Arc 1: 08 Possession

by Macx

Starscream is back! And so is trouble.

Possession
by Birgit Staebler

He had been drifting through space forever. Time had passed, but he didn't know how much; it was unimportant anyway. He had no idea where he was, nor where he was going; it was equally unimportant. What was important was a new life. His current existence could be called gaseous, a cloud of sparkling energy, also known as ectoplasm by scientists. In theory, he was dead; in reality, he was .... undead. His state couldn't be called alive; he existed, but he didn't live. Life was all he craved, closely followed by revenge. Very closely. Sometimes revenge overwhelmed the wish for a body and then the ectoplasmic cloud crackled, dispersing flashes into space, weakening him, until he realized that he was effectively destroying himself by too much emotional discharge.
Right now he was homing in on a small system where he sensed a possible body for himself. He didn't know how he was able to sense this, for he had no real senses left. Everything was ectoplasmic. But he was here and he was ready to conquer everything in his way to the body -- his body.
He descended upon the largest of all rocks, passing through stone and steel and force fields, coming face to face with his quarry. He materialized and a cruel smile was on his face.
"You are mine," he said and then merged with his victim. "Yes, life! LIFE!"

* * *

The system was called Mernan, as was the largest of the rocks floating around the tiny sun. It was a planetoid, roughly shaped like a globe, but without a notable atmosphere. The beings temporarily residing on the planetoid didn't need an atmosphere or oxygen. They could use it when present, convert it to a usable form inside their robot bodies, but it wasn't necessary for their survival. One of the residents, a tall, blue robot with wing-like extensions standing stiffly out from his slender body, was hunched over a console, cursing the mechanics of the machine silently. Tornado wasn't used to those, for him, primitive devices. For Mernan standards this computer was high tech, but for a Seeker it was just above a child's game computer. Tornado was a scientist, used to the best lab equipment, but also able to salvage lower machines to perform the desired task. But right now he wasn't so sure he was up to the task he had set himself, especially with those machines.
"Frustrating!" he muttered and straightened. He sighed deeply and looked over to the lifeless, badly damaged body of his leader, Braintrust.
Weeks had passed since the Seeker leader had taken the Matrix from the Autobot Optimus Prime and had implanted it in his own chest. The Matrix had started an allergic reaction, twisting and reshaping Braintrust's exterior until it was only a mocking shadow of his former self. When the Autobots had retrieved the Matrix, Braintrust had changed back to his old self, but not without a price. His body was sorely wrecked, his mind had been severely damaged, and he had been unconscious ever since. His mind had slipped more than once and Tornado had done everything possible, everything in his power, to keep Braintrust stable and alive, but now he had reached his limit. He could repair the body, had already done so concerning the basic structure, but the mind..... Braintrust's memory unit was shattered inside, his mind mere fragments of the former self. Even if he managed to piece everything back together .... would Braintrust ever be his old self again. And did he really want the old Braintrust back?
The blue Seeker frowned. Braintrust had been an unstable psychopath, always on the look-out for the one thing he would never be able to attain: an Interface. Whatever he did, he would never Interface. Everyone, even Braintrust himself, knew it, but he didn't want to admit this by stopping his mad experiments. Countless humanoid life forms had died in the process, too numerous to keep track of. Tornado had felt pity for them, dying uselessly, unable to fight for their lives. He had never felt compassion toward flesh creatures, mainly because he had been programmed this way and had never rebelled against the programming, but he held the opinion that no one should die without given the chance to fight.
With a sigh he shut down the computer and walked over to the titanic wreck. Braintrust's basic structure had been restored, as had been his shell, his skin. He needed some coloring, some polish, a power converter and a larger energon storage unit, but all in all he was bodily okay.
"How is he?"
Tornado turned and discovered he was not alone in the large room he had declared his lab. The newcomer was a fiery red and golden robot, clearly female. She had two almond shaped eyes, which glowed in an ever present, red fire and three tail-like extensions coming out of her back, which were over two dozen flat, feather-shaped disks attached to each other. Her name was Phoenix, a near twin sister to the Sentinel Aurora, who looked a lot like her, but was missing the tails and held another color. But both shared the same powers. Phoenix had arrived just after the fight against the Autobots; one of the few Seekers not present on Mernan and one of the very few female versions.
Tornado shook his head. "Not good." He sighed again, leaning back against a rack of construction materials. "I see no way we can get him off Mernan without seriously disturbing the remaining pieces of his mind."
Phoenix joined him, looking at the motionless Seeker leader. "What now? We can't download his personality without losing most likely everything, we can't move his body because he's too massive and we can't restore him." Her optics turned to him. "There isn't much we can really do, is there?"
Tornado knew what she implied with the statement, but he was not about to give up. "I won't leave him here to die!" he ground out angrily.
"Tornado, please, this is a waste of time! He is dead. Face it!"
"No!" He strode over to the second computer, which was still busy going through the remaining programs of the memory unit, restoring the damaged parts. The computer had been at it for the last weeks, showing no further success than at the beginning. The task was just too complicated to be performed by the minor machine.
Phoenix followed him, touching his arm. He whirled around, his optics flaring dangerously.
"Listen -- to -- me," she said with forced calm. "You have locked yourself up in this lab for the last weeks and what success did you have?" She gestured at the body. "You restored his body, but his mind is shattered ... gone!"
Tornado shoved her away, anger transforming into rage. "He is still in there!" he hissed. "And I will get him back!"
The female Seeker shook her head, pity crossing her delicate features. "Why are you afraid of confessing to the truth?" she asked. "It's not your fault! He did it to himself."
Tornado grabbed the sides of the console, his head hanging between his shoulders. Yes, what was he afraid of? They were better off with Braintrust anyway. Maybe now they could finally find a more peaceful existence, though he knew he'd never turn into a Sentinel like Wild Card.
"You are our leader now," Phoenix added.
He looked up. Yes, he had been the Seeker leader for the last weeks. How he had been elected would forever remain a secret. There had been neither an official declaration by Braintrust that Tornado was his second-in-command, after Wild Card had turned to the Sentinels, nor had he put himself into the leader position after their old leader's accident.
"Yes," he said softly.
"So, what is your decision?" she wanted to know.
Tornado looked over to the motionless body, hesitating. "We leave tomorrow," he then decided, his voice heavy with the weight of his order. "Prepare the jump ship."
Phoenix nodded. "Understood." She left the lab.
Tornado turned back to the computer, terminating the repair program. He inserted a high density memory cube and began to copy the still existing fragments of Braintrust's mind on it. Maybe some day someone could piece this together and help him.

* * *

"This is boring." Mirage sighed deeply, shaking his head and turning to his two companions on this lonely surveillance mission.
Knight smiled at him. "It's a job, Mirage, and somebody's gotta do it."
Tracks shrugged. "Yeah. Could be worse."
Mirage looked at him. "What could be worse than sitting on this lonely piece of rock and watching a planetoid where nothing ever happens?"
Knight chuckled. "You can't say nothing has happened until now."
"Yeah, right. We had two asteroids colliding, a solar flare, and the launch of a small spy unit." Mirage slumped down on a rock. "Why me?"
Their mission was more important than Mirage tried to tell everyone. They were watching Mernan, the planetoid where the Seekers had once again confronted the Sentinels and, which wasn't so often, lost on all fronts. Braintrust was severely damaged and the other Seekers were without a leader, running around like headless droids. Rodimus Prime, the Autobot's second-in-command, had given them this mission, telling them to watch the Seekers, find out what they would do now. They hadn't fled the planetoid, which was unusual to say the least. Midnight had agreed with Rodimus that they needed to get a team close to Mernan, as watchers and spies. If the Seekers didn't move, then something was seriously wrong. Rodimus believed that the Matrix might have finished Braintrust off completely, though Midnight had cautioned him that Braintrust could take more than the usual Seeker.
Knight had volunteered for this mission, accompanying Tracks and Mirage to the closest rock floating near Mernan, where they had made their camp. Tracks had launched a small spy unit, which was roaming through the corridors of the Mernan prison facility, giving the three robots on the asteroid an idea what was going on. They hadn't been able to maneuver the spy into the main lab yet, keeping it out of harm's, the Seekers', way by a lot of luck and the fact that the Seekers weren't expecting such a spy mission.
"Why don't we launch a second spy and see if we can get it into the lab?" Tracks wanted to know.
"Too risky," Knight decided. "If they discover it, we might have more on our hands than we can handle."
"We can handle a few Seekers!" Mirage declared, the impassiveness of the last few days getting to his nerves. He wanted to do something!
"Oh, yeah, sure," Knight muttered. "I'll collect what's left of you later on, okay?"
The Autobot rose abruptly and walked over to the surveillance equipment, looking at the screen that showed them what the spy saw. Nothing new.
Tracks leaned against a large pillar of rock growing out of the asteroid. "Will you please calm down, Mirage?" he asked, shaking his head.
Knight walked over to the rim of the asteroid, her optics zooming in on Mernan. Puzzled, she enhanced the planetoid, scanning it.
"Something the matter?" Mirage wanted to know.
"I don't know. I thought I saw something .... I'm not sure."
"What did you see?" Tracks asked.
"No idea. It was just a fleeting impression..." She shrugged. "Maybe a hallucination."
The Autobots exchanged a look, then Mirage shrugged and went back trying to maneuver the spy somewhere they could see something interesting.

* * *

Rodimus Prime went over the latest reports, a frown on his features. This wasn't really good. The warp gate from Earth to Cybertron needed some serious tuning so it could handle the constant transports to the former factory planet. And the fact that the emissions of the space crafts were mostly unfiltered didn't help in keeping the gate stable. He had to talk to the regular users and get them to install filter systems. The emissions were corrosive, like acid to metal, destroying the structure of the gate and making it dangerous to use. He knew his words would fall on deaf ears because the remodifications cost money. Lots of money.
Routine had settled in lately, turning the adventurous last few weeks into nothing but an exciting memory; well, at least in part. Some of the latest developments in his personal life left a room for change, but he knew this was wishful thinking. He would never be able to go back to being Hot Rod again. The Matrix had irrevocably changed that. With a sigh he drummed his fingers on his desk. Routine was all nice and dandy, but if it brought bureaucratic work with it, Rodimus thought he could as well do without it. Even the situation on Cybertron was looking more like a preferable alternative now! How he hated paperwork and conferences!
"Rodimus?"
Hound peeked into the room where Rodimus had retreated to, getting some serious quiet to study all the reports he had gotten from different scientists.
"Yes?" he asked, looking up, glad for some interruption before his circuits would go haywire with all the dry stuff.
"Smokescreen and Bluestreak are back from the meeting with the South American emissaries."
Rodimus sighed silently. Another problem. He hated problems! Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Argentina had agreed to a meeting to discuss energon supplies for the Autobots on Earth. Smokescreen and Bluestreak had been the two emissaries for the Autobots flying to Peru with Skyfire, and Rodimus knew that they had had a very difficult time. The demands from the South American states in return for the energon had been incredible.
"Okay, Hound, I'll be down in a few minutes. Anything else?" he asked when Hound didn't leave right away.
"Uh, well, yeah. Optimus called from Cybertron. He wants to know about your progress with the warp gate. And the investigations concerning the virus."
Rodimus stayed calm outside, but inside he gave a frustrated yell. "I'll call him back," he told the other Autobot.
"Okay."
When Hound had closed the door, Rodimus leaned back against the chair's back. "And this is a just a normal, quiet day," he muttered.
He rose and left the room. First he'd talk to Smokescreen, then Prime, and then, yeah, right, he had wanted to meet with First Aid because of Silhouette, and Shanygn had said she and Chip wanted to discuss their research with him. He didn't even have a clue as to what this 'research' had been all about, just that it had fascinated both humanoids to no end. Well, he'd find out soon enough.
[Shanygn?] he broadcast.
[Hi, Roddy] Shanygn greeted him cheerfully.
He groaned. How could she be so cheerful when he felt so miserable? It just wasn't fair.
[Listen, Shan, I won't be able to make it. Smokescreen just returned from the conference and we have some debriefing to do]
[All right, let us know when you can spare some time. And Roddy?]
[Yes?]
[Get some time off. You are way too stressed out!]
Rodimus sighed. [Tell me another one] he muttered back, arriving at the door to the small room Smokescreen was waiting in. [Later.]
He terminated the link and then entered the room.

* * *

Cyclonus walked into the throne room on Charr with mixed emotions. The news he had for his leader were neither good, nor extremely bad, but with Galvatron you never knew what would enrage him. The Decepticon leader had been rather normal the last few days, acting like his old self from before the fateful plasma bath. The calm and logical side of Galvatron was something you rarely saw and Cyclonus anticipated the raging and furious troop commander to be back any hour. Maybe the latest message would send him over the ever-present edge again, letting Galvatron charge ahead into a dangerous situation without considering the consequences for himself or his troops.
Galvatron sat on his throne, fingers steepled under his chin, looking at nothing specific. He appeared to be deep in thought.
"My lord Galvatron," Cyclonus greeted him.
"Ah, Cyclonus," the Decepticon leader smiled pleasantly, which gave Cyclonus a chill.
"I bring news from our spies," the Lieutenant answered. "Apparently they have found a concrete lead on the scientist releasing the virus, which nearly killed Decepticon kind."
Galvatron's optics flashed for a second and Cyclonus recognized anger in their red depths. He felt anger himself whenever he thought about the cowardly attack. Whoever had released the deadly viral strain would die a gruesome and slow death if Galvatron ever got his hands on him.
"Laserbeak has reported a scientist who assisted in researching a virus pattern matching the one Raven extracted from the remaining virus. The scientist has been questioned and revealed a name, but the humanoid we then found committed suicide before we could question him."
"What about the other lead?" Galvatron asked, his voice tinged with barely suppressed rage.
"We are still at it, my lord. We have another name, but the owner of the name has eluded us so far," Cyclonus reported.
His leader erupted from his throne. "I want that low life humanoid germ found and brought to me!" he shouted in fury. "I want him to suffer for eons before I grant him the release of death!"
Cyclonus stood his ground as his leader stormed through the room like a hurricane. So he had been right; Galvatron was back to his old, furious self.
"My lord, about the Seekers," he added cautiously.
Galvatron stopped dead in his tracks and turned to his Lieutenant, optics bright with red fire. "Yes?" he ground out and Cyclonus knew it was very dangerous for his health to say something stupid now.
"We have located them on a planetoid called Mernan," he explained. "It looks like they had a confrontation with the Autobots, which left their leader badly damaged and the other Seekers without a commander. I advise to act now, mighty Galvatron, while they are licking their wounds."
The Decepticon leader smiled maliciously. "Yes," he said, his voice suddenly pleased again. "I will show that overgrown lizard worm that he can't use the mighty Galvatron for his games and then discard of him like of a toy! Cyclonus, prepare a strike team! We will leave for Mernan!"
Cyclonus nodded and left the room. The moment he stepped outside something looking like a sleek, black bird flew toward him, landing gracefully on his left shoulder.
"Well?" Raven asked, cocking her head.
Cyclonus sighed explosively. "He's back again to his old temper outbursts," he then said. "He also wants to lead a team against the remaining Seekers."
"They are still dangerous, Cyc, even without a leader. Their weapons are formidable."
Cyclonus smiled wryly. "You still underestimate the Decepticons' fire power?" he asked playfully.
"No, never. But you seem to underestimate the danger a single Seeker presents." She shook her wings slightly. "I had Soundwave access the CyberWeb archives about the Seekers and Sentinels, and it makes my feathers curl and wither when I think about what they were. This could as well backfire on us."
Cyclonus smiled grimly. "It is the order of the Mighty Galvatron, Raven. We will follow his orders."
Raven nodded. "You know how I meant it, Cyc."
He reached up and she hopped onto his arm. Looking at the female robot he nodded. "I know, Raven, and I share your concern, but this is only between you and me."
"And Soundwave," she added, her yellow eyes glowing softly. "He knows as much about the Seekers as I do and I think it frightens him as well."
Except that you couldn't see it, Cyclonus thought. The Decepticon communications expert rarely showed what he felt or thought.
"Let's go and get the others," Cyclonus decided.
Raven took off into the lead colored sky of Charr.

