A month or so later, Mirage was obviously heavily sparked with sparklings, as his abdomen stuck out on his normally slender frame. He knew it was because of the sparklings, but he didn't like how it made him look or that it prevented him from transforming smoothly into his other mode. Not being able to do as much also made Mirage feel a bit useless and soured his mood a bit. He tried to remain happy but it was hard. It was even harder due to the fact that his mate was needed so often to monitor the activities of the enemy, which neither Mirage nor Optimus liked.
For the past month, as Mirage and Prowl's unsparked sparklings grew, things near Iacon had grown quiet, and that worried Optimus. He knew the cons were never this quiet for long and he wondered what they could possibly be up to. And as he wondered, he felt a strange pulsing in his chest. It wasn't the spark bond, Optimus knew that much, but he wasn't for sure what it was. He decided that he would follow the command of the pulse and close his optics, hoping it wouldn't lead him into a trap or worse.
Primus used the Matrix of leadership to reach out to the bot, this one being a lot more responsive than most Primes Primus had selected previously including Sentinel. Optimus felt himself being led further and further into somewhere, somewhere strange that didn't exactly appear to be real or fake. Then he saw a strange bot before him. He didn't know her, as she had existed long ago. She was a beautiful shade of green, and he even thought she was very pretty. She soon opened her optics and smiled as she saw him approach.
"Hi Optimus" Jade Prime stated, "I have been expecting you."
"You have?" Optimus asked, curious. Jade Prime looked at this new bot. This bot had been different from another Optimus that Jade had known in ancient times, but this was Optimus none-the-less. Jade realized that this bot had been a reformatted version of the old Optimus, though it was clear any trace of the old bot had been removed and replaced. She realized that Primus had brought the bot from the past, but made him new.
"Yes. You see, I am inside the Matrix. I have imparted wisdom in here gathered from when I was Prime long ago. You seek answers, Optimus."
"Yes, the Decepticons have been quiet, too quiet, and I fear they are planning something" Optimus stated, telling her all he knew of their movements and attacks.
"They may well be. After all, they may be going after the Armor of Unicron" Jade stated, having just learned of the armor in her time long ago.
"Armor of Unicron?" Optimus asked, confused. He had never heard of such a thing. It made no sense to him.
"Yes. Unicron is the sworn enemy of Primus, the creator. Primus created the Matrix, which now resides in you. Unicron, in a fit of rage, formatted something to be nearly as strong – it was known as the Armor of Unicron. It is powerful as well, as it was bestowed with energy from the evil one" Jade explained.
"Is it as powerful as the Matrix?" Optimus asked.
"Almost. But good always triumphs over evil" Jade stated, "But be warned, if it is obtained by the leader of the cons, it will make you task of defeating them much harder. AS it will give them more strength than most bots possess."
Optimus nodded. "This is good information to know, Jade Prime. Anything else I should know?"
"If you ever have any questions, you can always come here for wisdom, but be careful not to go too deep for too long, or you might get lost. Also, if you feel a certain pulse in your chest, either an old Prime or Primus is trying to get a hold of you" Jade stated, wanting to make sure Optimus understood the full power of the Matrix.
"Thank you" Optimus replied. Optimus was very grateful for the information and soon found himself awake and in his office. He was stunned by what he had learned but also worried. If Megatron did obtain the secret evil Armor of Unicron, then only he with the power of the Matrix would have any chance of defeating the bot. This made things all the direr. He hoped that they could defeat the Cons before they could reach it.
Meanwhile, in the frozen section on the bottom of Cybertron, Megatron was scoping things out. He had scoured old legends and found that most likely, Unicron would have placed the Armor where it would be extremely hard to find and difficult to obtain, as Unicron was not only evil, but also he didn't like sharing his "powers" with anyone, unlike Primus, who gifted to those who followed him. Megatron had already lost a few bots to the extreme conditions but that did not stop him. His sickening lust for more power was too great to stop him from obtaining what he set out to obtain. The only question in his foul processor was could he obtain it before the Autobots found out where they were and stop them. Only time would tell.