Authors: Jolene Steinard & Alex Williams | Banner: Matthew Freese

“With you, I will finally be rid of those pesky Autobots! Now, go, annihilate them; oh Great King of the Monsters!”

Those were the last words spoken by the mighty Decepticon leader, Megatron, before being reduced to a charred head on the ground of a destroyed city.

In one of his schemes to conquer Earth and kill the Autobots once and for all, Megatron decided that he should control the Earth’s mightiest defender. With the assistance of the Insecticon mind-controller, Bombshell, the Decepticon leader lured the beast to New York City. A battle between his forces and their mortal enemies had already been taking place there.

The Insecticon had planted a cerebro-shell, a device that allowed him to manipulate life forms, on the Titan while he was sleeping at the bottom of the sea. Together, Megatron and Bombshell called the king of monsters to the city with the assumption that he would do exactly as they said.

How wrong they were.

The almighty leader didn’t even get a chance to wonder what went wrong before a blue ray shot him down where he stood.

Not long after Megatron’s death, his second in command, Starscream, was the next to be killed. As the treacherous sky commander was announcing his promotion to the position of leader, the monster had grabbed him in his claws, crushing the new leader into a ball of flames while Starscream was still in his jet mode.

One by one, the Seekers he had commanded were destroyed as they attempted to shoot the beast down in a valiant attempt to avenge Megatron. As loyal as they were, Skywarp and Thundercracker were no match for a sweeping blast of the monster’s atomic breath.

Confusion and anger filled the remaining Decepticons’ minds as the Autobots started to panic. The evil robots tried shooting their purple blasts at the beast, but most didn’t make it.

One Autobot decided that he should take a stand amidst the terror that was wrecking the city. To protect the people of Earth like he had sworn once he met them, to help his brethren, to make sure the one he once called “brother” rested easily.

“If I do not return… ‘til all are one.”

Those were the last words of the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, before meeting the same fate as his counterpart as he tried to calm down the monster.

Godzilla.

Bodies of humans and Cybertronians alike were scattered across the devastated city as Godzilla continued his attack on both races. It had seemed as if the last peacekeeping Autobots had fallen. Sparking and charred corpses of the large robots from both sides littered the rubble as the monster’s rampage continued.

Around the blackened body of Optimus Prime were the corpses of his most trusted soldiers and friends. Bumblebee, Jazz, Ironhide, Prowl, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper, Gears, Huffer, and Sunstreaker all laid in jumbled messes of rubble and scrambled parts.

Further down, their medic, Ratchet, had attempted to help evacuate two humans, both of whom laid cut up and bloodied next to him as the windshield on his chest had shattered after hitting the ground.

On top of a mountain of destroyed structures, two dead giants laid, their eyes permanently shut off with gaping holes in their chests. These were the Autobot and Decepticon combiners, Superion and Menasor, who decided to put their differences aside to attempt to fight the beast that was destroying their kind. Unfortunately, their incoordination and distrust with each other was their downfall as they too met their fates.

Below them, however, were two more parts of rivals, Autobot Blaster and Decepticon Soundwave. Both were some of the most loyal of their sides and sought vengeance for their leaders, but couldn’t match the sheer power of Godzilla, even with their little companions who had perished as well, some getting completely vaporized by the atomic breath that had killed so many.

Miraculously, there were survivors, as proven by a neon green and purple dump truck and crane patrolling the area, getting close to the bodies of the two communications officers.

Both were cautious since the King of the Monsters was still roaming the ruined city, looking around for more to add to his rampaging kill count. The giant looked around the area of the combiners he had just slain, not seeing the two vehicles hiding behind the rubble, snorting as he wandered off to seek more destruction.

A sigh was heard from the crane as he saw Godzilla had his back turned, going towards the body of Blaster, hooking on to the red corpse with the metal hook. He reeled it up just to set it down into the bed of the dump truck before the two started driving off.

A loud explosion was heard soon after, making the pair turn to see a blue and black jet firing missiles and purple laser beams at the mighty Titan, making Godzilla roar in annoyance, echoing through the wasteland of a city. The two construction vehicles quickly moved out, deciding it was better to continue what they were doing than to watch another slaughter.

Soon, the two had returned to a small base of sorts, just a little area surrounded by fallen concrete, a safe place where they had hoped they wouldn’t be seen. In the middle of the base, a very angry Decepticon was on his communicator, shouting as he watched the jet fire on the Titan, sporting the same purple and green colors as the two construction vehicles.

“Damn it, Dirge! Get out of there, now! Return to Cybertron with Astrotrain, go get help!” the masked Deception yelled, holding up the communicator on his wrist to talk to his fellow ‘con. A metal face guard moved up and down as he spoke, while the crimson red visor shined in the direction of where he was looking.

“To the Pits with you, Scrapper! I’m avenging Megatron, this organic will go down with enough…” Dirge couldn’t even finish before getting smacked out of the sky by Godzilla’s tail, exploding into a ball of fire on the rubble filled ground.

The Constructicon leader growled as he helplessly watched the Seeker ignore him, getting himself killed for nothing but a false sense of pride. Scrapper turned with his finger and thumb rubbing angrily where a nose would be before noticing the return of his comrades.

“Ah! Long Haul, Hook! Did you find him?” he asked, hurriedly walking towards the pair while they transformed into robot mode.

Long Haul was a bigger bot than both, having more green than purple and the bed of his truck on his back while Hook had his signature crane hook protruding from his own back.

“Of course, as if I would ever not succeed,” the pompous Hook answered, showing half of the body of Blaster that slid from the bigger of the three’s back, prompting a sigh of relief from their leader.

“Mixmaster! Help Hook fix this communicator so we may contact them!” Scrapper ordered, causing the rest of his teammates to reveal themselves from their hiding spot.

Mixmaster, the similarly colored ‘con with a pair of blasters above his head, stepped up apart from his two companions; the oddly-masked Scavenger and broad-chested Bonecrusher, to work on the body of the fallen Autobot.

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing… I don’t like the idea of calling the Autobots to help us…” Mixmaster complained as he started disconnecting wires from Blaster’s arm while Hook worked on the chest.

“It will work, they would never miss a chance to be so noble,” Scrapper scoffed as he worked on the wires of his communicator, pulling the metal on his arm back to disconnect them.

The leader of the Constructicons knelt down to the fallen Autobot’s level, letting his compatriots connect the wires from Blaster’s wrist and chest to Scrapper’s communicator. With any luck, it would allow him to contact any of the remaining Autobots that could be at their own base.

“Alright, here it goes,” the neon green commander announced as he pressed a few buttons on his comm piece, waiting for the static to subside and to hear a voice from the other end.

The other Constructions eagerly awaited an answer, some looking around to make sure Godzilla couldn’t hear them, afraid of invoking his wrath if he knew they were there.

Suddenly, their heads all popped up to look at their leader as a voice broke the silence.

“Hello? Hello! Ultra Magnus, it’s Blaster, he is attempting to communicate!” The Autobot voice from the other end called out to his superior, likely from nearby, and it didn’t take long for him to get back to him.

“I’m here, Perceptor. I’ll take it,” Ultra Magnus replied, his voice getting closer as the transmission went along.

“Blaster, come in! Is everyone alright? We’ve been trying to get to you for hours. What happened over there?” the Autobot commander asked, making Scrapper sigh as he had to break the news to the bot.

Usually, the Constructicon leader didn’t mind telling Autobots that their comrades had fallen, in fact, it gave him joy on most occasions, but something about this felt… different. This was something that affected both sides, it had happened recently, it felt too… raw. Taking another sigh, Scrapper prepared to bring in the bad news.

“This is Constructicon Scrapper… Blaster didn’t make it. We are the only ones left,” the Decepticon solemnly said, his head hanging low while he waited for a reply, hearing static on the other end for three agonizing seconds.

“Scrapper?” an orange Autobot by the name of Hauler murmured, turning his head away from doing maintenance on a wall. He stepped forward to see the Constructicon leader relaying the situation to the Ark commander.

“No… They can’t all be… Where’s Bumblebee? Ironhide?… Optimus?” Ultra Magnus asked. It was clear from his voice that he was trying to keep his usual, stoic demeanor, but some worry had cracked into his commanding voice.

“Dead, Magnus… They’re all… dead,” Scrapper sighed as he delivered the news, putting his hand on his head while he sat on a piece of rubble, waiting another four seconds for a reply.

“What happened to them? Was this Megatron’s doing? What did you do?” Ultra Magnus’ voice turned from hints of worry to anger, making the Constructicon leader’s hand ball into a fist.

“Megatron tried to control a Titan, it backfired horribly, killing everyone no matter the side. It destroyed this city, it didn’t care who or what it killed. It was like a force of nature,” Scrapper explained, a hint of anger in his voice after the accusation from the Autobot.

“Then what do you want? Why did you call us? To mock us?” Ultra Magnus’ voice started rising as he spoke, making the Constructicon leader get more irritated.

“We’re asking you for help… We need all of the Autobots you have to help us defeat this monster,” Scrapper proposed, attempting to hide the annoyance in his voice.

More silence followed from the other end, static was occasionally broken in those seconds by indescribable voices from other members of the opposing faction before coming back to life.

“I can’t afford that risk. I don’t know if this will be a trap, not to mention the great loss that had already just occurred,” Ultra Magnus answered stoically, having called a little in those few short moments, causing a growl of irritation from the Decepticon as he stood. He nearly ripped the wires from his wrist while Mixmaster and Hook lifted the corpse enough to keep the connection.

“Magnus, please…” Hauler mentally trailed off, watching the exchange between the two. He heard the desperation in Scrapper’s voice, sensing the fear coursing through his entire body alongside the rest of the Constructicons.

“You coward! Your friends died trying to avenge your leader, the same as mine!” Scrapper paused for a moment, his words getting caught in his voice box as he talked, his gaze changing to look at his teammates, this whole situation making him realize how much greater this was than any petty conflict between the Cybertronians.

“It isn’t a trap, we simply need enough forces to destroy Godzilla, and we aren’t enough! We need your help!” The figurehead of the team ranted as he darted his head back to the communicator on his arm, his raspy voice raising so much that the other Constructicons got worried that the Titan would hear them.

“They’re not joking!” Hauler’s mind screamed out, desperately wanting to run up to Teletraan One and take control of the situation. Unfortunately, he knew by doing that, he’d make things worse for both parties at that moment.

“Godzilla? That’s more reason not to help you! Nothing can kill him, you’ll be wasting your own sparks doing that,” The Autobot commander scoffed as his voice got louder in his own anger, the sound of chatter being heard among the transmission telling how serious this was.

