Hello readers thank you for coming this far. I am nearing the end of this story, and have begun to start the next story that follows this. As for this story and it's last few chapters, they are going to be significantly longer than the others. So it may be a bit of a nail biter, taking a bit longer to update the next or finale chapter.


"Soundwave it's not my decision to make." Arcee shook her helm. "But if I had to choose, I would pick the second option, even though it's more risky. I think we just need to come to terms that you will go mute eventually, but with that option it might be a very long time before that happens. Where's if we do nothing, you will most likely go mute almost immediately." The femme explained what she thought of the situation.

Soundwave nodded in agreement with his sparkmate's logical opinion. "I've known I would go mute. You're right though, I will try to keep my voice as long as I can."

"Okay let's go tell Ratchet then. The sooner you get it done, the faster Optimus will let you get back in the Iacon Database." Arcee replied teasingly.

Soundwave rolled his optics. "Sure... but I don't need a voice to decipher c... c... co... codes."

"Let's get to Ratchet, before you burn out your voice box." The femme laughed, escorting her mech to the med bay.

"Arcee, hey Arcee, Arcee?" The twins annoyingly called the passing femme.

"What?!" Arcee hissed turning to the two mechs.

"It's our shift for mining." Sideswipe cowered away, pointing to Jazz and Bumblebee coming through a bridge.

"Right now, really?" Arcee growled, gesturing to her mech getting induced into stasis.

"Go Arcee, Soundwave will be fine, and it's better if I have less stress around me. Just make sure that if you're bringing energon into the base, put it in the storage, don't come into my med bay." The CMO told the femme, gesturing for them to leave.

"Fine, call if you need me back." Arcee groaned following the twins through the bridge.

After quite a few hours, Optimus was finally able to decipher the second word in the next coordinates. Trying his best to not focus on Ratchet, the old medic consistently swore under his breath for much of the surgery.

"Dammit!" Ratchet hissed in frustration.

"Can I assist you in any way Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"No, I am regretting saying this was an option. I've repaired what I could, it was hell just trying to not worsen the damage. But I was successful." Ratchet sighed, closing the opening of the young mech's voice box. "Honestly Optimus, Bumblebee's voice box was an easier repair, and his was crushed to nothing."

"Hmm... corrosive damage is irreversible." Optimus thought aloud.

"Indeed, though there are ways to mask the damages to a point, and that's unfortunately all I am doing." The medic sadly mentioned, clearing off his surgical tray of the charred, rusted, pieces of metal he removed from the violet mech's vocals.

"We're grateful for your efforts old friend." The Prime reassured his oldest friend he did a good job.

"Thanks for the encouragement." Ratchet smiled, walking over to the Prime. "How's the next set of coordinates coming along?"

"Alright I suppose, Soundwave cracked one word earlier today, plus the one to the Star Saber earlier this morning. The youngling is incredible at deciphering codes, I only just deciphered the next word, I must be rustier than I originally thought." The Prime sighed with a dry chuckle.

"Don't be hard on yourself Optimus, I've seen Soundwave struggle with these codes too. He's just a very intelligent kid, remember most of his work was hacking, and collecting data that was encrypted by the most impossible firewalls, and whatever other security used. And that youngling would crack them open and siphon the information in seconds, before any Autobot could stop him." The old medic reminded the Prime.

"Very true..." The red and blue mech trailed off into deep thought.

"Now what are you worrying about?" The grumpy medic groaned, seeing the Prime's expression change.

"I was just trying to think about a question Soundwave asked earlier." Optimus replied.

"Oh, what did he ask?" The medic replied curiously.

"He wanted to know how I met his mother."

"Didn't Megatron introduce you to her?" Ratchet asked.

"Kind of, yes, but that's not when I first met her." The Prime said to the medic. "I just can't seem to recollect our first encounter."

"Don't stress about it, you'll remember when it matters most." The CMO said, as Mirage entered the base.

"Primus, was his coughing really that bad?" Mirage retorted seeing his brother on the medical berth.

"I just preformed surgery on his vocals, they were malfunctioning badly." Ratchet replied.

"I thought you said they were inoperable, because it was too risky?" The youngling walked over to the medic.

"It is risky, I did a clean out, and reconnected what is still functional. One wrong move would've made him a mute, but in reality..."

"He's going to be permanently mute eventually." Mirage finished the CMO's sentence.

"Yes, Soundwave knows that, that's why he chose this option." The old medic sighed, watching as his patient shifted on the medical berth. Turning his helm back to the dripping red youngling. "Mirage, why are you wet? You're dripping water everywhere, go dry off!"

"I'm wet because it's a nasty night out there, it's raining, sorry." Mirage grumbled grabbing some towels.

"Ugh... w...wha... what are you moaning about?" Soundwave's painfully spoke.

"Nothing, Ratchet's just complaining about the rain." Mirage replied smirking at the medic.

"Try not to speak too much if it hurts Soundwave, you'll be sore for awhile." Ratchet told the young mech.

"Mirage, have you found any trace of Starscream's base?" Optimus asked, changing the subject.

"I got a few leads, but they all led to nothing. That coward sure knows how to hide, but I'll smoke him out." Mirage replied.

"It's late, Bumblebee is already in bed, why don't you surprise Arcee by doing the same." Optimus suggested to his youngling.

"How'd I know that was coming." Mirage rolled his optics, trudging to his quarters.

"I think I will take a rest from the database for now." Optimus thought aloud, knowing if he took a break, he'd crack codes faster when he returned.

"Good choice, it's been a long day for everyone, it's late, Ironhide and the others should be getting back anytime now." Ratchet said as Soundwave got off the medical berth.

"I'll help you to your room youngling." The Prime helped his groggy apprentice down the hallway. "Ratchet, let Arcee know Soundwave's in bed, when she returns."

Soundwave didn't have the capacity to argue he was still exhausted from being put under. He laid down in his berth, half conscious of what was happening around him.

Optimus smiled at his now slumbering apprentice. "Goodnight youngling." He exited the room.

"I'm getting in!" Mirage hissed jumping into his berth.

"I was coming to say goodnight." The Prime raised an optic ridge at his red youngling.

"Oh, goodnight." Mirage replied, seeing that he woke his brother. "Sorry Bee."

"Mmhmm..." The scout groaned rolling over to go back to recharging.

The Prime shook his helm with a smile, closing the door, before making his way to his own quarters.

"He'll be able to speak, Soundwave may not want to for a bit, because how sore he'll be." Ratchet explained to the femme.

"Thanks for doing this Ratchet, we really appreciate the lengths you've gone to, to make him comfortable." Arcee thanked the medic for his care.

"Isn't it ironic that you're trying to save a voice box, for someone who literally is silent most of the time?" Sunstreaker scoffed at the medic.

"You know Sunstreaker, Soundwave was quite chatty back in the day." Ratchet retorted to the golden twin.

"Pfft... back in the day, how many cycles ago?" The golden twin sarcastically scoffed.

"Soundwave's regaining his confidence slowly, he speaks quite a bit, you just can't hear him over your big mouth." Arcee hissed at Sunstreaker.

"Alright, someone had extra bitch in her energon today." Sunstreaker rolled his optics, quickly making an escape to his room.

"Dude, Arcee's going to be the one to kill us one day." Sideswipe laughed following his brother.

"No, I'll let your idiocy be the reason you offline." Arcee yelled after the twins. "I shouldn't be yelling, but anyway, thank you Ratchet, I'm going to go recharge with Soundwave."

"I do my best, goodnight Arcee." Ratchet bid the femme goodnight as he shut down his med bay for the night.

"So is it alright to start processing energon tomorrow?" Ironhide asked his old friend.

"Yes of course Hide, I just needed space to preform surgery today, tomorrow should be fine. Just the usual rule of clear out of the med bay, if I need it in an emergency." The tired medic replied, following the weapon specialist down the hallway to their respective rooms.

"Soundwave, I'm here now." Arcee whispered softly, letting her mech know she was crawling into the berth with him.

The violet mech was still groggy, with zero energy to reply, or even roll over to face his sparkmate.

Arcee hoped her mech heard her, slowly wrapping her arms around her mech's waist, pulling him into a loving embrace. The femme knew her sparkmate was conscious of her presence as he willingly embraced the snuggling.

"Mirage, are you ever going to recharge?" Bumblebee groaned, sitting up in his berth, seeing his brother doing the same across the room.

"I'm thinking Bee." Mirage replied to the scout.

"You haven't recharged in the last few nights, not for long at least." The yellow youngling scoffed. "What are you thinking about?"

"The end of this war, and a new beginning to Cybertron." The red assassin replied.

"It's exciting, I know, I can't wait to see what Cybertron was like before the war." Bumblebee thought aloud.

"Yeah, me too..." Mirage gave a small insignificant smile.

"That's not what you're really thinking about is it?" Bumblebee asked seeing his brother's smile quickly fade.

"Well I am thinking about that exciting part Bee. But I'm more concerned about how we're going to end this war, preventing Megatron, and his Decepticons from destroying Cybertron all over again." The red youngling explained to the scout.

"Right, Dad, and Soundwave, have been speaking about that a lot lately." Bumblebee mentioned.

Mirage shook his helm with a sigh. "I know, I am fully onboard with Optimus's decision to just extinguish Megatron's spark, and whatever Decepticons that want to continue his legacy. But Soundwave is convinced he can end this war peacefully, without killing Megatron. He has it in his mind, that, that crazy tyrant, will call off the war, and denounce the Decepticons."

Bumblebee cocked his helm curiously at the red youngling across from him. "Why do you make it sound like Soundwave's idea is crazy, and impossible?"

"Bumblebee, this war has been going on forever, Optimus has tried the peaceful technique many times, to no avail." Mirage tried to explain to the young scout.

"Maybe Optimus isn't the right bot to accomplish that. Maybe Soundwave can." Bumblebee yawned, laying down in his berth, ready to go back to recharging.

"Maybe..." Mirage sighed, laying back down.

Orion Pax sighed as his shift came to an end, leaving his post after hearing a very intriguing broadcast coming from the gladiatorial pits of Kaon. Walking into his mentor's empty office. "Alpha Trion?" The young mech looked around, surprised to not see his mentor scribbling away on a data pad. Seeing a bright cyan blue light coming from a door just to the right of the room.

