Just to let y'all know, this next chapter is essentially continuity porn, so if you have anything against that, why would you read this in the first place. Like, seriously.

If one were to compare the looks of Cybertron now, to what they once were before the end of the Golden Age, and rule of Nominus Prime, even that of a protoform would immediately be able to tell the differences, both major and minor. Once, Cybertron was glistening and shining, with Cybertronians new and old going about their lives. Disorder was minor, and there were few wars that took place during the Golden Age, with the few ones being the Master Wars and a few small bushfire conflicts.

Cybertron was the pinnacle of a utopia, with floating cities, nature reserves of exotic alien plants, massive overarching architecture, and even a forest to boot, which took up a good portion of the western hemisphere, filled with techno-organic plants of all shapes and sizes, and robotic animals that feasted on both energon, plants, and prey. The cities of Cybertron were also once so polished and shiny, that they glistened in the sunlight, bathing those who stood below them in their reflection of the light. The streets were always clean and waste free, and traffic, footpath and road, was always bustling, but never overflowing.

Many of Cybertron's Colonies flourished during the Golden Age, with Caminus becoming the world of art and culture, and also a place where all religions could flourish without conflict or fear. Master Star was a hazardous world, filled with sandstorms, acid rain, heatwaves, and whirlwinds, but after the Master Wars, between Delta Magnus's Autobot division known as the Primal Vanguard, and the Titanmasters (Cybertronians who experimented with members of a powerful subspecies of Cyberdroids known as Titan Masters, and forced them to undergo a process known as Binary Bonding, where they forcefully became the heads of the Cybertronians, granting them extremely unstable powers), Master Star was eventually colonised, and renamed Rebirth, and became a place of technological innovation, and many new technologies were created in the city known as Fortress. Even the planet of Micro was eventually colonised, and became the birthplace of the Micromasters, when instead of being naturally born, various clusters of sparks began to form over the planet, leading to the creation of a new race of Cybertronians, who were small, but fuel efficient, like their minibot counterparts, and unlike the fullsized macromasters (This 'Hotspots' and their sudden apperance baffled Scientists, but lead many others to speculate that it was a sign of Primus, or some other god).

In the Golden Age, each colony would have it's own fair form of government, and each government would have a representative, and that representative would sit on the Council of Worlds, where they would discuss on how to make their civilisation greater, and fairer than before.

Cybertronians and all their subspecies got on well with all the other civilisations in the known cosmos, from the barbaric women of Femax, to the peaceful Klozians of Klo. There was no dark side to the great civilisation, no shady underground, no corruption in the government, no dirty deals, no high rates in crime and disorder. The Golden Age truly was a Golden Age, where everything was fair, and Cybertron and her Colonies were united under be it Primus, or another god.

Then, Nominus Prime took over, the Golden Age of Aequmm prime and Anima Bellator Maximus ended, and the nightmares began.

Nominus Prime was extremely ambitious, and sought to turn Cybertron into the throne of a galaxy spanning empire, with him as it's head. Quickly, Nominus disbanded the Council of Worlds, and began to force the will of Primus (The most common religion at the time, and at the present) onto the entirety of the Cybertronian civilisation. At first, most, if not all, were heavily against this, with the Eukarian known as Slammoth taking up the title of Big Convoy, and leading the colony of Eukaris into open rebellion, sparking the Beast Wars, and others openly opposing him. But quickly, all of Nominus's opponents were removed, either by imprisonment, execution, or sudden disappearance.

Nominus then had many of the original Micromasters that were born from the hotspots rounded up and experimented on, to which none of them survived, and began a purge of the Micro born Micromasters, believing them to be abominations. Soon, all of the Micromasters that were born from the Hotspots on Micro were killed, leading to fear of Nominus Prime, and growing hate of his rule. Since Nominus served in the Master Wars, he developed a hate for all Titan Masters, and had them all hunted down and exterminated, leading to the survivors going into hiding amongst the Cyberdroid populace, and all Cyberdroids coming under suspicion of being Titan Masters, resulting in frequent executions of innocent Cyberdroids.

Funds from the government were subverted from basic essentials, to the military, leading to a rapid expansion of the armed forces, and basic needs for the public degrading, leading to poverty and unrest. A program for rapid Cybertronian expansion via rapid breeding lead to cities becoming overcrowded, and the floating cities of Iacon, Kaon, Helex, Rodion, Old Polyhex, Vos, and Stanix were dropped to the ground, and the massive forest of the western hemisphere was destroyed, to make way for the creations of the cities of New Polyhex, Tarn, and Kalis.

Nominus sent his ever expanding Cybertronian military to take control of all the worlds that they could find, and incorporate them into the now growing empire. Worlds like Athenia, Gigantron and Paradron were annexed into the growing Cybertronian empire, who had now discarded the Autobot name, and soon, a large portion of space became the territory of the new Cybertronian empire, headed by the religious fanatic known as Nominus Prime.

These aggressive tactics put the Galactic Council, Black Block Consortia, and the Solstar Order on edge, and they temporarily set aside their differences, and began to wage a shadow war against Nominus's government for 4 million years, until the last million years of Nominus's rule, where he developed Tox-En, a deadly bioweapon, which would kill all it comes into contact with by liquefying them from the inside out, and corrode even the strongest of buildings. This lead to a hundred year civil war in the Cybertronian Empire, known as the Grand Uprising, or the Second Cybertronian Civil War, between Nominus Prime's forces lead by Nominus and Nova Major, and the new Autobots, lead by the resurgent Big Convoy and covert Solstar Order operatives, headed by Stardrive and Rom.

Unfortunately for most, the grand Uprising failed, with Nominus Prime ruling for another million years, Big Convoy presumed dead, the New Autobots crushed, the Solstar Order withdrawing it's support to continue their war against the Dire Wraiths in the Dark Nebula, and the Cybertronian species halved, though the Tox-En was destroyed, with few sources of it remaining, and any remaining samples of it were under lock and key. Much of the planet was left in poor condition thanks to the Tox-En bombardments, and the cities in the western hemisphere were left in ruins. Kaon was abandoned, and left as a hideout for criminals and thugs alike, and Iacon became overcrowded with refugees, leading to degrading standards in living qualities, to the point where anyone with running energon in their home was considered to be running a 5 star resort. Few nature reserves remained on the planet, with almost all of them rotten and dead thanks to the Tox-En gas. In fact, there was only one nature reserve on the entire planet left, being the Alpha Preserve in Iacon, though it was overgrown and poorly kept.

