This story is to a collection called 'Toying With Reality'

I own none of the characters other than 'Skyfall' and 'Dawnbreaker'

'Com'

"Speech"

"Telepathy"

"Optimus you're not going to believe this," Ratchets voice broke Dawnbreaker out of her musings making the smaller bot look over at the CMO, from her data pad on forms of travel and old Cybertronian lore. The rest of the Autobots had perked up as well moving closer to the screens. "I have pin pointed the location of the Decepticon war ship."

"How did you penetrate there cloaking technology?" Optimus asked and Dawnbreaker winced.

"That's not a good enough reason to use the word penetrate…" The grey and yellow Femme mumbled silently with a smile on her face plate. Arcee lifted a brow at her and Dawn just shrugged it off with a slight grin.

"I was experimenting the variable frequency wavelengths when I stumbled upon it." Ratchet turned to face the Autobots standing behind him. "Even still, their ship must be experiencing some kind of electromagnetic breach."

Arcee motioned to the screens, "With Megaton deceased and the element of surprise…" The two wheeler punched her hand in an aggressive show.

"...We could cause some serious damage." Bulkhead finished with a smirk.

Dawnbreaker lit up at the thought of a mission, but the sudden beeping of the computers brought her back, "What's that?"

"On the same frequency was an Autobot emergency beacon."

"The Decepticons can wait, there may be Autobots in distress. Ratchet bring your Medical kit. Dawnbreaker come with us, we may need an extra pair of servos."

Dawnbreaker followed Optimus and Ratchet through the portal to the Autobot distress signal location. Her cerulean eyes lit up at the Autobot ship crash site sunken into the desolate wind blow dunes. The torn up hull was highlighted by the silver light of the moon giving the mangled wreck a ghost like appearance. "Wow." Dawnbreaker felt that her words were taken from her by the ghostly appearance of the ship.

"A cash landing buried here for centuries." Optimus said in wonder.

Dawnbreaker looked at the ship again, something about it felt…wrong. Apprehension wracked her core as Ratchet began to wield through the ships hull. 'Skyfall bro? Are you there? I need little help…' No answer came from her Decepticon sister, but she could feel Skyfall's fear and that's all she needed to know. "I'll keep watch out side sir."

Optimus looked at her, "Very well Dawnbreaker."

"Pshhh she's probably scared of the dark…" Ratchet chuckled as his welder ate through the hull. The solid metal wall clanged loudly onto the floor when it fell, Ratchet gave one look to Optimus and they walked through, "If they traveled in Stasis mode, there may be survivors." She could just hear the CMO say before they went too far in and were out of auditory range.

Dawnbreaker listened to the groans of the ship and the howling of the wind, this was going to be a long night. What she didn't expect was the emergency ground bridge only minutes later and the E-vac of Optimus to the medical room of the missile silo. 'Oh shit Skyfall we fucked up bad…' Dawnbreaker found herself muttering mentally, as she stared at the prone form of Optimus Prime.

"Cybonic Plague." Ratchet said as if it physically pained him to do so, looking away from his leaders weakened body the CMO let out a devastated sigh. "It's only contagious if contact is made with the infected Energon."

Dawnbreaker watched as Miko leaned against the rail, "What was a plague doing on an Autobot spaceship?"

"It's passengers were infected, the virus wiped out millions on Cybertron during the great war." Arcee answered the girl, tho she seemed to be haunted by the memories.

"Cybonic Plague was engineered in the Deceptions Biological-Warfare program, by Megatron himself." Ratchet spat out Megatrons name as if it were the virus it's self.

"You…have a cure don't you?" Raf asked meekly.

Optimus let out a shuddering outtake then groaned out, "No cure."

Dawnbreaker felt her spark tighten and she looked away, he can't die like this. Optimus can't die from some stupid ass plague. Clenching her servos into fists Dawn felt like punching the wall but she knew it would not fix anything.

"Optimus, please save your strength." Ratchet scolded softly.

Dawnbreaker felt like there was some way to help Optimus, she thought on this for a moment then it hit her whirling around her optics brightened, "Would Megatron create a disease without having a cure? I mean, what if he caught it by accident?"

