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Brave New World, Part 7

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The next part of my Jadow stories. I'm a little iffy on it though. (I swear I tried to shorten it, but when I read it back it sounded even crappier) If you don't want the story, just ignore the massive heap of words that follows ^^;

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Prev. Chapter: [link]

(Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean)
Holocron- “Now, explain to me what happened at the installation.”
Dragonfly- “Well, we flew into the place, then Jadow came out of nowhere and frickin’ caved the whole ceiling in, and then we went after him, and then we fought him and some purple robo-chick, and then…”
Holocron- “Let me rephrase that. Explain to me why YOU FAILED IN YOUR DIRECTIVES!”
Dragonfly- “Okay, you look mad…”
Skarr- “There was a factor we couldn’t have accounted for sir. There was another being there. From what I overheard from their conversations, a female bounty hunter; also a cyborg. Her name is Skyfire.” *an image that Skarr had captured during the fighting appeared on a nearby screen* “This is her.”
Holocron- “I see. Is she an ally of Jadow’s?”
Skarr- “It appears so, sir.”
Holocron- “Interesting.” *he turned to his other generals assembled for the debriefing* “Brigade, Shriek, we need to handle this issue. If word gets out that our units were there, our plans will be undermined. Go back and clean up the mess that Skarr and Dragonfly left behind. Silence all voices, leave no witnesses.”
Brigade- “Yes, my lord.”

Multiple parts and pieces of Brigade’s massive mechanical body began twisting and reforming themselves until Brigade’s body had changed into a massive twin-rotor helicopter; identical to the ones that humans typically used for troop transport. Shriek climbed aboard, and Brigade flew out of sight.

Holocron turned to his other Generals. “You are dismissed. Continue with your maintenance work,” he said to them. One by one his remaining soldiers filed out until only he and Computo remained in the room. Holocron was staring at the picture of Skyfire that the Command Room’s central console was displaying, and Computo noticed a smirk, then a sadistic grin appear on Holocron’s face.

Computo- “I know that look. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”
Holocron- “I believe there is a way we can turn this new development to our advantage.”
Computo- “How so?”
Holocron- “Jadow should know by now that it’s foolish to form attachments, especially to living beings. The more you have, the more there is for you to lose. It appears we’ll have to teach him that lesson the hard way. He’s found a new friend; an ally. We simply can’t have that.”
Computo- “What are you up to?”
Holocron- “In the end, friends are only good for finding the best way to let you down. Jadow showed me that, it’s time we showed him.”
Computo- “Yes, but HOW?”
Holocron- “You’ll see soon enough.”
Computo- “Fine.” *he turned and left the room* ‘He won’t tell me what his plan is because he doesn’t have one.’ he thought to himself. ‘So be it. His time is coming to an end anyway.’


Jadow was aboard Skyfire’s ship. They decided that they had gotten off on the wrong foot, and decided to learn a bit about each other. Skyfire told Jadow about her past. When she was young, her home world had been ravaged by war. She had managed to escape the carnage and ever since had been a bounty hunter. After seeing her own people repeatedly murdered, she wanted to administer justice (or vengeance) upon the galaxy’s monsters. One day, during a mission aboard a space station, her nemesis- some guy she called Hellstorm- had overloaded the base’s reactor core while she was still inside, causing the entire base to explode. She woke up later as a cyborg with no recollection of who rebuilt her. She took off her helmet and showed her face to Jadow. The entire right side of her face- from the cheek up- was mechanical. A glowing red optical receiver with a yellow retina swiveled in an eye socket in the machinery. The rest of her face was- by human measurements- quite beautiful.

Then Jadow told his story to her. He was born in Atlantis as a bioweapon to fight Lord Demonix, his own people distrusted and betrayed him, Demonix rebuilt and revived Jadow as a cyborg, blinded by his rage; he helped Demonix raze civilization after civilization, and- during an invasion on Atlantis itself- he’d come to his senses and killed Demonix, then exiled himself to attempt and repent for his sins. After that he told her what he’d been doing since he came back to modern day Earth; explaining about Holocron, his generals, etc. He would’ve taken off his helmet for her, but that was quite impossible, seeing as it was saughtered to the armor surrounding his neck.

Skyfire- “So, let me see if I’ve got this right now. Holocron has been sending his warriors out to frame you as a bad guy to the humans?”
Jadow- “Yes. It’s quite irritating.”
Skyfire- “And there are six more out there?”
Jadow- “Affirmative.”
Skyfire- “Well, what are they up to? What’s Holocron planning?”
Jadow- “I don’t know.”