* * *

In Autobot City not only Autobots had bureaucratic problems. The few humans living there had their own as well. Earth Ambassador to Cybertron, Adam Witwicky, called Spike by most of his friends, was busy sorting through the tons of mails, which had come in lately. He had been busy with family matters and had had no time to follow every news there was, dumping as much as possible on his assistants, but now he had to get back to his job. And his job was trying to smother him with unimportant details of being an ambassador. Why did he have people working for him if it meant he had to do everything himself anyway?
On the top of the long list of Things To Do were the affairs on Nebulos. Even if Spike was the Earth's Ambassador to Cybertron, he was also involved in the Nebulos matters, mainly because somehow he was still regarded as Cerebros' partner. Cerebros might not be the leader of the Autobots present on Nebulos, but he had been declared the official representative of the Nebulans and their Autobot partners. He and Spike were working closely together to work out the basic problems on the long-enslaved world. Cybertron wanted to help rebuild the civilization and the Earth wanted economic contacts, seeing new resources on the far away planet. Since Nebulos had decided to act through Cybertron as their ally, Spike had been approached by the Earth governments several times. He sighed. As if being Ambassador wasn't enough, now he was playing mediator as well. Luckily Cerebros did most of the talking.
"Spike?"
The tentative voice drew him back to reality and he smiled at the blonde woman stepping into his office. Looking at Carly he still wondered how he had ever been so lucky to be her husband. When they had both met over twenty years ago, both had been teenagers, and he had never even dared to dream that this young woman would ever fall in love with him. Well, it had happened and he thought of himself as the luckiest man alive.
"Hi, darling," he said, smiling at her.
Carly wasn't very much into the ambassadorial stuff, but she was always at his side at receptions and presented a smiling face, polite and calm. But when the whole official stuff was over she was the first one to get out of the suit and into her sweats, relaxing by working on computer stuff, something Spike wasn't all too firm with. He had some rudimentary knowledge of Autobots' physiology and was able to do some first aid for injured robots, as well as assist with further repair, but he wasn't by far as firm in it as his wife -- or his father had been.
"Are you busy or can we talk?" she asked, her face carefully neutral.
Spike frowned. "You know I'm never too busy for you, Carly. What's wrong? Something the matter with Daniel?"
"No, no, he's fine. Actually, he's bouncing back with an incredible speed. Looks like Silhouette talked some sense into him and he's suddenly turning back into a human being again."
The ambassador smiled. Yes, they owed Sil a lot, especially for setting Danny's head right. The female Dinobot hadn't told them what exactly she and Daniel had talked about, but it had helped to catapult him out of his self-induced state of misery and self-pity. Daniel had even readily agreed to go skiing with Jill McKennan and Mike de la Croix, the two Interfaces. The three had taken off in Skywolf to Jasper in Canada for a two week vacation. It had astounded the Witwickys to no end.
"So, what is it?" he asked.
Carly inhaled deeply, clearly feeling insecure, hesitating. Spike rose from his chair and walked around the office table, touching her shoulders. "Darling, you know you can talk to me about everything," he said softly.
"I know, Adam, I know."
Spike raised a surprised eyebrow. Carly had called him Adam..... She only did that when she was either very mad at him or something very serious had happened.
"I ..... I went to see First Aid for the usual check-up," his wife started.
Something inside of him twisted in dreaded knowledge. Was something wrong? Was she sick? "Carly ...." he started.
She shook his head, her hand touching his lips to silence him. Her blue eyes appeared unnaturally wide. "Adam," she said so softly that it was nearly a whisper. "I'm pregnant."
For a whole two seconds Spike stared at her in dumbfound silence. His thoughts tumbled in a wild dance and then straightened suddenly to give him the chance to express what he felt.
"That's great!" he exclaimed, hugging her and placing a kiss on her forehead. "Darling, that's wonderful!"
Carly smiled cautiously. "Are ... are you sure? I mean ...."
"What are you talking about?" he exclaimed, his face a mirror of his happiness.
"Adam, I'm 36! I'm too old for a second child!"
Spike looked at her in confusion. "Too old? My friend's mother was 38 when she was pregnant with her son! You're not too old!"
Carly shook her head. "Danny is already 15 and ....."
Spike forced her to look into his eyes, his face very serious. "Carly, Danny's age has nothing to do with this and neither has yours."
She held his gaze for a long time, then a smile stole itself over her lips. "So you don't want me to abort?"
A look of pure horror crossed her husband's features. "Abort? Oh, god, Carly, no! Never! Whatever made you think of this?"
She shrugged. "Maybe because I thought of it initially after First Aid delivered the news. I was so shocked, so .... surprised...."
"Don't even continue to think of this!" Spike told his wife firmly. "You won't abort this baby!"
She hugged him. "I wonder what Danny will say," she whispered into his shoulder.
Spike chuckled, thinking of how his son's reaction would be to this. He'd be surprised, to say the least .... the very least.

* * *

Tornado had shut down the last of the equipment and was ready to disembark from the station. He looked at the still motionless body of Braintrust, then sighed deeply and also shut down the monitors attached to his brain unit, which showed nothing but a slightly wavering line, which now and then spiked a bit, telling the knowledgeable that there was something left inside the memory core, but it wasn't much.
"Ready?" a soft voice asked.
It was Phoenix. The brightly colored Seeker looked compassionate, but also held an aura of decisiveness, set on her task to get the new Seeker leader away from the dying mind of his predecessor.
"Yes," he replied cryptically.
As they both left the lab they failed to notice the shimmer of ectoplasmic energy seeping through the walls. It hovered there for just a second, then homed in on the comatose Seeker, merging with it.
Braintrust's bulging optics flickered, first weakly, hesitantly, then their inner yellow light returned to full strength and he lifted his massive head. A sneer appeared on his lipless snout.
"Yes," he hissed.

* * *

"We got movement!"
Mirage ran over to where Tracks was watching the planetoid with special binoculars. "Where?" he asked.
Knight joined the two Autobots, her optics homing in on the same position Tracks was pointing at.
"Small shuttle ship, just leaving the hangar area," Tracks said.
Mirage took his own binoculars and watched the small ship move away from the former prison facility. It was no ship he had ever seen before, shaped rather extravagantly.
"Seeker jump ship," Knight said. "Uses no standard warp gates, but homes in on the next available power source and uses it to enhance it own meager jumping abilities."
"So, what now?" Tracks asked, watching as the ship shot away from the planetoid.
Knight looked thoughtful, as far as you could see that from her mostly helmeted face. "The jump ships are rather small and have no cargo hold area, so they couldn't have taken Braintrust along," she thought out loud.
"Meaning, he's still there," Mirage continued the line of thought. "And if they left him behind ...."
They exchanged looks and Tracks walked over to the screen showing them the spy's camera angle. Without another word he guided the small device out of its hiding place, flying it down the corridor and into the large lab, which was now wide open. It was mostly dark, all the screen were blank, and the power switches were in down positions. The spy floated near the entrance, then circled the dark lab, its small lights not enough to pierce more than the first two feet around it.
Without a second's warning something flew toward it, then the screen went blank. Tracks looked at the screen with surprise, then turned to face his two companions.
"Defense system?" Mirage hazarded a guess.
"Unlikely," Knight answered. "The defenses are located around the planetoid, not inside."
"Then what....?" Tracks shook his head. "Maybe a malfunction?"
"Only one way to find out." Mirage nodded at the planetoid.
"Prime's orders were to stay put and just watch," Tracks reminded him.
"So we watched and they went away," his fellow Autobot shrugged. "The place seems deserted, but the spy ran into trouble. I think this is a reason to investigate. Are you with me?"
Knight sighed. "All right, let's take a look." She stretched, then transformed into her equine form. "I was getting a bit rusty anyway."
Mirage grinned at Tracks. Just as they were ready to leave their observation post something moved in on the planetoid.
"Wait!" Mirage hissed.
A large ship maneuvered through the dead defense perimeter and then stopped several kilometers above the planetoid's surface. The hangar doors opened and about a dozen figures descended.
"Decepticons!" Tracks breathed. "What are they doing here?"
Knight shook her head, the blood red main waving in the weightlessness in space. "I don't know, but I know that we have to radio base. This is getting more than just interesting now; this is getting dangerous."
The two Autobots agreed and Mirage opened a line back to Earth.

* * *

He had been confused for a long time, roaming what had once been a realm he knew inside out with puzzlement and the inability to understand what had happened. Parts of his domain had been obliterated, parts had been warped beyond recognition. Wherever he turned, he was unable to move out of the confining, small space that had remained. He had raged against the barriers set against him, but it resulted in nothing but frustratingly long periods of tired inactivity because he had used up all his energy. He couldn't cross the deep chasms of blackness, a non-reality, as he had tried to explain them nor could he break the barriers.
And then something had entered his domain, spreading through every part, not hindered by the barriers or chasms. It had been alien, but also familiar in one, radiating death and life in a yet to be encountered mixture. And it had taken over his domain, banishing him even from his small refuge to a far away part, a refuge consisting of nothing but grey bleakness. He had been too startled at first, but after watching the stranger he had come to the conclusion that he, whoever he was, couldn't really handle what he had taken over. He wasn't used to his new environment, and this was maybe his only chance to chase the intruder away. Using the newly created bridges, the bridges the stranger had built himself to get access to the even most remote part of his conquest, he stalked him, spied on him, tried to gain knowledge of who he was. And the more he learned, the more he was fascinated and disgusted in one.
How could this worm drive him from what had always been his? How could he dare to ally himself with those pathetic slaves? Anger crept through him, slowly, powerfully, filling him with the necessary energy to continue his approach. If he came close enough he might be able to drive the intruder out.
This was a battle he wouldn't dare to loose. The price was his existence.

* * *

The call came in right after Rodimus Prime, Smokescreen and Bluestreak had finished the briefing about the South American conference. It hadn't been as bad as Rodimus had suspected, but they still had some hard bargaining ahead of them to make the terms equal for both. Right now the humans were going for too high prices and had too many demands, apparently betting on the fact that the Autobots wanted something from them. But Rodimus didn't want it badly enough to agree to those terms. He had chosen to approach the South American countries to show that the Autobots wanted interaction between the humans and their own race, not to get stripped of every ounce of currency or other things the humans wanted in return. North America had already several contracts with Autobot City, which was an autonomous state in a state, mainly about the land the City stood on and the primary factors like water, natural reserves and things like that. Part of Autobot City was already taking advantage of the powerful energy source that was provided by the river and the waterfall, generating energon for them.
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Rodimus Prime entered the communications center, where Blaster was on line with the Autobots watching Mernan.
"What is it?" he asked.
Blaster turned. "Decepticons, Rodimus, coming right to Mernan for a party."
The Autobot second-in-command frowned. Decepticons on Mernan? Why? He stepped to the com console. "Mirage, this is Rodimus, what's the situation?"
Mirage's face appeared on the screen. "The Seekers left the planetoid some time ago, apparently not taking Braintrust with them. Their ship disappeared and the Decepticons appeared. Right now the flag ship is hovering over the prison facility and the Decepticons are inside." The undercover specialist shrugged. "Our spy unit was destroyed, so we can't say what's going on."
Rodimus rubbed his chin. This made absolutely no sense. Why would the Seekers leave their leader behind? Had the Matrix really damaged him this much? Or was this some kind of devious plan? And what did the Decepticons think to gain from their invasion of Mernan. Only one way to find out.
"Hold your position, we're coming, Mirage."
"Roger that."
The screen went dark and Rodimus turned to Blaster. "Tell the Aerialbots to meet me at the shuttle bay."
Blaster nodded. "Roger-o, Rodimus."
Rodimus left the communications room and nearly ran into Silhouette. The female Dinobot smiled.
"We have to stop meeting like this," she quipped.
Rodimus smiled in return. "People might start talking," he said with a chuckle.
"What's going on?" Sil asked while she accompanied Rodimus down the corridor.
"Decepticons have apparently decided to pay Mernan a visit. I want to find out why." There was a grim expression on his face. "Also looks like the Seekers abandoned the station, possibly leaving Braintrust behind. I don't know what kind of trouble this spells, but it is definitely trouble."
Silhouette nodded. "Definitely," she agreed. "Rodimus, I want to come along."
He stopped. "What? No way!"
She looked at him, tilting her head a bit to look up because he was about a head taller than she was. "And why, pray tell me? Because I'm female?"
Rodimus held up both hands. "Whoa, stop there, Sil. We Autobots don't judge a person by his or her sex. I know you were a humanoid once and I've to confess I don't know much about humanoid cultures, but I'm learning steadily. Some humans on Earth have a prejudice concerning females and dangerous missions; we don't. I just don't want you in a seriously dangerous situation before you get to know your body better. Grimlock and the others taught you about the Dinobot mode, but there's no comparing a game with a real life situation."
She put her hands on her hips, her blue eyes sparkling a bit. "I've already had my dangerous, real life combat situation, Rodimus Prime, so don't tell me I can't hold my own in one!"
"I didn't say that, Sil!" Rodimus protested. "It's just that ...." He was at a loss of words. "I .... well, I wouldn't like to see you get hurt." At her strange smile he quickly added, "Big Brother Grimlock might stomp me into the ground if you so much as miss a chip of paint."
Silhouette continued smiling and then walked down the corridor, clearly aiming for the hangar bay. "Let me deal with my brothers, Roddy."
Rodimus groaned inwardly. Silhouette had definitely spent too much time with Shanygn lately. He hurried to catch up with her.