Even the colonies felt the effects of the Grand Uprising, with some colonies, like Caminus and Paradon, were directly in the line of fire in the war, and were devastated, while the other colonies were suffering the after effects of the war, as Nominus Prime sent military forces to the worlds in an attempt to stamp out all opposition to him, as to avoid a future uprising. The colony of Chaar was reduced to ash and cinder, while the world of Athenia was destroyed, and reborn into the trash world of Junkion. The world of Rebirth had it the worst though. In a year long campaign during the Grand Uprising, dubbed 'the Scouring of Rebirth', the entire planet was burnt down, it's single city of Fortress was completely destroyed, and all of the planet's Cybertronian colonists were killed.

Eventually, Nominus Prime and his cabal of followers were assassinated after 6 million years of rule, but they were replaced by a seemingly worse ruler and his cabal. For the last million years, Sentinel Prime and his small group of followers have been ruling over Cybertron with an iron fist. Creating an army of synthetic machines to do his bidding, Sentinel has enforced a corrupt and broken system to rule over the once great Cybertronian civilisation, which was becoming weaker every year. The name 'Autobot' was now used as a badge of shame for cops who worked for the government, and not as a symbol of honour, and civilisation began to collapse, with gangs and thugs running amuck in the streets, and killings becoming more common than ever.

Now, rebel and terrorist factions have begun to pop up across what was left of the Cybertronian empire, ready to fight the sorry state of the government, which had been reduced to a remnant after the Grand Uprising. Experimental weapons, derelict ships, and age old drones were salvaged from the remnants of the old order, ready to be used in a new fight. Eventually, several rebel and terrorist cells united to form the Exiled, a powerful pseudo-military faction of outcasts, rebels, terrorists, and individuals coming out of hiding. Together, with salvaged weapons, old ships, and new soldiers, they poise themselves carefully against the tyrannical government, ready to begin a new war, for the liberation of both themselves, and their species.

But you already knew this didn't you?

Well, at least part of it, anyway. All that stuff about the Exiled being a militant group made up of, well, exiles (Otherwise, why would they be called that?), and Sentinel being a bit of a dick. I just thought that it would be nice to give you lot a bit of a history lesson. Y'know, a bit of world building, making the universe feel more alive, then have a tale of a group pulling together to survive.

Or, at least, try.

So it should be fun. To watch their journey of sacrifice, death, betrayel, love, hate, and violence. A classic tale of good vs evil, with a few twists, mind you. Can't have a good story without some shocks, now, can we?

So, without further ado, let us return to our group of protagonists, in the streets of a lowly slum. When we last left off, they had just seen a Cybertronian called Sixshot die right in front of them, so let's see how they do...

Cybertron
Iacon
Border Regions
Jan-Ja district
Decagon Plaza

"We should have helped him", said Orion as he, Rewind, Chromedome, Bumblebee, and Swerve walked past the old Decagon Plaza, which was rusty, dented, and covered in graffiti. The 5 of them walked through the abandoned streets, filled with debris, rubbish, and filled with puddles of water. The debris was so thick in some areas, that they occasionally tripped over some of it (Swerve ended up face planting into the ground because of it, at one intersection). At least an hour ago, they had watched a drunk bot in the White Flame killed right in front of them, and now the shock was only just coming over them. They had to stay behind for a bit to be questioned by the local CCP officers, but they were let go only a few minutes ago.

"There was nothing we could do", said Chromedome, still sporting the cracks on his visor and faceplate. A purple mark had begun to form around the cracks on his faceplate, indicating a bruise.

"What do you mean there was nothing we could? An innocent bot was killed right in front of us, barely an hour ago, and all that you can say is there was nothing we could do?" called out Orion in a fume, "Is this because of the punch? Are you concussed or something?"

"I'm not concussed! (At least, I don't think so). What I'm saying is the truth. There was nothing we could have done for him. He decided to piss off the lifeless killer robots, and now he's dead. Classic action=reaction formula. If we intervened, we would have ended up where he is now: 5 feet below!"

"You're a cop", said Orion as he stepped in front of Chromedome and stopped in the middle of the street, "Couldn't you have pulled rank or something and told the Vehicons to stop before he took a laser blast to the head?"

"No, I couldn't have. Those things don't answer to the CCP, they answer to Sentinel, or whatever central network thing they're connected to. To them, the CCP are just a nuisance that only interferes with doing their master's work. There's no actual way to stop them, other than shooting them in the head, which then would provoke all of the other Vehicons to target you and kill you. There's no way to stop them. Really."

"That's not an excuse."

"It is so an excuse!"

Chromedome then shoved Orion to the side, and continued to walk, "Besides, that guy brought it on himself. He decided to pick a fight with the killer robots instead of just going peacefully, so he was either extremely drunk, had a few circuits lose, or both, so lets just leave it at that, because I really need to sit down and take a headache chip (Primus my head hurts)."

"Why am I married to you, again?" asked Rewind, who started to catch up with Chromedome.

"Because you love me."

"Oh yeah."

"Wow", said Orion as he just stood still, "I always thought you were cold, Chromedome, but I didn't know you were also heartless."

Chromedome then stopped, turned around, looking back at Orion, and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that. Could you please elaborate?"

"You know damn well what I mean. You're brushing this all off like it doesn't matter, and now I see why: you don't care about it. You don't see a point to giving a scrap about someone who just died, because you think that it's a waste of time, and that they probably had it coming. Hell, I think that on the inside, you probably laugh about it-"

Chromedome then walked up to Orion, and got up close to him threateningly, "Keep talking, slagface. I wanna see if you're stupid enough to say what you're about to say."

"Alright then, let me get straight to the point. You grown insensitive to the violence over the years, because of your job (which was a terrible choice of profession, mightn't I add), and now you've completely numb to the idea of sympathy for others when their friends die!"

"Well, I'm sorry if that upsets you 'Optimus', but I'm afraid that becoming a bit used to violence comes with the territory of being a cop! You tend to look at things a bit more logically instead of letting your emotions guide your every move."

"But that's the thing! You've been telling yourself that everyday for so long, chipping away at your soul every time you say it, until the day there's nothing left but an ugly husk. Well guess what buster, today's the damn day!"

"Oh, so you think you know me, Pax. You think that you have the right to judge me and the way I think just because of my job? I feel, Orion, for the people who have died around me. I'm not just some mindless machine who doesn't flinch when someone is killed. I grieve for the fallen, but I know not to blame myself when something isn't my fault."

"Uh", began Bumblebee as he turned around and transformed, "I'm gonna head back to the apartment and wait for you there. See you later Orion."

"Hey, wait up", said Swerve as he transformed and caught up with Bumblebee, "I'm coming too. Let these guys cool themselves off."

"Oh yeah right", said Orion, who was too focused in his argument with Chromedome to notice Swerve and Bumblebee leave, "'You grieve for them, like you know them. How would you even mourn for them if you don't know their own-"

"Sky Blast."

Orion looked bewildered at what Chromedome had just said, obviously not understanding what he just said, "What?"

