[Location: The Dauntless]

Kup walked into the room that they had set aside for Raphael and Elita to work in, finding her standing alone, in her larger form, as she looked over the items set along a table on the far wall. They had made eleven viral bombs, the devices spread out before her while her Vault rested against the far end of the table in a nice little corner. Again she had been rubbing her left arm despite her having forced Ratchet to end his repairs hours before.

"You want to tell me what happened?" the older Autobot asked.

Elita turned towards him a bit as she gave a slight smile. His tone of voice reminded her of the one her father use to use when he would find her pensive and, in his opinion, too quiet. For once he was without his detonator, but she was sure he had it on his person somewhere. "I don't know how to put it. The past few days have just been crazy for everyone."

"That's true, but there's more to what has happened with you." Kup turned to lean backwards against the table himself. "A-3 said that you'd need guidance. That's why he sent me." He had to smile at her airy chuckle as she shook her head.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all, mostly the fact that some Cybertronian guru sent me help Lord knows how many years ago."

"I saw Ratchet's scans of your arm. It wasn't all normal battle damage. From what he told me it's Dark Energon poisoning." The way she went silent and looked at the table told him enough. "He also concluded something that had been bothering him with his data from you for at least a little while now. Your smaller form produces something similar in composition to the Unicron fuel."

Despite being in her full form, Eita still reached up to brush her fingers over the area she had stitched up on her human form. "Makes sense. I had started to make the odd Energon after I started eating normal food, which gets its nutrients from the … well… the carcass of your specie's nightmare. The closest I can compare it to is mixing blood and Energon."

"That doesn't explain why only your arm was affected."

Giving a sigh, Elita rested herself on her hands on the table. "I pulled it from the crystal in Dreadwing's body." When Kup only grunted, she took that as he was waiting for her to continue. "I saw or at least I think I saw another Dreadwing or maybe, for the lack of something tangible to compare it to, his ghost. It … he … seemed disturbed over it. Tried to help me fight the Terrorcon. All I was trying to do was grab the crystal out of the hole that was blown through him, but I pulled the energy into me instead and he turned into dust. His ghost bowed in I guess in thanks for removing the taint and the shame that Megatron put on him by shoving the crystal where it didn't belong. I guess at least."

"I've fought against Dreadwing and his twin Skyquake, and both fought with honor. Sad to say that they both ended up on the wrong side," Kup sighed.

"Optimus tried to get them to join, even up to their own end, but they chose their path and there is something to be said about staying firm to your choice despite everything going horridly wrong." She focused on her left hand as she went silent as she thought about Skyquake who was probably still walking around in the shadow zone, or at least shambling. Shaking her head free of the thought, she straightened herself back up. "We're done on our end. Are the others ready?"

"Whenever you are," Kup replied easily. "Though I still don't like the idea of you going by yourself."

"As far as I know I'm the only one that Megatron knows still walks around. I'm sure he might question about you and Jackie, or at least Wheeljack, since you two were there when the base blew." Elita gathered up the drives before she turned to leave.

Kup followed her easily as they met the others in the Ground Bridge chamber and watched her pass the objects to the others. When she stopped in front of Wheeljack, Jazz and Optimus she calmly listened as Wheeljack passed a device of his own to her. The older bot stopped right beside Ratchet as he waited by the controls that Jack, Raphael, and Miko were standing on. "Make sure that you've got the med bay ready. Despite my faith in our girl, I've got a feeling it's not going to be pretty."

"I don't like the fact that she's not completely repaired," the medic admitted.

"Neither do I, but her reasoning is sound. She can't look like she's got back-up."

"I still don't like it."

"What? Her plan or the fact that she didn't want you touching her?" The glare Ratchet shot him only made Kup chuckle. "Thought so."

Jack and Raphael were more sympathetic towards the medic, but Miko, her arms crossed over her chest, was firmly on Elita's side of things. Ratchet was surly to everyone, it was about time that someone dished it right back.

Concluding her discussion with Wheeljack, Elita turned to walk around the room, passing out devices as she went. "You all know the plan. Remember to spread them out," she said as she stopped in front of Smokescreen. She passed him the last three of the drives, holding up one particular one in front of him, to which he nodded in understanding. Then she turned to look back at the room, "I'll hold their attention for a long as I can, but I don't know for how long that will be."

"I don't like this at all," Ratchet stated bluntly, but only returned the slight glare she gave him.

"You just need to be ready at those controls," was all she said to the medic before she took a deep breath to calm herself down as she faced the dark machine. "Let's roll."


[Location: Darkmount]

Elita stepped out of the ground bridge portal that had opened up in the same location she had left, actually spotting a few pieces of Nemesis Prime that she had either dropped or overlooked the last time she stood on the now shattered road. The sound of heavy footsteps suddenly appearing behind her made Elita turn around to see Wheeljack step through the Ground Bridge right before it winked shut.

