Megatron didn't like the odds being against him. When he had travelled to prehistoric Earth, he had quite a number of options and opportunities at his fingertips. The great quantity of Energon, Maximal Stasis Pods to reprogram into loyal soldiers and the location of the Ark.

Now, most of those were gone. Much of the Energon on the planet had been destroyed in the alien attack and the Maximals had already stopped his main attempt to alter history by killing Optimus Prime. He needed an edge and he needed one fast.

Luckily for him, his probes had discovered a Stasis Pod in this region and it seemed the Maximals were completely unaware of it. Wanting to make sure the job was done right, he'd come personally.

The area was rough mountain terrain, a slightly colder climate. With trees and light patches of snow dotting nearby mountains. As he flew in his beast mode, Megatron glanced over at Inferno, one of his many minions he'd brought with him.

"Inferno, are there any Maximal signatures in the area?"

"No, Royalty, we are in the clear," the fire ant replied.

"Good, then the stasis pod is as good as ours," Megatron declared, a toothy grin crossing his chrome-plated snout.

Tarantulas and Quickstrike were following on the ground, Megatron still a little wary of trusting Tarantulas now that his true allegiance to the Tripredacus Council had been recently revealed. However, he knew that by still keeping him close, he could keep an eye on the scheming spider.

Eventually, the Predacons arrived at the co-ordinates of the Stasis Pod, Megatron surprised to find that the pod was not all that they had found.

The Pod had crashed besides what appeared to be some sort of strange monument. A paved, stone circle surrounding what appeared to be some sort of small plinth. On the plinth was an orb-shaped object, with glowing red spheres dotting its surface.

The glyphs and symbols that covered the strange site were all-too-familiar to Megatron. This was a creation of the aliens who had seeded the planet with Energon in the first place. Just what creation of theirs had they stumbled onto this time... and how could he use it to his advantage.

Landing, Megatron transformed to his robot form, his fellow Predacons standing at his sides. As Inferno and Quickstrike went to examine the Stasis Pod, Megatron approached the strange monument with Tarantulas.

"There is no doubt about it, Megatron," Tarantulas mused. "This does belong to those menacing aliens."

"Yessss, but it appears dormant," Megatron replied. "Do you still have the data on the alien disk?"

"Yes, I'll see if I can translate the markings," The spider noted.

Meanwhile, Quickstrike and Inferno had finished inspecting the stasis pod. The Fuzor managed to pry open the pod with his Cobra-head and glanced at the protoform inside.

"It's bust, boss," he reported.

Megatron strode over, seeing the Protoform was just a blank, lacking a spark entirely. This displeased him, but Blank Protoforms did have their uses. After all, Optimus Primal had been revived with one after all.

"Shall we destroy it, royalty?" Inferno wondered.

"Nooo, this may be useful to us," Megatron responded. "Prepare it for transport back to base, Inferno."

At the same time, Tarantulas was busy deciphering the markings on the alien device. He was curious as to its purpose, eyeing it closely. He'd spent many an age studying the relics of these entities, in hopes that he could rid the universe of them for interfering with his own plans.

As he was occupied, Quickstrike trotted over to him. "Find anything, Spider-bot?"

"Do you mind?! This is a delicate operation!" Tarantulas chided him.

"Awww come on! I wanna actually do something on this job!" The Fuzor complained. "It's bad enough I haven't got any Maxies to shoot."

Tarantulas didn't care, he merely continued to analyse the alien relic. He didn't have time for Quickstrike's nonsense. If it was one thing he hated, it was being interrupted. Part of him wanted to blast the Fuzor with a dose of Cyber-venom, but it wouldn't be worth it.

"Hmmm... you wanna know what this thing does, don't ya?" Quickstrike asked. "Well, why not turn it on and find out!"

The Spider glared. "What?! No?!"

"Don't worry, it'll be a piece of Energon cake!" Cackled Quickstrke, as the Predacon took aim with his Cobra head. The Cobra's mouth opened, charging a blast of green energy. He then fired his weapon, blasting the monument with a fully charged shot and knocking Tarantulas back.

"Ugh, you idiot!" Rasped Tarantulas. "I'll tear you to pieces!"

"Don't be so moody, Spider-bot, I did ya a favour," Quickstrike remarked.

Just then, all the Predacons then noticed a low humming sound coming from the small monument. The symbols on the plinth were now glowing and the whole area started to shake wildly. The Orb atop the plinth was glowing as well, levitating above the site.

"What'd I do?" Quickstrike wondered, shaking a little.

Megatron glared at his minion, but knew he could deal with Quickstrike later. "Predacons, get to cover now!"

Following that command, the three mechs followed their leader, all of them ducking for cover behind some nearby boulders. Megatron growled at Quickstrike, his red optics flaring with rage.

"Quickstrike, if we survive this, I will personally see that you are smelted down for spare parts!" He growled.

"Megatron, look!" Tarantulas shouted.

All the Predacons looked out as the sphere was hovering above the site and spinning on its axis in a frenzy. Beams of blue light fired from its surface, impacting the nearby Stasis Pod. Then the whole area was engulfed in a massive flash of bright light.

When the light faded, Megatron saw that the Pod had been completely destroyed and its place... was quite a sight indeed.

In the debris from the destroyed pod, there stood a large, metal creature that seemed vaguely humanoid in shape. Its arms and legs were skeletal, yet bulky, with one arm tipped with a massive claw while the other a strange, pickaxe shaped weapon.

