It was Ironic. Megatron, leader of a motley band of Predacons, would soon have altered the destiny of the entire Cybertronian race, and yet he was hesitant.

From the moment he had decoded what was on the Golden Disk, He knew of the great risk he was undertaking.

The Disk itself, a human relic from times gone by, was encoded with a secret message from his namesake, the Original Megatron.

In it, Megatron was provided with coordinates and a mission, but he was reluctant. The coordinates were for Earth, four million years in the past, just after the Nemesis and the Ark had crashed on the planet and the mission... was to kill Optimus Prime before he led the Autobots to victory against the Decepticons.

There was a high risk involved. Without Prime, many lives would be lost, but Megatron had no choice. His secondary goal, acquire all the planet's energon, was futile with most of it having been destroyed in the Alien attack. His troops had scattered or had been deactivated and his base had been overrun.

All the odds were against him and this was his final trump card.

As he flew across a barren wasteland on one of the planet's northern continents using the turbine jets on his Transmetal Alt-mode, the predacon leader quickly scanned his surroundings with his onboard systems.

The Maximals were still in pursuit, of course, Optimus Primal and Cheetor flying after him at top speed, but Megatron knew they would catch him. He had already gained too much distance between them.

He knew his destination very well, the volcano in which the Ark had crashed. He had discovered it not long after crashing on Earth at the start of the Beast Wars, but quickly sealed it away. He knew it was too much of a gamble to play that early in the war.

But now he had no choice in the matter. It was now or never to win this final battle in the wars on ancient Earth.

He soon arrived at the large valley where he knew the volcano would be. As he hovered over the area, reminding himself of his surroundings, he saw that the large collection of boulders he had collapsed over the entrance had been excavated.

His gamble had paid off. That scheming spider, Blackarachnia, had done all of the hard work for him. Now it was time for him to claim his prize.

He landed on the ground, roaring loudly before transforming to his robot mode and beginning to march towards the entrance to the cave.

He looked to his left, seeing the components of Waspinator laying on a plain nearby. He chuckled, feeling no pity for the hopeless bug.

Megatron entered the cavern, sensing the heat gently stroke the shiny plating of his Transmetal body. The volcano was active, of course, but as history would dictate, it would not explode for another four millennia, in the year 1984.

A turning point in history, when the Autobots and Decepticons awoke from their slumber, a turning point that would soon change.

As Megatron strode the cliff edge, his eyes based in the awe of the shining golden ship firmly encrusted in the rocky cavern.

It was the Ark, firmly intact thanks to the invincibility of it's Diecast constructed hull. Truly it was a wondrous sight. It almost made Megatron envious that such a vessel couldn't exist in his own time.

But he didn't care about that, because below him, on a small patch of fiery dirt by the entrance to the ship, stood Blackarachnia and the Maximal Fuzor, Silverbolt.

Megatron chuckled. It seemed the two traitors to his cause had finally proved useful and now it would be time to reward them for that loyalty.

He held out his large cannon, formed from the tail of his beast mode and fired at Silverbolt on the rocks below.

The Fuzor looked shocked for a second before he was knocked into the Ark's force field, zapped by the current and discarded back onto the dirt.

Blackarachnia glared at Megatron as her leader smirked triumphantly. "You took your sweet time getting here."

Megatron chuckled, his turbines activating as he flew down to the patch of dirt. "You surprise me with your treachery, Blackarachnia. Unfortunately, treachery is often predictable." He then pointed his laser at the entrance to the cavern, firing a blast and collapsing it behind them.

He strode over past her, walking towards the entrance of the Ark. As he reached his hand over to a control panel, he felt a slight jolt on the end of his finger as it touched the force field.

"Ah, Teletraan 1 is still operating," he remarked.

"Shame," Blackarachnia cooed, sounding sorry for her leader in a sarcastic manner. "Don't you have the access codes you got from the disk."