"Doomwings. Zapmaster. Retrax. Dead-End. Rot-Gut. Armordillo. Survive. CatSCAN. Xeon. Octus. Zebres. Torsion. Greasepit. Exhaust. Aston. Spaceshot. Dropshot. Action. Sigil. Black-Out. Doomshot. Dinotron. Hopper. Iron Claw. Autostinger. Ego. Skat-Or. And now Sixshot (Yeah, I heard his friend say his name). Those are all of the names of those who I have seen die before me. Full sized, Micromaster, Cyberdroid. That's irrelevant. They were all Cybertronians that have died while I was around, either by my hand, or another's. And every night, I tell myself those names, so I don't forget the mistakes I've made over the last 750000 years. You think I have no soul, 'Optimus', well think again."

"That doesn't... that doesn't prove anything."

"Yes it damn well does!"

"Just because you know someone's name doesn't mean you care about them."

"That's true, but I do. And I care about the legacy they leave behind."

"Yeah, sure."

"What is going on in that drunken mind of yours that you are constantly trying to perceive me as the bad guy of this argument? What have I done wrong?"

"You know damn well what I'm mad about!"

"No, I seriously don't! (I swear, if you say that it's about what happened in the White Flame, I'm gonna sock you in the fragging face)."

"That's enough", said Rewind as he placed himself between the two taller bots, and looked up at them, "Both of you calm down. Orion, what Chromedome's saying makes sense-"

"WELL IT DOESN'T TO ME!" screamed Orion as he grabbed Rewind by his shoulders, scaring the smaller bot, "When we were in the White Flame, and that poor bot was gunned down, all we did was stand there and watch as he died. Why didn't we do anything? Why didn't I do anything?! So ex- slagging- scuse me, if unlike everyone else present, I have a little thing called emotions-"

Suddenly, Chromedome wheeled back, and punched Orion in the face, sending him flying back, and landing front up into the ground, covering himself in dirty water, and a few pieces of rubbish. Chromedome then grabbed his hand, dragged him to the old entrance to the Decagon, and slammed him against the wall by his neck. Orion's faceplate was now cracked, dented, and bleeding, and his nose was also cracked and leaking energon, staining his faceplate.

"Orion Pax, you will listen to me, and you will listen good", sternly said Chromedome in obvious exasperation of the current situation, "There was nothing we could do for that bot back in the bar, and there is nothing we can do now other than learn from his extremely obvious mistakes. Now, if you want to go and throw a tantrum in your room like a little protoform about the obvious, go ahead, but for the love of Primus, don't go crying at others and blaming them for dumb crap!"

Chromedome then let go of Orion, causing him to fall to his knees, retract his faceplate, and massage his throat, coughing up phlegm and a drop of energon.

"Now, if you'll excuse me", said Chromedome as he turned around and walked away, "I need to see Ratchet and Hotwire about my faceplate."

"That wasn't necessary, Domey", said Rewind with worry in his voice.

"Yes it was, Rewind. There was no other way to get it into his drunken head."

Chromedome then transformed and drove off, with Rewind transforming into his Cassette form, and riding on the top of Chromedome's car form. Meanwhile, Orion had gotten up, brushed himself off, wiped the energon off his face, and looked to the side of him, "Hey Bee, can you believe that-"

He stopped himself when he saw that both Bumblebee and Swerve were gone, and felt both embarrassment and shame at himself, for allowing his emotions to get the better of him. He decided to go to the local hospital first, seeing as he did just cough up a bit of blood, and then find Chromedome and apologise to him for his outburst. If anyone at the hospital asked how he got hurt, he'll just say that he almost got mugged by some bot in a cloak, but he was able to fight them off. I mean, it's not like the police force are actually going to investigate, since those kind of things are relatively common on Cybertron, so it'll be fine.

Rebirth
The remnants of the city Fortress
Underground Exiled Headquarters

Hydrocruiser stared at his holo-computer blankly, hoping for a response. He had yet to await a signal from his assigned agent, Spinster, and he was still in the dark. The last transmission that he received from Spinster was at least a few hours ago, saying that he and his partners Hairsplitter and singe had retrieved incriminating evidence against Sentinel Prime, that would prove effective in their propaganda war in the outer Colonies, but he had been made, and was under heavy fire from several Vehicon Black Ops units. Before Hydrocruiser could learn the exact location of Spinster, and sent local Exiled spies to assist him, the transmission was hacked, and he had to cut it off before the Vehicons could learn the location of the Exiled's headquarters.

Hydrocruiser was worried. Spinster had said that he would send him a signal once he and his partners were in the clear, and that was 4 hours ago. He had hoped that it was sooner, but just over an hour ago, Spinsters spark transponder signal cut out, along with the signals from his partners. Now, that could mean one of two things. Either one, they've been captured, or two...

They're dead.

Hydrocruiser didn't know which one to hope for. On one hand, he hoped that they weren't dead, as he had known them for quite a while, and they had become good friends, so it would suck if he lost his friends. On the other hand, those who go into Sentinel's prisons, tend to not come out...

Hydrocruiser continued to stare at his holo-computer, praying for a message. Praying for the annoying as hell paperclip with eyes thing to pop up and say 'You've got mail', so he could then groan in frustration at the paperclip thingy, then open up his emails to see a message from Spinster, saying that all is well, and everything is hunky-dory.

Any second now...

Any second now...

Any second now...

Any damn second now...

"Drench."

Hydrocruiser looked behind him to see his C.O standing behind him.

He was a bulky Cybertronian, with a faceplate and red visor covering his face, two upwards fins on the side of his head, and the Exiled logo sitting on a crest on his head. He wore kibble on his back, being two tank treads sat on his back, as well as a tank turret, indicating his alt-mode. On the back of his legs, sat another pair of tank treads, and on his shoulders, there were a pair of small turrets, glowing purple with energy. On his left arm, sat the hilt of a powered down energy blade, and on his right, sat a large arm cannon, brimming with purple energy. His hands held sharp fingers, and his knuckles wore built in knuckle dusters, glowing with purple lights. The entirety of his body was painted in grey and red, and purple lights shone on his joints, servos, and across his entire body.

"Groundpound", began Hydrocruiser, "It's Hydrocruiser."

"...Huh?"

"My name is Hydrocruiser, now."

"What? What happened to Drench? Drench was a good name. Not as good as 'Groundpound', obviously, but still."

"Yeah, it was. But it turns out that some other bugger has that name, and you know what basic Cybertronian social standards are like?"

"'No Cybertronian can have the exact same name as another.' Yeah, I know. But still, 'Hydrocruiser'? Really?"

"Oh, and what would you have picked?"

"What about 'Tempest'? That's a good name."

"One of my first choices, but, you know the saying, 'All the best names are taken'."

