Chapter Four

Rodimus kicked at a small pile of debris as he wandered around the outskirts of Iacon. A few hours of breakneck driving had helped him to work off most of his frustration, but his mood remained bleak. Their defeat at the hands of the Decepticons weighted heavily on his mind. They had been in worse positions, to be sure, but to have experienced a sort of peace, only to have it snatched away… it was unbearable! It was starting all over again, and he was powerless to stop it.

He and Optimus had been locked away in their offices since the defeat, formulating various battle strategies and defensive measures. There was no doubt in either of their minds that Golaran was merely a staging ground for an attack on Cybertron. Neither Autobot leader had been fit company – Rodimus had been short-tempered and cross, while Optimus seemed preoccupied and melancholy. Their troops had been loath to approach either one. Both of them had spent nearly every waking moment trying to anticipate the Decepticons' next moves. They had taken to recharging in shifts in the office or in either one's quarters. In fact, they had been together so much that Andromeda accused Rodimus jokingly of stealing away her man and having his way with him. It was the first time all week that Rodimus had actually laughed out loud. His amorous reputation was legendary within the Autobot ranks. Optimus had once even teasingly mentioned using Rodimus' notorious "skills' to lure in new recruits.

The faint smile that had been forming faded as Rodimus thought of his dearest friend. Optimus had not been taking the Decepticon resurgence well at all. On the outside he seemed as composed as ever, having held the Autobot army together at times through his unshakeable stoicism, but Rodimus knew him better than that. The countless millennia of war and strife had eaten away at Optimus, eroding his state of mind. Only a tiny handful of his closest friends knew of the sometimes-debilitating attacks of depression that would come over the elder Prime. Optimus was either too proud or too afraid to seek professional counseling, so Rodimus had filled the role as best he could. The problem was, the deeper his depression grew, the more likely he was to draw away and isolate himself, so that Rodimus would have to forcibly attack and tear at his friend's defenses until they crumbled. It was a painful experience for both of them, but it had to be done, and Rodimus knew that Optimus was secretly grateful for the chance to exorcise some of his mental demons. Still, Rodimus knew that he had only scratched the surface, that there was much more, thoughts and memories that were so agonizing that Optimus could not bear to share them.

How his opinion of Optimus had changed! When he had been Hot Rod, he had seen Prime the way most everyone else had: a hero, a legend, a nearly godlike figure who could do no wrong. Optimus was the beacon of hope for the Autobots, his strength and wisdom matched only by his compassion and charisma. He had been almost too good to be true, and his death had been a crushing blow to the Autobots. When he had taken over as Rodimus, he felt ineffectual, unable to live up to his predecessor's example. He simply could not be Optimus Prime. It was not until Prime's resurrection and his own return as Autobot co-leader that Rodimus had learned the truth. Even Optimus Prime was not truly what others believed him to be. He was a truly inspiring leader, but he also had his moments of doubt, and far more pain and misery than any one being deserved. He had made his position look so easy! Roddy had always wondered in the early days of his own leadership why he was having such difficulty, but now he understood. It wasn't easy at all; Optimus just made it seem that way. The mantle of leadership was every bit as crushing for Optimus as it was for Roddy himself, he had just learned to bear it gracefully, never letting on how he suffered for his people.

After so many years of hardship, of watching his friends die, he had been loath to let anyone close, and had succeeded in pushing away even Ultra Magnus, but Rodimus had refused to be shoved aside. The Matrix link that allowed them to share any strong emotion or experience had been difficult for them to accept at first, and it had made for quite a few awkward and downright embarrassing situations, but it had also brought them much closer than either of them had thought possible. Optimus had become very adept at hiding his emotions, but the link had made hiding from Rodimus nearly impossible. So Roddy had filled Alita's old position as confidante, finding that, deep down, Optimus was exceedingly grateful for someone to confide in, someone who truly understood how draining his job could be.

