FicWad

Jack and his team had just seen what could only be Unicron's spark moving up the Reaper beam into orbit from where they standing as Harbinger towered over them, his shadow cast over the area where they stood.

"Now you will witness the rebirth of our Master!" it roared as it's yellow eyes glowed brightly, which immediately made the entire team hold their heads in their hands as they suddenly could see the spark flying up the Reaper beam right in front of their eyes.

Far from the what was happening on the ground, the battle above the Earth continued as a Reaper flew in close to an Alliance dreadnought and clamped it's legs around the it's bow before moving, bringing the captured vessel with it and smashing it into the side of a Turian cruiser. The Defiant meanwhile fired on a reaper that was plaguing the Destiny Ascension, firing a spread of torpedoes that blew off one of the behemoth's legs, therefore allowing the Council flagship to continue to aid the other ships in it's immediate area. The Defiant the turned around and began descending to the planet below.

Meanwhile the Ark continued to fight as it orbited the now connected Crucible/Citadel. Admiral Bryce was looking down at the holo-screen beside him as he listened on his com link.

"We are on our way Admiral." he heard Hotrod say from his end, the Admiral nodded in return.

"Good luck Defiant, Bryce out." he replied before one of his officers turned to him from his console.

"Sir, our sensors are picking up an extremely strong power signature rising from the planet surface, and it is heading our way….. fast." he said with worry in his voice. Bryce looked at the officer and mirrored his expression before turning back to the bridge canopy, just in time to see the ball of purple energy ride up the beam right into the Citadel. Then suddenly the outer layers of the crucible came to life as it's surface began to shift and change, the entire super-weapon started was transforming right before the Admiral's eyes as he and his bridge crew were frozen in fear and shock by what they were seeing. In fact the entire battle had stopped as the Reapers watched, along with the remaining galactic fleet. The crews of each ship staring with fear and shock at the ever changing form of the Crucible.

Inside the super-weapon's control room, Kranix looked around with an expression of utter glee as it's walls began to shift and change around him, the holo-form of Bagu stood beside the Lithone and was just as transfixed.

"This is it Bagu, our Masters time is at hand." he said as he watched the room transforming around him, the bodies of the dead crew either falling through the gaps in the moving parts of the ground or being crushed by sections that moved into the room.

"Farewell my Creator, take this blessing with you into the next life." the VI replied before a bulkhead suddenly moved across the room, going straight through Bagu and squashing the indoctrinated Kranix against the far wall, splattering his remains out over it in the process.

As the transformation continued, a pair of arms and legs began to grow and stretch out as the Crucible took on the shape of a bipedal form. On the left arm, a section moved back up it's forearm to reveal a hand, it flexed out it's fingers as if it was mimicking the 'morning stretch'. While on the right arm, a similar section moved back to reveal a large blade like weapon. On the legs, sections on the lower parts folded out into what looked like Cybertronian feet. As the torso remoulded itself to look like a metallic representation of the Chaos Bringer's, the Citadel remained in it's star like shape on torso's back, but moved round until four of the arms looked like wings (two either side) and the bottom arm covered over the aft of the body. Then a section between the shoulders receded and the head rose up into view, with a pair of long horns on either side of it (trademark of Unicron). The familiar face of the Chaos bringer then formed before it's optics suddenly glowed bright purple.

"My children I have returned and I command you to join me and purge this galaxy of life. Destroy it all, in the name of Unicron."

Then at that very moment all around the galaxy, millions of Reapers suddenly appeared from the shadows as they began blotting out the skies of every world as the complete annihilation of all life begun.

The battle above Earth suddenly reignited as the Reapers carried on from where they started and began destroying both 'sword' and 'shield' fleets with much more ferocity than before. Unicron himself waded into the battle, smashing his fist and arm blade through any ships that were unfortunate to get too close. On board the Ark, the communication officer received a message through his com link, and he gave the Admiral a worried look.

"Sir, sensors are picking up thousands of Reapers entering Earth space. And we are getting reports of more appearing over our allies home worlds...every world in fact."

The Admiral just looked out of canopy at the battle raging around them as the Reapers reinforcements came into view in the distance.

"...My god." he said before Lucifer caught his eye, the Rogue Reaper was heading straight for Unicron. It fired its beam weapon which swept along the surface of The Chaos Bringer's elbow, gaining the deity's attention as he looked down at it from the Asari dreadnought he had just destroyed.

"traitorous son of mine, you dare fire on your creator." he spat at the behemoth as it continued to fire, it's beam attacks not even leaving a scratch on Unicron's new form.

"We are the memory of the those you harvested and we will have our revenge." Lucifer replied coldly.

"I think not." the Chaos Bringer said back before reaching down with his hand and grasping the rogue Reaper, tightening his grip around it.

"Do you really think I would create you, and then give you the firepower to even harm me. Let me finally end your pathetic existence and extinguish the last hope the organics have." Unicron said as he began to squeeze Lucifer, crushing it's body in his hand. Energy started to bleed out of the growing cracks along the behemoth's black surface as it's red eyes began to dim in brightness, then Unicron threw the wounded Reaper away before looking at the Reapers around him.

"My children, show this traitorous spawn what happens to those that defy me."

Several of the black behemoths then broke off from the battle and the began surrounding the crippled Lucifer as it drifted with a small cloud of debris in it's wake, they then a red light started to shine brightly on their underside as their beam weapons prepared to fire. But suddenly Lucifer fired his weapon in a wide beam, hitting and destroying two of the Reapers in one shot. But before it had the chance to fire again, the others fired their own in retaliation. Their beams then carved up the rogue Reaper until it exploded, before heading back into the battle and leaving a small amount of debris behind. Admiral Bryce witnessed the whole thing and lowered his head, the feeling of defeat beginning to eat away at him as his forces were now being wiped out in front of him.

Back in London, just aways from the Reaper beam. Jack and his friends stood in the shadow of the Reaper called Harbinger, it's glowing yellow eyes looking down on them. Suddenly the images of Unicron's rebirth faded away and the team could see again, Jack looked up at the behemoth.

"Our master has returned and you have outlived your usefulness. It is time to condemn you to oblivion." it said gaining the others attention after they recovered. The underside of the Reaper break to glow a bright red as it's weapon ports powered up.

"Oh crap..." Garrus sighed as Arcee stood beside Jack and took his hand in hers, affectionately squeezing it. Jack looked back at her and smiled slightly, her own expression mirroring his. Her resolve never lessened, even in the face of their impending deaths.

"At least we are together." she said softly and the Prime nodded in return as they looked at each other before returning their attention to the Reaper standing above them, it's weapon now primed and ready to fire.

"Well guys…. it was an honour serving with you all." Smokescreen said as he looked around the group, Jack though took a deep breath. Waiting for the inevitable, when suddenly out of nowhere four shining blue projectiles impacted against Harbinger's hull. It did not damage the Reaper, but certainly it's attention was gained as it turned to the direction that the attack came from. Jack and everyone looked to and they all stared in surprise as the Defiant descended below the storm clouds and fired again at the behemoth before flying past it and circling around for another pass.

"What the hell are they doing?" Arcee asked in shock as Harbinger fired it's beam weapon at the frigate, only for it to miss as the Defiant performed a barrel roll and fired another spread of torpedoes that impacted harmlessly against the Reaper.

"They are distracting Harbinger, and allowing us to head to the beam." Optimus replied, earning a nod of agreement from Jack.