Megatron grabbed Blackarachnia with the claw on the end of his cannon, holding her up by the spider legs. "The disk was destroyed by Dinobot, remember? But you have the codes, don't you, yesss."

He chuckled. He had known this fact for a while now, thanks to the security footage inside of his base.

"You stole them from my Backup data tracks, didn't you? While the others and I were attacking the Maximal base. Then you destroyed them and blamed the attack on Dinobot."

Blackarachnia scowled. "So what if I did, Grape Face. Those codes are mine now."
Megatron gritted his teeth and tossed the spider-woman to one side, flying down to her side and charging his Energy Cannon.

Blackarachnia lay on her knees, slightly skittering away from the purple Predacon. "So what are you going to do?" she asked defiantly. "Shoot me? You still don't have the codes."

Megatron smirked. "Oh, my dear, I had no intention of shooting you, noooo." He then pointed his blaster at Silverbolt's head, charging it. "I had a much more effective target in mind."

Blackarachnia looked on in shock and fear.

Megatron merely smiled, knowing her feelings for this Maximal outweighed her own sense of selfishness. "The codes, Blackarachnia. Produce them at once."

Blackarachnia shuttered, but merely kept her mouth shut, not bothering to answer.

Megatron looked at her, a rather cocky grin on his faceplate. "Well?"

"Well what?" she answered. "Go ahead, slag him if you want, he means nothing to me."

Silverbolt's eyes shot open in surprise, before looking at Megatron directly in an expression of pure and utter terror and then gazing at Blackarachnia, pleading for mercy.

Blackarachnia then composed herself. "It um... would be a waste of ammo."

"Of course," Megatron noted.

Suddenly, the two of them heard the sounds of digging and grunting from outside and a familiar voice saying, "Keep going! We're almost through!"

Blackarachnia looked at her leader. "Looks like the Maximals are here. You better get going," she said in a rather hurried voice.

"Perhaps, but I think I'll deal with this Fuzor first," Megatron stated, pointing his blaster directly at Silverbolt, ready to fire.

Blackarachnia panicked. After all that bot had done for her, was she just going to let him suffer for Megatron's ambition? No, she wasn't. She did love him.

"Wait!" She butted in. "I'll..." She sighed. "I'll do it."

Megatron smiled in glee, knowing that the spider had no choice but to obey him. Psychological manipulation was always one of his strong points.

"But only because we need cover anyway," the fembot added, charging past Megatron. "Stand aside."

She walked up to the console Megatron had tried to access earlier, activating her onboard systems. "Computer, transmit access code," She ordered. A pair of silver beams then emitted from her eyes and fired towards a receiver on the control panel.

Megatron walked towards her, seeing shafts of light start to enter the cave as the Maximal's tunnelled through. "Is it working?" he asked her.

"It better," Blackarachnia replied. The lights then faded from her eyes as the console on the wall finally activated, deactivating the force field and opening the large doors in front of them.

Megatron grinned, walking into the Ark with a hint of pride. Soon, his destiny would be finally fulfilled and victory would be his.

As Megatron and Blackarachnia entered the ship, the rock wall burst open and Optimus, Cheetor, Rattrap and Rhinox leapt through.

As Optimus saw the massive golden ship in the centre of the cavern, his spark skipped a pulse. "No, by Primus no!"

"Woah..." Cheetor gazed in awe. "The Ark."

xXx

Inside of the massive vessel, Megatron and Blackarachnia walked through a massive corridor, much more massive than any ship they had both ever been in.

Truly it was astounding how much smaller Maximal and Predacon technology had become in comparison to the things from this era.

As they walked through the halls, Megatron noticed a security console, linked to Teletraan-1's operating system. "Blackarachnia, interface with that console and deal with the Maximals. This ship should keep them busy for a while, yesss."

"And where are you going?" Blackarachnia wondered as Megatron turned a corner.

"Oh, I'm going to affect a more... permanent solution," he stated, chuckling softly.

He marched towards the main bridge of the Ark, still in awe of this gigantic ship. He had studied the layout countless times, so he knew his way easily, but to actually stand here, in this rather sacred place it felt... wrong, like he was so out of place here.

