The Autobots drop their cover of black energon at the same time, startling the Decepticons on the Nemesis. Megatron stares down the barrel of Optimus' gun.
"Today, you fall, Megatron, along with this infernal war."
In a flash, the other Autobots disappear in red energon speed as Megatron is held at gun point. He watches all his Decepticons fall.
Legs are swept out from under them, some are tossed into the walls and screens, and several others are cut down. Dreadwing falls and Soundwave is speared on the computers; the electricity arching over his chest and causing spasms.
It happens so fast, Megatron thinks too late for a bargain, "What about Cybertron law, Optimus? Shouldn't I be put to trial? Take me back to Cybertron while you rebuild, wait for the rest of our race to return."
Sonica shows up at Optimus' side, "As Doradus, I hold an authority equal to the Matrix. I deem you all unworthy."
Optimus' gun warms up, "Court adjourned."
With red energon charging his strength, he finally fires.
Dark energon sprays the computers behind him and Megatron collapses. Sonica sets a hand on Optimus' chest, for grounding with the Matrix, so she's able to absorb the dark energon to dissolve it to its basic atoms. The dark energon is gone and she drops her hand.
"Are you alright, Sonica?"
"Yes," she turns to him, "are you?"
"I will be."
They both try a smile under their tired eyes. The war is over; next, is healing Cybertron.
They hear shouting down the dead halls and Wheeljack brings Knockout to the bridge. He glances around, horror hanging down his face as he's thrown to his knees.
"This is the one you wanted saved, right?"
Sonica runs to him, "Knockout..."
He lifts his head and his red optics are narrow and sharp.
"Knockout?"
"You found your worthy sparks, I see."
"No, I ended the war. You all have shed enough blood."
"Have you?"
Guilt slams into her and begins crushing her spark.
Knockout fights Wheeljack's grip, "You lied to me..."
"No, that wasn't a lie. You're alive. You can come with me."
"You never asked!" His voice cracks, "Just terminate me with my fellow Decepticons. That can't possibly be worse than joining liars like you."
Sonica's spark shatters and movement to her right catches her eye. Breakdown hovers over the carnage, looking over it slowly.
He meets her gaze, "I said they needed your help...was I not clear?"
Sonica sits up and glazes fearfully around her room for Breakdown. Not seeing him, she feels just a moment of relief before openly weeping. Ending the war with her powers...it just not that simple. It's not that simple.
The Autobots went out and came back with a story about how Optimus had finally reached his end with Megatron and was about to execute justice...until Dreadwing saved his aft.
Then it was quiet and Sonica lost track of time as she tried to power-down for endless megacycles. It didn't work most of the time.
Her other nightmares are getting graphic to where she can feel Megatron's dark energon splatter her face and coat over the spray left from the Autobots. She takes a finger and wipes up what's dripping off her chin then sticks it in her mouth.
When it's not that, it's Breakdown. She still doesn't understand what he agreed to and she fears that she took him away from the AllSpark. Knockout not only has to carry on without his companion but may go offline and search for him forever...and it's her fault. And Knockout...how quiet is it now since Breakdown will not return and she's missing?
Every happy memory hurts. She wakes from the dream of those past days and wakes to a world without him. At the same time, the place she lays in doesn't feel like reality because the good memories are more familiar than this place where she suffers.
If Breakdown's memory is allowed to rest, she's also thinking about her role in things and it doesn't get any better. What in the smelting slag is she supposed to do now?
It's as she's contemplating that, the Autobots roll Arachnid into their base, frozen inside a insecticon stasis pod.
"I intended worse," Arcee hisses before letting it drop, "more times than you know."
Optimus commends her for her strength but quickly goes quiet as Sonica comes around to stare at the prisoner. This is Breakdown's destroyer.
She raises a hand, fully intending to rip energon out of her. In that spur of anger, she didn't care who saw and didn't care about her ultimate rule of moral.
That scared her.
Her hand lowers but for a moment, she wants her anger to take over. Let it happen and save others from further harm. Just let her do something right...
But...it's not that simple...
Fear wins this time, with guilt and honor beside it. She's better than this; that's what she told Murderer. It feels like a lie. She's just a coward with no purpose.
Her hand rests at her side in shame.
"Guys! You are not going to believe the day I just had..."
They stare at him.
"You too, huh?"
Optimus thought long and hard about this as he and Ratchet stand before the spark extractor.
He couldn't stop thinking about his Autobots getting excited about Sonica's abilities and the chance to use them. He also understands her reluctance; he feels similarly now at he stares at the Decepticon's horrific tool.
He still can't get ahold of Wheeljack and naturally, Sonica is in no condition to help. Ratchet can't either- he hates the thing from the time a Decepticon entered a medical facility with it many stellar cycles ago. Reasonably, he hasn't forgotten.
This plan feels more desperate and slapped together than any plan he's had in a long time; since his beginning war plans. This one is darker...but just as unprepared and stupid.
However, at this point, he doesn't feel he has much of a choice. Megatron's crimes against Humans, plus fallen comrades, plus the abuse of Doradus, must end in satisfied justice. Perhaps it'll be enough that one of his creations is what takes him down.