"Oh, for god's sake- wait, I'm getting off topic. Soundwave wants to know if you've received any word from Spinster."

"Not since 4 hours ago. I've lost his transponder signal, and I can't get any trace on him, or his partners. Groundpound, I think they're... I think they're dead."

"Sigh. We can only hope that that isn't the case, Dren... Hydrocruiser. In the meantime, I need you to help SoundBlaster set up a proper connection between Thundercracker, Scrapper, Jolt and Aquablast."

Alpha Team? I thought they already had their own comms channel?"

"Not anymore. Boss upstairs wants Alpha Team to be in a constant loop with the EHC, in case they need backup. There is a shadow war to be fought, and we need to be in contact with our agents at all times. I gotta talk to Murena and Hydradread. We got another salvage of Marauder tank drones to sort out, and I don't know where to put them. We've got more drones than we know what to do with."

"We'll have our chance soon, Groundpound. Our chance at a revolution. We just need to be patient."

"Sure thing. Oh, and Hydrocruiser?"

"Hm?"

"If you do get word from Spinster, let the boss know. If he's carrying something important, he'll need to know."

"Got it, sir."

Groundpound then turned around, and walked out of the small room, accidently banging his back turret kibble against the frame of the small sliding door, before bending over to fit through the door, and then closing the door behind him.

'We really need to get bigger doors', thought Hydrocruiser, as he routed his computer to a personal holopad, turned off his computer, and got up from his seat to help SoundBlaster. Hydrocruiser wondered why SoundBlaster couldn't just do this on his own. He had a knack for electronics, so he didn't really know what he could help him with. Then again, maybe Groundpound thought that he needed something to take his mind off of Spinster.

Hydrocruiser sighed to himself. Groundpound's spark was in the right place, but he didn't really know what was best for others. He may think he knows, but he really didn't.

Hydrocruiser sat back down, and turned his computer back on. All he needed to do was wait. For what he was waiting for, he didn't know. He just had to be patient, and then, he'll be rewarded...

Cybertron
Iacon
Border Regions
Promontory apartment block

Some time later...

"I think I went to far during that argument with Chromedome", said Orion to his laptop.

"You think?" said Megatron over face time, "You did start screaming at him and throwing a tantrum."

"I did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so. (At least, that's what I think when I heard it from you)."

"Sigh. Okay, maybe I did. But just a little bit."

"Now, was that so hard to admit?"

"Yes. It physically and mentally caused me pain to say that."

"You really need to let go of your pride, Pax. It'll be the death of you."

"Yeah, sure. Back on subject though, I was in the wrong for accusing Chromedome of something he's not, but he's also in the wrong for punching me in the freaking face!"

"Again, you were throwing a tantrum at him."

"Sod off, Megs."

"Hey, you called me, 'Optimus'. I can hang up whenever I like."

"True."

"The thing I should be asking is, are you really alright? I mean, me and Moonracer just saw the news report about what happened at the White Flame, and you said earlier that you were going there, so I was worried that you were... you know..."

"I'm fine, Megatron. Really. I wasn't shot or anything, and the whole being punched in the face thing, I can live with."

"Well, are you completely sure?"

"Yes, Megs, I'm-"

"Not physically. Mentally."

"I'm fine. Just a little shaken up."

"You sure, because I can book you an appointment with Rung. He is the best therapist in Iacon."

"Megatron, I appreciate the concern, but I'm okay. I just need to recharge for a bit, then I'll be fine."

"Well, if you say so. I can't really force you to do anything you don't want to do. Anyway, I need to help Moonracer put Snowglobe to bed, so I'll talk to you later."

"You too, Megs. See you later."

"Right, bye."

"Bye."

Orion turned off face time, and sat back on his desk chair. His room in the apartment was a small room with a large window in the wall, with black curtains, and a glass door which lead to a balcony, overseeing the entire city of Iacon. The walls were a dark blue colour, and the ceiling was a light shade of aqua blue, with a single yellow light in the middle of a ceiling. In the room, there was a used towel (Bumblebee and Swerve had forced him to get a shower in order to get rid of the smell that he had acquired after falling in the murky water and rubbish) lying on the floor, as well as an out of date newspaper. Next to the far wall to the balcony window, there was a recharge slab, and next to that, there was a small work desk with a few draws in it, and Orion's laptop on the top of it, as well as a swivel chair, and a work lamp.

Orion got out of his chair, and walked over to the balcony window. Opening the glass door, he was greeted to the outside of the apartment by a gentle gust of wind, and walked over to the edge of the balcony, where he could see the whole of the once great city of Iacon.

In the middle of the city, he could see the Great Dome, home and shelter to the Celestial Spires, the home to the rich and elite of Iacon. It was the only properly functioning building in the entire city, as the elitists that lived there had it constantly cleaned by service drones, and unfortunate bots who were not getting paid nearly enough than what it was worth (Bumblebee and Swerve had the unfortunate job of working there, and they had described it as 'being treated like you weren't even Cybertronian'). Those who lived there were in a constant state of comfort, and they constantly had their own private force of drones, called Overcharge Terrorbots. The one in charge of this little community of elitist snobs was one Assemblybot Ratbat, who served in the old Senate before Nominus took over, and was paid off to sell out his home of Eukaris, and, while the size of a cassettebot, held a massive amount of power, and served in Sentinel's Cybertronian Assembly, the leading body of Cybertron, which everyone knew was as morally bankrupt as Sentinel himself.

The rest of the city was not as lucky. Iacon, and in extension, the entire planet, was never officially repaired by the Government since the Grand Uprising, and that was 2 million years ago. Much of the planet is in disarray, and the civilian infrastructure is only just staring to repair itself, thanks to the good apples in the CCP, even if it is under the nose of Sentinel and his cronies.

The Border Regions of Iacon had become the main slum location, and was a complete shanty town. Old ships, shacks, and slums occupied the entire area, and some had even set up their own businesses in the slums (The White Flame being one of them), with the Forum of Enlightenment becoming a large 24/7 marketplace. However, the slums were the place most heavy with crime. Vehicon patrols were the highest in the Border Regions, and it wasn't uncommon to find a body in a skip somewhere in the area (Chromedome once told him that he found the body of some fembot Cyberdroid named Parsec in a skip once, and she must've been in there for about 2 days before someone noticed and called the CCP). Any towers that were in the Border Regions were once golden and glistening, but now they were rusted, broken, and hazard ridden, yet it had somehow become the home of many Cybertronians, who had no where else to go. The entirety of the Border Regions had been renamed as 'Sentinel's Folly', and was widely regarded as the biggest shanty city on the planet, so much so that other slums had started to name themselves 'Sentinel's Folly', and now it had become a widely used term to call slums across Cybertron.