"You had orders," she muttered.

"Yeah, well, I'm here to help draw their attention," the Wrecker replied. "Like you said, they know about me, so it would make sense that I would be with you. They'd also would be expecting somethin' from me if I wasn't at your side, which makes things hinky for the others."

Seeing the logic in his explanation, Elita only nodded once before she turned to begin the long walk down the roadway towards the spire, which was back lit with the rising sun, with Wheeljack silently walking beside her. It was slow going due to the damage from Elita's fight with Dreadwing, but the they kept at a steady pace. Almost the whole ten miles they could hear the scream of jets above as the Vehicons kept tabs on them, but no one moved to attack. They had reached the base of the spire by the time the sun began to set behind them, looking up at the monstrous tower as it was cast in the golden light.

Looking up, Elita knew that she wouldn't be able to see him, but she did know that he could see her with all of the surveillance she and Wheeljack had been under the whole time. Looking directly at the newly repaired Lazerbeak she yelled out her greeting to the tyrant.

Up on his throne, Megatron had been watching the approach of the two lone Autobots for a while know, silently pondering the pair the whole time. Naturally his mind attempted to work through all the possible reasons for their little visit, what they might be hiding, and how he was going to enjoy capturing and torturing them both. As the pair's shadows reached the bottom of this magnificent replica of his ruling tower on Cybertron Starscream and Soundwave had joined him in his throne chamber, watching the pairs slow approach.

"Looks like they're surrendering themselves to you, Lord Megatron," Starscream commented with a dark glee. "How nice of them to save us the effort of hunting them down."

"Just because you failed to locate the Autobots when you had the chance doesn't mean that you get to gloat over this fortuitous turn of events," Megatron replied with a sneer at his second-in-command.

Soundly humbled, though privately fuming about it, Starscream focused back on the screen that held the image that Lazerbeak was producing for them. Even he felt a little startled at the tiny femme's piercing stare as they heard her yell, "Megatron! I've got a bone to pick with you!"

Megatron's optics and sneer widened with an amused surprise. "Apparently surrendering is not on her agenda."

"Ooh, she is a feisty one, isn't she?" Starscream chuckled darkly, his humor restored. "Those are my favorite ones to break."

"We'll get to that eventually, but first," Megatron stood up from his throne, "I must go see about this bone she wishes to pick with me. Soundwave, keep the search going around my citadel for any possible attacks from the Autobots. They might be using her as a distraction. Starscream, grab a unit and follow me."

Starscream gave the order before he quickly followed his leader's example and transformed before following. Several Vehicon fliers soon followed the pair out of the top of the massive tower, landing in a large, half circle formation around the two Autobots, utilizing the side of the spire to help block them in, while Megatron and Starscream land in the center with their two captives. Undaunted by the show of force, the pair faced the Decepticon leadership, Wheeljack actually trying not to laugh at look that was a cross between annoyance and boredom that Elita had on her face. Megatron and Starscream; however, did openly chuckle at the frustration that she appeared to be conveying.

"I believe that you have a bone to pick with me," the Decepticon leader asked mockingly, then sneered as his focus turned a bit sharper on her, "human."

Elita raised an optic ridge at the slight, but otherwise didn't openly react. With all the new pieces in place she had to quickly take in all the possible moves that could be made and which ones would be successful and which ones would be disastrous. During the walk there had been random clicks on their radios to let them know that a device had been placed while she and Jackie had keep them somewhat distracted. Now to just keep it up.

"Let me guess," she turned a suddenly sweet smile to the tyrant as she clapped her hands together in front of her torso, "Bishop talked and tried to pass himself off as an equal to myself? Oh drat. My ruse has been discovered." She turned slightly towards Wheeljack and lifted one hand up to her forehead with her palm up in a supposed swoon. "What ever shall I do? He only wishes he was like me." she told him, soliciting a slight chuckle from the other Autobot before she turned back to the tyrant. "At least Vector Sigma liked my designs. But now to my main point," her tone became slightly more serious, but still friendly. "You need to get off of my planet now before I really get mad."

"Oh really?" Megatron inquired with a bit of amusement. "And what, pray tell, would happen if a little one like you got mad? I'm only seeing one Autobot with you, unless you've got them tucked into your pocket somewhere."

Elita just sighed slightly. This is where they always screw up, underestimating the smallest ones. "Optimus put me in charge before he left for Cybertron, not to mention that Vector Sigma made me a Prime while I was visiting your planet, but do you really think they'd follow me?" she asked with an optic ridge raised slightly, her hands on her hips. "The only reason Jackie's here is because of some sort of Wrecker debt he claims for saving his skidplate earlier."

"That and the Earth females are always surprising me in one way or another," Wheeljack quipped, making Elita roll her optics with a shake of her head.

