Innocence

With nothing but a moment to spare; Phoenix reached for her electrified whip that lay only inches away and with a flick of her wrist she snapped its tail in front of Khaos' faceplate. The mech retreated back, avoiding the attempted assault with the weapon as the femme rose to her pedes and wiped the drops of energon splatter from her cheek.

"Why…why did you do it?" her voice cracked behind coming tears "Why did you kill her?" grip tightened on the handle.

Only a smirk and shrug where returned.

"Answer me slaggit!" rage boiling in her circuitry; she charged at the mech, snapping her whip; hoping at some point it would come in contact with the con. Unfortunately her actions became her undoing with Khaos dogging every move Phoenix made, grabbing the whips tail and yanked it from her servo.

"Tsk tsk tsk, such a temper you have their birdy. I would have thought dear ol' daddy would have taught you better or at least to have some better moves." He mocked, tossing the whip to the side.

"What have you done with him? Where is he?!" Phoenix cried.

"Daww, miss him do we? Well when you come up with the 'where' do let me know. I have my own personal issues I need to 'discuss' with him." A growl slipped past his bared denta.

What sounded like a blast rang through the air, a large spark of light hitting Khaos square in the back; sending the rouge con to his knees. "GGrraahhh!"

Surprised, Phoenix backed away; unsure if the con was truly down for the count. But as she predicted she was wrong. The mech turned away from her and towards the group of charging autobots with a low growl, "Fraggin' guard." He turned back to Phoenix with a frightful smile. "We'll have to settle this another time. Don't go disappearing on me again ya hear?" with a wink he vanished into the shadows.

The purple femme shook her head in disgust. She looked up before the small troop of three or four white trooper bots lead by Perceptor. Smoke flowed out from the cannon that rested on his shoulder from its recent firing. "Eternia, I am needing to ask you if you are alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Me and Ultra Mag-" she gasped in horror as her memory came scrambling back "ULTRA MAGNUS!" turning on a pede the femme raced over, landing on her knees next to the fallen mech's gray frame, tracing a servo over the mech's fatal wound, "Please," she looked up at Perceptor's expressionless face, "We need to help him!"

"It is already too late. His spark has extinguished, there is nothing else that can physically be done." The monotone mech examined the Magnus' wounds carefully, opening his spark chamber. There was a small pin-sized flick of light where a pulsing spark once was, but as Perceptor looked over it, the last of the light faded.

"B-but there must be something?"

Perceptor shook his helm without looking up to the weeping femme, shutting the spark chamber closed. "I repeat there is nothing that can be done. He is offline."

She could hear the silent gasp from the troopers behind them. Phoenix didn't know what to do; she could only watch as another pair of troopers came with a levitating gurney and with the help of three other troopers, lifted the Magnus on to it finally pushing him away in silence. The femme hugged her stomach; never did she ever felt so queasy or nauseated. She placed a servo over her mouth to avoid anyone hearing her whimper. Most of troops had disappeared with the Magnus' frame, some she could feel giving a disapproving stare; like it was her that was to blame.

Then again, she was the only one who knew what truly happened. Thinking back, now that her processor was no longer scrambled it did not look good for her. No other bot saw what Khaos had done or perhaps even saw him at all. Preceptor only just saw him for a nanoklick but no more before or after shooting him in the back.

Sudden flashes wiped across her optics, her processor pulsing. Phoenix fell to her knees clutching her helm as swirls of images whizzed by; impossible to make out. Another bright flash, there was a sound….like a baby crying, a flash of purple. The femme moaned in pain and spark pulse enhanced when she swore she saw what looked like yellow like liquid slowly moving across a glowing white hand that faded to grey, unmoving. There were loud shouts and blasts that she could not make out. Suddenly there was an outline of a silver figure looking like he was looking down to her, reaching. "Phoenix." It whispered.

"Phoenix." Perceptor called as her optics shot open to the shake of her shoulder. Looking up, Eclipse's headstone' her mother's headstone stared right back at her.

"I….I saw..." she panted, suddenly feeling so exhausted.