Jadow looked at the gauge in his helmet’s visor that monitored how much energy he had built up. The gauge had reached 100% at last. “I should be going. I need to know about any aftermath from the attack,” he said, heading for the exit hatch in Skyfire’s ship.

Skyfire- “Listen, I know some people on this planet that could help you. I could help you out also.”
Jadow- “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t need assistance.” (Any people he’d worked with in the past he’d ended up killing)
Skyfire- “Right… okay then.” *She got up, walked over to Jadow, and put a small radio-type mechanism into his hand.*
Jadow- “What’s this for?”
Skyfire- “It’s for when you change your mind. It’s a commlink that leads directly to me. I only hand those out to my friends.”
Jadow- “So, we’re friends?”
Skyfire- “Of course, you idiot!”
Jadow- “Okay then, thank you.” *he opened the exit hatch* “I’ll see you around then. Thanks for the lift.”
Skyfire- “No problem.” ^^

Jadow lifted himself off the ground and flew outside, watching as Skyfire’s ship flew away. Jadow assessed where he was, and he started flying towards his base in the desert.

‘I have a friend now,’ he thought to himself, almost in disbelief. He had fought on his own for so long, he had forgotten what friendship really felt like. It was strange, he no longer felt alone. For the first time in millennia he felt… happy… uplifted… almost cheery, he felt…
He felt a sharp pain surge through his chest.

“ARGH,” Jadow clutched the chestpiece of his armor, right over where his heart was. It’s beating was becoming erratic; it would pump at 60 bpm one second, then spike up to 180 bpm the next, and everywhere in between. And the pain- it felt like there was a knife stuck in his heart. A red typed warning sprawled across his visor. “WARNING, ANOMOLY DETECTED IN HEART SUBSYSTEM. RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC.” Jadow hovered in midair, desperately trying to get his heart rate under control. Then he couldn’t breathe. He tried and gasped for air, but his lungs appeared to simply refuse to function. Next he compulsively took in a huge breath of air, then his breath came in repeated heavy pants. A fresh message sprawled across his visor: “WARNING, ANOMOLY DETECTED IN RESPIRATION SUBSYSTEMS. RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC.”

Jadow wrapped his arms around his chest; groaning from the pain, his whole body shivering. “What the hell… is happening… to me…” he muttered to himself. It was like every life support system in his body had gone haywire for no reason. It felt like something in his chest was clawing him apart from the inside out. His suit’s systems completed their diagnostic and were unable to find any reason for the problem. “ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.”. Using his magnetic powers, Jadow grabbed his lungs and began expanding and contracting them on his own, and he was able to start breathing again. His heart could not be so easily fixed; it wasn’t pure machinery.

Then Jadow heard a distinct noise through the air; the noise that always accompanied airborne aircraft. Jadow looked up, sincerely hoping that Skyfire had turned her ship around and come back for something. No such luck; he instead saw a lone F-22 fighter plane flying towards him. “Crap, the Air Force caught up to me,” he thought. He had enough problems with his malfunctioning systems already, and he would not kill a living pilot. He had to find a place to land, he knew human pilots were instructed never to fly or fire below building level.

Jadow found a nearby building and descended from the sky until he landed on its roof. He needed stability. He knelt down on the rooftop, still clutching his chest. At least he could breathe now, but each irregular heartbeat began to feel like a gunshot inside his chest. He was convinced his heart would give out completely any second now. He diverted extra power to his heart’s pacemakers; it didn’t help. “Well, if a computer crashes, you reboot it,” Jadow thought to himself. He knew it was a monumentally bad idea, but he was running out of options. Using his powers, Jadow shut down the pacemakers hooked up to his scarred heart. The heart stopped beating, and for the first time in millennia, Jadow fell unconscious. A few seconds later, the pacemakers restarted, and Jadow was snapped back to reality. His heart was still acting up, but the pain had reduced enough so that he could make it back to his base.

The F-22 fighter flew by again, just to the right of the building, and far lower than most human pilots dared to fly, and it was alone. Jadow thought that pilots always flew in squadrons of at least two or three. He noticed a military helicopter hovering just over the building to his right. He looked to his left and saw a second one, of a different make and origin, hovering over the adjacent building. It didn’t make any sense to him; it was as though random aircraft had just dropped out of the sky. He did know one thing: he was surrounded.

“I’ve heard much about you, NBE 2. Finally, we meet.”

Jadow was startled. The voice had come from behind him. It was loud, deep, growling, almost… mechanical. “Oh, shit.” Jadow thought so himself, putting it all together. “I… am… screwed.”