Alpha Trion placed a cable that was directly linked to the Allspark onto a very tiny, lifeless, sparkling protoform, that had yet to begin its development of gaining a spark.

Orion Pax watched curiously from the door, wondering what Alpha Trion was doing with a sparkling protoform. His mentor took what looked to be a very pure energon crystal, putting it into an energon processor. Energon crystals of that purity only came from Cybertrons core itself, the young mech thought.

"Now all you need is the purest genome to be complete, then will you be perfect enough for Primus to spark you as his." Alpha Trion sighed, turning to walk back to his office.

Orion quickly ducked back into the office, with hopes that his mentor didn't see him watching him. "Alpha Trion, Sir, I am done archiving for the day. Is there anything else, before I take my leave?"

Alpha Trion was silent, shutting the door slowly behind him, keeping the tension in the air, as he silently walked over to sit at his desk. "That is all for today Orion Pax."

Orion Pax nodded pivoting so he could escape the tension filled room.

"Orion."

The red and blue mech halted in his tracks. "Yes sir?"

"I know your brother is making quite a stir in our systems. I just want you to be wary, don't change, Megatronus is not pure like you are, don't be taken on the path to darkness. Another pure spark, will steer you in the right direction."

Orion Pax was always confused when his mentor spoke in riddles, he didn't understand them at all. "Yes sir, of course." He just nodded in understanding.

"You're dismissed." Alpha Trion said with no emotion, watching as the young mech quickly exited his office. "There's a war brewing, yet a pure spark is here to light us through the coming darkness, you will be the next Prime." The ancient mech walked back into his office where a brightly glowing cyan blue orb hovered above the protoform. "It's up to you now Primus, find the purest of CNA to plant your seed to bring us to the end of the wars." The tiny undeveloped protoform dissolved, absorbed by the orb that flew out of the facility.

Orion Pax walked down a quiet street, it was late at night, most Cybertronians got home from their shifts many hours ago. But Orion Pax had stayed late listening in on the grid, listening to his brother's political views. He had thought about contacting his brother, the gladiator seemed to have a large following already, and his views were intriguing. Turning down the next very dark street, the mech could see an illuminated femme walking in his direction, as the space between them closed, he recognized the femme's tattered frame to be that of the lower caste. The lower caste were known for trying to sneak their way into Iacon, to perform their crimes in order to gain the essentials to live. The red and blue mech knew there was a 50/50 chance of the femme trying to rob him, being a passive young mech, Orion Pax tried to keep an open mind. As the femme got closer, he realized she wasn't even paying any mind to him, she looked to be scanning the area.

"Oof!" The femme gasped after she had walked straight into the records clerk. "Sorry!"

"It's alright." Orion replied as the femme looked him over.

[My covers been blown, scrap!] was the immediate thought going through her helm after realizing she had bumped into a higher caste member.

Orion Pax could see the young femme was on high alert, she seemed to be quite distressed that she ran into him. "Are you okay?"

Xanthia blinked, surprised to be asked such a question by a higher caste stranger. "Yeah... you're not going to arrest me?"

"Why would I do that?" The young mech was confused.

"You're not in the police force?" The femme cocked an optic ridge.

"Not in the slightest, I'm an archivist" Orion almost tried to stop the words from coming out of his voice box, knowing saying his occupation may make him sound weak, an easy target for a robbery. "I wouldn't arrest you anyway, you've done nothing wrong."

"You don't know that." Xanthia smirked laughing at the mech's naivety.

"I don't, but there's no reason for me to assume you're bad, just because you're lower caste. That would be incredibly prejudice of me. I don't think the lower caste deserves to be treated that way." Orion kindly replied to the femme's surprise.

"That's a very kind of you to say. I have never met a higher caste bot that would even consider what you just said." Xanthia scoffed in disbelief.

"You're my equal as far as I'm concerned." Orion Pax smiled.

"Xanthia." The femme introduced herself to the mech.

"Orion Pax." The mech stuck his servo out for a shake.

Xanthia hesitantly shook the mech's servo, trying to figure out why she knew that name already. "You're Megatronus's brother?"

"Yes, how'd you know that?" Orion Pax cocked his helm curiously.

"He's my friend, we met in the mines, I know him quite well." Xanthia replied as static came over her comlink.

"Xanthia, we're making our way to your position, did you find a target?" Barricade's voice came over her comlink.

Orion Pax watched as the friendly expression on the femme's face, turned into a worried one. "Is something wrong?"

Hearing voices and footsteps not far behind, Xanthia quickly pulled the large mech into a dark nearby alleyway. "Get down, and don't make a sound." The femme instructed Orion to stay behind a dumpster while she quickly ran out back to where they were standing.

"No leads so far Cade." The femme replied over the comlink even though the mechs she was with were approaching her.

"Ugh, it's too late in the night, we should try a homestead instead." Barricade groaned.

"We should try the next block over, this area is just a dead end." Xanthia scoffed to the group of mechs.

"Fine. This time we'll scout ahead." Barricade growled, leading his gang away.

Xanthia waited for the group of mechs to be out of sight, before returning to Orion Pax. "Alright it's safe to come out now."

"Who were those mechs?" Orion asked walking over to the glowing femme.

The femme sighed looking in the direction her friends went. "Those were the thieves, and criminals you hear about over the grid. I told you to hide so they wouldn't rob you, or worse."

"You join them in these robberies?" Orion asked a little wary of the femme.

"I'm just a scout, I refuse to rob and beat down bots, though I will defend myself if needed. But I do choose the targets, so I am not innocent at all." Xanthia explained to the curious mech.

"Was I going to be your next victim?"

"You did present yourself as an easy target. If you weren't so kind to me, I would have most likely put you as our target." The femme replied honesty. "I hate doing this, I don't enjoy any moment of it."

"Then why don't you stop?" The young mech said.

"Because sadly this is less of a risk than my actual job." Xanthia sighed about to leave.

"You're too kind for this, you don't seem like the others." The mech tried to discourage the femme from continuing crimes.

"What the hell is that?" Before Xanthia could reply a blinding cyan blue light engulfed them both.

Both bots were blinded seeing nothing but the cyan light. Thier frames seized as if they were hit by an EMP, a tingling sensation over came both their frames, before pain ripped through their sparks as if a piece of their sparks was siphoned from their chests, knocking them unconscious.

After a long while Orion regained consciousness, a faint pain lingering in his chest. He groaned weakly pushing himself back up to his peds. Seeing the glowing femme regaining consciousness as well, he helped her up.

"Well that was an odd light..." Orion said, the femme nodding in agreement.

"What even happened?" The femme asked, trying to steady herself as a wave of pain and dizziness came over her.

"I'm not sure, did you want me to wait for a moment you don't seem so well?" The mech offered, noticing the glowing femme seemed to be a little more disoriented than he was.

"Thanks Orion, but you should go home before my friends return." Xanthia chuckled walking away. "It was nice meeting you." The femme said goodbye, secretly hoping to one day meet the mech again.

Orion Pax waved goodbye, gathering his thoughts, he continued on towards home. Wondering what that light was, the light seemed familiar. "Was that the same light that was in Alpha Trion's lab?"

Optimus opened his optics, staring up at the ceiling. "That light..."

Mirage swung his legs over his berth, watching the bedroom door open.

"Come here." Optimus whispered, gesturing for his youngling to come.

Mirage stepped into the hallway confused. "What is it Optimus?"

"Back on Cybertron, you said you had seen a blue orb like light?" Optimus said confusing his youngling further.

"Uuuh, I mean yeah, but is that a question?" Mirage replied.

"Do you recollect what happened when you were in its presence?" Optimus Prime continued to question.

"I don't remember much, it led me to places most of the time, like to Cybertron's core. But it was being corrupted by dark energon by then, but I remember you mentioning the light was a sign of Primus, or whatever." The youngling yawned. "I guess it was a guide of some sort, I could never really understand it. But I mostly saw it just before Soundwave appeared."

Optimus was silent, mulling over the information given. Wondering if that light that attacked him and Xanthia was a manifestation of Primus, and the reason Soundwave came to be. But it was clear to him that Mirage was also sparked by Primus, because that light had infected Xanthia quite heavily. But once Shockwave began infecting Mirage with dark energon, Unicron took over the youngling's creation.

"Thank you Mirage, you can go back to bed now." Optimus turned walking down the hallway.

Mirage was still very confused by what was going on. "It's morning, I'm going to search for Starscream." The youngling shrugged leaving the hallway.

"For Primus sakes Optimus!" Arcee gasped, looking at the door to see the Prime peeking his helm in the room.

"I didn't mean to wake you, just wanted to know how Soundwave's doing?" Optimus apologized, opening the door little wider.

"Judging by the fact he's not up and working, I would say Soundwave's passed the hell out. But doing well." Arcee stretched her arms.

Optimus nodded leaving the room with a look of concern and confusion.

"Odd?" Arcee thought aloud, watching the leader leave.

"What is?" Soundwave yawned, rolling over to look at his sparkmate.

"Oh nothing, how are you feeling?" The femme replied climbing out of the berth.

"Sore, but way better." Soundwave replied sitting up. "Did I over recharged?"

"For you maybe, in everyone else's optics you didn't get enough." Arcee snorted as her mech followed her to the main room.

"Hmm... want to go on a patrol, before I work on the database?" Soundwave asked to his femme's surprise.

"Sure, sounds like a plan." Arcee nodded, following her sparkmate out of the base.

A while of driving, and flying went by, to no surprise, there wasn't any Decepticon activity.

"The Decepticons must be putting all their efforts into deciphering those codes." Arcee said over the comlink.

"Most likely, Optimus probably put the fear into them too, with that new blade." The reaper scoffed. "Mirage isn't too far from our position, should we meet up with him, and see how the hunt is going?"

"Sure, why not." The motorcycle sped up, following the violet reaper.

Mirage looked away from his sniper rifles scope, hearing the familiar engines of the motorcycle and jet.

"Hey Mirage, how's everything going?" The femme asked, transforming.

"Tracking what I can, what are you two up to?" Mirage replied, getting off the ground.

"We were just on patrol, but no activity, thought we'd come see what you're up to, before we returned to base." Soundwave answered as he transformed.

"Stalling so before you go back to working with Optimus?" Mirage scoffed, wiping the dust off of his rifle.