"I believe that your memory banks are trying to receive the lost information and images that you seek."

"Perhaps…" The lab bot helped to her pedes "but from what I saw," gazing into the burnt and dismal surroundings, her spark shrank; "Now I'm not sure if I want to remember."

Standing over her mother's grave; the one she will never meet, the femme kissed her digits and touched them gently upon the cold stone. 'At least I finally found you' she whispered at the back of her mind, a single tear slid down her cheekacrch. 'Don't worry…I will find him. For both of us.'

"I love you." She whispered out loud.

So many questions and only a small few answered. A touch on her shoulder made her flinch; seeing it was Perceptor silently telling it was time to go. Phoenix nodded signifying she understood, not looking away from the tombstone. He gave her a few more moments before lightly squeezing her shoulder and leading away back to the bridge.

It felt like she became a statue again; unable to move or feel anything. Everything became isolated and frozen.

Returning to the lab she tried her best not to look at the shocked faces that had just previously seen the late Magnus go by. She kept her gaze to the ground; Perceptor stayed standing beside her silently.

"Wh…what happened?" Wheeljack looked to him but the fellow scientist only stared straight back with a blank expression. Phoenix said nothing.

"That's what I would like to know." Sentinel commanded, marching into the room from where the troopers passed through with the Magnus' frame. "Then again it's no surprise to me that leaving you with Ultra Magnus in his weakened state would have consequences!" He leaned into the shocked femme's face.

"N-No! It wasn't like that! It was…"

"Save your lies for the council, you're about to be court martialed missy!"

"Do not be so hasty Sentinel Prime." Alpha Trion stepped in. "We have no evidence against this femme that accuses her of such a crime, nor have we heard her side of the story."

Sentinel only grumbled.

Phoenix sighed in relief and her spark calmed.

"But…"

But?...but?! What about but? Her processor scrambled for any source of logical thought. The only one that became clear to her was; this was not going to end well. From the corner of her optic she could see Sentinel had also caught his word and was listening in deeply.

"Though I do not think that this femme is guilty of any such tragedy; a trial is indeed needed."

"What?!" Wheeljack exclaimed. "What for? You just said…"

"I am aware of what I have just said," Alpha Trion sternly glared at the confused scientist. "But I'm afraid that this incident cannot simply pass over without the proper protocols."

"Thank you Alpha Trion," uttered Sentinel.

The elder bot ignored the remark, "If you are indeed innocent then you shall pass without any charges or worries. Then it is just the matter of discussing your place."

"My place?" Phoenix's brow furrowed. "What do you mean 'my place'?"

"I am meaning no offence but it is to be discussed of weather you shall have the ability to have the title of Autobot or not."

Phoenix processor began to scramble, what did they mean 'the abilty to have the title of autobot'? A small flare of anger burned inside; for the Ultra Magnus' death she could understand but…this? It was ridiculous! "But sir, have I not already proved that I am one? I mean I am both bor-created on this planet and have fought off decepticons! Have I not already proven that I am one?"

"Save your pleas for the council." Sentinel jerked a digit toward her. "One act of so called valiance is not going to secure you a place as an autobot! And in case you haven't noticed 'cons and 'bots are both created by Primus on this planet so I don't see how you could have a possible argument there!"

"That is enough Sentinel Prime!" The elder mech raised a servo with a piercing stare.

The blue mech; feeling slightly intimidated did as he was ordered and backed away.

Alpha turned back towards Phoenix, his expression unreadable, "As grateful as we are hearing about your part in the prison raid I'm afraid it is mandatory. In this matter; it is highly likely that a trial will be held in just a few megacycles, this is a discussion not be left until later. Eternia," He placed a calm servo on her shoulder. "I know that you have been loaded down with so much tragic knowledge and confusion in just a short amount of time, but this is an issue that cannot…"

"Wait….I understand." The purple femme stared at the ground and did not look back up again, her servos clenched into fists by her side. So much in one day; she was wondering how she was still sane.

