Though he had his optics shuttered, Prowl could sense the floating crystal tiles with his doorwings. They hovered in slow circles, weaving around each other in a ring above his helm. He was only using six of them, and even that required the entirety of his concentration. After a few astroseconds, he dropped one, and the shock of it surged through his spark, which broke his concentration completely.

The tiles fell through the atmosphere, but Yoketron froze them all in place before they hit the ground. "Take them back and put them away," he said calmly.

Prowl vented in deeply an re-focused. He lifted the tiles from Yoketron's influence and spun them gently back toward their places on the floor of the courtyard.

"Very good," Yoketron said.

Prowl un-shuttered his optics and pressed a hand to his chest, wincing.

"What's wrong?"

"I just… when I dropped them, I felt it."

"Hmm," Yoketron frowned.

"Why would dropping the tiles…affect my spark?" Prowl wondered.

"I've said before that Processor over Matter involves the spark," Yoketron said. "In fact, it requires you to connect to the world around you through your spark. That's why you can't use it for violence, because to destroy or displace something in your surroundings would damage you as well. We may be children of Primus, but we cannot truly wield his power, only borrow a small fraction of it for short periods of time."

Prowl frowned.

"I can see you aren't satisfied by that answer."

"I don't know," Prowl said. "I've dropped them before and it didn't feel like that."

"It may have to do with your injuries," Master Yoketron said. "In fact… perhaps it would be wiser not to practice processor over matter until your spark has healed completely."

Prowl sighed. He couldn't practice anything while he was still injured, could he?

"That frustrates you," Yoketron noted.

"Yes."

"You will recover soon. In fact, I think we might be able to return to our usual training again next decaorn."

That was good, at least.

"For now," Yoketron continued. "As it seems we're out of other training options, would you like to meditate?"

"I actually have a question about meditation too."

Yoketron tilted his helm to the side with a slight smile. "All right."

"Why is it that when we meditate we can sense the sparks of the mecha around us? Isn't the point of meditation to focus on ourselves?"

"A very good question," Yoketron said. "Some would argue that you've gone too far if you can sense the sparks around you. However, I think it's important to remember that we are all connected. Despite our many differences, our sparks all came from the same place. The closer you are to your own spark, the closer you will be to those around you."

Prowl considered that.

"Any more questions?" Yoketron asked.

"Actually…" Prowl trailed off as he got a comm. from Elita.

"What?"

"Excuse me," he said, and answered.

"Prowl," she said, as soon as the comm. channel was open. "Something's wrong."

The members of the Iacon Council were the real enemy. Their actions had made this war possible. Their corruption, their cruelty, and their poor choices, had already led to so many deaths.

All of this was their fault.

And so it really didn't bother me that Megatron wanted my help to kill them. Of all his recent plans, this was the easiest one to get behind.

The Council Hall had very high security measures in place, but not high enough to keep me out. I made my way through the unused utility tunnels to the building's control center. They only had a few mecha here, sitting at computer terminals. These mecha monitored incoming and outgoing communications, made sure the doors and cameras were working properly, and kept track of other security measures.

I waited patiently until I knew who was in charge and who were underlings, waited until I knew no one was scheduled to show up and check on them for at least a joor, waited until all three of them were distracted.

Then I put in the door code and entered the room. I stunned the two underlings and stasis-cuffed the mech who had the highest rank and clearance, all before they had a chance to send any comms.

The conscious mech screamed for help, but there was no one in hearing range. I dragged him to the side of the room and propped him up against the wall, then went to his still active computer terminal and sat down.

Who is this mech? What does he want? Are the others offline? Is he going to kill me like he killed them? Primus, I'm going to die…

He wasn't going to die. "How do I change the co-omm. block passwords?" I asked, annoyed.

He just stared at me, but instructions flowed through is processor.