Now, despite Roddy's best efforts, Optimus was beginning to sink into despair. It would not affect his duties, but it would take a great personal toll. Roddy felt a brief flash of anger – why couldn't they just be left alone? Why did Fate always deliver a slap to both of their faces? They had both suffered so much already, and sometimes it was all they could do to drag themselves forward, for the sake of those that believed in them. It seemed, at times, that the Autobots were a cursed people. Would there ever be a moment's peace?

A sudden chill down his center support cable shocked Rodimus out of his thoughts. Something was nearby… something unutterably evil. He had learned to trust his instincts long ago, so he took heed of the mental alarm that was wailing within him. "Who's there?" he snapped, optics probing the buildings and shadows around him. He suddenly thought of the reports that had been piling up of Autobots collapsing for no known reason. There had been no clues to their affliction, save for their depleted levels of energy, and stimulated CPU readings. When they had finally awoken, the victims could only describe a grayish cloud of smoke that had come upon them, and then a painful intrusion into their very minds. Already overburdened, the two leaders had set these reports aside for later investigation, confident that the medical team would find the answer, suspecting already that this was the result of the recent of what had become a series of defeats at the hands of the Decepticons. Now, realizing suddenly how alone and exposed he was, Rodimus wasn't so sure.

Soft laughter echoed within his head, but it had a malevolent edge. Rodimus went completely stiff and still, mentally quailing away from the sound. "Roooodimussssss," a voice hissed, and the Autobot was unsure whether the sound had come from the outside, or from within his own mind. His instincts were screaming for him to run, but he was rooted to the spot. To his astonishment, a sort of grayish fog emerged from the shadows and swirled in front of him. It coiled up around his legs, and he flinched – the sensation was like a soft wind, but it chilled him to the core. A sort of head formed, bobbing right before his face. Two blazing red coals of eyes came into focus, and, even more incredibly, a mouth stretched into a cruel smile, rows of razor-sharp teeth flashing in contrast to its dark, smoky body. "What – what are you?" Roddy stammered, dread rising within him.

It chuckled. "You'll know soon enough. I've been waiting for you, Rodimus Prime. You have something I want." It pulled back a tendril and plunged it deeply into his chest. The young Autobot cried out against the intrusion and thrashed within its grip but was held in thrall by its powerful mind. It hesitated, seemed to frown, then plunged a second tendril into his head. Rodimus screamed, feeling it breach his very mind, ripping into his thoughts and memories. He could feel it actually smile and swell as it fed on his moments of pain and despair.

His darkest memories began to flash unbidden through his mind, and he tried to squelch them, press them back into his subconscious, but the creature tugged on them, pulling them to the forefront of his mind. "No!" he whimpered as it forced him to relive every terrible sensation as Megatron held a young Hot Rod captive with one arm as he blasted away at a battle-weakened Optimus Prime. A terrible sense of guilt flooded through him – no matter how many times Optimus had reassured him that it was not his fault, Roddy could not let go of the self-blame. The creature – Rodimus could only think of it as a vampire – bit down deeply, drawing the emotions into itself, feeding on it as if it were the finest elixir.

It sifted through his memories, pulling out the more striking ones, examining them as if they were precious jewels. He was scarcely more than a newling, lying lost and alone, everyone on the communications base brutally slaughtered. He was frightened – the bad people were gone, but they had killed everyone that he had known and loved, and they might return! Rodimus recognized this memory as one of his very first, and despite the age of the memory, the vampire-creature seemed to be quite taken with the simple yet strong memory-emotions of the newling. Rodimus continued to struggle, but he grew weaker as the creature fed on him. Drops of liquid seeped down his faceplate, betraying his agony, and the creature formed a tongue of sorts, lapping them up, relishing the misery that had shed them. "Stop, please!" he managed to choke, but the only response was a vibrating chuckle in his head.