"He's right, lets not waste the chance they have given us….. Move!" he said as the group began to run in the direction of the beam as the Defiant made another run at the Reaper. As they made their way down into the graveyard of Hammer's ground forces, the team fired on any Husks that got in their way, once they were nearly half way towards the beam Jack tapped his com link.

"Thanks for the save Hotrod, now get out of there." he said as he looked back to see the Defiant turning around for another attack, Harbinger roaring loudly, as if becoming increasingly pissed off with this tough little ship.

"Your welcome Jack, heading back n…oh shit." the Autobot replied just as the Reaper fired a beam which hit the frigate's portside engine wing, it exploding which made the rest of the team turn and look in shock.

"Hotrod! Get the ship out of there now!" the Commander shouted as he watched the Defiant's evasion of Harbinger's attacks become more sluggish, but due to Hotrod's impressive skill he still managed to evade another blast from the Reaper.

In the cockpit the Autobot pilot was frantically fighting against the failing controls while fires were raging behind him as the CIC crew tried desperately to keep the situation from descending into complete anarchy.

"I hear you Jack, but Tali's told me that the hit from the Reaper beam as crippled us, we haven't got enough power to break free of Earth's gravity." he said as he veered the ship sharply to the right as another blast narrowly missed. Teletraan's holo-form appeared next to Hotrod and flickered as it's power source was slowly beginning to fail.

"We….ar…los…..power, weapons…..offli…shi..lds…dow…, I…sug…est aban…oning ship." it said as it's voice crackled with interference. Hotrod then hit a button on his holo-controls and an alarm blared through the entire ship.

"All hands abandon ship, I repeat all hands abandon ship!"

All over the ship, crewmen ran frantically as they made their ways to the escape pods which had opened up automatically. Bumblebee and Raf helped crewmen into one as Chromia helped some into another, Tali ordered her people into the pod outside engineering and took one last look inside as fires and explosions rattled around her, making sure no one was left behind.

"This is Tali, everyone is onboard the pod on my level, heading off now." she said before leaving the room and climbing inside the pod which then sealed itself.

"Same here" Ratchet said as he got ready to climb into his own pod, with a number of crewmen waiting for him. But suddenly he heard a growl and looked back to see Ravage storm round the corner at the end of the corridor towards them.

"Quickly, get on board." he said before the feline bot pounced and landed inside the escape pod which Ratchet then climbed in and watched as it sealed itself.

In the cockpit which was now empty apart from Hotrod (all CIC crew had got to their escape pod) who looked at a screen to his left to see all pods were ready for launch. He then hit the button next to it.

Jack and his team watched as the escape pods disengaged from the damaged frigate and flew overhead before landing just under a quarter mile away, the Prime then looked back to see the Defiant coming back round as Harbinger fired another shot that skimmed the ship, making it shake from another explosion.

"What's he doing now?" Garrus asked as Jack saw that the ship was preparing for something.

"Hotrod, I know what you are going to do, don't do it. Head to an escape pod." he said into his com link.

"No can do Jack, all the pods have been launched. Plus Teletraan has been damaged so I need to do this manually." the pilot replied as the Defiant shook from another brush from Harbinger's beam weapon.

"I am going to overload the hyperspace engines, hopefully that will make this ship more than a match for that thing's shields." he said as he turned the ship round one last time and now had the Reaper directly in the center of his HUD, he then tapped on his holo-controls to his right and the screen said 'Message sent'.

"Col…sion war…ing, coll…on war…ing!" Teletraan sputtered earning an annoyed look from the pilot.

"Override. And thanks Teletraan... for everything." he replied

"You…ar….wel..ome…Hotrod." the AI said back as the Autobot started the final approach.

Jack watched helplessly as he knew why his friend was doing this and he put his hand to his com link again.

"Hotrod, you don't have to do this."

"I do Jack, and you know it as well, I owe you one after all. Just make sure my death means something and end this god forsaken war... Oh and I want statue by the way." he replied half jokingly as the ship closed in on Harbinger.

"Goodbye." Hotrod then said with an accepting tone and stoic expression as he then activated the hyperspace engines which pushed the Defiant toward faster than light speeds as it narrowly missed another blast from Harbinger and slammed right into the front of the Reaper, impacting on the three yellow eyes on it's right side. The resulting explosion send a wave of electrical bolts around the body of Harbinger, Jack and his team watched wide eyed and with mournful expressions. But the Reaper looked unaffected by the impact when suddenly it's back legs buckled and gave way, the behemoth suddenly tipping backwards before hitting the ground. Dust and debris was thrown into the air by the gigantic living vessel as it just lied there on it's back, not moving. Jack was still staring when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Jackson, we have to honor Hotrod's sacrifice and make sure that it was not in vain." he said before the younger Prime looked back to him.

"I know, let's go everyone. Before Harbinger comes too." jack replied before taking one last look at burning wreckage lying at Harbinger's feet.

'Goodbye Hotrod and thank you.' he thought before he and his team carried on running to the beam as the fighting continued rage all over the world, let alone in London. As they got closer to the beam, several Husks suddenly appeared and attacked the team, three of them pounced from the top of an overturned tank as Jack and his friends readied themselves to fight them.

Optimus swung the star saber and cleaved one in half, while Arcee sliced into one with her arm blades before kicking it into a nearby fire. Grimlock grabbed two of them and smacked their heads together, earning a loud cracking sound. Jazz and Smokecreen shot one each in the face and Jack shot another in the legs before decapitating it with his own star saber. Garrus though saw two Husks cannibalising one of their own, as well as one of the dead soldiers lying next to it.

"Sick." he said in disgust before sniping both of them between the eyes.

"We're clear." Jack said as the group then ran the rest of the way through the graveyard to the Reaper beam. As they neared the blue energy as it pulsated up into the sky, Arcee then checked her weapon one last time. The femme then began walking into the beam.

"Alright, let's finish this."

But she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see Jack staring at her stoically.

"I am sorry Arcee, but this is a far as you go." he replied as Optimus watched the two of them.

"What?" the femme replied in surprise.

"I need you to take leadership of the team and go help defend the Defiant survivors. They need your help now." Jack said back, trying not to show what he was really thinking in his expression. Arcee's eyes widened though in response, like she could see straight through Jack.

"No Jack, we do this together." she replied defiantly, gaining Optimus's attention.

"Arcee, Jack and I must do this alone." he said stoically, the femme looked at him for a second before her azure eyes fell on her lover again. Jack could see them beginning to well up.

"But...you promised that we would see this fight through to the end...together." she said softly to him as tears began to run down her cheeks, the younger Prime then took both her hands in his and brought the femme, his femme close to him.

"I know and I am sorry..." he began to say before Arcee cut him off.

"Your not coming back are you?" she said before Jack cupped her face in his hands and leaned in close, their lips almost touching as the blue light of the Reaper beam shone behind them.

"I will come back to you Arcee, Because… you are my spark-mate and I love you." he replied, gaining a surprised look from the femme, who then closed the distance between them and kissed Jack passionately. Their kiss lasted only a moment before they both pulled back slightly and touched their foreheads together.

"You better come back to me Jack, or I will hunt you down...partner." she said with a slight smile as another tear ran down her cheek, only for the Prime to wipe it away with his thumb as he stroked her cheek.

"I swear." he replied before stepping back, away from her and towards the beam. Never taking his eyes off the femme and she with him.

