Chapter 10

When Straxus had fled after his first assault on Iacon, and the Nemesis Army had left the immediate area to follow Nemesis Prime to the communications tower, most of the able-bodied Autobots who had remained at the Command Center to help clean up and repair the damage left behind by the drones had concentrated most of their efforts in the med bay. Several cadets, including Skids, Pipes and Sureshot, later joined by Sprocket and Powerflash, worked non-stop to assist Ratchet, the attending medical officer, with urgent repairs on the wounded, or on the non-functional who could still be saved.

Then, when the main power had shut down, they had scrambled to get back-up units operational, prioritizing those who required an ongoing power supply to remain in a stable condition. Soon after, when Ironhide had arrived to deliver an off-lined and damaged Optronix, Hot Rod and Blaster had burst into the poorly lit med bay yelling for assistance. It had been all hands on deck to help clear a berth for Optronix so that he could receive the necessary repairs as quickly as possible.

Throughout the entire procedure, Hot Rod had refused to leave Optronix's side. Ratchet had worked diligently, and had not given up on the cadet, even as all his skills and knowledge were put to the test, until a short time after the main power was restored when he took a step back and laid his tools down on a nearby table.

"Well, is he going to be all right?" Hot Rod asked the red and white medic, anxious to hear the news of Optronix's recovery.

Ratchet looked down at the unconscious patient, who was still connected up to monitoring equipment and sensors, and responded in a weary, yet hopeful, tone. "We won't know until he regains consciousness. He's just lucky that his spark chamber was still intact. Let him rest." Then he placed a reassuring hand on Hot Rod's forearm, before walking away to attend to other patients.

The Nemesis Army proved to be no match for the Constructicon gestalt combiner. In little under an hour, the giant robot had put an end to the menace of the undead drones by trampling them underfoot or scooping them up and either crushing them with his hands or smashing them against a solid surface.

Several hours later, the Autobots began to organize clean up crews to remove the mangled and dysfunctional bodies of the drones that still littered the streets of Iacon Central in the aftermath of their total destruction. They would later send out repair crews to the outer suburbs where the drones had begun their invasion, as well as search parties to recover any injured Autobot who had been left out on his own, and who had been unable to find shelter during the invasion.

Finally, once Straxus and his surviving soldiers had been gathered together and moved to a holding cell within the Command Center's cell block, where Deluge had also been imprisoned, Sentinel aborted the city-wide emergency status, and declared the official end to Straxus' rule on Cybertron.

In the meantime, Shockwave had informed Sentinel about the Ore-13 that he'd discovered had been used to animate the drones, and had warned him that it would be necessary to ensure that every piece of drone they could recover, no matter how small, would need to be completely destroyed so that no trace of its tainted energon could survive. Sentinel had listened to his advice and, since the Autobots were in the Decepticons' debt for not only helping them defeat Straxus, but also for ending the drone army invasion, for the time being at least, a truce between the two factions had been agreed upon.

"The smelting pools in Polyhex would be ideal," Sentinel told the Decepticon guardian. "It will leave no trace."

"Agreed," Shockwave replied. Content to end their discussion there, he was about to turn away when Sentinel spoke again, loud enough for the rest of the Decepticons to hear.

"Wait–" he started, but then looked down uncertainly at the Matrix in his hand, said nothing further.

Megatron caught his drift, and realized that Sentinel would not be able to re-establish his status as Prime until the Matrix of Leadership was purged of its Ore-13, lest he should become another Nemesis Prime. Since there was no benefit in denying him his position of leadership, Megatron offered him the solution to his dilemma. "Take Deluge with you to Darkmount. There, he will be able to restore your Matrix," Megatron said, and then turned to leave, not keen on engaging Sentinel any further due to the distrust and animosity that the latter had shown him and the Decepticons in the past. However, as Megatron began to turn away Sentinel spoke up again.

"Megatron," he uttered, and waited for the Decepticon leader to acknowledge his gaze before continuing. "Thank you," he said in a low voice, his discomfort in showing humility, combined with the sincerity of his gratitude, evident to all.

Megatron gave him a small nod in acknowledgment, before finally walking away.

One hour later, Skyfire left for Darkmount, transporting Sentinel and a handful of cadets that the Prime had selected to accompany him to Straxus' former stronghold – namely Skids, Pipes, Sureshot, Sprocket, Powerflash and Blaster. They also had Deluge with them. Hot Rod had chosen to remain with Optronix in the med bay.

"Sir, what will happen to Straxus?" Skids asked Sentinel as the fortress came into view below them, its solid, high walls taking on the morose, gloomy quality that was reminiscent of an abandoned structure.

Sentinel kept his gaze focused outside the canopy window. "He'll be sent to Garrus-1."

"Is it true that those drones used to be former inmates of Garrus-1?" Sureshot asked, curious.

The Autobot leader glanced towards the inexperienced cadets, who were all filled with a naïve, innocent curiosity, and then looked at Deluge, who sat motionless in his corner. The Destron scientist had not spoken a word since they'd left. "Where did you hear that?" he answered Sureshot with a question of his own.

The yellow and red speedster shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "I overheard you talking to that Decepticon about it," he said.

"Ah." Sentinel looked back out the window and pondered the recent conversation he'd had with Shockwave. Then he sighed. There would be no harm in telling the cadets what he'd learned, especially now that the threat of Straxus or his Nemesis Army was completely over. "Yes, it appears that many of them were recruited from Garrus-1."