Ratchet sneers at it and turns to him again, "Optimus, are you sure you want to go down this path?"
If he could do this without it, he would. Not only to satisfy justice, but the aching sparks of his Autobots.
Sonica feels the dark energon all the way across the ocean and storms out to find Ratchet hailing Megatron's ship...and the Autobots frozen from a stasis beam. She tends to them first as Ratchet tries again. She only wants to be sure that all their energon is flowing smoothly.
Of course it is. The stasis beam hits the transmitter nerves; their brain can't tell them to move and even if it could, the nerves are too interrupted. It's part of why there's always a nasty headache afterwards. That disconnection for any length of time is rough.
Sonica sighs, feeling useless.
When the deep, unfamiliar voice rumbles through the communications, she feels it. The shrunken oil stain in the back of her mind thickens as the ship talks. When the feed cuts, all is still.
For just a moment, she feels well enough to comment: "Wow, just wow."
Ratchet and the kids look at her.
"Megatron did THE STUPIDEST thing putting dark energon in his ship. Doesn't he know that dark energon chooses the strongest and biggest body? Rod-ramming moron, if I see him again, I'm telling him I told him so." She pauses as she feels she's thought that before. "I need to tell him twice."
Ratchet smiles slightly, glad to hear that she sounds like herself.
But immediately after that, ideas to fetch the Iacon files turn into plans. No doubt, Sonica was out of this mission.
Her sorrow returns because that question returns. What is her purpose?
She watches Ratchet hand the small humans a compact drive and sends them through the ground bridge. The dark energon wafts in with a force. It makes her stagger. The dark energon aura embraces her and pulls; tempting her to run through the ground bridge until it is shut off.
"Are you alright?" He asks as he's watching her hold her head and struggling to stand straight.
Murderer almost woke up but a glance at Prime evaporates all his consciousness.
She's able to nod, "Yes."
The kids come over the com-link, "Ratchet, we have a problem. The ship has deciphered more coordinates and is headed for Manhattan."
"And it may need to move some buildings out of the way."
Ratchet curses and starts to bridge them back, but they refuse. They take a stand to stop the Nemesis, protect their world and other people.
It rings a familiar chord and Sonica reflects, then smiles shaking her head. That's all she's wanted for the Autobots and the Decepticons; safety and peace. That doesn't always require a fight. They should cease fire because they want to, not because they're made to. That'll have to do for now.
"We can dump it right?"
Ratchet nods pensively, "Yes, but it can only be activated manually."
Sonica balks, "They're too little to do that."
He slumps, "I know, but we have to let them try. We don't have a choice."
They do with black energon...but Sonica can't do it alone...it's too much dark energon and that aura doesn't have sensors to numb like bots and computers. It's a dumb idea but if it works, it won't matter. She'll need all the bots for this, including the straggler out there ignoring them.
"I have a backup plan but we need Wheeljack. I can find him quickly and get him here."
"What do you plan to do?" Ratchet dramatically shrugs with his arms, "You can't go up there."
"I can if I have yours and everyone else's help. I think." There's little math to it as she's guessing.
"What? How?"
"I'll explain later if it comes to it." Sonica runs for the exit, "I'll be right back. If you know where Wheeljack is, send me his coordinates."
"I can't even find his signal. There's also more dark energon out there than- Sonica! Come back here!"
"Sorry, not listening!" She transforms and blazes down the exit, through the doors, up and out. Then she takes advantage of her flight mode's supersonic capabilities.
As she flies, she sends her energon sight into the earth, through Unicron's armor and inner mechanics, to every measure of his surface before her. It's difficult to see through the flares and her focus is blurring. The only thing slowing the influence down is the sediment between them. She needs to find Wheeljack quickly.
Thankfully, she finds the blue speck that is him in a state they call Tennessee and dives in.
She lands in bot mode in front of him as he's been speeding through a rural. He tries to go around her, but she surrounds him in orange energon plates. He stays in vehicle mode, purposely offending her. It's extremely rude not to transform into bot mode when someone is talking to you.
"Wheeljack, I need your help."
"Seriously? Do you think you have the right to ask that after what you said? You'd rather we go to the AllSpark so sit down and let us die like good soldiers."
"Shut up, I won't give you my powers, but I will use them to protect you." She tries avoiding a promise; though she's found her motivation, it hasn't ebbed the pain she feels. "We need your help, please."
"Sure, I'd love another chance to go offline. Point me to the front lines."
A sly smirk comes with her retort: "I'm taking the front lines on this one. I just need you and the others to keep me sane."
There's a long pause.
"What the fraggin' slag are you talkin' about?"
"Come with me and you'll find out. I don't require you to do anything more than stand beside me. Literally."
"Oh, good Primus, just ask the others to do it. You don't need me. You made that clear before you came leaking all this nonsense."
"Wheeljack, I'm sorry."
He waits, still in vehicle form.
"I'm really, very, sorry. You aren't expendable; none of you are. I failed one friend recently, I don't want to fail another."
"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?"
"Nuh-uh."
