Transformers: Fusion

« The Transformers Trilogy Book 3
Transformers: Fusion
Publisher	ibooks
First published	January 1, 2004
Cover date	April 2004
Writer	David Cian
Continuity	Dreamwave Generation One continuity
ISBN	ISBN 0743479742 ISBN 9780743479745
Page count	224

The Autobots and Decepticons team up against the humans.

Synopsis

In the ruins of Las Vegas, Optimus Prime and Megatron meet again under a truce. They discuss the aftermath of their battle with the Keepers: Devastator has been fused into a single entity, the Omega Sentinel is reportedly dead, and the apparent healthy return of Bluestreak and Starscream. Megatron tells Prime that he plans to make Starscream squirm a little bit by naming Skywarp his second-in-command for a time. Optimus tells Megatron that he cannot name him "Prime", as only the Council of Ancients can do that. He does, however, agree to relinquish the Matrix to Megatron, and with it, much of the Autobots' power. After Optimus leaves, Megatron approaches Omega Sentinel, whose survival he kept a secret from Optimus. Since the Omega Sentinel is not technically a Decepticon, he is able to interface with the Matrix and use it to magnify his power, giving Megatron a new weapon in his plans.

Allister Greaves is trying to extract something meaningful from the mess created by the Keepers and his brush with the US government. He decides that becoming a public figure again will be the best way to protect himself from retaliation from the White House. He instructs Carl Lomax, a former Follower and LVPD chief of police previously under Starscream's command, to extend an invitation to the Transformer-friendly news reporter, Isolde Holden. In the meantime, he meets with Spike Witwicky to discuss Franklin Townsend's betrayal and a possible technological alliance with the Autobots.

Megatron has his own plans for dealing with the government. He leads the Decepticons in an open attack on Washington down Constitution Avenue, stopping in front of the White House. After the President refuses his challenge to meet face-to-face, Megatron summons Omega Sentinel to break open the mansion like a lobster shell, retrieving the President from his reinforced bunker underneath it. Megatron confronts the President with his involvement in the nuclear strike on Las Vegas and, with the help of Soundwave and Reflector, records the entire exchange and sends it to the media, as a warning to the government against future interference.

Meanwhile, Franklin and the Keepers were not dead, but had survived in a pocket dimensional space known as the Void. The Keepers send Franklin back to Earth to once again prepare it for their arrival. As the Autobots are watching the President make a plea for their assistance on television after the Decepticon attack on Washington, Franklin rushes into the Ark and somehow takes control of Bluestreak. The Autobots are unable to stop him from fleeing with Bluestreak, and are forced to consider meeting with the President (the very man who tried to blow them up a month earlier in Las Vegas) in order to present a united front against the dual threats of the Keepers and Megatron with his Matrix-empowered Sentinel. The President, however, is planning treachery. After helping the Autobots orchestrate a battle with the Decepticons, he plans on unleashing a new weapon on the united Transformers: the deconstructionites. These weaponized nanites are created from Allister Greaves' work in reverse-engineering Cybertronian technology, and will conceivably break down the Transformers' systems at a molecular level, ridding America once and for all of these "dangerous aliens".

After Allister Greaves meets with Isolde Holden and sends out his message of cooperation to both the Autobots and Decepticons, he soon receives a visit from Megatron and Starscream. Before Allister can fully respond to Megatron's demand for control of the Followers in exchange for the technology Greaves sought, Franklin arrives with Bluestreak and manages to take control of Starscream again as well. The two brain-washed Transformers begin attacking Megatron, who summons the Omega Sentinel as reinforcements. Unfortunately, the Matrix has done more than empower Omega Sentinel: it has altered his programming so that he can no longer carry out Megatron's command to destroy Bluestreak and Starscream. He removes the Matrix and tosses it away in order to stop the programming block, but this tactical error only gives Franklin a chance to acquire the Matrix for his own purposes. As Megatron and the Omega Sentinel flee, Franklin takes Allister hostage and begins forcing him to construct the gateway which will bring the Keepers back to Earth. By a stroke of luck, Spike Witwicky returns to Allister's mansion and quickly takes stock of the situation. He manages to get close enough to Franklin to steal the crystal key needed for opening the gateway, and leaves before Franklin notices it.

