Chapter 23-Icebreaker
The medibay was packed. To say the least.
Optimus Prime rolled into the bunker last, and he was greeted by the sound of Ratchet already being hard at work.
"Orion. Sorry, Optimus." Trailbreaker said, stepping in front of him. "I'm sorry sir, my forcefield's are usually able to hold for longer than that, I didn't mean to...I usually practice on scrapballs and minobots, Magnus is just so large..."
"It's alright, Trailbreaker." Optimus assured him. "You did all you could. I know you did. You've had a long day, go get some rest."
"Where the hell is Ultra Magnus?" Prowl demanded, walking out into the main room of the bunker. He froze, when he saw Prime. Recognition immediately flashing across his optics.
"Orion?" He asked, breathlessly.
Optimus turned to him.
"Hello, Prowl." He said, now towering over the mech. "Forgive me. Ultra Magnus was captured."
"I heard them...saying something about a Prime, as they rolled back in." Prowl said, looking at the mech's new frame. "Your voice..."
"I...was given a second chance." Optimus said carefully.
Prowl stood there a moment optics sizing up the mech. Trying to stay analytical.
Then he relented, and walked towards his old friend, embracing him.
"I saw you fall off the Citadel...I thought you were gone..." Prowl muttered, relief in his voice. Emotion temporarily overwhelming him. "Who gave you a second chance?" He asked, his inquisitive nature overcoming his emotion.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Optimus replied. "I've been given the name Optimus Prime. I've been given the matrix of leadership. And if you will allow it, I will assume command of the autobots."
Prowl just stared back at him in disbelief.
"There is...so much to unpack about that statement. So much. Who gave you the name?"
"Solus Prime."
Prowl rolled his optics. He patted the mech's chest. "Nevermind, you're right." He turned and walked into the main room. "This is...a lot to wrap my processor around."
"I knew you had it in ya!" Ironhide called from the medibay. "My buddy Orion Pax...a Prime!"
Hound, Jazz, Sunstreaker and Arcee lay on different berths. Ratchet was working to fix all of them with his left hand, as his right arm lay heavily damaged and limp beside him.
"Do you need any assistance, Ratchet?" Optimus asked, walking in.
"I dunno." Ratchet replied. "Can you heal the wounded? Turn rust into energon? Can you bless my right arm to be less broken?"
Optimus stared back at the medic.
"Sorry. There's been a lot going on today." Ratchet stated. "You suddenly being a deity isn't even top five."
"I'm not a deity." Prime replied. "I am the same mech I was. I'm merely..."
"Bigger." Jazz muttered. "Big boy. And my man, your singing voice must be amazing now. I can't get enough of it."
Arcee stared at Optimus with suspicious optics.
"So you're still the same Orion Pax?" She asked. "You don't...seem like him. This all just feels a little...too good to be true."
Optimus turned to her.
"Forgive me." He replied. "I am aware some of you may distrust me, my appearance is not what it was. Some of you do not know me at all." He looked out across the faces of the run down autobots.
"My name was Orion Pax. I was an officer for the Citadel enforcement unit, and a founding member of the autobots."
"So who am I?" Arcee asked, looking at him skeptically.
Optimus turned to him, smiling under his faceplate.
"You are Arcee of the Citadel police force. You awakened in Iacon five years ago, with no memory of how you got here. You became a brilliant police officer, and have been searching for the secret to your past for some time, but have found no record. You once told me you needed to know in order to feel whole."
Arcee stared at Optimus blankly. She opened her mouth, then closed.
"You don't need to know to be whole, Arcee." Optimus continued. "You just need to find a way..."
"To be happy." Arcee finished, managing a small smile. "That conversation was almost a year ago..."
"I think back on it often." Optimus replied. "Sometimes I wonder if you've found happiness. Or if it still eats at you."
Arcee let out a sigh.
"I stay busy." She said, managing a weak smile, as she let her guard down. "Keeps me from thinking about it. If I don't think about it, it keeps me feeling...okay. Happiness is a whole other leap away." She said with a dry chuckle. "It's good to have you back, Pax. I'm sorry. Prime."
Optimus nodded.
"I hope you can find that happiness one day. But for now...I'm sure this fight will keep you busy."
He turned to the others.
"Ooh, me next, big guy." Jazz called, raising his hand.
