A/N: Have you ever wondered how Prime can be on the verge of permanent deactivation, then come back miraculously in just the nick of time to beat the scrap out of Megatron? well, here's my take on it...

Cookies to whoever can guess which episode this is. :-D

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It had been so easy! Megatron had sent Laserbeak to finish off the damaged Autobot leader while he was laying on the repair berth. Now, all he had to do was attack the Ark. Surely the Autobots would fall easily without their leader to guide them! And even better yet, He had been rid of three of the Autobots, and their human pet, Chip, while they were on Cybertron. Sunstorm, Spire, and Acid Storm had made acid rain that had surely wiped them out. Yes, his plan was coming together nicely.

The silver Decepticon turned to his assembled troups. "Let's Go!" he barked. The army boarded the lift to head to the surface of the ocean they were under.

Meanwhile, back at the Ark, Ratchet paced back and forth beside the repair berth Prime was on. He double checked the energy support system again for the second time in five minutes. The system was functioning, but their leader was still in shutdown (in sleep mode). "Blast it! where are they!" he demanded. He knew Prime couldn't hear him, and nobody else had heard from Trailbreaker, Bumblebee, and Chip after they had left. "They were supposed to have been back by now." the medic grumbled. It had been several hours, and the Galaxizer they were bringing back was of vital importance to their leader's function. A sort of energy converter, it would be difficult to keep powering Prime's systems even on the life-support. There was only so much raw energy a transformer's systems could take wothout suffering some short-circuiting. It was debatable how much longer Prime would survive without it, even with the support systems powering his vital functions.

An alarm sounded out in the main control room. "Great. Just great. More bad news." Ratchet grumbled, glancing over at Prime. He had been in his office when HighRoad came in a minute ago to speak to Prime. He had overheard part of the conversation, and didn't approve of the idea one bit. He knew the young mimic bore a resemblance to their leader, but who was he to go into battle in place of their leader? "I hope you know what you're doing." Ratchet remarked, looking over at Prime again. Not to say the medic didn't have faith in their leader. He did. And he knew Prime would know what do do.

But HighRoad? He wasn't so sure.

Of course, the mimic had allready done the same thing a couple times before. He was just lucky he didn't have to engage in hand-to-hand combat with Megatron. It had been enough to fool Megatron, though. The Decepticon leader had thought Optimus Prime had made some sort of Miraculous recovery, while Ratchet and Wheeljack worked feverishly in the background to save Optimus Prime's life. Ratchet just hoped this time, like the others, HighRoad would have the good sense to wait and make a timely arrival, and not arouse suspicion.

In the crew quarters on the third level of the Ark, a crimson and dark blue figure paced the length of his quarters. HighRoad looked at the door momentarily, then went back to his pacing. He knew that if the Decepticons attacked, what he would have to do. He didn't like fighting to begin with, but this was in the name of Freedom, justice, and all that. An alarm sounded somewhere down the hall. It's high-pitched wail almost reflecting the dread the Prime-mimic felt inside.

He just hoped he wouldn't have to face down Megatron one-on-one. And even if he did, he felt as though it might be good enough this time to make the Decepticon leader think he really was Prime. "What am I doing, living someone else's life on the battlefield? Will I be anything more than just a backup, a stunt-double for Prime?" he wondered, looking at the door again. He knew he couldn't be there to lead them into battle. He just couldn't. He didn't know how to rally the troups, or give them encouragement the same as Prime would. Any of the times before he had taken on the role of "the great Optimus Prime" he'd had Prowl on a comlink telling him what do do, giving him advice. And all the times Prime couldn't be there, he somehow had felt the Autobot leader's prescence when he went into battle. But now? he had his doubts. He sighed, and looked at the wall of his quarters where the repairbay lay on the other side of the Ark, as though wondering what Prime would do. "I'm not good enough to be you." He whispered, angst becoming stronger. He could almost hear the whisper, feel it in the back of his cpu. "No, but you don't have to be, HighRoad. I have faith in you." He suddenly remembered Optimus Prime's words in the repairbay. He nodded. "I'll try my best." he nodded, and walked out.

Outside the Ark, the battle was not going well. At all. Nearly everyone had recieved some kind of damage or another, a couple were knocked out.

