After dismantling Blackout, William's focus shifted to the scorpion-like Decepticon, Scorponok.
Oxford Castle's defenses were comprehensive, with safeguards for both ground and air threats. But William had never encountered an enemy capable of burrowing underground, which left a potential vulnerability. To prevent Scorponok's escape, William opened a portal and stepped out alone, standing in the wreckage of Blackout's crash site as bait.
As expected, Scorponok returned to investigate the scene. Through Blackout's communication link, Scorponok had overheard William's demand for surrender and Blackout's refusal, followed by an explosion. He had also seen Blackout being dismantled and dragged through a strange glowing portal.
Scorponok, desperate to salvage the situation, switched his target to William as soon as he spotted him.
Unbeknownst to Scorponok, William had surrounded himself with a Mirror Dimension barrier. When Scorponok burst from the ground to attack, he was immediately pulled into the mirrored space.
The beast-like Decepticon, confused and disoriented, moved erratically within the distorted reality.
William appeared before him, calmly drawing a circular gesture with one hand. Scorponok launched a missile in response, but it passed harmlessly through the portal William conjured and was redirected back at its source, destroying Scorponok.
Reaching out, William extracted Scorponok's energy core and deactivated the Mirror Dimension. Tossing the Decepticon's remains to the ground, he left them for the arriving English soldiers to retrieve.
The wreckage of Scorponok served as a tangible trophy to silence skeptics who might question why the castle was equipped with missile defense systems.
The attack on the castle quickly reached the upper echelons of both England and the United States.
The next day, news of the Decepticon wreckage spread. The English government, keen to control the narrative, hid Scorponok's remains, with only Prime Minister Richard knowing their location. This tangible evidence of alien technology caused shockwaves worldwide.
As nations fixated on the Decepticon remains, the frequency of covert attempts to steal William's spacecraft plans dwindled significantly.
Twelve days later, the Mars-bound spacecraft, traveling 70% faster than before, was now only 40,000 kilometers from the Red Planet.
According to the plan, when the ship reached 10,000 kilometers from Mars, it launched four single-person escape pods in different directions.
Starscream, who had been chasing William for 20 days, was tempted to destroy the escape pods. However, the reports he received from Earth about Blackout and Scorponok's fate made him hesitate.
Fearing that William might genuinely be in one of the pods, Starscream chose to focus on the main spacecraft, hoping to capture his elusive prey.
The spacecraft landed in a canyon in Mars' northern hemisphere, a desolate area devoid of signs of life.
Starscream descended shortly after, transforming mid-air and landing near the spacecraft with his weapons drawn.
"Open the door, or I'll destroy this ship!" he demanded.
The hiss of airlocks and the whir of machinery echoed as the spacecraft's hatch slowly opened. Scanning the interior cautiously, Starscream found it empty.
Realizing he had been tricked, Starscream's frustration boiled over. He wanted to destroy the ship but remembered it was still necessary to transport Megatron from the Moon to Earth. Suppressing his rage, he transformed back into a jet and sped toward the first escape pod's location.
One by one, Starscream investigated the escape pods, finding no sign of William in any of them. No footprints, no signs of activity—nothing.
"I've been fooled again!" Starscream growled. "That human must still be on the ship!"
Rushing back to the spacecraft, Starscream found it exactly where he left it—untouched in the canyon. A chill ran through him as paranoia set in.
"What's going on? Was this an automated decoy all along?"
In his agitation, Starscream began firing his weapons randomly, his shots echoing through the canyon as he yelled, "Show yourself, human!"
Watching the scene from a distance, William smirked. Wearing his Mark IV spacesuit and armed with a weapon reverse-engineered from Megatron and Blackout's systems, he opened a portal and stepped onto the battlefield.
While Starscream raged, unaware of William's presence, a concentrated energy blast struck his back.
"Boom!"
A massive hole, glowing with molten metal, appeared in Starscream's chest.
"You... where did you come from?" Starscream stammered, clutching his chest as he turned to face William and the weapon in his hand.
"Bye-bye," William said with a smirk.
Another blast fired from the weapon. Though Starscream barely managed to dodge, the damage was already taking its toll. Realizing he was outmatched, Starscream abandoned his pride.
"I surrender! I surrender!" he shouted.
"Sorry," William replied coldly. "I don't take traitors like you."
Without hesitation, he fired again, this time blowing Starscream's head off.
After ensuring Starscream was deactivated, William extracted his energy core and stored the weapon in his inventory. He returned to the spacecraft and instructed Sunday, "Make the ship look lived-in. Scatter some debris, leave signs of activity—make it convincing."
"Yes, Sir," Sunday replied.
Following William's orders, small engineering robots began staging the spacecraft to create the illusion that someone had been living and working there. They even added scuffs and dirt to William's armor to complete the ruse.
Once satisfied with the preparations, William disheveled his hair and smudged his face, giving himself the appearance of someone who had been stranded and struggling for days. He grabbed a crude-looking, makeshift weapon cobbled together from exposed wires and scrap parts and initiated contact with the London Space Center.
After a few minutes of signal delay, William's image appeared on the screen. He waved at the camera, his voice filled with relief.
"Hi there! God bless—I'm still alive! Not only that, but I managed to build this weapon and use it to ambush the Cybertronian that was chasing me."
The sight of William, alive and victorious, sent the Space Center into a frenzy of cheers and celebrations.
(End of Chapter)
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