"What's wrong with Soundwave...wave...wave...?" Posed Shrapnel in wide-optic alarm as the telepath's frame began trembling violently in his little corner across from Megatron, Rumble and herself. She had no sooner asked than Rumble doubled-over and stumbled back around cover. His free servo wrapped around his midsection as he hit the wall and slid down, gasping and hissing interchangeably. Bewildered and reasonably concerned, Shrapnel drew away from Rumble as soon as he began acting out. "What is this...this...?"

"Soundwave." Groaned Rumble. "Somethings wrong!"

All of a sudden, Soundwave's cranium snapped back and loudly clanked against the wall. Rumble began to shout Soundwave's designation when he cut himself off, grabbing at the back of his own cranium as a back feed of pain from his symbiote link with Soundwave hit him. The telepath's visor dimmed in vibrancy till it was dull and his frame sagged into his corner.

"Ow ow ow!" Rumble hissed and raged as he clutched and thumped at his helmet. "Soundwave's down! Ow! Frag! Scrap! How can that glitch fend off Soundwave!" Exclaimed Rumble in angry disbelief. "She's a vorner, damn it! Not like us, Boss! A fragging vorner!"

"At least he dealt with our ricocheting problem...problem...lem..."

"Shut up, Bug!" Snarled Rumble.

"Lord Megatron," Shrapnel asked in a swift attempt to redirect Rumble's rage off of her, "what is wrong...wrong...?"

Nanokliks before Soundwave was knocked unconscious Megatron had gone strangely still, and it was this that Shrapnel had noted. His face had gradually morphed into gaping shock and had remained that way for a precious time. When he had not responded to any of the current conflict, nor fired a shot, both Rumble and Shrapnel turned their attention up to him and grew worried themselves at the crack in Megatron's stony visage. "Boss?" Called Rumble, elbowing him in his broad leg. "Boss! Stay with us! We need you!"

"Endurus." Rumbled Megatron quietly.

"What?" Demanded Rumble sharply, still nursing his cranium and chassis, but so greatly relieved that Megatron had broken free of his bizarre spell. "Endure? Obviously!" Bit the minicon. "What else are we gonna do?"

Abruptly, Megatron shook his cranium to chase out the cobwebs and when he had settled his features had contorted violently. The fiery light in his optics dilated, his mouth twisted up in a asymmetric snarl. Altogether, he bordered between adrenaline inducing rage and clinging to scraps of a coherent military leader. The latter barely won out. "Shrapnel!"

"Yes, Lord Megatron...tron...on...?"

His crimson sun optics burned into her as if he could instill his fiery drive within her by just his glare. "Are you ready to redeem yourself for your folly today, Insecticon?"

"Yes, Lor-"

Not waiting for an answer, Megatron once again jerked his cranium in the Autobot's direction. "Incapacitate the lot!"

"Incapa-?"

"What are you waiting for?!" Snarled Megatron. "Do it now! We cannot afford them to escape!"

Shrapnel jumped to obey. Blue electricity sparked and crackled between her slim digits as she rubbed her thumb across the pads. "Right away, Lord Megatron...Megatron...tron..." She replied in her whisper-thin way, vocal processor crackling intoxicatingly with the power building within her. "Stay off the wall."

It was the only warning given before she slammed her open-palm flat on the wall. "Hey!" Yipped Rumble, visor flaring in alarm, as he barely had time to leap off the wall and Megatron simply pushed off with an unhurried air. Bright lightning streaked from her servo and raced down the wall like a current. Megatron and Rumble were tense in the brief nanokliks, waiting intently for a hit. They were not disappointed. There came an explosion, shattering glass, the crackle of fried electronics and the stench of scorched metal. Half a moment of wretched silence and then it broke with the shrill, panicked voices of the Autobots screaming one designation: "SPIKE!"

Megatron cycled air through his olfactory, enjoying the smells of battle and impending victory. "Ahh...Finally. I could not stand that Witwicky."

In the wake of the chaos that consumed the Autobot extraction force, the ricochet had died down completely without the combiner Phage-Optimus to continue the barrage, and now with the Autobots in a fuss over the termination of the human, Megatron knew there was no better time to strike than now. He took a customary glance around cover and caught a bright burst of green light flare up down the hall. The light illuminated the hallway briefly, and in that short span showed him exactly where each Autobot was, including the femme of his current ire, newly reformated, from whom the strange and mysterious light had originated from. She was kneeling off center in the hall over Spike's cold frame. In time with the flash of light, his internal scanners picked up an obscene energy spike from Phage herself.

Rumble and Shrapnel, who had missed the light, both stiffened, having detected the energy spike and looked around curiously. Rumble was the first to sound off, "What was that? That wasn't you, bug, was it?"

"No." She responded haughtily.

Megatron's attention focused sharply on the smaller Rumble and Shrapnel nearly under his own pedes. "Cover me." He rumbled. "I need to reclaim my assets." Before either Decepticon could respond, Megatron leapt out from behind cover, hit the middle of the floor in a crouch, and in one powerful push he stormed down the dark hall. Every heavy pedefall reverberated through the hall and floor with the intimidating presence of thunder.

Left behind, Shrapnel and Rumble leant around the pot-marked engaged column to offer cover fire, but Rumble was holding one audio, still struggling with the feedback from Soundwave, and suddenly asked Shrapnel, "Did the Boss just say he was going to recover her aft?"

With an exasperated sigh and optic roll, Shrapnel stressed, "Assets...sets...ets."

"That's what I thought." Returned Rumble, briefly laughing at himself. "I mean, if the Boss had said that, well, she does have a nice aft. What?" Retorted Rumble at Shrapnel's sharp glare. "I had to escort that around all day! How could I not notice? I'm at optic-level!"

"Tch!"

"You're just jealous because your a stick bug." Rumble burst into a fit of chuckles at his own cruel zinger.

Shrapnel openly gaped at him then promptly glowered back, emitting a series of feral insectoid clicks before she calmed, and fired back; "I think it is incredible the free space I take up in your processor-possibly because I am one of two femmes on this planet and won't give you the time of day...day...day?"

Shrapnel smiled triumphantly as the laughter died in Rumble's throat and he looked at her with a great deal of repulsion. "Free space...! You terminated my brother, glitch! You could be the last femme in the universe and I wouldn't look twice."

The general bickering between the two only devolved into increasingly angry and venomous personal attacks.

"SPIKE!"

