The Monster of Kaon (Volume 2): Chapter 9

Cybertron.

On the surface of Cybertron, located near the cave where the original Primes fell, D-16, Orion Pax, Elita-1, and B-127 stared with pure rage and betrayal as Sentinel Prime and his forces bowed down to the Quintessons that landed near an abandoned city.

At Sentinel’s signal, the two trains full of ‘Toxic Waste’ opened up as several semi-organic armatures extended from the Quintesson ship.

“I load those crates. Those filled with contaminated metal and toxic waste.”

Arcee’s confused whisper was met with Orion’s own confused words, even as a sinking feeling filled all their sparks.

“I don’t understand. What do the Quintessons want with toxic waste?”

Orion’s question was soon answered when the containers opened up, revealing large cubes of Refined Energon, shocking the mining bots to their cores.

“Our Energon!?”

The outrage in D-16’s words was felt by all, but they could do nothing but keep watching.

“Traitor!”

“D! No.”

Before D-16 could make a foolish move, Orion stopped his friend, even though he too felt just as betrayed by Sentinel’s actions.

Normally, such a level of noise would not be noticed by anyone due to their distance from the meeting.

However, there was one bot who could hear them clear as day and easily see them due to their inexperience in terms of stealth.

Fortunately for this group, this Airachnid was no longer the brainless fool that blindly followed Sentinel and was his lapdog. So, she could not be bothered to do anything about these four fools.

Because for her, the show was just about to start, and she would rather they watch what happens next without worry.

Suddenly, the High Commander of the Quintesson merchant fleet extended his tentacles and wrapped Sentinel in them. Spreading his limbs apart, enough to strain the joints but not enough to completely tear them apart. The High Commander silently glared at the fake prime.

Sentinel, being the coward he was, immediately started speaking rapidly to save his own life.

“I know what I promised you! But our mines are running out!”

“There’s barely enough energon for us!”

“I swear I will get you the rest!”

The High Commander dropped the fake prime lazily, knowing that he had succeeded in intimidating the bot enough to increase the quota of Energon, which in turn meant that he could skim off more than usual from the shipments and still meet his own quota to the Judges back home while still making a tidy profit.

Sentinel felt humiliated, but he could do nothing against the might of the Quintessons, so he turned around and ordered his guards.

“Triple-time every mining shift! No miner gets a break until I get my Energon. All of it!”

However, just as his soldiers and the Quintessons were about to part ways, the Quintesson soldiers suddenly began panicking as the High Commander instantly retreated into the command station.

However, it would be too late as a colossal shadow started to manifest in the cloud-covered skies of Cybertron directly above them.

“What in the name of Primus is going on-“

Before anyone could react, a gigantic laser beam erupted from the shadow, directly severing the Quintesson ship’s thrusters.

But that was not the end, as a second shadow, equally as massive as the first one, appeared soon after, and a jet of energy that looked similar to flames erupted from this shadow, burning the Quintessons to ashes.

And then, another shadow appeared and started unloading massive shells of kinetic munitions, directly destroying what was left of the Quintesson ship and killing everyone inside.

All of it happened in a few seconds, leaving Sentinel and the silently observing mining bots in the distance speechless.

It was only when everything went quiet that the shadows finally breached the cloud layers and revealed themselves, chilling Sentinel to his core.

Three colossal beings that dwarfed the tallest building in the city of Iacon, each at least 600 meters tall, and clearly of Cybertronian origin, thanks to their structures and the steady pulses of their powerful Spark that Sentinel could detect even at this distance.

It was only when the figures finally landed that Sentinel gathered the courage to even move.

His first instinct was to escape. To preserve his life.

However, that choice was also robbed from him when he suddenly felt a strange web entangle his form. A sneak attack from behind from a bot that he never expected to attack him.

“Airachnid!? Why!?”

Airachnid simply smirked at those words.

“Don’t tell me you never expected to be betrayed, Sentinel? After all, for someone like you, who betrays everyone, you should have expected it, no?”

Sentinel had no words to say, which Airachnid caught and made her laugh uncontrollably.

“Oh, Primus! You really are that dumb!? You never imagined someone would betray you? I guess, compared to the Sentinel I know, you really are pathetic.”

“What are you-“

Sentinel’s question was caught in his throat as Airachnid’s form started to shimmer and shed her disguise, revealing a completely different Aracnnoid underneath, who smiled malevolently while the rest of Sentinel’s forces stood rooted in place, as if they were mere drones, thanks to Airachnid’s sabotage taking advantage of the perfect moment and frying their brain modules from inside their heads.

Then, the unfamiliar Airachnid kneeled in front of the three giants and spoke respectfully.

“Greetings, Lord Metroplex, Lord Metrotitan, Lady Chela. I bring you a gift.”

“Hahaha! You really outdid yourself this time. Child. I never imagined that you would achieve so much when we had that talk back on Cybertron.”

Airachnid simply smiled at the Titan that she once called her god back on Eukaris. The very same Titan that had advised her to chase after her beloved into the multiverse when she approached the Titan for advice.

Metroplex ignored his sister and her disciple’s conversation and glared down at Sentinel.

“Sentinel of Iacon. You have betrayed Cybertron and enslaved its people. For those acts, you shall be punished. But not by us. You will answer to the people of this Cybertron.”

Sheer rage and humiliation overwhelmed Sentinel’s reasoning.

“On whose authority!? I am Sentinel Prime! The ruler of Cybertron! You unknowns have no right to tell me what to do-“

Before he could continue speaking, a mechanical spider leg pierced his chestplate, precisely piercing his motor-control unit and cleanly missing his T-Cog and Spark Chamber.

“So noisy. Obediently wait for your punishment at my beloved’s hands. And maybe I will let you live until then.”

With his motor-control unit destroyed so precisely, his body refused to obey his commands and fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Then, Metrotitan looked into the distance.

“Come out, children of Cybertron. I can see you hiding in that cave. That includes you, Alpha Trion.”

At those words, the mining bots and the recently revived Prime had no choice but to reveal themselves to the three giants that had suddenly arrived out of nowhere.

Alpha Trion did not know who these three were and what they were trying to do. But he knew one thing.

If they were the enemies of the Quintessons and the Traitor, then they were potential allies of his people.

And so, the last of the Thirteen Primes steeled himself and led the young miners to meet the unknown.

All the while, something truly magnificent was happening on Luna-1.