With a long grumble Wheeljack transforms, "Fine. Let's go. But you leave me alone after this."
When Ratchet finally bridges them in, the Autobots are out of stasis with splitting headaches, and in the doctor's hands is Jack and the compact drive.
"Or, nevermind. We talk too much." Sonica lazily tosses her arm.
"Jackie?"
"Hey Bulk,"
Big green takes a couple steps, grimaces, but fights it to come to Wheeljack and hug him.
"Don't give me such a warm welcome just yet. I came only because she apologized, and I heard you guys had a mess on your hands." He suddenly notices the spark extractor as Bulk sets him down.
"Did you just retrieve that?"
Bulk looks where he's pointing, "No, we almost used it."
Wheeljack grows quiet and glances up at Optimus. No one speaks as this information solidifies.
For some reason, it means a lot to Wheeljack. Prime was willing to do this. He found a middle ground between his bots and Sonica. He felt heard for once.
"Optimus turns to Ratchet, "How much of the Iacon files did we confiscate?"
"Just the four the ship decoded...and some incomplete pieces too, I think. We'll know for sure once you've had the chance to look at it."
"Looks like everything's handled then." Wheeljack waves.
Optimus turns to him, "Not exactly. We'll be needing your assistance."
"Sounds good. I'll go get the Jackhammer. I just need a bridge back."
"Thank you, Wheeljack," He shares a modest smile, "for returning."
Wheeljack thinks about saying something but sticks to just waving as he walks towards the ground bridge while Ratchet types in the coordinates given. Sonica comes up beside him.
"You're supposed to leave me alone."
"I did promise to explain." She takes his pause as consent and rambles about her "cure" against dark energon. She gets into it and describes what it's like standing around Megatron.
Wheeljack shakes his head, "Why didn't destroy him then?"
"Several reasons..." Sonica recalls Murderer, and the day she almost terminated Megatron. She didn't get a chance to thank Breakdown for saving her... She pulls herself out of it, "How much time to you have?"
"Not enough, I'm afraid." Optimus' tone is tense, "We must get these relics in our possession as rapidly as possible. This is a race we cannot afford to lose."
The first four teams dispersed but Sonica was left behind to protect the base with the humans. Optimus also wanted her to be backup in case things grew really complicated. If not, she could act as doctor while Ratchet was out, if he wasn't back before everyone else.
She watches them all leave within minutes of each other and watches the screens. When Fowler wakes up, she grins at him.
"Enjoy your snooze, homie?"
He waves dismissively, "Don't talk to me yet."
Sonica laughs and watches relics surface where the coordinates are on the ground bridge's recent list. Bulkhead reports in followed later by Optimus needing an area cleared.
Then another relic comes on, making five. And if they're sensing it, then the Decepticons already possess it. Not if Sonica can help it.
She tells Raf where she's going and runs into the ground bridge. Once there, she finds Megatron.
In his hand, he holds a small container. For sure, it's one of the Iacon relics. He grins at her, "Sonica Doradus."
"You." She deadpans as Murderer's essence starts to stir. "I was restraining myself last time you were in radius. Give me the relic and you'll be able to walk away."
He chuckles, "I know you. You won't take me offline. You need me."
"That proves otherwise," She smiles, "The Autobots know more than you do because THEY are worthy sparks."
Megatron's optics narrow.
She pulls out her tiny gun. "Last warning, hand it over or I end this war by sending you into whatever afterlife you'll get- since you've been soaking in dark energon for so long."
For the first time since she met him, Megatron looks uncertain. He glances down at the container in his hand. "What will you do for it, Sonica?"
"I will shoot you for free." She fires a warning at his feet.
He doesn't flinch as the dirt sprays him. The wind carries the dust cloud away quickly and he moves his foot out of the small crater under it.
"Put it down and go back to your ship," she has to chuckle, "the one you foolishly animated. I'm not letting you go- oh yeah, I told you so. Twice."
"I'll give this to you if you shut up."
"Agreed." She aims for his chest. "Drop it."
Surprisingly, he agrees, and it lands with a thunk.
"Send me a ground bridge," Megatron orders and gets one within a cycle.
She takes steps towards him and he backs up slowly into the ground bridge. Sonica waits until he disappears, and the glow shrinks after him before she approaches the container. She sheathes her gun and picks up the container.
This might be a trap. Does she open it now or risk finding out what it is at base with fragile humans?
Something stabs the hand that hold it. She flinches and drops the container and it lands with modified prongs sticking out the sides from a hidden spot. Not prongs...needles of some sort. A liquid is oozing out of it.
Just as she sees this, her systems bog down and she staggers. Whatever that stuff is, it has put her body into emergency shut down. Sonica falls to her hands and knees; the container is there in front of her face.
She just wants to lay down, despite something saying she shouldn't. The container has to move. Her hand misses it. She lowers her hand and it brushes dirt...she thinks. One more attempt finally moves it. Her optics close and maybe she smiled. Her head hits with a deep thud that she doesn't feel. She's relieved; she can close her eyes. But she has so many questions...
There's a slight green glow before her eyes shut. The color reminded her of a ground bridge.