The Autobot extraction team had fallen into complete disarray. Half the team was screaming but no one was truly listening. Jazz kept trying to regain control, Jetfire was in shock, Sea Spray took one look at the situation and immediately abandoned Phage-One. The femme hit the floor and came out of the madness of the mindscape and back to the present chaos unfolding all around. Dazed and confused, Phage-One pressed a slim servo to her throbbing cranium as they took stock. Sea Spray slide in a column ahead and forcibly seized Bumblebee and slammed the minibot back behind cover. Bumblebee had dissolved into a frantic mess, screaming Spike's designation over and over again and clawing at Sea Spray's arm with his still good functioning servo to break free. He never was going to escape Sea Spray's iron hold.

"SPIKE! SPIKE, NO!"

"Get ahold of yourself, 'Bee!" Growled Sea Spray.

"BUT SPIKE!"

"He's gone, 'Bee!"

Phage-One's attention swept from Bumblebee and Sea Spray and landed on a charred, smoking mass of metal lying near at hand. For a brief nanoklik, they could not process why everyone kept calling Frenzy's frame Spike. Then chronological events settled in their proper place. The world warped and bent around Spike's exosuit as the reality of what had just happened settled in. Noise became dull and distant. Phage-One's breathing hitched. "Spike...?" They murmured.

Too soon, rebelled the half of Phage-One that was Pandora Endurus. An old and powerful fear of Phage's, that had formed shortly after ascension, reared its ugly head and overturned a horrid concoction of dread, abandonment, grief and loss into their chassis that was threatening to cool into an impossible weight. Too soon! railed her thoughts against the sight as her optics began to loose the potency of their neon green shade and revert back to Phage's dark blue hue. The transition had shifted to teal before she recalled something that Optimus Prime had said only recently. The reversal of Endurus into Phage seized up, then promptly restored back into the Endurus as she took all of the fears and channeled it into liquid hot anger that she could burn. It was then that Pandora Endurus flared back up in angry defiance to become laser focused and single-minded in her goal. Phage-One's omni-hair flattened down, twisting and weaving with each other into a french braid as they rapidly belly crawled across the floor towards Spike's charred exo-suit. Intermittent laserfire zipped overhead in haphazard bursts. They made it to Spike's exo-suit easily enough and began the process of manipulating the frame onto its backside so they could access the front hatch to retrieve Spike inside the suit.

:Teach me.: Demanded Pandora Endurus of Optimus Prime. :You said I'm Earth's Prime. You said my matrix abounds with potent potential. You said I can heal, if I tried. Teach me now!:

:Teach you? Now? You do not even have the basics of healing. Reactivating the terminated is on another level entirely!:

Spurred on by Pandora Endurus's raw focused anger and defiance, Phage-One grit their denta and quickly cast their optics onto Bumblebee. :Show me.: The Endurus demanded. :Take control if you have too! Run a test trial on 'Bee. Heal him. Show me how it's done and let's prove together what all this matrix can do.:

Optimus Prime's consciousness needed no additional prompting. With a surge of adrenaline, Phage-One pushed up and dived into cover with Sea Spray and Bumblebee. The former eyed her curiously while Bumblebee had settled enough that he was not fighting Sea Spray, but was seething with rage and refusing to take his optics off of Spike's suit. "Is it you?" Demanded Sea Spray.

"Yes." Responded Phage-One promptly as they pulled at Sea Spray's arm to get at Bumblebee's damaged side. "It is us." They responded together, Phage-One's voice echoing both feminine and masculine notes.

"What are you doing, sir-ma'am, uh sir?"

"Give me Bumblebee." Phage-One snapped as they struggled unnecessarily with him to get at the scout. At the command, Sea Spray's arm came off and immediately Bumblebee made a dive at Spike. Phage-One's sharp reflexes caught him in the chassis and shoved him back against the wall, effectively pinning him. Attention so gained, Bumblebee gaped at them as Phage-One placed her servo over the damaged arm.

"...Sir?" Sea Spray began, then stopped, when a surge swept through Phage-One's frame. It emanated from the chassis and pulsed outwards, where it passed the energon blue LEDs faded to neon green. Their optics burned with the same intense acidic fire. The pulse wave accumulated into the servo over Bumblebee's injury, which began to glow intently before they pressed it on Bumblebee's wound.

"Primus!" Sea Spray breathed, his visor glowing brilliantly against the dark, as the green energy sank into Bumblebee's arm, spread, and the wound began to rapidly heal. The healing was aggressive and instant, and the power that burned through Phage-One's systems was enough that they tore their servo off of Bumblebee's arm in a nanoklik, shaking their servo vigorously as if the energy had burned.

Bumblebee's optics were as round as saucer plates. Consumed by wonder, he flexed his digits and tested his arm, cast his gaze to Phage-One and did a double-take, then a triple-take. "Say what?"

"It's a miracle." Breathed Sea Spray.

Phage-One glanced at their own slim servo in amazement, then, swiftly, a devious grin cut across her white flexi-metal face. Feverish laughter burst from their mouth as they whirled from Bumblebee to Sea Spray. "A dagger! I need a dagger!"

Sea Spray was moving before he even realized what he was doing. "I only have an energy blade-"

Phage-One snatched it from his servo and promptly dived the short space back to Spike's exosuit. The next precious seconds were a blur of cutting and stripping metal, a surreal experience that overlapped with just earlier that day when she had been doing the same to Optimus Prime's chassis. Only the prize inside was not the Matrix and Optimus Prime's spark, but the fragile body of Samuel 'Spike' Witwicky.

When the chassis was pried open, Smoke poured out from the exo-suits central control. Afraid of what they would find but needing too all the same, Phage-One batted a servo too dismiss the smoke, discarded the energy blade into her subspace pocket and gingerly peered within the exosuit's chest cavity. As the smoke cleared, they found Spike was quiet inside the sparking cavity, trapped in the control brain of the suit's center console. The young man looked like he could have been sleeping; his mouth ajar and the characteristic brown Witwicky curls were a mess, reminiscent of his typical bed hair look, except angry purplish-red fractal pattern scars reminiscent of branching lightning adorned his flesh where none had ever been before.

"Oh, Spike..." Murmured Phage-One sorrowfully. Servos aglow with the vibrant green light, Phage-One gingerly dipped their servos into the exo-suit's cavity and carefully extracted Spike from his restraints. When they pulled him out into the open, the intense green light seeping from Phage-One's frame cast Spike's lightning-scarred body in ill shades, making him appear all the worse.

In that moment, Phage-One was struck by a sudden memory. It came roaring back from years ago: of Optimus Prime cradling an injured Alicean Witwicky in the palm of his servos, and from Pandora's memories of her perspective of events of being overcome with fear and wonder at the mechanical face peering down at her with such intelligence and empathy behind its luminescent optics. The sight of Spike was enough to weigh on their spark, but the pang of the memory drove the sorrow deeper. Kneeling over his body to protect it further from stray weaponfire, Phage-One placed their other servo atop of Spike, encasing the human completely, and concentrated.