"Wow, what a way to go," Sprocket commented, giving Deluge an accusatory glare. "You know, maybe we ought to do to Straxus and his deadbeat flunkies what they did to those inmates?" It was obvious that the bitterness in his voice had been directed at Deluge in an attempt to elicit a response from the scientist. However, Deluge simply ignored him.

Shortly after Skyfire touched down just outside the fortress, the Autobots allowed Deluge to lead the way into the fortified castle and then down to his lab, keeping a close optic on him as they went. After they'd navigated the darkened labyrinth, Deluge finally stopped in front of a sealed door. "Well, here we are," he said matter-of-factly.

Sentinel looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings with impatience. "This is not the laboratory," he stated.

Deluge looked at him blankly. "No, it isn't," he said, and then input a code on the wall panel beside him to unlock the door, which slid open to reveal a large ante-chamber with a lone terminal in the center of the space. Then he held out his hand. "Give me the Matrix."

Sentinel did not trust the scientist at all; yet, Deluge was the only one with the full authorization and know-how to reverse the process that had caused the Matrix to become tainted with the Ore-13. Regardless, if the Destron so much as tried to escape or sabotage the Matrix in any way, Sentinel would blow his head off with his cannon. So far, however, Deluge seemed willing to co-operate and had complied with his every demand thus far without causing any further trouble.

Hesitantly, he handed Deluge the Matrix, and the Autobots followed him into the room, watching him carefully as he placed the artefact inside a compartment beneath the central console. Inputting a set of instructions into the terminal, the hidden compartment retracted, and Deluge activated the reverse sequence.

The process did not take long to complete. In less than a breem, Sentinel held the restored Matrix in his hands.

Skyfire and the cadets watched with satisfaction and delight as Sentinel opened up his chest panel and inserted the treasured artefact neatly into the receptacle inside his chest. Within a few moments, the transformation process was initiated, and Sentinel was changed back into Sentinel Prime.

When Optronix eventually came back online almost a day later, he was surrounded by his fellow class mates from the War Academy, though two were notably absent: Magnus, and Scrounge. Alpha Trion was also present.

He sat up slowly on his berth and, realizing he was in the med bay, was confused. "What… what happened?" he asked, looking around at all the familiar faces.

Hot Rod, in particular, was overwhelmed with joy and relief, and leaned forward to embrace his friend in a firm, spontaneous embrace. When Hot Rod pulled away, his hand still grasping Optronix's arm, he seemed about to choke up. "We thought we'd lost you," he blurted, overjoyed to see his friend back to normal, and functional, again.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Op!" Blaster said cheerfully.

Optronix glanced briefly around at all his friends again, before slowly looking down at his hands. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Alpha Trion smiling at him. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Alpha Trion smiling down at him. "Your friend is right, you know. We almost lost you."

"Alpha Trion," Optronix said softly, and then faltered, unsure of what to say.

"You have no memory of your ordeal, have you?" his guardian interjected, nodding with sympathetic understanding.

"No," Optronix admitted, although the horrible memory of Sentinel's capture, of Straxus and the drone army in Iacon, and of the execution of his friend Magnus, all came flooding back into his processor. "The last thing I remember…" he began, and then looked down at his frame, unsure whether the memory of Deluge inserting the Matrix into his chest compartment had been a real event, or his delusion. "I remember Deluge… he had the Matrix of Leadership," he said at last.

Over the next several breems, Optronix's class mates filled him in on everything that had happened – from his stint as Nemesis Prime, and the second battle against Straxus and his followers, to the final defeat of the Nemesis Army thanks to the Decepticons' new combiner technology.

Optronix listened patiently to every word as the cadets hustled around him, each wanting to have their say, until finally there was a break in the chatter and he was able to speak. "I am glad that everything worked out, and that I – or, Nemesis Prime – was not able to contact Primus," he said, eliciting a few chuckles. Then he paused, looked back at them all with apprehension. "Magnus… Scrounge?"

The room suddenly fell silent. Not a single mech in the room was able to give voice to the regret and sadness that they felt. Optronix knew the answer to his query even as Hot Rod shook his head sorrowfully, and he bowed his head in mourning for the cadets who had recently lost their lives.

"They'll always be in our hearts and in our memory," Blaster said quietly, but there was nothing more he could say or do to make the situation better. They had all lost a good friend in Magnus, a friend who they would never see again; and even Scrounge – who had been the butt of all their jokes during class – would not be forgotten.

The sound of a vocalizer being cleared behind them distracted them from their moment of grief. "Uh, ahem, I hate to break up your reunion but I just want to let you all know that I was able to salvage your friend's spark chamber. Now, I'm not making you any promises, but if I can rebuild his body I should be able to bring him back from the dead, so to speak."

Hot Rod suddenly rose from his seat beside Optronix and turned to face the medical officer who had just spoken, as the rest of the cadets all refocused their attention to the red and white mech. "What?" he started, confused. "What friend?"

Ratchet looked back at the orange and red cadet with an expression of quiet satisfaction. "I believe his name is… Magnus?"

And no sooner had he uttered the cadet's name, than the room suddenly broke out in cheers and shouts of joy, hugs and congratulations shared all round. Even Ratchet, who happened to find himself in the midst of all the excitement, was pulled into a rough embrace by Hot Rod, who could not contain his delight, or his gratitude, for the wonderful news.

"Thank you, Primus," Hot Rod whispered in utter relief. "Thank you!"

* * * End of The Nemesis Army * * *