybertron is lost to you, and to all like me. The Autobots destroyed Unicron and have scattered the sorry remnants of the Decepticons to the rim of the galaxy. But there are other galaxies to conquer, and I offer you the armies necessary to do so!" The remaining darkness vanished, revealing that Megatron stood in a massive chamber lined with suspension pods. Each pod held a warrior, angular brown and grey figures emblazoned with violet crosses, or X's. Megatron looked down to his own chest, seeing it bore both this cross and the Decepticon symbol. "You consider my acceptance to be a foregone conclusion, do you?" Megatron stabbed an angry finger at his new insignia. "Is it not? Your home is lost to you. Only a fool would return, even with an army," Dark Nova retorted. "I offer you the chance to conquer, to rule if you wish. My needs are met by the conquering itself, not by the actual ruling. Besides," Dark Nova's single eye flared redly, followed by the visors of all the dormant warriors coming to life at the same time, "your bargaining position is highly dubious." Megatron snarled. "You are the second creature to tell me that, and I like it no more now than from Unicron." "Very well. If you will not lead my armies, I shall destroy you and awaken Thundercracker. If he declines, I shall move on to Skywarp. Perhaps if none of you will be my general, I can ask Galvatron to serve me...he is a very biddable servant," Dark Nova mused. The warriors started to stir. "You should have threatened me before repairing me!" Megatron shouted and leapt into the air. In a graceful somersault, he transformed into a pistol. It was an ugly form, lacking the classic lines of the Walther P-38 he had emulated on Earth, but he could feel the power of this new body. He reached out for that old connection to the black hole from which he drew antimatter, and found it had...changed. Refusing to hesitate in the face of the unknown, Megatron fired anyway. Space itself protested as a pellet of infinite density shot out of his barrel. Megatron could create black holes as weapons now! The deadly projectile struck Dark Nova, tearing into him with a horrible rending of metal before it evaporated. Megatron recalled how Soundwave had once told him that the creation of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs at the event horizon caused black holes to slowly evaporate, and it was a handy bit of physics. After all, it would be a foolish weapon to use if the projectiles never went away...a single battle could doom a planet. With relish, Megatron fired a volley of five more darkstars, noting with grim satisfaction that Dark Nova seemed to have no defense against the weapon he had given Megatron. As the last one struck, Dark Nova's eye went dark and the warriors all around the chamber slumped back into their pods. The remaining matter, which seemed as much organic as metallic, quickly decayed until there was nothing left but a foul odor and a black dust swirling in the air. "He really thought I'd be so willing to join him? What a fool," Megatron said to the empty air. * * * * "What happened," Skywarp asked as Thundercracker moaned incoherently. "We have been given a second chance to reclaim Cybertron," Megatron replied, helping the black and purple Seeker to his feet. The two seemed to have been modified only slightly by Dark Nova, and it had been simple for Megatron to bring them online. "Through rather odd circumstances...." A short time later, Megatron had related to the two other Decepticons what had happened to him earlier. "First thing on the agenda," Thundercracker rumbled, "find Starscream and rip him a new access port." "I don't think we'll have the opportunity," Megatron mused. "Galvatron had my memories, but I doubt he had my capacity to be...amused...by my second-in-command's antics. I've had reason and opportunity many times to kill Starscream, but he keeps me sharp, from getting complacent in my position as leader. And frankly, I don't think he'd really know what to do with leadership if he got it...there's an old Terran play called 'Pippin' on that subject. But this Galvatron impostor? He'd kill Starscream without a second's thought. I doubt Starscream survived to enjoy his coronation." "Maybe I'll just find his grave and desecrate it," Thundercracker grumbled. Megatron laughed, a short, sharp bark of a laugh with little humor in it. "It is good to have plans," he smirked. "But we have bigger, better plans here," he swept his arm to take in the room full of soldiers. "We have an army to revive. And have you noticed...our energy gauges have not even dipped a micron since we awoke! I noticed a slight drop in power after I destroyed Dark Nova, but my reserves have somehow replentished themselves... our host has given us a self-regenerating form of Energon." "Energon X," Skywarp tapped the modified insignia on his arm. "Very well, Energon X it is," Megatron nodded. "I would just as soon tear off this cross I bear, but let it serve as a reminder. Until we can destroy the impostors claiming to be Decepticons, bring glory back to the name and retake Cybertron from the accursed Autobots, we shall carry these marks as badges of shame. To remind us of the danger of agreeing to serve another cause, even for a moment. Until then, I shall be...Megatron X!" * * * * The pain of losing an avatar is still fresh, but it was well worth it, as is the constant drain I now feel as my own essence goes to power the one who destroyed my avatar. Megatron...Megatron X now...thinks he has slain me, a weak pretender to the throne of godhood. He has expunged in part the guilt he still feels over agreeing to serve Unicron. And he is taking my armies exactly where I wanted them to go all along. Cybertron. ============================================================================ Author's Note: This all came out of a kitbash I did of Marvel's Shape Shifter Punisher into Megatron. I realized that I couldn't make it look exactly like the original Megatron, so I needed a backstory to explain the differences. So I came up with the idea of Megatron X and his DeXepticons, sweeping into the galaxy in 2012. After a little more thought, I decided it would be neat to tie this in to Dark Nova from the Battle Stars series in Japan (the cartoon was never made, but some toys were, I have a description of it on my webpage at http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/starconvoy/). He was another dark god type of character, and in Battle Stars he did revive and empower Megatron, creating Super Megatron. Of course, in my usual mix and match style of continuity, I brought him in 20 years early to create Megatron X in the U.S. storyline instead. In the process, I also incorporated a common fan view that Galvatron and the others were not the original Decepticons in new bodies, but rather completely new creations replacing the originals, perhaps carrying their memories (I figure the Insecticons dumped out of Astrotrain were clones). http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/megx.html has my kitbash of Megatron X. My Cyberjet kitbashes of Skywarp and Thundercracker are their "X" versions (http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/kitbashes.html), although you'll have to imagine them with the new DeXepticon insignia.