Prowl, who had only been released from the repairbay eight hours earlier, had insisted the army needed him, and was trying to direct things. But there was so much talking back and forth, yelling across the comlink, it was hard to get in a word edgewise. A stray blast struck his shoulder, ripping off a cannon. He ducked, but was soon knocked off his feet by a cluster bomb from the jets. "I just hope he shows up soon." he thought before going offline.

Megatron stood at the back of the battle, watching the autobots fall one by one. He laughed at their weakness. "I was right!" he laughed inwardly, knowing it would only be a matter of time now before their energy was dwindled down to nothingness, and the Decepticons would take the Ark.

"Which one of you is mech enough to challenge me!" he crowed. Victory was near.

"I am, megatron." the deep bass voice rang out across the battlefield.

"Prime!"

drat!

Jazz lifted his head to look over and make sure it was really real. "It's Prime! He's okay!" he yelled.

A rallying cheer rose from the tired army. HighRoad heard, and smiled behind his facemask. Weapons came up. Decepticons fell back, and the Autobots fought harder than before. Like a stirred hornet's nest, the spirit swept though the group, revitalizing each one. HighRoad ran forward. Megatron had this coming to him...

WHAM!

A nice left hook across the warlord's jaw. "Miss me?" HighRoad teased.

"GRRRRNYAAAAAUGHHHH!" Megatron growled, and tried to hit him back.

HighRoad dodged left.

WHAP!

Right hook to the jaw. Hah! This was easier than he thought.

WHAM! Megatron got in one good punch.

Meanwhile, the Autobots had managed to advance, and were taking full advantage of the fact that the decepticons had expected a bunch of defeated cowards, and got a hornets nest, thanks to Prime's Miraculous Comeback, and that he was now beating the circuits out of Megatron.

The Decepticons didn't even notice as Bumblebee sped past, Chip and the Galaxizer they needed for Prime inside.

When the last Decepticon had dissapeared into the sky, the Autobots let out an ear-ringing cheer of victory. In the Repairbay, Ratchet heard their cry and smiled, glancing at Prime. "Well, you were right." he commented. "Again."

0-0-0

The Autobots headed back inside, mostly to the repairbay, some to the rec. room to get some energon, and all of them chattering excitedly about how their leader had come back from the very brink of permanent deactivation just in the nick of time. Ironhide walked up and slapped a hand opn Prime's shoulder. "Good ta have ya back optimus."

Thank you, Ironhide." the leader responded. But there was something in Prime's optics, Ironhide noticed. He didn't sound too enthused to be back, either. In fact, he sounded... dissapointed? sad? No, that was guilt! Prime walked away, and the rust-colored van glared at his back. Jazz limped up. "What's wrong, Ironhide m'man? We just beat the spare parts outta those Decepti-goons." he said joyfully. The glare Ironhide had given the mimic dissapeared. "Uh... nothin' Jazz, guess I'm jus' gettin' a bit old is all." Ironhide drawled, and followed the black and white to the repairbay.

"There, that should do it." Sparklplug straightened from helping Ratchet and Wheeljack install the new Galaxizer, and wiped his hands off on a rag.

"Good work, Sparkplug. You did quite well." Ratchet praised. "Thanks..."

The repairbay doors swished open, and Ratchet looked up. The entire Autobot army fell silent, and nearly all of them stopped, almost resulting in 20-bot pileup.

They slowly made their way in. Jaws dropped, and whispers filtered through the crowd. HighRoad, who had preceeded them into the repairbay had taken off his facemask, and was standing next to Prime's repair berth. He looked up, then started walking towards the group, intent on leaving before things got too out of hand. He cast his gaze to the floor. He couldn't look them all in the face even. He had lied to them all. Misled them. Made them think he was Prime.

Ratchet gave him a glance, then looked at the group coming in. Sunstreaker openly glared at the mimic. All the excitement and happiness over their leader's miraculous return dissipated into the same gloom-and-doom mood as before when they saw what was really going on.

"Dude..." Jazz was the first one to walk up. "Why didn't ya tell us?" he questioned, silence making his question seem louder.

Highroad looked away, as though sorry. "Would it have helped any?" he replied. He looked at the assembled group as Wheeljack and Sparkpug started looking over their injuries. "If you knew Prime was still down and out, would it have even mattered at all if I was there?" the mimic asked. "Would you have rallied, and defeated the Decepticons?" he added, voice barely audible.

