Hey everybody! Here's the next chapter. For those who are curious, I'm actually going to try to complete my Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction, because it's something I grew up writing. Expect a chapter update soon.

Thank you all for following me and commenting on my stories! It's greatly appreciated. See you soon and enjoy the early days of summer vacation! ;D

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Transformers Prime: Ordeal

~Act II, Chapter I~

My optics fixated the dim screen of Teletraan 1's monitor, displaying the many images of recorded video-feeds and pictures taken during the assault. The computer was programmed to collect all possible data, aiding me into analyzing the tactics of the attack and defining the purpose for it. However, as image feeds came pooling in, I was met with confusion and doubt, burdened with more questions than answers. Whatever their strategy was, it was unsubtle; humans were attacked and buildings were destroyed, acting as playthings of angry Sparklings.

I witnessed one of the many sick pleasures of the Decepticons as one group of Terrorcons assembled many humans in a Decepticon-conquered zone of the city. Their gestures revealed their intentions as the Decepticons unmistakably placed bets, turned to their captives and, to the surprise of the humans, released them. The humans were too confused to understand the reasons, but they wasted no cycle scrambling to safety. Little did they know that the Terrorcons aimed at the Earthlings with a simple goal in their processor unit:

Whichever Decepticon kills the most, wins.

And without any scruple, they fired, cheering as they competed with each other, their laughter joining in choir the screams of the targets they hit. I will not consort to details about how each human met their fate, but I will say that out of 15 people, two children managed to escape intact.

I averted my vision from the video feed, my optics attracted to the results that flashed at the corner of the screen.

Estimated amount of human casualties: 459... and counting.

For a small city, this was a considerable, shocking amount. As a result of this devastation, the United States Government had begun pointing fingers at other countries and terror cells who had orchestrated the attack, influencing the global media as they tried to cover up and erase the true assailants of the attack.

This full-scale assault out in the public bugged my processors to no end. What was the purpose of it? Their attacks were uncoordinated and pertained to nothing more than the blood lust pleasure of competition and battle. That much could be seen from the video feeds.

I looked them over again, scouring through everything in the hopes of finding a detail that I had overlooked. Vehicons had smashed buildings apart, but extracted nothing from it. They had raced through streets only to reduce screaming civilians to ashes. There was even one video-feed that showed two soldiers lobbing with each other, using any human they picked up as the lob.

Bottom line, the assault itself was deeply flawed. There were no tactics whatsoever. That lead to two assumptions: Starscream's soldiers were either not listening to him and did as they pleased, or they were doing exactly what he instructed them to do. Starscream's leadership, from the intel I'd received, was considerably lacking in faith and the expectations of his followers were extremely low, but that would not leave Starscream unable to maintain a certain control over them; any Decepticon leader, Megatron and Starscream alike, would reaffirm their leadership by force if necessary. The presence of the former Air force commander in the city made the second hypothesis more likely, seeing as he showed no sign of annoyance or rage except when finding out that Rachel was around, too.

I placed my servos on the counter, my vents pushing out the pressurized air as the name brought forth recollections from the event 5 Earth hours ago.

Once we had made our escape from the clutches of the jet, Rachel had suddenly screamed at me, urging me to go back because Mike was still out there and he had been wounded when they tried to escape. I had immediately made contact with Ratchet via comm-link, hoping that the girl's judgment was influenced by her panic and that the boy had arrived safely at HQ. I recall screeching to a halt as I received a negative, and with a tire-burning drift I sped back. Ratchet, too, hurried his way through the groundbridge he had left open for Mikey, asking one of the children – Jack, I believe – to close it behind him and to remain there until he or any other Autobot needed to get back to HQ. I ordered Ratchet to call me as soon as he found him.

In the meantime, Decepticons had suddenly begun appearing on my radar, leaping out of their hiding places and immediately discharged their weapons at me. I veered from exploded craters and evaded enemy fire as more Vehicons chased after me while some tried to block my passage up ahead. With a determined Spark, I switched from defensive to offensive maneuvers, weapons popping out from my hood, and I fired back. I tore through the area, shot down my pursuers, rammed into any Decepticon in my path, rendering them all either useless and harmless or turning them into piles of sparking, flame-erupting scraps. They wanted a rampage, and that's what I was going to give them.

When I checked on Rachel, she had her eyes shut tight and draped her face with her hands. Her heart-rate had increased. She couldn't bear her the mayhem that surrounded her any longer.

I had swerved just around the corner when I spotted Ratchet's back in the distance, on his knees near a busted wall of a building. I sped faster, alerting him as he turned his head towards us. As our optics met, I discerned that the strength of his stare had weakened.

I screeched to a sudden halt. I had flung my door open, urging Rachel to get out. She was confused, but she obeyed nonetheless. Gears shifted and ground with one another as I forced to speed up my transformation sequence. In war, the look of a comrade told a story. The weakness in their eyes revealed their emotionally vulnerable state.