Optimus Prime meets with the President to consider a battle strategy against Megatron and the Decepticons. He brings Prowl with him to judge the strategic value of the plan, and Bumblebee to judge the demeanor and motives of the humans suggesting it. By the time they left the meeting, the Autobots had worked out a viable ambush scenario by which they and the US armed forces could eliminate the Decepticons. They had also realized that the President intended to wipe them out at the same time. After hearing Spike's news about the Keepers' scheme to return to Earth, Optimus Prime decides the best allies for the time being would be Megatron and the Decepticons, against both the President's forces and the Keepers. With some reticence, Megatron agrees to meet with Prime and they forge a new alliance against their common enemies.

At the same time, Spike and Bumblebee leave on a mission of their own. Spike plans on convincing Isolde Holden of the threats they face, and using her influence with the public to shame the President into backing down and consolidate the world against the threat of the Keepers. His plan for doing so surprises even Bumblebee, however: to use the crystal key and travel into the Void with Isolde, where he expected the Keepers were holding the Matrix. As the three pass into the portal opened by the key, though, the gate destabilizes before Bumblebee can make it through, leaving the two humans to face the Keepers alone. By focusing on the news story, Isolde manages to convince the Keepers that it is her driving motivation, and so they let her and Spike return to Earth to spread word of their coming triumphant return. Spike and Isolde reappear a full four days after they left, although it felt like less than an hour while they were in the Void.

Out in the desert, the Autobots and Decepticons play their respective parts in the battle orchestrated by Optimus Prime and the President, awaiting the ambush by the human forces when the Transformers would turn as one and disable the threat. Naturally, Megatron had not informed Optimus in advance that his soldiers would be shooting to kill once the humans did reveal themselves. When the moment comes, however, the Army's deconstructionite pellets prove more effective than the Transformers had anticipated. Several robots fall quickly due to malfunctions caused by the attack. Also, during the battle, Megatron is incensed by Omega Sentinel, who uses nothing more than a non-lethal sleep-inducing beam against the human forces. Still, Reflector manages to capture enough footage of the armed forces clearly acting as the aggressors, and so the Autobots and Decepticons break off the attack, planning to turn the media against the President later. Sure enough, a news story with Reflector's footage hits the airwaves less than 24 hours later, painting the President's actions as an assassination attempt, pure and simple. The President is forced to disavow knowledge of the incident, passing blame onto the general in charge of the forces in the field, and break off any further immediate plans to destroy the Transformers in order to avoid any more public scrutiny.

When Franklin notices the crystal key was missing, he orders Bluestreak to hunt down Spike Witwicky with him. They find Spike and Bumblebee just outside Las Vegas, where they had just dropped off Isolde. The battle is short but fierce, with Bluestreak reluctantly causing serious damage to Bumblebee. Franklin also proves to be more powerful than even his augmentation should have allowed, as Bumblebee plunges the crystal into his chest with little effect. Still, Bluestreak manages to work around the Keepers' control enough to lie to Franklin about incoming Autobot forces, compelling the crazed human to leave before killing Spike and Bumblebee. Knowing Franklin now has what he needs to open the gateway, Spike and the wounded Bumblebee begin making their way back to Greaves' estate.

At the estate, Megatron and Optimus Prime are already present, with Devastator and Omega Sentinel prepared to act as back-up. As Franklin returns with the key and activates the completed gateway, Prime rushes forward to enter the Void and confront the Keepers, while Megatron, Devastator and the Omega Sentinel keep Franklin and his pawns busy. Of course, Megatron takes the first opportunity to remove the crystal key from the device, trapping Optimus Prime in the Void with the Keepers for all of eternity. Somehow, Bluestreak and Starscream break free of the Keepers' control at this point, and the dance partners change. Bluestreak goes after Franklin in revenge over all he's done, and Starscream takes yet another shot at destroying Megatron once and for all. These new skirmishes are interrupted, as Bumblebee tries to stop Bluestreak from committing murder, and the Omega Sentinel steps in to protect Megatron from Starscream.

