And here we are.

Moments earlier.

Saai allowed her faceplates to twist upwards in a smirk. They were close. She could almost taste it. They would have the informatino they needed, and Lord Megatron could move forward with his assult and possibly crush the war before it spanned too long. Then life could be returned to their planet.

And it would be because of her. She could at last have the recognition she deserved. It wouldn't be Barricade or Soundwave who got the crucial information, it would be her.

It was definitely an entertaining thought.

And as she watched the Autobot on the table twist and shriek as the programs beat at his firewalls, Saai could only wonder how long it would be before he broke.

After all, he would. It was only a matter of time.

"Only a matter of time.." She echoed, purring.

It was only logical he would break. He had to. nothing could stand it this long, and if she had to lock him out of statis to ensure they got the information, so be it.

Prowl listened to that sick purr as he twisted once more. The sequences were ghosting sensations all across his frame, trying to shake his concentration. His doorwings felt like they rested in molten rock, while his energon lines felt like someone had poured liquid nitrogen into them.

He knew he could last. Calculating the resistance he was still putting up at the moment, Prowl made an accurate estimate for how much longer he could last.

And making another set of calculations with the part of his processer reserved for that task, he estimated how long he would have to wait for backup.

The first number was much smaller than the second.

Much much smaller.

There were limited choices now. He couldn't fight back, he couldn't escape, he couldn't last against the torture.

But..

He could make sure they never got the information they were digging for.

Prowl held no fear for when he went to the Well of the AllSpark. He weighed all of his choices, which amounted to two. Make sure they didn't get the information, or let them have it.

Needless to say, it was a choice Prowl could make without his logic centers. A manual full system wipe. It would feel painful, and Prowl knew he would be aware as he destroyed his own being, but he had no other choice.

"Saai... There's trouble." Awry interupted the femme's thoughts. she sighed. There was always something going on. Stupid assistant.

"Well.. What is it?" She snapped.

"More Autobots have showed up. They're moving in quickly."

"It's only fair to assume they're here for this one.." Saai intoned dryly, all of her aspirations suddenly slipping through her fingers.

"Frag it! We just need more time!"

"We.. We don't have long. They'll be here soon... Saai, if you excuse my saying... We can leave now, but leave a sleeper in him. Something to activate later. Ingraine it tightly with his coding, and when we next have the chance, activate it."

She sighed. She wanted that information, and she wanted it now. But it didn't look like she was getting it. Far from it. But.. That was a good idea. Was a logical idea.

"Do it." She hissed, moving to gather a few datapads.

Awry hurried to do as she said, fingers clicking clumsily as he entered the virus. With only nanoclicks to spare, the pair hurried out the door.

" 'Til next time, Autobot." Saai called over her shoulder, hurrying away from what was about to be a not so happy reunion.

Prowl felt the malignant coding the second it entered his own, much more refined programming. It was worming in, binding, making itself a part of him. The codes were weaving together.

But Prowl let it be.

It wouldn't be there in a little while anyways.

The second those hack programs had stopped, he had begun work on his own set of routines. Starting with the most sensitive information, he was removing it from himself, merely burning it from his processor. Of course, even with deletion, there was a chance it could be recovered. So Prowl was making sure it couldn't be. He was deleting himself along with it, leaving no ground for anyone to take anything ever again.

It hurt. It hurt as he just simply moved himself to no longer exisisting, byte by byte. He stopped worrying about the outside world, focused on his task. Prowl wasn't sure how long he had to complete his suicide, but he needed to make sure it was done, and done flawlessly.

"What's wrong?" Jazz was only too concerned, too worried that Prowl was already offline.

"He's wiping himself, and you know the fragger. You know how effecient he is. I can't get through the stubborn son of a glitch.. Not here. I need to be back at the medbay.. I don't know.. If I put him in statis, it will lock him where he is. But then.. I might not be able to recover what he's removed of himself already. And I'm afraid that's alot. In which case, we're just prolonging it, then have to deactivate him ourselves... So you see our situation."

Jazz had to stop and think... Why.. Why did Prowl always have to be so good at what he did? Why did he have to do the smart thing?

Because.. Because he was Prowl.

"Doc.. I think we should bring him back. You said it yourself. He's one stubborn son of a glitch."

Ratchet nodded, and worked around Prowl's program, freezing it and him, holding him there as he slipped into statis.

"Go get Ironhide. We'll need to carry as many of these parts out with us as we can.

Jazz nodded, and cast one last glance at Prowl before he left.