"What, why would I stall having to go to work with Optimus?" The violet mech questioned his little brother.

"You didn't get a dose of weirdo Prime, this morning?" Mirage cocked an optic ridge at his brother.

"Okay, so it wasn't just me who noticed. Optimus was a bit odd this morning." Arcee agreed with the assassin.

"What the hell are you two going on about?!" Soundwave hissed, trying to understand what the two were talking about.

"Optimus was a little weird this morning. He popped his helm in to check on you, which isn't uncommon, but his exit was odd. Optimus just left after I told him you were fine, no words, just a concerned look of confusion." Arcee explained to her sparkmate.

"Yeah, he also asked me a really odd question, just out of the blue, before giving me a distant goodbye." Mirage added to the femme's explanation.

"That doesn't sound like Optimus, but he has been more stressed lately." Soundwave thought aloud, looking over the cliff they were standing on. "What did Optimus ask you?"

"He asked me about the Primus light, or whatever it was that I used to see on Cybertron. I barely remember the stupid thing, I just told him it was kind of like a guide light, but I never really saw it that often." Mirage replied with a shrug, putting away his rifle.

"I remember you mentioning it a long time ago." Arcee said.

"Wait, a really bright cyan blue orb?" Soundwave asked.

The red youngling nodded. "Yeah, that's the one."

"I saw it quite frequently on Cybertron, to the point it was interfering with my Decepticon missions. Shockwave told me I was just hallucinating, and to ignore it, but it sometimes gave helpful advice. I think some of my first memories were being surrounded by that light, I think I even played with it." Soundwave told the two very confused bots.

"That thing lead me around a bit, but most of the time it almost got me killed, like when Megatron crushed my voice box." Mirage scoffed, seeing the light as a nuisance.

"You never told me that." Arcee smacked her mech playfully.

"Well I was told to ignore it, so I didn't mention it." Soundwave shrugged innocently.

"Yeah, well you're also not in Shockwave's boot camp anymore, so you don't play by those rules." The femme retorted making Soundwave roll his optics.

"So did Optimus say why he was asking about it?" The violet mech asked, looking at his brother for a reply.

The red assassin shrugged searching the dirt for tracks. "Nope, just asked me, then walked away looking confused."

"Maybe he will tell me." Soundwave thought aloud, to which the other two laughed at him. "What?"

"Nothing, hey if you want to deal with Optimus and his odd behaviour, you go right ahead, sir." The sarcastic youngling shook his helm.

"Why are you two talking about Optimus like he's a mutant drone, without a spark? He's allowed to have emotions, even if they're odd. Optimus is a Cybertronian, like you and I, and our leader, where's your respect?" Soundwave hissed at the two bots.

"That's not what we're doing Wave. We're just stating that Optimus is acting a bit off." Mirage replied calmly to his upset brother.

"You'd be acting off as well, if you had to lead a small team into most likely the last battle of the war, against an army. Knowing we have to come out of that battle victorious, or cause not only Cybertron, But the entire universe, impending doom." The violet mech growled, transforming, leaving his brother and sparkmate behind.

"Are those Optimus's worries, or Soundwave's?" Mirage thought aloud, looking to the femme.

"All of the above..." Arcee sighed, turning to the assassin. "I better go catch up with him, don't do anything crazy." The femme transformed, driving after the violet reaper.

"Ratchet, you know how we discovered Mirage to be my youngling?" Optimus said to the working medic.

"Hmhmm." Ratchet nodded, not looking up from the data pad he was working on.

"Is there a way you can do that for me and Soundwave?"

Ratchet sighed, finally looked up from his data pad. "You're still convinced he's another one of your offspring, you know Bumblebee and I were just teasing you that day?"

Optimus nodded, making the ancient medic roll his optics at him. "I want to know."

"Even though I believe your crazy theory to be insanely inaccurate, yes I can run a test for you, if you'd like. But I really think it's impossible Soundwave could be another one of your younglings." The CMO groaned, attaching a special device to the Prime's chest plate, to siphon the purest form of the mech's CNA and energon.

"You may think it's not possible, but I do have a theory, old friend." Optimus replied after the device was removed.

"I'll think it's ludicrous, but sure Optimus. Now I just need the youngling's sample." Ratchet said as the violet young mech entered the base.

Soundwave halted in the middle of the main room, feeling all optics on him. "Yes?" He warily scanned the two mechs. Optimus looked quite quizzical and distant, Soundwave began thinking maybe Mirage and Arcee were right, something was odd.

"Can I borrow you kid? I need some of your fluids to run a test." Ratchet gestured for Soundwave to approach them.

"Ummm, I guess?" Soundwave slowly approached the two. "You're not going to cut me open right?"

"No, just stand still." Ratchet said, about to place the siphoning device on the young mech's chest plate.

"Whoa, what the hell is that?!" Soundwave yelped, jumping away from the device.

"It's just something that draws a bit of your energon, so I can run it through tests." Ratchet explained, waiting for the young mech to relax.

"Why are you putting it over my spark?" Soundwave continued to step away.

"Because that's were I can get the purest energon. Are you going to stand still, or not?" The medic impatiently growled.

"Fine, quickly though." Soundwave reluctantly nodded, ejecting Lazerbeak from his chest, so the medic could draw his energon, not the surveillance drone's.

"What's going on?" Arcee asked curiously, approaching the three mechs.

"Just running some tests." Ratchet simply replied, removing the device from Soundwave.

Arcee nodded in acknowledgement. "So, are the twidiots helping Hide today, or is it Jazz and I again?"

"The twins left with Bumblebee, and Ironhide. Jazz is on patrol. You can organize the energon storage if you want to make yourself useful." The medic replied, putting the two containers of the drawn energon on the counter.

"I suppose so, I mean I could assist Mirage with finding Starscream, instead." The femme shrugged.

"You could, but don't be hurt when Mirage gets irritated with you, when he's in hunting mode." Soundwave warned his sparkmate.

"I put up with all of you, I think I can handle a little irritation from our fiery youngling." Arcee sarcastically scoffed, leaving the base once more.

Soundwave rolled his optics, walking over to one of the monitors. "Did you get any further with the codes Optimus?" He asked as he logged into the monitor.

"No, I couldn't, it's proving to be increasingly difficult." The Prime replied from the med bay.

"You know, you don't have to hover. I'll let you know when the results are in." Ratchet hissed at the anxious Prime. "It'll take some time for the test to cycle through Soundwave's CNA and energon sample."

Optimus nodded, going back over to the monitor he was working on. "I'll start on the next set of coordinates, while you work on the first one. If you're really struggling, I will help you on it." He said to his apprentice.

"Understood sir." Soundwave nodded in understanding, his sensors suddenly picked up on a large aircraft signal.

"The Harbinger?" Soundwave said displaying the crashed ship on his visor. "Mirage, I think I've pinpointed Starscream's position. Sending you a bridge."

"Hold on I'm coming with you." Arcee called from behind the assassin.

"Oh come'on, I don't need backup!" Mirage groaned walking through the bridge with the femme.

"Deal with it, brat." Arcee said pointing the youngling towards the crashed ship.

Mirage quietly entered the crashed ship, his sensors on high alert to detect any Decepticon signal. There wasn't much to the ship, but he could tell it was definitely being used as a base. "Screamer's not here Wave."

"Are you sure?" Soundwave asked over the comlink.

"Positive, he's not that good at hiding. But this has definitely been his base of operations." Mirage replied as Arcee approached.

"All clear on the other end." The femme mentioned, scanning around the place with her optics.

"The facility was just used, Starscream can't be far." Soundwave told the two.

"Probably his last jump while he can." Mirage scoffed, seeing the depleted energon supply. "This place doesn't have enough energon to remain useful."

"He's probably been scrounging around for scraps of energon, just to run himself and this hunk of junk." The red youngling thought aloud.

"Maybe not entirely." Arcee pointed to an empty energon processor with red energon residue.

"Shit, Starscream's out there somewhere. And equipped with red energon." Mirage reported to his brother.

"I thought he made off with a piece, but couldn't tell. That's not good for us, especially if he's planning on worming his way back into the Decepticons." The violet mech sighed.

"Well, the least we can do is destroy his safety." Mirage said, planting some explosives throughout the ship.

"Your blowing up the Harbinger aren't you?" The violet mech rolled his optics.

"Won't that just attract attention?" Arcee raised an optic ridge at the assassin.

"Good, if that coward wants to inspect his destroyed base, it'll just give us a reason to put a stop to him." Mirage escorted Arcee away from the ship.

"Wait, Mirage..." Soundwave groaned after hearing the detonator beep, followed by explosions.

"What's wrong Wave?" Mirage laughed proud of the explosion.

"I was going to get you to send me the last coordinates of the ship's ground bridge, so we could track Starscream." Soundwave's tone dripped with irritation.

"Oh... oops..." Mirage sheepishly smiled at the equally annoyed femme.

"Remember when I said don't do anything crazy?" Arcee scoffed. "Come'on let's see if we can pick up an energon trail." The femme transformed.

"We'll find him, you just worry about the database." Mirage transformed, ending the call with his brother.

"Dumbass..." Soundwave muttered under his breath. Turning his helm after hearing a very quiet chuckle come from next to him. "Found that amusing did you?"

"I suppose your colourful way of describing your brother in that moment, was quite humorous." Optimus admitted to the violet young mech.

"Well I'm glad you can laugh sir. You've seemed a bit overwhelmed, and confused today." Soundwave casually said to his mentor.

"I know I have been saying this repeatedly for the last few days. But today I have a lot on my mind..." Optimus replied with a sigh.

"Especially after the message Alpha Trion gave you. I heard most of his message, my mind reading got out of control while you received it, so I overheard. I didn't really understand the end of his message though, did you?" The violet youngling said to the surprised Prime.

"I didn't know you heard the message." Optimus glanced over at the busy CMO. "I am still searching for answers to the last part of Alpha Trion's message."

"I think Mirage is going to be quite busy when we recover all the keys. Or Bumblebee, by the sounds of what Alpha Trion said." The violet mech thought aloud, nearly completing the set of coordinates.

Optimus didn't reply to that comment, as he didn't feel his apprentice was correct, but he didn't have the proof to backup his theories. Maybe Soundwave was correct, could Alpha Trion be speaking about Mirage?