* * *

Galvatron prowled through the semi-dark corridors of the prison facility, his optics glowing red. Cyclonus was at his side, blaster drawn, searching for hidden dangers. They had yet to encounter resistance or traps, but this didn't inspire much trust. Maybe the Seekers were simply waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Raven, who sat perched on his left shoulder as always, agreed.
We should be more careful >> she whispered through their empathic link.
He nodded, not yet able to use the link to communicate back. They were still working at it.
It's like he's not even thinking of any danger. He's so single-minded! >>
Yes, Galvatron was very single-minded, especially when his mind was set on a goal. He didn't care how many of his troops had to be sacrificed to get him what he wanted. He simply did what he thought needed to be done. Raven had yet to learn that it was best not to get into his way when he was out on such a mission, because it wasn't exactly good for your health. Cyclonus had been the receiving end of a temper tantrum often enough and even though he should have learned to keep out of Galvatron's way, he also had the obligation of a second-in-command: he had to advise his leader.
"Where are they?" Galvatron hissed angrily, forcefully pushing the next door open, which led them into a large room, as cast in twilight as the rest of the station.
Cyclonus looked around, noting the lab equipment strewn around the room. Raven nervously shook her wings.
We should call the others >>
The other Decepticons, namely the Combaticons, the Sweeps and Soundwave, had been ordered to search the facility by Galvatron.
Something's wrong. >>
Cyclonus didn't know how Raven sensed those things, but he had to agree that something was wrong, mainly because of the suspicious absence of the Seekers. Raven might feel something else, but he was plain struck by the fact that no one was here.
"Where are they hiding?" Galvatron demanded, stalking through the lab.
"Hiding?" a voice suddenly hissed through the room. "Who is hiding?"
Raven gave a screech of warning, taking off from Cyclonus shoulder. Cyclonus whirled around into the direction of the voice, blaster aiming at the large shadow looming over them. Galvatron turned as well, his optics trying to pierce through the darkness.
"Who are you?" he shouted. "Show yourself, you coward! Face the mighty Galvatron!"
A chuckle echoed through the room. "Mighty Galvatron?" the voice mocked and the shadows moved. A large head came out into the open, glowing yellow eyes sparkling evily. "You are nothing but an usurper to the throne that should have been rightfully mine!"
"Braintrust!" Cyclonus ground out as he watched the giant Seeker walk forward.
Then again, the dragon appeared different, colorless. The skin was just a dull grey and it looked like he had been patched together recently. His head swiveled to look at the Decepticon second.
"Braintrust? Oh, no, not Braintrust anymore," he hissed.
"Usurper?" Galvatron raged. "I am the Decepticon leader, I am Galvatron, mightiest of all! No one dares to call me an usurper and lives to tell!" His fusion cannon aimed at the Seeker's head and he fired.
The stream of deadly fire power glanced harmlessly off the armored hide. Braintrust snickered. "Oh, yes?" he hissed, lifting one claw. "Then watch me!"
With one very swift move Braintrust threw Galvatron across the room, where he crashed into a computer terminal. Galvatron roared in rage and blasted away at the dragon, but except for a few black scorch marks, there was no immediate effect of the attack.
"Not this time, Galvatron!" Braintrust hissed. "You won't kill me again!"
Cyclonus stared at the large dragon, for the first time noting that the voice was not the one he had heard when the Decepticons and the Seekers had conspired against the Autobots and Sentinels. The voice he heard now was a bit higher, more of a hiss....
"Kill you again?" Galvatron asked, his optics blazing with rage. "I should have killed you back on Cybertron!"
Braintrust laughed. "Oh, you are so blind, Galvatron! You are so short-sighted! Did you think you could kill me off forever? Did you think banishing me with a weapon to the realm of the undead will rid you of me?"
Galvatron stopped blasting, staring at the monstrous appearance of the Seeker. "Starscream?" he growled.
"Oh, you remember me?"
Cyclonus felt an icy flood of rage wash over him. Starscream! Only too clearly did he remember the time of the possession, when Starscream had rendered him immobile inside his own body, using him to usurp the throne of Galvatron. The lieutenant's eyes flashed a deep red.
"How many times do I have to kill you?" Galvatron raged, his own memories not very fond as well.
Starscream cocked his head. "No more, fool," he whispered, "because as of now, you are the ghost!"
With that he opened his jaws and a fiery stream enveloped Galvatron. The Decepticon leader yelled in rage and tried to shield his optics from the incredible heat, staggering away from the onslaught. Part of his outer layers of skin began to peel off with the heat.
"Galvatron!" Cyclonus called and ran over to him. A claw lashing out for him stopped him, throwing him into the next wall.
Dazed, he slid down, shaking his head to banish the cobwebs there. He heard a cry of anger and saw something small and black streak toward the fire spewing dragon. Raven's sharp claws dug into one of the bulging optics and Starscream gave a yell of pain. His tail whipped up and caught the small opponent, flinging her clear through the lab and into the monitor. Raven gave a screech of pain and had to transform, staggering away from the sparking console.
"A female?" Starscream crowed, his voice pattern changing yet again, giving him the much deeper, more menacing tone of Braintrust. His optics flickered all of a sudden and a strange look passed over his dragon face. He shook his head, appearing confused, then he growled, "How lovely. Well, my dear, you are fighting for the wrong guy. Have you ever thought about changing sides?"
Raven's eyes filled with disgust and she launched into a new attack. Starscream blasted her with a well-placed laser stream. Raven fell to her knees, one hand pressed against the smoking shoulder wound. Her yellow eyes flamed with an angry fire.
Galvatron gave a snarl, his skin scorched and burned, partly even molten, but he was still functional. With a ferocity witnessed by Cyclonus several times in combat, the Decepticon leader attacked again, this time transforming into his cannon mode. Starscream's head was thrown back by the powerful blasts, denting his skin visibly. He growled in anger and his insectoid eyes flared. Cyclonus got to his feet, gripping his blaster tightly. He knew that Braintrust's body was the most resistant he had ever seen and he knew that it was nearly impossible to kill either a Seeker or a Sentinel with conventional weapons. They were in a hopeless situation, which could only get worse. He opened a line to the other Decepticons, but his movement had been seen.
Starscream caught him with the stinger tail of the dragon body and speared him right through into the wall. Cyclonus gave a gasp of pain, unable to scream. Black fuel gushed through the hole in his lower torso as Starscream withdrew the sting. He slumped forward.
Raven screamed in rage and anger, launching herself into the air in her robot body, using her wings to steer her toward her enemy. With Galvatron covering her, though without consciously thinking about it, she charged. Starscream batted her away like a bothersome insect. Again she was sent flying into a rack of equipment and another laser blast finished every thought of another attack. Her last aware thought was that she didn't want to die like this.
In the meantime, Galvatron had managed to melt part of the dragon's neck with some concentrated fire, clotting one airhole. Starscream hissed loudly and bombarded his enemy with a new fiery stream out of his snout. He added a few well-aimed blasts for good measure and was rewarded with a quick transformation of the Decepticon as he tried to get to a cooler place. Starscream had anticipated this and his claws raked deep marks over the already burned chest plate. Then he slammed the hapless Galvatron into the same monitor Raven had shattered when she had first been thrown off Starscream. Two arrow like constructions shooting out of Starscream's shoulders hit him. The Decepticon leader didn't rise anymore, his optics flickering, then growing dark. Starscream roared in triumph.
He turned to the sound of running feet and was greeted by the drawn blasters and guns of the Combaticons, the Sweeps and Soundwave.
"What the hell ...." Vortex muttered as he took in the remainders of the battle.
"Welcome, Decepticons," Starscream rumbled with amusement. "And behold your new leader: Starscream!"
The Decepticons stared at him.
"Starscream?" Swindle asked. "But you are .... dead?"
"I have returned, Swindle, my friend, and nothing can stop me now! Nothing!" His head lowered a bit, looking at the baffled Combaticon. "Or do you think otherwise?"
Swindle exchanged nervous glances with his fellow Combaticons. "No-no," he then said quickly.
"All hail Starscream!" a Sweep added, a cry that was echoed by the others.
Starscream raised his head again and a devious smile appeared on the lipless snout of his new body.
"And now let's leave this dreary place!" he commanded.
"Uh, mighty Starscream," Scourge said carefully. "What about them?" He gestured at the motionless forms strewn around the lab.
Starscream looked at the bodies, sneering. "Leave them to rot."
"But ....."
Scourge was suddenly eye-to-eye with the bulging optics of his new leader. "Leave them," Starscream hissed.
"Yes, my leader," Scourge quickly said, holding up his hands and moving away until he bumped into a Sweep. He remembered only too vividly the powers the ghostly Decepticon possessed. Now he also had a very unique and powerful body to back up his possession as well.
Starscream strode out of the lab, followed by the Decepticons. Scourge hung back, looking at the badly damaged form of Cyclonus, who was the only one he was truly sad about leaving here. He had deserved a better fate. And Raven -- well, the female robot had always given him the creeps, but she had been likable enough.
As he turned to go and follow the rest he discovered Soundwave, his face as hard to read as always, but Scourge thought he could see the same thoughts he had reflected there. But the communications expert said nothing, his red optics flickering with unspoken emotions. Both left the lab without looking back another time.

* * *

He had struck like lightning, using the element of surprise, flooding the intruder with a force that left him stunned and bleeding. Braintrust gave a triumphant cry and reclaimed what had once been his, smothering the intruder, using his own substance to gain more footing. The intruder, his name was Starscream, was banished within seconds, retreating with his last reserves of power to a place where Braintrust had once been imprisoned in. The Seeker leader didn't bother with utterly destroying the other one. He had more pressing matters to attend to. And besides, Starscream was nothing more than the overly jealous remains of a slave robot. He was no longer a danger to him. Braintrust was back and all the world thought he had been destroyed and his body taken over by a Decepticon ghost.
The takeover had happened while Starscream had fought Galvatron, concentrating more on his opponents outside than the one opponent inside. The second he had thrown off the female, Braintrust had made his move. He had wounded Cyclonus just for good measure, leaving him badly hurt, then had taken care of Galvatron. He had put on a convincing mask, fooling the Decepticons coming to help their former leader. Now he could use this bunch of slaves to destroy not only their enemies, but also the Sentinels, his enemies. He chuckled evily. What better base for operating undercover than being yourself?

* * *

The Autobot ship was hiding behind a cluster of asteroids, scanners roaming the near-by space for an enemy approach. But everything was very quiet and the Decepticon flag ship continued to hang in space, motionless and powered down.
Rodimus stared at the small planetoid, bad memories of the place surfacing. Only two Earth months had passed since Braintrust had kidnapped Optimus Prime to get to the Matrix -- and had paid dearly for it. The Matrix had killed him, or had it?
"Well, what now?" Knight asked and looked him.
"We have to find out what they are doing there," Rodimus decided. "I'll take a small team inside and we'll take a look around. The others will stay here and provide cover fire or back-up, whatever we need first." He turned to his small team. "Silverbolt, you and your Aerialbots will stay here with Tracks, Knight and Silhouette. Blaster, Mirage, you're with me."
Silhouette frowned darkly. "Count me in on that as well, Rodimus. I'm as stealthy as they come, if it's that what you are looking for."
Their optics met and she challenged him silently to order her off. Rodimus knew that she could shift her skin pattern to adapt like a chameleon, though this ability was limited.
"All right," he agreed. "Let's take a look."
The four Autobots left the ship and approached the planetoid from the other side so the Decepticons wouldn't see them right away.

* * *

Two warp gates away, on the planet Earth, Andrea Shanygn was busy with her research. She had had to decide whether to go with her Interface partner or to remain behind and continue her work. Rodimus was a grown boy and he didn't need someone to take care of him for such an easy mission, she had decided, smiling wryly. It wasn't that she didn't feel adventurous today, but the subject of her and Chip Chase's research was something that fascinated her scientific mind very much, so her adventurous streak had to lay low. She just wished Rodimus didn't have to return to Mernan, a place that held a lot of bad memories. Well, Roddy had worked through what had happened there all right and anyway, Optimus Prime was the one who needed counseling concerning the experiences on Mernan. But, as legendary leaders went, he had shut out everyone. Shanygn suspected that Rodimus and he had talked briefly, but it hadn't gone to Roddy's satisfaction. She had read it in his eyes when he had returned from his talk with Optimus.
Sighing, she turned back to her research. It was the most fascinating of studies, but she knew that she and Chip had reached a limit as to what they could do on Earth. The next step would be trying to convince Rodimus, then Optimus, that they had to go to Cybertron. That Roddy didn't have the time to talk to them was a minor set back.
"Watch out! Coffee and sandwiches!" someone called and a tray of steaming hot coffee and several sandwiches was placed on her table.
"Thanks, Chip," she laughed and the dark-haired scientist grinned.
Chip was about Spike's age and the two of them were best friends. Both had got to know each other through the Autobots. Chip had told her his story, of how he had come in contact with the Autobots and his adventures with them. In return, Shanygn had told him some things about life with the Sentinels. Chip was an easy man to be with, even though he was sometimes the most scientific minded guy she had ever met. His degrees ranged from computer engineering to physics and he had a keen mind, always looking for a new challenge. His former handicap, being paralyzed from the waist down, had never kept him from doing something or going somewhere, and when the technique of exo-skeletons had been refined by First Aid and the deceased Wheeljack, Chip had been able to leave his wheelchair behind -- permanently.
Both of them had met several weeks ago, mainly through Carly, who had introduced them to each other. Carly had taken Shanygn out for some shopping and had then paid a visit to Chip, who lived not in Autobot City, but in one of the many suburbs of the nearest city. When Shanygn had once mentioned her current research project, something she needed a partner for, Chip had readily agreed to help out. The help and assistance had tuned into a partnership.
"All right, what now?" Chip asked around a mouthful of tuna sandwich.
"As long as Roddy's away I think we're stuck here. I don't want to decide over his head that we need to go to Cybertron now. He's Prime's second and the commander of the Autobots on Earth, so ...."
Chip nodded, shoving his glasses up his nose. "Sure, no problem. Does he even know what we're working on?"
"Nope. I never said anything and with the latest developments Roddy had no time to ask curious questions about what I am doing with you all day, locked inside a lab and all." Shanygn grinned.
Well, Roddy had been kind of surprised that she was so suspiciously absent and no longer hanging out with him, but he respected her privacy and didn't pry. Hm, he would be mightily surprised when he found out what she and Chip had been researching so long.
Chip nodded. Silhouette's creation and the visit of Galvatron had left Rodimus a busy Autobot. The second-in-command had also accompanied Spike to pick up Daniel from McGregor's clinic, which had resulted in a few new problems because Danny was in mourning, his separation from Arcee as a Headmaster hitting him hard. Chip had never understood how any individual could give up his or her life to become part of a robot permanently. He respected and liked the Autobots, but merging with one was the last thing he'd ever do. It meant the end of two individual minds and the birth of a new one. Arcee and Daniel had not yet merged when Daniel had been separated, but every Nebulan Headmaster back on Nebulos had. It was a frightening thought, one Chip didn't want to entertain. The Sentinels, on the other hand, were very different from the Headmasters concept. What the Sentinels and their Interfaces shared was nothing of the like and their individual lives still continued.
"So we can take some time off and relax, huh?" he said.
Shanygn shrugged, munching on her sandwich. "Maybe we could simply postpone the visit to Cybertron and hop over to Alean first. I know from past visits to the library that the Sentinels have a real tome of information stored there."
Interest lit up in Chip's eyes. "Sure, why not! But who would get us there?"
Shanygn frowned, going through the Sentinels present on Earth and most likely willing enough to give them a lift. F/X was one of the few Sentinels on Earth right now, if you didn't count Midnight. She was sure she could convince him to give them a short lift to Alean.
"I'll give F/X a call. I bet he'll be thrilled."
"Then Alean it is," Chip said enthusiastically.

* * *

Raven came around to the feeling of intense pain, radiating from her right shoulder joint where Starscream had hit her. The injury was hampering her, but it wasn't life threatening. Her internal repair systems had taken care of the worst damage done to the delicate circuitry and she would be able to transform if necessary. As her eyes roamed the shattered lab she discovered the inanimate form of Galvatron, half lying, half hanging in the destroyed monitor. She took a cautious step toward him, drawn to the injured robot by the compelling need to help him, but then she saw Cyclonus.
"No!" she breathed, rushing to her partner's side.
Cyclonus lay in a large puddle of black fuel, his optics dark and his circuits unresponsive. She touched his head and then his chest with her right arm where her diagnostics were located. The readings she received were better than she had initially thought, though they were no reason for joy. Cyclonus needed repairs, professional repairs, soon. She rigged some circuits together, her hands flying over the damaged parts, trying to undo what had been done.
"Cyc?" she asked softly when she was done.
She was rewarded with a weak flicker of optic lights and a raspy sound.
"Hold on," she told him.
"Ra ....ven," he groaned.
"Yes, it's me. Kinda funny, huh? Same situation all over again." She gave him a humorless smile.
Cyclonus' lips curled into a weak smile as well, then he whispered, "Galvatron?"
Raven looked over to the body of the Decepticon leader. "I don't know. Looks pretty roughed up."
"Can ... take .... a lot," the Decepticon lieutenant told her.
'But not that much,' she thought. Starscream had thrown every thing at him.
"What happened?" Cyclonus asked, growing stronger, though he was too weak to do more than hang on to his consciousness.
"The dragon left," Raven answered.
"Left?"
"Yes."
"What about the Decepticons?" Cyclonus tried to lever himself into a better position.
Raven helped him a bit, clenching her teeth as she saw some of the damaged circuits spark with the movements. "They as well."
Cyclonus' eyes flashed dangerously. "Traitors!"
"I guess they had only two choices," she told him, "do what he says or get killed."
"They are Decepticons!" Cyclonus said forcefully, "not wimps!"
"But they are also survivalists."
Suddenly she heard a sound and her hands grasped Cyclonus' weapon, which felt alien in her hands. She wasn't a warrior, she was a healer. Her weapons were limited to her claws and her agility. But she was ready to defend her partner with her life!

* * *

Rodimus had teamed up with Silhouette, which had somehow come naturally, leaving Blaster and Mirage to take another route through the former prison facility, searching for the Decepticons. Silhouette was looking around the unfamiliar place with cautious interest, her Dinobot instincts ready for confrontations, if they arose. Rodimus had his blaster drawn, equally ready.
After some time, which had not revealed any threat so far, they arrived at a closed door, which wasn't locked as they found out soon enough. They entered the room and suddenly stood in a large, semi-dark lab, which showed clear signs of battle.
"There!" Sil whispered and Rodimus followed her gesture, discovering Galvatron lying inanimate in a former monitor console station. The Decepticon leader looked badly burned and showed several deep wounds. As Rodimus stepped forward someone rose from behind an array of mobile consoles, aiming a large blaster at them.
The Autobot raised his own weapon, aware how Sil tensed, ready to pounce, when he recognized the shooter.
"Raven?" he asked in bewilderment.
"You!" the female Decepticon whispered in astonishment, letting the blaster fall away.
Rodimus didn't know why his presence made her trusty enough not to aim at a potential enemy, then he looked at the room again, also noticing her injuries in the process. Something had happened here, something big, leaving not only Galvatron, who could withstand a lot, in a mess.
"What happened here?" Rodimus demanded.
Raven's yellow optics flickered over to Silhouette, who was still tense, then she shook her head. "I can't really explain. I'm not quite sure what happened myself. I only know that we have to help my partner or he'll die."
For a second Rodimus thought she meant Galvatron, then he saw the black puddle and stepped around the monitors, discovering the badly damaged form of Cyclonus. Something had rammed a hole right through his lower torso.
"What happened here?" he repeated the question.
"It was Braintrust," Raven replied. "I'm not exactly sure about the circumstances, just that he attacked Galvatron, calling him an usurper to the Decepticon throne. And Galvatron called him ... Starscream."
"What?!" Rodimus exclaimed. "That's impossible! Starscream is dead! He was killed by Galvatron!"
Raven nodded. "He mentioned that and I really don't know how..... please, you have to help me! If you don't, he will die!"
"He is a Decepticon. I couldn't care less," the Autobot replied coldly. "If the situation were reversed, what do you think he would do?"
Raven looked down in shame, aware that Rodimus was telling the truth. She wasn't a true Decepticon enough to feel obliged to kill the Autobot and she didn't have the same opinion about a lot of things, but her relationship with Cyclonus had led her to his people and she had stayed. But she had yet to harm another being in fight.
Suddenly a roar shook the station and the three functional robots looked toward the wide open door at the other end of the lab. Rodimus' personal link beeped and he opened a line.
"Rodimus, this is Blaster. We got a major problem down here, boss, and I'm talkin' major major! Looks like the big lizard is alive and he's got some new friends!"
"Keep out of his way, Blaster, I'm calling back-up!" Rodimus ordered, hearing the laser fire in the background. He then switched com lines. "Silverbolt, this is Rodimus Prime. Get over here and give us a hand, guys! Braintrust is still alive and kicking!"
"Gotcha!" Silverbolt answered. "We are on our way!"
"Come on!" Rodimus told Silhouette and ran through the lab toward where the battle noises came from. If he remembered correctly from his last stay here, this corridor led straight to the hangar bay.
Sil raced after him, leaving the strange female Decepticon behind.

