Prowl looked up from his notes when the Elite Guardsmech entered the room.

"Captain Bulwark," Orion said, bowing solemnly. "We are glad you could come."

Ultra Magnus glared intensely at the mech. Honestly, Prowl was upset with the Elite Guard as well. If they had been doing their job, Yoketron might still be here.

"I'm honored you invited me," Bulwark said as he approached the meeting table. "Have you… decided to accept my mecha into your ranks?"

Orion frowned.

Ultra Magnus spoke. "We have difficulty trusting you, after you abandoned your posts."

Captain Bulwark sighed. "We didn't exactly abandon our posts," he said. "We evacuated almost everyone from the building."

"Your oath was to protect the Iacon Council, above all else," Ultra Magnus replied sternly. "And you betrayed that oath—not to mention the Prime's orders to continue to protect the Council. Swearing loyalty to the Prime means nothing if you do not take your promises seriously.

Bulwark shook his helm. "We want to help," he said. "If nothing else, we can train your soldiers. Primus knows, they need it. Besides, you don't seem to have a problem trusting Ironhide, and he broke his oaths."

Ultra Magnus started to speak, but Ironhide cut him off.

"Look," he said. "The issue here isn't that you betrayed the Council. The issue is how."

Ultra Magnus shot him a disapproving look, but he kept talking.

"I broke my oaths back when doing so could have gotten me offlined," Ironhide said. "I left because I was willing to take risks in order to protect what I believed in. You all stayed until it was no longer convenient, and then you abandoned some of your own mecha to be slaughtered along with the Council, because you didn't want to risk your lives for them."

"That's not true!" Bulwark said. "There was nothing we could do. By the time we got the doors open, the guards in there were long offline."

"It doesn't matter," Orion said.

"But—"

"Stop."

The room fell silent.

"I apologize, Captain Bulwark," Orion said. "We did not bring you here to make accusations against you. We have… an opportunity for your mecha to prove their loyalty."

Prowl looked back down at his notes.

He still didn't like this. It felt too rushed.

"What do you mean?" Bulwark asked.

"When Megatron attacked the Council, he stole a very important artifact. Without it, I will not be able to locate the Matrix of Leadership."

"You… want us to get it back somehow?" Bulwark asked.

"We have an opportunity," Orion said. "I can sense the object's location since it has been stolen, and we know Megatron and Soundwave will leave Kaon next orn, which will allow us to infiltrate their base and retrieve it."

"You… Prime, Sir, respectfully speaking, but I don't think—"

"I have to go," Orion insisted. "I have the best chance of locating it. Jazz says he found a secret way into the base, and I will be taking him and Ironhide with me."

"But we need back-up," Ironhide said. "And, while I don't like putting Orion's life in your hands, I do think the Elite Guard are better qualified than anyone else I know. It will give you an opportunity to prove you're willing to put your sparks on the line for this cause, and to make up for your betrayal by helping us take back what Megatron stole."

Bulwark looked down.

"Of course," Orion said. "I will not force you to do this. In fact, we may be able to consider accepting you into our ranks without sending you into this much danger."

"I'll do it," Bulwark said. "I'll have to talk to the others, but I'm sure those of us who want to be Autobots will all agree to come as well."

"Thank you," Orion said.

Captain Bulwark bowed.

"You may go," Orion said. "Once you have discussed things with the other members of the Elite Guard, let me know and I will send you details about the mission."

"Thank you," Captain Bulwark said, and turned to leave the room.

Once he was gone, Prowl set his datapad down in front of him. "I still don't like this," he said. "I don't know if it's going to work, and if it doesn't…"

"I trust your plan," Orion said.

"I know, but I don't trust it," Prowl said. "It's too risky. If something goes wrong, you could be trapped there. We can't lose you, Ironhide, and Jazz, and still function as an army."

"Well, I'm not staying behind," Ironhide said.

"I kinda have ta go," Jazz added. "Look, we need this ta work. That's why we're pulling out all the stops. We got one shot and we're gonna take it."

"I agree with Prowl," Red Alert said. "It's far too risky."

"But we need the key back," Orion said.

"Hey," Jazz tilted his helm to the side. "I got an idea, actually."

They all looked at him.

"Why don't ya come?"

"Who, me?" Prowl said, shocked. "I can't—"

"Not onta the base," Jazz said. "Just ta Kaon. Ya could stay out in the city and walk us through it. We can't risk communicating all the way from Iacon, but short-distance comms are a little less risky. And then if something goes wrong, ya could help us improvise and get us outta there."