The techniques Optimus used to coax Matrix energy forth worked all too well, except, as he had warned Phage within the mindscape, whatever matrix she possessed was a wild, untamed source. The techniques taught to Optimus Prime via the wisdom of previous Prime's worked well to draw out the Matrix's calm, cool energies, but when used with Pandora Endurus's, the energy that pulsed through their systems crashed through unchallenged with as much eager force as water breaking loose of a dam. The foreign matrix energy spilled through their systems, burning them up where it raced. Phage-One grit their denta to keep from shouting. The green light poured through the seams in their frame, burned from their optics in an intense fiery light, and spilled into their servos where Optimus Prime strained to direct the flow. The energy was of such intensity that the space around Phage-One flared with the neon green light in a twenty-foot radius.

The nanoklik that Optimus Prime realized Endurus's matrix energy was not going to behave the same as Cybertron's Matrix, the Prime nearly panicked, and through his fear Pandora Endurus worried too, for if something moved him to trepidation than it was grave indeed. As soon as Optimus called forth the energy he rushed to slam the floodgates close before the dam could shatter. The abrupt flow and cut off exhausted Phage-One. The radiant glow around them cut off as suddenly as the flip of a light switch, plunging everyone back into the cool darkness of the hallway. Phage-One was left gasping, reeling from the burn and then sudden chills, and just one question on their mind: Did it work?

As if on cue, desperate gasping and coughing erupted from the palm of their servos. Phage-One rusted over, unable to breathe at the noise. They were about to move their top servo aside to check on Spike when Optimus Prime Sent suddenly, :That was much more energy than required.:

Pandora Endurus hesitated. :Is that bad?:

Optimus was quiet a moment, wrapped in contemplation. Then answered carefully, :I do not know.:

With no other choice, Phage-One moved their top servo aside to peek. There laid Spike Witwicky, lightning scarred, but breathing steadily and resting comfortably. Opening their external diagnostic, Optimus Prime did a quick scan on Spike's vitals-all of which turned up better than before. "Oh my god." Breathed Endurus softly. "We just did that. I just..."

"What. The. Frag."

Their vibrant green optics jumped up and found Jazz and Jetfire gaping at her from across the way. Phage-One suddenly realized where she was, what she had just done in the open, and that more mechs than just the Autobots had probably seen. They regretted nothing. Phage-One offered Jazz a non-apologetic shrug of her shoulder and a coy smile.

"Oh, Pitt no. You do not play the blonde card with me." Snarled Jazz.

"There is too much to explain, Jazz." Phage-One was quick to interject.

"Prime? The moment we get out of here I want answers!"

Phage-One was just opening their mouth to respond when thunder erupted up and down the hallway. Curious where thunder could possibly be coming from while leagues under the ocean, Phage-One looked around and immediately dreaded the source. Megatron was racing down the hallway towards their position, his long, powerful legs eating up the distance in frightening time. Panic and adrenaline burst through Phage-One's systems. Where could they go? Where could they run? How could they make a stand against the old gladiator forged warlord. Phage-One enveloped Spike against her chassis and was just scrambling to their pedes when Jazz slide in between them and the oncoming Megatron mere nanokliks before Sea Spray also threw himself in the way to grab them and push them towards safety next to Bumblebee.

SKYWARP AND THUNDERCRACKER, ENROUTE TO REPAIR BAY

For the umpteenth time since Thundercracker had taken off with his trine brother, soaring through the wide open halls of the sea base with only the grace and maneuverability of a Seeker, Skywarp weakly thumped Thundercracker's carriage, metal and glass singing under the contact, and said faintly. "Let me down. I'll-eff!-walk..."

"For the last time." Rung Thundercracker's deep, rich vocals, "No. If anything, your senseless requests only validate my suspicions that you are delirious from lack of energon."

Skywarp tossed his cranium back and immediately he regretted the motion as it sent a lance of pain shooting up his side from the gaping injury that had not fully healed. "Save me my dignity, TC." He grit through his denta, face pinching at the pain. "If any of the cone heads see me like this...I'll never hear the end of it."

"Good." Said Thundercracker flatly. "Then you will serve as a warning about dropping guard when Autobots are about."

Dimly, Skywarp's ruby red optics flared from beneath his half hooded lids. "He got the drop on you too."

"But it was you Jazz went after."

Thundercracker waited for some comeback, but the words took root. Skywarp was silent a span, letting the notion sink in. They were nearly at the Repair Bay when Skywarp said suddenly, "He went after me because of the femme."

"You did warp her out of his grasp." Drawled Thundercracker with an exasperated sigh.

"The slagger was an inch off from fragging my T-cog! Pitt!" Snapped Skywarp before he let his cranium fall back again and again grimaced at a stab of pain that shot through his frame. He gritted his denta, hissed, and asked, "Tell me honest, TC, was today worth everything?"

"If the Autobots acquire the femme and, by extension, the Matrix back, not even Optimus Prime's termination would matter."

"No. No!" Skywarp's optics caught the overhead lights, glittering with determined mischief. "Where are those slaggers?"

"What? Why? You can't fight them in your condition!"

Skywarp's digits found solid purchase on Thundercracker's shoulder strut and squeezed hard as he tried to leverage himself up. "I have an idea, TC." Skywarp groaned and quickly gave up on the endeavor as additional pain flashed across the planes of his face. He settled back into Thundercracker's arms.

"Oh, no. No." Apprehension stole across Thundercracker's face. "You with ideas is like a scraplet infestation—Never any good. I'm taking you straight to Repair Bay. That's the end of this. We're nearly there anyway. Once you're repaired we can join Megatron in repelling the Autobot attack."

"If there still is one." Grumbled Skywarp obstinately. "You said it yourself, TC. Today means nothing if the Autobots get that trumped up android back. And if prior Autobot extractions are anything to go by, every nanoklik matters here. Just-huhnn!-Just, tell me their exact coordinates." A long mischievous smile played across Skywarp's handsome face. "I swear, this is going to be great!"

Thundercracker slowed as he veered around the final turn to the Repair Bay. Its automated doors loomed ahead. "Last time you said that you teleported Megatron while he was in recharge into the middle of the ocean."

Skywarp's mouth hung open, caught between furthering the enthusiasm of his latest prank and changing tracks to counter Thundercracker's rebuke. His pointer digit popped up off Thundercracker's shoulder strut and held. Then, with the dimming of his enthusiasm, his digit dropped back down. Eventually he remarked lamely, "I was drinking."