"Come back to me." she said softly, earning a nod from him before Jack looked over to Optimus and then they both turned round and entered the light of the beam and disappeared right before everyone's eyes. Then just a moment later the beam shut down, the light that had illuminated the area suddenly gone and leaving the lightning that shot across the blanket of storm clouds overhead as the only light (other than the weapons fire that was being fired at the Reapers in the distance).

"They have no way to get back." Arcee said in shock as Garrus stood beside her.

"Arcee I am sure we can get Bryce or one of our ships to pick them up, but in the meantime we need to get to the Defiant escape pods before they are overrun by Husks." he said as the femme just looked up at the sky, then she nodded slowly before turning to the Turian with a stoic expression, attempting to hide the anguish she was feeling at that moment.

"You're right." she replied before looking back at the others.

"Jack gave us a job to do, so let's get on with it." she said while equipping her SMGs, Jazz, Smokescreen and Grimlock nodded in return as the femme then took the lead and the group began to head over to where the escape pods crash-landed. Garrus for a second held back and scanned the path to their destination, making sure that no Husks were about. Once happy that the path was safe for a now, he then began to follow the others but first looked up at the sky where the Reaper beam had been.

"Stay safe." he whispered before heading after the rest of the team.

Meanwhile not far from the Reaper beam's location, the Defiant's escape pods began to open as Chromia, Tali, Bumblebee and Ratchet got out of their respective pods, looking around so that they could determine that it was safe for the rest of the crew.

"By the Allspark." Ratchet stated in horror at the site that welcomed him as he saw the utter devastation that the Reapers had inflicted on his adoptive home-world.

"Keelah.." Tail said in return before equipping her shotgun.

"Bumblebee held his blasters, ready to take for anything as Raf activated his holo-tool and scanned the area.

"Readings are inconclusive, but we should get everyone to a more secure and defend-able .." he said before an unholy scream cut him off, Bumblebee then looked around till his blue eyes widened at the sight they were met with. The Autobot saw Chromia suddenly fighting off three husks at once as the crewmen in her escape pod resealed the hatch, he then looked back to his best friend.

"Close this hatch and seal it...now!" he stated firmly to his friend, who nodded back before freezing in spot as he saw something behind Bumblebee. But the young scout turned warrior needed no warning as he turned on the spot and fired at the Husk that had tried to sneak up on him. But before he could get a clear shot on it, the creature pounced and tackled the bot to the floor.

"Bee!" Raf shouted as the other occupants in the pod watched on fear.

"Seal the pod!" the Autobot shouted back as he tried to fight off the snarling and scratching Husk. Rat just stood there completely frozen as his mind fought with his instincts, leave his friend to die to save the others or fight. Bumblebee meanwhile punched the creature in the face, but it has no effect as it grabbed his hand and pinned it down to the ground. It then looked at him with it's soulless blue optics before screaming into his face as it then lunged it's mouth down at his throat, teeth ready to rip it out. But then a gunshot was heard and the Husk fell on top of the Autobot, a smoking hole in it's head. Confused by this Bumblebee pushed the dead body off himself and looked up to see his friend looking back while pointing a gun in his direction. His face was one of shock and relief, his Autobot friend simply smiled back as he got to his feet.

"Thanks buddy, now seal your selves in there." he said earning a nod and smile from the scientist who complied. Bumblebee then re-equipped his blasters and turned to see scores of Husks charging toward the landing site.

"Oh hell." he said to himself before opening fire on the horde rushing at him.

The other pods came under attack at the same time as Chromia and Tali engaged the Husks who tried to swarm them. Ratchet even had help from Ravage who had jumped out of the escape pod before the hatch re-sealed to help with the fight. The medic was slicing up husks left and right with his holo-blades while Ravage was was ripping the throats out of others after pouncing on them. One of the Husks meanwhile climbed on top of the escape and readied itself to leap at the Quarian, who had not noticed due to her blasting away the other creatures who got to close. But just as it was about to strike, a familiar gunshot was heard followed by the sound of metal piercing flesh. Tali heard this behind her and looked up to see the Husk fall off the pod's roof and land at her feet, she then shot another creature before looking around until her eyes came across a sight that made her heart beat faster and feel warmer.

"Garrus." she called as her Turian boyfriend fired another shot that took the head off another Husk before running down to meet her, Arcee at his side.

"Where's the rest?" Tali asked as both the femme and Garrus killed the remaining creatures around them.

"Jazz is helping Bumblebee, Smokescreen is assisting Ratchet and Grimlock is with Chromia." Arcee replied before looking around to see that they were safe for a moment.

"Garrus, get on top of the pod and keep an eye out. I want to know the second more Husks are on the way." she said.

"Roger that." the Turian replied before winking at his girlfriend before climbing up onto the Pod's roof and setting up his sniper rifle.

"Tali, can you activate a number of drones to assist us with defending the pods?" Arcee asked as the Quarian stood beside her.

"Sure, but were is Jack?"

Arcee looked away for a moment as she remembered what had only occurred just a few minutes ago.

"Jack entered the beam with Optimus and is by now inside Unicron." she said with her eyes closed as the image of him looking at her with the beam's light illuminating them both played out before her eyes. Tali noticed this and placed a sympathetic hand on the femme's shoulder.

"He will be back Arcee, he loves you after all." she replied. Arcee look back to her and nodded.

"I know, but I just wish…"

"You wish you were fighting at his side." the Quarian finished off the femme's sentence.

"Yes, but he told me he needed us to help defend the Defiant's crew, and so help me I will see that it is done." the femme replied as Garrus called down from his spot.

"We have Husks, a lot of them. We have a few minutes before they are in weapons range."

Okay, let the others know Garrus. I have a quick call to make." she said as Tali activated her holo-tool and started to deploy her drones. The femme then tapped her com link.

"Arcee to the Ark, can you read me? I need to speak to Admiral Bryce." she said.

The Ark continued to fire at the incoming Reapers as both 'Sword' and 'Shield' fleets were being pummeled by the overwhelming force that they were up against. Admiral Bryce was watching from the ship's bridge as he saw cruiser after cruiser being destroyed by the black behemoths. The Admiral kept his facial expression as stoic as possible, so not to unnerve his crew who were attempting to keep them in the battle. But really, having seen their last and only hope with the Crucible go up in smoke and witnessing the Reapers systematically wiping out the rest of his fleet, while also knowing that they were at this very moment committing genocide on a galactic scale. The Admiral had all but given up, but he would be damned if he would let his own crew see him that way. He just continued to watch as his communications officer turned to him.

"Sir, I am picking up a transmission from the surface. It is Arcee, she is asking for you."

"Patch her through." the Admiral replied, the officer then transferred it to Bryce's own console.

"Arcee report, what's going on down there. We lost contact with the Defiant."

"Admiral, the Defiant has been lost. The ship was damaged by Harbinger and so Hotrod piloted it into the Reaper, so that we would have a chance to reach the beam." the femme replied.

"I….see, I am sorry to hear that. But why go to the beam, the Crucible was a fake this whole time, I don't understand." Bryce replied honestly.

"Sir, Jack and Optimus should be inside Unicron as we speak, and they believe they can eliminate him from within. We just need to buy them some time." Arcee replied with conviction in her voice. The Admiral suddenly felt his second wind come about as a new hope had emerged in the space of a moment.

"Then we will buy them all the time we need, what is your current situation?"

