Cars began gathering, along with Autobots, agents, and soldiers.
Ironhide, ready for battle, was still cracking jokes.
"Little guy, let me see how you beat Megatron."
"Stand back and watch me work." With a flamboyant wave of his hand, Rimuru shielded everyone behind him, holding the AllSpark in his arms to draw attention.
An F-22 swept low overhead, its engine wash kicking up dust. That should be Starscream, but he didn't open fire, because Rimuru was still holding the AllSpark.
Suddenly, an even more violent roar of engines approached.
Here he came! Megatron was here!
The Autobots tensed.
An alien Cybertronian jet rushed toward them, menacing, evil, and fiercely aggressive. It looked like a metallic alien raptor, with none of an Earth fighter's smooth lines, only sharp angles, fearsome armor, and mechanical bone spurs.
Rimuru couldn't help swallowing.
"Dormammu! Uh..."
"Megatron! I've come to bargain."
The 12.8-meter-tall Megatron landed in front of Rimuru with a thud. Without a word, he swung his flail straight at him. Fortunately, Optimus Prime was quick enough to blast Megatron off balance.
"Optimus Prime!"
Megatron raised his arm and fired, blasting Optimus Prime away. It was clear that Megatron in the first Transformers movie really was powerful; his defeat was basically dictated by the plot.
But this pissed Rimuru off. The bastard clearly didn't fucking take him seriously at all.
Rimuru stuffed the AllSpark into his stomach, intending to pull out something big.
The two combatants both stopped when they noticed the AllSpark's signal had disappeared.
"Megatron, I know you believe in supremacy through domination and that force equals order. How about you follow me if I beat you?"
Megatron was so angry he laughed. "A little bug like you isn't even as big as my toe, and you think you can beat me?"
"Hand over the AllSpark, and I'll give you a painless death."
"Damn it. Gillvalis, deploy Galactron."
"Warning: Galactron cannot land."
"Huh? What's going on?"
"Insufficient ground strength. Galactron is 61 meters tall and weighs 61,000 tons. If he lands, he will sink straight into the ground."
"What the hell! Why was it fine where they were, but not here?"
System: "Listen to yourself. That was the Ultraman universe. How could yours be the same? They even have the power of will over there. Do you?"
"Damn system, why didn't you say so earlier? I wanted a badass Gaia landing! I've already taken my pants off, and now you tell me you're on your period?"
System: "You're too young. You didn't think things through before acting. Do you know what it means to look before you leap?"
"Fuck you. What do I do now? Who stops showing off halfway through?"
Gillvalis: "Two spatial magic circles can be layered beneath his feet to counteract gravity."
"That works too. Let's do it! Don't cancel it all out. I'm showing off today, and not even Jesus can stop me."
"Galactron, activate!"
A giant white magic circle lit up, and a white creation with a thoroughly high-tech appearance emerged. Everyone present was startled. Was this a Transformer too?
Galactron landed, his enormous weight making the entire ground tremble. Though it wasn't as dramatic as a Gaia landing, the shaking was no less intense than an earthquake.
Megatron's eyes went clear. His first thought was Metroplex, but that wasn't right either. He had never seen this design before and had no recollection of it at all, and it was much smaller too. Surely all those years in the ice hadn't frozen his brain?
"Megatron, fuck ***, give me a straight answer. Are you surrendering or not?"
Megatron realized this wasn't Metroplex, and his confidence returned. He charged straight in.
"Holy shit," Rimuru exclaimed. "That reckless? No wonder he's the Decepticons' boss."
But courage couldn't make up for the sheer difference in strength. Galactron lashed out with his tail, slamming Megatron into the ground.
Seeing Megatron taken out in one move, Ironhide and the others cheered. Barricade saw things were going badly and moved everyone in front of him for protection.
Brawl and Blackout took a step back too. How were they supposed to fight this? Their boss had been taken out in one hit; wouldn't going up there just be throwing their lives away?
What they didn't know was that Galactron had held back. Otherwise, Megatron would have needed some serious reassembly by now.
This was someone who had strung Orb up and beaten him repeatedly-literally strung him up and beaten him. Orb weighed tens of thousands of tons; how much did Megatron weigh?
Galactron plunged his enormous mechanical claw into the ground and pulled Megatron out. Megatron looked utterly battered, beyond anything a battle-damaged look could describe.
"Megatron, I'm giving you two choices now.
"First, follow me from now on. I can make you stronger and show you possibilities greater than the AllSpark.
"Second..." Red light flared at the tips of Galactron's claws, magic circles unfolding one after another along his mechanical arm. The hum of high-energy charging filled the air.