* * *

Mirage and Blaster had run into trouble soon after separating from Rodimus and Silhouette. Both of them had searched for traces of Decepticons, moving into the direction of the hangar bay area, where they suspected some of them were located. And they were right, though none had expected to meet Braintrust.
"Autobots!" the Seeker hissed, his eyes glowing brightly. "Decepticons, destroy them!"
The Decepticons charged without a second's hesitation, which made Mirage wonder about the relationship between the two factions. The last time the Seekers had met the Decepticons both parties had not exactly parted with friendly thoughts.
Blaster returned the fire and ducked behind an empty container. "Damnit, this is not what I expected," he muttered.
They had called Rodimus, informing their team leader of the current situation. Rodimus had promised reinforcement. And if on that thought the Aerialbots charged through the wall, which exploded in a myriad of metal fragments. Some of those fragments were blown right into the backs of the Decepticons. Nearly simultaneously Rodimus and Silhouette arrived at the battle scene.
"Damn!" Rodimus whispered as he saw the large Seeker.
"Why are they working together?" Blaster asked. "And where are the other Seekers off to, leaving the big kahuna behind?"
"Because Braintrust is no longer Braintrust," Rodimus said softly. "Braintrust is apparently either in a coma or braindead. His body is possessed by Starscream's program."
The two Autobots stared at him. "Come again?" Mirage asked.
"It's the truth, Mirage. I found Galvatron's remains, as well as Raven and Cyclonus. Starscream has taken over the Decepticons. No one knows how his program came here or could enter."
"As if Galvatron hadn't been trouble enough," Blaster remarked.
The battle in the hangar, mainly between the Aerialbots and Starscream raged on. The Decepticons, Rodimus saw, kept back, holding their fire most of the times. He wondered why. If they wanted to, they might even win this battle. Then again, Starscream was moving through the ranks of his own troops like they weren't there at all, mindless of whether he nearly killed one of them in a shot aimed at an Autobot. This was a behavior Rodimus would normally have expected of Galvatron......
"I said kill them!" the dragon screamed. "Combaticons, unite! Form Bruticus!"
The Combaticons looked at each other, but followed the command, forming the large robot gestalt, known as Bruticus. Bruticus looked down at the much smaller opponents and then materialized a gun, firing at the scattering Autobots.
"Aerialbots!" Rodimus yelled. "Show him your stuff! Form Superion!"
The Aerialbots launched themselves up into the air, transforming into their second mode as parts of a much larger being, attaching themselves into another gestalt. Bruticus gave an angered growl and attacked. The two large robots clashed together and everyone else tried to get out of their way.
Rodimus entered the fight and aimed mainly at Starscream, who was hissing constantly, his yellow eyes glowing. "Who dares to attack the me?" he asked.
"I'm the Dragonslayer, Starscream!" Rodimus answered sarcastically. "And now be a nice lizard and curl up and die!"
Starscream roared. "Imbecile! I will squash you like the bug you are!"
"Try it," Rodimus muttered and jumped out of the way when the large head snapped at him. Funny, somehow this reaction was very un-Starscream like.
But Starscream's tail caught him right in the mid-section, cutting his musings short, and threw him aside. Rodimus crashed into the empty containers. He saw something blue flash past him, and then Starscream cried in pain.
"Sil!" he breathed as he discovered the female Dinobot, in her dino mode, clinging to the dragon's neck, her sharp teeth and claws buried in what looked like the partly molten skin around the airholes. Starscream shook his head violently, trying to dislodge her, but she held on.
Superion and Bruticus were busy at the other end of the hangar and the few Autobots were holding off the rest of the Decepticons. Rodimus gritted his teeth, cursing Sil, who was doing her job, but who was also endangering herself more than necessary. Another combatant entered the hangar bay, also attacking Starscream, who was now battling two females. Raven's sharp claws raked over one already slightly scraped optic.
Starscream finally managed to dislodge Sil, who landed gracefully on her hind legs, then he snapped at Raven, who shot out of the way, her flying skills superb. Silhouette's eyes glowed a bright blue, her lips vurled back over her sharp teeth and a snarling hiss came out of her snout. Rodimus joined the battle again, ceaselessly firing at the possessed body, unable to dent him even a bit, but he was successfully enraging him even more. Starscream was fighting not only a tiny bird, tiny compared to him, but also a claw-wielding monster and one determined Autobot. He fought back and fiery streams shot toward Rodimus, who had to move again so he wouldn't get hit.
Suddenly Starscream coughed, swaying slightly. Raven took her cue and attacked again, again aiming for one specific optic. Her mighty opponent batted at her, but seemed to have other problems, as he turned his back on them, trying to ward his attackers off with a few swings of his tail.
"He's weakening!" Sil shouted. She swiftly jumped onto the dragon's back and her claws cut deeply into the skin, but were unable to pierce it.
Starscream roared and slammed his body against one wall, managing to crack it. Sil was thrown violently off and landed hard on her side, momentarily stunned. But she had apparently succeeded in her task. Starscream broke through the already large hole the Aerialbots had created, taking the fight out into the open where he could move more easily, his massive body hampering him in those close quarters. Superion, who was still lodged in a cruel fight against Bruticus, found himself without an opponent as the other Decepticons followed their retreating leader.
Everything was over as it seemed. Just like this. The Decepticons fired wildly at the Autobots, who had moved after them, then disappeared inside their ship, leaving the system in a hurry. The Aerialbots separated again.
"What was that all about?" Silverbolt asked in confusion, brushing inefficiently at a singed spot on his silver skin.
"Somehow I'm not really convinced that we scared him off," Fireflight added, standing beside him.
"But they are gone nevertheless," AirRaid added. "What now?"
The question was aimed at Rodimus Prime, who had joined them at the hole in the wall.
"We have to inform the others of what happened here," the Autobot's second-in-command decided. "Optimus Prime needs to know about this. Get back to the ship and prepare for departure."
The Autobots moved out, leaving three robots behind, only two of them Autobots. Rodimus first looked at Sil. She transformed back into her robot mode, her eyes still glowing from the elation of the fight. She wasn't that much different from her brothers in that department, Rodimus mused for a moment. Then he looked at Raven, who stood a bit apart, transformed into her robot form. Her eyes glowed a dangerous yellow, which Rodimus identified as barely restrained anger; a complete opposite to Silhouette's enthusiasm about the battle.
"Why did you help us?" he asked, aware that she had done so voluntarily.
"He attacked my partner," she said coldly.
"I understand;" Rodimus answered slowly. He hesitated, knowing that whatever he decided next, he might regret it. "Can you get the two in there through?" He nodded toward the direction of the hangar.
"Possible. Galvatron is too far gone to get him conscious again, but Cyclonus' systems have already started to return." She cocked her head. "You don't have to feel obliged to help us, Rodimus Prime. We will survive."
Sil touched his arm, shaking her head. Her eyes expressed what she felt. He knew she didn't trust a Decepticon further than she could throw their flag ship.
"What about your friends?"
Raven grimaced. "They follow the strongest leader. Right now, Galvatron doesn't qualify. Now, go before your people miss you and come back." She turned and disappeared down the corridor.
Rodimus watched her go, then turned abruptly. Silhouette followed him silently.
About five minutes later the Autobot ship left the planetoid behind, using the next stable warp gate to Cybertron.

*

Raven watched the ship jump out of the system, leaving her and the two wounded Decepticons behind. With a sigh she turned and walked back to where Cyclonus sat propped up against the monitor station. He was aware of his surroundings and also of the fact that he was severely damaged. When she entered he reached for his weapon, but relaxed as he recognized her.
"The Autobots have left," she reported.
Cyclonus only nodded.
"I can get you moving again, Cyc, but it will take some time. The equipment here is very primitive."
"What about Galvatron?" he asked.
Her expression darkened. "He's much worse off. His repair programs are occupied with undoing all the damage done to the most important circuits and his body needs some serious repair, which I can't give here. I'm sorry."
Cyclonus frowned, not used to hopelessness. But right now he was tethering on the edge to it. Galvatron was badly damaged, the Decepticons had apparently decided to follow a traitor and he himself was in no shape at all to go up against Starscream. He had to think about what to do next.
Raven took his silence as an agreement to her offer to repair him right here and now. They had nowhere else to go anyway. She started her work.

* * *

Braintrust reveled in his newly found life, his rebirth. His body had been reconstructed and from the feel of it, Tornado had done the job. But it had not been done to perfection, as he had found out throughout the battle. Somehow his shell had been damaged more severely than Braintrust remembered and the sustained damage had not yet been repaired completely. There had been a sudden power drop in his weapons circuits and he had to draw back or be damaged even worse. Seething with anger he had ordered a retreat, leaving the pathetic force of Autobots in their belief of an easy victory. He would be back.
"We are done, Lord Starscream," Scavenger said and straightened from his work on the dragon's body. "The systems of the Seekers are much more complicated than ours, so I advise caution for the next hours. The energon converter is on line, as is the storage unit, but it can't take too much input right now. Your systems might shorten or power down in self defense."
Braintrust rumbled something and the Constructions instinctively moved back in self-preservation. Asked for their opinion, they had performed a miracle. No one knew about Seeker technology. Their systems were much more complicated and much more difficult to copy with their own equipment. Normally, the Constructions could patch something together from the most primitive of machines, enabling them to repair wounds even in the midst of battle, using nothing but scraps. But this was going beyond everything they had ever done.
"Leave," Braintrust growled and they happily complied.
The new Decepticon leader curled around the throne that had once been Galvatron's. Now a Seeker lead these Decepticons, but soon he'd destroy them. Utterly. Right now he had to play along and mime Starscream, but this would soon change. He also needed to get in touch with his own troops, find them, inform them of his return.
He looked around. And he needed to get a change of headquarters. This was a too dreary place for his own liking.
"Scourge," Braintrust said and was rewarded with a slightly apprehensive look from the second lieutenant of the former Decepticon leader.
"Yes, mighty Starscream?"
"Call our forces together. We will leave this hostile environment and search for a more .... fitting planet to raise the Decepticon Empire back to its former glory!"
"Leave Charr?" Scourge echoed. "But, my leader ...."
"Do you want to contradict me, Scourge?" Braintrust hissed.
"No-no, of course not." He shook his head. "I will alert every Decepticon that we will leave, as you wish." He hurried out of the throne room.
Braintrust called up a star chart from within his mind.
"Let's see," he whispered with a cruel smile. "How about .... yes, Halicon! A small world, far away from the known and traveled routes, and such primitive flesh creatures! It's just waiting to be conquered!"
He laughed horribly, the sound echoing through the cavernous room.

* * *

Optimus Prime had taken the news silently, not erupting in shouts and cries of disbelief as the others. Right now he was standing at the end of the conference table in a nearly empty conference room, with only Rodimus Prime and Midnight present. The two were the only ones he needed information from right now, Rodimus because he had faced Starscream and Midnight because he knew Braintrust the best.
"I can't believe he came back as a ghost," Rodimus said, shaking his head. "That's ridiculous!"
Midnight shook his head. "No, not really."
"You believe in this?"
"I do," Steven Parker answered, phasing out of his partner. "On Earth we have proven the existence of ghosts. They are not as strongly present as Starscream apparently is because he can articulate himself very well, following your reports, but we have them. People who have unfinished business come back because they feel the desire to complete what they started. Or they died a violent death and their spirit is drawn back to the world of the living, out for revenge on their murderer or to be revenged."
Rodimus shook his head, incredulous. Even though he had seen ghosts himself, inside the Matrix, he was not willing to believe that any such creature could truly exist outside a closed and energy laden environment as the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The Matrix stored a dead Autobot leader personality, so it could happen that the new leader saw his predecessor's ghost, but this ...? There had to be a better explanation for it!
"Whatever the factor is that enabled Starscream to survive and return after such a long time," Optimus Prime spoke up, "we are facing him right now, and I don't think he will sit and wait for us to come and confront him. Most likely he will continue what he always tried to start: conquer the universe."
The other two nodded, aware that this was what they were facing.
"Midnight, how are the chances that the Matrix did enough damage to the body of Braintrust that Starscream is vulnerable?" Prime asked.
The Sentinel leader sighed. "Well, from what Rodimus told me, someone, most likely Tornado, restored him pretty well. He has to be fully functional, especially if he took out three Decepticon warriors, among them their leader."
"Oh, goody," Rodimus muttered. "But what can we do now?"
"Now?" Optimus asked. "Not much. Starscream will disappear somewhere, maybe to Charr, maybe somewhere else. All we can do is try to spy on the Decepticons, find them before anything happens."
"And something will happen," Rodimus said darkly.
Midnight nodded. "Definitely. I think I can volunteer the Sentinels for this task. The Decepticons don't know all of us and we don't wear an Autobot insignia to tell everyone who we are."
Optimus looked at him. "Thank you, Midnight."
Steve leaned against his partner. "Finally we get to have some action!"
Midnight smiled humorlessly.
As they left the conference room, Rodimus saw Silhouette standing not too far away, apparently waiting for him. He approached her while Midnight and Optimus Prime walked on, only glancing at the two. Was it his imagination or was there an amused look in Prime's optics? It had to be his imagination!
"So, what's the plan?" Sil asked.
"Not much. We're sending out spies to Charr, trying to discover what Starscream is up to."
"This Starscream, who was he? Why is his program inside Braintrust?" she wanted to know, accompanying him on his way through a maze of tunnels.
Cybertron was new to Sil, but she had refrained from exploring it yet. She was very curious, of course, but she also wanted to know what was going on. Opposite to many Autobots she displayed a lot of interest in ongoing battles, even if she was no longer involved in them. And secretly she hoped Rodimus would show her around a bit himself.
"It's a long story and I don't know all the details. A lot happened inside the Decepticon ranks, but what we know is that Galvatron killed Starscream at the beginning of the war against Unicron. Reports tell that he utterly destroyed him, leaving no recognizable molecule behind."
"So you now believe his ghost has returned?"
Rodimus looked a bit surprised. "What did you do? Eavesdrop in on us?"
"Roddy, my friend, remember that I am of humanoid origin. We humanoids are superstitious beings and have myths and legends. I don't know about Earth, but my planet's population had its believers in the supernatural. Why shouldn't a consciousness continue existing after the body is destroyed."
"Steve mentioned something similar."
"So?"
Rodimus sighed. "We don't rule out the possibility, even if it's a bit alien to what we believe. Right now we have to sit and wait. If the Screamer refrains from moving against us, everything's fine."
"But it's highly unlikely," Sil finished the sentence.
He nodded. "Exactly. The Sentinels will do the reconnaissance work and we'll see what they find out."
"Well, until then, since we're on your home planet, how about a little sight seeing tour?" She gave him a coy look and if she could have, she would have batted her eyes.
Rodimus, though, interpreted the whole thing correctly. "Uh, sure," he answered, feeling slightly unwell, but not because he didn't want to take her around. It was just plain nerves. "Why not."
Silhouette chuckled softly.

* * *

He was floating, passing through regions he hadn't visited for a long time, seeing memories he had thought gone and forgotten. With each passing memory, his own memories faded, leaving him an empty husk searching for new life. He knew he was alive, he knew he was existing, just his mind seemed to be emptying and refilling at a frightening pace. He couldn't control the memories, couldn't choose which ones to keep, which ones to forget forever, to lock away. He was only a passive shell, watching, waiting -- sensing.
He sensed he was there, in the real world, outside his mind. He was a body, he was a mind, but both were not yet mended. Someone was working on his body, repairing it, while his mind repaired itself.
He moved back into the mindspace, curious as to what memories there were, what memories there would be.

* * *

The natives' defenses fell quickly and without much loss of energon on the side of the Decepticons. The primitive weapons of the flesh beings were useless against their superior strength. Braintrust watched the fleshlings flee in panic, some of them falling under the continuing fire of the Decepticons, his troops. He settled back with a satisfied grunt, looking around for a good place to use as his new headquarters. The natives of this planet might be primitive, but they were good architects, building their homes and temples out of the reddish white stone of the planet itself. They used no steel, plastic or glass, only stone. And they had built immense towers, gigantic buildings and broad, flat streets.
Braintrust had detected faint empathy abilities in some of them and he was already formulating a plan to catch several of the most promising individuals, using them for a few experiments concerning Interfacing. But right now that had to stand back behind more pressing matters: control of his troops.
His optics fell on a large construction towering close by. It was a rather thin tower, standing beside a dome like construction with hundreds of pictures dominating its front, telling of the people living here.
He entered the dome, smashing the wooden doors. Inside the dome was even more impressive. It was held completely in white, hundreds of holes in the ceiling filtering the two suns' light. There was even a small altar, which Braintrust decided would fit as a throne, and there was enough room in here to erect the necessary equipment. He smiled. Yes, this would be his new headquarters from which he would plan the conquest of the universe.
"Scavenger!" he hissed and the Constructicon was readily appearing at his side.
"Yes, High Commander?"
"This will be my headquarters. You know what to do."
"Yes, my lord." Scavenger nodded at his fellow Combaticons and they began their work immediately.
Braintrust left the crude dome, which would soon house Decepticon technology to the rim. He would have preferred Seeker technology, but that would have to wait.
"Soundwave," he hissed.
The blue Decepticon, which he couldn't really read and which made him a bit uneasy when he looked at him, walked over. "Yes, my lord," he said in his monotonous voice.
"I want to know where the Seekers took off to. Send your spies out to get me their location."
Soundwave's optic shield flashed a bit, then he nodded. "As you command." His chest plate popped open. "Laserbeak, Ratbat, Buzzsaw. Operation reconnaissance."
The three cassettes flew out, transforming in mid-flight. Ratbat flapped his wings, hovering in the air in front of Soundwave, Buzzsaw landed on his shoulder and Laserbeak on his arm. Laserbeak gave a squawk and a high-pitched sound could be heard. Soundwave didn't show any reaction, only his visor optics darkened a bit. Then all three cassettes took off and left Halicon, their task set out for them.