Tapping into his powers to support himself, Jadow managed to pull himself to an upright standing position; his heart still pounding painfully against his chest. He heard a few massive footsteps behind him, and a few moments later, a colossal mechanical figure stepped onto the ground behind him. Jadow didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. “Lord Megatron, I presume,” Jadow said aloud. The massive Decepticon Commander took a few steps forward until he stood at Jadow’s side. The behemoth was at least 10 times Jadow’s size. With his heart failing and three units, possibly more, waiting for backup, he decided against engaging him just yet.

Jadow- “Amazing, you’ve been standing here 5 seconds and you haven’t shot me yet.”
Megatron- “You’re quite a mystery, NBE 2. Clearly not cybertonian, and obviously not a creation of these human worms, so what are you exactly?”
Jadow- “I really hate that name. My name is Jadow.”
Megatron- “I’ll call you by whatever name I see fit. You should be honored; the pests named me NBE 1. Apparently they place you in the same rank as myself.”
Jadow- “That’s why I hate the name.”
Megatron- “Show the proper respect, you runt.”
Jadow- “Well pardon me, but I don’t see much to respect.” * ’disrespect is at the top of this guy’s list of pet peeves’ He thought to himself. ‘let’s see how angry I can get him’. He winced as his heart pounded abnormally strongly against his chest. The pain was increasing again.*
Megatron- “Defiant, I like that. I can tell you’ll be difficult to reprogram.”
Jadow- “Reprogram? What do you mean?”
Megatron- “I saw what you did to Deadend and Spaceshot. I have eyes and minions everywhere, did you really think you could escape my notice?”
Jadow- “I suppose not. So what? Are you here for revenge?”
Megatron- “That’s up to you.”
Jadow- “I don’t understand.”
Megatron- “An Autobot fought both of them at once and was beaten down. How is it that a runt like you could kill both of them as though they were nothing?”
Jadow- “Consider the possibility that your minions are weaklings.” *Jadow noticed Megatron get even angrier, and fight harder to suppress his rage. He was quite enjoying this.*
Megatron- “You levitated Spaceshot off the ground and pulled him to pieces without so much as touching him. I don’t know what kind of freak you are, but that’s power that’s difficult to come by. I’ve come here to make you an offer.”
Jadow- “My answer will likely be ‘no,’ but humor me anyway.”

Megatron motioned to the jet-black helicopter that was hovering to Jadow’s right. A human climbed out of the cockpit and the helicopter itself transformed. It was far more complex than Holocron’s General Iron-Knight had been. The robot finished its transformation and stood upright. He was even bigger than Megatron. Jadow recognized him as Blackout. The human that was in his cockpit was standing at his feet. It was a female. Jadow used the zoom functions of his optics to examine her. It was Taiya, he recognized her from the Sector 7 database. Then Megatron continued talking.

Megatron- “My soldier Blackout recently found two PETS; the human that you see over there and her brother.”
Jadow- “And where is he at the moment?”
Megatron- “In recovery.”
Jadow- “Recovery? What the hell did you do to them?”
Megatron- “They were weak when we found them. They needed a few enhancements to be of any use to us. Blackout recommended that the rest of my soldiers find PETS as well; to assist them during operations. I was skeptical at first; no pathetic human on this planet is worthy of the honor of serving me. But you… you’re different.”
Jadow- “So… you want me to be your PET?”
Megatron- “Yes.” *he knelt down beside Jadow.* “The humans wish you dead; they want to destroy you. We can offer you sanctuary. With your powers added to our ranks, no Autobot on the face of the Earth will stand a chance against us. Join us, and we will be able to end this war and claim the Allspark once and for all. We will finally bring peace to our race, and this planet.”

Jadow didn’t buy a word of it; he’d heard this same story from his old master. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He chose the response he thought would piss Megatron off the most.

Jadow- “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” *he dropped to the floor* “AHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAHHHHHHHH,” *He gasped for air and coughed a few times,* “No.”
Megatron- *The grin on his face had vanished.* “Excuse me?”
Jadow- “Oh, sorry. No way in hell.”

Megatron’s faceplates twitched. ‘He’s about to blow’ Jadow thought to himself. “I don’t think you understand…” Megatron growled. “That was a command, not a request.” He motioned with his hand. The helicopter over the building to his left transformed into a massive bot with one eye. “Shockwave,” Jadow muttered to himself, recognizing him.” Then the F-22 fighter flew by again, transforming itself mid-flight and landing on the building next to Blackout. “Starscream,” Jadow muttered. All three of the bots pointed assorted cannons at him.