“Then to the Pits with you, Magnus! We’ll just fight him ourselves, and you better hope he doesn’t find you as well!” Scrapper growled in frustration before ripping the connection from his communicator and Blaster’s, sighing in defeat as he failed to recruit the Autobots.

“Damnit…” Hauler softly cursed, watching the transmission with Scrapper end. “May Primus lead them through this dark hour.”

***

Millions of years ago

The Crystal City shined in front of them, its two domes towering high and wide enough to fit several city blocks. All the while, its towers overlooked the entirety of Cybertron and the highway that’d get any Cybertronian to their destination in a matter of seconds. It was a magnificent piece of engineering that’d improve the life of every bot on the planet.

“Glorious!” Hook exclaimed, slamming his hands together with pride. “Absolutely glorious!”

“Only thanks to me and mixing the vital components to keep everything up,” Mixmaster chimed, smiling at his handy works while he placed his hand onto one of the domes of Crystal City.

“To which we had to scrap several times because of Bonecrusher’s tendencies to blow things up,” Scavenger interjected, piling all of the leftover resources into a container alongside Long Haul.

“Only to get everyone to shut up!” Bonecrusher retaliated, jabbing his finger towards his complaining teammate.

Scavenger backed away ever so slightly, feeling a small amount of fear from his brother’s rage. His joints twitched, feeling fear wash over him, until Long Haul stepped up between them, his larger frame hiding Scavenger away from their agitated companion.

“This construction job bored me,” Long Haul relayed, popping his fists as he looked down at Bonecrusher. “I could go for a fight in the ring.”

“My friends, my friends!” the eager voice of Scrapper called out as they all turned to him alongside Hauler walking towards them with a cart of Energon. “There’s no need to fight, when we can celebrate instead.”

“I’ll gladly take a drink for my amazing contribution!” Hook excitedly spoke out, snatching an Energon cube from the cart.

“Pfft!” Bonecrusher spat out before taking a gulp of fuel. “If anyone was amazing, it was Hauler, for bringing us this Energon!”

The youngest and newest Constructicon chuckled while scratching the back of his head, slightly embarrassed from his brother. “It’s nothing, you guys. Just wanted us to celebrate our hard work.”

“Bah!” Bonecrusher burped out, letting the liquid settle in his system. “It’s a day worth celebrating for the greatest achievement in Cybertronian history.”

Mixmaster chuckled at Bonecrusher’s behavior, as he leaned over and elbowed Scrapper’s side. “Seems like the ol’ Energon trick works miracles on our angry friend there.”

Scrapper snickered at the comment before sipping on his share of Energon. He moved over to his celebrating brothers, looking up at their brilliant work. The magnificent city that’d be home to all who’d wish to continue improving the quality of life for all Cybertronians. Here, sparklings could make the choice to be an engineer, a scientist, or even an artist.

It filled Scrapper’s mind with hope and optimism that Cybertron would be in good hands. He glanced over at their newest recruit, Hauler, sipping on his Energon, smiling at his handiwork. The kid was modest, a little like himself, and he was always there to provide a helping hand.

The leader of the Constructicons placed his hand on Hauler, eliciting a slight jump from him. Scrapper laughed at the gesture, before Hauler calmed himself down. “You feeling proud?”

“Me?” Hauler inquired, taking a moment to process his leader’s question. “Absolutely! What we did here is amazing, and I hope we can only continue creating even more amazing things.”

Scrapped chuckled, his excitement was completely contagious and couldn’t help but feel that sense of eagerness. “There will be plenty more elaborate projects coming our way! Don’t you worry about that!”

“I look forward to our next project!” Hauler exclaimed before Scrapper handed him another Energon cube.

“Absolutely!” Scrapper hollered out before issuing an order. “Now drink up! You earned it!”

“Don’t forget to save some for me!” a loud, booming voice echoed out, followed by loud footsteps.

The Constructicons remained still for just a moment before turning around to see their good friend, Omega Supreme, smiling brightly as the sun.

Scrapper threw his arms up passionately, happiness washing over him to see the massive orange, yellow, and red Cybertronian. Without any further delay, he complied with Omega’s request and dropped the cube onto his orange claw-like hand.

The giant robot downed the entire cube within seconds and followed it with a monstrous burp. Omega smiled before looking down at his smaller friends while Scrapper took a step forward. “So, tell us, Big Chap. What brings you all the way to Crystal City?”

“I’ve been chosen to protect this glorious city you’ve built,” Omega Supreme answered, admiring the beauty of the city just before him. He smiled, knowing it was a job he’d cherish for the rest of his life.

“I can’t think of a better bot to look after this place than you, old friend,” Scavenger spoke, setting his empty cube aside.

Long Haul stepped forward, throwing his Energon cube aside before slapping the giant robot’s leg. “Tell you what. If you ever need help, let me know, I’d be up for smashing some heads.”

Omega Supreme let out a powerful laugh that shook the planet before smiling at his active friend. “I’ll let you know if I need help cracking skulls.”

“There’s no one I can think of that would do a better job of being the Crystal City’s guardian than you, Omega,” Scrapper praised, glancing over at the city once more. “None shall ever get past you, Big Chap!”

“No enemy shall ever destroy this magnificent piece of Cybertron!” Omega Supreme demanded before being handed another cube of Energon.

Him and the Constructicons all raised their cubes up to the orange sky, cheering for their success. “To our success!”

***

Present Day

“I knew it wouldn’t work…” Mixmaster grumbled as he and Hook put the fallen Autobot’s body on the ground before rising up to stand with their leader.

The other three Constructicons each turned to their commander for instruction, in need of leadership where there wasn’t any, making Scrapper nod at them all, understanding what he needed to do in such a troubling time for their kind.

“Constructicons. The Autobots will not be assisting us, and we have no idea when Astrotrain will return from Cybertron to bring any more of our ranks to help, but we each know what we need to do. We all come together to make the most powerful robot, the one that the Decepticons are depending on to continue their conquest of Earth, to avenge our leader, and stop this Titan from interfering with our plans for the future!” Their figurehead announced as he gave a speech to his teammates, standing amongst the rubble of one of the buildings they were hiding in. He resembled a figure to look up to as he raised a fist, hyping his fellow ‘cons up as they listened to his inspiring words.

“Now, Constructicons! Merge to form Devastator!” Scrapper yelled out as he raised his fist higher, earning a round of cheers from the other five members of his team.

The leader of the group leapt up into the air, transforming into his vehicle mode of a front-end loader. Shifting the shovel downward as it slammed into the earth, he pushed a part behind to make a spur, looking like a leg as it stood, waiting for the others as they started shifting their own parts.

Mixmaster transformed into a cement mixer, driving close by Scrapper before the cab of the vehicle went down on the ground while the rest of the truck raised into the air.

Long Haul jumped up between the two, transforming into his dump truck mode while shifting parts until he connected into the two legs, purple energy surging through the three as he formed the lower body of the combiner.

Hook flew up to the forming body, going from his crane mode to an upper body for the giant, parts moving into place as more energy went through the four Constructicons, any parts from him and Long Haul forming a large purple chest shield.

Bonecrusher and Scavenger each leapt towards the monolith towering over them, turning into a bulldozer and excavator respectively while they started connecting to the metal behemoth. Their vehicle modes shifted to become arms, solidifying this as two purple hands swiveled out of the limbs, more amethyst colored energy running through the combiner’s body while a head pushed up into place, completing the look.

Devastator’s red visor shined in the sunlight as it briefly showed from the clouds, his ginormous neon green and purple body glistening in the light as the giant started turning around, his massive legs kicking up dust and concrete as he shifted his body to face his opponent.

Two shining blue orbs lit up behind a cloud of smoke from a valley of burning buildings, more of the sapphire light pulsing further as a low growl was heard, earning a glare from Devastator as he gritted his metallic teeth. Stepping from the smog and crushing the remains of any structures in his path, Godzilla snarled at this new opponent, the large dorsal spines pulsing with blue atomic energy as the Alpha Titan sized up the giant robot.

After a deep gasp of air, the rage that built up inside of Godzilla’s mind collimated into an ear piercing roar of intimidation, glaring at Devastator as his daunting, siren-like scream rang through the landscape. The Constructicon Combiner’s fists balled up, smashing them together before throwing his arms back, he let out a yell of defiance right back. His voice box created the roar of opposition, the voice of six enraged Cybertronians being symbolized by the booming, rage-filled roar.

Both monoliths snarled at each other as they finished their bellows of anger towards one another, brows furrowing as they waited for the other to make a move. Ultimately, it was Devastator raising his colossal leg, slamming it into the ground as he started running.

Godzilla did the same, lifting his titanic leg to swiftly charge at the Cybertronian, his speed belying his size as the Alpha Titan rushed to meet his adversary, pushing a few buildings out of the way, turning them into piles of concrete and glass on the ground. The combiner did the same, his bulky arms shoving the structures to the earth, not caring whether anyone was inside.

Both goliaths finally met in the middle of the city. Godzilla loosed another roar signifying his dominance as Devastator raised his purple fist, aiming to swing at the reptilian’s face. He narrowly missed as Godzilla swiftly dodged, using his muscular arms to push the Cybertronian back into a building, crushing it into broken glass and chunks of concrete. This stunned Devastator enough to let the Monster King lunge at the combiner, biting his metal shoulder. Trying to penetrate the bulk, he started thrashing, attempting to tear the Decepticon apart before a solid knee to the gut stopped the assault. Godzilla let out a groan of pain, leaving an opening for a strong punch to the side of the face.

The Alpha Titan grumbled in discomfort as he staggered to the side, shaking his head at the hit while Devastator examined his shoulder. Nothing severe, for those razor sharp teeth had not torn through, only slightly denting the tough Cybertronian metal that composed him.

Devastator looked back at Godzilla, malice in his optics as the Monster King slammed his powerful tail into the ground, issuing another threatening roar at the war machine before getting back to close quarters with his adversary. Slashing the giant purple shield on Devastator’s chest with his jagged claws, he earned a grunt of annoyance as sparks flew from the combiner’s body, giving the Cybertronian three slash marks on the Decepticon insignia upon the shield.

Devastator was about to throw another powerful punch, before getting tackled into the ground. The muscular reptilian growled at the mechanical behemoth as he tried to get back up, then stepped down onto his foe’s chest with his mighty foot. A scream of pain rose as Devastator’s shield started to bend from the impact.

Godzilla glared down at the Cybertronian, watching him grab at his leg to try and push him off. It was too easy. He’d die like the rest.

At least, that’s what the Alpha Titan thought before Devastator’s visor glowed with purple light before shooting an amethyst beam, knocking Godzilla back as it struck his scaly chest. Roaring in both surprise and pain, the Monster King fell on his side, kicking up dust from the impact.