* * *

Cyclonus watched Raven work, his face holding a detached expression. He was fully functional again, though he doubted he could hold his own in battle. His circuits, at least the most important ones, were back on line and functional, but his repair programs were working overtime on everything else. The stomach wound had been patched up and closed, but it was still visible that he had been wounded, especially since his skin looked still burned and blackened. He was thankful, of course, for Raven's work, but he was also aware of the fact that she was working with an absolute minimum of gear and equipment. And she was working alone, around the clock. Her system used up energon in a different way, keeping her operational longer than any Cybertronian Cyclonus knew. She was also able to harness energon from the sun, using her wings, which were able to function as collectors.
But she didn't have the luxury of sun bathing here. Since the battle against Starscream, which Cyclonus was mulling over and over again, she had been busy with either Cyclonus or Galvatron. She had stabilized the Decepticon leader's meta processor and was now working on the damaged circuits around it. He was helping her by letting his repair programs run their course, even though he had resisted in the beginning. Cyclonus knew that Galvatron was a strong personality, though a rather psychotic one, and he had wanted to get back at Starscream for the attack, but the body didn't react to the commands from the mind. He had settled back after some time, letting the medic do her work.
Cyclonus, in the meantime, had done his own inspecting and information gathering. He had accessed the cameras throughout Mernan, those who were functional at least, and had tried to replay the battle scenes they had recorded. Since there had been very few operational cameras he had to work from short pieces of tape. All he saw gave him a lot to think about.
A hand fell on his shoulder and he looked up. Raven stood beside him, looking tired and worn. "I'm done," she said, sounding as exhausted as she looked. "His basic structure is still rather bad of, but I managed to stabilize his meta processor enough that I don't have to fear imminent breakdown. The plasmatic imbalance always present in his mind has severely disrupted everything and all but obliterated some parts. I just don't have the equipment here to repair him further." She sounded very frustrated.
Cyclonus nodded, rising from the chair and looking at his partner. She needed a resting period, he decided, and possibly a refuel. When he told her that, Raven shook her head.
"I'm managing okay, Cyc. Remember, my metabolism is rather different from yours. What have you been doing here?" she wanted to know, nodding at the screen.
"Watching the security cameras' tapes," he answered, accepting the change of topic.
"Anything interesting?"
"I'm not sure. I have tapes from the fight inside the hangar bay and also from inside the lab, but there's something strange going on." Cyclonus frowned. "I know Starscream. Some of his actions, especially in the bay, are not like him. Look how he doesn't even care about the others as he fights the Autobots! Starscream always wanted to be the Decepticon leader, but he was never prone to squash other Decepticons in the rage of battle."
Unlike Galvatron >> Raven remarked and smiled at him as Cyclonus shot her a sharp look.
Of course, the statement held all the truth about the current de-throned leader, but Cyclonus would be the last to say it out aloud. His loyalties lay with Galvatron, though sometimes he doubted his own rationalizations. He had brought Galvatron back to the ranks of the Decepticons, who had been nothing but an unruly band of quarreling children after the devastating result of the Autobot victory over Unicron. Galvatron had brought them back to a reasonable force to be reckoned with and if he ever got his fried circuits back together, the Decepticons could rise to glory again. Cyclonus believed in Galvatron's abilities, though his actions sometimes contradicted it.
"But you are right," Raven said aloud, "He seems to pay no mind to whom he's stepping on. It's like he's another person in battle." She frowned. "Say, the body Starscream took over, it belonged to someone else, right?"
Cyclonus nodded. "It's the body of the Seeker leader, Braintrust. He was killed through the Autobot Matrix as far as we are informed."
Raven continued frowning. "But is he really dead?" she asked.
Her partner looked at her in surprise. "His body was destroyed."
"And his mind?"
Cyclonus stared at the screen again. "What do you want to imply?"
"Nothing. But if this isn't the real Starscream, the one you remember, how are the chances that it is the former mind? Maybe Starscream was in there and then got kicked out again." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Let's construct a theory here. The Matrix destroyed Braintrust's body, though someone repaired it. You saw how patched up he looked. Looks like the repairer who did it used the same limited equipment as I had to lately. Why would someone repair a dead husk? Answer: he had hopes to reconstruct the mind as well, or, and I stress this, the mind was still there."
Cyclonus looked thoughtfully at her.
"If the mind is still there," the medic continued, feeling in her element, "then you have a chance to restore it. The time between the destruction of Braintrust and the time we arrived her isn't very long, but long enough to realize that maybe the mind couldn't be brought back. The Seekers left, and Braintrust, maybe dead, maybe comatose, was left behind. Now imagine another mind entering the body."
"Starscream."
She nodded. "Starscream. His mind takes over and revives the body, but it also comes in contact with the old mind. Braintrust was a powerful entity and I believe that if he's given the chance, he can take over his body, using Starscream in the task."
"So Starscream was fighting us, taking over the Decepticons, but it was Braintrust out there in the hangar, battling the Autobots," Cyclonus concluded her theory.
He had had his own experiences with being possessed by Starscream, but he had never been able to conquer the intruder inside of his circuits. He had had to sit back and watch him act. It had been a frustrating situation, resolved when Galvatron had shot him. Even though he hadn't remembered anything at first, memories had come back later, embarrassingly so. If Starscream had enabled Braintrust's mind to be reborn, maybe the cursed ghost had been destroyed once and for all!
Raven's yellow eyes glowed. "Yes, that's very likely," she agreed. "All we need is proof."
Cyclonus frowned. "No, all we need is to convince the Decepticons that their new leader is a fraud and an enemy in one. Braintrust regards every Cybertronian, both Autobots and Decepticons, as slaves of his former masters, the Quintessons. As a superior model he believes we should bow to him." Silent anger spoke through Cyclonus' voice.
"But how do we get the Decepticons to see the truth?"
Into the following, thoughtful silence broke a sound of thrusters and then something entered the room, circling above them.
"Laserbeak!" Cyclonus exclaimed as the small spy settled onto the console and cawed.
Laserbeak regarded the other Decepticon calmly, then transmitted a high pitched stream of information. As Cyclonus went through the data, just like Raven did, he nodded grimly.
"Tell Soundwave we are functional, but Galvatron is not fit to travel."
Laserbeak cawed again, looking expectantly at Raven.
"No," Cyclonus decided.
"Yes," Raven agreed nearly simultaneously.
Both looked at each other and Raven sighed. Laserbeak remained silent, simply waiting what the answer on Soundwave's question he had relayed would be.
"I can explain this to Soundwave much better in person than by transmitting data via Laserbeak. If he gets caught, we are as bad off as before."
"What if you get caught?" Cyclonus demanded.
"Then we have Laserbeak as back-up to deliver the information." She smiled. "Trust me, I've survived among warring factions much longer than you think. I can protect myself." She looked at Laserbeak. "Let's go." With that she transformed.
Both birds shot away from Mernan and left Cyclonus with Galvatron. The former second-in-command of the Decepticon forces sighed silently. 'Females!'

* * *

Spellbinder reduced thrust and followed Midnight through the thin atmosphere of the barren planet below them. The planet's name was Charr, located at the outmost rim of the regular space routes, a planet that was nothing but a large rock which had attracted a barely noticeable atmosphere. It was also the home of the Decepticons, had been so since they had been cast out after the fight against Unicron.
"Okay, let's keep a low profile. Spellbinder, you know what you have to do."
Spellbinder acknowledged and felt his Interface do the same. Kayla, his Interface, activated his shields and the Sentinel disappeared right in front of the others' sensors. He streaked toward the known location of the Decepticon headquarters, careful to muffle his engines, ready to dart out of the danger zone if necessary. Everything was quiet. As he passed over the construction serving as the headquarters, he noticed that everything was really deserted.
"Strange," Kayla muttered and merged a bit further with him, accessing his sensors and doing a few more scans. "No movement, no energy patterns. Everything's dead down there."
"I'm going in," Spellbinder told her and transformed, shifting her into the one place that had once been a deadly weapon and which enabled the Interface.
Kayla didn't feel the transfer. It was natural, had always been this way. She simply kept on scanning. As the Sentinel walked closer to the Decepticon lair, he was growing more and more certain that this place was deserted. Striding through unguarded doors he was proven this fact minutes later. The throne room was empty, covered with dust blown through the opening.
"Spellbinder to Midnight," he called over his com line.
"I read you, Spellbinder," came the answer.
"Midnight, the Decepticons are gone. No one's here. No trace of them. Looks like they left some time ago."
"Roger that. Stay where you are, I'm coming to you. Midnight out."
Spellbinder walked back to the entrance, awaiting Midnight's arrival.

* * *

Phantom wasn't happy. In fact, he was feeling mightily depressed. Mainly this had to do with the fact that Tornado had been rather depressed himself lately, his mood radiating off onto the other Seekers. And Phantom knew why their new leader wasn't on the top of things. They had lost their old leader and had to leave him behind, rotting away in a state that could be called a coma. Seekers were usually judged as unfeeling machines, still acting mostly by a program the Quintessons had installed, but just like the Sentinels, the Seekers had developed over the millennia. They had grown and Phantom considered leaving a dying comrade, even if it was Braintrust, who was as psycho as they came, as cruel.
Their new home was a planet they had visited very often in the past, at least some of them. Phantom even knew some of the natives here, which were flesh creatures, but not as short lived as other races he had encountered in his life. He even called one his friend, but that didn't necessarily mean he would some day Interface.
Tornado had gone off somewhere into the wilds of this planet, with Phoenix trailing him, keeping an eye on him. No one knew how long it would take for him to adjust to this completely new situation, but the Seekers knew they had time. There was no imminent threat and the Sentinels were not the kind to hunt their enemies. Midnight was content with fighting back when attacked.
"Yo, Phantom!"
Phantom turned and discovered Flashfire, a rather small Seeker, whose former function had been that of a spy, not an enforcer of Quintesson law. Flashfire was also unable to transform into a second mode, though he could shift several parts to pass through tight places. Like Hellfire he was looking like an animal, though he was an airborne creature. Now he landed on a tree in front of his friend.
"What's up?" Phantom asked.
"A lot. I got enemy readings bearing this way," Flashfire reported. "Looks like Decepticons."
Phantom frowned. "Decepticons? Here?"
"Right here, my friend. I saw one of those little spies fly into the woodlands. I think they're scouting for us." Flashfire looked a bit troubled.
"Find Tornado," the other Seeker ordered. "I think we have a problem."

* * *

"Gone?" Rodimus muttered, frowning. He didn't like this one bit. Why had the Decepticons abandoned their base, which they had stayed at for such a long time now?
"No trace of them," came Midnight's voice over the line. "We'll search for some clues, but I guess we won't find any."
"Thanks, Mid." With that he terminated the line. "What's Starscream up to?" he mused out aloud.
"Whatever he's planning, it can't be something good," Smokescreen answered.
Rodimus nodded. "Yes, but what now? We can't keep searching for the Decepticons until the end of all time. This visit to Charr was more than I really wanted to risk, but Midnight's team was the best equipped for it."
"We still have Autobots out there, keeping their optics open for any sign of Con activity," Bluestreak reminded him. "But I have to agree that we can't keep an active search up for long."
"I'll go and talk to Optimus; Bluestreak, you keep me posted about everything out people find out there."
"Will do, boss."
Rodimus left the room and walked to the communications center. He had returned to Earth two days ago, after spending an Earth week on Cybertron, showing Silhouette a planet she now called her home. She was an Autobot, she had told him, even if her soul wasn't. She didn't remember her own home planet, so she had adopted Cybertron. She had stayed on the former factory planet, while he had flown back. It saddened him a bit that she wasn't here, but he had enough things to keep him busy already without her presence reminding him that .... well, that she was there. Rodimus was not sure what kind of relationship both of them had. She was a humanoid mind in an Autobot body, a stranger, so to say, but also a personality he liked to be around. He sighed and pushed further thoughts about Silhouette aside.
Optimus Prime had stayed on Cybertron as well, as busy there as Rodimus was on Earth, mainly solving problems that were small compared to the apparently new threat. He was deeply worried about Starscream's reappearance, even though he didn't show it to the outside world. But Rodimus knew what was going on behind the serious and calm facade, having gone through it once and partly going through it again. With one difference: he no longer was the Matrix bearer.
Then there was the fact that now, when he had some time, Shanygn had turned up being on Alean. This was another puzzle, especially considering that she had taken Chip with her. What were those two researching all the time? What was it that fascinated them so much? And why had she wanted to talk about it with him? Question over question and he had no answer in sight.
A part of his mind still wondered how Raven was doing. Midnight had somehow predicted his question and had asked Dagger to have an eye on Mernan. The Sentinel undercover specialist had readily agreed. There had been nothing extraordinary to report; no one coming, no one going. Either both wounded Decepticons were dead and Raven had left unnoticed, or all three of them were still there, doing whatever they did.
He sighed, pushing those thoughts away. He had more important things to think about. One of them was to report to Prime that the Decepticons had moved -- wherever to.

* * *

Starscream had gone through a short period of utter shock, then he had begun to realize he had made a great mistake. The mind, which had appeared shattered and comatose, had been activated again by his intrusion, using his own ectoplasmic body to claim his mind again. Starscream was seething with humiliation and anger at the thought that he had been that easily fooled. And when he discovered that the former mind, the one calling itself Braintrust, was using Starscream's name to commanded the Decepticons, he charged, attacking the stronger growing creature again and again.
For some time Braintrust regarded his attacks as below his further notice, but when Starscream finally managed to crack one of the many walls erected around the other's mind, he fought back.
In real time, the battle lasted only seconds, but inside the eternal infinity of mindspace, the battle raged for a long time. Neither combatant won or lost much, but they felt that they were growing to close together. Their patterns mingled at the fringes of their consciousness.
"No!" Starscream cried as he began to merge with what was Braintrust.
The other one shrieked and moved frantically away from him. But it was too late. Both minds flowed into each other, their individual streaks mixing into one.

* * *

Spike had been slightly unwilling to leave Earth and travel to Nebulos. He had to go, he knew, to meet with Cerebros and go through the latest stuff occurring on the small planet, but he didn't have to like it. Not only was there enough work back on Earth and a pending visit to Cybertron, he also didn't want to leave Carly alone. His wife had told him to go, though, explaining to him that she was in her first month, nothing serious, no problem. Spike had experience with pregnancy, having already been there for his wife while she was pregnant with Daniel, but he just didn't want to leave. He loved his job, but he also wanted some private life, and lately he hadn't had too much of the latter.
Sighing, he watched the stars rush by, Sitting in the comfortable seat of his transport to Nebulos left him with nothing much to do than either ponder life and things as such or do some real work. He fished the laptop out of its protective shell and set to work.
"We have only two more hours till Nebulos," SkyLynx said, sounding immensely pleased. "With my superior speed to all other vehicles we may even break my own record!"
Spike grinned wryly. "Thanks for the info, SkyLynx," he said and began his work in earnest.
There was another passenger on this flight, a robot, or, to be more precise: a Sentinel. Spike had never met the bronze colored robot before. His name was Labyrinth and he was a scientist, studying alien cultures. Labyrinth had come to Earth some time after Midnight had made the first, fragile contact with the Autobots, and he had stayed. He found Earth a fascinating planet, its culture worth of further study, so he had used every available method to learn. Spike had seen him sporadically, but had never exchanged a single word with him.
"Uh-oh, heads up, fellow travelers!" SkyLynx suddenly called. "We have unannounced visitors!"
Spike looked through the windows of the shuttle and froze with icy knowledge of who was approaching. "Decepticons," he breathed.
"Correct, Ambassador. I'd advise you buckle in and get ready for some incredible maneuvering that will leave them stunned by my performance."
Spike groaned, wishing SkyLynx wouldn't be so nauseatingly boisterous where his abilities were concerned. But he followed the Autobot's advise and buckled up, though he first slipped into what was a stripped-down version of a pressure suit. Labyrinth was looking apprehensive, but didn't move. He wasn't a fighter, Spike knew, and he would gladly be somewhere else than here. If push came to shove he could fight for himself, though.
SkyLynx went into several wild dives and fired at his attackers, but he was also hit by a few shots and Spike gritted his teeth, grabbing the edges of his seat. This was bad.
"We have to abort our path of flight," SkyLynx informed his passengers. "But the Decepticons won't be able to keep us from our goal. Their fire power is no match for my superior shields and incredible maneuverability!"
"Get us out of here, Lynx! Now!" Spike ordered.
"Trust me, Ambassador. I'll get you to Nebulos."
"I hope so," the ambassador muttered through clenched teeth.
Another shot rattled him and SkyLynx gave a yelp of pain, mixed with outrage.
Labyrinth, who had been watching their attackers through the windows, suddenly said softly, "Braintrust."
"What?" Spike peered through the windows as well and then discovered the large dragon gliding through space.
And then SkyLynx chose to use the warp gate to get them to safety.

