Once inside the makeshift chamber holding Megatron, Starscream stared at the stasis locked leader. How many millennia ago had it been that he had pledged himself, his trine, his Seekers to this mech and his cause? All Starscream had wanted was freedom, equality and justice for those of Vos. Instead his city was destroyed, its seekers all but extinct and his trinemates dead.

Neutrality hadn't been an option. Praxus was proof of that.

How would things have been different if the Council hadn't razed Vos to the ground, driving Starscream to join the Decepticons? Would his Seekers have been welcome among the Autobots? Would the war have turned out differently? Would Sky and TC still be with him? Or would they all have fallen together?

Forcing the whatifs regarding the past aside, Starscream thought of the present and the future. His mate, their sparklings would never be safe from Megatron. Slipping thin claws inside the warlord's plating, soft clicks preceded the opening of his chest armor.

A few more adjustments and the protective plating around Megatron's spark chamber opened. The disturbingly odd purple glow of his dark energon tainted spark spilled out across the chamber. Starscream extended his claws to their full razor sharp length and as he raised his arm a shot rang out, followed by three more in quick succession.

Megatron's spark exploded and extinguished.

Arcee, her blasters still smoking stood next to Starscream. "I don't know who you were before the war or who you would have been had Megatron not taken your trinemates from you, had he not spent millennia twisting and tormenting you. Now I can know who you will be without him looking over you. Do not disappoint me." She turned and brushed past Optimus and the others who now crowded at the chamber entrance, weapons drawn.

Optimus, Magnus and Ratchet stood next to Starscream as the dead warlord's frame greyed. No one spoke.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Outside the base, a strange mech stood, bearing a striking resemblance to the now dead deception Leader. The only difference was his optics. Cloudy and devoid of sight, they were a sight to see. It's not a common thing to see a blind bot anywhere. The one in question could have
easily been mistaken for Megatron, and strangely enough, that was the name he went by. He entered the base, tripping the security alarm. He frowned, as he made a clicking noise near his feet. He continued into the main room greeted with many blasters to his face. Ratchet
immediately realized two things: He was blind, and he was probably a clone of Megatron.

"I am Megatronus, former gladiator of Kaon." He looks over to the other Megatron and makes a clicking noise at him. "I see youve killed my pesky clone."

"If you're blind how do you know there's a dead Megatron lying there?" Smokescreen asked, blasters drawn.

"I have always been able to sense the location of my clone when we are in reasonable proximity to each other," he answered, palms up, servos open.

Starscream moved in front of Magnus winged hiked and tense. His blasters whirled to life, targeting the former gladiator. Bulkhead, Smokescreen and much to his surprise, Arcee surrounded Magnus, weapons ready.

"How can this be?" Optimus asked.

"Orion, is that really you after all these millennia?"

"I am Optimus Prime now. Psiboss, examine his processor. Find the truth," the Autobot leader ordered.

"Is there a place for me to sit?" Megatron asked.

Bumblebee brought a chair for the mech to sit on. Ratchet and Wheeljack steadied Shockwave as he entered the room.

Psiboss approached the overly large mech and tilted her head. Memories spooled into her processor like one of the movies the humans watched. She saw the mech's whole history, pain, humiliation, fighting, experiments all melded together in a sad tale of suffering, but there was hope there. Hope for a world of peace, equality, true friendship with twins and a young idealistic librarian.

She was unaware of how long she stayed in the memories, until a warm hand touched her. Optimus.

"He knew you, long before any of this, you were Orion, he is Megatronus. He was a miner, who after being injured and unable to work was sold to the Pits of Kaon. His new owner reformatted his armor, trained him and made him fight.

"He hated fighting and killing, he longed for freedom, peace and to be as equal to all others. He began speaking out, rallying other gladiators to his cause. First to join were twins who fought as one. Soundwave was listening but reluctant to join, he feared for a creation he had, a felinoid, named Ravage. His owner used Ravage against Soundwave, keeping him locked in stasis, only dropping the stasis when Soundwave won and was obedient."

Ratchet and Prime gasped, twins, those twins had to be the long missing Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

"Megatronus' owner was furious at his rallies, but many on Cybertron were listening. All his owner could see was the loss of his best asset, but had an idea, a clone that would fight as Megatronus. It was painful, they cut a piece of his spark away. It caused a rapid failing of his systems. The only way to keep him from offlining was to lock him in stasis. They copied every line of coding, but the copying corrupted the coding.

They kept him alive but in stasis, to take more of his spark in case they needed another clone."

"My owner brought out the clone. Had him preach my message. Soundwave liked what that Megatron was saying. He liked I was no longer soft sparked. His owner freed him and Ravage so long as he remained loyal to that Megatron." Megatronus said grimly.

"Both owners wanted the war, they were weapons dealers. They saw nothing but profit from the anticipated fighting. The clone went with Orion to the Council, you became Prime, the clone gave the owners their war. But to their surprise, their creation turned on them and killed them. He wanted all the power for himself." Megatronus dropped his head and rubbed his helm.

"How do you know all this if you were stasis?" Optimus asked.

"You were always clever, Orion, think."

"The twins, and everyone wondered why they joined the Autobots and not the 'Cons."

"Phht," Ratchet snorted. "I doubt there were ever more loyal sparks to our cause. Makes me so angry when I think-"Optimus stopped Ratchet with a gentle hand on his shoulder strut.

"I never doubted them for a moment, and I've never stopped hoping to see them again, Old Friend."

"I know, me too." They fell silent.

"You can see them. They brought me here, along with their mate," Megatron said.

"What? Mate?" They asked in unison.

"WAIT ONE CLICK!" Starscream screeched.

All optics turned towards him.

"You are the real Megatron. That dead thing is your clone. I pledged my trinemates sparks to a clone and he and-" the Seeker kneejoints buckled.

"You believed, Starscream. The Council were the ones who ordered Vos be razed to the ground. You pledged your trinemates to the side you believed wanted the same thing you did, equality and justice for Vos," Shockwave said. "Your cause was always just. The clone caused you to lose your way."

"And so much more," Magnus said gently.

With an absent nod, Starscream leaned against his mate.

"Where are the twins and what mate?" Ratchet asked.

"They left me off here yesterday and are currently on our ship. They are close and cloaked. As for their mate, his name is Prowl. I believe he was your one time Second In Command, Optimus."

Optimus, seized, locked up and fell straight back.

Sire!

"Optmius!"

"Boss!"

They yelled as their leader slowly rebooted. The former gladiator's deep laugh filled the room.