Other parts of Iacon was also suffering. The Imperial Amphitheatre, once a place where musicians could gather before thousands, and show them their musical prowess, had been bombed out during the Grand Uprising, and was now being used by the CCP as a base of operations, though it looked more like a makeshift temporary base rather than something permanent. The Matrix Flame, a once sacred place not only in Iacon, but Cybertron, was completely destroyed, and it's priest was long gone, killed by the Tox-En bombardments during the last war. The planetary engines that once kept Iacon floating in the air supposedly during the Golden Age had been unused for millions of years until the Grand Uprising, where they were used as bunkers by Nominus's forces, then bombed out by the New Autobots. The Energon Pools that once flowed with the sweetest of fuels, was now dried up and empty (A few pools of energon still remained, but they were bitter and poisonous). The east end of Iacon was completely flattened, thanks to the bombardments from the New Autobots, and the Oracle Tank was eviscerated (It was once rumoured that the Oracle Tank could speak to a supposed AI called Vector Sigma, but those rumours eventually died out when the Oracle Tank was refurbished into a swimming pool before the Grand Uprising).

Orion was only 500000 years old, so he wasn't around to see what really happened during the Grand Uprising, but, if what happened during the last war that lead not only Cybertron, but the entire Cybertronian Empire to what it is today, then he was glad to not be around during the civil war. He had only heard vague details about what happened during the war from idle chatter, people complaining about the living conditions, and whatever records of it he could find at the Archive Centre. Though the Grand Uprising and the rule of Nominus Prime was well documented, what happened before that, during the Golden Age, the First Cybertronian Civil War, and the Unicron Wars, was a lot less well documented, as since the Unicron Wars and the First Cybertronian Civil War happened 20 million years ago, so those were lost to time, and though the Golden Age was only 7 million years ago, it seemed that Nominus Prime sought to rid all those files of the Golden Age, and replace it with his own narrative, making any genuine articles of the Golden Age more difficult to find, with some Cybertronians even questioning if the Golden Age was real, and not just some lie made up by delusional dreamers who wanted others to pay attention to them. Information Creep was also a thing, which didn't help the cases of those who preached that the golden age really happened.

Orion sighed to himself, and pondered. How could Megatron and Moonracer do it? How could they just get married, and recite the Scripture of the Binding Spark? How the hell would they even be able to bring up a child in this landscape in the first place? Cybertron was a ravaged world, and there wasn't really anywhere else to go beyond the colonies. So how would they even be able to raise a child in a safe and healthy way when they live in a place like this? (Granted, they live in Nyon, but still, pretty much every settlement on Cybertron is ravaged). Orion then thought back to his parents: His two dads were embarrassing as hell, and completely unable to shelter him from all the bad things in the world, but they still loved him, even till they died when he was just 12 years old. How they died, Orion never found out.

Maybe Orion should find someone to settle down with. Maybe he should find a guy or girl or... whatever, to get into a relationship with, but who? The only person Orion could think of was Elita One, as he had a bit of a crush on her, but the last time he heard from her, she was all the way on Carcer, under Queen Rage's rule (One of the few colony worlds to escape Sentinel's sight) and that was a few years ago. She and Orion had been friends for a while, but then real life happened, and they drifted apart.

Orion felt a soft sadness rush into his spark. Elita was a strong and confident girl, so he knows she could take care of herself. But it was not Elita's absence that saddened Orion. It was the fact that Orion did not know of anyone else to which he could share a meaningful relationship with. If Megatron and Moonracer could share a meaningful relationship with each other, and raise a child, then why couldn't Orion? Sure, he was only 500000 years old, but as the old saying goes, 'age doesn't equal maturity'.

Or was it 'maturity doesn't equal age'?

One or the other.

Whatev.

Orion was totally ready for a relationship. He had seen the dark side of Cybertron, so that was covered. The light side of it...? Well, he had seen the dark side of Cybertron, so that's covered. So he had experience in real life stuff. Emotional maturity? Well, um... no one needs to worry about what happened tonight, do they? Loving and caring? Again, no one needs to worry about what happened tonight, so... check, maybe?

Great! Now that Orion had gotten through all of the relationship checklist riffraff, he could mentally compile a list of potential candidates.

Chromedome- he's with Rewind.

Rewind- see above.

Lickety-Split- loves her Anime/Manga more than literally anything else (How did she even get all of that stuff anyway?).

Lightbright- seeing Sparkstalker.

Arcee- hate's him after that stunt with that bottle of engex and a space scooter.

Pyra Magma- He hates her. She hates him. Don't ask why, long story. And no, she's not his ex (Even if her sorority sister and Bumblebee are dating).

Bumblebee- no. Just no.

Swer- OH GAWD WHY WOULD THAT EVEN CROSS HIS MIND KILLITWITHFIREAAAAUUUUUGGGHHHH-

Okay, aside from the mental trauma, everything is dandy.

Any other candidates?

No?

Oh...

Maybe Orion was being selfish?

Actually, maybe he wasn't. Maybe he actually wanted a relationship. Maybe he was feeling empty on the inside without someone else in his life.

Maybe he was being overdramatic.

Maybe he was misinterpreting it all.

Maybe he really wasn't ready for love.

Maybe.

Probably.

Most likely.

But at this point, Orion no longer cared.

Orion turned away from his balcony and entered his room. Shutting the glass door behind him, he eyed his laptop, and walked over to his desk. Sitting on his swivel chair, he pondered to himself. Maybe he should try one of those dating sites that everyone is talking about. At least Wi-Fi is running in this place, thanks to their landlord, Ricochet, so that's good. He remembered that Swerve once sent him the link to some dating website called 'PlentyOfCyberfish', because he was 'lonely, apathetic, and not likeable one iota' (Great confidence boost, Swerve. Best mate ever, you snarky bastard), so maybe he should finally get around to setting up a profile, and finding any matches. Orion was never to fond of the idea of online dating, but he had never been in a romantic relationship before, and was eager to try it out.

Orion opened up his emails, and prepared himself to sift through the countless spam emails, when he saw that he had received a new message in his inbox, that was dated to have been sent to him at least 2 hours ago. No description. No recognised sender. No title. No actual message. Just two attachments with the titles, 'URGENT. WATCH AND READ IMMEDIATELY'.

Was it spam mail?

Definitely.

Did it contain a virus?

Probably.

Was Orion curious?

Wouldn't anyone be?

...

That was vague. It wasn't meant to be. Yes, he was curious. Of course he was curious. But he knew that it was most likely just a spambot or something. But then again, he could always just get Rewind or Corvex or someone at his work to fix his laptop if he got a virus. It's not like it didn't happen before (How was he suppose to know that his long lost relative, the Great Prince of Eukaris, who had been removed from his throne in a Coup and needed money, was actually a bunch of Neutronian scammers?), so it was easily fixable.