“The choice is yours,” Megatron said. “Join the proud ranks of the Decepticons, or we can end your miserable existence now.” Jadow took a quick glance around; Megatron chuckled. For the first time, Jadow looked the behemoth in the eye. “Join us, or perish!”

“Alright,” Jadow said, building up some energy. His choice had been made years ago. “I choose… perish.” He fired a darkburst to his side- hitting Megatron full in the face- and took off flying as fast as he could with a burst of his magnet powers. Apparently not fast enough; three cannon blasts hit him from three separate angles, blowing him into a building in front of him. Then two massive mechanical fingers wrapped around him and pulled him out of the wall.

Megatron rubbed his optics and turned to face Jadow, now struggling in Starscream’s grip. “Fool, you think yourself superior to us? There is no being in this world, in this galaxy, as mighty as I!” He roared. He clapped his hands together, forming the massive fusion cannon that was his strongest weapon. “Allow me to demonstrate.” Starscream threw Jadow off to the side, Megatron fired a single blast, hit Jadow full in the chest, and sent him flying away so fast that he almost broke the sound barrier. He flew over several city blocks before slamming into a building with so much force that the area around his impact caved in around him. A massive pile of rubble, Jadow somewhere inside it, rained down and crashed to the sidewalk below. The blast sent people all over the street running and screaming.

Megatron laughed to himself. “Nobody could’ve survived that,” Starscream commented. “Shockwave,” Megatron commanded: “collect his remains. If we study the corpse, we may find a way to harness his powers.”

“Yes, my Lord,” Shockwave said. He transformed into his helicopter vehicle form and flew over to the pile of rubble. “Great, I was finally about to leave for Cybertron, and I have to stay behind again. First to perform surgery on those infernal PETs, and now to dissect this sad excuse for a minicon,” Shockwave was muttering angrily to himself. He turned back into his bipedal form next to the rubble pile, sending humans all over the street running in terror. Shockwave fired some shots into the crowd. “;Pests,” he muttered. Then he took a few more steps and started sifting through the rubble. “Now, where are…”

A purple blast shot out of the rubble pile, piercing Shockwave’s remaining optic. “ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH,” he yelled, stumbling backwards and falling over, blinded. A few moments later, Jadow hovered out of the debris, unharmed. He brushed some ash and rubble of his armor, looked up at Megatron, and laughed. “Okay, enough fooling around; give me your best shot.” He raised his right arm and gave the gesture that humans used to say “bring it on.” He noticed the pain in his chest had decreased.

The Decepticons stared in disbelief. “What the… how in Primus could he have survived that?” Blackout said aloud. Megatron grinned. “I knew I’d found a worthy PET candidate,” he said. “If only he wasn’t so stupid.” He exchanged glances with Starscream and Blackout. “Attack! Obliterate him!” He roared.

‘Here they come,’ Jadow thought to himself. Megatron, Starscream, and Blackout all assumed their vehicle forms and flew straight at him. Each fired two missiles at Jadow. He tapped into his magnet powers and altered the trajectory of each missile so that they collided with each other and all six detonated harmlessly; consumed in a giant explosion. Megatron flew right through the flames and reverted back into his bipedal form, landing hard on his feet and smashing the cement underneath him. Blackout and Starscream flew off to the sides. The behemoth charged at Jadow; a massive flail shot out of Megatron’s right arm. With a mighty roar he lashed at Jadow, who calculated the flail’s arch path, hovered just out of the way, and used his magnet powers to alter the flail’s path. Normally, the massive weapon would’ve swung harmlessly off to Megatron’s side. Under Jadow’s influence, the blade swung around and impacted Megatron hard in his left shoulder. The pain in Jadow’s chest vanished completely now.

The commander roared in rage and pain, and Jadow flew away as fast as his powers would allow. He needed to get Megatron to a more secluded place, where there’d be fewer casualties. “;Problem is,” Jadow thought, “where do you find ‘secluded’ in a city of millions?” Starscream’s massive metal fist then came out of nowhere from Jadow’s right, impacting him and sending him crashing into a building. Jadow hit the roof of the building, rolled back several meters, dug his clawed toes into the ground, and came scraping to a halt. Starscream reverted back into his fighter jet form and flew overhead and out of sight. Blackout made the opposite transformation. He flew over the building, transformed into his bipedal form, drew the helicopter blades on his back, and came charging at Jadow; blades roaring.