The Constructicon combiner groaned as he rose up, arms impacting the earth as he lifted his weight to get onto his feet. Knowing he had to be fast, Devastator hurried to kick Godzilla in the side, making the monstrous saurian bellow in agony as the neon green shovel on the combiner’s foot collided with his body. It nearly penetrated his armored skin as he rolled over onto his front, receiving a flurry of punches as Devastator loomed over his body.

Godzilla growled as he was hammered with the force of a cannonball per hit assaulting his back. Every time he attempted to get up, he was met with a harder punch to keep the King of the Monsters down.

Godzilla’s glowing dorsal spines shined a brighter blue, atomic energy pulsing through from the tip of his lengthy tail to his head. The Alpha Titan swiftly turned his head, eyes glowing brighter with power, giving the Cybertronian no time to react as a blast of Godzilla’s trademark atomic breath blasted into Devastator’s metal body. This sent the combiner flying back, skidding across the wasteland of a city while the Titan kept pouring more power into the nuclear assault.

Devastator howled in pain as the azure atomic blast wracked his metal body, struggling to get up as it kept pushing him back to the ground.

It wasn’t the heat of the attack that was harming the war machine, he could take that just like he could take lava from the center of the Earth. It was the force of the beam that made Devastator’s screams of pain echo across the ravaged landscape.

The combiner knew he had to think fast as the blast wasn’t slowing down anytime soon, he couldn’t endure the atomic breath for much longer. He wouldn’t be like the rest of them.

Devastator grunted as he managed to maneuver himself to a workable position, screaming as the azure ray hit his chest, going down to his torso, a bad weak point as that was where one component was connected to.

Getting his right leg into position, the cement mixer aimed a nozzle at the Alpha Titan, swiftly shooting green acid at Godzilla. He did not care where it hit, just that it would splash somewhere on the leviathan’s body.

Sure enough, Godzilla shrieked in agony as the substance splattered against his chest, immediately stopping the atomic breath as he felt the acid eat away at his rough skin. Trying to shake the harmful material from his body, he inadvertently gave the Cybertronian enough time to examine any injuries. Much of his upper body had become blackened from the assault, his hands grazed the areas, cringing as small sparks traveled from new wounds to his fingers, feeling some energon begin to leak.

There was no time to heal, however, as Devastator looked back at the menace in front of him. He had already recovered, glaring at the combiner as exposed skin now showed amidst the natural armor he possessed. A perfect target.

Devastator quickly put his hand forward, fingers all together in a line before purple energy encompassed them. A straight laser blasted from his metal hand and into the Monster King’s body, earning a cry of pain as the energy hit his skin, red blood pouring out of the new injury. Godzilla bellowed in agony, holding on to the wound as he leaned against a skyscraper.

The Cybertronian scoffed at the Titan’s pain, he didn’t think the monster even knew of it, but Devastator did. He liked eliciting the feeling in Autobots whenever he was formed, as did the Constructicons.

Something felt… strange about it this time though. It didn’t feel the same.

There was no maniacal glee he was taking in hurting this creature. Those thoughts seemed like they weren’t there. None of the Decepticons who made up his body felt this since… since Megatron’s death.

Devastator started marching forward, reaching back as his Solar Rifle transformed from a compartment within him, ready to finish this as he aimed the gun at Godzilla’s head.

The Constructicon combiner’s finger tried pulling the trigger, but… he just… couldn’t do it.

Why?

Was it all those millions of years ago? When Megatron took control of their minds?

Were… Were they now… free?

Devastator nearly pulled the trigger as the irritable thoughts started subsiding, but the King of the Monsters had other plans.

Recovering from the previous attack, Godzilla swiped his lengthy tail at the rifle, sending it flying across the city, making the Cybertronian gasp before balling his hand into a fist. He went in for a punch, but the Titan’s muscular tail came back to hit Devastator again, smacking into his hulking metal body, making the combiner cry out as he hit the ground. His legs already scrambled as he started lifting himself up from the rubble, gray dust covering his dark-gray face and upper body as Devastator got himself back up. The roar of Godzilla challenged him to keep fighting the Alpha Titan.

The combiner nodded in acceptance, fists ready to start pummeling his adversary again.

That’s what Devastator did best.

Devastate.

***

Running into the Autobot base, the Ark, a human rushed down its huge, empty, orange halls. Huffing, he gasped for air from how much he hurried to see the peacekeeping robots who he had quickly grown attached to since he met them all those years ago.

Swiftly pressing the button by the door, Spike Witwicky entered the center of the crashed ship, seeing many Autobots talking to one another in a circle.

“I saw the news and I ran as fast as I could! Is… Is it true?” The human announced as he looked up at the huge robots in front of him, panting while he attempted to catch his breath, hands on his knees while he breathed heavily.

Four Autobots stood in front of him. The City Commander, Ultra Magnus, his colors of red, white, and blue adorning his metal body reminded the human of the previous leader, and his friend, Optimus Prime. Though, they were obviously different with Magnus’ taller, wider build and those massive pylons on his shoulders.

With him was the old war veteran, Kup, the signs of age and battle showing on his green body. And a more familiar face to Spike was the Autobot scientist, Perceptor, the microscope beside his head being his most defining trait.

Coming up beside the human were a few other Cybertronians. Hot Rod, a recent and youthful addition to the team with those flames on his chest showing his rebellious nature, Arcee, a rare female Autobot adorned in pink, and Springer, a tough example of an Autobot soldier.

Around the room, Spike noticed more of these robots that he was more acquainted with, some more distraught over the recent news. The red ‘bot Sideswipe leaned against the wall, arms crossed as his head hung low, the shorter minibot Brawn was with the crimson Cybertronian, talking to him in a comforting way. Spike took this as confirmation that Sunstreaker didn’t make it.

“It’s… It’s true, Spike,” Ultra Magnus spoke mournfully as he looked down at the human with his glowing sapphire eyes, his hands trembling as he talked.

“Anyone out there is dead.”

Spike sighed as he heard the news from the people he knew would be absolutely certain. Many of the friends he made from this strange race of robots from space over all of these years were gone. Looking down, he felt a mechanical hand comforting him, gulping that feeling of crying down his throat as he looked to see Arcee kneeling beside him, kindly and silently helping him take the news.

The man didn’t know her very well, or many of these recent Autobots who had come to Earth a few years ago, but he appreciated the gesture, giving her a smile back before turning his head back to the base commander.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Spike asked, knowing there was always something to do for those fallen.

“We’re waiting for Devastator to stop fighting Godzilla, then we’ll go in and help clean up the mess,” Ultra Magnus answered grimly, but logically, knowing it may not be the best answer, but the right one.

“Devastator? He’s fighting that thing?And we’re not gonna help him? You’re just gonna wait?” Spike asked, looking around the room in confusion.

“Well, Devastator’s kinda… the enemy, son. We wanna play it safe, let both of ‘em kill each other, and not risk any more Autobots dying,” Kup explained, making it as digestible as possible, even though the human knew the conflict.

“They… did ask, but…” Perceptor began to elaborate, but was quickly cut off by his superior.

“I declined for the previously explained reasons,” Ultra Magnus interrupted, making the smaller red Autobot back down, and earning a grimace from the human.

“If they asked for help, you should do it. That’s what an Autobot does, they help, no matter who it is.”

***

Devastator grunted as he missed a punch, groaning while Godzilla crashed into his metal green body and shoved him into a building. Concrete broke as the sound of cracking glass rang through his audio receptors. The Alpha Titan started clawing at the Cybertronian as he shoved his opponent into the crumbling structure, attempting to get deep behind that purple guard on his chest.

Devastator gritted his steel teeth as he put one arm between Godzilla and himself, trying to keep his distance as the Monster King continued pressing his hefty weight against the Constructicon combiner. Heavy metal feet dragged against the pavement as Godzilla kept driving him into the building, hearing more cracks as it threatened to give out.

More importantly though, one of the alpha’s claws was beginning to dig into the hard, Cybertronian steel armor. Sparks tingled out of the blunt nails starting to seep inside, making Devastator pull the arm that was supporting him from the building to quickly slam it into the side of Godzilla’s reptilian head. The saurian stopped as he stumbled to the side, eliciting a screech of pain as he shook his head side to side.

The metal monolith groaned as he examined the new wound, luckily, he had stopped the monster from going too deep, but he needed to stop him from going any further. Devastator pushed himself off of the collapsing building with a mighty heave, stomping the shovel of his mighty foot into the pavement before colliding his fist into Godzilla’s gut, making the Alpha Titan howl in agony as the wind was knocked out of his lungs. This gave the Decepticon the opportunity to grab Godzilla by the neck, hurling the reptilian into a nearby building, smashing the structure with Godzilla’s head.

Just as the Monster King was starting to regain his composure, the Constructicon combiner kept his grip on the saurian’s thick, fleshy neck, shoving Godzilla through multiple buildings, glass and concrete slamming into the Titan’s face. Blood began to flow as his vision blurred, the screeching sounds of Devastator’s rage-filled screams filling his ears.

Just like that one trying to control him…

The silver one…

It all scratched at Godzilla’s ears and that… thing trying to manipulate him, it all only fueled his anger, and that rage was manifesting into blue energy going down the Alpha’s body.

This was different from how Godzilla charged up his atomic breath, and Devastator noticed this. Instead of only being on those massive dorsal spines, the atomic energy was all over the cracks in the Titan’s skin and crackling around him like energy, it wasn’t something previously seen. Pinkish sparks seemed to dance about that cascade as well, the same color as the Energon he’d been bathing in. Thinking quickly, the Decepticon Titan used his other hand to grasp the King of the Monsters’ maw, lifting up so he could turn his other hand to a fist, ready to punch the air out of this overgrown dinosaur again.

As Godzilla opened his eyes and stared down at Devastator, that was when the realization hit him.

The azure energy crackling through the Alpha Titan’s entire body shined like a bright light, almost blinding, before something greater than a thought hit the Cybertronian.

A massive atomic pulse shot from Godzilla’s body like an enormous blue shockwave, sending Devastator flying across the city, multiple buildings crumbling into debris instantly as the energy expanded outwards. And there was only more to come as the war machine crashed into the center of New York City, blowing up concrete and dirt upon impact. The combiner groaned in pain, coughing as his vision blurred and glitched, but besides the temporary blindness, nothing was wrong with his body as he started to get up from the crater he left in the ground.

Devastator only spat out some purple energon as he lifted his massive green body up, the liquid dripping from his mouth as he spotted his opponent once more, hearing that threatening roar before Godzilla started charging at him once again.