Welp, no time like the present.

Orion clicked play.

The Alpha Reserve

The next day...

Orion sat patiently on the bench, awaiting Chromedome's arrival. He sat on the bench in the middle of the Alpha Preserve, one of the last organic nature reserves on the planet, though it was now overgrown, where it was once neatly kept and tidy (At least, Orion presumed, as it had always been overgrown throughout all his life). Any plants that were once beautiful had most likely been eaten by the other predatory plants, who had begun feasting on each other for survival. A pack of Spiderbots had also taken residence in the Alpha Reserve, spinning a metal web in one corner of the domed sanctuary, and another species of Cybercreature, the small Cybertronian jellyfish, had taken up shop in the pond, occasionally being used as food for a local stray Cybercat, which the locals had nicknamed 'Steeljaw', for it's ability to tear into the toughest hides of Cybertronian jellyfish.

The entire Alpha Reserve had transformed into it's own ecosystem, becoming a new world when bots stepped inside, in contrast to the old one outside. Outside the domed building, Cybertron was a grey and bleak world, with hopelessness and sin, but once they stepped inside the building, they were greeted by a means to escape the dark world that they lived in, by way of a lush and vibrant forest of colourful plants and animals. Even if the Alpha Reserve was overgrown, and filled with rodents, it was still considered a means to get away from all of the bad things in the world. Even though no one ever tended to the garden, no one ever wanted to, as it would take away from it's naturalness, as it gave off a feel of wildness and colour, somethings that modern day Cybertron couldn't provide.

Orion wondered to himself about what this place was. How could an organic (Techno-Organic, technically) reserve even exist on Cybertron? From what Orion had read, Cybertron was always a metal world, but somehow, organic life was able to thrive on it, until it was all destroyed by Nominus to make the western hemisphere cities. And during the Grand Uprising, most of the few remaining nature reserves on Cybertron were destroyed in the fighting between the New Autobots and Nominus's forces. So how had the Alpha Reserve survived the 100 year war? Iacon wasn't near the frontlines, directly in the fighting, but it was at the edge of the war, so fighting did happen in the city occasionally, until the end of the war, when a remnant of the New Autobots made a last stand against overwhelming enemy forces, resulting in the 2 year long battle, 'The Siege of Iacon'. During the 2 year long battle, much of Iacon was battered, and is what the average Cybertronian saw to this day, so why was the Alpha Reserve one of the few things left largely intact? From what Orion had read in the archives, there was a reported New Autobot presence in this specific area, so how was this building able to survive so easily, when there was probable fighting nearby?

'Nature just has a way of surviving', Orion thought.

"You know", said Chromedome as he came into view beyond the overgrown plants, sporting a metal plaster over the cracked part of his face, with his faceplate retracted, and the cracks in his metal visor almost gone, showing only faint outlines as it slowly healed, "I've always wondered about this place."

"As have I", said Orion as he turned to look at Chromedome, "I mean, I've just had an internal monologue about it in my head, so I imagine that we might be on the same page, here."

"Orion, if this is about yesterday-"

"Don't say you're sorry. I was drunk, and went a tad bit too far, and for that, I am sorry (Though I did have a point in a few parts of that)."

"What makes you think I was sorry?"

"...For what?"

"Punching you in the face."

"Ah, I see. Right..."

Chromedome then sat down on the bench, sitting next to Orion, and looked at him, "But that's not why you asked me to deviate from my 'Ever-so-busy-jk-not-not-really-that-busy' job, is it?"

"No, it isn't."

"Well then, what is it? I can't stay here long, so please do make it quick."

"Yesterday, I got an email-"

"Oh come on, Orion. That's why you called me? If you've gotten a virus from that spamtron thing, you could've just called Rewind. Or Twincast. Or anyone else for that matter. (I'm compiling a list in my head filled with other people you could've called, right now.)."

"That's... not the problem."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"Now, you're sorry", muttered Orion, "Primus, make up your mind."

Orion then handed Chromedome a holopad, and Chromedome looked at it and pondered. "What's on this?"

"It was an attachment on the email. 1 of 2. The other one's on there as well."

"Alright, let's see what's on this thing then", Chromedome then examined the information on the holopad for a brief minute, deep in focus. His visor watched the first video on the screen, before moving onto the second clip, the audio from the video audible throughout the entire Alpha Reserve. Chromedone then looked at Orion in bewilderment, his voice silent, and his revealed lips unmoving, "..."

"..."

"This is a joke right?" Chromedome finally said.

"Hm?" Orion hummed in response.

"This is a joke. This is you, mister Orion Pax, attempting to dabble in humour, so you decide to make up something very mentally disturbing, and then say 'it's just a prank, bro', and suddenly Rewind pops out from the bushes with his camera and asks to put it on MeTube."

"Okay, 1, MeTube's been demonetized, so I'd probably put it on the Big Conversation, or something, and 2, you're one of my oldest friends. Why would I lie to you?"

"... Well, I can think of, um, well, I can think of a few reasons, but I see your point."

"Right then. So, what do we do with this?"

"You have to take the data drive that all that stuff is on from the holopad, and destroy it. Burn it. Smash it. Break it. I don't care how. Just... Just destroy it."

"W-what? But why?"

Chromedome then got up from the bench, put down the holopad on the bench, and looked at Orion, who was looking at him with a confused look on his face. Chromedome then said, "Orion, look around. Not only is Cybertron and her colonies ravaged, but the people are very pissed at their situation, and that's putting it lightly. Rebels and terrorists are rising up, and if they get their hands on that data drive, then very bad things will happen."

"Bad things? If the information on the data drive is released, then Sentinel and his followers will be forced to step down from all of the political pressure."

"No, he won't. Sentinel is a very bad man- I mean, obviously- and I doubt he's gonna give up power just because someone told him too. If that data drive gets into the wrong hands, then the information on there could be released to the public, and that'll be all they need to set off on a blood rage. They'll start to rise up, and that'll lead to innocent people dying for a stupid reason."

"Are you kidding me? The people wouldn't start killing each other."

"The people already want to hurt each other already. I mean, there's rioting on the streets in every major city across the planet every other day, for Primus' sake. They see that, then innocent people will die, and that's a very bad thing."

"But-"

"No. I know I sound like an arse, and I know you have the best intentions at heart, but if anyone with bad intentions somehow acquires the data drive, then we're looking at the very probable end of our civilisation, and no, I'm not being overdramatic."

"..."

"Orion, look at me. Destroy the data drive. Even if the information on there is fake (which it probably is), nobody will care. They'll just see it as an excuse to go all battle royale on everyone else they know and don't know. Trust me, even if Sentinel is a terrible leader, living a long life is usually better than dying in fire and agony."