He leapt backward, barely avoiding Blackout’s blades, did a somersault, and fired two darkbursts at Blackout’s face, aiming for the optics. It had worked once before. Unfortunately, the shots fizzled against his eyelids; Blackout blinked at the last moment. Jadow landed on the rooftop and Blackout swung his blades again; this time holding them a foot above and parallel to the rooftop. Jadow leapt again, soaring above the rotor blades as they skimmed the ground. Then Blackout charged forward and attempted to punch Jadow with his left fist. Jadow grabbed the fist with his magnet powers and tried to shove it backwards, but it didn’t work; Blackout was too strong. Then Jadow tried slinging the fist upward instead. Blackout’s massive fist flew upward, hinged at the elbow, arched backward, and Blackout punched himself right in the face. Jadow didn’t have time to enjoy the sight; he hadn’t been paying attention to Starscream, who flew out of nowhere and hit Jadow with a set of missiles. Jadow went sailing over a few more city blocks.

Half-dazed and barely aware of how he’d gotten there, Jadow managed to land on some other rooftop and steady himself. Blackout was standing on a building directly in front of him, loading some of his weapons. Starscream was perched on a building 75 degrees to his left, chuckling to himself. Megatron was nowhere to be found- cause for concern. Jadow charged two darkbursts around his fists and got to his feet. He was beginning to question the wisdom of his decision to anger Megatron as much as possible.

Then Jadow heard a few faint footsteps behind him. Moments later he heard a clang behind him and felt a soft thud against the back of his neck. Taiya had snuck up behind him and stabbed him. She pulled the knife back; the blade was bent over in half. “I suggest you formulate a plan B” Jadow said to her. Taiya pulled out some kind of ray-gun and began firing blasts into the back of Jadow’s head. He didn’t feel a thing. He turned around and, with one swift movement of his hand, the gun she was holding ripped itself into pieces. “Got a plan C?” Jadow asked her. The look on her face changed to confusion, then terror.

“Taiya, get down!” Blackout shouted. He aimed one of his cannons at Jadow and let loose a rapid stream of machine gunfire. Tiny wheels came out of Taiya’s shoes, and she dashed away across the rooftop as quickly as she could. Jadow turned around. Trying to run hadn’t done him any good so far. He’d try and make a stand here. He quickly began making calculations, figuring the vector of each shot Blackout fired at him, raised his right arm, and fired a rapid stream of darkbursts. Each shot he fired impacted and neutralized one of Blackout’s shots. Not a single blast came near him.

Then Starscream fired another missile at Jadow. He leapt into the air, soaring right over Starscream’s missile. Blackout raised and fired a different cannon and a massive bright blue EMP blast came flying at Jadow. With a burst of magnetism, he flung himself towards the ground, allowing the blast to fly overhead and slam into the building behind him. Then a stream of machine gun fire erupted from one of Starscream’s cannons. Jadow made a series of leaps, dodging the shots, but Starscream tracked him, chasing Jadow across the rooftop. Then Blackout reopened fire with his machine gun. Jadow’s brain was metaphorically on fire calculating each jump so he could avoid both streams of cannon fire. He didn’t have any chances to launch an attack of his own. This strategy wasn’t working either.

Then he looked over and caught a glimpse of Taiya. She was huddled at the corner of the rooftop, ducking down with her arms covering her head. “I underestimated these Decepticons, I can’t take them on together. It’s time for a tactical retreat,” he thought to himself. He made one final leap that carried him across the building to where Taiya was hiding. He seized her by the back of her shirt, yanked her to a standing position, wrapped his left arm around her, and held a lit darkburst up to her face with his right hand. “HOLD IT!” he yelled at the Decepticons.

Blackout stopped firing immediately. “Wait, stop!” he yelled at Starscream, who also stopped firing.

Jadow- “Fire one more shot at me, and I’ll burn her face off.”
Taiya- “Blackout! Help me!”
Blackout- “Let her go you slagging son of a…”
Jadow- “Don’t get too excited now.” *he moved his right hand slightly closer to Taiya’s cheek. The darkburst’s flame began to touch her skin.* “Don’t make me do this,” he muttered.
Taiya- “Ow, ow, ow, please… stop.”
Blackout- “I WILL RIP YOU INTO PIECES FOR THIS!!!”
Jadow- “Come again?” *he moved his flaming right hand even closer to Taiya’s cheek.*
Taiya- “Ow, aaaaarrrrrrrrrgggghhh. Stop it, please!”
Blackout- “Okay, okay.” *He took a few steps backward and put his hands into the air.* “Just please… don’t hurt her.”
Jadow- “You too, Starscream.”
Starscream- “Why? She’s not my PET.”
Taiya- “Aaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh.”
Blackout- “Do what he says. If she gets hurt, I’ll make you pay.”
Starscream- “Ugh…” *he lowered his weapons and took a few steps back also.*
Jadow- “Good, I’ve got your attention.” *He took his flaming hand away from Taiya’s cheek.* “Now, I’m going to leave, and I’m bringing her with me. If I see any Decepticons following me, she dies. Once I get back to my base, I’ll let her go, unharmed. Do we have an understanding?”
Blackout- “Yes… okay.”