"But you see Meggsie," she paused to wave a hand towards the Decepticon. "Can I call you that? Thanks," she said, not even giving him a chance to answer, which angered Megatron slightly about the amount of disrespect she was showing. "You see, Meggsie, I really can't have you on my planet for several reason, but I'll try to keep them down to mostly the top hundred or so." She had begun to pace at this point, "First of all, you've already cause so much damage that I've got to clean up it's pathetic. You and your Vehicons been running around everywhere doing who knows what damage to both my planet and the people that reside here. That's a huge no-no and that's not quite counting the Terrorcons you've unleashed. Add to that your inner circle's almost constant squabbling and that's quite a bit of collateral right there. I've seen the shape you left for planet in and that simply won't do here.

"Secondly, because of your disregard of your own crew, you've allowed M.E.C.H. to get their hands on Cybertronian technology, which is a huge reason that I'm standing here right now. Not only have they been trying to build up their own transformers, as they put it, but they've ended up getting a huge upgrade to their capabilities, which makes for an even bigger mess that I've got to clean up. But instead of ending this threat, you've allowed it to flourish. Not to mention that Starscream helped them out while he was running from you." That made the tyrant glare for a moment at his second-in-command. "Plus with how much trouble I had gone through to moth-ball Damoclies I'm really peeved at the fact that you're running around with my creation without my permission. That and the fact that you destroyed my new home when I had just finished moving everything in. Though, whomever built the physical aspect of it actually got pretty close to the original designs when it was in my head.

"Third, well, how can I put this?" she asked more for her own benefit than those around her as she looked up at the tower. "That thing is fugly."

Inside, the team had split up and were well on their way with planting their devices. Each one had come across several distracted Vehicons that were watching their teammates' approach to the spire, which left them relatively free to cautiously roam as they worked. They knew that their tasks needed to be completed and soon before either the ruse was discovered or one of them were.

On the Nemisis, Smokescreen carefully peeked out of the wall and into the storage bay that Knock Out and his team were in, all presently watching the screen. The Elite Guardsman only heard some rant from Elita about M.E.C.H. as he rushed through the room to get to the next few stations that he needed access to.

The Decepticon medic; however, had his arms crossed as he was listening to what was being said, apparently in deep thought about it all. Thinking on what she said, as she began to rant about the tower itself, Knock Out realized that she was right. Megatron had refused to rescue Breakdown, allowed those little fiends to not only try to cut him up in the first place, but allowed them to get their hands on his friend again and use his chassis for Cylas' own personal life support, all be it that didn't last too long. She was right, M.E.C.H. was a threat and apparently she was going to do something about it. Also, she liked his designs, so she did have some great taste. Drawn out of his thoughts by Megatron's voice, he frowned at the scene before him. Elita had apparently pushed the tyrant enough to make him respond and it made Knockout frown at what more possible damage she was going to sustain as a punishment for doing so.

"Enough," Megatron said calmly, making Elita halt in her rant about how the tower blocked the sunlight for miles, actually making viewing the sunrise difficult not only from its size but its horrific design was an eyesore against the natural light. Focusing on the little rambling Autobot before him, as she simply blinked up at him expectantly with that blasted annoying half smile on her face, Megatron sneered a bit. "It appears that we are at a bit of an impasse. Unfortunately for you both, I simply remove the blockades to my goals."

Elita glanced back at Wheeljack with a smirk, "Ooooh, dem's fightin' words." But she had focused on his hand he had resting down at his side as he opened it twice. She gave a slight nod to him in acknowledgment and turned back to Megatron in time to see him gesture to his minions. The surrounding Vehicons began to move closer to the pair, making Elita raise an optic ridge. "Really? And here I thought you were going to remove the blockade yourself. Sending your soldiers to do your work for you? What are you? Scared of me? Or you just habitually send in your troops to be wiped out when you should have done the job yourself? Surely you're running out of troops because of that." Her words made the Vehicons stop in their advancement towards her and her companion as they looked towards Megatron. "I mean, honestly, from what I've been told about you, the Champion of the Pits of Ka'on, you wouldn't hesitate to battle your foe one on one."

"You have such a deep wish for your demise, little one?" Megatron chuckled a bit as he began to move forward, "Your arrogance will be your downfall." His humor faded a bit when she turned a bright smile towards him, as if he was presenting her with a great gift.

"Seriously?! You're going to fight me? That will definitely give me some Autobot cred." But she held up one hand in his direction making him come to a complete stop with her next words. "But hold up. This is going to be an epic boss battle and I've got to find the right song for it."


Author's Note:

I do not own the show. Thanks for reading.

Oh, the hunt for the perfect song. It is a tactic for writing that Cyrex and a friend of ours shared with me years ago and I still utilize it. It's a tool that helped us set up a scene for the others when we're sharing our stories or writing together or when we're just trying to plan out a scene. Sometimes multiple songs can fit, or a different song helps turn the idea in a completely new direction. Anyways, rambling aside, thanks for reading.