"It's not like we can ask Megatron, Dawnbreaker. He's pushing up lug nuts." Bulkhead said with a shrug.

"But, we might be able to access the Decepticon database. For the moment, we still have a fix on their Warship's location." Ratchet said pulling up the ships location again on the screens.

"Bumblebee, Dawnbreaker come with." Arcee said walking to the Ground Bride tunnel.

"Arcee, quickly." Ratchet fixed them with a pleading look.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

On the Nemesis the three Autobots stuck low with their weapons at the ready, rounding each dark corner with caution. Their objective was the Decepticon Lab. Dawnbreaker was practically vibrating with excitement, she was so close to Skyfall she could almost feel the triple changers EM signatures through the Lab doors. Hearing footsteps the three went into action and hid from sight.

The doors slid back with a mechanical beep and whoosh, "So how is that leg of yours sweetspark"

"You call me sweetspark one more time Knockout and I'll break you're leg and see how you like it." Skyfall growled favoring her right leg. Skyfall felt Dawnbreakers presence when she first arrived on the ship, ever since then she has been on edge. When Knockout stopped in the hall she felt her spark stop as well, "The fuck are you standing there for Knockout?"

The red mech gave the slender sliver femme a mock glare, "Those human words are so…vulgar sounding coming from such sweet lips as yours. Say it again~"

Skyfall frowned her wings flicked in annoyance, she could feel Dawnbreakers mirth just to the right of her. Of course she found it amusing, "I'm going to walk away and when I come back you better no be here when I do." Skyfall stepped into Knockouts field with a growl denta bared.

"Fair enough Commander." Knockout said meekly, the red sports car stepped back and hastily walked down the hall.

Skyfall glared at Knockout's retreating form. When he was out of site she placed a sharp claw to her audio receptor, "Soundwave, status report on the field fluctuations." with a flick of her wings she went the other way down the hall her gait still uneven. Dawnbreaker watched Skyfall disappear from sight with sad optics, they were so close but they still couldn't say a word to each other. Emerging from their hiding spots the three Autobots, rushed into the Lab and Arcee went to work fast on finding the cure in the Decepticon database.

"I'm in the net work," Arcee said over the com to Ratchet, as she typed quickly on the panel. She glared at the screen in frustration, "If it's here I don't see it."

'Are you certain, Arcee?'

"I searched every file. Nothing."

'Well search again! Clearly you missed something!'

Getting frustrated at the CMO's attitude Arcee snapped back in a hushed tone, "I scanned the entire database!"

Dawnbreaker looked over at Bumblebee who was beeping at them 'You should see this…' abandoning the fighting pair Dawnbreaker walked over to the door and looked through the hole. She gasped and stepped back. "Arcee you need to have a look at this.." She said unable to hide how shaken she sounded.

"What is it?!" Arcee snapped in a whisper, walking over to the window the femme two wheeler peered inside.

'What is it? What's going on?'

The small blue bot gasped and opened the door, but it was Dawnbreaker who spoke to Ratchet. "It's Megatron. He's…alive."

'That's not possible.'

"Well, I'm staring right at him. Good news is, Megatron isn't exactly staring back. He's in critical condition, hooked up to life-support."

Arcee walked up to the massive grey mech her rifle whirling to life. "Time to finish this once and for all."

'Wait! Don't!'

Not moving Arcee glared at the accursed Warlord, "One reason—fast."

'Megatron may be Optimus' only hope for survival.'

"What are you talking about?" The two wheeler lowered her weapon.

'Does he display brain wave activity?'

Dawnbreaker looked at the data screen, "Spiking hard."

"His sick mind is still at work," Arcee growled out.

'Perfect!' The three Autobots looked at each other in shock, 'If a cure exists, Megatron may be the only one who knows it. You must enter his brain…and find it.'

"Oh hell no, enter Megatrons brain? Ratchet, are you out of your fragging mind?!" Dawnbreakers voice was high pitched with disbelief.

'The Decepticon Laboratory should contain all the equipment you need for a Cortical Psychic Patch.'

"No way. Have you ever even performed the procedure?" Arcee was beyond herself with skepticism.