"I doubt that this will lighten the mood, but this trial is part of the reason to why Ultra Magnus wanted to bring you here; you see this trial has been in place ever since you were a sparkling."

No one knew what to say, Phoenix could only stand there dumbfounded; not knowing either to cry out in confusion or scream in anger. Now what did they mean?! As if things were not confusing already! "What…." The sighed deeply, avoiding showing any signs of growing rage from asking the same question again. "What do you mean..sir?"

"Well, it began with your parents you see and…just how much has Ultra Magnus told you?"

"He told me about my parents and how my mother passed but he did not tell me what happened to my father…Headshot." The very mention of the name seemed to have sparked some attention, gasps and shocked stares turning her way. "I… guess…Those aren't good looks."

"It will be better explained in your trial," the elder mech pressed digit to his commlink listening then returned his glance at Phoenix. "Which has now been confirmed to be in one megacycle. You may look around if you wish but please do not leave this building nor make any commlinks with anyone on the outside and do be in the east wing before that time. I must leave for the council." With the turn of his pede the caped mech left the room with Perceptor quietly following behind.

Phoenix did not watch as the elevator went down, too many things where floating around in her mind more than ever. A sudden feeling of cold metal wrapped around her wrists broke her from her trance; looking down at the pair of stasis cuffs.

"Security precautions," huffed Sentinel, "You understand." With a smirk he too turned and left the room.

Wheeljack looked sorrowful at her, unsure on what to do. Quickly thinking he thought of a change in subject, "So..um…how about that look around hmm? Come on, I'll give you a tour!"

"Hmmm?" Phoenix looked up, "Oh…uh…ya. W-wheeljack was it?"

"Yes mame!"

"…Did you know my father?"

"U-uhhh…I..um…." the white, striped mech stuttered "Look…hun I…I honestly have no idea. See I only met you when you…well I-i-i-I don't know if I'm the right one to tell you."

"CAN ANYONE TELL ME ANYTHING!?" Phoenix growled, anger reaching its boiling point. "WHY CAN NO ONE GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER!?" Realizing what she was doing she inhaled, venting heavily, calming her mind. When she looked up; Wheeljack had jumped back with an almost terrified expression that the other bots around the room shared. "I…..um….sorry. I-I didn't mean to shout. I'm just…."

"Lost and confused?" The white mech answered.

Phoenix nodded, looking back the floor feeling ashamed.

"Hey, hey, hey! No worries. Anyone in your position would react the same way. Besides, I'm used to things blowing up in my face!" he chuckled.

A small smile appeared on her faceplate.

"Phoenix!" a familiar voice called.

She turned to see the twins and a Bulkhead walking their way, waving. She never realized how nice it was nice to see a familiar bot. "Hey guys."

"So….how did it go?" Bulkhead asked.

Her cheekplates flushed "Well…."

"And why you in cuffs?!" Jetfire blurted.

"You know Sentinel." Wheeljack muttered, "I think I better give you lot some space." Nodding he walked away with a datapad in hand.

"What happening?" Jetstorm asked concern in his visor.

Finding someplace to sit; with Phoenix's pedes feeling sore she began to explain to them all of what she had discovered and all the past events. Jaws dropping more as she went on and on until she came to the end. "So now, I apparently have two trials to go to."

"Scrap…." Was all Bulkhead could say.

"That..tiz….I sorry so. And he meaning you not autobot?!" Said Jetfire, his twin remaining quite.

She shrugged, "Nothing I can do now….best thing is just too…" she sighed "go to it and hope for the best."

"And we'll be there!" cried Bulkhead.

"What?"

"Ya, I mean ya can't expect to go in alone. Especially after all that. Don't worry we'll stand by you the whole time. No bot on our team gets left behind!"

"Really? But…"

"No buts!"

"Sticking together are we!" Jetstorm exclaimed. "To end we see you to. That spark promise."

Phoenix could not help at smile. Everything may be confusing now….but at least she did not have to do it alone.

The trial started as scheduled. Phoenix gulped, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the room; the bots staring down at her in their towering stands, miles high and she in her little pedestal alone with Bulkhead, Jetstorm, and Jetfire watching from behind.