"That makes it worse!" Red Alert said. "Prowl needs to stay here in case there's an attack somewhere!"

"It'll only be a joor, at the most," Jazz said. "He won't be gone long enough for anything ta happen, and if something does, ya can just bridge him back, since he won't be on the actual base."

That… actually made sense.

"All right," Prowl said. "Let's do it that way."

"Hey!" Thundercracker jogged to catch up with Starscream in the hall.

Starscream glared at him. "Is that how you should be addressing Megatron's soon-to-be chief advisor?"

"Very funny," Thundercracker said. "Where have you been? Warp and I haven't seen you for—"

"I'm busy," Starscream cut him off. "There's a lot to do, between seeker negotiations and planning the attack on Iacon, you know."

Thundercracker grabbed his wrist, pulling him to a stop. "And this?" He held Starscream's hand up in front of his brother's faceplate. His claws were covered in energon.

Starscream smirked. "I had to pay someone back for insulting me the other orn."

Thundercracker shook his helm. "Please tell me you didn't kill anyone."

"I don't think he's dead—not yet at least. Megatron wouldn't be very happy if he offlined before we've defeated the Autobots. We might still need him."

Thundercracker felt sick as it clicked in his processor. "You were torturing that prisoner."

"Interrogating," Starscream said.

"You can't fix it by making it sound more sophisticated. What is wrong with you?"

Starscream yanked his hand from Thundercracker's grip. "How dare you—"

"Stop! Just drop the act and talk to me for two breems, Starscream. Please."

The other seeker crossed his arms, scowling, wings twitching. "Fine. I wish you would stop complaining about every little thing, but fine, what do you want?"

"This isn't like you," Thundercracker said. "Hurting mecha and betraying Vos, and… and I know you want to rule the world, but is this really how you get there? Come on, think about it, I know how smart you are. You don't have to hurt anyone to prove yourself. There are better ways. Better ways than begging for favor from Megatron, better ways than bullying your way to the top."

"I am not a bully."

"You don't have to be."

Starscream rolled is optics. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Why should you lecture me? You've never aspired to anything in your entire life. You just follow other mecha around, pleading for their attention, hoping that some orn someone will actually care about you."

Thundercracker clenched his fists. "Excuse me?"

"Look," Starscream sneered. "I'm going places, and you can tag along pathetically if you want. But don't. Get. In. My. Way."

Thundercracker met his gaze evenly. "Fine."

Starscream shook out his wings and walked away, leaving Thundercracker in the hallway.

Thundercracker shook his helm. "That was your last chance, Screamer," he muttered, and left the building. He transformed and flew up to one of the highest floors, where he, Starscream, and Skywarp shared a room.

Skywarp was there, playing some sort of game on a datapad when Thundercracker came in the window and transformed back to root mode.

"Hey," he said. "Let's go."

Skywarp didn't look up from his game. "Go where?"

"Starscream has completely lost it. We're leaving the Decepticons. Come on."

Skywarp yawned and set the datapad to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you really going to be difficult about this? Come on, I know you don't want to be here any more than I do."

Skywarp sat up straight, frowning at him. "Oh yeah?"

Thundercracker grabbed a cube of energon off the desk and subspaced it. "Yes."

"You're wrong."

He stopped.

"You and Starscream both think that I'll just do whatever you want me to. But you're wrong. And you're stupid for wanting to leave. Where exactly do you suggest we go? Vos is here now, and I'm staying here with it. I like it here."

"What do you mean you like it here? We literally destroyed our home, and Megatron wants to destroy the rest of the world too."

"So what?" Skywarp said. "Home is wherever you happen to live. Besides, if Megatron's going to destroy the world, isn't it better to be on his side than out there? We get free energon here, and we get to travel all over the place, and blow stuff up and oh, Starscream leaves me alone because he's too busy trying to claw his way to the top to pick on me."

Thundercracker shook his helm. "He's getting worse."

"He's always been crazy," Skywarp said. "He's always been like this. And I don't know why you're always so shocked and upset about it."

"But—"

"Bottom line is," Skywarp said. "If you don't want to stay here, I won't try to stop you from leaving, but you'll be leaving alone."

"No!" Thundercracker slammed his fists onto the desk. "You have to listen to me!"

"Calm down, mech," Skywarp said. "Just calm down."