I followed them and within a breem I had made it impossible for anyone to get a message out of the Council Hall. Then I locked all the doors. I had already checked to make sure the Council was in session. They would be trapped in the Council Chamber.

What is he doing? I can't see…

We had to act quickly. Eventually, mecha outside the Council Hall would realize that no one inside was responding to their communications, and that the doors were all locked—even the front doors.

I ran up against one more problem. "Do you know the passwo-ord for the groundbridge shield ge-enerator?" I asked.

The password played through the mech's helm. "N-no?" he stuttered.

"That's okay," I said, and typed it in. He stared. Oh, pit, he already knows that password? And he seemed to know how to do everything else he wanted too. Whoever he's working for, they must have someone on the inside.

We didn't need someone on the inside.

He hasn't killed me, though. He must want me for something.

I shut down the groundbridge shield, changed a few more passwords, and commed Megatron to let him know we were ready. Then I dragged the three mecha out of the control room and stunned the third one since he was annoying, and I wouldn't be needing anymore help from him anyway.

They'd probably be sending guards down to see why the control room mecha weren't responding, but they'd have to break down every door on the way there because right now the doors only opened for me.

For my part, I avoided the guards and took a back way into the Council Chamber, then hid behind the service door, listening. The senators had realized their communications were blocked, and were trying to figure out what was wrong. They had also just realized the doors that led out to the entry hall were locked.

For a moment, I relished the fear in their cores as they realized the comm. block might be more than a simple technical problem.

Then a groundbridge opened in the center of the Council floor and Decepticons started pouring through, with Megatron in their lead.

Captain Bulwark of the Elite Guard was still trying to get the doors open when the screaming started. Comms had gone down a few breems ago, and every door in the whole building had mysteriously shut and locked itself.

That was one downside to having a lot of mechanized security. It was only helpful if you were in control of it.

"What the frag is going on in there?" another member of the guard asked.

Bulwark stepped back from the doors, frowning.

There were always two or three members of the Elite Guard in the Council Chamber while the Council was in session. Those mecha were the only ones he really cared about saving. But they'd probably be offline before he could do anything about it.

"Captain?"

Several others gathered around.

He needed to make a decision.

"If they have control of the security systems, whoever shut us down probably groundbridged in there."

"We've got to get past the doors, then!"

"No," Bulwark said. "Even if we broke down those doors, what would that accomplish? We'd just offline trying to defend the Councilors from whoever's in there, attacking them. We should focus on getting the front doors open so we can evacuate all the innocent mecha to safety…" Comms were completely blocked, so he handed out orders verbally, sending mecha to gather everyone to the reception area, to break the front doors open, and to find out what was happening with security.

Then, once everyone had been dismissed, he turned to face the Council Chamber doors.

This was going to cause serious problems in the city-state. And he knew that if he focused all his efforts on getting into that room, he might be able to salvage things—he might be able to save them.

But honestly, it wasn't worth it, so he simply stood and listened as his government died.

Orion walked among the hospital berths. He'd had a joor of free time before he was supposed to go meet with Yoketron, and he had decided to come visit with those who'd been injured in the latest battle. If he couldn't yet fight alongside them, then at least he could remind himself what he was asking them to risk. He learned designations, offered words of encouragement, and thanked all of them for their sacrifices. They had put their lives on hold and their sparks on the line for this cause, even more than he had.

He had just finished talking to an older mech who'd been a factory worker before the war when, suddenly, he felt something twist inside of him. He froze—something was wrong, he could feel it. It was like a wire out of place or a shift in gravity, tilting everything slightly toward…

He looked in the direction of the feeling and a sudden image of Megatron in the Council Chamber, holding the key to Vector Sigma in one energon-stained hand flashed through his processor. It was so vivid that Orion could not dismiss it.

The key was in danger. He had to protect it.

He wasn't sure if this was some sort of premonition or if it was happening right now, but everything else was banished from his helm, replaced with the need to make sure that key didn't fall into Megatron's hands.