Megatron's optics flickered violently. He could feel that the energy gathering in the claw was enough to melt him down completely.
But the Decepticon leader's pride made him grit his teeth and force a low growl from his deformed vocalizer:
"You think this can make me submit? I am Megatron! Leader of the Decepticons! Conqueror of Cybertron!"
"Oh? Is that so? Want me to give you a prize?" Rimuru's voice came through Galactron's external speakers, with a hint of amusement. "What if I told you I know about your plan with Sentinel Prime?"
Megatron abruptly froze.
"I also know where The Fallen is sealed, and about that thing buried beneath Earth. Don't you want to rebuild Cybertron? I can help you with that too."
Every word struck Megatron's logic circuits like a sledgehammer. Some of these secrets were things even he had only vaguely suspected.
"What exactly are you?" For the first time, Megatron's voice wavered.
"Me?" Rimuru chuckled. "I'm just a slime passing through."
He had Galactron loosen his claw slightly, but the energy remained ready to fire.
"You don't have much time to choose, Megatron. Starscream's been watching your position the whole time. If I took you apart now and waved the AllSpark in front of him, do you think he'd be happy to take charge of the Decepticons for a while?"
"That traitor!" Megatron roared, but this time, something else mingled with his anger: calculation.
In the distance, Optimus Prime struggled to his feet, and the Autobots gathered around. Ironhide had already raised his cannons, and Bumblebee let out a wary hum.
On the Decepticon side, Starscream was indeed circling and watching, while the other Decepticons waited for orders-or rather, for the outcome.
Megatron's processor raced. His defeat was a fact. This mysterious little creature wielded power he couldn't understand, and fighting him head-on meant certain death. As for the terms the other party offered, looking at the enormous Galactron, there seemed to be no need for the other party to lie to him about having the ability to rebuild Cybertron.
"If I agree," Megatron said in a lowered voice, with the rasp of scraping metal, "I remain in command of the Decepticons. You provide intelligence and resources, and we cooperate according to our agreement."
Rimuru smiled. It worked.
He knew that, for Megatron, this was already the furthest he could concede. I don't think I have enough personal charm to win over a formidable leader like him.
"Fine. From now on, we're the dearest of friends, brothers in arms."
Megatron fell silent for a few seconds. At last, the light in his optics dimmed slightly.
"I accept, but there's no way I'll take orders from this guy." Yizhengtian pointed at Optimus Prime, his face full of resentment and defiance.
"No problem," Rimuru said with satisfaction. "Now, first have your subordinates cease fire. It's time we talked business: Cybertron, the AllSpark, and the bigger trouble that's coming."
Galactron opened his claw and set Megatron down. The Decepticon leader stumbled a step, steadied himself, and looked up at the enormous white mechanical creation, then at Rimuru, who was slowly descending from Galactron's shoulder.
The creature wasn't even as big as Megatron's palm, yet he now radiated an aura that made the entire battlefield hold its breath.
"All Decepticons," Megatron said, turning to his troops. His voice had regained its former authority, but carried a new order. "Cease fire."
Starscream was so shocked he nearly fell out of the sky. Blackout and Brawl looked at each other.
On the Autobots' side, Optimus Prime stepped forward. His gaze moved between Rimuru and Megatron before finally settling on Rimuru.
"Rimuru, my friend," Optimus Prime said, his voice steady and grave, "are you sure you know what you're doing?"
Rimuru turned to Optimus Prime. "There's no problem. Once we get to my universe, I'm not worried about Megatron causing trouble. I'm worried he'll chicken out."
"A greater storm is coming. We need every force we can unite."
"After all," Rimuru said softly, a note of regret in his voice, "the Decepticons and Autobots have fought a civil war for millions of years. Don't you think that's a terrible waste?"
Megatron snorted, but for once didn't argue.
Wasn't this better? The war was over, and the outcome even felt a little like a happy ending for everyone. Rimuru looked at the Autobots: not one more or less than before. Then he looked at the Decepticons. One, two, three... Huh? Why was one missing?
Everyone looked at one another, then finally turned their eyes to Optimus Prime. Optimus Prime scratched his head awkwardly. "He insisted on charging at me. I just calmed him down a little."
"So you took his head off to calm her down?" Mikaela Banes had appeared from who knew where.
Bonecrusher really was Megatron's subordinate, all right. He was just as reckless.
"Uh... Frenzy seems to be missing too," Starscream said, looking around. He sent a signal but received no response.
"Frenzy's fine. I had him captured. As for Bonecrusher, its core should be fine, and he can still be revived."
Remembering the million-value extraction last time, Rimuru had made an even sweeter haul this time. It was practically a ten-billion-value extraction.