Looking around nervously she recognized only Perceptor, and Alpha Trion, the others she had no clue. Two of them almost look like twins but one with green outline and the other in red, the only other one was a strange looking femme who looked at her, almost with a scowl.

"This trial has now officially begun." Announced Alpha Trion; his voice booming, echoing off the walls. "The case; the femme known Eternia has been accused of the possible murder of Ultra Magnus."

Primus how those words stung. 'Oh mech, please let this be fast and painless." Her thoughts screamed.

"Your plead?"

"Not guilty sir." She couldn't believe she said that straight without stuttering any words.

"Sentinel Prime, your rebuttal?"

Sentinel marched out onto his own stand; taller than the one Phoenix stood on but only half way as high as the councils. "Grand councilmen, is it not sheer coincidence, not to mention obvious that this was possibly a planned assassination the whole time? Not only did we leave this known, mind you KNOWN dangerous bot alone with our already fragile Magnus but…"

'Dangerous?' she thought to herself, cocking an optic ridge.

"For all we know this could have been the deception's plan this whole time! When Shockwave failed the first time they sent her to finish him off!"

"That is not quite possible Sentinel Prime." Perceptor explained, "She has been in stasis for many cycles and has been under constant surveillance in that time. No Decepticons have ever come in contact with her."

"But what about the explosion? During the time she was missing she could have plotted this whole thing with them. We do not know for sure." He jerked a digit her way.

Feeling her impatience growing she withheld the burning flame in her oil tank but did nothing to stop her glare.

"Eternia?" The elder mech turned to the purple femme. "Anything to say?"

"Yes, I would like to say that I swear on my spark; that I had nothing to do with Ultra Magnus death nor have I had anything to do with the cons. I will admit that I did have a 'bump' in with them before, but only to have them try and offline me. Medical bot Ratchet can cover the damages I received and so can the rest of Optimus Prime's team."

"I see," most of the bots nodded, "Sentinel?"

"Yes, you've become very..chummy with Optimus and company." He rested his servos behind his backstruts, standing tall and straight. "But that still does not clear you for what happened to Ultra Magnus."

"I agree," the femme spoke. "I would indeed like to hear what this femme's story sounds like."

"Indeed Botanica." Alpha Trion nodded "Eternia, if you please."

Phoenix gave a sigh, bringing back what she had remembered forward despite her want to forget. "I…Ultra Magnus was showing me the place of my origin…my old home, when exploring further we were suddenly attacked by a….I think a decepticon. He is the one that offlined him and if not for Perceptor, he could have done the same to me."

"Hmmm," the blue mech rubbed his large chin, "You THINK it was a con?"

"Well it all happened in a blurr I didn't exactly see his symbol."

"Right." He scoffed "Then I would like to have Perceptor answer a few questions…being a key witness."

The emotionless scientist made no motion or gesture to sign that he had been summoned. "Proceed."

"Do tell what happened after you left for Moonbase 2 and found Ph-eh-Eternia here."

"I was noted in my optic scanner that there was a disturbance ahead, my systems told me the most appropriate response was to fire my weapon."

"And this…disturbance, did you happen to see what it was?"

"Negative, both high and thick smoke and dust particles where flying through the atmosphere. Vision was not 100% clear. Much action must had been taken place to cause this eruption."

"Well then…it seems," The snowmobile smirked, "that this 'eruption' could have been the perfect opportunity for our 'guest' to finish the job. No one sees anything, on a deserted base and in absolute solitude."

That was quite enough; Phoenix kept a stern look and stood tall as she looked up to the egotistic mech straight in the optics, "If I did so as you may have suggested, then how did I manage to get these scars and dents on my frame? And how could I have possibly caused the wound in Ultra Magnus? Not only should size be in count but I don't see how I could have caused that much damage with him damaging me."

"Those are indeed very good questions." The green and black mech nodded to the twin red; who also nodded.

"Self-inflicted of course! And we have also collected your whip," turning for only a click the mech held in his servo, a neatly wrapped long blue cable. "Which has been tested to be quite a powerful weapon."