During the melee, the crystal key has fallen loose again, and Spike Witwicky gains possession of it. Spike tries to stick the key back into the gateway to allow Prime's return to Earth, and his actions draw the attention of all the other combatants. Megatron tries to send Devastator to stop Spike, but the gateway is reactivated. Franklin eludes the arguing Bluestreak and Bumblebee and assaults Spike so that he can retake control of the gateway, but is blasted straight through the chest by Bluestreak's electron rifle. In the meantime, the Omega Sentinel has now shaken off the last bit of artificial programming instilled in him long ago by Megatron, and has resumed his original function as a guardian and protector. As Omega Sentinel begins fighting Devastator and Starscream returns ready and willing to fight...well, everybody, the situation degenerates even further, and the combatants lose immediate interest in the growing portal that is active once more.

On the other side of the Void, Optimus Prime confronts the Keepers, and finds that their power is much weaker outside of normal space. Able to overcome their manipulations by force of will alone, Optimus locates the Matrix within the Void and recovers it. He is prepared for a suicidal ploy, unleashing the full power of the Matrix to destroy himself and the Keepers to ensure they never threaten Earth or Cybertron again. Once the portal reopens, though, Optimus is content to repel the Keepers with the Matrix's light as he makes his way back through the gateway, Once he returns to Earth, however, Optimus realizes he's stuck — the power of the Matrix is the only thing keeping the Keepers out of real space, yet if he tries to back up or move aside the energies of the Matrix will mix with the gateway, with probably disastrous results. Someone else is needed to shut down the portal for him, yet no one is available. Megatron was planning to gun him down as he exited the portal, and now Bumblebee is locked in a decidedly one-sided combat with the Decepticon leader to prevent that, while Bluestreak is off hunting the absent Starscream. The power of the Matrix is flickering, and something needs to change, soon.

Seeing Omega Sentinel grappling with Devastator off in the distance, Optimus Prime plays a hunch and radioes the former Decepticon for assistance. The Omega Sentinel acknowledges, and carries his battle with Devastator back towards the gateway. Just as Optimus shuts down the Matrix, the Omega Sentinel plunges himself and Devastator through the portal to block the Keepers' passage, and the gate collapses around them just as Prime tosses the crystal key through, sealing the Void forever. As the Omega Sentinel faces the furious Keepers on the other side, he crushes the crystal key with his claw, eliminating the main source of the Keepers' power and destroying them forever. The resultant energy discharge shatters the Void itself, leaving the inactive Omega Sentinel and Devastator floating alone in the depths of space. A top secret human spacecraft called Bounty runs across Devastator in the great expanse, and prepares to return him to Earth...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Notes

• This book leads into Dreamwave's War and Peace mini-series.

• Sideswipe is mentioned as a casualty of the Las Vegas battle, having to be rebuilt after said destruction. This is unusual, as he was not a combatant in the battle, and this is the first time we've heard his name in the entire trilogy so far. Whoops!

• Throughout the entirety of this book, Spike's surname, Witwicky, is CONSTANTLY misspelled as 'Witwickey.' it's not spelled correctly a single time in this instalment. First it happened to Paul Charteris/Chateris in book Two, then Spike Witwicky/Witwickey in book Three, who knows what a hypothetical book Four would have given us? "This is your last chance, Legotron"...

Continuity notes

• The presence of two Reflectors originally arose as a continuity error; when the Annihilation novel depicted Reflector on Earth while a concurrently published comic showed him to be on Cybertron. Like a couple of other errors in the novels, this was paved over in Fusion, with the true, Earth-bound Reflector making a "inferior copy" remark regarding the one on Cybertron.

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