'No. But I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature. It was invented by Decepticons, and outlawed by Autobots.'

Dawnbreaker almost fell over in shock, at the answer. "Whoa. Can't we just haul Megatron through the Ground Bridge, buy us some time to figure this out?"

'Time is one thing that Optimus does not have! One of you must try this! I will not allow Optimus to pass knowing that Megatron will outlive him!'

"Ratchet I would lay down my life for Optimus. Any time anywhere, but a mind/body split?" Arcee said and Dawnbreaker nodded in agreement. But Bee stepped forward volunteering himself for the Cortical Physic Patch with the psychopath. Everyone had faith in the yellow Scout and soon Dawn and Arcee were hooking the bot up to Megatron.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Skyfall paced the Command Bridge, she was on edge. She hoped that Dawnbreaker wasn't the one to do the Cortical Psychic Patch with Megatron, she had built up a charge just by suppressing the need to communicate with her Spark sister. Starscream in the mean time had busied himself by yelling at the Combatacons about the Electromagnetic Shielding. Starscream and Skyfall have come to a silent truce per say since their spat left both recovering in the Medbay for weeks. Their relationship was the same, as she held respect for her leader. But, this did not entail that she still didn't want to rip him apart for threatening Dawnbreaker. That aside she went back to her duties as Second in Command and Field Medic, with her injury still healing she went from mine to mine repairing damaged miners to fixing the troops combat training regimen with the help of Skyquake of course.

Skyfall was pleased at the large green bot for proving himself that he was worth saving. Skyfall would unabashedly say that she held him in high regards, because Skyquake has in turn saved her spark on a few collapsed mine missions. Be it from tons of rocks falling on her or mining machines gone rouge. Skyfall owed a great deal to the warrior.

"Soundwave: You are charged up."

Skyfall stopped mid stride and glared at the sleek mech, "It's none of your concern Soundwave."

The said bot stiffened, "Soundwave: Correction, welfare of Decepticon Leadership is a concern."

Skyfall looked at Soundwave with a twinge of surprise, "Check mate….but it is a private matter I was just…musing over some thoughts."

"Doctor in the house." Knockouts humorous tone made Skyfall look over at the red sports car.

"Ah, Knockout. And how is the patient doing today?" Starscream said gleefully knowing the answer.

Dawning on a bored expression Knockout put his servo to his hip with a sigh, "Same old."

Starscream turned dramatically flexing his claws, "An inglorious fate." Skyfall rolled her optics at the theatrics. "That he should remain in this vegetative state."

'Oh you shit schemer I know what you're up to..' Skyfall glared at Lord Starscream with malcontent, frustrated with his schemes. Skyfall made her way out into the hall where she let out a long vent. Tilting her helm to the side her sensory antenna twitched when she felt an EM field push against hers in a sort of soothing manner, Skyfall turned to see that Soundwave had moved to her right and was standing uncomfortably close. The slightly taller bot loomed over her like a silent shadow. "Soundwave…"

"Soundwave: Your injuries have not healed."

Skyfall flared her wings in a show of power, "My wings have healed exceptionally well…but yes you're right this leg has not healed, yet. But, you try taking a missile to the knee joint and not expect a slow recovery." The Second in Command motioned to the large crack on the joint wielded nicely but still there. "My injury not healing is not current news but yet seems to be one your keen on bringing up…why?" Skyfall questioned the Communications Officer. "No don't answer that…I know it's your affections towards me, listen to me Soundwave as I will only say this once. We are at war I cannot allow the Decepticon cause to be demolished because we weakened it by becoming involved. You and I both know the Autobots can and will use that to their advantage. If this war was over, I may consider…us. But till then." With that she turned and walked away down the hall to the lift. Once in the confines of the lift she clutched her helm with one servo. "I need a drink. Dawnbreaker I hope you're having a better time than me."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Dawnbreaker was having a shit day. First she watches Optimus get the Cybonic Plague. Then she's teased by seeing Skyfall just feet from her hiding spot with out being able to say hi to her best friend. And now she was running through the ground bridge after being shot in the aft by Starscream her aft was stinging from the grazed hit. She hoped Skyfall was having a better time than she was.