Thundercracker cut his anti grave thrusters and landed neatly outside the Repair Bay doors. "My afterburn you were." Thundercracker snapped, shooting a pointed glare at Skywarp as they crossed the threshold into the Repair Bay.

The Decepticon Repair Bay was vastly different from the Autobots Medbay. The majority of medical care had been streamlined to restoration machines dubbed CR Chambers and medical drones eons ago, thus removing a large margin in accidents and termination brought on by doctor error, but also losing the Cybertronian warmth of personal care. Such Repair Bays only required a skeletal crew of doctors to oversee operations or be on hand for procedures beyond the Repair Bay's parameters. Autobots generally regarded the Repair Bay's as cold, clean factory-esque assemblies, whereas the Decepticons saw the Autobot Medbay's as inefficient outdated throwbacks. It was into this indifferent, compact room the Seeker's had arrived. Ignoring the multitude of the cyclinder CR Chambers lined against one wall, with five currently in use by the Stunticons, Thundercracker veered away, choosing to drift towards the other half of the Repair Bay with a series of doors. The majority led to private operating rooms, but one was the supply storage. It was there Thundercracker cut a straight line for while Skywarp continued to try and justify his poor sense of judgement.

"I was overcharged at the time! I was! Come on!" Skywarp whined. "I thought he could take a harmless joke!" Thundercracker dropped his arm supporting Skywarp's legs. Half balanced on Thundercracker, the purple and black trimmed Seeker swung in an arc, hit the floor and groaned loudly. His fist buried deeper into his wound. "Careful with the jostling!"

Thundercracker scoffed and ignored Skywarp's discomfort. "It's Megatron. When was he ever known for his sense of humor!"

"I've seen him laugh!" Countered Skywarp sourly.

"Over engex!" Thundercracker shot back. "And how did that harmless joke go for you? Oh, that's right. You've been kissing more aft than Starscream for months. I'm honestly not surprised you gave it your all at the battle. Hoping to regain Megatron's favor."

"Look, I swear this is going to be amazing." Skywarp groaned. "Just follow my lead."

"The day I follow your lead is the day I end up in a smelting furnace."

Skywarp's feature's contorted into a violent scowl. "Look, either you tell me the aft-bots exact coordinates or I'll ask Soundwave when he-Oh! Oh, nevermind. Channels are back up! How long has that been?"

Thundercracker's grey face contorted in alarm. "Skywarp! No! We're already here! I just need to grab-!"

The wretched smell of burnt ozone was his first and only warning. Skywarp pitched forward and wrapped his one good arm around Thundercracker's waist. A brilliant light enveloped the two Seekers and suddenly, violently, Thundercracker's surroundings shifted.

Thundercracker's loud protest started in the Repair Bay, "NNn-" And ended in the hab-suites. "-O!"

His audio receptors were immediately bombarded by the eruption of weaponfire. It took his optics another nanoklik to clear of the light from Skywarp's teleportation ability and sort out the chaos. Another nanoklik and a half for his processor to realize Skywarp had dumped them behind enemy lines and right smack dab in the middle of the hallway of incoming friendly fire from Rumble, Shrapnel...and Megatron charging down the hall.

If they survived this, he was going to terminate Skywarp himself.

Mass confusion broke out. Several shouts erupted from the Autobots all around as they swiveled to address the threat at their exposed backs. Down the hall Megatron skidded to a stop, stunned by their arrival, and called for a 'cease fire' to the Decepticons at his backside. In the chaos, Skywarp slipped away and dodged behind Thundercracker. "Do your thing, TC!" Shouted the prankster.

Accessing all the variable threats, 'doing his thing' was the only thing Thundercracker could do. He reacted out of instinct. He threw his arms up ahead of him, palms open and snapped off two sonic blasts. The twin conical bursts going off at close range slammed the Autobots backwards, sending them crashing against the engaged columns, smacking hard into walls or each other. Glass shattered in a dazzling shower from every direction and rained down on to the floor. Inevitably, the Autobots staggered out from behind cover and collapsed into the hall, groaning and cursing loudly interchangeably and struggling to regain their equilibrium and shake off the distortion effect.

A disquieting silence befell the hallway in the wake of Thundercracker's explosive finale. The Seeker in question was transfixed in place with a thousand yard stare, cycling air through his auxiliary vents noisily, chassis rising and falling rapidly. From behind him, Skywarp straightened up and hobbled out from behind Thundercracker's bulk. Skywarp's first order of business was to spit on Jazz as he struggled in a disoriented fog on the floor. "Score 2-1, glitch!" He swiveled back to Thundercracker and, grinning like the devilish miscreant that he was, he slapped Thundercracker hard across his broadside. "Told you this was a good idea!"

The sharp slap to his backside knocked Thundercracker out of his stupor. He was just of a mind to turn and punch Skywarp in his grinning face when Megatron shouted from down the hall. "Skywarp! Thundercracker!" Both snapped to attention. Rumble and Shrapnel came out from around their cover and joined Megatron. A rare smile split the Decepticon Commander's face as he made easy work of soaring over the collapsed floor to close the distance. "Great initiative!" Stunned by the rare compliment, Thundercracker gaped at his commander while Skywarp grinned like a loon. The latter's grin quickly dissolved as Megatron added with a growl, "But Skywarp, aren't you first required to submit permission to teleport to me?"

Skywarp's face grew long, but he tried to recover by quipping, "Permission to teleport, Lord Megatron!"

Thundercracker shuttered his optics and was hard pressed to not sigh in exasperation. From the corner of his mouth he sneered at Skywarp. "You can't ask retroactively. It doesn't work that way!"

"Yes it can."

"No, it can't."

As Megatron descended on their side of the conflict, a deep rumble emanated from his throat. The Seekers grew quiet and straightened to attention. Skywarp tried to mimic but was unable to properly stand with his fist plugged into the gaping wound in his midsection. Megatron's hot glare bored into the pair as landed. "Hrmmm...Do not let it happen again, Skywarp."

"Yes, Lord Megatron!"

The Decepticon Commander's attention broke from the pair and refocused on the disoriented Autobots strewn about the hall. A wolfish gleam stole across his harsh features, and then he swooped in among the Autobot's midst in three long strides, stepping over Jazz, Sea Spray and Spike's trashed exo-suit. His face darkened dangerously, mouth contorting into an ever widening wolfish snarl. He voice dripped dark and predatory overtures as he came up swiftly on Phage-One and seized her. "As for you."

As soon as Megatron seized her arm and yanked the femme up off her pedes, Phage-One abruptly came alive, twisting with an explosion of energy in his grasp like a wild thing. A scream tore from her vocal processor as she whipped around and sliced at his face. The pain did not register to his systems straight away, but his reaction was immediate that something sharp and dangerous had cut near his optic. Megatron reared back with a cry of rage. In a burst of adrenaline and ancient, ingrained training, he seized the offensive arm before slamming her into the wall.