Jadow began walking backward; Taiya still struggling to get free from his grip. He wasn’t proud of what he was doing, but he needed to get home and run a proper systems check; find out why his vital systems had malfunctioned and hopefully repair them.

Taiya- “;Please,” she whispered, “;Please don’t kill me.”
Jadow- *he whispered so the Decepticons couldn’t hear him* “I have no intention of killing you; you’re the bargaining chip I need to get out of here. Besides, I only kill if someone deserves it.”
Taiya- “If they deserve it?”
Jadow- “Once you take an innocent life, you forfeit the rights to your own.”
Taiya- “So you’re saying you’re one of the good guys? Yeah right…”
Jadow- “Oh, and those killing machines you’re tagging around with are such shining beacons of morality.”
Taiya- “They’re not evil. They’re certainly better than you.”
Jadow- “I’ve watched them slaughter innocent people in the streets without hesitation or remorse. Tell me that’s not evil.”
Taiya- “They’re not like that. They’ve changed…”
Jadow- “In three days?” (sounding as sarcastic as he could manage)

Then he heard noises behind them; sounds of twisting and grinding metal. Then Blackout screamed “LORD MEGATRON, NO!” Jadow turned around and found himself staring down the barrel of Megatron’s fusion cannon. Blackout continued shouting. “He’s got Taiya, you can’t shoot him, you’ll kill her! Wait!” But Megatron ignored Blackout’s objections. The cannon charged and fired, producing a massive explosion and almost reducing the entire building to rubble.

Jadow managed to jump aside right before the shot fired. He took flight; Taiya still wrapped in his arm. He ascended to avoid another shot fired by Megatron, who had assumed his jet form. Jadow looked behind him and noticed Starscream also in pursuit. Blackout was also flying behind him, but he was maintaining a far greater distance, apparently worried Jadow would make good on his threat. Jadow swerved to the right as another blast whizzed by him. Before long he was flying through a firestorm of Decepticon munitions. They’d called his bluff; Taiya wasn’t any use to him now, but he couldn’t set her down safely on a rooftop without her getting vaporized the assorted cannons firing at him.

“Let me go!” Taiya yelled. “If I let you go here, you’ll fall several stories, hit the cement, smash most of the bones in your body, and die very quickly.” Jadow responded. He swerved again to avoid another blast. “And I’m too preoccupied to set you down somewhere right now.” Taiya looked down, realized that Jadow was right, and grabbed his arm. “;Please don’t drop me,” she muttered.

“Why do you even care what happens to me?” she asked, confused. “You seem like… I mean if Megatron was interested in you, you must be…” “A monster?” Jadow finished for her. The tone of his voice must’ve been angry; a scared look formed on her face and Jadow felt her pulse rise. He spiraled over another rooftop, the two Decepticon jets still close behind him. “I was… once. Maybe I still am. “ Taiya’s expression saddened. “I’m sorry. Look, being a PET isn’t all that bad. Come back to the Nemesis with me; with us. There’ll be other PETs soon, and they’ll be cyborgs too. You’ll fit right in with us,” she suggested. Jadow thought about it. A place where he belonged; he’d dreamed of it his whole life. But… “No,” Jadow replied flatly. He swung around another building to avoid some more fire. “I’m trying to get a fresh start, trying redeem myself for all I’ve done, and I promised myself I’d never take an innocent life again.”

Jadow and Taiya flew past a radio tower, the ‘Cons still tailing them. “Trust me,” he whispered. He held Taiya in one arm and carefully threw her forward into the air. A few moments after he did, two missiles flew right past him. He nudged each missile with his powers and caused them to collide, detonating harmlessly ahead of him. He looked behind him and, with a much stronger nudge, knocked Starscream off course and sent him crashing into the tower they’d just passed. He’d hoped that doing so would cause enough of a break in the cannon fire for him to set Taiya down safely, but Megatron persisted in shooting and after a few seconds, Starscream was back in the chase. He lazily stretched out his left arm and Taiya fell right into it, again in his embrace. “Don’t ever do that again,” she gasped. “Hold on, what did you mean when you said ‘again’ earlier?” she asked. “Take it from me…” Jadow responded “… you work with people like Megatron for too long, and you build up a lot of regrets.” A sad look spread over her face. “I’m guessing you know exactly what I mean,” he said. “My brother… he went through that nightmare of a surgery, went through so much pain because of me, because I sided with them. I don’t even know if he’ll be okay,” she said. “I’m sorry. I know guilt like that is hard to live down,” Jadow responded. He knew all too well. She nodded.