*

Braintrust felt good. The short attack against the Autobot shuttle ship, testing his body which the Constructicons had tackled again, this time getting at least part of the circuits back into what Braintrust considered they thought was working order, had raised his spirits.
The world around him shifted suddenly and everything took on a new form. He hissed and pushed back the other consciousness residing inside of him. This was getting annoying. He hadn't won the battle against Starscream completely, not after the other mind had begun to merge with him. He had been less trouble after this, but now Braintrust experienced moments of schizophrenic origin. Sometimes Starscream managed to gain control of his body, then again he slipped back again. This was intolerable! He needed to get this foreign program removed unless he wanted the slips to become even more frequent and then, possibly, permanent.
Returning to Halicon he settled down inside the dome. Soundwave approached him, his face as unreadable as ever. Braintrust wished he could just scrap him and good riddance. But, well, he needed to uphold the illusion of Starscream being the dominant mind in this body, so he tolerated the communications expert. He didn't have to like it, though. The robot seemed to read more in him than all the others and that made him nervous, especially because he couldn't do the same.
"Buzzsaw has found the Seekers," Soundwave said calmly.
"Good," Braintrust hissed. "Where are they?"
"The planet's name is Skritakaar. It's location is in sector 45-8."
Skritakaar! Braintrust smiled. Yes, he should have known. Several of his troops had displayed fondness for this green world, a world where the natives held no abilities to Interface whatsoever.
There was a violent shift of perspective and he had to concentrate on Soundwave so he wouldn't let anything slip. If the Decepticons found out about this .....
"Well," he said, "then let's see what they have to say to a little alliance."
"Alliance?" Soundwave sounded a bit puzzled. "The Seekers have not shown any move toward forming any kind of alliance with us."
Braintrust rumbled softly, refraining from smashing the Decepticon into the next wall. He might need him still.
His world shifted again and he pushed back hard this time, using all his mind power to shatter the intruder, but to no avail. Starscream was too much bound to him to destroy him quickly. If he did he might just end up lobotomizing himself. With an effort he concentrated on Soundwave.
"Tell Buzzsaw to contact the Seeker called Tornado. He is to deliver this." Braintrust lifted his large paw, holding something looking like a disk between two talons.
Soundwave took the disk, looking at it with mild interest, then he nodded. "As you command."
Braintrust watched him go, unsure whether he shouldn't really dispose of him. Then he shut down part of his circuits, traveling deeper into his mind in search of the foreign program Starscream.

* * *

The archives on Alean were extensive. You could get lost in the vast hall containing not only a library computer, but hundreds of thousands of disks. The library was situated deep inside the planet, several levels down, spreading over a few kilometers. The city of the Sentinels, which had been built inside the rock of a rather deep canyon, was above the two visitors, and there were only few ways down here. Chip gaped at the archive in awe.
"Wow!" he breathed. "That's ... large!"
Shanygn chuckled. "Yeah, kinda. I once spent months down here and even then didn't get to se every corner of the archives. The Sentinels keep files about everything they ever encountered or heard about. Every scrap of information or data is stored here. All we have to do is type in a key word and the computers start working."
She walked over to the library computer and accessed the search program.
Chip followed, still staring at the vast room. This was exceeding every wild guess he had hazarded as to how it would be here. First of all he had been surprised by the planet itself. Alean was like Earth without oceans. There were only a few lakes above ground. Most of the water was stored below the rocky surface, Shanygn had explained. There was no intelligent life here, but myriads of animals, starting from insects to birds, reptiles and mammals. The Sentinels had discovered this planet centuries ago, building their city into the canyon walls. Chip had met some of them after F/X had landed and Shanygn had told the one called Winterhawk that she and Chip wanted to look something up in the archives. Hawk had had no objections and the two humanoids had taken the elevator down.
"Okay, let's try it," Shanygn muttered and typed in 'Autobot Matrix'.
There was a short pause, then the screen showed the hits. There were several. Chip raised an eyebrow.
"A bunch of work."
Shanygn nodded. "Let's get going."
With that both of them began hunting for more data.

* * *

His contact arrived several hours after Buzzsaw had flown off to meet the Seekers and deliver the disk. Like a shadow the black bird glided through the dusk settling over Halicon, following the small red-black-and-white spy unit, which quickly transformed and slid into Soundwave's chest. There was no one around to see them, but Soundwave checked nevertheless. He had chosen this remote point because of the delicate meeting. If Starscream ever heard of it, he'd kill him for sure.
Soundwave wasn't afraid he would be detected. He knew that there had to be different factors playing together, formulating a chance one in a million that Starscream would find out about the treachery. And was it really treachery? Come to think of that, was this really Starscream? The communications expert had studied their new leader for a long time, ceaselessly recording information about behavior, speech pattern, everything. His conclusions were somewhat incomplete. On one side he had to take into account that the entity that was Starscream had floated through space for some time, had repossessed a body, had been chased off again and had finally been given a new body, which had apparently been destroyed. How much of the original personality could still be there after going through all of this? Then again, every time he had reappeared he had displayed certain characteristics of his old self. Unlike this time. He had been ..... different.
This had led to Soundwave's silent task of checking out whether they were really following Starscream or someone else. No one knew how he had possessed Braintrust and why he had chosen the Seeker leader and not a Decepticon. Braintrust had been destroyed by the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Who had reconstructed him? And why?
Soundwave had observed Starscream and he had concluded that this was not the Starscream he knew, had known for millions of years. He had stumbled over names, accessed files he should have known about and there had been strange energy patterns appearing in CyberSpace from time to time. This was the most peculiar Soundwave had ever witnessed, mainly because it happened in only CyberSpace. To someone like him, who was present in the CyberSpace world, it looked like there was a storm brewing in one spot, suddenly discharging electric currents at random, then quieting down. Whenever a discharge happened, Starscream seemed to loose himself momentarily. When he returned he was looking either angry or confused. Soundwave had explored the phenomenon, but had been unable to move close enough to the thunderstorm's location. The energies at war there were too much for him to take.
Sending out the cassettes to contact the Seekers had been the last part of suspicious behavior Soundwave had needed to act. The other Decepticons were already talking about their new leader, wishing for Galvatron, though he had been more the madman than Starscream could ever be. But Galvatron hadn't shown erratic behavior this strange. And he had not displayed any favorable thoughts towards the Seekers, which were mainly busy proclaiming their superiority to the Cybertronians. Soundwave had made a decision, based on the facts he had. He had sent Laserbeak to Mernan instead of on the hunt for the Seekers.
Raven transformed smoothly, landing softly on the dusty ground. Her yellow eyes glowed in the approaching darkness while her black body nearly merged with the shadows crawling into the dusky light.
You called >> she said, using a method of communication that Soundwave preferred -- without sound, highly secure and very fast.
Soundwave knew she had abilities that lay as yet undiscovered or dormant, abilities she only displayed toward those she either trusted or felt obliged to. Cyclonus was such a person and Soundwave felt a slight pride in the fact that she had chosen to reveal part of herself to him as well.
As he looked at her he noticed the punctured skin of her shoulder and her overall singed exterior.
You are hurt >> he stated the obvious.
I'm fine compared to the state Galvatron is in. >>
Sit down >> Soundwave ordered and she complied with a sigh. What is the situation? >> he asked as he began his work.
Raven gave him a brief, though very informative, description of what had happened and what she had done.
Soundwave had to say he was impressed with what he had been able to do for both Cyclonus and Galvatron. He had seen the outside damage, which had been extensive. The damage inside Galvatron was even worse. When she also transmitted her suspicions about Starscream he knew he had made the right decision. She was confirming his own theories.
I won't be able to repair Galvatron so he can take on Braintrust >> Raven finished her explanations, which had taken only seconds in real time. Can you come with me or send the Constructicons? >>
Leaving will rouse his suspicions even further. He has already taken steps to shut me out. >>
Raven looked worriedly at him. Are you in any danger of getting detected? >>
Negative. He can't risk disabling me or he will lose the Decepticons' trust. I think he waits until the Seekers are here to take over. >>
Raven nodded, wincing a bit as Soundwave touched a rather delicate circuit. Then I need the Constructicons, or at least one or two of them>>
Agreed. Their absence won't be detected so soon. I will keep him busy. >>
I just hope they won't blab this to Braintrust to gain points. >>
Soundwave smiled, which was only detectable through his brightening visor. He applied some finishing touches to the rather crude repair. At least she was no longer in pain.
They won't. Trust me. The Decepticons are already suspicious of their new leader's motives.>>
I'll wait here for them >> Raven told him.
Good >> Before Soundwave took off to return to the city he ejected Ravage, whom he applied the task of guarding Raven.
I can watch out for myself >> she said testily, her eyes flashing a bit.
I know >> was the only reply, then the other Decepticon disappeared into the night sky.
Raven looked down at Ravage, who returned her look with calm, red eyes. She sighed and sat down.

* * *

"It had been too quiet," Optimus Prime thought aloud, his voice troubled. "But why attack SkyLynx? What did he think he would gain from this?"
"Spike wasn't even carrying sensible information," Ultra Magnus added. "Nothing that would serve the Decepticons."
Prime nodded, wishing he knew what this was all about. Luck had it that the attackers had left SkyLynx alone after the shuttle had retreated. Spike was now safely on Nebulos, though they had to take two different warp gates to approach the planet. The Ambassador had immediately contacted Cybertron, informing Optimus Prime of what had happened. SkyLynx had been determined to get his passengers to their destination and so he had done, though he was now complaining about his body being a wreck and no longer able to give peak performances until he was repaired. Optimus was just glad no one had been hurt.
"Spike said he'd stay on Nebulos until things quiet down," Arcee added. "He doesn't want to risk a second attack."
Optimus nodded. "We also have another problem: Halicon."
Voodoo, who had been scouting for Decepticon activity, had discovered the Halicon disaster by accident. He had seen the Constructicons leave the planet and they had chosen to investigate. Apparently Starscream had taken over a city on Halicon, using it for his nerve center. The natives had been no match for him. Even though the people of Halicon knew about space travel and had had alien encounters before they chose not to reach out for the stars. It was a good choice, Prime had to admit. Halicon was right in the open where location was concerned, and it made an attack highly unlikely. Large intruders, like a star ship, into the single star system were detected immediately. Voodoo had nearly been discovered as well, but he had made it out without a shot being fired.
Why did the Decepticons leave Charr? Prime wondered. In all his time as leader Galvatron had never seen the necessity to move, why did Starscream?
"We can't attack them on Halicon," Arcee pointed out. "If we do, the war will break out again -- maybe even more violently -- and it will take Halicon with it. I don't know about you, but from the reports about the battle on Mernan I somehow think that Starscream has grown even more ruthless than Galvatron at his best. "
Optimus nodded. "Yes, he has changed from the Decepticon I remember. Starscream has always craved for leadership, but he never displayed this side. I can't believe that a ghost of a former living creature can change so much from its basic behavior pattern."
The Decepticons regarded flesh creatures as minor, somewhere around the basic level of existence of vermin. They could collaborate with them, but they didn't see them as equals. Everyone who wasn't a Decepticon was inferior. But they had never moved against a planet only to claim part of it as their headquarters. Usually they exploited the energy resources, then left again. This was highly unusual.
"What now?" Ultra Magnus wanted to know. "We can't let him run free! He's a menace even greater than Galvatron."
Optimus Prime looked darkly out of the window showing him the planet of Cybertron. "I agree."
"So?" Kup spoke up.
"So we have to reduce the menace to its former size."
There was a short silence in the room as the assembled Autobots let the words sink in.
"There is only one person who can get the Decepticons to turn away from Starscream and maybe even destroy him in the process," Optimus said slowly, as if he wasn't really sure for himself that he was saying the right thing. He turned back to his friends. "Galvatron."
"What?"
"You can't be serious!!"
"That's absolute madness!"
"Optimus!"
The uproar of protest died down after a few minutes of incredulous shouting and everyone looked at their leader.
"I'm very serious," Optimus told them. "If I have to choose between Starscream and Galvatron, I'd vote for Galvatron. If he can get the Decepticons back on his side, the rest will be easy."
The disbelief was still present in the room, but no one objected.
"Kup, get me Rodimus on the line. I need him to make a run to Mernan again," Prime ordered.

* * *

Tornado watched the approach of the small Decepticon spy with unease. How had they found them? Why had they been looking for them in the first place? What did they want? Maybe the bird-like robot held an answer. It landed on a bush in front of them, giving a squawk.
Tornado exchanged a look with Phoenix and Phantom, then approached it. The bird ejected something looking like a disk and Tornado caught it. It weighed heavily for such a small object. A high density transportation disk. the Seeker realized, one only his kind used. But how had the Decepticons gained possession of one? He frowned at the bird, which looked at him with an unreadable expression. Tornado walked back to his friends and gave the disk to Phoenix.
"What do you make of it?" he asked.
The female Seeker inspected the disk. "One of ours. Looks like it has been inscribed. There's a message on it."
She got out a small device from one of the many compartments in her body and inserted the disk. Then she activated it. A symbol sprung up on the screen of the device and Phoenix gave a surprised trill.
"What?" Tornado demanded and she held up the read-out screen so he could see what was on it. "Braintrust!" he breathed. "It's his personal ID pattern! He's alive!"
The three looked at each other, then at the bird, which still sat motionlessly on the small bush.
"Call the others," Tornado commanded. "I think we need to pay the Decepticons a visit."
Phoenix nodded, then transformed and took off into the sky.

* * *

Scrapper shook his head as he surveyed the damage done to Galvatron. He had to confess that he admired Raven's handiwork, especially with the crude equipment she had had to fall back on. Though his body structure was still a mess, the two outer layers of skin burned to crisp, the next layer scorched badly, and most of the basic structure damaged through the crash and the heat, Galvatron was not too bad off, in Scrapper's opinion. He had seen worse. At least the body could be saved. The mind was another matter. The attack had severed several important connections, which had been repaired by Raven with a skill Scrapper marveled about. He knew she was a medic, but she showed distinct qualities he had never suspected. Those fine works spoke of her skill. But even though the Constructicon had to confess that he didn't know how far Galvatron was influenced by the damage. Severed neural pathways prophesied memory loss or worse. From what he had seen, Galvatron's meta processor had been affected as well, aided by the plasmatic imbalance. They just had to wait and see how much they could salvage.
Scrapper and the other Constructicons had followed Raven to Mernan, taking along as much equipment as they could, setting it up in the lab where Galvatron still lay. Now four of them were busy with repairing the broken body, whose consciousness was thankfully unaware of the pain. Scrapper was doing some repairs on Cyclonus, who sat on another examination table, watching the Constructicons work. Long Haul was assisting him.
"He will pay for this," Cyclonus ground out. "Even if it's the last thing I'm doing!"
Scrapper wasn't sure what the second-in-command meant, only whom he was talking about: Braintrust. But whether Cyclonus meant the damage done to Galvatron or Braintrust usurping of the Decepticon leadership, that was left in the dark. Maybe both.
"Soundwave was already suspecting that something funny is going on," he told his patient. "Raven simply confirmed this."
Cyclonus gave a growl. "If this lizard thinks he has won, he's wrong!"
He looked over to Raven, who silently watched the Constructicons work. She had not said a word since their arrival, but he felt her presence in his mind through the strange link both of them shared. He was not sure what kind of relationship they had. Raven was with him for most of the time, sitting on his shoulder as if she belonged there, was a part of him, and her presence gave him a feeling of ..... completeness. He tore his gaze back to Galvatron with an effort.
"How is he?"
The question was directed at Hook, who glanced over then turned his attention to Galvatron again.
"We can get his body fully functional again," he reported, "as well as completely battle ready, but his mind ....."
Cyclonus frowned. "What about it?"
"The damaged neural pathways have been mended, but .... the mind is a difficult part to repair." Hook looked seriously at him.
"I understand. What about the other Seekers?"
"They hadn't arrived when we left," Long Haul said. "But Starscream, I mean, Braintrust, called them to Halicon. They will come."
"We have to be there before they do," Cyclonus decided.
"We're going as fast as we can," Scavenger complained. "If we go any faster we might inflict more damage than good."
They are right >> Raven told him, her voice calm and composed. They know what's at stake >>
Her eyes glowed softly, then she returned back to watching the repair. Cyclonus forcibly calmed himself, his patience strained. He knew he couldn't do anything now, but he would act soon. And Braintrust would regret it -- just like Starscream, if he could ever get to the undead creature that called himself a Decepticon!