"My team and I are defending the Defiant survivors just aways from the beam site sir, but we could use some reinforcements and Jack and Optimus will need picking up once they have succeeded." the Autobot replied. The Admiral looked over to an officer to his right, who had the femme's position up on a map of London and nodded back to him.

"I'll see what I can do about reinforcements from my end Arcee, just hold on. And I promise to be there to pick up the two Primes."

"Thank you Admiral, good luck." the femme replied wholeheartedly.

"Good luck to us all." he said as the conversation ended, the Admiral then turned to his com officer.

"See if you can get in touch with any of our ground forces who are near Arcee's position and tell them to help her. And also activate the com link to the entire fleet."

The Officer nodded in return and worked his console before a green light began bleeping on Bryce's own. He then tapped it and began speaking.

"This is Admiral Bryce to all ships, I have just heard that Jackson Prime and Optimus Prime are now on board Unicron and are working to destroy him from within, but we need to buy them the time to do so. Now I know that we have lost three quarters of our combined fleet and that it looks like we may not live to see tomorrow, but I ask you to help me hold this line and give the Reapers everything we have. To use every torpedo and cannon round we have, and to fight until we cannot fight anymore, so that we can ensure that the rest of the galaxy will survive to see tomorrow."

The com officer then looked back at the Admiral.

"All ships acknowledged sir."

"There is a saying here on Earth, 'fortune favors the bold'. Lets see it that holds true here. Bryce out." he said before looking out to see Unicron watching from the edge of the battle as the deity stayed in orbit around the Earth. Not lifting a finger to aid his Reapers unless an enemy ship got to close. The Chaos bringer had an evil smile gracing his face plate, but seemed unaware of what was about to happen inside of his own body.

PRIME EFFECT 3

As the battle raged outside, Jack and Optimus both exited the Reaper beam to find themselves in a large room with black metallic bulkheads, the light from the beam was illuminating the area around them until it suddenly deactivated.

"Good thing we entered it when we did." he said as he looked around to see the bright purple light of dark energon as it glowed through the cracks in the black walls and passed down the large synthetic veins that were all over the place, it's light flowed with a spark beat like pulse as it dimly illuminated cavern like surroundings.

"Indeed Jackson, but we must make haste. I fear that our presence will not go unnoticed for long." the Older Prime replied.

"So which way to Unicron's spark chamber?" the Commander asked while looking at three corridors that made up a fork like junction ahead of them. Optimus in response placed his hand to the chest plate of his armour, as if feeling the matrix that lied beneath it before pointing down the middle opening.

"That way Jackson." he replied as both men then spotted numerous pairs of bright blue optics moving around ahead of them, the Prime's focused their vision to see many Husks standing in their way. Yet none of the creatures had yet took notice of them.

"Okay, shall we sneak past them then.." Jack started to ask before one Husk looked up at them for a second before letting out that familiar inhuman scream, gaining the attention of all the others as the two men felt every pair of blue optics fall on them before the horde began charging toward the two Primes.

"…right, so we fight our way through." the younger Prime finished as Optimus unsheathed his star saber from the back of his armour, it's blade glowing brightly in his grip.

"Indeed, are you ready Jackson?" he asked, gaining a confident smile from his younger companion as he activated his own saber and held his assault rifle in his free hand.

"Yeah, these Husks don't stand a chance." he replied as he took a step forward and readied himself as he looked back toward the army of Husks bearing down on them.

"Lets get to work." he said before running at the horde, Optimus at his side as they charged into the fray. The first line of Husks pounced at them, only for Jack and Optimus to swing their blades and cut them down as they continued to run through the enemy force. Optimus swung his star saber from left to right as he carved a path through scores of Cannibals and Husks that stood in his way, Jack parried and decapitated others with his own blade while spraying bullets into the horde that approached from his other side, the bullets ripping through their flesh easily before they fell to the ground. The Husks carried on being felled by the two Primes as they kept moving down the tunnel which was now packed to brim with the Reaper ground forces, as a number of marauders began firing at the two intruders with their own rifle like weapons. But Jack and Optimus deflected the gun fire with their star sabers before the younger Prime fired back at the modified Turians, taking each one down with a head shot.

"Nice shooting." Optimus replied proudly as he cut down a number of Husks that were charging at them from behind.

"Thanks." Jack asked as he kicked one creature in the stomach before slicing it in half, then he pointed his rifle at another group of marauders when suddenly a Husk hit him and knocked the weapon out of his hand.

"Scrap!" the Commander replied before repaying the creature by forcing his blade through it's head, blood spilling out of it and covering the other Husks behind it. He then saw the marauders aiming at the Autobot Leader as he fought.

"Optimus look out." Jack shouted at his friend who had his back turned to them before fighting off more Husks that pounced at him. The older Prime then, after hearing Jack's warning took a glance back at the group and then charged his blade before swinging it around (slicing down the creatures around him as it did) and unleashed an energy wave which obliterated the marauders. The Commander then finished off his quarry and then smiled back at Optimus.

"That was brilliant." he replied as the big bot joined his side.

"Thank you. We need to keep moving though, otherwise they can regroup and halt our advance."

"Way ahead of you, let's move." Jack said as both Primes left the area and continued down the path, leaving the bodies of all the Husks where they lied as they made their way closer to their target.

Meanwhile scores of Husks charged at Arcee and her team as they defended the escape pods from the encroaching hordes, but no matter how many of the creatures were taken down, even more kept on running at them. Arcee fired her SMGs at several Husks, killing them in a spray of bullets, while Garrus was still lying on his stomach on top of an escape pod and blowing the heads off the creatures with his sniper rifle. Grimlock though had gotten sick of his rifle and had turned to his trusty sword as the Dinobot was slicing up the Husks left right and center. Ratchet though was starting to tire as one Husk almost got the better of him before Ravage tackled it to the ground and repeatedly clawed at it's chest until it's insides was mush.

"Thank you Ravage, I am too old for all this fighting." the old medic said while catching his breath. The feline bot gave what looked like a nod before turning it's attention as even more Husks appeared on the horizon.

"By Primus, they just keep coming." Ratchet said with a hint of despair in his voice, the others had noticed this too as they finished off another wave of Husks only to see more on the way.

"Arcee, we are not going to be able to hold them off for much longer." Jazz said as he reloaded his rifle.

"Yeah, I am almost out of ammo." Bumblebee replied in a worried tone. Arcee looked over to both of them from her spot.

"Then we take them on hand to hand, we have to do this…..for Jack and Optimus." she said stoically as she deployed her arm blades and waited for the hordes to reach them. Her face becoming stern and focused. But just as the Husks charged within the last fifty feet, suddenly an explosion sent a number of the creatures flying into the air as the group watched in surprise.

"What the?" Smokescreen said before Garrus pointed at the sky from his spot.

"Over there."

Arcee and the others looked in the direction that the Turian was pointing to see an Alliance shuttle flying toward them while firing explosive rounds at the hordes of Husks, which had become confused by the attack and were regrouping. The group then heard a familiar voice speaking through their com links.

"don't worry, back up has arrived."

"Swoop, you made it." Grimlock said happily as the shuttle stopped over the group before firing another round of fire into the Husks.

"Yeah, I got this old girl working again. The received a message from Admiral Bryce, so I flew over here as fast I could." Swoop replied.

"Well thank god, we now have some air support." Garrus said back with relief in his voice.