"As for the rest of you...Jazz you were once a musician, but the decepticons bombed your bar, causing you to join the autobots. Hound, you struggle with undercover work, you're not the most...gifted actor. Ironhide, you don't think I'm a soldier..."
"My opinion is evolving." Ironhide pointed out.
"Bumblebee, you were nervous about your first courier assignment, and from what I heard, Barricade gave you quite a scare. Ratchet, you fixed me when Megatron nearly killed me two years ago, it took you days, and for that old friend I am truly sorry." He said, putting a hand on his chest.
"It was nothing." Ratchet replied with a warm smile.
"Wheeljack..." Optimus paused, looking the mech over, then held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Wheeljack replied, shaking his hand. "Keep going, I don't know any of these people."
"Prowl, you and I have been best friends and partners for the last eight years." Optimus said, turning to him. "We hid out in an old fortress together for a month while Megatron destroyed the functionists. We were both students of Shockwave."
"Back when he had a face." Prowl added, responding to the shocked faces from some autobots. "It's not that bad, relax."
"Trailbreaker, I first met you at Senator Shockwave's outlier academy." Prime then turned to Mirage. "I was ordered to kill you, and didn't."
"Thanks man." Mirage replied with a thumbs up.
"And finally, you two." Optimus said, turning to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.
"...Janitors."
"Oh come on!" Sunstreaker exclaimed.
"Yeah we've done a lot of stuff cooler than being janitors." Sideswipe adder.
"They stole my recharge slab and drove it off a highway." Mirage noted.
"Well...I don't know how, but...you're Orion Pax." Prowl said, standing beside the mech, arms crossed. "And as the ranking officer, that makes you the commander of this unit."
"If you feel uncomfortable about this Prowl, you may certainly remain in command..." Optimus began.
"No, no." Prowl replied, putting his hands up. "You're the Prime. You lead us now. Just don't make me regret it." He said, turning and walking back toward the main ops room. "And I'm not bowing or any of that nonsense."
The stage had been set. The crowds had gathered.
Megatron look out at them all, his optics warm. They were here to see him. To hear him speak. To hear his ideals, to be called to action.
"Citizens of Altihex!" He called out, gesturing to them. "You are being deceived! Cybertron was never the shining beacon of technological advancement, and fair government that we were told it was! There was no golden age, my children!"
A beam crossed the sky, and the mechs and femmes turned, uncertainty rippling through the group, as they watched it approach.
Megatron's optics widened as he saw it. The mech held up a hand.
"But there will be! I will guide Cybertron to a new golden age! Function will not matter! You will be free to choose your own future, your own path through life!"
The ground began to shake, and Megatron grabbed the podium.
The people were screaming in fear.
"Remain calm. They're trying to frighten us." Megatron stated, looking at the sky with uncertainty. "They will not succeed."
"No." A voice called. Megatron's optics snapped downward.
A green mech, standing before him.
Megatron's optics widened with horror as he saw rust spreading across the mechs body.
"They did not do this to us." The mech hissed, holding out his browned arm, as it disintegrated. "You did this."
Megatron's optics were wide as he looked out at the crowd of people, each one being infected by the rust, panic settling in as each one collapsed into a pile of death, one by one.
"Help us!" A mech shouted to Megatron.
Megatron looked back to the green mech but he was gone. Just a pile of rust on the cold steel ground.
The ground shuddered as buildings collapsed all around them.
"No." Megatron said frantically, shaking his head. "This is not what I am. I didn't do this..."
The square was empty now. His audience dead. The city dying around him.
He looked down at his arm, horror gripping his tank as he saw rust spread across it.
Megatron awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright, his vents seizing. He looked at his arm, letting out a sigh of relief as he saw it free of rust.
He pulled the recharge cord from his shoulder, and turned, analyzing it carefully for anything resembling sabotage. The dream had felt so real. The fear so realistic.
And the death.
His comm buzzed, making the shaky mech jump. He glared down at it, hesitating a moment, then answered.
"Who is it?" He demanded.
"Barricade, my lord. We have Ultra Magnus in a VVH harness. He's prepared for interrogation."
Megatron was silent a moment, trying to shake off the sense of dread that now filled his tanks.
The dread the dream had brought him.
And the guilt.
He let out a sigh then pressed the comm.
"Very good Barricade. I'm on my way."