“Devastator… fears… nothing…”

The Decepticon Titan’s booming voice still echoed as he mumbled to himself, making one of his hands go back into his arm to replace it with a drill swiveling out, whirling to life as he prepared to be on the defensive.

Devastator growled as the Alpha’s footsteps made the earth shake louder the closer he got, putting one hand up into a fist as he prepared for the assault. The glow surrounding the leviathan’s body seemed to fade, energon not taking to an organic even as odd as him, but the air still seemed to slightly warp around him.

*******

Ultra Magnus hung his head down. The lights beeped all around the center of the ship, Teletran One issuing reports of New York going up in flames by the minute. His soldiers, his brothers and sisters in arms, ran around trying to find a solution to mitigate the problem.

Their voices all went mute with his focus simply at the console below him. His optics shuttered for a moment, thinking about the transmission he had with survivors against the Titan. The newly christened leader of the Autobots had a larger responsibility than he ever thought he’d have.

The Autobot Supreme Commander.

“Optimus, you rusted glitch! Why did you have to run out and play the hero?” Muttered Magnus, raising his head up at the Teletran, continuing to present the larger than life fight between Godzilla and Devastator.

“Because it was the right thing to do,” Spike spoke up, walking towards the leader of the Autobots.

Ultra Magnus turned around slightly to face his friend, grimacing at the conversation he was about to have with him. “He was always the one to charge face first into a battle without any regard to his life.”

“He did it for me,” Spike paused, recounting the time he and his dad were first saved by him from a burning oil rig fifteen years ago. He turned to the other Autobots, some were performing their duties while others had their optics on him. “And he did it for everyone else here.”

“Spike… I know what you’re trying to do,” Ultra Magnus spoke, taking a moment to glance back at the screen. The devastation was immeasurable as blocks were incinerated by the King of the Monster’s atomic ray. He felt guilty over the lives he wouldn’t be able to save, but he had to stand firm with his orders.

The Constructicons will give Godzilla hell and hopefully take him to the Well of AllSparks with them. Like the lives he couldn’t save, he wasn’t thrilled over letting anyone die, but sacrifices had to be made. Especially when the war for Cybertron was almost at its end.

Shockwave, as dangerous and vile as he was, was the only member of leadership left. In one day, they were closer to winning the war than ever before, but they had also taken significant losses. If Devastator fell, then only Bruticus remained as far as Titan-sized Transformers went, thus giving them the advantage.

Ultra Magnus glanced back down at Spike. “But I cannot.”

“Magnus…” Spike breathed out.

“To stop now and risk what’s left of our race would dishonor those who gave their lives to save humanity!” Countered Magnus, his fist shaking from the thought of his family getting blasted apart by Godzilla.

“Even those who fell…” Arcee’s calm voice interjected, stepping up between her two friends. “Would tell you they have no regrets.”

He saw the truth in her words, they would no doubt sacrifice themselves if they could, as had been shown constantly. Yet, there were still others that needed their assistance, like Elita-1 and her resistance cell on their home planet.

“Magnus,” Spike spoke up once more. “I just lost my best friend today, because he wanted to stand with his fellow Autobots and save the day.”

“Bumblebee was always the brightest of us all,” murmured Magnus, tightening his hand.

“He was, and he wanted to make sure everyone could wake up every day and live,” Spike relayed, approaching his three-story friend, placing his hand on his leg. “And he did it so my son would be able to grow up in this world.”

“And we’d do the same in his position, no matter the cost,” Arcee added, placing her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I know you would…” Ultra Magnus paused once more, taking a look at the room becoming more and more barren than before. He realized the soldiers under his command were not going to sit by while Godzilla devastated New York. The new Autobot leader chuckled at the display of rebellion. “Perhaps Hot Rod being disobedient isn’t such a bad thing.”

“It’s not him they listened to,” a new voice spoke up, causing the three to turn around to see an orange hook-crane truck rolling towards them.

“Hauler?” Arcee questioned, raising her hand up to her face, curiosity piqued her interest.

The construction#based Autobot chuckled, transforming before them, revealing a smile on his face. “Guilty as charged.”

“Hauler… I don’t understand, why would you…” Ultra Magnus tried to inquire about his subordinate, but was cut off by the construction vehicle.

“Because I abandoned them before when the Crystal City fell,” Hauler answered, remembering the details of that dreadful day when he not only lost the pride and joy of his work, but his family. “Omega Supreme might be clouded by vengeance and I by fear, but no more.”

The normally quiet and distant Autobot looked up at his new commander, his eyes glistening. “Do what you will of me after this is over for disobeying orders, but I can’t live knowing that I’ve run from my brothers once more.”

“If you really do believe there’s a chance they’ve reformed…” Ultra Magnus trailed off, pressing buttons on Teletraan One, activating defenses aboard the crashed ship and the sensors around the surrounding area, determining the fastest route to the city. “Then who am I to deny you this?

“And besides,” Arcee chimed in, her voice oozing with excitement, raising her hands up. “This could be how we win the war. Shockwave will be terrified of us when he sees us defeating Godzilla.”

“Come on, Magnus,” Spike chipped in, walking towards the exit of the control center. “Let’s make them proud, like we’ve always done.”

“Just because I agree with this rescue operation, doesn’t mean you all can just charge in however you want!” Ultra Magnus hollered out, following Spike as Arcee and Hauler trailed behind him. “If there’s a command to be thrown out, I need everyone to follow it.”

“I can listen to it, but the Constructicons might disagree,” Hauler countered, shrugging his shoulders.

Ultra Magnus rubbed his hand against face, already finding himself irritated by the various outcomes this operation could go in. “Right…”

“I still have no idea how you were able to put up with it, Prime.”

The Autobot Leader huffed out, not wanting to spend more energy arguing, he lifted his arm out in front of his compatriots. “Autobots! Transform and roll out!”

******

Millions of years ago

Energy blasts lit up the sky like fireworks!

Explosions roared across the whole metallic planet as war cries shook the long standing structures of Cybertronian society. The planet was falling apart with everyone losing the very things they cherished.

A lone Constructicon raced down the damaged streets, narrowly avoiding the fallen pieces of debris cutting off his route. Flames scorched his body from the blasts of energon, while holes in his body were caused by the bombing raids he was caught in. The hook-crane truck had to endure it, for he had people, family even, to check up on. His injuries would have to be attended to later.

“Please, please, please!” Hauler rattled repeatedly, sending his body into maximum overdrive from the almost endless driving. “Let the city still be standing. Let my brothers and Omega Supreme be okay!”

Smoke arose from the horizon as the Crystal City came into view, what was left of it anyway. The towers collapsed onto the once magnificent domes, smashing into the pieces while the highway was shattered into pieces.

“No…” Hauler gasped, transforming in front of the ruins of his pride and joy. The very thing he and his brothers dedicated their life to. “Why… why couldn’t they leave this alone? It was a monument to all of us, to inspire sparklings to become anyone they wanted to be.”

“Culprits:” the loud booming voice of Omega Supreme echoed out, alerting Hauler to his presence. “Constructicons!”

“What…” stammered Hauler, a wave of denial hitting him at the information his gargantuan friend delivered. “I don’t understand, they’d never destroy something as magnificent as this, much less something they loved.”

“Explanation: Robosmasher,” Omega Supreme spoke up, his booming voice rattling the surface they stood on.

“Megatron…” Hauler surmised.

“Assumption: Correct.”

“Were you…” the Constructicon murmured, taking a step forward towards his friend. He wanted to know if there was any way his friends could be brought back. Brought back to themselves before they’d end up as bodies littered across the planet. “Were you able to bring them back in any way?”

“Attempt:” Omega Supreme attempted to answer, but stalled, feeling his eyes beginning to leak with a moment of sadness and regret. They, too, were his friends. He didn’t show it to his last remaining friend, but he shared his grief. His purpose was destroyed and so was his family. Their minds had been twisted to be servants of the Emperor of Destruction. “Failed.”

“It’s not your fault, my brother,” Hauler spoke, placing his hand on the much larger Transformer’s leg. “You did everything you could.”

“Consolation: Rejected,” Omega Supreme harshly responded, backing away from the Constructicon. Hauler’s shoulders dropped ever so slightly from the gesture. “New objective: Hunt down Constructicons. Determination: To the ends of the galaxy!”

“What!? No! Omega, we can try again! Us Constructicons are some of the most brilliant minds on Cybertron, they can be reasoned with!” Hauler yelled out, not wanting to see any of his family lost to this war.

“Plea: Denied,” Omega Supreme’s voice echoed out. He didn’t want it to come to this, but after what happened with the Constructicons, there was no other option. “Explanation: No reversal from RoboSmasher.”

“No reversal?” Hauler coughed out, feeling his injuries slowly take hold of him, as small drops of energon leaked out of his body.

“Answer: Yes,” Omega Supreme spoke, swooping the small green and purple bot’s body into his gigantic hands. “Objective: Find Hauler a healer.”

“Omega, I’m fine…” Hauler coughed, shooting droplets of energon on the chassis of Omega Supreme. “Our priority is to find our brothers.”

“My priority: Destroy them,” the gigantic Autobot answered, walking away from the ruins of Crystal City. He didn’t want to look at it any longer, as he had wanted to leave a long time ago, but only stayed in the hope either survivors were found or someone like Hauler came back. His mission was finished and he could move onto the next objective on his list.

“Your priority: Survive,” Omega Supreme added, continuing to march across the desolate surface of Cybertron in the hopes for a healer nearby.

“Why do you have to destroy them? There’s always a way with them, there’s always good in them,” Hauler retaliated, desperately not wanting to see the former guardian set on extinguishing the team he was once a part of.

“Answer: Only solution. Reversal: Not present,” the titanic survivor answered once more. “Advice: Change colors so Autobots won’t mistake you as Decepticon.”

Without any hesitation or even the strength to conjure up any words for that second argument, he complied, focusing on the orange claw that was carrying him. The neon green and purple disappeared in a matter of seconds, replacing it with the same color as the guardian’s hand.

Omega Supreme was wise in that statement, but not when it came to their comrades. Hauler, feeling his optics about to close, his body about ready to temporarily shut down, uttered out one last declaration.

“You don’t need to destroy them! I’ll prove it to you!”

Hauler’s optics then closed as his whole body soon followed, the last thing he heard before darkness overwhelmed was “Thought: Appreciated.”

But as Hauler knew it, Omega Supreme still continued his road down vengeance, with no one able to convince him otherwise.

***

Present Day

Devastator roared as Godzilla bit down on his shoulder, making the windows of the crane upon his body crack. In response, his drill whirled, hitting the reptilian’s side and digging into Godzilla’s skin to make the Monster King howl in agony. Before it could strike any vital organ, he released his grip, blood spurting from the wound all the while. A headbutt to the combiner’s face cracked the crimson visor covering his eyes.

