After that, they moved their base to the cavern that Scythe had discovered but kept a temporary outpost in the cave near the AllSpark until Bravo could build a proper surveillance system for it.
The new base was several thousand kilometers North of the AllSpark's location, which put them significantly closer to Megatron's resting place, but Scythe did her best to keep that thought out of her processor. She still left the base often to go exploring anyway, so that helped.
The twins learned to teleport and became a little bit more of a menace, but they still could not beat Echo in a fight. And they learned very, very quickly not to mess with Scythe. It almost became a tradition for her to put them on their afts as soon as she returned to the base because she just knew they had been giving everyone trouble.
One day, while Scythe was at the base and passed by Bolthex's workshop, she noticed that for a moment the range of her ability to detect sparks was significantly expanded. She stopped.
"Did you feel that?" she asked Leech.
"I think so?" they replied hesitantly. "I'm not exactly sure since it is your ability."
Scythe turned around and went back to the workshop.
"Hey, Bolthex, what are you working on?" she asked as she stepped inside.
"Hm?" The big mech looked up from the device on his workbench. "I'm just tinkering. Why? Did you need something?"
"Well, no," she said, climbing up on top of the workbench to see better. "It's just that when I was walking by, I felt something,"
He tilted his helm as he watched her survey his project. "Felt something?"
"Yeah. Do you remember when I told you about my ability?" She looked up at him again.
"Your ability to sense sparks? Yes, I remember."
"Well, when I was walking by just now, for some reason, the radius of my ability got significantly wider."
"Hm. I did have the device powered on just now. Let me try again."
He flipped the switch to provide power to the device again.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Um, yeah. That was definitely it. In fact, I think it is even bigger now that I am closer to it."
"Interesting," Bolthex said, picking up his datapad. "What is your usual radius?"
She told him.
"And about what is it now?" he asked.
"Almost double."
He recorded both numbers in his notes on the device.
"What is this thing supposed to be anyway?" Leech piped up.
"I was trying to develop a new radar system," Bolthex explained as he set aside his datapad and flipped off the power to the device. "Something that we could use to detect other Cybertronians across the planet, without letting them know we are here."
"Well, in a way, you have somewhat succeeded, haven't you?" said Leech. "If you can expand the range to, preferably, a global scale, perhaps we can create a program for the computer to see what Scythe sees, using her as a catalyst, of course."
Bolthex thoughtfully stared at the device as he tapped a digit against his chin. "Hmmm."
"No good?" Leech asked after a moment.
Bolthex finally stirred and looked down at them. "No, actually, I like it. But we should get the program up and running before I spend too much time expanding the range. Otherwise, it will be useless."
"Understandable," agreed Leech. They turned their attention to their partner. "What do you think, Scythe? It is your ability after all."
"Let's do it," said Scythe. "I've always wondered how many of our kind were actually on this planet."
To create the program, Scythe had to jack directly into the computer, which she did via Leech. Between the two of them and Bolthex, they managed to put together a simplified version of her ability.
"So, this is how you see us?" asked Bolthex as a few colored dots moved around on the screen.
"To a certain extent, yes," Scythe replied. "Each spark has a color but also its own unique energy. And that is how I can tell two sparks with identical or nearly identical colors apart. Take the twins for example." She gestured to the two cream colored dots in the far corner of the screen. "They both appear identical here because all the program can see is the color and not the energy that separates them. So, in this case, I will have to go in and manually adjust their indicators so that it is easier to tell them apart." And she did so by putting a colored line through each dot to match the twins' paint.
Over the following orbital cycles, Bolthex was constantly working on the device he and Leech had dubbed the Spark Detection System, or SDS for short. He was gradually able to expand the range, sometimes exponentially, sometimes only fractionally. And, there were a few times that the attempted upgrades only served to decrease the range, much to Bolthex's frustration.
With each successful upgrade, they also had to update the computer program. Every time they did that, the number of unknown spark signatures would increase. At one point they even picked up Jetfire's signal, but it disappeared again before the next upgrade.
Then, finally, after more than a couple of stellar cycles…
"FINALLY!" Bolthex shouted.
Each upgrade had made the device bigger and parts weren't easy to get a hold of. Bolthex was constantly having to rework designs, salvage old parts, and even make new ones with ores that the others had gathered for him. But finally, he was certain he had done it. The final upgrade that would allow them to scan the entire planet for Cybertronian life.
Leech shared Bolthex's excitement, but Scythe seemed a bit skeptical.
"Are you sure this is going to be the last one?" she asked.
"Yes. I am 99.999999% certain," said Bolthex.
"Which is 100 if you round up," added Leech.
"So, there is still a 0.000001% chance it won't work?" Scythe wanted to know.
"Smaller than that actually," replied Bolthex, a slight tease in his voice. "I was just rounding up."
Scythe put her servo on her hip and glared up at him. "Hmph."
"Come on, Scythe," Leech said. "It will be fine."
She sighed. "Alright, fine. Let's get this over with."
Leech hooked up to the computer so that when Bolthex powered on the SDS, they could feed the information from Scythe directly into the program.
"Ready?" Bolthex asked.
"Go for it," Leech and Scythe said together.
Bolthex flipped the switch and the device powered on.
"Oh!" Scythe blurted as the range of her ability began to spread out until it did indeed cover the entire planet. "Oh! This is…"
"Are you alright, Scythe?" worried Bolthex.
"Yes," she replied with a laugh. "I just didn't realize that there were so many of us on a random organic world."
"The number is less than 100 though," commented Leech.