"Objection," Alpha Trion stepped forward "Even I can tell that that weapon may have been used but there is a lack of energon upon it, nor does such a weapon cause such damage as we saw."

"Then what else could have caused it? Councilmen I think it's clear that this femme is a liar and you all falling for it! We are dealing with a bot with a…..history. Only a megacycle ago was she showing the exact temper that caused the incod-…"

"That will not be discussed!" Alpha Trion wailed down the mallet.

"Sir! Wrong you are!" The sudden outburst caused all bot to turn to the back of the hall. Jetstorm was standing his ground firmly, visor flashing "This femme do nothing horribly wrong! Tiz not of capable! We are knowing!"

"Solider, this has nothing to do with-"

"Let him speak." The elder mech gestured the other to be silenced.

"He right!" Jetfire stood forward to his brother's side. "We knowing not long her but she nice! Not being capable! She no lie!"

"Uh…I second that!" Bulkhead lifted a servo in the air.

Phoenix smiled at the trio and they smiled back. The flame in her oil tank slowly began to fade.

"All very touching I'm sure," Botanica called with slight annoyance. "But friendly backgrounds do not exactly provide proof on innocence."

"Then perhaps this will!" Wheeljack calmly entered the hall, waving a datapad above his head.

"What is this?" Sentinel scoffed.

"Proof!" the scientist exclaimed, "That Phoenix is not the culprit! I have here the file of Ultra Magnus' autopsy and it has been officially agreed that he had been killed by a certain metal eating posion! C-56. A poison that would be powerful enough to cause the amount of damage to Ultra Magnus' frame. Not to mention the stuff was all over his wound."

"Where exactly are you going with this?" the red twin mech asked.

"It's only found in certain Decepticons who are injected with it! Phoenix here has no trace of it on her! And even if they tried; her frame could not have sustained it!"

Sentinel could only stammer, Phoenix could feel her spark lift but was not holding her breath so easily, while the trio in the back waited ambitiously.

Alpha Trion rubbed his chin, than looked toward the other councilmen. With a round of nods the others began to leave to the exit behind the elder mech. "We are going to make the final decision." He looked down to the confused crowd. "We will only be a few moments." Then he too, disappeared.

"So…how do you think this looks?" Phoenix turned to Jetstorm.

"Saying is hard." He shrugged "We can only be waiting. But um….if anything Phoenix I um…want you to be knowing..I …WE knowing you innocent."

"Thank you Jetstorm," she smiled "that means a lot. More than you guys know."

Opening his mouth to say something he was interrupted by the small crowd of council men re-taking their place around them. "Eternia," The red mech announced.

Phoneix felt her spark about to beat out of her chest.

"We the Council of the Elite Guard find you….not guilty."

Before Phoenix could jump for joy she picked up and given a giant hug from Bulkhead laughing. She could help but notice a small smirk of Alpha Trion's face as well.

"Congrats kid!" Wheeljack exclaimed, removing her cuffs.

"Thanks to you!" she jumped and clung to the white mech neck; who chuckled.

"Yes, congratulations Eternia," said Alpha Trion "but I'm afraid your time in court is not over."

From the very mention of this; the cheery group went silent, listening deeply. "We will take a break for now. We will all gather again in 2 megacycles." With a bow he and the other members left through the same door.

"Fire not out of yet." Said Jetfire.

"Right," nodded Bulkhead "I better catch Optimus and the others up on everything before this becomes too much to explain."

"Ya, that sounds great." Phoenix replied, than looked to her pedes 'Too bad even I'm having a hard time keeping up.' She thought to herself, smile fading. 'There's more to this story then everyone is letting on. But what is it and what does it have to do with me?'

"Soundwave report" Megatron approached the blue mech; scanning through multiple voice files and vids that he had taken from his own processor.

"Status: progressing. Still trying to find any information for identity of femme that attacked me in autobot base and shutting down the spacebride."