He slipped from the room and left the hospital, then transformed and drove as fast as he could toward the Council Hall.

I pulled my range in once the killing started. Whenever I listened to anyone offline I felt terrible for orns.

Besides, I needed to focus. Megatron was here to kill Halogen, but I had a different target.

Fortuitously, he came to me. He rushed into my range after an astrosecond, headed for the concealed door I was standing behind. He was trying to sneak off in the confusion—not a surprise at all.

Senator Ratbat threw open the door, then froze when he saw me standing behind it, looming over him.

It took him an astrosecond to get over his shock, and then he spun and tried to flee in the other direction, but I lunged after him and tackled him.

He went limp as I put a gun to the back of his helm. "Don't kill me!" he squealed. "Don't kill me, please don't kill me!" He's going to kill me, oh Primus, I don't deserve to die! I have to get out of here!

Rage and disgust welled up inside of me. How could he believe that? This was the mech—he was the reason. All of this death and killing—this entire war—was his fault. He deserved to die more than anyone else in this room.

I got up and dragged him out onto the Council floor, then shoved him down again, kneeling on his back.

"Please!" Ratbat begged. "I'll give you anything—anything you want."

Off to the side, Megatron had backed Halogen up against a wall.

I twisted Ratbat's helm to the side painfully so he could watch my leader offline his.

"Look," I commanded. "Do you know who that is?"

Ratbat whimpered.

"A-answer me," I growled. "Do you know who that is?"

"Th-the gladiator?" Ratbat said. "That's M-Megatron, the gladiator from Kaon, of course I—"

"Do y-y-you reme-ember?" I said. "Two and a-a half vorns ago."

"What?"

"There wa-as a student. A student who stood u-up to you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think," I shoved his helm down harder into the ground.

"Yes!" he said. He remembered.

"Do you remember what you did to him?" I said.

Ratbat thought back. I had him executed… no, I had him wiped and sent to the mines… the mines in Kaon… the gladiator… no… He connected the dots as he watched Megatron pull out a blade and run Halogen through, pinning the Grand Councilmech to the wall.

Halogen screamed.

"It can't be," Ratbat whispered.

"Y-you know what I think?" I said, leaning closer so he could hear me.

He looked at me out of the corner of one optic. "P-please, I didn't know. I'm sorry… I…" He trailed off.

"I thi-ink I'm going to do to you exactly what you did to him."

"No!" he screamed. "No…"

I savored his terror for another astrosecond, then knocked him out. I'd bring him with me when we left.

I kept my range small and went to stand behind Megatron, who smirked at me. That was interesting, Soundwave. I didn't expect you to actually participate.

I shrugged. "I-it was persona-al."

Megatron nodded, and turned to look at Halogen again. The Grand Councilmech was still online, even conscious. Megatron had pinned him to the wall, but wasn't finished with him yet.

"Now," he said, "Tell me where you keep the Key to Vector Sigma and I'll kill you quickly."

Halogen just groaned, clutching at the blade that was buried to the hilt in his chassis.

He didn't answer, but he did think about where the key was.

I sent Megatron a quick comm. about it, then turned away, suddenly feeling sick.

Megatron used his own clawed hand to rip open Halogen's shoulder and take the key to Vector Sigma from the secret compartment there. He subspaced it and tore his blade free. I extinguished my range so I couldn't feel it when Megatron took the councilmech's helm off with one clean stroke.

And then the doors to the Council Chamber burst open.

"What do you mean, something's wrong?" Prowl demanded.

"I don't know," Elita said. "But Orion's been worried about something for several breems, and he's not answering his comm. and his guards say he just disappeared without them while he was visiting mecha in the hospital."

"What?"

"And now he's really frightened about something," Elita said. "And no one knows where he is."

Frag, not this again. This was the second time he'd ended up separated from his guards and in danger.

"Fine. I'll see if I can figure it out. Thank you for letting me know."