Its armour was silver and blue in colour and its face was very monstrous and brutal, with a single glowing red eye allowing it to see. On its shoulder, there was a massive cannon attached. As the beast tried to make sense of its own existence, it growled and snarled.

Full of anger, the creature then blasted a nearby rock, firing an energy projectile from its cannon that obliterated it.

"What in tarnation?!" Quickstirke whispered.

"By the Allspark, what is it?" Inferno asked.

Tarantulas scanned the creature, grimly confirming what he'd now suspected. "It seems the alien device has mutated the creature in the same manner the quantum surge mutated our bodies, Megatron. That thing is some kind of Transmetal."

"I don't care," Megatron argued. "I want it destroyed. Predacons, attack!"

"Whoo boy, finally some action!" Quickstrke added.

Leaping out from their hiding spot, the Predacons opened fire on the strange, mutant beast. Inferno took to the skies, blasting the creature with his pulsar cannons. He dodged its projectiles, cackling with delight as he had an ariel advantage over the creature.

"You are no match for me, beast!" Inferno roared. "No monster is a match for a warrior of the colony!"

The creature snarled, charging forwards and leaping into the air. It grabbed Inferno by the legs and started to pull him down. Inferno grunted, trying to blast the creature with his weapon to get it off him, but the beast clung on regardless, snarling wildly.

"Ugh! Royalty, help!" He called out. "Get it off me!"

"I got you, buddy!" Quickstrike shouted, charging at the creature.

However, the monster merely tossed Inferno at Qucikstrike, the two of them tumbling into a heap as they were taken out by the brute.

Tarantulas leapt out then, pulling out his buzzsaw weapon. His blades clashed with the massive pickaxe wielded by the mutant, the spider barely able to hold on against its great strength. He pushed on though, feeling partly responsible for this mess in the first place.

"Ugh... it's so strong!" Tarantulas remarked.

Growling, the creature then kicked Tarantulas back, knocking him down. It roared, a loud metallic noise that echoed its dominance.

Megatron groaned as he watched his men get torn apart by the mutant. "It seems I must take care of everything by myself." He pulled out his Fusion Cutlass, firing a shot at the monster to bait it into attacking him. It worked, the beast roaring as it charged at Megatron.

Knowing he had the creature at his mercy, Megatron transformed into his beast form and rushed at the beast, tackling it. His massive jaws chomped down on its arm, but the creature knocked him off. Determined, Megatron strafed the strange creature.

The beast had great strength, he would admit that. If there was any way of controlling it, he would gladly sic it on the Maximals and watch it destroy them like it had done its own troops, but alas, he was now forced to destroy it and put an end to this nonsense.

Clashing with the creature again, Megatron took a blast to the face. He was disorientated for a moment, giving the creature a chance to knock him down. Grunting, Megatron was forced back to his robot form, the creature jumping on top of him. It tried to force down his pickaxe down, wanting to finish Megatron for good.

Struggling against the creature, Megatron knew he wasn't destined to go out like this. Was his namesake, the original Megatron defeated in such a manner? No, he was a warrior, the greatest in Cybertron's history. And Megatron, no matter who bore the name, never surrendered.

Charging up his weapon, Megatron blasted the creature off him. It was startled and damaged, Megatron standing proudly against his foe.

"You picked a fight with the wrong Predacon, abomination!" Megatron retorted. "To the pit with you!"

With his VTOL jets giving him a boost of speed, Megatron charged again, impaling the monster through the chest. It screamed in metallic agony, music to the Predacon leader's ears. Finishing the job, Megatron fired his weapon, blasting the creature apart.

As the monster fell, dead at his hand, Megatron laughed triumphantly. He had won.

"Ah yessss, the sweet smell of victory," he stated.

Tarantulas and the others slumped towards him, each of them in varying states of disrepair. Glancing down at the dead creature, Tarantulas gave it a kick.

"And stay dead," he rasped.

Megatron glanced at his troops. Alas, this mission, despite that victory over the monster, had been one that had ended in failure. They couldn't afford more setbacks like this and especially couldn't afford one of them being a complete imbecile and botching the whole operation.

Quickstrike was going to get quite a punishment when they returned back to base.

"What now, Royalty?" Inferno asked.

"Now, we return to base," Megatron informed him. "That monster gave us quite a beating."

"It's a shame it had to be destroyed though," Tarantulas admitted. "The Transmetal upgrades made it virtually indestructible. If we had a whole army of creatures like it, the Maximals would be done for and the Ark would be ours."

Then Megatron glanced at the alien device that had caused this mess. A terrible, dark thought entered his head as he approached it. Reaching out with his claw, he pried the alien device from the plinth, smirking. Tarantulas had a point. If he could control one alien device, why not another?

"We'll take this with us then," Megatron stated.

"Does this mean I'm not getting slagged?" Quickstrike wondered.

A firey gaze from Megatron told him otherwise. Quickstrike gulped, hiding behind Inferno.

As the Predacons transformed back to their beast forms, Megatron looked at the alien device again. This was just the edge that he'd needed, the chance to create a warrior powerful enough to defeat the Maximals in one fell swoop.

"With this, Maximals, you will soon face your ultimate doom," he remarked. "Yesssss."

xXx

Author's note: Been a very, very long time since I wrote anything Transformers related and this is the first time I've done anything original for a Transformers fic. My other stories were merely novelisations of things that happened in canon. In the AO3 version of this story, I'll include a Trivia/Notes section like the one on TFWiki. I hope to write more Transformers fics soon!

Till all are one!