Devastator groaned in pain as his head reared back from the impact, his metal teeth gritting as Godzilla quickly continued his assault. Battering the combiner with his sharp claws, he tried to tear at his cybertronian body, getting to a point where the hand drilling into Godzilla’s skin wriggled free from his fleshy body, a tide of blood flooding the streets below.

Godzilla let out a defiant roar, trying to intimidate Devastator once more, but only got a growl from the Decepticon before he swung one of his drill hands at the Monster King. He barely missed as Godzilla dodged with such unexpected speed before ramming into Devastator, pulling a scream from the combiner as he once again bit at his shoulder, purple energon leaking this time as he began thrashing and running hard and fast. Utilizing his speed and power, he hoped to disorient his opponent while attempting to rip him apart.

Devastator cried out as he felt the Titan’s jaws clench harder while rapidly moving side to side, putting the drills back inside of his arms to form his hands again. His fists tightened before striking hard, a series of body shots pelleting off of Godzilla’s hard skin, making him groan in pain. But still, he continued his assault, aiming to go to the nearby buildings, making each hit count as the metal destructor slammed into every tower, concrete and glass fracturing against his green body.

Fortunately, Devastator’s cybertronian metal was made for this kind of abuse, but he knew he couldn’t hold out forever. Without looking, he hurriedly grabbed a chunk of a building, quickly smashing it against the reptilian beast’s head, finally making the monster let go with a cry of pain. This gave Devastator enough time to deliver another punch to Godzilla’s face, his mighty hand of steel colliding with a powerful impact strong enough to knock a tooth from the Monster King’s maw. The shovel on his shoulder moved in, smacking the side of Godzilla’s head as the cybertronian nearly fell from the power he put into the hit.

Devastator used a half destroyed structure to balance himself as he glanced at his opponent falling down, dust kicking up before a pained groan was heard. The Constructicon combiner huffed, silently praying to Primus that the battle would be over sooner… abnormal for his usual lust for violence.

Devastator fully stood on his asymmetrical feet, glaring down at his downed foe, hands glowing a bright purple, ready to shoot at the Monster King as the dust started settling down.

One swift motion was all it took to knock the gestalt off of his feet, the lengthy, muscular tail of Godzilla tripping Devastator. The green combiner fell to the ground, making him try to scramble to his feet before his opponent could rise.

Both goliaths rose at the same time, blue atomic energy quickly going up Godzilla’s spines, making Devastator’s visor glow purple as he backed up slightly; firing off a strong blast of energon right at the Monster King before a burst of atomic breath shot out of Godzilla’s draconic maw. Both rays met in the middle, the power of the blasts making both of them skid across the concrete while they tried to stand their ground.

Devastator groaned as he struggled to keep up the momentum, it was hard to see with both blasts directly in his optics. All he had to do was keep pouring power into the beam, not knowing how far he was going, just that it wasn’t enough. The Constructicon Combiner was more than that, he wouldn’t settle for anything less.

Megatron wouldn’t settle for anything less than his best.

Godzilla growled as he kept the beam struggle going, his eyes narrowing as he started to exploit his opponent’s apparent weakness: his vision.

The blue heat ray started traveling downward, going until the Monster King could blast Devastator’s chest. Moving out of the way from the purple laser as he pushed more power into the atomic breath, a scream of pain rose from the gestalt as the strength of the atomic burst sent him flying backwards. His hands desperately tried to grab on to the surrounding buildings, but the power of the radioactive ray made them break on impact, leaving Devastator to skid back along the concrete, leaving a trail of broken pavement and dirt in his way.

The atomic breath was so fiery hot and powerful that the Constructicon Combiner’s mighty chest shield started to bend, threatening to break and expose his chest underneath.

Devastator cried out in agony as Godzilla’s assault didn’t let up, going up until the Cybertronian’s back slammed into a massive building. He felt the heat ray stop momentarily, the alleviation making Devastator gasp and pant.

His limbs were already aching as the Decepticon goliath attempted to stand, before looking up to see the building he had crashed into, a confused look on his face showing as he recognized the skyscraper.

It was the one he had once climbed to fight the Autobots, which dwarfed even him.

The confusion suddenly turned into fear as Devastator’s gaze went back to the King of the Monsters, noticing the wicked smile on the beast’s face.

And then the pulsing blue atomic energy traveling through his spines.

The war machine’s legs started scrambling as he tried getting up, his balance not catching, not to mention the damage to the building made it nearly topple over as he moved.

Devastator desperately attempted to get out of the way while also not letting the towering monument fall on him, until it was too late.

The azure atomic breath shot through the city at rapid speeds, hitting the Cybertronian combiner in the chest yet again, forcing Devastator deeper into the building until it finally gave way, the concrete and windows cracking in quick succession as it began toppling over.

Godzilla wasn’t even done, the blue heat ray blew through the upper half of the building as well, making sure any and all rubble concentrated solely on the Constructicon goliath.

“NO!” Devastator cried out as he was quickly being buried alive in a concrete grave, massive chunks of debris piling on top of his behemoth green body, a mass of remains of the city’s largest building completely covering the Decepticon combiner.

As the Monster King stepped toward the Cybertronian’s tomb, he took a loud bellow signifying his victory over these invaders, more than happy to have gotten rid of the metal beasts. But still, it did not quench the sudden rage that he’d had over the course of the battle against these robots.

Godzilla stomped towards the pile of rubble until he had one foot on the grave. The King of the Monsters needed to make sure it was destroyed, just to be safe.

Godzilla’s spines glowed a bright blue, each individually lighting up before his eyes shined the same. Radioactive energy coursed through the Monster King’s body as he approached the pile of rubble that entombed Devastator, ready to destroy the combiner once and for all.

Godzilla’s atomic breath trickled through his reptilian throat, blue flames speeding to release from his maw.

The heat ray briefly shot through the air as two explosions rocked the Titan’s body, making Godzilla screech in pain and surprise as he shook his head, stumbling off of the pile as the Monster King’s eyes narrowed to the source. They widened as he saw vehicles rolling towards him at full speed before suddenly stopping, all but a slim blue car which went at supersonic speeds, driving in circles around the Titan before zipping past, going through any rubble or street, wanting to get Godzilla’s attention.

It got it.

Godzilla roared a challenge at the car, stomping towards the vehicle in a rage as he tried to find it.

“Good job, Blurr, keep him distracted!” a white semi truck carrying a red and blue car carrier called out.

The truck suddenly transformed, changing into Ultra Magnus. He looked off into the distance to see his ally, hearing him scream in fear as an atomic blast nearly struck him.

“YesUltraMagnus,I’lltrytrytry,doingthebestbestbestIcan!” The blue speedster cried out, momentarily transforming into his slick robot mode to fire a few shots at the Titan before forming back into a car.

Right beside Ultra Magnus were the rest of the main Autobot team for this mission. Kup, Hot Rod, Arcee, Hauler, and Springer, with others following behind.

Spike, wearing his white exo-suit made for missions like this, exited the orange construction vehicle before Hauler transformed into robot mode, stepping forward to hear his leader’s plan.

“Alright, I need two teams distracting that monster while I lead another to get Devastator out of that mess. Kup, you lead the ground team.”

“On it, Magnus, whatever you need,” The elder Autobot nodded and saluted as he stared up at his superior, ready to do as instructed.

Ultra Magnus looked to the skies, seeing a large white jet fly past overhead, putting a finger on the comms on his antenna.

“Jetfire, you lead an aerial team with any flier we have.”

“I got you. Everyone, fly with me!” Jetfire replied, a red “Warthog” plane and a green UFO: Powerglide and Cosmos, following suit.

“I’ll go too, Magnus, I’m good in the skies!” Springer said, giving a determined look before earning a nod of respect from the City Commander.

“Good. You too, Tracks,” Ultra Magnus said, pointing at a shiny blue sports car transforming into his robot mode, scoffing at the order while crossing his arms.

“Ugh… fine, but that big lizard better not scratch my paint, I just got it done yesterday…” Tracks sighed before turning back into his car mode, driving past his leader before wings folded out from the back wheels, letting him take off into the skies.

Springer quickly transformed into his helicopter mode, the rotors spinning as the green vehicle started taking off, following all of the various flyers going towards Godzilla to help fight him.

“Now, I need a team to get Devastator out of that rubble. I’ll take Hoist, Grapple, and Hauler to pick up any debris and pull him out. Sideswipe, Red Alert, Brawn, and Warpath, you’re for muscle and explosives.” Ultra Magnus ordered, pointing at each bot he called out, all of them ready to serve.

“Why do you need to take a couple of Minibots? I’ll go with you, Magnus!” Hot Rod confidently scoffed as he stepped forward, his cocky, headstrong attitude making the short Autobot, Brawn, furrow his brow in annoyance.

“Who are you calling a Minibot, punk?!” The grey helmeted bot asked, angry at the insult as he cracked his knuckles.

Ultra Magnus put his large hands on both of their shoulders, staring them down with a commanding look. It was time to solidify his leadership by breaking this up fast.

“Now is not the time. Hot Rod, do what I tell you, I made this decision for a reason!” The City Commander told the younger bot that he towered over, making Brawn do the same as he turned from the rebellious Cybertronian.

As Hot Rod disappointedly turned away, Warpath cheered, quickly transforming into his tank mode.

“Yeah! Let’s get that big bastard and blow stuff up! Zip zowie bang!” The red tank excitedly shouted with joy as he rolled away towards the pile of rubble, making Ultra Magnus and Kup shrug as they turned away from Warpath.

“He’s right. Let’s roll out, Autobots!” The new leader ordered as he transformed into his truck mode, allowing Sideswipe, Brawn, and Red Alert to transform into their car modes and roll into his car carrier.

“Gotcha, Magnus. Metal to the pedal, ‘bots!” Kup ordered as he transformed into his own Cybertronian pickup truck mode, speeding towards their target as the others followed, a mix of cars and trucks driving closely behind their mission commander.

***

Under the sea of rubble, the green and purple giant laid there, trapped. He attempted to move his joints either to rip the rubble off of himself or at least kick the piece of debris away, but nothing budged. Almost every part of his body was trapped by the rubble aside from his face with a small amount of space.

It didn’t matter, as Devastator could barely lift his head up and was only greeted by the remnants of a human building. Every spark in his gigantic body lit up, all of them communicating to each other as the giant remained still.

Yet, only one voice came out.

“Did I… Did I have purpose?” The combiner asked himself, pulling together the six thoughts entangled in his own mind. Their individual memories blurred throughout his circuits, recalling them all too briefly, witnessing the many tasks and battles he was a part of. “I did everything I was asked.”