Then it happened again. A sharp pain surged through Jadow’s chest, harsher this time. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain. “What was that?” Taiya asked, alarmed. Jadow almost lost his grip on her. Then he heard a missile ignition behind him. “Crap…” he muttered. He was fighting to simply stay airborne; the pain in his chest became so severe; he’d never be able to out-maneuver the missile. With all of his might, he threw Taiya up into the air again, seconds before the missile hit him in the back. He’d survive the blast; she wouldn’t. Jadow went soaring through the air; Taiya was falling straight down. Megatron and Starscream flew right by- they apparently had no intention of catching her- and Blackout was too far away to reach her in time. Jadow did a somersault, getting his feet and legs in front of him in the direction he was flying. He felt himself slam into a building, then pushed off with all of his might across the street; flying in the direction opposite of where he’d just flown from. He hit and latched onto the wall of another building across the street and looked to his right. He took the distance across the perpendicular street, calculated how quickly he could leap across, calculated how long it’d take him to reach the other side, calculated how quickly Taiya was falling, and figured how far away from the ground she’d be when Jadow got across. Jadow took his calculations and used them to launch off the building and fly across the street; arms extended. True to his calculations, he flew into Taiya, caught her in middair, and landed on his feet in an alley behind her.

Jadow lay her on the cement. She looked up as Jadow got to his feet. “… thanks,” she said to him, startled. An even sharper pain shot through Jadow’s chest. He fell to the floor, doubled over, groaning. His heart’s muscles were contracting tightly, causing intense pain. Jadow could feel each heartbeat grow weaker than the last. He wasn’t going to last much longer, and he was getting worse. Taiya got up and walked over to him. “Are you okay?” she asked, worried. Jadow took some stumbling steps forward. He had to keep moving, he was a sitting duck down here. He looked up towards the sky. Megatron and Starscream were circling around to hit him again. He looked at the sky for a few moments and got an idea. ‘This is my last hope,’ Jadow thought to himself. Trying bitterly to push the pain in his chest aside, Jadow levitated himself off the ground and flew off straight up into the sky. “Wait, were are you going?” Taiya asked, confused. “I’m sorry for hurting you,” Jadow replied, unsure whether she actually heard him or not. He kept flying straight up; above the city, heading for the clouds above. Outer space consisted of almost total darkness. If he could fly high enough to exit Earth’s atmosphere, he’d be able recharge himself and try to fix his heart. It was a long shot- he was starting to feel light headed and his heart’s muscles kept contracting tighter and tighter- but it was his only hope.

Jadow looked down behind him. Starscream and Megatron were in close pursuit, still firing. Blackout was still on the ground, cradling Taiya in his massive hands, happy to see she was okay. Jadow fired darkburst flames out of his hands for extra propulsion. ‘Can’t give up… got to keep going,’ he kept telling himself. Then he heard a noise behind him; another missile ignition. He raised his palms in front of him and fired darkbursts, reversing his direction and causing the missile to overshoot and fly right past him. Jadow felt a massive crash as he flew directly into Starscream. He reached out blindly with his hands and managed to grab hold of Starscream’s fuselage. Stascream converted into his robot form; Jadow almost lost his grip as the pieces of hull he was holding onto reformed under him, but he dug his steel fingers and clawed toes in, and managed to stay attached to Starscream’s back. Jadow noticed two massive engines on the bot’s back that allowed him to remain airborne while in bipedal form. Starscream twisted and flailed around, reaching behind him as though he was trying to scratch his back. “Get off me you fraggin’ minicon!” he yelled, but Jadow held on for dear life. He was starting to lose consciousness. He noticed that the missile had circled back around, still locked onto him. He had an idea. He made a few calculations, waited for the missile to get closer and closer, and at the last possible moment, pushed off of Starscream as hard as he could with his legs. The missile couldn’t change direction in time and hit its owner directly in the back.

