1,
Optimus Prime woke between neatly clean but somewhat ruptured walls. Ugh, Deltaran had been bombed several times since the war began. He stared up at the ceiling, where an exceptionally long fracture formed a question mark with his third-in-command's worried head as the dot under it.
"Jazz. I suppose I should be asking 'Is something wrong?' but I fear that would be pointless. What happened?"
He tried to bring the memory files up, the records of the last two orns, but his motion software and general cognitives were programmed to boot up first. His audiosensors recorded what Jazz was saying, but it took several seconds until he could start and decode them.
He was out for one week, courtesy of Megatron and Devastator, then half-healed he had to rally back to the battlefield because they were given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win the war. Some insider information: passwords to the security systems, squad movements and strategy plans, the stop-codes of all active phase-sixers, and all of these were surprisingly accurate. The Autobots could easily get to the Decepticon headquarters without even setting up an alarm, and best of all, they caught Megatron and Soundwave off guard. Optimus remembered Ironhide aiming a laserblaster at the enemy leader, and Ravage jumping in between, taking the deadly shot. Then Starscream arrived, opening a new entrance through the roof. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe took him on. Then Soundwave showed up, and... the next thing Optimus Prime remembered was the darkness and the bright blue of the Matrix that followed. He must have lost consciousness so fast he didn't even register the pain.
And now he was here, under the fragmented roof of the Deltaran Medical Facility, staring up at his trusted third-in-command. Once again he opted not to read his body's complete damage record. He ran a quick test whether his most essential functions were back, then sat up, looking into Jazz's blue visor, piecing his words together.
"Start with the good news please."
"Ugh? OK, bossbot. We have most of the dangery 'Cons scooped up. This includes Megatron, both 'Waves, Menasor, Abominus, Predaking, and most of Devastator. We've yetta find Trypticon."
"Starscream?"
"Wreckers."
Poor Skyfire, the Prime thought.
"Bruticus?"
"That the problem, bossbot. Executed."
"WHAT?!" The Prime was on his feet in a nanosec. "How do you mean, executed? By whom?"
"The restored Senate voted, unanimously, that they were already convicted before they were rebuilt by Starscream. Then, not so unanimously, they were agreed to be killed."
Behind my back, the Prime murmured to himself. Jazz continued.
"Bumblebee is trying to hold them until I get you. In two and a half joors, they will be voting on the big beats. The Combaticons were unlucky 'cause their sentence was signed long b'fore we left Cybertron."
During the next joors, Optimus Prime held two teleconferences, read through Rook's report on the events he missed, and had a heated quarrel with Ratchet who insisted that the Autobot leader was not repaired nearly enough to online. All this while burning rubber to the Senate hall in Iacon. Ratchet had pleaded with him to at least wait for Skyfire to pick him up, so that he wouldn't have to stress his not yet ready frame.
"I am sorry, Ratchet, but I don't have time for that. I will deal with my own body when I can" he replied.
"Why do I get the feeling you and Magnus have something in common?" Ratchet harrumphed. He would have certainly thrown a spanner at his patient, had he been still in arm's reach.
The old red truck ran a stellar time from the Deltaran to the Senate buildings, and he had yet to face the worst. Few Decepticons had defected in exchange for their old positions in the new hierarchy structure, and they found those Autobots who cared more about the Cybertronian law than their leader's ideals. The new Senate resembled the old one: powerful and power-hungry mechs were posing as law enforcers and embodiments of justice. With the Prime being out cold for long, they have already strengthened their positions enough to oppose the freshly reawaken Optimus Prime.
Ultra Magnus and Prowl were there. Cliffjumper. Mirage. Each name hurt like a whiplash directly in the spark. These mechs have all voted to sentence the remaining Decepticons to life-long imprisonment. For the most dangerous of these, "life-long" wasn't going to be a long period of time.
"We have to do it, Prime, we have to finish the war. If we don't end those mechs, they will be out in no time, and the whole victory would be over. We won't have another chance like this" Prowl reasoned.
"This choice is what the Decepticons would have done in our place" Optimus pointed out.
"That exactly. Why do you think we should act differently?" Cliffjumper asked.
"Because the last time I checked, I was an Autobot, and so were you!" Bumblebee replied.
Optimus looked once more into Prowl's optics, and finally he admitted defeat. At the end of the nine million years war, those ideals he stood up for had finally fallen to dust.
There was no question about Megatron's fate. The proud grey gunformer watched with well-faked gloating as Optimus Prime's faceplates flinched at his death sentence. He wanted to rule whatever was in the known galaxy, and beyond. All he had achieved was ruining the faith of his opponent. Optimus had rarely declared a sentient creature to be beyond redemption, now Megatron's only and last satisfaction was seeing him broken and utterly lost. So why wouldn't he torture his nemesis with his last act of bravado?
"Final request?" he echoed. "Noble Autobots, my final request is... to die of my enemy's hands!"
His gaze fell on the Prime. Optimus wished he could just hide under the table in shame.
Prowl looked at his commander, and announced the end of the meeting. They would continue the trials the day after.
It was almost midnight when Optimus Prime finally gathered the courage and rolled down the death row. There was only Ironhide with him – the old red guardian understood what his leader was going through, and kept reminding him of the benefits. The war would be over. No more innocent lives would be taken, if they finally end the Decepticon leader's functioning.
"And isn't it odd and just that the Decepticons' downfall was a single act of treason? Matching."
The Prime looked at the dark corridor, the identical-looking, polistrengthened cyberium cell doors, the many layers of energon bars.
"It is our downfall, Ironhide. Now, we're here. Open the cell and... leave us alone. This is private business between the two of us." He transformed and entered the cell.
It was much brighter than the outside corridor, as all four walls were criss-crossed with energy barrier lines. There was a barren berth against the other side, and some energon spread out. Megatron was properly chained, and he looked like his prison guards took their last chance to beat him up before the Prime came to finish him for once and for all.
Optimus looked the mech in the optics. Was this disgusting piece of metal worth the trouble he willingly put himself through for him? Last request, eh? His last request was to die with the knowledge that he killed Optimus Prime, if not the mech, then at least the ideal. Which would be worse: to be physically killed by Megatron, or to let him take the last shard of Prime's goodness? The truckformer unleashed his opponent, determined not to think about what was about to come.
"Transform" he said in a kind, quiet, resonant tone. The walls echoed his single word.
"Hah! You won't bear to look me in the optics, great Prime?" There was something odd in Megatron's voice. Was it uncertainty? A shiver behind the thin mask of arrogance?
Optimus lifted up his freshly repaired, empty hands. If he had also readied something in his subspace with this movement, no-one could tell.
"I have not even been released from hospital. You can't expect me to take you down in robot mode."
What an excuse, the Decepticon growled. Nevertheless, he obeyed. What he wanted, to break the Prime, had happened. If he would die now, so be it. He transformed.
The immobilizer, the more advanced and lot more shrunk version of the weapon that once Megatron used to trap Autobots in their alts, gave a silent hiss as Optimus fired it.
"Weakling" Megatron whispered. Optimus didn't argue, although he strongly disagreed.