* * *

Optimus was troubled, something he didn't show on the outside, at least no when he was among his friends. "Am I doing the right thing?" he asked no one specific, looking out of the window, following the small spot in the sky that he knew was the recently finished Moon Base One.
"You won't know until it's over," a soft voice answered and he turned abruptly, surprised that he was not alone.
Silhouette was standing in the room, her dark blue and grey form barely detectable in the gloom that dominated it. Prime had not bothered to switch on the lights, preferring it to be dark. The female Dinobot walked toward him, her movements as lithe and smooth as that of a predator, which she was in her dino mode. She didn't make a sound as she crossed the floor. Optimus wondered what had made her come in. Every Autobot left him alone when he was here, brooding, thinking. They respected his privacy to an extent that sometimes made him wish they wouldn't. Sometimes he needed someone to barge in and remind him of the world outside. Silhouette had just done so and this surprised him to no end. Then again, he reminded himself, she was not your typical Autobot, or Dinobot, and she lived and acted by different standards, though most of her humanoid past was forever lost to her.
She smiled now, joining him in front of the window. "You shouldn't be here," she told him. "Alone."
He smiled, which was just a flicker of light in his eyes. "I choose to be here."
"Not a good choice."
"It wasn't mine to make. I am alone."
Silhouette looked seriously at him. "It's lonely at the top, but you don't have to keep it that way. Why are you troubled by your decision? It is the only way."
He regarded her for a long time, then said slowly, "Because I might have made a mistake by sending out Rodimus to Mernan."
"Roddy can take care of himself," Sil answered with a fond look in her eyes.
Optimus smiled secretly, then turned serious again. "What if I'm wrong? What if Starscream would be the lesser evil in the future? He has always been the more emotional commander, the one most likely to be taunted into making mistakes through anger. Galvatron has a bit more rational mindedness inside of him, sometimes reflecting what he has once been: Megatron. Maybe we could defeat Starscream."
Sil sighed. "What if ....? A very popular way to rack your mind and brood for hours, growing more and more indecisive and insecure. Optimus Prime, you have to snap out of this, y'know." She looked intensely at him. "You made the right decision, trust in it! Maybe it backfires, maybe it works out, but it was the right decision."
Optimus didn't know what it was about Silhouette that made him relax when she was present. Maybe it was the fact that they had been joined once, ever so briefly, and that she had saved his life then. Maybe it was her unusual background. Maybe nothing of the two. Silhouette had been alive for over a month now, learning more about her new body every day. No one knew how she had been called before her humanoid body had been killed by Braintrust and she had forgotten too much about her personal past to be of any help in that department. But she remembered a lot about her cultural background, which was another puzzle.
Since her rebirth Silhouette had greedily learned about her new friends, and her new home, spending a lot of time with the Dinobots, which were her brothers since she was a Dinobot as well, and Rodimus Prime. Optimus smiled a bit. He wasn't sure what was happening between his second-in-command and Silhouette, but he was sure it was something .... interesting.
Sil had tried to talk to Optimus about their common past, which had been very short, but also very intense. The Autobot leader had not yet been willing to delve too deeply into what had happened on Mernan, strangely afraid to face it. He didn't know what he was afraid of, though. Maybe one day the two of them could talk; just not yet, not now.
"Maybe you are right," he finally sighed.
Sil shook her head. "Not maybe. I am right." She smiled, a knowing look in her eyes, then turned and left the room.
Optimus regarded the closed door with a thoughtful look. "Yes, you are," he muttered.

* * *

Mernan was a sight Rodimus had hoped never to see again and now he was back for a second time. He sighed and shook his head. Why me? he thought with a humorless smile.
"Okay, this is how we operate," he told the only two others present, Blaster and Dagger.
Dagger had joined them, giving up his lonely vigil to report in. Rodimus was slightly disturbed about the fact that the Constructicons were apparently here. This made things difficult.
"First we need to find out what has happened here, with the Constructicons and everybody suddenly paying a visit. Second, we have to know in what shape Galvatron is. With the Constructicons here I bet they are trying to repair him. If he's fully functional and back to his old self, we just sit back and watch. No need getting between two warring factions."
The others nodded. If the Decepticons started to fight among themselves it was best to stand back and watch.
"All right, Blaster, send out Rewind, Eject and Steeljaw," Rodimus ordered.
Blaster's chest popped open and the three cassettes ejected, transforming.
"Okay, guys," Rodimus addressed the much smaller Autobots. "You know what we need and you three are the only ones I dare to send in because your size makes you the perfect spies."
"I knew someday we'd get appreciated," Eject quipped.
Rodimus smiled. "Get going."
The three left the shuttle.

* * *

The Seekers' arrival on Halicon wasn't something that gave the present Decepticons reason to cheer. No one understood the reasoning behind the call and no one trusted them. Soundwave had made sure that the others knew just what the Seekers were, history wise, spreading the word about their abilities and their former status. Even without his help the Decepticons were already suspicious of the Seekers, mainly because they thought Braintrust had betrayed them back on Cybertron, using the resources of the Decepticons to get his prey, a Sentinel named Midnight and his human Interface partner, and then had not paid them.
As the first Seekers landed several Decepticons nervously reached for their weapons, but they didn't dare to act. They were too much drilled to follow a leader and this leader was, presently, the large dragon sitting in front of the dome. Soundwave felt disgust rise inside of him as he thought of the fact that this wasn't Starscream, but Braintrust acting like him. He could have accepted Starscream as a new leader, though reluctantly, but not a Seeker. Starscream might have been a poor choice, compared to Megatron and even Galvatron, but he was a Decepticon.
"Ah, you have come," Braintrust said, sounding pleased. "Follow me." He disappeared inside the dome and the three Seekers, who had landed, followed.
As they closed the doors after them, Soundwave made a decision. "Ratbat, eject," he ordered and the bat cassette flew out, transforming and hovering in front of him. "Operation: infiltration."
Ratbat took off and searched for a way to get into the dome undetected. Soundwave had not a second's doubt that he could do it.
"Uh, Soundwave," Ramjet hesitantly said, "doesn't this meeting fall under the matter of privacy."
Soundwave looked at the jet with an expressionless face. "No."
Dirge and Ramjet exchanged a look, then both shrugged and walked off. The other Decepticons dissolved into small groups, none of them leaving. Soundwave was left alone, his mind stretching out into CyberSpace again. He still wanted to know more about the electrical thunderstorm, though he had a theory as to what it was after Raven's report. Still, facts were always better than a mere theory.

* * *

Galvatron woke. His optics brightened with the familiar red fire and his fingers twitched in the newly found ability to move. He turned his head and discovered he was not alone. There were three Constructicons standing at the table he was lying on. He sat up.
"Lord Galvatron," Scrapper said as a greeting. "How do you feel?" The Constructicon regarded him with a mixture of apprehension and worry.
"Fine, Scrapper," he answered. "I think I never felt better."
That was true. Galvatron felt like a new being, refreshed beside the fact that his body had been severely damaged and mostly reconstructed. His eyes fell on his second-in-command and the familiar winged creature sitting on his shoulder. His mind supplied him with the last moments of a fight he had raged against a hated enemy. Starscream!
"Where is he?" he asked, his voice deadly cold all of a sudden, his question aimed at Cyclonus.
"My Lord Galvatron, Starscream has left the station, taking our troops with him," his lieutenant answered carefully, the look on his face speaking volumes.
Galvatron's eyes flashed dangerously. "He dares to take command of my troops?" he whispered.
"Apparently so. But there has been a change occurring, possibly for the worse."
"What could be worse than Starscream leading my Decepticon army?" Galvatron asked, hopping down from the table and striding through the room.
Cyclonus looked a bit puzzled by the reaction, apparently not expecting it. Maybe he had expected an outburst of anger -- yes. But this was the old Galvatron, not the new one. This new Galvatron was above those petty, momentary displays of emotions.
"Braintrust," Cyclonus finally answered.
A cold feeling spread through Galvatron and he hissed slightly. "Braintrust?"
"We have reason to believe that he used Starscream to return to the world of the functional, in the process banishing Starscream or maybe destroying him."
"No loss there," Galvatron muttered, drawing another strange, confused look from his troops. He turned to face the eight individuals still on the station. "What is the situation on Charr?"
"Starscream, I mean, Braintrust ordered us to leave Charr, my lord," Long Haul answered. "He struck a planet called Halicon, establishing a new base there."
"Halicon? What a waste. No resources we could use." Galvatron clasped his hands behind his back and frowned at the reflection of his body in the mirror like surface of a console. On one side he knew it, had used it for the last few years; on the other side it was alien to him, not his own. It have been given to him by a creature he despised, hated for what it had done to him. "How many of my Decepticons are loyal to him?"
"None," Scrapper answered, his voice relaying pride in the fact. "Soundwave has spread the truth about the dragon."
Galvatron smiled. Good, old Soundwave. Loyal and trustworthy.
"And after he announced that Seekers would join us, the troops have begun to get suspicious," Hook added.
The Decepticon leader's eyes flashed again. "Seekers in an alliance with Decepticons? After what they did to us on Cybertron? I don't think so!" He strode purposefully out of the lab, Cyclonus hurrying to follow him.
"My lord, what are you planning?" he asked.
"I will take back what is mine!" Galvatron announced, his voice angered, but far from the mad screech he was usually prone to use when enraged.
The others exchanged glances and the Constructicons shrugged. Then they followed their leader to the hangar bay, where the shuttle was located.

*

Steeljaw, Rewind and Eject looked at each other, as puzzled by the behavior Galvatron displayed as his own troops. But it wasn't their job to psychoanalyze him. They just had to get the collected data back to Rodimus Prime.
The three cassettes snuck out of the former prison facility again and left, undetected by the departing Decepticon shuttle.

* * *

Spike's arrival on Nebulos was rather unofficial. He stepped out of SkyLynx, who was muttering obscenities about the Decepticons and what he would do to them. His silvery skin showed several scorch marks, nothing more serious than a rather superficial burn. A bit of polish would remove the stains, but SkyLynx felt deeply hurt by it. The Ambassador was greeted by the four Headmasters on Nebulos, Chromedome, Highbrow, Hardhead and Brainstorm, each of them a merged personality now, only known by their Autobot name. The merging had happened quite quickly, mainly because both parties had not resisted. Spike knew that Optimus had mixed emotions about the whole process, but nothing could be changed now. The two minds were bound irrevocably and the Nebulans' bodies would, when they died, simply be removed. The mind would stay.
"Hello, Ambassador," Brainstorm greeted him.
Spike had noticed the change in Brainstorm's behavior since the merging in small things. For instance did he constantly call him 'Ambassador' instead of 'Spike', as he had before.
"Hello, Brainstorm." He nodded at the others, then turned to introduce the Sentinel. "Guys, this is Labyrinth, a Sentinel. He's interested to learn about Nebulos and its people, its culture."
Brainstorm looked curiously at him. "Welcome to Nebulos, Labyrinth. I heard a lot about your kind. You are welcome to stay as long as you like."
Labyrinth smiled. "Thank you."
"How are you guys doing? Any word from Zarak and his bunch?" Spike wanted to know.
"We're doing pretty good," Highbrow answered. "No more problems than expected. And Zarak has disappeared into the depths of space."
Zarak and the Nebulans known as The Hive had taken the fortress Scorponok and left Charr days after they had brought the Decepticons back to their homeworld. Rumor had it that Galvatron had kicked them off Charr. He had made no secret of his animosity toward the Targetmasters and Headmasters, and it had finally resulted in the disappearance of the Headmasters and with them the Targetmaster Nebulans. Spike suspected that The Hive Headmasters had merged with their Decepticon partners enough to influence them into deserting their own kind. Since then, Zarak had vanished.
"But we still want to talk about a protection treaty concerning a possible return of The Hive," Hardhead added.
"That's why I am here," Spike nodded. "By the way, where's Cerebros?"
"He's waiting for us in Fortress Maximus," Chromedome answered. "Come on, let's go."
Spike followed the four Headmasters into the city. He knew he had a lot of work ahead of him and wished Carly had accompanied him as well. Well, maybe he could work through the preliminaries with Cerebros and leave him to handle the rest.

* * *

Tornado was not sure what to think of this. Braintrust was alive, in body and mind, but the mind was something that gave him trouble believing in. Braintrust's mind had been completely shattered, only parts of it, parts that did no longer fit together, had remained. How in the world had one ectoplasmic entity been able to help him come back? This was impossible. Using another mind to restore his own was theory, but impossible nevertheless! Whatever had happened, Braintrust was not Braintrust, however you looked at it. What did that mean for the Seekers -- and the Decepticons?
Braintrust had told him, Phoenix and Twister, the three Seekers who had come here for the meeting, that he wanted to take over the Decepticons, use them to destroy the Autobots and Sentinels, then get them reprogrammed as their slaves. Tornado saw no reason to do that. He was content in the role he played now, with no wish to reestablish former conditions, conditions of millions of years ago. Time had moved on and so had the Seekers. Apparently Braintrust had a different opinion in this matter and it disturbed Tornado to no end. Braintrust's main goal in life had been to Interface. This had stepped back behind the wish to dominate the other Cybertronians. It gave him much to think about.
Walking through the empty city, the city Braintrust had conquered and which the natives had not tried to claim back due to their fear of the Decepticons, he noticed the looks the other Decepticons shot him. They didn't want them here and Tornado didn't really want to be here either.
Phoenix flew toward him and transformed, walking with him.
"It's strange," she said quietly. "He has changed."
"I know," the blue Seeker answered softly. "I fear he is no longer the Braintrust we knew."
"So you think it as well?"
He looked at her. "Think what?"
"That he has merged with Starscream's mind and is now both of them."
Tornado nodded, stopping at the far end of the long and only street of this city. He looked at his brightly colored companion. "His motives and goals have changed, as has his reasoning. Braintrust is effectively dead now."
She watched the city and the Decepticons around them. "What now?"
"I don't know. He is neither our leader, nor is he the Decepticons'."
"Will you challenge him?" Phoenix wanted to know, her voice calm.
Tornado gave a bark of laughter. "I'm not that suicidal! He'd kill me instantly!"
"Not if you have help," a monotonous voice suddenly said.
Tornado and Phoenix whirled around, discovering Soundwave standing beside one of the many, high pillars decorating the side of the main street in random patterns. Tornado wondered how the Decepticon could have come so close.
"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously, forcibly refraining himself from grabbing his weapon.
"Galvatron lives," Soundwave answered. "He will reclaim his position."
"And you think we should help him?" Phoenix wanted to know.
"Possibly," was the emotionless answer.
The two Seekers exchanged glances, knowing what this meant. If the Seekers stood up against Braintrust, the thing that was Braintrust, and if the Decepticons played along as well, they might help each other. Just this once.
"Your decision," Phoenix then said. "You are the leader."
Yes, he was. Tornado looked at Soundwave. "When will Galvatron come?"
"He is already here."

* * *

Rodimus was staring at the recording with a puzzled look. That wasn't Galvatron, at least not the Galvatron he had come to know in the last years. He was reacting too controlled, too calm to the information that Starscream had taken over the Decepticons and that Braintrust had reclaimed the body he had been banished from. This was a behavior he more expected from Megatron..... Well, he had to get the information back to Optimus Prime. He wanted him to have a look at it.
Then there was the fact that Braintrust was apparently really back, conquering the consciousness that had tried to conquer him. What did that bode for everyone? Braintrust's view of the Cybertronians, which he only saw as slaves, was known throughout Autobot and Decepticon ranks. That he had called for the Seekers must have given the Decepticons something to think about. And some of them had made the right connections, planning to dethrone him.
The only action the Autobots could take was taking no action at all. This was between the two factions, and if any Autobot got involved it would only be after the Decepticons or Seekers had attacked them.
"Let's get out of here," Rodimus told Blaster and the communicator nodded, setting a course for Cybertron.