"You don't think so?" Soundwave asked, looking at his mentor, who was in deep thought.

"I'm uncertain." Optimus responded. "I am not convinced Alpha Trion was speaking of them."

The violet young mech was curious. "How come?"

"You've completed the next set of coordinates." Optimus pointed out, avoiding the subject.

"I have..." Soundwave was surprised, he must've done them unconsciously while talking to his mentor. "I'll go retrieve it with Mirage. You stay and continue on the next set of coordinates." The violet mech suggested.

"Very well." Optimus sighed as the young mech left through a ground bridge. Looking over at the med bay he could see Ratchet welding something. "What are you working on?"

"I'm making a holster to attach to your back, so you have somewhere to put your sword when it's not in use." Ratchet replied, waiting for the Prime to ask about the tests he made him run.

"Thank you old friend." The Prime thanked the thoughtful medic. "Did..."

"Did I get the results on whether Soundwave is another one of your younglings? No, no I haven't." The CMO stopped his welding. "To be honest Optimus, it may take a few days, Soundwave's sample is a little more complex then yours, and mine."

Optimus sighed nodding his helm in understanding. "Hopefully the results come quicker than expected." The Prime had to admit he was impatient.

Mirage groaned as a ground bridge opened next to him and Arcee. "Primus, do you two have any concept of stealth?" The red youngling hissed at his brother.

"Hey, I was the pinnacle of stealth back on Cybertron, so don't even go there, I just watched you blow up a whole ship!" Arcee hissed right back at the assassin.

"Mirage, join me in retrieving the first key." Soundwave said to the grumpy youngling.

"I'm in the middle of something." Mirage scoffed.

"You destroyed Starscream's advantage point. I don't think hunting him is necessary anymore." Soundwave told his brother.

"Ugh, fine..." Mirage sighed rolling his optics.

"You two have fun. I'll catch up with you later." Arcee gave Soundwave a smile as the two left through a ground bridge.

"I'm surprised Optimus didn't want to go with you." Mirage said as they stepped into the sandy desert. "Test his new sword out on any Decepticons that dare to challenge us."

"He stayed behind to decipher the next set of coordinates. I don't think the Decepticons have deciphered the code yet, hopefully." Soundwave replied, tracking the relic coordinates into one of the ruined buildings near the pyramids.

[We can hope, but as soon as we grab the relic, it sends out a locater beacon.] Mirage thought, following the mech into the pyramid.

"I know, that's why we have to be quick." Soundwave said to the youngling's surprise.

"Uh, I see you have your mind reading activated." Mirage retorted.

"What, no I don't..." Soundwave quickly realized he had left Lazerbeak back at base. "I left Lazerbeak at base, I'll hear some of your thoughts, not all of them." He sighed.

"I thought your torso looked empty." The assassin thought aloud, as they came across a wall the relic hid behind. "You rely on Lazerbeak to filter out thoughts that aren't yours, is that how that works?" He thought, helping his brother move the painted wall.

"Not entirely, but he does help. It's not the end of the world though." Soundwave shrugged, taking the key.

"Interesting, well that was easy enough." Mirage said leading the way out of the building. "Now just to recover the last few, then we're that much closer to home..." The assassin's words faded as they exited the temple, to see the gunmetal grey warlord standing a small distance away.

"The relic, hand it over, now!" Megatron demanded.

"Not going to happen Megatron." Mirage hissed back at warlord.

"He's outnumbered we can make an escape if we plan it..." Soundwave stopped communicating his plan to his brother, when Megtron pulled out a massive, wicked blade, made up of dark energon.

"Soundwave, ground bridge, now!" Mirage yelled at his brother.

Soundwave didn't have time to react as Megatron used the sword to throw a burst of dark energy.

Soundwave and Mirage dodged the first burst, but were knocked back by a second wave. Causing Soundwave to drop the key.

Mirage jumped to his peds, charging at the warlord, while firing his guns.

A few seconds later Soundwave stood up firing his weapons at the Decepticon leader.

Megatron wound up his arms, swinging his blade to release a deadly wave of dark energon at the charging youngling.

Soundwave watched the burst hit his brother into the pyramid. "Mirage!" Soundwave screamed as he saw his brother turn to dust.

"What manner of treasures did the Iacon send us this time?" Megatron's condescending tone dripped with venom, as he promptly took the key that lay in front of Soundwave.

The violet mech was in too much shock, his brother just burst into nothing. He wasn't picking up Mirage's life signature.

"Soundwave, check in, we can't find Mirage's life signature." Ratchet's voice came over the comlink. A burning pain under Soundwave's chin redirected his attention to the warlord.

"Soundwave respond, what's going on?" Optimus's voice played over Soundwave's speakers.

"I would slice you in two, right now." Megatron lifted Soundwave's helm with the tip of his blade. "But I need you to deliver a message." He released the sword from the young mech, knowing Optimus could hear him. "If your mentor, if he wants this relic."

"Megatron..." Optimus growled, listening to his brother speak to his apprentice.

"He must come and claim it himself!" The large mech tossed the key at Soundwave's peds, daring the young mech to grab it.

Soundwave didn't dare move, sending the video footage of what happened, back to base.

"Let's go kick Mega Tons ass!" The twins hissed ready for battle.

"No." Optimus turned to his Autobots.

"What, Optimus they're in trouble." Arcee gasped.

"I fear we may have lost Mirage to Megatron. I will not endanger any more lives. Judging by what Soundwave sent us, Megatron now possesses a weapon to match the strength of the Star Saber." Optimus said, grabbing his blade. "Which means only I would stand a chance against him, in order to retrieve the Omega Key."

"The fate of Cybertron depends on it." Ratchet sighed.

"Whether Megatron knows it, or not." Ironhide added, ducking as Lazerbeak flew around in a panic.

"Come'on youngling, you're not even going to attempt to reclaim the relic?" Megatron taunted the defeated glowing mech.

Soundwave didn't respond, frozen in shock.

"Pathetic." Megatron sneered, walking over to the pyramid where Mirage was extinguished.

"Ah! Since when does Soundwave leave his birdbrain behind?!" The twins ducked as the drone almost hit them.

"At least take Lazerbeak with you Optimus, it will at least give Soundwave some comfort, if Mirage is truly gone." Arcee sadly told her leader.

Optimus nodded in agreement, holstering his sword on the new attachment on his back. "Ratchet fire the ground bridge."

Lazerbeak wasted no time reattaching himself to Soundwave's torso, as soon as he lay optics on his petrified master.

Optimus only walked a few steps in the sand before reaching where Soundwave stood frozen, next to the Omega Key.

"Claim your prize Optimus. If you can." Megatron challenged, making his way back towards the Prime.

The first thing Optimus noticed, was his brother's new appendage, that belonged to a deceased Prime, from long ago. "By the Allspark, Megatron. What have you done?!" The Prime asked, disgusted by the sight.

"This." Megatron lifted the arm of a Prime. "I find it affords me certain advantages, such as the use of the Forge Of Solus Prime." Megatron grinned evilly grabbing his new blade. "My first creation, fashioned from the blood of Unicron."

"Soundwave you need to leave, now!" Optimus ordered his apprentice.

"I call it the Dark Star Saber. Slayer of Primes, if you will." The warlord charged in Optimus's direction.

Optimus activated his protective mask, grabbing his sword, he returned the challenge, charging at his brother.

Megatron swung his sword sending a wave of deadly energy at the Prime. Optimus leapt over the wave with ease, continuing his charge.

Soundwave quickly did the same as he had no time to get out of the way. He had to dodge left and right, up, and down, as multiple waves of deadly energy were thrown across the land. There was so much raw energy in the area, it began to disorient the violet mech.

"At last we take our rightful places Optimus. As gods, wielding the power of the cosmos!" Megatron said as Optimus had his blade pushed against the dark star saber. Megatron yanked his sword away from the Star Saber, causing Optimus to lose balance, Megatron grabbed his brother by the neck, slamming him into a broken stone pillar.

"I am but a soldier Megatron. And you are a prisoner of your own twisted delusions!" Optimus struck the warlord off of him with the Star Saber.

Megatron fell onto his back, enraged his threw another devastating wave of energy tossing the Prime back.

Optimus used his sword to deflect the rest of the blast, before engaging in another deadly battle. Only to get slashed across the arm with the poisonus sword. Optimus hissed in pain as he fell to his knees.

"My dark Star Saber has tasted one spark tonight. It still thirsts for that of a Prime!" Megatron said trying to go for the kill, but his brother deflected for a moment, before being batted onto the ground.

"Psst... Soundwave!" A familiar accent caught the shocked young mech's attention.

Soundwave turned his helm to see Mirage stepping out from the pyramid.

"Mirage, I thought you were dead!" Soundwave cried out rushing to his brother's side.

"No, just knocked out cold." Mirage replied. "That sword has a hell of a kick, I don't recommend getting hit by it." He looked at the ground picking up the Omega Key. "I see Megatron forgot something."

"We've got to help Optimus, he's losing this battle." Soundwave gestured to the battle.

Optimus got to his peds quickly, as they both wound up their arms for a devastating blow.

As both swords hit, the Dark Star Saber demolishing Optimus's Star Saber, shattering it into tiny pieces.

Optimus fell to his knees as his sword dissolved into the sand.

"Holy shit." Mirage gasped.

"I got an idea Mirage, come'on." Soundwave gestured for his brother to follow.

"And so it ends, just as I envisioned, with your head beside my new trophy." Megatron lifted his sword for the final blow.

"Oh, you mean this?" Mirage taunted waving the Omega Key. "Finders, keepers."

"You!" Megatron didn't have time to go after Mirage, as Optimus jumped him, slashing him across the chest with what was left of the Star Saber.

Soundwave charged from the side firing at the warlord.

"Soundwave, fallback!" Optimus ordered as Megatron quickly swung his sword, releasing a charged wave at the violet mech.

Soundwave leapt away from the deadly energy, watching as Optimus tackled Megatron to the ground.

Megatron punched Optimus off of him, throwing another energy wave at the Prime.

Mirage quickly jumped into Optimus, with the phase shifter activated, causing the energy wave to pass right through them.

"Soundwave, ground bridge!" Optimus yelled to his apprentice.

Soundwave did as he was ordered creating a bridge behind the two.

