Run Away

Prowl freezes just as he's about to enter the shuttle and realizes that someone is watching him. It's Drift. They've never been friends, but there's never been malice between them, so when Drift asks him where he's going, he willingly explains his situation.

'You're just running,' Drift says. 'It's not worth it, Prowl, and it won't solve any of your problems.'

Maybe it won't, but Prowl still leaves to find a place where he can just be alone.

Inevitable

Ultra Magnus slams a fist on his desk. 'What I want is for all this to end!'

'For the war to come to a close, we might have to make some sacrifices,' Alpha Trion persists. '…You saw Highbrow's report. If we don't find a way to end this quickly, we'll have to surrender within six megacycles with a loss of eighty-eight percent of the population.'

The leader of the Autobots averts his gaze and stares out the window, to the billboards above the streets of Cybertron that spread false messages of hope.

Collapse

'You can't reassign me!' Springer shouts. 'I'm your second-in-command! You need me on this mission!'

Impactor rolls his optics. It's clear that he'd expected this response. 'The Wreckers are getting killed faster than we can replace them. While I take the senior members out to confront the Brigade, you have to stay here and find new recruits. You're the only Autobot whose judgement I can trust.'

'But – but – this is the Decepticon Heavy Brigade!' argues Springer, arms flailing manically. 'You can't expect me to sit back and let you fight the Decepticon Heavy Brigade all on your own!'

'I'm not fighting them alone. It's final, Springer. I'm not changing my mind.'

Springer hates Impactor for leaving him behind. He hates not being there to fight alongside his friends and comrades, but makes the best of his situation.

He later hears that the Xantium's been destroyed. No survivors.

Stupid or brave?

Red Alert has spent the war picking apart the shells of offline Decepticons and hiding in the shelters whenever the enemy came calling.

Then she gets tired of hiding. She gets tired of hearing stories of the front lines, about the glory and the horrors, about the Autobots who lie dying in their own mech fluid on the battlefield.

However, she doesn't think about doing anything about it until she hears that a fleet of Decepticons are heading towards Iacon City at sublight speed, so instead of boarding the evacuation ship, she transports to the surface of the planet and straight into the chaos.

No time

'Perceptor!' Wheeljack hollers in frustration. 'We have to leave now!'

'As soon as I have completed this equation,' Perceptor says calmly.

'Equations? EQUATIONS? The Decepticons are bombing the Metroplex! This is no time for mathematics! I never thought I'd have to say this, but science must wait!'

Wheeljack grabs Perceptor by the arm and wrenches him away from the computer, just as the ceiling above the station collapses in.

Meeting

Red Alert meets Wheeljack when she's treating an Autobot she found lying out in the middle of the street and is so engrossed in her work she doesn't see the building toppling down on her.

It's Wheeljack who frees her from the wreckage – the Autobot she'd been treating has already died – and they hurry to a nearby shelter. While they're running, the sky seems to be falling, and she belatedly realizes that it isn't the sky that's falling; it's thousands of Decepticon troops descending on the city.

She's shaking badly and can barely walk, yet Wheeljack is as calm and can be and pushes her into the trench. She runs into another face she recognizes, but does not know personally.

'Wheeljack!' Perceptor says. Though she hears that he has no emotions, his tone suggests something equivalent to anger. 'Do you realize what you have done?'

'I had to do it; I couldn't leave her out there,' Wheeljack defends. '…Besides, if we're all going to die today, at least I got to save a life before I went.'

She doesn't know it yet, but she's just rendezvoused with her future.

Memory

Kup is surprised when he survives his encounter with Straxus, albeit with heavy internal injuries, an optic ripped out, and an arm blasted off.

Unfortunately for his post-traumatic stress disorder, he receives no damage to his memory core in the fight.

He thinks that Straxus enjoys tearing Autobots apart a little too much.

Sorry

Ever since Omega was put into modified stasis, everyone's been telling Ratchet how sorry they are and what a loss it is. He's pretty sure that the only thing Ultra Magnus is sorry about is that all of the Sentinels are now gone and he no longer has weapons to use as leverage against the Decepticons, but even he manages to make it sound sincere.

They've all seem to have forgotten that Omega isn't dead. Someday Ratchet will bring him online again.

Keepsake

When Wheeljack is cleaning out his computer, he uncovers the original plans to the Omega Sentinels. He even finds a small model that he, Perceptor, and Mainframe had made, and for the longest time, he stares at it, wondering if he should dispose of it.

Already 'bots are talking about preserving the objects that represent the experiences and the memory of the war. It is a piece of the past.

But all Wheeljack wants to do is forget, so he throws the model away.

Warning

Megatron is a mysterious character who few Autobots had come into contact with and lived to tell the tale. He has a commanding presence. His optics demand respect. His sultry voice draws Ultra Magnus in, the same way he drew in the Cybertronians who were known as Decepticons. But at this point in time, Megatron is the leader of a defeated group of outlaws and he glares at the Magnus with putrid hate.

'Exile,' scoffs Megatron. 'An unfit end.'

'Either it's exile or I allow the Autobots to hunt you down like you once attempted to hunt us down,' cautions Ultra Magnus, clutching his hammer. '…And I'll let the Autobots do what they wish with any Decepticon they capture.'

While Megatron is tyrannical and lustful for Cybertron, he also knows that Ultra Magnus means it and he has to keep the welfare of his Decepticons his first priority. It's the first priority of any good leader. 'We'll leave then. But be warned…' Megatron glares. 'I will return to Cybertron, I will take it for the Decepticons, and, most important of all, I will find the Allspark. You are only postponing the inevitable, Ultra Magnus.'

Ultra Magnus watches Megatron leave along with his entourage of Elite Guard soldiers.

'Then I'll postpone it for as long as I can,' the Magnus finishes.

Opportunity

'You want me to work with you?'

'Sure, what the heck?' Wheeljack says. 'Course, Perceptor's totally against the idea, but I think we need someone around the lab who has some semblance of a sense of humour. You won't get another opportunity like this, R.A., so I suggest you take it, unless you like working on the Moonbase…'

She grins. 'When can I start?'

Recover

Athenia has lost everything. It's lost its buildings, three-quarters of its population, its dignity, and – most of all – its spirit. A matter of megacycles ago it was fully engulfed in a war to which there seemed no end to. Now it's eerily still and Brawn finds himself rummaging through the rubble that stands where his apartment used to be.

At night it's a different story. There's fireworks and laughter and he gets together with the few of his friends who survived the war, but they don't talk about the fighting. They just drink until they can't remember anything past a few hours ago, which is perfectly fine by him.

All he cares is that it's over.