His entire world devolved to just him and the femme in his grasp. So close, despite the lack of lighting, it was impossible not to notice the changes in her that the reformate had brought on; from the twisting grey omni-hair to the flared back panels of her automotive alt right down to the thin armor he had seen innumerable times on Autobot speedsters that was specifically forged with the purpose of agility in mind, at the cost that the exodermal armor would tear apart like a gold panel against heavy ballistics. Not a thing about her escaped his notice, especially not her burning acidic green optics and the defiant fine-pressed frown. A defiance, he just knew, had to belong to Optimus Prime and not the plucky, mild-mannered Phage.

"You. Dare!" Hissed Megatron, his voice low and raspy and heaving from raw adrenaline. His optics glanced to her arm, took quick stock of her newest makeshift weapon and choked on a disbelieving laugh. "Keys?" His optics riveted back to hers and locked. "You thought to harm me with a set of keys!"

"Nearly took your optic, did I not?" Heckled Phage-One under the strain of the weight of his bulky arm pressing against her upper chassis.

"Nearly does not cut it in war." Hotly retorted Megatron as he applied crippling pressure to her wrist until her expression broke. With a curt grunt of pain, the keys dropped from her fine digits and hit the floor in a heavy clatter. He released her arm then. In exchange, his large black servo found her delicate throat and proceeded to wrap his thick digits around it and hauled her off her pedes. Her free servos flew to his servo and clawed at it desperately. Meanwhile, her long, snaking omni-hair fell apart of its messy bun and bunched in writhing coils around her face, a strange mimicry of her distress.

The longer he watched her struggle, the more placated his wolfish persona became. "You're fighting spirit is so admirable, Phage. But no more games." The distance between them closed as Megatron leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper. "You know, Optimus Prime, out of all the forms you have ever taken, I like this one the best." The wolfish grin stretched slowly across Megatron's flexi-metal face as he watched the very defiance melt off her face. "Few victories have ever tasted so deliciously sweet. You did not honestly think I would not figure it out? That I did not know you, Optimus Prime. No matter your form." No answer could be given as Phage-One struggled against his grip on her throat, clawing and prying at his servo uselessly with her teal and white servos. His mouth pulled into an ever widening, sick grin.

"You know Optimus, I have had some revelations today. The most prominent among them, as I am certain you may recall from our chat at the Bar, that what is my life without your presence in it? We have been at odds for so long, what would I do without you? What would drive me? What pushes me? We are two sides to the same credit. And Phage...Ahh, she has unwittingly become the edge here has she not? Trapped in the middle. I am so glad that she saved you on the field today." His fiery crimson optics took on a sudden detached air. The change was just as frightening as everything else about him, how easily he teetered between Dr. Jyckle and Mister Hyde. "No wonder you demanded your release so vigorously, Phage. What would you have done if the Autobots had not come to rescue you? What would you have done when you began suffering through the reformate? Would you have begged me for medical treatment? Would you have told me before it escalated to this point? Just a few hours ago, Phage, I may have taken pity and spared you. The spirit of vorners and all that..."

"Megh-"

"No. Do not talk, Prime. That would just spoil the moment." Mocked Megatron as he applied the smallest bit more pressure on her throat, then continued earnestly. "I am so glad Phage rescued you, Optimus. You know what is best about this whole situation? That nobody knows but us." His frightening smile returned, tugging first at the corner of his mouth and spreading gradually. "If my Decepticons knew they would demand your immediate termination, Optimus Prime. But...like this, everyone believes I terminated you on the battlefield. Because of Phage, I can have complete victory and still keep you around. Aaah, I see the question in your optics-How? How, Megatron?" He leaned in again and continued his disquieting hushed conversation. His face, suddenly, took on a harsh, determined glare. "When I get the Matrix from your little hiding place, Phage... I. Will. Bury. You." The depraved admission rolled off crisp, but rough and aggressively from his glossa. "Both of you, in the next generation." Her green optics flared at his dark implication. "No, Optimus. I-Will-Not," Megatron clipped, "have you both disentangled. I will allow the reformat to complete. I will oversee personally that your sparks merge and your minds become so entangled there is no hope for Ratchet to separate either of you. Perhaps before this, or after, I will put on a show of executing Phage to everyone. I will call up the Autobots and I will put her to the blade myself. Do not look so afraid, we have already established that you can regenerate at exceptional speeds, Phage. And who knows about that besides us?" Her face grew leaner and hollower as he carried on. "Then, then, after your farce of an execution, I will Altihex your new gestalt self and bury you in the next generation. No. One. Will. Ever. Know. No one will ever stop to think twice about the one femme that I shower favor on. No. One. Why? As the Decepticon Lord Commander, would I not be entitled-nay, expected?-that I could lay claim to at least one of the hundreds of not thousands of new femmes raised from the Matrix? No one would think twice. Then, at long last, it could be like old times between us, Optimus... Well, with some improvements." He concluded as he gave Phage-One a once over.

"Yur—Sick!"

A weary sigh rushed from Megatron's mouth and heated the side of their cheek. "I said not to talk, Optimus. Why ruin this beautiful moment."

"Lord Megatron." Said Thundercracker. "What shall we do with the Autobots?"

Megatron shuttered his optics and cycled air through his systems in a bid to draw on a pool of patience. "Throw them in a cell, Thundercracker. If they give you any trouble, terminate them."

"Affirmative, Lord Mega-!" Thundercracker began as he turned to grab Jazz, then stalled up. Somewhere beyond the sturdy, reinforced walls of the base there came an ominous explosion. Everyone within the hallway stalled, all craniums swiveling, optics turning, and stared at the damage littered wall at the end of the hall. The Decepticons knew that that stretch of wall branched into a 'T', and was the outer wall of the base that separated them from the ocean beyond. Autobots and Decepticons alike waited, rusted to their places. One spark pulse, two, three, four, five... The outer wall was slammed by the shockwave of the explosion. The base groaned and creaked under the buffet, but the walls held and, eventually, everything settled.

Skywarp let air rush from his vents in a noisy bout and staggered backwards towards the group and away from the outer wall. "What was that?"

Slow trickling fear settled across Megatron's face. "Starscream." He groaned and immediately activated his commlink. "Starscream! Report! What is-"

Abruptly, the hallway became a scene straight out of a dance club. Brilliant, blinding, multicolored lights flooded the darkened hallway in a blinding strobe light effect. A second sonic boom slapped hard on everyone's audio receptors with a music sample of Dio's 'Last in Line'. Dazzled and disoriented, neither Seeker was prepared for Jazz's second attack on them that day.