"Oh, I bring more than that. Got some friends who want to join you." the Dinobot pilot replied as the shuttle's hatch opened and three more familiar figures dropped to the ground below. First up was Dreadwing who equipped his Gatling gun and immediately began spraying the area in front of him with bullets, taking down numerous Husks, then shuttle moved over and dropped Kup between both Jazz and Grimlock, the older bot firing on the creatures with his shotgun. The force of the shot tearing open the stomach of one of them, he then smiled at both bots.

"Hey guys, can't wait to recite this battle afterwards." he said happily, gaining an eye roll from Jazz and the Dinobot. The shuttle then moved over to Chromia who was kicking and punching the Husks that had begun to attack her and a black and red armored man dropped down on top of one of the Husks and crushed it's face under his armored boot. He then grabbed the next Husk and held it over his head before slamming it down on his knee.

"Take that…" he started to say before throwing the broken creature into the other enemies, knocking them down like bowling pins.

"…Reaper-punk!" he finished before looking back to the femme, who was staring wide-eyed at him. A slight smile gracing her face.

"You alright?" he said back to her.

"Yes, I am better than alright." she replied as her smile got bigger.

"Good, just stay close to me and we will make it through this." he said with a smile, then the bot looked back to the horde only to see the face of a Husk right in his and ready to strike. He was about to react when suddenly the creature's head exploded, he then glanced back to see Chromia pointing her pistol in his direction. A large and confident smile on the femme's face as she moved up to his side.

"And I think you should stay close to me." she replied coyly, earning an equally large smile from the Autobot.

"Name's Ironhide." he said, his voice tinged with affection.

"Chromia." the femme replied in return before they both took defensive stances beside each other and readied their weapons for the next wave of Husks. Meanwhile Arcee having seen the back up that just arrived couldn't help but feel more confident of their chances, so she sneaked a quick look up towards the heavens and thought of her spark-mate before refocusing on the battle at hand and moving into the fight with her arm blades ready.

After running down a number of interconnected corridors and killing any Husk that stood in their way, the two Primes entered a large room where all the synthetic veins converged on a large door just ahead of them, the dark energon pulsing through them rapidly and brightly.

"The spark chamber is just beyond that door." The older Prime said as they ran up to it, but the door did not open.

"Okay, this is going to be a problem." Jack replied before Optimus smiled.

"I know of a way to get through." he said as he held his star-saber up, it began to brighten as he did so. Jack smiled and nodded in return before stepping aside. The moment he was out of the way, Optimus swung the blade in front of the door and unleashed an energy wave that hit the door with an almighty bang. But it only dented the door, leaving the Primes both looking at it in shock.

"First time that hasn't worked." the Commander replied as he looked over to Optimus.

"Perhaps we should both attack the door, the combined power of our star-sabers should be enough to cut through." the Autobot leader said back, earning a not entirely sure expression from Jack before he sighed and nodded.

"Alright, but this tends to knock the wind out of me whenever I unleash a wave with my star-saber. So just be ready to cover me, if we come under attack."

Optimus gave him a supportive smile before both men charged their sabers and swung them at the door, the combined energy wave obliterating the door instantly. Jack fell to his knees and breathed heavily as Optimus kept an eye out.

"Well….that worked well." Jack said as he took a deep breath, but then a loud groaning noise echoed around them as if they had injured something.

"That doesn't sound good." the younger Prime added as he was helped up by his friend.

"No it does not Jackson, we should hasten our selves for I believe that Unicron knows of our plan now." Optimus said before they both carried on through the now open door.

Meanwhile outside, Unicron's expression changed to one of silent agony and worry as he placed a hand up to his chest, for he knew something was not right and that maybe it was time to call upon his most loyal servant.

The two Primes were almost sprinting as they neared the end of the corridor, which had a very bright purple light pulsing at it's end. It was almost blinding in strength the closer they got to it.

"We nearly there Optimus." Jack said with hope in his voice, the older Prime was about to reply when a shadowy figure caught his eye as it dropped down from the ceiling in front of the Commander.

"Jack look out!" he shouted, making the younger Prime stop his tracks in time to see a weird looking Husk land in front of him. Jack though did not hesitate as he sliced the creature in half almost immediately, causing a gush of black blood to stain the ground in front of him. Then as both men looked down at the two halfs of the Husk lying on the ground, Jack noticed that it was wearing what appeared to be clothes.

"Strange, never known Husks to be fully clothed before." he said as he knelt beside the torso and turned it over and suddenly recognized it as a MECH uniform, his eyes widened as he knew who this used to be.

"This is Silas."

Optimus stood beside him and looked down at the body.

"He was the one who opened the Citadel arms and allowed the Crucible to dock."

"Yeah, and then the Reapers turned him into a Husk for his good work. Well after all the lives that were lost at 'Sanctuary' and all the other atrocities that MECH committed in his name, I would say he got what he deserved." Jack said in a cold and judging tone. Optimus though gave his younger companion a knowing look.

"Jackson, no matter how misguided or 'evil' Silas's actions have been, I would not wish this fate on any of our enemies. I may not have witnessed what you have during this war, but I would wish that you not lose sight of what it is that made you a Prime. I of all people know that the horrors of war can change people, but we as Primes are not allowed the luxury of changing our views."

Jack looked away from the older Prime and down at the Husk who used to be Silas.

"I…..I know, and I am sorry. Well at least I put him out of his misery I guess." he said as Optimus placed a hand on his shoulder in support.

"That is correct, we are not here to judge others Jackson. We are here to protect and guide them.

"Alright, then lets finally end this." Jack replied with a now stoic expression as he started for the inner spark chamber, but before they could move on. A familiar voice spoke out from an unknown direction.

"This is as far as you go, Darby!"

Both Primes looked around, hoping to see who it was that spoke. But Jack could not believe that it would be him.

"No, it can't be. I killed him already." he said with shock in his voice as a figure stepped out from the shadows. He was wearing armor that looked not unlike that of which Unicron had, but was dark brown with gold lines, he then let the light from the room illuminate his face and showed Jack and Optimus who he was.

"Sideways, how the hell are you standing here now." Jack said as he and the older Prime re-equipped their star-sabers, earning a laugh from the former Con.

"Do you still not get it Darby, I am the Herald of Unicron. His loyal guardian and servant. As long as he lives, so do I." Sideways replied before unsheathing two dark-energon blades off his back and preparing to attack them.

"And I will not be facing you alone….." he said, his eyes began to glow bright purple as his voice blended with that of Unicron.

"…Because we both will be facing you today disciples of Primus, for it will be this day that the lineage of Primes comes to an end. Now die!" the former-Con yelled as he swung his blades at the Primes, they both parried or deflected the attacks as the three of them became locked in mortal combat while illuminated by the light of Unicron's spark that was just down the corridor.

PRIME EFFECT 3

The battle raging over the Earth was going from bad to worse as the Allied forces were being obliterated by the Reapers, many of the ships had already been disabled or destroyed by the black behemoths. The bridge of the Ark was a mess as crewmen were either putting out fires or trying to repair systems, Admiral Bryce wiped blood from a wound on his forehead that he had gained from hitting it against his console after the last attack from the Reaper directly ahead of them.

"Evasive action now!" he shouted, the helmsmen then turned the large Autobot ship to right, just narrowly missing the red energy beam that the behemoth had fired at them.