"No!" Megatron screamed charging after the Autobots, throwing an energy blast at the two fleeing Autobots.

Seeing the devastating blast hot on his team's heels, Soundwave knew he was too far away from the bridge to escape before the blast could get in. As soon as Optimus and Mirage set foot in the bridge, Soundwave closed the portal, the deadly wave missing its chance to devastate the Autobot base.

Megatron cackled evilly as the cloud of dust slowly settled around him. "Run Optimus, run. Those trinkets from Iacon will not save you. Not when I now possess the power to tear this world apart!"

Soundwave watched in terror as lightening struck the very dark, powerful, sword. He silently tried to find a good position to create another bridge without the warlord noticing. But jumped when a dark energon lightning bolt struck next to him.

Megatron grinned with an evil laugh, after the violet mech exposed himself from behind a broken pillar. "So one remains, the so called Child Of Primus. You're certainly not of my blood, and metal are you youngling?" The warlord stepped towards the violet mech.

"You seem unsure of that answer yourself, you tell me..." Soundwave tried to calculate a plan of escape in his processor, without getting murdered by the Dark Star Saber.

Megatron's taunting face, soon turned to malice upon that comment. "What do the relics do, what powers do they possess?!" The tyrant demanded, bearing his sword.

"Again, your guess is as good as mine." Soundwave lied, getting ready to execute his plan of attack. "Why don't we talk like civilized mechs for a moment, and discuss the future. And maybe, I will give you my take on what these relics do."

"Bartering with a Decepticon, how very intriguing." Megatron chuckled darkly, holstering his sword. "Go on then, enlighten me with your talk of what the future holds." The warlord jeered at the Prime apprentice.

"I don't understand Megatron." Soundwave began.

"There's much you don't understand, you're an incompetent youngling, taking lessons from Optimus Prime, wasting my time with talk." Megatron humoured the young mech by replying.

"What exactly possesses you to continue fighting an endless war of tyranny. Aren't you going against what you originally were fighting for?" Soundwave continued, shutting the warlord up.

"You were fighting for equality, trying to prove that the higher caste was no different than the lower ones struggling to survive. But somewhere along the way, you lost that part of you, and got caught up in a quest for power, killing not only your own caste members, but any bot that stood in your way. Do you really think you can rule an entire world, under the ways of your tyranny, the methods of which destroyed our home planet? How many planets, and galaxies do we have to lose to this destruction, before you realize what your doing isn't working. You'll have nothing to rule over but dead metal, do you really think your followers enjoy your leadership? Or do they just live in fear of you, and stay because that's all they know?" The violet mech said what had been on his mind for months now.

Megatron kept silent, his optics narrowed as a very faint cyan blue aura outlined the youngling's violent frame.

"Aren't you exhausted from eons of fighting this losing battle? No one is wining, not Decepticon, nor Autobot. We're a dying breed, it's up to you to be the bigger bot, and end this tireless battle, so we may once again thrive." Soundwave sighed, finishing his speech, as he did not want to express any further, incase the warlord did not care for his advice.

Taking a few moments to mull over the youngling's words. "I listened to your preaching, now it's time for your end of the bargain." Megatron spoke emotionlessly.

Soundwave's spark sank, wondering if his words went to waste. But something in him told him to remain optimistic. "I already gave you the answers you were seeking, the hint was in what I said to you, I suggest you review it." The violet mech began to create a decoy bridge, knowing his words would piss off the Decepticon.

Megatron did not respond with words, grabbing his sword, he charged the young mech.

Ratchet quickly began repairing the Prime's injuries.

"Mirage?!" Ironhide gasped.

"And the Omega Key." Mirage gestured to the relic.

"But how?" Jazz asked in disbelief.

"That blast hit me so hard, it activated the Phase shifter. I was knocked out for a bit, when I came to, Optimus and Megatron were battling. While Soundwave guarded the key." Mirage explained to the confused team.

"Where's Soundwave?!" Arcee looked to see no violet mech behind them.

As if on cue Soundwave flew out of a bridge, his frame skipping across in the center of the room. "I'm here..." he quickly shut the portal.

"What the hell, are you okay?" Ironhide gruffly asked, helping the young mech up.

"I'm good, just escaped Megatron's fury, by using a tactic I'm not great at." Soundwave exhaled, looking at Mirage.

"You did that teleporting move I told you to practice." Mirage folded his arms.

"Yeah, well I've been busy." Soundwave retorted.

"You're all back safe. The balance of power shifting once again..." Arcee sighed, looking at the broken Star Saber.

"Yes, but we cannot allow Megatron's new power to scare us." Ratchet said to the team.

"But what are we going to do against a dark Star Saber, if it's able to break the Star Saber like glass?" Bumblebee said to the medic.

"Optimus does not need the Star Saber to be strong, Bumblebee. Don't worry, we will figure it all out." Ratchet reassured the scout.

Arcee softened her optics sympathetically, seeing the defeated depressed gaze wash over her mech. "What's wrong Soundwave?"

Soundwave closed his optics for a moment, before responding. "Nothing, I just..." he looked up, seeing Optimus working busily on the database. "I should get back to the database..." he sighed, joining his mentor.

Arcee blinked knowing something was bothering her sparkmate. She could only imagine what was going through his helm, given the fact he almost lost his brother.

Later that night Ratchet grew tired of the Prime glancing over at him every few minutes. "I'm recharging, you two don't stay up too late." The medic grumbled going to bed like everyone else already had, except for the femme.

"So are you going to tell us what really happened to you during your few brief moments with Megatron?" Arcee raised an optic ridge at her sparkmate.

"I gave him my opinion..." The violet young mech quietly mentioned.

"I take it he didn't take your opinion well?" Arcee snorted, while Optimus tuned into their conversation.

"Even though Megatron got frustrated with me in the end. He did listen to my words without interrupting me, I just hope my words communicate to his processor, and makes him rethink this whole war." Soundwave sighed trying to focus on the codes in front of him.

"You told Megatron to end this war?" Optimus asked curiously.

"In a way, yes. I asked him to consider it, I didn't demand him to, because that would honestly just make Megatron even more headstrong." The violet youngling replied to his mentor's query.

"What did you say to Megatron?" The Prime was still overly curious.

"Probably nothing you haven't already said to him." Soundwave replied, not in the mood to go into detail.

"Oh come'on Soundwave, that was a Sideswipe answer, give us a little detail." Arcee told her now annoyed mech.

Soundwave rolled his optics with a groan. He was embarrassed to say what he had told Megatron, thinking that the others would call him stupid, for even trying to reason with the unshakable tyrant. "In short, all I asked was for him to end this war, because he's just beating a dead corpse. This war of his has caused nothing but agony and loss, he needs to buck up, and face the fact that this war hasn't benefited either faction. It has killed our home world, our race is dying, no one has won the war, everyone is just fighting a losing battle. Megatron will have nothing, but a dead wasteland of lifeless bodies to rule over, if he doesn't call off this war."

Optimus sighed deeply, turning away from the monitor he worked on. "I've mentioned that Megatron was fighting for the reasons he so long ago called cruel, and disgusting. But he could not see past his anger, and continued on his path of delusions..."

"I know, it was stupid of me to even try to get him to end this war, knowing you've already tried numerous times." Soundwave felt ridiculous for even mentioning the fact he tried what Optimus had tried numerous times.

"Soundwave, don't be so hard on yourself." Arcee said, placing a servo on her mech's back.

"Youngling, just because I have given up on something I've tried for eons, does not mean that it was unwise for you to try. What doesn't work for one, may work for another." Optimus reassured his young apprentice. "I was only warning you of Megatron's stubbornness to conquer until nothing is left, so you would not be surprised when he denied your imploring."

"Well, I wasn't surprised, and I'm not giving up, Megatron has a spark just like you and I, I've seen glimpses of it. I will pull it back to were it belongs, I haven't put all my cards on the table just yet." The violet mech told the two.

"Perhaps your strong determination will overrule Megatron's, and result in what you're fighting for." The femme smiled.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Megatron just needs to remember that's what he said to me so long ago, when I was having doubts about our campaign against the Caste system." Optimus thought aloud.

"You had doubts about abolishing the Caste system?" Soundwave curiously asked the Prime.

"Yes, after the first terrorist attack, I had begun to think that maybe it was best to keep the lower caste, who were mainly made up of criminals, where they were, struggling to survive, with little power to retaliate against those who were high in the caste." The red and blue mech shamefully answered. "Such horrible thoughts to have, I wish I could've wiped them from my memory banks."

"Looking at that, yes they were terrible thoughts, but you were frightened Optimus, any sane bot probably would've had the same thoughts." The glowing young mech reassured his leader.

"We should give the database a rest, for tonight. I am not convinced Megatron knows of the power the Omega Keys hold. As You've mentioned, Soundwave, Shockwave has little concern for decoding databases, while he conjures up new ways for Megatron to defeat us." The Prime said, shutting off the monitors, so the violet mech wouldn't have a choice.

"Oh, uh sure." Soundwave shrugged following his equally confused femme, towards the hallway.

"Hey Ratchet forgot to shut something off." Arcee pointed to the whirring machine with the two energon samples.

"No, Ratchet's running it overnight." Optimus mentioned hurrying the couple towards the hallway, before Soundwave had time to get suspicious.

Soundwave was confused and suspicious, scanning both his energon sample, and Optimus's, but he didn't let it go to his head.

After settling in their respective berths, the couple, and Prime attempted to get rest.

Arcee opened her optics after hearing the bedroom door open, tiredly rolling over, surprised her mech was still in the berth. "Ugh, you're relentless, you know that?" The femme scoffed, sitting up in the berth to see Soundwave sitting up as well, with his visor displaying the database, his tentacles leading out into the main room, where they were attached to the monitors.

"Well it has to get done, Optimus is already so overwhelmed, and stressed. If I can ease a bit of that for him, I will." Soundwave replied to his sparkmate.

"You can't do this in the main room?" Arcee rolled her optics.

"No, because if Optimus knows I'm awake, working on the database, he won't rest, or he'll tell me to recharge." The glowing mech explained to the tired femme.

"I can tell you to recharge, if that's any better for you?" Arcee scoffed sarcastically, rolling back over in annoyance.

"Not needed, I'm literally almost done cracking this code." The violet mech simply replied.

"Seriously, already?" Arcee lifted her helm.