Ratchet had that stare.

My processing-unit was racing, sending and exchanging information, mingling with emotive processors. The chief medical officer's movements were slow as he rose up, confirming my daunting predicaments. He turned to me, that weakness marking a grim feature on his face. I halted.

"Prowl... I'm sorry." were the only words he could whisper, his voice breaking. He stepped aside to reveal the body of Michelangelo.

The shock that flooded my systems disabled my vocoder. I didn't have to turn on my scanners to understand that he died, but I did anyway. Ratchet had discovered him behind a busted wall of a building and had him extracted from the debris. His leg suffered from a bullet wound, but the horrific discovery was the rest of his entire body was in shambles; his spinal cord was fragmented, his skull bashed in and many of his organs – including lungs and the ribcage surrounding them – crushed.

My processors couldn't wrap around this information as quickly as they normally should. My audio-receptors shut off and my peripheral vision seemed to suddenly have slowed down. In the deafening moment of silence, my circuitry harnessed all data related to Mike and shoved them all at once into my motherboard, the overload of all information pulsating into my spark and forcing it into life-ending agony.

The quick footfalls suddenly came to my attention, and I watched as Rachel came running towards me. She knew he was there. I placed myself in her view, hiding in shame and guilt the dreadful finding and blocked her passage with my feet. I had wanted to spare her from the sight.

"Let me through, you Goddamn robot! He's my friend! I need to see him!" she yelled, her voice cracking as she was on the verge of tears. She knew, but with all her might, she tried to deny the reality.

She had forced her way through, stumbling onto the ground when she lifted her head to see the body before her. A shocked gasp filled her lungs with air, and for a moment, she didn't exhale. She crawled to the body, her eyes welling up as she called out his name. "Mike."

She sat upright near her friend, looking down into the face of her best friend. She was quiet, unable to breathe out properly. Her hair fell into her face as her head sunk.

"This can't be happening..." her words hung heavily in the air, "Mike, remember what you said... You said we'd graduate together. You said you'd be there to watch me perform on our graduation day. Don't do this to me, Mikey. Stop messing around and wake up!"

She barely had the strength to shake him hard enough. She had already given up, and her words began to turn into quiet sobs. "You got what you wished for... You got that adventure you wanted. You became a part of their lives, but look where that's gotten you. Where's that goddamn smile of yours now, huh?!"

Her angered yell burst out of her mouth, her tears and saliva tainting Mikey's still face. She gritted her teeth and shut her eyes tight, fighting so hard to not drown into her tears. "Oh God, Mikey... I'm so sorry... I was scared... I didn't mean to... I tried..."

Her strength faded, unable retain the sorrow any longer. Her sentences remained unfinished and the sobs swallowed her whole. "No... No no no..."

With all my Spark, I had wished that I was witnessing an illusion concocted by my fears, but a sudden, anguished cry erupted from her throat, her voice so shrill and so broken that I couldn't escape from reality. It left me shaken and horrified, and I watched with mournful, weakened optics as the young human rested her forehead onto Mikey's stomach. A wail of despair ensued and she screamed the name of her deceased childhood friend.

My processor-unit terminated the echoes of the past as my attention was pulled towards the blinking monitor. More video feeds had been added to Teletraan 1's archive, originating from an area I had been hoping and yet feared to see. A tingling sensation crawled at the back of my head. I selected one of them and played it.

The camera had been set up at least 14 feet above ground, by human terms. It had caught two individuals running along a street, heading towards the location of the gadget. Mikey and Rachel, without a doubt. In the middle of their great escape, Mike went down first, pulling Rachel along with him. That was where he had been hit by a bullet. Rachel tended to him, but her trembling movements and her head spinning in all directions showed that she had no knowledge of how to proceed, therefore she was looking for someone nearby to help her. Suddenly, as her back faced the camera, she froze. She had seen something that paralyzed her. The image feed displayed a dark silhouette of a Cybertronian up ahead, and that made her jump to her feet and run away. Mike's face was marked with surprise as he called after her, but his face scrunched in pain as he tried to move too much. The Cybertronian sped towards the camera until the blurry silhouette became the recognizable form of the jet commander, Starscream. As he got closer to Mike, who had managed to get on his feet, he smacked the human boy away with the back of his servo, the Decepticon's entire arm smashing against the wall of a building. The Decepticon didn't need to slow down to see that it got the job done.

The camera's peripheral vision wasn't large enough to captivate the building which Mike was smashed into. Nothing else happened, and I watched as a trail of dust emanate from the destroyed wall as the area fell into a deathly stillness.