"Fire everything we have at it now." he commanded, and with that the Ark returned fire with all it's cannons and torpedoes, causing minor damage to the Reaper as it charged it's beam weapon again.

"Sir, minimal damage to the Reaper and our shields are down to twenty percent. We wont be able to survive another direct hit." an officer said as he worked his control console. Bryce then looked out at the bridge canopy to see the Nemesis moving toward and over them as it fired it's weapons at the Reaper, blowing it's tentacle legs off and making the behemoth lose control as it drifted away and crashed into another Reaper that was busy destroying a mercenary cruiser (Eclipse). The two giant squid like ships impacted and blew up in spectacular fashion.

"Thanks for the save Nemesis." Bryce said into his com link as his pilot turned the Ark around to face it's sister ship.

"Your welcome Ark, we will….oh shit!" the commander of the Nemesis replied as Bryce saw four more Reapers move in around the former Decepticon mothership, their weapons glowing as they became charged.

"Nemesis get out of there." the Admiral shouted at them, but then the Reapers fired their beam weapons and carved the ship into pieces right before the Admiral and his crew's eyes. Nothing was left but small pieces of debris after the behemoths were finished and they turned towards the Ark, their weapons charging up once more. Bryce looked down at his console as he contemplated his next move, taking a deep breath before looking at his helmsmen with a stoic expression.

"Set a collision course and set our engine core to overload because if we are going to go out, then I want to take those bastards with us. So give me ramming speed." he said as his bridge crew looked at him in shock.

"Ye….Yes sir." his helmsmen replied before turning back to his console and inputting the commands. Then the Ark's engines fired up and thrust the ship forward as it began to close in on the four Reapers ahead of them, the crew just watched and waited for the inevitable as Bryce stood up straight and looked on.

"It has been an honor serving with you all." he said as they neared the behemoths, but suddenly the sensors station began to beep. Gaining the crewman who was working it's attention.

"Sir, sensors are picking up multiple ships jumping into Earth space."

Bryce looked at him with a surprised and questioning expression.

"Who?"

Suddenly the Cronos and a number of MECH cruisers appeared out of hyperspace and fired their beam cannons at the Reapers in front of the Ark, damaging them all and causing the black behemoths to move out of the way as the Cronos moved to the Autobot ship's side.

"MECH, but how?" Bryce asked as he looked at the ships with surprise before a familiar female voice spoke over the intercom.

"Admiral Bryce, this is Miranda Lawson. I hope you don't mind me crashing this little party of yours?" she said, earning a smile from the Admiral.

"Not at all Miss Lawson, if we survive this then I will buy you a drink.

"Looking forward to it, our sensors say that the Ark has taken substantial damage. We will cover you with the Cronos until you have are ready to fight again." she replied.

"Thank you Miss Lawson."

"We are all in this fight, see you on the other side." the former MECH officer replied before speaking on the intercom to the rest of her fleet.

"All ships, engage the Reaper forces."

Then as the rest of the MECH cruisers split up into pairs and began firing on the Reapers, the Cronos staying at the Ark's side as it began firing on a squadron of Reaper fighter drones that targeted the Autobot ship.

Meanwhile among the ruins of London, Raf looked out of the small window of the escape pod he was in. And as he watched Bumblebee and Smokescreen fighting a bunch of Husks, a Reaper in the distance gained his attention as it got to it's feet and looked around. It was Harbinger and from where he was, Raf could see only one set of three glowing yellow eyes ( the others were destroyed when the Defiant crashed into them earlier) as the Reaper scanned the horizon. It then looked up into the sky and stayed that way for a long moment as if it could sense that something was wrong before launching itself into the sky and ascending to the void that was beyond the planet's atmosphere.

PRIME EFFECT 3

Inside the Chaos bringer's body, the two Primes continued to clash swords with Sideways (who was under Unicron's control) as they attacked him from both sides, though their Herald continued to deflect or parry their attacks, with a dark smile on his face as he did.

"Is that the best you have to offer Primes?" Sideways mocked before swinging his blade at Jack who blocked it with the sky boom shield, the younger Prime then charged into the Herald, knocking him over into the spark chamber. The giant energy ball that was Unicron's spark illuminated the entire vast spherical room, as electrical blasts were emitted by it and clashed against the walls above the men below. Sideways got to his feet as Jack and Optimus stood ready. The former-Con had managed to not only hold his own against the two Primes, but looked like he was in full control of the fight and was now only toying with them. The presence of Unicron sharing his spark had made him far more of a danger than he had been before now, and Jack knew from glancing over at Optimus that things were not going well.

"Hope you enjoy the view disciples of Primus, this is as close as you will get to my spark." Sideways said before he launched himself at both Primes, who clashed heir saber's against his, blue and purple sparks flying out as the blades connected. The Herald mocked before pushing Optimus away and then hitting Jack in the face with the sword's hilt, as he pulled his other blade back. This made the younger Prime stagger back a few steps.

"So disappointing, Primus must have been desperate to have picked such a lowly life form to become a Prime. You are weakest that I had ever faced." Sideways mocked but before he could take advantage of this, Optimus brought his star saber down upon his enemy. But Sideways managed to cross his blades over his head and block the attack, holding it there in place. The Autobot leader gritted his teeth as he tried to force his blade through the Chaos Bringer's defence but Sideways merely grinned as he stared back at the Prime.

"You will not have this day Prime, for I will watch as the light leaves your eyes before finally destroying everything that you and my brother hold dear."

Optimus then kicked out at Sideways stomach, forcing the Herald back.

"And I will ensure that never happens Unicron, even if I have to give up my life to see it through." the older Prime replied in a determined tone before breaking the deadlock and swiping at the Chaos Bringer, who dodged the attack and countered by slashing through the older Prime's armour on his arm, blood like liquid spilled out earning a wince from Optimus as Sideways kicked him and knocked him on his ass.

"One of my blades has tasted the blood of a Prime today, I vow it's thirst will be quenched by the end of this distraction." Sideways said in a victorious like tone.

"You talk too much." Jack replied sarcastically as he rejoined the fight and hacked his star saber at the former Con. The former Con blocked the attack but the Commander then deactivated his saber making the Herald's fall down and drag him forward (via he momentum) towards Jack as he lost his footing. The younger Prime smiled as he then hit Sideways in the face with his elbow before then kneeing him in the stomach and then elbowing him in the back as he recoiled, knocking the former Con on to the floor. Jack then reactivated his star saber and stood over Sideways.

"This ends now." he said confidently before raising his saber over his head, the former Con looked up at him with his eyes glowing brightly with dark Energon as his expression was one of brutal rage.

"Enough!" he roared before reaching up and stopping Jack from striking him down, the strength that Jack found himself against was beyond anything he had face before as Sideways held on to the arm that the star saber was equipped to. The Herald stared into the younger Prime's eyes with a hatred that was beyond words.

"I have had enough of you fleshling.*]" he spat before crushing the armour around Jack's wrist, making the star saber vanish. The pain the Commander felt was like having ones hand in a vice that had been tightened to almost breaking point. Sideways then head butted Jack twice, making blood gush from the Younger Prime's nose and daze him before punching him in the chest, cracking the chest plate of his armour and a number of his ribs in the process, the force of the punch also sent Jack flat on his ass. Optimus was still recovering as he managed to sit up to see Jack trying to stand as Sideways picked up his dark Energon sabers, the blades glowing brightly as he charged them up.