"I was working on it all day. It's really not that big of a surprise." Soundwave shrugged, reeling his tentacles back to him, as he climbed out of the berth.

"Where are you going?" The femme grumbled, sitting up in the berth.

"To retrieve the next key, want to join me?" Soundwave asked, opening a bridge portal in their bedroom.

"Are you going to let Optimus know?" Arcee sighed following her mech through the bridge.

"Sent him a message, didn't want to wake him if he's recharging." The violet mech replied, taking note they were in some sort of abandoned man made quarry, near a lake.

Arcee quickly sighted the Cybertronian capsule that held the key. "Over there." the femme pointed to a large boulder in the middle of the rock quarry.

"Oh look at that, how lucky I am to see the odd couple. What is this supposed to be a romantic outing?" Knockout scoffed walking out from behind the boulder.

"I'll handle the mad doctor, you get the key." Arcee suggested to her mech.

"You're more agile, you get the key, I'll distract Knockout." Soundwave replied, walking towards the cocky medic.

Knockout opened fire on the approaching young mech.

Soundwave deflected each bullet with sound waves, firing the bullets back at the doctor.

Arcee went off the path Soundwave was taking, making a run for the relic.

Out of the corner of his optic, Knockout caught Arcee making a break for the relic. "I could really use your help about now, where the hell are you!?"

Arcee was mere strides away from the relic, speeding up her pace, only to be suddenly shot down.

Soundwave turned hearing the shot, followed by his sparkmate's yelp of pain. Surprised to see his former trainer making his way towards the femme.

"Oh, did I not mention that I brought company?" Knockout gave a sinister chuckle, firing his weapons at the distracted violet mech.

Arcee stumbled a few steps, recollecting her balance, as Shockwave approached.

Soundwave knew he wouldn't get to his sparkmate in time, jumping away from the line of fire, from a small distance away, he positioned himself directly in Shockwave's direction.

"Don't think you can get away so easily!" Knockout growled aiming his guns back at the violet mech.

As soon as the medic fired his guns, Soundwave ducked, causing the stray bullets to hit Shockwave, giving Arcee time to escape the scientist.

"Knockout, you imbecile!" Shockwave hissed trying to block the gunfire.

"Soundwave, the relic!" Arcee pointed at the key.

Soundwave quickly created a two way node, warping himself next to the boulder that held the key.

"Don't yell at me, you deal with your mutant then! While I deal with the two wheeler." Knockout hissed while Shockwave stormed past him.

Arcee dodged Knockout's weapon fire, turning around to face the doctor of doom. She began to attack Knockout with hand to hand combat, knowing the medic wasn't much use when it came to physical fights. Retracting her wrist blades, she swung them at the medic's chest plate, scratching the mech's paint.

"Watch the paint!" Knockout was quick to bring out his energon prod, letting the femme know he was still lethal enough to retaliate. "If you think I'm going to let you ruin my paint job like last time, you got another thing coming!"

Shockwave transformed himself into his tank mode, firing his canon at the violet mech.

Soundwave was struck hard by the canon blast, being flung a across the quarry.

"Soundwave!" Arcee yelled seeing her mech get thrown across the quarry.

Knockout took the femme's diverted attention as an opportunity to strike, electrocuting the cobalt blue femme with his staff, essentially acting as a low level EMP.

Soundwave jumped to his peds, rushing the purple tank.

Shockwave continued to fire erratically as the violet mech closed in on him.

Dodging the blasts, as soon as he was close enough, Soundwave leapt up in the air, landing on the tank's canon as it fired. Causing Shockwave to shoot the ground, getting blown back, flipping through the air, he transformed, tumbling across the dusty ground.

Soundwave jolted as an electrical rush went through his frame, as Knockout attempted to do what he had done to Arcee, but on the young mech. The shock only slowed Soundwave an insignificant amount, the violet young mech spun around, grabbing the medic by the throat.

"Guess you're immune to that now, hmm." Knockout nervously chuckled, trying to loosen the violet mech's grip.

Soundwave didn't have time to reply as he was blasted in the back, causing him to fall to the ground, dropping Knockout, as he briefly began to lose control of his functions. He had so many warnings flashing through his helm he fought to cancel his retaliation functions that were trying to engage. He knew he could easily overtake the two Decepticons, but not without possibly hurting his nearby sparkmate.

"Enough of this pathetic battle, I'm bridging us out of here. Retrieve the relic, we're leaving." Shockwave growled using a remote to open a ground bridge.

"No arguments, I was ready to leave when the Autobots scratched my finish." The red medic, quickly followed the mad scientist through the bridge.

"Arcee..." Soundwave called, pushing himself off the ground, as his femme regained consciousness.

Arcee leapt to her peds, rushing over to her mech. "What happened to the key?"

"Shockwave and Knockout got the better of me, and took the key." Soundwave lied, he didn't want to make it sound like Arcee was the reason they lost the key, because she wasn't. He didn't want to risk putting his sparkmate in harms way.

"I wasn't expecting to see Shockwave on the battlefield." Arcee sighed looking at the empty container that used to hold the key.

"Let's get back before Optimus realizes we're not at base." Soundwave sighed gesturing for his femme to follow him through the bridge he created.

"You have decoded the next set of coordinates, I assume you ventured out to retrieve it?" Optimus greeted the entering couple.

"We were unsuccessful, the Cons were waiting for us. Seems they've upped their decoding skills." Arcee scoffed to the Prime.

"Indeed, I fear I have underestimated Shockwave's deciphering skills." Soundwave admitted, making a mental note to bring his brother along with him for the next key retrieval. "With two keys separated, we have no meaning of restoring Cybertron."

"We are at a stalemate, but it is prudent that we put our efforts into collecting the two remaining keys. As it is only a matter of time before Megatron figures out what the Omega Keys do." Optimus told the young couple.

Soundwave nodded in acknowledgment joining his mentor on the monitors.

"I'm going to guess that you two aren't going to be getting any rest tonight?" Arcee yawned, watching the two work quickly on the database.

"No, we must not waver, this is something that is much more important than recharging. Plus I can handle the lack of rest." The violet mech honestly replied.

"Fine, just remember, you two have a whole team here to support and aid you when needed." The femme told her mech, before retreating to her quarters.

Hours went on by, the Prime, and apprentice working diligently to decipher the last two coordinates. Soundwave looked at his internal clock, noting it was 5:00am in Earth hours. "Optimus, it might be quicker if we work on the same set."

Optimus sighed, frustrated with the fact he wasn't making much progress with the last set of coordinates. "Agreed, we'll come back to the last one, after we decipher the one you are working on."

Soundwave nodded sending the codes over to the Prime's monitor.

"I'm impressed Soundwave, you've nearly finished decoding this set of coordinates." Optimus said as a beeping sound came from the med bay.

"Yes, but it's still tricky..." Soundwave said turning in the direction of the beeping. "What the hell is beeping?"

Optimus could see it was the machine that Ratchet had put his and Soundwave's CNA samples in. "It must be one of Ratchet's medical devices running through maintenance." He lied, walking over to the beeping device.

Soundwave could feel a sense of anticipation, and excitement in his spark, for some reason.

The Prime's excitement to see the results was dampened after seeing the machine read Obtaining finale results 10%

"Let's finish deciphering." Optimus said.

Soundwave nodded as Optimus returned to his monitor. It didn't take long for them to get to the last word of the coordinates.

"How come I get yelled at, if I stay up to work on projects, while you get to work out here without out Arcee dragging you back to bed?" Mirage scoffed, entering the main room.

"Because you're a growing little sparkling that needs his rest." Soundwave sarcastically replied without looking at his little brother.

"Oh ha ha, very funny, says the one with the spark of a sparkling." The assassin retorted right back.

"I do not. I have a fully formed bond, I no longer have a vulnerable spark." The violet mech rolled his optics.

"Whatever, so have you figured out the next three coordinates yet?" The red youngling asked.

"Arcee and I attempted to retrieve the next key, but were bested by the Decepticons. Optimus and I just finished the next coordinates." Soundwave told his young brother.

"Mirage, Soundwave, why don't you two retrieve the next key, while I continue to decipher the last code." Optimus suggested to the brothers.

"Yes sir." Both mutant brothers replied, leaving through a ground bridge Soundwave created.

"Keep your sensors on high alert, the cons may already be on the trail." Soundwave told his brother while they stepped through the quiet Autumn forest.

"Shh!" Mirage shushed his brother, halting Soundwave's movement. Both of them tuning into their sensitive hearing, hearing muffled beeping and rustling. "What the hell is that sound?"

"Likely the last sound you will hear!" Dreadwing's voice boomed from a ledge just above the Autobots.

"Dreadwing." Soundwave growled, as the seeker commander activated his handheld device, before transforming, escaping the forest momentarily.

Both Mirage and Soundwave quickly clued into the numerous bombs planted amongst the trees. "We need to get out of here!" Mirage yelled as the bombs went off in a chain reaction.

Soundwave knew there wasn't enough time to escape, channelling all his energy, creating a protective bubble shield around him and his little brother. "After the explosions, head to the relic." Soundwave turned to his brother.

Dreadwing transformed after the explosions settled, satisfied that he had blown up the mutant brothers.

Mirage activated his cloak, taking off in the direction of the relic, as soon as the shield dropped.

The seeker commander's smirk soon turned to a scowl, seeing a the familiar violet glow of Soundwave's frame through the thick smoke. "You don't go down so easily anymore." The mech aimed his cannon.

"I still fall, but not as hard as you will." Soundwave retorted. "Come fight me like a mech."

"As you wish, youngling." Dreadwing scoffed charging towards the young mech.

Mirage quickly made his way through the forest, tracking the Iacon locator beacon. Transforming, locking sights on a small rock face. Walking up to the rock face, something didn't feel right to him. Mirage's sensors gave off an alert, but he could not tell if it was a false alarm as it went away as soon as it came, wondering if Soundwave's battle with Dreadwing was interfering with his sensors. He quickly began pulling away the rock that buried the relic container, retrieving the key as a quick alert went off again, warning him of an approaching hostile, this time taking the warning seriously.

Starscream yelped in pain after running directly into the rock face, the youngling leapt away from.

"Starscream!" Mirage hissed with the key in his servo.

"How's that possible!" Starscream hissed turning to face the youngling.