Thundercracker had only the vaguest notion of the mass of scintillating lights drawing closer to him, more particularly, rolling across the floor, before it leapt into the air and hit him with a pede to the face. He then slammed hard on the back wall and rebounded off. In the meanwhile, Jazz neatly landed from the high kick, rolled with the momentum and went into a roundhouse that knocked Skywarp flat on his aft. Thundercracker got caught up with Jazz a third time for the day as he stumbled back into the mech's orbit from the momentum of the rebound. He caught Jazz's elbow to the midsection that bent Thundercracker double over. The shorter Autobot then seized the much larger Seeker and flipped him over his shoulder strut down the hall towards Rumble and Shrapnel. The two of whom had followed Megatron across the watery pit in the floor and had just landed before the hallway had instantaneously transformed into a dance club.

There was yelling. There was cursing. Thundercracker was certain Shrapnel had screamed his designation as he crashed, bounded, and rolled inelegantly down the hall. Systems reports informed him he had damaged his wings in the process. He crashed hard into the smaller minicon and Insecticon and took all three of them down as they got tangled up and collapsed into the watery pit.

Megatron's cranium snapped around sharply to account for the chaos erupting around him. He followed the action as Thundercracker, Shrapnel, and Rumble took a dive and marked it with a bitter noise before his cranium snapped back around to the blinding lightshow that was threatening to steal away his victory by bare wires. At that moment, Jazz had cut the club lights and audio-wrecking music, and Megatron found out why. After dispatching Thundercracker, Jazz had gone for the weakest prey. The Autobot had wrapped around Skywarp's backside and was holding the Seeker in a pin with a wicked serrated dagger pressed across his neck cables. The top half of Jazz's black flat-horned helm poked around Skywarp's shoulder strut and the upper half of his face. Attention so fixed on him, it was hard for Megatron, Phage-One, or any of the Autobots beginning to stir at Megatron's heels to miss that Jazz's blue visor was shattered from Thundercracker's sonic blast. That little feature immediately arrested the attention of the Autobots present. The warm glow of Jazz's optics played across Skywarp's shoulder and illuminated Jazz's face in sinister crimson shades.

Taken aback, Skywarp gaped at Jazz, who had him in a lock, and spluttered, "Traitor!"

"Shut it." Jazz bit back and made sure to get his point across by digging the edge of the blade against Skywarp's vital neck cables. A trickle of vibrant blue energon prickled along the dagger's edge.

Despite the threat, Skywarp would not be quiet. Seething with rage, the wounded Seeker snarled and snapped; "That's how you managed to fool our energy signature grid! It recognized you as one of us!"

"I said shut it." And this time, Jazz jostled the Seeker, sending a fresh wave of pain lancing through his systems from the still opened gun wound Jazz had put in him earlier.

"Maestro!" Hissed Megatron then remarked coldly, "What are you doing?"

"It's Jazz." He clicked brusquely. "What's it look like?"

"I have Phage." Intoned Megatron, nonplussed by the turn of events in the slightest.

"Funny. I have Skywrap. Looks like we both have something the other wants."

"Who said I wanted him."

"Damn, Megs. Cold. So cold." Said Jazz, talking fast. He pressed the dagger harder to Skywarp's fuel line until a trickle of energon cut a sharp path down his neck. "Let's be real, we both know with his teleportation ability he's not exactly dispensable. So how about we have a little chat, yeah?" As quick as he had thrown out his offer to Megatron, Jazz remarked casually to the Seeker locked in his pin, "Not your quartex is it."

"Go to the Pitts." Groused Skywarp.

"Been there." Jazz quipped without pause, his optics locked with Megatron's and logging every minute shift in his frame. "Got the bumper sticker. They make a great Smelted in Kaon."

"Frag you." Skywarp hissed. "I'll teleport away and-"

"Try it and I will sever your fuel line before you can complete the jump."

Relegated to the sidelines of the second Kaonite standoff of the day, Phage-One was steadfastly tight-lipped, their optics wide and round and jumping quickly between whomever was speaking at that moment in time. While Jazz and Skywarp had their quick, quiet spat, a low rumble emanated from deep within Megatron's chassis. Phage-One's optics leapt up to him and noted the stony countenance and the flicker of a sneer that kept quirking his mouth at the left corner. Finally, Megatron spoke; "I do not negotiate, Maestro."

"Jazz." He corrected stiffly. "And of course you do. You've negotiated with Prime innumerable times. So, let's talk shop for poor ol' Skywarp's sake. If you want pretty boy here to stay functioning you will allow us to retreat. You have my word I will release him on the surface."

"You expect me to believe that you would honor that?"

"You have too."

"I would be a fool to believe a word that comes from your vocalizer, Maestro."

"Jazz."

Rumbling darkly, Megatron stepped away from the wall and positioned himself more towards the center of the hallway. Still with his servo at Phage-One's throat, he peeled them off the wall and lowered them to the floor, where Phage-One did an awkward hop, skip, stumble before they caught their balance. Not satisfied with the space between them, Megatron dragged Phage-One to his side. In that moment, Jazz broke optic contact with Megatron to mark Phage-One's struggle. Whom, realizing they had gained Jazz's attention, tried to mouth something his way. Jazz's attention leapt repeatedly from Megatron, to Phage-One and back again.

"Slag him."

Jazz's attention snapped back to Megatron. "What?"

The sneer finally did work its way onto Megatron's face. "I said slag him, Maestro. Go on. I have what I want." For emphasis, he shook Phage-One in his ironclad grasp whilst the femme pried futilely at his digits. "What is the matter, Maestro? What are you waiting for? Cut Skywarp's fuel line. End him."

"Lord Megatron...?" muttered Skywarp questioningly.

"You can't be serious." Jazz said slowly, conflict slowly creeping into his optics.

"I am always serious."

Littered around the hall, Sea Spray, Bumblebee and Jetfire's groaning and moaning came to a gradual, quiet end. Megatron was aware of them peripherally, so when the Autobots began to silently and cautiously rise up off the floors with weapons in hand, Megatron let it be known that he was charging his fusion cannon. The Autobots stalled, rigid and uncertain and glancing between themselves and Jazz for guidance. At that moment, Thundercracker, Shrapnel, and Rumble burst out of the watery pit and hovered mid air, weapons ablaze. In an instant, Bumblebee, Jetfire and Sea Spray swept around to train their weapons at the incoming threat. Weapons thrummed, but no shot was fired.

Megatron quietly laughed. "It appears that the situation has become exponentially messy."

Just then, Thundercracker interjected hotly, "He's an ex-Con?"