One memory all six of his components had was their glorious leader Megatron, holding a giant white machine with tendrils sticking out of it. Each one of its arms latched itself onto the Constructicons heads, altering their very core to stand with Decepticon ideals.

The once great builders of the Crystal City, now evil geniuses, built the deadliest weapons for their newest leader. Devastator shivered at that memory, witnessing his components’ minds be perverted into vile creatures. Another shiver followed, realizing he was never one for compassion, but only rage and destruction.

Something about him was changing.

“Yet, why do I feel regret?” Devastator murmured, staring up at the concrete just above him.

Megatron was dead, and even if he were still alive, he wouldn’t be given an answer, but instead a blast from his fusion cannon. The Combiner slightly shook his head in the small amount of space he had, perplexed by his conflicting thoughts.

“What is causing all of this?” Devastator mused, thinking back to his former leader and the machine he used on all of them. His mind drifted to the device first, moving past his body’s conversion and towards another figure from his past.

Omega Supreme.

He recalled getting in a brief skirmish with the giant robot, attempting to use that very same machine on him. He was close, but the rivaling giant destroyed it before he could be met with the same fate. Devastator expected himself to be furious upon revisiting his failure, but in a startling twist, found himself to be happy at its destruction.

Devastator couldn’t help but smile.

Not just towards the Robosmasher’s destruction, but upon the memory of Omega Supreme.

He was a great friend to his constituents who treated them with respect. They achieved many amazing things together, but ended up betraying him because they were not strong enough to resist.

His entire system hummed, every piece of him feeling regretful over their roles. Not just in that moment of betraying a dear friend, but fighting a war they wanted no part in. Devastator hung his head down in disgust, not sure how to fully feel about the situation.

Matters only grew worse when another revelation came back to him.

Megatron and his cursed Robosmasher gave him a particular life!

Through another series of brief flashes, Devastator’s life began when his components first merged after the reprogram.

The Combiner gasped, feeling his entire body go cold at the revelation. He only existed because his components’ minds were rewritten and their bodies were altered to channel a war machine.

He briefly witnessed humans being sick, either through his many skirmishes in their cities or on a screen, never once knowing how they could be deterred by something like it. Now, with the entirety of his life running through his circuits, could he understand a fraction of what those creatures dealt with.

Devastator felt sick to himself.

He no longer wanted to exist.

He was a consequence, a burden on the Constructicon’s bodies. Something they never asked for.

“If… by some miracle, I can escape from this entrapment, I will… free them,” Devastator breathed, despair inside him growing more and more from each passing second. “They can flee and live with their lives in peace, being who they once were…”

Devastator closed his optics, experiencing the Constructicons’ memories once more. He witnessed their playful and creative natures, bonding with their friends over several projects. They were a family who cherished every moment together, and his birth ruined it. He played a part in tearing them away from Hauler and Omega Supreme.

“I can rectify it,” Devastator murmured, until it hit him like a rivaling combiner’s fist.

The Robosmasher was gone. Megatron was gone.

With Megatron’s demise, he noticed something about the Constructions and himself. Their personalities were slowly shifting towards how they were before the war. They were more compassionate and valiant in everything they did.

“Almost there,” Devastator weakly groaned out, wanting his existence to end so they may know peace once more. “Just need the strength to dig you out of here, so I can disappear forever.”

CRACK!

Light shone through the rubble, hitting the Combiner’s face. He briefly shielded his optics for just a moment until he realized it was salvation for the Constructicons.

CRACK!

More pieces of rubble were broken into tiny pieces while others were lifted away. Slowly but surely he felt his limbs being relieved of the burden, letting them move once more. Devastator attempted to lift himself back up, only for another piece of rubble to be removed.

Upon being shifted away, a smaller figure made his presence known, pushing another piece of concrete away. The figure had a shiny grey dome over his head while an orange and green body was short, but bulky.

He recognized the figure all too well, someone Megatron held in a very low regard, outright insulting him in a variety of battles. To him, he was a force to be reckoned with, his strength barreling through the Decepticon forces countless times. Now, from his point of view, it seems the smaller bot was saving him from this tomb.

“The Hulk is almost freed, you guys!” Brawn yelled, ripping another piece of concrete off of the Combiner. “Sure hope this gamble of yours works out, Magnus!”

Devastator nodded at the smaller bot, giving him a small gesture of appreciation. He figured his mortal foe was only doing it out of necessity, but he couldn’t be thankful enough. The Constructicons could now be free.

His entire body gave way, breaking apart into six different robots, all of them struggling to recover. Scrapper rubbed the back of his head, glancing back at his brothers as he sighed in relief at all of them still functioning. The Constructicon leader turned back at his would be saviors, the Autobots.

Amongst them were Brawn, Sideswipe, Red Alert, Grapple, Hoist, and Ultra Magnus himself. The two kept their optics trained on each other, fully intending to cut the other side off if hostilities resumed. They may have been in an alliance, but it was only temporary. Things could go sideways at any given moment.

Scrapper brushed his hands, removing the dust from his hands as he chuckled. “Nice of you to finally believe us.”

“It’s not me you should be thanking, Scrapper,” Magnus relayed, gripping his photon rifle. He had faith in his fellow Autobots, but couldn’t let his guard down on the Constructicons. “I’d be more than content to let you all sit under the rubble.”

“At least it was cozy in there,” Bonecrusher vocalized, picking himself back up as walked up to his leader. He briefly glanced around the battlefield, taking note of the bodies littered throughout it and the reinforcements gathering around them. “Much better than what everyone else got.”

“Oh can it, Bonecrusher!” Long Haul cried out, kicking a piece of rubble and sending it flying into a nearby building. The resulting impact shattered the entire floor with pieces raining downwards. “Some of us at least want to be useful and shoot the dinosaur!”

“I could have done with either,” Scavenger chimed in happily, throwing his arms onto the shoulders of his brothers.

“I’m inclined to agree with Long Haul,” Hook added, feeling disgusted with himself over his prior predicament. Them being trapped in the rubble and requiring the help of their mortal enemies to free them was humiliating. He viewed himself alongside his brothers as the superior soldiers in the entire Decepticon army, proving himself right at the reality of them surviving against the King of the Monsters. “At least we wouldn’t have been buried in garbage.”

“Any ideas, Scrapper?” Mixmaster inquired, following it up with an annoyed groan from his brothers bickering amongst themselves. “We did technically say we’d want to stop Godzilla, but there’s nothing really keeping us here afterall.”

Scrapper remained silent, pondering what steps his team should take next when he backtraced. What did Magnus mean by ‘not thanking me’?

The Constructicon leader stepped forward, keeping his optics focused on the new leader of the Autobots. The Autobots shivered in response, almost raising their weapons as the Constructicon elicited the same type of response from the rest of his squad. Scrapper raised his arm out to his brothers, motioning for them to lower their arms.

Scrapper kept his focus on Ultra Magnus, intending to find out what he meant. “Who should we be thanking then?”

“Hey guys…” Hauler’s voice oozed from behind the group of Autobots, making himself known to his former friends. The Autobot smiled softly at them, relieved to see they were all still in one piece. “Long time no see.”

The Constructicons were stunned to see a former friend rally the troops. One they all played a part in betraying not only their life’s work, but their brother as well. Scrapper couldn’t help but smile at seeing his dear friend once more. The things he wanted to spill out in the moment, to apologize for everything they had done.

“Hauler!?” Hook exclaimed, examining his bright orange color scheme, recoiling with disgust. “You look like shit!”

“Hook!” Scrapper barked, snapping his head back at his comrade’s behavior towards one of their own.

Hauler couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend’s remark. Blue lights shone from his chest, gaining Scrapper’s attention as he noticed the bot scanning him. In the blink of an eye, Hauler’s orange paint chipped away before being replaced with neon green and purple once more.

“He’s sort of right,” Hauler pointed out, flexing his original color scheme once more. “Green and purple are my colors.”

Scrapper chuckled at his comment before a monstrous roar from the King of the Monsters drafted their attention once more. Hoist turned back to Magnus, awaiting his response. “What’s your command?”

The Constructicons did the same with Scrapper, all of them eyeing for their next set of commands in this dire fight. Scrapper could tell they had a variety of responses, some wanted to continue forward while others wanted to flee and let the Autobots handle it. The Constructicon leader could reason with all of those opinions, knowing in their position, they weren’t wrong.

To him, however, he thought back to their life’s work.

Crystal City.

They destroyed it and countless others. New York was described as a glowing city to humanity and even the Autobots. They studied it, knowing how important it was to all of them, but they didn’t see it then nor now.

Except it was still a home, and an achievement of countless hours of hard work to create a thriving metropolis. They held no attachment to this city, yet it reminded him so much of Crystal City. Of their achievement.

“No.” Scrapper spoke, focusing his attention on the rampaging King of the Monsters “Not this time.”

“We runnin’ or fightin’, Scrapper?” Long Haul asked, aiming his weapon straight at the distant Godzilla.

“We’re fighting to save a city.”

***

“Ultra Magnus, you almost done over there? We’re doing what we can, but we’re getting our tailgates handed to us! I can’t find Inferno, Bluestreak, or Mirage!” Kup asked as he tapped his communicator, hiding behind a building as Godzilla stomped closely, the elder Autobot hoping the saurian wouldn’t see him as he gripped his blaster tightly.

“We’re trying to regroup, just give us a moment,” The City Commander replied, making Kup grumble as he heard Godzilla walk past him, his roars piercing his audio sensors.

“Well, we’ll see you eventually, I guess,” The old Cybertronian sighed as he saw his comrades at different buildings, waiting to strike while the flying vehicles overhead shot at the Monster King.

Jetfire, Cosmos, and Powerglide all hit Godzilla with every blast of energon they could muster, knowing that it wouldn’t be enough to do serious damage. But they were doing anything they could to be of use in the distraction.

On the other side of the Alpha Titan, Springer and Tracks pelted Godzilla with more energy blasts, dodging any swipe of his hands and snaps of his jaws as they zipped past, moving by the other Autobots scattering as they went by.

The green helicopter and blue flying sports car made a natural turn around the sky as they turned back to keep shooting at their target, orange blasts of energon splashing against his body like nothing.

“Hey, you guys might do something if you go for the eyes!” Powerglide laughed as he swept close to the Monster King’s face, taking a risky shot at his eye, making Godzilla roar in irritation before swatting the red jet away, successfully landing the hit.

Powerglide screamed in terror as the reptilian hand sent him flying uncontrollably through the air, the only thing silencing his sounds of fear being the side of a building, a minor explosion rocking the floor that he crashed into.