"I have the red stuff in my veins, my supply in unlimited. I know you stole red energon from our last encounter." The assassin retorted, barely able to understand Starscream's voice, as it was being used at a hyper speed.

"Observant, hand that over, now!" Starscream demanded the youngling hand him the relic.

"You're not taking this key!" Mirage refused to hand over the Omega Key.

"Hmm... Pity your red energon is diluted by all the other toxins Shockwave injected into your frame." Starscream smirked, charging the youngling head on at hyper speeds, before Mirage could react, Starscream ripped the key out the youngling's servo, kicking out his legs and slamming Mirage into the ground before taking off.

"Dammit!" Mirage hissed, jumping to his peds, frantically scanning to see Starscream no where in sight. He knew at those hyper speeds, the rogue seeker was long gone. An explosion in the distance diverting his attention, reminding him of the other present Decepticon.

Dreadwing wrestled with the quick young mech, quickly slipping a bomb on the violet youngling's back.

Soundwave wasn't stupid, he felt the bomb that was planted on him, grabbing the large mech's chest plate yanking Dreadwing to the ground, Soundwave used his one of his tentacles to pull the bomb off himself planting it on the seeker's own back.

Dreadwing yelped in agony as the tentacle tossed him a good distance directly into trees. He growled, furiously throwing one of the broken trees at the violet young mech.

Soundwave dodge the flying lumber, his visor lighting up, preparing to create a bridge to his brother's location.

"You think you've won this battle youngling?!" Dreadwing hissed with a smirk. "Think again!" He threaten pressing the button on his detonator.

Soundwave stood still, tilting his helm at the seeker in an amused manner. As the beeping of the bomb sounded off from behind Dreadwing.

Dreadwing's expression of sinister wit, soon turned to panic, once he realized the bomb he had planted on Soundwave earlier, was now on his own back.

Soundwave conjured up a ground bridge, walking through it while the explosive went off behind him. The bridge shut, the violet mech now glowing in the dusk forest, going to his upset little brother. "Did you secure the key?"

"No, Starscream jumped me, he took the key, now he's long gone." Mirage replied disappointed.

"How did Starscream confiscate the Omega Key from you?!" Soundwave asked Mirage in disbelief.

"Starscream was pumped full of that red energon he stole, I couldn't keep up with all his movements, he was a blur!" Mirage hissed at his older brother.

Soundwave cycled his vents, creating another bridge. "Come'on, let's get to base." he sighed deeply.

"Shouldn't we try and track Starscream down?" The red youngling queried.

"No, it would be too difficult with him using red energon, Starscream's trail would be hard to trace." Soundwave replied, entering the base with his brother.

Optimus turned to see the mutant brothers empty handed. "What happened to the key?"

"Starscream has it." The violet replied emotionlessly.

"How?" Arcee scoffed joining the conversation.

"He's using the red energon he stole, Starscream took me out, and escaped with the Omega Key." Mirage sadly explained to the team.

"What the hell is Screamer going to do with an Omega Key? He doesn't even know what it is!" The twins retorted.

"Even if he doesn't know, It's his key to Megatron's approval. But in order for Starscream to really appease Megatron, he'd have to gain three more keys, and the knowledge of what they are." Soundwave replied, logging into one of the monitors.

"Although two keys are in Decepticon hands, we must focus on retrieving the final key. The Omega Lock will not be able to activate unless all keys are present." Optimus reminded his upset team.

"Okay, while we're at an impasse, you two are unlocking the last set of coordinates, what's the game plan after we discover the last key?" Jazz asked curiously.

"We will come up with a solution to gain possession of all keys. We are not at that point in time at the moment. We must work diligently to gain what we need, and protect what we have." The prime replied, turning back to the monitors.

"I think we should prepare a plan of attack before everything goes down." Mirage thought aloud, expressing his opinion to his brother.

"I agree." Soundwave replied simply.

"You can argue against it Wave, but I..." Mirage stopped his argument mid sentence. "Wait, did you just agree with me?"

"Yes, I agreed. There's going to be a fight for these keys, whether it's us trying gain them, or the Decepticons trying to take them from us. We need a plan of attack." Soundwave finally turned to his brother.

"Okay, great, we just need to make sure the humans are out of harms way, or Optimus, and Fowler will have a spark attack." The red assassin rolled his optics.

"No, this plan will take place on Cybertron. Start imagining it in your mind, and go put a plan of attack together so we're well prepared." Soundwave encouraged his little brother.

"I will." Mirage nodded quickly going down the hallway.

"That should occupy him for a while." Optimus gave an almost unnoticeable chuckle.

"Exactly." The violet mech snorted, turning back to his work. Finding the codes for this set of coordinates was incredibly difficult.

The Prime could see his apprentice was struggling with the codes. "Soundwave why don't you go with your brother, I will finish this set. This is quite a difficult one to decipher." he suggested to the young mech.

"No, I can do it. I'm just a little slower because the pressure is getting to me. We already lost two keys, I don't want to lose the last." Soundwave replied, reluctant to give up.

Optimus smiled with a nod. "I understand, but even if the Decepticons manage to gain the last key, we're still holding onto the one we have, with the hopes of regaining the others."

Soundwave thought about what his mentor said, wondering if it was a wise idea for him to go help lay out a plan of how to retrieve the keys from the Decepticons. "Maybe I will go help Mirage..."

"Sure youngling." Optimus replied as the same beeping from earlier began to alert once more.

Arcee smirked shaking her helm at her mech as he passed by her. "Says he's taking a break from deciphering, still continues on decoding on his visor."

"Well Soundwave's a good multitasker." Sideswipe joked.

Mirage was in such deep thought he barely noticed his brother entering his room. "Changed your mind?"

"Sort of, I thought that maybe we'd be more prepared if we did plan for the worst. But I'm more interested in what's really going through your mind." The violet mech replied, standing next to the youngling.

"I'm trying to think of a plan, to plan, after the plan of attack. After or before we rejuvenate our planet." Mirage replied.

"Too many plans, one thing at a time, slow your mind. We're going to be the ones to rejuvenate our home." Soundwave chuckled.

"We can't restart our planet while Megatron still functions, we have to consider it." The red assassin said.

"I asked him to consider it..." the violet mech sighed.

"Soundwave you're living in a fantasy world if you think Megatron would even consider it. After all the damage he's done, and what lengths he's gone to, to continue his reign of destruction. Megatron's not going to stop and own up for the destruction and loss he's caused." Mirage retorted shaking his helm at his soft brother.

Soundwave shook his helm in disagreement. "You don't know that Mirage, you didn't see the look in Megatron's optics when I asked him to reconsider."

Mirage shook his helm in frustration. "Soundwave you're not stupid, so why do you keep pretending like Megatron will change?!"

Ratchet sighed waiting a few more seconds for the CNA sorting machine to download its final results to his data pad.

BEEP!

"Great, finally." The CMO grumbled walking over to the working Prime. "Optimus the results are in..."

"I'm not pretending!"

Every bot in the main room turned towards the hallway, hearing the brothers argument echo down the hallway.

"Hold that thought old friend." Optimus sighed, feeling the uneasy frustrated tension in his spark, due to the arguing brother's he shared a bond with.

"What the hell is going on?" Arcee thought aloud, following Optimus and Ratchet down the hallway.

"Then you truly are that ignorant and stupid. He's not going to change, Megatron doesn't deserve a second chance after what he's done." Mirage hissed at Soundwave.

"Mirage, that's enough, you were supposed to be aiding each other, not dividing." Optimus sternly said.

"No he needs to hear this. Soundwave you're being unrealistic, I'm just trying to prove that your thoughts are ridiculous and beyond expectations." Mirage replied with a growl.

"Who do you think helped Megatron, causing just as much destruction, and loss?" Soundwave walked towards the bedroom door.

Mirage narrowed his optics at Soundwave, keeping silent in his disgust with his brother's thoughts.

"You fought so hard to break me from Megatron's corruption, to give me a second chance. I didn't deserve a second chance. Yet here I stand, loyal to the peacemakers, fighting for what's right. Were you wrong in fighting for my second chance?" The violet mech left his little brother to think, effectively leaving the base in the process, to clear his mind from the frustration.

"Soundwave don't leave!" Arcee called after her escaping mech.

"No Arcee, Soundwave needs time to clear his mind." Ratchet told the femme.

"Mirage I'm disappointed in you. I have never heard you say such things to your brother, what is causing this animosity?" Optimus turned to his red youngling.

"I want this war to end just like everyone else. I don't know why you're getting upset with me, I'm agreeing with you, Megatron should be destroyed." Mirage replied to his father.

The red and blue mech kept his firm tone, doing his best not to get overly upset. "I may be firm on ending Megatron's reign, forcefully. But I will never be opposed to ending this war peacefully, if Megatron officially resigns, denouncing his Decepticons honourably." Optimus turned back to working on the last entry of the Iacon Database. "Everyone is capable of change Mirage, it's a matter of whether they change for the worst, or for the greater good."

"I'm sorry..." Mirage sighed, disappointed in himself.

"Don't apologize to us. You're the one that tore down your brother's ambitions towards a peaceful end. Even if it's just a fantasized dream, why constantly beat down a positive thought? You gave your brother a second chance, he always tries to change for the best, don't let Soundwave feel like you don't believe in him anymore." Arcee hissed at the disappointed assassin.

Mirage felt instant regret for treating his brother like a piece of scrap. Feeling as if his spark had darkened, only focusing on the negative outcomes for the last battle of the war. "I've never been one to have much of a positive outlook, especially when it comes to war, and the monster that forced Soundwave and I to become his weapons. I didn't mean to tear Soundwave's dreams down."

"We also haven't been the greatest influence either, we've never really spoken about the positives that could come if Megatron realized his dire mistakes." Ironhide mentioned, feeling guilty that all of the eldest bots have gave the young a negative outlook on the war. "Primus, do you remember what we used to say about Soundwave, before he became an Autobot."