"Already established this." Jazz remarked with a measure of mock boredom. "Move this along."

"The damn Autobot was one of us?" Thundercracker continued to belt out angrily. "Did you know, Megatron!"

"Of course." Bit Megatron stoically, shooting Thundercacker the barest of glances. "I was present when Jazz was dragged in, and there for when he was Altihexed. Pity he escaped before the procedure was fully completed." The news ripped through the Autobots hard. Sea Spray's attention was the hardest on Jazz, scrutinizing and angry. Jetfire's was unreadable. Unsurprisingly, Phage-One's was distant, detached. Bumblebee was defiant, despite the evidence, and groping for reason in the confusion. "Jazz was never Altihexed! He never...Jazz?!"

But Jazz was silent, grimacing as if in pain, as perspiration began to form on his brow. A slow smirk tugged at Megatron's mouth. Taking everything in but revealing nothing, Megatron's frame eased back into an impassive roll on the heel of his pedes. "I wonder, Maestro, but would the Autobots have let you be in charge if they knew what you did back on Cybertron?"

Bumblebee desperately kept trying to shoot Jazz a glance over his shoulder strut, but did not dare take his sight off of Rumble, Shrapnel, and Thundercracker for long. "What? What is he talking about, Jazz?"

Mostly hidden behind Skywarp's larger frame, Jazz's deep scowl was missed by everyone but reflected in his angry red optics. "It's Commander Jazz." He corrected hotly. "I have a knife to Skywarp's fuel line, Megatron! And you want to reminiscent?"

"I have been in a particular mood today." Muttered Megatron where only he and Phage-One could hear, before resuming vocally. "So you do, Commander Jazz." The amount of mocking scorn he injected into the title would have made Starscream pause to take note. "I merely wonder what the Autobots would have done had they known what had happened to you prior to the Ark launch. Optimus Prime never did forgive you, did he? Not once during all these years we've been exiled on Earth? That's why you've been stripped of your rank as Second in Command."

"Shut. Up."

"What?" Chirped Bumblebee.

"No, of course Optimus didn't. How could he forgive you for Solura Storm? The Ark launch pad was bombed. Elita-One and the Autobot femmes-terminated. I presume along with the remainder of the Autobot ranks. The ship was designed to hold three-hundred."

"Shut up!"

Sea Spray's visor burned angrily at Jazz. "It was you who sold out the Ark's location?!"

"No!" Bumblebee shouted, always the one eager to defend any Autobot. "No, Jazz wouldn't! If he was Altihexed he didn't want too!"

"But he did." Said Sea Spray darkly.

As the tense back and forth went on, as Megatron slowly humiliated Jazz further and further, Skywarp could not help but laugh at events and sneered at his captor, "Whose having the bad quartex again?"

"Silence!" Demanded Megatron, frightening the Autobots into submission as easily as his Decepticons, before redressing Jazz with a critical optic. "What are you doing, Maestro? I told you to execute Skywarp."

"Let's not be hasty here!" Whined Skywarp, glancing nervously between Megatron and the blade at his throat.

"I don't take orders from you." Bite Jazz darkly, as the persperation collected more heavily across his flexi-metal face and began to pour.

"Don't you?" Mocked Megatron. "You forgot to disenage your audio receptors, didn't you? Don't bother, Maestro. I think we both know it's a bit late for that now."

"What is he talking about, Jazz?" Questioned Bumblebee, only to become alarmed when he glanced over his shoulder strut and saw the wild paranoia flooding Jazz's face. His optics were dilated. The strain from before had etched deeper across his face. "Jazz!?"

Angry, Jazz snapped; "The deal I offered was Skywarp's life in exchange for our own!"

"Come now, Maestro. What you are offering is a farce, one-sided offer. You have no real intention of terminating him. If you terminate Skywarp now, you loose your bargaining chip and we terminate you. So, you will not. In such scenario, Skywarp lives. If I allow you Autobot pests to flea, Skywarp lives and I loose my prize. Where do I come out in this bargain? Nowhere. You have trapped yourself by your own flimsy illusion of power. Typical Autobot mistake, starting something you do not have the metal to finish."

At last, Skywarp caught on to the dangerous gamble that Megatron was angling for. His young angular face lit with realization before settling into the glow of adoration he reserved for his lord. "Megatron! Don't let them get away!"

"Maestro." Megatron said carefully, clearly, each syllable rolling off his glossa with his characteristic stormy edge. "Release Skywarp." Jazz's whole stance went rigid. The Decepticon Commander's features settled into his customary unreadable frown. The silence dragged on for longer than anyone liked. "Well...?"

Jazz shuttered his optics, grimacing, persperation poured down his flexi-metal face. "No."

Megatron's mouth curled upwards, exposing his denta in a frown.

:Megatron is going to terminate them both!:

:What?: Questioned Pandora. :But Skywarp-:

:Rarely does Megatron ever do hostages. This... he's been playing Jazz! The Altihex virus functions like a powerful drug to subvert the will of its infected to do as Megatron commands! He told Jazz to do something impossible, terminate Skywarp, to trigger the virus! Megatron has only been drawing this out to see if he can control Jazz! Now that Megatron told him to do something more palatable, release Skywarp, and he still refused-he will terminate him!:

:Oh! You're right, Op! That dream! With the lights! He'll kill them both!:

:Dream...?: Optimus began to question then stopped, remembering nearly too late that they had had a strange abstract dream when they had nearly drowned. A dream about lancing lights that must have been laserfire, and ethereal beings dancing in the dark that had struck him as so much like Jazz, and how all lights had faded to dark. Abruptly, it struck Optimus how unfazed Pandora was by the concept of having abstract visions foretelling doom. :You've been suffering matrix visions too!?:

:Optimus, how can we save Jazz!: Stressed Pandora, and then grew more frantic when Optimus came up with a blank.

Already aware of Megatron's stance on hostage situations such as these, Thundercracker knew what was coming. His fuel pump clenched. His optics darted between Megatron and Skywarp. There was no fear in his trine brother's face. Only his stupid nearly there quirk of a grin.

"A pity." Sighed Megatron and the fusion cannon came up.

"NO!" Phage-One screamed. She took hold of Megatron's left arm, used it as leverage to lift herself up and kicked his right. The shot went wide. The tight concentrated beam left a long black scar across the right wall, vaporized part of the corner and concluded with a crater mark on the outer wall.