* * *

He has changed >> Raven whispered inside Cyclonus' mind. I don't know what it is, but that's not exactly the Galvatron from before the battle. >>
Cyclonus had to agree. Galvatron was no longer rushing along into battle, trying to win back his troops. He was actually planning his moves, taking his time to consider all options, asking his second for his opinion.
"The damage to his mind must have corrected what the plasma bath did to him," he muttered just loud enough for the bird on his shoulder to hear it.
He had several severed neural pathways >> she agreed, sounding thoughtful. If the dysfunctional parts of his mind were corrected ... what does this mean? >>
Cyclonus smiled. It means we have Galvatron back. Galvatron as he was before. >> He sounded pleased.
They had arrived on Halicon under the cover of their shuttle ship, a ship the Constructicons had used to fly to Mernan. Someone on the planet had let them pass through the preliminary defenses and assigned them a safe landing spot. Cyclonus suspected that nearly every Decepticon on Halicon was now waiting for the table to be turned, to see Braintrust either defeated or even killed. The Constructicons had returned to the city, spreading the word of Galvatron's arrival in secret.
Heads up, we have visitors >> Raven suddenly said and Cyclonus discovered three figures coming closer. One was Soundwave, two were ....
"Seekers!" he ground out, his hand reaching for his weapon.
Raven hopped from his shoulder, transforming. Her smaller hand restrained him and she shook her head. "They have not come as enemies."
"How do you know?" he demanded.
"Soundwave told me."
The statement hung in the air and Cyclonus was short of a reply for a second. Soundwave had told her? How? Then he was reminded that Soundwave had a lot of ways to communicate, ways not every Decepticon could copy or follow. Apparently Raven could. A small streak of jealousy passed through him and he clenched his teeth as he realized that he was feeling a bit possessive of her. He was not sure what to think of this development.
Galvatron stepped out of the shuttle, his eyes flashing briefly as he saw the two Seekers, but he didn't show any other reaction. Cyclonus was once again astounded as to how different their leader was, how much more like his old self. Was it too much to hope for that this condition would stay?
Soundwave landed and walked over to Galvatron, bowing slightly. "Welcome back, Galvatron," he greeted him.
"It is good to be back," Galvatron answered and Cyclonus suspected he meant more than just his physical return into the ranks of the Decepticons. "What are those two doing here?" He looked at the Seekers.
Cyclonus recognized one of them as Tornado, the second one, a female, he didn't know.
"They know that the creature posing as Decepticon leader is neither this, nor is he their old leader," Soundwave answered. "They have agreed to help us."
Galvatron's eyes narrowed. "You have, have you? What's in it for you, Seeker?"
The blue Seeker, Tornado, smiled dryly. "Our own freedom. This creature is neither Braintrust, nor is it Starscream. It is a mockery of both, its goals running against what both our races believe. Our leader was defeated in battle and died. I won't tolerate this ... reincarnation."
Galvatron smiled. "Especially since you are now the Seeker leader, aren't you?" His smile turned evil.
Tornado's eyes flashed briefly. "That has nothing to do with it, Galvatron."
"Of course." He turned to Soundwave. "What about my troops?"
"They await your return, mighty Galvatron," Soundwave answered.
"Then we won't let them wait." Galvatron launched himself into the air and the others followed.

* * *

Braintrust was sifting through the complicated layers of his mind, searching for the intruder he knew was hidden somewhere here.
"Where are you?" he whispered. "Come out and fight!"
"Why should I?" the voice of Starscream answered.
Though Braintrust had thought the weakling Decepticon dead or swallowed by his superior mind, he had been proven otherwise. Somehow the slave had managed to pull himself together, undetected by Braintrust, and gather enough power to further disrupt him. He was loosing control over his mind more often now and this had forced him to act. He couldn't risk to loose control when someone was watching. He might betray himself.
"You have bothered me long enough, Decepticon!" Braintrust snarled.
"I won't let you kill any Decepticon!" Starscream answered.
"Oh, yes? Well, watch me!" Braintrust lashed out blindly, trying to catch at least part of the other one, but he failed.
Starscream laughed. "Is that all you can do?"
The Seeker hissed and attacked again. This time he caught a part of Starscream, but the Decepticon ghost returned the favor, striking a particularly vulnerable circuit, effectively disabling some of his weapons. Braintrust laughed.
"You think it will do you good to deactivate my defenses? They are of no use in the mindworld anyway!"
"Who said I want to defeat you in the mindworld?" Starscream asked.
Before he could act further, his alert system forcibly removed him, snapping him back into the real world. Braintrust found out why a second later. Someone had dared to enter his dome, the private sanctum.
"Galvatron!" he snarled.
"Correct, Braintrust," the former leader of the Decepticons answered, a cruel smile around his lips.
"You are dead!"
"Apparently not. I have come to claim back what is mine, Seeker!" He lifted his fusion cannon.
Braintrust laughed. "Looks like you saw through the little charade, didn't you? Well, but it won't help you. Tornado!" he bellowed, "Kill this imbecile!"
Tornado looked at him with a solemn expression in his optics. "No."
Braintrust roared. "What? You dare to contradict your leader?"
"My leader died in a last great battle. You are nothing but a shadow of what he was," Tornado said calmly.
The dragon lashed out at the smaller robots and they scattered, searching for a safe place from the trashing giant. Braintrust felt an irrational anger take over, his mind sparking dangerous energy. Starscream saw his chance and did his own share of driving the being inside the shell mad. Part of the dome cracked, then caved inward, burying some of the equipment, effectively destroying it. Braintrust screamed and fired several of his still functional weapons. The rest of the walls dispersed and he jumped outside. The Decepticons in the immediate area of the dome moved quickly out of the way.
Galvatron had followed the dragon, watching him trash around like mad. And he was mad. Whatever had happened inside his mind, it was only growing worse by the minute. He aimed his fusion cannon at his opponent and placed several shots, one of them shattering an optic, though, somehow, it looked more like the explosion came from inside....
"Something counteracting Braintrust's commands," Tornado said.
Galvatron looked at him. The Seeker frowned at the dragon, which was behaving like a dog that had suddenly discovered a mightily annoying flea, trying to shake it off. Then his head swiveled around, fixing on Galvatron.
"I will utterly destroy every molecule of your worthless shell!" he whispered.
Braintrust charged.
Galvatron moved out of the way, again hitting the giant body with shots, denting it a bit, but unable to pierce the hide. Braintrust's construction was rather superior. Tornado transformed, as did Twister and Phoenix, and then joined the battle, discharging their own blasts. Braintrust cried and shouted, his one remaining optic glowing with a white, angry light. His tail lashed at everything within his radius.
Galvatron noticed that something was really working from inside. Braintrust was spasmning from time to time, shaking his head, hissing and whining, then charging again.
"Starscream is helping us!" Tornado called as he streaked past and transformed again. "Looks like he broke free of the mind that trapped him!"
"Decepticons!" Galvatron shouted. "Attack!"
The Decepticons looked at each other, then followed the order of their leader, attacking the one menace they and the Seekers had in common.
Braintrust moved back under the fire power, shielding his head, now and then shooting back, but never hitting anything. His skin was melting in parts, steaming and cooking from the heat. It was growing black, peeling off in places. And then a tiny explosion rose out of his left flank -- from the inside! He yelled in pain, ineffectively lashing out at his attackers. Galvatron raised his cannon, aiming at the chest of his enemy. When he was sure he had the right angle he fired one highly concentrated particle stream. It shattered the already weakened skin, tearing through delicate circuitry, starting a chain reaction of explosions. Braintrust threw back his head, hissing, bellowing and screaming as his body was going through its death throws. And then he collapsed, his back blowing off with a might that threw several of the nearest Decepticons to the ground, showering them with the remains.
As the light in Braintrust's optics died, Tornado joined Galvatron, a sad look in his eyes. He watched the death of his former leader, then turned away from the smoking wreck, walking away. Phoenix and Twister joined him as he left the city, never looking back. Galvatron watched them go, then turned around. He noticed that Cyclonus had joined him, the ever-present Raven on his shoulder. The Decepticons gathered around him, eyeing the smoking body carefully, as if they were afraid Braintrust might rise again.
"All hail Galvatron!" Cyclonus called.
The call was echoed by his troops and Galvatron allowed himself a smile. "Decepticons, you have fought valiantly!" he declared. "And now we shall return to our home, leaving this worthless planet! To Charr!"
The Decepticons cheered and took off one by one, except for the Constructicons, who remained behind. Galvatron turned to Cyclonus again, still smiling. "Well, old friend, I think this has been a victory long due."
Cyclonus nodded, clearly aware of the duality of the statement. There was an odd look in his eyes. "Yes, my lord, it is."
"See to it that this .... wreck is utterly demolished." With that he took into the air after his troops.
Cyclonus watch him, then shook his head. Raven transformed.
"He really has changed," she remarked. "Looks like the circuits that were damaged through the plasma bath are now mended."
Cyclonus nodded, visibly happy about it. "Yes, and I'm very glad about." Then he turned to look at the dead body. "Constructicons," he ordered the only remaining Decepticons on Halicon, "demolish this wreck -- utterly!"
The Constructicons transformed and set to work.

* * *

Silhouette straightened and then walked with measured steps into the room. She knew Optimus Prime was busy, as he always was, but she had decided that the guy needed a break! Badly! She wondered if there was ever a time when he had some off time, some privacy. From what she had seen in her short life among the Autobots, and her even shorter time on Cybertron, this was not the case. Of course, he was the leader, but he was also an individual who needed some private space for himself! None of the Autobots seemed to see that, except for Rodimus, who had gone through the whole leadership mess himself. And he was a completely different persona as such, revolting against the ones who had wanted to push him into a specific role, a specific behavior. But Prime, after receiving the Matrix again, had fallen back into his work routine. Silhouette firmly believed that routine was the worst that could happen to someone.
Right now Prime's main problem was the exploration of those parts of Cybertron which had been left alone for too long. With this new Golden Age, as Roddy had readily explained to her, came a new sense of perception of their home planet. Now they no longer just fought to regain it, now they had to explore it. For millions of years parts of it had been cut off, never seen again, never visited. Optimus wanted to change that and it took up most of his time. A lot of Autobots had readily volunteered for these explorations, but he was still the one coordinating the expeditions.
She had talked about this with the Dinobot leader, Grimlock, who was a brother to her, just like the other Dinobots. Though other Autobots would haven shaken their heads at her choice of a conversation partner, reminding her that the Dinobots were stupid compared to other Autobots, she believed there was more to them than met the eye. Grimlock had surprised her more than once with a very accurate statement or observation, his vocalization of a problem hindered by his grammatical difficulties. But a different speech pattern didn't immediately imply stupidity. The Dinobots had grown throughout the last few years, not all at the same speed, but they had developed, though all of them still hid behind their simplicity.
Grimlock was as worried as Silhouette that Optimus Prime was not dealing what he had gone through, especially after Sil had told her older brother what she still knew of her time inside his mind.
'Prime not deal with experiences, he make mistakes,' he had stated correctly, vocalizing Silhouette's own fears.
Well, here she was, trying to at least approach the subject and get him to talk.
"Hi," she called and was rewarded with a startled look from Prime, who had not expected her. "Busy?"
The way she interpreted the large stack of disks, he was going through the reports of the teams, hunting for the small pieces of information that made up the big picture.
"A bit," he answered.
She eyed the large stack. "You call that a bit?"
A wry expression passed over his only partly visible features.
"Optimus, we have to talk," she told him quite clearly, never one to beat around the bush.
"What about?" he asked warily.
"Us. Our time together." She grimaced as she thought about how this sounded.
"I see." He put down one of the disks. "I just don't know what we have to talk about."
"Oh, stop it, Op!" she told him with a slightly angry tone in her voice. "You know quite well what I'm talking about! You went through hell on Mernan, quite literally! You think you killed me, don't you?"
He looked at her for along time, then said softly, "In a way."
It was a confession she had expected to come, but was still angry about. "Nonsense! It was Braintrust and it will always be him. He forced me into that Interface and I'm lucky it turned out that I'm still alive!"
"But you have lost a lot, Sil," he told her. "Your life, your friends, your identity."
"I lost nothing of this, Optimus. Not really." She shook her head. "I gained more than I lost, believe me. For some humanoids this body may seem like a mockery of my former existence, but I'm telling the truth when I say that I like it. I feel like this is me, not some kind of substitute body. You have nothing to feel guilty for." She smiled softly. "Even if I can't remember who I was, really was, I don't feel it as a loss. I've found too many new friends, even five brothers who care very much about me, to ponder my losses."
He looked at her for a long time, then rose out of his chair, walking over to the window and looking outside. Silhouette joined him.
"When I was inside, not knowing who I was joined with, I think I began to change," she continued, not looking at him, simply regarding the space beneath her, a wide street, busy with transports. "And I changed for the better, I believe. Thank you."
His eyes met hers and he smiled. "You are welcome."
They stood in silence for a long time, Optimus feeling like she had always belonged here. There was no other relationship between the two than a deep friendship that had started through a failed Interface, a forced Interface. She was like a part of his soul now. She dared to approach him in a way only Rodimus had done before: without respect for his status. He needed that, someone who treated him like an equal, not some kind of legend.
"And thank you to you as well," he added softly.
"What for?" she asked.
"Just like that."
A small smile spread over her face. It was a beginning.

* * *

Shanygn and Chip returned from Alean two weeks after the Decepticon incident on Mernan, both looking elated and full of energy to continue their research. Rodimus had made time and himself available to get that long-planned talk with the two. What they told him surprised him like nothing else.
"What?" he exclaimed, not quite sure he had heard them correctly.
"I knew you would react like that," Shanygn said with amusement. "Calm down, we don't want to dissect either you or Optimus. All we want is the chance to access Vector Sigma."
Rodimus shook his head. "Do you know what you are asking for?"
"Of course," Chip answered, "but do you realize that our research might give you valuable information about the one thing no one ever cared to explore, never cared to trace back to its origin: the Matrix?"
The Autobot's second-in-command could only shake his head. "How in the world did you ever get the idea to do this research about the Matrix?" he asked his Interface partner.
"Well, you and Optimus gave me the first idea to look that shiny piece of strange machinery up," Shanygn explained. "The miracles it performed are extraordinary and it even changes a Cybertronian bodily, though if he isn't an Autobot it mutates him until he dies. This gave me a lot to think about, especially how it is possible for the Matrix to single out only the Autobots as the receiving part of its powers. Then there is the sensitivity of the Sentinels to it, something that is not really shared by the Seekers, though they can sense it as well. But it's only painful for the Sentinels, especially for Midnight. Chip and I went to Alean to take a look at the files there and we came to the conclusion that the only real answers might be in Vector Sigma." She looked expectantly at him. "All we ask is for either you or Optimus to guide us down to the chamber and let us access this computer."
Rodimus shook his head again. "You don't know what you're asking for. Vector Sigma isn't just a machine, it's the computer that gave us all life! And it also houses Alpha Trion's mind!"
"If it gave you all life, then it also knows about the Matrix," Chip said calmly. "And a rational mind guiding it is possibly the key we need. Rodimus, we only want one shot at it. One trial."
Rodimus looked at the two serious humanoids, then sighed deeply. "I know this will get me into trouble without end, but all right! Skyfire is due to be back from a delivery flight to Halifax today. He can take us to Cybertron."
Shanygn grinned. "Thanks, partner."
"Don't tell me I won't regret it, because I already do," he growled.
Shanygn chuckled and she and Chip left.
"What have I done to deserve this?" Rodimus asked no one in specific.

* * *

He was free once again, free of the controlling mind, but also free of a body, a body he had craved, but had not been given. Starscream was feeling triumphant that he had managed to confuse Braintrust enough with his attacks that the Decepticons could destroy him, but this also left him adrift again. When the blast from Galvatron's fusion cannon had ripped through Braintrust's body, he had been separated from the Seeker's mind by pure luck, the violent death destroying the merged parts. He had fled in panic, afraid of the imminent death of Braintrust. Now he was alone again.
With a sigh no one heard he gathered his ectoplasmic body into a tight cloud of sparkling energy. Somehow, in the short time he had spent trapped inside Braintrust, his anger and rage had dispersed into nothing but despair. All he felt was the longing to be physical again; all he wanted was to live -- as whatever. Come to think of it, this had always driven him. Not revenge, not hunger for power, just a single wish.
Drifting through the atmosphere of the planet Halicon, moving away from Cyclonus, the female Raven and the Constructicons, feeling no drive to take over one of them, shying away from battling once again against another consciousness, he lost himself in reflections of his past life and his current situation.
Days, no, weeks passed.
Through his pondering he wasn't aware of how he was scanned by a different entity. He was drawn toward a source of empathic powers which he had never felt before. He tried to resist, panic rising inside of him as his mind replayed what had happened the last time, when he had merged with Braintrust. He had nearly lost his identity. But it was too late. The other consciousness opened and welcomed him.
Starscream screamed in protest, then was silenced by the other mind as it stripped him of every shell, every wall he had built around his core, his defenses. All the layers of pretense, of boasting, of displayed prowess and superiority were destroyed as the other entity cut through to him. Starscream panicked completely as he thoughts lay open to the prying mind of the other one. There was a sudden period of nothingness, then of peace and an inner calmness he had never felt before. Then there was life.
His eyes, which were not his own, examined a body -- his body, which he had never seen before. Green eyes saw the world in a new perspective; an alien body moved and he moved with it; another mind met his.
'Starscream,' a voice whispered gently.
He was confused and slightly frightened by the other entity, which was so close to him, partly with him, partly around him. This was too much like what he had experienced the
last time, though there was none of Braintrust's violence and rage anywhere. He cringed with the memory of how the Seeker had constantly tried to erase him, to kill him. He feared death. Panic seemed to smother him, clouding his mind, pushing him into instinctive reactions, as he remembered his violent death. Blackness squeezed the edges of his vision into a tight tunnel and his new body swayed with reaction.
'Relax,' the voice said softly. 'I won't hurt you. You are safe.'
'Who are you?' he asked, his voice far from his old, self-confident tone. His breath was coming in rapid gasps.
A gentle breeze seemed to course through him, smoothing the bad memories, calming him down again.
'My name is Dycran," the voice answered, "and we are ...... Sphere.'