Penance

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. They belong to Hasbro and Takara. I am merely taking them for a short spin.

Time. It was passing quickly, going too fast for Ultra Magnus' taste. As he and the others with him traveled toward Earth, he spent most of his time offline, trying to recover from the damage inflicted on his frame. It also allowed him to not have to deal with Silverbolt and the others. Hostility and hatred were the norm from Silverbolt, although the others still varied on their feelings and attitude toward him.

Fireflight was the most curious about him, the one who constantly reached out. He wasn't afraid, nor did he share Silverbolt's animosity. Skydive was less friendly, but constantly bothered him when he was online about tactics and the battles he'd fought.

Slingshot and Air Raid were more ambivalent, although Air Raid had been more than willing on more than one occasion to side with Silverbolt during one of their frequent arguments. The five of them were going to drive him mad, had very nearly done so.

Ultra Magnus remembered the first time he touched their minds as fully actualized mechs--the day of the battle of Tyger Pax. Hot Rod had onlined them from stasis after Shockwave followed them, using them to even the odds against Shockwave and the other two gestalts. It was something he would never forget, and he was still frightened by it.

He was now used to hearing them bicker among themselves and with him, but nothing had prepared him for what happened when they first merged into their combiner form--Superion. Silverbolt was the most dominant of the five but that first time. . .he'd been the focus of their merge, the one to show them how it was done. And he'd nearly lost himself. That was when Magnus knew Alpha Trion had used him for more than the code to stabilize the brothers when they were still protoforms. The ancient Autobot had bonded him to them as well.

He suspected the reasons. He had volunteered when asked, willing to do what Alpha Trion asked. And the old mech knew him better than he suspected. His guilt and broken honor, at one point, were enough to make him consider self-termination but his link to Silverbolt and the others prevented it, although Magnus knew Silverbolt was more than willing to provide assistance if asked.

And once he was on Earth, what was he going to do about Ironhide, if he was still alive? It was an unhappy prospect facing him. Magnus was well aware of this. How was he going to explain everything--let alone showing up with five new Autobots?

Ironhide. The one thing that kept him going, even though he was linked with the brothers. It wasn't a spark bond, but he was still linked to them. Ironhide would probably kill him. He wouldn't bond with Ironhide but now he was linked. . .irony was bitter.

:I think I will like this Ironhide you often think of: Silverbolt said.

:Butt out or I will offline you:

:You can try:

:To the Pit with you:

No response. Silverbolt was trying his patience every chance he got. Just his luck to end up stuck with a headstrong pain in the aft, and not just one. He Magnus was beginning to think it was his penance for everything that had happened. Maybe it was, but in the end, he tried to make up for it, once he'd realized just how precarious things were. That hadn't happened until Alpha Trion was already gone, when it all fell on his shoulders.

Alpha Trion's original plan involved keeping the artifact hidden until it could be given to Prime, but circumstances prevented it--the stunt Magnus had pulled the day before the mission, Hot Rod's involvement, so many things.

Magnus knew everything about Hot Rod's involvement with the artifact, and it all went back to how he'd been found by Kup in Kaon.

The artifact was linked to the past--sacred to the Primes, both a weapon and a means of creating life. The stronger the will of its bearer, the easier were its powers to access. Hot Rod was one such. The implications had humbled Ultra Magnus, made him feel remorse. He had been unworthy, Hot Rod was not.

And as Optimus was Prime, the artifact was meant to be his. Now it was hidden, would remain hidden if all went as planned. But Magnus couldn't shake the feeling fate had other plans in mind.

Another regret, that. Not trusting Hot Rod enough once he'd found out the truth of what they'd been asked to do. Ironhide and Optimus even bigger regrets--trying to make Ironhide choose between his friend and duty; Optimus because he'd betrayed his trust.

He knew he'd face Optimus soon enough and nothing could prepare him for that. A reckoning was coming. And he would not run.