Optics blazing, Megatron was already roaring, turning his fury on Phage-One, only to find his servo grasping air. In that dreadful confusing moment, time ground to a crawl. Terrible realization dawned on the old warlord's face as he opened his servo, confounded by where his prize had gone, only for his optics to rove downwards and find that Phage-One was capable once again of phasing. Green ribbons arced around her form, the space around them smelt of burnt ozone. She had entered into a partial phase, not fully there but not fully here and utterly untouchable by him. Immediately after kicking his arm cannon she had phased, and dropped to the floor in a crouch. Her servo was wrapped across her midsection and there came a blue shimmer as she accessed a subspace pocket. Her arm arched out then and there was an energy dagger. Her delicate features, that so tormented him of his lost Ariel, was twisted up into a wild thing hell-bent on protecting her own.

There were moments in Megatron's long, long, winding life when he knew how events would unfold with absolute certainty. The little moment he found himself trapped within was one such event. That grim understanding reflected across his face before the gears of time thawed and burst with adrenaline to compensate for the lack of its absence. Phage-One's attack was quick, precise, and vicious. With a scream that overlapped with his own incensed cry, Phage-One's makeshift phase blade sliced into his exposed knee joint. With senses long since deadened or dulled to pain, Megatron did not cry out, but grimaced and by the order of things, his body began collapsing under his own weight.

She twirled the dagger expertly between her digits to flip it around, then struck again. The second bite dug deeper than the last. The edge of the blade followed the curve of his exodermal armor on his waist and slipped between the seams, biting deep into his side as he dropped heavily onto his good knee. Spit flew on the gasp that was just leaving his mouth. She ripped the blade out and stood. The final slash was a grand sweep across his exposed neck cables. Warm energon sprayed outward from the cut, splashed through her phased frame and coated the floor. Megatron's servo leapt to his neck to staunch the flow, but it was quickly drenched. His crimson optics roved up her frame, transcribing all the changes he had not taken fully into account in the midst of battle, following winding seams ever upwards. When his sight landed on her face, he burned the features into his memory banks; the curve of her mouth as it pulled into a gnashing snarl, how it scrunched her olfactory, to the searing burn of her vibrant, neon green optics.

Wrong optic color, wrong paint scheme, missing helmet, but the same face. Ariel's face. A savage Ariel reborn on a distant, alien world. This moment, Megatron felt, was justly deserved. A long overdue karmic justice for terminating Ariel that should have found him eons ago. His vision grew fuzzy, colors mixed and shapes became undefined. With a gurgling groan, Megatron slouched forward. A single thought repeating on his processor: the universe must have been pleased at its own grand cosmic play.

The moment shattered with the frantic screams, gasps, and dreadful shocked silence of his cogsmechs. Distantly, Megatron picked out a distraught Skywarp shouting his designation but it seemed to come from far away.

Phage-One tore her fierce gaze from the dying warlord and fixed it to the Decepticons straight ahead. Thundercracker, Shrapnel, and Rumble floated mid air above the ugly open wound in the floor. Still phased and radiating a fierce, commanding aura, Phage-One jabbed the dagger towards Thundercracker. "New deal: we walk and you can take Megatron to the Repair Bay."

"You glitch!" Rumble screeched. "I'll just as soon as turn you to scrap than-"

"SILENCE!" Phage-One bellowed, her plummy voice reverberating up and down the hall. "This. Is. Over! Thundercracker!" Snapped off Phage-One suddenly and startled the Seeker for being signaled out. "You seem a responsible party-I entreat you, we leave peacefully and the lot of you can work out getting Megatron to a Repair Bay. Attack, and I will phase out Megatron's spark chamber then proceed to do the same to the lot of you. Think quickly now-the longer you dawdle on a decision the closer Megatron draws to death. What is your answer?"

From behind her, Skywarp continued to scream colorful obscenities and, despite his wounds, Jazz managed to just barely keep hold of the Seeker. "TERMINATE HER, THUNDERCRACKER! FRAG THE GLITCH!"

Thundercracker's gaze turned from Skywarp, to the newly reformated Phage and back to Megatron's frame, now trembling from a startling lack of energon that was quickly pooling around his frame. The Seeker grimaced and shuttered his optics. "There is no choice here." He drawled, and found little comfort in Shrapnel's small servo as she pressed it to his backside. "Get out."

"NO, TC!" Screeched Skywarp. "Destroy them!"

"Do I have your word?"

"Yes." He clipped. "Now get out."

"You have made a wise decision, Thundercracker."

"Get. Out."

"What about that one?" Enquired Phage-One with a nod towards Skywarp.

Thundercracker sneered. "Skywarp, you will let them leave."

"YOU ARE A COWARD, THUNDERCRACKER! WE CAN TERMINATE ALL OF THEM! USE YOUR SONIC BLASTS! HAVE SHRAPNEL ELECTROCUTE-"

"You idiot, Skywarp!" Thundercracker raged. "She can phase. How shall any of us deal with that? NOBODY CAN HIT HER. We attack and she'll pick us off, you drone!" he cycled air then and continued with a hard, calm tone that was more frightening than his yelling. "...You don't have to like this, Skywarp, but you do have to obey if we are going to save Megatron. I need you to get him to the Repair Bay." It was at this last that a measure of sanity seeped back into Skywarp. The young Seeker drew quiet, though still seething. "Do you understand? When Jazz releases you, you are to stand down. Understood?" Hating everything and everyone, Skywarp nodded he understood.

Having observed the agreeance, Phage-One turned aside from Skywarp and around to the Autobots. "Get up. Autobots, we leave the way you entered. Bumblebee, secure Spike. Have the Aerialbots contacted anyone?"

"Yes." Sea Spray answered gruffly and straight away. "Couldn't say before, but they're waiting outside. Superion took care of Bruticus with the floating mines, and Starscream and the Coneheads retreated shortly thereafter."

"Then let's roll out."

Their departure was a tense, haunting affair. Under watch by the sharp, baleful glare of the Decepticons, the Autobots gathered themselves up and quickly departed. Bumblebee was the first, after securing Spike within his cabin, the little yellow minibot dropped back down into the watery pit. Jazz released Skywarp and cautiously joined Sea Spray and Jetfire gathered half way between Phage-One and the pit. He felt all optics burn and follow him as he rejoined his cogsmechs. Without word it was quietly agreed by glances and minute nods that Jetfire was next to go, then, reluctantly, Jazz. He dropped into the pit but waited for Sea Spray and Phage-One. The latter gave Megatron one last cold glance before she moved to join Sea Spray. Once she moved away from Megatron, the remaining Decepticons cautiously, but stressed for speed, moved on their Commander's position. Moving as one unit, Sea Spray and Phage-One moved quickly to the pit. Sea Spray sat on the edge as Phage-One swiftly activated her subspace drive and transformed to her human stature. So reduced, Sea Spray picked her up in the palm of his servo, slid her into his cabin, secured it, then slipped silently into the watery pit without so much as a ripple.