"[*Now BEGONE!" the former Con spat as he sliced the sabers down in front of him, unleashing a double energy wave that hit Jack like a wrecking ball, the young Prime felt an instant crippling pain across his entire body as the energy burnt his armour and sent him flying into the wall behind him, the impact creating a crater where he hit it before his body fell to the ground and Jack fell unconscious.

"Jackson!" Optimus shouted back as he got to his feet, Sideways though casually turned around and looked at him with a dark smile.

"One Prime down, one to go."

Optimus looked over to Jack's still form lying on the floor before his attention went back to Sideways, his eyes narrowing at the former Con as he tightened his grip around the hilt of the star saber, he then charged at the Herald who just let him come at him. Optimus swung his blade but Sideways ducked under it and then countered with his own attack, only for the Autobot leader to deflect it before the two clashed sabers again, the former Con then used his free saber to try and slash at the older Prime, though Optimus saw this coming and broke away to dodge the attack at the last split second. They then both stared hate into each others eyes.

"I will kill you now." Sideways said earning a curious expression from the Prime.

"That seems premature Unicron, you will not have this day."

"Miserable worm, it will happen because I have deemed it so." he spat back before roaring at Optimus and launching an other attack, which found the Prime on the defensive instantly as Sideways kept pummeling breaking through every parry and block that the Autobot leader attempted, pushing him back with each attack. Optimus found that when ever he tried to counter, the Chaos Bringer just broke through again and forced him to defend. As the two fought, Jack came too and he managed to look up and see them, though every part of him was aching beyond measure.

It was then at that moment, the former Con spun his saber's hilt in his hand so that he had the blunt end facing Optimus and he jabbed it into the Autobot Leader's face, disorientating him. Sidesways smirked as he then thrusted his other saber right at his enemy, but Optimus managed to bring his star saber up just in time to deflect it. The former Con though still had the one more blade (he had spun the hilt back to its original position) and before the Autobot leader could react, Sidesways stabbed him through the chest with it. Optimus's eyes widened, and he gave a loud grunt as he felt the most agonising pain in his chest and looked down to see the dark Energon saber imbedded in him. Jack's expression was one of complete shock as he saw Sideways pull out the blade, blood like fluid gushed out of the wound as Optimus slumped to his knees with the former Con standing over him with a look of delight on his face.

"And so finally, the line of Primes has failed and my brother's will undone. Nothing will stand between my children and I as we purge this galaxy, and then rebuild it our own way."

The older Prime looked up at Sideways, the former Con's eyes still glowing with the purple hue of dark Energon.

"Unicron, no matter…. how many cycles you purge, or… how many lives you take. You will never find… what it is that you seek. And others….. will always take arms against you." The Prime replied as he gritted his teeth and put his hand to his wound, feeling his life force continue to abandon him.

Sideways though looked unimpressed as he began lifting one of his blades, preparing to bring the Autobot Leader's life to an end.

"I have had enough of your prattle Prime, they will die, just as surely as you will now." the former Con replied as Optimus closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable, but then as Sideways dropped the blade down to cleave his enemy's head from his shoulders, suddenly a loud clang of metal echoed around the spark chamber. Optimus still waiting for the killing blow, opened one eye to see that his star saber was blocking the bright purple blade of the possessed former-con. He then looked to see who was holding his saber and saw Jack standing there with a determined look on his face.

"You forgot about me Unicron." he spat before parrying the Herald's blade away from Optimus who then fell back onto his ass and breathed heavily as his wound continued to bleed over him. Sideway's purple eyes glowed angrily as narrowed them at Jack.

"Do you think you have what it takes to defeat me…..disciple of Primus." he spat as took a stance with his blades, readying himself for another round with the younger Prime. Jack followed suit as he held the star-saber in his hand, the blade suddenly mass shifted itself into a single-handed version of it self, earning a confident smile from Jack.

"Let's find out." he replied before charging at his enemy, Sideways mirrored him as the two ran at each other before they clashed blades, the sound of metal on metal echoing throughout the room. Both of them attacked each other with everything they had, for every attack one performed. The other would block or evade it before countering. Optimus watched from his spot, his eyes wide as he saw Jack holding his own against the Unicron possessed Sideways as they continued to battle each other in the wake of the giant spark of the Chaos Bringer. But then as Sideways lunged forward with an attack, Jack spun around and dodged it before elbowing the former Con in the back. As the Herald was pushed forward, Jack then slashed his enemy's back earning a hiss from Sideways as he winced. He then turned round and with his anger now at boiling point, swung his blade at the younger Prime who ducked under it and then slashed the former Con's right arm, causing him to drop one of his dark energon sabers.

Sideways growled in response before just swinging wildly at the Commander who just coolly dodged the attack and then slashed at the former Con's chest, cutting through the armor and the flesh below it. Sideways winced again before gritting his teeth and lunging at Jack, but the younger Prime blocked the attack with the star saber before launching a punch at the former Con's gut, but suddenly his own star-saber reactivated and stabbed right through his body, and coming out of his back. Sideway's gasped in pain before Jack pulled his blade out of the Herald's gut, making blood-like fluid gush out as the purple glow coming from the Herald's eyes disappeared and he fell to knees. The younger Prime stood above him and readied his own star saber to strike his enemy down, while holding Optimus's saber in his other.

"You think…..cough, you've won Darby? You don't have..cough what it takes to….cough end this." Sideways spat back with his own voice (the possession by Unicron now over) as he continued to choke on his own blood. But Jack wasn't going to listen to this bastard for a second longer as he raised the star saber over the Herald.

"Please stay dead this time." he replied before swinging the blade down and cleaving Sideway's head from his body, the former rolling on the floor while he later fell down in a heap.

"Jackson." a faint voice spoke out and Jack look over from the body of Sideways to see Optimus slumped up against the wall, bleeding out as he attempted to keep pressure on his chest wound. The younger Prime ran over and knelt down in front of him, taking out an item out of his utility belt.

"Hang on Optimus, I have medi-gel." he said as he prepared to treat the wound, but then the Autobot leader reached out and stopped him.

"It is…..to…late for….me, I will…..soon become one…..with…..the Allspark." he replied slowly, clinging on to what little life he had left, if only for a moment.

"Don't talk like that, we can still…." Jack began saying back before Optimus cut him off.

"We….don't have….the time, Unicron has only been…..slowed down. You have…..to finish this."

Jack then watched as Optimus opened up the chest plate of his armor and took the matrix crystal in his hand, it then mass shifted to it's natural size in his grasp. Jack looked down into the bright white/blue crystal core of the artifact, before then looking his mentor in the eye. A worried expression grew on his face.

"Optimus, if I can't do this." he said with uncertainty in his voice, but the Autobot leader just gave him a reassuring smile.

"You are… a Prime, I know…. you can do this." he replied before looking past Jack to the spark of Unicron as it continued to glow brightly in the background. He then looked back at Jack.

"I never….told you this, but….I always thought….of you….as…a son Jack."

Jack's eyes widened at the older Prime's confession.

"Optimus…"

"I….am…..very…..proud…..of…..you…" Optimus then said before his eyes glazed over and his head tilted slightly to the right, his expression frozen in place as he died there in front of Jack. He just looked at his mentor, a single tear running down his cheek as it dawned on him what just happened. He then reached out with his hand and closed Optimus's eyes before looking down to the ground.