On the ground, Kup just shook his head as he watched the flying fool fail before motioning Trailbreaker to follow him. Getting into a more tactical position, they waited for Hot Rod and Arcee to be in place.

“I don’t know why you didn’t want to do this, I figured that shooting at a Titan would be more exciting than digging up a Decepticon,” The pink ‘bot wondered as she and the rebellious young Autobot wandered through the dusty ruins of the great city.

“Yeah, this seems cool, but I could have been the one to go right up to Devastator’s ugly face and tell him to get the scrap up. I’d be happy just doing that,” Hot Rod explained as he slid behind a large slab of concrete, peeking out to see the overgrown dinosaur still trying to attack their fliers.

“I think just doing this is enough to prove yourself,” Arcee said as she hid amongst a pile of rubble, gripping her pistol tightly as she was in the exact spot Kup wanted her to be.

“It’s not about proving myself. I know I’m good enough for Ultra Magnus, or Kup, or even Optimus. It’s about doing what I think is best, and I know I would have been better there than here.” The flame chested Autobot said as he scowled looking at Godzilla. If anything, this would be a good opportunity to practice his aim…

“Alright, you kids, fire!” Kup ordered as he began shooting at the Alpha Titan, along with the black Autobot beside him using the blaster attached to his forearm.

Arcee and Hot Rod followed, with the pink bot using her pistol and the red one using both of his wrist blasters. They stayed behind cover, as if it would do much against the creature that caused this destruction.

Godzilla roared in annoyance as he felt the small blasts hitting his body, doing little more than pestering him as he looked around to find the metal flies. He started ignoring the pests in the air.

The Monster King’s eyes narrowed at a green robot using a small weapon to shoot at him in the streets. He would just have to show them real firepower.

Godzilla’s spines started lighting up individually, humming and crackling with atomic rage as he aimed at his target, his orange eyes turning a vibrant blue before launching a round of his atomic breath at the bothersome machine.

“Oh damn,” Kup said before running to cover, his optics widening as he saw the beam following him through the remains of the surrounding buildings, reducing the rubble to more pieces, nearly hitting him as he ran past them.

The elder Autobot fell down, due to a mix of his age getting the better of him and not seeing a chunk of concrete on the ground. Kup gasped as he realized that he wasn’t dead, however, certain that he would be joining his fallen brethren from his past.

A bright yellow shield had protected him instead, making him look to see the source of it was none other than Trailbreaker, visibly straining to keep the forcefield up against the pressure of the atomic breath.

“G-Go… Kup… Finish it… for… Optimus…” The black Autobot said, looking back at the old sergeant as he was struggling to have more energy pour into the shield.

“I’ll see you soon, my friend. May Primus be with you,” Kup sighed as he transformed into his truck mode, swiftly driving to safety. Hearing the forcefield crack as he left, before an explosion rang out, he knew the fate of his comrade without even looking.

Hot Rod gritted his metal teeth as he moved out of position, shooting at the saurian before transforming into a slick racecar. He ramped up a pile of concrete to soar into the air, not knowing if he would get the Titan’s attention or go unnoticed as their distraction kept going.

The rebellious punk sped along the streets, engine revving with uncontrolled energy that he possessed. He needed to find anything there that could aid them, and knew of only one thing that might.

“Kup, Arcee, Blurr, I need you guys to follow me. Jetfire, try and keep that dinosaur busy,” Hot Rod said on the comms channel as he switched on his radio, interrupting whatever rock song he was playing before the battle.

“Alright, kid, but it better be good,” Kup answered, knowing they were low on options. He watched Jetfire continue the aerial assault, expertly maneuvering around any threat that Godzilla had towards him and his crew in the air.

The turbo revving young punk continued his trek until he finally found what he was looking for, his wheels spinning to a halt as he transformed back into robot mode, his smile beaming as he had it.

Right in the middle of the street lay Devastator’s Solar Rifle, and that was exactly what they needed to turn the tide.

Right behind him, the Autobots he requested to help him followed, all turning back from cars to robots, gazing up at the enormous blaster that sat before them.

“Alright, so you got that, how are we gonna use it now, kid?” Kup asked, placing his hand on Hot Rod’s shoulder.

“Yeahthat’ssobigreallybigbiggerthananyweaponwecanusenoneofuscanuseitnononoIdon’tkmowwhatyou’reth-” Blurr began complaining before Arcee covered his mouth. Although she didn’t mind his chatter, even she knew the speedster could be too much.

“We’re all gonna try lifting it up so we can shoot it, prop it up against that building and we’d be good,” Hot Rod explained, looking proud of his idea before his elder sighed.

“You see how big this gun is? I don’t think any of us are strong enough to get it up anyway, it’s a waste of time.” Kup immediately dismissed the plan, making the young Autobot’s optics nearly roll out of his skull.

“Well, we don’t have a lot more ideas, do we? I’m not just gonna do a suicide mission,” Hot Rod said, taking a breath before starting to push the giant rifle, gasping as he was already straining himself to get it moving. The others joined out of desperation.

Kup only wanted to just to show him how dumb it actually was, cursing at Hot Rod and berating him the entire time they spent heaving the gun toward a building, then climbing on said building to get just the right angle.

The rebellious Autobot even used a blue visor hidden in his helmet to make sure it was correct. He and Blurr each used both of their hands to grip the trigger.

“Here we go…” Hot Rod sighed before the pair pushed down, firing a purple blast of energon that could pierce a hole through seemingly anything, as they had seen on the battlefield on numerous occasions.

However, it seemed as if their luck spent finding the weapon was all they had for the day.

Godzilla had moved at the right time.

Any other time and the Alpha Titan would have had a hole in his chest, but now, it just barely grazed his spines.

The attack did not go unnoticed by Godzilla, who glared at the source of the shot.

Hot Rod, Arcee, Kup, and Blurr looked up in horror as Godzilla’s spines continued to glow a bright azure blue, the atomic energy surging through his body, ready to bring his wrath on the invaders that had attacked him.

He’d destroy them like the metal insects they were to him.

Hot Rod clenched his fist, thinking about how his miss had cost everyone the battle. The only thankful thought that he had was that they wouldn’t suffer long.

The rebellious Autobot gasped softly as he felt something tug his arm, looking to see Arcee hugging him, her eyes closed as she had accepted her fate.

“It’s ok, Hot Rod… you did your best,” she said, supportive as always, slightly calming his guilt as the Monster King’s maw glowed blue, ready to blast the Autobots into scrap.

Godzilla’s eyes shifted however, looking down as he sensed a high amount of energy in the ground. The energon in these beings was strong, and he could feel it through the earth.

The saurian began shooting his atomic breath down to try and destroy the threat before it could come up and attack, chunks of the ground shooting up from the force, concrete and dirt flying as Godzilla attempted to kill whatever was coming for him.

The King of the Monsters was just too late.

A drill shot up from the ground beside Godzilla, revealing the Cybertronian to be the mighty Devastator yet again, jumping out of the hole he left in the ground. Godzilla turned his body as soon as his heat ray stopped its fury, his eyes widening in surprise as he was sure that the combiner was out of the fight, but he was now standing right before him.

“NOTHING DEFEATS THE DEVASTATOR!” The Constructicon Combiner shouted in defiance of the surprised king as he retracted his drill, replacing it with his massive fist and sending it soaring into Godzilla’s face. Devastator nearly toppled over from the force, as much of his might as possible being thrown into the strike.

Godzilla almost fell over, feeling a tooth fly out of his mouth before the Cybertronian’s arms wrapped around his body. The organic colossus let out an astonished roar as Devastator held his waist, the Constructicon goliath using his incredible strength to lift the Monster King completely. Internal wires and pistons strained, gritting his teeth as he began bringing both of them down backwards.

“NOTHING!” Devastator finished as he slammed Godzilla down into the ground in a suplex, causing the earth to shake around the two warring behemoths, dirt and dust surrounding the area as they crashed.

Both Godzilla and Devastator groaned as they began to rise. Both were weak from the impact, but their tenacity and willingness to continue the fight overpowered their pain.

The Alpha Titan pounced on the war machine, his mighty jaws wrapping around Devastator’s head, wanting to crush the metal menace’s skull. But a sharp knee to the gut made him back off, giving the Constructicon combiner the opportunity to headbutt Godzilla before shoving the Titan off of his Cybertronian body.

The two goliaths rose to their feet, charging at each other. Both tackled the other as hard as they could, coming to a standstill as their feet skidded along the earth, but this time, Godzilla snapped at Devastator’s crane arm, tugging with excessive force to pull it off. The Decepticon gestalt screamed in pain as blue energon spurted from the appendage before getting hit in the face by the base, making Devastator stumble back, losing the shoving match as he let go of his opponent.

The Alpha Titan snorted with contempt as he held the crane arm in his maw, using it as a bat to swing at the Cybertronian destroyer. Devastator groaned in pain as Godzilla twisted his neck with great strength a few times, using his new weapon to strike the Constructicon combiner in his bulky body and face. His visor cracked more until it shattered, exposing the two red optics underneath, making Devastator scowl in annoyance before grabbing the crane arm, tugging it out of Godzilla’s mouth as he rose up.

The neon green giant swung the new weapon overhead, crashing the crane arm against the Titan’s head as hard as he could, making Godzilla’s ears ring as he cried out in agony, feeling his head throb from the broken appendage striking his skull.

Not only that, but the Alpha Titan felt a surge of energy in his head, a visible spark showing on top as he felt a sharp stream of pain. His howls of suffering increased in volume as Godzilla held his head, looking towards the ground as he scratched at his skull, yearning for the pain to stop, confused at what was happening.

It had to be whatever those invaders planted on him. They did this. They… must be… exterminated… or not?…

The Monster King didn’t even know what thoughts were his and what was implanted into his mind, it was Hell, he was… scared?

Devastator realized what was happening. The look of confusion and pain, the Constructicons making him up recognizing seeing each other succumb to the mind control millions of years ago, feeling just like that.

The combiner softly put a hand on Godzilla’s back, hoping to calm the Alpha Titan’s rage. But the expected reaction happened when Godzilla twisted his body, smacking Devastator to the ground with his lengthy tail, growling as the Cybertronian grabbed ahold of the appendage, tugging on it to try dragging Godzilla to the ground with him.

The Monster King scoffed at the attempt as he slammed his tail into the titanic Decepticon’s body, sending fragments of metal into the air before turning around, spines glowing with atomic power. He was ready to blast his opponent into scrap, and then, the rest of his kind.

Anything to stop this pain.

Devastator quickly slid his leg across the ground, colliding with the column that was Godzilla’s leg and tripping the Titan. His atomic fire momentarily shot into the air before abruptly stopping, making Godzilla growl in frustration before feeling a hard hit to the head, looking to see the Cybertronian behemoth beside him, wailing on his skull with one fist while his other hand kept Godzilla pinned down.