Soundwave flew a good distance, travelling to the canyon quarry he and Optimus used to train in. Transforming landing in the quarry, a thought came to him, this upcoming battle, his father figure would give all to rejuvenate their home, including ending his, and Megatron's own spark if it came down to it. That truly upset the young mech, he really wanted to learn more about Primes, more about Optimus in general. If there was a possibility to end the war without any mortal consequences, it would be less of a tragedy. If Optimus perished during this last battle, he would be leaving behind his two younglings, what would happen to them? Without guidance from their creator, they would be at a loss, well at least Bumblebee would be lost, Soundwave thought. Knowing Mirage would most likely push everyone away, as he is very self sufficient. Though if it came to such a situation, Soundwave would, without hesitation, take over as the younglings primary caretaker, along with Arcee, who would never argue against such a choice.

"Hard to believe you're a flyer, considering you spend a gross amount of time on the ground." Dreadwing's sinister voice came from behind.

"My flying has never been my strong suit. Don't you remember constantly yelling that at me during my training?" Soundwave turned to the seeker commander, who had him at gunpoint.

Dreadwing growled narrowing his optics. "Enough of your flaws, where's the last relic?!" He demanded for the young mech to hand over the relic.

"What, you cons can't decipher the last entry code, you're resorting to demanding intimidation?" The violet mech sarcastically replied, waiting for the blue and gold mech to attack him. "You're out of luck, we haven't deciphered the code yet, the relics whereabouts are unknown."

"We've deciphered the last code, your image was the result. Now hand over the relic!" Dreadwing aggressively demanded, charging his canon.

"I don't have it!" Soundwave hissed, getting ready to dodge the canon.

Bumblebee turned to the cobalt blue femme. "What would happen to Megatron if he gave up?"

"Well... honestly he would probably be put in prison, but that's highly unlikely since it would take a few cycles to rebuild Cybertron." Arcee thought aloud.

"After what Megatron did to our planet, after all that death he caused, eventually I think it would weigh heavy on his conscience. I think he'd eventually deactivate himself." Sunstreaker added his thoughts to the conversation.

"That's a little morbid. If anything I would think Megatron would run away as far as he could, living alone on a cold rock." Sideswipe scoffed as the monitor chimed.

"Autobot's I have deciphered the last entry." Optimus turned to his talkative team.

"Have you?" Ratchet questioned, as the screen began to distort and form an image.

"Hmm... perhaps this one is a layered encryption." Optimus pondered turning back to the monitor.

"Looks like it's forming an image." Jazz pointed out.

The grey mech was correct as the image finally finished forming into a very recognizable bot.

"Soundwave?!" Ironhide gasped at the digital image of the young mech.

"Maybe he knows where the key is?" Sideswipe shrugged.

"And never bothered to tell us?" Arcee retorted at the silver twin.

"Maybe Soundwave somehow is the key, and doesn't know it." Ratchet suggested.

"Whatever the matter, Soundwave is in danger. Soundwave return to base, immediately." The Prime called over his comlink, getting no response.

Ratchet shook his helm with a sigh. "Soundwave may have his com systems turned off."

"Chief of communications, lacks communication, ironic." The twins sarcastically remarked.

"Lock on to Soundwave's position, and fire the ground bridge." Optimus ordered the CMO.

Soundwave didn't have time to even consider dodging bullets as he was blindsided by an EMP blast, paralyzingly him as Dreadwing blasted him with his canon, knocking the him unconscious.

"Your illogical bantering is a waste of time, we will take him aboard the ship, and I will siphon the relic out of him." Shockwave hissed at Dreadwing.

"My bantering worked enough to distract Soundwave long enough for you to immobilize him." Dreadwing scoffed, picking up Soundwave's frame. "Why are we taking him back to the warship anyway, won't Lord Megatron just terminate Soundwave on sight?"

"Because I will be able to gain the relics information quicker in my laboratory. Lord Megatron can dispose of Soundwave, after gaining the relic." Shockwave replied opening a bridge, as another opened across the quarry.

"Soundwave!" Mirage called out, charging towards the Decepticons.

Shockwave fired at the Autobots, while Dreadwing made his way through the bridge.

Mirage transformed dodging the bullets, as the team fired back.

Getting hit by bullets, Shockwave quickly retreated into the bridge as Mirage closed in on them.

The ground bridge portal disappeared as soon as the youngling dove for it. "Dammit!" Mirage cursed pushing himself off the ground.

"How the bloody hell are we going to get Soundwave back now?!" Ironhide asked in frustration.

"It's impossible, Soundwave was our only possibility to finding the Nemesis." Jazz shook his helm.

"Well, if someone didn't blow up the harbinger, we might have had a chance of tracking down the Nemesis." Arcee sighed glaring at Mirage.

"Don't even start Arcee, don't you think I feel bad enough? If I didn't argue with Soundwave, he would've been at the base safe with us. Now he's probably so confused by what's happening, he's on deaths door, because as soon as Megatron gets what he needs, Soundwave will be terminated." Mirage hissed back at the sarcastic femme.

"Let's return to base, Ratchet may have a method to get Soundwave back." Optimus said before an argument could break out.

"Ratchet, what's this thing, it's been making noises all day?" Bumblebee asked pointing to the CNA sorting device.

"It's like a processing machine, except for CNA." The medic replied simply, while waiting for Optimus to ask for a bridge.

"Oh, why was it going off?" The yellow scout continued to question.

"It was trying to match CNA samples." Ratchet replied getting impatient with the questions.

"Did it?"

"I'm not sure Bumblebee, I haven't had a chance to review the results yet." The medic sighed as an incoming call blipped on the monitor.

"Ratchet send the ground bridge." Optimus ordered, to which the medic quickly complied.

"Where's Soundwave?" Ratchet asked as soon as the team entered without the violet mech.

"Captured by the Decepticons." Ironhide replied gruffly.

"We're hoping you may have some input on how to find the ship." Arcee said to the CMO.

"Not unless you grow wings, there's no way I can track the Nemesis, in this small amount of time. Soundwave's signature isn't even available, it's being shielded by the warship's masking field." The old medic scoffed.

"Soundwave was in sync with the ship for a while, before the cons figured it out. Maybe some how we can trace..." Mirage began to say, before realizing it wasn't going to work. "Ugh, never mind it won't work."

"Why doesn't Optimus just communicate with Soundwave through their fixed bond?" Sideswipe suggested.

Arcee rolled her optics at the silver twin. "Because Soundwave was unconscious, plus do you think he's going to hear much, with the cons poking and prodding him?"

"Mirage, Soundwave once mentioned to me, that you and him were the ones that raided the Iacon Hall of records, do you remember any of it?" Optimus asked completely off subject.

"Oh Primus, I was still a sparkling if I remember correctly. What does this have to do with our situation now?" Mirage raised an optic ridge in confusion.

"I'm trying to remember what Alpha Trion said to Soundwave." Optimus replied hoping whatever Mirage remembered would jog his memory.

"I don't really remember, I mean I can send the file for that memory bank and you can review it because I didn't understand anything." Mirage shrugged sending the file to the monitor.

The memory played showing Mirage keeping watch on the door, before walking over to Soundwave who was hacking the grid in front of Alpha Trion.

"Your brother is led by darkness, with a limited amount of Primus's influence keeping the darkness at bay. You Soundwave, are on the wrong side of this war, suffering in silence, as a child of Primus your spark yearns to bring peace back to Cybertron. Optimus is the Prime to lead the peace warriors to the end of this tyranny. You are a conduit for peace and freedom, the one with the possibility to end this war. The key to rejuvenating our planet." Alpha Trion spoke to the young mech, as Soundwave siphoned the rest of the Iacon Database.

As Soundwave downloaded the rest of the Database, Alpha Trion silently watched as a burst of cyan light flashed on the young mech.

Feeling a zap jolt through his frame, as the download finished. Soundwave leapt back from the panel he was connected to turning to see if he had gotten shot at. Before Mirage turned away, running back to check on the rest of the Decepticon squad.

Soundwave woke strapped to an upright medical berth, staring at the one opticed scientist running a scanner over his frame. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Trying to find what secrets you hide." Megatron replied, walking over from across the laboratory.

"I hold no secrets worth your interest." Soundwave scoffed, as Shockwave shook his helm.

"I'm getting a negative reading, Soundwave is not carrying any relics on him." Shockwave said to the warlord.

"Then perhaps he knows it's location." Megatron suggested.

"Hmm... he did mention that the Autobots hadn't cracked the last entry quite yet, and I tend to believe Soundwave, the Autobots must've deciphered it just as we located him. They arrived to the kidnapping late, fighting too desperately." Shockwave replied going over to his tray of tools.

"I do not have patience for riddles, why would the last entry be an image of Soundwave?" Megatron growled getting impatient.

"I stole the Iacon Database for you, it's probably my mug shot!" Soundwave spat, trying to wriggle out of his restraints.

"The only way we're going to get a truthful answer, is through a cortical psychic patch." The mad scientist said, holding the cord for the procedure.

"You're not hooking that voodoo to my brain patch!" Soundwave growled, squirming more furiously.

"Hook it up, I wish to see what the function of these identical relics are." The warlord volunteered himself to be on the other end of the cortical psychic patch.

"Identical?" Shockwave thought aloud, hooking up the panicked youngling up to the cord.

"Knockout retrieved the same relic as the one I lost to the Autobots, they must be pieces of some sort of puzzle." Megatron growled as he was connected to the patch, beaming him into the young mech's mind.

"Oookay... did anyone understand any of that?" Sideswipe scoffed, confused by the memory they just watched.

"Yeah, Mirage is a dark little spark." Sunstreaker teased the assassin.

"Fuck you!" Mirage hissed at the laughing twin.

"Just kidding little dude, you're fine." Sunstreaker patted the upset youngling's helm.

Ratchet shook his helm with an optic roll. "Optimus, what did you gather from that memory?"

"From what Alpha Trion said, I have reason to believe Soundwave is the last key to the omega lock." Optimus replied to the medic.

"Alpha Trion practically spelled it out for us." Ironhide snorted.

"We must get Soundwave back." Optimus said glaring at the monitors.

"Finding his signature through the warship's shielding is impossible. All we can do is wait, and hope there's a glitch, or somehow Soundwave contacts us." Ratchet told the team, watching the young mech's blank signature on the monitor.

"I want everyone on patrol, keep your sensors on high alert, track any traces of the warship if you can." Optimus Prime turned to his team of Autobots, who obliged his orders, jumping into action.

"The monitor will alert if Soundwave's signature is detected Optimus, we can only wait." Ratchet said as he picked up a data pad.