I paused the video, covering my faceplate with my servo. Useless. This feed was insufficient to form a concrete deduction, leaving my analysis incomplete. With an angry yell I brought my fist down onto the computer's dashboard.

By the Allspark... I don't even know if his death was instant or if he had to suffer before the overwhelming pain of his shattered bones ended him.

The tingling had increased in strength, influencing my circuitry as my whole body shook. With trembling servos I reached for my chest, opening it and fumbling at the shard. An image of Mikey suddenly popped onto my visor, affecting my focus. I set the shard clumsily on the counter, tapping it as it began to hum. I listened carefully, setting my motherboard to captivate the sound waves and insert them into my data banks to prevent them from going haywire.

And for the first time, it didn't work.

The tingling sensation intensified and exploded into a sparking migraine. Processor after processor flooded my mainframe and summoned images, video feeds and all types of data onto my visor, including flashing warnings and error messages. My vocoder released a disgruntled, multiple-layered groan in response to this surging pain of imminent overload, forcing me to sink onto my knee. I shut off my optics and increased my the volume of my audio receptors, this time collecting every ounce of strength left in my body to aid me.

I don't know how long I had struggled with it, but it was a long battle before my motherboard and all processors were put to rest, and it left me weary. I was very close to short-circuiting; there was no denying that the intensity of my harbored emotions would overwhelm very soon, causing immediate shut-down of all my systems for Primus knows how long, but now was not the right time for it. Too many tasks needed to be done, starting with Starscream's goals behind the attack.

The mission goes on, no matter what happens.

I took the shard and placed it back in my chest, casting all unimportant processors aside, and resumed my duty as the team's strategist. I looked back at the screen, remembering where I had left off before I was sidetracked by Rachel.

Starscream. In summary, he lead the assault purposefully against the city, his soldiers having no specific targets or missions. The fact that he had encountered Rachel was nothing more than a coincidence, an opportunity for Starscream to end her, but there was nothing more to it. From all of the feeds and information that had been gathered, nothing had been taken and no human had been abducted. The Decepticons made a big show only to terrorize, kill and destroy. Why?

In that moment of silence, a sudden realization dawned upon me as I processed three words. A big show. What if they lead an assault only to draw our attention away from something else?

It was a sound analysis; the purpose of this assault was to get us to focus on them while they operated in the background on something else. And whatever they wanted, they got it now, because they ceased all attack and retreated on Starscream's orders.

As I processed that new information, the doors shifted open and in came the Autobot Commander.

"Commander. You've come at the right time, sir. I believe we've been duped. The assault on the city was nothing more than a-"

"A distraction." he completed my phrase. He noticed my surprise."I've been contacted by Agent Fowler. While we were busy fending off the attacks on the city, Starscream sent an infiltration squad to a heavily-guarded compound and acquired a rare, Earth material in the form of crystals."

Prime had accessed the computer and displayed the results he received from the humans in charge of studying the crystals. They had found these crystals only recently, in deep caverns they had excavated. They acquired approximately 30 units of it – 30 kilograms in Earth terms. As I analyzed the data, my optics widened.

"Do you know it?" the leader asked.

"Korlonium." I uttered, "These crystals are not unknown to us, sir. A small quantity of it possesses an infinite amount of energy, but they've only ever been harnessed and used by Decepticons. I've heard from scouts that the Decepticons had received shipments of these minerals from another planet during the war; they're extremely lethal to electronics and machinery, meaning that any Cybertronian exposed to it would explode. It's an extremely rare mineral and hard to come by, and thus only used on the battlefield as missiles and rockets for strategic purposes. If the humans have found it in caverns here on Earth, that means these crystals hail from here."

"It seems ever more evident that Cybertron and this planet are connected, whether it is because of Dark Energon, Unicron or Cybertronian relics." the Commander observed.

I nodded my head, then pondered shortly thereafter. "Now we know what Starscream distracted us from, but something doesn't add up. Judging by the reports, Starscream led this huge assault only to have his infiltration squad steal 30 units of Korlonium crystals. That's a scarce amount to make anything devastating. We're missing something."

"I see your point." the leader noted, "We've only scratched the surface of Starscream's plans."

I rested my servos on the computer's dashboard. "I have to say I underestimated him. I know how deceiving he can be, but this attack was the biggest charade I've ever seen him perform."

"... A charade that resulted in incalculable losses." Optimus Prime stated.

I glanced at Prime. He was lost in his own processors, undoubtedly calculating the amount of damage done on that day.

"How is the human female?" My question was abrupt; it was incredibly challenging to get those words out, which is why I had to force them out of my voice box.

The leader remained delved in his processors, but he responded nonetheless. "My initial plan was to see her first before coming here. Unfortunately, I've been told by Jack that she had requested to be alone on the landing pad up above."

