The Monster of Kaon (Volume 2): Chapter 2

Fortress Maximus, the unofficial Prime acknowledged by Primus himself, true owner of two Relics of the Primes, the Monster of Kaon, stared blankly at the hive of activity going on in the unfamiliar yet familiarly named city below him.

The same went for his companions as Megatronus, formerly known as Megatron, stared at all the bots flying or driving around in the city while Windblade watched everything with awe and wonder.

Excitedly, she turned towards her sire.

“Is this what our City of Iacon looked like as well in the past?”

“No. Not even remotely close.”

Maximus spoke out those words with a whisper as he still tried to reconcile the advanced city and the dating system that he had picked up from the computers and archives in the building they arrived at with what he knew about his home world.

According to what he managed to dig up, the time period of this Cybertron was equal to that of the Age of Wrath on his homeworld. The most violent time period of his species, where they fought tooth and nail to protect their homeworld from the Quintessons.

And yet, watching the peaceful and prosperous city below them, Maximus could not help but feel a little envious of these bots.

During this time period, his people had been driven to the edge and were on the verge of being wiped out if not for his unexpected birth and reversal of the scales. But here, these people lived in peace and prosperity, away from all the carnage.

‘Well, on the surface at least’

Maximus thought to himself. As he had not yet had the time to dig deeper into the systems around him and find out the full history, he could not say with certainty that things were peaceful, but on the surface, everything looked idyllic.

Using his powers, Maximus looked through the data of the nearby computers, searching for a place where he and his companions could make a temporary base without drawing attention.

It was during this search that he stumbled upon several concerning terminologies and information, but pushed them aside for now.

Finally, after a few minutes of searching, he found a place at the outskirts of the city where nobody goes most of the time due to its distance and the supposed toxicity of the area.

"There is a place that we can set up a temporary base towards the east, at the edge of the city."

Megatronus nodded at those words

“Alright. But can we do some scouting before we depart? I want to see if the layout is similar to the Iacon city of our home.”

Maximus nodded at that suggestion.

The three Cybertronians transformed into their alt-modes, which intimidated a lot of the nearby bots into keeping a bit of distance from them while they flew over the city due to their menacing size and looks.

As they flew, they saw the ever-shifting structures within the city, making them look closer with curiosity.

“How are they doing that? The roadways never shifted like that back home.”

Maximus hummed at Megatronus’s words as he continued watching the trains move through the air, the tracks forming below them out of thin air, just like with most other bots on the ground, where the roads formed below their wheels wherever they went.

“I think this is similar to that old project of the Anceints where they wanted to make a living city out of Cybermatter, but gave up due to its uselessness. Something similar must have happened here, where the project was not discarded and was actually implemented throughout the city.”

“So these guys maintained all the tech from the Ancients? Then maybe, the catastrophe of the Age of Origins did not happen here?”

At Windblade’s hopeful words, Maximus said nothing as he continued observing everything with his power.

Soon, the three bots flew for a long distance before they finally arrived at what appears to be a colossal cargo rail transport, where various bots were loading up things that had ancient Cybertronian script for toxic waste.

Maximus pointed it out to his companions as they slowly landed nearby, where there was no one around, allowing them to sneak into the train.

“Looks like this train is headed out further into the distance. Let’s take some rest on it while we travel and see where this leads.”

Megatronus observed his sire while also keeping an eye on the surroundings for potential attacks, while Windblade excitedly walked into one of the open containers, none of the bots around them daring to stop the three huge bots.

“Maximus?”

“Hm?”

“You are behaving quite carefreely ever since we arrived here. Moving around without any plan or thinking about any long-term options. What happened?”

Maximus simply smiled at his sparkling’s words as they headed into the containers, just in time for the automated doors to close behind them.

With a sigh, the unofficial Prime spoke out his opinion.

“Back home, I had a lot of responsibilities and duties, especially towards our people. That is why I had to always make plans and keep the future in sight.”

Maximus’s face became content as he looked out the window, spotting the sprawling city below them as the train continued moving.

“But now, I no longer have any obligations. Nothing to worry about. So, I can take life slowly and let things happen as they do without thinking much about anything else-“

Suddenly, Maximus stopped speaking as a massive holographic image sprang up across the city, including inside the train.

The moment the image sprang up, Megatronus and Maximus faced with rage that would make anyone quiver in their boots, while Windblade glared at the image balefully.

“Is that-?”

“For Primus’ sake! Why does this scrapheap have to exist in this universe as well!”

“Quite.”

Megatronus and Windblade instantly shut up at the low but baleful tone of their sire, making them stare at the image without another word as Maximus sat forward, waiting to see if this bot was similar to his counterpart that he knew from his world.

All the while, he expanded the range of his power and hacked into every single computer network nearby, pulling on any and all bits of data that had any mention of this bot and his actions.

“-Is it on? Okay, thank you.”

The bot with blue and gold coloring turned back to the live projection, his smiling face bringing back haunting memories for two of the three otherworldly Cybertronians.

“Hello, my friends. Hello, Iacon City!”

“Hello to our saviours, the industrious miners who toil selflessly to maintain our Energon reserves.”

“I celebrate you.”

Megatronus and Windblade did not need their sire’s power to know that the crowd of this city had taken to the charismatic figure’s flowery speech as the roars of celebration and cheer reached even them from the city and everywhere else.

All the while, Maximus continued glaring at the figure as his optics slowly bled red, indicating his emotional instability, as his investigations with his power showed increasingly inconsistent reports of history and data on the bot and his actions.

“Once again, I have narrowly returned with my fleet after another treacherous expedition across the desolate, dangerous surface of our planet.”

“What!? Desolate? What happened to this Cybertron?”

Megatronus was outraged by those words, making him remember the time when he was responsible for destroying his own homeworld.

Windblade, on the other hand, simply stared with worry between the image and her sire, whose glare continued to climb up in intensity.

“I departed with the hopes of finding the Matrix of Leadership, the key to bringing balance to Cybertron.”

“I regret to inform you, that we’ve returned empty-handed.”

The transmission within the train cut off as Maximus used his power to stop it, as his optics glowed red.

“...Well, looks like we know what our first move is going to be.”