Every punch felt like both a surge of agony and a plea for help. The hits were aimed at the electric pulses going into the Alpha Titan’s head, every single strike assaulting the cerebro-shell until it finally cracked!

Godzilla gurgled as his eyes widened, the pain leaving his body as his eyelids felt heavy, closing as his head fell to the ground. His fight for control of his mind was finally over.

Devastator huffed as he gazed down at the Alpha Titan, recognizing that he had only knocked Godzilla unconscious by him still breathing. He knew exactly what to do with the fallen Monster King as he weakly stood on his asymmetrical feet. Eyes narrowed as Devastator grabbed Godzilla’s tail, dragging the saurian to the water. The gestalt cringed as the water went into his open wounds before they went deeper and deeper, until they reached the depths, waves crashing against the pair as they went down into the endless ocean.

The hulking combiner groaned, feeling the pressure of the depths getting to him. Devastator glanced back at the still senseless Godzilla before turning back to find a suitable place to leave the Alpha Titan. As much as it pained him, the battle had already drained him to the point where a knockout would have to suffice.

Devastator trudged forward, fish swimming past him as he kept his grip firm on Godzilla. With just a few more steps, he stood on the edge of a cliff, noticing a huge drop off to the depths below. What lay below didn’t concern him, as long as it kept Godzilla entrapped for a while. That’s all that mattered to him.

Using the bulk of his remaining strength, Devastator combated the intense pressure and swung the still motionless Godzilla around. He let him drop at the edge, intending to deliver a small kick to send him careening down. All that was left was for Devastator’s strength to come back to him.

Godzilla’s eyes opened up!

He shook his head, feeling himself completely engulfed in the ocean depths. The Alpha Titan felt himself at a loss. Godzilla knew something had occurred, feeling his bones aching and blood seeping from his skin, instantly causing fury in his very body. Whoever was responsible shall pay for their transgressions.

The King of the Monsters snapped his head and saw the green and purple giant before him, readying to attack him. Godzilla roared out, feeling the water rush into his mouth as he prepared to tackle the metallic behemoth.

Devastator’s core sank, fearing the worst as Godzilla still had fight in him. Not wanting to draw this out any longer, the Cybertronian reared his leg back and delivered it straight in Godzilla’s face, eliciting a gurgled cry.

Godzilla felt himself losing his balance as he collapsed from the edge of the cliff and descended towards the unknowable fathoms. The King of the Monsters shrieked out in anger watching as Devastator stood at the edge, glancing down at him. Godzilla wanted nothing more but to swim back up and tear him to pieces, but his body prevented him from doing so. Nearly every part of his body hurt and commanded him to rest.

As he drifted further and further to the bottom of the depths, Godzilla’s eyes closed, feeling the sensation of sleep take a hold of him. For how long he’d slumber, no one knew, but Godzilla was defeated, and one day he’d return when his body commanded it.

With the King of the Monsters disappearing underneath the depths, Devastator ascended upwards, coming ashore in the bay of New York. He waded outside of the water and into the city. Devastator then made his way back towards the inner section of the city. He could have left right then and there, either by running off into the sunset or flying into the sky, but his components wanted something instead. The hulking giant murmured, feeling their request was more important than his own desires.

He only existed out of force, a disgusting act onto six beings, one he wished never happened. Nonetheless, he could exist as an extension of their will. A chance to be more than a weapon for a tyrant, to be a symbol of their unification.

Devastator’s joints wobbled, feeling himself becoming more unstable. The hulking giant trudged through the broken asphalt, listening to their collective thoughts. Some, like before, still wanted to flee, but others needed to make sure of something. To make sure those who came to their rescue still stood to fight another day.

“Help…” a weak voice cried out.

Devastator stopped in his tracks and glanced over to the wounded red warthog plane lodged in a broken building. He recognized the flying bot from several of their skirmishes, the all too cocky Powerglide trapped in its confinement.

“Hey… big guy…” Powerglide coughed, energon spitting out from his mouth and onto Devastator’s chest. “Sorry about that….”

The Combiner studied the injured Autobot, realizing he wouldn’t make it without help as he was in really bad shape. “Hate to ask, but you think you can get me out of here…. Unless we’re back to fightin’… each other.”

Devastator heard the collective speak once more and was puzzled. A life hanged in front of him, completely at his mercy. Before all of this, he would have just laughed and destroyed the Autobot in his confinement. Now, he felt pity, sadness.

He didn’t know if he could even save him, but he had to try. After all, they risked their lives for him.

The green and purple giant reached his hands forward as Powerglide chuckled. “Don’t worry about my legs… I think they’re gone.”

“I’ll be gentle…” Devastator murmured, ripping the sides of the building with his right while he shielded the Autobot with his left. The upper portion of the structure collapsed onto his hand while he inched his right hand towards Powerglide, snatching him up. Devastator pulled him away as he let the upper portion of the building collapse gently.

“I appreciate it, big guy,” Powerglide coughed, continuing to lay almost motionlessly on his palm. “So what’s the plan now?”

“Rendevouz with your team,” Devastator confirmed, turning back to trek towards his saviors.

“Ah… good,” Powerglide sheepishly responded, barely keeping himself conscious.

Within a few minutes they saw Devastator erupt from behind the skylines, noticing Godzilla nowhere in their presence. They all collectively sighed in relief before realizing Devastator still stood as he made his way closer to them. Their mutual enemy had been neutralized, but the war could very well still resume.

Ultra Magnus stepped forward, placing himself in front of his surviving soldiers, pointing his gun at the approaching giant. Hauler nervously glanced at his friends doing the same as he tapped his fingers against each other. Scared that both sets of friends were about to fight each other once more.

Devastator ceased his movements, looking down at the squadron of Autobots in his vicinity. Despite his status, he was more than capable of taking them down, but he didn’t want to. Whether it was from the low energy of certain components or their wariness of war, it was futile to continue.

At least for today.

Without uttering a word, Devastator gently set the injured Powerglide down, causing the surprise of the entire group. “Powerglide!” Perceptor called out, rushing towards him with Hoist and Grapple trailing behind him to provide him medical attention.

“Hey, guys… small world…” Powerglide coughed, with Perceptor giving him a small amount of energon to keep him stabilized.

Feeling his own body about to give out, he disassembled himself into his six components. He was glad he could end the day doing something they were proud to do. Perhaps this was the start of something more peaceful between the seven of them. A way for all of them to move forward.

The six Constructicons huddled together, eyeing the Autobots that stood across the street. For a few minutes they stared at each other, trying to recover from their grievous battle, until Scrapper inched his way towards Ultra Magnus.

The Autobot eyed the Combiner leader, keeping his wits even if the Decepticon showed no hostility towards them. Ultra Magnus moved forward, intending to match the Decepticon’s movement.

Hauler watched the display, nervous that something bad could happen to either one of them or even both, he hurried over to them. The former Constructicon placed himself in front of the two, eliciting pause from the respective leaders, confused by his behavior.

“Please… no more fighting,” Hauler murmured, glancing towards Scrapper, his brother.

Scrapper glanced at Ultra Magnus, who slightly glared at him, expecting him to resume the conflict in any way before turning back to his friend. He couldn’t help but smile at Hauler, the bot who always wanted a group to remain strong no matter what. He always admired that about him, knowing he’d be a friend who’d have someone’s back.

The Constructicon leader patted Hauler on the shoulder. “There will be no war today, Hauler.”

He looked back up at Ultra Magnus, pushing himself gently past his good friend and towards the new Autobot leader. Scrapper offered his hand up and spoke, “Shockwave will disagree, but I don’t care what he thinks. We’re tired…”

Ultra Magnus stared down at the seemingly irenic Scrapper still holding his hand up to him. The Autobot leader kept some form of doubt alive in his head that this could very well be a trick, but thought back to Devastator bringing Powerglide back to him, alongside their behavior to Hauler. Something about them changed, and potentially for the better.

One thing rang true most of all from their actions, and he felt one-hundred percent the same.

Ultra Magnus grabbed onto Scrapper’s hand, shaking it, completely surprising the Constructicon. “I’m tired as well.”

A whistle blared in the sky as both Autobots and Constructicons jumped in surprise. They looked up in the sky to see Astrotrain touching down near the Decepticon group. Magnus nearly recoiled in horror, thinking Decepticon reinforcements were pulling up on them, but Scrapper shook his head.

“Don’t worry about him…” Scrapper lightly chuckled. “He’s just our ride out of here.”

Hook and Mixmaster immediately stumbled into Astrotrain, nearly collapsing in the hull of the larger Transformer. Scavenger collapsed on the ruined street, forcing Bonecrusher to groan and drag him, likely following suit.

Long Haul was the last to follow as he looked over at his leader. “Scrapper, let’s blow this joint and get back to Cybertron! I’m tired!”

“Be right there!” Scrapper called back out before turning back to Hauler. “We’d love it if you rejoined us, Hauler. We have a nice little place we’d think you like.”

Hauler smiled at his brother and rubbed the back of his head. “I’d love to, but that’ll have to be another day. There’s still a lot to be sorted out in this war before we can make that happen.”

“Don’t worry about Shockwave, I’ll sort him out,” Scrapper laughed, pulling the Autobot in for a hug.

The two felt like family once more as they kept their hold onto each other. Hauler reared back slightly, smiling at his friend once more. “It’s good to have you guys back.”

“It’s good to be back, Hauler,” Scrapper said, pulling back from his friend and inching towards Astrotrain. “And Magnus!”

Ultra Magnus titled his head up to the Constructicon leader, curious but also apprehensive at what the Decepticon was about to convey. “Keep doing what you can even if you receive pushback! I’ll do the same on my end, and help bring an end to this cursed war!”

The Autobot leader couldn’t fully believe him, as the thought of Shockwave taking the reins of the Decepticons terrified him. That ‘con was the most dangerous and evil of all Cybertronians, but he couldn’t help but smile softly. He wasn’t blind, he saw the progress the Constructicons were making.

Like Prime would say, “There was good in them.”

“Make good on your promise! And we’ll both see through to it!” Ultra Magnus called out, providing a small wave to the departing Constructicon.

“Soon this will all be a memory and we can get back to properly rebuilding Cybertron!” Scrapper called out as he boarded Astrotrain. The Triple-Changer took off into the sky while the Autobots watched, leaving all of them to ponder their future.

So many lives were lost, but others regained their freedom.

They all wondered if the war would get any worse from here, but with Cybertronians on both sides wanting to end this conflict, perhaps peace wasn’t too far off.

It was something worth holding onto.

Winner: Devastator