The missile’s blast destroyed one of the Star’s back-mounted engines. Unable to remain airborne, the Decepticon fell back to the city below, cursing loudly as he went. Jadow stabilized himself in the air. The muscles in his heart began to release a little, the pain slackened slightly, and he was no longer light headed. He didn’t understand the phenomenon, but he took off flying for space again as Megatron resumed firing shots at him. It was just the two of them now. Jadow kept going higher and higher. His vision started getting blurry and a new gauge on his HUD indicated his armor’s temperature had dropped below 0 Celsius. His armor was icing over; he was up so high. He flexed every joint in his body, and the coat of ice covering him cracked apart and fell away. Finally he exited Earth’s atmosphere and reached the cold eternal vacuum of space. His energy gauge had been at 42%; it shot up to 100% almost instantly. Megatron converted into his bipedal form and hovered behind Jadow. Jadow turned to face him.

Jadow- “Tell me something: When I had Taiya hostage and you aimed that cannon at me, did you know I was bluffing?”
Megatron- “I didn’t know or care. She’s a PET, she’s expendable, as are the rest of them.”
Jadow- “Heh heh heh. Wow, that’s sad.”
Megatron- “Don’t you dare laugh at me you runt.”
Jadow- “Sorry, I thought it was only polite to laugh at jokes like you.”
Megatron- “I’d choose my final words a bit more carefully if I were you.”
Jadow- “You call yourself a leader? All I see is a sad little bully who pushes around people who are too scared to fight back.”
Megatron- “Fear is a powerful tool.”
Jadow- “True, but here’s the thing: Eventually, people learn to face their fears and overcome them. Once that happens, all that power just disappears.”
Megatron- “I’ve got more power than a peon like you could ever imagine. Allow me to show you firsthand. All who oppose me perish. My soldiers understand that, and now you will as well.”
Jadow- “Again with the jokes. Very well then.” >Jadow held out one of his hands. Megatron’s arms and legs straightened out immediately.<
Megatron- “What the… what is this?”
Jadow- “You think yourself a God. It’s time you fell from the heavens, metaphorically and literally.” >Jadow began clenching his fingers, pulling with his magnet powers. Soon, piece after piece began to rip away from Megatron’s body. <
Megatron- “ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!”

The pain in Jadow’s chest vanished, as quickly as it had started. His heart returned to normal. No pain, no abnormal beating. “What the hell? Why do my systems keep malfunctioning?” He said out loud. “Machines don’t just have random fits like this; there has to be some cause.” Then Jadow thought back. “When I met Skyfire, I made a friend; I felt happier than I’ve felt in centuries. That’s when my systems began acting up. When I started fighting, my systems regained some normality. When I was talking with Taiya, I felt empathy, and the pain spiked again. It got worse when I saved her. And now that I’m ripping Megatron apart, they’re normal again.” He came to a realization. “If I do good things, feel positive emotions; my life-support systems seem to crash. If I kill, cause pain and suffering; my systems seem to remain functioning.” It must’ve been a failsafe his old master built into him. He realized that he was trapped, cursed, doomed to this life of darkness. He wanted to scream.
Megatron- “RELEASE ME YOU MAGGOT! I WILL SCRAP YOU MYSELF!”

Jadow took a look at his victim. Most of his arms and legs were dismantled and his torso was becoming smaller each second. His scrap pieces were falling back to Earth.

Jadow- “No, I will control this curse. I can fight for good and still keep my systems functioning. I need to hunt to stay alive; I’ll hunt this world’s monsters to satisfy that need. Hunt down murderers, rapists, criminals, and kill them. Do this world a favor and keep living.” >he flew to about three feet in front of Megatron’s face. <
Megatron- “RRRROOOOAAAARRRRRRRRGGGHHH!”
Jadow- “Much as I’d like to kill you, you’re more useful to me alive. Tell your goons that if they ever cross me, if I ever catch them killing humans, I’ll rip them to pieces.”
Megatron- “WE WILL CRUSH YOU! I WILL RECYCLE YOU MYSELF! YOU… WILL… SUFFER!”
Jadow- “Bring it on, you tin-plated automaton.”

Jadow released Megatron, sending him plummeting helplessly into Earth’s atmosphere. Jadow looked on, pleased with the sight. He understood now. There was much more evil in the world than just Holocron and his forces. He had a purpose now, a destiny. He felt good. A lot of the uncertainties he’d had since he came back had been cleared up. The questions he had about himself, about who and what he was, had been answered. He felt he was ready for a new life, a fresh start in this brave new world.

Jadow flew back down to the Earth below, and he went home.
___________________________
Skyfire is (c) of :icon5amu5:
TF's are (c) of Hasbro
Taiya is (c) of :icontaiya001:
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Magykyr's avatar
Oh my god... The PET Series and Jadowverse colliding... now imma make myself stop readin this to read about skyfire. I LOVE MULTIVERSES!!!