I stared at the screen, a video feed of her sitting near Cliffjumper's memorial ground popping up in the right-servo corner of the monitor. Her face buried in the legs she had been hugging, the trembles she fought hard to resist so apparent on the feed...

I had imagined that she was in the room we provided for her, but I should have known better... I would have heard something from a room so close by; cries, screams or angry yells resonating down the corridor and the halls of this base, anything that would help her cope with her loss.

I furrowed my optics. Unfortunately, losing Mike was only the beginning of a greater ordeal.

I became aware that the leader was watching me, and I lifted my head to meet his gaze. "I'm not here because of Rachel or for any strategic counsel." he said, "I'm here to see how you're doing, especially after what happened to Michelangelo."

His statement had caught me off guard, but I hid my surprise and sadness behind my indifferent stare."I am fine, sir, but with all due respect, I can't waste my time on this and be distracted by the turn of events when we're in complete disarray. As a strategist, it is my job to pick up the pace and find out what the-"

"Enough." he stated strongly, his tone lacerating, "I am speaking to you as a friend, not as a commander. Our allies are always above the mission; how else can we achieve our goals if we do not help one another and give others the chance to recover properly from our losses? You're an excellent soldier and an exceptional strategist dedicated to the cause, and I find your respect and loyalty to the higher ranked soldiers beyond admirable. However, the way you deal with mourning and tragedies is ineffective and will hinder you at the worst moment possible if you allow it to go on like this."

After a moment of silence, he resumed. "It is unwise to resume your work when you, of all the Autobots, constantly choose to repress your emotions. Speak your mind."

I clenched my servos, sensing a tingle at the back of my head. "What good will it do when it can't undo the damage that's been done?"

Rage suddenly overwhelmed my processors, and in a short moment, I realized I had embedded my fist in a steeled wall nearby, pressurized air venting from my ports. "The center and west section of the city have been reduced to debris and ashes. There have been over 460 casualties and 67 unaccounted for. But the most... unforgivable act that I've allowed to happen was for Michelangelo to be among the victims. My job was to protect him at all costs, but I carelessly left him to run for his life. Look at the price he's had to pay for my mistakes!"

As I violently retracted my fist from the wall, a command was prompted onto my visor, displaying a single image of the boy with his most cheerful grin from the day we had our discussion. It had caught me off guard, leaving me momentarily immobile as my Spark pulsed so violently, so achingly. I relocated the image, ignored the tingling as it increased in strength. "He had to pay the price for my mistakes." I repeated in horrified disbelief, "Primus, how could I have let that happen? I am a military strategist, and I left him on his own in a city under attack all because I was so absorbed by the mission of defeating the Decepticons."

What I thought would be a sigh turned out to be a hesitant vent. "The reality is that there's nothing any of us can say or do that will undo the past, Optimus. I've failed you, this team... And Michelang-" I halted and tilted my head, correcting myself. "I've failed Mike."

The Autobot commander was quiet, no doubt observing me, maybe even judging my vulnerability. He marched towards me, and as I faced the wall, I felt his servo rest on my shoulder. "You've lost a great friend."

As I felt a sharp stab in my Spark, I turned to the commander, his servo slipping off my shoulder, and stared at him incredulously. "Friend?! This boy was the most tiresome human I've ever encountered! He had no discipline and stirred up so much trouble, I had to postpone my daily routines and all of my work for the next day or two!"

The tingling had increased into a terrible migraine, close to the one I experienced not too long ago. It resulted in the trembling of my whole chassis and I used the counter to steady myself as I felt the migraine slowly overwhelm my body. "Mikey was naive and had enormous dreams and great ambitions. He never backed down from anything, even when all odds were against him. He was smart and could be very strategic if he wanted to. For someone as loyal as he was, he was one of the very few I trusted my secrets with."

I sensed the short-circuiting overwhelming me, igniting sparks that ran all over my body. I reached for my chest. "He, ugh, waa-a-asn't my fri-en-end. He was... My partneeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr..."

My vocoder parted into three different tones and my speech pattern slowed down until it was unable to produce anymore sound. An agonizing electric surge forced me to my knees and Optimus, alarmed, knelt beside me, calling Ratchet on the comm-link. My whole frame trembled violently, recollection and reality merging together as I saw from one moment to the next Cybertron, the Helix Gardens, a dark silhouette, and then Optimus Prime calling out to me. He faded away quickly, replaced by the child with whom I shared a profound bond.

He smiled and his face shone with vigor. Then he paled, eyes shutting forevermore, silence carving a lifeless frown on his face.

:::WARNING! WARNING! OVERLOAD IMM-:::

Mikey's gone.

My speech incapacitated, unable to express my anguish, I watched as a final surge overwhelmed my body and, in a flash, I was gone.

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What an ending... If you think there was something I could improve on, then please let me know. Share this story if you want to, just remember to credit me. Nyeh. ;P