"What is it?" Yoketron asked.

"Orion's disappeared," Prowl said. "Elita thinks he's in trouble."

Yoketron frowned. "Well, we must find him then."

Prowl nodded, but couldn't reply because Ironhide was comming him now.

"Yes, Ironhide," he said. "I know Ori—"

"We're just getting word the Council Hall's been attacked."

"What?" Prowl demanded.

"Someone infiltrated and trapped the councilmechs in there while the Council was in session. The Guard have finally gotten the front doors working so they could get out and contact us."

"Who's attacking—?"

"Who do you think? Soundwave knows how to hack the Council Hall's security—hasn't he done that sort of thing before?"

Pit.

"We ought to send some reinforcements—we don't know how many Decepticons are in there, and the Elite Guard decided to work on getting everyone else out instead of getting into the Council Chamber where the action was."

"Ask them if they've seen Orion," Prowl said. "Ask them if anyone's seen Orion, he's gone missing and Elita says he's frightened about something."

"Frag, hold on…"

Prowl shuttered his optics, hoping desperately that these two things weren't somehow related. It would mean they knew where Orion was, but that was less comforting if it turned out Megatron was in that same place.

"Prowl?" Yoketron said.

"Someone saw him running into the Council Hall, half a breem ago," Ironhide said.

Fragging pit, this was bad. "Bridge me there," Prowl said. "Bridge the whole army there."

"We can't," Ironhide said. "It's the center of the city-state—there'll be too much of a crowd to open a bridge without risking—"

"Well, bridge me as close as you can!" Prowl said.

"Got it," Ironhide said, and cut the comm.

"What's going on?" Yoketron said.

"The Decepticons are in the Council Hall," Prowl said. "And so is Orion."

A groundbridge opened up off to the side of the courtyard.

Prowl glanced at Yoketron, who nodded once, and they rushed through the glowing portal together.

A mech came stumbling through the open door of the Council Chamber and skidded to a stop, staring at the carnage around him.

Optimus.

He looked around with wide, horrified optics, then locked gazes with Megatron, who'd turned to look at him as well.

Well, that was convenient. He hadn't even brought any guards with him.

Our soldiers got over their shock and charged at him from all sides, but Megatron held up a hand.

"Block the doors," he commanded. "But leave the Prime to me."

Optimus glanced behind himself as the Decepticons filed into the space between him and the still-open doorway.

Someone must have gotten the doors working again.

Oh well. In this case, it looked like that would work to our advantage.

I couldn't read Optimus's processor, but I could see the horror on his faceplate as he stepped toward Megatron, still looking around at the slaughtered Council.

"You…" he said. "You killed them…"

"Were you coming here to protect them?" Megatron grinned. "How loyal of you."

Optimus shook his helm.

"You know they all got what they deserved."

"No," Optimus said. "You can't just offline mecha, no matter what they've done."

Megatron stared at him. This mech is still so naïve. You'd think he would grow out of that at some point. "Of course I can," he said. "I just did."

I commed Megatron. "If the doors are working, the comms might be too. We should go before the Autobots arrive."

He didn't even acknowledge I had spoken. All of his attention was on his horror-struck rival. "And I'm about to do it again."

Optimus glanced behind himself at the doors, which were now guarded by a dozen of our soldiers. The others we'd brought all backed away to the wall, watching with interest.

The Prime must know there was no way out of this situation. But when he spoke, his voice was steady and calm. "Where is the key to Vector Sigma?"

Megatron pulled it out of subspace and smirked. "You may attempt to take it from me if you like. That might make this more entertaining." He put it back in subspace and his integrated, energon-stained blade slid out of his arm.

Orion glanced to the side, then back up.

"I think it will be fitting, for your friends to find your sparkless frame here." Megatron stalked toward Optimus.

The Prime flinched, but held his ground.

"You will die with these pit-spawned liars and murderers," Megatron continued. "Because you are one of them."