"I see, keep searching then. In the meantime the rest will restore what is left of our temporary base." The decepticon leader stood firmly, servos behind his back.

"Some place." The mocking tone of Shortfuse entered, "I'm sure a junk yard would have been a much cosier hangout." He chuckled.

Megatron lightly groaned but ignored the black and orange mech; keeping his impatiens at ease. His focus now was the monitor; as files and images flew by, only to be glanced at for only a nanaoklick.

"You sure it's such a smart idea to put your base in the same place twice?" Shortfuse watched the monitor with only so much fascination. "I mean…won't the autobots here already know where to look for us?"

"On the contrary Shortfuse," Megatron did not turn away from the screen, "That's exactly what I want. Though they should bear in mind; if they want to find us it will not be such an easy task. I will certainly see to that." The mech's glowing red optics narrowed.

"Oooook then." He cocked an optic ridge.

"Exclamation: Sir! Process: Have found identity of unknown femme." Soundwave pointed the image of a purple femme.

Megatron looked over the image carfully but nothing unique came out to him. "Pull up their file."

"Affirmative."

He looked to his side; Shortfuse stood there glancing at the image; almost completely fixated on it. "Do you know this bot?"

"I…think….no, I don't." his optics never looking away.

"You seem…uncertain."

Shortfuse shrugged, "Hmm, might have in the past but it's not ringing any bells. Probably just think'in I do. What's the name anyway?" he looked down to Soundwave hopeing to drive anymore of Megaton's questions away from him.

"Name: Eternia. Status:…"

"Yes?" the grey mech asked.

"Filing Rating: Unsatisfactory. File cannot be found. All data on femme is non-excitant."

"Strange," Megatron rubbed his chin. "See if you can breach into their top secret files."

" nothing."

"All the files?"

"Searching: there are a few files that I cannot hack into. Security system too strong to extract any information."

"This is indeed odd, even the most top secret of decepticon plans can be found even in the deepest of systems." He looked deeply into the image of the smiling purple femme. "What is it that makes this one so special that they have made her almost non-existent?"

"A good question indeed." Shortfuse's gaze still never leaving.

"I am suddenly very interested. The autobots would never leave one of their kind unfiled….unless….they are not what they seem. Soundwave find out what little you can of our mysterious friend."

"Progressing."

The black mech finally tore his optics away, he didn't know if it was from boredom or something else that disturbed him. "Well, I'll leave you with your research then." With the turn of his pede he marched straight out of the room.

Megatron watched him carefully as he made his way, walking non-stop to the other side of the cave. "Do tell me Soundwave, do you not see a small similarity in Shortfuse and this femme?"

"Agreed. Are small similarities in certain parts of helm."

"Hmmm," the large mech's optics narrowed. "Interesting."

Shortfuse glanced back over his shoulder every few clicks, making sure no one followed. To his luck the others were too busy cleaning away debris or shipping some sort of object into a pile. Finding the first door he came across; he looked in both directions. Seeing that no one has seen him; the doors slid shut, leaving him in solitude. Shuffling through his sub-space; he pulled from it a chunk of broken metal that would have been circular if not for its missing half. He pressed the square button and the thin ring of blue light lite up and a flicking halogram emerged from its centre.

It was of a mech…one that…in some strange way looked almost like him, and near the crook of his arm there was the face of a smiling sparkling. The rest must have been on the other half of what ever this thing was.

He did'nt remember where he had gotten this hunk of junk, but ever sense he pledged his allegiance to the cons he had always had it on him. A brother maybe? Perhaps that is why they look so much alike? But he had no memory of one….he didn't have a lot of memory about anything.

He glared at the sparkling's face. He thought that femme's face looked familiar….but was he positively sure it really was her?

"Just who the slag are you? And why do I feel like I know you somehow?"

It was never clear to him why he kept the contraption; trophy from previous battle? It was given to him? He didn't know for sure, but there was something inside that held him back from just tossing the thing away. The mech figured there must have been a reason for keeping it so he had held onto it for all these cycles.

Sighing he turned off the small hologram, shoving it back into his sub-space.

To be continued…..