Chromedome then turned around, and walked back to the abandoned entrance in and out of the Alpha Reserve, "Look, I've gotta head back now. See you later, Orion."

"...Right", said Orion, as he took the holopad from the bench, and stood up straight, not taking his eyes off of Chromedome, "See you later, Chromedome."

Chromedome then transformed into his car form, and drove off through the overgrown fauna, while Orion looked at the holopad, and the information on it. As much as he hated to admit it, Chromedome had a point. Innocent people will die if this gets out, and Orion couldn't bear that on his conscience. What was left of the Cybertronian civilisation was heavily fractured, disenfranchised, and angry, and any bonds that held them together would immediately be broken, and society could fall apart permanently, and never be healed. So, for a semblance of hope and order, the data drive had to be destroyed.

But did it? The people of Cybertron and her colonies were angry, yes, but they were angry at one thing: Sentinel Prime. If they rallied together, they could hold mass protests, and use political pressure to remove Sentinel from power through peaceful means, and, if that didn't work, more forceful means. Then, once Sentinel was removed, Cybertronian society could properly repair itself, and set up more peaceful relations with their neighbouring species, and heal it's age old wounds.

So, that just left the question:

Should he destroy the data drive?

Should he not destroy the data drive?

Should he destroy the data drive?

Should he not destroy the data drive?

Orion was deeply conflicted. Each argument that he presented to himself had their own good points, yet they also had flaws. On the one hand, innocent people won't die, and a semblance of order and security will remain, however, this will lead to inaction, and the Cybertronian species will continue to live under oppression and fear, and slowly drive itself to extinction. On the other hand, the Cybertronian race will be more united than it ever has been in a long time, and they could possibly even overthrow Sentinel, but this will lead to a massive sudden loss of life, and complete destruction of anything close to a system of government. There was no such thing as a bloodless revolution, and many people would lose their lives to Sentinel's army of drones before they took a single step.

Orion just looked at the holopad, then put it in a side compartment in his waist. He then began to walk through the overgrown fauna, and to the largely intact exit. He would just go back to the apartment, and ponder on the two options that he had. Order, or freedom. He had to choose between the two. It was a difficult choice, as each on brought both perks, and flaws. All he could do, at this point, was ponder on the right choice, and soon, the answer will come to him.

Unbeknownst to both Orion and Chromedome, they had been, and were still, being monitored. A S.H.R.I.E.K hover mini-drone had been observing them through the foliage of plants, after tailing Orion from since he left his apartment, and had been recording their entire conversation.

TRANSMITTING RECORDING... RECORDING TRANSMITTED. AWAITING FURTHER ORDERS.

Rodion
The Metroplex
Intelligence and Espionage chamber

"DATA FROM S.H.R.I.E.K HOVER MINI-DRONE TF/1984 HAS BEEN RECIEVED", informed a Vehicon to a commander. The Vehicon was one of many lifeless Vehicons in a large chamber in the Metroplex complex in Rodion, and was part of a central monitoring system that covered large parts of both Cybertron, and the Colonies. This monitoring system was made possible by the drones and war machines of Sentinel's massive army, from the small S.H.R.I.E.K flyer drones, to the large APEX class tank drone, to the nimble WARBIRD fighter drone, to the Vehicons themselves, from the fighter pilots, to the regular infantry, to the police Vehicons, to the Titans, and to the Wall crawlers and Black Ops units. All of them were linked to the same hive mind network, the KURUMA network, governed by Sentinel Prime himself, and all controlled from a central brain, known as KURUMA, located in the Metroplex's lowest level underground.

The Metroplex was the most well defended fortress on the planet, with sentry turrets, warp cannons, watch towers, checkpoints, Vehicon patrols, and WARBIRD drones and Vehicon Starfighters always on alert, and even a Mothership hung in the sky over the fortress, keeping the city of Rodion under lock down. Rodion itself was the most well defended city on the planet, with curfews and lethal force used to keep the populace in check. A full frontal assault on not just the Metroplex complex , but the city as a whole, would be suicidal, and complete madness, unless you had a death wish. It would take either a lot of firepower, or a bot with years of patience, to take down the entire city in a successful fight.

"VERIFYING FOOTAGE", said the Vehicon to nobody in general, "VERIFYING... VERIFIED. CONFIRMED. FOOTAGE FROM S.H.R.I.E.K HOVER MINI-DRONE TF/1984 HAS BEEN CONFIRMED TO CONTAIN THE INDIVIDUAL KNOWN AS ORION PAX (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN). THE INDIVIDUAL KNOWN AS ORION PAX (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN) IS CONFIRMED TO BE CARRYING SENSITIVE INFORMATION OF LEADER SENTINEL PRIME (CLASSIFIED) AND HIS ACTIVITIES. CONFIRMED THAT THE INDIVIDUAL KNOWN AS ORION PAX (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN) HAS SHOWN THE INFORMATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL KNOWN AS CHROMEDOME (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN). THE INDIVIDUAL KNOWN AS CHROMEDOME (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN) IS CONFIRMED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CYBERTRONIAN CIVIL POLICE. THE INDIVIDUALS KNOWN AS ORION PAX (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN) AND CHROMEDOME (NATURAL BORN IACONIAN) ARE NOW THREATS TO THE SECURITY OF LEADER SENTINEL PRIME. TRANSMITTING INFORMATION TO LEADER SENTINEL PRIME."

Sentinel's chamber

Like the rest of Cybertron, Sentinel's main chamber was dark and bleak. It was a simple, dull, grey coloured room, with four walls, one of which was a window, which oversaw the entire city of Rodion (the window was made of bullet proof and laser proof glass, and was also protected by a laser shield, so any long range attacks would be impossible), while another had a large shelf over a part of it. On the floor of the office, there was a black symbol for Sentinel's government, and on the ceiling, there was a single white light, that barely lit up the room. Near the window, stood Sentinel's desk, in a plain grey colour, with a plain swivel chair, several draws of items in it, and a lamp, a holopad, and a communications device perked on it. Sitting in the swivel chair was Sentinel Prime himself, looking out over the large city in front of the Metroplex.

Suddenly, his holopad let of a soft beep, and a message popped up on it's holographic screen. Sentinel then swung round on his chair, and picked up the holopad, observing the message on it with a deep concentration. After reading the message, he then reached over to his desk, and tapped a button on the communications device. Afew moments later, a holographic image of a Cyberdroid appeared.

"Infinitus?"

"Oh, um, yes sir?"

"Get Mindset up here. Now."

"Oh, um y-yes sir. I'll have Tread Bolt bring him up now."

"Good."

Some time later...