Thundercracker glared at him, then leaped out the window and flew up into the sky. He probably should calm down and think things through. Part of him just wanted to fly off—to leave the Decepticons for good, maybe even go back to the Autobots.

But he had a feeling Starscream would come after him. He knew too much—they wouldn't want him selling information to the Autobots or anything like that.

So if he was going to leave, he had to wait for a good time when everyone else would be distracted.

Orion was almost ready. There was nothing else he absolutely needed to do before he left, and Mainspring and Red Alert could handle everything while he was gone. He was surprisingly nervous about going to Kaon, but this was something he had to do. He needed that key.

Someone stepped into the open doorway of his office, and he looked up. "Elita! Come in."

She was feeling nervous too—in fact, some of his anxiety was probably coming from her. This would be good. He was glad she'd come to see him, so he could reassure her, and himself, that everything would be fine.

"I need to talk to you," she said as she sat down.

"All right," he said, suddenly a little more concerned. "Is… something wrong?"

She took in a deep vent. "I don't think you should go to Kaon."

Silence fell. Orion wasn't entirely sure what to say. He had expected her to express worry about the mission, but her suggesting he shouldn't go was a surprise. "Why not?"

"It's too dangerous." She looked up at him.

"I know it's dangerous, that's why Ironhide and Jazz—"

"I don't think they should go either. I don't think any of you should go. I can tell Prowl doesn't like your plan, and that's a bad sign. Besides, you're not trained for this sort of thing."

"But Jazz is," Orion said. "And he seems confident it will work."

"Yeah," Elita leaned forward over the desk. "And he also thought periodically deleting his memories was a good idea. Remember that?"

"Elita, I know you're worried," Orion reached out to take her hand. "You can probably tell I'm nervous too, but it's going to be fine. We'll be back in less than a joor with the key."

"Not if something goes wrong," Elita said. "We could lose all four of you. That doesn't seem like a risk we should be taking. Think about it—is it really worth it?"

Orion looked down. She did have a point, but… "We can't let Megatron keep the Key to Vector Sigma," he said. "And we may not have another good opportunity to take it back from him."

Elita shook her helm, pulling her hand away from him. "But you don't even need it yet, right?"

Orion stared at her, and she returned his gaze then looked away, feeling almost… guilty?

"I mean…" she said. "Aren't there more important things to work on right now? Like keeping the city-state stable and figuring out that problem with the Core and working on recruitment and our relationships with the other city-states?"

Something wasn't quite right with her arguments. And why was she coming to him now, instead of bringing it up before? "Yes, those things are important, but I won't be gone long. We have to get the key back as soon as possible or Megatron might destroy it. That's not a risk we can take."

"Risking you and Ironhide and Jazz and Prowl all at the same time isn't a risk we can take," Elita countered. "Not right now—not when we need you here."

"Then what would you have me do?" Orion asked. "I'm about to leave on this mission, should I call it off and waste this opportunity? I can't let them go without me—they need me with them too. Everyone needs me, but I can't be everywhere at once. I can't do everything."

Elita huffed a sigh, frustrated now. "I don't know how many times I've said it, you don't have to do everything. I just want you to stop and think before you rush headlong into something dangerous like this."

"Then why didn't you bring this up earlier?" Orion said.

She looked away again.

"There's something else, isn't there?" Orion asked. "Some other reason you don't want me to go?"

"I…" Elita trailed off, then took in a deep vent. "You're so anxious to get this key back. It makes me wonder if you're going to go looking for the Matrix before you're ready."

Silence fell.

"Are you?"

"I… I don't have time." He said. "I don't have time to finish preparing."

She stared at him, and her horror mixed with his fear.

"Alpha Trion said if the Core goes dark I may not be able to receive the Matrix at all. I can't risk that."

"But you can't—"

"You think I want to do this?" Orion said, suddenly frustrated. He was getting a little tired of everyone coming in and telling him what he could or couldn't do. "I'm just as upset about it as you are, but—"

"May not or will not?" Elita demanded.

"What?"

"Alpha Trion said you may not be able to receive the Matrix or—"

"May not," Orion confirmed. "But—"

"And you don't know when the Core's going to go dark or even if it will, because you haven't even gone to try to talk to Primus."

"Elita…"

"That's a lot of maybes and ifs to throw your life away for—"

"Elita, I'm not—"

"—and were you even going to tell me? Or were you just going to disappear some orn to go looking for it?"

"Of course I was going to—"

"—I mean, I don't even understand why it's so important to find the Matrix in the first place! You can lead the army just fine without it!"