No, he had this mission to follow, and victory would be his. Cybertron and the galaxy would be his to command and the universe itself would tremble at his name, the name he had chosen for himself.

As he walked to the bridge and stood in front of the large metal door, he pondered. "Now I enter these hallowed halls, a conqueror. Yess."

The door opened and Megatron activated his turbines, floating across the room.

The bridge was very desolate, with the deactivated forms of several transformers, literal giants compared to Megatron.

"Autobots and Decepticons," Megatron mused. "Still frozen in stasis lock, until the day they awaken and the great war begins."

He sighed, feeling disgusted at the humiliation his kind had received.

"The great war, where the Autobots defeat the Decepticons, and their descendants rule we Predacons with an iron fist." He smiled. "Well no longer."

As he arrived by a large chair, with a massive robot sitting within it, he monologued again. "Although I was reluctant to follow your instructions, Megatron, it has all come down to this. Ultimate risk for the ultimate prize."

He then rose up, seeing the robot sat down, asleep in the chair.

It was none other than Optimus Prime himself.

Megatron smiled, flying up close to Optimus's faceplate. "We finally meet face to face, Optimus Prime. In the future, you shall be remembered as the great leader of the Autobots... but time shall take a different path now."

He flew backwards slightly and held out his long cannon, charging it to full power. "Let this be a day of reckoning with those who made us slaves!"

Optimus remained in slumber, his comatose form not even processing what would happen to him.

"And so Optimus Prime," Megatron declared. "In memory of the Decepticons and for the glory of the Predacons, I bid thee... farewell!"

The massive beam fired from his weapon, striking Optimus Prime dead in the face. As the form of his head exploded in a flash of light, a massive distortion started to surround the room.

Megatron watched as the distortion took the shape of a storm of pure energy, a storm that was beyond imagination.

The storm travelled out of the ark itself, across the face of Earth and out into space. With the destruction of Optimus Prime, reality would be altering accordingly.

Megatron flew through the storm-ridden halls, seeing Blackarachnia clutched on the floor in pain.

"What have you done?!" She screamed, her body fading in and out of existence.

The Predacon leader merely ignored his underling, proceeding towards the massive door he had entered the ship from, the winds of the timestorm howling around him, sparking with pure energy.

Outside of the ship, Megatron saw Optimus and the other Maximals in agony and pain, their bodies being warped and torn apart by the cosmic forces that surrounded them all.

Megatron laughed at his foes triumphantly. "Say goodbye to the universe, Maximals! The future has changed, yesss! The Autobots lose and evil triumphs! And you no longer exist!"

Optimus scowled at Megatron, the predacon seeing his body fade away into the storm. "Megatron! You monster! You'll doom us all!"

"Foolish Primal!" Megatron argued. "With your ancestor, Optimus Prime, dead, we Predacons now rule Cybertron!"

"No!... You don't understand, Megatron... you..." Optimus was then cut off as he faded into the storm and out of reality itself.

Megatron laughed as the other Maximals, including Blackarachnia faded away too, but then felt a tingling sensation in his hand.

"What?" He wondered. He then looked at his hand, seeing it start to fluctuate in the storm just like the others did.

"Noooooo!" Megatron cried in pain, realising that the risk had been too great. He was being torn apart as well.

In his final moments, he knew why this was happening. Without Optimus Prime, the Matrix would be lost and without it, Cybertron would be destroyed.

In a way, it was ironic. He came here to achieve a victory and in the end, only caused his own defeat.

xXx

Author's note: And here we come to our second Transformers fic, taking a look at an event in the infamous Beast Was of prehistoric Earth. In this scene, Megatron terminated the original Optimus Prime, causing a timestorm. Of course in the original timeline, the Maximals were able to save Prime by transferring his spark into Optimus Primal, but here, we see what might have happened if they had been a bit too late... and no one is the victor.

See ya next time!