"The message that I have received confirms what we have suspected: some nobody called Orion Pax has damaging information on me, and has been confirmed to have shown it to a member of the CCP, known as, um, Comb Dome or something or other", said Sentinel Prime to Mindset, who was standing in the middle of the room, while Sentinel was still sitting in his desk, facing Mindset, "This information is also confirmed to have been on Orion's documents on his devices before he transferred them to a data drive, and deleted the documents on his computer. This information is also confirmed to be the information that that spy had stolen before you killed him."

"So?" asked Mindset.

"So? You screwed up. You let a sensitive piece of information slip through your fingers, and now it could spread and compromise my entire government. That information is incredible damaging to me, and if the rabble gets their hands on it, then boom. My entire empire is done. And if it goes down, you're the first one getting hanged by the masses, not me."

"What's it matter, anyway? That info (whatever it is, since you've ain't exactly told me yet) is probably fake, and even if it's real, nobody's going to believe a lick of it, anyways."

"Oh, they'll believe it, alright, and even if they don't, they won't care. The pathetic excuses for citizens that impede my empire's progress, will have something to rally behind, and the only thing that will stay loyal to me will be the CCP -out of sheer loyalty to the safety of the masses- and my drones. The people will riot, and they will bring down my empire. And with a revolution, comes hope, and that is something that the idiotic excuses for masses cannot be allowed to have."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

Sentinel then got up from his seat, and marched up to Mindset, before stopping right in front of him, and looking down at him, with cold blue optics, "You want to know how to get yourself unslagged? Fine. What I want you to do, is to march to Iacon, destroy the data drive, and kill all of those who have seen that information. Orion, Comb... whatever, and anyone else. Make them disappear of the face of the damn planet! I don't care how you do it! Just. Make. It. Happen!"

"Heh, if it means I gets ta kill somethin' boss", said Mindset with a smug, "I'm all ups for it."

"I'm dealing with a goddamn thug...", muttered Sentinel.

"Eh?"

"Shut up and get out. I want this done by 2 days tops. If not, then you can say hello to Unicron for me."

"Where's that?"

"In the pit, you idiot!"

"Oh."

"Just go", said Sentinel in frustration.

"Right boss", said Mindset as he left, and walked through the door, leaving Sentinel just standing there, exasperated with his sadistic street thug for a S.I.C.

"He's good with a gun. He's good with a gun. He's good with a gun. He's good with a gun", continuously muttered Sentinel in an effort to remind himself why he kept that moron around.

Mindset then poked his head through the door, with a curious look on his face, "Er, boss? I's got a question?"

"What?"

"What's actually on that data drive, anyways? I mean, I knows it's damaging and all, but what's specifically-"

"None of your concern."

"Um, right."

Mindset then left, and Sentinel just rubbed his forehead. He swore he was getting a headache from all this pitiful nonsense.

But, to the obliviousness of Sentinel, there was someone observing him. On his holopad, underneath a number of hidden firewalls, a virus was inserting itself into his KURUMA network, and the holopad had been remotely accessed by a familiar organisation, and was listening in on his conversation with Mindset...

Rebirth
The remnants of the city Fortress
Underground Exiled Headquarters
Main EHC chamber

"Well well well", said Colossus in the centre of the large chamber, as he stood before a large hologram of the Cybertronian Empire, whilst listening in on Sentinel's conversation over an outdated holopad, "Thanks to the information that we got from the Jet Corps when Black Omen saved their asses, the KURUMA's firewalls are now down, and our NOA virus is now infecting their entire drone network."

"It only would've taken another 200 years to decrypt them", muttered Stalker in a sulk, as he, Groundpound, Soundwave and SoundBlaster stood in front of the leader of the Exiled.

"Of course it would have, Stalker, and the effort that you have put in will be rewarded", said Colossus in a pleasant tone, "But, any help that we can get to win our fight is a welcome gift."

"Heh, well, when you put it like that...", said Stalker in a much more upbeat tone.

"Well", began Soundwave, "With the NOA virus now in the system, we can finally peak into their internal operations, and better fight against the enemy. Our guerrilla efforts will ease up with all the information we will-"

"No."

"What?"

"We've been waiting for an opportunity like this for years", sternly, and confidently said Colossus, as he looked to his Cyberdroid partners Clench, Spark Barrel and Leader-1, "We have access to their drone network for at least 2 days. We have our own expendable division of drone units. We have a whole battalion of fully capable warriors, a black ops team, ships, tanks, spies, and weapons. Not only that, but if what Sentinel said to his lackey is to be believed, then the information that Spinster informed us he had is now sitting in Iacon, the least defended city on Cybertron. If we grab that information, then we can finally legitimise ourselves, and wage a true war of liberation against Sentinel's tyranny."

"Wait a moment", hesitantly began SoundBlaster, "What are you proposing?"

"We charge on Iacon, take control of the KURUMA network, and turn it on not just the CCP, but on everyone. We then grab the information, release it to the public, and finally rally the people behind us."

"But, Colossus", began Groundpound, "Aren't we fighting for the people? I mean, if we do this, then innocent people will die. I'm all up for fighting for the cause, I mean, don't get me wrong, but-"

"I don't like it anymore than you, Groundpound, but the people aren't immediately going to rally behind a simple bit of information. I'm afraid that in order to gain support of the people, we need to make some sacrifices."

"Well, um..."

"We talking about the greater good of the Cybertronian species as a whole, Groundpound. If the choice between a few civilians, and our entire species, then we have no choice."

"Well, I guess you're right... I mean I guess."

"So", began Soundwave, "What do we need to do?"

"Call up Zarak, Dante and Caliburn. Tell them to get the Novaroids and Galamen ready", ordered Colossus, "Soundwave, Stalker, tell Blood and Bomb-Burst to get our Marines in top combat readiness. We have 2 days to make this work. We march in with everything we've got, we take the data, and take Iacon as well."

"Indeed", commented Stalker, "Off to battle then."

"Oh, this is much more than a battle, Stalker", said Colossus, as his green optics glowed with determination and a fiery confidence.

The others caught up on this, and they also grew a fiery determination to win, coupled with a growing want to win their seemingly desperate battle to survive. All of the others in the large room had also caught up with the growing buzz, and were scurrying around the room, finally finding a hidden hope, and confidence in the fact that the time to fight had finally arrived.

"We're going to war."

If y'all could leave a review for my stories, that be great. I have 2 other stories running at the moment, and I'd very much appreciate it if you could read those and share your thoughts on them.

OCs: Aequmm Prime, Anima Bellator Maximus, Snowglobe, Groundpound.

All other characters that have introduced or mentioned have already existed, either as their own characters, or with different names that also already existed, or as one character who had 2 different names, who are in this continuity their own separate person (Leader-1, the Unicron trilogy Minicon, for example, had the alternative name of Spark Barrel, but here, Leader-1 and Spark Barrel are 2 separate people, and are both Cyberdroids).