"No I—"

"You don't need some relic or—or gift to make you good enough—"

"Stop!"

Her optics widened and silence fell.

"You think I shouldn't get the Matrix of Leadership?"

She crossed her arms. "Well…"

"You think I shouldn't go looking for it at all."

"That's not what I said!"

"I can't do this, Elita! I… I have to run a city state and an army, and the Council is gone and Alpha Trion barely talks to me, and Yoketron is dead! I am out of time. I need the Matrix, and I need it as soon as possible."

Elita shook her helm. "But—"

"You don't understand!"

Her expression hardened.

"Maybe it would be nice for you if we missed this opportunity to get the Key back and then never had another one. But all you do in this army is answer comms. You don't have to bear the weight of the whole world on your shoulders!"

The echoes of his shouting faded.

He could feel he'd gone too far.

Elita pushed her chair away from his desk and got up. "Fine," she said, and turned to storm out of the room.

"Wait!" Orion got up. "Elita, wait…"

She stopped in the doorway and turned to glare at him.

"I have to—"

"No," she said. "You shouldn't go to Kaon to get that Key. Just let Jazz do it. If he got as much information during his last attempt as he says he did, I'm sure he can steal it by himself."

"But he was almost captured last time!"

"So instead of risking his life again, this time you're going to risk his life and Ironhide's life, and Prowl's life, and the lives of the Elite Guard, not to mention your own."

"I—"

"But I guess I can't make any sort of argument," Elita continued. "Because obviously, all I care about is preventing you from fulfilling your destiny. Have fun stealing back that key, Optimus Prime."

She turned away again. This time, Orion let her go.

As he listened to her retreating pedesteps, his anger faded.

Primus, what had he said?

He shouldn't have…

He should go after her and apologize.

But…

He had to find the Matrix. Yoketron had said it would make him stronger. He knew Elita didn't want him to change or lose his memories, but he needed the strength the Matrix would give him. She'd said that was all right, hadn't she, when the Allspark had healed their bond?

What if she'd changed her mind?

If she asked him to back out—if she begged him not to go through with it… would he be able to deny her wish?

He shuttered his optics and leaned on his desk, not sure what to do. She was still so angry—well, she had a right to be. He had yelled at her—told her she didn't understand, as if all of this wasn't hard for her too. After all she'd been through for him…

Prowl commed him, and he answered.

"Orion? It's time to go."

He hesitated. But… he had to do this.

It would be fine. They'd get the key back, and then they could figure out what to do about the Matrix.

"I'm coming." He left his office, then met Prowl and Ironhide at the elevator.

They rode down together.

"You ready?" Ironhide asked.

Orion nodded passively. He could still feel how angry Elita was, but when he tried to send her an apology, something about the bond dimmed as if she were distancing herself from him. He knew it was possible to block a bond, at least somewhat, though he'd never experienced it before.

"What?" Ironhide said.

Orion sighed. "Elita doesn't think I should go on this mission."

Ironhide shook his helm. "Femmes. I can tell Chromia doesn't like it either, though she didn't say anything. They're just worried, that's normal."

"Right," Orion said, then looked over at Prowl. "This is going to work, right?"

"Yes," Prowl said "If everything goes according to plan, then yes. If it doesn't, then we'll still probably be able to get the key, and if things go very badly, then it should still be possible to get out alive. The biggest thing it hinges on is whether the information Jazz brought back is correct, and he's never been wrong before, so we should be fine."

Orion took in a deep vent and let it out slowly. "Good."

"We would have even better odds if we had some help from Alpha Trion's friends," Prowl said. "Why did they say they couldn't come?"

"I don't know," Orion said. "They just said something came up. They also said they might be putting us in more danger if they went to Kaon for some reason."

Prowl frowned. "All right. Whatever that means."

They reached the bottom of the elevator and Orion followed Ironhide out to the front of Mirage's tower, where a familiar transport was waiting.

"Landquake!" Orion said, as he stepped inside. "It's good to see you."

"You too, Prime, Sir," Landquake replied.

"How have you been since…" Orion hadn't spoken to him since Yoketron's death.

"All right," Landquake said. "Busy. Chromia officially hired me as a transport for the Autobots, so I've had a lot to do. How have you all been?"

"Busy as well," Orion said. "I think I can say that for all of us."

Prowl and Ironhide nodded, and a mildly uncomfortable silence fell. Orion was sure they were all thinking about Yoketron all the way to the groundbridge station, where Landquake stopped to let them out.