"Goodbye…" he whispered as he stayed like that for what felt like a long moment, before the glow of the matrix caught his attention as it lied there in the fallen Autobot leader's hands. The words of Primus then echoed through Jack's mind as he remembered what the Aeon had told him.

'If you were to unleash the matrix's energy then you would likely not survive the exposure.' the words had a damning notion to Jack as he also remembered his vow to Arcee, his spark-mate.

'I will come back to you Arcee, Because… you are my spark-mate and I love you…I swear.' He so wanted to keep his oath to his lover, to spend the remainder of his life with her.

But as these thoughts conflicted with each other, Jack also thought of how the Reapers were at this very moment obliterating all sentient life in the galaxy. And it was this thought that finally made his decision for him. He was a Prime, and it was his duty to protect the galaxy….no matter the cost. So he knew that he had no choice and so with a deep breath, he picked up the matrix and stood up and turned around to face the ever bright and storm like spark of the Chaos Bringer as it hovered in the center of the massive spark chamber. Jack began walking towards the center of the room, to the spot directly below the beating spark. And as he walked, Jack remembered the faces of his friends and family.

He saw his mother June Darby and his step-father William Fowler. He then saw Garrus and Tali, Soundwave, Legion and Miko with Kaidan and Wheeljack. Then there was Airachnid before Optimus's face appeared, looking at Jack with both pride and a father's love. Finally though as Jack stood directly below Unicron's spark, the last image he saw was that of Arcee. She looked at him lovingly with the same smile that would melt his heart every time. An it was this last image that gave Jack the strength to do what was necessary, so he lifted the matrix above his head. Holding it firmly at the handle's on either side.

"Matrix of Leadership, I Jackson Prime call upon you…." he called out to it as he began to pull the casing surrounding the glowing crystal apart.

"…..light our darkest hour!"

As these words echoed though the matrix, several thousand light years away deep in the bowels of Cybertron. Primus's core glowed as bright as a star for one single moment before it went dark…..for the last time, leaving the planet as a lifeless husk now and forever.

Suddenly the matrix glowed so bright that it nearly blinded Jack as he found that he could not move as his skin began to tingle all over. Then a powerful and bright energy beam shot out of the artifact in his hands and impacted directly into the Chaos Bringer's spark, causing what looked like lightning to strike out at the walls of the spark chamber violently as the matrix's energy clashed with that of Unicron's. Jack felt like his body was on fire as the matrix was white hot in his hands, his exposed skin began to burn from exposure to the energy that he was being exposed to. But finally the matrix shut down and the giant spark above him suddenly collapsed in on it's self until it became a tiny white ball. Jack though could still not move, before it suddenly grew and expanded at an incredible rate, engulfing Jack in it's burning light as it then traveled through every part of the Chaos Bringer's body.

PRIME EFFECT 3

Outside, Unicron had what looked like seizures as the battle had stopped around him. On board the Ark, Bryce and his bridge crew were watching as the Chaos Bringer looked like he was screaming out to the void around him, his faceplate's expression one of agonizing pain. The officer next to the Admiral then looked at his holo-interface as it beeped loudly.

"Sir I am picking up a power signature from inside Unicron, and it is increasing at an overwhelming rate."

"He is going to explode…..they did it." Bryce replied before tapping his com-link.

"This is Admiral Bryce to all ships, Unicron is going to detonate. Evacuate the system immediately and head to the rendezvous point, do it now." he said before the allied ships in view of their canopy began turning around and jumping away.

"Sir what about us?" the helmsmen replied.

"Take us in close, we are going to extract the Primes now before that thing blows up."

The bridge crew continued to look at the deity as it's body was being covered by explosions across it's surface.

"Sir, we don't have time. We have to leave now." the officer next to the Admiral said defiantly. Bryce was going to argue back but then caught sight of the white energy breaking through the body of Unicron and expanding toward them.

"…..damn it." he said before looking away in shame.

"You're right, get us out of here." he said back before the helmsmen began turning the Ark away from the incoming energy wave, Bryce taking one last look at deity's body before it went out of view.

"…I'm sorry." he said in an almost whisper as the Ark sped away from the energy field and jumped into hyperspace. As the wave continued to expand from within Unicron, the Reapers had finally caught on and had started to flee but were instantly caught in the wave, the white energy incinerating them. Leaving no trace of them in it's wake as it then hit the planet and began to engulf it.

Meanwhile down in the war ravaged streets of London, allied forces were fighting a losing battle against the Reaper ground forces just aways from the ruins of the shard tower. The soldiers were firing from behind cover at the cannibals and marauders as the black behemoths stood over them and fired down on the streets. Suddenly another Reaper landed right next to one group of soldiers and charged it's beam weapon as they fired back at it, but suddenly it stopped along with the other Reapers as a white energy wave appeared on the horizon and closed in on them, passing Tower bridge and then the Shard tower before pass through the Reapers and the soldiers. When the troops looked back, they found no trace of the Husks or their masters and so began cheering loudly as the wave continued to spread over London.

As this was happening, Arcee and the others were still neck deep in Husks as they defended the escape pods from the never-ending hordes. But as the femme blew the head off of one Husk, she suddenly saw the energy wave approaching their position. It's white light reflecting in her azure eyes as she and the others watched in shock as the wave obliterated all the Husks that were in front of them before passing through them. The energy that washed over them then knocked Arcee and the other Autobots to their knees as if they suddenly felt very dizzy. Garrus and Tali ran over to the femme and helped her up to find that all the Reaper forces that had been around them, including the Reapers themselves who had been on the horizon were now gone. The group started smiling and cheering, but Arcee just stared up into the sky with Garrus and Tali and thought of Jack, just as the storm clouds finally began to disappear, allowing streams of sunlight to break through and shine over the city.

After the energy wave had expanded past Earth and towards the outer edges of the Sol system, Unicron's body finally gave in to the tremendous amounts of energy that had been channeled through it and exploded in amazing fashion, sending it's debris in all directions. The wave had completed purged all evidence of the Reapers from the system by the time it reached Sol's edge and it passed through the space bridge, which suddenly activated as it opened up a large white vortex before it collapsed and shot a white beam out into deep space which hit another space bridge, and then another, and another. Until the energy was passed through the entire space bridge network, completely covering the galaxy in it's energy and wiping away every Reaper that was there. But still only one Reaper remained at the very galaxy's edge as Harbinger traveled through hyperspace, hoping to reach the safety of dark space before the energy could reach it. But then the wave appeared from behind the Reaper and was gaining fast, making Harbinger's remaining eyes brighten as it poured everything it had into it's propulsion. But this only bought it another moment as the wave suddenly made contact with the Reaper before overtaking it and incinerating it right there and then. Once done the wave dissipated right at the edge of the galaxy, having destroyed the Reapers completely.

Back on Earth, a hatch on one of the escape pods opened and revealed Raf as he and the crew began getting out of the pods and looking around, the clouds had completed dispersed and revealed rising sun as it appeared on the horizon. It's bright light turning the sky to a vanilla like color. As this was happening, Arcee continued to look up at the sky and saw what looked like the aftermath of a massive explosion directly above them, littering the sky with debris as the small bits burned up in Earth's atmosphere. Garrus placed his hand on the femme's shoulder sympathetically and Tali looked down at the ground as one thought went through Arcee's mind as her eyes began to well up.

'….Jack…no.' she thought, while everyone basked in the victory that was hard-fought and had earned a new dawn for the galaxy.