A sort of calm resignation settled across Optimus's faceplate. "No more than you are," he said quietly.

Megatron roared and lunged at him. Optimus threw himself out of the way and rolled, ending up in a crouch. He picked up a sword that had been lying next to the offline frame of an Elite Guardsmech and stood.

Megatron turned to face him.

"Oh," he said, "There's a nice surprise."

The Decepticons roared their approval as Megatron charged Optimus. We really didn't have time for this, but if Megatron offlined him quickly, then we could leave before it was too late…

Megatron was almost as surprised as I was when Optimus deflected his blade and nearly threw him to the ground.

They backed away from each other and circled.

"Someone's been practicing," Megatron grinned. "Impressive, but you're still just a librarian."

They engaged again. Optimus fought valiantly, but Megatron pushed him back, laughing as the crowd cheered.

Optimus tried to disengage, but Megatron didn't let him, raining down blows on him that the Prime could barely block.

And then with an audio-splitting shatter, Optimus's blade broke and Megatron's cut deep into his arm. The Prime fell with a shout and Megatron planted a pede on his chassis to keep him from getting back up.

He raised his blade high, relishing the despair in Optimus's optics, preparing to kill him and leave him here like the rest of them.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment. Optimus on the ground, holding up his uninjured hand as if to fend the blow off, and Megatron, blade raised, about to bring it down and paint the end of the war in blue energon on the Council floor.

And then suddenly, Megatron's systems shut down and he collapsed.

Prowl barreled into the Decepticons in the doorway, which was easy because they were all watching the center of the room where Megatron had a blade raised over Optimus. He saw Yoketron throw something and Megatron collapsed an instant later.

Prowl's instincts screamed at him that there were too many Decepticons—that he would never make it out of this—that he should have waited for the rest of the army.

But there was no time for caution or strategy.

"Get Optimus out of here!" Yoketron shouted. "I'll clear the way."

Prowl shoved the unconscious Decepticon leader off of Orion and helped him up while Yoketron single-handedly fended off the Decepticons, taking them out with only throwing stars and his own frame.

But it wasn't going to be enough. There were too many of them, even for Yoketron.

In just a few astroseconds, the three of them were surrounded on all sides.

The room went still.

Soundwave stepped forward. "Surrender," he said. "And y-you will live."

"Look at this," Yoketron replied with sorrow in his voice as he gestured around the room. "Soundwave, what have you done?"

The faceless mech froze, then took an uncertain step backward.

Yoketron commed Prowl on an internal frequency and he answered. "Yoketron, do you have a plan for getting out of here? I don't know if we can stall long enough for the other Autobots to arrive, and whatever we try, Soundwave will know beforehand."

"Be ready," Yoketron replied. "The path is about to clear. Remember, Prowl, don't let the war win."

What? Prowl glanced over and saw the Circuit-Su master's obvious plan in the tranquil expression on his faceplate. But before he could protest, Yoketron thrust one hand forward and sent Soundwave careening back toward the wall without even touching him.

Then, while the room was distracted, all of the enormous, heavy chairs and benches the Council sat on lifted themselves into the atmosphere and flew at the Decepticons, bowling them over, slamming them to the ground and against the walls…

Clearing a path.

Prowl didn't let the opportunity pass. He grabbed Orion's arm and sprinted for the doors, dragging the Prime with him.

Yoketron had said you couldn't use processor-over-matter for fighting.

He tried to listen as they sprinted away, hoping for some clue about whether the older mech was all right, but there was too much other noise for Prowl to pick out anything about his mentor.

They met the Autobots on the Council steps and Prowl waved them in, still dragging Orion away from the building. He reached Ironhide at the bottom of the steps and handed the Prime off to him.

"Here, I need to go back in there."

"Oh, Primus, I was going to die," Orion sounded shocked. "Yoketron…"

"I'll go get him," Prowl said. "Stay here."