"Take care," the transport said, and drove away.

The Autobot groundbridge station, like many of the other buildings they used, had once been a warehouse. Red Alert had had the walls and ceiling reinforced, and put various security measures in place, but it still looked old and derelict, and didn't match the twelve high-tech groundbridges spaced evenly throughout it.

Orion, Prowl, and Ironhide walked over to where Jazz was standing with the members of the Elite Guard. Mainspring was there as well, carrying a small box.

"Here," he said, holding it out to the newcomers. "Clip these trackers somewhere on your frame, and you'll be able to find each other if you get separated."

Orion took one of the small metal devices from the box and clipped it onto his shoulder.

"We ready ta go?" Jazz asked.

Orion glanced around at the gathered mecha, and nodded.

"Right," Jazz said, and went to activate one of the groundbridges.

"While we're here," Prowl said, "Let's go over the plan once more. We will be groundbridging to a small, underground cavern about four klicks from the Decepticon base. I'll remain there while the rest of you…"

Orion's mind wandered as Prowl continued to explain the plan. He wanted to apologize to Elita for that argument. He wanted to at least talk to her before he left.

He tried comming her on an internal frequency and waited for her to answer.

"…Once the groundbridge is shut, we will only communicate with Iacon in the case of an emergency. Comms probably won't work well from that deep anyway…"

She still wasn't answering. If she was really worried about his safety, she probably wouldn't be ignoring him like this.

Orion stopped trying to comm. her.

"…Megatron and Soundwave are gone, so getting in without detection will be possible. Orion will lead you to where they're keeping the Key to Vector Sigma. You may have to eliminate some guards, but try not to let anyone sound the alarm. I'll have access to all of your locations via the trackers Mainspring gave you, so no matter what happens, I should be able to direct you to safety."

Orion sent Elita a message over the comm. Just a short apology for getting angry at her. She responded after a few astroseconds.

[Be careful. I love you]

Orion let out a silent sigh of relief, glad she wasn't completely ignoring him. He'd have to go find her and apologize properly when he got back.

Prowl finished going over the plan, and then everyone turned to look at Orion.

"Okay, boss," Jazz said. "Shall we?"

Orion nodded. "Let's go."

Jazz activated the groundbridge, and walked through. Ironhide and Orion followed, and then got out of the way as the others filed through. When everyone had made it into the small cavern, the groundbridge closed, leaving them in darkness.

"Can ya feel the key?" Jazz asked.

Orion could sense it—almost directly above them. "I can. I can tell what direction it is too."

"Great," Jazz said. "Then this should work. Ya all ready?"

Orion took in a deep vent. He almost couldn't believe he was actually doing this—breaking into the Decepticon base to steal something from Megatron.

He met the optics of a few members of the Elite Guard. He didn't like that they were just here to keep him safe—that they might be expected to die in order to get him out of here.

But he knew Ironhide and Red Alert wouldn't have let him come without the extra guards.

"Hold on," Prowl said, frowning. "Are you sure this is the right location?"

Silence fell.

"Yeah," Jazz said. "Why?"

"And… what's that sound?"

"Doorwings," Jazz muttered. "Right."

"What?" Ironhide said.

Then the cavern echoed with the sudden sound of heavy pedesteps.

They weren't alone.

Orion tried to process what was happening as the Elite Guardsmechs made a circle around him and the other commanding officers. and lights flashed in the entrances to the cavern, illuminating it.

There were only two ways into the cavern, he realized. It was an easy place for an ambush.

"Well, that was fast," Ironhide spoke calmly, but with a hard edge to his voice. "I'm comming for a bridge out of here."

Orion nodded, spark pulsing quickly.

Decepticon soldiers started filing into the room, carrying lights and guns, and the Elite Guards raised their weapons and tightened their circle.

"Hold your fire," Orion commanded, flinching as someone shone a bright light in his optics. If someone started shooting, mecha might offline.

"I can't get through," Ironhide growled. "There's some sort of block."

Orion's spark sank, and he put a hand up to ward off the light as he looked to the side. "Jazz?"

Jazz transformed one hand into a gun and smiled. "Don't worry, mech," he said. "This is part of the plan."

Then he stepped behind Orion and shoved the barrel of the cannon hard into his back. "All right, Autobots!" he said. "Lower your weapons, or the Prime gets it!"

Notes:

1. Happy New Year! Have a cliffhanger. :)

2. Thanks for reading and reviewing and all that!