He tried to pull away and slam up a mental shield, but the vampire merely shredded right through it, causing the young robot to wince at the pain. Once again it sunk its mental "fangs" into his mind, drinking in his despair as it pulled his thoughts apart. With great glee, it showed him the face of every soldier that had ever died under his command, laughing as Roddy wept. It found a particularly guarded memory and picked at its seal until it came free into the forefront of the assaulted Autobot's mind. "No, no! Don't make me look!" He tried to turn away, but it thrust the memory at him. Firebolt, his Targetmaster component, lay before him, broken and bleeding the green lifeblood of his Nebulan race, having been nearly torn apart by a Decepticon concussion blast. He looked up at Rodimus, face lined with agonizing pain, and begged Roddy to do him one last favor, to take his life and spare him any more needless suffering. Rodimus had known that the Nebulan would not survive his injuries and was beyond all hope of healing. He would last no more than a few hours, and those would be filled with nothing but blinding pain. Rodimus loved life above all else, and that included quality of life. He hated to see any being suffer needlessly, much less one that he had worked so closely with. Pushing his emotions firmly deep down, he caressed Firebolt's face gently with a fingertip and whispered a goodbye, hoping fervently that his friend would go on to a better place. Then, as gently as he could, he snapped the Nebulan's neck, putting an end to his pain, and his life.

Rodimus was near-hysterical now with grief, his spirit trembling and sobbing. He recoiled with horror as the creature forced itself deeper, crowding him into a tiny corner of its mind. He cried out in protest but was too overcome to put up a fight, as it filled his body with its own essence. Roddy's optics flickered unsteadily a few times, then began to glow with a reddish haze. His lip components curled into an eerie smile. This one did not have what it sought, but through his memories, it had been able to determine that there was another that did. And soon, very soon, that one would come to him.

Optimus Prime sat bolt upright in his office chair, the data pad in his hand clattering to the floor. Garbled emotions flooded him – it was hard to make sense of it, but one thing was clear. Rodimus was experiencing something terrible! He frantically tried to raise his second-in-command over the comm. link, but there was no response. He sent a query down the Matrix link, but that also was ignored. Consulting the perimeter scanners, he was able to determine Roddy's position on the outskirts of Iacon.

The elder Autobot leader stroked his chin out of habit, running through options rapidly in his mind. Rodimus did not seem to be in physical pain, but was certainly suffering from emotional overload. Optimus was loath to call for help for his friend, for he himself knew how private emotional pain could be. Rodimus had always acted with tact and discretion when Optimus was in a fragile state of mind, something that he had always been grateful for. Optimus stood and hastened out of his office. Rodimus needed his help, and he would go alone. This was nobody's business but their own.

A sense of dread came over him as he approached Rodimus' position. Something was wrong here, very wrong! Every circuit screamed at him to stay away, and he wanted nothing better than to follow his instincts, but he couldn't abandon Roddy if something was indeed wrong. He rounded a building and saw Rodimus staring off into space with a grin tingeing his faceplate. Roddy slowly turned to face him, and a wave of unease swept the elder Autobot. The look on his face was simply bizarre, especially since he had been radiating such distress just a short time ago. "Hello, Optimus," Rodimus fairly hissed. His tone was deeper and throatier than Optimus had ever heard. "I've been waiting for you." He stepped forward, his grin broadening, but there was such a feeling of *evil* to it that it froze Prime's servos.

Frantically, he probed the link, searching for an explanation for such an extreme change. The feeling that he got from the other end was sheer malevolence, something that existed only to destroy. A muffled scream came across, which was swiftly cut off by the other being. Rodimus looked at him, his optics glowing with a horrible reddish haze. Optimus felt his primary fuel pump stop cold. This was not Rodimus!

Through the Matrix link, he saw it. Saw what it was after – what Rodimus currently did not possess. But he did. And, at all costs, it not must get it! He hated himself, he felt guilty beyond measure, but he knew he had no choice. He turned and ran.