"Prowl, Megatron has the key to Vector Sigma," Optimus said.

"I'll get that too." He turned and sprinted back into the Council Hall, shoving through the ranks of Autobots.

But by the time he got to the Council Chamber—by the time any of them got there, it was too late.

Megatron, Soundwave, the other Decepticons, Yoketron, and the key to Vector Sigma, had all disappeared.

"What happened?" Ironhide demanded. "You're hurt."

"It's not that bad," Orion said, looking back at the Council Hall. His arm hurt, he supposed, but the more important issues were the fact that the Council was dead, and the key was lost.

And he had no idea what on all of Cybertron had happened at the end, with Soundwave and the chairs. It must have been Yoketron, somehow. It was like what he'd done in the Temple, with that door, but…

Primus. The Council… the key…

"Orion, what happened?" Ironhide demanded again. "Did you just… run in there by yourself?"

"Megatron was there," Orion said. "He killed the Council. They're offline, Ironhide, all of them."

"Pit," Ironhide said.

"And he has the key."

Ironhide scowled and Orion shuttered his optics, remembering the carnage, the energon everywhere, and the offline mecha strewn on the floor. He felt physically sick, and he had to steady himself against Ironhide as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He shuttered his optics, and took in a deep vent. It really wouldn't do for the crowd gathering here to see their Prime empty his tanks on the Council stairs.

"Are you all right?" Ironhide asked over an internal comm.

"Yes, just in shock, I think," Orion replied. "I'm not badly hurt." He'd really thought for a moment that he had been about to die. He'd seen it in Megatron's optics. It had been the end.

He was almost surprised to be standing here, alive and mostly well.

The Autobots stopped entering the building and started leaving instead. Prowl came back out after a breem, looking defeated.

Orion invited him to the channel he and Ironhide were on. "Prowl, what happened?"

"They must have gotten away through a groundbridge," he said.

"Is Master Yoketron all right?"

"He's gone," Prowl said. "They may have captured him. All but one of the Councilors is accounted for, and all of the ones accounted for are dead."

"Who's missing?" Ironhide asked.

"Senator Ratbat," Prowl replied. "We have a few prisoners—Decepticons who were unconscious. But other than that…"

Orion took another deep, calming vent, not sure he wanted to think through the ramifications of all this.

"And, worst of all, Megatron has the key to Vector Sigma. Orion, could he use it to acquire the Matrix?"

"He can't bear the Matrix," Orion replied. "I sincerely doubt he's worthy, and I know he's not prepared. But I doubt it will stop him from trying, and as long as he has the key, I can't get the Matrix either. He knows that, so if he figures out he can't use it…"

"He might destroy it," Prowl finished for him.

"We need to get it back," Orion said. "And we need to find out if they have Yoketron." They needed Yoketron back as well.

Prowl nodded, looking as calm as ever. "Maybe we should call an emergency meeting once we know what happened here."

"Yes," Orion said.

"And you should get back to the tower. You're injured."

Orion nodded again, then walked away from the building, with Ironhide accompanying him.

Megatron had regained consciousness just a few breems ago and had demanded to know what had happened. I explained over an internal comm. everything that had occurred, how Prowl and Yoketron had showed up, and how we'd gotten everyone who was still alive in the room through the groundbridge and back to Kaon.

Megatron wasn't happy. "I was about to kill Optimus!" he said. "I was about to finish it! And Prowl? He got away again, I suppose."

I nodded. Yoketron had cleared a path using processor-over-matter. I'd heard him think about that technique once or twice when he'd trained Searchlight and I, but I'd never seen it before.

"But you caught the mech who helped them get away."

I nodded reluctantly.

Yoketron had passed out, and I had intended to leave him behind, but some of the other soldiers had brought him through the bridge. If I'd specifically ordered them to leave him, I knew Megatron would find out and be angry with me.

Megatron got up off the berth he'd been on and commed Blackangle.