"Yeah." Was heard. Sunstreaker loked at the mimic. "We could've handled it, couldn't we have, Sides?" he asked. The red warrior glanced at HighRoad, then down at the floor. "I suppose so." he answered just as softly.

"Yeah?" This time Wheeljack jumped in "Really? and just who would have taken on Megatron? you know none of us have the strength to take him on in on-on-one combat." he defended.

"Yeah." Bumblebee added in, agreeing with Wheeljack.

HighRoad started to edge towards the door again, still intent on leaving. He didn't want to be the cause of a fight. Ratchet took up the argument now, too. "If anything, you guys should be thanking him for saving your sorry skidplates! Megatron would have defeated us, and taken the Ark. And you all know it." he stated. "I was watching it on the monitor right here." he pointed. "I saw how eveything happened. You all gave up before he even showed up."

Highroad had some deep doubts about his role in the army, and about his resemblance to Prime. In truth, it had been a Primus-send, and he needed to know that. This was one of those times that if HighRoad wasn't around, they all surely would have been defeated. And the warriors were all blind to this. Including, sometimes, HighRoad himself. Prime had tried to tell HighRoad that earlier, but he had still had his doubts.

A couple more "Yeah"s sounded from somewhere in the group.

"And what?" Cliffjumper sounded. "Thank him for lying to us!"

Hound smacked him on theback of the head. "Shut up, Cliffjumper."

The minispy glared back, but didn't say anything.

Prowl silently walked forward, face stoic. The group went quiet again. Prowl had been one of the most adamant protestors of the mimic being around. He stopped before Highroad. The mimic looked like he wanted to run, or *was going to* bolt any second. The 2CO reached out and took his hand, shaking it. "Thank you." He nodded.

Jaws dropped. Prime silently listened and smiled behind his facemask.

Jazz stepped out a snapped of a crip salute. "Thanks you, sir!" he grinned that wide, infectious grin of his. Sunstreaker rolled his optics. Ironhide strode up, making HighRoad backstep. he was pretty sure the van wanted to deck him by now. But Ironhide just clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, hagh-rowd." he lowered his voice, a mischevious twinkle in his optics. "Ya mighta fooled Megatron, but chya didn't fool me." He lowered his voice a little more. "so don't trah, kay?"

HighRoad nodded "I...wont?" he managed, a little worried by the low tone. But Ironhide gave him a reassuring smile that it was nothing more than an inside joke of some sort. HighRoad blinked as he walked away.

Wheeljack shook his head as Ironhide passed him. He got a glance. "Gotta scare the young-ins once in a while, keep em in lahn." the old warrior grinned. Wheeljack's headfins flashed an amused blue.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe mumbled something as they passed, but it only remotely sounded like a half-hearted "thanks". Everyone else said their thanks and HighRoad came back away from the door, towards where Ratchet was still standing next to Prime.

The autobot's leader's optics, flickered, then lit fully. A loud cheer went up from the assembled Autobots, earning a groan from their leader at the volume. "All Right!" Bumblebee cheered. "He's allright!"

"See?" Bluestreak said to Hound. "I told you he'd recover. Didn't I say it should only be a matter of time. I knew he would come back, he allways comes back..."

"Bluestreak." Hound said. "Right, sorry. I'm just so happy that he's back now and that he's okay... oh, right." The blue and grey mech looked at the floor.

"See, I told you he allways somehow recovers." Ratchet said to HighRoad, who nodded, then gave Prime a pointed look. Prime looked at HighRoad, and simply nodded, as though saying "Thanks". HighRoad grinned and nodded back. "Happy to turn leadership back over to you, sir. Er-whenever you're able to take it back over... I mean, whenever you're recovered... better... uh, yeah." HighRoad shrugged.

Prime nodded, then looked to Ratchet. "Something tells me all these Autobots aren't a welcoming comittee." his voice took on a note of slight dread at the thought. "Are they?"

A party in the repairbay would *not* be a good idea. "No." Ratchet replied. "but it could have been much worse. I'll let HighRoad here give you the full report, though." the medic looked up at the mimic. HighRoad stepped froward.

Ratchet looked at the rest of the Autobots. "As for the rest of you, either you're here for repairs or get out. This isn't the lounge!" he snapped, going back to his nothing-but-business tone. "Later, HighRoad, Prime needs his rest now." he added.

Lowering his voice, he added on "And There are too many open audios, also." HighRoad nodded, and exchanged a knowing look with the Autobot leader before walking out...