"Yes, but still…" Scythe trailed off. She had her optics and other visual systems offline so that she could fully focus on her ability. Bolthex was right next to her. Fritz and Delta were in the medbay. Char was somewhere below the planet's equator. Alfa, Echo, and the twins were practicing flight maneuvers not far from the AllSpark. Jetfire was on the move, as was the other Seeker that he had been fighting the day Scythe met him. Megatron was almost exactly where Scythe had left him, his position only slightly shifting each stellar cycle due to the movement of the ice. And then there were a few tens of unknown Sparks scattered across the globe.
Then Scythe became very aware of another Spark. One that was deep, deep down, at the center of the planet. An ominous purple well of sinister energy that seemed to be drawing her in.
"...Scythe?" Leech asked as they felt her go rigid. They quickly tried to reach out to the main processor to find out the problem only to be denied access as the main lost power. And it took one full astrokilk for them to realize that her spark had gone out.
Leech turned to the only other person in the room and cried, "BOLTHEX! HELP!"
"What is it?" Bolthex asked, quickly turning to them, alarmed by the sudden urgency in Leech's vocals. "What's wrong?"
"SCYTHE IS DEAD!" Leech exclaimed, unhooking from the computer. "SHE'S…" Without the little bit of power the computer had been providing, Leech's voice began to waver, along with Scythe's frame. "Dead… Quickly… The AllSpark…"
"What? Hey!" Bolthex gaped as the little femme's frame suddenly collapsed. "Leech! Scythe!"
"All… Spark…" Leech's voice emerged in a static whisper, optics flickering.
Bolthex stared for a short moment. "Damnit!" He quickly grabbed Scythe's limp form and teleported to the cave with the AllSpark.
Leech's optics were so dim now that Bolthex thought they had gone out, but then he heard them mutter faintly again. "All…Spark…"
Bolthex quickly approached the Cube.
"This better work!" he snarled. He reached up and all but slammed Scythe against the dark metal. There was a surge of energy across the AllSpark that came racing down to the point of contact and Scythe jerked back to life with a loud gasp.
"…Bolthex?" she asked, confused, as the mech pulled her away from the Cube and set her down on the cutout ledge. When he let go, her legs gave out underneath her and she sat down hard. Groaning, she reached up and rubbed her helm. "What happened?"
"You died, according to Leech," he said. Despite the curtness of his statement, he sounded relieved.
"Scythe, what happened?" Leech demanded, optics fully bright and voice clear once more. They grabbed both sides of her helm with their tails and made her face them. They even pushed up her visor so they could see her optics. "You were doing fine and then suddenly everything on your side just… stopped. Even your spark was gone."
"Uh, I… I honestly don't remember," she replied after checking her memory banks. "Um, you're welcome to take a look, Leech, but the last thing I can recall is counting the unknown sparks. It is just blank after that."
Leech rushed in as soon as she opened up for them and accessed her memory banks themself. While they did that, Scythe looked over the rest of her coding for a possible clue.
Strange, Leech mused when they too found nothing but a blank space.
Forget that. Look at what else is missing. Scythe suddenly piped up, dragging them over to another section of coding. Do you see it?
It was just another blank space.
See what? Nothing's here.
EXACTLY! She chirped. This is where the slave coding used to be!
In the long moment it took Leech to process that bit of information, Scythe abruptly shoved them out.
"Wait, wait, wait!" they spoke aloud. "So, this means that…"
"Megatron truly has no control over me anymore," Scythe said, triumphantly. "And you can't take control of my frame anymore, unless I allow it."
"But you get to control me whenever you want to transform?" Leech whined. "That's not fair!"
"First of all, this is my frame. You are just a ride-along." Scythe poked them. "Second of all, we've been stuck together for over nine thousand stellar cycles, and how many times have you taken control of my frame in that time?"
"That's-" Leech was interrupted by the light of a scanner passing over them.
They both looked up to realize that Fritz was there. Bolthex had apparently called him over while they were talking.
"Hmm, her readings look normal," Fritz said as he looked over the scanner's results. "She appears to be perfectly fine. Why did you call me over?"
"Because she was dead just a bit ago," Bolthex said as if it was a normal thing. "Don't know why."
Fritz whipped his helm around to gape at him. "She was what?!"
"She was dead long enough to almost take me with her," Leech added nonchalantly, causing Fritz to stare at them in disbelief. "Not sure what killed her either."
"Honestly, Fritz, I don't even remember it," Scythe said when he looked at her for answers. "One moment, I was helping Bolthex in his workshop and the next thing I know, he's got me pinned against the AllSpark. But the good news is that the slave coding is gone. If Megatron ever gets free, he won't be able to order me around anymore."
Fritz stared at all three of them for a moment longer before he covered his face with his servo and sighed. "Well, that's fantastic news, Scythe. And if you guys don't know what happened, then I'm not going to ask any more questions, but please..." He looked at them again, Scythe in particular. "Be more careful. We don't need you dying permanently. Also, you probably shouldn't tell the others about this."
"Yes, of course, Fritz." Scythe got her peds under her and stood up just fine. "And thank you. All of you." She glanced at Leech and Bolthex.
"Alright. I'm gonna head back now," Fritz said, and disappeared.
"We should head back too and see if the SDS actually worked," Leech said.
"Yes, let's," Scythe replied, zipping over to Bolthex's shoulder so he could teleport them back.
The final upgrade had in fact been successful. The Spark Detection System was running perfectly. All of the sparks Scythe had counted were still there. Scythe herself was the only one who could access the SDS remotely for the time being, but Bolthex made sure to connect it to the base's central communications hub so everyone else could access it there. And in the stellar cycles that followed, Bolthex was able to create a sub-unit to put on the moon to expand the range of the SDS even farther. Something Scythe would be extremely grateful for in the future.