"Have the mech who helped the Prime escape brought to the command center."

"Yes, sir," Blackangle said, sounding bored.

I followed Megatron, feeling anxious. I'd hoped to have some time, maybe to talk him out of killing Yoketron. After all, Yoketron was apparently training Orion, and could be useful as some sort of a bargaining chip.

But Megatron was angry. He'd been robbed of his chance to win the war this orn, and he wanted to punish someone for it.

I followed him to the command center and took up my post at my computer terminal while Megatron sat on his throne and waited.

They brought Yoketron in and I expanded my range so I could hear him.

He was not doing well. Something in him had… broken when he'd used the chairs to clear the path. I had felt it then, and I could still feel it now. He was shaking, barely strong enough to stand, and his spark felt like it was being stabbed over and over with every spark pulse.

He could barely focus, but on the outside he seemed calm and collected

"So," Megatron said. "Who are you?"

Yoketron stared at him. There he is… and yet there he isn't. "Oh, mechling," he said. "You've gotten so lost, haven't you?"

"What?" Megatron narrowed his optics. "Answer my question!"

Primus Almighty, did it hurt this badly last time? "What does it matter?" Yoketron said. I have to focus. This is my one chance… "You only summoned me here to offline me, didn't you?" He glanced in my direction. Soundwave, can you hear me? Prowl told me you're a telepath. You should have said something. I could have helped you. I knew telepaths during the Quintesson wars…

Megatron stood and powered up his arm cannon. "Do you realize if you'd let me kill Optimus, this war would be over? No one else would need to die. If it weren't for you, it would be over!"

Yoketron turned his attention back to the gladiator. This is my fault. If it weren't for me, this war wouldn't have started. If it weren't for me, you would have died in the mines, mechling. But we can't dwell on past choices we have no control over. We can only move forward and try to make better ones.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I have said before, falsehoods do not become you," Yoketron said, feeling suddenly stern. "Do not try to claim that Orion's murder would have been your last." Soundwave, you can stop this. You're the only one who can stop this.

Megatron frowned. Something about this mech makes me uneasy. He's not afraid of me… and there's something uncannily familiar about him… he pretends to know me, but he must be mistaken, or lying, or insane. And I'm getting tired of this conversation.

I looked down. I wanted to stand up, to say something, to defend Yoketron.

But I didn't.

"Are you even listening to me?" Megatron demanded. "Do you even know who I am?"

"Do you?" Yoketron countered calmly.

"Enough," Megatron said. "If I was feeling more patient, I might make you suffer for what you've done first but I don't have time for that, and you obviously won't be any use to me alive."

Yoketron was silent. His vision blurred and he swayed a little as he fought to stay on his pedes. He had better hurry up or I'll ruin his moment by collapsing on my own.

"Well?" Megatron said. "Any last words, you raving lunatic?"

Yoketron looked up again, but he wasn't looking at Megatron. My friend from the wars, the telepath… I should have realized you reminded me of him. And I know how hard it is for telepaths to lose mecha… "Soundwave," he said.

I didn't look at him, though I was watching myself through his optics.

"Soundwave, you can't save him." Please, mechling, I know it's hard, but you have to move on. You aren't as far gone as he is yet. I can tell there's still good in you. You can tip the scales if you choose to. This mech is nothing more than what the pits of Kaon made him. Searchlight is gone. Let him go.

He was wrong.

Searchlight was standing right there. He was badly damaged, but he wasn't gone. I could hear him—his thoughts, his emotions, everything. Still there.

I didn't pull my range back when Megatron fired.

I listened.

I listened as Yoketron's spark went out. I felt his death tear through me. It scrambled my core, leaving me empty and sick and disoriented and sparkless.

But that twisted feeling was better than mourning, better than guilt, and I'd always known my powers would drive me insane some orn.

I turned back to my terminal, aware that Megatron was watching me closely, and went back to work.